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[Display omitted] Silicon (Si) has gained substantial interest as a potential component of lithium-ion battery (LIB) anodes due to its high theoretical specific capacity. However, conventional methods for producing Si for anodes involve expensive metal reductants and stringent reducing environments. This paper describes the development of a calcium hydride (CaH 2)–aluminum chloride (AlCl 3) reduction system that was used for the in-situ low-temperature synthesis of a core–shell structured silicon–carbon (Si–C) material from rice husks (RHs), and the material was denoted RHs-Si@C. Moreover, as an LIB anode, RHs-Si@C exhibited exceptional cycling performance, exemplified by 90.63 % capacity retention at 5 A g−1 over 2000 cycles. Furthermore, the CaH 2 –AlCl 3 reduction system was employed to produce Si nanoparticles (Si NPs) from RHs (R-SiO 2 , where SiO 2 is silica) and from commercial silica (C-SiO 2). The R-SiO 2 -derived Si NPs exhibited a higher residual silicon oxides (SiO x) content than the C-SiO 2 -derived Si NPs. This was advantageous, as there was sufficient SiO x in the R-SiO 2 -derived Si NPs to mitigate the volumetric expansion typically associated with Si NPs, resulting in enhanced cycling performance. Impressively, Si NPs were fabricated on a kilogram scale from C-SiO 2 in a yield of 82 %, underscoring the scalability of the low-temperature reduction technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, bipartite consensus is investigated for linear multi‐agent systems (MASs) via adaptive asynchronous intermittent control. Adaptive asynchronous intermittent bipartite consensus protocols are proposed for MASs with antagonistic links under both fixed and connected switching topologies. By using gauge transformation and stability theory, convergency analysis is given and some conditions of bipartite consensus are obtained. It is turned out that bipartite consensus can be realized if the communication rate is no less than a threshold under the assumption that the network is connected and structurally balanced. Finally, two simulation examples are provided to verify the effectiveness of the obtained results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the intermittent semi‐global containment of discrete‐time high‐order multi‐agent systems with input saturation. The intermittent semi‐global containment protocol is proposed based on discrete‐time low‐gain state feedback control. Some containment conditions are obtained, and the convergence analysis is given. It is turned out that all the followers beginning from a bounded initial set will asymptotically enter into the convex hull spanned by the leaders under the proposed protocol. Moveover, intermittent semi‐global leader‐following consensus with input saturation is considered as a special case, and the corresponding result is introduced. Finally, numerical simulations are presented to illustrate the theoretical findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates consensus of linear multi-agent systems (MASs) with exogenous disturbances and intermittent communication. Based on a disturbance-observer method, both distributed state feedback and output feedback intermittent consensus protocols are proposed by using estimated disturbance and local relative information. And the consensus conditions are obtained by using Lyapunov stability theory. Finally, two numerical simulation examples are given to illustrate the proposed theoretical results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates robust consensus for nonlinear multiagent systems with uncertainty and disturbance. The consensus evolution behavior is studied under general consensus protocol when each node is disturbed by the relative states between the node and its neighbors. At first, the robust consensus condition is obtained and the convergency analysis is given by using Lyapunov stability theory and matrix theory. Then, the practical consensus is investigated and the bound of the error states is presented. Finally, two numerical simulation examples are given to illustrate the proposed theoretical results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wireless charging technology has been developing rapidly in recent years and has been used to deliver power and provide a new source of energy for wireless rechargeable sensor networks. With current solutions, charging is usually done by a mobile vehicle equipped with a charger, which needs to be waiting on site until the sensor is properly charged. It is possible that some sensors drain their power while the charging vehicle is serving the other. Accordingly, we proposed a solution that uses a single charging vehicle equipped with multiple battery cells, which we call the separable charging array. The battery cell can be unloaded on site with sensor, while the vehicle carries on its mission. A scheduling algorithm, a revised earliest deadline first algorithm, is proposed to work with this new model. In this study, we will demonstrate that the idea of equipping charging vehicle with separable charger array is