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Cone‐beam computed tomography (CBCT) system can provide real‐time 3D images and fluoroscopy images of the region of interest during the operation. Some systems can even offer augmented fluoroscopy and puncture guidance. The use of CBCT for interventional pulmonary procedures has grown significantly in recent years, and numerous clinical studies have confirmed the technology's efficacy and safety in the diagnosis, localization, and treatment of pulmonary nodules. In order to optimize and standardize the technical specifications of CBCT and guide its application in clinical practice, the consensus statement has been organized and written in a collaborative effort by the Professional Committee on Interventional Pulmonology of China Association for Promotion of Health Science and Technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a crystal material UIO-66-NH2-BPDA was designed by grafting BPDA onto UIO-66-NH2 and applied to extract U(VI) from aqueous solution. According to performance tests, UIO-66-NH2-BPDA exhibits excellent chemical and thermal stability. The experimental results show that U(VI) adsorption by UIO-66-NH2-BPDA was tested to be 346.58 mg g−1 at pH = 4 and T = 298 K. The data simulation demonstrates that the adsorption process was consistent with Langmuir isotherm and pseudo-second-order model. Meanwhile, the thermodynamic parameters suggest that the adsorption process was spontaneous and endothermic. Most noteworthy is the good selectivity for U(VI) adsorption by UIO-66-NH2-BPDA. It can be seen that UIO-66-NH2-BPDA can be used as a potential effective adsorbent to remove U(VI) from wastewater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Fraction of functional sequence in the human genome remains a key unresolved question in Biology and the subject of vigorous debate. While a plethora of studies have connected a significant fraction of human DNA to various biochemical processes, the classical definition of function requires evidence of effects on cellular or organismal fitness that such studies do not provide. Although multiple high-throughput reverse genetics screens have been developed to address this issue, they are limited to annotated genomic elements and suffer from non-specific effects, arguing for a strong need to develop additional functional genomics approaches. Results: In this work, we established a high-throughput lentivirus-based insertional mutagenesis strategy as a forward genetics screen tool in aneuploid cells. Application of this approach to human cell lines in multiple phenotypic screens suggested the presence of many yet uncharacterized functional elements in the human genome, represented at least in part by novel exons of known and novel genes. The novel transcripts containing these exons can be massively, up to thousands-fold, induced by specific stresses, and at least some can represent bi-cistronic protein-coding mRNAs. Conclusions: Altogether, these results argue that many unannotated and non-canonical human transcripts, including those that appear as aberrant splice products, have biological relevance under specific biological conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Endogenous single-stranded DNA (essDNA) can form in a mammalian genome as the result of a variety of molecular processes and can both play important roles inside the cell as well as have detrimental consequences to genome integrity, much of which remains to be fully understood. Here, we established the SSiNGLe-P1 approach based on limited digestion by P1 endonuclease for high-throughput genome-wide identification of essDNA regions. We applied this method to profile essDNA in both human mitochondrial and nuclear genomes. In the mitochondrial genome, the profiles of essDNA provide new evidence to support the strand-displacement model of mitochondrial DNA replication. In the nuclear genome, essDNA regions were found to be enriched in certain types of functional genomic elements, particularly, the origins of DNA replication, R-loops, and to a lesser degree, in promoters. Furthermore, interestingly, many of the essDNA regions identified by SSiNGLe-P1 have not been annotated and thus could represent yet unknown functional elements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A unified strategy for accessing the core structure of cyathane diterpenoids has been developed, enabling the formal synthesis of (–)-erinacine B. The key feature includes an organocatalyzed asymmetric intramolecular vinylogous aldol reaction for convergently building up the 5-6-6 tricyclic ring system. This strategy also highlights a hydroxyl-directed cyclopropanation/ring opening sequence to stereoselectively set up 1,4-anti and -cis angular-methyl quaternary carbon centers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The proper replication of mitochondrial DNA is key to the maintenance of this crucial organelle. Multiple studies aimed at understanding the mechanisms of replication of the mitochondrial genome have been conducted in the past several decades; however, while highly informative, they were conducted using relatively low-sensitivity techniques. Here, we established a high-throughput approach based on next-generation sequencing to identify replication start sites with nucleotide-level resolution and applied it to the genome of mitochondria from different human and mouse cell types. We found complex and highly reproducible patterns of mitochondrial initiation sites, both previously annotated and newly discovered in this work, that showed differences among different cell types and species. These results suggest that the patterns of the replication initiation sites are dynamic and might reflect, in some yet unknown ways, the complexities of mitochondrial and cellular physiology. Overall, this work suggests that much remains unknown about the details of mitochondrial DNA replication in different biological states, and the method established here opens up a new avenue in the study of the replication of mitochondrial and potentially other genomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Application of targeted RNA enrichment techniques have uncovered an extremely complex landscape of human transcriptome in which most, and probably all, of the human genome sequence serves as the template for the production of a vast universe of overlapping transcripts derived from both annotated protein-coding genes and regions of the genome currently devoid of any known genes. A significant fraction of the human transcriptome, including transcripts from some of the most studied genes like TP53, SHH, and HOX , remains hidden due, in a large measure, to the high cell type-specific expression patterns of hidden transcripts, which makes their identification using the traditional RNA-sequencing approaches very challenging. Application of highly sensitive targeted transcript enrichment techniques is necessary in many experimental contexts to fully understand the transcriptome complexity. Studies using highly sensitive targeted RNA enrichment methods have shown that a large portion of the human transcriptome remains to be discovered and that most of the genome is transcribed in a complex, interleaved fashion characterized by a complex web of transcripts emanating from protein coding and noncoding loci. These results resonate with those from single-cell transcriptome profiling endeavors that reveal the existence of multiple novel, cell type-specific transcripts and clearly demonstrate that our understanding of the complexities of the human transcriptome is far from being complete. Here, we review the current status of the targeted RNA enrichment techniques, their application to the discovery of novel cell type-specific transcripts, and their impact on our understanding of the human genome and transcriptome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To assess the association between lifestyle and COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among Chinese adults and provide recommendations for increasing vaccination rates.Methods: From August 6, 2021 to August 9, 2021, we recruited 29,925 participants from 31 Chinese provinces via an online questionnaire. We designed a question to assess COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and used 16 items to assess lifestyle by calculating lifestyle scores. Odds ratios (OR) with 95 % confidence intervals (CI) were used to estimate the association by using binary logistic regression models.Results: The overall prevalence of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy was 8.40 % (95 % CI: 8.09-8.72), and the median lifestyle score was 65.00 (interquartile range: 59.00-71.00). After adjusting for potential confounders, the COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy rate decreased significantly with an increase in lifestyle score (P for Trend <0.001). Low COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy rate was associated with lifestyle factors including adequate sleep, never smoking, intermittent drinking, good relationships, working and studying, using hand sanitizer, wearing masks, less gathering activities, and keeping social distance (P < 0.05).Conclusion: Our findings indicate that high lifestyle score is associated with low vaccine hesitancy rate among Chinese. The government should view the smokers (or the drinkers) as the key to further boosting the vaccination rate. In addition, the publicity and education about wearing masks and keeping social distance should be prioritized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We have carefully proofread the whole manuscript to fix minor typos. • Each algorithm has been correctly labeled as "Algorithm" • The experimental results and their corresponding explanations have been updated. This paper addresses a new multi-commodity unpaired pickup and delivery vehicle routing problem in which each vehicle is allowed to visit each customer more than once for both pickup and delivery of each commodity. It is a complex variant of the classical capacitated vehicle routing problem and comes from resource transfer among different plants in a distributed manufacturing environment. Notably, the pairing decisions of pickup and delivery for each commodity and the routing decisions among customers are interdependent, and they need to be made simultaneously and collaboratively. Firstly, a mixed integer programming model is developed, and then new valid inequalities are derived to improve the linear programming relaxation. Afterwards, a branch-and-cut algorithm is proposed by exploring different branching strategies and tailored separation algorithms. Computational results based on real-case instances from an automobile manufacturing company demonstrate that the costs are considerably reduced by considering the multiple visits compared to the single visit of each customer. In addition, our proposed branch-and-cut algorithm outperforms a manual solution method adopted by the company in practice and two solution methods in the literature. Furthermore, two adaptations of our branch-and-cut algorithm also perform better than two state-of-the-art algorithms in solving two closely-related problems in terms of solution quality and computation time. Sensitivity analyses with respect to vehicle capacity, vehicle duration, and vehicle speed are conducted to derive several valuable managerial insights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The acquisitionof ultra-reliable low-latency communications (URLLC) services via grant-free access has been specified in 5G to support real-time applications in future vehicular communications scenarios. However, this configuration introduces the denial of access attack, aiming to paralyze uplink access by tampering wireless pilots or reference symbols of vehicular users. We in this paper propose a novel hash coding method to probabilistically encode/decode random pilots using resource features of wireless data, such that the influence of attack on pilots can be dispersed across resources and minimized under arbitrary distribution of attack modes. Particularly, multiple access vehicular users adopt random pilots as their own temporal identities which are then hashed on independent subcarriers. Since those subcarriers would carry complex signals, receiver needs to decode pilots despite jamming attack on those subcarriers. The concept of Bayesian attack mode graph (BAMG) is developed to characterize the distribution of attack modes. We show how access control can change the structure of BAMG. Therefore, paging and feature based access control methods are respectively proposed to help identify both uplink users and attack modes while a novel hash decoding method is developed to decode random pilots. The upper and lower bounds of decoding errors are derived under arbitrary attack distribution. With above efforts, the uplink access can be secured within tolerance of errors. Furthermore, novel expressions of failure probability under secure access are derived to characterize the reliability of this new system. Simulations demonstrate the availability of proposed scheme against attack. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The majority of the human genome is transcribed in the form of long non-coding (lnc) RNAs. While these transcripts have attracted considerable interest, their molecular mechanisms of function and biological significance remain controversial. One of the main reasons behind this lies in the significant challenges posed by lncRNAs requiring the development of novel methods and concepts to unravel their functionality. Existing methods often lack cross-validation and independent confirmation by different methodologies and therefore leave significant ambiguity as to the authenticity of the outcomes. Nonetheless, despite all the caveats, it appears that lncRNAs may function, at least in part, by regulating other genes via chromatin interactions. Therefore, the function of a lncRNA could be inferred from the function of genes it regulates. In this work, we present a genome-wide functional annotation strategy for lncRNAs based on identification of their regulatory networks via the integration of three distinct types of approaches: co-expression analysis, mapping of lncRNA-chromatin interactions, and assaying molecular effects of lncRNA knockdowns obtained using an inducible and highly specific CRISPR/Cas13 system. Results: We applied the strategy to annotate 407 very long intergenic non-coding (vlinc) RNAs belonging to a novel widespread subclass of lncRNAs. We show that vlincRNAs indeed appear to regulate multiple genes encoding proteins predominantly involved in RNA- and development-related functions, cell cycle, and cellular adhesion via a mechanism involving proximity between vlincRNAs and their targets in the nucleus. A typical vlincRNAs can be both a positive and negative regulator and regulate multiple genes both in trans and cis. Finally, we show vlincRNAs and their regulatory networks potentially represent novel components of DNA damage response and are functionally important for the ability of cancer cells to survive genotoxic stress. Conclusions: This study provides strong evidence for the regulatory role of the vlincRNA class of lncRNAs and a potentially important role played by these transcripts in the hidden layer of RNA-based regulation in complex biological systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a generalized multifrequency carrier tracking architecture applicable to multifrequency global navigation satellite system receivers operating in frequency-selective fading environments. This architecture unifies a conventional single-frequency-independent tracking (ST) mode, which only operates on measurements from a single carrier, a multifrequency joint tracking (JT) mode, which linearly combines measurements from multiple