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Textile defect recognition is a significant technique in the production processes of the textile industry. However, in the practical processes, it is hard to acquire large amounts of textile defect samples. Meanwhile, the textile samples with correct defect labels are rare. To address these two limitations, in this paper, we propose a novel semi-supervised graph convolutional network for few labeled textile defect recognition. First, we construct the graph convolutional network and convolution neural network to extract spectral features and spatial features. Second, the adaptive convolution structure is proposed to generate adaptive kernels according to their dynamically learned features. Finally, the spatial–spectral adaptive unified learning network (SSA-ULNet) is built for limited labeled defective samples, and graph-based semi-supervised learning is constructed. The textile defect recognition model can extract the textile image features through the image descriptors, enabling the whole network to be end-to-end trainable. To evaluate the proposed method, one public dataset and two unique self-built textile defect datasets are used to textile defect recognition. The evaluation results demonstrate that the proposed SSA-ULNet obviously outperforms existing state-of-the-art deep learning methods.

Background Although mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been effective in tendinopathy, the mechanisms by which MSCs promote tendon healing have not been fully elucidated. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that MSCs transfer mitochondria to injured tenocytes in vitro and in vivo to protect against Achilles tendinopathy (AT). Methods Bone marrow MSCs and H2O2-injured tenocytes were co-cultured, and mitochondrial transfer was visualized by MitoTracker dye staining. Mitochondrial function, including mitochondrial membrane potential, oxygen consumption rate, and adenosine triphosphate content, was quantified in sorted tenocytes. Tenocyte proliferation, apoptosis, oxidative stress, and inflammation were analyzed. Furthermore, a collagenase type I-induced rat AT model was used to detect mitochondrial transfer in tissues and evaluate Achilles tendon healing. Results MSCs successfully donated healthy mitochondria to in vitro and in vivo damaged tenocytes. Interestingly, mitochondrial transfer was almost completely blocked by co-treatment with cytochalasin B. Transfer of MSC-derived mitochondria decreased apoptosis, promoted proliferation, and restored mitochondrial function in H2O2-induced tenocytes. A decrease in reactive oxygen species and pro-inflammatory cytokine levels (interleukin-6 and -1β) was observed. In vivo, mitochondrial transfer from MSCs improved the expression of tendon-specific markers (scleraxis, tenascin C, and tenomodulin) and decreased the infiltration of inflammatory cells into the tendon. In addition, the fibers of the tendon tissue were neatly arranged and the structure of the tendon was remodeled. Inhibition of mitochondrial transfer by cytochalasin B abrogated the therapeutic efficacy of MSCs in tenocytes and tendon tissues. Conclusions MSCs rescued distressed tenocytes from apoptosis by transferring mitochondria. This provides evidence that mitochondrial transfer is one mechanism by which MSCs exert their therapeutic effects on damaged tenocytes.

Background N6-methyladenosine (m6A) methylation is the most abundant chemical posttranscriptional modification of mRNA, and it is associated with the regulation of the immune response to tumors. However, the function of m6A modification in the immune response to endometrial cancer (EC) remains unknown. Our study investigated the immunological role of methyltransferase-like 3 (METTL3) in EC and the underlying molecular mechanism. Methods We investigated the correlation between the expression of METTL3 and CD8 by using an endometrial tissue microarray cohort. Next, we investigated the role and mechanism of METTL3 in the immune response to EC using a mouse tumor model and a CD8+ T cell-EC cell coculture system after METTL3 overexpression or depletion. Additionally, RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP), methylated RIP, and RNA stability experiments were used to investigate the mechanism underlying the function of METTL3 in immunosurveillance of EC. Results METTL3 levels were downregulated in EC patients, low levels of METTL3 were correlated with poor prognosis in EC patients. There was a positive correlation between METTL3 expression and CD8 expression. Overexpression of METTL3 in the EC cell and CD8+ T cell coculture system inhibited EC cell proliferation, migration, and promoted CD8+ T-cell proliferation, and in vivo, METTL3 overexpression increased CD8+ T cell proportions and inhibited EC progression; however, genetic depletion of METTL3 exerted the opposite effects. NLR family CARD domain-containing 5 (NLRC5) was identified as a target of METTL3-mediated m6A modification. The degradation of NLRC5 was increased by YTH domain-containing family 2 (YTHDF2). Conclusions Overall, METTL3, YTHDF2, and NLRC5 have potential to be the diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for EC. METTL3 facilitated the m6A modifications of NLRC5 and inhibited its degradation through a YTHDF2-dependent mechanism in EC. Genetic overexpression of METTL3 attenuated the immune evasion of EC by promoting NLRC5-mediated immunosurveillance, suggesting that the METTL3/YTHDF2/NLRC5 axis is a promising target of immunotherapy in EC.

