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Natural dyes extracted from plants have gained increased importance in textile dyeing over the last few years for the development of sustainable chemical processes in the textile industry. In the above research, a novel natural dye was extracted from broccoli vegetables by ultrasonic extraction and subsequently applied to cotton material. The extracted natural dye and dyed cotton samples were characterized via FTIR, thermal, LC–MS, UV resistance and other functional tests, such as analysis of their color characteristics (K/S), fastness and antimicrobial properties. The results showed vibrant shades of green color with K/S values ranging from 0.55 to 2.71. The color fastness of the treated cotton samples ranged from moderately good to excellent. Additionally, the, dyed cotton samples showed greater reductions in the abundance of bacteria against S. aureus and E. coli. Hence, the overall results prove that the natural dye extracted from the vegetable broccoli has excellent dyeing potential for use with cellulosic material, increasing the greenness and sustainability of the process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural products extracted from plants with excellent dyeing properties are widely explored due to greener and sustainable dyeing methods. The current study is concerned with applying natural dye extracted from dewberry fruit by using T. chebula (black acacia) and A.mearnsii (myrobalan) as a source of bio-mordant. The results proved that dewberry fruit extract could be an excellent natural dye source for the coloration of tencel and other cellulosic textiles. Using bio-mordants like T.chebula and A.mearnsii has improved the color properties, producing vibrant shades of color with high color strength. The color fastness ratings tested by ISO standards showed improvement after using bio-mordant. Additionally, using the AATCC 100–1999 (The American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorist) test methodology, the bio-mordanted tencel samples showed excellent bacterial reduction against S.aureus and E.coli bacteria. Hence, it is concluded that the dye extracted from dewberry fruit has huge potential to impart color on tencel fabric, producing vibrant shades of color and making the dyeing process greener and sustainable using bio-mordants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: ACO (1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid) serves as a pivotal enzyme within the plant ethylene synthesis pathway, exerting influence over critical facets of plant biology such as flowering, fruit ripening, and seed development. Objective: This study aims to identify ACO genes from representative Rosaceae genomes, reconstruct their phylogenetic relationships by integrating synteny information, and investigate their expression patterns and networks during fruit development. Methods: we utilize a specialized Hidden Markov Model (HMM), crafted on the sequence attributes of ACO gene-encoded proteins, to systematically identify and analyze ACO gene family members across 12 representative species within the Rosaceae botanical family. Through transcriptome analysis, we delineate the expression patterns of ACO genes in six distinct Rosaceae fruits. Results: Our investigation reveals the presence of 62 ACO genes distributed among the surveyed Rosaceae species, characterized by hydrophilic proteins predominantly expressed within the cytoplasm. Phylogenetic analysis categorizes these ACO genes into three discernible classes, namely Class I, Class II, and Class III. Further scrutiny via collinearity assessment indicates a lack of collinearity relationships among these classes, highlighting variations in conserved motifs and promoter types within each class. Transcriptome analysis unveils significant disparities in both expression levels and trends of ACO genes in fruits exhibiting respiratory bursts compared to those that do not. Employing Weighted Gene Co-Expression Network Analysis (WGCNA), we discern that the co-expression correlation of ACO genes within loquat fruit notably differs from that observed in apples. Our findings, derived from Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment results, signify the involvement of ACO genes and their co-expressed counterparts in biological processes linked to terpenoid metabolism and carbohydrate synthesis in loquat. Moreover, our exploration of gene regulatory networks (GRN) highlights the potential pivotal role of the GNAT transcription factor (Ejapchr1G00010380) in governing the overexpression of the ACO gene (Ejapchr10G00001110) within loquat fruits. Conclusion: The constructed HMM of ACO proteins offers a precise and systematic method for identifying plant ACO proteins, facilitating phylogenetic reconstruction. ACO genes from representative Rosaceae fruits exhibit diverse expression and regulative patterns, warranting further function characterizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large landslides can involve the multiple failures of regional slopes. To understand the effect of lateral thrust caused by the failure of one slope on its surroundings, the failures of two adjacent highway slopes in Guangdong Province, China, were investigated in detail. The interactive failure processes and landslide morphological characteristics of the two slopes were first analyzed based on the on-site investigation. Then, a plane mechanical model of a large-scale slope was established to evaluate the significant influence of the lateral thrust generated by the west slope acting on the east excavated slope. Furthermore, the extrusion effect of the west slope was modelled under the alternate excavation disturbance and rainfall by transferring the thrust forces onto the interface elements, and the induced failure mechanism and instability mode of the east slope under lateral thrust were reproduced numerically. The results show that the compression-shear failure occurred at the middle and rear slope bodies because of the lateral thrust, which led to the formation of a thrust landslide and the final instability of the east slope. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ti-Al-Si coatings with excellent wear resistance were prepared on the surface of Ti plates by using a combination of hot-dip and thermal diffusion processes. The microstructure, growth kinetics and wear resistance mechanism of the coatings were investigated. The results show the coatings by hot dipping achieved good metallurgical bonding as well as presenting a multilayer phase structure, which was roughly divided into a diffusion layer containing Ti(Al, Si)3, a hybrid layer consisting of ι2-Ti3AlSi5 phase + Al, and the outermost Al-Si alloy layer. After thermal diffusion, the growth kinetics of the diffusion layer (Ti(Al, Si)3 phase) conformed to the Arrhenius relationship, and the fitted equation for the thickness of the reactive layer versus the diffusion parameter was: y = 2.7 × 10−3 exp(− 65,300/RT)t1/2. In addition, the hardness of the coating immersed for 15 min reached 740 HV, which was about 2.9 times that of the substrate, and the wear rate was only 50% of that of the substrate. The excellent wear resistance was attributed to the hard Ti(Al, Si)3 phase as well as the integrity of the coating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Flaxseed has been widely used in animal diets to increase the omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid content in animal products and promote overall animal health, but little known about its effects on the productive performance and the mictobita of gut of laying duck. Methods and results: Jinding duck, a Chinese indigenous breed, was used in the study. The corn-soybean basal diet supplemented with 0, 2%, 3% 4% and 5% flaxseed were provided to Control, 2% Fla, 3% Fla, 4% Fla and 5% Fla groups for 53 days, respectively. Compared with Control group, groups fed with flaxseed diets showed higher egg production, egg mass, ovary weight and more preovulatory follicles. The Docosahexaenoic Acid content of egg was extremely significantly elevated by flaxseed diets (P < 0.01), and the albumen height and haugh unit were elevated, especially in 4% Fla and/or 5% Fla group (P < 0.05). Groups 4% Fla and 5% Fla had highest ileal villus height, jejunal and ileal crypt depth. Moreover, Flaxseed diets significantly increased the levels of IgG and IgM in all