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Background: Health security is a critical issue which involves multiple dimensions. It has received increasing attention in recent years, especially in China. In order to improve the national health level, China has made many efforts, such as the "Healthy China 2030" plan proposed several years ago. However, due to the complexity of its national conditions and the difficulty of index design, the results of these efforts are not significant. Therefore, it is necessary to construct a new measurement index system. Methods: Based on the questionnaire of "Health China 2030", we have collected a total of 3,000 participants from all 31 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities in China. We used statistical methods such as multiple correspondence analysis and rank-ordered effect analysis to process the data. The balance index is constructed by a series of actions such as weight division, order calculation and ranking. Results: Through multiple correspondence analysis, we can find that there was a close relation in the correspondence space between the satisfaction degrees 1, 2, and 3, while a far distance from satisfaction degrees 4 and 5. There were four positive and four negative indices separately based on the average expected level and four clusters after ordinal rank cluster analysis. Generally speaking, there are no prominent discrepancies across gender and residential areas. Conclusions: We created and examined balanced indicators for health security in China based on the "Health China 2030" questionnaire. The findings of this study give insight into the overall situation of health security in China and indicate opportunities for improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lipid droplets are essential for cellular lipid storage, playing critical roles in cellular lipid metabolism. Although lipid droplets have drawn intense research in recent years, much remains to be uncovered about the roles of this organelle in biology. Lipid droplet indicators exhibiting large Stokes shifts and improved brightness are therefore in demand. We report two asymmetric BODIPY derivatives, BoL1 and BoL2 bearing a benzothiazole group at the 6‐position, which led to bathochromic shifts of 62 nm for BoL1 and 37 nm for BoL2 in fluorescence emission when compared to the reference molecules without the benzothiazole group. The incorporation of the benzothiazole moiety also resulted in a large Stokes shift of 40 nm. BoL1 and BoL2 have been demonstrated to operate as lipid droplet indicators in both confocal and STED imaging. BoL2 showed particularly good cellular retention and was further applied to explore the impact of cellular starvation on the trafficking of lipid droplets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of industrial solid waste to produce a cement clinker can not only effectively reduce the consumption of natural resources, but also reduce the pollution of waste. In this paper, the solidification trend of Cr ions in the clinker phases of ordinary Portland cement (OPC) was studied by combining experiments with theoretical simulations. The results from energy dispersive spectrometry, X-ray diffraction, and density functional theory (DFT) simulations suggests that Cr ions will preferentially enter the mineral C4AF by displacing Fe ions. Further analysis of the bond length and bond order, electron density differences and partial density of states suggests that this phenomenon is mainly due to the similar electronic contributions of the host and guest ions. These insights will provide important fundamental guidance for understanding the doping behaviour of chromium ions in an OPC clinker and the utilization of Cr-containing industrial solid waste, thus paving an efficient way for the treatment of Cr-bearing industrial solid waste. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Node localization in two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) space for wireless sensor networks (WSNs) remains a hot research topic. To improve the localization accuracy and applicability, we first propose a quantum annealing bat algorithm (QABA) for node localization in WSNs. QABA incorporates quantum evolution and annealing strategy into the framework of the bat algorithm to improve local and global search capabilities, achieve search balance with the aid of tournament and natural selection, and finally converge to the best optimized value. Additionally, we use trilateral localization and geometric feature principles to design 2D (QABA-2D) and 3D (QABA-3D) node localization algorithms optimized with QABA, respectively. Simulation results show that, compared with other heuristic algorithms, the convergence speed and solution accuracy of QABA are greatly improved, with the highest average error of QABA-2D reduced by 90.35% and the lowest by 17.22%, and the highest average error of QABA-3D reduced by 75.26% and the lowest by 7.79%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Employing the urea oxidation reaction (UOR) instead of the water oxidation reaction can not only decrease the theoretic hydrogen generation cell voltage in sustainable energy conversion but also eliminate urea pollution in water. Herein, we used a facile in situ trapping and pre-modification strategy to synthesize MoC@C and hybrid Ni/WC@C nanoparticles and employed the two materials as hydrogen evolution reaction and UOR catalysts, respectively, in an electrolytic cell. The resultant setup can achieve a catalytic current density of 20 mA cm−2 at a cell voltage of 1.5 V in alkaline solutions and maintain stability for at least 12 h in the same conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Target tracking is crucial to many applications in wireless sensor networks (WSNs). Existing tracking schemes used in WSNs can basically be classified two categories, clustering and predicting. Considering network clustering consumes much energy for limited-energy WSNs, a predicting target tracking scheme is proposed called MC-MPMC (measurement compensation-based mixture population Monte Carlo) which tracks the target based on predicted locations in this work. Adaptive mixture PMC model for generating proposals varying from each iteration is proposed to guarantee sampling diversity. And also, extra measurements or observations generating method is introduced to compensate missed prediction locations or false estimations, avoiding tracking behavior degradation. Firstly, samples drawn from the proposals of next iteration can be generated by a mixture method to avoid sample degeneracy. Secondly, sample weights are jointly computed based on adaptive fusion of compensation measurement and true measurements. Thirdly, HTC method is combined to MC-MPMC scheme to decrease energy consumption in WSNs. Then, the proposed method is verified through comprehensive experiments about tracking error, delay and consumption predictions. Moreover, performance comparisons of MC-MPMC with other tracking schemes are also proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this research was to investigate the multidirectional synchronous calculation of the back-projection computed tomography (CT) image reconstruction algorithm (MSBP) in the staging diagnosis of bladder cancer. Sixty patients with bladder cancer admitted to the hospital were selected for enhanced CT scanning, all of which were randomly divided into control group (n = 30) and study group (n = 30). The filtered back-projection (FBP) algorithm was employed to reconstruct the scanned image, and the MSBP was additionally applied to the images of the study group. Fringe artifact (SA), overall mass (OQ), effective radiation dose (ED), CT dose-exponential volume (CTDI), and dose-length product (DLP) of the two groups of images were compared and analyzed. The results showed that the total time of the traditional algorithm was 5.473 s, and the total