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Automatic pavement disease detection aims to address the inefficiency in practical detection. However, traditional methods heavily rely on low-level image analysis, handcrafted features, and classical classifiers, leading to limited effectiveness and poor generalization in complex scenarios. Although significant progress has been made with deep learning methods, challenges persist in handling high-resolution images and diverse disease types. Therefore, this paper proposes a novel approach based on the lightweight Transformer Patch Labeling Network (LTPLN) to enhance the efficiency of automatic pavement disease detection and overcome the limitations of existing methods. Firstly, the input images undergo histogram equalization preprocessing to enhance image quality. Subsequently, the images are evenly partitioned into small patch blocks, serving as inputs to the enhanced Transformer model. This enhancement strategy involves integrating feature map labels at each layer of the model to reduce computational complexity and enhance model lightweightness. Furthermore, a depthwise separable convolution module is introduced into the Transformer architecture to introduce convolutional bias and reduce the model's dependence on large amounts of data. Finally, an iterative training process utilizing the label distillation strategy based on expectation maximization is employed to update the labels of patch blocks and roughly locate the positions of pavement diseases under weak supervision. Experimental results demonstrate that compared to the baseline model, the proposed enhanced model achieves a reduction of 2.5G Flops computational complexity and a 16% speed improvement on a private pavement disease dataset, with only a 1.2 percentage point decrease in AUC accuracy. Moreover, compared to other mainstream image classification models, this model exhibits more balanced performance on a public dataset, with improved accuracy and speed that better align with the practical requirements of pavement inspection. These findings highlight the significant performance advantages of the LTPLN model in automatic pavement disease detection tasks, making it more efficiently applicable in real-world scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Burkholderia semiarida was previously identified solely as a plant pathogen within the Burkholderia cepacia complex. We present a case in China involving recurrent pneumonia attributed to B. semiarida infection. Of note, the infection manifested in an immunocompetent patient with no associated primary diseases and endured for >3 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: to investigate the association between cartilage lesion-related features observed in knee osteoarthritis (OA) patients' first MRI examination and incident knee surgery within 5 years. Additionally, to assess the predictive value of these features for the incident knee surgery. Methods: We identified patients diagnosed with knee OA and treated at our institution between January 2015 and January 2018, and retrieved their baseline clinical data and first MRI examination films from the information system. Next, we proceeded to determine joint space narrowing grade, cartilage lesion size grade, cartilage full-thickness loss grade and cartilage lesion sum score for the medial and lateral compartments, respectively. Generalized linear regression models examined the association of these features with 5-year incident knee surgery. Positive and negative predictive values (PPVs and NPVs) were determined referring to 5-year incident knee surgery. Results: Totally, 878 participants (knees) were found eligible to form the study population. Within the 5 years, surgery was performed on 61 knees. None of the cartilage-related features had been found significantly associated with incident surgery. The results were similar for medial and lateral compartments. The PPVs were low for all the features. Conclusions: Among symptomatic clinically diagnosed OA knees, cartilage lesions observed in the first MRI examinations were not found to be associated with the occurrence of joint surgery within a 5-year period. All these cartilage-related features appear to have no additional value in predicting 5-year incident joint surgery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In open networks, the geometric deformation and common image processing are common image manipulation modes, which pose a great challenge in robust watermarking. To improve the robustness of GRHFM‐based watermarking, a watermarking algorithm based on the fast GRHFM calculation method and ant colony optimization (ACO) based fractional parameter selection method is proposed. With the similarity between the discrete Fourier transform and GRHFM moment calculation, the algorithm utilizes fast Fourier transform to improve the GRHFM calculation accuracy and speed. To select the optimal GRHFM fractional parameter for watermarking algorithm, ACO is introduced to the fractional parameter adaptive selection method. Here, the fast Fourier transform‐based calculation method is combined with the adaptive parameter selection method to maximize the invisibility and robustness of watermarking. The experimental results indicate that the algorithm achieves higher robustness with the same payload and invisibility compared with other existing watermarking methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although CRISPR-mediated genome editing holds promise for cancer therapy, inadequate tumor targeting and potential off-target side effects hamper its outcomes. In this study, we present a strategy using cryo-shocked lung tumor cells as a CRISPR-Cas9 delivery system for cyclin-dependent kinase 4 (CDK4) gene editing, which initiates synthetic lethal in KRAS-mutant non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). By rapidly liquid nitrogen shocking, we effectively eliminate the pathogenicity of tumor cells while preserving their structure and surface receptor activity. This delivery system enables the loaded CRISPR-Cas9 to efficiently target to lung through the capture in pulmonary capillaries and interactions with endothelial cells. In a NSCLC-bearing mouse model, the drug accumulation is increased nearly fourfold in lung, and intratumoral CDK4 expression is substantially down-regulated compared to CRISPR-Cas9 lipofectamine nanoparticles administration. Furthermore, CRISPR-Cas9 editing-mediated CDK4 ablation triggers synthetic lethal in KRAS-mutant NSCLC and prolongs the survival of mice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The thorax is the central component of the insect flight drivetrain, making it essential to understand how thoracic muscles influence insect flight for flapping wing microair vehicle design. This paper presents a theoretical model that takes into account the influence of thoracic muscles on flapping wing motion with reference to real insects. The thoracic muscle effect is simulated by the chordwise torsional spring, whose stiffness is derived from a comparison test with the results of real insect experiments. The elastic deformation of the flexible flapping wing is modeled by the von Kármán nonlinear plate theory. The predictive quasi-steady aerodynamic