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The oil and gas field surface gathering pipeline network is an important hub for transporting oil and gas products outward, and its optimal design is crucial to reducing the construction cost of the pipeline system. Star-star topology is often applied to the layout of surface gathering pipeline networks in oil and gas fields. However, the optimization of star-star topology is often carried out under the constraint of the fixed station type, which may easily lead to a waste of station capacity and increase investment or make the optimization results meaningless. In this article, a mixed integer linear programming mathematical model for the overall optimization of star-star pipeline network layout considering the station location-allocation problem is constructed in discrete space with coupled station type constraints, and the branch-and-bound method is used to obtain the global optimal solution. Three cases verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the model and algorithm. The results show that the maximum avoided capacity waste is 20 × 104 m3/d and the maximum investment can be reduced by 8961.6 × 104 Yuan, which shows that the proposed model can effectively improve the economy and rationality of the pipeline system, and has important guiding significance for the construction of oil and gas fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two-dimensional antimonene (Sb) has attracted attention due to its recently demonstrated favorable physical properties. However, the preparation of high-quality thin films of few-layer antimony alkenes has been rarely reported, greatly hindering the study of 2D antimony properties and application development. Herein, a method for rapid deposition of 2D Sb films by thermal evaporation is presented, and the deposition of the films can be accomplished in only 60 s. The method is based on thermal evaporation of 2D antimony films at 590 °C. Compared to growth on SiO2/Si substrates, Sb is orderly spliced into films with thicknesses as low as ∼2 nm on 2D Sb substrates. Raman spectroscopy confirms the composition of the Sb films rapidly deposited on WS2 by thermal evaporation. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) measurements probed the process of Sb from nucleation to splicing into thin films by rapid thermal evaporation. This thermal evaporation rapid deposition process provides a new idea for the industrial preparation of two-dimensional heterojunction films. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Fatigue is a common symptom that negatively affects the outcomes and functions of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. This study aimed to assess the fatigue by two scales and validate their consistency, also to comprehensively evaluate fatigue‐related risk factors in RA patients. Methods: In this case–control study, the fatigue of 160 RA patients and 60 healthy controls was evaluated by the Bristol Rheumatoid Arthritis Fatigue Multi‐Dimensional Questionnaire (BRAF‐MDQ) and the Chinese version of the Brief Fatigue Inventory (BFI‐C). The 28‐joint disease activity score using erythrocyte sedimentation rate of RA patients was assessed. Results: The BRAF‐MDQ and BFI‐C scores were elevated in RA patients versus healthy controls (all p <.001). Interestingly, BRAF‐MDQ global fatigue score positively correlated with BFI‐C global fatigue score in both RA patients (r =.669, p <.001) and healthy controls (r =.527, p <.001); meanwhile, Kendall's tau‐b test showed a high consistency between BRAF‐MDQ and BFI‐C global fatigue scores in RA patients (W = 0.759, p <.001) and healthy controls (W = 0.933, p <.001). Notably, higher education level (В = −4.547; 95% confidence interval: −7.065, −2.029; p <.001) and swollen joint count (В = 1.965; 95% confidence interval: 1.375, 2.554; p <.001) independently related to BRAF‐MDQ global fatigue score; higher education level (В = −0.613; 95% confidence interval: −0.956, −0.269; p =.001) and clinical disease activity index (В = 0.053; 95% confidence interval: 0.005, 0.102; p =.032) independently linked with BFI‐C global fatigue score. Conclusion: Fatigue commonly occurs in RA patients, which independently relates to education level and disease activity. Furthermore, BRAF‐MDQ and BFI‐C scales exhibit a high consistency in assessing fatigue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a series of hindered urea bond (HUB) containing polyurethane-urea methacrylate prepolymers and a none HUB containing polyurethane methacrylate prepolymer were prepared using isobornyl methacrylate as the reactive diluent via one-pot procedure. The prepolymers were characterized fully by various techniques. Then, their thermosets were fabricated via UV curing in presence of a photo initiator, and their mechanical property and thermal behavior were investigated and compared. Different from the none HUB containing thermoset, the HUB containing thermosets (defined as PUT) could be recycled and reprocessed by hot press under relatively mild conditions with high recovery ratio of mechanical property. Furthermore, zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles were modified with 3-(trimethoxysilyl) propyl methacrylate and the modified ZnO (defined as ZnO-TPM) was dispersed and polymerized into PUT matrix to prepare their nanocomposites. The influence of ZnO-TPM on the mechanical performance of the composites was evaluated, which indicated that the Young's modulus and tensile strength increased gradually to the maximum values at ZnO-TPM content of 1 wt% and then decreased. The composites also displayed good reprocessability with improved recovery ratio compared to the pure PUT sample. In addition, the composite materials exhibited strong UV absorption capacity, implying their potential application in the circumstance where UV-shielding was required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Acute pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE) is a common cardiovascular disease and recognizing low prognosis risk patients with PTE accurately is significant for clinical treatment. This study evaluated the value of federated learning (FL) technology in PTE prognosis risk assessment while ensuring the security of clinical data. Methods: A retrospective dataset consisted of PTE patients from 12 hospitals were collected, and 19 physical indicators of patients were included to train the FL-based prognosis assessment model to predict the 30-day death event. Firstly, multiple machine learning methods based on FL were compared to choose the superior model. And then performance of models trained on the independent (IID) and non-independent identical distributed(Non-IID) datasets was calculated and they were tested further on Real-world data. Besides, the optimal model was compared with pulmonary embolism severity index (PESI), simplified PESI (sPESI), Peking Union Medical College Hospital (PUMCH). Results: The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of logistic regression(0.842) outperformed convolutional neural network (0.819) and multi layer perceptron (0.784). Under IID, AUC of model trained using FL(Fed) on the training, validation and test sets was 0.852 ± 0.002, 0.867 ± 0.012 and 0.829 ± 0.004. Under Real-world, AUC of Fed was 0.855 ± 0.005, 0.882 ± 0.003 and 0.835 ± 0.005. Under IID and Real-world, AUC of Fed surpassed centralization model(NonFed) (0.847 ± 0.001, 0.841 ± 0.001 and 0.811 ± 0.001). Under Non-IID, although AUC of Fed (0.846 ± 0.047) outperformed NonFed (0.841 ± 0.001) on validation set, it (0.821 ± 0.016 and 0.799 ± 0.031) slightly lagged behind NonFed (0.847 ± 0.001 and 0.811 ± 0.001) on the training and test sets. In practice, AUC of Fed (0.853, 0.884 and 0.842) outshone PESI (0.812, 0.789 and 0.791), sPESI (0.817, 0.770 and 0.786) and PUMCH(0.848, 0.814 and 0.832) on the training, validation and test sets. Additionally, Fed (0.842) exhibited higher AUC values across test sets compared to those trained directly on the clients (0.758, 0.801, 0.783, 0.741, 0.788). Conclusions: In this study, the FL based machine learning model demonstrated commendable efficacy on PTE prognostic risk prediction, rendering it well-suited for deployment in hospitals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Potassium metal batteries (PMBs) are regarded as viable candidates for future electrochemical energy storage devices with potential high energy density and low cost. However, uncontrollable potassium dendrite growth and huge volume expansion severely inhibit the practical application of PMBs. Herein, inspired by the structure and functionalities of tree bark, an antimony (Sb) nano‐clusters decorated N‐doped interconnected carbon nanospheres/potassium composite electrode with biomimetic fast ionic channels is developed to realize the dendrite‐free potassium metal batteries. The composite electrode provides abundant nucleation sites and interconnected ion transport channels, facilitating rapid ion transport kinetics and highly reversible potassium plating/stripping behaviors. Consequently, the assembled symmetric cell exhibits an ultra‐long cycle life (1100 h at 1.0 mA cm−2/1.0 mAh cm−2) in carbonate electrolyte. Moreover, the K full cells demonstrate enhanced cycling stability (1500 cycles at 8 C) and rate capacity (117.27 mAh g−1 at 20 C). This novel biomimetic design of composite anode presents an effective and rational approach for achieving stable PMBs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective Method Results Conclusion To explore the clinical feasibility of different treatment methods for persistent occipitotransverse position and the influence on maternal and infant complications.During the trial of vaginal delivery from April 2020 to March 2023 in our hospital, the cervix was fully dilated and the presentation was located at +2 station. Ninety‐six pregnant women with fetal presentation at +4 station, occipitotransverse fetal position, maternal complications, abnormalities in the second stage of labor, and or fetal distress were divided into two groups: 65 patients with Kielland forceps vaginal delivery and 31 patients underwent emergency cesarean section. The delivery time, vaginal