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In this paper, we study block Jacobi operators on ℤ$$ \mathrm{\mathbb{Z}} $$ with quasi‐periodic meromorphic potential. We prove the nonperturbative Anderson localization for such operators in the large coupling regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing photothermal anti/deicing fluor‐free composite coatings with high wear resistance and liquid puncture resistance is an interesting challenge. Herein, a new biomass benzoxazine monomer (C‐d) was synthesized, which was then sprayed on a glass slide, followed by spraying hyperbranched polysiloxane (HSi), polydopamine‐coated micro AlN (P@mAlN), and polydopamine‐coated nano AlN (P@nAlN), successively, to develop a new type of photothermal anti/deicing four‐layer fluor‐free composite coatings with high wear resistance and liquid puncture resistance (C‐d/yHSi/0.4P@2bAlN, y is the mass ratio of HSi to C‐d). Three‐layer composite coatings (C‐d/0.4P@zbAlN, z is the mass ratio of P@mAlN to P@nAlN) and two‐layer composite coatings (C‐d/xP@mAlN, x is the mass ratio of P@mAlN to C‐d) were also prepared to study the influence of compositions on comprehensive properties of coatings. The results show that C‐d/0.4P@zbAlN has significantly longer icing delay time (IDT) than C‐d and C‐d/xP@mAlN coatings but still shows poor wear resistance and liquid puncture resistance. Interestingly, C‐d/yHSi/0.4P@2bAlN coatings have good superhydrophobicity; as y increases, both IDT and wear resistance increase significantly. When y = 0.5, the obtained C‐d/0.5HSi/0.4P@2bAlN coating has the best integrated performance, including high anti‐deicing property (IDT = 627 s), high wear resistance, and liquid puncture resistance as well as good photothermal deicing performance, the ice melts in 343 s under the irradiation with 808 nm infrared light, overcoming the bottleneck of poor wear resistance and liquid puncture resistance of photothermal anti/deicing coatings. Besides, C‐d/0.5HSi/0.4P@2bAlN coating can effectively prevent the adhesion of pollutants and remain superhydrophobicity after soaked in different solutions (pH = 1–10). Highlights: A new biomass benzoxazine with good flexibility was synthesized.Photo‐thermal anti/deicing coatings with micro/nanostructured surfaces are built.The fluor‐free coatings have excellent wear resistance and chemical resistance.The mechanism behind was elucidated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Earthquakes pose substantial threats to communities worldwide. Understanding how people respond to the fast-changing environment during earthquakes is crucial for reducing risks and saving lives. This study aims to study people's protective action decision-making in earthquakes by leveraging explainable machine learning and video data. Specifically, this study first collected real-world CCTV footage and video postings from social media platforms, and then identified and annotated changes in the environment and people's behavioral responses during the M7.1 2018 Anchorage earthquake. By using the fully annotated video data, we applied XGBoost, a widely-used machine learning method, to model and forecast people's protective actions (e.g., drop and cover, hold on, and evacuate) during the earthquake. Then, explainable machine learning techniques were used to reveal the complex, nonlinear relationships between different factors and people's choices of protective actions. Modeling results confirm that social and environmental cues played critical roles in affecting the probability of different protective actions. Certain factors, such as the earthquake shaking intensity and number of people shown in the environment, displayed evident nonlinear relationships with the probability of choosing to evacuate. These findings can help emergency managers and policymakers design more effective protective action recommendations during earthquakes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whether the South Asian summer monsoon (SASM) is controlled by local or remote insolation at the orbital band remains uncertain. Here, we perform a transient simulation forced by Earth's orbital parameters between 400 and 350 ka BP, a period characterized by significant contrast between local and remote insolation, to identify the SASM's response to insolation forcing. Simulation results suggest that the primary driver of orbital‐scale SASM variability is the Northern Hemisphere high‐latitude June insolation, as opposed to local insolation. High June insolation in the Southern Hemisphere might reduce the SASM intensity. Remote insolation influences the SASM by altering the latitudinal thermal gradient and, consequently, the meridional position of the South Asian high (SAH). The SAH is associated with intense convection and hence drives the meridional shift of the intertropical convergence zone and the SASM rain belt. Thus, orbital‐scale SASM variability is strongly related to remote insolation forcing. Plain Language Summary: Because the monsoon is directly related to the movement of the subsolar point, insolation changes are important in regulating the South Asian summer monsoon (SASM) intensity at an orbital timescale. However, it remains unclear whether the SASM is driven by local insolation that directly strikes southern Asia, or remote insolation in the high‐latitude Northern Hemisphere or the Southern Hemisphere at the precession band. We find a time window between 400 and 350 ka BP (ka = thousand years, BP = before present) when local and remote insolations differ significantly, allowing us to determine which insolation dominates the SASM at orbital timescales. We use an Earth system model with orbital forcing to run a transient simulation between 400 and 350 ka BP. Simulations suggest that the SASM is primarily influenced by Northern Hemisphere high‐latitude summer insolation rather than local insolation. Additionally, Southern Hemisphere insolation has a negative impact on orbital‐scale SASM variability. Remote insolation influences the SASM by inducing an anomalous meridional thermal gradient, which moves the South Asian high and thus the Intertropical Convergence Zone. Our findings are significant for future SASM projections because the obvious difference between remote and local insolation will reappear in the next 50 ka. Key Points: Local insolation is not the direct driver for orbital‐scale variability of the South Asian summer monsoon (SASM)The meridional shift of the South Asian high (SAH) affects orbital‐scale SASM variabilityRemote insolation influences the meridional shift in the SAH through altering the latitudinal thermal contrast [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been shown to contribute to tumorigenesis and cancer progression. However, neither the dysregulation nor the functions of anti-sense lncRNAs in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) have been exhaustively studied. In this study, we accessed The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database and discovered that the natural antisense lncRNA SOCS2-AS1 is highly expressed in PTC and that patients with a higher level of SOCS2-AS1 had a poor prognosis. Furthermore, loss- and gain-function assays demonstrated that SOCS2-AS1 promotes PTC cell proliferation and growth both in vitro and in vivo. In addition, we demonstrated that SOCS2-AS1 regulates the rate of fatty acid oxidation (FAO) in PTC cells. Analysis of the mechanism revealed that SOCS2-AS1 binds to p53 and controls its stability in PTC cell lines. Overall, our findings showed that the natural antisense lncRNA SOCS2-AS1 stimulates the degradation of p53 and enhances PTC cell proliferation and the FAO rate. • SOCS2-AS1 is highly expressed in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) and predicts undesirable prognosis. • SOCS2-AS1 promotes PTC cell proliferation and cell cycle transition. • SOCS2-AS1 promotes fatty acid oxidation in PTC cells. • SOCS2-AS1 binds to p53 and regulates its protein level in PTC cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influenza neuraminidase (NA) is a promising target for next-generation vaccines. Protection induced by vaccination with the computationally optimized broadly reactive NA antigen (N1-I COBRA NA) was characterized in both influenza serologically naive and pre-immune ferret models following H1N1 (A/California/07/2009, CA/09) or H5N1 (A/Vietnam/1203/2004, Viet/04) influenza challenges. The N1-I COBRA NA vaccine elicited antibodies with neutralizing ELLA activity against both seasonal and pandemic H1N1 influenza, as well as the H5N1 influenza virus. In both models, N1-I COBRA NA-vaccinated ferrets that were challenged with CA/09 virus had similar morbidity (weight loss and clinical symptoms) as ferrets vaccinated with the CA/09 HA control vaccine. There were significantly reduced viral titers compared to the mock-vaccinated control animals. Ferrets vaccinated with N1-I COBRA NA or Viet/04 NA vaccines were protected against the H5N1 virus infection with minimal clinical symptoms and negligible weight loss. In contrast, ferrets vaccinated with the CA/09 NA vaccine lost ~10% of their original body weight with 25% mortality. Vaccination with either HA or NA vaccines did not inhibit contact transmission of CA/09 virus to naïve cage mates. Overall, the N1-I COBRA vaccine elicited