Fla groups (P < 0.01), while increased IgA levels except for in 3% Fla group (P < 0.05). The results of 16s rDNA sequencing showed that flaxseed diet altered the microbial composition of gut and reduced the diversity and evenness of gut microbial communities except for 5% Fla. The correlation analysis identified Blautia, Butyricicoccus and Subdoligranulum positively associated with egg production. Genera Fourinierella, Fusobacterium and Intestinimonas positively associated with ovary weight, haught unit and album height. And Mucispirillum positively associated with haugh unit and album height. Conclusion: This study has suggested that flaxseed play a positive role in productive performance, the overall or intestinal health of laying ducks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The water weakening effect refers to the gradual deterioration of soil mechanical properties under long-term saturation. This paper analyzed the impact of water weakening on slope stability under alternating excavation and rainfall. The field investigation speculated shale hydration as the cause of overall slope instability. The mechanical parameters of hydrated shale were determined by the parameter inversion and empirical estimation methods. The simulations were used to restore the process of parameter weakening and slope failure, and confirmed the fact that hydration causes landslide. Furthermore, the failure mechanism of slope and support structure under hydration were investigated. The results show that the mechanical parameters of the slope decreased linearly, whereas the plastic strain–time and total displacement-maximum shear stress curves of the hydrated shale exhibited three stages: slow initial growth, rapid growth in the middle term, and rapid increase in the later period; the rate of slope deformation and the factor of safety reduction also gradually increase over time; under middle stage of hydration, the middle to rear of shale were extruded, while the front first underwent tensile shear deformation, forming a plastic zone of at rear and front excavated slope; In the late stage, hydrated shale quickly reaches its yield limit (maximum shear stress of 270 kPa), the middle and rear shale is damaged and compresses the front, causing it to transform from tensile shear to compressive shear failure. The plastic zone in the rear extends forward and connects with the front ones, forming an overall landslide. Besides, preventing deep landslides caused by hydration through waterproofing, drainage, protection, and support for excavated slopes has proven difficult. Therefore, it is necessary to redesign treatment schemes based on the characteristics of stress, strain, and seepage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To explore the effectiveness and safety of the extreme flexion and abduction hip combined with a stirrup-shaped multifunctional leg frame position in preventing obturator nerve reflex during plasma resection of bladder tumors (TUR-BT). Methods: A total of 112 patients with bladder tumors were included in the study. The control group was placed in a lithotomy position, while the experimental group was placed in an extreme flexion and abduction hip combined with a stirrup-shaped multifunctional leg frame position. The grade of leg jerking, operation time, and some operative complications were compared between groups. Results: The operation time, bleeding volume, the grade of leg jerking, second TUR-BT, and acquisition of detrusor muscle were significantly better in the experimental group compared to the control group (P = 0.018, P = 0.013, P < 0.001, P = 0.041, and P < 0.001, respectively). The grade of leg jerking in the experimental group was extremely low (distributed in grade 1 and 2), and there were no severe reactions in grade 3 and 4. Conclusion: The extreme flexion and abduction hip combined with a stirrup-shaped multifunctional leg frame position for TUR-BT is a safe and effective treatment method that can effectively prevent obturator nerve reflex, reduce complications, improve surgical efficacy, and reduce anesthesia dependence and risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2219 aluminum alloy thin-walled complex components manufactured by spin forming are frequently applied to the bottom end of rocket fuel tanks. However, fracture and quality problems (large part-mold contact gap, low roundness, thickness accuracy) are prone to occur during their multi-pass spin forming. While the material anisotropy, complicated components geometry and the complex stress state evolution make it difficult to obtain the appropriate forming process parameters in spin forming. With the help of finite element methods, it is possible to solve this difficulty. Thus, based on the anisotropic Barlat89 yield function and the DF2016 fracture criterion, a spin forming finite element model considering material anisotropy and damage evolution is established first for the components. Then, a method by using multi-pass involute spinning track with variable diameter base circle to form the components is proposed, and also the spinning passes are determined. Finally, taking the non-fracture as the constraint condition and the forming quality indexes (part-mold contact gap, roundness, and thickness accuracy) as the optimization objectives, a multi-objective optimization model based on orthogonal experimental design and response surface model is established. The optimized process parameters are solved and determined by a combination of the Archive-Based Micro Genetic Algorithm, and the optimized results are verified by the experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quality factor (Q factor) is a crucial performance parameter for resonators. In this paper, a novel release method for high-quality micro fused silica shell resonators with teeth-like tines with good surface morphology is proposed. This method is based on femtosecond laser-assisted chemical etching. First, the optimal energy range of femtosecond laser modification is obtained through mechanism analysis. Second, the optimal parameters for a straight line and arc pattern are determined by optimizing the average output power, processing speed, and processing spacing. The results demonstrate why edge breakage in rounded corners is easy under different parameters. Finally, according to these conclusions, the processing is performed on a micro fused silica shell resonator with a Q factor exceeding 6 million. In addition, subsurface damage is rare throughout the fabrication process, and the surface roughness of the released cross section reaches the nanometer level. The improved Q factor helps suppress mechanical thermal noise and reduce zero bias and zero bias drift, constituting the primary method for enhancing the performance of the resonant gyroscope. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to accurately obtain the shape and size of pavement cracks, analyze the severity of pavement cracks, avoid deterioration of the situation, and take timely measures, we proposed a dual-branch structure Shuff-BiseNet road crack segmentation algorithm. Considering the slow speed of detail branch feature extraction, we introduced the basic unit of ShuffleNet to improve the speed of feature extraction and reduce the amount of parameters. Considering the problem of similar pavement cracks and pavement background characteristics, we introduced a variety of attention mechanisms to improve the network's attention to the pavement crack area and effectively alleviate the impact of the background environment on the segmentation results. Taking into account the problem of pavement crack feature loss caused by using DWConv in the semantic branch, we introduced GSConv to solve the problem of feature loss and improve the receptive field through larger convolution kernel and residual structure. In order to avoid information loss caused by upsampling and downsampling processes and enhance feature expression capabilities, we replaced the pooling stage in the dual-branch feature fusion layer and introduced the DTSConve upsampling module and STDConv downsampling module. On the pavement crack segmentation data set, it achieved accuracy of 97.34%, mPA of 84.34%, IoU (crevice) of 54.81%, and mIoU of 76.03%. Compared with BiseNetv2, mPA, IoU (crevice), and mIoU increased by 4.22%, 4.22%, 2.81%, and 1.36%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current