Search

Granitic veins (GVs) have a significant influence on the mechanical responses of tunnels excavated in granitic strata. Distinguishing the mechanical properties of host granites (HGs), GVs and vein-granite interfaces (VGIs) is critical. For this, this paper analyzed the mechanical behaviors and rupture processes of typical HG, GV, and VGI samples under uniaxial compression condition. For the rocks studied, although the linear axial stress‒strain relation can be identified and the deformation modulus can be determined, the transverse deformation developed nonlinearly with axial stress. As a result, the instantaneous Poisson's ratio increases continuously and may even exceed 0.5, making it extremely difficult to accurately determine the Poisson's ratio. In addition, the studied GV samples were found to be significantly brittle, indicating that large-scale GVs cannot be ignored when assessing rockburst hazards in granitic strata with brittle GVs. In terms of the rupture process, the HG and GV samples were gradually damaged by the formation of small-scale cracks and then ruptured by large cracks formed from small-scale cracks, whereas the VGI samples ruptured along large cracks with significant energy release. By examining the characteristic stress thresholds of these three granites, it is noted that the crack closure stress σcc exceeds both the crack initiation stress σci and the crack damage stress σcd for the HG and VGI samples. The transverse damage to a tested sample appears to be significantly greater than the axial damage, which is essentially related to the rock grain size and grain size distribution.

Abstract Predicting the dynamic mechanical characteristics of rocks during freeze–thaw cycles (FTC) is crucial for comprehending the damage process of FTC and averting disasters in rock engineering in cold climates. Nevertheless, the conventional mathematical regression approach has constraints in accurately forecasting the dynamic compressive strength (DCS) of rocks under these circumstances. Hence, this study presents an optimized approach by merging the Coati Optimization Algorithm (COA) with Random Forest (RF) to offer a reliable solution for nondestructive prediction of DCS of rocks in cold locations. Initially, a database of the DCS of rocks after a series of FTC was constructed, and these data were obtained by performing the Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar Test on rocks after FTC. The main influencing factors of the test can be summarized into 10, and PCA was employed to decrease the number of dimensions in the dataset, and the microtests were used to explain the mechanism of the main influencing factors. Additionally, the Backpropagation Neural Network and RF are used to construct the prediction model of DCS of rock, and six optimization techniques were employed for optimizing the hyperparameters of the model. Ultimately, the 12 hybrid prediction models underwent a thorough and unbiased evaluation utilizing a range of evaluation indicators. The outcomes of the research concluded that the COA-RF model is most recommended for application in engineering practice, and it achieved the highest score of 10 in the combined score of the training and testing phases, with the lowest RMSE (4.570,8.769), the lowest MAE (3.155,5.653), the lowest MAPE (0.028,0.050), the highest R 2 (0.983,0.94).

For projects near the tectonic belt, mylonite of varying metamorphic degrees may be present. The matrix proportion of rock reflects its internal microscopic characteristics, thus it is beneficial for engineering geology to study the effect of the matrix proportion on the mechanical properties and rupture behaviors of rock. Samples of mylonitic granite and granitic protomylonite with varying matrix proportions were obtained from a ductile shear zone for a series of uniaxial compression and acoustic emission (AE) tests. The results showed that with the increase in matrix proportion, the average strength and elastic modulus of the samples increased, and the rock sample with the largest matrix proportion exhibited the maximum peak stress of 244.42 MPa, which was 45.86% greater than the average peak stress of the rock samples with the smallest matrix proportions. For the rock samples with larger matrix proportion, their mechanical parameters exhibited greater dispersion and the large-scale appearance of AE events occurred earlier, showing a relatively gradual failure process. These samples had larger accumulated AE parameter values and greater degree of failure. In contrast, for samples with smaller matrix proportions, the large-scale appearance of AE events occurred close to the peak stress, indicating that the occurrence of damage and fractures was centralized and instantaneous. These samples had lower accumulated AE parameter values and fewer cracks after failure. Additionally, for the rock samples with more matrix proportion, the average variance of the b-value was 1.1, which was lower than that of rock samples with the smallest matrix proportion (the average variance of the b-value was 3.7). Furthermore, it can be predicted that under certain stress, the failure depth around a tunnel is generally smaller when the strength of rock samples with larger matrix proportion is greater.

Abstract Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) is endemic worldwide, seriously affecting the development of the pig industry, but vaccines have limited protective effects against PRRSV transmission. The aim of this study was to identify potential anti-PRRSV drugs. We examined the cytotoxicity of seven compounds formulated based on the mass ratio of glycyrrhizic acid to matrine and calculated their inhibition rates against PRRSV in vitro. The results showed that the seven compounds all had direct killing and therapeutic effects on PRRSV, and the compounds inhibited PRRSV replication in a time- and dose-dependent manner. The compound with the strongest anti-PRRSV effect was selected for subsequent in vivo experiments. Pigs were divided into a control group and a medication group for the in vivo evaluation. The results showed that pigs treated with the 4:1 compound had 100% morbidity after PRRSV challenge, and the mortality rate reached 75% on the 8th day of the virus challenge. These results suggest that this compound has no practical anti-PRRSV effect in vivo and can actually accelerate the death of infected pigs. Next, we further analyzed the pigs that exhibited semiprotective effects following vaccination with the compound to determine whether the compound can synergize with the vaccine in vivo. The results indicated that pigs treated with the compound had higher mortality rates and more severe clinical reactions after PRRSV infection (p

Abstract The harmonic compensation of SAPF (shunt active power filter) may trigger harmonic oscillation due to the interaction with grid impedance and non‐linear loads, which distorts the power quality. In previous research, the relevant mechanism has been studied. However, the SAPF generally employs complex harmonic detection algorithm, which significantly increases the computational demands. The SAPF in full compensation mode can effectively solve this problem. But the modification of harmonic detection link may change the oscillation mechanism and previous stabilization methods need to be re‐evaluated. Therefore, this paper establishes the small signal model of the SAPF system in full compensation mode and investigates its oscillation mechanism. It is revealed that harmonic compensation and passive resonance collectively induce the harmonic oscillation. Based on the model, the working mechanism and application performance of the main stabilization methods proposed in the past (harmonic virtual admittance and harmonic compensation canceling) are analyzed and compared. However, neither of them can achieve effective stabilization without sacrificing the performance of compensation. Consequently, the harmonic phase compensation method is proposed to achieve the stabilization of the SAPF system in full compensation mode without affecting normal compensation. Finally, simulations and experiments are performed to verify the mechanism analysis and proposed methods.

