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In this research, thermal modeling has been done to investigate the effect of nanofluid on the performance of the linear parabolic collector. Therminol vapor/liquid phase fluid (VP-1) has been used as a base fluid; iron oxide nanoparticles have been used to produce mono-nanofluid; and iron oxide multi-walled carbon nanotubes nanocomposite has been used as nanoparticles to produce hybrid nanofluid. The fluid flow inside the absorber tube of the collector is assumed to be turbulent. The results show that when hybrid nanofluid and mono-nanofluid are used, the energy and exergy efficiencies of the collector are higher than those for the conditions of using the base fluid, but their amount is slightly lower with the use of hybrid nanofluid than when the working fluid is mono-nanofluid. According to the obtained results, the highest energy efficiency of the linear parabolic collector using nanofluid and mono-nanofluid is 70.2% and 70.4%, respectively, and the highest exergy efficiency is 35.7% and 35.9%, respectively. Despite this, the friction coefficient of mono-nanofluid compared to hybrid nanofluid was obtained on average about 9% higher. The results showed that the criterion for evaluating the performance of the collector (hydrodynamic thermal efficiency) when hybrid nanofluid is used is more than when mono-nanofluid is used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights Polyurethane has been widely studied as a lightweight reinforcing material. This paper uses two types of hollow glass microspheres to modify polyurethane in different proportions to prepare a variety of lightweight cores for reinforcing carbon fiber tubes. A quasi‐static lateral compression test was performed on the reinforced carbon fiber tube to analyze the effect of reinforcement materials on mechanical properties, failure modes and crashworthiness. The results show that BR20 reinforcement material has the best effect on enhancing the mechanical properties and crashworthiness of the structure, and its energy absorption is 3.5 times higher than that of carbon fiber tubes. Hollow glass microspheres can improve the reinforcing effect of polyurethane. Lightweight cores prepared from different types of hollow glass microspheres show different failure modes during lateral compression (polyurethane and BR60 show better ductility, and BR20 shows shear failure). The BR20 and BR60 are mixed in different proportions, the reinforced polyurethane foam reinforced carbon fiber tube can have little difference in the energy absorption. The addition of BR20 and BR60 showed a large difference in the force‐displacement curve during the compression stage. A qualitative analysis is conducted based on the effect of the total energy absorption of the structure on the reinforcement materials. The lightweight core is prepared by hollow glass microspheres and polyurethane. Reinforcement materials enhance the lateral compression performance. Reinforcement materials enhance the crashworthiness performance. Reinforcement materials affect failure modes. The proportion of BR20 and BR60 affects the performance of the lightweight core. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Globally, breast cancer in women is the fifth leading cause of cancer death. There is an urgent need to explore the molecular mechanism of breast cancer proliferation and metastasis. Method: TCGA database analysis was used to analyze genes expression in breast cancer and normal samples and the association between gene expression and prognosis. Immunohistochemical staining, qPCR and western blotting was sued to detected gene expression. The cell function tests were conducted to investigate the effects of TEX19 and CDK4 with abnormal expression on cell proliferation, migration, apoptosis, cell cycle, and colony formation. Bioinformatics analysis methods combined with CHX tracking experiment and Co-IP experiment were performed to screen and verify the downstream molecule and regulatory mechanism of TEX19. Besides, subcutaneous tumorigenesis model in nude mice was constructed. Results: TEX19 was significantly upregulated in breast cancer, and the TEX19 level was related to tumor invasion and prognosis. TEX19 knockdown inhibited the proliferation and migration of breast cancer cells, increased cell apoptosis, and blocked the cell cycle in the G2 phase. Besides, TEX19 suppressed the growth of tumors in the body. Mechanically, TEX19 upregulated the level of CDK4 protein, which depended on the E3 ubiquitin ligase SKP2. Specifically, TEX19 knockdown and SKP2 protein overexpression destroyed the stability of CDK4 protein and enhanced the ubiquitination of CDK4 protein. Additionally, CDK4 knockdown inhibited the proliferation, migration, and colony formation of breast cancer cells, and alleviated the promotion of TEX19 overexpression on the proliferation and migration of breast cancer cell. Conclusion: TEX19 and CDK4 were upregulated in breast cancer, and TEX19 increased the level of CDK4 protein by influencing SKP2-mediated ubiquitination of CDK4, thereby promoting the progression of breast cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein, visible‐light‐induced metal‐free three‐component amidoheteroarylation of alkenes with quinoxalin‐2(1H)‐ones and N‐sulfonylaminopyridinium salts is developed. This protocol involves a radical relay process in which the N‐centered radicals undergo chemoselective addition to alkenes to form an alkyl radical that selectively combines with heteroarenes, leading to the formation of C−C and C−N bonds in one step under mild reaction conditions. The involved high efficiency and selectivity, wide substrate scope, and excellent functional‐group compatibility demonstrate the practicability of the developed protocol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the onset of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, SARS-CoV-2 variants capable of breakthrough infections have attracted global attention. These variants have significant mutations in the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the spike protein and the membrane (M) protein, which may imply an enhanced ability to evade immune responses. In this study, an examination of co-mutations within the spike RBD and their potential correlation with mutations in the M protein was conducted. The EVmutation method was utilized to analyze the distribution of the mutations to elucidate the relationship between the mutations in the spike RBD and the alterations in the M protein. Additionally, the Sequence-to-Sequence Transformer Model (S2STM) was employed to establish mapping between the amino acid sequences of the spike RBD and M proteins, offering a novel and efficient approach for streamlined sequence analysis and the exploration of their interrelationship. Certain mutations in the spike RBD, G339D-S373P-S375F and Q493R-Q498R-Y505, are associated with a heightened propensity for inducing mutations at specific sites within the M protein, especially sites 3 and 19/63. These results shed light on the concept of mutational synergy between the spike RBD and M proteins, illuminating a potential mechanism that could be driving the evolution of SARS-CoV-2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The differentiation of bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) into Schwann‐like cells (SCLCs) has the potential to promote the structural and functional restoration of injured axons. However, the optimal induction protocol and its underlying mechanisms remain unclear. This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of different induction protocols in promoting the differentiation of rat BMSCs into SCLCs and to explore their potential mechanisms. BMSCs were induced using two distinct methods: a composite factor induction approach (Protocol‐1) and a conditioned culture medium induction approach (Protocol‐2). The expression of Schwann cells (SCs) marker proteins and neurotrophic factors (NTFs) in the differentiated cells was assessed. Cell proliferation and apoptosis were also measured. During induction, changes in miR‐21 and Sprouty RTK signaling antagonist 2 (SPRY2) mRNA were analyzed. Following the transfection of BMSCs with miR‐21 agomir or miR‐21 antagomir, induction was carried out using both protocols, and the expression of SPRY2, ERK1/2, and SCs marker proteins was examined. The results revealed that NTFs expression was higher in Protocol‐1, whereas SCs marker proteins expression did not significantly differ between the two groups. Compared to Protocol‐1, Protocol‐2 exhibited enhanced cell proliferation and fewer apoptotic and necrotic cells. Both protocols showed a negative correlation between miR‐21 and SPRY2 expression throughout the induction stages. After induction, the miR‐21 agomir group exhibited reduced SPRY2 expression, increased ERK1/2 expression, and significantly elevated expression of SCs marker proteins. This study demonstrates that Protocol‐1 yields higher NTFs expression, whereas Protocol‐2 results in stronger SCLCs proliferation. Upregulating miR‐21 suppresses SPRY2 expression, activates the ERK1/2 signaling pathway, and promotes BMSC differentiation into SCLCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Atomically precise metal nanoclusters (NCs) with unique optical properties and abundant catalytic sites are promising in photocatalysis. However, their light‐induced instability and the difficulty of utilizing the photogenerated carriers for photocatalysis pose significant challenges. Here, MAg24 (M=Ag, Pd, Pt, and Au) NCs doped with diverse single heteroatoms