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Simple Summary: CNAP is a novel anthranilic diamide insecticide and its toxicological profiles pertaining to ladybird beetles remain largely uncharacterized. Through dipping method and topical application, we comprehensively evaluated acute toxicity and sublethal effects of CNAP against Harmonia axyridis, a predacious coccinellid commonly utilized in integrated pest management (IPM). Our outcomes indicated that CNAP was moderately toxic to H. axyridis and most noxious to 1st-instar larvae, with the least LC50 of 86.11 mg/L. When eggs and 1st instars were treated with LC30 CNAP, embryonic, larval and pupal durations all significantly dropped, accompanied by reduced pupal weight and pupation rate. Post sublethal treatments on newly emerged females, reproductive proxies displayed dose-effect responses, with daily spawning and vitellin level substantially diminished and the pre-oviposition period retarded. In addition, sublethal exposure to CNAP profoundly disrupted the antioxidant system of females, as evidenced by an induced hormesis effect at LC10 and impaired enzymatic activities at LC30 over time. Taken together, this study revealed the prospective ecological risk of CNAP and its adverse implications for H. axyridis fitness. As such, the practical compatibility of agrochemicals with biocontrol agents should be well assessed before being embraced into IPM for pest control. Extensive utilization of pesticides and their persistent residues inadvertently pose threats to the effectiveness and fitness of biocontrol agents in agroecosystems. However, these ecological consequences are generally disregarded when executing integrated pest management strategies (IPM). Cyantraniliprole (CNAP) serves as a wide-spectrum diamide insecticide and its sublethal effects have been well characterized on multiple insect pests, whereas its impacts on beneficial natural enemies remain unfathomed. Herein we exposed Harmonia axyridis, a predacious generalist, to lethal and sublethal concentrations of CNAP via dipping treatment (egg stage) and topical applications (1st-instar stage + adult stage). The acute toxicity tests revealed that LC50 of CNAP were 90.11, 86.11 and 240.50 mg/L against embryos, 1st instar nymphs and female adults, respectively, with safety factors ranging from 1.14 to 5.34, suggesting its medium toxicity for H. axyridis and larval stage was the most susceptible. The embryonic, larval and pupal durations of coccinellids ecdysed from CNAP-treated eggs and 1st instars were all elongated under sublethal concentrations, of which LC30 triggered more pronounced and significant retardations relative to control. Besides, exposed coccinellids displayed substantially diminished pupal mass and pupation rate, most notably for insects molted from the 1st-instar stage upon CNAP sublethal treatments. With respect to reproductive performance, LC10 and LC30 of CNAP all significantly suppressed female fecundity, as evidenced by reduced vitellin content, a prolonged pre-oviposition period (POP), mitigated laid eggs and the egg hatching rate. Specifically, there existed positive correlations between vitellin level (Vn) and number of eggs deposited by per female, indicative of CNAP affecting fecundity by regulation of Vn. In addition, the antioxidant system was also profoundly disrupted by CNAP, with compromised POD activity at different concentrations over time and induced hormesis of SOD/CAT activities post LC10 exposure. Activities of SOD and TAC were enhanced to exert protective functions during the first 48 h, while defense collapsed at 72 h following LC30 treatments that depleted all enzymatic activities. We speculated that fitness trade-offs may occur between reproductive capacity and antioxidant defenses to sustain physiological homeostasis in response to CNAP stress. Collectively, this study evaluated the ecological risk of CNAP and unmasked its adverse implications for overall fitness of H. axyridis, which highlighted rational application of agrochemicals to conserve biocontrol agents when implementing IPM strategies for sustainable pest control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Controlling the efficient emission of organic luminogens in both monomeric and various aggregated states remains a challenging task. In this work, the motion of an organic luminophores is synergistically regulated by introducing side alkyl chains with appropriate length and the aromatic rotor triphenylamine. This study finds that the incorporation of alkyl chains not only increased the rotational barriers in the molecule, but also influenced the packing modes. The as‐prepared organic luminogen, FIMPA‐C6, exhibited bright emissions in solution, polymorph, and amorphous states. Furthermore, the emission of FIMPA‐C6 can be widely tuned from yellow to deep red in different aggregated states. The exceptional luminescent properties of FIMPA‐C6 make it a promising functional dye for cellular imaging applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we focus on the task of multi-person mesh recovery from a single color image, where the key issue is to tackle the pixel-level ambiguities caused by inter-person occlusions. Overall, there are two main technical challenges when addressing the ambiguities: how to extract valid target features under occlusions and how to reconstruct reasonable human meshes with only a handful of body cues? To deal with these problems, our key idea is to utilize the predicted 2D poses to locate and separate the target person, and reconstruct them with a novel learning-based UV prior. Specifically, we propose a visible pose-mask module to help extract valid target features, then train a dense body mesh prior to promote reconstructing natural mesh represented by the UV position map. To evaluate the performance of our proposed method under occlusions, we further build an in-the-wild 3D multi-person benchmark named as 3DMPB. Experimental results demonstrate that our method achieves state-of-the-art compared with previous methods. The dataset, codes are publicly available on our website. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurately quantifying the concentration and transport flux of atmospheric fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) is vital when attempting to thoroughly identify the pollution formation mechanism. In this study, the mobile lidar measurements in Beijing on heavily polluted days in December from 2015 to 2018 are presented. The lidar was mounted on a vehicle, which could perform measurements along designated routes. On the basis of mobile lidar measurements along closed circuits of the 6th Ring Road around Beijing, the spatial distribution and transport flux of PM 2.5 in Beijing were determined with information of wind field. In the spatial distribution, both the concentration and transport of PM 2.5 were revealed to be more significant in the southern section of Beijing. The regional transport layer at heights < 1.3 km plays an important role in pollution formation. The maximum transport flux reached 1600 μg/(m2*sec) on 11 December 2016. With the aerosol boundary layer height determined from the image edge detection (IED) method, the inter-annual variations of the aerosol boundary layer height (ABLH) were also analysed. The ABLH decreased from 0.73 to 0.46 km during the same heavy pollution period from 2015 to 2018. Increasingly adverse aerosol boundary layer (ABL) meteorological factors, including lower ABLH, light winds, temperature inversions, and accumulated moisture, have become necessary for pollution formation in Beijing. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of acoustic propagation experiments was conducted in the University of Florida Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel (UFBLWT) to investigate tornadic infrasound propagation in the turbulent atmosphere. A synthetic acoustic wave was generated within a boundary layer wind field using a speaker, and distorted by the surrounding turbulent atmosphere as it propagated along the UFBLWT fetch where it was measured by an acoustic microphone 22 m downwind of the speaker. The wind tunnel operating speed and the configuration of the mechanical turbulence generating roughness elements were varied between experiments to alter the turbulence characteristics and thus the distortion of the acoustic wave. The wind field turbulence data were obtained by three Cobra probes mounted on an actuated and automated gantry. The turbulence-induced distortion of the acoustic wave was captured by analyzing the signal at its source and as-measured downwind. Data were characterized, organized, and curated into four stages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the fact that the vibration and pure rotational Raman signals collected by the temperature and humidity profile lidar were 3–4 orders of magnitude weaker than the Mie scattering signal, they were susceptible to electronic and white noise interference, which seriously affected the system signal-to-noise ratio. In this paper, an improved VMD-WT filtering method was adopted to extract effective signals and denoise. The processing outcome of several filtering algorithms was evaluated, and noisy signals were simulated to confirm the algorithm's efficacy. Based on the quantitative computation of evaluation indicators, such as signal-to-noise ratio, root mean square error, and correlation, the improved VMD-WT algorithm had more significant advantages in indicators such as signal-to-noise ratio. In order to further verify the robustness and adaptability of the proposed algorithm, experimental analysis of the filtering algorithm was conducted on the continuously collected temperature and humidity measured signals. The results demonstrated that the algorithm not only improved the detection range of lidar and suppressed high-altitude noise effectively, but also performed well in processing strong interference signals, like clouds, which led to a significant improvement in the atmospheric optical parameter inversion results. Furthermore, pseudo-color images of aerosols, temperature, and humidity changes over time and space have been used to further illustrate the algorithm's dependability and wide range of potential uses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The distribution of the CT and MRI changes in our case is similar to a recent case report of acute hemorrhagic necrotizing encephalopathy in a COVID-19 patient [[3]], which case, to our knowledge, was not tested for a pathological NOTCH3 mutation. The subcortical multiple infarcts this patient experienced along with the relatively symmetric white matter lesions seen on brain MRI suggest a case of cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL). 