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The ability to climb is crucial for terrestrial robots to expand their scope of application with improved navigation capacity. While some soft climbing devices are available, they often lack versatility when it comes to adapting to rough surfaces and changes in terrains. In this regard, a piezo‐based soft robot with bioinspired footpads has been developed that can deliver superior climbing performance. Through their unprecedented directional friction, these footpads enable the robot to complete rigorous climbing tasks on surfaces with a climbing angle of 0–180° and a variety of roughness from ultra‐smooth to millimeter‐scale. With a unique slide‐swing gait, the robot is able to complete fast climbing on a 90° substrate at a speed of 1.4 body lengths per second (BL/s) and self‐transitional climbing on surfaces with a roughness difference of 11 µm and an angle change of 60° in 5 s without active control. A scaled down version of this climber is also presented with increased mobility to traverse steps of 3 body heights and slits of 0.75 BH effectively. In summary, the development of this soft robot with highly directional footpads paves the way for soft robots to navigate varied surfaces and ascend challenging terrains with improved mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shadow detection is a new method for video synthetic aperture radar moving target indication (ViSAR-GMTI). The shadow formed by the target occlusion will reflect its real position, preventing the defocusing or offset of the moving target from making it difficult to identify the target during imaging. To achieve high-precision shadow detection, this paper proposes a video SAR moving target shadow-detection algorithm based on low-rank sparse decomposition combined with trajectory area extraction. Based on the low-rank sparse decomposition (LRSD) model, the algorithm creates a new decomposition framework combined with total variation (TV) regularization and coherence suppression items to improve the decomposition effect, and a global constraint is constructed to suppress interference using feature operators. In addition, it cooperates with the double threshold trajectory segmentation and error trajectory elimination method to further improve the detection performance. Finally, an experiment was carried out based on the video SAR data released by Sandia National Laboratory (SNL); the results prove the effectiveness of the proposed method, and the detection performance of the method is proved by comparative experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The sinoatrial node (SAN) functions as the pacemaker of the heart, initiating rhythmic heartbeats. Despite its importance, the SAN is one of the most poorly understood cardiac entities because of its small size and complex composition and function. The Hippo signaling pathway is a molecular signaling pathway fundamental to heart development and regeneration. Although abnormalities of the Hippo pathway are associated with cardiac arrhythmias in human patients, the role of this pathway in the SAN is unknown.Methods: We investigated key regulators of the Hippo pathway in SAN pacemaker cells by conditionally inactivating the Hippo signaling kinases Lats1 and Lats2 using the tamoxifen-inducible, cardiac conduction system-specific Cre driver Hcn4CreERT2 with Lats1 and Lats2 conditional knockout alleles. In addition, the Hippo-signaling effectors Yap and Taz were conditionally inactivated in the SAN. To determine the function of Hippo signaling in the SAN and other cardiac conduction system components, we conducted a series of physiological and molecular experiments, including telemetry ECG recording, echocardiography, Masson Trichrome staining, calcium imaging, immunostaining, RNAscope, cleavage under targets and tagmentation sequencing using antibodies against Yap1 or H3K4me3, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, and Western blotting. We also performed comprehensive bioinformatics analyses of various datasets.Results: We found that Lats1/2 inactivation caused severe sinus node dysfunction. Compared with the controls, Lats1/2 conditional knockout mutants exhibited dysregulated calcium handling and increased fibrosis in the SAN, indicating that Lats1/2 function through both cell-autonomous and non-cell-autonomous mechanisms. It is notable that the Lats1/2 conditional knockout phenotype was rescued by genetic deletion of Yap and Taz in the cardiac conduction system. These rescued mice had normal sinus rhythm and reduced fibrosis of the SAN, indicating that Lats1/2 function through Yap and Taz. Cleavage Under Targets and Tagmentation sequencing data showed that Yap potentially regulates genes critical for calcium homeostasis such as Ryr2 and genes encoding paracrine factors important in intercellular communication and fibrosis induction such as Tgfb1 and Tgfb3. Consistent with this, Lats1/2 conditional knockout mutants had decreased Ryr2 expression and increased Tgfb1 and Tgfb3 expression compared with control mice.Conclusions: We reveal, for the first time to our knowledge, that the canonical Hippo-Yap pathway plays a pivotal role in maintaining SAN homeostasis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Steganographer detection aims to identify guilty users who conceal secret information in a number of images for the purpose of covert communication in social networks. Existing steganographer detection methods focus on designing discriminative features but do not explore relationship between image features or effectively represent users based on features. In these methods, each image is recognized as an equivalent, and each user is regarded as the distribution of all images shared by the corresponding user. However, the nuances of guilty users and innocent users are difficult to recognize with this flattened method. In this paper, the steganographer detection task is formulated as a multiple-instance learning problem in which each user is considered to be a bag, and the shared images are multiple instances in the bag. Specifically, we propose a similarity accumulation graph convolutional network to represent each user as a complete weighted graph, in which each node corresponds to features extracted from an image and the weight of an edge is the similarity between each pair of images. The constructed unit in the network can take advantage of the relationships between instances so that common patterns of positive instances can be enhanced via similarity accumulations. Instead of operating on a fixed original graph, we propose a novel strategy for reconstructing and pooling graphs based on node features to iteratively operate multiple convolutions. This strategy can effectively address oversmoothing problems that render nodes indistinguishable although they share different instance-level labels. Compared with the state-of-the-art method and other representative graph-based models, the proposed framework demonstrates its effectiveness and reliability ability across image domains, even in the context of large-scale social media scenarios. Moreover, the experimental