Search

On the basis of layered silicates, montmorillonite (MMT) with lamellar structure was selected to realize the design of constrained damping materials. A novel type of organically modified MMT (MD-OM...

FeCoNiCr0.5Alx high-entropy alloys (HEAs) have been prepared via the self-propagating high-temperature casting method and the phase formation mechanism and related compressive properties systematically investigated. The FeCoNiCr0.5Alx HEAs showed dual-phase nature but complex as-cast microstructure depending on the Al content. The as-cast microstructure of the FeCoNiCr0.5Al0.8 and FeCoNiCr0.5Al1.0 HEAs was composed of ordered/nonordered body-centered cubic (BCC) nanocomposite dendrites, network-like interdendritic face-centered cubic (FCC)/BCC eutectics, and plate-like FCC/BCC eutectics. The high compressive properties can be attributed to the eutectics formed both interdendritically and at grain boundaries, which considerably reduce the embrittlement of the interfaces.

This paper selected administration and public services, residential areas, roads, green space, parking areas, industrial areas and commercial and business facilities in Wuxi city, China, to analyze...

The current study aims to evaluate the effects of different gestation dietary Met/Lys (methionine, Met/lysine) ratios on the production performance of sows. Specifically, it measured the effect of Met on plasma urea and AA concentrations and placental vascular density of pregnant sows. A total of 325 multiparous sows (third parity, Large × White) were randomly allocated to five dietary treatments (n = 65) with five dietary Met/Lys ratios 0.27 (nutrient requirements of swine [NRC] 2012 level), 0.32, 0.37, 0.42, and 0.47). The litter size and weight at birth were measured and recorded. Blood samples were obtained on days 0, 40, 90, and 114 of gestation, and placenta samples were collected at parturition. The effects of different dietary Met/Lys ratios on the reproductive performance were evaluated based on the prolificacy of sows as either high (≥13 total piglets born) or low ( 0.05). However, for high-prolificacy sows, litter weight of born alive significantly increased in 0.37 Met/Lys ratios group compared with control group (P < 0.05). The gestation dietary Met/Lys ratio showed significant quadratic effects on the litter birth weight and percentage of piglets born with weight 0.05), the gestation dietary Met/Lys ratio showed significant quadratic effects on the placental vascular density (P < 0.05). In addition, the birth weight of piglets of high-prolificacy sows was positively correlated with the placental vascular density (P < 0.01). Taken as a whole, the dietary Met/Lys ratio showed a quadratic curve relation with birth weight performance and placental angiogenesis performance, to which 0.37 ratio contributed to the best performance of high-prolificacy sows.

Evapotranspiration (ET) is a major component of land hydrological processes, where it determines the transfer of moisture and energy in the soil–vegetation–atmosphere system. In this study, an empirical ET model (PYH-ET) was established based on the relationships between the monthly ET and the leaf area index (LAI), precipitation (PRE), and pan evaporation (EVP) in the whole Poyang Lake watershed (China). Then, this model was applied to sub-watersheds of the Poyang Lake watershed and analyzed the contributions of the three variables to ET. The results showed that the correlation coefficients between the monthly ET and the monthly LAI, PRE, and EVP were 0.969, 0.380, and 0.894, respectively. The moving average of the PRE per 2 months was used to replace the monthly PRE as a variable in the model. The accuracy of the PHY-ET model was high where the R value for the model was 0.98 and the relative error of the model was 10.2% when the data of 2014 were used to validate the model built according to the data during 2000–2013. The contribution of LAI to ET was highest in all sub-watersheds, followed by EVP, whereas PRE made the lowest contribution. In addition, the contributions of these three factors to ET in this watershed conformed to the law of the minimum, where the variation in ET was limited by the factor with the smallest change. The proposed high accuracy empirical model requires a small number of readily available parameters and it is suitable for integration with hydrological models.

The structural order in metallic supercooled liquids and glasses is a long-standing issue. Unlike the medium-range order (MRO) which involves at least hundreds of atoms, short-range order (SRO) only concerns the central atom and its neighbors, which can be described more easily. Here, we use the molecular dynamics simulation to investigate the SRO in supercooled liquids and glasses of two pure metals Ta and Ni respectively with the body-centered cubic (BCC) and the face-centered cubic (FCC) crystalline lattice and two binary alloys Cu50Zr50 and Ni50Al50 both with a B2 crystalline phase. To compare, a ternary alloy of Cu47.5Zr47.5Al5 is also investigated. Hexagonal closed-packed (HCP) and icosahedron (ICO) clusters are found to dominate the SRO in both supercooled liquids and glasses. As expected, the glass is found more structurally ordered than the supercooled liquid. The glass transition is found to be linked to the kink of the temperature dependence of SRO. The binary system, as the relatively good glass-former, is less structurally ordered than the monatomic system as a poor glass-former, but it is more structurally ordered than the ternary one. These findings have profound implications for understanding the glass transition and designing new metallic glasses.

Because of the potential carcinogenic effects and difficult degradation of azo dyes, their degradation has been a longstanding problem. The degradation of azo dye Direct Blue 6 (DB6) using ball-milled (BM) high-entropy alloy (HEA) powders was characterized in this work. Newly designed AlFeMnTiM (M = Cr, Co, Ni) HEAs synthesized by mechanical alloying (MA) showed excellent performance in the degradation of azo dye DB6. The degradation efficiency of AlFeMnTiCr is approximately 19 times greater than that of the widely used commercial Fe-Si-B amorphous alloy ribbons and more than 100 times greater than that of the widely used commercial zero-valent iron (ZVI) powders. The galvanic-cell effect and the unique crystal structure are responsible for the good degradation performance of the BM HEAs. This study indicates that BM HEAs are attractive, valuable, and promising environmental catalysts for wastewater contaminated by azo dyes.

