Search

Obvious biases in simulating tropical cyclone (TC) genesis of the current climate models hamper our understanding of TC changes. In this study, we found a delay of the seasonal cycle of TC genesis frequency over the western North Pacific (WNP) in most Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 models. During the active TC season, the simulated south‐warming and north‐cooling surface temperature bias amplifies the meridional gradient and excites thermal winds. This weakens the western North Pacific Subtropical High and easterly monsoon trough, which further reduces TC genesis frequency over the western WNP in summer. But in autumn, positive TC genesis biases were only observed in coupled models over the eastern WNP. Both seasons contribute to the delayed seasonal cycle of TC frequency in models. Our findings highlight the importance of accurate simulation of surface temperature by climate models to TC simulations and aid in future model improvements. Plain Language Summary: Tropical cyclone (TC) is a devastating weather system generated over the tropical ocean, and the climate model serves as an important tool to study the long‐term variability of TC activity. Hence, it is imperative to explore the biases of climate models in simulating TC genesis. In this investigation, we find a substantial influence of surface temperature bias in Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) climate models on the simulation of the seasonal cycle of TC genesis frequency over the western North Pacific (WNP). The delay in the seasonal cycle of TC genesis frequency is widespread among most CMIP6 models. During boreal summer and autumn, the simulated bias of south‐warming and north‐cooling surface temperature increases its meridional gradient and triggers thermal winds. In summer, the weak western North Pacific Subtropical High and easterly monsoon trough, two crucial large‐scale circulation systems, cause a large negative TC genesis bias in models over the western WNP, substantially contributing to the delay of the seasonal cycle. Meanwhile, the relatively small positive bias of coupled models over the eastern WNP in autumn makes a secondary contribution. The combined contributions of these biases cause delays in seasonal simulation of TC genesis frequency. Key Points: Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 models produce delayed seasonal cycles of tropical cyclone genesis frequency over the western North PacificBiases in East Asia summer monsoon and western North Pacific subtropical high lead to underestimation of tropical cyclone genesis during summerThe biased large‐scale circulation systems are further related to a warm southern and cold northern surface temperature bias [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plant inflorescence architecture is determined by inflorescence meristem (IM) activity and controlled by genetic mechanisms associated with environmental factors. In Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), TERMINAL FLOWER1 (TFL1) is expressed in the IM and is required to maintain indeterminate growth, whereas LEAFY (LFY) is expressed in the floral meristems (FMs) formed at the periphery of the IM and is required to activate determinate floral development. Here, we address how Arabidopsis indeterminate inflorescence growth is determined. We show that the 26S proteasome subunit REGULATORY PARTICLE AAA-ATPASE 2a (RPT2a) is required to maintain the indeterminate inflorescence architecture in Arabidopsis. rpt2a mutants display reduced TFL1 expression levels and ectopic LFY expression in the IM and develop a determinate zigzag-shaped inflorescence. We further found that RPT2a promotes DNA METHYLTRANSFERASE1 degradation, leading to DNA hypomethylation upstream of TFL1 and high TFL1 expression levels in the wild-type IM. Overall, our work reveals that proteolytic input into the epigenetic regulation of TFL1 expression directs inflorescence architecture in Arabidopsis, adding an additional layer to stem cell regulation. The proteasome subunit RPT2a promotes DNA METHYLTRANSFERASE1 degradation, causing DNA hypomethylation upstream of TERMINAL FLOWER1 (TFL1) and high TFL1 levels in the Arabidopsis inflorescence meristem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid development of the vehicle network has brought new challenges to the management for the internet of vehicles (IoV). As a combination of the IoV and software-defined networks (SDN), the software-defined internet of vehicles can provide an efficient network management method and effectively cope with the heterogeneity and high mobility of the IoV. Although the use of a distributed control plane to build a software-defined internet of vehicles is more suitable for a distributed architecture of the IoV, for a time-sensitive network such as the internet of vehicles, the choice of edge control plane also needs to consider factors such as flexibility and reliability. Delay optimization caused by controller plane improvement, deployment cost and possible management overhead is all problems that need to be paid attention to in software-defined internet of vehicles deployment. In view of the above problems, this paper selects the roadside unit (RSU) plane to construct the edge control plane of the software-defined internet of vehicles. The initial deployment of the control plane is first achieved by defining the RSU controller priority. The designed model mainly includes three factors: node contact time, flow scale and node popularity. Secondly, frequent fluctuations of the control plane are not conducive to network management, so the placement cost function and the RSU plane fluctuation cost function are designed to trade off the control plane dynamic adjustment overhead, thereby realizing the dynamic management of the control plane. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed scheme outperforms the comparison schemes in four aspects: flow setup delay, end-to-end delay, number of controllers, and management overhead. Under normal operation, the proposed scheme is 20.3, 6.6, 34.1 and 4.9% lower than the best scheme IMABC in four parameters respectively. When the path failure probability pfail = 0.02 exists, the proposed scheme is 19, 7.9, 28.6 and 2.7% lower than the best scheme IMABC in the four parameters, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Immune checkpoint inhibitors can cause immune-related toxicity in various systems, with myocarditis being the most severe and life-threatening manifestation. This report presents a case in which myocarditis developed following administration of programmed cell death protein-1 (PD-1) inhibitors therapy. We describe the diagnosis and treatment of this patient in detail. Case report: We present the case of a 59-year-old female diagnosed with post-operative esophageal cancer and hepatic metastases. The patient underwent second-line treatment with domestically-made PD-1 inhibitor, camrelizumab, in combination with paclitaxel (albumin-bound) and carboplatin for two cycles. During the course of treatment, an electrocardiogram (ECG) revealed ST segment elevation in leads II, III, aVF, V2, V3, and V4, along with T wave changes in leads I and aVL. Laboratory examinations showed abnormal levels of N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) and cardiac troponin T (cTnT). Despite the absence of clinical symptoms, the patient was routinely hospitalized three weeks later. Based on the findings from the ECG, cardiac biomarkers, echocardiography, echocardiogram, cardiac magnetic resonance, and angiography, she was diagnosed with immune-checkpoint-inhibitors-related myocarditis. Management and outcome: The patient received immunoglobulin (0.5 g/kg/day) and was initially given methylprednisolone (1000 mg/day). Methylprednisolone was gradually reduced to 40 mg/day in 2 weeks. During this time, the levels of biomarkers indicative of myocardial injury also exhibited a simultaneous decline. Discussion: This case highlights the importance of early detection and prompt intervention, including initiating appropriate steroid therapy and discontinuing of immune checkpoint inhibitors. Such measures can effectively prevent morbidity and mortality, ultimately leading to an improved prognosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the widespread application of assisted reproductive technology, the health issues of offspring conceived through assisted reproductive technology have also received increasing attention. Animal experiments and clinical studies have found subclinical adverse changes in the cardiovascular system of assisted reproductive offspring. Assisted reproductive technology itself may be just one of the many factors contributing to this phenomenon, with epigenetics playing an important role. Ultrasound technology can be used to assess the morphological structure and function of the cardiovascular system in assisted reproductive offspring from the fetal stage, providing the possibility to study the potential cardiovascular damage in this large population. This review aims to explore the effects and mechanisms of assisted reproductive technology on the cardiovascular system of offspring and provide a review of the research progress in ultrasound