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Owing to the synthesis complexity and environmental hazards for the preparation of paraffin sealants by conventional methods, an alternative strategy for paraffin microspheres preparation was still required. Herein, a simplified and economic method based on CO2/N2 switchable paraffin emulsion that was stabilized by surfactant tween-80/span-80 system, was proposed for paraffin microspheres preparation. Paraffin microspheres were obtained upon CO2-induced stability changes of emulsion. The prepared paraffin microsphere has a small mean diameter of 8814.5 nm which meets the demand for the particle size of practical production. With the paraffin microsphere dosage of 0.5%, the mud cake permeability decreased to 50.4%, which indicates the good plugging performance of microspheres. When repeatedly preparing the separated aqueous phase and the recovered emulsion containing dissolved emulsion, it was found that the mean diameter of paraffin microspheres changed slight, which indicates the recyclability of switchable solvent. Paraffin microspheres, as plugging additive, pose remarkable effects on other properties of drilling fluid. It was found that the density decreased from 1.05 g/cm3 to 0.89 g/cm3, AV from 4.0 to 10.50, PV from 1.0 to 7.50, YP from 1.0 to 3.0, and FLAPI decrease continually with the paraffin microspheres dosage increases to 2.5%. The recovery rate of shale is above 80% with the introduction of paraffin microspheres, which indicates that paraffin microspheres emulsion has good compatibility with drilling fluid matrix in a certain range. Herein, a paraffin microspheres preparation method based on CO2/N2 switchable emulsion is also proposed which has wide application in the preparation of paraffin microspheres. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: An emergency cesarean section (CS), which is extremely life-threatening to the mother or fetus, seems to be performed within an adequate time horizon to avoid negative fetal-maternal denouement. An effective and vigilant technique for anesthesia remains vital for emergency cesarean delivery. Therefore, this study aimed to validate the impact of various anesthesia tactics on maternal and neonatal outcomes. Method: This was a retrospective cohort study of parturient patients who were selected for emergency CS with the assistance of general or neuraxial anesthesia between January 2015 and July 2021 at our institution. The 5-min Apgar score was documented as the primary outcome. Secondary outcomes, including the 1 min Apgar score, decision-to-delivery interval (DDI), onset of anesthesia to incision interval (OAII), decision to incision interval (DII), duration of operation, length of hospitalization, height and weight of the newborn, use of vasopressors, blood loss, neonatal resuscitation rate, admission to neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), duration of NICU and complications, were also measured. Results: Of the 539 patients included in the analysis, 337 CSs were performed under general anesthesia (GA), 137 under epidural anesthesia (EA) and 65 under combined spinal-epidural anesthesia (CSEA). The Apgar scores at 1 min and 5 min in newborns receiving GA were lower than those receiving intraspinal anesthesia, and no difference was found between those receiving EA and those receiving CSEA. The DDI of parturients under GA, EA, and CSE were 7[6,7], 6[6,7], and 14[11.5,20.5], respectively. The DDI and DII of GA and EA were shorter than those of CSE, and the DDI and DII were similar between GA and EA. Compared to that in the GA group, the OAII in the intraspinal anesthesia group was significantly greater. GA administration correlated with more frequent resuscitative interventions, increased admission rates to NICU, and a greater incidence of neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (NRDS). Nevertheless, the duration of NICU stay and the incidence rates of neonatal hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) and pneumonia did not significantly differ based on the type of anesthesia performed. Conclusion: Compared with general anesthesia, epidural anesthesia may not be associated with a negative impact on neonatal or maternal outcomes and could be utilized as an alternative to general anesthesia in our selected patient population following emergency cesarean section; In addition, a comparably short DDI was achieved for emergency cesarean delivery under epidural anesthesia when compared to general anesthesia in our study. However, the possibility that selection bias related to the retrospective study design may have influenced the results cannot be excluded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrocarbon oil collectors used in coking coal flotation are nonrenewable resources, and their collecting performance is difficult to meet current industry needs. In this study, cottonseed oil biodiesel (CSOB) was prepared from cottonseed oil by alkali-catalyzed transesterification, and experimental studies on flotation of 1/3 coking coal were carried out. The results showed that the clean coal yield was about 75% when the use of CSOB was 2000 g t−1. The results of contact angle, FTIR and XPS tests showed that the oxygen-containing groups of CSOB were adsorbed on the hydrophilic spots on the surface of coal particles, and the surface hydrophobicity of coal particles was increased. The ash level of the clean coal with the addition of CSOB during flotation was essentially the same as with the addition of an equivalent amount of diesel oil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study aimed to investigate the effect of the pathological staging of acute histological chorioamnionitis (HCA) on laboratory indicators and to conduct further studies to reassess the threshold values used by clinicians to identify acute HCA in febrile parturients undergoing epidural analgesia. Methods: A retrospective study of febrile mothers receiving epidural analgesia at Nanjing Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital from January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2018. The participants were grouped by the progression of acute HCA, and the laboratory parameters were compared between groups. The ability of C-reactive protein (CRP), neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), monocyte-lymphocyte ratio (MLR), and monocyte-leukocyte ratio (M%), alone or in combination, to identify acute HCA in febrile parturients undergoing epidural analgesia was assessed using logistic regression and ROC curves. Results: The area under the curve (AUC) of the best logistic regression model predicting HCA climbed to 0.706 (CRP + MLR). Maternal CRP, NLR, and MLR significantly and progressively increased with the progression of acute HCA (p < 0.0001). Based on the ROC curves, the following thresholds were selected to define increased laboratory indicators for identifying acute HCA: CRP ≥ 6.90 mg/L, NLR ≥ 11.93, and MLR ≥ 0.57. In addition, the AUC of the best logistic regression model predicting HCA ≥ stage 2 was 0.710, so these inflammatory markers were more precise in predicting HCA ≥ stage 2. Conclusion: Increased CRP (≥ 6.90 mg/L), NLR (≥ 11.93), and MLR (≥ 0.57) may help clinicians to identify early potential acute HCA in febrile parturients receiving epidural analgesia and to monitor progression to optimize clinical treatment options. Trial registration: The study was registered in the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry on November 24, 2021 (http://www.chictr.org.cn, ChiCTR2100053554). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Cryotherapy is a prevalent percutaneous ablative therapy for solid tumors. Here, we report a novel device using liquid nitrogen for endoscopic cryotherapy of bladder cancer. Methods: In this multicenter, randomized, parallel controlled, Phase 2 trial, we compared endoscopic balloon cryoablation (EBCA) with a single instillation (SI) of pirarubicin after transurethral resection (TUR). Eligible participants were randomly assigned (1:1) to the TUR‐EBCA or TUR‐SI group. Repeat TUR or tissue biopsies were performed to evaluate residual tumor at 4 to 6 weeks after primary treatment. The primary end point was the local control rate. The secondary end points included the tumor upgrading/upstaging, catheter indwelling duration, and adverse events. Results: In total, 205 patients received EBCA or SI after TUR between November 2017 and September 2020, of whom 163 completed all the required interventions. In the per‐protocol set, the local control rate was 91.5% (75/82) in TUR‐EBCA group compared with 76.5% (61/81) in TUR‐SI group (risk difference, 15%; 95% CI, 0.03–0.27, p <.001), meeting the criteria for noninferiority. Similar results were found in the modified intention‐to‐treat analysis. Tumor upgrading/upstaging was found in five patients from the TUR‐SI group. There was no significant difference in the catheter indwelling duration (5.1 vs. 5.2 days, p =.76) or serious adverse event rate (3.0% vs. 3.9%, p =.52). The median follow‐up time of post hoc analysis was 31 (range, 15–50) months. Patients in the TUR‐EBCA group had a better recurrence‐free survival and progression‐free survival. Conclusion: EBCA is a safe and effective adjuvant therapy with TUR for non–muscle‐invasive bladder cancer. Plain language summary: This is the first randomized trial that evaluated endoscopic cryotherapy after transurethral resection (TUR) of bladder tumors. The efficacy and safety analysis shows endoscopic balloon cryoablation (EBCA) is a promising alternative.Results report that EBCA is not inferior to a single instillation of intravesical chemotherapy in eliminating residual bladder tumor. Further analysis with ∼3 years' median follow‐up suggested a better prognosis in patients who received EBCA after TUR. This is the first multicenter randomized controlled trial of endoscopic cryotherapy for intraluminal malignancies. Endoscopic balloon cryoablation is a promising choice for bladder cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil temperature (ST) plays a critical role in ecosystems. Monitoring high-resolution ST profiles remains challenging due to the inherent heterogeneity of ST in space, time, and depth. To address this challenge, in this study, we integrate remote sensing techniques and deep learning methods to retrieve spatiotemporal continuous ST from 2011 to 2020 at four depths (5, 10, 20, and 40 cm) over the central Tibetan Plateau (TP). Landsat and MODIS observations were fused to obtain land surface properties at different resolutions. The fused variables were integrated with in-situ ST and soil moisture (SM) measurements to estimate spatiotemporally continuous (0.0005°, 0.0025°, and 0.0125°) ST profile through deep learning-based training models. The deep belief network (DBN) was applied to estimate ST: (a) from layer to layer (LW-DBN), and (b) from land surface properties directly (Direct-DBN). The ten-fold cross-validation indicates that both approaches achieve promising results (R2 > 0.836, MAE < 2.152 °C), and the Direct-DBN outperformed the LW-DBN at all spatial scales and depths. ST retrieval at deeper depths and coarser resolutions tend to have better monitoring accuracy. Further analysis indicates an increment of ST at all four depths over the study period, which provides valuable insights into global warming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although pesticides have been widely used worldwide to enhance crop yield and product quality, most pesticides are harmful to the environment and human health. Plants absorb pesticides mainly from air and soil. Therefore, the soil-plant pathway is essential for pesticide absorption. Bioconcentration factor (BCF) has extensively been applied to evaluate potential plant contamination by pesticides from soil. Hence, this study developed a simplified plant transpiration-based plant uptake model (PT-model) to estimate plant pesticides' BCF from soil based on plant transpiration. Remote sensing techniques were employed to generate spatiotemporal continuous plant transpiration via evapotranspiration. Pesticide BCF mapping was achieved by integrating PT-model with Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) remotely sensed data. The results were compared with a verified model driven by relative humidity and air temperature (RA-model), which has been confirmed by findings from previous studies. The estimated BCF was within the boundaries of the RA-model, indicating the simulation's overall acceptability. In this study, the BCF temporal trend estimated by the proposed method agreed with the RA-model assimilating meteorology datasets, while the spatial distribution was partially inconsistent. Overall, the proposed method generates the spatiotemporal patterns of pesticide BCF with relatively consistent results supported by previous records and findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanocrystalline Ni–Mo and Ni–Mo–ZrO 2 coatings were designed and successfully fabricated via electrodeposition process in direct current mode. Impacts of molybdate and ZrO 2 nanoparticles, cathodic current density (i c) on surface, structure and performance of Ni–Mo alloy were analyzed. Electrochemical behaviors were evaluated by electrochemical impedance method in sodium chloride solution. A more compact and consistent surface morphology was prepared by introducing molybdate in nickel. Grain sizes of Ni–Mo alloy decreased as molybdate increased from 2 to 6 g L−1, and enlarged as i c increased. After incorporation of ZrO 2 , the grains initially decreased to 12 nm and later increased to 18 nm. The structure of the deposit is a face-centered cubic phase. With the increase of molybdate content, the preferential Ni (220) crystal plane was changed to oriented (111) plane. The Ni–Mo alloy comprises 91 wt% Ni and 5.4 wt% Mo. R a of Ni–Mo–ZrO 2 was 73 ± 4 nm. Ni–Mo alloys obtained at 20 mA cm−2 and 2 g L−1 molybdate possess the best corrosion-resistant behavior. Incorporation of ZrO 2 can strengthen electrochemical stability and anti-wear behavior of Ni–Mo alloy. The inclusion of ZrO 2 refined the grain size from 18 to 12 nm. The Ni–Mo/ZrO 2 coatings electrodeposited under 2–4 g L−1 Na 2 MoO 4 ·2H 2 O, 20–40 mA cm−2, 10–15 g L−1 ZrO 2 have excellent wear and corrosion resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Light olefins (C2â€"C4) play a crucial role as basic ingredients in chemical industry, and oxidative dehydrogenation (ODH) of light alkanes to olefins has been one of the popular routes since the shale gas revolution. ODH of light alkanes has advantages on energy-and-cost saving as compared with traditional direct dehydrogenation, but it is restricted by its overoxidation which results in the relatively low olefin selectivity. Boron nitride (BN), an interesting nanomaterial with an analogous structure to graphene, springs out and manifests the superior performance as advanced catalysts in ODH, greatly improving the olefin selectivity under high alkane conversion. In this review, we introduce BN nanomaterials in four dimensions together with typical methods of syntheses. Traditional catalysts for ODH are also referred as comparison on several indicatorsâ€"olefin yields and preparation techniques, including the metal-based catalysts and the non-metal-based catalysts. We also surveyed the BN catalysts for ODH reaction in recent five years, focusing on the different dimensions of BN together with the synthetic routes accounting for the active sites and the catalytic ability. Finally, an outlook of the potential promotion on the design of BN-based catalysts and the possible routes for the exploration of BN-related catalytic mechanisms are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traffic forecasting plays a critical role in intelligent transportation systems aiming to accurately estimate future short-term or long-term traffic conditions. The utilization of neural network-based methods for traffic forecasting has demonstrated significant success. Those models aggregate spatial and temporal information from historical traffic records. The final output module of these models typically utilizes either a fully connected network to directly produce the results or a recurrent neural network to generate results step by step. However, these approaches fail to consider the spatial-temporal dependencies between predicted future traffic conditions, which hinders their forecasting performance. To address this limitation as well as improve forecasting accuracy, we propose a novel traffic prediction framework called the Generative Corrective Network. This framework consists of two procedures: a generative model that captures the spatial temporal relationships inherent in historical traffic condition and generates initial predictions, and a corrective model that amends and updates previous results by considering the relationships among future traffic data to be predicted. To implement this generative corrective network, we design an instantiation utilizing adaptive and dynamic graph convolutional networks with gated recurrent units networks (ADGCN-GRU) based on encoder–decoder structure for the generator, and a local asynchronous attention model conducted on the the representation learning of space and time information and the preliminary results for the corrector. Experiments conducted on two real-world traffic datasets demonstrate that our model can effectively improve forecasting performance compared to existing neural network-based methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Ovarian clear cell carcinoma (OCCC) is one of the most lethal types of ovarian cancer. Early-stage OCCC can be cured by surgery; however, advanced-stage disease shows poor prognosis due to chemoresistance unlike the more common high-grade serous carcinoma. Methods: We explored the differential roles of the Wip1–p38–p53 DNA damage response pathway in respective early- or advanced-stage OCCC by immunohistochemistry of Wip1, phospho-p38, p53, and