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ObjectivesThe accurate assessment of lymph node metastasis (LNM) can facilitate clinical decision-making on radiotherapy or radical hysterectomy (RH) in cervical adenocarcinoma (AC)/adenosquamous carcinoma (ASC). This study aims to develop a deep learning radiomics nomogram (DLRN) to preoperatively evaluate LNM in cervical AC/ASC.Materials and methodsA total of 652 patients from a multicenter were enrolled and randomly allocated into primary, internal, and external validation cohorts. The radiomics features were extracted from axial T2-weighted imaging (T2WI), diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), and contrast-enhanced T1-weighted imaging (CE-T1WI). The DL features from T2WI, DWI, and CE-T1WI were exported from Resnet 34, which was pretrained by 14 million natural images of the ImageNet dataset. The radscore (RS) and DL score (DLS) were independently obtained after repeatability test, Pearson correlation coefficient (PCC), minimum redundancy maximum relevance (MRMR), and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) algorithm performed on the radiomics and DL feature sets. The DLRN was then developed by integrating the RS, DLS, and independent clinicopathological factors for evaluating the LNM in cervical AC/ASC.ResultsThe nomogram of DLRN-integrated FIGO stage, menopause, RS, and DLS achieved AUCs of 0.79 (95% CI, 0.74–0.83), 0.87 (95% CI, 0.81–0.92), and 0.86 (95% CI, 0.79–0.91) in the primary, internal, and external validation cohorts. Compared with the RS, DLS, and clinical models, DLRN had a significant higher AUC for evaluating LNM (all P < 0.005).ConclusionsThe nomogram of DLRN can accurately evaluate LNM in cervical AC/ASC.

When exposed to moderate to high temperatures, nanomaterials typically suffer from severe grain coarsening, which has long been a major concern that prevents their wider applications. Here, we proposed an effective strategy to inhibit grain coarsening by constructing grain boundary (GB) complexions with multiple codoped dopants, which hindered coarsening from both energetic and kinetic perspectives. To demonstrate the feasibility of this strategy, multiple selected dopants were doped into a ZrO2–SiO2 nanocrystalline glass ceramic (NCGC) to form GB complexions. The results showed that NCGC was predominantly composed of ZrO2 nanocrystallites (NCs) distributed in an amorphous SiO2 matrix. Ultrathin layers of GB complexions (~2.5 nm) were formed between adjacent ZrO2 NCs, and they were crystalline superstructures with co-segregated dopants. In addition, a small amount of quartz solid solution was formed, and it adhered to the periphery of ZrO2 NCs and bridged the adjacent NCs, acting as a “bridging phase”. The GB complexions and the “bridging phase” synergistically enhanced the coarsening resistance of ZrO2 NCs up to 1000 °C. These findings are important for understanding GB complexions and are expected to provide new insights into the design of nanomaterials with excellent thermodynamic stability.

Abstract Objective To investigate whether intrauterine chilled saline can reduce endometrial impairment during US-guided percutaneous microwave ablation (PMWA) of adenomyosis. Methods An open-label, randomized trial was conducted with sixty symptomatic adenomyosis patients who were randomly assigned (1:1) to receive PMWA treatment assisted by intrauterine saline instillation (study group) or traditional PMWA treatment alone (control group). The primary endpoint was endometrial perfusion impairment grade on post-ablation contrast-enhanced MRI. The secondary endpoints were endometrial dehydration grade, ablation rate, and intra-ablation discomfort. Results The baseline characteristics of the two groups were similar. The incidence rates of endometrial perfusion impairment on MRI in the study and control groups were 6.7% (2/30) and 46.7% (14/30), respectively (p