technology in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In modern industrial production processes, hard instruments are often used to measure quality variables in industrial processes, but they are often subject to various economic or technical limitations and cannot successfully complete real-time monitoring tasks. In order to alleviate these problems, the soft-sensor technology is used to estimate the quality variables in real time, and a suitable prediction model is established. The process variables that can be directly measured are selected as input variables to estimate the target variables that are difficult to measure directly. Taking the iron content of ore, a key economic and technical index in the grinding process, as the prediction object, a MLP neural network soft-sensor model of grinding process based on swarm intelligent optimization algorithms is proposed. Based on the MLP neural network, the neural network is regarded as a nonlinear function. For the error function composed of nonlinear functions, an intelligent optimization algorithm is introduced to optimize it. After the optimized optimal model parameters, namely weights and thresholds, are re-assigned to the neural network, the neural network is used to predict the target variables. The simulation results indicate that the improved model exhibits enhanced generalization performance and predictive accuracy, making it capable of meeting the real-time control demands of the grinding and classification production process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current coupled climate models contain large biases in simulating tropical cyclogenesis, reducing the confidence in tropical cyclone (TC) projection. In this study, we investigated the influence of sea surface temperature (SST) biases on TC genesis in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 6 simulations from 1979 to 2014. Positive TC genesis biases were found over the tropical central North Pacific (CNP) in most of climate models, including the high-resolution models. Compared to coupled models, TC genesis density (TCGD) simulations over CNP in uncoupled models forced by observational SST improved obviously. A warm SST bias over the tropical CNP in the coupled models is the main cause of TC genesis biases. The SST bias–induced diabatic heating leads to an anomalous Gill-type atmospheric circulation response, which contributes to a series of favorable environmental conditions for TC formation over the CNP. Numerical experiments were also performed with HiRAM to demonstrate the influence of SST biases on the TCGD simulation, further confirming our conclusion. The current results highlight the importance of improving TC simulation in state-of-the-art climate models by reducing SST simulation bias. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Accumulating evidence has demonstrated that hyperglycemia is a possible risk factor for mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer's disease. Diabetic retinopathy (DR) has been identified as a risk factor for dementia in patients with diabetes. Objective: This study aimed to investigate the causal relationships between DR and brain structure, cognitive function, and dementia. Methods: We performed bidirectional two-sample Mendelian randomization for DR, brain structure, cognitive function, and dementia using the inverse-variance weighted method. Results: Inverse-variance weighted analysis showed the association of DR with vascular dementia (OR = 1.68, 95% CI: 1.01–2.82), and dementia was significantly associated with the increased risk of non-proliferative DR (NPDR) (OR = 1.76, 95% CI: 1.04–2.98). Furthermore, better cognitive performance was significantly associated with a reduced risk of NPDR (OR = 0.85, 95% CI: 0.74–0.98). No association was observed between DR and brain structure. Conclusions: These findings suggest that the association of DR with vascular dementia. The reciprocal effect of cognitive performance and dementia on NPDR risk highlights the potential benefits of dementia prevention for reducing the burden of DR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we propose a novel distributed algorithm based on model predictive control and alternating direction multiplier method (DMPC-ADMM) for cooperative trajectory planning of quadrotor swarms. First, a receding horizon trajectory planning optimization problem is constructed, in which the differential flatness property is used to deal with the nonlinear dynamics of quadrotors while we design a relaxed form of the discrete-time control barrier function (DCBF) constraint to balance feasibility and safety. Then, we decompose the original trajectory planning problem by ADMM and solve it in a fully distributed manner with peer-to-peer communication, which induces the quadrotors within the communication range to reach a consensus on their future trajectories to enhance safety. In addition, an event-triggered mechanism is designed to reduce the communication overhead. The simulation results verify that the trajectories generated by our method are real-time, safe, and smooth. A comprehensive comparison with the centralized strategy and several other distributed strategies in terms of real-time, safety, and feasibility verifies that our method is more suitable for the trajectory planning of large-scale quadrotor swarms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein we report a structure‐unit‐based asymmetric total synthesis of sinulochmodin C, a norcembranoid diterpenoid bearing a transannular strained ether bridge β‐keto tetrahydrofuran moiety. Our synthetic route features an intramolecular double Michael addition to construct stereospecifically the [7,6,5,5] tetracyclic skeleton, a vinylogous hydroxylation/oxidation procedure or a stereospecific epoxide opening/oxidation sequence to establish the γ‐keto enone intermediate, a Lewis acid/Brønsted acid mediated transannular oxa‐Michael addition to fuse the β‐keto tetrahydrofuran moiety, a Mukaiyama hydration/Pd−C hydrogenation to reverse the C1‐configuration of the isopropenyl unit, and a bioinspired transformation of sinulochmodin C into scabrolide A. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein we report a structure‐unit‐based asymmetric total synthesis of sinulochmodin C, a norcembranoid diterpenoid bearing a transannular strained ether bridge β‐keto tetrahydrofuran moiety. Our synthetic route features an intramolecular double Michael addition to construct stereospecifically the [7,6,5,5] tetracyclic skeleton, a vinylogous hydroxylation/oxidation procedure or a stereospecific epoxide opening/oxidation sequence to establish the γ‐keto enone intermediate, a Lewis acid/Brønsted acid mediated transannular oxa‐Michael addition to fuse the β‐keto tetrahydrofuran moiety, a Mukaiyama hydration/Pd−C hydrogenation to reverse the C1‐configuration of the isopropenyl unit, and a bioinspired transformation of sinulochmodin C into scabrolide A. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Growth of the Tibetan Plateau, Earth's broadest and highest elevation collisional system, shapes orographic barriers, reorganizes drainage networks, and influences surface erosion and sediment delivery, whose changes in space and provenance feed back to intracontinental tectonic processes. Studies of interior basins within the northern Tibetan Plateau provide new sediment accumulation, provenance, paleodrainage, and deformation timing data that enable a reconstruction of the far-field tectono-geomorphic evolution of the rising Tibetan Plateau. Along the northern plateau margin, topographic growth in the West Qinling Belt is inferred to have initiated in the Eocene, nearly coeval with the India-Asia collision, as well as in the late Miocene. However, geological knowledge about the intervening period remains at present enigmatic, and the kinematics and dynamics are uncertain. This study presents a multidisciplinary data set from the intermontane Anhua-Huicheng Basin (AHB; Gansu Province, China) to fill this gap. Magnetostratigraphic dating, regional mapping, and sedimentological analysis imply that contractional deformation and thrust-top basin systems formed within the West Qinling Belt in the Oligocene (not later than ca. 24 Ma). A combination of observations including paleocurrent changes, detrital zircon U-Pb age variations, and appearance of growth strata along the Anhua-Huicheng Basin reveal the rapid uplift of the West Qinling Belt at ca. 15 Ma. Sedimentation in the intermontane basins ended after the late Miocene (ca. 8 Ma), when the region experienced intrabasinal deformation, uplift, and erosion with the establishment of an external drainage system. Since the late Miocene, the growth of the West Qinling Belt reached a climax with the lack of substantial contractional deformation in Cenozoic sequences heralding the onset of the modern kinematic regime and attainment of high elevation. Observed transitions in the tectonostratigraphy and paleodrainage define different phases of deformation and plateau-wide shifts in stress reorganization, which led to the northward growth and later lateral expansion of the Tibetan Plateau. