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Abstract A bio-based flame retardant nickel phytate (PA-Ni) was synthesized and combined with soybean oil-based polyol (SO) to create a green rigid polyurethane foam (RPUF) with enhanced compressive strength, good thermal stability and flame retardant. The results showed that the RPUF-SO2/Ni3 with 3 wt% PA-Ni had the highest initial and termination temperature, maximum thermal decomposition rate temperature and carbon residue, and better thermal stability. Its limiting oxygen index was increased by 2.6% compared with RPUF-SO2 without PA-Ni added, and the peak heat release rate (PHRR) and total heat release rate (THR) were reduced by 14.92% and 19.92%, respectively. In addition, RPUF-SO2/Ni3 had the lowest Ds under the conditions of flame (18.90) and flameless (22.41), and had the best smoke suppression effect. And the compressive strength of RPUF-SO/Ni3 was significantly enhanced by the addition of PA-Ni. The results show that the improvement of flame retardancy of RPUF is mainly the result of the combined effect of gas-phase and condensed-phase flame retardancy, among which the flame retardancy of RPUF-SO/Ni3 was the best. The current findings offer a practical way to produce green and low-carbon RPUF as well as promising prospects for the material's safe application.

In this work, a cost-effective organic package substrate embedded coupled magnetic core inductor technology is proposed and demonstrated for power supply in package applications. Based on a novel lithographic via process, it involves a solid copper pillar electroplating step for creating a groove and integration of the vertical interconnects of the inductor. The primary and secondary windings of the coupled inductor are interleaved on the rectangular magnetic composite core which is accommodated within the groove. The coupled inductor combines solid vertical interconnecting with low loss magnetic composite core, therefore bringing together tight process tolerances and superior current capability. Experimental results show that the 2.9-mm2 coupled inductor achieves a high inductance to resistance ratio of 0.28 nH/mΩ, and a coupling factor of 0.57. In addition, the proposed inductor achieves an ultra-high saturation current of 16.52 A that is the highest reported value for a high-frequency integrated magnetic core inductor to the best of our knowledge. The performance of the coupled inductor has been calculated for a standard 1.8 to 1 V interleaved converter. Notably, it demonstrated a remarkable efficiency exceeding 95% across a wide range of phase currents between 0.11 and 2.32 A.

Ammonium polyphosphate (APP) and self-made nickel phytate (PANi) were used as modified materials to prepare green biomass rigid polyurethane foam (RPUF). The flame retardancy, thermal stability, smoke toxicity and mechanical properties of the modified RPUF were investigated by limiting oxygen index (LOI), a cone calorimetry (CONE) test, thermogravimetric analysis and a compression test. The results showed that the RPUF with 10 wt% APP (PANi/APP10) had the highest LOI of 26.5%. Its peak heat release rate (PHRR) and total heat release (THR) were reduced by 29.64% and 24.05% compared with PANi/APP0 without APP. And its smoke production rate (SPR) and total smoke release (TSR) decreased by 33.14% and 19.88%, respectively. Compared with pure RPUF, the compressive strength of PANi/APP10 was increased by 50%, mainly because APP itself was an ultra-fine powder, which was better compatible with the matrix and improved the hardness of the material. The results showed that the synergistic effect of the gas phase and the condensed phase mechanism could effectively improve the flame-retardant effect. The current research results provided a new strategy for the preparation of green and low-toxicity RPUF.

Abstract Introduction The association between mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) and infection in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) has not been clarified. This study evaluated the degree and factors in effect of MMF use on infection in patients with SLE. Methods A hospitalized-based observational study was conducted to collect medical records on patients with SLE during 2010–2021. A nested case–control study was performed among 3339 patients with SLE, including 1577 cases and 1762 controls by whether they developed any type of infection. The exposure of MMF use was determined within 1 year before diagnosed infection or the end of follow-up. Logistic regression was used to estimate the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for association between MMF and subsequent infection. Results MMF was significantly associated with the risk of overall infection (adjusted OR 1.90, 95% CI 1.48–2.44) and different types of infections, including bacterial infection (adjusted OR 2.07, 95% CI 1.55–2.75), viral infection (adjusted OR 1.92, 95% CI 1.23–3.01), and opportunistic infection (adjusted OR 2.13, 95% CI 1.31–3.46). The top three risks of specific types of infections were bacteremia/septicemia, urinary tract infection/pyelonephritis, and herpes zoster. Stratification analysis showed risk of overall infection increased especially in MMF users with age over 55 years, diabetes, central nervous system involvement, and thrombocytopenia. Moreover, the risk of infection increased with increasing dosage and duration of MMF use. Additionally, the combination of MMF with CYC and other immunosuppressants significantly increases the risk of infections compared to using a single one. Conclusions MMF use is associated with various type of infections in patients with SLE, particularly in those with longer use, older age, complications with comorbidities, and concomitant use of CYC or other immunosuppressants.

Editorial He is an explorer in micro-nano manufacturing, an adventurer in interdisciplinary studies, an impassioned educator; an ever-curious reader, a lover of sports, and a coffee connoisseur. In this episode of Light People Interview, we are honored to have Prof. Huigao Duan from Hunan University share his insights on micro-nano manufacturing, planar optics, teaching, nurturing, reading, growing up, and hobbies. “A man with a great smile”, “a good teacher,” and “an interesting soul” are just some of the descriptions that came through my mind during my conversation with him. Today, let’s get to know this outstanding scholar who pursues “interesting and useful, extreme and ultimate” in micro-nano manufacturing and optics.

IntroductionAlzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most prevalent neurodegenerative disease characterized by extracellular senile plaques including amyloid-β peptides and intracellular neurofibrillary tangles consisting of abnormal Tau. Depression is one of the most common neuropsychiatric symptoms in AD, and clinical evidence demonstrates that depressive symptoms accelerate the cognitive deficit of AD patients. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms of depressive symptoms present in the process of AD remain unclear.MethodsDepressive-like behaviors and cognitive decline in hTau mice were induced by chronic restraint stress (CRS). Computational prediction and molecular experiments supported that an asparagine endopeptidase (AEP)-derived Tau fragment, Tau N368 interacts with peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor delta (PPAR-δ). Further behavioral studies investigated the role of Tau N368-PPAR-δ interaction in depressive-like behaviors and cognitive declines of AD models exposed to CRS.ResultsWe found that mitochondrial dysfunction was positively associated with depressive-like behaviors and cognitive deficits in hTau mice. Chronic stress increased Tau N368 and promoted the interaction of Tau N368 with PPAR-δ, repressing PPAR-δ–mediated transactivation in the hippocampus of mice. Then we predicted and identified the binding sites of PPAR-δ. Finally, inhibition of AEP, clearance of Tau N368 and pharmacological activation of PPAR-δ effectively alleviated CRS-induced depressive-like behaviors and cognitive decline in mice.ConclusionThese results demonstrate that Tau N368 in the hippocampus impairs mitochondrial function by suppressing PPAR-δ, facilitating the occurrence of depressive-like behaviors and cognitive decline. Therefore, our findings may provide new mechanistic insight in the pathophysiology of depression-like phenotype in mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease.

Editorial Mendeleev said: “Science begins where one begins to measure,” and “exact science is unthinkable without measure.” During his more than 4-decades-long career, Prof. Wolfgang Osten has been devoted to optical metrology and inspection technologies. Osten and his research team developed the first automated system for the quantitative and qualitative evaluation of interferograms in the ‘80s, as well as the principle of tilted-wave interferometry for high-precision aspherical and free-form surface measurement. Both techniques have since been commercialized. His achievements have “lit the way” for research in optical metrology. The bond between Osten and Light Publishing Group can be traced back to 2012, when he first submitted a paper to Light: Science & Applications (LSA) as an author and published a paper1. Right after that, he was invited to join the Editorial Board for his enthusiasm. In 2019, he started the challenge of founding the new journal Light: Advanced Manufacturing (LAM) as the co-Editor-in-Chief. In this interview, Osten shared his insights on Optical Metrology, Holography, and the Founding of LAM with us. Follow the Q&As below and let us get closer to the “Holoknight”.

The Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats/CRISPR-associated protein 9 (CRISPR/Cas9) system, an RNA-based adaptive immune system found in bacteria and archaea, has catalyzed the development and application of a new generation of gene editing tools. Numerous studies have shown that this system can precisely target a wide range of human genes, including those associated with diseases such as cancer. In cancer research, the intricate genetic mutations in tumors have promoted extensive utilization of the CRISPR/Cas9 system due to its efficient and accurate gene editing capabilities. This includes improvements in Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR)-T-cell therapy, the establishment of tumor models, and gene and drug target screening. Such progress has propelled the investigation of cancer molecular mechanisms and the advancement of precision medicine. However, the therapeutic potential of genome editing remains underexplored, and lingering challenges could elevate the risk of additional genetic mutations. Here, we elucidate the fundamental principles of CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing and its practical applications in tumor research. We also briefly discuss the primary challenges faced by CRISPR technology and existing solutions, intending to enhance the efficacy of this gene editing therapy and shed light on the underlying mechanisms of tumors.

Abstract Gate drivers form an essential interface between the high power transistors and low voltage control circuits in power converters to govern the transistor switching operations and maintain other ancillary functions. A sophisticated gate driver with a segmented drive booster allows optimized trajectories to be staged out during switching transitions, which provides an extended degree of control freedom at the device level. This helps to improve the trade‐offs between multifaceted parameters such as switching losses, overshoots, ringing, and electromagnetic interference, parasitic turn‐on fault, etc. In this paper, a digitalized active gate driver with segmented voltage control is designed and experimentally verified, which is capable of shaping the dynamic switching waveforms of Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors (IGBT) using a four‐step gate control method. Compared to the traditional constant voltage gate driver method and the three‐step segmented method, the proposed four‐step AVGD control demonstrates reductions of the IGBT turn‐on current overshoot and suppressions of the voltage overshoot on the complementary freewheeling diode without sacrificing its turn‐on switching losses.

