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The excessive application of chemical fertilizers in rice fields exacerbates soil degradation and poses a threat to food security. Achieving an increase in rice production and minimizing environmental costs are inevitable requirements for achieving sustainable rice production. The synergistic utilization of rice straw (RS) and Chinese milk vetch (MV) is a sustainable measure to improve soil quality in Southern China. How this management strategy impacts agricultural productivity and soil carbon (C) sequestration under different fertilization conditions is unclear. Several treatments, including only chemical fertilizer (F), F + MV (FM), F + RS (FS), and F + MV + RS (FMS) under a standard rate of nitrogen (N100) and 40% reduced nitrogen (N60) levels were designed to explore changes in rice yields and soil organic carbon (SOC) concentrations, stocks, and soil labile organic C fractions (permanganate oxidizable C) during 2018–2020 in a double-rice-cropping system. The results show that the FMS treatment reduced soil bulk density to alleviate soil compaction and improved the soil carbon management index. The synergistic utilization of MV and RS replacing 40% of the chemical N fertilizer could still maintain the rice yield. Compared to the F treatment, the average annual grain yield was significantly increased by 9.82% and 5.84% in the FMS treatment; SOC concentration was increased by 16.05% and 19.98% on average (p < 0.05), and SOC stock was increased by 1.78 Mg C ha−1 and 2.37 Mg C ha−1 under the N60 and N100 levels, respectively. The random forest regression model and correlation analysis demonstrated that the inputs of chemical N, organic N and C, and appropriate C/N ratio promoted soil C accumulation. Furthermore, the structural equation model analysis exhibited that the C input affects the highly labile organic carbon (HLOC) and total labile organic carbon (LOC); the HLOC had a positive effect on SOC (p < 0.05). N input had a significant effect on LOC and yield. Our results suggest that the synergistic utilization of MV and RS plays an important role in ensuring stable grain production, improving soil C sequestration capacity, and maintaining soil environmental health in Southern China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The objective of this study was to conduct a systematic review of the measurement properties and methodological quality of stigma assessment tools designed for breast cancer patients. The aim was to provide clinical medical staff with a foundation for selecting high-quality assessment tools. Methods: A comprehensive computer search was carried out across various databases, including SinoMed, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang Database, China Science and Technology Journal Database(VIP), Embase, PubMed, Web of Science, The Cochrane Library, and Scopus, which were searched from the inception of the databases until March 20, 2023. Literature screening and data extraction were performed independently by two researchers, adhering to predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. The assessment tools were evaluated using the Consensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement Instruments (COSMIN) systematic evaluation guidelines. Results: In the final analysis, a total of 9 assessment tools were included. However, none of these tools addressed measurement error, cross-cultural validity, criterion validity, and responsiveness. Following the COSMIN guidelines, BCSS and CSPDS were assigned to Class A recommendations, while the remaining tools received Class B recommendations. Conclusion: The BCSS and CSPDS scales demonstrated comprehensive assessment in terms of their measurement characteristics, exhibiting good methodological quality, measurement attribute quality, and supporting evidence. Therefore, it is recommended to utilize these scales for evaluating breast cancer stigma. However, further validation is required for the remaining assessment tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we provide some sufficient conditions for the dynamical systems with the eventual shadowing property to have positive topological entropy and several equivalent conditions for the dynamical systems with the eventual shadowing property to be mixing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The electric resistance welding of thin-thickness duplex stainless steel (DSS) has an outstanding attraction in the plate-fin heat exchanger which is widely used in power machinery, diesel locomotive and other fields, but its structural integrity is threatened seriously by fatigue failure. Therefore, in this research, the formation of the heterogeneous microstructure of DSS electric resistance welding joints (ERWJ) was analyzed by the optical microscope (OM) and electron back-scattered diffraction (EBSD) observations, and the uniaxial tensile and fatigue tests were subsequently executed to disclose their mechanical properties. The intrinsic relevancy between phase-related characteristics and failure behavior was extensively analyzed. The results show that the ferrite was dominating at whole ERWJ, particularly at the energized area, accounting for up to 72%. More than 45% of high-angle boundaries (HABS) and the highest kernel average misorientation (KAM, 2.46° for austenite and 1.52° for ferrite), which indicates greater plastic deformation and residual stress, were observed at the weld edge. In addition, the failure occurred as a tear along the weld edge regardless of the monotonic and cyclic loadings under the deterioration of residual stress and island-like austenite. The distribution of fatigue life with cyclic amplitude performed an obvious turning point of 19.5 MPa due to the different failure mechanisms, providing a permissible range of the stress amplitudes and reinforcement strategies for the plate-shell heat exchanger ERWJ in the engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