laceration rate, postpartum blood loss volume, puerperal infection rate, neonatal birth injury rate, and neonatal 1 min Apgar scores were analyzed.The delivery outcomes and maternal and neonatal complications of 96 pregnant women were analyzed: the application of Kielland forceps delivery time was shorter, while the vaginal laceration rate, postpartum hemorrhage, puerperal infection rate were significantly lower than that of patients undergoing emergency cesarean section and the neonatal 1 min Apgar score was higher than that of emergency cesarean section group (p < 0.05).It was clinically appropriate to use Kielland forceps in vaginal delivery when the persistent occipitotransverse position was present and delivery needed to be expediated. Use of Kielland forceps can shorten the delivery time, improve the success rate of vaginal delivery and reduce the complications of mothers and infants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mass spectrometry data may be affected by random noise and baseline drift due to experimental instruments and conditions, posing significant challenges for detecting spectral peaks, particularly when identifying weak and separating overlapping peaks. To increase the sensitivity and enhance the resolution, we propose a mass spectral peak detection algorithm that integrates resolution enhancement and image segmentation. Initially, the extended Mexican hat wavelet is proposed by integrating the peak sharpening method with its wavelet. This approach accurately transforms mass spectra into wavelet space using the continuous wavelet transform. Subsequently, the triangular single-peak thresholding method, a more suitable threshold segmentation approach for spectral analysis, is introduced to identify ridges in the two-dimensional wavelet space. Compared to traditional Otsu and its improved variants, long-tailed single-peaked histograms are more effectively processed by this method with lower computational complexity, enabling faster identification of segmentation thresholds and image segmentation. Ultimately, peak positions are determined by utilizing ridge and valley lines in wavelet space along with the original spectrum. To evaluate the performance of the peak recognition algorithm, two metrics are introduced: the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and the balanced F score (F1 score). When compared to multi-scale peak detection (MSPD), continuous wavelet transform and image segmentation (CWT-IS), the developed approach is more suitable for weak and highly overlapping peaks. The robustness and practicality of the method are verified through peak detection using matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectra. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cell division is a highly regulated process essential for the accurate segregation of chromosomes. Central to this process is the assembly of a bipolar mitotic spindle, a highly dynamic microtubule (MT)‐based structure responsible for chromosome movement. The nucleation and dynamics of MTs are intricately regulated by MT‐binding proteins. Over the recent years, various MT‐binding proteins have been reported to undergo liquid–liquid phase separation, forming either single‐ or multi‐component condensates on MTs. Herein, we provide a comprehensive summary of the phase separation characteristics of these proteins. We underscore their critical roles in MT nucleation, spindle assembly and kinetochore‐MT attachment during the cell division process. Furthermore, we discuss the current challenges and various remaining unsolved problems, highlights the ongoing research efforts aimed at a deeper understanding of the role of the phase separation process during spindle assembly and orientation. Our review aims to contribute to the collective knowledge in this area and stimulate further investigations that will enhance our comprehension of the intricate mechanisms governing cell division. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the rapid advancement in the natural gas market, the existing volume-based trading system falls short of accurately valuing this commodity. This study focuses on addressing the economic challenges in pipeline operations resulting from transitioning from volume to energy metering for natural gas. Based on the actual situation of China's natural gas market, a model is established for optimizing the operation of a multigas source pipe network under the energy metering system and volume metering system by considering the implementation plan of the energy metering system and the demand for natural gas from special users, and taking maximizing the profit of pipe operation as the goal, and taking the volume of gas supplied by the gas source and the way of boosting the pressure of the whole pipe as the decision-making variables. The model was applied to a long-distance pipe in China and solved by the GAMS/ANTIGONE solver. The results showed that the optimization results under different energy metering system implementation schemes were better than the actual operation schemes in the field, with a maximum profit increase of about 17.42%. User demand sensitivity analysis reveals that the highest profit difference under various user demand scenarios can reach 9%, and the profit variance under different gas source quality combinations can reach up to 10.56%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrogen energy, characterized by its high calorific value and sustainability, represents a secondary clean energy source. It is predominantly stored, transported, and utilized through pipeline networks. However, a comprehensive optimization approach for the design for the ground pipeline network of hydrogen storage is currently lacking. This paper embarks on a systematic exploration of the layout, station type and parameter design for the ground pipeline network of hydrogen storage. Addressing various application perspectives, the study constructs two distinct pipeline network structures: the Star-Star Global Optimization Model (SSGO-Model) and the Star-Tree Global Optimization Model (STGO-Model). Three cases are discussed under six different constraint scenarios. These scenarios focus on layout optimization, variable capacity layout optimization, and the overall optimization of layout and parameters. An overall optimization strategy is proposed to solve the models. A detailed analysis of the iteration process, layout schemes, station and pipeline constraints, investment, and flow parameters of the pipeline network in the optimization results is presented. Through systematic analysis, the correctness and effectiveness of the model are verified, demonstrating the variability of optimization results under different topological structures and constraint conditions. Moreover, when conducting integrated optimization, the total investment is minimized, proving its superiority. The findings demonstrate the applicability of these models in guiding the construction for the ground pipeline network of hydrogen storage, thereby fostering the advancement of hydrogen storage technology. Concurrently, this research contributes significantly to the development of hydrogen energy, offering strategic insights and practical solutions for its efficient deployment. • Integrated optimization model for hydrogen storage ground pipeline network. • The model considers layout, station type and parameter design. • Overall optimization strategy is proposed. • Three cases verify optimization model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two-dimensional (2D) ferromagnets have attracted significant interest for their potential in spintronic device miniaturization, especially since the discovery of ferromagnetic ordering in monolayer materials such as CrI3 and Fe3GeTe2 in 2017. This study presents a detailed investigation into the effects of the Hubbard U parameter, biaxial strain, and structural distortions on the magnetic characteristics of T″-phase VTe2. We demonstrate that setting the Hubbard U to 0 eV provides an accurate representation of the observed structural, magnetic, and electronic features for both bulk and monolayer T″-phase VTe2. The application of strain reveals two distinct ferromagnetic states in the monolayer T″-phase VTe2, each characterized by minor structural differences, but notably different magnetic moments. The T″-1 state, with reduced magnetic moments, emerges under compressive strain, while the T″-2 state, featuring increased magnetic moments, develops under tensile strain. Our analysis also compares the magnetic anisotropy between the T and T″ phases of VTe2, highlighting that the periodic lattice distortion in the T″-phase induces an in-plane anisotropy, which makes it a material with an easy-axis of magnetization. Monte Carlo simulations corroborate our findings, indicating a high Curie temperature of approximately 191 K for the T″-phase VTe2. Our research not only sheds light on the critical aspects of the VTe2 system but also suggests new pathways for enhancing low-dimensional magnetism, contributing to the advancement of spintronics and straintronics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hedera helix is a traditional medicinal plant. Its primary active ingredients are oleanane-type saponins, which have extensive pharmacological effects such as gastric mucosal protection, autophagy regulation actions, and antiviral properties. However, the glycosylation-modifying enzymes responsible for catalyzing oleanane-type saponin biosynthesis remain unidentified. Through transcriptome, cluster analysis, and PSPG structural domain, this study preliminarily screened four candidate UDP-glycosyltransferases (UGTs), including Unigene26859, Unigene31717, CL11391.Contig2, and CL144.Contig9. In in vitro enzymatic reactions, it has been observed that Unigene26859 (HhUGT74AG11) has the ability to facilitate the conversion of oleanolic acid, resulting in the production of oleanolic acid 28-O-glucopyranosyl ester. Moreover, HhUGT74AG11 exhibits extensive substrate hybridity and specific stereoselectivity and can transfer glycosyl donors to the C-28 site of various oleanane-type triterpenoids (hederagenin and calenduloside E) and the C-7 site of