This study aimed to examine the patterns and predictors of the trajectories of college students' insomnia symptoms across different stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.A total of 35,516 college students completed three online surveys during the COVID-19 outbreak period (3-10 February 2020), initial remission period (24 March-3 April 2020), and effective control period (1-15 June 2020), respectively. These surveys measured the participants' socio-demographic and pandemic related factors, insomnia symptoms, mental health status, and psychosocial factors. Multivariate logistic regressions were used to examine predictors for trajectory membership.The prevalence of insomnia symptoms increases during home quarantine. Five insomnia symptoms trajectories were observed: resistance (82.8% of the sample), recovery (5.0%), delayed-dysfunction (5.8%), chronic-dysfunction (1.8%), and relapsing/remitting (4.6%). Female gender, residence location in urban, has history of sleep problems, smoking, alcohol use, community or village has confirmed COVID-19 cases, current poor mental health, higher negative coping were related to higher risk of developing insomnia symptoms in at least one time point, whereas better family function increased the possibility of recovery relative to chronic dysfunction. Lower social support and positive coping could also cause insomnia chronicity.Adolescents have different trajectories of insomnia symptoms during pandemic lockdown. Although most adolescents did not experience insomnia or recovered over time, some adolescents, especially those with the risk factors noted above, exhibit delayed or chronic symptoms. These findings could inform mental health professionals regarding how to provide individualized and appropriate intervention for college students after their return to school.

A CoCrFeNi multi-principal element alloy was successfully prepared via the combination of self-propagating high-temperature synthesis and investment casting. The phase identification, the as-cast microstructure, and the solidification phenomena were investigated. Unlike the dendrite morphology obtained by arc melting, cellular growth in the as-cast alloy was observed as a consequence of the rapid solidification. The solidification process is discussed with regard to the rate of advance of the liquid–solid interface, the equilibrium melting range, and the interface temperature gradient.

In this paper, refinement performance of Al-La-B and Al-Ce-B refiners in Al-7Si-4Cu alloy and their effects on alloy defects and tensile properties were investigated. Due to the orientation relationships between rare earth borides and Al, CeB6 and LaB6 can act as the nucleation substrate of α-Al and refine Al-Si-Cu casting alloy effectively. Al-Ce-B refiner showed better refining efficacy than Al-La-B refiner because of the lower lattice mismatch and less angel difference of the certain orientation relationship between CeB6 and Al, demonstrated by TEM analysis. Tensile properties of Al-7Si-4Cu alloy were prominently improved from 204.4 ± 5.9 MPa to 250.6 ± 6.7 MPa in as-cast state and 335.7 ± 6.5 MPa to 386.0 ± 7.0 MPa in heat treatment state owing to the better refined microstructures and much fewer shrinkage defects. However, when the addition level of the refiners was higher than 1.0 wt%, the amount of gas pores in the alloy significantly increased. Hence, the best refiner addition level in this alloy is considered to be 1.0 wt%.

A novel rutile TiO2/Sn0.42Ti0.58O2 composite photocatalyst was first synthesized by dealloying method using Cu60Ti30Sn10 amorphous ribbons as precursors. The prepared sample was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) and photoluminescence techniques (PL). The results of XRD, SEM and TEM and XPS show that the rutile TiO2/Sn0.42Ti0.58O2 has been successfully synthesized and the sample is composed of large quantities of fine nanoparticles with sizes of 15–60 nm, which have been assembled into a much larger structure with novel football-like surface. While PL and DRS results show that rutile TiO2/Sn0.42Ti0.58O2 has a lower PL intensity compared with pure rutile TiO2 and Sn0.42Ti0.58O2 and an intermediate value of band gap energy (3.01 eV) between those of the rutile TiO2 (2.97 eV) and Sn0.42Ti0.58O2 (3.04 eV). Moreover, the photocatalytic activities of the samples were evaluated by decomposing rhodamine B (RhB) dye (10 mg/L) under the ultraviolet (UV) light irradiation. The results show that the photocatalytic performance of rutile TiO2/Sn0.42Ti0.58O2 is much higher than those of pure rutile TiO2 and Sn0.42Ti0.58O2.

The effect of the inlet guide vanes on cavitation performance of an axial pump is investigated to assess the mechanism for cavitation in pumps and improve their cavitation performance. The effect of inlet guide vane angles on cavitation performance was assessed experimentally, and computational fluid dynamics was used to analyze the inner flow field of the axial pump and to probe the cavitation mechanism. The simulation results agree qualitatively with the experimental data, showing that cavitation performance is improved with positive inlet guide vane angles but hampered with negative ones. The cavitation performance itself is controlled by the cavitation volume, which first expands circumferentially when the net positive suction head decreases from a certain large value and then develops toward the axis radially after the net positive suction head reaches a certain value. This is when the cavitation performance deteriorates. Comparing cavitation volume for the critical net positive suction head as determined by two different methods, the method based on efficiency drop (NPSHeff.,1%) is found to be more suitable than that based on head drop (NPSHhead.,3%). Furthermore, the distribution of swirl is shown to be closely related to the distribution of cavitation, a feature that may be used to predict cavitation along the impeller.