carriers, and a multifrequency optimal tracking (OT) mode, which incorporates signal intensity in multicarrier combinations via an aggregate Kalman filter. The analytical closed-form expressions of the tracking error variance for the ST, JT, and OT modes are derived for theoretical analysis and comparison. Their tracking performances are evaluated and quantified using a simulated triple-frequency GPS signal with varying combinations of signal strengths. To have a fair assessment in real-world scenarios, real data collected during strong ionospheric, tropospheric scintillations, and multipath reflections and scattering are also used for performance evaluations in ST, JT, and OT modes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a physics‐based, multifrequency, strong scintillation simulator that requires only two input parameters: the S4 index and decorrelation time τ0. This simulator is developed based on the two‐component power‐law phase screen model, which is specified by five parameters and suitable for representation of strong equatorial scintillation. By setting three of the model parameters to representative values, numerical mappings from the user input parameter set (S4 and τ0) to the remaining model parameter subset of two parameters can be established through numerical evaluation. The numerical mappings are then used to drive the scintillation model to generate time series of scintillation amplitude and phase. A large group of strong scintillation data (with S4 > 0.6) from two equatorial sites are processed to obtain the representative values of the three model default parameters and to validate the numerical parameter mappings. A MATLAB implementation of the scintillation simulator has been made available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long non-coding (lnc) RNAs represent a fascinating class of transcripts that remains highly controversial mainly due to ambiguity surrounding overall biological relevance of these RNAs. Multitude of reverse genetics studies showing functionality of lncRNAs are unfortunately based on assays that are either plagued by non-specific effects and/or cannot unambiguously assign observed phenotypes to the transcript per se. Here, we show application of the novel CRISPR/Cas13 RNA knockdown system that has superior specificity compared to other transcript-targeting knockdown methods like RNAi. We applied this method to a novel widespread subclass of nuclear lncRNAs — very long intergenic non-coding (vlinc) RNAs — in a high-throughput phenotypic assay based on survival challenge in response to anticancer drug treatments. We used multiple layers of controls including mismatch control for each targeting gRNA to ensure uncovering true phenotype-transcript relationships. We found evidence supporting importance for cellular survival for up to 60% of the tested protein-coding mRNAs and, importantly, 64% of vlincRNAs. Overall, this study demonstrates utility of CRISPR/Cas13 as a highly sensitive and specific tool for reverse genetics study of both protein-coding genes and lncRNAs. Furthermore, importantly, this approach provides evidence supporting biological significance of the latter transcripts in anticancer drug response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a physics-based, data-consistent, multifrequency GPS scintillation signal simulator. The simulator is based on the two-component power-law phase screen derived from real GPS scintillation measurements. The real data used to initialize the simulator, simulator outputs, and receiver-processed results are compared to demonstrate the simulator accuracy and the receiver processing effects. This simulator will enable better characterization of ionospheric scintillation effects and development of robust receiver algorithms during strong equatorial scintillation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strong equatorial ionospheric scintillation of radio signals is often associated with simultaneous deep amplitude fading and rapid random carrier phase fluctuations. It poses a challenge for satellite navigation receiver carrier phase tracking loop operation. This paper presents a semi-open loop algorithm that utilizes the known position of a stationary receiver and satellite orbit information to estimate carrier phase variations during deep signal fading. Strong GPS scintillation data collected on Ascension Island in March 2013 are processed to reveal fast phase changes of half and full cycles over tens of milliseconds on all three GPS frequencies. Simulated signals are used to validate the algorithm and confirm that the fast phase changes are true scintillation effects rather than receiver processing artifacts. The algorithm performance is demonstrated through comparison with several closed-loop implementations. Potential errors associated with receiver clock bias and other environmental factors are also analyzed. A statistical summary of the concurrent fast phase changes and deep fades based on the processing results of the Ascension Island data is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies an unpaired pickup and delivery vehicle routing problem allowing for multi-visit. The problem consists of two interacted decisions: the pairing of supply and demand and the vehicle routing. Given the complexity of the problem, a novel unified model is formulated to decouple the interactions between the two decisions. Based on the unified model, some valid inequalities are derived and a tabu search algorithm is proposed. The computational results show that the tabu search algorithm can provide high quality solutions to the problem under investigation and the closely related problem studied in Chen et al. (2014). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Porous nanostructure composites materials had attracted widely attention due to their potential application in energy storage (Lithium ion batteries (LIBs) and supercapacitor) and electrocatalyst of oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Co 3 O 4 @CoO@Co@C nanocomposites had been successfully synthesized using glucose as carbon source and cobalt nitrate as metalprecurs or of Co 3 O 4 @CoO@Co@C, which has excellent electrochemical performance for LIBs, supercapacitor and OER. Three kinds of morphology samples marked by Co 3 O 4 @CoO@Co@C-2/1, Co 3 O 4 @CoO@Co@C-1/1 and Co 3 O 4 @CoO@Co@C-1/2 are synthesized due to different atomic ratio of cobalt/carbon in precursors. Electrochemical and catalytic performance of Co 3 O 4 @CoO@Co@C-2/1 nanocomposites is more excellent than Co 3 O 4 @CoO@Co@C-1/1 and Co 3 O 4 @CoO@Co@C-1/2. Co 3 O 4 @CoO@Co@C-2/1 shows that discharge capacity can maintain 450 mA h g −1 and coulombic efficiency is nearly 100% during 500 cycles for LIBs. It indicates the excellent cycling stability of Co 3 O 4 @CoO@Co@C-2/1 as electrode for supercapacitor that about 78.3% of initial specific capacitance can be retained after 10000 cycles at current density of 2 A g −1 . Co 3 O 4 @CoO@Co@C-2/1 as catalyst of OER shows excellent electrochemical durability over 15 hours continuous experiment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deep signal fading during ionospheric scintillation possesses a threat to GNSS signal tracking and degrades position, navigation, and timing solution accuracy. Understanding the physics and the characteristics of the signal fading is a pre-requisite to developing robust scintillation mitigation techniques for assured navigation and for utilizing GNSS signals for ionosphere and space weather studies. In this paper, intermediate frequency GPS data collected on Ascension Island in March 2013 are processed to enable comparison with phase screen theory prediction through spectral and spatial coherence analysis of the measured strong scintillation signals. In addition, signal fading level, duration, and inter-fading time distributions are obtained from the data to establish statistical relationships of fading