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X70 pipeline steel is butt welded by fully automatic welding at 25 ° slope, and the characteristic information of welding process is collected. A 3D transient heat and mass transfer model of weld pool is established. This model was verified by means of the shape of the weld pool and the two-dimensional shape of the weld, and then the flow field of the fully automatic welding process under steep slope conditions was simulated to clarify the mechanism of the lack of fusion defect. The results show that the welding arc is deflected when it stays on both side walls of the groove. When the arc stays at the bottom of the lower groove, the overflow phenomenon occurs at the structural mutation position of the molten pool located at the bottom of the side wall, and some liquid metal overflows to the front of the groove, forming a "void area" with gas-liquid interface. In the welding process, the liquid metal tends to flow to the side walls for heat transfer under various thermal effects, and forms a large range of eddy current at the side walls. This has a positive effect on sidewall melting. In addition, under the influence of the eddy current, it is difficult for the high-temperature liquid metal in the arc center to flow to the "void area" located at the bottom of the side wall of lower groove. Therefore, the bottom of the lower groove is more likely to cause lack of fusion defect.

Endobronchial stent exacerbates the formation of granulation tissue. Radiotherapy maybe a durable treatment option for granulation hyperplasia. In this study, we explore the results of external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) for granulation hyperplasia after airway stent placement. A total of 30 New Zealand rabbits were assigned in three groups, Control group (n = 12), low dosage (LD, 12 Gy in 4 fractions and twice a week) group (n = 9) and high dosage (HD, 20 Gy in 4 fractions and twice a week) group (n = 9). Post-stenting 1 week, LD and HD group started to receive EBRT. Bronchoscopy, Haematoxylin–eosin (HE), Masson’s trichrome (MTS), Safranin O (SO) and immunohistochemical (IHC) staining protocols were performed to evaluate the histopathological changes of trachea. A total of 30 stents were successfully implanted in 30 rabbits. No procedure-related death and complications happened. Post-stenting 4 w, 8 w and 12 w, the ventilate area ratio (VAR) and qualitative histological scoring (QHS) in the LD group and HD group lower than the Control group. Post-stenting 12w, the immunohistochemical results revealed that the positive percentage of TGF-β and VEGF in the LD group and HD group were lower than the Control group. In conclusion, the present study investigated the efficacy of EBRT in reducing stent related granulation tissue formation in the rabbit trachea. Higher dosage EBRT with a better result in inhibiting granulation hyperplasia.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a severe health condition characterized by high mortalities. NudC domain containing 1 (NUDCD1) is abnormally upregulated in multiple tumors and is recognized as a cancer antigen. In CRC, NUDCD1 upregulation accelerates tumor progression by activating the IGF1R-ERK1/2 signaling pathway. Its specific regulatory mechanisms, however, remain unclear.In the present study, we predicted the regulators of NUDCD1 and analyzed the expression profile of NUDCD1 in CRC tissues using the gene chip dataset. We also determined the regulation between miR-144, NUDCD1 and IGF1R-ERK1/2 signaling in vitro and in vivo. Then, the expression of miR-144 in CRC tissues was detected and its cell functions were verified in vitro.As predicted by bioinformatics, we found that NUDCD1 is a predicted target of miR-144 and confirmed that miR-144 directly binds to NUDCD1. In vitro and in vivo, miR-144 was determined to specifically regulate NUDCD1 expression and as such, can reduce the activity of the IGF1R-ERK1/2 signaling pathway. Moreover, miR-144 was significantly downregulated in CRC tissues; its levels were significantly negatively correlated with CRC primary range and lymph node metastasis. Cell function studies verified that miR-144 acts as a tumor suppressor, because it significantly inhibits the proliferation, metastasis, and invasion of CRC cells as well as inducing cell cycle arrest and apoptosis.Our study demonstrates that miR-144 regulates IGF1R-ERK1/2 signaling via NUDCD1 to inhibit CRC cell proliferation and metastasis. The miR-144/NUDCD1/IGF1R-ERK1/2 signaling axis may be crucial in the progression of CRC.

We consider the use of AI techniques to expand the coverage, access, and equity of urban data. We aim to enable holistic research on city dynamics, steering AI research attention away from profit-oriented, societally harmful applications (e.g., facial recognition) and toward foundational questions in mobility, participatory governance, and justice. By making available high-quality, multi-variate, cross-scale data for research, we aim to link the macrostudy of cities as complex systems with the reductionist view of cities as an assembly of independent prediction tasks. We identify four research areas in AI for cities as key enablers: interpolation and extrapolation of spatiotemporal data, using NLP techniques to model speech- and text-intensive governance activities, exploiting ontology modeling in learning tasks, and understanding the interaction of fairness and interpretability in sensitive contexts.

