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AbstractDespite the development of several Fms-like tyrosine kinase 3 (FLT3) inhibitors that have improved outcomes in patients with FLT3-mutant acute myeloid leukemia (AML), drug resistance is frequently observed, which may be associated with the activation of additional pro-survival pathways, such as those regulated by BTK, aurora kinases (AuroK), and potentially others, in addition to acquired tyrosine kinase domain (TKD) mutations of FLT3 gene. FLT3 may not always be a driver mutation. We evaluated the anti-leukemia efficacy of the novel multi-kinase inhibitor CG-806, which targets FLT3 and other kinases, to circumvent drug resistance and target FLT3 wild-type (WT) cells. The anti-leukemia activity of CG-806 was investigated by measuring apoptosis induction and analyzing the cell cycle using flow cytometry in vitro. CG-806 demonstrated superior anti-leukemia efficacy compared to commercially available FLT3 inhibitors, both in vitro and in vivo, regardless of FLT3 mutational status. The mechanism of action of CG-806 may involve its broad inhibitory profile against FLT3, BTK, and AuroK. In FLT3 mutant cells, CG-806 induced G1 phase blockage, whereas in FLT3 WT cells, it resulted in G2/M phase arrest. Targeting FLT3 and Bcl-2 and/or Mcl-1 simultaneously results in a synergistic pro-apoptotic effect in FLT3 mutant leukemia cells. The results of this study suggest that CG-806 is a promising multi-kinase inhibitor with anti-leukemic efficacy regardless of FLT3 mutational status. A phase 1 clinical trial of CG-806 for the treatment of AML has been initiated (NCT04477291).Key pointsThe multi-kinase inhibitor CG-806 exerts superior anti-leukemic activity in AML, regardless of its FLT3 status.CG-806 triggered G1 arrest in FLT3 mutated cells and G2/M arrest in FLT3 WT cells through the suppression of FLT3/BTK and aurora kinases.Concomitantly targeting FLT3 and Bcl-2 and/or Mcl-1 exerted synergistic pro-apoptotic effects on both FLT3 WT and mutated AML cells.The multi-kinase inhibitor CG-806 exerts superior anti-leukemic activity in AML, regardless of its FLT3 status.CG-806 triggered G1 arrest in FLT3 mutated cells and G2/M arrest in FLT3 WT cells through the suppression of FLT3/BTK and aurora kinases.Concomitantly targeting FLT3 and Bcl-2 and/or Mcl-1 exerted synergistic pro-apoptotic effects on both FLT3 WT and mutated AML cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Top managers' past experiences (e.g., foreign experience) significantly impact their decision-making behavior, which may influence firms' sustainable development. The available literature, focusing on the role of the increase in the number of top executives with foreign experience in corporate social responsibility (CSR), yields mixed results. In order to clarify the ambiguous relationship between executive foreign experience and CSR, we empirically examine the effect of the geographic diversity of top executives' foreign experience on CSR. Based on a hand-collected dataset of the top management team's (TMT's) foreign experience, we demonstrate the positive impact of the geographic diversity of returnee executives' foreign experience on firms' CSR using Chinese A-share listed firms from 2009 to 2018. Moreover, this impact is stronger in firms with political connections with the central government and in regions with good market development. Furthermore, the mechanism analysis shows that returnee executives drive firms' CSR by promoting corporate donations and green innovation. This paper offers clear policy implications by suggesting that hiring returnees with a broad geographic scope of foreign experience as corporate executives is an efficient way to enhance firms' CSR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact of English as a lingua franca on FDI by using the bilateral FDI data between China and 36 OECD countries. We find that English as a lingua franca significantly promotes FDI between China and OECD countries; the impact of English proficiency on outward FDI is greater than that on inward FDI in China; the improvement of English proficiency is more conducive to promoting China's FDI with non-English-speaking countries than with English-speaking countries. Our findings suggest that English can be an effective lingua franca to remove language barriers in FDI for developing countries, especially when the investing partners are high-income and non-English-speaking countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cemented carbide used in the rotor of a mud pulser is subjected to the scouring action of solid particles and corrosive mud media for a long time, which causes abrasive wear and electrochemical corrosion. To improve the wear and corrosive resistance of cemented carbide, samples with different cobalt content (WC-5Co, WC-8Co, and WC-10Co) receive deep cryogenic treatment (DCT) at −196 °C for 2.5 h. An optical metalloscope (OM) and X-ray diffractometer (XRD) are used to observe the phase changes of cemented carbides, and the XRD is also used to observe the change in residual stress on the cemented carbide's surface. A scanning electron microscope (SEM) is used to characterize the wear and electrochemical corrosion surface microstructure of cemented carbides (untreated and DCT). The results show that the DCT promotes the precipitation of the η phase, and the diffraction peak of ε -Co tends to intensify. Compared with the untreated, the wear rates of WC-5Co, WC-8Co, and WC-10Co can be reduced by 14.71%, 37.25%, and 41.01% by DCT, respectively. The wear form of the cemented carbides is mainly the extrusion deformation of Co and WC shedding. The precipitation of the η phase and the increase in WC residual compressive stress by DCT are the main reasons for the improvement of wear resistance. The electrochemical corrosion characteristic is the dissolution of the Co phase. DCT causes the corrosion potential of cemented carbide to shift forward and the corrosion current density to decrease. The enhancement of the corrosion resistance of cemented carbide caused by DCT is due to the Co phase transition, η phase precipitation, and the increase in the compressive stress of cemented carbide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Growing global energy demand and limited reserves of traditional energy resources are causing a growing energy shortage. In order to meet future energy needs, new energy resources must be continuously explored. Deepwater drilling research has emerged as one of the key ways to address this issue, and well structure slimming is an effective way to increase drilling speed and reduce costs. The hole size of the second section of deepwater wells decreases from a conventional 660.4 mm to 444.5 mm and increases from 500–800 m to 800–1200 m, creating problems where the conventional 660.4 mm cone bit cannot be used, the rate of penetration (ROP) of the cone bit is low, and the service life is short. To solve these problems, a 444.5 mm artificial polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) was designed for the first time for use at home or abroad, and according to the characteristics and operation requirements of the 914.4 mm conductor jetting process, a unique anti-collision gauge protector was designed, an innovative bypass nozzle was configured, and a hydraulic design to prevent bit balling in shallow soft mudstone was formulated. PDC jetting bit-drilling technology based on well structure slimming was successfully applied to eight deepwater wells in the eastern South China Sea, which successfully jetted a 914 mm conductor and greatly improved the ROP of their second-section holes. When the below-mudline depth of the second-section hole increased by 37.01%, the average ROP increased by 227.84%. These technical achievements have successfully realized deep drilling with seawater, increased speed and efficiency, achieved good application results, and accumulated valuable experiences that can be used for reducing the cost and increasing the efficiency of offshore drilling operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The industrial sector is China's major element of energy consumption and carbon emissions, and carbon emissions reduction in industrial parks has become an important foothold in carbon reduction work. Predicting the future evolution trend of carbon emissions in industrial parks under different policy orientations is of great significance for China to achieve the carbon emissions peaking and carbon neutrality