model based on the blade element theory can estimate the aerodynamic force, and the modeling of the spanwise bending and twisting is done with quadratic polynomials. The equations of motion are solved using the Newmark-Raphson method. Results suggest that including the influence of thoracic muscles decreases cycle-averaged lift and power, but enhances the efficiency of lift production by 23%. Moreover, it also postpones pitching motion and reduces its amplitude, though the movement trends of the flapping motion remain approximately unchanged regardless of the inclusion of the thoracic muscle effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The orb-weaver spider genus Gea C.L. Koch, 1843 from China is revised, and three species including one new species, are recognized: Gea jingdong Mi, Wang & Gan, sp. nov. (♂♀) from Yunnan; Gea spinipes C.L. Koch, 1843 (♂♀) from Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Taiwan, and Yunnan; and Gea subarmata Thorell, 1890 (♂♀) from Guangxi and Hainan. Gea subarmata is newly recorded in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Walnut, a woody plant, is regarded as having difficulty rooting when propagated by vegetative methods, such as cutting and layering. A layering experiment was conducted in 2018 and 2022. In 2018, some Juglans species, including J. regia L. seedling (JR), J. regia cv. Liaoning 1 (JR LN1), J. hopeinesis Hu seedling (JH), J. mandshurica Maxim seedling (JM), and J. nigra L. seedling (JN), were the mother plants. The specific research hypotheses were that own-rooted walnut propagule could be obtained through layering. the rooting capacity of different Juglans species would be different, and the rooting ability of JN would be the highest among the samplings. The results indicated that all of these species in the experiment could be rooted by etiolation and indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) treatment and that root occurrence was found 6 to 7 weeks after IBA treatment. The layers (shoots from the mother plant) on the seedlings of JR, JH, and JM obtained rooting percentages (RP) of 75.55%, 84.45%, and 86.67%, respectively, and root numbers (RNs) of 21.8, 42.8, and 38.8, respectively, after 20 days of etiolation and 1% IBA treatment. JR LN1 had difficulty rooting in equal conditions and had a RP of 31.11%. In 2022, JR LN1 was the only mother plant and the IBA concentration was increased to obtain satisfactory RP and RN. With the 4% and 8% IBA treatments, RPs of 88.9% and 93.3% and RNs of 40.3 and 27.7, respectively, were achieved. During the experiment, the RP, RN, root length (RL), and root diameter (RD), as well as the layer height (LH) and layer diameter (LD), were investigated and evaluated. Layers with low vigor were more likely to root, as shown by a nonparametric test conducted for the height and diameter of the layers of the rooting and nonrooting groups. A significantly negative correlation (r 5 20.548) was observed between RN and LH. Moreover, the quality of the best results of JR LN1 layering propagule and that with 'liaoning 1' 1-yearold seedling were compared. Our results provide more support for the possibility of vegetative propagation of walnut by layering and more information regarding the clonal cultivation of walnut trees and the own-rooted seedling establishment of walnut cultivars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In light of carbon-neutral pledge, the oil and gas industry has been facing several critical new challenges in China. The current status and new challenges in terms of market mechanism reform, supply-consumption balance and key technology innovation in China's oil and gas industry are reviewed in the present study, and new strategies and roadmaps are proposed to cope with the challenges. The study found that (i) the oil and gas market faces challenges such as incomplete pricing mechanisms, unclear subject rights, and the lack of recognition and trading of carbon assets. (ii) the trade-off between short-term supply security and long-term low-carbon supply is the most critical issue. (iii) in addition to typical challenges such as immature technology and lack of funding support, the unclear multiple technology coupling development mode also poses problems for the low-carbon transformation of the oil and gas industry. To address these new challenges, comprehensive strategies and roadmaps for China's oil and gas industry towards carbon neutrality are proposed and discussed in the aspects of participating in market transactions, restructuring production and consumption, deploying key technology innovations, and planning enterprise strategies. The present study is expected to provide a blueprint for the future development of China's oil and gas industry towards carbon neutrality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gastrointestinal bleeding is a common clinical symptom. Finding the underlying cause is the first step for treatment. In a few patients, this can be difficult. The present work reports on the unusual case of a 53-year-old man who presented gastrointestinal bleeding. No bleeding site was found by gastrocolonoscopy or interventional examination, but after multidisciplinary consultation, we discovered that the cause of gastrointestinal bleeding was the obstruction of the upper mesenteric vein. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The crosstalk between hematopoietic lineages is important for developmental hematopoiesis. However, the role of primitive red blood cells (RBCs) in the formation of definitive hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) is largely unknown. Primitive RBC deficiencies in mammals always lead to early embryonic lethality, but zebrafish lines with RBC deficiencies can survive to larval stage. By taking advantage of a zebrafish model, we find that the survival of nascent HSPCs is impaired in alas2- or alad-deficient embryos with aberrant heme biosynthesis in RBCs. Heme-deficient primitive RBCs induce ferroptosis of HSPCs through the disruption of iron homeostasis. Mechanistically, heme-deficient primitive RBCs cause blood iron-overload via Slc40a1, and an HSPC iron sensor, Tfr1b, mediates excessive iron absorption. Thus, iron-induced oxidative stress stimulates the lipid peroxidation, which directly leads to HSPC ferroptosis. Anti-ferroptotic treatments efficiently reverse HSPC defects in alas2 or alad mutants. HSPC transplantation assay reveals that the attenuated erythroid reconstitution efficiencymay result from the ferroptosis of erythrocyte-biased HSPCs. Together, these results illustrate that heme-deficient primitive RBCs are detrimental to HSPC production and may provide potential implications for iron dysregulation-induced hematological malignancies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

