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Aim: To determine the mechanism of Calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) in bone healing. Materials & methods: Alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and inflammatory-factor levels were detected using ELISA. Osteogenic differentiation was assessed using Alizarin red staining technique. The interaction between histone deacetylase 6 (HDAC6) and A-kinase anchoring protein 12 (AKAP12) was investigated through Co- immunoprecipitation. Results: CGRP treatment promoted rat bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDMs) M2 polarization. CGRP facilitated osteogenic differentiation by enhancing M2 polarization of BMDMs. Mechanistically, CGRP promoted AKAP12 acetylation to activate the extracellular regulated protein kinases pathway by HDAC6 inhibition. Conclusion: CGRP promoted M2 polarization of rat BMDMs and facilitated osteogenic differentiation through the HDAC6/AKAP12/extracellular regulated protein kinases signaling pathway, thereby promoting bone healing. Graphical Abstract Article highlights Diverse concentrations of calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) induced M2 polarization in rat macrophages. CGRP promoted osteogenic differentiation after co-culture of rat macrophages and rat osteoblasts. With the increase in CGRP concentration, there was a gradual downregulation of histone deacetylase 6 expression. CGRP promoted M2 polarization of rat bone marrow-derived macrophages and facilitated osteogenic differentiation through histone deacetylase 6/A-kinase anchoring protein 12/extracellular regulated protein kinases signaling pathway, thereby promoting bone healing. The present findings offer a theoretical basis for clinical interventions in fracture healing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exoristobia philippinensis (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) is a worldwide parasitic wasp. This work presents the mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) of E. philippinensis for the first time. The complete mitochondrial genome of E. philippinensis was sequenced and annotated, which was 15,751 bp in length, and encoded 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 22 transfer RNA genes (tRNAs), and two ribosomal RNA genes (rRNAs). All 13 PCGs were initiated by the ATN (ATG, ATT, and ATA) codon, terminated with the stop codon TAA except for ND1 which ends with TAG. Phylogenetic analysis showed that E. philippinensis has a sister relationship with the genus Lamennaisia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThis study compared the biomechanical characteristics of proximal femur bionic nail (PFBN) and proximal femoral nail antirotation (PFNA) in treating osteoporotic femoral intertrochanteric fractures using finite element analysis. Under similar bone density, the PFBN outperforms the PFNA in maximum femoral displacement, internal fixation displacement, stress distribution in the femoral head and internal fixation components, and femoral neck varus angle. As the bone density decreases, the PFBN’s biomechanical advantages over PFNA become more pronounced. This finding suggests that the PFBN is superior for treating osteoporotic intertrochanteric femoral fractures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThe thermal–mechanical–electrical-diffusion strongly coupled equations are established, and the phase field method is employed to investigate the dynamic simulation of intermetallic compound (IMC) evolution at the Cu/Sn/Cu micro-solder joint interface. By comparing with experimental results on IMC evolution in micro-solder joints, this study explores the evolution law of IMCs under the influence of current, temperature, and applied load coupling. Both simulation and experimental findings indicate that higher current density promotes IMC formation, with the largest average thickness observed at a current density of 5000 A/m2. When the analog current density is 5000 A/m2, the anode IMC has a rapid growth period at 62 h, and the corresponding cathode has a rapid consumption period; when the analog current density is 4000 A/m2, the anode has the same phenomenon in 95 h; when the analog current density is 3000 A/m2, this phenomenon is not evident. The observed phenomena are consistent with the evolutionary trend of IMC from the fourth to the fifth day of the experiment, considering it may be affected by ‘electronic wind stress’ which makes the cathode IMC migrate to the anode. The average thickness of IMCs with an analog ambient temperature of 323–353 K is the largest, which is most suitable for the growth of IMCs. The experimental results also indicate that IMC growth is the fastest at 353 K. The anode IMC was inhibited by tensile stress and shear stress, but the effect on cathode was not obvious. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The duality of cyberloafing is a topic that has always been debated. Considering this, the purpose of this paper is to classify cyberloafing and explore the antecedents of different degrees of cyberloafing and their different effects on job satisfaction. Using the Technology-Organisation-Environment Framework and the conservation of resources theory, this paper proposes a research model to investigate the mediation mechanism of cyberloafing. Using the partial least square method (PLS) SEM method to analyze 294 employees’ data, the results show that: (1) Work-related enterprise social media usage only negatively affects serious cyberloafing, while social-related enterprise social media usage only positively affects minor cyberloafing. (2) The impact of perceived IT control policy on minor cyberloafing was not statistically significant, while negatively affected serious cyberloafing. In terms of environment factors, the study shows that prescriptive norms and work overload have opposite effects on cyberloafing, with work overload having no significant effect on minor cyberloafing. Significantly, policy satisfaction plays a significant moderating role between environment factors and cyberloafing. (3) Minor cyberloafing positively affects job satisfaction, while serious cyberloafing negatively affects job