goals. Based on the current status of electricity consumption and carbon emissions in industrial parks, this paper takes a light industrial park as the research object, analyzes the source of carbon emissions in this park, combines the characteristics of resource endowment and industrial structure, and considers the factors influencing society, load curve, energy supply and carbon sink, thus constructing a system dynamics model of carbon emission evolution for this park. Different influencing factors are selected to set multiple target scenarios, and the GDP, carbon emissions, carbon emissions reduction and near‐zero carbon evaluation coefficient of light industrial parks are used as characterization indicators for simulation analysis. The analysis results revealed that the comprehensive scenario set by increasing the maximum installed capacity of renewable energy units and raising the proportions of environmental and science and technology inputs while adjusting the industrial growth rate of the park performed best. In this scenario, the economic development of the park and the process of carbon emissions reduction are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We prove the existence of the monotone traveling wave for the isothermal fluid equations with viscous and capillary terms by the planar dynamical system method. We obtain that the monotone traveling wave is asymptotically stable under the suitable perturbation. In the process of establishing the uniform a priori estimate, we dispose the capillary term reasonably according to the feature of the equations, and find the appropriate weighted function to overcome the difficulty caused by the non-convex pressure function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses the theory of planar dynamic systems and the knowledge of reaction-diffusion equations, and then studies the bounded traveling wave solution of the generalized Boussinesq equation affected by dissipation and the influence of dissipation on solitary waves. The dynamic system corresponding to the traveling wave solution of the equation is qualitatively analyzed in detail. The influence of the dissipation coefficient on the solution behavior of the bounded traveling wave is studied, and the critical values that can describe the magnitude of the dissipation effect are, respectively, found for the two cases of b3 < 0 and b3 > 0 in the equation. The results show that, when the dissipation effect is significant (i.e., r is greater than the critical value in a certain situation), the traveling wave solution to the generalized Boussinesq equation appears as a kink-shaped solitary wave solution; when the dissipation effect is small (i.e., r is smaller than the critical value in a certain situation), the traveling wave solution to the equation appears as the oscillation attenuation solution. By using the hypothesis undetermined method, all possible solitary wave solutions to the equation when there is no dissipation effect (i.e., r = 0) and the partial kink-shaped solitary wave solution when the dissipation effect is significant are obtained; in particular, when the dissipation effect is small, an approximate solution of the oscillation attenuation solution can be achieved. This paper is further based on the idea of the homogenization principles. By establishing an integral equation reflecting the relationship between the approximate solution of the oscillation attenuation solution and the exact solution obtained in the paper, and by investigating the asymptotic behavior of the solution at infinity, the error estimate between the approximate solution of the oscillation attenuation solution and the exact solution is obtained, which is an infinitesimal amount that decays exponentially. The influence of the dissipation coefficient on the amplitude, frequency, period, and energy of the bounded traveling wave solution of the equation is also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coastal erosion is widespread under conditions of changing hydrodynamics and diminishing sediment supply, and exposure assessment to erosion hazard has received increasing attention. In this study, we explore the impact of spatial heterogeneity of land use within administrative units on exposure assessment of land use value to erosional hazard. We illustrate land use diversity using the Shannon's diversity index (SHDI) and consider the distance effect by comparing five different buffer zones according to the distance to the coast (i.e., 0–1 km, 0–2 km, 0–3 km, 0–4 km, 0–5 km). Our results show that coastline change and socio-economic development are responsible for land use heterogeneity within the administrative units. Using a buffer zone of 1-km along the coast as the assessment unit leads to an increase in the number of townships that have high and very high exposure of land use value when compared with the assessment result that is based on the whole township area. Furthermore, the 1-km buffer zone can be divided into subunits if very high SHDI values exist within the administrative boundary. This study demonstrates that heterogeneity in land use identified at a fine spatial scale should be given full consideration in carrying out exposure assessment to hazards in a dynamic deltaic coast. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scenario reduction is an effective method to ease the computational burden of stochastic programming problems, which aims at choosing a subset of scenarios that can better represent a large number of possible scenarios. Higher-order moments are critical in the scenario reduction process, especially for stochastic programming problems that are greatly affected by the moments. From this idea, we construct a mixed integer linear programming model to improve the reduction accuracy of traditional methods by minimizing the moments' information loss between the original and reduced scenarios. An improved Benders decomposition algorithm is then designed to find an optimal solution for the model. Finally, the resulting scenarios are examined on an international portfolio selection problem. Empirical and comparative studies are also carried out to reveal the superiority of our proposed scenario reduction method over other existing approaches or models, together with the superior performance of the algorithm. Summary of Contribution: To effectively solve stochastic programming problems, the scenario reduction method has become an active research area to strike a balance between the fine representation of random variables and computational complexity. Thus, how to design a reasonable optimal scenario reduction model and effectively solve this complex model is very important and meaningful. On the other hand, for some stochastic programming problems, especially the portfolio selection problems, statistical properties of risky assets returns may play a more important role in the scenario reduction process. However, the traditional scenario reduction methods have ignored this point. Thus, in this paper, we propose a mixed integer linear programming model to improve the reduction accuracy by minimizing the higher-order moments' information loss between the original and reduced scenarios. Furthermore, an accelerated Benders decomposition algorithm is also designed to solve the proposed model. Hence, the aim of this paper is to extend the existing scenario reduction method in substantial and meaningful ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating technique has increasingly been employed to establish chronologies for coastal deposits since the Late Pleistocene. However, the commonly used single-aliquot quartz OSL dating method may yield inaccurate ages due to factors such as partial bleaching, luminescence characteristics, and the age limit of quartz. In this study, taking the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) as an example, single-aliquot and single-grain OSL dating using varying grain-sized quartz and K-feldspar were cross-checked to establish appropriate dating method for Late-Pleistocene sediments in coastal areas. The quartz OSL signals of the upper 24 m Holocene sediments were dominated by the fast component, and the ages obtained through OSL and AMS 14C ages agree. Conversely, the lower 24–91 m section, representing the last glacial-interglacial cycle, reveals a notable underestimation of quartz OSL ages, with a maximum underestimation of 250%, attributed to the influence of signal components. For samples within the dating limit of quartz (less