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Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) equipped with mobile edge computing (MEC) servers and featuring flexible deployment capabilities can help to reduce the computing pressure on ground user networks. However, the majority of ground users are hindered by their limited battery life, preventing them from working without interruption. To maximize the service lifetime of ground users, UAVs transmit energy to them first and then collect offload tasks afterwards. This approach allows users to work without interruption while transmitting UAVs with computing tasks which can then be processed with the help of MEC servers. This helps to reduce the pressure on ground user networks, ensuring that they remain reliable and efficient. Therefore, we propose an optimization problem that aims to maximize the minimum security offloading rate of the system. This problem involves multiple variables, so conventional methods are not suitable for solving it. Our proposed scheme utilizes block coordinate descent (BCD) and successive convex approximation (SCA) algorithms, which can better optimize the user offloading decision, energy transfer duration, and user transmit power. Numerical results demonstrate that our scheme is more effective than the two benchmark schemes in improving the system performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Light steel buildings are widely used in rescue and disaster relief, but they consume a lot of energy to improve the indoor thermal environment due to their high thermal conductivity and poor thermal comfort. To clarify the relationship between various design parameters and their effect on energy consumption, the energy consumption impact of the design parameters including building orientation, aspect ratio, roof slope angle, window-wall ratio (WWR), and envelope structure of a typical light steel building in cold regions is comprehensively analyzed. The impact degree of parameters is determined by the simulation and analytic hierarchy process (AHP) analysis to calculate the weight value of the design parameters affecting the energy consumption. The results show that the consumption of energy increases with the increase of the aspect ratio, slope angle, WWR and heat transfer coefficient of envelope. The orientation of the minimum energy consumption is 180°, the weight less than 180° is positive, and that greater than 180° is negative. The envelope has the greatest impact on the energy consumption, with a weight of about 0.66, of which the wall and roof is about 0.40 and 0.26 respectively; Then the south WWR, slope angle, north WWR, aspect ratio and orientation are in turn, and the weights are about 0.12, 0.08, 0.07, 0.06 and ±0.02 respectively. The research results can optimize the building scheme and estimate the building energy consumption after optimization, which provides a reference for the energy-saving renovation of light steel buildings in severe cold regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fuel-powered UAVs have long endurance of flight, heavy payload and adaptation to extreme environment. The mechanical operation and communication power are supported independently by fuel and batteries. In the paper, we study the energy efficiency of the communication system with a fuel-powered UAV relay. We consider a three-node communication network, consisting of a mobile relay, a source node, and a destination node. The UAV relay is able to change its 3-D trajectory to maintain high probability of LoS channels, receiving information from the fixed source node and transmitting it to the fixed destination node. The power allocation scheme and UAV’s trajectory are designed to maximize the system energy efficiency, considering the constraints of speeds, UAV’s altitudes, communication and mechanical energy consumption, the required data rates of the destination node and information-causality. We solve the power allocation sub-problem by splitting the domain of variables and transforming it into a convex optimization problem. And then a suboptimal scheme is provided to design the trajectory based on successive convex approximation method. Numerical results show the convergence of the proposed schemes and the performance of the proposed algorithms. The influences of time slots, constraints of fuel, communication power and required data rates are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The aim of this study was to compare the effects of two kinds of wrist-hand orthosis on wrist flexor spasticity in chronic stroke patients. Design: This is a randomized controlled trial. Setting: The study was conducted in a rehabilitation center. Participants: A total of 40 chronic hemiparetic stroke patients with wrist flexor spasticity were involved in the study. Interventions: Patients were randomly assigned to either an experimental group (conventional rehabilitation therapy + 3D-printed orthosis, 20 patients) or a control group (conventional rehabilitation therapy + low-temperature thermoplastic plate orthosis, 20 patients). The time of wearing orthosis was about 4–8 hours per day for six weeks. Main measures: Primary outcome measure : Modified Ashworth Scale was assessed three times (at baseline, three weeks, and six weeks). Secondary outcome measures : passive range of motion, Fugl-Meyer Assessment score, visual analogue scale score, and the swelling score were assessed twice (at baseline and six weeks). The subjective feeling score was assessed at six weeks. Results: No significant difference was found between the two groups in the change of Modified Ashworth Scale scores at three weeks (15% versus 25%, P = 0.496). At six weeks, the Modified Ashworth Scale scores (65% versus 30%, P = 0.02), passive range of wrist extension (P < 0.001), ulnar deviation (P = 0.028), Fugl-Meyer Assessment scores (P < 0.001), and swelling scores (P < 0.001) showed significant changes between the experimental group and the control group. No significant difference was found between the two groups in the change of visual analogue scale scores (P = 0.637) and the subjective feeling scores (P = 0.243). Conclusion: 3D-printed orthosis showed greater changes than low-temperature thermoplastic plate orthosis in reducing spasticity and swelling, improving motor function of the wrist and passive range of wrist extension for stroke patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The applicability of the traditional energy-saving renovation method for greenhouses is limited and influenced by the subjective decisions of researchers. Therefore, in this paper, a multifactor and multiobjective unbiased evaluation method is proposed based on the orthogonal test and entropy methods to study energy-saving transformation of solar greenhouses. The results show that the thickness of the gas layer, type of front roof glass and thermal insulation material of the rear roof greatly influence energy consumption, accounting for 45.5 %, 34.4 % and 15.3 %, respectively, of the total energy consumption, followed by the type of gas, thickness of glass and thermal insulation material of the heat storage wall, accounting for 3.2 %, 1.1 % and 0.5 %, respectively, of the total energy consumption. Based on energy savings, carbon emission reduction, investment cost and payback period, all renovation cases are comprehensively analyzed by the entropy weight method. The results show that Case m is the best renovation case, i.e., the front roof comprises three-layer glass, the glass thickness is 3 mm, the width of the cavity is 6 mm, which is filled with krypton gas, the rear roof insulation material is 100-mm thick extruded polystyrene (XPS), and the heat storage wall insulation material is 100-mm thick expandable polystyrene (EPS). This renovation method provides a systematic and objective theoretical basis for energy-saving renovation of solar greenhouses in cold regions. • Solar greenhouse renovation cases were constructed through orthogonal experiments. • Impacts of various factors on greenhouse energy consumption were analyzed. • Renovation cases were valuated by multi-objective entropy weight method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mechanical vibration or rotation of a target or structures on the target may induce additional frequency modulations on the returned radar signal which generate sidebands about the target's Doppler frequency, called the micro-Doppler effect. The micro-Doppler can be regarded as a unique signature and provides valuable information for the motion parameters extraction and the target recognition of precession warhead targets. To solve the issue of estimating the motion parameters of those targets, a new method based on the m-D spectrum of the top and the bottom of the cone is proposed in this paper. In this method, the m-D features of the cone target are firstly extracted by calculating the first-order moments of the time–frequency distribution of the echo signal. Then, the motion parameters of the target are roughly estimated by the Fourier transformation of the m-D curve. Based