ABSTRACT Antibiotic resistance poses a significant public health threat worldwide. The rise in antibiotic resistance and the sharp decline in effective antibiotics necessitate the development of innovative antibacterial agents. Based on the central symmetric structure of glycine–serine–glycine, combined with tryptophan and arginine, we designed a range of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) that exhibited broad-spectrum antibacterial activity. Notably, AMP W5 demonstrated a rapid and effective sterilization against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), displaying both a minimum inhibitory concentration and a minimum bactericidal concentration of 8 µM. Mechanistic studies revealed that AMP W5 killed bacterial cells by disrupting the cytoplasmic membrane integrity, triggering leakage of cell contents. AMP W5 also exhibited excellent biocompatibility in both in vitro and in vivo safety evaluations. AMP W5 treatment significantly reduced skin bacterial load in our murine skin infection model. In conclusion, we designed a novel centrosymmetric AMP representing a promising medical alternative to conventional antibiotics for treating MRSA infections.IMPORTANCEIncreasing antibiotic resistance and the paucity of effective antibiotics necessitate innovative antibacterial agents. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a major pathogen causing bacterial infections with high incidence and mortality rates, showing increasing resistance to clinical drugs. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) exhibit significant potential as alternatives to traditional antibiotics. This study designed a novel series of AMPs, characterized by a glycine–serine–glycine-centered symmetrical structure, and our results indicated that AMP W5 exhibited a rapid and effective bactericidal effect against MRSA. AMP W5 also demonstrated excellent biocompatibility and a bactericidal mechanism that disrupted membrane integrity, leading to leakage of cellular contents. The notable reduction in skin bacterial load observed in mouse models reinforced the clinical applicability of AMP W5. This study provides a promising solution for addressing the increasing threat of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and heralds new prospects for clinical applications.

Background: Acute heart failure necessitates intensive care, and arterial catheterization is a commonly performed invasive procedure in the intensive care unit (ICU). We aimed to investigate the association between arterial catheterization and outcomes in acute heart failure patients without shock. Methods: We utilized MIMIC-IV database records for acute heart failure patients at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center from 2008 to 2019. Employing doubly robust estimation, we examined the relationship between arterial catheterization and outcomes, including 28-day, 90-day, in-hospital mortality, and ICU-free days within 28 days. Results: Of 6936 patients identified, 2078 met inclusion criteria; 347 underwent arterial catheterization during their ICU stay. We observed no significant difference in 28-day mortality (odds ratio [OR]: 0.61, 95 % confidence interval [CI]: 0.31–1.21, P = 0.155), though catheterization was associated with reduced in-hospital mortality (OR: 0.41, 95 % CI: 0.14–0.65, P = 0.02). No significant effects were observed on 90-day mortality or ICU-free days within 28 days. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that arterial catheterization is not associated with 28- and 90-day mortality rates in acute heart failure patients without shock but is linked to lower in-hospital mortality. Additional research and consensus are required to determine the appropriate utilization of arterial catheterization in patients.

Abstract The polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) concentrations in total suspended particulate matter (TSP) samples collected from October, 2021 to September, 2022 were analyzed to clarify the pollution characteristics and sources of 16 PAHs in the atmospheric TSP in Bengbu City. The ρ(PAHs) concentrations ranged from 1.71 to 43.85 ng/m3 and higher concentrations were detected in winter, followed by spring, autumn, and summer. The positive matrix factorization analysis revealed that, in spring and summer, PAH pollution was caused mainly by industrial emissions, gasoline and diesel fuel combustion, whereas in autumn and winter, it was coal, biomass and natural gas combustion. The cluster and potential source factor analyses showed that long-range transport was a significant factor. During spring, autumn, and winter, the northern and northwestern regions had a significant impact, whereas the coastal area south of Bengbu had the greatest influence in summer. The health risk assessment revealed that the annual total carcinogenic equivalent concentration values for PAHs varied from 0.0159 to 7.437 ng/m3, which was classified as moderate. Furthermore, the annual incremental lifetime cancer risk values ranged from 1.431 × 10−4 to 3.671 × 10−3 for adults and from 6.823 × 10−5 to 1.749 × 10−3 for children, which were higher than the standard.