landscape of chiral covalent organic frameworks (COFs) predominantly centered on constructing asymmetric molecular-scale chirality, often introducing an inherent contradiction to the COF symmetry and limiting diversity. Herein, we overcome these challenges by achieving chiral transfer between one-dimensional (1D) imine linear polymers (LPs) and two-dimensional (2D) network β-ketoenamine COFs composed of achiral monomers. We successfully synthesize several 1D imine LPs with mesoscopic helical chirality, comprising achiral C2-symmetric terephthalaldehyde and diamine linkers in a chiral supramolecular transcription system. Leveraging the irreversible tautomerism mechanism within the linker replacement approach, terephthalaldehyde (TPA) units in these helical 1D LPs are substituted with C3-symmetric 1,3,5-triformylphloroglucinol (TP), yielding the corresponding 2D network β-ketoenamine COFs. Crystallinity and helicity of the resultant β-ketoenamine COFs intimately hinge on reaction conditions, including the aldehyde stoichiometry of Tp and TPA, as well as the quantity and concentration of the catalyst employed. Under optimized conditions, the nucleation and growth were precisely governed, achieving a harmonious equilibrium of crystallinity and helicity within the generated 2D network β-ketoenamine COFs, even with covalent bond rupture, recombination, and topological transition (from [C2 + C2] to [C3 + C2]). Impressively, the ground state chirality inherent to helical 1D LPs seamlessly transfers to helical 2D network β-ketoenamine COFs. This study not only offers new perspectives on the development of chiral functional COFs, but also provides fresh insights into the precise control of COFs' microscopic morphology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Human interferon-α1b (hIFN-α1b) is the first genetically engineered drug approved by the National Medical Product Administration for cancer therapy in China. hIFN-α1b is a relatively safe therapy and can improve survival in advanced melanoma and its long-term efficacy against resection of stage III melanoma is unknown. Objective: The objective of this study is to assess the safety and efficacy of hIFN-α1b in patients with resected stage III melanoma. Methods: The clinical data were collected from patients who underwent resection of stage IIIB or IIIC melanoma and received subcutaneous injection of hIFN-α1b every other day. The efficacy of hIFN-α1b was determined by rate of recurrence-free survival (RFS), distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS) and overall survival (OS). Safety data were acquired by review of adverse events at follow-ups. Results: The study included a total of 61 patients. The median follow-up duration was 45 months. The RFS at 12, 24, and 36 months were observed to be 75.4%, 47.4%, and 37.2% respectively, while the DMFS rates were found to be 83.6%, 65.5%, and 62.2%. Furthermore, the OS rates at these time points were recorded as being 100%, 81.9%, and 71.5%. The overall tolerability of hIFN-α1b was satisfactory, with only 8.2% of the patients experiencing grade 3/4 toxicity and no treatment-related deaths observed. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that adjuvant hIFN-α1b treatment is relatively safe and may potentially enhance the rate of RFS, DMFS and OS in patients who have undergone resection for stage IIIB or IIIC melanoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of blind image super-resolution (BISR) is to recover the corresponding high-resolution image from a given low-resolution image with unknown degradation. Prior related research has primarily focused effectively on utilizing the kernel as prior knowledge to recover the high-frequency components of image. However, they overlooked the function of structural prior information within the same image, which resulted in unsatisfactory recovery performance for textures with strong self-similarity. To address this issue, we propose a two stage blind super-resolution network that is based on kernel estimation strategy and is capable of integrating structural texture as prior knowledge. In the first stage, we utilize a dynamic kernel estimator to achieve degradation presentation embedding. Then, we propose a triple path attention groups consists of triple path attention blocks and a global feature fusion block to extract structural prior information to assist the recovery of details within images. The quantitative and qualitative results on standard benchmarks with various degradation settings, including Gaussian8 and DIV2KRK, validate that our proposed method outperforms the state-of-the-art methods in terms of fidelity and recovery of clear details. The relevant code is made available on this link as open source. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bottom-initiated radial cracking is a special phenomenon for soil as it is subjected to desiccation. This study aims to simulate the initiation and propagation of radial cracks in soil using both experimental and discrete-element method (DEM) approaches. Under controlled conditions of constant temperature and humidity, a laboratory desiccation test of clayey soil samples with bottom-constrained boundary conditions was carried out to illustrate the soil bottom-initiated radial desiccation cracking behavior. The evaporation characteristics as well as the development of radial cracking initiating from the subsoil were captured. To simulate this phenomenon, a desiccation model based on discrete-element method was used in DEM. Based on the laboratory testing results, appropriate parameters are selected for the numerical simulations. The DEM approach was calibrated by reproducing the experimental results of radial desiccation cracking. Subsequently, the initiation and propagation mechanisms of this typical soil cracking phenomenon was analyzed and discussed. With the constraint of the bottom boundary, the initiation of radial desiccation cracking was associated with the arched distribution of inter-particle tensile force in the soil samples. The propagation direction of the cracks was perpendicular to the inter-particle tensile forces. Finally, the effects of basal friction, evaporation gradient and shrinkage parameter on the bottom-initiated radial cracks in the simulation were analyzed. The size of the bottom particles and interface bonding factor played a significant role in the effect of basal friction. Compared with the samples under uniform water loss conditions, the bottom shrinkage rate was relatively low for the sample under a gradient water loss. In addition, an increase in the shrinkage parameter of the soil particles led to a greater extent of crack propagation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT) is one of the most suitable aliphatic–aromatic co-polyesters to replace traditional plastics due to its excellent properties and biodegradability. However, the relatively low mechanical properties limit its large-scale application. Nanocellulose has been attempted to be chemically modified and used to enhance PBAT, but few significant results have been achieved. In this study, three octadecylamine-modified carboxyethyl cellulose microfibrils (OC-CMFs) with different degrees of substitution (DS) were successfully prepared and used to enhance PBAT. The microstructure, chemical structure, hydrophobicity, and thermal stability of the prepared OC-CMFs, as well as the mechanical properties, microstructure, and thermal properties of the OC-CMFs/PBAT composites were characterized. The results show that OC-CMFs have high hydrophobicity, with a water contact angle of up to 132.2°, making them highly dispersed and compatible in the PBAT matrix. When 0.5 wt% OC-CMF with a DS of 0.22 was added, the tensile strength of PBAT increased by 47.8%, while the elongation at break significantly increased by 49.0%. The significant improvement in the PBAT's mechanical properties will help expand its application range and further promote its substitution for non-biodegradable plastics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leaf senescence is a crucial trait that has a significant impact on crop quality and yield. Previous studies have demonstrated that light is a key factor in modulating the senescence process. However, the precise mechanism by which plants sense light and control senescence remains largely unknown, particularly in crop species. In this study, we reveal that