1 CT head - bilateral temporal and subcortical hypodensity To assess the white matter lesions found on head CT, a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain with and without contrast was obtained. It is difficult to perform an MRI on a COVID-19-positive patient or a person under investigation (PUI) due to the concern for contamination of equipment, the requisite patient transportation, and the risk of exposure to healthcare providers. [Extracted from the article]

Voltage-dependent resistors (VDRs) are important circuit-protection devices. Their performance is affected by packaging quality. To identify VDR packaging defects more accurately and efficiently, we have proposed a convolutional neural network (CNN)-based VDR appearance quality inspection method that includes four stages: image acquisition, data augmentation, neural architecture design, and CNN training and testing. In designing the neural architecture, we have proposed two VDR-oriented network blocks, which consist of a compressed subnet and a multiscale subnet. Then, a stacking-block-based neural architecture design (BlockNAD) strategy is employed to determine the number of blocks. The last block is connected to a classification layer composed of a global average pooling (GAP) layer and a full connection (FC) layer. Further, using a VDR dataset containing 8058 images, we compared the identification performances of the candidate networks with different structures on 12 categories of VDR defects by adopting a variety of indicators, such as the mean average precision (mAP) and average test time per sample. The experimental results of the proposed method demonstrate competitive results compared to the state-of-the-art methods in identifying VDR defects, with a mAP value of approximately 99.9% and an average test time per sample of approximately 3 ms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Artemisinin and its derivatives have been the frontline drugs for treating malaria. In addition to the antiparasitic effect, accumulating evidence shows that artemisinins can alleviate neuroinflammatory responses in the central nervous system (CNS). However, the precise mechanisms underlying their anti‐neuroinflammatory effects are unclear. Herein we attempted to delineate the molecule target of artemisinin in microglia. In vitro protein intrinsic fluorescence titrations and saturation transfer difference (STD)‐NMR showed the direct binding of artemisinin to Toll‐like receptor TLR4 co‐receptor MD2. Cellular thermal shift assay (CETSA) showed that artemisinin binding increased MD2 stability, which implies that artemisinin directly binds to MD2 in the cellular context. Artemisinin bound MD2 showed much less collapse during the molecular dynamic simulations, which supports the increased stability of MD2 upon artemisinin binding. Flow cytometry analysis showed artemisinin inhibited LPS‐induced TLR4 dimerization and endocytosis in microglial BV‐2 cells. Therefore, artemisinin was found to inhibit the TLR4‐JNK signaling axis and block LPS‐induced pro‐inflammatory factors nitric oxide, IL‐1β and TNF‐α in BV‐2 cells. Furthermore, artemisinin restored LPS‐induced decrease of junction proteins ZO‐1, Occludin and Claudin‐5 in primary brain microvessel endothelial cells, and attenuated LPS‐induced blood–brain barrier disruption in mice as assessed by Evans blue. In all, this study unambiguously adds MD2 as a direct binding target of artemisinin in its anti‐neuroinflammatory function. The results also suggest that artemisinin could be repurposed as a potential therapeutic intervention for inflammatory CNS diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the influence of geometric factors, the temperature and humidity profile of lidar's near-field signal was warped when sensing the air environment. In order to perform geometric factor correction on near-field signals, this article proposes different correction solutions for the Mie and Raman scattering channels. Here, the Mie scattering channel used the Raman method to invert the aerosol backscatter coefficient and correct the extinction coefficient in the transition zone. The geometric factor was the ratio of the measured signal to the forward-computed vibration Raman scattering signal. The aerosol optical characteristics were reversed using the corrected echo signal, and the US standard atmospheric model was added to the missing signal in the blind zone, reflecting the aerosol evolution process. The stability and dependability of the proposed algorithm were validated by the consistency between the visibility provided by the Environmental Protection Agency and the visibility acquired via lidar retrieval data. The near-field humidity data were supplemented by the interpolation method in the Raman scattering channel to reflect the water vapor transfer process in the temporal dimension. The measured transmittance curve of the filter, the theoretical normalized spectrum, and the sounding data were used to compute the delay geometric factor. The temperature was retrieved and the near-field signal distortion issue was resolved by applying the corrected quotient of the temperature channel. The proposed algorithm exhibited robustness and universality, enhancing the system's detection accuracy compared to the temperature and humidity data constantly recorded by the probes in the meteorological gradient tower, which have a high correlation with the lidar observation data. The comparison between lidar data and instrument monitoring data showed that the proposed algorithm could effectively correct distorted echo signals in the transition zone, which was of great value for promoting the application of lidar in the meteorological monitoring of the urban canopy layer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Differential absorption lidar is an advanced tool for investigating tropospheric ozone transport and development. High-quality differential absorption lidar data are the basis for studying the temporal and spatial evolution of ozone pollution. We assessed the quality of the ozone data generated via differential absorption lidar. By correcting the ozone lidar profile in real-time with an atmospheric correction term and comparing the lidar data to ozone data collected using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), we quantified the statistical error of the ozone lidar data in the vertical direction and determined that the data from the two instruments were generally in agreement. To verify the reliability of the ozone lidar system and the atmospheric correction algorithm, we conducted a long-term comparison experiment using data from the Canton Tower. Over the two months, the UAV and lidar data were consistent with one another, which confirmed the viability of the ozone lidar optomechanical structure and the atmospheric correction algorithm, both in real-time and over a given time duration. In addition, we also quantified the relationship between statistical error and signal-to-noise ratio. When the SNR is less than 10, the corresponding statistical error is about 40%. The statistical error was less than 15% when the signal-to-noise ratio was greater than 20, and the statistical error was mostly less than 8% when the signal-to-noise ratio was greater than 40. In general, the statistical error of the differential absorption lidar data was inversely proportional to the signal-to-noise ratio of each echo signal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphical abstract A facile ambient redox and hydrolysis co-precipitation strategy enables ultralow-cost and large-scale production of well-aligned nickel-iron hydroxide nanosheets array on Ni foam toward practical-oriented high-performance water oxidation. Highlights • A room-temperature redox and hydrolysis co-precipitation strategy was proposed to prepare a superior NiFe-based OER catalyst. • The synthetic process involves no other high-cost reagents and additional external conditions. • The synthetic cost is estimated to be $0.0165 per cm2, much lower than those for other reported Fe-containing catalysts. • The NiFe-OH NS/NF at different scales could be easily obtained by this strategy. • This ambient approach could be extendable to the synthesis of NiCo NS/NF and NiCoFe NS/NF for applications. Abstract Although NiFe-based (oxy)hydroxides have been recognized as the most promising anode materials for industrial water splitting, the existed synthetic methods are difficult to fabricate