flavonoids (tectorigenin). Cluster analysis found that HhUGT74AG11 is clustered together with functionally identified genes AeUGT74AG6, CaUGT74AG2, and PgUGT74AE2, further verifying the possible reason for HhUGT74AG11 catalyzing substrate generalization. In this study, a novel glycosyltransferase, HhUGT74AG11, was characterized that plays a role in oleanane-type saponins biosynthesis in H. helix, providing a theoretical basis for the production of rare and valuable triterpenoid saponins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To analyze the mediating effect of sleep duration and sleep quality on physical activity level and cognitive function of elderly residents in rural areas of Chengdu. Methods By using the method of multi-stage random sampling, subjects over 60 years old were recruited in rural areas of Chengdu in October 2020. A total of 732 subjects were included in this study. A questionnaire survey was conducted by using the physical activity scale for the elderly and telephone interview questionnaire on cognitive status. Linear regression model was used to analyze the effect of physical activity level on cognitive function, and intermediary software package (mediation package) was used to explore the mediating effect of sleep duration and sleep quality. Results Physical activity had a positive effect on cognitive function (β=0.004, P<0.01), and there was a partial mediating effect of sleep duration in the relationship between physical activity and cognitive function in sleep duration (P<0.05). The mediating effect was 0.000 4, accounting for 7.74% of the total effect (0.004 1). There was a partial mediating effect of sleep quality between physical activity and cognitive function (P<0.01). The mediating effect was 0.000 9, accounting for 19.18% of the total effect (0.003 6). Conclusion In order to prevent and delay the decline of cognitive function, elderly rural residents should continue to participate in physical activities, and it is necessary to carry out intervention programs aimed at their sleep duration and sleep quality to promote the improvement of their cognitive function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The miniaturised wideband filter with good frequency selectivity and wide stopband is proposed, which is based on three‐dimensional (3D) heterogeneous integrated passive device technology. The proposed sixth‐order wideband bandpass filter is based on the magnetic‐coupling‐loaded highpass‐lowpass lumped topology and implemented by the 3D heterogeneous integration process, integrating GaAs‐based and Glass‐based micro‐nano‐scale processes together. Then, lumped inductors are designed in the Glass substrate with low dielectric loss tangent and realised by a three‐dimensional spiral structure. Therefore, the inductors have high quality factors and small sizes. The lumped capacitors are designed using the GaAs thin film process. Finally, a prototype with a 3‐dB fractional bandwidth of 42% is designed and fabricated at 3.875 GHz (f0). The upper‐stopband attenuation higher than 30 dB is extended to more than 5.15f0. It occupies only 0.014 × 0.018 λ02 (1.1 × 1.42 mm2), where λ0 is the free‐space wavelength at f0. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: FLASH radiotherapy (FLASH‐RT) with ultra‐high dose rate has yielded promising results in reducing normal tissue toxicity while maintaining tumor control. Planning with single‐energy proton beams modulated by ridge filters (RFs) has been demonstrated feasible for FLASH‐RT. Purpose: This study explored the feasibility of a streamlined pin‐shaped RF (pin‐RF) design, characterized by coarse resolution and sparsely distributed ridge pins, for single‐energy proton FLASH planning. Methods: An inverse planning framework integrated within a treatment planning system was established to design streamlined pin RFs for single‐energy FLASH planning. The framework involves generating a multi‐energy proton beam plan using intensity‐modulated proton therapy (IMPT) planning based on downstream energy modulation strategy (IMPT‐DS), followed by a nested pencil‐beam‐direction‐based (PBD‐based) spot reduction process to iteratively reduce the total number of PBDs and energy layers along each PBD for the IMPT‐DS plan. The IMPT‐DS plan is then translated into the pin‐RFs and the single‐energy beam configurations for IMPT planning with pin‐RFs (IMPT‐RF). This framework was validated on three lung cases, quantifying the FLASH dose of the IMPT‐RF plan using the FLASH effectiveness model. The FLASH dose was then compared to the reference dose of a conventional IMPT plan to measure the clinical benefit of the FLASH planning technique. Results: The IMPT‐RF plans closely matched the corresponding IMPT‐DS plans in high dose conformity (conformity index of <1.2), with minimal changes in V7Gy and V7.4 Gy for the lung (<3%) and small increases in maximum doses (Dmax) for other normal structures (<3.4 Gy). Comparing the FLASH doses to the doses of corresponding IMPT‐RF plans, drastic reductions of up to nearly 33% were observed in Dmax for the normal structures situated in the high‐to‐moderate‐dose regions, while negligible changes were found in Dmax for normal structures in low‐dose regions. Positive clinical benefits were seen in comparing the FLASH doses to the reference doses, with notable reductions of 21.4%–33.0% in Dmax for healthy tissues in the high‐dose regions. However, in the moderate‐to‐low‐dose regions, only marginal positive or even negative clinical benefit for normal tissues were observed, such as increased lung V7Gy and V7.4 Gy (up to 17.6%). Conclusions: A streamlined pin‐RF design was developed and its effectiveness for single‐energy proton FLASH planning was validated, revealing positive clinical benefits for the normal tissues in the high dose regions. The coarsened design of the pin‐RF demonstrates potential advantages, including cost efficiency and ease of adjustability, making it a promising option for efficient production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We developed an offline method to measure HO 2 uptake kinetics onto ambient aerosols. • γ HO 2 is strongly RH and pH dependent and inversely correlated with [HO2] 0. • Different ambient aerosol components have collective effects to γ HO 2. • HO 2 self-reaction and transition metal-catalyzed reactions both contributed to γ HO 2. The heterogeneous loss of HO 2 radicals onto ambient aerosols plays an important role in tropospheric chemistry. However, sparse investigation of the dominating parameters controlling the HO 2 uptake coefficients onto ambient aerosols (γ HO 2) has largely hindered the application of the measured γ HO 2 to the global spatial prediction. Here we induced an offline method using LFP-LIF technique to measure the kinetics of HO 2 uptake onto ambient aerosols collected in summertime and wintertime in Yokohama city, a regional urban site near Tokyo, Japan. By controlling the dominating parameters which influence γ HO 2 , we were able to investigate the detailed HO 2 uptake mechanism. We characterized the chemical composition of the collected ambient aerosols, including organics, inorganics, transition metals ions, etc. and modeled γ HO 2 using different mechanisms. Results show that γ HO 2 increased with the increase in RH, and the aerosol states ("dry" or wet/aqueous) have large effects on γ HO 2. With fixed RH and aerosol chemical composition, γ HO 2 was highly dependent on pH and inversely correlated with [HO 2 ] 0. By combing the measured γ HO 2 values with the modeled ones, we found that both the HO 2 self-reaction and transition metal-catalyzed reactions should be accounted for to yield a single parameterization to predict γ HO 2 , and different chemical compositions may have collective effects on γ HO 2. Results may serve for extending the γ HO 2 values measured at one observation site to different environmental conditions, which will help us to achieve more accurate modeling results concerning secondary pollutant formation (i.e., ozone). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The improvement of edge perception layer anomaly detection performance has an immeasurable driving effect on the development of smart cities. However, many existing anomaly detection methods often suffer from problems such as ignoring the correlation between multiple source temporal sequences and losing key features of a single temporal sequence. Therefore, a new anomaly detection method using BiLSTM and attention mechanism is proposed. First, a fusion algorithm TCDCD was formed by combining Data Correlation Detection (DCD) and Temporal Continuity Detection (TCD) to preprocess Edge Perception Data (EPD). Then, BiLSTM is employed to gather deep-level features of EPD, and the attention mechanism is utilized to enhance important features that contribute to anomaly detection. Ultimately, the SoftMax classifier is employed to categorize abnormal data. The experimental findings from the SWaT and WADI datasets demonstrate that the suggested method achieves better performance than other newer anomaly detection methods. Among them, the accuracy, precision, recall and F1 of the proposed method on the SWaT dataset were 96.62%, 94.32%, 96.02% and 94.30%, respectively. In terms of performance, it is superior to traditional EPD anomaly detection models, and has good representational and generalization capabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Morphing attacks (MAs) pose a substantial security threat to the Automatic Border Control (ABC) system. While a few morphing attack detection (MAD) methods have been proposed, the face morphing accomplice's facial restoration has not received sufficient attention. Due to the inability to foresee the morphing factor used for a particular morphed image, selecting the appropriate de‐morphing factor becomes a challenging problem in the restoration of the accomplice's facial image. If the morphing factor cannot be chosen reasonably, achieving the desired restoration effect is difficult. Therefore, this paper presents an adaptive de‐morphing factor framework (ADFF) architecture for restoring the accomplice's facial image. By exploiting the morphed images stored in the electronic passport