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Soil salinization leads to a reduction in arable land area, which seriously endangers food security. Developing saline-alkali land has become a key measure to address the contradiction between population growth and limited arable land. Rice is the most important global food crop, feeding half of the world's population and making it a suitable choice for planting on saline-alkali lands. The traditional salt–alkali improvement method has several drawbacks. Currently, non-thermal plasma (NTP) technology is being increasingly applied in agriculture. However, there are few reports on the cultivation of salt/alkali-tolerant rice. Under alkaline stress, argon NTP treatment significantly increased the germination rate of Longdao 5 (LD5) rice seeds. In addition, at 15 kV and 120 s, NTP treatment significantly increased the activity of antioxidant enzymes such as catalase and SOD. NTP treatment induced changes in genes related to salt-alkali stress in rice seedlings, such as chitinase and xylanase inhibitor proteins, which increased the tolerance of the seeds to salt-alkali stress. This experiment has expanded the application scope of NTP in agriculture, providing a more cost-effective, less harmful, and faster method for developing salt-alkali-tolerant rice and laying a theoretical foundation for cultivating NTP-enhanced salt-alkali-tolerant rice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Remimazolam, a novel intravenous anesthetic, has been proven to be safe and efficacious in the gastroscopy setting among the elderly. However, reports comparing the effectiveness and safety of using equivalent doses of remimazolam with propofol have not been seen. The aim of this study was to compare the sedation efficacy and safety of the 95% effective doses (ED95) of remimazolam versus propofol combined with sufentanil in the gastroscopy setting among the elderly. In the first step of this two-step study, a modified up-and-down method was used to calculate the ED95 of remimazolam and propofol when combined with 0.1 µg/kg sufentanil in inhibiting body movement of elderly patients undergoing gastroscopy. In the second step, ED95 of both agents calculated in the first step were administered, endpoints of efficacy, safety, and incidence of adverse events were compared. A total of 46 individuals completed the first step. The ED95 of remimazolam was 0.163 mg/kg (95% CI 0.160–0.170 mg/kg), and that of propofol was 1.042 mg/kg (95% CI 1.007–1.112 mg/kg). In the second step, 240 patients completed the trial. The anesthetic effective rates of the remimazolam group and the propofol group were 78% and 83%, respectively, with no statistical difference (P = 0.312). Patients in the remimazolam group had more stable circulatory functions (P < 0.0001) and a lower incidence of pain on injection (3.3% vs. 19.5%, P < 0.0001). The incidence of hypotension was low in the remimazolam versus propofol group (15.6% vs. 39.0%, P < 0.0001). Overall adverse event was low in the remimazolam versus propofol group (21.3% vs. 62.7%, P < 0.0001).In this study, we found that when anesthesia was administered to elderly gastroscopy patients based on 95% effective doses of remimazolam and propofol, remimazolam was as effective as propofol, but was safer with a lower incidence of adverse events. Study registration: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, ChiCTR2000034234. Registered 29/06/2020, https://www.chictr.org.cn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emergence of Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) not only provides low-latency computing services for the User Equipment (UE), but also extends the battery life of the UE. However, the computational resources of MEC servers are usually limited, and how to efficiently offload UE's task and allocate the resources of MEC servers has become a research hotspot in MEC. In this paper, we develop an improved arithmetic optimization algorithm (IAOA) to optimize the convergence speed and convergence accuracy of the arithmetic optimization algorithm. Then a task offloading algorithm based on IAOA is designed to reduce the cost of offloading tasks in the framework including a single MEC server and multi-UE. The proposed algorithm jointly optimizes the task offloading strategy of the UEs and the resource allocation of the MEC server, meanwhile, models the weighted sum of delay and energy consumption as the system cost, with the goal of minimizing the system cost while satisfying the delay and energy consumption constraints of the tasks. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can effectively reduce the system cost and achieve a performance improvement of up to 20% compared with the benchmark algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The novel one-step oxidation–volatilization process for separating MoO3 from pelletized MoS2 concentrate supported on a porous Al2O3-SiO2 skeleton has been demonstrated to have superior diffusion efficiency compared to the traditional two-step oxidative roasting-sublimation approach. Optimal control of pellet phase and micro-structure evolutions is crucial for maintaining a stable and breathable pellet bed throughout the roasting process, which is essential for industrial application of the new process. This work determined the phase transformations of MoS2 concentrate pellets during roasting, revealed the formation mechanisms of mullite whiskers from MoS2-Al2O3-SiO2 system and thus achieved toughening control of roasted MoS2 concentrate pellets with temperature programmed roasting (TPR). It is found that the intermediate product