on the rough estimation, the search method is employed to estimate the motion parameters of the cone target precisely. The validity of the proposed method is verified by the analysis data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Object tracking is one of the most important components in numerous applications of computer vision. Most of trackers work well in ordinary conditions, but usually encounter drift in challenging sequences with abrupt motion, motion blur, occlusion and scale variation. In this paper, we decompose the task of tracking into correlation filter-based translation tracker, scale tracker and online re-detectors. For translation tracker, we propose an adaptive dimensionality reduction to pixel-dense histogram of oriented gradients features to increase speed without losing accuracy. We present an adaptive updating strategy which uses cosine similarity together with two peak-to-sidelobe ratios and max response of scale tracker as confidence metrics for failure detection. In addition, multiple correlation filter-based detectors are activated to re-detect objects in case of failure. The experimental results show that the proposed approach tracks both the position and size of the interested target efficiently and achieve higher accuracy on most of challenging sequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SUMMARY Considering the limitations of satellite communication systems and advantages of new emerging interleave-division multiple access (IDMA) technology, IDMA is introduced into the satellite systems, providing a new solution for multiple access techniques of satellite systems. To further validate the IDMA into satellite systems, a novel medium access control (MAC) scheme is proposed. In the random access channel, the interleave-division slotted ALOHA method is adopted to alleviate the collision of access requests. Furthermore, a novel minimum power allocation scheme based on signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) evolution is proposed to maximize the capacity of such an interference-sensitive system. By virtue of SINR evolution, our proposed scheme can accurately estimate multi-user detection efficiency with low computational cost and further reduce the transmitted power, illustrating the high power efficiency of IDMA. To further enhance the performance of the MAC protocol, an effective call admission control scheme considering the effect of power control error is designed and combined into our MAC protocol. Analysis and simulation results show that, by taking full advantage of the chip-by-chip multi-user detection technique, the proposed IDMA MAC protocol achieves high throughput and low average packet delay simultaneously, with low onboard processing complexity in the multi-beam satellite communication systems. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To explore the effect of polycarboxylate superplasticizers on the strength and hydration performance of alkali slag building materials, this study prepared cross-linked polycarboxylate superplasticizers with different ratios of hydrogen peroxide, methyl allyl alcohol polyoxyethylene ether, acrylic acid, polyethylene glycol diacrylate, monomer aqueous solution, reducing agent, chain transfer agent, etc. according to certain ratios, and tested their effects on the hydration performance and strength of alkali slag building materials. Through experimental analysis, it was found that the higher the proportion of cross-linked polycarboxylate based high-efficiency water-reducing agents, the lower the initial flowability of building material slurry; The addition of cross-linked polycarboxylate water-reducing agent will prolong the initial and final setting time of alkali slag building materials, delaying the hydration time of building materials; Cross linked polycarboxylate superplasticizers can reduce the electrical conductivity of alkali slag building material slurry, delaying its hydration rate; Different ratios of water-reducing agents have a significant impact on the water reduction rate of alkali slag building materials, with V2 water-reducing agent having the highest water-reduction rate of 28.6%; Cross linked polycarboxylate superplasticizers can increase the flexural and compressive strength of alkali slag building materials. Therefore, cross-linked polycarboxylate water-reducing agents have shown great potential in regulating the properties of alkali slag building materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Singe-beacon localization technology can help Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) to obtain precise positions by deploying only one beacon. It is considered as a promising way, benefiting from saving much time and labor compared with traditional Long-Baseline Localization (LBL). A typical single-beacon localization scheme contains two essential questions: the initial observability problem and long-endurance trajectory tracking problem. Aiming at these core problems, a comprehensive solution for single-beacon localization is described in this paper. An multi-hypothesis initial position discriminant method is proposed firstly, which helps to achieve accurate initial location based on observability analysis. Then, an Adaptive Network Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS)-improved Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) method is proposed, in which single-beacon measuring information is fused with off-the-shelf sensors, including DVL, Compass, etc. ANFIS-EKF can help to improve trajectory tracking precisions by restraining the heavy loss of linearization in conventional EKF. Both simulation and field tests are conducted to verify the performance of the proposed algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Satellite networks have attracted a lot of attention due to their unique advantages such as wide coverage and high data rate. In particular, the use of inter-satellite links (ISLs) allows multiple satellites to collaborate to provide a wider range of services. However, it is more difficult for the design of ISLs and resource allocation with the increasing number of satellites, which further leads to high network cost. Therefore, this paper aims to design an efficient ISLs establishment scheme and power allocation method to reduce the network cost. First, the network cost optimization problem is formulated as a mixed integer linear programming. Then, with equal power allocation scheme, a Lagrange relaxation method is used to decompose the optimization problem into two subproblems, i.e., routing problem and ISLs establishment problem. Specifically, the optimal routing scheme is equivalent to solving a min-cost max-flow problem of time expanded graph. The ISLs design problem can be directly solved by using branch and bound method in parallel. Moreover, with given routing and ISL scheme, the optimal power allocation is given based on convex optimization theory. Finally, the simulation results have be provided for verifying the effectiveness of proposed algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human exploration of the ocean has never stopped. A large number of sensors are placed in the ocean to establish ocean sensor networks to obtain more information about the marine environment, crustal dynamic changes and so on. With the development of science and technology, Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV) appear and are widely used in marine sensor networks. Due to the complex and changeable ocean environment, the slow speed of traditional and the lack of reasonable path planning and other reasons, AUV waste a lot of time and energy, which cannot efficiently collect information. In this paper, the Unmanned Aerial Underwater Vehicle (UAUV) is introduced into the ocean sensor network. Establish a two-dimensional scene model, find the best water entry point for UAUV to complete the task in the shortest time and minimum power consumption by traversing the search algorithm, and compare the performance of UAUV cross domain mode and underwater mode to collect marine sensor data. Meanwhile, establishing three-dimensional ocean sensor scene model, and using DDQN algorithm to solve the path planning problem of UAUV. The results show that the cross-domain mode of UAUV in the two-dimensional scene model saves 74.7% times and 24.34% energy compared with the traditional underwater mode. In the three-dimensional scene model, the UAUV is trained to the optimal path by the DDQN algorithm, which saves 60.94% of the time and 20.26% of the energy compared to the traditional underwater mode. The results prove the feasibility, stability and efficiency of UAUV introduction into marine sensor network, the effectiveness of DDQN algorithm to solve UAUV path planning problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to tackle the problem of reducing the transmission delay of multi-data acquisition source nodes in wireless sensor networks, we propose a cooperative method based on decode-and-forward (DF) and physical-layer network coding. In this proposed method, the two source nodes simultaneously transmit the respective information to the relay node and the data sink node using the orthogonal carriers. The relay node demodulates the received information separately from two source nodes and employs quadrature phase shift keying to modulate these information before forwarding them. The data sink node decodes the information of two source nodes using log likelihood ratio based on the signals received from the direct link and the relay link. Simulation results of bit error rate and system throughput show that the cooperative method can effectively improve the performance of the cooperative system compared with the traditional DF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To study the effects of Lactobacillus plantarum R-1 on the quality of fermented lemon juice beverage, the contents of nutrient substance, the antioxidant capacity and volatile flavor compounds in lemon juice at different fermentation stages were determined. The results showed that L. plantarum R-1 had good fermentation properties in lemon juice, and the number of viable bacteria reached a maximum value of 4×108 CFU/mL after 36 h of fermentation, and then tended to be stable afterwarded. L. plantarum R-1 could decrease the contents of total sugar and organic acids, but significantly increase the content of total phenols in lemon juice from 47. 