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Background: Glycometabolism and lipid metabolism are critical in cancer metabolic reprogramming. The primary aim of this study was to develop a prognostic model incorporating glycometabolism and lipid metabolism-related genes (GLRGs) for accurate prognosis assessment in patients with endometrial carcinoma (EC). Methods: Data on gene expression and clinical details were obtained from publicly accessible databases. GLRGs were obtained from the Genecards database. Through nonnegative matrix factorization (NMF) clustering, molecular groupings with various GLRG expression patterns were identified. LASSO Cox regression analysis was employed to create a prognostic model. Use rich algorithms such as GSEA, GSVA, xCELL ssGSEA, EPIC,CIBERSORT, MCPcounter, ESTIMATE, TIMER, TIDE, and Oncoppredict to analyze functional pathway characteristics of the forecast signal, immune status, anti-tumor therapy, etc. The expression was assessed using Western blot and quantitative real-time PCR techniques. A total of 113 algorithm combinations were combined to screen out the most significant GLRGs in the signature for in vitro experimental verification, such as colony formation, EdU cell proliferation, wound healing, apoptosis, and Transwell assays. Results: A total of 714 GLRGs were found, and 227 of them were identified as prognostic-related genes. And ten GLRGs (AUP1, ESR1, ERLIN2, ASS1, OGDH, BCKDHB, SLC16A1, HK2, LPCAT1 and PGR-AS1) were identified to construct the prognostic model of patients with EC. Based on GLRGs, the risk model's prognosis and independent prognostic value were established. The signature of GLRGs exhibited a robust correlation with the infiltration of immune cells and the sensitivity to drugs. In cytological experiments, we selected HK2 as candidate gene to verify its value in the occurrence and development of EC. Western blot and qRT-PCR revealed that HK2 was substantially expressed in EC cells. According to in vitro experiments, HK2 knockdown can increase EC cell apoptosis while suppressing EC cell migration, invasion, and proliferation. Conclusion: The GLRGs signature constructed in this study demonstrated significant prognostic value for patients with endometrial carcinoma, thereby providing valuable guidance for treatment decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In September 2020, the European Union (EU) decided to include the maritime industry into the EU emissions trading system to effectively control carbon emissions from ships, namely the maritime emissions trading system (METS). Various allocation and trading schemes are adopted in practice. This paper investigates a comparison of allocation and trading schemes of the METS from the perspective of liner shipping carriers and regulators, respectively. We explore how to determine the optimal allocation and trading scheme of the METS and how the liner shipping route (LSR) choice decision (following or avoiding the METS) and carbon emissions will be affected. For liner shipping carriers, we use a mixed-integer linear programming model that aims to reduce carriers' costs to formulate our problem. For regulators, we present a bi-level programming model that aims to reduce carbon emissions. In numerical experiments, we further analyze the impact of joining the METS on the scheme choice, LSR choice and emissions by considering the European Economic Area and the Red Sea being covered by the METS. Numerical experiments are provided to show the effectiveness of our proposed models. • Investigate allocation and trading schemes of the maritime emission trading system. • Propose a liner shipping route choice problem. • Develop a mixed-integer linear programming model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Galloping-based piezoelectric energy harvesting systems are being used to supply renewable electricity for low-power wireless sensor network nodes. In this paper, a W-shaped bluff body is proposed as the core component of a piezoelectric wind energy harvester. Experiments and simulations have shown that the W-shaped bluff body can improve harvesting efficiency at low wind speeds. For the W-shaped structure, the finite element simulation results indicate that the structure can help improve the aerodynamic performance to obtain high aerodynamic force. The experimental results demonstrate that compared with the traditional bluff bodies, the piezoelectric wind energy harvester with the W-shaped bluff body (WEHW) can generate higher output voltages and has a lower cut-in speed. When the length L is 30 mm and the rear groove angle β is 30°, the W-shaped structure can induce the best harvesting performance. When an external load resistance of 820 KΩ is connected and the wind speed is 5 m/s, the WEHW generates an average output power of 0.28 mW. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Both mitophagy and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play crucial roles in ovarian cancer (OC). We sought to explore the characteristics of mitophagy-related gene (MRG) and mitophagy-related lncRNAs (MRL) to facilitate treatment and prognosis of OC. Methods: The processed data were extracted from public databases (TCGA, GTEx, GEO and GeneCards). The highly synergistic lncRNA modules and MRLs were identified using weighted gene co-expression network analysis. Using LASSO Cox regression analysis, the MRL-model was first established based on TCGA and then validated with four external GEO datasets. The independent prognostic value of the MRL-model was evaluated by Multivariate Cox regression analysis. Characteristics of functional pathways, somatic mutations, immunity features, and anti-tumor therapy related to the MRL-model were evaluated using abundant algorithms, such as GSEA, ssGSEA, GSVA, maftools, CIBERSORT, xCELL, MCPcounter, ESTIMATE, TIDE, pRRophetic and so on. Results: We found 52 differentially expressed MRGs and 22 prognostic MRGs in OC. Enrichment analysis revealed that MRGs were involved in mitophagy. Nine prognostic MRLs were identified and eight optimal MRLs combinations were screened to establish the MRL-model. The MRL-model stratified patients into high- and low-risk groups and remained a prognostic factor (P < 0.05) with independent value (P < 0.05) in TCGA and GEO. We observed that OC patients in the high-risk group also had the unfavorable survival in consideration of clinicopathological parameters. The Nomogram was plotted to make the prediction results more intuitive and readable. The two risk groups were enriched in discrepant functional pathways (such as Wnt signaling pathway) and immunity features. Besides, patients in the low-risk group may be more sensitive to immunotherapy (P = 0.01). Several chemotherapeutic drugs (Paclitaxel, Veliparib, Rucaparib, Axitinib, Linsitinib, Saracatinib, Motesanib, Ponatinib, Imatinib and so on) were found with variant sensitivity between the two risk groups. The established ceRNA network indicated the underlying mechanisms of MRLs. Conclusions: Our study revealed the roles of MRLs and MRL-model in expression, prognosis, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and molecular mechanism of OC. Our findings were able to stratify OC patients with high risk, unfavorable prognosis and variant treatment sensitivity, thus improving clinical outcomes for OC patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Middle Permian Maokou Formation in the Sichuan Basin has huge resources and is an important target for natural gas exploration. In recent years, significant exploration breakthroughs have been made in the dolomite field of member Mao-2 in central Sichuan, and the gas production of several wells has exceeded 1 × 106 m3/d, indicating promising prospects for exploration. However, the origin of the dolomite reservoir in member Mao-2 remains ambiguous, which restricts the accurate prediction of favorable reservoirs. This study focuses on drilling in the Hechuan area as its research object, by using a detailed description of the cores from member Mao-2 of seven wells; samples were selected for tests of the degree of dolomite cation ordering, stable carbon and oxygen isotopic compositions, strontium isotopic composition, rare earth elements, LA-ICP-MS element mapping and U-Pb dating. It is clarified that: (1) The crystalline dolomite of member Mao-2 in the Hechuan area is the main reservoir rock, and the heterogeneous vugs and fractures are the main reservoir space. The dolomite in member Mao-2 has been characterized by a low degree of cation ordering value (avg. 0.59), with values of δ13C (avg. 3.87‰), δ18O (avg. −7.15‰) and 87Sr/86Sr (avg. 0.707474) having similar geochemical characteristics to Middle Permian seawater; the REEs normalized distribution patterns have similar characteristics to limestone; and the U-Pb age (261.0~262.0 Ma) corresponds to the age in the Capitanian stage of the Permian Guadalupian Series. (2) Petrological studies show that member Mao-2 has vertical karstification zonation characteristics; syngenetic