results also indicate that the proposed network can be generalized to other multiple-instance learning problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Steganographer detection is to detect culprit users, who attempt to hide confidential information with steganography, among many innocent users. By incorporating the knowledge of true embedding probability map that illustrates the probability distribution of embedding messages in the corresponding image, content-adaptive steganography and steganalysis have made great progress. Unfortunately, true embedding probability map is inappropriate for steganographer detection method due to the significant challenges that the steganographic algorithm and the embedding payload are usually unknown in the task of steganographer detection. In this paper, we propose a novel content-adaptive selective steganographer detection method incorporated with learning-based embedding probability estimation. The embedding probability estimation is first formulated as a pixel-wise segmentation and recognition problem and is integrated into multi-class dilated residual learning model to extract the discriminative features. In the end, the steganographer is identified by local factor outlier with the selective strategy. Extensive experiments demonstrate that the estimated embedding probability map shows robustness against different steganographic algorithms and different payloads. From our experiments, we also find that the proposed content-adaptive selective steganographer detection framework integrated by the estimated embedding probability map achieves low detection error rates in both spatial and frequency domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a super-resolution Doppler beam sharpening (DBS) imaging method in the wide-area surveillance mode based on the iterative adaptive approach (IAA). DBS imaging is an effective technique to improve the azimuth resolution in the wide-area surveillance mode. However, the conventional DBS imaging, which is realized by fast Fourier transform (FFT) method, suffers from poor resolutions and high sidelobes. In this paper, the IAA algorithm is introduced to replace the FFT method in the DBS imaging, in order to enhance resolution and reduce sidelobe levels. Both simulation and real data processing have validated the effectiveness of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Cardiac conduction disease is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. There is considerable clinical significance and an emerging need of early detection of these diseases for preventive treatment success before more severe arrhythmias occur. However, developing such early screening tools is challenging due to the lack of early electrocardiograms (ECGs) before symptoms occur in patients. Mouse models are widely used in cardiac arrhythmia research. The goal of this paper is to develop deep learning models to predict cardiac conduction diseases in mice using their early ECGs. We hypothesize that mutant mice present subtle abnormalities in their early ECGs before severe arrhythmias present. These subtle patterns can be detected by deep learning though they are hard to be identified by human eyes. We propose a deep transfer learning model, DeepMiceTL, which leverages knowledge from human ECGs to learn mouse ECG patterns. We further apply the Bayesian optimization and |$k$| -fold cross validation methods to tune the hyperparameters of the DeepMiceTL. Our results show that DeepMiceTL achieves a promising performance (F1-score: 83.8%, accuracy: 84.8%) in predicting the occurrence of cardiac conduction diseases using early mouse ECGs. This study is among the first efforts that use state-of-the-art deep transfer learning to identify ECG patterns during the early course of cardiac conduction disease in mice. Our approach not only could help in cardiac conduction disease research in mice, but also suggest a feasibility for early clinical diagnosis of human cardiac conduction diseases and other types of cardiac arrythmias using deep transfer learning in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Property-oriented design of RAFM steels can greatly enhance the opportunity to discover high-performance structural materials for fusion reactors, which has always been a big challenge. In the present work, the forward and reverse models are established, which are used to capture the mutual relationship of compositions and heat treatment conditions to tensile properties. The intelligent design model, combining the forward model with the reverse model, is developed to design the compositions and heat treatment parameters for RAFM steels with the targeted tensile properties. The validity of the intelligent design model is verified by the experimental data of three RAFM steels reported in the relevant literatures. Using this intelligent design model, a new type of RAFM steel was designed and prepared. In the test temperature range of 25–600 °C, the ultimate tensile strength of the new RAFM steel is ∼100–400 MPa higher than the conventional RAFM steels while maintaining comparable elongation. Therefore, this strategy is suitable for the property-oriented design of RAFM steels and can also be considered as a very promising approach to develop high-performance structural materials. • The forward model based on GBR algorithm was used to predict the tensile properties of RAFM steels with high accuracy. • The intelligent design model was developed for the property-oriented compositional and processing design of RAFM steels. • The UTS of the newly designed RAFM steel was ~100–400 MPa higher than that of the conventional RAFM steels at 25–600 °C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been reported in our previous work that degrading A-ring of tetracycline (TC) needs a photocatalyst possessing very negative conduction band edge (CBE) or very positive valence band edge (VBE). In this work, three n-type semiconductors with very negative CBE （SrTiO 3 (CBE: ~−0.81 V); Sr 2 WO 5 (CBE: ~−2.10 V); Sr 3 WO 6 (CBE: ~−1.26)) and one p-type semiconductor with very positive VBE (SrWO 4 (VBE: ~4.42 V)) were chosen or found, and with which a composite with z-scheme heterojunctions and p-n junctions was prepared. It has been found that the reaction constant rate of composite with the ratio Sr/W of 7.5% (CSWT75) is 3.4 times of that of as-prepared pure SrTiO 3. CSWT75 can completely degrade the B, C and D rings of TC in 60 min and degrade 98% of the A ring of TC in 90 min. It is concluded that the good photocatalytic properties could originate from the very negative CBE of the components, as well as that the effect of positive VBE potential like that of SrWO 4 (4.42 V) on degrading A-ring of TC is larger than that of negative CBE potential like in SrTiO 3 (−0.81), but less than that of negative CBE potential like in Sr 3 WO 6 (−1.26). This study identified two new semiconductors with highly negative CBEs. This work also implies that a z-scheme structured composite hybridizing homeotype-semiconductors with very negative CBE favors in degrading A ring of TC. [Display omitted] • Two n-type semiconductors with very negative CBE