INTRODUCTION Influenza vaccination (INV) and smoking cessation (SC) have individual positive effects on COPD, but their synergistic impact has yet to be extensively studied. This retrospective study aimed to assess the combined effect of SC and IV on the medical burden of COPD, including medical visits, hospitalization, medical expenses, and the occurrence of respiratory failure. METHODS Patients with COPD who visited our medical center between January and October 2018 were included in the study. The patients were categorized into four groups: Group I (no SC or INV), Group II (INV only), Group III (SC only), and Group IV (both SC and INV). The outcomes analyzed were emergency utilization, hospital utilization, and occurrence of respiratory failure. Airflow limitation was stratified according to GOLD guidelines, and successful smoking cessation was defined as not smoking for at least one year. RESULTS A total of 357 patients were included in the study. Group I (119 patients) neither smoking cessation nor influenza vaccination; Group II (66 patients) had only influenza vaccination; Group III (94 patients), had only smoking cessation, Group IV (78 patients), with both smoking cessation and influenza vaccination. Group IV had lower odds of emergency utilization (OR=0.13; 95% CI: 0.07--0.25), hospital utilization (OR=0.13; 95% CI: 0.05--0.30, p<0.001), and occurrence of respiratory failure (OR=0.13; 95% CI: 0.04--0.40, p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS Combined smoking cessation and influenza vaccination are more effective in reducing the medical burden of COPD compared to either intervention alone or neither. These findings highlight the importance of promoting both smoking cessation and influenza vaccination in the management of COPD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As energy and environmental issues become more prominent, people must find sustainable, green development paths. Bio-based polymeric phase change energy storage materials provide solutions to cope with these problems. Therefore, in this paper, a fully degradable polyethylene glycol (PEG20000)/polylactic acid (PLA)/g-C3N4 composite phase change energy storage material (CPCM) was obtained by confinement. The CPCM was characterized by FTIR and SEM for compatibility, XRD and nanoindentation for mechanical properties and DSC, LFA, and TG for thermal properties. The results showed that the CPCM was physical co-mingling; when PLA: PEG: g-C3N4 was 6:3:1, the consistency was good. PEG destroys the crystallization of PLA and causes the hardness to decrease. When PLA: PEG: g-C3N4 was 6: 3: 1, it had a maximum hardness of 0.137 GPa. The CPCM had a high latent enthalpy, and endothermic and exothermic enthalpies of 106.1 kJ/kg and 80.05 kJ/kg for the PLA: PEG: g-C3N4 of 3: 6: 1. The CPCM showed an increased thermal conductivity compared to PLA, reaching 0.30 W/(m·K),0.32 W/(m·K) when PLA: PEG: g-C3N4 was 6: 3: 1 and when PLA: PEG: g-C3N4 was 3: 6: 1, respectively. Additionally, the CPCM was stable within 250 °C, indicating a wide appliable temperature range. The CPCM can be applied to solar thermal power generation, transportation, and building construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: We aimed to investigate preoperative esketamine alleviating postoperative pain in children after endoscopic plasma total adenotonsillectomy. Methods: We recruited 200 children with adenotonsillar hypertrophy at Wuhan Children's Hospital between September 2021 and April 2022. The children were randomly assigned to receive preoperative esketamine (ESK group) or fentanyl (FEN group). The primary endpoint was serum c-fos and c-jun levels. The secondary endpoints were face, legs, activity, cry, and consolability (FLACC) score and adverse events. Results: After surgery, c-fos and c-jun mRNA levels were increased significantly in both groups. Postoperatively, c-fos and c-jun mRNA levels were higher in FEN group compared with the ESK group (P<0.05). The FLACC scores were higher in the FEN group compared with the ESK group at 1 and 24 hours after surgery (P<0.05). Prediction probability (Pk) values indicated that c-fos and c-jun mRNA levels were quantitative predictors for early postoperative pain and stress reaction after surgery. Conclusions: Esketamine-based anesthesia (1mg/kg) can alleviate postoperative pain and regulate the inflammatory reaction in children undergoing endoscopic plasma adenotonsillectomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trichiurus japonicus is an economically important fish that ranks 11th in global marine fish capture production. However, the reproductive characteristics of this fish have undergone notable changes in recent decades, potentially affecting the quality of offspring and sustainable utilization. To improve our understanding of the physiological regulation of maturation in T. japonicus, untargeted liquid chromatography mass spectrometry was utilized to identify the small molecules that characterize the comprehensive metabolic profiles of ovaries during ovary development from stage II to stage IV. According to the results of OPLS-DA, the ovarian metabolite profiles of the three developmental stages were separated. The concentrations of 124 and 100 metabolites were significantly altered between stage II vs. III and III vs. IV, respectively. Lipids and lipid-like molecules accounted for the largest proportion of the altered metabolites, followed by amino acids, peptides, and analogues. The significantly altered metabolites-enriched pathways differed slightly between stages II and III and stages III and IV. Steroid-related pathways were heavily affected during stages II to III, while significantly altered metabolites from stages III to IV were involved in oocyte-maturation-related pathways. Through metabonomics analysis, potentially important metabolic pathways and metabolites between different ovarian stages were detected, providing basic information for further investigation of maturation mechanisms in wild fish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fungal genus Microcera consists of species mostly occurring as parasites of scale insects, but are also commonly isolated from soil or lichens. In the present study, we surveyed the diversity and assess the taxonomy of entomopathogenic fungi in Sichuan Province, China. Two new species of Microcera, viz. M. chrysomphaludis and M. pseudaulacaspidis, were isolated from scale insects colonising walnut (Juglans regia). Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian Inference analyses of ITS, LSU, tef1-a, rpb1, rpb2, acl1, act, tub2, cmdA and his3 sequence data provide evidence for the validity of the two species and their placement in Nectriaceae (Hypocreales). Microcera pseudaulacaspidis primarily differs from similar species by having more septate and smaller cylindrical macroconidia, as well as DNA sequence data. Meanwhile, Microcera chrysomphaludis has elliptical, one-septate ascospores with acute ends and cylindrical, slightly curved with 4-6 septate macroconidia up to 78 µm long. Morphological descriptions with illustrations of the novel species and DNA-based phylogeny generated from analyses of multigene dataset are also provided to better understand species relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a study on how short-term acute bright light exposure can lead to prolonged anxiety-related behavior in mice. The study, conducted by a team of researchers, shows that melanopsin-based intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGC) activities in the brain,play a key role in this effect. The findings reveal a non-image forming visual circuit specifically designed for "the delayed" extinction of anxiety against potential threats.