have been encapsulated in a metal–organic framework (MOF), UiO‐66‐NH2, affording MAg24@UiO‐66‐NH2. Strikingly, compared with Ag25@UiO‐66‐NH2, the MAg24@UiO‐66‐NH2 doped with heteroatom exhibits much enhanced activity in photocatalytic hydrogen production, among which AuAg24@UiO‐66‐NH2 presents the best activity up to 3.6 mmol g−1 h−1, far superior to all other counterparts. Moreover, they display excellent photocatalytic recyclability and stability. X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy and ultrafast transient absorption spectroscopy demonstrate that MAg24 NCs encapsulated into the MOF create a favorable charge transfer pathway, similar to a Z‐scheme heterojunction, when exposed to visible light. This promotes charge separation, along with optimized Ag electronic state, which are responsible for the superior activity in photocatalytic hydrogen production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Atomically precise metal nanoclusters (NCs) with unique optical properties and abundant catalytic sites are promising in photocatalysis. However, their light‐induced instability and the difficulty of utilizing the photogenerated carriers for photocatalysis pose significant challenges. Here, MAg24 (M=Ag, Pd, Pt, and Au) NCs doped with diverse single heteroatoms have been encapsulated in a metal–organic framework (MOF), UiO‐66‐NH2, affording MAg24@UiO‐66‐NH2. Strikingly, compared with Ag25@UiO‐66‐NH2, the MAg24@UiO‐66‐NH2 doped with heteroatom exhibits much enhanced activity in photocatalytic hydrogen production, among which AuAg24@UiO‐66‐NH2 presents the best activity up to 3.6 mmol g−1 h−1, far superior to all other counterparts. Moreover, they display excellent photocatalytic recyclability and stability. X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy and ultrafast transient absorption spectroscopy demonstrate that MAg24 NCs encapsulated into the MOF create a favorable charge transfer pathway, similar to a Z‐scheme heterojunction, when exposed to visible light. This promotes charge separation, along with optimized Ag electronic state, which are responsible for the superior activity in photocatalytic hydrogen production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] The high activity barriers of Li 2 S nucleation and deposition limit the redox reaction kinetics of lithium polysulfides (LiPSs), meanwhile, the significant shuttle effect of LiPSs hampers the advancement of Li-S batteries (LSBs). In this work, a NiSe 2 /CoSe 2 -rGO (NiSe 2 /CoSe 2 -G) sulfur host with bifunctional catalytic activity was prepared through a hard template method. Electrochemical experiment results confirm that the combination of NiSe 2 and CoSe 2 not only facilitates the bidirectional catalytic function during charge and discharge processes, but also increases the active sites toward LiPSs adsorption. Simultaneously, the highly conductive rGO network enhances the electronic conductivity of NiSe 2 /CoSe 2 -G/S and provides convenience for loading NiSe 2 /CoSe 2 catalysts. Benefitting from the exceptional catalytic-adsorption capability of NiSe 2 /CoSe 2 and the presence of rGO, the NiSe 2 /CoSe 2 -G/S electrode exhibits excellent electrochemical properties. At 1C, it demonstrates a low capacity attenuation of 0.087 % per cycle during 500 cycles. The electrode can maintain a discharge capacity of 927 mAh/g at a sulfur loading of 3.3 mg cm−2. The bidirectional catalytic activity of NiSe 2 /CoSe 2 -G offers a prospective approach to expedite the redox reactions of active S, meanwhile, this work also offers an ideal approach for designing efficient S hosts for LSBs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Luminescent ferroelectrics are holding exciting prospect for integrated photoelectronic devices due to potential light‐polarization interactions at electron scale. Integrating ferroelectricity and long‐lived afterglow emission in a single material would offer new possibilities for fundamental research and applications, however, related reports have been a blank to date. For the first time, we here achieved the combination of notable ferroelectricity and afterglow emission in an organic‐inorganic hybrid material. Remarkably, the presented (4‐methylpiperidium)CdCl3 also shows noticeable antiferroelectric behavior. The implementation of cationic customization and halogen engineering not only enables a dramatic enhancement of Curie temperature of 114.4 K but also brings a record longest emission lifetime up to 117.11 ms under ambient conditions, realizing a leapfrog improvement of at least two orders of magnitude compared to reported hybrid ferroelectrics so far. This finding would herald the emergence of novel application potential, such as multi‐level density data storage or multifunctional sensors, towards the future integrated optoelectronic devices with multitasking capabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Luminescent ferroelectrics are holding exciting prospect for integrated photoelectronic devices due to potential light‐polarization interactions at electron scale. Integrating ferroelectricity and long‐lived afterglow emission in a single material would offer new possibilities for fundamental research and applications, however, related reports have been a blank to date. For the first time, we here achieved the combination of notable ferroelectricity and afterglow emission in an organic‐inorganic hybrid material. Remarkably, the presented (4‐methylpiperidium)CdCl3 also shows noticeable antiferroelectric behavior. The implementation of cationic customization and halogen engineering not only enables a dramatic enhancement of Curie temperature of 114.4 K but also brings a record longest emission lifetime up to 117.11 ms under ambient conditions, realizing a leapfrog improvement of at least two orders of magnitude compared to reported hybrid ferroelectrics so far. This finding would herald the emergence of novel application potential, such as multi‐level density data storage or multifunctional sensors, towards the future integrated optoelectronic devices with multitasking capabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, efforts have been made to include tides in both operational ocean models as well as climate and earth system models. The accuracy of the barotropic tides is often limited by the model topography, which is in turn limited by model horizontal resolution. In this work, we explore the reduction of barotropic tidal errors in an ocean general circulation model (Modular Ocean Model version 6; MOM6) using sub‐grid scale topography representation. We follow the methodology from Adcroft (2013, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ocemod.2013.03.002), which utilizes statistics from finer resolution topographic data sets to represent sub‐grid scale features with a light computational cost in a structured finite volume formulation. The geometric effect from sub‐grid scale topography can be introduced to the model with only a few parameters at each grid cell. The porous barriers, which are implemented at the walls of the grid cells, are used to modify transport between grid cells. Our results show that the globally averaged tidal error in lower‐resolution simulations is significantly reduced with the use of porous barriers. We argue this method is a potentially useful tool to improve simulations of tides (and other flows) in low‐resolution simulations. Plain Language Summary: In recent years, significant attention has been given to simulating tides in diverse ocean and climate models, because of the roles of tides in impacting sea levels. In order to better predict future sea level changes, it is therefore essential to improve the accuracy of surface tides simulated in numerical ocean models. One known source of errors that could impact the accuracy of modeled tides stems from the accuracy of ocean topography in the models, which relies on how many grid boxes (i.e., model resolution) are used to represent the complicated seafloor elevations. The model's resolution, however, is often constrained by the efficiency of computations. Our objective in this study is to enhance the portrayal of ocean topography at a given resolution to minimize tidal errors. To achieve this, we employ a technique known as "porous barriers," which uses approximations to mimic the effects of ocean topography that would be omitted in the models, without imposing significant computational burdens. Our findings demonstrate that this technique of porous barriers can substantially reduce tidal errors in our ocean model. We also expect a wider application of this technique to numerous other physical processes within the ocean. Key Points: The accuracy of tides in ocean models is affected by the representation of topography, which is constrained by model horizontal resolutionThe geometric effect of the sub‐grid scale topographic features can be approximated in the model with the porous barriersThe porous barriers can significantly reduce globally averaged errors for barotropic tides [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unhealthy aging poses a global challenge with profound healthcare and socioeconomic implications. Slowing down the aging process offers a promising approach to reduce the burden of a number of age-related diseases, such as dementia, and promoting healthy longevity in the old population. In response to the challenge of the aging population and with a view to the future, Norway and the United Kingdom are fostering collaborations, supported by a "Money Follows Cooperation agreement" between the 2 nations. The inaugural Norway–UK joint