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Quantitative phase imaging (QPI) has become a vital tool in bioimaging, offering precise measurements of wavefront distortion and, thus, of key cellular metabolism metrics, such as dry mass and density. However, only a few QPI applications have been demonstrated in optically thick specimens, where scattering increases background and reduces contrast. Building upon the concept of structured illumination interferometry, we introduce Gradient Retardance Optical Microscopy (GROM) for QPI of both thin and thick samples. GROM transforms any standard Differential Interference Contrast (DIC) microscope into a QPI platform by incorporating a liquid crystal retarder into the illumination path, enabling independent phase-shifting of the DIC microscope's sheared beams. GROM greatly simplifies related configurations, reduces costs, and eradicates energy losses in parallel imaging modalities, such as fluorescence. We successfully tested GROM on a diverse range of specimens, from microbes and red blood cells to optically thick (~ 300 μm) plant roots without fixation or clearing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrogen leakage has become the biggest bottleneck restricting the development of hydrogen energy. Accurately locating the leakage is conducive to improving the hydrogen energy safety technology system. In this paper, a deep belief network pre-training and fine-tuning (DBN-PF) leakage source positioning coordinate method based on the fully confined space hydrogen Gaussian distribution model is proposed. Firstly, a fully confined space hydrogen Gaussian distribution model is established, and then a pre-training dataset is generated. The Gaussian-Gaussian Restricted Boltzmann Machine (GGRBM) in Deep Belief Network (DBN) is unsupervised pre-trained layer by layer, and the back propagation (BP) neural network in DBN is supervised pre-trained. Secondly, the hydrogen leakage experiment in the fully confined space was carried out, in which 8 hydrogen concentration sensors (HCSs) were placed on the top of the fully confined space, and the leakage experiment was carried out in sequence at 25 leakage locations. Finally, the HCS experimental data of one leakage location is extracted to fine-tune DBN. The experimental data at the other leakage locations were used to verify the positioning results. The results show that the positioning results average error of the proposed method is 20.62 mm. The average error accounts for 2.97% of the diagonal length of the closed model XY plane. Compared with BP neural network trained directly with the same fine-tuning dataset, the positioning error is reduced by at least 82.37%. Compared with the BP neural network with the same pre-training and fine tuning, the positioning error is reduced by at least 39.31%. The positioning technology developed in this study can achieve good hydrogen leak source location accuracy in a fully confined space only with the help of HCSs and a small amount of data. • A pre-training and fine-tuning method is proposed to locate hydrogen leakage source in a fully confined space. • A fully confined space Gaussian distribution model is established to generate a pre-training dataset. • Hydrogen leakage experiments were used to fine-tuning the deep belief networks and verify the positioning results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three-dimensional reconstruction is a key technology employed to represent virtual reality in the real world, which is valuable in computer vision. Large-scale 3D models have broad application prospects in the fields of smart cities, navigation, virtual tourism, disaster warning, and search-and-rescue missions. Unfortunately, most image-based studies currently prioritize the speed and accuracy of 3D reconstruction in indoor scenes. While there are some studies that address large-scale scenes, there has been a lack of systematic comprehensive efforts to bring together the advancements made in the field of 3D reconstruction in large-scale scenes. Hence, this paper presents a comprehensive overview of a 3D reconstruction technique that utilizes multi-view imagery from large-scale scenes. In this article, a comprehensive summary and analysis of vision-based 3D reconstruction technology for large-scale scenes are presented. The 3D reconstruction algorithms are extensively categorized into traditional and learning-based methods. Furthermore, these methods can be categorized based on whether the sensor actively illuminates objects with light sources, resulting in two categories: active and passive methods. Two active methods, namely, structured light and laser scanning, are briefly introduced. The focus then shifts to structure from motion (SfM), stereo matching, and multi-view stereo (MVS), encompassing both traditional and learning-based approaches. Additionally, a novel approach of neural-radiance-field-based 3D reconstruction is introduced. The workflow and improvements in large-scale scenes are elaborated upon. Subsequently, some well-known datasets and evaluation metrics for various 3D reconstruction tasks are introduced. Lastly, a summary of the challenges encountered in the application of 3D reconstruction technology in large-scale outdoor scenes is provided, along with predictions for future trends in development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large earthquakes that occur away from plate boundaries (i.e., large intraplate earthquakes), though rare, could cause heavy damage. Understanding their causes could help with seismic hazard assessment. In this study, we image the seismogenic structure under the 1969 Ms6.4 Yangjiang intraplate earthquake within the stable South China Block with a high‐resolution three‐dimensional shear‐wave velocity model constructed from ambient noise tomography based on a dense nodal seismic array. The model images relatively low velocities at a fault intersection region from the surface to at least 13 km depth in the Yangjiang seismogenic zone. Given spatial links among the intersection zone of faults, surface seawater, and low velocities, we interpret the low velocities to reflect the presence of seawater‐filled, highly fractured rocks created by the intersection of faults. We infer that the seawater infiltration through densely‐fractures could have elevated pore pressure in the long term, as evidenced by low earthquake b values at 8–13 km depths. We hypothesize that this long‐term seawater infiltration could have lowered the stress threshold of earthquake occurrence and contributed to the generation of the 1969 Ms6.4 Yangjiang earthquake. We propose that the large intraplate earthquakes within stable plates tend to occur in regional weakening regions (e.g., fault intersections) favorable to stress buildup. Given sufficient tectonic stress accumulation, the long‐term hydrologically driven crustal stress variations could play an essential role in triggering large intraplate earthquakes. This study could potentially contribute to improving seismic hazard assessment in the Guangdong‐Hong Kong‐Macao‐Greater‐Bay‐Area, China. Plain Language Summary: Large earthquakes usually occur at boundaries between two tectonic plates (i.e., interplate earthquakes). Away from a plate boundary, some large earthquakes, though rare relative to the interplate earthquakes, could occur within the interior of plates (i.e., intraplate earthquakes), such as the most notable Mw > 7.0 New Madrid earthquakes in 1811–1812. Why and how these large intraplate earthquakes occurred remain enigmatic. The Yangjiang region (South China) that hosted the 1969 Ms6.4 Yangjiang intraplate earthquake is one of the best places to study the causes of intraplate earthquakes. This study uses ambient noise tomography to image a low‐seismic‐velocity "chimney" (in the upper crust to 13 km depth) along the seismogenic fault zone. We interpret this low‐velocity "chimney" as a path for seawater infiltration through dense fractures created by the intersection of faults. The fault intersection zone at depths of 8–13 km is a favorable place for stress buildup, as indicated by low earthquake b‐values. We further hypothesize that seawater infiltration in the long term could have lowered effective stress through elevating pore pressure, probably explaining the cause of the Ms6.4 Yangjiang earthquake. We propose that long‐term hydrologically driven crustal stress variations could be essential in triggering large intraplate earthquakes given sufficient tectonic stress accumulation. Key Points: An upper crustal seismic shear‐wave velocity model was constructed under the 1969 Ms6.4 Yangjiang earthquake in South ChinaAmbient noise tomography images low velocities under the 1969 Yangjiang earthquake seismogenic regionWater‐filled dense fractures in fault zones can probably explain the presence of low velocities [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the effect of microstructure under various dose rates of plasma immersion ion implantation on 8Cr4Mo4V steel has been investigated for crystallite size, lattice strain and dislocation density. The phase composition and structure parameters including crystallite size, dislocation density and lattice strain have been investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements and determined from Scherrer's equation and three different Williamson–Hall (W-H) methods. The obtained results reveal that a refined crystallite size, enlarged microstrain and increased dislocation density can be obtained for the 8Cr4Mo4V steel treated by different dose rates of ion implantation. Compared to the crystallite size (15.95 nm), microstrain (5.69 × 10−3) and dislocation density (8.48 × 1015) of the dose rate of 2.60 × 1017 ions/cm2·h, the finest grain size, the largest microstrain and the highest dislocation density of implanted samples can be achieved when the dose rate rises to 5.18 × 1017 ions/cm2·h, the effect of refining is 26.13%, and the increment of microstrain and dislocation density are 26.3% and 45.6%, respectively. Moreover, the Williamson–Hall plots are fitted linearly by taking βcosθ along the y-axis and 4sinθ or 4sinθ/Yhkl or 4sinθ(2/Yhkl)1/2 along the x-axis. In