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The information unavailability of a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) for geo‐localization in many military and tourism applications implies the need to employ other applicable types of information, such as automatic image‐based location recognition. Unlike most existing localization methods that use GNSS information to locate an initial position, this paper proposes an automatic geo‐localization framework that does not require GNSS data. The proposed framework is a two‐stage pipeline that uses a query image and digital elevation model (DEM) data as input. The authors frame automatic geo‐localization without GNSS recordings as a skyline matching problem. By extracting the skyline from the DEM data and query images, the query image can be localized by matching the query skyline feature to the DEM skyline database. It has been demonstrated that this low‐cost approach can perform efficiently in mountainous or hilly areas to produce reliable localization results. The system was tested on 50 testing site points within a large‐scale area (China, 202.6 km2), and an average position error of 43.13 m was detected within 4.5 s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigation shows that concrete corrosion is a common problem for ocean reinforced concrete (R.C.) structures along China’s coast. A discussion of the corrosion characteristics, based on real project cases and field surveys, is presented in this paper. These factors that might affect corrosion, such as environmental effects, construction quality, cover thickness, property of the concrete material and structure type, are evaluated. Based on the analysis of these corrosion characteristics and affecting factors, the approaches available to improve the durability of ocean R.C. structures are proposed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Currently, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has been reported in almost all countries globally. No effective therapy has been documented for COVID-19, and the role of convalescent plasma therapy is unknown. In the current study, 6 patients with COVID-19 and respiratory failure received convalescent plasma a median of 21.5 days after viral shedding was first detected, all tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 RNA within 3 days after infusion, and 5 eventually died. In conclusion, convalescent plasma treatment can end SARS-CoV-2 shedding but cannot reduce the mortality rate in critically ill patients with end-stage COVID-19, and treatment should be initiated earlier. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the evolution course of automotive diesel standards in China, and briefly analyzes the current situation, then summarizes the development trend of their seven important technical indexes, finally analyzes the reasons of their continuous improvement. Automotive diesel standards have been developing straight forward the direction of clean oil. Compared with EU, USA and Japan, automotive diesel standards relatively lag behind others in China, so it is imperative to improve the quality of the product. The heavy and inferior properties of the crude oil process, the low production capacity of installations, and the lack of competitive catalysts have limited the upgrading of diesel quality in China. Based on the above reasons, a new automotive diesel standard will be prospected, namely formulating automotive diesel standard in line with China's national conditions, giving appropriate financial subsidies to refineries, supervising the implementation of automotive diesel fuel in China, developing and popularizing the core technology of diesel production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Essential oil profiles were obtained from four Hypericum species. • H. bellum and H. perforatum demonstrated neuroprotective activity. • H. hookerianum and H. bellum oil showed strong antibacterial activity. • H. perforatum collected in Wushan showed tyrosinase inhibition activity. • The study provided a scientific basis for future exploration of Hypericum species. St. John's wort (Hypericum perforatum) is a well-known medicinal plant often used to treat mild to moderate mental depression. In southwest China, four species of Hypericum including H. perforatum , H. hookerianum , H. bellum and H. pseudohenryi have been used as traditional medicines for skin care, such as healing wounds, burns, and snake bites by local people. Hypericum volatile oils of these four species were obtained by supercritical CO 2 extraction and analyzed by GC–MS. From H. perforatum , 56 compounds were identified, the amounts of marker components are different between two collection sites. From H. hookerianum , 71 compounds were identified, mainly comprised of alkanes. From H. bellum , 43 compounds were identified, and its essential oil contains mainly oxygenated sesquiterpenoids. From H. pseudohenryi , 57 compounds were identified, and the essential oil has relatively high levels of alkanes. Because Hypericum species are used traditionally to treat depression, wounds, and other skin problems, their volatile oils were evaluated in vitro for neurite outgrowth-promoting, neuroprotective, antimicrobial, and enzyme inhibitory activities. H. bellum and H. perforatum from Wushan demonstrated significant neurite-promoting and neuroprotective activity. The Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus ssp. aureus was inhibited by most of the tested oils. Sesquiterpenoids and alkanols are the most abundant constituents of H. hookerianum and H. bellum oils which showed strong antibacterial activity and help to explain the observed antimicrobial activity of the oil. H. perforatum collected in Wushan showed tyrosinase inhibition activity. Based on the current results, three Asian Hypericum species and two Chinese H. perforatum populations may be promising ingredients for cosmetics, foods, and pharmaceuticals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vegetation or land cover maps have been made directly or indirectly available for the entire territory of China. The certainties and uncertainties of land cover statistics were analyzed by comparing three data sources: China's Vegetation Map. IGPB DISCover, and University of Maryland Product. Great similarities in the statistics of 7 aggregated and cover types were found among the three data sources, particularly between the two global land cover maps. the per-pixel agreement between any 2 of 3 maps was between 38.0%--51.4%; the per-pixel agreement among all three maps was only 27.1%. Certainties were found in regions where vegetation types are typical and human land use practice is relatively diversified. Systematic and multidisciplinary efforts are necessary to promote accurate mapping of nationwide land cover. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• An RRS assay has been developed for the detection of Eca109 cell. • Antibody and aptamer multifunctional gold nanoparticles are used as cell probe. • The sensor has been successfully applied in serum samples. Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is one of the most common cancers in China. Early and accurate diagnosis is the key to effective treatment of this disease. In this work, a resonance Rayleigh scattering (RRS) strategy was established to determine the concentration of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) over-expressed ESCC cancer cells, which based on the selective binding of the anti-EGFR aptamer (Apt) and anti-EGFR antibody (Ab) multi-functionalized gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) probe (Apt-AuNPs-Ab) to the EGFR-positive cancer cell. When the probe was mixed with the Eca109 ESCC cancer cell, a distinct RRS intensity increase was observed. The probe possesses a dynamic range from 1.0 × 102-5.0 × 105 cell·mL−1 for Eca109 cells, and the detection limit is 20 cell·mL−1. Experimental results with the A2780 ovarian cancer cells line, as well as with the Eca109 ESCC cancer cell line, clearly demonstrated that the RRS assay was sensitive and selective to Eca109 than the other cancer cell lines that express a low level of EGFR. The proposed RRS assay provided a novel platform for detection of EGFR-positive cancer cells and shown the good potential for clinical diagnostics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]