karstification controls the formation of a large-scale fracture-cave system in the phreatic zone; the dolomitization of sediment in the fracture-cave system occurred during the penecontemporaneous period with locally restricted seawater. (3) The main controlling factors of the reservoir were syngenetic karstification, early dolomitization and hydrothermal dissolution related to Emei taphrogenesis. The research results are of great significance for dolomite reservoir prediction; the highlands of paleogeomorphology with syndepositional faults are favorable areas for dolomite reservoirs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional detection algorithms of pipeline non-destructive testing extract information from a large number of defect samples to ensure the detection performance, but even if an adequate of defect samples are collected, it is difficult to enumerate the possible defect morphology in nature. In this paper, we proposed a new semi-supervised anomaly detection algorithm to solve the existing problems. We consider using the most representative feature vectors generated by feature extractor as memory items to represent background information. In addition, this paper also imports a few defect samples to form a semi-supervised structure in the training stage and introduces a metric learning module to make the memory items have the ability to fully represent the background and enhance robustness. To prove the effectiveness of our algorithm, this paper has verified its performance in micro-size pipeline defects. In the experiment, the high-definition industrial camera was used to scan and record the image sequence from the inner surface of the pipeline sample. The latest anomaly detection algorithms have been used as a platform for objective performance evaluation. The result shows our algorithm is more effective in pipeline defect detection and has strong robustness for anti-interference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new type of metal-free [5+1] cycloaddition reaction of donor–acceptor aziridines with 2-(2-isocyanoethyl)indoles is reported herein. This method exhibits broad substrate scope and atom-economy. A series of 2H-1,4-oxazines containing an indole heterocycle skeleton were obtained in up to 92% yield under mild reaction conditions. Control experiments revealed that free indole N–H is crucial for the above transformations. The theoretical calculation studies provided guidance on the in-depth insight into the reaction mechanism and the hydrogen-bond between the free indole N–H and carbonyl group was identified to lower the free energy barrier in the transition states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jam density, or its reciprocal jam spacing, is a parameter difficult to estimate. In fact, most traffic signal control and traffic state estimation studies published until date generally assume a given value, with no estimation from data whatsoever. Nevertheless, estimating jam density is crucial, since any deviation from its true value will propagate to queue lengths and volume estimates. In the possession of only trajectory data, its estimation is even harder since not all vehicles are observed. In this paper, we first define the data generating process of the jam spacing parameter using sparse trajectory data. Then, we propose several estimators to estimate jam spacing and its variance. We use as measurements the distances between successive vehicle stops. The first estimator is a Maximum-Likelihood estimator (MLE) of a Geometrically Skewed Normal (GSN) distribution, to be used whenever there is lane information. The second estimator is a MLE of a shifted GSN with Normal Stopbar (SGSN-NSB) to be used when observed distances are measured from the stopbar estimate. In addition, we propose two least-squares counterparts, LSE and LSE-SB, based on least absolute remainders. Finally, we assess and compare the bias and efficiency of the estimators in both synthetic and real-world data, obtaining satisfactory results. MLE estimators are shown to outperform their LSE counterparts in both situations. • We estimate jam spacing from distances between successive observed vehicle stops. • Data generation process is defined as a geometric mixture of normals. • Two Maximum Likelihood estimators and two Least Squares estimators are proposed. • With no lane information, jam spacing and stopbar location are estimated together. • Estimators are robust against the presence of long vehicles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The activation of C-H bonds is a potent tool for modifying molecular structures in chemistry. This article details the steps involved in a novel ligand bearing a bicyclic [3.3.1]-nonane framework and bissulfoxide moiety. A palladium catalyzed allylic C-H oxidation method enables a direct benzyl-allylic functionalization with the bissulfoxide ligand. Bissulfoixde ligand possesses a rapidly constructed bicyclic [3.3.1] framework and it proved to be effective for enabling both N- and C-alkylation. A total of 13 C-H activation productions were reported with good to excellent yields. This report validated that it is necessary to include bissulfoxide as a ligand for superior reactivities. Naftifine was produced utilizing developed C-H functionalization methodology in good overall yields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Xiaoerbulake Formation in the Tarim Basin is considered one of the most important deep to ultradeep hydrocarbon reservoirs in the world. The objective of the present study is to analyze the facies, depositional environment and reservoir quality of the Early Cambrian Xiaoerbulake Formation in the Tarim Basin through integrated analysis of 120 m of cores, 3240 m of well cuttings, wireline logs and over 1100 thin sections from 17 exploration wells. Early Cambrian Xiaoerbulake Formation deposits in the Tarim Basin were deposited on a ramp setting. The ramp was occupied by seven facies associations and ten facies types ranging from the inner ramp to the outer ramp. These facies associations include tidal flat, lagoon, high-energy shoal, sabkha, inter-shoal, low-energy shoal and open shelf. Their distribution was controlled by paleogeographic patterns, sea level changes and the paleoclimate. Reservoir quality is considerably affected by facies together with diagenetic processes, including dolomitization and anhydrite cementation. High-quality reservoirs are found in the dolograinstone of high-energy shoal environments, which are favorable exploration facies in the carbonate ramp. Their pore space types consist of interparticle pores, intraparticle pores, intercrystalline pores, vuggy pores and moldic pores, with a porosity of 1.4%–7.5%. This study will help with our understanding of the stratigraphic framework, sedimentary-facies evolution and high-quality reservoir distribution of the Early Cambrian carbonate ramp in the Tarim Basin, facilitating exploration and the production of hydrocarbons from the Xiaoerbulake Formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Chigbrak Formation in the Upper Ediacaran is one of the important exploration targets in the Tarim Basin, NW China. However, no significant discoveries have been made in this field, and unclear reservoir genesis is one of the important factors restricting exploration breakthrough. This study examined the outcrops of the Aksu area in northwestern Tarim Basin by using systematic descriptions of petrologic features in the Upper Ediacaran Chigbrak Formation. Samples were selected for tests of stable carbon and oxygen isotopic compositions, strontium isotopic compositions, rare earth elements, LA–ICP–MS element mapping and U–Pb dating. It was found that (1) the Chigbrak Formation is mainly composed of dolomitic microbialite, with average values of δ13C (PDB), δ18O (PDB) and 87Sr/86Sr of 3.50‰, 2.95‰ and 0.709457, and has similar geochemical characteristics to the coeval seawater. The dolomites have also been characterized by a medium degree of cation ordering (avg. 0.68), a low content of ΣREEs (avg. 9.03 ppm) and a chondrite standardized curve of REEs showing enrichment of LREE and depletion of HREE. The U–Pb ages range from 538 to 618 Ma, corresponding to the age of Ediacaran period. (2) Dolomitization occurred in a marine diagenetic environment during the penecontemporaneous period, with seawater as the dolomitization fluid. (3) Vugs are the dominant pore type of Chigbrak Formation, and they are the products of the dissolution of meteoric water in penecontemporaneous period. (4) The main controlling factors of reservoir were lithofacies, meteoric water dissolution controlled by fourth– or fifth–order sequences and tectonic movement, and early dolomitization. The research results are of great significance to the dolomite reservoir prediction of the Upper Ediacaran Chigbrak Formation of the Tarim Basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Investigate the multi-port berth allocation problem. • Address the port cooperation stability