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Maximum power point tracking (MPPT) technology is well suited to photovoltaic (PV) system analysis, which can improve power generation efficiency and control effectiveness. However, the nonlinear intrinsic characteristics of the PV system cannot guarantee that the power generation system always works stably at the maximum power point (MPP). Additionally, the accuracy and complexity of the system modeling are crucial to the performance of the PV system. In this article, a novel adaptive Rao-Blackwellized cubature Kalman filter (ARBCKF) scheme is developed that can be efficiently applied to estimate MPPT for PV systems. At first, a comprehensive analysis of the cubature Kalman filter (CKF) is conducted in the context of MPPT. Second, the LogWright function is utilized to represent the current as an explicit function of the voltage, which achieves faster and more accurate execution. Finally, an adaptive-Rao-Blackwellized method is applied to dynamic systems with nonlinear equations of state and linear equations of measurement, which can capitalize on adapting the noise covariance and improving the performance. Compared with the widely adopted other Kalman filter methods, computation results show that MPP estimation accuracy can be significantly increased in diverse transient and steady-state scenarios.

Abstract Background Viral diseases are posing threat to annual production and quality of tobacco in China. Recently, tomato spotted wilt orthotospovirus (TSWV) has been reported to infect three major crops including tobacco. Current study was aimed to investigate the population dynamics and molecular diversity of the TSWV. In the current study, to assess and identify the prevalence and evolutionary history of TSWV in tobacco crops in China, full-length genome sequences of TSWV isolates from tobacco, were identified and analyzed. Methods After trimming and validation, sequences of new isolates were submitted to GenBank. We identified the full-length genomes of ten TSWV isolates, infecting tobacco plants from various regions of China. Besides these, six isolates were partially sequenced. Phylogenetic analysis was performed to assess the relativeness of newly identified sequences and corresponding sequences from GenBank. Recombination and population dynamics analysis was performed using RDP4, RAT, and statistical estimation. Reassortment analysis was performed using MegaX software. Results Phylogenetic analysis of 41 newly identified sequences, depicted that the majority of the Chinese isolates have separate placement in the tree. RDP4 software predicted that RNA M of newly reported isolate YNKM-2 had a recombinant region spanning from 3111 to 3811 bp. The indication of parental sequences (YNKMXD and YNHHKY) from newly identified isolates, revealed the conservation of local TSWV population. Genetic diversity and population dynamics analysis also support the same trend. RNA M was highlighted to be more capable of mutating or evolving as revealed by data obtained from RDP4, RAT, population dynamics, and phylogenetic analyses. Reassortment analysis revealed that it might have happened in L segment of TSWV isolate YNKMXD (reported herein). Conclusion Taken together, this is the first detailed study revealing the pattern of TWSV genetic diversity, and population dynamics helping to better understand the ability of this pathogen to drastically reduce the tobacco production in China. Also, this is a valuable addition to the existing worldwide profile of TSWV, especially in China, where a few studies related to TSWV have been reported including only one complete genome of this virus isolated from tobacco plants.

Abstract Agriculture machinery navigating along permanent traffic lanes in the farmland may avoid causing extensive soil compaction. However, the permanent traffic lanes are frequently covered up or eliminated by following tillage practices. It is necessary to identify the wheel tracks designed as permanent traffic lanes in order to ensure the agriculture machinery travels along the designated wheel tracks when cultivating the field. This study proposed an identification method of wheel tracks based on the morphological characteristics of wheel tracks and the environmental conditions around the wheel tracks in the wheat fields. The proposed method first utilized the maximum interclass variance to identify the contours of the main part of the wheel track and the shadow regions around the wheel track’s edges. The main part of the wheel tracks was then separated from interference pixels by moving the centerline of the main part of the wheel track, which was derived by skeleton algorithm and curve fitting, towards the right or left edge of the wheel track at a specific distance. In a morphological opening operation, specific linear and circular structural elements were used to segment the shadow regions along the edge of the wheel track. The remaining wheel track was finally recognized by computing the complement of the region identified. After achieving the segmentation of wheel tracks, many reference points near the outside of the wheel track edge in the original image were chosen as fiducial points for evaluating the differences between the actual value and the recognized wheel track edge. The evaluation was based on computing the root mean squared error (RMSE) and the mean absolute error (MAE) of coordinates of reference points and recognized wheel track edge. The results showed that the largest RMSE and MAE were 24.01 pixels (0.0045 m) and 17.32 pixels (0.0032 m), respectively. The low values of RMSE and MAE reveal that the accuracy of the algorithm developed in this study is high, and using this algorithm may segment the wheel track in the wheat field accurately.

