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Location-based skyline queries in road networks can quickly return the desired data to the user from a large amount of data according to the user's needs and location. However, there is no effective mechanism for calculating the road network distance and judging the dominant relationship between data points in the existing skyline queries algorithms in road networks. In this paper, we propose improved dynamic skyline queries in road networks, which can quickly compute all skyline points in road networks. Firstly, this paper proposes a GD-tree index, which efficiently stores the location information of the target tuple in the road network and speeds up the calculation of the road network distance. In addition, the concept of the optimal scan end point is proposed to reduce the calculation cost. The histogram of frequency statistical is proposed for the non-spatial dimension, and the nearest and farthest distance is calculated for the spatial dimension to select the optimal scan end point. Finally, extensive experiments in real road network datasets demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a frequent complication of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) was confirmed to not only aggravate the symptoms of IBD but also result in unexpected outcomes, including death. With the increasing prevalence rate of IBD and the updating of CDI diagnosis, the incidence of CDI in IBD patients is also seen rising. Although a detection method consisting of glutamate dehydrogenase immunoassay or nucleic acid amplification test and then toxin A/B enzyme immunoassay was recommended and widely adopted, the diagnosis of CDI in IBD is still a challenge because of the overlap between the symptoms of CDI in IBD and CDI itself. Vancomycin and fidaxomicin are the first-line therapy for CDI in IBD; however, the treatment has different effects due to the complexity of IBD patients' conditions and the choice of different treatment schemes. Although the use of fecal microbial transplantation is now in the ascendant for IBD management, the prospects are still uncertain and the prevention and treatment of the recurrence of CDI in IBD remain a clinical challenge. In this paper, the epidemiology, pathophysiology, clinical manifestation, prevention, and therapy of CDI in IBD were summarized and presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract \nHIGHLIGHTS Fermentation is one of the most effective methods of food preservation. Since ancient times, food has been fermented using lactic acid bacteria (LAB). Fermented milk is a very intricate fermentation ecosystem, and the microbial metabolism of fermented milk largely determines its metabolic properties. The two most frequently used dairy starter strains are Streptococcus thermophilus (S. thermophilus) and Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus (L. bulgaricus). To enhance both the culture growth rate and the flavor and quality of the fermented milk, it has long been customary to combine S. thermophilus and L. bulgaricus in milk fermentation due to their mutually beneficial and symbiotic relationship. On the one hand, the symbiotic relationship is reflected by the nutrient co-dependence of the two microbes at the metabolic level. On the other hand, more complex interaction mechanisms, such as quorum sensing between cells, are involved. This review summarizes the application of LAB in fermented dairy products and discusses the symbiotic mechanisms and interactions of milk LAB starter strains from the perspective of nutrient supply and intra- and interspecific quorum sensing. This review provides updated information and knowledge on microbial interactions in a fermented milk ecosystem.The symbiotic relationship between Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus is reviewed.Their nutrient co-dependence is discussed.The role of quorum sensing in their interaction is discussed for the first time.This review is of interest to colleagues interested in exploiting LAB starter cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Extravillous trophoblast cell (EVT) differentiation and its communication with maternal decidua especially the leading immune cell type natural killer (NK) cell are critical events for placentation. However, appropriate in vitro modelling system and regulatory programs of these two events are still lacking. Recent trophoblast organoid (TO) has advanced the molecular and mechanistic research in placentation. Here, we firstly generated the self-renewing TO from human placental villous and differentiated it into EVTs (EVT-TO) for investigating the differentiation events. We then co-cultured EVT-TO with freshly isolated decidual NKs for further study of cell communication. TO modelling of EVT differentiation as well as EVT interaction with dNK might cast new aspect for placentation research. Results: Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) was applied for comprehensive characterization and molecular exploration of TOs modelling of EVT differentiation and interaction with dNKs. Multiple distinct trophoblast states and dNK subpopulations were identified, representing CTB, STB, EVT, dNK1/2/3 and dNKp. Lineage trajectory and Seurat mapping analysis identified the close resemblance of TO and EVT-TO with the human placenta characteristic. Transcription factors regulatory network analysis revealed the cell-type specific essential TFs for controlling EVT differentiation. CellphoneDB analysis predicted the ligand-receptor complexes in dNK-EVT-TO co-cultures, which relate to cytokines, immunomodulation and angiogenesis. EVT was known to affect the immune properties of dNK. Our study found out that on the other way around, dNKs could exert effects on EVT causing expression changes which are functionally important. Conclusion: Our study documented a single-cell atlas for TO and its applications on EVT differentiation and communications with dNKs, and thus provide methodology and novel research cues for future study of human placentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the major challenges for the Australian feedlot and meat sectors is to have accurate and robust long-term greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions data. Long-term measurements of methane (CH4) emissions (2015–2017) were made at two Australian beef feedlots having different climates, cattle types, and management practices. Emissions were measured using the inverse-dispersion model (IDM) micrometeorological technique, using CH4 concentrations measured at the feedlots with a closed-path Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic technique (CP-FTIR). The emissions data were used to evaluate methods used by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water to estimate CH4 emissions from feedlots in Australian national inventory calculations. Expressed as a CH4 yield (emissions per unit dry matter intake, DMI), the two feedlots had emissions of 13.1 and 18.9 g CH4 kg−1 DMI. The lower-emitting feedlot had emissions that were 30% lower than the national inventory calculations based on feed intakes, while the second feedlot had emissions that were similar to the inventory calculations. The accurate quantification of emissions from feedlots, as demonstrated as part of this study, is important for validating the national accounting methods and therefore the sector's GHG emissions profile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Main conclusion: CgPG21 is mainly located in the cell wall, participates in the intercellular layer degradation of the cell wall during the formation of secretory cavity in the intercellular space-forming and lumen-expanding stages. The secretory cavity is a common structure in Citrus plants and is the main site for synthesis and accumulation of medicinal ingredients. The secretory cavity is formed in lysogenesis, when epithelial cells enter a process of programmed cell death. Pectinases are known to be involved in degradation of the cell wall during the cytolysis of secretory cavity cells, but the changes in cell structure, the dynamic characteristics of cell wall polysaccharides and the related genes regulating cell wall degradation are unclear. In this study, electron microscopy and cell wall polysaccharide-labeling techniques were used to study the main characteristics of cell wall degradation of the secreting cavity of Citrus grandis 'Tomentosa' fruits. At the same time, the full CDS length of the pectinase gene CgPG21 was cloned, encoding a protein composed of 480 amino acids. CgPG21 is mainly located in the cell wall, participates in the degradation of the intercellular layer of the cell wall during the development of the secretory cavity, and plays an important role in the formation of the secretory cavity in the intercellular space-forming and lumen-expanding stages. With the development of secretory cavity, the cell wall