protective immune responses against both H1N1 and H5N1 infections and partially mitigated disease in contact-transmission receiving ferrets. These results indicate that the N1-I COBRA NA performed similarly to the CA/09 HA and NA positive controls. Therefore, the N1-I COBRA NA alone induces protection against viruses from both H5N1 and H1N1 subtypes, indicating its value as a vaccine component in broadly protective influenza vaccines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The methylation status of histones plays a crucial role in many cellular processes, including follicular and oocyte development. Lysine-specific demethylase 2a (KDM2a) has been reported to be closely associated with gametogenesis and reproductive performance, but the specific function and regulatory mechanism have been poorly characterized in vivo. We found KDM2a to be highly expressed in growing follicles and oocytes of mice in this study. To elucidate the physiological role of Kdm2a, the zona pellucida 3-Cre (Zp3-Cre)/LoxP system was used to generate an oocyte Kdm2a conditional knockout (Zp3-Cre; Kdm2aflox/flox, termed Kdm2a cKO) model. Our results showed that the number of pups was reduced by approximately 50% in adult Kdm2a cKO female mice mating with wildtype males than that of the control (Kdm2aflox/flox) group. To analyze the potential causes, the ovaries of Kdm2a cKO mice were subjected to histological examination, and results indicated an obvious difference in follicular development between Kdm2a cKO and control female mice and partial arrest at the primary antral follicle stage. The GVBD and matured rates of oocytes were also compromised after conditional knockout Kdm2a, and the morphological abnormal oocytes increased. Furthermore, the level of 17β-estradiol of Kdm2a cKO mice was only 60% of that in the counterparts, and hormone sensitivity decreased as the total number of ovulated and matured oocytes decreased after superovulation. After deletion of Kdm2a, the patterns of H3K36me2/3 in GVBD-stage oocytes were remarkedly changed. Transcriptome sequencing showed that the mRNA expression profiles in Kdm2a cKO oocytes were significantly different, and numerous differentially expressed genes were involved in pathways regulating follicular and oocyte development. Taken together, these results indicated that the oocyte-specific knockout Kdm2a gene led to female subfertility, suggesting the crucial role of Kdm2a in epigenetic modification and follicular and oocyte development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Safety hazards are a key consideration in construction management. The efficient recognition of safety hazard information can help managers formulate safety hazard management measures and improve the efficiency of construction safety management. However, construction site safety hazard data are stored in semistructured and unstructured text formats, which cannot be directly converted into understandable and usable information. Moreover, safety hazard text contains many fuzzy expressions, thereby increasing the difficulty of text semantic analysis; thus, how to accurately mine safety hazard information from complex and diverse text data is an urgent problem that must be solved. In consideration of this problem, we propose a bidirectional long short-term memory (BiLSTM) method with a fuzzy word vector and self-attention mechanism (FSABiLSTM) to automatically recognize safety hazard information. This method adopts TextRank and Word2vec to calculate the fuzzy word vector and process fuzzy expressions in safety hazard text. The safety hazard text semantic features are deeply extracted based on BiLSTM and a fuzzy word vector, and the extracted semantic features are analyzed via a self-attention mechanism. Actual construction safety hazard text is used to verify the reliability and applicability of the method, and the results indicate that the accuracy of this method, which outperforms existing machine learning methods, is 91.70%. In addition, the FSABiLSTM method can be used to automatically evaluate the risk degree of safety hazards; this use is beneficial to managing and controlling safety hazards. Concerning safety hazard text data, this study provides a new deep mining approach that can enhance safety management efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this research, ZnFe 2 O 4 @TiO 2 nanocatalyst was synthesized through solvothermal approach and then employed as a reusable and highly active catalyst in biodiesel synthesis from Jojoba oil. EDX, TEM, BET, CO 2 /TPD, FESEM, TGA, XRD, Raman, FTIR, and VSM analyzes were utilized to measure the structural features of ZnFe 2 O 4 and ZnFe 2 O 4 @TiO 2 nanoparticles. Also, CCD-RSM was employed to optimize effective factors on biodiesel efficiency. The uttermost biodiesel yield from Jojoba oil employing ZnFe 2 O 4 @TiO 2 nanoparticles was 97.56 %, which was obtained at temperature of 54.96 °C, catalyst concentration of 2.89 %, and MEOH/oil proportion of 12.13 mol/mol. This is the highest biodiesel efficiency ever attained from jojoba oil. Also, the reusability study showed that the ZnFe 2 O 4 @TiO 2 nanoparticles have significant stability, so that the yield of biodiesel employing this nanocatalyst was above 90 % after 7 cycles, which is a striking amount. Additionally, the biodiesel synthesis reaction utilizing ZnFe 2 O 4 @TiO 2 nanoparticles was endothermic (ΔH° =44.82 kJ/mol). Moreover, adding ZnFe 2 O 4 @TiO 2 nanoparticles to the biodiesel/petrodiesel mix resulted in improved performance of engine parameters such as BSFC, EGT, and BTE, as well as reduced CO, NO x , and UHC emissions. Furthermore, adding biodiesel to diesel declined UHC and CO emissions. Besides, HNMR and FTIR approved the existence of methyl ester methoxy group in the biodiesel structure. Owing to its high stability, remarkable biodiesel yield, and easy separation from the product, ZnFe 2 O 4 @TiO 2 nanocatalyst is recommended for use in industrial generation of biodiesel. [Display omitted] • Successful utilization of ZnFe2O4@TiO2 in biodiesel generation. • The RSM-CCD design was applied to optimize operational variables. • At optimum conditions, the biodiesel yield was achieved as 97.56 %. • The ZnFe2O4@TiO2 indicated substantial stability in 7 rounds. • Adding ZnFe2O4@TiO2 to the fuel mixture enhanced diesel engine features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The incidence and mortality of thyroid cancer (TC) has been steadily rising in the past decades. It is imperative to have a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying TC development and identify novel therapeutic targets. This study characterized the role of lncRNA CALML3-AS1 (CALML3-AS1) in the development of papillary thyroid cancer (PTC).Method: Related mRNAs expression were validated in the tumor and adjacent normal tissues from 52 PTC patients and PTC cell lines by qRT-PCR. Expression of RBM38 was detected by Western blot. We have also conducted CCK-8 and colony formation assays were used to detect the effect of CALML3-AS1 on cell proliferation, Transwell assay was utilized to evaluate cell migration and invasion, apoptosis detected by flow cytometry assay, RNA pull-down and luciferase assays were performed to validate gene predictions.Results: The results indicated that the expression of both CALML3A-S1 and RBM38 were significantly downregulated in PTC tissues (p < 0.01), while the expression of miR-20a-5p was increased in PTC (p < 0.01). Functionally, CALML3-AS1 overexpression inhibited PTC cell proliferation in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, CALML 3-AS1 sponged miR-20a-5p, which in turn leads to the suppression of RBM38 expression and PTC progression.Conclusions: CALML3-AS1 functions as a ceRNA for miR-20a-5p in the regulation of the expression of RBM38 in PTC. Higher level of CALML3-AS1 serves as a good prognostic indicator of survival in PTC patients. Targeting CALML3-AS1/ miR-20a-5p/RBM38 axis may represent a novel therapeutic strategy in the treatment of PTC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a major limitation on the process efficiency of the manufacturing industry, milling chatter can be effectively alleviated by the optimal parameter from the stability lobe diagrams. Numerical algorithms based on the equidistant discretization points are usually applied to solve delay differential equations that occurred in the milling dynamics. However, for the presence of the Runge phenomenon, the computational accuracy does not continuously improve with the increase of the approximation order. This paper proposes a novel Chebyshev-Gauss pseudospectral method and implements it in the angle domain for fast and accurate milling stability prediction. The highlights of the proposed method are that the state term in the forced vibration interval of the milling model is approximated with the barycentric Lagrange interpolation with nonuniform Chebyshev-Gauss points, the corresponding derivative term is calculated by an improved Chebyshev-Gauss differential matrix, and then the weighted residual technique with the Clenshaw-Curtis quadrature rule is applied for the first time to minimize the error function. By taking advantage of the above obtained algebraic equations and analytical solution of the free vibration interval, the Floquet transition matrix is