Background Patients with work-related lung disease (WRLD) are at increased risk of death caused by severe lung tissue damage and fibrosis. This study aimed to assess the clinical outcomes of lung transplantation (LTx) for WRLD and compare the results of LTx between WRLD and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Methods This single-center retrospective cohort study reviewed the clinical data of patients who underwent LTx for WRLD or IPF at our hospital between January 2015 and December 2021. Cumulative survival rates after LTx were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Results The final analysis included 33 cases of WRLD and 91 cases of IPF. The 33 WRLD patients consisted of 19 (57.6%) cases of silicosis, 8 (24.2%) cases of coal workers’ pneumoconiosis, 3 (9.09%) cases of asbestosis, and 3 (9.09%) cases of other WRLD. Pneumothorax as an indication for LTx was significantly more common in the WRLD group than in the IPF group (51.5% vs. 2.2%, P P = 0.67). There was no significant difference in the best performance of exercise capacity and lung function between the two groups at 1 year post-transplant. Conclusions LTx had similar survival outcomes and lung function for WRLD and IPF patients. Pneumothorax was the primary indication for lung transplantation in WRLD.

N6-Methyladenosine (m6A) is the most prevalent internal modification of messenger RNA (mRNA) in eukaryotes. The underlying molecular mechanisms of m6A modification in chronic glomerulonephritis (CGN) remain unexplored. Here, we performed methylated RNA immunoprecipitation sequencing (MeRIP-seq) and RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) analyses to assess the alterations of epitranscriptome-wide m6A profile in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced mouse mesangial cells (MMC). The results of our data showed 2153 significantly differential m6A peaks and 358 significantly differentially expressed genes. Furthermore, integrated analysis from MeRIP-seq and RNA-seq identified a total of 64 genes with differential m6A modification and expressed levels, of which 5 genes displayed hypermethylation and upregulation, 42 genes displayed hypermethylation and downregulation, 11 genes displayed hypomethylation and upregulation, and 8 genes displayed hypomethylation and downregulation. Many of them (including Fosl1, Sorbs1, Ambp, Fgfr3, Nedd9, Fgg, Trim13, Fgf22, Mylk, and Muc6) are implicated in the regulation of the immune and inflammatory response. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) and Gene Ontology (GO) analysis found that differential 64 genes were mainly enriched in fatty acid oxidation, apoptosis signaling pathway, complement and coagulation cascades, and PPAR signaling pathway. Together, our study provided a new perspective on the understanding of molecular features of m6A modification in CGN pathogenic pathogenesis.

