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Most central nervous diseases are accompanied by astrocyte activation. Autophagy, an important pathway for cells to protect themselves and maintain homeostasis, is widely involved in regulation of astrocyte activation. Reactive astrocytes may play a protective or harmful role in different diseases due to different phenotypes of astrocytes. It is an urgent task to clarify the formation mechanisms of inflammatory astrocyte phenotype, A1 astrocytes. Sestrin2 is a highly conserved protein that can be induced under a variety of stress conditions as a potential protective role in oxidative damage process. However, whether Sestrin2 can affect autophagy and involve in A1 astrocyte conversion is still uncovered. In this study, we reported that Sestrin2 and autophagy were significantly induced in mouse hippocampus after multiple intraperitoneal injections of lipopolysaccharide, with the elevation of A1 astrocyte conversion and inflammatory mediators. Knockdown Sestrin2 in C8‐D1A astrocytes promoted the levels of A1 astrocyte marker C3 mRNA and inflammatory factors, which was rescued by autophagy inducer rapamycin. Overexpression of Sestrin2 in C8‐D1A astrocytes attenuated A1 astrocyte conversion and reduced inflammatory factor levels via abundant autophagy. Moreover, Sestrin2 overexpression improved mitochondrial structure and morphology. These results suggest that Sestrin2 can suppress neuroinflammation by inhibiting A1 astrocyte conversion via autophagy, which is a potential drug target for treating neuroinflammation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Degeneration of intervertebral discs is considered one of the most important causes of low back pain and disability. The intervertebral disc (IVD) is characterized by its susceptibility to various stressors that accelerate the senescence and apoptosis of nucleus pulposus cells, resulting in the loss of these cells and dysfunction of the intervertebral disc. Therefore, how to reduce the loss of nucleus pulposus cells under stress environment is the main problem in treating intervertebral disc degeneration. Autophagy is a kind of programmed cell death, which can provide energy by recycling substances in cells. It is considered to be an effective method to reduce the senescence and apoptosis of nucleus pulposus cells under stress. However, further research is needed on the mechanisms by which autophagy of nucleus pulposus cells is regulated under stress environments. M6A methylation, as the most extensive RNA modification in eukaryotic cells, participates in various cellular biological functions and is believed to be related to the regulation of autophagy under stress environments, may play a significant role in nucleus pulposus responding to stress. This article first summarizes the effects of various stressors on the death and autophagy of nucleus pulposus cells. Then, it summarizes the regulatory mechanism of m6A methylation on autophagy‐related genes under stress and the role of these autophagy genes in nucleus pulposus cells. Finally, it proposes that the methylation modification of autophagy‐related genes regulated by m6A may become a new treatment approach for intervertebral disc degeneration, providing new insights and ideas for the clinical treatment of intervertebral disc degeneration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Remote sensing imagery usually suffers from information loss issues due to the sensor defects and harsh atmospheric conditions, resulting in a significant decrease in data quality. In light of this, a novel image reconstruction method is proposed to improve the usability of such data. The proposed method uses the isophote information in reference image as constraint to recover the missing information in target image. Isophote refers to the neighboring pixels with same illumination intensity, that is, the pixels with similar gray values. The adaptive weighted gradient is put forward to calculate the isophote of a pixel. Due to the greater weight in the direction of minimum gradient, the difference between similar pixels in image tends to remain constant to minimize the isophote difference between images. As a result, in the reconstructed image, radiometric differences between reference image and target image are attributed to areas where pixel values change significantly, and the pixels belonging to same ground feature will have similar values, thereby ensuring the internal stability of the feature and increasing the variance between different features. Furthermore, to control the color fidelity of ground features and improve the reconstruction accuracy, the target image is updated with certain pixels before isophote-based image reconstruction. These pixels are filled with the auxiliary information outside the missing area under color-structure control, and evenly distributed in each uniformly colored small zone of the missing area. Experiments under different missing information cases have demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed method, and the experimental results indicate that the proposed method can obtain visually reasonable images with high color consistency and reconstruction accuracy even for images with large missing areas. The source code of this work is available at https://github.com/YuXiaoyu221/IC_CSC-Information-Reconstruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aero-engines and rocket engines regularly experience unstable combustion phenomena. In order to reveal the complex mechanism, it is necessary to measure the jet gas–liquid interface disturbances. However, most techniques require optical access and the measurement fails when the optical access is limited. Ultrasonic method can be considered as an alternative under this condition. The present work proposes an acoustic approach for measuring the jet gas–liquid interface based on ultrasonic scattering. A thorough investigation of the scattered acoustic field by the jet is conducted by experimental methods. The high-speed imaging technology is used to verify the ultrasonic measurement results. The direct measurement results demonstrate a relationship between the perturbation of the jet gas–liquid interface and that of ultrasonic scattered acoustic pressure in certain measuring direction. The scattered acoustic field is analyzed theoretically and practically by using customized metal scatters of certain size. Based on these findings, a database is created to enable the ultrasonic measurements to be calibrated. The corrected result shows that the correlation of ultrasonic measurements and results from cameras has been greatly improved, and the maximum relative error of the ultrasonic measurements is 30.9%, the average relative measurement error is 2.1%. It is proved that the method of determining the gas–liquid interface of jet by ultrasonic scattering wave is feasible. The method may also be used for the measurement of the overall jet fluctuations and breakup. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data augmentation diversifies the information in the dataset. For class imbalance, the copy‐paste augmentation generates new class information to alleviate the impact of this problem. However, these methods rely excessively on human intuition. Over‐fitting or under‐fitting can occur while adding the class information, which is inappropriate. The authors propose a self‐adaptive data augmentation: the copy‐paste with self‐adaptation (CPA) algorithm, which improves the phenomenon of over‐fitting and under‐fitting. For the CPA, the evaluation results of a model are taken as an important adjustment basis. The evaluation results are combined with the information of class imbalance to generate a set of class weights. Different number of class information will be replenished according to class weights. Finally, the generated images will be inserted into the training dataset and the model will start formal training. The experimental results show that CPA can alleviate class imbalance. For TT100 K dataset, YOLOv3 is trained with the optimised dataset and its AP is increased by 2% for VOC2007 dataset, the mAP of RetinaNet on optimised dataset is 78.46, which is 1.2% higher than original dataset. For COCO2017 dataset, SSD300 is trained with the optimised dataset and its AP is increased by 1.3%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Synapse formation in complex neuronal network is a pivotal process for normal functioning of nervous system. Although intense research has been conducted, how neurons and axons are guided toward the target remains largely unclear. In traditional opinions, axons are directed through chemotaxis, while recently mechanotaxis has been brought up as a potential complementary mechanism, as it can provide delicately controlled signals in addition to the random diffusive chemical cues. To further explore the path‐finding mechanism, a quasi‐3D in vitro model for neuronal cells is constructed by integrating hydrogel collagen I as extracellular matrix (ECM), and primary mouse cortical neurons and PC12 cells are tested. It is strikingly found out that axons and neuronal cells can be precisely guided