all of the W-H graphs, it can be observed that some of the implanted samples present a negative and a positive slope; a negative and a positive slope in the plot indicate the presence of compressive and tensile strain in the material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] When a droplet starts sliding on a solid surface, the droplet-solid friction force develops in a manner comparable to the solid–solid friction force, showing a static regime and a kinetic regime. Today, the kinetic friction force that acts on a sliding droplet is well-characterized. But the mechanism underlying the static friction force is still less understood. Here we hypothesize that we can further draw an analogy between the detailed droplet-solid and solid–solid friction law, i.e., the static friction force is contact area dependent. We deconstruct a complex surface defect into three primary surface defects (atomic structure, topographical defect, and chemical heterogeneity). Using large-scale Molecular Dynamics simulations, we study the mechanisms of droplet-solid static friction forces induced by primary surface defects. Three element-wise static friction forces related to primary surface defects are revealed and the corresponding mechanisms for the static friction force are disclosed. We find that the static friction force induced by chemical heterogeneity is contact line length dependent, while the static friction force induced by atomic structure and topographical defect is contact area dependent. Moreover, the latter causes energy dissipation and leads to a wiggle movement of the droplet during the static-kinetic friction transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sepsis-associated encephalopathy is characterised by cognitive dysfunction, and might be mediated by deficits in neurotransmission. Reduced cholinergic neurotransmission in the hippocampus impairs memory function. We assessed real-time alterations of acetylcholine neurotransmission from the medial septal nucleus to the hippocampus, and explored whether sepsis-induced cognitive deficits can be relieved by activating upstream cholinergic projections. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) injection or caecal ligation and puncture (CLP) was used to induce sepsis and associated neuroinflammation in wild-type and mutant mice. Adeno-associated viruses for calcium and acetylcholine imaging, and for optogenetic and chemogenetic modulation of cholinergic neurones were injected into the hippocampus or medial septum, and a 200-μm-diameter optical fibre was implanted to collect acetylcholine and calcium signals. Cholinergic activity of the medial septum was manipulated and combined with cognitive assessment after LPS injection or CLP. Intracerebroventricular LPS injection reduced postsynaptic acetylcholine (from 0.146 [0.001] to 0.0047 [0.0005]; p =0.004) and calcium (from 0.0236 [0.0075] to 0.0054 [0.0026]; p =0.0388) signals in hippocampal Vglut2-positive glutamatergic neurones, whereas optogenetic activation of cholinergic neurones in the medial septum reversed LPS-induced reductions in these two signals. Intraperitoneal LPS injection decreased acetylcholine concentration in the hippocampus (476 [20] pg ml−1 to 382 [14] pg ml−1; p =0.0001). Reduction in long-term potentiation (238 [23] % to 150 [12] %; p =0.0082) and enhancement of hippocampal pyramidal neurone action potential frequency (5.8 [1.5] Hz to 8.2 [1.8] Hz; p =0.0343) were relieved, and neurocognitive performance was improved by chemogenetic activation of cholinergic innervation of the hippocampus 3 days after LPS injection in septic mice. Systemic or local LPS reduced cholinergic neurotransmission from the medial septum to hippocampal pyramidal neurones, and their selective activation alleviated defects in hippocampal neuronal function and synaptic plasticity and ameliorated memory deficits in sepsis model mice through enhanced cholinergic neurotransmission. This provides a basis for targeting cholinergic signalling to the hippocampus in sepsis-induced encephalopathy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

UV-induced photoluminescence of organosilica films with ethylene and benzene bridging groups in their matrix and terminal methyl groups on the pore wall surface was studied to reveal optically active defects and understand their origin and nature. The careful selection of the film's precursors and conditions of deposition and curing and analysis of chemical and structural properties led to the conclusion that luminescence sources are not associated with the presence of oxygen-deficient centers, as in the case of pure SiO2. It is shown that the sources of luminescence are the carbon-containing components that are part of the low-k-matrix, as well as the carbon residues formed upon removal of the template and UV-induced destruction of organosilica samples. A good correlation between the energy of the photoluminescence peaks and the chemical composition is observed. This correlation is confirmed by the results obtained by the Density Functional theory. The photoluminescence intensity increases with porosity and internal surface area. The spectra become more complicated after annealing at 400 °C, although Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy does not show these changes. The appearance of additional bands is associated with the compaction of the low-k matrix and the segregation of template residues on the surface of the pore wall. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With pleasant organoleptic properties, aging characteristics and promising medicinal potential, white tea (WT) has been consumed worldwide for a long history, and revived among consumers and researchers in recent decades. Nevertheless, present researches focused on WT are majorly about chemical compositions and bioactivities, which are remaining at infancy. Besides, there is lacking a systematic generalization of the underlying correlations among manufacturing process, characteristic chemicals, sensory traits and pharmacological benefits; as well as explorations on quality amelioration and potential orientations are still insufficient. Simultaneously, the typical aging process of WT also lacks profound recognition. In this review, the latest research progresses of WT were summarized, mainly emphasizing on the investigations within past five years. We systematically review the manufacturing process, bioactive substances, aging characteristics and health benefits of WT, thoroughly discuss the present challenges and deficiency in the researches, and put forward possible orientations and perspectives. Through manufacturing process involving only the two major steps (withering and drying), the active substances in WT such as polyphenols and amino acids, are retained in large quantities, contributing to its pleasant organoleptic quality and pharmacological benefits. Additionally, WT also has the peculiarity of quality transformation during aging, which brings about altered flavor and pharmacological benefits. This is a full-scale and cutting-edge review about WT, for the first time, the saying about WT that "One year's tea, three years' medicine, and seven years' treasure" is systematically reviewed and evaluated from a scientific point of view, which will enlighten some innovate strategies for further progress of WT industry. [Display omitted] • Manufacturing process of white tea is meticulously elucidated. • Chemical compositions and bioactivities are thoroughly presented. • Quality transformation in aging process are comprehensively analyzed. • Challenges and perspectives of WT are put forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: The beet armyworm Spodoptera exigua (Hübner) is a polyphagous pest of numerous cultivated crops including potatoes, beans, asparagus, cotton, etc., causing considerable economic losses in crop production worldwide. Currently, the use of chemical insecticides is the most commonly used method to control this pest, however, the overuse of them results in insecticide resistance, environmental pollution and toxicity to other non-target organisms. Our results indicated that S. exigua field populations had developed resistance to almost half of the eleven commonly used insecticides with different modes of action. Thus, it is extremely urgent to seek an efficient strategy for insecticide resistance management. We found that the combined application of the specific entomopathogen of S. exigua (Spodoptera exigua multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus, SeMNPV) reduced insecticide resistance or even recovered the susceptibility to insecticides and enhanced the toxicity obviously in both laboratory experiments and field trials. These findings are valuable to provide a promising efficient way for improving insecticide resistance management strategy and an environmentally friendly approach for pest management with the combined application of nucleopolyhedroviruses and insecticides. Spodoptera exigua is a polyphagous pest of diverse crops and causes considerable economic losses. The overuse of chemical insecticides for controlling this pest results in insecticide resistance, environmental pollution and toxicity to other non-target organisms. Therefore, a sustainable and efficient way for pest management is urgently required. In this study, laboratory bioassays of eleven commonly used insecticides, the specific entomopathogen of S. exigua (Spodoptera exigua multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus, SeMNPV), and SeMNPV-insecticide combinations against the S. exigua laboratory population and two field populations were tested. Our results indicated that the two field populations had developed resistance to almost half of the tested insecticides, while SeMNPV had good virulence in all populations. Interestingly, the combined use of SeMNPV enhanced the toxicity of the tested insecticides against all populations to a different extent and considerably reduced the insecticide resistance of S. exigua field populations or even recovered the susceptibility to above insecticides. Furthermore, the field trial showed that the combined application of SeMNPV contributed to promoting