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Cation-based resistance switches have been considered as promising candidates for memory cells and other novel devices. So far, the most accepted switching processes of such devices are based on the formation/rupture of metallic filaments between two electrodes. Although many recent studies have identified the existence of H2O (and resulting -OH groups) in such devices, their effects on the switching process are still unclear. In the present work, by taking Cu/Ta2O5/Pt device as an example, we have theoretically revealed that H ions may dissociate from -OH groups and accumulate onto the Cu filament in amorphous Ta2O5. After that, the adsorbed H ions will induce a series of changes, such as the elongation of the adjacent Cu-Cu bonds, the weakening of the Cu-Cu bonds, the increase of charge on Cu cations, and the enhancement of diffusivities of Cu cations, all of which eventually lead to the rupture of the Cu filament. Interestingly, our proposed ‘H-triggered metal filament rupture’ model is similar to the widely studied ‘hydrogen embrittlement phenomenon’. The crucial point of this model is the high catalytic activity of Cu towards the splitting of -OH group. Consequently, it is expected that this model could be applicable to other Cu-cation based resistance switches.

With the continuous development of digital technology, the metaverse, as a concept of virtual and real fusion, is gradually becoming a reality. However, the development of trusted collaborative network technology that underpins the metaverse is still immature. Blockchain can support the construction of trusted collaborative networks due to its own characteristics of decentralization, transparency, and traceability. However, as blockchain can only support simple digital assets such as digital currencies and tokens, it cannot implement the trusted collaboration of complex digital assets in the metaverse. Therefore, this article proposes a blockchain-based trusted collaborative network infrastructure for future digital economy and society—DareChain. DareChain has proposed a novel collaborative-worker multi-chain system, trusted subject-object account model, layered model of smart contracts supporting trusted interactions, hyperlinear ledger consensus algorithm, and transaction model that supports privacy protection. It has been explored in metaverse applications in various scenarios such as government affairs, medical care, and finance to solve problems such as single content expression, few applications of business scenarios, low throughput, and easy leakage of security and privacy when blockchain is used as the underlying trusted collaborative network for the metaverse.

Age-related hearing loss (ARHL) is a common sensory impairment with complex underlying mechanisms. In our previous study, we performed a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in mice and identified a novel locus on chromosome 18 associated with ARHL specifically linked to a 32 kHz tone burst stimulus. Consequently, we investigated the role of Formin Homology 2 Domain Containing 3 (Fhod3), a newly discovered candidate gene for ARHL based on the GWAS results. We observed Fhod3 expression in auditory hair cells (HCs) primarily localized at the cuticular plate (CP). To understand the functional implications of Fhod3 in the cochlea, we generated Fhod3 overexpression mice (Pax2-Cre+/-; Fhod3Tg/+) (TG) and HC-specific conditional knockout mice (Atoh1-Cre+/-; Fhod3fl/fl) (KO). Audiological assessments in TG mice demonstrated progressive high-frequency hearing loss, characterized by predominant loss of outer hair cells, and a decreased phalloidin intensities of CP. Ultrastructural analysis revealed loss of the shortest row of stereocilia in the basal turn of the cochlea, and alterations in the cuticular plate surrounding stereocilia rootlets. Importantly, the hearing and HC phenotype in TG mice phenocopied that of the KO mice. These findings suggest that balanced expression of Fhod3 is critical for proper CP and stereocilia structure and function. Further investigation of Fhod3 related hearing impairment mechanisms may lend new insight towards the myriad mechanisms underlying ARHL, which in turn could facilitate the development of therapeutic strategies for ARHL.

In order to improve the processing quality, processing efficiency and reduce the cost wastage of the dome surface, the effect of each motion parameter on the uniformity of material removal from the optical dome surface during the polishing process was investigated. In this paper, the dispersion coefficient was used as the evaluation index, and the single abrasive particle motion trajectory model was established based on the relative motion and vector method. A triangular mesh was used to iteratively divide the surface of the orthorhombic icosahedron, and the number of trajectory points in each triangular mesh was counted to characterize the number of polishing times. It can be concluded that the speed ratio has a significant effect on the distribution of abrasive trajectories and material removal. With the same speed ratio, increasing the radius of the polishing head, the dispersion coefficient gradually decreases and the uniformity of dome surface material removal changes from poor to good. Increasing the pendulum speed, the length and density of the trajectory gradually decrease, the dispersion coefficient becomes larger, and the non-uniformity of the dome surface increases. The change in the initial phase of abrasive particles has essentially no effect on trajectory uniformity.

