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Abstract Cancer and cardiovascular diseases are leading causes of death worldwide. Among them, breast cancer is one of the most common malignancies in women, while atrial fibrillation is one of the most extensively studied arrhythmias, with significant public health implications. As the global population ages and advancements in cancer treatments continue, the survival rates of breast cancer patients have significantly improved, leading to an increasing coexistence of breast cancer and atrial fibrillation. However, the mechanisms underlying this coexistence remain insufficiently studied, and there is no consensus on the optimal treatment strategies for these patients. This review consolidates existing research to systematically explore the epidemiological characteristics, risk factors, and pathophysiological mechanisms of both breast cancer and atrial fibrillation. It focuses on the unique signaling pathways associated with different molecular subtypes of breast cancer and their potential impact on the mechanisms of atrial fibrillation. Additionally, the relationship between atrial fibrillation treatment medications and breast cancer is discussed. These insights not only provide essential evidence for the precise prevention and management of atrial fibrillation in breast cancer patients but also lay a solid theoretical foundation for interdisciplinary clinical management practices.

Abstract Background Sex is a determinant of the incidence and etiology of arrhythmia. Observational and basic studies suggest that sex hormones are essential in this process; however, the relationship between sex hormones and arrhythmia remains unclear. Mendelian randomization (MR) was used to investigate the causal relationships between sex hormone levels, arrhythmia, and electrocardiographic (ECG) indices. Methods Large genome-wide association studies (GWAS) data on sex hormones, stratified by sex, from the UK biobank consortium, were used as exposure data, and data on atrial fibrillation (AF), atrioventricular block, sick sinus syndrome, paroxysmal tachycardia, and ECG indices were obtained from the FinnGen consortium and summarized large GWAS data. Inverse variance weighting or wald odds was used as the primary analytical method, and weighted medians and MR-Egger regression were used for complementary analyses. The results of the MR of sex hormones and AF from different sources were analyzed using a meta-analysis. Summary-data-based MR analysis was utilized to explore the relationship between sex-hormone related drugs and arrhythmia. Results In men, genetically predicted higher estradiol concentrations were associated with a lower risk of AF (odds ratio: 0.908 [0.852–0.967]; p = 0.0029], whereas genetically predicted higher concentrations of total testosterone were associated with lower heart rate variability. Sex hormones showed no association with atrioventricular block, sick sinus syndrome, paroxysmal tachycardia, resting heart rate, P wave duration, P wave terminal force in lead V1 [PTFV1], PR interval, QRS duration, QTc [QT interval corrected by heart rate], ST duration, spatial [spQRSTa] and frontal [fQRSTa] QRS-T angles in males. In females, there was no significant evidence that sex hormones are associated with arrhythmias or ECG indices. Conclusion In this study, we identified a potential causal relationship between estradiol and the risk of AF in males. However, there was no significant association between sex hormones and either arrhythmias or ECG indices in females. These results suggested that sex hormones may play a limited role in cardiac arrhythmias, which requires further verification.

ABSTRACT Pulmonary vein anatomical variations are frequently observed in atrial fibrillation patients undergoing catheter ablation. However, when it comes to patients with atrial fibrillation and bilateral common ostium in the inferior pulmonary veins, using a bilateral circumferential pulmonary vein isolation approach during catheter ablation heightens the risk of esophageal injury. At present, there is no established standard catheter ablation strategy for such cases. A 47‐year‐old female with atrial fibrillation underwent catheter ablation. Prior to the procedure, a left atrial computed tomography angiography indicated a common ostium of the left and right inferior pulmonary veins. During mapping, a low‐voltage area was found in the patient's left atrial posterior wall. To avoid esophageal injury and effectively isolate both pulmonary veins and the low‐voltage area with minimal ablation points, we used a single‐ring ablation approach. In a 12 month follow‐up, the patient had no atrial fibrillation recurrence.

