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Understanding the control mechanisms of carbon dioxide (CO 2) emissions in intertidal wetland sediments is beneficial for the concern of global carbon biogeochemistry and climate change. Nevertheless, multiple controls on CO 2 emissions from intertidal wetland sediments to the atmosphere still need to be clarified. This study investigated the effect of tidal action on CO 2 emissions from salt marsh sediments covered by Spartina alterniflora in the Jiaozhou Bay wetland using the static chamber method combined with an infrared CO 2 detector. The results showed that the CO 2 emission fluxes from the sediment during ebb tides were higher than those during flood tides. The whole wetland sediment acted as a weak source of atmospheric CO 2 (average flux: 24.44 ± 16.80 mg C m−2 h−1) compared to terrestrial soils and was affected by the cycle of seawater inundation and exposure. The tidal influence on vertical dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) transport in the sediment was also quantitated using a two-end member mixing model. The surface sediment layer (5–15 cm) with maximum DIC concentration during ebb tides became the one with minimum DIC concentration during flood tides, indicating the DIC transport from the surface sediment to seawater. Furthermore, aerobic respiration by microorganisms was the primary process of CO 2 production in the sediment according to 16 S rDNA sequencing analysis. This study revealed the strong impact of tidal action on CO 2 emissions from the wetland sediment and provided insights into the source-sink pattern of CO 2 and DIC at the land-ocean interface. [Display omitted] • The strong impact of tidal flooding on CO 2 emissions from wetland sediments. • DIC in surface sediments would diffuse into seawater under tidal inundations. • Microbial aerobic respiration was the primary process of CO 2 production in sediments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Design a SIR N model for capturing spatiotemporal characteristics of spreading risks. • Reveal the relation between spreading risk and the network topology of human movement. • Construct a resilient strategy to control and contain the spreading risk of contagious diseases. Spreading risks of contagious diseases have threatened human lives and disrupted the global economy. Protecting humanity from contagious diseases, such as coronavirus, is a critical task of our time. Unlike other types of risks, the spreading of contagious diseases could be enhanced by human movements. As human movements are inherently dynamic and heterogenous, it brings challenges in analyzing the spreading on a large scale. Here, we combine network theory and epidemiology models to construct a SIR N model for capturing spatiotemporal characteristics of spreading risks. With mean-field theory and Lyapunov theorem, our model reveals the relation between spreading risk and the network topology of human movement. The model allows us to construct a resilient strategy to control and contain the risk. The approach is tested retrospectively with coronavirus cases in China and the United States. Our results adequately interpret the historical trends and justify the resilience of nations' strategies. The model demonstrates a pattern of resilience in dynamic networks, which could shed light on handling contagious risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• An active failure-pursuing Kriging modeling method is proposed for time-dependent reliability analysis. • An equivalent stochastic process transformation is developed to form a uniform high probability density region. • An active failure-pursing strategy is proposed to identify the most valuable samples. • Correlation-based screening and space partition are applied to represent the sensitive local regions. Some time-dependent reliability analysis methods use surrogate models to approximate the implicit limit state functions of complex systems. However, the performance of these methods is usually affected by the situations that the used models are not accurate and some samples have no significant contribution to the accuracy improvement. To construct a more suitable model for reliability analysis, this work proposes an active failure-pursuing Kriging modeling method to identify the most valuable samples for improving the accuracy of the predicted failure probability. On the one hand, a global predicted failure probability error index calculated through the real-time reliability result is proposed to pursue the sensitive sample and the corresponding local region that is most likely to maximize the improvement of the accuracy of the reliability result. A fault-tolerant scheme is further applied to ensure the accuracy of the failure-pursuing process. On the other hand, the correlation-based screening and space partition strategy is developed to describe the local regions and avoid the clustering of samples. In each iteration, the Kriging model is updated with the exploitation of new sample from the local regions around the sensitive samples. Additionally, an equivalent stochastic process transformation is developed to form a uniform high probability density sampling space. The results of three cases demonstrate the efficiency, accuracy and stability of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Terahertz (THz) sources with stabilized output frequencies are desired in many systems, however, the design of conventional THz phase-locked loops encounters many challenges. In this paper, a fully on-chip frequency-stabilization feedback mechanism is proposed, which avoids the use of both frequency dividers and the off-chip reference, achieving much lower power consumption and system integration cost. Using this scheme, two circuit prototypes are designed in a 0.13- $\mu \text{m}$ SiGe BiCMOS technology. The first one is a 302–332-GHz frequency-stabilized source with ultralow power consumption. It achieves a −13.9-dBm probed output power with a dc power consumption of only 51.7 mW. The second design is a 308–317-GHz frequency-stabilized high-output-power radiating array, which achieves a peak-radiated power and EIRP of 4.6 mW and 24.7 dBm, respectively, with a total dc power consumption of 1.18 W. With significantly lower system integration cost and power consumption, the proposed scheme is attractive for many applications that require short coherence time, such as THz active imaging systems and short-range millimeter-wave (mm-wave)/THz FMCW radars. With further calibration and enhancement in long-term stability, this scheme will also be useful in systems like communication transceivers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• miR-124 regulated GLT-1 protein expression in astrocytes after OGD/reperfusion. • GLT-1 was not a direct target of miR-124. • The Akt and mTOR pathway participated in regulating GLT-1 expression of astrocytes after OGD/reperfusion. • miR-124 regulated the protein expression of the Akt and mTOR pathway in astrocytes after OGD/reperfusion. • miR-124 regulated GLT-1 protein expression through the Akt and mTOR pathway after OGD/reperfusion. High-concentration glutamic acid (Glu) induced by ischemic stroke can be inhibited by glutamate transporter-1 (GLT-1), which is the main mechanism for preventing excessive extracellular glutamate accumulation in the central nervous system. Upregulation of miR-124 could reduce the infarct area and promote the recovery of neurological function after ischemic stroke. A previous study investigated whether miR-124 could regulate GLT-1 expression in normal culture conditions. However, the role of miR-124 in the regulation of GLT-1 expression and further mechanisms after ischemic stroke remain unclear. In this study, the effects of miR-124 on GLT-1 expression in astrocytes after ischemic stroke were explored using an in vitro model of ischemic stroke (oxygen-glucose deprivation/reperfusion, OGD/reperfusion). The expression of GLT-1 was significantly decreased with lower expression of miR-124 in astrocytes injured by OGD/reperfusion. When miR-124 expression was improved, the expression of GLT-1 was notably increased in astrocytes injured by OGD/reperfusion. The results revealed that GLT-1 expression in astrocytes had a relationship with miR-124 after OGD/reperfusion. However, a direct interaction could not be confirmed with a luciferase reporter assay. Further results demonstrated that an inhibitor of Akt could decrease the increased protein expression of GLT-1 induced by miR-124 mimics, and an inhibitor of mTOR could increase the reduced protein expression of GLT-1 caused by a miR-124 inhibitor in astrocytes injured by different OGD/reperfusion conditions. These results indicated that miR-124 could regulate GLT-1 expression in astrocytes after OGD/reperfusion through the Akt and mTOR pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The role of physical symptoms on suicidal ideation in adolescents is incompletely understood. The purpose of this study was to discover the potential physical symptoms predictors for suicidal ideation in college freshmen.Methods: This cross-sectional survey was conducted in a randomly selected freshmen population