Al2(MoO4)3 can induce the low-temperature formation of mullite whisker. With TPR, the volatilization rate of molybdenum is 97.2%, and the compressive strength of mullite pellets reach 124.8 N. This study puts forward a feasible route with industrial significance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Explore the hydrochemical characteristics of surface water (SW) and groundwater (GW) under coal mining activities and controlling factors is essential to ensure water security. This research concentrates on the Changhe River Basin (CRB). Water samples were collected from 27 sites within the CRB in May, July and December 2022. A qualitative analysis of hydrochemical characteristics and major ion sources was conducted based on Piper plots, Gibbs plots, Pearson correlation analysis and ion ratio methods. The PCA ~ RSR model was used to assess the current status of SW and GW quality in the CRB. We found that the hydrochemical type of SW and GW is HCO3–Ca, with HCO3− accounting for 62.2% ~ 87.9% of the total anions and Ca2+ accounting for 27.4% ~ 31.3% of the total cations. Rock weathering is the main factor affecting the hydrochemical of CRB. SW is affected by the weathering and dissolution of both silicate and carbonate rocks, while GW is mainly affected by the weathering and dissolution of silicate. The cation exchange also has influence on GW. The cations in the water are mainly derived from rock weathering dissolution and exchange reactions, while SO42− in anions is mainly imported from outside. The results of the water quality assessment showed that water quality in the midstream of the study area is poor and coal mining has seriously affected water safety issues. The study reveals the impact of coal mining on hydrochemical. It provides a scientific basis for the protection and management of water resources under coal mining activities in arid and semi-arid regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Neurodegenerative diseases are a common group of neurological disorders characterized by progressive loss of neuronal structure and function leading to cognitive impairment. Recent studies have shown that neuronal pyroptosis mediated by the NLRP3 inflammasome plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases. Objective and method: The NLRP3 inflammasome is a multiprotein complex that, when activated within cells, triggers an inflammatory response, ultimately leading to pyroptotic cell death of neurons. Pyroptosis is a typical pro-inflammatory programmed cell death process occurring downstream of NLRP3 inflammasome activation, characterized by the formation of pores on the cell membrane by the GSDMD protein, leading to cell lysis and the release of inflammatory factors. It has been found that NLRP3 inflammasome-mediated neuronal pyroptosis is closely associated with the development of various neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, traumatic brain injury, and Parkinson's disease. Therefore, inhibiting NLRP3 inflammasome activation and attenuating neuronal pyroptosis could potentially serve as novel strategies for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. Results: The aim of this review is to explore the role of NLRP3 activation-mediated neuronal pyroptosis and neuroinflammation in neurodegenerative diseases. Firstly, we extensively discuss the relationship between NLRP3 inflammasome-mediated neuronal pyroptosis and neuroinflammation in various neurodegenerative diseases. Subsequently, we further explore the mechanisms driving NLRP3 activation and assembly, as well as the post-translational modifications regulating NLRP3 inflammasome activation. Conclusion: Understanding these mechanisms will contribute to a deeper understanding of the link between neuronal pyroptosis and neurodegenerative diseases, and hold significant implications for the treatment and prevention of neurodegenerative diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cooperative computation offloading (CCO) is a technique to improve computation offloading performance in edge networks through collaboration between edge nodes. CCO can achieve better resource utilization, balance the computational load and further reduce delay to improve the service experience of user equipment (UE). In this paper, we investigate the problem of collaborative computing task offloading scheme and computing resource allocation in mobile edge computing and propose a data compression cooperation computing offloading (DCCO) scheme. To reduce the amount of data transmitted on the UE offloading link, we introduce a Data Compression into CCO and present the computational offloading strategy, collaborative offloading and computational resource allocation problems with the goal of minimizing the weighted sum of delay and energy consumption of the UE under the constraints of UE delay and energy consumption. And an improved genetic algorithm is proposed to solve the problem which is a non-convex mixed-integer problem with binary and continuous variables. The offloading strategy and computational resource allocation correspond to the genes in the genetic algorithm chromosome. The simulation results show that the DCCO scheme can reduce the offloading cost up to 11% compared with the existing schemes. It effectively improves the computation offloading performance of edge network computing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hypoxia has been shown to contribute to tumor immunosuppressive microenvironment and is an effective prognostic indicator. This study aimed to screen prognostic hypoxia-related genes (HRGs) in glioblastoma and investigate the association