Search

Abstract Background The use of long stems for severe femoral bone defects is suggested by many scholars, but it is associated with further bone loss, intraoperative fracture, increased surgical trauma, and complications. With better bone retention, simple and quick surgical procedures, and minimal complications, the short cementless stems with a tapered rectangular shape may be an alternative for femoral revision. This study aimed to evaluate the results of this type of stem in treating selected Paprosky II–IV bone defects. Methods This retrospective study included 73 patients (76 hips involved) who underwent conservative femoral revision using the short cementless stems with a tapered rectangular shape between January 2012 and December 2020. The preoperative femoral bone defects were identified as follows: 54 cases of type II, 11 cases of type IIIA, 7 cases of type IIIB, and 4 cases of type IV. Indications for revision included aseptic loosening (76.3%) and prosthetic joint infection (23.7%). Six cementless stems with a tapered rectangular shape from three companies were used in all patients. Among them, SLR-Plus, SL-Plus MIA, and Corail stems were employed in most patients (40.8%, 23.7%, and 17.1%, respectively). The average length of these stems measured 171.7 mm (SD 27 mm; 122–215 mm). Radiographic results, Harris hip scores (HHS), complications, and survivorship were analyzed. The follow-up lasted for 7 years on average (range 3–11 years). Results The subsidence was observed in three hips (3.9%), and all stems achieved stable bone ingrowth. Proximal femoral bone restoration in the residual osteolytic area was found in 67 hips (88.2%), constant defects in nine hips (11.8%), and increasing defects in 0 cases. There was no evidence of stem fractures and stem loosening in this series. The mean HHS significantly improved from 32 (range 15–50) preoperatively to 82 (range 68–94) at the last follow-up (t = − 36.297, P

The fatigue crack propagation (FCP) behavior of a new Al–Cu–Li alloy under different aging treatments including T3, T8, and non-isothermal aging (NIA) was investigated. It was detected that the T8-24h sample exhibited the highest FCP resistance and the best mechanical performance. Compared with the T3-40D sample, the crack paths of the T8-24h sample and the C150 (non-isothermal peak-aged) sample were more tortuous and the crack width was narrower. Furthermore, the T8-24 sample had the lowest decreased FCP rate by an order of magnitude at the stress intensity factor (ΔK) of 30 MPa·m1/2. A large number of nano-scale T1 phases were precipitated in the T8-24h sample and their number density was also increased compared with the other sample. The presence of the tiny T1 phase plays a crucial role in impeding crack propagation as it can be sheared by dislocations without accumulating damage. This resulted in a substantial improvement both in the mechanical and fatigue properties of the alloy. Moreover, in the Paris stage of FCP, factors such as the size and concentration of precipitates within the grain and grain boundary play a vital role in determining the extent of crack growth. The results of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) bright field images on grain boundaries (GBs) analysis show that the variations in strength between the grain boundary and intragranular regions have a direct influence on the alloy's susceptibility to fatigue and corrosion resistance.

The mechanical anisotropy of selective laser melted (SLM) aluminum alloys resulting from heterogeneous grain structures is still not fully understood due to lacking study of grain orientation related mechanical response. Here, by introducing in-situ EBSD tensile method, the orientation induced anisotropy coefficient Ka related to the deformation-induced grain rotation was revealed by excluding effects of grain size and grain aspect ratio. Compared with traditional mechanical properties models by Taylor factor M, it was found that the orientation in as-built and in heat treatment contributed the most yield strength anisotropy, and introducing Ka predicts the mechanical anisotropy more accurately.

ObjectiveThe Toll-like receptor (TLR) 4-mediated nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) signaling pathway regulates the production of inflammatory factors and plays a key role in the pathogenesis of gouty arthritis. The aim of the present study was to investigate the link among TLR4 gene polymorphisms at various loci, protein expression, and gouty arthritis susceptibility.MethodsBetween 2016 and 2021, a case-control study was used to collect a total of 1207 study subjects, including 317 male patients with gouty arthritis (gout group) and 890 healthy males (control group). The association between gout susceptibility and different genetic models was analyzed by typing three loci of the TLR4 gene (rs2149356, rs2737191, and rs10759932) using a multiplex point mutation rapid assay, and the association between protein expression and gout was confirmed by measuring TLR4 protein concentrations using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs).ResultsIn a codominant models AA and AG, the rs2737191 polymorphism in the gout group increased the risk of gout compared to the AA genotype (OR = 2.249, 95%CI 1.010~5.008), and the risk of gout was higher for those carrying the G allele compared to the A allele (OR = 2.227, 95%CI 1.006~4.932). TLR4 protein expression was different between the two groups with different locus genotypes. The differences in TLR4 protein expression between the gout group and control group were statistically significant between the following genotypes: the GG and GT genotypes of the rs2149356 polymorphism; the AA and AG genotypes of the rs2737191 polymorphism; and the TT and TC genotypes of the rs10759932 polymorphism(PConclusionThe AG genotype of the TLR4 gene rs2737191 polymorphism may be correlated with the development of gouty arthritis. The level of TLR4 protein expression is significantly higher in patients with gouty arthritis than in controls, and there is a correlation between high TLR4 protein expression and the development of gouty arthritis.