and one p-type semiconductor with very positive VBE were found: Sr 2 WO 5 (CBE: ~−2.10 V), Sr 3 WO 6 (CBE: ~−1.26)), (SrWO 4 (VBE: ~4.42 V). • The composite with the ratio Sr/W of 7.5% (CSWT75) is 3.4 times of that of as-prepared pure SrTiO 3. CSWT75 can completely degrade the B, C and D rings of tetracycline (TC) in 60 min and degrade 98% A ring of TC in 90 min. • The effect of positive VBE potential like that of SrWO 4 (4.42 V) on degrading A-ring of TC is larger than that of negative CBE potential like in SrTiO 3 (−0.81), but less than that of negative CBE potential like in Sr 3 WO 6 (−1.26). • A route to obtaining very negative CBE for effectively degrading A ring of TC: choosing semiconductors with very negative CBE to form the z-scheme junction. Degrading the A-ring of tetracycline (TC) requires a photocatalyst with either a very negative conduction band edge (CBE) or a very positive valence band edge (VBE). In this work, a SrTiO 3 -based composite with a Sr/W ratio of 7.5% (CSWT75) was prepared by hybridizing the following components: n-type semiconductor Sr 2 WO 5 with CBE of –2.10 V, n-type semiconductor SrWO 4 with a VBE of 4.42 V, and p-type semiconductor Sr 3 WO 6 with CBE of–1.26 V, resulting in formation of z-scheme and p-n heterojunctions. Over CSWT75, the photodegradation rate of the B, C, and D rings of TC was 100% in 60 min and that of A ring was 98% in 90 min. The reaction rate constant of CSWT75 was found to be 3.4-fold that of the as-prepared pure SrTiO 3. It is found that a high positive VBE potential like that of SrWO 4 4.42 V is more effective on degrading A-ring than a negative CBE potential −0.81 of SrTiO 3 , but less effective than a negative CBE potential −1.26 V of Sr 3 WO 6. This study identified two new semiconductors with highly negative CBEs. This work also implys that a z-scheme structured composite hybridizing homeotype-semiconductors with very negative CBE favors in degrading A ring of TC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The bone morphogenetic protein (Bmp) signaling pathway and the basic helix–loop–helix (bHLH) transcription factor Hand1 are known key regulators of cardiac development. In this study, we investigated the Bmp signaling regulation of Hand1 during cardiac outflow tract (OFT) development. In Bmp2 and Bmp4loss-of-function embryos with varying levels of Bmp in the heart, Hand1 is sensitively decreased in response to the dose of Bmp expression. In contrast, Hand1 in the heart is dramatically increased in Bmp4 gain-of-function embryos. We further identified and characterized the Bmp/Smad regulatory elements in Hand1. Combined transfection assays and chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) experiments indicated that Hand1 is directly activated and bound by Smads. In addition, we found that upon the treatment of Bmp2 and Bmp4, P19 cells induced Hand1 expression and favored cardiac differentiation. Together, our data indicated that the Bmp signaling pathway directly regulates Hand1 expression in a dose-dependent manner during heart development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work studied the phase flicker of Holoeye Pluto spatial light modulator (SLM), which is a typical, pure phase and digitally addressable liquid crystal on silicon spatial light modulator (LCoS-SLM). We demonstrated a method for fast measuring the phase flicker of this kind of SLM, which uses only one photon detector to measure the intensity of the first order light diffracted by the binary grating. Our experimental results show that the higher the gray level, the more severe the phase flicker, but the average phase stability maintains about 3.1%. Our results also prove that the triangular wave model basically performs well as an approximate model of the phase flicker. Furthermore, the phase flicker waveform is mainly determined by the winner of the competition between two harmonics with frequencies of 300 Hz and 600 Hz. At the gray level of 125, the amplitude difference between the two harmonics is small, the model fails. Essentially, these results have nothing to do with the specific address voltage of the SLM, but are determined by the PWM waveform corresponding to the gray level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study on the three-dimensional optical manipulation through the combination of a diffractive optical element and a spatial light modulator (SLM). The study involves the switching of blaze-holograms displayed on the SLM to demonstrate transportation of polystyrene beads in the vertical and horizontal direction. The result reveals that the extension of the range of optical manipulation is four-fold longer in the vertical direction and three-fold in the horizontal direction.

Abstract: Variable-temperature (72–20°C) studies of Raman spectra (3100–800cm−1) and thermal analysis of multicomponent paraffin wax have been carried out. The disorder–order transition under liquid–solid transition was observed and their temperature ranges were obtained through the S lateral order parameter as a function of temperature. From 56 to 43°C, the paraffin undergoes a conformational state transition of non-extended chain state (NECS) to extended chain state (ECS). The enthalpy and entropy change for the transition obtained by van’t Hoff analysis were 214.286±21kJ/mol and 0.661±0.066kJ/mol/K, respectively. The enthalpy determined by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was 52.165±5.2kJ/mol, which is smaller than the van’t Hoff enthalpy due to larger effective non-extended chain state. The variation of Raman spectra with decreasing temperature presents the structure evolution and molecular motion during the crystallization of paraffin wax. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Moving targets are usually smeared and imaged at incorrect positions in synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images due to the target motions during the illumination time. Moreover, a moving target will cause multiple artifacts in the reconstructed image since pulse repetition frequency (PRF) operated in high-resolution wide-swath (HRWS) SAR is very low. In order to reliably indicate moving targets, a robust cancellation algorithm is derived in this paper for clutter suppression in multichannel HRWS SAR, which is free by velocity searching and covariance matrix estimation of clutter plus noise. The proposed multilayer channel-cancellation combined with the deramp processing is designed to sequentially suppress the seriously aliased clutter in HRWS SAR. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm is efficient and robust in tough situations, and have a superior detection ability in weak targets and low-velocity targets. In addition, the radial velocity estimation algorithm combined with the channel cancellation is exploited to relocate moving targets. The effectiveness of the proposed algorithms is validated by actual spaceborne SAR data acquired by a coordination experiment with two controllable vehicles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intractable cardiovascular diseases are leading causes of mortality around the world. Adult mammalian hearts have poor regenerative capacity and are not capable of self-repair after injury. Recent studies of cell-free therapeutics such as those designed to stimulate endogenous cardiac regeneration have uncovered new feasible therapeutic avenues for cardiac repair. The Hippo pathway, a fundamental pathway with pivotal roles in cell proliferation, survival and differentiation, has tremendous potential for therapeutic manipulation in cardiac regeneration. In this review, we summarize the most recent studies that have revealed the function of the Hippo pathway in heart regeneration and homeostasis. In particular, we discuss the molecular mechanisms of how the Hippo pathway maintains cardiac homeostasis by directing cardiomyocyte chromatin remodeling and regulating the cell-cell communication between cardiomyocytes and non-cardiomyocytes in the heart. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multi-principal element alloys (MPEAs) have wide promising applications. However, the composition design of MPEAs is challenging due to their vast options and complexity. To narrow down the composition options for MPEAs, a quick screening approach based on a two-parameter method was proposed for the MPEA design. Two thermodynamic parameters of the entropy-enthalpy difference ζ and the entropy-enthalpy quotient Ω mod were defined based on a new enthalpy parameter which was proposed as the summation of the weighted enthalpy modulus |Δ H | sum. The phase selection rules for solid solution MPEAs were statistically summarized from ~200 experimental data. The two-parameter method based on these two parameters and phase selection rules can well classify the conventional steels, high-entropy steels, high-entropy alloys and amorphous alloys. The quick screening approach developed through the two-parameter method together with Monte Carlo sampling method was applied to the alloy systems of (CoCrFeMnNi) random , Fe 50 (CoCrMnNi) random and Fe 50 (CoCrMn) random to predict the optimal compositions with stable solid solution phases from millions of options. The theoretical prediction was validated by experimental results. This quick screening approach is applicable to different kinds of MPEAs and can facilitate the research and development of MPEAs as well as other alloys with stable solid solution phases. Unlabelled Image • New thermodynamic parameters and phase selection rules were proposed and verified by various alloys. • A two-parameter method proposed for phase selection of MPEAs can well classify various alloys. • New CoCrFeMnNi based alloys with solid solution phases were designed and verified through experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, near-infrared phosphors that can be applied in many fields such as night vision, agriculture, and bio-applications have attracted considerable interest in the research field worldwide. Herein, a multi-functional and dual-excited near-infrared phosphor Mg14Ge5O24:Cr3+,Cr4+ which provides two emission bands ranging from 700 nm to 1100 nm and 1100 nm to 1700 nm has been obtained via the traditional high-temperature solid state reaction. The presence of six and four coordination ions in the olivine structure of Mg14Ge5O24 provides a favorable environment for the coexistence of Cr3+ and Cr4+. Under blue light excitation, a super broad emission band ranging from 650 nm to 1100 nm with a full-width at half maximum (FWHM) of 266 nm is assigned to the spin-allowed 4T2 (4F) → 4A2 transition of Cr3+ in a weak crystal-field environment. With the increase in the concentration of Cr ions, more and more Cr4+ preferentially occupies four coordinated Ge4+ sites, and the other broad emission band ranging from 1100 nm to 1600 nm with a FWHM of 256 nm that comes from the 3T2 → 3A2 transition of Cr4+ is observed. The phenomenon of NIR I region excitation and NIR II region emission appears. The transmission experiment of a biological tissue proves that the Mg14Ge5O24:Cr3+,Cr4+ phosphor has potential applications in the field of near-infrared light-emitting diodes for biological detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Breast cancer has become the most common cancer in women, and nontriple negative breast cancer (non‐TNBC) accounts for 80–90% of all invasive breast cancers. Early detection, diagnosis, and treatment are considered key to a successful cure. Conventionally, breast imaging and needle core biopsy are used for detection and monitoring. However, small variations in volume might be ignored in imaging, and traditional biopsies are spatially and temporally limited, leading to a significant delay in cancer detection and thus prompting renewed focus on early and accurate diagnosis. In this article, we investigated whether there is an accurate molecule in peripheral blood that can help diagnose breast cancer. Similar to microRNAs, tRNA‐derived fragments (tRFs) have been reported to be involved in many pathological processes in breast cancer, but whether they can serve as candidate biomarkers for breast cancer remains unclear. Using high‐throughput sequencing technology, we identified 4,021 differentially expressed tRFs in normal and breast cancer cell lines, and eight tRFs were selected to establish a signature as a predictive biomarker of non‐TNBC. Furthermore, quantitative reverse‐transcriptase polymerase chain reaction was performed to verify the expression of the signature and analyze the correlation between dysregulated tRFs and breast cancer. The results indicated that tDR‐7816, tDR‐5334, and tDR‐4733 might be promising biomarkers. Through further bioinformatics analysis, we predicted that tDR‐7816 influences the xenobiotic metabolic processes that support the oncogenesis of breast cancer. In summary, our results provide a rationale for using circulating tDR‐7816 expression as a novel potential biomarker for the diagnosis of patients with early non‐TNBC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Effect of tempering time on fatigue crack behavior of China Low Activation Martensitic (CLAM) steel was studied at room temperature in air. The fatigue crack growth rates subjected to the tempering time range of 90–9000 min were investigated. The results showed that the fatigue crack growth decelerated in the near-threshold region as the tempering time increased. The fatigue crack growth rate after tempering for 9000 min was approximately one-third of that of the specimen tempered for 90 min with ΔK of 14 MPa m0.5. The improved fatigue crack growth resistance could be explained by the influence of variation in microstructure, i.e., martensitic laths and precipitates. This study suggested that the effective driving force for fatigue crack growth was reduced in the near-threshold region by the activated roughness-induced crack closure mechanism as a result of rougher fracture surface caused by coarsened martensitic laths and precipitates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The threshold displacement energies ( E d ) of Fe and Cr atoms in Fe-Cr alloys with Cr contents ranging from 0% to 21% have been obtained with molecular dynamics (MD) method. The values of E d have been calculated along the three high-symmetry