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The attention mechanism has been proven effective on various visual tasks in recent years. In the semantic segmentation task, the attention mechanism is applied in various methods, including the case of both convolution neural networks and vision transformer as backbones. However, we observe that the attention mechanism is vulnerable to patch-based adversarial attacks. Through the analysis of the effective receptive field, we attribute it to the fact that the wide receptive field brought by global attention may lead to the spread of the adversarial patch. To address this issue, in this paper, we propose a robust attention mechanism (RAM) to improve the robustness of the semantic segmentation model, which can notably relieve the vulnerability against patch-based attacks. Compared to the vallina attention mechanism, RAM introduces two novel modules called max attention suppression and random attention dropout, both of which aim to refine the attention matrix and limit the influence of a single adversarial patch on the semantic segmentation results of other positions. Extensive experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of our RAM to improve the robustness of semantic segmentation models against various patch-based attack methods under different attack settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abnormal healing following skin injury, such as slow healing and scar formation, can significantly affect an individual's life. Complex treatment methods and cumbersome instruments have reduced the efficacy of treating such diseases. In this study, a novel biocompatible liquid metal (LM) composite wound dressing (LGPU) is designed by synthesizing polyurea polyurethane (PU) and blending it with LM modified with glutathione (GSH), a bioactive three‐peptide compound. The effects of external electrical stimulation (ES) on wound‐induced hair follicle neogenesis are explored. The dressings exhibited a few important properties, including conductivity, high stretchability, recyclability, and, most importantly, excellent self‐healing capacity, owing to the liquid nature of the LM fillers and the highly dynamic characteristics of hydrogen bonds. Furthermore, the combination therapy with LGPU and ES promoted fibroblast migration and accelerated wound healing. The wounds treated with the combination therapy fully healed in nine days, while the wounds in the blank group are still in a scabbing state. Remarkably, this treatment method can activate the regeneration and healthy growth of hair follicles at the site of injury, which is beneficial for reducing wound scarring. Collectively, this innovative therapy provides a facile strategy to accelerate skin wound healing and achieve scar‐free repair. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reconstruction of stable potassium isotope composition (41K/39K) in ancient seawater has significant implications for our understanding of the fundamental controls on the long-term stability of Earth's climate and ocean chemistry, but the relevant research is hampered by scarce preservation of seawater K in geological records. Marine halite (NaCl) samples are potentially valuable archives of seawater K isotope signatures because they often contain abundant fluid inclusions directly sourced from evaporated ancient seawater. However, the extremely high Na matrix relative to low K concentrations in halite presents a formidable challenge for K isotope analysis. This study reports a novel and efficient K extraction method that can separate K from a high Na matrix by precipitating K as a sparsely soluble salt using sodium tetraphenylborate (TPB). Development of this method was based on an in-depth understanding of the TPB precipitation reaction and solubility equilibrium of relevant TPB salts. Key parameters, including reaction time, precipitate recovery and rinse, and further K purification for isotope analysis, have been optimized through extensive laboratory experiments. It is demonstrated that this new method can extract small quantities of K down to 20 μg from a large quantity of the NaCl matrix up to 1 gram. In addition, preliminary results show that this new extraction method can be also applied to prepare carbonate samples, which represent another important type of sample pertinent to K isotope research, notoriously difficult to analyze due to their low K concentrations and high Ca matrices. For the first time, this study demonstrates the utility of TPB chemistry in preparing challenging K-poor, matrix-rich samples for high-precision stable K isotope analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context Androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS) manifests itself as variable symptoms of under-virilization in patients with 46,XY disorders caused by androgen receptor (AR) gene variants. This large-sample study aimed to correlate the genotypes and phenotypes to the fertility of individuals. Methods This was a cohort study that analyzed the genetic and clinical characteristics of patients with AIS from a single center in China. Results The 117 patients were divided into 53 with complete AIS (CAIS) and 64 with partial AIS (PAIS). At their first visit, the median age was 1.83 years (0.92-4.17), and the external masculinization score was 3.0 (2.0-6.0). At the last follow-up, 92% (49/53) of patients with CAIS maintained their female gender, and 94% (60/64) of patients with PAIS were raised as males. No gender anxiety was observed in this study. Eighty-eight AR variants were identified, with 31 (35%) being unreported. Moreover, 24% (21/88) occurred more than once. The variants that appeared most frequently were located at amino acid 841, including p.R841H (n = 5) and p.R841C (n = 2). Variants p.N706S, p.R856H, and p.A871V were each observed 4 times. In terms of inheritance, 83% of patients with parental verification inherited variants from their mothers. We also observed that the variants from 1 case were inherited from his maternal grandfather who had hypospadias. Conclusion Most children with PAIS were raised as males. The abundance of maternally inheritable variants and the presence of case of preserved fertility indicate the fertility potential in patients with AIS. Hence, we recommend a careful evaluation of gonadectomy when fertility preservation is being considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Lung cancer is one of the most common malignant tumours that threaten human health globally. Radical resection under thoracoscopic guidance has been accepted as the major therapeutic option for treating lung cancer clinically. However, the procedure still has some adverse impacts on the comfort of patients following thoracoscopic surgery. OBJECTIVE: To analyse the reliability and validity of the postoperative comfort scale for patients with lung cancer undergoing endoscopic surgery and to evaluate patient comfort. METHODS: With 210 patients with lung cancer undergoing endoscopic surgery as the participants, this study was performed to assess the reliability and validity of the postoperative comfort scale for patients with lung cancer undergoing endoscopic surgery, with the assessment performed by eight experts. RESULTS: The postoperative comfort scale included 28 items and consisted of four dimensions (physiological, psychological, socio-cultural and environmental). The total Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the scale was 0.851, and the split-half reliability coefficient was 0.875. Meanwhile, the content validity index (CVI) was 0.875 ∼ 1, and the scale-level average CVI was 0.99. The Chi-square/degree-of-freedom ratio of construct validity was 2.844, suggesting a good model-fitting. Furthermore, the overall average score of patient comfort was 3.72 ± 0.57, with scores ranging between 3.59 ± 0.71 and 3.83 ± 1.06 across all four dimensions, with the lowest score in the physiological dimension. CONCLUSION: The postoperative comfort scale has good reliability and validity and can be applied for the postoperative comfort assessment of patients undergoing endoscopic surgery for lung cancer. Overall, the degree of patient comfort in this assessment was moderate, meaning targeted measures may be required to further improve patient comfort, especially in the physiological dimension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The loss of electronic medical records has seriously affected the practical application of biomedical data. Therefore, it is a meaningful research effort to effectively fill these lost data. Currently, state-of-the-art methods focus on using Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) to