time of MSBP combined with FBP algorithm was 2.832 s, which was significantly higher than that of the traditional algorithm (P < 0.05). CT scan bladder cancer staging results of all patients were compared with surgical pathological staging results, and the results were evaluated according to the coincidence rate. SA in the study group was lower than that in the control group (P < 0.05), and OQ was not statistically significant. The ED of the study group was significantly lower than that of the control group by 33%. The coincidence rate of postoperative pathological staging results and CT staging results was 96%, and T1, T2a, and T4 coincidence rate was 100%, The coincidence rates of T2b, T3a, and T3b were 90%, 83.3%, and 66.67%, respectively. In summary, using MSBP method combined with FBP algorithm can improve OQ while reducing ED of patients. The introduction of MSBP into CT reconstruction image simplified the pixel location operation of projection calculation, showing an important application value in preoperative staging diagnosis of bladder cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mixture cure models are widely adopted in credit scoring. Mixture cure models consist of two parts: an incident part which predicts the probability of default and a latency part which predicts when they are likely to default. The two model parts describe two quite relevant credit aspects. So, it is reasonable to expect that the two sets of the coefficients are somewhat related. Moreover, in practical cases, it is difficult to interpret the results when the two sets of the coefficients of the same variables have conflicting signs. Most existing works either ignore the interconnections of the two sets of coefficients or impose a strict constraint between them. We proposed a mixture cure model considering the variable effect consistency using a sign-based penalty. It is a more flexible model that allows the two sets of coefficients to be in different distributions and magnitudes. To accommodate high-dimensional credit data, a group lasso penalty is also imposed for variable selection. Simulation shows that the proposed method has competitive performance compared with alternative methods in terms of estimation and prediction. Furthermore, the empirical study illustrates that the proposed method outperforms the alternative method and can improve the interpretability of the results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study focuses on the development of a Low Calcium CO 2 Sequestration Binder (LCCSB) composed primarily of α-CS, C 3 S 2 , and C 2 AS. The carbonation properties, carbonation products, and microstructure of various nano-SiO 2 (NS) were comprehensively characterized using XRD, TGA, pH, conductivity, LF NMR, and SEM techniques. The influence mechanism of incorporating NS on the carbonation reaction of LCCSB was elucidated. The findings demonstrated that the incorporation of NS enhances the carbonation performance of LCCSB, accelerates the reaction process between CO 2 and minerals, promotes the generation of aragonite, and reduces porosity. The carbonation performance exhibits optimal results with an NS content of 0.06%. The results present a promising application prospect for the cement industry in the development of low calcium carbon cement. [Display omitted] • The integration of nano-SiO 2 enhanced the rate of carbonation reaction in LCCSB. • The introduction of nano-SiO 2 optimizes the pore structure of carbonized LCCSB. • The introduction of nano-SiO 2 augmented the growth of aragonite. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In vivo surgical interventions require effective management of biofluids, including controlling bleeding and removing excess biofluids such as bile, wound exudate, and blood. To address these issues, recent advances have emerged, such as self-sealing needles, drug-eluting stents, and shear-thinning hydrogels. However, complications associated with intestinal mucosal injury and secondary damage still persist. Therefore, a multifunctional stent is urgently required that can effectively remove excessive biofluid. Surface wettability of biliary stents is crucial in biofluid management, and conventional coatings can cause adhesion to wound tissue. To overcome this issue, we developed an interpenetrating Janus wettability stent coating, enabling unidirectional draining of excessive biofluid from its hydrophobic side to hydrophilic side, thereby preventing biofluid from wetting the wound. Furthermore, we demonstrate a directional biofluid movement using a self-pumping dressing in an infected tissue model, providing a new approach for in situ biofluid collection and disease diagnosis by detecting metal ion changes. Overall, our integrated system presents an opportunity to design wound dressings with effective biofluid management and metal ion detection capabilities. • A multifunctional biliary stent for removing excessive biofluid. • Asymmetric wettability materials for biofluid management. • A hydrogel array for metal ion detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ultrafine ternary carbide Co6W6C@C nanoparticles (NPs) were successfully synthesized and these NPs exhibited high catalytic activities for the hydrazine oxidation reaction (HzOR) under alkaline conditions. In a practical O2–hydrazine fuel cell test, its peak power density reached 203 mW cm−2, a value superior to that of the state-of-the-art commercial Pt/C catalyst. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A palladium-catalyzed allylic alkylation dearomatization of β-naphthols and indoles with gem-difluorinated cyclopropanes has been developed. This reaction provided an efficient route to access 2-fluoroallylic β-naphthalenones and indolenines bearing quaternary carbon centers in good yields with high Z-selectivity via C–C bond activation, C–F bond cleavage and the dearomatization process, benefiting from the wide substrate scope and good functional group tolerance. Moreover, 2-fluoroallylic furanoindoline and pyrroloindolines were achieved in good efficiency via cascade allylic alkylation, dearomatization and cyclization processes in the presence of Et3B. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Invited for this month's cover are the collaborating groups of Prof. Elizabeth J. New at the University of Sydney and Dr Amandeep Kaur at Monash University. The cover picture shows how their BODIPYs selectively mark lipid droplets and indicate the trafficking of lipid droplets between adjacent cells. More information can be found in the Research Article by Amandeep Kaur, Elizabeth J. New, and co‐workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pramipexole (PPX) is a common drug for the treatment of Parkinson's disease. However, the mechanism allows PPX in the progression of Parkinson's disease remains largely unknown. This study aimed to investigate the role of PPX in 1-Methyl-4-phenylpyridinium (MPP+)-treated neuroblastoma cells and explore the interaction between PPX and miR-494-3p/brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) axis. SK-N-SH and CHP 212 cells challenged by MPP+ were used as cellular model of Parkinson's disease and incubated with PPX. The expression levels of miR-494-3p and BDNF were measured by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction or western blot. Neurotoxicity was investigated by cell apoptosis, inflammatory response and oxidative stress. The target association between miR-494-3p and BDNF was confirmed by luciferase reporter and RNA immunoprecipitation assays. miR-494-3p expression was increased and BDNF level was decreased in MPP+-treated SK-N-SH and CHP 212 cells, which were reversed by introduction of PPX. Pramipexole attenuated cell apoptosis, inflammatory response and oxidative stress in MPP+-treated SK-N-SH and CHP 212 cells. Knockdown of miR-494-3p also suppressed neurotoxicity induced by MPP+ in SK-N-SH and CHP 212 cells. BDNF