Search

Ultrasonic thermal excitation can be regulated by coupling pressure conditions that indirectly influence the excitation effect. This study evaluated the effects of coupling pressure conditions on concrete microcracks detection through ultrasonic thermal excitation testing. Concrete microcracks were subjected to coupling tests, and two coupling pressure conditions were applied to the stimulation. A finite element simulation model was used to quantify the coupling pressure excitation, and the differences in temperature rises due to the coupling pressure conditions were analyzed. The study indicates the addition fluctuations in coupling pressure under the direct loading excitation could be neglected; while the coupling pressure increases by about 53% under the aluminum alloy sleeve loading excitation, and the fluctuation increases with the initial coupling pressure. The excitation effects of the tests are influenced by the coupling pressure condition, which will be weak if the perturbation of coupling pressure is great and changes drastically. Analysis suggests the drastically varying coupling pressure leads to substantial changes in the transducer's equivalent resistance and the output efficiency of the piezoelectric transducer decreases. It emphasizes the importance of controlling the perturbation of coupling pressure and provides research ideas to enhance the detection efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study utilises several methods centred on acoustic emission (AE) waveform characteristics to conduct in-depth analysis of the damage mechanism of composite materials under mode I. Combined with the peak frequency statistics and continuous wavelet transform (CWT) of AE signals, three damage modes of laminated composites during loading are identified. The cumulative energy of three damage modes separated by variational modal decomposition (VMD) is used to characterize their damage evolution process. Based on the findings, delamination and fiber–matrix debonding are proven to be the dominant damage mechanisms for mode I. The comprehensive analysis results from AE's accumulated energy, peak frequency distribution, CWT, VMD, and sentry function can accurately detect the onset time of delamination in laminates. The equivalent crack length is calculated by the load value determined at the initial time of delamination, and the strain energy release rate calculated by the load value and crack length at this time is used as the interlaminar fracture toughness value of mode I. This research method will provide a new idea for the damage tolerance analysis of mode I delamination in laminated structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ability of a low-carbon strategy to promote tourism development is critical to achieving economic development and environmental protection. Taking China's low-carbon city pilot (LCCP) policy as a quasi-natural experiment, this study evaluates the low-carbon strategy's effect on tourism development by adopting the difference-in-difference method with 275 cities'panel data from 2002 to 2019. The results verify that tourism has significantly developed, driven by the LCCP policy, and this finding is robust even after multiple tests. Mechanism and heterogeneity analyses show that LCCP policy drives tourism development by improving air quality, promoting industrial structure upgrading, and enhancing green technology innovation. Additionally, the pilot construction has a positive spatial spillover impact on the tourism industry in surrounding cities, reflecting the demonstration effect of the pilot city on the neighbouring cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To date, the exploration of multi-principal element alloys (MPEAs) has rarely ventured into the realm of hexagonal close-packed (HCP) structures. In this research, we embarked on a pioneering systematic comparison between a single-phase Ti-Zr-Hf HCP-MPEA and Ti regarding their dislocation activities and mesoscale deformation homogeneity. Through large-area high-resolution quasi-in-situ slip trace analysis and crystal plasticity finite element modeling, we identified HCP-MPEA's significantly enhanced pyramidal slip activities—resulted from minimized disparities among different deformation modes—notably improve the material's intragranular deformation homogeneity. Alongside MPEA's intrinsically high slip resistance, it renders HCP-MPEA an outstanding strength-toughness combination relative to its conventional HCP counterparts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aberrant DNA methylation has been identified as biomarkers for breast cancer detection. Coiled-coil domain containing 12 gene (CCDC12) implicated in tumorigenesis. This study aims to investigate the potential of blood-based CCDC12 methylation for breast cancer detection. DNA methylation level of CpG sites (Cytosine-phosphate Guanine dinucleotides) in CCDC12 gene was measured by mass spectrometry in 255 breast cancer patients, 155 patients with benign breast nodules and 302 healthy controls. The association between CCDC12 methylation and breast cancer risk was evaluated by logistic regression and receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. A total of eleven CpG sites were analyzed. The CCDC12 methylation levels were higher in breast cancer patients. Compared to the lowest tertile of methylation level in CpG_6,7, CpG_10 and CpG_11, the highest quartile was associated with 82, 91 and 95% increased breast cancer risk, respectively. The CCDC12 methylation levels were associated with estrogen receptor (ER) and human epidermal growth factor 2 (HER2) status. In ER-negative and HER2-positive (ER-/HER2+) breast cancer subtype, the combination of four sites CpG_2, CpG_5, CpG_6,7 and CpG_11 methylation levels could distinguish ER−/HER2+ breast cancer from the controls (AUC = 0.727). The hypermethylation levels of CCDC12 in peripheral blood could be used for breast cancer detection. Breast cancer detection could be facilitated by novel blood-based DNA methylation biomarkers. The methylation levels of CpG sites in CCDC12 were higher in breast cancer than those in controls. The combination of four sites CpG_2, CpG_5, CpG_6,7 and CpG_11 methylation levels could distinguish ER-/HER2+ breast cancer subtype from the controls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past few years, China's economy has been on a rapid upswing, and corporate R&D and innovation performance, the first driver of high-quality development, has been considered the key to achieving a breakthrough in China's economic development. At the same time, the ability of companies to assume social responsibility while