phospho-p53 from consecutive 143 patients. Results: High Wip1 expression correlated with positive p53 (p=0.011), which in turn correlated with low nuclear phospho-p38 expression (p=0.0094). In the early stages, positive p53 showed trends toward worse overall survival (OS) (p=0.062), whereas in the advanced stages, high Wip1 correlated with worse OS (p=0.0012). The univariate and multivariate analyses of prognostic factors indicated that high Wip1 was significant and independent for worse OS (p=0.011) in the advanced stages, but not in the early stages. Additionally, high Wip1 showed trends toward shorter treatment-free interval (TFI) in the advanced stages, but not in the early stages (p=0.083 vs. 0.93). Furthermore, high Wip1 was significantly associated with positive p53 only in the patients with shorter TFI (<6 months), but not in those with longer TFI (≥6 months) (p=0.036 vs. 0.34). Conclusions: Wip1 appears to play a crucial role for the prognosis of OCCC through chemoresistance specifically in the advanced stages, implicating that Wip1 possibly serves as a reasonable therapeutic target for improving chemoresistance and poor prognosis of advanced-stage OCCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Puccinellia tenuiflora is a forage grass with high nutritional value that is an extreme alkali‐tolerant halophyte: it can survive at pH 10–11. Root secretion is perceived as a major plant alkali tolerance mechanism. In the present study, we applied a widely targeted metabolomic approach to identify and quantify the root exudates of P. tenuiflora under alkali stress. We also surveyed the transcriptional and metabolic profiling of P. tenuiflora roots under salt (96‐mM Na+, pH 6.8) and alkali (96‐mM Na+, pH 9.6) stresses to reveal the biological processes mediating root secretion. In P. tenuiflora plants, 493 root exudates were detected under control conditions, 544 root exudates under salt stress conditions, and 607 root exudates under alkali stress conditions. Salt‐stressed plants and alkali‐stressed plants shared 64 root exudates, and 60 root exudates were unique to alkali‐stressed plants. The secretion rate of 56 phenolic acids, 43 fatty acids, and 9 organic acids was faster in alkali‐stressed roots than in control and salt‐stressed roots. In P. tenuiflora roots, alkali stress enhanced the accumulation of 23 phenolic acids, five organic acids, and only one fatty acid. In addition, transcriptomic analysis revealed that alkali stress upregulated glycolysis and phenylpropanoid biosynthesis pathways in P. tenuiflora roots. Taken together, extensive secretion of phenolic acids and fatty acids promotes rhizosphere pH regulation of P. tenuiflora under alkali stress, which contributes to its strong alkali tolerance. The root secretion of P. tenuiflora upon alkali stress is highly organized. Enhanced glycolysis, phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, and organic acid synthesis in the roots provide more reducing power and carbon source for the root secretion process of alkali‐stressed P. tenuiflora. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recognizing the evolution pattern of traffic condition and making accurate prediction play a vital role in intelligent transportation systems (ITS). With the massive increase of available traffic data, deep learning-based models have attracted considerable attention for their impressive performance in traffic forecasting. However, the majority of existing approaches neglect to model of asynchronously dynamic spatio-temporal correlation and fail to consider the impact of historical traffic data on future condition. Additionally, the attribute of deep learning method presents challenges in interpreting the explicit spatiotemporal relationships. In order to enhance the accuracy of traffic prediction as well as extract comprehensive and explainable spatial–temporal relevance in traffic networks, we propose a novel attention-based local spatial and temporal relation discovery (ALSTRD) model. Our model firstly implements feature representation learning to effectively express latent input traffic information. Then, a local attention mechanism structure is established to model asynchronous dependencies of historical input data. Finally, another attention network and the Pearson Correlation Coefficient method are introduced to extract the elaborate influence of the historical traffic condition of neighboring roads on the future condition of the target road. The experiment results on several datasets demonstrate that our model achieves significant improvements in prediction accuracy compared to other baseline methods, which can be attributed to its ability to extract the fine-grained correlation among historical traffic data and capture the dynamic association between past and future data. In addition, the incorporation of attention mechanism and Pearson Correlation Coefficient promotes the model's ability to elucidate spatiotemporal correlations among traffic data, thereby providing a more robust explanation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An effective way to improve the performance of polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolyzers is to optimize the structural design of porous transport layers. This paper uses mirco-computed tomography (μ-CT) to study the three-dimensional microstructure distribution characteristics of commercial sintered titanium powder-based porous transport layers (PTL). A three-dimensional PTLs model with different porosity, pore diameter and thickness was established by Stochastic reconstruction model method. In addition, lattice Boltzmann method is used to study the influence of PTL structural parameters and single-phase permeability. The results show that the large compression thickness not only can significantly improve the PTL single-phase permeability, but also has little effect on the interface contact area. In addition, an increase in pore size and porosity will increase the transport performance while reducing interface contact. It is recommended that the average pore size of PTL should be greater than 10 μm, and the porosity should be greater than 30%. This work can be used to guide the preparation technology of PTL in order to improve the performance of PEM electrolyzer. • A 3D stochastic model of porous transport layer in PEM electrolyzer was established. • PTL structure affect pore distribution characteristics and mass transfer process. • The permeability of PTL was calculated using the lattice Boltzmann method. • The optimal design mechanism of PTL structure is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Single-cell sequencing technology can address the amount of single-cell library data at the same time and display the heterogeneity of different cells. However, analyzing single-cell data is a computationally challenging problem. Because there are low counts in the gene expression region, it has a high chance of recognizing the non-zero entity as zero, which are called dropout events. At present, the mainstream dropout imputation methods cannot effectively recover the true expression of cells from dropout noise such as DCA, MAGIC, scVI, scImpute and SAVER. Results: In this paper, we propose an autoencoder structure network, named GNNImpute. GNNImpute uses graph attention convolution to aggregate multi-level similar cell information and implements convolution operations on non-Euclidean space on scRNA-seq data. Distinct from current imputation tools, GNNImpute can accurately and effectively impute the dropout and reduce dropout noise. We use mean square error (MSE), mean absolute error (MAE), Pearson correlation coefficient (PCC) and Cosine similarity (CS) to measure the performance of different methods with GNNImpute. We analyze four real datasets, and our results show that the GNNImpute achieves 3.0130 MSE, 0.6781 MAE, 0.9073 PCC and 0.9134 CS. Furthermore, we use Adjusted rand index (ARI) and Normalized mutual information (NMI) to measure the clustering effect. The GNNImpute achieves 0.8199 (ARI) and 0.8368 (NMI), respectively. Conclusions: In this investigation, we propose a single-cell dropout imputation method (GNNImpute), which effectively utilizes shared information for imputing the dropout of scRNA-seq data. We test it with different real datasets and evaluate its effectiveness in MSE, MAE, PCC and CS. The results show that graph attention convolution and autoencoder structure have great potential in single-cell dropout imputation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of ganoderic acid A (GAA) on OVA-induced asthma in mice. Mouse asthma model was established by ovalbumin (OVA) in vitro. Diff-Quik staining was used to observe the total numbers of cells and the number of classification cells in each group, and HE staining was used to observe lung inflammation in lung tissue sections. ELISA was used to detect the effect of GAA on the levels of interleukin-4 (IL-4), IL-5, and IL-13 in serum and lung tissue. The expression levels of TLR/NF-κB were detected by Western