RNA N4-acetylcytidine (ac4C) is the acetylation of cytidine at the nitrogen-4 position, which is a highly conserved RNA modification and involves a variety of biological processes. Hence, accurate identification of genome-wide ac4C sites is vital for understanding regulation mechanism of gene expression. In this work, a novel predictor, named iRNA-ac4C, was established to identify ac4C sites in human mRNA based on three feature extraction methods, including nucleotide composition, nucleotide chemical property, and accumulated nucleotide frequency. Subsequently, minimum-Redundancy-Maximum-Relevance combined with incremental feature selection strategies was utilized to select the optimal feature subset. According to the optimal feature subset, the best ac4C classification model was trained by gradient boosting decision tree with 10-fold cross-validation. The results of independent testing set indicated that our proposed method could produce encouraging generalization capabilities. For the convenience of other researchers, we established a user-friendly web server which is freely available at http://lin-group.cn/server/iRNA-ac4C/. We hope that the tool could provide guide for wet-experimental scholars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two Cu(I) coordination polymers (CPs), namely, [CuI(DBPT)(H2O)]n (HDBPT = 3,5-di((1H-benzeimidazol-yl)phenyl)-2H-tetrazole, CP 1) and [CuI(DBPT)·DMF]n (CP 2), were constructed based on a new N-containing heterotopic triangular ligand. CP 1 is a 2D network consisting of binuclear secondary building units (SBUs). The 2D layers are connected by strong hydrogen bonds to form a 3D supramolecular framework. CP 2 possesses a 3D framework based on binuclear SBUs and features a (3,6)-connected rtl topology. Both CP 1 and CP 2 have high stability in water in the pH range from 3–13 and exhibit energy band gaps of 2.70 and 2.79 eV, respectively, which indicate their possibility in visible-light-driven photocatalysis. The photocatalytic results show that both CP 1 and CP 2 display good activity for MLB degradation in the presence of H2O2 as an oxidant under visible light irradiation. A mechanistic investigation indicated that the photogenerated holes trapped by Cu(I) generate Cu(II). Cu(II) may be involved in a Fenton-like CuI/CuII redox reaction to generate ˙OH. Thus, holes and ˙OH contribute to the degradation of MLB. In addition, the degradation product of MLB was further studied by LC-MS, which indicates that MLB is almost degraded to small molecules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Associations of drugs with diseases provide important information for expediting drug development. Due to the number of known drug-disease associations is still insufficient, and considering that inferring associations between them through traditional in vitro experiments is time-consuming and costly. Therefore, more accurate and reliable computational methods urgent need to be developed to predict potential associations of drugs with diseases.Methods: In this study, we present the model called weighted graph regularized collaborative non-negative matrix factorization for drug-disease association prediction (WNMFDDA). More specifically, we first calculated the drug similarity and disease similarity based on the chemical structures of drugs and medical description information of diseases, respectively. Then, to extend the model to work for new drugs and diseases, weighted [Formula: see text] nearest neighbor was used as a preprocessing step to reconstruct the interaction score profiles of drugs with diseases. Finally, a graph regularized non-negative matrix factorization model was used to identify potential associations between drug and disease.Results: During the cross-validation process, WNMFDDA achieved the AUC values of 0.939 and 0.952 on Fdataset and Cdataset under ten-fold cross validation, respectively, which outperforms other competing prediction methods. Moreover, case studies for several drugs and diseases were carried out to further verify the predictive performance of WNMFDDA. As a result, 13(Doxorubicin), 13(Amiodarone), 12(Obesity) and 12(Asthma) of the top 15 corresponding candidate diseases or drugs were confirmed by existing databases.Conclusions: The experimental results adequately demonstrated that WNMFDDA is a very effective method for drug-disease association prediction. We believe that WNMFDDA is helpful for relevant biomedical researchers in follow-up studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Extracellular vesicles may serve as a promising tool in understanding the underlying pathological mechanisms of autism spectrum disorders. • Extracellular vesicles have demonstrated significant potential in the therapeutic approaches for a range of neurological conditions including autism in preclinical models. • Extracellular vesicles show significant promise for their roles in both serving as biomarkers and potential therapeutics for autism spectrum disorders. Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are neurodevelopmental conditions characterized by restricted, repetitive behavioral patterns and deficits in social interactions. The prevalence of ASD has continued to rise in recent years. However, the etiology and pathophysiology of ASD remain largely unknown. Currently, the diagnosis of ASD relies on behavior measures, and there is a lack of reliable and objective biomarkers. In addition, there are still no effective pharmacologic therapies for the core symptoms of ASD. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are lipid bilayer nanovesicles secreted by almost all types of cells. EVs play a vital role in cell-cell communications and are known to bear various biological functions. Emerging evidence demonstrated that EVs are involved in many physiological and pathological processes throughout the body and the content in EVs can reflect the status of the originating cells. EVs have demonstrated the potential of broad applications for the diagnosis and treatment of various brain diseases, suggesting that EVs may have also played a role in the pathological process of ASD. Besides, EVs can be utilized as therapeutic agents for their endogenous substances and biological functions. Additionally, EVs can serve as drug delivery tools as nano-sized vesicles with inherent targeting ability. Here, we discuss the potential of EVs to be considered as promising diagnostic biomarkers and their potential therapeutic applications for ASD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Purpose: To evaluate the clinical outcomes of hypofractionated stereotactic radiotherapy (HFSRT) combined with whole brain radiotherapy (WBRT) in patients with brain metastases (BMs).Materials and Methods: From May 2018 to July 2020, 50 patients (111 lesions) received HFSRT (18 Gy/3F) + WBRT (40 Gy/20F). The RECIST 1.1 and RANO-BM criteria were used to evaluate treatment efficacy. Five prognostic indexes (RPA, GPA, SIR, BS-BM, and GGS) were applied. The primary endpoint was intracranial local control (iLC). Secondary endpoints were overall survival (OS) and the safety of treatment.Results: Intracranial objective response rates (iORR) using the RECIST 1.1 and RANO-BM criteria were 62.1% and 58.6%, respectively. The iLC rate was 93.1%, the 6- and 12-month iLC rates were 90.8% and 57.4%, respectively. The median intracranial progression-free survival (iPFS) was not reached (range 0-23 months). The 6-, 12-, and 24-month OS rates were 74.2%, 58.2%, and 22.9%, respectively. The KPS score showed statistical significance in univariate analysis of survival. The 6, 12, and 24 month OS rates for patients with KPS ≥ 70 were 83.8%, 70.5%, and 29.7%, respectively. The median survival time (MST) for all patients and for patients with KPS ≥ 70 were 13.6 and 16.5 months, respectively. Sex, KPS score, and gross tumor volume were significant factors in the multivariate analysis of survival. OS was significantly associated with RPA, SIR, BS-BM, and GGS classes. No acute toxicities of grade 3 or higher were noted.Conclusion: HFSRT combined with WBRT is a safe and effective local treatment modality for BM patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors introduce the concepts of the eventual shadowing property and eventually shadowable point for set-valued dynamical systems and prove that a set-valued dynamical system has the eventual shadowing property if and only if every point in the phase space is eventually shadowable; every chain transitive set-valued dynamical system has either the eventual shadowing property or no eventually shadowable points; and a set-valued dynamical system admits an eventually shadowable point if and only if it admits a minimal eventually shadowable point. Moreover, it is proved that a set-valued dynamical system with the eventual shadowing property is chain mixing if and only if it is mixing and if and only if it has the specification property. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A compact, high repetition rate pulse group laser with three nanosecond equal-interval and equal-amplitude sub-pulses has been demonstrated in this paper. Under three-step nanosecond continuous acousto-optic control, a laser pulse group containing three nanosecond interval sub-pulses can be realized. The three sub-pulses have a pulse width of 15 ns, 23 ns, and 25 ns and minimum pulse intervals of 119 ns at a repetition rate of 30 kHz. The corresponding optical-optical conversion efficiency is 29.2 %. • Controlling the acoustic power of Q switch in the form of three-step nanosecond duration drop by continuously. • The high repetition rate groups of three equally interval and equal amplitude sub-pulses are generated. • The three sub-pulses have a pulse width of 15 ns, 23 ns, and 25 ns, and minimum pulse interval is 119 ns. • The laser has the advantages of simple and compact structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the tracking control problem of full-state constrained nonlinear systems with unknown time-varying powers. With the help of a nonlinear state-dependent transformation, by introducing lower and higher powers in control design and skillfully combining the adding a power integrator method with the dynamic gain method, a full-state constrained tracking control design is developed without frequently used feasibility conditions. It is rigorously proved that all the signals of the closed-loop system are bounded, full-state constraints are not violated, and the tracking error converges to a compact set around the origin in a finite-time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An urban ecosystem carries the burden of urbanization and records the changes in the ecological environment. A scientific evaluation of the urban ecosystem can effectively assess and identify any system damage and degradation caused by nature or by human activities. In this paper, we construct an urban ecosystem health assessment system on the basis of a pressure–state–response (PSR)/vigor–organization–resilience (VOR) model along with the socioeconomic and remote sensing data related to Nanjing. Meanwhile, the factors hindering the stainable development of the Nanjing ecosystem are discussed. The results indicated that the health of the urban ecosystem in Nanjing is generally on the rise, improving from poor in 2000 to good in 2017; from the results obtained via the PSR model, the state layer continues to decrease, whereas the pressure and response layers continue to increase; the VOR model demonstrated that the urban ecosystem in Nanjing has been relatively stable over the past 20 years, and the obstacle degree model demonstrated that, over the next 10 years, the obstacle factors will be concentrated in the response layer in the early stage and in the pressure layer in the later period, mainly because of the pressure brought about by population growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, tracking control is considered for a class of uncertain multi-input–multi-output (MIMO) nonlinear systems, where the time-varying parameters, the time-varying control coefficient and the time-varying disturbance are assumed to be unknown but to be bounded. Three stable adaptive tracking schemes for a given reference signal are proposed by devising different control algorithms. In the first scheme, bounded-error tracking is achieved in the sense that the tracking error converges exponentially to an adjustable region around