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Vitamin C (VC) serves as a pivotal nutrient for anti-oxidation process, metabolic responses, and stem cell differentiation. However, its precise contribution to placenta development and gestation remains obscure. Here, we demonstrated that physiological levels of VC act to stabilize Hand1, a key bHLH transcription factor vital for the development trajectory of trophoblast giant cell (TGC) lineages, thereby promoting the differentiation of trophoblast stem cells into TGC. Specifically, VC administration inactivated c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) signaling, which directly phosphorylates Hand1 at Ser48, triggering the proteasomal degradation of Hand1. Conversely, a loss-of-function mutation at Ser48 on Hand1 not only significantly diminished both intrinsic and VC-induced stabilization of Hand1 but also underscored the indispensability of this residue. Noteworthy, the insufficiency of VC led to severe defects in the differentiation of diverse TGC subtypes and the formation of labyrinth's vascular network in rodent placentas, resulting in failure of maintenance of pregnancy. Importantly, VC deficiency, lentiviral knockdown of JNK or overexpression of Hand1 mutants in trophectoderm substantially affected the differentiation of primary and secondary TGC in E8.5 mouse placentas. Thus, these findings uncover the significance of JNK inactivation and consequential stabilization of Hand1 as a hitherto uncharacterized mechanism controlling VC-mediated placentation and perhaps maintenance of pregnancy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phosphoinositide-3-kinase-γ (PI3Kγ) is implicated as a target to repolarize tumour-associated macrophages and promote antitumour immune responses in solid cancers1–4. However, cancer cell-intrinsic roles of PI3Kγ are unclear. Here, by integrating unbiased genome-wide CRISPR interference screening with functional analyses across acute leukaemias, we define a selective dependency on the PI3Kγ complex in a high-risk subset that includes myeloid, lymphoid and dendritic lineages. This dependency is characterized by innate inflammatory signalling and activation of phosphoinositide 3-kinase regulatory subunit 5 (PIK3R5), which encodes a regulatory subunit of PI3Kγ5 and stabilizes the active enzymatic complex. We identify p21 (RAC1)-activated kinase 1 (PAK1) as a noncanonical substrate of PI3Kγ that mediates this cell-intrinsic dependency and find that dephosphorylation of PAK1 by PI3Kγ inhibition impairs mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation. Treatment with the selective PI3Kγ inhibitor eganelisib is effective in leukaemias with activated PIK3R5. In addition, the combination of eganelisib and cytarabine prolongs survival over either agent alone, even in patient-derived leukaemia xenografts with low baseline PIK3R5 expression, as residual leukaemia cells after cytarabine treatment have elevated G protein-coupled purinergic receptor activity and PAK1 phosphorylation. Together, our study reveals a targetable dependency on PI3Kγ–PAK1 signalling that is amenable to near-term evaluation in patients with acute leukaemia.Using a multimodal approach across acute leukaemias, a targetable PI3Kγ dependency in leukaemias is explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large-scale experiments were carried out in an engine room platform to investigate the mass burning rate and smoke temperature under mechanical ventilation. Four air inlet heights ranged from 0.1 m to 1.0 m and six ventilation rates ranged from 38 h−1 to 126 h−1 were explored. The mass burning rates of pool fire and temperature distributions in the engine room were obtained. The average and maximum temperature values of the entire engine room were calculated to analyze the temperature characteristics of the engine room under various mechanical ventilation conditions. Results showed that the mass burning rates were slightly affected by ventilation rates. The vertical temperature distribution of ship engine room fires under mechanical ventilation presented to be a single-zone distribution. The average temperature of the entire engine room decreased with the increase of ventilation rate. On the basis of thermal balance analysis, a prediction model was proposed to calculate the average temperature of the entire engine room, which was consistent with the temperature trend measured in the experiments within 20% error. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The metallic plasmonic array that can support both propagating surface plasmon polaritons (PSPPs) and localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) possesses rich optical properties and remarkable optical performance, making it a powerful platform for applications in photonics, chemistry, and materials. For practical applications, the excitation spot is usually smaller than the area of metal arrays. It is thus imperative to address "how many array units are enough?" towards a rational design of plasmonic nanostructures. Herein, we employed focused ion beam (FIB) to precisely fabricate a series of plasmonic array structures with increased unit number. By utilizing photoluminescence (PL) and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), we found that the array units outside the excitation spot still have a significant impact on the optical response within the spot. Combined with the numerical simulation, we found that the boundary of the finite array leads to the loss of PSPP outside the excitation point, which subsequently affects the coupling of PSPP and LSPR in the excitation spot, leading to variations in PL and SERS intensity. Based on the findings, we further tuned the LSPR mode of the metal arrays by electrodeposition to obtain strong near-field enhancement without any influence on the PSPP mode. This work advances the understanding of near-field and far-field optical behavior in finite-size array structures and provides guidance for designing highly-efficient photonic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We initiate the work on maximin share (MMS) fair allocation of m indivisible chores to n agents using only their ordinal preferences, from both algorithmic and mechanism design perspectives. The previous best-known approximation ratio using ordinal preferences is 2 - 1 / n by Aziz et al. [AAAI 2017]. We improve this result by giving a deterministic 5/3-approximation algorithm that determines an allocation sequence of agents, according to which items are allocated one by one. By a tighter analysis, we show that for n = 2 and 3, our algorithm achieves better approximation ratios, and is actually optimal. We also consider the setting with strategic agents, where agents may misreport their preferences to manipulate the outcome. We first provide a strategyproof O (log (m / n)) -approximation consecutive picking algorithm, and then improve the approximation ratio to O (log n) by a randomized algorithm. Both algorithms only use the ordinal preferences of agents. Our results uncover some interesting contrasts between the approximation ratios achieved for chores versus goods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At present, terrorism has become an important factor affecting world peace and development. As the time series data of terrorist attacks usually show a high degree of spatial–temporal correlation, the spatial–temporal prediction of casualties in terrorist attacks is still a significant challenge in the field of counter-terrorism. Most of the existing terrorist attack prediction methods lack the ability to model the spatial–temporal dynamic correlation of the time series data of terrorist attacks, so they cannot yield satisfactory prediction results. In this paper, we propose a novel Attention-based spatial–temporal multi-graph convolutional network (AST-MGCN) for casualty prediction of terrorist attacks. Specifically, we construct the spatial adjacency graph and spatial diffusion graph based on the different social-spatial dynamic relationships of terrorist attacks and determine the multi-scale period of time series data of terrorist attacks by using wavelet transform to model the temporal trend, period and closeness properties of terrorist attacks. The AST-MGCN mainly consists of spatial multi-graph convolution for extracting social-spatial features in multi-views and temporal convolution for capturing the transition rules. In addition, we also use the spatial–temporal attention mechanism to effectively capture the most relevant spatial–temporal dynamic information. Experiments on public datasets demonstrate that the proposed model outperforms the state-of-the-art baselines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interlayer decoupling plays an essential role in realizing unprecedented properties in atomically thin materials, but it remains relatively unexplored in the bulk. It is unclear how to realize a large crystal that behaves as its monolayer counterpart by artificial manipulation. Here, we construct a superlattice consisting of alternating layers of NbSe2 and highly porous hydroxide, as a proof of principle for realizing interlayer decoupling in bulk materials. In (NaOH)0.5NbSe2, the electric decoupling is manifested by an ideal 1D insulating state along the interlayer direction. Vibration decoupling is demonstrated through the absence of interlayer models in the Raman spectrum, dominant local modes in heat capacity, low interlayer coupling energy and out-of-plane thermal conductivity (0.28 W/mK at RT) that are reduced to a few percent of NbSe2's. Consequently, a drastic enhancement of CDW transition temperature (>110 K) and Pauling-breaking 2D superconductivity is observed, suggesting that the bulk crystal behaves similarly to an exfoliated NbSe2 monolayer. Our findings provide a route to achieve intrinsic 2D properties on a large-scale without exfoliation. Interlayer decoupling plays an essential role in realizing unprecedented properties. Here, authors construct a superlattice consisting of alternating layers of NbSe2 and highly porous hydroxide, realizing interlayer decoupling and thus realizing exotic monolayer behaviors in bulk materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the online load balancing problem on related machines, we have a set of jobs (with different sizes) arriving online, and the task is to assign each job to a machine immediately upon its