satisfaction. Our findings provide instrumental insights into how enterprise managers manage employees to improve employees’ job satisfaction, control different degrees of cyberloafing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To improve the magnesite flotation system with sodium oleate (NaOL), dodecyl dimethyl betaine (BS-12), an environmental-friendly surfactant, was first used in the flotation of magnesite and dolomite with NaOL. Micro-flotation tests, surface tension measurements, and contact angle experiments were carried out to evaluate the effects of BS-12 on the flotation of magnesite and dolomite with NaOL. The results demonstrated that BS-12 had little collection effect on both magnesite and dolomite, but the mixture of BS-12 and NaOL had better low-temperature resistance than NaOL, meanwhile, the mixture collector could effectively promote the flotation of magnesite to improve the separation of magnesite and dolomite, when their ratio was 3:2. The addition of BS-12 in NaOL flotation system could also enhance the surface activity and hydrophobicity of magnesite and dolomite. The effect mechanism of BS-12 on the flotation of magnesite and dolomite with NaOL was studied through zeta potential measurements, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and molecular dynamics simulations. The results demonstrated that NaOL and the mixed collector could adsorb on the surfaces of the minerals by chemical interaction. The addition of BS-12 could weaken the electrostatic repulsion between NaOL ions and generate hydrophobic association with NaOL, which improves the adsorption of NaOL on surfaces of the minerals and enhances the flotation separation of magnesite and dolomite. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hb Chapel Hill [Alpha2 74(EF3) Asp > Gly] results from an GAC > GGC substitution at codon 74 of the HBA1 or HBA2 genes. Hb Chapel Hill has not been reported since 1986. A heterozygous mutation, HBA2: c.224A > G, was identified in the proband, her father and sister. We compared the haematological and clinical data of this family with the data reported in the limited number of individuals. Having excluded iron deficiency, the Hb Chapel Hill was asymptomatic in heterozygous state. The cases presented here characterize cases in new techniques including capillary electrophoresis (CE). Two aberrant peaks were identified by CE, a major peak migrating in the zone 7 that correspond to Hb Chapel Hill (αChapel Hill2β2) and a minor peak migrating in the zone 1 that correspond to Hb Chapel Hill2 (αChapel Hill2δ2). Focusing on the variant expression, the Hb Chapel Hill plus Hb A2 variant were around 18.9–20.6% of total Hb in three members. This data will be useful for providing up-to-date and high quality information on the Hb Chapel Hill. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The detection of inshore ships in Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images is seriously disturbed by shore buildings, especially for closely arranged inshore ships whose appearance is similar when compared with detection of deep-sea ships. There are many interference factors such as speckle noise, cross sidelobes, and defocusing in SAR images. These factors can seriously interfere with feature extraction, and the traditional Fully Convolutional One-Stage (FCOS) network often cannot effectively distinguish small-scale ships from backgrounds. Additionally, for closely arranged inshore ships, missed detections and inaccurate positioning often occur. In this paper, a method of inshore ship detection based on Bi-directional Attention Feature Pyramid Network (BAFPN) is proposed. In order to improve the detection ability of small-scale ships, the BAFPN is based on the FCOS network, which connects a Convolutional Block Attention Module (CBAM) to each feature map of the pyramid and can extract rich semantic features. Then, the idea from Path-Aggregation Network (PANet) is adopted to splice a bottom-up pyramid structure behind the original pyramid structure, further highlighting the features of different scales and improving the ability of the network to accurately locate ships under complex backgrounds, thereby avoiding missed detections in closely arranged inshore ship detection. Finally, a weighted feature fusion method is proposed, which makes the feature information extracted from the feature map have different focuses and can improve the accuracy of ship detection. Experiments on SAR image ship datasets show that the mAP for the SSDD and HRSID reached 0.902 and 0.839 respectively. The proposed method can effectively improve the ship positioning accuracy while maintaining a fast detection speed, and achieves better results for ship detection under complex background. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In spatial regression models, spatial heterogeneity may be considered with either continuous or discrete specifications. The latter is related to delineation of spatially connected regions with homogeneous relationships between variables (spatial regimes). Although various regionalization algorithms have been proposed and studied in the field of spatial analytics, methods to optimize spatial regimes have been largely unexplored. In this paper, we propose two new algorithms for spatial regime delineation, two-stage K-Models and Regional-K-Models. We also extend the classic Automatic Zoning Procedure to a spatial regression context. The proposed algorithms are applied to a series of synthetic datasets and two real-world datasets. Results indicate that all three algorithms achieve superior or comparable performance to existing approaches, while the two-stage K-Models algorithm largely outperforms existing approaches on model fitting, region reconstruction and coefficient estimation. Our work enriches the spatial analytics toolbox to explore spatial heterogeneous processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Commercial product returns represent a growing financial and operational concern for many firms, and they consist of true and false failure returns in the real-world business. This paper studies a joint location-inventory problem in a closed-loop system by considering multi-commodity