system and the real‐time captured criminal's images, ADFF can effectively restore the accomplice's facial image. Experimental results and analysis show that ADFF can significantly reduce the security threats of MAs on ABC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The appropriate siting of hydrogen refueling stations (HRSs) can contribute to reducing hydrogen costs and promoting the widespread adoption of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (HFCVs). This study integrates hydrogen sources and transportation, aiming to minimize the unit hydrogen cost. Two models for hydrogen station siting along the expressway are established. For the selection of feasible station siting schemes under discrete conditions, we design a screening process and algorithm Taking a specific highway section as a case study, both models are optimized, resulting in the unit hydrogen cost of 50.44 CNY/kg and 51.69 CNY/kg, respectively. Optimization verification is conducted, with percentage variances of 6.61 % and 18.77 %, respectively. Furthermore, the study delves into the impacts of different hydrogen demand, hydrogen production capacities, and the maximum allowable spacing between HRSs on station siting for both models. This research provides significant insights for hydrogen station siting along the expressway. [Display omitted] • Two hydrogen station siting models along the expressway are constructed. • The siting models integrate both hydrogen sources and transportation. • One of the models contemplates co-locating refueling and HRSs. • A feasible station siting scheme screening process and algorithm are designed. • Case studies are established to conduct sensitivity analysis on various factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Depleted gas reservoirs type underground gas storage (depleted-UGS) are important facilities used to solve the imbalance of natural gas supply and demand. However, gas storage has high energy consumption, and depleted-UGS faults are widely distributed and divided into multiple disconnected blocks. Excessive pressure variation between reservoir blocks (RBs) will affect the stability of depleted-UGS operation. A multiobjective optimization model is established to solve the economic security scheduling problem of depleted-UGS. The model takes the pressure variation of RB and the energy consumption of the compressor as the optimization objectives, coupled with the constraints of reservoir seepage pressure drop and wellbore flow pressure drop. To find a high-performance algorithm to solve the depleted-UGS operation optimization problem, three multiobjective algorithms are tested, and reference vector guided evolutionary algorithm (RVEA) is chosen as the solution. We apply this model to a large depleted-UGS in China and use the RVEA to solve the optimal gas injection scheme for the depleted-UGS under two scenarios of low RB pressure variation and high RB pressure variation. The findings suggest that the optimized solution is more inclined to allocate more gas injection to the block with lower pressure and higher elastic yield. For the scenario where the pressure of the RBs is relatively balanced, the optimization scheme can reduce the energy consumption by 5.2% and the pressure difference by 79.3%. For scenarios with large pressure differences among RBs, the optimization scheme can reduce energy consumption by 17.4% and pressure difference by 41.3%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the critical exponent of non‐global solutions to the following inhomogeneous pseudo‐parabolic equation with a space‐time forcing term: ut−kΔut=Δu+|u|p+tσω(x)forx∈ℝn,t>0,u(x,0)=u0(x)forx∈ℝn,$$ \left\{\begin{array}{lll}{u}_t-k\Delta {u}_t=\Delta u+{\left|u\right|}^p+{t}^{\sigma}\omega (x)\kern0.30em & & \mathrm{for}\kern0.30em x\in {\mathrm{\mathbb{R}}}^n,t>0,\\ {}u\left(x,0\right)={u}_0(x)& & \mathrm{for}\kern0.30em x\in {\mathrm{\mathbb{R}}}^n,\end{array}\right. $$where n≥1$$ n\ge 1 $$ is an integer; k>0$$ k>0 $$, p>1$$ p>1 $$, and σ>−1$$ \sigma >-1 $$ are three constants; and u0,ω∈C0(ℝn)$$ {u}_0,\omega \in {C}_0\left({\mathrm{\mathbb{R}}}^n\right) $$. By obtaining a priori estimate for the solutions and the contradiction argument, we show that there exists a critical exponent: pc(σ):=2σ−12σ+1,ifn=1andσ∈−1,−12,∞,ifn=1andσ∈−12,∞,1−1σ,ifn=2andσ∈(−1,0),∞,ifn=2andσ∈[0,∞),2σ−n2σ−n+2,ifn>2andσ∈(−1,0],∞,ifn>2andσ∈(0,∞),$$ {p}_c\left(\sigma \right):= \left\{\begin{array}{rcl}& \frac{2\sigma -1}{2\sigma +1},& \mathrm{if}\kern0.30em n=1\kern0.30em \mathrm{and}\kern0.30em \sigma \in \left(-1,-\frac{1}{2}\right),\\ {}& \infty, & \mathrm{if}\kern0.30em n=1\kern0.30em \mathrm{and}\kern0.30em \sigma \in \left[-\frac{1}{2},\infty \right),\\ {}& 1-\frac{1}{\sigma },& \mathrm{if}\kern0.30em n=2\kern0.30em \mathrm{and}\kern0.30em \sigma \in \left(-1,0\right),\\ {}& \infty, & \mathrm{if}\kern0.30em n=2\kern0.30em \mathrm{and}\kern0.30em \sigma \in \left[0,\infty \right),\\ {}& \frac{2\sigma -n}{2\sigma -n+2},& \mathrm{if}\kern0.30em n>2\kern0.30em \mathrm{and}\kern0.30em \sigma \in \left(-1,0\right],\\ {}& \infty, & \mathrm{if}\kern0.30em n>2\kern0.30em \mathrm{and}\kern0.30em \sigma \in \left(0,\infty \right),\end{array}\right. $$such that the problem does not admit any global solutions when p0$$ {\int}_{{\mathrm{\mathbb{R}}}^n}\omega (x) dx>0 $$. Our obtained results show that the forcing term induces an interesting phenomenon of continuity/discontinuity of the critical exponent pc(σ)$$ {p}_c\left(\sigma \right) $$ depending on the dimension n$$ n $$. Namely, we found that when n=1$$ n=1 $$, limσ→−12−pc(σ)=limσ→−12+pc(σ)=∞$$ \underset{\sigma \to -{\frac{1}{2}}^{-}}{\lim }{p}_c\left(\sigma \right)=\underset{\sigma \to -{\frac{1}{2}}^{+}}{\lim }{p}_c\left(\sigma \right)=\infty $$; when n=2$$ n=2 $$limσ→0−pc(σ)=limσ→0+pc(σ)=∞$$ \underset{\sigma \to {0}^{-}}{\lim }{p}_c\left(\sigma \right)=\underset{\sigma \to {0}^{+}}{\lim }{p}_c\left(\sigma \right)=\infty $$; and when n≥3$$ n\ge 3 $$limσ→0−pc(σ)=nn−2<∞$$ \underset{\sigma \to {0}^{-}}{\lim }{p}_c\left(\sigma \right)=\frac{n}{n-2}<\infty $$, limσ→0+pc(σ)=∞$$ \underset{\sigma \to {0}^{+}}{\lim }{p}_c\left(\sigma \right)=\infty $$. Furthermore, limσ→κ−pc(σ)$$ \underset{\sigma \to {\kappa}^{-}}{\lim }{p}_c\left(\sigma \right) $$ with κ=−12$$ \kappa =-\frac{1}{2} $$ when n=1$$ n=1 $$ and κ=0$$ \kappa =0 $$ when n≥2$$ n\ge 2 $$ coincides with the critical exponent of the above problem with σ=0$$ \sigma =0 $$. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perovskite oxides are promising electrodes for protonic ceramic fuel cells (PCFCs) due to their good electrochemical performance and stability. However, the lower operating temperature results in a large polarization resistance and sluggish oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in cathodes. Herein, Ruddlesden-Popper (R–P) type perovskite Sr 3 Fe 2-x Zn x O 7-δ (SFZx, x = 0, 0.1, 0.5) were successfully synthesized and the partial replacement of Fe by Zn in SFZx demonstrates a superior ORR activity. At 750 °C, the polarization resistance of SFZ05 is 0.072 Ω cm−2, which is 47% lower than that of the undoped Sr 3 Fe 2 O 7-δ (SFO), and the peak power density of the single-cell with an SFZ05 cathode reaches 523.56 mW cm−2. The distribution of relaxation time (DRT) results manifest that the rate-limiting steps of ORR are charge transfer and ionic migration processes. Furthermore, SFZ05 also presented better CO 2 tolerance. These results show that SFZ05 is a promising cathode candidate with high activity and stability for PCFCs. • R p of the symmetrical SFZ05|BZCY|SFZ05 cell achieved to 0.072 Ω cm−2 at 750 °C. • Zn-doping increases the oxygen vacancy concentration and proton conductivity. • DRT shows that the rate-limiting steps of ORR are charge transfer and ionic migration processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the generalized higher order Choquard-Pekar equation (⁎) (− Δ) m u = (∫ R N Ψ (| x − y |) u p (y) d y) u q in R N , where N , m ≥ 1 are integers, p , q > 0. Under suitable assumption on Ψ, when N > 2 m the Liouville theorems in the ranges (i) (p ≥ 1 or p + q ≥ 2) and ∫ | y | > 1 | y | − p (N − 2 m) Ψ (| y |) d y = ∞ ; or (ii) p + q ≥ 2 and lim sup r → ∞ r 2 N − (N − 2 m) (p + q) Ψ (r) > 0 for nonnegative classical solutions of (⁎) were got in previous studies. By using "Bootstrap" iteration procedure, we extend the above results by establishing the Liouville theorems for nonnegative classical solutions of (⁎) with N > 2 m in the ranges p ≥ 1 and p + q < N N − 2 m. Moreover, we also consider the higher order Choquard-Pekar equation, i.e., the problem (⁎) with Ψ (r) = r − σ and 0 < σ < N. By using the method of scaling sphere we also establish the Liouville theorems for nonnegative classical solutions with N > 2 m in the ranges 1 ≤ p ≤ 2 N − σ N − 2 m , 0 < q ≤ N + 2 m − σ N − 2 m , and p + q < 3 N + 2 m − 2 σ N − 2 m , which also extend the recent studies on higher order Choquard-Pekar equation. Extensions to the integral representation of (⁎) with more general assumption p > 0 are also included. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Osteoporotic osteoarthritis (OPOA) is a specific phenotype of OA with high incidence and severe cartilage damage. This study aimed to explore the protective efficacy of PEMF on the progression of OPOA and observed the effects of PEMF on PPARγ, autophagy- and apoptosis-related proteins in OPOA rats. Rats were randomly divided into three groups: control group, OPOA group, and PEMF group (n = 6). One week after surgery, the rats in PEMF group were subjected to PEMF (3.82 mT, 8 Hz, 40 min/day and 5 day/week) for 12 weeks. Results showed that PEMF retarded cartilage degeneration and bone loss, as evidenced by pathological staining image, decreased MMP-13 expression and increased bone mineral density. PEMF inhibited the serum levels of inflammatory cytokines, and the expressions of caspase-3 and caspase-8, while upregulated the expression of PPARγ. Moreover, PEMF significantly improved the autophagy disorders, represented by decrease expressions of Beclin-1, P62, and LC3B. The research demonstrates that PEMF can effectively prevent cartilage and subchondral bone destruction in OPOA rats. The potential mechanism may be related to upregulation of PPARγ, inhibition of chondrocyte apoptosis and inflammation, and improvement of autophagy disorder. PEMF therapy thus shows promising application prospects in the treatment of postmenopausal OA. Osteoporotic osteoarthritis (OPOA) is a very common combination disease, that characterized by chronic pain, swollen joints and susceptibility to fractures. It is particularly common in postmenopausal women. At present, drug therapy is the main treatment method, but the adverse reactions are serious and can not stop the progression of the disease. PEMF is a safe physical therapy that has been shown to increase bone density, reduce pain, and improve joints mobility. In this study, we aimed to explore the protective effect and potential mechanism of PEMF on OPOA. We found that PEMF significantly inhibited the inflammatory response, ameliorated the damaged cartilage and subchondral bone in OPOA rats, that maybe related to the regulation of chondrocyte autophagy and apoptosis. This study provided a new vision for PEMF' treatment on OPOA and has positive significance for the clinical promotion of PEMF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to assess PEMF in a rat model of senile osteoporosis and its relationship with NLRP3-mediated low-grade inflammation in the bone marrow microenvironment. A total of 24 Sprague Dawley (SD) rats were included in this study. Sixteen of them were 24-month natural-aged male SD rats, which were randomly distributed into the Aged group and the PEMF group (n = 8 per group). The remaining 8 3-month -old rats were used as the Young positive control group (n = 8). Rats in the PEMF group received 12 weeks of PEMF with 40 min/day, five days per week, while the other rats received placebo PEMF intervention. Bone mineral density/microarchitecture, serum levels of CTX-1 and P1CP, and NLRP3-related signaling genes and proteins in rat bone marrow were then analyzed. The 12-week of PEMF showed significant mitigation of aging-induced bone loss and bone microarchitecture deterioration, i.e. PEMF increased the bone mineral density of the proximal femur and L5 vertebral body and improved parameters of the proximal tibia and L4 vertebral body. Further analysis showed that PEMF reversed aging-induced bone turnover, specifically, decreased serum CTX-1 and elevated serum P1CP. Furthermore, PEMF also dramatically inhibited NLRP3-mediated low-grade inflammation in the bone marrow, i.e. PEMF inhibited the levels of NLRP3, proCaspase1, cleaved Caspase1, IL-1β, and GSDMD-N. The study demonstrated that PEMF could mitigate the aging-induced bone loss and reverses the deterioration of bone microarchitecture probably through inhibiting NLRP3-mediated low-grade chronic inflammation to improve the inflammatory bone microenvironment in aged rats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multiple unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) cooperative operations have been proposed as a relatively new concept for improving the combat capability of a single UAV, and formation control is the focus and core technology of multi-UAV cooperative operations. However, the existing control methods rarely focus on the optimization of UAV formation based on constrained effectiveness, and faster tracking performance is required in formation control. Therefore, this study presents a 6 degrees-of-freedom UAV formation control architecture that integrates trajectory planning and attitude control by considering the constrained effectiveness of optimal formation and coupling effect. To achieve formation selection and geometry parameter optimization in a battlefield environment, a formation-constrained effectiveness model based on battlefield effectiveness was proposed, and the formation was optimized using the simulated annealing particle swarm optimization (SAPSO) method. To verify the accuracy and effectiveness of formation optimization and control, five UAV formation flight scenarios based on combat effectiveness formation were designed. Numerical simulation results show that the proposed optimization algorithm can maximizes battlefield effectiveness based on the formation-constrained effectiveness model; the proposed trajectory planning accurately tracked the relative position commands with a fast response time and short rising time; the proposed coupling effect–involved attitude control method was compared with the conventional attitude control method to demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed method; and the controller considering coupling had a faster trajectory response in the coupling effect zone. These results suggest that the proposed approach has a better tracking performance and demonstrates high efficiency and accuracy in UAV formation control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: Atmospheric trace metal deposition is an important source in agricultural soils and crops, but a large knowledge gap exists between foliar and root uptake of wet/dry deposition. We aim to distinguish the contribution of dry and wet-deposited trace metals to rice plant via foliar and root uptake and to investigate their accumulations during the full growth season. Methods: We performed an atmospheric exposure experiment using customized open top chambers (OTCs) to distinguish the impacts of wet and dry deposition contribution to foliar and root uptake and their mobility in soils. The foliar uptake and then translocation was hypothesized the major pathway of trace metal accumulation in rice grains. Results: Foliar uptake of wet- and dry-deposited Cu, Zn, and Pb played an important role in their accumulations in rice plant, contributing to 44–47%, 23–25%, and 35–37% in rice grains, respectively. The leaf Cu, Zn, and Pb accumulated from atmospheric deposition can be transported upward to rice grains but nodes seem to restrict them downward translocation. Rice leaves cannot directly take up atmospheric As and the deposited As can only accumulate in rice through the root uptake. The trace metals showed high mobility in atmospheric deposition, which significantly increase the bioavailable trace metal fractions in surface soils and soil solutions. Conclusions: This study provides a new insight of similar or even higher contributions of foliar uptake than root uptake of trace metals from atmospheric deposition and that reducing the accumulation of atmospheric trace metals due to deposition on leaves can effectively decrease the accumulation of trace metals in crops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: We sought to investigate the reasons why spondyloarthritis (SpA) patients failed to respond to non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (cDMARDs) and the influences of different initial cDMARDs on the likelihood of a switch to biologics. Methods: SpA patients were divided into a conventional drug maintenance group and a biologics conversion group to determine the causes of conversion to biologics. Then, we divided all patients into three groups according to different initial cDMARDs, NSAID monotherapy, NSAID + (sulfasalazine or thalidomide) double combination, and NSAID + sulfasalazine + thalidomide triple combination therapy groups, to clarify the influence of initial treatment on later conversion to biologics. Results: This study includes 202 patients, including 97 patients in the conventional drug maintenance group and 105 patients in the biologics conversion group. The mean age of the conventional drug maintenance group was higher than that of the biologics conversion group (40.8 ± 14.3 vs. 33.8 ± 12.3 years, P < 0.05). Uveitis (OR 5.356, P < 0.05) is positively correlated with conversion to biological therapy, while age (OR 0.940, P < 0.05) is negatively correlated. The proportion of NSAID monotherapy, double combination, and triple combination groups converted to biological agents was 80%, 51.1%, and 23.2%, respectively (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Age and uveitis are related to conversion to biologics therapy. The early combination of sulfasalazine and thalidomide with NSAIDs may lower the probability of conversion to biologics therapy in the later stage and offer a new option for patients with limited use of biologics in SpA patients. Key Points • Patients' move to biologics may be caused mostly by inadequate disease control by conventional oral medications. • Regardless of axial vs. peripheral joint involvement, combination drug therapy was superior to single drug therapy in controlling SpA and decreasing the probability of conversion to a biological agent. • For SpA patients who are not candidates for biologics due to contraindications or other reasons, early combination application of NSAIDs, sulfasalazine, and thalidomide may be a new choice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is concerned with extensible beams with nonlocal frictional damping and polynomial nonlinearity. By using semigroup theory, potential well method, and energy method, the well-posedness and the conditions on global existence and finite time blow-up of solutions are studied. Moreover, the upper bound of blow-up time is also given by using ordinary differential inequalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Layered Ni-Fe double hydroxide was annealed to form P-doped NiFe 2 O 4 sheet array. • Exceptionally high ammonia yield rate was up to 34788.51 µg h−1 cm−2 with a Faradaic efficiency of 95.39%. • Catalyst has an ammonia yield rate of 22303.54 µg h−1 cm−2 and a Faradaic efficiency of 85.34% even after 16 cycles. The nitrite reduction reaction (NO 2 −RR) is an important process for eliminating toxic nitrites from water while simultaneously producing high-value ammonia under ambient conditions. For the aim to improve the NO 2 −RR efficiency, we designed a new synthetic strategy to prepare a phosphorus-doped three-dimensional NiFe 2 O 4 catalyst loaded onto a nickel foam in-situ and evaluated its performance for the reduction of NO 2 − to NH 3. The catalyst achieved a high Faradaic efficiency (FE) of 95.39%, and an ammonia (NH 3) yield rate of 34788.51 µg h−1 cm−2 at − 0.45 V vs. RHE. A high NH 3 yield rate and FE were maintained after 16 cycles at − 0.35 V vs. RHE