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Data transmission between smart meters and data center is facing network security threats in advanced metering infrastructure of smart grid. The traditional solution is to move the data to the data center to build a centralized attack detection model, or divide the collected data into several independent and identically distributed datasets to build a distributed attack detection model. However, the long‐distance transmission and the centralized storage of data not only increase the communication overhead and time overhead, but also increase the risk of being attacked, causing privacy disclosure during the process of building the model. In this paper, we propose an efficient intrusion detection framework Fed_ADBN based on federated attention deep belief network and client selection. Clients cooperate with the data center to jointly build a horizontal federated learning framework. Under the premise of protecting data security by keeping data on the clients, we design a client selection algorithm based on client computing power, communication quality and security risks, which can improve the operating efficiency of federated learning. We also deploy a deep belief neural network with attention mechanism in each client to accurately detect possible network attacks in AMI network in real time. Experimental results show that compared with state‐of‐the‐art methods, the proposed framework can not only maintain good detection accuracy but also protect privacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Breast cancer (BC) is the most commonly diagnosed cancer and second leading cause of cancer-related death in women worldwide. Ferroptosis, an iron-dependent newly discovered mode of cell death, can be induced by lenaltinib and plays an important role in the biological behaviors of BC. Therefore, the prognostic value of ferroptosis-related genes (FRGs) in BC warrants further investigation. FRG expression profiles and clinical data were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO). Immune-related pathways were found in the functional analysis. Significant differences in enrichment scores for immune cells were observed. Some patients from TCGA-BRCA were included as the training cohort. A six-gene prediction signature was constructed with the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator Cox regression. This model was validated in the rest of the TCGA-BRCA and GEO cohort. The expressions of the six FRGs were verified with real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemistry in the Human Protein Atlas. Relapse or metastasis was more likely in the high-risk group. Risk score was an independent predictor of disease-free survival. Collectively, the ferroptosis-related risk model established in this study may serve as an effective tool to predict the prognosis in BC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the growing demand for outdoor display, a number of new display processing methods emerged, so how to reliably access the quality of display products is greatly important in determining which is better between two different display products. To solve such difficulty, we in this paper put forward a novel subjective evaluation method, which combines single stimulation method and stimulation comparison method to mutually supervise each other and thus highly enhances the reliability of subjective scoring results. We conduct the newly proposed evaluation method on the comparison between the BOE RGBW screen and the typical RGB screen. Results derived from 57 inexperienced observers indicate that the BOE RGBW screen has achieved better display performance in specific conditions, which is highly consistent with the senior expert's opinions. Our newly proposed subjective evaluation method has very inspiring perspective in real application scenarios, which can use cheap labor to derive the senior expert's opinions. It will help outdoor display developers to accurately and quickly determine the direction of better display quality improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Underwater image enhancement is an important low‐level vision task with much attention of community. Clear underwater images are helpful for underwater operations. However, raw underwater images often suffer from different types of distortions caused by the underwater environment. To solve these problems, this paper proposes an end‐to‐end dual generative adversarial network (DuGAN) for underwater image enhancement. The images processed by existing methods are taken as training samples for reference, and they are segmented into clear parts and unclear parts. Two discriminators are used to complete adversarial training toward different areas of images with different training strategies, respectively. The proposed method is able to output more pleasing images than reference images benefit by this framework. Meanwhile, to ensure the authenticity of the enhanced images, content loss, adversarial loss, and style loss are combined as loss function of our framework. This framework is easy to use, and the subjective and objective experiments show that excellent results are achieved compared to those methods mentioned in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. The systemic immune-inflammation index (SII) has an important role in predicting survival in some solid tumors. However, little information is available concerning the change of the SII (∆SII) in colorectal cancer (CRC) after curative resection. This study was designed to evaluate the role of ∆SII in CRC patients who received surgery. Methods. A total 206 patients were enrolled in this study. Clinicopathologic characteristics and survival were assessed. The relationships between overall survival (OS), disease-free survival (DFS), and ∆SII were analyzed with both univariate Kaplan-Meier and multivariate Cox regression methods. Results. Based on the patient