blot. Immunohistochemistry was used to observe the expression changes of TLR4 and P-P65. Compared with the normal group, the inflammatory cell count, IL-4, IL-5, and IL-13 expression in the model group increased, and TLR/NF-kB signal protein expression increased. Compared with the model group, in GAA group, the number of inflammatory cells, the expression of IL-4, IL-5, and IL-13 decreased, and the expression of TLR/NF-kB signaling protein decreased. GAA regulated lung inflammation in asthmatic mice by inhibiting TLR/NF-kB signaling pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil aggregate breakdown is the key step of splash erosion. Recent studies have shown that it is the soil internal forces that induce aggregate breakdown and subsequent splash erosion. However, little is known about the size characteristics of soil aggregate breakdown and corresponding effects on splash erosion. In this study, Cinnamon soil and Heilu soil were adopted to investigate the effects of soil internal forces on the characteristics of aggregate fragments and splash erosion through wet sieving and rainfall simulation. The results showed the following. (1) With a decrease in electrolyte concentration in soil solution, soil net repulsive force increased; meanwhile, aggregate stability decreased and splash erosion rate increased. Additionally, when the electrolyte concentration was less than 10−2 mol L−1, soil net repulsive force hardly changed, and aggregate stability and splash erosion rate accordingly varied very little. (2) With the increase in the soil net repulsive force, the content of fragments <0.053 mm released from aggregates increased, whereas the content of fragments >0.25 mm decreased, thus suggesting that the aggregates tended to break into fine fractions as soil net repulsive forces increased. (3) Regression analyses showed that soil splash erosion rate decreased linearly with increases in the aggregate stability; moreover, correlation analyses showed that splash erosion rate was significantly and positively correlated with the fragments with a diameter of <0.053 mm, and negatively correlated with the fragments with a diameter of >0.25 mm. This study suggests that soil internal forces induce the aggregate crush and determine the size distribution of fragments available for mobilization by the raindrop impact force. Also, the raindrop impact force is the driving mechanism leading to the movement of fragments. This study provides new insights into the mechanism responsible for splash erosion and could be valuable for controlling soil erosion. Highlights: Soil aggregates breakdown dynamics and splash erosion were quantitatively investigated.Soil internal forces determined the size distribution of fragments after aggregates breakdown.The movement of soil fragments largely depended on raindrop impact force.Splash erosion was driven by the soil internal forces and raindrop impact force. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to extract humic acid (HA) with high quality from industrial waste weathered coal. The catalyst oxidation for preparation of HA is an environment-friendly and value-added strategy. A green catalyst of α-MnO 2 /kaolinite (α-MnO 2 /Kln) was prepared for oxidizing weathered coal for conversion to HA. The effects of ball-milling and catalysis for HA were studied. The catalysts contain oxygen vacancies and lower average oxidation state (3.55), which facilitates the oxidation reaction. Compared to untreated weathered coal HA (WHA), the yield of ball-milling and catalyst treated weathered coal HA (BC/WHA) increased by 18.67%. The catalyst treated weathered coal HA (C/WHA) and BC/WHA displayed better quality, including higher oxygen content (29.90% and 28.68%), increased O/C ratio (0.52 and 0.52), and higher total acidic groups (7.88 and 7.64 meq/g) than those of WHA (25.43%, 0.44, 6.46 meq/g, respectively). The small-molecule fatty acid (79.07%) of C/WHA was obviously higher than that of WHA (66.03%). The active substance of sterols content (19.95%) of BC/WHA increased significantly. These proved the bio-activity of C/WHA and BC/WHA was improved, and α-MnO 2 /Kln played an effective catalytic oxidation. Overall, BC/WHA has high extraction yield and enhanced bio-activity, making it highly HA output efficient and suitable for agricultural applications. [Display omitted] • Humic acid (HA) was extracted from industrial solid waste. • A green catalyst of α-MnO 2 /Kln was fabricated for producing value-added HA. • Pyrolysis products of HA samples with different treatments were analyzed. • BC/WHA has the highest yield and enhanced bioactivity than other treatments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document is a correction notice for an article titled "Laboratory markers to identify acute histological chorioamnionitis in febrile parturients undergoing epidural analgesia: a retrospective study." The authors of the original article reported an error in the author's affiliations, and the correction has been made. The correction notice provides the updated author group and includes a statement from the publisher, Springer Nature, regarding jurisdictional claims and institutional affiliations. The original article can be accessed online through the provided link. [Extracted from the article]

• The hydrogen-rich reduction process of pellets is affected by two or more mechanisms. • The late stage of hydrogen-rich reduction pellet is controlled by nucleation model. • A 3D pore network model of fluxed pellet after reduction was established. • Higher fractal dimension of the pellet pores after hydrogen-rich reduction. The steel industry contributes to creating an environmentally friendly society by providing high-quality steel and working to develop low-carbon processes. Using hydrogen produced from renewable energy to replace part of coke in blast furnaces is one of the measures to reduce fossil carbon dioxide emissions in the process of steelmaking. In this paper, a series of reduction experiments of Fe 2 O 3 pellets at different temperatures were carried out under three conditions of hydrogen-rich in blast furnace. The variation law between reduction degree and apparent activation energy was calculated. The result shows that when the reduction degree reaches 11% and 70%, the apparent activation energy reaches the peak, which are 38.9 kJ/mol and 19.5 kJ/mol, respectively. This suggests that the reduction process is affected by two or more mechanisms. Then, on the basis of the typical single interface reaction kinetics model, the multistep reduction kinetics model of hydrogen-rich reduction Fe 2 O 3 pellets was established. In addition, based on the results of industrial computerized tomography (CT) analysis, the three-dimensional pore network model and velocity model of Fe 2 O 3 pellets after reduction were established. The coupling relationship between the fractal dimension of pellet pores and reduction atmosphere was studied by introducing fractal theory. Under hydrogen-rich reduction condition, the volume fractal dimension of pore structure of Fe 2 O 3 pellets increases from 2.41 to 2.58. Therefore, the pore structure formed by hydrogen-rich reduction is conducive to the diffusion of reducing gas in the pellet, so as to improve the reduction degree of pellet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Finite element method is an important method to solve mathematical problems in engineering. Many mathematical equations are difficult to solve, but it becomes very simple after using the finite element method. In this paper, the finite element method is applied to the calculation of gravity anomaly. First, the variational equation of gravity anomaly calculation is established, and then the gravity anomaly value ten times the distance away from the anomaly body is used as the boundary condition. By comparing the gravity anomaly obtained by solving the stiffness matrix with the analytical solution, it can be found that the method in this paper has high accuracy. Finally, the model of Jinchuan copper nickel deposit is used for calculation, and the calculated gravity anomaly field is inverted with Growth3D. It can be found that the inversion result is very close to the model, which verifies the effectiveness of the algorithm in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transpedicular procedure has been widely used in spinal surgery. The determination of the best entry point is the key to perform a successful transpedicular procedure. Various techniques have been used to determine this point, but the results are variable. This study was carried out to determine the posterior endpoint of the lumbar pedicle central axis on the standard anterior–posterior (AP) fluoroscopic images. Computer-aided design technology was used to determine the pedicle central axis and the posterior endpoint of the pedicle central axis on the posterior aspect of the vertebra. The standard AP fluoroscopic image of the lumbar vertebral models by three-dimensional printing was achieved. The endpoint