in Wuhan China (N = 2449). Questionnaire evaluated suicidal ideation as well as related psychosocial risks and gastrointestinal (GI) physical symptoms. The association between the suicidal ideation and potential predictors was analyzed by Mann-Whitney test and multiple logistic regression analysis.Results: A total of 2053 (83.8%) completed this survey and 64 (3.1%) was reported to have suicidal ideation. Anxiety (OR 5.44(2.40-12.35)), depression (OR 8.36(3.90-17.94)) and chronic abdominal discomfort (OR 2.06(1.07-3.94)) were independent predictors for suicidal ideation. In freshmen with chronic abdominal discomfort, interestingly, defecation disorder(P = 0.01) and low satisfaction of defecation (P = 0.04) was associated with high risk for suicidal ideation.Conclusion: Defecation disorders were associated with high risk of suicidal intention in young adult with chronic abdominal discomfort. Our result implied that clinicians should be vigilant for suicidal ideation in chronic abdominal discomfort patients, especially those with defecation disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents investigations on a usage of graphene as a voltage stabilizer for polyethylene blends in the potential recyclable high voltage direct current (HVDC) cable insulation. Thermal and electrical properties of the blends with/without graphene were evaluated by thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), electrical treeing tests, DC conductivity and space charge measurements. Trap energy distributions in the blends were estimated using the measured space charge decay data. The obtained results show that additive-like amounts of graphene can improve the thermal stability of the polyethylene blends. The influence of the graphene on the tree inception voltage (TIV) of the polyethylene blends is not significant, whereas the low density polyethylene/high density polyethylene (LDPE/HDPE) with/without graphene demonstrates the highest TIV comparing to the LDPE, LDPE/polypropylene, and their corresponding graphene added materials. It is found that the DC conductivity of the polyethylene blends with/without graphene increases consistently with the increase of the temperature. The conductivity of the LDPE/HDPE decreases apparently with the inclusion of graphene. It has been shown that space charge accumulations can be suppressed by the addition of graphene in the polyethylene blends. It is postulated that the high trap level and trap energy density of the polyethylene blends with graphene are closely connected to the suppression of the space charge accumulation in the blends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: 5α‐reductase inhibitor (5‐ARI) is a commonly used medicine in the treatment of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) associated with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Our study mainly focuses on the mechanism of BPH development after 5ARI treatment. Materials and Methods: Prostate specimens from patients were collected. Insulin‐like growth factor 1 (IGF‐1), Beclin‐1, LC3 levels, was analysed by immunohistochemistry. The role IGF‐1 on autophagic flux in prostate epithelial cells was studied. Additionally, effect of autophagy on recombinant grafts consisting of prostate stromal and epithelial cells in nude mice was investigated. Results: We demonstrated that IGF‐1 expression is down‐regulated in prostate fibroblasts after long‐term 5‐ARI application. A decrease in IGF‐1 levels was found to activate autophagic flux through the mTOR pathway in prostate epithelial cells, while the inhibition of IGF‐1 receptor function induced autophagy in prostate epithelial cells. In addition, we revealed that blocking autophagic flux initiation can reduce the volume of recombinant grafts in vivo. Finally, our findings suggest that long‐term 5‐ARI application reduces IGF‐1 secretion by prostatic stromal cells, thereby inducing autophagy of prostatic epithelial cells, which is one of the mechanisms underlying BPH pathogenesis and progression. Conclusions: Focusing on the autophagy induced by low levels of IGF‐1 in prostatic epithelial cells, after elucidating AR signalling impairment of prostate stromal cells, might provide a novel strategy for the treatment and prevention of BPH development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To investigate the associations of cytokine concentrations in aqueous humour with the severity of retinal vascular abnormalities, exudation and fibrosis in patients with Coats' disease. Methods: Aqueous humour samples were collected in 23 paediatric patients (23 eyes) with Coats' disease and six age‐matched control patients (six eyes) with congenital cataract in this cross‐sectional, case–control study. Through Cytometric Bead Array technology, six angiogenic, inflammatory and fibrotic cytokines were measured for their concentrations in aqueous humour. Ophthalmologic characteristics including retinal vessel abnormalities, exudation and fibrosis of Coats' disease were also clinically evaluated for analysis. Results: The aqueous levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) (p = 0.006) and monocyte chemoattractant protein‐1 (MCP‐1) (p < 0.001) were significantly higher in the Coats' disease group than in the control group. The concentrations of angiogenin were peaked in eyes with first‐grade vessels tortuosity (p < 0.001), and also positively correlated with the severity of retinal capillary abnormalities (r = 0.910, p < 0.001). The concentrations of MCP‐1 (r = 0.966, p < 0.001) and VEGF (r = 0. 765, p = 0.002) were significantly correlated with the extent of retinal exudation. The aqueous humour transforming growth factor‐β (TGFβ) concentrations were higher in eyes with retinal fibrosis than in non‐fibrotic eyes with Coats' disease (p = 0.004). Conclusion: In Coats' disease, angiogenin may act as a potential biomarker for retinal vascular abnormalities. The concentrations of VEGF and MCP‐1 may positively correlate with the severity of retinal exudation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Film flow, plug flow and churn flow are identified in the downward two-phase flow. • Flow pattern transition criteria in plate channel have been developed. • The new correlation reflects the effect of mass flux on liquid two-phase multiplier. Abstract Capsule-type plate heat exchanger has wide industrial applications for its low flow resistance and less deposition and fouling. To broaden its application in phase-change heat transfer processes, the flow behaviors including flow patterns and pressure drop were experimentally studied in a vertical downward transparent capsule-type plate channel. Three main flow regimes are identified, which are film flow, plug flow and churn flow. Flow pattern transition criteria for downward two-phase flow in plate channel have been developed. Liquid block forms when the shear stress on the wavy film interface is much larger than the surface tension, which indicates the transition to plug or churn flow from film flow. And plug flow transits to churn flow when the liquid block is over aerated due to the flow turbulence. The transition boundries proposed for capsule-type plate channel show good agreement with the corresponding boundries of chevron-type plate channels. To predict the friction pressure drop, a new correlation containing the mixture Reynolds number is proposed to describe the law between the Lockhart-Martinelli parameter and liquid two-phase multiplier, which can reflect the effect of mass flux. The comparison of predicted data and experimental results shows good agreement by 82.4% of the data in ±15% error bands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) is an inherited disease that exhibits sex differences on clinical presentation. The present study aimed to investigate the sex differences associated with ARVC by conducting an integrated bioinformatics analysis. The GSE29819 gene expression dataset was downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus database. The online analytical tool GEO2R was then used to screen for differentially expressed genes (DEGs), which were subsequently processed using enrichment analysis and protein-protein interaction (PPI) network construction. Functional annotation of the DEGs was determined using ClueGO. The PPI network was constructed with Search Tool for the Retrieval of Interacting Genes, and was visualized with Cytoscape to identify the modules and hub genes. Compared with the female group, a total of 1,188 DEGs, of which 915 were upregulated and 273 were downregulated, were identified in the male group. The enrichment analysis revealed that in KEGG pathways, the upregulated DEGs were substantially enriched in the 'nicotine addiction' pathways, whereas the downregulated DEGS were mainly enriched in the 'ECM-receptor interaction' and 'protein digestion and absorption' pathways. The PPI network contained 899 nodes and 1,627 edges, among which four significant modules were identified. In addition, kininogen 1, lysophosphatidic acid receptor 5, formyl peptide receptor (FPR) 2, adenylate cyclase 2, γ-aminobutyric acid type B receptor subunit 2, FPR1, hydroxycarboxylic acid receptor 1, prostaglandin E