toward target neurites via ECM. By developing a label‐free traction force microscopy technique, the force networks among neurons are presented, validating that the fibrous matrix‐transmitted paratensile signals can assist the axon pathfinding. This precise axon guidance is related to the activation of mechanosensitive ion channels, calcium signaling, and probably the following F‐actin assembly. This mechanism can potentially assist developing clinical applications and designing biomaterials in near future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Laparoscopy is employed in conventional minimally invasive surgery to inspect internal cavities by viewing two-dimensional images on a monitor. This method has a limited field of view and provides insufficient information for surgeons, increasing surgical complexity. Utilizing simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) technology to reconstruct laparoscopic scenes can offer more comprehensive and intuitive visual feedback. Moreover, the precision of the reconstructed models is a crucial factor for further applications of surgical assistance systems. However, challenges such as data scarcity and scale uncertainty hinder effective assessment of the accuracy of endoscopic monocular SLAM reconstructions. Therefore, this paper proposes a technique that incorporates existing knowledge from calibration objects to supplement metric information and resolve scale ambiguity issues, and it quantifies the endoscopic reconstruction accuracy based on local alignment metrics. The experimental results demonstrate that the reconstructed models restore realistic scales and enable error analysis for laparoscopic SLAM reconstruction systems. This suggests that for the evaluation of monocular SLAM three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction accuracy in minimally invasive surgery scenarios, our proposed scheme for recovering scale factors is viable, and our evaluation outcomes can serve as criteria for measuring reconstruction precision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cost-reducing potential of intelligent supply chains (ISCs) has been recognized by companies and researchers. This paper investigates a two-echelon steel supply chain scheduling problem that considers the parallel-batching processing and deterioration effect in the production stage and sufficient vehicles in the port delivery stage. To solve this problem, we first analyze several sufficient and necessary conditions of the optimal scheme. We then propose a heuristic algorithm based on a dynamic programming algorithm to obtain the optimal solution for a special case where the assignment of all ingots to the soaking pits is known. Based on the results of this special case, we develop a modified biased random-key genetic algorithm (BRKGA), which incorporates genetic operations based on the flower pollination algorithm (FPA) to obtain joint production and distribution schedules for the general problem. Finally, we conduct a series of computational experiments, the results of which indicate that BRKGA-FPA has certain advantages in solving quality and convergence speed issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Synthetic ligands often show undesired polypharmacology, affecting the function of multiple targets. In this issue of Structure , Huber et al. developed a PXR-specific agonist based on a promiscuous ligand. Their structure-guided approach exploited the malleability of the PXR ligand-binding pocket, which unlike other nuclear receptors could accommodate bulkier ligands. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tomato yield prediction plays an important role in agricultural production planning and management, market supply and demand balance, and agricultural risk management. To solve the problems of low accuracy and high uncertainty of tomato yield prediction methods in solar greenhouses, based on experimental data for water and fertilizer consumption by greenhouse tomatoes in different regions over many years, this paper investigated the prediction models of greenhouse tomato yields under three different soil fertility conditions (low, medium, and high). Under these three different soil fertility conditions, greenhouse tomato yields were predicted using the neural network prediction model (NN), the neural network prediction model based on particle swarm optimization (PSO–NN), the neural network prediction model based on an adaptive inertia weight particle swarm optimization algorithm (AIWPSO–NN), and the neural network prediction model based on the improved particle swarm optimization algorithm (IPSO–NN). The experimental results demonstrate that the evaluation indexes (mean square error, mean absolute error, and R2) of the IPSO–NN prediction model proposed in this paper were superior to the other three prediction models (i.e., NN prediction model, AIWPSO–NN prediction model, and IPSO–NN prediction model) under three different soil fertility conditions. Among them, compared with the NN prediction model, the MSE of the other three prediction models under high soil fertility decreased to 0.0082, 0.0041, and 0.0036; MAE decreased to 0.0759, 0.0511, and 0.0489; R2 decreased to 0.8641, 0.9323, and 0.9408. These results indicated that the IPSO–NN prediction model had a higher predictive ability for greenhouse tomato yields under three different soil fertility conditions. In view of the important role of tomato yield prediction in greenhouses, this technology may be beneficial to agricultural management and decision support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Viral genomics and epidemiology have been increasingly important tools for analysing the spread of key pathogens affecting daily lives of individuals worldwide. With the rapidly expanding scale of pathogen genome sequencing efforts for epidemics and outbreaks efficient workflows in extracting genomic information are becoming increasingly important for answering key research questions. Results: Here we present Genofunc, a toolkit offering a range of command line orientated functions for processing of raw virus genome sequences into aligned and annotated data ready for analysis. The tool contains functions such as genome annotation, feature extraction etc. for processing of large genomic datasets both manual or as part of pipeline such as Snakemake or Nextflow ready for down-stream phylogenetic analysis. Originally designed for a large-scale HIV sequencing project, Genofunc has been benchmarked against annotated sequence gene coordinates from the Los Alamos HIV database as validation with downstream phylogenetic analysis result comparable to past literature as case study. Conclusion: Genofunc is implemented fully in Python and licensed under the MIT license. Source code and documentation is available at: https://github.com/xiaoyu518/genofunc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Frequency measurement is one of the key techniques in high-precision data acquisition technology of broadband signals. Generally, frequency measurement not only needs to deal with a large amount of data processing but also requires a high precision, but these two aspects are sometimes difficult to reconcile. Some algorithms are overly dependent on the accuracy of the to-be-measured data, which might not be the desired option for real projects since it is almost impossible to get ideal error-free data. This article adopts a frequency measurement method based on the coordinate rotation digital computer algorithm, differential algorithm, and Kalman filter. The use of these algorithms for the frequency measurement process would not only simplify the calculation but also reduce the effect of the measurement error. This method can measure all signals that satisfy the sampling theorem and can also measure multi-channel parallel signals. The experimental results of data simulation and actual measurement on the hardware platform show that the accurate frequency measurement algorithm has a strong data processing ability, stable measurement, and steady improvement in the accuracy of measurement results, which can meet the needs of most instruments for accurate frequency measurement. The measurement error could be reduced to the percentile by the Kalman filter and could be reduced to below the thousandth by the combining the algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aiming at the issue of interval modeling of uncertain systems, this article proposes a data-based interval neural network (INN) optimization modeling method that combines interval analysis with a neural network and particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm, adopts an INN model with interval weights and interval thresholds, and constructs an interval multiobjective PSO (IMOPSO) algorithm to evolve the network, thereby modeling an uncertain system under an unknown-but-bounded error (UBBE) condition. Considering the cases of known and unknown error bounds in UBBE, two optimization objectives, i.e., interval coverage and interval width, are constructed to optimize the parameters of INN, aiming to improve the accuracy and reliability of prediction. The proposed