Purpose: The aim of this study is to investigate a new method that combines radiological and pathological breast cancer information to predict discrepancies in pathological responses for individualized treatment planning. We used baseline multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging and hematoxylin and eosin-stained biopsy slides to extract quantitative feature information and predict the pathological response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer patients. Methods: We retrospectively collected data from breast cancer patients who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy in our hospital from August 2016 to January 2018; multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (contrast-enhanced T1-weighted imaging and diffusion-weighted imaging) and whole slide image of hematoxylin and eosin-stained biopsy sections were collected. Quantitative imaging features were extracted from the multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging and the whole slide image were used to construct a radiopathomics signature model powered by machine learning methods. Models based on multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging or whole slide image alone were also constructed for comparison and referred to as the radiomics signature and pathomics signature models, respectively. Four modeling methods were used to establish prediction models. Model performances were evaluated using receiver operating characteristic curve analysis and the area under the curve, accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value. Results: The radiopathomics signature model had favourable performance for the prediction of pathological complete response in the training set (the best value: area under the curve 0.83, accuracy 0.84, and sensitivity 0.87), and in the test set (the best value: area under the curve 0.91, accuracy 0.90, and sensitivity 0.88). In the test set, the radiopathomics signature model also significantly outperformed the radiomics signature (the best value: area under the curve 0.83, accuracy 0.64, and sensitivity 0.62), pathomics signature (the best value: area under the curve 0.60, accuracy 0.74, and sensitivity 0.62) (p > 0.05). Decision curve analysis and calibration curves confirmed the excellent performance of these prediction models in discrimination, calibration, and clinical usefulness. Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that radiopathomics, the combination of both radiological information regarding the whole tumor and pathological information at the cellular level, could potentially predict discrepancies in pathological response and provide evidence for rational treatment plans.

Objective Morphine plays an important role in postoperative analgesia after total knee arthroplasty (TKA). However, there are limited data that investigate the administration ways of morphine. To evaluate the efficacy and safety of adding morphine to periarticular infiltration analgesia (PIA) combined with single‐dose epidural morphine for the patients undergoing TKA. Methods In total, 120 patients with knee osteoarthritis who underwent the primary TKA from April 2021 and March 2022 were randomized into three groups (a cocktail containing morphine with single‐dose epidural morphine [Group A]; a cocktail containing morphine [Group B]; and a cocktail free of morphine [Group C]). The three groups were compared based on the Visual Analog Score at rest and during motion, requirement of tramadol, functional recovery including quadriceps strength and range of motion, and adverse events including nausea and vomiting and local and systemic adverse events. The repetitive measure analysis of variance and chi‐square test among three groups were used to analyze the results. Results Analgesia strategy in Group A (0.4 ± 0.8, and 0.9 ± 1.0 points, respectively) significantly reduced rest pain at 6 and 12 h after surgery relative to Group B (1.6 ± 1.2, and 2.2 ± 1.4 points, respectively) (p 0.05). From the second day to the fourth day after surgery, although the three groups showed no statistical difference in the range of motion, the result of Group C was inferior to that of the other two groups. There were no significant differences in the incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting and metoclopramide consumption among the three groups (p > 0.05). Conclusion PIA combined with single‐dose epidural morphine effectively reduces early postoperative pain and tramadol requirement as well as few complications, which can become a safe and effective measure to improve postoperative pain after TKA.

Enhancing the availability and reliability of dielectric ceramic energy storage devices is of great importance. In this work, (1-[Formula: see text])[Formula: see text]–[Formula: see text]Bi([Formula: see text])[Formula: see text] (NBT–[Formula: see text]BMH) lead-free ceramics were created utilizing a solid-state reaction technique. All NBT–[Formula: see text]BMH ceramics have a single perovskite structure. With increasing BMH doping, the grain size shrinks drastically, which greatly enhances the breakdown electric field (310 kV/cm at [Formula: see text] = 0.25). Additionally, the relaxation behaviors of NBT–[Formula: see text]BMH ceramics with high BMH content are more remarkable. Among all designed components, the NBT–0.25BMH ceramic exhibits the best energy storage performance with a high [Formula: see text] of 4.63 J/[Formula: see text] and an [Formula: see text] of 75.1% at 310 kV/cm. The NBT–0.25BMH ceramic has exceptional resistance to fluctuations in both frequency (5–500 Hz) and temperature (30–100[Formula: see text]C). Charge–discharge test shows that the NBT–0.25BMH ceramic has a quick discharge rate ([Formula: see text] 110 ns). With these properties, the NBT–0.25BMH ceramic may have applications in microdevices as well as in ultra-high power electronic systems.

Abstract A single‐layer reflective metasurface is proposed in this study to generate dual‐mode dual‐polarized high‐order Bessel vortex beams with equal divergence angle in Ka‐band. The metasurface consists of two different subwavelength elements with different polarisations, which are located in the inner disk region and the outer ring region respectively. The inner element, composed of a square ring and a regular octagon, is proposed to achieve a phase response of 360°. The outer element, which consists of a microstrip line and a double W‐shaped line, is designed to achieve the phase compensation and polarization conversion simultaneously. Equal divergence angle of different orbital angular momentum (OAM) modes is achieved by theoretically calculating the radii of the inner and outer regions. The metasurface prototype is fabricated and tested at 29 GHz, and the results show that the high‐order Bessel beams with +1 mode of x‐polarization and +2 mode of y‐polarization are successfully generated. This work provides a simple and practical method to generate dual‐mode dual‐polarized high‐order Bessel vortex beams for high‐capacity OAM communications.