flows and commercial product returns. First, this problem is formulated as a mixed-integer nonlinear programming model. Next, a novel heuristic method based on differential evolution is designed to solve this model efficiently. Finally, numerical experiments and results are presented to validate the solution approach and provide meaningful managerial insights for business managers to improve their supply chain practice in a closed-loop system with false failure returns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clear cell renal carcinoma (ccRCC) is the most common histological type of renal cancer and has the highest mortality. Several studies have been conducted on the relationship between adipose tissue and ccRCC prognosis, however, the results have been inconsistent to date. The current study aimed at establishing a link between abdominal fat composition and short-term prognosis in patients with ccRCC after T-stage stratification. We retrospectively analysed 250 patients with pathologically confirmed ccRCC (173 low T-stage and 77 high T-stage) in our hospital. The computed tomography (CT) images were evaluated using ImageJ. Then, subcutaneous and visceral fat areas (SFA and VFA), total fat areas (TFA) and the relative VFA (rVFA) were measured and computed. Meanwhile, biochemical indices of blood serum were analysed. The results showed that rVFA in low T-stage cohort who had a history of short-term postoperative complications were significantly lower than those who did not. No such association was observed in the high T-stage cohort. Further investigation revealed that the correlations between biochemical indexes and fat area-related variables varied across T-stage groups. As a result, rVFA is a reliable independent predictor of short-term prognosis in patients with low T-stage ccRCC but not in patients with high T-stage ccRCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hemoglobin Santa Ana [β88(F4)Leu→Pro (CTG > CCG) HBB: c.266T > C] is an unstable hemoglobin variant characterized by a substitution of the amino acid leucine by proline at the 88th position of the β-globin chain. We for the first time identified this hemoglobin variant in a Chinese patient by capillary electrophoresis (CE). The proband was an 8-year-old boy with chronic anemia, brown urine and splenomegaly. He had been affected by moderate anemia, twice approaching a severe degree, that was attributed to infection. The CE result revealed an abnormal hemoglobin peak at electrophoretic zone 4 that correspond to the hemoglobin Santa Ana peak, and a CTG > CCG mutation at codon 88 of the β-globin gene was confirmed by DNA sequencing. To avoid misdiagnosis and genetic risks, a literature review of other unstable hemoglobins that migrate similarly to the hemoglobin Santa Ana was performed. Our findings indicate that hemoglobin Santa Ana can be clearly separated by CE, with accurate diagnosis depending on molecular analysis. This information will be useful for providing appropriate genetic counselling and for prenatal diagnosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Third-party logistics (3PL) is a fast growing business. Many large organisations are using 3PL services to reduce operating costs, simplify business processes, and enhance operations and supply chain flexibility. In this paper, we study location-inventory decisions jointly in a closed-loop system with 3PL. First, a  model formulation is proposed to develop mixed-integer non-linear programming (MINLP) models for the location-inventory problem under study. Then, a novel heuristics based on differential evolution and the genetic algorithm is designed to solve the MINLP  models efficiently. Last, numerical study is presented to illustrate and validate the solution approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biofouling is a problem affecting the operation of nanofiltration systems due to the complexity of the carbon matrix affecting bacteria and biofilm growth. This study used membrane fouling simulators to investigate the effects of five different carbon sources on the biofouling of nanofiltration membranes. For all the carbon sources analyzed, the increase in pressure drop was most accelerated for acetate. The use of acetate as the single carbon source produced less adenosine triphosphate but more extracellular polymers than glucose. The microbial community was analyzed using 16 s rRNA. The use of more than a single carbon source produced an increase in bacteria diversity even at similar concentrations. The relative abundance of proteobacteria was the highest at the phylum level (95%) when a single carbon source was added. Additionally, it was found that the use of different carbon sources produced a shift in the microbial community, affecting the biofouling and pressure drop on membranes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the crystal morphology of LiOH·H2O in different solvents was predicated through molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. Modified attachment energy (MAE) model was to predict the crystal morphology by calculating the relative growth rate of LiOH·H2O in H2O, CH3CH2OH, and CH3CH2OH/H2O mixed solvent system. The molecular force between the crystal face and the solvent was also analyzed. The calculated results indicate that the main growth surfaces of LiOH·H2O are (1 1 0), (0 0 1), (1 1 − 1), and (2 0 − 1) faces. The crystal habit of LiOH·H2O in the solvent H2O is bulky with a regular shape and a small aspect ratio. The crystal habit of LiOH·H2O in the solvent CH3CH2OH is rhombus, with the most important growth surface of (1 1 0) and an aspect ratio of 1.978. The mixed solvents of CH3CH2OH/H2O with different mass ratios (1:1, 1:3, 3:1) affect the morphology of LiOH·H2O. With the increase of CH3CH2OH content, the exposed area of (2 0 − 1) face tends to be smaller gradually, while the surface of (1 1 0) face was constantly apparent. The mass ratio of 3:1 results in the disappearance of the (2 0 − 1) face. Calculation results using the radial distribution function (RDF) between the crystal face and the solvent CH3CH2OH or H2O show that the long-range electrostatic force is dominant in the interaction between atoms, and a