operating has been the focus of public attention. This study examines the impact of taking social responsibility on the ability of enterprises to invest in innovation. This study uses A-share high-tech enterprises in China from 2017–2019 as the research sample and uses ordinary least squares (OLS) to conduct the analysis. The results illustrate that shouldering social responsibility is a facilitator of innovation investment, and external financing can enhance the facilitation effect of CSR on innovation investment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Avia Pasternak argues that intentional citizens who are genuine participants of their state should share the liability for state wrongdoings. In real-world states, how prevalent is intentional citizenship? This commentary concerns the application of the theoretical model. I argue that there are two problems with Pasternak's proposal of testing intentional citizenship in reality. First, the difficulty of distinguishing citizens' ambiguous internal attitudes towards their citizenship is underestimated. Second, the objective aspect of citizens' status in society, namely, the way they are treated by their state, is more important than their subjective attitudes, but this aspect is neglected by Pasternak. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this introduction, I provide a brief overview of the main arguments defended by Avia Pasternak in her book, 'Responsible Citizens, Non-Responsible States' and summarise the critics she will confront from four political and legal theorists who work in the area of individual citizens' responsibility for state wrongdoings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact of investor-paid rating agency on stock price crash risk. The findings reveal a substantial 127.6% reduction in the stock price crash risk for stocks tracked by investor-paid rating agency compared to those without such tracking. As for the mechanism, the following of investor-paid rating agency reduces earnings management, induces more negative information disclosure, and improves information disclosure quality. The impact of investor-paid rating agency is more pronounced in firms with poorer corporate governance. Further analysis indicates that the impact of investor-paid rating agency increases with the frequency of rating tracking and the rating difference between issuer-paid rating agency and investor-paid rating agency, while stock market reaction induced by investor-paid rating agency has little effect on the baseline result. Moreover, the tracking of investor-paid rating agency facilitates the information flow between the bond market and stock market, and improves analyst forecast performance. In summary, we suggest that investor-paid rating agency tracking acts as a valid passive monitoring mechanism to alleviate principal-agent problems and provide information on firms' downside risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractIn this article, we establish the mathematical foundations for modeling the randomness of shapes and conducting statistical inference on shapes using the smooth Euler characteristic transform. Based on these foundations, we propose two Chi-squared statistic-based algorithms for testing hypotheses on random shapes. Simulation studies are presented to validate our mathematical derivations and to compare our algorithms with state-of-the-art methods to demonstrate the utility of our proposed framework. As real applications, we analyze a dataset of mandibular molars from four genera of primates and show that our algorithms have the power to detect significant shape differences that recapitulate known morphological variation across suborders. Altogether, our discussions bridge the following fields: algebraic and computational topology, probability theory and stochastic processes, Sobolev spaces and functional analysis, analysis of variance for functional data, and geometric morphometrics. Supplementary materials for this article are available online, including a standardized description of the materials available for reproducing the work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractObjectivesMethodResultsConclusionA large gap exists in the development of culturally sensitive interventions to reduce stress related to dementia care among Chinese Americans, one of the fastest growing minority populations in the United States. We developed and pilot tested the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of a peer mentoring program for Chinese American dementia caregivers.A pilot randomized controlled trial was conducted among 38 Chinese American caregivers in New York City. Four outcome variables—caregiving competence, loneliness, caregiver burden, and depressive symptoms—were measured at baseline and 3-month and 9-month follow-ups. The study protocol and preliminary results are available at clinicltrial.gov [NCT04346745].The feasibility of the intervention was high, as indicated by an acceptable retention rate, fidelity, and positive feedback from caregivers and mentors. Compared with the control group, the intervention group had greater reductions in scores for loneliness at 3-month follow-up and for caregiver burden and depressive symptoms at 9-month follow-up. We did not find significant differences in caregiving competence between the two groups.The results indicated the high feasibility and potential efficacy of empowering existing human resources of experienced caregivers in the same ethnic community to improve the mental health of Chinese caregivers. Further research is needed to test the efficacy in a larger sample of this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Idyllic life is a crucial scenario in digital media marketing and virtual tourism. It is an idealized image of rural life that greatly influences tourists' choice of rural destinations. However, this image tends to lack an Oriental cultural perspective. Through a discourse analysis of Chinese newspapers and WeChat articles, six dimensions of the projected image of idyllic life were identified and their relationships were constructed. In addition, kinaesthesia and atmospheric sense were explored to enrich sensory marketing theory. The study provides support for rural tourism destination marketing. It also reveals that visions of the idyllic life are common between the East and the West, suggesting cultural commonality. The collective unconscious image of idyllic life also complements the image of a rural tourism destination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract.In this article, under some proper and sufficient conditions, we gave complete convergence for weighted sums and maximal weighted sums of arrays of rowwise mn-extended negatively dependent (rowwise mn-END) random variables, which is a new dependent structure. In addition, a relationship between {mn,n≥1} and moment condition for convergence is revealed in a sense. The results obtained in the article generalize some corresponding ones for independent and some dependent random variables. As an application, the strong consistency for the weighted estimator in a non parametric regression model is established. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many foods have both edible and medical importance and are appreciated as functional foods, preventing diseases. However, due to unscrupulous vendors and imperfect market supervision mechanisms, curative foods are prone to adulteration or some other events that harm the interests of consumers. However, traditional analytical methods are unsuitable and expensive for a broad and complex application. Therefore, people urgently need a fast, efficient, and accurate detection method to protect self-interests. Recently, the study of target samples by vibration spectrum shows strong qualitative and quantitative ability. The model established by platform technology combined with the stoichiometric analysis method can obtain better parameters, which it has good robustness and can detect functional food efficiently, quickly and nondestructive. The review compared and prospect five different vibrational spectroscopic techniques (near-infrared, Fourier transform infrared, Raman, hyperspectral imaging spectroscopy and Terahertz spectroscopy). In order to better solve some of the actual situations faced by certification, we explore and through relevant research and investigation to appropriately highlight the applicability and importance of technology combined with chemometrics in functional food authentication. There are four categories of authentication discussed: functional food authenticated in source, processing method, fraud and ingredient ratio. This paper provides an innovative process for the authentication of functional food, which has a meaningful reference value for future review or scientific research of relevant departments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antibiotics as feed additives, play a vital role in animal husbandry. However, overused antibiotics could cause endogenous infections in animals, and even endanger human health through the food chain. And immunopotentiators can make the low immune function improve and accelerate the induction of immune response. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of five different immunopotentiators on the expression of liver apoptosis and immune factor related genes in Shaoxing ducklings (Anas Platyrhynchos). A total of 150 one-day-old Shaoxing ducklings were randomly divided into six groups including saline, chlorogenic acid, β-D-glucan, astragalus flavone, CpG DNA and chicken IgG, which were injected subcutaneously into the neck, respectively. At 18 days old, the liver tissues were collected to detecte the mRNA and protein expression levels of inflammatory and apoptosis-related genes. The results showed that compared with the control group, the mRNA and protein levels of liver Bcl2 with chlorogenic acid, β-D-glucan, astragalus flavone, CpG-DNA and chicken IgG were significantly decreased (p < 0.05), while the expression level of Caspase3 was up-regulated in some different degrees. In addition,The expression levels of liver iNOS and COX2 were significantly increased after the injection of five immunopotentiators (p < 0.05), and the mRNA levels of IFN-α, IFN-β, IL-1β, RIG-I, TLR3 and TLR7 genes were also significantly up-regulated compared with the control group (p < 0.05). In conclusion, chlorogenic acid, β-D-glucan, astragalus flavone, CpG-DNA and chicken IgG can be used as immunopotentiators to regulate duck innate immunity. This study provides a new way to prevent important infectious diseases of ducks, and also provides a certain reference for the application of antibiotic substitutes in animal production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a novel approach to enhancing college popular music education by incorporating an elite teaching optimization algorithm into a customized model. A key feature of the proposed model is the utilization of a high-fidelity wideband audio coding algorithm, which employs a time-frequency analysis module based on the MDCT fast algorithm to reduce storage requirements. The psychoacoustic analysis module takes advantage of the high frequency domain resolution of FFT and accounts for differences between MDCT and DFT by calculating masking curves separately. The proposed model is evaluated using the elite teaching optimization algorithm, and results demonstrate that it effectively improves the effectiveness of college popular music education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) is a multicellular neurovascular unit that serves as a highly impermeable cellular barrier to regulate brain homeostasis, protect the central nervous system, and respond to different physiological and pathological states. Recently, new drugs have been discovered to treat neuropathology. However, because BBB blocks the delivery of drugs to the central nervous system (CNS), it is still difficult to translate the treatment of CNS diseases into clinical results. Therefore, overcoming the BBB and realizing efficient delivery of therapeutic drugs is of great significance for the diagnosis and treatment of various neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and glioblastoma. Nano drug delivery system (NDDS) has the characteristics of high biocompatibility, high drug load, improving pharmacokinetic behavior of drugs in vivo, achieving targeted drug delivery, controlled drug release, etc. Therefore, in the field of trans-BBB drug delivery, It has broad application prospect for the diagnosis and treatment of various neurological diseases. This paper reviews the latest research on NDDS crossing BBB at home and abroad, providing new ideas for the diagnosis and treatment of CNS diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the complete convergence for maximum of weighted sums of widely negative orthant dependent (WNOD) random variables are investigated. Some sufficient conditions for the convergence are provided and a relationship between the weight and the boundary function is revealed. Additionally, a Marcinkiewicz-Zygmund type strong law of large number for weighted sums of WNOD random variables is obtained. The results obtained in this paper generalize some corresponding ones for independent and some dependent random variables. As an application, the strong consistency for the weighted estimator in a non-parametric regression model is established. MR(2010) Subject Classification: 60F15; 62G05. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aiming at the problems of the high density of conventional proppant and poor sand carrying performance of slick water in shale oil and gas exploitation. A kind of polymer microsphere with low density and high strength and strong hydrophobic properties (LHSPs) was synthesized by using a silane coupling agent in one step and used as proppants in petroleum fracturing. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectra showed that the silane coupling agent formed a rough interface on the particles, which greatly improved the strength and hydrophobicity of the microspheres. The density of LHSPs is 1.075 gcm-3; Under 69 MPa, the breakage rate of LHSPs was 6.3%. The static water contact Angle is 124, showing strong hydrophobic state. Meanwhile, the suspension performance test further shows that the ratio of quartz sand to LHSPs settlement is 288 at 120 C. Water control experiments have also been used to prove that LHSPs can reduce the velocity of water flow and achieve the purpose of water control. The conductivity test shows that LHSPs have good conductivity in gas phase. As the pressure rises to 69 MPa, the quartz sand and LHSPs deflection capacity multiple reached 20 times. This work proves that the preparation of LHSPs is successful and has a broad application prospect in improving the fracturing effect and enhancing shale oil and gas recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clearances in joints are unavoidable due to assemblage, manufacturing errors and wear, which will lead to poor dynamic performances and undesirable vibrations due to impact forces in clearance joints. In dynamics analysis of planar mechanical system, it is usually assumed that the revolute joint is planar joint with radial clearance. However, the axial clearance in the revolute joint and the clearance in the translational joint are ignored. In fact, even planar mechanical systems may exhibit out-of-plane motion due to misalignments. In this work, a planar slider-crank mechanism is used as the example to investigate the effects of mixed clearances on the dynamic responses of planar mechanical system considering radial and axial clearances in spatial revolute joint due to axis misalignment as well as clearance in planar translational joint. The dynamic responses of the planar slider-crank mechanism system with two spatial revolute clearance joints and a planar translation clearance joint are investigated using computational and experimental methodology. The mathematic model of the spatial revolute clearance joint and the planar translational clearance joint are presented. The clearance joints are considered as force constraints and the joint components of an imperfect joint with clearance are modeled as contact bodies. The normal contact force model of clearance joint is established using continuous contact force model. The friction effect is considered using modified Coulomb friction model. Different case studies are presented and discussed to investigate the effects of the mixed clearances on the dynamic responses of the planar slider-crank mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jindazaohuang No. 2 was selected as the test material to analyze the law of yield change under different water stress conditions. Through spectral monitoring of soybean canopy height under different water stress treatments, the rule of yield variation was explored and the response rule of canopy spectral reflectance to water stress was studied. At the same time, successive projections algorithm is used to extract the characteristic band, and the multiple linear regression monitoring model based on the soybean yield characteristic band is constructed. The results showed that the higher the degree of water stress, the lower the yield of soybean is basically. The canopy spectral reflectance is significantly related to yield of soybean, the coefficient of determination R² of the successive projections algorithm-multiple linear regression model 41 days after construction was 0.791. The model test results are significant and the fitting effect is good. The research found that it is feasible to use hyperspectral technology to monitor the growth and yield of soybean under water stress quickly and nondestructively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Systems of linear Diophantine equations arise from several applications. Scholars have given attention to such systems and come up with several effective solutions. A new approach, called the fixed-point iterative method, was proposed to solve linear Diophantine equations with lower and upper bounds on the variables. Two steps are involved in solving this problem. First, the problem is transformed into a polytope judgment problem. Then, the approach is used to judge the existence of an integer point in the polytope. Compared with the branch-and-bound method, results show that the approach is feasible and effective for solving linear Diophantine systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When dealing with the mutual storage relationship of behavioral features in long time sequence video, the convolutional neural network is easy to miss important feature information. To solve the above problems, this paper proposes a super automatic algorithm combining nonlocal convolution and three-dimensional convolution neural network. The algorithm uses sparse sampling to segment the long time sequence video to reduce the amount of redundant information, and integrates non-local convolution into the residual neural network, thus forming a super automatic full variational - L1 algorithm. Experimental results show that the proposed method can significantly improve the efficiency of behavior recognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