the reduction in blue light under shading conditions can efficiently induce leaf senescence in soybean. The blue light receptors GmCRY1s rather than GmCRY2s, primarily regulate leaf senescence in response to blue light signals. Our results show that GmCRY1s interact with DELLA proteins under light-activated conditions, stabilizing them and consequently suppressing the transcription of GmWRKY100 to delay senescence. Conversely, LBL reduces the interaction between GmCRY1s and the DELLA proteins, leading to their degradation and premature senescence of leaves. Our findings suggest a GmCRY1s-GmDELLAs-GmWRKY100 regulatory cascade that is involved in mediating LBL-induced leaf senescence in soybean, providing insight into the mechanism of how light signals regulate leaf senescence. Additionally, we generate GmWRKY100 knockout soybeans that show delayed leaf senescence and improved yield under natural field conditions, indicating potential applications in enhancing soybean production by manipulating the leaf senescence trait. This study provides insights into how shade induces leaf senescence in soybean. The reduction of blue light intensity deactivates GmCRY1s, leading to the degradation of GmRGAs and the upregulation of WRKY100, ultimately promoting leaf senescence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A environment-friendly polymer blends were prepared by the basis of bio-sourced polylactide (PLA) and aliphatic poly(butylene succinate) (PBS) via melt compounding process. 1,4-butanediol and succinic acid was used together with tetrabutyltitanate as catalyst to synthesize PBS via esterified and polycondensation. The chemical structure of PBS was studied by 1H NMR and FT-IR spectroscopy. The effects PBS content on thermal behavior, mechanical properties, phase morphology, and thermal stability of PLA/PBS blends were systematically investigated. DSC and DMA results showed that glass transition temperature (Tg) and cool crystallizaiton temperature (Tcc) of PLA was influenced by PBS. The different phase morphologies of the PLA/PBS blends formed after addition of PBS into PLA. The various phase morphologies from that blend influenced the rheological behavior and further influenced the mechanical properties in PLA/PBS blends, the well dispersed PBS increased the elongation at break of 8.1 ± 0.1 kJ/m2 with around 80.0% over than neat the PLA. Finally, the PLA/PBS blends have excellent mechanical and thermal properties by analyzing the toughening mechanism and crystallization morphology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Continuous monitoring of cardiac motions has been expected to provide essential cardiac physiology information on cardiovascular functioning. A fiber-optic micro-vibration sensing system (FO-MVSS) makes it promising. This study aimed to explore the correlation between Ballistocardiography (BCG) waveforms, measured using an FO-MVSS, and myocardial valve activity during the systolic and diastolic phases of the cardiac cycle in participants with normal cardiac function and patients with congestive heart failure (CHF). A high-sensitivity FO-MVSS acquired continuous BCG recordings. The simultaneous recordings of BCG and electrocardiogram (ECG) signals were obtained from 101 participants to examine their correlation. BCG, ECG, and intracavitary pressure signals were collected from 6 patients undergoing cardiac catheter intervention to investigate BCG waveforms and cardiac cycle phases. Tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) measured cardiac time intervals in 51 participants correlated with BCG intervals. The BCG recordings were further validated in 61 CHF patients to assess cardiac parameters by BCG. For heart failure evaluation machine learning was used to analyze BCG-derived cardiac parameters. Significant correlations were observed between cardiac physiology parameters and BCG's parameters. Furthermore, a linear relationship was found betwen IJ amplitude and cardiac output (r = 0.923, R2 = 0.926, p < 0.001). Machine learning techniques, including K-Nearest Neighbors (KNN), Decision Tree Classifier (DTC), Support Vector Machine (SVM), Logistic Regression (LR), Random Forest (RF), and XGBoost, respectively, demonstrated remarkable performance. They all achieved average accuracy and AUC values exceeding 95% in a five-fold cross-validation approach. We establish an electromagnetic-interference-free and non-contact method for continuous monitoring of the cardiac cycle and myocardial contractility and measure the different phases of the cardiac cycle. It presents a sensitive method for evaluating changes in both cardiac contraction and relaxation in the context of heart failure assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Podocytes are closely related to renal function as an important part of the glomerulus. The reduction and damage of podocytes lead to further decline of renal function and aggravate the progression of DKD. Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAS) have recently attracted great attention in improving podocyte dysfunction, but the specific mechanism remains uncertain. Methods: We used mouse kidney podocyte MPC5 to construct a high-glucose injury model. Cell viability was detected by the MTT method; RT-qPCR and western blotting were used to detect the expressions of NF-κB p65, NLRP3, GSDMD, N-GSDMD, caspase-1 and cleaved-caspase-1, and we used ELISA to detect the expressions of inflammatory factors IL-1β and IL-18. Results: Our results showed that high glucose decreased podocyte survival, while liraglutide and semaglutide increased podocyte survival under high glucose. Liraglutide and semaglutide can inhibit the expression of pyroptosis-related genes and proteins and also inhibit the expression of inflammatory factors IL-1β, IL-18 increase. Conclusion: The protective effect of liraglutide and semaglutide on podocytes may be achieved by regulating the NLRP3 inflammasome pathway and inhibiting pyroptosis, and there were no significant differences between the two GLP-1RAs (liraglutide and semaglutide) in inhibiting podocyte pyroptosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, polylactic acid/poly (butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PLA/PBAT) melt-blown nonwovens with well oil-water separation properties were processed with melt-blown technology. The effects of different contents of PBAT (0, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 wt%) on the thermal, crystalline, morphology, mechanical properties, wettability, and oil-water separation performance of the PLA/PBAT melt-blown nonwovens were thoroughly investigated. The result of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) shows that PBAT promotes the movement of the PLA molecular chain and promotes crystallinity. With increasing the blending ratio of PBAT, the degree of crystallinity (Xc) of PLA was also enhanced from 1.5 to 15.5%, respectively, which was higher than neat PLA. Furthermore, PBAT increases the toughness and hydrophobia of the PLA melt-blown nonwovens. The elongation at break of PLA/PBAT 90/10 (53.3 ± 3.7%) melt-blown nonwovens was 12.3% higher than the neat PLA (41.0 ± 2.9%). The result of the research on the influence of the oil-water separation parameters and oil absorption experiments shows that the 90/10 PLA/PBAT melt-blown nonwoven exhibits the highest hydrophobic (water contact angle is 133.2°). Meanwhile, the oil-water separation efficiency is 96%. The PLA/PBAT melt-blown nonwovens have excellent oil-water separation capability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proposed a new method for predicting tool wear curve over machining time through abscissa stretching or compressing based on wear influence factor, which is a tool wear prediction method with universal potential and relatively simple modeling and use. In this method, firstly, the relationship model between the tool wear rate and the cutting parameters needs to be built, and the wear influence factor can be derived from this relationship model. Then, it needs to record the curve of the tool wear value over machining time under a certain cutting parameters through experiments. This curve is called the benchmark tool wear curve, and the wear influence factor under these cutting parameters is called the benchmark wear influence factor. When the cutting parameters change, it is only required to solve the ratio between the wear influence factor under current cutting parameters and the benchmark wear influence factor, then use the ratio to stretch or compress the benchmark tool wear curve in the direction of the abscissa, that is the tool wear prediction curve under current cutting parameters. In this study, the tool wear curve under cutting parameter V=55m/min,ap=0.08mm/tooth is selected as the benchmark tool wear curve, and tool wear curves under cutting parameter V=80m/min, ap=0.12mm/tooth, and V=40m/min,ap=0.06mm/tooth are accurately predicted. In the cross validation after the replacement of the benchmark tool wear curve, the prediction model also shows good prediction accuracy. The comprehensive optimization model of disc milling based on the wear influence factor shows that increasing the cutting line speed and reducing the feed per tooth can improve the cutting efficiency and reduce tool wear. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Projectile penetration into an immersed granular bed is a common phenomenon in both geophysics and engineering, encompassing various scenarios such as immersed crater formation and offshore soil-structure interaction. It involves the complex physical interaction between the fluid and granular materials. In this study, we investigate the dynamics of projectile penetration into a granular bed immersed in a fluid using a coupled computational fluid dynamics and discrete element method (CFD-DEM). The granular bed is composed of polydisperse particles, and the projectile is modeled as a rigid sphere. The morphology of crater formation, the dynamics of the projectile, and the drag force characteristics in immersed cases were studied in detail and compared to the dry scenario. The numerical results show that the final penetration depth of the projectile follows an empirical relation derived from experimental observations, where the falling height and the drag force during penetration obey a power-law function and a modified generalized Poncelet law, respectively. The interstitial fluid not only provides direct drag force, but also enhances the effective drag force of the granular bed by improving its generalized friction and effective viscosity in different configurations. Micro-analyses of the velocity evolution and contact force network in different stages of the fluid–solid interaction were performed to clarify the penetration dynamics. This research provides insights into the mechanisms of projectile penetration and the effects of interstitial fluid on granular media, which are crucial in engineering applications such as offshore anchoring, ball penetration tests in soft sediments, and soil-structure interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to herbivory, Capsicum annuum leaves adapt their specialized metabolome that may protect the plant against herbivore feeding either directly or indirectly through volatile metabolites acting as cues for natural enemies of the herbivore. The volatile blend of spider-mite infested leaves differs from non-challenged leaves predominantly by a higher contribution of mono- and sesquiterpenes. In addition to these terpenoids released into the headspace, the terpenoid composition of the leaves alters upon herbivory. All this suggests an important role for terpenoids and their biosynthetic machinery in the defence against herbivory. Here, we show that the C. annuum genome contains a terpene synthase (TPS) gene family of 103 putative members of which structural analysis revealed that 27 encode functional enzymes. Transcriptome analysis showed that several TPS loci were differentially expressed upon herbivory in leaves of two C. annuum genotypes, that differ in susceptibility towards spider mites. The relative expression of upstream biosynthetic genes from the mevalonate and the methylerythritol phosphate pathway also altered upon herbivory, revealing a shift in the metabolic flux through the terpene biosynthetic module. The expression of multiple genes potentially acting downstream of the TPSs, including cytochrome P450 monooxygenases, UDP-glucosyl transferases, and transcription factors strongly correlated with the herbivory-induced TPS genes. A selection of herbivory-induced TPS genes was functionally characterized through heterologous expression and the products that these enzymes catalysed matched with the volatile and non-volatile terpenoids induced in response to herbivory. Key message: Annotation of the Capsicum annuum terpene synthase gene family links terpene metabolism to the formation of volatile and non-volatile terpenoids important for direct and indirect defence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Due to the uneven weathering of rocks, boulders can exist inside a slope, making the deformation and failure mechanism of the slope very complex. By analyzing the failure characteristics of a boulder-embedded slope under alternating excavation and rainfall, two classical instability modes are proposed, i.e., boulder instability and soil instability. For the soil instability, three failure processes may occur, including the sliding surface above the boulder, the sliding surface below the boulder, and the sliding surface intersecting the boulder. Meanwhile, the interaction between soil and boulder can also vary during different failure phases. Furthermore, the slope sliding deformation, failure mechanism, and soil-boulder interaction are investigated by on-site monitoring and numerical simulation. The results show that the boulders play an anti-sliding role and block the formation of deep sliding surface, resulting in the shallow soil instability and local large deformation of the studied slope. Besides, during the slope sliding deformation, three failure processes of the soils appear one after another, and the soils may slide along the bottom or top of the boulders because of the hindering effect of the boulders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Field measurements were conducted at a container harbor located in Ningbo-Zhoushan Port, China. Concentrations of fifty-three PAHs in airborne PM2.5 were quantified using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The positive matrix factorization model and potential source contribution function analysis were used to evaluate the main sources of PAHs. The PM2.5-bound PAH–associated inhalation lung cancer risks were estimated using a point estimate approach based on relative potency factors. Average concentrations were recorded for PM2.5 (18 ± 6.0 μg/m3) and ∑53PAHs (8.83 ± 8.42 ng/m3). The 4–6 ring PAHs accounted for approximately 85% of the total PAH concentrations, with the majority of these compounds being deemed carcinogenic. Five sources and mass contributions were determined by the positive matrix factorization (PMF) model: gasoline and diesel exhaust emissions (24.8%); volatilization or spill of petroleum and petroleum-related products (22.3%); heavy fuel oil combustion (18.2%); the mixed combustion emissions composed of coal and biomass combustion (18.1%); and natural gas combustion (16.7%). The potential source contribution function analysis suggested that PAHs in the harbor were greatly affected by long-distance input, especially from the North China Plain and the Yellow Sea. The calculated incremental lifetime lung cancer risk of PAH exposure was 8.07 and 702 cases per million people using the inhalation unit risk of exposure to the BaP value recommended by the California Environmental Protection Agency and the World Health Organization, respectively. Gasoline and diesel exhaust emissions (52.1%) have contributed more to the lung cancer risk. From a health risk standpoint, this measure could help to identify relevant sources of controls in port regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Broadband and efficient terahertz absorbing films are crucial to high-performance terahertz detectors, which are in demand for next-generation wireless communications, astronomy, security screening, medical imaging and so on. Recent studies reported a series of two-dimensional materials for enhanced light absorption in terahertz waves, such as graphene, transition metal dichalcogenides and topological insulators, among others. However, it is still challenging to achieve the intrinsic thin-film absorption limit (50%) across the whole ultrabroad terahertz band. Here we demonstrate that ultrathin 10.2-nm-thick (~λ/30,000) Ti3C2Tx MXene assemblies can reach the intrinsic