A systematic theoretical study was conducted on the triel bonds (TrB) within the BH3∙∙∙M(MDA)2 and C5H4BX∙∙∙M(MDA)2 (M = Ni, Pd, Pt, X = H, CN, F, CH3, NH2, MDA = enolated malondialdehyde) complexes, with BH3 and C5H4BX acting as the electron acceptors and the square-coordinated M(MDA)2 acting as the electron donor. The interaction energies of these systems range between −4.71 and −33.18 kcal/mol. The larger the transition metal center M, the greater the enhancement of the TrB, with σ–hole TrBs found to be stronger than π–hole TrBs. In the σ–hole TrB complex, an electron-withdrawing substituent on the C opposite to the B atom enhances the TrB, while an electron-donating substituent has little effect on the strength of TrB in the Pd and Pt complexes but enhances the TrB in the Ni-containing complexes. The van der Waals interaction plays an important role in stabilizing these binary systems, and its contribution diminishes with increasing M size. The orbital effect within these systems is largely due to charge transfer from the dz2 orbital of M into the empty pz orbital of B.

The Osme bond is defined as pairing a Group 8 metal atom as an electron acceptor in a noncovalent interaction with a nucleophile. DFT calculations with the ωB97XD functional consider MO4 (M = Ru, Os) as the Lewis acid, paired with a series of π electron donors C2H2, C2H4, C6H6, C4H5N, C4H4O, and C4H4S. The calculations establish interaction energies in the range between 9.5 and 26.4 kJ/mol. Os engages in stronger interactions than does Ru, and those involving more extensive π-systems within the aromatic rings form stronger bonds than do the smaller ethylene and acetylene. Extensive analysis questions the existence of a true Osme bond, as the bonding chiefly involves interactions with the three O atoms of MO4 that lie closest to the π-system, via π(C-C)→σ*(M-O) transfers. These interactions are supplemented by back donation from M-O bonds to the π*(CC) antibonding orbitals of the π-systems. Dispersion makes a large contribution to these interactions, higher than electrostatics and much greater than induction.

To achieve fast and secure information steganography in underwater acoustic channel scenarios, this paper proposes a PSO (Particle Swarm Optimization) and IWT (integer wavelet transform) based image steganography algorithm for underwater acoustic communication. Firstly, the underwater image to be embedded is interleaved and packed to generate the secret information code-stream to improve the detection and recovery performance of transmission errors. Secondly, the cover image is divided into non-overlapping blocks and IWT is applied to each block, which can save PSO search space and improve the optimal solution performance. Thirdly, the embedding position matrix of the high frequency sub-band coefficients is chaotic scrambled, and PSO is used to select the optimal key to obtain the optimal matching position for the secret information to produce the best stego-image quality. Finally, transmission error detection and recovery measures are applied to the extracted secret information to improve the reconstruction quality in underwater acoustic channel scenarios. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm outperforms existing approaches in terms of information embedding capacity and steganographic visual quality, meeting the requirements of safety and real-time performance of underwater communication. Moreover, it also has the ability of error detection and recovery for harsh underwater acoustic channel.

ObjectivesTo evaluate the additional, unintended benefits of social distancing in cutting down the prevalence of acute otitis media (AOM) in children, especially during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) periods.MethodsThe daily outpatient attendance of AOM for childhood (from 6 months to 12 years) was compared in the tertiary hospital in Shanghai during pre-COVID-19 and COVID-19 year.ResultsA total of 24,543 AOM cases were included from 2015 to 2020. When age was taken into account, children in kindergarten (aged 4–6) constitute 66.2% (16,236/24,543) of all case, followed by primary school students (6,441/24,543, 26.2%) and preschoolers 50% drop of outpatient attendance of AOM in 2020 (COVID-19 year) suggest that social distancing, mask effects and good hand hygiene can significantly reduce the incidence of AOM, which provides a preventive and therapeutic point of view for AOM.