Insect wings and biomimetic wings in flapping-wing micro air vehicles (FWMAVs) are flexible and subject to passive deformations, including spanwise twisting and bending. This raises a typical bilateral fluid-structure interaction (FSI) issue, which is conventionally solved based on combined computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and computational solid dynamics (CSD) methods. To reduce the computational cost of this FSI issue while maintaining a reasonable accuracy, a theoretical model with improved adaptability is proposed here. The improvement results from the consideration of spanwise bending: the distribution of which is formulated by a quadratic polynomial. The aerodynamic force is approximated by a predictive quasi-steady aerodynamic model based on the blade element theory. The FSI iteration at a time step is converged within 0.5 s in our model, whereas a traditional CFD-CSD solution takes about 30 s. Compared to our previous model, the current model can better match the experimental measurements of insect wings. Further analysis reveals that considering spanwise bending affects the stiffness design of flexible flapping wings quantitatively. To maintain a high lift efficiency, the structural stiffness of the wing should be appropriately decreased. Our model provides a refined tool for the wing design in FWMAVs and can promote the development of FWMAVs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • An improved hydraulic method was proposed to calculate dynamic ecological flows for three hydropower plants within a year, enhancing environmental alignment. • Ecological suitability thresholds of indicator species were applied to derive monthly ecological flow solutions sets for each cascaded hydropower plant. • Linear interpolation was employed to distribute ecological flow solutions over 12 months, based on rainfall and temperature fitting functions. Ecological flow (Hereinafter referred to as EF) is vital for sustaining the health of aquatic ecosystems, whereas fluctuations in rainfall and temperature markedly influence the water needs of riverine aquatic organisms. However, traditional hydrological methods for calculating EF provide a single, fixed EF value throughout the year or for specific periods (such as the flood season or non-flood season), neglecting the dynamic effects of these environmental variables on flow requirements. Building on regression analyses of rainfall and temperature, this study proposes an improved hydraulic method (Hereinafter referred to as IHM) that integrates both rainfall and temperature effects. Utilizing the three cascade hydropower plants on the mainstream of the Liuxi River in Guangdong Province, China, as case studies, the proposed method expands upon traditional hydraulic methods by establishing a relationship between river hydraulic parameters and flow, and employing the ecological suitability thresholds of indicator species as constraints to calculate the EF solution sets for the three hydropower plants. By fitting functions to the basin's rainfall and temperature data, linear interpolation was applied to distribute the EF solution sets across 12 months within a year. The IHM is subsequently compared and validated with the evaluation standards of the traditional method. The results demonstrate that the monthly EFs by the IHM for the three cascaded hydropower plants address the constraints of fixed EFs by traditional hydraulic methods, offering more accurate and context-specific EFs for each month. The monthly EFs by the IHM also typically conform to the Tennant method's 10 % standard (fair status) and, during certain months, reach the 40 % standard (good status), thereby effectively preserving the stability of the river's aquatic environment. The IHM provides a robust technical foundation and theoretical framework for the accurate determination of EFs in riverine hydropower plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three-dimensional (3D) laser nanoprinting allows maskless manufacturing of diverse nanostructures with nanoscale resolution. However, 3D manufacturing of inorganic nanostructures typically requires nanomaterial-polymer composites and is limited by a photopolymerization mechanism, resulting in a reduction of material purity and degradation of intrinsic properties. We developed a polymerization-independent, laser direct writing technique called photoexcitation-induced chemical bonding. Without any additives, the holes excited inside semiconductor quantum dots are transferred to the nanocrystal surface and improve their chemical reactivity, leading to interparticle chemical bonding. As a proof of concept, we printed arbitrary 3D quantum dot architectures at a resolution beyond the diffraction limit. Our strategy will enable the manufacturing of free-form quantum dot optoelectronic devices such as light-emitting devices or photodetectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A computational study of the nonlinear rocket-engine combustion instability is presented for an engine with 82 coaxial methane-oxygen injector ports, a choked nozzle, and a combustion chamber that models a Rocketdyne experiment. Computations use a three-dimensional unsteady k-ω shear-stress transport delayed detached-eddy simulation method. Four different one-step chemical kinetic rates are simulated on the resolved scale to determine the effect of the burning rate. Application of kinetic rates on the resolved scale give faster rates than expected with turbulent combustion where the final mixing and chemical reaction in the cascade occurs on the smallest scales; thus, reduction of the kinetic rate is examined here. When the normalized kinetic rate is 1, implying the nominal Westbrook-Dryer rate, only the longitudinal-mode instability is observed. As the kinetic rate decreases, less of the combustion occurs upstream near the longitudinal-mode pressure antinode, the longitudinal-mode instability becomes weak, and the first-tangential-mode instability emerges, which fits better with experiment. The proximity of the domain of major heat release to the longitudinal mode pressure antinode is found to be critical. Evidence is presented for the need for an improved combustion model that will provide a more accurate and lower burning rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We searched the quasi-periodic variability in the light curve of blazar 3C 66A in the optical V band. The data used in this paper are from Shanghai Astronomical Observatory (ShAO), AAVSO (The American Association of Variable Star Observers), and Steward Observatory respectively, with a total coverage of ∼ 18 years (from 2003 to 2021). Two methods were employed to search for the possible quasi-periodic variability in the resulting optical light curve of the source. The Jurkevich method yielded two possible periods of (850 ± 90) d (∼ 2.3 yr) and (1150 ± 140) d (∼ 3.2 yr). While the Lomb-Scargle Periodogram, with the red noise considered, yielded two possible periods of (869 ± 70) d and (1111 ± 90) d, which are consistent with the results of the Jurkevich method. The significance level of the two periods calculated using the PSRESP (power spectra response) method is > 99% and > 95% for the two possible periods, respectively. We compared our results with previous researches, and found that the period around 2.3 yr is stable in the historical light curve of 3C 66A, while the later one is more likely a transient phenomenon which is only present in the high state of the source. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which explores the role of ipRGCs in ocular growth and myopia development. It mentions that e increasing global prevalence of myopia calls for elaboration of the pathogenesis of myopia disease. It discusses that ipRGCs contribute substantially to mouse eye growth and myopia development, which may inspire novel strategies for myopia intervention.