problem. • Devisea column generation approach. This paper proposes a multi-port berth allocation problem (MPBAP) under a cooperative environment, which aims to determine berthing times and berthing positions for all considered vessels arriving at multiple neighboring ports. The previous studies on the MPBAP (or the BAP with multiple ports) consider that multiple ports have established stable cooperation, while the port cooperation stability problem (PCSP) has not been addressed. This paper investigates the PCSP with the MPBAP, where our MPBAP further integrates the vessel diverting issue that vessels with excessive waiting times can be diverted to neighboring ports. For the PCSP, we investigate how to group multiple neighboring ports into different stable port groups, and then determine optimal port groups. For all possible port groups, we propose a mixed integer programming model for the MPBAP, and a column generation approach is devised to solve it. Based on optimal solutions of the MPBAP for various port groups, cooperative game theory is utilized to obtain stable port groups, and then the PCSP can be formulated as a binary programming model for determining optimal port groups. Numerical experiments are carried out to account for the efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed models and solution method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most of the Southeast Asian countries are developing economies that have large demand for maritime infrastructures. Some but not all the ports in this region could significantly benefit from and contribute to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) proposed by the Chinese government. This paper models the port investment priority in the Southeast Asian region, so that efficient and sustainable investments can be made under the BRI. Based on the link prediction theory, a random walk method is proposed to assess the priorities of port construction projects at different sites. The proposed method explicitly considers important economic and political factors, especially those linking Southeast Asian countries with China. Our model is calibrated and verified with numerical experiments, so that policy and managerial recommendations can be obtained for this region. Results consistent with industry reality also provide supports to the validity of the model. This study introduces a new dimension of investment planning for multiple ports taking into account the resultant impacts on shipping networks, and recommends selected port construction sites with good potential in Southeast Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing detection methods face a huge challenge in identifying insulators with minor defects when targeting transmission line images with complex backgrounds. To ensure the safe operation of transmission lines, an improved YOLOv7 model is proposed to improve detection results. Firstly, the target boxes of the insulator dataset are clustered based on K-means++ to generate more suitable anchor boxes for detecting insulator-defect targets. Secondly, the Coordinate Attention (CoordAtt) module and HorBlock module are added to the network. Then, in the channel and spatial domains, the network can enhance the effective features of the feature-extraction process and weaken the ineffective features. Finally, the SCYLLA-IoU (SIoU) and focal loss functions are used to accelerate the convergence of the model and solve the imbalance of positive and negative samples. Furthermore, to optimize the overall performance of the model, the method of non-maximum suppression (NMS) is improved to reduce accidental deletion and false detection of defect targets. The experimental results show that the mean average precision of our model is 93.8%, higher than the Faster R-CNN model, the YOLOv7 model, and YOLOv5s model by 7.6%, 3.7%, and 4%, respectively. The proposed YOLOv7 model can effectively realize the accurate detection of small objects in complex backgrounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In recent years, it has been proved that necroptosis plays an important role in the occurrence, development, invasion, metastasis and drug resistance of malignant tumors. Hence, further evaluation and targeting of necroptosis may be of clinical benefit for gynecologic cancers (GCs). Methods: To compare consistency and difference, we explored the expression pattern and prognostic value of necroptosis-related genes (NRGs) in pan-GC analysis through Linear regression and Empirical Bayesian, Univariate Cox analysis, and public databases from TCGA and Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx), including CESC, OV, UCEC, and UCS. We explored the copy number variation (CNV), methylation level and enrichment pathways of NRGs in the four GCs. Based on LASSO Cox regression analysis or principal component analysis, we established the prognostic NRG-signature or necroptosis-score for the four GCs. In addition, we predicted and compared functional pathways, tumor mutational burden (TMB), somatic mutation features, immunity status, immunotherapy, chemotherapeutic drug sensitivity of the NRG-signature based on NRGs. We also examined the expression level of several NRGs in OV samples that we collected using Quantitative Real-time PCR. Results: We confirmed the presence of NRGs in expression, prognosis, CNV, and methylation for four GCs, thus comparing the consistency and difference among the four GCs. The prognosis and independent prognostic value of the risk signatures based on NRGs were determined. Through the results of subclass mapping, we found that GC patients with lower risk score may be more sensitive to PDL1 response and more sensitive to immune checkpoint blockade therapy. Drug susceptibility analysis showed that, 51, 45, 64, and 29 drugs with differences between risk groups were yielded in CESC, OV, UCEC, and UCS respectively. For OV, the expression differences of several NRGs in the tissues we collected were similar to that in TCGA. Conclusion: Our comprehensive analysis of NRGs and NRG-signature demonstrated their similarity and difference, as well as their potential roles in prognosis and could guide therapeutic strategies, thus improving the outcome of GC patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Different types of partial discharge (PD) in gas-insulated switchgear (GIS) cause different damage to GIS insulation, correctly identifying the PD type is very important for evaluating the insulation status of GIS. This paper proposes a PD pattern recognition method based on an improved feature fusion convolutional neural network (IFCNN) to fully use the time-frequency features of PD pulses to realize PD pattern recognition. Firstly, the one-dimensional time-domain feature sequence of the PD pulse and the corresponding wavelet time-frequency diagram are applied as inputs. Secondly, the convolutional neural network (CNN) with two parallel channels is used for feature extraction, the extracted fault information is fused, and the shallow features of the wavelet time-frequency diagram are fused to prevent feature loss caused by pooling operation. Finally, the extracted features are sent to the classifier to recognize different types of PD. The discharge data of different types of PD are obtained for testing by experiments and simulation. Compared with 1-D CNN and 2-D CNN under the same specification, the proposed method can mine more potential local features of discharge pulses by fusing the time-frequency features of PD pulses in different dimensions, and improves the recognition accuracy to 95.8%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] Mainly exposed crystal facets and controllable morphology play a key role in the final performance of the preparation of specific nanomaterials. In the present study, a metal–organic framework pyrolysis method without adding solvent modifiers was developed. By adding CO in the calcination atmosphere to change atmosphere ratio, Fe 3 O 4 nanostructures are exposed with different crystal planes and evaluated their performance in NH 3 -SCR reaction. This study proves that SCR catalytic activity of Fe 3 O 4 nanocrystals is dependent on morphology and crystal facet. Compared with materials exposed (1 0 0), catalysts with more (1 1 1) show stronger deNO x performance. The preferential exposure of Fe 3 O 4 (1 1 1) crystal facets increases the concentration of adsorbed oxygen on the catalyst, showing higher surface acidity, and enhances the interaction among NO, O 2 and catalyst, which is conducive to SCR reaction. This is supported by DFT calculations. The results present a great application prospect in preparing nanomaterials with specific crystal structures to effectively treat pollutants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lower Cambrian Xiaoerblak Formation is one of the major exploration targets in Cambrian pre-salt Tarim Basin; however, the exploration breakthrough is restricted by insufficient understanding of its sedimentary evolution and reservoir genesis. In