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• The influences of seven critical parameters on the performance of dual-fuel engines were well investigated. • Methanol substitution for diesel benefits emissions reduction at low load and improves fuel economy at high load. • Soot and NOx emissions exhibit a sudden change at a diesel injection angle of 70°. • An increase in the initial swirl ratio improves fuel economy, reduces the ringing intensity, and lowers soot emissions at low load. Replacing fossil fuels with clean fuels as power sources is an effective method to reduce greenhouse gas and pollutant emissions, and methanol is a potential solution due to its excellent physical and chemical properties. The study comprehensively investigated the influences of the methanol substitution ratio (R m), three initial cylinder parameters, and three diesel injection parameters on the combustion and emission characteristics of a methanol/diesel dual fuel compression combustion engine. A CFD model coupling with the reaction mechanism for a dual-fuel engine was established and fully verified. The results indicate that methanol substitution for diesel benefits emissions reduction at low load and improves fuel economy at high load. Delaying the diesel injection time and increasing the diesel injection duration time deteriorate fuel economy but reduce NO x emissions. Soot and NO x emissions exhibit a sudden change at a diesel injection angle of 70°. Increasing the initial temperature of the combustion chamber promotes combustion while increasing the initial pressure improves fuel economy. The effect of the initial swirl ratio is mainly observed at low load, where an increase in the initial swirl ratio improves fuel economy, reduces ringing intensity (RI), and lowers soot emissions. The conclusion of this article will guide the development of clean power sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Micro-ellipsometry, employing a pixelated polarizing camera, enables rapid and accurate measurements of thin films. • A pixelated polarizing camera captures four subpixel images simultaneously. • Precise alignment of polarizing optics enhances the accuracy of the system. Micro-ellipsometry, an on-axis optical configuration, offers submicron spatial resolution compared to conventional ellipsometry. However, its lower precision, inaccurate system calibration, and alignment requirements have prevented its widespread use for semiconductor inspection. To address these limitations, we propose an enhanced micro-ellipsometry equipped with a pixelated polarizing camera. This approach enables real-time and high-precision characterization of the optical properties of thin films and semiconductor devices. Additionally, we propose a simple and fast alignment method for polarizing optical elements, utilizing the symmetric property of micro-ellipsometry along the azimuth angle. Experimental results were in good agreement with commercial ellipsometry, validating our proposed technique as a powerful tool for real-time semiconductor inspection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Vibro-acoustic modulation analysis is carried out to identify the micro-cracks in steel strands. • Modulated signal bispectrum is proposed to analyze the nonlinear signal of contact-type defect. • The modulated signal bispectrum provides clear peak detection under high noise conditions. • Numerical and experimental tests of straight/helical wire and multi-wire strands are verified. Under continuous environmental erosion and long-time high tension, fatigue micro-cracks of bridge cables appear frequently to challenge the reliability of cables. The vibro-acoustic modulation analysis is adopted because of its sensitivity to contact-type defects, especially fatigue cracks. In this paper, using multiple sets of low-frequency vibration and high-frequency ultrasonic excitation, the propagation of the ultrasonic wave in the steel strands is studied. Then, the modulated signal bispectrum is proposed to improve the detection reliability of nonlinear modulation components in the nonlinear vibro-acoustic modulation signal of the contact-type defect. The numerical simulations and laboratory tests of straight wire, helical wire, and multi-wire strands are carried out for micro-crack detection to verify the robustness of the proposed method. Compared with the traditional method, the modulated signal bispectrum can still produce clearer peak detection under high noise conditions. The results show that it provides a promising, dynamic and rapid cable defect detection technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] Neuropathic pain is chronic pain caused by a lesion or disease of the somatosensory nervous system. Neuropathic pain, with a high incidence and complex pathogenesis, is one of the most significant areas of clinical medicine and basic research. Currently, prescribed treatments are still unsatisfactory or have limited effectiveness. A medicinal preparation is required that relieves the neuropathic pain and prolongs action time, which has not yet been discovered. In this study, MIL-101 (Fe) was employed as a drug carrier to regulate the release of diclofenac sodium, thereby achieving the effect of analgesia and sustained release. The release curves demonstrated that diclofenac sodium could be continuously released from MIL-101 (Fe) for more than 48 h. There was no toxicity in vitro and in vivo, and the safety of MIL-101 (Fe) was confirmed by hematoxylin and eosin as well as ELISA tests in vivo. The results of behavioral testing, pharmacokinetics, and RNA sequencing analysis showed that MIL-101 (Fe) loaded with diclofenac sodium could enhance the mechanical withdrawal threshold and alleviate cold allodynia induced by Spared Nerve Injury, prolonging the work time by three days. The results indicated that MIL-101 (Fe) exhibited excellent biocompatibility, while the MIL-101 (Fe)-DS demonstrated analgesic and controlled-release properties. These findings provide a scientific foundation for the clinical management of neuropathic pain and the development of a novel formulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scattering and attenuation of light in no-homogeneous imaging media or inconsistent light intensity will cause insufficient contrast and color distortion in the collected images, which limits the developments such as vision-driven smart urban, autonomous vehicles, and intelligent robots. In this paper, we propose an all-in-one scene recovery network via multi-knowledge integration (termed AoSRNet) to improve the visibility of imaging devices in typical low-visibility imaging scenes (e.g., haze, sand dust, underwater, and low light). It combines gamma correction (GC) and optimized linear stretching (OLS) to create the detail enhancement module (DEM) and color restoration module (CRM). Additionally, we suggest a multi-receptive field extraction module (MEM) to attenuate the loss of image texture details caused by GC nonlinear and OLS linear transformations. Finally, we refine the coarse features generated by DEM, CRM, and MEM through Encoder-Decoder to generate the final restored image. Comprehensive experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness and stability of AoSRNet compared to other state-of-the-art methods. The source code is available at https://github.com/LouisYuxuLu/AoSRNet. • AoSRNet can enhance imaging quality in hazy, sandy, underwater, and low-light scenes. • Multi-knowledge integration can robustly restores image in unpredictable scenes. • Optimized linear stretching and gamma correction improve AoSRNet's generalization. • We constructed a set of atmospheric light values for haze and sand image synthesis. • Extensive experiments verify AoSRNet's effectiveness with start-of-the-art methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to gain insight into how the addition of Cu element affects the crystallization mechanism of amorphous nanocrystalline alloys and soft magnetic properties, the crystallization behavior of (Fe 0.83 B 0.11 Si 0.02 P 0.03 C 0.01) 100-x Cu x (x = 0 and 0.5) amorphous ribbons was investigated based on kinetic and thermodynamic behavior under non-isothermal and isothermal annealing conditions. The results show that under non-isothermal annealing conditions, the Cu0.5 amorphous ribbon not only favors the formation of the amorphous structure, but also enlarges the temperature window for annealing and improves the thermal stability of the α-Fe(Si) phase. At the same time, the Cu0.5 amorphous ribbon shows slow kinetic and is insensitive to heating rate change during annealing treatment. Under isothermal conditions, the addition of Cu decreases the nucleation activation energy (E n) and increases the growth activation energy (E g). This further indicates that the nucleation of α-Fe(Si) grains is easier than the growth process, which is conducive to the formation of a homogeneous nanostructure and improves the soft magnetic properties of the alloy. Compared to Cu0 amorphous ribbon, it is also shown that the Cu0.5 amorphous ribbon changes the crystallization mechanism from diffusion-controlled one-dimensional to two-dimensional growth when the crystallization volume fraction x is 10–30 vol%. While three-dimensional growth become dominated when x is reaches 60 vol% for both ribbons. Therefore, the kinetics of crystallization as well as microstructure supports that the Cu0.5 ribbon is able to exhibit uniformly fine nanocrystalline structures. Further, the Cu0.5 nanocrystalline ribbon shows a higher B s of 1.85 T and a lower H c of 2.55 A/m, respectively, and the favorable (100) orientation of α-Fe(Si) grains formed after annealing is another factor to increase B s. • The Cu-containing alloy show kinetic insensitivity and is suitable for a high heating rate. • The addition of Cu changes the crystallization mechanism when x is between 10% and 30%. • When the applied magnetic field is ND, precipitation of (100) orientation α-Fe grains favors enhancing B s. • The Cu0.5 alloy show B s of 1.85 T, H c of 2.55 A/m. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This retraction note from BMC Neurology discusses the retraction of an article titled "Characteristic differences in the minimental state examination used in Asian countries." The article was retracted because the authors did not obtain permission to reproduce the MMSE scale. The content of the article has been removed for legal reasons. Some of the authors disagree with the retraction, while others have not responded to correspondence from the Editor. Springer Nature, the publisher, remains neutral in regards to jurisdictional claims and institutional affiliations. [Extracted from the article]