receptor 3, cannabinoid receptor 1 and proenkephalin were identified as the top 10 hub genes. The key genes and related pathways identified in this study provide genetic insight into the diversity in phenotypes between female and male patients with ARVC, and may facilitate therapeutic individualization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • A general failure-pursuing sampling framework is proposed for efficient reliability analysis. • The framework always pursues the local region sensitive to the prediction accuracy from a global perspective. • Various active learning functions can be adopted to locally exploit the sensitive Voronoi cell. • A model-free response-distance learning function is developed to avoid relying on the characteristics of different surrogates. Abstract Design of experiment and active learning strategy are vital for the surrogate-based reliability analysis. However, the existing sampling and modeling methods usually ignore some useful information that can guide the choice of training samples, or heavily rely on the characteristics of surrogates. These lead to the inefficiency of sampling strategies or limit the application respectively. Therefore, this work proposes a failure-pursuing sampling framework, which is able to adopt various surrogate models or active learning strategies. In each iteration, it organically and sequentially takes into account the joint probability density function of random variables, the individual information at candidate points and the improvement of the accuracy of predicted failure probability. To measure the probability of the improvement, a global predicted failure probability error is proposed based on the real-time reliability analysis result. Furthermore, Voronoi diagram is applied to partition the sampling region into some local cells for keeping the uniformity of the training samples. Besides, a model-free response-distance function is developed and combined with the framework to avoid relying on the characteristics of surrogates, such as the statistical information provided by Kriging. Finally, four examples are investigated to demonstrate the applicability, stability and generality of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Overcoming the trade-offs among power consumption, fabrication cost, and signal amplification has been a long-standing issue for wearable electronics. We report a high-gain, fully inkjet-printed Schottky barrier organic thin-film transistor amplifier circuit. The transistor signal amplification efficiency is 38.2 siemens per ampere, which is near the theoretical thermionic limit, with an ultralow power consumption of <1 nanowatt. The use of a Schottky barrier for the source gave the transistor geometry-independent electrical characteristics and accommodate the large dimensional variation in inkjet-printed features. These transistors exhibited good reliability with negligible threshold-voltage shift. We demonstrated this capability with an ultralow-power high-gain amplifier for the detection of electrophysiological signals and showed a signal-to-noise ratio of >60 decibels and noise voltage of<0.3 microvolt per hertz1/2 at 100 hertz. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the correlations and interactions between the polymorphisms of insulin resistance-related genes (ADIPOQ rs2241766), inflammation factors (TNF-α rs1800629, IL-6 rs1800795), obesity-related genes (GNB3 rs5443, ADRB rs1042714), and risk factors for gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) such as diet structure in the development of GDM. Materials and methods: This research was conducted among women who visited the third-affiliate hospital of Zhengzhou University for pregnancy checkups from 1 June 2014 to 30 December 2014. Based on the results of a 75-g glucose tolerance test (OGTT), 140 pregnant women with GDM were randomly selected as a part of the GDM group and140 healthy, pregnant women as part of the control group. Relevant clinical and laboratory data for the child and the mother including her pregnancy outcomes and the delivery mode were collected for the epidemiological survey. Results: The results showed that risk factors for GDM are advanced age, the hepatitis B virus, family history of diabetes, high body mass index before pregnancy, and weight gain of ≥10 kg before 24-week gestation. We found that diet structures were severely unbalanced. The polymorphisms rs2241766 and rs5443 were found to potentially be associated with GDM; moreover, a positive interaction was demonstrated between rs2241766 and age, and a negative interaction was demonstrated with weight gain of ≥10 kg before 24-week gestation. Conclusion: Our findings demonstrate that both environmental risk factors and genetic background contribute to the development of GDM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the correlations and interactions between the polymorphisms of insulin resistance-related genes (ADIPOQ rs2241766), inflammation factors (TNF-α rs1800629, IL-6 rs1800795), obesity-related genes (GNB3 rs5443, ADRB rs1042714), and risk factors for gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) such as diet structure in the development of GDM.Materials and Methods: This research was conducted among women who visited the third-affiliate hospital of Zhengzhou University for pregnancy checkups from 1 June 2014 to 30 December 2014. Based on the results of a 75-g glucose tolerance test (OGTT), 140 pregnant women with GDM were randomly selected as a part of the GDM group and140 healthy, pregnant women as part of the control group. Relevant clinical and laboratory data for the child and the mother including her pregnancy outcomes and the delivery mode were collected for the epidemiological survey.Results: The results showed that risk factors for GDM are advanced age, the hepatitis B virus, family history of diabetes, high body mass index before pregnancy, and weight gain of ≥10 kg before 24-week gestation. We found that diet structures were severely unbalanced. The polymorphisms rs2241766 and rs5443 were found to potentially be associated with GDM; moreover, a positive interaction was demonstrated between rs2241766 and age, and a negative interaction was demonstrated with weight gain of ≥10 kg before 24-week gestation.Conclusion: Our findings demonstrate that both environmental risk factors and genetic background contribute to the development of GDM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to identify potential biomarkers that distinguish the embolic stroke (ES) from thrombotic stroke (TS), a profile of microRNA expression was analyzed. The GSE60319 expression profile was downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. The GEO2R was applied to screen for differentially expressed microRNAs (DEmiRNAs) between the embolic stroke group and thrombotic stroke group. The miRWalk was utilized to predict the target genes of DEmiRNAs. Genes associated with embolic stroke were downloaded from the Comparative Toxicogenomics Database. Cross reference of target genes to disease related genes was conducted to construct the DEmiRNA-gene network. The protein-protein interaction (PPI) network of overlapping genes was evaluated by STRING, using the MCODE and CytoHubba plugin of Cytoscape to identify the modules and hub genes. The enrichment of Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) in modules was performed. There were 30 microRNAs in total identified as DEmiRNAs between embolic stroke and thrombotic stroke groups, of which 8 were upregulated and 22 were downregulated. Among these differentially expressed miRNAs, miR-15a-5p, miR-17-5p, miR-19b-3p, and miR-20a-5p were significantly associated with an ES to TS. Using the miRWalk 3.0 online tool, target genes regulated by DEmiRNAs were predicted. In addition, disease related genes were predicted and compared with target genes of DEmiRNAs. 