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A newly developed SV2A radiotracer, 18F-SynVesT-1, was used in this study to investigate synaptic density and its association with Alzheimer's disease (AD) "A/T/N" biomarkers. The study included a cohort of 97 subjects, consisting of 64 patients with cognitive impairment (CI) and 33 individuals with normal cognition (CU). All subjects underwent 18F-SynVesT-1 PET/MR and 18F-florbetapir PET/CT scans. Additionally, a subgroup of individuals also underwent 18F-MK-6240, 18F-FDG PET/CT, plasma Aβ42/Aβ40 and p-tau181 tests. The differences in synaptic density between the groups and the correlations between synaptic density and AD "A/T/N" biomarkers were analyzed. The results showed that compared to the CU group, the CI with Aβ+ (CI+) group exhibited the most pronounced synapse loss in the hippocampus, with some loss also observed in the neocortex. Furthermore, synaptic density in the hippocampus and parahippocampal gyrus showed associations with AD biomarkers detected by both imaging and plasma tests in the CI group. The associations between synaptic density and FDG uptake and hippocampal volume were also observed in the CI+ group. In conclusion, the study demonstrated significant synaptic density loss, as measured by the promising tracer 18F-SynVesT-1, and its close correlation with "A/T/N" biomarkers in patients with both Alzheimer's clinical syndrome and pathological changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates how and to what extent mechanization in land preparation (MLP) can help improve irrigation water productivity (IWP) (measured as rice yield per unit volume of irrigation water). We employed an endogenous treatment regression model to estimate the 2021 China Land Economic Survey (CLES) data collected from Jiangsu province, China. The results reveal that MLP adoption increases IWP significantly; a higher IWP is determined by whether or not farmers adopt MLP rather than through which channel they access their farm machines; the effects of MLP adoption on IWP are monotonically increasing across the selected quantiles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Defect engineering is an effective and fascinating strategy for improving thermostability of phosphor. However, there is the challenge for the diminishment of luminescence intensity, originating from the defect as quenching center. In this work, the defect is introduced through the non-equivalent substitution of Sm3+ for Ca2+, resulting in zero-thermal-quenching (zero-TQ) behavior in Ca 9 ZnK(PO 4) 7 :0.07Sm3+ (CZKP:0.07Sm3+). Meanwhile, the incorporation of charge compensators (Li+ and Na+) reduces quenching centers and enhances the luminescent performance of the typical CZKP:0.07Sm3+ phosphor, maintaining zero-TQ behavior. Finally, the resulting phosphor are applied to assemble white/red light-emitting diodes (LED) devices, demonstrating highly stable chromatic performance and promising in white/plant growth lighting. This work provides a reference for the effective defect utilization in constructing highly thermostable phosphor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SUMMARY: Sorghum is an important crop for food, forage, wine and biofuel production. To enhance its transformation efficiency without negative developmental by‐effects, we investigated the impact of GRF4‐GIF1 chimaera and GRF5 on sorghum transformation. Both GRF4‐GIF1 and GRF5 effectively improved the transformation efficiency of sorghum and accelerated the transformation process of sorghum to less than 2 months which was not observed when using BBM‐WUS. As agrobacterium effectors increase the ability of T‐DNA transfer into plant cells, we checked whether ternary vector system can additively enhance sorghum transformation. The combination of GRF4‐GIF1 with helper plasmid pVS1‐VIR2 achieved the highest transformation efficiency, reaching 38.28%, which is 7.71‐fold of the original method. Compared with BBM‐WUS, overexpressing GRF4‐GIF1 caused no noticeable growth defects in sorghum. We further developed a sorghum CRISPR/Cas9 gene‐editing tool based on this GRF4‐GIF1/ternary vector system, which achieved an average gene mutation efficiency of 41.36%, and null mutants were created in the T0 generation. Significance Statement: An accelerated and efficient transformation strategy of sorghum was established which has 38.28% efficiency in less than 2 months. The regenerated plants showed no growth defect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we proposed a weighted R-efficiency optimal design (WROD) criterion to obtain an effective design for experiments with the mixture when the assumed model is unknown. our approach is via maximizing weighted R-efficiency for the set of candidate models to achieve. Moreover, we discussed the WROD for Kronecker models with first- and second-order and obtained some results. (i) The equivalence theorem for the WROD is proved; (ii) The WROD has higher efficiency than R-optimal design; (iii) Flexibility in assumptions about the model, and more robust; (iv) The efficiency values of the WROD for different prior distributions were obtained by simulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although extensive research has been done on distortion of heat-treated steel parts, our understanding of heat-treated distortion in spiral bevel gears is far from complete. The cooling characteristics and phase transformation of spiral bevel gears during carburizing and quenching and the effect of quench rate on the uniformity of temperature and phase transformation have been investigated using a medium-alloyed Cr–Ni steel. A new thermodynamic-based model of MS (the start temperature of martensitic transformation) has been proposed, which incorporates both the effects of austenite grain size and carbon content gradient to investigate the kinetics of martensitic transformation during quenching. The effect of austenite grain size on MS was considered in the critical driving force calculation model for martensitic transformation, which includes terms for interfacial energy, strain energy and Hall–Petch energy. In addition, a new method was proposed to characterize the non-uniformity of temperature and martensite distribution across the tooth of the spiral bevel gear. The finite element method was utilized to solve the coupled carbon concentration field, temperature field and metallurgical field. Results show that the complex geometry of spiral bevel gears results in a significant degree of non-uniformity of temperature and phase transformation during carburizing and quenching. Higher quenching medium temperature can reduce the non-uniformity of temperature distribution, while the effect on the volume fraction of martensite formed is almost negligible. Research findings presented have the potential to benefit further research on distortions of spiral bevel gears. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wear and rolling contact fatigue (RCF) cracks are the key defects affecting the service life of heavy‐haul railways in China. In this study, based on the influences of the loading sequence and the interaction between adjacent loads, a modified nonlinear fatigue damage accumulation model under the steady‐state wheel–rail contact was developed to predict the coexistence of wear growth and head check (HC) initiation. A twin‐roller fatigue test was designed and performed, and the testing data were compared with the predicted data to verify the established model. Compared with the linear model, the nonlinear model yielded the faster fatigue damage with an HC initiation life of 2.58 × 105 wheel cycles, which was 24.34% less than that of the linear model. In addition, the HC initiation lives obtained from the nonlinear and linear models were close to the median and upper limits observed in the field, respectively. The results of the linear and nonlinear models were respectively 41.3% and 22.5% higher than the two‐round test results. The result of the nonlinear model was closer to the two‐round test result of 2 × 105. Highlights: A nonlinear fatigue damage accumulation model was applied for rail head check initiation prediction.The effect of load sequence and loads interaction were considered in the nonlinear model.Critical plane model depends on