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Carrier-free ultra-wideband sensors have high penetrability anti-jamming solid ability, which is not easily affected by the external environment, such as weather. Also, it has good performance in the complex jungle environment. In this paper, we propose a jungle vehicle identification system based on a carrier-free ultra-wideband sensor. Firstly, a composite jungle environment with the target vehicle is modeled. From this model, the simulation obtains time-domain echoes under the excitation of carrier-free ultra-wideband sensor signals in different orientations. Secondly, the time-domain signals are transformed into MTF images through the Markov transfer field to show the statistical characteristics of the time-domain echoes. At the same time, we propose an improved RepVGG network. The structure of the RepVGG network contains five stages, which consist of several RepVGG Blocks. Each RepVGG Block is created by combining convolutional kernels of different sizes using a weighted sum. We add the self-attention module to the output of stage 0 to improve the ability to extract the features of the MTF map and better capture the complex relationship between characteristics during training. In addition, a self-attention module is added before the linear layer classification output in stage 4 to improve the classification accuracy of the network. Moreover, a combined cross-entropy loss and sparsity penalty loss function helps enhance the performance and accuracy of the network. The experimental results show that the system can recognize jungle vehicle targets well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses the event‐triggered adaptive consensus control of nonlinear multi‐agent systems with unknown control direction and actuator saturation. A new robust adaptive control algorithm based on an event‐triggered mechanism is designed. The smooth Lipschitz function approximates the saturated nonlinear function, while the Nussbaum function handles unknown control directions and residual terms. The event‐triggered mechanism is designed to determine the time of communication, significantly reducing the communication burden. An additional estimator is utilized to deal with unknown parameters involved in neighbor dynamics and prevent information exchange to consistency errors between connected subsystems. The results show that all the signals of the closed‐loop system are uniformly bounded, and the consensus tracking error converges to a bounded set. Meanwhile, Zeno's behavior is eliminated. Simulation results confirm the superiority of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The digital economy, as a new economic form with high information density, provides a new driving force for the realization of high-quality agricultural development. Panel data of 31 provinces in China from 2011 to 2020 were selected for analysis. The static panel data interaction effect model and panel threshold model were used to verify the nonlinear influence mechanism and heterogeneity of financial development in the process of the digital economy affecting high-quality agricultural development. The findings are as follows. (1) During the study period, the high-quality development of China's agriculture showed a steady upward trend; however, the regional differences were significant, and the eastern part was larger than the central and western part. (2) The digital economy can promote high-quality agricultural development. (3) The digital economy has a double threshold effect in the process of affecting high-quality agricultural development, which depends on the level of financial development. When the threshold is exceeded, the digital economy has a more significant promoting effect on high-quality agricultural development. (4) The impact of the digital economy on high-quality agricultural development is heterogeneous. From the perspective of different regions, the impact effect is greatest in the eastern region, while the effect is smaller in the central and western regions. From different resource endowments, the positive impact effect is greatest in the major grain-selling areas, followed by the major grain producing areas, but the positive digital economy driving effect is not significant in the balance of production and sales areas. Finally, three policy suggestions are proposed. First, the Chinese government should increase investments in and support for digital technology to promote the integration of the digital economy and agriculture. Second, the Chinese government should promote the development of digital inclusive finance in areas with financial development below the threshold. Third, different regions should implement differentiated digital economies to promote high-quality agricultural development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Foods are susceptible to deterioration and sour due to external environmental influences during production and storage. Coating can form a layer of physical barrier on the surface of foods to achieve the purpose of food preservation. Because of its good barrier properties and biocompatibility, prolamin-based film has been valued as a new green and environment-friendly material in the application of food preservation. Single prolamin-based film has weaknesses of poor toughness and stability, and it is necessary to select appropriate modification methods to improve the performance of film according to the application requirements. The practical application effect of film is not only affected by the raw materials and the properties of the film itself, but also affected by the selection of preparation methods and processing techniques of film-forming liquid. In this review, the properties and selection of prolamins, the forming mechanisms and processes of prolamin-based coatings, the coating techniques, and the modifications of prolamin-based coatings were systematically introduced from the perspective of food coating applications. Moreover, the defects and deficiencies in the research and development of prolamin-based coatings were also reviewed in order to provide a reference for the follow-up research on the application of prolamin-based coatings in food preservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma tends to metastasize to cervical lymphatic nodes early which leads to a 50% drop of survival rate. CXCL1 could be secreted by LNMTca8113 cell induced lymphatic endothelial cells and promoted LNMTca8113 cell migration. The current study aimed to further explore the effect of CXCL1 on the proliferation and migration abilities of tongue cancer cells and the prognostic value of serum CXCL1 in oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma. Methods: Cell proliferation and migration ability were analysed by CCK8 assays and transwell migration assays. Immunofluorescence technique was used to show cytoskeleton. GST pull‐down assay was applied to quantify the activation of GTPases. Blood samples of patients were collected and clinicopathological characteristics were analysed. Results: CXCL1 could promote cancer cell proliferation in appropriate concentration by PI3K/AKT pathway. It also regulated the activation of Rho GTPases to mediate the rearrangements of cytoskeleton to promote tumour cell migration. Level of plasma CXCL1 could predict the possibility of early lymphatic metastasis and had a predictive value in progression‐free survival and overall survival. Conclusions: CXCL1 could promote oral cancer cell proliferation, migration and invasion in vitro and contributed theoretical knowledge for the target selection in molecular targeted therapy. Level of plasma CXCL1 might serve as a biomarker for prognosis in oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A recent article in the National Science Review discusses a breakthrough in robotic embolization therapy for treating cerebral aneurysms and brain tumors. The article highlights the limitations of conventional endovascular embolization methods and introduces magnetic soft microfiber robots as a solution. These microfiberbots, with their helical geometry and customizable diameter, can navigate the vascular system with precision and control. The use of remote magnetic fields to steer the microfiberbots enhances the safety and efficacy of embolization procedures while minimizing radiation exposure for surgeons. The article acknowledges the challenges that need to be addressed for the technology to reach its full potential, including customization for different aneurysm sizes and the development of advanced positioning and tracking systems. However, the article concludes that this technology has the potential to revolutionize the treatment of cerebral aneurysms and brain tumors, offering safer and more precise therapeutic interventions. [Extracted from the article]