Backgrounds Papillary thyroid cancer (PTC), which is often driven by acquired somatic mutations in BRAF genes, is the most common pathologic type of thyroid cancer. PTC has an excellent prognosis after treatment with conventional therapies such as surgical resection, thyroid hormone therapy and adjuvant radioactive iodine therapy. Unfortunately, about 20% of patients develop regional recurrence or distant metastasis, making targeted therapeutics an important treatment option. Current in vitro PTC models are limited in representing the cellular and mutational characteristics of parental tumors. A clinically relevant tool that predicts the efficacy of therapy for individuals is urgently needed. Methods Surgically removed PTC tissue samples were dissociated, plated into Matrigel, and cultured to generate organoids. PTC organoids were subsequently subjected to histological analysis, DNA sequencing, and drug sensitivity assays, respectively. Results We established 9 patient-derived PTC organoid models, 5 of which harbor BRAFV600E mutation. These organoids have been cultured stably for more than 3 months and closely recapitulated the histological architectures as well as mutational landscapes of the respective primary tumors. Drug sensitivity assays of PTC organoid cultures demonstrated the intra- and inter-patient specific drug responses. BRAFV600E inhibitors, vemurafenib and dabrafenib monotherapy was mildly effective in treating BRAFV600E-mutant PTC organoids. Nevertheless, BRAF inhibitors in combination with MEK inhibitors, RTK inhibitors, or chemotherapeutic agents demonstrated improved efficacy compared to BRAF inhibition alone. Conclusions These data indicate that patient-derived PTC organoids may be a powerful research tool to investigate tumor biology and drug responsiveness, thus being useful to validate or discover targeted drug combinations.

Martensitic transformation, usually accompanied by ferroelastic and thermoelastic behaviors, is an interesting and useful mechanical-related property upon external stimuli. For molecular crystals, however, martensitic systems to show reversible stimuli-actuation behaviors are still limited because of a lack of designability and frequent crystal collapse due to large stress releases during the transformations. Here, a one-dimensional hybrid perovskite semiconductor (NMEA)PbI3 (NMEA = N-methylethylammonium) was prepared by following a dimensionality reduction design principle. The crystal undergoes reversible ferroelastic and thermoelastic martensitic transformations, which are attributed to weak intermolecular interactions among the chains that easily trigger the interchain shearing movement. The actuation behavior occurring during the phase transition is very close to room temperature and demonstrated to behave as a mechanical actuator for switching. This work provides an effective approach to designing molecular actuators with promising applications in next-generation intelligence devices.

Background Transcatheter arterial embolization (TAE) is one of the first-line treatments for advanced hepatocellular cancer. The pain caused by TAE is a stark complication, which remains to be prevented by biomedical engineering methods. Methods Herein, a commercial embolic agent CalliSpheres® bead (CB) was functionally modified with lidocaine (Lid) using an electrostatic self-assembly technique. The products were coded as CB/Lid-n (n = 0, 5, 10, corresponding to the relative content of Lid). The chemical compositions, morphology, drug-loading, and drug-releasing ability of CB/Lid-n were comprehensively investigated. The biocompatibility was determined by hemolysis assay, live/dead cell staining assay, CCK8 assay, immunofluorescence (IHC) staining assay and quantitative real-time PCR. The thermal withdrawal latency (TWL) and edema ratio (ER) were performed to evaluate the analgesia of CB/Lid-n using a plantar inflammation model. A series of histological staining, including immunohistochemistry (IL-6, IL-10, TGF-β and Navi1.7) and TUNEL were conducted to reveal the underlying mechanism of anti-tumor effect of CB/Lid-n on a VX2-tumor bearing model. Results Lid was successfully loaded onto the surface of CalliSpheres® bead, and the average diameter of CalliSpheres® bead increased along with the dosage of Lid. CB/Lid-n exhibited desirable drug-loading ratio, drug-embedding ratio, and sustained drug-release capability. CB/Lid-n had mild toxicity towards L929 cells, while triggered no obvious hemolysis. Furthermore, CB/Lid-n could improve the carrageenan-induced inflammation response micro-environment in vivo and in vitro. We found that CB/Lid-10 could selectively kill tumor by blocking blood supply, inhibiting cell proliferation, and promoting cell apoptosis. CB/Lid-10 could also release Lid to relieve post-operative pain, mainly by remodeling the harsh inflammation micro-environment (IME). Conclusions In summary, CB/Lid-10 has relatively good biocompatibility and bioactivity, and it can serve as a promising candidate for painless transcatheter arterial embolization.

Generalizing wavelets by adding desired redundancy and flexibility, framelets (i.e., wavelet frames) are of interest and importance in many applications such as image processing and numerical algorithms. Several key properties of framelets are high vanishing moments for sparse multiscale representation, fast framelet transforms for numerical efficiency, and redundancy for robustness. However, it is a challenging problem to study and construct multivariate nonseparable framelets, mainly due to their intrinsic connections to factorization and syzygy modules of multivariate polynomial matrices. Moreover, all the known multivariate tight framelets derived from spline refinable scalar functions have only one vanishing moment, and framelets derived from refinable vector functions are barely studied yet in the literature. In this paper, we circumvent the above difficulties through the approach of quasi-tight framelets, which behave almost identically to tight framelets. Employing the popular oblique extension principle (OEP), from an arbitrary compactly supported M-refinable vector function ϕ with multiplicity greater than one, we prove that we can always derive from ϕ a compactly supported multivariate quasi-tight framelet such that: (i) all the framelet generators have the highest possible order of vanishing moments; (ii) its associated fast framelet transform has the highest balancing order and is compact. For a refinable scalar function ϕ (i.e., its multiplicity is one), the above item (ii) often cannot be achieved intrinsically but we show that we can always construct a compactly supported OEP-based multivariate quasi-tight framelet derived from ϕ satisfying item (i). We point out that constructing OEP-based quasi-tight framelets is closely related to the generalized spectral factorization of Hermitian trigonometric polynomial matrices. Our proof is critically built on a newly developed result on the normal form of a matrix-valued filter, which is of interest and importance in itself for greatly facilitating the study of refinable vector functions and multiwavelets/multiframelets. This paper provides a comprehensive investigation on OEP-based multivariate quasi-tight multiframelets and their associated framelet transforms with high balancing orders. This deepens our theoretical understanding of multivariate quasi-tight multiframelets and their associated fast multiframelet transforms.