Three-dimensional interconnected nanoporous coppers (NPCs) were synthesized by the dealloying of Cu-Ti and Cu-Ti-Ni amorphous ribbons in dilute H2SO4 solution. The effects of glassy precursor composition on the morphologies of NPC were evaluated comprehensively. The specific surface area of the NPC samples prepared by dealloying Cu66Ti30Ni4 (28.735 m2 g-1) and Cu68Ti30Ni2 (20.196 m2 g-1>) amorphous alloys is much larger than that of the Cu70Ti30 (9.080 m2 g-1), indicating that the addition of minor amount of nickel has a great influence on the microstructure of NPC. Then, NPC with different microstructures were applied in the electro-oxidation of methanol in alkaline media. Among three catalysts, the NPC dealloyed by Cu66Ti30Ni4 amorphous ribbon exhibited the highest electrocatalytic activity (anodic peak current density: 298 mA cm−2, presence of 1 M CH3OH in 1 M KOH solution) toward methanol oxidation, which is attributed to the larger number of active sites on the surface.

Chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapy (CART) has achieved excellent results in the past 10 years for treating of leukemia. Treatment of B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia by anti-CD19 CART can reach a complete remission rate of 90%. Although CART has greatly improved the treatment of patients with leukemia and lymphoma, as many as one-third of the patients can suffer disease relapse after CART. The tumor surface marker CD19 is negative in most the patients who relapse, and these patients display high expression of CD19 before treatment. In this review, the current causes of CD19-negative relapses after CD19 CART against leukemia, and the mechanisms of target escape are briefly summarized. Also, methods and strategies for treating relapse to provide references for the treatment of leukemia relapse are also discussed.

PurposeTo introduce a modified frontalis muscle (FM) flap for use in FM flap advancement surgery and compare it with the conventional flap for correcting severe congenital ptosis.MethodsThis retrospective cohort study included 200 patients (278 eyes) with severe congenital ptosis treated with FM flap advancement at Tianjin Eye Hospital from April 2018 to October 2019. The patients were divided into two groups: 100 patients (138 eyes) in the conventional group and 100 patients (140 eyes) in the modified group. The success and complication rates were evaluated.ResultsThe final success rate was 77.5% (107/138) in the conventional group and 90.0% (126/140) in the modified group (p = 0.005). Undercorrection was observed in 31 eyes (22.5%) in the conventional group and 14 eyes (10%) in the modified group (p = 0.005). In the conventional group, angular deformity of the upper eyelid was observed in 29 eyes (21.0%), FM paralysis in 11 (8.0%), frontal hypoesthesia in 10 (7.2%), severe hematoma in 12 (8.7%), and exposure keratitis in 8 (5.8%); these complications were not observed in the modified group (p ConclusionCompared with the conventional FM flap, the modified FM flap in this study yielded a higher success rate with a clear field of vision, mild trauma, and few complications. This technique is simple and convenient for correcting severe congenital ptosis.

Digestive system cancers, including hepatocellular carcinoma, colorectal and gastric tumors, are characterized by high rates of incidence and mortality. Digestive cancers are difficult to diagnose during the early stages, and the side effects of chemotherapy are often severe and may outweigh the therapeutic benefits. Chimeric antibody chimeric antigen receptor T cell (CAR-T) therapy, a novel immunotherapy, has achieved excellent results for the treatment of hematological tumors. However, CAR-T treatment of solid tumors has struggled due to a lack of target specificity, a difficult tumor microenvironment, and T cell homing. Despite the challenges, CAR-T treatment of digestive cancers is progressing. Combining CAR-T with other targets and/or modifying the CAR may represent the most promising approaches for future treatment of digestive cancers.

Urban non-point source pollution is becoming a serious issue under the context of rapid urbanization and its impacts on surface hydrologic processes. The identification of non-point source risk areas and the effectiveness of source-control measures provides important first steps to improve the degrading aquatic environment but is challenged by the complex dynamics and variabilities of surface pollutants in urban environments. In this study, we investigate the spatial and temporal variabilities of non-point source pollution in a small urban catchment based on numerical simulations and in-situ samplings. Our results show that residential, industrial, and commercial land contribute to the most pollutant loadings and are the main constituents of the pollution risk area. Rainfall duration and intensity are the main factors in determining the temporal variations of urban non-point source pollution. There is no correlation between early drought days and pollution load. Numerical simulations show that it is more effective to increase urban vegetation coverage than to enhance road cleaning for effective non-surface pollution control. For enhanced road cleaning, it is more effective to improve the frequency of road cleaning than its efficiency. Our results provide important guidance for effective controls of non-point source pollution as well as the establishment of long-term surface pollutant monitoring network in complex urban environments.

In order to improve the safety design of roadside areas and reduce the loss of roadside accidents, this paper uses PC-Crash software to perform an accident simulation analysis. By recording the track of the vehicle after entering the roadside, the recommended widths of the roadside clear zone for different operating speeds and horizontal curve radii in straight and curved sections are given. According to our previous research data, the conditions for setting the roadside clear zone are proposed. Finally, based on a cost-benefit ratio analysis, a comprehensive risk index method is adopted to evaluate the social stability risk of the project and conduct research on the design method of the roadside clear zone. The results show that the width of the roadside clear zone has an exponential relation with the departure speed and a power relation with the horizontal curve radius. The research results realize the accurate calculation of the roadside clear zone width and fill in the gaps of the relevant specifications and guidelines in the setting conditions of the roadside clear zone.

