Search

Background: This study aimed to identify patterns of overall, team, and individual sport participation and examine the prospective associations between these patterns and loneliness in young people. Methods: We analyzed data from 4241 young people, from waves 3 (8–9 y) to 9 (20–21 y) of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. We conducted latent class analyses to identify overall and team versus individual sport participation trajectories and used adjusted log-Poisson regression models to examine the associations between these trajectories and loneliness at wave 9. Results: Latent class analyses identified 4 distinct overall sport participation classes which were labeled: nonparticipants (24%), dropouts (42%), initiators (7%), and consistent participants (27%). Compared with nonparticipants, consistent participants had a lower risk of loneliness (risk ratios = 0.69; 95% CIs, 0.59–0.81). Latent class analyses also identified 4 distinct team versus individual sport participation classes: team and individual sport nonparticipants (38%), individual sport participants (14%), moderate team sport participants (14%), and high team sport participants (34%). Compared with the team and individual sport nonparticipants, the high team sports participants had a lower risk of loneliness (risk ratios = 0.70; 95% CIs, 0.53–0.92). Conclusions: Young people who continued participating in sport in general, and particularly in team sport, had a reduced risk of loneliness. Continued participation in sports should be promoted to improve a range of physical, mental, and social health benefits. Furthermore, team-based sport can provide additional health and well-being benefits, including reduced loneliness due to the group nature of participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: To meet the World Health Organization goal of reducing physical inactivity by 15% by 2030, a multisectoral system approach is urgently needed to promote physical activity (PA). We report the process of and findings from a codesigned systems mapping project to present determinants of PA in the context of urban New South Wales, Australia. Methods: A participatory conceptual mapping workshop was held in May 2023 with 19 participants working in education, transportation, urban planning, community, health, and sport and recreation. Initial maps were developed and refined using online feedback from the participants. Interviews were conducted with 10 additional policymakers from relevant sectors to further refine the maps. Results: Two systems maps were cocreated, identifying over 100 variables influencing PA and their interconnections. Five settings emerged from the adults' map—social and community, policy, built environment and transportation, health care, and workplace—and 4 for the young people's map—family, school, transportation, and community and environment. The maps share similarities, such as regarding potential drivers within the transportation, community, and built environment sectors; however, the young people's map has a specific focus on the school setting and the adults' map on workplace and health care settings. Interviews with policymakers provided further unique insights into understanding and intervening in the PA system. Conclusions: This codesigned participatory systems mapping process, supplemented by stakeholder interviews, provided a unique opportunity to bring together stakeholders across sectors to understand the complexity within the PA system and begin to identify leverage points for tackling physical inactivity in New South Wales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Physical activity is crucial for maintaining health and preventing chronic diseases. However, climate conditions can impact physical activity patterns, and conversely, physical activity can impact climate change. This umbrella review aims to summarize the existing evidence regarding the relationships between physical activity and climate change, as revealed in previous reviews. Methods: Systematic reviews and meta-analyses were analyzed. Searches were conducted across GreenFILE, PubMed, and Web of Science databases for peer-reviewed articles published in English. A 2-stage independent screening process was conducted, and methodological quality was assessed using the JBI framework. Standardized data extraction methods were then applied. Results: Out of 1292 articles retrieved, 7 met all eligibility criteria and were included in the review. Three articles examined physical activity as a primary exposure, 3 focused on the impacts of climate change, and one considered both physical activity and climate change as primary exposures. Conclusions: Findings reveal an interplay between climate change and physical activity. While rising temperatures may prompt outdoor activities up to a certain temperature threshold, air pollution and extreme heat can have harmful effects. Active transportation and improved logistics around large-scale sporting events can mitigate climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but transportation systems linked to sports venues may increase emissions. Research on the reciprocal relationship between climate change and physical activity domains, and integrating the community into climate discussions, is crucial for equity, especially for marginalized communities. Incorporating climate adaptation and mitigation strategies in physical activity infrastructure to minimize environmental impacts is critical. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This article evaluates the evolution of physical activity and health research in China through a bibliometric analysis focused on number of publications, study areas, and sex balance in authorship. Methods: A systematic review was conducted by the Global Observatory for Physical Activity for "physical activity and health" publications between 1950 and 2019. Here, we focus on the 610 Chinese publications identified, defined as those in which data collection took place in China. We assessed the number of publications, classified them into 5 areas (1) surveillance, (2) correlates and determinants, (3) health consequences, (4) interventions, and (5) policy, and analyzed female participation in authorship. Results: The first Chinese publication identified in the review was in 1990. Since, the average number of physical activity and health publications increased from one per year in the 1990s to 7.6 per year in the 2000s, and to 47 per year in the 2010s. Most publications focused on the correlates and determinants (38.7%) and the health consequences of physical activity (35.9%). Physical activity policy accounted for 2.3% of the publications. In the 1990s, 64% of the publications included at least one female author; this proportion increased to 90% in the 2010s. Conclusion: Despite a slow start, China's research on physical activity and health has grown rapidly since 2000. The distribution of publications by study areas and female participation in authorship is similar to that observed globally, with fewer publications focused on interventions and policy as compared with other topics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use large-scale molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the indentation response of three silica-based glasses with varying compositional complexities. Our primary goal is to clarify the roles of the typical network-modifying species, namely, sodium, and the secondary network-forming species, namely, boron, in influencing the mechanical behavior of the glasses under localized stress. The distinct mechanical responses of the glasses are linked to structural features such as bond strength, network connectivity, and atomic packing density. The enhanced nanoscale ductility of sodium silicate and sodium borosilicate glasses, compared to silica, is attributed to the structural flexibility induced by Na atoms, which depolymerize the network, and by B species in mixed coordination. We also find that shear flow, driven by network flexibility, is the dominant deformation mechanism in the sodium silicate and sodium borosilicate glasses, while densification dominates in silica due to its low packing density. The evolution of short-to-intermediate-range structures is responsible for the distinct deformation behaviors of the glasses. These results highlight the critical role of structure in determining the deformation mechanisms of silicate glasses under sharp contact loads, providing insights for improving the mechanical performance of these materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we present a novel orientation discretization approach based on the rhombic triacontahedron for Monte Carlo simulations of semiflexible polymer chains, aiming at enhancing structural analysis through rheo-small-angle scattering (rheo-SAS). Our approach provides a more accurate representation of the geometric features of semiflexible chains under deformation, surpassing the capabilities of traditional lattice structures. Validation against the Kratky–Porod chain system demonstrated superior consistency, underscoring its potential to significantly improve the precision of uncovering geometric details from rheo-SAS data. This approach opens new avenues for investigating the conformations of semiflexible polymers and mechanically induced phase transitions in more complex polymer structures, offering deeper insights into their behavior under various conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we investigated the effects of interfacial oxygen vacancies on the ferroelectric behaviors and switching properties of Al:Hf0.5Zr0.5O2 (Al:HZO) films. Our study employed a Pt/Al:Hf0.5Zr0.5O2/Si structure to form two interfaces with different interfacial oxygen defects. Oxygen vacancies were mainly accumulated at the HZO/Si interface, confirmed by the XPS results. By carefully examining the P–V loops, C–V loops, and the corresponding switching current loops, we found that the domains were clearly divided into two parts, which resulted in the slit-up of the switching current peaks and distorted P–V loops. Further cycling results showed that the wake-up performances had arisen from the biased domains. We further simulated the switching dynamics by using the nucleation limited switching model. Distorted switching kinetics and unsatisfied switching polarization were observed for the initial samples, while the switching dynamics showed the same tendency after waking up. The results elucidate that the influence of interfacial oxygen vacancies is mainly to induce the built-in field at the interface, which may be helpful for the understanding of the switching behaviors of HfO2-based ferroelectric films. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quantum anomalous Hall effect (QAHE) enables dissipation-free motion within its edge states, offering considerable potential for developments in the fields of electronics, phononics, and elastic waves. In this study, we introduce an elastic metamaterial designed to realize the QAHE at low frequencies. Our approach involves deploying a two-dimensional honeycomb spring-mass system on a rotating platform to break time-reversal symmetry via the Coriolis Force and incorporating local resonators to achieve low-frequency topological edge states. We begin by deriving the system's equations of motion through analytical rigid body dynamics. Subsequently, we apply Bloch wave solutions to establish the dispersion relations and identify the topological edge states. We then conduct numerical simulations to confirm the one-way transmission characteristics of these states. The addition of local resonators not only extends the frequency range of the topological edge states but also lowers the operational frequency of the system. This robust waveguide, capable of one-way transmission, has potential applications in directional transmission, vibration damping, noise reduction, and acoustic imaging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lamb wave resonators (LWRs) based on lithium niobate on insulator (LNOI) substrates operating in an A1 mode at frequencies above 5 GHz typically exhibit high electromechanical coupling coefficients (K2) ranging from 20% to 30%. This makes them promising candidates to replace current bulk acoustic wave technology in next-generation broadband RF filters. However, the K2 of conventional LWRs still struggles to meet application requirements for bandwidths exceeding 1 GHz, such as WiFi-6E. This paper presents an analytical optimization approach for rapid and comprehensive scanning of the full 3D Euler space to find the maximum effective K2 of LWR devices. Such a full scan is difficult to achieve by the conventional time-consuming finite element method (FEM). The K2 results for a selected subset of Euler angles obtained through this analytical approach align with FEM simulation results. The optimized results show that LWRs on LNOI can achieve the highest K2 of 59.92% at Euler angles of (0, −151°, −60°), providing bandwidths exceeding 1 GHz at 5 GHz. To validate this optimization approach, LWRs with various orientations were fabricated on both 41° YX-cut and Z-cut LNOI wafers, with measured K2 values at different Euler angles agreeing well with both analytical and FEM results. The proposed K2 optimization method serves as a valuable guideline for selecting substrate cuts and device orientations in the design of ultra-broadband filters for next-generation telecommunications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a theoretical investigation of thermoelectric transport properties of bismuth-based ternary chalcogenides Pt3Bi4X9 (X = S, Se), which has low thermal conductivity and promising zT as discovered in a recent experiment [Wang et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 146, 7352 (2024)], using density functional theory combined with the Boltzmann transport equation within rigid band approximation. We find that the high density of states of valence bands near the Fermi level yields high p-type Seebeck coefficient. The lower effective mass of electron in Pt3Bi4S9 leads to high mobility and long relaxation time, and hence the high n-type electrical conductivity. In contrast, the effective mass of electron is much higher than that of hole in Pt3Bi4Se9 due to the flatted conduction band, which in turn gives rise to higher p-type electrical conductivity. As a result, the p-type zT is much higher than n-type in Pt3Bi4Se9, with an optimal value of 0.5 at 300 K. Considering the experimental carrier concentration for Pt3Bi4S9 (−1.4 × 1019 cm−3) and Pt3Bi4Se9 (−0.898 × 1019 cm−3), calculated n-type zT at 773 K are 0.52 and 0.04, respectively, which are consistent well with the experimental values. Our calculations uncover the upper limit thermoelectric zT of Pt3Bi4X9 and also highlight them as promising thermoelectric materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the time evolution of strongly correlated open quantum systems (OQSs) in response to perturbations (quenches) is of fundamental importance to the precise control of quantum devices. It is, however, rather challenging in multi-impurity quantum systems because such evolution often involves multiple intricate dynamical processes. In this work, we apply the numerically exact hierarchical equations of motion approach to explore the influence of two different types of perturbations, i.e., sudden swapping of the energy levels of impurity systems and activating the inter-impurity spin-exchange interaction, on the dissipation dynamics of the Kondo-correlated two-impurity Anderson model over a wide range of energetic parameters. By evaluating the time-dependent impurity spectral function and other system properties, we analyze the time evolution of the Kondo state in detail and conclude a phenomenologically scaling relation for Kondo dynamics driven by these perturbations. The evolutionary scaling relationship is not only related to the Kondo characteristic energy TK but also significantly affected by the simultaneous non-Kondo dynamic characteristic energy. We expect these results will inspire subsequent theoretical studies on the dynamics of strongly correlated OQSs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Journal of Physical Activity and Health has evolved over the past 20 years to address global challenges such as climate change, social inequalities, and pandemics. A special issue titled "Physical Activity as a Necessary Solution to Current Global Health Challenges" explores the multifaceted relationship between physical activity and various global issues. The issue covers topics ranging from climate change to equity, highlighting the importance of promoting physical activity for mental and social health benefits. Moving forward, the journal advocates for a mission-oriented research paradigm that emphasizes collaboration, equity, advocacy, and implementation of policies to address the complexities of physical inactivity in the modern era. [Extracted from the article]