than 70 ka), the single-grain method effectively mitigates the issue associated with the signal component. Single-grain K-feldspar technique proves valuable for accurately determining the age of those older sediments exceeding 70 ka. Through cross-checking between different OSL dating methods, sediments initially attributed to marine isotope stage (MIS) 3 (36–60 ka) are re-identified as deposited during MIS 5 (80–130 ka). This study highlights the necessity of assessing the variability in luminescence characteristics before applying a single OSL dating protocol to all samples from different sedimentary facies within a single core. • The reliability of single-aliquot quartz OSL ages depends on the composition of signal components. • Single-aliquot quartz OSL ages for Late Pleistocene sediments can be underestimated by 250% due to the medium OSL component. • Understanding sediment provenance and luminescence characteristics is key to reliable OSL ages in coastal area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• An efficient non-enzymatic electrochemical H 2 O 2 sensor Cu-S/FeOOH sheet was reported. • Cu-S/FeOOH sheet shows has mixed phase, rich adsorbed oxygen and abundant redox coupling. • This sensor exhibits high sensitivity (321.4 μA mM −1cm−2) and low detection limit (0.6 μM). • This H 2 O 2 sensor shows excellent selectivity, stability and durability. The rational design of the efficient sensors with excellent selectivity, stability, and reproducibility has shown great potential for electrochemical detection of hydrogen peroxide. Herein, FeOOH sheets doped with Cu and S atoms (Cu-S/FeOOH) were prepared via a simple hydrothermal method and then uniformly modified on a glassy carbon electrode to assemble a novel non-enzymatic electrochemical sensor for H 2 O 2 detection. The sensor showed an excellent electrocatalytic reduction ability of H 2 O 2 at a potential of -0.4 V in a nearly neutral solution, demonstrating a lower detection limit (0.6 μM, S/ N = 3), and a high sensitivity (321.4 μA mM−1cm−2) with 95 % confidence interval in the potential range 0.002–9 mM. This super performance was attributed to the multiple effects of the typical sheet-like open structure, enhanced electrochemical conductivity, rich adsorbed oxygen content, and Fenton Cu+/Cu2+ and Fe2+/Fe3+ redox coupling. In addition, this sensor exhibited excellent stability and realized the rapid detection of trace H 2 O 2 in fetal bovine serum, giving the sensor good potential in the testing of H 2 O 2. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of highly efficient and low-cost bifunctional electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is the key to the industrialization of large-scale hydrogen production, while the development of non-precious-metal catalysts that can be substituted for precious-metal materials is the current trend of research. In this paper, nickel foam (NF) self-supported CoFe layered bimetallic hydroxide (LDH)-CuCo 2 S 4 electrocatalysts were prepared using a simple hydrothermal and electrodeposition method. The prepared CuCo 2 S 4 @CoFe-LDH/NF catalysts showed good performance in alkaline water oxidation, proton reduction and overall water decomposition with an overpotential of 293 mV for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) at a current density of 50 mA cm−2 and 63 mV for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) at a current density of 10 mA cm−2. When CuCo 2 S 4 @CoFe-LDH/NF was used as a bifunctional electrocatalyst for the decomposition of water, the voltage of the 10 mA cm−2 electrolyzer was only 1.54 V, and the stability of the electrolyzer reached 60 h, which was superior to other bifunctional catalysts. [Display omitted] • CoCu-LDH grows firmly on nickel foam by a hydrothermal method. • Vulcanization at room temperature makes the experimental conditions milder and simpler. • An electrodeposition method was used to grow nanosheets on nanowires. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study the N-soliton solution of the high-order nonlinear Schrödinger–Maxwell–Bloch system via the Riemann–Hilbert approach. Based on a Lax pair of the system, we carry out a spectral analysis and construct the corresponding Riemann–Hilbert problem. By solving the Riemann–Hilbert problem without reflection, we obtain the N-soliton solution of the system, especially the explicit expression of the single-soliton solution and the expression of the two-soliton solution. The partial three-dimensional diagrams of single-soliton and two-soliton solutions are also given. By comparing the diagrams, we also discuss the relationship between the parameters of the system and the soliton direction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study the asymptotic stability of the monotone decreasing kink profile solitary wave solutions of the generalized Gardner equation with dissipative term. Firstly, we obtain the estimation of the first-order and second-order derivatives for monotone decreasing kink profile solitary wave solutions, then by using anti-derivative strategy, with the help of prior estimate and Young inequality, we overcome the difficulties caused by two higher-order nonlinear terms of the equation in the estimation, and prove the asymptotic stability of monotone decreasing kink profile solitary wave solution in the sense of L ∞ norm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much of the literature discusses filial piety in general and ambiguous terms. This study, in contrast, investigates specific perceptions of filial piety and parental expectations of filial duty among older Chinese immigrants in Canada. The study is based on thematic analysis of 46 Chinese immigrants in seven focus groups conducted in the Greater Toronto Area. Findings show the perceptions of filial piety varied, but almost all participants had reduced expectations of their children. Nevertheless, they still valued and expected emotional care from their children. The study argues that changes in institutional settings, social policies and welfare systems define parents' support needs and affect their expectations in the host society, while norms and institutional settings in the place of origin influence their perceptions of filial piety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much of the scholarly literature sees death as a taboo topic for Chinese. To test this assumption, this study held seven focus groups in the Greater Toronto Area in 2017. It found that the majority of the older Chinese immigrant participants talked about death freely using either the word death or a euphemism. They talked about various issues including medical treatment and end-of-life care, medical assistance in dying, death preparation, and so on. A small number did not talk about death, but it seemed their reluctance was related to anxiety or discomfort or simply reflected a choice of words. The study concludes death as taboo could be a myth, at least for older Chinese immigrants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a robust international portfolio optimization model with the consideration of worst-case lower partial moment (LPM) and worst-case mean return. In our model, we assume that the distributions and the first- and second-order moments of distributions of returns of assets and exchange rates are all ambiguous. The proposed model can be reformulated into an equivalent semidefinite programming (SDP) problem, which is computationally tractable. For investigation of the performance of our model, we also give two benchmark models. The first benchmark model is a scenario-based model which uses historical observations of returns to approximate the future distributions. The second benchmark model only considers the ambiguity of distributions but does not consider the ambiguity of the first- and second-order moments of distributions. We conduct empirical experiments in a rolling forward way to evaluate the out-of-sample performances of our proposed model, the two benchmark models, and an equally weighted model using the return measures and various risk-adjusted return measures. The result shows that our model has the best performance. It verifies that investors can obtain benefits when employing the robust model and considering the ambiguity of the first- and second-order moments of distributions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