Abstract Kaempferol has demonstrated notable positive effects on the osteogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) and osteoblasts. A substantial body of research has emphasized the role of dislodged titanium particles in aseptic loosening following joint replacement surgery. This study predominantly investigates the suppressive influence of Kaempferol on osteolysis induced by titanium (Ti) alloy particles. In vitro investigations disclosed that Kaempferol effectively enhanced mineralization and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity in bone-marrow mesenchymal stem cells exposed to Ti particles. In addition, we conducted a comprehensive analysis of osteogenic differentiation microarray data_sets (GSE37676, GSE79814, and GSE114474) to identify differentially expressed genes. Significantly, Kaempferol upregulated the expression of critical osteogenic markers, including Runt-related transcription factor 2 (Runx2), osteocalcin (OCN), osterix/Sp-7, and β-catenin. In vivo experiments, including H&E staining and Immunohistochemistry, provided compelling evidence that Kaempferol exerted a robust inhibitory effect on periprosthetic osteolysis in mice, with particularly pronounced results at higher doses. Moreover, it elevated the expression levels of osteogenic factors and Wnt/β-catenin signaling components. These findings collectively indicate that Kaempferol mitigates the hindrance to osteogenesis posed by titanium particles by activating the Runx2 and Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathways. This research lays a solid foundation for the prospective utilization of Kaempferol in the management of aseptic loosening following arthroplasty, offering promising therapeutic potential.

Il-13 is expressed in neurons and IL-13 ko causes memory impairment. Here, authors show that IL-13 and its receptor IL-13Ra1 are pre- and post-synaptic proteins, respectively, involved in synaptic signaling, plasticity and neuroprotection.

Abstract Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is an extremely aggressive brain tumor for which new therapeutic approaches are urgently required. Unfolded protein response (UPR) plays an important role in the progression of GBM and is a promising target for developing novel therapeutic interventions. We identified ubiquitin-activating enzyme 1 (UBA1) inhibitor TAK-243 that can strongly induce UPR in GBM cells. In this study, we evaluated the functional activity and mechanism of TAK-243 in preclinical models of GBM. TAK-243 significantly inhibited the survival, proliferation, and colony formation of GBM cell lines and primary GBM cells. It also revealed a significant anti-tumor effect on a GBM PDX animal model and prolonged the survival time of tumor-bearing mice. Notably, TAK-243 more effectively inhibited the survival and self-renewal ability of glioblastoma stem cells (GSCs) than GBM cells. Importantly, we found that the expression level of GRP78 is a key factor in determining the sensitivity of differentiated GBM cells or GSCs to TAK-243. Mechanistically, UBA1 inhibition disrupts global protein ubiquitination in GBM cells, thereby inducing ER stress and UPR. UPR activates the PERK/ATF4 and IRE1α/XBP signaling axes. These findings indicate that UBA1 inhibition could be an attractive strategy that may be potentially used in the treatment of patients with GBM, and GRP78 can be used as a molecular marker for personalized treatment by targeting UBA1.

Abstract Background To document characteristics and treatments of ocular blast injury from a fire and explosion. Method Authors retrospectively evaluated 116 patients with 166 eye injuries from six hospitals. Terminology of ocular injury referred to Birmingham Eye Trauma Terminology, and best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) was categorized with the ocular trauma score (OTS) grading system. Incidence, preoperational and follow-up BCVA, treatment of severe ocular blast injuries were surveyed. Results Oculoplastic injuries accounted for the majority of eye injuries, while globe injuries were presented in 52 eyes with median baseline OTS 70 ranging from 26 to 100. No endophthalmitis occurred. The mean timing of the first-stage operations was 9.4 ± 6.4 h after blast, while second-stage operations were performed on average 14.7 ± 0.9 days post blast. Final BCVA of 68.8% of eyes achieved 20/200 or better as followed, 7 open globe injuries had a BCVA of no light perception. Additionally, eyes presenting rupture, retinal detachment, vitreous hemorrhage, choroidal injury and initial BCVA less than 20/200 had worse final visual outcomes, while globe penetration was not associated with poor visual acuity. Conclusion Various ocular injuries were commonly in the casualties of blast, in which open-globe injuries have worst visual prognosis. OTS is a valid approach for evaluation of prognosis and optimizing the therapeutic strategies subsequently in the massive casualty. Intense rescue and careful examination, proper surgery should be performed correctly to rescue patients.