166 overlapped genes regulated by miR-15a-5p, miR-17-5p, miR-19b-3p, and miR-20a-5p were identified, suggesting their association with diseases that contributed to ES, mainly including atrial fibrillation, mitral valve stenosis, myocardial infarction, and aortic dissection. Therefore, miR-15a-5p, miR-17-5p, miR-19b-3p, and miR-20a-5p were promising candidate biomarkers for differentiating an ES from TS. The PPI network demonstrated that miR-15a-5p, miR-17-5p, miR-19b-3p, and miR-20a-5p were associated with an ES by mainly regulating "CCND1, E2F2, E2F3, ITCH, UBE4A, UBE3C, RBL2, FBXO31, EIF2C4, and EIF2C1". Furthermore, miR-15a-5p and miR-17-5p may function through "cell cycle, prostate cancer, and small cell lung cancer" while miR-19b-3p and miR-20a-5p function through "insulin resistance, hepatitis B, and viral carcinogenesis" and "vasopressin-regulated water reabsorption", respectively. However, these results were approached in the manner of bioinformatics analysis; therefore, further verification is required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Development of a current source interfaced virtual synchronous generator (VSG) controller which emulates an actual synchronous generator (SG). • Investigation of the stability of the VSG controller when connected to ac systems with different strengths using small signal analysis as well as Electromagnetic Transients simulation (EMT) simulation. • Analysis of the transient performance and damping properties with inclusion/exclusion of 'virtual' damper windings. This paper introduces a grid forming (GFM) control method – detailed synchronous machine emulation virtual synchronous generator (VSG). The proposed method makes a voltage source converter exactly emulate a synchronous generator (SG), using a current source interface. The precise emulation of an SG gives tighter control over overcurrent and improved transient damping. Electromagnetic Transients (EMT) simulation is used to demonstrate the operation, and small signal model is used to assess the stability performance. Small signal analysis shows that the resulting VSG operates stably, and oscillatory modes can be damped by appropriate optimization of the virtual damping windings resistances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • IES-FEM is proposed as a novel PR-DNS method and verified by published models. • Smooth gradient improves the stiff behavior of element quality in traditional FEM. • Different rebound heights are obtained by changing the elastic modulus of particles. • Effect of the wall on elliptical particles is determined by IES-FEM and experiments. • The chase and collision of particles with constitutive model become more realistic. The immersed edge-based smoothed finite element method (IES-FEM) is proposed for the study of elastic collision particulate flow. Particle collision becomes more realistic by using the penalty function and the hyperelastic constitutive model. The effects of grid resolution and Reynolds numbers on particle terminal velocity and drag coefficient are discussed to verify the calculation accuracy and stability. Single-particle collisions with the bottom and side walls are analyzed and experimentally verified. Results show that the calculation error of IES-FEM is less than 0.6% when the fluid grid size is 0.5 times the particle mesh size and the time step is 10–4 s. Particle drag coefficient and flow characteristics agree well with the published models and experiment results. To demonstrate the capabilities of IES-FEM in complex elastic particle systems, the collision and rebound of multiple particles are determined, including the drafting–kissing–tumbling of two circular particles; the chase, collision, and deformation of rectangular particles; and the repeated formation and separation of particle clusters. This work extends the application of IES-FEM in particle-resolved direct numerical simulation methods, which will provide an optional tool for future elastic blood cell flow and collision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] Oxidation of 1-naphthoylhydrazide (1-NH) by hexachloroiridate(IV) ([IrCl 6 ]2−) was characterized in detail by various spectroscopic techniques. The stoichiometry was determined to be [1-NH]:[Ir(IV)] = 1:4 and 1-NH was oxidized to 1-naphthoic acid which was confirmed by RP-HPLC and mass spectral analyses. The oxidation reaction strictly followed second-order kinetics; subsequently the rate versus pH profile was built up. A convincing reaction mechanism was proposed to account for all the experimental observations; rate constants of the rate-determining steps were calculated. Moreover, Activation parameters were determined to be Δ H 2 ‡ = 36.5 ± 2.4 kJ∙mol−1 and Δ S 2 ‡ = −75 ± 8 J∙K−1∙mol−1 for the reaction between [IrCl 6 ]2− and the neutral form of 1-NH. Possible modes of electron transfer are discussed. This work also reports the protolysis constants of 1-NH for the first time, which are p K a1 = 3.03 ± 0.06 and p K a2 = 12.0 ± 0.1 at 25.0 °C and 1.0 M ionic strength. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There are no guidelines on the surgical management for ischemic cardiomyopathy (ICM) patients with severe left ventricular dysfunction. The present study aims to assess the long‐term survival of these patients treated with two different surgical techniques, coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) and heart transplantation (HTx). Methods: This retrospective study included 218 ICM patients with left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) ≤35% who underwent CABG (n = 106) and HTx (n = 112) from 2011 to 2021 in a single center. After propensity adjustment analysis each group consisted of 51 patients. Clinical characteristics were evaluated for all‐cause follow‐up mortality by the Cox proportional hazards regression model. A risk prediction model was generated from multivariable‐adjusted Cox regression analysis and applied to stratify patients with different clinical risks. The long‐term survival was estimated by Kaplan–Meier analysis for different surgery groups. Results: Long‐term survival was comparable between CABG and HTx groups. After being stratified into different risk subgroups according to risk predictors, the HTx group exhibited superior survival outcomes compared to the CABG group among the high‐risk patients (67.8% vs 44.4%, 64.1% vs 38.9%, and 64.1% vs 33.3%, p = 0.047) at 12, 36, and 60 months respectively, while the survival was comparable between HTx and CABG groups among low‐risk patients (87.0% vs 97.0%, 82.4% vs 97.0%, and 70.2% vs 91.6%, p = 0.11) at 12, 36, and 60 months respectively in the PSM cohort. Conclusion: Long‐term survival in ICM patients with severe left ventricular dysfunction who received CABG or HTx was comparable in general. Nonetheless, a favorable outcome of HTx surgery compared to CABG was observed among high‐risk patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the large thermal resistance on the airside of the air-cooled heat exchangers, it is necessary to improve heat transfer performance and reduce flow resistance by improving the fin structure. In this paper, partially serrated finned tube bank was proposed and numerically investigated. The experimental system of finned tube bank was built to verify the correctness of the numerical simulation. The finned tube bank is twisted and serrated on the windward side to enhance heat transfer. Moreover, the non-grooved sector region on the leeward side reduces the flow resistance and improves the temperature uniformity of the fins. The effects of fin twisting of the windward side and non-grooving angle of the leeward side were explored. Nusselt number and friction factor decrease as the leeward non-grooving sector region increases. The correlations of Nusselt number and friction factor were derived based on the simulation results of partially serrated twisted finned tube banks with 120° non-grooving region on the leeward side. Nusselt number, friction factor and comprehensive heat transfer coefficient of partially serrated twisted finned tube bank are 13.3%, 13.0% and 10.5% higher than that of annular finned tube bank with Reynolds number from 6200 to 20,600, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The solvothermal reaction of CdCl 2 or CuCl 2 with a pyridine-pyrazole bifunctional ligand 3,5‑diethyl‑4‑(4‑pyridyl)‑pyrazole (Hdeppz) under different solvents afforded two coordination polymers [Cd(Hdeppz) 2 (Cl) 2 ] n (1) and [Cu 4 ICuII(deppz) 4 (Cl) 2 ] n (2), respectively. Owing to different coordinated modes of Hdeppz and metal ions, 1 and 2 display different grid layer structures. In 1 , the neutral Hdeppz ligand behaves as a linear linker to connect two Cd2+ ions, while 2 contains not only the Y-shaped deppz linker but also the mixed valence of Cu+ and Cu2+ ions. Meanwhile, an uncommon Cu 4 (pz) 4 metallocyclic unit is formed in 2 , and which further produces an unprecedented (CuIICl 2 CuI 4) n supramolecular chain by Cu···Cl interactions. The strong solid-state blue-green luminescence was also observed in 1. Graphical abstract Two new coordination polymers were constructed by a pyridine-pyrazole bifunctional ligand, revealing novel 3D supramolecular frameworks and strong luminescent properties. Unlabelled Image Highlights • Two coordination polymers based on a pyridine-pyrazole bifunctional ligand • Rare Cu 4 (pz) 4 ring and Cu⋯Cl supramolecular chain were found. • Strong luminescence property was observed in Cd(II) complex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A sharp-interface algorithm developed for immersed smoothed finite element method (Sharp-ISFEM) is proposed for fluid–structure interaction (FSI) problems. In Sharp-ISFEM, a line normal approach is used for unstructured meshes to reconstruct the solutions near interface. Advanced smoothed finite element models describe the finite deformation of immersed solid structures. Well-developed characteristic-based split method is employed to simulate the incompressible laminar flow. The coupling of fluid and solid is treated by the modified weak partitioned fictitious domain method with different time steps for two phases. To handle large-scale FSI problems, octree and neighbor-neighbor searching algorithms have been implemented. Meanwhile, parallelization has been implemented for the time-consuming parts of in-house codes. The effectiveness of proposed Sharp-ISFEM is validated by several benchmarking problems, including: fixed rigid body, flow over square