Search

Network embeddings, which map nodes to low-dimensional vectors, facilitate link prediction, a pivotal aspect of complex network research. However, existing methods often overlook the complexities of hypergraphs and potent structures for modeling intricate relationships among multiple entities. This paper delves into link prediction within hypergraph motifs and network embedding (HMNE), crucial for diverse fields like knowledge graphs and bioinformatics. HMNE employs motifs to perform network embedding, representing nodes as hyper-nodes. HMNE utilizes the skip-gram model to get the embedding vectors by analyzing the sequence generated using a local random walk technique. Additionally, we consider hyper-motifs as super-nodes to highlight structural similarities between nodes. To further refine our methodology, we use the depth and breadth motif random walk strategy on the embedded network with hyper-nodes. This innovative approach enriches our understanding of network dynamics and enhances the predictive power of our model. We have thoroughly experimented the proposed method on several real-world datasets, and the results consistently demonstrate its usefulness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amidst the rising prevalence of respiratory diseases, the importance of effective lung treatment modalities is more critical than ever. However, current drug delivery systems face significant limitations that impede their efficacy and therapeutic outcome. Biohybrid microrobots have shown considerable promise for active in vivo drug delivery, especially for pulmonary applications via intratracheal routes. However, the invasive nature of intratracheal administration poses barriers to its clinical translation. Herein, we report on an efficient non-invasive inhalation-based method of delivering microrobots to the lungs. A nebulizer is employed to encapsulate picoeukaryote algae microrobots within small aerosol particles, enabling them to reach the lower respiratory tract. Post nebulization, the microrobots retain their motility (~55 μm s-1) to help achieve a homogeneous lung distribution and long-term retention exceeding five days in the lungs. Therapeutic efficacy is demonstrated in a mouse model of acute methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus pneumonia using this pulmonary inhalation approach to deliver microrobots functionalized with platelet membrane-coated polymeric nanoparticles loaded with vancomycin. These promising findings underscore the benefits of inhalable biohybrid microrobots in a setting that does not require anesthesia, highlighting the substantial translational potential of this delivery system for routine clinical applications. Reaching the depths of the respiratory tract is hard even with vapor-based drug delivery. Here, the authors devise inhalable biohybrid microrobots that, thanks to their motility, reach deeper regions of the lungs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, heavy metal (HM) soil pollution is becoming an increasingly serious concern. Heavy metals in soils pose significant environmental and health risks due to their persistence, toxicity, and potential for bioaccumulation. These metals often originate from anthropogenic activities such as industrial emissions, agricultural practices, and improper waste disposal. Once introduced into the soil, they can bind to soil particles, making them difficult to remove, while potentially entering the food chain through plant uptake or water contamination. Rapid access to reliable data on HM viscosity in soils is necessary to efficiently monitor remediated soils. Visible and near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (350–2500 nm) is an economical and zero-pollution method that can evaluate multiple HM concentrations in soil simultaneously. Black soil is a valuable agricultural resource that helps guarantee food security worldwide and can serve as a soil carbon reservoir, but its protection faces several challenges. Due to long-term high-intensity development and utilization and the severe over-exploitation of groundwater, the arable land in China's black soil area has been degraded. Using hyperspectral inversion of heavy metal content in soil can reduce the destructive sample collection and chemical pollution of soil, better protect black land resources, and steadily restore and improve the basic fertility of black land. Focusing on the black area region of Jilin Province, this study explored the correlation between three HMs, namely copper, zinc, and cadmium, and organic substances, clay minerals, and ferromanganese oxides through an in-depth analysis of soil samples using soil reflectance spectrometry. The spectra were transformed using first-and second-order derivatives, multiple scattering corrections, autoscales, and Savitzky–Golay smoothing. The successive projection algorithm was used to screen characteristic bands (Table S1) to establish the link between HM content in soil and soil spectra. By employing the support vector machine (SVM), random forest (RF), and partial least squares (PLS) models, feature band-based soil HM inversion modeling was established. Moreover, the optimal combinations of spectral transforms and inversion models were also examined. The findings indicate that the RF model (R2 > 0.8, RPIQ > 0) outperformed the SVM and PLS models in anticipating the three soil HMs, thus demonstrating superior accuracy. Understanding the behavior of heavy metals in soils and developing effective management strategies are essential for ensuring sustainable land use and protecting public health. This study contributes to the development of large-scale monitoring systems for the HM content of soil and assessments of HM contamination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The visual system is essential as a critical source for intelligent robots to acquire external information. Nevertheless, the real-time performance of existing approaches remains inadequate. To address this, a new high-performance target classification system based on FPGA has been developed as part of the visual system. This system optimizes the hardware architecture of the target classification algorithm, incorporating a novel method aimed at boosting parallelism to improve real-time performance. The system is implemented on the Xilinx Zynq-7045 FPGA. Experimental results demonstrate that, for a grayscale image with a resolution of 128 × 128, the feature extraction time is merely 85.64 µs, achieving a speed three orders of magnitude greater than that of the MATLAB platform. Additionally, the resource consumption of this design is lower than that of existing hardware architectures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of rapid urbanization, the proliferation of high-density residential zones and intricate infrastructure networks markedly amplifies a city's susceptibility to natural calamities, notably seismic events. Thus, a precise evaluation of a city's emergency capability for seismic events is imperative. This research proposes a novel and all-encompassing evaluation framework for indicators, grounded in crisis management theory, covering the entire spectrum of disaster mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery. The framework comprises four primary dimensions and 15 auxiliary indicators, synergistically integrating quantitative and qualitative methodologies. Employing the coefficient of Coefficient of Variation Method and the Delphi Method, the study assigns weights to the indicators, while the 2-tuple fuzzy linguistic approach adeptly manages uncertain information. Utilizing Changchun City as an exemplar, the constructed and analyzed model highlights the city's strengths in emergency supply reserves and the formulation of emergency plans. However, the findings indicate a pressing need for enhancements in seismic preparedness, monitoring and early warning systems, urban economic resilience, and public education initiatives. This study not only furnishes a robust framework for evaluating disaster emergency capabilities specific to Changchun City but also imparts valuable insights applicable to seismic disaster management in other urban contexts. It substantially contributes to the theoretical and practical discourse on augmenting urban resilience in the face of natural disasters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on the northern scenic area of Changbai Mountain, aiming to evaluate the emergency evacuation capacity of the region in the context of geological disasters and to formulate corresponding improvement strategies. Due to the relatively