fill the missing values of electronic medical records, achieving breakthrough progress. However, when facing datasets with high missing rates, the imputation accuracy of these methods sharply deceases. This motivates us to explore the uncertainty of GANs and improve the GAN-based imputation methods. In this paper, the GRUD (Gate Recurrent Unit Decay) network and the UGAN (Uncertainty Generative Adversarial Network) are proposed and organically combined, called UGAN-GRUD. In UGAN-GRUD, it highlights using GAN to generate imputation values and then leveraging GRUD to compensate them. We have designed the UGAN and the GRUD network. The former is employed to learn the distribution pattern and uncertainty of data through the Generator and Discriminator, iteratively. The latter is exploited to compensate the former by leveraging the GRUD based on time decay factor, which can learn the specific temporal relations in electronic medical records. Through experimental research on publicly available biomedical datasets, the results show that UGAN-GRUD outperforms the current state-of-the-art methods, with average 13% RMSE (Root Mean Squared Error) and 24.5% MAPE (Mean Absolute Percentage Error) improvements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the policy background and advocacy of carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS), CO2-EOR has become a promising direction in the shale oil reservoir industry. The multi-scale pore structure distribution and fracture structure lead to complex multiphase flow, comprehensively considering multiple mechanisms is crucial for development and CO2 storage in fractured shale reservoirs. In this paper, a multi-mechanism coupled model is developed by MATLAB. Compared to the traditional Eclipse 300 and MATLAB Reservoir Simulation Toolbox (MRST), this model considers the impact of pore structure on fluid phase behavior by the modified PengeRobinson equation of state (PR-EOS), and the effect simultaneously radiate to MaxwelleStefan (MeS) diffusion, stress sensitivity, the nano-confinement (NC) effect. Moreover, a modified embedded discrete fracture model (EDFM) is used to model the complex fractures, which optimizes connection types and half-transmissibility calculation approaches between non-neighboring connections (NNCs). The full implicit equation adopts the finite volume method (FVM) and NewtoneRaphson iteration for discretization and solution. The model verification with the Eclipse 300 and MRST is satisfactory. The results show that the interaction between the mechanisms significantly affects the production performance and storage characteristics. The effect of molecular diffusion may be overestimated in oil-dominated (liquid-dominated) shale reservoirs. The well spacing and injection gas rate are the most crucial factors affecting the production by sensitivity analysis. Moreover, the potential gas invasion risk is mentioned. This model provides a reliable theoretical basis for CO2-EOR and sequestration in shale oil reservoirs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stable isotopes of cerium (Ce) and neodymium (Nd), two rare earth elements (REEs), have emerged recently as useful tracers for a range of geological and environmental processes, such as redox changes in environments or continental weathering. However, the coupled use of stable isotopes of two (or more) rare earth elements is often hampered by difficulties in sequential separation of individual REEs and analysis of their stable isotope ratios at high precision. Here, we report a new three-stage chromatographic procedure that allows for simultaneous separation of Ce and Nd from geological samples for high-precision analysis of their stable isotope ratios on MC-ICP-MS. This approach also allows for analysis of radiogenic 143Nd/144Nd ratios at high precision. Sequential separation of Nd and Ce in our procedure was achieved and optimized using α-hydroxyisobutyric acid (α-HIBA) as an eluent. Possible Ce and Nd stable isotope fractionations induced by the α-HIBA column were quantified. Total procedural blanks of our three-stage separation are low for Ce (∼46 pg) and Nd (∼2 pg). Extensive tests were conducted on MC-ICP-MS under dry plasma conditions to evaluate matrix effects associated with common cationic impurities, acid concentration, analyte/dopant ratio, and concentration mismatch between the sample and the bracketing standards. The presence of α-HIBA, and, occasionally, aluminum (Al) can affect measurements of both stable Ce and Nd isotopes, and acid concentration mismatch may affect stable Nd isotope measurements. An iterative correction method was developed to considerably increase the tolerance of stable Ce isotope analysis to Nd isobaric interferences, thereby improving the robustness of our measurement. Based on the analysis of various reference materials, we demonstrate that our new method is suitable for routine high-precision stable Ce and Nd isotope measurements on geological samples with a wide range of matrix compositions, yielding a long-term precision of ≤0.04‰ (2SD) for 142Ce/140Ce and ≤0.03‰ (2SD) for 146Nd/144Nd. This method also permits accurate radiogenic 143Nd/144Nd measurement with an external precision of ≤15 ppm (2SD). Because the α-HIBA column is known for its capability of separating individual REEs, our approach can be adapted to separate other REEs for high-precision stable and radiogenic isotope analysis with minor modifications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BAK and BAX execute intrinsic apoptosis by permeabilising the mitochondrial outer membrane. Their activity is regulated through interactions with pro-survival BCL-2 family proteins and with non-BCL-2 proteins including the mitochondrial porin VDAC2. VDAC2 is important for bringing both BAK and BAX to mitochondria where they execute their apoptotic function. Despite this important function in apoptosis, while interactions with pro-survival family members are well characterised and have culminated in the development of drugs that target these interfaces to induce cancer cell apoptosis, the interaction between BAK and VDAC2 remains largely undefined. Deep scanning mutagenesis coupled with cysteine linkage identified key residues in the interaction between BAK and VDAC2. Obstructive labelling of specific residues in the BH3 domain or hydrophobic groove of BAK disrupted this interaction. Conversely, mutating specific residues in a cytosol-exposed region of VDAC2 stabilised the interaction with BAK and inhibited BAK apoptotic activity. Thus, this VDAC2–BAK interaction site can potentially be targeted to either inhibit BAK-mediated apoptosis in scenarios where excessive apoptosis contributes to disease or to promote BAK-mediated apoptosis for cancer therapy. BAK and BAX execute apoptotic cell death by increasing the permeability of the mitochondria outer membrane, and this is regulated by interactions with the mitochondrial channel protein VDAC2. This study maps the key residues involved in the BAK:VDAC2 interaction and demonstrate that this interaction can be targeted to either promote or inhibit apoptosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Usually, the resolution loss is severe in light‐field display due to the spatial multiplexing of several neighboring pixels to display images from different directions. However, limited by the resolution of the flat panel display, the light‐field 3D display shows insufficient display size, 3D image depth, or resolution. This article uses optimized ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) shutters with high contrast (~1000:1), ultra‐fast response (<20 μs), and polarity‐related binary switching at low operating voltage (5 V). This article utilized 32 time‐sequentially opened FLC light valve arrays refreshed at 2 kHz to display images from different directions. Because of the polarity‐sensitive switching nature of FLC, the reverse phase induces serious crosstalk between different images. This work uses the timing synchronization method of dual‐FLC liquid crystal cells to achieve independent control of 32 light valves without reverse phase, reducing the crosstalk and increasing the equivalent 3D resolution by multiplexing the flat panel display 32 times within 60 Hz. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advanced age is an independent risk factor for coronary artery disease (CAD), the leading global cause of mortality. Senescent vascular cells in the atherosclerotic plaques exhibit senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP). How SASP contributes to atherosclerosis and CAD, however, remains unclear. Here, we integrated RNA-array datasets of senescent human coronary arterial endothelial cells (HCAECs) and aortic smooth muscle cells (HASMCs) as well as genome-wide association data for CAD. We identified 26 genes from HCAECs and 6 genes from HASMCs related to SASP and CAD in both in-house and published datasets. Of which, Cystatin C (CST3), a CAD susceptibility gene, was found to be expressed in both HCAECs and HASMCs, thus, it was prioritized for further investigation. We demonstrated it was significantly elevated in senescent vascular cells, aged arteries, and early atherosclerosis. In vitro experiments showed that CST3 enhances the monocyte–endothelial cell adhesion. Additionally, ligand–receptor pairing analyses revealed two important pathways, COL4A1-ITGA1 and LPL-LRP1 pathways, linked to the critical processes in the development of atherosclerosis, including cell adhesion, inflammation response, extracellular matrix organization, and lipid metabolism. We further demonstrated a reduced monocyte–endothelial cell adhesion following the knockdown of COL4A1 or ITGA1 and a significantly increased expression of COL4A1, ITGA1, and LPL in arterial intima of aged mice and ApoE −/− mice. Our findings demonstrate that vascular cell-derived SASP proteins increase the CAD susceptibility and identify CST3 functionally contributing to atherosclerosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Continuous emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants urges the development of new vaccines. We assessed the safety and immunogenicity of SYS6006.32, a bivalent vaccine (XBB.1.5/BQ.1), in healthy adults who had received SARS-CoV-2 primary vaccination. In a randomised, double-blinded, active-controlled trial, 200 participants were randomised to receive one dose of SYS6006.32 (N = 100) or a prototype-based, monovalent control vaccine SYS6006 (N = 100). Adverse events (AEs) were collected through the study. Immunogenicity was assessed by live-virus neutralising antibody (Nab) and pseudovirus Nab. 61 (61.0 %) and 60 (60.0 %) participants reported AE in the SYS6006.32 and SYS6006 groups, respectively. Most AEs were grade 1 or 2. Pain and fever were the most common injection-site and systemic AEs, respectively. No serious AEs were observed. SYS6006.32 heterologous boosting induced robust Nab responses against BA.5, XBB.1.5 and EG.5 with live-virus Nab geometric mean titres (GMTs) increased by 17.1-, 34.0-, and 48.0-fold, and pseudovirus Nab GMTs increased by 12.2-, 32.0-, and 35.1-fold, respectively, 14 days after vaccination. SYS6006.32 demonstrated a superior immunogenicity to SYS6006. SYS6006.32 also induced robust pseudovirus Nab responses against XBB.1.16, XBB.2.3, and BA.2.86, with GMTs 3- to 6-fold higher than those induced by SYS6006. In conclusion, SYS6006.32 showed good safety profile and superior immunogenicity to the monovalent vaccine SYS6006. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ideal fuel rail pressure is a significant component to keep the high-pressure common rail (HPCR) system work stably. The influence of time-varying fuel injection disturbance of the HPCR system is neither fully considered nor well dealt with in traditional rail pressure control approaches. To this end, the rail pressure tracking problem of an HPCR system is investigated in this paper using a generalized proportional integral observer (GPIO)-based composite control algorithm. A nonlinear model of the HPCR system is first established based on fluid dynamics and mechanics laws. Then, a GPIO is utilized to observe the time-varying fuel injection disturbance. Based on the design of a nonlinear sliding surface using the disturbance estimation, a GPIO-based nonsingular terminal sliding mode control (NTSMC) method is proposed to achieve a better rail pressure tracking control performance and a stronger robustness. Finally, a group of simulations in the MATLAB/Simulink environment and experiments in a more realistic Advanced Modeling Environment for performing Simulation of engineering systems (AMESim) environment are conducted, the results of which demonstrate the advantage and effectiveness of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the U.S. manufacturing reshoring policy's motivations, implementation, and challenges, emphasizing the interplay between domestic politics and foreign policy. Topics include policy approaches like industrial legislation, their effectiveness, and the broader implications for global supply chains and economic competition.

Clinically unpredictable retention following fat grafting remains outstanding problems because of the unrevealed mechanism of grafted fat survival. The role of autophagy, a process to maintain cellular homeostasis through recycling cellular debris, has yet been to be reported in fat grafting. This study aims to improve the survival of fat grafting through the autophagy. First, the relationship between cell death and autophagy in the early stage of fat grafting was evaluated through immunostaining, RNA sequencing, and western blot. Next, rapamycin, an autophagic agonist, was used for the culturing of adipose-derived stem cells and adipocytes during ischemia. Cell death, autophagy, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) were assayed. Finally, rapamycin was used to assist fat grafting in nude mice. The results demonstrated that the peak of cell death at the early stage of fat grafting was accompanied by a decrease in autophagy. In vitro, during ischemia, 25 nM was confirmed as the optimal dose of rapamycin that reduces cell death with enhanced autophagy and mitophagy, improved mitochondrial quality as well as decreased ROS accumulation. In vivo, promoted mitophagy, alleviated oxidative stress, and decreased cell apoptosis of rapamycin-treated fat grafts were observed in the early stage. In addition, rapamycin increased the survival of fat grafts with increased neovascularization and reduced fibrosis. We suggested that moderate autophagy induced by rapamycin contribute to enhanced ischemic tolerance and long term survival of fat grafts through mitochondrial quality control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we present a concavity property of the minimal $L^{2}$ integrals related to multiplier ideal sheaves with Lebesgue measurable gain. As applications, we give necessary conditions for our concavity degenerating to linearity, characterizations for 1-dimensional case, and a characterization for the holding of the equality in optimal $L^2$ extension problem on open Riemann surfaces with weights may not be subharmonic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents an approach to achieve a fast and analog geometrical phase modulation based on the optical axis rotation of the defect‐free Deformed Helix Ferroelectric Liquid Crystal (DHFLC) with a short pitch. This study demonstrates a Spatial Light Modulator (SLM) prototype with a feature size of 3 µm without Fringe Field Effect (FFE), having a phase depth of 1.9π, fast switching time (<250 µs) at a low operating voltage (<7 V), and high diffraction efficiency (>77%). The high phase modulation depth is achieved by developing DHFLC with a cone angle of up to 85˚, which is inherently immune to FFE. The ellipticity is minimized by using a compensation film that can suppress the changes in birefringence under the applied electric field. The proposed SLM is promising in applications such as a real‐time hologram and dynamic beam steering in Light Ranging and Detector (LiDAR). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we obtain an effectiveness result of strong openness property in L^p with some applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The model of superposition queries in symmetric cryptanalysis has yielded remarkable results, such as Simon's period-finding algorithm, which can break many constructions in polynomial time. However, due to limitations of current physical devices, quantum circuits with long depths are often noisy and difficult to realize in practice. The novel computing architecture of distributed quantum computing is expected to reduce the noise and depth of quantum circuits. In this paper, we propose an offline algorithm model that combines distributed Simon's and Grover's algorithms. This model enables us to perform key recovery attacks on different rounds Feistel structures, Even Mansour construction, and the FX construction, while minimizing the quantum query complexity. Despite being limited to classical queries and offline quantum computations, we leverage the algebraic structure of cryptosystems to achieve successful key recovery attacks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grammatical Error Correction (GEC) is the task of automatically detecting and correcting errors in text. The task not only includes the correction of grammatical errors, such as missing prepositions and mismatched subject–verb agreement, but also orthographic and semantic errors, such as misspellings and word choice errors, respectively. The field has seen significant progress in the last decade, motivated in part by a series of five shared tasks, which drove the development of rule-based methods, statistical classifiers, statistical machine translation, and finally neural machine translation systems, which represent the current dominant state of the art. In this survey paper, we condense the field into a single article and first outline some of the linguistic challenges of the task, introduce the most popular datasets that are available to researchers (for both English and other languages), and summarize the various methods and techniques that have been developed with a particular focus on artificial error generation. We next describe the many different approaches to evaluation as well as concerns surrounding metric reliability, especially in relation to subjective human judgments, before concluding with an overview of recent progress and suggestions for future work and remaining challenges. We hope that this survey will serve as a comprehensive resource for researchers who are new to the field or who want to be kept apprised of recent developments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PbZr0.52Ti0.48O3(PZT)/PbZrO3(PZ) composite films are deposited on LaNiO3/SiO2/Si substrates using sol–gel method, and annealed at 620 °C for a different time with the rapid thermal annealing technology. The microstructures, crystal structure, and electrical performance of the PZT/PZ composite films are researched. When the composite films are annealed at 620 °C for 3 min, the PZT films show the perovskite phase and the PZ films exhibit the pyrochlore phase with tiny perovskite phase, making the films obtain a linear hysteresis loop and possess the high energy storage density of 10.0 J cm−3 and the energy storage efficiency of 84.8%. The aforementioned experimental results show that the phase structure of the PZT/PZ multilayer films can be regulated by different annealing times, which would improve the energy storage performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soft‐bodied aquatic organisms and amphibians have different locomotion forms optimized for the living environment. With the increase of scientific research on oceanographic engineering, more and more researchers are paying attention to the underwater movement of bionic robots. Currently, underwater robots face two critical problems, that is, the inefficient actuation of traditional stimulatory response materials and the inability to ensure accurate spatiotemporal control of deformation. In this study, a soft stimulus‐responsive material is designed for remote cordless control in the water environment. An underwater bionic snake soft robot is fabricated using a temperature‐sensitive hydrogel Poly(N‐isopropylacrylamide) and carbon nanotubes with the ability to convert light into heat. Tunable shape deformation and movement, including the concertina and serpentine locomotion of a light‐driven bionic snake soft robot, are realized by controlling the position of joints through light illumination. In addition, the transport of rod‐like objects, obstacle‐surmounting, and working on different surfaces are achieved by the bionic snake robot. This study will provide references for research on the multiple underwater locomotion forms of light‐driven soft robots. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Collision-free trajectory planning in narrow spaces has become one of the most challenging tasks in automated parking scenarios. Previous optimization-based approaches can generate accurate parking trajectories, but these methods cannot compute feasible solutions with extremely complex constraints in a limited time. Recent research uses neural-network-based approaches that can generate time-optimized parking trajectories in linear time. However, the generalization of these neural network models in different parking scenarios has not been considered thoroughly and the risk of privacy compromise exists in the case of centralized training. To address the above issues, this paper proposes a hierarchical trajectory planning method with deep reinforcement learning in the federated learning scheme (HALOES) to rapidly and accurately generate collision-free automated parking trajectories in multiple narrow spaces. HALOES is a federated learning based hierarchical trajectory planning method to fully exert high-level deep reinforcement learning and the low-level optimization-based approach. HALOES further fuse the deep reinforcement learning model parameters to improve the generalization capabilities with a decentralized training scheme. The federated learning scheme in HALOES aims to protect the privacy of the vehicle's data during model parameter aggregation. Simulation results show that the proposed method can achieve efficient automatic parking in multiple narrow spaces, improve planning time from 12.15 % to 66.02 % compared to other state-of-the-art methods (e.g., hybrid A*, OBCA) and maintain the same level of trajectory accuracy while having great model generalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Malignant melanoma is a typical type of cancer that feature the obesity paradox. Objectives: We aim to evaluate the role of acyl-CoA synthetase medium-chain 3 (ACSM3) in obesity paradox in malignant melanoma (MM). Methods: With reproduction of the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) MM dataset and validation using immunohistochemistry, we evaluated correlations of ACSM3 expression with body mass index (BMI), gender, and androgen receptor (AR) expression. Results: ACSM family genes were downregulated in MM and in normal skin exposed to ultraviolet. Higher expression of ACSM3 was associated with improved overall survival in men but not in women. Subgroup analysis showed the best survival outcome in obese patients with high ACSM3 expression. ACSM3 expression was significantly lower in cases with ulceration. NET-GE-based gene enrichment analysis of ACSM-overexpressed cases showed significant enrichment in lipid metabolism and butanoate metabolism. AR stood as the top possible transcription factor of ACSM3 using multiple algorithms. Expressions of ACSM3 and AR were positively correlated in obese men and overweight women. ACSM3 expression was positively correlated with BMI in men and overweight women. Conclusion: ACSM3 expression is associated with obesity in MM patients and correlates with AR. Functional analysis linking the findings to the obesity paradox warrants further study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inspired by Hosoyamada and Sasaki (in: International conference on security and cryptography for networks, pp 386–403. Springer, 2018), we propose a new quantum meet-in-the-middle (QMITM) attack on r-round ( r ≥ 7 ) Feistel construction to reduce the time complexity, which is based on Guo et al. (Des Codes Cryptogr 80(3):587–618, 2016) classical meet-in-the-middle (MITM) attack. In our attack, we adjust the size of truncated differentials to balance the complexities between constructing the tables and querying firstly and introduce a quantum claw finding algorithm to solve the collision search problem in classical MITM attack. The total time complexities of our attack are only O (2 2 n / 3 · n) , O (2 19 n / 24 · n) and O (2 (r - 5) n / 4 · n) , when r = 7 , r = 8 and r > 8 , lower than classical and quantum attacks. Moreover, our attack belongs to Q1 model and is more practical than other quantum attacks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long-span and wide railway bridges are loaded with various loading cases, and the structural dynamic amplification factor (DAF) corresponding to different loading cases has great variability. This study presents an approach to obtaining DAF under different loading cases. Then the approach is applied to the analyses of DAFs from long-term monitoring data. The usual values of vibration amplitude and DAF under eight single-train loading cases during long-term operation are analyzed, and the midspan amplitude and displacement DAF of the main girder under the typical two-vehicle intersection, three-train intersection, and four-train intersection loading cases are also investigated. The correlation between the DAF of the eight loading cases, the structural