Search

Abstract Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) is a common malignancy in the hematologic system, and traditional therapy has limited efficacy for people with recurrent/refractory NHL (R/R NHL), especially for patients with diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL). Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy is a novel and effective immunotherapy strategy for R/R hematopoietic malignancies, but relapses can occur due to the loss of CAR-T cells in vivo or the loss of antigen. One strategy to avoid antigen loss after CAR-T cell therapy is to target one more antigen simultaneously. Tandem CAR targeting CD19 and CD22 has demonstrated the reliability of tandem CAR-T cell therapy for R/R B-ALL. This study explores the therapeutic potential of tandem CD19/20 CAR-T in the treatment of R/R B cell NHL. The efficacy and safety of autologous CD19/20 CAR-T cells in eleven R/R B cell NHL adult patients were evaluated in an open-label, single-arm trial. Most patients achieved complete response, exhibiting the efficacy and safety of tandem CD19/20 CAR-T cells. The TCR repertoire diversity of CAR-T cells decreased after infusion. The expanded TCR clones in vivo were mainly derived from TCR clones that had increased expression of genes associated with immune-related signaling pathways from the infusion product (IP). The kinetics of CAR-T cells in vivo were linked to an increase in the expression of genes related to immune response and cytolysis/cytotoxicity.

Intestinal epithelial cells possess the requisite molecular machinery to initiate cell-intrinsic defensive responses against intracellular pathogens, including intracellular parasites. Interferons(IFNs) have been identified as cornerstones of epithelial cell-intrinsic defense against such pathogens in the gastrointestinal tract. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are RNA transcripts (>200 nt) not translated into protein and represent a critical regulatory component of mucosal defense. We report here that lncRNA Nostrill facilitates IFN-γ-stimulated intestinal epithelial cell-intrinsic defense against infection by Cryptosporidium, an important opportunistic pathogen in AIDS patients and a common cause of diarrhea in young children. Nostrill promotes transcription of a panel of genes controlled by IFN-γ through facilitating Stat1 chromatin recruitment and thus, enhances expression of several genes associated with cell-intrinsic defense in intestinal epithelial cells in response to IFN-γ stimulation, including Igtp, iNos, and Gadd45g. Induction of Nostrill enhances IFN-γ-stimulated intestinal epithelial defense against Cryptosporidium infection, which is associated with an enhanced autophagy in intestinal epithelial cells. Our findings reveal that Nostrill enhances the transcription of a set of genes regulated by IFN-γ in intestinal epithelial cells. Moreover, induction of Nostrill facilitates the IFN-γ-mediated epithelial cell-intrinsic defense against cryptosporidial infections.

Abstract We conducted two‐dimensional numerical simulations to investigate the mechanisms underlying the strong spatiotemporal correlation observed between submarine landslides and gas hydrate dissociation due to glacial sea‐level drops. Our results suggest that potential plastic deformation or slip could occur at localized and small scales in the shallow‐water portion of the gas hydrate stability zone (GHSZ). This shallow‐water portion of the GHSZ typically lies within the area enclosed by three points: the BGHSZ–seafloor intersection, the seafloor at ∼600 m below sea level (mbsl), and the base of the GHSZ (BGHSZ) at ∼1,050 mbsl in low‐latitude regions. The deep BGHSZ (>1,050 mbsl) could not slip; therefore, the entire BGHSZ was not a complete slip surface. Glacial hydrate dissociation alone is unlikely to cause large‐scale submarine landslides. Observed deep‐water (much greater than 600 mbsl) turbidites containing geochemical evidence of glacial hydrate dissociation potentially formed from erosion or detachment in the GHSZ pinch‐out zone.

The original unstructured record data for the defect of the relay protection devices (RPDs) may contain problems influencing the data mining, and it is lack of quantitative evaluation. So the purpose of this paper is to evaluate the quality of these defective texts of relay protection devices, and it proposes a text quality evaluation method for the unstructured defect record of RPDs based on the ontology and knowledge graph for the defects text of relay protection devices, combined with the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and entropy weighting method. In details, first, the problems existing in the unstructured defect records of RPDs are presented. Secondly, the corresponding evaluation indicators are proposed, and the quantitative calculation method for each indicator is given in combination with the knowledge graph for the defects of relay protection devices. Thirdly, combined with the subjective AHP and the objective entropy weight method, a comprehensive evaluation method for the unstructured defect record for RPDs is proposed, and its effectiveness is verified with examples. Finally, with the 10-year actual defects record data, the data quality of the unstructured defect record for the RPDs in a regional power grid is comprehensively evaluated, and characteristic of the data quality with respected to text length, defect level, and dispatch region are revealed.

Advanced photovoltaics, such as ultra-flexible perovskite solar cells (UF-PSCs), which are known for their lightweight design and high power-to-mass ratio, have been a long-standing goal that we, as humans, have continuously pursued. Unlike normal PSCs fabricated on rigid substrates, producing high-efficiency UF-PSCs remains a challenge due to the difficulty in achieving full coverage and minimizing defects of metal halide perovskite (MHP) films. In this study, we utilized Al2O3 nanoparticles (NPs) as an inorganic surface modifier to enhance the wettability and reduce the roughness of poly-bis(4-phenyl) (2,4,6-trimethylphenyl) amine simultaneously. This approach proves essentials in fabricating UF-PSCs, enabling the deposition of uniform and dense MHP films with full coverage and fewer defects. We systematically investigated the effect of Al2O3 NPs on film formation, combining simulation with experiments. Our strategy not only significantly increases the power conversion efficiency (PCE) from 11.96% to 16.33%, but also promotes reproducibility by effectively addressing the short circuit issue commonly encountered in UF-PSCs. Additionally, our UF-PSCs demonstrates good mechanical stability, maintaining 98.6% and 79.0% of their initial PCEs after 10,000 bending cycles with radii of 1.0 and 0.5 ​mm, respectively.

Excavation of deep and long pits can cause strata deformation and settlement of adjacent buildings. The excavation of a deep foundation pit of a nearby building in Zhengzhou City, China, is taken as the research object. The foundation of the foundation pit is an independent foundation under the column, the depth of the foundation pit is 24.5∼26.3 m, and the support form of an underground continuous wall and four internal supports is adopted. The stress and deformation characteristics of retaining structures during the construction of deep and long pits and their impact on the deformation of nearby buildings were studied through on-site monitoring and finite element simulation. The analysis focuses on the effects of different excavation stages on adjacent structures, with the main conclusions as follows. After excavation, the underground continuous wall far from the building undergoes a “rotating-kick” displacement, while the underground continuous wall on the side near the building only shows a “kick” displacement. Adjacent buildings have little influence on the distribution of shear force and bending moment of the underground continuous wall of the foundation pit. The first horizontal strut experiences pressure, gradually shifting to tension as excavation continues, with the maximum stress reaching 3.6 × 103 kN. The second, third, and fourth horizontal struts mainly bear compressive forces, increasing with the depth of the struts. The building primarily undergoes settlement in the early stages of deep and long pit excavation. As the excavation progresses, the building points near the pit begin to bulge, but the building corners far from the pit continue to show settlement. During the excavation of the deep and long pit, the differential settlement of the long side of the nearby building first decreases and then increases, and the differential settlement of the short side changes from a slight decrease to a significant increase. The settlement evolution of the building is as follows: overall settlement ⟶ overall uplift ⟶ uplift of the side of the building near the pit ⟶ outward tilting away from the pit. The findings may provide references for designing, constructing, and operating deep and large foundation pits.