polysaccharides of epithelial cells gradually degrade. CgPG21 is mainly involved in the intercellular layer degradation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To evaluate AI biases and errors in estimating bone age (BA) by comparing AI and radiologists' clinical determinations of BA. Methods: We established three deep learning models from a Chinese private dataset (CHNm), an American public dataset (USAm), and a joint dataset combining the above two datasets (JOIm). The test data CHNt (n = 1246) were labeled by ten senior pediatric radiologists. The effects of data site differences, interpretation bias, and interobserver variability on BA assessment were evaluated. The differences between the AI models' and radiologists' clinical determinations of BA (normal, advanced, and delayed BA groups by using the Brush data) were evaluated by the chi-square test and Kappa values. The heatmaps of CHNm-CHNt were generated by using Grad-CAM. Results: We obtained an MAD value of 0.42 years on CHNm-CHNt; this result indicated an appropriate accuracy for the whole group but did not indicate an accurate estimation of individual BA because with a kappa value of 0.714, the agreement between AI and human clinical determinations of BA was significantly different. The features of the heatmaps were not fully consistent with the human vision on the X-ray films. Variable performance in BA estimation by different AI models and the disagreement between AI and radiologists' clinical determinations of BA may be caused by data biases, including patients' sex and age, institutions, and radiologists. Conclusions: The deep learning models outperform external validation in predicting BA on both internal and joint datasets. However, the biases and errors in the models' clinical determinations of child development should be carefully considered. Key Points: • With a kappa value of 0.714, clinical determinations of bone age by using AI did not accord well with clinical determinations by radiologists. • Several biases, including patients' sex and age, institutions, and radiologists, may cause variable performance by AI bone age models and disagreement between AI and radiologists' clinical determinations of bone age. • AI heatmaps of bone age were not fully consistent with human vision on X-ray films. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the acceleration of the process of economic globalization and information synchronization, every major event is accompanied by the simultaneous renewal of the city. In the era of urban development, the launch of major events is also for the renewal and development of the city. 2016 Rio Summer Olympics and 2010 Shanghai World Expo are taken as the research objects. Through the analysis of urban renewal from the perspective of the role of big event catalyst, it is verified that the big event catalyst has a positive impact on urban renewal, transportation, industrial transformation and other aspects. Moreover, it tries to combine the theory of urban catalyst to analyze its inspiration for the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, hoping to play a catalytic role in accelerating the urban renewal and transformation of Beijing and the reorganization of urban structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The accumulation of gases into our atmosphere is a growing global concern that requires considerable quantification of the emission rates to mitigate the accumulation of gases in the atmosphere, especially the greenhouse gases (GHGs). In agriculture there are many sources of GHGs that require attention in order to develop practical mitigation strategies. Measuring these GHG sources often relies on highly technical instrumentation originally designed for applications outside of the emissions research in agriculture. Although the open-path laser (OPL) and open-path Fourier transform infrared (OP-FTIR) spectroscopic techniques are used in agricultural research currently, insight into their contributing error to emissions research has not been the focus of these studies. The objective of this study was to assess the applicability and performance (accuracy and precision) of OPL and OP-FTIR spectroscopic techniques for measuring gas mole fractions from agricultural sources. We measured the mole fractions of trace gases methane (CH 4), nitrous oxide (N 2 O), and ammonia (NH 3), downwind of point and area sources with a known release rate. The mole fractions measured by OP-FTIR and OPL were also input into models of atmospheric dispersion (WindTrax) allowing the calculation of fluxes. Trace gas release recoveries with WindTrax were examined by comparing the ratio of estimated and known fluxes. The OP-FTIR provided the best performance regarding stability of drift in stable conditions. The CH 4 OPL accurately detected the low background (free-air) level of CH 4 ; however, the NH 3 OPL was unable to detect the background values <10 ppbv. The dispersion modelling using WindTrax coupled with open-path measurements can be a useful tool to calculate trace gas fluxes from the well-defined source area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivated by a problem proposed by Seiffert a quarter of century ago, we explicitly evaluate binomial sums with Pell and Lucas polynomials as weight functions. Their special cases result in several interesting identities concerning Fibonacci and Lucas numbers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Despite major efforts to address psychological distress and quality of life (QOL) in people with cancer, only none to small intervention effect has been observed. There is reason to question whether psychosocial needs of patients have already been met under the usual oncology care.Purpose: The purpose of this systematic review was to examine changes in depression, anxiety and QOL during the existential plight in advanced cancer.Methods: A literature search was performed in the PubMed and APA PsycINFO databases from year 1976 up to May 31, 2021. Longitudinal observational or experimental research targeting depression, anxiety or QOL in advanced cancer (stage III or IV), with baseline time since cancer diagnosis within 100 days, follow-up within 16 weeks post-baseline were eligible. Quality rating was based on the GRADE guidelines.Results: Overall QOL did not reveal clinically relevant changes for the majority of studies as evaluated by effect size and raw score changes (median effect size 0.01, interquartile range -0.10-0.15). Nonetheless, modest to moderate improvement was found for depression (median effect size 0.28, interquartile range 0.03-0.38) and anxiety (median effect size 0.57, interquartile range 0.32-0.79).Conclusion: Transient distress symptoms and temporarily reduced functioning in the oncology setting may be considered normal, whereas impaired overall QOL needs to be addressed. Developing innovative interventions that enhance QOL for patients newly diagnosed with advanced cancer without interfering with patients' natural adaptation process is imperative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intestinal injury is one of the most debilitating side effects of many chemotherapeutic agents, such as irinotecan hydrochloride (CPT-11). Accumulating evidence indicates that neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) play a critical role in the symptoms of ischemia and inflammation related to chemotherapy. The present study investigated the effects and possible mechanisms of phenethyl isothiocyanate (PEITC) in inhibiting NETs and alleviating chemotherapeutic intestinal injury. CPT-11 induced robust neutrophil activation, as evidenced by increased NETs release, intestinal ischemia, and mRNA expression of inflammatory factors. PEITC prolonged the clotting time of chemotherapeutic mice, improved the intestinal microcirculation, inhibited the expression of inflammatory factors, and protected the tight junctions of the intestinal epithelium. Both in vivo and in vitro experiments revealed that PEITC directly suppresses CPT-11-induced NETs damage to intestinal cells, resulting in significant attenuation of epithelial injury. These results suggest that PEITC may be a novel agent to relieve chemotherapeutic intestinal injury via inhibition of NETs. [Display omitted] • PEITC, a natural isothiocyanate, ameliorated chemotherapy-induced enterocolitis. • PEITC exerts protective effects of intestinal epithelium via the inhibition of NETs. • NETs may be an important target for the treatment of chemotherapeutic injury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The accumulation of gases into our atmosphere is a growing global concern that requires considerable quantification of the emission rates and mitigate the accumulation of gases in the atmosphere, especially the greenhouse gases (GHG). In agriculture there are many sources of GHG that require attention in order to develop practical mitigation strategies. Measuring these GHG sources often rely on highly technical instrumentation originally designed for applications outside of the emissions research in agriculture. Although the open-path laser (OPL) and open-path Fourier transform infrared (OP-FTIR) spectroscopic techniques are used in agricultural research currently, insight into their contributing error to emissions research has not been the focus of these studies. The objective of this study was to assess the applicability and performance (accuracy and precision) of OPL and OP-FTIR spectroscopic techniques for measuring gas concentration from agricultural sources. We measured the mixing ratios of trace gases methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), and ammonia (NH3), downwind of point and area sources with known release rates. The OP-FTIR provided the best performance regarding stability of drift in stable conditions. The CH4 OPL accurately detected the low background (free-air) level of CH4; however, the NH3 OPL was unable to detect the background values < 10 ppbv. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to comprehensively and objectively understand the research status of street form at home and abroad, WOS and CNKI database are as the source, and 176 street form papers retrieved from 2010 to 2021 are as samples to conduct statistical analysis of the data. The main research hotspots are reviewed systematically, and the research trends in the field of planning and architecture are pointed out. The hot topics of street form research in the past ten years are summarized, such as street spatial form characteristics, street form and thermal environment, air quality correlation, street form and walking, safety, vitality, health and other perceived correlations. The research methods are summarized from two levels of street form data collection and analysis. Finally, the current research trend characteristics and future trends are summarized and prospected to provide reference for the current research of street form. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The urban construction in China is entering the stock age, and connotative renewal has become a hot spot in current urban renewal. Through field survey, questionnaire survey, interview and other methods, it is found that although the satisfaction of residents in Baiwu community, Handan City is high, there are problems such as aging infrastructure, dilapidated greening system, parking disorder, aging population and so on. The corresponding renewal strategy is put forward from the concept of sharing, in order to provide the reference for the renewal of other old communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid development of urban commercial complex in China, its roof garden becomes an important container for outdoor consumption and activities as the link between itself and the city, and more and more attention has been paid to its attractiveness. First, roof garden of Handan Meilecheng is taken as research object, and quantitative method of spatial attractiveness is established based on the number of spontaneous and chain activities and their intensity score. On this basis, data are collected via field investigation, and spatial attractiveness of roof garden of Meilecheng is quantified, and its distribution characteristics are summarized. Second, the cause of the characteristics formation is explained from the perspective of built environment elements. Finally, corresponding optimization strategies are proposed from four aspects: setting of landscape platform, increase of interest in sculpture sketches, design of space boundary, and improvement of spatial accessibility, which could provide reference for planning, design and transformation of roof garden of commercial complex in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development and validation of management practices to mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from livestock require accurate emission measurements. This study assessed the accuracy of a practical inverse dispersion modelling (IDM) technique to quantify methane (CH 4) emitted from a small cattle herd (16 animals) confined to a 63 m × 60 m experimental pen. The IDM technique calculates emissions from the increase in the CH 4 concentration measured downwind of the animals. The measurements were conducted for 7 d. Two types of open-path (OP) gas sensors were used to measure concentration in the IDM calculation: a Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (IDM-FTIR) or a CH 4 laser (IDM-Laser). The actual cattle emission rate was measured with a tracer-ratio technique using nitrous oxide (N 2 O) as the tracer gas. We found very good agreement between the two IDM emission estimates (308.1 ± 2.1 – mean ± SE – and 304.4 ± 8.0 g CH 4 head -1 d -1 for the IDM-FTIR and IDM-Laser respectively) and the tracer-ratio measurements (301.9 ± 1.5 g CH 4 head -1 d -1). This study suggests that a practical IDM measurement approach can provide an accurate method of estimating cattle emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magnolia, a basal angiosperm genus important for evolutionary and phylogenetic studies, is known to have male meiotic features not seen in the vast majority of angiosperms. However, knowledge about male meiosis in Magnolia is still fragmentary. Here, we report findings from an extensive investigation into male meiosis in Magnolia denudata using a combination of light and electron microscopy methods. Male meiosis in M. denudata was synchronous in prophase I but asynchronous in subsequent nuclear divisions. The polarized microspore mother cells from late prophase I onward had an elongated cell shape and thickened callose wall areas at the two smaller ends of the cell. The first nuclear division occurred along the long axis of the cell and the first callose furrow formed at the equatorial plane of the first nuclear division at the late telophase I stage. The second equatorial callose furrow formed after telophase II in a plane perpendicular to the first callose furrow. While cytokinesis occurred centripetally from the two furrows, a central callose wall island (CWI) appeared in the center of the cell and dense assemblies of vesicles and short tubules decorated the cytoplasmic regions between the furrows and the CWI. This cytokinesis mode differs from either the centripetal or the centrifugal mode of cytokinesis in microsporogenesis in the vast majority of angiosperms. As a result of this unusual cytokinesis, a large central callose mass remains in the mature tetrads. These observations may be useful to studies of cytokinetic mechanisms, evolution of microsporogenesis, and phylogenetics of angiosperms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dielectric energy-storage capacitors are of great importance for modern electronic technology and pulse power systems. However, the energy storage density (W rec) of dielectric capacitors is much lower than lithium batteries or supercapacitors, limiting the development of dielectric materials in cutting-edge energy storage systems. This study presents a single-phase BaTiO 3 -based high-entropy (BT-H) ceramic, which is synthesized using a conventional solid-state reaction method. It is found that the BT-H ceramic exhibits a remarkable energy storage performance, with a W rec of 5.18 J/cm3 and an ultrahigh η of 93.7% at 640 kV/cm electric field. Moreover, it also features wide temperature stability and excellent frequency stability. It is proposed that the introduction of high entropy enhances the random electric field and stress field, leading to lattice distortion and reduction of nanometer domain size, which in turn reduces remnant polarization and increases electric breakdown strength. This research provides a novel approach to improve the energy storage performance of ceramics through the high-entropy strategy. • High-entropy engineering could enhance the energy storage performance of dielectric capacitors. • An ultrahigh W rec of 5.18 J/cm3 and η of 93.7% at 640 kV/cm electric field were achieved in the BT-H (Mg) ceramics. • The BT-H ceramics exhibit remarkable energy storage performance stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The efficient processing of mass stream data has attracted wide attention in the database field. The skyline query on the sensor data stream can monitor multiple targets in real time, to avoid abnormal events such as fire and explosion, which is very useful in the practical application of sensor data monitoring. However, real-world stream data may often contain incomplete data attributes due to faulty sensing devices or imperfect data collection techniques. Skyline queries over incomplete data streams may lead to a lack of transitivity and loop domination issues. To solve the problem of the skyline query over incomplete data streams, firstly, this paper uses differential dependency rule (DD) to fill the missing attribute values of data in