this paper, based on a systematic description of the outcrop in the Xiaoerblak section, northwestern Tarim Basin, some samples were selected for tests of stable carbon and oxygen isotopic compositions, strontium isotopic composition, order degree, trace and rare earth elements, U-Pb isotopic age and clumped isotope. It is found that the Xiaoerblak Formation mainly develops nine types of dolomites, i.e., laminated microbial dolomite, thrombolite dolomite, stromatolite dolomite, foamy microbial dolomite, grain dolomite, etc. According to the lithofacies associations, it can be divided into three members: Xi 1, Xi 2, and Xi 3, of which member Xi 2 is subdivided into three submembers. The characteristics of lithofacies assemblage formed bottom to top indicate that it can be described as a third-order sequence. The Xiaoerblak Formation was deposited in a nearshore shallow seawater environment characterized by high water salinity and temperature under a warm and humid climate during the Early Cambrian, giving rise to the sedimentary sequence of inner ramp lagoon, subtidal microbial mound shoal and tidal flat in the carbonate ramp setting from bottom to top. Its dolomitization occurred in the penecontemporaneous–shallow burial period when the temperature was relatively low and high-salinity seawater acted as the main dolomitizaiton fluid. The reservoir space mainly comprises primary microbial framework pores and vugs formed by the atmospheric freshwater dissolution. Reservoirs were controlled by lithofacies, high-frequency sequence boundary and early dolomitization. The research results are of great significance for presalt Cambrian lithofacies paleogeographic mapping and reservoir prediction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We proposed to establish nanoscale spatially confined Fenton treatment architectures to overcome the catalyst deactivation issue frequently seen at neutral pH. We demonstrated this idea by growing four typical iron oxide catalysts (Fe 3 O 4 , FeOOH, CuFe 2 O 4 , and FeOCl), respectively inside the nanochannels of anodized aluminum oxide scaffold, wherein the confined space (≈5 nm) significantly accelerated heterogeneous Fenton treatment of organic pollutants, with up to 310 times kinetics enhancement under normalized surface area compared to the counterpart bulk reactions with suspension catalysts. Based on experimental and computational studies, we gained the mechanistic details on how did the nanoconfinement enhanced the protonation of surfaces driving the catalysis, and showed how much of its significance over other influencing factors on enhancing the treatment kinetics and a sustained catalysis. Our findings mark an important advance on developing nanoconfined Fenton treatment systems that enable efficient catalyst activation and maximal treatment kinetics, without additional chemicals or electro-/photo-energies. [Display omitted] • Nanoconfinement control is shown feasible to activate Fenton catalyst at neutral pH. • Mechanisms for confinement-induced surface protonation effect were revealed. • Confined treatment kinetics was maximized with enhanced •OH production and exposure. • Smart nanoreactor design involves catalyst structure, charge property, and pore size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• By considering empty and laden containers, this paper investigates the LSHLPECR. • A MILP (mixed integer linear program) is presented for formulating the LSHLPECR. • In terms of the solution of our MILP, this paper further investigates the CLPP. • PCLPs at various ports are obtained by using inverse optimization. Considering the influence of economies of scale and ship capacity on empty container repositioning, using foldable containers and container leasing may be effective ways to save the operating costs of liner shipping companies. Considering the minimization of the transportation costs of empty and laden containers, this paper studies a liner shipping hub location problem with empty container repositioning (LSHLPECR) considering foldable containers. We propose a mixed integer linear program (MILP) for the formulation of the LSHLPECR. In terms of the optimal solution of our MILP, this paper further explores the container leasing pricing problem (CLPP), where our aim is to obtain perceived container leasing prices (PCLPs) utilizing the inverse optimization technique. Numerical experiments verify the effectiveness of the studied problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanozymes with peroxidase-mimicking activities have been extensively explored for hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2) detection. However, the conventional nanozyme assay with suspensions suffer the limitations of restricted available surface, loss of short-lived radicals, and slow reaction in non-acidic conditions, thus have a greatly reduced detection sensitivity. We here proposed to overcome these drawbacks by constructing aligned nanoreactor sensor with Fe 3 O 4 nanozymes distributed alongside the nanochannels of anodized aluminum oxide (termed as NR-Fe 3 O 4), which allowed for a spatially confined nanozyme reactions (ca. 5 nm) operated under a filtration reaction mode. We presented the unique merits of NR-Fe 3 O 4 on H 2 O 2 detection compared to Fe 3 O 4 nanozyme suspensions, together with the mechanism discussion about how the radical production and capturing got maximized under the confinement. As a result, our NR-Fe 3 O 4 sensor featured a highly sensitive H 2 O 2 detection with a linear concentration from 10 to 5000 nM (detection limit of 0.9 nM), expanded workable pH to neutral, and enhanced nanozyme stability for at least 8 h continuous run. We further showed the great feasibility of using NR-Fe 3 O 4 sensor in complex water matrices for H 2 O 2 detection, as it allowed for a pore rejection of background organics which in turn protected the internal radicals for a capturing and signal magnification. Our findings highlight the great interest of constructing confinement nanoreactors as an innovative approach of enhancing H 2 O 2 detection sensitivity based on the nanozyme assay. [Display omitted] • Aligned Fe 3 O 4 nanoreactors was designed for high-performance H 2 O 2 sensing. • Nanoconfinement significantly enhanced the sensitivity for H 2 O 2 detection. • Nanoconfinement enhanced Fe 3 O 4 nanozyme activity and stability. • Fe 3 O 4 nanoreactors allow for selective H 2 O 2 detection in complex water matrices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Investigate an integrated berth allocation, yard assignment and quay crane assignment problem in multiple cooperative terminals; • Propose a mixed integer nonlinear programming model; • Present a tailored adaptive large neighborhood search embedded with column generation and CPLEX. To further enhance the service level of a transshipment container port, this work considers terminal cooperation in terms of shore-side and yard-side resource sharing. This work proposes an integrated berth allocation, quay crane assignment and yard assignment problem in multiple cooperative terminals. In the proposed problem, container flow movements are classified into three types, i.e., import, export and transshipment containers, within a terminal and between terminals. A mixed integer nonlinear programming model is proposed for the proposed problem, aiming to minimize the total operating costs at all terminals considered. To address real-size instances, a tailored adaptive large neighborhood search (ALNS) embedded with column generation and CPLEX is proposed. Numerical experiments on different problem scales are provided to assess the proposed model and the proposed ALNS. Numerical experiments show that, i) the proposed algorithm can solve the instances with 4 terminals and 100 arriving vessels in less than 3 min; ii) compared with the two models without considering port cooperation and integrated optimization, the cost reduction obtained by our model is up to 14.02% and 22.00%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Port operators provide attractive port charges, and liner shipping companies make decisions on ship scheduling, in accordance with port charges. This paper proposes a liner ship scheduling problem with time-dependent port charges. Empirical studies on the ship arrival time distribution basically show a periodic phenomenon, which can be used to support the reasonability and validity of our time-dependent port charge scheme. To address our problem under different scenarios, we propose two mixed-integer nonlinear programming models, where the nonlinear objective functions can be linearized by using an outer approximation method. Numerical experiments are provided to analyze the effectiveness of our port charge scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