feasible. In addition, our simulations indicate that the revised earliest deadline first scheduling algorithm does improve the earliest deadline first scheduling algorithm significantly with only minor overhead in scheduling computation time and very few extra chargers. Some modified variations of the proposed revised earliest deadline first algorithm will also be discussed and evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates containment for linear multi-agent systems (LMAS) with exogenous disturbances under fixed topologies. Both state feedback and output feedback control protocols are proposed, under which all the followers will asymptotically converge to the convex hull spanned by the leaders. Using tools from matrix, graph and Lyapunov stability theories, sufficient conditions for containment of linear multi-agent systems with exogenous disturbances are obtained by designing exogenous disturbance observers. Finally, numerical simulations are presented to illustrate the theoretical findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the problem of containment control for coupled harmonic oscillators with multiple leaders under directed topology. Using tools from matrix, graph and stability theories, necessary and sufficient conditions are obtained for coupled harmonic oscillators under continuous-time and sampled-data-based protocols, respectively. When the continuous-time protocol is used, it is proved that every follower will ultimately converge to the convex hull spanned by the leaders if and only if there exists at least one leader that has a directed path to that follower at any time. When the sampled-data-based protocol is used, it is shown that the containment can be achieved if and only if: (1) an appropriate sampling period is chosen and (2) for every follower, there exists at least one leader that has a directed path to that follower at any time. And we also give the containment conditions for coupled harmonic oscillators under undirected topology as a special case. Finally, numerical simulations are presented to illustrate the theoretical findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the distributed containment control for second‐order multi‐agent systems with multiple stationary or dynamic leaders based on only position information. Based on stability and algebraic graph theories, some necessary and sufficient conditions are obtained. Firstly, when the leaders are stationary, a necessary and sufficient condition is given to guarantee that all followers will ultimately converge to the stationary convex hull spanned by the stationary leaders for arbitrary initial states. The containment control protocol is designed based on a distributed filter, which is used for estimating the neighbours' velocities of each follower. Secondly, when each leader is dynamic with constant velocity, using sampled current and outdated position data, a necessary and sufficient condition is obtained to drive the followers into the dynamic convex hull spanned by the dynamic leaders. Finally, some numerical simulations are presented to illustrate the proposed theories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Salt stress is a major threat to crop quality and yield. Most experiments on salt stress-related genes have been conducted at the laboratory or greenhouse scale. Consequently, there is a lack of research demonstrating the merit of exploring these genes in field crops. Here, we found that the R2R3-MYB transcription factor SiMYB19 from foxtail millet is expressed mainly in the roots and is induced by various abiotic stressors such as salt, drought, low nitrogen, and abscisic acid. SiMYB19 is tentatively localized to the nucleus and activates transcription. It enhances salt tolerance in transgenic rice at the germination and seedling stages. SiMYB19 overexpression increased shoot height, grain yield, and salt tolerance in field- and salt pond-grown transgenic rice. SiMYB19 overexpression promotes abscisic acid (ABA) accumulation in transgenic rice and upregulates the ABA synthesis gene OsNCED3 and the ABA signal transduction pathway-related genes OsPK1 and OsABF2. Thus, SiMYB19 improves salt tolerance in transgenic rice by regulating ABA synthesis and signal transduction. Using rice heterologous expression analysis, the present study introduced a novel candidate gene for improving salt tolerance and increasing yield in crops grown in saline-alkali soil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the quantum confinement effect of graphene quantum dots (GQDs), the fluorescence properties of the GQDs can be adjusted by changing the size of the GQDs. We can obtain better fluorescence properties of the GQDs by varying the preparation conditions. GQDs were prepared by the pyrolysis method. To obtain GQDs with excellent fluorescence properties, the effect of different pyrolysis times and pH values on the properties of GQDs were studied. Fourier infrared spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscope, and fluorescence spectroscopy (PL) were used to characterize the morphology, structure, and fluorescence properties of