4 GAE mg/mL to 174. 3 GAE mg/mL after 48 h fermentation,enhancing the antioxidant capacities (ability to scavenge DPPH and ABTS+ radicals) of fermented lemon juice (P<0. 05),L. plantarum R-1 could change the varieties and proportions of volatile flavor components in lemon juice, especially the terpene flavor compounds such as D-limonene and γ-terpinene in lemon oil. The relative content of terpene flavor compounds reached the maximum at 24 h of fermentation. The results of sensory evaluation also indicated that the flavor and taste of sample at 24 h was superior to that of other fermentation time point of the samples. L. plantarum R-1 could make good use of nutrients in lemon juice for growth and metabolism, which could improve the flavor of lemon juice and increase the content of total phenols and antioxidant substances. This study provides fundamental basis for the development of fermented lemon juice products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information acquisition in underwater sensor networks is usually limited by energy and bandwidth. Fortunately, the received signal can be represented sparsely on some basis. Therefore, a compressed sensing method can be used to collect the information by selecting a subset of the total sensor nodes. The conventional compressed sensing scheme is to select some sensor nodes randomly. The network lifetime and the correlation of sensor nodes are not considered. Therefore, it is significant to adjust the sensor node selection scheme according to these factors for the superior performance. In this paper, an optimized sensor node selection scheme is given based on Bayesian estimation theory. The advantage of Bayesian estimation is to give the closed-form expression of posterior density function and error covariance matrix. The proposed optimization problem first aims at minimizing the mean square error (MSE) of Bayesian estimation based on a given error covariance matrix. Then, the non-convex optimization problem is transformed as a convex semidefinite programming problem by relaxing the constraints. Finally, the residual energy of each sensor node is taken into account as a constraint in the optimization problem. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed scheme has better performance than a conventional compressed sensing scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ocean monitoring network (OMN) is a remote oceanic data collection system, which integrates communication and networking technologies. As underwater acoustic communication has been widely used for data transmission between battery- powered underwater sensor nodes (USNs) and sink nodes (SNs), an oceanic data collection system requires energy efficient deployment to prolong the lifetime of the whole network. This work aims to propose an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) assisted OMN architecture, in which sensing data are transmitted first from USNs to sea surface SNs in each data collection cycle using underwater acoustic communication, and then a UAV hovering above the SNs collects and relays all the data to a ground base station via wireless communication links. To extend the network lifetime, we model SNs and UAV deployment and resource allocation as a mixed integer non-convex optimization problem. To solve the problem efficiently in a heuristic way, we design a SNs deployment scheme with the help of time division USN-to-SN access and NOMA based SN-to-UAV access schemes. Computer simulations validate the superiority of the proposed deployment and access schemes on OMN lifetime performance. in particular, increasing the number of time slots in the USN-to-SN access process can improve the performance significantly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background the effects of radial extracorporeal shock wave therapy (rESWT) were assessed on agonist/antagonist muscles in stroke patients with elbow spasticity, the duration of effects and influence on function. Methods patients were randomly assigned into groups: control (A, n  = 25), rESWT on agonist muscles (B, n  = 27) and rESWT on antagonist muscles (C, n  = 30) groups. Conventional physical therapy was given to three groups for 3 weeks, six times a week, and besides, rESWT was given at 4-day intervals for five consecutive treatments, B received rESWT on agonist muscles and C received rESWT on antagonist muscles. The primary outcome was Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS) scores. Modified Tardieu Scale, Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), Fugl-Meyer Assessment and swelling scale (SS) scores were secondary outcomes. Indicators were assessed at baseline, after five treatments and after 4 weeks follow-up. Results the rate of treatment was determined by changes in MAS, which was 16.0 (A), 70.4 (B) and 63.3% (C) after rESWT treatments, and was 24.0 (A), 74.1 (B) and 66.7% (C) after 4 weeks follow-up. Improvements were achieved for R1 (P  < 0.01), R2 (P  < 0.01) and VAS (P  < 0.01) after five rESWT interventions. At 4 weeks, significant improvements were achieved for R1 (P  < 0.01) and VAS (P  < 0.01). Conclusions rESWT is an effective therapy for spasticity after stroke, with lasting effects on both agonist and antagonist muscles after 4 weeks. rESWT relieved pain but had no effect on active function or swelling of the upper limbs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To improve the bit error rate (BER) performance of physical-layer network coding (PNC) in data length asymmetric two-way relay channels (TWRC), a new PNC scheme named combined denoise-and-forward and superposition coded physical-layer network coding (DNF-SC-PNC) is proposed, and the decoding algorithm of the scheme is improved. In the new scheme, the mixed information is denoised and superposed at the relay node, which will be broadcasted to the destination nodes. The destination nodes can use successive interference cancellation (SIC) or likelihood rate (LLR) algorithm for decoding. Theoretical analysis and simulation results show that DNF-SC-PNC can provide better BER performance and better throughput rate performance when the data length is asymmetric. Furthermore, we also proved that LLR algorithm can provide better performance than SIC algorithm in data length asymmetric TWRC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, several correlation tracking algorithms have been proposed exploiting hierarchical features from deep convolutional neural networks. However, most of these methods focus on utilizing the hierarchical features for target translation and use a fixed-size searching window throughout a sequence. Because of neglecting the changes of target scale, these algorithms may import error to the model and lead to drifting. Moreover, numerous factors like fast motion and heavy occlusion can induce instability of translation model which may result in the tracking failure. In this paper, we propose a novel scale adaptive tracking algorithm based on hierarchical CNN features, which learns correlation filters to locate the target and constructs a target pyramid around the estimated target position for scale estimation. In case of tracking failure, we generate an online detector of random fern classifier and activate it to re-detect the target. To evaluate the tracking algorithm, extensive experiments are conducted on a benchmark with 100 video sequences. The tracking result demonstrate that the hierarchical CNN features are well fit to handle sequences with scale variation, motion blur and illumination variation. And the online re-detection is of great importance in tracking failures caused by fast motion and heavy occlusion. The evaluation results show that our tracker outperforms the state-of-the-art methods by a huge margin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arginine repressor (ArgR 1864) is a multifunctional regulator in Thermoanaerobacterium aotearoense SCUT27 (SCUT27). For better understanding its function in SCUT27, the transcriptome of SCUT27/Δ argR 1864 under xylose was further investigated. 