Photogating and electrical gating are key physical mechanisms in organic phototransistors (OPTs). However, most OPTs are based on thick and polycrystalline films, which leads to substantially low efficiency of both photogating and electrical gating and thus reduced photoresponse. Herein, high-performance OPTs based on few-layered organic single-crystalline heterojunctions are proposed and the obstacle of thick and polycrystalline films for photodetection is overcome. Because of the molecular scale thickness of the type I organic single-crystalline heterojunctions in OPTs, both photogating and electrical gating are highly efficient. By synergy of efficient photogating and electrical gating, key figures of merit of OPTs reach the highest among those based on planar heterojunctions so far as we know. The production of few-layered organic single-crystalline heterojunctions will provide a new type of advanced materials for various applications.

In the past decades, many materials have been studied as carriers for targeted drug delivery. However, there is a need for utilizable and selective carrier materials with few side effects. Here, the magnetic Ganoderma Lucidum Spores (mGLS) as a highly efficient targeted drug delivery carrier were explored. Then the regulatable targeted drug delivery system was verified by loading and releasing of the 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU). The results showed that the maximum of the loaded 5-FU reached 250.23 mg·g−1 in the mGLS. The cumulative release of the 5-FU for the drug delivery system could reach 80.11% and 67.14% in the PBS and HCl after 48 h, respectively. In addition, this system showed the good pharmacokinetic properties in vivo. After 12 h, the blood concentration in the 5-FU@mGLS group kept at 5.3 µg·mL−1 and was four times higher than that in the 5-FU group. In summary, the GLS as a natural microscale core-shell structures appears the striking application in carrier material for oral drug delivery.

Lead white is one of the most important pigments in human history, and its synthesis has promoted the development of art and cosmetics. The corrosion approach to synthesize lead white appeared in Greece during the fourth century BCE, and since then lead white has been produced on a large-scale and widely used in painting and cosmetics across Europe. However, when and how synthetic lead white appeared in east Eurasia and whether it was also involved with beauty remained unclear. Here, we investigate some white cosmetic residues from the Liangdaicun site during the eighth century BCE in northern China through FTIR, XRD, SEM-EDS, radioactive and stable carbon isotope analyses. The results show that these residues were the earliest synthesized lead white in the world to date, which was produced by the precipitation method in solution distinct from the corrosion method practiced in ancient Greece. Thus, the synthesis of lead white should have evolved independently in east and west Eurasia during the first millennium BCE. The mass production of synthetic lead white with lower cost promoted the widespread use of white makeup in China and the Mediterranean World, which triggered a cosmetic revolution and highlighted that the pursuit of beauty stimulated the development of chemistry in human history, especially the earliest wet chemistry practice in China.

Mechano-electro-chemical coupling during the ion diffusion process is a core factor to determine the electrochemical performance of electrodes. However, relationship between the mechanics and the electrochemistry has not been clarified by experiments. In this work, we conduct an in situ, visual, comprehensive characterization of strain field and Li concentration distribution to further explore the mechano-electro-chemical relationship. The digital image correlation characterized by fluorescent speckle and active optical imaging is developed. Combined with electrochromic-based Li concentration detection, the spatiotemporal evolution of in-plane strain and Li concentration of a graphite electrode during the lithiation and delithiation processes are measured and displayed visually via a dual optical path acquisition system. The visual results show that in-plane strain and Li concentration possess a spatially non-uniform gradient distribution along the radial direction (i.e., diffusion path) with large values outside and small values inside, and that both present obvious temporal segmentation. And mechano-electro-chemical coupling analysis reveals that the in-plane strain is not always linearly related to the concentration and infers that a high strain limits the diffusion and lithiation. The strain–concentration evolution exhibits obvious asymmetric differences between lithiation and delithiation, wherein three equations are fitted to approximately represent the evolution process between in-plane strain and concentration during the lithiation and delithiation processes This work overcomes the difficulties of fine strain measurements and collaborative concentration characterization during the electrochemical process, and provides an effective experimental method and data support for further exploration of mechano-electro-chemical coupling.