Manganese oxide catalysts are considered to be active in the catalytic purification of volatile organic compounds based on two theories. According to one view, defects are mainly constructed to increase the amount of adsorbed oxygen and, consequently, the catalytic activity, whereas the opposite view suggests that the mobility of lattice oxygen is the main reason for determining the catalytic performance. In order to investigate which form of oxygen is the key factor controlling the catalytic performance of manganese oxides, a series of manganese oxide octahedral molecular sieves (OMS‐2) with different adsorption and lattice oxygen properties were synthesized in this study, and the catalytic oxidation performance of the catalysts for toluene was examined. The impact of various oxygen species on the catalytic activity of OMS‐2 was investigated in depth by characterization by Raman, X‐ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller, O2 temperature‐programmed desorption, H2 temperature‐programmed reduction, X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and so forth. It was discovered that OMS‐2‐150 exhibits excellent catalytic activity for toluene purification due to its higher Mn4+ and lattice oxygen as well as low‐temperature reducibility. In addition, in situ diffuse reflectance, infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy also verified that lattice oxygen dominates the reaction and improves the catalytic performance. As such, in contrast to previous investigations, this study found that lattice oxygen migration was more important than adsorbed oxygen content for manganese oxides in the field of volatile organic compounds purification. This brings a new perspective to the preparation of manganese‐based catalysts with promising catalytic behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigating the 3D structures and rearrangements of organelles within a single cell is critical for better characterizing cellular function. Imaging approaches such as soft X-ray tomography have been widely applied to reveal a complex subcellular organization involving multiple inter-organelle interactions. However, 3D segmentation of organelle instances has been challenging despite its importance in organelle characterization. Here we propose an intensity-based post-processing tool to identify and separate organelle instances. Our tool separates sphere-like (insulin vesicle) and columnar-shaped organelle instances (mitochondrion) based on the intensity of raw tomograms, semantic segmentation masks, and organelle morphology. We validate our tool using synthetic tomograms of organelles and experimental tomograms of pancreatic β-cells to separate insulin vesicle and mitochondria instances. As compared to the commonly used connected regions labeling, watershed, and watershed + Gaussian filter methods, our tool results in improved accuracy in identifying organelles in the synthetic tomograms and an improved description of organelle structures in β-cell tomograms. In addition, under different experimental treatment conditions, significant changes in volumes and intensities of both insulin vesicle and mitochondrion are observed in our instance results, revealing their potential roles in maintaining normal β-cell function. Our tool is expected to be applicable for improving the instance segmentation of other images obtained from different cell types using multiple imaging modalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study evaluated whether the Controlling Nutritional Status (CONUT) score could predict clinical outcomes in ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients.Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study of STEMI patients after primary percutaneous coronary intervention (pPCI). The endpoint was major adverse cardiac event (MACE). Information was obtained from medical records and via telephone calls. Patients were divided into three groups: normal (CONUT score 0-1; n=278), mild-moderate (score 2-4; n=418), and severe (score ≥5; n=55) groups.Results: During the 24.6±12 months follow-up, MACEs were observed in 65 (8.7%) patients. The incidence of MACEs was 6.1%, 5.5%, and 45.5% in the normal, mild-moderate, and severe group, respectively (p<0.001). Kaplan-Meier curves revealed that patients with a CONUT score ≥5 had the significantly highest rate of MACE, myocardial re-infarction, and vessel revascularisation. In three Cox proportional hazard models, the CONUT scores were unexceptionally associated with MACE, even after adjusting all other variables (hazard ratio, 12.09; 95% confidence interval [CI], 5.09-28.7; p<0.001). The C-statistic of the CONUT score for the prediction of MACE was 0.692 (95% CI, 0.613-0.771; p<0.001), which is close to that of Global Registry of Acute Coronary Events.Conclusions: The nutritional status evaluated by the CONUT score can independently predict clinical outcomes in STEMI patients, which suggests that active nutritional management is meaningful for these patients after PCI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reinforcement can reduce soil's frost heave (F-H), but what kind of reinforcement condition is most beneficial to control soil's F-H if it is not clear? In this study, orthogonal experiments of freezing and thawing (F-T) to reinforced silty clay under different conditions were carried out. F-H, thaw settlement (T-S) deformation and water content of three different heights of melting clay were tested. T-S displacement was positively correlated with water content and more closely related to upper layer clay's water content. SPSS software was used to fit the regression equation of F-H and T-S displacement expressed by various influencing factors. The top three factors influencing the F-H and T-S displacement were initial water content, reinforcement spacing, and upper pressure. Taking the lowest displacement of F-H and T-S as control target, the optimal solution of all factors and target values were obtained with MATLAB software when the freezing temperature and number of freezing and thawing cycle (FTC) and upper pressure were − 15 °C, 5 times, and 30 kPa. The lowest values of F-H and T-S displacement were 3.61 mm and − 0.514 mm, respectively, when the values of the initial water content, compaction degree, and reinforcement spacing were 16%, 90%, and 25 cm, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cardiovascular diseases account for approximately half of all deaths in Asia. The present analysis aimed to evaluate characteristics, antithrombotic management patterns (AMPs), and outcomes in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) who underwent in-hospital percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and survived to hospital discharge, using data from the EPICOR Asia registry (NCT01361386). Two-year post-discharge follow-up data were analyzed from 8757 ACS PCI patients from EPICOR Asia (218 centers, eight countries). Major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE; death, non-fatal myocardial infarction [MI], non-fatal ischemic stroke), PCI characteristics, and AMPs were recorded. For MACE, time - to - event was analyzed using Cox regression. Primary PCI was performed in 62.0% of ST-segment elevation MI (STEMI), 38.7% of non-STEMI (NSTEMI), and 24.2% of unstable angina (UA) patients. At 12 months, 88.1% of patients were on dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT), with no differences by index event. Most (61.5%) still received DAPT at 2 years. Two-year incidences of mortality, composite MACE, and bleeding were 3.6%, 6.2%, and 6.6%, respectively. Risk of death and MACE was increased with STEMI and NSTEMI vs. UA. Patients from East Asia showed lower mortality and more bleeding vs. Southeast Asia/India. Many patients in EPICOR Asia underwent PCI and received DAPT up to 2 years post-discharge. These real-world findings improve our understanding of AMP impact on outcomes in Asian patients with ACS undergoing PCI. • In EPICOR Asia, primary PCI was performed in 8757 ACS survivors, mostly for STEMI. • At 1 and 2 years post discharge, 88.1% and 61.5%, respectively, were on DAPT. • Two-year risk of death and MACE was increased with STEMI and NSTEMI vs. UA. • East Asia patients showed lower mortality and more bleeding vs. Southeast Asia/India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Cow manure is not only an agricultural waste, but also an organic fertilizer resource. The application of organic fertilizer is a feasible practice to mitigate the soil degradation caused by overuse of chemical fertilizers, which can affect the bacterial diversity and community composition in soils. However, to our knowledge, the information about the soil bacterial diversity and composition in tea plantation applied with cow manure fertilization was limited. In this study, we performed one field trial to research the response of the soil bacterial community to cow manure fertilization compared with urea fertilization using the high-throughput sequencing technique of 16S rRNA genes, and analyzed the relationship between the soil bacterial community and soil characteristics during different tea-picking seasons using the Spearman's rank correlation analysis. Results: The results showed that the soil bacterial communities were dominated by Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Acidobacteria and Actinobacteria across all tea-picking seasons. Therein, there were significant differences of bacterial communities in soils with cow manure fertilization (CMF) and urea fertilization (UF) in three seasons: the relative abundance of Bacteroidetes in CMF was significantly higher than that in UF and CK in spring, and the relative abundance of Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes in CMF was significantly higher than that in UF and CK in autumn. So, the distribution of the dominant phyla was mainly affected by cow manure fertilization. The