method effectively solves many constraints such as the model structure demanded and error bounds known in UBBE modeling, and provides a new method of data-based interval system modeling. The method was applied to model linear and nonlinear systems, and simulation results showed that the established INN models have good prediction effects and dynamic characteristics, which demonstrate the effectiveness of the method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aims: It is crucial to manage the recurrence of Crohn's disease (CD). This study is aimed to explore whether visceral adipose tissue (VAT) and skeletal muscle (SM) are associated with the recurrence of CD upon different treatments.Methods: All patients with a definite diagnosis of CD were retrospectively divided into three groups according to distinct treatment regimens: 5-amino salicylic acid group (Group A), steroids + azathioprine (Group B) and biologics (Group C). The pretreatment computerized tomography (CT) images and clinical data were collected. The VAT area, mesenteric fat index (MFI), the ratio of VAT area to fat mass (VAT area/FM) were assessed. The primary end point was the recurrence of CD within 1 year of follow-up.Results: A total of 171 CD patients were enrolled, including 57 (33.33%) patients in Group A, 70 (40.94%) patients in Group B and 44 (25.73%) patients in Group C. Patients with 1-year recurrence had higher MFI (P = 0.011) and VAT area/FM (P = 0.000). ROC curve demonstrated that patients with the ratio of VAT area/FM and MFI higher than 0.578 and 1.394 tended to have recurrence with the AUC of 0.707 and 0.709. Similar results could be observed in Group A & B but not in Group C.Conclusions: High VAT area/FM and MFI are related to recurrence within 1 year for newly diagnosed CD patients treated by 5-amino salicylic or azathioprine + steroids rather than biologics. We could not observe any radiological data associated with the recurrence of CD patients under biological treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The loss function is a criterion to evaluate the learning quality of a deep convolutional neural network, which represents the gap between prediction and ground truth. However, as the most commonly used loss function in image classification tasks, Cross‐Entropy loss does not encourage the model to distinguish the similarity between features. In this work, the authors investigate inter‐class separability of similar features learnt by convolutional networks and propose a loss function called Error Refactor Loss (ER‐Loss). ER‐Loss is based on the error caused by convolutional networks; it can improve the inter‐class separability and is simple to implement and can easily replace the Cross‐Entropy loss. Compared with softmax loss, ER‐Loss adds a dynamic penalty item which can help ER‐Loss monitor the actual situation of model training and adjust the value of the penalty item according to model training. The ER‐Loss on CIFAR100 and part of ImageNet ILSVRC 2012 is evaluated and the experimental result showed that the ER‐Loss can improve the accuracy of the model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A flexible orthoimage mosaicking method is developed considering the cloud coverage. • Dynamic variable patch is defined as the processing unit for orthoimage mosaicking. • This method can remove clouds and also relieve the impact of misalignments on the mosaic. • An area-weighted image blending method is presented to achieve smooth transition. Orthoimage mosaicking plays an important role in remote sensing applications, such as environment monitoring and protection. However, the cloud coverage in remote sensing images often results in substantial loss of information and degradation of data quality, bringing lots of challenges to orthoimage mosaicking. Therefore, this paper proposes a flexible multi-temporal orthoimage mosaicking method based on dynamic variable patches. Different from most existing pixel-based mosaicking methods, the proposed method defines patch as the minimal processing unit for orthoimage mosaicking, and the size and position of each patch are dynamic variable. Patches from different images are rearranged under the image texture consistency constraint to generate the mosaic image. In the proposed method, the initial positions of available patches of all images are determined first, then the initial size of each patch is determined by the cloud coverage and the effective area of image. Subsequently, considering the inevitable misalignments between different orthoimages, the texture similarity between patches is utilized to select the most suitable patch, and the size of the patch is also dynamically adjusted to make the misalignments within each patch controllable. Finally, considering the color inconsistency in the overlapping areas of neighboring images, an area-weighted image blending algorithm is also presented to achieve invisible seams and smooth transitions in the final mosaic. Not only does the proposed method produce mosaic images with minimal cloud coverage areas by excluding cloud pixels as much as possible, but it is also flexible for the mosaicking of images with varying degrees of misalignments, which is achieved by dynamically adjusting the size and position of each patch while maintaining texture consistency constraint. Both simulated experiments and real data experiments are carried out to verify the performance of the proposed method. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method can generate the mosaic image with higher spatial continuity and radiometric consistency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate estimation of terrestrial evapotranspiration (ET) is crucial to understand the water cycle and partitioning of turbulent energy fluxes at the land surface. However, large-scale ET estimation is always difficult to achieve due to the complexity of controlling factors and the heterogeneity of landscapes. A recent model, referred to as the surface flux equilibrium (SFE) model, proposes that evaporative fraction (EF, the ratio of ET to available energy at the surface) can be estimated accurately from near-surface specific humidity and air temperature, which makes it applicable to common weather stations and climate reanalysis datasets. However, previous validation only focused on the evaluation of this model at site and basin scale for ET estimation, making the real performance of the SFE model for EF estimation heretofore unknown. There also exists a gap in the comparison between the SFE model and other existing products in the representation of global ET patterns and variation trend. Against this background, a comprehensive validation was performed in this study to evaluate the accuracy of the SFE model for both EF and ET estimation. The validation against 136 flux towers worldwide shows that the ground-based SFE model achieved EF estimation with a root-mean-square-error (RMSE) of 0.22 and 0.16 at daily and monthly scale, respectively. The corresponding RMSE of ET estimation was 0.94 mm/day and 16.37 mm/month. The application of the SFE model on a global scale was achieved by using two reanalysis products (ERA5-Land and GLDAS-CLSM) as inputs respectively. The results indicate that the SFE model did hold potential to reduce the RMSE of these two products for ET estimation, but the cost was the decrease in correlation coefficient (r). The comparison with five existing global ET products (BESS, GLEAM, AVHRR, MOD16, and SSEBop) shows that the SFE model performed on the basis of ERA5-Land product has achieved moderate accuracy among these products. Judged from r , mean absolute error, RMSE , and bias, its accuracy was ranked as fourth, fourth, second, and second, respectively. However, a further evaluation over different land cover types suggests that the ERA-based SFE model has significant superiority over cropland, relative superiority over forest and savannas, and significant inferiority over shrubland and grassland. This analysis is the first global validation of the SFE model for EF estimation as well as its comparison with existing global ET products. The validation analysis proves that this simple model has generally achieved comparable accuracy to existing complex models in the representation of global ET patterns and variation trend. • Surface flux equilibrium (SFE) model is evaluated and validated on a global scale. • Global ET is mapped by the SFE model based on two reanalysis products. • SFE model is compared with five products in the representation of global ET. • A correction factor varying with land cover is suggested to improve its accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ensuring the efficient scheduling of power systems and enhancing the grid's renewable energy integration efficiency heavily relies on the precision and dependability of wind power prediction. Based on this, an ultra-short-term wind power point-interval prediction framework is proposed. Firstly, the wind power data is preprocessed. Secondly, Random Forest(RF) is used to filter the factors affecting wind power data to eliminate redundant features. Third, using improved sparrow search algorithm(ISSA) to