Anopheline mosquitoes rely on their highly sensitive chemosensory apparatus to detect diverse chemical stimuli that drive the host-seeking and blood-feeding behaviors required to vector pathogens for malaria and other diseases. This process incorporates a variety of chemosensory receptors and transduction pathways.We used advanced in vivo gene-editing and -labeling approaches to localize and functionally characterize the ionotropic coreceptor AcIr76b in the malaria mosquito Anopheles coluzzii, where it impacts both olfactory and gustatory systems. AcIr76b has a broad expression pattern in female adult antennal grooved pegs, coeloconic sensilla, and T1 and T2 sensilla on the labellum, stylets, and tarsi, as well as the larval sensory peg. AcIr76b is colocalized with the Orco odorant receptor (OR) coreceptor in a subset of cells across the female antennae and labella. In contrast to Orco and Ir8a, chemosensory coreceptors that appear essential for the activity of their respective sets of chemosensory neurons in mosquitoes, AcIr76b-/- mutants maintain wild-type peripheral responses to volatile amines on the adult palps, labellum, and larval sensory cone. Interestingly, AcIr76b-/- mutants display significantly increased responses to amines in antennal grooved peg sensilla, while coeloconic sensilla reveal significant deficits in responses to several acids and amines. Behaviorally, AcIr76b mutants manifest significantly female-specific insemination deficits, and although AcIr76b-/- mutant females can locate, alight on, and probe artificial blood hosts, they are incapable of blood feeding successfully. Taken together, our findings reveal a multidimensional functionality of Ir76b in anopheline olfactory and gustatory pathways that directly impacts the vectorial capacity of these mosquitoes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wicker home products, handcrafted from sustainable materials such as willow, vine, and bamboo, embody principles of sustainable development. However, they face a lack of clear appeal among young consumers in the Chinese market. This study utilizes the AHP-CRITIC-TOPSIS method to examine user preferences for Funan Wicker home products to enhance the original products based on young users' choices in the contemporary era. Using the AHP method, 14 evaluation indicators were selected across three key factors and determined subjective weights. Objective weights were calculated using the CRITIC method to establish a comprehensive ranking. Subsequently, the TOPSIS method was employed to evaluate and order the nine design alternatives. The findings highlight a strong emphasis on emotional criteria in the evaluation process, with variables such as Weaving Fineness, Stress Release, Pleasure, and Cultural Value significantly influencing user preference. According to the calculations, the program IX with the highest proximity emerged as the optimal choice. Based on these results, the study refines design focus and quantitative indexes for willow home product designers, proposing innovative design methods that offer theoretical support and practical guidance for the development of willow products in Funan, China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During milling of free-form surfaces, cutting force varies due to the variation of workpiece surface curvature, which can seriously affect machining quality. In this study, a layered strategy was proposed for flexible machining of complex parts with variable curvatures. By taking a blade as the research object, we first considered a constant cutting force as the starting point. The relationship between the machining allowance and the radius of curvature of the workpiece under a certain cutting force was established. By analyzing the curvature of each position of the blade, a reasonable cutting allowance was set for each layer and the machining process was carried out layer by layer, such that a stable cutting force was maintained on the workpiece surface during machining of each layer. Second, the blade surface deformation law was determined by using the T-spline surface characteristics and an improved offset algorithm, and a series of deformation surfaces was obtained. Finally, the feasibility of the proposed method was verified by using finite element simulations and validated by experiment, and the advantages of the proposed method were verified by comparison with the existing main blade processing methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Great progress has been made in modulating flexural waves by elastic metasurfaces. Most of the proposed elastic metasurfaces suffer from chromatic aberration, limited in a narrow bandwidth around the designed frequency. In this paper, overcoming the chromatic aberration, an ultra-broadband achromatic meta-slab (UAM) with subunits of gradient thickness is proposed to realize the refraction angle unchanged with the incident frequency. Based on the phase compensation principle, wavelength-dependent phase shifts for the UAM that realize achromaticity are obtained. In order to verify the effectiveness of the theoretical design, the transmitted wavefields are solved according to the phased array theory, and the results correspond with those obtained by the finite element (FE) simulations and experiments, which show that the refraction angle is unchanged for incident frequencies from 2 kHz to 8 kHz. Besides, the UAM is extended into a periodic meta-slab, and multifrequency achromaticity is realized. Our designed meta-slabs overcome the chromatic aberration by simple configurations, which have significance in the applications of vibration control, vibrational energy harvesting, and health monitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a distributed storage scheme, the blockchain network lacks storage space has been a long-term concern in this field. At present, there are relatively few research on algorithms and protocols to reduce the storage requirement of blockchain, and the existing research has limitations such as sacrificing fault tolerance performance and raising time cost, which need to be further improved. Facing the above problems, this paper proposes a protocol based on Distributed Image Storage Protocol (DISP), which can effectively improve blockchain storage space and reduces computational costs in the help of InterPlanetary File System (IPFS). In order to prove the feasibility of the protocol, we make full use of IPFS and distributed database to design a simulation experiment for blockchain. Through distributed pooling (DP) algorithm in this protocol, we can divide image evidence into recognizable several small files and stored in several nodes. And these files can be restored to lossless original documents again by inverse distributed pooling (IDP) algorithm after authorization. These advantages in performance create conditions for large scale industrial and commercial applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

G protein–coupled receptors (GPCRs) play crucial roles in numerous physiological and pathological processes. Mutations in GPCRs that result in loss of function or alterations in signaling can lead to inherited or acquired diseases. Herein, studying prokineticin receptor 2 (PROKR2), we initially identify distinct interactomes for wild-type (WT) versus a mutant (P290S) PROKR2 that causes hypogonadotropic hypogonadism. We then find that both the WT and mutant PROKR2 are targeted for endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-associated degradation, but the mutant is degraded to a greater extent. Further analysis revealed that both forms can also leave the ER to reach the Golgi. However, whereas most of the WT is further transported to the cell surface, most of the mutant is retrieved to the ER. Thus, the post-ER itinerary plays an important role in distinguishing the ultimate fate of the WT versus the mutant. We have further discovered that this post-ER itinerary reduces ER stress induced by the mutant PROKR2. Moreover, we extend the core findings to another model GPCR. Our findings advance the understanding of disease pathogenesis induced by a mutation at a key residue that is conserved across many GPCRs and thus contributes to a fundamental understanding of the diverse