constructed, and its critical eigenvalue is utilized for determining the milling stability. Finally, two benchmark milling examples demonstrate that the proposed method achieves the most stable and fastest spectral convergence rate, and brings a great improvement on the computational efficiency and accuracy, compared with the representative methods. Meanwhile, experimental verification in the low-speed and high-speed domains further indicates the applicability of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This is the first time that recommended technology has been applied to rural tourism. • Proposed the FM recommendation algorithm combining the seasonal and distribution features. • Proposed the extraction, transformation and application method of the seasonal feature. • Proposed the extraction, transformation and application method of the geographical distribution feature. Recommended technologies for the tourism system, such as the travelocity.com and visiteurope.com, have gained tremendous popularity in the past few years. Although many research works have been dedicated to improving recommendation services and overcoming recommendation challenges, little attention has been attached to the application of recommended technology in Rural Tourism. In order to solve the difficult 'what to choose' problem caused by information overload, this paper combines the features of Rural Tourism, giving a first attempt in this field. First, an effective method of seasonal feature extraction is proposed. Next, a detailed method of geographical distribution feature extraction is described. In particular, a block-number basing on the geographical distribution feature to the Attractions is proposed. Furthermore, the FM-based (Factorization Machines) algorithm is presented as a recommended solution for Rural Tourism. Finally, the comparative experiments are provided to prove the effectiveness of this solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the process of blisk polishing, path planning is a crucial approach to ensure machining efficiency and enhance polishing accuracy. However, existing path generation software does not take into account the large elastic deformation of the polishing tool and cannot guarantee consistent residual error after the processing path. To address these problems, a special effective methodology is proposed for developing an abrasive belt flap wheel (ABFW) polishing path, enhancing the polishing quality of the blisk. To this end, we first establish a motion envelope surface of the ABFW. Then, based on the radial material removal depth model of the ABFW, the amount of material removal is obtained at each contact point. Additionally, the maximum error minimization method is employed to iteratively optimize the solution, obtaining the polishing path for constant residual error. In the experiments, we find that compared to the polishing path generated by commercial software, the optimized polishing path is capable of achieving lower surface residual error and better surface quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Incorporation of carbon quantum dots on surface of BiFeO 3 nano particles. • Enhanced visible light absorbance and electrons' migration by carbon quantum dots. • Suppressed recombination of photoinduced charge carriers by piezoelectric effect. Designing catalysts that can effectively make use of renewable energy benefits to solve the current challenges of environmental pollution and increasing energy demands. Piezo-photocatalysis that can utilize solar energy and natural vibration-energy has emerged as a "green" technique. In this work, we fabricated BiFeO 3 /C nano composites that can harvest solar and vibration energies and degrade organic pollutants. The incorporated carbon quantum dots bring about more efficient visible light absorbance and separation of photoinduced electron-hole pairs. The piezoelectric polarization further suppresses the recombination of photoinduced electron-hole pairs. The catalysts own higher reaction rates in piezo-photocatalysis and the BiFeO 3 /C-0.12 shows the highest degradation efficiency (k -value of 0.0835 min−1). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a pressing need to study spatial heterogeneity of ridesourcing usage determinants to develop better-targeted transportation and land use policies. This study incorporates spatial information (i.e., the geographic coordinates of census tracts) into the machine learning model and leverages state-of-the-art explainable machine learning techniques to analyze census-tract-to-census-tract ridesourcing usage, identify the key factors that shape the usage, and explore their nonlinear associations across different spatial contexts. Specifically, we analyze the spatial heterogeneity of ridesourcing travel in Chicago based on three spatial contexts, including downtown, neighborhood and airport. The results reveal that built environment variables collectively contribute to the largest importance for the downtown and airport context, while socioeconomic and demographic variables are the strongest predictors for the neighborhood context. Travel cost, the number of commuters and transit supply variables have evident nonlinear associations with ridesourcing usage, and these associations show strong differences across these three spatial contexts. Moreover, incorporating geographic coordinates is shown to be useful in improving model's capability to capture spatial information and thus enhance its predictive performance. These findings provide transportation professionals with location-based insights to better plan and manage ridesourcing services in Chicago. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is generally believed that water vapour from the North Atlantic transported by the mid‐latitude westerlies dominates precipitation variations in arid Central Asia, where monsoonal water vapour source is beyond the reach. This study reexamines water vapour sources for arid Central Asia based on daily reanalysis data. The results reveal two water vapour sources for arid Central Asia: the westerly water vapour transport from the North Atlantic and the monsoonal water vapour transport from the tropical Indian Ocean and South China Sea. The monsoonal transport includes two pathways: lower tropospheric water vapour along the eastern and northern periphery of the Tibetan Plateau from the tropical Indian Ocean and South China Sea, and middle‐upper tropospheric water vapour via the Tibetan Plateau from the tropical Indian Ocean. Precipitation variability during the monsoonal transport events explains 81% of the total variance. The monsoonal transport is related to a weakened East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) that is accompanied by persistent westward shift of the western Pacific subtropical high and increasing frequency of Mongolian anticyclone activities. The EASM has experienced a persistent weakening trend since 1958, causing an increasing contribution of the monsoonal water vapour transport and thereby enhancing summer precipitation in arid Central Asia. In particular, the monsoonal easterly water vapour has become the dominant source for arid Central Asia in the lower troposphere during the last decade. This study highlights the important role of the EASM in the wetting trend of summers in arid Central Asia during the past six decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is generally believed that water vapour from the North Atlantic transported by the mid‐latitude westerlies dominates precipitation variations in arid Central Asia, where monsoonal water vapour source is beyond the reach. This study reexamines water vapour sources for arid Central Asia based on daily reanalysis data. The results reveal two water vapour sources for arid Central Asia: the westerly water vapour transport from the North Atlantic and the monsoonal water vapour transport from the tropical Indian Ocean and South China Sea. The monsoonal transport includes two pathways: lower tropospheric water vapour along the eastern and northern periphery of the Tibetan Plateau from the tropical Indian Ocean and South China Sea, and middle‐upper tropospheric water vapour via the Tibetan Plateau from the tropical Indian Ocean. Precipitation variability during the monsoonal transport events explains 81% of the total variance. The monsoonal transport is related to a weakened East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) that is accompanied by persistent westward shift of the western Pacific subtropical high and increasing frequency of Mongolian anticyclone activities. The EASM has experienced a persistent weakening trend since 1958, causing an increasing contribution of the monsoonal water vapour transport and thereby enhancing summer precipitation in arid Central Asia. In particular, the monsoonal easterly water vapour has become the dominant source for arid Central Asia in the lower troposphere during the last decade. This study highlights the important role of the EASM in the wetting trend of summers in arid Central Asia during the past six decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aim: We previously discovered that tumor suppressor candidate 3 (TUSC3) was overexpressed and predicted worse prognosis in colon cancer patients. However, the mechanisms of