arrival, so as to minimize the makespan, i.e., the maximum completion time. In classic mechanism design problems, we assume that the jobs are controlled by selfish agents, with the sizes being their private information. Each job (agent) aims at minimizing its own cost, which is its completion time plus the payment charged by the mechanism. Truthful mechanisms guaranteeing that every job minimizes its cost by reporting its true size have been well studied (Aspnes et al. JACM 44(3):486–504, 1997, Feldman et al. in: EC, 2017). In this paper, we study truthful online load balancing mechanisms that are well-behaved (machine with higher speed has larger workload). Good behavior is important as it guarantees fairness between machines and implies truthfulness in some cases when machines are controlled by selfish agents. Unfortunately, existing truthful online load balancing mechanisms are not well behaved. We first show that to guarantee producing a well-behaved schedule, any online algorithm (even non-truthful) has a competitive ratio at least Ω (m) , where m is the number of machines. Then, we propose a mechanism that guarantees truthfulness of the online jobs and produces a schedule that is almost well-behaved. We show that our algorithm has a competitive ratio of O (log m) . Moreover, for the case when the sizes of online jobs are bounded, the competitive ratio of our algorithm improves to O(1). Interestingly, we show several cases for which our mechanism is actually truthful against selfish machines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The low-temperature thermoelectric performance of Bi-rich n-type Mg3(Bi,Sb)2 was limited by the electron transport scattering at grain boundaries, while removing grain boundaries and bulk crystal growth of Mg-based Zintl phases are challenging due to the volatilities of elemental reactants and their severe corrosions to crucibles at elevated temperatures. Herein, for the first time, we reported a facile growth of coarse-grained Mg3Bi2-xSbx crystals with an average grain size of ~800 μm, leading to a high carrier mobility of 210 cm2 · V−1 · s−1 and a high z of 2.9 × 10−3 K−1 at 300 K. A Δ T of 68 K at Th of 300 K, and a power generation efficiency of 5.8% below 450 K have been demonstrated for Mg3Bi1.5Sb0.5- and Mg3Bi1.25Sb0.75-based thermoelectric modules, respectively, which represent the cutting-edge advances in the near-room temperature thermoelectrics. In addition, the developed grain growth approach can be potentially extended to broad Zintl phases and other Mg-based alloys and compounds. It is challenging to increase carrier mobility in n-type Mg3(Bi,Sb)2 due to grain-boundary scattering. Here, authors reported a facile growth of coarse-grained Mg3(Bi,Sb)2 crystals with high carrier mobility. The as-fabricated module shows cooling performance comparable to commercial Bi2Te3 module. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three-dimensional (3D) covalent organic frameworks (COFs) possess higher surface areas, more abundant pore channels, and lower density compared to their two-dimensional counterparts which makes the development of 3D COFs interesting from a fundamental and practical point of view. However, the construction of highly crystalline 3D COF remains challenging. At the same time, the choice of topologies in 3D COFs is limited by the crystallization problem, the lack of availability of suitable building blocks with appropriate reactivity and symmetries, and the difficulties in crystalline structure determination. Herein, we report two highly crystalline 3D COFs with pto and mhq-z topologies designed by rationally selecting rectangular-planar and trigonal-planar building blocks with appropriate conformational strains. The pto 3D COFs show a large pore size of 46 Å with an extremely low calculated density. The mhq-z net topology is solely constructed from totally face-enclosed organic polyhedra displaying a precise uniform micropore size of 1.0 nm. The 3D COFs show a high CO2 adsorption capacity at room temperature and can potentially serve as promising carbon capture adsorbents. This work expands the choice of accessible 3D COF topologies, enriching the structural versatility of COFs. The development of three-dimensional (3D) covalent organic frameworks (COFs) with novel topologies is of both fundamental and practical interest but the construction of highly crystalline 3D COF remains challenging. Here, the authors report highly crystalline 3D COFs with pto and mhq-z topologies by rationally selecting rectangular-planar and trigonal-planar building blocks with appropriate conformational strains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microplastic pollution on bathing beaches threatens the health of human beings and coastal organisms. There is a lack of assessment on the level of microplastic pollution and the health risk associated with plastics. As one of the earliest open bathing beaches in China, Liandao is well known as the two high-quality beaches. However, little is known about the extent of microplastic pollution on these bathing beaches. Based on the analysis of microplastic pollution abundance, distribution, shape, size, color, and composition at the Liandao bathing