In this paper, a novel bio-inspired trajectory planning method is proposed for robotic systems based on an improved bacteria foraging optimization algorithm (IBFOA) and an improved intrinsic Tau jerk (named Tau-J*) guidance strategy. Besides, the adaptive factor and elite-preservation strategy are employed to facilitate the IBFOA, and an improved Tau-J* with higher-order of intrinsic guidance movement is used to avoid the nonzero initial and final jerk, so as to overcome the computational burden and unsmooth trajectory problems existing in the optimization algorithm and traditional interpolation algorithm. The IBFOA is utilized to determine a small set of optimal control points, and Tau-J* is then invoked to generate smooth trajectories between the control points. Finally, the results of simulation tests demonstrate the eminent stability, optimality, and rapidity capability of the proposed bio-inspired trajectory planning method.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic autoimmune disease characterized by the production of autoantibodies and tissue inflammation. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have emerged as a promising candidate therapy for SLE owing to the immunomodulatory and regenerative properties. Circulating miRNAs are small, single-stranded noncoding RNAs in a variety of body fluids that regulate numerous immunologic and inflammatory pathways. Recent studies have revealed many differentially expressed circulating miRNAs in autoimmune diseases including SLE. However, the role of circulating miRNAs in SLE has not been extensively studied. Here, we performed small RNA sequencing analysis to compare the circulating miRNA profiles of SLE patients before and after MSC transplantation (MSCT), and identified a significant decrease of circulating miR-320b level during MSCT. Importantly, we found that the expression of circulating miR-320b and its target gene MAP3K1 was closely associated with SLE disease activity. The in vitro experiments showed that decreased MAP3K1 level in SLE peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) was involved in CD4+ T-cell proliferation. In MRL/lpr mice, miR-320b overexpression aggravated symptoms of SLE, while miR-320b inhibition could promote disease remission. Besides, MSCs regulate miR-320b/MAP3K1 expression both in vitro and in vivo. Our results suggested that circulating miR-320b and MAP3K1 may be involved in CD4+ T-cell proliferation in SLE. This trial is registered with NCT01741857.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic autoimmune disease characterized by excessive activation of T and B lymphocytes and breakdown of immune tolerance to autoantigens. Despite several mechanisms including the genetic alterations and inflammatory responses have been reported, the overall signature genes in CD4+ T cells and how they affect the pathological process of SLE remain to be elucidated. This study aimed to identify the crucial genes, potential biological processes and pathways underlying SLE pathogenesis by integrated bioinformatics. The gene expression profiles of isolated peripheral CD4+ T cells from SLE patients with different disease activity and healthy controls (GSE97263) were analyzed, and 14 co-expression modules were identified using weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA). Some of these modules showed significantly positive or negative correlations with SLE disease activity, and primarily enriched in the regulation of type I interferon and immune responses. Next, combining time course sequencing (TCseq) with differentially expressed gene (DEG) analysis, crucial genes in lupus CD4+ T cells were revealed, including some interferon signature genes (ISGs). Among these genes, we identified 4 upregulated genes (PLSCR1, IFI35, BATF2 and CLDN5) and 2 downregulated genes (GDF7 and DERL3) as newfound key genes. The elevated genes showed close relationship with the SLE disease activity. In general, our study identified 6 novel biomarkers in CD4+ T cells that might contribute to the diagnosis and treatment of SLE.

Objectives: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a joint disease characterized by degeneration of joint cartilage and is a significant cause of severe joint pain, physical disability, and impaired quality of life in the aging population. Celastrol, a Chinese herbal medicine, has attracted wide interests because of its anti-inflammatory effects on a variety of diseases. This study aimed to investigate the effect of celastrol on OA as well as the mechanisms in vivo and in vitro.Methods: A rat knee OA model was established using “medial collateral ligament transection (MCLT) + partial meniscectomy (pMMT)”. Eight weeks after surgery, the OA rats started to receive intra-articular injection of celastrol (1 mg/kg) once a week. Safranin O-fast green (S&F) and hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining were used to estimate histopathological changes. Micro-CT was used to evaluate bone volume of the subchondral bone of the knee joint. Chondrocytes were isolated from the knee cartilage of rats and OA patients. Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), Western Blot (WB), Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), and Immunohistochemistry (IHC) were used to detect the expression of inflammatory factors and stromal proteins, respectively.Results: We found that celastrol treatment significantly delayed the progression of cartilage damage with a significant reduction in osteophyte formation and bone resorption in OA rat model. In IL-1β-stimulated rat chondrocytes, celastrol significantly suppressed the production of inflammatory factors such as cyclooxygenase-2 (COX2), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and prostaglandin E2 (PEG2), and reduced IL-1β-induced matrix degradation by down-regulating the expression of matrix metalloproteinase 13 (MMP13). In addition, we found that toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) was up-regulated in OA patients and rat knee OA models, while celastrol inhibited TLR2 signal and its downstream nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) phosphorylation.Conclusion: In summary, celastrol may improve OA by inhibiting the TLR2/NF-κB signaling pathway, which provides innovative strategies for the treatment of OA.

Abstract Continental crust has long been considered too buoyant to be subducted beneath another continent, although geophysical evidence in collision zones predict continental crust subduction. This is particularly significant where upper continental crust is detached allowing the lower continental crust to subduct, albeit the mechanism of such subduction and recycling of the upper continental crust remain poorly understood. Here, we investigate Paleocene S-type magmatic and volcanic rocks from the Linzizong volcanic succession in the southern Lhasa block of Tibet. These rocks exhibit highly enriched 87Sr/86Sr, 207Pb/206Pb and 208Pb/206Pb together with depleted 143Nd/144Nd isotope ratios. The geochemical and isotopic features of these rocks are consistent with those of modern upper continental crust. We conclude that these Paleocene S-type volcanic and magmatic rocks originated from the melting of the upper continental crust from microcontinent subduction during the late stage of India–Asia convergence.

In this paper, a synthesis and implementation method for generating Bessel beams based on time-reversal theory incorporating electromagnetic (EM) meta-lens is proposed. As is known, time-reversal EM waves has the unique characteristic of adaptive backtracking. Therefore, with this characteristic, the EM characteristics of the radiation aperture can be obtained and further utilized to generate Bessel waves with any departure angle. Based on this concept, two meta-lenses for generating Bessel beams tilted in different directions were designed. Both meta-lenses were designed at the center frequency of 15 GHz, and the simulation results were consistent with the target expectation. A representative meta-lens was fabricated and measured. The final size of the meta-lens was 350 mm × 350 mm, and a Bessel beam with a 30° emergence angle was generated by this structure. The experimental results were in good agreement with the simulation results and the theoretical derivation. This synthetic method of Bessel beam generation using the time-reversal operation may be of great use for the application of Bessel beams in microwave communications, and it can broaden the application scope of non-diffracting beams.

Summary: Human immune system (HIS) mice provide a valuable platform to investigate and modulate human hematopoiesis development in vivo. Here, we describe detailed protocols for the construction of HIS mice, modulation of human hematopoiesis in vivo using hydrodynamic injection of plasmids encoding cytokines of interest, and flow cytometry analysis of humanization levels and human immune subsets. This approach can be easily applied to screen or verify factors that regulate human hematopoiesis and immune system.For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Cardoso et al. (2021) and Li et al. (2017).