The tetrel bond between PhXF2Y(TF3) (T = C and Si; X = Cl, Br, and I; Y = F and Cl) and the electron donor MCN (M = Li and Na) was investigated at the M06-2X/aug-cc-pVDZ level of theory. As the electronegativity of the halogen atom X increases, the strength of the tetrel bond also increases, but as the electronegativity of the halogen atom Y increases, the strength of the tetrel bond decreases. The magnitude of the interaction energy in most –CF3 complexes was found to be less than 10 kcal/mol, but to exceed 11 kcal/mol for PhClF2Cl(CF3)⋯NCNa. The tetrel bond is greatly enhanced when the –SiF3 group interacts with LiCN or NaCN, with the largest interaction energy approaching 100 kcal/mol and displaying a covalent Si⋯N interaction. Along with this enhancement, the Si⋯N distance was found to be less than the X–Si bond length, the –SiF3 group to be closer to the N atom, and in most –SiF3 systems, the X–Si–F angle to be less than 90°; the –SiF3 group therefore undergoes inversion and complete transfer in some systems.

Reactions of PtX+ (X = F, Cl, Br, I) with methane have been investigated at the density functional theory (DFT) level. These reactions take place more easily along the low-spin potential energy surface. For HX (X = F, Cl, Br, I) elimination, the formal oxidation state of the metal ion appears to be conserved, and the importance of this reaction channel decreases in going as the sequence: X = F, Cl, Br, I. A reversed trend is observed in the loss of H2 for X = F, Cl, Br, while it is not favorable for PtI+ in the loss of either HI or H2. For HX eliminations, the transfer form of H is from proton to atom, last to hydride, and the mechanisms are from PCET to HAT, last to HT for the sequence of X = F, Cl, Br, I. One reason is mainly due to the electronegativity of halogens. Otherwise, the mechanisms of HX eliminations also can be explained by the analysis of Frontier Molecular Orbitals. While for the loss of H2, the transfer of H is in the form of hydride for all the X ligands. Noncovalent interactions analysis also can be explained the reaction mechanisms.

The π-hole triel bond formed by (BH)2(NHC)2 (NHC denotes nitrogen-heterocyclic carbene) and TrPhX2 (Tr = B, Al, and Ga; X = F, Cl, Br, CH3, and OH) was investigated computationally, with the B=B bond in (BH)2(NHC)2 being the electron donor. A large interaction energy ensures that the complex is quite stable. When the substituent X in the electron acceptor is fixed, the magnitude of the interaction energy varies with the identity of the Tr atom. When Tr is Al or Ga, the interaction energy is stronger than when it is B. With an increase in the electron-withdrawing ability of the substituents, the interaction energy shows distinct changes. When Tr is B or Al, the interaction energy varies as TrPhBr2 > TrPhCl2 > TrPhF2, which is different from the order of their positive electrostatic potentials. When Tr = Ga, the interaction energy hardly changes with an increase in the electronegativity of the halogen atoms. For CH3 and OH substitution, larger interaction energies were obtained, with the interaction energy for the OH substituent being the largest. The main interactions in these systems are a triel bond and an X· ·H hydrogen bond. When the substituents are fixed, the interaction energy of the triel bond increases in the order AlPhX2 < GaPhX2 < BPhX2, which is different from the order of the positive electrostatic potentials on the Tr atom in TrPhX2. When X is a halogen atom, the interaction energy of the triel bond decreases in the order Br > Cl > F, which is opposite to the trend for the positive electrostatic potentials on Tr in TrPhX2. In most complexes, the interaction energy for the hydrogen bond is less than that for the triel bond; there is no hydrogen bond in the methyl-substituted complex. In general, the interaction energy of the hydrogen bonds increases with an increase in the electronegativity of the halogen atoms.