The prognosis and overall survival of castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) patients are poor. The search for novel and efficient anti-CRPC agents is therefore extremely important. WM-3835 is a cell-permeable, potent and first-in-class HBO1 (KAT7 or MYST2) inhibitor. Here in primary human prostate cancer cells-derived from CRPC patients, WM-3835 potently inhibited cell viability, proliferation, cell cycle progression and in vitro cell migration. The HBO1 inhibitor provoked apoptosis in the prostate cancer cells. It failed to induce significant cytotoxicity and apoptosis in primary human prostate epithelial cells. shRNA-induced silencing of HBO1 resulted in robust anti-prostate cancer cell activity as well, and adding WM-3835 failed to induce further cytotoxicity in the primary prostate cancer cells. Conversely, ectopic overexpression of HBO1 further augmented primary prostate cancer cell proliferation and migration. WM-3835 inhibited H3-H4 acetylation and downregulated several pro-cancerous genes (CCR2, MYLK, VEGFR2, and OCIAD2) in primary CRPC cells. Importantly, HBO1 mRNA and protein levels are significantly elevated in CRPC tissues and cells. In vivo, daily intraperitoneal injection of WM-3835 potently inhibited pPC-1 xenograft growth in nude mice, and no apparent toxicities detected. Moreover, intratumoral injection of HBO1 shRNA adeno-associated virus (AAV) suppressed the growth of primary prostate cancer xenografts in nude mice. H3-H4 histone acetylation and HBO1-dependent genes (CCR2, MYLK, VEGFR2, and OCIAD2) were remarkably decreased in WM-3835-treated or HBO1-silenced xenograft tissues. Together, targeting HBO1 by WM-3835 robustly inhibits CRPC cell growth.

Uterine and ovarian cancers are the most common gynecologic cancers. N6−methyladenosine (m6A), an important internal RNA modification in higher eukaryotes, has recently become a hot topic in epigenetic studies. Numerous studies have revealed that the m6A-related regulatory factors regulate the occurrence and metastasis of tumors and drug resistance through various mechanisms. The m6A-related regulatory factors can also be used as therapeutic targets and biomarkers for the early diagnosis of cancers, including gynecologic cancers. This review discusses the role of m6A in gynecologic cancers and summarizes the recent advancements in m6A modification in gynecologic cancers to improve the understanding of the occurrence, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of gynecologic cancers.

Practical work is a distinctive feature of school science and has close associations with scientific experiment and scientific methods as well. In this study, the nature of practical work was examined in the view of the diversity of scientific methods. Based on an analytical framework derived from Brandon’s matrix consisting of four categories of scientific methods, this study was purported to understand how the diversity of scientific methods is represented in practical work in science textbooks. The targets of analysis were various kinds of practical work compiled in nine textbooks of biology, chemistry, and physics used in the stage of junior high school (Grades 7–9) in China. A major finding is that the four categories of scientific methods are distributed discrepantly within each of the three subject-based science textbooks. Another important finding is that non-manipulative parameter measurement (NPM) is the predominant scientific method, whether in physics, chemistry, or biology textbooks. Except for this shared feature, the percentages of the other three are varied across the three science subjects. The results of this study have provided implications for the design of practical work in science textbooks. It is suggested that further studies can be conducted to display the change of the nature of practical work over a period of time and compare the nature of practical work in science textbooks used in different regions and countries in the view of the diversity of scientific methods.

Mild encephalitis/encephalopathy with a reversible splenial lesion (MERS) is a clinicoradiologic syndrome typically characterized by transient mild encephalitis or encephalopathy with reversible lesions being found in the splenium of corpus callosum (SCC) by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). A variety of pathogens including influenza virus, rotavirus, and adenovirus associated with MERS have been reported. However, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)-related MERS is relatively rare in infants. In this study, we report two Chinese infants who suffered from RSV-related MERS. Both infants manifested as fever, seizure, and altered states of consciousness with confirmed detections of RSV-RNA in the specimens from throat swab. Clinical symptoms/signs such as apnea and shallow breathing were also noted in these two infants. Furthermore, brain MRI images indicated reversible isolated lesions with transiently reduced diffusion in the SCC. Fortunately, both of these two infants recovered completely following treatment within a month. Our study suggests that RSV may serve as a novel causative agent for MERS in infants. Clinicians should focus more attention on RSV-related MERS in infants in order to improve early accurate diagnosis and therapeutic decision making.