To meet the demand for high-precision positioning in commercial industrial internet scenarios, 3GPP introduced the Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) in the 5G standard. However, the PRS signal occupies specific time and frequency resources for transmission in 5G systems, limiting the efficiency of communication signal transmission to some extent. In this regard, we propose a 5G NR Co-Band PRS model that allows for the superimposition of PRS signals on communication signals in a low-power manner, without requiring additional communication resources or causing too much interference to the communication signal. Since orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) signals are sensitive to synchronization errors, we have developed a three-stage Co-Band PRS-based reception scheme. First, an innovative weighted window coarse synchronization method is proposed to enhance the performance of capturing communication signals at a low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Next, the interference cancellation technique is utilized to remove the communication signals, and the synchronization error is corrected through multipath delay estimation. Finally, to further improve the ranging accuracy, we propose an iterative delay-locked loop (DLL) algorithm that can achieve a tracking accuracy of one percent sampling. Simulation and real environment tests confirm that the proposed Co-Band PRS reception scheme can achieve a ranging accuracy of 0.16 m@90%.

Abstract The developmental origin, anatomical location, and other factors contribute to aortic heterogeneity in a physiological state. On this basis, vascular diseases occur at different ratios based on position specificity, even with the same risk factor. However, the continuous intersegmental aortic profile has been rarely reported at the single-cell level. To reveal aortic heterogeneity, we identified 15 cell subtypes from five continuous aortic segments by marker genes and functional definitions. The EC1 subtype highly expressed Vcam1 and Scarb2 genes in the aortic arch, which were reported to be associated with atherosclerosis. The newly identified Fbn1+ fibroblasts were found highly expressed in thoracic segments. More importantly, vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) demonstrated a novel composition in which VSMC 4 marked with the gene Malat1 were mainly distributed in the abdominal segment. Malat1 knockout reduced MMPs and inflammatory factor production induced by Ang II in smooth muscle cells, and the Malat1 inhibitor exerted preventive, inhibitory, and reversing effects on AngII-induced abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) in vivo revealed by a series of animal experiments. Single-cell analysis of AngII-induced AAA tissues treated with or without the inhibitor further clarified the key role of Malat1+VSMC in the occurrence and progression of AAA. In summary, segmental gene expression and cell subtype features in normal aorta associated with different vascular diseases might provide potential therapeutic targets.

A novel lead-free relaxor ferroelectric ceramics, (1-x)NaNbO3-xBi(Mg0.5Hf0.5)O3 [NN-xBMH, x = 0.00, 0.05, 0.10, 0.15, 0.20 and 0.25] were designed and fabricated for the first time via the standard solid-phase reaction method. The dielectric, ferroelectric, and impedance properties of the NN-xBMH ceramics were tested. Normal ferroelectrics were induced into relaxor ferroelectrics with the introduction of BMH, and the hysteresis loops became slender; This is beneficial to improve the energy storage density and efficiency of ceramic capacitors. Superior breakdown strength (370 kV/cm) is achieved in NN-0.20BMH ceramic with the recoverable energy storage density (Wrec = 3.51 J/cm3) and efficiency (η = 93.77 %). In addition, excellent frequency (1–1000 Hz) and temperature (30–120 °C) stability shows that ceramics have the actual potential in the application of ceramic capacitor. Excellent charge and discharge performances with a high power density (PD = 118 MW/cm3) and current density (CD = 990 A/cm2) along with an ultra-fast discharge rate (50 ns) were gained.

ObjectiveBrain tissue changes dynamically during aging. The purpose of this study was to use synthetic magnetic resonance imaging (syMRI) to evaluate the changes in relaxation values in different brain regions during brain aging and to construct a brain age prediction model.Materials and methodsQuantitative MRI was performed on 1,000 healthy people (≥ 18 years old) from September 2020 to October 2021. T1, T2 and proton density (PD) values were simultaneously measured in 17 regions of interest (the cerebellar hemispheric cortex, pons, amygdala, hippocampal head, hippocampal tail, temporal lobe, occipital lobe, frontal lobe, caudate nucleus, lentiform nucleus, dorsal thalamus, centrum semiovale, parietal lobe, precentral gyrus, postcentral gyrus, substantia nigra, and red nucleus). The relationship between the relaxation values and age was investigated. In addition, we analyzed the relationship between brain tissue values and sex. Finally, the participants were divided into two age groups: < 60 years old and ≥ 60 years old. Logistic regression analysis was carried out on the two groups of data. According to the weight of related factors, a brain age prediction model was established and verified.ResultsWe obtained the specific reference value range of different brain regions of individuals in different age groups and found that there were differences in relaxation values in brain tissue between different sexes in the same age group. Moreover, the relaxation values of most brain regions in males were slightly higher than those in females. In the study of age and brain relaxation, it was found that brain relaxation values were correlated with age. The T1 values of the centrum semiovale increased with age, the PD values of the centrum semiovale increased with age, while the T2 values of the caudate nucleus and lentiform nucleus decreased with age. Seven brain age prediction models were constructed with high sensitivity and specificity, among which the combined T1, T2 and PD values showed the best prediction efficiency. In the training set, the area under the curve (AUC), specificity and sensitivity were 0.959 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.945–0.974], 91.51% and 89.36%, respectively. In the test cohort, the above indicators were 0.916 (95% CI: 0.882–0.951), 89.24% and 80.33%, respectively.ConclusionOur study provides specific reference ranges of T1, T2, and PD values in different brain regions from healthy adults of different ages. In addition, there are differences in brain relaxation values in some brain regions between different sexes, which help to provide new ideas for brain diseases that differ according to sex. The brain age model based on synthetic MRI is helpful to determine brain age.