Vaginal intraepithelial neoplasia (VAIN), linked to HPV infection, is a condition that is often overlooked during colposcopy, especially in the vaginal vault area, as clinicians tend to focus more on cervical lesions. This oversight can lead to missed or delayed diagnosis and treatment for patients with VAIN. Timely and accurate classification of VAIN plays a crucial role in the evaluation of vaginal lesions and the formulation of effective diagnostic approaches. The challenge is the high similarity between different classes and the low variability in the same class in colposcopic images, which can affect the accuracy, precision, and recall rates, depending on the image quality and the clinician’s experience. In this study, a dual-branch lesion-aware residual network (DLRNet), designed for small medical sample sizes, is introduced, which classifies vaginal lesions by examining the relationship between cervical and vaginal lesions. The DLRNet model includes four main components: a lesion localization module, a dual-branch classification module, an attention-guidance module, and a pretrained network module. The dual-branch classification module combines the original images with segmentation maps obtained from the lesion localization module using a pretrained ResNet network to fine-tune parameters at different levels, explore lesion-specific features from both global and local perspectives, and facilitate layered interactions. The feature guidance module focuses the local branch network on vaginal-specific features by using spatial and channel attention mechanisms. The final integration involves a shared feature extraction module and independent fully connected layers, which represent and merge the dual-branch inputs. The weighted fusion method effectively integrates multiple inputs, enhancing the discriminative and generalization capabilities of the model. Classification experiments on 1142 collected colposcopic images demonstrate that this method raises the existing classification levels, achieving the classification of VAIN into three lesion grades, thus providing a valuable tool for the early screening of vaginal diseases.

Abstract Background Nearly 234 million patients undergo surgery each year, and 1.3 million among them develop complications. Patients undergoing major upper abdominal surgery (operation time > 2 h) have a really high incidence of postoperative pulmonary complications (PPCs). The occurrence of PPCs seriously affects the outcomes of patients. High-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) is as effective as noninvasive ventilation (NIV) in preventing postoperative hypoxaemia and respiratory failure. Respiratory training using positive expiratory pressure (PEP) Acapella (Choice) has been shown to help patients with rapid recovery from postoperative atelectasis. However, no relevant randomized controlled studies have been conducted to clarify the effect of HFNC combined with respiratory training in the prevention of PPCs. This study aims to investigate whether the use of HFNC combined with respiratory training could reduce the incidence of PPCs within 7 days after major upper abdominal surgery compared to that with conventional oxygen therapy (COT). Methods This is a randomized controlled single-centre trial. A total of 328 patients who undergo major abdominal surgery will be included. Subjects who fulfil the eligible criteria will be randomly assigned into the combination treatment group (Group A) or COT group (Group B) after extubation. The interventions will begin within 30 min of extubation. Patients in Group A will receive HFNC for at least 48 h and respiratory training three times a day for at least 72 h. Patients in Group B will receive oxygen therapy through a nasal catheter or mask for at least 48 h. Our primary endpoint is the incidence of PPCs within 7 days, and the secondary outcome measures include 28-day mortality, reintubation rate, length of hospital stay, and all-cause mortality within 1 year. Discussion This trial would help provide evidence on the effectivity of applying HFNC combined with respiratory training for the prevention of PPCs in patients undergoing major upper abdominal surgery. The objective of this study is to determine the optimal treatment approach to improve the prognosis of patients undergoing surgery. Trial registration ChiCTR2100047146. Registered on 8 June 2021. Retrospectively registered.