diversity of bacterial communities in soils with cow manure fertilization was higher than that in soils with urea fertilization, and was the highest in summer. Moreover, soil pH, OM and AK were important environmental properties affecting the soil bacterial community structure in tea plantation. Conclusions: Although different fertilizers and seasons affect the diversity and structure of soil microorganisms, the application of cow manure can not only improve the diversity of soil bacteria, but also effectively regulate the structure of soil bacterial community in tea plantation. So, cow manure fertilization is more suitable for tea plantation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Adipose‐derived mesenchymal stem cells (ADSCs) offer great promise as cell therapy for ischaemic diseases. Due to their poor survival in the ischaemic environment, the therapeutic efficacy of ADSCs is still relatively low. Interleukin‐11 (IL‐11) has been shown to play a key role in promoting cell proliferation and protecting cells from oxidative stress injury. The aim of this study was to determine whether IL‐11 could improve therapeutic efficacy of ADSCs in ischaemic diseases. Methods and Results: ADSCs were prepared from inguinal subcutaneous adipose tissue and exposed to hypoxic environment. The protein expression of IL‐11 was decreased after hypoxic treatment. In addition, ADSCs viability was increased after IL‐11 treatment under hypoxia. Moreover, IL‐11 enhanced ADSCs viability in a dose‐dependent manner under normoxia. Importantly, IL‐11 promoted ADSCs proliferation and migration and protected ADSCs against hydrogen peroxide‐induced cellular death. Notably, IL‐11 enhanced ADSCs proliferation and migration, also promoted cell survival and apoptosis resistance by STAT3 signalling. In vivo, mice were subjected to limb ischaemia and treated with IL‐11 overexpression ADSCs and control ADSCs. IL‐11 overexpression ADSCs improved perfusion recovery in the ischaemic muscles. Conclusions: We provide the evidence that IL‐11 promoted ADSCs proliferation, stimulated ADSCs migration and attenuated ADSCs apoptosis by activation of STAT3 signalling. These results suggest that IL‐11 facilitated ADSCs engraftment in ischaemic tissue, thereby enhanced ADSCs therapeutic efficacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Different mulches have variable effects on soil physicochemical characteristics, bacterial and fungal communities and ecosystem functions. However, the information about soil microbial diversity, community structure and ecosystem function in tea plantation under different mulching patterns was limited. In this study, we investigated bacterial and fungal communities of tea plantation soils under polyethylene film and peanut hull mulching using high-throughput 16S rRNA and ITS rDNA gene Illumina sequencing. Results: The results showed that the dominant bacterial phyla were Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Acidobacteria and Chloroflexi, and the dominant fungal phyla were Ascomycota, Mortierellomycota and Basidiomycota in all samples, but different mulching patterns affected the distribution of microbial communities. At the phylum level, the relative abundance of Nitrospirae in peanut hull mulching soils (3.24%) was significantly higher than that in polyethylene film mulching soils (1.21%) in bacterial communities, and the relative abundances of Mortierellomycota and Basidiomycota in peanut hull mulching soils (33.72, 21.93%) was significantly higher than that in polyethylene film mulching soils (14.88, 6.53%) in fungal communities. Peanut hull mulching increased the diversity of fungal communities in 0–20 cm soils and the diversity of bacterial communities in 20–40 cm soils. At the microbial functional level, there was an enrichment of bacterial functional features, including amino acid transport and metabolism and energy production and conversion, and there was an enrichment of fungal functional features, including undefined saprotrophs, plant pathogens and soils aprotrophs. Conclusions: Unique distributions of bacterial and fungal communities were observed in soils under organic mulching. Thus, we believe that the organic mulching has a positive regulatory effect on the soil bacterial and fungal communities and ecosystem functions, and so, is more suitable for tea plantation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seasonal frozen soil is widely distributed in China. The seasonal freeze-thaw (F-T) process of soil will adversely affect the safety and service life of the engineering structures in these areas. Therefore, it is necessary to thoroughly study the main factors affecting the F-T process of soil and prevent or control F-T damage. This study first briefly introduces the distribution of seasonal frozen soil in China and the damage of soil after F-T. Then, on the one hand, it discusses the influencing trends of soil properties after freeze-thaw cycles (FTC) based on the different soil structure, compaction degree, moisture content, freezing temperature, and FTC times. On the other hand, it analyzes the present major project prevention and control measures to the damage of soils subjected to the F-T. This study highlights the positive effect of soil reinforcement on improving soil mechanical properties and reducing F-T destruction to the soil construction. Finally, it prospects the optimal reinforcement methods for all kinds of soils during different F-T conditions based on further theoretical research and practical experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO), a gut microbe-derived metabolite of dietary choline and other trimethylamine-containing nutrients, has been associated with poor prognosis in coronary heart disease. However, the role and underlying mechanisms of TMAO in the cardiac fibrosis after myocardial infarction (MI) remains unclear. We used mouse MI models and primary cardiac fibroblasts cultures to study the role of TMAO in the heart and in cardiac fibroblasts. C57BL/6 mice were fed a control diet, high choline (1.2%) or/and DMB diet or a diet containing TMAO (0.12%) starting 3 weeks before MI. DMB, a structural analogue of choline, inhibited microbial TMA lyases and reduced the level of TMAO in mice. Cardiac function was measured 7 days after MI using echocardiography. One week post MI, myocardial tissues were collected to evaluate cardiac fibrosis, and blood samples were evaluated for TMAO levels. The expression of TGF-β receptor, P-Smad2, α-SMA or collagen I in myocardial tissues and fibroblasts were analyzed by western blot or immunocytochemistry. We demonstrated that cardiac function and cardiac fibrosis were significantly deteriorated in mice fed either TMAO or high choline diets compared with the control diet, and DMB reversed the cardiac function damage of high choline diet (p <.05). Cardiomyocyte necrosis, apoptosis and macrophage infiltration after MI was significantly increased after treatment with TMAO or high choline diets. The size and migration of fibroblasts were increased after TMAO treatment compared with non-treated fibroblasts in vitro. Furthermore, TMAO increased TGF-β receptor I expression, which promoted the phosphorylation of Smad2 and up-regulated the expression of α-SMA and collagen I. The ubiquitination of TGF-βRI was decreased in neonatal mouse fibroblasts after TMAO treatment. TMAO also inhibited the expression of smurf2. Inhibition of TGF-β1 receptor with the small molecule inhibitor SB431542 decreased TGF-β receptor I expression, reduced the phosphorylation of Smad2, down-regulated TMAO-induced α-SMA and collagen I expression in cardiac fibroblasts. Cardiac function and cardiac fibrosis were significantly exacerbated in mice fed diets supplemented with either choline or TMAO, probably through accelerating the transformation of fibroblasts into myofibroblasts, indicating activation of TGF-βRI/Smad2 pathway. • TMAO or high choline diets increased cardiac fibrosis after MI, and DMB reversed choline related cardiac fibrosis. • TMAO accelerated the transformation of fibroblasts into myofibroblasts by activating of TGF-βRI/Smad2 pathway. • TMAO activated the TGF-β signaling pathway by inhibiting the ubiquitination of TGF-βRI and preventing its degradation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Lipid digestion is a bio-interfacial process that is largely governed by the binding of the lipase-colipase-biosurfactant (bile salts) complex onto the surface of emulsified lipid droplets. Therefore, engineering oil-water interfaces that prevent competitive displacement by bile salts and/or delay the transportation of lipase to the lipidoidal substrate can be an effective strategy to modulate lipolysis in human physiology. In this review, we present the mechanistic role of Pickering emulsions i.e. emulsions stabilised by micron-to-nano sized particles in modulating the important fundamental biological process of lipid digestion by virtue of their distinctive stability against coalescence and resilience to desorption by intestinal biosurfactants. We provide a systematic summary of recent experimental investigations and mathematical models that have blossomed in the last decade in this domain. A strategic examination of the behavior and mechanism of lipid digestion of droplets stabilised by particles in simulated biophysical environments (oral, gastric, intestinal