NiFe-based (oxy)hydroxides simultaneously fulfilling the requirements of low-cost and ambient synthetic process, high performance, and easier realization of large-scale production. In this work, a simple while effective strategy was proposed to fabricate well-aligned Ni-Fe hydroxide nanosheets array on Ni foam (NiFe-OH NS/NF) by the ambient spontaneous redox reaction between Ni foam and Fe3+and accompanied hydrolysis co-deposition of the generated Ni2+, Fe2+/Fe3+, and OH−. The tailored highly-oriented amorphous and nanoporous nanosheets structure as well as the strong electronic interaction between Ni and Fe species endow this NiFe-OH NS/NF with excellent OER activity that a large current density of 500 mA cm−2 could be well afforded at a low overpotential of 292 mV. Importantly, the manufacturing and raw-materials cost to synthesize the NiFe-OH NS/NF by this strategy is estimated to be just $0.0165 per cm2, much lower than those for other reported self-supported Fe-containing catalyst materials. Also, this ambient means not only could be applicable to the large-scale production of size-tunable NiFe-OH NS/NF with stable nanoarray structure, but also could be easily used for the synthesis of NiCo NS/NF and NiCoFe NS/NF for applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Beijing is suffering from serious particulate matter pollution, and the atmosphere boundary layer (ABL) has important direct and indirect effects on human activities. This research analyzed the characteristics of the ABL in Beijing and discussed the impacts of meteorological factors on atmosphere boundary layer height (ABLH) during winter heavy pollution events in Beijing. The data observed by Mie lidar in the winter of 2014 to 2016 were used to estimate the ABLH by employing image edge detection. In addition, a weather research and forecasting (WRF) model was used to simulate the meteorological field in the same period. Ground and vertical data indicated that the average ABLH decreased from 0.63 km to 0.53 km in three consecutive years. In addition, a significant negative correlation existed between ABLH and PM 2.5 , and the effect of low ABLH on the vertical diffusion capacity of pollutants was greater than that of high ABLH. Relative humidity was negatively correlated with ABLH, increasing during the three years at a rate of 61%. In the winter of 2014, the atmosphere was dominated by instability, which was beneficial to the development of ABL. In contrast, many stable stratifications occurred in the upper air during the winters of 2015 and 2016; however, these were not conducive to the development of ABL. The northwest wind decreased by 11.35% and the south wind increased by 11.41%. Moreover, the time of near-surface wind speed below 2 m s−1 increased by 34.74%, and the frequency of occurrence above 4 m s−1 decreased by 8.19%. The decrease in ground wind speed was unfavorable for the development of ABL. The sea level pressure remained at 1027.68 ± 17.32 hPa, and the ABLH was found to be generally positively correlated with sea level pressure. Highlights • Characteristics of the atmosphere boundary layer during heavy pollution episodes in winter in Beijing were analyzed. • Effects of meteorological factors on atmosphere boundary layer height were discussed. • High humidity, low wind and inversion are unfavorable to the development of boundary layer height. • The results improve our understanding of the formation of heavy pollution events in Beijing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • A facile synthesis of CDs-MoS 2 -Fe 3 O 4 nanohybrids was demonstrated. • CDs and Fe 3 O 4 afford synergetic effects on improving photocatalysis. • The excellent reusability and catalysis were achieved with a few materials (25 μg/ml). Abstract Herein, we demonstrate a facile synthesis of CDs-MoS 2 -Fe 3 O 4 nanohybrid composites as an efficient photocatalyst to enhance the removal of dyes from wastewater. Detailed characterization through SEM, TEM, EDAS, UV-vis, XRD, FT-IR and VSM confirmed the synthesis of thin MoS 2 nanosheets and the formation of the nanohybrid composites. As a result, CDs-MoS 2 -Fe 3 O 4 exhibits excellent reusability through magnetic separation and its degradation rate of methylene blue as high as 96.8% with few additions of materials (25 μg/ml). The ultrahigh photocatalytic performance and chemical stability, accompanied with this facile and simple synthetic process, promising CDs-MoS 2 -Fe 3 O 4 as a low-cost, ultrahigh-performance and robust photocatalyst in practical dyes degradation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A modified long-range acoustic propagation solver is created. • Wind tunnel tests are performed for validation. • Example test cases presented for tornado and sonic boom propagation through a realistic atmosphere. We present a semi-empirical long-range low-frequency acoustic propagation model, which accounts for atmospheric turbulence. Ostashev and Wilson's scattering model is combined with a ray-theory based refraction model to account for turbulent scattering and refraction via a turbulent absorption coefficient. The coefficient is ascertained via integration of scattered energy. The model is formulated, calibrated, and validated via corresponding experiments conducted within the National Science Foundation Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel. The predictions of the newly proposed 'bridging model' match the wind tunnel experimental data with an average error of 11.9%. Example predictions are shown to quantify the effect of turbulent kinetic energy and turbulent integral length scale on long-range infrasound propagation. To demonstrate the approach, we present predictions of the propagation of noise from a tornado and a nonlinear wave. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the regional PM 2.5 pollution occurred frequently, especially in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region, China. Understanding the characteristics of PM 2.5 pollution and its traceability within the boundary layer is necessary to better implement effective emission control strategies. In this study, we used the observed data from stereoscopic observation network, the simulated concentrations and regional transport of PM 2.5 from CMAQ-ISAM model, combined with the PM 2.5 transport flux, to investigate a comprehensive analysis of the PM 2.5 pollution over the BTH region during January 18–31, 2018. The results showed that there were two pollution episodes (E1 and E3) and two clean episodes (E2 and E4) during the research period. The PM 2.5 pollutants at the surface layer in Beijing were dominated by the contributions from local source, accounting for 55.63% in E1, 62.20% in E2, 58.83% in E3, and 65.94% in E4, respectively. The pollutant transport from the southern and southwestern pathways played the important role in controlling the PM 2.5 pollution levels in Beijing city, the height of the pollutant transport was mainly concentrated from 0.5 to 2.0 km, and the maximum transport flux reached 972 μg/(m2·s) during the pollution episodes. The transport from eastern and southeastern pathways were significant within 1.0 km under the prevailing wind, the maximum transport flux reached 629 μg/(m2·s). During the cleaning episodes, the pollution transport of PM 2.5 within the boundary layer mainly came from northern and southwestern pathways, with a maximum transport flux of 482 μg/(m2·s). Overall, the pollution process of Beijing is not only from local emissions, but also affected by regional transport during the research period. Therefore, it is necessary to control local emissions and strengthen regional-scale collaborations to reduce regional pollution events. • Characteristics of the regional distribution of aerosol particles in the BTH region were observed by lidar network. • During the research period, the local source was the main contributor to the air pollution in Beijing at the surface layer. • The pollutant transport from the southwestern pathway played the important role in controlling the PM 2.5 pollution levels in Beijing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, thermoelectric properties in Sn and Lu co-doped In 2 O 3 were investigated. The materials of (In 0.95− x Lu 0.05 Sn x ) 2 O 3 ( x = 0, 0.001, 0.01 and 0.04) were synthesized by using a co-precipitation method followed by spark plasma sintering (SPS) process. Sn(+IV) was strategically selected to substitute In(+III) for increasing the electrical conductivity of 5% Lu doped In 2 O 3 [(In 0.95 Lu 0.05 ) 2 O 3 ] while remaining the low thermal conductivity of the compound. It was found that the carrier concentration could be increased from 2.1 × 10 17 cm −3 to 3.7 × 10 20 cm −3 by doping 1% Sn into (In 0.95 Lu 0.05 ) 2 O 3 . As a result, 1% Sn increased power factor with the value of ∼5 × 10 −4 W m −1 K −2 at 973 K, which was 5 times higher than that of (In 0.95 Lu 0.05 ) 2 O 3 . It is interesting to note that the band gap energies were widened in the samples doped with 0.1% Sn and 1% Sn due to the Burstein–Moss (BM) shift. Sn doping decreased the thermal conductivity of (In 0.95 Lu 0.05 ) 2 O 3 . Among the as-prepared samples, 0.1% Sn doped (In 0.95 Lu 0.05 ) 2 O 3 possessed the highest ZT of ∼0.15 at 973 K, which was almost 3 times higher than that of (In 0.95 Lu 0.05 ) 2 O 3 . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The phase composition, microstructural and thermoelectric properties of n-type Sr 1−1.5 x Y x TiO 3− δ (0 ⩽ x ⩽ 0.15) have been investigated over the temperature range of 50 °C ⩽ T ⩽ 680 °C. The electrical conductivity increased with increasing x , while the absolute values of the Seebeck coefficient decreased with increasing x in the range of 0.02 ⩽ x < 0.08. A further increase in x ( x ⩾ 0.08) led to the formation of Y 2 Ti 2 O 7 . The existence of Y 2 Ti 2 O 7 had no effect on the Seebeck coefficient; however, it did result in a larger decrease in the electrical conductivity than the thermal conductivity. Consequently, the thermoelectric performance of Sr 1−1.5 x Y x TiO 3− δ was reduced with increasing amount of Y 2 Ti 2 O 7 . Sr 0.88 Y 0.08 TiO 3− δ exhibited the highest thermoelectric figure of merit ( ZT ) of ∼0.20 at 680 °C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polycrystalline Ca 3− x Bi x Co 4− y Fe y O 9+ δ ( x = 0, y = 0; x = 0.3, y = 0; x = 0.3, y = 0.1) samples have been prepared by solid state reaction followed by spark plasma sintering process. The thermoelectric properties have been systematically investigated from room temperature to near 1000 K. It is found that Bi substitution leads up to 40% reduction in the thermal conductivity, which is mainly associated with doping-induced point defect phonon scattering. In addition, the power factor was found to be increased by ∼33% by the co-doping of Fe and Bi. In present study, the thermoelectric figure of merit achieves ∼0.4 at 973 K by the co-doped sample Ca 2.7 Bi 0.3 Co 3.9 Fe 0.1 O 9+ δ . It indicates that the combined effects of such a co-doping approach can effectively improve the thermoelectric performance of Ca 3 Co 4 O 9+ δ -based material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Semiconductor-based photocatalyst, whose efficiency distinctly hinges on the separation of photoinduced charge transfer within the interface of bulk structure, has incurred some intractable issues due to the existing energy barrier. Regulating the structure of MOF reasonably would feature an accelerated charge separation, and an effective utilization of photogenerated charges. Herein, a new type of MOF with both interior linker and metal valence modulation (m-MIL-101–1.0) is reported to boost photocatalytic activity owing to the formed charge migration pathway. At first, we introduced defective sites via CTAB, which acted as exposed sites for further reduction reaction. Then, NaBH 4 was used to achieve metal valence regulation. Benefiting from the unique structure, the Fe3+/Fe2+ redox center was considered as a driving force to facilitate the charge transfer. It is properly considered that the activity improvement is attributed to the synergistic effect of both internal and external charge transfer channels. As a result, such m-MIL-101–1.0 has a higher activity than that of MIL-101 for photocatalytic degradation of tetracycline in water. We envision this interior configuration would be an ideal paradigm for tuning the activity of MOFs and extending the boundaries of MOF-based photocatalysts. A Fe3+/Fe2+ mediated distinct charge transfer pathway in MOF, rather than poor charge transfer within bulk or interface, works as an efficient photocatalyst. [Display omitted] • The formation of Fe2+/Fe3+ via one-step reduction for coordination-ameliorated MOF was reported. • The poor bulk or interface charge transfer is alleviated in this system. • Metal center mediated pathway averts the low separation efficiency of charge carriers. • The photodegradation efficiency of TC reaches 86.1% in an hour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perovskite manganites CaMnWO (0 ≤ y ≤ 0.05) were synthesized using solid-state reaction technique. The influence of W doping on the structure, charge carrier transports and phonon scattering of CaMnO was investigated. Doping was found to increase the carrier concentration, leading to enhanced electrical conductivity and decreased Seebeck coefficient. In addition, it decreased the thermal conductivity of CaMnO, which was believed to associate with decreased phonon mean path and doping-induced MnO octahedral distortion, as evidenced by the increased orthorhombicity. A twofold increase of figure of merit ( ZT) of 0.15 at 973 K was observed in CaMnWO, compared with the undoped CaMnO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perovskite-type Ca1− xYb xMn0.98Nb0.02O3 ( x = 0, 0.02, 0.05, 0.08, and 0.1) thermoelectric materials were synthesized by a solid-state reaction technique. The dopant-level dependence of lattice parameter, the correlation of crystallographic structures and the high temperature properties of these codoped CaMnO3 systems were investigated. The results show that codoping in A and B-sites of the perovskite structure improves the ZT value noticeably rather than the single doping. This is driven by the compromise among carrier concentration, structural distortion, and phonon impediment. The increase of Yb doping leads to higher phonon impediment and consequently reduces thermal conductivity. In this codoping system, the effective doping content is x = 0.05 in order to reduce the thermal conductivity. The sample with nominal composition of Ca0.95Yb0.05Mn0.98Nb0.02O3 reaches the highest ZT of 0.13 at 973 K, which is almost 18% higher than that of the single-doped CaMn0.98Nb0.02O3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Layered cobaltates, including Na0.77CoO2 and Ca3Co4O9, can be viewed as the foundation of p-type oxide thermoelectric materials. Here, we demonstrate the successful fabrication of (1− x)Na0.77CoO2/xCa3Co4O9 (x =0, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, 1) composites by means of spark plasma sintering. A significant enhancement of the Seebeck coefficient (thermopower) has been achieved in the composites, approximately 17% higher than that of Ca3Co4O9 at 680°C. The increases in Seebeck coefficient and electrical resistivity are mostly likely to be associated with the compressive strain in Ca3Co4O9 grains due to the mismatch of thermal expansion coefficients between Na0.77CoO2 and Ca3Co4O9. Most importantly, the chemical stability of Na0.77CoO2 could be improved by adding up to a 30vol.% fraction of Ca3Co4O9 without deteriorating its thermoelectric performance. This observation may open a pathway to practical applications of Na0.77CoO2-based thermoelectric materials. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Breast cancer (BC) is one of the most common malignant tumors in women globally, and its occurrence has surpassed lung cancer and become the biggest threat for women. At present, breast cancer treatment includes surgical resection or postoperative chemotherapy and radiotherapy. However, tumor relapse and metastasis usually lead to current therapy failure thanks to breast cancer stem cells (BCSCs)-mediated tumorigenicity and drug resistance. Drug resistance is mainly due to the long-term quiescent G0 phase, strong DNA repairability, and high expression of ABC transporter, and the tumorigenicity is reflected in the activation of various proliferation pathways related to BCSCs. Therefore, understanding the characteristics of BCSCs and their intracellular and extracellular molecular mechanisms is crucial for the development of targeted drugs for BCSCs. To this end, we discussed the latest developments in BCSCs research, focusing on the analysis of specific markers, critical signaling pathways that maintain the stemness of BCSCs，such as NOTCH, Wnt/β-catenin, STAT3, Hedgehog, and Hippo-YAP signaling, immunomicroenviroment and summarizes targeting therapy strategies for stemness maintenance and differentiation, which provides a theoretical basis for further exploration of treating breast cancer and preventing relapse derived from BCSCs. [Display omitted] • BCSCs play a key role in tumorigenicity, resistance and relapse. • Abnormally activated signaling pathways regulate stemness properties of BCSCs. • BCSCs escape immunologic surveillance and regulate the immune microenvironment. • Potential treatment strategies through targeting BCSCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV) remains the main cause of long-term transplant rejection. CAV is characterized by hyperproliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). Canonical β-catenin signaling is a critical regulator of VSMC proliferation in development; however, the role of this pathway and its regulation in CAV progression are obscure. We investigated the activity of β-catenin signaling and the role for a putative activating ligand, transglutaminase 2 (TG2), in chronic cardiac rejection. Methods: Hearts from Bm12 mice were transplanted into C57BL/6 mice (class II mismatch), and allografts were harvested 8 weeks after transplantation. Accumulation and sub-cellular distribution of β-catenin protein and expression of several components of β-catenin signaling were analyzed as hallmarks of pathway activation. In vitro, platelet-derived growth factor treatment was used to mimic the inflammatory milieu in VSMC and organotypic heart slice cultures. Results: Activation of β-catenin in allografts compared with isografts or naïve hearts was evidenced by the augmented expression of β-catenin target genes, as well as the accumulation and nuclear localization of the β-catenin protein in VSMCs of the occluded allograft vessels. Expression of TG2, an activator of β-catenin signaling in VSMCs, was dramatically increased in allografts. Further, our ex vivo data demonstrate that TG2 is required for VSMC proliferation and for β-catenin activation by platelet-derived growth factor in cardiac tissue. Conclusions: β-Catenin signaling is activated in occluded vessels in murine cardiac allografts. TG2 is implicated as an endogenous activator of this signaling pathway and may therefore have a role in the pathogenesis of CAV during chronic allograft rejection. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A modified sol–gel processing has been developed by using polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) as modifier and lead nitrate as lead source to synthesize (1− x)Pb(Mg1/3,Nb2/3)O3− xPbTiO3 (PMN–PT) thin films with x=0.23–0.43. The composition distribution and morphology of the gel particles in the PMN–PT solutions have been investigated. It shows that PVP addition results in spatial separation between Pb and Nb ions in the gel particles, leading to the perovskite crystallization via a columbite-like route in the resultant PMN–PT thin films. Pyrochlore phase is circumvented and perovskite phase can directly crystallize from amorphous films at the temperature as low as 460°C, while in the non-PVP films, B-site rich pyrochlore phase (Pb1.83Nb1.71Mg0.29O6.39) is always formed in the temperature range used (460°–650°C). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mechanism between financial agglomeration and environmental pollution is an important concern for both academia and policymaking. The main objective of this paper is to study the nonlinear impacts of financial agglomeration on environmental pollution. A theoretical framework was first constructed based on the scale effect, structure effect, and technology innovation effect of financial agglomeration and a Copeland-Taylor endogenous growth model. Using the panel data of 281 Chinese prefectural-level cities from 2003 to 2019, a panel threshold regression model was introduced to estimate the nonlinear association between financial agglomeration and environmental pollution. Industrial smoke (dust) emissions and industrial wastewater discharge were adopted to quantify current environmental pollution in China. The results show that financial agglomeration had a significant effect on improving the environment characterized by gradient thresholds; also notable is that 68.64% of the cities crossed the threshold value, entering the decelerating phase of financial agglomeration inhibiting environmental pollution. Both upgrading industrial structure and enhancing marketization could reduce environmental pollution, whereas increasing human capital, environmental regulation, and energy consumption had a deteriorating effect. The three channels for financial agglomeration to reduce environmental pollution were revealed to be financial scale, financial structure, and financial technology innovation. Our findings provide strong evidence for policymaking in sustainable development. [Display omitted] • Financial agglomeration (FA) is a crucial way to improve environment pollution (EP). • We built the theoretical framework of FA and EP based on the Copeland-Taylor model. • We tested the nonlinear impacts of FA on EP using the panel threshold model. • We revealed the transmission mechanism between FA and EP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mn-doped samples with atomic ratios equal to 0.5%, 1% and 3% were prepared by the conventional mixed-oxide method from commercial cerium oxide (CeO2) and manganese oxide (MnO2) powders. The effect of Mn doping on the densification behavior of CeO2 was investigated by means of dilatometer and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). It was found that Mn doping reduced sintering temperature and promoted the grain growth dramatically. The sintering kinetics study indicated that under the isothermal sintering condition, the grain growth activation energy, Q, decreased from 731±61 kJ/mol for pure CeO2 to 593±53 kJ/mol for 1% Mn-doped CeO2. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

(1−x) Ce0.8Gd0.2O2−δ+x Al2O3 ceramics with compositions x=0 to 0.2 were prepared by the conventional mixed-oxide method from high purity (>99.9%) of commercial powders, and sintered at 1550 °C for 5 h in air. Sintered density, crystal phase, and microstructure were characterized. The ionic conductivity was measured over 200 to 800 °C in air using an impedance analyzer in the frequency range of 0.001 to 100 Hz. Microhardness and indentation fracture toughness were also determined. A new phase (i.e., GdAlO3) has been detected in the samples with Al content greater than 5% AlO1.5. Ce0.8Gd0.2O2−δ ceramic has a Vickers hardness of ∼9.23±0.15 GPa, and an indentation fracture toughness of ∼1.47±0.2 MPa m1/2. A remarkable improvement in both fracture toughness and microhardness can be observed for the samples with over 10% AlO1.5. However, the addition of Al2O3 exhibits a detrimental effect on the conductivities, especially on grain boundary conductivity, which is possibly related to the formation of GdAlO3. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Effect of calcium substitution on the A-site of Zr-rich lead zirconate titanate Pb(Zr 0.94 Ti 0.06 )O 3 and Pb(Zr 0.92 Ti 0.08 )O 3 is studied. It is found that the rhombohedral structure of Zr-rich lead zirconate titanate changes to tetragonal and finally to cubic with increasing amount of calcium substitution. Both the dielectric constant and the Curie temperature decrease with the substitution of calcium on the A-site of the ABO 3 perovskite structure. A pyroelectric current peak is observed which is resulted from the phase transition from the low temperature rhombohedral ferroelectric phase F R ( LT ) to the high temperature F R ( HT ) one. Small amount of calcium substitution increases the peak value and also shifts the peak position to higher temperatures. However, further increase in the calcium content lowers the peak value and finally smears out the peak. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Co-doped CeO 2 powders with atomic ratios equal to 0.25, 1 and 3% were synthesized by the conventional mixed-oxide method. No binary compounds were detected in the CeO 2 –CoO system, and the Co element exists as the state of Co 2+ in the samples sintered above 1000°C. A small amount of Co doping reduces sintering temperatures and promotes grain boundary mobility dramatically. Over 99.0% of relative density (R.D.) can be obtained for 0.25% Co-doped sample sintered at 1300°C for 2 h, compared with ∼ 96% of relative density for pure CeO 2 sintered at 1525°C for 2 h. The results from grain growth kinetics study indicate that grain growth exponent, n , and activation energy, Q , are 3 and 697 ± 37 kJ/mol for pure CeO 2 , 4 and 572 ± 57 kJ/mol for 0.25% Co-doped CeO 2 , respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel on-chip ultra-broadband polarization splitter–rotator (PSR) based on an inverse asymmetrical ridge taper coupler is proposed by using evanescent coupling between two straight waveguides with gradual ridge widths. The two ridge-widths decrease inversely to realize mode hybridization between fundamental transverse magnetic (TM 0) mode and fundamental transverse electric (TE 0) mode, which effectively expands the bandwidth. The structural parameters are optimized by utilizing the frequency-domain finite-difference and eigenmode expansion method. The results show that efficient polarization splitting and rotating are simultaneously achieved with a broad operating bandwidth from 1250 nm to 1750 nm and a high polarization conversion efficiency of more than 95%. The insertion loss is below 0.05 dB and 0.2 dB over the bandwidth for TE 0 and TM 0 , respectively. To the best of our knowledge, the PSR achieves the broadest bandwidth up to 500 nm (covering all the optical fiber communication O-, E-, S-, C-, L-, and U-bands) for the first time. • A polarization splitter–rotator is proposed utilizing inverse asymmetrical ridge taper structure. • Proposed PSR deliver great performance with a operating bandwidth from 1250 nm to 1750 nm. • The design of device is CMOS compatible and suitable for integration in high performance PICs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the Lunar New Year of 2020, the Chinese government implemented a strict nationwide lockdown to prevent the spread of the COVID-19, which may have led to changes in the distribution of pollutants. To enhance our understanding of the three-dimensional evolution of pollutants under special control scenarios, this study used vehicle lidar to obtain vertical profiles of aerosols and ozone (O 3) in Wuhan during the pandemic. Combined with ground observations and WRF-Chem model simulation results, we explored the evolution characteristics of pollutants. The results showed that the fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) concentration near the ground in Wuhan City was significantly reduced (40%) during the emission control period. The aerosol concentration decreased rapidly with an increase in height, and the maximum loading height was consistent with the atmospheric boundary layer height. Conversely, due to factors such as the reduction of the precursor nitrogen dioxide (NO 2) and rising temperatures, the near-ground O 3 concentration increased by 59%. Despite the significant reduction in emission sources, lidar observations still captured distinct aerosol transport layers on March 7 and March 10, 2020. These transport layers gradually descended, affecting the ground-level aerosol concentration. Additionally, one typical process of O 3 external transport was observed in the vertical direction. Our study provides a theoretical basis for a deeper understanding of the spatiotemporal distribution characteristics of pollutants during special control scenarios, aiding policymakers in formulating effective air pollution control strategies. • Pollutant 3D evolution first analyzed using mobile vehicle-lidar during Wuhan's emergency control period. • The aerosol concentration