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A parabolic–elliptic Keller–Segel model for multipopulations in a two‐dimensional unit ball will be considered in this paper. For the initial boundary value problem with mutually attractive populations, the global existence of bounded solutions has been proved through the logarithmic Hardy–Littlewood–Sobolev inequality for system when the initial masses satisfy the subcritical condition. Moreover, based on the moments technique, there exists a blow‐up solution when the initial masses satisfy the supercritical case. In a word, a critical mass phenomenon has been established in this multispecies chemotaxis system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractA debate existing in feminist and criminological literature is the plausible macro-level relationship between gender inequality and female-victim intimate partner homicide (FV-IPH). The amelioration hypothesis assumes the reduction of gender-based violence in more gender-egalitarian societies, while the backlash hypothesis anticipates that reducing gender inequality may actually increase males’ violence perpetration against women to maintain their dominance. A third theoretical account hypothesizes a curvilinear relationship that integrates the traditional theses and provides a possible explanation for some inconsistent findings. This study revisited and tested these three macro-level theoretical propositions using detailed incident information on 11,310 Chinese judgment documents of intentional homicides (2017-2019) and multidimensional gender inequality indices across provinces. By disentangling the incident-level effects from the aggregate-level forces, our models enable a more explicit estimation of the relationship between provincial gender inequality and FV-IPH. The results indicated that: 1) backlash processes are more likely to occur with increases in women’s empowerment; 2) the relationship between the degree of egalitarian gender ideology and men’s likelihood of committing FV-IPH conforms to an inverted U. Using an innovative Chinese big-data source and text-mining approach, this study represents a pioneering endeavor, as it furnishes robust empirical evidence to corroborate the curvilinear relationship between cultural gender inequality and FV-IPH in a non-Western context. The implications of our findings underscore the need for tailored policy interventions that take into account the nuanced dimensions of gender inequality, particularly those that are culture-related. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to the challenges of low automation and a lack of a continuous processing system for Taiping Houkui tea, this study proposed a design scheme for a continuous processing line and built a continuous processing prototype for testing by combining the production requirements of Taiping Houkui tea, the characteristics of withered leaves, and the existing relevant production equipment. First, the physical properties of Taiping Houkui tea were determined. A simulation was performed using the Hertz–Mindlin model, and the motion states of the tea leaves were obtained under different conditions to define the parameter design range of the experimental platform and verify its structural rationality. Then, the response surface methodology was used to optimize the working parameter ranges and obtain the best working parameters for the feeding and kneading mechanisms. Finally, a continuous production prototype was constructed for further production verification. The experimental results show that the success rate of continuous production on this platform was 70.68%, with an average output of approximately 0.4 kg/h for Taiping Houkui dry tea on a single slide track, and the produced tea was similar to manually made tea. This demonstrates that the continuous production technique has high feasibility and provides a reference for continuous production of Taiping Houkui tea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Candida albicans is a common fungal pathogen that can cause life-threatening infections. MIR1 is considered to be a mitochondrial phosphate carrier of C. albicans, while its role in virulence has not been fully elucidated. In this study, we found that mir1Δ/Δ mutant exhibited severe virulence defect in both nematode and murine models. Further mechanism studies revealed that the mir1Δ/Δ mutant grew more slowly than the wild-type strain and showed severe filamentation defects on the hypha-inducing agar media, including YPD + serum, Lee, Spider + glucose, SLAD, SLD, and YPS. Furthermore, the loss of MIR1 resulted in unfermentable carbon utilisation defect, ATP decrease, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation in C. albicans. Antioxidant proanthocyanidins, vitamin E, and N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) could reduce intracellular ROS levels and partially rescue the filamentation defects of the mir1Δ/Δ mutant. Accordingly, hypha-specific genes, as well as CEK1 and RIM101 were down-regulated in the mir1Δ/Δ mutant, and this down-regulation could be partially rescued by the addition of the antioxidant NAC. Collectively, MIR1 plays an important role in C. albicans mitochondrial function, filamentation and virulence, and would be a promising antifungal target. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Macrobrachium rosenbergii is a warm water species, and low temperature is a limiting factor for its growth and survival. In order to explore the role of the acetyl-CoA-carboxylase (ACC) gene in response to the cold stress of M. rosenbergii, we investigated the effects of RNA interference (RNAi) with the ACC gene on the expression of fatty acid metabolism-related genes and the mortality of M. rosenbergii under cold stress. The results showed that different siRNA sequences and different injection concentrations had different inhibiting effects on ACC gene expression, and siRNA-III with an injection concentration of 2.0 μg/g (siRNA/prawn body weight) had the best interference effect. With the optimal siRNA and the optimal concentration under cold stress, the expressions of three fatty acid metabolism-related genes, FabD, echA, and ACOT, were generally significantly down-regulated. Compared to negative (scrambled-siRNA) and blank (PBS) control groups, the expression of FabD in the interference group was extremely significantly down-regulated at 12 h in the hepatopancreas and at 18 h in the muscles and gills; EchA was highly significantly down-regulated at 6 and 12 h in the muscles and gills; and ACOT was extremely significantly down-regulated and kept declining in the gills. Within 6–18 h after injection under cold stress, the mortality rate of the siRNA interference group (75%) was much lower than that of the negative (95%) or blank control group (97.5%), and all prawns died after 24 h. In conclusion, RNA interference with the ACC gene inhibited the expression of some fatty acid metabolism-related genes, and could partly improve the tolerance of M. rosenbergii to cold stress, indicating that the ACC gene might play an important role in the response of M. rosenbergii to cold stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the two-phase leakage of the flank gap in rotary compressors by using the coupled models of compressible Reynolds equation and refrigerant-oil pair solubility. The models are verified by both the classical analytical model and the published results in the static and dynamic situations. Moreover, results also firstly show how the hydrodynamic pressure, cavitation, and leakage mass flow rate can be influenced by the motion of the roller in the rotary compressor. Compared to the static situation, the pressurized zone in the high-pressure side due to the hydrodynamic effect can potentially increase the leakage mass flow rate of the mixture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surface features are crucial for assessing welding quality because they serve as an intuitive depiction of the quality of the joint and have a major influence on welding strength. According to the characteristics of the refill friction stir spot welding (RFSSW) process and an analysis of the surface-state and internal morphology of RFSSW joints, a method of predicting the mechanical properties of RFSSW joints based on surface-state characteristics was proposed. In this paper, a laser-ranging sensor was used to characterize the surface state of RFSSW joints, and parametric characterization methods of the surface-state features of RFSSW joints were proposed. On this basis, a support vector machine was used to predict and analyze the fracture mode of RFSSW joints. The accuracy of the analysis of the test samples reached 95.8%. This paper provides a more efficient and convenient new method for the quality evaluation of RFSSW joints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Triple-negative breast cancers display heterogeneity in molecular drivers and immune traits. We previously classified triple-negative breast cancers into four subtypes: luminal androgen receptor (LAR), immunomodulatory, basal-like immune-suppressed (BLIS), and mesenchymal-like (MES). Here, we aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of subtyping-based therapy