was validated as a target of miR-494-3p and its silence abated the suppressive effect of miR-494-3p on MPP+-induced neurotoxicity. Moreover, addition of miR-494-3p and silence of BDNF mitigated the effect of PPX on MPP+-induced neurotoxicity. PPX inhibited MPP+-induced neurotoxicity in SK-N-SH and CHP 212 cells by decreasing miR-494-3p and increasing BDNF, indicating the potential therapeutic effect of PPX on Parkinson's disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Delaminated MXene was incorporated into cement to improve the properties of cement composites, and its effects on the hydration process, microstructures, and mechanical properties were investigated, respectively. The investigation results showed that delaminated MXene was well-dispersed in the cement matrix and significantly reinforced the compressive strength of cement, especially when the addition is 0.01 wt%. Meanwhile, the total hydration heat of cement hydration and the quantity of hydration products were increased with the addition of delaminated MXene. In addition, the formation of HD C-S-H gel was promoted, and the microstructure of hydrated cement became more compact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • The coupling effects of Cl− and Mg2+ in marine tidal zone were assessed. • High concentrations (≥0.2 mol/L) Mg2+ is detrimental to the chemically bound chloride ions. • Cementitious materials mixed with GGBS can chemically bound more chloride than those mixed with FA. • Cementitious materials mixed with GGBS can reduce the total pore volume than those mixed with FA. To reveal the deterioration mechanism of cementitious materials serving in the marine tidal environment, this study investigates the microstructures of cementitious materials under the coupling effects of Cl− and Mg2+. This study mainly analyzes the phase composition, pore structure distribution, and micromorphology of the hardened cementitious materials with 30 % fly ash (FA), 30 % ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS), or a combination of 15 % FA and 15 % GGBS under different Mg2+ concentrations. The effects of Mg2+ concentration and mineral admixture type on chemically bound chloride ions and their microstructures are investigated. The results show that a large amount of Friedel's salt is formed under the coupling effects of 0.6 mol/l Cl− and 0.1 mol/l Mg2+. A corrosive solution with a high concentration of Mg2+ is not conducive to the forming of Friedel's salt. In a Cl− or Cl−-Mg2+ environment, GGBS can chemically bind more chloride ions than FA. With the increase of Mg2+ concentration, more pores and cracks appear on the sample surface. In a Cl−-Mg2+ corrosive solution, cementitious materials with mineral admixtures are more porous than pure cementitious materials. Cementitious materials hardened with GGBS are more porous than those materials hardened with FA. Thus, GGBS is more conducive to improving the materials' resistance to chloride ions than FA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new dual-polarized 3-D frequency-selective surface (FSS) with quasi-elliptic bandpass response is proposed by virtue of the square coaxial waveguide (SCW). By utilizing the SCW as one propagation path in the unit cell, two resonators can be generated intrinsically without introducing any extra structures. In addition, the parallel-plate waveguide constructed by sandwiching the ABS frame between outer conductors of adjacent SCWs will provide a second propagation path and create another resonator. With the help of these resonators, a passband with two transmission poles can be obtained. Furthermore, there are two finite transmission zeros locating at both sides of the passband due to the fact that the signals passing through these two propagation paths are combined out of phase, leading to both-sided sharp roll-off skirt. The E-field analysis and equivalent circuit model presented offer a physical insight into the operating principle of the proposed 3-D FSS. For the purpose of validation, the FSS is fabricated through the 3-D printing technique. The measured results exhibit high frequency selectivity, dual polarizations, and stable bandpass response under a variation of the incidence angle. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Localization is crucial to many applications in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) because measurement data or information exchanges happened in WSNs without location information are meaningless. Most localization schemes for mobile WSNs are based on Sequential Monte Carlo (SMC) algorithm. These SMC-based methods often suffer from too many iterations, sample impoverishment and less sample diversity, which leads to low sampling and filtering efficiency, and consequently low localization accuracy and high localization costs. In this paper, we propose an improved range-free localization scheme for mobile WSNs based on improved Population Monte Carlo localization (PMCL) method, accompanying with Hidden Terminal Couple scheme. A population of probability density functions is proposed to approximate the distribution of unknown locations based on a set of observations through an iterative importance sampling procedure. Behaviors are enhanced by adopting three improved methods to increase accuracy, enhance delay and save cost. Firstly, resampling, with importance weights, is introduced in PMCL method to avoid sample degeneracy. Secondly, twofold constraints, constraining the number of random samples in initialized step and constraining valid observations in resampling step, are proposed to decrease the number of iterations. Thirdly, mixture perspective is introduced to maintain the diversity of samples in resampling weighted process. Then, localization error, delay and consumption, especial delay, are predicted based on the statistic point of view, which takes mobile model of RWP into account. Moreover, performance comparisons of PMCL with other SMC-based schemes are also proposed. Simulation results show that delay of PMCL has some superiorities to that of other schemes, and accuracy and energy consumption is improved in some cases of less anchor rate and lower mobile velocity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Govindaraju and Ganesalingam (Govindaraju and Ganesalingam in Commun Stat-Simul Comput 26(3)1163-1176, 1997) proposed a single-sampling plan for resubmitted lots, referred as resubmitted single-sampling plan (RSSP). This study introduces an innovative sampling scheme for refining the performance of RSSP, and we denote the new resubmitted single-sampling plan by NRSSP. The NRSSP incorporates all information in the sequence of the numbers of defective products from testing all resubmitted lots to make lot acceptance decision. Moreover, a sufficient condition such that three competitive optimisation procedures reach identical resampling plan is determined. Compared with the RSSP, the NRSSP is more powerful to reach a lot acceptance decision. The NRSSPs are established for three real examples to minimise the average sampling number function and a total cost function and to meet the specific risks of producer and consumer, respectively. Moreover, the performance of the NRSSP is compared with the repetitive-sampling plan and double-sampling plan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Significant and composite indices for infectious disease can have implications for developing interventions and public health. This paper presents an investment for developing access to further analysis of the incidence of individual and multiple diseases. This research mainly comprises two steps: first, an automatic and reproducible procedure based on functional data analysis techniques was proposed for analyzing the dynamic properties of each disease; second, orthogonal transformation was adopted for the development of composite indices. Between 2000 and 2019, nineteen class B notifiable