To observe the effects of acupoint thread-embedding therapy and low-carbohydrate diet therapy on obese patients with food addiction. Sixty-five eligible patients were randomized into a thread-embedding group of 33 cases and a diet group of 32 cases to respectively receive 12-week treatment. Before treatment, after treatment and at 6-month follow-up, the two groups were observed and compared in terms of body mass (BM), waist circumference (WC), hip circumference (HC), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), body mass index (BMI), body fat rate (BFR), basal metabolic rate (BMR) and Yale food addiction scale version 2.0 (YFAS 2.0). At the end of treatment, there were no significant differences in the general efficacy, and the improvements in BM, BMI, WC, HC, WHR and BFR between the thread-embedding group and diet group (all P>0.05). At follow-up, the thread-embedding group showed more significant improvements in all the aforementioned indicators compared with the diet group except HC (all P

We investigate the subleading-power corrections to the exclusive B → Dℓνℓ form factors at $$ \mathcal{O} $$ O ($$ {\alpha}_s^0 $$ α s 0 ) in the light-cone sum rules (LCSR) framework by including the two- and three-particle higher-twist contributions from the B-meson light-cone distribution amplitudes up to the twist-six accuracy, by taking into account the subleading terms in expanding the hard-collinear charm-quark propagator, and by evaluating the hadronic matrix element of the subleading effective current "Image missing". Employing further the available leading-power results for the semileptonic B → D form factors at the next-to- leading-logarithmic level and combining our improved LCSR predictions with the recent lattice determinations, we then carry out a comprehensive phenomenological analysis on the semi-leptonic B → Dℓνℓ decay. We extract $$ \left|{V}_{cb}\right|=\left({40.2}_{-0.5}^{+0.6}{\left|{{}_{\mathrm{th}}}_{-1.4}^{+1.4}\right|}_{\mathrm{exp}}\right)\times {10}^{-3}\left(\left|{V}_{cb}\right|=\left({40.9}_{-0.5}^{+0.6}{\left|{{}_{\mathrm{th}}}_{-1.0}^{+1.0}\right|}_{\mathrm{exp}}\right)\times {10}^{-3}\right) $$ V cb = 40.2 − 0.5 + 0.6 th − 1.4 + 1.4 exp × 10 − 3 V cb = 40.9 − 0.5 + 0.6 th − 1.0 + 1.0 exp × 10 − 3 using the BaBar (Belle) experimental data, and particularly obtain for the gold-plated ratio R(D) = 0.302 ± 0.003.

In this study, we examined the teaching emphasis of the history of science (HOS) in science lesson plans. The examination was based on a five-dimensional framework, which comprises conceptual, procedural, epistemological, affectional, and social dimensions. Content analysis was employed as the research methodology, targeting 71 copies of science lesson plans receiving awards between 2006 and 2020 in Macao. Both qualitative and quantitative results of content analysis were obtained. Some categories of teaching emphasis were identified within each dimension. It was found that the conceptual, procedural, and affectional dimensions occupy more proportions while the epistemological and social dimensions less. Moreover, some differences between three science subjects (biology, chemistry, and physics) and between the junior and senior secondary schools were identified. In addition, the percentage of the conceptual teaching emphasis showed a remarkably decreasing trend while the other four showed varying degrees of upward trends over the past 15 years. The findings are discussed against the social background of Macao and three conclusions have been drawn: (1) the nature of science has been ignored when including HOS in science teaching, (2) subjects and educational levels could be variables that influence the inclusion of HOS in science teaching, and (3) the effect of science curriculum reform is positive on the implementation of HOS in practice. It is suggested that the concept of the teaching emphasis of HOS and the five-dimensional framework created in this study can be used in future research and practice.

The term “science practice” has drawn increasing attention in the current science education literature. In this study, the methodology of content analysis was adopted to examine the presentation of science practice in 20 historical cases compiled in a popular science book. Three aspects and eight categories of science practice constitute the analytical framework. As a result of the qualitative analysis, 17 meanings (sub-categories) under the eight science practices were found in the book. In the quantitative analysis, it was found that “investigating practices” was more commonly presented than “sense-making practices” and “critiquing practices” and that the most frequent are traditional practices of “planning and carrying out investigations,” “analyzing and interpreting data,” and “asking questions.” The findings are significant in providing implications for understanding the notion of science practice and for the design of educational teaching materials in promoting science practice in schools.

