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In‐memory computing and sensing can break through the limit of the traditional Von Neumann architecture where information storing and computing units are separated. Recently the topographic creation of a ferroelectric domain wall in separation of two antiparallel domains in LiNbO3 single‐crystal films integrated with the Si substrate has been the focus of such research. Here, the additional freedom of the light stimulus is reported to modulate the domain wall current significantly, enabling applications in nonvolatile domain wall memory, photodetector, and image recognition processor. These measurements shows the fantastic photosensitivity of 2D domain walls where the photocurrent varies nonlinearly against the accumulative pulse number. With this observation, an associated learning model is constructed to stimulate neuromorphic computing (with a recognition accuracy of 90%) using an artificial neuromorphic network of domain walls. The research promotes the multifold development of artificial intelligence using domain‐wall nanodevices sensitive to both optical and electrical stimulus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The terminal mining is an essential part of fully mechanized mining, and the reasonable length of the flap roof during the terminal mining is an important basis for the smooth operation of the terminal mining. With the research background of the 213 working face of the Longde Coal Mine, the contribution of this study is the influence law of hydraulic fracturing on the terminal mining mechanical behavior of the working face. Four different numerical calculation models of terminal mining hydraulic fracturing are established, and the optimal hydraulic fracturing site plan is determined according to the length of the terminal mining flap top and the working resistance of hydraulic support. The effect of hydraulic fracturing construction and the law of mechanical behavior in the terminal mining stage in the field test are analyzed. The results show that through hydraulic fracturing technology, the control of the length of the flap roof of the working face during the terminal mining period has been realized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) possess the characteristics of self-renewal and differentiation, as well as the ability to generate functional sperm. Their unique stemness has broad applications in male infertility treatment and species preservation. In rodents, research on SSCs has been widely reported, but progress is slow in large livestock such as cattle and pigs due to long growth cycles, difficult proliferation in vitro, and significant species differences. Previously, we showed that histone 3 (H3) lysine 9 (K9) trimethylation (H3K9me3) is associated with the proliferation of bovine SSCs. Here, we isolated and purified SSCs from calf testicular tissues and investigated the impact of different H3K9me3 levels on the in vitro proliferation of bovine SSCs. The enriched SSCs eventually formed classical stem cell clones in vitro in our feeder-free culture system. These clones expressed glial cell-derived neurotrophic factor family receptor alpha-1 (GFRα1, specific marker for SSCs), NANOG (pluripotency protein), C-KIT (germ cell marker), and strong alkaline phosphatase (AKP) positivity. qRT-PCR analysis further showed that these clones expressed the pluripotency genes NANOG and SOX2, and the SSC-specific marker gene GFRα1. To investigate the dynamic relationship between H3K9me3 levels and SSC proliferation, H3K9me3 levels in bovine SSCs were first downregulated using the methyltransferase inhibitor, chaetocin, or transfection with the siRNA of H3K9 methyltransferase suppressor of variegation 3-9 homologue 1 (SUV39H1). The EDU (5-Ethynyl-2′-deoxyuridine) assay revealed that SSC proliferation was inhibited. Conversely, when H3K9me3 levels in bovine SSCs were upregulated by transfecting lysine demethylase 4D (KDM4D) siRNA, the EDU assay showed a promotion of cell proliferation. In summary, this study established a feeder-free culture system to obtain bovine SSCs and explored its effects on the proliferation of bovine SSCs by regulating H3K9me3 levels, laying the foundation for elucidating the regulatory mechanism underlying histone methylation modification in the proliferation of bovine SSCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to understand the connectivity characteristics of construction land during the spatial evolution of historic urban areas. The complex network analysis method is employed to examine the evolution of the spatial structure of construction land in the four periods of the Changsha historic urban area. The results indicate that the spatial network morphology of construction land follows a repeated development pattern resembling a cluster–mother–child relationship. Additionally, the vulnerability in the evolution of land use spatial relationships is very low, while the overall stability of the land use network structure decreases. The spatial equilibrium of land use shows a downwards trend, the accessibility of land where existing cultural relics and historic sites are located is generally moderate to low, and some plots require improvement. In the evolution of connectivity in the construction land of historic urban areas, the main development challenges are the uneven growth caused by imbalanced land value influenced by capital and the need to balance the preservation of land use patterns with improved accessibility to cultural relics and historic sites. Therefore, it is highly important to dynamically detect and optimize the network structure of construction land to protect and develop historic urban areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sperm selection is an important step in preserving male fertility. Microfluidic technology integrates precision flow channels and anciilary systems on a small-area chip, which can simulate the interaction between sperm and female reproductive tracts and construct fluid sorting models to study the physiological characteristics of sperm and screen ideal sperm cells for fertility evaluation and preservation. This article reviews the latest research progress in microfluidic chips in the selection of sperm in recent years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cocatalysts play a key role in enhancing activity of photoelectrodes while the study of their interaction remains a challenge. Here, we decoupled the relationship between oxygen evolution reaction (OER) performance and photoelectrochemical (PEC) water oxidation performance by modifying an identical BiVO4 with different cobalt‐based OER catalysts including Co, CoO, Co3O4, and Co4N. The electrochemical OER activities of these cobalt specimens were quite similar. Their anodic photocurrent density followed an order of: Co4N>Co>Co3O4>CoO after loading on the BiVO4 electrode. The kinetics process and energy band diagram were analyzed, revealing that the interface between different cobalt specimens and BiVO4 electrode influenced the charge recombination and transfer. Accordingly, we propose a corresponding structural model, which shows that the cocatalysts consist of inner part for interface modulation and the outer layer for catalysis. The present work reveals the vital role of contact interface between cocatalysts and semiconductors, and more attention should be paid when selecting the cocatalysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Methane (CH4) emissions from ruminants are of a significant environmental concern, necessitating accurate prediction for emission inventories. Existing models rely solely on dietary and host animal-related data, ignoring the predicting power of rumen microbiota, the source of CH4. To address this limitation, we developed novel CH4 prediction models incorporating rumen microbes as predictors, alongside animal- and feed-related predictors using four statistical/machine learning (ML) methods. These include random forest combined with boosting (RF-B), least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO), generalized linear mixed model with LASSO (glmmLasso), and smoothly clipped absolute deviation (SCAD) implemented on linear mixed models. With a sheep dataset (218 observations) of both animal data and rumen microbiota data (relative sequence abundance of 330 genera of rumen bacteria, archaea, protozoa, and fungi), we developed linear