beaches, this study puts forward a novel approach to comprehensively evaluate the microplastic pollution level and risk level by using the Nemerow pollution index (NPI) and polymer hazard index (PHI). The results show that the average abundance of microplastics on the Liandao bathing beaches is 135.42 ± 49.58 items/kg; the main shapes are fibers, fragments, and granules. Most of the microplastics are transparent, brown, and black, accounting for 71.54%, and they have an average particle size of 0.63 ± 0.43 mm. The main components are PE, PP, PS, PET, and nylon, of which nylon appears in the highest proportion (54.77%). The microplastic NPI and PHI values are 0.38 and 74.81, respectively, indicating that the pollution level and health risk index of microplastics on the Liandao bathing beaches are both low. With the increase in population and per capita consumption, plastic waste generated on land will continue to increase. Finally, this study puts forward some suggestions regarding microplastic monitoring, plastic waste management, and environmental attitudes and behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the production of multicrystalline silicon solar cell, diamond wire sawing method (DWS) is an important technique, which has already completely replaced multiwire slurry sawing (MWSS) method. And the making texture surface is one of the crucial steps for preparing silicon solar cells. Acid etching method with additives is an effective way to make texture surface on DWS multicrystalline silicon wafer surface. The texture structure was obtained in an acid solution by adding NaNO2, a mixture solution of PEG and PVA, DBSA and sodium citrate solution, and the volume ratio of HF, HNO3 and H2O for acid solution is 1:5:3. The reflectivity of silicon surface after etching can reduce to 20.06%, and the depth-to-width ratio of texture structure is 0.55. The photovoltaic conversion efficiency of solar cell obtained under this condition is the highest, the maximum value is 18.69%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mixed pesticides have been broadly used in agriculture. However, assessing the combined effects of pesticides in the environment is essential for potential risk assessment, though the task is far from complete. Median lethal concentrations of pesticides as well as acetylcholinesterase (AChE) levels and cellulose activities were measured in earthworms (Eisenia fetida) individually and jointly exposed to pesticides imidacloprid (IMI), acetamiprid (ACE), chlorpyrifos (CRF), and abamectin (ABM)). A 3:1 mixture of CRF and IMI had additive effects, while a 3:1 mixture of CRF and ACE had synergic effects. The joint effects of ABM with IMI or with ACE were synergistic. As CRF concentration increased, AChE activities were significantly decreased. For high concentrations of IMI, AChE activities under combined CRF and IMI applications were significantly inhibited following increased exposure time. Moreover, the cellulase activities under combined applications of CRF with IMI or with ACE had similar effects. This study provides basic data for scientifically evaluating the environmental risk and safety of combined uses of pesticides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early diagnosis of lung cancer is critically important to reduce disease severity and improve overall survival. Newer, minimally invasive biopsy procedures often fail to provide adequate specimens for accurate tumor subtyping or staging which is necessary to inform appropriate use of molecular targeted therapies and immune checkpoint inhibitors. Thus newer approaches to diagnosis and staging in early lung cancer are needed. This exploratory pilot study obtained peripheral blood samples from 139 individuals with clinically evident pulmonary nodules (benign and malignant), as well as ten healthy persons. They were divided into three cohorts: original cohort (n = 99), control cohort (n = 10), and validation cohort (n = 40). Average RNAseq sequencing of leukocytes in these samples were conducted. Subsequently, data was integrated into artificial intelligence (AI)-based computational approach with system-wide gene expression technology to develop a rapid, effective, non-invasive immune index for early diagnosis of lung cancer. An immune-related index system, IM-Index, was defined and validated for the diagnostic application. IM-Index was applied to assess the malignancies of pulmonary nodules of 109 participants (original + control cohorts) with high accuracy (AUC: 0.822 [95% CI: 0.75–0.91, p < 0.001]), and to differentiate between phases of cancer immunoediting concept (odds ratio: 1.17 [95% CI: 1.1–1.25, p < 0.001]). The predictive ability of IM-Index was validated in a validation cohort with a AUC: 0.883 (95% CI: 0.73–1.00, p < 0.001). The difference between molecular mechanisms of adenocarcinoma and squamous carcinoma histology was also determined via the IM-Index (OR: 1.2 [95% CI 1.14–1.35, p = 0.019]). In addition, a structural metabolic behavior pattern and signaling property in host immunity were found (bonferroni correction, p = 1.32e − 16). Taken together our findings indicate that this AI-based approach may be used for "Super Early" cancer diagnosis and