in the first-line treatment of triple-negative breast cancer. FUTURE-SUPER is an ongoing, open-label, randomised, controlled phase 2 trial being conducted at Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center (FUSCC), Shanghai, China. Eligible participants were females aged 18–70 years, with an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status of 0–1, and histologically confirmed, untreated metastatic or recurrent triple-negative breast cancer. After categorising participants into five cohorts according to molecular subtype and genomic biomarkers, participants were randomly assigned (1:1) with a block size of 4, stratified by subtype, to receive, in 28-day cycles, nab-paclitaxel (100 mg/m2, intravenously on days 1, 8, and 15) alone (control group) or with a subtyping-based regimen (subtyping-based group): pyrotinib (400 mg orally daily) for the LAR- HER2 mut subtype, everolimus (10 mg orally daily) for the LAR- PI3K/AKT mut and MES- PI3K/AKT mut subtypes, camrelizumab (200 mg intravenously on days 1 and 15) and famitinib (20 mg orally daily) for the immunomodulatory subtype, and bevacizumab (10 mg/kg intravenously on days 1 and 15) for the BLIS/MES- PI3K/AKT WT subtype. The primary endpoint was investigator-assessed progression-free survival for the pooled subtyping-based group versus the control group in the intention-to-treat population (all randomly assigned participants). Safety was analysed in all patients with safety records who received at least one dose of study drug. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT04395989). Between July 28, 2020, and Oct 16, 2022, 139 female participants were enrolled and randomly assigned to the subtyping-based group (n=69) or control group (n=70). At the data cutoff (May 31, 2023), the median follow-up was 22·5 months (IQR 15·2–29·0). Median progression-free survival was significantly longer in the pooled subtyping-based group (11·3 months [95% CI 8·6–15·2]) than in the control group (5·8 months [4·0–6·7]; hazard ratio 0·44 [95% CI 0·30–0·65]; p<0·0001). The most common grade 3–4 treatment-related adverse events were neutropenia (21 [30%] of 69 in the pooled subtyping-based group vs 16 [23%] of 70 in the control group), anaemia (five [7%] vs none), and increased alanine aminotransferase (four [6%] vs one [1%]). Treatment-related serious adverse events were reported for seven (10%) of 69 patients in the subtyping-based group and none in the control group. No treatment-related deaths were reported in either group. These findings highlight the potential clinical benefits of using molecular subtype-based treatment optimisation in patients with triple-negative breast cancer, suggesting a path for further clinical investigation. Phase 3 randomised clinical trials assessing the efficacy of subtyping-based regimens are now underway. National Natural Science Foundation of China, Natural Science Foundation of Shanghai, Shanghai Hospital Development Center, and Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals. For the Chinese translation of the abstract see Supplementary Materials section. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Gaseous cavitation occurs due to change of refrigerant solubility in bearing. • Load-carrying capacity in high eccentricity is increased due to cavitation. • Negative pressure zone occurs in bearing at pressurized refrigerant environments. • Reversed flow from ambient should be addressed in bearing design and simulation. The journal-bearing system is crucial for the reliability of refrigerant compressors that operate under high-ambient-pressure environments. The pressure changes rapidly, which hereby results in the variation in solubility of refrigerant in oil, and causes gaseous cavitation of the refrigerant-oil mixture in the bearing. However, the cavitation mechanism under high-pressure environments is not well understood, and its impact on lubrication characteristics has been rarely discussed. In this paper, a numerical model is developed to simultaneously solve the gaseous cavitation and two-phase lubrication problems. The first systematic comparison of lubrication characteristics for constant-eccentricity journal bearings, in such a special environment, between the classical Reynolds boundary and gaseous cavitation boundary is presented. Results indicate the load-carrying capacity is reduced by about 3% at a lower eccentricity of 0.3, but is greatly enhanced by about 21% at a higher eccentricity of 0.9 due to the gaseous cavitation. Meanwhile, the 'reverse' flow rate is found to reach -0.057 at the end side of the bearing owing to sub-ambient pressure up to -1 MPa at the eccentricity of 0.8. The cavitation-induced sub-ambient pressure should be addressed for the design of the bearing operating in such pressurized refrigerant environments as ambient gas might be sucked into the bearing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Antihypertensive therapy is crucial for preventing stroke in hypertensive patients. However, the efficacy of antihypertensive therapy varies across individuals, partially due to therapy-related genetic variations among individuals. We investigated the association of antihypertensive drug-related gene polymorphism with stroke in patients with hypertension. Methods. Demographic information, medication, and outcome data were obtained from a hypertensive patient management system, and a PCR fluorescence probe technique was used to detect 7 gene polymorphic loci (CYP2D6 ∗ 10, ADRB1, CYP2C9 ∗ 3, AGTR1, ACE, CYP3A5 ∗ 3, and NPPA), and these loci were compared between patients with and without stroke. Logistic regression was performed to analyze the association of these genetic variations with stroke risk in hypertensive patients while controlling for potential factors. Results. The prevalence of stroke in the hypertensive population in Changsha County of Hunan Province was 2.75%. The mutation frequencies of ADRB1 (1165G > C), CYP2D6 ∗ 10, CYP2C9 ∗ 3, AGTR1 (1166A > C), ACE (I/D), NPPA (2238T > C), and CYP3A5 ∗ 3 were 74.43%, 57.23%, 4.26%, 5.71%, 31.62%, 1.17%, and 69.58%, respectively. Univariate analysis revealed that ADRB1 polymorphism was associated with stroke (χ2 = 8.659, P < 0.05), with a higher stroke risk in the CC group than in the GC and GG groups (GC + GG). Multivariate unconditional logistic regression analysis showed that the CC genotype in ADRB1 (vs. the GC + GG genotype) was associated with an increased risk of stroke [odds ratio (OR) = 1.184, P<0.05] in hypertensive patients. No association was observed between CYP2D6 ∗ 10, CYP2C9 ∗ 3, AGTR1 (1166A > C), ACE (I/D), CYP3A5 ∗ 3, and NPPA (2238T > C) polymorphisms and stroke. Conclusions. ADRB1 (1165G > C) gene polymorphism is associated with the risk of stroke in Chinese hypertensive patients. The CC genotype is correlated with a higher risk of stroke than the GC + GG genotype. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For covert communication in lossy channels, it is necessary to consider that the carrier of the hidden watermark will undergo multiple image-processing attacks. In order to ensure that secret information can be extracted without distortion from the watermarked images that have undergone attacks, in this paper, we design a novel fragmented secure communication system. The sender will fragment the secret data to be transmitted and redundantly hide it in a large number of multimodal carriers of messenger accounts on multiple social platforms. The receiver receives enough covert carriers, extracts each fragment, and concatenates the transmitted secret data. This article uses the image carrier as an example to fragment the text file intended for transmission and embeds it into a large number of images, with each fragment being redundant and embedded into multiple images. In this way, at the receiving end, only enough stego images need to be received to extract the information in each image, and then concatenate the final secret file. In order to resist various possible attacks during image transmission, we propose a strong robust image watermarking method. This method adopts a watermark layer based on DFT, which has high embedding and detection efficiency and good invisibility. Secondly, a watermark layer based on DCT is adopted, which can resist translation attacks, JPEG attacks, and other common attacks. Experiments have shown that our watermarking method is very fast; both the embedding time and the extraction time are less than 0.15 s for images not larger than 2000 × 2000 . Our watermarking method has very good invisibility with 41 dB PSNR on average. And our watermarking method is more robust than existing schemes and robust to nearly all kinds of attacks. Based on this strong robust image watermarking method, the scheme of fragmenting and hiding redundant transmission content into a large number of images is effective and practical. Our scheme can 100% restore the secret file completely under different RST or hybrid attacks, such as rotation by 1 degree and 5 degrees, scaling by 1.25 and 0.8, and cropping by 10% and 25%. Our scheme can successfully restore the secret file completely even if 30% of received images are lost. When 80% of received images are lost, our scheme can still restore 61.1% of the secret