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In the field of remote sensing image captioning (RSIC), mainstream methods typically adopt an encoder–decoder framework. Methods based on this framework often use only simple feature fusion strategies, failing to fully mine the fine-grained features of the remote sensing image. Moreover, the lack of context information introduction in the decoder results in less accurate generated sentences. To address these problems, we propose a two-stage feature enhancement model (TSFE) for remote sensing image captioning. In the first stage, we adopt an adaptive feature fusion strategy to acquire multi-scale features. In the second stage, we further mine fine-grained features based on multi-scale features by establishing associations between different regions of the image. In addition, we introduce global features with scene information in the decoder to help generate descriptions. Experimental results on the RSICD, UCM-Captions, and Sydney-Captions datasets demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms existing state-of-the-art approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Russula is the largest genus in the Russulales and is widespread throughout the world. Almost all Russula species are known to be ectomycorrhizal with high ecological and edible values, and some are lethal poisonous. In this study, four new species belonging to the subgenus Russula crown clade are identified based on morphological and phylogenetic evidence from the Xizang Autonomous Region and other provinces of China. Morphologically, Russula paragraveolens (sect. Polychromae, subsect. Xerampelinae) is mainly characterised by a cherry red to blood red pileus centre, a reddish orange pileus margin; R. pseudograveolens (sect. Polychromae, subsect. Xerampelinae) is characterised by a violet brown to brownish red pileus centre, a pale red to pastel red pileus margin and short basidia; R. shigatseensis (sect. Flavisiccantes, subsect. Lepidinae) is characterised by a brownish orange to madder red pileus centre, pinkish red pileus margin, and having lateral branches or branches of hyphal terminations in pileipellis; R. yadongensis (sect. Tenellae, subsect. Laricinae) is characterised by a dark purplish red pileus centre with brownish purple tints and having isolated to clustered spines of spore ornamentations. Their distinct taxonomic status is confirmed by the positions of the four new species in both the ITS and 4-locus (nucLSU, mtSSU, rpb2, tef1) phylogenetic trees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key message: Two new major QTL were identified for powdery mildew resistance. We confirmed that the QTL on 7HS contributed mainly to the adult-plant resistance, while another one on chromosome arm 1HS made a significant contribution to the seedling resistance. Powdery mildew (PM), caused by Blumeria hordei, can occur at all post emergent stages of barley and constantly threatens crop production. To identify more genes for effective resistance to powdery mildew for use in breeding programs, 696 barley accessions collected from different regions of the world were evaluated for PM resistance at seedling and adult growth stages in three different states of Australia. These barley accessions were genotyped using DArTSeq with over 18,000 markers for a genome-wide association study (GWAS). Using the FarmCPU model, 54 markers showed significant associations with PM resistance scored at the seedling and adult-plant stages in different states of Australia. Another 40 markers showed tentative associations (LOD > 4.0) with resistance. These markers are distributed across all seven barley chromosomes. Most of them were grouped into eleven QTL regions, coinciding with the locations of most of the reported resistance genes. Two major MTAs were identified on chromosome arms 3HS and 5HL, with one on 3HS contributing to adult plant resistance and the one on 5HL to both seedling and adult plant resistance. An MTA on 7HS contributed mainly to the adult-plant resistance, while another one on chromosome arm 1HS made a significant contribution to the seedling resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A microporous layer (MPL) with appropriate aperture and hydrophobicity is key for proton-exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). The MPLs are typically prepared from mixing carbon black and a hydrophobic agent (i.e., polytetrafluoroethylene) physically followed by annealing at elevated temperatures, resulting in pore blockage and carbon black aggregation. To address this issue, we report a facile method to fabricate uniform porous carbons (UPCs) with single aperture and hierarchical porous carbon (HPC) with multiple apertures using a hard silica template followed by chemical grafting with hydrophobic fluoroalkylsilane (FAS-17). An advanced MPL (GMPL) is fabricated by direct layer-by-layer construction of hydrophobic UPC with different apertures, demonstrating improved water drainage and efficient gas transportation, thereby delivering high output power density of 809.64 mW·cm−2. The as-fabricated GMPL demonstrates superior performance as compared to the one containing MPL prepared with HPC (HPC-MPL, 781.20 mW·cm−2) and the ones employing MPL with a single aperture (714.38–749.89 mW·cm−2). The controllable gradient aperture, superhydrophobicity, and open pore/channels contribute to the high performance of PFMFC. This work presents a feasible structural design for MPLs toward high-performance PEMFC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antimony sulfide (Sb 2 S 3) is an appealing one-dimensional light-harvesting material for thin-film solar cells due to the high absorption coefficient, suitable bandgap and abundance of constituent elements. The orientation of the Sb 2 S 3 thin film is considered as one of the most important factors affecting the performance of the device. According to the minimum energy principle, Sb 2 S 3 is prone to grow parallel to the substrate along the [hk0] orientation which is harmful to the device performance. On the other hand, [hk1]-oriented films are much more beneficial but additional processes such as annealing are often required. In this work, stoichiometric Sb 2 S 3 thin films consist of compact, highly [hk1]-oriented grains have been prepared via a self-assembled growth by magnetron sputtering and post-sulfurization. After carefully optimized the preparation process, a champion device (2.89% power conversion efficiency) was obtained with an open-circuit voltage of 696 mV and a short-circuit current density of 12.48 mA/cm2 under AM 1.5G solar radiation. Interestingly, the high open-circuit voltage of our device is already comparable to the state-of-the-art Sb 2 S 3 solar cells. This work demonstrates a great potential of the sputtering and post-sulfurization method in fabrication of high-efficiency substrate Sb 2 S 3 thin-film solar cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We aimed to explore the associations between serum retinol and all-cause mortality among people with prediabetes and diabetes. The study included 2582 participants with prediabetes and 1654 with diabetes aged ≥40 years from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2001–2006. Serum retinol was collected from laboratory tests and categorized into five groups, including <50, 50–60, 60–70, 70–80, and ≥80 μg/dL. Deaths were obtained by linkage to National Death Index up to December 31, 2019. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate the associations between serum retinol and all-cause mortality. During the follow-up, 993 participants with prediabetes died and 874 participants with diabetes died. There were U-shaped associations between serum retinol and mortality among participants with prediabetes and diabetes, separately. Among participants with prediabetes, compared to serum retinol levels of 50–60 μg/dL, the hazard ratio (HR) (95% confidence interval [CI]) of mortality was 1.40 (95% CI 1.11 to 1.76) and 1.26 (95% CI 1.00 to 1.57) for serum retinol <50 or ≥80 μg/dL, respectively. Among participants with diabetes, compared to serum retinol levels of 50–60 μg/dL, the hazard ratio (HR) (95% confidence interval [CI]) of mortality was 1.25 (95% CI 0.96 to 1.62) and 1.21 (95% CI 0.91 to 1.62) for serum retinol <50 or ≥80 μg/dL, respectively. The U-shaped associations between serum retinol and mortality still existed among participants aged ≥60 years with prediabetes or diabetes but were not statistically significant among those aged 40–59 years with prediabetes or diabetes. In conclusion, both low and excessive serum retinol tended to be with higher mortality risk among people with abnormal blood glucose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aimed at the antijamming needs of the space tracking, telemetry command (TT&C) receiver under a low signal-to-noise ratio, the anti-interference advantage of the dual-sequence frequency hopping (DSFH) communication system is applied. The channel amplitude fading influence of the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) of the TT&C receiver based on the DSFH is studied. Firstly, based on the typical channel model of the Rayleigh fading without direct path transmission, the conditional Fokker-Planck equation (FPE) is obtained by analyzing the statistical independence of the Rayleigh fading signal and SR output particle moments. Secondly, the probability density function (PDF) of the DSFH signal via channel Rayleigh fading enhanced by stochastic resonance (SR) is obtained by introducing the decision time. Thirdly, the detection probability, false alarm probability, ROC, and system bit error rate (BER) of the DSFH signals enhanced by SR under the Rayleigh fading conditions are obtained, under the minimum BER criterion. Finally, the conclusions are reached: one is that the DSFH signals via channel Rayleigh fading can still be detected by the SR system under low SNR, and the other one is that the SNR can reach the -13 dB by the reception of DSFH signal enhanced by SR, when the Rayleigh fading parameter is 0.2042. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Some studies have linked late-life overweight to a reduced mortality risk compared to normal body mass index (BMI). However, the impact of late-life overweight and its combination with mid-life BMI status on healthy survival remains unclear. We aimed to investigate whether and to what extent mid- and/or late-life overweight are associated with chronic disease-free survival. Methods Within the Swedish Twin Registry, 11 597 chronic disease-free twins aged 60−79 years at baseline were followed up for 18 years. BMI (kg/m2) was recorded at baseline and 25−35 years before baseline (ie, midlife) and divided as underweight (<20), normal (≥20−25), overweight (≥25−30), and obese (≥30). Incident chronic diseases (cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, and cancer) and deaths were ascertained via registries. Chronic disease-free survival was defined as years lived until the occurrence of any chronic diseases or death. Data were analyzed using multistate survival analysis. Results Of all participants, 5 640 (48.6%) were overweight/obese at baseline. During the follow-up, 8 772 (75.6%) participants developed at least 1 chronic disease or died. Compared to normal BMI, late-life overweight and obesity were associated with 1.1 (95% CI, 0.3, 2.0) and 2.6 (1.6, 3.5) years shorter chronic disease-free survival. Compared to normal BMI through mid- to late life, consistent overweight/obesity and overweight/obesity only in mid-life led to 2.2 (1.0, 3.4) and 2.6 (0.7, 4.4) years shorter disease-free survival, respectively. Conclusions Late-life overweight and obesity may shorten disease-free survival. Further research is needed to determine whether preventing overweight/obesity from mid- to late life might favor longer and healthier survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rice is an important crop in the word, and fat is one of the main important nutrient components of rice. The lipid content and fatty acid composition of grains significantly influences the quality of rice. In this study, 94 homozygous recombination inbred lines (RILs) were developed and the crude fat content of them displayed a normal distribution ranging from 0.44% to 2.62%. Based on their taste quality, a positive association between fat content and eating quality was revealed. Then, two lines (FH and FL) were selected with similar agronomic characteristics and different lipid content and taste quality for RNA sequencing analysis, and a total of 619 differentiable expressed genes were detected, primarily enriched in metabolic pathways such as starch and sucrose metabolism, fatty acid metabolism, and amino acid metabolism. The expression of two genes related to fatty acid synthesis and elongation was significantly up-regulated, while the expression of three genes related to fatty acid degradation was significantly down-regulated in FH grains. By using liquid chromatography, the relative levels of palmitic acid and oleic acid were discovered significantly higher in FH grains. Additionally, the comparative genomic analysis was conducted to visualize genomic differences of five genes. Ultimately, two genes (Os07g0417200 and Os12g0102100) were selected to be the key gene to affect the lipid metabolism, especially for the synthesis of unsaturated fatty acids, significantly changing the eating quality of rice. These results provide a theoretical basis for improving the taste quality of rice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key message: Combined linkage analysis and association mapping identified genomic regions associated with yield and drought tolerance, providing information to assist breeding for high yield and drought tolerance in wheat. Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is one of the most widely grown food crops and provides adequate amounts of protein to support human health. Drought stress is the most important abiotic stress constraining yield during the flowering and grain development periods. Precise targeting of genomic regions underlying yield- and drought tolerance-responsive traits would assist in breeding programs. In this study, two water treatments (well-watered, WW, and rain-fed water stress, WS) were applied, and five yield-related agronomic traits (plant height, PH; spike length, SL; spikelet number per spike, SNPS; kernel number per spike, KNPS; thousand kernel weight, TKW) and drought response values (DRVs) were used to characterize the drought sensitivity of each accession. Association mapping was performed on an association panel of 304 accessions, and linkage analysis was applied to a doubled haploid (DH) population of 152 lines. Eleven co-localized genomic regions associated with yield traits and DRV were identified in both populations. Many previously cloned key genes were located in these regions. In particular, a TKW-associated region on chromosome 2D was identified using both association mapping and linkage analysis and a key candidate gene, TraesCS2D02G142500, was detected based on gene annotation and differences in expression levels. Exonic SNPs were analyzed by sequencing the full length of TraesCS2D02G142500 in the association panel, and a rare haplotype, Hap-2, which reduced TKW to a lesser extent than Hap-1 under drought stress, and the Hap-2 varieties presented drought-insensitive. Altogether, this study provides fundamental insights into molecular targets for high yield and drought tolerance in wheat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sepsis is defined as a life-threatening organ dysfunction caused by excessive formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and dysregulated inflammatory response. Previous studies have reported that shikonin (Shik) possess prominent anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects and holds promise as a potential therapeutic drug for sepsis. However, the poor water solubility and the relatively high toxicity of shikonin hamper its clinical application. To address this challenge, we constructed Zn2+-shikonin nanoparticles, hereafter Zn-Shik-PEG NPs, based on an organic-inorganic hybridization strategy of metal-polyphenol coordination to improve the aqueous solubility and biosafety of shikonin. Mechanistic studies suggest that Zn-Shik-PEG NPs could effectively clear intracellular ROS via regulating the Nrf2/HO-1 pathway, meanwhile Zn-Shik-PEG NPs could inhibit NLRP3 inflammasome-mediated activation of inflammation and apoptosis by regulating the AMPK/SIRT1 pathway. As a result, the Zn-Shik-PEG NPs demonstrated excellent therapeutic efficacies in lipopolysaccharide (LPS) as well as cecal ligation puncture (CLP) induced sepsis model. These findings suggest that Zn-Shik-PEG NPs may have therapeutic potential for the treatment of other ROS-associated and inflammatory diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Virtual‐real fusion (VRF) technology plays a crucial role in the meta‐universe by bridging the gap between virtual environments (VEs) and physical environments (PEs). However, the current VRF system has the problem of single function and fixed integration, limiting the popularization and application of VRF technology. Therefore, this paper proposes a framework named synchronous mixed reality (SMR) to personalize the VRF system and maintain the balance between interaction efficiency and environmental immersion. We combine an instance segmentation algorithm with an interaction prediction algorithm to achieve this balance. To evaluate the effectiveness of the SMR framework, we design three scenarios based on the interaction properties of physical objects and measure environmental immersion, systematic interaction efficiency, and user experience. Our results demonstrate that the SMR framework meets diverse needs in various PEs while balancing immersion and interaction efficiency. Additionally, our framework significantly reduces collisions and negative emotions experienced by users in VEs. We anticipate that this framework will serve as a guide for constructing virtual‐real fusion systems in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to analyze the applicability conditions for the significant wave height (SWH) measurement approach based on measuring the cross-correlation function of two signals with similar frequencies reflected by the sea surface in the bistatic problem statement (the transmitting antenna and the receiving antenna are separated in space). When implementing this approach, the modulus of the normalized cross-correlation function for several pairs of signals with different frequency bases will be measured in the experiment. The advantage of this approach over the traditional method for radar altimetry, based on the analysis of the shape of the reflected pulse, is the high accuracy in measuring the SWH for weak waves. In the bistatic formulation of the problem, an important advantage of the approach under study is the possibility of obtaining analytical formulas for solving the direct problem. This paper presents the derivation of a formula for the modulus of the normalized cross-correlation function of reflected signals, which expresses an explicit relationship with the parameters of sea waves and the measurement geometry in the bistatic formulation of the problem. This paper considers the influence on the modulus of the normalized cross-correlation function of the antenna patterns of the transmitting and receiving antennas, the distances to the sea surface, the wave slope variances, the SWH and the frequency base of the transmitted signals. The optimal variants of the measurement scheme are discussed. The results and conclusions obtained can be easily expanded to underwater acoustic sounding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perovskite‐based light‐emitting diodes (PeLEDs) with a mixed halide composition can be used to obtain the "pure red" emission, i.e., in the 620–650 nm range, required for high‐definition displays. However, fast halide ion migration induces phase separation in these materials under electric fields, resulting in poor spectral stability and low efficiency. Herein, a method for producing mixed halide CsPbI3‐xBrx quantum dots (QDs) is reported in which ion migration is suppressed. The mixed halide composition is first achieved by anion exchange between CsPbI3 QDs and hydrobromic acid (HBr), during that the bromine ions efficiently passivate the iodine vacancies of the QDs. The original oleic acid ligands are then exchanged for 1‐dodecanethiol (1‐DT), which suppresses halide ion migration via the strong binding of the sulfhydryl group with the QD surface. PeLEDs based on these QDs exhibit a pure‐red electroluminescence (EL) peak at 637 nm, a maximum external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 21.8% with an average value of 20.4%, a peak luminance of 2653 cd m−2, and low EQE decease with increasing luminance. The EL spectrum of these devices is stable even at 6.7 V and they have an EQE half‐life of 70 min at an initial luminance of 150 cd m−2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Poor pulmonary function (PF) has been linked to mortality, but the timing of PF changes before death remains unclear. We aimed to examine the association between PF and mortality and identify different PF trajectories precedes death. Methods Within the Rush Memory and Aging Project, 1 438 participants without chronic obstructive pulmonary disease were followed for up to 22 years. PF was assessed annually using a composite score (tertiled as low, medium, and high) based on forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in 1s (FEV1), and peak expiratory flow (PEF). Survival status was observed during the follow-up period. Data were analyzed using Cox regression, Laplace regression, and mixed-effect models. Results During the follow-up, 737 (51.25%) participants died. Compared to high PF, the hazard ratio (95% confidence interval [CI]) of mortality was 1.35 (1.05, 1.72)/1.63 (1.25, 2.12) for medium/low PF. The median survival time (95% CI) was shortened by 0.80 (0.01–1.61)/1.72 (0.43–3.01) years for participants with medium/low PF, compared to high PF. In multiadjusted trajectory analysis, the significant differences between decedents and survivors occurred at 7 years before death for composite PF (mean difference [95% CI]: 0.14 [0.02–0.25]), 6 years for FEV1 (0.21 [0.08–0.33]) and FVC (0.21 [0.08–0.34]), and 8 years for PEF (0.21 [0.06–0.37]), and became greater thereafter. Conclusion Poor PF is associated with elevated mortality and shortens survival for nearly 2 years. An acceleration in PF decline tends to occur 7 years before death. Poor PF, together with its decline, might be a predictor of mortality among community-dwelling older adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes a Bayesian learning framework for online change detection of high-dimensional data streams where only a subset of variables can be observed at each time point due to limited sensing capacities. On the one hand, we need to build a change detection scheme based on partial observations. On the other, the scheme should be able to adaptively and actively select the most critical sensing variables to observe to maximize the detection power. To address these two points, in this article, first, a novel Bayesian Spike-Slab Composite Decomposition (BSSCD) is proposed to decompose the high-dimensional signals onto normal and abnormal bases, where the projection coefficients are efficiently estimated via variational Bayesian inference. Built upon it, the posterior Bayes factor is constructed as the detection statistic. Second, by further formulating the detection statistic as the reward function of combinatorial multi-armed bandit (CMAB), a Thompson sampling strategy is proposed for selecting the potential changed variables with the balance of exploration and exploitation. The efficacy and applicability of our method are demonstrated in practice with numerical studies and a real case study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hybrid sterility is the major obstacle to the utilization of inter-subspecific heterosis in hybrid rice breeding. The S5 locus, composed of three adjacent genes ORF3, ORF4, and ORF5, plays a crucial role in regulating indica/japonica hybrids' female sterility. Through a series of crosses involving 38 parents, three alleles of S5, ORF3+ORF4−ORF5n, ORF3+ORF4+ORF5n, and ORF3−/ORF4−/ORF5n, all could be regarded as wide-compatibility alleles, and when crossed with indica or japonica rice, they all showed significantly high fertility. Then, in order to explore the genes' function, we further knocked out genes by using CRISPR/Cas9-based genome editing. Our results demonstrate that the ORF3+ was not just the protector in the killer-protector system, and knocking out ORF3 of the indica allele seriously affected the rice's normal development. We observed the concrete enhancing hybrid spikelet fertility from the crosses between the ORF4+ knockout japonica materials with indica varieties. By conducting the comparative RNA-Seq analysis of young spikelets, we found that the ORF4+/ORF4− could modulate the hybrid fertility by affecting the expressions of genes related to the function of the Golgi apparatus. This study indicated that knocking out the ORF4+ of the japonica allele or using the alleles carrying ORF5n would provide effective