Abstract Background Osteosarcoma (OS) is the most common bone malignant tumor in children, youth, and adolescents. Circular RNA hsa_circ_0005909 (circ_0005909) is involved in the progression of OS. Nevertheless, there are few reports on the role and mechanism of circ_0005909 in OS. Methods Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was executed to examine the expression of circ_0005909, miR-936, and High Mobility Group Box 1 (HMGB1) mRNA in OS tissues and cells. Cell viability, colony formation, migration, and invasion were evaluated by Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8), cell colony formation, or transwell assays. Cell epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and HMGB1 protein levels were assessed through western blot analysis. The role of circ_0005909 on tumor growth in vivo was verified by xenograft assay. The relationship between circ_0005909 or HMGB1 and miR-936 was confirmed with the dual-luciferase reporter or RNA pull-down assays. Results Circ_0005909 level was upregulated in OS tissues and cells. OS patients with high circ_0005909 expression had a lower survival rate. Circ_0005909 inhibition reduced tumor growth in vivo and constrained cell viability, colony formation, migration, invasion, and EMT of OS cells in vitro. Furthermore, circ_0005909 served as a sponge for miR-936 and the repressive impacts of circ_0005909 silencing on malignant behaviors of OS cells were abolished by miR-936 inhibitors. Also, HMGB1 acted as a target for miR-936 and was modulated by circ_0005909 via miR-936. Additionally, HMGB1 overexpression restored the inhibitory influence on the malignant behaviors of OS cells mediated by circ_0005909 inhibition. Conclusions Circ_0005909 inhibition impeded the progression of OS via downregulating HMGB1 via sponging miR-936.

Structurally integrated antenna is a kind of highly integrated microwave device with a load-bearing function, and it is usually installed on the structural surface of the air, water and ground vehicles. This paper presents the design, fabrication and testing of a novel structurally integrated Ka-band active antenna for airborne 5G wireless communications. The proposed antenna is mainly composed of three parts: a package layer, a control and signal process layer and a RF layer. In the RF layer, the microstrip antenna array, tile transmitting (Tx) modules, micro-channel heat sinks and a stripline feeding network are highly integrated into a functional block with a thickness of 2.8 mm. Electromechanical co-design methods are developed to design the active antenna array with the superstrates, and two schemes for designing micro-channel heat sinks are evaluated to obtain a uniform temperature distribution. The RF layer is fabricated by using the low-temperature cofired ceramic process, and the three layers are assembled to form the full-size antenna prototype. The mechanical and electromagnetic experiments are carried out, and the results demonstrate the feasibility of the structurally integrated active antenna for airborne wireless communications.

Nitrogen (N) availability is generally a limiting factor in highly acidic soil, which could be improved by amending these soils with alkaline materials. Soil extracellular enzyme activity (EEA) plays an important role in N transformation; a current knowledge gap is how this occurs in acidic soils amended with alkaline material. The present 45-day incubation experiment was designed to examine the effects of different amounts of alkaline materials (urea and/or calcium–silicon–magnesium–potassium fertilizer (CSMP)) on N transformation. The results show that soil pH significantly increased after the CSMP amendment (1.2 units) and increased soil net N mineralization (Rmin), net nitrification (Rnit) rates, and net ammonification (Ramo) rates. CSMP amendment changed the different soil EEA but with differing or opposing effects, e.g., Rnit was positively correlated with the activities of L-leucine aminopeptidase, β-xylosidase, α-glucosidase, and N-acetyl-β-glucosaminidase but negatively correlated with β-1, 4-glucosidase and β-cellobiosidase. A machine learning analysis indicated that the best predictor for Rmin and Ramo was soil pH, and for Rnit, it was nitrate. The results of the present study improve our understanding of N availability in acidic soils amended with materials to control soil pH. Such knowledge could lead to more bespoke nutrient management planning at the field scale, leading to better agronomic and environmental outcomes.

Background: Postoperative pulmonary complications remain a leading cause of increased morbidity, mortality, longer hospital stays, and increased costs after cardiac surgery; therefore, our study aims to analyze whether minimally invasive valve surgery (MIVS) for both aortic and mitral valves can improve pulmonary function and reduce the incidence of postoperative pulmonary complications when compared with the full median sternotomy (FS) approach.Methods: A comprehensive systematic literature research was performed for studies comparing MIVS and FS up to February 2021. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and propensity score-matching (PSM) studies comparing early respiratory function and pulmonary complications after MIVS and FS were extracted and analyzed. Secondary outcomes included intra- and postoperative outcomes.Results: A total of 10,194 patients from 30 studies (6 RCTs and 24 PSM studies) were analyzed. Early mortality differed significantly between the groups (MIVS 1.2 vs. FS 1.9%; p = 0.005). Compared with FS, MIVS significantly lowered the incidence of postoperative pulmonary complications (odds ratio 0.79, 95% confidence interval [0.67, 0.93]; p = 0.004) and improved early postoperative respiratory function status (mean difference −24.83 [−29.90, −19.76]; p < 0.00001). Blood transfusion amount was significantly lower after MIVS (p < 0.02), whereas cardiopulmonary bypass time and aortic cross-clamp time were significantly longer after MIVS (p < 0.00001).Conclusions: Our study showed that minimally invasive valve surgery decreases the incidence of postoperative pulmonary complications and improves postoperative respiratory function status.

Colloidal AgBiS2 nanocrystals (NCs) have attracted increasing attention as a near–infrared absorbent materials with non–toxic elements and a high absorption coefficient. In recent years, colloidal AgBiS2 NCs have typically been synthesized via the hot injection method using hexamethyldisilathiane (TMS) as the sulfur source. However, the cost of TMS is one of the biggest obstacles to large–scale synthesis of colloidal AgBiS2 NCs. Herein, we synthesized colloidal AgBiS2 NCs using oleylamine@sulfur (OLA–S) solution as the sulfur source instead of TMS and optimized the synthesis conditions of colloidal AgBiS2 NCs. By controlling the reaction injection temperature and the dosage of OLA–S, colloidal AgBiS2 NCs with adjustable size can be synthesized. Compared with TMS–based colloidal AgBiS2 NCs, the colloidal AgBiS2 NCs based on OLA–S has good crystallinity and fewer defects.