Abstract Thermally stable full-length scorpion toxin peptides and partially degraded peptides with complete disulfide bond pairing are valuable natural peptide resources in traditional Chinese scorpion medicinal material. However, their pharmacological activities are largely unknown. This study discovered BmKcug1a-P1, a novel N-terminal degraded peptide, in this medicinal material. BmKcug1a-P1 inhibited hKv1.2 and hKv1.3 potassium channels with IC50 values of 2.12 ± 0.27 μM and 1.54 ± 0.28 μM, respectively. To investigate the influence of N-terminal amino acid loss on the potassium channel inhibiting activities, three analogs (i.e., full-length BmKcug1a, BmKcug1a-P1-D2 and BmKcug1a-P1-D4) of BmKcug1a-P1 were prepared, and their potassium channel inhibiting activities on hKv1.3 channel were verified by whole-cell patch clamp technique. Interestingly, the potassium channel inhibiting activity of full-length BmKcug1a on the hKv1.3 channel was significantly improved compared to its N-terminal degraded form (BmKcug1a-P1), while the activities of two truncated analogs (i.e., BmKcug1a-P1-D2 and BmKcug1a-P1-D4) were similar to that of BmKcug1a-P1. Extensive alanine-scanning experiments identified the bonding interface (including two key functional residues, Asn30 and Arg34) of BmKcug1a-P1. Structural and functional dissection further elucidated whether N-terminal residues of the peptide are located at the bonding interface is important in determining whether the N-terminus significantly influences the potassium channel inhibiting activity of the peptide. Altogether, this research identified a novel N-terminal degraded active peptide, BmKcug1a-P1, from traditional Chinese scorpion medicinal material and elucidated how the N-terminus of peptides influences their potassium channel inhibiting activity, contributing to the functional identification and molecular truncation optimization of full-length and degraded peptides from traditional Chinese scorpion medicinal material Buthus martensii Karsch.

ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to evaluate the clinical efficacy of acupuncture combined with Chinese herbs versus Chinese herbs alone in treating uterine fibroids.MethodsA literature search of eight databases identified nine randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating the clinical efficacy of acupuncture combined with Chinese herbs compared to Chinese herbs alone for treating uterine fibroids. Subsequently, data extraction and analysis were conducted to assess the methodological quality and risk of bias in the studies, followed by an analysis of the data from the randomized controlled trials.ResultsNine randomized controlled trials involving 640 women were included. The results indicated that acupuncture combined with Chinese herbs significantly increased the overall clinical efficacy rate [Z=5.00, P=0.74, relative risk(RR)1.20, 95%CI 1.12 to 1.30, P

The molecular interactions between venomous peptides and potassium channels have extensively enriched the knowledge of diverse peptide pharmacology, and the in-depth understanding of general features of the various peptide functions remains a formidable challenge. In this work, the role of peptide basic residues in peptide pharmacology was first investigated. Although the venomous BmK-NSPK peptide had the critically conserved functional residues occurring in its similar and potent potassium channel-inhibiting peptides, it was a remarkably weak inhibitor of potassium channels due to fewer basic residues. Additionally, 1 μM BmK-NSPK only inhibited 1.2 ± 1.0%, 1.7 ± 0.70%, 2.3 ± 0.49% and 5.4 ± 0.70% of hKv1.1, hKv1.2, hKv1.3 and hKv1.6 channel currents. The introduction of one or two basic residues in BmK-NSPK-I15K, BmK-NSPK-I18K, BmK-NSPK-I26K and BmK-NSPK-I18K/I26K could not improve BmK-NSPK activity. The modifications of more than three basic residues were found to continuously improve BmK-NSPK activity, and the corresponding BmK-NSPK-7K and BmK-NSPK-8K mutants could effectively inhibit hKv1.3 channel with IC50 values of 2.04 ± 0.68 nM and 21.5 ± 1.99 nM, respectively. Also, 1 μM BmK-NSPK-7K and BmK-NSPK-8K mutants could inhibit 84.1 ± 7.0% and 84.3 ± 1.8% of hKv1.1 channel currents. In addition, BmK-NSPK-7K and BmK-NSPK-8K mutants were found to differentially inhibit hKv1.6 and chimeric hKv1.3 channels. These findings first highlight the critical role of basic residues in the activity of potassium channel peptide inhibitors and provide novel insight into the diverse peptide pharmacology.

Abstract Subspace outlier detection has emerged as a practical approach for outlier detection. Classical full space outlier detection methods become ineffective in high dimensional data due to the “curse of dimensionality”. Subspace outlier detection methods have great potential to overcome the problem. However, the challenge becomes how to determine which subspaces to be used for outlier detection among a huge number of all subspaces. In this paper, firstly, we propose an intuitive definition of outliers in subspaces. We study the desirable properties of subspaces for outlier detection and investigate the metrics for those properties. Then, a novel subspace outlier detection algorithm with a statistical foundation is proposed. Our method selectively leverages a limited set of the most interesting subspaces for outlier detection. Through experimental validation, we demonstrate that identifying outliers within this reduced set of highly interesting subspaces yields significantly higher accuracy compared to analyzing the entire feature space. We show by experiments that the proposed method outperforms competing subspace outlier detection approaches on real world data sets.