between HRGs and tumor immunosuppressive microenvironment. The glioblastoma-related mRNA data were collected from TCGA, GEO, and CGGA databases. Totally 200 HRGs were obtained from the GSEA website. The prognostic HRGs were screened by univariate Cox regression analysis. Somatic mutation data of glioblastoma from TCGA was visualized using the "maftools" of R package. Immune cell infiltration proportions were calculated by CIBERSORT. The TISIDB online tool was applied to analyze the relationship between HRGs and immunoinhibitors as well as the HRG expression in different glioblastoma immune and molecular subtypes. Hub gene's mRNA and protein levels in cell lines were determined by qRT-PCR and western blot, respectively. The effects of hub gene knockdown on cell viability and migration ability were evaluated employing CCK8 and wound healing assays. The univariate Cox regression showed that high level of FBP1 (fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase 1) was a poor prognostic biomarker, and FBP1 was mainly expressed in lymphocyte depleted immune subtype of glioblastoma. High FBP1 mRNA and protein levels have been successfully validated in vitro. The somatic mutation analysis suggested that TP53 mutation rate was the highest in the high FBP1 glioblastoma group, while EGFR mutation rate was the highest in the low FBP1 glioblastoma group. In the high FBP1 group, the infiltration proportions and types of immune cells were less, dominated by macrophages M2, and the expression of CTLA4, LAG3, TIGIT, PDL1, and PDL2 was significantly upregulated. The expression of FBP1 was positively correlated with several immunoinhibitors, such as IL-10 and TGFβ-1. In conclusion, we demonstrated that FBP1 could serve as a prognostic biomarker for glioblastoma. The immune microenvironment in the high FBP1 group might be suppressed by up-regulating immune checkpoints and immunoinhibitors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fatigue performance is largely dependent on the machined surface integrity of engineering parts. In this paper, effect of cutting steps and directions on machined surface integrity of aluminum–silicon alloy is investigated. Machining induced surface quality under the forward and reverse finish cutting as well as the step-by-step feed cutting method is contrastively analyzed. The results indicate that the final machined surface integrity can be controlled through adjusting the finish cutting steps, and governing finish cutting directions can also be effective when the finish cutting step is fixed. High-machined surface integrity can be obtained when it adopts reverse finishing in first-step while it employs forward finishing in second-step, where there are little micro-defects on the machined surface, relatively low degree of surface hardening and surface residual stress, along with smaller surface roughness, respectively. Moreover, step-by-step feed cutting method can effectively break chips, avoid surface scratching, chips softening, and forming the built-up edge. It can also reduce the degree of elastic–plastic recovery and thermal expansion on the machined surface, improve surface hardness, and obtain surface compressive residual stress. There are many micro-defects on machined surface by single-step feed cutting. However, when the step-by-step feed cutting method is adopted, the forward finishing surface emerges almost no micro-defects, but that of reverse finishing exhibits severe grain breakage. The proposed adjusting method in cutting steps and forward-reverse cutting directions may be of interest to the engineering practice, and will help improving the machined surface quality and fatigue life of aluminum–silicon alloy engineering parts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Selective separation of dissolved tungsten and vanadium is of great significance for the utilization of the secondary resources of these elements. In this work, selective removal of vanadium from tungstate solutions via microbubble floating-extraction was systematically investigated. The results indicated that vanadium can be more easily mineralized over tungsten from tungstate solutions using methyl trioctyl ammonium chloride as mineralization reagent under weak alkaline conditions. Owing to the higher bubble and interface mass transfer rates, high-efficiency enrichment and deep separation of vanadium could be achieved easily. Additionally, the deep recovery of tungsten and vanadium from the floated organic phase could be easily realized using a mixed solution of sodium hydroxide and sodium chloride as stripping agents. The separation mechanism mainly included the formation of hydrophobic complexes, their attachment on the surface of rising bubbles, and their mass transfer at the oil-water interface. Under the optimal conditions, the removal efficiency of vanadium reached 98.5% with tungsten loss below 8% after two-stage microbubble floating-extraction. Therefore, the microbubble floating-extraction could be an efficient approach for separating selectively vanadium from tungstate solutions, exhibiting outstanding advantages of high separation efficiency and low consumption of organic solvents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ionospheric total electron content (TEC) derived from multi-frequency Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals and the relevant products have become one of the most utilized parameters in the space weather and ionospheric research community. However, there are a couple of challenges in using the global TEC map data including large data gaps over oceans and the potential of losing meso-scale ionospheric structures when applying traditional reconstruction and smoothing algorithms. In this paper, we describe and release a global TEC map database, constructed and completed based on the Madrigal TEC database with a novel video imputation algorithm called VISTA (Video Imputation with SoftImpute, Temporal smoothing and Auxiliary data). The complete TEC maps reveal important large-scale TEC structures and preserve the observed meso-scale structures. Basic ideas and the pipeline of the video imputation algorithm are introduced briefly, followed by discussions on the computational costs and fine tuning of the adopted algorithm. Discussions on potential usages of the complete TEC database are given, together with a concrete example of applying this database. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Sparrow Search Algorithm (SSA) is recognized for its rapid convergence and precision in engineering optimization, yet it faces the challenge of premature convergence on complex problems. To address this, a multi-strategy improved sparrow search algorithm (MISSA) is proposed to enhance the optimization performance and applicability in this study. For the first time in the algorithm, the first definition of ellipses is integrated into SSA to balance its exploration and exploitation capabilities. A group co-evolutionary mechanism is introduced to promote population diversity and suppress premature convergence. Unlike most existing work, ablation experiments are utilized to evaluate the effective impact of these enhancement strategies on SSA. Statistical results based on the Wilcoxon signed-rank test and Friedman test show that the dynamic regulator based on the first definition of ellipses has the greatest impact on improving the performance of SSA. Numerical experiments based on the CEC2017 benchmark problems are used as an optimization case to compare MISSA with the classical metaheuristic algorithm and other state-of-the-art variants of SSA. The results demonstrate the outstanding performance and immense potential of MISSA in problem-solving. The applicability of the proposed algorithm is validated through six actual engineering optimization problems, showcasing strong competitiveness in global optimization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The accurate identification of modal parameters is a critical issue in the determination of features of civil structures. In this paper, a novel method based on the multisynchrosqueezing transform (MSST) is proposed to identify modal parameters, including natural frequencies, damping ratios and mode shapes of civil structures. The MSST consists of multiple operations of a synchrosqueezing transform so that the time-frequency representation of an analyzed signal becomes more concentrated, which allows more accurate decomposition of the signal. To identify modal parameters based on the MSST, first, the natural extraction technique is used to obtain a free vibration response from a measured ambient vibration response. Second, the free vibration response is decomposed into several modes by using the MSST, and mode shape vectors can be obtained from the decomposed modes for all measurements. Then, instantaneous phases and instantaneous amplitudes of the modes are obtained by using the Hilbert transform. Finally, a least-squares curve fitting technique is performed on the instantaneous phases and instantaneous amplitudes to extract natural frequencies and damping ratios. Two numerical examples, a 3-degree-of-freedom free vibration response signal and a four-story frame steel structure subjected to environmental vibration, are used to demonstrate the applicability of the MSST-based method. In addition, an experimental validation based on a pedestrian overpass, located in Tufts University, United States, is conducted. Case analyses indicate that the MSST-based method can easily identify high-quality natural frequencies and damping ratios from measurements of structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oil downhole metal pipe wall thickness measurement is of great importance for pipe evaluation and maintenance. Regular pipe inspection can be used to prevent pipe failure, which could otherwise lead to major failure and financial loss. In this paper, a low-frequency remote field eddy current (RFEC) based internal testing approach is presented, and the analytical solutions of the RFEC electromagnetic equation are obtained based on Dodd and Cheng's method. Meanwhile, induced voltage under different low frequencies is analyzed, and proper frequencies are chosen for follow-up calculations. For reducing the inspection time of pipe thickness measurement, quasi-Newton's method (QNM) is implemented based on the deduced solutions. Experimental results indicate that the RFEC and QNM based method is feasible for metal pipe thickness measurement. Pipe thickness is obtained accurately, and the lift-off effect, which has a considerable influence on eddy current testing results, is effectively overcome. The proposed method achieves pipe thickness measurement with proper accuracy and reduction in inspection time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anesthetic-induced cognitive impairment has been observed clinically. The mechanism underlying anesthetic-induced cognitive impairment is closely associated with neuronal apoptosis and neuroinflammation. Ramelteon is a potent and highly selective melatonin receptor agonist that has been used for the treatment of insomnia and has been reported to have an anti-inflammatory effect. In this study, we aimed to investigate the protective effects of Ramelteon against the