ObjectiveHigh-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC) has the highest mortality rate among female reproductive system tumors. Accurate preoperative assessment is crucial for treatment planning. This study aims to develop multitask prediction models for HGSOC using radiomics analysis based on preoperative CT images.MethodsThis study enrolled 112 patients diagnosed with HGSOC. Laboratory findings, including serum levels of CA125, HE-4, and NLR, were collected. Radiomic features were extracted from manually delineated ROI on CT images by two radiologists. Classification models were developed using selected optimal feature sets to predict R0 resection, lymph node invasion, and distant metastasis status. Model evaluation was conducted by quantifying receiver operating curves (ROC), calculating the area under the curve (AUC), De Long’s test.ResultsThe radiomics models applied to CT images demonstrated superior performance in the testing set compared to the clinical models. The area under the curve (AUC) values for the combined model in predicting R0 resection were 0.913 and 0.881 in the training and testing datasets, respectively. De Long’s test indicated significant differences between the combined and clinical models in the testing set (p = 0.003). For predicting lymph node invasion, the AUCs of the combined model were 0.868 and 0.800 in the training and testing datasets, respectively. The results also revealed significant differences between the combined and clinical models in the testing set (p = 0.002). The combined model for predicting distant metastasis achieved AUCs of 0.872 and 0.796 in the training and test datasets, respectively. The combined model displayed excellent agreement between observed and predicted results in predicting R0 resection, while the radiomics model demonstrated better calibration than both the clinical model and combined model in predicting lymph node invasion and distant metastasis. The decision curve analysis (DCA) for predicting R0 resection favored the combined model over both the clinical and radiomics models, whereas for predicting lymph node invasion and distant metastasis, DCA favored the radiomics model over both the clinical model and combined model.ConclusionThe identified radiomics signature holds potential value in preoperatively evaluating the R0, lymph node invasion and distant metastasis in patients with HGSC. The radiomics nomogram demonstrated the incremental value of clinical predictors for surgical outcome and metastasis estimation.

In order to utilize lemon seed resources effectively , the antioxidant activities of its protein and enzymolysis peptide were studied. Lemon seed protein(LSP) was extracted from lemon seed meal powder with the alkaline extraction and acid precipitation. Response surface methodology was used to optimize the extraction process of LSP and analyze its amino acid composition. Papain, trypsin, compound protease and flavor protease were applied on the enzymatic hydrolysis of LSP. The antioxidant capacity (scavenging capacity of 1,1- diphenyl -2- picrylhydrazyl radical (\begin{document}$\mathrm{D}\mathrm{P}\mathrm{P}\mathrm{H}\cdot$\end{document}), hydroxyl radical(\begin{document}$\cdot \mathrm{O}\mathrm{H}$\end{document}) and superoxide anion(\begin{document}${\mathrm{O}}_{2}^{-}\cdot$\end{document})) of the enzymatic hydrolysate was studied, and the infrared spectrum analysis of the above four enzymatic peptides was carried out. The results showed that, the optimum extraction conditions of LSP were as follows: pH was 10.5, extraction time was 60 min, liquid-to-material ratio was 41:1 mL/g, and extraction temperature was 40 ℃. Under these conditions, the actual extraction rate of protein from lemon seed reached 12.25% ± 0.01%. The essential amino acids of LSP were complete in variety, accounting for 31.8% of the total amino acids. The flavor protease-hydrolyzed peptide had strong antioxidant capacity. The IC50 of papain enzymolysis peptide, trypsin-hydrolyzed peptide, peptide of compound protease and peptide of flavourzyme against DPPH free radical scavenging was 3.54, 1.75, 1.52 and 1.02 mg/mL, respectively. The IC50 against \begin{document}$\cdot \mathrm{O}\mathrm{H}$\end{document} free radical scavenging was 8.77, 8.92, 8.29 and 5.02 mg/mL, respectively. The IC50 against \begin{document}$\cdot \mathrm{O}\mathrm{H}$\end{document} free radical scavenging was 2.70, 0.90, 0.97 and 0.81 mg/mL. Theinfrared reflectance spectroscopy analysis suggested that all four samples had absorption peaks near 3400, 1600, 1300, and 1000 cm-1, and contained functional groups with antioxidant activity. The study considered that LSP had high antioxidant activity and nutritional value, and could be used as a functional component in the development of antioxidant-related functional foods and health care products.