China consumes 35% of the world’s fertilizer every year; however, most of the nitrogen fertilizers, which are essential for rice cultivation, are not used effectively. In this study, factors affecting the nitrogen leaching loss rate were studied in typical soil and rice varieties in South China. The effects of various irrigation measures on rice growth and nitrogen leaching loss were investigated by conducting experiments with eight groups. These groups included traditional irrigation (TI) and shallow wet irrigation (SWI). The TI is a common irrigation method for farmers in South China, maintaining a water layer of 5-8 cm depth. For SWI, after establishing a shallow water layer usually maintaining at 1-2 cm, paddy is irrigated when the field water level falls to a certain depth, then this process is then repeat as necessary. The nitrogen distribution characteristics were determined using 15N isotope tracing. In addition, the effects of nitrification, denitrification, and microbial composition on soil nitrogen transformation at different depths were studied by microbial functional gene quantification and high-throughput sequencing. The results revealed that in the SWI groups, the total nitrogen leaching loss rate reduced by 0.3-0.8% and the nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) increased by 2.18-4.43% compared with those in the TI groups. After the 15N-labeled nitrogen fertilizer was applied, the main pathways of nitrogen were found to be related to plant absorption and nitrogen residues. Furthermore, paddy soil ammonia-oxidizing archaea were more effective than ammonia-oxidizing bacteria for soil ammonia oxidation by SWI groups. The SWI measures increased the relative abundance of Firmicutes in paddy soil, enhancing the ability of rice to fix nitrogen to produce ammonium nitrogen, thus reducing the dependence of rice on chemical fertilizers. Moreover, SWI enhanced the relative abundance of nirS and nosZ genes within surface soil bacteria, thereby promoting denitrification in the surface soil of paddy fields. SWI also promoted ammonia oxidation and denitrification by increasing the abundance and activity of Proteobacteria, Nitrospirae, and Bacteroidetes. Collectively, SWI effectively reduced the nitrogen leaching loss rate and increase NUE.

Abstract Aiming at the problems of low utilization rate of corn fertilizer, low precision of fertilization ratio, and time-consuming and laborious topdressing in the later stage, an U-shaped fertilization device with uniform fertilizer mechanism was designed. The device was mainly composed of uniform fertilizer mixing mechanism, fertilizer guide plate and fertilization plate. Compound fertilizer was applied on both sides and slow/controlled release fertilizer was applied at the bottom to form an U-shaped distribution of fertilizer around corn seeds. Through theoretical analysis and calculation, the structural parameters of the fertilization device were determined. Through the simulated soil tank test, the quadratic regression orthogonal rotation combination design was carried out on the main factors affecting the spatial stratification effect of fertilizer. The optimal parameters were obtained as follows: the stirring speed of the stirring structure was 300 r/min, the bending angle of the fertilization tube was 165°, and the operating speed of the fertilization device was 3 km/h. The results of bench verification test showed that under the optimized stirring speed and bending angle, the fertilizer particles were stirred evenly, and the average values of fertilizer flowing out of the fertilization tubes on both sides were 299.5 g and 297.4 g, respectively. The average fertilizer amounts of the three fertilizer outlets were 200.4 g, 203.2 g and 197.7 g, respectively, which met the agronomic requirements of 1:1:1 fertilization, and the variation coefficients of fertilizer amounts on both sides of the fertilizer pipe and each layer were less than 0.1% and 0.4%, respectively. The simulation results of the optimized U-shaped fertilization device can achieve the expected U-shaped fertilization effect around corn seeds. The results of field experiment showed that the U-shaped fertilization device could realize the U-shaped proportional application of fertilizer in soil. The distance between the upper end of fertilization on both sides and the distance between the base fertilizer and the surface were 87.3–95.2 mm and 197.8–206.0 mm, respectively. The transverse distance between the fertilizers on both sides was 84.3–99.4 mm, and the error with the designed theoretical fertilization was within 10 mm. Compared with the traditional side fertilization method, the number of corn roots increased by 5–6, the root length increased by 30–40 mm, and the yield increased by 9.9–14.8%.

Forest aboveground biomass (AGB) is crucial as it serves as a fundamental indicator of the productivity, biodiversity, and carbon storage of forest ecosystems. This paper presents a targeted literature review of advancements in AGB estimation methods. We conducted an extensive review of published literature using Web of Science, ResearchGate, Semantic Scholar, and Google Scholar. Our findings highlight the importance of accurate AGB estimation in the studies of terrestrial carbon cycle, forest ecosystem management, and climate change. Moreover, AGB estimation contributes valuable ecological knowledge and supports effective natural resource management. Unfortunately, during the data collection process for AGB estimation, we have identified two critical yet often overlooked issues: (1) the reliability of manual survey accuracy, and (2) the impact of overlap between ground plots and remote sensing pixels on AGB estimation. Drawing on existing technologies and literature analysis, we propose a potentially effective solution to address these challenges. In conclusion, accurate estimation and mapping of forest parameters, such as AGB, will remain a priority in forestry research for the foreseeable future. To ensure the practical applicability of AGB research findings, our future research efforts will focus on understanding manual survey accuracy and determining the optimal overlap between plots and pixels.