the origin, where the $\sigma $ -modification adaptive laws are used to ensure the boundedness of all closed-loop signals. In the second scheme, asymptotic tracking is obtained in the sense that the tracking error converges to zero asymptotically, where the strictly positive and integral functions are employed in the control law to ensure the signal boundedness and zero-error tracking. In the third scheme, exponential tracking is gotten in the sense that the tracking error exponentially converges to zero with a given convergence speed, where exponential functions are incorporated into control law and adaptive laws to ensure system stability and the faster convergence. Three adaptive tracking schemes are, respectively, applied to nonlinear chaotic Chua’s circuit with control inputs. The parametric model is developed for Chua’s circuit with uncertain parameters and external disturbances. The effectiveness of the proposed control algorithms is demonstrated by comparative simulation studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Photothermal therapy (PTT), involving application of localized hyperthermia to kill cancer cells, has attracted wide attention in cancer therapy. The production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) during PTT may cause irreversible damage to healthy tissues around the tumor. Simultaneously, hyperthermia can stimulate inflammatory response, thus promoting tumor recurrence and metastasis. Therefore, it is of paramount importance to reduce the undesired side effects for further development of PTT. Results: Using a hydrothermal method, spherical Prussian blue nanoparticles (PBs) with uniform size were prepared. The PBs exhibited good dispersion and stability in saline with an average hydrodynamic size of 110 nm. The prepared PBs had a high photothermal conversion efficiency and photothermal stability. The PBs showed intrinsic ROS scavenging properties in vitro. Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of PBs were also observed in vivo. Assessment of toxicity and endoplasmic reticulum stress-inducing ability showed that PBs did not induce an inflammatory response. Tissues of major organs of mice stained with hematoxylin–eosin showed no significant damage, indicating good biocompatibility and safety of PBs. Conclusion: The designed single-component PBs with intrinsic ROS scavenging and anti-inflammatory properties could avoid inflammatory response and heat stress-induced ROS during PTT. Thus, further research on PBs is worthwhile to achieve their clinical translation and promote the development of PTT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Photothermal therapy (PTT), involving application of localized hyperthermia to kill cancer cells, has attracted wide attention in cancer therapy. The production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) during PTT may cause irreversible damage to healthy tissues around the tumor. Simultaneously, hyperthermia can stimulate inflammatory response, thus promoting tumor recurrence and metastasis. Therefore, it is of paramount importance to reduce the undesired side effects for further development of PTT. Results: Using a hydrothermal method, spherical Prussian blue nanoparticles (PBs) with uniform size were prepared. The PBs exhibited good dispersion and stability in saline with an average hydrodynamic size of 110 nm. The prepared PBs had a high photothermal conversion efficiency and photothermal stability. The PBs showed intrinsic ROS scavenging properties in vitro. Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of PBs were also observed in vivo. Assessment of toxicity and endoplasmic reticulum stress-inducing ability showed that PBs did not induce an inflammatory response. Tissues of major organs of mice stained with hematoxylin–eosin showed no significant damage, indicating good biocompatibility and safety of PBs. Conclusion: The designed single-component PBs with intrinsic ROS scavenging and anti-inflammatory properties could avoid inflammatory response and heat stress-induced ROS during PTT. Thus, further research on PBs is worthwhile to achieve their clinical translation and promote the development of PTT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the semi-global stabilisation problem of high-order nonlinear systems with full-state constraints and input saturation. By constructing the high-order barrier Lyapunov function (BLF) and auxiliary subsystem, a state feedback controller is designed without state and input constraints violation. It is proved that all the closed-loop signals are bounded in the semi-global sense, error signals converge to a small neighbourhood of the origin, and full-state constraints and input saturation are not violated. Two simulation examples are presented to show the feasibility and advantage of this method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, for uncertain nonlinear systems with time-varying full state constraints, input saturation and unknown control direction, time-varying asymmetric barrier Lyapunov functions, the auxiliary subsystem, and the Nussbaum gain technique are employed. It is shown that all the closed-loop signals are bounded in the semi-global sense, error signals converge to bounded compact sets, and time-varying full state constraints and input saturation are not violated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The correlation among heterogeneous microstructure, cyclic hardening/softening and fatigue failure behavior was analyzed extensively. • The fracture location was changed with the fatigue amplitude due to the amplitude-dependent and heterogeneous cyclic hardening/softening of BM and WM. • A modified cyclic constitutive model was proposed to precisely predict the heterogeneous cyclic mechanical response and failure location for both stress-controlled and strain-controlled conditions. This work performed experimental and modeling investigations on the fatigue failure mechanism of duplex stainless steel welded joints, and the correlation among heterogeneous microstructure, cyclic hardening/softening and fatigue failure behavior was analyzed extensively. A