The key to realizing sustainable human development is to improve the utilization of ecological capital. Under the requirements of innovation-driven and green economic development, how to formulate appropriate environmental regulation policies and accurately implement high-quality economic development strategies to promote the utilization of ecological capital has become the focus of theoretical research and practical exploration. This paper examines the effects of environmental regulation, high-quality economic development, and the interaction term between the two on ecological capital utilization using a fixed-effects model based on panel data for 30 provincial-level political regions (excluding Tibet) in China from 2008 to 2020. The empirical results show that both environmental regulation and economic quality development have a significant positive effect on ecological capital utilization. However, environmental regulation can inhibit technological innovation, which in turn affects economic quality development, and the interaction term between environmental regulation and economic quality development has a significant negative effect on ecological capital utilization. Based on this, the government should enhance environmental regulations while increasing support and technological innovation subsidies for heavily polluting enterprises and new industries to promote high-quality economic development while improving the utilization of ecological capital.

Human activities and climate change have profound impacts on the ecological environment of oases in Xinjiang, and it is of great significance to explore the spatial and temporal evolution patterns of ecological environment quality in this region for the sustainable development of Xinjiang. The remote sensing ecological index (RSEI) was extracted from the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform from 2000 to 2020, and the coefficient of variation and Hurst index were used to reveal the spatial and temporal characteristics and stability of the ecological environment quality of the artificial oasis and natural oasis in Xinjiang. The key factors affecting the ecological environment quality are explored through correlation analysis and geoprobes. The results show that the distribution of the ecological environment in Xinjiang oases is high in the north and low in the south, and the overall quality shows a fluctuating downward trend from 0.210 to 0.189. Artificial oases have higher RSEI values, stability, and sustainability than natural oases. The RSEI in the study area was mainly influenced by humidity, followed by greenness and heat, and dryness had the least influence on the RSEI model. Based on the geodetector, the top three highest contributors were found to be precipitation (PRE) (0.83) > relative humidity (RHU) (0.82) > evapotranspiration (ET) (0.57). Climate is the main factor affecting the ecological quality of oases, and the RSEI can be improved by increasing the proportion of artificial oases. The study aims to provide a scientific basis for the sustainable development of oases in arid zones.

Comprehensive evaluations of global precipitation datasets are imperative for gaining insights into their performance and potential applications. However, the existing evaluations of global precipitation datasets are often constrained by limitations regarding the datasets, specific regions, and hydrological models used for hydrologic predictions. The accuracy and hydrological utility of eight precipitation datasets (including two gauged-based, five reanalysis and one merged precipitation datasets) were evaluated on a daily timescale from 1982 to 2015 in this study by using 2404 rain gauges, 2508 catchments, and four lumped hydrological models under varying climatic conditions worldwide. Specifically, the characteristics of different datasets were first analyzed. The accuracy of precipitation datasets at the site and regional scale was then evaluated with daily observations from 2404 gauges and two high-resolution gridded gauge-interpolated regional datasets. The effectiveness of precipitation datasets in runoff simulation was then assessed by using 2058 catchments around the world in combination with four conceptual hydrological models. The results show that: (1) all precipitation datasets demonstrate proficiency in capturing the interannual variability of the annual mean precipitation, but with magnitudes deviating by up to 200 mm/year among the datasets; (2) the precipitation datasets directly incorporating daily gauge observations outperform the uncorrected precipitation datasets. The Climate Precipitation Center dataset (CPC), Global Precipitation Climatology Center dataset (GPCC) and multi-source weighted-ensemble precipitation V2 (MSWEP V2) can be considered the best option for most climate regions regarding the accuracy of precipitation datasets; (3) the performance of hydrological models driven by different datasets is climate dependent and is notably worse in arid regions (with median Kling–Gupta efficiency (KGE) ranging from 0.39 to 0.65) than in other regions. The MSWEP V2 posted a stable performance with the highest KGE and Nash–Sutcliffe Efficiency (NSE) values in most climate regions using various hydrological models.

With the escalating demand for Astragalus polysaccharides products developed from Radix Astragali (RA), the necessity for quality control of polysaccharides in RA has become increasingly urgent. In this study, a specific method for the simultaneous determination of seven monosaccharides in polysaccharides extracted from Radix Astragali (RA) has been developed and validated using ultra-performance liquid chromatography equipped with an ultraviolet detector (UHPLC-UV) for the first time. The 1-phenyl-3-methyl-5-pyrazolone (PMP) derivatizations were separated on a C18 column (Waters ACQUITYTM, Milfor, MA, USA, 1.8 µm, 2.1 × 100 mm) using gradient elution with a binary system of 5 mm ammonium formate (0.1% formic acid)-acetonitrile for 24 min. Additionally, seven monosaccharides showed good linear relationships (R2, 0.9971–0.9995), adequate precision (RSD < 4.21%), and high recoveries (RSD < 4.70%). The established method was used to analyze 109 batches of RA. Results showed that the Astragalus polysaccharides (APSs) mainly consist of mannose (Man), rhamnose (Rha), glucose (Glu), galactose (Gal), arabinose (Ara), xylose (Xyl); and fucose (Fuc); however, their composition was different among RA samples from different growth patterns, species, growth years, and origins, and the growth mode of RA and the age of wild-simulated RA can be accurately distinguished by principal component analysis (PCA). In addition, the immunological activity of APSs were also evaluated jointly by measurement of the NO release with RAW264.7, with the results showing that APSs have a promoting effect on the release of NO and exhibit a significant correlation with Man, Glu, Xyl, and Fuc contents. Accordingly, the new established monosaccharides analytical method and APS-immune activity determination in this study can provide a reference for quality evaluation and the establishment of quality standards for RA.

A prerequisite for the rational development and utilization of regional water resources is the measurement of water stress. In this study, from the perspective of water footprints, we took the proportion of the agricultural water footprint within the total water resource usage of Xinjiang (hereafter referred to as XJ) as an example to measure its water stress index and explore the state of water stress in the region and its corresponding driving factors. The ESDA method was applied to characterize the spatial patterns of and correlations with water stress. The effects of different factors on the spatial differentiation between the water footprint and water stress were quantified using the LMDI and geoprobes, respectively. The results showed that (1) both the agricultural water footprint and the water stress index in XJ showed an upward trend, the spatial distribution of water stress was uneven, and the regional pressure difference between the east and the west was greater than that between the north and the south; (2) the water stress index has an obvious negative spatial correlation, fluctuations in its discrete nature have been enhanced, and the number of spatially correlated prefectures is decreasing; (3) water consumption of CNY 10,000 GDP, GDP per capita, and total CO2 emissions have the most significant impact on the evolution of the agricultural water footprint in XJ. Meanwhile, spatial variations in water stress are mainly determined by the area of cultivation, the area of natural oasis, and the proportion of water used in agriculture. Analysis of the characteristics of and factors influencing water stress in XJ from the perspective of its agricultural water footprint provides a new perspective for further analyzing the actual state of the water footprint and water stress in XJ and supplies a reference basis for the decision-makers of the XJ government.