diseases in China were collected for this study from the National Bureau of Statistics of China. The study facilitates the probing of underlying information about the dynamics from discrete incidence rates of each disease through the procedure, and it is also possible to obtain similarities and differences about diseases in detail by combining the derivative features. There has been great success in intervening in the majority of notifiable diseases in China, like bacterial or amebic dysentery and epidemic cerebrospinal meningitis, while more efforts are required for some diseases, like AIDS and virus hepatitis. The composite indices were able to reflect a more complex concept by combining individual incidences into a single value, providing a simultaneous reflection for multiple objects, and facilitating disease comparisons accordingly. For the notifiable diseases included in this study, there was superior management of gastro-intestinal infectious diseases and respiratory infectious diseases from the perspective of composite indices. This study developed a methodology for exploring the prevalent properties of infectious diseases. The development of effective and reliable analytical methods provides special insight into infectious diseases' common dynamics and properties and has implications for the effective intervention of infectious diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Financial pressure could improve volatility forecasting performance of health care stock. • The prediction contribution of financial pressure is much stronger in China than in the USA. • Different lag periods of financial pressure have an asymmetric predictive contribution. • The prediction contribution about five dimension of financial pressure is discrete. This study analyzes the role of financial pressure in forecasting the volatility of health care stock. The main finding shows that financial pressure helps to improve the volatility forecasting performance of the health care stock in both China and the USA. Empirical analysis further suggests that XGBoost performance outperforms other benchmark models, especially advanced machine learning models. This study also interprets predictions to help financial institutions and investors make correct decisions using Shapley additive explanations. The results illustrate that the prediction contribution of financial pressure is much stronger in China than in the USA. The prediction contribution distribution of the five-dimensional indicator of financial pressure in China is more discrete than in the USA. Different lag periods of financial pressure have an asymmetric predictive contribution to the volatility of the health care stock. The volatility of Chinese health care stock is mainly influenced by the five-dimensional indicator of financial pressure at the medium and late period lag but at the front and medium period lag for the USA. These findings are crucial for policymakers and investors in promoting the sustained health care stock market through financial pressure regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The classical chi-square test for independence cannot convey additional information and the degree of the association of two factors in two-way contingency table. Besides, measures of association by contingency coefficient need to be used with care, because the association measures depend on the number of rows r and the number of columns c. This article proposes a multistage chi-square test to measure the degree of the association between the two factors in two-way contingency table. We also give simulation and real examples to assess the performance of the proposed method. The results show that our proposed method can effectively investigate the degree of association of two factors in two-way contingency table. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Until now, the effect of arginine vasopressin (AVP) in the DMV on gastric motility and the possible modulating pathway between the DMV and the gastrointestinal system remain poorly understood. Objectives. We aimed to explore the role of AVP in the DMV in regulating gastric motility and the possible central and peripheral pathways. Material and Methods. Firstly, we microinjected different doses of AVP into the DMV and investigated its effects on gastric motility in rats. Then, the possible central and peripheral pathways that regulate gastric motility were also discussed by microinjecting SR49059 (a specific AVP receptor antagonist) into the DMV and intravenous injection of hexamethonium (a specific neuronal nicotinic cholinergic receptor antagonist) before AVP microinjection. Results. Following microinjection of AVP (180 pmol and 18 pmol) into the DMV, the gastric motility (including total amplitude, total duration, and motility index of gastric contraction) was significantly inhibited (P<0.05). Moreover, the inhibitory effect of AVP (180 pmol) on gastric motility could be blocked completely by both SR49059 (320 pmol) and hexamethonium (8 μmol). Conclusions. It is concluded that AVP inhibits the gastric motility by acting on the specific AVP receptor in the DMV, with the potential involvement of the parasympathetic preganglionic cholinergic fibers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influences of colloidal nanoBoehmite (CNB) and colloidal nanoSiO 2 (CNS) on fly ash cement mortar hydration and microstructure development of fly ash cement pastes were investigated. The results revealed that fly ash cement hydration was accelerated by CNB and CNS at early age thus enhancing the early age strength of the materials. Although higher content of nanoparticles significantly hindered cement hydration, adding appropriate amount of CNB and CNS benefited the development of compressive strength both at early and later age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plant flavonoids have attracted increasing attention as new antimicrobial agents or adjuvants. In our previous work, it was confirmed that the cell membrane is the major site of plant flavonoids acting on the Gram-positive bacteria, which likely involves the inhibition of the respiratory chain. Inspired by the similar structural and antioxidant characters of plant flavonoids to hydro-menaquinone (MKH2), we deduced that the quinone pool is probably a key target of plant flavonoids inhibiting Gram-positive bacteria. To verify this, twelve plant flavonoids with six structural subtypes were preliminarily selected, and their minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) against Gram-positive bacteria were predicted from the antimicrobial quantitative relationship of plant flavonoids to Gram-positive bacteria. The results showed they have different antimicrobial activities. After their MICs against Staphylococcus aureus were determined using the broth microdilution method, nine compounds with MICs ranging from 2 to 4096 μg/mL or more than 1024 μg/mL were eventually selected, and then their MICs against S. aureus were determined interfered with different concentrations of menaquinone−4 (MK−4) and the MKs extracted from S. aureus. The results showed that the greater the antibacterial activities of plant flavonoids were, the more greatly their antibacterial activities decreased along with the increase in the interfering concentrations of MK−4 (from 2 to 256 μg/mL) and the MK extract (from 4 to 512 μg/mL), while those with the MICs equal to or more than 512 μg/mL decreased a little or remained unchanged. In particular, under the interference of MK−4 (256 μg/mL) and the MK extract (512 μg/mL), the MICs of α-mangostin, a compound with the greatest inhibitory activity to S. aureus out of these twelve plant flavonoids, increased by 16 times and 8 to 16 times, respectively. Based on the above, it was proposed that the quinone pool is a key target of plant flavonoids inhibiting Gram-positive bacteria, and which likely involves multiple mechanisms including