temperature, and the train speed under the single-train loading case is analyzed. The obtained results show that in the long-term operation, the vibration amplitude level and DAF level of the railway bridge are mainly related to the train loading case, and in 16-carriage loading cases, the DAF value is higher than that in eight-carriage loading cases in the same line. The vertical dynamic response of the midspan main girder under each working condition is small. Furthermore, depending on this evolution law, different traffic loading cases must be considered during the assessment of dynamic performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dynamic load histories of vulnerable fatigue sites in structures are of paramount importance for safety design, and such load–time histories with long duration are usually lumped together to a load spectrum for safety assessment. In this paper, long-term field tests involving several operation variables, including track types, operation speeds, passenger lines, trains and their in-service time, were carried out to obtain stress–time histories of the bogie frame of high-speed trains. By comparing the stress spectra from different operation conditions, we identified the correlation between operation variables and the characteristics of stress spectra. It was found that both track type and operation speed play a prominent role in the magnitudes of stress spectra. Combined with the segmented Weibull model, we quantified the impact of operation variables on damage and confirmed that the inflection stress in the segmented Weibull model can be used as a measure of track status. The results revealed in this report could help obtain a systematic understanding of the fatigue performance of structures of complex dynamic systems like high-speed trains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid development of diesel engines, reducing the pressure fluctuation of the common rail has become a key factor to improve the performance of the high pressure common rail (HPCR) system. Among traditional rail pressure control approaches, the influence of time-varying disturbances on the HPCR system is not fully considered and is not well dealt with. To this end, a nonlinear model of the HPCR system is firstly established based on fluid dynamics and mechanics laws. And a composite controller based on the nonlinear model is proposed. It consists of two parts: 1) A sliding mode feedback part; 2) A disturbance feedforward compensation part based on a generalized proportional integral observer. Finally, a group of test is simulated in the AMESim simulation environment and the results are shown to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rehabilitation doctors are responsible for the respiratory function exercise during hospitalisation, mainly for patients with relatively poor preoperative lung function and patients with relatively complicated surgery. The results indicated that the postoperative exercise compliance of the lung cancer patients was higher in the observation group than in the control group, while the extubation time and the time to first leaving the bed were shorter in the observation group than in the control group, indicating that the multimodal health education method could improve the postoperative exercise compliance of lung cancer patients and shorten their postoperative recovery time. The feedback method involves the patient receiving health education from the medical staff, after which the patient uses their own language to repeat or demonstrate the understood health-related knowledge.[20] This creates opportunities for healthcare workers to further understand the extent of the patient's understanding of the relevant education information. [Extracted from the article]

• Cr and Mn atoms are the main active sites over CrMn 1.5 O 4 (1 0 0) surface. • A reaction scheme for the reduction of NO on the surface of CrMn 1.5 O 4 catalyst is proposed. • The generation of N 2 is accomplished in two main steps. • The energy barrier for the reaction to generate NO 2 is extremely low and contributes significantly to the reduction of NO. A comprehensive study of the catalytic behavior of CrMn 1.5 O 4 catalysts in the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) of nitrogen oxides (NO x) using NH 3 as the reductant was presented. The active sites for NO x reduction and NH 3 adsorption on the CrMn 1.5 O 4 surface were identified by density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The study elucidates the mechanism of NH 3 dehydrogenation and NO reduction, revealing key intermediates and reaction pathways. DFT calculation results showed that the chromium and manganese atoms on the surface, participating in the specifically d − sp hybridization with NH 3 , NO, played a key role in adsorption, and that NH 3 dehydrogenation led to the formation of NH 2 , which was a key intermediate in the selective catalytic reduction reaction. To further understand the process of NO generation to NO 2 and N 2 O on the surface of CrMn 1.5 O 4 catalyst, the chain reaction steps of NO reduction were proposed. Among them, NO was oxidized to NO 2 , and the very low reaction energy barrier contributed greatly to the fast SCR reaction, while the generation of the unwanted product N 2 O had a relatively high energy barrier, so the reaction was not easy to occur. These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the intricate catalytic behavior of CrMn 1.5 O 4 catalysts, which will aid in the development of better SCR catalysts for the effective removal of NO x in industrial settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thirty-four individual thermohaline sheets are identified at depths of 170–400 m in the Canada Basin of the Arctic Ocean by using the hydrographical data measured with the Ice-Tethered Profilers (ITPs) between August 2005 and October 2009. Each sheet is well determined because the salinity within itself remains very stable and the associated salinity anomaly is markedly smaller than the salinity jump between neighboring sheets. These thermohaline sheets are nested between the Lower Halocline Water (LHW) and Atlantic Water (AW) with lateral coherence of hundreds of kilometers and thickness varying from several to dozens of meters. The physical properties, including temperature, heat flux, and vertical turbulent diffusivity, in the sheet are found to be averagely associated with the AW propagation. Spatially, the thermohaline sheet is in a bowl-shaped distribution, which is deepest in the basin center and gradually becomes shallower toward the periphery. The interaction between the LHW and AW could be demonstrated through the property variances in the sheets. The temperature variances in the upper and lower sheets are correlated with the LHW and AW, respectively, transited at the 15th sheet, whereas the depth variance in the sheet is strongly correlated with the LHW. It is proposed that the sheet spatial distribution is mainly dominated by the Ekman convergence with the Beaufort Gyre, slightly modulated with the AW intrusion. Significance Statement: The diffusive convection staircases, composed of consecutive steps containing thick mixed layers and relatively thin interfaces, are prominent between the Lower Halocline Water (LHW) and the Atlantic Water (AW) throughout the Canada Basin. This sheet-like structure is in a bowl shape with lateral coherence over hundreds of kilometers. It is proposed that the distribution of the thermohaline sheet is mainly dominated by the Ekman convergence with Beaufort Gyre, as well as the AW intrusion. The present method of thermohaline-sheet identification would have more implications beyond this work. Since the thermohaline sheet remains mostly stable and coherent on a very large spatial–temporal scale, it might play a similar role as the water mass analysis in numerous applications, e.g., climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An unprecedented highly enantioselective Ru‐catalyzed direct asymmetric reductive amination of α‐keto amides with ammonium salts has been disclosed, efficiently offering valuable enantioenriched N‐unprotected unnatural α‐amino acid derivatives bearing a broad range of aryl or alkyl α‐substituents. This protocol features easily accessible substrates, good functional‐group tolerance and excellent enantiocontrol, making it a good complementary approach to the known methods. Moreover, this method is also applicable to the preparation of N‐unprotected unnatural α‐amino acid derivatives containing an additional stereogenic center at the β‐position through a dynamic kinetic resolution (DKR) process. Convenient