2014 (V518_2014) denoted as a hypothetic protein gene was mined, which played important roles on xylose metabolism and carbon metabolic flux distribution in SCUT27. In 2014 deletion mutant, no lactic acid could be produced along with enhanced ethanol formation. Same changes were also observed in SCUT27/Δ argR 1864. ArgR 1864 is the direct regulator of 2014 identified by electrophoretic mobility shift assays (EMSA). When 2014 was complemented in SCUT27/Δ argR 1864 , the fermentation traits of SCUT27/Δ argR 1864 / 2014 were returned to wild-type levels, suggesting that the improved xylose utilization and ethanol formation of SCUT27/Δ argR 1864 were attributed to the low expression of 2014. When cultured under sorghum stalk, corn cob and wheat straw hydrolysates, SCUT27/Δ 2014 also showed the excellent capability for sugar utilization and ethanol production with the consumption rate of xylose and glucose increased by 20%–37.93 and 64.29%–190.91% separately, the ethanol production improved by 326.61%–547.89% and ethanol yield enhanced by 216.67%–337.50%. Thus, 2014 , as a hypothetic protein gene, could be used as the new genetic reference to predict functional genes to engineer the microorganism for biofuel production from lignocellulosic hydrolysates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Honey has been used not only as a food source but also for medicinal purposes. Recent studies have indicated that honey exhibits antioxidant, hepatoprotective, hypolipidemic, hypoglycemic and anti‐obesity properties, as well as anticancer, anti‐atherosclerotic, hypotensive, neuroprotective and immunomodulatory activities. These health benefits of honey could be attributed to its wide range of nutritional components, including polysaccharides and polyphenols, which have been proven to possess various beneficial properties. It is notable that the composition of honey can also be affected by nectar, season, geography and storage condition. Moreover, the safety of honey requires caution to avoid any potential safety incidents. Therefore, this review aims to provide recent research regarding the chemical composition, biological activities and safety of honey, which might be attributed to comprehensive utilization of honey. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In cognitive radio (CR), the secondary user (SU) may use more battery energy to perform spectrum sensing, thus decreasing the transmission energy. In order to guarantee the transmission performance, an energy harvesting-based multi-antenna CR is proposed, which lets the SU harvest the radio frequency (RF) energy of the PU signal and the noise to supplement the energy loss. Time splitting model and antenna splitting model have been proposed to realize the simultaneous cooperative spectrum sensing and energy harvesting for multi-antenna CR, in which cooperative spectrum sensing, energy harvesting and data transmission can be performed in one SU. The joint resource allocations of these two models have been formulated as a class of optimization problems about sensing time, harvesting time, the number of sensing antennas and transmission power. The joint optimization algorithm has been proposed to obtain the optimal solutions to the optimization problems. The simulation results have indicated that the proposed models can achieve larger throughput compared with the sensing-throughput tradeoff model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bandwidth and energy constraints of underwater wireless sensors networks necessitate an efficient data transmission between sensor nodes and the fusion center. This paper considers the data gathering underwater networks for monitoring oceanic environmental elements (e.g. temperature, salinity) and only a portion of measurements from sensors allows for oceanic information map reconstruction under compressed sensing (CS) theory. By utilizing the spatial sparsity of active sensors’ data, we introduce an activity and data detection based on CS at the receiver side resulting in an efficient data communication by avoiding the necessity of conveying identity information. For an interleave division multiple access (IDMA) sporadic transmission, CS-CBC detection that combines the benefits from chip-by-chip (CBC) multi-user detection and CS detection is proposed. Further, by successively exploring the sparsity of sensor data in spatial and frequency domain, we propose a novel efficient data gathering scheme named Dual-domain compressed sensing (DCS). Simulation results validate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme compared to IDMA-CS scheme and an optimal sensing probability problem related to minimum reconstruction error is explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Up to now, most of the researches about physical-layer network coding (PNC) are based on symmetric two-way relay channels. In this paper, we mainly study PNC in asymmetric two-way relay Rayleigh fading channels and classify the systems into five asymmetric cases. So as to describe the asymmetric cases, we introduce the asymmetric factors. We simulate the bit error rate (BER) performance of PNC in both symmetric and asymmetric cases with asymmetric factors fixed. After that we analyze the BER performance of PNC with one of the asymmetric factors is variable when two channels are relatively unreliable. Finally, we give the conditions that one kind of asymmetric scenario transforming to other kind. Also, in the matter of anti-noise performance, uplink asymmetry has worst performance and the phase asymmetry-downlink is the best case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rammed earth rural residential buildings (RERRBs) in severe cold climates usually have high energy consumption. The three-step retrofit approach of thermal insulation materials, additional sunspaces and phase change materials (PCMs) was innovatively proposed to retrofit a typical RERRB in severe cold regions of China into a nearly zero energy rural residential building (NZERRB). The three economy parameters of the incremental benefit, payback period and cost performance ratio of each case were analyzed and compared. The external insulation measures of two extruded polystyrene boards (XPS) with different thicknesses were added according to the U-value limitations of the Technical Standard for Nearly Zero Energy Buildings in China. The south sunspaces with three types of windows and four depths were attached, and PCM boards of six design cases in the south wall were investigated. Case P-Ⅰ used XPS envelope insulation (thickness is 290 mm on the outer wall, 270 mm on the roof, and 190 mm on the floor) according to the lower U-value standard. Case P-Ⅰ(T-0.9) added the sunspace of 0.9 m depth and triple-pane glazing windows based on Case P-Ⅰ. Case P-Ⅰ(T-0.9)-PCM-Ⅱ(28 °C) inserted 50 mm PCM board on the inner side of the outer insulation of the south wall based on Case P-Ⅰ(T-0.9). The results indicate that Case P-Ⅰ(T-0.9)-PCM-Ⅱ(28 °C) had the best energy-saving effect and economy, which was the optimal retrofit case to realize NZERRB and saved 92.17% of energy. It showed that insulation retrofit is the most effective energy-saving and cost-effective, followed by additional sunspace and PCM. The research can provide reference methods and ways for passive energy-saving retrofit projects for NZERRBs. • Three-step cases of envelope insulation, additional sunspaces and PCM was proposed to retrofit a rammed earth rural residential building into a nearly zero energy building. • Energy efficiency and cost-effectiveness of all cases were compared and analyzed. • Case P-Ⅰ(T-0.9)-PCM-Ⅱ(28 °C) used XPS insulation of the lower U-value, additional sunspace of 0.9 m depth and triple-pane windows, and adding 50 mm PCM board on south wall was the optimal case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Underwater acoustic channel (UAC) is one of the most challenging communication channels in the world, owing to its complex multi-path and absorption as well as variable ambient noise. Although adaptive equalization could effectively eliminate the inter-symbol interference (ISI) with the help of training sequences, the convergence rate of equalization in sparse UAC decreased remarkably. Besides, channel estimation algorithms could roughly figure out channel impulse response and other channel parameters through several specific mathematical criterions. In this paper, a typical channel estimation method, least square (LS) algorithm, is applied in adaptive equalization to obtain the initial tap weights of least mean square (LMS) algorithm. Simulation results show that the proposed method significantly enhances the convergence rate of the LMS algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To take into account the crop