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: How a network of multiple vehicles gets to a goal formation from an initial formation is as important as reaching the goal formation. Despite that stress matrix has been well applied to construct distributed affine formation control, most works have focused on the stabilization or stability issues and paid little attention to the performance regulation or the control parameterization issues. In this paper, we aim to design an error‐model based distributed control for the affine formation maneuver of second‐order multi‐agent systems (MASs), and to demonstrate the advantages of the control approach in performance tuning. The basic idea behind the control design is to force the actual error‐trajectory dynamics of each controlled follower to approximate that of an ideal second‐order error model. The designed controller possesses a notable feature that the historical acceleration command (HAC) is used to enhance system performance during the formation maneuvers. By a theory tool of neutral functional differential equations, we develop a delay‐independent condition on the design parameters, under which the system stability is robust to the actively introduced HAC. Furthermore, we derive an inequality describe the relationship between the ultimate bounds of tracking errors and the delay parameter. This paper presents a clear mechanism to tune the comprehensive performance of affine formation control. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the stability condition and the performance‐tuning mechanism, as well as the possible fragility of the system stability to the delay when the condition is not satisfied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The material surface was sinusoidally textured using nanosecond laser processing technology, and Ni-based MoS2 coatings were applied to the resultant surfaces via plasma spray. The adhesion of the coating was investigated through separate adhesion tests to assess the impact of retaining the fusion-sputtered splash bulges and subsequently grinding them off. The coating's cross-sectional microstructure and fracture morphology were characterized to investigate its deposition and fracture mechanisms. The comparison of textured surfaces with and without bulges has shown that the exposed plain areas diminish the coating's adhesion. Furthermore, the splash bulge also significantly affects the adhesion. Fracture analysis has demonstrated that the mixed failure mode is dominated by no uplift, and adhesive failure occurs in practically all plain areas. By analyzing specimen cross-sectional morphologies and extracting coating morphological features in and around the splash bulge, several aspects, such as filling and spreading mode, the state of sprayed droplets, porosity comparison, and crack formation mechanism and distribution, were investigated. Finally, it was concluded that the excessive or large splash bulges detrimentally impact the bonding properties of the coating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Full waveform inversion (FWI) has difficulties in obtaining deep velocity models with high accuracy in practice. Thus, the authors propose a time-domain acoustic FWI method based on the first-order approximate exponential frequency to improve the deep inversion results. However, there is still a lack of partial low-frequency information. Therefore, this article used the time-domain acoustic FWI method with instantaneous amplitude low-frequency and amplitude preservation as the first-order approximate exponential frequency to solve the lack of partial low-frequency components and formed a set of multi-instantaneous attribute joint inversion processes. The tests proved the feasibility and effectiveness of the method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Divided into three main sections, each narrated from the perspective of the protagonist's ex-husband, brother-in-law, or sister, Han Kang's The Vegetarian introduces a woman whose choice of eating (and non-eating) is conditioned by the inherent violence of a patriarchal society. However, throughout the novel, the woman is given little space to voice for herself. This article examines her voicelessness, both as an oppressed female object of patriarchy and a human-turned-into-tree, to consider the politics of voice and performativity in this context. Referencing "the patriarchal texts of meat," this study examines the protagonist's transformation from meat-eater to vegetarian and eventually to tree, contextualizing the sexual politics of meat, vegetarianism, and arboreal metamorphosis. The latter part of this article turns to the questions of art, diet/hunger, performativity, and their intricate interconnectedness, to consider the protagonist's meat-refusing body as a performative text against an overwhelming patriarchal power structure and her arborealized identity as the phantasmatic performance of the "unreal." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: People with dementia often do not receive optimal person‐centred care (PCC) in care settings. Family members can play a vital role as care partners to support the person with dementia with their psychosocial needs. Participatory research that includes the perspectives of those with lived experience is essential for developing high‐quality dementia care and practices. Objective: Throughout 2021–2022, a mobile app, called WhatMatters, was co‐developed to provide easy‐to‐access and personalised support for people with dementia in hospitals and long‐term care homes, with input from patients/residents, family partners and healthcare staff. This article discusses and critically reflects on the experiences of patients/residents, family partners, and healthcare staff involved in the co‐design process. Methods: For the app development, we applied a participatory co‐design approach, guided by a User Experience (UX) model. The process involved co‐design workshops and user testing sessions with users (patients/residents, family partners, healthcare staff) to co‐develop the WhatMatters prototype. We also conducted focus groups and one on one interviews with staff and caregiver participants to explore their experiences. Our research team, which also included patient partners, took part in regular team meetings during the app's development, where we discussed and reflected on the co‐design process. Reflexive thematic analysis was performed to identify themes that represent the challenges and rewarding experiences of the users involved in the co‐design process, which guided our overall reflective process. Findings: Our reflective analysis identified five themes (1) clarifying the co‐design process, (2) ensuring inclusive collaborations of various users, and (3) supporting expression of emotion in a virtual environment, (4) feeling a sense of achievement and (5) feeling valued. Implications: WhatMatters offers potential for providing personally relevant and engaging resources in dementia care. Including the voices of relevant users is crucial to ensure meaningful benefits for patients/residents. We offer insights and lessons learned about the co‐design process, and explore the challenges of involving people with lived experiences of dementia in co‐design work, particularly during the pandemic. Key points: Participatory and co‐design research practices play an important role in developing high‐quality dementia care.While research may intend to be fully participatory in nature, certain constraints (ie: Covid‐19 pandemic restrictions) can limit and affect full participation and engagement.Strategic use of technology can be helpful for co‐design practices, especially when trying to engage stakeholders virtually.More work is needed to continue to actively involve stakeholders and people with lived experience in participatory research and co‐design work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tropical cyclone (TC) translation speed (TCS) over the western North Pacific (WNP) has experienced a long-term decreasing trend. To date, however, little is known about the multidecadal variability of TCS and its possible influence on this trend. This study investigated the multidecadal variability of the WNP TCS and the underlying physical mechanisms. Results show that the WNP TCS presents robust multidecadal variability during the past seven decades, which is dominated by the TCS over the extratropics. Further analysis shows that the Atlantic multidecadal oscillation (AMO) is responsible for the TCS multidecadal variability. AMO positive (negative) phases lead to favorable (unfavorable) large-scale environmental conditions for maintaining TCs over the extratropics, which results in longer (shorter) residence time for TCs having been accelerated by the midlatitude westerlies, thus, leading to higher (lower) TCS. The TCS phase shift strongly offsets its slowdown trend, leading to the inconsistent trends during past decades. This inconsistency may also relate to the influence of extratropical transitioned cyclones without being totally excluded. These cyclones may be inhomogeneously recorded due to the absence of satellite observation before the 1980s. Our results indicate that internal variation such as AMO may dominate TCS low-frequency variations over the past several decades. Previous studies have attributed the inconsistent trends of TCS during different subperiods to data inhomogeneity. This study shows that AMO can modulate the TCS trends in different subperiods with phase shift, thus providing new evidence for the recent controversial TCS slowdown. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most striking geological features of the Pamir is the south‐dipping lithospheric slab beneath the orogen characterized by an intracontinental Wadati‐Benioff zone. A widely accepted hypothesis over the past 40 years interprets the slab to represent southward subducted cratonic Asian continental lithosphere, which predicts significant cratonic Asia‐sourced crustal materials (e.g., Tarim Basin) beneath the Pamir. Alternatively, recent studies have interpreted the slab to be lithosphere delaminated from the base of the Pamir. To test these hypotheses, depth–tectonic affinity relations of crustal xenoliths carried by Miocene volcanic rocks in the eastern Pamir, interpreted to be sourced from the Pamir deep lithosphere, are used to determine whether they represented Asian affinity cratonic crust. Thermodynamic calculations, zircon U–Pb geochronology combined with rare earth element analysis, and whole‐rock major‐trace element and Sr–Nd isotopic analyses document that (1) eclogite and pyroxenite xenoliths (~31–43 kbar/~960–1170°C) are the deepest sourced portions of the lithosphere from ~100 to 140 km depth, the protoliths of which represent the mid‐lower crustal rocks of the Cretaceous Pamir magmatic arc, rather than material from cratonic Asia, and (2) granulite xenoliths (~20 kbar/~900°C) represent the Cenozoic lower crustal rocks of Pamir terranes from ~70 km depth. These results indicate the south‐dipping slab represents delaminated Pamir lower crust and mantle lithosphere, rather than intracontinental subduction of Asian lithosphere, and further support the hypothesis of minimal Cenozoic northward translation of the Pamir. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

De novo catalytic syntheses of diarylamines from a palladium‐catalyzed reductive Buchwald‐Hartwig amination of nitroarenes with aryl (pseudo)halides is described. The exquisite use of upstream nitroarenes as arylamine surrogates, the judicious selection of bis(pinacolato)diboron (B2pin2) as a stoichiometric reducing agent, and wide substrate scope including (hetero)aryl halides (Cl, Br and I) and aryl triflates, constitute the striking features of the current protocol. Moreover, application of this technique to the syntheses of advanced intermediates and active pharmaceutical ingredients also proved successful, thus providing an alternative step‐economical approach to the syntheses of diarylamine‐incorporated molecules. Preliminary mechanistic investigation demonstrates that an amine and a nitrosoarene intermediates might be involved in this reductive event. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we focus on solving a distributed convex aggregative optimization problem in a network, where each agent has its own cost function which depends not only on its own decision variables but also on the aggregated function of all agents' decision variables. The decision variable is constrained within a feasible set. In order to minimize the sum of the cost functions when each agent only knows its local cost function, we propose a distributed Frank–Wolfe algorithm based on gradient tracking for the aggregative optimization problem where each node maintains two estimates, namely an estimate of the sum of agents' decision variable and an estimate of the gradient of global function. The algorithm is projection‐free, but only involves solving a linear optimization to get a search direction at each step. We show the convergence of the proposed algorithm for convex and smooth objective functions over a time‐varying network. Finally, we demonstrate the convergence and computational efficiency of the proposed algorithm via numerical simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an essential part of the intelligent transportation system, vehicular ad hoc network plays a vital role in the application of the Internet of Vehicles and security services. However, as the scale of the network continues to increase, trust‐based access and data sharing between vehicles have also become essential security issues. Given how to allocate vehicle resources safely, efficiently and reliably, this paper proposes a blockchain‐based key data sharing mechanism for the Internet of Vehicles. We first utilize certificateless public key cryptography to alleviate redundancy overhead and key escrow issues. Second, with the help of the security, decentralization, and non‐tampering characteristics of the blockchain, two smart contracts are designed and used to realize vehicle identity management and data access control. The identity chain smart contract solves the security problem of vehicle identity management, and the data chain smart contract ensures reliable transaction verification and efficient resource management. At the same time, an auction method is proposed to facilitate vehicle resource transactions. The experimental results show that our solution can realize secure data sharing of the Internet of Vehicles and ensure the operating efficiency of the system. Regarding system overhead, the proposed scheme has 30.6% and 33% lower private key generation overhead and 3.3% and 20.1% lower resource transaction time than AFSN and BSM under the same conditions. In addition, using our bidding method in data chain smart contracts can have a regulatory effect on market data transactions. In the aspect of resource transaction efficiency, for the change of the number of buyers, the transaction completion rate and transaction time of the proposed scheme are better than those of the contrast scheme. When the number of buyers is 100, the transaction completion rate was 9.2% higher than that of AFSN and 17.3% higher than that of BAM. The transaction time of the scheme is 32.2% and 48.1% lower than that of AFSN and BSM, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Four compounds (1, 5, 7, and 8) were first isolated from the genus Belamcanda Adans. nom. conserv., and six known compounds (2–4, 6, 9, and 10) were isolated from the rhizome of Belamcanda chinensis (L.) DC. Their structures were confirmed by spectroscopic data. Herein, compounds 1–10 were rhapontigenin, trans-resveratrol, 5,7,4′-trihydroxy-6,3′,5′-trimethoxy-isoflavone, irisflorentin, 6-hydroxybiochannin A, iridin S, pinoresinol, 31-norsysloartanol, isoiridogermanal, and iristectorene B, respectively. All compounds were evaluated for their antiproliferative effects against five tumor cell lines (BT549, 4T1, MCF7, MDA-MB-231, and MDA-MB-468). Among them, compound 9 (an iridal-type triterpenoid) showed the highest activity against 4T1 and MDA-MB-468 cells. Further studies displayed that compound 9 inhibited cell metastasis, induced cells cycle arrest in the G1 phase, exhibited significant mitochondrial damage in 4T1 and MDA-MB-468 cells including excess reactive oxygen species, decreased mitochondrial membrane potential, and induced 4T1 and MDA-MB-468 cell apoptosis for the first time. In summary, these findings demonstrate that compound 9 exerts promising potential for triple-negative breast cancer treatment and deserves further evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Tumours of the central nervous system (CNS) are the most common solid tumours in children. The difficulties in treating this complicated variety of tumours are that they lead to high mortalities. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are a subgroup of cells found in various kinds of tumours with stem cell characteristics, such as self-renewal, induced differentiation, and tumourigenicity. The biological functions and clinical significance of CSCs in CNS tumours in children have been reported in the last few decades. However, there is no comprehensive review in this field and the information has been fragmented and confusing. Thus, we collected valuable data and findings from these reports to make a clear and concentrated review to provide a train of thought for experts in the field. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are a subgroup of cells found in various kinds of tumours with stem cell characteristics, such as self-renewal, induced differentiation, and tumourigenicity. The existence of CSCs is regarded as a major source of tumour recurrence, metastasis, and resistance to conventional chemotherapy and radiation treatment. Tumours of the central nervous system (CNS) are the most common solid tumours in children, which have many different types including highly malignant embryonal tumours and midline gliomas, and low-grade gliomas with favourable prognoses. Stem cells from the CNS tumours have been largely found and reported by researchers in the last decade and their roles in tumour biology have been deeply studied. However, the cross-talk of CSCs among different CNS tumour types and their clinical impacts have been rarely discussed. This article comprehensively reviews the achievements in research on CSCs in paediatric CNS tumours. Biological functions, diagnostic values, and therapeutic perspectives are reviewed in detail. Further investigations into CSCs are warranted to improve the clinical practice in treating children with CNS tumours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Retinal vessel segmentation is an important computer vision task for eye retinopathy diagnosis. In the real scenarios, most datasets of source domain and target domain have distribution deviation, and the model often fails to generate accurate segmentation results due to the lack of data variation in single‐source domain, which damages the generalization ability to unseen target domains and may mislead doctors or artificial intelligence model in the following diseases diagnosis. Feature normalization is one feasible solution which can standardize data into uniform and stable distribution without additional data. However, the existing methods like batch normalization, uniform the data by global parameters. This leads to insufficient representation of important semantic information in the local region. To address this problem, the authors propose the spectral‐spatial normalization (SS‐Norm) module to enhance the generalization ability of the model. More specifically, the authors perform a discrete cosine transform (DCT) to decompose the feature into multiple frequency components and to analyze the semantic contribution degree of each component. By learning a spectral vector, the authors reweight the frequency components of features and therefore normalize the distribution in the spectral domain. Extensive experiments on six datasets prove the effectiveness of the authors' methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The experiment was to investigate the effect of BA on growth performance, digestive enzyme activity and gene expression of immune metabolism related factors in Litopenaeus vannamei. A total of 450 Litopenaeus vannamei were selected and randomly divided into five groups, with three replicates in each group and 30 shrimp in each replicate. Control group, 0.5 g/kg group, 1.0 g/kg group, 2.0 g/kg group and 4.0 g/kg group added 0, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0 and 4.0 g/kg of BA to basic diet. The experimental period was 4 w. The results showed that as BA level in diet increased, the WGR, SGR and SR of shrimp first increased and then decreased. The WGR and SGR of 2.0 g/kg group and 4.0 g/kg group were significantly lower than other groups (P<0.05), and SR of 4.0 g/kg group was significantly lower than other groups (P<0.05). The protease activity in stomach, hepatopancreas and intestine of shrimp in 2.0 g/kg group and 4.0 g/kg group, as well as the lipase activity in hepatopancreas and intestine were significantly lower than those of other groups (P<0.05). Compared with control group, the lipase activity in stomach, hepatopancreas and intestine of shrimp in 0.5 g/kg group and 1.0 g/kg group was significantly increased (P<0.05). Compared with control group, the gene expression levels of CAT, GST, ATPase and chymotrypsin in liver and pancreas of shrimp in 0.5 g/kg group and 1.0 g/kg group were significantly upregulated (P<0.05). The study indicates that BA can improve the growth performance, digestive enzyme activity and immunity of penaeus prawn, and the appropriate amount of BA added to shrimp feed is 1.0 g/kg. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SiC-based ceramics with high electrical conductivity are applied widely as electrode materials and semiconductor materials. In this study, a SiC-based ceramic with relative density of 96% was prepared by ultrafast high-temperature sintering (UHS) at 2000 ℃ (with a heating rate of 1000 ℃/min) for 40 s. The resistivity of as UHS-ed SiC-based ceramic was 1/15 of that prepared by the pressureless sintering. We found that the components of as-sintered body (SiC, Si and Y 3 Si 5) by UHS were different from those (SiC and YAG) prepared by the pressureless sintering. The reason for the remarkable increase of the electrical conductivity of UHS-ed body was that the Si with higher electrical conductivity than SiC had emerged. Besides, the reaction mechanism was proposed and the unusual composition of the SiC-based ceramic sintered by UHS may also provide new reference for the application of SiC in specific fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exploration of highly efficient and robust catalyst is pivotal for electrocatalytic degradation of dye wastewater, but it still is a challenge. Here, we develop a three-dimensional self-supported SnO2-Mn2O3 hybrid nanosheets grown on carbon cloth (noted by SnO2-Mn2O3@CC) electrode via a simple hydrothermal method and annealing treatment. Benefitting from the interlaced nanosheets architecture that enlarges the surface area and the synergetic component effect that accelerates the interfacial electronic transfer, SnO2-Mn2O3@CC electrode exhibits a superior electrocatalytic degradation efficiency for cationic blue X-GRRL dye in comparison with the single metal oxide electrode containing SnO2@CC and Mn2O3@CC. The degradation efficiency of cationic blue X-GRRL on SnO2-Mn2O3@CC electrode can reach up to 97.55% within 50 min. Furthermore, self-supported architecture of nanosheets on carbon cloth framework contributes to a robust stability compared with the traditional electrode via the multiple dip/brush coating accompanied by the thermal decomposition method. SnO2-Mn2O3@CC electrode exhibits excellent recyclability, which can still retain a degradation efficiency of 94.12% after six cycles. This work may provide a new pathway for the design and exploration of highly efficient and robust electrooxidation catalysts for dye degradation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A fluorescence aptasensor based on taking the advantage of the combination of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs), terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT), and CRISPR/Cas12a was developed for the determination of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC)-derived exosomes. The MNPs can eliminate background interference due to their magnetic separation capability. TdT can form an ultra-long polynucleotide tail which can bind with multiple crRNA, generating a signal amplification effect. The trans-cleavage activity of CRISPR/Cas12a can be specifically triggered via the crRNA binding with DNA, resulting in the bi-labeled DNA reporter with fluorophore and quencher being cleaved. The excitation wavelength of the fluorescence spectra was 490 nm. Fluorescence spectra with emission wavelengths ranging from 511 to 600 nm were collected. Under the optimization condition, the fabricated fluorescence aptasensor for NPC-derived exosome determination exhibited excellent sensitivity and specificity, with the linear range between 500 to 5 × 104 particles mL−1 and the limit of detection of 100 particles mL−1. It can be used for the determination of NPC-derived exosomes in clinical samples, which has a considerable clinical potential and prospect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. The present study aimed to investigate the prognostic value of serum ferritin in critically ill patients with sepsis by using the MIMIC-IV database. Methods. Data were extracted from the MIMIC-IV database. Adult patients who met the sepsis-3 criteria and had the test of ferritin were included. Patients were divided into subgroups according to the initial serum ferritin. The association between initial serum ferritin and in-hospital mortality was performed by using Lowessregression, logistic regression, and ROC analysis. Subgroup analysis was used to search for the interacting factors and verify the robustness of the results. Results. Analysis of the 2,451 patients revealed a positive linear relationship between serum ferritin and in-hospital mortality. Patients with high-ferritin had a higher risk of in-hospital mortality, but no significant association was found in the low-ferritin subgroup compared with those whose ferritin was in the normal reference range. Serum ferritin had moderate predictive power for in-hospital mortality (AUC = 0.651), with an optimal cut-off value of 591.5 ng/ml. Ferritin ≥591.5 ng/ml acted as an independent prognostic predictor of in-hospital mortality, which increased the risk of in-hospital mortality by 119%. Our findings were still robust in subgroup analysis, and acute kidney injury and anemia were considered interactive factors. Conclusion. High-level serum ferritin was an independent prognostic marker for the prediction of mortality in patients with sepsis. Further high-quality research is needed to confirm the relationship between ferritin and the prognosis of septic patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new species Sinosenecio yangii D.G. Zhang & Q. Zhou (Asteraceae, Senecioneae) from Guizhou Province, China, is described and illustrated based on its morphological characteristics and molecular evidence. It closely resembles S. confervifer and S. guangxiensis, the former in the scapigerous habit and smooth and glabrous achene surface, the latter in the calyculate involucre and purple abaxial leaf surface, and both in the shape and indumentum of leaf lamina, but differs markedly from the latter two in