KBiNb2O7 was prepared from RbBiNb2O7 by a sequence of cation exchange reactions which first convert RbBiNb2O7 to LiBiNb2O7, before KBiNb2O7 is formed by a further K-for-Li cation exchange. A combination of neutron, synchrotron X-ray and electron diffraction data reveal that KBiNb2O7 adopts a polar, layered, perovskite structure (space group A11m) in which the BiNb2O7 layers are stacked in a (0, ½, z) arrangement, with the K+ cations located in half of the available 10-coordinate interlayer cation sites. The inversion symmetry of the phase is broken by a large displacement of the Bi3+ cations parallel to the y-axis. HAADF-STEM images reveal that KBiNb2O7 exhibits frequent stacking faults which convert the (0, ½, z) layer stacking to (½, 0, z) stacking and vice versa, essentially switching the x- and y-axes of the material. By fitting the complex diffraction peak shape of the SXRD data collected from KBiNb2O7 it is estimated that each layer has approximately a 9% chance of being defective – a high level which is attributed to the lack of cooperative NbO6 tilting in the material, which limits the lattice strain associated with each fault. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The roles of the resting heart rate (RHR) have been actively investigated and increasingly recognized in recent decades, because of the growing evidence that fast RHR is associated with and predicts the risk of developing cardiovascular and metabolic disorders, as well as all-cause mortality. Long-chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) (eg, eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid) have been shown to have chronotropic effects on heartbeat in both healthy people and patients with various disease conditions. The aims of this review are (1) to briefly summarize the importance of elevated RHR in disease pathogenesis and mortality; (2) to provide an update on the negative chronotropic effect of omega-3 PUFAs on the heart; (3) to highlight how omega-3 PUFAs regulate heart rate through the autonomic nervous system – a central control mechanism; and (4) to highlight how omega-3 PUFAs modulate the trans-membrane ionic channels in cardiomyocytes – a fundamental mechanism of cardiac automaticity. Eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid are nutrients derived from some aquatic organisms, and they can also be converted from digested oily seeds and nuts of some terrestrial plants in the body. The consumption of omega-3 PUFAs for RHR reduction represents a lifestyle modification for risk factor management and promises nutritional benefits for public health improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, Siamese tracking framework has been widely used in the visual tracking community. Siamese trackers usually use Cross-Correlation to aggregate templates and search information, so they realize the encoding of target information. However, the previous Cross-Correlation methods either ignore the object channel semantic information or ignore the object's local information. This seriously limits the representation of embedded correlation features and reduces the performance of the trackers. In this paper, to solve these problems, we propose an effective correlation information mixer for visual target tracking. We design an information fusion network to efficiently aggregate template features and search features. In the information fusion network, we use Depthwise Cross-Correlation and Pointwise Cross-Correlation to extract the channel semantic information and local information of the object respectively, and use the correlation information mixer to fully fuse the two correlation maps to achieve the optimal target information encoding. Extensive experimental results show that our tracker achieves competitive performance compared with other state-of-the-art trackers on four benchmarks, including OTB, VOT, UAV123, and LaSOT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrate flow obstacles encountered during the exploitation of deep-water gas fields has received an increased attention. Based on the variations in the wellbore temperature of a deep-water gas well during the initial restarting period, and considering the interrelationship between the hydrate behavior and heat transfer, a prediction model for hydrate flow obstacle was established by comprehensively considering the hydrate formation, deposition, and decomposition. This model could be used to analyze the hydrate formation and decomposition regions dynamically and depict the evolution of the hydrate plug quantitatively during the restarting period. The computation results demonstrated that the wellbore temperature increased with the restarting time, which caused the hydrate formation region to decrease accordingly. During the initial restart under testing operations, hydrates always formed at low gas production rates in the tubing, which could plug the tubing after a certain restarting time. The risk of hydrate flow obstacle first increased and then decreased with an increase in the restarting production rate. During the initial restart under production operations, hydrates only formed at the initial restarting stage, which ranged from several minutes to more than 10 h. The hydrate flow obstacle risk first increased and then decreased with the restarting time, and no hydrate plugging occurred during the initial restarting period of the entire production process. Finally, the measures for preventing hydrate plugging during the initial restarting period were discussed. This work provides a valuable theoretical reference for preventing hydrate plugging during the initial restarting period of a deep-water gas well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study a coupled system of the nonlinear Schrödinger (NLS) equation and the Maxwell–Bloch (MB) equation with nonzero boundary conditions by Riemann–Hilbert (RH) method. We obtain the formulae of the simple-pole and the multi-pole solutions via a matrix Riemann–Hilbert problem (RHP). The explicit form of the soliton solutions for the NLS-MB equations is obtained. The soliton interaction is also given. Furthermore, we show that the multi-pole solutions can be viewed as some proper limits of the soliton solutions with simple poles, and the multi-pole solutions constitute a novel analytical viewpoint in nonlinear complex phenomena. The advantage of this way is that it avoids solving the complex symmetric relations and repeatedly solving residue conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored the complex relationships between immigration, volunteering, and life-long learning among older adults. It investigated adult teaching and learning and active ageing from the perspective of immigrant volunteer instructors of English as additional language. Using a grounded theory method (GTM), comprising a combination of narrative and participatory approaches, we investigated the context, motivation, experiences, and effects of two Chinese immigrant volunteers teaching English in Chinese communities in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) in Canada. We aimed to understand the complex mechanisms and implications of adult teaching and learning as part of active ageing. Findings demonstrated that the policy model of active ageing as defined by the World Health Organization was reflected in lay views and actions. Immigrant volunteers participated in active ageing by teaching English. They also promoted active ageing among their learners. The volunteers' bottom-up approach, with its innovative self-designed curriculum and learner-centred pedagogy, seemed to meet the practical needs of their learners, while promoting their active ageing in key areas of health, security, integration, and participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study the exact solitary wave solutions, periodic wave solutions, and bounded rational function solution of the high-order nonlinear Schrödinger equation and the evolutional relationships between the solitary and periodic wave solutions dependent on the Hamilton energy of their amplitude. First, based on the theory and the method of planar dynamical systems, we give a detailed qualitative analysis of the planar dynamical systems corresponding to the amplitude of traveling wave solutions. Then, based on the first integral of the system, we obtain the exact solitary wave solutions, periodic wave solutions, and bounded rational function solution of the equation in various forms by the analysis method, the integral technique, and proper transformation and establish the relationship between the solutions and the Hamilton energy of their amplitude. Furthermore, we