growth of greenhouse and reduce energy consumption, this study investigated to optimize and retrofit a typical solar greenhouse in the severe cold climate of China into a net-zero energy solar greenhouse (NZESG). The envelope passive insulation measure and roof flexible photovoltaic (PV) technique are innovatively combined and some optimization cases were proposed based on simulation and analytical studies. The foamed cement insulation boards with different thicknesses and envelope positions were added as 11 passive insulation retrofit cases. The flexible PV panels in checkerboard (PV1), horizontal (PV2) and longitudinal (PV3) arrangements were positioned on the greenhouse roof and their electrical energy was estimated through PVsyst software. The optimal case was obtained based on the local technical standard for nearly zero energy consumption buildings and energy-saving, carbon reduction, payback period and cost multi-objective entropy weight method. The key finding is that passive energy-saving retrofit Case (a) & PV1 has the highest comprehensive score and is the optimal NZESG case. Its investment cost and payback period of Case (a) & PV1 are 45526.40 CNY and 5.23 years respectively. Case (a) adopts 50 mm foamed cement board with external insulation. Although the effect of energy-saving and CO 2 reduction is poor, Case (a) has the shortest payback period and the lowest cost. PV1 has the lowest investment and higher power generation. It also shows that the investment payback period and cost weight are high, which are the key parameters for comprehensive evaluation of the retrofit cases; The entropy weight method is objective and scientific. The retrofit measures and optimization method can facilitate the promotion and application of NZESGs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hakka Huangjiu, a traditional Chinese rice wine, boasts a rich history and is known for its immunomodulatory, antibacterial, anti-aging and anti-fatigue effects. However, there is limited research on the primary active components and molecular mechanism of the bioactivity of Hakka Huangjiu. To address this gap, this study assessed the structural characteristics, antioxidant, and immunomodulatory activities of the polysaccharide-1 of Guangdong Hakka Huangjiu (HP1). Structural analysis revealed that HP1 had a low molecular weight polysaccharide of 5550 Da, primarily consisting of glucose (93.2 %), with smaller amounts of xylose, mannuronic acid and galactose. Methylation and NMR analysis suggested that the main glycosidic linkages present in HP1 are α-D-Glcp-(1→, →4)-α-D-Glcp-(1 → and →6) -α-D-Glcp-(1→. Furthermore, HP1 exhibited dose-dependent DPPH·, ABTS+ and OH· scavenging activity. HP1 exhibited significant protection of HepG2 cells from H 2 O 2 damage. Additionally, HP1 induced the release of NO, TNF-α, IL-6 and iNOS in RAW264.7 cells. HP1 treatment significantly increased mRNA expression of TNF-α, IL-6, iNOS, COX-2, IL-1β and TGF-β1. These results suggested that polysaccharides HP1 may have potential as a novel natural antioxidant and immunomodulatory product for use in nutraceuticals and functional foods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: The differences in aspects of morphology, fermentation and probiotic characteristics between Lactobacillus amylolyticus L5 (Lam1.5) and L6 (Lam1.6) isolated from naturally fermented tofu whey were investigated by phenotypic and comparative genomic analysis. The results indicated that morphological difference between two strains may attribute to the mutation of ftsW and ftsK genes responsible for cell division. The optimum growth temperatures of Lam1.5 and Lam1.6 were different, and the acid‐producing ability of Lam1.6 was stronger than that of Lam1.5. And the growth rate of Lam1.6 exhibited better growth performance than that of Lam1.5 in MRS with initial pH 3.0–5.0. Besides, Lam1.5 was proved to be safe to be used in fermented food with safety evaluation. In respect of probiotic traits, Lam1.5 displayed the same performance in tolerance of intestinal juice, antimicrobial activity and adhesion properties as that of Lam1.6. However, Lam1.5 was more sensitive to simulated gastric juice than Lam1.6 at pH 2.5 and 3.0, which might be due to its long‐rod shape and lack of K+‐ATPase and Na+‐H+ antiporters. This study unveiled morphological and physiological differences between Lam1.5 and Lam1.6, raising the potential effect of ftsW and ftsK on the morphological development of lactobacilli that further affects their metabolic properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lactobacillus amylolyticus L6 isolated from naturally fermented tofu‐whey was characterized as potential probiotics. To give insight into the adaptive mechanism of L. amylolyticus L6 in soymilk, the gene‐expression profiles of this strain and changes of chemical components in fermented soymilk were investigated. The viable counts of L. amylolyticus L6 in soymilk reached 1012 CFU/mL in the stationary phase (10 hr). The main sugars reduced gradually while the acidity value significantly increased from 45.33° to 95.88° during fermentation. About 50 genes involved in sugar metabolization and lactic acid production were highly induced during soymilk fermentation. The concentration of total amino acid increased to 668.38 mg/L in the logarithmic phase, and 45 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in terms of nitrogen metabolism and biosynthesis of amino acid were detected. Other genes related to lipid metabolism, inorganic ion transport, and stress response were also highly induced. Besides, the concentration of isoflavone aglycones with high bioactivity increased from 14.51 mg/L to 36.09 mg/L during the fermentation, and the expression of 6‐phospho‐β‐glucosidase gene was also synchronously induced. This study revealed the adaptive mechanism of L. amylolyticus L6 in the soymilk‐based ecosystem, which gives the theoretical guidance for the application of this strain in other soybean‐derived products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of supplementation with inulin-type fructans (ITFs) on the intestinal immune function in the context of dysbiosis resulting from antibiotic cocktail (ABx) treatment. BALB/c mice (8–9 weeks of age) were treated with an ABx for 3 weeks and then allowed to recover spontaneously or with ITF supplementation (5%) for 4 weeks. Our results showed that ABx treatment can induce gut microbiota dysbiosis and intestinal inflammation in mice. After 4 weeks of recovery, ITF supplementation restored the composition of the intestinal microbial community. However, compared with spontaneous recovery, ITF supplementation delayed inflammation recovery in the intestine and upregulated diamine oxidase (DAO) activity and increased lipopolysaccharide (LPS) content in serum. In addition, ITF supplementation delayed the regulatory T (Treg) cell and B cell recovery in the lamina propria (LP). Furthermore, compared with spontaneous recovery, ITF supplementation inhibited the relative expression of certain proinflammatory genes, such as for inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and tumour necrosis factor α (Tnf-α), in the colon, but it reduced the secretion of the anti-inflammatory mediator transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1) in serum, reduced the secretion of secretory immunoglobulin A (SIgA) in the colon and promoted the secretion of the proinflammatory cytokine interleukin (IL)-17A. In conclusion, these data supported the hypothesis that the influence of ITFs on the host's intestinal status is not always beneficial in the context of ABx-induced biological disorder. However, the significance of these findings needs to be determined by advanced studies Key Points: • ITFs did not promote the recovery of microbial community composition. • ITFs delayed the recovery of ABx-induced colonic inflammation. • ITFs reduced the secretion of TGF-β1 and SIgA. • ITFs delayed the recovery of Treg and B cells in the LP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agrivoltales is a new paradigm that combines agricultural and renewable energy production, which can reduce the energy consumption in severe cold region. Install PV panels on the greenhouse rooftops can provide required power for the greenhouse, but the shading from the PV panels may affect crop development and yield. In this article, the roof-mounted PV system's performances of a novel Venlo-type PV greenhouse in the severe cold region of China were evaluated and analyzed. By controlling the angle between the south-and-north-facing roof and the horizon (α and β) from 10° to 70°, each 10° increase was chosen as a design case, forming 49 cases in total. The shading rate, daily light integral (DLI) and the performance of the PV system were considered to optimize the Venlo-type PV greenhouse. The results show that when α is not less than 40° and β is 10°, the shading rate of Venlo-type greenhouse is less than 25 % and photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) higher than 23.5 mol/m2·d which meets the requirements of most