GQDs. The experimental results show that with the increase of pyrolysis time, the carbonization of citric acid intensifies, the size of GQDs increases, the fluorescence peak of GQDs broadens, and the dependence of fluorescence emission increased gradually. Fluorescence property changes with the pyrolysis time, the fluorescence property is optimal with the pyrolysis time of 30 min, and the suitable pyrolysis time will cause the citric acid sufficient reaction to produce the maximum yield of GQDs. Besides, GQDs fluorescence properties are also affected by the acid-base environment. The fluorescence of GQDs solution has the strongest in an alkaline environment and quenched in an acidic environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SUMMARY This paper investigates the input-to-state stability (ISS) issue for discrete-time dynamical networks (DDNs) with time delays. Firstly, a general comparison principle for solutions of DDNs is proposed. Then, based on this general comparison principle, three kinds of ISS-type comparison principles for DDNs are established, including the comparison principle for input-to-state [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we investigate distributed robust adaptive synchronization for complex networked systems with bounded disturbances. We propose both average synchronization protocol and leader-following synchronization protocol based on adaptive control and variable structure control strategies. The synchronization conditions do not require any global information except a connection assumption under the adaptive control method. Furthermore, the external disturbances are attenuated effectively. Finally, we present numerical simulations to illustrate the theoretical findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Altered maternal serum lipid metabolism is associated with hypertensive disorders in pregnancy (HDP). However, its range in pregnancy and characteristic among different subgroups of HDPs are unclear. Methods. Pregnant women with HDP who underwent antenatal care and delivered in Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital of Fudan University during January 2018 to August 2022 were enrolled. The levels of total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDLC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDLC), apolipoprotein (Apo)-A, B, and E, free fatty acids (FFA), and small and dense low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (sdLDL) were measured during 4–16 weeks and 28–42 weeks of pregnancy. Results. A total of 2648 pregnant women were diagnosed with HDP, 1,880 of whom were enrolled for final analysis, including 983 (52.3%) preeclampsia (PE), 676 (36.0%) gestational hypertension (GH), and 221 (11.7%) chronic hypertension (CH). For all HDPs, serum TC, TG, LDLC, HDLC, Apo-A, Apo-B, Apo-E, and sdLDL increased significantly during pregnancy, while FFA decreased significantly. Notably, the levels of TC, LDLC, Apo-B, and sdLDL in PE group were equal to or lower than those in CH group at 4–16 weeks of pregnancy, but increased greatly during pregnancy (P < 0.05). Conclusions. Maternal serum lipid levels changed through pregnancy among women with HDPs. Women complicated with PE seem to have undergone a more significant serum lipid change compared to those with GH or CH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wireless rechargeable sensor networks (WRSNs) have gained much attention in recent years due to the rapid progress that has occurred in wireless charging technology. The charging is usually done by one or multiple mobile vehicle(s) equipped with wireless chargers moving toward sensors demanding energy replenishing. Since the loading of each sensor in a WRSN can be different, their time to energy exhaustion may also be varied. Under some circumstances, sensors may deplete their energy quickly and need to be charged urgently. Appropriate scheduling of available mobile charger(s) so that all sensors in need of recharge can be served in time is thus essential to ensure sustainable operation of the entire network, which unfortunately has been proven to be an NP-hard problem (Non-deterministic Polynomial-time hard). Two essential criteria that need to be considered concurrently in such a problem are time (the sensor's deadline for recharge) and distance (from charger to the sensor demands recharge). Previous works use a static combination of these two parameters in determining charging order, which may fail to meet all the sensors' charging requirements in a dynamically changing network. Genetic algorithms, which have long been considered a powerful tool for solving the scheduling problems, have also been proposed to address the charging route scheduling issue. However, previous genetic-based approaches considered only one charging vehicle scenario that may be more suitable for a smaller WRSN. With the availability of multiple mobile chargers, not only may more areas be covered, but also the network lifetime can be sustained for longer. However, efficiently allocating charging tasks to multiple charging vehicles would be an even more complex problem. In