some enzyme and non-enzyme inhibitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a new two-dimensional material, MXene (nano-Ti3C2) has been widely applied in many fields, especially for reinforced composite materials. In this paper, mechanical testing, X-ray diffraction (XRD), hydration heat, scanning electron microscope (SEM), and EDS analysis were used to analyze the impact of MXene on cement hydration properties. The obtained results revealed that (a) MXene could greatly improve the early compressive strength of cement paste with 0.04 wt% concentration, (b) the phase type of early-age hydration products has not been changed after the addition of MXene, (c) hydration exothermic rate within 72 h has small difference at different amount of MXene, and (d) morphologies of hydration products were varied with the dosage of MXene, a lot of tufted ettringites appeared in 3 d hydration products when the content of MXene was 0.04 wt%, which will have a positive effect on improving the early mechanical properties of cement paste. MXene has inhibited the Portland cement hydration process; the main role of MXene in the cement hydration process is to promote the messy ettringite becoming regular distribution at a node and form network connection structure in the crystals growth process, making the mechanics performance of cement paste significantly improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The process performance index (PPI) can be a simple metric to connect the conforming rate of products. The properties of the PPI have been well studied for the normal distribution and other widely used lifetime distributions, such as the Weibull, Gamma, and Pareto distributions. Assume that the quality characteristic of product follows power-normal distribution. Statistical inference procedures for the PPI are established. The maximum likelihood estimation method for the model parameters and PPI is investigated and the exact Fisher information matrix is derived. We discuss the drawbacks of using the exact Fisher information matrix to obtain the confidence interval of the model parameters. The parametric bootstrap percentile and bootstrap bias-corrected percentile methods are proposed to obtain approximate confidence intervals for the model parameters and PPI. Monte Carlo simulations are conducted to evaluate the performance of the proposed methods. One example about the flow width of the resist in the hard-bake process is used for illustration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies of the IEEE 802.15.4 Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA) scheme have been received considerable attention recently, with most of these studies focusing on homogeneous or saturated traffic. Two novel transmission schemes-OSTS/BSTS (One Service a Time Scheme/Bulk Service a Time Scheme)-are proposed in this paper to improve the behaviors of time-critical buffered networks with heterogeneous unsaturated traffic. First, we propose a model which contains two modified semi-Markov chains and a macro-Markov chain combined with the theory of M/G/1/K queues to evaluate the characteristics of these two improved CSMA/CA schemes, in which traffic arrivals and accessing packets are bestowed with non-preemptive priority over each other, instead of prioritization. Then, throughput, packet delay and energy consumption of unsaturated, unacknowledged IEEE 802.15.4 beacon-enabled networks are predicted based on the overall point of view which takes the dependent interactions of different types of nodes into account. Moreover, performance comparisons of these two schemes with other non-priority schemes are also proposed. Analysis and simulation results show that delay and fairness of our schemes are superior to those of other schemes, while throughput and energy efficiency are superior to others in more heterogeneous situations. Comprehensive simulations demonstrate that the analysis results of these models match well with the simulation results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The successful release of the IEEE 802.15.4 standard offers a great convenience to applications of low-power and low-rate wireless sensor networks (WSNs) which almost touch upon all aspects of our life. Analyses of the IEEE 802.15.4 Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA) scheme have received considerable attention on saturated or homogeneous traffic recently. More realistic stochastic analysis approach to evaluate the performance of CSMA/CA scheme with heterogeneous unsaturated traffic is proposed in our applications. We adopt two modified semi-Markov chains and one macro-Markov chain to characterize such an asymmetric system, in which traffic arrivals and packets accessing the channel are bestowed with non-preemptive priority over each other instead of prioritization, and the behaviors of heterogeneous nodes interact with each other rather than simple independent behavior superposition. Throughput, packet delay and energy consumption of unsaturated, unacknowledged IEEE 802.15.4 beacon enabled networks are predicted based on these models. Comprehensive simulations demonstrate that the analysis results of these simplified models match well with the simulation results, and not undermine the accuracy at the same time. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In this article, we propose a new classification method called fuzzy canonical discriminant analysis (FCDA) based on the Fisher's canonical discriminant analysis (CDA) to deal with some vagueness in natural and social science and to improve its prediction accuracy. By establishing the fuzzy canonical discriminant function and triangular function transformation, we obtain the estimators of parameters. We also design an efficient algorithm for calculation of the parameters. We compare it with CDA using the original Iris data, samples of the Iris data, and seven other popular data sets. The results confirms that the FCDA is an effective tool in prediction and is better than the CDA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, two efficient fourth-order compact finite difference algorithms have been developed to solve the one-dimensional Burgers' equation: ut+u ux=ε uxx. The methods are based on the Hopf-Cole transformation, Richardson's extrapolation, and multilevel grids. In both methods, we first transform the original nonlinear Burgers' equation into a linear heat equation: wt=ε wxx using the Hopf-Cole transformation, which is given as u=-2ε (wx/w). In the first method, the resulted heat equation is solved by the second-order accurate Crank-Nicholson algorithm while wx is approximated by central finite difference, which is also second-order accurate. Richardson's extrapolation technique is then applied in both time and space to obtain fourth-order accuracy. In the second method, to reduce the cancellation error in approximating wx, we derive the heat equation satisfied by wx, which is then solved by the Crank-Nicholson algorithm. The original Dirichlet boundary condition is transformed into the Robin boundary condition, which is also approximated using second-order central finite difference. Finally, Richardson's extrapolation and multilevel grid techniques are applied in both time and space to obtain fourth-order accuracy. To study the efficiency, accuracy and robustness, we solved two numerical examples and the results are compared with those of two other higher-order methods proposed in W. Liao [An implicit fourth-order compact finite difference scheme for one-dimensional Burgers' equation, Appl. Math. Comput. 206(2) (2008), pp. 755-764] and I.A. Hassanien, A.A. Salama, and H.A. Hosham [Fourth-order finite difference method for solving Burgers' equation, Appl. Math. Comput. 