Abstract Background In clinical practice it is an ongoing challenge to distinguish between angular pregnancy and interstitial pregnancy. With the three-dimensional (3D) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) being increasingly used, it is worth exploring its role in differentiating angular pregnancy from interstitial pregnancy. This study aims to investigate how 3D MRI can help reveal the differences between these two special pregnancies in the early diagnosis. Methods We reviewed and analyzed the 3D MRI images of 50 patients with interstitial pregnancy and 55 patients with angular pregnancy retrospectively. Imaging features were identified to compare these two special pregnancies, and the ROC (Receiver Operating Characteristic) analysis was conducted to assess the diagnostic performance. Results The significant differences of the 3D MRI imaging features between interstitial pregnancy and angular pregnancy were found in the outline of uterus cavity (p

Abstract The Tibet Autonomous Region of China constitutes a unique and fragile ecosystem that is increasingly influenced by development and global climate change. To protect biodiversity and ecosystem services in Tibet, the Chinese government established a system of nature reserves at a significant cost; however, the effectiveness of nature reserves at protecting both—biodiversity and ecosystem service functions in Tibet is not clear. To determine the success of existing nature reserves, we determined importance areas for the conservation of mammal, plant, bird, amphibian, and reptile species, and for the protection of ecosystem service functions. The results indicated that important conservation areas for endangered plants were mainly distributed in the southern part of Nyingchi City, and for endangered animals, in the southern part of Nyingchi and Shannan Cities. Extremely important conservation areas for ecosystem service functions of carbon sequestration, water and soil protection, and flood regulation were mainly distributed in the southern part of Nyingchi and Shannan Cities, northern and southeastern parts of Nagqu City, and southern part of Ngari area. Based on an analysis of spatial overlap in protection areas, we conclude that existing natural reserves need to be expanded, and new ones need to be established to better protect biodiversity in Tibet Autonomous Region.

In this paper, the tensile properties and stress corrosion resistance of two Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloys were tested by tensile test and slow stress rate tensile test. The microstructures of the precipitation were observed by transmission electron microscopy, and the proportion and size of the precipitates were measured by ImageJ software. This work revealed that Sc and Zr microalloying will instead reduce the SCC resistance of Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloys and increase the strength reduction of Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloys, under certain heat treatment. The area fraction of GBP can be effectively adjusted by the combine of changing quenching agents, step-aging and minor additive of Sc and Zr. With the increase of area fraction of precipitates at the grain boundary, the slow stress corrosion susceptibility decreased first and then increased. This is because when the area fraction exceeds 22.3%, the low stress cracking mechanism will change from hydrogen embrittlement mechanism to anodic dissolution mechanism. The combination of heat treatment and Sc, Zr microalloying enable the area fraction reach approximately 22.3 %, which will make the Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloys have high strength and low slow stress corrosion susceptibility.

Robots need the ability to tackle problems of movement generalization in variable task state and complex environment. Dynamical movement primitives can effectively endow robots with humanoid characteristics. However, when the initial state of tasks changes, the generalized trajectories by dynamical movement primitives cannot retain shape features of demonstration, resulting in the loss of imitation quality. In this article, a modified dynamical movement primitives based on Euclidean transformation is proposed to solve this problem. It transforms the initial task state to a virtual situation similar to the demonstration and then utilizes the dynamical movement primitive method to realize movement generalization. Finally, it reverses the movement back to the real situation. Besides, the information of obstacles is added to Euclidean transformation based dynamical movement primitives framework to endow robots with the ability of obstacle avoidance. The normalized root-mean-square error is proposed as the criterion to evaluate the imitation similarity. The feasibility of this method is verified through writing letters, wiping whiteboard in two-dimensional task, and stirring mixture in three-dimensional task. The results show that the similarity of movement imitation in the proposed method is higher than dynamical movement primitives when the initial state changes. Meanwhile, Euclidean transformation based dynamical movement primitives can still greatly retain shape feature of demonstration while avoiding obstacles in an unstructured environment.

Cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) are attractive non-viral gene delivery vectors due to their high transfection capacity and safety. Previously, we have shown that cell-penetrating peptide RALA can be a promising gene delivery vector for chronic wound regeneration application. In this study, we engineered a novel peptide called RALA-E by introducing elastin-derived VGVAPG fragment into RALA, in order to target the elastin-binding protein on the cell surface and thus improve delivery efficacy of RALA. The transfection efficiency of RALA-E was evaluated by transfecting the HEK-293T and HeLa cell lines cells with RALA-E/pDNA complexes and the flow-cytometry results showed that RALA-E significantly increased the transfection efficiency by nearly 20% in both cell lines compared to RALA. Inhibition of pDNA transfection on HEK-293T cells via chlorpromazine, genistein and mβCD showed that the inhibition extent in transfection efficiency was much less for RALA-E group compared to RALA group. In addition, RALA-E/miR-146a complexes showed up to 90% uptake efficiency in macrophages, and can escape from the endosome and enter the nucleus to inhibit the expression of inflammation genes. Therefore, the developed RALA-E peptide has high potential as a safe and efficient vector for gene therapy application.

Improving robot performance while simultaneously ensuring compliance and human safety has been appealing for a long time and remains a challenge. To this end, we propose a new approach for kinematic control of redundant manipulators to deal with multiple prioritized tasks and at the same time produce a novel compliance behavior in the null space of main task. Different from typical Voigt model based compliance control methods, the compliance control approach proposed in this paper is based on Maxwell model, which shows superior performance on impact absorption and contact reducing than its counterparts. In comparison with typical compliance control, the annoying and even harmful return force is removed and human comfortableness can be improved consequently. Besides, this novel compliance control method is implemented in the null space of higher priority task without disturbing the main end-effector task. The effectiveness of our approach has been practically evaluated and verified in experiments on a 7 DOF redundant collaborative robot manipulator. A novel cushion-like and plastic deformed whole body compliance has been realized while the continuity and quality of robot main task have been maintained. Promisingly, the approaches proposed in this paper are general and manipulator independent, which can also be applied to other emerging collaborative and even hyper redundant manipulators. Besides, research results of this work can also potentially inspire other robotic research related with human robot friendly interaction and collaboration.

Objective Sepsis is the leading cause of death in patients admitted to adult intensive care units (ICUs). We aimed to determine the predictive value of red blood cell distribution width (RDW) in patients with sepsis in a large cohort. Methods This retrospective observational study used data from the eICU Collaborative Research Database. The prognostic value of RDW was investigated using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, multiple logistic regression model, integrated discriminatory index (IDI), and net reclassification index (NRI). Results In total, 9743 patients were included. The area under the ROC curve of the RDW for predicting hospital mortality was 0.631 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.616–0.645). Based on the multiple logistic regression model, an RDW of ≥14.5% was correlated with hospital mortality, regardless of Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) and Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation IV (APACHE IV) scores (odds ratio [OR]: 1.838, 95% CI: 1.598–2.119). Using SOFA and APACHE IV scores as reference, the IDI and continuous NRI of RDW for hospital mortality was about 0.3 and 0.014, respectively. Conclusions The RDW may be useful in predicting hospital mortality in patients with sepsis, offering extra prognostic value beyond SOFA and APACHE IV scores.