weak Van Der Waals force emerges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Semi-arid regions belong to important ecological transitional zones with a high ecosystem vulnerability and sensitivity. In recent years, due to the influence of climate change and human activities, the land covers of semi-arid regions have experienced dramatic changes. Therefore, timely and accurate land cover mapping of semi-arid regions is of great significance. Deep learning has been a hotspot in land cover mapping; however, it requires a large number of labelled samples. To tackle this data-hunger issue, we resolve to a multi-gate semi-supervised learning (SSL) method that could use a huge number of unlabelled samples to improve the classification performance. Specifically, the proposed method consists of a probability gate, an uncertainty gate and a consistency gate, aiming to generate high-quality pseudo-labels from the unlabelled datasets. Experimental results from Zhangbei, China indicate that the proposed method yields a good performance with an overall accuracy of 90.31%, which is 4.31% higher than that of traditional supervised learning (SL) methods. Ablation studies also verify the effectiveness of the gated mechanism in selecting unlabelled data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although much is known about how adipose tissue affects the development of clear cell renal carcinoma (ccRCC), little information is available for the utility of sex-specific abdominal visceral fat composition as a predictor of clear cell renal carcinoma (ccRCC) T stage. We conducted CT-based sex-specific abdominal fat measurements in ccRCC patients to assess whether VFA distribution could predict the ccRCC T stage. In total, 253 patients (182 males and 71 females) from our hospital with pathologically confirmed ccRCC (178 low T-stage and 75 high T-stage) were retrospectively reviewed for the present study. Computed tomography (CT) scans were assessed using ImageJ to differentiate between the visceral and subcutaneous fat areas (VFA and SFA), after which the relative VFA (rVFA) and total fat area (TFA) were computed. The relationships between these fat area-related variables, patient age, sex, and BMI, and ccRCC T stage were then evaluated through univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis to clarify the association between general or sex-specific abdominal visceral fat and T stage. Following adjustment for age, males with high T stage ccRCC exhibited an increased rVFA as compared to males with low T stage ccRCC, with the same relationship being observed among females. This association between rVFA and high T stage was confirmed through both univariate and multivariate models. As thus, sex-specific visceral fat composition is a reliable independent predictor that can identify both male and female patients with high T stage ccRCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The immunotoxic potential of drug candidates is assessed through the examination of results from a variety of in vitro and in vivo immunophenotyping and functional study endpoints in pre-clinical studies. CD8+ cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) activity impairment by immunosuppressive agents is recognized to be a potentiating factor for decreased antiviral defense and increased cancer risk. A bi-specific T-cell engager (BiTE®)-mediated CTL activity assay that applies to ex vivo experimentation in non-human primates in the context of toxicology studies was successfully developed and applied in cynomolgus monkey regulatory studies. While an ex vivo analysis conducted in the context of repeat-dose toxicology studies focuses on the long-term impact on CTL function, an in vitro assay with the same experimental design captures acute effects in the presence of the test article. Here, the in vitro assay was applied to a list of drugs with known clinical immunomodulatory impact to understand the applicability of the assay. The results showed this assay was sensitive to a wide range of immunosuppressants directly targeting cell-intrinsic signaling pathways in activated CTL. However, agents executing immuno-modulation through inhibiting cytokines/cytokine receptors, co-stimulatory molecules, and cell adhesion and migration pathways did not impair the CTL activity in this short-term in vitro culture. In addition, anti-PD-1/PD-L1 immune checkpoint blockers enhanced the CTL activity. Taken together, the results here demonstrate that in concordance with their mechanism of action, the in vitro BiTE®-mediated CTL assay is applicable and sensitive to immunomodulatory agents acting via a variety of mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pollen fertility of photoperiod/temperature sensitive genic male sterile (P/TGMS) wheat is controlled by light and/or temperature. Circular RNA (circRNA) and long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) are known to participate in the development of anthers in plants, but their impact on male sterility in the P/TGMS line is not well understood. In this study, we carried out high-throughput sequencing to investigate the differential expression of lncRNAs and circRNAs and their biological functions in anthers of photo-thermosensitive genic male sterile (PTGMS) wheat line BS366-42L during the transition phase of male fertility under four different photoperiod and temperature treatments. Eight lncRNAs, 40 mRNAs and three circRNAs were screened out and thought as essential candidates that closely related to male sterility. Gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analyses were performed to predict the potential functions of differentially expressed RNAs. The results indicated that carbohydrate-related metabolism was important for male sterility in the wheat PTGMS line BS366-42L. lncRNA/circRNA-mRNA-miRNA (ceRNA) integrate networks were constructed to reflect their complex inner association with male sterility. Our study provides a systematic perspective on the potential function of RNAs in male fertility in PTGMS lines of wheat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pillar[5]arenes are a new type of supramolecular hosts constructed from hydroquinone and their derivatives