the control efficacy of emamectin benzonate and chlorfenapyr. These results provide a promising efficient way for pest resistance management and an environmentally friendly approach for controlling S. exigua with the combined application of nucleopolyhedroviruses and insecticides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] Young contact angle is widely applied to evaluate liquid wetting phenomena on solid surfaces. For example, it gives a truncated-spherical shape prediction of a droplet profile through the Young-Laplace equation. However, recent measurements have shown deviations between microscopic droplet profiles and the spherical shape, indicating that the conventional Young contact angle is insufficient to describe microscopic wetting phenomena. In this work, we hypothesize that a liquid–gas interface nano-bending, which is caused by the nonlinear coupling between the effects of the microscopic interface geometry and solid–liquid interactions, is responsible for this deviation. Using molecular dynamics simulations and mathematical modeling, we reveal the structure of the nano-bending and the mechanism of the nonlinear-coupled effect. We further apply our findings to illustrate a liquid microlayer with the saddle-shaped profile in nucleate boiling. The nonlinear-coupled effect is responsible for the deviation of a nano-droplet profile and also the very thin microlayer captured by different experiments. The saddle-shaped interface significantly highlights the nonlinear-coupled effect. The interface nano-bending, rather than the Young contact angle, acts as the boundary condition and dictates the liquid wetting system, especially for the case with high interface curvature. These findings provide insight into recent nano-scale droplet- and bubble-related wetting phenomena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] Young contact angle is widely applied to evaluate liquid wetting phenomena on solid surfaces. For example, it gives a truncated-spherical shape prediction of a droplet profile through the Young-Laplace equation. However, recent measurements have shown deviations between microscopic droplet profiles and the spherical shape, indicating that the conventional Young contact angle is insufficient to describe microscopic wetting phenomena. In this work, we hypothesize that a liquid–gas interface nano-bending, which is caused by the nonlinear coupling between the effects of the microscopic interface geometry and solid–liquid interactions, is responsible for this deviation. Using molecular dynamics simulations and mathematical modeling, we reveal the structure of the nano-bending and the mechanism of the nonlinear-coupled effect. We further apply our findings to illustrate a liquid microlayer with the saddle-shaped profile in nucleate boiling. The nonlinear-coupled effect is responsible for the deviation of a nano-droplet profile and also the very thin microlayer captured by different experiments. The saddle-shaped interface significantly highlights the nonlinear-coupled effect. The interface nano-bending, rather than the Young contact angle, acts as the boundary condition and dictates the liquid wetting system, especially for the case with high interface curvature. These findings provide insight into recent nano-scale droplet- and bubble-related wetting phenomena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The extent of thyroid surgery and cervical lymph node dissection of unilateral sporadic medullary thyroid carcinoma (sMTC) is still controversial, and the aim of this study was to investigate whether hemithyroidectomy was adequate as a locally curative surgery for patients with unilateral sMTC. Methods: This study is a retrospective case series of patients with sMTC who underwent curative total thyroidectomy or hemithyroidectomy in our institution from January 2011 to December 2019. Results: In total, 129 patients who met the inclusion criteria were enrolled including 49 (38.0%) patients who underwent total thyroidectomy and 80 (62.0%) patients who underwent hemithyroidectomy. About 80 (62.0%) patients achieved a biochemical cure (BC), whereas there was no significant difference between two groups in biochemical cure rate (61.2% versus 62.5%, P = 0.885). A logistic regression analysis showed a strong negative correlation between the factors of preoperative calcitonin level and pTNM stage and biochemical cure. In the log-rank test, no significant difference in OS (P = 0.314) and DFS (P = 0.409) was found between the two surgical groups. Lateral cervical lymph node metastasis and pTNM stage were significant prognostic factors affecting DFS in univariate analysis; moreover, absence of biochemical cure, tumor size ≥ 4 cm and lateral cervical lymph node metastasis were independent risk factors of unilateral sMTC patients in our analysis. Conclusion: For patients with unilateral sMTC, hemithyroidectomy was adequate as a locally curative surgery, because the patients underwent total thyroidectomy did not benefit more from it in the aspects of BC/OS/RFS, while the postoperative increasing incidence rate of postoperative hypocalcemia could not improve patients' quality of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deep convective clouds and associated anvils exert opposite radiative effects. The impact of different aerosol types on these two categories of clouds remains a major challenge in understanding aerosol‐cloud interactions. Using 11‐year satellite retrievals, we find that cloud top height (CTH) and ice cloud fraction of deep convective clouds and anvil cirrus identified by Cloud‐Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization increase with small aerosol loadings and level off or even decrease with further aerosol increase. Compared with continental aerosols, CTH affected by marine aerosols starts to decrease at smaller aerosol loadings. Moreover, cloud optical depth (COD) of deep convective clouds decreases with aerosol loadings. COD of anvil cirrus increases with increased loadings of most aerosol types but decreases with smoke aerosol. These relationships are mainly attributed to the aerosol effect rather than the meteorological effects. Our findings contribute to the development of models and better assessment of aerosol‐cloud radiative forcing. Plain Language Summary: By acting as the seeds of clouds, aerosols affect the formation and development of clouds, thereby affecting climate. Deep convective clouds and associated anvil cirrus are often accompanied with severe weather events. These two types of clouds have opposite climate effects: the former generally cools the Earth system while the latter warms the Earth system. Using 11 years of satellite data, we find that with the increase of aerosol loadings, the cloud top height (CTH) and cloud fraction of deep convective clouds and anvil cirrus identified by Cloud‐Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization first increase and then remain virtually unchanged or even decrease. We also analyze the effects of different types of aerosols on deep convective clouds and anvil cirrus. We find that, compared with continental aerosols, CTH affected by marine aerosols starts to decrease at smaller aerosol loadings. As the aerosol loadings increase, the cloud optical depth of deep convective clouds decreases while the optical thickness of the anvil cirrus increases. Therefore, these two categories of clouds as well as the effects from various aerosol types should be carefully considered when quantifying the aerosol effects on deep convective cloud systems. Key Points: The height and amount of Cloud‐Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization‐identified deep convective clouds and anvil cirrus first increase and then level off with aerosol increaseMarine aerosols start to decrease cloud top height when aerosol optical depth is relatively smaller than continental aerosolsWith increased aerosol loadings, deep convective clouds have a decreased cloud optical depth (COD) while anvils have an increased COD. One exception is for smoke [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Front axle suspension deteriorate the ride comfort but improve the handing stability obviously. • Farmland road roughness and tillage resistance can reduce the vibration responses of the tractor system significantly. • The largest vertical vibration acceleration exists on the front axle. • The optimum stiffness and damping of the front axle suspension are recommended to be 60 kNm−1 and 8.919 kNsm−1, respectively. To improve the riding comfort and driving safety of the tractor system, it's necessary to build a vibration model of wheeled tractor/implement system to analyze its corresponding vibration characteristics. A discrete element model of plough-soil coupling system was developed in this work to obtain the tillage resistance and its effectiveness is verified through experiment. Then, the vibration model of wheeled tractor/implement system with front axle suspension under ploughing condition was constructed and the corresponding vibration characteristics of the tractor system under road transportation, farmland transportation and plough operation conditions were simulated. It's demonstrated that the simulated vibration responses agree well with the measured data and the validity of the proposed model is proved. The simulation results show that the natural frequency of the tractor system almost remains constant under the three working conditions above and the natural frequencies of vertical vibration for front axle, cabin, driver seat and implement are 2.09 Hz, 2.84 Hz, 2.84 Hz and 2.09 Hz, respectively. The existence of front axle suspension will deteriorate the ride comfort of driver but improve the handing stability obviously. The farmland road roughness and tillage resistance can reduce the vibration responses of the wheeled tractor/implement system with front axle suspension significantly. With the increase of tillage speed or depth, the vibration responses of the tractor system rise tremendously. When the tillage speed or depth is constant, the largest vertical vibration acceleration exists on the front axle. In addition, the multi-objective