Background: Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is the most common pathological type of renal cell carcinoma. Tetratricopeptide repeat domain 21A (TTC21A), known as a component of intraflagellar transport complex A which is essential for the function of cilia, However, the role of TTC21A remains unclear in ccRCC. For the first time, we explore the role and potential mechanism of TTC21A in ccRCC based on multiple databases.Methods: TTC21A expression across all TCGA tumor was analyzed via Tumor Immune Estimation Resource (TIMER) site. The correlation between TTC21A and clinicopathologic characteristics of ccRCC was analyzed with TCGA database. The diagnostic and prognostic value of TTC21A was evaluated by receiver operation characteristic curve, Kaplan-Meier plotter and Cox regression respectively. Moreover, functional enrichment analysis of TTC21A and the co-expression genes were performed by Gene Set Enrichment Analysis. The correlation of TTC21A and immune infiltration were evaluated by single sample Gene Set Enrichment Analysis.Results: Pan-cancer analysis indicated that TTC21A was highly expressed in ccRCC and other cancer. In addition, elevated expression of TTC21A was associated with worse overall survival in ccRCC patients. Functional enrichment analysis showed that TTC21A and the co-expressed genes enriched in glucose metabolism and energy metabolism. Moreover, TTC21A expression was associated with infiltrating levels of dendritic cell, nature killer cell and other immune marker sets.Conclusion: The results of analysis indicate that expression of TTC21A is associated with poor prognosis and immune infiltrating in ccRCC, which suggested TTC21A might be used as a potential predictor and target of treatment in ccRCC.

It is a great challenge to solve nonhomogeneous elliptic interface problems, because the interface divides the computational domain into two disjoint parts, and the solution may change dramatically across the interface. A soft constraint physics-informed neural network with dual neural networks is proposed, which is composed of two separate neural networks for each subdomain, which are coupled by the connecting conditions on the interface. It is beneficial to capture the singularity of the solution across the interface. We formulate the PDEs, boundary conditions, and jump conditions on the interface into the loss function by means of the physics-informed neural network (PINN), and the different terms in the loss function are balanced by optimized penalty weights. To enhance computing efficiency for increasingly difficult issues, adaptive activation functions and the adaptive sampled method are used, which may be improved to produce the optimal network performance, as the topology of the loss function involved in the optimization process changes dynamically. Lastly, we present many numerical experiments, in both 2D and 3D, to demonstrate the proposed method’s flexibility, efficacy, and accuracy in tackling nonhomogeneous interface issues.

Softening mechanism and microstructure evolution of 2A14 aluminum alloy were studied via isothermal deformation tests under the temperatures range from 573 K to 773 K and strain rates range from 10−3 s−1 to 1 s−1. Microstructures indicated that the grain structure was composed of massive fine sub-grains while only a small quantity of recrystallized grains formed along grain boundaries. The quantity of sub-grains increased with the decrease of deformation temperature or the increase of deformation strain rate, and the correlations between the deformation conditions and the geometrically necessary dislocation (GND) and stored strain energy were illuminated with quantification. The softening mechanism under different conditions was in compliance with the analysis of processing map. The microstructure indicated that the governing dynamic softening mechanism was the dynamic recovery for the temperature below 773 K, and dynamic recrystallization played the dominant role in the softening mechanism at low strain rates for the temperature at 773 K. The Arrhenius constitutive model and physical-based constitutive model considering lattice diffusion have been established, and both two models can well predict the flow stress and GND density of 2A14 aluminum alloy.

We, the Publisher, have retracted the following article: Xiaobin Guo (2022). An automatic scoring method for Chinese-English spoken translation based on attention LSTM. EAI Endorsed Scal Inf Syst. http://dx.doi.org/10.4108/eai.13-1-2022.172818 The authors submitted the article to the Special Issue on “Real-time image information processing with deep neural networks and data mining technologies”, edited by the Guest Editors Dr Prof. Hang Li (Northeastern University, China) and Dr Prof. Jochen Schiewe, HafenCity Universität Hamburg, Germany. From our Research Integrity Team, we performed auditing of the editorial process of this Special Issue, and we identified misconduct during the review process. The generated reviews were simple, generalistic, without rigour, and the same for every submission. Following the COPE guidelines, we decided to RETRACT this article because “Peer review manipulation suspected after publication”. We informed the authors about this decision. The retracted article will remain, and it has been watermarked as “RETRACTED”.