linked by methylene units. Searching new host-guest interaction between pillar[5]arenes and neutral guests are thus great interesting. Here, four neutral guests (AA0, AA2, AA4 and AA6) with both amino and amide groups were prepared from phenol by two steps. The host-guest interactions between perethylated pillar[5]arene (EtP5) and guest molecules were investigated in detail by various technologies, including 1H NMR, 13C NMR, 2D NOESY NMR, MS analysis and DFT calculation. We found that the guests (AA4 and AA6) with longer alkyl chain can form a stable inclusion complex with EtP5 through C–H···O, N–H···O, C–H···N and C–H···π interactions while shorter guests (AA0 and AA2) could not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ferroelectric domain structures have attracted much attention due to their potential applications in storage. In this paper, the molecular dynamics method based on shell model is employed to simulate the uniaxial tensile strain applied to the BaTiO3 thin film, and the effect of strain on the polarization domain structure of BaTiO3 thin film is discussed. The results show that with the increase of strain, the polarization configuration of BaTiO3 film evolves from the initial 180°domain structure to the vortex domain configuration. Moreover, the vortex domain will show certain movement rules with the increase of stress. These results are beneficial to the application research of ferroelectric storage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) are widely used in various fields, and have shown good performance in hyperspectral image (HSI) classification. Recently, utilizing deep networks to learn spatial-spectral features has become of great interest. However, excessively increasing the depth of network may result in overfitting. Moreover, in HSI classification, the existing network models ignore the strong complementary yet correlated spatial-spectral information among different hierarchical layers. In order to address these two problems, a novel CNN-based method for HSI classification is proposed. Firstly, it considers fusing the outputs of recurrent two layers in each large convolutional block and thereby using the fusion result as the input of next layer, which facilitates the extraction of discriminative features. Next, the spectral-spatial features are extracted by cascading spectral features to four-scale spatial features from shallow to deep layers. Finally, a 1 × 1 convolution layer is used to interact and integrate information across channels. Without increasing the number of training samples and the size of pixel patches at the training stage, the proposed approach achieves the state-of-the-art results in the experiment on three well-known hyperspectral images. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We prepared octreotide (OCT)-modified curcumin plus docetaxel micelles to enhance active targeting and inhibit tumor metastasis by destroying vasculogenic mimicry (VM) channels. Soluplus was applied as an amphiphilic material to form micelles via film dispersion. The cytotoxic effects, active cellular targeting, and inhibitory effects on metastasis were systematically evaluated in vitro using A549 cells, and in vivo antitumor effects were evaluated using xenograft tumor-bearing mice. In vitro assays indicated that the OCT-modified curcumin plus docetaxel micelles showed robust cytotoxicity on A549 cells and effectively inhibited VM channels and tumor metastasis. Studying the mechanism of action indicated that OCT-modified curcumin plus docetaxel micelles downregulated MMP-2 and HIF-1α. In vivo assays indicated that OCT-modified curcumin plus docetaxel micelles increased drug accumulation at tumor sites and showed obvious antitumor efficacy. The developed OCT-modified curcumin plus docetaxel micelles may offer a promising treatment strategy for non-small-cell lung cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent persuasion theories and some empirical studies indicate that emotional responses can be more persuasive than cognitive evaluations under certain circumstances. The aim of this meta-analysis was to compare the effects of emotions and perceived risk on health-related intentions and behavior. Ten studies which examined anticipated emotions (AdE) and 19 studies which examined anticipatory emotions (AyE) were included. AdE was moderately associated with health intention (r = 0.38, 95% CI 0.24–0.51) and behavior (r = 0.48, 95% CI 0.43–0.53). The average correlations with AyE were small (with intention r = 0.25, 95% CI 0.18–0.31; with behavior r = 0.18, 95% CI 0.11–0.23). AdE was significantly more likely to lead to ideal intentions and behavior than perceived risk, and was more likely to promote desired behaviors than AyE. AdE had a stronger effect on intentions to prevent disease compared to detect disease. Other moderators were discussed. Theoretical and practical implications are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Text classification is a foundational task in many natural language processing applications. All traditional text classifiers take words as the basic units and conduct the pre-training process (like word2vec) to directly generate word vectors at the first step. However, none of them have considered the information contained in word structure which is proved to be helpful for text classification. In this paper, we propose a word-building method based on neural network model that can decompose a Chinese word to a sequence of radicals and learn structure information from these radical level features which is a key difference from the existing models. Then, the convolutional neural network is applied to extract structure information of words from radical sequence to generate a word vector, and the long short-term memory is applied to generate the sentence vector for the prediction purpose. The experimental results show that our model outperforms other existing models on Chinese dataset. Our model is also applicable to English as well where an English word can be decomposed down to character level, which demonstrates the excellent generalisation ability of our model. The experimental results have proved that our model also outperforms others on English dataset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel homogeneous floccular chitosan was directly grafted onto carbon fiber surface by a simple and controllable method. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), single fiber strengths and interlaminar shear strength (ILSS) have been applied to characterize the fiber and the interface bonding. Compared with raw carbon fibers, the chitosan-treated ones demonstrate significant increases in the surface roughness and wettability. Particularly, about 21.21% increase in the mechanical properties of composites was obtained, which is attributed to good adhesion between functional carbon fiber and resin matrix in the interlaminar regions, as revealed by fracture surfaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is a promising cooling strategy to use the heat pipe for the Li-ion battery module, which can maintain the temperature of the battery module properly and prevent high temperature, triggering the thermal runaway among adjacent batteries. In this study, the thermal runaway model is simulated through the internal short circuit, which couples with Volume of Fluid (VOF) model of the heat pipe cooling and solves in ANSYS FLUENT to realize the heat and mass transfer between batteries and heat pipes. A user-defined function (UDF) code including mass source and energy source is used to calculate the heat and mass transfer in VOF model during the thermal runaway process. Numerical simulations are adopted to probe thermal runaway processes of a single battery under different operation conditions and the thermal runaway propagation from a battery to adjacent batteries. It is concluded that the heat pipe cooling system cannot prevent the thermal runaway of a single battery, but it can prevent the thermal runaway propagation from a battery to adjacent batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to research the influence of high-sulfate mine water on filling paste, the macroscopic and microstructural changes of the filling paste in the sulfate environment were analyzed by uniaxial compression tests, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The mechanism of deterioration and cracking was discussed. The experimental results show that there are numerous gelling materials in the specimen during the curing period, which can increase the strength of the specimen. After cured paste specimen was soaked in sulfate solution for less than 90 days, the hydration reaction continued, the gelling substance was produced and the sulfate formed the filling material, which caused the compressive strength of the paste specimen to increase with the increase of immersion age. The compressive strength of the specimen was higher than that of the specimen soaked in water. The gypsum and ettringite formed in the specimen filled the void of the specimen after immersion in sulfate solution for more than 90 days, destroying the original cementing structure of the specimen, and the compressive strength of the specimen began to decrease with the increase of the immersion age. The compressive strength of the cured paste specimen after being soaked in sulfate solution for more than 180 days was lower than that of the specimen soaked in clear water and the larger the solution concentration, the longer the immersion time, the smaller the compressive strength of the specimen, and the more significant the deterioration effect is. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A birth process model proposed by Dixon and Robinson has been widely used in football spread betting market. However, multiple goals in a minute are permitted in the model, which does not conform to historical record. Moreover, it is difficult to calculate the outcome probability of the process accurately. The article presents a discrete-time and finite-state Markov chain model for real-time forecast of football matches and a recursive algorithm is derived to calculate the outcome probability accurately. The empirical study shows that the proposed model outperforms the models of Dixon and Robinson and Dixon and Coles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The guanidine group-modified silica particles were used as emulsifier to obtain a CO2-responsive Pickering emulsion. To compare the wettability effect of the particles on the stability of the emulsion, both guanidine and alkyl chain were attached on the surface of silica particles. The influences of tension, particles concentration, oil-water fraction, NaCl concentration, and CO2 on Pickering emulsion properties were investigated. Although the particles did not decrease the surface and interfacial tensions of the air/oil-water interfaces, they attached on the oil-water interfaces and stabilized the emulsions at room temperature for at least 4 weeks. Addition of salt increased the emulsion stability and induced phase inversion at high salt concentration. The stabilization-destabilization cycles of the emulsion could be successively controlled by alternative CO2/heating triggers due to the protonation-deprotonation of guanidine groups on the particle surfaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Guilt appeals are successful in encouraging healthy behaviors as proved by many studies. However, there has been no previous systematic review of guilt research in health domain. Thus, a metaanalysis of eight studies (2,061 subjects) was conducted to examine the effectiveness of guilt on health-related attitudes and intentions. The result revealed a strong positive overall effect of guilt (r = .49, 95% CI 0.31-0.64) despite the heterogeneity. Guilt had a stronger power in changing attitudes/intentions when paired with text-only messages than text-picture mixed messages. For studies using a college sample, the percentage of females marginally moderated the effect of guilt. Whether a message was self focused or other focused did not significantly moderate the effect of guilt. Future directions and practical implications are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Sodium fluorescein (SF) is an ideal dye for intraoperative guided-resection of high-grade gliomas (HGGs). However, it is not well understood whether the