the stress and strain in rail by wheel–rail contact.Head check initiation life by nonlinear model was conservative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There are limited studies on the association between angiogenesis-related genes (ARGs) and the predictive risk of melanoma, even though angiogenic factors, which are essential for tumor growth and metastasis, might be secreted by angiogenesis-related protein in skin cutaneous melanoma (SKCM). To forecast patient outcomes, this study attempts to develop a predictive risk signature linked to angiogenesis in cutaneous melanoma. Methods: In 650 patients with SKCM, the expression and mutation of ARGs were examined, and this information was related to the clinical prognosis. SKCM patients were split into two groups based on how well they performed on the ARG. The link between ARGs, risk genes, and immunological microenvironment was examined using a range of algorithmic analysis techniques. Based on these five risk genes, an angiogenesis risk signature was created. We developed a nomogram and examined the sensitivity of antineoplastic medications to help the proposed risk model's clinical applicability. Results: The risk model developed by ARGs revealed that the prognosis for the two groups was significantly different. The predictive risk score was negatively connected with memory B cells, activated memory CD4 + T cells, M1 macrophages, and CD8 + T cells, and favorably correlated with dendritic cells, mast cells, and neutrophils. Conclusions: Our findings offer fresh perspectives on prognostic evaluation and imply that ARG modulation is implicated in SKCM. Potential medications for the treatment of individuals with various SKCM subtypes were predicted by drug sensitivity analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lithium metal has been recognized as the most promising anode material due to its high capacity and low electrode potential. However, the high reactivity, infinite volume variation, and uncontrolled dendrites growth of Li during long‐term cycling severely limit its practical applications. To address these issues, herein, a novel 3D Al/Mg/Li alloy (denoted as AM‐Li) anode is designed and constructed by a facile smelting‐rolling strategy, which improves the surface stability, electrochemical cycling stability, and rate capability in lithium metal batteries. Specifically, the optimized AM‐Li|AM‐Li symmetric cell exhibits low polarization voltage (< 20 mV) and perfect cycling stability at 1 mA cm−2‐1 mAh cm−2 for more than 1600 h. Moreover, the AM‐Li|NCM811 full cell exhibits superior rate capability up to 5 C and excellent cyclability for 100 cycles at 0.5 C with a high capacity retention of 90.8%. The realization of lithium‐poor or lithium‐free anode materials will be a major development trend of anode materials in the future. Therefore, the research shows that the construction of 3D alloy framework is beneficial to improve the cycling stability of Li anodes by suppressing the volume expansion effect and Li dendrite growth, which will promote the further development of lithium‐poor metal anodes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Objective subtle cognitive difficulties (Obj-SCD) showed Aβ in AD-related regions. • Aβ was associated with cognition in Obj-SCD. • Aβ was only associated with execution in SCD. • FDG was associated with execution only in Obj-SCD. Subjective cognitive decline (SCD) and objective subtle cognitive difficulties (Obj-SCD) are considered the initial stages of aberrant cognition prior to mild cognitive impairment (MCI) due to Alzheimer's disease (AD). We aimed to determine the difference of brain function of SCD and Obj-SCD, furthermore, to figure out which one could be the marker of early AD. One hundred and eighty-five participants were enrolled in this study to determine the amyloid pathology and glucose metabolism changes in SCD and Obj-SCD. The association of amyloid deposition and glucose metabolism with cognitive domains were also investigated. Obj-SCD displayed significantly increased amyloid deposition in frontal and temporal lobes compared to SCD and normal cognitive control (NCC). No difference of amyloid deposition between SCD and NCC, and no difference of glucose metabolism among the three groups were observed. Amyloid deposition was associated with function of memory, language and executive domains, and glucose metabolism was only associated with executive function in Obj-SCD. Amyloid deposition was only associated with executive function in SCD. Obj-SCD could be the early stage of AD, which displayed significant increased amyloid deposition, and the increased amyloid deposition was associated with cognitive function in different domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Soil salinization is becoming an increasingly serious problem worldwide, resulting in cultivated land loss and desertification, as well as having a serious impact on agriculture and the economy. The indoleamine melatonin (N-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine) has a wide array of biological roles in plants, including acting as an auxin analog and an antioxidant. Previous studies have shown that exogenous melatonin application alleviates the salt-induced growth inhibition in non-halophyte plants; however, to our knowledge, melatonin effects have not been examined on halophytes, and it is unclear whether melatonin provides similar protection to salt-exposed halophytic plants. Results: We exposed the halophyte Limonium bicolor to salt stress (300 mM) and concomitantly treated the plants with 5 μM melatonin to examine the effect of melatonin on salt tolerance. Exogenous melatonin treatment promoted the growth of L. bicolor under salt stress, as reflected by increasing its fresh weight and leaf area. This increased growth was caused by an increase in net photosynthetic rate and water use efficiency. Treatment of salt-stressed L. bicolor seedlings with 5 μM melatonin also enhanced the activities of antioxidants (superoxide dismutase [SOD], peroxidase [POD], catalase [CAT], and ascorbate peroxidase [APX]), while significantly decreasing the contents of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), superoxide anion (O2•−), and malondialdehyde (MDA). To screen for L. bicolor genes involved in the above physiological processes, high-throughput RNA sequencing was conducted. A gene ontology enrichment analysis indicated that genes related to photosynthesis, reactive oxygen species scavenging, the auxin-dependent signaling pathway and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) were highly expressed under melatonin treatment. These data indicated that melatonin improved photosynthesis, decreased reactive oxygen species (ROS) and activated MAPK-mediated antioxidant responses, triggering a downstream MAPK cascade that upregulated the expression of antioxidant-related genes. Thus, melatonin improves the salt tolerance of L. bicolor by increasing photosynthesis and improving cellular redox homeostasis under salt stress. Conclusions: Our results showed that melatonin can upregulate the expression of genes related to photosynthesis, reactive oxygen species scavenging and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) of L. bicolor under salt stress, which can improve photosynthesis and antioxidant enzyme activities. Thus melatonin can promote the growth of the species and maintain the homeostasis of reactive oxygen species to alleviate salt stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The temperature of industrial gas containing harmful H2S can reach hundreds of degrees. However, few processes can be used directly for H2S removal from industrial high-temperature gas. In this work, three polyoxometalates with different central atoms ((n-Bu4N)3VMo12O40, (n-Bu4N)3PMo12O40, and (n-Bu4N)4[α-SiMo12O40]) were synthesized and dissolved in four ionic liquids (Bmim]Cl, [Bmim]HCO3, [Bmim]Mes, or [Bmim]OAc) for H2S removal from high-temperature (90–180 °C) gases. The result showed that (n-Bu4N)3VMo12O40/[Bmim]OAc exhibited the optimal desulfurization performance, maintaining more than 98.6% desulfurization efficiency within 10 h. The reacted desulfurization solution can be regenerated by blowing air. FT-IR and XPS results show that both the central