Combining microwave drying with traditional hot-air drying can significantly enhance drying efficiency and uniformity owing to its unique internal heating characteristics, making it suitable for drying fresh paddy susceptible to mold. In this study, a fresh paddy was dried using a microwave fluidized-bed dryer to investigate the drying characteristics and assess the influence of microwave power, microwave duration, hot-air temperature, air velocity, and tempering time ratio. Key parameters, including drying rate, moisture diffusion coefficient, moisture transfer coefficient, activation energy, thermal efficiency, and specific energy consumption, were calculated. The results indicated that increasing microwave power and hot-air temperature significantly reduced drying time, achieving a maximum thermal efficiency of 54.26 % and a moisture diffusion coefficient of 10.995 × 10−9 m2/s at a hot-air temperature of 55 °C. This confirmed the high efficiency of the combined drying method. A tempering time ratio of 1:4 optimized energy utilization and maintained paddy quality. Additionally, the Verma model accurately predicted moisture content in this new drying system. The results provide valuable insights for applying combined microwave-hot air drying in the paddy drying industry.

Salt expansion and frost heave are the main diseases of salted frozen soil roadbeds. Salt swelling and frost heave disease are closely related to the salted soil water–salt migration, temperature variation, and salt crystallization amount change. This article establishes a coupled model of water, heat, and salt fields based on the capillary model and the unfrozen water characteristic curve. The study shows that the different initial moisture contents have minimal effects on the location of soil salt migration and aggregation. The different initial salt concentrations have a substantial effect on the soil water–salt migration aggregation position; when the concentration of sodium sulfate increases, different from chloride saline soils, the position of the freezing front fluctuates up and down over time. The water–salt migration and aggregation are smaller in the closed condition, where they are reduced by 38% and 20%, respectively.

With the widespread development of fifth-generation (5G) mobile communication technology, concerns regarding 5G network security have also increased.Blackbox fuzzing is a commonly used method for automated vulnerability discovery in software security.However, applying dynamic approaches like fuzzing to discover vulnerabilities in the complex design of 5G core network protocols poses challenges such as low efficiency, poor versatility, and lack of scalability.Therefore, a novel static method to examine the open-source solution of the 5G core network was proposed.Through this method, a series of memory leak security issues caused by improper variable life cycle management were identified, which can lead to denial-of-service attacks on the 5G core network.To summarize these weaknesses, a general vulnerability model and an automated vulnerability discovery method called HoI were presented, which utilized hybrid analysis based on control and data flow.By successfully discovering five zero-day bugs in Open5GS, an open-source solution for the 5G core network, vulnerabilities that cover practical application scenarios of multiple interface protocols in the 5G core network were identified.These vulnerabilities have wide-ranging impact, are highly detrimental, and can be easily exploited.They have been reported to the vendor and assigned four Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) numbers, demonstrating the effectiveness of this automated vulnerability discovery method.

Abstract With the rapid development of white LEDs, the research of new and efficient white light emitting materials has attracted increasing attention. Zero dimensional (0D) organic–inorganic hybrid metal halide perovskites with superior luminescent property are promising candidates for LED application, due to their abundant and tailorable structure. Herein, [(CH3)3S]2SnCl6·H2O is synthesized as a host for dopant ions Bi3+ and Sb3+. The Sb3+ doped, or Bi3+/Sb3+ co-doped, [(CH3)3S]2SnCl6·H2O has a tunable optical emission spectrum by means of varying dopant ratio and excitation wavelength. As a result, we can achieve single-phase materials suitable for emission ranging from cold white light to warm white light. The intrinsic mechanism is examined in this work, to clarify the dopant effect on the optical properties. The high stability of title crystalline material, against water, oxygen and heat, makes it promising for further application. Graphical Abstract

Abstract Shunt active power filter (SAPF) has emerged as a promising solution for mitigating harmonic distortions. Due to the interaction between the current inner‐loop of SAPF, source impedance and non‐linear loads, harmonic oscillation issue arises and adversely affects the stability of the system, thus in turn exacerbating the harmonic distortion. However, previous studies paid less attention to the value of phase adjustment in improving the dynamic behaviour of the loop and thus stabilizing harmonic oscillation. Taking the dynamic characteristics between source impedance and non‐linear load into consideration, this paper models and analyzes the SAPF system with source current direct control to reveal the law of full harmonic compensation oscillation. Based on the analysis, an enhanced phase adjustment strategy using load current feedforward is proposed and designed to stabilize harmonic oscillation, while maintaining a favourable trade‐off between stability and harmonic compensation performance. The small‐signal model validated for stability analysis and the effectiveness of proposed stabilization strategy are verified by simulation and experiment.

Currently, the problem of heavy metal pollution in China is becoming increasingly serious, which poses grave threats to the environment and human health. Owing to the non-biodegradability and toxicity of heavy metals, a more sustainable and ecological approach to remediate heavy metal pollution has always been a focus of attention for environmental researchers. In recent years, many scientists have found that phytoremediation aided by endophytes has high potential to remediate heavy metals owing to its low cost, effectiveness, environmental friendliness, and sustainability compared with physical and chemical methods. Indeed, the mechanism of interaction between endophytes, plants, and heavy metals in the soil is pivotal for plants to tolerate metal toxicity and thrive. In this review, we focus on the mechanism of how endophytic bacteria resist heavy metals, and the direct and indirect mechanisms employed by endophytic bacteria to promote the growth of plants and enhance phytoextraction and phytostabilization. Moreover, we also discuss the application of combinations of endophytic bacteria and plants that have been used to remediate heavy metal pollution. Finally, it is pointed out that although there have been many studies on phytoremediation systems that have been assisted by endophytes, large-scale field trials are important to deliver “real” results to evaluate and improve phytoremediation assisted with microorganisms in polluted natural environments.