170 (2005), pp. 781-800]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a new three-statement randomized response estimation method is proposed to improve the drawback that the maximum likelihood estimation method could generate a negative value to estimate the sensitive-nature proportion (SNP) when its true value is small. The Bayes estimator of the SNP is obtained via using a hierarchical Bayesian modeling procedure. Moreover, a hybrid algorithm using Gibbs sampling in Metropolis–Hastings algorithms is used to obtain the Bayes estimator of the SNP. The highest posterior density interval of the SNP is obtained based on the empirical distribution of Markov chains. We use the term 3RR-HB to denote the proposed method here. Monte Carlo simulations show that the quality of 3RR-HB procedure is good and that it can improve the drawback of the maximum likelihood estimation method. The proposed 3RR-HB procedure is simple for use. An example regarding the homosexual proportion of college freshmen is used for illustration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When solving time-dependent partial differential equations on parallel computers using the nonoverlapping domain decomposition method, one often needs numerical boundary conditions on the boundaries between subdomains. These numerical boundary conditions can significantly affect the stability and accuracy of the final algorithm.In this paper, a stability and accuracy analysis of the existing methods for generating numerical boundary conditions will be presented, and a new approach based on explicit predictors and implicit correctors will be used to solve convection-diffusion equations on parallel computers, with application to aerospace engineering for the solution of Euler equations in computational fluid dynamics simulations. Both theoretical analyses and numerical results demonstrate significant improvement in stability and accuracy by using the new approach. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Ordinary Portland cement (OPC) clinker mainly consist four minerals, tricalcium silicate (C 3 S), dicalcium silicate (C 2 S,), tricalcium aluminate (C 3 A), and tetracalcium aluminoferrite (C 4 AF). To learn the doping behaviors of Zn in OPC clinker, a series of samples were prepared by calcinating the mixtures of CaCO 3 , SiO 2 , Al 2 O 3 , Fe 2 O 3 , and ZnO. Our results from energy-dispersive spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and density functional theoretical simulations show that a small amount of ZnO enter C 3 S and C 2 S by replacing Ca ions while most incorporate into C 4 AF by substituting Fe atoms, resulting in a decrease of C 3 A in OPC as dosage increases. Further analyses from partial density of states and distributions of bond order-bond length indicate that the doping preference can be ascribed to the similar electron contributions and small structure distortions between host and guest ions. Unlike the strong Fe‒O bond, the newly formed Zn‒O is much weaker. The weak Zn‒O may be responsible for the limited solubility of Zn in C 4 AF. These results provide a possibility of increasing solubility of Zn in OPC clinker by increasing the contents of C 3 A and C 4 AF, thus will be very meaningful in the synthesis of OPC clinker by utilizing Zn-bearing alternative raw materials. ga1 • This work systematically studied the doping behaviors of Zn in OPC clinker phases. • Most Zn incorporate into C 4 AF by substituting Fe while few enter silicate phases. • The similar electron contributions are responsible for doping behaviors of Zn. • The small distortions between Fe-O and Zn-O also favor the doping behaviors of Zn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The doping mechanism of Ba in sulfoaluminate cement (SAC) clinker was systematically studied. Results from density functional theoretical simulations, backscattered electron diffraction and X-ray diffraction show that Ba ions prefer to incorporate into the mineral C 4 A 3 S ¯ by substituting Ca atoms while little enter into the other two minerals, C 2 S and C 4 AF. Such doping preference was also certified by the results of individual mineral of C 4 A 3 S ¯ and C 4 AF, respectively. Further analyses from partial density of states, electron density difference and local distortions indicate that the Ba-doping preference in C 4 A 3 S ¯ is attributed to the efficiency of newly formed bonds, which is enhanced by electronic structure matching and small local distortions. The understandings are essential in guiding the production of Ba-bearing SAC clinker by utilizing industrial barium slags, thus should be very important in sustainable production of SAC clinkers, environmental governance and industrial collaborative disposal of waste. [Display omitted] • Ba ions prefer to incorporate into the mineral C 4 A 3 S̅ by substituting Ca atoms. • Almost no Ba ions enter into the other two minerals of C 2 S and C 4 AF. • The small local distortion between Ca–O/Ba–O determines the preference in C 4 A 3 S̅. • It provides a possibility of producing sulfoaluminate cement with Ba-bearing waste. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. To explore the application value of low-dose CT and MRI in the evaluation of soft tissue injury in tibial plateau fractures. Methods. This study included 89 patients with high suspicion of TPF and KI admitted to our hospital from July 2015 to May 2021. After arthroscopy, 81 patients were diagnosed with FTP combined with KI. The Schatzker classification based on X-ray and CT plain scan combined with three-dimensional reconstruction was recorded, and the soft tissue injury was recorded according to the MRI examination of the affected knee joint. Results. With the results of pathological examination and arthroscopic surgery as the gold standard, the results of MRI and pathological examination and arthroscopic examination were in good agreement (Kappa = 0.857 , 0.844), and CT was moderately in agreement (Kappa = 0.697 , 0.694). In KI examination, CT and MRI had no difference in the evaluation of ligament injury and bone injury (P > 0.05), but MRI had better diagnostic effect on meniscus injury (P < 0.05). Finally, the satisfaction survey showed that patients in the CT group were more satisfied with clinical services (P < 0.05). Conclusion. Both CT and MRI have certain diagnostic value for occult tibial plateau fractures, among which CT examination is more advantageous for trabecular bone fractures, MRI examination is more advantageous for cortical bone fractures, and MRI examination can improve occult tibial plateau fracture inspection accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ground collapse is one of the main geological disasters affecting the safe operation of oil and gas pipelines. Studying the stress-strain characteristics of pipe-soil interaction under ground collapse has an important guiding role for the prevention of ground collapse and the safety protection of pipelines. The current results are mostly concentrated in a single theory or the stress of the pipeline itself, which cannot fully consider the pipe-soil interaction. In this paper, ABAQUS is used to establish the finite element geometric model. Considering the pipeline and the surrounding geological environment conditions, the study is carried out from five aspects: the length of the collapse area, the thickness of the cover layer, the buried depth of the pipeline, the diameter of the pipeline, and the thickness of the pipeline. The displacement of the pipeline soil, the deformation of the pipeline, and the characteristics of the pipeline stress are analyzed, and the variation law is determined through the development trend of the pipeline stress and strain. At the same time, by fitting and analyzing the relationship between the span of different subsidence areas, the thickness of the cover layer, the buried depth of the pipeline, the diameter of the pipeline, the thickness of the pipeline, and the maximum deformation of the pipeline, the reference value of the maximum subsidence displacement of the pipeline under the action of ground collapse