amend the current immunotherpay for lung cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Substituted polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are PAH derivatives in which substituents replace hydrogen atoms on the aromatic benzene ring, or N/S/O atoms replace carbon atoms in aromatic rings. Compared to unsubstituted PAHs, some substituted PAHs have higher pollution levels and more significant toxicity than their parent PAHs (p-PAHs), and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) lists them as possible human carcinogens, which harm human health but lack sufficient examination. This paper summarizes and discusses the environmental occurrence and distribution, toxicity, and impacts of substituted PAHs on human health and compares with the 16 representative priority-controlled PAHs (PAHs16). According to occurrence of PAHs in various environmental media, it is shown that the mean concentration of individual substituted PAH in the air is higher than that of individual PAH16. The mean concentration of individual substituted PAH in the soil varies widely among different countries, with a difference of 100,000 times between the lowest level (Italy) and the highest level (USA). The mean individual alkylated PAH (APAHs) and oxygenated PAH (OPAHs) are the most abundant in surface water and sediments. In the aspect of toxicity effects, some substituted PAHs have been proved to have similar or identical toxicity as PAHs16. We summarize existing problems and propose future priority research areas through the analysis of the occurrence and toxicity of substituted PAHs in the environment, which is important for further research and regulation of substituted PAHs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influences of minor Y addition on the thermal stability, crystallization behavior, magnetic property and bending ductility of Fe–Si–B amorphous ribbons have been systematically investigated. The results show that all the ribbons with Y addition are fully amorphous structure, and the introduction of Y can enhance the glass forming ability of Fe–Si–B amorphous alloy. With Y addition, crystallization temperature of the first and second phase shift to high temperature side, the temperature interval between the two crystallization peaks are enlarged, the third phase transitions process of Fe–Si–B amorphous alloy with Y addition corresponds to the precipitation of Fe3B phase. The activation energy of the first and second phase calculated by Kissinger's formula increased with Y addition. Appropriate Y addition is beneficial for Ms. The measured coercivity Hc gradually decreased with the Y addition increased. The amorphous alloys exhibit good bending ductility in the quenched state. The ductile to brittle temperature increase to 300 °C with 1 at% Y addition. Furthermore, the mechanism of ductile to brittle for amorphous alloy was discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cancer patients are more susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection and generally have higher mortality rate. Anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG is an important consideration for the patients in this COVID-19 pandemic. Recent researches suggested the rapid decay of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in the general population, but the decline rate of the antibodies in cancer patients was unknown. In this observational study, we reported the clinical features of the 53 cancer patients infected by SARS-CoV-2 from Wuhan, China and tracked the presence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in the patients for more than 12 months. We found the duration (days) of anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG in the patients was significant longer in chemotherapy (mean: 175; range: 75 to 315) and radiotherapy groups (mean: 168; range: 85 to 265) than in non-chemo- or radio-therapy group (mean: 58; range: 21 to 123) after their recovery from COVID-19. We also used single-cell RNA sequencing to track the immunologic changes in a representative patient recovered from COVID-19 and found that CD8 + effective T cells, memory B cells and plasma cells were persistently activated in the patient undergoing chemotherapy. Together, our findings show that chemotherapy and radiotherapy might be beneficial to extend the duration of anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the first-principles method, the structural, electronic, optical and mechanical properties of the vertical and lateral heterostructures based on the boron phosphide (BP) and GaN monolayers, named V-GaN@BP and L-GaN@BP, are investigated systematically. Our results revealed that the band structure of the V-GaN@BP is more sensitive than that of the L-GaN@BP to the strain and the external electric field (Efield). For the VD-GaN@BP, with the Efield and strain, the band structure not only undergoes a fascinating direct–indirect and semiconductor–metal transition, but also experiences a transition from type-I to type-II. However, the LNB-GaN@BP maintains a type-II semiconductor with an indirect band gap, though the band gaps can be strongly modulated by applied strain and the Efield. Moreover, the heterostructures are