data, the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) optimal cutoff value of ∆SII was 127.7 for OS prediction. The 3-year and 5-year OS rates, respectively, were 60.4% and 36.7% in the high-∆SII group (>127.7) and 87.6% and 79.8% in the low-∆SII group (≤127.7). The 3-year and 5-year DFS rates, respectively, were 54.1% and 34.1% in the high-∆SII group and 80.3% and 78.5% in the low-∆SII group. In the univariate analysis, smoking, pathological stages III-IV, high-middle degree of differentiation, lymphatic invasion, vascular invasion, and the high-ΔSII group were associated with poor OS. Adjuvant therapy, pathological stages III-IV, vascular invasion, and ΔSII were able to predict DFS. Multivariate analysis revealed that pathological stages III-IV (HR = 0.442 , 95% CI = 0.236 -0.827, p = 0.011), vascular invasion (HR = 2.182 , 95% CI = 1.243 -3.829, p = 0.007), and the high-ΔSII group (HR = 4.301 , 95% CI = 2.517 -7.350, p < 0.001) were independent predictors for OS. Adjuvant therapy (HR = 0.415 , 95% CI = 0.250 -0.687, p = 0.001), vascular invasion (HR = 3.305 , 95% CI = 1.944 -5.620, p < 0.001), and the high-ΔSII group (HR = 4.924 , 95% CI = 2.992 -8.102, p < 0.001) were significant prognostic factors for DFS. Conclusions. The present study demonstrated that ∆SII was associated with the clinical outcome in CRC patients undergoing curative resection, supporting the role of ∆SII as a prognostic biomarker. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Synthetic techniques to prepare large‐size, flexible, and high‐quality single‐crystalline sheets of transition metal oxides are crucial to developing low‐energy consumption devices. One promising way is a lift‐off and transfer technique using a heterostructure of polymer supporting oxide and Sr3Al2O6 (SAO) layers grown on a single‐crystalline substrate. By removing the water‐soluble SAO and the supporting layers, the oxide sheet is obtained. Although some ferroelectric flexible sheets are prepared by this method, a simpler method for obtaining large‐size sheets is required. Herein, a lift‐off and transfer method is proposed without a supporting layer. With this simple method, single‐crystalline SrRuO3 and BaTiO3 flexible sheets with a lateral size of a few millimeters are successfully prepared. The SrRuO3 sheet exhibits high crystallinity and conductivity. Meanwhile, the ferroelectricity of the BaTiO3 sheet is successfully observed via polarization hysteresis loop measurements. In addition to the simplicity, this method has low costs and the substrate is reusable. Accordingly, the proposed method could enhance the development of various kinds of large‐size functional oxide sheets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some cognitive functions, such as the ability to update skills and adapt to changes in working conditions, are known to vary with age. With population aging it becomes increasingly difficult for firms to find workers with up‐to‐date skills. As a result, countries with aging populations start losing comparative advantage in industries that rely heavily on those skills. We test this hypothesis and find robust evidence for a significant negative effect of population aging on comparative advantage of a country in industries that are intensive in skill adaptability of labor force, in both the cross‐sectional and the dynamic panel data sets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. To establish an immortalized human periodontal ligament stem cell line (hPDLSC) and investigate whether and how YAP mediates the establishment of the stem cell line. Methods. Primary hPDLSCs were cultured and transfected with lentivirus containing the telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) gene. The expression of TERT was detected via the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and real-time quantitative PCR (RT-PCR). Flow cytometry was employed to detect surface markers of hPDLSCs and TERT-hPDLSCs. The cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) and 5-ethynyl-2'-deoxyuridine (EdU) methods were used to examine the proliferation ability of the cells. Flow cytometry and TUNEL staining were employed to examine the cell apoptosis rate. The β-galactosidase staining assay was used to assess the rate of cell senescence. The osteogenic differentiation ability of the cells was detected via alkaline phosphatase (ALP) staining and Alizarin red staining assays. BALB/c mice were employed to determine the tumorigenicity of TERT-hPDLSCs. The expression levels of YAP and other proteins in the Hippo signaling pathway were detected by Western blotting. Verteporfin was used to inhibit the binding of YAP to the downstream target gene TEAD. Results. TERT-hPDLSCs showed stable high expression of TERT, even at the thirtieth passage after transfection with lentivirus containing the TERT gene. Compared with primary hPDLSCs, TERT-hPDLSCs exhibited a stronger proliferation ability and lower cell apoptosis and senescence rates while maintaining the same osteogenetic differentiation ability as primary hPDLSCs. The transfection of hPDLSCs with lentivirus containing the TERT gene did not lead to tumorigenesis in nude mice. The Hippo signaling pathway was inactivated in TERT-hPDLSCs compared to hPDLSCs. When treated with verteporfin, the proliferation of TERT-hPDLSCs decreased, while the apoptosis and senescence rates of these cells increased. However, TERT-hPDLSCs still showed a stronger proliferation ability and lower cell apoptosis and senescence rates than hPDLSCs treated with verteporfin at the same concentration. Conclusions. Overexpression of TERT in hPDLSCs resulted in the successful establishment of an immortalized periodontal ligament stem cell line. TERT may regulate the biological characteristics of hPDLSCs through the Hippo/YAP signaling pathway. hPDLSCs could be a feasible resource for stem cell research and a promising resource for stem cell therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this