file. If all stego images can be obtained, the original text file can be completely restored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Compare the clinical efficacy of anterior and posterior Calot's triangle approach in laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) for chronic atrophic cholecystitis, to find out which approach is much safer and more reliable. Patients and Methods: From June 2020 to June 2022, 102 patients with chronic atrophic cholecystitis underwent LC in our hospital. They were divided into anterior Calot's triangle approach group and posterior Calot's triangle approach group. In addition, their clinical data, intraoperative conditions, surgical results, and postoperative recovery were analyzed. Results: LC was performed in 41 females and 28 males by the anterior Calot's triangle approach, and in 20 females and 13 males by the posterior Calot's triangle approach. There were no differences in age, gender, and body mass index between the two groups (P > .05). The probability of rupture of cystic artery between both groups was not significantly different (P = .549), and the intraoperative blood loss was more in the anterior group (P = .014). The operative time of the posterior approach appeared to be shorter (P = .013). Bile duct injury and conversion to open cholecystectomy revealed no significant difference (P > .05). The recovery time of gastrointestinal function, wound infection, white blood cell count, liver function, and postoperative hospital stay time were found to be not significantly different (P > .05). Conclusion: By the posterior Calot's triangle approach, LC is a convenient and feasible surgical procedure for chronic atrophic cholecystitis with less blood loss and can become easier without increasing the risk of surgery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Durvalumab is a check‐point inhibitor against programmed death ligand‐1 (PD‐L1), and anlotinib is a new orally administered multitarget tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI). Both agents have been approved in China. Preclinical and clinical trials have suggested that antiangiogenic therapy has the potential to alleviate immunosuppression and showed synergetic effect when combined with ICIs. However, it is unclear that whether this combination is effective when initiated as maintenance treatment in ES‐SCLC patients. Methods: This is a multicenter, randomized, phase II study. A total of 64 eligible patients who do not experience disease progression after four cycles platinum‐based chemotherapy combined with durvalumab will be randomized to durvalumab with anlotinib or durvalumab alone until disease progression, withdrawal of consent, or unacceptable toxicity. The primary endpoint is PFS (from randomization); secondary endpoint was OS and PFS (from diagnosis), objective response rate (ORR); disease control rate (DCR) and duration of response (DOR), safety and tolerability assessed by the National Cancer Institute Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) version 5.0. Discussion: We conduct a phase II study to investigate the safety and efficacy of durvalumab combined with anlotinib as maintenance treatment in ES‐SCLC patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Handling a large number of geometric constraints brings a big challenge to the surrogate-based aerodynamic shape optimization (ASO) driven by computational fluid dynamics (CFD). It is not feasible to calculate the geometric constraint functions directly during the sub-optimization of a surrogate-based optimization, as the geometric constraint functions are to be evaluated thousands of times for each updating cycle and the total cost of a number of cycles can be prohibitive. This article proposes an efficient method of handling geometric constraints within the framework of a surrogate-based optimization to address this problem. The core idea is to use the Kreisselmeier- Steinhauser (KS) method to aggregate all geometric constraints into one that can be approximated by a cheap surrogate model, in order to avoid the large computational cost associated with tremendous calculation of geometric constraint values. The proposed method is verified by an analytical test case. Then, the proposed method is demonstrated and compared with the methods of building surrogate models of all geometric constraints and calculating all geometric constraints directly during each sub-optimization by drag minimizations of NACA0012 air foil and ONERA M6 wing in transonic flows. To investigate the ability of the proposed method for handling various geometric constraints, drag minimization of CRM wing in viscous transonic flow driven by CFD is performed. Results show that the proposed method can dramatically improve the optimization efficiency of ASO with the number of geometric constraints ranging from 15 to 1429 and the number of types of geometric constraints up to 3, which offers great potential for handling a larger number and more types of geometric constraints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Higher initial compressor temperature results in higher minimum viscosity. • Refrigerant concentration gradient went from present to absent during startup. • Poorer miscible lubricant results in higher mixture viscosity. • Oil discharge originates from excessive refrigerant condensation and oil supply. • PAG VG40 and MO VG100 showed good oil return performance. The low density, small adiabatic index, and restricted charge of R290 result in different startup characteristics for R290 air-source heat pumps (ASHP) from that for HFCs ASHP. The research on the startup process of R290 refrigeration systems in the past has focused on system and compressor pressures, temperatures, changes in the bottom viscosity of the oil sump, and control strategies. There is a lack of research on the effect of lubricant types on the startup process, especially for R290 air-source heat pump. This paper experimentally measured and analyzed the changes in system temperatures and pressures as well as the changes in refrigerant concentration, concentration gradient, and mixture viscosity in the compressor oil sump during the startup process of R290 ASHP under different conditions, different startup types and with different lubricants. In addition, the oil discharge time, oil discharge, refrigerant mass in the compressor, and oil return time during the cold startup of LTH using PAG VG40 and MO VG100 were observed and clarified by installing transparent tubes and dismantling and weighing method. The experimental results showed that during the startup process, the mixture viscosity in the oil sump decreased and then increased, the refrigerant concentration increased and then reduced, and the refrigerant concentration gradient went from present to absent. The minimum viscosity was greater, the maximum concentration was smaller, and the low-viscosity duration was shorter for higher initial compressor temperature and with poorer miscible lubricants. PAG VG40 and MO VG100 showed good oil return performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a growing body of evidence indicating the crucial roles that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play in the development and progression of various diseases, including cancers, cardiovascular diseases, and neurological disorders. However, accurately predicting potential lncRNA-disease associations remains a challenge, as existing methods have limitations in extracting heterogeneous association information and handling sparse and unbalanced data. To address these issues, we propose a novel computational method, called HGC-GAN, which combines heterogeneous graph convolutional neural networks (GCN) and generative adversarial networks (GAN) to predict potential lncRNA-disease associations. Specifically, we construct a lncRNA-miRNA-disease heterogeneous network by integrating multiple association data and sequence information. The GCN-based generator is then employed to aggregate neighbor information of nodes and obtain node embeddings, which are used to predict lncRNA-disease associations. Meanwhile, the GAN-based discriminator is trained to distinguish between real and fake lncRNA-disease associations generated by the generator, enabling the generator to improve its ability to generate accurate lncRNA-disease associations gradually. Our experimental results demonstrate that HGC-GAN performs better in predicting potential lncRNA-disease associations, with AUC and AUPR values of 0.9591 and 0.9606, respectively, under 10-fold cross-validation. Moreover, our case study further confirms the effectiveness of HGC-GAN in predicting potential lncRNA-disease associations, even for novel lncRNAs without any known lncRNA-disease associations. Overall, our proposed method HGC-GAN provides a promising approach to predict potential lncRNA-disease associations and may have important implications for disease diagnosis, treatment, and drug development. Author summary: Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) refer to non-coding RNAs with lengths exceeding 200 nucleotides, and they play pivotal roles in various diseases, including cancer, cardiovascular, and neurological disorders. However, accurately