ascertain the optimal parameters in variational mode decomposition(VMD), the wind power sequence is decomposed to obtain a more regular sequence. Then, combining ISSA, bidirectional gated recurrent unit(BiGRU) and Attention, the ISSA-BiGRU-Attention model is constructed for the prediction of wind power subsequences. Finally, using the kernel density estimation(KDE) of Grid Search(GS)-Cross-Validation(CV), prediction intervals for wind power at varying confidence levels are calculated. The experimental results show that the RF-ISSA-VMD-ISSA-BiGRU-Attention prediction model has the great prediction accuracy compared with the comparison models. In dataset 1, the model possesses a good prediction result with an R2 of 0.997408 which is an improvement of 7.98 % compared with LSTM. In addition, the GS-CV-KDE interval prediction model enhances the practicability of prediction outcomes and offers more efficient prediction information for the assurance of power system safety and reliability. • A new ultra-short-term wind power point-interval forecasting model is proposed. • Improve the VMD model using ISSA to decompose the original wind power data. • An improved BiGRU model with attention mechanism improves the wind power forecasting accuracy. • GS-CV KDE model is utilized to obtain wind power interval prediction results. • The proposed model achieves great wind power prediction results on the four error evaluation metrics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is the most prevalent psychiatric disorder worldwide and severely limits psychosocial function and quality of life, but no effective medication is currently available. Circular RNAs (circRNAs) have been revealed to participate in the MDD pathological process. Targeted delivery of circRNAs without blood‐brain barrier (BBB) restriction for remission of MDD represents a promising approach for antidepressant therapy. In this study, RVG‐circDYM‐extracellular vesicles (RVG‐circDYM‐EVs) were engineered to target and preferentially transfer circDYM to the brain, and the effect on the pathological process in a chronic unpredictable stress (CUS) mouse model of depression was investigated. The results showed that RVG‐circDYM‐EVs were successfully purified by ultracentrifugation from overexpressed circDYM HEK 293T cells, and the characterization of RVG‐circDYM‐EVs was successfully demonstrated in terms of size, morphology and specific markers. Beyond demonstrating proof‐of‐concept for an RNA drug delivery technology, we observed that systemic administration of RVG‐circDYM‐EVs efficiently delivered circDYM to the brain, and alleviated CUS‐induced depressive‐like behaviours, and we discovered that RVG‐circDYM‐EVs notably inhibited microglial activation, BBB leakiness and peripheral immune cells infiltration, and attenuated astrocyte disfunction induced by CUS. CircDYM can bind mechanistically to the transcription factor TAF1 (TATA‐box binding protein associated factor 1), resulting in the decreased expression of its downstream target genes with consequently suppressed neuroinflammation. Taken together, our findings suggest that extracellular vesicle‐mediated delivery of circDYM is effective for MDD treatment and promising for clinical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Age‐related hearing loss (ARHL) is the most prevalent sensory deficit in the elderly, but its mechanism remains unclear. Scaffold protein prohibitin 2 (PHB2) has been widely involved in aging and neurodegeneration. However, the role of PHB2 in ARHL is undeciphered to date. To investigate the expression pattern and the role of PHB2 in ARHL, we used C57BL/6 mice and HEI‐OC1 cell line as models. In our study, we have found PHB2 exists in the cochlea and is expressed in hair cells, spiral ganglion neurons, and HEI‐OC1 cells. In mice with ARHL, mitophagy is reduced and correspondingly the expression level of PHB2 is decreased. Moreover, after H2O2 treatment the mitophagy is activated and the PHB2 expression is increased. These findings indicate that PHB2 may exert an important role in ARHL through mitophagy. Findings from this study will be helpful for elucidating the mechanism underlying the ARHL and for providing a new target for ARHL treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simulating and predicting the urban land use change can provide deeper spatial insights into dynamics and sustainable developments of urban planning. This research takes the Shanghai‐Hangzhou Bay (SHB) agglomeration as a study area and selects natural, economic, social, and policy variables as restraint conditions. A cellular automaton (CA) model and the naive Bayes‐cellular automaton (NB‐CA) model are employed and compared to simulate the built‐up land in SHB. Results show that the NB‐CA model greatly improves the simulation accuracy of built‐up land compared to CA model. Specifically, the simulation accuracy of the NB‐CA model is 14.68%, 14.03%, 7.43%, 6.00%, 5.32%, and 2.65% higher than that of the traditional CA model in Shanghai, Hangzhou, Huzhou, Jiaxing, Ningbo, and Shaoxing, respectively. Among the four restraint conditions, the least influential variable is the natural variable and the most influential is the policy variable in Shanghai, Ningbo, and Shaoxing and the social variable in Hangzhou, Huzhou, and Jiaxing. It is the first usage of naive Bayes and CA to simulate built‐up expansion and this new combination method highlights the improvement of simulation accuracy. The naive Bayes technology implies that government policy is an unstable factor that can influence the simulation of built‐up land change. The methodology will be applicable to other regions experiencing rapid built‐up land expansion under government policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

1. Non-essential heavy metals such as mercury (Hg), arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), and aluminium (Al) are useless to organisms and have shown extensive toxic effects. Previous studies show that two main molecular mechanisms of metal toxicity are oxidative stress and metal-metal interaction which can disrupt metal homeostasis. 2. In this paper, we mainly illustrate metal toxicity and metal-metal interaction through examples in mammalians and D. melanogaster (fruit fly). 3. We describe the interference of metal homeostasis by metal-metal interactions in three aspects including replacement, cellular transporter competition, and disruption of the regulation mechanism, and elaborate the mechanisms of metal toxicity to better deal with the challenges of heavy metal pollution and related health problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the acceleration of urbanization, there has been rapid expansion in urban areas, the associated intense human activity exerting serious impacts on urban environments. Clarifying the interaction between urbanization and the urban environment is important for promoting high-quality sustainable regional development. In this work, a decoupling model is introduced that was used to measure the interaction between (demographic, economic, spatial, and social) urbanization and the urban environment (environmental status, pressure, and response) in the Shanghai–Hangzhou Bay urban agglomeration (SHBUA) from 2003 to 2018. The results showed that: (1) the development level of the four urbanization subsystems improved to different degrees, but overall, the speed of the economic and spatial urbanization (builtup land sprawl) was faster than the social and demographic urbanization; (2) from 2015 to 2018, the relationship between urbanization and the environment in Huzhou, Jiaxing, Ningbo, and Shaoxing was strongly decoupling, indicating negative growth in the urban environment and a trend of environmental deterioration, with increased urbanization coming at the cost of environmental damage; and (3) except for Shanghai, the growth rate of the four subsystems of urbanization in the cities was higher than that of the overall environmental level. Cities with higher urbanization levels were found to be more likely to achieve harmony between urbanization and the urban environment. This study provides a basis for analyzing the relationship between urbanization and the urban environment in urban agglomerations, along with decision-making support for a more harmonious integration of man with nature in the SHBUA. China is currently undergoing a dramatic urbanization process, with populations exploding and construction land expanding in the cities. In addition, ecological cities have been proposed that would increase the area of urban ecological space, causing a negative impact on the urban environment. Despite this process taking place in China, it is unclear how urbanization affects the urban environment, which is of great significance for avoiding the wrong development mode and for realizing sustainable development. From our analysis, we found that, for cities with low levels of urbanization, such as Huzhou, Jiaxing, Ningbo, and Shaoxing, increasing urbanization accompanied a deterioration in the urban environment. Contrastingly, in the more developed cities, such as Shanghai, greater development of the economic and social environment meant more attention could be paid to the construction of the urban environment. Thus, urban environmental improvement and urbanization complement each other. By exploring the relationship between the degree of urbanization and the urban environment, it is possible to inform urban development and environmental management plans in order to mitigate the negative impact of urbanization and improve the urban environment to achieve sustainable urban development for the coming decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• CircHIPK2 has potential as a diagnostic biomarker for MDD. • A decreased circHIPK2 in MDD patients with good outcome suggests its prognostic value. • Absolute quantitative analysis enhances research precision in the biomarker research. Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a prevalent type of non-coding RNAs exhibiting extensive expression in mammalian cells. Owing to their involvement in diverse pathophysiological mechanisms of major depressive disorder (MDD) and their inherent stability in peripheral blood, circRNAs have emerged as potential biomarkers of considerable significance. This study aimed to identify and validate circular RNA HIPK2 (circHIPK2) in MDD patients and to investigate its potential as a biomarker for the diagnosis and prognosis of MDD. Patients with MDD (n = 81) and healthy controls (HCs) (n = 48) were recruited for our study (October 2022 to June 2023). The expression of circHIPK2 in plasma was assessed using absolute quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). The expression of circHIPK2 in plasma of patients with MDD exhibited a significant increase compared to HCs. The circHIPK2 levels showed an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.796, corresponding to a specificity of 97.9% and a sensitivity of 60.4% in diagnosing MDD. Additionally, the rate of change in circHIPK2 over a 14-day period exhibited an AUC curve of 0.819, indicating its predictive value for antidepressive effects. CircHIPK2 could serve as a potential biomarker for diagnosing MDD and predicting therapeutic effects of MDD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hearing loss is the most common sensory deficit in humans. Identifying the genetic cause and genotype-phenotype correlation of hearing loss is sometimes challenging due to extensive clinical and genetic heterogeneity. In this study, we applied targeted next-generation sequencing (NGS) to resolve the genetic etiology of hearing loss in a Chinese Han family with multiple affected family members. Targeted sequencing of 415 deafness-related genes identified the heterozygous c.481C>T (p.R161C) mutation in SOX10 and the homozygous c.235delC (p.L79Cfs ∗ 3) mutation in GJB2 as separate pathogenic mutations in distinct affected family members. The SOX10 c.481C>T (p.R161C) mutation has been previously reported in a Caucasian patient with Kallmann syndrome that features congenital hypogonadotropic hypogonadism with anosmia. In contrast, family members carrying the same p.R161C mutation in this study had variable Waardenburg syndrome-associated phenotypes (hearing loss and/or hair hypopigmentation) without olfactory or reproductive anomalies. Our results highlight the importance of applying comprehensive diagnostic approaches such as NGS in molecular diagnosis of hearing loss and show that the p.R161C mutation in SOX10 may be associated with a wide range of variable clinical manifestations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Conflict between work and family is a significant issue for entrepreneurs. The purpose of this study is to explore the effect of entrepreneurial failure on both family–work conflict (FWC) and work–family conflict (WFC) and the moderating role of perceived control of time and organizational slack based on conservation of resources (COR) theory. Design/methodology/approach: This study used a questionnaire to explore the relationship between entrepreneurial failure, FWC/WFC, perceived control of time and organizational slack. Data were collected from the Chinese context in 2018 and as a result received 318 valid questionnaires, obtaining a response rate of 63.6 per cent. Findings: The study finds that entrepreneurial failure has a significant relationship with FWC but a nonsignificant relationship with WFC and that perceived control of time and organizational slack moderate the relationship between entrepreneurial failure and FWC/WFC. Originality/value: This study aligns the field of family–work (work–family) conflict and entrepreneurial failure. It addresses a research gap in the conflict literature by introducing one form of resource loss: entrepreneurial failure as a source of conflict between work and family based on COR theory and the work–home resources model. The study also enriches the literature on the social cost of entrepreneurial failure by exploring the crossover effect of entrepreneurial failure on conflicts in the family domain. Furthermore, the study advances the understanding of managing conflict between work and family after entrepreneurial failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Recessive mutations in GJB2 is the most common cause of genetic hearing loss worldwide. The aim of this study is to determine the spectrum and frequency of GJB2 variants in Chinese Han deaf patients and to investigate the underlying causative genes in patients with mono-allelic GJB2 mutations.Methods: We analyzed the mutation screening results of GJB2 in 1852 Chinese Han probands with apparently autosomal-recessive hearing loss in our laboratory. Targeted next-generation sequencing of 139 known deafness-related genes were performed in 44 probands with mono-allelic GJB2 mutations.Results: Bi-allelic GJB2 mutations was identified in 25.65% of patients, in which the c.235delC (p.L79Cfs*3) mutation is the most frequent cause for both severe-to-profound (84.93%) and mild-to-moderate hearing loss (54.05%), while the c.109G > A (p.V37I) mutation is another frequent cause for mild-to-moderate hearing loss (40.54%). In 3.89% of patients only one mutant allele can be identified in GJB2. Targeted next generation sequencing in 44 such probands revealed digenic heterozygous mutations in GJB2/GJB6 and GJB2/GJB3 as the likely pathogenic mechanism in three probands. In 13 probands, on the other hand, pathogenic mutations in other deafness-associated genes (STRC, EYA1, MITF, PCDH15, USH2A, MYO15A, CDH23, OTOF, SLC26A4, SMPX, and TIMM8A) can be identified as the independent genetic cause, suggesting that the mono-allelic GJB2 mutations in those probands is likely co-incidental.Conclusions: Our results demonstrated that GJB2 should be a primary target for mutation screening in Chinese Han deaf patients, and those with mono-allelic GJB2 mutations should be further screened by next generation sequencing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study investigated the association between Anti-Müllerian Hormone (AMH) and relevant metabolic parameters and assessed its predictive value in the clinical diagnosis of polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). Methods: A total of 421 women aged 20–37 years were allocated to the PCOS (n = 168) and control (n = 253) groups, and their metabolic and hormonal parameters were compared. Spearman correlation analysis was conducted to investigate associations, binary logistic regression was used to determine PCOS risk factors, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were generated to evaluate the predictive value of AMH in diagnosing PCOS. Results: The PCOS group demonstrated significantly higher blood lipid, luteinizing hormone (LH), and AMH levels than the control group. Glucose and lipid metabolism and hormonal disorders in the PCOS group were more significant than in the control group among individuals with and without obesity. LH, TSTO, and AMH were identified as independent risk factors for PCOS. AMH along with LH, and antral follicle count demonstrated a high predictive value for diagnosing PCOS. Conclusion: AMH exhibited robust diagnostic use for identifying PCOS and could be considered a marker for screening PCOS to improve PCOS diagnostic accuracy. Attention should be paid to the effect of glucose and lipid metabolism on the hormonal and related parameters of PCOS populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This precise axon guidance mechanism is associated with the activation of mechanosensitive ion channels, calcium signals, and subsequent F-actin assembly. Axon pathfinding, extracellular matrix, mechanical signals, synapse formation Keywords: axon pathfinding; extracellular matrix; mechanical signals; synapse formation EN axon pathfinding extracellular matrix mechanical signals synapse formation 1 1 1 09/07/23 20230905 NES 230905 B Axon Pathfinding b In article number 2301926, Qihui Fan, Fangfu Ye, and co-workers show that the mechanical signals transmitted through the fibrous extracellular matrix enable precise guidance of axons and neuronal cells towards target neurites, leading to highly efficient neural network formation. [Extracted from the article]