decreased, and the concentration decreased with increasing altitude. • Despite the reduction in emissions, the ozone concentration increased. • External transport of pollutants was observed during the control period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aimed to investigate the mechanism underlying the development of level 2 visual perspective taking (VPT2). Specifically, we examined the role of working memory capacity (WMC) and mental rotation (MR) in the developmental change of VPT2 among early school-aged children. Children aged between 6 and 8 years (N = 150) completed measures to assess WMC, MR, and VPT2. Results showed that WMC, the ability of MR, and VPT2 developed progressively from 6 to 8 years old. The ability of VPT2 was significantly correlated with WMC and MR, even when age was statistically controlled for. Mediation analyses further revealed that both age-related changes in WMC and MR partially mediated the development of VPT2. Furthermore, age-related development in MR mediated the relationship between changes of WMC and VPT2. Our findings suggest the importance of WMC and MR in the early development of VPT2 and provide preliminary support for the developmental cascade hypothesis. That is, as children grow up, their WMC increases, leading to better capability of MR, which in turn results in the improvement of VPT2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chang 7 Shale, characterized by lacustrine black organic-rich shales and interbedded siltstones, has become a target for shale oil exploration and development in the Upper Triassic Ordos Basin, China. However, the heterogeneous enrichment of organic matter (OM) has led to controversy regarding source rock evaluation and difficulty in accurate prediction of favorable zones. Sequence stratigraphy, as a tool for prediction of sedimentary deposits has encountered challenges in lacustrine deep-water environments because of rapid facies changes and limited lateral continuity of key beds. In this study, a novel method is proposed to predict OM enrichment based on parasequences division and calibration of well logging and core lithology through analyses of thin sections and geochemical data from 238 core samples, as well as available well-logging data from a selected well. Chang 7 shales were simplified into three facies in terms of sedimentary structure and mineral composition, combining geological genesis with lateral correlation. Argillaceous laminated shale (Facies 2), with the highest average total organic carbon and S 1 + S 2 values, is the most favorable facies for shale oil exploration. The Chang 7 Member was divided into 15 parasequences and six parasequence sets, within one transgressive-regressive sequence. Depositional sequences have a significant effect on the enrichment of OM, given 1) the influence of lake-level fluctuations on OM accumulation, 2) the OM enrichment determined by shale facies, and 3) the distribution of shale facies controlled by p arasequences. In particular, the most favorable locations are the bases of parasequences (generally the lower third to half from the bottom) in the TST and early RST. The application of this method to a test well showed excellent performance based on verification from the organic geochemical data of 86 samples. Five favorable targets of Facies 2 were marked within fifteen favorable locations. By linking meter-level depositional sequences with centimeter-level OM enrichment, this study provides an alternative approach to determine the target area in a single well profile and realize isochronous inter-well prediction for deep-water shales. • Shale facies and organic matter enrichment has high degree correlation. • The favorable shale facies in the TST and early RST is controlled by parasequences. • The favorable locations are the lower third to half from the bottom of parasequences. • The favorable facies was distinguished by well-logging lithology identification. • An isochronous prediction method of organic matter enrichment was proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The overall ozone concentration in China has increased significantly in recent years, as has the atmospheric oxidization, and both of these changes are impacting human activities. Measurements based on differential absorption lidar (DIAL) were conducted from June to October 2019 in order to investigate the vertical distribution of ozone in Guangdong Province. The vertical and horizontal distributions of ozone in six different cities were systematically examined during the summer and autumn and analyzed the two different ozone characteristics (local pollution and regional transport). TrajStat was used to analyze the ozone transport directions and potential contributions of in the summer and autumn, and the following results were obtained. In the cities of Guangzhou and Jiangmen, the ozone concentrations climbed significantly higher in autumn than in summer, with the ozone concentration reaching a height of 1000 m in autumn and 600 m in summer. The diurnal variation of ozone in Yangjiang City in summer was not obvious, whereas in other cities, high levels of ozone were concentrated in the afternoon. The average summer ozone concentration at the Guangzhou site was the highest, approximately 92.57 μg/m3, whereas the average at the Dongguan site was the lowest. The average ozone concentration at the Guangzhou site in autumn was also the highest among the six cities, reaching 133.34 μg/m3. In terms of local pollution, the high-concentration ozone mainly occurred near the ground. The maximum ozone concentration was approximately 162.1 μg/m3 at about 350 m, and the ozone was evenly distributed above 1500 m. The external transport of ozone primarily occurred from 500 to 1100 m and above 1100 m. During summer, the southwest airflow trajectory was dominant, whereas northeast airflow predominated in autumn. Unlabelled Image • Multiple lidars were used to measure ozone in Guangdong province. • The seasonal distribution characteristics of ozone in different cities were observed synchronously by multiple lidars. • Local pollution and transport of ozone have different characteristics in the vertical height of troposphere. • Ozone mainly comes from the southwest in summer and the northeast in autumn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, in China, during the period of transition between spring and summer, the combination of sandstorms and ozone (O3) pollution has posed a significant challenge to the strategy of coordinated control of fine particulate matters (PM2.5) and O3. On the one hand, the dust invasion brings many primary aerosols and causes a large range of transboundary transport. On the other hand, the high concentration of aerosol causes a severe disturbance to the distribution of O3. Traditionally, high-resolution assessments of the spatial distribution of aerosols and O3 can be carried out using LiDAR technology. However, the negligence of the influence of aerosols in the process of O3 retrieval in traditional differential absorption lidar (DIAL) leads to an error in the accuracy of ozone concentration. Especially when dust transit occurs, the errors become bigger. In this study, a self-customized four-wavelength differential-absorption LiDAR system was used to synchronously obtain the accurate vertical distributions of ozone and high-concentration aerosol. The wavelength index of concentrated aerosol was inverted and applied to the differential equation framework for O3 calculation. This novel approach to retrieving the vertical profile of O3 was proposed and verified by applying it to a dust pollution event that occurred from April to May 2021 in Anyang City Henan Province, which is located in Northern China. It was found that the extinction coefficient of aerosol reached 2.5 km−1 during the dust period, and O3 was mainly distributed between 500 m and 1500 m. The O3 error exceeded over 10% arising from the high-concentration aerosol below 1.5 km during the dust storm event. By employing the inversion algorithm while considering the aerosol effects, the ozone concentration error was improved by over 10% compared with the error recorded without considering the aerosol influence especially in dust events. Through this study, it was found that the algorithm could effectively realize the synchronous and accurate inversion of high-concentration aerosols and O3 and can provide key technical support for air pollution control in China in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to investigate the variations of cloud and aerosol vertical profiles over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) in winter, we performed ground-based lidar observations in Lhasa, a city on the TP, from November 2021 to January 2022. The profiles of extinction coefficient, depolarization ratio, and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) were retrieved using the atmospheric echo signals collected by the lidar. Clouds were identified by the range-correction echo signals and classified into water clouds, mixed clouds, horizontally oriented ice crystal clouds (HOICC), and ice clouds by the depolarization ratio and the hourly temperature from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Reanalysis version 5 (ERA5). The clouds mainly appeared at a height of 3~5 km from 14:00–22:00 Beijing Time throughout the field campaign. The height and frequency (~30%) for cloud appearance were significantly lower than that reported in previous studies in summer. The cloud categories were dominated by mixed clouds and ice clouds during the observation period. The proportions of