projection on the AP fluoroscopic image was determined in reference to the pedicle cortex projection by the measurements of the angle and distance on the established X–Y coordinate system of the radiologic image. The projection of posterior endpoint of the lumbar pedicle central axis were found to be superior to the X-axis of the established X–Y coordinate system and was located on the pedicle cortex projection on the standard AP fluoroscopic image of the vertebra. The projection point was distributed in different sectors in the coordinate system. It was located superior to the X-axis by 18° to 26° at L1, while they were located superior to the X-axis by 12° to 14° at L2 to L5. The projections of posterior endpoints of the lumbar pedicle central axis were located in different positions on the standard AP fluoroscopic image of the vertebra. The determination method of the projection point was helpful for selecting an entry point for a transpedicular procedure with a fluoroscopic technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: We aimed to evaluate the genotype–phenotype relationship in two Chinese family members with enlarged vestibular aqueduct (EVA). Methods: We collected blood samples and clinical data from each pedigree family member. Genomic DNA was isolated from peripheral leukocytes using standard methods. Targeted next‐generation sequencing and Sanger sequencing were performed to find the pathogenic mutation in this family. Minigene assays were used to verify whether the novel intronic mutation SLC26A4c.765+4A>G influenced mRNA splicing. Results: Hearing loss in the patients with EVA was diagnosed using auditory tests and imaging examinations. Two pathogenic mutations, c.765+4A>G and c.919‐2A>G were detected in SLC26A4. In vitro minigene analysis confirmed that c.765+4A>G variant could cause aberrant splicing, resulting in skipping over exon 6. Conclusions: The SLC26A4c.765+4A>G mutation is the causative variant in the Chinese family with EVA. Particular attention should be paid to intronic variants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: This study explored the predictive value of neutrophils and neutrophil-related biomarkers as auxiliary diagnosis biomarkers of NSCLC in an ongoing large cohort. IL-6 and IL-1RA were identified as independent risk factors for NSCLC. These findings can improve the predictive performance beyond epidemiological variables and classic neutrophil-related biomarkers in identifying NSCLC. Background: Recent studies have revealed that neutrophils play a crucial role in cancer progression. This study aimed to explore the diagnostic value of neutrophil-related biomarkers for non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods: We initially assessed the associations between classic neutrophil-related biomarkers (neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), absolute neutrophil counts (NEU), absolute lymphocyte counts (LYM)) and NSCLC in 3942 cases and 6791 controls. Then, we measured 11 novel neutrophil-related biomarkers via Luminex Assays in 132 cases and 66 controls, individually matching on sex and age (±5 years), and evaluated their associations with NSCLC risk. We also developed the predictive models by sequentially adding variables of interest and assessed model improvement. Results: Interleukin-6 (IL-6) (odds ratio (OR) = 10.687, 95% confidence interval (CI): 3.875, 29.473) and Interleukin 1 Receptor Antagonist (IL-1RA) (OR = 8.113, 95% CI: 3.182, 20.689) shows strong associations with NSCLC risk after adjusting for body mass index, smoking status, NLR, and carcinoembryonic antigen. Adding the two identified biomarkers to the predictive model significantly elevated the model performance from an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.716 to 0.851 with a net reclassification improvement of 97.73%. Conclusions: IL-6 and IL-1RA were recognized as independent risk factors for NSCLC, improving the predictive performance of the model in identifying disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For nonaffine pure-feedback systems, an adaptive neural control method based on extreme learning machine (ELM) is proposed in this paper. Different from the existing methods, this scheme firstly converts the original system into a nonaffine system containing only one unknown term by equivalent transformation, thus avoiding the cumbersome and complex indirect design process of traditional backstepping methods. Secondly, a high-performance finite-time-convergence-differentiator (FD) is designed, through which the system state variables and their derivatives are accurately estimated to ensure the control effect. Thirdly, based on the implicit function theorem, the ELM neural network is introduced to approximate the uncertain items of the system, which simplifies the repeated adjustment process of the network training parameters. Meanwhile, the minimum learning parameter algorithm (MLP) is adopted to design the adaptive law for the norm of the network weight vector, which significantly reduces calculations. And it is theoretically proved that the closed-loop control system is stable and the tracking error is bounded. Finally, the effectiveness of the designed controller is verified by simulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the first large Chinese pedigree of keratosis follicularis spinulosa decalvans resulting from a missense mutation in membrane-bound transcription factor protease site 2 (MBTPS2) and predicts the transmembrane domains. The proband was a 20-year-old man, who is the second son of non-consanguineous parents. Findings on the dermatological examination are offered including erythrokeratoderma on both cheeks. The study extends the spectrum of MBTPS2 mutations.

In order to automatically recover chips during the drilling process of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP), a new chip removal system of drilling processing, the suction-type internal chip removal system, has been put forward. The developed system can effectively recover chips produced in the drilling processing, which helps realize the green production. For this, at first, a method for solving the negative pressure value of the drilling of the suction-type internal chip removal system is given based on the calculation of suspension velocity of particles in gas-solid two-phase fluid mechanics. Secondly, the influence of inner-chip-removal drilling bit chip removal channel structure on the chip removal system performance is analyzed by FLUENT simulation. Finally, the correctness of the above theoretical analysis and simulation is verified through experiments, and the influence of drill speed and feed ratio on the performance of the system is further analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil moisture, especially surface soil moisture (SSM), plays an important role in the development of various natural hazards that result from extreme weather events such as drought, flooding, and landslides. There have been many remote sensing methods for soil moisture retrieval based on microwave or optical thermal infrared (TIR) measurements. TIR remote sensing has been popular for SSM retrieval due to its fine spatial and temporal resolutions. However, because of limitations in the penetration of optical TIR radiation and cloud cover, TIR methods can only be used under clear sky conditions. Microwave SSM retrieval is based on solid physical principles, and has advantages in cases of cloud cover, but it has low spatial resolution. For applications at the local scale, SSM data at high spatial and temporal resolutions are important, especially for agricultural management and decision support systems. Current remote sensing measurements usually have either a high spatial resolution or a high temporal resolution, but not both. This study aims to retrieve SSM at both high spatial and temporal resolutions through the fusion of Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Land Remote Sensing Satellite (Landsat) data. Based on the universal triangle trapezoid, this study investigated the relationship between land surface temperature (LST) and the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) under different soil moisture conditions to construct an improved nonlinear model for SSM retrieval with LST and NDVI. A case study was conducted in Iowa, in the United States (USA) (Lat: 42.2°~42.7°, Lon: -93.6°~-93.2°), from 1 May 2016 to 31 August 2016. Daily SSM in an agricultural area during the crop-growing season was downscaled to 120-m spatial resolution by fusing Landsat 8 with MODIS, with an R² of 0.5766, and RMSE from 0.0302 to 0.1124 m³/m³. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Glioma is one of the most common and aggressive malignant tumors in central nervous system. Recently, long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) HOXA11-AS has been reported to be an oncogenic gene in multiple cancers. However, the molecular mechanisms of HOXA11-AS involved in cancer progression of human glioma remain unknown. Materials and methods The expression levels of HOXA11-AS in 45 paired primary glioma tissues and cell lines were examined by quantitative real-time PCR, and the correlation between HOXA11-AS expression and clinicopathologic characteristics of patients with glioma were analyzed. HOXA11-AS was knockdown in glioma cells by transfection with HOXA11-AS siRNA, and cell proliferation, migration and invasion were detected. The tumor growth of xenografts with HOXA11-AS knockdown glioma cells was also analyzed. Results The expression levels of HOXA11-AS were significantly up-regulated in glioma tissues and cell lines compared with that in adjacent normal brain tissues and normal human astrocytes (NHA). High expression of HOXA11-AS was correlated with shorter overall survival in patients with glioma. Knockdown of HOXA11-AS inhibited glioma cell proliferation, migration and invasion in vitro, and tumor growth in vivo. In addition, we demonstrated that HOXA11-AS functioned as a competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) for miR-214-3p, which in turn positively regulated the expression of its direct target EZH2. Conclusions We demonstrated that HOXA11-AS acted as an oncogenic lncRNA that promoted cell growth and metastasis of glioma through regulating miR-214-3p/EZH2 axis. These results suggested HOXA11-AS may serve as an efficient marker and a potential therapeutic target for glioma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We show that the finiteness of the fundamental groups of the smooth locus of lower dimensional log Fano pairs would imply the finiteness of the local fundamental group of Kawamata log terminal (klt) singularities. As an application, we verify that the local fundamental group of a three-dimensional klt singularity and the fundamental group of the smooth locus of a three-dimensional Fano variety with canonical singularities are always finite. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A log Calabi-Yau pair consists of a proper variety X and a divisor D on it such that $$K_X+D$$ is numerically trivial. A folklore conjecture predicts that the dual complex of D is homeomorphic to the quotient of a sphere by a finite group. The main result of the paper shows that the fundamental group of the dual complex of D is a quotient of the fundamental group of the smooth locus of X, hence its pro-finite completion is finite. This leads to a positive answer in dimension $$\le $$ 4. We also study the dual complex of degenerations of Calabi-Yau varieties. The key technical result we prove is that, after a volume preserving birational equivalence, the transform of D supports an ample divisor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the motivational crowding effects of a traditional monetary incentive – fines – and a relatively new nonmonetary incentive – a public revelation mechanism – on the conservation of common pool resources. Previous literature largely examines the crowding effects of instruments that include both moral suasion and monetary incentives. This paper examines the crowding effects of these incentives beyond moral suasion. We achieve these purposes by implementing a lab experiment in China. We find that, contrary to much of the previous literature, monetary incentives in the form of high penalties crowd in intrinsic motivation. This effect is primarily observed in individuals with the lowest initial extraction levels. Finally, we find that the public revelation mechanism crowds out intrinsic motivation; this crowd-out effect falls primarily on a specific sub-population, conditional cooperators. The debriefings suggest one possible reason for the crowd-out effects: While the public revelation mechanism pressures subjects to not over-harvest, it also reveals others' extractions, which happens to be higher than expected. This crowds out the conservation effort of conditional cooperators. This informational function of the public revelation mechanism is generally overlooked in previous literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • An ESIPT-based fluorescent probe with dual recognition factor was synthesized. • The modification of dual recognition sites improved the sensitivity. • The reaction mechanism was confirmed by DFT calculation, HRMS and HNMR. • BRBA shows large Stokes shift, low toxicity and strong anti-interference ability. • BRBA was also successfully used in imaging HeLa cells and zebrafish. Hydrazine (N 2 H 4), an important chemical intermediate, has been widely used in industrial production and agricultural life, but it has also caused environmental pollution. A novel ESIPT-based fluorescent probe with dual recognition sites, 2-(benzothiazole-2-yl)-1,4-imphenyl bis 4-bromobutyric acid (BRBA), was developed to selectively detect N 2 H 4 under complex conditions. BRBA exhibits accurate detection for N 2 H 4 with a good linear relationship ranging from 0 to 150 μM, and the LOD can reach 0.1 μM. Importantly, taking advantage of low cytotoxicity and a large Stokes shift, BRBA can be utilized to monitor environmental water samples and successfully applied to imaging HeLa cells and zebrafish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: With the application of chromosome microarray, next-generation sequencing and other highly sensitive genetic techniques in disease diagnosis, the detection of mosaicism has become increasingly prevalent. This study involved a retrospective analysis of SNP array testing on 4512 prenatal diagnosis samples, wherein the characterization of mosaicism was explored and insights were gained into the underlying mechanisms thereof. Results: Using SNP array, a total of 44 cases of mosaicism were identified among 4512 prenatal diagnostic cases; resulting in a detection rate of approximately 1.0%. The prevalence of mosaicism was 4.1% for chorionic villus sample, 0.4% for amniotic fluid, and 1.3% for umbilical cord blood. Of these cases, 29 were mosaic aneuploidy and 15 were mosaic segmental duplication/deletion. Three cases of mosaic trisomy 16 and three cases of mosaic trisomy 22 were diagnosed in the CVS samples, while four cases of mosaic trisomy 21 were detected in amniotic fluid and umbilical cord blood samples. The distribution pattern of mosaicism suggested trisomy rescue as the underlying mechanism. Structurally rearranged chromosomes were observed, including three cases with supernumerary marker chromosomes, three cases with dicentric chromosomes, and one case with a ring chromosome. All mosaic segmental duplication/deletion cases were the result of mitotic non-disjunction, with the exception of one case involving mosaic11q segmental duplication. Conclusion: Improved utilization of SNP arrays enables the characterization of mosaicism and facilitates the estimation of disease mechanisms and recurrence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: We aimed to develop an autophagy‐related prognostic model with single‐cell RNA sequencing (ScRNA‐Seq) data for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. Methods: ScRNA‐Seq datasets of HCC patients were analyzed by Seurat. The expression of genes involved in canonical and noncanonical autophagy pathways in scRNA‐seq data was also compared. Cox regression was applied to construct an AutRG risk prediction model. Subsequently, we examined the characteristics of AutRG high‐risk and low‐risk group patients. Results: Six major cell types (hepatocytes, myeloid cells, T/NK cells, B cells, fibroblast cells, and endothelial cells) were identified in the scRNA‐Seq dataset. The results showed that most of the canonical and noncanonical autophagy genes were highly expressed in hepatocytes, with the exception of MAP 1LC3B, SQSTM1, MAP 1LC3A, CYBB, and ATG3. Six AutRG risk prediction models originating from different cell types were constructed and compared. The AutRG prognostic signature (GAPDH, HSP90AA1, and TUBA1C) in endothelial cells had the best overall performance for predicting the overall survival of HCC patients, with 1‐year, 3‐year, and 5‐year AUCs equal to 0.758, 0.68, and 0.651 in the training cohort and 0.760, 0.796, and 0.840 in the validation cohort, respectively. The different tumor mutation burden, immune infiltration, and gene set enrichment characteristics of the AutRG high‐risk and low‐risk group patients were identified. Conclusion: We constructed an endothelial cell‐related and autophagy‐related prognostic model of HCC patients using the ScRNA‐Seq dataset for the first time. This model demonstrated the good calibration ability of HCC patients and provided a new understanding of the evaluation of prognosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil aggregates profoundly influence soil fertility and environmental problems, and usually improving soil aggregation is the central issue in soil management. Compared with external forces, the internal forces of soil, i.e., surface hydration force, electrostatic force and van der Waals force, may play a crucial role in aggregate formation and stability. However, there are