thin-film absorption limit across the entire 0.5–10 THz band. Such intriguing phenomena are attributed to the highly concentrated free electrons (~1021 cm−3), short relaxation time (~10 fs) and unique intra- and interflake (hopping) electron transport properties in Ti3C2Tx MXenes. Our results are validated by alternating current impedance theory using the Drude–Smith model, rather than classic direct current impedance matching. We believe that our findings will stimulate more studies of broadband terahertz technologies with MXenes and beyond, providing a route to developing compact, supercontinuum terahertz optoelectronic or photothermoelectric devices. Ultrathin 10.2-nm-thick (~λ/30,000) Ti3C2Tx MXene assemblies that offer an absorption of 49.2%, which is close to the theoretical limit of 50%, in the range of 0.5–10 THz are reported, benefiting terahertz optoelectronic and photothermoelectric devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to overcome the influence of model uncertainty and external disturbance on the trajectory tracking accuracy of four-wheel omnidirectional mobile robot (FM-OMR), a new adaptive trajectory tracking control scheme based on interval type 2 fuzzy neural network approximator (IT2FNNA) is proposed in this paper. Based on the kinematics and dynamics model of FM-OMR, a dual loop trajectory controller is constructed. To improve the adaptive ability of IT2FNNA, an adaptive adjustment method for the network output is proposed. In addition, to improve the approximation accuracy of the IT2FNNA, a bias strategy is proposed based on the FM-OMR model. Finally, the circle track and "8" track are simulated and tested. The simulation and experimental results show that the bias strategy and adaptive factor really improve the approximation ability and accuracy of IT2FNNA, and the proposed adaptive control scheme has smaller fluctuations, higher accuracy and better steady-state performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The surgical treatment of bladder urothelial carcinoma depends on whether the tumor has invaded the bladder muscular layer. Normal ultrasound and contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (contrast-enhanced MRI) are widely used in patients bear bladder tumors; the latter is also widely used in estimating the muscularis invasion of bladder cancer (BC). However, contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) is rarely used in this aspect. As the gold standard in diagnosing muscularis invasion remains being pathological examination, this study was set to find out whether there are differences between CEUS and contrast-enhanced MRI in diagnosing bladder malignant tumors and in diagnosing the muscularis invasion of the bladder urothelial carcinoma under the guide of the pathological results. Methods: 160 patients from Yongchuan Hospital of Chongqing Medical University and The Second Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University were recruited from July 1st, 2021, to June 30th, 2022. Patients are arranged to undergo CEUS, contrast-enhanced MRI and then take a surgery. After surgery, we compare the results of CEUS, MRI and the pathological results, using software to run the statistical examinations. Results: The accuracies of CEUS and contrast-enhanced MRI in diagnosing malignant bladder tumors were 85.90 and 84.62%, and they had no differences (P > 0.05). While the accuracies of CEUS and contrast-enhanced MRI in diagnosing the muscularis invasion were 84.62 and 76.92%, in which CEUS had a better sensitivity (P < 0.05). Conclusions: We found that CEUS and contrast-enhanced MRI had no differences in diagnosing the different pathological types (benign or malignant) of BC, but CEUS holds a better sensitivity in diagnosing muscularis invasions of bladder urothelial carcinoma than the contrast-enhanced MRI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magnesium (Mg) alloy wheels are widely concerned for their satisfactory energy saving and emission reduction effects and increased driving comfort. However, the current single-step back extrusion (BE) forming process of Mg alloy wheels uses a relatively small billet height-diameter ratio (HDR), which results in coarse grains and uneven grain size distribution of the spokes, seriously affecting the service performance of the wheel. A numerical model of the Mg alloy wheel was constructed based on the actual single-step BE process of the Mg alloy wheel in this study, and the effect of billet HDR on the physical field and dynamic recrystallization (DRX) grain size during the forming process of Mg alloy wheel was explored through numerical simulation. Finding reveals that as the HDR of the billet increases, the overall effective strain of the wheel increases, the overall DRX volume fraction increases, and the grains are refined. When the HDR of the billet is greater than 1, the overall grain size distribution of the wheel tends to be stable. Compared with the traditional small HDR, when the billet HDR is greater than 1, the grain size at the spokes is reduced from the original 60 ~ 120 to 30 μm. During the forming process of the wheel, the upper rim is prone to cracking. With the increase of the HDR of the billet, the damage value at the upper rim of the wheel increases, i.e., the cracking tendency at the upper rim increases. Simultaneously, the cracking tendency of the outer side of the rim increases with the HDR of the billet. Considering it comprehensively within the scope of this study, it is recommended to set the HDR of the wheel billet between 0.7 and 1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is important to develop active, stable, and cost-effective electrocatalysts for highly efficient overall water splitting. Metal organic frameworks were considered as efficient precursors for overall water splitting catalysts. In this paper, NC/Ni–Co3O4@Co1−xS with small size is obtained from ZIF-67. NC/Ni–Co3O4@Co1−xS materials exhibit superior overall water splitting properties, with a low overpotential of 170 mV for the hydrogen evolution reaction at 10 mA cm−2 and 210 mV for the oxygen evolution reaction at 10 mA cm−2 and long-term stability. Furthermore, the overall water splitting only requires 1.64 V to drive the current density of 10 mA cm−2, when the NC/ Ni–Co3O4@Co1−xS are used as both anode and cathode. NC/Ni–Co3O4@Co1−xS has excellent electrocatalytic activity due to its nanosheet structure, which greatly increases the electrochemically active surface area and the NC/Ni–Co3O4@Co1−xS has good electrical conductivity and abundant Co3+ sites, so the electrocatalytic activity is significantly enhanced. This study provides a new idea for the design and synthesis of novel composite electrocatalysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soybean is a leguminous crop that provides oil and protein. Exploring the genomic signatures of soybean evolution is crucial for breeding varieties with improved adaptability to environmental extremes. We analyzed the genome sequences of 2,214 soybeans and proposed a soybean evolutionary route, i.e., the expansion of annual wild soybean (Glycine soja Sieb. & Zucc.) from southern China and its domestication in central China, followed by the expansion and local breeding selection of its landraces (G. max (L.) Merr.). We observed that the genetic introgression in soybean landraces was mostly derived from sympatric rather than allopatric wild populations during the geographic expansion. Soybean expansion and breeding were accompanied by the positive selection of flowering time genes, including GmSPA3c. Our study sheds light on the evolutionary history of soybean and provides valuable genetic resources for its future breeding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The utilization of wastewater in food processing factory has become one of the foremost essential and challengeable problems. In this study, cabbage wastewater was used for a mixed fermentation to obtain a high ester vinegar. The effect of fermentation conditions on the total acid content and total ester content of vinegar was investigated through single-factor experiments and response surface methodology analysis. Under the optimal fermentation conditions of 10.61% inoculation amount, 4.9% initial alcohol content, 29.62 °C fermentation temperature, 75.21 h fermentation time, and the exogenous esterification addition amount of 0.6%. The blending vinegar