transformations of the obtained products into chiral N‐unprotected unnatural α‐amino acids, drug intermediates, peptides, and organocatalysts/ligands further showcase the utility of this method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An unprecedented highly enantioselective Ru‐catalyzed direct asymmetric reductive amination of α‐keto amides with ammonium salts has been disclosed, efficiently offering valuable enantioenriched N‐unprotected unnatural α‐amino acid derivatives bearing a broad range of aryl or alkyl α‐substituents. This protocol features easily accessible substrates, good functional‐group tolerance and excellent enantiocontrol, making it a good complementary approach to the known methods. Moreover, this method is also applicable to the preparation of N‐unprotected unnatural α‐amino acid derivatives containing an additional stereogenic center at the β‐position through a dynamic kinetic resolution (DKR) process. Convenient transformations of the obtained products into chiral N‐unprotected unnatural α‐amino acids, drug intermediates, peptides, and organocatalysts/ligands further showcase the utility of this method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low accuracy is the main challenge that plagues the application of engine modeling technology at present. In this paper, correlation analysis technology is used to analyze the main influencing factors of engine torque and NOx (nitrogen oxides) raw emission performance from a statistical point of view, and on this basis, the regression algorithm is used to construct the engine torque and NOx emission prediction model. The prediction RMSE between engine torque prediction value and true value reaches 4.6186, and the torque prediction R2 reaches 1.00. Prediction RMSE between NOx emission prediction value and true value reaches 67.599, and NOx emission prediction R2 reaches 0.99. When using the new WHTC data for model prediction verification, the RMSE between the engine torque predicted value and true value reaches 4.9208, and the prediction accuracy reaches 99.60%, the RMSE between NOx emission prediction value and true value reaches 72.38, and the prediction accuracy reaches 99.2%, indicating that the model is relatively accurate. The evaluation result of the ambient temperature impact on torque shows that ambient temperature is positively correlated with engine torque. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traffic flow modeling relies heavily on fundamental diagrams. However, deterministic fundamental diagrams, such as single or multi-regime models, cannot capture the underlying uncertainty in traffic flow. To address this limitation, this study proposes a non-parametric Gaussian process model to formulate the stochastic fundamental diagram. Unlike parametric models, the non-parametric approach is insensitive to parameters, flexible, and widely applicable. The computational complexity and high memory requirements of Gaussian process regression are also mitigated by introducing sparse Gaussian process regression. This study also examines the impact of incorporating empirical knowledge into the prior of the stochastic fundamental diagram model and assesses whether such knowledge can enhance the model's robustness and accuracy. By using several well-known single-regime fundamental diagram models as priors and testing the model's performance with different sampling methods on real-world data, this study finds that empirical knowledge benefits the model only when small inducing samples are used with a relatively clean and large dataset. In other cases, a purely data-driven approach is sufficient to estimate and describe the density–speed relationship pattern. • Non-parametric regression model introduced for stochastic fundamental diagrams. • Sparse Gaussian process regression reduces computational complexity and memory use. • Empirical knowledge integration evaluated for robustness and accuracy enhancement. • Empirical knowledge benefits the model only when small inducing samples are used. • Data-driven approach remains effective for estimations with large datasets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hadal Mariana Trench remains poorly understood. In December 2016, an array of high-resolution temperature loggers, attached to the ocean bottom seismometers (OBSs), was deployed from 1665 to 7520 m for two weeks across the Challenger Deep of the Southern Mariana Trench. The temperature variance spectrum reveals that the bottom water is mildly turbulent and it is mainly modulated by the semidiurnal internal tides. At the second deepest observation station (depth of 7015 m), the viscous subrange is resolved in the high-frequency spectrum. Applying the proposed method with Taylor's frozen field hypothesis and Kraichnan theoretical spectrum analysis, it is revealed that turbulent dissipation rate ɛ is 7. 8 × 1 0 − 10 m 2 / s 3 and flow speed U is 8.9 mm/s. Dissipation rates ɛ of all stations vary between 5. 9 × 1 0 − 11 and 1. 4 × 1 0 − 9 m 2 / s 3 , with the northern region of Challenger Deep experiencing stronger energy dissipation than the southern one. The vertical distribution of dissipation rate ɛ shows that it decreases with increasing depth from 1000 to 6000 m, but then increases to around 8000 m, which is consistent with previous observations and numerical simulations. The available turbulent mixing data indicates that the energy dissipation is vertically distributed in a distinct multilayer structure in the deep ocean of Challenger Deep, which is proposed to link to the intrusion of water mass in the deep Mariana trench. • The precise bottom temperature variance across the Challenger Deep was measured. • The bottom water is mildly turbulent with the theoretical spectra analysis. • The deep mixing is behaved in a multilayer structure, likely driven by intrusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flower‐like NiCo2S4@biomass‐graded porous carbon (NiCo2S4@BGPC) material was successfully prepared using a simple hydrothermal method and the pseudocapacitive performance was investigated. The results showed that the composite had good capacitive behavior and electrochemical activity due to the structural synergy of the porous carbon and flower‐like material. In this composite, the flower‐like NiCo2S4 had a large contact area with the electrolyte solution, providing many active sites for pseudocapacitive reactions. Meanwhile, the introduction of the porous carbon skeleton further ensured the structural stability of the composite's conductive network. In summary, the flower‐like NiCo2S4@BGPC material showed the high specific capacitance of 1322.5 F g−1 at the current density of 1 A g−1 and excellent coulombic efficiency (96.8 % after 1000 cycles at 10 A g−1). However, it has poor cycling stability (77 % of the initial specific capacitance after 1000 cycles at 10 A g−1), which can be attributed to blockage of the pore structure due to volume expansion during the redox process. In two‐electrode system tests, both NiCo2S4@BGPC//NiCo2S4@BGPC symmetrical supercapacitor and NiCo2S4@BGPC//AC asymmetrical supercapacitor showed good capacitance performance and cycling performance, implying potential applications of NiCo2S4@BGPC in commercial electrochemical energy storage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Here we disclose a fast (ON time ∼50 μs and OFF time ∼25 μs at 55 °C), high‐contrast, continuous phase modulator without fringe field effect (FFE). The phase modulator uses the Kerr effect of vertically aligned deformed helix ferroelectric liquid crystals (VADHFLCs). Specifically, FFE is a long‐term problem for nematic liquid crystals (NLCs). In this article, we are disclosing, for the first‐time found, that no FFE exists for VADHFLCs, even for phase modulator with 1‐μm pixel pitch. It is an attractive feature for ultra‐high‐resolution display and photonic applications. Moreover, the Kerr constant is 88 nm/V2, and the contrast ratio is larger than 1000:1. It is a promising candidate for high‐PPI augmented reality (AR)/virtual reality (VR) displays, wavelength selective switch (WSS), hologram, adaptive optics, and LiDARs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dearomatization reactions provide rapid access to structurally complex three-dimensional molecules from simple aromatic compounds. Plenty of reports have demonstrated their utilities in the synthesis of natural products, medicinal chemistry, and materials science in the last decades. Recently, visible-light mediated photocatalysis has emerged as a powerful tool to promote many kinds of transformations. The dearomatization reactions induced by visible-light