MicroRNAs are involved in a series of biological processes, such as proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis of primary myoblasts. The research group found that miR-214 is highly expressed in chicken primary myoblasts (CPMs), so we used miR-214 as a starting point to explore the biological function of miR-214 in skeletal muscle growth and development. In this experiment, CPMs were cultured in vitro; miR-214 was overexpressed in CPMs; and cell samples were collected for subsequent transcriptome sequencing (RNA-seq). After miR-214 overexpression, we identified 97 differentially expressed genes (DEGs), of which 21 DEGs were up-regulated and 76 DEGs were down-regulated. After bioinformatics analysis, these DEGs were found to be significantly enriched in myofibrils, muscle system processes, myofibril assembly and other biological processes related to muscle development. The significantly enriched KEGGs include focal adhesion and type II diabetes mellitus. The protein network of DEGs was drawn by STRING and Cytoscape software, and 5 DEGs were randomly selected to verify the sequencing results by real-time fluorescence quantification. CAV3 is not only an important node protein in the protein network but also a member of the focal adhesion signaling pathway. It is speculated that miR-214 may regulate muscle development through the focal adhesion signaling pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study constructed a moderated mediation model to investigate the mediating effect of anxiety and the moderating effect of social support between Internet addiction and depression. A sample of 17 058 middle school students in one district of Chengdu were selected. The Internet Addiction Test (IAT), Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7), Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), and Social Support Scale for adolescents were used to investigate their Internet addiction, anxiety, depression and social support. The descriptive statistics and Spearman correlation analysis were performed with SPSS 25.0. An SPSS macro process was used to analyze the data from complex models that contained mediators and moderators. The results show that adolescents with Internet addiction are more likely to suffer from depression. Anxiety partially mediated the relations between Internet addiction and depression. Social support moderated both direct and indirect pathways leading from Internet addiction to depression, and these two effects were stronger for adolescents with low social support than for those with high social support. It will be possible for researchers to gain a better understanding of the conditions, pathways, and effects of Internet addiction on depression in adolescents through the results of this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study the empirical likelihood method for special self-exciting threshold autoregressive models. We assume that the parameters of models depend on some positive integer n, the threshold effect diminishes to zero as n increases, and the errors have heavy-tailed distributions. After replacing the indicator function in the model with a smooth function, we obtain a self-weighted and smoothed least absolute deviation estimator for the threshold parameter and the asymptotic normality of the estimator is proved. Then, the confidence intervals for the threshold parameter can be constructed by the normal approximation method. In order to improve the coverage of confidence intervals, we further propose a profile empirical likelihood ratio, and prove that this statistic has the asymptotically standard chi-squared distribution. Therefore, the confidence interval of the threshold parameter can also be constructed by the empirical likelihood method. Simulations and empirical results demonstrate that the confidence interval constructed by empirical likelihood method is superior to that constructed by normal approximation method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, two types of macroalgae, namely, Ulva prolifera and Sargassumhorneri, have appeared occasionally together in the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea. Remote sensing enables timely and cost-effective observation of macroalgae across large areas. In the available studies, the recognition and classification of the two macroalgae are primarily based on spectral difference analysis. In this study, the spectral features, indices and textural feature parameters of the macroalgae targets were extracted and a preliminary multi-feature dataset was constructed based on Sentinel-2 images. Feature selection was performed using SHAP-based importance analysis and Bhattacharyya distance. From this, a multi-feature dataset was created and used as an input to a deep semantic segmentation network of improved ResUnet. The experiments of intelligent recognition and classification of U. prolifera and S. horneri were carried out using the proposed multi-feature-based ResUnet algorithm, with specific F1-scores of 96.7% and 96.8%, respectively. The proposed multi-feature-based ResUnet algorithm can obtain efficient and high-accuracy results for the recognition and classification of marine floating macroalgae. It achieves accurate remote sensing monitoring of the two types of marine floating macroalgae and has significant theoretical research significance and practical application value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, complete moment convergence for maximum of randomly weighted sums and complete convergence for randomly indexed sums of martingale difference sequences (MDS) are investigated under some proper and sufficient conditions. A Marcinkiewicz–Zygmund type strong law of large numbers (MZSLLN) for MDS is obtained. In addition, relationships among weights, weight functions and boundary functions are revealed in a sense. The results obtained in the paper generalize some corresponding ones for independent and some dependent random variables. As an application, strong consistency for estimators in a nonparametric regression model is established. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The likelihood of providing care to a spouse in middle and older ages has increased as life expectancy increases, but knowledge about how the caregiver and care recipient influence each other's mental health is limited. This study examined whether a partner's physical, cognitive, and mental health in a spousal caregiving dyad are associated with the other partner's depressive symptoms in China and whether the dyadic effects vary by gender. This study used data from Wave 3 (2015) and Wave 4 (2018) follow-up surveys of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). The analytic sample featured 1,245 dyads of care recipients aged 45 or older and their spouse caregivers. The Actor-Partner Interdependence Model was used to test the dyadic effects among all couples in the analytic sample, couples with wife caregivers and couples with husband caregivers, respectively. We found that caregiver's depressive symptoms at Wave 3 were significantly associated with care recipient's depressive symptoms at Wave 4 in the full sample. Regardless of caregiver or care recipient roles, wives' mental health was impacted by their husbands' depressive symptoms, but not vice versa. Wife recipient's cognitive impairment was associated with husband caregiver's lower depressive symptoms. This study sheds light on the mental health of couples in the context of caregiving in China. The findings indicate that interventions to support couples in a caregiving dyad need to consider the influence they have on each other, and the gender and health conditions of each in the dyad. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While a higher level of physical activity (PA) is inversely associated with a higher breast cancer (BC) risk, the health benefits of daily steps on obesity-related BC biomarkers remain unclear. We aimed to understand the associations of changes in step counts with levels of five obesity-related BC biomarkers during a two-year follow-up. In total, 144 non-cancer women (47.96 ± 5.72) were observed on both 2019 and 2021. A structured questionnaire, daily steps and fasting blood samples were collected before (t0, 2019) and after (t1, 2021). Levels of biomarkers (IGF-binding proteins 3, adiponectin, soluble leptin receptor, C-reactive protein, and resistin) were assayed by ELISA. Participants were divided into persistent low steps, decreasing steps, increasing steps, and persistent high steps. Associations of categories on proposed biomarkers were estimated using linear regression models, with persistent low steps as reference. Associations between time-varying step counts with biomarkers were quantified using mixed linear models. Compared with persistent low steps, increasing steps is associated with a reduction in C-reactive protein level (β=−0.74, 95%CI=−1.23-−0.26, P-value = 2.98 × 10−3). An inverse association between time-varying step counts with C-reactive protein level was identified, consistent across different obesity types and baseline step level categories. No association with daily step counts was observed for other proteins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigations the impact of customers' innovation information discovery in management discussion and analysis (MD&A) on the innovation of suppliers. We find that the more innovation information disclosed in MD&A, the higher innovation level of the supplier, and the higher the similarity between the supplier's patent and the customer's patent. Further analysis shows that when the degree of information asymmetry between suppliers and customers is higher, innovation is more important to suppliers, suppliers are more dependent on customers, and customers discovery more forward-looking information, the role of customer innovation information discovery on supplier innovation investment is more obvious. The economic sequences test finds that the impact of customer innovation information discovery on supplier innovation significantly import the investment efficiency and enterprise value of enterprises. Our findings provide evidence on the influence of public textual information on the real economy from the perspective of supply chain and theoretical basis for the importance to intensify information discovery in the capital market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improved strength-ductility synergy is not uncommon among metallic materials with gradient structures of grains and twins. In this work, we report that the texture gradient innately created in Al-Mn strips by twin-roll casting is also capable of increasing the material's ductility without sacrificing its strength. Analyses based on crystal plasticity theory demonstrated that the underlying mechanism of this texture-gradient-induced ductility enhancement lies in the orientation-dependent slip and grain rotation, which generate backstress, alter the local stress triaxiality, and delay the fracture process. These results advocate the integration of texture gradient design into the fabrication of high-performance gradient materials. This work demonstrates for the first time that gradient texture could ductilize Al strips. It provides a new pathway — texture gradient design — to the fabrication of advanced structural materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Using a large sample of Chinese older immigrants in Chicago, this study asked two questions: (1) Is living in Chinatown associated with better psychological well-being? (2) What is the role of social capital in such an association? Methods: Data were derived from the Population Study of Chinese Elderly in Chicago (N = 3,105). Depression and quality of life (QoL) were compared between those who lived in Chinatown and those who didn't. Negative binomial regressions (for depression) and logistic regressions (for QoL) were performed to examine the associations between Chinatown residence, social capital, and the two outcomes. Results: Net of social capital and the control variables, living in Chinatown was marginally associated with fewer depressive symptoms (β= −.137, p =.057), but a significantly lower likelihood of reporting good QoL (OR =.797, CI:.661–.962). Although various forms of social capital were projective of positive psychological well-being, given the overall low social capital of the Chinatown residents, they heightened the mental health risks of this population. Conclusion: The neighborhood context may function to reproduce social disadvantage among aging immigrant populations. The findings point to the importance of intervention at the mezzo level to improve the psychological wellbeing of this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Universities can be understood as a key site for the transmission of democratic values by helping young people participate directly in democratic activities and education. Thus, it is important to understand whether and how citizenship learning takes place at universities in the UK. This article uses citizenship in transition (CiT) data to examine the possible ways in which university experiences influence student citizenship from a constructivist learning perspective. Based on Habermas' theories of communicative action and communities of practice, the article proposes that the experience of participating in activities and organisations and the self-identity that is gained by reaching understanding, coordinating interaction, and effecting socialisation at universities are able to promote citizenship learning in the UK. Building on a quantitative analysis, this article shows that students' sense of belonging to their universities and their participation in organisations generally lead to more civic behaviour in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large areas of intermediate-acid intrusive rocks are widely exposed in the Eastern Kunlun Orogenic Belt (EKOB), which is an ideal place to study crustal reworking and growth and the tectonic setting and evolution of the Paleo-Tethys Ocean. Petrographic research shows that intermediate-acid intrusive rocks are mainly composed of diorite, diorite porphyry, granodiorite, and monzogranite, and their zircon U-Pb ages are 260.8 ± 1.5 Ma, 250.7 ± 1.8 Ma, 242.6 ± 0.7 Ma, 239.8 ± 1.2 Ma, 235.2 ± 0.9 Ma, and 230.2 ± 1.0 Ma. They are generally divided into granite, quartz monzonite and monzodiorite series in the QAP diagram. The granite series (HRGLG and LMR monzogranites and BLGX granodiorite) has high SiO2 contents and calc-alkaline features; it has low P2O5 and Zr+Nb+Ce+Y (75–267 ppm) contents, showing affinities to I-type granite, which reflects reworking of Mesoproterozoic lower crust. The quartz monzonite series (KEQK and DDKD diorites) has medium SiO2 and lower MgO contents (1.63–2.59 wt.