In this paper, the problem of determining the sparsest input matrices to ensure controllability of linear singular systems is investigated. Firstly, it is shown that, determining the sparsest input matrices to ensure reachable controllability or complete controllability is NP-hard, even when the system `singularity' is arbitrarily large. Secondly, submodular functions for singular systems are built, upon which greedy algorithms are developed to approximate the sparsest input matrices with guaranteed performance bounds for the case where there is no restriction on the number of independent inputs. Thirdly, a two-step greedy algorithm is proposed for determining the sparsest input matrices with a given number of inputs to ensure controllability. Compared with the existing algorithms for sparsest input selections, the proposed algorithm achieves better trade-off between the approximation performances and computation efficiency, which are demonstrated by two simulation examples.

Abstract Background The incidence of adenocarcinoma of esophagogastric junction (AEG) has recently risen worldwide, including in Eastern Asia. The aim of the study was to explore the short-term and long-term clinical efficacy of piggyback jejunal interposition reconstruction single-tract reconstruction (PJIRSTR), piggyback jejunal interposition reconstruction double-tract reconstruction (PJIRDTR), and total gastrectomy esophageal jejunal Roux-en-Y anastomosis (TGRY) for the treatment of Siewert II and III AEG patients. Methods A total of 300 Siewert II and III AEG patients admitted to Shanxi Tumor Hospital from June 2015 to December 2017 were prospectively selected. Patients were randomly divided into PJIRSTR group (n = 98), PJIRDTR group (n = 103), and TGRY group (n = 99) using the random number table method. Results There were no statistically significant differences in total operation time, intraoperative blood loss, time of first anal exhaust, and postoperative hospital stay among the three groups (F = 2.526, 0.457, 0.234, 0.453; P > 0.05). The reconstruction time of PJIRSTR group and PJIRDTR group was longer than that of TGRY group (P < 0.01). There were no significant differences in cases of anastomotic leakage, anastomotic bleeding, abdominal infection, incision infection, ileus, and dumping syndrome in three groups (P > 0.05). The incidence of reflux esophagitis at 3, 6, 12, and 18 months after surgery in the PJIRSTR group and the PJIRDTR group were significantly lower than TGRY group in the same period (P < 0.05). Compared with PJIRDTR group and TGRY group, PJIRSTR group had a small fluctuation range of postoperative nutrition indexes and had basically recovered to the preoperative level at 18 months. Four patients of Visick grade IV presented in TGRY group 18 months postoperatively, which was significantly higher compared with the other two groups. Conclusion Compared with PJIRDTR and TGRY, PJIRSTR can significantly reduce the incidence of postoperative reflux esophagitis and improve the long-term nutritional status of patients. Trial registration Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, ChiCTR-IIR-16007733. Registered 07 November 2015 – Retrospectively registered, http://www.chictr.org.cn/searchproj.aspx.

As one of the top 10 plant viruses, the severity of losses to crop productivity caused by the tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) has resulted in an urgent need to develop a more sensitive and rapid method of detection. In this study, we developed a CRISPR/Cas13a-based detection system to diagnose TSWV in tomato and western flower thrips (Frankliniella occidentalis). The detection system relies on recombinase polymerase amplification and Cas13a-mediated collateral cleavage activity. Positive results can be distinguished after 20 min by a significantly enhanced fluorescence signal. We tested the sensitivity of CRISPR/Cas13a-based detection system and found that the detection system that we developed has limits of detection that reaches 2.26 × 102 copies/μl and a 10-fold increase compared with the sensitivity of using RT-PCR to detect the virus. Furthermore, the CRISPR/Cas13a-based detection system has a high selectivity for the TSWV without interference from other viruses. The CRISPR/Cas13a-based detection system was utilized to detect the TSWV in samples of tomato leaves and the transmission vector F. occidentalis that were fully consistent with the results when RT-PCR was used to detect the virus.

In recent years, aqueous rechargeable zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs) have attracted more and more attention not only because they use earth-abundant metals but also due to their improved safety and high volumetric energy density. As one type of promising electrode material for AZIBs, manganese-based materials are receiving considerable attention owing to their high theoretical specific capacity, non-toxicity, and low cost. This mini review summarizes the recent advances on the application of manganese-based materials (manganese oxide, manganate, and their composites) in AZIBs. In addition, the methods to enhance their zinc-ion storage properties are summarized and discussed, such as morphology engineering, doping, as well as compositing with other materials. Ultimately, some personal prospects for future research of the manganese-based materials for AZIBs are also proposed.