ice clouds gradually increased with increasing heights. After eliminating profiles influenced by clouds, the aerosol extinction coefficient and depolarization ratio were obtained, and the atmospheric boundary layer height (ABLH) was calculated. The aerosol extinction coefficient decreased with increasing height in the ABLH, and there were no obvious changes for the aerosol extinction coefficient above the ABL. The aerosol extinction coefficients near the Earth's surface presented two peaks, appearing in the morning and evening, respectively. The high aerosols at the surface in the morning continually spread upward for 4–5 h and finally reached an altitude of 1 km with the development of ABLH. In addition, the depolarization ratio of aerosols decreased slowly with increasing altitudes. There was no obvious diurnal variation for depolarization ratios, indicating partly that the source of aerosols did not change significantly. These results are beneficial in understanding the evolution of cloud and aerosol vertical profiles over the TP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of financial agglomeration in China's green development has generated many fascinating debates for scholarly research, but few studies have considered environmental effects of financial agglomeration from the spatial spillover perspective. Taking both natural and socio-economic factors into accounts, this paper explores the interaction between financial agglomeration and green development using the panel data of 285 prefecture-level Chinese cities from 2003 to 2015. The results show that both financial agglomeration and green development have demonstrated a trend of spatial convergence. Secondly, financial agglomeration can promote the green development of both focal and surrounding cities. Thirdly, financial agglomeration is conducive to enhance regional green development level in Western China, while only Eastern and Central China witness significant spatial spillover effects. Fourthly, the direct effect of financial agglomeration on green development at the city level exists, whereas megacities and large cities witness a significantly adverse spatial spillover effect. This paper also presents policy recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bicycle safety has emerged as a pressing concern within the vulnerable transportation community. Numerous studies have been conducted to identify the significant factors that contribute to the severity of cyclist injuries, yet the findings have been subject to uncertainty due to unobserved heterogeneity and class imbalance. This research aims to address these issues by developing a model to examine the impact of key factors on cyclist injury severity, accounting for data heterogeneity and imbalance. To incorporate unobserved heterogeneity, a total of 3,895 bicycle accidents were categorized into three homogeneous sub-accident clusters using Latent Class Cluster Analysis (LCA). Additionally, five over-sampling techniques were employed to mitigate the effects of data imbalance in each accident cluster category. Subsequently, Bayesian Network (BN) structure learning algorithms were utilized to construct 32 BN models after pairing the accident data from the four accident cluster types before and after sampling. The optimal BN models for each accident cluster type provided insights into the key factors associated with cyclist injury severity. The results indicate that the key factors influencing serious cyclist injuries vary heterogeneously across different accident clusters. Female cyclists, adverse weather conditions such as rain and snow, and off-peak periods were identified as key factors in several subclasses of accident clusters. Conversely, factors such as the week of the accident, characteristics of the trafficway, the season, drivers failing to yield to the right-of-way, distracted cyclists, and years of driving experience were found to be key factors in only one subcluster of accident clusters. Additionally, factors such as the time of the crash, gender of the cyclist, and weather conditions exhibit varying levels of heterogeneity across different accident clusters, and in some cases, exhibit opposing effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tetrachlorantraniliprole (TCAP) is a novel anthranilic diamide insecticide that specifically targets the ryanodine receptors of lepidopteran insect species with excellent insecticidal activity. Previous studies have reported the sublethal effects of multiple diamides on several lepidopteran species, whereas the sublethal and non-target effects of TCAP remain largely unknown. We assessed the sublethal effects of TCAP on Spodoptera exigua. We also investigated the effects of TCAP on non-target Harmonia axyridis and Eisenia fetida, S. exigua was more sensitive to TCAP than to chlorantraniliprole, as the LC50 (10.371 μg L-1 at 72 h) of TCAP was relatively lower. Compared with those of the control, sublethal concentrations of TCAP (LC10 and LC30) not only prolonged the duration of the larval and pupal stages as well as the mean generation time but also reduced certain population parameters. On the other hand, TCAP exposure, even at the highest concentration, did not induce toxic effects in H. axyridis ladybugs (1st instar larvae and adults) or E. fetida earthworms. Taken together, our results suggest that TCAP can be used as a novel and promising component of the integrated pest management (IPM) program against S. exigua due to its robust target effects and negligible non-target risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heterotopic cardiac transplantation in the intra-abdominal position in a large animal model has been essential in the progression of the field of cardiac transplantation. Our group has over 10 years of experience in cardiac xenotransplantation with pig to baboon models, the longest xenograft of which survived over 900 days, with rejection only after reducing immunosuppression. This article aims to clarify our approach to this model in order to allow others to share success in long-term survival. Here, we demonstrate the approach to implantation of a cardiac graft into the intra-abdominal position in a baboon recipient for the study of transplantation and briefly highlight our model's ability to provide insight into not only xenotransplantation but across disciplines. We include details that have provided us with consistent success in this model; performance of the anastomoses, de-airing of the graft, implantation of a long-term telemetry device for invasive graft monitoring, and ideal geometric positioning of the heart and telemetry device in the limited space of the recipient abdomen. We additionally detail surveillance techniques to assess long-term graft function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work describes an electrochemical-assisted desorption method that has been developed for solid-phase extraction of metal ions (Pb2+), based on a well-ordered conducting sorbent: an array-like polyaniline nanofiber synthesized on the surface of graphene oxide (PANI-GO). Combining the advantages of the allowable mechanical deformation of GO with the reduced ionic-diffusion path of vertical PANI nanofibers, this method's synergistic effect lends the prepared sorbent an enhanced stability and high analyte-desorption effectiveness. In terms of the adsorption and electrochemical-assisted desorption behavior of PANI-GO, the paper reports that the adsorption/desorption process is accompanied by the changes of the as-prepared sorbent in cyclic voltammetry, and that the prepared PANI-GO exhibits good anti-interference properties across various interference ions. Given optimal pH values, the limit of detection of the proposed method is 0.04 μg L−1; the repeatability relative standard deviation (RSD) and reproducibility RSD are 1.97% and 2.51%, respectively; and the method shows good recovery capability in the case of real beverage samples spiked with Pb2+. Image 1 • Electrochemical-assisted desorption has been used in solid phase extraction of Pb2+. • Well-ordered conducting sorbent of polyaniline-graphene oxide was prepared. • Adsorption/desorption process is accompanied by the change in cyclic voltammetry. • PANI-GO was applied for Pb2+ extraction in real food samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• There is growing interest in re-purposing drugs already approved for human use. • We demonstrate that lovastatin is a TLR antagonist, selective for TLR4. • Lovastatin blocks a wide array of effects of LPS in BV2 microglia. • Intrathecal lovastatin suppresses neuropathic pain and microglial activation. There is growing interest in drug repositioning to find new therapeutic indications for drugs already approved for use in people. Lovastatin is an FDA approved drug that has been used clinically for over a decade as a lipid-lowering medication. While lovastatin is classically considered to act as a hydroxymethylglutaryl (HMG)-CoA reductase inhibitor, the present series of studies reveal a novel lovastatin effect, that being as a Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) antagonist. Lovastatin selectively inhibits lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced TLR4-NF-κB activation without affecting signaling by other homologous TLRs. In vitro biophysical binding and cellular thermal shift assay (CETSA) show that lovastatin is recognized by TLR4′s coreceptor myeloid differentiation protein 2 (MD-2). This finding is supported by molecular dynamics simulations that lovastatin targets the LPS binding pocket of MD-2 and lovastatin binding stabilizes