predicting their associations with diseases presents a formidable challenge, particularly given the limitations of existing methods in handling complex and diverse data as well as sparse information. To address these issues, we introduce a novel computational approach known as HGC-GAN. This method combines the robust capabilities of heterogeneous graph convolutional neural networks (GCN) and generative adversarial networks (GAN) to predict potential associations between lncRNAs and diseases. Leveraging rich biological information, it overcomes challenges related to data scarcity and the absence of negative samples. Our empirical results demonstrate that HGC-GAN outperforms existing models and achieves impressive results in predicting the associations between lncRNAs and diseases under rigorous cross-validation. Notably, HGC-GAN has proven its reliability across datasets of varying scales. Furthermore, our case studies illustrate its ability to predict associations of novel lncRNAs with diseases that have no known links. We believe that HGC-GAN holds great promise in advancing disease diagnosis, treatment, and drug development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate identifying and in‐depth understanding of the defect sites in a working nanomaterial could hinge on establishing specific defect‐activity relationships. Yet, atomically precise coinage‐metal nanoclusters (NCs) possessing surface vacancy defects are scarce primarily owing to challenges in the synthesis and isolation of such defective NCs. Herein we report a mixed‐ligand strategy to synthesizing an intrinsically chiral and metal‐deficient copper hydride‐rich NC [Cu57H20(PET)36(TPP)4]+ (Cu57H20). Its total structure (including hydrides) and electronic structure are well established by combined experimental and computational results. Crystal structure reveals Cu57H20 features a cube‐like Cu8 kernel embedded in a corner‐missing metal‐ligand shell of Cu49(PET)36(TPP)4. Single Cu vacancy defect site occurs at one corner of the shell, evocative of mono‐lacunary polyoxometalates. Theoretical calculations demonstrate that the above‐mentioned point vacancy causes one surface hydride exposed as an interfacial capping μ3‐H−, which is accessible in chemical reaction, as proved by deuterated experiment. Moreover, Cu57H20 shows catalytic activity in the hydrogenation of nitroarene. The success of this work opens the way for the research on well‐defined chiral metal‐deficient Cu and other metal NCs, including exploring their application in asymmetrical catalysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate identifying and in‐depth understanding of the defect sites in a working nanomaterial could hinge on establishing specific defect‐activity relationships. Yet, atomically precise coinage‐metal nanoclusters (NCs) possessing surface vacancy defects are scarce primarily owing to challenges in the synthesis and isolation of such defective NCs. Herein we report a mixed‐ligand strategy to synthesizing an intrinsically chiral and metal‐deficient copper hydride‐rich NC [Cu57H20(PET)36(TPP)4]+ (Cu57H20). Its total structure (including hydrides) and electronic structure are well established by combined experimental and computational results. Crystal structure reveals Cu57H20 features a cube‐like Cu8 kernel embedded in a corner‐missing metal‐ligand shell of Cu49(PET)36(TPP)4. Single Cu vacancy defect site occurs at one corner of the shell, evocative of mono‐lacunary polyoxometalates. Theoretical calculations demonstrate that the above‐mentioned point vacancy causes one surface hydride exposed as an interfacial capping μ3‐H−, which is accessible in chemical reaction, as proved by deuterated experiment. Moreover, Cu57H20 shows catalytic activity in the hydrogenation of nitroarene. The success of this work opens the way for the research on well‐defined chiral metal‐deficient Cu and other metal NCs, including exploring their application in asymmetrical catalysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grounded in criminological theories (routine activity, social bonding, social disorganization, control balance, differential association, and general strain), this study extended the victim-offender overlap research by considering the specificity of rurality. We collected data from 2,839 adolescents in rural China and applied multilevel item response theory modeling. Both victim-offender overlap and differentiation were evident among rural adolescents. The victimization-offending overlap was associated with unstructured socializing, family and neighborhood control, moral beliefs, peer delinquency, and certain forms of social strain (loss of positively valued stimuli and exposure to negative stimuli). The differential tendency toward victimization over offending was a function of non-deviant solitary routines, failure to achieve positively valued goals, and strain-specific depression. The insignificance of control imbalance may need clarification of its conceptual relevance to rurality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past several years, creativity has been recognized as an important skill for success in STEM education, engineering design and computational thinking. There is limited research on how to apply Conceive, Design, Implement, Operate (CDIO) engineering design in STEM courses and how it affects students' creativity. This study strategically integrated computational thinking (CT), STEM, and CDIO engineering design, based on Action-Process-Object-Schema (APOS) theory, into a course. This study has adopted a framework to design creative learning materials and examined how this framework impacts students' creativity. This study used a pretest–posttest nonequivalent-groups design. The study investigated a STEM course which had 40 participants (n = 40, male = 11, female = 29) for 12 weeks. 6 weeks were spent using traditional teaching and 6 weeks integrating a CDIO framework into computational thinking. All the students in the course were college students with teacher college backgrounds. To examine the impact of our course, we used a questionnaire to examine the students' creativity before and after the STEM course was applied. Our results show that our course had a significantly impact on our students' creativity, particularly in the case of the male students. This finding is consistent with the findings of other research studies. This study also offers some suggestions for teachers who wish to improve their learning materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies that examine the news engagement practices of school students usually examine children or teenagers, and this precludes an examination of the similarities and differences between these groups. In 2020, we carried out a nationally representative survey of the news practices and experiences of young Australians aged 8–16 years and we compared the results for those aged 8–12 years and 13–16 years. The findings demonstrate that family is the most common source of news for both groups. Nonetheless, there is a significant shift that takes place as children enter their teen years, whereby they become far more likely to get news online from social media, news websites and apps. The impact of this shift is not straightforward, however. Contrary to our expectations, this development does not appear to increase the degree to which young people say news is important to them and it is not strongly correlated with their self-reported affective experience of news. Overall though, we find that the method young people use to get news and their affective experience of news engagement are significant predictors for their motivation to want to act on or respond to news. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Market uncertainty has a significant impact on market performance. Previous studies have dedicated much effort towards investigations into market uncertainty related to information asymmetry and risk. However, they have neglected the uncertainty inherent in market transactions, which is also an important aspect of market performance, besides the quantity of transactions and market efficiency. In this paper, we put forward a concept of transaction entropy to measure market uncertainty and see how it changes with price. Transaction entropy is defined as the ratio of the total information entropy of all traders to the quantity of transactions, reflecting the level of uncertainty in making successful transactions. Based on the computational and simulated results, our main finding is that transaction entropy is the lowest at equilibrium, it will decrease in a shortage market, and increase in a surplus market. Additionally, we make a comparison of the total entropy of the centralized market with that of the decentralized market, revealing that the price-filtering mechanism could effectively reduce market uncertainty. Overall, the introduction of transaction entropy enriches our understanding of market uncertainty and facilitates a more comprehensive assessment of market performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, flipping classrooms has become a popular topic of discussion. However, few previous studies have focused on the effect of the flow experience on programming