in an alkaline electrolyte. This study provides a new direction for the rational design of highly stable electrocatalysts for the conversion of NO 2 − to NH 3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using 4-hydroxybutyl vinyl polyoxyethylene ether (VPEG) as macromonomer, acrylic acid (AA), methacrylic acid (MAA) and sodium methallyl sulfonate (SMAS) as comonomers, and thioglycolic acid (TGA) as chain transfer agent, VPEG-viscosity-reducing polycarboxylate superplasticizer PCE-J was synthesized by free radical polymerization under the redox initiation system composed of H2O2/vitamin C (VC). The effects of synthesis process condition on the properties of the synthesized superplasticizer were investigated. The most suitable synthesis process condition was obtained as follows. The reaction temperature was 20 °C. The ratio of acid to ether was 3.5:1. The amount of SMAS, MAA, H2O2 and TGA was 0.1 wt%, 2 wt%, 0.7 wt% and 0.6 wt% of VPEG, respectively, and the addition time of A and B was 30 min and 40 min, respectively. The PCE-J and the commercially available viscosity-reducing superplasticizer PCE-S were compared and analyzed in terms of cement paste fluidity, concrete viscosity reduction performance (T50 time, emptying time) and cement test block strength performance. It is concluded that PCE-J has excellent dispersion performance for cement, cement paste fluidity is as high as 305 mm, and has excellent viscosity reduction effect on concrete. The concrete emptying time and T50 time are 4.1 s and 5.7 s, respectively, which can significantly improve the compressive strength of cement test blocks. The compressive strength of 28 d cement test blocks is as high as 67.1 MPa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reddish-brown water-based ceramic inks composed of ZnFe1.2Cr0.8O4 pigment, a polymeric dispersant AD01, and some additives, were successfully obtained by grinding method. The effect of dispersant on ceramic inks, especially particle size and distribution were investigated. The grinding and dispersion mechanism of particles in the grinding processing has been discussed. The stability of particles in ceramic inks was also evaluated. Moreover, the inkjet printing performances of the water-based ceramic inks were predicted by using the dimensionless parameters Reynolds number (Re), Weber number (We), and Ohnesorge number (Oh). The results show that the water-based ceramic inks with appropriate viscosity (12.05–23.05 mPa·s), surface tension (27.7–31.7 mN/m) and density (1.331–1.348 g/cm3) can satisfy the inkjet printing requirements, and show excellent coloring ability on ceramic glaze, indicating that the water-based ceramic inks prepared have a promising application prospect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the role of dietary factors in chronic diseases has received extensive attention. As a tool to evaluate dietary quality, dietary assessment index has become an important index to evaluate the nutritional status of the population, it can also be used to explore the relationship between diet and chronic diseases. The Chinese Diet Balance Index (DBI) can be used to evaluate the dietary quality of groups and individuals by taking Chinese dietary guidelines and Food Guide Pagoda as reference and combining the dietary characteristics of Chinese residents, it can also be used to study the association with chronic diseases. This paper reviews the establishment, development, and application of DBI, and the similarities and differences between DBI and other Chinese dietary indices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Initiating event analysis is an essential prerequisite of conducting probabilistic safety assessment for nuclear reactors, which plays an important role in improving the core design, identifying fault, and guiding operation. In order to determine the initiating event list of SIMONS (Small Innovative helium-xenon cooled Mobile Nuclear power System), preliminary researches on the initial event of SIMONS were carried out using the MLD (Main Logic Diagram) analysis method and referring to the initial event list and initial event analysis theory of other nuclear reactors such as HTGR (High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor), MSR (Molten Salt Reactor), and PWR (Pressurized water reactor). With employing these methods, a total of 31 initial events are identified for SIMONS based on its latest conceptual design. These initial events are then divided into six groups according to the accident types, which are core heat removal increase, core heat removal decrease, abnormal reactivity and power distribution, pipeline crevasse and equipment leakage, anticipated transients without scram, and disasters (internal and external). The obtained results can provide a theoretical basis for the further safety analysis of SIMONS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work is concerned with a Kirchhoff wave equation with strong nonlinear damping. We establish the local existence of the solution and provide some sufficient conditions for the global existence and finite time blow‐up of the solution. Moreover, we derive the exponential decay estimation of the energy functional and the upper and lower bounds of the blow‐up time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Peritonitis is the most important complication of peritoneal dialysis (PD) and coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS) are a frequent cause of dialysis-related infections. The association between SCCmec typing with psm-mec positivity in staphylococci and PD-related infections has not been identified. We aim to investigate the molecular epidemiology of CNS isolated from PD-peritonitis in a single Chinese center, focusing on the genetic determinants conferring methicillin resistance. Methods: We collected 10 genetically unrelated CNS isolates from 10 patients with CNS PD-related peritonitis. The patients were divided into two groups based on the results of MIC to oxacillin: the methicillin-resistant CNS (MRCNS) and methicillin-sensitive CNS (MSCNS) groups. The biofilm formation group (BFG) and the non-biofilm formation group (NBFG) were used as the control groups. Phenotypic and molecular methods were used to analyze SCCmec types I, II and III, associated genes and biofilm formation and the existence of psm-mec. The demographic data and clinical indicators were collected. Results: Ten CNS PD-related peritonitis patients were enrolled for this study. There were 6 MRCNS and 4 MRCNS isolates. SCCmec types were fully determined in 10 isolates. Seven staphylococci (70%) carried SCCmec, of which 4 isolates carried single SCCmec type I (40%) and 3 isolates had multiple SCCmec elements (I + III). Of the 6 MRCNS isolates, 3 carried SCCmec type I (50%) and 2 isolates carried SCCmec type I + III (33.3%). A high diversity of ccr types, mec complexes and ccr-mec complex combinations was identified among the 10 CNS isolates. The psm-mec gene was detected in 2/10 (20%) CNS isolates. There was no mutation in the psm-mec gene. Conclusions: The majority of isolates were hospital-associated isolates. Furthermore, 2 psm-mec positive isolates were MRCNS in the NBFG. The PD patients frequent exposure to hospital would be the main risk factor. The presence of the psm-mec signal in the spectra of the MRCNS tested here demonstrates the presence of certain SCCmec cassettes that convey methicillin resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hand-eye calibration is crucial for vision-based robots using open-loop visual control. Based on the product of exponentials model, this study introduces a novel hand-eye calibration algorithm to improve calibration accuracy. As opposed to the traditional method of solving the AX = XB type in the hand-eye calibration using the marker, we transform the solution into an AX = B type without requiring accurate camera parameters. Firstly, the nominal marker pose in the robot base is described by the nominal kinematic parameters of the robot, camera, and end-effector-to-camera. The actual marker pose is obtained by physically contacting the marker with the probe. Subsequently, the error parameter of the hand-eye pose is defined as linear to the error between the nominal and actual marker poses and can be solved by an iterative least-squares algorithm. Finally, the calibrated hand-eye pose is acquired by multiplying its nominal pose and the exponential mapping of the error parameter. The simulations and real experiments illustrate the effectiveness and stability of the proposed algorithm. Noteworthy, the mean position accuracy of the vision-based robot is improved nearly 20 times after calibration. Furthermore, the comparison experiment demonstrates that the proposed algorithm is preferable for improving hand-eye calibration accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Some persons are genetically resistant to obesity, but only a few studies have evaluated thinness genes for preventing obesity. We aimed to investigate the association of polygenic variants with being underweight and their interaction with the lifestyles of middle‐aged and elderly persons and identify potential new genetic approaches for managing body weight. Methods: In total, 58,701 participants aged 40–77 years were recruited from urban hospitals in Korea. Underweight (case) was defined as body mass index (BMI) < 18.5 kg m2 (n = 991) and normal weight (control, n = 21,921) was defined as 18.5 ≤ BMI < 23 kg m2. A genome‐wide association study was run to identify thinness‐related single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) after adjustment for compound factors using Gplink. The generalised multifactor dimensionality reduction program was used to identify the genetic variants with SNP–SNP interactions. The polygenic risk score (PRS) was calculated by summing up the number of risk alleles in each SNP and classifying them into low‐, medium‐ and high‐PRS. Results: The best model included the ANK2_rs7656666, CAST_rs28042, SLC1A3_rs928431867, CHST12_rs2906173, ALOX5_rs1051713, RGS6_rs17180754, ST8SIA5_rs79491311 and DCC_rs35721894 alleles. The participants with high‐PRS had a lower BMI (p < 0.0001) than those with low‐PRS and