The variation of the morphology and distribution of cementite particles in different prior structures with spheroidizing annealing process has been proceeded in this paper. It is found that the dissolution and coarsening progresses of various initial structures in spheroidizing annealing process are quite asynchronous due to the different interlamellar spacing. The dissolution rate of degenerated pearlite (D-P) with finer interlamellar spacing is faster. The granular cementite in the spheroidized microstructure is fine, uniform and dense. The mean diameter of spherical cementite is refined to 233 nm. However, the initial structure of degenerated pearlite (D-P) is highly sensitive to the austenitization temperature. The cementite is easy to be coarsened under high austenitizing temperature. The coarsening is accompanied by the gradual increase of the Cr content in the cementite, which increases the stability of the cementite. Therefore, the optimal austenitizing temperature for degenerated pearlite (D-P) is suggested to be 770 °C. The dissolution rates of cementite in spheroidized structures are related to the initial pearlite interlamellar spacing and the austenitizing temperature. A detailed experimental research and analysis are needed on the evolution of different initial structures during spheroidizing annealing treatment.

Recrystallization has been a major method to induce heterogeneous grain structure for improving the strength–ductility combination of single-phase high-entropy alloys (HEAs). However, the recrystallization kinetics, which are the guideline for controlling the recrystallization behavior, of single-phase HEAs are relatively less explored. Here, we uncover the recrystallization behaviors of typical single-phase NiCoCrFe and Ni2CoCrFe HEAs. Our results showed that the two investigated HEAs exhibit almost similar recrystallization activation energy around 230 kJ·mol−1, but distinctively different recrystallization kinetics. This abnormal difference is attributed to the deformation twins of NiCoCrFe. These findings indicate that, except for textbook factors, deformation twinning significantly enhances the recrystallization behavior of HEAs.

Inspired by biomechanical studies, the spring-loaded inverted pendulum model is an effective behavior model to describe the running movement of animals and legged robots in the sagittal plane. However, when confronted with external lateral disturbances, the model has to move out of the 2-D plane and be extended to 3-D locomotion. With the degree of freedom increasing, the computational complexity is higher and the real-time control is more and more difficult, especially when considering the complex legged model. Here, we construct a control strategy based on the classical Raibert controller for legged locomotion under lateral impact disturbances. This strategy, named 3D-HFC, is composed of three core modules: touchdown angle control, body attitude angle control and energy compensation. The energy loss in each step is taken into consideration, and the real-time measured energy loss of the current step is adopted to predict that of the next step. We demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed control strategy on a simulated 3D-SLIP lower order model and a simulated running quadruped, which are perturbed by different impact forces. Furthermore, a quadruped bionic prototype named MBBOT was set up, on which lateral impact experiments were designed and implemented. Both simulation and experimental results show that the proposed approach can realize the impact disturbance rejection.

In this study, a human-chair model was developed as the basis for a wearable-chair design. A prototype chair, HUST-EC, based on the model was fabricated and evaluated. Employing the optimization under the golden divisional method, an optimized simulation of the operating mode with the lowest chair height was implemented. A novel multi-link support structure has been established with parameters optimized using Matlab software. The stress analysis of the solid models was conducted to ensure the adequate support from the designed chair for the user. Ten subjects participated in the evaluation experiment, who performed both static tasks and dynamic tasks. The experimental results consisted of subjective evaluation and objective evaluation. The experimental data demonstrate that (1) the HUST-EC can effectively reduce the activation level of related muscles at a variety of tasks; (2) the plantar pressure was reduced by 54%–67%; (3) the angle between the upper body and the vertical axis was reduced by 59%–77%; (4) the subjective scores for chair comfortability, portability, and stability were all higher than 7. The results further revealed that the designed chair can reduce the musculoskeletal burden and may improve work efficiency.

Thermal conductivity of polymers gains much attention in many fields, and the formation of a heat conduction network is very important for polymer coatings. Carbon nanofiller is one type of excellent candidate fillers for improving thermal conductivity, but the poor incorporation between the filler and the polymer restricts coating performances. In this study, the heat transfer oil (HTO) was used as a medium to communicate the carbon nanofiller with the polymer (poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF), fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP)) and to improve the thermal conductivity and corrosion resistance of PVDF composite coatings. The micronanostructure of superhydrophobic PVDF/FEP/SiO2 (modified PVDF or m-PVDF) composite coatings was used as a storage space for the HTO, so that various carbon nanofiller including carbon nanotubes (CNTs), graphene, carbon black, and carbon nanofibers can take effect in improving thermal conductivity. Among the m-PVDF/carbon nanofiller composite coatings, the HTO/m-PVDF/CNTs coating gained the highest thermal conductivity of 0.53 W·m−1·K−1 after HTO modification, which was 3.3 times that of the m-PVDF/CNTs coating and was attributed to the connectivity of HTO. The anticorrosion of HTO/m-PVDF/CNTs was increased by 3 orders of magnitude than that of m-PVDF/CNTs owing to the synergistic effect between the HTO and CNTs in blocking the invasion of corrosive species. This research provides a unique way to design and fabricate high-thermal-conductivity composite coatings with high anticorrosion by the synergism between carbon nanofiller and HTO.