Identification of potential landslides and evaluation of landside risk during impounding and operation are deemed necessary to ensure the safety of the project operations. The scope of the current studies for the accomplishment of the aforementioned purposes is to review of published materials, interpretation of satellite images and topographic maps, site reconnaissance and preparation of geological map and preliminary assessment of hazard and risk of identified landslides. The interpretations presented herein are based on study of satellite (Quick Bird Google TM Earth) images, Survey of Pakistan (SOP) sheets, previously published geological maps and reports pertaining to the project area followed by ground verification in the field. This paper presents a preliminary assessment of the reservoir slopes, briefly discussing physiography, geology, potential and active reservoir landslides and a preliminary landslides risk assessment. The conclusions and recommendations provided at the end of this report summarises the studies conducted, potential and active landslides, their subsequent risk assessment and further need of detailed studies.

Amomum xanthioides, A. villosum and A. longiligulare are three medicinally important herbs that are widely cultivated in southeast Asia. The ripe fruits of all three species are not only used worldwide in treatments for gastrointestinal diseases, but are also popular condiments in cooked food. In this study, we determined and analyzed the complete chloroplast (cp) genome sequences of these three Amomum species. The sizes of the cp genomes of A. xanthioides, A. villosum and A. longiligulare were 161,889 bp, 162,355 bp, and 161,990 bp, respectively. The cp genomes of all three species displayed a typical quadripartite structure. The cp genomes of A. xanthioides, A. villosum, and A. longiligulare encoded a total of 139, 138, and 139 genes, respectively, of which 118, 117, and 118 genes were single-copy genes. These included 92 protein-coding genes, eight rRNAs, as well as 39, 38, and 39 tRNAs, respectively. A comparative analysis revealed that the cp genomes of the three Amomum species had similar characteristics and patterns of organization. However, they also varied in terms of gene content, the expansion of inverted repeats, codon usage, repeat sequences, and simple sequence repeats. A phylogenetic analysis strongly supported a sister relationship between A. xanthioides and A. villosum. Overall, the results advance understanding of the relationships among the three medicinally valuable Amomum species, and provide basic molecular information to aid conservation efforts as well as research in phylogenetics and systematics.

The shear behavior is regarded as the dominant property of rock joints and is dramatically affected by the joint surface roughness. To date, the effect of surface roughness on the shear behavior of rock joints under static or cyclic loading conditions has been extensively studied, but such effect under impact loading conditions keeps unclear. To address this issue, a series of impact shear tests was performed using a novel-designed dynamic experimental system combined with the digital image correlation (DIC) technique. The dynamic shear strength, deformability and failure mode of the jointed specimens with various joint roughness coefficients (JRC) are comprehensively analyzed. Results show that the shear strength and shear displacement characteristics of the rock joint under the impact loading keep consistent with those under static loading conditions. However, the temporal variations of shear stress, slip displacement and normal displacement under the impact loading conditions show obviously different behaviors. An elastic rebound of the slip displacement occurs during the impact shearing and its value increases with increasing joint roughness. Two identifiable stages (i.e. compression and dilation) are observed in the normal displacement curves for the rougher rock joints, whereas the joints with small roughness only manifest normal compression displacement. Besides, as the roughness increases, the maximum compression tends to decrease, while the maximum dilation gradually increases. Moreover, the microstructural analysis based on scanning electron microscope (SEM) suggests that the roughness significantly affects the characteristics of the shear fractured zone enclosing the joint surface.

The automatic P-wave onset time (P-onset) picking of microseismic (MS) waveforms generated during rock failure is the basis of and key to locating the source and exploring the failure mechanism of rock failure in underground engineering. However, it is hard to ensure the accuracy in picking P-onset of MS waveforms with a low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) mixed with noises. Moreover, traditional P-onset picking methods mainly depend on manual intervention, which imposes onerous requirements on the SNR of MS waveforms. Hence, a new P-onset picking method is proposed based on the deep learning model: the principal components of MS waveforms are extracted based on the multi-channel singular spectrum analysis (MSSA) method to reduce the influence of noise; afterwards, a short-time Fourier transform (STFT) is applied to the processed MS waveforms to attain essential parameters of the waveforms; finally, a model for P-onset picking is established based on the long short-term memory (LSTM) network. Subsequently, a comparison is conducted between the proposed method and other methods based on actual field MS data collected from Xiadian Gold Mine and the seismic data from Stanford Earthquake Dataset. The results show that the proposed method can accurately extract data features of MS waveforms and further improve the P-onset picking performance.

In this paper, the Preisach model for magnetic hysteresis of grain-oriented silicon steel under PWM excitation is improved. First, an improved Preisach model for the magnetic hysteresis of grain-oriented silicon steel under PWM excitation is proposed. Second, the experimental platform for grain-oriented silicon steel sheets under PWM excitation is established. Finally, by comparative analysis, it is concluded that the error of the improved model is far less than that of the classical model (the error here refers to the discrepancy between experimental results and theoretical model predictions). The improved model is 1.4% to 9% more accurate than the classical model. A more accurate model can provide more accurate material parameters for the calculation of the magnetic field in the transformer core, which is of great significance to the production and design of the transformer.

Background: White matter injury (WMI) in basal ganglia usually induces long-term disability post intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). Kv1.3 is an ion channel expressed in microglia and induces neuroinflammation after ICH. Here, we investigated the functions and roles of Kv1.3 activation-induced inflammatory response in WMI and the Kv1.3 blockade effect on microglia polarization after ICH. Methods: Mice ICH model was constructed by autologous blood injection. The expression of Kv1.3 was measured using immunoblot, real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR), and immunostaining assays. Then, the effect of administration of 5-(4-Phenoxybutoxy) psoralen (PAP-1), a selectively pharmacological Kv1.3 blocker, was investigated using open field test (OFT) and basso mouse score (BMS). RT-qPCR, immunoblot, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) were taken to elucidate the expression of pro-inflammatory or anti-inflammatory factors around hematoma. PAP-1’s function in regulating microglia polarization was investigated using immunoblot, RT-qPCR, and immunostaining assays. The downstream PAP-1 signaling pathway was determined by RT-qPCR and immunoblot. Results: Kv1.3 expression was increased in microglia around the hematoma significantly after ICH. PAP-1 markedly improved neurological outcomes and the WMI by reducing pro-inflammatory cytokine accumulation and upregulating anti-inflammatory factors. Mechanistically, PAP-1 reduces NF-κB p65 and p50 activation, thus facilitating microglia polarization into M2-like microglia, which exerts this beneficial effect. Conclusions: PAP-1 reduced pro-inflammatory cytokines accumulation and increased anti-inflammatory factors by facilitating M2-like microglia polarization via the NF-κB signaling pathway. Thus, the current study shows that the Kv1.3 blockade is capable of ameliorating WMI by facilitating M2-like phenotype microglia polarization after ICH.