Coalbed methane (CBM) resources are abundant in the Gujiao block, Xishan coalfield, China. However, few studies have been conducted on the coalbed methane geology of the Gujiao block. In the present study, based on logging responses and numerical simulations, the coal structures of coal seam No. 8 of this block were identified, and the mechanical properties of the coal and its roof/floor were calculated. The geological factors influencing the coalbed methane reservoir were quantitatively characterized according to the fuzzy gray model. High-quality coalbed methane reservoirs in the No. 8 coal were predicted and classified using the model, and some suggestions on rational exploitation were determined. Reservoirs of the No. 8 coal are dominated by the III-type, followed by the II- and IV-types. The III-type reservoirs are the most common, and primarily developed at the Xiqu, Zhenchengdi, Malan, and Tunlan coal mines in the north of the studied area. The III-type reservoirs represent low coalbed methane contents, high thickness proportions of granulated-mylonitized coal, and low burial depths. The II-type reservoirs are primarily developed close to the axis of the Malan syncline and in the south and northwest of the studied area, and have low permeability, less significant differences between the mechanical properties of coals and their roofs and floors, and low reservoir pressure gradients. The IV-type reservoirs have a scattered development, dominance of granulated-mylonitized coal, and low permeability, indicating low potential to improve reservoir permeability. Targeted exploitation technology and drainage systems corresponding to the different types of coal reservoirs should be proposed to improve coalbed methane production.

Environmental pollution and energy shortage make the development of clean energy more and more urgent. As a kind of clean renewable energy, hydrogen has attracted more attention recently. WO3-based materials have emerged as one of the most promising candidates for electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) due to their attractive electrocatalytic activity, low cost, as well as electrochemical durability. In this minireview, we systematically provide an overview of WO3-based materials applied for HER, including pure WO3, doped WO3, and WO3-based composite materials. Furthermore, the strategies to enhance their electrocatalytic performance are summarized and discussed, such as morphological engineering, doping, as well as compositing with other materials. Finally, the limitation and challenges of WO3-based materials for HER and their prospects for future research are proposed. We believe that this minireview will be favorable for scientists to seek more promising HER electrocatalysts.

In this study, an image-analysis-based method is proposed to estimate the length and width of plant leaves, some of which have concave tips and petiole insertions. Here, kiwifruit leaves are used. Using the proposed method, orthophotographs of the leaves were obtained through image segmentation and image correction. The coordinates of the pixels along the edge of the kiwifruit leaf were then extracted. Finally, the leaf length was determined based on the sum of the number of pixels between the leaf tip and petiole insertion, and the leaf width was calculated based on the sum of the number of pixels for the widest region of the leaf. The experimental results were evaluated by analyzing the mean absolute error (MAE), root mean square error (RMSE), and accuracy. The maximum MAE and RMSE for the three examined cultivars are 0.281 and 0.366 cm, respectively. The analysis also showed that the proposed method outperforms other prevalent approaches, achieving high accuracy rates of 98.88% and 98.83% for the length and width of kiwifruit leaves, respectively. The low MAE and RMSE and high accuracy prove the capability of the proposed method with regard to calculating the length and width of such leaves. In addition, the proposed method can be extended to other plants whose leaf shape is comparable to that of a kiwifruit leaf.

Nowadays, wearable energy storage devices have been growing rapidly, but flexible systems with both excellent cycling stability and decent flexibility are still challenging. In this work, a flexible all-solid-state NH4NiPO4·H2O//graphene supercapacitor with remarkable performance was successfully assembled. When cycled at a current density of 5 mA cm−2, the device delivered 121 mF cm−2, and showed good cycling stability after 3,000 cycles. Moreover, the all-solid-state NH4NiPO4·H2O//graphene supercapacitor also exhibit high mechanical flexibility with well-maintained specific capacitance, even under bending to arbitrary angles (up to 180°) and different weights (up to 50 g).

This paper proposes to use depth perception to represent raters' decision in holistic evaluation of ESL essays, as an alternative medium to conventional form of numerical scores. The researchers verified the new method's accuracy and inter/intra-rater reliability by inviting 24 ESL teachers to perform different representations when rating 60 essays written by Chinese ESL learners. During numerical representation, the raters expressed their evaluation in the form of numbers, while with the DP-based method, the raters expressed their evaluation by marking distances with nail tags on a wood ruler with hidden scale marks. Then the researchers translated the distance results into numbers and compared the accuracy and inter/intra-rater consistency of the two approaches by referring to these essays' criteria scores from eight expert raters. The results showed that DP-based method could improve raters' performance, producing more similar results to experts' scores, with higher consistency both among different raters and within the same individual rater.