self-efficacy. To address this gap, the present researchers developed a model that included six research hypotheses. The study applied a flipped classroom model to a programming course in order to examine the relationship between self-efficacy, flow experience, and learning performance in a flipped programming course. The research model was empirically examined using a survey to collect data from 46 college students in Taiwan. Programming courses were conducted for 180 minutes once a week, with six weeks of total teaching time. The findings of this study indicate that there is a positive relationship between programming self-efficacy and enjoyment, engagement, and flow control. The study also revealed that certain important implications and factors to improve the design and delivery of such courses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the output tracking control problem for networked systems with plant-model mismatch, where two-channel random network delays are considered. According to the different ways of obtaining future control commands, two networked predictive control (NPC) methods are designed. One is the NPC method using one-way time delays, called ONPC, and the other is the NPC method using round-trip time delays, called RNPC. Furthermore, they are compared in terms of the way of compensation for two-channel delays, prediction process, and communication load, respectively. Then, the closed-loop stability conditions of the RNPC system and the ONPC system for the plant-model mismatch and match cases are derived, and their output tracking performance is also theoretically analysed. Finally, the results of the theoretical analysis are verified through numerical simulation that illustrates the effectiveness of the proposed two NPC methods as well as their separate advantages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By utilizing the well-known selective xanthine oxidase inhibitor topiroxostat, a new zinc(II) complex Zn(L)2(H2O)2 (1) [HL = 4-(3-(pyridine-4-yl)-1H-1,2,4-triazol-5-yl)picolinic acid] has been hydrothermally synthesized, involving in-situ ligand formation upon hydrolysis of topiroxostat. The complex has been structurally characterized by elemental analysis, IR spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, powder X-ray diffraction, and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. X-ray structural analysis revealed that complex 1 is a N,O-chelating mononuclear Zn(II) complex. Complex 1 shows good thermal stability and exhibits photoluminescence in the solid state at room temperature. Moreover, complex 1 has been shown to be effective in the solvent-free ring-opening polymerization of ε-caprolactone without any co-catalyst or initiator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The low-boom inverse design method is of great interest for the preliminary design of supersonic transport (SST), owing to its good capability of reducing sonic boom at low computational cost. However, the main challenge is how to prescribe an attainable target. This paper proposes an inverse design method using a new target-generation strategy to address this challenge. Unlike existing methods such as the Jones-Seebass-George-Darden method and the mixed-fidelity inverse design method [the Li-Shields-Geiselhart (LSG) method], the proposed method directly parameterizes the near-field overpressure distribution of a reference configuration and minimizes the ground perceived level in decibels (PLdB) predicted by solving the augmented Burgers equation to obtain an optimal target distribution, subject to cruise lift and volume constraints. The proposed method is demonstrated by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Wing Body case, which shows that it mitigates sonic boom under lift constraint and achieves a reduction of 2.07 PLdB more than the LSG method. The proposed method is applied to the low-boom design of a large SST configuration called NPU-T7104, which is close in size to the Tupolev Tu-144; results show that aerodynamic performance is maintained while shock wave coalescence is effectively prevented, and ground-boom intensity is dramatically reduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) closely associates with numerous biological processes, and with many diseases. Therefore, lncRNA-disease association prediction helps obtain relevant biological information and understand pathogenesis, and thus better diagnose preventable diseases. Results: Herein, we offer the LDAF_GAN method for predicting lncRNA-associated disease based on association filtering and generative adversarial networks. Experimentation used two types of data: lncRNA-disease associated data without lncRNA sequence features, and fused lncRNA sequence features. LDAF_GAN uses a generator and discriminator, and differs from the original GAN by the addition of a filtering operation and negative sampling. Filtering allows the generator output to filter out unassociated diseases before being fed into the discriminator. Thus, the results generated by the model focuses only on lncRNAs associated with disease. Negative sampling takes a portion of disease terms with 0 from the association matrix as negative samples, which are assumed to be unassociated with lncRNA. A regular term is added to the loss function to avoid producing a vector with all values of 1, which can fool the discriminator. Thus, the model requires that generated positive samples are close to 1, and negative samples are close to 0. The model achieved a superior fitting effect; LDAF_GAN had superior performance in predicting fivefold cross-validations on the two datasets with AUC values of 0.9265 and 0.9278, respectively. In the case study, LDAF_GAN predicted disease association for six lncRNAs-H19, MALAT1, XIST, ZFAS1, UCA1, and ZEB1-AS1-and with the top ten predictions of 100%, 80%, 90%, 90%, 100%, and 90%, respectively, which were reported by previous studies. Conclusion: LDAF_GAN efficiently predicts the potential association of existing lncRNAs and the potential association of new lncRNAs with diseases. The results of fivefold cross-validation, tenfold cross-validation, and case studies suggest that the model has great predictive potential for lncRNA-disease association prediction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 16 SrRNA gene high-throughput sequencing technology was used to analyze the effects of different tillage methods (A1 traditional tillage, A2 deep rotary tillage) and organic fertilizer levels (B1: 0kg⋅ha-1, B2: 7500 kg⋅ha-1, B3: 15000kg⋅ha-1, B4: 22500kg⋅ha-1) on the bacterial community structure of maize rhizosphere saline alkali soil, and predict their functions. The results showed that: (1) the interaction effect of deep rotary tillage and organic fertilizer application significantly increased the observed index, Chao1 index, ACE index and aromatic index(P<0.05). (2)The bacterial community in maize rhizosphere was mainly composed of 31 phyla and 497 genera, including Proteobacteria(37.4%-54.4%), Acidobacteria(8.6%-2.9%), Actinobacteria(5.2%-13.3%). The analysis of bacterial community showed that the bacterial community structure was similar among different tillage methods, and the abundance of bacteria was different among organic fertilizer application levels. (3)The correlation analysis showed that the soil pH value was significantly negatively correlated with ACE index, Observed index and Chao1 index(r=-0.56, P=0.004); The activity of invertase (IA) was positively correlated with ACE index, Observed index and Chao1 index(r=0.52, P=0.01). Redundancy analysis showed that alkali hydrolyzed nitrogen, available phosphorus, available potassium, organic matter, alkaline phosphatase, sucrase and pH value were the key environmental factors affecting the bacterial community structure of corn farmland soil. (4)Deep rotary tillage combined with organic fertilizer significantly increased the gene abundance of bacterial signal transduction function in the rhizosphere soil of maize fields, such as carbohydrate metabolism, amino acid metabolism, other amino acid metabolism, carbohydrate biosynthesis and metabolism, cofactor and vitamin metabolism. The functional gene abundance of soil bacteria was the highest under A2B3 treatment. In this study, the treatment of deep tillage and organic fertilizer application rate of 15000kg⋅ha-1 was the most beneficial ways to improve the bacterial diversity and function of corn farmland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A magnetic Metal–Organic Framework (MOF) nanocomposite, namely Cu-BTC@Fe3O4 (BTC = 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylate) was used for magnetically retrievable separation of uranyl (UO22+) in the presence of competitive ions. A significant adsorption amount of 312 mg/g was achieved for uranium over Cu-BTC@Fe3O4 at a pH value of 4.5. Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (EXAFS) analysis indicated that the interaction of Cu-BTC@Fe3O4 with UO22+ is the synergistic coordination of carboxylate groups of BTC ligand, Fe3O4-COOH, and hydrate H2O for UO22+ ions. In addition to identifying a stable and retrievable adsorbent, the results generally elucidate UO22+ removal of MOFs composites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clinically, early brain injury (EBI), which refers to the acute injuries to the whole brain in the phase of the first 72 h following subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH), is intensely investigated to improve neurological and psychological function. Additionally, it will be meaningful to explore new therapeutic approaches for EBI treatment to improve the prognosis of patients with SAH. To investigate the underlying neuroprotection mechanism in vitro, the Protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B inhibitor (PTP1B-IN-1) was put in primary neurons induced by OxyHb to observe neuroapoptosis, neuroinflammation, and ER stress. Then, one hundred forty male mice were subjected to Experiment two and Experiment three. The mice in the SAH24h + PTP1B-IN-1 group were given an intraperitoneal injection of 5 mg/kg PTP1B-IN-1 30 min before anesthesia. SAH grade, neurological score, brain water content, Western blot, PCR, and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) were performed to observe the underlying neuroprotection mechanism in vivo. Overall, this study suggests that PTP1B-IN-1 could ameliorate neuroapoptosis, neuroinflammation, and ER stress in vitro and in vivo by regulating the IRS-2/AKT signaling pathway, suggesting that PTP1B-IN-1 may be a candidate drug for the treatment of early brain injury after SAH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The enantioselective α‐oxidative coupling of enals with carboxylic acids was developed via the umpolung of an NHC‐bound enolate with an iodine(III) reagent. The corresponding α‐acyloxyl‐β,γ‐unsaturated esters were afforded in good yields, with high regio‐ and enantioselectivities. The key step of the reaction involves the formation of enol iodine(III) intermediate from the enolate with iodosobenzene, which changes the polarity of α‐carbon of the enal from nucleophilic to electrophilic, and thus facilitates the subsequent addition of carboxylate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The enantioselective α‐oxidative coupling of enals with carboxylic acids was developed via the umpolung of an NHC‐bound enolate with an iodine(III) reagent. The corresponding α‐acyloxyl‐β,γ‐unsaturated esters were afforded in good yields, with high regio‐ and enantioselectivities. The key step of the reaction involves the formation of enol iodine(III) intermediate from the enolate with iodosobenzene, which changes the polarity of α‐carbon of the enal from nucleophilic to electrophilic, and thus facilitates the subsequent addition of carboxylate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Substituting Fe with Co in Fe-based alloys to adjust the composition and optimize properties is a hot topic. Amorphous Fe84xCoxZr7B9 (x = 0; 7; 14; 21; 28; 35; 42) ribbons were prepared and annealed at their first exothermic peak temperature. The crystallization and magnetic properties of the alloys can be divided into two regions. The first region corresponds to the Fe84xCoxZr7B9 (x = 0; 7; 14; 21) alloys, and the second region corresponds to the Fe84xCoxZr7B9 (x = 28, 35, 42) alloys. There are four exothermic peaks for Fe84xCoxZr7B9 (x = 0; 7; 14; 21) alloys, and there are three crystallization exothermic peaks for Fe84xCoxZr7B9 (x = 28; 35; 42) alloys during crystallization. Only a single phase precipitates from the amorphous matrix for all alloys after annealing. With the increase in Co content, the lattice constant first increases up to 21 at.% Co and then decreases. The crystallization volume fraction (Vcry) and the grain size (D) continue to decrease. When the Co content is 21 at.%, there is little change in Co concentration between the nanocrystal and the remaining amorphous matrix. When the Co content is 42 at.%, the Fe content in the remaining amorphous matrix is significantly less than that in the nanocrystal, and the Co content in the remaining amorphous matrix is slightly higher than that in the nanocrystal. The content of Fe in the nanocrystal is higher than that of Co in the nanocrystal. The specific saturation magnetization Ms of as-quenched alloys and annealed alloys increases sharply up to 28 at.% Co and then decreases with a further increase in the Co content. The Ms values of annealed alloys are greater than those of as-quenched alloys. The coercivity Hc values of annealed alloys are lower than those of as-quenched alloys. For Fe84xCoxZr7B9 (x = 0, 7, 14, 21) alloys, the higher the Co content, the higher the difference between the Hc values of as-quenched and annealed alloys. For Fe84xCoxZr7B9 (x = 28; 35; 42) alloys, the difference between the Hc values of as-quenched and annealed alloys is small. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Using chemical penetration enhancers to improve the penetration effect is one kind of important strategies in transdermal drug delivery system. Azone is a widely used transdermal absorption enhancer for transdermal drug delivery. To shed light on the permeation-promoting mechanism of azone, we selected ternary systems formed by azacyclopentane-2-one and N-methylolacetamide (1: 2) and explored the synergetic effect of hydrogen-bonding interactions among them and their thermodynamic properties. The findings indicate that the synergetic effects can enhance the ability of azone to change the original conformation of ceramides and even break the original hydrogen bonds, which is more beneficial for azone to destroy the 3D network structure of ceramides. When azone interacts with ceramide, the order of action tends to interact with one molecule of ceramide first and then with another molecule of ceramide. Methods: The synergetic effects of hydrogen-bonding interactions in ternary systems were computed at the B3LYP/6–311 + + G** and MP2(full)/6–311 + + G** levels. Thermodynamic parameters for two ternary-complex routes were worked out at the B3LYP/aug-cc-pVDZ level. The shift of the electron density occurring simultaneously with trimer formation was analyzed at the MP2(full)/6–311 + + G** level. The above calculations were carried out using the Gaussian 03 program packages. Atoms in molecules (AIM) method and the AIMPAC program showed the topological charge density at the MP2(full)/6–311 + + G** level. The synergetic effects of hydrogen-bonding interactions and thermodynamic property in the 1: 2 (azacyclopentane-2-one: N-methylolacetamide) ternary systems were investigated using the B3LYP and MP2(full) methods [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Immune-related genes (IRGs) remain poorly understood in their function in the onset and progression of sepsis. Methods: GSE65682 was obtained from the Gene Expression Omnibus database. The IRGs associated with survival were screened for subsequent modeling using univariate Cox regression analysis and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator in the training cohort. Then, we assessed the reliability of the 7 IRGs signature's independent predictive value in the training and validation cohorts following the creation of a signature applying multivariable Cox regression analysis. After that, we utilized the E-MTAB-4451 external dataset in order to do an independent validation of the prognostic signature. Finally, the CIBERSORT algorithm and single-sample gene set enrichment analysis was utilized to investigate and characterize the properties of the immune microenvironment. Results: Based on 7 IRGs signature, patients could be separated into low-risk and high-risk groups. Patients in the low-risk group had a remarkably increased 28-day survival compared to those in the high-risk group (P < 0.001). In multivariable Cox regression analyses, the risk score calculated by this signature was an independent predictor of 28-day survival (P < 0.001). The signature's predictive ability was confirmed by receiver operating characteristic curve analysis with the area under the curve reaching 0.876 (95% confidence interval 0.793–0.946). Moreover, both the validation set and the external dataset demonstrated that the signature had strong clinical prediction performance. In addition, patients in the high-risk group were characterized by a decreased neutrophil count and by reduced inflammation-promoting function. Conclusion: We developed a 7 IRGs signature as a novel prognostic marker for predicting sepsis patients' 28-day survival, indicating possibilities for individualized reasonable resource distribution of intensive care unit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This study aimed to describe a novel double-sheath vacuum suction minimally invasive percutaneous nephrolithotomy (mini-PCNL) to overcome the deficiencies of the conventional procedure. Patients and Methods: Between March 2019 and December 2019, 65 patients (37 males and 28 females) with a mean age of 41 years (range 23–69) underwent mini-PCNL with double-sheath vacuum suction. It consisted of an F20 Y-shaped sheath as an outer sheath and an F16 Y-shaped sheath as an inner sheath, in which the inner sheath was longer than the outer sheath. The oblique arm of the outer sheath and the inner sheath was connected to the perfusion inflow and the vacuum suction, respectively. A 550-μm holmium-YAG laser was introduced for stone fragmentation through the