Chemotherapy-related cognitive impairment (CRCI) or “chemo brain” is a devastating neurotoxic sequela of cancer-related treatments, especially for the elderly individuals. Here we show that PTPRO, a tyrosine phosphatase, is highly enriched in the hippocampus, and its level is tightly associated with neurocognitive function but declined significantly during aging. To understand the protective role of PTPRO in CRCI, a mouse model was generated by treating Ptpro–/– female mice with doxorubicin (DOX) because Ptpro–/– female mice are more vulnerable to DOX, showing cognitive impairments and neurodegeneration. By analyzing PTPRO substrates that are neurocognition-associated tyrosine kinases, we found that SRC and EPHA4 are highly phosphorylated/activated in the hippocampi of Ptpro–/– female mice, with increased sensitivity to DOX-induced CRCI. On the other hand, restoration of PTPRO in the hippocampal CA3 region significantly ameliorate CRCI in Ptpro–/– female mice. In addition, we found that the plant alkaloid berberine (BBR) is capable of ameliorating CRCI in aged female mice by upregulating hippocampal PTPRO. Mechanistically, BBR upregulates PTPRO by downregulating miR-25-3p, which directly targeted PTPRO. These findings collectively demonstrate the protective role of hippocampal PTPRO against CRCI.

Cryptosporidium is a zoonotic apicomplexan parasite that infects the gastrointestinal epithelium and other mucosal surfaces in humans. It is an important opportunistic pathogen in AIDS patients and a leading cause of infectious diarrhea and diarrheal-related death in children worldwide. The intestinal epithelial cells provide the first line of defense against Cryptosporidium infection and play a central role in activating and regulating the host’s antiparasitic response. Increasing evidence suggests that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) participate in host-pathogen interactions and play a regulatory role in the pathogenesis of diseases but the underlying molecular mechanisms are not fully understood. We previously identified a panel of host lncRNAs that are upregulated in murine intestinal epithelial cells following Cryptosporidium infection, including U90926. We demonstrate here that U90926 is acting in a pro-parasitic manner in regulating intestinal epithelial cell-autonomous antiparasitic defense. Inhibition of U90926 resulted in a decreased infection burden of the parasite while overexpression of U90926 showed an increase in infection burden in cultured murine intestinal epithelial cells. Induction of U90926 suppressed transcription of epithelial defense genes involved in controlling Cryptosporidium infection through epigenetic mechanisms. Specifically, transcription of Aebp1, which encodes the Aebp1 protein, a potent modulator of inflammation and NF-κB signaling, was suppressed by U90926. Gain- or loss-of-function of Aebp1 in the host’s epithelial cells caused reciprocal alterations in the infection burden of the parasite. Interestingly, Cryptosporidium carries the Cryptosporidium virus 1 (CSpV1), a double-stranded (ds) RNA virus coding two dsRNA fragments, CSpV1-dsRdRp and CSpV1-dsCA. Both CSpV1-dsRdRp and CSpV1-dsCA can be delivered into infected cells as previously reported. We found that cells transfected with in vitro transcribed CSpV1-dsCA or CSpV1-dsRdRp displayed an increased level of U90926, suggesting that CSpV1 is involved in the upregulation of U90926 during Cryptosporidium infection. Our study highlights a new strategy by Cryptosporidium to hijack a host lncRNA to suppress epithelial cell-autonomous antiparasitic defense and allow for a robust infection.

This study explores the antifungal properties of Agaricus blazei Murrill, a valuable medicinal and edible fungus. Six compounds (1–6) were first isolated from A. blazei using various isolation techniques and identified using spectroscopic methods. These compounds include linoleic acid, 1,1′-oxybis(2,4-di-tert-butylbenzene), glycerol monolinoleate, volemolide (17R)-17-methylincisterol, (24s)-ergosta-7-en-3-ol, and dibutyl phthalate. This study also assesses the antifungal activities of these compounds against Trichophyton mentagrophology, Trichophyton rubrum, Candida albicans, and Cryptococcus neoformans. The results demonstrate varied sensitivities against these pathogenic fungi, with compound 2 showing significant inhibition against T. mentagrophology, compound 3 showing significant inhibition against T. rubrum, and compound 6 showing significant inhibition against C. albicans. This study underscores the medicinal potential of A. blazei as an antifungal agent and sheds light on its valuable research implications.

Lonicerae japonicae flos and Lonicerae flos are increasingly widely used in food and traditional medicine products around the world. Due to their high demand and similar appearance, they are often used in a confused or adulterated way; therefore, a rapid and comprehensive analytical method is highly required. In this case, the comparative analysis of a total of 100 samples with different species, growth modes, and processing methods was carried out by nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR) spectroscopy and chemical pattern recognition analysis. The obtained 1H-NMR spectrums were employed by principal component analysis (PCA), partial least-squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA), orthogonal partial least-squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA), and linear discriminant analysis (LDA). Specifically, after the dimensionality reduction of data, linear discriminant analysis (LDA) exhibited good classification abilities for the species, growth modes, and processing methods. It is worth noting that the sample prediction accuracy from the testing set and the cross-validation predictions of the LDA models were higher than 95.65% and 98.1%, respectively. In addition, the results showed that macranthoidin A, macranthoidin B, and dipsacoside B could be considered as the main differential components of Lonicerae japonicae flos and Lonicerae Flos, while secoxyloganin, secologanoside, and sweroside could be responsible for distinguishing cultivated and wild Lonicerae japonicae Flos. Accordingly, 1H-NMR spectroscopy combined with chemical pattern recognition gives a comprehensive overview and provides new insight into the quality control and evaluation of Lonicerae japonicae flos.

Abstract Background In order to curb healthcare workplace violence (WPV) and better allocate healthcare resources, China launched the descending resources reform in 2013 and tightened the anti-violence legal environment simultaneously. Medical students are expected to reconsider their working intentions of entering the medical market (inter-market effect) and choosing high- or low-level hospitals (intra-market effect) in response to the evolving WPV. The goal of this study was to explore the link between the perceived WPV incidence and medical students’ willingness to practice medicine in the context of China’s descending resources reform. Method Medical students were selected with cluster sampling from 8 medical colleges in Zhejiang Province, China, and 1497 valid questionnaires were collected by using a five-point unbalanced scale, to perform cross-sectional empirical research using the ordered logit model (OLM). Results The perceived WPV incidence negatively correlate with the willingness of medical students to practice medicine but positively correlate with their willingness to practice in low-level hospitals, indicating the existence of inter- and intra-market effects. The anti-violence legal environment has no direct link with working intention but contributes to the perceived decline in the incidence of violence. Descending resources reform has simultaneous opposite effects on medical students, with the coexistence of prudent motives driven by reform costs and optimistic expectations of sharing external benefits. Conclusions Safety needs and risk aversion motive play an important role in medical students’ career choice when facing severe WPV. Tightening of the anti-violence legal environment and the descending resources reform could drive medical students to low-level hospitals.