The progress of plasmon-based technologies relies on an understanding of the properties of the enhanced electromagnetic fields generated by the coupling nanostrucutres1–6. Plasmon-enhanced applications include advanced spectroscopies7–10, optomechanics11, optomagnetics12 and biosensing13–17. However, precise determination of plasmon field intensity distribution within a nanogap remains challenging. Here, we demonstrate a molecular ruler made from a set of viologen-based, self-assembly monolayers with which we precisely measures field distribution within a plasmon nanocavity with ~2-A spatial resolution. We observed an unusually large plasmon field intensity inhomogeneity that we attribute to the formation of a plasmonic comb in the nanocavity. As a consequence, we posit that the generally adopted continuous media approximation for molecular monolayers should be used carefully. The strength of the plasmonic field between a plasmonic particle and a Au surface can be measured at ~2-A resolution by following the Raman peaks of a suitably labelled self-assembly monolayer.

Panic disorder (PD) is a prevalent anxiety disorder but its neurobiology remains poorly understood. It has been proposed that the pathophysiology of PD is related to an abnormality in a particular neural network. However, most studies investigating resting-state functional connectivity (FC) have relied on a priori restrictions of seed regions, which may bias observations. This study investigated changes in intra and internetwork FC in the whole brain of patients with PD using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. A voxel-wise data-driven independent component analysis was performed on 26 PD patients and 27 healthy controls (HCs).We compared the differences in the intra and internetwork FC between the two groups of subjects using statistical parametric mapping with two-sample t-tests. PD patients exhibited decreased intra-network FC in the right anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) of the anterior default mode network, the left precentral and postcentral gyrus of the sensorimotor network, the right lobule V/VI, the cerebellum vermis, and the left lobule VI of the cerebellum network compared with the HCs. The intra-network FC in the right ACC was negatively correlated with symptom severity. None of the pairs of resting state networks showed significant differences in functional network connectivity between the two groups. These results suggest that the brain networks associated with emotion regulation, interoceptive awareness, and fear and somatosensory processing may play an important role in the pathophysiology of PD.

At present, biomimetic antifouling research objects are mostly concentrated on the fast-moving marine organism, but the anti-fouling effect of the low-speed or static marine equipment is not obvious. This paper describes the anti-fouling mechanism of soft coral (Sarcophyton trocheliophorum), including the physical defense mechanism and the bactericidal ability of mucus and coral powder. As a sessile organisms, soft coral lacks escape mechanism. Therefore, the study on its antibacterial strategy is significant because it can provide theoretical guidance for static antifouling. Results showed that the live soft coral would molt in unfriendly environment, and the secreted mucus could defend themselves against fouling microorganism. Then, Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS) analysis was conducted to identify the bioactive compounds of the coral powder and mucus. Results revealed that both powder and mucus contained a wide variety of toxic components, which had bactericidal effects. Moreover, at the same concentration, the inhibitory effect of the main components on Gram-negative bacteria was stronger than that on positive bacteria. These findings enhance the understanding about the antifouling mechanism of soft coral and provide new ideas for design and prepare novel antifouling strategy to combat biofouling under static condition.

Students’ science identity has been identified as an important construct that positively influences their learning engagement, persistence, and career intentions in science. This paper reported the process of developing and validating an instrument that can be used to assess high school students’ science identity. The development of this instrument was based upon four components in the conceptual framework of science identity: performance, competence, recognition, and interest. After the questionnaire was developed, a pilot study was undertaken for 197 high school students. Then the second administration collected data from 215 students for further validation. Both samples included pupils across grades 8, 10, and 11. Results of data analysis indicated that this instrument has strong construct validity and reliability when used with junior and senior high school students. This instrument could be practically useful as a tool for gathering information that can guide teachers in improving their teaching practices and help to evaluate the effectiveness of science educational interventions.