found to be mechanically stable presenting superior optical properties in the visible and UV light range. Consequently, we expect the GaN@BP heterostructures are novel architectures for the future development of efficient optoelectronic devices, due to the selective control of their bandgaps, the excellent optical and mechanical properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanoparticles (NPs) possess the unique physical and chemical properties compared with gas-phase molecule and bulk crystal. Hence, the energetics, electronic structure, and vibrational properties of CL-20 and NTO NPs were investigated by the combinational strategy based on density-functional tight-binding (DFTB) and density-functional theory (DFT) methods. The results show that NPs possess quite different features from the isolated state molecule and the bulk crystal. The excess energies, surface energies, and enthalpy of sublimation for the NPs are predicted. The surface-induced surface states of the CL-20 and NTO NPs result in the significant decrease on the energy gaps and the formation of active sites on the surfaces. The vibrational properties related to the decomposition pathways for both CL-20 and NTO NPs, gas molecules, and bulk crystals are discussed and compared with previous theoretical and experimental values. Our results are expected to provide basic insights into the understandings of the surface effect of nano-sized energetic materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As prime coastal recreational areas, beaches attract an increasing number of users worldwide. However, current studies have shown that beaches are subject to plastic pollution, one of the most significant global environmental threats. Considering the health of tourists and ecological environmental management of beaches, microplastics on recreational beaches are urgently being studied. This paper first focused on microplastics on the recreational beaches of Haichow Bay, which is located on the central coast of China and faces the Yellow Sea. The microplastic pollution level, occurrence, and distribution were investigated. Our study demonstrated that microplastics were consistently found on all studied beaches, which emphasized their extensive distribution throughout recreational beaches. The average microplastic abundance was 106.50 ± 34.41 items/kg, demonstrating that the microplastic pollution level on the studied beaches tended to be in the middle-to-low position compared with previous studies. In total, eight colors were found, more than 90% of microplastics were less than 1 mm in size, and fiber and fragments were the dominant shapes. Resort beaches contained the highest number of microplastics, indicating that the microplastic pollution level on recreational beaches was directly related to the tourism intensity. Five types of plastic were found in the samples, i.e., polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), PS (polystyrene (PS), polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and nylon. Land inputs were the main source of pollution. This study provided baseline information on microplastic pollution that can be used for effective and comprehensive management of recreational beaches and suggests that the management of plastic use and recycling on beaches should be integrated into China's'coastal zone management practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Series samples MnBi1-xGdx (x = 0, 0.04, 0.08, 0.12, and 0.16) were prepared and studied the structure and magnetic properties. The Rietveld refinement results showed that the low-temperature phase MnBi content in these samples is above 78% and the doped atoms occupied the position of Bi in the MnBi crystal structure. The Debye temperature is founding to decrease with increasing doping. The Curie temperature, paramagnetic to ferromagnetic transition temperature, thermal hysteresis, saturation magnetization, and coercive force of the samples change significantly with increasing doping content. Within a temperature range of 300–500 K, a positive coercivity temperature coefficient β existed. This work helps MnBi-Gd as a candidate for high-temperature magnetic material applications and contributes to the development of tailoring magnetic properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plant disease leaf image segmentation plays an important role in the plant disease detection through leaf symptoms. A novel segmentation method of plant disease leaf image is proposed based on a hybrid clustering. The whole color leaf image is firstly divided into a number of compact and nearly uniform superpixels by superpixel clustering, which can provide useful clustering cues to guide image segmentation to accelerate the convergence speed of the expectation maximization (EM) algorithm, and then, the lesion pixels are quickly and accurately segmented from each superpixel by EM algorithm. The experimental results and the comparison results with similar approaches demonstrate that the proposed method is effective and has high practical value for plant disease detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The acellular dermal matrix (ADM) used in correcting the tear trough deformity has been