series of experiments including the characterization of microstructure by the electron back-scattered diffraction observation and fatigue mechanical tests assisted by digital image correlation technique were performed. The results show that at the lower stress amplitudes (approximately 520 MPa), the fatigue failure occurred in the weld metal, while it shifted to the base metal at higher amplitudes. Due to the grain refinement, the strain amplitude of weld metal was lower than that of base metal, particularly at the higher amplitudes, leading to the final failure at the base metal. However, at the lower amplitudes, due to the effect of Kurdjumov-Sachs orientation relationship at the weld metal, its cyclic softening behavior was much drastic than that of base metal, resulting in the overshoot of strain amplitude during fatigue process and finial rupture at the weld metal. A cyclic constitutive model was developed by considering the amplitude-dependent and heterogeneous cyclic hardening/softening, to accurately predict the cyclic mechanical response and fatigue failure location for both stress-controlled and strain-controlled conditions. This work can be used as guidance of structure integrity assessment and life prediction for the engineering components of duplex stainless steel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, finite-time stabilization is investigated in depth for stochastic nonlinear systems with stochastic inverse dynamics. The contributions of this work are characterized by the following novel features: (i) Motivated by the concept of stochastic integral input-to-state stability (SiISS) and the existing stochastic finite-time stability theorem, a new concept of finite-time stochastic integral input-to-state stability (FT-SiISS) using Lyapunov function is first introduced, and an inclusion relationship among three types of stochastic stability, i.e., FT-SiISS, FT-SISS and SISS, is rigorously established. On the basis of FT-SiISS, we develop two new FT-SiISS small-gain conditions and discuss their relationship. Then, to analyze finite-time stability of stochastic nonlinear systems with FT-SiISS inverse dynamics, a stochastic finite-time stability theorem is improved. (ii) As the application of (i), we propose a unified finite-time control method, which can simultaneously handle stochastic nonlinear systems with FT-SiISS or FT-SISS inverse dynamics, and guarantee that the closed-loop system has an almost surely continuous solution, all the closed-loop signals are bounded almost surely, and its trivial solution is stochastically finite-time stable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or attention‐deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may have unhealthy bodyweight. This meta‐analysis was performed to understand the weight status in individuals with ASD or ADHD. PubMed, Embase, Cochrane and ISI Web of Science databases were searched from inception until June 2020 to identify relevant studies. Prevalence estimates and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of obesity, overweight and underweight were separately pooled using random‐effects models. A total of 95 studies were included in the meta‐analysis. The pooled estimates of the prevalence of obesity, overweight and underweight were 21.8%, 19.8% and 6.4% in individuals with ASD and 14.7%, 20.9% and 4.0% in individuals with ADHD. In subgroup analyses, an increasing trend in the prevalence of unhealthy weight was observed from children aged 2 to 5 years to adults with ASD (obesity: from 16.7% to 31.3%, overweight: from 16.2% to 27.2%, underweight from 5.3% to 8.6%) and from children aged 6 to 12 years to adults with ADHD (obesity: from 13.5% to 19.3%, overweight: from 18.8% to 31.2%). The worrisome epidemic of obesity and overweight in individuals with ASD, ADHD highlighted the need for weight management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the problem of global output feedback control for a class of feedforward nonlinear systems with unknown multiple time-varying delays and unknown output function under more general uncertain growth condition. We allow that there exists unknown constant, input function and polynomial-of-output growth rates imposed on nonlinearities. By skilfully introducing dynamic gain method, backstepping method and Lyapunov-Krasovskii theorem, a delay-independent output feedback controller can be developed with only one dynamic gain to guarantee the boundedness of closed-loop system signals and the convergence of original system states and their corresponding observer states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the problem of global output feedback control for a class of feedforward nonlinear systems with the unknown output function and input matching uncertainty, whose nonlinearities satisfy the linear growth condition on unmeasured states multiplying the unknown constant, polynomial-of-output and polynomial-of-input growth rates, where the value range of the power of polynomial-of-output growth rate is increased compared with the existing results. Under the new transformation, based on the dynamic gain method and backstepping method, by constructing a new extended state observer with two dynamic gains, an output feedback controller can be designed to ensure that all the signals of the closed-loop system are bounded, the states of the original system and the corresponding observer converge to zero, and the estimate of input matching uncertainty converges to its actual value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To investigate the effectiveness of over-the-scope-clip (OTSC)-based endoscopic closure in patients with perforated peptic ulcer (PPU).Methods: One hundred six patients diagnosed with PPU were treated with either OTSC (n = 26) or conservative treatments (n = 80), respectively. The outcome assessments included technical success rate, clinical success rate, post-treatment complications after 1 month, mortality rate, time to resume oral feeding, length of hospital stay, and the administration of antibiotics.Results: In the OTSC group, technical and clinical success was achieved in 100% of