Surface treatment has shown strong effects on the corrosion resistance of Al-Mg-Si-Cu alloys. To elucidate the surface grinding effects, a set of the peak-aged Al-Mg-Si-Cu samples are ground using SiC papers with different grits, and the ground surface microstructure and corrosion performance are investigated. The results show that grinding generates a deformed near-surface layer. The deformed layer is characterized by nanocrystalline and the alloying element Cu segregates at nano-grained boundaries. The Cu segregation bands increase the available cathode area and the potential difference between the grain boundary and grain interior, which enhances the microgalvanic corrosion effect between the phase α -AlFeSi (Mn, Cu) and the adjacent matrix. As the SiC paper grit number decreased from 1200 to 80, the Cu segregation bands of the deformed layers increases from 600 to 1600 nm, the corresponding corrosion current density increases from 1.0 ± 0.1 to 22.8 ± 0.7 μ A.cm ^−2 , and the corrosion potential decreases from −742 ± 13.1 to −791 ± 15.0 mV (versus SCE).

This article has been retracted, and the retraction notice can be found here: http://dx.doi.org/10.4108/eai.8-4-2022.173786. In this paper, we propose an automatic scoring method for Chinese-English spoken translation based on attention LSTM. We select semantic keywords, sentence drift and spoken fluency as the main parameters of scoring. In order to improve the accuracy of keyword scoring, this paper uses synonym discrimination method to identify the synonyms in the examinees' answer keywords. At the sentence level, attention LSTM model is used to analyze examinees' translation of sentence general idea. Finally, spoken fluency is scored based on tempo/rate and speech distribution. The final translation quality score is obtained by combining the weighted scores of the three parameters. The experimental results show that the proposed method is in good agreement with the result of manual grading, and achieves the expected design goal compared with other methods.

Abstract Background Overexpression of eukaryotic translation initiation factor 3H (EIF3H) predicts cancer progression and poor prognosis, but the mechanism underlying EIF3H as an oncogene remains unclear in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Methods TCGA database and the immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining of ESCC samples were used and determined the upregulation of EIF3H in ESCC. CCK8 assay, colony formation assay and transwell assay were performed to examine the ability of cell proliferation and mobility in KYSE150 and KYSE510 cell lines with EIF3H overexpression or knockdown. Xenograft and tail-vein lung metastatic mouse models of KYSE150 cells with or without EIF3H knockdown were also used to confirm the function of EIF3H on tumor growth and metastasis in vivo. A potential substrate of EIF3H was screened by co-immunoprecipitation assay (co-IP) combined with mass spectrometry in HEK293T cells. Their interaction and co-localization were confirmed using reciprocal co-IP and immunofluorescence staining assay. The function of EIF3H on Snail ubiquitination and stability was demonstrated by the cycloheximide (CHX) pulse-chase assay and ubiquitination assay. The correlation of EIF3H and Snail in clinical ESCC samples was verified by IHC. Results We found that EIF3H is significantly upregulated in esophageal cancer and ectopic expression of EIF3H in ESCC cell lines promotes cell proliferation, colony formation, migration and invasion. Conversely, genetic inhibition of EIF3H represses ESCC tumor growth and metastasis in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, we identified EIF3H as a novel deubiquitinating enzyme of Snail. We demonstrated that EIF3H interacts with and stabilizes Snail through deubiquitination. Therefore, EIF3H could promote Snail-mediated EMT process in ESCC. In clinical ESCC samples, there is also a positive correlation between EIF3H and Snail expression. Conclusions Our study reveals a critical EIF3H-Snail signaling axis in tumor aggressiveness in ESCC and provides EIF3H as a promising biomarker for ESCC treatment.

An Al–Mg–Si alloy with three types of grain structure (fully, partly, and none recrystallized grains) were prepared to determine the effects of grain structure related precipitation on corrosion resistance and corrosion fatigue property in this paper. Corrosion immersion tests, corrosion fatigue tests were conducted for the purpose. Through the investigations, a mechanism different from the existent mechanisms for expounding the corrosion behavior of Al–Mg–Si alloys is proposed in this paper. It was found that low angel grain boundaries (LAGBs) with continuous Mg-Si segregation play a dominant role on the penetration depth of corrosion; while the intragranular dislocations induced precipitates determine the corrosion morphology on the surface of the sample; in addition, the high angel grain boundaries (HAGBs) and precipitation free zones (PFZs) in the periphery do not decrease the corrosion resistance of the experimental alloy in the conditions of this paper. Furthermore, a deeper penetration of corrosion rather than the severer attack of corrosion on the surface results in a shorter corrosion fatigue life, as well as a corrosion dominated fracture failure during corrosion fatigue tests.These results may supplement the existing corrosion mechanisms of Al–Mg–Si alloy.

Abstract Objective DCLAK11 is a novel small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor with remarkable effects on cell proliferation and apoptosis in non‐small cell lung cancer cells. Therefore, it is necessary to determine the molecular mechanisms of action of this compound. In this study, we investigated the antitumor effect that DCLAK11 exerts through inhibition of the mitochondrial apoptosis pathway. Methods Cell viability was assessed using the Cell Counting Kit‐8 assay, and apoptosis was measured by an Annexin V‐PI assay. The mitochondrial transmembrane potential was examined using JC‐1 dye. Alterations in expression of the Bcl‐2 family proteins Bcl‐xL, Bax, Bid, Bim, Bad, and cleaved Caspase‐9 were detected by western blotting. Results DCLAK11 inhibited the proliferation of non‐small cell lung cancer cells HCC827 (IC50 = 10 nmol/L) and HCC4006 (IC50 = 20 nmol/L) in a dose‐dependent manner. The Annexin V‐PI assay results showed that DCLAK11 also significantly promoted apoptosis in both HCC827 and HCC4006 cells in a dose‐dependent manner (F = 29.990, P

We report a current-induced four-state magnetization reversal under zero magnetic field in a wedged Ta/MgO/CoFeB/MgO heterostructure with a perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. Anomalous Hall effect and magneto-optical Kerr effect microscopy measurements were performed to demonstrate that the field-free multi-level reversal is jointly determined by the spin–orbit torque effective field that originates from the lack of the lateral inversion symmetry in the wedged stacking structure and the current-induced Oersted field. Moreover, the creation of robust intermediate Hall resistance states in the multi-state switching strongly depends on the current-induced Joule heating. Our results provide a route for the field-free multi-level state reversal, which is significant for fabricating the non-volatile and energy-efficient multi-level memories or artificial neuron devices.

