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In the field of rock mechanics, the stress–seepage–damage coupling numerical simulation of rock has always been a hot topic but a difficult problem. Based on this background, we newly derive the smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) form of the seepage equation and a two-dimensional (2D) stress–seepage–damage coupling constitutive model. The proposed coupling model considers the heterogeneity of the engineering rock mass and overcomes the difficulty of the conventional SPH algorithm in stress–seepage–damage calculation. Stable one-dimensional (1D) seepage is first simulated to verify the correctness of the seepage equation and that the simulation results coincide with traditional analytical solutions. Then two triaxial compression experiments considering seepage and no-seepage conditions are simulated to show that the coupled model can well simulate the progressive rock failure process and the change in permeability. The correctness of the coupling model is verified by comparing the simulated results with experimental results. The existence of a seepage field advances the initial cracking time and weakens the peak strength of the rock. Finally, the progressive damage processes of surrounding rock excavation under unloading action are simulated, showing that stress–seepage–damage coupling model has application prospects in rock engineering. The research results may provide some references for the application of the SPH method in the stress–seepage–damage coupling simulation of rock. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nerve injury can induce aberrant changes in ion channels, enzymes, and cytokines/chemokines in the dorsal root ganglia (DRGs); these changes are due to or at least partly governed by transcription factors that contribute to the genesis of neuropathic pain. However, the involvement of transcription factors in neuropathic pain is poorly understood. In this study, we report that transcription factor (TF) ETS proto-oncogene 1 (ETS1) is required for the initiation and development of neuropathic pain. Sciatic nerve chronic constrictive injury (CCI, a clinical neuropathic pain model) increases ETS1 expression in the injured male mouse DRG. Blocking this upregulation alleviated CCI-induced mechanical allodynia and thermal hyperalgesia, with no apparent effect on locomotor function. Mimicking this upregulation results in the genesis of nociception hypersensitivity; mechanistically, nerve injury-induced ETS1 upregulation promotes the expression of histone deacetylase 1 (HDAC1, a key initiator of pain) via enhancing its binding activity to the HDAC1 promotor, leading to the elevation of spinal central sensitization, as evidenced by increased expression of p-ERK1/2 and GFAP in the dorsal spinal horn. It appears that the ETS1/HDAC1 axis in DRG may have a critical role in the development and maintenance of neuropathic pain, and ETS1 is a potential therapeutic target in neuropathic pain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The performance degradation issue caused by carbon deposition has limited the commercial application of natural-gas-fueled solid oxide fuel cells. Most previous corresponding studies are based on thermodynamic equilibrium analyses, while long-term transient evaluation work is lacking. Therefore, a transient multi-physics numerical model is developed in present work. The corresponding long-term performance degradation evaluation is then conducted. The results show that, for a direct internal reforming solid oxide fuel cell, the increase in carbon deposition and deterioration of performance degradation were concentrated in the first 180 days of steady−state operation and slowed down at the later stage. The electrode inlet rapidly developed a high concentration of carbon deposition after 180 days of steady−state operation. The deposited carbon deteriorated the gas transport and decayed reaction activity within the porous electrode, eventually inducing a deactivation zone with 0 current density at the inlet. Key measures to inhibit carbon deposition should be implemented within the first 180 days of operation, and the pre-reformed operation of natural gas is encouraged for natural-gas-fueled solid oxide fuel cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nonreciprocal light transmission in an all-fiber platform is critical in modern optical communication systems, which can avoid the packaging and integration process required in current devices based on magneto-optical or nonlinear materials. Here we propose and demonstrate an all-fiber device with remotely tunable isolation ratio and switchable isolation direction by constructing two mutually coupled Fabry-Perot (FP) resonators with identical geometry and balanced gain and loss. By controlling the pumping power, strong optical nonreciprocity is achieved due to gain saturation nonlinearity that is enhanced by the broken parity-time symmetry. Nonreciprocal light transmission with an isolation ratio of 8.58 dB at 1550 nm and an insertion loss of 2.5 dB is demonstrated. The isolation bandwidth is 125 MHz, which is determined by the bandwidths of the two coupled FP resonators. The proposed approach provides an all-fiber solution for a remotely tunable and optically controlled isolator, which may find applications in software-defined optical networks. Optical nonreciprocity is of fundamental importance for signal processing in modern optical communication systems but is still facing issues on either high energy consumption, complicated design or on-chip integration. Here, an all-fiber device, containing two mutually coupled Fabry-Perot resonators to realize broken parity-time (PT) symmetry is demonstrated, which may find applications in software-defined optical networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The great potential of variable stiffness laminates in maximizing buckling load is obvious over straight fiber laminates, however the optimum design of such VAT laminates which has much more design variables and larger computational efforts, is still a challenge even for the modern computational method and capability. In addition, the postbuckling performance and the correlations with buckling resistance still need to be further studied for VAT laminates. This work proposes an enhanced reduced-order model based on the improved Koiter perturbation theory for buckling and postbuckling analysis of variable stiffness composite plates. The VAT laminas composed by "two-segment" fibers and "four-segment" fibers are considered, respectively, in construction of the reduced-order finite element model. The nonlinear prediction for initial postbuckling response of VAT laminate can be achieved, by solving the small-scaled reduced-order model. The nonlinear buckling load, postbuckling stiffness and postbuckling stiffness residual factor, are accurately and efficiently extracted from the initial postbuckling predictor, and then subsequently to be selected as inputs to the GA based optimization process for the design of VAT laminates. Extensive numerical investigations validate that the proposed method can find a combination of several varied angle fiber layers with constant thicknesses such that the combination results in an optimal stiffness distribution and provides a more favorable structural performance in both buckling and postbuckling regime for different demands of structure design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multidrug resistance (MDR) is the main cause of clinical chemotherapy failure, and new strategies to overcome MDR are needed. We report multi-responsive silk fibroin nanoparticles (SFNs) co-loaded with the chemotherapeutic drug doxorubicin (DOX) and PX478 (a hypoxia-inducible factor inhibitor), which was functionalized with folic acid (FA). This combination could actively target tumor cells and respond to the release of PX478, inhibit the hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) gene and its related downstream drug-resistant target genes. The FA-PX478-DOX-SFNs (F-P-D-S) combination showed accelerated drug release profiles in the media simulating the tumor microenvironment, which had acidic pH, high levels of reactive oxygen species and high levels of glutathione. Compared with PX478-DOX-SFNs (P-D-S) without targeted modification, the cellular uptake rate of F-P-D-S increased. In addition, F-P-D-S quickly achieved lysosomal escape, enabling DOX to rapidly enter the nucleus to kill the drug-resistant cells. A cytotoxicity test indicated that the IC 50 of DOX against MCF-7/ADR cells was 1.0 μg/mL in F-P-D-S, which was 26 times lower than that of free DOX (25.6 μg/mL). F-P-D-S significantly down-regulated HIF-1α , MDR1 , VEGF and GLUT-1 and P-gp protein to overcome multidrug resistance. This effective synergistic chemotherapy strategy for