cytotoxicity induced by isoflurane in brain microvascular endothelial cells. Our results show that Ramelteon ameliorated oxidative stress by suppressing the generation of mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS) in human brain microvascular endothelial cells (HBMVECs). In addition, Ramelteon displayed a robust anti-inflammatory capacity against isoflurane-induced insults and inflammation by reducing the generation of interleukin-1β (IL-1β), transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β), monocyte chemotactic protein 1 (MCP-1), stromal cell-derived factor-1 (SDF-1), matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2), and MMP-9. Furthermore, Ramelteon reduced the expression of cell adhesion molecules such as intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) and E-selectin. Importantly, Ramelteon downregulated the activation of the p38MAPK/NF-κB signaling pathway, which is the key transcriptional regulator in the inflammation process. Our findings in the present study provide new evidence for the use of Ramelteon in the prevention of isoflurane-induced insults in brain endothelial cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to solve the problem of structural damage identification, this paper proposes a damage identification method, called ASS, based on a single-node mode shape parameter. The method, which combines the mode shape parameter and the additional mass methods, can accurately identify the structural damage position and the damage parameter. Moreover, the best accuracy is achieved when an additional mass of approximately 5% of the total mass of the beam is used near the fixed hinge support. In the proposed identification method, only the single-node mode shape parameter of the beam structure is required to judge the position of the damage. This can lead to its straightforward adoption in practical engineering situations requiring structural damage detection in beams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To ensure the security of digital information, information needs to be stored and processed in the encryption domain during the cloud storage process, during which the user does not allow the cloud provider (CP) to access the image contents, and the CP must embed additional information in the image. Therefore, reversible data hiding in an encryption domain (RDHEI) has emerged. This paper presents an adaptive and separable multiary RDHEI method. First, the image is divided into two parts that consist of reference pixels and non-reference pixels. Next, we compute the prediction errors of the non-reference pixels, followed by a replacement of the original non-reference values with the computed prediction errors. Then, the entire image is encrypted with a specially designed stream cipher strategy so that the CP can embed additional information by modifying the prediction errors without knowing the original image. In addition, although our method vacates space before encryption, the CP can adaptively control the reserved space, unlike traditional RDHEI schemes which also vacate space before encryption. Because our method is separable, the embedded message can be extracted from both encryption and plaintext domains accurately. The experimental results demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The machined surface integrity has significance on fatigue life. The step-by-step feed cutting is put forward and adopted to machine ZL109 aluminum-silicon piston alloy. In addition, the forward and reverse finish cutting is also proposed to improve the machined quality and fatigue life. The result indicates that the step-by-step feed cutting can effectively avoid scratching and decrease surface roughness, bring about the compressive residual stress, and improve machined quality. Moreover, there is smaller elastic-plastic recovery and thermal expansion on the machined surface, when the step-by-step feed cutting is adopted, so that the machining dimension accuracy can be ensured perfectly. The forward and reverse finish cutting can effectively decrease the surface roughness and the tensile residual stress due to the thermal stress. So the larger the cutting thickness is, the smaller surface residual stress is, when the cutting depth is 0.15–0.30 mm in the forward and reverse finish cutting. It can improve the machined quality of ZL109 aluminum-silicon piston alloy and the fatigue life when the reasonable cutting parameter is adopted. Those results have an important practical significance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Johnson-Cook (JC) constitutive model was utilized to simulate the processing of Al-Si piston alloy ZL109 to obtain the optimal finishing parameters in polycrystalline diamond (PCD) tool, and studied the machining quality of ordinary-turning under the optimized cutting parameters. PCD is brittle, so it is difficult to manufacture orthogonal blades and is easy to break and high cost. We have adopted ordinary-turning quality to verify simulation results. Effect of cutting parameters on residual stress, cutting force and temperature was investigated through simulation, meanwhile, effect of cutting parameters on surface roughness and residual stress was analyzed by experiments. It indicates the verification method is practicable, and residual stress, cutting force and temperature are the smallest in simulation, and the experimental values of surface roughness and residual stress are also the smallest under the optimal cutting parameters, which can guide the cutting parameters selection to obtain higher machining quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on the