Background: The Australian population is highly diverse in terms of cultural heritage, languages spoken, and geographical dispersion. Health outcomes are often worse among these culturally, linguistically, and geographically diverse populations, and this is reflected in rates of physical activity participation, with people from these groups often engaging in insufficient physical activity for health benefits. This research aimed to investigate if physical activity intervention studies conducted in Australia were (1) designed to recruit culturally, linguistically, and geographically diverse participants and (2) recruiting culturally, linguistically, and geographically diverse participants. Methods: We conducted a systematic review of physical activity intervention studies conducted in adults in Australia between 2015 and November 2022. Information relevant to inclusivity in study recruitment methods and diversity of recruited participants was extracted. Results: We identified and extracted data from 371 studies, of which 98 were protocol papers for which no follow-up data was available. Only 26 studies (7%) included methods to recruit culturally or linguistically diverse participants. Most studies (189, 51%) recruited participants from major city locations, with few studies recruiting from more remote locations. No studies included recruitment from very remote regions. Information on cultural, linguistic, or geographic diversity of participants recruited to physical activity studies was provided by 109 studies (40% of studies including results) with the majority recruiting White, English-speakers from major cities. Conclusions: Few Australian physical activity studies are designed to recruit culturally, linguistically, and geographically diverse participants. Due to limited reporting of the diversity of participants, comparisons with population-representative data are unreliable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We theoretically analyze the electronic transport properties of a monolayer graphene/insulator/superconductor (G I S) tunnel junction subject to a temperature gradient. For intrinsic graphene, the system shows always dissipative charge transport even in the presence of an electronic temperature difference between the two leads. Differently, the G I S produces a thermoelectric response when the graphene electrochemical potential is lifted to energies comparable to the zero-temperature gap of the superconductor, i.e., the system is particle–hole asymmetric. Indeed, the thermally biased G I S system is able to produce both a short-circuit Peltier current and an open-circuit Seebeck voltage. This thermoelectric effect is made of a linear conventional component, due to the intrinsic particle–hole asymmetry of the system, and a non-linear contribution, due to a further spontaneous particle–hole symmetry breaking. In most of the thermal and charge configurations of the G I S system, the linear component prevails. Concluding, the G I S system could be employed in the design of thermometers, electromagnetic radiation sensors, and heat engines with profound influence in superconducting quantum technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To overcome product homogenisation issues, an increasing number of supply chain members have been binding their competitive advantages to services which extend supply chain competition to a new dimension. This paper proposes a product service supply chain (PSSC) network competition model with multiple competing manufacturers and retailers offering demand-enhancing and costly services. In order to obtain the decision-making results in a non-cooperative game context, equilibrium conditions are established using variational inequality, and the qualitative properties are discussed. We compare the two competition scenarios, price competition only and simultaneous price and service competition, to discover the impact of service-offering on supply chain members. After introducing the service competition, both manufacturers and retailers realise higher profits and marginal profits with the same service costs. In contrast, the manufacturers' marginal profits achieve higher growth rates. We also find that (a) the increase of the demand sensitivities to the service levels of retailers would contribute more to the revenue growth of the whole PSSC network and (b) when service costs are different for manufacturers and retailers, the optimal decision-making on service levels are not only affected by the service costs of the members in the same tier but also correlated with those in other tiers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have characterized polarization switching kinetics of Hf0.5Zr0.5O2 (HZO) at cryogenic temperature (T) down to 100 K. By the nucleation-limited-switching model with Lorentzian distribution fittings, the dependences of the average switching time (log τ1) and switching time distribution (ω) on T are extracted. As T decreases from 300 to 100 K, log τ1 first rapidly decreases and then gradually stabilizes. Meanwhile, ω exhibits different trends under different external electric fields (Eext), decreasing under low Eext while increasing under high Eext, eventually