HIF inhibition has potential for use in the treatment of multidrug-resistant tumors. • F-P-D-S showed multi-responsive drug release profiles in the media simulating tumor microenvironment. • F-P-D-S increased the uptake of doxorubicin and quickly achieved lysosomal escape in MCF-7/ADR cells. • The HIF inhibitor PX478 increased the efficiency of doxorubicin to MCF-7/ADR cells. • F-P-D-S down-regulated multidrug resistance-related genes and P-gp protein to overcome multidrug resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highly selective monoethynylation of isatins using solid calcium carbide as a surrogate of gaseous acetylene was described. A series of multifunctional compounds, 3-ethynyl-3-hydroxyindolin-2-ones, were efficiently synthesized at room temperature through a one-step procedure. The salient features of this protocol are the use of inexpensive and easy-to-handle solid alkyne sources instead of inflammable and explosive acetylene gas, the use of commercially available substrates, mild reaction conditions, and simple workup procedures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we fabricate a series of water-soluble anionic macrocyclic arenes, including pillar[5]arene (WP5), pillar[6]arene (WP6), leaning pillar[6]arene (WLT6), and biphenyl-extended pillar[6]arene (WBpP6), which show different separation capabilities toward low-molecular-weight organics, such as short chain haloalkanes, cyclic aliphatics, and aromatics, in water. The liquid–liquid distribution experiments are carried out at room temperature. The separation factor for low-molecular-weight organics is evaluated in the extraction of equimolar mixtures. WP6 demonstrates a high extraction efficiency of up to 89% in separating toluene/methylcyclohexane mixtures. These adsorbents also have the advantages of rapid adsorption, high separation efficiency, remarkable selectivity, and good recyclability. This work not only expands the application scope of macrocyclic chemistry, but also has practical research value for organics separation and water purification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to understand the instability characteristics of surrounding rock during deep roadway excavation, the influence of different section shapes on the stability of surrounding rock was systematically analyzed. Four sections of roadway with circular, rectangular, semicircular arch and three-center arch were studied. Simulation revealed that the maximum principal stress concentration and pressure relief degree of the three-center arch roadway is the highest, the minimum principal stress relief degree of the rectangular roadway is highest, the roof subsidence of the semicircular arch roadway is the lowest, the roof subsidence and left and right side displacement of the rectangular roadway are the highest, the surrounding rock failure areas of the circular roadway are evenly distributed, the surrounding rock failure areas of the other shape roadways are arch-distributed and the surrounding rock failure of the two sides of the rectangular roadway is the deepest. The mining stress environment coefficient is defined according to the stress state of the rock surrounding the roadway, and the range in which the coefficient is greater than 0.2 is defined as the destructive danger area. We found that the stability of the rock surrounding a circular roadway is greater than that of a semicircular arch roadway, a three-center arch roadway and a rectangular roadway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is important to appraise the performance of the steel pipe pile performance in harbor engineering. The load transfer mechanism and pile-soil interaction could not be clearly understood using the traditional measurement. In this case, fiber Bragg grating (FBG) and Brillouin optical time domain reflectometry (BOTDR) were applied simultaneously at an open-ended steel pipe pile field test in Ganyu Port, China. Results showed that the fiber optic sensing system accurately measured the axial force, side friction, and bearing behaviors of open-ended steel pipe piles based on strain data. During the pile driving stage, the system captured the bending deformation and eccentric load on the upper part of the pile above the mud surface, identifying the relatively large tensile strain at the final stage of driving. For the static load test, the strain and resistance distribution obtained by sensing systems suggested that 80% of pile compression was concentrated in the upper 20 m, and the maximum force was observed at the location of soil surface. The precision of high strain dynamic tests is limited for complex field conditions and model's parameters-setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Red oil" is generally thought to consist of TBP with its degradation products, saturated with extracted heavy metal nitrates and HNO3. The thermal runaway reaction of above system is mainly responsible for "red oil" explosion accident. In this work, the "red oil" was studied from another perspective: the thermal reaction behavior of several "red oil" decomposition products, including butanol, butyric acid, butyl ether and butyl butyrate, with HNO3. The main liquid and gas components were qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed by GC/MS. It is found the reaction between butanol and HNO3 has a similar behavior to that between TBP and HNO3, which also produces "red oil"-like substances. It suggests that butanol may play a critical role in "red oil" explosion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To obtain a theoretical reference for understanding the changes in metabolites of Yigong tea leaves during different harvesting periods and to determine the optimal harvesting period, we performed a metabolome comparison using UPLC‐Q‐Exactive MS on Yigong tea leaves from different harvesting periods. The results indicated that a total of 41 metabolites were significantly altered during the growth of Yi Gong tea leaves. These involved 7 amino acids and their derivatives, 16 flavonols and flavonol glycosides, 4 organic acids, 3 catechins, 3 carbohydrates, 7 fatty acid esters, 1 terpene, and 3 substances from others. In particular, the levels of arginine and glutamine were higher in early‐harvested tea leaves than in late‐harvested tea leaves; the levels of flavonoids and flavonols were higher in late‐harvested tea leaves. Metabolic pathway analysis revealed that the caffeine metabolism and the flavonoid biosynthesis perform key roles in Yigong tea leaves from different harvesting periods. Practical Applications: At present, the application of metabolomics in tea research is focused on the study of pesticide residues, processing processes, environmental stresses, and regional differences. This study is to focus on the effect of the tea harvesting period on tea quality through metabolomics. Through metabolomics, we can better determine the optimal tea harvesting period, and this study can improve the quality of this tea product and may be able to bring some favourable favorable contributions contribution to the local tea marketing in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Earth's known supercontinents are believed to have formed in vastly different ways, with two endmembers being introversion and extroversion. The former involves the closure of the internal oceans formed during the break-up of the previous supercontinent, whereas the latter involves the closure of the previous external superocean. However, it is unclear what caused such diverging behavior of supercontinent cycles that involved first-order interaction between subducting tectonic plates and the mantle. Here we address this question through 4D geodynamic modeling using realistic tectonic set-ups. Our results show that the strength of the oceanic lithosphere plays a critical role in determining the assembly path of a supercontinent. We found that high oceanic lithospheric strength leads to introversion assembly, whereas lower strength leads to extroversion assembly. A theoretically estimated reduction in oceanic crustal thickness, and thus its strength, during Earth's secular cooling indicates that introversion was only possible for the Precambrian time when the oceanic lithosphere was stronger, thus predicting the assembling of the next supercontinent Amasia through the closure of the Pacific Ocean instead of the Indian-Atlantic oceans. Our work provides a new understanding of the secular evolution of plate tectonics and geodynamics as the Earth cooled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To solve the misfire problem of lithium-ion batteries in storage and transportation, a method of using cryogenic control to prevent thermal runaway of lithium-ion batteries is proposed, and a serial of tests of thermal runaway of ternary lithium-ion batteries under the effect of cryogenic