How to efficiently process big data at a low cost is a substantial challenge. Many efficient and economical data processing approaches have been proposed in the fields including business, scientific research, and public administration. Unfortunately, seismic data processing has not achieved the same level of devolvement in the field of oil exploration. While many storage architectures, such as network-attached storage (NAS) and storage area network (SAN), have been widely used to process massive amounts of seismic data, these architectures are expensive in terms of bandwidth and capacity. In this paper, we propose a high-bandwidth and low-cost approach to fill this gap. NASStore is our data store built on NAS for processing seismic data. However, it cannot provide a high bandwidth at a low cost when it comes to data-intensive computing scenarios due to the massive bandwidth requirement and the huge volume of data to be stored. Distributed file systems, such as the Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS), offer an alternative approach to store data. It delivers high aggregate performance to user applications while running on inexpensive commodity hardware. In order to overcome the shortcomings of NASStore, we first present HDFSStore that is built on HDFS for processing seismic data. We then couple NASStore and HDFSStore to construct a new hybrid data store, called SeisStore, in which efficient parallel write, read, and update mechanisms are employed to improve the system performance. The experiment results show that SeisStore reduces the storage cost than NASStore by up to 23.20% and improves the access bandwidth than NASStore and HDFSStore by up to 478.84% and 16.99%, respectively.

Sarcopenia is a negative predictor for postoperative recovery. This study was performed to evaluate the short-term outcomes of laparoscopic surgery in colorectal cancer patients with sarcopenia. We conducted a study of patients who underwent curative surgeries for colorectal cancer in two centers from July 2014 to July 2018. In order to reduce selection bias, we conducted a propensity score matching analysis. Preoperative characteristics including age, gender, anemia, body mass index, hypoalbuminemia, America society of anesthesiology scores, epidural anesthesia, operative procedure, stoma, tumor location, and combined resection were incorporated in the model, and produced 58 matched pairs. The third lumbar skeletal muscle mass, handgrip strength, and 6 m usual gait speed were measured to define sarcopenia. Short-term outcomes were compared between the two groups. In a total of 1136 patients, 272 had sarcopenia diagnosed, and 227 were further analyzed in this study. Among them, 108 patients underwent laparoscopic colorectal surgery and 119 underwent open colorectal surgery. In the matched cohort, the clinical characteristics of the two groups were well matched. The laparoscopic group had significantly reduced overall complications (15.5% vs. 36.2%, P = 0.016) and shorter postoperative hospital stays (10.5 vs. 14, P = 0.027). Subgroup analysis of postoperative complications showed that the incidence of surgical complications (P = 0.032) was lower in the laparoscopic group. Hospitalization costs (P = 0.071) and 30-day readmissions (P = 0.215) were similar between the two groups. Laparoscopic surgery for colorectal cancer is a safe and feasible option with better short-term outcomes in patients with sarcopenia.

Signal amplification is an important issue in DNA nanotechnology and molecular diagnostics. In this work, we report a strategy for the catalytic self-assembly of spherical nucleic acids (SNAs) programmed by two-layer cascaded DNA circuits through integrating an entropy-driven catalytic network, a catalytic hairpin assembly circuit, and a facile SNA assembly-based reporter system. This integrated system could implement ~100,000-fold signal amplification in the presence of 1 pM of input target. Possessing powerful amplification ability of nucleic acid signal, our strategy should be of great potential in fabricating more robust dynamic networks to be applied for signal transduction, DNA computing, and nucleic acid-based diagnostics.

In this study, the modification of TEMPO-mediated oxidized cellulose nanofibrils (TOCNFs) with cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) was investigated to increase the hydrophobicity, improve the fibril separation from the hydrogel, and enhance the redispersibility of the separated nanofibrils. The results showed that when modifying the original TOCNFs at a CTAB loading of 2.16 mmol/g cellulose, the charge coupling was close to 100%. Moreover, with increasing the CTAB dosage, the turbidity of the modified CTAB–TOCNFs was significantly increased while the viscosity and water retention value were decreased. The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy demonstrated that the molecular chain of CTAB was successfully grafted onto the backbone of TOCNFs following modification. The thermogravimetric analysis results also indicated the modification of TOCNFs with CTAB improved its thermal stability. Water contact angle measurements of the original and CTAB modified TOCNFs showed that the modified CTAB–TOCNFs had better hydrophobicity. Moreover, the results from the evaluation of the redispersibility of the fibrils separated from both the original CNF and CTAB–TOCNF suspensions demonstrated that the modification of TOCNFs with CTAB improved the redespersibility in N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF). Additionally, the increase of CTAB loading also significantly decreased the particle size of the redispersed fibrils in DMF.