stabilizing at non-zero constants. With the further decrease in T (<100 K), log τ1 and ω exhibited by HZO are almost unchanged, indicating the intrinsic properties of ferroelectric multiple domains, which are different from the prediction in previous literature studies that log τ1 and ω will linearly decrease as T decreases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achieving carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals is a fundamental requirement for advancing high-quality development in China. Carbon emission efficiency (CEE) indicates the proportion of optimal emissions to actual emissions in the production system, providing a basis for reasonable carbon emission reductions. To facilitate the realisation of China's goals, this paper analyses CEE and the carbon emission reduction potential in China from 2001 to 2020. Considering the heterogeneity of both regions and industries, this paper proposes a three-hierarchy meta-frontier directional distance function (DDF) method to measure CEE under convex and non-convex assumptions of production possibility set (PPS). The empirical results show that the assumption of convex or non-convex axiom on the innermost PPS has a great impact on efficiency distribution, and the distribution of technology gap rate (TGR) is more affected by the selection of convex or non-convex assumption compared with the distribution of CEE. Currently, China's carbon emission efficiency remains low, mostly due to management inefficiency. The primary industry has more advanced emission reduction technologies than the other two industries. The eastern region has a large potential for carbon emission reduction because of its high carbon emission base, despite its high efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to optimise fleet management for companies that utilise both internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs) and electric vehicles by considering various costs, including fixed costs, variable costs, time window penalty costs, fuel costs, and electricity consumption costs. Additionally, the study examines the influence of four types of regulations, i.e. carbon cap, carbon tax, carbon trading, and carbon offsetting, on carbon emissions and fleet configuration. The optimisation model was solved using a Clarke-Wright savings heuristic algorithm followed by an improved adaptive genetic algorithm (IAGA), and a sensitivity analysis was conducted under different regulatory policies. The results show that all four types of regulations can effectively reduce fleet emissions. While carbon prices have a greater impact on carbon regulations than carbon quota, carbon trading was more effective under similar circumstances. Therefore, governments should implement appropriate regulatory strategies to reduce energy consumption and encourage enterprises to reduce their emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: We aimed to identify long-term patterns of sport participation (overall, team, and individual sport) from childhood into adolescence, and to examine the association between these patterns and academic outcomes. Methods: This cohort study used data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children in wave 3 (4–5 y) to wave 9 (20–21 y). The participants were a nationally representative sample of 4241 children. We conducted latent class analyses to identify sport participation trajectories and assessed the association between these trajectories and academic outcomes. Results: Continued sport participation was associated with lower odds of being absent from school (OR = 0.44; 95% confidence intervals [CIs], 0.26 to 0.74), better performance on attention (B = −0.010; 95% CIs, −0.019 to −0.002) and working memory (B = −0.013; 95% CIs, −0.023 to −0.003), higher numeracy (B = 20.21; 95% CIs, 14.56 to 25.86) and literacy scores (B = 9.42; 95% CIs, 2.82 to 16.02), higher end of school academic performance (B = 3.28; 95% CIs, 1.47 to 5.09), and higher odds of studying at university (OR = 1.78; 95% CIs, 1.32 to 2.40). Team sport participation was associated with reduced absenteeism, better performance on attention and working memory, and being awarded the Higher School Certificate. Whereas individual sport participation was associated with higher literacy scores and end of school academic performance. Conclusions: Team and individual sport participation both benefit academic outcomes, but differently. Given the decline in sport participation during adolescence, these findings highlight the need to develop educational policies to establish an environment that promotes sport participation, which in turn could improve academic outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To study the effect of large area uniform garnet film on the consistency of image quality of a magneto-optical imaging system, the effect of lattice mismatch on a large area uniform domain structure of magneto-optical materials was studied. In this paper, (BiTm)3(GaFe)5O12 thin garnet films with different stress were prepared on the surface of gadolinium gallium garnet by liquid phase epitaxy. The results show that the magnetic hysteresis mechanism exists in the (BiTm)3(GaFe)5O12 thin films with tensile stress, and the domains can preferentially respond to magnetic signals in very small regions. This is mainly the phenomenon of magnetic domain partitioning caused by cracks. In addition, the non-uniform distribution of coercive force in a large range is the main cause of hysteresis. The thin films with weak compressive stress (BiTm)3(GaFe)5O12 