the incomplete data stream. Then, the hierarchical grid index (HGrid) is introduced into the field of skyline query to improve pruning efficiency. In the process of skyline calculation, this paper only keeps as few calculation results as possible for the data that may affect the result to avoid a large number of repeated calculations. Thus, S_IDS (Skyline query algorithm over Incomplete Data Stream) is proposed to query skyline results with high confidence from the incomplete data stream. Finally, by comparing with the most advanced skyline query algorithms over incomplete data streams, the correctness and efficiency of the proposed S_IDS algorithm are proved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, different concentrations of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) were applied to improve the electrospinning performance of gelatin-stabilized emulsions. With the increase of SDS content, the average droplet size of emulsions became smaller and the uniformity improved. Besides, the addition of SDS could increase the apparent viscosity and viscoelasticity of the emulsion via inducing extensive association of gelatin molecules. These changes presented a positive impact on the morphology and structure of the electrospun fibers. By concentration optimization, the core-shell nanofibers were successfully fabricated with the assist of 1% (w/v) SDS with a beadless and uniform structure. Especially, the SDS crosslinking could also prevent the gelling of gelatin solution at the needle via changing the protein conformation, thereby improving the spinnability of gelatin solution with continuity. However, further increasing the SDS concentration to 2% (w/v) would cause conglutination between fibers and agglomeration of oil phase. It was due to the increased viscous resistance of emulsion resulting in insufficient jet stretching at high concentration of SDS. Finally, the gelatin nanofibers showed an enhanced structural stability under the crosslinking of SDS during 15-d storage. Hence, this study presents a practical strategy for the fabrication of bio-based nano-carriers. [Display omitted] • Core-shell nanofibers were successfully electrospun from gelatin/SDS emulsion. • SDS improved the uniformity of gelatin emulsions at low concentration. • SDS induced interpolymer association of gelatin via physical interaction. • SDS improved the spinnability of gelatin via changing the protein conformation. • The SDS-crosslinked nanofibers showed the greater structural stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The biological effects of nanoparticles are of great importance for the in-depth understanding of safety issues in biomedical applications. Induction of autophagy is a cellular response after nanoparticle exposure. Bismuth sulfide nanoparticles (Bi2S3 NPs) are often used as a CT contrast agent because of their excellent photoelectric conversion ability. Yet there has been no previous detailed study other than a cell toxicity assessment. In this study, three types of Bi2S3 NPs with different shapes (Bi2S3 nano rods (BSNR), hollow microsphere Bi2S3 NPs (BSHS) and urchin-like hollow microsphere Bi2S3 NPs (ULBSHS)) were used to evaluatecytotoxicity, autophagy induction, cell migration and invasion in human hepatocellular carcinoma cells (HepG2). Results showed that all three Bi2S3 NPs lead to blockage in autophagic flux, causing p62 protein accumulation. The cell death caused by these Bi2S3 NPs is proved to be autophagy related, rather than related to apoptosis. Moreover, Bi2S3 NPs can reduce the migration and invasion in HepG2 cells in an autophagy-dependent manner. ULBSHS is the most cytotoxic among three Bi2S3 NPs and has the best tumor metastasis suppression. These results demonstrated that, even with relatively low toxicity of Bi2S3 NPs, autophagy blockage may still substantially influence cell fate and thus significantly impact their biomedical applications, and that surface topography is a key factor regulating their biological response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pathogenic bacteria contamination has been a global health challenge in the food industry. In this context, ultrasound technique is attracting much more attention as an alternative non-thermal processing method to inactivate pathogens. Compared with traditional thermal process, Ultrasonic Sterilization technology can reduce energy consumption, maintain nutritional content and cause less damage to overall foods quality. Despite ultrasonic sterilization (US) has been proved effective both for its individual and synergistic effect with other antibacterial agents and strategies, but still a knowledge gap exits there in the regulation mechanism of ultrasonic treatment on microorganism physiology that contributes to its application. Recently, increasing numbers of efficient sterilization strategies based on ultrasound technique have been presented, and the ultrasound-driven cavitation effect has become a promising research direction of US, which can cause a chain of physical and chemical damage to bacterial cells. Therefore, this review mainly discusses the antibacterial effects of US based on its acoustic cavitation combing with mechanical vibration and acoustic streaming, and summarizes the potential antibacterial mechanisms from three fields: sonoporation, sonochemistry and sonoluminescence. The mechanical stress on bacterial cells, formation of radicals and activation of sonosensitizers induced by acoustic cavitation have been proved as major antibacterial mechanisms in different application strategies of ultrasound to inactivate bacteria, respectively. The information in this review provides the necessary theoretical basis for extending the antibacterial application of ultrasound technique in food processing. • Ultrasonication can cause physical damage to bacterial membrane. • Ultrasonication can promote the penetration of antibacterial agents into bacterial cells. • Ultrasonication can produce radicals and cause oxidative damage to bacterial cells. • Ultrasonication can activate sonosensitizer by sonochemistry or sonoluminescence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: High‐altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE) is caused by the interaction of both genetic and environmental risk factors. Objectives: In this study, we aimed to explore whether three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in CYP2C19 gene influenced the HAPE susceptibility in the Chinese Han population. Methods: We recruited 238 cases and 230 controls between January 2018 and October 2018 from the Affiliated Hospital of Xizang Minzu University. The relationship between CYP2C19 gene polymorphisms and HAPE was studied by association analysis. Genotyping was performed using the Agena MassARRAY platform and the statistical analysis was performed using Chi‐squared test, independent sample t test, genetic model analysis and haplotype analysis. Results: The main finding of our study showed that rs4494250 in CYP2C19 gene was associated with an increased risk of HAPE at age >32 years in the log‐additive model (OR = 1.80, 95% CI = 1.05‐3.09, P = 0.033). Also, it was observed to be associated with a reduced risk of HAPE at age ≤2 years in the dominant model (A/G‐A/A vs G/G, OR = 0.55, 95% CI = 0.31‐0.97, P = 0.038) and in the log‐additive model (OR = 0.58, 95% CI = 0.35‐0.96, P = 0.033). Conclusion: Our findings demonstrated that CYP2C19 genetic variants were associated with risk of developing HAPE in Han Chinese population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The secretory cavity is a typical structure in Citrus fruit and is formed by schizolysigeny. Previous reports have indicated that programmed cell death (PCD) is involved in the degradation of secretory cavity cells in the fruit, and that the spatio-temporal location of calcium is closely related to nuclear DNA degradation in this process; however, the molecular mechanisms underlying this Ca2+ regulation remain largely unknown. Here, we identified CgCaN that encodes a Ca2+-dependent DNase in the fruit of Citrus grandis 'Tomentosa', the function of which was studied using calcium ion localization, DNase activity assays, in situ hybridization, and protein immunolocalization. The results suggested that the full-length cDNA of CgCaN contains an ORF of 1011 bp that encodes a protein 336 amino acids in length with a SNase-like functional domain. CgCaN digests dsDNA at neutral pH in a Ca2+-dependent manner. In situ hybridization signals of CgCaN were particularly distributed in the secretory cavity cells. Ca2+ and Ca2+-dependent DNases were mainly observed in the condensed chromatin and in the nucleolus. In addition, spatio-temporal expression patterns of CgCaN and its protein coincided with the time-points that corresponded to chromatin degradation and nuclear rupture during the PCD in the development of the fruit secretory cavity. Taken together, our