Abstract The development of glioblastoma (GBM) is typically accompanied by marked changes in lipid metabolism. Oxylipins and their catalyzed enzymes lipoxygenases (LOXs) have been shown to participate in the development of cancers via multiple pathways, while the understanding of LOXs in GBM remains enigmatic. Thus, we aimed to explore the expression and functional roles of LOXs in the development of GBM. Here we showed that ALOXE3 was markedly down-regulated in human GBM. Knockdown of ALOXE3 in GBM cells fostered the orthotopic tumor growth and shortened lifespan in mice. ALOXE3 deficiency rendered GBM cells resistant to p53-SLC7A11 dependent ferroptosis, promoting GBM cell survival. Mechanistically, miR-18a directly targeted ALOXE3 and suppressed its expression and functions in GBM cells. Furthermore, ALOXE3 silencing promoted 12-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acids (12-HETE) secretion from GBM cells, in turn, 12-HETE enhanced migration of GBM cells by activating Gs-protein-coupled receptor (GsPCR)-PI3K-Akt pathway in an autocrine manner. Altogether, miR-18a/ALOXE3 axis exerts tumor promoting functions by regulating ferroptosis and migration of GBM cells. Targeting miR-18a/ALOXE3 axis may provide novel therapeutic approaches for GBM treatment.

Healthcare insurance fraud has caused billions of dollars in losses in public healthcare funds around the world. In particular, healthcare insurance fraud in chronic diseases is especially rampant. Understanding disease progression can help investigators detect healthcare insurance frauds early on. Existing disease progression methods often ignore complex relations, such as the time-gap and pattern of disease occurrence. They also do not take into account the different medication stages of the same chronic disease, which is of great help when conducting healthcare insurance fraud detection and reducing healthcare costs. In this paper, we propose a heterogeneous network-based chronic disease progression mining method to improve the current understanding on the progression of chronic diseases, including orphan diseases. The method also considers the different medication stages of the same chronic disease. Extensive experiments show that our method can outperform the existing methods by 20% in terms of F-measure.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to build cyber-physical-psychological ternary fusion crowd intelligence network and realize comprehensive, real, correct and synchronous projection in cyber–physical–psychological ternary fusion system. Since the network of crowd intelligence is the future interconnected network system that takes on the features of large scale, openness and self-organization. The Digital-selfs in the network of crowd intelligence interact and cooperate with each other to finish transactions and achieve co-evolution eventually. Design/methodology/approach – To realize comprehensive, real, correct and synchronous projection between cyber–physical–psychological ternary fusion system, the authors propose the rules and methods of projection from real world to the CrowdIntell Network. They build the mental model of the Digital-self including structure model and behavior model in four aspects: identity, provision, demand and connection, thus forming a theoretical mental model framework of Digital-self. Findings – The mental model is excepted to lay a foundation for the theory of modeling and simulation in the research of crowd science and engineering. Originality/value – This paper is the first one to propose the mental model framework and projection rules and methods of Digital-selfs in network of crowd intelligence, which lays a solid foundation for the theory of modeling, simulation, intelligent transactions, evolution and stability of CrowdIntell Network system, thus promoting the development of crowd science and engineering.

Purpose – Science of the Crowd is a new paradigm. The research on the relationship between provision and requirement arising from the behavior of the crowd under the interconnected environment is a promising topic. This paper aims at studying a new type of interconnected architecture. Design/methodology/approach – This study is a pioneer work on the establishment of a new type of interconnected architecture – rim chain. The rim chain aims at supporting prompt matching between provision and requirements. Findings – The analytical results suggest that requirements can be fulfilled in accordance with six degrees of separation. In other words, the matching between the requirements and provision takes place with six hops in the rim chain framework. Originality/value – Knowledge graph is used to implement the rim chain.