are uniformly distributed over a large area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inert gases (e.g., He and Xe) can exhibit chemical activity at high pressure, reacting with other substances to form compounds of unexpected chemical stoichiometry. This work combines first-principles calculations and crystal structure predictions to propose four unexpected stable compounds of CH4Xe3, (CH4)2Xe, (CH4)3Xe, and (CH4)3Xe2 at pressure ranges from 2 to 100 GPa. All structures are composed of isolated Xe atoms and CH4 molecules except for (CH4)3Xe2, which comprises a polymerization product, C3H8, and hydrogen molecules. Ab initio molecular dynamics simulations indicate that pressure plays a very important role in the different temperature driving state transitions of CH4–Xe compounds. At lower pressures, the compounds follow the state transition of solid–plastic–fluid phases with increasing temperature, while at higher pressures, the stronger Xe–C interaction induces the emergence of a superionic state for CH4Xe3 and (CH4)3Xe2 as temperature increases. These results not only expand the family of CH4–Xe compounds, they also contribute to models of the structures and evolution of planetary interiors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have calculated electron backscattering coefficients, η (E p) , at primary electron energies E p of 0.1–100 keV for three elemental and intermediate atomic number solids, Cr, Co and Pd, with an up-to-date Monte Carlo simulation model. A relativistic dielectric functional approach is adopted for the calculation of the electron inelastic cross section, where several different datasets of optical energy loss function (ELF) are adopted. The calculated backscattering coefficient is found to be substantially affected by the ELF, where the influence can be seen to follow the f- and ps-sum rules and the resultant energy dependence of electron inelastic mean free path. To understand the uncertainties involved in a comparison with experimental data both the theoretical uncertainty due to the elastic cross-section model and the experimental systematic error for the contaminated surfaces are investigated. A total of 192 different scattering potentials are employed for the calculation of Mott's electron elastic cross section and this theoretical uncertainty is confirmed to be small. On the other hand, the simulation of contaminated Co and Pd surfaces with several carbonaceous atomic layers can well explain the experimental data. The present results indicate that accurate backscattering coefficient data should be either measured from fully cleaned surfaces or obtained from modern Monte Carlo theoretical calculations involving reliable optical constants data. With the recent progress in the accurate measurement of optical constants by reflection electron energy loss spectroscopy technique, constructing a reliable theoretical database of electron backscattering coefficients for clean surfaces of elemental solids is highly hopeful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metals exhibit nonequilibrium electron and lattice subsystems at transient times following femtosecond laser excitation. In the past four decades, various optical spectroscopy and time-resolved diffraction methods have been used to study electron–phonon coupling and the effects of underlying dynamical processes. Here, we take advantage of the surface specificity of reflection ultrafast electron diffraction (UED) to examine the structural dynamics of photoexcited metal surfaces, which are apparently slower in recovery than predicted by thermal diffusion from the profile of absorbed energy. Fast diffusion of hot electrons is found to critically reduce surface excitation and affect the temporal dependence of the increased atomic motions on not only the ultrashort but also sub-nanosecond times. Whereas the two-temperature model with the accepted physical constants of platinum can reproduce the observed surface lattice dynamics, gold is found to exhibit appreciably larger-than-expected dynamic vibrational amplitudes of surface atoms while keeping the commonly used electron–phonon coupling constant. Such surface behavioral difference at transient times can be understood in the context of the different strengths of binding to surface atoms for the two metals. In addition, with the quantitative agreements between diffraction and theoretical results, we provide convincing evidence that surface structural dynamics can be reliably obtained by reflection UED even in the presence of laser-induced transient electric fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Muon radiography, which relies on measuring the absorption and attenuation of muons as they pass through matters, offers a new imaging technique capable of revealing the internal structure of large objects. Recent technological advancement allows for the application or testing of muon radiography in various fields, including mining, civil engineering, security check, etc. This study investigates the factors that influence muon radiography, which is used in density inversion, through simulations and experiments. The materials considered for density inversion include water, standard rock, and iron. Our simulation studies show that the number of events detected and selected has an impact on the reconstruction results, and several factors, such as multiple Coulomb scattering processes, recording time, and spatial resolution, which influence the number of muons, must be taken into account when measuring the rock density. We design