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Recently, methods based on Transformer have been widely used in the research field of hyperspectral image (HSI) change detection (CD). However, existing transformer-based CD research does not sufficiently utilize the spatial-spectral features of HSIs. In this article, we propose an interactive Siamese spatial-spectral cross-layer fusion Transformer (IS2CF-Former) network to improve the accuracy of HSI-CD. The proposed Siamese interactive module integrates the Siamese network with the Transformer structure, enhancing communication between bi-temporal images. We have made improvements to the cross-layer adaptive fusion (CAF) Transformer, where the cross-layer fusion module enhances the interaction between layers and the ability to capture local contextual features, concurrently reducing the model's parameter count to mitigate the risk of overfitting. The CAF Transformer is applied to extract spatial and spectral features. Evaluating the detection performance of the proposed model on three bi-temporal HSIs through extensive experiments demonstrates superior accuracy compared to seven excellent CD methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored the heat transfer performance of a decaying swirl flow generated by a four‐lobed swirl generator with simulations and experiments. In the experimental studies, the thermal performance of a swirl generator was compared with that of a circular tube, indicating that the printed swirl generator provided better heat transfer performance than the printed circular tube. Further experiments were performed over a range of Reynolds numbers with different lengths of post‐swirl, circular pipe to assess the decay of swirl, downstream. Here, for shorter lengths of post‐swirl, circular pipe, the thermal improvement was maintained, but this advantage was lost with longer circular pipe runs. In numerical studies, the effect of various pitch‐to‐diameter (PD) ratios of the swirl pipe, including the actual swirl pipe (in-swirl) as a part of the heat exchanger or excluding it (ex-swirl), and the effect of different post‐swirl section lengths were investigated. The heat transfer rate and pressure drop increased with the reduction of the PD ratio, and the in‐swirl arrangements gave higher thermal enhancement and similar pressure loss compared with the ex‐swirl arrangements. The PD6 in‐swirl arrangement gave the highest thermal enhancement for all the geometries. Applying the swirl intensity and the field synergy principle confirmed these results, showing that any thermal enhancement created by swirl generators disappeared rapidly after exiting the swirl tube. In addition, the field synergy principle was more suited to explain the thermal enhancement effect of the decaying swirl flow instead of swirl intensity. This study demonstrates that by optimising the post‐swirl pipe length, overall heat transfer performance can be increased by around 5% with a pressure drop of less than 16%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Click‐through rate (CTR) prediction is a pivotal challenge in recommendation systems. Existing models are prone to disturbances from noise and redundant features, hindering their ability to fully capture implicit and higher‐order feature interactions present in sparse feature data. Moreover, conventional dual‐tower models overlook the significance of layer‐level feature interactions. To address these limitations, this article introduces Gate‐enhanced Multi‐space Interactive Neural Networks (GMINN), a novel model for CTR prediction. GMINN adopts a dual‐tower architecture in which a multi‐space interaction layer is introduced after each layer in the dual‐tower deep neural network. This layer allocates features into multiple subspaces and employs matrix multiplication to establish layer‐level interactions between the dual towers. Simultaneously, a field‐aware gate mechanism is proposed to extract crucial latent information from the original features. Experimental validation on publicly available datasets, Criteo and Avazu, demonstrates the superiority of the proposed GMINN model. Comparative analyses against baseline models reveal that GMINN substantially improves up to 4.09% in AUC and a maximum reduction of 7.21% in Logloss. Additionally, ablation experiments provide further validation of the effectiveness of GMINN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proposes and tests a theoretical model of how two types of stressors (challenge and hindrance stressors) elicit perseverative cognition processes in individuals (as characterized by two types of work-related rumination), and how, through this mechanism, these stressors can further affect individuals' flow experience at work. Our model is largely supported by structural equation modeling analyses of a longitudinal questionnaire-based survey (n = 344). We find that challenge stressors have a significant, positive, direct impact on the experience of flow. Additionally, both challenge and hindrance stressors simultaneously activate problem-solving pondering and affective rumination in employees; affective rumination inhibits flow, while problem-solving pondering promotes flow. The results of a bootstrap sampling analysis further indicate the presence of the masking and mediating effects of work-related rumination in the effects of these stressors on flow experience. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the popularity of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), which has now become a financial market that has attracted extensive attention worldwide. A large number of investors and creators are flocking to this emerging market in search of investment opportunities. Nowadays, many studies have analysed this phenomenon from an economic perspective. However, we know little about the players and ecosystem characteristics of this market. To fill this knowledge gap, we first provide a processed large-scale dataset of the Ethereum blockchain-based NFT market, containing more than 80 million NFT transaction records from January 2018 to April 2022. Second, we constructed the NFT creator graph (NCG) and NFT holder graph (THG) to delve into the characteristics of the NFT market. Further, we analyse the market preferences and trends using statistical methods to reveal the development trends of the NFT market. Finally, we focus on predicting the transaction volume of the NFT market and analyse the influence factors. This study provides data support for participants and researchers to explore the NFT market, while our analysis promotes a deeper understanding of the NFT market among the public. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the popularity of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), which has now become a financial market that has attracted extensive attention worldwide. A large number of investors and creators are flocking to this emerging market in search of investment opportunities. Nowadays, many studies have analysed this phenomenon from an economic perspective. However, we know little about the players and ecosystem characteristics of this market. To fill this knowledge gap, we first provide a processed large-scale dataset of the Ethereum blockchain-based NFT market, containing more than 80 million NFT transaction records from January 2018 to April 2022. Second, we constructed the NFT creator graph (NCG) and NFT holder graph (THG) to delve into the characteristics of the NFT market. Further, we analyse the market preferences and trends using statistical methods to reveal the development trends of the NFT market. Finally, we focus on predicting the transaction volume of the NFT market and analyse the influence factors. This study provides data support for participants and researchers to explore the NFT market, while our analysis promotes a deeper understanding of the NFT market among the public. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Nu oscillation induced by wrapped wire are correlated with area change. • Effects of P/D and wire shapes are studied in three subchannels of the bundle. • D is kept as a constant to ensure fixed rated power of the fuel bundle. • Relation of circumferential T and Nu distributions with wire rotation are studied. • P/D of 1.29 and trapezoidal wire are identified to show best performance. This study develops a numerical model to investigate the effects of wire wrapping on the flow velocity and temperature distribution in a seven-rod fuel bundle cooling by lead–bismuth eutectic alloy. The enhanced cooling performance of the wire-wrapped rod is compared with the bare rod, and the oscillated local Nusselt numbers along the axial direction in the inter, corner and edge subchannels are analyzed. The Nusselt number oscillation is found strongly correlated with the area change in different subchannels induced by the wrapping wires. In order to reduce the temperature gradient along the axial direction and eliminate local hot spots, the impact of different pitch-to-diameter (P/D) ratios and wire geometries on the flow and heat transfer performances are examined while considering the fixed rated power of the rod bundles. For the central subchannel, a higher P/D ratio leads to significant fluctuation in transverse velocity, reduced temperature and increased Nusselt number. With P/D of 1.29, the average temperature of the central rod is reduced by 13.2 °C. The influence of P/D in the corner and edge subchannels are not significant due to wall effect. Among the wires with circular, rectangular and trapezoidal shapes, the trapezoidal wire shows the highest Nusselt number and the highest TSEF (Transverse Secondary Flow) value indicating the best heat transfer performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The practical use of luminescent mononuclear gold(I) complexes as optoelectronic materials has been limited by their inferior stability. Herein we demonstrate a strategy to improve the stability of gold(I) complexes which display thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF). A highly rigid and groove‐like σ‐donating aryl ligand has been used to form dual Au⋅⋅⋅H−C hydrogen bonds. The secondary metal‐ligand interactions have been authenticated by single‐crystal structure, NMR spectroscopy and theoretical simulations. The TADF AuI complex exhibits appealing emission properties (photoluminescence quantum yield=76 %; delayed fluorescence lifetime=1.2 μs) and much improved thermal and photo‐stability. Vacuum‐deposited organic light‐emitting diodes (OLEDs) show promising electroluminescence with a maximum external quantum efficiency (EQE) over 23 % and negligible efficiency roll‐off even at 10 000 cd m−2. An estimated LT50 longer than 77 000 h with initial luminance of 100 cd m−2 reveals good operational stability. This work suggests a way for design of stable luminescent gold(I) complexes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The practical use of luminescent mononuclear gold(I) complexes as optoelectronic materials has been limited by their inferior stability. Herein we demonstrate a strategy to improve the stability of gold(I) complexes which display thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF). A highly rigid and groove‐like σ‐donating aryl ligand has been used to form dual Au⋅⋅⋅H−C hydrogen bonds. The secondary metal‐ligand interactions have been authenticated by single‐crystal structure, NMR spectroscopy and theoretical simulations. The TADF AuI complex exhibits appealing emission properties (photoluminescence quantum yield=76 %; delayed fluorescence lifetime=1.2 μs) and much improved thermal and photo‐stability. Vacuum‐deposited organic light‐emitting diodes (OLEDs) show promising electroluminescence with a maximum external quantum efficiency (EQE) over 23 % and negligible efficiency roll‐off even at 10 000 cd m−2. An estimated LT50 longer than 77 000 h with initial luminance of 100 cd m−2 reveals good operational stability. This work suggests a way for design of stable luminescent gold(I) complexes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A decline in the global diurnal temperature range (DTR) and its implications for human and natural systems have been widely reported, yet it remains unclear whether humans have a detectable influence on the DTR and to what extent anthropogenic greenhouse gases (GHG) may be driving such changes. Results indicate that the effect of anthropogenic forcing on the DTR is detectable separately from natural forcing across the globe and in many regions. GHG is the dominant contributor to DTR changes and caused the global DTR to decrease by −0.32°C during 1951–2018, close to the observed change of −0.41°C. Decreased anthropogenic aerosols (AER) increased the DTR in Europe, while increased AER decreased the DTR in Asia. If greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, further decreases in the DTR are likely to be observed in the future. Plain Language Summary: Contrary to rising temperatures, the diurnal temperature range has been decreasing over the past several decades. Although the impacts of humans on global warming have been widely demonstrated, formal detection and attribution of the impacts of human‐made greenhouse gases (GHG) and aerosols on the DTR are still lacking. Our results suggest that human impacts on the DTR are clearly detectable, separately from natural changes. Human‐made greenhouse gases are the dominant factor controlling decreases in the DTR worldwide. In contrast, anthropogenic aerosols (AER) are the dominant contributor for Europe and have led to an abnormal increase in the DTR in this region. If human emissions continue, we expect to see further decreases in the DTR in most regions. Our first quantification of human impacts on the global and regional DTR has significant implications for climate change assessments and future climate projections. Key Points: The global decrease in diurnal temperature range (DTR) is attributed to an anthropogenic signal, primarily driven by greenhouse gas forcingAerosol forcing has had a detectable positive (negative) impact on the DTR in Europe (East Asia)The global DTR is projected to increase (stabilize) under a high (low) emissions scenario [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated how psychological capital affects employees' cognitive appraisal of stress in the workplace. We conducted a three-wave longitudinal survey with 372 Chinese employees and obtained the following results: First, psychological capital buffered individual appraisals of hindrance stress. Second, low levels of challenging stressors were negatively related to individual appraisals of hindrance stress, whereas high levels of challenging demands were positively associated with these appraisals. Third, challenge stressors had an inverted U-shaped relationship with psychological capital and a U-shaped relationship with the process of appraising hindrance stressors. Fourth, psychological capital mediated the moderating effect of challenge stressors on hindrance stressors and hindrance appraisal. We discuss the theoretical contributions and practical applications of this research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aims to investigate the effect of mindfulness on flow at the organizational and individual levels. Based on perseverative cognition theory, we introduced work-related rumination (affective rumination and problem-solving pondering) as the transmitter in these processes. Methods: This study conducted a three-wave longitudinal survey. The data of 458 employees and 114 leaders were collected from three software parks in China. Multilevel structural equation modeling and the Markov Chain Monte Carlo method were adopted to test all hypotheses. Results: Employee mindfulness and leader mindfulness help reduce affective rumination by employees and increase their problem-solving pondering and flow experiences. Affective rumination and problem-solving pondering partially mediate the relationship between leader and employee mindfulness and flow. Leader mindfulness moderates the effects of employees' mindfulness on their affective rumination and problem-solving pondering. Conclusion: Our findings contribute to the current literature on mindfulness, work-related rumination and flow experience and extend the understanding of the effect boundary of mindfulness. This study also helps guide organizations to better design and carry out mindfulness and flow interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Customer preferences analysis and modelling using deep learning in edge computing environment are critical to enhance customer relationship management that focus on a dynamically changing market place. Existing forecasting methods work well with often seen and linear demand patterns but become less accurate with intermittent demands in the catering industry. In this paper, we introduce a throughput deep learning model for both short-term and long-term demands forecasting aimed at allowing catering businesses to be highly efficient and avoid wastage. Moreover, detailed data collected from a business online booking system in the past three years have been used to train and verify the proposed model. Meanwhile, we carefully analyzed the seasonal conditions as well as past local or national events (event analysis) that could have had critical impact on the sales. The results are compared with the best performing forecast methods Xgboost and autoregressive moving average model (ARMA), and they suggest that the proposed method significantly