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This article introduces a new type of linear regression model with regularization. Each predictor is conditionally truncated through the presence of unknown thresholds. The new model, called the two-way truncated linear regression model (TWT-LR), is not only viewed as a nonlinear generalization of a linear model but is also a much more flexible model with greatly enhanced interpretability and applicability. The TWT-LR model performs classifications through thresholds similar to the tree-based methods and conducts inferences that are the same as the classical linear model on different segments. In addition, the innovative penalization, called the extremely thresholding penalty (ETP), is applied to thresholds. The ETP is independent of the values of regression coefficients and does not require any normalizations of regressors. The TWT-LR-ETP model detects thresholds at a wide range, including the two extreme ends where data are sparse. Under suitable conditions, both the estimators for coefficients and thresholds are consistent, with the convergence rate for threshold estimators being faster than n . Furthermore, the estimators for coefficients are asymptotically normal for fixed dimension p. It is demonstrated in simulations and real data analyses that the TWT-LR-ETP model illustrates various threshold features and provides better estimation and prediction results than existing models. for this article are available online. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comprehensive Summary: Owing to their distinctive optical and physical properties, organic‐inorganic hybrid perovskite materials have gained significant attention in the field of electronic devices, especially solar cells. The achievement of high‐performance solar cells hinges upon the utilization of top‐notch perovskite thin films. Nevertheless, the fabrication process involving solutions and the polycrystalline nature of perovskite result in the emergence of numerous defects within the perovskite films, consequently exerting a deleterious influence on the overall performance and stability of the devices. Improving the performance and stability of perovskite solar cells by additive engineering to suppress/passivate defects is a viable approach, which involves hydrogen bond interactions in these device engineering processes. This review explores the intrinsic hydrogen bonds in methylammonium and formamidium lead triiodide, while also considering cation rotations, phase transitions, and stability. Moreover, the review classifies additives into distinct categories, including organic small molecules, polymers, nanodots, classical salts, ionic liquids, and molten salts. The various forms and characterization techniques of hydrogen bonds are discussed, as well as their potential synergistic effects in conjunction with other chemical interactions. Furthermore, this review offers insights into the potential utilization of hydrogen bonds to further enhance the performance and stability of devices. Key Scientists: In 2009, Tsutomu Miyasaka et al. prepared the first perovskite solar cell, which kicked off the research on perovskite light‐absorbing materials. However, the use of liquid electrolytes led to device instability. The transition to all‐solid‐state perovskite solar cells was realized by Nam‐Gyu Park's team in 2012, which was the beginning of high‐efficiency perovskite solar cells. Subsequently, a number of scientists have innovated the preparation ground process. Methods such as two‐step deposition by Michael Grätzel in 2013 and anti‐solvent extraction by Sang II Seok's team in 2014 were instrumental in advancing the development of perovskite. Liyuan Han's team then increased the cell's working area to 1 cm2 without compromising performance, making it possible to compare the performance metrics of perovskite solar cells with those of other types of solar cells on the same scale. Recently, You's team and Pan's team kept updating the world record by obtaining certified efficiencies of 25.6% and 25.8% in 2022 and 2023, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The tumor microbiome has been characterized in several malignancies; however, no previous studies have investigated its role in intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC). Hence, we explored the tumor microbiome and its association with prognosis in ICC. Methods: One hundred and twenty-one ICC tumor samples and 89 adjacent normal tissues were profiled by 16S rRNA sequencing. Microbial differences between tumor and adjacent nontumoral liver tissues were assessed. Tumor microbial composition was then evaluated to detect its association with prognosis. Finally, a risk score calculated by the tumor microbiota was accessed by the least absolute shrinkage and selector operator method (Lasso) to predict prognosis of ICC. Results: The tumor microbiome displayed a greater diversity than that in adjacent nontumoral liver tissues. Tumor samples were characterized by a higher abundance of Firmicutes, Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Acidobacteriota. Higher tumor microbial α diversity was associated with lymph node metastasis and predicted shortened overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS). A total of 11 bacteria were selected to generate the risk score by Lasso. This score showed potential in predicting OS, and was an independent risk factor for OS. Conclusion: In conclusion, our study characterized the tumor microbiome and revealed its role in predicting prognosis in ICC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Preclinical and epidemiological studies suggest that proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) had a potential effect on the development of SLE, but it was unclear whether a causal relationship exists. We aimed to investigate the association between genetically proxied inhibition of PCSK9 and the risk of SLE using a two‐sample Mendelian randomization (MR) approach. Methods: Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with PCSK9 were extracted from pooled data obtained from the Global Lipid Genetics Consortium (GLGC) Genome‐wide Association Study (GWAS) related to LDL‐c levels, which was used as a proxy for PCSK9 inhibition. Pooled statistics for SLE were obtained from an independent GWAS dataset including 5201 SLE patients and 9066 controls. Inverse variance‐weighted random‐effects models were used to examine the association between genetically proxied inhibition of PCSK9 and the risk of SLE. MR‐Egger, weighted median, weighted mode, Simple mode, and co‐location analyses were used as sensitivity analyses to test the robustness of the analyses. Results: Genetically proxied inhibition of PCSK9 was associated with a reduced risk of SLE (OR = 0.51, 95% CI = 0.34 to 0.77, p =.001). This finding was replicated in an earlier GLGC GWAS analysis (OR = 0.59, 95% CI = 0.40 to 0.87, p =.007). Sensitivity analysis ensured that the results were robust. Co‐localization analysis did not find evidence of shared causal variation between PCSK9 and SLE. Conclusions: This Mendelian randomization study showed that PCSK9 was associated with SLE pathogenesis, and its inhibition was associated with a reduced risk of SLE. This study has offered a prospective therapeutic avenue for intervening in the progression of SLE by inhibiting PCSK9 levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SLR (Satellite Laser Ranging) is a kind of important space geodesy technique for the establishment of a Terrestrial Reference Frame (TRF) and determination of EOP (Earth Orientation Parameters). It determines the origin and scale factor of TRF. The accuracy of future TRF is 1 mm. This requires improving the SLR data processing accuracy and importing higher accuracy SLR satellite data. The Earth Radiation Pressure (ERP) is an important perturbation force for SLR satellites. The traditional Earth radiation pressure model for SLR satellites is the simple Cannon Ball model. This paper establishes the Box-Wing physical Earth radiation pressure model for SLR satellites and takes Lageos-1 as an example to evaluate the physical analytical model. The Lageos-1 is divided into two blocks: metal shell and corner reflectors. The area and optical characteristics of each block are analyzed according to the requirements of three kinds of Earth albedo and emissivity models of point source, experience and grid models. The results show that after importing the physical analytical Earth radiation pressure model, the empirical force acceleration in the T direction is significantly reduced and the orbit overlap arc precision is about 3 mm smaller than that of the original model. The orbit prediction results show that the prediction accuracy of the new Earth radiation pressure model has generally improved significantly. The maximum improvement percentage of the physical analytical model is 12%, 16%, 28% and 25% respectively in the prediction arc length of 1 day, 3 days, 5 days and 7 days. The physical grid model performs the best with the increase of prediction arc length. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-silica granitoids signal maturity of continental crust and are also closely associated with rare metal mineralization. However, the possible factors controlling the upper crustal differentiation and rare metal mineralization have not been well-constrained. In this work, we report zircon U-Pb ages, trace elements, Hf-O isotopes, and wholerock elemental and Sr-Nd-Hf isotopic data on six high-silica granitic intrusions from the Southern Great Xing'an Range Metallogenic Belt (SGXRMB), NE China, with a view to elucidate their source, differentiation mechanism, and rare metal mineralization potential. Zircon U-Pb dating of the granites (including porphyritic granite and alkalifeldspar granite) yields Early Cretaceous ages of ca. 144-135 Ma. Petrographic and geochemical features including the high SiO2, DI, and TE1,3 values, and similar Sr-Nd-Hf-O isotopes suggest that the rocks are weakly peraluminous, highly evolved I-type granites sharing a common silicic magma reservoir. Integrated isotope modeling suggests a complex source region for the evolved I-type granites involving dominantly juvenile lower crustal components with subordinate older continental basement and possible contribution of recycled pelagic sediments. The highsilica granite in the Jingpeng-Lindong region and the quartz diorite-monzonite, granodiorite, and monzogranite in the Lindong-Zalute region show close spatial-temporal distribution, common source and consistent variations in their whole-rock zircon compositions, indicating melt extraction processes in a highly crystalline mush rejuvenated by the injection of high temperature magma and F-enriched volatile filter-pressing, with the former derived from initial interstitial melts leaving behind residual silicic cumulates represented by the latter. Detailed comparisons of the rare metal-bearing and barren highsilica granites within the SGXRMB show that simple anatectic or fractional crystallization processes cannot account for the rare metal granites. Fluid-melt interactions combined with a high degree of crystallization differentiation and changes in melt structures are proposed as the potential mechanisms for generating the rare metal mineralization in I-type granitic magmas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Additive manufacturing technology is highly regarded due to its advantages, such as high precision and the ability to address complex geometric challenges. However, the development of additive manufacturing process is constrained by issues like unclear fundamental principles, complex experimental cycles, and high costs. Machine learning, as a novel artificial intelligence technology, has the potential to deeply engage in the development of additive manufacturing process, assisting engineers in learning and developing new techniques. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of the research and applications of machine learning in the field of additive manufacturing, particularly in model design and process development. Firstly, it introduces the background and significance of machine learning-assisted design in additive manufacturing process. It then further delves into the application of machine learning in additive manufacturing, focusing on model design and process guidance. Finally, it concludes by summarizing and forecasting the development trends of machine learning technology in the field of additive manufacturing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We developed a quantitative single-virus tracking approach for spatiotemporal quantification of fusion events based on highly efficient dual-color labeled viruses and bulk trajectory analysis. This approach allows us to comprehensively probe viral fusion mechanisms at single-virus level and to precisely elucidate how associated biomolecules synergistically regulate the fusion process. [Display omitted] Viral envelope fusion with the host plasma membrane (PM) for genome release is a hallmark step in the life cycle of many enveloped viruses. This process is regulated by a complex network of biomolecules on the PM, but robust tools to precisely elucidate the dynamic mechanisms of virus-PM fusion events are still lacking. Here, we developed a quantitative single-virus tracking approach based on highly efficient dual-color labelling of viruses and batch trajectory analysis to achieve the spatiotemporal quantification of fusion events. This approach allows us to comprehensively analyze the membrane fusion mechanism utilized by pseudotyped severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) at the single-virus level and precisely elucidate how the relevant biomolecules synergistically regulate the fusion process. Our results revealed that SARS-CoV-2 may promote the formation of supersaturated clusters of cholesterol to facilitate the initiation of the membrane fusion process and accelerate the viral genome release. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By precisely controlling the distance between two train sets, virtual coupling (VC) enables flexible coupling and decoupling in urban rail transit. However, relying on train-to-train communication for obtaining the train distance can pose a safety risk in case of communication malfunctions. In this paper, a distance-estimation framework based on monocular vision is proposed. First, key structure features of the target train are extracted by an object-detection neural network, whose strategies include an additional detection head in the feature pyramid, labeling of object neighbor areas, and semantic filtering, which are utilized to improve the detection performance for small objects. Then, an optimization process based on multiple key structure features is implemented to estimate the distance between the two train sets in VC. For the validation and evaluation of the proposed framework, experiments were implemented on Beijing Subway Line 11. The results show that for train sets with distances between 20 m and 100 m, the proposed framework can achieve a distance estimation with an absolute error that is lower than 1 m and a relative error that is lower than 1.5%, which can be a reliable backup for communication-based VC operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interaction between human microbes and drugs can significantly impact human physiological functions. It is crucial to identify potential microbe-drug associations (MDAs) before drug administration. However, conventional biological experiments to predict MDAs are plagued by drawbacks such as time-consuming, high costs, and potential risks. On the contrary, computational approaches can speed up the screening of MDAs at a low cost. Most computational models usually use a drug similarity matrix as the initial feature representation of drugs and stack the graph neural network layers to extract the features of network nodes. However, different calculation methods result in distinct similarity matrices, and message passing in graph neural networks (GNNs) induces phenomena of over-smoothing and over-squashing, thereby impacting the performance of the model. To address these issues, we proposed a novel graph representation learning model, dual-modal graph learning for microbe-drug association prediction (DMGL-MDA). It comprises a dual-modal embedding module, a bipartite graph network embedding module, and a predictor module. To assess the performance of DMGL-MDA, we compared it against state-of-the-art methods using two benchmark datasets. Through cross-validation, we illustrated the superiority of DMGL-MDA. Furthermore, we conducted ablation experiments and case studies to validate the effective performance of the model. • DMGL-MDA employs a dual-modal strategy, integrating fingerprints and graph features to obtain a comprehensive representation. • DMGL-MDA integrates local & global information to alleviate over-smoothing or over-squashing phenomena observed in GNNs. • DMGL-MDA outperforms state-of-the-art approaches and it achieves the best performance on average. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, dense Yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) ceramic was printed by vat photopolymerization. We first formulated a slurry with good ceramic particle dispersion and modified the sintering process of the printed part. We improved the dispersion of the yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) particles by mixing with dispersant before preparing the slurry. After printing with the slurry, the printed part was sintered under a pressure of 20 KPa. No pores could be observed in the cross-section view indicating we successfully fabricated ultra-dense YSZ ceramic by vat polymerization and high-pressure sintering process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is general agreement that a series of East Asian blocks has always lain outboard of both India and Australia along the North Indo--Australie peripheral orogen. However, whether the East Asian blocks were involved in the interior orogens of East Gondwana remains equivocal. The geochronology and geochemistry of Neoproterozoic--Late Triassic rocks in the Russian Far East, together with existing paleontological and detrital zircon data, offer an opportunity to determine the tectonic origin and drift history of the Bureya--Jiamusi--Khanka superterrane. Biotite and amphibole 40Ar/39Ar dating results define a distinctive episode of Late Pan-African (ca. 550 Ma) metamorphism and a local Late Triassic (ca. 219-200 Ma) episode of deformation for the Bureya--Jiamusi--Khanka superterrane. Zircon U--Pb ages and whole-rock geochemical data indicate that the Early Ordovician (483 ± 3 Ma) highly fractionated I-type monzogranites were emplaced in a post-collisional setting linked to the collapse of a Late Pan-African orogen, while the Late Triassic (ca. 234-223 Ma) A-type quartz syenites and I-type granite aplite dikes were formed in a slabpull--induced passive continental margin of the subducting Mudanjiang oceanic plate. These crucial archives, complemented by data from the literature, reveal that the Bureya--Jiamusi--Khanka superterrane made up the northernmost Kuunga-Pinjarra interior orogen during the final assembly of East Gondwana. As a result of Devonian rifting after Early Ordovician orogen collapse, the Bureya--Jiamusi--Khanka superterrane escaped from the Kuunga-Pinjarra interior orogen and subsequently migrated to Northeast Asia by the Late Triassic to Jurassic due to the subduction and closure of the Paleo-Tethys and Paleo-Pacific oceans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanomedicine, as an interdisciplinary discipline involving the development and application of nanoscale materials and technologies, is rapidly developing under the impetus of bionanotechnology and has attracted a great deal of attention from researchers. Especially, with the global outbreak of COVID-19, the in-depth investigation of the infection mechanism of the viruses has made the study of virus-mimicking nanosystems (VMNs) a popular research topic. In this review, we initiate with a brief historical perspective on the emergence and development of VMNs for providing a comprehensive view of the field. Next, we present emerging design principles and functionalization strategies for fabricating VMNs in light of viral infection mechanisms. Then, we describe recent advances in VMNs in biology, with a major emphasis on representative examples. Finally, we summarize the opportunities and challenges that exist in this field, hoping to provide new insights and inspiration to develop VMNs for disease diagnosis and treatment and to attract the interest of more researchers from different fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces a new prefabricated recyclable double-row piles retaining system for excavations in silty clay ground. Laboratory model test and numerical simulation are conducted to study the system behavior upon excavation. The horizontal displacement (δh), Von Mises stress (σM), strain (ε), ground surface settlement (δv), and earth pressure are systematically investigated. Furthermore, the monitoring data of 13 excavation cases supported by double-row piles retaining system are presented and discussed. The experimental results can basically match the numerical results, and the maximum σM, maximum bending moment (Mmax), maximum horizontal displacement (δhm) of structural members are all less than the tolerance limits. The ground surface settlement model of double-row piles retaining system consists of three zones, i.e., rebound influence zone, primary influence zone and secondary influence zone. The dhm values are 0.07%-1.42% of the excavation depth (He). The maximum ground surface settlement (δvm) is generally less than δhm. The ratio of δvm/δhm varies between 0.09 and 0.76, with an average value of 0.5. The observed earth pressure on the retained side of front pile (paf) is about 0.53-0.57 γH below the excavation surface. Above the excavation surface, paf decreases dramatically when getting closer to the ground surface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enzymes of the radical S-adenosyl-l-methionine (radical SAM, RS) superfamily, the largest in nature, catalyze remarkably diverse reactions initiated by H-atom abstraction. Glycyl radical enzyme activating enzymes (GRE-AEs) are a growing class of RS enzymes that generate the catalytically essential glycyl radical of GREs, which in turn catalyze essential reactions in anaerobic metabolism. Here, we probe the reaction of the GRE-AE pyruvate formate-lyase activating enzyme (PFL-AE) with the peptide substrate RVSG734YAV, which mimics the site of glycyl radical formation on the native substrate, pyruvate formate-lyase. Time-resolved freeze-quench electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy shows that at short mixing times reduced PFL-AE + SAM reacts with RVSG734YAV to form the central organometallic intermediate, O, in which the adenosyl 5'C is covalently bound to the unique iron of the [4Fe-4S] cluster. Freeze-trapping the reaction at longer times reveals the formation of the peptide G734• glycyl radical product. Of central importance, freeze-quenching at intermediate times reveals that the conversion of O to peptide glycyl radical is not concerted. Instead, homolysis of the O Fe-C5' bond generates the nominally "free" 5'-dAdo• radical, which is captured here by freeze-trapping. During cryoannealing at 77 K, the 5'-dAdo• directly abstracts an H-atom from the peptide to generate the G734• peptide radical trapped in the PFL-AE active site. These observations reveal the 5'-dAdo• radical to be a well-defined intermediate, caught in the act of substrate H-atom abstraction, providing new insights into the mechanistic steps of radical initiation by RS enzymes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The construction of expressways in soil and their interaction with railway tunnelling blast excavation faces risks due to limitations on safety vibration velocity regulation on soil landslides. This paper reports on a potential soil landslide coupled with rainfall and blast in an expressway area underneath a railway tunnel in Guangzhou, China. Field monitoring was conducted to obtain the landslide’s geometric features, magnitude, crack distribution, and potential sliding surface. Using the unbalanced force transfer coefficient method, a mechanical model with normal and rainfall conditions was employed to analyse slope stability. Numerical modelling was employed to study the dynamic features of soil slope induced by the blast effect. The triggering factors on topography, tectonics, lithology, rainfall, and blast effects were discussed in detail. A slope mitigation method was proposed, and 6-month surface deformation monitoring was conducted to examine the mitigation effect. The novel results show that the slope was unstable under coupled effect on rainfall and blast conditions, with a potential push-type soil landslide from the top-level slide to the second level. The safety regulation velocity of 3 cm/s for rock slope is too large for safety control on soil slope. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Train distance estimation in a turnout area is an important task for the autonomous driving of urban railway transit, since this function can assist trains in sensing the positions of other trains within the turnout area and prevent potential collision accidents. However, because of large incident angles on object surfaces and far distances, Lidar or stereo vision cannot provide satisfactory precision for such scenarios. In this paper, we propose a method for train distance estimation in a turnout area based on monocular vision: firstly, the side windows of trains in turnout areas are detected by instance segmentation based on YOLOv8; secondly, the vertical directions, the upper edges and lower edges of side windows of the train are extracted by feature extraction; finally, the distance to the target train is calculated with an appropriated pinhole camera model. The proposed method is validated by practical data captured from Hong Kong Metro Tsuen Wan Line. A dataset of 2477 images is built to train the instance segmentation neural network, and the network is able to attain an MIoU of 92.43% and a MPA of 97.47% for segmentation. The accuracy of train distance estimation is then evaluated in four typical turnout area scenarios with ground truth data from on-board Lidar. The experiment results indicate that the proposed method achieves a mean RMSE of 0.9523 m for train distance estimation in four typical turnout area scenarios, which is sufficient for determining the occupancy of crossover in turnout areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traffic flow prediction plays an important role in intelligent transportation systems (ITS) on freeways. However, incomplete traffic information tends to be collected by traffic detectors, which is a major constraint for existing methods to get precise traffic predictions. To overcome this limitation, this study aims to propose and evaluate a new advanced model, named transfer learning-based long short-term memory (LSTM) model for traffic flow forecasting with incomplete traffic information, that adopts traffic information from similar locations for the target location to increase the data quality. More specifically, dynamic time warping (DTW) is used to evaluate the similarity between the source and target domains and then transfer the most similar data to the target domain to generate a hybrid complete training sample for LSTM to improve the prediction performance. To evaluate the effectiveness of the transfer learning-based LSTM, this study implements empirical studies with a real-world data set collected from a stretch of I-15 freeway in Utah. Experimental study results indicate that the transfer learning-based LSTM network could effectively predict the traffic flow conditions with a training sample with missing values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nuclear Factor Erythroid 2-Related Factor 2 (NRF2) is important for the expression of genes associated with oxidative stress. The levels of NRF2 are controlled by Kelch-like ECHassociated protein 1 (KEAP1)-dependent degradation. Although oxidative stress is known to suppress KEAP1 activity to stabilize the levels of NRF2, the mechanism for this control is unclear. Here, we identify that KEAP1 is modified by SUMO1 at the lysine residue position 39 (K39). Arginine replacement of this lysine (K39R) in KEAP1 did not affect its stability, subcellular localization, or dimerization but promoted the formation of the Cullin 3 ubiquitin ligase and increased NRF2 ubiquitination. This was accompanied by decreased NRF2 expression. Gene reporter assays showed that the transcription of antioxidant response elements was heightened in KEAP1-WT cells compared to cells expressing the KEAP1-K39R SUMO1 substrate mutant. Consistent with this, chromatin immunoprecipitation assays revealed higher NRF2 binding to the promoter regions of antioxidant genes in cells expressing the KEAP1-WT compared to the KEAP1-K39R mutant protein in H1299 lung cancer cell. The significance of this suppression of KEAP1 activity by its SUMOylation was tested in a subcutaneous tumor model of H1299 lung cancer cell lines that differentially expressed the WT and K39R KEAP1 constructs. This model showed that mutating the SUMOylation site on KEAP1 altered the production of reactive oxygen species and suppressed tumor growth. Taken together, our study recognizes that NRF2-dependent redox control is regulated by the SUMOylation of KEAP1. These findings identify a potential new therapeutic option to counteract oxidative stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on mechanosensation in plant leaf veins, highlighting whether the plant vasculature can sense touch. Topics include the development of a quantitative assay to investigate touch-response electrical signals in leaves and veins of Arabidopsis thaliana, the role of various genes, and the discovery that primary veins have autonomous mechanosensory properties.

Steering wheel is the most frequently used manual device in tractors, whose position directly affects the handling comfort of the driver and fatigue degree of the arm muscles. In this study, the biomechanical modelling software AnyBody was used for an inverse kinetics analysis of the rotation process of tractor steering wheel, calculate the muscle activation degree of the driver's arm and compare it with the calculated results of surface EMG tests to verify the reliability of the biomechanical model. Based on the biomechanical model, the effects of three position parameters (steering wheel inclination, front-back distance, and upper-lower height) on the activation degree of the driver's arm muscles were evaluated. The results demonstrated that steering wheel inclination has the most significant effect on the degree of muscle activation, followed by the upper-lower height and then front-back distance. Considering the interaction among factors, a regression orthogonal test was designed, and the test results revealed that the minimum muscle activation (1.2887) can be obtained with the steering wheel inclination of 31°, front-back distance of 431 mm and upper-lower height of 375 mm. The findings can provide a reference for optimizing the structure and position parameters of tractor steering wheels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to avoid the waste of resources and reserves caused by excessive width of waterproof coal pillar, the method combining theoretical analysis and Flac3D numerical simulation is used to theoretically calculate the width of coal pillars along the floor and along the seam of a F14 high angle normal fault in a mining face, and the mechanical model for fault layer activation is established and analyzed. In order to optimize the width of coal pillar, the fault zone and the top of Ordovician limestone aquifer are transformed by grouting through the construction of ground area treatment. The results show that the F14 high-angle normal fault does not conduct (contain) water, but there is a possibility of fault activation. With the continuous advance of the working face, activation occurs in the fault zone. When the width of the coal pillar is less than 40m, cracks in the fracture zone of F14 fault continue to develop and finally connect with each other to form a good water diversion channel. The Ordovician limestone water in the lower wall of the waterproof fault on the roof and floor of the coal seam rises along the fault fracture zone, threatening the safe mining of the working face. Meanwhile, the theoretical formula is verified, and the width of the waterproof coal pillar is initially determined to be 40 m. The grouting transformation of the fault zone and the top of the Ordovician limestone has improved the integrity of the fault water barrier and relieved the threat of floor water damage to the working face during mining. It is considered that F14 is feasible to liberate the fault waterproof coal pillar. The research results have important reference significance for the liberation of coal resources in the hanging wall working face of high angle normal faults, avoiding waste of resource reserves, improving economic benefits and mining efficiency in mining areas, and provide countermeasures for the tension in coal mine production areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this letter, a single‐layer differential‐fed dual‐band filtering antenna for wireless local area network application is proposed. The proposed antenna consists of a square patch, and two pairs of stepped impedance resonators (SIRs). The lower operating passband is realized by exciting the square patch with a pair of differential ports. Then, a pair of SIRs is connected with the radiating edge of the square patch to introduce another resonance, thus forming the upper passband. And a radiation null is simultaneously produced to enhance the frequency selectivity between the two passbands. Moreover, another pair of SIRs is utilized to connect with the nonradiating edge of the square patch, which generates an additional high‐frequency in‐band resonance and a radiation null to further improve the bandwidth and frequency selectivity of upper passband. The developed prototype was fabricated and measured to verify the design concept. The measured results are in good agreement with the simulated ones, demonstrating that it exhibits −10 dB fractional impedance bandwidths of 3.68% and 7.35%, maximum realized gains at boresight direction of 5.5 and 8.7 dBi, and cross‐polarization levels smaller than −30 dB, in lower and upper passbands, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To evaluate the influence of maternal pre‐eclampsia on neurodevelopmental outcome in very‐low‐birth‐weight (VLBW) infants at 6, 12, and 24 months of corrected age. Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of singleton VLBW infants between 2011 and 2018. The participants were divided into three groups: (1) mothers without pre‐eclampsia, (2) pre‐eclampsia without severe features, and (3) pre‐eclampsia with severe features. The Bayley Scales of Infant Development third edition (BSID‐III) was used to assess the neurodevelopment of participants. A BSID‐III score < 85 was defined as neurodevelopmental impairment (NDI). Results: Overall, 482 VLBW infants born to 482 mothers were enrolled, of whom 327 mothers did not have pre‐eclampsia and 155 mothers had pre‐eclampsia (58 without and 97 with severe features). The infants born to mothers with pre‐eclampsia with severe features had the lowest BSID‐III scores at 6, 12, and 24 months. After adjustments, maternal pre‐eclampsia with severe features was significantly associated with cognitive NDI in their infants (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 4.14) and language NDI (aOR 3.37) at 2 years of corrected age. Conclusions: VLBW fetuses born to mothers with pre‐eclampsia with severe features have poorer 2‐year neurodevelopmental outcome, which mainly manifests in the cognitive and language domains. Synopsis: Very‐low‐birth‐weight infants born to mothers with pre‐eclampsia with severe features have poorer 2‐year neurodevelopmental outcomes, mainly in the cognitive and language domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Janus amphiphilic polymer nanosheets (JAPNs) with anisotropic morphology and distinctive performance have aroused widespread interest. However, due to the difficulty in synthesis and poor dispersion stability, JAPNs have been scarcely reported in the field of enhancing oil recovery (EOR). Herein, a kind of organic-based flexible JAPNs was prepared by paraffin emulsion methods. The lateral sizes of JAPNs were ranging from hundreds of nanometers to several micrometers and the thickness was about 3 nm. The organic-based nanosheets were equipped with remarkably flexible structures, which could improve their injection performance. The dispersion and interfacial properties of JAPNs were studied systematically. By modification of crosslinking agent containing multiple amino groups, the JAPNs had excellent hydrophilicity and salt resistance compared with conventional inorganic or composite nanosheets. The settling time of nanosuspension with NaCl and CaCl2 at a low salinity of 1000 mg/L was over 240 h. The value could also remain 124 h under the salinity of 10,000 mg/L NaCl. With the dual functionalities of Janus amphiphilic nature and nanoparticles' Pickering effect, JAPNs could change rock wettability and form emulsions as "colloidal surfactants". In particular, a new technology called optical microrheology was pioneered to explore the destabilization state of nanosuspensions for the first time. Since precipitation lagged behind aggregation, especially for stable suspension systems, the onset of the unstable behavior was difficult to be detected by conventional methods, which should be the indicator of reduced effectiveness for nanofluid products. In addition, the oil displacement experiments demonstrated that the JAPNs could enhance oil recovery by 17.14% under an ultra-low concentration of 0.005% and were more suitable for low permeability cores. The findings can help for a better understanding of the material preparation of polymer nanosheets. We also hope that this study could shed more light on the nano- flooding technology for EOR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cyclic GMP-AMP synthase-stimulator of interferon genes (cGAS-STING) pathway is a promising approach for anti-cancer immunotherapy by bridging innate and adaptive immunity. Recent evidence suggests that chemotherapy-induced DNA damage can directly induce dendritic cell (DC) maturation and recruitment, which synergizes with STING activation to enhance anti-tumor effects. As an immunogenic cell death (ICD) inducer, oxaliplatin generates massive double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) crosslinks, release of tumor-associated antigens and promoting the "eat me" signal. STING activation improves antigen immunogenicity, which can promote T cell activation and infiltration. In this study, we developed liposomes encapsulating oxaliplatin and combine this formulation with a STING agonist (ADU-S100) for treating colorectal cancer. The liposomes efficiently inhibited the proliferation of tumor cells while induced ICD in CT26 colorectal cancer cells, which enhanced dendritic cell maturation and phagocytosis in vitro. The liposome-based immunochemotherapy exhibited the strongest efficacy, resulting in complete remission upon tumor inoculation. Mechanistic studies showed this potent anti-cancer effect was related to the significant recruitment of infiltrating CD8 and CD4 T cells, reduction of suppressive Treg cells, and a shift in the phenotype of tumor-associated suppressive macrophages that promote cancer to immune stimulating macrophages. Thus, our study demonstrated the potential of combining oxaliplatin-loaded liposomes with a STING agonist to reduce tumor growth by regulating the immunosuppressive state in the tumor. [Display omitted] • First combination of oxaliplatin and ADU-S100 for cancer treatment • Enhanced anti-tumor efficiency by regulate tumor microenvironment • Orchestrated immune response on both innate and adaptive immunity [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To enhance the transplants' growth and reduce energy use efficiency, Eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) transplants (cv. Jingqie 21) were cultivated in a plant factory laboratory under different LED light spectrums. The experimental treatments included white plus blue LED lights (R: B=0.5, WB0.5), white LED lights (R: B=0.9, W0.9), white plus red LED lights (R: B=2.7, WR2.7), white plus red plus UV lights (R: B=3.8, WRUV3.8), and red plus blue plus green LED lights (R: B=5.4, RBG5.4). The transplants were grown for 30 d under a light intensity of 250 µmol/m²⋅s and a photoperiod of 16 h/d. The morphological indicators and biomass accumulation of eggplant transplants were significantly higher in the W0.9 treatment compared to the other experimental treatments. The photosynthetic quantum yield in the W0.9 treatment exhibited an increase of over 22% compared to that in the WR2.7 treatment. The shoot dry weight of the W0.9 treatment reached (381±41) mg/plant and the leaf area was (113.3±8.9) cm², indicating a higher health index compared to the other treatments. However, there were no significant differences in the net photosynthetic rate of the leaves among all treatments. The energy yield (EY) of the W0.9 treatment was (37.7±1.8) g/kW⋅h, which was higher than others. Therefore, considering the high quality of transplants and the maximization of energy use efficiency, the LED light spectrum in the eggplant transplants production was recommended to the white LED light with an R: B ratio of 0.9. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

C38H62N6Zn2, triclinic, P 1 ‾ (no. 2), a = 9.5907(4) Å, b = 10.6743(4) Å, c = 11.2593(4) Å, α = 107.6980 (10) ∘ , β = 113.5840 (10) ∘ , γ = 97.2290 (10) ∘ , V = 965.12(6) Å3, Z = 1, Rgt(F) = 0.0232, wRref(F2) = 0.0577, T = 200(2) K. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The uncertainties of atmospheric density, position and velocity are combined to jointly participate in the orbital error propagation. • MC Dropout neural networks are introduced to correct the density model and to quantify the model uncertainty and input uncertainty. • GMM-UT method is used to approximate the orbital error propagation considering atmospheric density uncertainty. Due to the influence of various errors, the orbital uncertainty propagation of artificial celestial objects while orbit prediction is required, especially in some applications such as conjunction analysis. In the orbital error propagation of artificial celestial objects in low Earth orbits (LEOs), atmospheric density uncertainty is one of the important factors that require special attention. In this paper, on the basis of considering the uncertainties of position and velocity, the atmospheric density uncertainty is also taken into account to further investigate the orbital error propagation of artificial celestial objects in LEOs. Artificial intelligence algorithms are introduced, the MC Dropout neural network and the heteroscedastic loss function are used to realize the correction of the empirical atmospheric density model, as well as to provide the quantification of model uncertainty and input uncertainty for the corrected atmospheric densities. It is shown that the neural network we built achieves good results in atmospheric density correction, and the uncertainty quantization obtained from the neural network is also reasonable. Moreover, using the Gaussian mixture model - unscented transform (GMM-UT) method, the atmospheric density uncertainty is taken into account in the orbital uncertainty propagation, by adding a sampled random term to the corrected atmospheric density when calculating atmospheric density. The feasibility of the GMM-UT method considering atmospheric density uncertainty is proved by the further comparison of abundant sampling points and GMM-UT results (with and without considering atmospheric density uncertainty). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a new type of lightweight structure, metallic lattice structure has higher stiffness and strength to weight ratio. To freely obtain 316L lattice structures with designed cell structure and adjustable porosity, additive manufacturing combined with investment casting was conducted to fabricate the 316L lattice structures with Kelvin cell. The compression simulation of 316L lattice structures with different porosities was carried out by using the finite element method. The numerical simulation results were verified by compression experiment, and the simulated results were consistent with the compression tests. The compressive mechanical properties of 316L lattice structures are directly related to porosity and independent of strut diameters. The 316L lattice structures with Kelvin cell have a smooth stress-strain curve and obvious plastic platform, and the hump stress-strain curves are avoided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The energy dissipation characteristics are important features of rock damage and failure during loading. However, the quantitative relationship between energy dissipation and rock failure is not clear. In this work, acoustic emission monitoring tests during uniaxial cyclic loading and unloading were conducted on sandstones in two conditions, namely dry and saturated, to investigate the energy evolution characteristics. Then, an index of the absolute energy ratio and a dynamic adjustment coefficient were put forward to represent rock damage and failure. A recurrent neural network was employed to predict the dynamic adjustment coefficient of dissipative strain energy. The results showed that (1) water saturation promoted the increased rate of dissipative strain energy during the last loading and unloading, but suppressed the sudden drop in elastic strain energy. (2) In the early and middle stages of cyclic loading–unloading, the absolute acoustic emission energy of dry and saturated rock samples was mainly generated by the historical maximum stress, while the absolute acoustic emission energy was mainly generated by cycle loading–unloading in the final cyclic stages. (3) The absolute energy ratio of both dry and saturated rock samples showed a sudden increase at the last cyclic loading–unloading, and this phenomenon can be taken as a precursor of rock damage of cycle loading–unloading. (4) The recurrent neural network for the prediction of the dynamic adjustment coefficient shows good agreement for rock failure related to dissipative strain energy. The results can provide experimental and prediction models for the monitoring and warning of rock engineering disasters in slopes, hydraulic fractures, tunnels, and coal mines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Lipopolysaccharides (LPS) are the main pathogenic substances in Gram-negative bacteria. The aim of this study was to investigate the preventive effects of dietary curcumin (CUR) on LPS toxicity in the duck ileum. The duck diet was supplemented with CUR (0.5 g kg-1) for 28 days, while the birds were injected with LPS (0.5 mg kg-1 body weight per injection, administered as seven injections in the last week of the experimental period). RESULTS: LPS significantly decreased the ileal villus-to-crypt ratio in the non-supplemented CUR group. Dietary CUR alleviated LPS-induced morphological damage to the ileum. Moreover, dietary CUR alleviated oxidative stress by increasing the levels of total superoxide dismutase (T-SOD) (P < 0.05) and glutathione S-transferase (GST) (P < 0.05) and decreasing the production of malonic dialdehyde (MDA) (P < 0.05) in control ducks and LPS-challenged ducks. Dietary CUR significantly inhibited the LPS-induced massive production of inflammatory factors (IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α) (P < 0.05). CUR induced the inhibition of TLR4 and activation of Nrf2 to reduce the expression of inflammation-related genes (TLR4, NF-ΰB, IKK, TXNIP, NLRP3, caspase-1, IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α). Moreover, dietary CUR ameliorated the decrease in claudin-1 and occludin expression (P < 0.05) and improved ZO-1 expression in the duck ileum (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: In conclusion, dietary CUR has beneficial effects on LPS-induced ileal damage, oxidative damage, and inflammatory response by inhibiting the TLR/NF-ΰB and activating the Nrf2 signaling pathways in ducks. This study provides valuable information regarding the therapeutic uses of CUR in duck ileitis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nickel-based (Ni-based) compounds have been regarded as one of the most potential electrocatalysts for water splitting due to their tunable d-band electronic structures. However, the local structures of Ni-based electrocatalysts would change in situ during the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER), which makes it difficult to identify and design active structures. In this study, we studied metallic Ni3Se2 films as model catalysts to figure out the structural change rules during HER and OER processes. According to the operando X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) spectroscopy and other experimental results, during the HER process, the active Ni sites at the surface tended to adsorb hydroxyl to form local Ni–OH environments and trigger further water dissociation with the assistance of Se sites as hydroxyl acceptors; during the OER process, the valence states of Ni increased with the increase in potential, proving that high-valence Ni centers in NiOOH activated species are beneficial in boosting OER catalytic activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trapezoidal roadways in large inclination coal seams show asymmetrical tectonic characteristics, while there is still a lack of theoretical results on stress, deformation, and efficient and effective supporting methods on high walls. In this paper, based on the geological characteristics of a large, inclined coal seam roadway, a mechanical model for stress–deformation analysis of trapezoidal section roadway was established. Complex analysis and a comfort map were employed to investigate the stress and deformation distribution on the roadway surface, and a novel yielding prop with high load capacity and constant working resistance was employed to support a high wall side based on analytical results. The results are as follows: (1) The deformation of the high wall is larger than that of the low wall, and the deformation of the roof is larger than that of the floor. The overall deformation of the surrounding rock shows that the rib closure is larger than the roof-to-floor closure. (2) The stress of the surrounding rock shows that both horizontal and vertical stresses are highest in the upper corner, indicating that the broken zone is most likely to occur at this location. (3) A new support employed with a high-yielding prop and a high-strength cable in a large, inclined angle roadway is proposed. On-site experiments were conducted in a large 5-1081 roadway of a coal mine in Shanxi, China. Under the influence of mining disturbance, the deformations at the top corner decreased by 40% compared with before. The test results show that the new support scheme can effectively control the development of roadway deformation and damage during the mining process. The new support also shows friendly environmental support and fast installation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To analyze alterations of the liver appearance during the hepatobiliary phase of individuals with type 2 diabetes who are receiving gadolinium ethoxybenzyl diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid (Gd-EOB-DTPA) enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Fifty-seven individuals who received Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MRI and had normal liver and renal function but did not have (control group) or have type 2 diabetes (observation group) were retrospectively included in this study. The liver enhancement ratio (LER) and contrast between liver parenchyma and portal vein (LPC) were calculated from hepatobiliary phase images. Utilizing liver to kidney signal intensity, signs of the biliary system, and signs of the portal vein, a functional liver imaging score (FLIS) was calculated. Wilcoxon rank-sum test was used to assess the between-group differences in LER, LPC, and FLIS. FLIS constituent ratios between the two groups were tested using the χ2 test. The effectiveness of LER, LPC, and FLIS for identifying type 2 diabetes was assessed by receiver operating characteristic curves (ROCs). The interobserver consistency of FLIS was evaluated using the intraclass correlation coefficients. The observation group's LER and LPC were lower than the control group. The constituent ratio of the FLIS score (liver to kidney signal intensity, p = 0.011) showed a significant between-group difference. According to ROCs, LER and LPC were associated with the identification of type 2 diabetes. LER = 0.54 and LPC = 1.46 were the optimal cutoff for identifying type 2 diabetes, respectively. FLIS demonstrated excellent inter-reader agreement. The relative signal intensity of the liver during the hepatobiliary phase is decreased in patients with type 2 diabetes. This should be considered when individuals with type 2 diabetes undergo Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MRI to avoid misdiagnoses, such