regimes) was conducted. Various particle-laden interfaces were considered, where the particles were derived from synthetic or biological sources. This allowed us to categorize these particles into two classes based on their mechanistic role in modifying lipid digestion. These are ' human enzyme-unresponsive particles ' (e.g. silica, cellulose, chitin, flavonoids) i.e. the ones that cannot to be digested by human enzymes, such as amylase, protease and 'human enzyme-responsive particles' (e.g. protein microgels, starch granules), which can be readily digested by humans. We focused on the role of particle shape (spherical, anisotropic) on modifying both interfacial and bulk phases during lipolysis. Also, the techniques currently used to alter the kinetics of lipid digestion using intelligent physical or chemical treatments to control interfacial particle spacing were critically reviewed. A comparison of how various mathematical models reported in literature predict free fatty acid release kinetics during lipid digestion highlighted the importance of the clear statement of the underlying assumptions. We provide details of the initial first order kinetic models to the more recent models, which account for the rate of adsorption of lipase at the droplet surface and include the crucial aspect of interfacial dynamics. We provide a unique decision tree on model selection, which is appropriate to minimize the difference between experimental data of free fatty acid generation and model predictions based on precise assumptions of droplet shrinkage, lipase-binding rate, and nature of lipase transport process to the particle-laden interface. Greater insights into the mechanisms of controlling lipolysis using particle-laden interfaces with appropriate mathematical model fitting permit better understanding of the key lipid digestion processes. Future outlook on interfacial design parameters, such as particle shape, size, polydispersity, charge, fusion, material chemistry, loading and development of new mathematical models that provide closed-loop equations from early to later stages of kinetics are proposed. Such future experiments and models hold promise for the tailoring of particle-laden interfaces for delaying lipid digestion and/or site-dependent controlled release of lipidic active molecules in composite soft matter systems, such as food, personal care, pharmaceutical, healthcare and biotechnological applications. Graphical abstract Unlabelled Image Highlights • Lipid digestion of Pickering emulsions stabilised by particles is reviewed. • Impact of both enzyme-responsive and -unresponsive particles is critically discussed. • Mathematical models for lipolysis including interfacial dynamics is covered. • A decision tree is created to select the right mathematical model for data fitting. • An outlook for future work in both theoretical and experimental domains is covered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Autologous human cardiac stem/progenitor cell (hCPC) therapy is a promising treatment that has come into use in recent years for patients with cardiomyopathy. Though innovative in theory, a major hindrance to the practical application of this treatment is that the hCPCs of elderly patients, who are most susceptible to myocardial disease, are senescent and prone to cell death. Rejuvenating hCPCs from elderly patients may help overcome this obstacle, and can be accomplished by reversing entry into the cellular stage of senescence. p16INK4A, a cyclin dependent kinase inhibitor, is an important player in the regulation of cell senescence. In this study, we investigated whether knockdown of p16INK4A will rejuvenate aging hCPCs to a youthful phenotype. Our data indicated that upregulation of p16INK4A is associated with hCPC senescence. Both cell proliferation and survival capacity were significantly increased in hCPCs infected with lentivirus expressing p16INK4A shRNA when compared to control hCPCs. The knockdown of p16INK4A also induced antioxidant properties as indicated by a 50% decrease in ROS generation at basal cell metabolism, and a 25% decrease in ROS generation after exposure to oxidative stress. Genes associated with cell senescence (p21CIP1), anti-apoptosis (BCL2 and MCL1), anti-oxidant (CYGB, PRDX1 and SRXN1), and NFκB signal pathway (p65, IKBKB, HMOX1, etc.), were significantly upregulated after the p16INK4A knockdown. Knocking down the NFĸB-p65 expression also significantly diminished the cytoprotective effect caused by the p16INK4A knockdown. Our results suggest that genetic knockdown of p16INK4A may play a significant role in inducing antioxidant effects and extending lifespan of aging hCPCs. This genetic modification may enhance the effectiveness of autologous hCPC therapy for repair of infarcted myocardium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we propose an ambiguity function (AF) incision method to evaluate and compare the inherent anti-jamming performance of cyclic modulation continuous wave radio fuzes based on the active jamming mechanism analysis and AF theory. This method is applied to evaluate symmetric triangular frequency modulated continuous wave radio fuze, sawtooth frequency modulated continuous wave radio fuze and pseudo-random coded phase modulated continuous wave radio fuze in this paper. A plane parallel to τ-ζ plane is used to cut the ambiguity function map at a certain normalized height threshold to get an incision plane. According to working parameters and status of radio fuzes, the scope of (τ1,τ2) and (ξ1,ξ2) is determined to compute the incision area by numerical integral. The incision area is used to estimate the anti-jamming performance of the radio fuze. The smaller the area value is, the better anti-jamming performance of the fuze can be achieved. The anti-jamming abilities of different radio fuze systems are analyzed and simulated with the means of AF incision method. We also compare the anti-jamming abilities of radio fuzes with the same system but different parameters. Simulation results show that the AF incision method is objective, reasonable, computable and applicable to evaluate the inherent anti-jamming performance of cyclic modulation continuous wave radio fuzes. In practical engineering, the AF incision area value can be used as one of the anti-jamming indexes to evaluate the comprehensive anti-jamming performance of radio fuzes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we designed emulsions with an oil-water interface consisting of a composite layer of whey protein isolate (WPI, 1 wt%) and cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) (1–3 wt%). The hypothesis was that a secondary layer of CNCs at the WPI-stabilized oil-water interface could protect the interfacial protein layer against in vitro gastric digestion by pepsin at 37 °C. A combination of transmission electron microscopy, ζ -potential measurements, interfacial shear viscosity measurements and theoretical surface coverage considerations suggested the presence of CNCs and WPI together at the O/W interface, owing to the electrostatic attraction between complementarily charged WPI and CNCs at pH 3. Microstructural analysis and droplet sizing revealed that the presence of CNCs increased the resistance of the interfacial protein film to rupture by pepsin, thus inhibiting droplet coalescence in the gastric phase, which occurs rapidly in an emulsion stabilized by WPI alone. It appeared that there was an optimum concentration of CNCs at the interface for such barrier effects. Sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) results further confirmed that the presence of 3 wt% of CNCs reduced the rate and extent of proteolysis of protein at the interface. Besides, evidence of adsorption of CNCs to the protein-coated droplets to form more rigid layers, there is also the possibility that network formation by the CNCs in the bulk (continuous) phase reduced the kinetics of proteolysis. Nevertheless, structuring emulsions with mixed protein-particle layers could be an effective strategy to tune and control interfacial barrier properties during gastric passage of emulsions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many complex systems generate multifractal time series which are long-range cross-correlated. This paper introduces three multifractal cross-correlation analysis methods, such as multifractal cross-correlation analysis based on the partition function approach (MFXPF), multifractal detrended cross-correlation analysis (MFDCCA) methods based on detrended fluctuation analysis (MFXDFA) and detrended moving average analysis (MFXDMA), which only consider one moment order. We do comparative analysis of the artificial time series (binomial multiplicative cascades and Cantor sets with different probabilities) by these methods. Then we do a feasibility test of the fixed threshold target detection within sea clutter by applying the multifractal cross-correlation analysis methods to the IPIX radar sea clutter data. The results show that it is feasible to use the method of the fixed threshold based on the multifractal feature parameter Δ f ( α ) by the MFXPF and MFXDFA-1 methods. At last, we give the main conclusions and provide a valuable reference on how to choose the multifractal algorithms, the detection parameters and the target detection methods within sea clutter in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vibrio