improves demand forecasting accuracy (up to 80%) for dishes demand along with reduction in associated costs and labor allocation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study aimed to develop a nomogram that predicts the overall survival (OS) of rectal neuroendocrine tumours (NETs).Methods: We retrospectively analysed 310 patients with rectal neuroendocrine tumours in 5 hospitals in southern China. All of the patients were assigned to the training set. A multivariable analysis using Cox proportional hazards regression was performed using the training set, and a nomogram was constructed. It was validated on a dataset obtained from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Result (SEER) database of America (n = 547).Results: In the training set, the nomogram exhibited improved discrimination power compared with the WHO grade guidelines (Herrell's C-index, 0.872 vs 0.794; p < 0.001) and was also better than the seventh AJCC TNM classification (Herrell's C-index, 0.872 vs 0.817; p < 0.001). In the SEER validation dataset, the discrimination was also excellent (C-index, 0.648 vs 0.583, p < 0.001 and 0.648 vs 0.603, p = 0.016, respectively, compared with G grade and TNM classification). Calibration of the nomogram predicted individual survival corresponding closely with the actual survival.Conclusions: We developed a nomogram predicting 1- and 3-year OS of patients with rectal neuroendocrine tumours. Validation revealed excellent discrimination and calibration, suggesting good clinical utility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The oxidation behavior of grain boundaries (GBs) was investigated on Alloy 690 after exposure to simulated pressurized water reactor primary water. The tendency to form passive film above GB is positively related to Cr diffusivity along GB which is determined by GB structure. Highly-ordered GB like twin boundary is subject to penetrative oxidation as Cr diffusivity is very low. GBs with misorientation angle θ ≤17.4° can't support fast diffusion of Cr either and also show penetrative oxidation. When θ ranges between 17.4° and 28.7°, Cr diffusivity is enhanced a little and GB shows unstable passivation. Meanwhile, the Cr diffusivity along GB is also related to the atomic packing density of GB planes. GB with higher atom packing density exhibits lower Cr diffusivity and deeper intergranular oxide depth. As θ increases above 28.7°, Cr diffusion is fast enough to support the formation of protective film above GB. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Till present, there are still controversies over the epidemiology, pathological features, types of surgical treatment, and prognoses of primary small gastric GISTs (gGISTs).Methods: From January 1998 to January 2015, patients with primary small gGIST admitted from four high-volume medical centers of the Southern China were enrolled and their data were analyzed to evaluate their clinicopathological features, treatment and prognostic factors to provide evidence-based medical experience for clinical practice.Results: A total of 276 primary small gGIST cases over a period of 18 years were investigated and had a median age of 60 years (range 27-91 years old). Regarding the tumor sites, 24 (8.7%) cases were in the cardia of the stomach, 107 (38.8%) in the fundus, 117 (42.4%) in the gastric body, and 28 (10.1%) in the gastric antrum. Eleven patients (4.0%) underwent a preoperative biopsy. A total of 137 (49.6%), 75 (27.2%), and 64 (23.2%) patients underwent laparoscopic, open resection, and endoscopic resection, respectively. Sixty-four patients (23.2%) had local endoscopic resection, 172 (62.3%) had wedge resection, 7 (2.5%) had proximal gastrectomy, 19 (6.9%) had distal gastrectomy, and 14 (5.1%) had total gastrectomy. Mitotic counts were ≤ 5/50, (5-10)/50, and > 10/50 per HPF in 259 (93.8%), 7 (2.5%), and 10 (3.6%) cases, respectively. There were 259 cases (97.1%) of spindle cell type, 7 (2.5%) epithelial cell types and one case (0.4%) of mixed type. Immunohistochemistry showed 74.6% (206/276), 98.2% (271/276), and 97.4% (269/276) of the patients had co-expression of CD34+, CD117+, and DOG-1+, respectively. Thirty-nine patients underwent genetic testing (39/276, 14.1%). Three patients (1.1%) had positive resection margin. Five high-risk patients received follow-up treatment with imatinib with a median follow-up time of 38 months (range 3-156 months). The overall 1-, 3-, and 5-year overall survival rates were 100%, 99.6%, and 99.1%, respectively.Conclusion: Though the incidence of primary small gGISTs increased per annum, the overall survival prognoses were high. Surgery or endoscopic resection was the primary mode of treatment. Pathological features of primary small gGISTs were similar to large gGISTs, and to achieve a timely surgical intervention, the identification of intermediate- and high-risk cases should be a future focus of study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The most common site of gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) is the stomach, and gastric GISTs (gGISTs) occur most often in elderly patients. However, the clinicopathological features, treatment patterns, and prognosis of elderly patients with gGISTs remain unclear.Methods: We retrospectively collected clinicopathological and prognostic data for patients with primary gGISTs who underwent curative-intent resection at 10 medical centers in China from 1998 to 2015.Results: Over the 18 years, 10 medical centers treated 1846 patients with primary gGISTs by curative-intent resection. The median age was 59 (range 18-91) years. The patients were classified into two groups according to age, namely an elderly group (≥ 65 years of age) and a nonelderly group (< 65 years of age). The elderly group had more comorbidities (40.7% vs 23.5%, p = 0.011), a higher rate of postoperative complications (14.4% vs 8.7%, p = 0.031), and a lower proportion of intermediate/high-risk patients who received adjuvant therapy (30.0% vs 66.8%, p = 0.001) than did the nonelderly group. Regarding pathological outcomes, a significant difference in tumor necrosis was observed between the two groups (p = 0.002), and more cases of tumor necrosis occurred in the elderly group than in the nonelderly group. Regarding postoperative recovery outcomes, no significant difference was observed between the two groups. Univariate analysis showed that age, postoperative complications, adjuvant therapy, tumor size, mitotic count, modified National Institutes of Health (NIH) risk category, and tumor necrosis were factors that affected disease-free survival (DFS). Multivariate analysis showed that modified NIH risk category was the only independent factor affecting DFS. The 5-year DFS rates in the nonelderly and elderly groups were 88.1% and 81.4%, respectively (p = 0.034), and the 5-year overall survival (OS) rates were 90.4% and 85.5% (p = 0.038), respectively.Conclusions: Currently, the treatment patterns for elderly patients with gGISTs remain the same as those for young patients with gGISTs. Elderly gGIST patients had more comorbidities and postoperative complications than did nonelderly gGIST patients, and fewer elderly gGIST patients received postoperative adjuvant therapy. Elderly gGIST patients also had a higher rate of tumor necrosis and worse DFS and OS than did young gGIST patients. Further exploration into the diagnosis and treatment patterns of elderly patients is therefore essential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The intergranular degradation of seven different types of high-angle grain boundaries (HAGBs) were investigated on Alloy 600 after exposure to simulated pressurized water reactor primary water. All boundaries are susceptible to preferential intergranular oxidation (PIO) except for ideal coherent twin boundary. Diffusion induced grain boundary migration (DIGM) normally occurs and its depth is positively correlated with the PIO extent. Interestingly, the PIO susceptibility is independent on the grain boundary misorientation angle or Σ value, but related to the grain boundary atom packing density (GBAPD). Grain boundaries with higher GBAPD values show higher PIO resistance as the element diffusion is slower. • The full grain boundary (GB) structure parameters were characterized. • All boundaries are susceptible to oxidation except for ideal coherent twin boundary. • Diffusion induced GB migration depth is positively correlated with oxidation depth. • Intergranular oxidation susceptibility is related to the GB atom packing density. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The grain boundary (GB) corrosion behavior of Ni15Cr alloy in 650℃/1bar CO 2 gas was investigated. The oxidation behavior of coherent twin boundary is similar to that of grain matrix due to the immobility of Cr. However, the incoherent twin boundary is prone to preferential intergranular oxidation due to the limited Cr diffusivity and the ingress of oxygen. Likewise, low angle GB is also susceptible to intergranular oxidation because Cr diffusion is not fast enough although it can induce GB migration and result in a protective scale at oxide tip. In contrast, random high angle GB is immune to intergranular oxidation because Cr can diffuse quickly to form a protective scale above GB with the formation of a large GB migration zone. Therefore, the oxidation behavior of GB is closely related to the diffusivity of Cr along GB which is determined by the GB structure. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • A fluorine-free hydrothermal-assisted alkane solution etching method is developed. • 2D MoB MBene is prepared from MoAlB by removing Al atoms. • 2D MoB MBene is first adopted as an anode material for LIBs. • 2D MoB MBene exhibits superior electrochemical performance. MBene, an emerging two-dimensional material generated from bulk ternary metallic boride (MAB phase), has gradually attracted increasing research attention. However, the fabrication of MBene is still a great challenge, resulting in no literature reported about the application of MBene in energy storage fields (e.g. lithium-ion batteries). It is not advisable to adopt the same HF etching strategy which is generally used for the fabrication of MXene owing to the severely corrosive and toxic properties of the HF acid. Here, a fluorine-free hydrothermal-assisted alkane solution etching method is used to prepare the two-dimensional (2D) MoB MBene from MoAlB. The 2D MoB MBene as an anode material in LIBs exhibits a high electrochemical performance, the results exhibit a reversible specific capacity of 144.2 mAh g−1 after 1000 cycles at the current density of 2 A g−1, which is higher than many reported MXene anodes. This fluorine-free method provides a promising green strategy for exploring series of MBene materials for a wealth of application fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Irradiation-assisted stress corrosion cracks (IASCCs) from a proton-irradiated 316 L stainless steel (2.5 dpa) after constant load test in simulated PWR primary water were analyzed. The irradiation damages are consistent with those from neutron irradiations at similar dose. The IASCC cracks show microstructural and microchemical features similar to those reported from neutron-irradiated samples, confirming that proton is effective in emulating neutron for IASCC study. Si segregated at grain boundary gets oxidized preferentially beyond the crack tip and then dissolves into solution, resulting in enhanced porosity within the intergranular oxide. The Si effect is an important factor behind IASCC in reducing environment. • Proton irradiation induces similar IASCC features in SS as neutron irradiation. • Intergranular oxidation is a necessary precursor of IASCC of SS at low doses. • Si tends to get oxidized preferentially and dissolves during intergranular oxidation. • The Si effect is likely a key element of IASCC mechanism for stainless steel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of intergranular carbides on the stress corrosion crack (SCC) initiation of alloy 690 in high-temperature hydrogenated water was systematically studied. Irrespective of the aging temperature, the resistance to SCC initiation continuously increases with increasing carbide coverage. The understanding of carbide effects was further advanced. Mechanically, the carbide mitigates the breach of surface oxide film over the grain boundary by suppressing the local apparent plastic strain. The carbide also greatly diminishes grain boundary migration by retarding the diffusion of Cr. More importantly, it decomposes when exposed to the environment and serves as Cr source for forming protective oxide film. [Display omitted] • The resistance to PWSCC initiation of Alloy 690 is increasingly enhanced by carbide. • Carbides suppress the plastic strain and preserve oxide film near the grain boundary. • Carbides greatly diminish grain boundary migration by retarding the diffusion of Cr. • Carbides decompose when exposed to the environment and provide Cr for oxidation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The preferential intergranular oxidation (PIO) behavior of low-angle grain boundaries (LAGBs) with misorientation angle θ ranging from 5.7 to 14.0° on alloy 600 were investigated after exposure to simulated pressurized water reactor primary water. Interestingly, all LAGBs are susceptible to PIO. When θ <8.8°, diffusion-induced grain boundary migration (DIGM) does not occur as Cr is immobile and the PIO depth varies slightly among those LAGBs. As θ increases above 8.8°, Cr starts to diffuse outwards and DIGM occurs. The depths of PIO and DIGM are positively correlated in this case. Also, the PIO depth is not related to the change of θ , but instead poses an inverse relationship with the atom packing density of GB planes. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Co-free high entropy alloy (HEA) 28%Fe-27%Ni-27%Mn-18%Cr shows good irradiation resistance and could be a potential candidate for structural material in nuclear power industry. In this work, the environmental degradation behavior of this HEA was investigated in high temperature hydrogenated water. This HEA shows extensive intergranular cracking after constant extension rate tensile test, indicating that it is very susceptible to stress corrosion cracking (SCC) initiation. The microstructure analysis indicates that Mn and Cr diffuse outwards along the grain boundary during oxidation, inducing grain boundary migration. The Cr flux promotes the formation of Cr-enriched oxide layer above the grain boundary which prevents intergranular oxidation when the sample is unstressed. However, Mn is unstable in the oxide and tends to dissolve into the solution, making the oxide porous. The porous oxide fractures readily when stressed, inducing SCC initiation. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perovskite tandem solar cells on textured silicon hold potential for surpassing single‐junction limits and industrial compatibility. However, integrating hole‐transporting layers (HTLs) onto textured silicon poses challenges in conformal coating, low‐temperature fabrication, and perovskite solution process compatibility. Here, an atomic layer deposition (ALD) copper‐doping process is introduced to fabricate low‐temperature NiOx HTLs (ALD Cu:NiOx), tailored for textured tandems. Copper‐doping reduces hydroxyl group content and Ni3+ defects, addressing the challenge of enhancing hole conductivity while mitigating recombination loss. This advancement enables to lower the post‐annealing temperature from >300 to 200 °C, achieving compatibility with silicon heterojunction (SHJ) cells and boosting the power‐conversion efficiency (PCE) of 1.65‐eV p–i–n perovskite solar cells to 22.47%. Integrating ALD Cu:NiOx beneath conventional self‐assembled monolayer HTL on textured SHJ leads to notable PCE enhancements, from 28.6% to 30.5% for 1‐cm2 tandems (certified stabilized PCE of 30.04%) and from 23.9% to 26.4% for 8.89‐cm2 tandems. Following 1000 h of maximum‐power‐point (MPP) tracking, tandems maintain 95% of initial efficiency. Notably, losses in open‐circuit voltage and PCE due to area upscaling reduced by over 20%, attributed to ALD Cu:NiOx's ability to enhance perovskite film wettability and minimize shunting on silicon pyramid texture, underscoring its impacts for textured tandem upscaling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long time series forecasting (LTSF), which involves modeling relationships within long time series to predict future values, has extensive applications in domains such as weather forecasting, financial analysis, and traffic prediction. Recently, numerous transformer-based models have been developed to address the challenges in LTSF. These models employ methods such as sparse attention to alleviate the inefficiencies associated with the attention mechanism and utilize decomposition architecture to enhance the predictability of the series. However, these complexity reduction methods necessitate additional calculations, and the series decomposition architecture overlooks the random components. To overcome these limitations, this paper proposes the Frequency Enhanced Decomposed Attention Free Transformer (FEDAF). FEDAF introduces two variants of the Frequency Enhanced Attention Free Mechanism (FEAFM), namely FEAFM-s and FEAFM-c, which seamlessly replace self-attention and cross-attention. Both variants perform calculations in the frequency domain without incurring additional costs, with the time and space complexity of FEAFM-s being O (L