In this study, the concentrations of 16 kinds of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in surface sediments of Daya Bay were determined and analyzed. Results showed that 16 PAHs were detected in all the samples, and the total PAH concentration ranged from 70.18 to 128.04 ng g-1, with an average of 103.17 ng g-1. The cyclic number distribution of PAHs in the sediments was mainly 4 and 5 rings. Six classic PAH ratios named Ant/(Ant + Phe), Fla/(Fla + Pyr), [InP/(InP + BghiP)], [BaA/(BaA + Chr)], BaA/BghiP, and LMW/HMW, and principal component analyses showed that the main source of PAHs in this region was combustion (biomass, coal, and petroleum combustion), and the secondary source was petroleum. The ecological risk analysis of PAHs by using effect range low/median method and mean effects range-median quotient method showed that all of PAHs are lower than the effect range low (ERL) level and the effects range-median quotient (M-ERM-Q) value of all stations is 0.0027-0.0067, with an average value of 0.0046. Thus, it can be seen that PAHs are at a low-risk level in surface sediments of Daya Bay.

Photocatalytic reduction of CO2 holds tremendous promise for alleviating the energy crisis. Despite the progress that has been made, there are still some challenges to overcome, such as the realization under real sunlight rather than the simulation condition. In this work, ultrathin Ni2(OH)(PO4) nanotubes (NTs) prepared through hydrothermal route are applied as a novel catalyst for photocatalytic reduction of CO2 under real sunlight. The prepared Ni2(OH)(PO4) NTs exhibit a 11.3 µmol·h−1 CO production rate with 96.1% CO selectivity. Interestingly, Ni2(OH)(PO4) NTs have a positive impact on the facilitation of photoreduction in diluted CO2. Notably, when the system is performed under real sunlight, Ni2(OH)(PO4) NTs afford an accumulated CO of ca. 26.8 µmol with 96.9% CO selectivity, exceeding most previous inorganic catalysts under simulated irradiation in the laboratory. Our experimental results demonstrate that the multisynergetic effects induced by surface-OH and the lattice strain serve as highly active sites for CO2 molecular adsorption and activation as well as electron transfer, hence enhancing photoreduction activity. Therefore, this work provides experimental basis that CO2 photocatalysis can be put into practical use.

In this study, WC-Al2O3 composite was fabricated by vacuum hot-pressing sintering. The corrosion behavior of WC-Al2O3 composite in NaOH and H2SO4 solutions was investigated by electrochemical measurements. The corrosion mechanisms were analyzed and revealed in light of corrosion morphology observation and composition characterization. The results confirmed that WC-Al2O3 composite possessed higher corrosion resistance than WC-Co hard metal in H2SO4 solution. Conversely, WC-Al2O3 composite behaved similar corrosion resistance compared with WC-Co hard metal in NaOH solution. The key reason for higher corrosion resistance in H2SO4 solution is the stable WO3 passive film. The oxidation of WC phase leads to neck cracks along with grain boundaries, which is attributed to the preferential corrosion of grain boundary and the stress derived from the volume expansion during polarization and drying processes. In NaOH solution, the corrosion mechanism of WC-Al2O3 composite mainly attributed to the dissolution of WC phase, but Al2O3 phase is relatively stable.

In the last decade, a relatively novel, ubiquitous and highly stable subclass of non-coding RNAs, called circular (circ)-RNAs, has increasingly been implicated in cancer development, and several of them have been shown to act as microRNA sponges. As yet, however, the role of circRNAs in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) development has largely remained unexplored.Bioinformatics, microarray-based and qRT-PCR expression assays were used to assess circRNA, miRNA and mRNA expression in LUAD patient samples and cell lines. siRNA-mediated silencing was used to assess the effect of circCSNK1G3 on various LUAD-associated characteristics such as proliferation, migration, invasion and tumorigenesis, both in vitro and in vivo. Western blotting, immunohistochemistry, fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and luciferase reporter activity assays were used to characterize relationships between circCSNK1G3, miR-143-3p and HOXA10 in LUAD cells.By screening for differentially expressed circRNAs, we found that circCSNK1G3 was aberrantly expressed in primary LUAD tissues and cell lines. An oncogenic role of circCSNK1G3 was deduced from its aberrant expression and associated enhancement of LUAD A549 and H1299 cell proliferation, migration and invasion. We also found that circCSNK1G3 can directly interact with and suppress miR-143-3p expression by serving as a 'miR-143-3p sponge'. In addition, we found that circCSNK1G3 can modulate homeobox (HOX) A10 expression through miR-143-3p signaling and, thereby, affect LUAD tumorigenesis.Our data indicate that circCSNK1G3 can induce HOXA10 expression and, thereby, promote the growth and metastasis of LUAD cells through hsa-miR-143-3p sponging. As such, our data highlight the targetability of the circCSNK1G3/miR-143-3p/HOXA10 signaling axis in patients with LUAD. Graphical abstract.

In order to solve the problem of forming parts with complex shape and small local feature size, solid granules medium forming (SGMF) was adopted. A part of magnesium alloy AZ31B with double-cone shape was taken as an example to analyze the forming process. The parameters of Gurson–Tvergaard–Needleman (GTN) were identified by an inverse method, comparing the experimental results with the numerical results. Based on the GTN model, the coupled finite element and discrete element (FE-DE) method was applied to simulate the forming process of the double-cone part with SGMF technology, and the relevant forming experiments were carried out. The results show that the quality of the workpiece can be improved with different friction coefficient of different area of the part. The fracture behavior and final wall thickness distribution obtained by experiment consist with those by simulation. So, it demonstrates the applicability of the FE-DE method with GTN damage model in analyzing formability of magnesium alloy, and the FE-DE method could embody the medium discrete characteristics fully during SGMF technology.