Abstract Global warming is one of the largest challenges humankind is facing in this century, and how to achieve low-carbon economy has become one of the most attractive topics of global concern. However, evaluations of the low-carbon economy are insufficient due to limited methodologies and data availability. In this study, satellite data (i.e., night-time light data and net primary production) were employed to estimate the net economic output (neo), and ratio of neo to the GDP (reo), which can be used to assess the quantity and quality of worldwide low-carbon economies. Based on panel vector autoregression (pvar) analysis, we further discussed the drivers of neo and reo in global climate change mitigation towards a better low-carbon society. The results show that: (1) only France and the United Kingdom ranked within the top 10 in terms of the neo and reo in 2019, implying that they were successful in increasing both quantity and quality of low-carbon economic development; (2) the pvar analysis presented that the increase of reo granger-caused neo growth, and net primary production increment greatly helped raise the worldwide reo; (3) raising CO2 abatement policy stringency can play a major role in improving the quality of low carbon economy countries with poor quantity and quality, but it cannot significantly promote groups with high reo. Additionally, the results of this study also provided basic data, such as our calibrated global 1 × 1 km gridded night-time light data during 1992–2019 for research regarding low-carbon economy and other sustainable development issues.

Since 2010, China has been exploring descending resources reform in order to correct the imbalanced allocation of healthcare resources and promote coordinated economic development among regions. This paper for the first time estimates the impact this reform has had on the reallocation of healthcare resources by using prefecture-level cities panel data from Zhejiang Province, China, which implemented the reform province-wide in 2013. The time-varying difference-in-differences (DID) method was used to estimate the reform’s policy effects. The data used in this paper is from published statistical yearbooks and local governments, which include panel data from 11 prefecture-level and higher cities in Zhejiang Province as the treated group and 46 prefecture-level cities in Jiangsu, Henan, and Sichuan Province as the control group. The entropy weight method was used to construct the supply index and demand index to incorporate multiple inputs and outputs, and efficiency indicators were constructed using the ratio method. This research found that the reform has had a positive effect on outpatient visits in different prefecture-level cities with vast rural areas. However, this reform exerted no significant impact on inpatient services or supply-side or resource allocation efficiency. Several robust tests support the above conclusions, and one theoretical explanation is provided. The descending health resources reform can be a valuable reform path in promoting more balanced healthcare resource allocation; however, the resultant disparities in its effects should be considered when implementing it.

The compression wave speed and physical properties of seafloor sediments are significant in marine engineering and marine acoustics. Although most regression equations can be satisfactorily fitted to the data and provide a useful predictive method, there is little insight into the influence of physical properties on the compression wave speed of seafloor sediment in the South China Sea (SCS). To characterize the compression wave speed and physical properties of seafloor sediments, the compression wave speed, porosity, density, and mean grain size were measured and calculated for forty-two samples collected from the South China Sea. The results show that the RMS roughness of seafloor sediment in the South China Sea ranges from 0.2 to 15 μm, and the porosity and density are determined by the RMS roughness and mean grain size. The relationships between the compression wave speed and physical properties of seafloor sediments are consistent with the intergranular friction model. When we have the physical parameters but no compression wave speed, therefore, the intergranular friction model can be used to predict the compression wave speed of seafloor sediment. Compared with the Wood model curve, we also reveal that the intergranular friction of seafloor sediment is an important parameter in determining the compression wave speed.

The fraud phenomenon is currently widespread in the traditional Chinese medicine Radix Astragali (RA) market, especially where high-quality RA is substituted with low-quality RA. In this case, focused on polysaccharides from RA, the classification models were established for discrimination of RA from different growth patterns, origins, species, and growth years. 1H Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (H1-NMR) was used to establish the spectroscopy of polysaccharides from RA, which were used to distinguish RA via chemical pattern recognition methods. Specifically, orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) and linear discriminant analysis (LDA) were used to successfully establish the classification models for RA from different growth patterns, origins, species, and growth years. The satisfactory parameters and high accuracy of internal and external verification of each model exhibited the reliable and good prediction ability of the developed models. In addition, the polysaccharide content and immunological activity were also tested, which was evaluated by the phagocytic activity of RAW 264.7. And the result showed that growth patterns and origins significantly affected the quality of RA. However, there was no significant difference in the aspects of origins and growth years. Accordingly, the developed strategy combined with chemical information, biological activity, and multivariate statistical method can provide new insight for the quality evaluation of traditional Chinese medicine.

The ocean is an important component of modern economic development and social activities, and acts as a natural source for ecologically sound and sustainable development [...]

Abstract A numerical modeling method is proposed for the melting process of Titanium metals of Titanium alloys powder preparation used for 3D printing. The melting process simulation, which involves the tight coupling between electromagnetic field, thermal field and fluid flow as well as deformation associated during the melting process, is conducted by adopting the finite element method. A two-way coupling strategy is used to include the interactions between these fields by incorporating the material properties dependent on temperature and the coupling terms. In addition, heat radiation and phase change are also considered in this paper. The arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian formulation is exploited to model the deformation of Titanium metal during the melting process. The distribution of electromagnetic flux density, eddy current density, temperature, and fluid flow velocity at different time can be determined by utilizing this numerical method. In a word, the method proposed in this paper provides a general way to predict the melting process of electrode induction melting gas atomization (EIGA) dynamically, and it also could be used as a reference for the design and optimization of EIGA.

Abstract Background Since 2013, China launched descending resources reform, which is a new attempt to correct unbalanced allocation of health resources through human capital spillovers and brand implantation from high-level hospitals. The purpose of this paper is to explore the patients’ hospital selection response to this reform with the focus of low-level hospitals to better understand the effect of this reform on correcting regional inequality of health resources allocation. Methods The European Consumer Satisfaction Index model (ECSI) was used to design a questionnaire, and cross-sectional data from 17 hospitals were collected through 1287 questionnaires from Zhejiang Province. Patient hospital selection (loyalty) is measured using ordinary variables by considering patient willingness to choose a low-level hospital when suffering an illness or severe illness. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the structure equation model are applied to examine the effect of reforms on patient behavior. Results The descending resources reform promotes improvements in the capabilities and medical environment of low-level hospitals, and descending doctors also have high accessibility. Perceived quality, patient expectations, and hospital image have significant positive effects on patient satisfaction, and the explanatory power of brand implantation from cooperative high-level hospitals and descending doctors is stronger than the image of the low-level hospital itself. And descending resources reform and patient satisfaction have significant positive impacts on patient’s choice for low-level hospitals with the existence of mediating effect of satisfaction. Conclusions This paper provides supporting empirical evidence of the descending resources reform’s impact on patients’ low-level hospital selection. This reform has been effective in improving the capabilities of low-level hospitals, and brand implantation of high-level hospitals shows strong explanatory power. China’s reform offers a distinct and valuable approach to correcting the uneven allocation of health resources. Besides, the findings also suggest that policymakers could pay more attention to the importance of information channels in impacting patient awareness, responses, and hospital selection.

