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Objectives: To explore the synergistic effect of vitamin D deficiency and sarcopenia on vertebral osteoporostic fracture (VF) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Methods: A total of 188 patients with RA and 158 control subjects were enrolled. Bone mineral density (BMD) at the total hip, neck of femur, lumbar vertebra 1–4, and skeletal muscle mass was measured by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and biological electrical impedance, respectively. Serum 25(OH)D was tested by electrochemiluminescence. The prevalence of VF and osteoporosis (OP) were compared between RA and controls. The synergism of sarcopenia and vitamin D deficiency on VF in patients with RA was tested by χ2 test and logistic regression. Results: The prevalence of OP at all measured sites and VF in RA patients were all higher than those in controls (P < 0.0001). The incidence of VF in RA either with sarcopenia or with vitamin D deficiency was higher than for those without sarcopenia or without vitamin D deficiency (χ2 = 5.069, P = 0.027, χ2 = 8.822, P = 0.001). Age, disease duration, C-reactive protein (CRP), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), DAS28, health assessment questionnaire (HAQ), Sharp score, and body mass index (BMI) were significantly different between RA with sarcopenia or not (P < 0.05). Logistic regression analysis found that age (OR = 1.095, 95%, CI: 1.044–1.150, P < 0.0001) was a significant risk factor for VF in patients with RA, while high skeletal muscle mass (SMI) (OR = 0.513, 95% CI: 0.327–0.804, P = 0.004) was a protective factor for VF in RA patients. Conclusions: VF, sarcopenia, and vitamin D deficiency are common in patients with RA. Sarcopenia and vitamin D deficiency may be risk factors for the incidence of VF in RA patients. Key points: • RA patients had a higher incidence of OP and VF, also a high prevalence of sarcopenia and vitamin D deficiency. • Vitamin D deficiency and sarcopenia may might have a synergistic effect on VF in RA. • Aging and sarcopenia are risk factors for VF in RA patients, and sarcopenia were associated with disease activity and structural damage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a three-dimensional model was established using the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) to study the internal ice melting process of the gas diffusion layer (GDL) of the proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). The single-point second-order curved boundary condition was adopted. The effects of GDL carbon fiber number, growth slope of the number of carbon fibers and carbon fiber diameter on ice melting were studied. The results were revealed that the temperature in the middle and lower part of the gradient distribution GDL is significantly higher than that of the no-gradient GDL. With the increase of the growth slope of the number of carbon fiber, the temperature and melting rate gradually increase, and the position of the solid-liquid interface gradually decreases. The decrease in the number of carbon fibers has a similar effect as the increase in the growth slope of the number of carbon fibers. In addition, as the diameter of the carbon fiber increases, the position of the solid-liquid interface gradually decreases first and then increases. • The gradient GDL ice melting model was developed. • The LBM model was used to investigate the ice-melting process in GDL. • Effects of growth slopes of carbon fibers on the melting of the GDL ice. • Effect of different numbers of carbon fibers on the melting of the GDL ice. • Effect of different carbon fiber diameters on the melting of the GDL ice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: To predict water behavior accurately and explore water droplet impact on a proton exchange membrane fuel cell channel surface, a novel dynamic contact angle model was introduced. A two‐dimensional model of water droplet impact was established via the lattice Boltzmann method, and it was validated. Influences of equilibrium contact angle, sliding angle, lateral velocity, and longitudinal velocity were all explored. The results reveal that when droplet impact the channel surface, it appears in three states: spreading, rebounding, and moving. The model can capture the water‐air interface accurately. When the droplet impacts a hydrophobic wall, the droplet jumps up after rebounding, and eventually returns to its original shape. When the equilibrium contact angle increases, the spread factor gradually decreases, and the droplet keeps moving on the wall. With the increase of sliding angle, the spread factor gradually decreases, and the height of the droplet rebound also increases. The lateral velocity can cause the front end of the droplet to be elongated. As longitudinal velocity increases, spread factor increases, and relative distance gradually decreases. Novelty Statement: A novel dynamic contact angle model is introduced.A two‐dimensional model of water droplet impact is established.Influences of equilibrium contact angle, sliding angle, and velocity are explored.The model can capture the water‐air interface accurately. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate warming and surface ozone (O 3) pollution are important global environmental issues today. However, the combined impacts of air warming and O 3 on phenology and its functional traits of urban trees are still poorly understood. Here, an experiment was performed to explore the variations of the spring phenological and functional traits in leaves of Populus alba 'Berolinensis' and Forsythia suspensa under ambient air (15.8 °C, 35.7 ppb), increased air temperature (IT, ambient air temperature + 2 °C, 17.9 °C), elevated O 3 (EO, ambient air O 3 concentrations + 40 ppb, 77.4 ppb), and their combined treatments (17.7 °C, 74.5 ppb). Our results showed that: IT advanced the beginning of leaf bud expansion phase of P. alba 'Berolinensis' and F. suspensa for 6 d and 5 d, respectively, increased leaf unfolding rate, leaf area and dry weight, and enhanced photosynthesis and antioxidative enzyme activities. EO delayed the beginning of leaf bud expansion phase of P. alba 'Berolinensis' for 5 d, decreased leaf area and biomass, and inhibited photosynthesis and caused oxidative damage of plant leaves. Compared to EO, the combined treatment advanced the spring phenophase, increased growth and induced the higher level of photosynthetic rate and antioxidative enzymes activities in plant leaves, which indicated that the positive effects of increased temperature (17.7 °C) alleviated the inhibition of growth and photosynthesis induced by ozone. Our findings can provide a theoretical reference for predicting the adaptation of functional traits of the two trees blossomed early under warming and O 3 pollution at spring phenological stage. [Display omitted] • Increased air temperature advanced spring phenophase, increased leaf areas and leaf unfolding rates of poplar and forsythia. • Elevated ozone delayed leaf budding occurrence and increased oxidative stress in leaves of two urban tree species. • Increased air temperature alleviated the adverse effects of ozone fumigation on leaf functional traits of plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of increasing atmospheric ozone (O3) concentrations on cool-season plant species have been well studied, but little is known about the physiological responses of cool-season turfgrass species such as Lolium perenne and Festuca arundinacea exposed to short-term acute pollution with elevated O3 concentrations (80 ppb and 160 ppb, 9 h d−1) for 14 days, which are widely planted in urban areas of Northern China. The current study aimed to investigate and compare O3 sensitivity and differential changes in growth, oxidative injury, antioxidative enzyme activities, and chloroplast ultrastructure between the two turf-type plant species. The results showed that O3 decreased significantly biomass regardless of plant species. Under 160 ppb O3, total biomass of L. perenne and F. arundinacea significantly decreased by 55.3% and 47.8% (p < 0.05), respectively. No significant changes were found in visible injury and photosynthetic pigment contents in leaves of the two grass species exposed to 80 ppb O3, except for 160 ppb O3. However, both 80 ppb and 160 ppb O3 exposure induced heavily oxidative stress by high accumulation of malondialdehyde and reactive oxygen species in leaves and damage in chloroplast ultrastructure regardless of plant species. Elevated O3 concentration (80 ppb) increased significantly the activities of superoxide dismutase, catalase and peroxidaseby 77.8%, 1.14-foil and 34.3% in L. perenne leaves, and 19.2%, 78.4% and 1.72-fold in F. arundinacea leaves, respectively. These results showed that F. arundinacea showed higher O3 tolerance than L. perenne. The damage extent by elevated O3 concentrations could be underestimated only by evaluating foliar injury or chlorophyll content without considering the internal physiological changes, especially in chloroplast ultrastructure and ROS accumulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate the rate of subclinical inflammation in patients with axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID)/anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α