Converting carbon dioxide (CO2) to diverse value-added products through photocatalysis can validly alleviate the critical issues of greenhouse effect and energy shortages simultaneously. In particular, based on practical considerations, exploring novel catalysts to achieve efficient photoreduction of diluted CO2 is necessary and urgent. However, this process is extremely challenging owing to the disturbance of competitive adsorption at low CO2 concentration. Herein, we delicately synthesize oxygen vacancy-laden NiO nanoplatelets (r-NiO) via calcination under Ar protection to reduce diluted CO2 through visible light irradiation (> 400 nm) assisted by a Ru-based photosensitizer. Benefitting from the strongly CO2 adsorption energy of oxygen vacancies, which was confirmed by density functional calculations, the r-NiO catalysts exhibit higher activity and selectivity (6.28 × 103 µmol·h−1·g−1; 82.11%) for diluted CO2-to-CO conversion than that of the normal NiO (3.94 × 103 µmol·h−1·g−1; 65.26%). Besides, the presence of oxygen vacancies can also promote the separation of electron-hole pairs. Our research demonstrates that oxygen vacancies could act as promising candidates for photocatalytic CO2 reduction, offering fundamental guidance for the actual photoreduction of diluted CO2 in the future.

As ideal cells that can be used for adoptive cell therapy, γδ T cells are a group of homogeneous cells with high proliferative and tumor killing ability. However, γδ T cells are apt to apoptosis and show decreased cytotoxicity under persistent stimulation in vitro and cannot aggregate at tumor sites efficiently in vivo, both of which are two main obstacles to tumor adoptive immunotherapy. In this study, we found that the immune checkpoint T-cell immunoglobulin domain and mucin domain 3 (TIM-3) were up-regulated significantly on γδ T cells during their ex vivo expansion and this up-regulation contributed to the dysfunction of γδ T cells. Although the killing ability of γδ T cells against breast cancer cells which exhibited a high level of epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) was enhanced, the level of TIM-3 on γδ T cells was also further up-regulated under the application of the bispecific antibody MT110 (anti-CD3 × anti-EpCAM) which can redirect T cells to target cells. Besides, these γδ T cells with up-regulated TIM-3 exhibited an increased susceptibility to apoptosis. By reinvigorating dysfunctional γδ T cells and promoting them to accumulate at tumor sites, the combined use of TIM-3 inhibitor and MT110 could further enhance the anti-tumor effect of the adoptively transfused γδ T cells. These results may have clinical implications for the design of new translational anti-tumor regimens aimed at combining checkpoint blockade and immune cell redirection.

Glioma is one of the most common malignant tumors and shows a high metastasis rate and poor prognosis. Abnormal expression of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) contributes to various human tumors including gliomas. This study aimed to investigate the regulatory role of the antisense RNA of growth arrest special 5 (GAS5-AS1), a novel lncRNA, in gliomas. Expression of GAS5-AS1 and microRNA-106b-5p (miR-106b-5p) in glioma tissues and cells was detected by quantitative reverse transcription PCR, northern blotting, or fluorescent in situ hybridization. Cell proliferation, migration, and invasion were analyzed by CCK-8 and Transwell assays. BALB/c nude mice were used to establish a glioma xenograft animal model by subcutaneous injection of U251 cells transfected with small interfering RNA targeting GAS5-AS1. A dual-luciferase reporter assay was conducted to confirm the targeting relationship between GAS5-AS1 and miR-106b-5p. GAS5-AS1 expression was downregulated in glioma tissues and cells, and upregulation of GAS5-AS1 expression inhibited glioma cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. GAS5-AS1 expression was correlated with the glioma tumor grade. In nude mice, upregulation of GAS5-AS1 markedly suppressed glioma tumor growth. GAS5-AS1 overexpression significantly increased the miR-106b-5p level in glioma cells, and GAS5-AS1 expression was negatively related to miR-106b-5p expression in glioma tissues. Overexpression of miR-106b-5p reversed the inhibitory effects of GAS5-AS1 upregulation on glioma cell proliferation and metastasis, while restoration of TUSC2 rescued the proliferation and invasion of glioma cells transfected with miR-106b-5p mimics. In summary, lncRNA GAS5-AS1 inhibited glioma proliferation, migration, and invasion by sponging miR-106b-5p and regulating the expression of TUSC2. Our results suggest GAS5-AS1 as a novel target for the treatment and prognosis prediction of gliomas.