Malondialdehyde (MDA) engages in a triel bond (TrB) with TrX3 (Tr = B and Al; X = H, F, Cl, and Br) in three modes, in which the hydroxyl O, carbonyl O, and central carbon atoms of MDA act as the electron donors, respectively. A H···X secondary interaction coexists with the TrB in the former two types of complexes. The carbonyl O forms a stronger TrB than the hydroxyl O, and both of them are better electron donors than the central carbon atom. The TrB formed by the hydroxyl O enhances the intramolecular H-bond in MDA and thus promotes proton transfer in MDA-BX3 (X = Cl and Br) and MDA-AlX3 (X = halogen), while a weakening H-bond and the inhibition of proton transfer are caused by the TrB formed by the carbonyl O. The TrB formed by the central carbon atom imposes little influence on the H-bond. The BH2 substitution on the central C-H bond can also realise the proton transfer in the triel-bonded complexes between the hydroxyl O and TrH3 (Tr = B and Al).

To produce multi-modal mobility in complicated situations is a significant issue for soft robots. In this study, we show the conception, construction, and operation of an inchworm-impersonating dielectric elastomer-activated soft robot. The robot is small and lightweight, weighing only 3.5 g, and measuring an overall 110 mm by 50 mm by 60 mm (length, width, and height). The three mobility modes for the robot are each equipped with a detailed mechanism. When the excitation voltage is 5 kV, the robot runs forward under a frequency of stimulation of 1–9 Hz, and its direction of motion changes to a backwards motion at >10 Hz. When the excitation voltage of 5.5 kV is applied to the robot, the robot runs forward at 1–12 Hz frequency and moves in the opposite direction at 13 Hz, reaching the fastest reverse speed of 240 mm/s. When the excitation voltage rises to 6 kV, the robot reaches its fastest running speed of 270 mm/s at 14 Hz. Motivated by high voltage and high duty cycle, the robot can jump over obstacles of 5 mm. In order to assess the performance of backward running, the speed achieved by the robot under a 30% duty cycle and a 50% duty cycle was compared, as well as the speed of the robot with or without the use of a counterweight. The robot has a simpler design and construction than earlier soft robots of the same kind, as well as a quicker speed, a wider variety of movement modes, and other notable advantages.

The pnicogen, chalcogen, and halogen bonds between 6-OXF2-fulvene (X = As, Sb, Se, Te, Br, and I) and three nitrogen-containing bases (FCN, HCN, and NH3) are compared. For each nitrogen base, the halogen bond is strongest, followed by the pnicogen bond, and the chalcogen bond is weakest. For each type of bond, the binding increases in the FCN < HCN < NH3 pattern. Both FCN and HCN engage in a bond with comparable strengths and the interaction energies of most bonds are < −6 kcal/mol. However, the strongest base NH3 forms a much more stable complex, particularly for the halogen bond with the interaction energy going up to −18 kcal/mol. For the same type of interaction, its strength increases as the mass of the central X atom increases. These bonds are different in strength, but all of them are dominated by the electrostatic interaction, with the polarization contribution important for the stronger interaction. The presence of these bonds changes the geometries of 6-OXF2-fulvene, particularly for the halogen bond formed by NH3, where the F-X-F arrangement is almost vertical to the fulvene ring.

Joint fraud is one of the most common fraud types existing in medical fraud. However, joint fraud detection is a difficult problem because fraudsters take only a very small part of the population and fraudsters do everything to bypass fraud detection constraints. Most existing fraud detection studies focus on finding normal behavior patterns and treat those who possess behaviors that violate behavior patterns as fraudsters. However, these methods generally have high false positives because normal people may also sometime behave contrary to normal behavior patterns. To address this issue, we propose an abnormal group-based joint fraud detection method named abnormal group-based joint fraud detection method. This method can distinguish suspicious fraudsters from normal persons who have unusual behaviors by abnormal group mining in person similarity adjacency graph so that the occurrence of false positives caused by non-fraudulent abnormal behavior can be reduced. The extensive experiments using medical insurance data show that our approach has improved the precision of joint fraud detection by more than 10% compared with the conventional methods.