this work, a genetic approach, which includes novel designs in chromosome structure, selection, cross-over and mutation operations, supporting multiple charging vehicles is proposed. Two unique features are incorporated into the proposed algorithm to improve its scheduling effectiveness and performance, which include (1) inclusion of EDF (Earliest Deadline First) and NJF (Nearest Job First) scheduling outcomes into the initial chromosomes, and (2) clustering neighboring sensors demand recharge and then assigning sensors in a group to the same mobile charger. By including EDF and NJF scheduling outcomes into the first genetic population, we guarantee both time and distance factors are taken into account, and the weightings of the two would be decided dynamically through the genetic process to reflect various network traffic conditions. In addition, with the extra clustering step, the movement of each charger may be confined to a more local area, which effectively reduces the travelling distance, and thus the energy consumption, of the chargers in a multiple-charger environment. Extensive simulations and results show that the proposed algorithm indeed derives feasible charge scheduling for multiple chargers to keep the sensors/network in operation, and at the same time minimize the overall moving distance of the mobile chargers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Pancreatic cancer stem cells (CSCs) promote pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) tumorigenesis and chemoresistance. Cyclin-dependent kinase 1 (CDK1) plays an important role in tumor initiation in other tumors, but the function of CDK1 in PDAC remains unclear. Fisetin is a bioactive flavonoid with anti-tumor properties in multiple tumors, while its function in CSCs remains elusive. Results: In this study, we demonstrated that CDK1 was correlated with prognosis and was highly expressed in pancreatic cancer tissue and gemcitabine-resistant cells. Silencing CDK1 impaired tumor stemness and reduced a subset of CSCs. We found that fisetin blocked the kinase pocket domain of CDK1 and inhibited pancreatic CSC characteristics. Using acetylation proteomics analysis and phosphorylation array assay, we confirmed that fisetin reduced CDK1 expression and increased CDK1 acetylation at lysine 33 (K33), which resulted in the suppression of CDK1 phosphorylation. Silencing CDK1 or STAT3 suppressed tumor stemness properties, while overexpressing CDK1 or STAT3 showed the opposite effect. Mutation or acetylation of CDK1 at K33 weakened STAT3 phosphorylation at Y705, impairing the expression of stem-related genes and pancreatic cancer stemness. In addition, lack of histone deacetylase 3 (HDAC3), which deacetylates CDK1, contributed to weakening STAT3 phosphorylation by regulating the post-translational modification of CDK1, thereby decreasing the stemness of PDAC. Moreover, our results revealed that fisetin enhanced the effect of gemcitabine through eliminating a subpopulation of pancreatic CSCs by inhibiting the CDK1–STAT3 axis in vitro and in vivo. Conclusion: Our findings highlight the role of post-translational modifications of CDK1–STAT3 signaling in maintaining cancer stemness of PDAC, and indicated that targeting the CDK1–STAT3 axis with inhibitors such as fisetin is a potential therapeutic strategy to diminish drug resistance and eliminate PDAC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Cell division cycle associated 2 (CDCA2), a member of the cell division cycle associated proteins (CDCA) family, is crucial in the regulation of cell mitosis and DNA repair. CDCA2 was extensively examined in our work to determine its role in a wide range of cancers. Methods: CDCA2 differential expression was studied in pan-cancer and in diverse molecular and immunological subgroups in this research. Additionally, the diagnostic and prognostic significance of CDCA2 in pan-cancer was also evaluated using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) and Kaplan–Meier (KM) curves. Prognostic value of CDCA2 in distinct clinical subgroups of lower grade glioma (LGG) was also investigated and a nomogram was constructed. Lastly, potential mechanisms of action of CDCA2 were interrogated including biological functions, ceRNA networks, m6A modification and immune infiltration. Results: CDCA2 is shown to be differentially expressed in a wide variety of cancers. Tumors are diagnosed and forecasted with a high degree of accuracy by CDCA2, and the quantity of expression CDCA2 is linked to the prognosis of many cancers. Additionally, the expression level of CDCA2 in various subgroups of LGG is also closely related to prognosis. The results of enrichment analyses reveal that CDCA2 is predominantly enriched in the cell cycle, mitosis, and DNA replication. Subsequently, hsa-miR-105-5p is predicted to target CDCA2. In addition, 4 lncRNAs were identified that may inhibit the hsa-miR-105-5p/CDCA2 axis in LGG. Meanwhile, CDCA2 expression is shown to be associated to m6A-related genes and levels of immune cell infiltration in LGG. Conclusion: CDCA2 can serve as a novel biomarker for the diagnosis and prognosis