species are important pathogens that affect a wide range of farmed fish. Vaccination is regarded as the most efficacious strategy for fighting bacterial infections. However, the underlying mechanisms remain to be elucidated. In the present study, a comparative transcriptome analysis was performed on the spleens from turbot (Scophthalmus maximus) induced by an inactivated bivalent vaccine (Vibrio anguillarum and Vibrio harveyi , IVVah1) at 4 week and 1 day post further challenge. Strong immune responses were induced by the bivalent vaccine, besides differentially expressed genes (DEGs) associated with adaptive immunity, more innate immunity-related DEGs were detected. At the late stage of vaccination, immune-related molecules associated with pattern recognition receptors, inflammatory factors, complement and coagulation cascade-related components, and antigen processing and presentation were significantly regulated, and some of them were even further up-regulated after the bacterial challenge, indicating the cooperation of multiple immune processes during the vaccine immunization process. In addition to the terms or pathways associated with the immune response, enrichment analysis revealed multiple significantly enriched terms/pathways associated with the response to stimulus/stress, homeostasis, metabolism, and biosynthesis, suggesting that a defensive status was established by the bivalent vaccine. This study furnishes new insights into the internal mechanism of immunity upon a combined vaccine administrating in turbot and lays a foundation for developing highly immunogenic vaccines in teleost. • Transcriptome analysis was performed on turbot spleen induced by a bivalent vaccine. • Besides adaptive immunity-related DEGs, more innate immunity-related were detected. • Cooperation of multiple immune processes during the immunologic process was found. • The bivalent vaccine could facilitate the host to establish a defensive status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Three-arm star-shaped aniline oligomers were designed. • A series of aniline derivatives with diverse substituents were synthesized. • Aniline derivatives with novel structure show AIE properties in aggregation state. • The powders of aniline derivatives show fluorescence response to acid-base vapor. The aggregation-induced emission (AIE) molecules demonstrate unique luminous performance in aggregation state, which shows great potential in optoelectronic devices, chemical sensors, bioimaging and so on. Linear aniline derivatives own excellent photoelectric properties, good processing properties, outstanding designability and pH sensitivity. Most reported linear aniline derivatives are typical aggregation caused quenching (ACQ) molecules. One commonly adopted strategy to achieve ACQ-AIE conversion of aniline derivatives is introducing functional groups onto the backbone of aniline chain, which requires multi-step synthesis and post-processing. Herein, we propose a novel "one-step" strategy to achieve the ACQ-AIE conversion of the aniline derivatives through varying the molecular geometry and modification of functional groups on the backbone of the aniline. A series of aniline derivatives in three-arm star-shaped structure was then designed by adjusting the position of aniline units. Furthermore, derivatives containing terminal groups with different electron-withdrawing abilities, including methoxy, bromine, phenyl and cyanophenyl groups, were synthesized in succession. The absorption and emission behaviors of the derivatives could be effectively adjusted. All the synthesized derivatives exhibit AIE behaviors, implying that the ACQ-AIE conversion of aniline derivatives through structural adjustment was feasible. Theoretical simulation was further used to calculate the electronic and geometric structures of the derivatives. The results proved that the distorted conformation was responsible for the AIE characteristics. In addition, the powder of four derivatives showed a reversible fluorescence response to acid-base vapor which indicated potential for anti-counterfeiting applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel method of single-channel source separation based on independent component analysis (ICA) is presented in this study. The method utilizes the generalized period character of radar signals to structure a multi-dimensional matrix and then uses said matrix to accomplish ICA. Simulation results demonstrate the proposed method's effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Expression of cold-related genes and related physiological characteristics between the diploid and tetraploid non-heading Chinese cabbage was compared when both were under low temperature stress, so as to compare the cold-resistance difference of the diploid and the tetraploid from the level of gene expression, physiological and biological, photosynthetic characteristics, and agronomic traits. This study will provide a theoretical basis for the production of cold resistant tetraploid varieties. Differential expression of three cold-related genes CBF3, COR15 and ZAT10 was analyzed by qRT-PCR technique, and the activities of protective enzymes and the content of osmolyte at 0, 2, 6, 12 and 24 h were compared between diploid and the corresponding tetraploid non-heading Chinese cabbage when they were treated at the temperature of (4±1) °C. Net photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance and transpiration rate were measured by the portable photosynthetic apparatus LI-6400, and chilling index and agronomic traits were surveyed and compared when both sides were under field conditions. The results showed that qRT-PCR analysis demonstrated that variation trend of the expression of three cold-related genes CBF3, COR15 and ZAT10 resembled each other between the diploid and the tetrapolid. All the expression quantity of the three cold-related genes of the tetraploid P8 showed significant up-regulation over time than the diploid P9. Trends of the activities of protective enzymes superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase(POD), catalase(CAT)and osmolyte contents showed a single peak curve, that was to rise first than to decrease, both peaked at 12 h. The activities of SOD, POD, CAT increased 17.22%, 19.98% and 17.08% respectively more than P9. Moreover, the tetraploid always showed a higher activity and content than the diploid. The ability to eliminate reactive oxygen of P8 was better than that of P9. High synthesis rate was maintained so as to keep the content of osmolyte to resist the low temperature stress. Dynamic trends of the net photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance and transpiration rate of the tetraploid showed similarity with that of the diploid and no photosynthetic noon break was noticed. Moreover, the tetraploid showed a higher index and all indices showed significant differences. Chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b and chlorophyll a/b of the tetraploid P8 increased 18.58%, 12.16% and 5.80% respectively with respect to those of the diploid P9. Plant weight, leaf weight/petiole weight, field yield and other six agronomic characters of the tetraploid showed significantly larger index than those of the diploid. Chilling injury index of the diploid and tetraploid were 26.0% and 18.0% respectively, and it showed significant differences. Conclusions:The expression quantity of three cold-related genes of the tetraploid were all significantly higher than those of the diploid, which led to the improvement of activity of protective enzymes, contents of osmolyte and cold resistance of the chloroplast, so as to maintain the higher photosynthetic ability of the tetraploid when it was under low temperature. Weight of per plant, field yield and other agronomic traits of the tetraploid showed better than those of the diploid, and the tetraploid manifested higher adaptability and high yield potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diploid plants of non-heading Chinese cabbage( Brassica campestris ssp. chinensis) were induced by treating the apical portion of seedlings with different solution of colchicine. After selecting and identification, dwarf and tight white petiole autotetraploid plants with high quality were selected and bred. The test result showed that treatment with 2. 0 mg·g-1 for 6 times yielded doubled chromosomes at highest rates and doubling rate was 7. 02%. Compared with diploid plants, autotetraploid plants had significant differences on vegetative mass, stoma, floral organ and silique, with the plant height reduced, the leaf width increased, the petiole shorter, the plant expansion degrees decreased, showing a compact plant type with bright green leaves. Compared with diploid plants, soluble sugar, protein and vitamin C of autoterploid plants contents were significantly increased by 11. 14%, 25-98% and 11. 70%. After two generations of breeding, the tetraploid pure degree was 100% and the uniformity was 95%, the yield of plot was increased by 18. 