mixed models to predict CH4 production (g CH4/animal·d, ANIM-B models) and CH4 yield (g CH4/kg of dry matter intake, DMI-B models). We also developed models solely based on animal-related data. Prediction performance was evaluated 200 times with random data splits, while fitting performance was assessed without data splitting. The inclusion of microbial predictors improved the models, as indicated by decreased root mean square prediction error (RMSPE) and mean absolute error (MAE), and increased Lin's concordance correlation coefficient (CCC). Both glmmLasso and SCAD reduced the Akaike information criterion (AIC) and Bayesian information criterion (BIC) for both the ANIM-B and the DMI-B models, while the other two ML methods had mixed outcomes. By balancing prediction performance and fitting performance, we obtained one ANIM-B model (containing 10 genera of bacteria and 3 animal data) fitted using glmmLasso and one DMI-B model (5 genera of bacteria and 1 animal datum) fitted using SCAD. This study highlights the importance of incorporating rumen microbiota data in CH4 prediction models to enhance accuracy and robustness. Additionally, ML methods facilitate the selection of microbial predictors from high-dimensional metataxonomic data of the rumen microbiota without overfitting. Moreover, the identified microbial predictors can serve as biomarkers of CH4 emissions from sheep, providing valuable insights for future research and mitigation strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous studies on sampling methods have been conducted to balance the inspection efficiency and accuracy of coordinate measuring machines (CMMs). However, almost all existing methods only take into account the information from the processed surface during the reconstruction process. To address this limitation, an adaptive sampling method based on co-kriging method is proposed, according to the characteristics of the interpolation reconstruction method, we treat certain feature points on the surface as anchor points and determine the distribution of other measurement points through iteration. In the reconstruction process, we employ the co-kriging interpolation method and combine extra information of the model surface to enhance the reconstruction accuracy. Through simulations and actual measurements of processed surfaces, we compare the proposed method with other algorithms. The results indicate that our method is particularly suited for complex surfaces with a limited number of measurement points, and can substantially reduce the reconstruction error when the number of measurement points is the same. • A method using CAD model information has been proposed, which improves reconstruction accuracy without additional time cost. • An adaptive sampling method based on co-kriging interpolation has been proposed. • This method has a high degree of scalability, compensating of CAD information is effective for any adaptive method. • The proposed method can significantly improve inspection accuracy, especially when there are limited measurement points. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Dingqing ophiolite represents a significant allochthonous ophiolite nappe in the eastern segment of the Bangong–Nujiang suture zone in southeastern Tibet. The microanalytical data of associated podiform chromitites classify them into two distinct varieties: high-Al and high-Cr. The coexistence of both high-Cr and high-Al chromitites in the Dingqing ophiolite suggests a complex or multistage evolutionary history of the host rocks. New petrological and geochemical analyses are used herein to unravel the interrelationships between the chromitite ores and host rocks and assess the mechanism of formation. The Dingqing ophiolitic nappe is made up mainly of harzburgite, dunite, and less abundant pyroxenite and gabbro. Several small lens-shaped bodies of chromitite ore are mostly confined to the harzburgite rocks, with ore textures varying from massive to sparsely disseminated chromite. In addition to magnesiochromite, the orebodies contain minor amounts of olivine, amphibole, and serpentine. The textural relationships provide compelling evidence of plastic deformation and partial melting of the associated peridotites. Detailed examination of the Cr-spinel grains reveals a wide range of composition, spanning from high-Al (Cr# = 3.18–59.5) to high-Cr (Cr# 60.3–87.32). The abundances of the platinum-group element (PGE) in chromitites are significantly variable (93 to 274 ppb). Formation of the Dingqing peridotites most likely took place in a mid-ocean ridge (MOR) setting, and subsequent modifications by supra-subduction zone (SSZ) melts resulted in heterogenous or mixed geochemical characteristics of these rocks. Chemistry of the spinel–olivine–clinopyroxene assemblage demonstrates multiple stages of partial melting of the source mantle rocks, including an early phase of restricted partial melting (~20%–30%) and a later phase of extensive partial melting (>40%). The formation of the high-Al chromitite type was associated with the early phase (constrained melting), whereas extensive partial melting in the late stages likely led to the accumulation of high-Cr podiform chromitite bodies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) are the only primitive spermatogonial cells in males that can naturally transmit genetic information to their offspring and replicate throughout their lives. Phospholipase D family member 6 (PLD6) has recently been found to be a surface marker for SSCs in mice and boars; however, it has not been validated in cattle. The results of reversed transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) found that the relative expression of the PLD6 gene in the testicular tissues of two-year-old Simmental calves was significantly higher than that of six-month-old calves. Immunofluorescent staining further verified the expression of PLD6 protein in bovine spermatogenic cells like germ cell marker DEAD box helicase 4 (DDX4, also known as VASA). Based on multiple bioinformatic databases, PLD6 is a conservative protein which has high homology with mouse Q5SWZ9 protein. It is closely involved in the normal functioning of the reproductive system. Molecular dynamics simulation analyzed the binding of PLD6 as a phospholipase to cardiolipin (CL), and the PLD6-CL complex showed high stability. The protein interaction network analysis showed that there is a significant relationship between PLD6 and piwi-interacting RNA (piRNA) binding protein. PLD6 acts as an endonuclease and participates in piRNA production. In addition, PLD6 in bovine and mouse testes has a similar expression pattern with the spermatogonium-related genes VASA and piwi like RNA-mediated gene silencing 2 (PIWIL2). In conclusion, these analyses imply that PLD6 has a relatively high expression in bovine testes and could be used as a biomarker for spermatogenic cells including SSCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is estimated to have 70 million lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people, and in recent decades, the LGBT movement has seen rapid growth. However, because of the unavailability of data, a comprehensive understanding of the degree of regional development of the Chinese LGBT movement has been unavailable. By analyzing keyword search volumes for LGBT-related terms on Baidu (the largest internet search engine in China) from 2009 through 2015, we have produced the first representative and longitudinal portrait of LGBT orientation across the country. Our data revealed that the level of LGBT orientation search index in a province is significantly correlated with modernization and cultural capital stock factors, such as GDP per capita, resident income level, openness to foreign culture, and local cultural infrastructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a natural medication and food plant resource, Liquidambar formosana Hance (L.) leaves are growing popularity in the fields of medicine and health care. The essential oil of L. leaves was extracted by continuous flow microreactor, and the extraction rate is 53.2%. 