crystallographic directions [0 0 1], [0 1 1] and [1 1 1], a slightly 2° tilt from these directions, and a high-index crystallographic directions [1 3 5]. The results showed that [0 1 1] crystallographic direction had the highest E d among the three high-symmetry directions in each Cr content alloy. Fe-9Cr had higher weighted average E d than the other Cr content alloys for both Fe and Cr PKA due to its statistically high E d along the [0 1 1] crystallographic direction up to 44.3 eV. And the statistical analysis on the primary damage configuration demonstrated that 〈1 1 0〉 Fe-Fe dumbbells were the dominant defect structures after relaxation. These data can enrich the database of E d in Fe-Cr alloys and have potential applications in guiding the optimization design of radiation-resistant RAFM steels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates channel phase mismatch calibration during the application of displaced-phase-center antenna (DPCA) in dual-channel sliding spotlight synthetic aperture radar (SAR) for ground moving target indication (GMTI). In sliding spotlight SAR, the utilization of beam progressive sweeping in azimuth causes antenna phase centers to be misaligned from the sensor path, resulting in the phase mismatch between channels. Then, spatial channel co-registration required in the DPCA cannot be achieved directly by an azimuth time shift. In this study, a calibration method based on scanning geometry of the dual-channel sliding spotlight SAR is developed to address this issue. Moreover, the effect of the phase mismatch calibration on the estimation of azimuth time difference between the two channels is derived and analyzed in depth. The clutter suppression results processed from experimental data acquired by a C-band dual-channel SAR system (Gaofen-3) operated in sliding spotlight mode are shown for the first time to demonstrate the effective phase mismatch calibration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Male breast cancer (BC) is a rare disease, having different clinicopathological features and survival outcomes from female patients. The aim of this research was to, combine with molecular subtypes, analyze the metastatic patterns, and prognosis between male and female patients, and to determine whether the gender was the independent prognostic factor for BC. Methods: Data used in this study were acquired from the SEER database from 2010 to 2016. The clinicopathology features and metastatic patterns were compared by the Chi‐square test and Fisher's exact test. Kaplan–Meier method was performed to compare overall survival (OS) and factors correlated with OS were determined by Cox regression models. Competing risk models were used to ascertain factors related to breast cancer‐specific death (BCSD). Results: Compared with female BC, the incidence of regional LN (HR 1.849, 95% CI 1.674–2.043, p < 0.001) and distant metastasis (HR 1.421, 95%CI: 1.157–1.744, p < 0.001) was higher in male BC. For regional LN metastasis, hormone receptor (HoR)−/HER2+ subtype occupied the majority in both male (55.56%) and female (36.86%) groups. For distant metastasis, HoR−/HER2− subtype (21.26%), and HoR−/HER2+ (7.67%) were in major in male and female group separately. Male patients shared similar combinations of metastases with female groups as for single‐site, bi‐site, and tri‐site metastasis. Gender was an independent prognostic factor for OS (p < 0.001) but not for BCSD(p = 0.620). In subgroup of patients with HoR+/HER2−(OS: p = 0.003; BCSD: p = 0.606), HoR+/HER2+(OS: p = 0.003; BCSD: p = 0.277), regional LN positive(OS: p = 0.005; BCSD: p = 0.379), or bone metastasis (OS: p = 0.030; BCSD: p = 0.862), the male cohort had poorer OS but similar BCSD with female cohort. Conclusions: Compared with female patients, male BC had different metastasis patterns and prognostic outcomes, and the affection of breast subtypes on metastasis and survivorship was also different. More attention needs to be paid for specific molecular subtype and more personalized therapeutic strategies should be customized while treating male patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Red/near infrared (NIR) long persistent phosphors have received extensive attentions in biomedical, food inspection, iris recognition, biological imaging, etc. Herein, a new phosphor, Li2ZnGe3O8:Cr3+, is reported with deep red persistent luminescence peaking at 708 nm. By adjusting the Cr3+ doping concentration, the competitive site occupation at [ZnO6] and [GeO6] polyhedral enables different traps behaviors including trap types, trap concentration and trap depth, which in turn leads to different afterglow duration time from 2 to 20 h. The persistent luminescence mechanisms originated from different trap models have been discussed, and it is found that they can cooperate or inhibit each other, enabling different luminescence depending on time. The dynamic anti‐counterfeiting applications have been demonstrated, which provides a new way to rationally designing for multi‐functional luminescent materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Biomass char gasification is an important part of biomass conversion technology; the addition of additives can effectively change the gasification reaction rate of char. The kinetic characteristics of steam gasification reaction of biomass char particles were explored by adding CaO, Fe2O3, and Ca‐Fe mixed catalyst to biomass, and the apparent activation energy and pre‐exponential factors of char particles were obtained. Experimental results show that the kinetic reaction process of char steam gasification follows the shrinking cylinder model. Through linear fitting, it can be obtained that there is a good linear correlation between activation energy and pre‐exponential factor, which follows the dynamic compensation effect. Under the same temperature conditions, CaO can accelerate the reaction rate of char, while Fe2O3 can delay the gasification rate of char particles because of sintering phenomenon at high temperature. The synergistic effect of Ca‐Fe can reduce the total activation energy of the reaction. The addition of CaO can greatly change the kinetic performance of the Fe2O3 catalyst, inhibit the sintering deactivation reaction of Fe2O3 at high temperature, increase the diffusion path of steam, and promote the char steam gasification reaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Identification of new biomarkers can facilitate the development of effective therapeutic strategies in breast cancer (BC). Data from previous studies have revealed that differentiated embryonic chondrocyte gene (DEC) 1 and DEC2 might involve in the progression of various cancer types. We explored the expression profiles and function of DEC1/2 in BC patients in this study. Methods. The mRNA expression of DEC1/2 in BC patients and cell lines were taken from the Oncomine and Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia database. The prognostic impacts of DEC1/2 were mined from the bc-GenExMiner and Kaplan–Meier plotter database. The impact of DEC1/2 genomic alterations on patient survival was calculated by cBioPortal. DEC2 protein expressions were