patients without any complications, including death, incomplete closure, duodenal obstruction, and gastrointestinal bleeding, with a median operation time of 10 min. All patients in the OTSC group were discharged, while the mortality rate in the control group was 13.8%. Subsequent surgeries were required in 30% of patients in the control group. The median times to resume oral feeding were 3.5 (interquartile range [IQR] 2.0-5.25) days in the OTSC group and 7.0 (IQR 5.0-9.0) days in the control group (p < 0.001). One month post-procedure, 30% (24/80) of patients in the control group and 0 (0/26) in the OTSC group required additional operations (p < 0.001). No significant difference was found in the length of the hospital stay and the administration of antibiotics between the two groups (p > 0.05).Conclusions: OTSC-based endoscopic technique, with a high clinical success rate and a shorter time to resume oral feeding, was effective in achieving closure of PPU with a diameter < 15 mm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: In this paper, we give some new results on finite‐time stabilization for stochastic nonlinear systems whose powers of integrators are all positive odd rational numbers (ie, numerators and denominators of the powers are all positive odd integers) but not necessary only high order or low order. By adopting new conditions on drift and diffusion terms, Lyapunov function, and controller design method, a state feedback controller is designed to guarantee stochastic nonlinear systems finite‐time stable in probability. Moreover, when unknown parameters exist in systems, we give the adaptive finite‐time state feedback controller. Numerical examples demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: This paper investigates the problem of finite‐time output‐feedback stabilization of a class of high‐order nonholonomic systems under weaker conditions on system powers and nonlinearities. By constructing the appropriate Lyapunov function and observer, skillfully combining generalized adding a power integrator technique, sign function, and homogeneous domination method, and successfully introducing a new mathematical method, an output‐feedback controller is constructed to guarantee that all the states of the closed‐loop system converge to origin in a finite time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In this study, the cyclic mechanical characters of 316L stainless steel at elevated temperature are extensively investigated by the experimental and cyclic constitutive models. The experiments include the monotonic tensile tests with different loading rates and the low cycle fatigue tests considering the effect of strain amplitudes, strain rates and loading sequences. The evolution of cyclic stress amplitudes, hysteresis loops and elastic modulus under various loading conditions are comprehensively analyzed. The experimental results show that the 316L steel at elevated temperature performs a typical three-stage cyclic mechanical response, i.e., initial hardening, subsequent saturation and final accelerated softening. The cyclic softening in both stiffness and flow stress is mainly caused by the nucleation of micro-voids or micro-cracks, and the subsequent coalesce and propagation. Furthermore, although the nearly rate-independent mechanical behavior is observed at monotonic tensile and first several fatigue cycles due to the DSA effect, the cyclic hardening/softening behavior shows a significant strain-rate and loading history dependence. Finally, inspired by the experimental observations and analyses, a damage-coupled cyclic elastic-viscoplastic constitutive model involving strain-range, strain-rate and loading history dependence is proposed to predict the complex cyclic behaviors of the material at elevated temperature. A hardening factor is incorporated into the Chaboche kinematic hardening equations to model the kinematic-induced hardening behavior. And the plastic strain memory surface and the maximum plastic strain rate are introduced to model the strain-range, strain-rate and loading history dependence of cyclic behavior. The proposed model is proved to effectively describe the complex evolution of not only cyclic stress amplitude but also hysteresis loops for the 316L steel at elevated temperature. Highlights • The cyclic response and fatigue mechanism for the 316L steel at room and elevated temperature were compared. • The various tensile and LCF tests considering the effect of strain range, strain rate and loading sequence were carried out. • The fatigue damage was determined experimentally, and incorporated into the cyclic elastic-viscoplastic constitutive model. • The relationship between strain rate, DSA effect and cyclic behavior were investigated and realized by the proposed model. • The proposed model can predict the evolution of not only cyclic stress amplitude but also hysteresis loops accurately. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the problem of global output feedback control for nonlinear time-delay systems with input matching uncertainty and the unknown output function, whose nonlinearities are bounded by lower triangular linear unmeasured states multiplying the unknown constant, polynomial-of-output and polynomial-of-input growth rates. By constructing a new extended state observer and skillfully combining the dynamic gain method, backstepping method and Lyapunov-Krasovskii theorem, a delay-independent output feedback controller can be developed with only one dynamic gain. It is proved that all the signals of the closed-loop system are bounded, the states of the original system and the corresponding observer converge to zero, and the estimation of input matching uncertainty converges to its actual value. Two examples demonstrate the effectiveness of the control scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the problem of finite-time stabilisation of more general high-order nonlinear systems with dynamic and parametric uncertainties. By characterising the unmeasured dynamic uncertainty with finite-time input-to-state stability (FTISS), skillfully combining Lyapunov function, sign function, backstepping, adaptive control and FTISS approaches, and using finite-time stability theory, an adaptive state feedback controller is designed to guarantee high-order uncertain nonlinear systems globally finite-time stable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the problem of output feedback disturbance attenuation for a class of nonlinear systems with input matching uncertainty, whose nonlinearities are bounded by unmeasured states multiplying unknown input and output polynomial functions. Combining the technique of dynamic gain and extended state observer, an adaptive output feedback controller is designed to guarantee that the states of the closed-loop system are globally bounded, and the disturbance attenuation is achieved in the -gain sense. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: This paper investigates adaptive state feedback stabilization for a class of more general stochastic high‐order nonholonomic systems. By constructing the appropriate Lyapunov function, skillfully combining parameter separation, sign function, and backstepping design methods, an adaptive state feedback controller is designed to eliminate the phenomenon of uncontrollability and guarantee global asymptotic stability in probability of the closed‐loop system. Two simulation examples are used to demonstrate the effectiveness of this method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we consider the existence of solutions for a boundary value problem of singular two-term fractional differential equation with delay and sign-changing nonlinearity. By means of the Guo–Krasnosel'skii fixed point theorem and the Leray–Schauder nonlinear alternative theorem, we obtain some results on the existence and multiplicity of solutions, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a member of Ubiquitin-specific protease subfamily, ubiquitin specific protease 7 (USP7) has been reported to participate in a variety of cellular processes, including cell cycle, apoptosis, DNA damage response, and epigenetic modification. However, its function in preimplantation embryos is still obscure. To investigate the functions of USP7 during preimplantation embryo development, we used siRNA to degrade endogenous USP7 messenger RNA. We found that USP7 knockdown significantly decreased the development rate of mouse early embryos. Moreover, depletion of USP7 induced the accumulation of the DNA lesions and apoptotic blastomeres in early embryos. In addition, USP7 knockdown caused an abnormal H3K27me3 modification in 2-cell embryos. Overall, our results indicate that USP7 maintains genome stability perhaps via regulating H3K27me3 and DNA damage, consequently controlling the embryo quality. • Depletion of USP7 compromises the early embryo development. • USP7 knockdown increases DNA damage and apoptosis in mouse early embryos. • USP7 knockdown causes an abnormal H3K27me3 modification in mouse early embryos. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to analyze the evacuation capacity of parallel double running stairs, a dozen stairs merging forms are set by investigation and statistics, and the improved agent-based evacuation model that considers the merging behavior is used to simulate the process of merging and evacuation in the stairs. The stairs evacuation capacity is related to the evacuation time and the robustness of stairs, and the evacuation time can be calculated by using the improved agent-based model based on computer simulation. The robustness of each merging form can be obtained according to the fluctuation degree of evacuation time under the different pedestrian flow. The evaluation model of stairs evacuation capacity is established by fusing the evacuation time and the robustness of stairs. Combined with the specific example to calculate the evacuation capacity of each stairs form, it is found that every merging form has different evacuation time and different robustness, and the evacuation time has not positive correlation with the robustness for the same form stairs. Meanwhile, the evacuation capacity of stairs is not related to the number of the floor entrances. Finally, the results show that the evacuation capacity of stairs is optimal when the floor entrances are close to out stairs in parallel double running stairs and suitable to the case where pedestrian flow and the change of pedestrian flow are large. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the problem of finite-time output feedback stabilization for a class of high-order nonlinear systems with the unknown output function and control coefficients. Under the weaker assumption that output function is only continuous, by using homogeneous domination method together with adding a power integrator method, introducing a new analysis method, the maximal open sector Ω of output function is given. As long as output function belongs to any closed sector included in Ω, an output feedback controller can be developed to guarantee global finite-time stability of the closed-loop system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies finite-time stabilization problem for stochastic low-order nonlinear systems with stochastic inverse dynamics. By characterizing unmeasured stochastic inverse dynamics with finite-time stochastic input-to-state stability, combining the Lyapunov function and adding a power integrator technique, and using the stochastic finite-time stability theory, a state feedback controller is designed to guarantee global finite-time stability in probability of stochastic low-order nonlinear systemswith finite-time stochastic input-to-state stability inverse dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the problem of output feedback stabilization for a class of stochastic feedforward nonlinear systems with state and input delays and the unknown output function. For stochastic feedforward nonlinear systems, the maximal open sector Δ of output function is given. As long as output function belongs to any closed sector included in Δ, by constructing a reduced-order observer and [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the problem of continuous output-feedback stabilization for a class of switched high-order planar systems under arbitrary switchings. Based on the common Lyapunov function design method, by using the adding a power integrator technique and designing an implementable observer, a continuous output-feedback controller is constructed such that the closed-loop system is global stabilization and the output can be regulated to the origin. As an application, the developed strategy is utilized to the control design for the continuous stirred tank reactor with two modes feed stream. The simulation results verify the efficiency of the proposed design scheme. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers semi-global output feedback control for more general nonlinear systems with unknown time-delay and output function whose derivative is unbounded from above. By introducing a new observer and using the backstepping design method and the Razumikhin stability theorem, an output feedback controller is constructed to achieve a semi-global stability. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• >Synthetical effect of material inhomogeneity and welding defect on fatigue behavior. • >New structure strain method including heterogeneous plasticity and stress singularity. • >Evolution of fatigue mode with geometric configurations and cyclic amplitudes. • >A damage tolerance-based fatigue design concept to guide manufacture of welded joints. This paper performed experimental and analytical investigations on the synthetical effect of material inhomogeneity and welding defects on the fatigue behavior of 2205 duplex stainless steel cruciform welded joints. A series of experiments were performed, including microstructure characterization by the electron back-scattered diffraction, fatigue mechanical tests assisted by digital image correlation technique and fracture morphology observations by scanning electron microscope. Results show that fatigue life and failure location of cruciform welded joints depended heavily on their geometric configurations for lower cyclic amplitudes. However, with the elevation of loading, material inhomogeneity played a greater roles, leading to the change of fatigue failure mode with both geometric configuration and cyclic stress amplitude. To quantize the effects of welding defects and material inhomogeneity, a modified structure strain method was proposed by considering the heterogeneous plastic properties, to accurately predict both fatigue lifetime and failure location of cruciform welded joints at both low and high cycles fatigue. Lastly, a damage tolerance-based fatigue design method was discussed to guide the highly-reliable manufacture and damage detection of duplex stainless steel cruciform welded joints in the engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper solves the problem of output feedback stabilisation for nonlinear systems with unknown output function and control coefficients. Since output function is Lipschitz continuous but not necessary derivable, the maximal sector region of output function is given. As long as output function belongs to the sector, an output feedback controller can be designed to render the closed-loop system globally asymptotically stable. The effectiveness of controller is demonstrated by two examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the relaxation of weld residual stress in a 316L stainless steel weld joint under cyclic loading was researched by experimental and finite element method (FEM). Initially, the as-weld residual stresses were calculated by a sequential coupling thermo-mechanical FEM. Subsequently, a cyclic plasticity constitutive model was proposed to study the redistribution of the residual stress by the cyclic load. Significant residual stresses are released during the first few cycles. Especially, about 45–60% of the maximum residual stresses are released during the first cycle because of the plastic deformation caused by the superposition between the as-weld residual stress and the applied load. More residual stresses are released with the increase of the stress amplitude and cyclic number. An analytical model, which considers the effects of the initial residual stress, yield stress, stress amplitude, and number of cycles, was proposed to predict the relaxation of the weld residual stress by the cyclic load. In addition, experimental measurements were also performed to validate this model. Experimental results prove that the proposed model can be used as a valid tool to predict the relaxation of residual stress by the fatigue load. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A severe rot was observed on commonAndrographisherb (Andrographis paniculata), also named ‘Chuan Xinlian’, which is a widely used medicinal plant. The disease affected 45–65% of plants growing in different greenhouses in Changping county, Beijing city, China. Disease symptoms began as dark brown and water-soaked lesions, with the eventual development of abundant white mycelia and sclerotia on stems and leaves. The pathogen was isolated from diseased tissues, and was identified asSclerotinia sclerotiorum(Lib.) de Bary based on cultural features, morphological characteristics and molecular analysis. The pathogenicity of the isolated fungus was confirmed from inoculation experiments. This is the first report ofS. sclerotiorumon commonAndrographisherb. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Wild eggplant (Solanum torvum) has been used as a rootstock for eggplant propagation in China for decades. In the winter of 2011–2012, a severe disease with typical symptoms of small brown spots was observed on the leaves of wild eggplant in Chengmai County, Hainan Province, China. This disease had an incidence of about 30–65% among all the plants in the region (about 2 hectares in total). The causal pathogen was identified asStemphylium solanibased on morphological features, cultural characteristics and molecular identification. The pathogenicity was confirmed by Koch’s postulates. This is the first report of natural infection byS. solanicausing leaf spot on wild eggplant in China. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]