atom V and the coordination atom Mo of the polyoxometalate are involved in the oxidation of H2S; after the regeneration by introducing air, V(+IV) and Mo(+IV) recovered to V(+V) and Mo(+VI), respectively. Our research shows that (n-Bu4N)3VMo12O40/[Bmim]OAc is an efficient, easy-to-regenerate, and suitable high-temperature gas desulfurization solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is concerned with the parameter estimation of non-linear discrete-time systems from noisy state measurements in the state-space form. A novel sparse Bayesian convex optimisation algorithm is proposed for the parameter estimation and prediction. The method fully considers the approximation method, parameter prior and posterior, and adds Bayesian sparse learning and optimization for explicit modeling. Different from the previous identification methods, the main identification challenge resides in two aspects: first, a new objective function is obtained by our improved Stein approximation method in the convex optimization problem, so as to capture more information of particle approximation and convergence; second, another objective function is developed with L 1 -regularization, which is sparse method based on recursive least squares estimation. Compared with the previous study, the new objective function contains more information and can easily mine more important information from the raw data. Three simulation examples are given to demonstrate the proposed algorithm's effectiveness. Furthermore, the performances of these approaches are analyzed, including parameter estimation of root mean squared error (RMSE), parameter sparsity and prediction of state and output result. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hybrid dual-phase engineering was proposed to enhance ion storage and electron migration for Ni 3 S 2 /NiCo-MOF, by which the well-designed materials were equipped with ion shuttling channels and electron transferring pathways, deriving from organic ligand pillaring interplanar space in MOFs and semiconductive Ni 3 S 2 , respectively. [Display omitted] • Dual-phase engineering for enhanced ion storage and electron migration was proposed for intercalation-type electrochemical active materials. • Ion-shuttling channels and electron-transferring networks were constructed by enlarged interplanar space in MOF and semiconductive Ni 3 S 2 nanowires, respectively. • Dual pathways boosted intercalation kinetics obviously due to the leaf-like Ni 3 S 2 /NiCo-MOF composite structure. Constructing fast dual pathways for electron transferring and ions intercalating is an effective solution to develop outstanding electrode materials with high capacity and long cycle stability. Herein, dual-phase engineering was proposed to design a leaf-like hierarchical structure comprising Ni 3 S 2 nanowires and NiCo-MOF nanosheets, in which the semiconductive Ni 3 S 2 nanowires could serve as electron transferring pathways and organic ligands in NiCo-MOF enlarged ions intercalating channels. The Ni 3 S 2 /NiCo-MOF nanocomposites as cathode materials for alkaline batteries performed 255 mAh g−1 at 1 A·g−1. Notably, a full battery with Ni 3 S 2 /NiCo-MOF cathode and Fe 2 O 3 anode had a reversible capacity of 215 mAh·g−1 at 2 A·g−1, retained 62.3 % at 8 A·g−1. After 2000 charge/discharge cycles, the initial capacity remained 82 %. Moreover, the highest energy density and power density achieved 129 Wh kg−1 and 5.2 kW kg−1, respectively. This dual-phase engineering boosted intercalating kinetics by constructing speedy ion/electron dual pathways, thereby offering an avenue for designing more robust energy storage systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The indigenization of sociology has been an issue of considerable controversy in China. Rather than taking a side in the debate itself, this article intends to make sense of different perspectives in the debate. Utilizing Bourdieu's field theory, it links a sociologist's view on indigenization with the sociologist's position within China's sociological field. This article traces the history of the indigenization debate in China and proposes a theoretical model based on Bourdieu's insight. It then analyzes how the different combinations of academic and political capital shape the different positions on indigenization and how such a debate can be viewed as a symbolic struggle in the intellectual field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main method of modern ironmaking is blast furnace ironmaking, which is a very complex nonlinear dynamic process with complex physical-chemical coupling. The hot metal is the final product of blast furnace, and its silicon content not only reflects the quality of hot metal but also characterizes the operation status of the blast furnace, so its accurate prediction is very important for the operation of the blast furnace. Given the bottleneck problem in the application of the existing prediction model of hot metal silicon content in the blast furnace, this article proposed a novel data-driven modeling method. First, a nonlinear Takagi–Sugeno (T–S) fuzzy model is constructed for the hot metal silicon content to completely capture the nonlinear dynamics of the blast furnace process. Then, considering the doubts of blast furnace operators about the predicted results of the model, the Bayesian method is used to identify the consequent parameters of the fuzzy model to obtain the probability output, to present the credibility of the predicted results. Furthermore, to improve the robustness of the fuzzy model to the initial fuzzy rules, the sparse priori is adopted to construct a compact fuzzy model with strong generalization performance, in which the key fuzzy rules were screened out. In addition, two optimization methods are derived for each of the above models. Finally, the validity of the proposed methods is verified by the test of actual blast furnace data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is very difficult to control a blast furnace efficiently because of the characteristics of the closed smelting and the system's large delay. It is very helpful for blast furnace control to establish a model that can accurately predict the tendency of silicon content in molten iron. In this article, a nonparallel hyperplane–based fuzzy classifier is proposed reconciling the model accuracy with the model interpretability. Each hyperplane is as close as possible to one class of samples and as far as possible from the other class of samples. This leads to two small quadratic programming problems instead of a large one as a support vector machine–based fuzzy classifier. This makes our classifier faster than a support vector machine–based fuzzy classifier. We evaluate the proposed method on blast furnace data and synthetic data, which verifies the effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Soil salinization is becoming an increasingly serious problem worldwide, resulting in cultivated land loss and desertification, as well as having a serious impact on agriculture and the economy. The indoleamine melatonin (N-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine) has a wide array of biological roles in plants, including acting as an auxin analog and an antioxidant. Previous studies have shown that exogenous melatonin application alleviates the salt-induced growth inhibition in non-halophyte plants; however, to our knowledge, melatonin effects have not been examined on halophytes, and it is unclear whether melatonin provides similar protection to salt-exposed halophytic plants. Results: We exposed the halophyte Limonium bicolor to salt stress (300 mM) and concomitantly treated the plants with 5 μM melatonin to examine the effect of melatonin on salt tolerance. Exogenous melatonin treatment promoted the growth of L. bicolor under salt stress, as reflected by increasing its fresh weight and leaf area. This increased growth was caused by an increase in net photosynthetic rate and water use efficiency. Treatment of salt-stressed L. bicolor seedlings with 5 μM melatonin also enhanced the activities of antioxidants (superoxide dismutase [SOD], peroxidase [POD], catalase [CAT], and ascorbate peroxidase [APX]), while significantly decreasing the contents of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), superoxide