N6-methyladenosine (m6A) is the most abundant RNA modification of mammalian mRNAs and plays a vital role in many diseases, especially tumours. In recent years, m6A has become the topic of intense discussion in epigenetics. M6A modification is dynamically regulated by methyltransferases, demethylases and RNA-binding proteins. Ovarian cancer (OC) is a common but highly fatal malignancy in female. Increasing evidence shows that changes in m6A levels and the dysregulation of m6A regulators are associated with the occurrence, development or prognosis of OC. In this review, the latest studies on m6A and its regulators in OC have been summarized, and we focus on the key role of m6A modification in the development and progression of OC. Additionally, we also discuss the potential use of m6A modification and its regulators in the diagnosis and treatment of OC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Not only glycolysis but also lncRNAs play a significant role in the growth, proliferation, invasion and metastasis of of ovarian cancer (OC). However, researches about glycolysis -related lncRNAs (GRLs) remain unclear in OC. Herein, we first constructed a GRL-based risk model for patients with OC. Methods: The processed RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) profiles with clinicopathological data were downloaded from TCGA and glycolysis-related genes (GRGs) were obtained from MSigDB. Pearson correlation coefficient between glycolysis-related genes (GRGs) and annotated lncRNAs (|r| > 0.4 and p < 0.05) were calculated to identify GRLs. After screening prognostic GRLs, a risk model based on five GRLs was constructed using Univariate and Cox regression. The identified risk model was validated by two validation sets. Further, the differences in clinicopathology, biological function, hypoxia score, immune microenvironment, immune checkpoint, immune checkpoint blockade, chemotherapy drug sensitivity, N6-methyladenosine (m6A) regulators, and ferroptosis-related genes between risk groups were explored by abundant algorithms. Finally, we established networks based on co-expression, ceRNA, cis and trans interaction. Results: A total of 535 GRLs were gained and 35 GRLs with significant prognostic value were identified. The prognostic signature containing five GRLs was constructed and validated and can predict prognosis. The nomogram proved the accuracy of the model for predicting prognosis. After computing hypoxia score of each sample by ssGSEA, we found patients with higher risk scores exhibited higher hypoxia score and high hypoxia score was a risk factor. It was revealed that a total of 21 microenvironment cells (such as Central memory CD4 T cell, Neutrophil, Regulatory T cell and so on) and Stromal score had significant differences between the two groups. Four immune checkpoint genes (CD274, LAG3, VTCN1, and CD47) showed disparate expression levels in the two groups. Besides, 16 m6A regulators and 126 ferroptosis-related genes were expressed higher in the low-risk group. GSEA revealed that the risk groups were associated with tumor-related pathways. The two risk groups were confirmed to be sensitive to several chemotherapeutic agents and patients in the low-risk group were more sensitive to ICB therapy. The networks based on co-expression, ceRNA, cis and trans interaction provided insights into the regulatory mechanisms of GRLs. Conclusions: Our identified and validated risk model based on five GRLs is an independent prognostic factor for OC patients. Through comprehensive analyses, findings of our study uncovered potential biomarker and therapeutic target for the risk model based on the GRLs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Both N6-methyladenosine (m6A) modification and lncRNAs play an important role in the carcinogenesis and cancer inhibition of ovarian cancer (OC). However, lncRNAs involved in m6A regulation (LI-m6As) have never been reported in OC. Herein, we aimed to identify and validate a signature based on LI-m6A for OC. Methods: RNA sequencing profiles with corresponding clinical information associated with OC and 23 m6A regulators were extracted from TCGA. The Pearson correlation coefficient (PCC) between lncRNAs and 23 m6A regulators (|PCC|> 0.4 and p < 0.01) was calculated to identify LI-m6As. The LI-m6As with significant prognostic value were screened based on univariate Cox regression analysis to construct a risk model by LASSO Cox regression. Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) was implemented to survey the biological functions of the risk groups. Several clinicopathological characteristics were utilized to evaluate their ability to predict prognosis, and a nomogram was constructed to evaluate the accuracy of survival prediction. Besides, immune microenvironment, checkpoint, and drug sensitivity in the two risk groups were compared using comprehensive algorithms. Finally, real-time qPCR analysis and cell counting kit-8 assays were performed on an alternative lncRNA, CACNA1G-AS1. Results: The training cohort involving 258 OC patients and the validation cohort involving 111 OC patients were downloaded from TCGA. According to the PCC between the m6A regulators and lncRNAs, 129 LI-m6As were obtained to perform univariate Cox regression analysis and then 10 significant prognostic LI-m6As were identified. A prognostic signature containing four LI-m6As (AC010894.3, ACAP2-IT1, CACNA1G-AS1, and UBA6-AS1) was constructed according to the LASSO Cox regression analysis of the 10 LI-m6As. The prognostic signature was validated to show completely opposite prognostic value in the two risk groups and adverse overall survival (OS) in several clinicopathological characteristics. GSEA indicated that differentially expressed genes in disparate risk groups were enriched in several tumor-related pathways. At the same time, we found significant differences in some immune cells and chemotherapeutic agents between the two groups. An alternative lncRNA, CACNA1G-AS1, was proven to be upregulated in 30 OC specimens and 3 OC cell lines relative to control. Furthermore, knockdown of CACNA1G‐AS1 was proven to restrain the multiplication capacity of OC cells. Conclusions: Based on the four LI-m6As (AC010894.3, ACAP2-IT1, CACNA1G-AS1, and UBA6-AS1), the risk model we identified can independently predict the OS and therapeutic value of OC. CACNA1G‐AS1 was preliminarily proved to be a malignant lncRNA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acute generalized exanthematous pustulosis (AGEP) is a severe cutaneous drug reaction. Bullous pemphigoid (BP) is an acquired autoimmune disease that might be associated with drugs. There is currently no report of tripterygium glycosides (TG)‐induced AGEP‐like lesions combined with BP. A 66‐year‐old male with a 20‐year history of psoriasis was prescribed oral TG at 1 mg/kg, three times a day, due to aggravated psoriasis. Seven days later, erythemas, and blisters appeared. After another 3 days, there were two types of blisters: (1) numerous small tension blisters with a lot of neutrophils on the top similar to AGEP combined with BP; (2) a BP. After intravenous injection of methylprednisolone and gamma globulin, the lesions were controlled. This patient developed two types of lesions, including one similar to AGEP combined BP (AGEP‐like) and a BP. It is a rare drug reaction induced by TG. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Different transportation modes interrelate in intermodal transportation. Previous researches on intermodal transportation mainly investigate policy, network design, cargo routing or drayage operations. In order to explore the coordination between two connected transportation modes, this paper considers the connection between inland transportation and maritime container transportation. By making use of different container arrival patterns resulted from inland transportation, this paper focuses on liner ship scheduling with sailing speed optimization, as well as considering the container storage cost at each port. The studied problem is formulated as a mixed-integer nonlinear programming model, which is efficiently solved by using an outer-approximation method. Numerical results show that the optimal ship schedule varies with different container arrival patterns, and this influence is also related to the container storage cost and the bunker price. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] The total syntheses of berberine hydrochloride and its analogues were achieved by a convergent strategy from available meconine derivatives, which were based on base mediated isoquinoline annulation followed by trifluoroacetic anhydride promoted decarbonylative elimination protocol. Key elements of our approach feature divergent synthesis, step-economy manner, multigram scalable synthesis, transition metal-free and chromatography-free purification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We explored nanoconfinement control to activate aqueous •O 2 −for PFOA defluorination. • Nanoconfinement partially frustrated •O 2 − hydration and enhanced its nucleophilicity. • Layered FeOCl structure with confined Fenton reaction enables mineralization of PFOA. • FeOCl-packed membrane achieved highly efficient and cost-effective mineralization. Superoxide radical (•O 2 −) is capable of degrading perfluorinated compounds that are persistent in nature and cannot be removed by biological or advanced oxidation treatments, but the inherent drawback is the negligible reactivity of •O 2 −in aqueous phases due to the hydration effect. Here, we explored an innovative way to make use of •O 2 − by modulating a partial hydration state through spatial confinement control. We demonstrated this idea by conducting heterogeneous Fenton reaction with layered iron oxychloride (FeOCl) catalyst, wherein •O 2 −radicals produced and confined within the catalyst structure (interlayer spacing of 7.92 Å) showed defluorination effect dealing with perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) as model compound. The defluorination combined with advanced oxidation achieved mineralization. Mechanism study revealed that the confinement frustrated the hydration shell of •O 2 −with coordination number reduced from 3.3 (for bulk phase) to 1.89, and thereby changed its orbital electron properties and enhanced the nucleophilic ability. We further demonstrated a compact FeOCl membrane reactor with highly efficient degradation of PFOA (k obs up to 1.2 min−1) and cost-effective mineralization (2 × 10−6 $ per mgC), operated under ultrafiltration reaction mode. Our findings highlight the great interest of developing spatial confinement technology to modulate •O 2 −-based reactions, as well as the feasibility of combining confinement catalyst structures with heterogeneous Fenton reaction to achieve the mineralization treatment goal. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Investigate the maximal detour liner shipping hub location problem; • Improve the applicability of the p -hub center problem; • Devise an improved Benders decomposition algorithm. This paper investigates a novel maximal detour hub location problem arising in liner shipping, referred to as a maximal detour liner shipping hub location problem, which can be regarded as a novel p -hub center problem. Different from conventional formulations of the p -hub center problem, both cost and service can be kept at a good level based on our investigated problem, although economic objectives are not considered in our problem. By considering origin–destination (OD) path based detour and sub-path based detours, we propose three mixed-integer linear programming models for our problem. The proposed formulations with sub-path based detours can be efficiently solved by CPLEX. To efficiently solve our formulation with OD path based detour, we propose an improved Benders decomposition algorithm, where the inspection strategy, the heuristic strategy and the multi-cut strategy are developed for improving algorithm efficiency. Finally, we provide numerical experiments to account for the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed formulations and algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The new complex [Dy(Htar)3 (H2 O)3]n (1) was synthesized by the single crystal to single crystal transformation method using(+)-di-p-toluoyl-D-tartaric acid (D-H2 DTTA) as raw material and reaction with mentalic Dy(III) salt. The complex was characterized by elemental analysis, IR spectroscopy, single crystal X-ray diffraction, powder X-ray diffraction analysis and thermogravimetric analysis and differential thermal analysis(TGA-DTA). The results of X-ray crystallographic analysis indicate that complex 1 belongs to trigonal system, space group R3 with a = b = 2. 723 16 (14) nm, c =0.762 75(6) nm, α = β =90.00&#176l, γ = 120.00&#176l, V = 4.898 5 (6) nm³, Z = 3, and Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre (CCDC) number is 1498504. Each Dy3 + is surrounded by six O atoms from three Htar- ligands and three O atoms from three coordinated water molecules, forming a tricapped trigonal prism geometry with nine coordination property. Complex 1 exhibits an infinite one dimensional chain structure connected by O1 and O5 along c axis, with the Dy...Dy distance of 0.762 8(1) nm. Complex 1 was obtained through single crystal to single crystal transformation process from [Dy(HDTTA)3 (CH3 OH)3 ]n, which includes ester hydrolysis and water molecules substitution two reactions. Complex 1 has a certain thermal stability. After taking off the coordinated water molecules in the range of 45 ~ 166 °C, the skeleton of 1 begins to collapse with increasing temperature above 166 °C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, an electric (E) field generator is developed to generate uniform and high-strength E-fields at multiple frequencies. The system can be used to assess the radio frequency (RF) hazards of implantable medical devices (IMDs) in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) environments. The novel system consists of three parts: 1) a signal generating and amplifying block; 2) a four-channel feeding network; and 3) a rectangular resonator box. Mixed modes are utilized to generate locally uniform E-fields inside the rectangular resonator at both 64 and 128 MHz. RF-induced heating for two passive IMD families are evaluated using both numerical and experimental methods inside the E-field generator. These results are compared with those obtained from standard American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM) phantom testing. The results show that the novel E-field generator is capable of evaluating RF-induced heating for passive IMDs similar to that of the ASTM phantom. Furthermore, it integrates both 1.5- and 3-T RF-induced heating tests in a single system. It is much simpler compared to the ASTM test method which needs the RF coil as a source. Consequently, this small and efficient E-field generator can be used as an alternative system for RF-induced heating tests of passive IMDs in the MRI environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cervical cancer (CC) is a common gynecological malignancy for which prognostic and therapeutic biomarkers are urgently needed. The signature based on immune-related lncRNAs (IRLs) of CC has never been reported. This study is aimed at establishing an IRL signature for patients with CC. A cohort of 326 CC and 21 normal tissue samples with corresponding clinical information was included in this study. Twenty-eight IRLs were collected according to the Pearson correlation analysis between the immune score and lncRNA expression (p < 0.01). Four IRLs (BZRAP1-AS1, EMX2OS, ZNF667-AS1, and CTC-429P9.1) with the most significant prognostic values (p < 0.05) were identified which demonstrated an ability to stratify patients into the low-risk and high-risk groups by developing a risk score model. It was observed that patients in the low-risk group showed longer overall survival (OS) than those in the high-risk group in the training set, valid set, and total set. The area under the curve (AUC) of the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC curve) for the four-IRL signature in predicting the one-, two-, and three-year survival rates was larger than 0.65. In addition, the low-risk and high-risk groups displayed different immune statuses in GSEA. These IRLs were also significantly correlated with immune cell infiltration. Our results showed that the IRL signature had a prognostic value for CC. Meanwhile, the specific mechanisms of the four IRLs in the development of CC were ascertained preliminarily. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphene oxide (GO) with abundant oxygen-containing groups was chosen as the support for the NH3-SCR catalysts. The as-prepared catalysts were systematically characterized to elucidate the effects of the surface properties and the morphological structure on catalytic activity by Raman, XPS, XRD, SEM, TEM, BET, NH3-TPD, and H2-TPR. It was found that compared with widely researched Graphene (GR), abundant oxygen-containing groups on the surface of GO provided the load sites and further promoted the dispersion of active component, which indicating the much more active sites exposed and further the better catalytic activity shown. Furthermore, the oxygen-containing groups like hydroxyl (-OH) and carboxyl (-COOH) could provide some Brønsted acid sites. After the loading of MnOx, the degree of graphitization of GO increased sharply, indicating the better electron transport and strong chemical interaction between GO and MnOx. Furthermore, the best load amount was found and the acidity was the main reason for the optimalizing performance on Mn-5/GO at low temperature. Besides, not only large specific area, but also outstanding redox performance and high dispersion of active component all contributed to the excellent performance of Mn-5/GO. Over all, this work formulated the advantages of GO worked as the support for SCR catalysts and significantly extended the cognition of GO and the selection basis of supports for the low-temperature NH3-SCR reaction. The abundant oxygen-containing groups on the GO surface promoted the dispersion of the active material (MnOx) and also provided some weak acid sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a generic method to reduce the radiofrequency (RF) induced heating of external fixation devices during the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) procedure. A simplified equivalent circuit model was developed to illustrate the interaction between the external fixation device and the MRI RF field. Carefully designed mechanical structures, which utilize capacitive reactance from the circuit model, were applied to the external fixation device to mitigate the coupling between the external fixation device and the MRI RF field for RF-induced heating reduction. Both numerical and experimental studies were performed to demonstrate the validity of the circuit model and the effectiveness of the proposed method. By adding capacitive structures in both the clamp-pin and rod-clamp joints, the peak specific absorption rate averaged in 1 gram (SAR1g) near the pin tips were reduced from 760.4 W kg−1 to 12.0 W kg−1 at 1.5 T and 391.5 W kg−1 to 25.2 W kg−1 at 3 T from numerical simulations. Experimental results showed that RF-induced heating was reduced from 7.85 °C to 1.01 °C at 1.5 T and from 16.70 °C to 0.32 °C at 3 T for the external fixation device studied here. The carefully designed capacitive structures can be used to detune the coupling between the external fixation device and the MRI fields to reduce the RF-induced heating in the human body for both 1.5 T and 3 T MRI systems. However, as RF-induced heating is very device and design specific all devices must be thoroughly tested based on its final design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we discuss the model validation for active implantable medical devices (AIMDs) used for safety evaluations under magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) radio frequency (RF) coil emission. A mathematical derivation is presented to provide the guidance on selecting meaningful pathways for the model validation. Suggested validation pathways from current ISO 10974 are used as examples. It is shown that these standard pathways are: 1) inefficient since validations from several pathways are theoretically redundant and 2) incomplete or false since significantly different AIMD models can have identical validation outputs. Based on the developed guidance, two sets of pathways are proposed. It is demonstrated that for efficient and correct model validation, the electric-field distributions along validation pathways should be orthogonal to each other or at least has low correlations between each other. These guidelines can be implemented for future AIMD model validations in ISO10974. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a study on strategies of searching for the worst case configuration of a multi-configuration implantable system under magnetic resonance imaging, which induces the highest radio frequency energy exposure among all possible configurations. The strategies are usually based on parameter search to avoid brutal study of a huge number of possible configurations. Comparison studies of four different searching strategies, i.e., single sequential search, sequential search with the second worst case validations, hotspots-based sequential search, and multi-iteration sequential search, are evaluated. It is found that the initial configuration and sequence of parameter search can significantly affect the searched worst case configuration. For the multi-configuration system considered in this investigation, the simple sequential search strategy leads to a high probability of search failure, which means that the worst case configuration may be easily missed. Single sequential search with the second worst case validations and multi-iteration sequential search can significantly reduce the probability of search failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, an absorbing radio frequency shield (ARFS) is developed to reduce the radio frequency (RF)-induced heating for active implantable medical device (AIMD) during magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Using the ARFS, the strength of the incident electric field within the shielded region is significantly decreased, and subsequently the induced temperature rises near the tip of AIMD. Both numerical and experimental studies show that the proposed design of ARFS can effectively reduce the temperature rise induced by an AIMD and can mitigate the MRI RF heating risks for patients with AIMDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A series of methods are proposed for queue length and traffic volume estimation. • Only a few assumpitions are imposed and only probe vehicle data are needed. • The methods work well even when the penetration rate of probe vehicles is low. • Test results show the methods are useful for signal control and performance measures. The rapid development of connected vehicle technology and the emergence of ride-hailing services have enabled the collection of a tremendous amount of probe vehicle trajectory data. Due to the large scale, the trajectory data have become a potential substitute for the widely used fixed-location sensors in terms of the performance measures of transportation networks. Specifically, for traffic volume and queue length estimation, most of the trajectory data based methods in the existing literature either require high market penetration of the probe vehicles to identify the shockwave or require the prior information about the queue length distribution and the penetration rate, which may not be feasible in the real world. To overcome the limitations of the existing methods, this paper proposes a series of novel methods based on probability theory. By exploiting the stopping positions of the probe vehicles in the queues, the proposed methods try to establish and solve a single-variable equation for the penetration rate of the probe vehicles. Once the penetration rate is obtained, it can be used to project the total queue length and the total traffic volume. The validation results using both simulation data and real-world data show that the methods would be accurate enough for assistance in performance measures and traffic signal control at intersections, even when the penetration rate of the probe vehicles is very low. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Propose a hub location problem considering canal effects. • Present several binary linear programming models. • Ship capacity limitation has a bigger impact on hub location around a canal. The Panama Canal and the Suez Canal are two key canals around the world, both of which have a great number of connections with other ports because of various liner shipping service routes. Liner carriers can facilitate container transshipment operations by opening hub ports around the canal. This paper aims to investigate canal effects on hub location in liner shipping. Different from the conventional hub location problem with fixed costs, our hub location problem with fixed costs can be reduced to a p-median problem, while addressing the research issue considered in the conventional hub location problem with fixed costs. In order to describe canal effects, besides its geographic location, this paper mainly considers three aspects: canal toll, canal congestion, and ship capacity limitation when passing through a canal. Several binary linear programming models are mainly developed for our hub location problem considering canal effects. Moreover, a theoretical analysis is also developed for simplified hub location around a canal. Numerical results show that ship capacity limitation has a bigger impact on hub location around a canal, as compared with canal toll and canal congestion. Such phenomenon can be partly supported by the theoretical analysis. This insight to some extent justifies the recent canal expansion projects to widen or add a new lane waterway for the Panama Canal and the Suez Canal, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a full-wave simulation-based method is proposed to determine the optimal tissue-simulating medium for magnetic resonance imaging radio-frequency safety assessment for patients with active implantable medical devices (AIMDs). Compared to the standard medium, the proposed tissue-simulating medium is optimized for each AIMD lead path in human bodies. The reciprocity-based transfer function model is used as a criterion for optimizing the medium parameters. Numerical investigations and validations are performed for a neurostimulator to demonstrate the method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to investigate the imaging characteristics of fenestrated anterior communicating artery (AcomA) aneurysm and clinical outcome of patients with fenestrated AcomA aneurysm. We performed a retrospective study of consecutive patients with AcomA aneurysms between January 2013 and December 2017. According to the vascular variations of the AcomA, the patients were divided into 2 groups: fenestrated AcomA aneurysms and non-fenestrated AcomA aneurysms. Baseline