in pan-cancer, especially in LGG. For the development of novel targeted therapies in LGG, it may be a potential molecular target. However, to be sure, we'll need to do additional biological experiments to back up our results from bioinformatic predictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Objective: IL‐22 plays an important role in cancer carcinogenesis. However, the association between IL‐22 polymorphisms and cancer risk was inconclusive. The objective of the current study was to assess these associations by meta‐analysis. Methods: PubMed, EMbase, CNKI, VIP, and Wanfang databases were searched up to 31 January 2018. The results were screened according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The associations between polymorphisms and cancer risk were estimated by meta‐analysis. All analyses were performed using the Revman5.3 software. Results: A total of four polymorphisms (rs2227485, rs1179251, rs1179246, and rs1182844) in seven studies were included. The results of meta‐analysis indicated that the rs1179251 polymorphism [OR = 1.46, 95% CI (1.17, 1.82), P = 0.0008 for GG+GC vs. CC] was associated with increased risk of cancer, while the rs2227485, rs1179246, and rs1182844 polymorphisms were not associated with cancer risk. Conclusions: The current meta‐analysis suggests that IL‐22 gene rs1179251 polymorphism may be a risk factor for cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we study the existence of nontrivial solutions for an impulsive fractional differential equation with Dirichlet boundary conditions. By using Morse theory coupled with local linking arguments, we obtain some new criteria to guarantee that the impulsive fractional differential equations have at least one nontrivial solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Genetic susceptibility of lung cancer has been widely studied for Chinese population, and meta-analysis of candidate gene association studies has also been performed for those genes. However, the overall evidence has not been well recognized. Objective To investigate genetic association for the risk of lung cancer in Chinese. Method An overview of systematic reviews and meta-analyses of candidate gene association studies for lung cancer in Chinese was performed up to August 10th, 2016. The AMSTAR tool was used to assess the quality of the included systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Bibliometric analysis was performed to analyze the characteristics of reviews. Results A total of 21 variants in 17 genes from 20 meta-analyses were included in this study. All 20 meta-analyses were published from 2011 to 2016. The quality scores of AMSTAR ranged from 3 to 7. All included genes were in the pathogenesis of lung cancer, such as the CYPs genes, GSTs genes, and base excision repair genes. Three polymorphisms were found to be associated with decreased risk of lung cancer for Chinese, 15 polymorphisms were found to be associated with increased risk of lung cancer for Chinese, but three polymorphisms were found to be not associated with lung cancer risk for Chinese. Conclusion The current study supports the genetic risk factors of lung cancer for Chinese are more likely to be variants from genes that contribute to the etiology of lung cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pheophorbide being a oxygenase gene (PaO) encoded a key enzyme in the process of chlorophyll degradation. In this study, in order to understand the characteristics of the TaPaOs gene family in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and the role it plays in the aging process, the published genome-wide information of wheat and other species was used to analyze the genetic features of the TaPaOs family, preliminarily identified their functions by real-time fluorescence quantitative (qRT-PCR) technology. The results showed that a total of 18 TaPaOs family members were found in wheat, distributed on 15 chromosomes. The encoded proteins were hydrophilic, most of which were unstable proteins, and their subcellular localization was predicted in chloroplasts. The promoter regions of the 18 family members contained a large number of response elements, among which the light response element (G-Box) and ABA response element (ABRE) were the most. The expression patterns of the TaPaOs gene family in different tissues were analyzed and found that leaves were the most, followed by stems and lowest roots. Most of the family members upregulated expression during ABA-induced aging, dark induced aging, and natural aging, especially TaPaO2, TaPaO5, and TaPaO6 would be used as the focus of wheat aging research, which laid the foundation for further study of the TaPaoOs gene family function in wheat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key message: GWAS identified 347 QTLs associated with eight traits related to nitrogen use efficiency in a 389-count wheat panel. Four novel candidate transcription factor genes were verified using qRT-PCR. Nitrogen is an essential nutrient for plants that determines crop yield. Improving nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) should considerably