Resolvin D1 (RvD1) prompts inflammation resolution and regulates immune responses. We explored the effect of RvD1 on systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and investigated the correlation between RvD1 and Treg/Th17 imbalance, which is one of the major factors contributing to the pathogenesis of disease. SLE patients and healthy controls were recruited to determine plasma RvD1 levels. MRL/lpr lupus model was used to verify rescue of the disease phenotype along with Treg/Th17 ratio. Purified naive CD4+ T cells were used to study the effect of RvD1 on Treg/Th17 differentiation in vitro. Furthermore, small RNA Sequencing and transfection were performed successively to investigate downstream microRNAs. The result showed that the RvD1 level was significantly lower in active SLE patients compared with inactive status and controls. Moreover, The SLE disease activity index (SLEDAI) score had a significant negative correlation with RvD1 level. As expected, RvD1 treatment ameliorated disease phenotype and inflammatory response, improved the imbalanced Treg/Th17 in MRL/lpr mice. In addition, RvD1 increased Treg while reduced Th17 differentiation in vitro. Furthermore, miR-30e-5p was verified to modulate the Treg/Th17 differentiation from naïve CD4+ T cells as RvD1 downstream microRNA. In conclusion, RvD1 effectively ameliorates SLE progression through up-regulating Treg and down-regulating Th17 cells via miR-30e-5p.

The resolution limitation is a main problem in the time-reversed field shaping system. In this paper, a subwavelength field shaping approach is proposed by combining time reversal (TR) technique and defective resonant metasurfaces. The subwavelength 2D and 3D field patterns can be effectively realized in both single-target and multi-target field-shaping systems. The resolution in both single-target and multi-target field-shaping systems aided with defective metasurfaces is approximately 0.1 λ, which is corresponding to the dimension of the applied metasurface cell. The proposed technique can be used for wireless power transfer, industrial heating, and localized wireless communications.

A transmitting coil with a tumbler structure is presented to improve lateral misalignment tolerance of a wireless power transfer (WPT) system with a planar receiver. The tumbler is made of an acrylic ball and soil. A planar spiral receiving coil wound by Litz wire is centered by Nd-Fe-B magnets. A spherical cap transmitting coil centered also by Nd-Fe-B magnets sticks on the inner surface of the acrylic ball. When lateral misalignment occurs, the transmitting and receiving coils can achieve self-align with the action of magnetic force, and thus the transfer efficiency is improved. A WPT system consisting of two coils with 6 cm outer radii resonated at 107 kHz is studied. A concise theoretical analysis based on circuit model is given first, and then experimental data are reported. The positive correlation between magnetic force and tracking range is given by comparison. Especially, when the transfer distance is 1.5 cm, the WPT system has a 75.5% peak efficiency and a 3.52 W load power at zero lateral misalignment and the tracking range is from 0 to 8.5 cm; In the tracking range the WPT system has a 70.0% average efficiency and the load power maintains over 94.7% of the peak load power. With the increase of transfer distance, the improvements of transfer efficiency and the tracking range both decrease gradually, and the efficiency loss within the tracking range also increases gradually.

A time-reversal (TR) multi-channel transmission approach with only one receiving antenna is theoretically proposed, numerically analyzed, and experimentally demonstrated in this paper. By using a single receiving antenna with parallel or serial constructed post-channel circuits, information can be received independently from each receiving channel in the proposed TR system. The simulated and experimented results show that the proposed TR system with a single receiving antenna has similar parallel transmission performance to the traditional TR system with multiple receiving antennas. The proposed approach can be used in the TR high-capacity communication systems.

The emerging fifth-generation (5G) wireless and mobile communications demand high-performance phase shifters to enable the multi-channel transmit/receive systems with phase control ability. In this work, a size-miniaturized wideband phase shifter based on slow-wave half-mode substrate integrated waveguide (SW-HMSIW) is presented. The proposed SW-HMSIW is consisting of conventional HMSIW section and periodically-patterned non-uniform microtrip polyline unit cells. Patterning polyline unit cells in HMSIW can effectively enhance the product of the equivalent permittivity and permeability of SW-HMSIW, so that the slow-wave effect can be exhibited and its associated size reduction will be further achieved. Moreover, lengths and widths of segments of the proposed polyline unit cell can influence the equivalent permittivity and permeability of the SW-HMSIW, and consequently change its phase constant and cutoff frequency. Hence, for a SW-HMSIW with a fixed physical length, an electrical length variation, i.e, phase shift, can be achieved as segments of the polyline employ various lengths or widths. Based on this principle, a wideband equal-width equal-length SW-HMSIW phase shifter is implemented. Measured results are in good agreement with simulated ones, with a phase shift of 90.5 ± 3 degree and a fractional bandwidth of 43.0% achieved. Compared with some similar reported works, the proposed one shows a size reduction more than 80% as well as good magnitude and phase deviations performance. Moreover, its miniaturized size and equal-width equal-length structure make it suitable for the complex multi-channel modules and networks of the 5G applications.