cooling are carried out. The results show that cryogenic cooling can weaken the energy release of a lithium-ion battery after thermal runaway by reducing its internal reaction activity and then blocking the chain propagation of thermal runaway between battery packs. The lower the temperature of a lithium-ion battery, the more difficult it is for the battery to develop thermal runaway; when the temperature drops to −20 °C, thermal runaway propagation does not occur. The highest CO concentration and mass loss in the test chamber were reduced by 83.1% and 75.9%, respectively, compared with the normal temperature group. When the temperature dropped below −30 °C, the battery that was directly punctured did not develop thermal runaway. This discovery can be used in the transportation and storage of lithium batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Machine learning methods are a novel way to predict and rank donors' willingness to donate blood and to achieve precision recruitment, which can improve the recruitment efficiency and meet the challenge of blood shortage. We collected information about experienced blood donors via short message service (SMS) recruitment and developed 7 machine learning-based recruitment models using PyCharm-Python Environment and 13 features which were described as a method for ranking and predicting donors' intentions to donate blood with a floating number between 0 and 1. Performance of the prediction models was assessed by the Area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), accuracy, precision, recall, and F1 score in the full dataset, and by the accuracy in the four sub-datasets. The developed models were applied to prospective validations of recruiting experienced blood donors during two COVID-19 pandemics, while the routine method was used as a control. Overall, a total of 95,476 recruitments via SMS and their donation results were enrolled in our modelling study. The strongest predictor features for the donation of experienced donors were blood donation interval, age, and donation frequency. Among the seven baseline models, the eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) and Support vector machine models (SVM) achieved the best performance: mean (95%CI) with the highest AUC: 0.809 (0.806–0.811), accuracy: 0.815 (0.812–0.818), precision: 0.840 (0.835–0.845), and F1 score of XGBoost: 0.843 (0.840–0.845) and recall of SVM: 0.991 (0.988–0.994). The hit rate of the XGBoost model alone and the combined XGBoost and SVM models were 1.25 and 1.80 times higher than that of the conventional method as a control in 2 recruitments respectively, and the hit rate of the high willingness to donate group was 1.96 times higher than that of the low willingness to donate group. Our results suggested that the machine learning models could predict and determine the experienced donors with a strong willingness to donate blood by a ranking score based on personalized donation data and demographical details, significantly improve the recruitment rate of blood donors and help blood agencies to maintain the blood supply in emergencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to explore the dynamic evolution of overburden rock movement and mining-induced stress of an ultra-high working face, taking the ultra-high working face of a 2# thick coal seam in a shallow mine field as the engineering background, this paper analyzes the distribution characteristics of principal stress, mining stress evolution characteristics, overburden rock migration characteristics, and overburden rock caving characteristics of a shallow overburden rock ultra-high working face under different advancing distances and calculates by FLAC3D numerical simulation software. The results show that when the working face advances to 200 m, the stress concentration degree presents a stable trend. The concentration degree and variation gradient of the maximum principal stress are greater than those of the minimum principal stress, while the range of the peak ahead coal wall is smaller than that of the minimum principal stress peak leading coal wall. With the increase of the advancing range, the stress recovery degree gradually increases, and the maximum principal stress recovery degree is higher than the minimum principal stress. When the working face advances to 300 m, the maximum principal stress restores to 66% of the initial value, while the minimum principal stress is only restored to about 50%, and the surface subsidence degree reaches 2.5 m. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, an engineering practical method is put forward to characterize the static and dynamic mapping relationship between soil deformation and its induced system performance. The main novelty lies in the achievement of mapping relationship analysis subject to arbitrary soil deformation-induced vehicle–track–soil (VTS) static geometric deformation and dynamic behavior. In this practical model, the increment and iteration methods are introduced and integrated into the static mapping analysis to solve the nonlinear interlayered contact and separation, and subsequently, to achieve dynamic mapping analysis under a VTS dynamics framework, besides, the Wavelet transform is applied to obtain the more distinct observation signal in the time domain. Apart from the discussion on the time domain, the analysis on the frequency domain is implemented in the numerical studies to further illustrate the influence of soil additional deformation from the dynamic mapping perspective. Moreover, the difference between the dynamic responses of the unit base plate and longitudinal connected base plate subject to different combination of wavelength and amplitude of soil deformation is analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

HLA‐DPB1*1550:01 differs from HLA‐DPB1*02:02:01:01 by one nucleotide in exon 2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A stable { 1 - 10 } <110> single component sharp texture was obtained during ambient temperature tube High-Pressure Shearing (t-HPS) of 99.999% purity aluminum. It is shown that the grain size and the grain aspect ratio saturate at ~ 8 μm and ~ 1.6, respectively, at an equivalent strain of ~ 30 and the high-angle grain boundary fraction continues to decrease after this saturation even to equivalent strains exceeding ~ 200. The { 1 - 10 } <110> texture emerges at an equivalent strain of ~ 6 to 9 with the completion of recrystallization and develops gradually as a sole component sharp texture with increasing intensity upon further processing. This component is a stable orientation in t-HPS processing although it was not previously observed experimentally as a shear texture. Thus, t-HPS processing provides a new and effective experimental tool for simple shear testing that is distinctly different from earlier shear strain methods such as torsional processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exploring low-cost, high catalytic activity and high durability dual-function catalysts is critical for rechargeable Zn–air batteries to promote the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) processes. In this paper, integrated air electrodes have been successfully assembled by in-site coupling of NiFe layered double hydroxide (LDH) nanosheets with N-doped carbon nanosheet arrays on carbon cloth (NiFe LDH@N-CNSs@CC). The electrochemical performance shows that the hierarchical structure provides abundant sites for the catalytic OER and ORR processes. In addition, the rechargeable Zn–air battery using NiFe LDH@N-CNSs@CC as a cathode can maintain a stable voltage gap of 0.90 V over 300 hours of cycling at a current density of 5 mA cm−2, demonstrating excellent cycling stability, which is better than that of commercial Pt/C + RuO2 catalyst. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Tol–Pal system of Gram-negative bacteria is necessary for maintaining outer membrane integrity. It is a multiprotein complex of five envelope proteins, TolQ, TolR, TolA, TolB, and Pal. These proteins were first investigated in E. coli, and subsequently been identified in many other bacterial genera. However, the function of the Tol–Pal system in Salmonella Choleraesuis pathogenesis is still unclear. Here, we reported the role of three of these proteins in the phenotype and biology of S. Choleraesuis. We found that mutations in tolA, tolB, and tolR caused severe damage to the cell wall, which was supported by observing the microstructure of spherical forms, long chains, flagella defects, and membrane blebbing. We confirmed that all the mutants significantly decreased S. Choleraesuis survival when exposed to sodium deoxycholate and exhibited a high sensitivity to vancomycin, which may be explained by the disruption of envelope integrity. In addition, tolA, tolB, and tolR mutants displayed attenuated virulence in a mouse infection model. This could be interpreted as a series of defective phenotypes in the mutants, such as severe defects in envelope integrity, growth, and motility. Further investigation showed that all the genes participate in outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) biogenesis. Interestingly, immunization with OMVs from ΔtolB efficiently enhanced murine viability in contrast to OMVs from the wild-type S. Choleraesuis, suggesting its potential use in vaccination strategies. Collectively, this study provides an insight into the biological role of the S. Choleraesuis Tol–Pal system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In nature, symbiosis with arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi contributes to sustainable acquisition of phosphorus and other elements in over 80% of plant species; improving interactions with AM symbionts may mitigate some of the environmental problems associated with fertilizer application in grain crops such as rice. Recent developments of high-throughput genome sequencing projects of thousands of rice cultivars and the discovery of the molecular mechanisms underlying AM symbiosis suggest that interactions with AM fungi might have been an overlooked critical trait in rice domestication and breeding. In this review, we discuss genetic variation in the ability of rice to form AM symbioses and how this might have affected rice domestication. Finally, we discuss potential applications of AM symbiosis in rice breeding for more sustainable agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding how thought emerges from the topographical structure of the cerebral cortex is a primary goal of cognitive neuroscience. Recent work has revealed a principal gradient of intrinsic connectivity capturing the separation of sensory-motor cortex from transmodal regions of the default mode network (DMN); this is thought to facilitate memory-guided cognition. However, studies have not explored how this dimension of connectivity changes when conceptual retrieval is controlled to suit the context. We used gradient decomposition of informational connectivity in a semantic association task to establish how the similarity in connectivity across brain regions changes during familiar and more original patterns of retrieval. Multivoxel activation patterns at opposite ends of the principal gradient were more divergent when participants retrieved stronger associations; therefore, when long-term semantic information is sufficient for ongoing cognition, regions supporting heteromodal memory are functionally separated from sensory-motor experience. In contrast, when less related concepts were linked, this dimension of connectivity was reduced in strength as semantic control regions separated from the DMN to generate more flexible and original responses. We also observed fewer dimensions within the neural response towards the apex of the principal gradient when strong associations were retrieved, reflecting less complex or varied neural coding across trials and participants. In this way, the principal gradient explains how semantic cognition is organised in the human cerebral cortex: the separation of DMN from sensory-motor systems is a hallmark of the retrieval of strong conceptual links that are culturally shared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Appearance quality is one of the most important indexes for many injection-molded products, like optical parts, automotive parts etc., especially at the area near the injection gate. Different from the work that focused on designing the dimensions of the runner, this work proposed a method which is based on the insert technology to improve the appearance quality of a standard automotive part. An insert was introduced into the runner system which located before the gate. Three different shapes of this insert (circular, rectangular and diamond) were used to study the effect of geometrical factors on the appearance quality in this paper. All inserts were parameterized to describe their location and dimensions. Based on the geometrical design parameters, expected improvement optimization problem about the appearance quality were solved by using sequential approximate optimization method. The appearance qualities of three cases are improved by 13.77%, 21.56%, 14.37% respectively. Results showed that the best geometrical design scheme of the insert is rectangular with the optimal geometrical location and dimensions. The reasons were discussed by investigating the flow and thermal history in detail. Compared with the design case without any insert, the heat was absorbed and the velocity field was changed by the insert before the polymer melts ran into the cavity. It changed the complicated thermo-mechanical history inside the material during the entire processing history, which improved the final appearance quality of this auto part. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A recent sham-controlled clinical study has shown that low-intensity pulsed ultrasound twice per week can safely and effectively treat patients with mild-to-moderate erectile dysfunction (ED). However, large-scale clinical trials are needed to verify its efficacy and safety and determine a reasonable treatment interval. To study whether low-intensity pulsed ultrasound therapy thrice per week is non-inferior to twice per week in patients with mild-to-moderate ED. A randomized, open-label, parallel-group, non-inferiority clinical trial was conducted in 7 hospitals in China. A total of 323 patients with mild-to-moderate ED were randomized (1:1) into thrice per week (3/W) and twice per week (2/W) groups. Low-intensity pulsed ultrasound was applied on each side of the penis for 16 sessions. The primary outcome was response rate using the minimal clinically important difference in the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF-EF) score at week 12. Secondary outcomes included Erection Hardness Score (EHS), Sexual Encounter Profile, Global Assessment Question, and Self Esteem and Relationship Questionnaire. Response rates in 3/W and 2/W groups were 62.0% and 62.5%, respectively. Treatment effect in the 3/W group was noninferior to that of the 2/W group, with rate difference lower bound of −0.01% [95% confidence interval −0.11 to 0.10%] within the acceptable margin (−14.0%). No significant difference was found among secondary outcomes. IIEF-EF score showed a significant increase from baseline in the 3/W group (16.8 to 20.7) and 2/W group (17.8 to 21.7), and the percentage of patients with EHS ≥3 increased in the 3/W (54.9% to 84.0%) and 2/W (59.5% to 83.5%) groups. There was no significant difference in response rate between the 2 groups after controlling for strata factors and homogeneous tests. No treatment-related adverse events were reported. Low-intensity pulsed ultrasound therapy displays similar efficacy and safety for mild-to-moderate ED when administered thrice or twice per week for 16 sessions. This study provides two options to suit patients' needs. This is a large-sample, randomized, controlled, noninferiority trial study. Short-term follow-up and mostly younger patients are the main limitations. Low-intensity pulsed ultrasound therapy thrice and twice per week showed equivalent therapeutic effects and safety for mild-to-moderate ED in a young and generally healthy population. This therapy warrants further investigation of its potential value in rehabilitation of ED. Chen, H., Li Z., Li X., et al. The Efficacy and Safety of Thrice vs Twice per Week Low-Intensity Pulsed Ultrasound Therapy for Erectile Dysfunction: A Randomized Clinical Trial. J Sex Med 2022;19:1536–1545. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The communication system for vacuum-tube ultrahigh-speed trains faces great challenges from unstable signal coverage and severe Doppler effects as a result of long running distances and ultrahigh speeds. This communication presents a possible solution for a communication system in a vacuum-tube high-speed train system that operates using a leaky waveguide. The design method for the leaky waveguide is demonstrated in detail. The developed leaky waveguide consists of periodic metal posts and longitudinal slots in a staggered arrangement, and it can achieve the properties of uniform field coverage and broadside radiation. Therefore, the performance of long-distance transmission with stable signal quality can be realized, and the Doppler effect in the scenario of ultrahigh-speed rail can be mitigated. Leaky waveguides with lengths of 5, 10, and 20 m are designed as verifications of the method. A 5 m leaky waveguide is fabricated and measured. The measured results are consistent with the simulated results, demonstrating that a uniform field distribution and broadside radiation can be achieved using the developed leaky waveguide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantum synchronizable codes(QSCs) are special classes of quantum error-correcting codes that can correct not only the effects of quantum noise on qubits but also the misalignment in block synchronization. In this paper, we construct two classes of QSCs from cyclic codes. The first class is to construct cyclic and negacyclic codes of odd prime length by using cyclotomic polynomials, and obtain a class of QSCs which achieves the best attainable misalignment under certain conditions. The second class is to apply BCH codes and negacyclic BCH codes on (u + v)|(u − v) structure to construct a class of QSCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tailoring the properties of solid‐state organic luminescent materials using a bottom‐up design principle is highly desirable for many applications. Herein, we present a "macrocycle‐to‐framework" strategy to construct macrocycle‐functionalized and hydrazone‐linked functional organic polymers with bright yellowish‐green luminescence and unique solvatochromism behaviors by the condensation of a diacylhydrazine‐functionalized pillar[5]arene with tris(4‐formylbiphenyl)amine. Outperforming their non‐macrocycle‐incorporated counterparts, the pillar[5]arene‐containing materials display amplified sensitivity to acidic conditions with luminescent and colorimetric dual‐modal patterns assisted by the enhanced intramolecular charge transfer (ICT), and exhibit satisfactory responsiveness to nitrobenzene compounds through rapid luminescence quenching with high selectivity and a low detection limit, where the sensing process proceeds through multiple dynamic quenching pathways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tailoring the properties of solid‐state organic luminescent materials using a bottom‐up design principle is highly desirable for many applications. Herein, we present a "macrocycle‐to‐framework" strategy to construct macrocycle‐functionalized and hydrazone‐linked functional organic polymers with bright yellowish‐green luminescence and unique solvatochromism behaviors by the condensation of a diacylhydrazine‐functionalized pillar[5]arene with tris(4‐formylbiphenyl)amine. Outperforming their non‐macrocycle‐incorporated counterparts, the pillar[5]arene‐containing materials display amplified sensitivity to acidic conditions with luminescent and colorimetric dual‐modal patterns assisted by the enhanced intramolecular charge transfer (ICT), and exhibit satisfactory responsiveness to nitrobenzene compounds through rapid luminescence quenching with high selectivity and a low detection limit, where the sensing process proceeds through multiple dynamic quenching pathways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A strategy of in situ depositing 2D COFs on heterogeneous catalysts was reported for the first time to suppress the agglomeration and sintering of the supported metal nanoparticles during hydrogenation processes. The COF-decorated nanocatalysts exhibited excellent stability in various hydrogenation reactions including the reduction of dimethyl oxalate (DMO), furfural, and other chemicals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rice domestication has dramatically improved its agronomic traits, albeit with unavoidable significantly reduced genetic diversity. Dongxiang common wild rice, the wild rice species distributed in northernmost China, exhibits excellent resistance against stress and diseases and provides a rich genetic resource for rice breeding. Most of the studies focus on the function of the plant genes, often disregarding the role of the root microbes associated with the plants. In this work, we isolated a Burkholderia strain from the root of Dongxiang wild rice, which we identified as Burkholderia cepacia BRDJ, based on a phylogenetic analysis. This strain promoted the rice growth under greenhouse conditions. The grain yield was higher in a rice line containing a small genomic fragment derived from the Dongxiang wild rice, compared to the indica rice cultivar Zhongzao 35. This new strain also increased the plant biomass under limiting nitrogen conditions. Interestingly, this strain had a differential effect on indica and japonica rice varieties under full nitrogen supply conditions. By genome sequencing and comparison with another two B. cepacia strains, we observed enriched genes related with nitrogen fixation and phytohormone and volatiles biosynthesis that may account for the growth-promoting effects of the BRDJ. BRDJ has the potential to be used as a biofertilizer in promoting nitrogen use efficiency and overall growth in rice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rangeland fine fuel biomass is a key factor in determining fire spread and intensity, while the accuracy of biomass estimation is limited due to inherent heterogeneity in rangeland ecosystems. In this study, high spatial resolution (0.23 m) images were used to classify fuel types and predict rangeland fine fuel biomass in west Texas based on the random forest algorithm. Two biomass models, including one with the fuel type, original spectral bands, and vegetation indices as explanatory variables, and the other that contained a combination of the fuel type, original spectral bands, vegetation, and texture indices as explanatory variables, were assessed. Furthermore, the biomass models were also examined by upscaling the remote sensing images from high to medium (30 m) spatial resolution with the spectral curves derived from Landsat images. The fuel type map had an accuracy of more than 95%, and herbaceous fuel types were kept for estimating fine fuel biomass. The results showed that around 76% and 80% of biomass variances were explained by models without texture indices and with texture indices, respectively. The fuel type and the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) were two significant input variables influencing fine fuel biomass for both models and adding texture indices contributed to the improvement of model accuracy. An upscaling analysis for biomass estimation using medium spatial resolution imagery showed that approximately 60% of the variance in biomass was explained by the model. The addition of fractional vegetation cover improved the model performance by explaining an additional 5% of the variance in biomass estimation. These findings indicate that high spatial resolution images have the potential to effectively estimate rangeland fuel types and fine fuel biomass, which can be helpful for mapping the spatial distribution of fine fuels to aid in monitoring and fire management on rangelands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the boil-off gas (BOG) rate is tested to evaluate the thermal insulation performance of cryogenic containers at a 90 % liquid level in standard. This study aims to predict the BOG rate of cryogenic containers at different liquid levels based on a single test. If the BOGs at a 90 % liquid level can be evaluated based on the BOG test at a low liquid level, the large amount of working medium can be saved to reduce the test cost and the equilibration time can be shortened to improve the test efficiency. In this study, the QHALW (heat absorbed by the liquid from its corresponding outer wall) and QHTVL (heat transferred from the corresponding wall of the vapor to the liquid) are analysed to establish the energy equation of the liquid in the BOG test, indicating latent heat of BOG in cryogenic containers includes the QHALW and QHALW. Therefore, the equation between the latent heat of BOG and the two parts of heat isbuilt to predict BOGs at different liquid levels with the tested BOG. The maximum error of the experimental results is not more than 7.0 %, which shows that the BOG is successfully predicted at different liquid levels with a single-tested BOG. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A dual-band fixed-frequency beam-scanning leaky-wave antenna (LWA) operating in C and Ka bands is presented in this article, exhibiting a large-frequency-ratio property. A microstrip line (MSL) is employed on the top layer to feed the patches operating in the low-frequency band, and an air-filled low-loss gap waveguide (GW) is introduced at the bottom of the antenna to feed the patches operating in the high-frequency band. By changing the biasing states of the soldered p-i-n diodes, the operation states of all the radiating patches for the low and high bands can be switched between on and off. Then, based on the holography theory, the hologram is generated on the radiating aperture of the LWA, which can be manipulated to produce expected radiation, and hence, the dual-band fixed-frequency beam-scanning property is realized. In addition, the presented antenna is fabricated and measured for validations. Good agreement can be found between the simulated and measured results, with a peak realized gain of 8.9 dBi at 4.85 GHz and 17.2 dBi at 27 GHz, showing a desirable dual-band operation ability with large frequency ratio. Scanning ranges of 100° are achieved in both bands, demonstrating that the developed antenna has great potentials to large-frequency-ratio microwave and millimeter-wave applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, a liquid crystal (LC) leaky-wave antenna (LWA) is presented with fixed-frequency beam-scanning property operating in millimetre-wave band. Two rows of periodic-perturbation stubs (PPSs) structure are employed on both sides of a microstrip line to generate radiation. The undesirable open stop-band (OSB) that deteriorates the broadside radiation of the LWA can be avoided, and a satisfactory broadside radiation is realised, by introducing a specific offset between the two rows of the PPSs, which is different from the existing methods and is fully studied in this paper. Furthermore, since LC material with tunable dielectric constant is loaded on the antenna substrate, the phase constant of the LWA can be manipulated by applying a controllable biasing voltage from 0 V to 20 V. Therefore, fixed-frequency beam scanning can be realised. The presented LWA is fabricated and measured, and the antenna performances have been verified by the measured results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) technology obtains transcriptomics information of cells individually, and it allows the detection of cell types and subtypes at the cellular level. Nevertheless, the large number of noise and high dimension of expression profiles in scRNA-seq data cause many problems in down-stream analysis. Subspace clustering has been widely applied to scRNA-seq data analysis and made great progress. However, it only holds for linear subspaces and carries out similarity learning and subsequent clustering separately, which can generate severe information loss. To this end, we develop a novel unified framework for learning a consensus similarity matrix and a representation matrix jointly from the scRNA-seq data. Furthermore, by learning a low-rank kernel matrix, we try to fully exploit the diversity property of the kernel matrix and allow the optimal kernel to reside in the neighborhood of the candidate kernels. In addition, to solve the non-convex resultant optimization problem, an alternating direction method with multipliers (ADMM) is designed. Experimental results on various scRNA-seq datasets (including Cardiac epidermal cells, neural cells, blood cells, etc.) validate the superiority of the proposed approach when compared with other state-of-the-art ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphene assemblies exhibit prominent properties because of the high-performing graphene sheets serving as structural units as well as the ingenious design of assembled structures. However, the diversity of structural features is limited by the lack of creativity while keeping using graphene sheets as building blocks. Meanwhile, homogeneous architectures acquired from ordinary assembling strategies appear to be insufficient for several advanced applications. Here, using as-prepared 1D graphene oxide fibers as the basic structural elements, we achieve arbitrary graphene assemblies ranging from 2D papers to 3D aerogels through a wet-fusion method. The wet-fusing assembly is spontaneous and easily controllable which also provides strong interconnection between the unit fibers. Unlike the conventional homogeneous graphene assemblies, these fiber-assembled materials have hierarchical structures with programmable fibrous textures, thus are more flexible in characteristic design. Our methodology brings forward a way to expand the family of graphene assemblies and is also an efficient strategy to pursue functional graphene structures. [Display omitted] • 2D and 3D graphene assemblies with fibrous sub-structures were developed by wet-fusion of graphene oxide fibers. • The alignment of graphene sheets can be preserved to form fibrous textures in the fiber-fused structures. • Characters of these assemblies can be manipulated by controlled fusion of the elementary graphene oxide fibers. • The fiber-assembled materials have shown advantages in specific applications comparing with common graphene assemblies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is of great engineering significance to study the seepage characteristics and flow field distribution of rough fractured rock masses for grouting to stop leakage. Through the visual fracture seepage test device we developed, the visual seepage characteristics of tension fractures under vertical angles and different stress paths of grout and water were studied. Through silica gel secondary mould turning technology, the fracture morphology is accurately reprinted; based on GIS simulation technology, the visualization of the fracture surface spatial data is realized; the actual seepage area and flow path of the fluid are measured accurately by using digital image self-recognition technology, and the variation law of the grout and water seepage area under the coupling of normal stress and water pressure is obtained. Through visualization, it is pointed out that, with the increase of normal stress, the fracture water can be divided into three stages, archipelago flow, transition flow, and groove flow, while the grout has no capillary permeability and no archipelago flow effect because of its high viscosity. The critical point of grout antiseepage is defined and calibrated by data. Based on the analysis of the cross-sectional velocity of the groove flow, it is pointed out that the relationship between the velocity on the flow path and JRC is an exponential function. The main flow path is mainly distributed in the area where the JRC is relatively small. As the normal stress increases, the first deflection point of the grout flow path appears in the maximum region of JRC (6.42); the secondary deflection point appears in the second largest region of the flow path JRC (4.53), and the fluid of deflection point has the maximum kinetic energy on the main flow path. The current study can accurately obtain the relevant parameters of vertical fracture grouting seepage characteristics and provide theoretical guidance for solving the key scientific problems in grouting engineering, such as invisible flow paths and unmeasurable velocity vectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Globally, the incidence and associated mortality of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and lung carcinoma are showing a worsening trend. There is increasing evidence that COPD is an independent risk factor for the occurrence and progression of lung carcinoma. This study aimed to identify and validate the gene signatures associated with COPD, which may serve as potential new biomarkers for the prediction of prognosis in patients with lung carcinoma. Methods. A total of 111 COPD patient samples and 40 control samples were obtained from the GSE76925 cohort, and a total of 4933 genes were included in the study. The weighted gene coexpression network analysis (WGCNA) was performed to identify the modular genes that were significantly associated with COPD. The KEGG pathway and GO functional enrichment analyses were also performed. The RNAseq and clinicopathological data of 490 lung squamous cell carcinoma patients were obtained from the TCGA database. Further, univariate Cox regression and Lasso analyses were performed to screen for marker genes and construct a survival analysis model. Finally, the Human Protein Atlas (HPA) database was used to assess the gene expression in normal and tumor tissues of the lungs. Results. A 6-gene signature (DVL1, MRPL4, NRTN, NSUN3, RPH3A, and SNX32) was identified based on the Cox proportional risk analysis to construct the prognostic RiskScore survival model associated with COPD. Kaplan–Meier survival analysis indicated that the model could significantly differentiate between the prognoses of patients with lung carcinoma, wherein higher RiskScore samples were associated with a worse prognosis. Additionally, the model had a good predictive performance and reliability, as indicated by a high AUC, and these were validated in both internal and external sets. The 6-gene signature had a good predictive ability across clinical signs and could be considered an independent factor of prognostic risk. Finally, the protein expressions of the six genes were analyzed based on the HPA database. The expressions of DVL1, MRPL4, and NSUN3 were relatively higher, while that of RPH3A was relatively lower in the tumor tissues. The expression of SNX32 was high in both the tumor and paracarcinoma tissues. Results of the analyses using TCGA and GSE31446 databases were consistent with the expressions reported in the HPA database. Conclusion. Novel COPD-associated gene markers for lung carcinoma were