upregulation of TUSC3 in colon cancer remained unclear. Methods: MiR‐873‐5p was predicted and identified as the regulator of TUSC3 via online programs and luciferase reporter assays. The roles of miR‐873‐5p in regulating colon cancer cell proliferation, colony formation, and invasion were evaluated in vitro. Animal studies were performed to investigate the effects of miR‐873‐5p on proliferation and lung metastasis. Moreover, the miR‐873‐5p/TUSC3 related signaling pathway and the prognostic value of combining miR‐873‐5p and TUSC3 for colon cancer patients were also explored. Results: Here, we identified miR‐873‐5p as a novel regulator of TUSC3 in colon cancer. Functionally, ectopic expression or silencing of miR‐873‐5p, respectively, inhibited or promoted colon cancer cells proliferation, colony formation, and invasion, as well as prevented or enhanced the metastasis of colon cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. Molecularly, miR‐873‐5p functioned as a tumor suppressor by inhibiting the TUSC3/AKT pathway. Overexpression or silencing of TUSC3 could partially reverse the effects of the overexpression or repression of miR‐873‐5p on colon cancer progression caused by activation of the AKT pathway. Clinically, low miR‐873‐5p expression predicted poor survival in colon cancer patients, especially combined with high TUSC3 expression. Conclusions: We identified miR‐873‐5p as a tumor suppressor, which acts by directly repressing TUSC3 in colon cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Tibetan Plateau (TP) is considered to be the "Third Pole" of the earth because of its huge area (5 million km SP 2 sp ), its high elevation (>4000 m average altitude), and the presence of more than 100,000 km SP 2 sp of glaciers in this northern mid-latitude region. By comparing the palaeo-Aw ratio to the modern Aw ratio, they then attribute the larger lake expansions in the western TP to increased monsoon rainfall there during the early Holocene and to a strengthened ISM [3]. Our simulation result shows that summer rainfall increased more in the western TP than the east, and also indicates that summer rainfall over the western and central TP derived from the western and southwestern plateau boundary (Fig. More summer rainfall fell over the western TP during the early Holocene, and the amplification of rainfall decreased eastward, causing lakes in the western TP to expand more drastically than those in the eastern TP relative to their present size. [Extracted from the article]

Chlorogenic acid (CGA) has demonstrated anti-tumor effects across various cancers, but its role in cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) remains unclear. Our study revealed CGA's potent anti-tumor effects on CCA, significantly suppressing cell proliferation, migration, colony formation, and invasion while inhibiting the epithelial–mesenchymal transition. CGA induced apoptosis, modulated cell cycle progression, and exhibited a stable binding affinity to AKR1B10 in CCA. AKR1B10 was highly expressed in RBE cells, and CGA treatment reduced AKR1B10 expression. Knocking out AKR1B10 inhibited the proliferation of RBE cells, whereas the overexpression of AKR1B10 promoted their proliferation. Additionally, CGA suppressed the proliferation of RBE cells with AKR1B10 overexpression. Mechanistically, AKR1B10 activated AKT, and CGA exerted its inhibitory effect by reducing AKR1B10 levels, thereby suppressing AKT activation. Furthermore, CGA facilitated the polarization of tumor-associated macrophages towards an anti-tumor phenotype and enhanced T-cell cytotoxicity. These findings underscore CGA's potential as a promising therapeutic agent for CCA treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Design of bismuth activated Ba 3 Lu 2 B 6 O 15 phosphors. • Narrowband blue emission of the Ba 3 Lu 2 B 6 O 15 :Bi3+ phosphors. • Potential applications of the Ba 3 Lu 2 B 6 O 15 :Bi3+ phosphors in LED devices. Bi3+ activated Ba 3 Lu 2 B 6 O 15 phosphors were synthesized by sintering at 910 °C for 24 h under air in a muffle furnace. The phase, luminescence properties and potential applications in LED devices were investigated. X-ray diffraction results indicate the successful doping of Bi3+ ions in Ba 3 Lu 2 B 6 O 15 host. The diffuse reflectance and excitation spectra demonstrate the excitability on UV light. Upon the excitation at 365 nm, the Bi3+ activated Ba 3 Lu 2 B 6 O 15 phosphors show narrowband blue emission with the peak at 417 nm. The highest emission intensity with the quantum yield of 85.7% and ΔE a value of 0.215 eV is generated by the Ba 3 Lu 1.90 Bi 0.10 B 6 O 15 phosphor. The light characteristics of the UV-pumped LED devices containing the Ba 3 Lu 1.90 Bi 0.10 B 6 O 15 phosphor demonstrate the potential application of Bi3+ activated Ba 3 Lu 2 B 6 O 15 phosphors in the lighting field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Bovine respiratory disease (BRD) is economically significant, and influenza D virus (IDV) is commonly identified in cattle with BRD. Mannheimia haemolytica (MHA) is an opportunistic bacterial contributor to BRD; surveillance data suggest that MHA and IDV co-infection occurs in cattle. The objective of this study was to evaluate the synergistic pathogenesis in cattle co-infected with IDV and MHA. Sixteen dairy calves were randomly assigned to four groups of four calves. The IDV + MHA + group received D/bovine/C00046 N/Mississippi/2014 (D/46 N) intranasally at 0 days post-inoculation (DPI) and Mannheimia haemolytica D153 (MHA D153) intratracheally at 5 DPI. The IDV + MHA- group received only D/46 N at 0 DPI; the IDV-MHA + group received only MHA D153 at 5 DPI; and the IDV-MHA- group received neither agent. Clinical scores were calculated twice daily. At 10 DPI, IDV + MHA+, IDV-MHA+, and IDV-MHA- calves were euthanized and evaluated for pathologic lesions. The IDV + groups seroconverted to IDV by 10 DPI. Clinical scores were higher in IDV + groups than IDV- groups on 2–5 DPI (p = 0.001). After MHA challenge on 5 DPI, clinical scores (6–10 DPI) were slightly lower in IDV+MHA+ group than IDV-MHA+ group (p < 0.05) but not significantly different between MHA+ groups and MHA- groups. The average gross pathology score was higher for IDV-MHA+ group than groups IDV-MHA- and IDV+MHA+; however, no significant differences were identified among groups. Under the conditions of this study, infection with IDV before MHA enhance neither clinical disease nor lung pathology, relative to calves infected with MHA alone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Genetic reassortment between influenza A viruses (IAVs) facilitate emergence of pandemic strains, and swine are proposed as a “mixing vessel” for generating reassortants of avian and mammalian IAVs that could be of risk to mammals, including humans. However, how a transmissible reassortant emerges in swine are not well understood. Genomic analyses of 571 isolates recovered from nasal wash samples and respiratory tract tissues of a group of co-housed pigs (influenza-seronegative, avian H1N1 IAV–infected, and swine H3N2 IAV–infected pigs) identified 30 distinct genotypes of reassortants. Viruses recovered from lower respiratory tract tissues had the largest genomic diversity, and those recovered from turbinates and nasal wash fluids had the least. Reassortants from lower respiratory tracts had the largest variations in growth kinetics in respiratory tract epithelial cells, and the cold temperature in swine nasal cells seemed to select the type of reassortant viruses shed by the pigs. One reassortant in nasal wash samples was consistently identified in upper, middle, and lower respiratory tract tissues, and it was confirmed to be transmitted efficiently between pigs. Study findings suggest that, during mixed infections of avian and swine IAVs, genetic reassortments are likely to occur in the lower respiratory track, and tissue tropism is an important factor selecting for a transmissible reassortant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) is a complex system that brings precipitation to East Asia showing considerable spatiotemporal variations. This study explored the zonal differences of summer precipitation in Northeast Asia at orbital timescales during the Holocene by comparing proxy records with simulation results. At orbital timescales, there was generally an east–west antiphasing of summer precipitation in Northeast Asia during the Holocene. Model–proxy comparison revealed that the driest interval occurred during the late Holocene in western Northeast Asia and during the early to middle Holocene in eastern Northeast Asia. Changes of summer precipitation in western Northeast Asia were mainly influenced by precession-driven EASM circulation. On the one hand, a weaker EASM circulation during the late Holocene weakened water vapor transport from the North Pacific Ocean to Northeast Asia, and on the other hand it was associated with anomalous downward motions in western Northeast Asia. Both factors were in favor of a reduction of summer precipitation in western Northeast Asia during the late Holocene. In contrast, anomalous downward motions prevailed in eastern Northeast Asia during the early to middle Holocene, which were probably related to stronger western Pacific subtropical high and weaker westerlies. The effect of the anomalous downward motions overwhelmed the enhanced water vapor transport, leading to a dry climate in this area from the early to middle Holocene. This study suggests that special care should be taken when discussing the meridional shift of the Holocene climatic optimum in the EASM region due to the zonal precipitation contrast. Highlights • We compare proxy moisture records in Northeast Asia with the results from a transient simulation. • An east–west antiphasing of summer precipitation in Northeast Asia during the Holocene is found. • The East Asian summer monsoon circulation and mid-latitude westerlies caused the zonal precipitation contrast. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The availability of freshwater has been and remains a crucial concern in westerlies-dominated arid Central Asia. Understanding precipitation changes in this area and the underlying mechanisms, therefore, is of great importance. This study explores precipitation changes in Central Asia (35°–50° N and 50°–70° E) since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and their control factors using results from the “Simulation of Transient Climate Evolution over the last 21,000 years”. Transient simulations reveal that a wet climate occurred during the LGM, the Bølling-Allerød warm period, and the middle Holocene, and a dry climate occurred during Heinrich event 1, the Younger Dryas, and the early Holocene in this area. Model results are in good agreement with proxy records since the last deglaciation. These changes were mainly controlled by Earth's orbital parameters, meltwater discharges into the oceans and continental ice sheets. The contribution of GHG concentrations to precipitation changes was minor. External forcing factors influenced the precipitation mainly through affecting the water vapor input from the North Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea, and vertical motions of the atmosphere over Central Asia. The North Atlantic Oscillation was an important atmospheric bridge connecting the external forcings to precipitation changes in Central Asia. There were complex relationships between precipitation changes in Central Asia and East Asia since the LGM due to the differences of the dominating factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tibetan chicken is one of the most common and widely distributed highland breeds, and is often used as a model organism for understanding genetic adaptation to extreme environments in Tibet. Despite its apparent geographical diversity and large variations in plumage patterns, the genetic differences within breed were not accounted for in most studies and have not been systematically investigated. In order to reveal and genetically differentiate the current existing TBC sub-populations that might have major implications for genomic research in TBCs, we systematically evaluated the population structure and demography of current TBC populations. Based on 344 whole-genome sequenced birds including 115 Tibetan chickens that were mostly sampled from family-farms across Tibet, we revealed a clear separation of Tibetan chickens into 4 sub-populations that broadly aligns with their geographical distribution. Moreover, population structure, population size dynamics, and the extent of admixture jointly suggest complex demographic histories of these sub-populations, including possible multiple origins, inbreeding, and introgressions. While most of the candidate selected regions found between the TBC sub-populations and Red Jungle fowls were nonoverlapping, 2 genes RYR2 and CAMK2D were revealed as strong selection candidates in all 4 sub-populations. These 2 previously identified high altitude associated genes indicated that the sub-populations responded to similar selection pressures in an independent but functionally similar fashion. Our results demonstrate robust population structure in Tibetan chickens that will help inform future genetic analyses on chickens and other domestic animals alike in Tibet, recommending thoughtful experimental design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The gas diffusion layer (GDL), as an important structure of the membrane electrode assembly (MEA) of the direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC), provides a support layer for the catalyst and the fuel and the product channel. Traditionally, the material of GDL is generally carbon paper (CP). In this paper, a new material, namely three-dimensional graphene (3DG) is used as GDL for micro DMFC. The experimental results reveal that the performance of the DMFC has been improved significantly by application of 3DG. The peak powers increase from 25 mW to 31.2 mW and 32 mW by using 3DG as the anode and cathode GDL instead of CP, respectively. The reason may be the decrease of charge and mass transfer resistance of the cell. This means that the unique 3D porous architecture of the 3DG can provide lower contact resistance and sufficient fuel diffusion paths. The output performance of the cell will be further improved when porous metal current collectors is used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The precipitation changes on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau during the Holocene remain unclear due to discrepancies among different proxy records. We compared proxy records with the results from a transient simulation performed using the Kiel Climate Model forced by orbital variations, to analyse summer precipitation changes in this area during the Holocene (9.5-0 ka BP). The model results suggested increasing amounts of summer precipitation from 9.5 to ~6.2 ka BP and a persistent decline thereafter, which matched well with pollen records but was inconsistent with ostracod δ18O records. The Holocene climatic optimum lagged the Northern Hemisphere summer insolation maximum by ~3.5 ka, caused by the interplay between the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) circulation and the mid-latitude westerlies. The ostracod δ18O values reflected the strength of the EASM circulation. A strong EASM circulation increased the transport of water vapour towards the northeastern Tibetan Plateau from the northwestern Pacific. Weakened mid-latitude westerlies increased the incursion of cold air masses into the northeastern Tibetan Plateau. During the early Holocene, relatively strong mid-latitude westerlies, resulting from an enhanced Arctic Oscillation, reduced summer precipitation on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau, in spite of a strong insolation-driven EASM circulation. The weakening EASM circulation and the strengthening westerlies together induced the decreasing trend of summer precipitation from the middle to late Holocene. In addition, summer precipitation variations were further modulated by sea-surface temperatures in the northwestern Pacific, through weakening the strength of the EASM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identifying the relationships between moisture changes in arid central Asia and those in East Asia may help us understand the interplay between the westerlies and the Asian summer monsoon. We combined proxy moisture records with the results from a transient simulation forced by changes in orbital parameters to analyse their relationships during the Holocene (9.5–0 ka BP). The proxy records and simulation results generally agree with a relatively dry early Holocene, the wettest period in the middle Holocene, and a dry late Holocene in East Asia. These periods were not solely controlled by precession-driven East Asian summer monsoon variability, but were significantly influenced by precipitation during the other seasons and by evaporation. However, different proxy records show contrasting results for moisture changes in arid central Asia during the Holocene. To study this, we analysed the climatic signals of the competing proxy records by comparing these proxy records with simulation results. We found that speleothem δ 18 O was significantly influenced by water vapour sources and evaporation rather than by the amount of precipitation. Thus, the model data reveals a persistent wetting trend throughout the Holocene that was out-of-phase with the trend in East Asia. The wetting trend in arid central Asia was caused by precipitation that increased faster than evaporation during the Holocene. The enhanced water vapour input from South Asia and the Middle East was the main cause of the increase in precipitation in arid central Asia, which in turn gave rise to the intensification of evaporation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper proposes a unified analytical cutting force model based on a predictive machining theory for variable helix end mill considering cutter runout. The variable helix end mill is divided into a set of differential oblique elements along the axial direction. The cutting process of oblique element is based on the non-equidistant shear zone model and the equivalent plane method. The cutting forces of oblique element are modeled by shearing force components due to shearing at the shear zone and edge force components due to rubbing in the tertiary zone. In the primary shear zone, a modified Johnson-Cook model is introduced to account for the material size effect affected by varying instantaneous uncut chip thickness (IUCT) during milling process. In