results suggest that Ca2+-dependent DNases play direct roles in nuclear DNA degradation during the PCD of secretory cavity cells during Citrus fruit development. Given the consistency of the expression patterns of genes regulated by calmodulin (CaM) and calcium-dependent protein kinases (CDPK) and the dynamics of calcium accumulation, we speculate that CaM and CDPK proteins might be involved in Ca2+ transport from the extracellular walls through the cytoplasm and into the nucleus to activate CgCaN for DNA degradation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Maize bsd2 (bundle sheath defective2) is a classical C4 mutant with defective C4 photosynthesis, accompanied with reduced accumulation of Rubisco (ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase oxygenase) and aberrant mature chloroplast morphology in the bundle sheath (BS) cells. However, as a hypothetical chloroplast chaperone, the effects of BSD2 on C4 chloroplast development have not been fully examined yet, which precludes a full appreciation of BSD2 function in C4 photosynthesis. The aims of our study are to find out the role ofBSD2 in regulating chloroplasts development in maize leaves, and to add new insights into our understanding of C4 biology. Results: We found that at the chloroplast maturation stage, the thylakoid membranes of chloroplasts in the BS and mesophyll (M) cells became significantly looser, and the granaof chloroplasts in the M cells became thinner stacking in the bsd2 mutant when compared with the wildtype plant. Moreover, at the early chloroplast development stage, the number of dividing chloroplasts and the chloroplast division rate are both reduced in the bsd2 mutant, compared with wild type. Quantitative reverse transcriptase-PCR analysis revealed that the expression of both thylakoid formation-related genesand chloroplast division-related genes is significantly reduced in the bsd2 mutants. Further, we showed that BSD2 interacts physically with the large submit of Rubisco (LS) in Bimolecular Fluorescence Complementation assay. Conclusions: Our combined results suggest that BSD2 plays an essential role in regulating the division and differentiation of the dimorphic BS and M chloroplasts, and that it acts at a post-transcriptional level to regulate LS stability or assembly of Rubisco. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ultrasound technology has been focused on due to its unique advantages in biofilm removal compared with traditional antibacterial methods. Herein, the anti-biofilm properties of low-frequency ultrasound (LFUS) were studied against Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli O157: H7 (E. coli O157:H7). After ultrasonication (20 kHz, 300 W) for 5 min, the removal rate of biofilm from polystyrene sheets reached up to 99.999 %. However, the bacterial cells could not be inactivated completely even extending the duration of ultrasonic irradiation to 30 min. Fortunately, this study indicated that LFUS could efficiently weaken the metabolic capacity and biofilm-forming ability of bacterial cells separated from biofilm. It could be associated with the removal of cell surface appendages and damage to cell membrane induced by mechanical vibration and acoustic cavitation. Besides, the genetic analysis proved that the transcription level of genes involved in curli formation was significantly down-regulated during ultrasonic irradiation, thus impeding the process of irreversible adhesion and cells aggregation. Finally, the actual application effect of LFUS was also evaluated in different fresh produces model. The results of this study would provide a theoretical basis for the further application of ultrasound in the food preservation. • Low-frequency ultrasound (LFUS) was effective in removing E. coli O157:H7 biofilm. • LFUS inhibited the metabolic level and biofilm-forming ability of E. coli O157:H7. • LFUS down-regulated the transcription level of genes related to curli formation. • LFUS showed good anti-biofilm properties with application in fresh produce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Besides the Kondo effect observed in dilute magnetic alloys, the Cr-doped perovskite manganate compounds La0.7Ca0.3Mn1-xCrxO3 also exhibit Kondo effect and spin-glass freezing in a certain composition range. An extensive investigation for the La0.7Ca0.3Mn1-xCrxO3 (x=0.01, 0.05, 0.10, 0.3, 0.6, and 1.0) system on the magnetization and ac susceptibility, the resistivity and magnetoresistance, as well as the thermal conductivity is done at low temperature. The spin-glass behavior has been confirmed for these compounds with x=0.05, 0.1, and 0.3. For temperatures above Tf (the spin-glass freezing temperature) a Curie-Weiss law is obeyed. The paramagnetic Curie temperature θ is dependent on Cr doping. Below Tf there exists a Kondo minimum in the resistivity. Colossal magnetoresistance has been observed in this system with Cr concentration up to x=0.6. We suppose that the substitution of Mn with Cr dilutes Mn ions and changes the long-range ferromagnetic order of La0.7Ca0.3MnO3. These behaviors demonstrate that short-range ferromagnetic correlation and fluctuation exist among Mn spins far above Tf. Furthermore, these interactions are a precursor of the cooperative freezing at Tf. The "double bumps" feature in the resistivity-temperature curve is observed in compounds with x=0.05 and 0.1. The phonon scattering is enhanced at low temperatures, where the second peak of double bumps comes out. The results indicate that the spin-cluster effect and lattice deformation induce Kondo effect, spin-glass freezing, and strong phonon scattering in mixed perovskite La0.7Ca0.3Mn1-xCrxO3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract A reaction between 3-isothiocyanato oxindoles and β , γ -unsaturated α -keto esters catalyzed by a chiral thiourea organocatalyst via a domino Michael-cyclization process is described, which delivers a range of biologically important 2′-thioxospiro[indoline-3,4′-oxazolidin]-2-one compounds in high yields with good diastereo- and enantioselectivities (up to 99% yield, >99:1 dr, >99% ee). Moreover, two of 2′-thioxospiro[indoline-3,4′-oxazolidin]-2-one compounds were found to significantly behave in anti-inflammatory activities in a preliminary biological evaluation. Graphical abstract Image 1 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving direct field measurement techniques to quantify gas emissions from cropped agricultural fields is challenging. We compared nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions measured with static closed chambers to those from a newly developed aerodynamic flux gradient (FG) approach. Measurements were made at a vegetable farm following chicken manure application. The FG calculations were made with a single open-path Fourier transform infrared (OP-FTIR) spectrometer (height of 1.45 m) deployed in a slant-path configuration, sequentially aimed at retro reflectors at heights of 0.8 and 1.8 m above ground. Hourly emissions were measured with the FG technique, but once a day between 10:00 and 13:00 with chambers. We compared the concurrent emission ratios (FG / chamber) of these two techniques and found N2O emission rates from a celery crop farm measured at midday by FG were statistically higher (1.22–1.40 times) than those from the chambers measured at the same time. Our results suggest the OP-FTIR slant-path FG configuration worked well in this study: it was sufficiently sensitive to detect the N2O gradients over our site, giving high temporal resolution N2O emissions corresponding to a large measurement footprint. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Aims The apoptosis and autophagy play an important role in the pathogenesis of sepsis-induced cardiac dysfunction. Previous studies have demonstrated that melatonin protects against cardiac dysfunction during sepsis. In addition, silent information regulator 1 (SIRT1) is a therapeutic target for sepsis-induced myocardial dysfunction. The aims of this study were to investigate whether SIRT1 was involved in melatonin's cardioprotection during sepsis and the mechanisms. Materials and methods In this study, twenty-four male C57BL/6 mice were randomly assigned to four groups: Control group, LPS group, LPS + Melatonin group and LPS + Melatonin + EX527 group. Mice were treated with lipopolysaccharide for 8 h with or without melatonin or EX527. The cardiac function, myocardial injury biomarkers, cardiac histopathology, cardiomyocyte apoptosis, autophagosome as well as the protein expressions of SIRT1, cleaved caspase-3, LC3-II/LC3-I ratio and p62 in the myocardium were assayed. Key findings The results demonstrated that melatonin significantly improved cardiac function, decreased creatine kinase (CK) and creatine kinase-MB (CK-MB) levels, attenuated myocardial architecture destruction, inhibited cardiomyocyte apoptosis and increased cardiac autophagy as compared with the LPS group. In addition, melatonin significantly increased SIRT1 protein expression in the myocardium of mice with sepsis, while inhibition of SIRT1 by EX527 abolished melatonin's cardioprotection during sepsis. Significance In this study, we found that melatonin protected against sepsis-induced cardiac dysfunction by regulating apoptosis and autophagy via activation of SIRT1 in mice. Graphical abstract The proposed mechanisms of melatonin's cardioprotection against cardiac dysfunction during sepsis. Melatonin activates SIRT1 signaling pathway and then regulates apoptosis and autophagy in the myocardium of mice with sepsis, which contributes to improving sepsis-induced cardiac dysfunction. Unlabelled Image [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) mechanism has been considered as the most attractive approach for organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) due to its full exciton utilization with pure organic emitters. However, most TADF-based OLEDs still suffer two important issues — low maximum luminance and severe efficiency roll-off, which hinder their further development. Herein, a novel star-shaped yellow TADF emitter benzene-1,3,5-triyltris((4-(10H-phenoxazin-10-yl)phenyl) methanone) (TBP-PXZ) was designed and synthesized. Owing to the well separated frontier molecular orbitals, TBP-PXZ exhibits a tiny singlet–triplet energy gap and thus realizes significant TADF characteristic. Using TBP-PXZ as the emitter, the OLED presents excellent electroluminescence performances with a high maximum EQE of 17.7%. Moreover, an ultraslow efficiency roll-off was observed at high luminance with an impressively EQE remaining 16.0% at a luminance of 1000 cd m−2 and 10.5% at a luminance of 30000 cd m−2, respectively. These results suggest TBP-PXZ is an ideal model to develop TADF emitters with high maximum luminance and low efficiency roll-off. Graphical abstract Image Highlights • A novel yellow TADF emitter benzene-1,3,5-triyltris((4-(10H-phenoxazin-10-yl)phenyl) methanone) (TBP-PXZ) exhibits an extremely small ΔE ST of 0.02 eV and realizes significant TADF characteristic. • The TBP-PXZ-based OLED presents a high maximum EQE of 17.7% and a quite high maximum luminance of 49240 cd m−2 • The TBP-PXZ-based OLED realizes a quite high maximum luminance of 49240 cd m−2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Salmonella is a kind of common pathogenic bacteria and most of them were associated with serovars, enteritidis and typhimurium. This study was aimed at evaluating the antibacterial activity of tea tree oil (TTO) liposomes-loaded chitosan electrospun nanofilms against Salmonella ( S. typhimurium and S. enteritidis ) on chicken meat. Liposomes were prepared using TTO at a concentration of 6.0 mg/mL. The particle size, polydispersity index (PDI), zeta potential and entrapment efficiency of prepared liposomes were 144.3 ± 1.08 nm, 0.230 ± 0.012, −54.7 ± 2.01 mV and 39.20 ± 1.45% respectively. The physical properties of TTO liposomes/chitosan nanofibers were also determined. The nanofiber membranes embedded with liposome-encapsulated TTO exhibited high antibacterial activity against Salmonella , which had almost no impact on the sensory properties of chicken meat. Results showed that around 5 log 10 reductions of Salmonella were observed in chicken meat by TTO liposomes/chitosan nanofibers treatment for 4 days at 12 °C and 25 °C. The investigation thus showed that the prepared TTO liposomes/chitosan nanofibers can prevent the microbial contamination by Salmonella to extend the shelf life of chicken meat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A recently developed slant-path flux gradient (FG) technique, combined with open-path Fourier transform infrared (OP-FTIR) spectroscopy, was deployed to concurrently measure gas emissions of ammonia (NH 3 ), nitrous oxide (N 2 O), carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), and methane (CH 4 ) from an intensive vegetable farm in Australia. Gas fluxes were continuously measured for three weeks following chicken manure application to a celery crop, followed by intermittent measurements for three days a week for another three weeks. The average flux measured over the 41 day measurement period for NH 3 and N 2 O, was 5.2 and 2.9 mg N m −2  h −1 , respectively, CH 4 was 1.1 mg C m −2  h −1 , and CO 2 was 0.7 C g m −2  h −1 . Manure and fertilizer application substantially increased the emissions of these gases, by providing carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) substrates to the soil. The cumulative N losses as NH 3 and N 2 O following fertilizer application were 6.7% and 3.7% of total N applied, respectively. Using this FG/OP-FTIR technique, we demonstrated that the N 2 O emission factor for this vegetable farm is much higher than the IPCC default emission factor for manure applied to managed lands. These results highlight the need for large-scale measurements to quantify multiple gas losses from intensive agricultural systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phase-changing energy-storing concrete (PCESC) was prepared by phase-changing energy-storing aggregates (PCESA) replacing a certain percentage of sand. The compressive strength test evaluated the mechanical behavior of PCESC. The SEM imaging and DSC analysis were performed to identify the microstructure and energy-storing properties of PCESC, respectively. The thermal cycle test was used to determine the thermal reliability of PCESC. The test results showed that the PCESA remain intact in PCESC. The compressive strength of PCESC with 20% PCESA is 45.08 MPa, and its equivalent energy storage increases by 82.73%. Besides, the compressive strength of PCESC after 100 thermal cycles is 48.29 MPa, and the equivalent energy storage decrease by 10.55%. Therefore, the PCESC with 20% PCESA maintains satisfactory performance in terms of energy-storing properties and thermal reliability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Escherichia coli O157:H7 ( E. coli O157:H7) is one of the most common pathogens in fresh vegetables and fruits, and most of the diseases produced by E. coli O157:H7 are associated with biofilms. Cold nitrogen plasma (CNP) is a cold sterilization technique which has no residue. However to completely eliminate the biofilm on the surface of vegetables the processing power and time of CNP have to be enhanced, which will impact on the quality of fruits and vegetables. Thus the sequential treatment of CNP and phage techniques was engineered in this study. Compared to treatment performed separately, sequential treatment not only had more mild treatment conditions as 400 W CNP treatment for 2 min and 5% phage treatment for 30 min, but also exhibited more remarkable effect on eradicating E. coli O157:H7 biofilms in vitro and on vegetables. The population of E. coli O157:H7 was approximately reduced by 2 log CFU/cm 2 after individual treatment of 5% phages for 30 min or 500 W CNP for 3 min. While the sequential treatment of CNP (400 W, 2 min) and phages (5%, 30 min) reduced the E. coli O157:H7 viable count in biofilm by 5.71 log CFU/cm 2 . Therefore, the sequential treatment holds a great promise to improve the current treatment systems of bacterial contamination on different vegetable surfaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to evaluate the antibacterial activity of clove oil-loaded chitosan nanoparticles (CO@CNPs) and gelatin electrospun nanofibers against Escherichia coli O157:H7 ( E . coli O157:H7) biofilms on cucumbers. The optimal CO@CNPs were prepared when the initial concentration of clove oil (CO) was 2.5 mg/mL according to the ionic crosslinking method. CO@CNPs showed high antibacterial activity against E . coli O157:H7 biofilms. After 8 h treatment, almost 99.98% reduction in E . coli O157:H7 population was achie v ed when CO@CNPs were applied at 30% (w/v). Subsequently, the prepared CO@CNPs were incorporated successfully within gelatin nanofibers by electrospinning. After 9 mg/mL gelatin/CO@CNPs treatment for 24 h, the population of E . coli O157:H7 biofilm reduced by about 99.99% in vitro . Further, the application of gelatin/CO@CNPs nanofibers on cucumber against E . coli O157:H7 biofilm was evaluated as well. After 6 mg/mL and 9 mg/mL gelatin/CO@CNPs nanofibers treatment at 12 °C for 4 days, 4.28 and 4.97 log 10 reductions of E . coli O157:H7 biofilm in population were observed, respectively. Finally, the sensory evaluation results implied that the gelatin/CO@CNPs nanofibers treatment could maintain the color and flavor of cucumber well for > 4 days. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work describes the effect of cold nitrogen plasma to enhance the antibacterial activity of poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) nanofibers containing antibacterial agent. Beta-cyclodextrin (β-CD) and tea tree oil (TTO) were used as a host-guest to form water-soluble inclusion complex. The encapsulation efficiency of TTO in inclusion complex could reach 73.23% at 60 °C. As antibacterial agent, the inclusion complex was encapsulated into PEO matrix by electrospun. After plasma treatment, the release efficiency of antibacterial agent from PEO nanofibers was improved. As a result, the antibacterial activity of PEO nanofibers was enhanced accordingly. The plasma-treated nanofiber membranes achieved the highest antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli O157:H7, which was tested on the beef for 7 d, with inhibition efficiently of 99.99% whether at 4 °C or 12 °C. The plasma-treated PEO nanofiber membranes containing TTO/β-CD inclusion complex (TTO/β-CD-IC) can prolong the shelf-life of beef, suggesting it has potential application in active food packaging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background The mesocorticolimbic dopamine system, which originates from the ventral tegmental area ( VTA) and projects primarily to the prefrontal cortex ( PFC), olfactory tubercle ( OT), nucleus accumbens ( NAc), dorsal striatum ( ST), and the amygdala ( AMy), plays a pivotal role in determining individual motivation and sensitivity to rewards, namely, anhedonia. Not all depressive individuals exhibited anhedonia, thus, it is natural to speculate that the heterogenous manifestations of depression might be related to the mesocorticolimbic dopamine system. Maternal deprivation ( MD) and chronic unpredictable stress ( CUPS) are two well-established depressogenic stressors, and they were proven to induce different depressive phenotypes. Methods The depressive and anxiety-like behaviors of MD and CUPS-treated rats were measured by classical behavioral tests including open field, forced swimming, and sucrose preference test. The expression of D1-5 dopamine receptors and DAT mRNA and protein in the mesocorticolimbic dopamine system of rats exposed to MD and CUPS were measured by real-time PCR and Western blot, respectively. Results Severe anhedonia was observed in MD but not CUPS rats. Divergent expression of D1 and D2 receptors and DAT mRNA and protein in the mesocorticolimbic dopamine system were found between MD and CUPS rats. Significant correlations between different depressive behaviors and D1-/D2-like receptors and DAT protein levels in the mesocorticolimbic dopamine system were observed. Conclusion Different depressive behaviors of rats such as anhedonia, passive coping behavior, and declined exploratory interest might be related to divergent dopaminergic pathways. Anhedonia is associated with the dysfunction of VTA- NAc and VTA- OT dopaminergic pathways, the passive coping behavior is related to the dysregulation of VTA- PFC and VTA- AMy pathways, and individual exploratory interest is associated with abnormal activity of VTA- PFC and VTA- ST pathways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The key of successful application of micro-nano-bubbles (MNBs) for groundwater remediation is understanding the transport characteristics of MNBs in porous media. The effect of pore size distribution and colloidal fines on transport behavior of MNBs in saturated porous media was studied in this research. At first, the diameter of MNBs and pore distribution of porous media were measured. Then, the hydraulic conductivities of ten different kinds of porous media were tested by distilled water and MNBs solution. Finally, one-dimensional column transport experiments of MNBs in saturated porous media were conducted. The test results showed that the diameter of MNBs was mainly distributed in 61–172 nm and 1.635–3.270 µm. The size of pore in glass beads was bigger than the diameter of MNBs, while the size of most pores in mixture of silt and sand or kaolinite was smaller than the diameter of MNBs. When transporting in porous media, MNBs had no effect on the hydraulic conductivity of coarse, medium or fine glass beads. However, MNBs had detrimental effect on hydraulic conductivity of the mixture of silt and quartz sand or kaolinite. Advection-dispersion theory was suitable for fitting the breakthrough curve of MNBs. The values of retardation factor (R) and pseudo first order rate coefficients for attachment (μ) were largest in the mixtures of silt and kaolinite, followed by silt as well as mixtures of silt and quartz sand, and smallest in glass beads. The particle size of porous media, the relative size of MNBs and pores, and colloidal fines significantly affected the transport behavior of MNBs in porous media. Furthermore, the deformation and dissolution of MNBs as well as unfavorable surface interactions between sand particles and bubbles could promote the transport of MNBs in saturated porous media. Thus, MNBs injection and transport are expected to be effective in remediation of contaminated site composed of sand or fine-grained soil with few colloidal fines. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Outlier detection is an important data mining task, whose target is to find the abnormal or atypical objects from a given dataset. The techniques for detecting outliers have a lot of applications, such as credit card fraud detection and environment monitoring. Our previous work proposed the Cluster-Based (CB) outlier and gave a centralized method using unsupervised extreme learning machines to compute CB outliers. In this paper, we propose a new distributed algorithm for the CB outlier detection (DACB). On the master node, we collect a small number of points from the slave nodes to obtain a threshold. On each slave node, we design a new filtering method that can use the threshold to efficiently speed up the computation. Furthermore, we also propose a ranking method to optimize the order of cluster scanning. At last, the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed approaches are verified through a plenty of simulation experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

p-Toluenesulfonic acid mediated formal [3+3] of 3-indolylmethanols with 3-isothiocyanato oxindoles was realized. This transformation allowed for the synthesis of a series of novel tetrahydro- β-carboline-1-thione spirooxindoles in moderate to excellent yields (up to 99%) with generally good diastereoselectivities (up to >20:1). The structure of one product was determined by an X-ray crystal structural analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global skyline, as an important variant of the skyline, has been widely applied in multi-criteria decision making, business planning and data mining. In this paper, we extend our early work and propose the maintenance methods to process the subspace global skyline (SGS) queries in dynamic databases. In the previous work, we proposed the index structure RB-tree, which can effectively manage the data to accelerate the subspace global skyline calculation. Also, the basic single SGS algorithm based on RB-tree (SSRB) and the optimized single SGS algorithm (OSSRB) were proposed to process a single SGS query. In addition, the multiple SGS algorithm (MSRB) was proposed to calculate multiple SGS queries by sharing the scan spaces of different queries. In this paper, we design some data structures and propose the maintenance approaches of SSRB, OSSRB and MSRB to cope with updates that happen to data sets. Thus our extended algorithms can be adopted for dynamic data sets. Finally, the experimental results show that the proposed algorithms OSSRB and MSRB have good performance to process SGS queries and they can be easily maintained with dynamic datasets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Research shows that spiritual well-being correlates positively with quality of life (QOL) for people with cancer, whereas contradictory findings are frequently reported with respect to the differentiated associations between dimensions of spiritual well-being, namely peace, meaning and faith, and QOL. This study aimed to examine individual patterns of spiritual well-being among patients newly diagnosed with advanced cancer.Methods: Cluster analysis was based on the twelve items of the 12-item Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Spiritual Well-Being Scale at Time 1. A combination of hierarchical and k-means (non-hierarchical) clustering methods was employed to jointly determine the number of clusters. Self-rated health, depressive symptoms, peace, meaning and faith, and overall QOL were compared at Time 1 and Time 2.Results: Hierarchical and k-means clustering methods both suggested four clusters. Comparison of the four clusters supported statistically significant and clinically meaningful differences in QOL outcomes among clusters while revealing contrasting relations of faith with QOL. Cluster 1, Cluster 3, and Cluster 4 represented high, medium, and low levels of overall QOL, respectively, with correspondingly high, medium, and low levels of peace, meaning, and faith. Cluster 2 was distinguished from other clusters by its medium levels of overall