have also made significant progress during the past several years. This review provides an overview of visible-light induced dearomatization reactions classified based on the manner in which aromaticity is disrupted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spirocyclic framework is found in many natural products, some of which are biologically active. However, It remains a challenge to develop environmentally friendly and atom‐economic synthetic methods. Herein, we report an intramolecular dearomatization reaction of benzene derivatives enabled by electrochemistry‐mediated two successive single‐electron‐transfer (SET) processes, providing an alternative method for the rapid construction of spirocyclic skeletons without using sacrificial reagents. A series of cyclohexadiene products were obtained in 25–81% yields. Furthermore, a proposed mechanism involving a sequential electron transfer event was supported by cyclic voltammetry experiments. This strategy features transition‐metal‐free conditions and easy handling, which will greatly enhance its practical utility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we consider a modified version of minimal L2 integrals on sublevel sets of plurisubharmonic functions related to modules at boundary points, and obtain a concavity property of the modified version. As applications, we give characterizations for the concavity degenerating to linearity on open Riemann surfaces and on fibrations over open Riemann surfaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Detection of potential damage is of great significance for aging railway bridges. In this paper, a damage location method for beam railway bridges based on the rotation response to operational train loading is presented. The method is based on deformation area analysis of the operational rotation response of bridges to the passage of trains. The theoretical basis of this method is elaborated. The calculated deformation curvature area difference ratio (CADR) change is used to identify damage in bridges. To obtain the curvature area, a technique is proposed for the curvature area calculation. The results are presented in terms of the damage condition extracted from each ratio, which was obtained by dividing the deformation area from the current interval to the sum of the areas from all the intervals. The location of damage was identified by observing the magnitude of the changes in the CADR. Finite element models were utilized to verify the method. The influences of train-track-bridge interaction and environmental temperature changes were considered. The calculation process is given for the application of the proposed method to the damage location of railway bridges. Thereafter, vehicle-bridge models with different parameters are investigated. The results show the capability of the method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nominal spatial distribution of diapycnal mixing in the South China Sea (SCS) is obtained with Thorpe-scale analysis from 2004 to 2020. The inferred dissipation rate ε and diapycnal diffusivity Kz between 100 and 1500 m indicated that the strongest mixing occurred in the Luzon Strait and Dongsha Plateau regions, with ε ~ 3.0 × 10−8 W kg−1 (εmax = 5.3 × 10−6 W kg−1) and Kz ~ 3.5 × 10−4 m2 s−1 (Kzmax = 4.2 × 10−2 m2 s−1). The weakest mixing occurred in the thermocline of the central basin, with ε ~ 6.2 × 10−10 W kg−1 and Kz ~ 3.7 × 10−6 m2 s−1. The ε and Kz in the continental slope indicated that the mixing in the northern part [O(10−8) W kg−1 and O(10−4) m2 s−1, respectively] was comparatively stronger than that in the Xisha and Nansha regions [O(10−9) W kg−1 and O(10−5) m2 s−1, respectively]. The Kz in the continental slope region (200–2000 m) decayed at a closed rate from the ocean bottom to the main thermocline when the measured depth D was normalized by the ocean depth H as D/H, whether in the shallow or deep oceans. The diapycnal diffusivity was parameterized as Kz = 3.3 × 10−4[1 + (1 − D/H)/0.22]−2 − 6.0 × 10−6 m2 s−1. The vertically integrated energy dissipation was nominally 15.8 mW m−2 for all data and 25.6 mW m−2 for data at stations H < 2000 m. This was about one order of magnitude higher than that in the open oceans (3.0–3.3 mW m−2), which confirmed the active mixing state in the SCS. Significance Statement: Diapycnal mixing (mixing across surfaces of constant density) is a dominant process in the ocean. It can affect ocean circulation and climate change. The South China Sea (SCS) is known as a strongly mixed marginal sea, but little research has been done on the SCS as a whole, and relatively little attention has been given to its central and southern regions. This study aimed to explore the nominal spatial variability of mixing in the entire SCS using Thorpe-scale analysis. Our study showed that the diapycnal mixing was stronger in the continental slope than in the central basin and that it followed a decay model from the bottom up in the region of the continental slope. According to our results, the averaged energy dissipation in the SCS was about one order of magnitude higher than that in the open oceans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of quantum computers has urged the cryptographic community to prepare cryptographic primitives for the eventual arrival of the post-quantum world. At Asiacrypt 2017, Leander and May combined Grover's and Simon's quantum algorithms to break the FX-based block ciphers. Technically this result is based on the combination of the quantum algorithms of Grover's and Simon's for the first time in the cryptographic setting. In this study, we using Bernstein–Vazirani's and Grover's algorithms to generate a new quantum key-recovery attacks on different rounds of Feistel constructions. An advantage of our attack is the keys can be divided into multiple blocks to enter the S-box and realize the process of recovery; this method greatly reduces the complexity of key recovery. Hence, it has strong practicability for key recovery (e.g., DES, Camellia, etc.). In order to show that, a detailed process has been provided in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reveals a ferroelectric liquid crystal Dammann grating (FLCDG) based polarisation-modulation system for three-dimensional imaging (3D-imaging) device, which seriously increases the detection speed for Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR). Innovatively the FLC modulator with FLCDG that offers a high-speed shutter having frame frequency >50k frames/s. The proposed FLCDG replaces the iterative scanning and enables LiDAR as a one-shot capturing system. The proposed device shows a fast-switching speed (~5 μs) and precisely detects the translational as well as the rotational movement. Furthermore, low fabrication cost, lightweight, and small size make this device perfectly suitable modern LiDARs, particularly for short distances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The leucocyte esterase (LE) strip test often is used to diagnose periprosthetic joint infection (PJI). In accordance with the manufacturer's directions, the LE strip test result is read 3 minutes after exposing it to joint fluid, but this has not been supported by robust research. Moreover, we have noted that the results of the LE strip test might change over time, and our previous studies have found that centrifugation causes the results of the LE strip test to degrade. Still, there is no evidence-based recommendation as to when to read the LE strip test to maximize diagnostic accuracy, in general, and the best reading times for the LE strip test before and after centrifugation need to be determined separately, in particular.Questions/purposes: (1) What is the optimal timing for reading LE strip test results before centrifugation to diagnose PJI? (2) What is the optimal timing for reading LE strip test results after centrifugation to diagnose PJI?Methods: This study was a prospective diagnostic trial. In all, 120 patients who were scheduled for revision arthroplasty and had signs of infection underwent joint aspiration in the outpatient operating room between July 2018 and July 2019 and were enrolled in this single-center study. For inclusion, patients must have had a diagnosis of PJI or nonPJI, valid synovial fluid samples, and must not have received antibiotics within 2 weeks before arthrocentesis. As such, 36 patients were excluded; 84 patients were included for analysis, and all 84 patients agreed to participate. The 2018 International Consensus Meeting Criteria (ICM 2018) was used for the classification of 49 patients with PJI (score ≥ 6) and 35 without PJI (score ≤ 2). The