few quantitative investigations on those fundamental issues. In the present work we aim to calculate surface hydration force, electrostatic force and van der Waals force of soil/clay particles in aqueous solution, and then quantitatively evaluate the effects of the three forces on soil/clay aggregates breakdown. There was critical surface potential in particles interaction pressure and aggregates breakdown, and if the surface potential exceeded this critical point, a further increase of the surface potential could not significantly increase particles interaction pressure and aggregate breakdown. The critical surface potentials for particle interaction pressure were 207.0 and 179.7 mV for the soil and montmorillonite, respectively. Our study suggested two steps in aggregate breakdown when dried aggregates were re-wetted: (1) separating soil particles in aggregates to a distance of 1.2–1.4 nm between two adjacent particle surfaces by the surface hydration forces (swelling process); (2) breaking soil aggregates in a way of explosion or dispersion under strong or weak electric field conditions. Surface hydration force played a crucial role in aggregate swelling, and without this repulsive pressure, a dried aggregate could not be dispersed again after re-wetting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An effective biomimetic method for preparation of hydroxyapatite/graphene oxide (HA/GO) hybrid coating on AZ91 magnesium alloy was firstly proposed. AZ91 Mg alloy was first dip coated by GO, which was further used as matrix substrate for biomimetic mineralization of hydroxyapatite (HA) in modified simulated body fluid (m-SBF). It has been found that GO greatly promotes nucleation and crystallization for rapid HA growth, forming uniform and dense HA/GO hybrid coating comprised by flake-like HA crystals with high Ca/P ratio (1.65). Meanwhile, the as-formed HA/GO bio-coating could dramatically improve the corrosion resistance of Mg alloys. The corrosion current density of treated Mg alloys was decreased by one order of magnitude as compared to untreated one. Furthermore the effects of various experimental parameters toward the growth of the HA/GO coating on Mg alloys were also investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to study the change of each phase and the influence of single oxide during the consolidation of pellets. A systematic thermodynamic calculation was carried out through the phase diagram to study the influence of five oxides (CaO, SiO 2 , Fe 2 O 3 , Al 2 O 3 and MgO) on the phase equilibrium of the hematite pellet system. The results show that the content of CaO has the most significant effect on the content of liquid phase and SPINA. There are critical values for the influence of SiO 2 and CaO on the Ca 3 Fe 2 Si 3 O 12 phase, which are 3.5% and 3.0%, respectively. Through in-situ heating experiments, XRD-Rietveld and SEM-EDS, the macro morphology and phase composition of the hardened samples were compared and analyzed. Finally, a multiple regression model is used to predict the liquid content of hematite pellets, which is effective in predicting the phase component. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We show that the algebraic local fundamental group of any Kawamata log terminal singularity as well as the algebraic fundamental group of the smooth locus of any log Fano variety are finite. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

• The effects of biochar on aggregate stability were quantitatively evaluated in simplified soil systems. • Soil surface charge properties increased with biochar application rate. • Electrostatic repulsion and van der Waals attraction strengthened with biochar addition. • Biochar reduced net repulsive soil internal forces and thus stabilized soil aggregates. Biochar amendments are effective for stabilizing soil aggregates and improving the quality and fertility of soils. Soil internal forces (SIFs), including electrostatic, hydration, and van der Waals forces, can substantially affect aggregate stability; however, there has been relatively little focus on the effects of biochar addition on SIFs and their relation to aggregate stability. In this work, in order to quantitatively investigate the influence of biochar on aggregate stability, we collected soil samples with different biochar application rates (0, 2.5%, 5.5%, and 7.0%; w/w) after a two-year field experiment, and then used Na+-saturated soil aggregates (1–5 mm) to conduct our experiments. Our results demonstrated that after 2-year, specific surface area (SSA), soil organic carbon (SOM), cation exchange capacity (CEC), and surface charge density (σ 0) increased while soil pH slightly decreased with biochar application from 0% to 7%. Soil aggregate stability increased with the biochar application rate. Theoretical calculations indicated that forces of electrostatic repulsion and van der Waals attraction both increased in response to biochar incorporation, however the net pressure of SIFs decreased. Soil aggregate stability was well explained by the theoretical calculations. Biochar addition reduced the net pressure of SIFs and stabilized soil aggregates. Overall, the investigation by using the mono-cationic model system showed that SIFs played important roles in the aggregate stability and explained well the aggregate stability of amended soils. The findings of this work initiate the process of elucidating and quantifying the complex biochar-mineral interaction mechanism in soil systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Selective autophagy mediates the degradation of cytoplasmic cargos, such as damaged organelles, invading pathogens, and protein aggregates. However, whether it targets double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) of intracellular pathogens is still largely unknown. Here, we show that selective autophagy regulates the degradation of the infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) dsRNA genome. The amount of dsRNA decreased greatly in cells that overexpressed the autophagy-required protein VPS34 or autophagy cargo receptor SQSTM1, while it increased significantly in SQSTM1 or VPS34 knockout cells or by treating wild-type cells with the autophagy inhibitor chloroquine or wortmannin. Confocal microscopy and structured illumination microscopy showed SQSTM1 colocalized with dsRNA during IBDV infection. A pull-down assay further confirmed the direct binding of SQSTM1 to dsRNA through amino acid sites R139 and K141. Overexpression of SQSTM1 inhibited the replication of IBDV, while knockout of SQSTM1 promoted IBDV replication. Therefore, our findings reveal the role of SQSTM1 in clearing viral dsRNA through selective autophagy, highlighting the antiviral role of autophagy in the removal of the viral genome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the presence of cobalt in conventional PCD tools had a detrimental effect on their cutting performance throughout the cutting process, cobalt removal PCD likewise had the issue of poor performance improvement. To address the issue of PCD's poor cutting performance, the pores remaining on the PCD surface after cobalt removal were filled using hot filament chemical vapor deposition (HFCVD). This relatively simple and effective approach was estimated to increase the cutting performance of PCD tools. For deposition, the carbon concentration was limited to 1%, 2%, 3%, 4%, and 5%, denoted by the numbers 1#, 2#, 3#, 4#, and 5#, respectively. SEM was used to observe the surficial and cross-sectional morphologies of the deposited PCD. The porosity of the deposited PCD surface was quantified using ImageJ software. X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy were used to evaluate the diamond particle size and purity. The abrasion rate of the samples was determined using an abrasive rate tester. The flank wear of tools was then determined using a digital microscope, and the abrasion morphologies of tools were studied using an optical microscope following cutting. The results suggest that when the carbon concentration increases, the pores filling effect becomes superior and eventually inferior. The surface porosity of 2# is only 6.52%, which reaches the minimum, and that means 2# possesses the best pore filling effect. At the same time, 2# diamond grain size is the smallest, with relatively good purity and the smallest internal stress. When morphology and flank wear measures of cutting tools are compared, the tool life of 2# is almost double that of a general PCD tool. Thus, maintaining a carbon concentration of about 2% efficiently fills the pores of cobalt removal PCD, significantly improving the wear resistance and durability of the tools. In general, this study used HFCVD to deposit diamond to fill pores on the cobalt removal surface of the PCD tools. It was found that maintaining not too high carbon concentration can enhance the quality of diamond and filling ration, therefore improving the wearing performance of PCD tools. This experiment attempted to demonstrate