ObjectiveThis systematic review and meta-analysis aims to systematically evaluate the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture in the treatment of aspiration caused by post-stroke dysphagia.MethodsA computer search was conducted in nine databases, including the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), China Science and Technology Journal (VIP), Wan-fang Database, China Biomedical Literature Database (CBM), PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Embase, and Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR), from their inception until April 2024. Clinical randomized controlled trials comparing acupuncture combined therapy or single therapy with control interventions for the treatment of aspiration caused by post-stroke dysphagia were included. The primary outcome measure was the Penetration Aspiration Scale (PAS), and secondary outcome measures included the overall effective rate, video fluoroscopic swallowing study (VFSS), and hyoid bone displacement. The statistical analysis was performed using RevMan 5.3 and Stata 16.0.ResultsA total of 16 articles involving 1,284 patients were included. The meta-analysis results showed that acupuncture combined therapy or single therapy was more effective in improving PAS scores compared to conventional rehabilitation therapy or balloon dilation of the catheter [WMD = −1.05, 95% CI (−1.30, −0.80), Z = 0.82, p = 0.00

Background: Curcumin (CUR), an effective traditional Chinese medicinal extract, displays good anti-cancer activity against various cancers. Nevertheless, the impacts and fundamental mechanisms of CUR to treat esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) yet to be comprehensively clarified. This study examined the suppressive impacts of CUR on ESCC.Methods: For a comprehensive understanding of the effect of CUR in ESCC. The CUR targets and ESCC-related genes were identified respectively, and the intersection targets between CUR and ESCC were acquired. Then, we examined the intersection targets and discovered genes that were expressed differently in ESCC. Using DAVID, enrichment analyses were conducted on the targets of CUR-ESCC. The STRING database and Cytoscape v.3.9.1 were utilized to build networks for protein-protein interaction (PPI) and drug-target-pathway. Furthermore, the interactions between CUR and its core targets were confirmed by molecular docking studies. To confirm the effects of CUR on ESCC cells, in vitro experiments were finally conducted.Results: Overall, 47 potential CUR targets for ESCC treatment were identified. The KEGG pathway enrichment analysis identified 61 signaling pathways, primarily associated with the FoxO signaling, the cell cycle, cellular senescence, the IL-17 signaling pathway which play important roles in ESCC progression. In the PPI network and the docking results identified CHEK1 and CDK6 as the core targets that positively associated with ESCC survival. CUR arrested ESCC cells at the G2/M and S phases, as shown by flow cytometry. Colony formation and CCK8 assays showed that CUR can inhibit the proliferative ability of ESCC cells. The Transwell invasion results validated that CUR can significantly inhibit the invasion rates of ESCC cells.Conclusion: Collectively, these findings indicate that CUR exhibits pharmacological effects on multiple targets and pathways in ESCC.

To systematically validate and calibrate the theory and technology of the deep in-situ condition-preserved coring, the in-situ conditions at different depths should be simulated, and the full-size coring tests should be carried out in this simulated environment. Therefore, a deep-rock in-situ condition-preserved coring calibration platform was designed and developed. The self-tightening sealing structure and the quick-disassembly structure were designed on the basis of an innovative segmented nonuniform-diameter structure, which was a breakthrough from the traditional high-pressure vessel frame and was verified by finite element simulation and actual testing under extreme working conditions, respectively. To simulate the actual deep in-situ environment with a temperature of 150 °C and pressure of 140 MPa for a large Φ450 mm×H1400 mm core, temperature and pressure control systems were designed by coupling, and a pre-embedded high-pressure-resistant temperature sensor was designed. Finally, high-precision assembly automation, complex movement coordination of the coring device with the platform, and rotary dynamic sealing were achieved by utilizing the combination of adaptive cabin body servo control and an adaptive mechanical structure in a limited space, laying a solid foundation for the calibration of in-situ condition-preserved coring.

To fill the research gap in the mechanical and physical properties of different varieties of sweet potatoes at different points in the harvest period and to provide a theoretical basis for the design of key components of the sweet potato harvester, the physical properties of Su-Shu 16, Su-Shu 36, and Ning-Zi 4 during the harvest period were studied at three time points: 15 October, 25 October, and 4 November 2023. The moisture content of sweet potatoes was determined using the DGF30/7-IA electric hot air-drying oven. The results showed that the moisture content of sweet potatoes decreased with increasing growth time at three different time points during the harvest period. The moisture content of Su-Shu 16 was, on average, 12.74% higher than that of Su-Shu 36, while the moisture content of Ning-Zi 4 was, on average, 8.07% higher than that of Su-Shu 36. The density of Su-Shu 36 measured by the drainage method is greater than that of Su-Shu 16 and Ning-Zi 4, but the difference is relatively small, and the density tends to decrease slowly with the increase of growth time. Using an electronic universal testing machine, compression tests were conducted on Su-Shu 16, Su-Shu 36, and Ning-Zi 4 at loading speeds of 5 mm/min and 10 mm/min, respectively. The results showed that the compressive strength limit range of Su-Shu 36 was slightly higher than that of Su-Shu 16 and significantly higher than that of Ning-Zi 4. The Poisson’s ratio, elastic modulus, and shear modulus values of Su-Shu 16 and Su-Shu 36 were similar and much higher than those of Ning-Zi 4. Studying sweet potatoes’ growth and physical characteristics for different purposes can provide data references for the design of digging depth, working width, and conveyor chain gap of sweet potato harvesters, as well as data references for sweet potato simulation experiments.

Background: Missing data in electronic health records (EHRs) presents significant challenges in medical studies. Many methods have been proposed, but uncertainty exists regarding the current state of missing data addressing methods applied for EHR and which strategy performs better within specific contexts. Methods: All studies referencing EHR and missing data methods published from their inception until 2024 March 30 were searched via the MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Digital Bibliography and Library Project databases. The characteristics of the included studies were extracted. We also compared the performance of various methods under different missingness scenarios. Results: After screening, 46 studies published between 2010 and 2024 were included. Three missingness mechanisms were simulated when evaluating the missing data methods: missing completely at random (29/46), missing at random (20/46), and missing not at random (21/46). Multiple imputation by chained equations (MICE) was the most popular statistical method, whereas generative adversarial network-based methods and the k nearest neighbor (KNN) classification were the common deep-learning-based or traditional machine-learning-based methods, respectively. Among the 26 articles comparing the performance among medical statistical and machine learning approaches, traditional machine learning or deep learning methods generally outperformed statistical methods. Med.KNN and context-aware time-series imputation performed better for longitudinal datasets, whereas probabilistic principal component analysis and MICE-based methods were optimal for cross-sectional datasets. Conclusions: Machine learning methods show significant promise for addressing missing data in EHRs. However, no single approach provides a universally generalizable solution. Standardized benchmarking analyses are essential to evaluate these methods across different missingness scenarios.