as small hepatocellular carcinoma or abnormal liver function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and objective: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the most prevalent chronic respiratory disease. This study investigated the global, regional and country burden of COPD based on gender, age and socio‐demographic indices (SDIs) in the last 30‐year period from 1990 to 2019. Methods: The COPD data, including incidence, mortality and disability‐adjusted life years (DALYs), were obtained from the 2019 Global Burden of Disease Study. If age‐standardized incidence rate (ASIR) or death rate (ASDR) remains almost constant or decreases, the number of cases will still increase as the global population increases substantially. Estimated annual percentage change (EAPC) was calculated to assess incidence, mortality and DALY trends. Results: The incidence of COPD increased by 85.89% from 8,722,966 cases in 1990 to 16,214,828 cases in 2019, and the ASIR decreased from 216.48/100,000 persons in 1990 (95%UI, 204.56–227.33) to 200.49 per 100,000 persons (95%UI, 188.63–212.57) in 2019. The ASIR increased (EAPC = 0.05, 95%CI, 0.01–0.10) in the low SDI region, was stable in the high SDI region, and fell in the other three SDI regions. Men had a higher ASIR than women over the past 30 years, and there were differences in the incidence rates for different age groups. Male mortality and DALYs were higher than female mortality. ASDR decreased by 2.13% (95%CI, −2.23% to −2.02%) per year and the annual age‐standardized DALY rate decreased by 1.97% (95%CI, −2.05% to −1.89%). Conclusions: The ASIR, ASDR and age‐standardized DALY rate of COPD declined overall in the last 30 years, and were highest in the low‐middle SDI region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrogen generated by proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzer holds a promising potential to complement the traditional energy structure and achieve the global target of carbon neutrality for its efficient, clean, and sustainable nature. The acidic oxygen evolution reaction (OER), owing to its sluggish kinetic process, remains a bottleneck that dominates the efficiency of overall water splitting. Over the past few decades, tremendous efforts have been devoted to exploring OER activity, whereas most show unsatisfying stability to meet the demand for industrial application of PEM electrolyzer. In this review, systematic considerations of the origin and strategies based on OER stability challenges are focused on. Intrinsic deactivation of the material and the extrinsic balance of plant‐induced destabilization are summarized. Accordingly, rational strategies for catalyst design including doping and leaching, support effect, coordination effect, strain engineering, phase and facet engineering are discussed for their contribution to the promoted OER stability. Moreover, advanced in situ/operando characterization techniques are put forward to shed light on the OER pathways as well as the structural evolution of the OER catalyst, giving insight into the deactivation mechanisms. Finally, outlooks toward future efforts on the development of long‐term and practical electrocatalysts for the PEM electrolyzer are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Diosgenin is a natural steroidal compound with reported antidiabetic and many other protective properties. This study aimed to explore the protective effect of diosgenin on high‐glucose (HG)‐induced retinal pigment epithelial cells. Methods: HG‐induced ARPE‐19 cells were considered as a cell model of diabetic retinopathy (DR). The viability and apoptosis of ARPE‐19 cells induced by HG treated with either diosgenin or Compound C (CC; dorsomorphin) were detected by Cell Counting Kit‐8 assay and flow cytometric analysis. The expression of apoptosis‐related proteins, inflammation‐related proteins, and AMPK/Nrf2/HO‐1 pathway‐related proteins was detected by western blotting. The levels of inflammatory cytokines and detection of oxidative stress indexes were performed using the appropriate assay kits. The messenger RNA expression of inflammatory cytokines was detected by real‐time quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Results: There was no obvious effect of diosgenin on the viability of ARPE‐19 cells and the viability of ARPE‐19 cells was significantly reduced after HG induction. However, diosgenin increased the viability, inhibited the apoptosis, and reduced the inflammatory response and oxidative stress of ARPE‐19 cells induced by HG. In addition, diosgenin could activate the AMPK/Nrf2/HO‐1 pathway. CC, an AMPK inhibitor, could reverse the above changes caused by diosgenin treatment in ARPE‐19 cells induced by HG. Conclusions: Diosgenin could protect ARPE‐19 cells from inflammatory damage and oxidative stress induced by HG, by activating the AMPK/Nrf2/HO‐1 pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The aim of this study was to compare the effects of three kinds of organic acid (OA) products on the growth performance, intestinal characteristics and morphology, and cecal microflora in broilers fed a corn-soybean meal meal diet. Methods: A total of 420 one-day-old male Cobb 500 broilers with an average initial body weight of 49.11±1.02 g were used in this 42-day experiment. Birds were randomly allotted to one of five treatments (7 replicates with 12 birds per replicate). Treatments consisted of negative control (NC), basal diet; positive control (PC), basal diet+100 mg/kg of Aviramycin; OA1, basal diet+500 mg/kg of OA product 1; OA2, basal diet+1,000 mg/kg of OA product 2; and OA3, basal diet+1,200 mg/kg of OA product 3. Results: The results indicated that OA product addition had no effect on growth performance parameters, such as body weight gain, feed intake, and feed conversion ratio, from days 1 to 14, 15 to 28, and 0 to 42, or on the pH values of the intestine, intestinal weight, or intestinal weight to body weight ratio. The intestinal morphology in terms of villus height and crypt depth were affected by dietary supplementation of OA products, respectively. Furthermore, dietary addition of OAs had positive influences on the maintenance of the cecal microflora based on the results of 16S rRNA analysis. Conclusion: Dietary inclusion of three kinds of OA products all benefit broilers, but the mode of action may be different. This study provides a basis for the application of OA products used in the poultry industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Subduction erosion is widely thought to play a significant role in crustal recycling at modern convergent plate margins. However, identifying subduction erosion in fossil accretionary margins is difficult due to multiple episodes of tectonic superimposition and an absence of direct geophysical evidence. By assessing provenance and metamorphic records in this study, we are the first to document the record of subduction erosion in Late Triassic to Middle Jurassic meta-sedimentary rocks from the Luobei Heilongjiang Complex, NE China. Most detrital zircons from four meta-sedimentary samples have typical core-rim textures. Approximately 90% of the detrital zircon cores yielded Phanerozoic ages with εHf (t) values of +12.8 to -17.6. Geochronological and isotopic comparisons indicate that the meta-sedimentary rocks have a provenance in the eastern Songnen Block and were deposited in a forearc basin. The youngest ages of detrital zircon cores span from 229 to 176 Ma, while the metamorphic ages obtained from detrital zircon rims range from 209 to 185 Ma. Combined with the 186-165 Ma phengite 40Ar-39Ar ages of the metasedimentary rocks, this suggests that their protoliths were deposited during the Late Triassic--Middle Jurassic. Mineral inclusions define peak blueschist-facies metamorphism at pressure-temperature conditions of 0.9-1.0 GPa and 359--365 °C; this indicates that forearc sediment from the overriding plate was abraded into the subduction channel and underwent high-pressure metamorphism. Metamorphic ages (209-165 Ma) obtained from phengite and detrital zircon rims suggest that a period of subduction erosion occurred during slab subduction. These results reveal rapid progression from early forearc sedimentation (229-165 Ma) to subduction erosion (209-165 Ma) during westward subduction of the Mudanjiang Ocean. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate numerically the homogenized permittivities of composites made of low-index dielectric inclusions in a ferroelectric matrix under a static electric field. A refined model is used to take into account the coupling between the electrostatic problem and the electric field dependent permittivity of the ferroelectric material, leading to a local field enhancement and permittivity change in the ferroelectric. Periodic and pseudorandom structures in two dimensions are investigated, and we compute the effective permittivity, losses, electrically induced anisotropy, and tunability of these metamaterials. We show that the tunability of such composites might be substantially enhanced in the periodic case, whereas introducing disorder in the microstructure weakens the effect of the enhanced local permittivity change. Our results may be useful to guide the synthesis of novel composite ceramics with improved characteristics for controllable microwave devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, technological advances in nanofabrication have opened up new applications in the field of nanophotonics. To engineer and develop novel functionalities, rigorous and efficient numerical methods are required. In parallel, tremendous advances in algorithmic differentiation, in part pushed by the intensive development of machine learning and artificial intelligence, has made possible large-scale optimization of devices with a few extra modifications of the underlying code. We present here our development of three different software libraries for solving Maxwell's equations in various contexts: a finite element code with a high-level interface for problems commonly encountered in photonics, an implementation of the Fourier modal method for multilayered bi-periodic metasurfaces and a plane wave expansion method for the calculation of band diagrams in two-dimensional photonic crystals. All of them are endowed with automatic differentiation capabilities and we present typical inverse design examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphene and its derivatives have been widely used in the area of high-sensitivity sensing materials for small-molecule gases. Based on first-principle calculations, the present study systematically investigated the adsorption of 1,1-dimethylhydrazine on intrinsic graphene, graphene with vacancy defects, and nitrogen-doped graphene. The adsorption effects, when 1,1-dimethylhydrazine takes on different orientations, were determined separately, and the specific adsorption energy and charge transfer were calculated accordingly. The results reveal that the 1,1-dimethylhydrazine adsorption on intrinsic graphene, graphene with vacancy defects, and nitrogen-doped graphene falls into physical adsorption. Besides, both vacancy defect and nitrogen doping help enhance the adsorption but the effect of vacancy defect is superior to that of nitrogen doping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study aimed to observe the analgesic effect of the cocktail formulation with diprospan during total hip arthroplasty (THA). Methods: From September 2018 to April 2019, 120 patients undergoing primary unilateral THA were included in this prospective, randomized, observer‐blinded study. Patients were randomized into three groups, according to the different local infiltration analgesia (LIA) strategies: LIA with ropivacaine (the ropivacaine group, n = 40), LIA with a new cocktail containing ropivacaine, diprospan, and morphine (the cocktail group, n = 40), and the control group (n = 40). The primary outcomes included postoperative pain scores. The resting visual analogue scale (VAS) scores were measured at 2, 6, and 12 h after the surgery (a.m. and p.m.) on postoperative day (POD) 1, POD2, and the day of discharge. Movement VAS scores were assessed at 6 h, 12 h after the operation (a.m. and p.m.) on POD1, POD2, and the day of discharge. The secondary outcomes included opioid consumption, postoperative hospital stay, range of motion of the hip at discharge, patient satisfaction, and the results of the follow‐up. Results: After the screening, 120 patients were randomized into three groups (40 patients in each group). All of the patients completed the trial. The resting VAS scores in the ropivacaine group and cocktail group at 2 h were lower than those in the control group (P < 0.001 and P < 0.001, respectively, F = 17.054), and the same trend was also postoperatively found at 6 h (p = 0.005 and P = 0.002, F = 6.212). Twelve hours after the operation, the pain score in the cocktail group was lower than that in the other two groups, but only the difference between the cocktail group and the control group was statistically significant (P = 0.018, F = 3.144). From the morning of the first postoperative day to the a.m. on POD 2, the VAS scores in the cocktail group were significantly lower than those in the ropivacaine group and the control group. Furthermore, the movement VAS scores in the ropivacaine group and the cocktail group were better than those in the control group at 6 and 12 h post‐operation (P < 0.05). The per capita opioid consumption in the cocktail group was less than that in the ropivacaine group and the control group within 24 h post‐operation. There were no significant differences in the comparison of additional indicators among the three groups. Conclusion: The new cocktail with diprospan had a better result and longer duration time for early postoperative pain control in primary THA via the posterolateral approach under general anesthesia, especially for treating resting pain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A multiphasic FE model of the lumbar intervertebral disc was developed. • The disc nutrient response was evaluated under different axial forces. • Sustained weight-bearing activities could deteriorate disc nutrient environment. • Tensile force might have a nonnegligible role in improving nutrient levels. Understanding the role of mechanical force on tissue nutrient transport is essential, as sustained force may affect nutrient levels within the disc and initiate disc degeneration. This study aims to evaluate the time-dependent effects of different compressive force amplitudes as well as tensile force on glucose concentration and cell viability within the disc. Based on the mechano-electrochemical mixture theory, a multiphasic finite element model of the lumbar intervertebral disc was developed. The minimum glucose concentration and minimum cell density in both normal and degenerated discs were predicted for different compressive force amplitudes, tensile force, and corresponding creep time. Under high compressive force, the minimum glucose concentration exhibited an increasing and then decreasing trend with creep time in the normal disc, whereas that of the degenerated disc increased, then decreased, and finally increased again. At steady state, a higher compressive force was accompanied by a lower glucose concentration distribution. In the degenerated disc, the minimum cell density was negatively correlated with creep time, with a greater range of affected tissue under a higher compressive force. For tensile force, the minimum glucose concentration of the degenerated disc raised over time. This study highlighted the importance of creep time, force magnitude, and force type in affecting nutrient concentration and cell viability. Sustained weight-bearing activities could deteriorate the nutrient environment of the degenerated disc, while tensile force might have a nonnegligible role in effectively improving nutrient levels within the degenerated disc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Capturing CO 2 using clamshell/eggshell-derived CaO adsorbent can not only reduce carbon emissions but also alleviate the impact of trash on the environment. However, organic acid was usually used, high-temperature calcination was often performed, and CO 2 was inevitably released during preparing CaO adsorbents from shell wastes. In this work, CaO-based CO 2 adsorbent was greenly prepared by calcium-induced hydrogenation of clamshell and eggshell wastes in one pot at room/moderate temperature. CO 2 adsorption experiments were performed in a thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA). The adsorption performance of the adsorbents obtained from the mechanochemical reaction (BM-C/E-CaO) was superior to that of the adsorbents obtained from the thermochemical reaction (Cal-C/E-CaO). The CO 2 adsorption capacity of BM-C-CaO at 650 °C is up to 36.82 wt%, but the adsorption decay rate of the sample after 20 carbonation/calcination cycles is only 30.17%. This study offers an alternative energy-saving method for greenly preparing CaO-based adsorbent from shell wastes. • CO 2 adsorbent was prepared by calcium-induced hydrogenation of shell wastes. • Both mechanochemical and thermochemical methods were used. • The CO 2 adsorption capacity of BM-C-CaO at 650 °C is as high as 36.82 wt%. • The adsorption decay rate after 20 carbonation/calcination cycles is only 30.17%. • This study offers a green method for preparing CO 2 adsorbent from shell wastes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which showed that the calcium-dependent protein kinase 28 (CKP28) initiates a phosphorylation cascade to specify transcriptional reprogramming downstream of cold-induced calcium signal. Topics discussed include important role of calcium in plant responses to cold stress and Cold-Responsive (COR) gene expression, protein expression and purification from Escherichia coli, and quantification and statistical analysis.