reported, but there were only a few cases. The long-term effectiveness of ADM was not clear. We aim to discuss the technique and the effect of using ADM to correct the tear trough deformity through more cases.Methods: A retrospective study was conducted from January 2012 to January 2017. Twenty-six patients who showed obvious tear trough deformity with moderate or severe orbital fat bulging and excess of lower eyelid skin were treated with ADM to improve the appearance of the midface. Follow-up was performed for 2-12 months in 26 cases. The level of postoperative satisfaction was assessed by interview during the follow-up and rated as very satisfied, satisfied, acceptable, or unacceptable.Result: Twenty patients were very satisfied for having achieved complete correction. Three patients were satisfied for having achieved obvious improvement. Three patients felt the results were just acceptable and were refilled because of the insufficiency of the filler. No one was unacceptable. There were no complications such as rapid resorption, rejection, or inflammation.Conclusion: The method of using ADM for the correction of tear trough deformity has the advantages of low absorption rate, good appearance, and high security. It provides a new choice for the treatment of tear trough deformity.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]

We study the max-min fair allocation problem in which a set of m indivisible items are to be distributed among n agents such that the minimum utility among all agents is maximized. In the restricted setting, the utility of each item j on agent i is either 0 or some non-negative weight wj. For this setting, Asadpour et al. (ACM Trans Algorithms 8(3):24, 2012) showed that a certain configuration-LP can be used to estimate the optimal value to within a factor of 4+δ, for any δ>0, which was recently extended by Annamalai et al. (in: Indyk (ed) Proceedings of the twenty-sixth annual ACMSIAM symposium on discrete algorithms, SODA 2015, San Diego, CA, USA, January 4-6, 2015) to give a polynomial-time 13-approximation algorithm for the problem. For hardness results, Bezáková and Dani (SIGecom Exch 5(3):11-18, 2005) showed that it is NP-hard to approximate the problem within any ratio smaller than 2. In this paper we consider the (1,ϵ)-restricted max-min fair allocation problem in which each item j is either heavy (wj=1) or light (wj=ϵ), for some parameter ϵ∈(0,1). We show that the (1,ϵ)-restricted case is also NP-hard to approximate within any ratio smaller than 2. Using the configuration-LP, we are able to estimate the optimal value of the problem to within a factor of 3+δ, for any δ>0. Extending this idea, we also obtain a quasi-polynomial time (3+4ϵ)-approximation algorithm and a polynomial time 9-approximation algorithm. Moreover, we show that as ϵ tends to 0, the approximation ratio of our polynomial-time algorithm approaches 3+22≈5.83. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's recent rapid economic development has resulted in rampant urbanization and substantial farmland reduction, which makes food security a great policy concern, not only in China, but around the world. The Chinese government has been implementing large-scale land consolidation programs since 1998 in order to stabilize and improve the quantity and quality of national farmland. During 2006-2012, about 6.8% of total national farmland was renewed by land consolidation programs. A comprehensive analysis of the relationship between the spatial distribution of land consolidation projects and the present status (quality and quantity) of respective farmland is critical for the future national land consolidation strategy. Land use, land consolidation management data, implementation status and spatial-temporal features of such implementation were explored. We found that prioritized implementation was weak at the national level; that is, obvious discrepancies exist between implementation intensity and improvement potential of farmland quality. Furthermore, the national land consolidation plan did not provide effective guidance for land consolidation practices; hence policy implementation differs significantly across the country. We suggest that methods of management and operational strategy in land consolidation should be improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The atmospheric deposition fluxes of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and Dechlorane Plus (DPs) in Dongjiang River Basin of the Pearl River Delta in South China were investigated during winter and summer, respectively. The total deposition fluxes varied from 4.74 to 27.0 ng/m/day for PBDEs and 8.77 to 206 ng/m/day for DPs, respectively. The fractions of anti-DP to the total DPs ( f ) varied from 0.28 to 0.63 (mean = 0.43 ± 0.06), i.e., generally lower than those in commercial products, which might be attributed to the different environmental fates of the two isomers. Significant seasonal and spatial variations of PBDEs and DPs were observed. The deposition fluxes in summer were generally higher than those in winter, which may be due to the relatively high temperature and rainfall in summer under the influence of prevailing subtropical monsoon climate. Moreover, high