Background: Previous studies suggested that smoking behavior (e.g., smoking status) was associated with an elevated risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD), yet whether this association is causal remains uncertain. Methods: We used data for half million participants aged 40 to 69 years from the UK Biobank cohort. In the traditional observational study, we used Cox proportional hazards models to calculate the associations between 2 smoking indices—smoking status and lifetime smoking index and incident CKD stages 3 to 5. Mendelian randomization (MR) approaches were used to estimate a potential causal effect. In one-sample MR, genetic variants associated with lifetime smoking index were used as instrument variables to examine the causal associations with CKD stages 3 to 5, among 344,255 UK Biobank participants with white British ancestry. We further validated our findings by a two-sample MR analysis using information from the Chronic Kidney Disease Genetics Consortium genome-wide association study. Results: In the traditional observational study, both smoking status [hazard ratio (HR): 1.26, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.22 to 1.30] and lifetime smoking index (HR: 1.22, 95% CI: 1.20 to 1.24) were positively associated with a higher risk of incident CKD. However, both our one-sample and two-sample MR analyses showed no causal association between lifetime smoking index and CKD (all P > 0.05). The genetic instruments were validated by several statistical tests, and all sensitivity analyses showed similar results with the main model. Conclusion: Evidence from our analyses does not suggest a causal effect of smoking behavior on CKD risk. The positive association presented in the traditional observational study is possibly a result of confounding.

The temperature field beneath a roadbed is asymmetrically distributed, which causes uneven settlement, longitudinal cracking, and even sliding and collapse, as well as other diseases of frozen soil roadbeds. Most roads in alpine mountain regions are half-filled and half-excavated. The degree and direction of the temperature gradient are utilized as variables in a numerical simulation to examine the deformation properties of coarse-grained frozen soil. The findings demonstrate that (1) coarse-grained frozen soil has a nonlinear connection between strength and the lowest temperature, with strength increasing with decreasing temperature and decreasing under the influence of the temperature gradient. (2) When an arbitrary temperature field acts on frozen soil, its monolithic character diminishes, its shear strength and maximum strength decrease as the angle θ increases, and the distribution of the shear zone takes the form of an X. (3) An asymmetrical shear zone forms when the direction of the temperature gradient θ deviates from 0°. The degree of asymmetry in the ground deformation and the angle of inclination of the shear zone are positively related to θ.

Internet of vehicles is highly dynamic and has diverse application types, including both security and non-security applications.How to satisfy differentiated requirements at the same time is one of the major challenges that Internet of vehicles face.Therefore, the convergence of computing, control and communication in Internet of vehicles was investigated, and the necessity of the collaborative management of multi-dimensional resources was outlined to improve both the driving safety and the quality of experience.Specifically, the control and communication convergence mechanism for autonomous driving, the computing and communication resource collaborative management mechanism for infotainment application, and the multi-dimensional resource collaborative management mechanism for differentiated application concurrency were introduced respectively according to the application characteristics.Finally, the technology development trend of this field was discussed based on related challenge analysis.

Skin cancer is a malignant tumour that can spread in the skin and is a serious threat to human health. Excessive ultraviolet radiation is one of the most common factors that leads to skin cancer. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the anti-skin tumour and anti-UVB damage effects of Armillaria mellea (Vahl) P. Kumm transformed Gastrodia elata Bl products (ATGP). Gastrodia elata Blume f.glauca S. Chows from Changbai Mountain and 4 Armillaria mellea (Vahl) P. Kumm strains were used as experimental materials. First, the optimum fungal strains of Armillaria mellea used to transform gastrodin were screened. Then, the MTT assay and scratch test proved that ATGP had anti-B16 melanoma cell activity in vitro. Furthermore, the anti-UVB damage effect of ATGP was proven by a UVB damage mouse skin model and HaCat photoaging model, and its mechanism was preliminarily discussed.

Ternary chalcogenides are gaining interest as nontoxic, stable solar absorbers. Here, the authors investigate NaBiS2, finding cation disorder to be a critical parameter that enables its high absorption strength and unusual charge-carrier kinetics.

Abstract The biosynthetic investigations of microbial natural products continuously provide powerful biocatalysts for the preparation of valuable chemicals. Practical methods for preparing (S)‐3‐aminopiperidine‐2,6‐dione (2), the pharmacophore of thalidomide (1) and its analog drugs, are highly desired. To develop a biocatalyst for producing (S)‐2, we dissected the domain functions of IdgS, which is responsible for the biosynthesis of indigoidine (3), a microbial blue pigment that consists of two 2‐like moieties. Our data supported that the L‐glutamine tethered to the indigoidine assembly line is first offloaded and cyclized by the thioesterase domain to form (S)‐2, which is then dehydrogenated by the oxidation (Ox) domain and finally dimerized to yield 3. Based on this, we developed an IdgS‐derived enzyme biocatalyst, IdgS‐Ox* R539A, for preparing enantiomerically pure (S)‐2. As a proof of concept, one‐pot chemoenzymatic synthesis of 1 was achieved by combining the biocatalytic and chemical approaches.