meeting on aging and dementia gathered leading experts on aging and dementia from the 2 nations to share their latest discoveries in related fields. Since aging is an international challenge, and to foster collaborations, we also invited leading scholars from 11 additional countries to join this event. This report provides a summary of the conference, highlighting recent progress on molecular aging mechanisms, genetic risk factors, DNA damage and repair, mitophagy, autophagy, as well as progress on a series of clinical trials (eg, using NAD+ precursors). The meeting facilitated dialogue among policymakers, administrative leaders, researchers, and clinical experts, aiming to promote international research collaborations and to translate findings into clinical applications and interventions to advance healthy aging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is devoted to introducing and investigating the bounded variation capacity and the perimeter in the abstract Wiener space X, thereby discovering some related inequalities. Functions of bounded variation in an abstract Wiener space X have been studied by many scholars. As the continuation of this research, we define the corresponding BV capacity cap H ⁡ (⋅) (now called abstract Wiener BV capacity) and investigate its properties. We also investigate some properties of sets of finite γ-perimeter, with γ being a Gaussian measure. Subsequently, the isocapacitary inequality associated with cap H ⁡ (⋅) is presented and we are able to show that it is equivalent to the Gaussian isoperimetric inequality. Finally, we prove that every set of finite γ-perimeter in X has mean curvature in L 1 ⁢ (X , γ) . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Selective isomerization of terminal olefins to afford new internal olefins is an atom economic reaction that is usually catalysed by metal catalysts. Here, we present a tris(pentafluorophenyl)borane [B(C6F5)3]-catalysed isomerization of olefins. Linear α-olefins are converted to 2-olefins in high yields with unsatisfactory stereoselectivity under the applied reaction conditions. At the same time, the biorelevant phenylpropenoid products can be obtained with high regio- and stereoselectivity from the isomerization of allylbenzenes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Emerging evidence suggests the potential relationship between vitamin D deficiency and risk of cognitive impairment or dementia. To what extent the excess risk of dementia conferred by vitamin D deficiency is less clear. Objective: We summarized the current evidence from several aspects and further quantified these associations. Methods: We collected relevant prospective cohort studies by searching PubMed, Embase and Cochrane up to July 2023. The pooled relative risks (RR) were evaluated by random-effects models. Dose-response analyses were conducted by the method of two-stage generalized least squares regression. Results: Of 9,267 identified literatures, 23 were eligible for inclusion in the meta-analyses, among which 9 and 4 literatures were included in the dose-response analyses for the risk of dementia and Alzheimer's disease (AD). Vitamin D deficiency exhibited a 1.42 times risk for dementia (95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.21–1.65) and a 1.57-fold excess risk for AD (95% CI = 1.15–2.14). And vitamin D deficiency was associated with 34% elevated risk with cognitive impairment (95% CI = 1.19–1.52). Additionally, vitamin D was non-linearly related to the risk of dementia (pnonlinearity = 0.0000) and AD (pnonlinearity = 0.0042). The approximate 77.5–100 nmol/L 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] was optimal for reducing dementia risk. And the AD risk seemed to be decreased when the 25(OH)D level >40.1 nmol/L. Conclusions: Vitamin D deficiency was a risk factor for dementia, AD, and cognitive impairment. The nonlinear relationships may further provide the optimum dose of 25(OH)D for dementia prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multi-agent cooperation, pooling innovative resources, helps to develop key technologies and major projects in enterprises. However, the multi-agent cooperation of enterprises makes the cooperative relationship unstable, and behaviours such as moral hazard, spillover of technology or information are more likely to occur, thereby increasing the risk of enterprises. In this research an enterprise R&D cooperative evolutionary game model is built to investigate the influence of Network externalities on enterprise R&D cooperation in innovation networks. Furthermore, the evolution of innovative network structure of game results is simulated by means of computer technology so that the effects of network externalities on corporation degree, agglomeration and network structure are analyzed. The results show that Network externalities led to a decrease of cooperated partners, a decline in cooperation degree and agglomeration of enterprises, and a shrinking enterprise R&D cooperation tendency. The influence of network externalities shows significant structural differences in the three types of enterprise networks: the degree of enterprise cooperation and agglomeration fluctuates greatly in the scale-free network, but slightly in the small-world network and the random network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Cavernous sinus invasion (CSI) plays a pivotal role in determining management in pituitary adenomas. The study aimed to develop a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) model to diagnose CSI in multiple centers. Methods: A total of 729 cases were retrospectively obtained in five medical centers with (n = 543) or without CSI (n = 186) from January 2011 to December 2021. The CNN model was trained using T1-enhanced MRI from two pituitary centers of excellence (n = 647). The other three municipal centers (n = 82) as the external testing set were imported to evaluate the model performance. The area-under-the-receiver-operating-characteristic-curve values (AUC-ROC) analyses were employed to evaluate predicted performance. Gradient-weighted class activation mapping (Grad-CAM) was used to determine models' regions of interest. Results: The CNN model achieved high diagnostic accuracy (0.89) in identifying CSI in the external testing set, with an AUC-ROC value of 0.92 (95% CI, 0.88–0.97), better than CSI clinical predictor of diameter (AUC-ROC: 0.75), length (AUC-ROC: 0.80), and the three kinds of dichotomizations of the Knosp grading system (AUC-ROC: 0.70–0.82). In cases with Knosp grade 3A (n = 24, CSI rate, 0.35), the accuracy the model accounted for 0.78, with sensitivity and specificity values of 0.72 and 0.78, respectively. According to the Grad-CAM results, the views of the model were confirmed around the sellar region with CSI. Conclusions: The deep learning model is capable of accurately identifying CSI and satisfactorily able to localize CSI in multicenters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: FoxO1 is an important target in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, FoxO1‐specific agonists and their effects on AD have not yet been reported. This study aimed to identify small molecules that upregulate the activity of FoxO1 to attenuate the symptoms of AD. Methods: FoxO1 agonists were identified by in silico screening and molecular dynamics simulation. Western blotting and reverse transcription‐quantitative polymerase chain reaction assays were used to assess protein and gene expression levels of P21, BIM, and PPARγ downstream of FoxO1 in SH‐SY5Y cells, respectively. Western blotting and enzyme‐linked immunoassays were performed to explore the effect of FoxO1 agonists on APP metabolism. Results: N‐(3‐methylisothiazol‐5‐yl)‐2‐(2‐oxobenzo[d]oxazol‐3(2H)‐yl) acetamide (compound D) had the highest affinity for FoxO1. Compound D activated FoxO1 and regulated the expression of its downstream target genes, P21, BIM, and PPARγ. In SH‐SY5Y cells treated with compound D, BACE1 expression levels were downregulated, and the levels of Aβ1‐40 and Aβ1‐42 were also reduced. Conclusions: We present a novel small‐molecule FoxO1 agonist with good anti‐AD effects. This study highlights a promising strategy for new drug discovery for AD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate the biological effects of arctigenin on B16-F10 melanoma cells in vitro and to explore its mechanism. B16-F10 melanoma cells in vitro were treated with the blank control solution and arctigenin solution of different concentrations, respectively. Cell proliferation and apoptosis were analyzed using the CCK-8 assay and cell loss assay, and the effect of arctigenin on melanoma cell proliferation was evaluated. Western blot was used to analyze the expression of BCL-2 protein and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in the cells of different groups and to explore the mechanism of action of arctigenin. The proliferation rate of B16-F10 melanoma cells treated with arctigenin solutions was significantly lower than that of the blank control group (P <.05), and the proliferation rate decreased with increasing concentration of arctigenin. The apoptosis rate of B16-F10 melanoma cells treated with arctigenin solutions was significantly higher than that of the blank control group (P <.05), and the apoptosis rate increased with increasing concentration of arctigenin. The expression levels of BCL-2 and VEGF in B16-F10 melanoma cells treated with arctigenin solutions were significantly lower than those in the blank control group (P <.05), and the expression levels decreased as the concentration of arctigenin