BackgroundCuproptosis is a newly discovered programmed cell death dependent on overload copper-induced mitochondrial respiration dysregulation. The positive response to immunotherapy, one of the most important treatments for invasive breast cancer, depends on the dynamic balance between tumor cells and infiltrating lymphocytes in the tumor microenvironment (TME). However, cuproptosis-related genes (CRGs) in clinical prognosis, immune cell infiltration, and immunotherapy response remain unclear in breast cancer progression.MethodsThe expression and mutation patterns of 12 cuproptosis-related genes were systematically evaluated in the BRCA training group. Through unsupervised clustering analysis and developing a cuproptosis-related scoring system, we further explored the relationship between cuproptosis and breast cancer progression, prognosis, immune cell infiltration, and immunotherapy.ResultsWe identified two distinct CuproptosisClusters, which were correlated with the different patterns between clinicopathological features, prognosis, and immune cell infiltration. Moreover, the differences of the three cuproptosis-related gene subtypes were evaluated based on the CuproptosisCluster-related DEGs. Then, a cuproptosis-related gene signature (PGK1, SLC52A2, SEC14L2, RAD23B, SLC16A6, CCL5, and MAL2) and the scoring system were constructed to quantify the cuproptosis pattern of BRCA patients in the training cohort, and the testing cohorts validated them. Specifically, patients from the low-CRG_score group were characterized by higher immune cell infiltration, immune checkpoint expression, immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) scores, and greater sensitivity to immunotherapy. Finally, we screened out RAD23B as a favorable target and indicated its expression was associated with breast cancer progression, drug resistance, and poor prognosis in BRCA patients by performing real-time RT-PCR, cell viability, and IC50 assay.ConclusionsOur results confirmed the essential function of cuproptosis in regulating the progression, prognosis, immune cell infiltration, and response to breast cancer immunotherapy. Quantifying cuproptosis patterns and constructing a CRG_score could help explore the potential molecular mechanisms of cuproptosis regulating BRCA advancement and provide more effective immunotherapy and chemotherapy targets.

In the paper, based on Erdélyi-Kober fractional integrals $ ^\rho \mathcal{K}^\alpha_{\chi+}f $ and $ ^\rho \mathcal{K}^\alpha_{\chi-}f $ for any $ \chi\in[a, b] $ with $ f\in\mathfrak{X}_c^p(a, b) $, authors establish some new Hermite-Hadamard type inequalities for convex function. The obtained inequalities generalize the corresponding results for Riemann-Liouville fractional integrals by taking limits when a parameter $ \rho\rightarrow1 $. As applications, the error estimations of Hermite-Hadamard type inequality are also provided.

Abstract Cancer vaccines critically rely on the availability of targetable immunogenic cancer‐specific neoepitopes. However, mutation‐based immunogenic neoantigens are rare or even non‐existent in subgroups of cancer types. To address this issue, we exploited a cancer‐specific aberrant transcription‐induced chimeric RNA, designated A‐PaschiRNA, as a possible source of clinically relevant and targetable neoantigens. A‐PaschiRNA encodes a recently discovered cancer‐specific chimeric protein that comprises full‐length astrotactin‐2 (ASTN2) C‐terminally fused in‐frame to the antisense sequence of the 18th intron of pregnancy‐associated plasma protein‐A (PAPPA). We used extracellular vesicles (EVs) from A‐PaschiRNA‐transfected dendritic cells (DCs) to produce the cell‐free anticancer vaccine DEXA‐P. Treatment of immunocompetent cancer‐bearing mice with DEXA‐P inhibited tumour growth and prolonged animal survival. In summary, we demonstrate for the first time that cancer‐specific transcription‐induced chimeric RNAs can be exploited to produce a cell‐free cancer vaccine that induces potent CD8+ T cell‐mediated anticancer immunity. Our novel approach may be particularly useful for developing cancer vaccines to treat malignancies with low mutational burden or without mutation‐based antigens. Moreover, this cell‐free anticancer vaccine approach may offer several practical advantages over cell‐based vaccines, such as ease of scalability and genetic modifiability as well as enhanced shelf life.

Bestiolina amoyensis distributes in subtropical inshore waters across the Pacific Ocean, with a relatively long reproductive lifespan and high intrinsic population increase rate compared with other small paracalanid species, which makes it a good candidate to develop culture techniques for hatchery larval rearing. However, the reproductive biology of this subtropical broadcast spawning species is still largely unknown. The present investigation provides the first published data on the embryo development and effects of different light intensities (0, 500, and 1,000 lx), temperatures (16°C, 18°C, 20°C, 22°C, 24°C, 26°C, 28°C, 30°C, 32°C, and 34°C), and salinities (22, 24, 26, 28, 30, 32, and 34 psu) on hatching success rates of B. amoyensis. The same batch of eggs were collected from gravid females to observe their embryonic development and incubated under designed light intensities, temperatures, and salinities. Results showed that the whole embryonic development of B. amoyensis lasted, on average, 6 h and 40 min at 26°C, and egg hatching time of B. amoyensis shortened exponentially with the increasing temperature. The highest egg hatching rate (100%) was recorded from the 0-lx treatment, indicating that the dark condition was favorable for the egg incubation of B. amoyensis. The optimum temperature and salinity range for the hatching success of B. amoyensis was 22°C–30°C (above 94%) and 22–34 psu salinity (above 88%), respectively, indicating that B. amoyensis had wide adaptability to temperature and salinity. Light and too low or high temperature leads to abnormal embryonic development and malformed nauplii. The relatively wide adaptability to temperature and salinity and fast embryo development also suggests that B. amoyensis was a good candidate as live feed for hatchery larval rearing.

This study aims to fully explore the influence of rock joint roughness in the slope stability analysis of an open mine. Therefore, based on the least squares parameter estimation method, a generalized shear strength parameter coupling roughness, which is used to evaluate a slope design, was established by a matching formula reflecting the relationship between the roughness coefficient and the shear strength parameter. Firstly, to verify and calibrate the model, physical direct shear tests were conducted on serrated rock joints, and the effect of roughness was analyzed qualitatively. The results show that an increase in tooth height increases the internal friction angle but decreases cohesion. Therefore, the rock joint direct shear test numerical model by PFC-2D was established and compared with the physical test curve, effectively verifying its correctness. The relationship between cohesion c and internal friction angle φ with roughness coefficient JRC was further quantified, and the new model was then fitted to characterize the relationship between roughness and shear strength parameters. This method is applied to the design optimization of an open pit mine slope. The new parameters are input to GeoSMA-3D, which is used to search for the key block of a bedding slope on an open-pit mine, to optimize the design of the slope.