Abstract Background Female patients are more likely to have tendon injuries than males, especially those who has a higher concentration of relaxin. Previous studies have demonstrated that relaxin attenuates extracellular matrix (ECM) formation. However, the mechanism of relaxin on tendon repair remains unclear. We hypothesize that relaxin inhibits tendon healing by disrupting collagen synthesis. Methods A patellar tendon window defect model was established using Sprague-Dawley rats. The center of the patellar tendon was removed from the patella distal apex and inserted to the tibia tuberosity in width of 1 mm. Then, the rats were injected with saline (0.2 μg/kg/day) or relaxin (0.2 μg/kg/day) for two and four weeks, which was followed by biomechanical analysis and histological and histochemical examination. Results Mechanical results indicated that relaxin induces a significant decrease in tear resistance, stiffness, and Young’s modulus compared to those rats without relaxin treatment. In addition, it was shown that relaxin activates relaxin family peptide receptor 1(RXFP1), disturbs the balance between matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and tissue inhibitors of metalloproteases (TIMPs), and reduces the deposition of collagen in injury areas. Conclusions Relaxin impairs tendon healing in rats. Also, relaxin might lead to tendon injury more commonly for females than males.

The spin–orbit torques (SOTs) in the heavy metal (HM)/ferromagnetic metal (FM) structure hold promise for next-generation low-power and high-density spintronic memory and logic applications. For the SOT switching of a perpendicular magnetization, an external magnetic field is inevitable for breaking the mirror symmetry, which is not practical for high-density nanoelectronics applications. In this work, we study the current-induced field-free SOT switching and SOT perpendicular effective field (Hzeff) in a variety of laterally asymmetric multilayers, where the asymmetry is introduced by growing the FM layer in a wedge shape. We show that the design of structural asymmetry by wedging the FM layer is a universal scheme for realizing field-free SOT switching. Moreover, by comparing the FM layer thickness dependence of (Hzeff) in different samples, we show that the efficiency (β =Hzeff/J, J is the current density) is sensitive to the HM/FM interface and the FM layer thickness. The sign of β for thin FM thicknesses is related to the spin Hall angle (θSH) of the HM layer attached to the FM layer. β changes its sign with the thickness of the FM layer increasing, which may be caused by the thickness dependence of the work function of FM. These results show the possibility of engineering the deterministic field-free switching by combining the symmetry breaking and the materials design of the HM/FM interface.

As load and renewable penetration continues to grow, optimal placement and sizing of substations is becoming increasingly important in distribution system planning. This paper presents an improved methodology to solve the substation siting and sizing problem based on geographic information and supervised learning. The proposed approach can optimize the locations, capacities, and power supply ranges of substations with minimum investment and annual operation costs. Capital cost of land adds complexity and difficulty to the substation placement problem, especially for highly developed urban areas. This paper presents a theoretical framework to determine the optimal location of substations considering the cost of land. The state-of-the-art parallel computing techniques are employed so that co-optimization for substations of multiple voltage levels can be directly conducted in a computational efficient way. Case studies are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

In this study, the microstructure and corrosion resistance of Mg-6Gd-2Y-χNd-0.2Zr (χ = 0, 0.5, 1 and 1.5 wt%) alloys in extrusion condition are investigated using the correlative microscopic observations, immersion tests and electrochemical measurements. Results show that the addition of Nd can affect the grain size, crystal orientation and secondary phase of the alloys. The corrosion resistance of Mg-6Gd-2Y-χNd-0.2Zr alloys increases with the increase of Nd content from 0% to 0.5 wt%, and then decreases from 0.5 wt% to 1.5 wt%. A minor 0.5 wt% addition of Nd can improve the corrosion resistance of Mg-6Gd-2Y-0.2Zr alloy. The grain size of the four alloys is in a range from 4 μm to 7 μm and the 1.5Nd alloy with the smallest grain has the highest corrosion rate. The highest corrosion resistance of 0.5Nd alloy is attributed to the highest intensity of (0001) basal texture and the less amount of secondary phases. However, the higher fraction of secondary phase is the main reason for the highest corrosion rate of 1.5Nd alloy. Keywords: Magnesium, Intermetallic compounds, Corrosion, Grain size, Crystal orientation