Abstract Background Haplotype phasing is an important step in many bioinformatics workflows. In cancer genomics, it is suggested that reconstructing the clonal haplotypes of a tumor sample could facilitate a comprehensive understanding of its clonal architecture and further provide valuable reference in clinical diagnosis and treatment. However, the sequencing data is an admixture of reads sampled from different clonal haplotypes, which complicates the computational problem by exponentially increasing the solution-space and leads the existing algorithms to an unacceptable time-/space- complexity. In addition, the evolutionary process among clonal haplotypes further weakens those algorithms by bringing indistinguishable candidate solutions. Results To improve the algorithmic performance of phasing clonal haplotypes, in this article, we propose MixSubHap, which is a graph-based computational pipeline working on cancer sequencing data. To reduce the computation complexity, MixSubHap adopts three bounding strategies to limit the solution space and filter out false positive candidates. It first estimates the global clonal structure by clustering the variant allelic frequencies on sampled point mutations. This offers a priori on the number of clonal haplotypes when copy-number variations are not considered. Then, it utilizes a greedy extension algorithm to approximately find the longest linkage of the locally assembled contigs. Finally, it incorporates a read-depth stripping algorithm to filter out false linkages according to the posterior estimation of tumor purity and the estimated percentage of each sub-clone in the sample. A series of experiments are conducted to verify the performance of the proposed pipeline. Conclusions The results demonstrate that MixSubHap is able to identify about 90% on average of the preset clonal haplotypes under different simulation configurations. Especially, MixSubHap is robust when decreasing the mutation rates, in which cases the longest assembled contig could reach to 10kbps, while the accuracy of assigning a mutation to its haplotype still keeps more than 60% on average. MixSubHap is considered as a practical algorithm to reconstruct clonal haplotypes from cancer sequencing data. The source codes have been uploaded and maintained at https://github.com/YixuanWang1120/MixSubHap for academic use only.

The sliding freestanding layer triboelectric nanogenerator (SF-TENG) is a sustainable power source that can convert mechanical energy from linear or rotating mechanical motion to electrical energy. This paper proposes a double-layer staggered chain teeth TENG. Comparing the staggered electrode TENG and the double-layer staggered electrode TENG, the output voltage difference is relatively small. The electrode of the TENG is designed to the shape of chain teeth, which proves that TENG can be combined with a zipper, and the best distance among chain teeth in the TENG is determined through experiments. Compared with traditional zippers, the double-layer staggered chain teeth TENG can generate electrical energy during the continuous pulling of the zipper. The double-layer staggered chain teeth TENG has good performance. When the external load is 20 MΩ, the maximum output power reaches 20.18 µW. After the rectification and transformation, the generated electricity can light up 30 LED lights or more, and can also supply power to electronic devices. Through the chain teeth array, the open circuit voltage and transfer charge generated by the zipper during the continuous pulling process are improved. The double-layer staggered chain teeth TENG has a good usage environment in life, and this work will provide valuable insights for the development of SF-TENG technology.

Summary: Heterochromatin plays a central role in the process of immune evasion, pathogenesis, and transmission of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum during blood stage infection. Here, we use ChIP sequencing to demonstrate that sporozoites from mosquito salivary glands expand heterochromatin at subtelomeric regions to silence blood-stage-specific genes. Our data also revealed that heterochromatin enrichment is predictive of the transcription status of clonally variant genes members that mediate cytoadhesion in blood stage parasites. A specific member (here called NF54varsporo) of the var gene family remains euchromatic, and the resultant PfEMP1 (NF54_SpzPfEMP1) is expressed at the sporozoite surface. NF54_SpzPfEMP1-specific antibodies efficiently block hepatocyte infection in a strain-specific manner. Furthermore, human volunteers immunized with infective sporozoites developed antibodies against NF54_SpzPfEMP1. Overall, we show that the epigenetic signature of var genes is reset in mosquito stages. Moreover, the identification of a strain-specific sporozoite PfEMP1 is highly relevant for vaccine design based on sporozoites. : P. falciparum PfEMP1 surface adhesion proteins mediate immune evasion and pathogenesis during asexual blood stage development. Zanghì et al. find that a strain-specific member of PfEMP1 is expressed at the sporozoite surface. Antibodies against this protein inhibit sporozoite invasion of hepatocytes in a strain-specific manner. Keywords: malaria, P. falciparum, sporozoite, var genes, epigenetic, PfHP1, heterochromatin, PfEMP1, hepatocyte infection

As a novel financing method, peer-to-peer (P2P) lending has drawn extensive attention as it provides those financers who cannot participate in the traditional financial market with funds. In P2P lending marketplaces, one of the crucial challenges that P2P online lending platforms are facing is to accurately predict the default risk of each loan by tapping into default prediction models, thus effectively helping P2P lending companies avoid credit risks. That traditional credit risk prediction models fail to meet the demand of P2P lending companies for default risk prediction, which is because of the uneven distribution of credit data samples in the P2P lending marketplaces (i.e., the default sampled data are scarce). In this paper, we designed a multi-round ensemble learning model based on heterogeneous ensemble frameworks to predict default risk. In this model, an extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) is initially used for ensemble learning, and the XGBoost, deep neural network, and logistic regression are then regarded as heterogeneous individual learners to undergo a linear weighted fusion. To verify the designed default risk prediction model, real credit data from a famous P2P online lending marketplace in China were used in a test. The results of the experiment indicate that this model can effectively increase the predictive accuracy compared with traditional machine learning models and ensemble learning models.

In radar signal processing, the detection and parameter estimation of high-speed maneuvering targets, which often utilize a coherent pulse train signal with linear frequency modulation, have been receiving increasing attention. Fundamentally and significantly, the Cramer-Rao lower bound (CRLB), as a cornerstone for evaluating the estimation performance of high-order kinematic parameters, has been derived and investigated here. In this paper, a 2-D echo signal model expressed in the fast-frequency and slow-time domains is adopted. The scaled orthogonal Legendre polynomials are deliberately introduced to solve the inverse problem of the Fisher information matrix, and then, a linear mapping relationship between different polynomial parameters can be used to obtain the analytical CRLB expressions. The main contributions included are: 1) the CRLBs, which are exact and closed form, have been extended to arbitrary motion model orders and reference time instants; 2) the influences of the motion model order, the reference time instant, as well as the radar parameters on the CRLBs are exploited comprehensively; and 3) some specific cases, including four low-order motion models and two preferred reference times, are also presented to better demonstrate the CRLB performance relationships. It highlights the fact that the reference time instant corresponding to the middle of the pulse train is a reasonable and compromised choice for parameter estimation, although it is not necessarily optimal for the kinematic parameters of all models and orders. The above research results are illustrated with numerical simulations and further verified using the maximum likelihood estimation method combined with Monte Carlo experiments.