the tertiary zone, edge radius and the partial effective rake angle are included in the analytical model in order to take into account the rubbing effect precisely. The total instantaneous cutting forces are obtained by summing up the cutting forces acting oblique elements on all flutes. The unified analytical cutting force model is verified by experimental data using four different types of end mills, and a good agreement of the predicted and measured cutting forces shows that the proposed model is valid for variable helix end mills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The abrupt shift of the East Asian winter monsoon (EAWM) is closely linked to the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) triggered by freshwater hosing at millennium timescale. However, the mechanisms of the EAWM response to North Atlantic freshwater forcing are still not fully understood. This study focuses on the role of the Tibetan Plateau in millennium-scale EAWM variability, both in terms of the Siberian high and monsoonal northerlies, by performing two groups of sensitivity experiments at 8.2 ka BP forced by the same North Atlantic freshwater hosing, with different scenarios of the topography of the Tibetan Plateau. Simulation results reveal that the Tibetan Plateau played a crucial role in the EAWM response to North Atlantic freshwater forcing. Despite anomalous surface cooling over the Siberian and Mongolian regions caused by the slowdown of the AMOC, North Atlantic freshwater hosing could not effectively enhance the Siberian high with the lower Tibetan Plateau. Furthermore, with the lower Tibetan Plateau, the hosing-induced enhancement of monsoonal northerlies over East Asian coastal regions dramatically dwindled. The role of the Tibetan Plateau was mainly via amplifying the westward shift of the Asian subtropical westerly jet, which was triggered by AMOC-induced increase of meridional thermal gradient at 500 hPa over West Asia. The westerly jet's westward shift generated anomalous updrafts over the Northwest Pacific and Tibetan Plateau. The former updrafts created an anomalous cyclone over the Northwest Pacific, enhancing the monsoonal northerlies. The latter updrafts induced compensating downdrafts over Mongolia, and hence enhanced the Siberian high. Our results emphasize that the enhanced EAWM during the North Atlantic cold events was most likely linked to the upper-level westerly jet rather than the previous proposed local surface cooling. • The Tibetan Plateau played a critical role in millennium-scale EAWM variability. • Freshwater hosing enhanced the EAWM via the westward shift of the westerly jet. • The Tibetan Plateau amplified the westward movement of the westerly jet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A numerical differentiation method is presented to predict the high speed milling stability of a two degrees of freedom (DOF) system based on the finite difference method and extrapolation method. The milling dynamics taking the regenerative effect into account are represented as linear periodic delayed differential equations (DDE) in the state space form. Then, each component of the first derivative of the state function versus time at the discretized sampling grids is approximated as a weighted linear sums of the state function values at its neighboring grid points, where the weight coefficients are calculated based on the extrapolation method. As such, the DDE on the forced vibration duration is approximately discretized as a series of algebraic equations. Thereafter, the Floquet transition matrix can be constructed on one tooth passing period by combining the analytical solution of the free vibration and the algebraic equations of the forced vibration. Finally, the milling stability is determined according to Floquet theory. The stability diagrams and convergence of critical eigenvalues in comparison with the benchmark algorithms (the semi-discretization method and numerical integration method) via experimentally verified examples are utilized to demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The immunoaffinity of protein with ligand is broadly involved in many bioanalytical methods. Affinity-ultrafiltration mass spectrometry (AUF-MS), a platform based on interaction of protein-ligand affinity, has been developed to fish out interesting molecules from complex matrixes. Here we reviewed the basics of AUF-MS and its recent applications to pharmaceutical field, i.e. target-oriented discovery of lead compounds from combinatorial libraries and natural product extracts, and determination of free drug concentration in biosamples. Selected practical examples were highlighted to illustrate the advances of AUF-MS in pharmaceutical fields. The future prospects were also presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interleukin (IL)-33 is a recently described member of the IL-1 family and functions as a ligand for ST2, a member of the IL-1 receptor family. The role of IL-33/ST2 axis in the pathogenesis of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), an experimental model of multiple sclerosis (MS), remains controversial. Matrine (MAT), a quinolizidine alkaloid derived from the herb Radix Sophorae Flave, has been recently found to suppress clinical EAE and CNS inflammation. However, the underlying immunoregulatory mechanisms have not been fully elucidated, and whether this effect of MAT is through inhibiting the function of the IL-33/ST2 axis is not known. In this study, we investigated the relationship between the therapeutic effects of MAT and IL-33/ST2 expression. MAT treatment successfully attenuated severe clinical deficit and histopathological changes, compared to untreated controls. While IL-33/ST2 mRNA expression was largely increased in spinal cord of EAE rats compared to naïve rats, this expression was significantly inhibited in rats treated with MAT. These results were further confirmed by their protein levels tested with immunohistochemistry. Together, our study demonstrates that MAT treatment regulates the inflammatory IL-33/ST2 axis, thus being a novel mechanism underlying the effect of MAT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Establishing allograft tolerance is a highly desirable therapeutic goal in kidney transplantation, from which recipients would greatly benefit by withdrawing or minimizing immunosuppression. Identifying biomarkers in predicting tolerance or early diagnosing rejection is essential to direct personalized management. Recent findings have revealed that multiple populations of immune cells have involved in promoting long-term graft function or inducing rejection in renal transplant recipients. Thus, roles of immune cells add another level to predict the renal tolerant state; tailoring their functional and/or phenotypic characteristics would provide insights into mechanism involved in transplant tolerance that may aid in designing new therapies. Here, we review these findings and discuss the current understanding immunological characteristics of renal transplant tolerance in humans, and their potential clinical translation to immune tolerance biomarkers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proxy records have shown that abrupt changes in the Indian summer monsoon (ISM) are closely linked to cold events in the North Atlantic at centennial timescales during the Holocene. However, mechanisms for these co-occurring phenomena are not fully understood. This study uses simulation results from a coupled atmosphere-ocean-sea-ice general circulation model forced by astronomical variations to investigate how summer (June, July, August and September) North Atlantic sea surface temperatures (SSTs) may have influenced the ISM at centennial timescales during the Holocene (9.5-0 ka BP). Our analyses identified an intimate relationship between the North Atlantic tripole SST (NATS) mode and the ISM. The NATS mode can affect the ISM in several ways. First, air-sea interactions over the tropical Atlantic can induce negative tropospheric temperature (TT) anomalies over the Indian Ocean, resulting in a strengthened meridional TT gradient favorable to a prolonged monsoonal rainy season. Second, a positive NATS mode tends to induce closed zonal vertical circulation over the tropical Atlantic, North Africa and the tropical Indian Ocean, creating anomalous convergence over India, and hence an enhanced ISM. Third, westerly surface wind anomalies, related to the NATS mode and coursing over the Arabian Sea, can increase moisture delivery to the monsoon region, causing enhanced rainfall in India. This mechanism resembles a decadal-scale mechanism that operates in the present-day climate. We also compared the Atlantic multidecadal oscillation (AMO), an alternative North Atlantic SST mode, with the NATS mode to determine their relationships to the ISM. A Holocene transient simulation indicates that the AMO's trend has diverged from that of the ISM since 5.5 ka BP, due to inverse SST trends over the tropical and extratropical North Atlantic. This latter trend leads to a much weaker relationship between the AMO and the ISM, relative to that observed between the NATS mode and the ISM. We therefore suggest that the centennial relationship between the North Atlantic SSTs and the ISM during the Holocene differs from the decadal to multidecadal