Abstract The influence of C insertion on Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction (DMI) as well as current-induced domain wall (DW) motion (CIDWM) and tilting in Pt/Co/Ta racetracks is investigated via a magneto-optical Kerr microscope. The similar DMI strength for Pt/Co/Ta and Pt/Co/C/Ta samples reveals that DMI mainly comes from the Pt/Co interface. Fast DW velocity around tens of m/s with current density around several MA/cm2 is observed in Pt/Co/Ta. However, it needs double times larger current density to reach the same magnitude in Pt/Co/C/Ta, indicating DW velocity is related to the spin-orbit torque efficiency and pinning potential barrier. Moreover, in CIDWM, DW velocity is around 103 times larger than that in field-induced DW motion (FIDWM) with current-generated effective field keeping the same magnitude as applied magnetic field, revealing that the current-generated Joule heating has an influence on DW motion. Interestingly, current-induced DW tilting phenomenon is observed, while this phenomenon is absent in FIDWM, demonstrating that the current-generated Oersted field may also play an essential role in DW tilting. These findings could provide some designing prospects to drive DW motion in SOT-based racetrack memories.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic, inflammatory, synovitis-dominated systemic disease with unknown etiology. RA is characterized by the involvement of multiple affected joints, symmetry, and invasive arthritis of the limbs, which can lead to joint deformity, cartilage destruction, and loss of function. Cannabinoid receptor 2 (CB2) has potent immunomodulatory and anti-inflammatory effects and is predominantly expressed in non-neuronal tissues. In the current study, the role of CB2 in the process of inflammatory bone erosion in RA was examined. The selective agonist or high-affinity ligand of CB2 (4-quinolone-3-carboxamides CB2 agonist, 4Q3C CB2 agonist, 4Q3C) significantly reduced the severity of arthritis, decreased histopathological findings, and markedly reduced bone erosion in collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) mice. In addition, 4Q3C prevented an increase in the nuclear factor-κB ligand (RANKL)/osteoprotegerin (OPG) ratio and inhibited the formation of osteoclasts in CIA mice. Furthermore, the expression of tumor necrosis factor-alpha, interleukin-1β, cyclooxygenase-2, and inducible nitric oxide synthase was lower in 4Q3C-treated CIA mice than in control CIA mice. Micro-computed tomography corroborated the finding that 4Q3C reduced joint destruction. These data clearly indicate that the CB2-selective agonist, 4Q3C, may have anti-inflammatory and anti-osteoclastogenesis effects in RA and may be considered to be a novel treatment for RA.

The choice and configuration of the ferroelectric (FE) substrate and the ferromagnetic (FM) layer in FM/FE heterostructures play an important role in magnetism modification with regard to amplitude and efficiency. In this study, we fabricated FeSi films on low crystalline (011) [Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3]0.7-[PbTiO3]0.3 (PMN-0.32PT) using radio frequency magnetron sputtering. In the annealed FeSi/(011) PMN-0.32PT heterostructures, the FeSi film presented with a (011) preferred orientated polycrystalline structure and low magnetocrystalline anisotropy. Both loop-like and butterfly-like magnetism modifications were observed by applying bipolar electric fields, and the weak and abnormal electrically mediated magnetism behaviors were significantly different from the prominent magnetic anisotropy transition in FeSi/(011) PMN-0.3PT. The comparative analyses suggest that the resulting high-quality single-crystalline PMN-xPT and FM films with low coercivity are of great significance for exploring giant, reversible, and non-volatile magnetism regulation.

The effect of 0.2 wt.% Zn addition on microstructure, age hardening and intergranular corrosion (IGC) properties of Al-Mg-Si alloy were investigated by scanning electron microscope, transmission electron microscope, hardness testing, and electrochemistry testing. The results showed that the addition of Zn can accelerate the transformation of GP zones into β″, and make the intragranular precipitates become smaller and with higher density. This is beneficial to the precipitation strengthening of the alloy, leading to obtaining higher hardness and enhancing the age hardening response. The peak hardness of the alloy with the addition of Zn is 125.8 HV which means increasing the hardness by 12.7 HV, compared with the alloy without Zn. However, the addition of Zn makes the precipitate-free zone (PFZ) of the alloy wider, and coarsens the grain boundary precipitates slightly, which result in the reduction of IGC resistance of Al-Mg-Si alloy. The maximum corrosion depth of the Zn-containing alloy is 121.3 μm in the peak age condition, which is 35.7 μm deeper than the alloy without Zn. The result of the potentiodynamic polarization curves also demonstrated the increase of IGC sensitivity. The corrosion current density of the alloy with added Zn is 0.595 μA/cm2 in the peak age condition, while that for the alloy without Zn is 0.199 μA/cm2.

Aiming at improving noise reduction effect for mechanical vibration signal, a Gaussian mixture model (SGMM) and a quantum-inspired standard deviation (QSD) are proposed and applied to the denoising method using the thresholding function in wavelet domain. Firstly, the SGMM is presented and utilized as a local distribution to approximate the wavelet coefficients distribution in each subband. Then, within Bayesian framework, the maximum a posteriori (MAP) estimator is employed to derive a thresholding function with conventional standard deviation (CSD) which is calculated by the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm. However, the CSD has a disadvantage of ignoring the interscale dependency between wavelet coefficients. Considering this limit for the CSD, the quantum theory is adopted to analyze the interscale dependency between coefficients in adjacent subbands, and the QSD for noise-free wavelet coefficients is presented based on quantum mechanics. Next, the QSD is constituted for the CSD in the thresholding function to shrink noisy coefficients. Finally, an application in the mechanical vibration signal processing is used to illustrate the denoising technique. The experimental study shows the SGMM can model the distribution of wavelet coefficients accurately and QSD can depict interscale dependency of wavelet coefficients of true signal quite successfully. Therefore, the denoising method utilizing the SGMM and QSD performs better than others.