working channel of the mini-nephroscope, which was no longer connected to the perfusion fluid. Results: All procedures were successful. Mean operation time was 50.2 min (range 39–83). Mean hemoglobin decrease was 5.2 g/L (range 1.0–15.5), and no patient needed a blood transfusion. One patient (1.5%) with low fever (<38°C) at day 1 had returned to normal at day 2 without administration of antibiotics. There were no Clavien grade 2–4 complications. Mean postoperative hospital stay was 2.4 days (range 2–6). The initial stone-free rate of PCNL was 81.53% (53 of 65 patients). One month after surgery, the final stone-free rate increased to 90.77% (59/65 patients). Conclusions: The double-sheath vacuum suction mini-PCNL is a safe and effective modality for large renal stones, which might increase the efficiency of stone extraction with low intrapelvic pressure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A networked control system (NCS), which integrates various physical components by utilising communication networks, is a complex intelligent control system with high flexibility and reliability. It has been widely applied in various areas, such as power grids, intelligent transportation, and smart manufacturing. However, compared with traditional control systems, NCSs expose more extra vulnerabilities with the openness of communication networks, leading to long-term concerns for the security of NCSs against cyber attacks. This paper gives a survey in detail on recent developments on the security of NCSs subject to deception attacks from the two domains of information technology (IT) and system control, respectively. First, several security incidents reported in recent years are reviewed and a couple of prevailing cyber attacks are analysed. Besides, the results on IT security with respect to the protection-detection-reaction model are summarised. Then, from the domain of system control, the security issues on attack design, attack detection, secure state estimation and resilient control are surveyed in depth. Furthermore, several novel security topics from the combination of IT and system control are also discussed. Finally, several future research directions are presented on this topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low anterior rectal resection is an effective way to treat rectal cancer at present, but it is easy to cause low anterior resection syndrome after surgery; so, a comprehensive diagnosis of defecation and pelvic floor function must be carried out. There are few studies on the classification of diagnoses in the field of intestinal diseases. In response to these outstanding problems, this research will focus on the design of the intestinal function diagnosis system and the image processing and classification algorithm of the intestinal wall to verify an efficient fusion method, which can be used to diagnose the intestinal diseases in clinical medicine. The diagnostic system designed in this paper makes up for the singleness of clinical monitoring methods. At the same time, the Res-SVDNet neural network model is used to solve the problems of small intestinal image samples and network overfitting, and achieve efficient fusion diagnosis of intestinal diseases in patients. Different models were used to compare experiments on the constructed datasets to verify the applicability of the Res-SVDNet model in intestinal image classification. The accuracy of the model was 99.54%, which is several percentage points higher than other algorithm models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Protected cropping produces more food per land area than field-grown crops. Protected cropping includes low-tech polytunnels utilizing protective coverings, medium-tech facilities with some environmental control, and high-tech facilities such as fully automated glasshouses and indoor vertical farms. High crop productivity and quality are maintained by using environmental control systems and advanced precision phenotyping sensor technologies that were first developed for broadacre agricultural and can now be utilized for protected-cropping applications. This paper reviews the state of the global protected-cropping industry and current precision phenotyping methodology and technology that is used or can be used to advance crop productivity and quality in a protected growth environment. This review assesses various sensor technologies that can monitor and maintain microclimate parameters, as well as be used to assess plant productivity and produce quality. The adoption of precision phenotyping technologies is required for sustaining future food security and enhancing nutritional quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carnivores, especially top predators, are important because they maintain the structure and function of ecosystems by top‐down control. Exploring the coexistence between carnivores belonging to different ecological guilds can provide the data needed for the development of effective conservation strategies of endangered species. We used scats and camera traps to molecularly analyze the dietary composition of four predators that inhabit the Everest region and assess their activity patterns. Dietary analysis revealed 22 food Molecular Operational Taxonomic Units (MOTUs) of 7 orders and 2 classes. Snow leopard (Panthera uncia) and wolf (Canis lupus) had high dietary overlap (Pianka's index = 0.95), as they both mainly preyed on ungulates (%PR = 61%, 50%), while lynx (Lynx lynx) and red fox (Vulpes vulpes) mainly consumed small mammals (%PR = 62%, 76%). We observed lower dietary overlaps (Pianka's index = 0.53–0.70) between predators with large body size difference (snow leopard versus lynx, snow leopard versus red fox, wolf versus lynx, wolf versus fox), and dietary difference was significant (p <.01), proving dietary partitioning. In activity pattern analysis, predators exhibited higher temporal overlaps with the more frequently consumed prey species, showing that predator activity can be regulated by prey availability. We observed no obvious temporal avoidance between snow leopard and wolf because they had high activity overlap (Δ = 0.87). Red fox had the lowest coefficients of activity overlap with snow leopard and wolf (Δ = 0.60, 0.59), suggesting that fox tends to avoid snow leopard and wolf temporally. In this study, we revealed how dietary and temporal partitioning facilitates the coexistence of carnivores in Everest. These results will help to increase the understanding of coexistence mechanism of carnivore communities, and provide the scientific foundation for the conservation of wildlife living in the Qinghai‐Tibet Plateau. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An effective metal–organic frameworks composite, Cu‐BTC@Fe3O4, was applied to catalyze Suzuki–Miyaura reaction under mild conditions and could achieve a good yield up to 98%. This magnetic noble‐metal free catalyst was proved excellent reusability for at least four cycles without loss of catalytic activity and crystallinity. X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy confirmed that the binding energy of Fe‐2p shifted to a negative value by 0.3 eV in Cu‐BTC@Fe3O4 after catalysis; in the meantime, the binding energy of Cu‐2p shifted to a positive value by 0.1 eV. A possible bimetallic catalytic mechanism involved in this coupling reaction was proposed. In addition, the heterogeneous and recyclable properties of the catalyst were shown by hot filtration experiments, and the catalyst can be easily separated from reaction system in the presence of magnetic field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the hybrid shish-kebab structure with excellent physical properties and functionalities has attracted much attention because it provides a way of blending nanofibers with different properties into polymer matrix in a regular arrangement. It is often not easy to induce the formation of the hierarchically ordered structure for the semi-crystalline polymer in heterogeneous shish-kebab structure. A poly(lactic acid) (PLA)/poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) heterogeneous shish-kebab structure, i.e., the PCL crystals periodically crystallized onto PLA nanofibers, was successfully created and the interfacial crystal morphology of the PLA/PCL heterogeneous shish-kebab structure was observed using scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. NaOH aqueous solution was applied to modify the surface of the PLA nanofibers to produce adsorption sites and carboxyl groups. The total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) results demonstrated that the formation of the heterogeneous shish-kebab structure was mainly due to the hydrogen bonding interaction between the kebab and shish interface, and the growth process of the kebab crystals also promoted the crystallization of the shish fibers. This heterogeneous nanostructure of biodegradable polymers will have great applications in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the experiment was to study the effects of three unconventional fermented feeds on pig growth, serum biochemical indexes and antibody levels. The experiment divided 48 pigs into four groups, with 12 replicates in each group and one pigs in