As part of the open sourcing of the Microsoft Rocketbox avatar library for research and academic purposes, here we discuss the importance of rigged avatars for the Virtual and Augmented Reality (VR, AR) research community. Avatars, virtual representations of humans, are widely used in VR applications. Furthermore many research areas ranging from crowd simulation to neuroscience, psychology, or sociology have used avatars to investigate new theories or to demonstrate how they influence human performance and interactions. We divide this paper in two main parts: the first one gives an overview of the different methods available to create and animate avatars. We cover the current main alternatives for face and body animation as well introduce upcoming capture methods. The second part presents the scientific evidence of the utility of using rigged avatars for embodiment but also for applications such as crowd simulation and entertainment. All in all this paper attempts to convey why rigged avatars will be key to the future of VR and its wide adoption. MS-V and MS are funded by NEUROVIRTUAL-AGAUR (2017 SGR 1296). MS-V and Virtual Bodyworks are also supported by the European Union’s Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme (2014-2020) under Grant Agreement: 881712 (VRperGenere). DB and MS are supported by the European Research Council Advanced Grant MoTIVE #742989. NP was partly funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness under Grant No. TIN2017-88515-C2-1-R.

Xuzhou is the hub city of the east route of China&rsquo, s South-to-North Water Diversion (SNWD) project and implemented dozens of measures to ensure the water quality security of the water transmission line. In order to detect the effectiveness of water quality improvement measures, the monthly water quality data of five water quality parameters from 2005 to 2015 of six state-controlled monitoring sites in Xuzhou section were selected for analysis. The results showed that the water quality improved from 2.95 in 2005 to 2.74 in 2015, as assessed by the comprehensive water quality identification index (CWQII), and basically reached the Class III standards of China&rsquo, s Environmental Quality Standard for Surface Water (GB3838-2002) from 2011 to 2015. The trend analysis showed that the decline of ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N) was the most obvious among the five water quality parameters. However, the concentrations of phosphorus (TP) showed significant upward trends at three sites. The positive abrupt change of time series of water quality occurred in 2009&ndash, 2011. The identification of influencing factors of water quality changes by multivariate statistical methods found that the urbanization factor accompanied by a decrease in agricultural nonpoint source pollution emissions and the enhancement of wastewater treatment capacity, the closure of factories with substandard emissions and precipitation were the major influencing factors of most water quality parameters, which confirmed the effectiveness of measures for water quality improvement in Xuzhou.

The present study was performed to establish the UPLC fingerprints of Bolbostemmatis Rhizoma and determine the contents of three saponins by quantitative analysis of multi-components by single marker(QAMS), and provide basis for quality evaluation of Bolbostemmatis Rhizoma. The analysis was carried out on an analytical column of Waters Cortecs T3(2.1 mm×100 mm,1.6 μm)with gradient elution by acetonitrile-0.1% phosphoric acid solution, at a flow rate of 0.3 mL·min~(-1). The detection wavelength was 203 nm, the column temperature was 30 ℃ and the injection volume was 1 μL. The UPLC fingerprints of Bolbostemmatis Rhizoma were established and evaluated by similarity calculation, cluster analysis and principal component analysis. The relative calibration factors of toberoside B and toberoside C were determined with toberoside A as internal reference. The content was calculated by relative calibration factors to develop a method of QAMS. Comparing the results of QAMS with those of ESM, the accuracy and feasibility of one-eva-luation and multi-evaluation can be determined. RESULTS:: showed that the fingerprints of 19 batches of Bolbostemmatis Rhizoma have four common peaks with similarities ranging from 0.754 to 1.000. Cluster analysis and principal component analysis classified 19 batches of Bolbostemmatis Rhizoma into three categories, which was consistent with the similarity evaluation results. The relative deviation between the content of tubeicosides B and C in 19 batches of Bolbostemmatis Rhizoma determined by QAMS and ESM is less than 5.0%, indicating that there was no significant difference between the two methods. Therefore, the UPLC fingerprints combined with QAMS and similarity evaluation can be effectively used to evaluate the quality of Bolbostemmatis Rhizoma.

S-doped anatase TiO2 nanoparticles were successfully synthesized by hydrothermal method using Cu–Ti amorphous alloy as precursor. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Energy-Dispersive Spectrum (EDS) results confirm that the S element exists in anatase as SO42−. Remarkably, the severe lattice distortions occur in the S–TiO2 sample. With the calcination at 600 °C, the content of sulfur in the sample decreased obviously. The UV–Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) result shows that the as-prepared sample without calcination has a reduced value of band-gap energy (2.90 eV) compared with calcined sample (2.95 eV) and pure anatase TiO2 (3.20 eV). Moreover, the photocatalytic activities of the samples were assessed by degradation of rhodamine B (RhB, 10 mg/L) under the ultraviolet (UV) light irradiation. The as-fabricated TiO2 without calcination shows the best photocatalytic degradation capability. The concentration of RhB decreased by 97.2% in 6 min under the irradiation of UV light. The kinetic value was evaluated to be 0.602 min−1.