Lung cancer, especially the non-small-cell lung cancer, is a highly aggressive vascular cancer with excessively activated signaling pathways. Tumor-associated calcium signal transducer 2, also known as trop2, was identified to be correlated with tumor proliferation and invasion of non-small-cell lung cancer; however, the biological role of trop2 in neovascularization of non-small-cell lung cancer remained elusive. In this study, we first verified that trop2 was overexpressed in non-small-cell lung cancer tissues as well as cell lines and that the increased expression of trop2 promoted non-small-cell lung cancer cell proliferation and invasion. Then, we expanded the biological role of trop2 by in vitro and in vivo angiogenesis assay. The tubular formation analysis revealed that trop2 promoted non-small-cell lung cancer angiogenesis in vitro, and the immunohistochemistry staining of vascular markers (CD31 and CD34) provided evidences that trop2 promoted in vivo neovascularization. The results of polymerase chain reaction array revealed that trop2 promoted the expression level of two well-known angiogenesis factors MMP13 and PECAM1. By screening the trop2-related signaling pathways, we observed that excessive angiogenesis was correlated with activation of ERK1/2 signaling pathway, and ERK1/2 inhibitor (U0126) could suppress the tubular formation ability induced by trop2 expression. These results suggested that trop2 facilitated neovascularization of non-small-cell lung cancer via activating ERK1/2 signaling pathway. Targeting trop2 might provide novel anti-angiogenesis strategy for non-small-cell lung cancer treatment.

The hierarchical control architecture, including layers of primary, secondary and tertiary controls, is becoming the standard operating paradigm for microgrids (MGs). Two major factors that limit the adoption of existing hierarchical control in microgrid are the low accuracy in reactive power sharing and the requirement for complex communication infrastructure. This paper addresses this problem by proposing a novel distributed primary and secondary control for distributed generators dispersed in a multi-bus microgrid. The proposed method realizes voltage control and accurate reactive power sharing in a distributed manner using minimum communication. Each distributed generator only needs its own information and minimum information from its neighboring units. Topology of the network can be flexible which supports the plug-and-play feature of microgrids. In a distribution system, high R/X ratio and system imbalance can no longer be neglected and thus the sequence component analysis and virtual impedance are implemented in the proposed control framework. The proposed framework is validated by simulation results on a MG testbed modified from the IEEE 13-bus distribution system.

This paper investigates the complex fuzzy linear equation Cz~=w~ in which C is a crisp complex matrix and w~ is an arbitrary LR complex fuzzy vector. The complex fuzzy linear system is converted to equivalent high order fuzzy linear system Gx~=b~. A new numerical procedure for calculating the complex fuzzy solution is designed and a sufficient condition for the existence of strong complex fuzzy solution is derived in detail. Some examples are given to illustrate the proposed method.

This paper presents a robust data-driven framework for clustering large-scale daily chronological load curves from smart meters, with a focus on the challenges encountered in practice. The first challenge is the low data quality issue due to bad and missing data, which has been a major obstacle for various in-depth analyses of smart meter data. A novel Smoothed Alternating Least Squares (SALS) approach is proposed to recover missing/bad smart meter data by taking advantage of their low-rank property. The second challenge is brought by different data reporting rates of smart meters. A Dynamic Time Warping (DTW)-based approach is proposed that is more efficient and eliminates the need for data interpolation or measurement downsampling. The proposed approach enables flexible data collection strategies and gateway locations to meet various smart grid performance requirements. The proposed framework is tested through experiments using real-world smart meter data.

The fuzzy matrix equations A~⊗X~⊗B~=C~ in which A~, B~, and C~ are m×m, n×n, and m×n nonnegative LR fuzzy numbers matrices, respectively, are investigated. The fuzzy matrix systems is extended into three crisp systems of linear matrix equations according to arithmetic operations of LR fuzzy numbers. Based on pseudoinverse of matrix, the fuzzy approximate solution of original fuzzy systems is obtained by solving the crisp linear matrix systems. In addition, the existence condition of nonnegative fuzzy solution is discussed. Two examples are calculated to illustrate the proposed method.

The fuzzy Sylvester matrix equation AX~+X~B=C~ in which A,B are m×m and n×n crisp matrices, respectively, and C~ is an m×n LR fuzzy numbers matrix is investigated. Based on the Kronecker product of matrices, we convert the fuzzy Sylvester matrix equation into an LR fuzzy linear system. Then we extend the fuzzy linear system into two systems of linear equations according to the arithmetic operations of LR fuzzy numbers. The fuzzy approximate solution of the original fuzzy matrix equation is obtained by solving the crisp linear systems. The existence condition of the LR fuzzy solution is also discussed. Some examples are given to illustrate the proposed method.

The fuzzy symmetric solution of fuzzy matrix equation AX˜=B˜, in which A is a crisp m×m nonsingular matrix and B˜ is an m×n fuzzy numbers matrix with nonzero spreads, is investigated. The fuzzy matrix equation is converted to a fuzzy system of linear equations according to the Kronecker product of matrices. From solving the fuzzy linear system, three types of fuzzy symmetric solutions of the fuzzy matrix equation are derived. Finally, two examples are given to illustrate the proposed method.