%) than mantle-derived magmas and has crustal Nb/U and Ce/Pb ratios but mantle-like Nb/Ta ratios. Their geochemistry with binary properties related to both crust and mantle indicate that they probably originated from an AFC process involving mantle-derived melts and provide an important growth model of the continental crust in the EKOB. The monzodiorite series (BLGX diorite porphyry) has medium SiO2 and high MgO contents and Mg# values (59–61) and contains high-Mg diorites. They are enriched in LILEs and depleted in HFSEs; furthermore, strikingly high enrichments in Rb/Y ratios and Ba contents but a narrow range of Nb/Y ratios suggest that they originated from partial melting of hydrous mantle peridotites affected by fluids from the subducted slab. In conclusion, we suggest that the 261–235 Ma intermediate-acid intrusions represent the sustained subduction of the Paleo-Tethys Ocean slab and that the 230 Ma BLGX diorite porphyry records the breakoff of the Paleo-Tethys Ocean slab. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graded permittivity materials have gained significant attention due to their exceptional ability to regulate electric fields. Multi-material stereolithography (SLA) 3D printing has opened up new possibilities for creating such materials. However, conventional SLA printers typically generate graded material using fixed printing parameters and multiple feedstocks with limited differences, resulting in a constrained capacity for modulating the electric field distribution. To address this limitation, we have developed a multi-material, parameter-controllable SLA strategy, enabling us to assign varying printing parameters for each building layer and switch between feedstocks with significant differences. Solid insulators with graded permittivity are optimised through electric field distribution simulations and subsequently manufactured using our innovative multi-material SLA approach. A 4-layered graded insulator effectively decreases the maximum electric field strength from 82.5-30.8 kV/mm. Both flashover tests and partial discharge signals confirm that graded insulators outperform homogeneous ones in electrical insulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to international guidelines, selective lymph node dissection can be performed on patients with early-stage endometrial cancer. However, some patients at early stage have already occurred lymph node metastasis at the time of diagnosis. This study was aimed to find a method to predict the risk of lymph node metastasis in this part of patient. We collected data from 571 patients as training cohort and 351 patients as validation cohort for this study. Then we performed univariate and multivariate analyses to confirm the correlation of frequently used factors and lymph node metastasis. Combined analysis of four commonly indicators (ERα, PR, P53 and Ki67) from pathological parameter sources was mainly carried out, and the combined ratio is defined as (ERα + PR)/(Ki67 + P53). Then the accuracy of the combined ratio and other factors in prediction were compared by AUC value. Also, the optimal truncation value was searched. Finally, patients followed up for more than two years were divided into groups by the threshold value, and their difference in survival was explored. This study showed that CA125, grade, LVSI, ERα, PR, P53, Ki67 have statistical significance (P-value <0.05). The AUC value of combined ratio is 0.876, which is the best. The best cutoff value of combined ratio is 1.38 The combined ratio cutoff value of 1.38 in this study can be used for prediction of risk of lymph node metastasis in early-stage endometrial cancer patients and provide a reference for therapeutic planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to develop a coupling model to improve the ability of random forest model to accurately predict karst collapse. Therefore, an inventory map consisting of 327 collapse points and 1962 non-collapse points was created. The database also contains 18 influencing factors, ranked with GeoDetector. 16 optimized factors were obtained. Bayesian algorithm was used to optimize the parameters of RF model. The optimized factors and RF model were used to create a collapse map, compared with the original map. After coupling and optimizing the factors and parameters, the accuracy of the RF model was 0.935; precision, 0.964, and AUC value, 0.977. Compared with the unoptimized model, the accuracy, precision and AUC value of the optimized RF model improved by 0.197, 0.146 and 0.134, respectively. The results show that the method of optimizing and coupling the factors and parameters contributes to improve the karst collapse susceptibility model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrocyclones are extensively applied in oil-water separation for fluid purification. However, it is difficult for a hydrocyclone to separate tiny oil droplets. Therefore, the coalescence of oil droplets plays an important role in enhancing the separation performance of hydrocyclone. In this study, an innovative hydrocyclone coalescer (HCC) was designed to enhance the separation of de-oiling hydrocyclone. The population balance model was carried out to simulate the distribution characteristic of oil droplet size in the HCC. High speed video was utilized to study the coalescence process qualitatively. Furthermore, an improved particle size analysis experimental system was designed to evaluate the coalescence performance quantitatively. The effects of inlet flow rate, oil concentration and water viscosity on the coalescence of oil droplets in HCC were analyzed. Results show that the optimum inlet flow is 3.9 m3/h, and the oil droplets with mean diameter 0–200 μm at the inlet of HCC can be enlarged to 502.54 μm at the outlet. When the viscosity of water increases from 1.03 mPa·s to 5.56 mPa·s, the