BACKGROUND Due to its high digestion efficiency, low equipment cost and low detection limit, atmospheric acid dissolution is widely used in the geological laboratory. However, the commonly used four acid methods (hydrofluoric acid-nitric acid-hydrochloric acid-perchloric acid) is insufficient to dissolve niobium and tantalum. At the same time, niobium and tantalum would be partially adsorbed or would settle on the vessel caused by hydrolysis and polymerization reactions leading to the test results are lower than the real values. OBJECTIVES To determine accurately the concentrations of Nb and Ta in geochemical samples, and to solve the two key problems of the dissolution rate and hydrolysis of Nb and Ta in the solution. METHODS For the insufficiency of dissolution, sulphuric acid was introduced into the acid solution system. The acid solution system of hydrofluoric acid-nitric acid-hydrochloric acid-perchloric acid-sulphuric acid is used to completely dissolve niobium-tantalum in the sample. In view of the hydrolysis, extracting agent of 5% hydrofluoric acid-5% sulphuric acid-5% hydrogen peroxide was used. At the same time, the standard material curves were made using the same analytical process as the sample. The combination of these two methods effectively inhibited the hydrolysis of niobium-tantalum in sample solution. The method of standard material curves reduced the error caused by the matrix inconsistency between the sample solution and the standard solution in ICP-MS analysis. RESULTS The relative deviation was less than ±7% and the relative standard deviation was 3.11%-6.27% (n=11). The detection limits of niobium and tantalum were 0.04 μg/g and 0.03 μg/g, respectively. Compared with the detection limit of 0.33 μg/g by alkali fusion method, it has obvious advantages. CONCLUSIONS By changing the acid solution system, the extracting agent, and the method of standard material curves, the proposed method can be applied to measure niobium and tantalum in geochemical exploration samples.

Phosphogypsum is a kind of solid waste that occupies land resources and harms the environment. It can be used as a solidified material, but the utilization of phosphogypsum is limited by its impurities and weak strength performance. This study aimed to use microbial-induced carbonate precipitation (MICP) to improve the water stability, permeability, and hydraulic erosion resistance of phosphogypsum and evaluate its impact on the environment. In this paper, the phosphogypsum samples and artificial slopes were prepared and solidified by spraying various concentrations of bacteria solution and cementation solution to achieve microbial modification. The water stability and permeability test were used to calculate the mass of spalling under water shaking and the permeability coefficient. A rainfall scouring test was carried out to estimate the erosion resistance. The erosion degree was quantitatively calculated using 3D laser scanning technology. The results show that the microorganism treatment can improve water stability and reduce the permeability coefficient, while the differences between the content of CaCO3 in the outermost layer and in the inner layer gradually increase with the increase in bacterial concentration, and the permeability coefficient was reduced uniformly. The sediment loss of the slope after MICP treatment was much less than that of the untreated slope, and the connection force between the particles was strengthened. By observing the morphology of the scoured samples, we found that the treated particles were aggregated and flocculated with more macropores, which led to the formation of erosion pits under scouring. The pH of the outflow of the modified slope was neutral, and the heavy metal elements were fixed by microbial action and carbonate, which is not harmful to the environment.

Expansive soils are characterized by repeated swelling and shrinkage. They cause great damage to engineering projects because of their expansiveness, over-consolidation and propensity to crack. However, the impact of cracks on the stability of an expansive soil slope during loading and irrigation is not yet fully understood. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between slope state and crack development in fissured expansive soils. A series of physical model tests with different types of cracks were conducted, in which the fissured expansive soil slopes were subjected to different loadings (1.6, 3.2, 4.8, 6.4, 16 MPa), and irrigated at a flow rate of 25 mL/min. The VIC-2d software, which utilizes the digital image correlation principle, was used to quantitatively obtain the horizontal and vertical strain data of the slope model. The closure and opening of cracks, and the slope state after loading and irrigation were monitored by strain data analysis using VIC-2d software. The results indicate that the excessive overlying stress revives the existing cracks and produces sliding along the crack interface. The sliding surface of the fissured expansive soil slope became shallower due to the water infiltration. It was demonstrated that the middle and foot of the fissured expansive soil slope were the key positions for reinforcement from the perspective of the mutual transformation of tensile strain and compressive strain on the surface of the slope. It is of great importance to study the relationship between the crack strain state and deformation trend of a slope subjected to loading and infiltration to understand the progressive surface- or shallow-layer sliding mechanisms, and reinforce key areas of the slopes in areas containing moderately or strongly expansive soils with abundant cracks.