increased. Arctigenin can inhibit the proliferation and promote the apoptosis of melanoma cells, and the mechanism may be associated with decreasing the expression of BCL-2 and VEGF in melanoma cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The behaviors of droplets impinging on superhydrophobic surfaces have received much attention from industry and academia due to potential applications such as anti-icing, spray cooling, and self-cleaning. Previous studies have shown that the superhydrophobic surfaces can significantly reduce contact time and thus effectively suppress surface icing and condensation phenomena. In this paper, the bouncing behaviors of droplets on superhydrophobic surfaces decorated with cross ridges were investigated using numerical simulations and theoretical analysis. The effect of cross-ridge structures with different pinch angles and droplets with different Weber numbers on droplet bouncing behaviors was investigated using the volume-of-fluid method. The results showed that the solid–liquid contact time was shortest when the angle between the two ridges was 75°. Compared to droplet bouncing on a smooth surface, the contact time was reduced by up to 30% for complete bouncing behaviors and up to 68% for broken bouncing behaviors. As the angle decreased, the ratio of spreading areas between child droplet sizes increased exponentially. The momentum of the smaller child droplet decreased until it was no longer generated. A theoretical analysis based on energy conservation was also performed. A theoretical equation was proposed to predict the maximum spreading coefficient. The maximum error was less than 10% for the experimental and numerical results compared to the predicted results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The woven lattice truss sandwich panels (WLTSPs) have been studied much, and this article proposes a new structure (curved woven lattice truss sandwich [CWLTS] panels). CWLTS were designed, made, and tested. The foam‐filling technique was applied to strengthen the CWLTS. Curving and foam‐filling effects to the deformation, damage, failure, and energy absorption under cylindrical and plated loadings were revealed by three‐point bending experiments. Under cylindrical loading, foam‐filling can effectively increase the load capacity, especially the CWLTS‐A. The load‐bearing capacity of the plated loading is greater than that of the cylindrical loading, and the phenomenon is significantly improved after foam filling, except for the central angle of 60° and the CWLTS‐A of 44.05°. Foam‐filling changes failure from core‐shearing to face fracture. For foam‐filled panels, the change in loading pattern results in energy absorption increase of 2.45 times for CWLTS‐B and 2.86 times for CWLTS‐A. Plated loading approximately doubles the peak load and energy absorption with two plastic hinges. The effect of foam filling on the mean crush force of the CWLTS plated loading is greater. The mechanical and energy absorption properties of the CWLTS can be improved by changing the loading mode and using foam filling, effectively increasing the applicability. Highlights: Curved woven lattice truss sandwich panels were designed, made, and tested.Foam‐filling method greatly improves the bearing capacity of the CWLTS panels.Plated loading much increases the bearing capacity and energy absorption.The impact of curvature on mechanical performances is not immediately apparent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite demonstrating exceptional inversion production for synthetic data, the application of deep learning (DL) inversion methods to invert realistic magnetotelluric (MT) measurements, which are inevitably contaminated by noise in acquisition, poses a significant challenge. Hence, to facilitate DL inversion for realistic MT measurements, this work explores developing a noise-robust MT DL inversion method by generating targeted noisy training datasets and constructing a physics-informed neural network. Different from most previous works that only considered the noise of one fixed distribution and level, we propose three noise injection strategies and compare their combinations to mitigate the adverse effect of measurement noise on MT DL inversion results: (1) add synthetic relative noise obeying Gaussian distribution; (2) propose a multiwindow Savitzky–Golay (MWSG) filtering scheme to extract potential and possible noise from the target field data and then introduce them into training data; (3) create an augmented training dataset based on the former two strategies. Moreover, we employ the powerful Swin Transformer as the backbone network to construct a U-shaped DL model (SwinTUNet), based on which a physics-informed SwinTUNet (PISwinTUNet) is implemented to further enhance its generalization ability. In synthetic examples, the proposed noise injection strategies demonstrate impressive inversion effects, regardless of whether they are contaminated by familiar or unfamiliar noise. In a field example, the combination of three strategies drives PISwinTUNet to produce considerably faithful reconstructions for subsurface resistivity structures and outperform the classical deterministic Occam inversions. The experimental results show that the proposed noise-robust DL inversion method based on the noise injection strategies and physics-informed DL architecture holds great promise in processing MT field data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While undergoing structural deformation, DNA experiences changes in the interactions between its internal base pairs, presenting challenges to conventional elastic methods. To address this, we propose the Discrete Critical State (DCS) model in this paper. This model combines surface discrete frame theory with gauge theory and Landau phase transition theory to investigate DNA's structural deformation, phase transitions, and chirality. Notably, the DCS model considers both the internal interactions within DNA and formulates an overall equation using unified physical and geometric parameters. By employing the discrete frame, we derive the evolution of physical quantities along the helical axis of DNA, including geodesic curvature, geodesic torsion, and others. Our findings indicate that B-DNA has a significantly lower free energy density compared to Z-DNA, which is in agreement with experimental observations. This research reveals that the direction of base pairs is primarily governed by the geodesic curve within the helical plane, aligning closely with the orientation of the base pairs. Moreover, the geodesic curve has a profound influence on the arrangement of base pairs at the microscopic level and effectively regulates the configuration and geometry of DNA through macroscopic-level free energy considerations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the modification of red clay with calcium carbonate. The pore distribution was obtained using a combination of mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques. The influence of calcium carbonate content, density, confining pressure, and shear strain on the pores was studied. Introducing pore classification to assess the extent of the damage under different conditions and the relationship between different types of pores. The results show that the content of added calcium carbonate has little effect on pore distribution when the density is low (1.4 and 1.5 g/cm3). The content of calcium carbonate has an influence on pore distribution when the density is high (1.6 g/cm3). With the density increases, the number of macropores and mesopores between soil particles decreases, while the small pores increase. The confining pressure results in the preferential drainage of free water from macropores. The porosity decreases as the confining pressure increases. Under the same confining pressure, as the shear strain increases, the large pores decrease while the small pores increase. Based on the analysis of damage degree, the shear strain is positively linearly related to the damage degree of intragranular mesopores, which forms a convex function relationship with intragranular macropores and intergranular mesopores (except under a confining pressure of 100 kPa). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Since 2002, the Chinese Ministry of Education has conducted reform in the physical education (PE) curriculums of schools in China, with a focus on shifting from sports skills to regular participation in physical activity (PA) and promoting health. The aim of the study, therefore, is to examine the effects of school PE on the exercise habits of children and adolescents in China over time. METHODS: Data based on 5941 observations of 3708 individuals aged 6 to 17 were collected from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) for the period 2004 to 2015. The data were analyzed using the fixed‐effect Logit model and the random‐effect Tobit model. RESULTS: The likelihood of exercising outside of school is 20.2% higher for students who have school PE than those who do not. Our study found that increasing the duration of PE at school by 100%, increases the duration of out‐of‐school PA by 22.3%. The variety of the types of sports schools offer encourages students to participate in out‐of‐school physical activity. The likelihood of students exercising outside of school increases by 5.6% when 1 more exercise type is provided in school PE. In addition, soccer, basketball, badminton, and volleyball education increases students' participation in after‐school exercises. Soccer and basketball education, in particular, improves the duration of after‐school PA. CONCLUSIONS: To form exercise habits in children and adolescents, we encourage the promotion of a variety of physical activities in schools, especially team sports such as soccer and basketball. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gastric cancer (GC) is a pressing global clinical issue, with few treatment options and a poor prognosis. The onset and spread of stomach cancer are significantly influenced by changes in lipid metabolism-related pathways. This study aimed to discover a predictive signature for GC using lipid metabolism-related genes (LMRGs) and examine its correlation with the tumor immune microenvironment (TIME). Transcriptome data and clinical information from patients with GC were collected from the TCGA and GEO databases. Data from GC samples were analyzed using both bulk RNA-seq and single-cell sequencing of RNA (scRNA-seq). To identify survival-related differentially expressed LMRGs (DE-LMRGs), differential expression and prognosis studies were carried out. We built a predictive signature using LASSO regression and tested it on the TCGA and GSE84437 datasets. In addition, the correlation of the prognostic signature with the TIME was comprehensively analyzed. In this study, we identified 258 DE-LMRGs in GC and further screened seven survival-related DE-LMRGs. The results of scRNA-seq identified 688 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between the three branches. Two critical genes (GPX3 and NNMT) were identified using the above two gene groups. In addition, a predictive risk score that relies on GPX3 and NNMT was developed. Survival studies in both the TCGA and GEO datasets revealed that patients categorized to be at low danger had a significantly greater prognosis than those identified to be at high danger. Additionally, by employing calibration plots based on TCGA data, the study demonstrated the substantial predictive capacity of a prognostic nomogram, which incorporated a risk score along with various clinical factors. Within the high-risk group, there was a noticeable abundance of active natural killer (NK) cells, quiescent monocytes, macrophages, mast cells, and activated CD4 + T cells. In summary, a two-gene signature and a predictive nomogram have been developed, offering accurate prognostic predictions for general survival in GC patients. These findings have the potential to assist healthcare professionals in making informed medical decisions and providing personalized treatment approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An experimental study is conducted to explore the high-amplitude effect on Richtmyer–Meshkov instability (RMI) at a single-mode heavy–light interface. A wide range of scaled initial amplitude (ka0, where k and a0 are perturbation wavenumber and initial amplitude, respectively) is considered. Qualitatively, nonstandard (standard) indirect phase inversion occurs in experiments with high (low and moderate) ka0. The nonstandard indirect phase inversion exhibits a complex process, and the interface mixing width does not reduce to near zero. Quantitatively, the linear model poorly (accurately) predicts the post-phase-inversion linear amplitude growth rate when ka0 is high (low and moderate). Additionally, a representative theoretical reduction factor fortuitously evaluates the high-amplitude effect on the post-phase-inversion linear amplitude growth rate well. The high-amplitude effect significantly alters the nonlinear evolution law, which differs from the case of RMI at a light–heavy interface. None of the considered nonlinear models can accurately predict the amplitude evolution under all ka0 conditions, regardless of whether their expressions are related to ka0 or not. Based on the current experimental results, an empirical nonlinear model is proposed to describe RMI at a single-mode heavy–light interface across a wide range of ka0 conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Chronic wounds are wounds that are not healed or have no healing tendency for more than 1 month due to various factors. In clinical nursing, chronic wounds are often not properly treated, and the treatment efficiency is low. Therefore, it is very important to explore effective methods to deal with chronic wounds. Objective: To explore the effect of a self‐made negative pressure suction device (NPSD) in the nursing of chronic wounds in the elderly. Methods: A total of 50 elderly patients with chronic wounds who were hospitalised in our hospital from January 2020 to December 2022 were selected as participants by convenient sampling. According to the random number table method, they were divided into a control group and an observation group, with 25 people in each group. The control group was treated with chloroplast foam dressing, debridement gel and alginate dressing. The observation group was treated with a self‐made NPSD on the basis of the control group. The wound healing of the two groups was observed. Results: After the intervention of the self‐made NPSD, the granulation tissue coverage rate and wound volume reduction rate of the observation group were significantly increased (p < 0.05), and the positive rate of bacterial infection was significantly decreased (p < 0.05). After 3 months of intervention, the total effective rate of the observation group was significantly higher than that of the control group (χ2 = 3.869, p = 0.0492). Conclusion: The self‐made NPSD can effectively promote the healing of a chronic wound. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sudden water inrush disasters in long, deeply buried tunnels in karst regions not only seriously threaten the safety of tunnel engineering structures but are also geological disasters that are difficult to prevent and control. To achieve efficient and rapid treatment of water inrush disasters in tunnels by in-depth analysis of the causal mechanism of sudden water inrush in a long, deeply buried tunnel, an efficient treatment countermeasure, grouting plugging materials, and control measures of slurry leakage are developed. The results show that faults and fractured evaporite solution breccia are highly water permeable, and the excavation of a tunnel disrupts the groundwater flow direction. Gravity causes groundwater to gather in the weakest part of the tunnel, causing a water inrush disaster. To prevent a tunnel water inrush disaster, the countermeasure treatment of pretreatment with plugging of the water inrush site, grouting pre-reinforcement, water inrush plugging, and local reinforcement is proposed. Plugging materials suitable for the different characteristics of water inrush have been developed. These materials have a good effect on the narrowing and plugging of water inrush points. Shallow plugging techniques are proposed for the phenomenon of slurry leakage in the treatment process of water inrush disasters. Field displacement monitoring and similar engineering applications verify the effectiveness of the treatment countermeasures and grouting materials. This work provides a reference for the treatment of tunnel water inrush disasters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Rare variants of CCNK (cyclin K) give rise to a syndrome with intellectual disability. The purpose of this study was to describe the genotype–phenotype spectrum of CCNK‐related syndrome and the underlying molecular mechanisms of pathogenesis. Methods: We identified a number of de novo CCNK variants in unrelated patients. We generated patient‐induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and neural progenitor cells (NPCs) as disease models. In addition, we constructed NPC‐specific Ccnk knockout (KO) mice and performed molecular and morphological analyses. Results: We identified 2 new patients harboring CCNK missense variants and followed‐up 3 previous reported patients, which constitute the largest patient population analysis of the disease. We demonstrate that both the patient‐derived NPC models and the Ccnk KO mouse displayed deficient NPC proliferation and enhanced apoptotic cell death. RNA sequencing analyses of these NPC models uncovered transcriptomic signatures unique to CCNK‐related syndrome, revealing significant changes in genes, including WNT5A, critical for progenitor proliferation and cell death. Further, to confirm WNT5A's role, we conducted rescue experiments using NPC and mouse models. We found that a Wnt5a inhibitor significantly increased proliferation and reduced apoptosis in NPCs derived from patients with CCNK‐related syndrome and NPCs in the developing cortex of Ccnk KO mice. Interpretation: We discussed the genotype–phenotype relationship of CCNK‐related syndrome. Importantly, we demonstrated that CCNK plays critical roles in NPC proliferation and NPC apoptosis in vivo and in vitro. Together, our study highlights that Wnt5a may serve as a promising therapeutic target for the disease intervention. ANN NEUROL 2023;94:1136–1154 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To fully harness the burgeoning array of in-orbit satellite resources and augment the efficacy of dynamic surveillance of densely clustered terrestrial targets, this paper delineates the following methodologies. Initially, we leverage the Density-Based Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise (DBSCAN) clustering algorithm to aggregate the concentrated terrestrial targets, taking into account the field-of-view peculiarities of agile staring satellites. Subsequently, we architect a model for a synergistic multiple angle earth observation satellites (AEOSs) mission planning with the optimization objectives of observational revenue, minimal