classification was used as the standard against which the different timings for reading LE strips were compared. All patients without PJI were followed for more than 1 year, during which they did not report the occurrence of PJI. All patients were graded against the diagnostic criteria regardless of their LE strip test results. In 83 patients, one drop of synovial fluid (50 μL) was applied to LE strips before and after centrifugation, and in one patient (without PJI), the sample was not centrifuged because the sample volume was less than 1.5 mL. The results of the strip test were read on an automated colorimeter. Starting from 1 minute after centrifugation, these strips were automatically read once every minute, 15 times (over a period of 16 minutes), and the results were independently recorded by two observers. Results were rated as negative, ±, 1+, and 2+ upon the machine reading. Grade 2+ (dark purple) was used as the threshold for a positive result. An investigator who was blinded to the study performed the statistics. Optimal timing for reading the LE strip before and after centrifugation was determined by using receiver operative characteristic (ROC) analysis. The specificity, sensitivity, and positive predictive and negative predictive values were calculated for key timepoints.Results: Before centrifugation, the area under the curve was the highest when the results were read at 5 minutes (0.90 [95% CI 0.83 to 0.98]; sensitivity 0.88 [95% CI 0.75 to 0.95]; specificity 0.89 [95% CI 0.72 to 0.96]). After centrifugation, the area under the curve was the highest when the results were read at 10 minutes (0.92 [95% CI 0.86 to 0.98]; sensitivity 0.65 [95% CI 0.50 to 0.78]; specificity 0.97 [95% CI 0.83 to 1.00]).Conclusion: The LE strip test results are affected by time and centrifugation. For samples without centrifugation, we found that 5 minutes after application was the best time to read LE strips. We cannot deny the use of centrifuges because this is an effective way to solve the sample-mingling problem at present. We recommend 10 minutes postapplication as the most appropriate time to read LE strips after centrifugation. Multicenter and large-sample size studies are warranted to further verify our conclusion.Level Of Evidence: Level II, diagnostic study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lightweight NiAl alloys are expected to replace high-density nickel-based superalloys, but their mechanical performance needs to be improved. In this work, NiAl–30Cr composites with a novel heterogeneous microstructure composed of fine NiAl matrix and Cr single-phase was successfully prepared. Nanoscale Cr particles with 15 nm in size precipitated in NiAl matrix are coherent with NiAl matrix owing to very low interplanar and interatomic spacing mismatch. Such a composite microstructure makes NiAl–30Cr exhibit high strength and high toughness. The yield strength (1207 MPa), ultimate compressive strength (2307 MPa), product of strength and plasticity (29.3 GPa%), and fracture toughness (10.76 MPa m1/2) of NiAl–30Cr increased by 96.6%, 85.6%, 55.1% and 19.7% respectively at room temperature compared to the corresponding ones of NiAl. At 1000 °C, the yield strength (144 MPa) of NiAl–30Cr was 85.9% higher than that of NiAl. Solution strengthening and precipitation strengthening were the key strengthening mechanisms at room temperature. The enhancement in toughness was attributed to grain refinement, increased crack propagation paths, weakened Ni–Al covalent bonding and coordinated deformation of Cr single-phase and NiAl matrix. By contrast, the main strengthening mechanism at 1000 °C is the solid solution Cr atoms hindering dislocation climbing and the stable interface bonding between the Cr nanoprecipitation phase and the NiAl matrix. This work provides new ideas for preparing high-strength and tough NiAl alloy. • NiAl–30Cr consists of NiAl and Cr single-phase, which can coordinate deformation. • Coherent Cr nano-precipitates distribute in NiAl matrix, and interface is stable. • The yield strength increased by 96.6% and 85.9% at 25 °C and 1000 °C. • The strengthening and toughening mechanisms are revealed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving carbon emission efficiency in Chinese manufacturing is crucial for achieving dual benefits of economic growth and energy conservation. However, traditional data envelopment analysis methods fail to simultaneously consider technological heterogeneity and data noise. In this study, we propose a novel meta-frontier carbon emission efficiency indicator that accounts for both technological heterogeneity and noise, utilizing an improved Shephard carbon distance function. To uncover the sources of efficiency loss, we analyze efficiency from the perspectives of production technology and management, decomposing meta-frontier carbon emission inefficiency into technological gap inefficiency and management inefficiency. Based on this framework, we calculate the meta-frontier carbon emission efficiency for 27 manufacturing industries in China from 2011 to 2020 and analyze the underlying causes of their low carbon emission efficiency. The results indicate that Chinese manufacturing exhibits relatively low meta-frontier carbon emission efficiency with significant industrial heterogeneity. Industries with high technological levels outperform those with medium and low technological levels. The main cause of carbon emission inefficiency in Chinese manufacturing is attributed to technological gaps. Building upon these findings, we propose measures to enhance carbon emission efficiency for different manufacturing industries at varying technological levels. Our research sheds light on important patterns among different sectors. • A novel method for estimating CO 2 emission efficiency has been proposed. • There exists significant industrial heterogeneity in carbon emission efficiency of Chinese manufacturing. • The main reason for carbon emission inefficiency is technological disparity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wavefront distortions pose a significant limitation in various optical applications, hindering further advancements in optical system performance. In this study, a novel generic calibration model based on Zernike‐fitting neural network (ZFNN) is proposed, which enables insitu wavefront correction with just a single‐shot measurement. The experimental setup follows a standard or equivalent focal‐field imaging optical path, allowing calibration without the need to remove any components from the optical system. The ZFNN, a physics‐informed neural network, offers the advantage of not requiring prior training, eliminating the need for extensive labeled data. With a fully connected network architecture and a modest number of neurons (469), the ZFNN achieves exceptionally fast optimization speed and meets the basic requirements for real‐time calibration. Consequently, this approach holds great potential for applications such as rapid calibration of optical systems, high‐precision light field modulation, and various advanced imaging techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Double-strand breaks (DSBs), one class of the most harmful DNA damage forms that bring elevated health risks, need to be repaired timely and effectively. However, an increasing number of environmental pollutants have been identified to impair DSB repair from various mechanisms. Our previous work indicated that the formation of unsaturated RecA nucleofilaments plays an essential role in homology recombination (HR) pathway which can accurately repair DSBs. In this study, by developing a benzonase cutting protection assay and combining it with traditional electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA) analysis, we further investigated the assembly patterns of four RecA mutants that display differential DSB repair ability and ATPase activity. We observed that the mutants (G204S and S69G) possessing both ATP hydrolysis and DSB repair activities form unsaturated nucleofilaments similar to that formed by the wild type RecA, whereas the other two ATP hydrolysis-deficient mutants (K72R and E96D) that fail to mediate HR form more compacted nucleofilaments in the presence of ATP. These results establish a coupling of ATPase activity and effective DSB repair ability via the assembly status of RecA nucleofilaments. This linkage provides a potential target for environmental factors to disturb the essential HR pathway for DSB repair by suppressing the ATPase activity and altering the assembly pattern of nucleofilaments. Image, graphical abstract [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]