We present a conceptual framework for understanding and formulating ion transport in concentrated solutions, which pictures the ion transport as an ion-vacancy coupled charge transfer reaction. A key element in this picture is that the transport of an ion from an occupied to unoccupied site involves a transition state which exerts double volume exclusion. An ab initio random walk model is proposed to describe this process. Subsequent coarse-graining results in a continuum formula as a function of chemical potentials of the constituents, which are further derived from a lattice-gas model. The subtlety here is that what has been taken to be the chemical potential of the ion in the past is actually that of the ion-vacancy couple. By aid of this new concept, the driving force of ion transport is essentially the chemical affinity of the ion-vacancy coupled charge transfer reaction, which is a useful concept to unify transport and reaction, two fundamental processes in electrochemistry. This phenomenological model is parameterized for a specific material by the aid of first-principles calculations. Moreover, its extension to multiple-component systems is discussed.

Through the lens of teacher professional identity, in this case study, we examine how a beginning science teacher deals with practical work in a physics classroom. We explore how various interactions occurred between personal, interpersonal, and situational dimensions of his identity as a beginning physics teacher when dealing with practical work. Various kinds of data were collected over a period of 10 months: 3 semi-structured interviews, 26 classroom observations, 32 brief interviews, as well as various artifacts and lesson plans. The analysis was done through a constant comparative method, and it was grounded within the three-dimensional framework of professional identity: personal, social, and situational. Four main themes emerged through the analysis of the data that represent the main features of the participant’s identity enactment as a beginning physics dealing with practical work: (a) personal characteristics, (b) sense of agency, (c) contextual constraints, and (d) ongoing interpretation of experiences with practical work. These findings are presented through a narration of the participant’s identity with regard to practical work alongside authentic extracts and quotes from the data. Drawn upon these findings, we offer a set of recommendations for future research.

Hyperglycemia induces retinal pigmented epithelial cell apoptosis and mitochondrial stress via poorly understood mechanisms. The goal of our current study is to explore whether mammalian sterile 20-like kinase 1 (Mst1) is involved in the pathogenesis of hyperglycemia-mediated retinal pigmented epithelial cell apoptosis by triggering mitochondrial abnormalities and activating the Smad2 signaling pathway. Retinal pigmented epithelial ARPE-19 cells were presented with a high-glucose challenge in vitro. Cell viability and apoptosis were measured via western blotting, ELISAs, and immunofluorescence assays. Mitochondrial function was detected via JC-1 staining, mitochondrial ROS flow cytometry, western blotting, and ELISAs. Loss- and gain-of-function assays were performed via cell transfection and transduction with Mst1 siRNA and Smad2 adenovirus, respectively. The results indicated that hyperglycemia treatment upregulated the levels of Mst1, an effect that was accompanied by an increase in ARPE-19 cell apoptosis. Loss of Mst1 attenuated hyperglycemia-induced cell apoptosis, and this effect seemed to be associated with mitochondrial protection. In response to hyperglycemia stimulus, mitochondrial stress was noted in ARPE-19 cells, including mitochondrial ROS overproduction, mitochondrial respiratory metabolism dysfunction, mitochondrial fission/fusion imbalance, and mitochondrial apoptosis activation. Further, we provided evidence to support the crucial role played by Smad2 in promoting Mst1-mediated cell apoptosis and mitochondrial stress. Overexpression of Smad2 abrogated the beneficial effects of Mst1 deletion on ARPE-19 cell viability and mitochondrial protection. Altogether, our results identified Mst1 as a novel mediator controlling the fate of retinal pigmented epithelial cells and mitochondrial homeostasis via the Smad2 signaling pathway. Based on this finding, strategies to repress Mst1 upregulation and block Smad2 activation are vital to alleviate hyperglycemia-mediated retinal pigmented epithelial cell damage.

Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macao, in the Greater China Region, have similar yet different educational systems and curriculum standards, and each has performed well in international tests for science achievement. Using revised Bloom’s taxonomy, this study analyzed and explored the similarities and differences among these four Chinese regions. Some common features of their junior high science curricula were identified: conceptual knowledge represents the largest proportion of the curricula, while meta-cognitive knowledge remains extremely marginalized, and the lower levels of cognitive process represented a significantly larger proportion of the curricula than the higher levels. This study also identified some differences: mainland China, Taiwan, and Macao emphasize the memory of factual and conceptual knowledge, while Hong Kong emphasizes understanding. In addition to conceptual knowledge, Taiwan attaches importance to procedural knowledge, while Hong Kong places more emphasis on factual knowledge. Finally, some recommendations are offered for the reform of the junior high school science curriculum in these four Chinese regions and beyond, and suggestions are made for future comparative studies of science curricula around the world.

Organic–inorganic halide perovskites are emerging materials for photovoltaic applications with certified power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) over 25%. Generally, the microstructures of the perovskite materials are critical to the performances of PCEs. However, the role of the nanometer-sized grain boundaries (GBs) that universally existing in polycrystalline perovskite films could be benign or detrimental to solar cell performance, still remains controversial. Thus, nanometer-resolved quantification of charge carrier distribution to elucidate the role of GBs is highly desirable. Here, we employ correlative infrared-spectroscopic nanoimaging by the scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscopy with 20 nm spatial resolution and Kelvin probe force microscopy to quantify the density of electrons accumulated at the GBs in perovskite polycrystalline thin films. It is found that the electron accumulations are enhanced at the GBs and the electron density is increased from 6 × 1019 cm−3 in the dark to 8 × 1019 cm−3 under 10 min illumination with 532 nm light. Our results reveal that the electron accumulations are enhanced at the GBs especially under light illumination, featuring downward band bending toward the GBs, which would assist in electron-hole separation and thus be benign to the solar cell performance. Correlative infrared-spectroscopic nanoimaging by the scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscopy and Kelvin probe force microscopy quantitatively reveal the accumulated electrons at GBs in perovskite polycrystalline thin films.

Client-side metadata prefetching is commonly used in wide area network (WAN) file systems because it can effectively hide network latency. However, most existing prefetching approaches do not meet the various prefetching requirements of multiple workloads. They are usually optimized for only one specific workload and have no or harmful effects on other workloads. In this paper, we present a new self-tuning client-side metadata prefetching scheme that uses two different prefetching strategies and dynamically adapts to workload changes. It uses a directory-directed prefetching strategy to prefetch the related file metadata in the same directory, and a correlation-directed prefetching strategy to prefetch the related file metadata accessed across directories. A novel self-tuning mechanism is proposed to efficiently convert the prefetching strategy between directory-directed and correlation-directed prefetching. Experimental results using real system traces show that the hit ratio of the client-side cache can be significantly improved by our self-tuning client-side prefetching. With regards to the multi-workload concurrency scenario, our approach improves the hit ratios for the no-prefetching, directory-directed prefetching, variant probability graph algorithm, variant apriori algorithm, and variant semantic distance algorithm by up to 15.22%, 6.32%, 10.08%, 11.65%, and 10.73%, corresponding to 25.24%, 18.11%, 23.53%, 24.94%, and 24.19% reductions in the average access time, respectively.

With the advent of new computing paradigms, parallel file systems serve not only traditional scientific computing applications but also non-scientific computing applications, such as financial computing, business, and public administration. Parallel file systems provide storage services for multiple applications. As a result, various requirements need to be met. However, parallel file systems usually provide a unified storage solution, which cannot meet specific application needs. In this paper, an extended file handle scheme is proposed to deal with this problem. The original file handle is extended to record I/O optimization information, which allows file systems to specify optimizations for a file or directory based on workload characteristics. Therefore, fine-grained management of I/O optimizations can be achieved. On the basis of the extended file handle scheme, data prefetching and small file optimization mechanisms are proposed for parallel file systems. The experimental results show that the proposed approach improves the aggregate throughput of the overall system by up to 189.75%.