energy expenditure, and load balancing, factoring in constraints such as target visibility time window, AEOSs maneuverability, and satellite storage. To tackle this predicament, we propose an improved heuristic ant colony optimization (ACO) algorithm, utilizing the task interval, task priority, and the length of time a task can start observation as heuristic information. Furthermore, we incorporate the notion of the max–min ant system to regulate the magnitude of pheromone concentration, and we amalgamate global and local pheromone update strategies to expedite the convergence rate of the algorithm. We also introduce the Lévy flight improved pheromone evaporation coefficient to bolster the algorithm's capacity to evade local optima. Ultimately, through a series of simulation experiments, we substantiate the significant performance improvements achieved by the improved heuristic ant colony algorithm compared to the standard ant colony algorithm. We furnish proof of its efficacy in resolving the planning of multiple AEOS staring observation missions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inkless and erasable printing (IEP) based on chromic materials holds great promise to alleviate environmental and sustainable problems. Metal–organic polymers (MOPs) are bright platforms for constructing IEP materials. However, it is still challenging to design target MOPs with excellent specific functions rationally due to the intricate component‐structure‐property relationships. Herein, an effective strategy was proposed for the rational design IEP‐MOP materials. The stimuli‐responsive viologen moiety was introduced into the construction of MOPs to give it potential chromic behaviors and two different coordination models (i. e. bilateral coordination model, M1; unilateral coordinated model, M2) based on the same viologen ligand were designed. Aided by theoretical calculations, model M1 was recommended secondarily as a more suitable system for IEP materials. Along this line, two representative viologen‐ZnII MOPs 1 and 2 with models M1 and M2 were synthesized successfully. Experiments exhibit that 1 does have quicker stimuli response, stronger color contrast and longer radical lifetime compared to 2. Significantly, the obtained 1‐IEP media brightly inherits the excellent chromic characteristics of 1 and the flexibility of the paper at the same time, which achieves most daily printing requirements, as well as enough resolution and durability to be used in identification by smart device. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Richtmyer–Meshkov (RM) instability of a single-mode SF6–air interface subjected to a convergent shock is investigated experimentally. The convergent shock tube is specially designed with an opening tail to weaken the Rayleigh–Taylor effect and eliminate the reflected waves' effect. The gas layer scheme is used to create a heavy gas environment at the upstream side of the interface. Before phase inversion is finished, the amplitude reduction is accelerated, but the Bell–Plesset (BP) effect in this process is found to be negligible. After phase inversion is completed, the linear growth rate is generally predicted due to small amplitude and the weak BP effect. In nonlinear regime, an existing nonlinear model is revised based on the Padé approximation to give a better prediction of amplitude growth. The spike amplitude grows almost linearly, whereas the bubble amplitude gradually saturates and even reduces. For a heavy-light interface in convergent geometry, although both the spike and bubble amplitude growths are promoted by the BP effect, the spike growth is more promoted than the bubble. The BP effect enhances generation of the second-order harmonic, which results in saturation and reduction of the bubble amplitude. The discrepancy in the BP effect between light-heavy and heavy-light interfaces is qualitatively demonstrated for the first time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prostate cancer (PCa) is a frustrating immunogenic "cold" tumor and generally receives unsatisfied immunotherapy outcomes in the clinic. Pyroptosis is an excellent immunogenic cell death form that can effectively activate the antitumor immune response, promote cytotoxic T‐lymphocyte infiltration, and convert tumors from "cold" to "hot." However, the in vivo application of pyroptosis drugs is seriously limited, and the upregulation of tumor PD‐L1 caused by photo‐immunotherapy further promotes immune escape. Herein, a new nano‐photosensitizer (YBS‐BMS NPs‐RKC) with pH‐response integrating immunogenic pyroptosis induction and immune checkpoint blockade is developed. The pH‐responsive polymer equipped with the cell membrane anchoring peptide RKC is used as the carrier and further encapsulated with the near‐infrared‐activated semiconductor polymer photosensitizer YBS and a PD‐1/PD‐L1 complex small molecule inhibitor BMS‐202. The pH‐driven membrane‐anchoring and pyroptosis activation of YBS‐BMS NPs‐RKC is clearly demonstrated. In vitro and in vivo studies have shown that this dual‐pronged therapy stimulates a powerful antitumor immune response to suppress primary tumor progression and evokes long‐term immune memory to inhibit tumor relapse and metastasis. This work provides an effective self‐synergistic platform for PCa immunotherapy and a new idea for developing more biocompatible photo‐controlled pyroptosis inducers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To evaluate the efficacy and safety of hypochlorous acid (HOCI) eye drops in the treatment of fungal keratitis. A total of 96 patients (96 eyes) with fungal keratitis were randomly divided into two groups: group Ι (conventional treatment + topical HOCI eye drops); The group II (conventional treatment). According to its severity, those patients were divided into grade Ι or grade II. Use of fungal scraping and culture to identify the type of fungal infection, slit lamp examination, and corneal fluorescein staining to observe regression, and confocal corneal microscopy to assess fungal mycelial changes. The main outcome measures were the success rate, healing time, visual recovery, and complications. The Kaplan–Meier curve method was used to analysis of the survival function of days to cure between the two groups. There were no statistical differences between the two groups in terms of general condition, medical history, and grading. Corneal scraping results showed that all patients had filamentous fungi. For grade Ι patients, all patients were cured, and the patients in Group I showed faster healing speed than that in Group II (t = −3.665, p <.01). For grade II patients, the recovery time (t = −4.121, p <.01) and the disappearance of hypopyon (t = −4.291, p <.01) were significantly faster in the combination group. In grade Ι and II patients, the final visual acuity and the incidence of complications such as corneal neovascularization, cataract, and hyphema showed no differences in both groups. The survival curve showed that the healing rate of ulcers in the combination treatment group was faster than that in the conventional treatment group (χ2 = 14.332, p =.001). HOCI can accelerate the healing of fungal keratitis without obvious complications, indicating a promising future in the field of keratitis treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The study aimed to evaluate the prognostic value of preoperative systemic inflammation response index (SIRI) for acute type A aortic dissection (ATAD) following open surgery. Methods and results: Totally, 410 ATAD patients underwent open surgery from 2019 to 2021 were enrolled in the study. Among the patients, the in-hospital mortality was 14.4%. Cox regression (95%CI 1.033–1.114p < 0.001) and receiver operating characteristic curve analysis (AUC = 0.718, p < 0.001) demonstrated the prognostic role of SIRI for in-hospital mortality after surgery. The optimal cut-off value of SIRI for in-hospital mortality was identified as 9.43 by maximally selected Log-Rank statistics. The patients were divided into high SIRI group (SIRI ≥ 9.43) and low SIRI group (SIRI < 9.43)) after the linear inverse relationship between SIRI and hazard ratio for in-hospital mortality was demonstrated by restricted cubic spline analysis (p = 0.0742). The Kaplan–Meier analysis illustrated that in-hospital mortality increased significantly in high SIRI group (p < 0.001). In addition, elevating SIRI was significantly associated with the incidence of coronary sinus tear (95%CI 1.020–4.475p = 0.044). Furthermore, the incidence rate of postoperative complications including renal failure (p < 0.001) and infection (p = 0.019) was higher in high SIRI group. Conclusion: The study indicated that preoperative SIRI could provide strong prognostic value for in-hospital mortality in ATAD patients following open surgery. Thus, SIRI was a promising biomarker for risk stratification and management prior to open surgery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The association between periodontal disease (PD) and erectile dysfunction (ED) has been well-documented in observational studies. However, observational studies are vulnerable to reverse causality and confounding factors, making the inference of causal–effect relationships challenging. Contrary to the current belief, Mendelian randomization (MR) can be applied to comprehensively assess the bi-directional causal effects between PD and ED. Methods: A two-sample MR analysis was performed using pooled statistics from genome-wide association studies involving European populations with PD (12,289 patients with PD and 22,326 controls) and ED (6,175 patients with clinically diagnosed ED and 217,630 controls). In this MR analysis, three methods––the inverse-variance weighted (IVW) average, weighted median, and MR-Egger regression methods––were used to evaluate the causal relationships between PD and ED. Results: According to the IVW analysis results, genetically predicted PD did not have a causal effect on ED (odds ratio 1.07, 95% confidence interval 0.96–1.20, p = 0.22). Furthermore, there was no clear indication of a significant causal effect of ED on PD in the reverse MR analysis (odds ratio 0.98, 95% confidence interval 0.90–1.08, p = 0.74). The results of the MR-Egger regression and weighted median methods were consistent with those of the IVW method. Based on the sensitivity analysis results, a major bias from genetic pleiotropy was unlikely to distort the causal estimates. Conclusion: The present study does not support a causal effect between PD and ED. Clinical relevance: From the perspective of genetics, PD does not appear to be a risk factor for the development of ED. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the palaeoenvironment of the Loess Plateau plays a key role in the researches about influences caused by the Tibetan Plateau uplift and the formation of the East Asia Monsoon (EAM). The Longxi area of the Gansu Province, northwestern China, is an ideal area to study such influences because of its unique geographical location within the transition zone among the EAM region, inland arid areas and the northeastern Tibetan Plateau. Here, we present ostracods from a borehole in the Longxi area, as ostracods are one of the few micropalaeontological proxies available in freshwater sediments. The studied ostracods were assigned to 13 species of 10 genera and 9 indeterminate taxa and reported for the first time from the Linxia Formation in the studied area. The ostracod assemblage is composed entirely of non-marine taxa, including species of Ilyocypris, Cypris, Cyprinotus, Heterocypris, Eucypris, Potamocypris, Zonocypris, Candona, Pseudocandona and Leucocythere. Ostracod biostratigraphy indicates that the Linxia Formation should be Pliocene in age. Palaeoenvironmental analysis of the studied ostracod assemblages suggests that there was a permanent freshwater lake with some temporary ponds in the studied area of the Loess Plateau during the Pliocene, which shows the influences of the East Asian Summer Monsoon during the Pliocene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the 2030s, a new era of gravitational wave (GW) observations will dawn as multiple space-based GW detectors, such as the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna, Taiji, and TianQin, will open the millihertz window for GW astronomy. These detectors are poised to detect a multitude of GW signals emitted by different sources. It is a challenging task for GW data analysis to recover the parameters of these sources at a low computational cost. Generally, the matched filtering approach entails exploring an extensive parameter space for all resolvable sources, incurring a substantial cost owing to the generation of GW waveform templates. To alleviate the challenge, we make an attempt to perform parameter inference for coalescing massive black hole binaries (MBHBs) using deep learning. The model trained in this work has the capability to produce 50,000 posterior samples for the redshifted total mass, mass ratio, coalescence time, and luminosity distance of an MBHB in about twenty seconds. Our model can serve as an effective data pre-processing tool, reducing the volume of parameter space by more than four orders of magnitude for MBHB signals with a signal-to-noise ratio larger than 100. Moreover, the model exhibits robustness when handling input data that contain multiple MBHB signals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The latent features extracted from the multiple sequence alignments (MSAs) of homologous protein families are useful for identifying residue–residue contacts, predicting mutation effects, shaping protein evolution, etc. Over the past three decades, a growing body of supervised and unsupervised machine learning methods have been applied to this field, yielding fruitful results. Here, we propose a novel self-supervised model, called encoder-transformation layer-decoder (ETLD) architecture, capable of capturing protein sequence latent features directly from MSAs. Compared to the typical autoencoder model, ETLD introduces a transformation layer with the ability to learn inter-site couplings, which can be used to parse out the two-dimensional residue–residue contacts map after a simple mathematical derivation or an additional supervised neural network. ETLD retains the process of encoding and decoding sequences, and the predicted probabilities of amino acids at each site can be further used to construct the mutation landscapes for mutation effects prediction, outperforming advanced models such as GEMME, DeepSequence and EVmutation in general. Overall, ETLD is a highly interpretable unsupervised model with great potential for improvement and can be further combined with supervised methods for more extensive and accurate predictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Manipulating the radical concentration to modulate the properties in solid multifunctional materials is an attractive topic in various frontier fields. Viologens have the unique redox capability to generate radical states through reversible electron transfer (ET) under external stimuli. Herein, taking the viologens as the model, two kinds of crystalline compounds with different molecule‐conjugated systems were designed and synthesized. By subjecting the specific model viologens to pressure, the cross‐conjugated 2‐X all exhibit much higher radical concentrations, along with more sensitive piezochromic behaviors, compared to the linear‐conjugated 1‐X. Unexpectedly, we find that the electrical resistance (R) of 1‐NO3 decreased by three orders of magnitude with the increasing pressure, while that in high‐radical‐concentration 2‐NO3 remained almost unchanged. To date, such unusual invariant conductivity has not been documented in molecular‐based materials under high pressure, breaking the conventional wisdom that the generations of radicals are beneficial to improve conductivity. We highlight that adjusting the molecular conjugation modes can be used as an effective way to regulate the radical concentrations and thus modulate properties rationally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Landslide is a major disaster threatening the safety and orderly production of an open-pit mine, so slope stability evaluation is of great significance to the support and monitoring arrangement. Landslide susceptibility mapping (LSM) was widely used in landslide prediction. The former research focused on the algorisms to improve its accuracy, which is relatively complete and left little room for further improvement. In this paper, new factors, including RQD and numerical simulation (NS), are selected to solve the limitation of traditional LSM on the integrity and stress state of the slope. The RQD value was obtained by machine learning and converted into rasters by the ordinary Kriging interpolation method. The slope stress was calculated by the finite difference method and converted into raster data using a program written by Fish language. Based on the information value (INV) method, gradient boosting decision tree (GDBT) was used as the main algorism to generate the LSM-NS. Finally, because LSM-NS contains landslides that have already occurred and those in high susceptibility due to its stress state, commonly used validation methods such as AUROC could no longer be used. Multiple validation methods were applied, such as stress monitoring and UAV tilt photography. The result indicates that the stress increases with crack generating in the high susceptibility area of LSM-NS, where traditional LSM could not predict. Therefore, the addition of RQD and NS could further improve the accuracy using existing algorism. LSM-NS is recommended as the more suitable model for landslide susceptibility assessment in a small area due to its excellent accuracy and efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's rapid economic growth and correlating growth of metropolitan areas has attracted young people leaving their hometowns from the rural areas. Revitalizing the rural areas has been a national development strategy in China. College students returning home to start businesses is one way to alleviate the current shortage of young talents in rural areas of China. Based on the model of goal-directed behavior (MGB), this paper takes behavioral attitude, subjective norms, positive expectations of emotion, negative expectations of emotion, perceived behavioral controls, and government support, all as independent variables. The paper uses the desire as the intermediary variable to construct a goal-oriented behavior model about the intention of entrepreneurial initiatives by college students. By using survey data, the empirical analysis shows that the model has a strong explanatory power on the intention of college students. The positive expected emotions, perceived behavioral control, and government support, have a significantly positive influence on college student's intentions through controlling behavior desire. The perceived behavioral control and behavioral desire of the subjects had a direct positive and significant influence on their intention. This research provides a reference for the government to formulate policies to attract college students to return