QOL, peace, and meaning and low level of faith.Conclusions: This study provides empirical support for individual difference in response to a newly diagnosed cancer and brings into focus conceptual and methodological challenges associated with the measure of spiritual well-being, which may partly contribute to the attenuated relation between faith and QOL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beef cattle feedlots are a major source of ammonia (NH 3 ) emissions from livestock industries. We investigated the effects of lignite surface applications on NH 3 and nitrous oxide (N 2 O) emissions from beef cattle feedlot pens. Two rates of lignite, 3 and 6 kg m − 2 , were tested in the treatment pen. No lignite was applied in the control pen. Twenty-four Black Angus steers were fed identical commercial rations in each pen. We measured NH 3 and N 2 O concentrations continuously from 4th Sep to 13th Nov 2014 using Quantum Cascade Laser (QCL) NH 3 analysers and a closed-path Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy analyser (CP-FTIR) in conjunction with the integrated horizontal flux method to calculate NH 3 and N 2 O fluxes. During the feeding period, 16 and 26% of the excreted nitrogen (N) (240 g N head − 1 day − 1 ) was lost via NH 3 volatilization from the control pen, while lignite application decreased NH 3 volatilization to 12 and 18% of the excreted N, for Phase 1 and Phase 2, respectively. Compared to the control pen, lignite application decreased NH 3 emissions by approximately 30%. Nitrous oxide emissions from the cattle pens were small, 0.10 and 0.14 g N 2 O-N head − 1 day − 1 (< 0.1% of excreted N) for the control pen, for Phase 1 and Phase 2, respectively. Lignite application increased direct N 2 O emissions by 40 and 57%, to 0.14 and 0.22 g N 2 O-N head − 1 day − 1 , for Phase 1 and Phase 2, respectively. The increase in N 2 O emissions resulting from lignite application was counteracted by the lower indirect N 2 O emission due to decreased NH 3 volatilization. Using 1% as a default emission factor of deposited NH 3 for indirect N 2 O emissions, the application of lignite decreased total N 2 O emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A representative skyline contains k skyline points that can represent its corresponding full skyline. The existing measuring criteria of k representative skylines are specifically designed for static data, and they cannot effectively handle streaming data. In this paper, we focus on the problem of calculating the k representative skyline over data streams. First, we propose a new criterion to choose k skyline points as the k representative skyline for data stream environments, termed the k largest dominance skyline (k-LDS), which is representative to the entire data set and is highly stable over the streaming data. Second, we propose an efficient exact algorithm, called Prefix-based Algorithm (PBA), to solve the k-LDS problem in a 2-dimensional space. The time complexity of PBA is only O((M −k ) × k) where M is the size of the full skyline set. Third, the k-LDS problem for a d -dimensional (d ≥ 3) space turns out to be very complex. Therefore, a greedy algorithm is designed to answer k-LDS queries. To further accelerate the calculation, we propose a ϵ-greedy algorithm which can achieve an approximate factor of ...(...). Experimental results on both synthetic and real-world data show that our k-LDS significantly outperforms its competitors in data stream environments. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the proposed ϵ-greedy algorithm can solve k-LDS efficiently and with a competitive accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The outlier detection is a popular issue in the area of data management and multimedia analysis, and it can be used in many applications such as detection of noisy images, credit card fraud detection, network intrusion detection. The density-based outlier is an important definition of outlier, whose target is to compute a Local Outlier Factor (LOF) for each tuple in a data set to represent the degree of this tuple to be an outlier. It shows several significant advantages comparing with other existing definitions. This paper focuses on the problem of distributed density-based outlier detection for large-scale data. First, we propose a Gird-Based Partition algorithm (GBP) as a data preparation method. GBP first splits the data set into several grids, and then allocates these grids to the datanodes in a distributed environment. Second, we propose a Distributed LOF Computing method (DLC) for detecting density-based outliers in parallel, which only needs a small amount of network communications. At last, the efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed approaches are verified through a series of simulation experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate measurements of methane (CH4) emissions from feedlot cattle are required for verifying greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting and mitigation strategies. We investigate a new method for estimating CH4 emissions by examining the correlation between CH4 and carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations from two beef cattle feedlots in Australia representing southern temperate and northern subtropical locations. Concentrations of CH4 and CO2 were measured at the two feedlots during summer and winter, using open-path Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. There was a strong correlation for the concentrations above background of CH4 and CO2 with concentration ratios of 0.008 to 0.044 ppm/ppm (R2 >0.90). The CH4/CO2 concentration ratio varied with animal diet and ambient temperature. The CH4/CO2 concentration ratio provides an alternative method to estimate CH4 emissions from feedlots when combined with CO2 production derived from metabolisable energy or heat production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the recently emerging global interest in building a next generation of circular electron–positron colliders to study the properties of the Higgs boson, and other important topics in particle physics at ultra-high beam energies, it is also important to pursue the possibility of implementing polarized beams at this energy scale. It is therefore necessary to set up simulation tools to evaluate the beam polarization at these ultra-high beam energies. In this paper, a Monte-Carlo simulation of the equilibrium beam polarization based on the Polymorphic Tracking Code (PTC) (Schmidt et al., 2002 [1] ) is described. The simulations are for a model storage ring with parameters similar to those of proposed circular colliders in this energy range, and they are compared with the suggestion (Derbenev et al., 1979 [2] ) that there are different regimes for the spin dynamics underlying the polarization of a beam in the presence of synchrotron radiation at ultra-high beam energies. In particular, it has been suggested that the so-called “correlated” crossing of spin resonances during synchrotron oscillations at current energies evolves into “uncorrelated” crossing of spin resonances at ultra-high energies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chitosan (CS) is becoming increasingly popular in food packaging due to its natural degradability and great film-forming properties. Nevertheless, its poor antibacterial properties and inadequate antioxidant properties prevent it from being used effectively. In this study, β-cyclodextrin-epichlorohydrin (β-CD-EP) oligomers were prepared and encapsulated with natural essential oils cinnamaldehyde and thymol, and then the inclusion complexes (IC) were incorporated into chitosan in various contents to afford a series of CS-IC composite films. The impacts of IC on the morphological, mechanical, thermal, and water resistance properties, antioxidant and antibacterial activities of chitosan films, as well as the loading and sustained release behavior of IC, were thoroughly examined. The results turned out that the essential oils were well-loaded with high encapsulation efficiency and showed a significant slow-release effect. It was also found that the tensile strength and the elongation at break decreased with increasing IC contents, while the thermal stability was enhanced. The incorporation of IC dramatically promoted the antioxidant and antibacterial properties of the chitosan films towards Gram-positive bacteria. Based on our findings, chitosan films containing essential oils-loaded β-CD-EP oligomers may serve as an effective food packaging material. [Display omitted] • β-CD-EP oligomers were prepared and used to encapsulate the natural essential oils. • The oligomers displayed good sustained release performance for essential oils. • IC enhanced the crystallinity and thermal stability of the chitosan film. • IC improved the antioxidant and antibacterial properties of the chitosan film. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]