drug-induced clinical remission and to explore factors influencing clinical and imaging remission. Methods: One hundred twenty-five patients with axSpA followed up for at least 6 months were enrolled in this prospective study and randomly divided into two groups. Ninety patients were treated with anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α or anti-TNF-α combined with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) (anti-TNF-α treatment group), and thirty-five patients were treated with only NSAIDs (non anti-TNF-α treatment group). The improvements in the clinical remission rate, imaging remission rate, and disease parameters before and after the different treatments were compared. Risk factors for clinical and imaging remission were analyzed by multivariate logistic regression analysis. Results: The clinical and imaging remission rate was increased after treatment especially in the anti-TNF-α group (P < 0.001). The remission rate of imaging in the group with clinical remission was higher than that in the group with clinical non-remission (P < 0.05). After treatment, the remission rates of imaging in the clinical remission and non-remission group were significantly higher than those before treatment (P < 0.0001). The results of multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that higher CRP was a risk factor for failure of clinical remission in axSpA (OR = 2.034, 95% CI:1.595 ~ 2.617, P < 0.001), while higher ASDAScrp was a risk factor for failure of imaging remission (OR = 1.306, 95% CI:1.026 ~ 1.688, P < 0.05). Anti-TNF-α treatment was a protective factor for both clinical (OR = 0.234, 95% CI:0.091 ~ 0.605, P < 0.05) and imaging remission (OR = 0.511, 95% CI:0.286 ~ 0.914, P < 0.05). Conclusion: Even after regular treatment, some clinical remission patients continued to have evidence of subclinical inflammation. Higher CRP and ASDAScrp are risk factors for clinical and imaging non-remission in axSpA respectively, Continuous NSAID treatment (more than 1 year) can effectively improve clinical and MRI inflammation in patients, but anti-TNF-α treatment is more beneficial for clinical and imaging remission. Key Points • Some patients achieving ASDAScrp remission status continue to have inflammation when assessed with objective imaging techniques. • MRI can sensitively measure bone marrow inflammation and may provide a more accurate assessment of remission. • Controlling inflammation, especially reducing CRP and ASDAScrp levels, is a key factor for achieving clinical and imaging remission in patients with axSpA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Warm compression tests were carried out on low carbon and low alloy steel at temperatures of 600–850 °C and stain rates of 0.01–10 s−1. The evolution of microstructure and texture was studied using a scanning electron microscope and electron backscattered diffraction. The results indicated that cementite spheroidization occurred and greatly reduced at 750 °C due to a phase transformation. Dynamic recrystallization led to a transition from {112}<110> texture to {111}<112> texture. Below 800 °C, the intensity and variation of texture with deformation temperature is more significant than that above 800 °C. The contents of the {111}<110> texture and {111}<112> texture were equivalent above 800 °C, resulting in the better uniformity of γ-fiber texture. Nucleation of <110>//ND-oriented grains increased, leading to the strengthening of <110>//ND texture. Microstructure analysis revealed that the uniform and refined grains can be obtained after deformation at 800 °C and 850 °C. The texture variation reflected the fact that 800 °C was the critical value for temperature sensitivity of warm deformation. At a large strain rate, the lowest dislocation density appeared after deformation at 800 °C. Therefore, 800 °C is a suitable temperature for the warm forming application, where the investigated material is easy to deform and evolves into a uniform and refined microstructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on optimal time-of-arrival (TOA) sensor placement for multiple target localization simultaneously. In previous work, different solutions only using non-shared sensors to localize multiple targets have been developed. Those methods localize different targets one-by-one or use a large number of mobile sensors with many limitations, such as low effectiveness and high network complexity. In this paper, firstly, a novel optimization model for multi-target localization incorporating shared sensors is formulated. Secondly, the systematic theoretical results of the optimal sensor placement are derived and concluded using the A-optimality criterion, i.e., minimizing the trace of the inverse Fisher information matrix (FIM), based on rigorous geometrical derivations. The reachable optimal trace of Cramér-Rao lower bound (CRLB) is also derived. It can provide optimal conditions for many cases and even closed form solutions for some special cases. Thirdly, a novel numerical optimization algorithm to quickly find and calculate the (sub-)optimal placement and achievable lower bound is explored, when the model becomes complicated with more practical constraints. Then, a hybrid method for solving the most general situation, integrating both the analytical and numerical solutions, is proposed. Finally, the correctness and effectiveness of the proposed theoretical and mathematical methods are demonstrated by several simulation examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Latent reservoir persistence remains a major obstacle for curing human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection. Thus, strategies for the elimination of latent HIV-1 are urgently needed. As a bromodomain and extra-terminal (BET) inhibitor, BMS-986158 has been used in clinical trials for advanced solid tumors and hematological malignancies. Here, we found that BMS-986158 reactivated latent HIV-1 in three types of HIV-1 latency cells in vitro, and in combination antiretroviral therapy (cART)-treated patient-derived peripheral blood mononuclear cells ex vivo, without influencing global immune cell activation. BMS-986158 reactivated latent HIV-1 by increasing phosphorylation of CDK9 at Thr186 and promoting recruitment of CDK9 and RNA polymerase II to the HIV-1 long terminal repeat in J-Lat cells. Furthermore, BMS-986158 exerted strong synergism in reactivating latent HIV-1 when combined with prostratin and vorinostat and enhanced the antiviral activity of anti-HIV-1 drugs. Finally, BMS-986158 showed antiviral activity in an HIV-1 acute infection model, possibly by arresting the cell cycle in infected cells. Thus, these results suggest that BMS-986158 is a potential candidate for AIDS/HIV-1 therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we address the trajectory tracking problem using the learning from demonstration (LFD) method. By using the LFD method, the parameter adjusting problem in the tracking controller is avoided. Consequently, a strategy can be provided to users with limited parameter adjusting experience. The kinematic tracking problem is formulated as a second-order system and the objective is to simultaneously reduce the errors in position and velocity. The extreme learning machines (ELM) algorithm is applied in the controller design. The velocity and position are utilized as the inputs and the output is the robot corrected kinematic movement. The controller parameters are learned from the desired human or programming demonstrations taking into consideration the stability constraints. In this work, we analyze the system local and global asymptotic stability in detail. The effectiveness of the proposed strategy is demonstrated by simulation comparisons and a practical experiment using a KUKA robot manipulator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deep convolutional neural networks (DCNNs) have dominated as the best performers on almost all computer vision tasks over the past several years. However, it remains a major challenge to deploy these powerful DCNNs in resource-limited environments, such as embedded devices and smartphones. To this end, 1-bit CNNs have emerged as a feasible solution as they are much more resource-efficient. Unfortunately, they often suffer from a significant performance drop compared to their full-precision counterparts. In this paper, we propose a novel Bayesian Optimized compact 1-bit CNNs (BONNs) model, which has the advantage of Bayesian learning, to improve the performance of 1-bit CNNs significantly. BONNs incorporate the prior distributions of full-precision kernels, features, and filters into a Bayesian framework to construct 1-bit CNNs in a comprehensive end-to-end manner. The proposed Bayesian learning algorithms are well-founded and used to optimize the network simultaneously in different kernels, features, and filters, which largely improves the compactness and capacity of 1-bit CNNs. We further introduce a new Bayesian learning-based pruning method for 1-bit CNNs, which significantly increases the model efficiency with very competitive performance. This enables our method to be used in a variety of practical scenarios. Extensive experiments on the ImageNet, CIFAR, and LFW datasets show that BONNs achieve the best in classification performance compared to a variety of state-of-the-art 1-bit CNN models. In particular, BONN achieves a strong generalization performance on the object detection task. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The conversion of carbon dioxide (CO 2) into fuel using solar energy holds significant promise. However, the inefficient use of light and poor production activity have hindered its development. Here, we propose a simple in situ annealing oxidation method by coating a layer of TiO 2 outside TiN, a material with a favorable price and localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) effect, to create an L-TiNO composite. The yield of CO over L-TiNO (50.8 μmol g−1 h−1) is 56.4 times that over TiO 2 (0.9 μmol g−1 h−1) under visible light irradiation in pure aqueous environment, with a selectivity of 95.98%. In-situ Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) measurements reflect the CO 2 -COOH*-CO conversion route happening on L-TiNO. Characterizations like the Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) technique confirm the generation of built-in electric field, which facilitates efficient carrier separation and migration. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations support that L-TiNO with LSPR effect alters the shape of absorbed CO 2 to facilitate generation COOH* via forming hydroxyl end group (Ti-OH) and promotes CO* desorption to CO(g). This work provides valuable insights into the coupling of plasmonic materials with semiconductors to achieve efficient solar energy utilization. [Display omitted] • The TiN coating with a layer of TiO 2 was synthesized. • The yield of CO over L-TiNO is higher than that of TiO 2. • Density functional theory (DFT) calculations support that L-TiNO with LSPR effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At temperatures below 0 °C, reactive multiphase flow in the gas diffusion layer (GDL) of a fuel cell can interfere with the cell's cold-start performance. A good model is still lacking for addressing this problem. In this study, a novel multi-physics pore-scale model for multiphase reactive flow and heat transfer is proposed. Effects of micro-porous layer crack width, crack spacing, porosity, and an initial ice droplet are studied. The results show that as the electrochemical reaction progresses, the bottom temperature gradually increases and heat is conducted into the GDL. Increasing the pore width results in an increase in the volume of liquid water in the GDL. At a spacing of 75 μm, carbon fibers have only a small effect on the movement of liquid water. With an increase in porosity, the electrochemical performance improves. When ice droplets are present in the flow channels of liquid water, the liquid water will merge with the melted ice droplets due to surface tension, thereby accelerating the flow. When an ice droplet is located on the sides of the flow channel and near fewer carbon fibers, the liquid water changes its direction of movement after merging with the melted ice droplet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A validated numerical tool is applied to conduct a fully coupled dynamic analysis for a wave energy converter moored by three taut nylon ropes with nonlinear axial stiffness considered. After that, a bi-directional long short-term memory neural network (Bi-LSTM) is developed to predict mooring tension time series, and the simulated data are used to train and check the accuracy of the Bi-LSTM. The influence of the optimizer, the length of memory and the training duration on the performance of the Bi-LSTM is discussed, and the best parameters are determined by evaluating error indexes, including the average absolute error, the root mean square error, the standard deviation error, the mean value error, the maximum value error and the R-squared value. After the architecture of the Bi-LSTM is determined, the model is used to predict mooring tension time series under different application scenarios. The mooring tensions are predicted precisely by the Bi-LSTM, as the relative errors are less than 7% and the R-squared error is greater than 0.96 in all study cases. It is seen that the proposed model is an efficient and accurate tool for designing mooring systems which use synthetic fibre ropes. • The numerical model for conducting the fully coupled dynamic analysis is validated by experimental results. • a bi-directional long short-term memory neural network (Bi-LSTM) is developed to predict mooring tension time series. • The optimal parameters of the Bi-LSTM model are determined. • The performance of the Bi-LSTM model is meticulously studied. • The Bi-LSTM mooring tensions are accurate, as the relative errors are less than 7% and the R2 is greater than 0.96 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Stream-function-based (SFB) method is developed for 2D particle tracking along exact streamlines. • The branch cut effect of multivariable stream function around wells is avoided. • Unlike existing methods, the SFB method does not lead to accumulative errors in the particle position. Particle tracking is an essential process in analyzing groundwater flow and solute transport in aquifers. A drawback of existing particle tracking methods, which are based on approximate estimations of the velocity in a time step, is the accumulative errors of numerous time steps would lead to deviation of particles away from the exact streamlines, especially when pumping and injecting wells exist. In this study, to improve the accuracy of particle tracking for the two-dimensional (2D) steady-state flow around wells, we propose a stream-function-based (SFB) particle tracking method in which a particle is traced along the exact streamline with a given value of the stream function, and the branch cut effect caused by the multivalued stream function around a well is eliminated. Three synthetic cases are used to demonstrate the advantages of the SFB method over the existing Pollock method and the fourth-order Runge-Kutta method. In the cases of a single pumping well and an injecting-pumping well pair, the Pollock and Runge-Kutta methods yield pathways that may be far away from the exact streamline, but the SFB method performs much better. In the case with a pumping well and two injecting wells, the SFB method successfully delineated a narrow capture zone of the pumping well, which requires a high accuracy particle tracking process. Moreover, the accuracy of particle positions obtained by the SFB method is insensitive to the step-travel distance. The study would be useful for accurate investigation of flow fields in aquifers disturbed by wells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Increased temperature improved plant growth and photosynthetic carbon fixation. • O 3 inhibited growth, and Quercus mongolica has a self-repair ability to O 3 stress. • The adverse effects of O 3 on growth and C fixation were mitigated by air warming. • Urban trees show a species-specific difference in plant functional traits. With continuous urbanization and climate warming, increased air temperature and elevated ozone (O 3) concentration often co-occur in many urban areas, but we still lack information about the interactive effects of warming and elevated O 3 on urban trees. In the present experiment, the single and combined effects of increased air temperature (IT, ambient air temperature + 2 °C) and elevated O 3 (EO, ambient air O 3 concentrations + 80 ppb) on carbon (C) fixation and allocation in Quercus mongolica and Pinus tabuliformis, which are widely used as street tree species in urban areas of China, were investigated over two consecutive growing seasons by using 13C isotope techniques. The results showed that IT increased biomass, photosynthetic gas exchange parameters and total 13C content of both tree species. Compared to ambient temperature, IT significantly increased the total 13C content labelled by 56.6 % in Q. mongolica and by 31.2 % in P. tabuliformis in 2021. Elevated O 3 induced a decrease in biomass and net photosynthetic rate (P n) in both tree species. Compared to ambient O 3, elevated O 3 significantly decreased P n by 52.6 % in Q. mongolica and by 37.4 % in P. tabuliformis in 2020. The treatment EO decreased 13C allocation to roots but increased 13C content and distribution in leaves in Q. mongolica. These findings demonstrated that EO inhibited the growth and photosynthesis of the two tree species. Our results showed that Q. mongolica was more sensitive to IT and EO than P. tabuliformis , but the former has a self-repair mechanism under increased O 3 stress as it is able to invest more carbon to repair leaf damage to a certain extent. Our study also found that the total biomass, relative growth rate, P n and total 13C content remained higher under the combination of IT and EO compared to EO alone, suggesting that moderate warming may mitigate the negative effects of elevated O 3 stress to some extent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• LUAD patients with high expression of SFXN1 had a worse prognosis. • SFXN1 is associated with 18F-FDG PET/CT metabolic parameters in clinical LUAD patients. • Targeting SFXN1 may treat LUAD by inhibiting