Under the background of distributed generation (DG) participating in market trade, the scale of DG has developed rapidly. The investment decision of DG is actually a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problem, nevertheless the current framework rarely considers the risk of market trading. Thus a framework containing scheme attributes and market risks needs to be established. Firstly, an index system including economic benefit, environmental and social benefit and market risk is established. Secondly, subjective and objective weight are combined by using game theory in weighting process. Among them, the subjective weight of each index is determined based on the plus-minus decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory model (plus-minus DEMATEL); the objective weight is determined by the combination of triangular intuitionistic fuzzy number (TIFN) and integrated determination of objective criteria weights (IDOCRIW) model. Finally, the TODIM model is used to rank the alternatives. Taking Shanghai as a case study, the robustness of the proposed framework is verified by sensitivity analysis and comparative analysis. The results show that the weights of index C34 is 0.12, indicating that market participants have a greater influence on market risk. The research will provide an effective tool for investment decision of DG in market trading. • An investment decision-making framework considering market risk is proposed. • Plus-minus DEMATEL model is used to determinate subjective weight. • Market risk plays a key role in investment decisions of distributed generation. • TIFN and IDOCRIW model are combined to determine objective weights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tumor vaccines offer a number of advantages for cancer treatment. In the study, the vaccination with cancer stem cells (CSCs) with high expression of the type I receptor tyrosine kinase-like orphan receptor (ROR1) was evaluated in a murine model for the vaccine's immunogenicity and protective efficacy against epithelial ovarian carcinoma (EOC). CD117+CD44+ CSCs were isolated from human EOC HO8910 cell line using a magnetic-activated cell sorting system; murine ID8 EOC suspension sphere cells, which are collectively known as cancer stem-like cells, were acquired from serum-free suspension sphere-forming culture. Mice were subcutaneously immunized with the repeat cycles of freezing and thawing whole HO8910 CD117+CD44+ CSCs and ID8 cancer stem-like cells, respectively, followed by a challenge with HO8910 or ID8 cells at one week after final vaccination. The results showed that the CSC vaccination significantly induced immunity against EOC growth and markedly prolonged the survival of EOC-bearing mice in the prophylactic setting compared with non-CSC vaccination. Flow cytometry showed significantly increased immunocyte cytotoxicities and remarkably reduced CSC counts in the CSC-vaccinated mice. Moreover, the protective efficacy against EOC was decreased when the ROR1 expression was downregulated by shRNA in CSC vaccines. The findings from the study suggest that CSC vaccines with high ROR1 expression were highly effective in triggering immunity against EOC in vaccinated mice and may serve as an effective vaccine for EOC immunoprophylaxis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose. To evaluate the effect of anterior capsule polishing in patients with high myopia after cataract surgery. Setting. The Eye Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Zhejiang, China. Design. Prospective study. Methods. High myopic patients with a bilateral cataract who underwent phacoemulsification with 360° anterior capsular polishing in one eye and without polishing in the contralateral eye were recruited. The following parameters were recorded at 1, 3, and 6 months postoperatively, including the area and diameter of the anterior capsule opening (area and D), IOL tilt and decentration, refraction, and postoperative aqueous depth (PAD). Results. Paired samples of 38 eyes of 19 patients were enrolled. The area decreased significantly in both the polished group and unpolished group, whereas the diameter reduced more in the unpolished group. The IOL tilt and decentration at 3-month and 6-month follow-up showed significant differences between two groups. In the unpolished group, the IOL decentration firstly appeared between one-month to three-month visit, while the refraction error, PAD, and IOL tilt were significantly different between the three-month and six-month visits. Conclusion. 360° anterior capsule polishing can effectively reduce the extent of the anterior capsule contraction and increase the stability of IOL. The study was registered at http://www.clinicaltrials.gov, and the clinical trial accession number is NCT 03142269. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The novel AI system is a valuable option for improving the diagnostic accuracy of EUS-FNA that can distinguish the malignant, benign, and necrotic regions in a lesion and guide the puncture. Computed tomography (CT) showed a lesion 8.3 × 6.3 cm in the pancreatic body and tail (Fig. [Extracted from the article]

Objective. Ovarian carcinoma represents one of the deadliest malignancies among female cancer patients. Astrocyte-elevated gene-1 (AEG-1) participates in the ontogenesis of multiple human malignant diseases. Here we evaluated AEG-1, hypoxia-inducible factor- (HIF-) 1α, nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NF-κB), and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) amounts in hypoxia induced ovarian carcinoma cells. This study aimed to explore the mechanism by which AEG-1 regulates metastasis in hypoxia induced ovarian carcinoma. Patients and Methods. AEG-1, HIF-1α, and VEGF protein amounts were evaluated by immunohistochemistry in 40 and 170 normal ovary and ovarian cancer tissue specimens, respectively. In addition, AEG-1, HIF-1α, NF-κB, and VEGF mRNA and protein levels were determined by reverse quantified RT-PCR and WB, respectively, at different time periods (0–24 h) in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) SKOV3 cells treated in a hypoxia incubator. Furthermore, NF-κB and VEGF gene and protein expression levels in AEG-1 knockdown EOC cells were quantitated by RT-PCR and WB, respectively. Results. AEG-1, HIF-1α, and VEGF amounts were significantly elevated in EOC tissue samples compared with normal ovary specimens (p<0.001). Positive expression of HIF-1α and AEG-1 was associated with higher metastatic rate (p<0.01), lower FIGO stage (p<0.001), and degree of differentiation (p<0.001). Meanwhile, EOC SKOV3 cells grew upon exposure to hypoxia for 8 h (p<0.001); at this time point, AEG-1, HIF-1α, NF-κB, and VEGF amounts peaked (p<0.001), at both the gene and the protein levels. After AEG-1 knockdown, HIF-1α, NF-κB, and VEGF amounts were significantly decreased in EOC SKOV3 cells, also under hypoxic conditions (p<0.01). Conclusions. As an independent prognostic factor, AEG-1 was found to be significantly associated with hypoxia in ovarian cancer by regulating the HIF-1alpha/NF-kappaB/VEGF pathway. Therefore, AEG-1 may be useful in determining disease stage and prognosis in ovarian cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study was designed to investigate the effect of paeoniflorin (PF) on neomycin-induced ototoxicity in hair cells (HCs). Here, we took advantage of C57BL/6 mice and cochlear explants culture to determine the role of PF in vivo and in vitro . We demonstrated that neomycin exposure induced severe hearing loss and HC damage, which was mediated by activated mitochondrial apoptosis pathway, promoted extracellular signal‐regulated kinase (ERK) signaling as well as enhanced reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation in HCs. Interestingly, we found that PF pretreatment significantly alleviated neomycin-induced hearing loss, attenuated HC injury and decreased HC apoptosis caused by neomycin. Mechanistic studies revealed that PF could decrease cellular ROS levels, suppress the activation of ERK signaling and, subsequently, mitigate the imbalance of mitochondrial apoptotic pathway, thus protecting HCs from neomycin-induced apoptosis. This study indicates that PF may serve as an antioxidative and anti-apoptotic agent to prevent hearing loss caused by neomycin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Candida albicans is a commensal fungal species that commonly colonizes a heterogeneous mixture of human body where it intimately interacts with other microbes in the host environment such as the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Most studies in fungal-bacterial interactions are about synergistic or antagonistic effects of bacterial functions on fungal physiological activities including pathogenicity. Very few studies have been demonstrated about the role of fungi on bacteria. In this study, we investigated the interactions between C. albicans and the bacterium Escherichia coli and unexpectedly observed that C. albicans enhances growth and proliferation of Escherichia coli strain K12 by facilitating its cell division. Importantly, we found, based on our genetic screens, that both fungus- and bacterium-derived factors, including the iron-responsive