Quantitative identification of non-point sources of nitrate in urban channels plays a critical role in effective nutrient management in urban regions. This is an emerging issue due to fast urbanization and the resultant complicated hydrological and hydraulic conditions in urban areas. In this study, we examine spatial-temporal characteristics of nitrogen concentration in urban channels based on dense in-situ samplings during a one-year period over a small urban catchment in China. We quantitatively identify nitrate sources into urban channels based on dual-isotope analyses and Bayesian isotope mixing model. Results show that nitrogen concentration peaks in winter as well as in urban channels and land surfaces in the urban core region. Sewage (47%) is the dominate contributor to NO3−-N in urban channels, followed by NH4+ in fertilizer (30%) as the second contributor. Sewage (NH4+ in fertilizer) contributes more NO3−-N to channels in winter (summer) with the proportion of 65% (44%), and more NO3−-N to urban core (suburban) channels with the proportion of 59% (42%). The rainfall and distribution of rainwater drains explain the monthly and spatial variations of contribution of NO3−-N sources well, respectively. In addition, less NO3−-N in the urban channels derives from nitrification, which is consistent with the results of high properties of NH4+-N/TN in this region. Our results highlight the key roles of land use types and rainfall in NO3−-N source apportionment, and provide support for the nitrogen management practices in urbanized regions.

Objective To investigate the levels of depression, anxiety, psychological symptoms and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in people infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and to assess the risk factors. Methods A total of 121 people living with HIV (PLWHIV) were included, and 61 health individuals were selected as healthy controls. Their sociodemographic information was collected. The Self-Rating Depression Scale, Self-Rating Anxiety Scale, Symptom Checklist 90 and Short-Form Health Survey-36 were used. Results The depression score was higher in PLWHIV (47.83 ± 10.58 vs 36.52 ± 9.69 P

El objetivo del presente trabajo es diseñar e implementar un paquete en R sobre la modelización de las señales recogidas por un sensor basando en los modelos dinámicos lineales (DLMs). Este tipo de modelo se originó del sistema dinámico con unas formulaciones especiales tal que la estimación de los parámetros se realiza mediante un método recursivo, el filtro Kalman (KF). Además, los DLMs puedan estimar la evolución de las señales latentes que a veces resultan interés, pero no se pueden obtener directamente por el sensor. Como la primera versión, este paquete se enfoca en un caso real que la aplicación del DLM ha sido estudiado previamente, el análisis de la conductividad eléctrica del agua como medida de la salinidad, en los terrenos de cultivos. Esta memoria se concentra en varios aspectos: 1. El estudio de los métodos DLMs y el KF; 2. La exploración de la aplicación del KF extendido a las redes recurrentes como una parte adicional del paquete; 3. La introducción de los conceptos necesarios para el desarrollo de un paquete y los objetos y métodos definidos; 4. Y, finalmente, la aplicación del caso real.

Background Chronic postsurgical pain (CPSP) is common and would reduce the quality of life of patients. Transversus abdominal plane (TAP) block has been widely used in lower abdominal surgery and many researches demonstrated that it could improve acute postsurgical pain. We aim to determine whether TAP block could improve chronic postoperative pain at 3 months and 6 months after colorectal surgery. Methods A total of 307 patients received selective colorectal surgery under general anesthesia between January, 2015 and January, 2019 in a single university hospital were included: 128 patients received TAP block combined with patient-controlled intravenous analgesia (PCIA) for postsurgical analgesia (group TP) and 179 only administrated with PCIA (group P). Main outcome was the NRS score of pain at 3 months after colorectal surgery. The data was analyzed by two-way repeated measures anova and the chi-square test. Results The NRS score at rest and during movement was decreased significantly at 24 h after surgery (rest NRS 1.07 ± 1.34 vs 1.65 ± 1.67, movement NRS 3.00 ± 1.45 vs 3.65 ± 1.89; all P = 0.003) in group TP than those of group P. There was no significant difference of NRS score at 48 h after surgery (P > 0.05). At 3 months after surgery, the NRS score during movement was also lower in group TP than that in group P (0.59 ± 1.23 vs 0.92 ± 1.65, P = 0.045). There was no significant difference of NRS score at 6 months after surgery (P > 0.05). The prevalence of CPSP was 19.5% (25/128) in group TP and 20.7% (37/179) in group P at 3 months after surgery. 13.2% (17/128) of patients suffered from CPSP in group TP and 13.9% (25/179) in group P at 6 months after surgery. Both at 3 months and 6 months after surgery, there was no statistical difference of the prevalence of CPSP between the two groups (all P > 0.05) . Conclusions TAP block reduced NRS during movement at 3 months after surgery but did not reduce the incidence of CPSP at 3 months and 6 months after selective colorectal surgery.

Accurate prediction of water quality indicators plays an important role in the effective management of water resources. The models which studied limited water quality indicators in natural rivers may give inadequate guidance for managing a canal being used for water diversion. In this study, a hybrid structure (WA-PSO-SVR) based on wavelet analysis (WA) coupled with support vector regression (SVR) and particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithms was developed to model three water quality indicators, chemical oxygen demand determined by KMnO4 (CODMn), ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N), and dissolved oxygen (DO), in water from the Grand Canal from Beijing to Hangzhou. Modeling was independently conducted over daily and monthly time scales. The results demonstrated that the hybrid WA-PSO-SVR model was able to effectively predict non-linear stationary and non-stationary time series and outperformed two other models (PSO-SVR and a standalone SVR), especially for extreme values prediction. Daily predictions were more accurate than monthly predictions, indicating that the hybrid model was more suitable for short-term predictions in this case. It also demonstrated that using the autocorrelation and partial autocorrelation of time series enabled the construction of appropriate models for water quality prediction. The results contribute to water quality monitoring and better management for water diversion.