increase wheat yield and reduce the use of nitrogen fertilisers. However, knowledge on the genetic basis of NUE during wheat maturity is limited. In this study, a diversity panel incorporating 389 wheat accessions was phenotyped for eight NUE-related agronomic traits across five different environments. A total of 347 quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for low nitrogen tolerance indices (ratio of agronomic characters under low and high nitrogen conditions) were identified through a genome-wide association study utilising 397,384 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within the MLM (Q + K) model, including 11 stable QTLs. Furthermore, 69 candidate genes were predicted for low nitrogen tolerance indices of best linear unbiased predictions values of the eight studied agronomic traits, and four novel candidate transcription factors (TraesCS5A02G237500 for qFsnR5A.2, TraesCS5B02G384500 and TraesCS5B02G384600 for qSLR5B.1, and TraesCS3B02G068800 for qTKWR3B.1) showed differing expression patterns in contrasting low-nitrogen-tolerant wheat genotypes. Moreover, the number of favourable marker alleles calculated using NUE that were significantly related to SNP in accessions decreased over the decades, indicating a decline in the NUE of the 389 wheat varieties. These findings denote promising NUE markers that could be useful in breeding high-NUE wheat varieties, and the candidate genes could further detail the NUE-related regulation network in wheat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the stability problem of linear systems with a time-varying delay that the delay's derivative has an upper bound or no constraint. Based on the state vectors and multiple integral state vectors involved in the delay related Bessel–Legendre inequalities (BLIs), the hierarchical Lyapunov–Krasovskii functionals (LKFs) are proposed. In order to deal with the fractions of the delay introduced by the BLIs, a novel iterative reciprocally high-order polynomial (IRHP) combination lemma is developed, which encompasses the existing reciprocally convex inequalities as special cases. Then, by introducing the specific matrix valued negative definite conditions (NDCs) of the odd number high degree polynomials, the hierarchical stability conditions are expressed in the form of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). Eventually, the validity and advantages of the proposed conditions are illustrated through some classical numerical examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we consider the global exponential stability in a Lagrange sense for memristive recurrent neural networks with time-varying delays. Here, we adopt nonsmooth analysis and control theory to handle memristive neural networks with discontinuous right-hand side, and by constructing proper Lyapunov functionals and using inequality technique, several new sufficient conditions in linear matrix inequality form are given to ensure the ultimate boundedness and global exponential attractivity of the memristor-based neural networks in the sense of Filippov solutions. In addition, these conditions do not require the connection weight matrices to be symmetric and the delay functions to be differentiable. Finally, numerical simulations illustrate the effectiveness of our results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The location-based services can provide users with the requested location information. But users also need to disclose their current location to the location-based service provider. Therefore, how to protect user's location privacy is a major concern. In this paper, we propose a heterogeneous deniable authenticated encryption scheme called HDAE for location-based services. The proposed scheme permits a sender in a public key infrastructure environment to transmit a message to a receiver in an identity-based environment. Our design utilizes a hybrid encryption method combing the tag-key encapsulation mechanism (tag-KEM) and the data encapsulation mechanism (DEM), which is well adopted for location-based services applications. We give how to design an HDAE scheme utilizing a heterogeneous deniable authenticated tag-KEM (HDATK) and a DEM. We also construct an HDATK scheme and provide security proof in the random oracle model. Comprehensive analysis shows that our scheme is efficient and secure. In addition, we give an application of the HDAE to a location-based services system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By comparing with symplectic different methods, the quadratic element is an approximately symplectic method which can keep high accuracy approximate of symplectic structure for Hamiltonian chaos, and it is also energy conservative when there have chaos phenomenon. We use the quadratic finite element method to solve the H ê non–Heiles system, and this method was never used before. Combining with Poincar ê section, when we increase the energy of the systems, KAM tori are broken and the motion from regular to chaotic. Without chaos, three kinds of methods to calculate the Poincar ê section point numbers are the same, and the