Due to the cost-effectiveness of sodium source, sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) have attracted considerable attention. However, SIBs still have some challenges in competing with lithium-ion batteries for practical applications. Particularly, the high rate capability and cycling stability are posing big problems for SIBs. Here, nitrogen-doped carbon-coated WS2 nanosheets (WS2/NC) were successfully synthesized by a high-temperature solution method, followed by carbonization of polypyrrole. When used as anode electrodes for SIBs, WS2/NC composite exhibited high-rate capacity at 386 and 238.1 mAh g−1 at 50 and 2,000 mA g−1, respectively. Furthermore, even after 400 cycle, the composite electrode could still deliver a capacity of ~180.1 mAh g−1 at 1,000 mA g−1, corresponding to a capacity loss of 0.09% per cycle. The excellent electrochemical performance could be attributed to the synergistic effect of the highly conductive nature of the nitrogen-doped carbon-coating and WS2 nanosheets. Results showed that the WS2/NC nanosheets are promising electrode materials for SIBs application.

Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have drawn considerable attention due to their high energy density and good cycling stability. As a transition-metal oxide, MgCo2O4 (MCO) is a promising candidate for energy storage applications because of its low-cost and environmental characteristics. Here, MCO porous nanosheets have been successfully synthesized by a microwave-assisted liquid phase method followed by an annealing procedure. As a result, MCO annealed at 600 °C exhibited optimal rate and cycling performances for Lithium storage application. Specifically, when tested as anode materials for Lithium ion batteries, MCO porous nanosheets delivered a high specific capacity of 1173.8 mAh g−1 at 200 mA g−1, and the specific capacity reached 1130.1 mAh g−1 after 100 cycles at 200 mA g−1, achieving 96.3% for the retention rate. The excellent electrochemical performances are mainly attributed to the monolayer porous nanosheet, which provides short transport paths for Li ions and electrons. Results demonstrated that the MCO porous nanosheets are promising electrode materials for Lithium ion batteries applications.

Identifying gene regulatory networks (GRNs) which consist of a large number of interacting units has become a problem of paramount importance in systems biology. Situations exist extensively in which causal interacting relationships among these units are required to be reconstructed from measured expression data and other a priori information. Though numerous classical methods have been developed to unravel the interactions of GRNs, these methods either have higher computing complexities or have lower estimation accuracies. Note that great similarities exist between identification of genes that directly regulate a specific gene and a sparse vector reconstruction, which often relates to the determination of the number, location and magnitude of nonzero entries of an unknown vector by solving an underdetermined system of linear equations y = Φx. Based on these similarities, we propose a novel framework of sparse reconstruction to identify the structure of a GRN, so as to increase accuracy of causal regulation estimations, as well as to reduce their computational complexity.In this paper, a sparse reconstruction framework is proposed on basis of steady-state experiment data to identify GRN structure. Different from traditional methods, this approach is adopted which is well suitable for a large-scale underdetermined problem in inferring a sparse vector. We investigate how to combine the noisy steady-state experiment data and a sparse reconstruction algorithm to identify causal relationships. Efficiency of this method is tested by an artificial linear network, a mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway network and the in silico networks of the DREAM challenges. The performance of the suggested approach is compared with two state-of-the-art algorithms, the widely adopted total least-squares (TLS) method and those available results on the DREAM project. Actual results show that, with a lower computational cost, the proposed method can significantly enhance estimation accuracy and greatly reduce false positive and negative errors. Furthermore, numerical calculations demonstrate that the proposed algorithm may have faster convergence speed and smaller fluctuation than other methods when either estimate error or estimate bias is considered.

This paper proposes to use depth perception to represent raters' decision in holistic evaluation of ESL essays, as an alternative medium to conventional form of numerical scores. The researchers verified the new method's accuracy and inter/intra-rater reliability by inviting 24 ESL teachers to perform different representations when rating 60 essays written by Chinese ESL learners. During numerical representation, the raters expressed their evaluation in the form of numbers, while with the DP-based method, the raters expressed their evaluation by marking distances with nail tags on a wood ruler with hidden scale marks. Then the researchers translated the distance results into numbers and compared the accuracy and inter/intrarater consistency of the two approaches by referring to these essays' criteria scores from eight expert raters. The results showed that DP-based method could improve raters' performance, producing more similar results to experts' scores, with higher consistency both among different raters and within the same individual rater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]