optimization of stiffness and damping parameters for the front axle suspension is implemented through particle swarm algorithm and the optimal stiffness and damping are recommended to be 60 kNm−1 and 8.919 kNsm−1, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the influence of hydrogen on the pitting behavior of tellurium-modified 38MnVS6 Non-quenched and Tempered steel (NQTS). Hydrogen primarily accumulates at the interface between inclusions and the matrix, reducing the local pH of pits in corrosive solution. For specimens charged for 12 h, hydrogen blisters gradually rise in size and number with the increase of tellurium (Te) content, resulting in higher local stress and facilitating the pitting formation. • Hydrogen affects pitting in Te-modified 38MnVS6 NQTS steel. • Hydrogen accumulation at inclusion/matrix interfaces lowers local pH in corrosive solution. • Longer hydrogen charging forms more hydrogen blisters, boosting stress and pitting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Point clouds acquired through 3D scanning devices often suffer from sparsity and incompleteness due to reflection, device resolution, and viewing angle limitations. Therefore, the recovery of the complete shape from partial observations plays a vital role in assisting downstream tasks. Existing point cloud completion networks mostly ignore the encoding of the local region structure in the point cloud. In this work, we propose an edge-guided generative network with attention for point cloud completion. Specifically, the network has three consecutive stages. In the feature extraction stage, we propose the edge attention(EA) block, which can be stacked and applied to effectively capture local geometric details and structural information. The local neighborhood information is dynamically calculated, and the attention mechanism further deepens the relationship between the acquired edge features and position coordinates. We design the deconvolution attention skeleton generation module in the skeleton generation stage to generate a shape skeleton. For the detail refinement stage, we design a layered encoder based on PointNet++ module, which can better fuse the local geometry from the coarse point cloud and the global feature from the input point cloud to facilitate fine-grained point cloud generation. Comprehensive evaluations of several benchmarks indicate the effectiveness of our network and its ability to generate fine-grained point clouds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today, with the rapid development of the geographic information industry, automatic road extraction from satellite imagery is a basic requirement. Most existing methods have been designed based on binary segmentation. However, these methods do not consider the topological features of road networks, which include point, edge, and direction. In this study, a topology-based multi-task convolution network is designed, namely Bi-HRNet, which can effectively learn the key features of nodes and their directions. First, the proposed network learns the node heatmap of roads, and then the pixel coordinates are extracted from the node heatmap via non-maximum suppression (NMS). At the same time, the connectivity between nodes is predicted. To improve the integrity and accuracy of connectivity, we propose a bidirectional connectivity prediction strategy, which can learn the bidirectional categories instead of direction angles. The bidirectional categories are designed based on "top-to-bottom" and "bottom-to-top" strategies, which can improve the accuracy of the connectivity between nodes. To illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed Bi-HRNet, we compare our method with several methods on different datasets. The experiments show that our method achieves a state-of-the-art performance and significantly outperforms various previous methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Commonly used robot map models include occupancy grid maps, topological maps, and semantic maps. Among these, an occupancy grid map is mainly represented as a quadrilateral grid. This paper proposes an occupancy information grid for intelligent robots by exploiting the advantages of the occupancy grid map and spatial information grid. In terms of geometric structure, a regular hexagonal grid is used instead of a regular quadrilateral grid. In terms of attribute structure, the single obstacle attribute is replaced by the grid terrain characteristics, grid element attributes, and grid edge attributes. Thus, the occupancy information grid model is transformed into a new data structure describing the spatial environment, and it can be effectively applied to map construction and path planning of intelligent robots. For the map construction application of intelligent robots, this paper describes the basic process of laser sensor-based grid model construction. For the path planning application of intelligent robots, this paper extends the A* algorithm based on a regular hexagonal grid. Additionally, map construction and path planning applications for intelligent robots are experimentally verified. Several experimental results were obtained. First, the experimental results confirmed the theoretical conclusion that the minimum sampling density of the hexagonal structure was 13.4% lower than that of the quadrilateral structure. Second, the regular hexagonal grid is clearly more advantageous in describing environmental scenes, which can ameliorate the "undercompleteness" phenomenon. Third, there were large differences in the planning paths based on two types of grids, as shown by the fact that the distance of the planning paths obtained by the regular hexagonal grid was reduced by at least 10.8% and at most 15.6% compared with the regular quadrilateral grid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A combined optical and mechanical analysis of nanograting structures fabricated by tip-based nano down-milling is implemented. • Grating height is considered to be an important factor affecting the concentration of incident power onto either of two propagating orders. • The plastic deformation process of the grating formation is explained by FE analysis. • Nanograting structures with the optimal height and geometric consistency are obtained by controlling the milling trajectory. Structural coloration of metal surfaces based on the diffraction mechanism of blazed gratings has considerable value for use in anti-counterfeiting and information encryption applications. When the grating period is comparable to the wavelength of the incident light, the diffraction process will generate only two propagating orders, comprising the 0th order and the −1st order, resulting in lower dispersion. Improvement of the diffraction efficiency of the −1st order spectrum, which has a light splitting ability, is essential to improve the colouring quality of the diffraction structure. Such improvement of efficiency is closely related to the geometric features of the structure, but the relationship is insufficiently clear at present. The novelty of the approach in this paper lies in its use of a combination of optical and mechanical analyses of nano grating structures fabricated by tip-based nanoscale down-milling with the aim of establishing a connection between the diffraction characteristics of the structure and its processing formation. First, profiles of the nanograting structures are generated numerically by taking both the trajectory shape and the cutting edge radius into account. Using the finite-difference time-domain method, a diffraction model is then established to simulate the far-field spectral distributions of the generated profiles. It is concluded from these analyses that the grating height is an important factor that affects the −1st order diffraction efficiency. When the grating height is in the range of 155–185 nm with a grating period of 400 nm, the diffraction efficiency can reach up to 75 %–90 %, depending on the conditions of incidence. Then, with the aim of controlling the grating height, the nanograting structure fabrication processes are investigated under different revolving trajectory conditions by finite element analysis. The results show that the grating structures are formed mainly by extrusion caused by the moving tip, which results in the grating heights being affected by the undeformed chip thickness in each cycle and by the plastic deformation of the material. Under the optimal down-milling trajectory condition, nanograting structures with the expected height and good geometric consistency are obtained. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the properties of indium nitride (InN) semiconductor films deposited by magnetron sputtering were studied. The effects of different substrates (Al 2 O 3 , ITO and Si) and different nitrogen-argon flow ratios on the crystal quality of InN films were compared. The crystal structure, surface morphology, optical and electrical properties of InN films were systematically studied. The results showed that the crystallization quality of InN thin film was the best when the flow ratio of nitrogen to argon was 30/0 on Al 2 O 3 substrate. Then the p-NiO/n-InN/AlN heterojunction device was prepared on Al 2 O 3 by using AlN as buffer layer, and the electrical properties of the devices at different operating temperatures were analyzed. Finally, high rectification characteristics and good temperature stability were obtained. This study provides a reference for the preparation of InN films on different substrates and the application of InN-based devices. • The effects of different substrate types on the physical properties of InN films were studied. • The InN films with relatively good quality was obtained by magnetron sputtering. • Device with high rectification characteristics typical based on p-NiO/n-InN structure was prepared. • The influence of the operating temperature of the device on the rectification characteristics was studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alloy engineering is efficient in modulating the electronic structure and physical and chemical properties of Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs). Here, we develop