small area of this region, difficulties in data acquisition, and insufficient precision, traditional models for evaluating emergency evacuation capacity are typically applied to urban built environments, with relatively few studies addressing scenic areas. To tackle these issues, this research employs the Real-Enhanced Super-Resolution Generative Adversarial Network (Real-ESRGAN), which successfully resolves the problem of blurriness in remote sensing images and significantly enhances image clarity. Coupled with the Graph Convolutional Network (GCN) model, the study calculates the emergency evacuation time for each raster point, providing a comprehensive assessment of the region's evacuation capacity. Based on the evaluation results, the study proposes targeted improvement measures for areas identified as having poor emergency evacuation capacity, taking into account the existing infrastructure of the scenic area. By constructing an indicator system encompassing effectiveness, accessibility, and safety, the feasibility of each proposed enhancement strategy is assessed scientifically and rationally. Through these integrated tools and methodologies, this research significantly improves the accuracy of data processing, evaluation, and decision support, showcasing a comprehensive approach to scenic area research that provides critical support for geological disaster management, emergency planning, and the overall safety of the Changbai Mountain scenic area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Autoantibodies that cause platelet apoptosis may play a role in the development of immune thrombocytopenia (ITP), specifically antibodies that target GPIIbIIIa and GPIbα. Our research aims to compare the impact of the antigen specificity of antiplatelet antibodies on normal platelets under conditions that do not rely on complement. Using a modified monoclonal antibody-specific immobilization of platelet antigen (MAIPA) assay, we detected the levels of autoantibodies against specific platelet membrane glycoproteins (GPIIb/IIIa, GPIb/IX) in the plasma of 36 patients diagnosed with chronic ITP. IgG was isolated and purified using a protein A agarose affinity chromatography column, and their concentrations were measured using spectrophotometry. We obtained normal platelets and treated them with the purified IgG anti-GPIIb/IIIa and/or anti-GPIb/IX antibodies, as well as an IgG-free buffer and healthy control IgG. Flow cytometry was used to analyze markers of apoptosis, including phosphatidylserine (PS) exposure, mitochondrial inner membrane potential (ΔΨm), and platelet particle formation. Our results indicate that ITP patients with GPIb/IX-specific autoantibodies can induce platelet apoptosis and platelet particle formation through complement-independent pathways, which are not associated with platelet activation, while GPIIb/IIIa-specific autoantibodies did not have this effect. This suggests that specific autoantibodies may serve as a valuable predictive tool to identify patients who could potentially benefit from complement-inhibiting therapy in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magnetic kagome materials provide a fascinating playground for exploring the interplay of magnetism, correlation and topology. Many magnetic kagome systems have been reported including the binary FemXn (X = Sn, Ge; m:n = 3:1, 3:2, 1:1) family and the rare earth RMn6Sn6 (R = rare earth) family, where their kagome flat bands are calculated to be near the Fermi level in the paramagnetic phase. While partially filling a kagome flat band is predicted to give rise to a Stoner-type ferromagnetism, experimental visualization of the magnetic splitting across the ordering temperature has not been reported for any of these systems due to the high ordering temperatures, hence leaving the nature of magnetism in kagome magnets an open question. Here, we probe the electronic structure with angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy in a kagome magnet thin film FeSn synthesized using molecular beam epitaxy. We identify the exchange-split kagome flat bands, whose splitting persists above the magnetic ordering temperature, indicative of a local moment picture. Such local moments in the presence of the topological flat band are consistent with the compact molecular orbitals predicted in theory. We further observe a large spin-orbital selective band renormalization in the Fe d x y + d x 2 − y 2 spin majority channel reminiscent of the orbital selective correlation effects in the iron-based superconductors. Our discovery of the coexistence of local moments with topological flat bands in a kagome system echoes similar findings in magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene, and provides a basis for theoretical effort towards modeling correlation effects in magnetic flat band systems. Spectroscopic study on a kagome magnet thin film uncovers the local-moment nature of the magnetism in the presence of topological flat bands, as well as a strong spin- and orbital-selective electronic correlation effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wetlands, as vital components of urban ecological infrastructure, provide essential ecosystem services. However, they face increasing risks of degradation and loss due to their vulnerability, environmental changes, and human activities. Therefore, effective restoration efforts are urgently needed. This study adopts a novel approach by considering the urban–rural gradient and integrates land use data, ecological parameters, and anthropogenic factors in Hefei City. Through morphological spatial pattern analysis, principal component analysis, and affinity propagation, this study identifies and analyzes urban–rural gradients. Using the optimal parameter geographic detector, the drivers of wetland changes from 1990 to 2020 are quantitatively assessed across different urban–rural gradients in Hefei. The findings indicate the following. (1) A persistent reduction in wetland expanse throughout the study duration, diminishing from 1274.56 km2 in 1990 to 1119.37 km2 in 2020, constituting a decrement of 12.17%. (2) Based on geographic detector outcomes, disparate driving forces underpin wetland dynamics across urban–rural gradients, with urban locales predominantly influenced by organic carbon and the proportion of impervious surface factors. Meanwhile, in agricultural and semi-ecological villages, silt is the primary factor, while ecological villages are primarily modulated by both silt and gross domestic product factors. Additionally, synergistic interactions manifest heightened explanatory power. This study elucidates the mechanistic underpinnings of wetland dynamics along urban–rural gradients, providing pivotal insights for developing targeted wetland restoration and conservation policies pertinent to the urban–rural developmental trajectory in Hefei City. Concurrently, it offers relevant recommendations for the multifaceted stewardship and sustainable development of wetlands in Hefei City in the foreseeable future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emergent phases often appear when the electronic kinetic energy is comparable to the Coulomb interactions. One approach to seek material systems as hosts of such emergent phases is to realize localization of electronic wavefunctions due to the geometric frustration inherent in the crystal structure, resulting in flat electronic bands. Recently, such efforts have found a wide range of exotic phases in the two-dimensional kagome lattice, including magnetic order, time-reversal symmetry breaking charge order, nematicity, and superconductivity. However, the interlayer coupling of the kagome layers disrupts the destructive interference needed to completely quench the kinetic energy. Here we demonstrate that an interwoven kagome network—a pyrochlore lattice—can host a three dimensional (3D) localization of electron wavefunctions. Meanwhile, the nonsymmorphic symmetry of the pyrochlore lattice guarantees all band crossings at the Brillouin zone X point to be 3D gapless Dirac points, which was predicted theoretically but never yet observed experimentally. Through a combination of angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, fundamental lattice model and density functional theory calculations, we investigate the novel electronic structure of a Laves phase superconductor with a pyrochlore sublattice, CeRu2. We observe evidence of flat bands originating from the Ce 4f orbitals as well as flat bands from the 3D destructive interference of the Ru 4d orbitals. We further observe the nonsymmorphic symmetry-protected 