anion (O2•−), and malondialdehyde (MDA). To screen for L. bicolor genes involved in the above physiological processes, high-throughput RNA sequencing was conducted. A gene ontology enrichment analysis indicated that genes related to photosynthesis, reactive oxygen species scavenging, the auxin-dependent signaling pathway and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) were highly expressed under melatonin treatment. These data indicated that melatonin improved photosynthesis, decreased reactive oxygen species (ROS) and activated MAPK-mediated antioxidant responses, triggering a downstream MAPK cascade that upregulated the expression of antioxidant-related genes. Thus, melatonin improves the salt tolerance of L. bicolor by increasing photosynthesis and improving cellular redox homeostasis under salt stress. Conclusions: Our results showed that melatonin can upregulate the expression of genes related to photosynthesis, reactive oxygen species scavenging and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) of L. bicolor under salt stress, which can improve photosynthesis and antioxidant enzyme activities. Thus melatonin can promote the growth of the species and maintain the homeostasis of reactive oxygen species to alleviate salt stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The accurate prediction of molten iron quality in blast furnace (BF) can effectively improve the smelting efficiency and operation stability, which plays an important role in energy saving, emission reduction, and economic benefits improving. With the improvement of BF information acquisition technology and data storage technology, some data-driven modeling methods for simultaneously predicting multiple molten iron quality indexes have been presented. However, these modeling processes do not explore the use of the correlation information among multiple molten iron quality indexes, resulting in the suboptimal models. In addition, they do not pay attention to the molten iron quality indexes missing issue, which may lead to a great decline in modeling accuracy. To avoiding the above disadvantage, this article presents a novel multiple-input–multiple-output random vector functional-link networks. An output space transfer matrix is exploited, which not only makes full use of the correlation among all the molten iron quality indexes, but also greatly reduces the impact of index missing. For the corresponding tricky optimization problem, an alternative optimization algorithm is given, the convergence of which is guaranteed. A simulation of an actual BF data illustrates the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Accumulating evidence indicates that neuroinflammation (NI) significantly contributes to drug addiction, but the conversion of NI after drug withdrawal is not clear. Here, we conducted 18F-flutriciclamide (GE180) positron emission tomography (PET) imaging to investigate the conversion of NI during drug withdrawal and conditioning-induced aversion by measuring the change in microglial activation with 18F-GE180. Methods: Twelve male adult Sprague–Dawley rats were subjected to morphine withdrawal by the administration of naloxone, and six of them were used to model conditioned place aversion (CPA). 18F-GE180 PET imaging was performed for 11 rats on the last day of the morphine treatment phase and for 10 rats on the response assessment phase of the behavior conditioning procedure. A 18F-GE180 template was established for spatial normalization of each individual image, and the differential 18F-GE180 uptakes between the drug withdrawal (DW) group and the drug addiction (DA) group, the CPA group and the DA group, and the CPA group and the DW group were compared by a voxel-wise two-sample t test using SPM8. Results: Both the DW group and the CPA group spent less time in the conditioning cage during the post-test phase compared with the pretest phase, but only the difference in the CPA group was significant (63.2 ± 34.6 vs. − 159.53 ± 22.02, P < 0.005). Compared with the DA group, the uptake of 18F-GE180 increased mainly in the hippocampus, visual cortex, thalamus and midbrain regions and decreased mainly in the sensory-related cortices after the administration of naloxone in both the DW and CPA groups. Increased 18F-GE180 uptake was only observed in the mesolimbic regions after conditioned aversion compared with the DW group. Conclusion: In morphine-dependent rats, Neuroinflammation (NI) became more severe in the addiction-involved brain regions but remitted in the sensory-related brain regions after the administration of naloxone, and this NI induced by withdrawal was further aggravated after conditioned aversion formation thus may help to consolidate the withdrawal memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Overfishing of marine fishery is a serious threat to fishery ecological security. Fishing supervision is one of the main ways to maintain marine fishery ecology. In order to improve the intelligence of fishing supervision system, a real time fish detection method based on YOLO-V3-Tiny-MobileNet was proposed. Aiming at the problems of shallow network layers and insufficient feature extraction ability in YOLO-V3-Tiny network, the proposed network takes YOLO-V3-Tiny as baseline and combines it with MobileNet. The proposed network is pre-trained by VOC2012 dataset, and then retrained and tested on Kaggle_ NCFM (The Nature Conservancy Fisheries Monitoring) dataset. The experimental results show that the proposed method has superior performance in parameters number, mean average precision and detection performance, compared with other methods. Compared with the monitoring method of fishing vessel detection on shore supervision, the real time monitoring method can give timely warning to the fishing vessel operators, which is more conducive to fishery ecological protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For complex blast furnace smelting systems with large time delay, accurate prediction of molten iron quality indicators plays an important guiding role in blast furnace control. Recently, some data-driven Multi-Input Multi-Output (MIMO) modeling methods have been proposed to model multiple molten iron quality indicators including molten iron temperature (MIT), silicon content ([Si]), phosphorus content ([P]) and sulfur content ([S]). However, those data-driven MIMO models do not consider the inter-indicator correlation, which leads to the suboptimal model for the estimation of multiple molten iron quality indicators. This paper proposed a novel MIMO Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy model with taking full account of the inter-indicator correlation. In the novel method, the inter-indicator correlation was explicitly modeled by a low-rank learning in a latent space that overcame the great challenge of jointly determining the fuzzy rules of MIMO T-S model and the inter-indicator correlation. For the corresponding optimization problem, an effective alternating optimization algorithm is presented. The validity of the proposed method is verified by simulation and comparison with some related methods on real blast furnace data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Overfishing of marine fishery is a serious threat to fishery ecological security. Fishing supervision is one of the main ways to maintain marine fishery ecology. In order to improve the intelligence of fishing supervision system, a real time fish detection method based on YOLO-V3-Tiny-MobileNet was proposed. Aiming at the problems of shallow network layers and insufficient feature extraction ability in YOLO-V3-Tiny network, the proposed network takes YOLO-V3-Tiny as baseline and combines it with MobileNet. The proposed network is pre-trained by VOC2012 dataset, and then retrained and tested on Kaggle_ NCFM (The Nature Conservancy Fisheries Monitoring) dataset. The experimental results show that the proposed method has superior performance in parameters number, mean average precision and detection performance, compared with other methods. Compared with the monitoring method of fishing vessel detection on shore supervision, the real time monitoring method can give timely warning to the fishing vessel operators, which is more conducive to fishery ecological protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The final product quality of blast furnace (BF) smelting, i.e., the molten iron quality (MIQ), cannot be measured in real-time, which has become one of the important factors restricting the automation of BF. Although some data-driven soft sensing methods have been presented recently, two issues still need to be solved to meet the demand for on-site applications. The first issue is that the data-driven modeling process cannot overlook the correlation among multiple MIQ indexes (MIQIs). The second issue is that the data-driven modeling method can tolerate the missing of MIQIs, which can appear due to some factors. To address the above two issues, this article proposed an output space transfer (OST)-based multiinput–multioutput (MIMO) random vector functional-link networks (RVFLNs) for simultaneously modeling multiple MIQIs. Through sparse learning of the OST matrix, the interindicator correlation is reasonably modeled. Due to the full use of interindicator correlation, the impact of missing indicators on modeling accuracy is greatly reduced. For the corresponding knotty optimization problem, an effective alternative optimization algorithm is presented. The actual data test shows that the proposed method can greatly improve the accuracy of multiple MIQIs estimation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Incidental colorectal fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake, observed during positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) scans, attracts particular attention due to its potential to represent both benign and pre-malignant/malignant lesions. Early detection and excision of these lesions are crucial for preventing cancer development and reducing mortality. This research aims to evaluate the correlation between incidental colorectal FDG uptake on PET/CT with colonoscopic and histopathological results. Methods: Retrospective analysis was performed on data from all patients who underwent PET/CT between December 2019 and December 2023 in our hospital. The study included 79 patients with incidental colonic FDG uptake who underwent endoscopy. Patient characteristics, imaging parameters, and the corresponding colonoscopy and histopathological results were studied. A comparative analysis was performed among the findings from each of these modalities. The optimal cut-off value of SUVmax for 18F-FDG PET/CT diagnosis of premalignant and malignant lesions was determined by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. The area under the curve (AUC) of SUVmax and the combined parameters of SUVmax and colonic wall thickening (CWT) were analyzed. Results: Among the 79 patients with incidental colorectal FDG uptake, histopathology revealed malignancy in 22 (27.9%) patients and premalignant polyps in 22 (27.9%) patients. Compared to patients with benign lesions, patients with premalignant and malignant lesions were more likely to undergo a PET/CT scan for primary evaluation (p = 0.013), and more likely to have focal GIT uptake (p = 0.001) and CWT (p = 0.001). A ROC curve analysis was made and assesed a cut-off value of 7.66 SUVmax (sensitivity: 64.9% and specificity: 82.4%) to distinguish premalignant and malignant lesions from benign lesions. The AUCs of the SUVmax and the combined parameters of SUVmax and CWT were 0.758 and 0.832 respectively. Conclusion: For patients undergo PET/CT for primary evaluation, imaging features of colorectal focal FDG uptake and CWT were more closely associated with premalignant and malignant lesions. The SUVmax helps determine benign and premalignant/malignant lesions of the colorectum. Moreover, the combination of SUVmax and CWT parameters have higher accuracy in estimating premalignant and malignant lesions than SUVmax. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are a class of short, usually positively charged polypeptides that exist in humans, animals, and plants. Considering the increasing number of drug-resistant pathogens, the antimicrobial activity of AMPs has attracted much attention. AMPs with broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity against many gram-positive bacteria, gram-negative bacteria, and fungi are an important defensive barrier against pathogens for many organisms. With continuing research, many other physiological functions of plant AMPs have been found in addition to their antimicrobial roles, such as regulating plant growth and development and treating many diseases with high efficacy. The potential applicability of plant AMPs in agricultural production, as food additives and disease treatments, has garnered much interest. This review focuses on the types of plant AMPs, their mechanisms of action, the parameters affecting the antimicrobial activities of AMPs, and their potential applications in agricultural production, the food industry, breeding industry, and medical field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel neural network adaptive prescribed performance formation control algorithm is investigated for multiple underactuated unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) with asymmetric input saturations and unknown external disturbances. Initially, a new prescribed performance function is adopted to ensure that USV formation errors reach and keep within a predetermined range at a preset time. Then, the underactuated problem of USVs is addressed by an additional term generated by a Nussbaum function, and the model uncertain dynamics set is compensated by the radial basis function neural network (RBF NN) minimum parameter method. Meanwhile, adaptive techniques are employed to deal with external disturbances and unknown approximation errors. Furthermore, a continuously differentiable asymmetric saturation model based on the Gaussian error function is introduced to design the controller, eliminating the influence of non-smooth input saturations. Finally, the boundedness of all signals in the closed-loop system is given by the Lyapunov stability theory proof, and contrast simulation experiments verify the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed algorithm. • A novel prescribed performance control strategy for USV formation is proposed. • The backstepping method for USV formation with asymmetric saturation is investigated. • The method guarantees tracking errors to prescribed performance with bounded inputs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Salt, a common environmental stress factor, inhibits plant growth and reduces yields. Melatonin is a pleiotropic molecule that regulates plant growth and can alleviate environmental stress in plants. All previous research on this topic has focused on the use of melatonin to improve the relatively low salt tolerance of glycophytes by promoting growth and enhancing antioxidant ability. It is unclear whether exogenous melatonin can increase the salt tolerance of halophytes, particularly recretohalophytes, by enhancing salt secretion from the salt glands. Results: To examine the mechanisms of melatonin-mediated salt tolerance, we explored the effects of exogenous applications of melatonin on the secretion of salt from the salt glands of Limonium bicolor (a kind of recretohalophyte) seedlings and on the expression of associated genes. A pretreatment with 5 μM melatonin significantly improved the growth of L. bicolor seedlings under 300 mM NaCl. Furthermore, exogenous melatonin significantly increased the dry weight and endogenous melatonin content of L. bicolor. In addition, this treatment reduced the content of Na+ and Cl− in leaves, but increased the K+ content. Both the salt secretion rate of the salt glands and the expression level of genes encoding ion transporters (LbHTK1, LbSOS1, LbPMA, and LbNHX1) and vesicular transport proteins (LbVAMP721, LbVAP27, and LbVAMP12) were significantly increased by exogenous melatonin treatment. These results indicate that melatonin improves the salt tolerance of the recretohalophyte L. bicolor via the upregulation of salt secretion by the salt glands. Conclusions: Our results showed that melatonin can upregulate the expression of genes encoding ion transporters and vesicle transport proteins to enhance salt secretion from the salt glands. Combining the results of the current study