an efficient and simple confined-space CVD strategy by using a smaller quartz boat nested in a larger quartz boat for the preparation of ternary alloy MoS2(1−x)Se2x monolayers on SiO2/Si substrates with controllable composition. The effect of hydrogen ratio of the mixed carrier gas (Ar/H2) on the resultant flakes are systematically investigated. A hydrogon ratio of 15% is demonstrated to be the most appropriate to synthesize large size (more than 400 μm) single crystalline MoS2(1−x)Se2x alloy monolayers. The composition of the alloy can also be changed in a full range (2x = 0–2) by changing the weight ratio of Se and S powder. The as-grown monolayer MoS2(1−x)Se2x alloys present continuously high crystal quality in terms of Raman and PL measurements. Furthermore, to visible light (532 nm), the MoS2(1−x)Se2x based photodetectors display wonderful photoresponse with a fast response of less than 50 ms. Our work may be usedful in directing the synthesis of TMDs alloys as well as their optoelectronic applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background & Aims: Patients with obstructive jaundice (OJ) are considered to be prothrombotic with increased risk of thromboembolism complications. The role of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) in procoagulant activity (PCA) and thrombosis risk in patients with OJ is unclear. In this study, we investigated NETs formation in OJ patients and the role of elevated unconjugated bilirubin (UCB) in inducing NETs, resulting in enhanced PCA and endothelial injury. Methods: NETs of OJ patients and healthy controls were measured. NETs PCA was assessed via coagulation time (CT), fibrin formation and purified coagulation complex production assays. Visualization of NETs and mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (MitoROS) were performed with a fluorescence microscope. We further used confocal microscopy to quantify the exposure of phosphatidylserine (PS), fibrin strands and FVa/Xa on Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). Results: Assessment of NETs components levels revealed greater NETs production in OJ patients than in healthy controls. Importantly, OJ‐NETs were responsible for enhanced PCA. UCB induced NETs formation via MitoROS accumulation and mitochondrial mobilization. HUVECs cocultured with OJ NETs lost their cell–cell junctions and consequently converted to a procoagulant phenotype. The PCA was attenuated by using DNase I alone or in combination with lactadherin. Conclusions: Our results suggest that UCB‐induced NETs play a prominent role in promoting the hypercoagulable and prothrombotic state in OJ patients. The increased MitoROS accumulation in neutrophils initiated NETosis. NETs are promising targets for indicating or improving coagulation disorders in OJ patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the impacts of 2D/3D urban structure on PM 2.5 is critical for protecting resident health and sustainable development. However, accurate understanding is limited by the lack of high-resolution PM 2.5 simulation in cities with sparse monitoring stations and the simultaneously consideration of different landscape types both in 2D and 3D directions. Using Yinchuan City as a case study, an integrated simulation model combining satellite AOD, NDVI and meteorological data was developed using random forest (RF) algorithm to simulate city-scale PM 2.5 variation at 30 m resolution. Then, the most critical 2D/3D urban metrics in altering PM 2.5 and their impacts were explored through RF analysis. Finally, optimal urban structure was identified using Bayesian Network and multi-scenario analysis. The results indicated that 1) the established RF model could effectively simulate within-city variation of PM 2.5 at 30 m with an R2 of 0.75. Thus, it is feasible to use the abundant temporal information and high-resolution AOD to map city-scale PM 2.5 and overcome the limitation of spare monitoring stations. 2) The emission-related metric of distance to polluting enterprise and city center had the largest impacts on PM 2.5 , followed by NDVI, building height, impervious surface area and shape, and UGS green volume, area, shape and connectivity. Optimized 3D urban structure for reducing PM 2.5 was proposed from the three aspects of emission source location, UGS pattern and impervious surface. This study deepens the understanding of how 2D/3D urban structure impact PM 2.5 and provides scientific references for optimization possibility of urban air quality in both horizontal and vertical directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Controlled preparation of high quality CuI films were achieved by evaporation method. • The p-CuI/n-GaN self-powered UV photodetector exhibits fast photoresponse. • The p-CuI/n-GaN photodetector shows up to 15 h of continuous running stability at RT. • The photodetector exhibits excellent recoverability from temperature degradation. • Unpackaged photodetector with air storage stability of up to 3 months. Self-powered ultraviolet (UV) photodetectors play an important role in environmental monitoring, aerospace and other fields because of the advantage of effective light response without an external power supply. Herein, a p-CuI/n-GaN heterojunction UV photodetector with self-powered function is constructed by vacuum thermal evaporation method. At 365 nm UV irradiation, the photodetector has an on/off ratio of 7536, a large photocurrent (∼35 mA) and a fast response time (rise/decay time of 10.46/10.35 ms) at zero bias. There was no significant decrease in photocurrent during the 100 on/off cycles of the continuous test, and the photocurrent of the photodetector can maintain 93.17% of the initial value after continuous operation for 15 h without bias voltage. The rise in ambient temperature exhibits a negative effect on the UV photodetector, but when it is naturally cooled from 80℃ to room temperature (RT), the photocurrent can restore to 95% of the original level. Furthermore, the photodetector maintains superior stability even after being stored in air for 3 months of without package. This work not only proves the controllable preparation strategy of CuI thin films, but also provides an efficient structure for self-powered UV photodetectors with high operational and storage stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting can convert the inexhaustible solar energy into green and storable H 2 to tackle fossil crisis and meet carbon neutrality. BiVO 4 is regarded as a promising photoanode owing to its superior visible light absorption, moderate redox potentials and well chemical stability, but suffering from the rapid recombination of charge carriers and sluggish interfacial water oxidation kinetics. Herein, a heterostructured CoFe 1.5 Cr 0.5 S 3 O/COFs/BiVO 4 photoanode was fabricated to accelerate charge carriers′ separation and boost water oxidation. The spinel-type CoFe 1.5 Cr 0.5 S 3 O serving as the co-catalyst enabled to largely lower the overpotential of water oxidation, while COFs acting as an interlayer passivated the interfacial defect between CoFe 1.5 Cr 0.5 S 3 O and BiVO 4. Benefiting from the collaboration of CoFe 1.5 Cr 0.5 S 3 O co-catalyst and COFs interlayer, heterostructured CoFe 1.5 Cr 0.5 S 3 O/COFs/BiVO 4 photoanode featuring with a prominent charge extraction efficiency reached an impressive water oxidation photocurrent of 5.1 mA cm−2 at 1.23 V vs. RHE under AM 1.5 G irradiation, higher than that of pristine BiVO 4 , binary COFs/BiVO 4 and CFCOS/BiVO 4 photoanodes. This work demonstrated that heterostructured BiVO 4 -based photoanode with co-catalyst and interlayer enables to simultaneously enhance charge carrier utilization efficiency and optimize surface catalysis kinetics for efficient solar-to-fuel conversion. [Display omitted] • Heterostructured CFCOS/COFs/BiVO 4 photoanode was fabricated via a successive spin-coating process. • Spinel-type CoFe 1.5 Cr 0.5 S 3 O serving as the co-catalyst lowered the overpotential of water oxidation. • COFs layer severing as charge transport channel boosts charge extraction from BiVO 4 to CFCOS. • Heterostructured CFCOS/COFs/BiVO 4 photoanode exhibited photocurrent density of 5.1 mA cm−2 at 1.23 V vs. RHE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, experiments carried out with high-resolution measurement techniques showed a thin liquid microlayer (∼μm) formation underneath a growing bubble in nucleate boiling. However, a deep understanding of the heat transfer enhancement induced by this microlayer is still lacking. In the present work, we investigate the microlayer dynamics and its effect on microlayer evaporation during the microlayer formation stage. Using direct numerical simulations with the PHASTA solver, a fully resolved microlayer underneath a growing bubble driven by the local temperature gradient in nucleate boiling is reproduced. The simulation results are compared and largely validated against recent experimental observations and Mikic's model. The detailed microlayer dynamics indicates that the microlayer formation can be considered a quasi-steady process. In addition, the hydrodynamic effect shows limited influences on the microlayer thickness, thus suggesting a rather constant amount of microlayer evaporation during the entire microlayer life cycle under different hydrodynamic conditions. Here, the maximum evaporative heat flux of the microlayer occurs near the contact line and exceeds 1 MW/m2. Evaporation of the microlayer can account for ∼50% bubble volume growth after the onset of nucleate boiling. This value emphasizes the significance of microlayer evaporation in nucleate boiling modeling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• MicroRNA miR-155-5p, a non-protein-coding and endogenous small RNA, is highly overexpressed in Angiostrongylus cantonensis infection. • MiR-155-5p knockdown may attenuate A. cantonensis -induced eosinophilic meningitis (EM). • MiR-155-5p targets SOCS1 and upregulates MMP9 and TSLP expression through activating STAT3 and NF-κB signal. • A positive feedback loop is formed between miR-155-5p, STAT3, and NF-κB in A. cantonensis infection. Angiostrongylus cantonensis infection is a major cause of eosinophilic