Healthcare insurance frauds are causing millions of dollars in loss for public healthcare funds around the world. Healthcare fraud detection methods can help us to avoid the loss of medical healthcare insurance fund and to improve medical quality. The existing fraudster detection methods always consider people who violate normal behavior patterns as fraudsters. However, fraudsters can evade these monitors by camouflage, by adding normal behaviors so that they look “normal.” Our focus is to spot healthcare insurance patient fraudsters in the presence of camouflage. Although camouflage may hinder fraudster detection to some extent, we find that camouflage behaviors always sustain in a short period when the fraudster is conducting fraud. In other words, camouflage behaviors will not last long. Hence, if we can consider the cluster divergence of each patients' hospital admission graph during a long time, we can detect healthcare insurance fraudsters free of the interference of fraudsters' camouflage behaviors. In this paper, we propose the patient cluster divergence-based healthcare insurance fraudster detection (PCDHIFD), which can get rid of the disturbance of camouflage in fraud detection. Extensive experiment results show that our PCDHIFD outperforms the comparison approaches in terms of f-measure by over 15%.

Accumulating studies implicate that the metformin (MET)- and oligofructose (OFS)-altered gut microbiota may play roles in the improvement of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and obesity. However, whether the combined administration of OFS and MET could effectively affect the gut microbiota and improve metabolic profiles remains unknown. Here, we randomized diet-induced obesity (DIO) rats to OFS, MET, or MET+OFS for 8 weeks and demonstrated that the combined administration of OFS+MET possessed potentiated effects on the glycemia, body weight, and gut microbiome. In addition, fecal samples from the MET and MET+OFS group were exchanged and transferred to germ-free rats induced by antibiotics. Not surprisingly, the glucose tolerance and serum levels of endotoxin, free fatty acids (FFA), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-2 (IL-2), and interleukin-6 (IL-6) were all sustainably improved among OFS+MET fecal microbiota-treated DIO rats while the MET fecal microbiota-treated ones presented a relatively reverse trend. Furthermore, transfer of fecal samples from the rats after 8 weeks of treatment to antibiotics-treated germ-free mice significantly improved metabolic profiles, including glucose tolerance and weight reduction in mice that received MET+OFS-altered microbiota. In conclusion, the present study illustrated that the effects of OFS and MET combined treatment on gut microbiota, especially for the MET-induced side effect-related ones, and host metabolism were of greater magnitude than individual OFS or MET treatment in obese rats and mice. Therefore, it is likely that combined administration of OFS and MET may offer a novel and promising strategy for reducing side effects induced by MET and improving metabolic outcomes, particularly glycemia control and weight reduction.

The spodium–π bonding between MX2 (M = Zn, Cd, and Hg; X = Cl, Br, and I) acting as a Lewis acid, and C2H2/C2H4 acting as a Lewis base was studied by ab initio calculations. Two types of structures of cross (T) and parallel (P) forms are obtained. For the T form, the X–M–X axis adopts a cross configuration with the molecular axis of C≡C or C=C, but both of them are parallel in the P form. NCI, AIM, and electron density shifts analyses further, indicating that the spodium–π bonding exists in the binary complexes. Spodium–π bonding exhibits a partially covalent nature characterized with a negative energy density and large interaction energy. With the increase of electronegativity of the substituents on the Lewis acid or its decrease in the Lewis base, the interaction energies increase and vice versa. The spodium–π interaction is dominated by electrostatic interaction in most complexes, whereas dispersion and electrostatic energies are responsible for the stability of the MX2⋯C2F2 complexes. The spodium–π bonding further complements the concept of the spodium bond and provides a wider range of research on the adjustment of the strength of spodium bond.

Ab initio calculations have been performed for the complexes of DMSO and phenyltrifluorosilane (PTS) and its derivatives with a substituent of NH3, OCH3, CH3, OH, F, CHO, CN, NO2, and SO3H. It is necessary to use sufficiently flexible basis sets, such as aug’-cc-pVTZ, to get reliable results for the Si···O tetrel bonds. The tetrel bond in these complexes has been characterized in views of geometries, interaction energies, orbital interactions and topological parameters. The electron-donating group in PTS weakens this interaction and the electron-withdrawing group prominently strengthens it to the point where it exceeds that of the majority of hydrogen bonds. The largest interaction energy occurs in the p-HO3S-PhSiF3···DMSO complex, amounting to −122 kJ/mol. The strong Si···O tetrel bond depends to a large extent on the charge transfer from the O lone pair into the empty p orbital of Si, although it has a dominant electrostatic character. For the PTS derivatives of NH2, OH, CHO and NO2, the hydrogen bonded complex is favorable to the tetrel bonded complex for the NH2 and OH derivatives, while the σ-hole interaction prefers the π-hole interaction for the CHO and NO2 derivatives.