cylinder; moving rigid body, flow induced by 2D hovering wing; large deformed solid, a beam with large deformation induced by flow; 3D deformable solid–fluid interaction, and lid-driven cavity flow with a rubber wall. Good agreements are shown in all test cases, comparing with existed experimental data and reference solutions. With the improvement of local velocity reconstruction, advanced searching algorithms and code parallelization, the proposed method has shown great promises for complex engineering flows with higher Reynolds number.A large-scale FSI problem of a hummingbird with flexible wing in hovering is finally simulated using more than one million nodes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Support vector regression (SVR), as a promising surrogate model, has been widely used to approximate expensive simulations in engineering design problem. To build a SVR model accurately and efficiently, a two-stage support vector regression (TSSVR) assisted sequential sampling approach is proposed in this paper with the consideration of SVR’s two unique features. In each sampling iteration of TSSVR, two SVR models are constructed successively based on the same training data. As for the first feature that only support vectors (SVs) have impact on the construction of SVR, the first-stage SVR with lower ε precision is built to prescreen some important samples as current SVs. As for the second feature that SVR model does not completely go through the samples, the second-stage SVR with higher ε precision is built to calculate the prediction errors at the SVs without any other computational cost, and the prediction errors are used to approximately measure the accuracy of the local regions around the SVs. Moreover, to describe the local regions around the SVs, the design space is partitioned into a set of Voronoi cells according to the current samples before prescreening SVs from the sample points. Then a new sample can be exploited in the corresponding Voronoi cell with the largest prediction error. In the next sampling iteration, the Voronoi cells and SVs are redefined. As the change of the local cell with the largest prediction error, global exploration is achieved. Finally, the proposed approach is validated by seven numerical examples and an engineering example. An overall comparison between the proposed approach and some other methods demonstrates that the proposed approach is efficient and suitable for engineering design problems involving computational-expensive simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To study retinal neovascularization (RNV) inhibition by intravitreal injections (IVs) of ranibizumab, sTie2 fusion protein (sTie2-Fc), and a combined therapy in an oxygen-induced retinopathy (OIR) model. Materials and methods: An OIR mouse model was used to simulate RNV in retinopathy of prematurity (ROP); and the effect of blocking the angiopoietin (Ang) and its receptor (Tie2) and the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and its receptor (VEGFR) signaling pathways was compared using an IV of sTie2-Fc (Ang inhibitor) and/or ranibizumab (aVEGF antagonist). The effects were assessed using fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)-dextran cardiac perfusion, isolectin B4 (IB4) staining with whole retinal mounting, and hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining to count the endothelial cells (ECs) that broke through the internal limiting membrane (ILM). The mRNA and protein levels of VEGF-A, VEGFR-2, Ang1, Ang2, and Tie2 were also determined by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and western blot analysis. Results: Compared with the control group injected with phosphate-buffered saline (PBS), all three experimental groups, ranibizumab, sTie2-Fc, and ranibizumab + sTie2-Fc, had a significant decrease in micro-vessel densities and neovascular clusters, and fewer ECs broke through the ILM (all p < 0.05). The non-perfusion areas decreased in both mono-treated groups, although the combined therapy had larger non-perfusion areas. All three treatments decreased the mRNA and protein levels of VEGFA, Ang1, and Tie2. Conclusion: In this study, it was confirmed that blocking the Ang/Tie2 and/or VEGF/VEGFR pathways could inhibit RNV and decrease abnormal micro-vessel density; and the mono-blockage of Ang/Tie2 might cause a smaller non-perfusion area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low thermal conductivity in yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG)-based thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) made by solution precursor plasma spray (SPPS) can be achieved by creating planar arrays of porosity called inter-pass boundaries (IPBs) as shown in Part I. In the current work, the mechanism of IPBs formation is studied through analysis of precursor entrainment and collection of single/raster step deposition patterns. It is concluded that the IPBs are formed by trapping precursor that under/over penetrates the plasma jet. CMAS interaction tests on SPPS YAG TBCs with heavy IPBs show an improvement of 123X and 15X over APS YSZ and SPPS YAG-light IPBs TBCs, respectively. It is demonstrated that the exceptional coating performance is because of the engineered heavy IPBs which branch out from the vertical cracks and run parallel to the surface. The CMAS melt gets drawn in the IPBs due to the capillary forces, leading to a shallow infiltration depth. The IPBs have a porosity of 70%, thus act as reservoirs for CMAS. Based on the favorable results, an alternate CMAS mitigation strategy is proposed that solely relies on microstructural features instead of the conventional approach where a vigorous reaction between CMAS-TBCs is desirable to form secondary phases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The seismic problem of concrete dams has long been a difficult issue facing academic and engineering researchers. Traditional anti-seismic and isolation measures produce unfavorable results in hydraulic structures. However, the air-cushion seismic isolation technique represents a new development orientation for the anti-seismic method of concrete dams. To study the isolation and anti-cracking effects of the air-cushion, the gas-liquid-solid tri-phase coupling numerical model of the air-cushion isolation control of high arch dams is presented in this paper, in which the cracking behavior of concrete is considered. A 300 m level dam was simulated numerically under three different seismic intensities. The results show that the air-cushion reduces the hydrodynamic pressure significantly. The maximum hydrodynamic pressure is reduced by more than 70 %, and the acceleration of the dam crest is reduced by more than 50 % with a 1 m air-cushion. The reduction in hydrodynamic pressure and dam acceleration increases with increasing seismic intensity. In addition, the air-cushion decreases the cracking range of the dam body effectively. Thus, the isolation effects of the air-cushion are remarkable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to investigate the effect of methyl testosterone on the body color, Rhodeus sinensis of juveniles (fifty days postfertilization, 50-DPF) and adults (eighty days post-fertilization, 80-DPF) were divided into six groups, each treatment group cultured in duplicate, randomly and separately, with 80 ind each. All juveniles and adults were raised, respectively, in the recirculation aquarium tanks with 500 liters separately. Five treatment groups (TG1, TG2, TG3, TG4, and TG5) were dieted with 17a-methyl testosterone (17α-MT) at different concentration of 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 mg/kg, while the control group was dieted without 17α-MT. During the 56 days of test duration, the carotenoid content of the test fishes and the carotenoid deposited in the muscle were researched comparatively. The results showed there was significant pigmentation for 50-DPF Rhodeus sinensis dieted with 17α-MT at concentration of 40 mg/kg and 50 mg/kg (p <0.05). When Rhodeus sinensis dieted with 17α-MT at concentration of more than 30 mg/kg, the body color of 50-DPF Rhodeus sinensis started to change obviously at the 28th day (p <0.05), then sustained coloring to the maximum at the 56th day. While for 80-DPF Rhodeus sinensis, there was no significant differences between each treatment group and control group (p> 0.05). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate torsion exceptional sheaves on a weak del Pezzo surface of degree greater than two whose anticanonical model has at most A n -singularities. We show that every torsion exceptional sheaf can be obtained from a line bundle on a ( − 1 ) -curve by spherical twists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an optimal estimation method, the Kalman filter is the most frequently-used data fusion strategy in the field of dynamic navigation and positioning. Nevertheless, the abnormal model errors seriously degrade performance of the conventional Kalman filter. The adaptive Kalman filter was put forward to control the influences of model errors. However, the adaptive Kalman filter based on the predicted residuals (innovation vector) requires reliable observation information, and its performance is significantly affected by outliers in the measurements. In this paper, a novel adaptively-robust strategy based on the Mahalanobis distance is proposed to weaken the effects of abnormal model deviations and outliers in the measurements. In the proposed scheme, the judging index is defined based on the Mahalanobis distance, and the adaptively-robust filtering is performed when the observations are reliable, otherwise, the robust filtering is performed based on the robust estimation method. Various experiments with the actual data of GPS/INS integrated navigation systems are implemented to examine validity of the proposed scheme. Results show that both the influences of model deviations and outliers are weakened effectively by using the proposed adaptive robust filtering scheme. Moreover, the proposed scheme is easy to implement with a reasonable calculation burden. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In clinical therapy, the poor prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is mainly attributed to the failure of chemotherapeutical agents to accumulate in tumor as well as lack of potency of tumor penetration. In this work, we developed actively tumor-targeting micelles with pH-sensitive linker as a novel nanocarrier for HCC therapy. These micelles comprised biodegradable poly(ethylene glycol)-poly(aspartate) polymers, in which paclitaxel can be covalently conjugated to pAsp via an acid-labile acetal bond to form pH-responsive structures. In vitro drug release studies showed that these structures were stable in physiological condition, whereas collapsed once internalized into cells due to the mildly acidic environment in endo/lysosomes, resulting in facilitated intracellular paclitaxel release. In addition, dehydroascorbic acid and guanidinopropyl methacrylamide polymers were decorated on the surface of micelles to achieve specific tumor accumulation and tumor penetration. Cellular uptake and in vivo imaging studies proved that these micelles had remarkable targeting property toward hepatocarcinoma cells and tumor. Enhanced anti-HCC efficacy of the micelles was also confirmed both in vitro and in vivo . Therefore, this micellar system may be a potential platform of chemotherapeutics delivery for HCC therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy efficiency evaluation of heat exchangers are crucial for energy saving in industrial applications. Currently, no energy efficiency evaluation is appropriate for the grading of energy efficiency of heat exchangers. In this paper, an energy efficiency index (EEI) is proposed to evaluate the energy efficiency of single-phase flow and heat transfer of plate heat exchangers. EEI is defined by k /∇ p n , where k is overall heat transfer coefficient, ∇ p is flow pressure gradient and exponent n is the indicator of the relative importance between heat transfer and flow resistance. EEI indicates the overall heat transfer coefficient per unit equivalent pressure drop. The recommended n is 0.31 for plate heat exchangers based on the data of 281 heat exchangers. We conclude a normal distribution function for the evaluation of energy efficiency of plate heat exchangers. The present method can quantitative evaluate the performance of plate heat exchangers and hence can grade them in terms of energy efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hydrodynamic characteristics of axisymmetric ventilated supercavitating flows influenced by drag-reduction additives are numerically studied. The Cross viscosity model, a shear-thinning model, is employed to characterize the rheological feature of the aqueous solution of the drag-reduction additives. First, the numerical calculation procedure is established and verified, and the numerical results are in good agreement with the existing correlations. And then the air–liquid two-phase and air–liquid-vapor three-phase ventilated supercavitating flows in water and drag-reducing solution, respectively, are investigated. The flow resistance and morphological characteristics of the ventilated supercavities are mainly analyzed. It is obtained that the drag-reduction additives mainly influence the friction drag when the supercavities have not fully formed. The friction drag reduction rate can reach up to 49.66% and 58.13% in the two-phase and three-phase flows, respectively, in the currently investigated cases. Moreover, the vapor region caused by natural cavitation is larger in the drag-reducing solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Single-loop approach (SLA) is one of the most promising methods for solving linear and weakly nonlinear reliability-based design optimization (RBDO) problems. However, since SLA locates the current approximate most probable point (MPP) by using the gradient information of the previous one to reduce the computational cost, it may lead to inaccuracy when the nonlinearity of probabilistic constraints becomes relatively high. To overcome this limitation, a new adaptive hybrid single-loop method (AH-SLM) that can automatically choose to search for the approximate MPP or accurate MPP is proposed in this paper. Moreover, to get the accurate MPP more efficiently and alleviate the oscillation in the search process, an iterative control strategy (ICS) with two iterative control criteria is developed. In each iterative step, the KKT-condition of performance measure approach (PMA) is introduced to check the validity of the approximate MPP. If the approximate MPP is infeasible, ICS will be further carried out to search for the accurate MPP. The two iterative control criteria are used to update the oscillation control step length, then ICS can converge fast for both weakly and highly nonlinear performance functions. Besides, numerical examples are presented to verify the efficiency and robustness of our proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electric Vehicles (EVs) have been typically proposed to replace conventional vehicles in the near future. The use of an Electric Differential (ED) in EV has many advantages like as high efficiency, low loosing, and lightweight mechanical differentials and transmissions with electric motors directly coupled to the wheels. In this paper, a novel ED mechanism for the four–Wheel–Drive (4WD)/two–Wheel–Steering (2WS) and 4WD/four–Wheel–Steering (4WS) EVs is proposed. The proposed ED is easy-to-implement and solves the problems of previous EDs. The speed synchronization action of all wheels is achieved by using the Fictitious Master technique. Moreover, for independent control of speed and torque, the Ackerman laws are applied to the motors. Also, the currents of EV are controlled with an indirect current vector controller. For a complete assessment of the proposed control method, the EV is analyzed under two different disturbances as positive and negative torque variations. The results showed that ED ensures both reliability and good path tracking. In addition, the robustness and stability of EVs under various disturbances are validated by producing new speed references for all wheels. The considered EV could robust under disturbance conditions, at an acceptable level. Moreover, the overlaps of torque and speed in the 4WD/4WS are about 15% and 23% more than 4WD/2WS, respectively. In essence, the proposed control method shows good results for EVs with various conditions: straight movement, turning, acceleration, and deceleration. • Propose a novel ED formulation for the EVs with systems of 4WD/4WS. • Independent control of speed and torque, using calculation method of Ackerman laws. • Synchronize all wheels speed, based on Fictitious Master synchronization technique. • Increase EV stability under various disturbances by producing new speed reference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] Drug delivery systems (DDS) triggered by local microenvironment represents the state-of-art of nanomedicine design, where the triggering hallmarks at intracellular and subcellular levels could be employed to exquisitely recognize the diseased sites, reduce side effects, and expand the therapeutic window by precisely tailoring the drug-release kinetics. Though with impressive progress, the DDS design functioning at microcosmic levels is fully challenging and underexploited. Here, we provide an overview describing the recent advances on stimuli-responsive DDSs triggered by intracellular or subcellular microenvironments. Instead of focusing on the targeting strategies as listed in previous reviews, we herein mainly highlight the concept, design, preparation and applications of stimuli-responsive systems in intracellular models. Hopefully, this review could give useful hints in developing nanoplatforms proceeding at a cellular level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Diabetes can lead to extensive damage to the enteric nervous system (ENS), causing gastrointestinal motility disorders. However, there is currently a lack of effective treatments for diabetes-induced ENS damage. Enteric neural precursor cells (ENPCs) closely regulate the structural and functional integrity of the ENS. L-Fucose, is a dietary sugar that has been showed to effectively ameliorate central