Purpose: We co mpared the use of lactate level for predicting 28-day mortality in non-elderly (

Immersive technologies have increasingly attracted the attention of the computer animation community in search of more intuitive and effective alternatives to the current sophisticated 2D interfaces. The higher affordances offered by 3D interaction, as well as the enhanced spatial understanding have the potential to improve the animators’ task, which is tremendously skill intensive and timeconsuming. We explore the capabilities provided by our PoseMMR, multiple users posing and animating characters in a mixed reality (MR) environment, animation via group-based expert walkthroughs. We demonstrated our system can facilitate immersive posing, animation editing, version control and collaboration. We provide a set of guidelines and discussed the benefits and potential of immersive technologies for our future animation toolsets.

To recombine the induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) derived from the urine of septic encephalopathy (SE) patients, and provided a specificity cell model to explore the mechanism of the neuronal damage and treatment for SE patients.Urine of SE patient was collected, and tubular epithelial cells were isolated and cultured from the urine. iPSC were derived from SE patient by introducing 4 transcription factors OCT4, Klf4, Sox2, c-Myc (OKSM) into patient-specific urine cells by Millipore's Human STEMCCAThe SE-iPSC exhibited morphological and growth characteristics of human embryonic stem cell (hES), showed positivity for AKP by histochemical staining, and expressed embryonic stem cell (ESC) marker genes. There was a significant statistical difference in ESC-marker mRNA expression between the SE-iPSC and the urine cells [NANOG mRNA (2The SE patient-specific iPSC could be generated from urine cells and differentiated into neurons, furthermore, the SE-iPSC cell line can be used as models for further elucidating the cellular pathology and developing therapeutic strategies for SE.

BackgroundCurrent FDA-approved label recommends polymyxin B dosing should be adjusted according to renal function, despite several studies proved poor correlation between polymyxin B PK and creatinine clearance. The study aims to assess the impact of renal function on polymyxin B metabolism and identify an alternate dosing strategy by population analysis.MethodsBlood samples from adult patients were collected at steady state during routine therapeutic drug monitoring. Nonlinear mixed effects modeling was employed to build a population PK model of polymyxin B. Monte Carlo simulations were performed to design polymyxin B dosing regimens across various renal function.ResultsPharmacokinetic analyses included 112 polymyxin B concentrations at steady state from 32 adult patients aged 37-93 received intravenous polymyxin B (100-200 mg/d). The creatinine clearance in patients was 5.91-244 mL/min. In the final population PK model, CrCL was the significant covariate on CL (typical value, 1.59 L/hr; between-subject variability, 13%). Mean (SD) individual empirical Bayesian estimates of CL was 1.75 (0.43) L/hr. A new dosing strategy combining the PK/PD targets and Monte Carlo simulation indicated that polymyxin B dose reductions improved the probability of achieving optimal exposures in simulated patients with renal insufficiency. For severe infections caused by organisms with MIC of ≥ 2 mg/L, though a high daily dose (e.g. 200mg/day) would possible for bacterial eradication, the risk of nephrotoxicity is significantly increased.ConclusionA population PK model was established to develop individualized polymyxin B dosage regimens that the dose of polymyxin B should be adjusted according to CrCL.

Early intervention with fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) improves the growth performance and intestinal barrier function of piglets. Accelerating intestinal oxygen concentration is beneficial for symbiotic bacterial colonization. Saccharomyces boulardii (SB) is an aerobic fungus, which may contribute to the colonization of anaerobic symbiotic bacteria by competing for oxygen. Clostridium butyricum (CB) improves intestinal barrier function and performance, via regulating the gut microbiota composition of piglets. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of early intervention with FMT combining CB and SB on growth performance, diarrhea, and intestinal barrier function in piglets. A total of 77 litters of neonatal piglets assigned to one of six treatments, which treated with antibiotics (AB), placebo (CON), and FMT (FMT), FMT-added CB (FMT+C), FMT-added SB (FMT+S), and FMT-added CB and SB (FMT+C+S), respectively. FMT+C+S treated piglets had higher body weight (BW) and average daily gain (ADG) both in weaning and finial period, and it significantly increased the levels of fecal mucin-2 (MUC2), fecal short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), and relative abundance of fecal Lactobacillus spp., and Bifidobacterium genus. Moreover, early intervention with FMT+C+S reduced the diarrhea rate during the experiment. FMT+C+S also decreased the level of plasma diamine oxidase (DAO) and D-lactate (D-LA), and relative abundance of fecal E. coli during the suckling period. In summary, early intervention with FMT combining CB and SB improved the growth performance, intestinal barrier function, fecal SCFAs concentration, and fecal Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium of piglets.