were 3.834 (2.58–5.70) times more likely to be underweight after multivariate adjustment (p < 0.001). The selected SNPs were correlated with each other and highly expressed in brain‐related genes. The genes with minor alleles of CAST_rs28042 and CHST12_rs2906173 exhibited a higher expression frequency in brain‐related tissues. PRS had significant interactions with protein, sodium, indigestible carbohydrates, calcium intake and exercise (p < 0.05), influencing the underweight state. People with a high‐PRS were more underweight than those with low‐PRS under high protein, sodium, high calcium, low indigestible carbohydrate intake and low exercise by 3.75, 3.88, 7.05, 3.18 and 3.80 times, respectively (p < 0.0001). Conclusions: In conclusion, adults having a high‐PRS were significantly correlated with being underweight, especially in combination with a particular nutritional status. These results show the potential for thinness genes to be applied to personalised nutrition for preventing obesity through targeted gene therapy. Highlights: There is less research on understanding the role of genetic mutations in maintaining underweight. The present study found that high‐risk scores of thinness‐related polygenic variants (PRS) were positively associated with being underweight by 3.83 times. PRS interacted with environmental factors, including protein, indigestible carbohydrates, sodium and calcium intake, as well as physical activity. The study clearly suggests that the discovery of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)–environment interactions by using PRS was notable for its influence on the state of being underweight. Therapies targeting these genes and the SNPs of PRS could help scientists prevent obesity and manage weight in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding drug–drug interactions (DDI) of new drugs is critical for minimizing unexpected adverse drug reactions. The modeling of new drugs is called a cold start scenario. In this scenario, Only a few structural information or physicochemical information about new drug is available. The 3D conformation of drug molecules usually plays a crucial role in chemical properties compared to the 2D structure. 3D graph network with few-shot learning is a promising solution. However, the 3D heterogeneity of drug molecules and the discretization of atomic distributions lead to spatial confusion in few-shot learning. Here, we propose a 3D graph neural network with few-shot learning, Meta3D-DDI, to predict DDI events in cold start scenario. The 3DGNN ensures rotation and translation invariance by calculating atomic pairwise distances, and incorporates 3D structure and distance information in the information aggregation stage. The continuous filter interaction module can continuously simulate the filter to obtain the interaction between the target atom and other atoms. Meta3D-DDI further develops a FSL strategy based on bilevel optimization to transfer meta-knowledge for DDI prediction tasks from existing drugs to new drugs. In addition, the existing cold start setting may cause the scaffold structure information in the training set to leak into the test set. We design scaffold-based cold start scenario to ensure that the drug scaffolds in the training set and test set do not overlap. The extensive experiments demonstrate that our architecture achieves the SOTA performance for DDI prediction under scaffold-based cold start scenario on two real-world datasets. The visual experiment shows that Meta3D-DDI significantly improves the learning for DDI prediction of new drugs. We also demonstrate how Meta3D-DDI can reduce the amount of data required to make meaningful DDI predictions. • We develop a competitive tool for DDI prediction in cold start scenario. • We design a 3DGNN that continuously model on discretized atoms and incorporates invariant descriptors. • We utilize a few-shot learning strategy to transfer meta-knowledge from existing drugs to new drugs. • We design scaffold-based cold start scenarios to evaluate the generalization performance of DDI model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phototherapies, mainly including photodynamic and photothermal therapy, have made considerable strides in the field of cancer treatment. With the aid of phototherapeutic agents, reactive oxygen species (ROS) or heat are generated under light irradiation to selectively damage cancer cells. However, sole-modality phototherapy faces certain drawbacks, such as limited penetration of phototherapeutic agents into tumor tissues, inefficient ROS generation due to hypoxia, treatment-induced inflammation and resistance of tumor to treatment (e.g., high levels of antioxidants, expression of heat shock protein). Gas therapy, an emerging therapy approach that damages cancer cells by improving the level of certain gas at the tumor site, shows potential to overcome the challenges associated with phototherapies. In addition, with the rapid development of nanotechnology, gas-assisted phototherapy based on nanomedicines has emerged as a promising strategy to enhance the treatment efficacy. This review summarizes recent advances in gas-assisted phototherapy and discusses the prospects and challenges of this strategy in cancer phototherapy. [Display omitted] • The gas-releasing nanomedicines are introduced. • The applications of gas-assisted phototherapy in cancer treatment are summarized. • The existing challenges and further perspectives of gas-assisted phototherapy are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microbial fuel cell (MFC) technology with decarbonization and denitrification is considered to be advantageous in treating wastewater with a low carbon-to-nitrogen ratio. In this study, MFC was treated with different concentrations of nitrate-nitrogen. The MFC technology revealed significant treatment advantages when compared to both abiotic electrode treatment and microbial treatment only. The best treatment effect was recorded when the MFC's nitrate-nitrogen ( N O 3 − − N ) concentration was 414 mg/L. The running of the MFC system showed that it produced a stable output voltage of up to 0.17 V within 160 h. It showed a power density of up to 40.18 mW/m2, 1.58 times M1 (138 mg/L, 25.49 mW/m2), and 4.48 times non-biological electrode. The removal rate of N O 3 − − N was 97.48%, but the lack of anode electron supply resulted in the incomplete reduction of nitrate-nitrogen and accumulation of nitritenitrogen. Nitrate-nitrogen concentration in the study had no significant impact on microbial population diversity. However, the relative abundance of Proteobacteria increased from 47.3% to 65.4% when N O 3 − − N concentration increased from 138 to 414 mg/L. Burkholderiales, Hydrogenophilales, and Rhodocyclales were the main denitrifying bacteria. These results demonstrate promise in supporting the development of microbial cathode denitrification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The experiment was conducted to investigate the growth and development of hybrid offspring of Yili goose and Holdobaji goose. The experiment analyzed the body weight and body size of hybrid offspring of 0~9 weeks of age Yili goose and Holdobaji goose, used Logistic model, Gompertz model and Bertalanffy model to fit and compare the body weight data of hybrid goose. The results showed that the skew length of gander at 2, 6 weeks of age was significantly higher than that of female goose (P<0.05), the skew length of gander at 4 weeks of age was extremely higher than that of female goose (P<0.01). The breast depth, hip bone width and keel length of gander at 2 weeks of age were extremely higher than those of female goose (P<0.01), and the chest width was significantly higher than that of female goose (P<0.05). The chest circumference, shin length and semi-diving length of gander at 2, 4 weeks of age was extremely higher than that of female goose (P<0.01). The shin length and semi-diving length of gander at 6 weeks of age were significantly higher than those of female goose (P<0.05). Shin girth of gander at 4 weeks of age was extremely higher than that of female goose (P<0.01), and shin girth of gander at 8 weeks of age was significantly higher than that of female goose (P<0.05). The growth rate of gander and female goose of hybrid offspring was slow from 0~3 weeks of age, the growth rate was accelerated after 3 weeks of age, and the growth peak was reached around 4~5 weeks of age. The study indicates that Bertalanffy model has the best fitting effect on gander and female crossbred goose by growth curve fitting analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The analgesic effect of acupuncture is widely recognized, but the mechanical characteristics of acupuncture for pain relief, compared to non‐steroidal anti‐inflammatory (NSAIDs) and placebo medication, remain unknown. Aims: To compare the modulation effects of acupuncture treatment with NSAIDs and placebo medication on descending pain modulation system (DPMS) in knee osteoarthritis (KOA) patients. Methods: This study recruited 180 KOA patients with knee pain and 41 healthy controls (HCs). Individuals with KOA knee pain were divided randomly into groups of verum acupuncture (VA), sham acupuncture (SA), celecoxib (SC), placebo (PB), and waiting list (WT), with 36 patients in each group. VA and SA groups included ten sessions of puncturing acupoints or puncturing non‐acupoints acupuncture treatment for two successive weeks. Celecoxib capsules were continuously given orally to patients in the SC group at a dosage of 200 mg daily for 2 weeks. In the PB group, patients received a placebo capsule once a day for 2 weeks at the same dosage as celecoxib capsules. In the WL group, patients did not receive any treatment. Patients underwent a resting‐state BOLD‐fMRI scan pre‐ and post‐receiving the therapy, whereas HCs only underwent a baseline scan. Seed (ventrolateral periaqueductal gray, vlPAG, a key node in DPMS) based resting‐state functional connectivity (rs‐FC) was applied in the data analysis. Results: All groups demonstrated improved knee pain scores relative to the initial state. There was no statistical difference between the VA and SA groups in all clinical outcomes, and vlPAG