is proposed. The work has practical application value for pipeline monitoring, early warning, and disaster management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sintering red mud (SRM) is an industrial alkaline waste residue generated from the sintering process in alumina production, which is often directly discarded and causes environmental issues. In this study, an innovative magnesium-modified wet carbonation method was proposed to convert sintering red mud to valuable calcium carbonate whiskers using CO 2 -containing flue gas. The effects of carbonation conditions including temperature, MgCl 2 concentration, and duration on the composition, microstructure, and morphology of carbonated products were systematically investigated. It was found that a high whisker content of 60% with an aspect ratio of ∼6 could be obtained under the optimal conditions of 80 °C, 0.4 M MgCl 2 , and 2 h reaction time. Besides the formation of whiskers, amorphous aluminosilicate gel was also generated during SRM carbonation. The effects of the as-prepared whisker-rich materials as partial cement replacement on the mechanical properties of cement paste were evaluated with 5 wt% replacement, the 28 d compressive strength was significantly improved by 20.5% compared to the control specimen. The effective reinforcement was ascribed to the fibrous whiskers and enhanced interfacial bonding. This method enables high-value utilization of SRM waste and CO 2 fixation, providing a green and low-cost approach to producing high-performance cementitious materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The doping behaviors of Pb in sulfoaluminate cement (SAC) clinker phases were systematically studied combined with density functional theoretical simulations and experiments. The results present that, in the three composed minerals of C4A3 S , C2S, and C4AF, Pb ions prefer to incorporate into C4A3 S by substituting Ca ions. Further analyses from partial density of states, electron density difference, and local distortions show that such doping preference can be attributed to the small distortions as Pb introduced at Ca sites of C4A3 S. The results and clear understandings on the doping behaviors of Pb ions may provide valuable information in guiding the synthesis of Pb-bearing SAC clinker, thus should draw broad interests in fields from sustainable production of cement and environmental protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

JLX001, a new dihydrochloride of Cyclovirobuxine D (CVB-D), has bioactivities against ischemia injury. The blood-brain barrier (BBB) disruption is involved in the pathogeneses of ischemic stroke. This study was designed to explore the effect and potential mechanism of JLX001 on the BBB after ischemic stroke. Rats were subjected to middle cerebral artery occlusion/reperfusion (MCAO/R) to mimic cerebral ischemia in vivo. In vitro, rat primary brain microvascular endothelial cells (PBMECs) were cultured and exposed to oxygen-glucose deprivation/reoxygenation (OGD/R). Posttreatment of JLX001 for 15 days after MCAO/R improved the behavior, learning and memory ability. Pretreatment of JLX001 for 3 days significantly attenuated infarct volume, lessened brain edema, mitigated BBB disruption and decreased the neurological deficit score in MCAO/R rats. Moreover, JLX001 increased cell viability and reduced sodium fluorescein leakage after OGD/R injury. In addition, JLX001 increased the expressions of Claudin-5 and Occludin, decreased the expression of MMP-9 both in vivo and in vitro. Moreover, immunofluorescence staining and western immunoblotting results showed that JLX001 increased the expressions of tight junction proteins via activating Wnt/β-catenin signal pathway in vivo and in vitro, which may be associated with the activation of PI3K/Akt signaling. Besides, XAV939 (an inhibitor of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway) proved the connection of JLX001 and Wnt/β-catenin pathway. These results suggest that JLX001 alleviates BBB disruption after MCAO/R and OGD/R possibly by alleviating MMP-9 and activating the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a case study of a 76-year-old male with immunoglobulin G (IgG) lambda multiple myeloma (MM) stage IIIB and of a 67-year-old man with Waldenström macroglobulinema. It offers information on MM which is reportedly an incurable and aggressive disease despite the advances in therapeutics. It also details the treatment programs of both patients who received family haploidentical donor-derived cytokine-induced killer cell biotherapy with bortezomib.

The train operations of large stations are critical in determining the efficiency of the railway network. Large high‐speed railway stations often have more than two adjacent stations running in multiple directions and must address highly complex train operation patterns. To develop a more efficient operation plan than the existing route‐based representations for modeling train conflicts, a more systematic track‐based resource network (TRN) representation for a railway station that simulates fixed equipment is used in this paper. Based on this high‐fidelity TRN, an improved operation scheduling model (OSM) is introduced for the integrated scheduling of train operations, including shunting operations. Besides, two approaches based on Lagrangian relaxation (LR) and the Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers (ADMM) are described in detail to address the operation scheduling problem (OSP) for stations, and an efficient heuristic rule‐based algorithm is also designed to generate lower bound solutions. To improve the algorithm efficiency, we designed a parallelization strategy for the proposed approaches. Based on real‐world case studies, the computing results demonstrate that the parallelized ADMM‐based approach can always find high‐quality feasible solutions for complex stations and generate conflict‐free station operation plans with significantly improved efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lipoteichoic acid (LTA) plays an essential role in bacterial growth and resistance to antibiotics, and LTA synthetase (LtaS) was considered as an attractive target for combating Gram-positive infections. Azalomycin F, a natural guanidyl-containing polyhydroxy macrolide, can target the LTA of Staphylococcus aureus. Using various technologies including enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, transmission electron microscope, proteomics, and parallel reaction monitoring, here, the experimental results indicated that azalomycin F can accelerate the LTA release and disrupt the cell envelope, which would also lead to the feedback upregulation on the expressions of LtaS and other related enzymes. Simultaneously, the reconstituted enzyme activity evaluations showed that azalomycin F can significantly inhibit the extracellular catalytic domain of LtaS (eLtaS), while this was vague for LtaS embedded in the liposomes. Subsequently, the fluorescence analyses for five incubation systems containing azalomycin F and eLtaS or the LtaS-embedded liposome indicated that azalomcyin F can spontaneously bind to the active center of LtaS. Combining the mass spectroscopy analyses and the molecular dockings, the results further indicated that this interaction involves the binding sites of substrates and the LTA prolongation, especially the residues Lys299, Phe353, Trp354 and His416. All these suggested that azalomycin F has multiple antibacterial mechanisms against S. aureus. It can not only inhibit LTA biosynthesis through the interactions of its guanidyl side chain with the active center of LtaS but also disrupt the cell envelope through the synergistic effect of accelerating the LTA release, damaging the cell membrane, and electrostatically interacting with LTA. Simultaneously, these antibacterial mechanisms exhibit a synergistic inhibition effect on S. aureus cells, which would eventually