Mycorrhizal inoculation was widely reported to alleviate the damage resulting from NaCl by various physiological ways. However, the symbiotic benefit under distant NaCl concentrations and the relationship among different responsive physiological processes were elusive. In this study, saline resistant plant Xanthoceras sorbifolium was selected as the experimental material and five concentrations of NaCl in the presence or absence of Arbuscular Mycorrhiza Fungi (AMF) were conducted, in order to understand the differences and similarities on the photosynthesis, antioxidant activity, and osmotic adjustment between arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) plants and non-arbuscular mycorrhizal (NM) plants. Under low salt stress, X. sorbifolium can adapt to salinity by accumulating osmotic adjustment substances, such as soluble protein and proline, increasing superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) activity, and glutathione (GSH). However, under high concentrations of NaCl [240 and 320 mM (mmol·L−1)], the resistant ability of the plants significantly decreased, as evidenced by the significant downregulation of photosynthetic capacity and biomass compared with the control plants in both AM and NM groups. This demonstrates that the regulatory capacity of X. sorbifolium was limiting, and it played a crucial role mainly under the conditions of 0–160 mM NaCl. After inoculation of AMF, the concentration of Na+ in roots was apparently lower than that of NM plants, while Gs (Stomatal conductance) and Ci (Intercellular CO2 concentration) increased, leading to increases in Pn (Net photosynthetic rate) as well. Moreover, under high salt stress, proline, soluble protein, GSH, and reduced ascorbic acid (ASA) in AM plants are higher in comparison with NM plants, revealing that mycorrhizal symbiotic benefits are more crucial against severe salinity toxicity. Meanwhile, X. sorbifolium itself has relatively high tolerance to salinity, and AMF inoculation can significantly increase the resistant ability against NaCl, whose function was more important under high concentrations.

Due to the fact that the permeability coefficient of salinized frozen soil is difficult to measure through experimental test, this paper develops a model of the permeability coefficient of salinized frozen soil by using SFCC curves, which takes into account the effects of velocity slip on pore wall and seepage of unfrozen water film. This model is on the basis of capillary bundle model, and combines with phase diagram theory of water-salt binary system. For the silty clay from Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and silts from Onedia, the permeability coefficient fluctuation vs. temperature is calculated using the model. The estimated calculations of the permeability coefficient model were all found to be in good agreement with the experimental data by comparison. Additionally, the variation trend of permeability coefficient of NaCl, Na2SO4, and Na2CO3 type saline soils containing different salt contents is examined. The results indicate that before saline soils freeze, NaCl does not crystallize and thus has little impact on the permeability coefficient, whereas Na2SO4 and Na2CO3 both crystallize and block the pores, the permeability coefficient decreases with decreasing temperature. Once the saline soils have frozen, the freezing temperature has a larger impact on the permeability coefficient. During the early stage of freezing, the lower the freezing temperature is, the larger the permeability coefficient is. In the late stage of freezing, the permeability coefficients with various salt contents tended to be the same.

Paternal environmental inputs can influence various phenotypes in offspring, with important implications for basic biology and public health. Here the authors show that Ang-mediated biogenesis of 5′-tsRNAs in sperm contributes to paternal inflammation-induced metabolic disorders in offspring.

To improve the level of precise seeding mechanization of potato micro-seed, a new type of pneumatic cleaning system has been designed. The system adopts a pneumatic cleaning method to achieve precise seeding. Based on analyzing the force of potato micro-seed, the parameters of cleaning airflow velocity and spoon negative pressure have been determined. The test bench of the seeding device has been built and the Box-Behnken test design method has been adopted. Taking the cleaning airflow velocity, the spoon negative pressure, the driving wheel velocity and the seed layer height as the test factors, the missing seed index and the qualified seed index as the evaluation indicators, the quadratic regression orthogonal test has been performed to optimize and determine the best combination of each parameter. Test results showed that when the cleaning airflow velocity was 26.6 m/s, the spoon negative pressure was 4.2 KPa, the driving wheel velocity was 43.7 r/min, and the seed layer height was 32.9 cm, the missing seed index was 1.5% and the qualified seed index was 93.2%. The system can realize single precise seeding of potato micro-seed seeding.

Abstract Background Road traffic crashes related (RTCR) chest traumas remain important global public health challenge. The impact of boosting market of automobile vehicles in China during last decade on thoracic injury needs to be defined. This study aimed to review and analyze the demographic and clinical characteristics of RTCR thoracic injuries in China. Methods Clinical records of patients with thoracic trauma admitted to thoracic surgery department between January 2003 and June 2020 were retrospectively retrieved and reviewed. Patients’ profiles and clinical characteristics were comparatively analyzed between road traffic crashes caused injury and other injury mechanisms, and in RTCR chest trauma patients before January 2011 (2003 group), and after January 2011 (2011 group), when is considered as the beginning year of Chinese household vehicle era. Results The study included 5095 thoracic trauma patients with mean age of 50.2 years, of whom 79.4% were male. Most of the patients (70.3%, n = 3583) had rib fractures. Associated injuries were present in 52.0% of the patients, of them 78.5% (n = 2080) were extremity fractures. Road traffic crashes accounted for 41.4% (n = 2108) of the injuries, most of them (98.0%) were related to motor vehicles. In comparison with other chest trauma mechanisms, RTCR chest injuries affected females and older males more frequently, with a higher incidence of rib fractures and sternum fractures, and higher injury severity scores (ISS) (all p

Garden asparagus (Asparagus officinalis, 2n = 2x = 20 chromosomes) is an important dioecious vegetable crop and a model species for studying sex chromosome formation and evolution. However, few molecular cytogenetic studies on garden asparagus have been reported because of its small metaphase chromosomes, the scarcity of distinguished cytogenetic markers, and the high content of repetitive sequences. In this study, a set of single copy genes free of repetitive sequences with sizes ranging from 4.3 kb to 8.2 kb were screened and used as probes for fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) to identify individual chromosomes of garden asparagus. The chromosome-specific signal distribution patterns of these probes enabled the distinguishment of each pair of chromosomes. The sequence assembly and cytogenetic map were successfully integrated, and the results confirmed that the chromosome 1 representing the sex chromosome in the genome assembly is chromosome 5 in the karyotype analysis. The cytogenetic identification of the male-specific region of the Y chromosome (MSY) was implemented using a mixed probe derived from a number of MSY-specific single copy sequences. In addition, the chromosome orthologous relationship between garden asparagus (A1–A10, karyotypic analysis) and its hermaphrodite close relative, A. setaceus (B1–B10, karyotypic analysis), was analyzed using this collection of chromosome-specific cytological markers. The results showed that B3 is the ortholog of sex chromosome A5 and thus may represent the ancestral autosome of the current sex chromosome in garden asparagus. Chromosomes B5, B4, B1, B8, B7, and B9 are the orthologs of A2, A3, A4, A7, A8, and A10, respectively. The chromosome identification, cytogenetic recognition of MSY, and the orthologous relationship analysis between garden asparagus and A. setaceus are valuable for the further investigation of the sex chromosome emergence and evolutionary mechanism of garden asparagus and genome structure evolution in the Asparagus genus.