the progression of aerobic glycolysis. Sideroflexin 1 (SFXN1) has been discovered as a novel tumor marker for lung adenocarcinoma, but data on its importance in the development of lung adenocarcinoma is still limited. This study evaluated the correlation between SFXN1 and parameters related to 18F-flurodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT), and further explored the role of SFXN1 in the value-added and glycolytic processes of LUAD. The expression and prognostic value of SFXN1 mRNA in LUAD were analyzed using The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) data base. Retrospective analysis of 18F-FDG PET imaging and metabolic parameters in 42 patients to explore the relationship between the expression of SFXN1 and glucose metabolism levels in lung adenocarcinoma and its clinical significance. H1975 cells were selected as the in vitro research object, and the biological effects of SFXN1 on LUAD were further elucidated through Edu proliferation assay, CCK8 activity assay, wound healing experiment, and cell flow cytometry. SFXN1 is highly expressed in various tumors, including LUAD, and its high expression can serve as an independent predictor of overall survival in lung adenocarcinoma. In addition, the expression of SFXN1 in LUAD was significantly correlated with 18F-FDG PET/CT parameters: maximum and average standardized uptake values (SUVmax and SUVmean), as well as total lesion glycolysis (TLG) (rho = 0.574, 0.589, and 0.338, p < 0.05), which can predict the expression of SFXN1 with an accuracy of 0.934. In vitro functional experiments have shown that knocking down SFXN1 inhibits the proliferation and migration of LUAD cells, promotes cell apoptosis, and may inhibit tumor activity by regulating the expression of glycolytic related genes SLC2A1, HK2, GPI, ALDOA, GAPDH, ENO1, PKM, and LDHA. The overexpression of SFXN1 is closely related to FDG uptake, and SFXN1, as a promising prognostic biomarker, may mediate the development of LUAD through the glycolytic pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• 3D pathways of IGF are identified with an assessment on flow rates. • IGF contributes 36%∼59% to the baseflow and 32%∼52% to the streamflow in the studied river. • Infiltration recharge and aquifer properties affect the development of IGF. Inter-basin groundwater flow (IGF), defined as groundwater flows across the topographic divides, occurs in nature as a common phenomenon, and seriously affect water balance and solute transport in a basin. Although the existence of IGF has been checked in drainage basins with indirect methods, such as using information of hydrogeochemistry, few studies are conducted to directly identify and quantify the IGF in the three-dimensional (3D) space using numerical modeling of groundwater flow. In this study, we identify, partition and quantify IGF based on a regional-scale 3D groundwater flow model covering several traditional surface water basins. The investigation is focused on the Hailiutu River, a groundwater-fed stream in the Ordos Plateau, China. It is the first time that the source zones and 3D paths of IGF as well as its contribution to the streamflow are fully captured for a groundwater-fed stream. Results indicate that the IGF contributes 36%∼59% to the baseflow and 32%∼52% to the streamflow of the Hailiutu River, through different groups of circulation paths with the maximum depth up to ∼ 1000 m. Uncertainty analyses of the model show that the contribution of IGF to the streamflow is positively correlated to the infiltration recharge and hydraulic conductivities of the aquifer media. Several indirect methods are also checked for comparison, but they could only be used to assess the potential contribution of IGF, not the IGF paths. This study will facilitate in deeply understanding the evolution mechanism of the inter-basin groundwater circulation and the interaction between surface water and groundwater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) primarily spreads through imbalanced social distancing practices. Automatic analysis is possible through deep learning-based methods to understand and control COVID-19. Healthcare analysis and prediction are best made in the situation of a pandemic such as COVID-19. This analysis can be used to classify the COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 groups and social distancing measures with good estimation by preventing immense dissemination. Postpreventive measures require parallel reinforcement to analyse current, upcoming, and uncertain situations of COVID-19 prevalence, which are effectively handled by implementing multicriteria decision-making methods. Herein, we estimate and measure the social distance by deep learning technique usage (You Only Look Once, Version 3 is a real-time object detection algorithm) in the proposed model for the analytic network process. The multicriteria decision making increases the evaluation of the risk factors. The modification of the pandemic model increases the application of social distancing and preventive measures. This model will alert us when the number of people exceeds in some area from the experimented barrier. RISTECB simulation is used in the preventive measures of the social distance among the sample population to see the initiators, infectors, suspicious, expirer, survivor, and transmitters. Postpreventive criteria used those results to set the barriers that are the critical points for prevention in uncertain situations. Therefore, this paper aimed to develop a framework, including social distancing and distance estimation, by using deep learning-based techniques through multicriteria decision-making methods such as the analytical network process. For simulation for statistical information of inclusive information of preventive measures and postpreventive measures, an automatic resonant transfer learning-based practice is used. General proportional analyses illustrate that the projected model helps in postpandemic COVID-19 preventive measures by amalgamating multiple techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Triple-stranded metallo-supramolecular helicates were readily constructed by achieving a coordination of the gallium(iii) cation by ligands based on 2,7- and 2,6-disubstituted triptycenes. The significance of these building blocks in the construction of helicates with the capability for guest encapsulation was also revealed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chiral pseudo[1]rotaxanes and [1]rotaxanes constructed from macrocyclic arenes still remain a big challenge mainly owing to the lack of such chiral macrocycles. In this work, a new system of chiral pseudo[1]rotaxanes formed by self‐inclusion of helic[6]arene containing amide linked with the terminal tertiary amines was first discovered. Based on an atom‐economic stopping strategy, a pair of chiral [1]rotaxanes were conveniently obtained in almost quantitative yields by blocking the pseudo[1]rotaxanes with monobenzyl bromide of tetraphenylethene. The structures of pseudo[1]rotaxanes and [1]rotaxanes were characterized by 2D NMR spectra in solution, combined with DFT calculations. The photophysical properties further revealed the efficient chirality transfer of helic[6]arene to the tetraphenylethene moiety, compared to their unthreaded chiral isomers. The discovery of the chiral pseudo[1]rotaxanes allows for a wide and available synthesis of chiral [1]rotaxanes, and also opening a new avenue to the design of chiral supramolecular materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building region extraction from ALS point clouds has been widely studied, whereas instance-level building mapping has been overlooked and remains unsolved. In this study, we present a method to extract individual buildings from ALS point clouds with the help of widely accessible polygonal footprints. The key idea is to merge roof segments to a set of building candidates, from which correct instances are selected by finding optimal matches between polygonal footprints and building candidates. The method has three steps: roof segmentation, building candidate generation, and instance-polygon matching. The method is tested on two large-scale scenes of different building types and can generally achieve high instance-level building mapping accuracy (around 90%) when there are large positioning errors (6.0 m) among polygons. Future work will focus on classification errors in preprocessing, shape inconsistency between point clouds and polygons, and building footprint delineation and updating in postprocessing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A large number of gases are releasing from the medium-high temperature geothermal fields distributed along the large-scale strike-slip fault zones in the southeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau. In this study, 11 hot spring water and the associated bubbling gas samples were collected along the Xianshuihe-Anninghe fault zones (XSH-ANHFZ) and analyzed for chemical and isotopic compositions. The δ 18 O H 2 O and δ D H 2 O values indicate that hot spring waters are predominantly meteoric origin recharged from different altitudes. Most water samples are significantly enriched in Na+ and HCO3− due to the dissolution of regional evaporites, carbonates and Na-silicates. 