deposition fluxes of PBDEs and DPs in urban areas and significant urban/rural gradient implied that local industrial activities in the urban areas were primary sources, which were further confirmed by the results of principal component analysis. The highest deposition of PBDE and DP fluxes was found at different sampling sites, suggesting PBDEs and DPs may be derived from different industries or products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Acellular dermal matrix (ADM) is commonly used for tissue expander/implant breast (TE/I-based) reconstruction. But the relation between ADM and postoperative complications remains controversial. A few meta-analyses were conducted in 2011-2012 and the result revealed that ADM can increase the risk of complications. The purpose of our study is to offer updated evidence for ADM clinical application by analyzing the effect of ADM on complications of TE/I-based breast reconstruction. Methods: The literature published from January 2010 to February 2015 was searched in EMbase, Medline, Science Direct, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), CBMdisc, CNKI, VIP, and the references of those included studies were also searched by hand. According to inclusive criteria, 11 studies were selected and the values were extracted from the included literature. Complications with four different categories assigned for overall complications, infection, hematoma/seroma, and explantation were collected. RevMan 5.1 was used for meta-analysis. The evidence level was assessed by using the GRADE system. Results: Eleven published studies were included. The results showed that compared to the control group, the ADM group increased the rate of overall complications (OR = 1.33, 95 % CI 1.03-1.70, p = 0.03), infection (OR = 1.47, 95 % CI 1.04-2.06, p = 0.03), hematoma/seroma (OR = 1.66, 95 % CI 1.13-2.44, p = 0.01), but there was no significant difference in explantation (OR = 1.37, 95 % CI 0.89-2.11, p = 0.15). Based on the GRADE system, all the evidence was at level C and weak recommendation. Conclusions: In TE/I-based breast reconstruction, ADM increased the incidence of overall complications, infection, and hematoma/seroma; the incidence of explantation remains unknown. For the poor quality of the original studies, a prudent choice is suggested; and more high-quality, large-sample studies are needed. No Level Assigned: This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each submission to which Evidence-Based Medicine rankings are applicable. This excludes Review Articles, Book Reviews, and manuscripts that concern Basic Science, Animal Studies, Cadaver Studies, and Experimental Studies. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, nonlinear mapping (NM)-based backstepping control design is presented for a class of strict-feedback nonlinear systems with output constraint. By mapping output value set onto the set of all real numbers, the constrained system is transformed into a new strict-feedback unconstrained system to employ the traditional backstepping control while simultaneously preventing the constraint from being violated. It is proved that the original system has the similar convergence and bounded properties with the new one. Besides the nominal case where full knowledge of the plant is available, we also tackle scenarios wherein parametric uncertainties are present. Furthermore, the comparison with barrier Lyapunov function-based algorithm reveals the advantages of NM algorithm. The closed-loop system is guaranteed to be stable in the sense that all signals involved remain bounded, and the tracking error converges to zero asymptotically. Simulation studies illustrate the performance of the proposed control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fabrication of molybdovanadophosphoric acids incorporated into SBA-15 mesoporous silicas has been achieved via a one-pot procedure. The as-obtained composite materials were well characterized by XRD, TEM, and nitrogen adsorption-desorption which indicated that the composite materials possessed good mesoporous character. FT-IR, ICP showed molybdovanadophosphoric acids had been successfully incorporated into SBA-15 mesoporous silicas with intact structure of Keggin units. Due to well dispersion of the Keggin units, high structural stability, and low leaching level of active Keggin units, the obtained-catalysts systems showed significant catalytic efficiency and reusability for wet hydrogen peroxide oxidation of phenol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Retraction Note to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-021-05227-z [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the critical solution temperature of nonionic tensioactive phosphine ligand, a novel process termed as thermoregulated phase-separable catalysis has been applied for the first time in the hydroformylation of cyclohexene. The catalyst is formed in situ from P[ p-C6H4O(CH2CH2O)nH]3 (PETPP) and RhCl3·3H2O. Under the conditions of T=130 °C, P=5.0 Mpa, the conversion of cyclohexene and yield of aldehyde are 98.4%. The catalyst was reused four times and no loss in activity has been observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]