and conduct a laboratory scale experiment based on the simulation results. We filter the 220 h of recording signals through time coincidence and straight-line fitting to obtain the selected events. Our results reveal that the statistical error of muons survival ratio in recording time significantly impacts the inversion result and decreases the error can improve accuracy greatly. In the experiment, the deviation between the inversion mean value and the expected value can be reduced to 2.4%–2.9% for iron, 7% for water, and 1.5% for standard rock. This density inversion approach provides insight into future density detection of underground structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the density function theory in combination with the non-equilibrium Green's function method, the thermoelectric properties of molecular devices based on transition metal–terpyridine complexes are investigated. The results show that their thermoelectric properties can be significantly improved by changing the transition metal and the twist angle of the complex molecule, which is caused by shifting the molecular energy levels, resulting in increased coupling strength between the electrodes and the central molecule. The ZT value of the Ru-containing molecular device can reach up to 0.9 at room temperature, which is three orders of magnitude greater than that of the graphene nanoribbons of the same width. In addition, its thermoelectric performance can be further promoted by suppressing phonon thermal conductance through enhanced isotope scattering. The ZT value of doped devices can reach up to 1.0 in the range of 300–700 K. This work may help in the design and fabrication of transition metal-containing twistable molecular devices and provide effective methods to regulate their thermoelectric properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the quantum interference of the electron–hole conversions from the two interfaces in a Weyl semimetal (WSM)-based hybrid structure, in which a superconducting WSM is sandwiched in between two normal ones. The quantum interference is characterized by the chirality-anomaly-manipulation (CAM). It is found that only low energy is in favor for s -wave BCS pairing states. The Andreev reflection (AR) chirality blockade can be tuned by the stagger angle α for the relative orientation of paired Weyl points, accompanied by an AR bipolar chirality diode. Thus, a strong CAM is indicated for the electron–hole conversion. However, the Fulde–Ferrell–Larkin–Ovchinnikov (FFLO) pairing states have no energy preference, with the weak and strong CAMs being near and far away from the zero energy, respectively. More interestingly, a perfect AR with the normal reflection suppressed thoroughly can be obtained at any α as a result of the FFLO paring with the same chirality. In addition, the conductance or noise power, which incorporates the contributions of the two paired Weyl nodes, not only, in turn, embodies the respective features of their contributions but also can be experimentally measured to discern between the BCS and FFLO paring states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Isotropic materials are required to adhere to various mechanical principles due to their limited thermal stability. For instance, it is essential for Poisson's ratio to be within the range of −1 to 0.5, and the longitudinal wave velocity must exceed the transverse wave velocity. Nevertheless, perfect crystals, as anisotropic materials, have the ability to defy conventional rules. Through the integration of high-throughput processes and first-principles calculations, a comprehensive exploration of known materials was conducted, resulting in the establishment of a database featuring an extreme anisotropic mechanism. This included the identification of abnormal Poisson's ratios (with the directional Poisson's ratio ranging from −3.00 to 3.67), the discovery of extreme negative linear compressibility, the determination of the upper and lower limits of the sound velocity, and other associated properties. Several materials with abnormal Poisson's ratios (<−1 or >0.5) were listed, and their peculiar mechanical behavior, wherein the volume decreased counterintuitively with uniaxial tension, was discussed. Finally, this study focused on the velocities of longitudinal and transverse waves, with specific emphasis on materials exhibiting transverse wave velocities that exceeded the longitudinal wave velocities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document, titled "A Quick Guide for Becoming a Better Peer Reviewer," provides tips and recommendations for individuals who have been invited to peer review an article. The authors emphasize the importance of checking the legitimacy of the journal, considering potential conflicts of interest, and evaluating the match between one's expertise and the topic of the article. They also discuss the significance, innovation, and relevance of the paper, as well as the importance of research and publication ethics. The authors provide guidance on writing the reviewer's report, including being kind, constructive, and polite, and being clear and specific in providing feedback. They caution against imposing one's own point of view and disclose recommendations to the authors. The authors conclude by highlighting the importance of mentoring and supporting the next generation of peer reviewers to improve the overall quality of peer reviews and the experience of authors and readers in physical activity research. [Extracted from the article]