3He/4He ratios of the gas samples are 0.025–2.73 times the atmospheric value. The 3He/4He ratios are high in the Kangding region where the dense faults are distributed, and gradually decrease with increasing distance from Kangding towards both sides along the Xianshuihe fault zones (XSHFZ). Hydrothermal fluids have dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) concentrations from 2 to 42 mmol L−1, δ13CDIC from −6.9‰ to 1.3‰, δ 13 C CO 2 from −7.2‰ to −3.6‰ and Δ14C from −997‰ to −909‰. Combining regional geochemical and geological information, the CO2 sources can be attributed to deep-sourced CO2 from mantle and metamorphism of marine carbonate, and shallow-sourced CO2 from the dissolution of marine carbonate and biogenic CO2. The mass balance model shows that 11±6% of the DIC is sourced from the dissolution of shallow carbonate minerals, 9±8% formed by pyrolysis of sedimentary organic matter, 80±9% derived from deep metamorphic origin and mantle-derived CO2. Among them, the deep-sourced CO2 in Anninghe fault zones (ANHFZ) is merely metamorphic carbon, whereas ca. 12% and ca. 88% of the deep-sourced CO2 in the XSHFZ are derived from the mantle and metamorphic carbon, respectively. The average deep-sourced CO2 flux in the Kangding geothermal field is estimated to be 160 t a−1. If all the hot springs in various fault zones in the southeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau are taken into account, the regional deep-sourced CO2 flux would reach ca. 105 t a−1. These results show that the deep-sourced CO2 released from non-volcanic areas might account for a considerable proportion of the total amount of global deep-sourced carbon degassing, which should be paid more attention to. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We reformulate 1-bit convolutional nerual networks via a data-driven manner. • A data-adaptive method is proposed to improve 1-bit convolutional neural networks. • A generic module is developed, which can be easily combined with other 1-bit convolutional neural networks. • An efficient binary object detection framework is formulated to balance efficiency and accuracy. • Performance of 1-bit convolutional neural networks on object detection and recognition are enhanced. Binary neural networks (BNNs) are promising for computational resource-limited devices, but the degradation of feature representation capacity stifles performance due to binarization. The reason is that existing methods fail to adapt to their input when approximating full-precision features. In this paper, we introduce the DA-BNN, a data-adaptive amplitude method based on spatial and channel attention. We generate an adaptive amplitude for a better feature approximation and minimize the gap between the real-valued and 1-bit convolution. Our adaptive amplitude introduces negligible storage but can significantly enhance the performance. Extensive experiments on object detection and recognition are conducted for the comprehensive evaluation of our methods. Our method achieves 64.0% on Pascal VOC with saving of the storage and computation by 18.62 × and 15.77 × , respectively. While on ImageNet, compared to the full-precision counterpart, 11.04 × and 10.80 × saving on storage and computation are obtained with just 3% drop on accuracy, demonstrating the effectiveness on both objective detection and recognition tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To evaluate the impact of reresection on the clinical outcome in patients with primary high-risk nonmuscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) who initially received en bloc transurethral resection. Methods: A retrospective analysis of data on eligible high-risk NMIBC with en bloc resection from June 2015 to June 2019 was performed. Patients were divided into two groups based on the presence or absence of reresection after the initial en bloc resection. In the first group (reresection group), patients underwent en bloc reresection within 6 weeks. In the second group (non-reresection group), patients did not undergo en bloc reresection. Pathologic findings in patients with reresection and cystoscopic findings in all patients 3 months after initial resection were recorded. The primary study endpoint was recurrence-free survival (RFS). The secondary outcomes were the residual rate of the tumor after initial en bloc resection, tumor upstaging rate, and progression-free survival. Results: We identified 115 eligible patients, including 51 (44.3%) who underwent reresection within 6 weeks of the initial en bloc resection and 64 (55.7%) who did not undergo en bloc reresection after the initial en bloc resection. The clinicopathologic features were similar in patients with or without reresection. On finding tumor residues after the first en bloc resection, there were three cases (5.9%) in the reresection group compared with two cases (3.1%) in the non-reresection group (p = 0.473). Two patients (3.9%) in the reresection group had tumor progression to muscle-invasive bladder cancer, whereas one patient (1.6%) in the non-reresection group exhibited tumor progression (p = 0.430). The 1-year RFS rate was 94.1% in the reresection group and 90.6% in the non-reresection group (p = 0.269). In multivariate analysis, multifocality and T1 staging were independent prognostic factors for recurrence in patients with high-risk NMIBC who underwent en bloc resection. Conclusion: In patients with high-risk NMIBC not exceeding 4 cm in diameter with no more than four lesions and not in the anterior bladder wall, reresection after en bloc resection seems to have failed to improve the patient's prognosis. We predict that the future trend in the treatment of patients with high-risk NMIBC is from reresection to en bloc resection. However, a randomized controlled clinical study is required to confirm this hypothesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mutual inductance parameters change from time to time. When conducting dynamic wireless power transfer using an inductive power transfer system, it results in larger fluctuation of output power. Therefore, a parameter optimization method is necessary to improve the stability of inductive power transfer system during dynamic misalignment. In this study, a nonlinear programing model with objective function of minimum voltage gain difference was established by taking S-LCC topology as an example. Genetic algorithm and nonlinear programming were combined to optimize the compensating parameters of the system and to realize minimum fluctuation of output voltage gain of the system within any given range of mutual inductance parameters. Optimization results show that output stability can be realized by adjusting the compensation capacitance in the primary side. The feasibility of the theory was verified through stimulation and test prototype. Test results show that when the mutual induction range is from 29.3 μH to 84.3 μH, the voltage gain of the system varies from 0.67 to 0.77. The fluctuation ratio of voltage gain is 6.7%, and the fluctuation ratio of voltage gain under the circumstance of resonance parameters is 40.2%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One key challenge in the point cloud segmentation is the detection and split of overlapping regions between different planes. The existing methods depend on the similarity and the dissimilarity in neighbor regions without a global constraint, which brings the ‘over-’ and ‘under-’ segmentation in the results. Hence, this paper presents a pipeline of the accurate plane segmentation for point clouds to address the shortcoming in the local optimization. There are two phases included in the proposed segmentation process. One is a local phase to calculate connectivity scores between different planes based on local variations of surface normals. In this phase, a new optimal-vector-field is formulated to detect the plane intersections. The optimal-vector-field is large in magnitude at plane intersections and vanishing at other regions. The other one is a global phase to smooth local segmentation cues to mimic leading eigenvector computation in the graph-cut. Evaluation of two datasets shows that the achieved precision and recall is 94.50 percent and 90.81 percent on the collected mobile LiDAR data and obtains an average accuracy of 75.4 percent on an open benchmark, which outperforms the state-of-the-art methods in terms of completeness and correctness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We systematically study a concealed voter model with heterogeneous reaction rates including the copying rate, externalization rate and internalization rate of each voter, which corresponds to the heterogeneity of activity of real people. By means of heterogeneous mean-field treatment, we derive the evolution equations of the system which allow us to construct a conserved quantity that governs the dynamical process. And furthermore, we also obtain the analytical expressions for the consensus time along with the exit probability. Our studies suggest that the heterogeneous copying rate and internalization rate can decelerate the consensus process, whereas the heterogeneous externalization rate does the opposite but slightly. All the analytical