This review provides an overview of the key role played by perivascular adipose tissue (PVAT) in the protection of cardiovascular health. PVAT is a specific type of adipose tissue that wraps around blood vessels and has recently emerged as a critical factor for maintenance of vascular health. Through a profound exploration of existing research, this review sheds light on the intricate structural composition and cellular origins of PVAT, with a particular emphasis on combining its regulatory functions for vascular tone, inflammation, oxidative stress, and endothelial function. The review then delves into the intricate mechanisms by which PVAT exerts its protective effects, including the secretion of diverse adipokines and manipulation of the renin-angiotensin complex. The review further examines the alterations in PVAT function and phenotype observed in several cardiovascular diseases, including atherosclerosis, hypertension, and heart failure. Recognizing the complex interactions of PVAT with the cardiovascular system is critical for pursuing breakthrough therapeutic strategies that can target cardiovascular disease. Therefore, this review aims to augment present understanding of the protective role of PVAT in cardiovascular health, with a special emphasis on elucidating potential mechanisms and paving the way for future research directions in this evolving field.

Abstract THE1-family retrovirus invaded the primate genome more than 40 million years ago. Dunn-Fletcher et al. reported one THE1B element upstream of CRH gene alters gestation length by upregulating corticotropin-releasing hormone expression in transgenic mice and concluded it has the same role in human as well. However, no promoter or enhancer mark has been detected around this CRH-proximal element in any human tissue or cell, so probably some anti-viral factor exists in primates to prevents it from wreaking havoc. Here I report two paralogous zinc finger genes, ZNF430 and ZNF100, that emerged during the simian lineage to specifically silence THE1B and THE1A, respectively. Contact residue changes in one finger confers each ZNF the unique ability to preferentially repress one THE1 sub-family over the other. The reported THE1B element contains an intact ZNF430 binding site, thus under the repression of ZNF430 in most tissues including placenta, it is questionable whether or not this retrovirus has any role in human pregnancy. Overall, this analysis highlights the need to study human retroviruses’ functions in suitable model system.

Background and AimsMalnutrition is highly prevalent and is related to multiple impaired clinical outcomes in cancer patients. This study aimed to de novo create an objective, nutrition-related index specially for prognostic purposes in oncology populations.MethodsWe performed a multicenter cohort study including 14,134 cancer patients. The prognostic impact for each baseline characteristic was estimated by calculating Harrell's C-index. The optimal parameters reflecting the nutritional and inflammatory impact on patients' overall survival were selected to develop the fat-age-inflammation (FAIN) index. The associations of the FAIN with the nutritional status, physical performance, quality of life, short-term outcomes and mortality of patients were comprehensively evaluated. Independent external validation was performed to further assess the prognostic value of the FAIN.ResultsThe study enrolled 7,468 men and 6,666 women with a median age of 57 years and a median follow-up of 42 months. The FAIN index was defined as: (triceps skinfold thickness + albumin) / [age + 5 × (neutrophil count/lymphocyte count)]. There were significant associations of the FAIN with the nutritional status, physical performance, quality of life and short-term outcomes. The FAIN also showed better discrimination performance than the Nutritional Risk Index, the Prognostic Nutritional Index and the Controlling Nutritional Status index (all P < 0.05). In multivariable-adjusted models, the FAIN was independently associated with a reduced death hazard both as a continuous variable (HR = 0.57, 95%CI = 0.47–0.68) and per one standard deviation (HR = 0.83, 95%CI = 0.78–0.88). External validation in a multicenter lung cancer cohort (n = 227) further confirmed the prognostic value of the FAIN.ConclusionsThis study created and assessed the prognostic FAIN index, which might act as a feasible option to monitor the nutritional status and help develop intervention strategies to optimize the survival outcomes of cancer patients.