has a total acid content of 3.80 g 100 mL−1 and a total ester content of 30.52 mg mL−1. The significant flavor components in the blending vinegar of the ethyl lactate with a pleasant aroma accounted for 22.15% and the ethyl acetate with a strong fruit aroma accounted for 11.37%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sequestrate genus Melanogaster is rich in mainland China. A total of ten taxa are supported by molecular evidence in this study, including five known species, four new species, and one putatively new species (supported by an ITS sequence from ectomycorrhizal root tip). Based on our morphological reexamination of the type or authentic specimens, four species recorded in China, including M. natsii, M. obovatisporus, M. ovoidisporus, and M. ovoidisporus var. angustatisporus, are treated as questionable species. Consequently, four new species, M. minobovatus, M. panzhihuaensis, M. quercicola, and M. tomentellus, are described and illustrated; M. fusisporus var. obovatus is recombined as M. obovatus; both M. spinisporus and M. subglobisporus are epitypified and re-described. A key for Chinese Melanogaster species is provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Particle breakage and the corresponding change of morphology are two key factors governing the mechanical behavior of calcareous sands in offshore geotechnical engineering constructions. To reveal the characteristics of these two factors, oedometer tests on calcareous sands have been performed in this study. The materials were sampled from the South China Sea with a homogenous composition but different particle size ranges and relative densities. In these tests, the dynamic imaging analysis (DIA) by Microtrac PartAn3D and acoustic emission (AE) techniques were employed to investigate the evolution of particle morphology and characteristics of AE signaling associated with the material deformations, respectively. The compressive deformation of calcareous sands was mainly induced by the particle rearrangement and particle breakage which are effectively irreversible plastic deformations. The irregular particle shape has led to strong interparticle filling and interlocking effects, which affected the particle slippage and rearrangement significantly during the deformation. The intensity and type of AE-triggering micro-mechanical behaviors were characterized by AE ringdown counts (RDC) and peak frequency, respectively. The RDC values concentrated primarily in the compression stage and increased rapidly under the normal stress of 400–3200 kPa. The RDC values increased with the increase of particle size but decreased with the increase of initial relative density. The compressive deformation and breakage characteristics of calcareous sands are consistent with the existing acoustic emission laws. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents a decentralized robust optimal tracking control scheme for a class of interconnected nonlinear systems with disturbances and actuator attacks. To save the computational energy resources, an adaptive event condition in the sensor channel and an estimated state-driven event condition in the control channel are established. Based on the output triggered information, a novel decentralized proportional-integral observer (PIO) is designed aided by the neighbor information, in which the system states and lumped disturbances are estimated. By utilizing the observer information, a reliable decentralized controller is designed. In the proposed control scheme, two control parts are included. An event-based discontinuous part is designed to force the tracking error to reach the sliding mode manifold, and an optimal control part is presented to release the effects of disturbance and minimize the control cost, the estimated disturbance values are also integrated into the control scheme as a compensation part. In addition, the optimal control problem is solved based on the neural network (NN) and adaptive dynamic programming (ADP), the stability and the weight vector of the tracking system are demonstrated, and finally, the application to the interconnected nonlinear power system verifies the merit of the presented control approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When an asymmetric low-voltage ride-through (LVRT) fault occurs, the interaction between negative-sequence component of grid voltages and positive-sequence currents may cause active power backflow from the ac side to one phase of the three-phase isolated cascaded H-bridge (CHB) photovoltaic (PV) inverter, resulting in the inverter has no balanced operating point and eventually shut down, unable to meet the grid-connected standards. Although the existing methods can solve this problem under certain operating conditions, there is still a large active power backflow operation area during inter-phase short-circuit faults. Therefore, a harmonic compensation strategy for improving the LVRT performance of CHB PV inverter is first proposed. Specifically, the modulation voltage of non-fault phase is extended to three symmetrical voltages with the same amplitude and fixed phase difference, and then their maximum and minimum harmonic voltage is calculated and combined with the fundamental-frequency adaptive zero-sequence voltage to compensate for the three-phase modulation voltages. Secondly, the quantitative comparison with existing methods from two dimensions shows that the proposed method can lower the non-fault phase modulation voltage amplitude and further reduce the active power backflow zone. Finally, experimental results from a low-voltage and low-power prototype validate the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A rising variety of power devices based on wide-bandgap (WBG) semiconductors are employed in products that can service at high temperatures consistently for extending the working life. Traditional tin–lead and lead-free solders are no longer suitable for power device packaging. Recently, nano-Ag pressureless sintering technology has attracted widespread attention for high-temperature application. When commercial Ag powders are applied, satisfactory sintering quality is often not obtained due to unstable product batches, unknown surface cladding, and poor sintering performance. In this work, Ag nanoparticles are surface modified with tert-dodecyl mercaptan (TDM) to prevent agglomeration at room temperature for improving pressureless sintering performance. We systematically introduced the modification process of Ag nanoparticles and Ag paste preparation and sintering process and compared the changes in the sintering performance of modified Ag nanoparticles with different TDM contents. With a minor amount of TDM, 1.5% of the total weight of Ag, the sintering performance of the Ag paste can be effectively improved and the porosity reduced. The highest average shear strength of the bonded joints based on modified Ag nanoparticles is up to 46.82 MPa with only 6.1% porosity by pressureless and low-temperature sinter at 250 °C for 10 min in ambient air, and the sintering morphology is better than the joints without nanoparticle modification. At the same time, increasing the sintering time does not have much effect on the bond strength, which indicated that 10 min already formed a high-quality joint. The analysis reveals that TDM molecules can be absorbed on the surface of Ag nanoparticles by headgroups to form a coating layer. The mechanism of TDM modification to enhance the sintering performance is also proposed, which provides theoretical support for the practical application of the pressureless Ag sintering technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We conducted field observations and experiments to explore debris flow dynamics, sediment transportation and slope erosion at an active natural debris flow gully in the headwaters of Jiangjia Ravine (Dongchuan region, Southwest China). In this region, the hillslopes were heavily jointed, weathered and sparsely vegetated, providing continuous and rich sediment supplies for initiating debris flows. The debris flow propagated in the channel as a sequence of surges, with periodical changes of flow flux, velocity, water content, and viscosity as controlled mainly by the conditions of erodible sediments and water supplies from the upstream. The water content of bank sediments ranged from 5 to 8%, while it was 16 to 26% for debris surges in the channel. The