predictions are validated by extensive computer simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The aim of the study was to explore the outcomes of computed tomography‐guided microwave ablation (MWA) in non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with adjacent lobe invasion (ALI), and to compare the outcomes of ALI‐NSCLC and non‐ALI NSCLC patients after MWA. Methods: A total of 319 NSCLC patients and 366 tumors treated with MWA were included in the study, comprising 34 ALI‐NSCLC patients and 285 non‐ALI NSCLC patients. Complications, local recurrence rates, progression‐free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS) were compared. Logistic regression analyses were used to investigate the correlation between ALI and the occurrence of pneumothorax after MWA. Results: The mean tumor diameter of ablated tumors was 3.6 ± 2.2 cm. There were 95 (29.8%) NSCLC patients in which pneumothorax occurred after MWA, and all patients recovered. Of these, the ALI group had a significantly higher incidence rate of pneumothorax than the non‐ALI group (52.9% vs. 27.0%, p = 0.002). The median PFS and OS for the ALI group were 12.0 ± 10.2 and 15.5 ± 9.5 months, respectively, and that of the non‐ALI group were 13.0 ± 10.6 and 17.0 ± 11.1 months, respectively, and no significant difference was found in PFS (p = 0.329) nor OS (p = 0.394) between the two groups. Local recurrence rates for ALI and non‐ALI groups were 29.4% and 20.7%, respectively, and no significant difference was found (p = 0.244). Logistic regression analyses revealed that ALI can increase the risk of pneumothorax (hazard ratio [HR], 2.867; p = 0.012). Conclusions: MWA is an effective and safe approach for ALI‐NSCLC treatment. Although ALI can increase the risk of pneumothorax, ALI‐NSCLC patients reveal a comparable outcome to non‐ALI NSCLC patients after MWA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We report the first mantle degassing transect across a continental convergent margin. • Three levels of mantle He degassing are recognized based on 3He/4He distribution. • Causes for possible decoupled He-Sr isotopes of Quaternary basalts are explored. • Volatile origin and outgassing are controlled by continental convergence processes. Mantle degassing transect across different tectonic units within a plate convergent setting has been well documented for oceanic convergent margins by systematic changes in geochemistry (e.g., 3He/4He, δ13C, and CO 2 /3He) of hydrothermal gases. However, little is known about spatial variations in volatile geochemistry across a continental convergent margin. In this study, we identify a mantle degassing transect in the southeastern Tibetan Plateau using He-CO 2 systematics of hydrothermal gases, which extends from India-Asia continental convergent margin to intra-continent extensional region. δ13C-CO 2 (−11.8‰ to −3.1‰) and CO 2 /3He (1.7 × 108 to 7.1 × 1011) values of hydrothermal gases show large variations that are consistent with modification by secondary physico-chemical processes, such as multi-component mixing, hydrothermal degassing, and calcite precipitation. Three levels of He degassing can be recognized based on 3He/4He dataset (0.01–5.87 R A) of the hydrothermal gas samples and their distances to volcanic centers. A magmatic level He degassing (35–74% mantle He) is found near active and/or Quaternary volcanoes fed by mantle-derived magmas. With increasing distance to volcanic centers, the outgassed magmatic volatiles are gradually diluted by crustal components (e.g., radiogenic 4He), defining a transitional level He degassing (13–33% mantle He). The 3He/4He values (8.16–8.48 R A) of olivine phenocrysts indicate a MORB (mid-ocean ridge basalts)-type mantle source for the magmatic and transitional levels of He degassing that are localized in Quaternary volcanic fields. In contrast, a background level He degassing (<12% mantle He) dominates the entire study area, and can be attributed to (i) degassing of sub-continental lithospheric mantle, and/or (ii) higher degrees of crustal contamination than those of the transitional level He degassing near volcanic centers. Combined with olivine 3He/4He data reported in this study and whole-rock 87Sr/86Sr data of host basalts from literature, source components of the mantle-derived magmas are suggested to include the MORB-type convective mantle, subducted Indian slab materials, and less degassed mantle materials, which can account for the possible decoupling between He and Sr isotope systematics. These findings delineate the origin and outgassing of mantle volatiles controlled by the India-Asia continental convergence, and would contribute to a better understanding of the deeply-sourced volatile emissions in these tectonic settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The genus Burretiodendron Rehder is currently endemic to an area near the China–Vietnam border and the limestone mountains of Thailand and Myanmar. The fossil records of this genus were previously found only from the Miocene of Yunnan, Southwest China, and the Oligocene of Guangxi, South China. Here, we describe fossil fruits and associated leaves of Burretiodendron, which were discovered in the lower Oligocene Shangcun Formation of the Maoming Basin, Guangdong, South China. Morphological comparison with extant and fossil Burretiodendron taxa indicates that fruit fossils belong to the species Burretiodendron parvifructum J. Lebreton Anberrée & Z. K. Zhou. This is one of the earliest fossil records of the genus, providing additional evidence for the early biogeographic history of this genus and supporting the inference that the genus originated in South China. According to the habitat conditions of modern species, we speculate that there were limestone mountains around the Maoming Basin in the early Oligocene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: This study aims to compare the epidemiological, clinical and laboratory characteristics between patients with coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and influenza A (H1N1), and to develop a differentiating model and a simple scoring system. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed the data from patients with COVID-19 and H1N1. The logistic regression model based on clinical and laboratory characteristics was constructed to distinguish COVID-19 from H1N1. Scores were assigned to each of independent discrimination factors based on their odds ratios. The performance of the prediction model and scoring system was assessed. RESULTS: A total of 236 patients were recruited, including 20 COVID-19 patients and 216 H1N1 patients. Logistic regression revealed that age >34 years, temperature ≤37.5 µC, no sputum or myalgia, lymphocyte ratio ≥20% and creatine kinase-myocardial band isoenzyme (CK-MB) >9.7 U/L were independent differentiating factors for COVID-19. The area under curves (AUCs) of the prediction model and scoring system in differentiating COVID-19 from H1N1 were 0.988 and 0.962, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: There are certain differences in clinical and laboratory features between patients with COVID-19 and H1N1. The simple scoring system may be a useful tool for the early identification of COVID-19 patients from H1N1 patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hierarchically nested groundwater flow systems have been widely investigated by numerical modeling and laboratory experiments but seldom recognized from in situ observations and testing. Groundwater age and geochemical profiles were obtained by the authors using a packer system along two wellbores drilled in the Ordos Plateau, China. Groundwater age profiles were constructed from 3H, 85Kr, 14C, and 81Kr data, with the apparent age generally increasing with depth, while exhibiting several inflection points. These inflection points were compared with geochemical profiles and numerical modeling results to delineate groundwater flow systems. Inflection points with significant increases in the gradients of age and Cl− concentration versus depth may indicate interfaces among flow systems. A concurrent decrease‐increase turning of groundwater age and Cl− concentration is influenced by a stagnation point. The groundwater age profiles are quite different from previous studies, indicating that the method can greatly reduce the uncertainty in model construction. Plain Language Summary: The provision of renewable groundwater, a crucial source of drinking water worldwide, relies on a circulation path from recharge to discharge zones with a subsurface flow in reservoirs (aquifers). Basin‐scale groundwater circulation is speculated to form hierarchically nested flow systems with differing capabilities for renewal. However, flow systems are invisible and difficult to detect through in situ observations on groundwater. In this study, nested groundwater flow systems were identified from groundwater age and geochemical profiles along wellbores. Inflection points on these profiles provide significant insights into the interfaces and stagnation points among nested groundwater flow systems. Uncertainties could be brought by the aquifer heterogeneity in the hydraulic conductivity and localized soluble salts. This adopted method is expected to be improved