Lactose is a commonly used excipient with two isomers. Different isomers have different properties, especially in terms of solubility. This work is mainly to explore the influence of different a/β ratio lactose on drug dissolution. This work has developed novel mesoporous pollen-like lactose anhydrous with tailored α/β ratios as ingredient carriers for controlled dissolution rate. The produced lactose carriers are pollen-like with a particle size of ~15 μm and a mean pore width of ~30 nm. β-lactose anhydrous has a unique FTIR-peak at 948 cm−1, whereas α-lactose anhydrous shows a unique FTIR-peak at 855 cm−1. DSC analysis suggests that the pollen-like α/β-lactose crystals are polymorphs with unique peaks of melting points. XRD analysis suggests that (5:5)α/β-lactose polymorph has high crystalline purity. The loading efficiency (30.6–33.4% w/w) of acetamidophenol within the nanoporous lactose particles is dependent on the surface structure and pore volumes—the pore volumes were found to be 0.0209–0.0380 cm3/g. The release rates of acetamidophenol are lower for lactose with high α/β ratios. The lactose solubility and the first-order release constant can be tailored by changing the proportion of β-lactose in the pollen-like lactose carriers.

Compliance has become one prerequisite of robots designed to work in complex operation environment where dynamic and uncertain physical contact or impact takes place frequently and even intentionally. Impedance control is a typical complaint control methodology. Standard impedance control is based on dynamics described by a spring and damper model connected in parallel way, which endues the robot an elastic behavior. In contrast, plastic deformation can be realized by Maxwell model in which spring and damper connect in series. In this study, a novel Cartesian impedance controller is constructed based on the Maxwell model. Implementation in a robot manipulator is executed to validate and analyze the proposed control law. A plastic deformation behavior of the robot manipulator is produced and certain extent compliance is achieved under the unpredictable impact or contact force exerted by human or other environment objects.

Object detection algorithms are widely used but involve significant amounts of computations, posing challenges for adaptation to resource-constrained application scenarios, such as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USVs). To address these challenges, this paper proposes an object detection accelerator architecture with multi-channel parallel computation. In this architecture, the computationally intensive modules, including the convolution layer, pooling layer, and upsampling layer, are accelerated using hardware, and other modules are dealt with CPU embedded in the FPGA. The methods of pipeline design, loop expansion, data reordering, and other technologies are fully utilized to design hardware acceleration modules. A data transmission architecture is designed, incorporating multi-channel transmission along with ping-pong buffering and employing a blocking strategy for off-chip data access. Furthermore, the architecture incorporates multiple acceleration IP cores to minimize data transmission delays. Based on this architecture, the tiny-YOLOv4 model is optimized and implemented on FPGA as a hardware accelerator for object detection. The network model is enhanced by integrating the convolutional layer with normalization, and different attention mechanisms are applied to improve feature extraction, thereby reducing computational load and enhancing accuracy. The performance of the tiny-YOLOv4 FPGA-based accelerator is validated using the SIMD dataset. Experimental results demonstrate that the hardware accelerator performs exceptionally, consuming only 2.4W and surpassing existing alternatives. Such adaptability facilitates its integration into complex environments such as intelligent transportation systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introducing carbon financial derivatives and improving the carbon trading system are indispensable means for promoting carbon emission reductions. However, the reasonable pricing of carbon financial derivatives is crucial for launching related financial products. Here, the bilateral gamma distribution was used to fit the carbon quota yield series for the first time and compute the volatility of the carbon quota price, based on which the carbon option price was calculated by optimizing the option pricing model. The experimental results show that the carbon quota yield sequence approximately follows the bilateral gamma distribution and the model is reasonable for carbon option pricing. Subsequently, considering the relationship between continuous rise and fall rate in yield and the influence of trading volume on price, the formula of conditional probability of price rise and fall is derived by using bilateral gamma distribution, and numerical verification is carried out. Therefore, bilateral gamma distribution can be used for option pricing and price probability inference in carbon trading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]