particle size distribution of sediments on the alluvial fan followed the Weibull's cumulative distribution and the mean size was in the range of 2 ~ 4 mm. The coarse particles were primarily elongated or prismoidal and aspect ratios followed well a normal distribution with the mean value of 0.4. The angular particles entrained in dense viscous debris flow surges could effectively abrade and groove the channel bed and banks, increasing the intensity of slope erosion. The incised slope had a sequence of terraced depositional layers on both banks. The layer thickness decreased as the erosion depth moved deeper into the stratum where hard bed soil/rock layers existed. The water-soil mixture of debris flow exhibited a clear shear-thinning behavior with its viscosity decreasing gradually with the increase of shear rate following the widely accepted power-law model. The dense viscous debris flow can facilitate the transportation of coarse gravels in channel and contribute to slope erosion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monocular depth estimation plays a crucial role in scene perception and 3D reconstruction. Supervised learning based depth estimation needs vast amounts of ground-truth depth data for training, which seriously restricts its generalization. In recent years, the unsupervised learning methods without LiDAR points cloud have attracted more and more attention. In this paper, an unsupervised monocular depth estimation method using stereo pairs for training is designed. We present a triaxial squeeze attention module and introduce it into our unsupervised framework to augment the representations of the depth map in detail. We also propose a novel training loss that enforces mutual-exclusion in image reconstruction to improve the performance and robustness in unsupervised learning. Experimental results on KITTI show that our method not only outperforms existing unsupervised methods but also achieves better results comparable with several supervised approaches trained with ground-truth data. The improvements in our method can better preserve the details of the depth map and allow the shape of objects to be maintained more smoothly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increasing development of terahertz technology, current research has a higher demand for terahertz measurement technology; however, the current frequency measurement technology mainly used in the terahertz band has the disadvantages of complex structure and high cost. Fabry–Pérot resonators are widely used in wavelength measurement in the terahertz band because of its low cost and simpler structure. In this paper, an all-metal sealed structure is proposed based on the Fabry–Pérot resonator used for wavelength measurement in the terahertz band. This structure is compact and convenient to debug, and has low input power demand. Through simulation, calculation, and analysis in the W and G bands, the output signal power varying periodically with the length of the resonator is obtained. There is a one-to-one correspondence between the frequency of the input signal and the period of the output signal power change. Thus, the frequency of the input signal can be obtained. An easier and more convenient frequency measurement is achieved in the terahertz band. Finally, an experiment in the frequency band of 90–100 GHz is completed successfully, which verifies the feasibility of this frequency measurement method in the terahertz frequency band. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Loop detection technology is an important part of the simultaneous localization and mapping system for eliminating the pose drift of robots during long-term movement. In order to solve the three main challenges of appearance-based methods, namely viewpoint changes, repeated textures, and large amounts of calculation, this paper proposes an unsupervised loop detection method that takes into account both the texture pattern and position information of feature points and avoids any pre-training steps. Since the relative rotation and translation of the robot between two frames forming loop closure are both very small, the proposed method constrains the matching range with an overlapped block strategy to not only improve the matching precision, but also reduce the cost of matching. Furthermore, the method introduces Gaussian functions to weight and fuse the matching score of each block. The proposed method is evaluated in detail on two different public datasets with various scenarios, and the results show that the proposed method performs better and more efficiently than existing state-of-the-art methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Iron is an essential micro-element, involved in multiple biological activities in vertebrates. Excess iron accumulation has been identified as an important mediator of lipid deposition. However, the underlying mechanisms remain unknown. In the present study, we found that a high-iron diet significantly increased intestinal iron content and upregulated the mRNA expression of two iron transporters (zip14 and fpn1). Intestinal iron overload increased lipogenesis, reduced lipolysis and promoted oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction. Iron-induced lipid accumulation was mediated by hypoxia-inducible factor-1 α (HIF1α), which was induced in response to mitochondrial oxidative stress following inhibition of prolyl hydroxylase 2 (PHD2). Mechanistically, iron promoted lipid deposition by enhancing the DNA binding capacity of HIF1α to the pparγ and fas promoters. Our results provide experimental evidence that oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction and the HIF1α-PPARγ pathway are critical mediators of iron-induced lipid deposition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Formaldehyde can pose a huge threat to human health due to its' carcinogenic effect. Carbon materials as adsorbents are widely applied to remove formaldehyde hazards. However, most carbon materials with disadvantages of the limited number of surface functional groups and the lack of suitable pore structure suffer from low adsorption rate for the adsorptive removal of formaldehyde. To improve the adsorption capability, oxygen (O) and nitrogen (N) elements co-doped porous viscose-based activated carbon fiber (N-O-ACF) was prepared via oxidation-hydrothermal treatment. First of all, the O atom can be introduced into ACF through chemical oxidation. Then, with the help of the O atom bridging effect, N atoms can be efficiently incorporated into ACF, and the content of the N element is as high as 7.13 wt.%. Thus, an improved adsorption performance of N-O-ACF for formaldehyde removal was achieved with the support of the synergistic effect of N and O elements. The adsorption capacity of N-O-ACF for removing formaldehyde increased up to 226 mg g−1 while only 161.5 mg g−1 was obtained for original ACF. The excellent formaldehyde adsorption capacity indicates that N-O-ACF may be a promising adsorbent in the field of indoor air purification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the reliable control design for a class of interconnected nonlinear systems subjected to actuator faults, disturbances, and denial-of-service (DoS) attacks. DoS attacks are carried out in both sensor and controller channels. An integrated event-observer-based security sliding mode fault-tolerant control approach is presented to defend against DoS attacks and compensate for faults and disturbances. To be more specific, the fuzzy logic system (FLS) theory is used to approximate the unknown nonlinear component first. Using the output measurement and sensor channel triggered output information, an FLS aided nonlinear estimator is put forward, in which the faults and disturbances are reconstructed. Then, to achieve the trajectory tracking purpose in the presence of DoS attacks, actuator faults, and disturbances, an adaptive sliding mode manifold is established, based on which an event-driven mechanism is established and a reliable controller is designed. In the controller scheme, the fault compensation and disturbance rejection mechanisms are also included synchronously. The tracking ability is analyzed using the Lyapunov method and the FLS theory, followed by applications to an interconnected power network system and an interconnected inverted pendulum system to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]