10% more highly than the diploid, while it has good application prospects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Online measurement of the average particle size is typically unavailable in industrial cobalt oxalate synthesis process, soft sensor prediction of the important quality variable is therefore required. Cobalt oxalate synthesis process is a complex multivariable and highly nonlinear process. In this paper, an effective soft sensor based on least squares support vector regression (LSSVR) with dual updating is developed for prediction the average particle size. In this soft sensor model, the methods of moving window LSSVR (MWLSSVR) updating and the model output offset updating is activated based on model performance assessment. Feasibility and efficiency of the proposed soft sensor are demonstrated through the application to an industrial cobalt oxalate synthesis process. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In the cobalt oxalate synthesis process in cobalt hydrometallurgy, the key end-product quality index, average particle size of cobalt oxalate, needs to be monitored and controlled. It is difficult to measure such particle size online by existing hardware sensors. Soft sensor technique has been widely used for estimating product quality or other important variables when online instruments and sensors are not available. In this paper, a hybrid modeling approach for cobalt oxalate synthesis process in cobalt hydrometallurgy is proposed by combining simplified first principle model with stacked LSSVR model. The former based on population balance equations and mass conservation equation with some assumptions is used for description and analysis of synthesis process in general; and the latter is developed to compensate the unmodeled characteristic and to enhance model generalization capability. Furthermore, a model output offset compensation strategy is also employed to increase the model prediction accuracy. Applications to a cobalt hydrometallurgy pilot plant demonstrate that the proposed approach is more precise and effective than the other conventional models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Correlation matching is simple to achieve and has the anti-jamming ability. • Center frequency of jamming has the greatest influence. • Weighted kurtosis can be used as characteristic to reconstruct pulse components. • Improved singular spectrum analysis can effectively extract the pulse components. Considering the problem that the ultra-wideband detection system is susceptible to be jammed, the mechanism of narrowband suppressive jamming on ultra-wideband radio impulse detection radar is mathematically analyzed at first in this paper. As typical suppressive jamming, the noise amplitude modulation signal is selected as research object, and the average signal-to-jamming is defined as an evaluation index. Simulation results show that the center frequency of jamming signal has the most significant influence on the impulse signal among a series of optimal jamming parameters. Afterwards, combined with genetic algorithm, an optimized singular spectrum decomposition method is proposed to realize adaptive extraction of the impulse signal. Error of the reconstructed signal based on proposed method is much smaller than that of threshold methods. The results provide a reference for subsequent anti-jamming and waveform optimization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The singularity exponent (SE) is the characteristic parameter of fractal and multifractal signals. Based on SE, the fractal dimension reflecting the global self-similar character, the instantaneous SE reflecting the local self-similar character, the multifractal spectrum (MFS) reflecting the distribution of SE, and the time-varying MFS reflecting pointwise multifractal spectrum were proposed. However, all the studies were based on the depiction of spatial or differentiability characters of fractal signals. Taking the SE as the independent dimension, this paper investigates the fractal energy measurement (FEM) and the singularity energy spectrum (SES) theory. Firstly, we study the energy measurement and the energy spectrum of a fractal signal in the singularity domain, propose the conception of FEM and SES of multifractal signals, and investigate the Hausdorff measure and the local direction angle of the fractal energy element. Then, we prove the compatibility between FEM and traditional energy, and point out that SES can be measured in the fractal space. Finally, we study the algorithm of SES under the condition of a continuous signal and a discrete signal, and give the approximation algorithm of the latter, and the estimations of FEM and SES of the Gaussian white noise, Fractal Brownian motion and the multifractal Brownian motion show the theoretical significance and application value of FEM and SES. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A hybrid model based batch-to-batch control strategy is proposed for control of particle size distribution (PSD) in cobalt oxalate synthesis process. In order to enhance the model prediction accuracy and generalization capability, a hybrid modeling approach for cobalt oxalate synthesis process in cobalt hydrometallurgy is developed by combining simplified first principle model with PLS model. The simplified first principle model that captures the dominant characteristics of the synthesis process is built to describe PSD evolution. The PLS model is utilized to compensate the unmodeled characteristic of the simplified first principle model and to enhance model generalization capability. Due to the repetitive nature of the process, a batch-to-batch control strategy based on hybrid model is then presented to design the operating policy that drives the process to a target PSD. Applications to a simulated cobalt oxalate synthesis process demonstrate that the proposed approach can improve process performance from batch to batch in the presence of unknown disturbances. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A novel real-time final product quality control method for batch operations based on stacked least-squares support vector regression models (stacked LSSVR) is proposed. It combines midcourse correction (MCC) and batch-to-batch control. To enhance the model prediction accuracy and generalization capability, a stacked LSSVR approach is presented. Quality control is achieved by predicting the final product quality using stacked LSSVR models and adjusting process variables at some pre-specified decision points. Then a decision is made on whether or not control action is taken at every decision point. Once the control action is expected, the manipulated variable values are calculated and the control action is taken to bring the off-spec product quality back to the target. Then a batch-to-batch control is used to overcome the model plant mismatches and unmeasured disturbances. At last, the proposed modeling and quality control strategy is illustrated on a simulated batch reactor. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The impact of a coronary revascularization strategy (early or deferred) on clinical outcomes of non–ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndrome (NSTE-ACS) has not been well established. The goal of this study was to systematically review randomized trials comparing early to deferred revascularization for NSTE-ACS. A systematic literature search of MEDLINE, ISI Web of Science, and Cochrane databases was conducted. Two reviewers independently determined the eligibility of clinical trials. Five trials with 4,155 patients were included for analysis. Meta-analysis showed that early revascularization produced no significant differences in the incidence of death (risk ratio [RR] 0.88, p = 0.47), recurrent myocardial infarction (RR 0.92, p = 0.58), and repeat revascularization compared to a deferred intervention. However, a significant decrease in refractory ischemia was observed in the early intervention group (RR 0.47, p <0.01), and the procedure also showed a tendency toward decreasing major bleeding events (RR 0.77, p = 0.08). According to stratification based on intervention era, extent of revascularization, and time of revascularization, subgroup analysis did not show between-group differences in all-cause mortality, recurrent myocardial infarction, and major bleeding events. Also, sensitivity analysis by alternatively using a random-effects model did not find any relevant influence on overall results in direction and magnitude. In conclusion, meta-analysis demonstrated that early coronary revascularization is feasible and safe for patients with NSTE-ACS, might markedly decrease the incidence of refractory ischemia, and appears to produce less bleeding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Background: Conflicting results currently exist on the clinical use of statins in patients with chronic systolic heart failure (CHF). This study aimed to investigate the effect of statins on clinical outcomes of CHF by a meta-analysis based on randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Methods: We searched PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Cochrane databases through 2010 and renewed in February 2011. We included RCTs of subjects who underwent statin or placebo treatment for established CHF, and provided data on clinical outcomes. Risk ratios (RR) were calculated using a random effects model. Results: Thirteen trials involving 10,447 CHF patients were included in the meta-analysis. The pooling analysis showed that statin treatment did not significantly reduce the risk of all-cause death (RR=0.93, 95% CI: 0.81–1.07, p=0.31), death for cardiovascular cause or pump failure (p>0.10), and rehospitalization for heart failure (RR=0.90, 95% CI: 0.78–1.04, p=0.15). In addition, statin therapy had a non-significant trend towards reduced risk of nonfatal myocardial infarction (RR=0.84, 95% CI: 0.68–1.02, p=0.08). When restricted to various statins and patients'' age, the analysis demonstrated that atorvastatin was associated with reduced all-cause mortality (p=0.009) and readmission rate for heart failure (p=0.005), and the superiority of statin therapy was significant in CHF patients less than 65years (both p<0.01). Conclusions: Although statin has little impact on clinical outcomes in overall CHF patients, statin administration if needed is feasible to CHF patients, and the treatment might be effective when restricted to specific statins or populations. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background and Aims: Inflammation is thought to be important in mediating the progression of chronic heart failure (CHF). Whether beneficial effects on inflammation can be achieved by statins in patients with CHF remains uncertain. This meta-analysis was conducted to determine the role of statin therapy in inflammation markers in CHF patients. Methods: Pubmed, MEDLINE, EMBASE, and EBM Reviews databases were searched for randomized controlled trials comparing statin treatment with non-statin treatment in CHF patients. Two reviews independently assessed studies and extracted data. Standardized mean differences (SMD) were calculated using random effects models. Results: Ten studies with 6052 patients were included. Pooled analysis showed that statin therapy was associated with significant decrease in high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (SMD = −0.74, 95% CI −1.16 to −0.32; p = 0.0005) and soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (SMD = −0.49, 95% CI −0.91 to −0.08; p = 0.02). However, the beneficial effects of statin were not shown regarding interleukin-6 (SMD = −0.85, 95% CI −2.09 to 0.38; p = 0.18) and tumor necrosis factor-α (SMD = −0.13, 95% CI −0.50 to 0.25; p = 0.51). Sources of heterogeneity were not found by meta-regression analyses, whereas subgroup analyses showed that difference in age, etiology, baseline left ventricular ejection fraction, type of statins and follow-up duration might influence the effects of statins. Conclusions: Statin may partially suppress inflammatory markers in patients with CHF; moreover, this beneficial effect may be associated with different types of statins, treatment intervals and characteristics of patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When no-wait constraint holds in job shops, a job has to be processed with no waiting time from the first to the last operation, and the start time of a job is greatly restricted. Using key elements of the iterated greedy algorithm, this paper proposes a population-based iterated greedy (PBIG) algorithm for finding high-quality schedules in no-wait job shops. Firstly, the Nawaz–Enscore–Ham (NEH) heuristic used for flow shop is extended in no-wait job shops, and an initialization scheme based on the NEH heuristic is developed to generate start solutions with a certain quality and diversity. Secondly, the iterated greedy procedure is introduced based on the destruction and construction perturbator and the insert-based local search. Furthermore, a population-based co-evolutionary scheme is presented by imposing the iterated greedy procedure in parallel and hybridizing both the left timetabling and inverse left timetabling methods. Computational results based on well-known benchmark instances show that the proposed algorithm outperforms two existing metaheuristics by a significant margin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A successful viral infection is primarily dependent on interactions between the viral pathogenesis and the host's antiviral immunity. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are non-coding regulatory RNAs that play significant roles in modulating the host's antiviral immune responses. To elucidate the functional mechanism of miRNAs during megalocytivirus infection, in this study, micro-transcriptome analysis was performed on the head-kidney of turbot (Scophthalmus maximus) infected with RBIV-C1 or not at 3, 6 and 9 days after infection. A total of 247 differentially expressed miRNAs (DEmiRs) were identified, among which 125 were known miRNA and 122 were newly identified. Based on an integrated negative correlation analysis of miRNA-mRNA, a total of 1173 up-regulated and 644 down-regulated target genes (DEmRs) were identified. These DEmRs were found to be enriched in different KEGG pathways associated with signal transduction, endocrine system, immune system, cancer, and infectious diseases. Moreover, networks of immune-related DEmiRs-DEmRs were constructed and analyzed, revealing significant associations between RBIV-C1 infection and immune-related pathways, such as pattern recognition receptor, apoptosis, phagolysosome, autophagy, TNF signaling, adaptive immunity, cytotoxicity, and NF-kappa B signaling. Additionally, the negative correlation network analysis unveiled numerous known and novel DEmiRs that directly target RBIV-C1 genes. This study presents, for the first time, a comprehensive micro-transcriptome dataset of turbot following RBIV-C1 infection, offering valuable insights into the underlying survival mechanisms that involve immune evasion and antiviral immunity. • Micro-transcriptome analysis was performed on RBIV-C1 infected turbot. • DEmiRs exhibit a time-dependent expression pattern upon RBIV-C1 infection. • MiRNA-mRNA network analysis revealed key anti-viral immune-regulated pathways. • RBIV-C1 break through antiviral system via regulating the host's miRNA level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the airborne synthetic aperture radar via outfield experiments based on carrier-free ultra-wideband signals with fifth-order Gaussian pulses with imaging using the backward projection algorithm. Typical blanket jamming is selected in the study, and NAM, NFM, and SFM are used as jamming signals to investigate the backward projection BP imaging effect of airborne synthetic aperture radar when subjected to blanket jamming in a real-world environment. Subsequently, a variational modal decomposition algorithm is proposed, aiming at the anti-jamming processing of airborne synthetic aperture radar. Further, the variational modal decomposition algorithms are compared with the empirical modal decomposition for the anti-jamming effect, which verified the effectiveness and high efficiency of the method. This study provides a new solution for the imaging problem of airborne synthetic aperture radar when subjected to blanket jamming, and a helpful reference is provided for the selection of anti-jamming processing methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the interest in radar automatic target recognition (RATR) based on the carrier-free ultra-wideband (UWB) radar has been increasing. Compared with narrow-band and other bandwidth radars, the echo signal of the carrier-free UWB radar includes more comprehensive and detailed information with respect to the targeted object. In this paper, we first utilized 3ds Max to acquire accurate geometric models and applied a time-domain integral equation (TDIE) for echo signal acquisition under the condition that the transmitted signals had an extremely short duration period. By comparing the simulated waveform with the actual one, the accuracy of the electromagnetic modeling is verified. Furthermore, given that the actual environment is full of noise and clutter, we propose an improved two-dimensional variational mode decomposition (2D-IVMD), and an algorithm is proposed to eliminate noise and extract edge features preliminarily, which lays a foundation for further in-depth feature extraction. Then, the deep conventional neural network (DCNN) is introduced for the final recognition. The results show that the proposed methods achieve promising classification performance under the condition of low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Automatically recognizing the modulation of radar signals is a necessary survival technique in electronic intelligence systems. In order to avoid the complex process of the feature extracting and realize the intelligent modulation recognition of various radar signals under low signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs), this paper proposes a method based on intrapulse signatures of radar signals using adaptive singular value reconstruction (ASVR) and deep residual learning. Firstly, the time-frequency spectrums of radar signals under low SNRs are improved after ASVR denoising processing. Secondly, a series of image processing techniques, including binarizing and morphologic filtering, are applied to suppress the background noise in the time-frequency distribution images (TFDIs). Thirdly, the training process of the residual network is achieved using TFDIs, and classification under various conditions is realized using the new-trained network. Simulation results show that, for eight kinds of modulation signals, the proposed approach still achieves an overall probability of successful recognition of 94.1% when the SNR is only −8 dB. Outstanding performance proves the superiority and robustness of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to