identified and validated in this study. The genes may be considered potential biomarkers to evaluate the prognostic risk of patients with lung carcinoma. Furthermore, some of these genes may have implications as new therapeutic targets and can be used to guide clinical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magnetic monopoles have been a trending topic among physicists and astronomers since the 1930s. Researchers have been working hard to find evidence of magnetic monopoles in laboratories. The existence of magnetic monopoles can rationally explain the stability of charges, the quantization of charges, the structure of leptons, the unified composition of leptons and hadrons, and the symmetry of leptons and quarks. The presence of these mysterious particles in the universe could have significant implications for theoretical physics and astrophysics. The Grand Unified Theory has also predicted the existence of magnetic monopoles, which is interestingly implied by some astronomical observations. Noticing that the growth of supermassive black holes in the early universe is an increasingly challenging difficulty faced by astronomers, here we argue that it could be solved with the help of magnetic monopoles. As suggested by Peng et al. in A Monopole Model for Galactic Nuclei. In: Structure and Evolution of Active Galactic Nuclei, vol. 121, p. 663 (1986), quasars containing magnetic monopoles at the center can continuously catalyze the decay of protons to release energy. We examine this model by using quasar data from the Sloan digital sky survey. It is shown that the initial mass distribution of quasars derived from the magnetic monopole model exhibits a Gaussian distribution. At the same time, the initial mass function is also slightly higher than previously expected, which could be verified by future observations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Switched reluctance generator is widely used in the field of wind power generation. The efficiency of generators was usually related to the deviation angle. Compared with the single stator type switched reluctance motor, these dual-stator type switched reluctance motor models have the advantages of high accuracy, fast response and small size. An optimization method based on fuzzy algorithm and parameter scanning is proposed to improve the low speed performance of high efficiency generator. Taking the maximum output power, system efficiency and torque smoothing coefficient of DDSRG as the optimization goals, the effects of the turn-on angle, turn-off angle and reference current on the optimization goal are analyzed. The multi-objective optimization function is constructed, and the optimal combination value is obtained. The experiment proved that the parameter-controlled multi-objective optimization method could effectively improve the comprehensive performance of DDSRG in low-speed operation state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coastal wetland soils play a critical role in the global mercury (Hg) cycle, serving as both an important repository for total mercury (THg) and a hotspot for methylmercury (MeHg) production. This study investigated Hg pollution in soils dominated by Phragmites australis (PA) and Spartina alterniflora (SA) across five representative China's coastal wetlands (Yellow River (YR), Linhong River (LHR), Yangtze River (CJR), Min River (MR), and Nanliu River (NLR)). The THg concentrations ranged from 16.7 to 446.0 (96.3 ± 59.3 ng g−1, dw), while MeHg concentrations varied from 0.01 to 0.81 (0.12 ± 0.12 ng g−1, dw). We further evaluated Hg risk in these wetlands using potential ecological risk index (E r) and geographical enrichment factor (I geo). Most wetlands exhibited low to moderate ecological risk, except the PA habitat in the YR wetland, showing moderate to high risk. Soil organic matter significantly influenced THg and MeHg distribution, while MeHg% correlated well with soil salinity and pH. These findings highlight the importance of organic-rich coastal wetland soils in THg and MeHg accumulation, with the soil properties influencing net MeHg production. Furthermore, SA habitat generally exhibited higher MeHg%, suggesting its invasion elevates the ecological risk of MeHg in coastal wetlands. Mercury (Hg), a global pollutant, poses great risks to wildlife and humans. Since industrialization, anthropogenic Hg release surpassed natural sources. Long-term exposure leads to biomagnification of Hg. This study assessed Hg and methylmercury pollution and risks in soils of five China's coastal wetlands dominated by Phragmites australis and Spartina alterniflora. Environmental factors (total carbon, total organic carbon, total nitrogen, salinity, pH) were analyzed to reveal key variables influencing Hg pollution and methylation. Essential for quantifying Hg pollution in coastal wetlands, the findings provide a scientific basis for effective wetland conservation policies and addressing environmental health in these regions. [Display omitted] • Extensive soil sampling in typical coastal wetlands in China. • There are significant differences in soil THg and MeHg in coastal wetlands with different regions and vegetation in China. • Organic carbon dominates soil Hg enrichment in coastal wetlands. • Salinity and pH affect the methylation degree of Hg in coastal wetland soil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Cu nanodots have many active sites to ensure their excellent catalytic ability. • Cu NZs eye drops treat diabetic retinopathy by inhibiting HIF-1α/VEGF pathway. • Nanoenzyme cascade reaction alleviates hypoxia and reduces inflammation levels. • Cu NZs eye drops overcome disadvantages of traditional vitreous cavity injections. Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is the main cause of visual loss among blinding diseases. The pathological microenvironment, characterized by hypoxia, reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation and oxidative stress, is critical to the onset and progression of DR. In this study, an ultrasmall (4–6 nm) copper nanodots was developed as nanozyme (Cu NZs) and dispersed in 2 % Methocel to formulate Cu NZs eye drops to relieve hypoxia and scavenge excrescent ROS for the effective treatment of DR. Due to its smaller size and higher specific surface area, Cu NZs exposes more active sites and can guarantee excellent antioxidant activity. The results of in vitro studies indicated that Cu NZs had biocompatible and protective effects on human retinal microvascular endothelial cells (HRMECs), alleviating hypoxia in HRMECs, reducing oxidative stress, and inhibiting hypoxia-inducing factor-1α (HIF-1α)/ vascular endotheliogenesis factor (VEGF) signaling pathway. In an animal model of streptozotocin (STZ)-induced DR, Cu NZs eye drops have been shown to greatly relieve the hypoxic microenvironment of DR and inhibit the expression of HIF-1α and VEGF. CuNZs eye drops reduced inflammatory factors in the DR microenvironment, significantly reducing the progression of neovascularization and vascular leakage. And the nano-enzyme eye drops have no toxic side effects on the eyes and important organs of the whole body. This treatment mode based on the nano enzyme cascade reaction from comprehensive microenvironment regulation (hypoxia relief, free radical scavenging, anti-inflammatory), has excellent ability to treat DR. Although the nanoparticle is effective against DR in the short term at the cellular and animal levels, the long-term efficacy and safety remains to be evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Protonic ceramic electrolysis cell (PCEC) stands out as a promising device to realize large-scale green hydrogen production. This research is dedicated to advancing the optimization of PCEC, specifically targeting key performance indicators including voltage, current density, and Faradaic efficiency (FE). The central aim is the expeditious determination of optimal trade-off points that harmonize electrochemical performance and FE. To achieve this, a comprehensive framework is proposed, integrating three distinct methodologies: Multiphysics model, deep neural network, and multi-objective optimization algorithms. The investigation reveals the leakage current along the thickness of the cell is significant relative to its length. Furthermore, an increase in current density from 0.4 A cm−2 to 0.8 A cm−2 results in a reduction of FE and the uniformity of FE by 21.3% and 8.8%, respectively. The identified optimal point at 0.78 A m−2, 600 °C delivers a 12.8% improvement in performance compared to the base case. The primary contribution of this work includes introducing a novel framework which substantially accelerates the optimization of PCEC as well as highlighting the importance of addressing leakage current issues during PCEC operation. The proposed framework has broader applicability for