mechanisms used by cellular quality control to accommodate misfolded proteins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dynamic monitoring ABO chimera including erythroid ABO antigen and anti-A/B is crucial to not only assess the status of erythroid engraftment but also achieve personalized safety transfusion in patients post ABO incompatible hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Transfusion support for ABO incompatible (ABOi) HSCT patients after achieved complete alteration to donor origin still remains cautious because the instant hematopoietic status on these transplant patients possibly returned to patient origin derived from early disease relapse and graft loss or failure. We reported that reemergent anti-B in a female patients (donor/patient: B/O) at the early phase after achievement complete donor type were not effectively found from partial automatic ABO blood grouping systems, which directly resulted in differential judgement of transplantation stage for about 15 days and disturbed the optimal recommendation on transfusion support. Meanwhile, the solely alteration of ABO chimera was found and earlier than changes of other markers such as MRD diagnosis, chimerism analysis by STR-PCR and sex chromosome assays, which can be an available predictors for bad transplant outcomes such as graft failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conventional sports posture positioning method, using convolution neural network, only uses Fast RCNN algorithm to locate sports posture, which leads to low accuracy of sports posture positioning. This paper proposes the application of multibody system dynamic direction vector model in sports posture positioning. In this paper, the direction vector model of multibody system dynamics is used to design the constraint of direction vector property and hinge between objects, calculate the activity of objects, and establish the motion posture model; The four coordinate systems of image, pixel, camera and world are established, and the spatial relationship of the four coordinate systems is calculated to complete the spatial transformation of each coordinate system; The gray transformation is carried out for the image to obtain an image. Gray human body image is used to obtain the target image and extract the contour of human body region; Similar to Fast RCNN algorithm and multi-scale context information are used to form a multi scale convolution neural network to locate the sports posture. The experimental results show that positioning sports posture has better positioning effect, higher positioning accuracy and faster positioning efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The role of DnaJ heat shock protein family (Hsp40) member C10 (DNAJC10) in cancers has been reported but its function in glioma is not clear. We reveal the prognostic role and underlying functions of DNAJC10 in glioma in the present study. Methods: Reverse Transcription and Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-qPCR) was used to quantify the relative DNAJC10 messenger RNA (mRNA) expression of clinical samples. Protein expressions of clinical samples were tested by Western blot. The overall survival (OS) of glioma patients with different DNAJC10 expression was compared by Kaplan-Meier method (two-sided log-rank test). Single-sample gene set enrichment analysis (ssGSEA) was used to estimate the immune cell infiltrations and immune-related function levels. The independent prognostic role of DNAJC10 was determined by univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses. The DNAJC10-based nomogram model was established using multivariate Cox regression by R package 'rms'. Results: Higher DNAJC10 is observed in gliomas and it is up-regulated in higher grade, isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH)-wild, 1p/19q non-codeletion, O(6)-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) unmethylated gliomas. Gliomas with higher DNAJC10 expression present poorer prognosis compared with low-DNAJC10 gliomas. The predictive accuracy of 1/3/5-OS of DNAJC10 is found to be stable and robust using time-dependent ROC model. Enrichment analysis recognized that T-cell activation and T-cell receptor signaling were enriched in higher DNAJC10 gliomas. Immune/stromal cell infiltrations, tumor mutation burden (TMB), copy number alteration (CNA) burden and immune checkpoint genes (ICPGs) were also positively correlated with DNAJC10 expression in gliomas. DNAJ10-based nomogram model was established and showed strong prognosis-predictive ability. Conclusion: Higher DNAJC10 expression correlates with poor prognosis of glioma and it was a potential prognostic biomarker for glioma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Let O be a subdomain in Rn and M<> be the local Hardy-Littlewood maximal function. In this paper, we show that both the commutator and the maximal commutator of Mg are bounded and continuous from the first order Sobolev spaces H"1,p' (O) to IV1,p(O) provided that 6 - I4z1'P2(-), 1 < pi,p2,p < oo and\/p = l/p1 + l/p2· These arc done by establishing several new pointwise estimates for the weak derivatives of the above commutators. As applications, the bounds of these operators on the Sobolev space with zero boundary values arc obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spontaneous changes in brain activity in patients with diabetic optic neuropathy using steady-state fMRI. The fractional amplitude of the low-frequency fluctuation method was applied to evaluate neural activity changes. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale was used to assess the anxiety and depression status of participants. The independent sample t-test and chi-squared test were applied to analyze the demographics of diabetic optic neuropathy patients and healthy controls. Receiver operating characteristic curves were applied to analyze the variation in mean fractional amplitude of lowfrequency fluctuation values between diabetic optic neuropathy patients and healthy controls. Pearson's correlation analysis analyzed the relationships between the fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation values of brain regions and clinical behaviors in the diabetic optic neuropathy group. The fractional amplitude of lowfrequency fluctuation value of diabetic optic neuropathy patients was significantly higher than healthy controls in the right precentral gyrus. However, the fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation values in the right anterior cingulate gyrus and left middle cingulate gyrus were markedly decreased in diabetic optic neuropathy patients. The area under the curve of receiver operating characteristics for each brain region showed high accuracy. Pearson's correlation analysis showed that fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation values of the right anterior cingulate gyrus and left middle cingulate gyrus was negatively correlated with Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale scores. The fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation values of the left middle cingulate gyrus was negatively correlated with diabetic optic neuropathy disease duration. In conclusion, we found abnormal spontaneous brain activities in regions related to cognitive and emotional dysfunction, eye movement disorder, and vision loss in patients with diabetic optic neuropathy. These results may indicate the underlying neuropathological mechanisms of diabetic optic neuropathy and show that fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation may be an effective method to distinguish patients with diabetic optic neuropathy from healthy individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Supply chain finance (SCF) has attracted considerable attention being an innovative business model that allows firms, especially small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), to convert illiquid assets into cash without incurring additional liabilities. However, its effects on SME performance and risk have been insufficiently studied. The competitiveness of SMEs depends on performance enhancement and risk mitigation. Thus, this study constructs a scaled-decile rank transformation of account receivable turnover to gauge