properties across the three GPS bands. The results show that simultaneous deep fading on all three GPS bands rarely occurs, suggesting that robust carrier tracking during equatorial ionospheric scintillation can be achieved using inter-frequency aiding. Copyright © 2016 Institute of Navigation [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we characterized a bcrABC cassette and its genetic environment harbored by a plasmid in Listeria monocytogenes ( L . monocytogenes ) 11GZL18, a strain isolated from raw meat in 2011. The bcrABC cassette and its genetic environment were characterized, with a total of 33,727 nt nucleotide sequence obtained. The nucleotide sequences of the bcrABC cassette in strain 11GZL18 exhibited 100% identity to that on plasmid pLM80, which is harbored by L . monocytogenes strain H7550and H7858, and the neighboring 21,678 nt nucleotide sequence of bcrABC cassette showed 99% identity with plasmid pLM80. The plasmid curing experiment demonstrated the role of the plasmid in conferring benzalkonium chloride (BC) and cadmium (Cd) tolerance in this strain. The bcrABC cassette and cadAC genes from the L . monocytogenes 11GZL18 were harbored by plasmid, functional and transmissible, and led to the acquired tolerance in Gram-negative Escherichia coli ( E . coli ) DH5α by chemical and natural transformation. Besides, the efflux pump activity that is conferring tolerance to BC and Cd was observed in strain 11GZL18, while not in a plasmid-cured strain 11GZL18-C, confirming that efflux pumps play a role in plasmid-mediated tolerance to BC and Cd in L . monocytogenes 11GZL18. In this study we characterized the genetic organization of a novel BC and Cd tolerance determinants-harboring plasmid in a L . monocytogenes strain isolated from raw meat of animal origin, and demonstrated the potential horizontal transferability of this bcrABC cassette-harboring plasmid to E . coli . The findings will further improve our understanding of the adaptations of this organism to disinfectants such as BC and may contribute to elucidating possible dissemination of BC tolerance in foodborne L . monocytogenes . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phenotypic and genotypic tolerance in 71 Listeria monocytogenes isolates from different varieties of foods to benzalkonium chloride (BC) and cadmium were investigated by susceptibility test and molecular methods. To investigate the role of efflux pumps in BC tolerance, reserpine, an efflux pump inhibitor, was added to the BC tolerant strains. Tolerance to BC and cadmium were 26.8% (19/71) and 49.3% (35/71) respectively. Strains with BC tolerance were significantly more frequent among those of serotype 4b (100%, 6/6) than among those of serotype 1/2a (or 3a) (13.5%, 5/37), which represent the predominant number of strains (52.1%, 37/71). Tolerance to cadmium was encountered among 62.2% (23/37) and 50.0% (3/6) of the serotype 1/2a (or 3a) and 4b strains, respectively, and among 19.0% (4/21) of the strains of the serotype 1/2c. All of the 10 (14.1%) isolates found to be BC and cadmium co-tolerance were isolated from raw meat or quick-frozen food made of wheat flour and rice. Five multi-drug resistant strains were tolerant to cadmium as well. Among 71 isolates examined, one contained qacA and three contained qacEΔ1-sul . To the best of our knowledge, this is the first detection of qacA and qacEΔ1-sul in L. monocytogenes , an indication of the possible horizontal transfer of the two genes. Addition of reserpine to the tolerant strains resulted in the loss of tolerance among seven out of 19 BC strains, suggesting a certain role the efflux pump played in mediating BC tolerance. Of the three distinct cadA types known to date in L. monocytogenes , the cadA1 and cadA2 genes were detected among 24 (33.8%) and three (4.2%) isolates respectively. The presence of cadA1 and cadA2 largely corresponded to the susceptibility phenotype. A subset (9/35 [25.7%]) of the cadmium-tolerant isolates lacked the known cadmium resistance determinants. These findings suggest that food products could act as a reservoir for L. monocytogenes harboring tolerance to BC and cadmium and will further our understanding of the adaptations of this organism to these two compounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this communication a robust widely linear (WL) beamforming algorithm for the reception of a noncircular signal is proposed. The spatial spectrum of noncircular coefficient is firstly introduced in the context of the optimal WL minimum variance distortionless response beamformer. The augmented interference-plus-noise covariance matrix is reconstructed instead of the augmented sample covariance matrix. The proposed algorithm not only outperforms the conventional robust adaptive beamforming techniques, but also has a better performance against the model mismatch than the previous robust WL beamforming algorithms. Numerical simulations verify the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The optimal widely linear (WL) minimum variance distortionless response (MVDR) beamformer, which has a powerful performance for the reception of a noncircular signal, was proposed by Chevalier in 2009. Nevertheless, in spectrum monitoring or passive listening, the optimal WL MVDR beamformer is hard to implement due to an unknown second-order (SO) noncircularity coefficient. This paper aims at estimating the time-averaged SO noncircularity coefficient of a desired noncircular signal, whose waveform is unknown but whose steering vector is known, in the context of the optimal WL MVDR beamformer. The proposed noncircularity coefficient estimator can process \2N - \1 rectilinear signals at most using an array of N sensors. Moreover, a frequency-shift WL MVDR beamforming algorithm is proposed for a noncircular signal having a nonnull frequency offset or carrier residue, jointly with the estimation of the frequency offset of the rectilinear signal. Due to the inevitable estimation error of the time-averaged SO noncircularity coefficient, a diagonal loading technique is used to enhance the robustness of the optimal WL beamformers. Simulations are shown to verify the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This communication utilizes a sparse recovery technique named “least absolute shrinkage and selection operator” (LASSO) to formulate and solve the problem of direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation for far-field wideband sources. The spatial-only modeling for wideband array output is employed when the sources have flat spectra, and the DOA estimation problem in this model can be transformed into a sparse recovery problem. Via the LASSO technique, an optimization problem is constructed and solved by second-order cone (SOC) programming to obtain the DOA estimates. Numerical simulations are also provided in contrast with those existing algorithms using the spatial-only model. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Aims and Objectives: To investigate whether chronic diseases are associated with higher COVID‐19 vaccine hesitancy and explore factors that influence COVID‐19 vaccine hesitancy in patients with chronic diseases. Background: Vaccine hesitancy has been acknowledged as one of the greatest hazards to public health. However, little information is available about COVID‐19 vaccine hesitancy among patients with chronic diseases who may be more susceptible to COVID‐19 infection, severe disease or death. Methods: From 6 to 9 August 2021, we performed an internet‐based cross‐sectional survey with 22,954 participants (14.78% participants with chronic diseases). Propensity score matching with 1:1 nearest neighbourhood was used to reduce confounding factors between patients with chronic diseases and the general population. Using a multivariable logistic regression model, the factors impacting COVID‐19 vaccine hesitancy were identified among patients with chronic diseases. Results: Both before and after propensity score matching, patients with chronic diseases had higher COVID‐19 vaccine hesitancy than the general population. In addition, self‐reported poor health, multiple chronic diseases, lower sociodemographic backgrounds and lower trust in nurses and doctors were associated with COVID‐19 vaccine hesitancy among patients with chronic diseases. Conclusions: Patients with chronic diseases were more hesitant about the COVID‐19 vaccine. Nurses should focus on patients with chronic diseases with poor health conditions, low socioeconomic backgrounds and low trust in the healthcare system. Relevance to Clinical Practice: Clinical nurses are recommended to not only pay more attention to the health status and sociodemographic characteristics of patients with chronic diseases but also build trust between nurses and patients by improving service levels and professional capabilities in clinical practice. Patient or Public Contribution: Patients or the public were not involved in setting the research question, the outcome measures, or the design or implementation of the study. However, all participants were invited to complete the digital informed consent and questionnaires. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the era of Industry 4.0, there are many emerging industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) applications that require ultrareliable and low-latency communications (URLLCs), such as time-sensitive networking (TSN), status reporting, and remote control. With the deployment of massive intelligent devices in IIoT networks, providing security for device physical-layer access is a challenging issue, especially for URLLC applications with strict latency and reliability constraints. We thus developed an intelligent radio frequency identification (RFI) framework to provide a lightweight and energy-efficient physical-layer access scheme for URLLCs via leveraging unique hardware-level imperfections of transmitter. We propose a novel semisupervised-learning (SSL) algorithm to realize intelligent RFI in URLLCs scenarios. One-dimensional network construction is also exploited to improve the accuracy of the proposed SSL algorithm. On the basis of the proposed RFI framework, we analyze the overall uplink transmission error probability and network availability of URLLCs with massive MIMO, which can achieve comparable symmetry performance with that of downlink, and experimental evaluation is also provided to gain comprehensive insight on RFI. Numerical and experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed RFI framework and the impact of channel correlation, and provide design guidelines for supporting the radio frequency identification of URLLC applications in IIoT systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phase noise of Raman lasers is a major source of noise for a Raman-type cold atom interferometer, which is traditionally measured using the signal source analyzer. We report here an atom-based method to measure the phase noise performance between two Raman lasers. By analyzing and calibrating the system noise sources, we can characterize the contribution of phase noise from the total deviation of the relative atom population at the middle of the interference fringe. Knowing the transfer function specified by the operation sequence of the interferometer, we can obtain the transfer function and power spectrum density of the phase noise term. By varying the time sequences of the interferometer, we can measure the white phase noise floor and the phase noise performance over a large range of Fourier frequencies from 1 to 100 000 Hz with a minor difference of 1 dB compared with results from the traditional method using a signal analyzer, which proves the validity of the atom-based method. Compared with the traditional measurement method, the atom-based method can have higher accuracy and have the ability of self-calibrating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Light shift produced by the AC Stark effect is one of the major factors limiting the accuracy and long-term stability of a cold atom interferometer. The first order light shift can be canceled by fixing the power ratio of the Raman beams at a specified value. We report here a new method to stabilize the power ratio of the two Raman lasers with ∼100 kHz locking bandwidth, suppressing the effect of the first order light shift. We first mixed the two Raman lasers (at different optical frequencies) with a reference beam and then used two Schottky diode detectors to extract the corresponding beat note signals for each beam, which are much easier to be manipulated and processed as they are in the microwave band. The stability of the power ratio is improved by three orders of magnitude from 5.84 × 10−3 to 3.51 × 10−6 at 1 s averaging time and reaches 1.59 × 10−7 at 10 000 s integrating time when the servo loop is engaged. This method can be used in other precise quantum measurement based on the stimulated Raman transition and can be applied to compact inertial sensors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein, we developed an enantioselective addition of aliphatic aldehydes to 2-hydroxychalcone promoted by cooperative organocatalysts, giving access to hybrid flavonoids in excellent enantioselectivities. This reaction took advantage of cycloisomerization of 2-hydroxychalcone to form a transient flavylium under the irradiation of 24 W CFL, which was trapped by the in situ generated chiral enamine intermediate. The synergistic action of chiral phosphoric acid secured the excellent outcome of this reaction by ion-pairing with the transient flavylium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Conversion or editing of adenosine (A) into inosine (I) catalyzed by specialized cellular enzymes represents one of the most common post-transcriptional RNA modifications with emerging connection to disease. A-to-I conversions can happen at specific sites and lead to increase in proteome diversity and changes in RNA stability, splicing, and regulation. Such sites can be detected as adenine-to-guanine sequence changes by next-generation RNA sequencing which resulted in millions reported sites from multiple genome-wide surveys. Nonetheless, the lack of extensive independent validation in such endeavors, which is critical considering the relatively high error rate of next-generation sequencing, leads to lingering questions about the validity of the current compendiums of the editing sites and conclusions based on them. Results: Strikingly, we found that the current analytical methods suffer from very high false positive rates and that a significant fraction of sites in the public databases cannot be validated. In this work, we present potential solutions to these problems and provide a comprehensive and extensively validated list of A-to-I editing sites in a human cancer cell line. Our findings demonstrate that most of true A-to-I editing sites in a human cancer cell line are located in the non-coding transcripts, the so-called RNA 'dark matter'. On the other hand, many ADAR editing events occurring in exons of human protein-coding mRNAs, including those that can recode the transcriptome, represent false positives and need to be interpreted with caution. Nonetheless, yet undiscovered authentic ADAR sites that increase the diversity of human proteome exist and warrant further identification. Conclusions: Accurate identification of human ADAR sites remains a challenging problem, particularly for the sites in exons of protein-coding mRNAs. As a result, genome-wide surveys of ADAR editome must still be accompanied by extensive Sanger validation efforts. However, given the vast number of unknown human ADAR sites, there is a need for further developments of the analytical techniques, potentially those that are based on deep learning solutions, in order to provide a quick and reliable identification of the editome in any sample. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Re 2 O 7 catalyzed cycloetherification of monoallylic diols is described. The reaction features short reaction time, mild reaction conditions and exclusive E selectivity. A wide range of monoallylic alcohols with alkyl or aryl substituents on olefin smoothly undergo ring closure to deliver corresponding oxa-heterocycles. The reaction is also operationally simple and not sensitive to air and moisture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A phospho-null Ala substitution at protein kinase C (PKC)-targeted cardiac troponin I (cTnI) S43/45 reduces myocyte and cardiac contractile function. The goal of the current study was to test whether cTnIS43/45N is an alternative, functionally conservative substitution in cardiac myocytes. Partial and more extensive endogenous cTnI replacement was similar at 2 and 4 days after gene transfer, respectively, for epitope-tagged cTnI and cTnIS43/45N. This replacement did not significantly change thin filament stoichiometry. In functional studies, there were no significant changes in the amplitude and/or rates of contractile shortening and re-lengthening after this partial (2 days) and extensive (4 days) replacement with cTnIS43/45N. The cTnIS43/45N substitution also was not associated with adaptive changes in the myocyte Ca 2+ transient or in phosphorylation of the protein kinase A and C-targeted cTnIS23/24 site. These results provide evidence that cTnIS43/45N is a functionally conservative substitution, and may be appropriate for use as a phospho-null in rodent models designed for studies on PKC modulation of cardiac performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the work presented here we consider the problem of direction of arrival (DOA) estimation and gain-phase errors calibration. We propose a new method which is based on the eigendecomposition of the Hadamard product of the covariance matrix and its conjugate. This method requires neither the presence of calibration sources nor previous calibration information as initialization. Moreover, it performs independent of the phase errors. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) receivers can be used in time and frequency metrology by exploiting stable GNSS time scales. This paper proposes a low-cost method for precise measurement of oscillator frequency instability using a single-frequency software GNSS receiver. The only required hardware is a common radio frequency (RF) data collection device driven by the oscillator under test (OUT). The receiver solves the oscillator frequency error in high time resolution using the carrier Doppler observation and the broadcast ephemeris from one of the available satellites employing the onboard reference atomic frequency standard that is more stable than the OUT. Considering the non-stable and non-Gaussian properties of the frequency error measurement, an unbiased finite impulse response (FIR) filter is employed to obtain robust estimation and filter out measurement noise. The effects of different filter orders and convolution lengths are further discussed. The frequency error of an oven controlled oscillator (OCXO) is measured using live Beidou-2/Compass signals. The results are compared with the synchronous measurement using a specialized phase comparator with the standard coordinated universal time (UTC) signal from the master clock H226 in the national time service center (NTSC) of China as its reference. The Allan deviation (ADEV) estimates using the two methods have a 99.9% correlation coefficient and a 0.6% mean relative difference over 1–1000s intervals. The experiment demonstrates the effectiveness and high precision of the software receiver method. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A new algorithm involving sparse recovery is proposed to address the problem of direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation using weighted subspace fitting (WSF). The proposed algorithm proves to be a modified version of ℓ 1-SVD by using an optimal weighting matrix, wherein a scheme of regularization between sparsity penalty and subspace fitting error is also given for all SNR range. Numerical simulations verify the efficiency of the proposed algorithm and illustrate the performance improvement in low SNR. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A new coordination polymer (CP) based on Co(II), namely, {[Co3(L)2(4,4′-bipy)(DMA)2]·H2O}n (1) has been synthesized after reacting Co(NO3)2·6H2O with H3L ligand in the existence of N-donor ligand 4,4′-bipyridine (4,4′-bipy), via utilizing a flexible tricarboxylic acid ligand 5-((formic acid-3-sulfur)methyl)isophthalic acid (H3L) with –S-CH2- joint. Additionally, the excellent blue fluorescence properties of CP 1 were confirmed through fluorescence spectroscopy compared to the original ligand. Using natural polysaccharide hyaluronic acid (HA) and carboxymethyl chitosan (CMCS) as raw materials, HA/CMCS hydrogel was prepared by chemical synthesis method. Taking vitamin B2 as the drug model, we designed and synthesized gels loaded with vitamin B2 metal framework and evaluated their efficacy in the treatment of recurrent oral ulcer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Precise measurements of signal phase are essential for Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) position estimates. However, propagation through the earth's ionosphere imposes frequency‐dependent phase errors. The frequency dependence is exploited to correct phase errors proportional to total electron content (TEC) divided by frequency. Scintillation causes additional stochastic errors, which can become the largest phase error contribution. Both geometry‐free (GFCs) and ionosphere‐free (IFCs) frequency combinations are subject to such uncorrectable but generally small phase scintillation errors. A recent published study compared GPS TEC estimates derived from nominally identical L1‐L2 and L1‐L5 GFCs. The TEC errors establish an upper bound on uncorrelated single‐frequency scintillation error contributions. The measured TEC errors were verified with phase‐screen simulations. However, a known but largely overlooked phase unwrapping error affects the extraction of signal phase from phase‐screen complex signal realizations. This paper demonstrates a procedure for detecting and correcting phase‐unwrapping errors and discusses their ramifications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Secure transmission in full-duplex relay networks is considered in this paper. To ensure security, we propose a network coding assisted relaying scheme, where all the messages are encoded by the transmitter and the full-duplex relay respectively. Specifically, the encoding at the transmitter makes sure that all the coded messages are required to decode a private message. Consequently, security is achieved if the eavesdropper loses one or more coded messages. The encoding at the relay is operated by introducing a public auxiliary message, which changes the eavesdropper's decoding method from combining-before-decoding to combining-after-decoding, and thus decreases the eavesdropper's signal-noise-ratio (SNR) obviously. Intercept probability is used to measure the security, and results show that the proposed scheme can significantly improve the security performance of full-duplex relay networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In joint replenishment problem with random number of imperfect items (IJRP), it is a great challenge for managers to correctly ascertain the number of imperfect items and take the right response strategy to make rectifications simultaneously. In this paper, the effectiveness of four common response strategies, i.e., scrap, all-unit quantity discount, rework & repair, and buy replacements for coping with imperfect items are investigated based on IJRP for the first time, respectively. Considering the NP -hard nature of the classical JRP and its extensions, as well as enhancing the