characteristics, clinical complications, and outcomes of patients were analyzed. A total of 217 patients with AcomA aneurysms were included in this study. Compared to non-fenestrated AcomA aneurysms, the size of fenestrated AcomA aneurysms was significantly smaller (P < 0.001). Moreover, the patients with fenestrated AcomA aneurysms had a higher rate of rebleeding (P = 0.036), hydrocephalus (P = 0.017), delayed cerebral ischemia (P = 0.021), and pulmonary infection (P = 0.017) than those with non-fenestrated AcomA aneurysms. According to the Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS) at follow-up, the patients with fenestrated AcomA aneurysms had a higher rate of disability (P = 0.035) (GOS 2–3) and mortality (P = 0.013) (GOS 1). Fenestrated AcomA aneurysms are associated with higher clinical complications, and identification of AcomA fenestration contributes to successful clipping of AcomA aneurysms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivated by the challenge to find a low‐cost catalyst with efficient activity for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), transition metal phosphides (TMPs) recently have been gained attentions as promising earth‐abundant alternatives to nobel metal based electrocatalysts. Here, we present a facile strategy for the synthesis of flower‐like carbon doped nickel phosphides (NiP/C) for OER catalysis, which templated by nickel phenylphosphonate through thermal treatment under H2(5%)/Ar. The phenylphosphonic acid ligand used here has excellent affinity toward metal ions and thus can act as P and C source at the molecular scale. Benefiting from the incorporation of conductive carbon and higher Ni atomic percentage provide more active sites, the sample denoted as NiP/C‐850 exhibits outstanding electrocatalytic activity, with a lower overpotential of 290 mV to achieve the current density of 10 mA⋅cm−2, a small Tafel slope of 74 mV⋅dec−1 and superior durability in 1.0 M KOH solution. This work provides insights for the rich metal organophosphonate chemistry for fabricating carbon doped metal phosphides applied to the electrochemical conversion technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the radio frequency (RF)-induced heating for helical stents under 1.5T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) birdcage RF coil electromagnetic emission.The effects of design parameters, such as pitch, gap, winding pattern, overall length, and diameter, on RF-induced heating are investigated. It is found that these parameters can have different levels of impacts on the overall heating of tissue near the stents. The peak 1 g averaged specific absorption rate (SAR), a parameter that is closely related to the RF-induced heating, is strongly influenced by the stent length and the worst-case peak 1 g averaged SAR often occurs when the stent length is around the half-wavelength of the incident electric field. The increasing diameter reduces the SAR values. At the same stent length and diameter, a higher RF-induced heating occurs for the stent with a larger pitch and a smaller gap. In addition, stents that have longer equivalent electrical lengths could reduce the heating. The SAR and current distributions are also extracted from simulation results to demonstrate the heating mechanism. Experimental measurements are performed to validate the results from simulation investigations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Hypertension is common in patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). However, it is still unclear whether premorbid antihypertensive therapy can help to reduce the risk of severe aneurysmal bleeding. Therefore, this study aims to assess the effect of premorbid hypertension control on outcome of patients with aneurysmal SAH.Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the clinical data of patients with intracranial aneurysms admitted to our institution from February 2012 to December 2017. Based on premorbid hypertension history and use of antihypertensive agents, all patients with aneurysmal SAH were divided into antihypertensive group and uncontrolled group. Patient characteristics, imaging features, clinical complication, and outcome were analyzed between the two groups.Results: A total of 348 patients with ruptured aneurysms were included in this study. Compared to those with premorbid controlled hypertension, patients with premorbid uncontrolled hypertension presented worse clinical grade, with more severe aneurysmal SAH and more frequent intracerebral hematoma. Patients receiving a treatment for ACEI type or ARB type of drugs in the antihypertensive group suffered from less amount of aneurysmal bleeding, while patients with grade 3 hypertension in the uncontrolled group suffered from more amount of aneurysmal bleeding. Patients with premorbid controlled hypertension had a lower incidence of rebleeding, hydrocephalus, and cerebral vasospasm, and had a lower rate of disability and mortality.Conclusions: Premorbid hypertension control is associated with favorable clinical outcome of patients with aneurysmal SAH. Besides, the ACEI type or ARB type of antihypertensive agents is associated with the less amount of bleeding after aneurysm rupture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Propose a global hub location problem in liner shipping. • Community structure is properly used to split our problem into some subproblems. • Present a two-stage optimization method to efficiently solve our problem. Abstract This paper proposes a global hub location problem (GHLP) in liner shipping considering community structure. A two-stage optimization method is developed to solve the proposed problem. In the first stage, ports are partitioned into different communities by using a community detection algorithm. In the second stage, we determine the location of hub ports for various communities, respectively. The optimal hub location solution for each considered community can be independently determined. Then the problem size can be sharply decreased. More importantly, we find that it forms a community structure based optimal solution of the GHLP by combining the optimal hub location solutions for all considered communities. Numerical experiments are carried out to account for the effectiveness of our two-stage optimization method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the advent of connected and automated vehicle technology, in this paper, we propose an innovative intersection operation scheme named as MCross: M aximum C apacity inte R section O peration S cheme with S ignals. This new scheme maximizes intersection capacity by utilizing all lanes of a road simultaneously. Lane assignment and green durations are dynamically optimized by solving a multi-objective mixed-integer non-linear programming problem. The demand conditions under which full capacity can be achieved in MCross are derived analytically. Numerical examples show that MCross can almost double the intersection capacity (increase by as high as 99.51% in comparison to that in conventional signal operation scheme). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a transmission line model is applied to evaluate magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) radio frequency (RF)-induced fields on active implantable medical devices (AIMDs). The influences of the AIMD lead body, the lead tip, and the implantable pulse generator (IPG) are analyzed based on this model. The transmission line model, together with the transfer function method, forms a systematic approach for analyzing the MRI RF safety problems. It can be used to understand the mechanisms and predict the MRI RF safety risks for various IPGs and leads. Both numerical simulation and measurement results demonstrate the accuracy and the efficiency of this method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Precious metal-free hybrid photocatalysts with low cost and high efficiency of photocatalytic H 2 evolution are of great significance for clean energy. Herein, we report that oxygen-incorporation in Co 2 P, a noble metal-free co-catalyst used for forming a hetero-structure photocatalyst CdS/o-Co 2 P, greatly improves the efficiency and durability for photocatalytic hydrogen production from water. Regulating the kinetics of water reduction by different oxygen incorporation levels (determined by phosphorization time) was investigated to optimize the activity of photocatalytic H 2 evolution. The intimate interaction between the CdS nanorods and cocatalyst o-Co 2 P enhances the separation of the photo-generated electron–hole pairs. Consequently, the optimal loading content of o-Co 2 P is 5 wt% for CdS, phosphorization time is 80 min, giving a photocatalytic H 2 production rate of 184.48 mmol g −1  h −1 , and the apparent quantum yield at 420 nm over CdS/o-Co 2 P-5 wt% reaches 22.17%. This study provides a simple method for constructing low cost and high performance photocatalysts, which enhance photocatalytic H 2 evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]