with previous research, we formulated a novel mechanism by which melatonin increases salt secretion in L. bicolor. Ions in mesophyll cells are transported to the salt glands through ion transporters located at the plasma membrane. After the ions enter the salt glands, they are transported to the collecting chamber adjacent to the secretory pore through vesicle transport and ions transporter and then are secreted from the secretory pore of salt glands, which maintain ionic homeostasis in the cells and alleviate NaCl-induced growth inhibition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several researches have studied the physical properties of hydrothermally-synthesized low dimensional piezoelectric nanostructures. However, the obtained piezoelectric coefficient is not high and the relationship between physical properties and microstructures is still neglected. Here we report the piezoelectric and ferroelectric properties of different lead-free sodium bismuth titanate (Na 0.5 Bi 0.5 TiO 3 , NBT) microstructures synthesised with hydrothermal routes and give visualization of domain structures using piezoresponse force microscopy. The NBT nanowire exhibits better local piezoelectric response compared with NBT spherical aggregates and microcubes and other one-dimensional materials prepared by hydrothermal method and the large piezoelectric coefficient of nanowire was explained by observed regular stripe domain structures. Moreover, it is found that there are different domain configurations at the top and side of the nanowire under the external electrical fields, which don't change the regular stripe domain structure but lead to the movement of domain boundaries. By finite element modeling, it attributes to the different electric potential distributions from tip within the nanowire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The application value of Masquelet induced membrane technique for the treatment of rat chronic osteomyelitis was explored. A total of 180 male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into sham operation group (control group), chronic osteomyelitis model group (model group) and Masquelet induced membrane therapy + chronic osteomyelitis model group (observation group); 60 rats in each group. A rat model of traumatic osteomyelitis was established using a modified blunt trauma method in model and observation group. All rats in observation group were treated with membrane induction technology while in the control group they were not. Postoperative complications, bone healing time and functional status of the affected limbs were recorded. After surgery, no obvious perioperative complications occurred in most of the rats, except that 5 rats experienced partial necrosis at the edge of the flap, and 3 experienced superficial infection around the incision site in the ilium. Primary bone healing was achieved in 50 rats with an average healing time of 15 weeks. Among them, 38 rats restored weight-bearing function after 20 weeks. Seven rats experienced infection after surgery, but complete bone healing was achieved after treatment with induced membrane technique again. Following treatment with induced membrane technique, the rat body weight, body temperature and the number of bacteria in the wound decreased over time. In conclusion, Masquelet induced membrane technique is effective for the treatment of large bone defects in rats after traumatic osteomyelitis. This technique significantly shortens the treatment cycle. The surgical procedure is simple, and the incidence of postoperative complications is low. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Red-emitting materials play a significant role in phosphor-converted white light-emitting diodes (WLEDs), since it can effectively improve the chromatic properties of the solid-state lighting source. In this work, we employ a microwave-assisted solid-state reaction to prepare a red-emitting Ba 3 (ZnB 5 O 10)PO 4 :Eu3+ (BZBP:Eu3+) phosphor. Eu3+ activators are solidly dissolved into the BZBP host via occupying the Ba2+ positions. Excited by 395 ​nm, the title phosphor yields red emission with high color purity, which is dominated by the electric dipole transition of Eu3+. Base on the investigation of photoluminescence in response to the Eu3+ content, the content quenching mechanism is understood. Besides, the study on the luminescence temperature quenching reveals the good thermal stability and resistance to chromaticity shifting. The results indicate that the studied phosphor would be an alternative red-emitting material for WLEDs. The microwave-assisted solid-state reaction is used to prepare a red Ba 3 (ZnB 5 O 10)PO 4 :Eu3+ (BZBP:Eu3+) phosphor, exhibiting good thermal stability and chromaticity stability. [Display omitted] • A Eu3+-activated Ba 3 (ZnB 5 O 10)PO 4 phosphor was synthesized by a microwave-assisted solid-state synthesis route. • Ba 3 (ZnB 5 O 10)PO 4 :Eu3+ exhibits red emission with high color purity. • Ba 3 (ZnB 5 O 10)PO 4 :Eu3+ presents good thermal stability and resistance to chromaticity shifting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, a new position/force hybrid control strategy is proposed for a class of uncertain bilateral telerobotics systems under time-varying communication delays. This control approach features the capability of removing the use of force sensors and relaxing the assumption on external forces. Specially, the proposed terminal sliding mode (TSM)-based force observer can estimate human force and environment force in a fixed time by applying a variable exponent coefficient, which effectively avoids the temporal problems of other existing force observers. By embedding the estimated force information, corresponding position/force hybrid controller is designed to ensure transparency and stability of system, which can be evaluated by the position synchronization in the slave and the force repeated in the master. Furthermore, by selecting Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional, it proves the stability of the bilateral telerobotics system under particular linear matrix inequality (LMI) conditions. The proposed stability criterion can serve to calculate the maximum allowable transmission delay with the given controller parameters; thus, the conservativeness is reduced. Finally, simulation comparison results and experimental results demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed position/force hybrid controller under different external forces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the hot metal silicon content simultaneously reflects the product quality and the thermal state of the blast furnace, its modeling is crucial and representative. In order to facilitate the realization of control, this paper proposes a Bayesian block structure sparse based Takagi–Sugeno (T–S) fuzzy modeling method, with which the main important fuzzy rules and the corresponding pivotal consequent parameters can be selected automatically to obtain a compact fuzzy model with good generalization performance. For being conjugate to the Gaussian likelihood that would lead to the associated Bayesian inference to be performed in closed form, a hierarchy of block structure sparse priori is adopted, and the variational Bayesian inference is used to solve it. The screening of model inputs and data processing appropriately consider the characteristics of the blast furnace process. The applicability and performance of the proposed method are demonstrated on no. 2 blast furnace of Liuzhou Steel in China. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Seven hydroxyl ammonium ionic liquids were synthesized by neutralization reaction and characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, elemental analysis, 1 H Nuclear Magnetic Resonance and Electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. To enhance the desulfurization performance of the pure ionic liquids which showed weak physical and chemical absorption for H 2 S, seven hydramine/ionic liquid solutions were prepared by dissolving hydramine in ionic liquids with corresponding cations: ethanolamine/ethanolamine acetate, ethanolamine/ethanolamine formate, ethanolamine/ethanolamine propionate, ethanolamine/ethanolamine lactate, diethanolamine/diethanolamine acetate, triethanolamine/triethanolamine acetate and N -methyl diethanolamine/ N -methyl diethanolamine acetate. And their desulfurization performances were investigated through dynamic H 2 S absorption experiment. The solution of ethanolamine/ethanolamine lactate shows the best desulfurization capacity, and the H 2 S removal efficiency can reach nearly 100% for 2 h. The results show that lower temperature and H 2 S concentration were beneficial to the H 2 S absorption reaction. The absorbent recovery experiment shows that ethanolamine/ethanolamine lactate solution can be recycled perfectly. The saturated sulfur capacity and reaction characteristics of absorption were discussed by mathematical calculation. The mass loss and foaming rates of IL solution and aqueous solution were compared, and the results showed that the operation of hydramine/ionic liquid solution was more stable. These results indicate that hydramine/ionic liquid solutions have a potential utilization value for H 2 S removal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mineralization of lead ions (Pb2+) to pyromorphite using phosphorus-containing materials is an effective way to remediate lead (Pb) contamination. Bone char is rich in phosphorus, but its immobilization of Pb2+ is limited by poor phosphate release. To utilize the phosphorus in bone char and provide a suitable growth environment for phosphate-solubilizing bacteria, bone char and Pseudomonas rhodesiae HP-7 were encapsulated into bio-beads, and the immobilization performance and mechanism of Pb in solution and soil by bio-beads were investigated. The results showed that 137 mg/g of phosphorus was released from bone char in the presence of the HP-7 strain. Pb2+ removal efficiency reached 100 % with an initial Pb2+ concentration of 1 mM, bone char content of 6 g/L, and bio-bead dosage of 1 %. Most Pb2+ was immobilized on the surface of the bio-beads as Pb 5 (PO 4) 3 Cl. The soil remediation experiments showed a 34 % reduction in the acid-soluble fraction of Pb. The bio-beads showed good stability in long-term (30 d) soil remediation. The present study shows that bone char can be turned into an efficient Pb immobilization material in the presence of phosphate-solubilizing bacteria. Thus, bio-beads are expected to be used in the remediation of Pb-contaminated environments. [Display omitted] • Bio-beads containing Pseudomonas rhodesiae HP-7 and bone char were prepared. • Bone char turned into effective Pb remedial material in the presence of HP-7 strain. • Acid soluble fraction Pb in the soil was reduced by 34 % after remediation. • Bio-beads show stability during one-month Pb contamination remediation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the fixed‐time coordination control problem is addressed for a class of uncertain human‐robot systems without velocity information. Specifically, due to the absence of approximation function, the developed control scheme is more practical. Firstly, a new fixed‐time velocity observer is introduced to estimate unmeasured velocities with the homogeneity theory. Then, the performance of the velocity observer in the presence of parametric uncertainties and non‐parametric uncertainties is analyzed seriously. Furthermore, a novel distributed continuous fixed‐time control (DCFTC) scheme is proposed. Compared with the existing velocity‐free controllers, fixed‐time convergence is achieved both for velocity estimation and trajectory tracking. More than that, distributed control is realized by using graph theoretic notions. Finally, numerical simulation results and experiment results demonstrate the efficacy and superior performance of the proposed velocity estimation method and control algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transformation behavior of free-volume defect in (80GeS 2 -20Ga 2 S 3 ) 100-x (CsI) x (x = 0, 5, 10, 15 mol%) chalcogenide glasses was studied by employing positron annihilation spectroscopic technique, which could reveal valuable information for in-depth understanding of nano-structural defects in glassy matrix. The results indicate that the structural changes caused by CsI additives can be adequately described by positron trapping modes determined with two-state model. The initial addition of CsI (x = 5 mol%) led to a void contraction, whereas, the void agglomeration occurred with the increase of CsI and the free-volume defects of the glasses were obviously reduced. The atomic density ρ is inversely proportional to the number of these defects. Meanwhile, the UV cut-off edge shifts toward short-wavelength with increasing of CsI. This study provides the valuable information of defects evolution in GeS 2 -Ga 2 S 3 -CsI glasses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, a series of substituted heteropoly compounds (HPCs) were synthesized and dissolved into ionic liquid 1-N-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (BmimCl) to be used for H 2 S removal at 200 °C. The absorbent and desulfurization product were characterized by elemental analysis, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectra, Thermogravimetry analysis (TGA), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The absorption results showed that the desulfurization ability of Mo-V doped HPC is far better than that of W-Mo doped HPC, which demonstrated that Mo and V in HPC are more suitable for H 2 S removal compared with W atom. Besides, [Bmim]PMo 10 V 2 O 40 /BmimCl solution showed the best desulfurization performance. The regeneration experiment showed that all HPC/IL solution can be recycled easily. The desulfurization mechanism could be expressed as: H 2 S + O 2 ⟶ HPC / IL H 2 O + S . Never was found before in liquid phase, the oxygen in HPC could be replaced by S 2− , which tremendously improved the sulfur capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the state feedback fixed‐time control problem is addressed for a class of high‐order strict‐feedback non‐linear systems (SFNSs) with mismatching system uncertainties. Based on the fixed‐time control technique and uniform exact difference method, a new fixed‐time tracking control algorithm via the backstepping method in conjunction with a novel second‐order sliding mode super‐twisting‐like structure adaptive fixed‐time disturbance observer is proposed. Compared with many existing finite‐time control results in which the convergence time grows unboundedly when the system initial conditions grow, the fixed‐time control provides faster convergence rate by using high‐degree terms and the settling time function derived only with controller parameters, is allowed to be adjusted independently of the system initial conditions. Moreover, to avoid the computation explosion, the singularity problem and to relax the assumption on the mismatching system uncertainties, the dynamics surface control method is employed based on a novel non‐linear non‐smooth first‐order filter. Then the semi‐globally uniformly fixed‐time convergent performance of the high‐order SFNSs is achieved. Finally, theoretical results are supported by simulation and experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extreme Learning Machine (ELM), a competitive machine learning technique for single-hidden-layer feedforward neural networks (SLFNNs), has proven to be efficient and effective algorithm for regression and classification problems. However, traditional ELM involves a large number of hidden nodes for complex real world regression and classification problems which increasing the computation burden. In this paper, a decomposition based fast ELM (DFELM) algorithm is proposed to effectively reduce the computational burden for large number of hidden nodes condition. Compared with ELM algorithm, DFELM algorithm has faster training time with a large number of hidden nodes maintaining the same accuracy performance. Experiment on three regression problems, six classification problems and a complex blast furnace modeling problem are carried out to verify the performance of DFELM algorithm. Moreover, the decomposition method can be extended to other modified ELM algorithms to further reduce the training time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The incoherent B 4 C/Al 2 O 3 phase interface was replaced by the well-bonded semi-coherent B 4 C/Al interface. • Both the