explorable performance in crossing scale-levels of IJRP models and exploitable performance in diversifying the solution population of bare-bones differential evolutionary (BBDE), a meta-heuristic algorithm named as the adaptive BBDE (ABBDE) is designed by introducing an problem scale related adaptive recombination probability and a generalized opposition-based learning (OBL). Through numerical experiments, it has been found that (1) The adaptive improvements of ABBDE have been verified through obtaining the lower best-found total cost (TC), the lowest mean value, and the smallest standard error comparing to that of genetic evolution algorithm (GA), particle swarm optimization (PSO), differential evolution (DE), bare-bones PSO (BBPSO), BBDE. (2) Parameter sensitivity analyses indicate that the scale of yearly demand, lead-time, and significance of uncertainty have significant impacts on system cost, whilst the parameters pertinent to specific response strategy are main factors causing system cost disturbance. (3) Management insights and limitations on adoption of a right response strategy and the practical usage of ABBDE are obtained. • Four response strategy influences for coping with defective items are examined. • Both random imperfect items and stochastic demands are considered. • An adaptive mutation probability and opposition-based learning are considered. • Numerical experiments are designed and extensively performed. • Insights are obtained through experiments on different scale cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a scintillation model that generates complex scintillation realizations using two‐dimensional phase‐screen calculations. A compact parameter set simplifies the model. The parameters can be adjusted to reproduce statistically equivalent realizations of target multi‐frequency GNSS intensity and phase scintillation time series or defaulted to representative values. Geometric range and TEC inputs can be incorporated to generate realizations of baseband GNSS signals for processor performance evaluation. Selecting model parameters is guided by an efficient encapsulation of the two‐dimensional phase‐screen theory. Motion of the propagation path through ionospheric structure generates temporal variation. The phase‐screen theory incorporates space‐to‐time conversion via a ratio of the Fresnel scale to an effective scan velocity. A universal strength parameter adjusts the strength of the scintillation. The model is an encapsulation of results that have been used for GPS performance analysis work that is cited in the paper. A MATLAB implementation of the model with examples has been made available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although urban-rural residency has been shown to influence individual COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, the differences between urban and rural China have yet to be uncovered. This study aims to assess the current prevalence and factors associated with COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in urban and rural areas and explore whether the rural versus urban residency is associated with COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. A national, cross-sectional, online survey among Chinese urban and rural adults (≥18 years old) was conducted from 6th to August 9, 2021. A questionnaire was used to collect data on sociodemographic factors, perceptions of the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccination status. A multivariable logistic regression model was used to identify the factors that influence COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. Propensity score matching (PSM) analysis was performed to explore the association between urban versus rural residency and COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. In total, 29,925 participants (80.56% urban participants) were recruited. Urban participants had a higher COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy than their rural counterparts (9.39% vs. 4.26%). After adjusting for potential confounders, we found that COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among females was lower than that in males in both urban (aOR = 0.78, 95% CI [0.69–0.88]) and rural areas (aOR = 0.54, 95% CI [0.39–0.75]). The lack of trust towards vaccine producers was found to be associated with vaccine hesitancy among the urban participants (aOR = 2.76, 95% CI [2.22–3.43]). The rural floating population had a lower COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy than the rural permanent residents (aOR = 0.58, 95% CI [0.42–0.80]). PSM analysis revealed a 2.38% difference in COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy between urban and rural participants. Urban participants were more hesitant to receive the COVID-19 vaccine than rural participants. Priority should be placed on boosting confidence in the healthcare system to reduce COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among urban residents. Furthermore, we advocate for extra incentives and vaccination education for rural permanent residents. • Assessed differences in COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy between urban and rural China. • The urban (vs. rural) population was more hesitant to be vaccinated. • The lower the trust in the healthcare system, the higher the COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. • COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among the rural permanent population needs extra attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphene nanosheets (GNS)/MoS 2 composites were obtained by liquid phase exfoliation, and then SnS 2 nanoflakes anchored GNS/MoS 2 composites by the single mode microwave-assisted hydrothermal technique. The architecture that MoS 2 nanosheets are parallel to and inserted into GNS layers, 20 nm SnS 2 nanoflakes uniformly attaching on the MoS 2 /GNS nanocomposites have been obtained. GNS@MoS 2 @SnS 2 exhibits superior lithium ion batteries (LIBs) and sodium ion batteries (SIBs) performance in terms of specific capacity, cycling stability. At a current density of 80 mA g −1 , GNS@MoS 2 @SnS 2 exhibits a discharge capacity of 743 mA h g −1 after 100 cycles for LIBs, and 100 mA h g −1 for SIBs. The excellent electrochemical performance of GNS@MoS 2 @SnS 2 electrodes with the mass ratio of 1/6/7 is attributed to synergistic effects from the optimized architecture and proportion for GNS, MoS 2 , and SnS 2 anode materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we demonstrate the synthesis of three-dimensional hierarchical nanostructured cobalt disulfide/molybdenum disulfide growth on carbon fiber cloth (CoS 2 /MoS 2 /CC) for hydrogen evolution reaction and supercapacitor. CoS 2 nanoparticles anchor on flower-like MoS 2 nanosheets grown on CC by a two-step procedure via facile single mode microwave-assisted hydrothermal technique. It was observed that CoS 2 /MoS 2 nanocomposites were uniformly dispersed on CC and CoS 2 nanoparticles were wrapped by flower-like MoS 2 nanosheets. Remarkably, the binder-free CoS 2 /MoS 2 /CC maintains its activity after 1000 cycles and exhibits superior catalytic activity in hydrogen evolution reaction, with a low overpotential of 177 mV to achieve current density of 10 mA cm −2 and a Tafel slope of 66 mV dec −1 . Furthermore, the bifunctional CoS 2 /MoS 2 /CC for supercapacitor delivers a higher specific capacitance of 406 F/g and excellent long-life cycling stability, retaining 95.27% of the initial capacitance after 10000 cycles. The enhanced hydrogen evolution reaction and supercapacitor property may be ascribed to the synergistic effect between metallic CoS 2 and MoS 2 , moreover more electrochemical accessible active sites and fast electron transport path can be obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Film cooling is an important cooling method to decrease the turbine blade surface temperature, and its average cooling efficiency