cause the cellular autolysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Keyword pools are used as search queries to collect web texts, largely determining the size and coverage of the samples and provide a data base for subsequent text mining. However, how to generate a refined keyword pool with high similarity and some expandability is a challenge. Currently, keyword pools for search queries aimed at collecting web texts either lack an objective generation method and evaluation system, or have a low utilization rate of sample semantic information. Therefore, this paper proposed a keyword generation framework that integrates sample and semantic information to construct a complete and objective keyword pool generation and evaluation system. The framework includes a data phase and a modeling phase, and its core is in the modeling phase, where both feature ranking and model performance are considered. A regression model about a topic vector and word vectors is constructed for the first time based on word embedding, and keyword pools are generated from the perspective of model performance. In addition, two keyword generation methods, Recursive Feature Introduction (RFI) and Recursive Feature Introduction and Elimination (RFIE), are also proposed in this paper. Different feature ranking algorithms, keyword generation methods and regression models are compared in the experiments. The results show that: (1) When using RFI to generate keywords, the regression model using ranked features has better prediction performance than the baseline model, and the number of generated keywords is refiner, and the prediction performance of the regression model using tree-based ranked features is significantly better than that of the one using SHAP-based ranked features. (2) The prediction performance of the regression model using RFI with tree-based ranked features is significantly better than that using Recursive Feature Elimination (RFE) with tree-based one. (3) All four regression models using RFI/RFE with SHAP- based/tree-based ranked features have significantly higher average similarity scores and cumulative advantages than the baseline model (the model using RFI with unranked features). (4) Light Gradient Boosting Machine (LGBM) using RFI with SHAP-based ranked features has significantly better prediction performance, higher average similarity scores, and cumulative advantages. In conclusion, our framework can generate a keyword pool that is more similar to the topic, and more refined and expandable, which provides certain research ideas for expanding the research sample size while ensuring the coverage of topics in web text collecting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: As the major storage protein in rice seeds, glutelins are synthesized at the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) as proglutelins and transported to protein storage vacuoles (PSVs) called PBIIs (Protein body IIs), where they are cleaved into mature forms by the vacuolar processing enzymes. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying glutelin trafficking are largely unknown. Results: In this study, we report a rice mutant, named glutelin precursor accumulation6 (gpa6), which abnormally accumulates massive proglutelins. Cytological analyses revealed that in gpa6 endosperm cells, proglutelins were mis-sorted, leading to the presence of dense vesicles (DVs) and the formation paramural bodies (PMBs) at the apoplast, consequently, smaller PBII were observed. Mutated gene in gpa6 was found to encode a Na+/H+ antiporter, OsNHX5. OsNHX5 is expressed in all tissues analyzed, and its expression level is much higher than its closest paralog OsNHX6. The OsNHX5 protein colocalizes to the Golgi, the trans-Golgi network (TGN) and the pre-vacuolar compartment (PVC) in tobacco leaf epidermal cells. In vivo pH measurements indicated that the lumens of Golgi, TGN and PVC became more acidic in gpa6. Conclusions: Our results demonstrated an important role of OsNHX5 in regulating endomembrane luminal pH, which is essential for seed storage protein trafficking in rice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to explore the construction performance of zeolite asphalt mixture, the microproperties of zeolite and the macroproperties of zeolite asphalt mixture were studied. The structure composition, surface properties, and pore characteristics of zeolite were analyzed by infrared spectroscopy and pressure pump method. The structure, composition, and thermal stability of zeolite were analyzed by differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetry, the mechanism of moisture absorption and loss of water was explored, and the properties of moisture absorption and loss of water were studied. The effect of the type and amount of zeolite on the viscosity of asphalt was studied by the viscosity test. According to the mixing current and the compaction void ratio, the influence of zeolite on the construction performance of zeolite asphalt mixture was studied. The results show that zeolite contains special zeolite water and the pore content of zeolite is much higher than that of mineral powder. Zeolite loses water at 90°C∼120°C, which is the necessary condition for zeolite to be used in warm mix asphalt mixture. The water absorption and loss capacity of zeolite mainly depend on pore volume. The larger the pore volume is, the stronger the water holding capacity of zeolite is. Meanwhile, the water holding capacity and loss capacity of zeolite are related to pore size distribution. According to the viscosity temperature equation, the mixing and compaction temperature of the asphalt mixture are determined. The mixing and initial pressure temperature of the zeolite asphalt mixture are lower than those of the hot asphalt mixture. Based on the principle of mixing current equivalence, the mixing temperature of zeolite asphalt mixture can be reduced by 20°C compared with that of hot asphalt mixture. The better the water loss performance of zeolite is, the easier the mixture is to be compacted. For the base asphalt mixture, the compaction temperature of the mixture is 120–130°C, and, for the modified asphalt mixture, the compaction temperature is 130–140°C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the hasteful development of ocean economy and the increasing exploiture of ocean resources, offshore water is contaminated seriously. Ocean ecological environment is unprecedentedly faced to threat and destruction. Moreover, the desire for aquatic and marine products is increasing consumedly according to people’s health attention rising. It is extremely urgent to establish and maintain low-cost and high-efficient transmission and localization schemes for real-time large-scale aquaculture surveillance systems. Localization scheme IMDV-hop (Intermittent Mobile DV-hop) embedded in WLS (weighted least square) method, accompanying with HTC (Hidden Terminal Couple), is proposed in this work for the purpose of environment surveillance, object localization for early warning, rescue operations, and restructuring plan, etc. Two critical parameters, correction coefficient kc and weighted coefficient wNx,i, are introduced into IMDV-hop scheme for large-scale aquaculture monitoring and localization mobile sensor systems to evaluate the influence on localization behaviors, and subsequently guarantee localization accuracy and time-critical performance. And localization error, delay, and consumption are predicted by comprehensive NS-2 simulations. Besides, performance comparisons of IMDV-hop scheme with other DV-hop-based schemes and MCL-based scheme are also proposed. Analysis and comparison results show that delay behavior of IMDV-hop is improved largely relative to other schemes, while accuracy and energy consumption performance is improved in some cases of more node density and lower mobile velocity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]