the concept of utilizing diamond as a dense cover layer to deposit diamond grains into PCD tool pores. Then, carbon concentration was included as a significant factor in the deposition process in order to investigate the propensity of diamond pore nucleation and growth in order to fill the pores on the surface with the greatest possible quality. Finally, when the results of pore filling were compared to the results of real cutting, it was found that the cutting performance of PCD tools with improved filling was superior to that of conventional PCD tools. [Display omitted] • The idea of using diamond itself as a cover layer was proposed to deposit diamond to fill the pores of decobaltized PCD. • The nucleation and growth trends of the pores of the deposited PCD samples are very sensitive to the carbon concentration. • The PCD surface deposited with a carbon concentration of 2% possesses the best filling effect and low internal stress. • The wear resistance and tool life of the prepared tools are higher than those of ordinary PCD tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Let f: X→ U be a projective morphism of normal varieties and ( X, Δ) a dlt pair. We prove that if there is an open set U⊂ U, such that ( X, Δ)× U has a good minimal model over U and the images of all the non-klt centers intersect U, then ( X, Δ) has a good minimal model over U. As consequences we show the existence of log canonical compactifications for open log canonical pairs, and the fact that the moduli functor of stable schemes satisfies the valuative criterion for properness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the study of the strong rational connectedness of smooth rationally connected surfaces. In particular, we show that the smooth locus of a log del Pezzo surface is strongly rationally connected. This confirms a conjecture due to Hassett and Tschinkel in [8]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Level set methods have been widely used in image processing and computer vision. In conventional level set formulations, the level set function typically develops irregularities during its evolution, which may cause numerical errors and eventually destroy the stability of the evolution. Therefore, a numerical remedy, called reinitialization, is typically applied to periodically replace the degraded level set function with a signed distance function. However, the practice of reinitialization not only raises serious problems as when and how it should be performed, but also affects numerical accuracy in an undesirable way. This paper proposes a new variational level set formulation in which the regularity of the level set function is intrinsically maintained during the level set evolution. The level set evolution is derived as the gradient flow that minimizes an energy functional with a distance regularization term and an external energy that drives the motion of the zero level set toward desired locations. The distance regularization term is defined with a potential function such that the derived level set evolution has a unique forward-and-backward (FAB) diffusion effect, which is able to maintain a desired shape of the level set function, particularly a signed distance profile near the zero level set. This yields a new type of level set evolution called distance regularized level set evolution (DRLSE). The distance regularization effect eliminates the need for reinitialization and thereby avoids its induced numerical errors. In contrast to complicated implementations of conventional level set formulations, a simpler and more efficient finite difference scheme can be used to implement the DRLSE formulation. DRLSE also allows the use of more general and efficient initialization of the level set function. In its numerical implementation, relatively large time steps can be used in the finite difference scheme to reduce the number of iterations, while ensuring sufficient numerical accuracy. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the DRLSE formulation, we apply it to an edge-based active contour model for image segmentation, and provide a simple narrowband implementation to greatly reduce computational cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geometric deformable models based on the level set method have become very popular in the last decade. To overcome an inherent limitation in accuracy while maintaining computational efficiency, adaptive grid techniques using local grid refinement have been developed for use with these models. This strategy, however, requires a very complex data structure, yields large numbers of contour points, and is inconsistent with the implementation of topology-preserving geometric deformable models (TGDMs). In this paper, we investigate the use of an alternative adaptive grid technique called the moving grid method with geometric deformable models. In addition to the development of a consistent moving grid geometric deformable model framework, our main contributions include the introduction of a new grid nondegeneracy constraint, the design of a new grid adaptation criterion, and the development of novel numerical methods and an efficient implementation scheme. The overall method is simpler to implement than using grid refinement, requiring no large, complex, hierarchical data structures. It also offers an extra benefit of automatically reducing the number of contour vertices in the final results. After presenting the algorithm, we demonstrate its performance using both simulated and real images. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report a new fabrication technique for realizing a high-density penetrating metal microelectrode array intended for acute multiple-unit neural recordings. The microelectrode array consists of multiple metal shanks projecting from a silicon supporting bulk. Neural recording sites, separated by an average spacing of 50 μm, are located at the tip of each shank. Each shank is comprised of two segments to realize both mechanical strength and sharp tissue penetrating ability. A rear support segment is 6 mm long, 40 μm wide, and 30 μm thick. The front segment consists of a 250 μm long and 6 μm thick tapered tip, with the width at its widest point being 15 μm. Electrical insulation of the microelectrode body is achieved by a conformal coating of a 3 μm thick poly(para-chloroxylylene) (Parylene-C) film. Multiple recording sites with precise opening sizes are defined by selectively removing Parylene-C from the electrode tips using photolithography and oxygen plasma etching. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Image segmentation plays a crucial role in many medical-imaging applications, by automating or facilitating the delineation of anatomical structures and other regions of interest. We present a critical appraisal of the current status of semiautomated and automated methods for the segmentation of anatomical medical images. Terminology and important issues in image segmentation are first presented. Current segmentation approaches are then reviewed with an emphasis on the advantages and disadvantages of these methods for medical imaging applications. We conclude with a discussion on the future of image segmentation methods in biomedical research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, a new turn-on near-infrared fluorescent probe based on N , N -dimethylaniline as a donor and pyridinium group as an acceptor has been successfully constructed for superoxide anion detection, which exhibits a remarkable fluorescence enhancement with a low limit of detection and an excellent mitochondrial targeting effect in MCF-7 cells with good biocompatibility after treatment of lipopolysaccharide. [Display omitted] • A new fluorescent probe DMPS-O for O 2 •- detection with a large Stokes shift was developed. • DMPS-O showed a remarkable near-infrared fluorescence enhancement after reacting with O 2 •-. • DMPS-O was suitable for detecting endogenous O 2 •- in MCF-7 cells. • DMPS-O was capable of locating mitochondria in cells. Superoxide anion (O 2 •-), as a kind of crucial reactive oxygen species (ROS), often causes a series of oxidative damage and various biological dysfunction when it is excessive in cells. Compared with other detection methods, fluorescence detection is often used for cell imaging due to its high temporal and spatial resolution. Hence, a novel "turn-on" fluorescent probe DMPS-O based on N , N -dimethylaniline as a donor and pyridinium group as an acceptor was designed and synthesized to detect superoxide anion. DMPS-O showed a remarkable fluorescence enhancement in the near-infrared region and a large Stokes shift after reacting with superoxide anion and its limit of detection was calculated to be 22.2 nM. Finally, CCK-8 and confocal fluorescence imaging experiments revealed that the fluorescent probe DMPS-O with low cytotoxicity was suitable for detecting endogenous superoxide anions and locating mitochondria in the MCF-7 and HepG2 cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]