confirmed by Western blotting (WB) in 10 pairs of BC samples. In addition, DEC2 sgRNA was constructed to confirm its affection on cell viability, invasion, and colony formation. Results. The DEC1 and DEC2 mRNA levels are both lower in BC tissues than normal tissues. DEC1/2 expression was high in progesterone receptor (PR) positive BC patients (P = 0.0023), but low in human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) positive patients (P < 0.0001). Lower DEC2 mRNA level has significant association with more aggressive pathogenic grade (P < 0.0001) and worse overall survival (OS) of BC patients (P = 5.2 × 10 − 6 ). Subgroup analysis showed that low DEC2 level was correlated with worse OS in estrogen receptor (ER) positive BC (P = 0.008). DEC2 (P = 0.00029) alteration was significantly correlated with worse OS in BC patients. WB results also confirmed the lower DEC2 protein levels in BC samples than their paired normal tissues. And, DEC2 silencing by sgRNA resulted in a significant increasing in cell viability, invasion, and colony formation. Conclusion. DEC2 might serve as a tumor suppressor, and its disfunction may involve in the tumorigenesis and indicate bad clinical outcomes in BC patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Triple‐negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive subtype of epithelial breast malignancy, and chemoresistance is the major obstacle for cancer therapy. TNBC is associated with a hypoxic phenotype, and hypoxia contributes to the chemoresistance in breast cancer. Transfer RNA‐derived fragments (tDRs) represent a new class of small noncoding RNAs that can be induced specifically by hypoxia. Here, we conducted a comparative analysis of the aberrant expression of tDRs in hypoxia‐treated TNBC cell lines through the use of high‐throughput sequencing technique. Quantitative real‐time polymerase chain reaction was used to validate the differently expressed tDRs between two samples. The results showed that tDR‐0009 [derived from transfer RNA (tRNA)Gly‐GCC‐1‐1] and tDR‐7336 (derived from tRNA Gly‐GCC‐1–2) were significantly upregulated when the SUM‐1315 cell lines were stimulated by hypoxia. Gene ontology (GO) and pathway analysis indicated that these two upregulated tDRs were mainly involved in maintenance of stem cell population and cellular response to interleukin (IL)‐6, which may be the underlying mechanism of hypoxia‐induced tDRs that facilitate the doxorubicin resistance in TNBC. The protein–protein interaction network for predicted target genes established by the STRING database manifested that tDR‐0009 (tDR‐7336) might be involved in the chemoresistance of TNBC via regulation of the activation of phosphorylation of STAT3. In summary, our study provided a comprehensive analysis of the deviant expression profiling of tDRs in hypoxia‐treated TNBC cell lines. Specific tDRs may be a new class of regulatory factors involved in the hypoxia‐induced chemoresistance in TNBC, and they could serve as potential biomarkers and intervention targets. Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is associated with a hypoxic phenotype, and hypoxia contributes to the chemoresistance in breast cancer. Transfer RNA‐derived fragments (tDRs) represent a new class of small noncoding RNAs that can be induced specifically by hypoxia. We provided a comprehensive analysis of the deviant expression profiling of tDRs in hypoxia‐treated TNBC cell lines. Specific tDRs may be a new class of regulatory factors involved in the hypoxia‐induced chemoresistance in TNBC, and they could serve as potential biomarkers and intervention targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Blanket is the key energy conversion component of a fusion reactor, it is designed with a large number of complex embedded cooling channels to remove the high nuclear heat deposition. Due to the complex inner-channeled structure, the fabrication of the blanket components has been one of the key issues of the blanket technical development. In this study, the selective laser melting (SLM) additive manufacturing (AM) processing was employed to fabricate small scale test blanket module with China low activation martensitic (CLAM) steel, and the hot isostatic pressing (HIP) was applied to improve the microstructure and mechanical properties. The microstructure and mechanical properties of the SLM built CLAM at the as-built, standard heat treatment (SHT) and HIP&SHT status were investigated and evaluated. The results showed that the relative density at the as-built status compared to the hot-rolled CLAM steel reached 99.7%. The tensile strength of the as-built status was 966.2 MPa and 829.1 MPa in the directions vertical and parallel to the building direction, respectively. After the HIP&SHT, the orientation of the microstructure and the difference in strength in different directions decreased. The strength values in the directions vertical and parallel to the building direction were similar, which were equivalent to that of the hot-rolled CLAM steel with SHT. Moreover, the impact absorbed energy in the directions vertical and parallel to the building direction was increased from 21.02 J to 9.18 J at the as-built status to 54.48 J and 18.83 J at the HIP&SHT status, respectively. Meanwhile, micro-defects were drastically decreased with the help of HIP. It could be concluded that the dislocation migration and recrystallization in HIP process is effective to improve the microstructure and mechanical properties of the SLM built CLAM steel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract China Low Activation Martensitic (CLAM) steel has been selected as the primary candidate structural material for Chinese Helium Cooled Ceramic Breeder ITER Test Blanket Module. In the present work, the hydrogen transport behavior in CLAM steel have been experimentally measured with gas evolution permeation technique in the temperature range of 573–823 K at hydrogen pressures of 102–104 Pa. The pressure exponent n of permeation was between 0.54 and 0.55 and it showed that the permeation was approximately pure diffusion limited. The hydrogen transport parameters of CLAM were presented based on experimental results at 104 Pa, and the transport parameters were Φ(mol·m−1·Pa−1/2·s−1) = 3.11 × 10−8exp(-38712/RT), D(m2·s−1) = 1.19 × 10−7exp(-16404/RT), Ks(mol·m−3·Pa−1/2) = 0.27exp(-22308/RT). All those transport parameters were compared with the available data corresponding to several other RAFM steels and the results shown the similar hydrogen transport behavior of the RAFMs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), high tumour mutation burden and aberrant oncogene expression profiles are some of the causes of poor prognosis. Therefore, it is necessary to identify aberrantly expressed oncogenes, since they have the potential to serve as therapeutic targets. Transient receptor potential channel 5 opposite strand (TRPC5OS) has been previously shown to function as a novel tumour inducer. However, the underlying mechanism of TRPC5OS function in TNBC remain to be elucidated. Therefore, in the present study TRPC5OS expression was first measured in tissue samples of patients with TNBC and a panel of breast cancer cell lines (ZR-75-1, MDA-MB-453, SK-BR-3, JIMT-1, BT474 and HCC1937) by using qRT-PCR and Western blotting. Subsequently, the possible effects of TRPC5OS on MDA-MB-231 cells proliferation were determined using Cell Counting Kit-8 and 5-Ethynyl-2′-deoxyuridine assays after Lentiviral transfection of MDA-MB-231. In addition, potential interaction partners of TRPC5OS were explored using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS)/MS. Gene expression patterns following TRPC5OS overexpression were also detected in MDA-MB-231 cells by using High-throughput sequencing. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopaedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis were then used to systematically verify the potential interactions among the TRPC5OS-regulated genes. The potential relationship between TRPC5OS-interacting proteins and gene expression patterns were studied using Search Tool for the Retrieval of Interacting Genes/Proteins (STRING) analysis. TRPC5OS expression was found to be significantly higher in TNBC tumour tissues and breast cancer cell lines compared with luminal tumour tissues and ZR-75-1. In addition, the overexpression of TRPC5OS significantly increased cell proliferation. High-throughput sequencing results revealed that 5,256 genes exhibited differential expression following TRPC5OS overexpression, including 3,269 upregulated genes and 1,987 downregulated genes. GO analysis results indicated that the functions of these differentially expressed genes were enriched in the categories of 'cell division' and 'cell proliferation' regulation. KEGG analysis showed that the TRPC5OS-regulated genes were associated with processes of 'homologous recombination' and 'TNF signalling pathways'. Subsequently, 17 TRPC5OS-interacting proteins were found using LC-MS/MS and STRING analysis. The most important protein among interacting proteins was ENO1 which was associated with glycolysis and regulated proliferation of cancer. In summary, data from the present study suggest that TRPC5OS overexpression can increase TNBC cell proliferation and ENO1 may be a potential target protein mediated by TRPC5OS. Therefore, TRPC5OS may serve as a novel therapeutic target for TNBC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of the buffering capacity of wort on a beer fermentation and the contribution of pH, phosphate, amino acids and organic acids to the buffering capacity of wort were studied. The beer pH depended on the buffering capacity of the corresponding wort and an increase in the buffering capacity of the wort could prolong the time of diacetyl conversion. The higher the wort pH was, the larger the wort buffering capacity. Phosphate was not an effective buffer at the pH of wort. Glutamic acid, aspartic acid and histidine gave weak contributions to the buffering capacity of wort, and the total contribution of these three amino acids was <0.1. Organic acids contributed substantially to the buffering capacity of the wort and the total contribution of organic acids to the buffering capacity of the wort was estimated to be about 0.31. The buffering capacity of lactic acid, citric acid, succinic acid, fumaric acid and pyruvic acid was 30, 50, 77, 15 and 9% of that of acetic acid, respectively, at the same mass concentration. Copyright © 2015 The Institute of Brewing & Distilling [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exploring tritium permeation barriers with high permeation reduction factor (PRF) by an industrial scale process is crucial for tritium systems in fusion reactors. Herein, we fabricated a dense Fe-Al/Al 2 O 3 coating by a simple hot-dipping aluminizing (HDA) method and optimized oxidation strategy. The microstructure, chemical composition, and crystallographic characteristic of obtained samples were investigated. And the permeation of deuterium through the sample was determined by gas-driven permeation (GDP) experiments. The results show that the obtained oxide coating mainly consisted of γ-Al 2 O 3 layer and Fe Al gradient transition layer. Notably, the Al 2 O 3 layer formed by the oxidation of FeAl alloy coating possessed a high PRF value of 2394 at 550 °C. Compared with the direct oxidation of HDA sample, the oxide coating prepared by the alloy topcoat oxidation strategy was denser and had less defects. Meanwhile, the effect of Al topcoat and different Fe Al alloy topcoats on the microstructure and performance of the oxide coating were investigated, respectively. And the formation mechanisms of oxide coatings prepared by different oxidation strategies were also analyzed. [Display omitted] • A dense Fe-Al/Al 2 O 3 coating was fabricated on CLAM steel. • The Fe Al topcoat was conducive to the growth of the dense coating. • The coating formed on FeAl topcoat possessed the highest PRF value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

R4623 --> 639.18 --> The neural crest (NC) is a unique migratory stem cell population only existed during vertebrate embryogenesis. It has remarkable multipotency to give rise to various cell types including osteoblasts and chondrocytes, which contribute to majority of the cranial skeleton development. Defects in NC development led to many congenital diseases, including cleft palate and craniofacial abnormities. Recently, the Hippo‐Yap pathway, a conserved fundamental pathway has been indicated to play a key role in NCCs. Yet, the roles of Yap and Taz, function as Hippo signaling effectors, in NCC cells are still poorly understood. To understand the roles of Yap and Taz, we performed both in vitro, ex vivo and in vivo studies using O9‐1 NC cells and Yap/Taz conditionally knockout (CKO) mice driven by Wnt1creSOR. We found that Yap/Taz are required for the osteogenic versus chondrogenic cell fate decision of NC cells. Yap/Taz prevent O9‐1 NC cells from differentiating into chondrocytes to favor osteogenesis, and Yap/Taz deficiency in NC cells resulted in chondrogenesis instead of osteogenesis. Notably, in vivo, we observed NC‐derived cranial bone defects accompanied by ectopic cartilage formation. From RNA‐seq and CUT/RUN datasets we found that Yap/Taz directly regulate key genes that govern osteogenesis (Dlx5, Runx2,...) and chondrogenesis (Sox9/5/6,...). Interestingly, many of those genes are known Wnt target genes. Moreover, our data from ATAC‐seq, PLA and Co‐IP demonstrated that Yap/Taz directly interact with β‐catenin to coordinately regulate related genes expression in NCCs to orchestrate the osteogenic or chondrogenic cell fate, such as the key chondrogenesis gene Sox9. In summary, our data indicated that Yap/Taz play pivotal roles in determining osteogenesis or chondrogenesis of NC, partly through interactions with the Wnt‐β‐catenin pathway, which reveal potential novel diagnostic and therapeutic targets for the NC‐derived diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Liquid Lead-Lithium (PbLi) alloys are promising functional material which can act as both neutron multiplier and tritium breeder in liquid blanket of fusion reactors, however, their corrosion behavior on RAFM steel is still a challenge. In this work, the dissolution, diffusion, bonding