greenhouse crops growth. Through comprehensive evaluation, the optimal case is α at 40° and β at 10°, of which the specific production is 1404 kWh/kWp/year which is the most, both investment and energy payback period are the shortest, power generation is 114.9 MWh/yr, carbon emission reduction is 11202 kg/yr the shading rate is below 25% throughout the year. The case with α at 70° and β at 70° has the largest power generation and carbon emission reduction. However, its shading rate, PAR, specific production, and payback period have the worst performance. The results can facilitate the development of the optimization of PV greenhouses and contribute to the carbon neutrality of facility agriculture and the life of local farmers. • Cases of Venlo-type greenhouse with PV roof in different angles were proposed. • The average daily PAR radiation sum of each case was quantitatively analyzed. • The optimal case is α at 40° and β at 10° with the best efficiency of 1404 kWh/kWp/year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vibrio parahaemolyticus is a predominate cause of microbiological food safety. This study aimed to develop a polymerase spiral reaction (PSR) based assay for rapid and visual detection on V. parahaemolyticus. Firstly, the specificity and conservativity of species-specific target tlh gene were determined. Secondly, targeting tlh and virulence factors tdh and trh , PSR assay was developed and optimized using constructed positive plasmid controls and standard strain. Visualized result determination using fluorescent dye was applied to avoid false positive issues. Thirdly, 44 strains were used for specificity evaluation. Fourthly, pure and mixed species artificial contamination systems were included to test its applicability. In addition, a propidium monoazide (PMA)-PSR assay was set up to determine viable but non-culturable (VBNC) cells. Target tlh gene acquired high specificity and PSR assay was optimized to carry out at 65ᵒC for 1 h. Detection limit of PSR assay in purified genomic DNA, plasmid and artificially contaminated food samples were 5.31–53.1 pg/μL, 100 copies, and 103 CFU/mL, respectively, demonstrating the sensitivity as 100-fold higher than regular PCR. With PMA-PSR assay, VBNC cells were accurately determined without the disruption of dead cells and food compositions. Thus, PSR is applicable in detection of V. parahaemolyticus viable cells and virulence factors. • Targeting tlh , tdh and trh genes, PSR reaction was achieved at constant temperature within 1 h. • Visualized result determination by fluorescent dye was applied to avoid false positive issues. • Detection limit of PSR was 100 copies in pure DNA and 103 CFU/mL in artificially contaminated food. • With PMA treatment prior to PSR, VBNC cells were determined without the disruption of dead cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lactobacillus amylolyticus L6, a gram-positive amylolytic bacterium isolated from naturally fermented tofu whey (NFTW), was able to hydrolyze raffinose and stachyose for the production of α-galactosidase. The cell-free extract of L. amylolyticus L6 was found to exhibit glycosyltransferase activity to synthesize α-galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS) with melibiose as substrate. The coding genes of α-galactosidase were identified in the genome of L. amylolyticus L6. The α-galactosidase (AglB) was placed into GH36 family by amino acid sequence alignments with other α-galactosidases from lactobacilli. The optimal reaction conditions of pH and temperature for AglB were pH 6.0 and 37°C, respectively. Besides, potassium ion was found to improve the activity of AglB while divalent mercury ion, copper ion and zinc ion displayed different degrees of inhibition effect. Under the optimum reaction condition, AglB could catalyze the synthesis of GOS with degree of polymerization (DP) ≥5 by using 300 mM melibiose concentration as substrate. The maximum yield of GOS with (DP) ≥3 could reach 31.56% (w/w). Transgalactosyl properties made AglB a potential candidate for application in the production of GOS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The disruption of the gut microbiota by treatment with an antibiotic cocktail (ABx) can trigger an imbalance in immune homeostasis. However, whether the changes in the intestinal microbiota always correspond to the changes in the physiology and immune homeostasis of the host remains unclear. Here, we analyzed the effects of ABx on immune homeostasis by analyzing the colonic transcriptome with 16S rRNA analysis of the gut microbiota on the 7th and 21st days of continuous treatment with ABx. Our results showed that the composition profile of the gut microbiota was similar after 7 and 21 days of ABx treatment. However, after 21 days of ABx treatment, the intestinal inflammation did not deteriorate further. Instead, the inflammation of the host was relieved, and half of the differentially expressed genes in the colon were restored compared with the 7 days of ABx treatment. Furthermore, the enrichment and network analysis of these restored genes indicated that expression of regenerating islet-derived protein 3β (Reg3b) and expression of regenerating islet-derived protein 3γ (Reg3g), especially Reg3b, may participate in the regulation of the inflammatory response and affect the changes in host immune homeostasis during continuous ABx treatment. Finally, Spearman's correlation analysis showed that the expression of Reg3b is correlated with the growth of Escherichia-Shigella. Our data demonstrated that even though the disruption of the gut microbiota profile induced by ABx treatment is similar, the host response and immune status will be different at different times. Key Points • Host immune status can change in different ABx treatment times. • Gut microbiota showed same exhaustion state in different ABx treatment times. • Host tried to revert to a certain extent after long-term ABx treatment. • Reg3b may affect the changes in host immune homeostasis during continuous ABx treatment. • The expression of Reg3b correlated with the growth of Escherichia-Shigella. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Wine ageing is of great importance to the quality and organoleptic properties of Huangjiu. The aim of the present work was to investigate the effect of ageing temperature on the content changes in ethyl carbamate (EC) and its precursors including citrulline, arginine, ornithine and urea in Hakka Huangjiu. Aroma compound changes were also detected using headspace solid‐phase microextraction coupled with gas chromatography spectrometry. Results indicated that with the increase in ageing temperature, citrulline and EC concentrations increased, whereas arginine and ornithine concentrations decreased. Urea was decreased slightly from 4 to 20 °C while increased at 37 °C. Pearson test demonstrated that ageing temperature had significant correlation with EC and arginine. The concentrations of aroma compounds, especially esters, alcohols, acids and heterocyclic compounds were different in different ageing temperatures. Ageing temperature of Hakka Huangjiu was suggested setting in a lower temperature as for strictly controlling contents of urea and citrulline, as well as EC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Frost heave and thawing settlements of seasonally frozen soil have a direct impact on the stability of engineered ground in cold regions. On the basis of the theory of seepage and heat conduction of unsaturated soil, a coupled thermal-hydro-mechanical numerical model of frozen soil was established. The alignment of experimental testing outcomes with numerical simulation results confirms the model's precision. The research findings indicate that the duration of freezing emerges as the primary factor influencing seasonal frost heave, with the soil frost heave rate ranging from approximately 1.5% to 3.3%. Within a period of 45 to 60 days following the conclusion of the freezing period, the ground height will return to its pre-freezing level. Construction of foundations in Daqing between late May and mid-October can help mitigate the damage caused by frozen soil. The variation laws of hydrothermal migration and frost heave in seasonally frozen soil have been summarized. The obtained results offer guidance for predicting soil frost heave and designing frost-heaving-sensitive engineering projects in cold regions. • Annual temperature variation of soils can be neglected at a depth of 11.5 m. • Decline in diffusion illustrates restraining impact of pore ice on moisture flow. • Gradient fluctuation of diffusion near ice lens illustrates capillary suction. • Construct structures prone to frost from late May to mid-October as advised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The integrated space and terrestrial networks which incorporate various satellite systems and ground networks could provide a wide variety of services and global seamless network access. The integrated network is composed of multiple heterogeneous nodes and sub-networks which requires intelligent and efficient physical