log L) . Additionally, FEDAF incorporates a time series decomposition architecture that considers random components. Unlike other models that solely decompose the series into trend and seasonal components, FEDAF also eliminates random terms by applying Fourier denoising. Our study quantifies data drift and validates that the proposed decomposition structure can mitigate the adverse effects caused by data shift. Overall, FEDAF demonstrates superior forecasting performance compared to state-of-the-art models across various domains, achieving a remarkable improvement of 19.49% for Traffic in particular. Furthermore, an efficiency analysis reveals that FEAFM enhances space efficiency by 12.8% compared to the vanilla attention mechanism and improves time efficiency by 43.63% compared to other attention mechanism variants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel approach using focused ion beam (FIB) and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) or transmission Kikuchi diffraction (TKD) was developed to characterize all five parameters of the individual grain boundary. With this approach, the grain orientations and the grain boundary trace angles on two perpendicular surfaces can be measured. Then the grain boundary plane normal in the sample coordinate system can be determined and transformed to plane indices in the two crystal coordinate systems. FIB-TKD is a viable alternative to FIB-EBSD when EBSD measurement can't be conducted on the sample surface which is degraded by oxidation or corrosion. This approach was verified on a coherent twin boundary in alloy 690. The accuracy of the present FIB-EBSD method is better than 3°. This approach provides a convenient and efficient solution for measuring all five parameters of a site-specific grain boundary during FIB sample preparation. [Display omitted] • The grain boundary character can be investigated by focused ion beam (FIB) and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) or transmission Kikuchi diffraction (TKD). • The measurement accuracy of the FIB-EBSD method is better than 3º. • The FIB-TKD method provides a feasible way to index grain boundary plane when the surface of sample cannot meet the conventional EBSD test requirement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of surface grinding on the stress corrosion cracking initiation of 316LN stainless steel in 600 °C supercritical CO 2 was studied through constant extension rate tensile test. The ground surface exhibited much higher oxidation resistance than the polished surface as the deformation layer can greatly enhance the diffusion of active elements and promote the formation of more protective oxide scale. Moreover, the intergranular cracking was effectively suppressed on the ground surface as the ingress of oxidant along the original grain boundary was inhibited. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CircRNA circCTNNA1 has been characterized as a critical player in cancer biology, while its role in other human diseases is unknown. This study was carried out to study the role of circCTNNA1 in osteoarthritis (OA). RNA was extracted from synovial fluid samples donated by OA patients (n = 62). RT-qPCRs were then performed to determine the expression of circCTNNA1 and miR-29a in these synovial fluid samples. The interaction between circCTNNA1 and miR-29a was predicted using an online program IntaRNA 2.0 and confirmed by RNA pull-down assay. Overexpression of circCTNNA1 and miR-29a was achieved in synoviocytes to analyze their effects on each other's expression. The role of circCTNNA1 and miR-29a in regulating synoviocyte apoptosis was explored by cell apoptosis assay. CircCTNNA1 was downregulated in OA, while miR-29a was overexpressed in OA. CircCTNNA1 and miR-29a were not significantly correlated. RNA pull-down assay illustrated the direct interaction between circCTNNA1 and miR-29a. In synoviocytes, overexpression of circCTNNA1 and miR-29a failed to regulate the expression of each other. CircCTNNA1 overexpression suppressed the enhancing effects of miR-29a overexpression on cell apoptosis induced by LPS. CircCTNNA1 is downregulated in OA, and its overexpression suppresses synoviocyte apoptosis via sponging miR-29a. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role and mechanism of lncRNA XIST (XIST) in the development of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) was explored in this study. RT-qPCRs were performed to detect the expression of XIST and miR-126-3p in synovial tissues and cells. Target gene prediction and luciferase gene reporter assay were used to validate downstream target genes of XIST. MTT assay, EdU staining and Annexin V/PI staining were performed to explore the effects of XIST and miR-126-3p on cell proliferation and apoptosis. Western blotting analysis was used to detect the expression of related proteins. We found that the expression levels of XIST in tissues and cells were significantly higher than that in normal tissues and cells. Down-regulation of XIST could inhibit cell proliferation rate and increase apoptosis rate. Luciferase gene reporter assay showed that miR-126-3p was a downstream target gene of XIST. Overexpression of miR-126-3p significantly inhibited RA-FLS cell proliferation and induced RA-FLS cell apoptosis. In addition, down-regulation of XIST could increase the ratio of caspase-3 and Bax/Bcl-2. In addition, overexpression of miR-126-3p could inhibit the NF-κB signalling pathway by reducing the expression levels of p-p65 and p-IκBα in RA-FLS cells. In conclusion, down-regulation of XIST can inhibit the proliferation of synovial fibroblasts by increasing the expression levels of miR-126-3p/NF-κB, thereby inhibiting the occurrence and development of RA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recurring step straining was developed to investigate the environmentally assisted cracking (EAC) initiation of a Ni-30Cr-10Fe alloy (Alloy 690) in simulated pressurized water reactor (PWR) primary water. Thanks to this technique, the roles of corrosion and straining in the EAC initiation of Alloy 690 was decoupled and typical microstructures in stress corrosion cracking, i.e. diffusion induced grain boundary migration and oxidation into the migration zone, were reproduced. Digital image correlation using indigenous surface oxide particles as markers was successfully incorporated into this technique for high-resolution in-plane strain measurement. The preliminary results show that intergranular crack initiation is correlated with the high local strain in both adjacent grains, indicating that slip transfer across the grain boundary promotes crack initiation. Recurring step straining is desirable for the mechanistic study of EAC as it makes the separate roles of chemical and mechanical processes adjustable and traceable. Image, graphical abstract [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A numerical calculation method based on the angle in a triple junction composed of a random grain boundary is proposed to predict the connectivity and stability of a grain boundary in a B10 copper-nickel alloy. The grain-boundary connectivity and its effect on corrosion resistance are studied combining computer-aided analysis with electrochemical impedance testing. The results show that the prediction of corrosion resistance using a grain-boundary connectivity numerical method is consistent with immersion experimental results. The B10 alloy exhibited the best corrosion resistance after cold rolling with a 9% reduction rate. The relationship between the grain-boundary characteristics and corrosion resistance is well established using the numerical method to quantify the grain-boundary connectivity. A higher connective frequency and a low proportion of grain-boundary angles between 60° and 180° in the triple junction is detrimental to corrosion resistance of the B10 alloy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Including an ultrathin insulator interlayer at the perovskite/charge transport interface is a critical strategy for suppressing surface recombination in state‐of‐the‐art perovskite solar cells. However, its further improvement with increased thickness faces a trade‐off due to the exponentially inhibited electrical transport. Here, a patterned insulator contact (PIC) design is presented to overcome this passivation‐transport trade‐off where the conventional ultrathin interlayer is replaced by a thicker counterpart with local openings. Such a PIC is realized using metal fluorides with a high coverage of 80% and a thickness tolerance increased by 3–5. Balancing inhibited transport via local openings is verified by direct observation with local photocurrent mapping. It revealed the atomic passivation mechanism of hydrogen bonding between fluoride ions