3D gapless Dirac cone at the X point. Our work establishes the pyrochlore structure as a promising lattice platform to realize and tune novel emergent phases intertwining topology and many-body interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To protect and improve the soil environment of the Songnen Plain, detailed identification of organic pollutant contamination features in the soil and the degree of contamination is required. The primary goals of this research are to measure the levels of organic pollutants detected in the soil of the Songnen Plain, to correlate the levels of organic pollutants with different land use practices, and to assess the environmental quality of the soil using various pollution indicators. Material and methods: Contaminated soil was collected at three types of areas: residential (n = 26), agricultural (n = 22), and industrial (n = 12) in the Songnen Plain of Jilin Province, at 0–20 cm and 20–40 cm depths. The concentrations of dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, benzene hexachloride, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene, benzo (a) pyrene (BaP), trichloromethane, tetrachloromethane, hexachlorobenzene, and atrazine in the soil samples were determined using gas chromatography (GC), gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer-mass spectrometer (GC-MS-MS), and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Results and discussion: Soil BaP had the highest concentration with a mean value of 20.59 ng/kg, followed by atrazine, hexachlorobenzene, benzene hexachloride, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), trichloromethane, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene, and tetrachloromethane with mean concentrations of 0.46, 0.44, 0.34, 0.28, 0.21, 0.14, 0.06, 0.03, and 0.02 ng/kg, respectively. Soil organic pollutants at all sampling sites did not exceed the secondary environmental quality standard values. The most serious soil contamination was found in landfill sites, followed by urban areas, industrial areas and farmland areas. Conclusions: Soil contamination is more severe in locations where human activity is more prevalent. The subsoil can better reflect the characteristics of soil pollution in the area compared to the upper layer of soil. Although contamination is low in the research region, the presence of these pollutants must be taken seriously in order to maintain the quality and safety of agricultural products and human health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grouting technology is the primary method for repairing cracks in earthen sites. However, there has been a long-standing lack of effective methods for evaluating grouting effectiveness. This paper proposes a field evaluation method based on P-wave velocity. This method explicitly discusses two scenarios where the P-wave velocity of the grout is either higher or lower than that of the soil, using the depth ℎ of the "hypothetical crack" as the evaluation indicator. The experimental results indicate that specimens with 20% and 40% defects show increases in ℎ values of 0.0113 m and 0.0166 m, respectively. Laboratory tests have demonstrated that this method can accurately evaluate grouting effectiveness and is not affected by the P-wave velocity of the soil. The application of this evaluation method to three typical earthen sites resulted in more reliable and easily quantifiable evaluation outcomes. By considering the width of grout, the method provides a more intuitive comparison of reparation effectiveness. The study demonstrates the feasibility of the proposed method, thereby facilitating effective crack reparation in earthen sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to strengthen the overall planning and coordination of urban construction and ecological space in Baishan City, we should formulate a scientific land type planning of Production-Living-Ecological Space (PLES). In this paper, land use dynamic attitude model, land use transfer matrix, land use function center of gravity transfer model, eco-environmental quality index(EEQI) and geographic detector model are used to discuss the spatio-temporal evolution of PLES in Baishan City from 2000 to 2020. Spatio-temporal evolution of EEQI and its influencing factors. The results show that: (1) During the study period, Baishan City showed the characteristics that the production space first increased and then decreased, the ecological space decreased, and the living space continued to increase. Among them, the ecological space is the dominant space of Baishan City, covering an area of more than 80%. From the perspective of the transformation of PLES, from 2000 to 2020, Baishan City is mainly characterized by the transformation of ecological space into production space and living space. In the second type of space, green ecological space, forestry ecological space and other ecological space have decreased, while other types of space have increased in varying degrees. (2) During the study period, the overall EEQI of Baishan City remained in good condition, and the ecological environment quality(EEQ) of the three periods were 0.6571, 0.6412 and 0.6562 respectively. The higher EEQI is distributed in Changbai County and Linjiang City, while the areas with lower EEQI are concentrated in the north-central part of Hunjiang City, the middle part of Jiangyuan District and the northwest of Fusong County. (3) According to the analysis of the influencing factors of EEQ, the influence of the factors of spatial differentiation of EEQI in Baishan City changed significantly from 2000 to 2020, and the average annual rainfall was the core factor affecting the spatial differentiation of EEQ in Baishan City, the second is the urbanization rate and the distance from the county government, and the interaction between the average annual rainfall and the distance from the county government has a strong influence on the spatial differentiation of EEQ in Baishan City. This study reveals the evolution of spatial types and EEQ of PLES in Baishan City, and provides a scientific reference for the effective management and utilization of land resources in Baishan City. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Similar materials were used to make quasi-sandstone with parallel double fractures, and the process of freezing inclined shaft construction was reproduced through indoor freeze–thaw tests. The basic physical parameters of double fractured quasi-sandstone before and after thawing were measured, and indoor triaxial compression tests of double fractured quasi-sandstone with different dip angles after thawing were carried out. The influence of fracture dip angle on the mechanical properties and failure characteristics of the quasi-sandstone was analyzed. The results show the following. The double fractured quasi-sandstone had strong water absorption, and there were different degrees of freeze–thaw damage. Under triaxial compression, with the increase of fracture dip angle, the peak strength of the quasi-sandstone first increased and then decreased, and it was the minimum when the fracture dip angle was 30°. The energy evolution law was similar for different crack dip angles. In the elastic stage, the growth rate of elastic energy was greater than that of dissipated energy, whereas in the plastic stage, the dissipated energy gradually increased and exceeded the elastic performance. When the crack dip angle was 90°, the increase in the growth rate of dissipated energy was most significant. In addition, there were three main failure modes of quasi-sandstone under triaxial loading: when the dip angle of the fracture was 0°, wing crack propagation occurred in the rock, causing rock bridge failure. When the fracture dip angle was 30° or 60°, the rock was sheared. When the fracture dip angle was 90°, the rock was tensioned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Efficiently fabricating a cavity that can achieve strong interactions between terahertz waves and matter would allow researchers to exploit the intrinsic properties due to the long wavelength in the terahertz waveband. Here we show a terahertz detector embedded in a Tamm cavity with a record Q value of 1017 and a bandwidth of only 469 MHz for direct detection. The Tamm-cavity detector is formed by embedding a substrate with an Nb5N6 microbolometer detector between an Si/air distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) and a metal reflector. The resonant frequency can be controlled by adjusting the thickness of the substrate layer. The detector and DBR are fabricated separately, and a large pixel-array