the MD-2 conformation. In vitro studies of BV-2 microglial cells revealed that lovastatin inhibits multiple effects of LPS, including activation of NFkB; mRNA expression of tumor necrosis factor-a, interleukin-6 and cyclo-oxygenase 2; production of nitric oxide and reactive oxygen species; as well as phagocytic activity. Furthermore, intrathecal delivery of lovastatin over lumbosacral spinal cord of rats attenuated both neuropathic pain from sciatic nerve injury and expression of the microglial activation marker CD11 in lumbar spinal cord dorsal horn. Given the well-established role of microglia and proinflammatory signaling in neuropathic pain, these data are supportive that lovastatin, as a TLR4 antagonist, may be productively repurposed for treating chronic pain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To address the problems of singularities, sensitivity to measurement noise, and low efficiency in traditional principal component analysis (PCA)-based operational modal analysis (OMA), we present a Sanger neural network principal component analysis (SNNPCA) algorithm to identify the operational modal parameters. SNNPCA is a two-layer neural network that is trained using a generalized Hebbian algorithm to ensure that its output converges to the principal components. After SNNPCA has converged, the link weights of SNNPCA correspond to the separation matrix of PCA. In SNNPCA-based OMA, the measurement response points are set as the input neurons, modal coordinate response signals are set as the output neurons, and the link weights of the neural network represent the modal shapes. Therefore, the operational modal identification process in SNNPCA is physically meaningful and convergent. Furthermore, SNNPCA inherits the parallel nature of neural network algorithms, so it is also insensitive to measurement noise. Simulation results show that SNNPCA can identify the principal modal parameters accurately using only measurement response signals. This method can be applied in embedded devices to realize online monitoring and real-time fault diagnosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) inhibit T cell responses and are relevant to cancer, autoimmunity and transplant biology. Anti-thymocyte globulin (ATG) is a commonly used T cell depletion agent, yet the effect of ATG on MDSCs has not been investigated. MDSCs were generated in Lewis Lung Carcinoma 1 tumor-bearing mice. MDSC development and function were assessed in vivo and in vitro with and without ATG administration. T cell suppression assays, RT-PCR, flow cytometry and arginase activity assays were used to assess MDSC phenotype and function. MDSCs increased dramatically in tumor-bearing mice and the majority of splenic MDSCs were of the polymorphonuclear subset. MDSCs potently suppressed T cell proliferation. ATG-treated mice developed 50% fewer MDSCs and these MDSCs were significantly less suppressive of T cell proliferation. In vitro, ATG directly bound 99.6% of MDSCs. CCR7, L-selectin and LFA-1 were expressed by both T cells and MDSCs, and binding of LFA-1 was inhibited by ATG pre-treatment. Arg-1 and PD-L1 transcript expression were reduced 30–40% and arginase activity decreased in ATG-pretreated MDSCs. MDSCs were bound and functionally inhibited by ATG. T cells and MDSCs expressed common Ags which were also targets of ATG. ATG may be helpful in tumor models seeking to suppress MDSCs. Alternatively, ATG may inadvertently inhibit important T cell regulatory events in autoimmunity and transplantation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Multi-Axis Differential Absorption Spectroscopy (MAX-DOAS) trace gas and aerosol profile inversion algorithm, the vertical resolution and the observation information obtained through a series of continuous observations with multiple elevation angles (EAs) can affect the accuracy of an aerosol profile, thus further affecting the results of the gas profile. Therefore, this study examined the effect of the vertical resolution of an aerosol profile and EAs on the NO2 profile retrieval by combining simulations and measurements. Aerosol profiles were retrieved from MAX-DOAS observations and co-observed using light detection and ranging (Lidar). Three aerosol profile shapes (Boltzmann, Gaussian, and exponential) with vertical resolutions of 100 and 200 m were used in the atmospheric radiative transfer model. Firstly, the effect of the vertical resolution of the input aerosol profile on the retrieved aerosol profile with a resolution of 200 m was studied. The retrieved aerosol profiles from the two vertical resolution aerosol profiles as input were similar. The aerosol profile retrieved from a 100 m resolution profile as input was slightly overestimated compared to the input value, whereas that from a 200 m resolution input was slightly underestimated. The relative deviation of the aerosol profile retrieved from the 100 m resolution as input was higher than that of the 200 m. MAX-DOAS observations in Hefei city on 4 September 2020 were selected to verify the simulation results. The aerosol profiles retrieved from the oxygen collision complex (O4) differential slant column density derived from MAX-DOAS observations and Lidar simulation were compared with the input Lidar aerosol profiles. The correlation between the retrieved and input aerosol profiles was high, with a correlation coefficient R > 0.99. The aerosol profiles retrieved from the Lidar profile at 100 and 200 m resolutions as input closely matched the Lidar aerosol profiles, consistent with the simulation result. However, aerosol profiles retrieved from MAX-DOAS measurements differed from the Lidar profiles due to the influence of the averaging kernel matrix smoothing, the different location and viewing geometry, and uncertainties associated with the Lidar profiles. Next, NO2 profiles of different vertical resolutions were used as input profiles to retrieve the NO2 profiles under a single aerosol profile scenario. The effect of the vertical resolution on the retrieval of NO2 profiles was found to be less significant compared to aerosol retrievals. Using the Lidar aerosol profile as the a priori aerosol information had little effect on NO2 profile retrieval. Additionally, the retrieved aerosol profiles and aerosol optical depths varied under different EAs. Ten EAs (i.e., 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 15, 30, and 90°) were found to obtain more information from observations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thrombomodulin is important for the production of activated protein C (APC), a molecule with significant regulatory roles in coagulation and inflammation. To address known molecular incompatibilities between pig thrombomodulin and human thrombin that affect the conversion of protein C into APC, GalTKO.hCD46 pigs have been genetically modified to express human thrombomodulin (hTBM). The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of transgenic hTBM expression on the coagulation dysregulation that is observed in association with lung xenograft injury in an established lung perfusion model, with and without additional blockade of nonphysiologic interactions between pig vWF and human GPIb axis. Expression of hTBM was variable between pigs at the transcriptional and protein level. hTBM increased the activation of human protein C and inhibited thrombosis in an in vitro flow perfusion assay, confirming that the expressed protein was functional. Decreased platelet activation was observed during ex vivo perfusion of GalTKO.hCD46 lungs expressing hTBM and, in conjunction with transgenic hTBM, blockade of the platelet GPIb receptor further inhibited platelets and increased survival time. Altogether, our data indicate that expression of transgenic hTBM partially addresses coagulation pathway dysregulation associated with pig lung xenograft injury and, in combination with vWF‐GP1b‐directed strategies, is a promising approach to improve the outcomes of lung xenotransplantation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two-wheeled (TW) vehicle accidents are one of the major types of urban traffic accidents. TW cyclists who lack safety protection usually suffer more serious injuries and deaths in collisions. Developments in automotive active safety technologies are expected to reduce cyclist injuries and deaths, such as automatic emergency braking (AEB). To facilitate the development and testing of AEB technology, typical TW vehicle scenarios need to be constructed. Based on 400 cases of car-to-TW vehicle accident data from the National Automobile Accident In-Depth Investigation System (NAIS) database, we investigated the scenario elements that influence AEB robustness, such as weather, accident time, and road wetness. We obtained seven static scenarios using an improved clustering method, and we obtained specific speed and distance combinations in each scenario using a deduction method. Further, we compared the present findings to those of other scholars and the China New Car Assessment Program (C-NCAP). The kinematic states of the two were similar to that of C-NCAP, but the speed distribution was significantly different. The TW vehicle speed in the C-NCAP is set to 15 km/h or 20 km/h concerning the European test scenarios, but the TW vehicle speed in the present study was 10–60 km/h. Thus, the present findings recommended that subsequent C-NCAP test scenarios increase the category of motorcycles and the speed range of cars covering 20–70 km/h and consider the test conditions of bad weather and wet roads, to test the robustness of AEB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]