approaches to overcome indica/japonica hybrid female sterility in rice breeding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and Terahertz time domain spectra (THz-TDS) were employed to study Pu'er white tea with different oxidation levels by changing the withering time. The strongest absorption peak of 3359 cm-1 in FTIR spectra comes from the proteins and polysaccharides. Several intensity ratios of the characteristic absorption peaks with different oxidation levels were analyzed. The white tea with different oxidation levels can be distinguished from the absorbance of THz-TDS in the range of 0.5–1.5 THz. The refractive index calculated from THz-TDS was between 1.42 and 1.44. Principal component analysis (PCA) using FTIR absorbance data showed that the scattered points of PC1 and PC2 can be well distributed in different districts. Hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) helped to carry out the clustering results of different white tea samples. The sample with overoxidation level can be distinguished by PCA and HCA using THz-TDS absorbance data. Therefore, FTIR might be a convenient, fast, and nondestructive strategy for identifying white tea with different oxidation levels. THz-TDS combined with some software algorithms can be applied to distinguish the different oxidation-processed tea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, a road preview model predictive control scheme for semi‐active suspension system with magneto‐rheological damper (MRD) is suggested. In order to improve the comprehensive performance of the semi‐active suspension, studies of both the actuator and control algorithm have been carried out. For the actuator, e.t. MRD, a cascade control strategy is proposed based on a Hammerstein model, compared with the traditional open‐loop control methods, the tracking accuracy of the damping force has been improved. For the control algorithm, in contrast to existing works which define all requirements in a single cost functional and minimize it, in this work a road preview model predictive controller is adopted for semi‐active suspension to provide optimal ride comfort by keeping constrained variables within specified limits. The road excitation is a measurable external input rather than an unknown disturbance. Finally, the optimization issue with hard constrains is converted into a quadratic programming problem. Simulation results show that the desired damping force of the MRD is realized by using the cascade control strategy. Meanwhile, vehicles with the proposed road preview model predictive control scheme can achieve better performance compared with a H∞$$ {H}_{\infty } $$/generalized H2$$ {H}_2 $$ controller. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spectral-type subspace clustering algorithms have attracted wide attention because of their excellent performance displayed in a great deal of applications in machine learning domain. It is critical for spectral-type subspace clustering algorithms to obtain suitable coefficient matrices which could reflect the subspace structures of data sets. In this paper, we propose a latent block diagonal representation clustering algorithm (LBDR). For a data set, the goal of LBDR is to construct a block diagonal and dense coefficient matrix and settle the noise adaptively within the original data set by using dimension reduction technique concurrently. In brief, by seeking the solution of a joint optimization problem, LBDR is capable of finding a suitable coefficient matrix and a projection matrix. Furthermore, a series of experiments conducted on several benchmark databases show that LBDR dominates the related methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Four new species of Russula subsection Sardoninae from northern and southwestern China under coniferous and deciduous trees are proposed as R. begonia, R. photinia, R. rhodochroa, and R. rufa. Illustrations and descriptions of R. gracillima, R. leucomarginata, R. roseola, and the above four new species are provided based on evidence of morphological characters and phylogenetic analyses of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS), as well as the multi-locus of mtSSU, nLSU, rpb1, rpb2 and tef1-α. The relationships between these new species and allied taxa are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a new pension model, ecological pension is an important choice to relieve the pressure of population aging in China. This paper reviews the relevant literature on the integrated development of the ecological pension industry and rural revitalization in recent years and points out that the researchers have determined the model of the ecological pension industry, the path of rural revitalization, the comprehensive development of organic pension industry, and rural revitalization and the problems they face. Some results have been achieved. However, there is still a lot of research space for the integrated development of the ecological pension industry and rural revitalization, especially to establish a perfect index system of the ecological pension industry, the measurement standard of rural revitalization, and the theoretical basis and mechanism of integrated development. Regional cooperative symbiosis is based on industrial symbiosis. In terms of research methods, attention should be paid to the combination of theoretical analysis and empirical research, to the further development of this field, and to achieve remarkable results. In the process of social and economic development, the rural ecology can be built by solving the problems of the elderly, accurately reducing rural poverty, and protecting the environment. The healthy elderly care tourism destination has realized the integrated development of rural tourism, ecological health tourism, and elderly care tourism. Taking Chang'an District of Xi'an as an example, the advantages of the district in geographical location, climate, environment, tourism resource health, as well as the constraints in the system, talent, policy, and system are demonstrated, and the corresponding countermeasures are put forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background The impact of late-life weight changes on incident dementia is unclear. We aimed to investigate the associations of body mass index (BMI) and weight changes with dementia and to explore the role of APOE ɛ4 in these associations. Methods A total of 1 673 dementia-free participants aged ≥60 and older were followed for an initial 6 years to detect changes in BMI/weight and then for an additional 6 years to detect incident dementia. BMI change ([BMIfirst 6-year follow-up − BMIbaseline]/BMIbaseline) was categorized as stable (≤5%), and moderate (5%–10%) or large (>10%) gain or loss. Weight change (weightfirst 6-year follow-up − weightbaseline) was categorized as stable (≤2.5 kg), and moderate (2.5–7.5 kg) or large (>7.5 kg) gain or loss. Dementia was diagnosed following standard criteria. Data were analyzed using Cox regression models. Results Over the second 6-year follow-up period, 102 incident dementia cases were identified. Compared with stable BMI, the hazard ratios (95% CI) of dementia were 2.61 (1.09−5.54) and 2.93 (1.72−4.91) for BMI gain or loss >10%, respectively. The risk of dementia was higher among APOE ɛ4 carriers experiencing a large BMI gain (9.93 [3.49−24.6]) or loss (6.66 [2.83−14.4]) than APOE ɛ4 noncarriers with stable BMI. Similar results were observed for weight change and dementia associations. Conclusions BMI and weight changes showed U-shaped associations with dementia risk. Large bodyweight gain and loss alike are associated with an almost 3-fold higher risk of dementia, which may be amplified by APOE ɛ4. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Medication‐related osteonecrosis of the jaw (MRONJ) is the main adverse side effect of bisphosphonates (BPs), mainly owing to the inhibitory effect of BPs on osteoclastogenesis. CircRNAs were identified to be an important factor in regulating cellular processes. The aim of this study was to explore the effect of mmu_circ_0001066 on BP‐inhibited osteoclastogenesis. Materials and methods: The expression of MRONJ‐related miRNA in RANKL‐induced RAW264.7 cells treated with BP was analyzed using qRT‐PCR analysis. Bioinformatics techniques were applied to screen potential circRNAs. Tartrate‐resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) staining and bone resorption assays were used to examine the effect of mmu_circ_0001066 on osteoclastogenesis. Bioinformatics analysis, luciferase reporter assays, and Western blotting assays were performed to investigate the underlying mechanism. Results: Four MRONJ‐related miRNAs were upregulated in BP‐treated RAW264.7 cells, and the expression of mmu_circ_0001066 was negatively correlated with those of MRONJ‐related miRNAs. Furthermore, the upregulation of mmu_circ_0001066 partially attenuated the inhibitory effect of BP on osteoclastogenesis in RAW264.7 cells. Mechanistically, upregulated miR‐16 suppressed osteoclastogenesis and miR‐16 inhibitor increased osteoclastogenesis. Furthermore, we have identified that miR‐16 is a downstream effector of mmu_circ_0001066. Conclusion: Our results suggest that mmu_circ_0001066 played an important role in the BP‐mediated suppression of osteoclastogenesis, which lays a foundation for identifying mmu_circ_0001066 as a potential biomarker for MRONJ. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Group activity recognition (GAR) is an increasingly popular topic in the field of computer vision. Numerous researchers have proposed a range of methods to achieve outstanding recognition performance. However, these methods invariably require fine-grained personal feature extraction and a large network architecture to aggregate individual features or reason person relationships. To mitigate the need for a bloated portfolio of annotations and high training costs, weak supervision has emerged as a promising approach. Under the weak supervision paradigm, only coarse-grained labels are used during network training. Nevertheless, this method poses two key challenges. Firstly, it is limited in its ability to model temporal relationships among individual persons, and secondly, it tends to focus on less relevant information, thereby leading to suboptimal network parameter optimization. Both of these challenges result in erroneous temporal information judgment and training inefficiencies. To address these challenges within the weak supervision paradigm, we propose a novel Temporal Contrastive and Spatial Enhancement Coarse-Grained Network (TCSE-CGN) to solve the GAR problem. TCSE-CGN comprises two simple yet effective streams, namely the Spatial Enhancement Stream and the Temporal Contrastive Stream. After extracting features using only several RGB frames, half of the extracted feature is sent to the Spatial Enhancement Stream for enhancement using an attention mechanism. Consequently, the network automatically learns more representative information. The remaining feature is sent to the Temporal Contrastive Stream, which uses contrastive learning to model temporal relationships among all RGB frame-level features. Specifically, the network is guided to learn the hidden semantic temporal information about inter-frame sequences. Network parameters are optimized using a combination of universe cross-entropy loss and a novel temporal contrastive loss. Comprehensive experiments are conducted on two widely used datasets, namely the Volleyball dataset and the Collective dataset, to demonstrate the effectiveness of TCSE-CGN. Results show that TCSE-CGN performs competitively with other works that require more supervision and a larger architecture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Group activity recognition (GAR) is an increasingly popular topic in the field of computer vision. Numerous researchers have proposed a range of methods to achieve outstanding recognition performance. However, these methods invariably require fine-grained personal feature extraction and a large network architecture to aggregate individual features or reason person relationships. To mitigate the need for a bloated portfolio of annotations and high training costs, weak supervision has emerged as a promising approach. Under the weak supervision paradigm, only coarse-grained labels are used during network training. Nevertheless, this method poses two key challenges. Firstly, it is limited in its ability to model temporal relationships among individual persons, and secondly, it tends to focus on less relevant information, thereby leading to suboptimal network parameter optimization. Both of these challenges result in erroneous temporal information judgment and training inefficiencies. To address these challenges within the weak supervision paradigm, we propose a novel Temporal Contrastive and Spatial Enhancement Coarse-Grained Network (TCSE-CGN) to solve the GAR problem. TCSE-CGN comprises two simple yet effective streams, namely the Spatial Enhancement Stream and the Temporal Contrastive Stream. After extracting features using only several RGB frames, half of the extracted feature is sent to the Spatial Enhancement Stream for enhancement using an attention mechanism. Consequently, the network automatically learns more representative information. The remaining feature is sent to the Temporal Contrastive Stream, which uses contrastive learning to model temporal relationships among all RGB frame-level features. Specifically, the network is guided to learn the hidden semantic temporal information about inter-frame sequences. Network parameters are optimized using a combination of universe cross-entropy loss and a novel temporal contrastive loss. Comprehensive experiments are conducted on two widely used datasets, namely the Volleyball dataset and the Collective dataset, to demonstrate the effectiveness of TCSE-CGN. Results show that TCSE-CGN performs competitively with other works that require more supervision and a larger architecture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Four pairs of undescribed enantiomeric guaiane sesquiterpenoids, (±)-alismaenols A-D (1a/1b, 3a/3b-5a/5b), together with a pair of known ones (2a/2b) were isolated from the rhizomes of Alisma plantago-aquatica. The structures and relative configurations of the isolates were established by analysis of their 1D, 2D-NMR and HRESIMS data. Their absolute configurations were determined by comparison of their experimental CD spectra and calculated electronic circular dichroism (ECD) spectra or by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. All compounds (1a / 1b - 5a / 5b) were evaluated for their inhibitory effects on nitric oxide (NO) production in LPS-induced RAW 264.7 cells, and compound 1a exhibited stronger activity (IC 50 = 12.89 μ M) than indomethacin (IC 50 = 14.03 μ M). [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the urban development strategies and pro-growth politics in China from a local state leadership perspective, focusing on the power dynamics within the local state leadership under China’s fragmented authoritarian system. The state-leading group is an innovative governance technique intentionally designed to overcome the institutional flaws of ‘tiao-kuai segmentation’. It plays a critical role in fostering a common vision of ‘growth promotion’, aligning goals and unifying actions in the administrative system, broadening social consensus and promoting public–private partnerships. This study improves upon the understanding of the micro-mechanisms of state-led urban development within China’s fragmented authoritarian regime by exploring the heterogeneity of state actors as well as the agency of key local political actors (groups) in aligning goals and interests within and beyond the state and their political rationalities. By highlighting the conflicts and negotiations that exist within the state, the debate on state-led urban development and pro-growth politics is extended using China as an example. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel morphing strategy based on reinforcement learning (RL) is developed to solve the morphing decision-making problem with minimum flight time for a long-range variable-sweep morphing aircraft. The proposed morphing strategy focuses on the sparse-reward no-reference decision-making problem caused by terminal performance objectives and long-range missions. A double-layer morphing-flight control framework is established to decouple the design of morphing strategy from flight controller while ensuring flight stability. Under this framework, an RL agent is designed to learn the minimum-flight-time morphing strategy. Specifically, the reward function is divided into primary goal rewards and sub-goal rewards to deal with the sparse-reward no-reference issue. A multi-stage progressive training scheme is developed to train the designed RL agent with a trail of training environments gradually converging to the actual world. This scheme accelerates the training process and promotes the convergence of the RL agent during training. Simulation results in nominal and dispersed conditions indicate the optimality and robustness of the proposed morphing strategy. Moreover, the generalization ability is validated in an untrained scenario. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the interdisciplinary exploration of combining traditional visual communication design with somatosensory interaction technology has become a new form of artistic expression. In order to explore the feasibility of somatosensory interaction technology in visual communication design, this study proposes a 2D dynamic graphic generation method based on somatosensory interaction parameterisation and uses traditional Chinese elements as an example for specific applications in visual communication design. Firstly, the motion parameters recognised using the Kinect somatosensory interaction device are bound to the function variables used to generate the images in the development environment, thus enabling human somatosensory interaction with different characters in the scene. Secondly, a linear discriminant analysis based on kernel functions is used to reduce the dimensionality of the vector space, thus solving the problem of real-time and accurate capture of human movements. Then, using the skeletal parameter binding technique, the association between the motion parameters of the somatosensory interaction and the two-dimensional dynamic graphics is achieved. The experimental results show that the visual communication technique based on somatosensory interaction has a high recognition accuracy. Distinguished from traditional digital video, the proposed method can greatly enrich the visual representation of traditional Chinese elements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) plays a major role in identifying oil spills on the sea surface. However, obtaining information of oil spill thickness (volume) is still a challenge. Emulsification is an important process affecting the thickness and normalized radar cross section (NRCS) of oil film. Experiments of crude oil emulsification with C-band fully-polarized scatterometer were conducted combining airborne hyperspectral imaging spectrometer and 3D laser scanner observation data, to provide experimental parameters and method to support accurate remote sensing monitoring on marine oil spill. It is further proved that through quantitative homogeneous emulsified oil spill experiments, to a certain extent, the NRCS of oil film increased during the emulsification process of crude oil. The backscattering mechanism of crude oil emulsification was explored using a semi-empirical model (SEM); the change of oil film NRCS was modulated by its dielectric constant and surface roughness, in which the dielectric constant showed a dominant effect. The relationship between thickness and NRCS of oil film was studied under two experimental conditions. The differences of NRCS between oil film and adjacent seawater (Δσ0) and the damping ratio (DR) were found to have a linear relationship with oil thickness, which were best in the vertical polarization mode (VV) at 45° incident angle during the quantitative crude oil homogeneous emulsification process. In the natural emulsification process of continuous oil spill in which oil film was mixed with both crude oil and emulsified oil, an empirical equation of oil film thickness is preliminarily established. The Δσ0, DR, and the empirical equation of oil film thickness were applied to the marine continuous oil spill incident on a 19–3 oil platform with spaceborne SAR image and successfully explained the distribution of the relative thickness of the oil film. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the continuous development of science and technology, we have completely entered the information age. The amount of data around us increases linearly, and everyone lives in a pile of data. Enterprises also need to use big data technology in the process of operation and management to mine data and realize various data management functions. For the current enterprise, the operation of data will not only affect the management cost of the enterprise but also affect the future development of the enterprise. Based on the problem of enterprise management cost, this paper proposes to effectively use big data technology to solve the problem of enterprise cost management. The article also uses big data technology to optimize the management cost of the enterprise and uses big data technology to innovate and apply the management method of the enterprise. This paper constructs a cost management model based on data mining and expounds on the objects, sources, and calculation methods of data mining. Under this model, the company's data was mined, a specific plan was proposed, and an improved association algorithm was proposed to test the completion and consolidation of tasks. In the case of a large number of tasks, in order to efficiently realize the selection and merging of data, this paper proposes a new cost forecasting scheme based on a fuzzy model. Use time series for cost forecasting, and the accuracy is relatively high. In the process of forecasting, our forecasting method is suitable for the human reasoning process and can have better adaptability. Finally, we applied the research results of the thesis to actual business management to meet the management needs of the business, thus verifying the feasibility of the method proposed in this article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comprehensive Summary: In this work, a spherical calixpyridinium–IR‐820 supramolecular assembled material was fabricated based on the calixpyridinium‐ induced IR‐820 aggregation. This assembled material exhibited a well visible light responsiveness by the photodecomposition of aggregated IR‐820 accompanied by an obvious color change. Such photochromic material has many potential applications. More interestingly, the photodecomposition of aggregated IR‐820 was significantly promoted, although the aggregated photosensitizers usually exhibited a lower photoreactivity. This approach can be further extended to construct various visible‐light responsive supramolecular assembled materials and potentially applied in many fields. Herein, benefitting from the pH‐dependent luminescent properties of calixpyridinium and the photodegradation products of IR‐820, a pH‐controlled visual multicolor luminescence was achieved, which was perfectly applied in the detection of pH from 5 to 10 by naked eyes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural enemies that impact pest populations must be understood in order to build integrated pest control strategies and to understand the most important aspects affecting pest dynamics. Haloxylon ammodendron (C. A. Mey.) Bunge is an important perennial plant species extensively used in sand stabilization and wind prevention in arid areas. This study aimed to determine the main defoliators that damage H. ammodendron and the parasitoid complex associated with them. Twelve species of defoliators were found in Northern Xinjiang, and Teia dubia (Tauscher) (Lepidoptera: Lymantriidae), Scrobipalpa sp. (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae), and Eucharia festiva Hüfnagel (Lepidoptera: Arctiidae) were the dominant pests. T. dubia is the predominant defoliator with three generations a year. Northwest China, Central Asia, and the Mediterranean region are potentially suitable habitats for T. dubia in the world, while Xinjiang is the primary distribution area in China. Parasitoids belonging to seven species and four families were reared from the larvae of T. dubia, they were all endoparasitoids and koinobiont. Cotesia sp. (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) is the dominant parasitoid and prefer to parasitic in the 3rd–5th instar larvae. The present study provides the basis for understanding the species composition and natural enemies of lepidopteran defoliators. It will be an effective tool for the integrated pest management programs of H. ammodendron forest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: Acute kidney injury (AKI), a major health burden, lacks effective therapy. Anti‐inflammatory actions of a disintegrin and metalloproteinase with a thrombospondin type 1 motif member 13 (ADAMTS13) may provide a new treatment option for AKI. Along with inflammation, oxidative stress is critical for AKI