and charging behavior of steel alloy elements in liquid PbLi were investigated by using the first principles molecular dynamics simulations. The dissolution order of the main alloy elements of RAFM steel dissolved into the liquid PbLi was Cr>Fe>V>Mn>Ta>W>C. O atom tend to bond with Li atom in liquid PbLi and the O dissolution energy had negative value of -3.84 eV. The binding energies of Y-O, Ti-O, Al-O, Si-O, Zr-O, Ta-C, V-C, Ta-N and V-N pairs within liquid PbLi at temperature 500°C show that related oxides/carbides/nitrides in RAFM steel do not likely to decompose and may not affect their dissolution corrosion behavior. These data can provide indispensable information for understanding the dissolution corrosion behavior of advanced RAFM steel in liquid PbLi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cr3+-doped Ca 3 Y 2 Ge 3 O 12 broadband near-infrared phosphor was synthesized by the high temperature solidstate reaction method. Under the excitation of 475 nm, the emission peak of Ca 3 Y 2 Ge 3 O 12 :Cr3+ is at 823 nm and the full width at half maximum (FWHM) is 155 nm. The introduction of Ce3+ as a sensitizer leads to the enhancement of CYG:Cr3+ emission intensity. The emission range of CYG:Ce3+, Cr3+ can perfectly cover the frequency doubling absorption band of C–H, O–H and other hydrogen groups. There is an energy transfer process between Ce3+ and Cr3+, and the energy transfer efficiency is as high as 94.21%. According to the near-infrared response to hydrogen group and Lambert-Beer law, the dependence of absorbance Lg(I 0 / I) on sugar content was explored, and then the reliability and accuracy of the method were verified. The results show that the phosphor Ca 3 Y 2 Ge 3 O 12 :Ce3+, Cr3+ phosphor has prospects for a potential application in nondestructive food detection. • There is the energy transfer from Ce3+ to Cr3+. • CYG:Ce3+, Cr3+ has certain application value in nondestructive food detection. • The best excitation wavelength of the sample is 475 nm, which can be effectively excited by the blue light chip, and the FWHM is 155 nm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

R4713 --> The neural crest cells (NCCs) are multipotent stem cells making pivotal contributions to many tissues and organs during embryonic development. NCCs have remarkable ability to differentiate into various cell lineages including osteoblasts and chondrocytes, yet it is largely unknown how NCCs make cell fate decisions and differentiate into specific cell lineages. Here we found Yap/Taz are required for NCC‐derived osteoblasts differentiation and notably, Yap/Taz deficiency caused cell fate switch from osteogenic into chondrogenic in vitro. In vivo Yap/Taz specific deletion in NCCs caused cranial bone defects and ectopic cartilage formation in mouse. We have performed a combined analysis of data sets including RNA‐seq and Reverse Phase Protein Array (RPPA) of control and Yap/Taz deficient samples, ATAC‐seq (assay for transposase‐accessible chromatin with high‐throughput sequencing) of human and mouse NCCs, and CUT&RUN (Cleavage Under Targets & Release Using Nuclease)‐seq data using Yap antibody, as well as immunoprecipitation data. We found Yap/Taz directly regulate key genes in osteogenesis and chondrogenesis including Sox9 and Runx2 that control the cell fates of osteoblast and chondrocyte lineages, and other genes such as Sox5,Sox6, and Osx. This regulation is partially through that Yap/Taz interacts with β‐catenin in NCCs and coordinately regulate genes expression at genome‐wide. Together, we demonstrate that Yap/Taz play pivotal roles in NCCs derived cranial bone formation and osteochondrogenic cell fate decision, which partially functions through the interaction with the Wnt‐β‐catenin pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding was considered as one of the candidate technologies to achieve the box structure of test blanket module (TBM). In this paper, the effects of heat input on the microstructure and mechanical properties of multilayer TIG butt-welded China Low Activation Martensitic (CLAM) steel were investigated by microstructure observations, Vickers hardness, tensile and Charpy impact tests. The results showed that the microstructure of the weld metal (WM) were coarse quenched martensite and residual delta-ferrite. When the heat input value increased from 1.73 kJ/mm to 2.41 kJ/mm, the width of martensite laths increased slightly and the delta-ferrite content decreased firstly then increased. Moreover, the increasing heat input resulted in remarkable tempering effect on the previous layer of the WM by the following deposited layers. The transverse hardness distribution of the joints showed that softening occurred in the heat-affected zone (HAZ), and the hardness of WM decreased slightly as the heat input increased. The ultimate tensile strength values of the joints with various heat input were all higher than 630 MPa, and the rupture position located at the HAZ. Charpy impact toughness of the as-welded joints met the toughness criteria for the welded joint (≥27 J) of creep resistant 9Cr steel according to the standard of ISO-3580. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Er 2 O 3 coating is one of the candidate tritium permeation barriers (TPB) to reduce tritium permeation and leakage in fusion reactors. A series of Er 2 O 3 coatings were synthesized on China Low Activation Martensitic (CLAM) steel via sol-gel method, and systematic investigate the influence of synthesis parameters for on microstructure and properties of the Er 2 O 3 coatings. The results showed that no cracks were observed in Er 2 O 3 coatings as chosen 11 vol.% diethanolamine. The best heat treatment temperature could be thought 600 °C, in order to obtain a homogeneous and dense Er 2 O 3 coating with high hardness, good crystallization and strong bonding to the substrate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reduced-activation Fe-Mn-Cr alloys have been regarded as the candidate structural materials for advanced nuclear systems. The phase stability of one alloy at high temperature is critically required for its application. In this work, a series of phase transformations in a new type reduced-activation duplex alloy Fe 52 Mn 30 Cr 18 under isothermal heat treatment were investigated. The ferrite phase in the alloy converted to χ phase after the alloy treated at 550°C for 3 h. The cube-on-cube orientation relationship was found between χ phase and the original ferrite phase with the lattice constant ratio of 3:1. The χ phase was eutectoid decomposed into austenite and σ phases with lamellar structures due to the diffusion of Cr atoms at temperatures above 800 °C. According to the evolution of the crystal structure and magnetic properties, the transformation from ferrite to χ phase was considered as atomic rearrangement in the adjacent unit cells, accompanied by the disappearance of ferromagnetism in the alloy. The microhardness results indicated that the χ phase formation could be one of the potential reasons for the intermediate temperature embrittlement in the high Cr Fe-based alloys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]