is mainly dependent on the cooling structures of internal passageways and the shapes of film cooling holes. Compared with standard cylindrical film cooling holes, abnormal film cooling holes have higher average cooling efficiency. But it is difficult to manufacture these holes using traditional machining methods. In this paper, a novel process was developed to fabricate turbine blades with abnormal film cooling holes by combining stereolithography (SL) technology with gelcasting technology. To decrease the drying shrinkage, the freeze-drying technique was applied to treat the wet ceramic casting mold green body surrounded by the SL mold, and the proper sintering process parameters were determined for lowering the sintered shrinkage. Finally, the integral ceramic casting mold was obtained, and a turbine blade with converging–diverging film cooling holes was rapidly cast to verify the feasibility of the proposed process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Injection moulding is accepted as one of the most important methods for shaping complex ceramic cores, which are used to form intricate internal cooling passages of gas turbine blades. But the relatively long lead time and high costs involved in the fabrication of hard tooling render it uneconomical for new products development and low-volume production. In the study, a rapid prototyping process is developed to fabricate complex-shaped alumina-based ceramic core by combining stereolithography (SL) with gelcasting. SL is utilized to fabricate an integral sacrificial resin mold, and gelcasting is utilized to form a wet ceramic core green body through polymerization of aqueous ceramic slurry. The freeze-drying process is adopted to treat the wet green body surrounded by the resin mold, the drying shrinkage is decreased, and the generation of crack can be prevented. The sintering shrinkage of ceramic core is controlled by adding magnesium oxide power and developing a novel sintering process. After the resin mold is burnt out, the complex-shaped alumina-based ceramic core is obtained. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• A biogeography-based optimization named as BBO-BPNN is introduced. • An adaptive mutation particle swarm optimizer AMPSO-BPNN is formed. • BBO and AMPSO are applied to optimize the training parameters of BPNN. • Real data cases are adopted to verify the performance of BBO-BPNN and AMPSO-BPNN. Item classification is an issue among inventory managers who want to achieve key-point management of items with different emphases, thus prompting managers and researchers to pursue efficient and effective classification algorithms. In processing multiple-criteria inventory classifications, back-propagation neural network (BPNN) shows its superiority in balancing items' multiple competing attributes. However, because the training processes and the final results of BPNN rely on the initial connection weights and thresholds, finding reasonable values of the two parameters is a challenge. This paper introduces biogeography-based optimization (BBO) and an adaptive mutation particle swarm optimizer (AMPSO) to BPNN to optimize the training parameters, i.e., the global initial connection weights and thresholds, of BPNN. On the basis of this, two hybrid classification algorithms—BBO-BPNN and AMPSO-BPNN—are presented. Real-life data from three cases are adopted to verify the effectiveness and feasibility of the two proposed hybrid algorithms. Experimental results demonstrate that BBO-BPNN and AMPSO-BPNN show higher classification accuracy than other hybrid models, i.e., BPNN, PSO-BPNN, DE-BPNN, and GA-BPNN, in the multiple-criteria inventory classification problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The critical curvature radius data was fitted to predict the capillary inner diameter for obtaining a critical curvature radius of 0 to be 0.29 mm, and subsequently, the critical curvature radius of the kerosene column with a capillary inner diameter of 0.30 mm was determined to verified the accuracy of the fitting model. • Establish a model to predict the capillary inner diameter for generating deuterogenic kerosene droplets. • Kinetic energy per unit superficial area of kerosene droplet to overcome mineral energy barrier was discussed. • Large capillary resulted in slender droplet shape, slender column shape and longer droplet generation time. Understanding the generation behavior of kerosene droplets is an important precursor for predicting the kerosene-mineral adsorption. Using a high-speed motion acquisition system, we investigated the thermodynamic and kinetic characteristics of kerosene droplet with different size capillaries. As the capillary inner diameter increased, the formation time of the kerosene droplet become longer, and the width/height value decreased. The width/height value of the kerosene column roughly increased as the capillary inner diameter decreased due to the variation in the buoyancy, gravity and surface tension. The kinetic energy per unit superficial area (E k /S) of the kerosene droplet firstly decreased sharply as the capillary inner diameter increased and then remained almost constant. The energy barrier on the kaolinite, quartz, montmorillonite and coal surfaces was found easy to be overcome by E k /S independently of capillary inner diameter, and the energy barrier on the mica surface could be overcome if the capillary inner diameter was smaller than 0.50 mm. A predictive model of the formation condition of deuterogenic kerosene droplet was established, and the critical capillary inner diameter for forming a deuterogenic kerosene droplet was predicted to be approximately 0.29 mm. This aspect of kerosene droplet characteristics has not been well represented in the earlier literature. The results can provide valuable insight into the development of technology for surfactant adsorption and mineral flotation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tongue cancer is one of the most common oral malignancies. Quisinostat is a histone deacetylase inhibitor with antitumor activity. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of quisinostat on the viability of tongue squamous cell carcinoma (TSCC) cells (CAL-27, TCA-8113) in vitro and in vivo. Cell viability, cell morphological observation, scratch wound-healing assay, transwell migration assay, transmission electron microscope, flow cytometry and cellular reactive oxygen species were assessed in vitro. The results showed that quisinostat can significantly inhibit the viability, growth and migration of TSCC cells. And quisinostat could significantly induce TSCC cells apoptosis, pyroptosis, and ferroptosis. Quisinostat significantly inhibited tumor tissue growth in animal experiments. Up-regulation of the expression of Bax, cleaved-caspase3, caspase-1, p53, phospho-p53 and down-regulated of the expression of caspase-3, Bcl-2, GPX4 in cell lines and tumor tissues of nude mice were observed by Western blotting analysis. Up-regulation of the expression of caspase-1, Bax, cleaved-caspase3, p53 and down-regulated of the expression of ki67, caspase-3, Bcl-2, GPX4 in tumor tissues of nude mice were observed by immunohistochemistry. TUNEL analysis showed that quisinostat could increase the apoptosis rate in the tumor tissues of nude mice. Up-regulation of the expression of p53 and down-regulated expression of GPX4 in cell lines were observed by immunofluorescent staining, and the expression locations of p53 and GPX4 proteins in TSCC cells were observed. Based on these findings, quisinostat may be a potential drug for the treatment of tongue squamous cell carcinoma. • Quisinostat inhibited the proliferation of TSCC cells in vivo. • Quisinostat induced apoptosis, pyroptosis, and ferroptosis in CAL-27 and TCA-8113 cells in vitro and in vivo. • Quisinostat inhibited the wound healing ability and migration ability of CAL-27 and TCA-8113 cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]