design plant protein-based microgel particles to create Pickering emulsions (20 wt% sunflower oil, 0.05–1.0 wt% protein) and investigate the role of electrostatic interactions on colloidal behaviour of such emulsions. Pea protein microgels (PPM) were designed using a facile top-down approach of heat-set protein gel formation followed by controlled shearing. The aqueous dispersion of PPM had hydrodynamic diameters ranging from 200 to 400 nm at pH 7.0 to pH 9.0 with high negative charge (−30 to −35 mV) and pI was at pH 5.0. With increasing ionic concentration from 1 to 250 mM NaCl, the ζ-potential of PPM changed to −8 mV due to charge screening effects, in line with theoretical calculations of the electrostatic potential. The Pickering emulsions with smallest droplet sizes (d 43) ~25 μm exhibited excellent coalescence stability and high adsorption efficiency of PPM at the oil-water interface (>98%) at pH 7.0, with the latter being supported by confocal microscopy showing effective adsorption of the PPMs at the droplet surface. Adjusting the pH of the emulsions to pI demonstrated aggregation of adsorbed PPM at the particle-laden interface providing a higher degree of adsorption as well as enhancing inter-droplet flocculation and the shear-thinning character as compared to those at pH 7.0 or pH 3.0. Charge screening effects in presence of 100 mM NaCl resulted in PPM-PPM aggregation and enhanced viscosity of the emulsions. Findings from this study on pea protein microgels would open avenues for rational designing of sustainable Pickering emulsions in the future. Image 1 • Pea protein microgels (PPM) were prepared by controlled shearing of heat-set gel. • Pickering oil-in-water emulsions were stabilized by submicron-sized PPM. • Excellent stability against coalescence was achieved using PPM (1.0 wt% protein). • At pH 5.0, aggregation of PPM occurred both at droplet surface and in bulk phase. • Charge screening (100 mM NaCl) caused droplet aggregation and increase in viscosity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The no-wait job shop problem has important applications in various industries such as steel-making and chemical processes, and its mainstream approaches are metaheuristics with timetabling methods. Inspired by the characteristics of the problem, we consider both left and right shifts for some jobs and present an effective timetabling method called left–right shift (LRS) method. The LRS method schedules jobs as far left as possible and tries all the possible right shifts for some jobs to expand the search space. We propose a simple migrating birds optimization (SMBO) algorithm for searching the space of job sequences. The population of the proposed algorithm is equally divided into two subpopulations with two search modes, one for the original instance and the other for the inverse instance. Local exploitation and global exploration are well balanced in the population evolution scheme of the proposed algorithm. To enhance the run efficiency of the algorithm, we introduce a speedup method for left timetabling and employ the simultaneous multithreading technique for the parallel evolution of subpopulations. Experimental results show that the proposed SMBO algorithm outperforms the state-of-the-art by a significant margin and obtains new upper bounds for a large number of benchmark instances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alkaline/neutral invertase (A/N-Inv) is a type of hydrolases that irreversibly hydrolyze sucrose into glucose and fructose, thus participating in the plant morphogenesis and stress responses. In tea plant, a putative A/N-Inv gene, CsINV2 , mediated the abiotic stress responses of tea plant, but the detailed molecular mechanism has not been elucidated yet. In this study, CsINV2 was verified as an alkaline invertase that can split sucrose into glucose and fructose in vitro, which showed the optimal catalytic activity at 45 °C and pH 8 conditions. Besides, the high transcription of CsINV2 contributed to improving the cold adaptation of tea plant, while silencing of CsINV2 reduced cold adaptive of tea plant. Overexpression of CsINV2 improved freezing tolerance of transgenic Arabidopsis by improving A/N-Inv activity, glucose content, hexose/sucrose ratio, and also via a feedback regulation pathway. Meanwhile, overexpression of CsINV2 promoted gemination rate and root elongation of transgenic Arabidopsis under salt stress condition. Finally, a cold-induced transcription factor CsAHL17 was confirmed to interact with the promoter of CsINV2 , silencing of CsAHL17 reduced the transcription of CsINV2 both under 25 °C and 4 °C conditions. In summary, it can draw a conclusion that CsINV2 regulates the cold resistance of tea plant by influencing the contents of different soluble sugar components under the regulation of CsAHL17. This study will further promote the understanding to the role of invertase in tea plants. • CsINV2 is alkaline invertase with the optimum catalytic activity at pH 8 and 45 °C. • CsINV2 improves cold adaptive of tea plant. • Overexpression CsINV2 enhances cold and salt tolerance of transgenic Arabidopsis. • CsAHL17 regulates the transcription of CsINV2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Click chemistry is a powerful molecular assembly strategy for rapid functional discovery. The development of click reactions with new connecting linkage is of great importance for expanding the click chemistry toolbox. We report the first selenium‐nitrogen exchange (SeNEx) click reaction between benzoselenazolones and terminal alkynes (Se−N to Se−C), which is inspired by the biochemical SeNEx between Ebselen and cysteine (Cys) residue (Se−N to Se−S). The formed selenoalkyne connection is readily elaborated, thus endowing this chemistry with multidimensional molecular diversity. Besides, this reaction is modular, predictable, and high‐yielding, features fast kinetics (k2≥14.43 M−1 s−1), excellent functional group compatibility, and works well at miniaturization (nanomole‐scale), opening up many interesting opportunities for organo‐Se synthesis and bioconjugation, as exemplified by sequential click chemistry (coupled with ruthenium‐catalyzed azide‐alkyne cycloaddition (RuAAC) and sulfur‐fluoride exchange (SuFEx)), selenomacrocycle synthesis, nanomole‐scale synthesis of Se‐containing natural product library and DNA‐encoded library (DEL), late‐stage peptide modification and ligation, and multiple functionalization of proteins. These results indicated that SeNEx is a useful strategy for new click chemistry developments, and the established SeNEx chemistry will serve as a transformative platform in multidisciplinary fields such as synthetic chemistry, material science, chemical biology, medical chemistry, and drug discovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Click chemistry is a powerful molecular assembly strategy for rapid functional discovery. The development of click reactions with new connecting linkage is of great importance for expanding the click chemistry toolbox. We report the first selenium‐nitrogen exchange (SeNEx) click reaction between benzoselenazolones and terminal alkynes (Se−N to Se−C), which is inspired by the biochemical SeNEx between Ebselen and cysteine (Cys) residue (Se−N to Se−S). The formed selenoalkyne connection is readily elaborated, thus endowing this chemistry with multidimensional molecular diversity. Besides, this reaction is modular, predictable, and high‐yielding, features fast kinetics (k2≥14.43 M−1 s−1), excellent functional group compatibility, and works well at miniaturization (nanomole‐scale), opening up many interesting opportunities for organo‐Se synthesis and bioconjugation, as exemplified by sequential click chemistry (coupled with ruthenium‐catalyzed azide‐alkyne cycloaddition (RuAAC) and sulfur‐fluoride exchange (SuFEx)), selenomacrocycle synthesis, nanomole‐scale synthesis of Se‐containing natural product library and DNA‐encoded library (DEL), late‐stage peptide modification and ligation, and multiple functionalization of proteins. These results indicated that SeNEx is a useful strategy for new click chemistry developments, and the established SeNEx chemistry will serve as a transformative platform in multidisciplinary fields such as synthetic chemistry, material science, chemical biology, medical chemistry, and drug discovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

DNA‐encoded combinatorial chemical library (DEL) technology, an approach that combines the power of genetics and chemistry, has emerged as an invaluable tool in drug discovery. Skeletal diversity plays a fundamental importance in DEL applications, and relies heavily on novel DNA‐compatible chemical reactions. We report herein a phylogenic chemical transformation strategy using DNA‐conjugated benzoyl hydrazine as a common versatile precursor in azole chemical expansion of DELs. DNA‐compatible reactions deriving from the common benzoyl hydrazine precursor showed excellent functional group tolerance with exceptional efficiency in the synthesis of various azoles, including oxadiazoles, thiadiazoles, and triazoles, under mild reaction conditions. The phylogenic chemical transformation strategy provides DELs a facile way to expand into various unique chemical spaces with privileged scaffolds and pharmacophores. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]