meningitis (EM). Severe cases or cases that involve infants and children present poor prognoses. MicroRNAs (miRNAs), which are important regulators of gene expression in many biological processes, were recently found to be regulators of the host response to infection by parasites; however, their roles in brain inflammation caused by A. cantonensis are still unclear. The current study confirmed that miR-155-5p peaked at 21 days after A. cantonensis infection, and its expression was positively correlated with the concentration of excretory and secretory products (ESPs). We found that miR-155-5p knockdown lentivirus successfully ameliorated brain injury and downregulated the expression of major basic protein (MBP) in vivo, and the number of eosinophils in CSF (and the percentage of eosinophils in peripheral blood were also decreased in the miR-155-5p knockdown group. Moreover, the expression of several eosinophilic inflammation cytokines such as CCL6/C10, ICAM-1, and MMP9, declined after the miR-155-5p knockdown. SOCS1 protein, which is an important negative regulator of inflammation activation, was identified as a direct miR-155-5p target. We further detected the effect of miR-155-5p knockdown on phosphorylated-STAT3 and phosphorylated-p65 proteins, which were found to be negatively regulated by SOCS1 and play an important role in regulating the inflammatory response. We found that miR-155-5p knockdown decreased the activity of p-STAT3 and p-p65, thereby leading to lower expression of MMP9 and TSLP proteins, which were closely related to the chemotaxis and infiltration of eosinophils. Interestingly, the inhibition of p-STAT3 or p-p65 was found to induce the downregulation of miR-155-5p in an opposite manner. These observations suggest that a positive feedback loop was formed between miR-155-5p, STAT3, and NF-κB in A. cantonensis infection and that miR-155-5p inhibition might provide a novel strategy to attenuate eosinophilic meningitis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wheel wear is unavoidable, which affects the contact performance of the wheel and rail. This article explores the effects of wheel profile wear on the static contact and dynamic interaction between wheel and standard fixed frog in heavy haul railway. The coupling dynamic models of the vehicle-fixed frog system are established to calculate the change regulation of displacement, contact force, and acceleration when a vehicle passes through the standard fixed frog at a speed of 50 km/h in the facing move in the diverging line. Besides, the finite element models of wheel and standard fixed frog at key positions are developed to simulate the contact patch and distribution of von Mises stress in the regions of the wheel-fixed frog. Compared with the standard profile, the maximum lateral displacement of the worn profile can be reduced by up to 9 mm. The vertical contact force can be reduced from 750 kN to 320 kN, and the decrease is 57.3%. The von Mises stress could decrease up to 34% compared with the standard. And the results show that the wheel profile wear changes the positions of the wheel-rail contact points along the longitudinal direction and affects the dynamic interaction of vehicle and standard fixed frog. For the measured worn wheel profiles in this article, profile wear relieves the dynamic responses and it is good for the nose rail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Guo, Q.; Zhang, J.; Hu, Z., and Zhou, Z., 2020. Hydrochemical and isotopic evolution of groundwater flowing downstream of the Daqing River (Liaodong Bay, China). Journal of Coastal Research, 36(3), 608–618. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. Hydrochemistry and specific environmental isotope ratios (δD, δ17O, and δ18O) were employed to investigate the hydrochemical and isotopic characteristics of groundwater in the downstream coastal plain of the Daqing River, China. The relative abundance of the major cations and anions of groundwater along the Daqing River changed from Ca2+, Mg2+ to Na+, Ca2+ and from to Cl–, respectively. The samples, divided into different groups on the basis of correlation coefficients, showed that the chemical composition of the groundwater samples near the Daqing River is approximately consistent with that of the Daqing River. The saturation indices calculated by PHREEQC software indicated that the main hydrogeochemical processes are evaporation and concentration along groundwater flow paths from the upper zone to the middle zone of the Daqing River basin. However, in the down zone, calcite, anhydrite, and dolomite become supersaturated. Isotopic data reveal that the groundwater is affected by the strong evaporation along the Daqing River. In the down zone of the Daqing River, the groundwater is polluted by the seawater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• NESS0327 rescued the memory deficit induced by REMSD in adolescent mice. • REMSD impaired the eCB-related synaptic plasticity in CA1. • REMSD downregulated the MAGL expression in hippocampus of adolescent mice. • NESS0327 rescued the impaired eCB-related long-term synaptic plasticity in CA1. Sleep loss or insomnia is among the contributing factors of cognitive deficit, the underlying mechanisms of which remain largely elusive. The endocannabinoid (eCB) system plays a role in sleep, while it is unknown if it is involved in the regulation of memory retrieval by sleep deprivation. In addition, it still controversial how rapid-eye-movement sleep deprivation (REMSD) affects the spatial memory of adolescent mice. Here, we found that 24-h REMSD impairs spatial memory retrieval of adolescent mice in an object-place recognition task, which was rescued by NESS0327, a neutral cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB1R) antagonist. Mechanistically, REMSD induced eCB-mediated short-term and long-term synaptic plasticity changing including depolarization-induced suppression of inhibition (DSI) in the pyramidal neurons of the hippocampus, in which long-term synaptic plasticity changing was rescued by NESS0327. REMSD downregulated monoacylglycerol lipase, a hydrolase for the endocannabinoid 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG), suggesting the involvement of eCB accumulation and the consequent synaptic plasticity in REMSD-elicited memory impairment in adolescent mice. These findings shed light on the role of sleep disorders in learning and memory deficit of adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Content balancing is one of the most important issues in computerized classification testing. To adapt to variable‐length forms, special treatments are needed to successfully control content constraints without knowledge of test length during the test. To this end, we propose the notions of 'look‐ahead' and 'step size' to adaptively control content constraints in each item selection step. The step size gives a prediction of the number of items to be selected at the current stage, that is, how far we will look ahead. Two look‐ahead content balancing (LA‐CB) methods, one with a constant step size and another with an adaptive step size, are proposed as feasible solutions to balancing content areas in variable‐length computerized classification testing. The proposed LA‐CB methods are compared with conventional item selection methods in variable‐length tests and are examined with different classification methods. Simulation results show that, integrated with heuristic item selection methods, the proposed LA‐CB methods result in fewer constraint violations and can maintain higher classification accuracy. In addition, the LA‐CB method with an adaptive step size outperforms that with a constant step size in content management. Furthermore, the LA‐CB methods generate higher test efficiency while using the sequential probability ratio test classification method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ewing's sarcoma (ES) is the second most common bone tumor among children and adolescents worldwide. However, the genes and signaling pathways involved in ES tumorigenesis and progression remain unclear. The present study used two gene-expression profile datasets (GSE17674 and GSE31215) to elucidate key potential candidate genes and pathways in ES. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified and a functional enrichment analysis was performed. A protein-protein interaction (PPI) network was constructed, and the most significant module in the PPI network was selected from the Search Tool for the Retrieval of Interacting Genes/Proteins database. A total of 278 genes were identified by comparing the tumor samples with non-cancerous samples; these included 272 upregulated and 6 downregulated genes. The pathway analysis demonstrated significant enrichment in the positive regulation of transcription in the DEGs coding for RNA polymerase II promoter, plasma membrane and chromatin binding pathways in cancer in general. There were 269 nodes and 292 edges in the PPI network. Finally, MYC, IGF1, OAS1, EZH2 and ISG15 were identified as the hub genes according to the degree levels. The survival analysis revealed that EZH2 is associated with a poor prognosis in patients with ES. In conclusion, the DEGs, associated pathways and hub genes identified in the present study help elucidate the underlying molecular mechanisms of ES carcinogenesis and progression, and provide potential molecular targets and biomarkers for ES. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tailoring low-cost electrocatalysts with high activity and good stable for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is vital to energy harvesting and storage. Herein, Co doped Ni 0.85 Se nanoparticles supported on reduced graphene oxide (Co Ni 0.85 Se/RGO) were synthesized by a facile one-step hydrothermal method. As expected, the resulting hybrid materials effectively inhibit the aggregation of nanoparticles and possess the enhanced intrinsic conductivity, leading to exposure of more active sites and the faster electron transport. And then these beneficial effects enable Co Ni 0.85 Se/RGO efficient HER catalytic activity in both acid and basic electrolytes, achieving small overpotentials of 148 and 128 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm−2 in 0.5 M H 2 SO 4 and 1.0 M KOH, respectively. Unlabelled Image • Co doped Ni 0.85 Se nanoparticles supported on RGO were successfully synthesized. • The Co Ni 0.85 Se/RGO possesses the enhanced conductivity and more active sites. • The Co Ni 0.85 Se/RGO shows excellent HER activity in acid and alkaline solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is challenging to design and fabricate new and high-performance cellulose-based chiral stationary phases (CSPs), due to the indistinct chiral recognition mechanism and the inherent difficulty to control the structure of cellulose derivatives. Herein, taking advantage of the high regioselective benzoylation of cellulose in 1-allyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride, a series of regioselectively substituted cellulose mixed esters, cellulose 6-benzoate-2,3-phenylcarbamate, are directly obtained by a facile two-steps route without protecting and deprotecting process. The resultant cellulose mixed esters exhibit high chiral recognition capability. In particular, when the benzoate group has an electron-donating substituent on phenyl ring, such as 4-tert-butyl group, the corresponding regioselectively substituted cellulose mixed esters have much better enantioseparation capability than cellulose tri(3,5-dimethylphenylcarbamate), which is commercially available as Chiralcel OD column, one of the most powerful CSPs. More importantly, via adjusting the chemical structure of cellulose derivatives and adding a post-treatment process to optimize their chiral recognition properties, the chiral recognition mechanism is clearly revealed. The synergy of the hydrophobic helical conformation, weak hydrogen-bond donating ability and appropriate distribution of substituents of cellulose derivatives is essential to fabricate high-performance CSPs. Regioselectively substituted cellulose mixed esters with super chiral separation capability are directly synthesized by a facile two-steps process. The synergism of the hydrophobic helical conformation, weak hydrogen-bond donating ability and appropriate distribution of substituents in cellulose derivatives is essential to the enantioseparation. Image 1 • Regioselectively substituted cellulose mixed esters are got by a two-steps process. • Cellulose mixed esters exhibit super chiral recognition capability. • Chiral recognition mechanism is revealed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent experimental studies have demonstrated great potential of surface engineering in enhancing nucleate boiling heat transfer performance. However, the underlying mechanism remains unclear, especially the role of microlayer evaporation underneath bubbles. In this work, we investigate the heat transfer from microlayer evaporation underneath a growing bubble on micro-pillar arrayed surfaces using Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS). The evolution of the microlayer is reproduced in the DNS by considering a bubble growth driven by the local temperature gradient. The effects of micro-pillar structures on the microlayer profile and the heat transfer performance are systematically studied and analyzed. Our simulation results reveal three distinct microlayer morphologies related to micro-pillar structures: the undisturbed microlayer, the disturbed microlayer, and the disrupted microlayer. It can be further generalized as the greater the spacing and height of the micro-pillars, the more disrupted the microlayer becomes. Due to the reduction of microlayer thickness, more disruption means higher microlayer heat transfer coefficient. However, this accelerates microlayer depletion and thus reduces the overall heat transfer potential from microlayer evaporation during its life cycle in nucleate boiling. Based on these findings, a strategy is revealed for the design of micro-pillar arrayed surfaces to achieve optimal heat transfer performance of the microlayer. • Microlayer formation and evaporation on the micro-pillar arrayed surfaces are simulated using the PHASTA solver. • Distinct microlayer morphologies are observed: undisturbed microlayer, disturbed microlayer, and disrupted microlayer. • The greater the spacing and height of the micro-pillars, the more disrupted the microlayer becomes. • The more the microlayer is disrupted, the higher the heat transfer coefficient but the lower the heat transfer potential. • A strategy for the surface structure design to obtain optimal heat transfer performance of the microlayer is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the study mainly focused on the association between systemic inflammation and liver fibrogenesis, it may be better to define systemic inflammation in the article. We read the recent study by Benedikt et al.[1] with great interest, reporting that systemic inflammation is associated with liver fibrogenesis in patients with advanced chronic liver disease (ACLD). [Extracted from the article]

The tamarind fruit shell powder (TFSP) from agricultural waste was modified by in situ generation of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) using the one-step hydrothermal method and characterized by SEM, EDX, FTIR spectral, XRD, and antibacterial tests. SEM analysis indicated the in situ generation of AgNPs with an average size of 90 nm. FTIR analysis proved no structural changes between unmodified and modified TFSP. XRD analysis indicated in situ generation of AgNPs in the modified TFSP. Further, the TFSP with in situ generated AgNPs inhibited the growth of bacteria and hence can be used as antibacterial low-cost filler in making biocomposites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The generalized Lorentz problem, Mindlin problem, and two mixed boundary problems of quasicrystals are analytically derived. • The unique stress distribution of quasicrystals is induced by the phonon force rather than the phason force. • The symmetric force leads to the symmetry breaking in quasicrystals, while the mirror-like phenomenon disappears. • The displacement distribution is symmetrically shaped and mirror-like, even the material parameters is non-symmetric. The half-space Green's functions of phonon and phason fields in the constrained cubic quasicrystals are derived for various boundary conditions. The analytical solutions of the generalized Lorentz problem, Mindlin problem, and two mixed boundary problems, are directly derived by using the Phan-Thien method, the general solutions, and infinite-space Green's functions. Unique phenomena are observed in stress fields, which show their significant effect on mechanical response of quasicrystals by the phonon and phason force. Furthermore, we observe, without considering the phason force, an interesting distinction between quasicrystals and traditional isotropic media in the Lorentz problem. We further notice that the unique stress distribution is induced by the phonon force rather than by the phason force. Because the phonon force is much more convenient to be applied than the phason force in experiments, this result provides us an efficient channel to study quasicrystals involving the phonon force only, and then to verify the current linear elasticity of quasicrystals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractObjectiveMethodResultsConclusionTo explore the effects of a 12-week aerobic exercise program with different frequencies on executive functions (EFs) in preschool children.Four kindergartens, comprising 126 preschool children in Shanghai, were enrolled in this 12-week cluster randomized controlled trial with a 12-week follow-up period. Kindergartens were allocated to high-frequency (three times a week) or low-frequency (once a week) exercise groups using stratified block randomization. Three core sub-EFs, including inhibition, working memory, and cognitive flexibility, were assessed at baseline, post-intervention, and the 12-week follow-up.Compared to baseline, both groups showed significant improvements in inhibition and working memory after the intervention and at the 12-week follow-up. However, only the high-frequency exercise group demonstrated a significant improvement in cognitive flexibility after the follow-up period. Nonetheless, there were no significant differences in the core sub-functions of EFs between the two groups at the end of the intervention or the follow-up periods.A 12-week aerobic exercise of three times a week was insufficient to significantly improve EFs in preschool children compared to once a week. Future studies are needed to examine the dose-response relationship of aerobic exercise on EFs and to verify the effects of different exercise modalities on EFs in preschool children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have brought in exciting progress in many computer vision tasks. But the feature extraction process executed by CNN still keeps a black box to us, and we have not fully understood its working mechanism. In this paper, we propose a method to evaluate CNN features and further to analyze the CNN feature extractor, which is inspired by Bayes Classification Theory and KL divergence (KLD). Experiments have shown that CNN can promote feature discrimativeness by gradually increasing the intra-class KLD, and meanwhile promote feature robustness by gradually decreasing the inner-class KLD during training. Experiments also reveal that, with the deepening of network, CNN can gradually improve separability information density in feature space and encode much more separability information into the final feature vectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a novel metastable β-type Zr-12Nb-4Sn alloy was designed and fabricated for hard tissue replacements. Upon solution treatment followed by water-quenching, the β-type Zr-12Nb-4Sn alloy possesses a combination of low Young's modulus (44 GPa) and low magnetic susceptibility (1.42 × 10 −6  cm 3  g −1 ). An analysis of single-crystal elastic constants and Hill approximation shows that compared with binary β-type Ti-based alloys, the present β-type Zr-12Nb-4Sn alloy exhibits lower bcc-structural (β-phase) stability represented by its slightly lower C′ and much