having fewer capitula and epappose achenes. Phylogenetic analysis based on nrITS and ndhC-trnV sequences shows that this new species belongs to the S. latouchei clade and is sister to S. guangxiensis with moderate support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Place recognition is an essential part of simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM). LiDAR-based place recognition relies almost exclusively on geometric information. However, geometric information may become unreliable when faced with environments dominated by unstructured objects. In this paper, we explore the role of segmentation for extracting key structured information. We propose STV-SC, a novel segmentation and temporal verification enhanced place recognition method for unstructured environments. It contains a range image-based 3D point segmentation algorithm and a three-stage process to detect a loop. The three-stage method consists of a two-stage candidate loop search process and a one-stage segmentation and temporal verification (STV) process. Our STV process utilizes the time-continuous feature of SLAM to determine whether there is an occasional mismatch. We quantitatively demonstrate that the STV process can trigger false detections caused by unstructured objects and effectively extract structured objects to avoid outliers. Comparison with state-of-art algorithms on public datasets shows that STV-SC can run online and achieve improved performance in unstructured environments (Under the same precision, the recall rate is 1.4∼16% higher than Scan context). Therefore, our algorithm can effectively avoid the mismatching caused by the original algorithm in unstructured environment and improve the environmental adaptability of mobile agents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

NiAl intermetallic formation occurs along the interfaces in the Ni/Al multilayer system during molecular dynamics simulations of deep (>50%) supercooling. The simulations begin with a crystalline solid solution at the Ni/Al interfaces that melts at 800 K, a supercooling of 56% of NiAl's simulated melting temperature (1800 K), and undergoes solid-state amorphization at 650 K, a supercooling of 64%. The intermetallic phase, NiAl, then forms at the interface from the melted/amorphous region through heterogeneous nucleation followed by growth in both lateral and normal directions. Upon nucleation, the intermetallic phase retains a fraction of the composition gradient present within the initial solid solution, and that fraction is always larger at 650 K, compared to 800 K, for the same initial composition gradient. Kinetics of the transformation follows the Johnson-Mehl-Avrami model, and an Avrami exponent of 0.5 was extracted at 800 K and 0.1 at 650 K. The NiAl formation is growth-controlled and the growth rate is found to increase with the decreasing initial composition gradient. Our finding supports a growth-competition mechanism of phase selection for interfacial reactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we consider the design of a tracking controller for a class of uncertain nonlinear systems with external disturbances and actuator failures and achieve predesignated performance results on the tracking error. First, since the existing prescribed performance strategies are unable to specify performance bounds in an arbitrary way, we propose a new tool to address the prescribed performance issue by constructing chained first‐order filters and an input switching method. With the aid of the new and flexible prescribed performance tool, any predesignated continuous bounds can be formed by setting the reference coordinate values, sufficiently small coordinate value intervals and the gain parameters of the filters. Second, a full state feedback controller design scheme based on the prescribed performance bounds, which describe the convergence rate and maximum overshoot of the tracking error, is proposed. It is proven that the tracking error always satisfies the prescribed performance bounds. Finally, simulation studies are used to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed tool and the correctness of the established theoretical results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Harmonic injection is commonly used in permanent magnet synchronous motor torque ripple minimization (TRM) of electric vehicle. Traditional inverter switching frequency limits TRM application at high speed due to harmonic modulation accuracy and inverter loss. To achieve TRM in the whole speed range and reduce inverter loss, a novel online calculated low carrier ratio pulsewidth modulation (LCRPWM) is proposed in this article. The carrier ratio determining regular according to the injected harmonics is established first. The relationship between injected harmonics and LCRPWM switching angle is revealed and a set of nonlinear equations is established. Thus, the problem is transformed from solving nonlinear equations into optimization by establishing a cost function. The analytical solutions of nonlinear equations are obtained, which avoids iterative operation and plunging into local minimum. Therefore, the switch angle solution method is suitable for online calculation. The LCRPWM is verified in simulation compared with the traditional regularly sampled space vector PWM, which achieves better results in voltage harmonic injection and flux tracking at a much lower switching frequency. At last, the LCRPWM is used in a test bench experiment that shows good TRM effects. The influence of sideband harmonics on torque ripple is analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Powder injection molding enables the complex shape molding of SiC. The strength of a green body is one of the most important properties in injection molding. Due to the long heating time, the thermal debinding of the wax-based binder in powder injection molding is usually a very energy-consuming process. In this study, the synergy of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) in a wax-based binder was designed for SiC ceramics prepared by powder injection molding. The microstructure, mechanical properties and rheological properties of the sample were studied. The results demonstrated that the best ratio of adding LDPE to the binder was 6 wt%. A combination of LDPE and HDPE reduced the sensitivity coefficient and viscosity of the feedstock, which improved the uniformity of the green body. When 6 wt% LDPE was added to the binder, the tensile properties, impact properties and bending properties of the green body increased by 22%, 19% and 25%, respectively. The heating time of the thermal debinding was shortened by 40%, which greatly reduced the energy consumption. Based on the properties of LDPE, the theoretical model of thermal debinding analysis was performed. The short and branched chain of LDPE refines the microstructure of HDPE and provides more exhaust channels for thermal debinding. The compound binder in this work may also be used in the injection molding of other materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coexistence of metal cations is often accompanied by organic pollution and could affect the environmental fate of organics by mediating the formation of cation bridges. However, the environmental fate and risk of organics in cation co-existing environments are poorly understood due to the lack of accurate identification of cation bridge formation and stability. In this study, the sorption of sulfamethoxazole (SMX) on montmorillonite (MT) with the coexistence of three different valence metal cations (Na+, Ca2+, and Cr3+) was investigated. Ca2+ and Cr3+ can significantly promote the sorption of SMX on MT for about 5∼10 times promotion, respectively, while Na+ bridges displayed little effect on the sorption of SMX. The sorption binding energy of SMX with MT-Ca (−44.01 kcal/mol) and MT-Cr (−64.57 kcal/mol) bridges was significantly lower than that with MT-Na (−38.45 kcal/mol) and MT (−39.39 kcal/mol), indicating that the sorption affinity of SMX on Cr and Ca bridges was much stronger. The higher valence of the cations also resulted in a more stable adsorbed SMX with less desorption fluctuation. In addition, the relatively higher initial concentration of SMX and the valence of cations increased the bonding density of the cation bridges, thus promoting the apparent sorption of SMX on MT to a certain extent. This work reveals the formation and function of cation bridges in the sorption of SMX on MT. It lays a theoretical foundation for further understanding the environmental fate and risk of organics. The increasing sorption affinity, stability, and bonding density of sulfamethoxazole on montmorillonite in the ternary interactions with increased valence of cations. [Display omitted] • Ca2+ and Cr3+ bridges significantly promoted the sorption of SMX on MT. • The formation of cation bridges promoted the SMX sorption on MT. • Higher valence of cations resulted in a stronger sorption affinity of SMX on MT. • The density of the bridges is decided by the SMX concentration and cation valence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, black highland barley semi-dried noodles (BHBSNs) were adjusted to acidic pH (5.0, 4.5, 4.0) with an