transcription factors Sef1 and Sfu1 in C. albicans and the siderophere enterobactin transporters FepD and FepG in E. coli , actively contribute to this transkingdom interaction. Deletion of SFU1 or SEF1 caused a dramatic reduction in growth enhancement of E. coli. Compared to the wild type E. coli , the enhanced growth of both fepD and fepG null mutants were largely dampened. However, the E. coli mutant lacking entB, a key enzyme catalyzing the biosynthesis of siderophore enterobactin, showed similar growth enhancement as the wild type when co-inoculated with C. albicans. C. albicans promotes growth and proliferation of the commensal bacterium E. coli and an iron-responsive signaling pathway appears to be required. C. albicans may act to supply a siderophere-like molecule that captures the environmental iron to promote the growth of E. coli . Our studies gave insight into a novel interacting mechanism operative in interspecies communication that occurs when bacteria and fungi co-exist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To realize automatic measurement of the concentration of dust particles in the air, a theory for dust concentration measurement was developed, and a system was designed to implement the dust concentration measurement method based on laser scattering. In the study, the principle of dust concentration detection using laser scattering is studied, and the detection basis of Mie scattering theory is determined. Through simulation, the influence of the incident laser wavelength, dust particle diameter, and refractive index of dust particles on the scattered light intensity distribution are obtained for determining the scattered light intensity curves of single suspended dust particles under different characteristic parameters. A genetic algorithm was used to study the inverse particle size distribution, and the reliability of the measurement system design is proven theoretically. The dust concentration detection system, which includes a laser system, computer circuitry, air flow system, and control system, was then implemented according to the parameters obtained from the theoretical analysis. The performance of the designed system was evaluated. Experimental results show that the system performance was stable and reliable, resulting in high-precision automatic dust concentration measurement with strong anti-interference ability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose For entrepreneurs operating in an Internet-of-Things (IoT) environment, it is essential to monitor more systematically, both the interaction with the consumers and the sharing of information among the consumers. The purpose of this paper is to identify the antecedents of word-of-mouth (WOM) in the online SME’s context in terms of consumers “citing the site” to peers in personal communications. A research model integrates the determinants of retail website-specific positive WOM communication, and proposes that WOM about a particular website is influenced by: site-level variables, that is, website quality and interactivity; and consumer-level variables, these being the site user’s satisfaction with and commitment to the website. The research advances the study of IoT entrepreneurship.Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from graduate and undergraduate students with business and entrepreneurship majors from a reputed school in the Northeast region of the USA, using an online survey. The hypotheses were then tested with SEM using AMOS 18.0.Findings Findings suggest that in an IoT context, WOM is influenced by a variety of factors of which the e-satisfaction and attitude toward website constructs play important roles. The study highlights the importance of the e-satisfaction construct and its metrics. E-satisfaction is not only a critical outcome metric, but also a primary predictor of customer e-loyalty, measured in terms of the customer’s positive attitude, stickiness and propensity to spread positive WOM.Originality/value The paper contributes to the entrepreneurship and IoT literature with a comprehensive framework of information sharing, interactivity and WOM, showing that specific antecedents drive consumers to cite and advocate for a website to fellow customers. The framework helps retail SME entrepreneurs in the IoT context to design appropriate strategies to influence website visitors’ endorsement of the site to fellow customers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Growth patterns of metro network quantifiable with nine complex-network metrics. • Multi-dimensional growing dynamics visually summarized in a shamrock plot. • Three maturity levels of metro networks are recognized with distinct metric patterns. • Metro growth reveals a hierarchy of needs similarly found in individuals. Metro lines emerged and developed in cities driven by various factors, and resulted in different structures as we see today. How do metro lines grow as a system? The spatiotemporal growing patterns of metro networks and their complex-network statistics may shed light on this question. Within the framework of the complex network analysis, this paper establishes a nine-metric scheme to quantify the service performance of an urban metro network from three dimensionalities i.e., accessibility, resilience, and serviceability. Accordingly, a shamrock plot is proposed as a tool to visualize the multi-dimensional maturity of a metro network as well as its growing pattern. The metrics and the visualization tool are used to reveal metro development in 42 cities of Chinese mainland. The results show that metro networks can evolve from nascent, to skeleton, and to mature forms, with their scores increasing in all dimensionalities. The choice of urban transportation between metro-dominant and automobile-dominant results from the race between metro development and car popularity. Cities may be more likely to become metro-dominant if metro develops early at a low level of car ownership. Urban metro network may develop as a response to the city's needs hierarchically from the most basic (e.g., accessibility) to more advanced (e.g., resilience and serviceability), similar to Maslow's hierarchy of individual needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of reverse teaching, considered by some as the education model of the future due to increasing technological availability in the classroom, has received great attention in education research lately. However, the focus of these studies has mainly been on the understanding of reverse teaching in terms of its application rather than exploring the students’ perceptions of reverse teaching itself. This study explores the students’ perceptions of reverse teaching. Based on 28 in-depth interviews, this study submits a conceptualization of reverse teaching from the students’ point-of-view. The concept of reverse teaching constitutes three dimensions, expanding our knowledge of the construct. The study posits a crucial link between preparation, interaction, outcomes, and the understanding of reverse teaching. Guidelines are proposed for reverse teaching, extending existing literatures, with insights and implications for educators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of capability and alliance arising from the internet of things (IoT), specifically in the relationships between strategic orientations (entrepreneurial and market foci) with product and process innovations. In addition, it investigates the direct relationship between IoT capability and alliance. Improving these relationships assist in ensuring that new knowledge from the IoT can be translated into tangible business innovations that contribute to economic development. Design/methodology/approach – Data from 207 new high-technology IoT ventures in China were obtained after three-wave mailing (i.e. two reminders). Following a rigorous process to purify and validate the measurement scale items, the study used structural equation modeling to test the conceptual model. Findings – Findings demonstrate that an IoT capability only enhances product innovation, however, with the addition and support from IoT alliance, both product and process innovation can be achieved in new high-tech IoT ventures. This nuanced insight suggests that new high-tech IoT ventures should focus on building their IoT capability, and at the same time, develop IoT alliances with value chain partners in order to fully take advantage of IoT and gain a better position to formulate more novel offerings. Originality/value – The study is first to contribute with a much needed framework of IoT and entrepreneurship by examining the role of IoT capability further in the relationships between: entrepreneurial orientation and market orientation with product and process innovations arising from IoT; and the role of IoT alliance (interfirm relations, partnerships, etc.) on the relationship above. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electronic customer relationship management (eCRM) aims to fulfill customers' individual needs in order to increase the value for both the customers and firms alike. However, this individual treatment has potential negative effects for the firm. As it seemingly neglects other customers deemed less worthy, it provokes customer perceptions of unfairness and unethical concerns towards the firm. Despite these damaging consequences, few studies have examined the role of fairness in eCRM. The purpose of this study is twofold: (1) to investigate how differential treatment of customers may affect their perceptions of fairness in a firm and its personalized eCRM activities; (2) to develop an integrated model of fairness in eCRM that incorporates four key variables internal to the firm-service quality, price, communication efforts, and differential treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) persistent infection is associated with ineffective immune response for the clearance of virus. Immunomodulators represent an important class of therapeutics, which potentially could be beneficial for the treatment of HBV infection. The particulate yeast-derived glucan (PYDG) has been shown to enhance the innate and adaptive immune responses. We therefore, assessed the efficacy of PYDG in enhancing HBV specific immune responses by employing the hydrodynamic injection-based (HDI) HBV transfection mouse model. Mice were intragatric administered PYDG daily for 9 weeks post pAAV/HBV1.2 hydrodynamic injection. PYDG treatment significantly promoted HBV DNA clearance and production of HBsAb compared to control mice. PYDG treatment resulted in recruitment of macrophages, dendritic cells (DCs) and effector T cells to the liver microenvironment, accompanied by a significantly augmented DCs maturation and HBV-specific IFN-γ and TNF-α production by T cell. In addition, enhanced production of Th1 cytokines in liver tissue interstitial fluid (TIF) was associated with PYDG administration. Live imaging showed the accumulation of PYDG in the mouse liver. Our results demonstrate that PYDG treatment significantly enhances HBV-specific Th1 immune responses, accompanied by clearance of HBV DNA, and therefore holds promise for further development of therapeutics against chronic hepatitis B. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the present work was to design a portable instrument to predict the constituents of total nitrogen and organic matter in soil. Data from recent reports as well as our experiments show that these constituents exhibit absorption peaks in the near-infrared region around 850 nm and 940 nm. We designed a portable instrument that adopted diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. Subsequently, we conducted instrument performance tests to obtain the curves relating the actual and calculated values. Experimental results showed that the coefficients of determination ( R 2 ) for predicted total nitrogen and organic matter in oven-dried soil sample were 91.84% and 81.06%, respectively, and the corresponding values in wet samples were 90.17% and 80.24%. For soil organic matter and total nitrogen content in the samples, we found clear correlations between the actual values and calculated values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Market orientation and innovation are important for economic growth. We examine market orientation, innovation radicalness, and propensity towards risk-taking in the unique context of China's transitional economy. Analysis of 235 responses from Chinese new ventures, created during the past eight years, suggests that innovation radicalness is affected by both responsive and proactive market orientation. Propensity towards risk-taking also positively affects innovation radicalness. Our results on responsive market orientation are counter to findings in Western contexts. Implications of the findings are useful to improve our understanding of innovation and entrepreneurship in transitional economies, particularly in the Chinese context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organizations that are capable of pursuing exploration and exploitative innovation strategies simultaneously have demonstrated superior performance. For information and communication technology (ICT) firms, it is especially critical to achieve such organizational ambidexterity in order to both allocate limited resources and pursue different innovation strategies appropriately. As the ICT industry in China faces higher environmental uncertainty, a less developed institutional framework, and increased power of market competition, we explore the antecedents of ambidexterity conjointly, considering the effects of institutions and organizational capabilities. Building on ambidexterity literature, we develop a capability-building framework to explore firms' strategic choice-making between exploratory innovation strategy versus exploitation innovation strategy, and their orientation to pursuit one, or both. With survey data from China's ICT industry, we find that ties with government promote an ambidextrous focus on both types of innovation strategies. In addition, we find that strategic capability partially mediates the main effects of ties with government on both exploratory and exploitative innovation strategies. Implications for organizational ambidexterity in China's ICT industry are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Monthly ecological water supplement was estimated by water balance analysis. • Three typical birds were selected as protected objects of water supplement scheme. • Precipitation had a significant negative relation with ecological water supplement. • The total annual ecological water supplement was about 1.96 × 108 m3. • The water supplement in wet year was nearly 20% less than that in extreme dry year. With abundant resources in the wetland, the Yellow River Delta provides important habitats for various kinds of rare bird species. However, due to climate change and human water withdrawal activities, no-flow events of the Yellow River occurred frequently since the 1970s, resulting in serious wetland degradation and biodiversity losses. Ecological water supplement has been regarded as one of the most effective measures to cope with these environmental problems. Accordingly, how much water is required for the ecological restoration becomes an essential question to be answered. Since the primary function of the Yellow River Delta Natural Reserve (YRDNR), the typical wetland in the Yellow River Delta, is to provide suitable habitats for various rare birds, the purpose of this paper is to propose a method based on water balance analysis to specify monthly ecological water supplement for the habitats of typical birds in the YRDNR. Specifically, three typical birds were selected as the protection objects, including Grus japonensis, Ciconia boyciana, and Larus saundersi. Monthly water supplement was determined by monthly long-term time series data (2003–2018) of evapotranspiration product derived from remote sensing and meteorological data (precipitation and pan evaporation) acquired from National Meteorological Information Center. The results showed that the annual ecological water supplement for 10 km2 ideal habitats was 666.17 × 104 m3, 1165.22 × 104 m3, and 664.48 × 104 m3 for G. japonensis, C. boyciana, and L. saundersi, respectively. Besides, it was found that annual precipitation generally had a significant negative relation with annual ecological water supplement, which suggested that local precipitation should be considered as a key factor in determining the amount of annual water supplement. The frequency analysis was then implemented to provide reasonable scheme of actual ecological water supplement under different precipitation scenarios. The results indicated that annual ecological water supplement for the whole YRDNR was 1.81 × 108 m3, 1.94 × 108 m3, 2.10 × 108 m3 and 2.25 × 108 m3 respectively under wet, average, dry and extreme dry conditions. If water storage measurements are implemented to store surplus precipitation under rainy season, the average volume would reduce by nearly 10%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The gas release within Li‐ion batteries, particularly during cycling and storage, can result in rapid performance degradation and potential safety hazards. However, this area has not garnered sufficient attention until now, primarily because the gassing information collected by typical OEMS/DEMS is quite limited and even inaccurate. Herein, for the first time, a state‐of‐the‐art on‐line GC‐BID/MS to full‐dimensionally analyze the gassing behavior within both lab‐scale coin‐type cell (in situ mode) and industry‐scale pouch‐type cell (operando mode) is originally designed/constructed. Not limited to common permanent gases (e.g. H2, CO, etc.) detected by online GC‐BID, but also complicated/various (semi‐)volatile products are identified/quantified by online GC‐MS. Based on the real‐time evolution information of water, alcohols, aldehydes, ethers, esters, and hydrocarbons, the decomposition mechanisms of electrolyte on both graphite anode and/or LCO cathode sides is further supplemented/perfected. Moreover, at the level of the device, series derivative/crosstalk reactions induced by trapped/accumulated gaseous species are unveiled in practical pouch‐cell. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]