detector can be realized by a very simple assembly process. This versatile cavity structure can be used as a platform for preparing high-performance terahertz devices and opening up the study of the strong interactions between terahertz waves and matter. Here the authors report a terahertz detector with a Q value of 1017, embedded in a Tamm cavity and offers a 469 MHz bandwidth. It features an Nb5N6 microbolometer in an Si/air DBR and metal reflector, with tunable resonant frequency via substrate layer thickness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is concerned with the Bianchi-Egnell inequality on the Heisenberg group, which quantifies the stability of the Sobolev inequality. We generalize results of K o ¨ nig in the Euclidean case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Charge density waves (CDWs) in kagome metals have been tied to many exotic phenomena. Here, using spectroscopic-imaging scanning tunneling microscopy and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, we study the charge order in kagome metal ScV6Sn6. The similarity of electronic band structures of ScV6Sn6 and TbV6Sn6 (where charge ordering is absent) suggests that charge ordering in ScV6Sn6 is unlikely to be primarily driven by Fermi surface nesting of the Van Hove singularities. In contrast to the CDW state of cousin kagome metals, we find no evidence supporting rotation symmetry breaking. Differential conductance dI/dV spectra show a partial gap Δ1CO ≈ 20 meV at the Fermi level. Interestingly, dI/dV maps reveal that charge modulations exhibit an abrupt phase shift as a function of energy at energy much higher than Δ1CO, which we attribute to another spectral gap. Our experiments reveal a distinctive nature of the charge order in ScV6Sn6 with fundamental differences compared to other kagome metals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To explore the strain rate effect of deformation and failure of impact prone coal rock, uniaxial compression tests and triaxial compression tests with different strain rates were carried out. The mechanical properties and impact tendency of impact-prone coal rock were studied, and the energy evolution law and pre-peak energy self-promotion-inhibition mechanism of impact-prone coal rock were obtained. The results show that with the increase of strain rate, the peak strength of coal rock under uniaxial compression decreases gradually, and the peak strength of coal rock under triaxial compression increases first and then decreases, and the impact tendency of coal rock increases first and then decreases. The energy evolution of coal rock under uniaxial compression is mainly divided into four stages: initial energy damage, energy hardening, energy softening and failure. With the increase of strain rate, the total energy and elasticity at the peak point of coal rock under uniaxial compression decrease gradually, and the total energy, elastic energy and dissipation energy at the peak point under triaxial compression increase first and then decrease. The elastic energy promotion coefficient of impact-prone coal rock is much larger than the inhibition coefficient, and the increase of strain rate will promote the generation of elastic energy inside coal rock. The research results can provide reference for the prevention and early warning of dynamic disasters of coal and rock mass with impact tendency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aqueous zinc ion batteries (AZIBs) have drawn more notice because of their affordability, high security, and favorable ecological impact. So far, manganese oxide (MnO2) is thought to be an attractive material for storing energy among cathodes of aqueous zinc ion batteries. In particular, the layered manganese dioxide (δ-MnO2) is more favorable to the diffusion of ions and can provide higher specific capacity. However, The effect of the concentration of reactants on microstructure and electrochemical performance of δ-MnO2, which has been less studied. Herein, the δ-MnO2 deposited on carbon fabric as the cathodes of AZIBs by four different reactant concentrations (0.05 M, 0.07 M, 0.10 M, and 0.12 M) of potassium permanganate solution were successfully prepared. The electrochemical properties of AZIBs fabricated by reactant concentrations of 0.10 M KMnO4 were excellent. The δ-MnO2/CC-0.10 M cathode provided higher rechargeable capacity of 268 mA h•g−1 at 0.1 A•g−1, outstanding rate capability, and long cycle life of 97.3% preservation after 500 cycles at 2A•g−1. This study systematically demonstrates the influence of reagent concentration on the efficiency and stability of aqueous zinc–manganese ion batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are an essential component of the tumor immune microenvironment that are involved in extracellular matrix (ECM) remodeling. We aim to investigate the characteristics of CAFs in prostate cancer and develop a biochemical recurrence (BCR)-related CAF signature for predicting the prognosis of PCa patients. Methods: The bulk RNA-seq and relevant clinical information were obtained from the TCGA and GEO databases, respectively. The infiltration scores of CAFs in prostate cancer patients were calculated using the MCP counter and EPIC algorithms. The single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) was downloaded from the GEO database. Subsequently, univariate Cox regression analysis was employed to identify prognostic genes associated with CAFs. We identified two subtypes (C1 and C2) of prostate cancer that were associated with CAFs via non-negative matrix factorization (NMF) clustering. In addition, the BCR-related CAF signatures were constructed using Lasso regression analysis. Finally, a nomogram model was established based on the risk score and clinical characteristics of the patients. Results: Initially, we found that patients with high CAF infiltration scores had shorter biochemical recurrence-free survival (BCRFS) times. Subsequently, CAFs in four pairs of tumors and paracancerous tissues were identified. We discovered 253 significantly differentially expressed genes, of which 13 had prognostic significance. Using NMF clustering, we divided PCa patients into C1 and C2 subgroups, with the C1 subgroup having a worse prognosis and substantially enriched cell cycle, homologous recombination, and mismatch repair pathways. Furthermore, a BCR-related CAFs signature was established. Multivariate COX regression analysis confirmed that the BCR-related CAFs signature was an independent prognostic factor for BCR in PCa. In addition, the nomogram was based on the clinical characteristics and risk scores of the patient and demonstrated high accuracy and reliability for predicting BCR. Lastly, our findings indicate that the risk score may be a useful tool for predicting PCa patients' sensitivity to immunotherapy and drug treatment. Conclusion: NMF clustering based on CAF-related genes revealed distinct TME immune characteristics between groups. The BCR-related CAF signature accurately predicted prognosis and immunotherapy response in prostate cancer patients, offering a promising new approach to cancer treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magnetic topological semimetals allow for an effective control of the topological electronic states by tuning the spin configuration. Among them, Weyl nodal line semimetals are thought to have the greatest tunability, yet they are the least studied experimentally due to the scarcity of material candidates. Here, using a combination of angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and quantum oscillation measurements, together with density functional theory calculations, we identify the square-net compound EuGa4 as a magnetic Weyl nodal ring semimetal, in which the line nodes form closed rings near the Fermi level. The Weyl nodal ring states show distinct Landau quantization with clear spin splitting upon application of a magnetic field. At 2 K in a field of 14 T, the transverse magnetoresistance of EuGa4 exceeds 200,000%, which is more than two orders of magnitude larger than that of other known magnetic topological semimetals. Our theoretical model suggests that the non-saturating magnetoresistance up to 40 T arises as a consequence of the nodal ring state. The tunability of electronic properties is a central goal of research into topological semimetals. Here, the authors report Weyl nodal ring states in the magnetic semimetal EuGa4 and link the nodal ring state to the observed large non-saturating magnetoresistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key message: We mapped a new race-specific seedling