acidity regulator (monosodium fumarate) for obtaining low glycemic index (GI) BHBSNs, and the changes in the in vitro starch digestion, free phenolic content, and α-amylase activity in BHBSNs were investigated. The estimated glycemic index (eGI) of BHBSNs decreased from 59.23 to 52.59, 53.89 and 53.61, respectively, as the pH was adjusted from 6.0 to 5.0, 4.5, 4.0. As the pH of BHBSNs decreased, the equilibrium hydrolysis (C ∞) decreased, and kinetic coefficient (k) decreased and then increased. Compared to the control, the pH of the digestive fluid decreased during digestion with decreasing pH, and the α-amylase inhibition of BHBSNs with pH 5.0, 4.5, and 4.0 increased by 56.54 %, 75.18 %, and 107.98 %, respectively. In addition, as the pH of BHBSNs decreased, the free phenolic content and the content of released phenolics during digestion increased. Pearson correlations analysis showed that the increase in α-amylase inhibition and phenolic release during digestion induced by acidic pH was negatively correlated with the eGI and C ∞ of BHBSNs. This study indicated that acidic pH condition could modulate starch digestion for preparing low GI BHBSNs. [Display omitted] • Acidic pH reduced starch digestion and eGI of BHBSNs. • The pH in the digestive fluid of acidic BHBSNs was lower than the control. • Acidic pH caused an increase in the phenolics released during digestion of BHBSNs. • The lower pH and the released phenolics inhibited the activity of α-amylase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The low permeability of the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria is a serious obstacle to the development of new antibiotics against them. Conjugation of antibiotic with siderophore based on the "Trojan horse strategy" is a promising strategy to overcome the outer membrane obstacle. In this study, series of antibacterial agents were designed and synthesized by conjugating the 3-hydroxypyridin-4(1 H)-one based siderophores with cajaninstilbene acid (CSA) derivative 4 which shows good activity against Gram-positive bacteria by targeting their cell membranes but is ineffective against Gram-negative bacteria. Compared to the inactive parent compound 4 , the conjugates 45c or 45d exhibits significant improvement in activity against Gram-negative bacteria, including Escherichia coli , Klebsiella pneumoniae and especially P. aeruginosa (minimum inhibitory concentrations, MICs = 7.8–31.25 μM). The antibacterial activity of the conjugates is attributed to the CSA derivative moiety, and the action mechanism is by disruption of bacterial cell membranes. Further studies on the uptake mechanisms showed that the bacterial siderophore-dependent iron transport system was involved in the uptake of the conjugates. In addition, the conjugates 45c and 45d showed a lower cytotoxic effects in vivo and in vitro and a positive therapeutic effect in the treatment of C. elegans infected by P. aeruginosa. Overall, our work describes a new class and a promising 3-hydroxypyridin-4(1 H)-one- CSA derivative conjugates for further development as antibacterial agents against Gram-negative bacteria. [Display omitted] • The 3-hydroxypyridin-4(1 H)-one-cajaninstilbene acid conjugates were synthesized. • Conjugates show significantly improved in activity against Gram-negative bacteria. • The active conjugates show positive therapeutic effect, and low toxicity. • The active conjugates could cause bacterial membrane disruption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to improve the microwave deicing efficiency of airport road surface concrete, the method of incorporating carbon fiber materials of different doping amounts and lengths into concrete is proposed. The test method is optimized by using a fiber-optic temperature sensor and a self-developed open microwave deicing vehicle, and the effect of the coupling effect of different carbon fiber doping and length on the microwave deicing efficiency of concrete is studied. The results of the study show that the appropriate amount of carbon fiber blended into the concrete can significantly improve the microwave deicing efficiency, and the reasonable use of carbon fiber-modified concrete can achieve the purpose of efficient deicing of the airport road surface. By analyzing the temperature rise curve, temperature rise rate curve, deicing effect, and infrared thermography of the microwave deicing process, combined with the "heat generation-heat dissipation" theory, the microwave deicing is divided into four stages: concrete wave absorption, water layer formation, ice thinning, and ice breaking and ice melting. In the process of microwave deicing of concrete, changing the length of carbon fiber and the amount of doping will have a greater impact on the rate of temperature rise and deicing range, but the shape of deicing remains basically the same, mainly spindle-shaped. When the length of carbon fiber is short, it is not conducive to the absorption of microwave by concrete, and with the increase of fiber length and doping amount, the wave absorption performance of carbon fiber-modified concrete on the airport road surface is gradually improved; when the fiber length is 0.6 cm and the fiber doping amount is 2‰, the wave absorption performance is the best, and the deicing rate is 1.82 times of ordinary concrete, and the deicing area is 1.2 times of ordinary concrete. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The exploration of high-performance and low-cost electrocatalysts towards the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is essential for large-scale water/seawater splitting. Herein, we develop a strategy involving the in situ generation of a template and pore-former to encapsulate a Ni5P4/Ni2P heterojunction and dispersive FeNi alloy hybrid particles into a three-dimensional hierarchical porous graphitic carbon framework (labeled as Ni5P4/Ni2P–FeNi@C) via a room-temperature solid-state grinding and sodium-carbonate-assisted pyrolysis method. The synergistic effect of the components and the architecture provides a large surface area with a sufficient number of active sites and a hierarchical porous pathway for efficient electron transfer and mass diffusion. Furthermore, a graphitic carbon coating layer restrains the corrosion of alloy particles to boost the long-term durability of the catalyst. Consequently, the Ni5P4/Ni2P–FeNi@C catalyst exhibits extraordinary OER activity with a low overpotential of 242 mV (10 mA cm−2), outperforming the commercial RuO2 catalyst in 1 M KOH. Meanwhile, a scale-up of the Ni5P4/Ni2P–FeNi@C catalyst created by a ball-milling method displays a similar level of activity to the above grinding method. In 1 M KOH + seawater electrolyte, Ni5P4/Ni2P–FeNi@C also displays excellent stability; it can continuously operate for 160 h with a negligible potential increase of 2 mV. This work may provide a new avenue for facile mass production of an efficient electrocatalyst for water/seawater splitting and diverse other applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Refractory iron ore is often discarded as tailings. This causes a great waste of iron resources. In this paper, the flash roasting-magnetic separation process was designed by combining the magnetic separation process of magnetite and the process mineralogy of iron tailings. The flash suspension roasting effects with 3–4 s roasting time were evaluated by magnetic separation. The MLA results show that the tailings are ground to a fineness of P90 −75 μm, where the distribution of siderite and M/H in the −75 μm particle size is 85.37% and 92.75%, respectively. Moreover, M/H and siderite are mainly associated with muscovite and quartz. This indicates that regrinding for contiguous bodies of M/H and siderite is beneficial for improving the grade and recovery of iron concentrates. The results of the flash roasting-magnetic separation process show that a mixed iron concentrate containing 60.10% Fe with an iron recovery of 81.13% would be achieved after selective grinding and staged magnetic separation of the roasted ore. The result indicates that the flash suspension roasting effects with 3–4 s roasting time are achievable. The study provides an efficient approach for recovering refractory iron from tailings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present work aimed to elucidate the influence of wall breakage induced by thermal processing on the molecular, structural, and antioxidant activities of water-soluble polysaccharides in chickpeas. Different extents of cell wall disruption were observed by fluorescence microscopy in chickpea cotyledons. Moreover, a decreasing fluorescence intensity of cell wall fragments was observed in the flour residues upon heat fluidization, autoclaving, and microwave heating, and the polysaccharide extraction rates were increased by 31.47%, 25.52%, and 9.79%, respectively. Furthermore, WPUCP, WPHCP, WPMCP, and WPACP (water-soluble polysaccharides from unprocessed, heat fluidized, microwaved, and autoclaved chickpeas, respectively) were RG-I (rhamnogalacturonan-I)-enriched pectic polysaccharides composed of galactose, arabinose, galacturonic acid, and rhamnose. After chickpea thermal processing, the degrees of branching decreased to 2.87, 3.79, and 