tensile strength and elongation of the as-rolled composite were increased compared with the as-sintered composite. • The improvement of interface Al 2 O 3 nanoparticles distribution during hot rolling improved the mechanical properties. • The dispersion of Al 2 O 3 nanoparticles in the grain improved the dislocation storage ability, hence increase the ductility. B 4 C/Al composites with a high B 4 C content of 30 wt% were successfully fabricated by hot pressing sintering followed by hot rolling. The influence of hot rolling on the microstructure, mechanical properties, anisotropy and the interfacial conditions of the B 4 C/Al composites were systematically investigated. The improvement of the interfacial Al 2 O 3 nanoparticles distribution during hot rolling increased both the strength and ductility. After sintering of B 4 C/Al composites, some Al 2 O 3 nanoparticles aggregated together at the interface between B 4 C and Al matrix, lowering the interface bonding strength between B 4 C and Al matrix. The Al 2 O 3 nanoparticles dispersed into the Al grain interior after rolling, leading to a well bonding interface between B 4 C particles and the Al matrix. In addition, the dispersion of Al 2 O 3 nanoparticles into the Al grain interior contributed to the strength through Orowan strengthening and ductility through the enhancement of dislocation storage ability. The strengthening and toughening mechanisms of the composites are discussed in detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Novel dual function Au–NaYF 4 nanocomposites were prepared by a facile wet chemical method. Hexagonal NaYF 4 nanocrystals (NCs) were first produced by a hydrothermal method. Then, these NaYF 4 NCs were decorated with gold nanoparticles (NPs) to form hybrid nanostructures. In this dual mode probe, surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) and field enhanced fluorescence can be generated independently by using different excitation wavelengths. It was found that the attached gold NPs on the rough surfaces of NaYF 4 NCs might generate high density localized electric fields, which could lead to both efficient Raman scattering signal and upconversion (UC) luminescence. The enhancement factors of SERS signals from Au–NaYF 4 nanocomposites were investigated using 4-mercaptobenzoic acid. The mechanism of enhanced UC luminescence from the nanocomposites was also discussed based on the population and photoluminescence processes of doped trivalent lanthanide ions. These dual mode nanocomposites may find potential applications in biological detection, imaging, and sensing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been a challenge to develop a new transparent conductor to replace the brittle and expensive indium tin oxide (ITO) film to make film heater with high transmittance in the visible wavelength range, high surface conductivity and mechanical flexibility. Here, we report the synthesis of a transparent composite film comprising a silver nanowire (AgNW) percolation network inlaid in the surface of a heat-resistant polymer film. This composite conductor has a figure-of-merit sheet resistance of 25 Ω · sq−1 with 86.4% transmittance at 550 nm. The composite film possesses outstanding heat-resistant property and can generate high temperature up to 230 °C at low operation voltages as an efficient thin film heater. Compared with the film heaters previously reported, the composite film heater shows faster heating response and higher saturation temperature under the same input voltage. The film heater could be bent to 10 mm diameter and the generated temperature decreased by less than 3 °C after 3 000 bending cycles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which editor discusses several book reviews published within issue topics like transnational feminist sociology.

In this article, a predictor‐based robust synchronization control scheme is proposed for a non‐collocated nonlinear master–slave system with any large networked communication time delays. In contrast to traditional collocated teleoperation systems, enhanced flexibility, and operation capacity will be obtained under the non‐collocated system structure in this article. Yet, due to the introduced input delays, existing control strategies for teleoperation systems are no longer applicable. Aiming at this problem, the terminal sliding mode (TSM) admittance control approach is proposed for the master robot to improve system transparency by receiving the contact force from the slave robot to the local side, first. Moreover, complete position synchronization performance is realized by developing a predictor‐based TSM control method for the slave robot while the closed‐loop system is subject to time‐variant large delays. It is mathematically proved that the synchronization errors between the master and the slave will converge to zero completely in finite time by compensating the effect of time delays. Finally, numerical simulations and comparisons are executed to illustrate the superior performance of the posed control algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: In this study, we investigated the role of [68Ga]Ga-FAPI PET imaging in the detection of primary and metastatic gastric signet-ring-cell carcinoma (GSRCC) and compared with [18F]FDG PET. Methods: This retrospective multicenter analysis included 34 patients with histologically confirmed GSRCCs from four medical centers. The maximum standard uptake value (SUVmax), tumor-to-background ratio (TBR), and diagnostic accuracy were compared between the two modalities. [18F]FDG and [68Ga]Ga-FAPI uptakes were compared by using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. McNemar's test was used to compare the diagnostic accuracy between the two techniques. Results: Data were analyzed from 27 paired PET/CT and 7 paired PET/MRI scans for 34 GSRCC patients (16 men and 18 women) who had a median age of 51 years (range: 25–85 years). [68Ga]Ga-FAPI PET showed higher SUVmax and TBR values than did [18F]FDG PET in the primary tumors (SUVmax: 5.2 vs. 2.2, p = 0.001; TBR: 7.6 vs. 1.3, p < 0.001), involved lymph nodes (SUVmax: 6.8 vs. 2.5, p < 0.001; TBR: 5.8 vs. 1.3, p < 0.001), and bone and visceral metastases (SUVmax: 6.5 vs. 2.4, p < 0.001; TBR: 6.3 vs. 1.3, p < 0.001). In diagnostic performance, [68Ga]Ga-FAPI PET exhibited higher sensitivity than [18F]FDG PET for detecting primary tumors (73% [16/22] vs. 18% [4/22], p < 0.001), local recurrences (100% [7/7] vs. 29% [2/7], p = 0.071), lymph node metastases (77% [59/77] vs. 23% [18/77], p < 0.001), and distant metastases (93% [207/222] vs. 39% [86/222], p < 0.001). Conclusion: The results from this multicenter retrospective analysis justify the clinical use of [68Ga]Ga-FAPI tracers for GSRCC diagnosis and staging. Key Points: • [68Ga]Ga-FAPI PET/CT is a promising imaging modality for the detection of primary and metastatic disease and has implications for TNM staging in GSRCC. • In this multicenter study of 34 patients with GSRCC, [68Ga]Ga-FAPI PET exhibited greater radiotracer uptake, tumor-to-background ratios, and diagnostic accuracy than [18F]FDG PET for detecting primary/recurrent tumors and metastatic lesions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] The synthesis of Ag–NaCMC films was successfully fulfilled by a low-cost microwave method. [•] More uniform silver nanoparticles were observed in Ag–NaCMC film synthesized by microwave. [•] Improved reproducibility of SERS signal was obtained in microwave synthesized Ag–NaCMC film. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The parameter estimation problem is considered for a class Wiener systems. First, the effect of the forgetting factor on the stochastic gradient algorithm is analyzed. Then, a Wiener system stochastic gradient with a changing forgetting factor algorithm is presented which makes full use of the forgetting factor. Finally, an example is provided to test and verify the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Highlights: [•] A deficiency of KH is analyzed. [•] Why KH cannot achieve the excellent balance between exploration and exploitation in optimization processing is explained. [•] To overcome the defect, an improved KH with linear decreasing step (KHLD) is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]