Background: Chronic postsurgical pain (CPSP) is common and would reduce the quality of life of patients. Transversus abdominal plane (TAP) block has been widely used in lower abdominal surgery and many researchers demonstrated that it could improve acute postsurgical pain. We aim to determine whether TAP block could improve chronic postoperative pain at 3 months and 6 months after colorectal surgery.Methods: A total of 307 patients received selective colorectal surgery under general anesthesia between January, 2015 and January, 2019 in a single university hospital were included: 128 patients received TAP block combined with patient-controlled intravenous analgesia (PCIA) for postsurgical analgesia (group TP) and 179 only administrated with PCIA (group P). Main outcome was the incidence of pain at 3 months and 6 months after colorectal surgery, and NRS score of pain at 24 hours, 48 hours, 3 months and 6 months after colorectal surgery. The data was analyzed by two-way repeated measures anova and the chi-square test.Results: The NRS score decreased significantly at 24 hours after surgery (rest NRS 1.07±1.34 vs 1.65±1.67, P=0.003; and movement NRS 3.00±1.45 vs 3.65±1.89; p=0.003) and at 3 months after surgery (movement NRS 0.59±1.23 vs 0.92±1.65, p=0.045 )in group TP than that in group P. There were no significant difference of NRS score at 48 hours and 6 months after surgery (all p>0.05). Among 307 patients, 62/307(20.2%) developed chronic post-surgical pain (CPSP) at 3 months after surgery, and 42/307(13.7%) experienced CPSP at 6 months after surgery. The prevalence of CPSP in group TP showed no significant difference compared with group P at 3 months (19.5% vs 20.7%, p=0.806) and 6 months (13.2% vs 13.9%, p=0.863) after surgery.Conclusions: TAP block could decrease the movement pain score at 3 months after surgery, but could not reduce the incidence of CPSP at 3 months and 6 months after selective colorectal surgery. TAP block may have positive effect on chronic postsurgical pain.

Previous studies have suggested that immune system development and weaning stress are closely related to the maturation of gut microbiota. The early-life period is a &ldquo, window of opportunity&rdquo, for microbial colonization, which potentially has a critical impact on the development of the immune system. Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) and probiotics are often used to regulate gut microbial colonization. This study aims to test whether early intervention with FMT using fecal microbiota from gestation sows combined with Clostridium butyricum and Saccharomyces boulardii (FMT-CS) administration could promote the maturation of gut microbiota and development of immune system in piglets. Piglets were assigned to control (n = 84) and FMT-CS treatment (n = 106), which were treated with placebo and bacterial suspension during the first three days after birth, respectively. By 16S rRNA gene sequencing, we found that FMT-CS increased the &alpha, diversity and reduced the unweighted UniFrac distances of the OTU community. Besides, FMT-CS increased the relative abundance of beneficial bacteria, while decreasing that of opportunistic pathogens. FMT-CS also enhanced the relative abundance of genes related to cofactors and vitamin, energy, and amino acid metabolisms during the early-life period. ELISA analysis revealed that FMT-CS gave rise to the plasma concentrations of IL-23, IL-17, and IL-22, as well as the plasma levels of anti-M.hyo and anti-PCV2 antibodies. Furthermore, the FMT-CS-treated piglets showed decreases in inflammation levels and oxidative stress injury, and improvement of intestinal barrier function after weaning as well. Taken together, our results suggest that early-life intervention with FMT-CS could promote the development of innate and adaptive immune system and vaccine efficacy, and subsequently alleviate weaning stress through promoting the maturation of gut microbiota in piglets.

The edge-to-edge matching (E2EM) crystallographic model was used to predict the orientation relationships (ORs) between LaB6 and Al. Three different possible ORs can be predicted between LaB6 and Al, which are ( 100 ) Al ‖ ( 100 ) LaB 6 , [ 001 ] Al ‖ [ 001 ] LaB 6 ; ( 110 ) Al ‖ ( 110 ) LaB 6 , [ 001 ] Al ‖ [ 001 ] LaB 6 ; and ( 111 ) Al ‖ ( 111 ) LaB 6 , [ 01 1 ¯ ] Al ‖ [ 01 1 ¯ ] LaB 6 . The prediction results are perfectly confirmed through TEM analysis and prove the nucleation potency of LaB6. The refining efficacy of Al-2La-1B refiner and its influence on the tensile properties were investigated in the as-cast Al-7Si-0.3Mg alloy. According to the results, LaB6 has higher nucleation potency than TiB2, leading to better grain refining efficacy of Al-2La-1B refiner in the as-cast Al-7Si-0.3Mg alloy. Regarding the mechanical performances, tensile properties of the as-cast Al-7Si-0.3Mg casting alloy are prominently improved after addition of Al-2La-1B refiner, due to the refined microstructures.

Non-Maximum Suppression (NMS) and Soft-NMS are integral parts of the object detection pipeline. Based on the analysis of the above two algorithms, we propose a new algorithm named Suppression and Enhancement (SE) in this paper. We aim at solving the problem that crowd between objects make the detection scores low in object detection. The detection scores will be decreased while being partially crowded by other objects. If we remove the objects' bounding boxes with smaller score by a threshold after NMS or Soft-NMS, it is very likely to remove the crowded object, which will reduce the precision. Increasing the scores of the crowded objects with our algorithm, we can detect the crowded objects with the algorithm more accurately.

Monolithic nanoporous copper (NPC) with tunable ligament size (107–438 nm) was synthesized by dealloying a new Cu-Ce binary glassy precursor in dilute H2SO4 aqueous solution. The effects of the dealloying conditions on the morphologies of NPC were evaluated comprehensively. The results show that the ligaments of NPC can significantly coarsen with the increase of acid concentration, elevation of reaction temperature or prolongation of immersion time. These coarsening behaviors can be well described by a diffusion based growth kinetic model. Moreover, the surface diffusivity and activation energy for diffusion of Cu atoms were also estimated to investigate the formation mechanism of NPC, which is mainly governed by dissolution of Ce element in the glassy precursor coupled with nucleation and growth of Cu clusters via the precursor/solution interface. In the experiment of the degradation of methyl orange (MO) dye, the NPC fabricated by Cu-Ce metallic glasses exhibits superior sono-catalytic activity.