addressing optimization problems of PCEC and advancing other clean energy technologies. • A 2D Multiphysics model is built for a PCEC. • The effects of various operating parameters are studied. • An DNN model is developed as a surrogate model. • A framework is proposed to accelerate multi-objective optimization in PCEC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We introduce an efficient self-knowledge distillation framework, Dual Teachers for Self-Knowledge Distillation (DTSKD), where the student receives self-supervisions by dual teachers from two substantially different fields, i.e., the past learning history and the current network structure. Specifically, DTSKD trains a considerably lightweight multi-branch network and acquires predictions from each, which are simultaneously supervised by a historical teacher from the previous epoch and a structural teacher under the current iteration. To our best knowledge, it is the first attempt to jointly conduct historical and structural self-knowledge distillation in a unified framework where they demonstrate complementary and mutual benefits. The Mixed Fusion Module (MFM) is further developed to bridge the semantic gap between deep stages and shallow branches by iteratively fusing multi-stage features based on the top-down topology. Extensive experiments prove the effectiveness of our proposed method, showing superior performance over related state-of-the-art self-distillation works on three datasets: CIFAR-100, ImageNet-2012, and PASCAL VOC. [Display omitted] • To our best knowledge, we are the first work to jointly conduct historical and structural self-knowledge distillation in a simple and unified framework, where they demonstrate complementary advantages and mutual benefits. • We demonstrate that an extremely lightweight design of auxiliary branches outperforms the previous heavy counterparts in both efficiency and accuracy. • Extensive experiments prove the effectiveness of our proposed framework on three datasets: CIFAR-100, ImageNet-2012, and PASCAL VOC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Protonic ceramic electrolysis cells (PCECs) offer significant potential for large-scale green hydrogen production. The performance of conventional PCEC stacks is notably limited due to the uneven gas distribution. In this research, a new stack design using metal foam as the gas distributor is proposed and numerically evaluated using a 3D Multiphysics model to improve the gas distribution uniformity. At 1.3 V and 600 °C, the current density of the newly designed PCEC with metal foam is 173 % higher than that of the conventional PCEC. Moreover, the hydrogen production capability of metal foam based PCEC is 234 % higher than that of conventional PCEC, due to the improved gas distribution uniformity and faradaic efficiency (FE) of the new PCEC. The application of metal foam increases steam distribution uniformity by 91.2 %. In a conventional PCEC, the FE under the rib is notably lower than that under the channel. In contrast, the FE distribution is more uniform in a metal foam based PCEC. The improved performance in terms of current density, FE, and distribution uniformity highlights the potential of metal foam as a beneficial component in PCEC stacks. These findings contribute to the understanding and further development of PCEC technology. • A 3D model is proposed for PCEC stack using metal foam for gas distribution. • Metal foam based PCEC stack outperforms the conventional PCEC stack. • Effects of operating and structural parameters on the PCECs are explored. • The impact of the flow field on faradaic efficiency is explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The high computational efficiency of the Koiter reduced-order methods for structural buckling analysis has been extensively validated; however the high-order strain energy variations in constructing reduced-order models is still time-consuming, especially when involving the fully nonlinear kinematics. This paper presents a reduced-order method with the hybrid-stress formulation for geometrically nonlinear buckling analysis. A solid-shell element with Green-Lagrange kinematics is developed for three-dimensional analysis of thin-walled structures, in which the numerical locking is eliminated by the assumed natural strain method and the hybrid-stress formulation. The fourth-order strain energy variation is avoided using the two-field variational principle, leading to a significantly lower computational cost in construction of the reduced-order model. The numerical accuracy of the reduced-order model is not degraded, because the third-order approximation to equilibrium equations is recovered by condensing the stress. Numerical examples demonstrate that although the fourth-order strain energy variation is not involved, the advantage in path-following analysis using large step sizes is not only unaffected, but also enhanced in some cases with respect to the displacement based reduced-order method. The small computational extra-cost for the hybrid-stress formulation is largely compensated by the reduced-order analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of chidamide (Chi) combined with a modified Busulfan-Cyclophosphamide (mBuCy) conditioning regimen for T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia/lymphoma (T-ALL/LBL) patients undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT). Twenty-two patients received chidamide combined with mBuCy conditioning regimen (Chi group). A matched-pair control (CON) group of 44 patients (matched 1:2) received mBuCy only in the same period. The leukemia-free survival (LFS), overall survival (OS), cumulative incidence of relapse (CIR), and non-relapse-related mortality (NRM) were evaluated. Patients in the Chi group were associated with lower 2-year CIR (19.0 vs. 41.4%, P = 0.030), better 2-year LFS (76.1 vs. 48.1%, P = 0.014), and had no significant difference in 2-year OS (80.5 vs. 66.4%, P = 0.088). Patients with minimal residual disease (MRD) positive before HSCT in the Chi group exhibited an advantage in 2-year LFS and a trend towards better 2-year OS (75.0 vs. 10.2%, P = 0.048; 75.0 vs. 11.4%, P = 0.060, respectively). Multivariable analysis showed that the chidamide intensified regimen was independently associated with better LFS (HR 0.23; 95%CI, 0.08–0.63; P = 0.004), and showed no significant impact with OS for all patients (HR 0.34, 95%CI, 0.11–1.07; P = 0.064). The cumulative incidence rates of grade II-IV aGVHD were similar (36.4 vs. 38.6%, P = 0.858). 20 patients in Chi group evinced an elevation in γ-glutamyltransferase, as compared to the mBuCy group (90.9 vs. 65.9%, P = 0.029). No transplantation-related mortality was documented within the first 100 days after transplantation. The results demonstrate that the chidamide intensified regimen may be an effective and acceptable safety option for T-ALL/LBL undergoing allo-HSCT, and further validation is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new minimally invasive technique, ultrasound-guided thermal ablation has become one of the treatment methods for benign thyroid nodules. This study aims to evaluate the efficacy and safety of laser ablation (LA), radiofrequency ablation (RFA), and microwave ablation (MWA) in the treatment of elderly patients with benign thyroid nodules. PubMed, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library were searched for qualified randomized controlled studies (RCTs) issued from establishing databases to March 2022. After screening and evaluating the article quality, the data on nodular volume reduction rate (VRR) and the incidence of complications after thermal ablation were extracted and analyzed by RevMan 5.3 and Stata l4.0. The meta-analysis included seven articles with 3055 participants. We found that LA, RFA, and MWA could markedly reduce the volume of benign thyroid nodules. LA was superior to RFA and MWA in reducing the volume of benign thyroid nodules in 6 months of follow-up (all P < 0.05). LA, RFA, and MWA can be safely implemented in patients with benign thyroid nodules. The incidence of significant complications after the RFA group was enhanced compared with that in the MWA (P < 0.05), and the incidence of secondary complications after RFA was slightly higher than that of LA (P < 0.05). LA, RFA, and MWA can markedly reduce the volume of benign thyroid nodules in elderly patients and can safely treat benign thyroid nodules. • LA, RFA, and MWA could reduce the volume of BTNs. • LA showed better outcomes than RFA and MWA in reducing the volume of BTNs in six-months of follow-up. • LA, RFA, and MWA can significantly reduce the volume of BTNs in elderly patients and can safely treat BTNs. • The incidence of major complications after the RFA markedly increased compared with that after MWA and LA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]