A three-dimensional stratum model stratum model is a useful auxiliary tool for geotechnical engineering and other exploration work. The existing methods for stratum model construction lack complete topological descriptions of entities, so it is difficult to apply them to 3D geological modeling with complex geometric structures and complex topological relationships between modules. To solve the above problem, in this paper, the boundary representation method is used to represent the arbitrarily-shaped geological entities, and the half winged-edge-face structure topological structure is proposed to describe the topological information of the stratum model for a complex entity. The topological structure can record the topological information of the solid stratum model completely, thereby providing the basis for operations with the model and the applications of various algorithms. Based on this topological structure, the construction process for a 3D solid stratum model is proposed. The reliability and effectiveness of the constructed 3D solid stratum model are verified by an engineering case. The solid stratum model not only solves the geological modeling problem with respect to complex geometric and topological relations, but also provides a new method and idea for 3D geological modeling.

Recently, information centric wireless network (ICWN) has been concerned due to its flexible network structure and high efficiency of content delivery. Meanwhile, scalable video coding (SVC) is a promising solution to provide high quality of video services. Combining ICWN and SVC is expected to improve the performance of wireless video delivery services. Since caching strategy plays a significant role in ICWN, in this paper, we address the caching problem for scalable videos over ICWN in mobile scenarios. By jointly considering the layered structure of SVC and the hierarchical architecture of ICWN, we formulate an optimization problem to minimize the average download delay. A novel layered hierarchical caching method is proposed for solving the problem. Furthermore, we focus on a special but common case in which the above delay minimization problem is equivalently transformed into a cache hit ratio maximization problem. A simplified algorithm with 1/2 approximation ratio is provided. Finally, simulation results show that our proposed caching schemes outperform baseline methods in cache hit rate and delay performance.

The Nyexon Rock Avalanches in the southern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is a huge scale earthquake-induced slope disaster in the Holocene, the accumulation area has distinct sedimentological characteristics, which is of great significance for studying the intrusion and restraint mechanism during long-distance transportation of large rock avalanches or debris avalanche. This long-distance transportation induced a series of landform types, such as ridges, hills, and ravines; they are widely distributed in all areas and extensively developed shear zones, jigsaw cracks, and other structures within the sedimentary structure. With the analysis of DEM data and geological survey, two main types of basement structures and their transition relationships are distinguished; they play an essential role in the restraining bottom during rock avalanches. In the sedimentary structure, the block facies and mixing facies occupy the main body of the deposition from the center to the distal area. Under the basement restriction, mixing facies are formed between the bottom of the sedimentary layer and the basement sedimentary structure; the shear band is mainly developed along with the mixing facies and basement facies, which is accompanied by basement liquefaction and rheology. A sedimentary facies model is established based on the sedimentary structure sequence of the Nyexon Rock Avalanches transportation. After analyzing the failure mechanism of the rock avalanches, it is believed that in the initial stage of failure, the rock avalanches is transformed into a particle flow that is similar to the debris avalanche, which is restrained by the basement structure and lateral bound; then, an accumulated obstacle highland is formed in the central area after deceleration, making the transportation of the main fluid to deflect quickly.

Fractures are widely distributed in coal, and studying the seepage characteristics of fluids in fractures is of great significance for unconventional natural gas extraction and prevention of gas disasters. In this work, based on the W-M fractal function, a Y-shaped fracture model with different roughness is established. The seepage characteristics of Y-shaped fracture with different roughness are interpreted from two perspectives. Firstly, the seepage law of the Y-shaped fracture with the same roughness is studied. Secondly, the fluid competitive diversion capacity caused by the difference of branch fracture roughness is discussed. The results show that the fracture roughness is an important factor affecting the seepage characteristics of the fracture. When the roughness of the fracture is identical, the outlet flow rate, velocity, and Re are all positively correlated with pressure, and the flow regime is unchanged. The increase in the fracture roughness will lead to a significant flow rate and momentum loss, resulting in maximum loss up to 45.44%, besides, enhance the flow resistance of the fracture, Re increasing by 771, 713, 489, and 355, respectively, at four patterns. And there is a threshold DM between 1.1 and 1.2 so that the major influencing factor on hydraulic conductivity changes. In addition, the roughness difference between the branch fractures of the Y-shaped fracture is the key factor to control the fluid competitive diversion capacity. The larger the roughness difference, the greater difference in flow velocity, and the more significant change in flow rate proportion, which proportion differs by 4%, 44%, and 54%, respectively, and the stronger smooth branch fracture competitive diversion capacity, and the lower the rough branch fracture hydraulic conductivity. As the inlet pressure increases, the two branch fractures Re gradually increases but Eu decreases, which Eu in smooth branch fracture is smaller is 15, 19, 20, and 21 smaller than that of rough branch, respectively, and the rough branch fracture competitive diversion capacity is weakened. Both roughness difference and inlet pressure will affect the competitive diversion capacity of the Y-shaped fracture. These results are expected to provide new insights for the exploitation of underground fluid resources.

The thermal insulation effect of snow on the active layer thickness of permafrost cannot be ignored. Under the dual influence of snow cover and roadbed construction, this paper studies the influence of snow cover on the temperature field and permafrost upper limit under the permafrost roadbed in the alpine mountains. Through the application of PDE module in Comsol software, the hydrothermal coupling analysis of roadbed is carried out by means of numerical analysis. The results show that the permafrost degradation is accelerated by the snow on the subgrade surface, the temperature increases significantly, the thickness of the active layer increases, and the permafrost upper limit moves downward. With the increase of seasonal snow thickness, the permafrost temperature under the subgrade increases, the low-temperature permafrost under the subgrade has the risk of changing to high-temperature permafrost. The melting groove is formed under the subgrade on the right side, and with the increase of snow thickness, the area of the melting groove expands and develops towards the center of the subgrade. Permafrost upper limit on the left and right shoulder is lower than that on the right shoulder, and snow cover has a greater impact on permafrost upper limit on the right shoulder.