by incorporating geophysical survey and high‐resolution geochemical analyses to eliminate uncertainties in model construction. Key Points: Groundwater age and geochemical profiles were obtained to investigate groundwater flow systemsInflection points on profiles are used to infer interfaces or stagnation points among different groundwater flow systemsGroundwater flow models constrained by inflection points greatly reduce the uncertainty of flow system characterization [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrogen ejectors effectively utilize excess unreacted hydrogen. However, traditional ejectors have limited operational ranges and are only suitable for specific power ranges. This paper presents a dual-nozzle ejector aimed at broadening its operational range through different working modes. A simulation model, validated by experiments, is employed based on the working principles of ejectors. Spiral blades are installed at drive end to improve the recirculation efficiency. Flow characteristics, including streamwise and spanwise vortices at high power, are also investigated in different modes. Results indicate that optimal operating range for Ring-nozzle(RN) mode is between 31.1 and 124.4A. When output current exceeds 124.4A, it is necessary to switch to Central-nozzle (CN) or Double-nozzles (DNs) mode. Analysis of streamlines and velocity vectors reveals that installing spiral blades can modify directions of primary flow. Blades with appropriate distortion should be selected. In CN mode, when stack reaches 60% of rated power, installing 20° spiral blades has a minimal impact on stability of radial flow. Installing 30° or 40° spiral blades is suitable for full-load condition. In DNs mode, installing 30° spiral blades enhances acceleration of gas flow with lower influence from radial influx. This ejector provides assurance for upgrade of fuel cell stacks by incorporating recirculation technology. • A dual-nozzle ejector with spiral guide blades is designed, verified and evaluated. • Installed spiral blades change direction and gather kinetic energy of primary flow. • Advantageous working conditions of different modes with blades are discussed. • Flow mechanism of different blades under high power in two modes is analyzed. • Flow acceleration and losses should be balanced by changing the twist of blades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new macrocyclic arene, dibenzofuran[3]arene, was synthesized, which could be conveniently transformed to an O-doped aromatic belt with a rigid ring-shaped structure and deep cavity. Moreover, the O-doped aromatic belt also showed a high HOMO energy and a narrow HOMO-LUMO gap experimentally and theoretically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Manganese‐based layered oxides are currently of significant interest as cathode materials for sodium‐ion batteries due to their low toxicity and high specific capacity. However, the practical applications are impeded by sluggish intrinsic Na+ migration and poor structure stability as a result of Jahn–Teller distortion and complicated phase transition. In this study, a high‐entropy strategy is proposed to enhance the high‐voltage capacity and cycling stability. The designed P2‐Na0.67Mn0.6Cu0.08Ni0.09Fe0.18Ti0.05O2 achieves a deeply desodiation and delivers charging capacity of 158.1 mAh g−1 corresponding to 0.61 Na with a high initial Coulombic efficiency of 98.2 %. The charge compensation is attributed to the cationic and anionic redox reactions conjunctively. Moreover, the crystal structure is effectively stabilized, leading to a slight variation of lattice parameters. This research carries implications for the expedited development of low‐cost, high‐energy‐density cathode materials for sodium‐ion batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The design and synthesis of nitrogen‐doped aromatic belts with conjugated structures still remain a challenge. Here, we report the first nitrogen‐doped aromatic belt with a [6]cycloparaphenylene skeleton, which is conveniently synthesized from the easily available calix[3]carbazole. The aromatic belt has a rigid conjugated structure and deep cavity, and it can encapsulate one dichloromethane both in solution and in the solid state. Interestingly, the aromatic belt shows strong green fluorescence with a quantum yield of 0.39 and exhibits a narrow HOMO–LUMO energy gap of 2.02 eV. The belt‐shaped conjugated structure composed of three carbazole subunits has specific optoelectronic properties that will promote wide applications in supramolecular chemistry and materials science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The design and synthesis of nitrogen‐doped aromatic belts with conjugated structures still remain a challenge. Here, we report the first nitrogen‐doped aromatic belt with a [6]cycloparaphenylene skeleton, which is conveniently synthesized from the easily available calix[3]carbazole. The aromatic belt has a rigid conjugated structure and deep cavity, and it can encapsulate one dichloromethane both in solution and in the solid state. Interestingly, the aromatic belt shows strong green fluorescence with a quantum yield of 0.39 and exhibits a narrow HOMO–LUMO energy gap of 2.02 eV. The belt‐shaped conjugated structure composed of three carbazole subunits has specific optoelectronic properties that will promote wide applications in supramolecular chemistry and materials science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The application of convolutional neural networks (CNNs) in computer vision highly depends on the consumption of computation and memory resources, which affects its development on resource-limited devices. Accordingly, CNN compression has attracted increasing attention. In this paper, we propose an efficient end-to-end pruning method based on feature stabilization (EPFS), which is feasible to be implemented for structured pruning such as filter pruning and block pruning. For block pruning, we introduce a mask to scale the output of structures and the ℓ 1 -regularization term to sparsify the mask. For filter pruning, a novel ℓ 2 -regularization term is proposed to constraint the mask along with the ℓ 1 -regularization. Besides, we introduce the Center Loss to stabilize the deep feature and fast iterative shrinkage-thresholding algorithm (FISTA) to accelerate the convergence of mask. Extensive experiments demonstrate the superiority of our EPFS. On CIFAR-10, EPFS saves 47.5 % FLOPs on VGGNet with 1.17 % Top-1 accuracy increase. Furthermore, on ImageNet ILSVRC2012, EPFS reduces 55.2 % FLOPs on ResNet-18 with o.nly 1.63 % Top-1 accuracy decrease, which promotes the state-of-the-arts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An approach to the highly efficient synthesis of C(sp3)‐bridged [6]cycloparaphenylenes (C[6]CPPs) from fluoren[3]arenes (F[3]As) was developed. Consequently, F[3]As as a new kind of macrocyclic arenes were synthesized. Followed by the demethylation, triflation and intramolecular aryl–aryl coupling reactions, C[6]CPPs were then conveniently obtained. Interestingly, C[6]CPPs could be selectively methylated to produce their fully outer‐methyl‐substituted derivatives. The crystal structures showed the hydroxyl‐substituted F[3]As had bowl‐shaped conformations, and the C[6]CPPs exhibited rigid belt‐shaped structures with deep cavities. Moreover, C[6]CPPs exhibited high HOMO energies and narrow energy gaps. An unclosed belt was further obtained, and it not only showed a similar narrow energy gap to those of the aromatic belts, but also displayed strong fluorescence property, which can play a vital role in the design and synthesis of new aromatic belts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An approach to the highly efficient synthesis of C(sp3)‐bridged [6]cycloparaphenylenes (C[6]CPPs) from fluoren[3]arenes (F[3]As) was developed. Consequently, F[3]As as a new kind of macrocyclic arenes were synthesized. Followed by the demethylation, triflation and intramolecular aryl–aryl coupling reactions, C[6]CPPs were then conveniently obtained. Interestingly, C[6]CPPs could be selectively methylated to produce their fully outer‐methyl‐substituted derivatives. The crystal structures showed the hydroxyl‐substituted F[3]As had bowl‐shaped conformations, and the C[6]CPPs exhibited rigid belt‐shaped structures with deep cavities. Moreover, C[6]CPPs exhibited high HOMO energies and narrow energy gaps. An unclosed belt was further obtained, and it not only showed a similar narrow energy gap to those of the aromatic belts, but also displayed strong fluorescence property, which can play a vital role in the design and synthesis of new aromatic belts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The design and synthesis of nitrogen‐doped aromatic belts with conjugated structures still remain a challenge. Here, we report the first nitrogen‐doped aromatic belt with a [6]cycloparaphenylene skeleton, which is conveniently synthesized from the easily available calix[3]carbazole. The aromatic belt has a rigid conjugated structure and deep cavity, and it can encapsulate one dichloromethane both in solution and in the solid state. Interestingly, the aromatic belt shows strong green fluorescence with a quantum yield of 0.39 and