Abstract Relapse is the main cause of treatment failure for leukaemia patients with unfavourable gene mutations who receive allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo‐HSCT). There is no consensus on the indication of donor lymphocyte infusion (DLI) for prophylaxis of relapse after allo‐HSCT. To evaluate the tolerance and efficacy of prophylactic DLI in patients with unfavourable gene mutations such as FLT3‐ITD, TP53, ASXL1, DNMT3A or TET2, we performed a prospective, single‐arm study. Prophylactic use of decitabine followed by DLI was planned in patients with TP53 or epigenetic modifier gene mutations. The prophylaxis was planned in 46 recipients: it was administered in 28 patients and it was not administered in 18 patients due to contraindications. No DLI‐associated pancytopenia was observed. The cumulative incidences of grade II–IV and III–IV acute graft‐versus‐host disease (GVHD) at 100 days post‐DLI were 25.8% and 11.0%, respectively. The rates of chronic GVHD, non‐relapse mortality and relapse at 3 years post‐DLI were 21.6%, 25.0% and 26.1%, respectively. The 3‐year relapse‐free survival and overall survival (OS) rates were 48.9% and 48.2%, respectively. Acute GVHD (HR: 2.30, p = 0.016) and relapse (HR: 2.46, p = 0.003) after DLI were independently associated with inferior OS. Data in the current study showed the feasibility of prophylactic DLI with/without decitabine in the early stage after allo‐HSCT in patients with unfavourable gene mutations.

Although submarine slope failures and occurrence of gas hydrates are well known in the Dongsha area of the South China Sea the potential relationship between the aforementioned phenomena has not been clearly understood yet. Herein, we present carbon and oxygen isotope compositions of benthic foraminifera and sulfur isotopic composition of chromium reducible sulfur (CRS; δ34SCRS) from two cores from the Dongsha slope, aiming at identifying gas hydrate dissociation events in geological history. The geochemical data indicated that a large amount of gas hydrate dissociated at the beginning of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Meanwhile, disturbances in the sedimentary strata revealed that a submarine landslide occurred at the end of the Last Glacial Maximum. Moreover, the associated abrupt increase of benthic foraminifera abundance implies that the submarine landslide was probably caused by an intense methane releasing from gas hydrate dissociation. A smaller scale submarine landslide related to gas hydrate dissociation was also recorded in core 973-5, retrieved from the flat area at the base of the slope.

AbstractThe presence of discontinuities can significantly weaken rock masses, whose shear load-bearing capacity is always dictated by discontinuity failures. The shear response of rock discontinuity has been extensively studied under low loading rate conditions, while the effect of impact loading on its shear strength was unclear. To address this issue, rock discontinuity samples with quantified surface roughness were tested under six normal stresses (0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, and 25% of its uniaxial compressive strength) and different loading rates (varying from 100 MPa/ms to 700 MPa/ms) by a novel-designed impact shear testing system. Experimental results show that the impact shear strength is proportional to the loading rate and exhibits significant rate dependence. Moreover, the cohesion is clearly rate-dependent and the friction angle keeps constant during impact loading, which shows obviously different behaviors with those under static loading conditions. Considering the rate effect of the shear strength parameters, the shear strength criterion of rough rock discontinuity under impact loading was established. Furthermore, a statistical constitutive model was proposed by incorporating the Weibull distribution of the shear damage. The successful application of the theoretical model to the experimental data shows that the proposed models can well predict the shear strength and describe the shear damage of rough rock discontinuities under impact loading.

The traditional cutting algorithm has a clear concept and is easy to implement, but it cannot consider the finiteness of the discontinuities. Based on the traditional cutting algorithm, an accurate identification method of blocks is proposed, which can identify blocks formed by finite discontinuities and excavation surface. A visual program for identifying blocks and stability analysis is developed by using Microsoft Foundation Class and OpenGL, and then it is applied to tunnel engineering. The shape and the number of the key blocks identified by this method are not limited and consistent with actual engineering. In the case that the size of the discontinuities cannot be accurately obtained, the influence of the size change of the dominant discontinuities on the key block is discussed, which will make up the lack of parameters. The number and volume of the key blocks are large when discontinuities are assumed to be infinite, and the calculation results are conservative. However, the volume and location of the blocks have great reference value and guiding significance for practical engineering.

Conventional seepage–heat transfer models in simulating the heat transfer between fluid and rock in fractures mainly involve one-way coupling and do not consider the influence of temperature on the seepage. Moreover, it is an enormous challenge to define parameters of the explicit heat transfer between the rock and fluid. In order to resolve these shortcomings, a two-way fully coupled model of the seepage–heat transfer in the fractured rock was established in the present study. Based on the original geometric structure of the experimental device, combined with the actual engineering scale, the local dynamic heat transfer coefficient of the fractured rock was established, which is related to the fracture aperture, flow velocity and thermal parameters. Then, the proposed model was verified through the experiment and excellent agreement was achieved in this regard. It was found that the dynamic heat transfer coefficient changes the temperature distribution of fluid and rock in the original static heat transfer coefficient fracture system. The proposed model simplifies the parameters required for the calculation of the heat transfer coefficient. These parameters are related to characteristic variables, such as velocity and rock temperature, and can be simply obtained from standard laboratory tests.

Microseismic (MS) monitoring technology has been widely used to monitor ground pressure disasters. However, the underground mining environment is complex and contains many types of noise sources. Furthermore, the traditional recognition method entails a complex process with low recognition accuracy for MS signals, so it is difficult to serve for the safe production of mines. Therefore, this study established a hybrid model combining the singular spectrum analysis (SSA) method, convolutional neural networks (CNN), and long short-term memory networks (LSTM). First, the principal components of monitoring signals were extracted with the SSA method, and then spatial and temporal features of monitoring signals were separately extracted with the CNN and LSTM. Based on actual field data collected from Xiadian Gold Mine, the hybrid model was compared with the CNN, LSTM, and back-propagation networks (BP), as well as commonly used recognition methods including the support vector machine (SVM), decision tree (DT), K-nearest neighbor (KNN), and linear discriminant analysis (LDA). The results show that the proposed hybrid model can accurately extract data features of monitoring signals and further improve MS signals' recognition performance. Furthermore, the recognition accuracy of mechanical signals in monitoring signals is particularly increased using the hybrid model, which avoids confusion with MS signals.

Landfill accumulation can cause its leachate to seep into groundwater, which can lower the quality of local groundwater. Exploring the risks of groundwater contamination to human health in the area around a landfill can offer a clear understanding of the current situation of regional groundwater and provide a theoretical basis for groundwater remediation and governance. By taking a landfill in Kaifeng City, China as the research object, this study explored the chemical types and sources of groundwater in the study area, used the entropy-weighted water quality index (EWQI) to evaluate the groundwater quality and assessed human health risks in the study area. The results show that the groundwater in the study area is neutral (7.14 ≤ pH ≤ 7.86), and the water chemical type is HCO3−—Ca·Na. The EWQI results indicated that the overall water quality in the study area ranges from 48.4 to 250.26, which is above the medium level, and that the local water quality is poor. The deterioration of groundwater quality in the study area is mainly influenced by NH4+-N, Mn, As, F− and Pb. According to the human health risk assessment model, the non-carcinogenic risk to humans through oral and dermal exposure can be assessed. In this paper, five ions, NH4+-N, Mn, As, F− and Pb in groundwater, were selected for the analysis of groundwater in the study area to assess non-carcinogenic risk to humans through oral administration. The results showed that the hazard quotient (HQ) values for NH4+-N, Mn, As, F− and Pb varied in the following ranges: 9.14 × 10−4—0.03; 0.07—0.22; 0.02–0.07; 0.16—0.23; and 0.01—0.13, respectively (all of these are less than 1, and so the potential risks to human health can be ignored). The characteristic pollutant Pb was selected as a predictor to study the influence on groundwater quality in eastern fish ponds and farmlands under continuous leakage. The leakage can be detected timeously to reduce the effects downstream by using enhanced monitoring measures.