Dual-state (solution and solid) highly emissive three-arm star polymethacrylates were synthesized via ATRP using TPA-BKI-3Br as initiator. [Display omitted] • Three-arm star polymethacrylates with bright luminescence in both solution and solid state were prepared and studied efficiently. • The photophysical characteristics of the polymethacrylates were notably impacted by the space charge transfer between the TPA-BKI unit and polymer chains. Organic/polymeric fluorescent materials with bright emission both in solution and in the solid state have garnered growing interest in biological and optoelectronic fields. Herein, triphenylamine-derived boron ketoimine (TPA-BKI-3Br) was utilized as the initiator for atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) to prepare dual-state emission three-arm star polymethacrylates. Due to the intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) effect and highly distorted structure of the TPA-BKI unit, as well as the polymer arms constraining intramolecular motions, the resultant polymers displayed significant emission in solution. In the aggregated and solid states, the photophysical characteristics of the resultant polymethacrylates were notably impacted by the space charge transfer between the TPA-BKI unit and polymer chains. In addition, the TPA-BKI-based poly(2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate) (TPA-BKI-(PDMAEMA)3) exhibited fluorescence responses to temperature variations owing to the presence of dimethylamino group. This study presents an approach for the advancement of dual-state emission polymeric materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two complexes based on phosphorescent viologen ligands have been synthesized. Complexes 1 and 2 not only possess reversible photochromic and electrochromic properties, but also exhibit fluorescence and persistent luminescence. They have potential applications in inkless print, color-changing films, data encryption, and anti-counterfeiting. [Display omitted] • Complexes 1 and 2 exhibit reversible photochromic and electrochromic behaviors. • Complexes 1 and 2 exhibit long-lived persistent phosphorescence. • Complexes show great potential in data encryption and anticounterfeiting. • Complexes have potential applications in inkless printing, color-changing films. Viologen-based complexes have garnered significant attention due to their multifunctional stimuli-responsive properties and tunable persistent luminescence. However, achieving ultralong afterglow emission and color change in these complexes remains a challenge, limiting their application in the field of persistent luminescence. Herein, two novel viologen-based complexes were successfully designed and synthesized using N,N′-bis(2-carboxyethyl)-4,4′-bipyridinium dichloride (H 2 bybpy) ligands and trimesic acid (H 3 BTC) with the transition metals Zn(II)/Cd(II). Complexes 1 and 2 display reversible photochromic and electrochromic properties. Interestingly, complexes 1 and 2 in their crystal state exhibit dual fluorescence and persistent luminescence, emitting a green and cyan afterglow when the UV lamp is turned off at 77 K. Incorporating phosphorescent molecules and changing the metal significantly extended the duration of persistent luminescence and altered the hue. The complexes were also demonstrated to have potential applications in inkless printing, color-changing films, data encryption, and anti-counterfeiting. This work enhances the application of viologen-based complexes in light-controlled persistent fluorescence and provides ideas for achieving ultra-long afterglow emission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • The spectra-image features of defective maize kernels were obtain by HSI. • CNN and spectral-spatial attention were combined to recognize the HSI features. • The CNN-Spl-Spal-At based on fusion features had the excellent performance. • The identification results of various defective kernels were visualized. Rapid, effective and non-destructive detection of the defective maize kernels is crucial for their high-quality storage in granary. Hyperspectral imaging (HSI) coupled with convolutional neural network (CNN) based on spectral and spatial attention (Spl-Spal-At) module was proposed for identifying the different types of maize kernels. The HSI data within 380–1000 nm of six classes of sprouted, heat-damaged, insect-damaged, moldy, broken and healthy kernels was collected. The CNN-Spl-At, CNN-Spal-At and CNN-Spl-Spal-At models were established based on the spectra, images and their fusion features as inputs for the recognition of different kernels. Further compared the performances of proposed models and conventional models were built by support vector machine (SVM) and extreme learning machine (ELM). The results indicated that the recognition ability of CNN with attention series models was significantly better than that of SVM and ELM models and fused features were more conducive to expressing the appearance of different kernels than single features. And the CNN-Spl-Spal-At model had an optimal recognition result with high average classification accuracy of 98.04 % and 94.56 % for the training and testing sets, respectively. The recognition results were visually presented on the surface image of kernels with different colors. The CNN-Spl-Spal-At model was built in this study could effectively detect defective maize kernels, and it also had great potential to provide the analysis approaches for the development of non-destructive testing equipment based on HSI technique for maize quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Damage or condition anomalies of stay cables will directly affect the safety of bridges in operation. As an important load type, the cyclic action of stochastic traffic flow (STF) is a main cause of cable performance degradation. However, due to its time-varying and complexity, there have been few studies on the anomaly diagnosis of stay cables under STF loading. Therefore, this paper proposes a novel condition monitoring method for stay cables based on the time-history area (THA) of cable forces under STF loading. First, mechanical analysis was performed to establish the theoretical relationship between THA and STF. The feature vector and matrix to characterize the normal condition of stay cables were developed based on the above relationship. Second, an online diagnosis model was established using the constant correlation between feature vector elements in the health state. On this basis, the Mahalanobis-squared distance (MSD) is employed to define an early warning index, which is used to inspect abnormal changes in cable performance. Third, according to numerical analysis, the rationality of the theoretical derivation was further confirmed and the feature vector variations in different simulated cases were presented. Finally, the effectiveness and practicability of the proposed method was verified on an actual cable-stayed bridge. The results demonstrate that the established online model has satisfactory diagnostic capabilities, which can accurately monitor the service condition of stay cables. • The relationship between THA and ILA of cable forces is revealed for the first time under complex STF. • An online diagnosis model is established to realize the condition monitoring of stay cables in operation. • The effectiveness and practicality is verified by numerical verification and case study of an actual bridge. • The method can be applied using only cable forces to ensure wider engineering applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For a character χ of a finite group G, the number cod(χ)≔ ∣G: ker(χ)∣/χ(1) is called the codegree of χ. In this paper, we give a solvability criterion for a finite group G depending on the minimum of the ratio χ(1)2/cod(χ), when χ varies among the irreducible characters of G. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Major ampullate silk is noted for its great tensile strength and extensibility. The impressive material properties of major ampullate silk result from their component proteins that encoded by members of the spidroin (spider fibroin) gene family. Although the major ampullate spidroin type has evolved multiple variants within specific-species, most sequences are fragmented. Here, we present two complete major ampullate spidroin genes from the orb-weaving spider Araneus ventricosus. Due to the abundant GPG motifs in their repetitive region, the two MaSp genes were grouped in MaSp2 subclass and named MaSp2C and MaSp2D, respectively. Analysis of the full-length gene sequences reveals that both of them include a single enormous exon (10,851 bp for MaSp2C and 8640 bp for MaSp2D) that mainly translates into a central repetitive region containing multiple amino acid motifs that can be organized into five ensemble types. We use gene-specific PCR primers to search the cDNA from major ampullate glands and find evidence for alternative splicing of MaSp2D transcripts into a minor spliceoform lacking the entire repetitive domain as well as the partial terminal regions. Our results not only provide new templates for protein-based materials with tailored properties, but suggest gene and transcriptional diversity of major ampullate silk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. Endothelial cell-specific molecule 1 (ESM1) has been implicated as an oncogene in several types of cancer. However, the potential role of ESM1 in esophageal carcinogenesis (ESCA)/esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is still unclear. Methods. The expression, function, and survival data of ESM1 were observed using a bioinformatics approach. Subsequently, the expression level of ESM1 in surgical esophageal tumors and adjacent normal tissues was detected by qRT–PCR and immunofluorescence. We further revealed protein expression by immunohistochemistry (IHC), which is related to the prognosis of patients with ESCC using survival analysis. In vitro, knockdown of ESM1 in KYSE150 and KYSE510 cell lines, colony formation assays, wound healing assays, and Transwell assays were performed. Results. ESM1 is significantly elevated in 12 of 20 types of human cancer. ESM1 is highly expressed in tumor tissue compared with adjacent normal tissue and was identified as a hub gene in ESCA. Clinical outcome endpoints of overall survival (OS), progression-free interval (PFI), and disease-specific survival (DSS) curves showed that patients whose ESM1 expression was high had a lower clinical survival rate. The ESM1 high-expression group has a certain correlation with clinical stage and grade. The IHC of ESM1 further demonstrated that the higher the expression was, the worse the N classification and pTNM stage in patients with ESCC, which had a distinctly poorer overall 5-year survival rate. Univariate analysis showed that age, N classification, pTNM stage, and ESM1 expression were all prognostic factors, although multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that only pTNM stage was an independent prognostic factor. In vitro, silencing ESM1 suppressed the proliferation, migration, and invasion of KYSE150 and KYSE510 cells. Conclusions. ESM1 is a hub gene in the initiation and progression of ESCA/ESCC that promotes the proliferation, migration, and invasion of esophageal cancer cells and may be a promising therapeutic target and prognostic indicator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Materials exhibiting mechanoluminescence (ML) are a class of smart materials capable of mechanical-to-light energy conversion. Thus, ML materials have been widely used in various electronic applications such as smart sensors, security systems, human–machine interfaces, and energy harvesting systems. Herein, we report a centrosymmetric ML semiconductor host material family MGa2S4 (M = Ca, Sr), which features in-layered structures constructed with unique distorted bi-tetrahedral [Ga2S2S4/2] lattice units. It exhibited similar structural characteristics to the well-known ML semiconductor host ZnS. Remarkably, the lanthanide ions of 5d → 4f transition-activated hosts showed sensitive and high ML luminance under natural lighting upon mechanical stimulation; thus, an efficient mechanical-to-light energy conversion of a self-powered display was achieved. Moreover, because of structural distortion and strain-gradient-induced electrical polarization in the ML host material upon mechanical stimulation, a ML mechanism based on the synergy effect between local electronic polarization and flexoelectricity was proposed. This study facilitates a deeper understanding of the relationship between the structure and underlying ML, and promotes further development of ML-material-based products and technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Time-series representation is the most important task in time-series analysis. One of the most widely employed time-series representation method is symbolic aggregate approximation (SAX), which converts the results from piecewise aggregate approximation to a symbol sequence. SAX is a simple and effective method; however, it only focuses on the mean value of each segment in the time-series. Here, we propose a novel time-series representation method—distance- and momentum-based symbolic aggregate approximation (DM-SAX)—that can secure time-series distributions by calculating the perpendicular distance from the time-axis to each data point and consider the time-series trend by adding a momentum factor reflecting the direction of previous data points. Experimental results for 29 highly imbalanced classification problems on the UCR datasets revealed that DM-SAX affords the optimal area under the curve (AUC) among competing time-series representation methods (SAX, extreme-SAX, overlap-SAX, and distance-based SAX). We statistically verified that performance improvements resulted in significant differences in the rankings. In addition, DM-SAX yielded the optimal AUC for real-world wire cutting and crimping process dataset. Meaningful data points such as outliers could be identified in a time-series outlier detection framework via the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tellurium (Te) recently attracts much attention owing to its peculiar band structure arousing high‐efficiency thermoelectricity and layered crystal structure suitable for band engineering. Herein, the temperature evolution of band structure and lattice vibration in Te single crystal are studied by mid‐and‐far infrared transmission (7500–370 and 680–30 cm−1) and Raman spectra measurements. Mid‐infrared absorption spectra confirm Te is a narrow indirect gap semiconductor, in which the direct (indirect) bandgap is about 0.333 (0.325) eV, the two upper valence bands (H4 and H5) and the third valence band (H6) being about 0.333, 0.42, and 0.76 eV, respectively, below the conduction‐band minima at 5 K. Meanwhile, the direct and indirect gaps of Te reveal non‐monotonic variation from 5 to 290 K due to the competition between electron–phonon interaction and lattice thermal expansion, which is well described by the modified Manoogian–Leclerc model. Moreover, the temperature evolution of Raman and far‐infrared transmission spectra proves there are two kinds of phonons in Te, which originates from the different thermal expansion of Te atoms along parallel and vertical directions of spiral chain. Thus, the anisotropic thermal expansion in Te is indicated and a reference for studying thermoelectricity of Te‐based optoelectronic devices is provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The generation and propagation of vortex beams in real free space can be distorted by factors such as atmospheric turbulence and imperfections in the optics, resulting in wavefront distortions and negative effects on the interferogram. To correct the wavefront aberration introduced by the errors, an aberration correction method for the interference of vortex beams, based on the differential evolution algorithm, is proposed. The proposed method can derive the aberrations and correct them in vortex interference by compensating for the vortex wavefront with high accuracy and can be used in the presence of noise. The simulation and experimental results showed that the systematic errors introduced in the vortex light interference can be effectively corrected by introducing the compensated phase calculated into the optical system, resulting in a more ideal interference light intensity and recovered wavefront. This method can effectively improve the accuracy of various precision measurements based on the vortex interference principle and provide a new concept for aberration correction in interference of vortex beams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Syrian hamster has proved useful in the evaluation of therapeutics and vaccines for severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). To advance the model for preclinical studies, we conducted serial sacrifice of lungs, large pulmonary vessels, and hearts from male and female Syrian hamsters for days 1–4, and 8 post-infection (dpi) following infection with a high dose of SARS-CoV-2. Evaluation of microscopic lung histopathology scores suggests 4 and 8 dpi as prime indicators in the evaluation of moderate pathology with bronchial hyperplasia, alveolar involvement and bronchiolization being key assessments of lung disease and recovery, respectively. In addition, neutrophil levels, red blood cell count and hematocrit showed significant increases during early infection. We present histological evidence of severe damage to the pulmonary vasculature with extensive leukocyte transmigration and the loss of endothelial cells and tunica media. Our evidence of endothelial and inflammatory cell death in the pulmonary vessels suggests endothelialitis secondary to SARS-CoV-2 epithelial cell infection as a possible determinant of the pathological findings along with the host inflammatory response. Lastly, pathological examination of the heart revealed evidence for intracardiac platelet/fibrin aggregates in male and female hamsters on 8 dpi, which might be indicative of a hypercoagulative state in these animals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, a compact differentially fed ±45° dual-polarized filtering magneto-electric (ME) dipole antenna with improved harmonic suppression is proposed and analyzed. First, the fusion of loop-slot dipole and half-wave vibrator is calculated and mentioned to furnish theoretical guidance. Then, by reasonably placing two pairs of second-order step impedance feedlines and a loop-slot patch, a corresponding two-mode loop-vibrator combination filtering antenna with an upper radiation null is naturally constructed. Moreover, simply by loading four open-circuit stubs at the center of octagonal slot patch edge, another extra resonance mode and radiation null in the upper band can be simultaneously obtained. Later, through hiring the reconstructed third-order stub-loaded-resonator (SLR) feedlines, wideband harmonic suppression along with a third radiation null is unaffectedly achieved. Finally, the optimized antenna is fabricated and tested. The measured results reveal it realizes a wideband impedance bandwidth of 42.0% (2.78–4.26 GHz) and a high port isolation of 35 dB. Also, the length of its harmonic suppression is measured from 4.56 to 7 GHz, while the depth reaches more than 20 dB. In addition, the measured gain and radiation efficiency curves in the operating band are relatively stable and both are at a high average value (8.2 dBi, 85%). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: NLRP3 inflammasome activation and pyroptosis play a significant role in myocardial ischemia reperfusion injury (MI/RI). Geniposide was reported to show potential therapeutic use for MI/RI with its anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative properties. However, research on the specific mechanism of geniposide has not been reported. Methods: The MIRI model of animal was created in male C57BL/6J mice and the hypoxia reoxygenation (H/R) model was established for the in vitro experiments. Neonatal rat ventricular myocytes (NRVMs) and H9c2 cells with knockdown of TXNIP or NLRP3 were used. Geniposide was administered to mice before vascular ligation. HE staining, 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride (TTC) staining, echocardiography, oxidative stress and myocardial enzyme detection were used to evaluate the cardioprotective effect of geniposide. Meanwhile, pharmacological approaches of agonist and inhibitor were used to observe potential pathway for geniposide cardioprotective in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, ELISA kits were adopted to detect the levels of inflammatory factors, such as IL-1β and IL-18. The gene and protein expression of NLRP3 and pyroptosis-related factors in heart tissue were performed by RT-PCR, western blotting and immunofluorescence in vivo and in vitro, respectively. Results: Our results indicate that geniposide can reduce the area of myocardial infarction, improve heart function, and inhibit the inflammatory response in mice after MI/RI. In addition, RT-PCR and western blotting shown geniposide promoting AMPK phosphorylation to activate myocardium energy metabolism and reducing the levels of genes and proteins expression of NLRP3, ASC, N-GSDMD and cleaved caspase-1, IL-1β, IL-18. Meanwhile, geniposide improved NRVMs energy metabolism, which decreased ROS levels and the protein expression of TXNIP and thus suppressed the expression of NLRP3. AMPK antagonist or agonist and siRNA downregulation of TXNIP or NLRP3 were also verify the effect of geniposide against H/R injury. Further research found that geniposide promoted the translocation of TXNIP and reduce the binding of TXNIP and NLRP3. Conclusions: In our study, geniposide can significantly inhibit NLRP3 inflammasome activation via the AMPK signaling pathway and inhibit pyroptosis of cardiomyocytes in myocardial tissues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. Nasopharyngeal carcinoma is particularly prevalent in Guangdong and Guangxi (southern China); the economic burden of nasopharyngeal cancer patients is heavy in China. This study is aimed at retrospectively analyzing the basic features and economic burden of newly diagnosed nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients admitted to the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University and at providing a scientific basis for nasopharyngeal carcinoma prevention and control strategies. Methods. The data of 3,727 nasopharyngeal carcinoma inpatients diagnosed from January 2012 to December 2020 were extracted from the Guangxi Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Healthcare Big Data Management Information Platform. Basic demographic characteristics, duration of hospital stay, and hospitalization cost of nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients were collected and analyzed statistically. Results. The incidence period of nasopharyngeal carcinoma was primarily from 30 to 69 years of age, with the 40–49-year age group comprising the largest proportion of nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients, accounting for 34.18% of the patients with newly diagnosed nasopharyngeal carcinoma in the hospital. The male-to-female ratio was 2.87 : 1. There were 2,223 cases from rural areas, 2,153 from the Han ethnic group, and 1,460 from the Zhuang ethnic group, accounting for 59.65%, 55.77%, and 39.17% of the total number of cases, respectively. The average duration of hospitalization decreased whereas the average hospitalization cost increased annually. Multivariate analysis of hospitalization cost showed that the duration of hospital stay, rural/urban, and ethnicity was the main influencing factors: the longer the duration of hospital stay, the higher the hospitalization cost; patients from rural incurred lower costs than from urban; ethnic Zhuang patients incurred significantly lower costs than patients from other ethnicities. Conclusion. Early diagnosis and treatment should be actively carried out to reduce the incidence of nasopharyngeal carcinoma, especially for rural, ethnic Zhuang, and males in the 40–49-year age group patients. The future research on nasopharyngeal carcinoma will focus on exploring the pathogenesis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma, improving the screening system, and reducing the burden on patients, in order to further improve the survival rate and quality of life of patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The optimal oxygen concentration is unclear for normothermic machine perfusion (NMP) of livers from donation after circulatory death (DCD). Our purposes were to investigate the effect of air-ventilated NMP on the DCD liver, analyze the underlying mechanism and select the targets to predict liver functional recovery with NMP. NMP was performed using the NMP system with either air ventilation or oxygen ventilation for 2 h in the rat liver following warm ischemia and cold-storage preservation. Proteomics and metabolomics were used to reveal the significant molecular networks. The bioinformation analysis was validated by administering peroxisome proliferator activator receptor-γ (PPARγ) antagonist and agonist via perfusion circuit in the air-ventilated NMP. Results showed that air-ventilated NMP conferred a better functional recovery and a less inflammatory response in the rat DCD liver; integrated proteomics and metabolomics analysis indicated that intrahepatic docosapentaenoic acid downregulation and upregulation of cytochrome P450 2E1 (CYP2E1) expression and activity were associated with DCD liver functional recovery with air-ventilated NMP; PPARγ antagonist worsened liver function under air-oxygenated NMP whereas PPARγ agonist played the opposite role. In conclusion, air-ventilated NMP confers a better liver function from DCD rats through the DAP-PPARγ-CYP2E1 axis; CYP2E1 activity provides a biomarker of liver functional recovery from DCD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The orbital angular momentum (OAM) of light has garnered significant interest in recent years owing to its various applications, and extensive creative research has been conducted to generate OAM. However, the particular helical phase structure of an optical vortex leads to nonsmooth and discontinuous phase profiles and hinders the accurate recovery of the phase distribution of the vortex beam. Significantly, the existence of a wavefront dislocation leads to the failure of the traditional phase unwrapping algorithm. At the same time, it is essential to detect the wavefront of OAM modes in real-time for free-space optical communication and optical precision measurement. Therefore, we designed conformal mappingâ€"spatial phase-shifting interferometry and achieved rapid and high-precision wavefront measurements for the OAM modes. The wavefront of the OAM modes with a topological charge of 1, 2, 4 and 6 were measured, respectively. The results were significantly consistent with the anticipated results based on simulations. This study reveals the mathematical mechanism behind the forked fringe patterns and presents a method for demodulating the helical wavefront from the forked fringe patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PubMed, ScienceDirect, Cochrane, Embase, Scopus, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Chinese Weipu, and Wanfang databases were searched to evaluate the effects of probiotics supplements on gastric cancer‐related inflammatory factors. Parallel randomized controlled trials (RCTs) assessing the effects of prebiotics supplement on gastric cancer patients were included in the review. Compared with routine nutrition, meta‐analysis shows that probiotics supplements reduce gastric cancer‐related inflammation levels by mostly increasing the levels of cluster of differentiation 4+ and greatly reducing the levels of interleukin‐6. Probiotics supplements can control the inflammatory response in cancer patients and may be a potential approach for controlling inflammatory levels in the patients. However, a larger population is needed for further study because of