nervous system injuries, but its potential for ameliorating ENS damage and the involvement of ENPCs in this process remains uncertain. Methods: Genetically engineered mice were generated for lineage tracing of ENPCs in vivo. Using diabetic mice in vivo and high glucose-treated primary ENPCs in vitro, the effects of L-Fucose on the injured ENS and ENPCs was evaluated by assessing gastrointestinal motility, ENS structure, and the differentiation of ENPCs. The key signaling pathways in regulating neurogenesis and neural precursor cells properties, transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) and its downstream signaling pathways were further examined to clarify the potential mechanism of L-Fucose on the injured ENS and ENPCs. Results: L-Fucose improved gastrointestinal motility in diabetic mice, including increased defecation frequency (p < 0.05), reduced total gastrointestinal transmission time (p < 0.001) and bead expulsion time (p < 0.05), as well as enhanced spontaneous contractility and electric field stimulation-induced contraction response in isolated colonic muscle strips (p < 0.001). The decrease in the number of neurons and glial cells in the ENS of diabetic mice were reversed by L-Fucose treatment. More importantly, L-Fucose treatment significantly promoted the proportion of ENPCs differentiated into neurons and glial cells both in vitro and in vivo, accompanied by inhibiting SMAD2 phosphorylation. Conclusions: L-Fucose could promote neurogenesis and gliogenesis derived from ENPCs by inhibiting the SMAD2 signaling, thus facilitating ENS regeneration and gastrointestinal motility recovery in type 1 diabetic mice. 7Zzihak_jncvcnfCNwCPXs Video Abstract [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A novel model of using nSFEM and DPM to solve particle-laden flows. • The super robustness in handling extremely distorted polygonal meshes of the present method. • The unified implementation of mean value coordinates interpolation as shape function and fluid drag interpolation with high-fidelity. • The polygon mesh in this paper shows a great adaptation to complex geometry. In this work, an n-sided polygonal smoothed finite element method (nSFEM) using mean value shape function for concave polygonal element coupled with the discrete phase model (DPM) is developed to solve particle-laden flows. The fluid phase is solved using nSFEM stabilized by the well-developed characteristic-based split (CBS) algorithm. The concave polygonal element is successfully constructed via the intrinsic characteristic of mean value shape function and a new smoothing domain (SD) construction with more physical meaning; thus, addressing the severely distorted local mesh, as well as retaining good geometric adaptability. In the meantime, the modeling of the coupling between the fluid and the particle is achieved by reusing the mean value interpolation to obtain the fluid drag force acting on the particle. The accurate capture of fluid velocities at particle positions within arbitrary polygonal elements via mean value interpolation ensures fluid drag with high-fidelity. Several classical numerical examples, including particle-laden flow around a circular cylinder, are presented to demonstrate the high accuracy and good robustness, and the capability of the proposed method for predicting particle motion in the analysis of complex particle-laden flows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brittle material removal fraction (BRF) is defined as the area fraction of brittle material removed on machined surface. In the present study, a novel theoretical model of BRF was proposed based on indentation profile caused by intersecting of lateral cracks. The proposed model is related to surface roughness and the subsurface damage (SSD) depth of optical glass during precision grinding. To investigate the indentation profile, indentation tests of K9 optical glass were conducted using single random-shape diamond grains. The experimental results indicate that the indentation profile is an exponent function. To verify the proposed BRF model, BRF, surface roughness and SSD depth of K9 optical glasses were investigated by a series of grinding experiments with different cutting depths. The experimental results show that BRF is dependent on surface roughness and SSD depth. The relationship between BRF, surface roughness and SSD depth is in good accordance with the proposed theoretical model. The proposed BRF model is a reasonable approach for estimating surface roughness and SSD depth during precision grinding of optical glass. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we show that K-semistable Fano manifolds with the smallest alpha invariant are projective spaces. Singular cases are also investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sweetpotato certified seed producers rely on fast propagation of virus-indexed slip plants in the greenhouse to obtain transplants for the production of first generation of storage roots. Effective fertilization is important for greenhouse vegetative propagation, but relevant guidelines are rare. Greenhouse experiments were conducted in 2011 and 2012 using sweetpotato (Ipomoea batatas(L.) Lam.) var. Covington, Beauregard, and Evangeline to evaluate effects of fertilizer rate on slip production. The most commonly used commercial fertilizer mix (20N–10P–20K) was applied at the rates 50, 100, 200, 300, 400 mg·L−1of N. Plants were harvested nine times over the season in both years. Total nodes on vines and total slip fresh weight were determined. ‘Evangeline’ produced more nodes—that is, more plants—than ‘Beauregard’ and ‘Covington’, and ‘Beauregard’ produced the highest slip fresh weight, followed by ‘Evangeline’ and ‘Covington’. Effect of fertilizer rate on vine node count was similar for early (harvests 1–3) and middle harvests (harvests 4–6) but impacted late harvests (harvests 7–9), where fertilizer rates from 100 to 300 mg·L−1of N resulted in similar number of plant nodes, and 50 and 400 mg·L−1of N reduced node count. Undesirable storage root formation in pots was favored by 50 mg·L−1of N fertilizer rate, whereas fertilizer at or above 100 mg·L−1of N inhibited them. ‘Covington’ produced the most storage roots. Fertilizer rate during slip production in the greenhouse did not affect transplant stand count in the field and subsequent field production of sweetpotato storage roots. The commercial fertilizer 20N-10P-20K should be applied from 100 to 200 mg·L−1of N to produce the most slips and least storage roots in greenhouse pots. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our previous works presented experimental investigations of the brittle material removal fraction (BRF) on the machined surface of optical glass. It is related to the area fraction of brittle material removed on the machined surface and is used to assess the surface roughness of optical glass during precision grinding. In general, subsurface damage (SSD) is considered to be one of the most important machining qualities in grinding of optical glass. This work presents an experimental investigation of the relationship between BRF and SSD depth of optical glass during precision grinding to understand the significance of BRF on sensing the SSD of optical glass. A series of precision grinding experiments were conducted on a precision grinder machine to investigate the influence of grinding parameters on SSD depth. Based on an image processing algorithm developed in previous work, the BRF was calculated by using a microtopography image of a machined surface of K9 glass during precision grinding. The experimental results show that the BRF was determined for different machining parameters (cutting depth, wheel speed, and feed rate) and was dependent on SSD depth in precision grinding, which implies that the BRF has potential for application as a rapid and affordable online vision measurement approach to monitor surface and subsurface qualities during the grinding of brittle materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High dose of salicylate, the active ingredient in aspirin, has long been known to induce transient hearing loss, tinnitus and hyperacusis making it a powerful experimental tool. These salicylate-induced perceptual disturbances are associated with a massive reduction in the neural output of the cochlea. Paradoxically, the diminished neural output of the cochlea is accompanied by a dramatic increase in sound-evoked activity in the auditory cortex (AC) and several other parts of the central nervous system. Exactly where the increase in neural activity begins and builds up along the central auditory pathway are not fully understood. To address this issue, we measured sound-evoked neural activity in the cochlea, cochlear nucleus (CN), inferior colliculus (IC), and AC before and after administering a high dose of sodium salicylate (SS, 300 mg/kg). The SS-treatment abolished low-level sound-evoked responses along the auditory pathway resulting in a 20–30 dB threshold shift. While the neural output of the cochlea was substantially reduced at high intensities, the neural responses in the CN were only slightly reduced; those in the IC were nearly normal