wind environment variation improves our understanding of the process of climate change. This study examines temporal variation of the near-surface wind environment and investigates its possible causes in the Mu Us Dunefield of Northern China from 1960 to 2014, through analyzing the meteorological data from seven stations and the land use and land cover (LUCC) change data with 100 m resolution. The wind speed had a widespread significant decrease with an average trend of − 0.111 m s−1 decade−1, although the rate of decrease differed seasonally. This negative trend was also found in the winds that were above a 5 m s−1 threshold, as well as the percentage of their days, which influenced the wind speed change more strongly. Overall, 88.69% of the annual decrease resulted from decreases in the maximum wind speed, and the percentage even reached 100% in autumn and winter. We further found that the drift potential decreased at decadal time scales, mainly focusing on three prevailing wind groups: the northerly, westerly, and southerly winds. This revealed the weakened East Asian monsoon and westerly circulation in the lower atmosphere. Against the context of climate warming, the decline of wind speeds in spring was closely related to the greenhouse gas, while the winter decline was closely associated with the aerosol or atmospheric dust. Moreover, the LUCC change showed the decreased areas of sand land and the increased areas of vegetation-covered land, which increased the ground surface roughness and was another reason for the weakened wind environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the multi-step cutting process, the final machined surface quality is affected by the entire cutting process, especially the effect of work hardening and thermal softening induced by the previous steps (roughing or semi-finishing machining). In this paper, two-step (roughing-finishing) and three-step (roughing-semi-finishing-finishing) turning operations were designed by a single-factor experiment, and the effect of the change of cutting parameters in the previous steps on finishing surface quality was analyzed. Experimental results indicated that the microhardness in the machined surface layer of semi-finishing was smaller than that of roughing at the same depth, and the depth affected by work hardening of semi-finishing was thinner. Therefore, compared to two-step machining, the surface roughness affected by the work hardening and thermal softening of the previous steps was smaller after three-step machining, and the variation range of surface roughness with the change of the cutting parameters was smaller. Moreover, the relative height between the convex peak and the concave valley was larger. And the spacing between adjacent two convex peaks became larger and more uneven after three-step machining. The disturbed layer depth or the plastic deformation layer (PDL) depth was obviously reduced. However, the grains were severely distorted and stretched. It was because that semi-finishing weakened the work hardening of roughing in the three-step cutting process; therefore, the surface quality was better after finishing. By studying the effect of work hardening and thermal softening induced by the previous steps on finishing surface quality, the cutting parameters of roughing and semi-finishing were optimized to ultimately improve surface quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The yeast two-hybrid (Y2H) assay, a powerful tool for identifying protein-protein interactions, has been widely used to study viral protein interactions and to elucidate the functions of viral proteins. In this study, Cucurbit chlorotic yellows virus-encoded proteins were investigated by Y2H assays in all possible pairwise combinations, and the self-interactions of P59 and P9 were detected. The interacting domains of P59 and P9 were identified using vectors carrying an activation domain fused to a truncated version of P59 or P9. We found that the middle region (amino acids 173-344) of P59 was necessary for this self-interaction, while three different truncated versions of P9 showed no interaction with full-length P9. This is the first report of the self-interaction of P59 in the genus Crinivirus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The agricultural land resources of China are relatively limited because of its large population. Therefore, balancing the land use for industrialization, urbanization, and food security is a big challenge. In recent years, rural hollowing in China has resulted in numerous of abandoned rural houses, and the areas with abandoned houses need to be restored into agricultural land with effective land consolidation techniques. This study used the method of benefit-cost analysis and the data collected through field surveys conducted in Yucheng City in the northwest of Shandong Province in March 2009, to examine how hollow villages (HVs) to be created and how to solve the problem. The qualitative and quantitative analyses indicate following results. 1) The situation of HVs is becoming increasingly severe under rapid industrialization and urbanization in Yucheng City. 2) Poor infrastructure in rural areas and incomplete urbanization are the main factors that have led to the rural hollowing in many major rural regions of China. 3) In order to resolve the problem caused by HVs and increase agricultural land, reconstructing rural communities in the countryside is necessary. 4) A new mechanism in the provision of compensation funds by developed regions to the villages in less-developed regions must be established. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]