The influence of B elements on the morphology of Si phases in Al-11Si and Al-14Si alloys has been investigated employing Optical Microscope, Scanning Electron Microscopy, Transmission Electron Microscopy and Differential Scanning Calorimetry. In Al-11Si alloy, the addition of B element not only refines the primary Al dendrites, but also reduces the length of eutectic Si plates. In Al-14Si alloys, the addition of B element promotes the nucleation temperature of primary Si phases, but shows weak influence on the nucleation temperature of eutectics. The effects of B element on the morphologies of both primary Si particle and eutectics can be attributed to the interaction between B and Si elements during the solidification process.

This paper reports the application and microstructure refining effect of an Al-2La-1B grain refiner in Al-10Si-0.3Mg casting alloy. Compared with the traditional Al-5Ti-1B refiner, Al-2La-1B refiner shows better performances on the grain refinement of Al-10Si-0.3Mg alloy. Transmission electron microscopy analysis suggests that the crystallite structure features of LaB6 are beneficial to the heterogeneous nucleation of α-Al grains. Regarding the mechanical performances, tensile properties of Al-10Si-0.3Mg casting alloy are prominently improved, due to the refined microstructures.

Cost-effective and efficient oxygen evolving electrocatalysts are urgently required for energy conversion technology. In this work, nanocrystalline NiS particles were prepared by a facile one-step mechanical alloying method as a promising oxygen evolution reaction electrocatalyst. The nanocrystalline NiS catalysts exhibited an overpotential of 354 mV at the current density of 10 mA cm−2 after 1000 cycles Cyclic voltammetry scan activation in alkaline electrolyte (1 M KOH). The Tafel slope reduced 33% to 116 mV/dec after the activation. The working electrode could maintain its 81.3% catalytic activity after the 10 h long-term test. The improved OER performance of the nc-NiS catalysts was benefit from the changes on the morphology and composition, which were induced by the CV1000 activation.

The amorphous soft magnetic Fe88Zr11B1 ribbon was fabricated and the magnetocaloric effect of it was investigated through the measurement of magnetization in this work. To enhance its magnetocaloric effect, Co is selected as a microalloying addition to this precursor. Among these ribbons, the replacement of Fe by minor Co, compared with the replacement of Zr by Co, gives more increment in Curie temperature and magnetic entropy change. Fe86Zr11B1Co2 exhibits the largest peak value of magnetic entropy change of 1.73 Jkg−1 K−1 and Fe88Zr9B1Co2 shows the largest refrigerant capacity of 149.7 Jkg−1 for an applied field of 15 kOe. Furthermore, a significant magnetic entropy change can be obtained using multiphase materials in this work. Under a magnetic field change of 15 kOe, the maximum improvement of the refrigerant capacity by 38.6%, in comparison with those of the individual alloys, is obtained for the layered composite of Fe88Zr11B1 (50 wt%) and Fe86Zr11B1Co2 (50 wt%). Besides, a quite broad SM(T) curve around room temperature of the amorphous composite is observed, which is a key feature for an Ericsson magnetic refrigeration cycle.

The effects of Ti and La additions on the microstructures and mechanical properties of B-refined and Sr-modified Al–11Si alloys were investigated in the present work. The interactions among Ti, La, B and Sr elements were discussed employing microstructure observation, thermal analysis and tensile test, respectively. It was found that the addition of 0.05 wt% B induces a transformation of eutectic Si from finely fibrous to coarsely plate-like morphology in the Al–11Si alloy with 0.02 wt%Sr modification, owing to the poisoning of IIT mechanism, and the eutectic Si grows only with TPRE mechanism. Both titanium and lanthanum can neutralize the co-poisoning effect between Sr and B in the Al–11Si alloy, but the neutralizing effect of La is dependent on the addition sequence. The combinative addition of La and B elements promotes the effective refinement of α-Al grains, but an inhomogeneous modification of eutectic Si phases is also observed, leading to a slightly decrease in the elongation.

Background Heparan sulfate (HS) attenuates the inflammatory response and improves diabetic wound healing in rats. However, the specific mechanisms by which HS suppresses inflammation are not clear. Given that NLR family pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3) is a major receptor involved in innate immune regulation, the aim of the present study was to elucidate the effects of HS on NLRP3 and proinflammatory cytokines in diabetic wounds. Methods Full-thickness wounds were created on the back of diabetic rats. The experimental group received HS treatment (1 mg/kg, i.m., on Days 0 and 7), whereas the control group received vehicle (0.1% dimethylsulfoxide in 0.9% NaCl). Expression of NLRP3 and its downstream effector molecules, namely cleaved interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-18, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, apoptosis-associated speck-like protein containing a caspase recruitment domain (ASC), proteinase inhibitor 9, and caspase-12, in the wound tissues was examined. Results Treatment with HS accelerated wound healing in diabetic rats. Rats treated with HS exhibited decreased activation of cleaved IL-1β, IL-18, and TNF-α, as well as decreased expression of NLRP3 and ASC. In addition, HS increased levels of proteinase inhibitor 9 and caspase-12. Conclusions Heparan sulfate inhibits inflammation and improves wound healing by downregulating the NLRP3 inflammasome and cleaved IL-1β during the wound healing process in diabetic rats.