The application of compost to soil is a common fertilization practice for improving soil quality and crop growth. The isotopic labeling technique is mostly used to investigate the contribution of compost N to crop uptake. However, compost N includes various N fractions and labeling dissimilarity, which may cause bias when calculating the compost N contribution to plants. Therefore, the labeling dynamics of different N fractions in compost and the homogenous labeling time point should be clarified. Given the 15N-labeling in chemical fertilizer and the carbon source, i.e., glucose, the compost N pools were divided into active N (mineral N, soluble organic N [SON], microbial biomass N [MBN]), stable N (hot-water extractable organic N [HWDON]), and recalcitrant N. The atom percentage excess (APE) of different N in compost notably varied at the beginning of incubation, ranging from 0–3.7%. After the addition of glucose, biological N immobilization was promoted (13.7% and 28.8% for MBN and HWDON, respectively) and promoted the transformation among available N pools. Adding distinct doses of glucose at three stages to 15N-labeled compost resulted in diverse microbial responses, thereby redistributing exogenous N in each fraction (15NH4+-N went into SO15N from day 15 to day 30 and increased by 5.1%; SO15N entered MB15N and HWDO15N during day 30 to day 45 and increased by 5.7% and 5.2%, respectively). On day 45, homogeneous 15N-labeled compost was achieved, which was 2.4% for 15N APE for all N fractions. Overall, the quantitative data for the transformation of N fractions in compost at distinct stages provides a scientific basis for compost labeling trials, in order to identify the time point at which compost N-labeling is homogeneous, which is necessary and meaningful to reduce the bias of the contribution rate of compost-N to plants.

A time-reversal imaging system for far-field super-resolution imaging of scatterers is proposed. First, a grating plate, similar to the optical far-field super lens, is designed to convert near-field evanescent waves to propagative waves with wavevector modulation. Then, the scattered signals are processed by a time-reversal (TR) technique and retransmitted back. Finally, the images of the targets are reconstructed by doing demodulation operations in the k-domain to the TR field at the refocusing time. Imaging results show that two scatterers separated by 0.1 λ can be distinguished clearly.

Object detection is an essential computer vision task that aims to detect target objects from an image. The traditional models are insufficient to generate a high-quality anchor box. To solve the problem, we propose a novel joint model called guided anchoring Region proposal networks and Cascading Grid Region Convolutional Neural Networks (RCGrid R-CNN), enhancing the ability of object detection. Our proposed model design is a joint object detection algorithm containing an anchor-based and an anchor-free branch in parallel and symmetry. In the anchor-based, we use nine-point spatial information fusion to obtain better anchor box location and introduce the shape prediction method of Guided Anchoring Region Proposal Networks (GA-RPN) to enhance the accuracy of the predicted anchor box. In the anchor-free branch, we introduce the Feature Selective Anchor-Free module (FSAF) to reduce the overlapping anchor boxes to obtain a more accurate anchor box. Furthermore, inspired by cascading theory, we cascade the new-designed detectors to improve the ability of object detection by setting a gradually increasing Intersection over Union (IoU) threshold. Compared with typical baseline models, we comprehensively evaluated our model by conducting experiments on two open datasets: Pascal VOC2007 and COCO2017. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of RCGrid R-CNN in producing a high-quality anchor box.

Infrared detectors suffer from severe non-uniform noise which highly reduces image resolution and point target signal-to-noise ratio. This is the restriction for airborne point target detection systems in reaching the background limit. The existing methods are either not accurate enough, or too complex to be applied to engineering. To improve the precision and reduce the algorithm complexity of scene-based Non-Uniformity Correction (NUC) for an airborne point target detection system, a Median-Ratio Scene-based NUC (MRSBNUC) method is proposed. The method is based on the assumption that the median value of neighboring pixels is approximately constant. The NUC coefficients are calculated recursively by selecting the median ratio of adjacent pixels. Several experiments were designed and conducted. For both the clear sky scene and scene with clouds, the non-uniformity is effectively reduced. Furthermore, targets were detected in outfield experiments. For Target 1 48.36 km away and Target 2 50.53 km away, employing MRSBNUC the SNR of the target increased 2.09 and 1.73 times respectively compared to Two-Point NUC. It was concluded that the MRSBNUC method can reduce the non-uniformity of the detector effectively which leads to a longer detection distance and fewer false alarms of the airborne point target detection system.

An unusual genome architecture characterizes the two related human parasitic pathogens Plasmodium falciparum and Toxoplasma gondii. A major fraction of the bulk parasite genome is packaged as transcriptionally permissive euchromatin with few loci embedded in silenced heterochromatin. Primary chromatin shapers include histone modifications at the nucleosome lateral surface close to the DNA but their mode of action remains unclear. We now identify versatile modifications at Lys31 within the globular domain of histone H4 that crucially determine genome organization and expression in Apicomplexa parasites. H4K31 acetylation at the promoter correlates with, and perhaps directly regulates, gene expression in both parasites. By contrast, monomethylated H4K31 is enriched in the core body of T. gondii active genes but inversely correlates with transcription, whereas it is unexpectedly enriched at transcriptionally inactive pericentromeric heterochromatin in P. falciparum, a region devoid of the characteristic H3K9me3 histone mark and its downstream effector HP1.