rs‐FC alterations. KOA knee pain individuals reported higher vlPAG rs‐FC in the bilateral thalamus than HCs. KOA knee pain patients in the acupuncture group (verum + sham, AG) exhibited increased vlPAG rs‐FC with the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and the right angular, which is associated with knee pain improvement. In contrast with the SC and PB group, the AG exhibited significantly increased vlPAG rs‐FC with the right DLPFC and angular. Contrary to the WT group, the AG showed greater vlPAG rs‐FC with the right DLPFC and precuneus. Conclusions: Acupuncture treatment, celecoxib, and placebo medication have different modulation effects on vlPAG DPMS in KOA knee pain patients. Acupuncture could modulate vlPAG rs‐FC with brain regions associated with cognitive control, attention, and reappraisal for knee pain relief in KOA patients, compared with celecoxib and placebo medication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Enhancing the response rate of immunotherapy will aid in the success of cancer treatment. Here, we aimed to explore the combined effect of immunogenic radiotherapy with anti-PD-L1 treatment in immunotherapy-resistant HNSCC mouse models. Methods: The SCC7 and 4MOSC2 cell lines were irradiated in vitro. SCC7-bearing mice were treated with hypofractionated or single-dose radiotherapy followed by anti-PD-L1 therapy. The myeloid-derived suppressive cells (MDSCs) were depleted using an anti-Gr-1 antibody. Human samples were collected to evaluate the immune cell populations and ICD markers. Results: Irradiation increased the release of immunogenic cell death (ICD) markers (calreticulin, HMGB1 and ATP) in SCC7 and 4MOSC2 in a dose-dependent manner. The supernatant from irradiated cells upregulated the expression of PD-L1 in MDSCs. Mice treated with hypofractionated but not single-dose radiotherapy were resistant to tumour rechallenge by triggering ICD, when combined with anti-PD-L1 treatment. The therapeutic efficacy of combination treatment partially relies on MDSCs. The high expression of ICD markers was associated with activation of adaptive immune responses and a positive prognosis in HNSCC patients. Conclusion: These results present a translatable method to substantially improve the antitumor immune response by combining PD-L1 blockade with immunogenic hypofractionated radiotherapy in HNSCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is unclear whether membrane vitamin D receptor (mVDR) exists on the macrophage membrane or whether mVDR is associated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) tolerance. Herein, we report that interfering with caveolae and caveolae-dependent lipid rafts inhibited the formation of LPS tolerance. VDR was detected as co-localized with membrane molecular markers. VDR was detected on the cell membrane and its level was higher in LPS-tolerant cells than that in only LPS treatment cells. Anti-VDR antibodies could abolish the effect of artesunate (AS) to reverse LPS tolerance, and the wild-type peptides (H397 and H305) of VDR, but not the mutant peptide (H397D and H305A), led to the loss of AS's effect. AS decreased the mVDR level in LPS-tolerant cells. In vivo, AS significantly reduced VDR level in the lung tissue of LPS-tolerant mice. In summary, mVDR exists on the cell membrane of macrophages and is closely associated with the formation of LPS tolerance and the effects of AS. 32cFMWcLnkNZ2YpWsjevit Video Abstract [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) plays an important role in apoptosis and tumor immunosurveillance. Because TRAIL selectively induces apoptosis in tumor cells, there is growing interest in using it as a cancer therapy agent, but the development of TRAIL resistance has limited its clinical development. Recent evidence suggests that the TRAIL pathway can activate the immunological checkpoint protein programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1), which has recently been found to play an important role in TRAIL resistance and tumor invasion. Thus, targeting PD-L1 could be a promising new therapeutic strategy to improve TRAIL-based treatments in human cancers. Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) is a member of the TNF superfamily that selectively induces apoptosis in tumor cells without harming normal cells, making it an attractive agent for cancer therapy. TRAIL induces apoptosis by binding to and activating its death receptors DR4 and DR5. Several TRAIL-based treatments have been developed, including recombinant forms of TRAIL and its death receptor agonist antibodies, but the efficacy of TRAIL-based therapies in clinical trials is modest. In addition to inducing cancer cell apoptosis, TRAIL is expressed in immune cells and plays a critical role in tumor surveillance. Emerging evidence indicates that the TRAIL pathway may interact with immune checkpoint proteins, including programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1), to modulate PD-L1-based tumor immunotherapies. Therefore, understanding the interaction between TRAIL and the immune checkpoint PD-L1 will lead to the development of new strategies to improve TRAIL- and PD-L1-based therapies. This review discusses recent findings on TRAIL-based therapy, resistance, and its involvement in tumor immunosurveillance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The critical first step in Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR)–associated (CRISPR–Cas) protein-mediated gene editing is recognizing a preferred protospacer adjacent motif (PAM) on target DNAs by the protein's PAM-interacting amino acids (PIAAs). Thus, accurate computational modeling of PAM recognition is useful in assisting CRISPR–Cas engineering to relax or tighten PAM requirements for subsequent applications. Here, we describe a universal computational protein design framework (UniDesign) for designing protein–nucleic acid interactions. As a proof of concept, we applied UniDesign to decode the PAM–PIAA interactions for eight Cas9 and two Cas12a proteins. We show that, given native PIAAs, the UniDesign-predicted PAMs are largely identical to the natural PAMs of all Cas proteins. In turn, given natural PAMs, the computationally redesigned PIAA residues largely recapitulated the native PIAAs (74% and 86% in terms of identity and similarity, respectively). These results demonstrate that UniDesign faithfully captures the mutual preference between natural PAMs and native PIAAs, suggesting it is a useful tool for engineering CRISPR–Cas and other nucleic acid-interacting proteins. UniDesign is open-sourced at https://github.com/tommyhuangthu/UniDesign. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Considerable evidence showed that repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) can improve standing balance and walking performance in older adults with age-related neurological disorders. We here thus completed a systematic review and meta-analysis to quantitatively examine such benefits of rTMS. Methods A search strategy based on the PICOS principle was used to obtain the literature in 4 databases. The screening and assessments of quality and risk of bias in the included studies were independently completed by 2 researchers. Outcomes included scales related to standing balance, Timed Up and Go (TUG) time, and walking speed/time/distance. Results Twenty-three studies consisting of 532 participants were included, and the meta-analysis was completed on 21 of these studies. The study quality was good. Compared to control, rTMS induced both short-term (≤3 days after last intervention session) and long-term (≥1 month following last intervention session) significant improvements in balance scales (eg, Berg Balance Scale), TUG time, and walking speed/time/distance (short-term: standardized mean difference [SMD] = 0.26–0.34, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.05–0.62; long-term: SMD = 0.40–0.47, 95% CI = 0.04–0.79) for both PD and stroke cohorts. Subgroup analyses suggested that greater than 9 sessions of high-frequency rTMS targeting primary motor cortex with greater than 3 000 pulses/wk can maximize such benefits. Only a few mild-to-moderate adverse events/side effects were reported, which were similar between rTMS and control group. Conclusion The results suggest that rTMS holds promise to improve balance and walking performance in older adults with age-related neurological disorders. Future studies with more rigorous design are needed to confirm the observations in this work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Programed responsive carrier-free multidrug delivery system (ICG, DOX and INFa1b) was produced successfully for trimodal combination therapy of immunotherapy, photothermal therapy, and chemotherapy with programmed response against the tumor acid microenvironment and near infrared light. [Display omitted] Programmed response, carrier-free, and multimodal therapy drug delivery systems (DDS) are promising solutions to multidirectional cytotoxic effects, inefficient antitumor, and severe side effects for cancer therapy. Here, three widely used clinical drugs, interferon α1b (IFNα1b), indocyanine green (ICG), and doxorubicin (DOX), were prepared into carrier-free DDS IFNα1b-ICG-DOX (IID) by a simple one-step method without additional any reagents. IID can achieve smart and programmed DDS by combining low pH and near-infrared (NIR) light stimuli-responsive controlled release. In pH = 7.4 environments, our IID is about 380 nm in size with negative charge rounded particles; while they enter into the acid environment (pH < 7), hydrogen ions (H+) trigger DOX release, their size becomes larger and the surface charge turns positive. These larger particles are rapidly disintegrated after exposure to NIR light and then the remaining DOX, IFNα1b, and ICG are released. In vivo, the IID with larger size and positive charge resulting from low pH is is easy to accumulate in tumor tissue. Tumors can be exposed to NIR light when needed to control the release of these three drugs. Hence, DOX, ICG, and IFNα1b can be enriched in the tumor to the high efficiency of combined chemotherapy, photothermal therapy, and immunotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]