26 compounds from essential oil were identified by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The main components of these compounds are α-pinene, β-pinene and limonene. Ten of them are reported for the first time. The antibacterial activity of essential oil was investigated by the inhibition zone method, minimum inhibitory concentration and inhibition growth curve experiment. The results show that the essential oil had inhibitory effects on both Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Bacillus subtilis (B.subtilis), and the minimum inhibitory concentrations are 1.0 μg/mL and 1.2 μg/mL. The inhibition effect on gram-negative bacteria E.coli is stronger. The results of this study show that the essential oil contains rich medicinal value components and have great potential for exploitation. This research provided a scientific foundation for understanding essential oil while also providing a theoretical foundation for their full and rational utilization. Simultaneously, research into the antibacterial properties of essential oil provides a scientific basis for the further development of the anti-bacterial agents that exists in plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The basic leucine zipper (bZIP) transcription factors, which harbor a conserved bZIP domain composed of two regions, a DNA-binding basic region and a Leu Zipper region, operate as important switches of transcription networks in eukaryotes. However, this gene family has not been systematically characterized in cotton (Gossypium hirsutum). Here, we identified 197 bZIP family members in cotton. The chromosome distribution pattern indicates that the GhbZIP genes have undergone 53 genome-wide segmental and 7 tandem duplication events which contribute to the expansion of the cotton bZIP family. Phylogenetic analysis showed that cotton GhbZIP proteins cluster into 13 subfamilies, and homologous protein pairs showed similar characteristics. Inspection of the DNA-binding basic region and leucine repeat heptads within the bZIP domains indicated different DNA-binding site specificities as well as dimerization properties among different groups. Comprehensive expression analysis indicated the most highly and differentially expressed genes in root and leaf that might play significant roles in cotton response to drought stress. GhABF3D was identified as a highly and differentially expressed bZIP family gene in cotton leaf and root under drought stress treatments that likely controls drought stress responses in cotton. These data provide useful information for further functional analysis of the GhbZIP gene family and its potential application in crop improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanomotor systems have attracted extensive attention due to their applications in nanorobots and nanodevices. The control of their response is crucial but presents a great challenge. In this work, the rotating and braking processes of a carbon nanotube (CNT)-based rotor system have been studied using molecular dynamics simulation. The speed of response can be tuned by controlling the ratio of hydroxyl groups on the edges. The ratio of hydroxyl groups is positively correlated with the speed of response. The mechanism involved is that the strong hydrogen bonds formed between interfaces increase the interface interaction. Incremental increase in the hydroxyl group concentration causes more hydrogen bonds and thus strengthens the interconnection, resulting in the enhancement of the speed of response. The phonon density of states analysis reveals that the vibration of hydroxyl groups plays the key role in energy dissipation. Our results suggest a novel routine to remotely control the nanomotors by modulating the chemical environment, including tuning the hydroxyl groups concentration and pH chemistry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photoelectrochemical (PEC) performance of WO3 photoanodes for water splitting is heavily influenced by the orientation of crystal facets. In this work, mono‐particle‐layer electrodes, assembled by particulate WO3 square plates with highly uniform alignment along the (002) facet, improved PEC water oxidation kinetics and stability. Photo‐deposition of Au along the cracks formed on the surface of the plates, which are the edges of {110} facets, was found to further enhance electron collection efficiency. Combination of these two strategies allowed the facet‐engineered WO3 electrode to produce significantly higher efficiencies in charge separation and transfer than the electrode prepared without facet orientation. This work has provided a facile route for fabricating a structurally designed WO3 photoelectrode, which is also applicable to other regularly shaped semiconductor photocatalysts with anisotropic charge migration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compared with most existing results concerning unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) wherein two-degree or only attitude/longitudinal dynamics are considered, this paper proposes an event-based fault-tolerant coordinated control (FTC) for multiple fixed-wing UAVs such that the consensus tracking of velocity and attitude is achieved in the presence of actuator faults, external disturbances and modeling uncertainties. More precisely, as opposed to static event-triggered communication mechanisms, a dynamic event-triggered communication mechanism (DECM) is devised to schedule the connected communications while avoiding the unnecessary information exchanges among UAVs, which reduces the communication burden and saves on the network resources. Meanwhile, the Zeno phenomenon is excluded in terms of guaranteeing that the period between two consecutive triggering communication is lower bounded by a positive constant. Moreover, the actuator fault, external disturbance as well as model uncertainty are treated as the lumped disturbances and estimated via the disturbance observer technique. By strict Lyapunov arguments, all closed-loop signals are proved to be uniformly ultimately bounded (UUB) and the tracking errors of velocity and attitude converge to a residual set around origin. Finally, simulation results are presented to illustrate the validity and superiority of proposed event-based control scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Feed system thermal error model based on positioning error decoupling is proposed. • Thermally induced error is affected by motion and non-motion heating. • Feed system already has thermal errors when it is not working. • Thermal error model based on MLR has physical meaning and good robustness. • MLR has better accuracy than data-driven models over long time prediction. Thermal error modeling and compensation considering of the measured positioning error decoupling for the lathe with a slant bed is proposed. Due to the complex coupling factors of thermal error, the current compensation methods exhibit limited applicability and generalization. The linear fitting method is used to decouple geometric error and thermal error from the positioning error. The motion heating and non-motion heating experiments of X-direction feed system were carried out to investigate the principle of thermal error generation and the impact factors. The multiple linear regression model of the thermal error was established based on the analysis of the thermal error measurement results. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed model, the thermal error at two working conditions was predicted, and then the error compensation was carried out. The results show that the positioning error is reduced by more than 84% and 92% with the present method compared with that without compensation. This research provides effective method for the generation principle and compensation of thermally induced errors of lathe with a slant bed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In contrast with most existing results concerning unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) wherein two-degree or only attitude/longitudinal dynamics are considered, this article proposes an event-triggered cooperative synchronization fault-tolerant control (FTC) methodology for multiple fixed-wing UAVs whose dynamics are six-degree-of-freedom (DOF) with twelf-state-variables subject to actuator faults, modeling uncertainties, and external disturbances. More precisely, an event-triggering mechanism is devised to determine the time instants of updating control signals, which reduces the signal transmission burden, while saving on system resources. The Zeno phenomenon is excluded in the sense of guaranteeing that the time between two consecutive switchings is lower bounded by a positive constant. The actuator