Thermally processed Buthus martensii Karsch scorpion is an important traditional Chinese medical material that has been widely used to treat various diseases in China for over one thousand years. Our recent work showed that thermally processed Buthus martensii Karsch scorpions contain many degraded peptides; however, the pharmacological activities of these peptides remain to be studied. Here, a new degraded peptide, BmTX4-P1, was identified from processed Buthus martensii Karsch scorpions. Compared with the venom-derived wild-type toxin peptide BmTX4, BmTX4-P1 missed some amino acids at the N-terminal and C-terminal regions, while containing six conserved cysteine residues, which could be used to form disulfide bond-stabilized α-helical and β-sheet motifs. Two methods (chemical synthesis and recombinant expression) were used to obtain the BmTX4-P1 peptide, named sBmTX4-P1 and rBmTX4-P1. Electrophysiological experimental results showed that sBmTX4-P1 and rBmTX4-P1 exhibited similar activities to inhibit the currents of hKv1.2 and hKv1.3 channels. In addition, the experimental electrophysiological results of recombinant mutant peptides of BmTX4-P1 indicated that the two residues of BmTX4-P1 (Lys22 and Tyr31) were the key residues for its potassium channel inhibitory activity. In addition to identifying a new degraded peptide, BmTX4-P1, from traditional Chinese scorpion medicinal material with high inhibitory activities against the hKv1.2 and hKv1.3 channels, this study also provided a useful method to obtain the detailed degraded peptides from processed Buthus martensii Karsch scorpions. Thus, the study laid a solid foundation for further research on the medicinal function of these degraded peptides.

Background: Intracranial artery dissection (IAD) is a pathological dissection of the arterial wall. .However, the morphological features and imaging characteristics of patients with intracranial artery dissection (IAD) remain poorly understood. Methods: The study reports on 70 IAD patients (30 culprit and 40 non-culprit). All participants underwent high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (HR-MRI) scans. The morphological features and imaging characteristics of artery dissection were carefully investigated. Demographics and clinical characteristics of culprit and non-culprit patients were also collected. Apparent differences between the two groups, which could be used as biomarkers for ischemic event caused by the culprit dissection, were identified by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Results: The IAD patients studied could be classified into five different types on the basis of morphological features: classical dissection (n = 31), fusiform aneurysm (n = 2), long dissected aneurysm (n = 9), dolichoectatic dissecting aneurysm (n = 6), and saccular aneurysm (n = 22). The direct sites of artery dissection (double lumen and intimal flap) can be seen in most IAD patients on HR-MRI. Additionally, the presence of hypertension, double lumen and intimal flap were associated with culprit lesions and might be considered biomarkers for the ischemic event caused by the culprit dissection. Conclusions: Analysis showed that HR-MRI allowed easy visualization of abnormal morphology of artery dissection lesions. This was of great significance for the diagnosis of IAD and gave a better understanding of its pathophysiological mechanism.

Surface runoff is one of the predominant routes for agricultural nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) losses, yet their characteristics and corresponding control measures are not fully understood. In 2019 and 2020, field-scale plot experiments were performed at Dongjiang Basin in South China to investigate the characteristics of N and P runoff losses from paddy and maize cropping systems. The results showed that N and P losses from maize fields via surface runoff (27.85 and 1.24 kg ha−1 year−1) were significantly higher than those from paddy fields (15.37 and 0.8 kg ha−1 year−1). The main forms of N losses were nitrate (NO3--N) and ammonium (NH4+-N) in paddy and maize fields, respectively, whereas particulate P form predominated in surface runoff losses from both the paddy and maize fields. Considerable proportions of agricultural N and P (71–83% of the total runoff loss) were lost during basal fertilization and first topdressing application. Moreover, frequent rainfall events following fertilizer application triggered N and P losses from the monitored fields. About 26.22 and 37.48% of N fertilizer was recovered from grains and straw of paddy and maize, respectively, whereas only 12.35 and 19.51% of P fertilizer were recovered during the crop harvesting stage. Surface runoff was one of the dominant liquid pathways in N loss, whereas most of P loss (introduced from fertilizers without crops utilization) was fixed in the soil. Principal component analysis (PCA) proved that the primary sources of N and P losses were fertilizers rather than N and P in the soil. The current results suggest controlled management relating to fertilization, irrigation, and tillage strategies are effective measures for reducing N and P losses, thereby controlling agricultural non-point source pollution. It is hoped that this study will provide comprehensive field-based inputs on characteristics of N and P runoff losses and formulate appropriate control strategies to protect aquatic environments from eutrophication.