numbers are different with chaos. In long-term calculation, the finite element method can better keep dynamic characteristics of conservative system with chaotic motion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents a novel observer‐based electronic line‐shafting control strategy for permanent magnet synchronous motor systems. Adopting the sliding‐mode variable structure technology, the proportional–integral speed controller for every servo unit is designed, followed by design of two cascades connected observers, in order to improve the system synchronisation performance when a large load disturbance occurs. The load torque observer transmits the observed load torque value instead of the calculated one back to the virtual shafting, which reflects the dynamic relationships of all the virtual or slave shafts more accurately. Another load torque derivative observer feeds the observed value forward to the corresponding sliding‐mode controller for reducing the switching gain. The proposed control system is proved stable by Lyapunov stability theory, and simulation results show the strategy is effective on reducing sliding‐mode chattering and achieving higher synchronisation precision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nitrogen plays a crucial role in wheat growth and development. Here, we analyzed the tolerance of wheat strains XM26 and LM23 to low-nitrogen stress using a chlorate sensitivity experiment. Subsequently, we performed transcriptome analyses of both varieties exposed to low-nitrogen (LN) and normal (CK) treatments. Compared with those under CK treatment, 3534 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were detected in XM26 in roots and shoots under LN treatment (p < 0.05, and |log2FC| > 1). A total of 3584 DEGs were detected in LM23. A total of 3306 DEGs, including 863 DEGs in roots and 2443 DEGs in shoots, were specifically expressed in XM26 or showed huge differences between XM26 and LM23 (log2FC ratio > 3). These were selected for gene ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes enrichment analyses. The calcium-mediated plant–pathogen interaction, MAPK signaling, and phosphatidylinositol signaling pathways were enriched in XM26 but not in LM23. We also verified the expression of important genes involved in these pathways in the two varieties using qRT-PCR. A total of 156 transcription factors were identified among the DEGs, and their expression patterns were different between the two varieties. Our findings suggest that calcium-related pathways play different roles in the two varieties, eliciting different tolerances to low-nitrogen stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Background: Leukocyte number in the circulation plays a central role in inflammatory diseases, such as coronary heart disease (CHD). Increased counts are correlated with the intensity of the peri-infarction inflammatory response and adverse outcomes. We investigated leukocyte and leukocyte subset counts in dyslipidaemia patients and their relationship with LDL oxidation. Methods: Dyslipidaemia patients (207) were selected for blood counts and LDL-C testing. The level of HNP-1and myeloperoxidase in subsets of leukocytes and their relationship with LDL oxidation were compared between 24 CHD patients and 24 normal controls. Results: In dyslipidaemia patients, total leukocyte and neutrophil counts increased with LDL-C (p =0.001). Monocyte counts showed the opposite trend (p =0.001). Although serum HNP-1 levels were not different between CHD patients and normal controls (p =0.558), neutrophil HNP-1 mRNA levels were 2.13-fold greater than those of normal controls. However, monocyte HNP-1 mRNA levels were lower (p =0.005). The distribution of myeloperoxidase in monocytes and neutrophils is different, myeloperoxidase locates mainly in the cytoplasm of monocytes, on the cell membrane of neutrophils. Conclusions: Leukocyte and leukocyte subset counts may correlate with LDL-C levels and LDL oxidation. The monocyte–neutrophil interaction reveals a potential compensatory mechanism associated with LDL oxidation in CHD that may be a prognostic factor of CHD. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In this paper, a novel kind of compound synchronization among four chaotic systems is investigated, where the drive systems have been conceptually divided into two categories: scaling drive systems and base drive systems. Firstly, a sufficient condition is obtained to ensure compound synchronization among four memristor chaotic oscillator systems based on the adaptive technique. Secondly, a secure communication scheme via adaptive compound synchronization of four memristor chaotic oscillator systems is presented. The corresponding theoretical proofs and numerical simulations are given to demonstrate the validity and feasibility of the proposed control technique. The unpredictability of scaling drive systems can additionally enhance the security of communication. The transmitted signals can be split into several parts loaded in the drive systems to improve the reliability of communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]