layer transmission techniques to maintain high-speed links between these subsystems. As a traditional technology in satellite communications, relay could still work as an important part in these heterogeneous and complex networks. In this paper, two interference exploitation schemes, i.e., physical-layer network coding (PNC) and successive interference cancellation (SIC) which can efficiently increase data exchange rate for relay systems are studied, and an intelligent relaying scheme combining both the advantages of these two schemes is proposed. Simulation results show the proposed adaptive transmission scheme achieves a smoother sum-rate gain while being more robust to dynamic topologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Stroke-induced dysarthria is caused by muscle weakness, sacral or muscular dystonia, and incoordination of the articulatory organ formed by organic lesions caused by cerebral vascular obstruction or sudden bursting of blood vessels in the brain, which may cause abnormal breathing patterns, pronunciation, resonance, rhythm, and unclear articulation. The Six Character Formula, or Liuzijue qigong (LQG), is an essential part of Chinese traditional exercises and focuses on breathing-speech synchronization. The purpose of the present study was to compare the effects of LQG with traditional breathing training (combined with basic articulation training in both groups) in patients with post-stroke dysarthria.Methods/design: The proposed study will be a single-center randomized controlled trial. A total of 100 patients, with a modified Frenchay Dysarthria Assessment (FDA) dysarthria assessment score < 27 and with a FDA speech breathing level ≥ b will be randomly divided into study (LQG, n = 50) and control (conventional breathing training, n = 50) groups. Basic articulation training will be conducted once a day, five times a week for 3 weeks. Data collection will be conducted at baseline, 1 week, and 2 weeks post-treatment initiation and after completion of the treatment (3 weeks). Comprehensive analyses will be conducted to measure and compare any differences in speech breathing dysfunction levels, comprehensive evaluation of dysarthria, maximum phonation time (MPT), maximal counting ability, signal-noise (S/Z) ratio, and loudness scales between the study and control groups.Discussion: This trial will provide evidence about the effectiveness of LQG for improvement of speech breathing function and speech ability in patients with post-stroke dysarthria complicated with abnormal breathing.Trial Registration: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, ChiCTR-INR-16010215. Registered 21 December 2016. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To improve the bit error rate (BER) performance of physical-layer network coding (PNC) in asymmetric two-way relay channels (TWRC), in this paper, we study a new PNC scheme named bi-quadrature physical-layer network coding (BQ-PNC) for Rayleigh flat fading TWRC. In BQ-PNC scheme, the two users employ quadrature carriers and the relay node use quadrature combining rather than XOR which is very common in other PNC schemes. We give the BER analysis of BQ-PNC and simulate the performance. Theoretical and simulation results show that the proposed scheme can significantly enhanced the BER performance, either in symmetric or asymmetric cases. Especially for uplink asymmetric TWRC, BQ-PNC can provide more than 4 dB gain compared with PNC scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food safety issues caused by food-borne pathogenic microorganisms during low-temperature food storage have attracted broad attention. In the current study, Staphylococcus aureus cells in planktonic and different stages of biofilm formation were inoculated into four types of quick-frozen rice and flour products. The changes in culturable cell number of S. aureus in the artificially contaminated food samples stored at 4 °C and −20 °C were recorded for 60 days. Next, the PMA-qPCR method was used to explore the viable cell number and determine whether low temperature induced S. aureus enter into the viable but non-culturable (VBNC) state. Finally, the expression changes of enterotoxin gene seb in S. aureus were determined by RT-qPCR during food sample storage. Results showed that the culturable cell number of S. aureus was not significantly changed during 60 days except for the decreased culturable cell number in the 8 h biofilm cells in MF stored at −20 °C. In addition, S. aureus cells did not enter into the VBNC state during low temperature storage. Moreover, the seb gene was continuously expressed in most samples although with difference in expression level. The findings provided an alert for the risk of S. aureus contamination in quick-frozen rice and flour products. • S. aureus planktonic and biofilm cells survival was examined in quick-frozen food model. • The persistence of S. aureus in rice and flour products at low temperatures was recorded in 60 days. • Assessed by PMA-qPCR, the VBNC state of S. aureus was formed in quick-frozen food model. • Overall seb gene expression and stable cell numbers posed risk of S. aureus in quick-frozen food. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Escherichia coli O157:H7 is a major foodborne pathogen causing food poisoning. Standard detection method for foodborne E. coli is plate counting, which is time consuming and omits VBNC cells. PSR is an isothermal amplification technique identifying trace amount DNA. However, its effectiveness is influenced by residual DNA from dead cells. This study aimed at designing a PMA-PSR system for accurate determination of viable cells of E. coli O157:H7. Firstly, PSR was optimized in fluorescence indicator, betaine concentration and reaction time. The optimized system could successfully identify rfbE, stx1 and stx2 genes within 45 min at 65 °C. Secondly, sensitivity and specificity were tested in pure culture and different food samples. With 100% specificity, PSR could determine DNA amount as low as 1.12 pg/μL. Thirdly, a PMA-PSR system was designed for accurate determination of viable cells. Cells were treated with 5 μg/mL PMA to remove residual DNA from dead cells. Pretreated cells were adapted to PSR, thus viable cells were specifically detected. Fourthly, the system was applied in food samples with VBNC cells. Viable cells could be accurately determined in accordance with regular assay. In conclusion, the PMA-PSR system was an efficient tool for accurate determination of E. coli O157:H7 viable cells. • The optimized PSR system could determine E. coli O157:H7 at 65 °C within 45 min. • PSR results can be determined by naked eye observation on color change. • PMA-PSR acquires high specificity (100%) and sensitivity (1.12 pg/μL). • PMA-PSR detects viable cells avoiding the impact of dead cells and food component. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A highly sensitive and selective electrochemical biomimetic sensor was fabricated for fast detection of chloramphenicol (CAP) in honey and milk samples. Platinum thin-film microelectrode (Pt TFME), which could provide unique electrochemical properties and achieve measurement using very limited solution volumes, was surface-modified by electropolymerizing o-phenylenediamine. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) were used to characterize the preparation process of CAP-imprinted poly( o-phenylenediamine) film and rebinding ability of CAP into the imprinted cavities. The electrochemical properties of the sensor were further investigated with square wave voltammetry (SWV) by using K3Fe(CN)6 as an electroactive probe. The current difference of oxidation peaks of K3Fe(CN)6 had a good linear relationship with the concentration of CAP in the range of 0.9-10 nM. The detection limit was 0.39 nM based on the signal to noise ratio of 3. The developed sensor was successfully applied to determine CAP in honey and milk samples, and the result was in good agreement with that obtained by high performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS). The sensor showed high sensitivity and excellent selectivity to CAP in comparison to other structurally related and/or normally existing antibiotics, and demonstrated great promise for the rapid quantification of CAP in real food samples and field analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is an important foodborne pathogen and produces a variety of toxins causing serious illnesses. This study aimed at developing a rapid detection assay for MRSA and toxins targeting on two housekeeping genes (mecA and femA) and 5 virulence factors (sea , seb , sec , see and pvl) using the polymerase spiral reaction (PSR), compared with PCR. For naked-eye result inspection, calcein was added and the PSR reaction can be completed at 65ᵒC within 60 min. The PSR assay was subjected to optimization, evaluation, and application in 3 different types of food sample made from rice and flour, designated rice and flour product. The limit of detection of PSR assay for the mecA , femA , sea , seb , sec , see and pvl genes was 4.2 pg/μL, 0.42 pg/μL, 630 pg/μL, 63 pg/μL, 12.3 pg/μL, 1.015 pg/μL and 53 pg/μL, respectively, which was higher than the sensitivity of PCR. In rice and flour products, the detection limit of PSR assay was 104 CFU/mL for mecA , and 103 CFU/mL for femA , sea , seb , sec , see and pvl genes. In conclusion, optimized PSR assay serves as an efficient tool for rapid, cost-effective and accurate testing of MRSA and is suitable for point-of-care detection. • The optimized PSR assay is efficient for rapid detection of MRSA and its toxins (within 65ᵒC for 60 min). • The PSR assay is applied in 3 different food types with high specificity (100%) and sensitivity (10–1000 times > PCR). • By adding calcein, color change from orange to green enables naked-eye inspection, avoiding false positive detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