a certain degree of heterogeneity in this review. Practical applications: The effects of probiotics (Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus, and Streptococcus species) on the gastric cancer‐related inflammation were investigated.Probiotics can reduce gastric cancer‐related inflammation levels more effectively by increasing the levels of cluster of differentiation 4+ and greatly reducing the levels of interleukin‐6.The study provides some theoretical basis for controlling cancer‐related inflammation responses in the patients using probiotics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rhein is a key ingredient in many herbal remedies and is widely used. However, herbs containing rhein are frequently associated with poisoning incidents, especially in elderly subjects. Acute and subchronic toxicity of rhein in Kunming mice (KM) was investigated in this experiment. Acute toxicity tests showed a 40% lethality at a given rhein dose of 4000 mg/kg, and the LD50 of rhein was calculated by the bliss method to be greater than 2185.6 mg/kg. In subchronic toxicity, d-gal-induced aged and immature animals were randomized into three groups that were exposed to rhein of 0, 175, and 375 mg/kg/d for 75 days, respectively. No mortality was observed in immature mice group, whereas 55.5% (5/9) subjects in aged mice groups died in the high dosage group. AST, ALT, IL-6, TNF-α levels and typical histopathological changes indicate that rhein causes liver injury. In addition, our investigation explored possible hepatotoxic mechanisms of rhein and experimental results showed increased ROS production, NRF-2 and MDA levels and decreased SOD levels, demonstrating that rhein causes oxidative stress. MMP and mitochondrial swelling levels were able to assess the impact of rhein on mitochondrial function. Furthermore, the effect of rhein on apoptosis can be detected by flow cytometry. Our studies suggested that rhein induces oxidative stress leading to mitochondria dysfunction and apoptotic activation. Multidrug resistance protein (MRP) is an efflux transporter protein and is capable of transporting cellular oxidative stress-related substances. To further clarify the role of MRP in rhein induced oxidative stress, we examined MRP expression in the liver. However, the expression of MRP has no statistical significance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to present the steady-state analysis in finite-buffer M/G/1 queues with starting failures under a randomized control of N-policy. When the system empties, the server is turned off. If the system size reaches the threshold N, the server is turned on with probability p or turned off with probability 1 − p. The server needs a startup time before providing service. If the server is started successfully (with probability θ), customers are served immediately. When the server is started unsuccessfully, he is started again. It is assumed that the restart is always successful. Using the supplementary variable method, we obtain the stationary distribution of the number of customers in the system. We develop a number of performance measures. A cost model is constructed, and we then determine numerical values of the optimal service rate to minimize the average cost per unit time. Finally, numerical examples are provided to show the effects of system parameters on performance measures and the optimal service rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To present fully automated DL-based prostate cancer detection system for prostate MRI. Methods: MRI scans from two institutions, were used for algorithm training, validation, testing. MRI-visible lesions were contoured by an experienced radiologist. All lesions were biopsied using MRI-TRUS-guidance. Lesions masks, histopathological results were used as ground truth labels to train UNet, AH-Net architectures for prostate cancer lesion detection, segmentation. Algorithm was trained to detect any prostate cancer ≥ ISUP1. Detection sensitivity, positive predictive values, mean number of false positive lesions per patient were used as performance metrics. Results: 525 patients were included for training, validation, testing of the algorithm. Dataset was split into training (n = 368, 70%), validation (n = 79, 15%), test (n = 78, 15%) cohorts. Dice coefficients in training, validation sets were 0.403, 0.307, respectively, for AHNet model compared to 0.372, 0.287, respectively, for UNet model. In validation set, detection sensitivity was 70.9%, PPV was 35.5%, mean number of false positive lesions/patient was 1.41 (range 0–6) for UNet model compared to 74.4% detection sensitivity, 47.8% PPV, mean number of false positive lesions/patient was 0.87 (range 0–5) for AHNet model. In test set, detection sensitivity for UNet was 72.8% compared to 63.0% for AHNet, mean number of false positive lesions/patient was 1.90 (range 0–7), 1.40 (range 0–6) in UNet, AHNet models, respectively. Conclusion: We developed a DL-based AI approach which predicts prostate cancer lesions at biparametric MRI with reasonable performance metrics. While false positive lesion calls remain as a challenge of AI-assisted detection algorithms, this system can be utilized as an adjunct tool by radiologists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two new unsymmetrical ligands, namely, 2-(pyridin-3-yl)-5-(quinolin-2-yl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole (L1) and 2-(pyridin-4-yl)-5-(quinolin-2-yl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole (L2), have been synthesized and their self-assembly reactions with Co(NO3)2 and Co(ClO4)2 have been investigated for the rational construction of coordination polymers (CPs). It was found that the counter-anion plays an important role in the structural assemblies. Their anti-ovarian cancer activity was evaluated and the related mechanism was explored at the same time. Firstly, the proliferation of the ovarian cancer cells was measured with CCK-8 detection kit. Then, the real time RT-PCR was used to evaluate the relative expression levels of the ROS related genes in the ovarian cancer cells after compounds treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate the decomposition law of SF6 under negative direct current partial discharge (PD) at different energies, a SF6 PD hybrid numerical model based on fluid dynamics and plasma chemical reaction models, in which 14 particle species and 24 chemical reactions are considered, is proposed. The effectiveness of the proposed model is validated with the current pulse waveform and the V–I discharge curve obtained by experiment. The influence of discharge energy on SF6 PD characteristic quantities and SF6 decomposition products is investigated with simulation and experiment. The results show that most of the discharge area of SF6 is neutral, and the cation clouds only exist in the ionosphere (4.79–5 mm). With the increase in applied voltage, the electric field intensity of the needle plate gap does not increase completely and even decreases in some areas. Moreover, different from the traditional opinion, the generation of SO2F2 under PD is mainly generated by the hydrolysis reaction of SOF4, which is formed by [SF5], [SF4], and [OH], [O]. The reaction path of [SF2] with O2 is not important. Thus, c(SO2F2)/c(SOF2 + SO2) can be used as the energy characteristic component ratio because of its ability to represent the low-fluorine sulfide ratio n([SF5])/n([SF4]). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Goniothalamin (GTN) is a well-known styryl lactone that possesses anti-inflammatory and anticancer properties. In this study, we evaluated the potential of GTN on experimental arthritis based on the complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA)-induced arthritis model in rats and the effect was compared with standard drug. Materials and Methods: The animals were divided into six groups: normal, CFA, CFA + indomethacin (10 mg/kg bw), CFA + GTN (50 mg/kg bw), CFA + GTN (100 mg/kg bw), and GTN (100 mg/kg bw) alone. The antiarthritic activity of GTN was measured by paw thickness, arthritic score, body weight, organ weight, biochemical markers, inflammatory mediators, and histopathologic analysis of ankle joints. Results: GTN significantly reduced the paw thickness, arthritic score, body weight changes, and organ weight. It reduced the levels of C-reactive protein, alkaline phosphatase, rheumatoid factor, and proinflammatory cytokines in a dose-dependent manner. It also minimized the histopathologic changes in ankle joints induced by CFA in a dose-dependent manner. Conclusion: These results demonstrate that GTN is effective against inflammation and is an alternative agent for the management of arthritis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to improve the tracking accuracy of maneuvering targets and obtain more accurate real-time position and velocity information of the targets, an improved interactive multi-model tracking algorithm is proposed. Based on the traditional interactive multi-model, this algorithm introduces adjustment parameters associated with target features. The target feature data is used to provide a limited domain for the initial data, and then the adjustment parameters are added to the filter, so as to complete the optimization of the tracking accuracy by the iteration of the target state gain matrix and the covariance matrix. Experimental simulation analyzes three common states of maneuvering targets and compares them with traditional interactive multi-model tracking algorithms. The experimental results show that, when the deflection angles of the adjustment parameters of the algorithm are 4°, 2° and 1°, the mean root mean square errors are 15.91 m, 11.79 m and 11.39 m respectively, which