discuss the evolutional relationships between the solitary and periodic wave solutions and reveal that the solitary and periodic wave solutions of the equation are essentially determined by the energy change in the Hamilton system corresponding to their amplitude. Finally, we give some diagrams that demonstrate the evolution from periodic wave solutions to solitary wave solutions when Hamilton energy changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) is a highly effective and noninvasive technology for retrieving the structural and biophysical attributes of trees using 3-D high-accuracy and high-density point clouds. The separation of leaf and wood points in TLS data is a prerequisite for the accurate and reliable derivation of these attributes. In this study, a new method is proposed to separate the leaf and wood points of individual trees by combining the TLS radiometric (intensity) and geometric (density) data. The leaf points are separated from the wood ones through three steps. First, the corrected intensity data are used to separate a part of the leaf points preliminarily given the differences in reflectance characteristics. Second, the density data are adopted for the further separation of another part of the leaf points because the density of the remaining leaf points is smaller than that of the wood points. Finally, a connectivity clustering algorithm is conducted to form several clusters with different sizes (points) and the remaining leaf points are separated in accordance with the cluster sizes. Eight different trees are selected to evaluate the performance of the proposed method. The averaged overall accuracy and kappa coefficient of the eight trees are approximately 95% and 0.81, respectively. The results suggest that the combination of TLS intensity and density data can perform a superior separation of leaf and wood points in terms of efficiency and accuracy, and the proposed separation method can be accurately and robustly used for various trees with different species, sizes, and structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ferrimagnetic greigite (Fe3S4) is widespread in the sedimentary environment. Despite abundant reports of greigite occurrence in marine and lacustrine deposits, its formation mechanisms in deltaic deposits remain poorly studied. Here we investigate greigite in Holocene Yangtze River Delta deposits using granulometric, magnetic, and geochemical methods. The studied cores consist of tidal river, estuary, shallow marine, and delta facies in ascending order. The greigite‐bearing layers are found predominantly in the accreting tidal flat facies during the transgression stage and secondarily in the shallow marine facies during the regression stage of the delta's Holocene development. These sedimentary intervals have a higher total sulfur (TS) content and TS to total organic carbon ratios (TS/TOC) suggesting the accumulation of iron sulfides, including greigite, under reducing estuarine and shallow marine conditions. The greigite‐bearing layers in the tidal flat facies have lower Sr/Ba ratios, in comparison to the shallow marine facies, indicating a lower salinity environment. Supported by the dating results, it is suggested that the higher sedimentation rate of the tidal flat facies, caused by rapid sea‐level rise during the early Holocene, favors the formation and preservation of greigite. Our results indicate that the magnetic detection of greigite provides a simple and useful tool for inferring salinity and sedimentation rate changes, and hence better an understanding of the heterogeneity of depositional processes in Holocene delta environments. Plain Language Summary: Greigite (Fe3S4), an early or late diagenetic magnetic mineral, is an iron sulfide commonly produced during the carbon‐iron‐sulfur (C‐Fe‐S) cycle in aquatic environments. Its occurrence is generally found to be linked to water salinity change, which can be used to infer changes in past environmental conditions such as drought and flood events. So far, studies on greigite have focused on marine and lacustrine deposits. Its formation mechanisms in delta environments remain poorly known, where fresh and marine water mixing results in intensive spatial and temporal salinity change. In this study, environmental magnetic measurement and salinity indictors for example, the ratio of strontium to barium (Sr/Ba), the ratio of total sulfur to total organic carbon (TS/TOC) and TS concentration are combined to reveal greigite occurrence and its formation conditions. Our results show that higher sedimentation rates and marked salinity change associated with rapid sea level rise in the early Holocene is favorable for greigite generation and preservation. We find that magnetic detection of greigite can provide valuable information regarding spatial/temporal variabilities in fresh‐marine water mixing and depositional processes in deltaic environment. Key Points: We identify greigite at the boundary of sedimentary facies with marked salinity change in the Yangtze River DeltaGreigite‐bearing layers occurs predominantly in accreting tidal flat facies with a higher sedimentation rateMagnetic identification of gregite can assist stratigraphic differentiation in delta deposits [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Hydrological variations in coastal plain are reconstructed by the magnetic method. • Greigite/pyrite bearing layers reflect waterlogged condition. • Hematite/goethite bearing layers reflect drier periods of soil formation. • Rapid hydroclimate fluctuations interrupt continuous Neolithic occupation. The Yaojiang Valley (YJV) on the southern Hangzhou Bay Plain, eastern China, was home to Neolithic cultures that date back to 8 ka. Reconstructions of ancient human cultures on the coastal plain in response to sea-level and hydroclimate changes have been well documented. However, centennial-resolution geological records are still lacking. Here, we present a combined approach of environmental (mineral) magnetism, geochemistry and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) on a sediment core (YJ1503) in YJV to decipher the centennial hydroclimate oscillations of the coastal plain since early Holocene. Our results show that ferrimagnetic greigite and paramagnetic pyrite bearing layers correspond to periods of reducing condition that were caused by a higher water table while the presence of antiferromagnetic hematite/goethite corresponds to drier periods favorable for soil formation. Centennial scale fluctuations of magnetic mineralogy around the 8.2 ka cooling event and 7.5–6.6 cal ka BP reflect frequent and unstable environments, with limited Neolithic occupation. A strong drought event occurred around 6.0 cal ka BP, which was preceded by an extensive marine inundation event in the study area. This inundation event interrupted rice farming. Our study indicates that magnetic mineralogy can be used to reconstruct high-resolution hydrological processes in coastal plain and floodplain environments. These results are important to understand hydroclimate variation and Neolithic civilization response in environmentally sensitive areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strong acidic heavy metal ions (HMIs) wastewater (pH < 3.0) is characterized by widespread source, mixed composition and high toxicity, which is extremely difficult to control and meet the requirements of HMIs separation and resource recovery. Herein, a novel aminophosphonic acid-functionalized hydrogel (CMC/PEI-P) was prepared successfully and applied to highly-selective separate Cu(II) from strong acidic media (SAM) (pH = 2.0). Thanks to the abundant and outward amino phosphonic acid groups, the maximum adsorption capacity and the initial adsorption rate constant were 119.41% and 116.64% higher than those of the precursor CMC/PEI. Most importantly, the exclusive separation with the super-high selectivity coefficients (+∞) could unexpectedly achieve with CMC/PEI-P even from the mixed polymetallic SAM. Furthermore, the purity of Co(II) in strong acidic cobalt-rich solution could be increased to more than 99.50%, with the benefit of about 200 times higher than the cost. The predominant mechanisms existed in the coordination with various active groups such as phosphonate, amine and hydroxyl. According to Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations, the tetradentate coordination configuration with the best stability could be formed involving CMC/PEI-P and Cu(II). Therefore, this work explored a new pathway for the cost-effective separation and purification toward Cu(II) directly especially from SAM. [Display omitted] • Aminophosphonic acid-functionalized hydrogel was constructed by two-step procedure. • Exclusive separation for Cu(II) with high selectivity coefficient tending to +∞. • The abundant and outward groups contributed to the rapid adsorption of Cu(II). • Tetradentate coordination configuration was the most stable complex for Cu(II). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing face anti-spoofing (FAS) methods usually train a deep network-based detector on collected living and spoofing faces recorded with several reserved face capture conditions (e.g. , reserved devices and scenes). Due to this data-driven approach, the trained detector performs well in detecting spoofing faces recorded with reserved capture conditions. However, as faces recorded with different conditions will differ to a greater or lesser degree, the detector's performance may decline in real FAS applications in which faces are recorded with new capture conditions. To avoid the detector's performance decline in real applications, we propose that the detector should efficiently adapt itself to any new application by fully utilizing the easy-collecting living faces in this application. We call this problem a one-class adaptation (OCA) problem for FAS. In this paper, we develop a novel one-class adaptation face anti-spoofing (OCA-FAS) method for the OCA problem. Specifically, OCA-FAS solves the OCA problem by training a meta-learner on OCA tasks for learning adaptation with only living faces. In addition, a novel meta loss function search (MLS) strategy that searches for better loss function to help the meta-learner solving OCA tasks is presented in OCA-FAS. To evaluate the developed OCA-FAS, we propose a benchmark with three protocols to test the detector's performance on the OCA aspect. Our experiments show that compared with existing state-of-the-art FAS methods, OCA-FAS performs much better on not only our proposed benchmark but also existing benchmarks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) serve crucial roles in carcinogenesis. Myocardial infarction-associated transcript (MIAT), originally isolated as a candidate gene for myocardial infarction, has been revealed to serve as an oncogene in chronic lymphocytic leukaemias and neuroendocrine prostate cancer. However, little is known about its expression pattern, biological function and underlying mechanism in esophageal cancer. Cell lines of esophageal cancer were used in the current study. The results of the present study revealed that MIAT knockdown decreased cell viability, migration, invasion and cell cycle arrest in the G1 phase. Mechanistic assessment revealed that MIAT interacts with histone methyltransferase mixed-lineage leukemia (MLL). The relative proteins expressions were measured by western blotting assay. MIAT knockdown suppressed cell invasion and migration by regulation MMP-2/9 protein expressions. The results of the current study indicated that MIAT expression was associated with esophageal cancer and may serve as a critical target in the progression and metastasis in esophageal cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is concerned with the stability of traveling wave fronts of a delayed Belousov–Zhabotinskii model with spatial diffusion. The existence and comparison theorem of solutions of the corresponding Cauchy problem in a weight space are established for the system on R by appealing to the theories of semigroup and abstract functional differential equations. By means of comparison principle and the weighted energy method, we prove that the traveling wave solutions are exponentially stable, when the initial perturbation around the traveling waves decays exponentially as x → − ∞ , but in other locations, the initial data can be arbitrarily large. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the relationship between English language skills and earnings among workers in urban China using micro-data from the 2015 China General Social Survey. Using OLS and 2SLS regressions, we find that there are positive economic returns to English language skills (both listening and speaking) among workers in urban China. We also find that there is considerable heterogeneity in the returns to English skills. There is a relationship of complementarity between language and other human capital such as working experience. But only limited evidence with respect to the complementarity between language and education has been found in our setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider a class of Caputo fractional p-Laplacian differential equations with integral boundary conditions which involve two parameters. By using the Avery–Peterson fixed point theorem, we obtain the existence of positive solutions for the boundary value problem. As an application, we present an example to illustrate our main result. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historical documents provide a general chronological overview of the environmental evolution of the Yangtze River delta (YRD) during the last ca. 2000 years; however, absolute dating of the region's late Holocene sediment is relatively rare. Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating has been increasingly applied to the age determination of Holocene deposits in deltaic environments. In this study, three 23–27 m long drill cores running from south to north were collected from the Qihai plain of the northern YRD in order to reconstruct the history of this region's formation since the late Holocene. A total of 24 samples from the three cores were subjected to OSL dating using coarse silt-sized (45–63 μm) quartz. The OSL ages range from approximately 190–3490 a revealing that the age of the delta front and delta plain facies in the coring sites are younger than 500 a while the sediments in the underlying prodelta facies are older than 2000 a. On the basis of the large age gap between the two set of deposits, we suspect that the coring sites remained submerged from 2000 to 500 years ago. As the central core has older and coarser sandy deposits than the neighbouring cores, we infer that the central core was located on a sandy mouth bar, while other cores sat within distributary channels within the estuary. The OSL ages are consistent with both the chronology implied by historical documents and other stratigraphic records in the area. This study enhances the chronological framework of land formation and delta evolution in the Qihai plain area of the YRD and thereby consolidates the conclusions derived from the application of a single technique alone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the construction of resilient Boolean functions on an odd number of variables with strictly almost optimal (SAO) nonlinearity. Through introducing the fragmentary Walsh transform, a construction technique called “High-Meets-Low” is proposed. The detailed design procedures of a 39-variable 3-resilient Boolean function with SAO nonlinearity $2^{38}-2^{19}+2^{16}+2^{14}$ are given. It is shown that the nonlinearity of an $n$ -variable $t$ -resilient Boolean function can reach $2^{n-1}-2^{(n-1)/2}+5\cdot 2^{(n-11)/2}$ or $2^{n-1}-2^{(n-1)/2}+2^{(n-7)/2}$ , which are the largest known values for the corresponding $n$ and $t$ values. Finally, by constructing a 29-variable balanced Boolean function with SAO nonlinearity $2^{28}-2^{14}+2^{10}+2^{9}$ , we show an alternative method to realize the High-Meets-Low construction technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The implement of sustainable hydrogen production is a prerequisite to cater to our further energy demand. Herein, an excellent electrocatalyst of CoMoP nanosheet arrays grown on nickel foam (CoMoP NAs @NF) composite is constructed via a combination of hydrothermal and phosphating process for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). SEM and TEM characterizations indicate the composite has a unique three-dimension structure, where CoMoP nanosheets uniformly grow on NF substrate. Due to the unique structure and the synergetic effect between CoMoP nanosheet and bare NF, electrochemical tests suggest that the composite has an excellent HER performance with a low overpotential of only 24 mV to achieve a current density of 10 mA cm−2 and Tafel slope of 44.6 mV dec−1. Moreover, a certain overpotential can be maintained at 10 mA cm−2 for over 20 h, suggesting its superior stability. Considering