With the development of mobile Internet, various mobile applications have become increasingly popular. Many people are being benefited from the mobile healthcare services. Compared with the traditional healthcare services, patients' medical behavior trajectories can be recorded by mobile healthcare services meticulously. They monitor the entire healthcare services process and help to improve the quality and standardization of healthcare services. By tracking and analyzing the patients' medical records, they provide real-time protection for the patients' healthcare activities. Therefore, medical fraud can be avoided and the loss of public health funds can be reduced. Although mobile healthcare services can provide a large amount of timely data, an effective real-time online algorithm is needed due to the timeliness of detecting the medical insurance fraud claims. However, because of the complex granularity of medical data, existing fraud detection approaches tend to be less effective in terms of monitoring the healthcare services process. In this paper, we propose an approach to deal with these problems. By means of the proposed SSIsomap activity clustering method, SimLOF outlier detection method, and the Dempster-Shafer theory-based evidence aggregation method, our approach is able to detect unusual categories and frequencies of behaviors simultaneously. Our approach is applied to a real-world data set containing more than 40 million medical insurance claim activities from over 40000 users. Compared with two state-of-the-art approaches, the extensive experimental results show that our approach is significantly more effective and efficient. Our approach agent which provides decision support for the approval sender during the medical insurance claim approval process is undergoing trial in mobile healthcare services.

Carbonate MCO3 (M = Zn, Cd) can act as both Lewis acid and base to engage in a spodium bond with nitrogen-containing bases (HCN, NHCH2, and NH3) and a chalcogen bond with SeHX (X = F, Cl, OH, OCH3, NH2, and NHCH3), respectively. There is also a weak hydrogen bond in the chalcogen-bonded dyads. Both chalcogen and hydrogen bonds become stronger in the order of F > Cl > OH > OCH3 > NH2 > NHCH3. The chalcogen-bonded dyads are stabilized by a combination of electrostatic and charge transfer interactions. The interaction energy of chalcogen-bonded dyad is less than −10 kcal/mol at most cases. Furthermore, the chalcogen bond can be strengthened through coexistence with a spodium bond in N-base-MCO3-SeHX. The enhancement of chalcogen bond is primarily attributed to the charge transfer interaction. Additionally, the spodium bond is also enhanced by the chalcogen bond although the corresponding enhancing effect is small.

Purpose – The synthetic application and interaction of/between the internet, Internet of Things, cloud computing, big data, Industry 4.0 and other new patterns and new technologies shall breed future Web-based industrial operation system and social operation management patterns, manifesting as a crowd cyber eco-system composed of multiple interconnected intelligent agents (enterprises, individuals and governmental agencies) and its dynamic behaviors. This paper aims to explore the basic principles and laws of such a system and its behavior. Design/methodology/approach – The authors propose the concepts of crowd science and engineering (CSE) and expound its main content, thus forming a research framework of theories and methodologies of crowd science. Findings – CSE is expected to substantially promote the formation and development of crowd science and thus lay a foundation for the advancement of Web-based industrial operation system and social operation management patterns. Originality/value – This paper is the first one to propose the concepts of CSE, which lights the beacon for the future research in this area.