The Luchedu rock avalanche (LRA) that occurred in 1935 at the junction of Sichuan and Yunnan in Southwest China is a disaster chain of the rock slide, debris avalanche, and river blocking induced by heavy rainfall. The rock slide originated from the wedge formed by sheet metamorphic rocks on the fault zone on the left bank of the Jinsha River. After breaking away from the slope, the wedge disintegrated and cracked rapidly, forming debris and causing them to flow in fluidization along a 7.3 km path. After the obvious entrainment process and curve superelevation in the proximal area, the deposition reached 50.5×106 m3 in the distal area. The sedimentary structure of clasts has typical stratification characteristics. The types of sedimentary facies include carapace facies, body facies, and mixed facies. Inside the sedimentary structure, dense shear zones, liquefied intercalations, jigsaw structures, and directional arrangement of particles are observed. Through a detailed geological survey and DEM spatial analysis, the avalanche entrainment rate of LRA was determined as 1.2. The morphological fluctuation of basement lithology and gully path plays an important role in the long-distance movement. The rock fragments formed by metamorphic rocks with a primary schistosity structure can effectively reduce the energy loss in the internal shear process and significantly promote the laminar flow movement in the distal region of the avalanche. Therefore, as a giant rock avalanche formed by the evolution of specific metamorphic rocks, LRA results from the combination of macrohydrodynamics and microrock failure properties.

The climate of the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau is distinct. Given the large temperature difference between day and night, drought in perennial years, low rainfall and large evaporation volume, the frozen soil in some areas of the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau will occur in soil salt. The presence of salt in frozen soil salt changes the water thermal characteristics of the frozen soil, which will affect the changes in its activity layer. In this paper, the Beiluhe area of the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau was selected as the research object, and the numerical calculation model of water, heat and salt of salinised frozen soil was established. Considering the influence of salt crystallisation and salt on the freezing temperature of the active layer, the effects of different salt concentrations, water contents and salt type on the temperature of frozen soil and the thickness of the active layer were compared and analysed. Therefore, the salt of soil degenerates frozen soil under the action of sodium chloride and sodium sulphate, and the presence of sodium chloride and sodium sulphate is not conducive to the stability of frozen soil for many years. During soil salinisation, the content of sodium chloride in frozen soil increases; the temperature of permafrost initially decreases and then increases; the initial freezing time of the active layer is postponed in the freezing and cooling stages, the time when the water in the active layer with a salt concentration of 0.2–0.8% was delayed by 21, 32, 54 and 65 days; the temperature of the active layer decreases, which is the opposite in the thawing and heating stages, and the thickness of the active layer increases with the increase in salt concentration. During soil salinisation, the content of sodium sulphate in frozen soil increases; the freezing temperature of the active layer initially decreases and then increases and finally decreases, which is contrary to the temperature of the active layer in the warm season. The thickness of the active layer initially increases (with a maximum increase in 0.82 m) and then decreases and finally increases with the increase in salt concentration. The content of sodium sulphate in frozen soil has little effect on the initial freezing time of the active layer. High water content is conducive to the stability of permafrost. When the content of sodium chloride in frozen soil is constant, the water content increases; the temperature change of frozen soil is smaller; the temperature of the active layer in the warm season is lower; the thickness of the active layer is smaller, and the frozen soil tends to be more stable. When the content of sodium sulphate is constant, the increase in water content generally reduces the warm-season temperature of the active layer and the thickness of the active layer (−6 m the temperature of 30% and 40% water content in −6 m is 0.17 °C and 0.24 °C lower than that of 20% water content). However, analysis of the thickness of the active layer of the frozen soil containing sodium sulphate must combine the influence of water content and freezing temperature.

Lead (Pb)-contaminated wastewater is the most common source of heavy metal ion pollution. In this study, agricultural waste edible fungi residue (EFR) was used to adsorb Pb(II) ions in wastewater as a strategy to reduce environmental pollution and minimize poisoning by Pb. The influence of Pb(II) concentration, solution pH, and EFR concentration on the removal efficiency (R) of Pb(II) was investigated with single factor design and response surface analysis. The maximum predicted R for Pb(II) was 76.34% under optimal conditions of Pb(II) concentration of 483.83 mg/L, EFR concentration of 4.99 g/L, and pH of 5.89. The actual experimental value of R reached 76.97% under these conditions. The competition of Pb(II) ions for the available adsorption sites on EFR limited the maximum R. A comparison of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy before and after the adsorption of Pb(II), indicated that the functional groups of EFR significantly affected the effect of adsorption of heavy metals, and that the adsorption process was primarily affected by functional groups in the range of wavenumbers from 500 to 2,000 cm−1.

Cache-enabled heterogeneous networks (HetNets) have recently emerged as an attractive solution to meet the exponentially increasing demand on mobile data traffic. However, the power consumption and the backhaul limitation of small base stations (SBSs) have become bottlenecks to deploy HetNets. How to relieve the burden of backhauls via wireless caching and enable the HetNets to operate in an energy-efficient way are still open issues. Aiming to minimize the power consumption while guaranteeing QoS requirements of users, in this paper, we address the problem of joint user association (UA) and resource allocation (RA) for coded cache-enabled HetNets. First, based on the many-to-many matching game between the virtual SBSs and users (VSU), we propose a low-complexity joint UA and power allocation (PA) algorithm (JUPVA). Then, considering the unequal BA, we design a three-phase optimization algorithm (JURVA), which makes a joint decision on UA, PA, and BA iteratively. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed algorithms yield significant performance improvement in terms of power consumption.

Urban geological information management systems based on a B/S structures are an inevitable trend in the development of smart geology and big data. Such systems are important platforms for promoting the sharing of data and services among different city entities. It is necessary to overcome the limitations of C/S or partial B/S structures and establish an urban geological information management system based on a comprehensive B/S structure, which is currently rare. According to the above questions, this paper focuses on three types of technical tasks to construct an urban geological information management system based on a B/S structure. In terms of data management, we leave many functions to the server, and group data by type. In terms of data application and sharing, we quickly query and graphically display the data from massive data sets, and perform collaborative analyses of different professional data. In terms of 3D geological modelling and analysis, in order to efficiently provide large-scale 3D geological model analysis in the browser, we explore a new data structure and algorithm for optimization modelling to reduce the amount of model and the number of calculations. Using the above technical methods, we develop a geological information management system for a city in eastern China. The system realizes the “One Map” function for land and resources, creates a platform for the sharing of geological data and services among different entities, and provides technical support for the construction of “smart cities”.