relationship they share in the present-day climate system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The moisture history in arid central Asia (ACA) differs from that in the Asian monsoon region during the Holocene. Much less is known about causes of Holocene moisture changes in ACA than Asian monsoon precipitation changes, hampering our understanding of their spatiotemporal differences. In this study, orbital-scale evolution of winter rainfall in northwestern China (a part of the core zone in ACA) during the Holocene and possible driving mechanisms are investigated using results from a long-term transient simulation performed by an atmosphere–ocean–sea-ice coupled general circulation model, the Kiel Climate Model, forced by orbital variations. Our results reveal a persistent wetting trend in northwestern China in winter throughout the Holocene, which is in response to winter insolation at mid-northern latitudes. Winter insolation can influence the rainfall via three ways. First, increasing latitudinal gradient of the incoming solar insolation at mid-latitudes strengthens the westerly intensity. Second, the evaporation is enhanced because of insolation-induced winter temperature rising, resulting in an increase in the air humidity. Intensified westerly winds and the increased water vapour together are conductive to enhance moisture transport towards northwestern China and thus increase winter precipitation in this area. Third, the increasing trend of winter insolation weakens the East Asian winter monsoon, which is favourable for the formation of rainfall via crippling the Siberian High that is beneficial for atmospheric lifting motion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides another look at the response of the Asian summer monsoon (ASM) to insolation forcing and oceanic feedback during the Holocene, using a fully coupled general circulation ocean–atmosphere model forced by Earth’s orbital variations. The model results revealed a recurrent circumglobal teleconnection (CGT) pattern in the summertime (June–July–August) mid-latitude circulation of the Northern Hemisphere during the Holocene. The CGT index showed a decreasing trend before ~5 ka BP and a slight increasing trend afterwards, affected by the combined effects of summer insolation, Indian summer monsoon (ISM), North Atlantic and Indian Ocean–western Pacific Ocean sea surface temperature (SST). The CGT showed a close relationship with ASM precipitation and surface air temperature during the Holocene and, therefore, could act as a bridge linking the ASM to insolation, high-latitude forcing (North Atlantic SST), and low-latitude forcing (tropical Ocean SST). We emphasize that the mid-latitude atmospheric circulation has been a key factor for the evolution of the ASM during the Holocene. In addition, the CGT provides a viable explanation for the out-of-phase relationship in the moisture evolution but an in-phase relationship in the speleothem δ18O between arid central Asia and the ISM region during the Holocene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The location and number of glycosylation in HA proteins exhibit large variations among H5 subtype avian influenza viruses (AIVs). To investigate the effect of glycosylation in the globular head of HA on the pathogenicity and antigenicity of H5N1 AIVs, seven rescued AIVs differing in their glycosylation patterns (144N, 158N and 169N) within the HA globular head of A/Mallard/Huadong/S/2005 were generated using site directed mutagenesis. Results showed that loss of glycosylation 158N was the prerequisite for H5 AIV binding to the α2,6-linked receptor. Only in conjunction with the removal of the 158N glycosylation, the H5 AIVs harboring both 144N and 169N glycosylations obtained an optimal binding preference to the α2,6-linked receptor. Compared with the wild-type virus, growth of viruses lacking glycosylation at either 158N or 169N was significantly reduced both in MDCK and A549 cells, while replication of viruses with additional glycosylation 144N was significantly promoted. Mutant viruses with loss of 158N or 169N glycosylation sites showed increased pathogenicity, systemic spread and pulmonary inflammation in mice compared to the wild-type H5N1 virus. In addition, chicken studies demonstrated that inactivated de-glycosylation 169N mutant induced cross-reaction HI and neutralization antibody against various clades of H5N1 AIVs. Moreover, this type of glycan pattern vaccine virus provided better cross-protection in chickens compared to wild-type vaccine virus. Thus, the glycosylation alteration of HA should be considered in the global surveillance and vaccine design of H5 subtype AIVs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flexible parts are widely used in the aeronautic and power industries which have high machining accuracy requirement. However, the flexible part is apt to vibrate in cutting processes due to its low structure stiffness and damping. Accurate approximation of cutting stability boundary of flexible part is difficult, because traditional stability analysis simplifies the complex dynamic system and some parameters still have large vibrations and can cause bad surface accuracy even when they are predicted to be located in the stable zone. To better evaluate the stability in flexible part milling, a synthetical stability method is proposed to calculate the boundary which can assure both the cutting stability and the surface location accuracy. To exclude other factors which may have great effect on cutting stability, such as multiple structure modes and structure mode coupling, etc, a flexible support platform is designed to test the validity of the classical local stability analysis. After the comparison between the local stability prediction and the experimental results, it is found that the local stability analysis is defective for the stability prediction of the flexible part milling. Therefore, the dynamical equation is improved and both the periodical excitation and the regenerative excitation are considered. The stability boundary is calculated by using the time-domain numerical method, with the radial immersion and cutting entrance angle's variation originated from forced vibration being considered. The simulation based on the synthetical stability analysis has a good agreement with the experimental results, which verifies the validity of the presented method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurately forecasting ridesourcing demand is important for effective transportation planning and policy-making. With the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI), researchers have started to utilize machine learning models to forecast travel demand, which, in many cases, can produce higher prediction accuracy than statistical models. However, most existing machine-learning studies used a global model to predict the demand and ignored the influence of spatial heterogeneity (i.e., the spatial variations in the impacts of explanatory variables). Spatial heterogeneity can drive the parameter estimations varying over space; failing to consider the spatial variations may limit the model's prediction performance. To account for spatial heterogeneity, this study proposes a Clustering-aided Ensemble Method (CEM) to forecast the zone-to-zone (census-tract-to-census-tract) travel demand for ridesourcing services. Specifically, we develop an interactive clustering approach (powered by human-in-the-loop AI) to split the origin-destination pairs into different clusters and ensemble the cluster-specific machine learning models for prediction. We implement and test the proposed methodology by using the ridesourcing-trip data in Chicago. The results show that, with a more transparent and flexible model structure, the CEM significantly improves the prediction accuracy than the benchmark models (i.e., global machine-learning and statistical models directly trained on all observations). This study offers transportation researchers and practitioners a new methodology of travel demand forecasting, especially for new travel modes like ridesourcing and micromobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the bacterial regrowth in drinking water distribution systems receiving finished water from an advanced drinking water treatment plant in one city in southern China. Thirteen nodes in two water supply zones with different aged pipelines were selected to monitor water temperature, dissolved oxygen (DO), chloramine residual, assimilable organic carbon (AOC), and heterotrophic plate counts (HPC). Regression and principal component analyses indicated that HPC had a strong correlation with chloramine residual. Based on Chick-Watson's Law and the Monod equation, biostability curves under different conditions were developed to achieve the goal of HPC ⩽ 100 CFU/mL. The biostability curves could interpret the scenario under various AOC concentrations and predict the required chloramine residual concentration under the condition of high AOC level. The simulation was also carried out to predict the scenario with a stricter HPC goal (⩽ 50 CFU/mL) and determine the required chloramine residual. The biological regrowth control strategy was assessed using biostability curve analysis. The results indicated that maintaining high chloramine residual