Letter, the authors put forward a loose classifier to determine whether the content of a given image belongs to screen content or natural scene. In the proposed classifier, they first extract 14 features by means of three typical histograms, the greyscale image histogram, local binary pattern histograms, and histograms of the oriented gradient, respectively. Then, in the second step, they try to build a non‐linear mapping, with stacking‐based integrated learners, from extracted features to the classification label. Experimental results prove that the effectiveness of their proposed method as compared with popular algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By making use of the host-guest interactions between the host molecule tris- o-phenylenedioxycyclotriphosphazene (TPP) and the rod-coil block copolymer (BCP) poly(ethylene oxide)- block-poly(octyl 4′-octyloxy-2-vinylbiphenyl-4-carboxylate) (PEO- b-PVBP), the supramolecular rod-rod block copolymer P(EO@TPP)- b-PVBP was constructed. It consists of a crystalline segment P(EO@TPP) with a hexagonal crystalline structure and a columnar nematic liquid-crystalline segment (PVBP). As the PVBP segments arrange themselves as columnar nematic phases, the crystalline structure of the inclusion complex P(EO@TPP), which has a smaller diameter, is destroyed. The self-assembled nanostructure is thus clearly affected by the interplay between the two blocks. On the basis of wide- and small-angle X-ray scattering analysis, we conclude that the supramolecular rod-rod BCP can self-assemble into a cylinder-in-cylinder double hexagonal structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim Little is known about the relationship between XRCC1 Codon399 polymorphisms and radiotherapy ( RT) outcomes in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma ( NPC). We aimed to investigate whether XRCC1 Codon399 polymorphisms were correlated to treatment efficacy and normal tissue toxicity in Chinese patients with locally advanced NPC after RT. Methods Sixty eligible patients with NPC stage III- IVa were recruited. Patients received definitive RT, 66-76 Gy. One cycle neoadjuvant chemotherapy with docetaxel and cisplatin regimen was used before RT, two or three cycles for concurrent chemo-RT followed by two to four cycles adjuvant chemotherapy with the same regimen. Before the treatment, XRCC1 Codon399 polymorphisms were determined by polymerase chain reaction based ligase detection reaction methods. Results Six of 60 NPC patients were homozygous for XRCC1 Codon399 Gln/ Gln and 35% were heterozygous. The expressions of genotypes were unrelated to gender, age, clinical stage, T stage or N stage. Codon399 Gln/ Gln allele correlated with a higher medium-term tumor regression ratio after RT for primary nasopharyngeal neoplasm and metastatic lymph nodes (>80% vs 40-60%, P < 0.01). Compared with other two genotypes, patients with XRCC1 Codon399 Gln/ Gln allele were more likely to obtain complete remission of tumor (100% vs 76 and 67%, P > 0.05). No correlation between XRCC1 Codon399 polymorphisms and acute or late radiation-induced injury of normal tissues was observed. Conclusions The XRCC1 Codon399 Gln/ Gln allele may be associated with better tumor regression, and is suggested as a promising predictive factor for outcome for locally advanced NPC. Further study with larger samples and long-time follow-up is needed for accurate assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Five different kinds of monofunctionalized hexa- peri-hexabenzocoronenes (HBCs) are synthesized by loading dialkyl-diphenylacetylenes and asymmetric diphenylacetylene derivatives at the same time. This method shortens the synthetic route by half, with four fewer steps compared with the commonly used approach. In addition, this method is more economic and environmentally friendly. The self-assembling properties of the molecules are greatly influenced by the substituted alkyl side chains. From the short linear hexyl chain (C6) to the longer n-dodecyl (C12) chain and then to the branched alkyl chain (C10,6), the transition temperature from the crystalline phase to the liquid crystalline (LC) phase and that from the LC phase to the isotropic (Iso) state both decrease. Furthermore, the ester group far away from the aromatic core and its length are also important variables to control the phase behaviors of the molecules. The typical long-range ordered hexagonal lattice (Colh phase) is found for all the monofunctionalized molecules in their LC states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem of quality assessment of screen content images from two respects is addressed, the edge‐preserving filter based free energy and structural degradation model. For screen content images which always contain texts, edge information plays an important role in the process of evaluating the screen images quality. Inspired by this, the edge‐preserving filter based free energy entropy and structural degradation model were combined to extract the quality features and accordingly the statistical model of screen content images was established. Experimental results prove that the proposed method can produce highly consistent with human perception, particularly superior to state‐of‐the‐art full‐ and no‐reference quality metrics on the SIQAD database dedicated to the quality assessment of screen images. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on a study which investigated the electrostatic complexes of single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) and a cationic conjugated polyelectrolyte (CPE). It was found that fluorescence emission of poly{9,9-di[3-(1-ethyl-1,1-dimethyl ammonio)propyl]-2,7-fluorenyl-alt-1,4-phenylenedibromide} (PFN) can be quenched to about one fourth of its original intensity in the presence of a trace amount of ssDNA. Results also show that addition of ssDNA improves the fluorescence resonance energy transfer(FRET) extent.