A complex human-machine system (CHMS) consists of heterogeneous components with extensive human-machine interactions. CHMSs are typical multistate systems with the ability to adapt to disturbances such as machine failures. These characteristics must be considered comprehensively to accurately evaluate the reliability and performance of a CHMS. However, the existing literature scarcely considers both the reliability and performance simultaneously. In this paper, we propose an agent-based approach to model and evaluate a CHMS. First, a general agent-based modeling framework for a CHMS is generated by analyzing the structure and operations of a CHMS. Then, a dual-clock mechanism is introduced to describe the behaviors of the machine failures and human errors. Two environmental disturbance modeling methods are proposed based on the state transitions of the agent and random events. The methods to model the repair and reconfiguration behaviors are presented based on the contract network. A Monte Carlo-based method is developed to evaluate the reliability and performance of the CHMS simultaneously. Finally, a deck scheduling process for an aircraft carrier is used as a case study to verify the approach. The results show that the reliability and performance of a CHMS can be effectively evaluated.

Geocells are three-dimensional honeycomb-reinforced geotechnical materials composed of strips and junctions. Its junctions can support and transmit forces in several directions. The performance of geocells has a considerable impact on engineering applications. However, the testing program of geocell junctions still lacks standardization, and limited research has been undertaken regarding the failure mechanisms of junctions when subjected to various stress types. In this paper, four test procedures for HDPE welded geocell junctions were performed, including weld tensile, shear, peeling, and splitting strength tests. The influence of tests under different clamping distances (10.5 mm, 25 mm, 50 mm, and 100 mm) was analyzed, and the stress–strain behavior, peak elongation, and peak and residual strength of junctions under various force states were analyzed in detail. Finally, considering the strength and deformation, the slope laying method of geocells was proposed. The results show that the tensile strength and shear strength decrease with the clamping distance, whereas the peeling strength and splitting strength remain essentially unchanged. Under a 100 mm clamping distance, the tensile strength and shear strength are decreased by 4.51% and 14.08%. Geocells spreading vertically along the surface on a subgrade slope are thought to be more reliable, improving the geocell’s service life in slope protection. The test results can be used to improve a standardized geocell junction testing procedure as well as to guide, evaluate, and enhance the quality and application dependability of geocells.

The rapid development of intelligent networked vehicles (ICVs) has brought many positive effects. Unfortunately, connecting to the outside exposes ICVs to security threats. Using secure protocols is an important approach to protect ICVs from hacker attacks and has become a hot research area for vehicle security. However, most of the previous studies were carried out on V2X networks, while those on in-vehicle networks (IVNs) did not involve Ethernet. To this end, oriented to the new IVNs based on Ethernet, we designed an efficient secure scheme, including an authentication scheme using the Scalable Service-Oriented Middleware over IP (SOME/IP) protocol and a secure communication scheme modifying the payload field of the original SOME/IP data frame. The security analysis shows that the designed authentication scheme can provide mutual identity authentication for communicating parties and ensure the confidentiality of the issued temporary session key; the designed authentication and secure communication scheme can resist the common malicious attacks conjointly. The performance experiments based on embedded devices show that the additional overhead introduced by the secure scheme is very limited. The secure scheme proposed in this article can promote the popularization of the SOME/IP protocol in IVNs and contribute to the secure communication of IVNs.

In recent years, Ethernet has been introduced into vehicular networks to cope with the increasing demand for bandwidth and complexity in communication networks. To exchange data between controller area network (CAN) and Ethernet, a gateway system is required to provide a communication interface. Additionally, the existence of networked devices exposes automobiles to cyber security threats. Against this background, a gateway for CAN/CAN with flexible data-rate (CANFD) to scalable service-oriented middleware over IP (SOME/IP) protocol conversion is designed, and security schemes are implemented in the routing process to provide integrity and confidentiality protections. Based on NXP-S32G, the designed gateway is implemented and evaluated. Under most operating conditions, the CPU and the RAM usage are less than 5% and 20 MB, respectively. Devices running a Linux operating system can easily bear such a system resource overhead. The latency caused by the security scheme accounts for about 25% of the entire protocol conversion latency. Considering the security protection provided by the security scheme, this overhead is worthwhile. The results show that the designed gateway can ensure a CAN/CANFD to SOME/IP protocol conversion with a low system resource overhead and a low latency while effectively resisting hacker attacks such as frame forgery, tampering, and sniffing.

Geogrid-reinforced structures are extensively adopted in various engineering fields. At present, the influence of boundary conditions was not considered in design methods, bringing hidden dangers to the safety of the structure. In the current study, a series of pullout tests were carried out on high-density polyethylene (HDPE) geogrid-reinforced coarse sand. The magnitude and growth pattern of pullout resistance and the variation laws of interfacial shear strength indexes under four types of boundary conditions were analyzed. Additionally, the boundary reduction coefficient (BRC) was introduced to establish the relationship between rigid and flexible boundary for the design of the structure. The tests results showed that the boundary conditions cannot be ignored in the design of structures, especially in the front. When the normal loading was up to 120 kPa, the BRC-top and BRC-positive could be taken as 0.9 and 0.5, respectively, and verified by fitting results. The boundary conditions affected the pullout resistance, while the vertical loading corresponding to the maximum pullout resistance was not related to boundary conditions. Investigating the interaction of the geogrid–soil under different boundary conditions can help to improve the understanding of the behavior of reinforced soil structure, and to achieve a more efficient and economical design.