development, yet the impact of ADAMTS13 on oxidative stress in AKI remains to be fully elucidated. Methods: We assess recombinant human ADAMTS13 (rhADAMTS13) actions on oxidative stress in a murine ischaemia/reperfusion (IR) model. Antioxidant stress‐enzyme activities, renal morphology, kidney function markers and vascular function of isolated afferent arterioles are quantified. Results: rhADAMTS13 provided after IR, reduces blood urea nitrogen (BUN) by 33% and serum creatinine (Scr) by 73% in 24 hours post‐IR. rhADAMTS13 reduces BUN (40.03 ± 20.34 mmol/L vs 72.35 ± 18.74 mmol/L, P <.01), Scr (75.67 ± 51.19 μmol/L vs 176.17 ± 55.38 μmol/L, P <.01) and proteinuria by 41% in 48 hours post‐IR as well. Moreover, rhADAMTS13 administration decreases malondialdehyde (MDA) and increases the activity of antioxidant stress enzymes, and attenuates reactive oxygen species production. rhADAMTS13 also upregulates nuclear factor‐erythroid‐2‐related factor 2/haem oxygenase‐1, enhances antioxidant enzymes activity and alleviates endothelial dysfunction. Finally, treatment with rhADAMTS13 mitigates severe functional and morphological injury present in IR mice. Extracellular signal‐regulated kinase (ERK) phosphorylation is limited by rhADAMTS13 and PPARγ expression is partly restored in ischaemic kidneys. Co‐administration of von Willebrand factor (VWF) impairs rhADAMTS13's antioxidant capacity and its protective role in IR. Conclusion: rhADAMTS13 alleviates renal IR injury through antioxidant effects by cleaving VWF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Features of oil spills and look-alikes in polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images always play an important role in oil spill detection. Many oil spill detection algorithms have been implemented based on these features. Although environmental factors such as wind speed are important to distinguish oil spills and look-alikes, some oil spill detection algorithms do not consider the environmental factors. To distinguish oil spills and look-alikes more accurately based on environmental factors and image features, a new oil spill detection algorithm based on Dempster-Shafer evidence theory was proposed. The process of oil spill detection taking account of environmental factors was modeled using the subjective Bayesian model. The Faster-region convolutional neural networks (RCNN) model was used for oil spill detection based on the convolution features. The detection results of the two models were fused at decision level using Dempster-Shafer evidence theory. The establishment and test of the proposed algorithm were completed based on our oil spill and look-alike sample database that contains 1 798 image samples and environmental information records related to the image samples. The analysis and evaluation of the proposed algorithm shows a good ability to detect oil spills at a higher detection rate, with an identification rate greater than 75% and a false alarm rate lower than 19% from experiments. A total of 12 oil spill SAR images were collected for the validation and evaluation of the proposed algorithm. The evaluation result shows that the proposed algorithm has a good performance on detecting oil spills with an overall detection rate greater than 70%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The theoretical maximum efficiency of opaque and semitransparent OPVs with various colors and luminosity was calculated. • The PCE of an OPV will increase when non-radiative recombination losses are reduced and when the band gap energy is about 1.3 eV. • The PCEs of OPVs with colors close to yellow-green are more relative to luminosity under the same conditions. • The PCEs of OPVs with colors close to red and blue (or their mixture) are more relative to chromaticity under the same conditions. Organic Photovoltaics (OPVs) can be employed on the surfaces of buildings and vehicles owing to its semi-transparent, flexible, and colorful properties. The variety of colors in OPVs improves its aesthetic appearance, besides improving the power conversion efficiency (PCE). This study addresses the relationship between color and efficiency of the opaque or semitransparent devices. By splitting the visual light into wavelength bands, viz. 425–475 nm and 550–600 nm, that are sensitive to the human eyes, accurate color and maximum efficiency has been first obtained in OPVs. The maximum PCE is 33.8% and 33.1% for the opaque and semitransparent devices, respectively. The relative luminosity also affects the PCE of OPVs. While the relative luminosity increases from 0 to 1, the PCE decreases from 33.7% to 13.2% and from 26.4% to 10.2%, for the white opaque and colorless semitransparent OPVs, respectively. Hence the proposed method can be employed to design the OPVs with higher theoretical efficiency and desired accurate color. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long persistent luminescence (LPL) including thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) and phosphorescence is widely applied in luminogens. Recently, Pan et al. pioneered the discovery of TADF and phosphorescence in the HPI2C molecule by manipulating temperature in line with the excited-state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) dynamics (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2022, 144, 2726). They blazed a new trail to explore the switching mechanism between TADF and phosphorescence in single molecule. Nevertheless, luminescence mechanism for HPI2C cannot be explained solely through experimental means. Theoretically, we demonstrate that the ESIPT and photocyclization channel induced conical intersection processes facilitate the fluorescence quenching of the Enol* state. Moreover, we prove the cruciality of the T 2 state in the TADF phenomenon involved in Keto* state and reconsider the mechanism of the dual phosphorescence. Our investigation is favorable to provide theoretical support for the design of the LPL materials based on the ESIPT-attributed molecules. [Display omitted] • The ESIPT process and peaked conical intersection facilitate the fluorescence quenching of the Enol* state. • The T 2 state plays a predominant role in TADF phenomenon involved in Keto* state. • The anti-Kasha mechanism of dual phosphorescence is reconsidered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• In this work, we propose and experimentally demonstrate a simple geometric optics model to realize the configuration of periodic self-focusing systems for generating intense ultrashort pulse with high spatial quality. • An efficient 17-fold nonlinear pulse compression is implemented by a two-stage solid-thin-plates periodic self-focusing system based on simple geometric optics model, delivering 20 fs pulses with a pulse energy of 155 µJ at a repetition rate of 200 kHz. The waveguide-like self-consistent stationary spatial mode propagation achieved in the system enables the high efficiency of 94 %, good beam quality and spectral homogeneity across the beam profile. • The solid-thin-plates in three different materials are used in the first stage, which manifests the model can be widely applied in many kinds of nonlinear medium. In the second stage, a simple and compact double-pass architecture is demonstrated, indirectly proving the accuracy of model. The beam propagations under non-stationary modes are also investigated and a more precise quasi-stable oscillatory region is suggested based on the geometric optics model. Ultrafast lasers with high average power and excellent spatial characteristics have been sought after in the ultrafast optics field. In this work, we propose and experimentally demonstrate a simple Gaussian beam optics model to realize the configuration of periodic self-focusing systems for generating intense ultrashort pulse with high spatial quality. An efficient 17-fold nonlinear pulse compression is implemented by a two-stage solid-thin-plates periodic self-focusing system based on this model, delivering 20 fs (full-width-at-half-maximum, FWHM) pulses with a pulse energy of 155 µJ at a repetition rate of 200 kHz. The waveguide-like self-consistent stationary spatial mode propagation achieved in the system enables the high efficiency of 94 %, good beam quality and spectral homogeneity across the beam profile. The solid-thin-plates in three different materials are used in the first stage, which manifests the model can be widely applied in many kinds of nonlinear medium. In the second stage, a simple and compact double-pass