are significantly better than the traditional algorithm's mean value of 21.39 m. At the same time, with the improvement of parameter setting accuracy, it has a certain inhibitory effect on the error fluctuation caused by the maneuvering target state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The particular and homogeneous solutions of two-dimension (2D) thermal-elastic problems are expressed by using the virtual boundary element method (VBEM) and the superposition principle. Accordingly, two matrix equations are needed and formed for particular and homogeneous solutions by the novel nonsingular boundary element method with the radial basis function interpolation (RBFI), namely virtual boundary meshfree Galerkin method (VBMGM). Considering the boundary conditions of heat conduction and combining the Galerkin method, virtual source functions of particular solutions can be solved by first using VBMGM. Applying boundary conditions of transformation, virtual source functions of homogeneous solutions can be obtained by second employing VBMGM. The coefficients of two matrix equations are symmetrical. Formed equations are nonsingular and have merits of virtual boundary element method, meshfree method, and Galerkin method. The detailed expressions, calculation steps, and simplified flow chart are given in detail, that is convenient for other scholars to study other more complex thermo-elastic problems through the method of this paper. Three examples are calculated. Comparing their calculation results with other methods, the stability and the precision of VBMGM for 2D thermal-elastic problems are validated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. To assess whether professional endoscopists need additional training on inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) diagnosis. Methods. This retrospective study was conducted in patients with IBD, including Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), which were diagnosed and treated for the first time in our hospital between January 2005 and December 2020. Doctors including gastroenterologists (group G) and professional endoscopists (group E) participated in the study. The data divided into CD or UC and group G or group E were compared. Results. Patients with CD exhibited higher rates of terminal ileal lesions, reexamined colonoscopy within 6 months, and intestinal stenosis than patients with UC (P < 0.001). The positive endoscopic IBD diagnosis rate was significantly higher in group G than in group E (89.6% vs. 74.0%, P < 0.001). In the subgroup analysis for patients with CD, the positive endoscopic IBD diagnosis rate was significantly higher for group G than for group E (81.5% vs. 41.8%, P < 0.001). However, the two groups exhibited no significant difference in the subgroup analysis for patients with UC (94.1% vs. 86.5%, P = 0.060). Group G exhibited a higher rate of terminal ileal intubation (83.1% vs. 65.3%, P < 0.001) and standard pathological biopsy (72.7% vs. 26.0%, P < 0.001) than Group E. Conclusion. Professional endoscopists showed lower rates of terminal ileal intubation, positive endoscopic diagnosis, and standard pathological biopsy than gastroenterologists. Hence, additional training on IBD, particularly on CD, must be provided to professional endoscopists to increase their efficiency for terminal ileal intubation and positive endoscopic diagnosis and to enhance their awareness regarding standard biopsy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chinese enterprises have invested in more than 100 overseas ports globally in the past two decades, but their contribution to the local terminal's competitiveness remains unclear. Differing from the existing qualitative geopolitical interpretation of China-labeled port projects, this study empirically investigates how investor attributes with Chinese characteristics affect the throughput evolution and market shares of the respective container terminals. Our primary focus is on terminal-level performance to eliminate non-Chinese investors' influence in focal ports with multiple terminals. Pooled regression is used to analyze panel data for 68 overseas container terminals of three Chinese international port operators (COSCO Shipping Ports, China Merchants Holdings International and Hutchison Ports) from 2008 to 2019. The regression results show that being a state-owned enterprise, owing a vessel fleet and higher project ownership would benefit the focal container terminal's market share. In contrast, shareholder complexity may adversely impact the terminal's competitiveness. An interesting finding is that for state-owned enterprises, investments in politically unstable areas with fewer regional ports are more likely to result in a greater market share. These findings provide managerial implications for enterprises and enrich literature on foreign port investment. • We investigate how investor attributes affect the competitiveness of Chinese overseas terminals. • Pooled regression is used to analyze 68 overseas container terminals of three Chinese international port operators. • Being an SOE, owing a vessel fleet and higher project ownership benefit the market share. • Shareholder complexity adversely impact the terminal's competitiveness. • SOEs are better off when investing in politically unstable areas with fewer regional ports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Time-sensitive networking (TSN) can help standardize deterministic Ethernet across industrial automation. The deterministic guarantee of TSN is based on network resource scheduling in the unit of flow. However, the state-of-the-art TSN single flow scheduling scheme cannot meet the coordinated scheduling requirements of multiple data flows in advanced industrial applications (e.g., control and safety applications). In this article, we propose a TSN chain flow abstraction, TC-Flow, for a coordinated multiple-flow scheduling model in industrial control and safety applications. Based on the proposed TC-Flow model, we design an offline TC-Flow scheduling algorithm using integer linear programming and an online heuristic TC-Flow scheduling algorithm to handle network dynamics. To deploy the proposed TC-Flow model and scheduling algorithms in the TSN, we design a CF-TSN network architecture that is compatible with the existing TSN single-flow scheduling scheme. Finally, we implement the proposed CF-TSN architecture and TC-Flow scheduling algorithms in real-world network environments. Experimental results show that the proposed scheduling algorithms can increase the number of schedulable flows by 26 percent compared to the state-of-the-art TSN scheduling benchmark. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose. The purpose of the current study was to analyze the influence of radiological "disappearing liver metastasis" (DLM) on the efficacy and prognosis of patients with colorectal liver metastases (CRLM) undergoing conversion therapy. Methods. Patients with CRLM by the multidisciplinary team (MDT) of the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University were retrospectively enrolled from January 2014 to January 2021. The relationship between the occurrence and recurrence of DLM and different clinical factors was analyzed. Results. Thirty-five of the 113 patients (31.0%) with initially unresectable CRLM developed DLM, and of the 361 lesions, 177 disappeared (49.0%). Within 6 months, 6-12 months, and 12-24 months groups, the recurrence rate was 3.4%, 16.8%, and 34.8%, but there is no recurrence in after 24 months group. There was a statistical difference between chemotherapy alone and chemotherapy combined with the targeted therapy group on the occurrence of DLM (58.3% vs. 37.1%, P < 0.001). There were significant differences between <5 mm group and >10 mm group on occurrence of DLM（76.7% vs. 30.4%, P < 0.001) and between 5-10 mm group and >10 mm group also (70.0% vs. 30.4%, P < 0.001). Through univariate and multivariate analyses, it was concluded that age (P = 0.026 , 95 % CI = 3.690) and treatment regimens (P = 0.033 , 95 % CI = 2.703) had a significant influence on the progression-free survival (PFS) time of DLM. Conclusion. Younger patients, who use chemotherapy alone to achieve a therapeutic effect, might have better survival benefits when the lesions do not progress within 2 years after the appearance of DLMs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The generic problem of low-frequency acoustic radiation through quiescent air from a circular pipe that is inclined with respect to its exit flange is studied in this work. The exit flange is taken to extend as an infinite plane away from the pipe opening. The analysis implements a hybrid method that combines modal expansions with the boundary element method. The reflection coefficient and pipe end correction for Helmholtz numbers (based on the pipe radius) less than 2.5 are calculated for various inclination angles up to 75°. Calculations are validated using simulations from the finite-element solver of the commercial software package COMSOL. The reflection coefficient and end correction predictions agree closely with the validation simulations yet differ notably from the results available in the literature. The solution obtained from the hybrid method is subsequently used to analyse the acoustic field at the pipe exit and in the downstream space. The key aspects of the governing physics pertaining to practical engineering applications at low frequencies are captured in a low-order approximation, which significantly reduces the degrees of freedom of the problem and provides generally good estimates of the reflection coefficient and end correction, as well as the downstream acoustic