SF-guided technique is suitable for different grades of gliomas, and the correlation between fluorescence and pathology is also not yet clear. Materials and methods: In this study, we investigated 28 patients, including 23 patients with HGG and 5 patients with low-grade glioma (LGG). All patients were treated using the SF-guided technique on a Pentero 900 microscope (Carl Zeiss, Oberkochen, Germany). Claudin-5 immunohistochemical (IHC) staining for the tumours and peritumour tissues was analyzed. Results: Intraoperative yellow fluorescence was noted in all the HGGs but not in the LGGs. Claudin-5 expression in the blood brain barrier endothelial cells was downregulated and disconnected in the HGGs (p < 0.05), but had no difference or slightly decreased in the LGGs (p > 0.05). Conclusions: The SF-guided technique is suitable for HGG surgery but not for LGG surgery. Downregulation of claudin-5 expression may contribute to the presence of yellow fluorescence in the glioma in SF-guided surgery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The urban wastewater treatment industry produces a large amount of excess activated sludge which is mainly composed of microbial biomass and costly to be disposed. In this research, a comprehensive utilization of activated sludge was developed by sequentially extracting hydrolytic enzymes and polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), and the residue was used to prepare water-retaining organic fertilizer. The sludge was extracted with fourfold H2O-containing 1% Triton X-100 with the yield of 66.7% protease activity. The enzyme solution was precipitated in 80% acetone and vacuum dried at 40°C at the dried enzyme yield of 2.4 g/kg wet sludge. The enzyme product contains collagenase, lipase, amylase, and cellulase activities, which are good compound enzymes to feed. The PHAs were extracted with 30% sodium hypoclorite:chloroform (1:3). The PHA solution was decolored and dried, and pure white PHAs were obtained at the yield of 70.1 g/kg wet sludge. The residue was used to prepare water-retaining organic fertilizer at the optimal condition. The fertilizer absorbs 131.3-fold distilled water and had good performance in water retention and can effectively slow down the loss of soil moisture when added into soil. This work provides a simple and practical approach for comprehensive utilizing activated sludge with significant economic benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract We report a fairly rare case of postoperative acute subdural hygromas without concurrent hydrocephalus complicating foramen magnum decompression (FMD) for Chiari malformation type I (CM-I). Full resolution of subdural hygromas was achieved through therapeutic lumbar puncture releasing bloody cerebrospinal fluid which has been scarcely advocated in managing post-FMD subdural hygromas. This outcome suggests that bloody cerebrospinal fluid may be related to the formation of subdural hygromas after FMD for CM-I and therapeutic lumbar puncture may provide an effective treatment modality in such conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hypoxia has been proved to be a typical character of solid tumors. Tumor cells prefer to use glucose through the glycolysis pathway instead of aerobic respiration. However, the precise molecular mechanism underlying this so-called Warburg effect remains elusive. In the current study, siRNA was synthesized and transfected into BxPC-3 cell line to silence the expression of HIF-1α gene. It was found that hypoxia induced hypoxia-inducible factor 1α (HIF-1α) overexpression in BxPC-3 cells, enhanced the expression of pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase 1 and lactate dehydrogenase A, thus facilitating glycolysis and making tumor cells more tolerant to hypoxic stress. The silencing of HIF-1α gene significantly attenuated glycolysis under hypoxic conditions, inhibited the growth and invasion ability of BxPC-3 cells, and enhanced hypoxia-induced cell apoptosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) play an active role in facilitating the invasion of cancer cells with excessive extracellular matrix (ECM) degradation. In the present study, we investigated the antiinvasive effects of isorhamnetin, a naturally occurring flavonoid, on MDA-MB-231 human breast carcinoma cells. The results indicated that isorhamnetin significantly inhibited the adhesion, migration, and invasion of the cells in vitro. Moreover, isorhamnetin suppressed the activity and expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9, which were determined by gelatin zymography, real-time PCR, and Western blot analysis, respectively. Besides, isorhamnetin had little effect on the secretion of urokinase plasminogen activator. Further elucidation of the mechanism revealed that isorhamnetin exerted an inhibitory effect on the phosphorylation of p38 and STAT3, although it had no effect on ERK1/2 and JNK. Taken together, these data demonstrated that isorhamnetin could significantly inhibit the invasion of MDA-MB-231 cells by downregulating the expression and activity of MMP-2 and MMP-9, which was potentially associated with the suppression of p38 MAPK and STAT3. Therefore, the findings provide new evidence for the anti-cancer activity of isorhamnetin. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A multimodal trip planner that produces optimal journeys involving both public transport and private vehicle legs has to solve a number of shortest path problems, both on the road network and the public transport network. The algorithms that are used to solve these shortest path problems have been researched since the late 1950s. However, in order to provide accurate journey plans that can be trusted by the user, the variability of travel times caused by traffic congestion must be taken into consideration. This requires the use of more sophisticated time-dependent shortest path algorithms, which have only been researched in depth over the last two decades, from the mid-1990s. This paper will review and compare nine algorithms that have been proposed in the literature, discussing the advantages and disadvantages of each algorithm on the basis of five important criteria that must be considered when choosing one or more of them to implement in a multimodal trip planner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The electrical and optical characteristics of GaN-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with various kinds of electron blocking layers (EBLs) are analyzed numerically. The results indicate that an enhanced hole injection efficiency and a reduced electron leakage could be achieved with the GaN-based LED where a p-InAlGaN/GaN superlattice (SL) was employed as EBL as compared with the conventional GaN-based LEDs using rectangular p-AlGaN EBL or p-AlGaN/GaN SL EBL. Moreover, it was found that the efficiency droop could be significantly improved at high injection current density for GaN-based LEDs with p-InAlGaN/GaN SL EBL. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study investigated the effects of the addition of Y2O3and sintering temperature on the Bi2Mo2O9ceramics. The ceramics were sintered in air at temperatures ranging from 620° to 640°C. It is found that small amount of Y2O3addition (0.5 mol%) can significantly influence on the phase crystalline and the microwave dielectric properties of Bi2Mo2O9ceramics. The secondary phase, in γ-Bi2MoO6was observed as Y2O3was added. TheQ×fvalue and TCF of Bi2Mo2O9ceramics can be improved by Y2O3doping. The Bi2Mo2O9ceramics doped with 3 mol% Y2O3exhibited the best microwave dielectric properties with a permittivity of 37.5, aQ×fvalue (f= resonant frequency,Q= 1/dielectric loss atf)of 14750 GHz and τfof +6.5 ppm/°C after sintering at 640°C. The addition of Y2O3can effectively modify the microwave dielectric properties of Bi2Mo2O9ceramic, which satisfies the requirement for microwave device applications. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Shizhuyuan ore deposit in southern Hunan Province is a world-class W-Sn-Bi-Mo occurrence hosted by Devonian limestone in the thermal aureole of the Qianlishan granite. Mineralization coincided with intrusion of the granite pluton during Mesozoic crustal extension in South China. We present new He and Ar isotope data for volatiles released from pyrite in the Shizhuyuan deposit. Concentrations of 40Ar range from 0.21 to 2.38 × 10-6 cm3 STP 40Ar/g, and 4He concentrations range from 0.8 to 65.1 × 10-6 cm3 STP 4He/g. 3He/4He ratios vary from 0.06 to 1.66 Ra (where Ra is the 3He/4He ratio of air = 1.39 × 10-6) and 40Ar/36Ar ratios range from 293 to 1072. The isotopic compositions of He and Ar indicate that the ore-forming fluids were mantle-derived, modified by air-saturated crustal fluids. Shallow-level boiling increased 3He concentrations, whereas crustal contamination decreased 3He/4He ratios in the magmatic fluids. The occurrence of mantle-derived components in the magmatic fluid indicates that the associated Qianlishan granite is not a typical S-type pluton that formed entirely by crustal melting. We propose that the mineralization was related to mantle upwelling and Mesozoic lithosphere extension of the South China Block. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An automated chamber system was used to study how soil respiration (R S) differed with stand age (SA), altitude (AL), and forest type (FT), in subtropical China. From 2006 to 2008, measurements of soil-surface CO2 efflux and associated environmental factors were made in an evergreen broad-leaved forest (EB), and five aged Chinese fir [Cunninghamia lanceolata Hook.] plantations (CF), and three altitudinal Moso bamboo [Phyllostachys pubescens Mazel ex J. Houz.] plantations (MB), in Dagangshan mountain range, Jiangxi Province. Multivariate analysis of covariance with soil temperature (T) and soil water content (SWC) as the covariates showed that FT and AL as the independent factors had a significant effect on R S (P<0.01, P<0.05, respectively). The R S in the CF differed significantly from EB and MB (P<0.001), but not between EB and MB. The R S was positively correlated with T, and responded to changes in SWC at higher Ts. The correlation between R S and SWC was improved when the R S was normalized to 10°C. Annual mean R S differed significantly with SA and were ranked in the order (from high to low) of 21-25, 26-35, 11-20, >36, and 1-10 years. The conclusion of this study is that T, SWC, AL, FT, and SA all have significant effects on Rs in subtropical China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A sensitive and convenient method is described for the determination of trace amounts of S2- ion in aqueous solution based on the classical Belousov-Zhabotinskii (B-Z) oscillating reaction. The results showed that the change in the oscillating period was linearly proportional to the concentration of the S2- ion with a wider range from 7.94×10-8 to 3.16×10-5 mol·L-1. Various influencing factors are studied and a possible reaction mechanism is also discussed by means of the well-known FKN model. A comparison with the other methods used to determine the S2- ion is given, too. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We sequenced and annotated the complete mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) ofBactrocera diaphora(Diptera: Tephtitidae), which is an economically important pest in the southwest area of China, India, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Malaysia. This mitogenome is 15 890 bp in length with an A + T content of 74.103%, and contains 37 typical animal mitochondrial genes that are arranged in the same order as that of the inferred ancestral insects. All protein-coding genes (PCGs) start with a typical ATN codon, except cox1 that begins with TCG. Ten PCGs stop with termination codon TAA or TAG, whereas cox1, nad1 and nad5 have single T–– as the incomplete stop codon. All of the transfer RNA genes present the typical clover leaf secondary structure excepttrnS1(AGN) with a looping D-arm. The A + T-rich region is located betweenrrnSandtrnIwith a length of 946 bp, and contains a 20 bp poly-T stretch and 22 bp poly-A stretch. Except the control region, the longest intergenic spacer is located betweentrnRandtrnNthat is 94 bp long with an excessive high A + T content (95.74%) and a microsatellite-like region (TA)13. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]