and perovskite organic cations. It extends the top‐surface passivation to double‐sided passivation and find that LiF‐modified substrate improves the wettability and promotes the out‐of‐plane growth of perovskite. These combined advances and distilled knowledge allow us to achieve power‐conversion‐efficiency (PCE) of 25% (certified 24.95%) in p–i–n perovskite solar cells by simultaneously enhancing the open‐circuit voltage (Voc) and the fill factor (FF). The device's reproducibility and operational stability are also improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies reported periodontal disease (PD) periodontal disease is associated with many systemic diseases, including cardiovascular outcomes and all-cause mortality. However, the precise mechanistic link for these relationship remained unclear. We therefore performed a meta-analysis of cohort studies to investigate the association of PD with the risk of cardiovascular outcomes and all-cause mortality. We systematically searched the databases of PubMed, EmBase, and the Cochrane library to identify eligible studies until April 2023. The investigated outcomes included major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs), coronary heart disease (CHD), myocardial infarction (MI), stroke, cardiac death, and all-cause mortality. The summary relative risk (RR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated using the random-effects model. Thirty-nine cohort studies with 4,389,263 individuals were selected for final meta-analysis. We noted PD were associated with elevated risk of MACEs (RR: 1.24; 95%CI: 1.15–1.34; P<0.001), CHD (RR: 1.20; 95%CI: 1.12–1.29; P<0.001), MI (RR: 1.14; 95%CI: 1.06–1.22; P = 0.001), stroke (RR: 1.26; 95%CI: 1.15–1.37; P<0.001), cardiac death (RR: 1.42; 95%CI: 1.10–1.84; P = 0.007), and all-cause mortality (RR: 1.31; 95%CI: 1.07–1.61; P = 0.010). Sensitivity analyses indicated the pooled conclusions for cardiovascular outcomes and all-cause mortality are robustness. The associations of PD with the risk of ardiovascular outcomes and all-cause mortality could affected by region, study design, PD definition, follow-up duration, and study quality. This study found the risk of cardiovascular outcomes and all-cause mortality were elevated in PD patients, and the intervention for PD should be applied to prevent the risk of cardiovascular outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background:The current study aimed to establish a novel nomogram to predict the overall survival of individual Chinese patients with gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms (GEP-NENs). Furthermore, this study sought to externally validate this nomogram using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database.Methods:The records of 1183 patients with GEP-NENs treated at five high-capacity institutions in China between 2005 and 2015 were retrospectively analysed. In addition, 10 236 GEP-NEN cases from the SEER database were included as an external validation set.Results:A multivariate analysis using Cox proportional hazards (PHs) regression was performed, and a nomogram was constructed. Discrimination, calibration, and external validation were performed using the SEER data set. The multivariate Cox model indicated that age, tumour size, differentiation, lymph node metastases, and distant metastases were independent covariates associated with survival. With respect to the training set, the nomogram exhibited better discrimination power than TNM classification (Harrell's concordance index (C-index): 0.837 vs 0.784, P=0.006). Discrimination was also excellent and superior to that of TNM classification for the SEER-based validation set (C-index: 0.808 vs 0.717, P<0.001). The calibrated nomogram predicted a survival rate that closely corresponded to the actual survival rate.Conclusions:We developed a nomogram that predicted the 3- and 5-year overall survival rates of patients with GEP-NENs. Validation revealed excellent discrimination and calibration for this nomogram, suggesting that it exhibits satisfactory clinical utility that might improve individualised predictions of survival risks and lead to the creation of additional clinical therapies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Selective laser melting (SLM) offers unprecedented advantages in manufacturing complex components used in nuclear reactors, and thus has promising application in the nuclear power industry. The compatibility of printed materials with typical reactor coolant should be carefully investigated as the printed materials possess unique microstructure features (e.g. columnar grain, dislocation cell and inclusion) which would inevitably affect the performance. In this work, the stress corrosion cracking (SCC) susceptibility of selective laser melted (SLMed) 304L stainless steel (SS) was evaluated in high-temperature hydrogenated water through slow strain rate tensile test and compared with two wrought 304 SSs. Interestingly, the SLMed 304L SS showed much lower SCC susceptibility than the two wrought 304 SSs, and this finding was mainly ascribed to its optimized composition. From the aspect of corrosion, the intergranular oxidation resistance of SLMed 304L SS is significantly improved due to the reduced contents of Si and Mn. In addition, the high dislocation density in SLMed 304L SS can accelerate the diffusion of solute atoms, thus further enhancing the resistance to intergranular oxidation and promoting the precipitation of oxide inside the crack which barricades the ingress of corrosive media. As for the mechanical aspect, under the combined effects of dislocation cells and nano-oxide inclusions, the SCC initiation can be alleviated as the dislocation motion in the grain matrix is hindered and planar slip is suppressed. Therefore, the optimized chemical composition and printed microstructure render this SLMed 304L SS more resistant to SCC initiation. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cu−Li batteries leveraging the two‐electron redox property of Cu can offer high energy density and low cost. However, Cu−Li batteries are plagued by limited solubility and a shuttle effect of Cu ions in traditional electrolytes, which leads to low energy density and poor cycling stability. In this work, we rationally design a solid‐state sandwich electrolyte for solid‐state Cu−Li batteries, in which a deep‐eutectic‐solvent gel with high Cu‐ion solubility is devised as a Cu‐ion reservoir while a ceramic Li1.4Al0.4Ti1.6(PO4)3 interlayer is used to block Cu‐ion crossover. Because of the high ionic conductivity (0.55 mS cm−1 at 25 °C), wide electrochemical window (>4.5 V vs. Li+/Li), and high Cu ion solubility of solid‐state sandwich electrolyte, a solid‐state Cu−Li battery demonstrates a high energy density of 1 485 Wh kgCu−1and long‐term cyclability with 97 % capacity retention over 120 cycles. The present study lays the groundwork for future research into low‐cost solid‐state Cu−Li batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cu−Li batteries leveraging the two‐electron redox property of Cu can offer high energy density and low cost. However, Cu−Li batteries are plagued by limited solubility and a shuttle effect of Cu ions in traditional electrolytes, which leads to low energy density and poor cycling stability. In this work, we rationally design a solid‐state sandwich electrolyte for solid‐state Cu−Li batteries, in which a deep‐eutectic‐solvent gel with high Cu‐ion solubility is devised as a Cu‐ion reservoir while a ceramic Li1.4Al0.4Ti1.6(PO4)3 interlayer is used to block Cu‐ion crossover. Because of the high ionic conductivity (0.55 mS cm−1 at 25 °C), wide electrochemical window (>4.5 V vs. Li+/Li), and high Cu ion solubility of solid‐state sandwich electrolyte, a solid‐state Cu−Li battery demonstrates a high energy density of 1 485 Wh kgCu−1and long‐term cyclability with 97 % capacity retention over 120 cycles. The present study lays the groundwork for future research into low‐cost solid‐state Cu−Li batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The harnessing of heavy atom effect of chalcogen elements offers a way for boosting the thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) of purely organic luminescent materials that can harvest triplet excitons. However, the conformational and electronic variations induced by the heavy and large atoms may also have adverse effects on the TADF properties. Herein, the design, synthesis, and structures of a new type of through‐space charge transfer (TSCT) emitters containing benzothiazino[2,3,4‐kl]phenothiazine (DPTZ) as the donor unit are reported. The influences of S atoms on the emission properties have been systematically investigated by means of theoretical simulations, electrochemical and spectroscopic studies. Although