field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immunochromatography testing strips (ICTs) promise to become the point-of-care test format for early diagnosis due to their convenience, low cost, and simplification. However, the insufficient signal intensity and limited sensitivity of this format hamper their application. Herein, we overcame these limitations by integrating rod-like ferric oxyhydroxide (β-FeOOH) nanoparticles with ICTs. By varying the concentration of PEI, a one-pot, mild-temperature hydrolysis method was adapted for the synthesis and morphology regulation of β-FeOOH nanorod. Due to the excellent enzyme-like catalytic activity toward peroxidase substrates (TMB) in the presence of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), the β-FeOOH nanorod in ICTs served as a signal generator and the nanozyme for signal amplification. The proof-of-concept work was performed for the detection of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). A two fold improvement of detection sensitivity was achieved compared to the sensitivity of conventional Au NPs-based ICTs. These results show that β-FeOOH-based ICT has a potential application in POCT detection in clinical diagnostics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heavy-duty land-based gas turbines with can-annular combustors typically exhibit a set of thermoacoustic modes with similar frequencies, due to their rotational symmetry and the weak coupling between neighbouring cans. The Bloch boundary condition is often used to simplify these combustors. Because the widely used (quasi-)one-dimensional model cannot naturally consider high-order modal components in the three-dimensional acoustic field, it is valid only when the frequency is sufficiently low and the length of the can-to-can interaction gap is sufficiently short. In this paper, we present a theoretical model using the mode-matching method to consider high-order modal components. A reflection coefficient matrix is used to accurately describe the acoustic characteristics of the gap area. This reflection coefficient matrix is found to depend on the nondimensional cross-sectional area ratio, the Helmholtz number based on the length of the gap area, and the Bloch number. To facilitate a full low-order network modelling of the high-frequency thermoacoustic modes in can-annular combustors, a flame transfer matrix is also used to describe the modal coupling effect across the flame. Based on this model, the thermoacoustic problem of a four-flame can-annular combustor is studied as an example. It is shown that the frequency and growth rate of the thermoacoustic modes can be predicted accurately using the reflection coefficient matrix and flame transfer matrix. The effects of high-order modal components across the flame and in the gap areas are studied separately. The results show that the model containing both of the two coupling effects has the widest range of validity. These couplings can be ignored if only low-frequency plane acoustic waves are considered but need to be carefully considered for higher frequency modes. Moreover, when multiple flames are considered, asymmetric flame distributions are found to more easily lead to modal coupling compared to symmetric flame distributions. All results are validated by comparing with the numerical solutions of the full two-dimensional Helmholtz equation using the finite element method. • The crosstalk effect in the gap area is modelled using the mode matching method. • The jump condition across multiple flames is modelled using the mode matching method. • The effect of modal coupling across the flame and in the gap area is investigated. • A 2D theoretical model is developed to predict the thermoacoustic mode in can-annular combustors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A new viologen complex was successfully synthesized and characterized. • Under UV irradiation, the samples heated at 120 and 180℃showed different colors. • We construct a "AND" logic-gate strategy, different inputs lead to disparate results. Electron transfer is crucial for the rapid response of viologen-based complexes and investigating the factors that affect electron transfer has always been a major challenge. Herein, a new viologen-based complex, formulated as {[Zn 5 (cbbbc) 3 (BTC) 3 (μ 1 , 1 -OH)(H 2 O) 5 ]·22H 2 O} n , with a three-dimensional framework was successfully designed and synthesized by viologen ligand 1-(3-carboxybenzyl)-4,4′-bipyridinium chloride (Hcbbpy), trimesic acid (H 3 BTC) and Zn(NO 3) 2 ·6H 2 O. In particular, complex 1 does not exhibit photochromic properties. However, samples of complex 1 heated at 120 and 180 ℃ display tunable colors under UV light irradiation. The experimental results indicate that the compound's light response is less sensitive with higher water content in the lattice. The polarity and hydrogen bonding ability of lattice water in viologen-based complexes can interact with the donor of viologen, leading to a reduction in electron transfer. This study demonstrates the impact of lattice water on electron transfer in viologen-based complexes and offers insights for designing faster response complexes in the future. The light response of the complexes becomes less sensitive as the water content in the lattice increases. This is because the lattice water hinders the electron transfer of the complexes. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maritime transportation is the backbone of global trade, as ships carry over 80% of trading goods worldwide. As the shipping industry is mainly powered by heavy fuel oil, it has an adverse environmental footprint due to the emissions of greenhouse gases and polluting substances. To comply with IMO emission regulations and optimally save on fuel costs (which can account up for 50% to 60% of the total cost of operating a ship), shipping companies are motivated to optimize energy consumption. In this study, we first develop am innovative and tailored artificial neural network-based fuel consumption prediction model. This model innovates in that it explicitly considers shipping domain knowledge by modifying and optimizing its structure and parameters, where such properties have rigorously been proven. Moreover, it considers a broad range of influence factors based on data fusion technology. Next, we optimize the ship sailing speed profile for a bulk carrier in two application scenarios using the predicted fuel consumption rates by the proposed neural network-based model as the input: one is a bi-objective model, and the other considers market-based measures. Numerical experiments show that the proposed fuel consumption prediction model outperforms other models and that the model we propose can help to improve ship energy efficiency by a considerable extent. The proposed model conforms more closely to common sense than existing models; thus, it will likely have a better potential for use in the maritime industry and other problems with similar domain knowledge possessed. • Use data fusion to combine a wide scope of data sources into a single dataset for artificial neural network (ANN) model construction • Develop a tailored ANN model for ship energy consumption prediction considering monotonicity and convexity • The mean absolute percentage error of the developed ANN model is 7.5% • Develop ship sailing speed optimization models in various application scenarios • The proposed ANN model improves ship energy efficiency by 2% to 2.5% [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comprehensive Summary: The conversion of CF3‐alkenes to gem‐difluoroalkenes using reductive cross‐coupling strategy has received much attention in recent years, however, the use of green and readily available reducing salt to mediate these reactions remains to be explored. In this work, a concise construction of gem‐difluoroalkenes, which requires neither a catalyst nor a metal reducing agent, was established. Rongalite, a safe and inexpensive industrial product, was employed as both a radical initiator and reductant. This procedure was compatible with both linear and cyclic diaryliodonium salts, enabling a wide variety of substrates (>70 examples). The utility of this approach was demonstrated through gram‐scale synthesis and efficient late‐stage functionalizations of anti‐inflammatory drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work demonstrates that the threshold energy E 0 can be obtained from a simple tentative rule and the bond length R can be obtained correctly by running the FIT program while fixing E 0. The extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) spectra for C u , W , and A u metal foils are tested and for the anharmonic system, the experimental C u spectra measured at temperatures of 50, 150, 295, 400, 500, 600 and 700 K. From the tests, it is confirmed that a more precise bond length R comparable to the crystallographic data can be obtained for both cases. Moreover, it is deduced that the new running mode of the conventional EXAFS FIT program yields satisfactory results for the anharmonic system. • Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure. • Setting threshold energy in EXAFS. • Study of anharmonic vibrational system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent years have seen a surge in interest in graph neural networks (GNNs) due to their superior performance in a range of graph and network mining applications. Graph embedding attempts to convert nodes in graph data to a low-dimensional vector representation by capturing the edges between them. However, because the bulk of GNNs currently use unstable graph structures, they perform well on graphs with a high degree of homogeneity and badly on those with a low degree of homogeneity. As