To explore the contribution of marine resources to marine economic growth, this study uses panel data from 2006–2019 across 11 coastal provinces and cities in China and establishes threshold regression models using marine capital, labor, and science and technology as threshold variables affecting marine resources and economic growth. The findings reveal that the impact of marine resources on marine economic growth only demonstrates a single threshold effect under the primary industry marine resources; in general, with increased capital investment, the marine economy presents a positive development trend. The impact of primary and secondary marine resources on marine economic growth has a single threshold effect of labor input, while the impact of tertiary marine resources on marine economic growth has a double threshold effect of labor input. With investment in marine science and technology, marine resource development and utilization in the primary industries have played a consistent role in promoting marine economic growth. However, the impact of this role is gradually decreasing; marine resource development and utilization in the secondary and tertiary industries shows a development pattern wherein the driving effect of marine economic growth is first large, then small, and then large again. Based on the above analysis, China should promote the transformation of labor-intensive to capital-intensive industries by increasing investment in marine capital, training marine talent, and developing marine science and technology innovation to increase the development level of China’s marine economy.

In this study, a single tubular section of the rectangular utility tunnel project in Shenyang city, China was simulated by applying a Finite Element Method. To increase the simulation accuracy, reinforcing steel bars were practically added to the utility tunnel model. Using the equivalent static loading method, the potential failure modes of rectangular utility tunnel at different buried depths were equivalently modeled by changing the imposed loads on the roof and side wall. Uniform pressure was applied on the top surface of roof, and a linear change in lateral earth pressure was extended on the external surface of side wall. Two tensile stress concentration zones were observed on the top surface of the roof, and one tensile stress concentration zone was observed on the external surface of side wall, easily leading to cracking on the surface concrete of these zones. These tensile stress concentration zones are named as “easy cracking zones” in this study. The effect of span size and corner type of rectangular utility tunnel on the easy cracking zones was then studied; the results provide a theoretical reference for the future design of rectangular utility tunnels.

Seismic analysis of soil slopes is required to get safe value for slope design. Especially in earthquake zones. Normally a variation in factor of safety values is observed in normal analysis of a slope where seismic coefficients are kept zero as compare to seismic analysis where seismic coefficients are considered in the analysis. In this research, seismic horizontal coefficients are used to find the factors of safety. Correlations are developed between factor of safety values and seismic coefficients. The correlation can be used to find the factor of safety in any slope stability project for a homogenous slope. The outcome of this work are the correlations. These correlations can be used to find the factor of safety values considering horizontal seismic coefficient, vertical seismic coefficient and both.

In this paper, an earthen dam is analysed using different soil layers having different soil properties and dimensions. Normally a slope fail when the shear strength reduces from the minimum required value which keeps it stable. Internal erosion is the main cause which causes a dam to fail and it is mainly due seepage with time. A detail analysis of a predefined dam slope is performed in different layers to check the seepage variation as well as the factor of safety. Different soil layers and properties were used such that it is investigated from a fail condition to a complete stable condition. Limit equilibrium and finite element approaches are used. Correlations for factor of safety between these two approaches are also developed. These correlations and results could be used as guidelines in any dam or slope safety calculation.

Joints lead to the uneven distribution of structural rigidity of a precast prestressed utility tunnel (PPUT) and changes in internal forces and deformation. From research perspective, bending stiffness is important as an important indicator to evaluate the performance of PPUT joints and an important factor to evaluate the overall mechanical properties of PPUT structures. After considering the actual structural form of a transverse joint section and the characteristics of force deformation, a mechanical model that can characterize the joint section from force to failure and the corresponding analytical expressions were established using the internal force balance and deformation coordination conditions. A sensitivity analysis of the factors affecting the bending stiffness of joints was carried out using numerical simulation methods. The theoretical calculation results were compared with the numerical simulation results. Finally, according to the obtained trend of bending stiffness change, a two-stage bending stiffness method is proposed for the transverse joints of PPUT. The results of the study provide a reference for the design and theoretical analysis of PPUT.

To study the fast modelling of dynamic characteristics caused by power electronic switching, the dynamic phasor (DP) theory based on the time-varying Fourier decomposition and frequency shifting is firstly applied to the modelling of various multipulse rectifiers. The DP model for symmetrical 12-pulse phase-shifting reactor rectifier unit (PSR-RU) is derived with model order reduction, relations between ac and dc terminals, and Taylor series expansion. The DP model of asymmetrical 18-pulse autotransformer rectifier unit (AT-RU) is proposed based on the switching functions expressed in the DP domain. Meanwhile, the DP model of voltage source inverter (VSI) fed by asymmetrical 18-pulse AT-RU is built with the harmonic state-space (HSS) equations. Under both balanced and unbalanced conditions, the good calculation accuracy and rapid simulation speed of the developed DP models are validated by the detailed time-domain (TD) simulation.

The paracalanid copepod, Bestiolina amoyensis, is a widely distributed species occurring in subtropical inshore waters across the Pacific Ocean. Its small size, herbivorous feeding habit, and high adaptability make the species one of the most promising candidates as potential live feed for hatchery larval rearing. This study investigated effects of different feeding density of microalgae Isochrysis spp. (1 × 105, 2 × 105, 3 × 105, 4 × 105, and 5 × 105 cells ml–1) and photoperiod (8L:16D, 12L:12D, and 16L:8D) on productivity-related parameters, including egg production, female life expectancy and population dynamics of B. amoyensis. Results showed that total egg output over female lifespan, final population size and intrinsic rate of population of 12L:12D photoperiod treatments were always the highest among three photoperiod conditions, especially at the food concentration of 4 × 105 cells ml–1, indicating B. amoyensis had high reproductive performance and the population was in a more stable status. The number of nauplii from 4 × 105 cells ml–1 algal concentration treatment accounted for 75% of the population, and the ratio of females to males approaching 1:1 when photoperiod was 12L:12D; female life expectancy was 10.5 ± 0.6 days. In conclusion, our results showed that Isochrysis spp. is a suitable feed for B. amoyensis with an optimal concentration at 4 × 105 cells mL–1; the optimal photoperiod for B. amoyensis rearing is 12L:12D. The relatively long reproductive lifespan and high intrinsic population increase rate make B. amoyensis a good candidate to develop culture techniques for hatchery larval rearing.