the presence of π‐stacking interactions and calculated spin‐orbit coupling (SOC) values are beneficial for TSCT‐TADF properties, the triplet TSCT states are uplifted to above the locally excited (LE) state of the acceptor moieties. As a result, the new emitters display longer delayed fluorescence lifetimes (τDF) of 255.0–114.3 μs and lower PLQYs of 45–61 % in comparison with the O‐containing congeners (τDF=26.9–6.8 μs; PLQYs=74–71 %). This work highlights that a full consideration of various effects is essential when making use of heavy chalcogen atoms for the design of TADF emitters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The failure of and resistance to oxaliplatin (OXA)-based chemotherapies may lead to poor prognosis in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients. It has been reported that orlistat (Orli) exhibits potent antitumor effects in several malignant tumors. Here, we identified that OXA in combination with low-dose Orli could sensitize CRC cells to OXA and induce marked synergistic apoptosis in vitro and in vivo. The potential synergistic effects were confirmed and quantified by in silico analysis. Furthermore, we validated the synergistic anti-tumor effects in CRC PDX mice model. A qPCR array was performed to evaluate the changes in 85 apoptosis-related genes to elucidate the possible molecular mechanisms in combination-induced cytotoxicity. To conclude, the antitumor synergistic effects of OXA and Orli make them effective and promising candidates for cancer treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The stress corrosion cracking (SCC) initiation of alloy 690 in simulated PWR primary water was evaluated in constant extension rate tensile tests with different strain rates. The SCC initiation was inhibited by intergranular carbide precipitation. However, the carbide effect weakened with increasing strain rate. The SCC mitigation effect of carbides mainly arises from the carbides' ability to impede the transfer of dislocations across grain boundaries and delay the local break-down of surface oxide films. However, dislocations accumulated near the grain boundary can promote intergranular oxidation which induces cracking after the oxide film fails. [Display omitted] • High strain rate weakens mitigation effect of carbide on SCC initiation of Alloy 690. • The IG carbides impede transfer of dislocations and raise local residual strain. • Dislocations accumulated near the IG carbides can promote intergranular oxidation. • The SCC resistance is dependent on the straining condition and microstructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Menstrual migraine is a particular form of migraine with a significant impact on the quality of life for women afflicted. Presently, no study has reported the quality of life in menstrual migraine patients. This work aims to assess the health-related quality of life and identify its associated factors among Chinese menstrual migraine patients.Methods: The cross-sectional study group consisted of 109 patients with menstrual migraine, and the control group consisted of 397 female patients with non-menstrual migraine. In total, 506 patients completed questionnaires for demographic and clinical information, the Self-rating Idea of Suicide Scale, the Hamilton Depression Scale, the Hamilton Anxiety Scale, the Headache Impact Test-6, the Perceived Social Support Scale, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Health-related quality of life was measured using the 36-Item Short Form Survey.Results: Compared with non-menstrual migraine patients, five dimensions of health-related quality of life were all found to be significantly impaired in menstrual migraine patients. Headache frequency (ß = - 0.218, P = 0.014), the impact of headache on daily life (ß = - 0.270, P = 0.002), depression symptoms (ß = - 0.345, P < 0.001) were significantly associated with physical component summary, depression symptoms (ß = - 0.379, P < 0.001), social support (ß = 0.270, P < 0.001), suicidal ideation (ß = - 0.344, P < 0.001) were closely related to mental component summary.Conclusion: Menstrual migraine patients had a significantly poorer health-related quality of life in many domains than non-menstrual migraine patients. Headache frequency, the impact of headache on daily life, depression symptoms, social support, and suicidal ideation were significantly associated with health-related quality of life in menstrual migraine patients.Trial Registration: ChiCTR1800014343. This study was registered prospectively on 7 January 2018 at Chinese Clinical Trial registry. http://www.chictr.org.cn/showproj.aspx?proj=24526. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Importance. Extragastrointestinal stromal tumor (EGIST) is a rare tumor, and its diagnosis and treatment strategy lack clinical guideline and relative literature evidence. In clinical practice, EGIST only misuses the pattern of GIST of diagnosis and treatment. The study hopes to find evidence of the treatment pattern for EGIST. Objective. This study aimed to compare the tumor characteristics and long-term outcomes between EGIST and GIST. The confounding function was applied to improve the result credibility in the case of small sample size. Design, Setting, and Participants. This cohort study enrolled 55 patients with EGIST who underwent surgery and were selected from four high-volume hospitals in China and 221 GIST patients who were collected from one of the four hospitals between January 2006 and September 2017. We used propensity score matching (PSM) and subgroup analysis to compare EGIST with GIST in terms of prognosis. The confounding function was used for sensitivity analysis to reduce unmeasured confounding. Results. We matched 43 patients in each of the GIST and EGIST groups by PSM. We compared EGIST data with GIST data to explore the prognostic factors between them. In the multivariate Cox regression model, tumor location of EGIST was negatively correlated with overall survival (after PSM: HR, 4.32; 95% CI, 1.22–15.26) or disease-free survival (after PSM: HR, 9.79; 95% CI, 2.22–43.31), which was also intuitively shown in the Kaplan–Meier survival curves (all P values < 0.05). In the subgroup analysis, EGIST with high risk factors had a worse prognosis than GIST. In unmeasured confounding analysis, the overall curve tends to show all combinations of c(0) of c(1) up to 2.0, none of which would bring the corrected relative risk to 1 for OS and DFS. Conclusions and Relevance. EGIST was associated with worse prognosis compared with GIST patients, particularly in EGIST patients with high risk factors, while there was a similar prognosis without those high risk factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Asymmetric structures have attracted much attention owing to their potential application in drug delivery, optoelectronics and catalysis. However, current reported works for the preparation of asymmetric particles rely mainly on emulsion, seeding, hydrothermal and templating approaches, but facile strategies are seldom developed. Herein, we first utilize low-cost monomers of thiourea and formaldehyde to fabricate a peculiar V-notched half-open polymer architecture via a facile precipitation polymerization method in a mixed solvent of water/ethanol (1 : 1 v/v) at room temperature, where the volume ratio between water and ethanol can adjust the open angle of the microspheres. Impressively, this method is readily carried out, and no templates, surfactants, hydrothermal devices, complex procedures or toxic solvents are utilized. This synthetic strategy provides a facile approach to prepare V-notched half-open polymer microspheres with potential for materials engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The acceleration mechanism in oxidation kinetics ahead of crack tip was clarified. • Compact chromia forms along identical carbide/matrix interfaces at different rates. • Stress concentration near the crack tip only slightly increases the oxidation rate. • Deformation localization near the crack greatly promotes oxygen diffusivity. The acceleration in oxidation kinetics beyond a stress corrosion crack of alloy 690 in simulated PWR primary water was clarified by comparing the oxide depths at two identical carbide/matrix interfaces along a single grain boundary. Compact chromia layer formed along these two interfaces at vastly different rates. Stress concentration ahead of the crack tip only slightly increased the oxidation rate as the crack is still very shallow. Deformation localization near the crack plays a dominant role in accelerating oxidation kinetics as the associated high vacancy concentration can promote the diffusivity of oxygen by over an order of magnitude. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the current technological development of bio-hydrogen (BioH2) generation, focusing on using lignocellulosic feedstock via dark fermentation (DF). Using the collected reference reports as the training data set, supervised machine learning via the constructed artificial neuron networks (ANNs) imbedded with feed backward propagation and one cross-out validation approach was deployed to establish correlations between the carbon sources (glucose and xylose) together with the inhibitors (acetate and other inhibitors, such as furfural and aromatic compounds), hydrogen yield (HY), and hydrogen evolution rate (HER) from reported works. Through the statistical analysis, the concentrations variations of glucose (F-value = 0.0027) and acetate (F-value = 0.0028) were found to be statistically significant among the investigated parameters to HY and HER. Manipulating the ratio of glucose to acetate at an optimal range (approximate in 14:1) will effectively improve the BioH2 generation (HY and HER) regardless of microbial strains inoculated. Comparative studies were also carried out on the evolutions of electron equivalent balances using lignocellulosic biomass as substrates for BioH2 production across different reported works. The larger electron sinks in the acetate is found to be appreciably related to the higher HY and HER. To maintain a relative higher level of the BioH2 production, the biosynthesis needs to be kept over 30% in batch cultivation, while the biosynthesis can be kept at a low level (2%) in the continuous operation among the investigated reports. Among available solutions for the enhancement of BioH2 production, the selection of microbial strains with higher capacity in hydrogen productions is still one of the most phenomenal approaches in enhancing BioH2 production. Other process intensifications using continuous operation compounded with synergistic chemical additions could deliver additional enhancement for BioH2 productions during dark fermentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Axial force has a great influence on the dynamic behavior and the impact resistance of concrete-filled steel tubular (CFST) members. Based on numerical simulation and theoretical analysis, the impact response and deflection calculation method for axially loaded CFST members subjected to lateral impact are investigated in this paper. The nonlinear numerical model of an axially loaded CFST member considering the strain rate effects has been established, and the simulation accuracy has been validated by comparing with existing test results. The contrastive investigation is carried out to illustrate the influence of axial load on the variation pattern of impact force for CFST members under various structural and impact parameters, and its result indicates that the impact force-time histories for CFST members with different axial loads are mainly characterized by rectangular pulse and triangular pulse. Moreover, a simplified calculation method considering the effect of axial force is proposed based on the equivalent single degree of freedom (SDOF) method, devoted to predicting the deflection of axially loaded CFST members subjected to lateral impact. The comparisons with the numerical simulation prove that the deflection calculation method has a reasonable accuracy; thus, the proposed method can be utilized in the damage assessment and anti-impact design for CFST members subjected to lateral impact and axial load. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The Mn-N 4 SACs were successfully synthesized by pyrolysis process. • Mechanism studies disclosed that Mn-N 4 SACs could catalyze the conversion from Li 2 S 2 to Li 2 S. • Li-S battery with Mn-N 4 SACs released 1400 mA h g–1 capacity and a decay rate of 0.052 % • Mn-N 4 SACs enabled high-loading Li-S battery with high performance. The shuttle effects of lithium polysulfides (LiPSs) and the sluggish conversion reaction between LiPSs and Li 2 S significantly limit the electrochemical performance of Li-S batteries. In this study, a unique structured single atomic Mn anchored on nitrogen-doped carbon black (SAMnN@C) is developed to address above challenges. Physical characterizations confirmed atomically dispersed Mn atoms were anchored on carbon by 4 N atoms forming a typical structure of planar Mn-N 4. Li-S battery assembled by as-prepared SAMnN@C displayed a discharge capacity of 1400 mA h g-1 at 0.1C, and outstanding stability with a capacity decay rate of 0.052 % per cycle during 1000 cycles at 1C. Moreover, excellent electrochemical performances could be preserved even if the S mass loading increased to 5.7 mg cm−2 with ∼ 5 μL (mg S)-1 electrolyte. The mechanism studies revealed that SAMnN@C exhibited a unique Lewis acid-base interaction between Mn-N 4 site and S atom, which significantly lowered the decomposition energy barrier of Li 2 S 2 , and eventually accelerated the sluggish solid-state conversion reaction of Li 2 S 2 to Li 2 S. This study is believed to shed light on the mechanism of SACs for high performance Li-S batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Pith cavity formation is critical for bamboo to overcome the bending force during its fast growth; however, the underlying molecular mechanisms remain largely unknown. Multiple approaches, including anatomical dissection, mathematical modelling and transcriptome profiling, were employed in this study to investigate the biology of pith cavity formation in bamboo Pseudosasa japonica. We found that the corruption of pith tissue occurred sequentially and asymmetrically from the top‐centre of the internode down to the bottom, which might be caused by the combined effects of asymmetrical radial and axial tensile forces during shoot‐wall cell elongation and spiral growth of bamboo internodes. Programmed cell death (PCD) in pitch manifested by TUNEL positive nuclei, DNA cleavage and degraded organelles, and potentially regulated by ethylene and calcium signalling pathway, ROS burst, cell wall modification, proteolysis and nutrient recycle genes, might be responsible for pith tissue corruption of Ps. japonica. Although similar physiological changes and transcriptome profiles were found in different bamboo species, different formation rates of pith cavity were observed, which might be caused by different pith cells across the internode that were negatively correlated with the culm diameter. These findings provided a systematical view on the formation of bamboo pith cavity and revealed that PCD plays an important role in the bamboo pith cavity formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To develop and evaluate a radiomics nomogram for differentiating the malignant risk of gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GISTs).Methods: A total of 222 patients (primary cohort: n = 130, our centre; external validation cohort: n = 92, two other centres) with pathologically diagnosed GISTs were enrolled. A Relief algorithm was used to select the feature subset with the best distinguishing characteristics and to establish a radiomics model with a support vector machine (SVM) classifier for malignant risk differentiation. Determinant clinical characteristics and subjective CT features were assessed to separately construct a corresponding model. The models showing statistical significance in a multivariable logistic regression analysis were used to develop a nomogram. The diagnostic performance of these models was evaluated using ROC curves. Further calibration of the nomogram was evaluated by calibration curves.Results: The generated radiomics model had an AUC value of 0.867 (95% CI 0.803-0.932) in the primary cohort and 0.847 (95% CI 0.765-0.930) in the external cohort. In the entire cohort, the AUCs for the radiomics model, subjective CT findings model, clinical index model and radiomics nomogram were 0.858 (95% CI 0.807-0.908), 0.774 (95% CI 0.713-0.835), 0.759 (95% CI 0.697-0.821) and 0.867 (95% CI 0.818-0.915), respectively. The nomogram showed good calibration.Conclusions: This radiomics nomogram predicted the malignant potential of GISTs with excellent accuracy and may be used as an effective tool to guide preoperative clinical decision-making.Key Points: • CT-based radiomics model can differentiate low- and high-malignant-potential GISTs with satisfactory accuracy compared with subjective CT findings and clinical indexes. • Radiomics nomogram integrated with the radiomics signature, subjective CT findings and clinical indexes can achieve individualised risk prediction with improved diagnostic performance. • This study might provide significant and valuable background information for further studies such as response evaluation of neoadjuvant imatinib and recurrence risk prediction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]