Quantum chemical calculations have been performed for the substitution reactions of the aluminum chlorogermylenoid H2GeClAlCl2 with HF, H2O, NH3, HCl, H2S, and PH3 to get more insights into the reactivity of H2GeClAlCl2. The theoretical calculated results indicated that the substitution reactions of H2GeClAlCl2 with HF, H2O, NH3, HCl, H2S, and PH3 proceeded in a concerted manner. There were one transition state and one intermediate which connected the reactants and the products along the potential energy surface. The six substitution reactions of H2GeClAlCl2 with HF, H2O, NH3, HCl, H2S, and PH3 are compared with the addition reaction s of H2Ge with these hydrides. And based on the calculated results we concluded that the substitution reactions of H2GeClAlCl2 with these hydrides involve two steps, one is dissociation onto H2Ge with AlCl3, and the other is the addition reactions of H2Ge with HF, H2O, NH3, HCl, H2S, and PH3.

A coinage-metal bond has been predicted and characterized in the complexes of [1.1.1]propellane (P) and M2/MCl/MCH3 (M = Cu, Ag, and Au). The interaction energy varies between −16 and −47 kcal/mol, indicating that the bridgehead carbon atom of P has a good affinity for the coinage atom. The coinage-metal bond becomes stronger in the Ag < Cu < Au sequence. Relative to M2, both MCl and MCH3 engage in a stronger coinage-metal bond, both -Cl and -CH3 groups showing an electron-withdrawing property. The formation of coinage-metal bonding is mainly attributed to the donation orbital interactions from the occupied C-C orbital into the empty metal orbitals and a back-donation from the occupied d orbital of metal into the empty C-C anti-bonding orbital. In most complexes, the coinage-metal bond is dominated by electrostatic interaction, with moderate contribution of polarization. When P binds simultaneously with two coinage donors, negative cooperativity is found. Moreover, this cooperativity is prominent for the stronger coinage-metal bond.

Ab initio calculations are employed to assess the relative strengths of various noncovalent bonds. Tetrel, pnicogen, chalcogen, and halogen atoms are represented by third-row atoms Ge, As, Se, and Br, respectively. Each atom was placed in a series of molecular bonding situations, beginning with all H atoms, then progressing to methyl substitutions, and F substituents placed in various locations around the central atom. Each Lewis acid was allowed to engage in a complex with NH3 as a common nucleophile, and the strength and other aspects of the dimer were assessed. In the context of fully hydrogenated acids, the strengths of the various bonds varied in the pattern of chalcogen > halogen > pnicogen ≈ tetrel. Methyl substitution weakened all bonds, but not in a uniform manner, resulting in a greatly weakened halogen bond. Fluorosubstitution strengthened the interactions, increasing its effect as the number of F atoms rises. The effect was strongest when the F atom lay directly opposite the base, resulting in a halogen > chalcogen > pnicogen > tetrel order of bond strength. Replacing third-row atoms by their second-row counterparts weakened the bonds, but not uniformly. Tetrel bonds were weakest for the fully hydrogenated acids and surpassed pnicogen bonds when F had been added to the acid.

In the United States, roughly 10% of the population is exposed daily to hazardous levels of noise in the workplace. Twin studies estimate heritability for noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) of approximately 36%, and strain specific variation in sensitivity has been demonstrated in mice. Based upon the difficulties inherent to the study of NIHL in humans, we have turned to the study of this complex trait in mice. We exposed 5 week-old mice from the Hybrid Mouse Diversity Panel (HMDP) to a 10 kHz octave band noise at 108 dB for 2 hours and assessed the permanent threshold shift 2 weeks post exposure using frequency specific stimuli. These data were then used in a genome-wide association study (GWAS) using the Efficient Mixed Model Analysis (EMMA) to control for population structure. In this manuscript we describe our GWAS, with an emphasis on a significant peak for susceptibility to NIHL on chromosome 17 within a haplotype block containing NADPH oxidase-3 (Nox3). Our peak was detected after an 8 kHz tone burst stimulus. Nox3 mutants and heterozygotes were then tested to validate our GWAS. The mutants and heterozygotes demonstrated a greater susceptibility to NIHL specifically at 8 kHz both on measures of distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAE) and on auditory brainstem response (ABR). We demonstrate that this sensitivity resides within the synaptic ribbons of the cochlea in the mutant animals specifically at 8 kHz. Our work is the first GWAS for NIHL in mice and elucidates the power of our approach to identify tonotopic genetic susceptibility to NIHL.