Abstract One of the low-dimensional Boron Nitride (BN) forms, namely, cubic-BN (c-BN) nanodots (NDs), offers a variety of novel opportunities in battery, biology, deep ultraviolet light emitting diodes, sensors, filters, and other optoelectronic applications. To date, the attempts towards producing c-BN NDs were mainly performed under extreme high-temperature/high-pressure conditions and resulted in c-BN NDs with micrometer sizes, mixture of different BN phases, and containing process-related impurities/contaminants. To enhance device performance for those applications by taking advantage of size effect, pure, sub-100 nm c-BN NDs are necessary. In this paper, we report self-assembled growth of c-BN NDs on cobalt and nickel substrates by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. It is found that the nucleation, formation, and morphological properties of c-BN NDs can be closely correlated with the nature of substrate including catalysis effect, lattice-mismatch-induced strain, and roughness, and growth conditions, in particular, growth time and growth temperature. The mean lateral size of c-BN NDs on cobalt scales from 175 nm to 77 nm with the growth time. The growth mechanism of c-BN NDs on metal substrates is concluded to be Volmer-Weber (VW) mode. A simplified two-dimensional numerical modeling shows that the elastic strain energy plays a key role in determining the total formation energy of c-BN NDs on metals.

This paper describes a series of laboratory pullout tests that were performed to investigate the pullout behavior of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) uniaxial geogrid subjected to static and dynamic loading. Pullout tests were conducted on HDPE geogrid reinforced coarse sand under normal static loading (60–300 kPa), dynamic loading with different amplitudes (20, 40, and 60 kPa), and different frequencies (2, 4, and 6 Hz) by using the newly developed pullout apparatus. The results indicated that the pullout resistance of geogrid presented different growth patterns with the increase of normal loads under static loading. The amplitude and frequency both had significant effects on the interaction between reinforcement and soil, and the increment of the pullout resistance was 0.6 kN and 0.3 kN, respectively. The effect of dynamic loading on the soil-geogrid interface can be gradually equivalent to that of static loading corresponding to the balance position of dynamic loading with the increase of frequency compared with the static loading. The results of this study are helpful for the selection of the strength of the reinforcement in different locations and to simplify the study on the stress of reinforcement in reinforced soil structures under traffic loads.

Thermally processed Buthus martensii Karsch scorpions are a traditional Chinese medical material for treating various diseases. However, their pharmacological foundation remains unclear. Here, a new degraded peptide of scorpion toxin was identified in Chinese scorpion medicinal material by proteomics. It was named BmK86-P1 and has six conserved cysteine residues. Homology modeling and circular dichroism spectra experiments revealed that BmK86-P1 not only contained representative disulfide bond-stabilized α-helical and β-sheet motifs but also showed remarkable stability at test temperatures from 20–95 °C. Electrophysiology experiments indicated that BmK86-P1 was a highly potent and selective inhibitor of the hKv1.2 channel with IC50 values of 28.5 ± 6.3 nM. Structural and functional dissection revealed that two residues of BmK86-P1 (i.e., Lys19 and Ile21) were the key residues that interacted with the hKv1.2 channel. In addition, channel chimeras and mutagenesis experiments revealed that three amino acids (i.e., Gln357, Val381 and Thr383) of the hKv1.2 channel were responsible for BmK86-P1 selectivity. This research uncovered a new bioactive peptide from traditional Chinese scorpion medicinal material that has desirable thermostability and Kv1.2 channel-specific activity, which strongly suggests that thermally processed scorpions are novel peptide resources for new drug discovery for the Kv1.2 channel-related ataxia and epilepsy diseases.

As the root cause of illegal cyber activities, botnets are evolving continuously over the last two decades. Current researches on botnet command and control mechanism based on blockchain network suffer from high economic cost, single point of failure, and limited scalability. In this paper, we present DUSTBot, a novel P2P botnet model based on Bitcoin transactions to prepare for new cyber threats. Specifically, a covert, duplex, and low-cost command and control (C&C) channel in the Bitcoin network is presented in our work. DUSTBot uses the Bitcoin main network as the downstream channel while using the Bitcoin testnet as the upstream channel. Furthermore, the peer list exchange algorithm based on the Ethereum block hash proposed in this paper is effective against routing table poisoning attack and P2P botnet crawling. The robustness of DUSTBot against node removal is studied through constructing the botnet with a P2P simulator. We deploy the implementation of DUSTBot on cloud platforms to test its feasibility and performance. Moreover, the stealthiness of DUSTBot and the effectiveness of the proposed peer list exchange algorithm are evaluated. The results demonstrate the feasibility, performance, stealthiness, and robustness of DUSTBot. In the end, possible countermeasures are discussed to mitigate similar threats in the future.