lower C 44 , which gives rise to the ultralow Young's modulus in Zr-12Nb-4Sn alloy. Meanwhile, the low magnetic susceptibility of raw materials, i.e., Zr (1.32 × 10 −6  cm 3  g −1 ), Nb (2.24 × 10 −6  cm 3  g −1 ) and Sn (0.03 × 10 −6  cm 3  g −1 ), leads to the eventual low magnetic susceptibility of Zr-12Nb-4Sn alloy. These results might shed some light on design and development of novel β-type Zr alloys, with a combination of lower Young's modulus and lower magnetic susceptibility, for biomedical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Under the generalizability‐theory (G‐theory) framework, the estimation precision of variance components (VCs) is of significant importance in that they serve as the foundation of estimating reliability. Zhang and Lin advanced the discussion of nonadditivity in data from a theoretical perspective and showed the adverse effects of nonadditivity on the estimation precision of VCs in 2016. Contributing to this line of research, the current article directs the discussion of nonadditivity from a theoretical perspective to a practical application and highlights the importance of detecting nonadditivity in G‐theory applications. To this end, Tukey's test for nonadditivity is the only method to date that is appropriate for the typical single‐facet G‐theory design, in which a single observation is made per element within a facet. The current article evaluates the Type I and Type II error rates of Tukey's test. Results show that Tukey's test is satisfactory in controlling for falsely detecting nonadditivity when the data are actually additive and that it is generally powerful in detecting nonadditivity when it exists. Finally, the article demonstrates an application of Tukey's test in detecting nonadditivity in a judgmental study of educational standards and shows how Tukey's test results can be used to correct imprecision in the estimated VC in the presence of nonadditivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• RNF130 was down-regulated in pulmonary fibrosis. • RNF130 protected against pulmonary fibrosis via inhibiting the transition of fibroblast to myofibroblast. • RNF130 suppressed fibroblast aerobic glycolysis by mediating c-myc ubiquitination. • Overexpression of RNF130 with adeno-associated virus (AAV)-RNF130 attenuated bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis. Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a chronic and fatal disease,characterized by an excessive accumulation of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins in response to chronic lung injury. Current evidence suggests that metabolic reprogramming is always accompanied by myofibroblast activation in IPF of which the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Ring finger protein 130 (RNF130), was demonstrated involved in multiple diseases. However, whether RNF130 plays a critical role in the pathogenesis of IPF needs to be clarified. We first investigated the expression of RNF130 in pulmonary fibrosis in vivo and in vitro. We then observed the effect and explored the molecular mechanism of RNF130 on the transition of fibroblast to myofibroblast and aerobic glycolysis. Further, we assessed the effects of adeno-associated virus (AAV)-induced RNF130 overexpression in the pulmonary fibrosis model, conducting pulmonary function, assessment of collagen deposition using the hydroxyproline assay, and biochemical and histopathological analyses. We found that RNF130 was down-regulated in lung tissues of mice with bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis and lung fibroblasts treated with transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1). Then we demonstrated that RNF130 inhibited the transition of fibroblast to myofibroblast by suppressing aerobic glycolysis. Mechanistically, we revealed that RNF130 promoted c-myc ubiquitination and degradation, while c-myc overexpression reverses the inhibitory effects of RNF130. Importantly, pulmonary function, collagen deposition and fibroblast differentiation were significantly alleviated in adeno-associated virus serotype (AAV)6-RNF130 treated mice, which further validated the contribution of RNF130/c-myc signaling axis in pulmonary fibrosis pathological process. In summary, RNF130 participates in the pathogenesis of pulmonary fibrosis by inhibiting the transition of fibroblast to myofibroblast and aerobic glycolysis through promoting c-myc ubiquitination and degradation. Targeting RNF130-c-myc axis might represent a promising strategy to alleviate the progression of IPF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the progressively prominent impact of pollution caused by the extensive use of unsustainable fossil energy on the environment, clean energy with solar energy as an important component is developing rapidly. As a p-type semiconductor material with excellent performance, CuO is expected to become one of the most competitive photovoltaic materials in the field of optoelectronic devices. We first explored the effects of changing the sputtering power on the crystalline quality of CuO thin films, and systematically investigated the crystal structure, surface morphology, optical and electrical properties. Then we fabricated an Au/p-CuO/n-Si/Al heterojunction solar cell by magnetron sputtering and analyzed the influence of the device on the electrical properties at different temperatures. High rectification characteristics typical of diodes were obtained. Finally, by measuring and calculating the photovoltaic performance of the device under simulated sunlight irradiation, we studied the dependence of the device operating temperature on the photoelectric conversion efficiency in detail. • The effect of sputtering power on the physical properties of CuO film was studied. • The CuO film with relatively good quality was obtained by magnetron sputtering. • Device with high rectification characteristics typical based on p-CuO/n-Si structure was prepared. • The operating temperature dependence on the photoelectric conversion efficiency of the device was studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the considerable efforts to develop innovative electrode materials, nickel/yttria-stabilized zirconia (Ni/YSZ) electrodes are still employed in nearly all commercial and industrial solid oxide cell units. This is because Ni/YSZ cermets have good electrocatalytic activity in both electrolysis and fuel cell modes, while they are cost-effective as compared to alternative electrodes under development at the lab scale. Infiltration of nanoparticles has immersed as a promising concept to enhance the performance and robustness of conventional Ni/YSZ. Herein, we apply a relatively simple procedure to infiltrate Ni/YSZ electrodes with hexane solution containing prefabricated Ni-doped CeO 2 nanoparticles. Cells with modified Ni/YSZ electrodes show a great improvement in the electrocatalytic activity and stability towards direct CO 2 reduction as compared to unmodified cathodes. Besides, a single infiltration step is sufficient to achieve the optimum cell performance, streamlining the preparation process. More importantly, we show that this strategy can be equally efficient to fully reactivate previously degraded Ni/YSZ electrodes and restore their electrochemical performance at levels even higher than the initial ones. In addition, due to the high viscosity of the hexane solution, Ni-doped CeO 2 nanoparticles access the entire electrode volume all the way close to the YSZ interface, while it penetrates the micro cracks between Ni and YSZ particles. In this way the electrocatalytic reaction zone is recovered, and the degraded Ni/YSZ electrode is reactivated. Physicochemical, microstructural and electrochemical characterization of the cells evinces several effects that contribute to the performance improvement of Ni/YSZ after infiltration, such as the enhanced surface reducibility of Ni and the amelioration of charge transfer processes within the electrode. The simplicity of the proposed infiltration method and the significant promotion in CO 2 electroreduction activity, advocate it as a cost-efficient strategy to improve or regenerate conventional Ni/YSZ electrodes without significantly altering the already well-established fabrication process. [Display omitted] • Infiltration of NiYSZ with NiCeO x NPs increases CO 2 electroreduction current up to 3-times. • Degraded NiYSZ electrodes are reactivated after one-step impregnation with NiCeO x NPs. • NiCeO x NPs enhance Ni reducibility and improves charge transfer of NiYSZ electrode. • A promising strategy to promote or re-activate direct CO 2 electrolysis on conventional NiYSZ electrodes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Backbend-induced pediatric thoracic spinal cord injury without radiologic abnormality (BBPT-SCIWORA) in children is rare in clinical practice and leads to lower limb motor dysfunction. There are few clinical studies on BBPT-SCIWORA and even fewer on treatments for BBPT-SCIWORA-induced lower limb motor dysfunction. OBJECTIVE: To explore the therapeutic effect of acupuncture at bilateral spine acupoints combined with lower limb acupoints in BBPT-SCIWORA. CASE PRESENTATION: This study reported four cases of BBPT-SCIWORA after dancing, two of which received a unique medium-frequency electroacupuncture treatment. They were all females aged between 5 and 12 years old. They were diagnosed with BBPT-SCIWORA by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), transferred to the rehabilitation department for lower limb dysfunction, and received rehabilitation treatments and acupuncture. Cases 1 and 2 received acupuncture treatment for lower limb acupoints, while Cases 3 and 4 received acupuncture treatment at the bilateral spine acupoints beside the lesion and lower limb acupoints. Cases 3 and 4 achieved better American spinal injury association (AIS) grades and lower extremity motor scores (LEMS) than Cases 1 and 2 after treatment. CONCLUSION: Acupuncture treatment of beside bilateral spine acupoints plus lower limb acupoints therapy might facilitate early lower limb motor function recovery in children with BBPT-SCIWORA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]