its superior HER performance and stability, we envision that this composite could be a prospective substitute for non-noble-metal HER catalysts for practical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates how older adults perceive elder abuse and neglect in the context of migration and ageing. Based on a qualitative study of recent Chinese older immigrants in the Greater Toronto Area in Canada, it seeks to understand how migration and ageing processes, both of which engender cultural and contextual changes, shape and reshape views of elder abuse and neglect. The study argues that culture is important in older immigrants' perceptions of elder abuse and neglect, yet individuals with the same cultural roots may differ in their conceptualizations. Further, such perceptions could change through interactions with peers and non-peers in the host society, and these, in turn, can be influenced by both cultural and structural factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the intersection between migration, aging and lifelong learning with the aim of expanding our understanding of how lifelong learning enhances older migrants' active aging in a foreign land. Our study also offers insights into the learning activities of older immigrants in general. In 2002, the World Health Organization (WHO) proposed a conceptual framework of active aging, which has greatly influenced aging policies and seniors' everyday practices. Yet, there is a paucity of research that explicates and fully integrates lifelong learning into active aging discourse, and focuses on senior immigrants' lifelong learning in an aging society. Based on interviews, textual materials, and participatory observation in five Chinese seniors' immigrant associations in Toronto, we explore how Chinese senior immigrants' learning has been (re)shaped and practised through re-settling in Canadian society. Five categories of learning are explored, including a) learning language and computer skills, b) learning culture and history, c) learning civic engagement, d) learning leisure, and e) learning health. We argue that 'active learning' can be used as a dynamic conceptual framework that interacts with active aging theory, demonstrating how senior immigrants actively participate in the lifelong learning project for participation and integration in Canada. This paper provides insights to the understanding of culturally sensitive policy-making on integration, health, and lifelong learning of older immigrants in Canada and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper concerns a two-product, multi-period nonstationary newsvendor model in which the inventory is not allowed to be carried between periods and each period the newsvendor is subject to a budget constraint and has to decide his order quantities on each product. The Weak Aggregating Algorithm (WAA) developed in computer science is an online learning method of prediction with expert advice; it makes decisions by considering all the experts advice, and each expert's weight is updated according to his performance in previous periods. Without making statistical assumption on future demand sequence, we propose newsvendor ordering policy by applying WAA to nonstationary ordering policy that can switch between different order quantities in all trading periods. Theoretically, we prove that the proposed ordering policy preserves great competitiveness when compared with the best nonstationary ordering policy with not too many switches. We consider both real-valued and integer-valued ordering policies. Numerical examples with different nonstationary demand types of product 1 illustrate the great competitive performance of the proposed ordering policy. It is found that as the budget increases, the order quantities on the two products and the ordering policy's cumulative gains increase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) is an important source of carbon in aquatic ecosystems, especially under conditions of increased frequency of cyanobacterial bloom. However, the importance of bacteria in direct or indirect utilization of DIC has been widely overlooked in eutrophic freshwater. To identify the functional bacteria that can actively utilize DIC in eutrophic freshwater during cyanobacterial bloom, stable-isotope probing (SIP) experiments were conducted on eutrophic river water with or without inoculation with cyanobacteria (Microcystis aeruginosa). Our 16S rRNA sequencing results revealed the significance of Betaproteobacteria, with similar relative abundance as Alphaproteobacteria, in the active assimilation of H13CO 3 − into their DNA directly or indirectly, which include autotrophic genera Betaproteobacterial ammonia-oxidizing bacteria. Other bacterial groups containing autotrophic members, e.g. Planctomycetes and Nitrospira , also presented higher abundance among free-living bacteria in water without cyanobacteria. Microcystis aggregates showed a preference for some specific bacterial members that may utilize H13CO 3 − metabolized by Microcystis as organic matter, e.g. Bacteroidetes (Cytophagales, Sphingobacteriales), and microcystin-degrading bacteria Betaproteobacteria (Paucibacter /Burkholderiaceae). This study provides some valuable information regarding the functional bacteria that can actively utilize DIC in eutrophic freshwater. Graphical abstract Unlabelled Image [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The elastic slip and extension of a cable are important problems for a precision cable-drum drive system. Adjusting the design parameters (preload force, payload and so on) is an effective way of improving transmission performance. At present, most researchers focus on sliding mechanisms, Euler's equation improvement and engineering applications. The effect of design parameters on the transmission performance has not been deeply investigated. In this paper, the static and dynamic performance of a cable-drum drive system was explored for improving precision and response, and the effect of preload force and payload on the static and dynamic performance was analyzed. The static performance was evaluated by the transmission error, which was determined by measuring the rotational angle of input and output drum using SCANCON encodes. The dynamic performance was evaluated by the response bandwidth, which was determined by measuring the amplitude-frequency and phase-frequency curve of cable-drum drive system using TIRA GmbH vibration test system. The results show that the maximum transmission error is 0.75 mrad at a rotational range of 180° when the external torque is 0.19 N×m. The transmission error increases with the increase of the drum rotation angle. The transmission error increases with the increase of the preload force and external torque. The response bandwidth can reach 56 Hz when the payload inertia is 0.0145 kg×m2, which decreases with increase of payload inertia. However, the preload force has little obvious influence on the response bandwidth when the preload force is changed from 99.85 N to 496.99 N. These results are helpful for the design improvement and theory research of precision cable-drum drive system in future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purposes: To determine if liver-to-portal vein contrast ratio (LPC) correlates with liver function in patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related cirrhosis on gadolinium-ethoxybenzyl-diethylenetriamine penta-acetic acid (Gd-EOB-DTPA)-enhanced MR imaging.Methods: A total of 92 patients with normal (n = 20) or HBV-related cirrhotic livers graded by Child-Pugh class A (n = 50), B (n = 17) or C (n = 5) who underwent Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced 3Tesla MR imaging were retrospectively reviewed. LPC was defined as the signal intensity ratio of liver parenchyma to portal vein on hepatobiliary phase (HBP) acquired at 20 min, and it was compared between normal and cirrhotic livers. The correlation between LPC and hepatic function parameters at HBP after injection was quantitatively analyzed as well.Results: LPC differed between normal and cirrhotic livers significantly (P < 0.001). LPC constantly and significantly decreased from normal to cirrhotic livers with Child-Pugh class C at HBP imaging (P < 0.001). Multiple regression analysis revealed that total bilirubin (P = 0.011), albumin (P < 0.001), and platelet count (P = 0.007) were independent predictors of LPC at HBP imaging. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis revealed that the optimal cutoff value for LPC to distinguish normal group from cirrhotic groups was 2.05 (AUC 0.98) with a sensitivity of 84.1% and a specificity of 100%.Conclusion: The level of LPC on Gd-EOB-DTPA MR imaging can efficaciously indicate the severity of liver function in patients with HBV-related cirrhosis and was correlated with liver function parameters significantly. It might be used as an alternative imaging biomarker for assessing liver function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the higher performance demand of aircraft, the active control techniques of flight control system become more attractive. Among these approaches, the gust response stabilization has been more significant for the consideration of safety and comfort. Due to the constraint of the traditional control law, the parameter tuning process in a large envelope is very time-consuming and some special maneuvers can't accomplish by these designs. In order to overcome these defects of the conventional flight control laws, a new integrated nonlinear control scheme with modified active disturbance rejection control and real-time direct lift compensation control allocation technology is proposed. Its switched extended state observer can bring the observers to their full talents to estimate the signals. Aiming at taking full potential of the multi-control-effectors aircraft, two real-time linear control allocation methods for the transition from virtual control variables to actual control variables are also introduced. The simulation showed that this structure has good tracking performance and wind resistance performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In present paper, free surface is covered with artificial ice of uniform size. Effects of characteristic sizes of ice, i.e. D L / D = 0.28, 0.56 and 1.08 (D L is diameter of equivalent circle of ice block section and D cylinder diameter), local coverage ratio n and cylinder draught H on drag of ice-water flows around finite length circular cylinder are investigated experimentally. Two hydrodynamic states when Froude number F r = 0.50 in subcritical and F r = 0.99 in supercritical are selected, where F r = V / g D , V is towing speed and g gravitational acceleration. When F r = 0.99 , wave-making increases drag coefficient by 0.1–0.2. For D L / D = 0.56 and 1.08, cross-correlation coefficient between n and drag coefficient exceeds 0.85. Higher n results in greater drag. With H/D increasing from 0.4 to 2.0, momentum transferred from water pushed by cylinder to ice increases, making relative velocity between ice and cylinder decrease and collision contribution to total drag be reduced. While D L / D = 0.28, ice blocks follow water flow closely due to small inertia, making collision between cylinder and ice blocks weak and drag caused by collision insignificant. Also ice-water mixture is more like single phase flow of higher viscosity than water, with drag coefficient almost not affected by draught. • Drag coefficient decreases with cylinder draught for large ice blocks while is almost unchanged for small ones. • The drag increases with the corresponding local ice coverage ratio upstream the cylinder. • Drag coefficient at Fr = 0.99 (supercritical) is 0.1 – 0.2 higher than that at Fr = 0.50 (subcritical) due to wave-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

目的 探讨腹腔镜下经胆囊管微切开胆总管探查治疗胆总管结石的临床应用价值.方法 选取天津市第五中心医院不同时期诊治资料完整的胆囊合并胆总管结石患者各60例,分别作为观察组和对照组,两组纳入标准及剔除标准相同,且临床症状体征及胆管结石情况比较无统计学差异.观察组采用腹腔镜下胆囊切除+胆囊管汇入部微切开胆道镜探查取石胆管一期缝合治疗,对照组采用腹腔镜下胆囊切除胆总管切开胆道镜探查取石T管引流治疗.记录手术时间、术中出血量、术后引流管带管时间、住院时间,观察腹腔感染、出血、胰腺炎、胆瘘、肠梗阻、窦道断裂等并发症发生情况.结果 与对照组比较,观察组术后腹腔引流带管时间、住院时间均缩短(P均<0.05).两组手术时间、术中出血量比较无统计学差异(P均>0.05).观察组术后发生腹腔感染2例、胰腺炎1例、胆瘘1例,并发症发生率6.67％;对照组术后发生腹腔感染4例、出血1例、胰腺炎1例、胆瘘3例、肠梗阻1例、窦道断裂3例,并发症发生率为21.7％;两组并发症发生率比较有统计学差异(P<0.05).结论 经胆囊管汇入部微切开胆道探查取石可行胆管一期缝合,避免T管引流,同时缩短患者术后腹腔引流带管时间、住院时间,减少并发症. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Overdue treatment and prognostic evaluation lead to low survival rates in patients with lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD). To date, effective biomarkers for prognosis are still required. The aim of the present study was to screen differentially expressed genes (DEGs) as biomarkers for prognostic evaluation of LUAD. DEGs in tumor and normal samples were identified and analyzed for Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes/Gene Ontology functional enrichments. The common genes that are up and downregulated were selected for prognostic analysis using RNAseq data in The Cancer Genome Atlas. Differential expression analysis was performed with 164 samples in GSE10072 and GSE7670 datasets. A total of 484 DEGs that were present in GSE10072 and GSE7670 datasets were screened, including secreted phosphoprotein 1 (SPP1) that was highly expressed and DEGs ficolin 3, advanced glycosylation end-product specific receptor (AGER), transmembrane protein 100 that were lowly expressed in tumor tissues. These four key genes were subsequently verified using an independent dataset, GSE19804. The gene expression model was consistent with GSE10072 and GSE7670 datasets. The dysregulation of highly expressed SPP1 and lowly expressed AGER significantly reduced the median survival time of patients with LUAD. These findings suggest that SPP1 and AGER are risk factors for LUAD, and these two genes may be utilized in the prognostic evaluation of patients with LUAD. Additionally, the key genes and functional enrichments may provide a reference for investigating the molecular expression mechanisms underlying LUAD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Establishing a reliable chronology is essential for understanding delta evolution, which is normally performed using radiocarbon ( 14 C) dating and the recently emerging technique of optically stimulated luminescence (OSL). The application of the latter one to the Holocene Yangtze River (Changjiang) Delta deposit is still quite limited. In this study, two 60.9-m-long cores were collected from Taizhou (TZ) and Nantong (NT) within the paleo-incised valley of the Yangtze River, and a total of seven and nine OSL samples were collected from the TZ and NT cores, respectively. In addition, ten accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) 14 C ages of the TZ core were presented with eight AMS 14 C ages that were previously obtained from the NT core. The single-aliquot regenerative-dose (SAR) protocol was applied to coarse silt-sized (45–63 μm) and fine sand-sized (90–125 μm) quartz. The results showed that the grains in the 45–63 μm size fractions appeared to be better bleached than those in the 90–125 μm size fractions, and the detection of insufficiently bleached sediments is required in order to obtain accurate age estimates. The ages adopted for the samples range from 3 ka to 9 ka for the TZ core, and from 1 ka to 14 ka for the NT core, which were in general internally coherent within the limits of experimental errors and with respect to their stratigraphic order. The AMS 14 C age of the TZ core were significantly older than their OSL ages, while those from the NT core generally showed good agreement with their OSL ages. One should be cautious when using AMS 14 C to date deltatic deposits. Based on the OSL ages, two periods of rapid accumulation rates can be found in both cores, which are linked to the rapid sea level rise in early Holocene and migration of delta front facies in late Holocene. These investigations indicate that OSL technique is an effective method with which to date Holocene deltaic deposits, especially in coarse sedimentary layers where organic carbon material is sparse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CSI 800 index consists of CSI 500 index and CSI 300 index, aiming to reflect the performance of stocks with large, mid and small size of China A share market. In this paper we analyze the multifractal structure of Chinese stock market in the CSI 800 index based on the multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis (MF-DFA) method. We find that the fluctuation of the closing logarithmic returns have multifractal properties, the shape and width of multifractal spectrum are depended on the weighing order q . More interestingly, we observe a bigger market crash in June–August 2015 than the one in 2008 based on the local Hurst exponents. The result provides important information for further study on dynamic mechanism of return fluctuation and whether it would trigger a new financial crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]