mean diameter decreases from 502.5 μm to 382.4 μm. The HCC shows obvious coalescence performance under different operation and fluid parameters, which can contribute to enhancing the separation precision of hydrocyclones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To analyse the regulatory effect of Fusobacterium nucleatum (Fn) on NOD-like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3) and myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) in oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) as well as its effect on cisplatin (CDDP) therapy and to explore its clinical significance. Fn infection, NLRP3 expression and MDSCs infiltration in ESCC tissues were detected by RNAscope and immunohistochemistry (IHC). The correlation between these three factors and the clinicopathological features and survival of ESCC patients was analysed. A coculture system of human peripheral blood monocytes (PBMCs) and ESCC cells was established to simulate the tumour microenvironment. In vitro and in vivo models were used to analyse the effects of Fn on the percentage of MDSCs in the coculture system and the NLRP3 expression level and CDDP sensitivity of ESCC cells. Fn infection was consistent with high NLRP3 expression and MDSCs enrichment in ESCC tissues. Moreover, the survival time of ESCC patients was significantly shortened under Fn infection, high NLRP3 expression and MDSCs enrichment. In the in vitro and in vivo models, Fn induced abundant enrichment of MDSCs by inducing high expression of NLRP3 in ESCC cells and reducing the sensitivity of ESCC cells to CDDP. Fn infection can induce high expression of NLRP3 in ESCC, lead to MDSCs enrichment, weaken the body's antitumour immunity, and lead to CDDP treatment resistance. The effective elimination of Fn and the inhibition of MDSCs enrichment may provide new strategies and treatments for ESCC. The survival of ESCC patients with Fn infection, high NLRP3 expression and MDSCs enrichment was significantly shortened. Fn infection could cause CDDP resistance in ESCC. Fn could induce the enrichment of MDSCs in the tumour microenvironment by activating NLRP3 in ESCC cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Invasive fungal infections including Candidiasis and Aspergillosis are associated with considerable morbidity and mortality in immunocompromised individuals, such as cancer patients. Aurora B is a key mitotic kinase required for the cell division of eukaryotes from fungus to man. Here, we identified a novel Aurora B inhibitor GSK650394 that can inhibit the recombinant Aurora B from human and Aspergillus fumigatus, with IC50 values of 5.68and 1.29 µM, respectively. In HeLa and HepG2 cells, GSK650394 diminishes the endogenous Aurora B activity and causes cell cycle arrest in G2/M phase. Further cell-based assays demonstrate that GSK650394 efficiently suppresses the proliferation of both cancer cells and Aspergillus fumigatus. Finally, the molecular docking calculation and site-directed mutagenesis analyses reveal the molecular mechanism of Aurora B inhibition by GSK650394. Our work is expected to provide new insight into the combinational therapy of cancer and Aspergillus fumigatus infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a serious central nervous system disease, and secondary injury, including oxidative stress, the inflammatory response and accompanying neuronal apoptosis, will aggravate the condition. Due to the existence of the blood-spinal cord barrier (BSCB), the existing drugs for SCI treatment are difficulty to reach the injury site and thus their efficacy is limited. In this study, we designed chitosan-modified hollow manganese dioxide nanoparticles (CM) for the delivery of resveratrol to help it pass through the BSCB. Resveratrol (Res), a poorly soluble drug, was adsorbed into CM with a particle size of approximately 130 nm via the adsorption method, and the drug loading reached 21.39 ± 2.53%. In vitro dissolution experiment, the Res release of the loaded sample (CMR) showed slowly release behavior and reached about 87% at 36 h. In vitro at the cellular level and in vivo at the animal level experiments demonstrated that CMR could alleviate significantly oxidative stress by reducing level of reactive oxygen species (ROS), malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and increasing glutathione peroxidase (GSH) level. Additionally, immunofluorescence (iNOS, IL-1ß, and Cl caspase-3) and western blot (iNOS, cox-2, IL-1ß, IL-10, Cl caspase-3, bax, and bcl-2) were used to detect the expression of related factors, which verified that CMR could also reduce inflammation and neuronal apoptosis. These results indicated that CM, as a potential central nervous system drug delivery material, was suitable for SCI treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Preeclampsia (PE) is a pregnancy-associated disease that may cause maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality. The dysregulation of microRNAs (miRNAs) and their potential functions has been an important direction for elucidating the mechanism of preeclampsia in recent years. The present study investigated whether miR-4443 was significantly increased in the placentas of severe preeclamptic patients, and the upregulation of miR-4443 inhibited the migration and invasion of HTR-8/SVneo cells according to transwell assays. Matrix metallopeptidase 2 (MMP2), which is involved in the degradation of extracellular matrix (ECM) components and harbors a miR-4443-binding site within its 3'-UTR as confirmed by a luciferase reporter assay, was identified to be directly inhibited by miR-4443. Moreover, siRNA targeting MMP2 imitated the effects of overexpressed miR-4443 on HTR-8/SVneo cell invasion and migration, whereas rescue experiments showed that MMP2 reversed this inhibitory function of miR-4443. Heparin-binding EGF-like growth factor (HB-EGF), as the downstream gene of MMP2, plays an important role in trophoblast invasion, and we confirmed that the expression of HB-EGF/EGFR pathway-related biomolecules was consistent with MMP2 influenced by upregulating and downregulating miR-4443 and that activated EGFR further transmitted intracellular downstream signaling via the MAPK pathway according to western blot assay. In conclusion, we demonstrated that miR-4443 suppresses the migration and invasion of trophoblasts, and its inhibitory effects are at least partially mediated by the suppression of MMP2. This inhibition might further affect the progression of preeclampsia through the HB-EGF/EGFR pathway, thus providing a new clue on the role of miR-4443 in the pathogenesis of preeclampsia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]