faults as well as the network induced errors are handled via the bound estimation approach and some well-defined smooth functions. By strict Lyapunov arguments, all closed-loop signals are proved to be semi-globally uniformly ultimately bounded (SGUUB) and the synchronization tracking errors of speed and attitude converge to a residual set around origin whose size can be made arbitrarily small through selecting appropriate design parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Expansins are nonenzymatic cell wall proteins that play significant role in plant development as well as stress responses. Hereby, an expansin-like gene, GhEXLB2 was isolated from a cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) protoplast with suppression subtractive hybridization to characterize and study its responses against abiotic stresses. GhEXLB2 is the cell-wall localized protein. The expression of GhEXLB2 level was significantly high under polyethylene glycol and salt treatments. GhEXLB2 was further characterized in vitro by cloning and transformation into cotton. Cotton plants overexpressing GhEXLB2 showed enhanced drought tolerance at germination, seedling and flowering stages. After polyethylene glycol (PEG) treatment at germination stage, the length of main root and hypocotyl of overexpressing lines was significantly longer than YZ1 (wild type) and RNAi lines. In addition, H 2 O 2 and malondialdehyde (MDA) contents were lower, while superoxide dismutase (SOD) and peroxidase (POD) activity was detected higher in overexpressing seedlings. On the other hand, higher SOD and POD activity was detected in overexpressing lines than WT plants in soil. In addition, water use efficiency (WUE), soluble sugar, and chlorophyll contents were also significantly greater in overexpressing plants. The present study revealed that GhEXLB2 play crucial role in enhancing drought resistivity in cotton. • Developing drought tolerant varieties could be a way to mitigate the effects of drought stress. • Transgenic cotton plants overexpressing and RNAi GhEXLB2 were developed to characterize GhEXLB2 in drought stress. • The overexpressing lines showed higher drought tolerance compared to mock and RNAi lines. • Hydrogen peroxide and malondialdehyde contents were low in overexpressing lines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mitochondrial autophagy (mitophagy) is a key physiological process that maintains the homeostasis of mitochondrial quality and quantity. Monitoring mitophagy is of great significance for detecting cellular abnormalities and developing therapeutic drugs. However, there are still very few biomarkers specifically developed for monitoring mitophagy. Here, we propose for the first time that mitochondrial G-quadruplex may serve as a biomarker for mitophagy detection, and develope a fluorescent light-up probe AMTC to monitor mitophagy in live cells. During mitophagy, AMTC fluorescence is significantly enhanced, but once mitophagy is inhibited, its fluorescence immediately decreases. The fluorescence behavior of AMTC implicates an increase in the formation of mitochondrial G-quadruplex during mitophagy. This inference has also been supported by the other two G-quadruplex probes. Taken together, this work provides a new possible biomarker and detection tool for the study of mitophagy. • Mitochondrial G-quadruplex is proposed as a biomarker for mitophagy detection. • Fluorescent probe AMTC can monitor mitophagy by recognizing G-quadruplexes. • The fluorescence of AMTC is positively correlated with the progression of mitophagy. • Both mitophagy induction and inhibition were sensitively monitored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The filling material of the karst collapse column (KCC) is easy to be activated by mining. During this process, the mechanical properties of KCC fillings change, and its water resisting capacity constantly deteriorates and thus often leads to water inrush disaster. In this study, the samples of KCC fillings were taken on-site and then were remolded by the consolidation drainage method. The variation laws of the compressive strength, tensile strength, cohesive stress, internal friction angle, and permeability of the filling samples with respect to the consolidation pressure and moisture content were tested and analyzed. Based on an engineering example, the yield and activation and particle loss of the filling material of the KCC are analyzed. A mechanism for the lagging water inrush of KCC in the process of mining is proposed. The main results of the present study can be concluded concisely as follows. (1) The KCC fillings show obvious soft rock characteristics in the process of uniaxial compression and Brazilian split. The ratio of the uniaxial compressive strength to splitting tensile strength is between 12 : 1 and 8 : 1. The larger the consolidation pressure or the smaller the moisture content, the larger the ratio. (2) With the increase of consolidation pressure or the decrease of moisture content, the uniaxial compressive strength, elastic modulus, splitting tensile strength, cohesive stress, and internal friction angle of the filling material of the KCC increase linearly, while its permeability increases exponentially. (3) When the crack field of the surrounding rocks of the stope is connected with the KCC, its filling material will continue to yield, activate, and migrate under the fluid-solid coupling effect and finally result in the lagging water inrush from the KCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although experts at home and abroad have done a lot of research on the performance of ancient wooden structures and seismic reinforcement, and have achieved many results, due to the complexity of its mechanical properties and the particularity of seismic reinforcement design, currently it is the research still lacks completeness and systematicness. The purpose of this article is to observe and analyze the strength of nanomaterials during the repair and reinforcement of ancient wooden structures, analyze the role of nanomaterials during the repair and reinforcement of ancient wooden structures, and understand the impact of nanomaterials on the strength and repair of ancient materials. A comparative analysis of the strength values, to explore the strength of nanomaterials during the repair and strengthening of ancient wooden structures. Using the method of this article, through the analysis of experimental data, we understand the role of the strength of nanomaterials during the repair and strengthening of ancient wooden structures, and found that the strength of nanomaterials plays an important role when repairing and strengthening the ancient wooden structures. Combined with the experimental data, it is analyzed that the effect of the value of nanomaterial strength when repairing and strengthening the ancient building wood structure is 58%. The research results show that the value of nanomaterial strength when repairing and strengthening the ancient building wood structure has an important role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Angiotensin Converting Enzyme Inhibitors (ACEI) are a common cause of Emergency Room presentation for angioedema. Although no treatment guidelines exist, C1 esterase inhibitor concentrate (C1-INH) is used on an off label basis for management of ACEI acquired angioedema (ACEI AAE). Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of C1-INH in management of ACEI AAE at our local centers. Results: Nine patients, from 3 academic sites, were identified through Allergy Service consultation data and records from Diagnostic Services Manitoba, Canada from 2010–2020. The majority of the patients (n = 8/9) required endotracheal intubation prior to the initiation of C1-INH. Overall, approximately 56% of patients (n = 5/9) had resolution of angioedema ranging between 12 and 17 h, with a median time of 13.5 h, and no recurrence after the administration of C1-INH concentrate. One patient had transient symptom resolution in 14 h, however, recurrence of angioedema required re-intubation. The remainder of patients (n = 4/9), had resolution of angioedema between 22 and 72 h, with a median time of 33.75 h. Conclusion: Our findings demonstrate continued ambivalence of the efficacy and role of C1-INH concentrate in the treatment of ACEI AAE, secondary to multiple uncontrolled confounding factors. Further research into characterizing a subgroup of intubated patients in our study that responded to C1-INH concentrate needs to be completed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Cu2O/Pt/BiVO4 heterojunction was prepared by successively depositing Pt and Cu2O nanoparticles on {010} facets of BiVO4, showing much higher photocatalytic activity in hydrogen evolution than that constructed by random deposition of Cu2O on all facets of BiVO4 particles. Photoluminescence spectroscopy revealed that the facet-selective Cu2O/Pt/BiVO4 arrays effectively promoted charge separation of the BiVO4 host. A band alignment was consequently presented to illustrate the interface charge flow in the heterojunction. This work demonstrates the roles that facets played in semiconductor heterojunctions applied to photocatalytic reactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, the electrocaloric (EC) effect was studied in the (100- x)BaHf 0.2 Ti 0.8 O 3 - x Ba 0.94 Sm 0.04 TiO 3 (BHT- x BST) ceramics fabricated by the conventional solid-reaction method. By tuning composition to their diffuse phase transition (DPT), invariant critical point (ICP) and first-order phase transition (FPT), the large electrocaloric response with a temperature change of ΔT = 0.46 °C (at 64 °C) under 30 kV/cm and an electrocaloric strength of ΔT/ΔE = 0.18 K mm/kV under 12 kV/cm were achieved in BHT-70BST. In addition, BHT-50BST shows a broad EC working temperature window from 28 °C to 68 °C because of its diffusion behavior near the ferroelectric-to-paraelectric phase transition and multiphase coexistence. The maximum ΔT of BHT-50BST is larger than that of BHT-40BST with only diffusion character but no multiphase coexistence. This work may provide a design strategy to enhance EC performance with a broad working temperature region in lead-free rare-earth doped BaTiO 3 -based ceramics by combining the diffusion behavior, multiphase coexistence and heterovalent substitution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to good biocompatibility and plasma membrane similarity, the nanosized exosomes are ideal drug carriers. Near-infrared (NIR) photothermal therapy is an emerging method for cancer treatment in which photothermal agents absorb the energy of external NIR light to generate high temperatures in a targeted region to effectively kill cancer cells. Gold nanorods (AuNRs) have been found to provide a prominent photothermal performance, while aptamers can precisely target surface markers on cells with high affinity and specificity. In this study, exosomes were mildly functionalized by integrating them with aptamers and AuNRs to assemble a powerful combination Apt-Exos-AuNRs (AEARs) with good specificity and an effective photothermal killing action on cancer cells. The structure, hydrodynamic diameters, zeta potential, UV–vis absorption spectra and stability of the AEARs were further characterized. In addition, using a cell model, the cancer cell targeting ability of the AEARs and its cellular uptake were observed. Moreover, its photothermal killing effect on various human cancer cells in vitro was validated by a CCK-8 assay as well as apoptosis analysis, the results of which suggest this exosomes-based nanomaterial can serve as a novel and broad-spectrum platform for precision cancer therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A rod-like Ta3N5 thin film was synthesized by calcining a vacuum-sealed mixture of Ta metal plates and NH4Cl powder. Photoelectrochemical water oxidation results showed that an anodic photocurrent of 3.2 mA cm−2 at 1.23 V (vs. RHE) with a faradaic efficiency of unity for O2 evolution could be achieved by employing the as-prepared Ta3N5/Ta as a photoanode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: This article studies the adaptive model predictive control with extended state observers (ESO) to deal with multiple unmanned aerial vehicles formation flight in presence of external disturbances and system uncertainties. Specifically, to deal with the mismatch of predictive model caused by external disturbances and system uncertainties, ESOs are introduced to estimate the lumped disturbances, where the ultimately bounded property of observer system can be guaranteed by using the Lyapunov stability theorem. With these observations, the distributed adaptive model predictive controller is designed to achieve trajectory tracking and disturbance rejection simultaneously for multiple unmanned aerial vehicles, as well as taking the state and input saturation into account. Moreover, the stability of proposed model predictive controller is analyzed. Finally, the simulation examples are provided to illustrate the validity of the proposed control scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the disturbance observer-based model predictive control approach to deal with the unmanned aerial vehicle formation flight with unknown disturbances. The distributed control problem for a class of multiple unmanned aerial vehicle systems with reference trajectory tracking and disturbance rejection is formulated. Firstly, a local distributed controller is designed by using the model predictive control method to achieve stable tracking, where the local optimization problem is solved by an adaptive differential evolution algorithm. Then, a feedforward compensation controller is introduced by using a disturbance observer to estimate and compensate disturbances, and improve the ability of anti-interference. Besides, the stability of the proposed composite controller is analyzed as well. Finally, the simulation examples are provided to illustrate the validity of proposed control structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Precision electronic warfare is a new concept of blanket electronic jamming. • The combined jamming waveforms require low autocorrelation peak sidelobe levels. • The one-step method obtains the jamming waveform for computational efficiency. • The two-step method considers the worst-case energy control for jamming waveform. • Both methods proposed obtain better performance than the previous works. The goal of precision electronic warfare (PREW) is to implement blanket jamming on the targets precisely and ensure that friendly devices are not affected; thus, it requires controlling energy precisely in the spatial domain and covering the working bandwidth of the target equipment in the frequency domain. In this paper, we propose the algorithms to design waveforms with jamming characteristics for PREW, where the frequency requirement is converted to mitigation on the autocorrelation peak sidelobe level (APSL) of the combined waveform in the time domain. Then, we establish two multiobjective problems (MOPs) based on one-step and two-step methods, which have their own advantages in practice; that is, the former performs better on the computational efficiency by obtaining the waveform directly, and the latter controls the energy better in the worst-case scenario by recovering the covariance matrix of the waveform. To solve the two MOPs, the ℓ p -norm and a reasonable conversion are employed to approximate the highly nonconvex APSL terms, and the objective functions are transformed into quadratic terms within the majorization-minimization (MM) framework. An accelerating scheme is applied to expedite the proposed algorithms. Numerical examples demonstrate that the two proposed algorithms outperform the existing algorithms on the jamming performance and computational burden. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a dynamical recurrent neural network- (RNN-) based model predictive control (MPC) structure for the formation flight of multiple unmanned quadrotors. A distributed hierarchical control system with the translation subsystem and rotational subsystem is proposed to handle the formation-tracking problem for each quadrotor. The RNN-based MPC is proposed for each subsystem, where the RNN is introduced as the predictive model in MPC. And to improve the modeling accuracy, an adaptive updating law is developed to tune weights online for the RNN. Besides, the adaptive differential evolution (DE) algorithm is utilized to solve the optimization problem for MPC. Furthermore, the closed-loop stability is analyzed; meanwhile, the convergence of the DE algorithm is discussed as well. Finally, some simulation examples are provided to illustrate the validity of the proposed control structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Aims: Brown and beige adipocytes are widely recognized as potential therapeutic targets to treat obesity and related metabolic disorders, and the recruitment of brown and beige adipocytes is an essential aspect that requires attention. Although many methods of activating brown adipocytes or generating beige adipocytes have been reported, the limited number and sources are the biggest challenges. The number of white adipocytes is much greater than the number of brown adipocytes, both in human adults and fetuses. Unfortunately, human adult white adipose tissue-derived stem cell (aWAsc) has little beige adipogenic potential. However, the characteristics and beige adipogenic potential of human embryo-derived white adipose stem cells (eWAsc) still need to be investigated. Methods: To analyze the characteristics and functionality of eWAsc, we analyzed the markers of adipose precursor cells by flow cytometry. Then, differentiation and browning/beiging were induced, and the identifying markers were analyzed by real-time PCR and immunoblot. In addition, more in-depth exploration was performed using RNA-SEQ on eWAsc and aWAsc. Results: eWAsc was isolated from human embryonic white adipose tissue, and aWAsc was isolated from adult white adipose tissue by collagenase treatment. eWAsc has extreme advantages in adipogenesis capacity and browning/beiging ability in comparison to aWAsc, indicating that eWAsc may possess some special regulatory factors to promote the generation of functional brown/beige adipocytes. Greater exploration was enabled by RNA-SEQ, revealing a large number of differences at the transcriptional levels, including 1263 differentially expressed genes, 657 down- and 605 upregulated, in eWAsc compared to aWAsc. Pathway analysis revealed enrichment in cell cycle, TGF-β signaling pathway, DNA replication, and Hippo signaling pathways. Interestingly, the expression levels of C/EBPα, FGF1 and FST gene, which are related to the maturation of adipocytes, Hippo signaling pathway and TGF-β signaling pathway, were significantly higher in eWAsc than in aWAsc. These may be potential candidates and possible regulatory targets for recruiting beige adipocytes in human adipose tissue. Conclusion: Overall, we have demonstrated the molecular characteristics and excellent beige adipogenic potential of eWAsc, providing a new reference for studying human adipocytes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the hypothalamic arcuate nucleus (ARC), orexigenic agouti-related peptide (AgRP) neurons regulate feeding behavior and energy homeostasis. The 3-phosphoinositide-dependent protein kinase-1 (PDK1) in AgRP neurons serves as a major signaling molecule for leptin and insulin, the hormones regulating feeding behavior, energy homeostasis and circulation. However, it is unclear whether PDK1 in AGRP neurons is also involved in regulation of blood pressure. This study explored it by generating and analyzing AgRP neuron-specific PDK1 knockout ( Agrp-Pdk1 flox/flox ) mice and effect of high salt diet on blood pressure in KO and WT mice was analyzed. Under high salt diet feeding, systolic blood pressure (SBP) of Agrp-Pdk1 flox/flox mice was significantly elevated compared to Agrp-Cre mice. When the high salt diet was switched to control low salt diet, SBP of Agrp-Pdk1 flox/flox mice returned to the basal level observed in Agrp-Cre mice within 1 week. In Agrp-Pdk1 flox/flox mice, urinary noradrenalin excretion and NUCB2 mRNA expression in hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN) were markedly upregulated. Moreover, silencing of NUCB2 in the PVN counteracted the rises in urinary noradrenalin excretions and SBP. These results demonstrate a novel role of PDK1 in AgRP neurons to counteract the high salt diet-induced hypertension by preventing hyperactivation of PVN nesfatin-1 neurons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In well logging applications, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is recognized as a powerful tool to differentiate various fluids inside porous media. However, it can be challenging to do so in complex situations, e.g. when fluid peaks overlap with each other. Water-soluble contrast agents, such as MnCl 2 or Gd-EDTA, have been proposed for use to accelerate the water relaxation, thus separating the water signal from those of other fluids. Together with these contrast agents, the log-inject-log method is used and the difference between the two logs is attributed to the doped water phase. This application only works with water-based mud. To extend its use to oil-based mud (OBM), it is desirable to find alternatives to water-soluble contrast agents that are compatible with OBM. In this work, we introduce a new group of doping agents: oil-soluble contrast agents. We selected several iron-based complex compounds that are oil-soluble, and tested and evaluated their effects on oil signal relaxation using a laboratory NMR apparatus. We also tested hydrophobic iron oxide nanoparticles as a contrast agent. The results showed that both the complex compounds and nanoparticles were able to reduce the transverse relaxation time of oil from longer than 2 s to less than 20 ms. To demonstrate their applicability in porous media, we injected doped oil into gas-saturated Berea sandstone and limestone core plugs. With conventional 1D NMR measurements or the use of water-soluble contrast agents, it is not straightforward to discern the gas signal from the OBM signal. Our experiments showed that the gas signal could be easily identified in the presence of doped oil via simple T 2 scans. We also performed experiments to demonstrate that the peaks of water and doped oil could be readily differentiated. The use of oil-soluble doping agents can significantly enhance the contrast of the NMR signals originated from different formation fluids, thus facilitating the fluid typing process. It provides a key alternative to the current water-doping technique. It is particularly advantageous when changing the oil relaxation is desired, such as for eliminating signal interferences from OBM invasion and differentiating heavy oil from clay-bound water. It also provides the possibility of speeding up the logging process by dramatically reducing the oil relaxation time. In addition, they can be employed in the laboratory for various purposes such as water saturation determination and fluid displacement monitoring. These contrast agents can also be of useful when oil-soluble contrast agents are desired in other fields, such as medical imaging applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ensemble trick has been widely used in extreme learning machine (ELM), and most paradigms concern about the training phase with expectation of improving their generalization ability. Unlike traditional strategies, this paper pays more attention to the prediction phase and proposes a discriminatory approach called ensemble based reactivated regularization ELM (ER 2 -ELM). In short, the novel literature consists of two interrelated steps where the probability density estimation is first conducted to show the degree of difficulty of identifying an instance, and then a random factor is adopted to determine whether the ELM base learner is sequentially reactivated. As such, instances easily to identify cost less computing burden, while the vague ones are taken carefully consideration. Compared with other ensemble methods, the prediction computation overhead decreases. In the end, a number of examples, including UCI benchmark datasets, handwritten digits, object detection, etc., are employed so as to illustrate its state-of-the-art performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) is widely distributed in nature, especially in a variety of food commodities. It is confirmed to be the most toxic of all the aflatoxins. The toxicity of AFB1 has been well investigated, and it may result in severe health problems including carcinogenesis, mutagenesis, growth retardation, and immune suppression. Epigenetic modifications including DNA methylation, histone modifications and regulation of non-coding RNA play an important role in AFB1-induced disease and carcinogenesis. To better understand the evidence for AFB1-induced epigenetic alterations and the potential mechanisms of the toxicity of AFB1, we conducted a review of published studies of AFB1-induced epigenetic alterations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • A unique carbon molecular sieve (CMS) coating strategy is reported. • Ru cluster coated by CMS exhibits high HOR activity and CO-tolerance. • Physical sieving barrier and electronic modulation effect is demonstrated. • The direct pathway of HOR is disclosed on the confined Ru catalyst. Developing highly efficient and CO-tolerant hydrogen oxidation electrocatalysts is crucial for anion exchange membrane fuel cells (AEMFC). In this work, a unique carbon molecular sieve (CMS) coating strategy is demonstrated for Ru nanoclusters, featuring strongly size sieving ultramicropores, which act as a highly efficient and CO-tolerant hydrogen electrocatalyst in alkaline conditions. The CMS coating thickness and pore size could be regulated by low-temperature carbonization of polydopamine which was beforehand in-situ polymerized over the Ru nanoclusters. It is demonstrated that dominant sub-4 Å ultramicropores in Ru@NC/C-400 are beneficial for H 2 /CO separation. Taking advantage of such a physical sieving barrier, along with the electronic modulation of Ru by the carbon coating layer, the CO adsorption over the Ru surface is suppressed and meanwhile, the hydrogen/oxygen species adsorption energy is optimized. The Ru@NC/C-400 catalyst exhibits exceptional HOR activity with a specific activity of 0.30 mA cm-2 Ru and a mass activity of 0.25 A mg−1 Ru , which are 3-folds and 1.7-folds of the counterpart Pt/C catalyst, respectively. More importantly, the catalyst is highly tolerant to CO. In the presence of 100 ppm CO, the HOR current with the Ru@NC/C-400 catalyst lowers by just 9.5%, but the Pt/C catalyst drops by 33.3% in the chronoamperometry test. This work highlights the tremendous potential of the encapsulating approach in refreshing catalyst performances via rationally engineering the encapsulating layer structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • A novel dilute gold-in-nickel host nanoalloy is reported. • Electrochemical reconstruction of Ni-Au nanodimer is discovered. • NiAu nanoalloys exhibits both a remarkable activity and stability. • The driven force for NiAu nanoalloys formation is disclosed. • NiAu nanoalloys has a lower d band center than Ni. Ni-based nanomaterials are currently the most promising electrocatalysts for the alkaline hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR), yet limited by their poor electrochemical stability. Herein, we report a nickel-gold nanodimer (Ni 100 Au 1 /C-P) synthesized via a galvanic replacement reaction, which via an electrochemical activation mostly transforms into highly dilute gold-in-nickel host nanoalloys (Ni 100 Au 1 /C-EA). The Ni 100 Au 1 /C-EA exhibits both a remarkable specific HOR activity of 47.3 µA cm-2 Ni , 20% higher than Ni 100 Au 1 /C-P and 34% higher than Ni/C, as well as exceptional stability for 6000 cycles and CO-tolerance. Membrane electrode assembly tests further identify the practical application of Ni 100 Au 1 /C-EA, which delivers a power density of 192 mW cm−2 and good durability. Theoretical studies suggest that the formation of NiAu alloys is thermodynamically favored with the help of adsorbed hydrogen intermediates. The in situ-formed NiAu nanoalloy, with a lower d band center than Ni, is endowed with improved anti-oxidation ability and appropriate intermediate binding energy, leading to a robust and excellent HOR performance. This electrochemical activation route provides a straightforward and novel strategy for regulating the microstructure of materials and therefore the catalytic activity and endurance of catalysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an important part of the industrial internet, identity analysis data are growing with the expansion of the field involved in the industrial internet. The management of industrial internet identity analysis data faces many problems, such as complex types, a wide range of information, rapid growth, reduced security, etc. In view of the above problems, a trusted management model of industrial internet identity analysis data based on blockchain is first designed. Meanwhile, the identity analysis data information is analyzed and classified, and industrial data are divided into three levels according to the degree of privacy for hierarchical encryption. Secondly, the "on-chain + off-chain" storage model combining the blockchain main-slave chain and the off-chain database is designed to improve the efficiency of the whole model. Then, a collaborative consensus mechanism suitable for the main-slave multi-chain of the industrial internet is also designed, including slave-chain CIPBFT consensus, inter-chain cross-chain transmission protocol and main chain KZKP consensus. Finally, a prototype system is built to analyze the correctness, security, scalability and consensus efficiency of the model proposed in this study. The results show that the model proposed in this study can be applied to trusted management of data information for industrial internet identity analysis, and also provides an optimized solution for the same problem in fields of the industrial internet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bat algorithm (BA) is a new approach designed by imitating bat's behavior of searching and capturing preys. The existing results have demonstrated the effectiveness and efficiency in comparison with other heuristic algorithms such as genetic algorithms and particle swarm optimization. In this paper, we design a novel framework for bat algorithm named two-stage bat algorithm (TSBA) using a trade-off strategy which balances the relationship between exploration and exploitation at the most extent. Inspired by the multi-population methods (e.g., artificial bee colony), we not only concern some technologies to avoid premature inevitably encountered when using BA, but also use a trade-off strategy to improve the comprehensive search performance for optimization. Some typical test sets which consist of 27 benchmark functions are utilized in comparative experiment, and the simulation results in terms of convergence rate and accuracy illustrate that the TSBA has a competitive performance than other swarm intelligent optimization algorithms. In addition, the proposed algorithm will not lend to the tremendous increase in computing time and thus will be a powerful tool in practical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To curb the high cost of drug development, there is an urgent need to develop more predictive tissue models using human cells to determine drug efficacy and safety in advance of clinical testing. Recent insights gained through fundamental biological studies have validated the importance of dynamic cell environments and cellular communication to the expression of high fidelity organ function. Building on this knowledge, emerging organ-on-a-chip technology is poised to fill the gaps in drug screening by offering predictive human tissue models with methods of sophisticated tissue assembly. Organ-on-a-chip start-ups have begun to spawn from academic research to fill this commercial space and are attracting investment to transform the drug discovery industry. This review traces the history, examines the scientific foundation and envisages the prospect of these renowned organ-on-a-chip technologies. It serves as a guide for new members of this dynamic field to navigate the existing scientific and market space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this review, we introduce a new concept, precision toxicology: the mode of action of chemical- or drug-induced toxicity can be sensitively and specifically investigated by isolating a small group of cells or even a single cell with typical phenotype of interest followed by a single cell sequencing-based analysis. Precision toxicology can contribute to the better detection of subtle intracellular changes in response to exogenous substrates, and thus help researchers find solutions to control or relieve the toxicological effects that are serious threats to human health. We give examples for single cell isolation and recommend laser capture microdissection for in vivo studies and flow cytometric sorting for in vitro studies. In addition, we introduce the procedures for single cell sequencing and describe the expected application of these techniques to toxicological evaluations and mechanism exploration, which we believe will become a trend in toxicology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • A novel core-shell structured Pt@NC/C catalyst is synthesized. • Pt@NC/C shows accelerated HOR kinetics in the alkaline media. • Pt@NC/C has excellent anti-CO ability. • Hydroxyl adsorption is enhanced on the carbon layer covered Pt. Improving the CO-tolerant ability of Pt-based electrocatalysts is crucial for fuel cells fed with industrial byproduct hydrogen. Herein, we present a novel core-shell structured Pt@NC/C catalyst consisting of ultrafine Pt nanoparticles (1.63 nm) as the core and ultrathin nitrogen-doped carbon layers (0.36 nm) as the shell. The catalyst exhibits excellent alkaline hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) activity with a mass activity of 187 A g−1 Pt and a specific activity of 0.20 mA cm−2 Pt , which are 1.3 and 2.2-folds to the counterpart Pt/C, respectively. More remarkably, it shows good anti CO-poisoning ability. In presence of H 2 with 100 ppm CO, the HOR current degraded by 18.22% on 10% Pt/C versus only 4.81% on 10% Pt@NC/C-400. The combined X-ray photo-electron spectrum (XPS) analysis, CO ad stripping, CO oxidation and Zeta potential measurements imply that hydroxyl adsorption is enhanced on the NC covered Pt in 10% Pt@NC/C-400 possibly due to electron modulation induced by the strong metal and support interaction, which accelerates HOR kinetics and improvs anti-CO ability. This work provides a facile and feasible strategy to design efficient and CO-resistant Pt-based catalysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mounting number of patients with pulmonary adenocarcinoma (ADCA) is subjected to poor prognosis and heavy mortality, which prompts us to explore new potential therapeutics for lung ADCA. Herein, we reported a novel approach for lung ADCA therapy by abolishing autophagy and asparagine. We demonstrated that deprivation of asparagine by asparaginase could induce significant cytotoxicity and apoptosis in A549 and H1975 cells. During this process, autophagy was triggered by the asparaginase treatment, characterized by the autophagic flux with three main stages including formation of autophagosomes, lysosomes fused with autophagosomes, and degradation of autophagosomes by lysosomes. Importantly, suppression of autophagy could notably enhance the cytotoxicity and accelerate the caspase 3-dependent apoptosis induced by asparaginase. Furthermore, suppression of reactive oxygen species (ROS) could attenuated both the cytotoxicity and autophagy induced by asparaginase, while inhibition of autophagy promoted the generation of ROS in A549 and H1975 cells, indicating the essential role of ROS in asparagine deprivation therapy in lung ADCA cells. Our results demonstrated that targeting cytoprotective autophagy and asparagine could potently kill the ADCA cells, which highlighted a novel approach for lung ADCA therapy in the clinics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose a hybridization numerical method to solve the plastic deformation of metal working based on the flow function method and meshless method. Design/methodology/approach – The proposed method is named as flow function-element free Galerkin (F-EFG) method. It uses the flow function as the basic unknown quantity to get the basic control equation, the compactly supported approximate function to establish a local approximate flow function by means of moving least square approximation, and the element free Galerkin (EFG) method to solve variational equation. The F-EFG method takes the upper limit method essence of flow function method, and the convergence, stability, and error characteristics of EFG method. Findings – The steady extrusion process of the axisymmetric extrusion problems as well as the extrusion deformation law and main field variables are subjects in the modeling and simulation analysis using F-EFG method. The results show that the F-EFG method has good computational efficiency and accuracy. Originality/value – The F-EFG method proposed in this paper has the advantages of high-solution precision of flow function method and large deformation solution of element free method. It overcomes the difficulties in global flow function establishment in flow function method and low-solution efficiency in element free method. The method is beneficial to the development of flow function method and element free method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The colon serves as a primary target for pharmaceutical compound screening and disease modelling. To better study colon diseases and develop treatments, engineered in vitro models with colon-specific physiological features are required. Existing colon models lack integration of colonic crypt structures with underlying perfusable vasculature, where vascular–epithelial crosstalk is affected by disease progression. We present a colon epithelium barrier model with vascularized crypts that recapitulates relevant cytokine gradients in both healthy and inflammatory conditions. Using our previously published IFlowPlate384 platform, we initially imprinted crypt topography and populated the patterned scaffold with colon cells. Proliferative colon cells spontaneously localized to the crypt niche and differentiated into epithelial barriers with a tight brush border. Toxicity of the colon cancer drug, capecitabine, was tested and showed a dose-dependent response and recovery from crypt-patterned colon epithelium exclusively. Perfusable microvasculature was then incorporated around the colon crypts followed by treatment with pro-inflammatory TNFα and IFNγ cytokines to simulate inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)-like conditions. We observed in vivo-like stromal basal-to-apical cytokine gradients in tissues with vascularized crypts and gradient reversals upon inflammation. Taken together, we demonstrated crypt topography integrated with underlying perfusable microvasculature has significant value for emulating colon physiology and in advanced disease modelling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The rock layer between the two coal seams is affected by repeated mining and is prone to rotation instability. • Based on the "block-dispersions" theory, the structure and failure process of the roof of the roadway under the gob is analyzed. • The floor stress distribution law after mining in the upper coal seam is calculated according to the elastic theory. With the increase in energy demand and in mining intensity, the phenomenon of multiple coal seam mining has appeared in major coal mining countries. While the downward mining method is generally adopted and under the damage of the upper coal seam, the structure and stress environment of the coal roof are very different from those of a single coal seam in remining. The rock layer between the two coal seams is affected by repeated mining and is prone to rotation instability, which makes it more difficult to reserve gob-side entries along the gob in the lower coal seams. This article mainly targets the case of the gob in the Panel #11426 of Xieqiao Mine, and studies the failure mechanism and control technology of the gob-side entry retaining in short-distance coal seam. First, the floor stress distribution law after mining in the upper coal seam is calculated according to the elastic theory, and verified by FLAC3D numerical simulation; secondly, the floor failure depth after the upper coal seam is calculated according to the elastic–plastic theory. Based on the "block-dispersions" structure, the failure process of the roof of the roadway under close gob is analyzed. Further, it is proposed during the roadway excavation, to adopt support methods such as erecting U-steel retractable supports and back-wall filling; during the mining and before the gob-side entry retaining, the installation of roof bolts (cables), the reinforcement of the roof of the area to be filled and the in-wall filling techniques etc. to control the surrounding rock of gob-side entry. The engineering test was carried out along the track at the Panel #11426 of Xieqiao Mine. The onsite monitoring showed that: the maximum subsidence of the reserved gob-side entry roof along the gob was 180 mm, and the maximum approaching distance of the two banks was 328 mm, which met the engineering requirements. The research results can provide guidance for the design gob-side entry retaining along gobs under similar mining geological conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]