2.53 in WPHCP, WPMCP, and WPACP, respectively, and the molecular weights were reduced by 46.46%, 24.83%, and 59.91%, respectively. Structural analysis showed that the semicrystalline regions of WPHCP, WPMCP, and WPACP were slightly damaged without changing the functional groups, but their thermal stability decreased. Interestingly, WPACP formed an ordered conformation (microporous network structure) through the formation of hydrogen bonds. Moreover, the antioxidant activities of WPHCP, WPMCP, and WPACP were enhanced, and the strongest radical scavenging activity was observed for WPHCP. [Display omitted] • Cotyledon cell walls were dramatically broken upon different heat treatments. • Heat-induced wall-broken increased the dissolution rate of pectic polysaccharides. • Molecular weight decreased by the scission of side chains in RG-I domain. • Molecular morphology changed from rod-like aggregates to microporous network. • Heat fluidization imparted the strongest radical scavenging activity to polysaccharides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How to effectively fuse temporal information from consecutive frames remains to be a non-trivial problem in video super-resolution (SR), since most existing fusion strategies (direct fusion, slow fusion, or 3D convolution) either fail to make full use of temporal information or cost too much calculation. To this end, we propose a novel progressive fusion network for video SR, in which frames are processed in a way of progressive separation and fusion for the thorough utilization of spatio-temporal information. We particularly incorporate multi-scale structure and hybrid convolutions into the network to capture a wide range of dependencies. We further propose a non-local operation to extract long-range spatio-temporal correlations directly, taking place of traditional motion estimation and motion compensation (ME&MC). This design relieves the complicated ME&MC algorithms, but enjoys better performance than various ME&MC schemes. Finally, we improve generative adversarial training for video SR to avoid temporal artifacts such as flickering and ghosting. In particular, we propose a frame variation loss with a single-sequence training method to generate more realistic and temporally consistent videos. Extensive experiments on public datasets show the superiority of our method over state-of-the-art methods in terms of performance and complexity. Our code is available at https://github.com/psychopa4/MSHPFNL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Study Objective: To explore the impact of pre‐hospital ACEI and ARB exposure on the prognosis of ARF patients. Design: A single‐center retrospective cohort study. Setting: Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care‐III (MIMIC‐III) database. Patients: The patients meeting ICD‐9 code of acute respiratory failure were enrolled. Intervention: The primary exposure was the pre‐hospital exposure of ACEI and ARB. Measurement and main results: The primary outcome was in‐hospital mortality. Multiple logistic regression analysis was conducted to determine the independent effect of ACEI/ARB exposure on mortality. Propensity score matching (PSM) method was adopted to reduce bias of the confounders. Subgroup analysis and sensitivity analysis were used to test the stability of the conclusion. 5335 adult ARF patients were enrolled. Mortality was significantly decreased in patients with ACEI/ARB exposure before and after PSM, and the adjusted odds ratio (OR) of ACEI/ARB exposure was 0.56 (95% CI 0.43–0.72). In the subgroup analysis, ACEI/ARB lost its protective effect in young subgroup, but no significant interaction was found between ACEI/ARB exposure and age (p = 0.082). The point estimation and lower 95% limit of E‐value was 2.97 and 2.12. In sensitivity analysis, ACEI/ARB exposure showed similar effect in ARDS cohort, but no significantly difference was found in the MIMIC‐IV database, which may be explained by small sample size of the ACEI/ARB group. Conclusions: Among patients with acute respiratory failure, pre‐hospital ACEI/ARB exposure was associated with better outcomes and acted as an independent factor. The relationship between ACEI/ARB and prognosis of ARF is worth investigating further. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: Stretchable MXene organohydrogel contains MXene network for electron conduction and water/glycerin binary solvent for ion transmission was prepared. The MXene organohydrogel exhibits exceptionally enhanced EMI shielding performance compared to hydrogel, as well as low-temperature tolerance, anti-drying ability. Conductive hydrogels have potential applications in shielding electromagnetic (EM) radiation interference in deformable and wearable electronic devices, but usually suffer from poor environmental stability and stretching-induced shielding performance degradation. Although organohydrogels can improve the environmental stability of materials, their development is at the expense of reducing electrical conductivity and thus weakening EM interference shielding ability. Here, a MXene organohydrogel is prepared which is composed of MXene network for electron conduction, binary solvent channels for ion conduction, and abundant solvent-polymer-MXene interfaces for EM wave scattering. This organohydrogel possesses excellent anti-drying ability, low-temperature tolerance, stretchability, shape adaptability, adhesion and rapid self-healing ability. Two effective strategies have been proposed to solve the problems of current organohydrogel shielding materials. By reasonably controlling the MXene content and the glycerol-water ratio in the gel, MXene organohydrogel can exhibit exceptionally enhanced EM interference shielding performances compared to MXene hydrogel due to the increased physical cross-linking density of the gel. Moreover, MXene organohydrogel shows attractive stretching-enhanced interference effectiveness, caused by the connection and parallel arrangement of MXene nanosheets. This well-designed MXene organohydrogel has potential applications in shielding EM interference in deformable and wearable electronic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Spinal cord injury (SCI) is one of the serious complications of thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm (TAAA) repair. Cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) and left heart bypass (LHB) are well-established extracorporeal circulatory assistance methods to increase distal aortic perfusion and prevent spinal cord ischaemia in TAAA repair. Aorto-iliac bypass, a new surgical adjunct offering distal aortic perfusion without the need of complex perfusion skills, was developed as a substitute for CPB and LHB. However, its spinal cord protective effect is unknown.Methods: The perioperative data of 183 patients who had elective open Crawford extent II and III TAAA repair at our aortic centre from July 2011 to May 2019 were retrospectively analysed. Spinal cord protection was compared between the aorto-iliac bypass group (n=106) and the extracorporeal circulatory assistance group (n=77 [65 CPB, 12 LHB]), and the risk factors for SCI in these patients were explored.Results: Eleven (11) patients had postoperative SCI: five (6.5%) in the extracorporeal circulatory assistance group (four with CPB and one with LHB), and six (5.7%) in the aorto-iliac bypass group. The incidence of SCI was 6.0% (11/183 cases). There was no difference between the aorto-iliac bypass group and the extracorporeal circulatory assistance group (p=1.0), while operation time, proximal aortic clamp time, intercostal artery clamp time, and length of intensive care unit stay were all increased in the latter group. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that cerebrospinal fluid pressure (odds ratio [OR] 1.270; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.092-1.478 [p=0.002]) and lowest haemoglobin on the first postoperative day (OR 0.610; 95% CI 0.416-0.895 [p=0.011]) were the independent predictors of SCI in TAAA repair.Conclusions: Spinal cord protection of aorto-iliac bypass is comparable to that of CPB and LHB in open TAAA repair. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to investigate the influence of sinusoidal texture (ST) with different morphology parameters on the corresponding tribological effects. Design/methodology/approach: The STs with different amplitudes, ranging from 0.05 to 0.3 mm, and frequencies, ranging from 5 to 17.5, are fabricated using nanosecond pulsed laser equipment. The friction experiments and the finite element analysis method are combined to investigate the tribological properties, under dry friction conditions. Findings: Test results show that when the amplitude is 0.15 mm and frequency is 10, ST surface has the lowest friction coefficient of 0.373, and exhibits great anti-friction effect. It also possesses a complete texture edge after friction. The friction reduction effect of ST with larger or smaller amplitude and frequency is worse. Originality/value: The results of this study can provide a guidance for the design optimization of ST of reciprocating sliding contact surfaces, under dry friction conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]