The butt welding of bimetal composite pipes generally adopts single-side welding, which easily gives rise to the problems such as high cost or crack initiation. In this paper, the butt welding of L415/316L bimetal mechanical lined pipes was conducted using post-internal-welding process, which is double-side welding process, proposed by the authors. Firstly, the effect of groove shape on the weld process was discussed. Then, microstructures and mechanical and corrosion-resistance properties of welded joints welded using two different welding materials, 309MoL and 309L, were investigated. The results show that the most suitable groove is that L415 is V shape with angle of 60° and blunt edge of 1 mm and 316L is stripped 6–8 mm. The weld of both 309MoL and 309L is composed of austenite and a small amount of ferrite, but the presence of Mo can refine the grains and increase the content of ferrite phase. The width of transition layer is about 0.6–0.8 mm located at the weld junction of stainless steel weld and carbon steel weld, and the transition layer mainly contains martensite. The tensile and bending performances of the welded joints using both 309MoL and 309L do meet the standard requirements. The welding wire 309MoL can improve the corrosion resistance to Cl− compared to 309L. It is advisable to use the post-internal-welding process and 309MoL for the welding of bimetal composite pipes under environments containing Cl−.

Abstract Guard Dog II (1969–1970) by Jean Dubuffet is an artwork that shows the characteristics of the artist's l'hourloupe period (1962–1974). This study revealed the materials and manufacturing techniques used by the artist at the time through material analysis of Guard Dog II, and suggested an appropriate conservation treatment method for the work through a cleaning test. Dust, stains, discoloration, cracks, etc. were observed on the surface of the artwork and stains were particularly severe and discoloration required conservation treatment. Prior to treatment, multiple analytical approaches such as Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy and gas chromatography/mass spectrometer were applied to identify the materials of the paint layers and confirm the state of the conservation of the artworks. As a result, it was confirmed that polyurethane paint was used in the artwork, and the pigment used for each color was also identified. For the stable conservation treatment of the artwork, the chromaticity, glossiness and workability of the cleaning materials were evaluated, and it was found that isopropyl alcohol and nonionic surfactant were suitable for cleaning. The conservation treatment was performed based on results from the cleaning test, and the artwork was restored cleanly. Since most of the existing research on cleaning methods has been focused on painting, this study contributes to the conservation of sculptures by suggesting cleaning methods suitable for three-dimensional colored objects. Article highlights The materials and production techniques used in Jean Dubuffet, Guard Dog II were confirmed. As cleaning materials for deteriorated artworks, isopropyl alcohol and non-ionic surfactants are effective. Hydrogels are not suitable for this work due to the type and characteristics of the gels.

Korean hand papermaking is a renowned cultural tradition in the Korean peninsula. It is still practiced while scientific analysis of paper itself from a large data set is rare. In this study, a set of more than three hundred Korean handmade papers, collected in a reference collection book Hanji: Korean handmade paper, were chemically investigated, and their property data such as colour, pH, grammage, thickness, tensile strength, folding endurance were statistically analysed in order to determine general features for Korean papers. The influence of different paper sheet formation methods (Heullimtteugi vs Gadumtteugi) were revealed by multivariate data analysis and the chemical profiles of raw materials were studied by pyrolysis–gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS). The Korean handmade paper samples display colour gamut in the colour space L* (69.9–95.9), a* [(−3)-3], b* (0–20), most have neutral/alkaline pH values. Paper density, fiber orientation and physical properties are influenced by the sheet formation techniques. For instance, Gadumtteugi tends to produce papers with strong fiber orientation while Heullimtteugi produces papers with more evenly distribution of fibers. In addition, Py-GC/MS analysis results show that paper mulberry fibers contain less intensity lignin monomers and more terpenic compounds in comparison with gampi and mitsumata fibers. This study provides paper analysis from large sample set, statistics reveal that the material preparing and making craft determined the paper structure which reflected in their physical properties. These properties influenced paper performance and applications in art creations as well as relics conservation and restoration. The characterized paper sample database could be used for handmade paper studies in East Asian region. Consequently, this study contributes to a better understanding of contemporary Hanji properties as well as improves knowledge on handmade papers from the Korean peninsula.

Let $$\mathbb {S}$$ be the commutative and idempotent semiring with additive identity $$\mathbf {0}$$ and multiplicative identity $$\mathbf {1}$$ . The tropical semiring $$\mathbb {T}$$ and the Boolean semiring $$\mathbb {B}$$ are common important examples of such semirings. Let $$UT_{n}(\mathbb {S})$$ be the semigroup of all $$n\times n$$ upper triangular matrices over $$\mathbb {S}$$ , both $$UT^{\pm }_n(\mathbb {S})$$ and $$UT^{+}_n(\mathbb {S})$$ be subsemigroups of $$UT_n(\mathbb {S})$$ with $$\mathbf {0}$$ and/or $$\mathbf {1}$$ on the main diagonal, and $$\mathbf {1}$$ on the main diagonal respectively. It is known that $$UT_{2}(\mathbb {T})$$ is non-finitely based and $$UT^{\pm }_{2}(\mathbb {S})$$ is finitely based. Combining these results, the finite basis problems for $$UT_{n}(\mathbb {T})$$ and $$UT^{\pm }_{n}(\mathbb {S})$$ with $$n=2, 3$$ both as semigroups and involution semigroups under the skew transposition are solved. It is well known that the semigroups $$UT^{+}_n(\mathbb {S})$$ and $$UT^{+}_n(\mathbb {B})$$ are equationally equivalent. In this paper, we show that the involution semigroups $$UT^{+}_n(\mathbb {S})$$ and $$UT^{+}_n(\mathbb {B})$$ under the skew transposition are not equationally equivalent. Nevertheless, the finite basis problems for involution semigroups $$UT_n^{+}(\mathbb {S})$$ and $$UT_n^{+}(\mathbb {B})$$ share the same solution, that is, the involution semigroup $$UT_n^{+}(\mathbb {S})$$ is finitely based if and only if $$n=2$$ .