MicroRNAs have been demonstrated to be involved in human diseases, including cardiovascular diseases. Growing evidences suggest that microRNA-155, a typical multifunctional microRNA, plays a crucial role in hematopoietic lineage differentiation, immunity, inflammation, viral infections, and vascular remodeling, which is linked to cardiovascular diseases such as coronary artery disease, abdominal aortic aneurysm, heart failure, and diabetic heart disease. The effects of microRNA-155 in different cell types through different target genes result in different mechanisms in diseases. MicroRNA-155 has been intensively studied in atherosclerosis and coronary artery disease. Contradictory results of microRNA-155 either promoting or preventing the pathophysiological process of atherosclerosis illustrate the complexity of this pleiotropic molecule. Therefore, more comprehensive studies of the underlying mechanisms of microRNA-155 involvement in cardiovascular diseases are required. Furthermore, a recent clinical trial of Miravirsen targeting microRNA-122 sheds light on exploiting microRNA-155 as a novel target to develop effective therapeutic strategies for cardiovascular diseases in the near future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to investigate morphological changes and regulatory mechanism of opportunistic pathogen Saccharomyces cerevisiae upon ultrasonic. Ultrasound intensities (0/102.8/288 W, 10 min) were applied on S. cerevisiae (OD 600 = 0.1), with morphology monitored by inverted microscopy, atomic force microscopy, digital holographic microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. Under high-power ultrasound (HPUL) treatment (288 W, 10 min), cells maintained chromosomal DNA integrity, with a large proportion of differentially expressed genes identified by RNA-seq. Osmotic pressure was firstly induced to disrupt ATPase and ion homeostasis, then reactive oxygen species and physical and chemical effects during cavitation were generated as key factors to inactivate S. cerevisiae cells. Besides, ergosterol of plasma membrane was changed, improving plasma membrane permeability for H 2 O 2. Accumulation of H 2 O 2 induced activation of stress response. During short-term HPUL, yeast down-regulated ribosome synthesis to prevent accumulation of ultrasound-induced dysfunctional protein. However, loss of protein synthesis caused insufficient protein supplement for growth and stress response during long-term HPUL, leading to cell wall injury. As concluded, HPUL induced stress response and changed cell metabolism of S. cerevisiae , potentially resulting in the failure of deactivation. This study will guide in proper treatment of opportunistic pathogen S. cerevisiae in food processing especially in ultrasonic application. The mechanism of ultrasound on the S. cerevisiae morphology and gene transcription. [Display omitted] • Monitored by IM, AFM, DHM, TEM, HPUL treated yeast cells surround by FS and maintain DNA integrity. • Reactive oxygen species and cavitation induced by HPUL is the first factor to inactivate yeast cells. • Ergosterol of plasma membrane changed by HPUL and accumulation of intracellular H 2 O 2 induce stress responses. • HPUL potentially improve yeast cell metabolism resulting in the failure of its deactivation in food processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to investigate effect of Hong Qu on flavor and quality of Hakka yellow rice wine (Hakka Huangjiu). Volatile components of three kinds of Hakka Huangjiu with or without adding Hong Qu were analyzed by solid phase microextraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Their non-volatile components were also detected by liquid chromatography quadrupole Orbitrap mass spectrometry (LC-Q-Orbitrap-MS). Results indicated that there were great differences in flavor components among three wines. Among them, the main difference components between traditional Hakka Huangjiu and Hakka Huangjiu without adding Hong Qu were isoamyl alcohol, phenylethanol, isobutyl acetate, isobutyl alcohol, ethyl palmitate and ethyl decanoate. In Hakka Huangjiu, esters were the most volatile components, followed by alcohols, while acids were less. Under NEG and POS modes of LC-Q-Orbitrap-MS, a total of 765 and 1244 components were detected in three kinds of Hakka Huangjiu, respectively. Among 217 kinds of polypeptides detected, the content of 160 kinds of polypeptides in Hakka Huangjiu adding only with Hong Qu was higher than that of traditional Hakka Huangjiu and Hakka Huangjiu without adding Hong Qu. Amino acids and polypeptides contents in Hakka Huangjiu brewed only with Hong Qu and traditional Hakka Huangjiu co-fermented with Hong Qu were relatively high. • Effect of Hong Qu on flavor and quality of Hakka Huangjiu was firstly reported. • Hakka Huangjiu added with Hong Qu had relatively high amino acid and polypeptide. • The tripeptide Gly-Leu-Phe was firstly identified in Hakka Huangjiu by LC-Q-Orbitrap-MS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of Schleiferilactobacillus (S.) harbinensis M1 as a starter culture, has been shown to improve the organoleptic quality of fermented soymilk, but its contribution to nutrient transformation and health-related functionality remains unclear. This study characterized the biotransformation of carbohydrates, isoflavones, proteins and free amino acids, as well as the antioxidant and antiproliferative activities of soymilk fermented by S. harbinensis M1. After fermentation, soybean carbohydrates were mainly converted into lactic acid (76.68 mmol/L) and acetic acid (8.19 mmol/L), isoflavone glucosides (daidzin and genistin) were partially converted to aglycones (daidzein and genistein). Soybean proteins were extensively hydrolyzed into oligopeptides and free amino acids, and the soluble peptide fraction (451-189 Da) increased from 4.6% to 86%. Whole-genome sequencing of S. harbinensis M1 revealed a 3,592,195 bp circular chromosome with 53.02% (G + C) content and 3375 coding genes. Metabolic prediction revealed the enzymes required for carbohydrate/pyruvate metabolism and isoflavone biotransformation. The whole proteolytic system was predicted, including peptide transport system and 66 genes encoding proteinases/peptidases. S. harbinensis M1 significantly (p < 0.05) improved the antioxidant activity and antiproliferative effects of soymilk against HepG2/MCF-7 cells. These findings suggest that S. harbinensis M1 can be used as a proteolytic starter-culture to make functional fermented foods. • Schleiferilactobacillus harbinensis M1 was isolated from Chinese fermented tofu whey. • S. harbinensis M1 produced large lactic acid and isoflavone aglycones in soymilk. • S. harbinensis M1 extensively degraded proteins into oligopeptides and amino acids. • S. harbinensis M1 fermented soymilk possessed notable antiproliferative activities. • Five α-galactosidase, 4 β-glucosidase, and 66 proteinases/peptidases were predicted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Network coding (NC) can greatly improve a system's performance on throughput and channel utilization via corresponding signal processing on the relay side. Implementation of NC in relay-assisted device-to-device (RA-D2D) communications is a promising way to further explore the advantages of RA-D2D communications in cellular systems. This paper proposes a signal processing scheme for RA-D2D which jointly takes into account NC and optimal relay selection. First, the optimal relay user equipment (UE) is selected by jointly considering the end-to-end data rate, end-to-end transmission delay, and relay survival time. Then, in the procedure of signal processing, the transmitted useful signal is combined with interference signal for NC operation, and finally, the original useful signal is recovered at the destination node. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme is able to not only eliminate the interference effectively but also has a superior performance on end-to-end transmission delay, reachability, and amount of transmitted information than that without NC. In particular, signal processing via NC is equivalent to encrypting the signal, which further enhances the information security in D2D communications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]