the degree to which a supplier implements SCF, thereby examining the relationship between SCF, performance, and risk. We collect data on 4,679 SMEs from the Chinese manufacturing sector. Thereafter, hierarchical linear regression, a complex form of multiple linear regression analysis, is employed to test the hypotheses. The results indicate that an SME's SCF adoption positively impacts its performance but negatively impacts its risk. To further explore cross-sectional variability, we investigated the buyer-supplier relationship's moderating role. Results show that an increase in customer concentration strengthens both the positive effects of SCF on performance and the negative effects of SCF on risk. Overall, our study contributes to the literature on the interface of operations and finance in supply chains by exploring the multiple facets of SCF adoption and highlighting the moderating role of buyer-supplier relationship in SCF and SME competitiveness. Finally, we provide managerial implications for SMEs and financial service providers by validating the value of SCF implementation and the buyer-supplier relationship management in forging competitive advantages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Educational data mining is concerned with developing methods to explore the data from educational environments which provides insights that help in understanding the learning process and improving the educational outcomes. The evaluation and decision-making methods of higher education resources ignore the number of specific basic systems of resource evaluation and decision-making, resulting in the low accuracy of evaluation and decision-making. Therefore, a research on higher education evaluation and decision-making based on data mining is proposed. We analyze the application of big data in the field of higher education and design its optimal curriculum design model. We calculate the phased teaching task objectives of higher education curriculum, form its curriculum teaching guidance according to the influence degree between learners' learning progress and learners' thinking limitations, and obtain the learning effect produced by the optimal selection of curriculum teaching content. Then the probability of learners completing the structured teaching goal is calculated, so as to establish the optimal curriculum design model of higher education. Finally, we obtain the quantitative values of different experiences, extract the main influencing factors of resource evaluation and decision-making, and carry out higher education resource evaluation and decision-making analysis on this basis. The experimental results show that the research method improves the flexibility and universal applicability of higher education evaluation and decision-making, achieving an evaluation accuracy of above 90% and with below 7% error rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Uveal melanoma (UVM) is a rare cancer that shows sex difference in incidence and survival, with little previous report for the underlying mechanism. Methods: This study used the SEER data (1974-2016) for an age-dependent analysis on sex difference in UVM, and further used the TCGA-UVM genomics dataset for analyzing the differential gene expression profiles in tumors from men and women. Results: Our results demonstrate a sex difference in older age (≥40 years) but not in younger patients, with men exhibiting a higher incidence rate than women. However, younger women have shown a continuous increasing trend since 1974. Examining the 11 major oncogenes and tumor suppressors in UVM revealed that EIF1AX showed a significant sex difference in mRNA accumulation and copy number variation, with female tumors expressing higher levels of EIF1AX and exhibiting more variations in copy numbers. EIF1AX mRNA levels were significantly inversely correlated with EIF1AX copy numbers in female tumors only, but not in male tumors. Differential gene expression analysis at the whole genomic level identified a set of 92 protein-coding and 16 RNA-coding genes which exhibited differential expression in men and women (fold of change cutoff at 1.7, adjusted p value < 0.05, FDR < 0.05). Network analysis showed significant difference in immune response and in disulfide bond formation, with EGR1/EGR2 and PDIA2 genes as regulators for immune response and disulfide bond formation, respectively. The melanocortin pathway which is linked to both melanin synthesis and obesity seems to be altered with unclear significance, as the sex difference in POMC, DCT/TYRP2, and MRAP2 was observed but with no clear direction. Conclusion: This study reveals possible mechanisms for the sex difference in tumorigenesis of UVM which has potentials for better understanding and prevention of UVM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Warm forming holds significant potential in shaping challenging materials due to its comprehensive advantages compared to cold and hot forming. Effective heating is crucial for precise warm forming processes. This study explored an innovative warm air bending technique employing an online local contact heating method. Heat transfer during the preheating stage and the air bending of AZ31B sheets were investigated through experiments and finite element analysis at temperatures ranging from room temperature (24 °C) to 250 °C, considering the thermomechanical coupling effect. The results indicate a significant increase in the bending center angle, advancing from 69.8 deg to more than 119 deg as the heating temperature rises from room temperature to 250 °C. Fractures were effectively eliminated when the sheet heating temperatures exceeded 150 °C. Simultaneously, as the localized heating temperature increases, a corresponding decrease in the rebound angle is observed, reducing from 10.6 deg to 2.3 deg. The findings validate the feasibility of warm air bending using online local contact heating in industrial applications, with regard to forming quality and production efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A(H3N2) influenza vaccine effectiveness (VE) was low during the 2016-19 seasons and varied by age. We analyzed neutralizing antibody responses to egg- and cell-propagated A(H3N2) vaccine and circulating viruses following vaccination in 375 individuals (aged 7 months to 82 years) across all vaccine-eligible age groups in 3 influenza seasons. Antibody responses to cell- versus egg-propagated vaccine viruses were significantly reduced due to the egg-adapted changes T160K, D225G, and L194P in the vaccine hemagglutinins. Vaccine egg adaptation had a differential impact on antibody responses across the different age groups. Immunologically naive children immunized with egg-adapted vaccines mostly mounted antibodies targeting egg-adapted epitopes, whereas those previously primed with infection produced broader responses even when vaccinated with egg-based vaccines. In the elderly, repeated boosts of vaccine egg-adapted epitopes significantly reduced antibody responses to the WT cell-grown viruses. Analysis with reverse genetic viruses suggested that the response to each egg-adapted substitution varied by age. No differences in antibody responses were observed between male and female vaccinees. Here, the combination of age-specific responses to vaccine egg-adapted substitutions, diverse host immune priming histories, and virus antigenic drift affected antibody responses following vaccination and may have led to the low and variable VE against A(H3N2) viruses across different age groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have simulated sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) surfactant/water+bilayer graphene mixture system to investigate two mechanisms of graphene exfoliation: changing the interlayer distance and sliding away the relative distance. By calculating the total energy as a function of the interlayer (sliding-away) distance at different surface-coverage concentrations of SDS surfactant (SDS concentrations), we obtain the separation energy barriers underlying the two mechanisms and their dependence on SDS concentration. Overall, in the first process, the energy barrier can only be reduced by the SDS slightly, which is too big to be viable. While in the second