Bluetooth Low-Energy (BLE) beacons-based indoor positioning is a promising method for indoor positioning, especially in applications of position-based services (PbS). It has low deployment cost and it is suitable for a wide range of mobile devices. Existing BLE beacon-based positioning methods can be categorized as range-based methods and fingerprinting-based methods. For range-based methods, the positions of the beacons should be known before positioning. For fingerprinting-based methods, a pre-requisite is the reference fingerprinting map (RFM). Many existing methods focus on how to perform the positioning assuming the beacon positions or RFM are known. However, in practical applications, determining the beacon positions or RFM in the indoor environment is normally a difficult task. This paper proposed an efficient and graph optimization-based way for estimating the beacon positions and the RFM, which combines the range-based method and the fingerprinting-based method. The method exists without need for any dedicated surveying instruments. A user equipped with a BLE-enabled mobile device walks in the region collecting inertial readings and BLE received signal strength indication (RSSI) readings. The inertial measurements are processed through the pedestrian dead reckoning (PDR) method to generate the constraints at adjacent poses. In addition, the BLE fingerprints are adopted to generate constraints between poses (with similar fingerprints) and the RSSIs are adopted to generate distance constraints between the poses and the beacon positions (according to a pre-defined path-loss model). The constraints are then adopted to form a cost function with a least square structure. By minimizing the cost function, the optimal user poses at different times and the beacon positions are estimated. In addition, the RFM can be generated through the pose estimations. Experiments are carried out, which validates that the proposed method for estimating the pre-requisites (including beacon positions and the RFM). These estimated pre-requisites are of sufficient quality for both range-based and fingerprinting-based positioning.

Strong room-temperature ferromagnetism is demonstrated in single crystalline Mn-doped ZnO thin films grown by molecular beam epitaxy. Very low Mn doping concentration is investigated, and the measured magnetic moment is much larger than what is expected for an isolated ion based on Hund's rules. The ferromagnetic behavior evolves with Mn concentration. Both magnetic anisotropy and anomalous Hall effect confirm the intrinsic nature of ferromagnetism. While the Mn dopant plays a crucial role, another entity in the system is needed to explain the observed large magnetic moments.

China consumes 35% of the world's fertilizer every year; however, most of the nitrogen fertilizers, which are essential for rice cultivation, are not used effectively. In this study, factors affecting the nitrogen leaching loss rate were studied in typical soil and rice varieties in South China. The effects of various irrigation measures on rice growth and nitrogen leaching loss were investigated by conducting experiments with eight groups. These groups included traditional irrigation (TI) and shallow wet irrigation (SWI). The TI is a common irrigation method for farmers in South China, maintaining a water layer of 5-8 cm depth. For SWI, after establishing a shallow water layer usually maintaining at 1-2 cm, paddy is irrigated when the field water level falls to a certain depth, then this process is then repeat as necessary. The nitrogen distribution characteristics were determined using 15N isotope tracing. In addition, the effects of nitrification, denitrification, and microbial composition on soil nitrogen transformation at different depths were studied by microbial functional gene quantification and high-throughput sequencing. The results revealed that in the SWI groups, the total nitrogen leaching loss rate reduced by 0.3-0.8% and the nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) increased by 2.18-4.43% compared with those in the TI groups. After the 15N-labeled nitrogen fertilizer was applied, the main pathways of nitrogen were found to be related to plant absorption and nitrogen residues. Furthermore, paddy soil ammonia-oxidizing archaea were more effective than ammonia-oxidizing bacteria for soil ammonia oxidation by SWI groups. The SWI measures increased the relative abundance of Firmicutes in paddy soil, enhancing the ability of rice to fix nitrogen to produce ammonium nitrogen, thus reducing the dependence of rice on chemical fertilizers. Moreover, SWI enhanced the relative abundance of nirS and nosZ genes within surface soil bacteria, thereby promoting denitrification in the surface soil of paddy fields. SWI also promoted ammonia oxidation and denitrification by increasing the abundance and activity of Proteobacteria, Nitrospirae, and Bacteroidetes. Collectively, SWI effectively reduced the nitrogen leaching loss rate and increase NUE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]