architecture is demonstrated, indirectly proving the accuracy of model. The beam propagations under non-stationary modes are also investigated and a more precise quasi-stable oscillatory region is suggested based on the Gaussian beam optics model. These results underline that the Gaussian beam optics model is a practical solution for identifying the self-consistent stationary mode of the periodic self-focusing system and show the potential of the periodic self-focusing system for efficient few-cycle pulses generation which is demand by many applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a new descent approximate modified residual algorithm is developed to solve a large scale system of nonlinear symmetric equations, where the basic strategy to improve its numerical performance is to approximately compute the gradients and the difference of gradients. The error bounds of this approximation are presented, and in virtue of this approximation, a conjugate gradient algorithm for solving large-scale optimization problems in the literature is extended to solve the system of nonlinear symmetric equations without needs of computing and storing the Jacobian matrices or their approximate matrices. It is proved that the obtained search directions in our developed algorithm are sufficiently decent with respect to the so-called approximate modified residues. Under mild assumptions, global and local convergence results of the developed algorithm are proved. Numerical tests indicate that the developed algorithm outperforms the other similar ones available in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The electron-impact ionization of lithium-like ions C3+, N4+, O5+, Ne7+, and Fe23+ is studied using a combination of two-potential distorted-wave and R-matrix methods with a relativistic correction. Total cross sections are computed for incident energies from 1 to 10 times of ionization energy and better agreements with the experimental results are obtained in comparison with the theoretical data available. It is found that the indirect ionization processes become significant for the incident energy larger than about four times of the ionization energy. Contributions from the exchange effects along the isoelectronic sequence are also discussed and found to be important. The present method can be used to obtain systematic ionization cross sections for highly charged ions across a wide incident energy range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By the telescoping method, Sun has recently given some hypergeometric series whose sums are related to π. We investigate these series from the point of view of Gosper's algorithm. Given a hypergeometric term t k , we consider the Gosper summability of r (k) t k for r (k) being a rational function of k. We give an upper bound and a lower bound on the degree of the numerator of r (k) such that r (k) t k is Gosper summable. We also show that the denominator of r (k) can be read off from the Gosper representation of t k + 1 / t k . Based on these results, we give a systematic method to construct series whose sums can be derived from the known ones. We also illustrate the corresponding super-congruences and the q-analogue of the approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A magnetic separation-based immunosensor for deoxynivalenol assay, coupled with a nano-affinity cleaning up for instrumental confirmation, was developed. Maltose-binding protein with mimic epitope of DON was coupled to CdSe/ZnS quantum dot nanobeads for fluorescent reporter. Graphene oxide was linked with magnetic nanoparticles and protein G for immunomagnetic adsorbent. The magnetic separation of reporter could be inhibited by DON so the fluorescent remained in the solution indicates a good quantitative correlation to DON concentration. The DON separated by immune adsorbent can be cleaned up for instrumental confirmation. The optimized immunosensor showed results as follows: the linear range was in 0.3–3000 ng mL−1. The limits of detection (S/N = 3) were 0.50, 1.0, and 3.0 ng mL−1 in different backgrounds. The recoveries for DON-spiked samples range from 78.7% to 88.5%. Both results of UPLC-MS/MS based on affinity column purification and coupled with nano-affinity cleaning up showed a good agreement with the current immunosensor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the study was to assess the diagnostic performance and clinical utility of the neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in patients with suspected aortic dissection (AD) and investigate its role in predicting in-hospital mortality in AD. NLR values were calculated and compared in 467 consecutive patients with initially suspected AD. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis with the area under the curve (AUC) was used to evaluate the discriminative accuracy and predictive capability of the NLR for AD. Clinical utility was determined by decision curve analysis (DCA). The association between NLR and in-hospital mortality was investigated by logistic regression analyses in patients diagnosed with AD. The NLR was significantly elevated in patients with AD, and the optimal cut-off point for the NLR to distinguish AD from other acute chest pain diseases was 5.67 [AUC (95% CI): 0.877 (0.844–0.905)]. We recommended an NLR of 2.43 as the appropriate cut-off point with 96.9% sensitivity and a negative likelihood ratio (LR) of 0.09 to satisfy clinical requirements for diagnosis. DCA showed that the use of NLR had a positive net benefit. The deceased patients with AD had a higher NLR than the discharged patients. Moreover, the NLR was an independent predictor of in-hospital mortality for AD [adjusted odds ratio (OR): 1.084 (1.029–1.142)], and patients with higher NLR values tended to have a higher risk of in-hospital mortality. The optimal cut-off point for the NLR to predict in-hospital mortality was 9.20 [AUC (95% CI): 0.695 (0.619–0.765)]. As an easily available and inexpensive parameter, the NLR could serve as a valuable clinical biomarker for early differential diagnosis and prognosis assessment of AD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three new species of Russula section Ingratae, found in Guizhou and Jiangsu Provinces, southern China, are proposed: R. straminella, R. subpectinatoides and R. succinea. Photographs, line drawings and detailed morphological descriptions for these species are provided with comparisons against closely-related taxa. Phylogenetic analysis of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region supported the recognition of these specimens as new species. Additionally, R. indocatillus is reported for the first time from China and morphological and phylogenetic data are provided for the Chinese specimens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Users' trust relations have a significant influence on their choice towards different products. However, few recommendation or prediction algorithms both consider users' social trust relations and item-related knowledge, which makes them difficult to cope with cold start and the data sparsity problems. In this paper, we propose a novel trust-ware recommendation method based on heterogeneous multi-relational graphs fusion, termed as T-MRGF. In contrast with other traditional methods, it fuses the user-related and item-related graphs with the user–item interaction graph and fully utilizes the high-level connections existing in heterogeneous graphs. Specifically, we first establish the user–user trust relation graph, user–item interaction graph and item–item knowledge graph, and the user feature and item feature, which have been obtained from the user–item graph, are used as the input of the user-related graph and the item-related graph respectively. The fusion is achieved through the cascade of feature vectors before and after feature propagation. In this way, the heterogeneous multi-relational graphs are fused for the feature propagation, which largely refines the user and item representation for model prediction. Simulation results show that the proposed method significantly improve the recommendation performance compared to the state-of-the-art KG-based algorithms both in accuracy and training efficiency. • The introduction of users' trust relations into the heterogeneous graphs. • The end-to-end training of the whole recommendation network. • The scalability structure of the proposed recommendation model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]