to their hometowns to start businesses and boost rural revitalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ZrRuAs single crystals with hexagonal crystal structure, which is a kind of non-centrosymmetric superconductor with relatively high transition temperature, is predicted to be a topological superconductor candidate. To explore the exotic properties of ZrRuAs, the superconducting gap of ZrRuAs needs to be measured. In this work, point-contact Andreev reflection (PCAR) spectroscopy is used to investigate the superconductivity of ZrRuAs single crystals. The double conductance peaks in the PCAR spectra are observed along different crystal directions. The superconducting gap can be quantitatively analyzed by using the modified Blonder–Tinkham–Klapwijk model based on the s-wave superconductivity. The temperature dependence of the extracted superconducting gap follows the Bardeen–Cooper–Schrieffer theory. Our results suggest the isotropic s-wave superconductivity in ZrRuAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: MR scans used in radiotherapy can be partially truncated due to the limited field of view (FOV), affecting dose calculation accuracy in MR‐based radiation treatment planning. Purpose: We proposed a novel Compensation‐cycleGAN (Comp‐cycleGAN) by modifying the cycle‐consistent generative adversarial network (cycleGAN), to simultaneously create synthetic CT (sCT) images and compensate the missing anatomy from the truncated MR images. Methods: Computed tomography (CT) and T1 MR images with complete anatomy of 79 head‐and‐neck patients were used for this study. The original MR images were manually cropped 10–25 mm off at the posterior head to simulate clinically truncated MR images. Fifteen patients were randomly chosen for testing and the rest of the patients were used for model training and validation. Both the truncated and original MR images were used in the Comp‐cycleGAN training stage, which enables the model to compensate for the missing anatomy by learning the relationship between the truncation and known structures. After the model was trained, sCT images with complete anatomy can be generated by feeding only the truncated MR images into the model. In addition, the external body contours acquired from the CT images with full anatomy could be an optional input for the proposed method to leverage the additional information of the actual body shape for each test patient. The mean absolute error (MAE) of Hounsfield units (HU), peak signal‐to‐noise ratio (PSNR), and structural similarity index (SSIM) were calculated between sCT and real CT images to quantify the overall sCT performance. To further evaluate the shape accuracy, we generated the external body contours for sCT and original MR images with full anatomy. The Dice similarity coefficient (DSC) and mean surface distance (MSD) were calculated between the body contours of sCT and original MR images for the truncation region to assess the anatomy compensation accuracy. Results: The average MAE, PSNR, and SSIM calculated over test patients were 93.1 HU/91.3 HU, 26.5 dB/27.4 dB, and 0.94/0.94 for the proposed Comp‐cycleGAN models trained without/with body‐contour information, respectively. These results were comparable with those obtained from the cycleGAN model which is trained and tested on full‐anatomy MR images, indicating the high quality of the sCT generated from truncated MR images by the proposed method. Within the truncated region, the mean DSC and MSD were 0.85/0.89 and 1.3/0.7 mm for the proposed Comp‐cycleGAN models trained without/with body contour information, demonstrating good performance in compensating the truncated anatomy. Conclusions: We developed a novel Comp‐cycleGAN model that can effectively create sCT with complete anatomy compensation from truncated MR images, which could potentially benefit the MRI‐based treatment planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flexible optoelectronic devices have attracted enormous attention as an essential component in next‐generation wearable devices. To meet the trend of biocompatibility, flexibility and low cost, paper‐based optoelectronic devices have become compelling candidates. Moreover, 2D organic–inorganic metal halide perovskites have been extensively studied for the application in flexible optoelectronic devices owing to their long‐term moisture stability, optoelectronic tunability, and multiple quantum well (MQW) structures. Herein, the paper‐based flexible optoelectronic devices are designed by spin‐coating PEDOT:PSS and (iso‐BA)2MAn‐1PbnI3n+1 (n ≥ 1) on regular filter paper with responsivity of 2.62 mA W−1 and response time (τrise/τdecay) of 0.81/0.18 s at 35% relative humidity (RH). Furthermore, the responsivity may be increased by 250% within the humidity range from 35% to 90%, and remains above 92% of the initial value after measured for 1800 s at 60% RH. This work can pave the way for further studies about the humidity effect on perovskites for next‐generation green wearable electronics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to improve the position high-precision synchronization performance of multi-motor synchronous control, a multi-motor position synchronization control method based on non-singular fast terminal sliding mode control (NFTSMC) combined with an improved deviation coupling control structure (Improved Deviation Coupling Control(IDCC), NFTSMC+IDCC). Firstly, this paper designs a sliding mode controller using a non-singular fast terminal sliding mode surface with a Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor (PMSM) as the control object. Secondly, the deviation coupling is improved to enhance the coupling between multiple motors and achieve position synchronization. Finally, the simulation results show that the total error of multi-motor position synchronization under NFTSMC control is 0.553r in the simulation of multi-motor synchronization control under the same working conditions, which is 2.873r and 1.772r less than that of SMC and FTSMC in terms of speed error, and the anti-disturbance performance is 83.68% and 76.22% higher than that of both of them, respectively. In the subsequent simulation of the improved multi-motor position synchronization structure, the total error of the multi-motor position is in the range of 0.56r-0.58r at three speeds, which is much smaller than the synchronization error under the Ring Coupling Control (RCC) structure and Deviation Coupling Control (DCC) structure, showing a better The synchronization error is much smaller than that of the RCC structure and DCC structure, which shows better position synchronization performance. Therefore, the multi-motor position synchronization control method proposed in this paper has a good position synchronization effect and achieves the control effect of small displacement error and fast convergence of the multi-motor position synchronization control system after being disturbed, the control performance is significantly improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have successfully prepared a metal–organic-framework (MOF) derived In2O3 flower-like hierarchical architecture sensor using a near room-temperature template-free strategy and a subsequent accurate annealing process. The In2O3 flower-like hierarchical architecture sensor exhibits good sensitivity to trimethylamine. The fabricated sensor has a relatively low working temperature of 140 °C, a response of 35.2 for 20 ppm trimethylamine, a response time as fast as 2 s, and good selectivity and stability. In addition, the sensor exhibits good conductivity. The sensor's enhanced gas sensing performance can be attributed to the synergistic effect of its unique flower-like hierarchical architecture, porous hierarchical morphology and abundant oxygen vacancies. Furthermore, the possible growth mechanism and the gas sensing mechanism are also discussed in detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To investigate the effects of various prostate biopsy protocols with reduced cores on the detection of clinically significant prostate cancer (csPCa) in individuals with MRI-visible lesions (Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System ≥ 3). Methods: A total of 464 patients with MRI-visible lesions were recruited. All patients underwent two or more targeted biopsies (TB) and systematic biopsies (SB). Several hypothetical biopsy schemes were set-up: TB alone, TB+ipsilateral SB, TB+contralateral SB, TB+SB of the targeted sector (TB+t-SB), and TB+SB of the non-targeted sector (TB+n-SB). A subgroup analysis of patients with multiple MRI-visible lesions was performed. The standard of reference was defined as TB+SB. McNemar test was used to compare csPCa detection rates between various sampling schemes. Results: The detection rates for prostate cancer and csPCa were 72.8% (338 of 464) and 62.1% (288 of 464), respectively. There were 8.0%, 0.3%, 6.3%, 1.0%, and 4.5% cases in which TB alone, TB+ipsilateral SB, TB+contralateral SB, TB+t-SB, and TB+n-SB would have missed csPCa, respectively. All hypothetical schemes, with the exception of TB+contralateral SB (p = 0.063), significantly outperformed TB alone in terms of csPCa detection (p < 0.05). As for the multi-focus cohort, which included 48 cases, none of the non-index lesions had a higher Gleason grade than the index lesions within the same patients. Conclusion: TB+ipsilateral SB might be the optimal biopsy scheme for detecting csPCa. As for the multi-focus cohort, the biopsy of the non-index lesions provided limited pathological information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]