stripe rust resistance gene on wheat chromosome 5BL and a new APR locus QYr.hazu-2BS from CIMMYT wheat line Kfa/2*Kachu. Breeding resistant wheat (Triticum aestivum) varieties is the most economical and efficient way to manage wheat stripe rust, but requires the prior identification of new resistance genes and development of associated molecular markers for marker-assisted selection. To map stripe rust resistance loci in wheat, we used a recombinant inbred line population generated by crossing the stripe rust-resistant parent ‘Kfa/2*Kachu’ and the susceptible parent ‘Apav#1’. We employed genotyping-by-sequencing and bulked segregant RNA sequencing to map a new race-specific seedling stripe rust resistance gene, which we designated YrK, to wheat chromosome arm 5BL. TraesCS5B02G330700 encodes a receptor-like kinase and is a high-confidence candidate gene for YrK based on virus-induced gene silencing results and the significant induction of its expression 24 h after inoculation with wheat stripe rust. To assist breeding, we developed functional molecular markers based on the polymorphic single nucleotide polymorphisms in the coding sequence region of YrK. We also mapped four adult plant resistance (APR) loci to wheat chromosome arms 1BL, 2AS, 2BS and 4AL. Among these APR loci, we determined that QYr.hazu-1BL and QYr.hazu-2AS are allelic to the known pleiotropic resistance gene Lr46/Yr29/Pm39 and the race-specific gene Yr17, respectively. However, QYr.hazu-2BS is likely a new APR locus, for which we converted closely linked SNP polymorphisms into breeder-friendly Kompetitive allele-specific PCR (KASP) markers. In the present study, we provided new stripe rust resistance locus/gene and molecular markers for wheat breeder to develop rust-resistant wheat variety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Continuous-variable quantum key distribution (CV-QKD) offers an approach to achieve a potential high secret key rate (SKR) in metropolitan areas. There are several challenges in developing a practical CV-QKD system from the laboratory to the real world. One of the most significant points is that it is really hard to adapt different practical optical fiber conditions for CV-QKD systems with unified hardware. Thus, how to improve the performance of practical CV-QKD systems in the field without modification of the hardware is very important. Here, a systematic optimization method, combining the modulation variance and error correction matrix optimization, is proposed to improve the performance of a practical CV-QKD system with a restricted capacity of postprocessing. The effect of restricted postprocessing capacity on the SKR is modeled as a nonlinear programming problem with modulation variance as an optimization parameter, and the selection of an optimal error correction matrix is studied under the same scheme. The results show that the SKR of a CV-QKD system can be improved by 24% and 200% compared with previous frequently used optimization methods theoretically with a transmission distance of 50 km. Furthermore, the experimental results verify the feasibility and robustness of the proposed method, where the achieved optimal SKR achieved practically deviates < 1.6% from the theoretical optimal value. Our results pave the way to deploy high-performance CV-QKD in the real world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, global public health crises are occurring more frequently, and accurate prediction of these diseases can reduce the burden on the healthcare system. Taking COVID-19 as an example, accurate prediction of infection can assist experts in effectively allocating medical resources and diagnosing diseases. Currently, scholars worldwide use single model approaches or epidemiology models more often to predict the outbreak trend of COVID-19, resulting in poor prediction accuracy. Although a few studies have employed ensemble models, there is still room for improvement in their performance. In addition, there are only a few models that use the laboratory results of patients to predict COVID-19 infection. To address these issues, research efforts should focus on improving disease prediction performance and expanding the use of medical disease prediction models. In this paper, we propose an innovative deep learning model Whale Optimization Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN), Long-Short Term Memory (LSTM) and Artificial Neural Network (ANN) called WOCLSA which incorporates three models ANN, CNN and LSTM. The WOCLSA model utilizes the Whale Optimization Algorithm to optimize the neuron number, dropout and batch size parameters in the integrated model of ANN, CNN and LSTM, thereby finding the global optimal solution parameters. WOCLSA employs 18 patient indicators as predictors, and compares its results with three other ensemble deep learning models. All models were validated with train-test split approaches. We evaluate and compare our proposed model and other models using accuracy, F1 score, recall, AUC and precision metrics. Through many studies and tests, our results show that our prediction models can identify patients with COVID-19 infection at the AUC of 91%, 91%, and 93% respectively. Other prediction results achieve a respectable accuracy of 92.82%, 92.79%, and 91.66% respectively, f1-score of 93.41%, 92.79%, and 92.33% respectively, precision of 93.41%, 92.79%, and 92.33% respectively, recall of 93.41%, 92.79%, and 92.33% respectively. All of these exceed 91%, surpassing those of comparable models. The execution time of WOCLSA is also an advantage. Therefore, the WOCLSA ensemble model can be used to assist in verifying laboratory research results and predict and to judge various diseases in public health events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sauerkraut is a traditionally fermented cabbage, with a unique taste and beneficial properties, in northeast China. The taste and flavor of sauerkraut vary from region to region, owing to the differences in microorganisms. Illumina MiSeq sequencing was used to identify and quantify the microbial community composition of the broth and leaves of the naturally fermented Suan-cai collected from northeast China. The alpha and beta diversity of the samples from three areas in Heilongjiang province shown that the complexity of bacterial diversity of the three samples was C, A and B in turn. The Lactobacillus widely existed in fermented sauerkraut, of these, Latilactobacillus sakei, Loigolactobacillus coryniformis subsp. torquens, Lactiplantibacillus plantarum subsp. plantarum, and Secundilactobacillus malefermentans were more abundant in the sauerkraut leaves than in fermentation broth. Other genera of lactic acid bacteria Pediococcus and Leuconostoc, which have potential probiotic properties, were also present. However, some harmful bacteria such as Arcobacter and Acinetobacter were also detected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oblique detonation waves (ODWs) have been widely studied due to their application in hypersonic propulsion. Most of the previous studies focus on hydrogen fuel, and the induced wedge is always infinite. In this paper, based on the detailed chemical reaction model, the two-dimensional multi-component Euler equations are solved, and the finite wedge-induced oblique detonations for acetylene-air mixtures are investigated numerically and theoretically. Effects of expansion waves, inflow Mach number and equivalence ratio (ER) on initiation characteristics of ODW are studied according to the initiation criterion in the confined space. Results show that the initiation distance of acetylene is relatively larger than the hydrogen fuel, and the convergence position of deflagration waves and the originated position of expansion waves determine the initiation characteristics of ODW. As the originated position of the expansion wave is downstream of the convergence position of the deflagration, the ODW is ignited; Otherwise, the ODW is not initiated. The characteristics length of induction zone presents a U-shaped curve distribution for different ERs, both fuel-rich and lean-burn conditions will result in the non-initiation of ODW. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we propose a simple and generalized algorithmic framework for applying variance reduction to adaptive mirror descent algorithms for faster convergence. We introduce the SVRAMD algorithm, and provide its general convergence analysis in both the nonsmooth nonconvex optimization problem and the generalized P–L conditioned nonconvex optimization problem. We prove that variance reduction can reduce the gradient complexity of all adaptive mirror descent algorithms that satisfy a mild assumption and thus accelerate their convergence. In particular, our general theory implies that variance reduction can be applied to different algorithms with their distinct choices of the proximal function, such as gradient descent with time-varying step sizes, mirror descent with L 1 mirror maps, and self-adaptive algorithms such as AdaGrad and RMSProp. Moreover, the proved convergence rates of SVRAMD recover the existing rates without complicated algorithmic components, which indicates their optimality. Extensive experiments validate our theoretical findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Five sets of high entropy alloys (HEAs) FeCoNiCux (x =0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5) were produced by vacuum induction smelting. The effects of Cu content on the microstructure and mechanical properties of the alloys were interrogated by X-ray diffractometer (XRD), field scanning electron microscope (FESEM) and tensile mechanical test. The result shows that the HEAs form single FCC solid solution phase. With the increase of Cu content, the diffraction peak first deviated to the right and then shifted to the left. The alloys changed from equiaxed crystal structure to refined dendritic crystal structure, as Cu content increased. A large number of Cu atoms are isolated in the inter-crystalline region. The tensile mechanical tests show that with the increase of Cu content, the ultimate tensile strength first increased and then decreased. When x is 2.0, the ultimate tensile strength reaches a maximum of 473 MPa, the percent elongation is 43.0%, and the fracture presents ductile behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: High prices of anticancer medicines have increased the economic burden for both patients and health insurance systems. Since 2017, China has implemented national price negotiations for medicines, relying on evidence from health technology assessments. We aim to assess the relation between negotiated price and value of anticancer medicines listed in China's National Reimbursement Drug List (NRDL). Methods: For all price-negotiated anticancer medicines and corresponding indications listed in the latest NRDL between 2017 and 2020, we collected their clinical outcomes data, including overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS), in supporting trials. Pearson correlation coefficient was calculated to estimate the association between the daily cost and clinical benefit of each indication. Results: In total, 75 indications of 46 branded anticancer medicines were included for analysis. The median daily costs for the anticancer therapies that had gone through negotiation in 2017–2020 were US$87.6, US$71.8, US$58.9, and US$39.7, respectively. For indications supported by randomized trials, no correlation between daily costs and OS and PFS benefit of the price-negotiated cancer therapies was observed (N = 41, r = −0.05, and N = 49, r = 0.04, respectively). For cancer indications newly listed in NRDL in 2020, the association between their daily cost and OS benefit was −0.78 (N = 4, p = 0.221) and 0.01 (N = 8, p = 0.986) before and after the price negotiation. Conclusion: Though the negotiation policy decreased prices of anticancer medicines in China, no statistically significant correlation was observed between their daily costs and clinical benefits. A more transparent and credible pricing approach needs to be established to promote value-based anticancer medicines and healthcare system efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Continuous-variable quantum key distribution (CVQKD) has potential advantages of high secret key rate, which is very suitable for high-speed metropolitan network application. However, the secret key rates of the reported CVQKD systems are only a few Mbps over typical transmission distance so far. Here, we address the fundamental experimental problems and demonstrate a single-carrier four-state CVQKD with sub-Gbps key rate within metropolitan area. In the demonstrated four-state CVQKD using local local oscillator, an ultra-low level of excess noise is obtained and a high efficient post-processing setup is designed for practically extracting the final secure keys. Thus, the achieved secret key rates are 190.54 Mbps, 137.76 Mbps and 52.48 Mbps using linear channel assuming security analysis method and 233.87 Mbps, 133.6 Mbps and 21.53 Mbps using semidefinite programming security analysis method over transmission distances of 5 km, 10 km and 25 km, respectively. This result increases the asymptotic secret key rate to sub-Gbps level, which is sufficient to achieve the one-time pad cryptographic task. Moreover, our work shows the road for future high-rate and large-scale CVQKD deployment in secure broadband metropolitan and access networks. With the continuous development of metropolitan broadband and network, the need of secure and faster transmission also increases. The authors demonstrate a single-carrier four-state continuous-variable quantum key distribution (CVQKD) with sub-Gbps key rate within metropolitan area and secure transmissions up to 25 km [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spatiotemporal distributions, influential factors, and ecological risks of 15 phthalate acid esters (PAEs) in the sediments of three typical lakes in Inner Mongolia were investigated in this work. PAEs were widespread in all surface sediments ranging from 598.3 to 3873.8 μg/kg dry weight. Average PAE concentrations were highest in the surface sediments of Wuliangsuhai Lake followed by Daihai and Hulun Lakes, which were consistent with population density and intensity of anthropogenic activities. Dibutyl phthalate, di-iso-butyl phthalate (DIBP), and diethyl phthalate (DEP) were the dominant PAEs with similar abundance orders for the three lakes. The cold climate could explain the higher DEP abundance in the sediments of lakes at higher latitudes. The highest Σ PAE and most individual PAE concentrations were located at one of the discharge river estuaries because most PAEs were terrestrial pollutants. Σ PAE concentrations in the core sediments increased with years and fluctuations owing to the increasing PAE usage and input. The second highest PAE concentration peaks were associated with the high gross domestic product growth rates in 2003–2008. Redundancy analysis revealed that butyl benzyl phthalate and diamyl phthalate in the surface sediments of Hulun Lake were principally positively influenced by organic matter (65.6% contribution among geochemical variables), Fe oxides (25.1% contribution among metals), and Mn oxides (23.8% contribution among metals). The DIBP and DEP exhibited high risks to sensitive fish according to a risk quotient assessment. This work presents new insights into PAE status and deposition mechanisms in the lakes within high latitudes or cold climates, and provides important information for future environmental protection and management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individuals use social information to guide social interactions and to update relationships along multiple social dimensions. However, it is unclear what neural basis underlies this process of abstract "social navigation". In the current study, we recruited twenty-nine participants who performed a choose-your-own-adventure game in which they interacted with fictional characters during fMRI scanning. Using a whole-brain GLM approach, we found that vectors encoding two-dimensional information about the relationships predicted BOLD responses in the hippocampus and the precuneus, replicating previous work. We also explored whether these geometric representations were related to key brain regions previously identified in physical and abstract spatial navigation studies, but we did not find involvement of the entorhinal cortex, parahippocampal gyrus or the retrosplenial cortex. Finally, we used psychophysiological interaction analysis and identified a network of regions that correlated during participants' decisions, including the left posterior hippocampus, precuneus, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), and the insula. Our findings suggest a brain network for social navigation in multiple abstract, social dimensions that includes the hippocampus, precuneus, dlPFC, and insula. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parkinson's disease (PD), a chronic neurodegenerative disease, is characterized by sensorimotor and cognitive deficits. Previous diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) studies found abnormal DTI metrics in white matter bundles, such as the corpus callosum, cingulate, and frontal-parietal bundles, in PD patients. These studies mainly focused on alterations in microstructural features of long-range bundles within the deep white matter (DWM) that connects pairs of distant cortical regions. However, less is known about the DTI metrics of the superficial white matter (SWM) that connects local cortical regions in PD patients. To determine whether the DTI metrics of the SWM were different between the PD patients and the healthy controls, we recruited DTI data from 34 PD patients and 29 gender- and age-matched healthy controls. Using a probabilistic tractographic approach, we first defined a population-based SWM mask across all the subjects. Using a tract-based spatial statistical (TBSS) analytic approach, we then identified the SWM bundles showing abnormal DTI metrics in the PD patients. We found that the PD patients showed significantly lower DTI metrics in the SWM bundles connecting the sensorimotor cortex, cingulate cortex, posterior parietal cortex (PPC), and parieto-occipital cortex than the healthy controls. We also found that the clinical measures in the PD patients was significantly negatively correlated with the fractional anisotropy in the SWM (FASWM) that connects core regions in the default mode network (DMN). The FASWM in the bundles that connected the PPC was significantly positively correlated with cognitive performance in the PD patients. Our findings suggest that SWM may serve as the brain structural basis underlying the sensorimotor deficits and cognitive degeneration in PD patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study evaluated the efficacy and safety of 3D printing technology combined with percutaneous nephrolithotomy in the treatment of complex renal calculi. Ninety patients with complex renal calculi were randomly divided into a 3D printing group (45 patients) and a control group (45 patients). In the 3D printing group, a patient-specific 1:1 3D printing model was established based on the patient's thin-layer CT scanning data. A 3D printing model was used for preoperative communication between doctors and patients. Preoperative puncture training, channel design, residual stone prediction, and percutaneous nephrolithotomy were performed under the guidance of a 3D printing model and B-ultrasound. The control group was treated with the conventional B-ultrasound-guided puncture method. Results suggest that there was a statistically significant difference between the two groups (P < 0.05). The overall score of the doctor-patient communication objects in the 3D printing group was 19.32 ± 1.57 points, and in the control group, it was 14.51 ± 2.13 points. The operation time of the 3D printing group was 103.21 ± 13.49 min, and that of the control group was 126.12 ± 25.87 min. The calculi clearance rate of the 3D printing group was 96%, while that of the control group was 80%. The incidence of postoperative complications was 6.67% in the 3D printing group and 22.22% in the control group. Compared with traditional percutaneous nephrolithotomy, 3D printing technology combined with percutaneous nephrolithotomy can significantly enhance the effectiveness of doctor–patient communication, shorten operation time, reduce operation bleeding, improve the stone clearance rate, reduce the incidence of complications and shorten the length of hospital stay. The proposed method is thus a safe and effective method to treat complex renal calculi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report a layered ternary selenide BaPt4Se6 featuring sesqui-selenide Pt2Se3 layers sandwiched by Ba atoms. The Pt2Se3 layers in this compound can be derived from the Dirac-semimetal PtSe2 phase with Se vacancies that form a honeycomb structure. This structure results in a Pt (VI) and Pt (II) mixed-valence compound with both PtSe6 octahedra and PtSe4 square net coordination configurations. Temperature-dependent electrical transport measurements suggest two distinct anomalies: a resistivity crossover, mimic to the metal-insulator (M-I) transition at ~150 K, and a resistivity plateau at temperatures below 10 K. The resistivity crossover is not associated with any structural, magnetic, or charge order modulated phase transitions. Magnetoresistivity, Hall, and heat capacity measurements concurrently suggest an existing hidden state below 5 K in this system. Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy measurements reveal a metallic state and no dramatic reconstruction of the electronic structure up to 200 K. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report a layered ternary selenide BaPt4Se6 featuring sesqui-selenide Pt2Se3 layers sandwiched by Ba atoms. The Pt2Se3 layers in this compound can be derived from the Dirac-semimetal PtSe2 phase with Se vacancies that form a honeycomb structure. This structure results in a Pt (VI) and Pt (II) mixed-valence compound with both PtSe6 octahedra and PtSe4 square net coordination configurations. Temperature-dependent electrical transport measurements suggest two distinct anomalies: a resistivity crossover, mimic to the metal-insulator (M-I) transition at ~150 K, and a resistivity plateau at temperatures below 10 K. The resistivity crossover is not associated with any structural, magnetic, or charge order modulated phase transitions. Magnetoresistivity, Hall, and heat capacity measurements concurrently suggest an existing hidden state below 5 K in this system. Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy measurements reveal a metallic state and no dramatic reconstruction of the electronic structure up to 200 K. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the impact of finite-size effect on continuous variable source-independent quantum random number generation. The central limit theorem and maximum likelihood estimation theorem are used to derive the formula which could output the statistical fluctuations and determine upper bound of parameters of practical quantum random number generation. With these results, we can see the check data length and confidence probability has intense relevance to the final randomness, which can be adjusted according to the demand in implementation. Besides, other key parameters, such as sampling range size and sampling resolution, have also been considered in detail. It is found that the distribution of quantified output related with sampling range size has significant effects on the loss of final randomness due to finite-size effect. The overall results indicate that the finite-size effect should be taken into consideration for implementing the continuous variable source-independent quantum random number generation in practical. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antibiotic pollution in waters is a major health issue that induces antimicrobial resistance and, in turn, the inefficacy of actual antibiotics to cure diseases. There is therefore a need for antibiotic removal from water and wastewater, yet actual remediation techniques are limited. Here, we studied the degradation of ciprofloxacin by the photo-Fenton reaction using a Nafion/Fe3+ membrane as catalyst, with focus on the effect of hydroxyl (·OH) on membrane stability and recycling. Concentration of ciprofloxacin and ·OH were measured by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The Nafion membrane was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), attenuated total reflection (ATR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Results show that the Nafion/Fe3+ membrane degrades ciprofloxacin completely within 4 h. After membrane recycling, degradation efficiency is reduced due to the loss of Fe3+ ions during membrane regeneration. Moreover, ·OH alters the carbon backbone of the membrane. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The continuous-variable quantum key distribution with entanglement in the middle, a semi-device-independent protocol, places the source at the untrusted third party between Alice and Bob, and thus has the advantage of high levels of security with the purpose of eliminating the assumptions about the source device. However, previous works considered the collective-attack analysis, which inevitably assumes that the states of the source has an identical and independently distributed (i.i.d) structure, and limits the application of the protocol. To solve this problem, we modify the original protocol by exploiting an energy test to monitor the potential high energy attacks an adversary may use. Our analysis removes the assumptions of the light source and the modified protocol can therefore be called source-device-independent protocol. Moreover, we analyze the security of the continuous-variable source-device-independent quantum key distribution protocol with a homodyne-homodyne structure against general coherent attacks by adapting a state-independent entropic uncertainty relation. The simulation results indicate that, in the universal composable security framework, the protocol can still achieve high key rates against coherent attacks under the condition of achievable block lengths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Patients with type 2 diabetes have lower quality of life, which is further impaired by diabetes complications and comorbidities. This study aims to evaluate the impact of diabetes complications and comorbidities on EuroQol Five-Dimension Three-Level (EQ-5D-3L) scores among patients with type 2 diabetes with ongoing oral drug treatments in China. Methods: This retrospective cross-sectional analysis included 9570 patients with type 2 diabetes on oral drug treatments, who were enrolled from 75 hospitals in nine cities in China. Patient characteristics, including demographic data, health conditions, oral treatment history, and health insurance coverage, were collected through self-reported questionnaires. Health utility was measured by the EQ-5D-3L scale in the questionnaire and a Chinese version of the EQ-5D-3L scoring weights was applied in the analysis. The associations between complications and health utility were assessed using linear regression. Results: A total of 7081 patients with complete survey data were included in the analytic sample; 3479 (49.13%) patients were female. The mean age was 59.6 years old, with a standard deviation (SD) of 12.64. The average duration with type 2 diabetes was 7.91 (SD = 6.22) years. A total of 5189 (73.28%) patients reported complications. Hypertension (51.25%) and hyperlipidemia (28.90%) were the most common complications. Other complications reported by patients included cardiovascular disease, stroke, retinopathy, nephropathy, diabetic foot, and hypoglycemia. On average, each patient had 1.54 complications. All complications and comorbidities decreased the EQ-5D-3L score. Among patients with complications, the worst effect on EQ-5D-3L score was caused by diabetic foot, decreasing by 0.118 (p < 0.001), followed by stroke (decreasing by 0.101, p < 0.001) and nephropathy (decreasing by 0.058, p < 0.001). Conclusion: The diabetes complications and comorbidities among patients with type 2 diabetes were associated with poor health utility scores, especially for those with diabetic foot, stroke, and nephropathy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In those broadcast application scenarios with a great quantity of receivers, e.g., the data access control system in cloud storage service, the single sender is apt to become the efficiency bottleneck of the system, because the computation and storage overhead of the sender will grow rapidly with the amount of qualified receivers. In order to overcome this problem, we first introduce the novel conception of complete binary identity tree which is adopted to manage the qualified receivers. Then we design the prune-merge algorithm to further optimize the structure of the tree and cut down the amount of receivers. The algorithm effectively reduces the computation and storage cost of the trusted authority in the system. Subsequently, in virtue of composite-order bilinear groups, we bring forward an efficient public key broadcast encryption scheme combined its application to the system of data access control in cloud storage service. Compared with the existing schemes, the lengths of system public parameters, secret key and ciphertext in our scheme are all constant. In addition, the number of secret keys in our scheme increases logarithmically with the maximum amount of receivers, while the numbers of secret keys in the existing schemes increase linearly with the maximum amount of receivers. Furthermore, the proposed scheme is proved to guarantee adaptive security under general subgroup decision assumption in the standard model. The performance analysis manifests that our scheme is feasible for those broadcast applications with fixed senders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) has been paid more and more attention by the researchers and industry. Recently, Bayat et al. proposed a secure authentication scheme of VANETs with batch verification. Based on the computational Diffie–Hellman (CDH) assumption, they claimed that their scheme was secure. Unfortunately, we find that the scheme presented by Bayat et al. is insecure in their security model. It cannot resist the adversary attack so that a malicious vehicle can forge arbitrarily legal vehicle's signature on any message. We give a concrete attack process. Furthermore, we provide a batch verification certificateless signature scheme for VANETs. Based on the CDH assumption, we prove that the presented scheme is secure against adaptively chosen message attack in the random oracle model. The performance analysis shows that our scheme is more suitable for realistic applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To ensure security and obtain fine-grained data access control policies in many management domains, multi-authority attribute-based encryption (MA-ABE) schemes were presented and have been applied in cloud storage system. There exist certain scenes where the application domains managed by different attribute authorities ( AAs ) often change, and hence domain managements require more autonomous and independent. However, most of existing schemes do not support flexible managements. In order to support dynamic managements, we propose a new decentralized ciphertext-policy MA-ABE scheme with mediated obfuscation (MA-DCP-ABE-WMO) where each of AAs works independently without any interaction with other AAs . When issuing a secret key to a user, each of AAs uses his secret to compute a share of the system master secret. Data are encrypted under the public keys of attribute management domains. To resist collusion attack, a common pseudorandom function P R F (·) is shared among AAs and is used to randomize each user's global identifier Gid . The randomized Gid is adopted to unify all target messages which need to be reconstructed from different management domains. We first introduce the mediated obfuscation (MO) model into MA-ABE scheme to provide online service and the interaction works among data owner, data user and the mediator. In the MO model, we define a special functional encryption scheme where the function program can be coded into an element of the multiplicative cyclic group. We obfuscate the function by randomly selecting a blinding factor to conduct exponent arithmetic with the base of the function. A special input of the function is constructed to cancel the blinding factor when calling the obfuscated function. It makes other participants know nothing about the inner function program but can evaluate the function program. Furthermore, the MA-DCP-ABE-WMO scheme is proved to be secure. Compared with related schemes, our scheme is suitable to dynamic domain managements. When the management domains are added or removed, the workload to update original ciphertexts and private keys is dramatically reduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the problem of array mixing model of wideband signals cannot be solved by conventional blind source separation algorithms, an improved algorithm based on beamforming is proposed in this paper. First, the received signals are transformed into time–frequency domain, and the delays of source signals are estimated. Then, the received signals are compensated with the estimated delay in frequency domain. Finally, the desired signal is acquired by using Frost wideband beamforming algorithm. Due to adopting the new methods of single source point extraction and delay estimation, the complexity of the proposed algorithm is reduced. Pre-steering delay is used in frequency domain to eliminate the compensation error when the delay is not an integer multiple of the sampling interval, which improves the separation performance significantly. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can adequately solve the problem of delay mismatch and achieve wideband blind source separation effectively. The existing algorithms are mostly fail for frequency hopping signals when there are numerous overlapping time–frequency points. In this case, the proposed algorithm still has good separation performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]