Purpose Hypertension is a global public issue, and sleep status was regarded as its risk factor; however, the results were inconsistent. This study aims to deeply investigate the correlation between sleep status and hypertension. Methods The electronic databases Cochrane Library, Pubmed, and Embase updated to May 31, 2019, were retrieved. Studies were selected according to the predefined screening criteria, and their qualities were assessed by using quality check scales. Based on Stata 15.1 software, the associations between sleep status and hypertension were analyzed by meta-analyses, using odds ratio and 95% confidence interval as effect indexes. Furthermore, publication bias and small study bias were evaluated using Begg and Egger’s test. In addition, sensitivity analysis was conducted through ignoring one study per time and then observing its influences on the pooled results. Results A total of 54 studies (involving 1,074,207 subjects) were eligible for this meta-analysis. Six factors were included in this study. Raised blood pressure was associated with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), oxygen desaturation index (ODI), short sleep duration, and long sleep duration. The differences in ≤ 5 h, 6 h, ≥ 9 h, and 10 h groups had statistical significances, while there was no significant difference in ≥ 8 h group. Snoring is a risk factor of hypertension (OR = 1.94, 95%CI 1.41–2.67). Subgroup analysis was conducted and results were varied. Conclusions The hypertension risk might be reduced by treated OSA, ODI, and snoring, as well as appropriate sleep duration. More studies with large sample sizes and high qualities should be included to support the findings further. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s11325-019-01907-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

This paper presents an adaptive active contour model (ACM) to handle both homogeneous and inhomogeneous images. The object function of the presented model is roughly composed of the local energy constraint and the global energy constraint. First, we choose the weighted local image fitting constraint as the local energy constraint term. Second, the weighted global image fitting constraint is defined as the global energy constraint term inspired by the weighted local image fitting constraint. Moreover, a monotone time-varying function within the range of zero to one is defined as the energy weight to regulate the proportions of the local and global energy constraints, which makes the curve evolution be divided into three stages. Some experiments are performed on synthetic images and real-world images, and the results indicate that the proposed model is superior to the popular ACMs in segmentation accuracy and efficiency and is more robust to the initial contours.

A great deal of oil contaminated the shoreline by the Qingdao oil pipeline explosion in 2013. The four oil-degrading consortia were enriched from sediment samples with crude oil as sole carbon and energy sources. The biodiversity and community analysis showed that the Luteibacter, Parvibaculum and a genus belonging to Alcanivoracaceae were found predominant bacteria in the four consortia, which belonged to Proteobacteria. Nine strains exhibiting distinct 16S rRNA gene sequences were isolated from the consortia. These strains were identified to eight genera based on 16S rRNA gene sequences. Five of the nine strains degraded more than 30% of the crude oil in two weeks by gravimetric method. From the analysis of GC-MS, most of the isolated strains tended to degrade n-alkanes rather than PAHs. Five strains showed high degrading ability of the total n-alkanes. Only Strain D2 showed great PAHs degrading ability and the degrading rates ranged from 34.9% to 77.5%. The sequencing analysis of the oil-degrading consortia confirmed that the genus of Alcanivorax was one of the dominant bacteria in Consortia A and E and Strain E4 might be one of the dominant bacteria. The strains obtained in this study demonstrated the potential for oil bioremediation in oil-contaminated beach ecosystems.

Novel ultralight sandwich panels, which are comprised of corrugated channel cores and are faced with two identical solid sheets, subjected to generalized bending are optimally designed for minimum mass. A combined analytical and numerical (finite element) investigation is carried out. Relevant failure mechanisms such as face yielding, face buckling, core yielding and core buckling are identified, the load for each failure mode derived, and the corresponding failure mechanism maps constructed. The analytically predicted failure loads and failure modes are validated against direct finite element simulations, with good agreement achieved. The optimized corrugated channel core is compared with competing topologies for sandwich construction including corrugations, honeycombs and lattice trusses, and the superiority of the proposed structure is demonstrated. Corrugated-channel-core sandwich panels hold great potential for multifunctional applications, i.e., simultaneous load bearing and active cooling.

A tertiary-amine modified attapulgite (TMATP) had been prepared for an advanced combination. The TMATP was incorporated into the cardo poly(aryl ether ketone) with sulfoalkyl groups site (SPEK) membrane. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and the x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy spectra revealed that attapulgite was successfully modified with tertiary amine. The TMATP were uniformly inlaid in the SPEK matrix which presented fine interface adhesion illustrated by SEM images. The introduction of TMATP within SPEK also allowed simultaneously to increase its water uptake and to improve its mechanical properties. Compared with the neat SPEK, under 80°C and low relative humidity conditions, the TMATP/SPEK composite membranes still retain preferable proton conductivity. TGA analysis showed better thermal stability for the TMATP/SPEK composites than SPEK. In addition, the TMATP/SPEK composites possessed good water holding capacity even at elevated temperatures.