Abstract Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) is a life essential molecule involved in versatile biological processes. To date, only two de novo biosynthetic routes to NAD+ are described, both of which start from a proteinogenic amino acid and are tightly controlled. Here, a de novo quinolinic acid pathway starting from chorismate, which provides an alternative route (named as the C3N pathway) to NAD+ biosynthesis, is established. Significantly, the C3N pathway yields extremely high cellular concentrations of NAD(H) in E. coli. Its utility in cofactor engineering is demonstrated by introducing the four‐gene C3N module to cell factories to achieve higher production of 2,5‐dimethylpyrazine and develop an efficient C3N‐based whole‐cell bioconversion system for preparing chiral amines. The wide distribution and abundance of chorismate in most kingdoms of life implies a general utility of the C3N pathway for modulating cellular levels of NAD(H) in versatile organisms.

Seed germination requirements may determine the kinds of habitat in which plants can survive. We tested the hypothesis that nitrogen (N) addition can change seed germination trait-environmental filter interactions and ultimately redistribute seed germination traits in alpine meadows. We determined the role of N addition on germination trait selection in an alpine meadow after N addition by combining a 3-year N addition experiment in an alpine meadow and laboratory germination experiments. At the species level, germination percentage, germination rate (speed) and breadth of temperature niche for germination (BTN) were positively related to survival of a species in the fertilized community. In addition, community-weighted means of germination percentage, germination rate, germination response to alternating temperature and BTN increased. However, germination response to wet-cold storage (cold stratification) and functional richness of germination traits was lower in alpine meadows with high-nitrogen addition than in those with no, low and medium N addition. Thus, N addition had a significant influence on environmental filter-germination trait interactions and generated a different set of germination traits in the alpine meadow. Further, the effect of N addition on germination trait selection by environmental filters was amount-dependent. Low and medium levels of N addition had less effect on redistribution of germination traits than the high level.

Copy number variation (CNV) is a structural variant with significant impact on genetic diversity. CNV has been widely used in breeding for growth traits, meat production or quality, and coat color. SRY-like box genes (SOXs) are a class of transcription factors that play a regulatory role in cell fate specification and differentiation. SOX5 and SOX8 belong to subgroups D and E of the SOXs, respectively. Previous studies have shown that SOX5 and SOX8 are essential in the development of bones. In this study, we explored the association between the growth traits and CNVs of SOX5 and SOX8 in 326 Ashidan yaks and detected mRNA expression levels in different tissues. Our results illustrated that CNVs of SOX5 and SOX8 were significantly associated with withers height at 18 months of age and chest girth at 30 months of age (p < 0.05). The CNV combination of SOX5 and SOX8 was significantly associated with withers height at 18 months of age (p < 0.01). SOX5 expression in the lung was significantly higher than in the heart, spleen, kidney, and muscle (p < 0.05). SOX8 expression in the lung was significantly higher than in the liver and muscle (p < 0.05). Our results provide evidence that the CNVs of SOX5 and SOX8 genes could be used as new markers for the selection of yak growth traits.

Corn harvester row alignment is a critical factor to improve harvesting quality and reduce cob drop loss. In this paper, a corn harvester automatic row alignment system is designed with a self-propelled corn combine harvester, incorporating a front-end touch row alignment mechanism of the cutting table and a harvester steering control system. Corn stalk lateral deviation from the reference row during harvesting is detected by a front-end touch-row alignment mechanism that serves as an input to the automatic alignment system. The harvester steering control system consists of Hirschmann PLC controller, electric steering wheel, steering wheel deflection angle detection device, display module and mode selection module, etc. The adaptive fuzzy PID control algorithm is used to determine the desired turning angle of the harvester steering wheel by combining with the harvester kinematic model, and the model is simulated and analyzed by Matlab/Simulink software. The automatic row alignment system was mounted on a 4LZ-8 self-propelled corn harvester for field tests, and the test results showed that the average percentage of deviation of corn stalks from the center of the row alignment cutting path within ±15 cm during the automatic row alignment process was 95.4% at harvester speeds ranging from 0 to 4.6 km/h, which could meet the requirements of the corn harvester for row alignment harvesting. The test results meet the requirements of the corn harvester for row alignment and serve as a benchmark for the research on automatic row alignment of corn harvesters.

The initial in situ stress field is the fundamental factor causing the deformation and failure of underground engineering and is an important basis for the feasibility analysis, design, and construction of underground engineering. However, it is difficult to obtain the whole in situ stress field of large-scale underground engineering in difficult and dangerous areas by field measurement. In view of the fact that the measured in situ stress components (σxx, σyy, σzz, τxy, τxz, τyz) of Sichuan-Tibet Railway in China are linear with the buried depth, a method is proposed to solve the in situ stress by applying corresponding loads to all unit bodies in the calculation area based on BP neural network and FLAC3D. Through this method, the in situ stress of the tunnel is inverted. The results show that both the maximum principal stress and minimum principal stress increase with the increase of buried depth, and when the tunnel passes through faults or anticlines, the main stress will suddenly drop. Furthermore, compared with the results of the multiple linear regression method, it is found that the proposed method has higher accuracy; especially for the simulation of the maximum horizontal principal stress and vertical stress, the average relative error is reduced by 26.44% and 77.27%, respectively. The research in this paper can provide a new idea for the initial in situ stress inversion of engineering.

Poly(ethylene furanoate) (PEF) biocomposite films incorporating zinc oxide nanoparticle (ZnO NPs) were prepared using a solvent casting method. The ZnO NPs were homogeneously dispersed within the PEF films with the aid of γ −aminopropyltriethoxylsilane (APTES). The water vapor barrier, optical transmittance and antimicrobial properties of the PEF/ZnO films were tested. Water vapor permeability (WVP) and transmittance in the visible (400–800 nm) region of control PEF film were 6.92 × 10 ^–12 g·m m ^−2 · s·Pa and 87.3%, respectively. WVP value of PEF films decreased 43.2% through ZnO NPs compounding. On the contrary, transmittance of PEF films decreased 6.8% due to the absorption and scattering of ZnO NPs. In addition, the PEF film with modified ZnO NPs exhibited a bacteriostatic rate up to 97.0% after 3 h. Thus, the PEF/ZnO films show great potential in the field of food packaging.