concentration was the most practical way to achieve the goal of HPC ⩽ 100 CFU/mL. Biostability curves could be a very useful tool for biostability control in distribution systems. This work could provide some new insights towards biostability control in real distribution systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Knowledge of N-nitrosamine precursors from dissolved organic matter (DOM) is important for water professionals to better control N-nitrosamine formation. The characterization of DOM from the Luan River in Northern China was conducted using Amberlite XAD resins and ultra-filtration methods. N-nitrosamine formation potentials were investigated for various DOM fractions. The removal of the DOM during water treatment were evaluated using dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and ultraviolet absorbance at 254nm (UV254) bulk parameters as well as size exclusion chromatography and fluorescence spectroscopy. The results indicated that the XAD-4 hydrophilic fraction, with normalized yields of N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA), N-nitrosopyrrolidine (NPYR), N-nitrosomorpholine (NMOR), and N-nitrosopiperidine (NPIP) of 27.2, 5.2, 5.9, and 6.1ng/mg-DOC, respectively, tended to form more N-nitrosamines than the hydrophobic and the transphilic fractions. The DOM fraction with a molecular weight (MW) below 1kDa, with normalized yields of NDMA, NPYR, NMOR, and NPIP of 39.6, 8.1, 14.7, and 3.3ng/mg-DOC, respectively, tended to form more N-nitrosamines than those with a higher MW. The limited removal of the hydrophilic fraction and the lower MW DOM faction during conventional water treatment processes suggests that the process may not effectively remove the nitrosamine precursors. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: H5N1 avian influenza virus (AIV) undergoes rapid evolution, and its antigenicity needs to be constantly evaluated in order to update the vaccine strain. In this report, a clade 7.2 AIV isolate named A/Chicken/Huadong/4/2008 (DT) is identified. Antigenic analysis revealed that DT had a significant low cross-reactive HI titre with antiserum against a clade 7 representative AIV, A/Chicken/Shanxi/2/2006 (Re-4). Animal experiments demonstrated that the Re-4+Re-5 vaccine provided 80% protection against DT challenge in chickens. Antisera cross-reactivity showed that a mutant with a change of residues 129, 139, 140 in site A in the HA protein had reduced reactivity with DT antiserum and increased reactivity with Re-4 antiserum. Furthermore, residue Leu129 in site A of the HA protein was confirmed to be critical for maintenance of the reactivity with the DT antiserum, and Asn140, possessing a new glycosylation site, was confirmed to be critical for reducing reactivity with the Re-4 antiserum. These results imply that there is an antigenic drift within clade 7 viruses, and insertion and glycosylation of amino acid residues in site A of the HA protein may contribute to the antigenic variation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The ergosterol biosynthesis pathway plays an important role in model pathogenic bacteria Saccharomyces cerevisiae, but little is known about the biosynthesis of ergosterol in the pathogenic fungus Verticillium dahliae. In this study, we identified the VdERG2 gene encoding sterol C-8 isomerase from V. dahliae and investigated its function in virulence by generating gene deletion mutants (ΔVdERG2) and complemented mutants (C-ΔVdERG2). Knockout of VdERG2 reduced ergosterol content. The conidial germination rate and conidial yield of ΔVdERG2 significantly decreased and abnormal conidia were produced. In spite of VdERG2 did not affect the utilization of carbon sources by V. dahliae, but the melanin production of ΔVdERG2 was decreased in cellulose and pectin were used as the sole carbon sources. Furthermore, the ΔVdERG2 mutants produced less microsclerotia and melanin with a significant decrease in the expression of microsclerotia and melanin-related genes VaflM, Vayg1, VDH1, VdLAC, VdSCD and VT4HR. In addition, mutants ΔVdERG2 were very sensitive to congo red (CR), sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) stresses, indicating that VdERG2 was involved in the cell wall and oxidative stress response. The absence of VdERG2 weakened the penetration ability of mycelium on cellophane and affected the growth of mycelium. Although ΔVdERG2 could infect cotton, its pathogenicity was significantly impaired. These phenotypic defects in ΔVdERG2 could be complemented by the reintroduction of a full-length VdERG2 gene. In summary, as a single conservative secretory protein, VdERG2 played a crucial role in ergosterol biosynthesis, nutritional differentiation and virulence in V. dahliae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the genetic mechanism of highland adaptation is of great importance for breeding improvement of Tibetan chickens (TBC). Some studies of TBC have identified some candidate genes and pathways from multiple subgroups, but the related genetic mechanisms remain largely unknown. Different genetic backgrounds and the independent genetic basis of highland adaptation make it difficult to identity the selective region of highland adaptation with all TBC samples. In this study, we conducted pre‐analysis in a large‐scale population to select a TBC subgroup with the purest and highest level of highland‐specific lineage for the further analysis. Finally, the 37 samples from a TBC subgroup and 19 Lahsa White chickens were used to represent the highland group for further analysis with 80 samples from five Chinese local lowland breeds as controls. Population structure analysis revealed that highland adaptation significantly affected population stratification in Chinese local chicken breeds. Genome‐wide selection signal analysis identified 201 candidate genes associated with highland adaptation of TBC, and these genes were significantly enriched in calcium signaling, vascular smooth muscle contraction and the cellular response to oxidative stress pathways. Additionally, we identified a narrow 1.76 kb region containing an overlapping region between HBZ and an active enhancer, and our identified region showed a highly significant signal. The highland group selected the haplotype with high activity to improve the oxygen‐carrying capacity, thus being adapted to a hypoxic environment. We also found that STX2 was significantly selected in the highland group, thus potentially reducing the oxidative stress caused by hypoxia, and that STX2 exhibited the opposite effects on highland adaptation and reproductive traits. Our findings advance our understanding of extreme environment adaptation of highland chickens, and provide some variants and genes beneficial to TBC genetic breeding improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Drinking water biofilters have been widely used for ammonia removal. Knowledge about the structure of ammonia oxidizing communities can aid in understanding of nitrification process. Terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (TRFLP) analysis of amoA genes in combination with cloning and sequencing analysis were used to investigate spatial heterogeneity of ammonia oxidizing archaea (AOA) and ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) communities in a pilot-scale granular activated carbon (GAC)-sand dual media filter. The results illustrate the diversity of AOB communities on GAC samples and their changes along the filter depth. Moreover, Nitrosomonas-like microorganisms were the dominant AOB species in GAC samples. However, AOA was not detected in the biofilter. This work could add some new insights into the nitrification in drinking water biofilters. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Membrane fouling is one of the primary concerns on ultrafiltration (UF) application in drinking water treatment. There is a dispute about whether or not powdered activated carbon (PAC) addition is able to alleviate the membrane fouling. This investigation was conducted to further understand the effect of PAC addition on UF membrane fouling. Immersed polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) hollow fiber membrane was utilized in the experiment. Kaolinite and humic acid (HA) were added in tap water to simulate the particles and natural organic matters (NOM) in raw water. The results verified that PAC addition could mitigate the total membrane fouling effectively by HA, while has little effectiveness on that by kaolinite and HA-kaolinite. This effect was attributed to the enhancement of organic matter removal and the reduction in irreversible fouling by HA in PAC-UF process. Results of molecular weight (MW) distribution and XAD fractionation indicated that PAC addition was mainly responsible for the removal of HPI fraction and organic matters with MW lower than 1kDa. SEM images illustrated that the PAC cake layer on the membrane surface partially protects NOM from adsorption into the membrane pores, decreasing irreversible membrane fouling and resulting in significantly higher membrane specific flux recovery by water backwashing. But the PAC-contained cake layer increases the reversible resistance. Batch dosing was recommended for its simplicity and higher effectiveness over continuous dosing. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]