or slightly enhanced while those in the AC considerably enhanced, indicative of a progress increase in central gain. The SS-induced increase in central response in the IC and AC was frequency-dependent with the greatest increase occurring in the mid-frequency range the putative pitch of SS-induced tinnitus. This frequency-dependent hyperactivity appeared to result from shifts in the frequency receptive fields (FRF) such that the response areas of many FRF shifted/expanded toward the mid-frequencies. Our results suggest that the SS-induced threshold shift originates in the cochlea. In contrast, enhanced central gain is not localized to one region, but progressively builds up at successively higher stage of the auditory pathway either through a loss of inhibition and/or increased excitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By means of series expansion theory, the incident quasi-Bessel-Gauss beam is expanded using spherical harmonic functions, and the beam coefficients of the quasi-Bessel-Gauss beam are calculated. According to the theory, the acoustic radiation force function, which is the radiation force per unit energy on a unit cross-sectional surface on a sphere made of diverse materials and immersed in an ideal fluid along the propagation axis of zero-order quasi-Bessel-Gauss progressive and standing beams, is investigated. The acoustic radiation force function is calculated as a function of the spherical radius parameter ka and the half-cone angle β with different beam widths in a progressive and standing zero-order Bessel-Gauss beam. Simulation results indicate that the acoustic radiation forces with different waist radii demonstrate remarkably different features from those found in previous studies. The results are expected to be useful in potential applications such as acoustic tweezers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, an autotrophic denitrifying biocathode was investigated to couple the reduction of nitrate or/and perchlorate with electricity generation. Results showed that when the current density in microbial fuel cell (MFC) with sole perchlorate and sole nitrate as the substrate stabilized at 3.00 and 1.52 mA/m 3 respectively, the perchlorate and nitrate removal efficiency achieved 53.14% and 87.05%. As influent molar ratio of NO 3 − /ClO 4 − was 1:1, the stable current density reached the a peak value (3.10 A/m 3 ) accompanied by the maximum integral mixed substrate removal (40.97% for ClO 4 − and 86.03% for NO 3 − ). Open and close circuit experiments demonstrated that the nitrate and perchlorate removal should be ascribed to the bioreduction of autotrophic denitrifying biocathode. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) curves showed that all of biocathodes had strong electrochemical activity and there were few clear distinctions of redox potential between the biocathodes fed with different substrates. Results of 16S rRNA sequencing revealed a predominance of β -Proteobacteria in the autotrophic denitrifying biocathode, which is a well-known environmental nitrogen cycler. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Folliculogenesis is a progressive and highly regulated process, which is essential to provide ova for later reproductive life, requires the bidirectional communication between the oocyte and granulosa cells. This physical connection-mediated communication conveys not only the signals from the oocyte to granulosa cells that regulate their proliferation but also metabolites from the granulosa cells to the oocyte for biosynthesis. However, the underlying mechanism of establishing this communication is largely unknown. Here, we report that oocyte geranylgeranyl diphosphate (GGPP), a metabolic intermediate involved in protein geranylgeranylation, is required to establish the oocyte-granulosa cell communication. GGPP and geranylgeranyl diphosphate synthase (Ggpps) levels in oocytes increased during early follicular development. The selective depletion of GGPP in mouse oocytes impaired the proliferation of granulosa cells, primary-secondary follicle transition and female fertility. Mechanistically, GGPP depletion inhibited Rho GTPase geranylgeranylation and its GTPase activity, which was responsible for the accumulation of cell junction proteins in the oocyte cytoplasm and the failure to maintain physical connection between oocyte and granulosa cells. GGPP ablation also blocked Rab27a geranylgeranylation, which might account for the impaired secretion of oocyte materials such as Gdf9. Moreover, GGPP administration restored the defects in oocyte-granulosa cell contact, granulosa cell proliferation and primary-secondary follicle transition in Ggpps depletion mice. Our study provides the evidence that GGPP-mediated protein geranylgeranylation contributes to the establishment of oocyte-granulosa cell communication and then regulates the primary-secondary follicle transition, a key phase of folliculogenesis essential for female reproductive function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Galloway-Mowat syndrome (GMS) is a very rare autosomal-recessive disorder characterized by nephrotic syndrome associated with microcephaly, and various central nervous system abnormalities, mostly cerebral hypoplasia or cerebellar atrophy, intellectual disability and neural-migration defects. WDR73 is the only gene known to cause GMS, and has never been implicated in other disease. Here we present a Chinese consanguineous family with infantile onset intellectual disability and cerebellar hypoplasia but no microcephaly. Whole exome sequencing identified a WDR73 p.W371G missense mutation. The mutation is confirmed to be segregated in this family by Sanger sequencing according to a recessive inheritance pattern. It is predicted to be deleterious by multiple algorithms and affect highly conserved site. Structural modeling revealed conformational differences between the wild type protein and the p.W371G protein. Real-time PCR and Western blotting revealed altered mRNA and protein levels in mutated samples. Our study indicates the novel WDR73 p.W371G missense mutation causes infantile onset intellectual disability and cerebellar hypoplasia in recessive mode of inheritance. Our findings imply that microcephaly is a variable phenotype in WDR73 -related disease, suggest WDR73 to be a candidate gene of severe intellectual disability and cerebellar hypoplasia, and expand the molecular spectrum of WDR73 -related disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) classification system updated the definition of mixed neuroendocrine non-neuroendocrine neoplasms (MiNENs), previously known as mixed adenoneuroendocrine carcinomas (MANECs). The clinicopathological characteristics of this new definition remains to be clarified. We analyzed the clinical data of 43 patients diagnosed with MiNENs in Wuhan Union Hospital from 2011 to 2020 according to the definition of MiNENs proposed in 2019. Among the 43 patients with MiNENs, the top two most common sites were stomach and colon, and 69.8% were males. Nearly half (21/43) of the patients were diagnosed at TNM stage III, and about 53.5% (23/43) of patients were the neuroendocrine neoplasm dominant type. Among the non-neuroendocrine tumor components of 43 MiNENs patients, adenocarcinoma accounted for 95.3% (41/43) and squamous cell carcinoma accounted for 4.7% (2/43)；95.3% (41/43) of the neuroendocrine neoplasm components were neuroendocrine carcinoma (NEC) and 4.7% (2/43) were neuroendocrine tumor (NET). Approximately 60.5% (26/43) neuroendocrine components had a Ki-67 index ≥ 55%. In addition, we further compared the prognosis of different subtypes of the MiNENs based on the neuroendocrine neoplasm component and non-neuroendocrine neoplasm component, and the results showed that there was no significant difference in survival between different subtypes of MiNENs (P > 0.05). MiNENs can exhibit diverse clinicopathological characteristics, and there is no significant difference in prognosis among MiNENs subtypes, indicating that the definition of MiNENs can well summarize the prognosis of this type of tumor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, all ink-jet printed (IJP) low-voltage organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) on flexible substrate are reported. The OFETs use IJP silver (Ag) for source/drain/gate electrodes, poly(4-vinylphenol) (PVP) for gate dielectric, 6,13-bis(triisopropylsilylethynyl)-pentacene (TIPS-pentacene) blended with polystyrene (PS) as the semiconducting layer and CYTOP for encapsulation layer. All the printing processes were carried out in ambient air environment using a single laboratory ink-jet printer Dimatix DMP-2831. The all IJP device presents state-of-the-art performance with low operation voltage down to 3 V, small subthreshold swing ( SS ) of 0.155 V/decade, mobility of 0.26 cm 2 V −1 s −1 , threshold voltage ( V th ) of −0.17 V and on/off ratio of 3.1 × 10 5 , along with a yield of 62.5%. Through interface engineering and proper process optimization, this work demonstrates a promising low-voltage all IJP device platform for low-cost flexible printed electronics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]