process, the energy barrier can be first decreased continuously with the increasing SDS concentration until it almost completely disappear in the optimal SDS concentration range (1.5-2.0/nm2) and then increase again with the further increase in SDS concentration. Therefore, the second sliding-away mechanism is a more viable separation process. The analysis of SDS anion density profile on the graphene surface indicates that the graphene-surfactant interaction plays an important role in the separation process by stabilizing the separated graphene sheet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The phase structure, dielectric and piezoelectric properties of a new lead-free piezoelectric system (1-x)Bi0.5Na0.5TiO3-x-xBi(Zn0.5Hf0.5)O3 [(1-x)BNT-xBZH, x=0, 0.01, 0.02, 0.03, and 0.04] were investigated. The structure of Bi(Zn0.5Hf0.5)O3 was calculated using first-principles method and (1-x)BNT-xBZH ceramics were fabricated by conventional solid-state process. At room temperature, a morphotropic phase boundary (MPB) from rhombohedral to pseudocubic is identified near x=0.02 by the analysis of X-ray diffraction patterns. The ceramics with MPB near room temperature exhibit excellent electrical properties: the Curie temperature, maximum polarization, remnant polarization, and coercive field are 340 °C, 56.3 μC/cm2, 43.5 μC/cm2, and 5.4 kV/mm, respectively, while the maximum positive bipolar strain and piezoelectric coefficient are 0.09% and 92 pC/N, respectively. In addition, a linear relationship between the MPB phase boundary composition and the calculated tetragonality of non-BNT end-member was demonstrated. Thus, this study not only shows a new BNT-based lead-free piezoelectric system but also suggest a new way to predict the composition at MPB a priori when designing new lead-free piezoelectric system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gemcitabine is a gold standard chemotherapeutic agent for pancreatic cancer. However, gemcitabine has limited effectiveness due to the short-term development of chemoresistance. Emodin, a natural anthraquinone derivative isolated from the roots of rheumatic palm leaves prevents immunosuppression and exerts anticancer effects. The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of emodin on gemcitabine resistance. Gemcitabine-resistant PANC-1 pancreatic cancer cell xenografts were established in athymic mice, which were randomly assigned into four treatments groups as follows: Gemcitabine group, Emodin group, Gemcitabine+Emodin group and Negative control group. Body weight, tumor volume and tumor weight were measured over the course of treatment. The effect of each treatment on tumor tissue proliferation and apoptosis from nude mice was evaluated by using immunohistochemistry. The effect of each treatment on the proliferation of gemcitabine-resistant PANC-1 cells was also determined by using the Cell Counting Kit-8. Then, reverse transcription-quantitative (RT-q) PCR and western blotting were used to detect the mRNA and protein expression, respectively, of multidrug resistance gene 1 (MDR1) and the drug resistance-related proteins MRP1 and MRP5. The function and expression level of DR1 gene product, p-glycoprotein, was also analysed by flow cytometry and RT-qPCR, respectively. The results demonstrated that the combination of gemcitabine and emodin significantly reduced xenograft volume and reduced tumor growth in mice compared with treatment with gemcitabine or emodin only. In addition, emodin treatment reduced resistance to gemcitabine, which was characterized by the downregulation of P-glycoprotein, MRP1 and MRP5 expression in the group receiving combination treatment. The level of P-glycoprotein was also decreased in the group treated with gemcitabine+emodin compared with the single treatment groups. Taken together, these results demonstrated that emodin enhanced gemcitabine efficacy in tumor treatment and alleviated gemcitabine resistance in PANC-1 cell xenografts in mice via suppressing MDR1/P-glycoprotein and MRP expression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Walnut is an important cultivated tree with high economic value and wide distribution across China. The objective was to breed a new walnut cultivar with high yield and desirable nut and tree qualities that could meet the demands of the walnut industry in China. 'Liaoning 4' walnut cultivar is lateral bearing which originated from a controlled cross between the Persian walnut (J. regia) selections 'Liaoning Chaoyang big and rough walnut' and '11001'. During long term assessment and research, 'Liaoning 4' walnut performed well and it was released as a new cultivar in China on 15 Oct. 2018. It has a high yield and excellent nut traits and has thus been widely planted in North China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper proposes a novel denoising method to suppress multi-source noise and enhance the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the phase-sensitive optical-time-domain reflectometer (Ф-OTDR). The method is based on complete ensemble empirical mode decomposition with adaptive noise (CEEMDAN) and the interval thresholding. Firstly, the CEEMDAN is applied to the vibration signals to obtain a series of functions called the Intrinsic Mode Functions (IMFs). Secondly, the trip point is determined according to the fact that the product of energy density of the IMF and its corresponding averaged period is a constant. Then, the IMFs of noise dominant mode are treated with interval thresholding, and finally the IMFs and residual are reconstructed to obtain denoised signals. The results show that the SNR of disturbance location increases to 51.21 dB and 52.11 dB respectively, which represents a great improvement when compared with the other two methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intellectual capital (IC) is generally understood as an important driver of firm competitiveness improvement and value generation in the knowledge economy. The manufacturing industry, the backbone of the South Korean economy, is coming under increasing international pressure. In order to increase the competitiveness of Korean industry, the main objective of this paper is to examine the impact of IC and its components on the performance of Korean manufacturing firms over the period 2013--2018. The modified and extended Value Added Intellectual Coefficient (VAIC) model was adopted to more accurately measure IC, and firm performance was systematically and comprehensively measured in three distinct parameters: profitability, productivity and market value. Our regression results show that physical capital was the most influential factor to firm performance; human capital was viewed as a performance enhancing measure; structural capital had no significant impact on firm performance; and innovation capital and relational capital hurt a firm's profitability. It is also evident that the modified and extended VAIC model performs better than the original VAIC model proposed by Pulic (1998). This study extends the understanding of IC in achieving a competitive edge in the manufacturing sector, with IC representing a valuable platform for the sustainable development of the manufacturing sector in emerging Asian markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have exhibited superior performance in various types of classification and prediction tasks, but their interpretability remains to be low despite years of research effort. It is crucial to improve the ability of existing models to interpret deep neural networks from both theoretical and practical perspectives and to develop new neural network models with interpretable representations. The aim of this paper is to propose a set of novel masked CNN (MCNN) models with better ability to interpret networks and more accurate prediction. The key ideas behind MCNNs are to introduce a latent binary network to extract informative regions of interest that contain important signals for prediction and to integrate the latent binary network with CNNs to achieve better prediction invarious supervised learning problems. Extensive numerical studies demonstrate the competitive performance of the proposed MCNN models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]