a result, GNNs that rely solely on the original graph structure may give unsatisfactory results. In this research, we introduce an adaptive multi-channel Bayesian graph neural network (AMBGN 1 1 Code available at https://github.com/DongYang26/AMBGN.) for estimating new graph structures and adaptively fusing some depth-related information between the original topological structures. The key idea is to follow the GNN mechanism by estimating the ideal graph structure using Bayesian inference and extracting specific and common embeddings from estimated graph structures, topological structures, and their combinations. We are able to maximize both estimated graph structure learning and node embedding in an iterative framework by using the attention approach to learn the significant weights of these three node embeddings. Our extensive research on a number of benchmark datasets with varied degrees of homogeneity demonstrated that AMBGN reliably estimates the graph structure and effectively learns the most relevant node information in both graph representations, confirming the usefulness of AMBGN. • Explore graph structure learning, advocate GNN's concurrent learning from original and estimated graphs. • Adaptive integration enhances GNN's classification using useful information from both graphs. • Introduce Bayesian inference for learning posterior graph structures. • Propose attention mechanisms to quantify the importance of graphs in classification tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For decades, the expression of immediate early genes (IEGs) such as FOS has been the most widely used molecular marker representing neuronal activation. However, to date, there is no equivalent surrogate available for the decrease of neuronal activity. Here, we developed an optogenetic-based biochemical screen in which population neural activities can be controlled by light with single action potential precision, followed by unbiased phosphoproteomic profiling. We identified that the phosphorylation of pyruvate dehydrogenase (pPDH) inversely correlated with the intensity of action potential firing in primary neurons. In in vivo mouse models, monoclonal antibody-based pPDH immunostaining detected activity decreases across the brain, which were induced by a wide range of factors including general anesthesia, chemogenetic inhibition, sensory experiences, and natural behaviors. Thus, as an inverse activity marker (IAM) in vivo , pPDH can be used together with IEGs or other cell-type markers to profile and identify bi-directional neural dynamics induced by experiences or behaviors. [Display omitted] • Establishing an optogenetic-based quantitative proteomic screening platform • Unbiased screening identified that neural activity decreases pPDH • pPDH level negatively correlates with neural activity in vitro and in vivo • pPDH as a novel inverse activity marker (IAM) to track reduced neuronal activity Yang et al. applied an in vitro optogenetics-based proteomic screening platform to identify that the phosphorylation of pyruvate dehydrogenase (pPDH) inversely correlates with neuronal activity both in vitro and in vivo. pPDH can serve as a trackable endogenous inverse activity marker (IAM) for post hoc identification of inhibited neurons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diabetic wound therapy presents significant challenges in the clinical environment, where persistent bleeding, disturbed inflammatory regulation, impaired cellular proliferation, and impaired tissue remodeling are major features of diabetic wound healing. However, current treatment strategies need to be considered in the context of the dynamic and complex needs of chronic wound healing. Here, multifunctional dynamic boronic acid cross-linked hydrogels were prepared by the reaction of gelatin (Gel) inoculated with 5-carboxy 3-nitrophenylboronic acid (NPBA) and Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) to achieve rapid gelation at pH = 7.4, EGCG could interact electrostatically with cationic antimicrobial peptides (AMP) to achieve the effective loading of AMP in the hydrogels. This hydrogel can be injected and adhered to skin defects in diabetic patients to provide a barrier and rapid hemostasis. In a high glucose microenvironment, the rapid release of AMP effectively kills bacteria, while the responsive release of EGCG eliminates reactive oxygen species (ROS) and promotes macrophage M2 polarization. In addition, the hydrogel had excellent biocompatibility and degradability properties, degraded completely after 3 days of subcutaneous injection, and was non-toxic in H&E staining of major organs and serum liver function indices in mice. This multifunctional injectable hydrogel accelerates diabetic skin wound repair and is a promising dressing for the precise treatment of diabetic wounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Infection and chronic inflammation caused by oxidative stress are major challenges in chronic wound healing. Preparing a simple, efficient hydrogel with reactive oxygen–scavenging properties for chronic wound repair is a promising strategy. Herein, we report an injectable, self-repairing hydrogel with antioxidant and antibacterial properties that can be used to regenerate diabetic wounds. Hydrogels are prepared by coordination crosslinking of gelatin (Gel), a natural biopolymer derived from collagen, with Zr4+. Because of the dynamic properties of metal ion coordination bonds and the bactericidal effect of Zr4+, the obtained coordination hydrogels exhibit self-healing, injectable, and antibacterial properties. The plant polyphenol "proanthocyanidins," which has reactive oxygen–scavenging and anti-inflammatory effects, was simultaneously loaded into the coordination hydrogel during cross-linking. We obtained a versatile hydrogel that is easy to prepare, resistant to mechanical irritation, and antioxidant, and antibacterial in vitro. We further demonstrated that the injectable self-healing hydrogels could effectively repair diabetic skin wounds and accelerate collagen deposition and wound healing. This study shows that the multifunctional antioxidant hydrogel has great potential in developing multifunctional biomaterials for chronic wound healing. A facile and easy strategy for generating injectable gelatin-based hydrogels, which was further improved with multiple functions by in situ doping proanthocyanidins (PC) for accelerating the diabetic wound healing. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aboveground biomass (AGB) in grasslands directly reflects the net primary productivity, making it a sensitive indicator of grassland resource quality and ecological degradation. Accurately estimating AGB over large regions to reveal long-term AGB evolution trends remains a formidable challenge. In this study, we divided Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (IMAR) grasslands into three study regions based on their spatial distribution of grassland types. We combined remote sensing data with ground-based sample data collected over the past 19 years from 6114 field plots using the Google Earth Engine platform. We constructed random forest (RF) and traditional regression AGB inversion models for each region and selected the best-performing model through accuracy assessment to estimate IMAR grassland AGB for the period 2000–2022. We also examined the trends in AGB changes and identified the driving forces affecting IMAR grasslands through the application of Theil-Sen estimation, Mann-Kendall trend analysis, and the Geodetector model. The main findings are as follows: (1) Compared with the univariate parametric traditional regression model, the AGB monitoring accuracy of the multivariate non-parametric RF model in the three study regions increased by 5.94%, 5.08% and 19.14%, respectively. (2) The average AGB per unit area of IMAR grasslands from 2000 to 2022 was 731.41 kg/hm2, with alpine meadow having the highest average AGB (1271.70 kg/hm2) and temperate grassland desertification having the lowest (469.06 kg/hm2). IMAR grasslands exhibited an overall increasing trend in AGB over the past 23 years (6.01 kg/hm2•yr), with the increasing trend covering 83.52% of the grassland area and the decreasing trend covering 16.48%. (3) Spatially, IMAR grassland AGB showed a gradual decline from northeast to southwest and exhibited an increasing trend with increasing longitude (45.423 kg/hm2 per degree) and latitude (71.9 kg/hm2 per degree). (4) Meteorological factors were the most significant factors affecting IMAR grassland AGB, with precipitation (five-year average q value of 0.61) being the most prominent. In the western part of IMAR, where precipitation is consistently limited throughout the year, the primary drivers of influence were human activities, with particular emphasis on the number of livestock (with a five-year average q value of 0.44). It is evident that reducing human activity disturbance and pressure in fragile grassland areas or implementing near-natural restoration measures will be beneficial for the sustainable development of grassland ecosystems. The results of this research hold substantial reference importance for the protection and restoration of grasslands, the supervision and administration of grassland resources, as well as the development of policies related to grassland management. [Display omitted] • The aboveground biomass (AGB) of grasslands in IMAR increased over the past 23 years. • IMAR grassland AGB shows an upward trend with increasing longitude and latitude. • Precipitation is the main factor affecting grassland AGB in IMAR. • Human activities have a greater impact on the grassland AGB in western IMAR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]