A new electronic system to realize time reversal (TR) of electromagnetic waves is proposed in this paper. By utilizing the dispersion compensation approach, the system mainly contains a chirped pulse generator, a wideband multiplier, and a chirped delay line (CDL). The TR transformation is achieved by dispersing the modulated chirped pulse through a single microwave CDL. The chirped electromagnetic band gap structure with a reflected group delay slope is fabricated and used to be the CDL. It has been demonstrated by experiments that TR of triangular-wave signals in the microwave regime can be obtained through the proposed system.

Along with the development of Fintech, many scholars have studied how information technology is applied to financial services with a focus on extended methods for application. Few scholars have studied the influence mechanism behind the adoption of Fintech services. This paper proposes an improved technology acceptance model (TAM) that incorporates user innovativeness, government support, brand image, and perceived risk as determinants of trust to investigate how users adopt Fintech services. We designed a questionnaire, sent it to active customers of the Hefei Science and Technology Rural Commercial Bank, and obtained 387 eligible responses. We analyzed the data with a structural equation model (SEM) to test the hypotheses, including the relationships of all latent variables. The results reveal that users’ trust in Fintech services has a very significant influence on users’ attitudes for adoption. In addition, perceived ease of use and perceived risk does not affect users’ attitudes toward the adoption regarding Fintech services. This study contributes to the literature of the adoption of Fintech services by providing a more comprehensive view of the determinants of users’ attitudes by combining trust of Fintech services with TAM.

In this study, a kind of strapped resonator is proposed to deal with high power wireless power transfer (WPT) in microwave regimes. In many specific applications, such as high power microwave wireless power transfer system (WPT), a coil resonator is not suitable due to the frequency limitations. The high cost of the high-permittivity dielectric resonators also limits their application. As a high Q resonator, the strapped resonator is often used in the anode structure of a magnetron. The field distribution of π and π + 1 modes allow the system to operate in dual-frequency mode. Numerical simulation and experimental validation show that with a certain distance, the system provides power transfer efficiency of more than 80% and 70% at 630 MHz and 970 MHz, respectively. Compared to the system based on dielectric resonators, the proposed system has higher power capacity. The leakage and radiation loss of the system is also discussed using numerical methods.

The complexity reduction of receivers in ultrawideband (UWB) communication when time reversal (TR) technique is applied makes it suitable for low-cost and low-power sensor systems. Larger antenna dispersion can generally lead to a less stable phase center and will increase the interference in UWB communications based on pulse radio, whereas a higher antenna gain will result in higher channel gain and further larger channel capacity. To find out the trade-off between antenna gain and dispersion, we performed the channel measurements using different antennas in a dense multipath environment and established the distribution of channel capacities based on the measured channel responses. The results show that the capacity loss caused by antenna dispersion cannot be compensated by antenna gain with line-of-sight transmission to some extent, the effect of phase center on the communication system is negligible, and antennas with smaller time dispersion will have a better energy focusing property and anti-interference performance in TR systems.

Cloud computing technology plays a very important role in many areas, such as in the construction and development of the smart city. Meanwhile, numerous cloud services appear on the cloud-based platform. Therefore how to how to select trustworthy cloud services remains a significant problem in such platforms, and extensively investigated owing to the ever-growing needs of users. However, trust relationship in social network has not been taken into account in existing methods of cloud service selection and recommendation. In this paper, we propose a cloud service selection model based on the trust-enhanced similarity. Firstly, the direct, indirect, and hybrid trust degrees are measured based on the interaction frequencies among users. Secondly, we estimate the overall similarity by combining the experience usability measured based on Jaccard's Coefficient and the numerical distance computed by Pearson Correlation Coefficient. Then through using the trust degree to modify the basic similarity, we obtain a trust-enhanced similarity. Finally, we utilize the trust-enhanced similarity to find similar trusted neighbors and predict the missing QoS values as the basis of cloud service selection and recommendation. The experimental results show that our approach is able to obtain optimal results via adjusting parameters and exhibits high effectiveness. The cloud services ranking by our model also have better QoS properties than other methods in the comparison experiments.

Facing a customer market with rising demands for cloud service dependability and security, trustworthiness evaluation techniques are becoming essential to cloud service selection. But these methods are out of the reach to most customers as they require considerable expertise. Additionally, since the cloud service evaluation is often a costly and time-consuming process, it is not practical to measure trustworthy attributes of all candidates for each customer. Many existing models cannot easily deal with cloud services which have very few historical records. In this paper, we propose a novel service selection approach in which the missing value prediction and the multi-attribute trustworthiness evaluation are commonly taken into account. By simply collecting limited historical records, the current approach is able to support the personalized trustworthy service selection. The experimental results also show that our approach performs much better than other competing ones with respect to the customer preference and expectation in trustworthiness assessment.

In the centrosymmetric dinuclear title compound, [Dy2(C15H12N3O2S)2(NO3)4]·2CH3OH, the two DyIII atoms are coordinated by two deprotonated 2-{[2-(1,3-benzothiazol-2-yl)hydrazinylidene]methyl}-6-methoxyphenol ligands and four nitrate ions, all of which are chelating. The crystal packing is stabilized by intermolecular N—H...O hydrogen bonds and weak O—H...O interactions, forming a two-dimensional network parallel to (010).

The MnIII atom in the title complex, [Mn(C11H10N3O)2]NO3, is coordinated by the two tridentate (2-pyridyl)(2-pyridylamino)methanolate ligands, forming a six-coordinate environment. The four pyridyl N atoms constitute the equatorial plane on which the manganese(III) ion lies; the coordination plane suffers a slight distortion as indicated by the average plane deviation of 0.058 Å. The methanolate O atoms occupy the axial positions. The coordination geometry is thus octahedral. In the title compound, the cations are linked by nitrate anions via N—H...O hydrogen bonds to form one-dimensional chains. Moreover, the one-dimensional structure is stabilized by intermolecular edge-to-face aromatic π–π interactions with a center-of-inversion at a distance of ca 4.634 Å.