exhibits a narrow HOMO–LUMO energy gap of 2.02 eV. The belt‐shaped conjugated structure composed of three carbazole subunits has specific optoelectronic properties that will promote wide applications in supramolecular chemistry and materials science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel and environmentally friendly lignin-based surfactant sodium lignosulfonate (SLS) modified layered double hydroxide (LDH) flame retardant (LDH-LS) was fabricated via co-precipitation method, and subsequently incorporated into polypropylene (PP) matrix to obtain the PP and LDH-LS composites (PP/LDH-LS) by melt blending method. The XRD, FT-IR and XPS results indicated that SLS had successfully modified LDH by adsorbing on the surface of the LDH nanosheet. The WCA and SEM results revealed that the hydrophobic property of LDH-LS had been evidently improved, and it displayed a more homogeneous dispersion than virgin LDH in the PP matrix. Furthermore, cone calorimetry tests (CCT) illustrated that the peak heat release rate (PHRR), total heat release (THR), and total smoke release (TSR) of PP/LDH-LS composites exhibited declines of 62.9%, 25.1%, and 43.3% compared with those of Neat PP, respectively. Besides, the PP/LDH-LS achieved a LOI value of 29.4% and a UL-94 V-0 rating, whereas the PP/LDH showed only a LOI value of 25.2% and a UL-94 V-2 rating at 20 wt% loading. These improvements of flame retardant properties can be attributed to that the well-dispersed LDH-LS and synergistic flame retardancy between LDH and SLS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Catalytic alkene difunctionalization is a powerful strategy for the rapid assembly of complex molecules and has wide range of applications in synthetic chemistry. Despite significant progress, a compelling challenge that still needs to be solved is the installation of highly functionalized C(sp3)‐hybridized centers without requiring pre‐activated substrates. We herein report that inexpensive and easy‐to‐synthesize decatungstate photo‐HAT, in combination with nickel catalysis, provides a versatile platform for three‐component alkene difunctionalization through direct and selective activation of aliphatic C−H bonds. Compared with previous studies, the significant advantages of this strategy are that the most abundant hydrocarbons are used as feedstocks, and various highly functionalized tertiary, secondary, and primary C(sp3)‐hybrid centers can be easily installed. The practicability of this strategy is demonstrated in the selective late‐stage functionalization of natural products and the concise synthesis of pharmaceutically relevant molecules including Piragliatin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Catalytic alkene difunctionalization is a powerful strategy for the rapid assembly of complex molecules and has wide range of applications in synthetic chemistry. Despite significant progress, a compelling challenge that still needs to be solved is the installation of highly functionalized C(sp3)‐hybridized centers without requiring pre‐activated substrates. We herein report that inexpensive and easy‐to‐synthesize decatungstate photo‐HAT, in combination with nickel catalysis, provides a versatile platform for three‐component alkene difunctionalization through direct and selective activation of aliphatic C−H bonds. Compared with previous studies, the significant advantages of this strategy are that the most abundant hydrocarbons are used as feedstocks, and various highly functionalized tertiary, secondary, and primary C(sp3)‐hybrid centers can be easily installed. The practicability of this strategy is demonstrated in the selective late‐stage functionalization of natural products and the concise synthesis of pharmaceutically relevant molecules including Piragliatin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase 4 (NOX4) is a subtype of the NOX family, which is mainly expressed in the pulmonary vasculature and pulmonary endothelial cells in the respiratory system. NOX4 has unique characteristics, and is a constitutively active enzyme that primarily produces hydrogen peroxide. The signaling pathways associated with NOX4 are complicated. Negative and positive feedback play significant roles in regulating NOX4 expression. The role of NOX4 is controversial because NOX4 plays a protective or damaging role in different respiratory diseases. This review summarizes the structure, enzymatic properties, regulation, and signaling pathways of NOX4. This review then introduces the roles of NOX4 in different diseases in the respiratory system, such as acute respiratory distress syndrome, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and pulmonary fibrosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although chemoprophylaxis against venous thromboembolism (VTE) after Total Joint Arthroplasty (TJA) is commonly practiced, epidemiology studies have shown Asians have a much lower incidence of VTE. The authors aim to investigate if chemoprophylaxis is really necessary in the Asian population undergoing TJA. Literature searched was conducted for randomized controlled trials or quasi-experimental studies investigating efficacy and/or safety of chemoprophylaxis for TJA without language restrictions. Network meta-analysis, comparing the incidence of 'VTE to be treated', 'VTE not to be treated', 'Minor bleeding', and 'Major bleeding' amongst the different interventions was performed using multivariate meta-regression model. 38 studies (11,769 patients) were included. Total incidence of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE) were 14.2% and 0.73% respectively. For outcome on efficiency, edoxaban, low-molecular-weight-heparin (LMWH), fondaparinux, and enoxaparin showed significantly lower Risk Ratio (RR) for 'VTE to be treated' compared to Control/Placebo. Although no interventions showed increased incidence of major bleeding, LMWH and fondaparinux showed higher RR for minor bleeding. Enoxaparin displayed the best efficacy and safety profile. Total incidence of symptomatic DVT in studies involving enoxaparin was 1.98% (1.07% in patients who received enoxaparin, 2.92% in Control/Placebo). Total incidence of proximal DVT was 2.93% (2.67% in patients who received enoxaparin, 3.11% in Control/Placebo). Asian population has a much lower incidence of VTE events after TJA compared to the Western population. Although Enoxaparin is still efficacious in reducing symptomatic and proximal DVT after TJA, its benefit-to-risk ratio is much lower than described in the Western literature. • Enoxaparin has the best efficacy and safety profile in preventing venous thromboembolic events in the Asian population. • Asian population has a much lower incidence of venous thromboembolic events after total joint arthroplasty. • Although Enoxaparin is efficacious, its benefit-to-risk ratio is much lower than described in the Western literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19 is reported to have been brought under control in China. To understand the COVID-19 outbreak in China and provide potential lessons for other parts of the world, in this study we apply a mathematical model with multiple datasets to estimate the transmissibility of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the severity of the illness associated with the infection, and how both were affected by unprecedented control measures. Our analyses show that before 19th January 2020, 3.5% (95% CI 1.7–8.3%) of infected people were detected; this percentage increased to 36.6% (95% CI 26.1–55.4%) thereafter. The basic reproduction number (R0) was 2.33 (95% CI 1.96–3.69) before 8th February 2020; then the effective reproduction number dropped to 0.04(95% CI 0.01–0.10). This estimation also indicates that control measures taken since 23rd January 2020 affected the transmissibility about 2 weeks after they were introduced. The confirmed case fatality rate is estimated at 9.6% (95% CI 8.1–11.4%) before 15 February 2020, and then it reduced to 0.7% (95% CI 0.4–1.0%). This shows that SARS-CoV-2 virus is highly transmissible but may be less severe than SARS-CoV-1 and MERS-CoV. We found that at the early stage, the majority of R0 comes from undetected infectious people. This implies that successful control in China was achieved through reducing the contact rates among people in the general population and increasing the rate of detection and quarantine of the infectious cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report the tip-induced superconductivity on the topological semimetal NbSb2, similar to the observation on TaAs2 and NbAs2. Belonging to the same family of MPn2, all these materials possess similar band structures, indicating that the tip-induced superconductivity may be closely related to their topological nature and share a common mechanism. Further analysis suggests that a bulk band should play the dominant role in such local superconductivity most likely through interface coupling. In addition, the compatibility between the induced superconductivity and tips' ferromagnetism gives an evidence for its unconventional nature. These results provide further clues to elucidate the mechanism of the tip-induced superconductivity observed in topological materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]