each replicate. The pigs in control group (group A) were fed the basal diet, and 30% unconventional fermented feeds B (3% soybean meal +10% corn +10% fish sauce +3% garlic skin +4% premix), C (3% soybean meal + 11% corn + 12% mango peel + 4% premix) and D (15% corn + 11% mango peel + 4% premix) were added to the basal diet in group B, group C and group D, respectively. The experimental period was 30 d. The results showed that compared with control group, the feed intake of group B and group D was significantly increased ( P<0.05), and the weight gain was extremely decreased ( P<0.01). The feed weight gain cost of group B and group D was 20.37% and 42.40% higher than that of control group, and the feed weight gain cost of group C was 3.17% lower than that of control group. Compared with control group, the serum TP, TC and TG content of pigs in group B were significantly increased (P<0.05), LDH activity and LDL-C content were extremely increased (P<0.01). The content of HDL-C in group D was significantly decreased ( P<0.05), and the content of LDL-C was significantly increased (P<0.05). Compared with control group, the serum PR-gB antibody level in group D was significantly increased ( P<0.05) and reached a positive level. The serum PR-gE antibody, PRRS antibody and PCVD antibody levels in group B were the lowest among all groups, and PR-gE antibody and PCVD antibody level was extremely lower than that of control group ( P<0.01). The serum PR-gE antibody level of group B was extremely lower than that of group C and group D ( P<0.01), and the level of PRRS antibody was extremely significantly lower than that of group D ( P<0.01). The study indicates that group C had the best production effect and cost-effectiveness, group B had the best disease resistance effect, and unconventional fermented feed C could be used as a substitute for the basal diet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Colorectal peritoneal carcinomatosis (CRPC) is a primary cause of death in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients. In the past, computed tomography (CT) has been the primary method used to evaluate the distribution of CRPC. This study uses 18F-FDG positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) to investigate the distribution characteristics of CRPC. Materials and Methods: The distribution characteristics of 46 patients with CRC who were treated in the authors' hospital were retrospectively analyzed using the peritoneal cancer index (PCI). Results: The 46 patients in the study showed CRPC involvement in 203 of the 598 abdominal and pelvic regions studied (33.9%, 203/598). The regional proportions of CRPC involvement, from high to low, were as follows: region 6 (13.8%), region 0 (10.3%), region 1 (9.9%), region 5 (8.9%), region 7 (8.4%), region 3 (8.4%), region 2 (7.4%), region 4 (7.4%), region 11 (6.9%), region 8 (6.4%), region 12 (5.4%), region 9 (3.4%), and region 10 (3.4%). Thirty-three patients had a PCI of <20, and 13 patients had a PCI of ≥20. Those 13 were among the 17 (37% 17/46) who had CRPC involvement in all three regions. According to the location of the primary CRC focus, the 46 patients were divided into three groups: right hemicolon, left hemicolon, and rectum. The frequency of CRPC was greater in the rectum group than in the left hemicolon group, and the SUVmax of CRPC was greater in the right hemicolon group than in the left hemicolon group; these differences were statistically significant (p < 0.05). Conclusions: The distribution of CRPC has certain characteristics in the abdominal and pelvic cavities. The PET-PCI scores can provide a basis for the diagnosis and clinical treatment strategies in patients with CRC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fault-tolerant control problem is investigated for a linear networked system subject to an additive actuator fault as well as random network delays and packet dropouts in the backward and forward channels. To deal with the adverse effects of the actuator fault as well as those communication constraints, an active compensation scheme combining active fault-tolerant control and predictive control is proposed based on the simultaneous estimation of the system state and actuator fault. The obtained closed-loop system is a randomly switched system with bounded round-trip time delays, and the corresponding closed-loop stability condition is derived by using a switched Lyapunov approach. Simulation results for a networked DC motor system are provided to verify the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies often neglect the differences between enantiomers in soil chiral contaminants, and the molecular ecological mechanisms involved in enantiomer selective degradation behaviors remain elusive. In the present study, we used the stepwise regression analysis to establish the quantitative relationships between degradation rates and genes that determine different degradation patterns and mechanisms among enantiomers; and beta‐cypermethrin (BCYM) was chosen as the target analyte. Stepwise regression analysis demonstrated the relationships established for different enantiomers varied even under the same conditions, and results from path analysis showed the same functional gene exhibited different direct and indirect contributions to different enantiomer degradation rates. The genome and primary microbial communities during different enantiomer degradation rates were also analyzed based on Illumina MiSeq next‐generation sequencing technology, and the results indicated the soil microbial community structure and abundance varied during different enantiomer degradation rates. Results from this study served to enhance our understanding of the molecular biological mechanisms of chiral contaminant selective degradation behaviors under the context of functional genes and degrading microorganisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focusing on the reform initiatives of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (CAMS) & Peking Union Medical College (PUMC) in medical scientific and technological innovation from perspectives of deepening the reform and optimizing the ecosystem of science and technology innovation, this article summarizes the highlights of CAMS & PUMC's efforts in safeguarding people's health and promoting the Healthy China 2030 strategy through scientific and technological innovation in the fields including basic research, disease prevention and treatment, and medical technology in the past ten years. These achievements embody the endeavors and responsibility of CAMS & PUMC in realizing self-reliance and self-improvement of Chinese medical science and technology and highlight its contributions to the development of medical science and technology of China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To compare a novel vacuum suction ureteroscopic laser lithotripsy (VS-URS) with traditional ureteroscopic laser lithotripsy (T-URS) for impacted upper ureteral stones and to better define the potential benefits of VS-URS. Methods: Between May 2019 and March 2021, 158 patients with impacted upper ureteral stones underwent ureteroscopic holmium-YAG laser lithotripsy. Of these, 76 underwent VS-URS and 82 underwent T-URS. In VS-URS procedures, the vacuum suction device is composed of a 5F ureteral catheter and a tee joint. The ureteral catheter is linked to the vacuum aspirator by the sidearm of the tee joint, and a 200 μm fiber is inserted through the tee joint and the ureteral catheter into the stone site for lithotripsy. Results: When compared to the T-URS group, the VS-URS group had a shorter mean operation time (38.18 ± 6.37 min vs. 46.65 ± 5.66 min; P = 0.000), lower fever rate (3.9% vs. 14.6%; P < 0.022), less stone retropulsion (5.3% vs. 18.3%; P = 0.012), lower extra management rate (6.58% vs. 21.95%; P = 0.006), and a higher stone-free rate of the first postoperative day (88.2% vs. 72.0%; P = 0.011). There were no significant differences in stone-free rates 1 month after surgery between groups (94.7% vs. 92.7%; P = 0.748). Conclusions: VS-URS is an effective modality for impacted upper ureteral stones, and has a shorter operating time, lower fever rate, less stone retropulsion, and a higher primary stone-free rate compared with T-URS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An event-triggered network predictive control method, which uses allowable time delays, was developed for networked control systems with random network delays, packet disorders, and packet dropouts in the feedback and forward channels. In this method, random communication constraints are uniformly treated as a time delay at each time instant. Subsequently, based on a time-delay state feedback control law, the proposed method is used to actively compensate for the time delay that exceeds the allowable. In addition, the introduction of an event-triggered mechanism reduces communication loads and saves network resources. A necessary and sufficient stability condition for the closed-loop system is provided, which is independent of random time delays and is related to the allowable delay. Finally, the simulation results of the two systems verified the effectiveness of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]