Objective: Neuroendocrine cervical carcinoma (NECC) is a rare but highly aggressive tumor. The clinical management of NECC follows neuroendocrine neoplasms and cervical cancer in general. However, the diagnosis and prognosis of NECC remain dismal. The aim of this study was to identify a specific protein signature for the diagnosis of NECC. Methods: Protein and gene expression data for NECC and other cervical cancers were retrieved or downloaded from self-collected samples or public resources. Eleven machine-learning algorithms were packaged into 66 combinations, of which we selected the optimal algorithm, including randomForest, SVM-RFE, and LASSO, to select key NECC specific dysregulated proteins (kNsDEPs). The diagnostic effect of kNsDEPs was validated by a set of predictive models and immunohistochemical staining method. The dysregulation patterns of kNsDEPs were further investigated in other neuroendocrine carcinomas. Results: Our results showed that NECC displays distinctive biological characteristics, such as HPV18 infection, and exhibits unique molecular features, particularly an enrichment in cytoskeleton-related functions. Furthermore, secretagogin (SCGN), adenylyl cyclase-associated protein 2 (CAP2), and calcyclin-binding protein (CACYBP) were identified as kNsDEPs. These kNsDEPs play a central role in cytoskeleton protein binding and showcase robust diagnostic ability and specificity for NECC. Moreover, the concurrent upregulation of SCGN and CACYBP, along with the downregulation of CAP2, represents a unique feature of NECC, distinguishing it from other neuroendocrine carcinomas. Conclusions: This study uncovers the significance of kNsDEPs and elucidates their regulated networks in the context of NECC. It highlights the pivotal role of kNsDEPs in NECC diagnosis, thus offering promising prospects for the development of diagnostic biomarkers for NECC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Polymicrobial pulmonary infections, common in immunocompromised patients, often manifest more severe symptoms than monomicrobial infections. Clinical diagnosis delays may lead to mortality, emphasizing the importance of fast and accurate diagnosis for these patients. Metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS), as an unbiased method capable of detecting all microbes, is a valuable tool to identify pathogens, particularly in cases where infections are difficult to diagnosis using conventional methods. Case presentation: A 50-year-old male patient was admitted due to cough, expectoration and dyspnea. CT scan revealed diffuse inflammatory and cavernous lung lesion, and blood examination suggested a polymicrobial infection. However, no etiology was found by routine examination. mNGS of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid(BALF)simultaneously detected the presence of Pneumocystis jirovecii (P.jirovecii), Aspergillus fumigates (A.fumigates), Nocardia farcinica (N.farcinica), Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica (S.enterica subsp. enterica), and cytomegalovirus (CMV). The patient was successfully treated with compound sulfamethoxazole (SMZ-TMP), cefoperazone/sulbactam (SCF), moxifloxacin (MXF), voriconazole (VCZ), and ganciclovir. The patient recovered after two weeks of anti-infection therapy and maintained good health at a six-month follow-up. Conclusion: For immunocompromised patients with multiple infections and atypical symptoms, mNGS emerged as a reliable approach to pathogen detection and guiding antibiotic therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to reduce turnout rail wear, the paper establishes a coupled dynamics model and a turnout rail wear model that consider the true profile of the turnout rail, the vehicle's continuous traction force while passing, and the operational resistance. Comparative analysis of various models for predicting turnout rail wear indicates that the wear energy model is better suited for this purpose. The ideal profile update step for the turnout rail is 0.05 mm, and the adaptive filtering algorithm, tailored to the turnout characteristics, smooths wear distribution effectively while retaining crucial data features. The wear model developed in the paper predicts wear depth that is 89.91% consistent with the measured data. The grinding model introduced in the paper significantly enhances the wheel-rail contact conditions in the turnout, with lateral and vertical vibration accelerations of the vehicle reduced by 52.56% and 30.43%, respectively, during turnout passage. The research offers theoretical support for mitigating rail wear in high-speed turnouts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: In order to explore the impact of climate factors on bigeye tuna catch, monthly data of nine climate factors, including El Niño-related indices (Niño1 + 2, Niño3, Niño4, and Niño3.4), Southern Oscillation Index (SOI), North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), North Pacific Index (NPI), and global sea–air temperature anomaly index (dT), were combined with the annual data of global bigeye tuna catch. Methods: The relationship between low-frequency climate factors and bigeye tuna catch was studied using long short-term memory(LSTM) model, random forest (RF) model, BP neural network model, extreme gradient boosting tree (XGBoost) model, and Sparrow search optimization algorithm extreme gradient boosting tree (SSA-XGBoost) model. Results: The results show that the optimal lag periods corresponding to the climate change characterization factors Niño1 + 2, dT, SOI, NPI, NAO, and PDO are 15 years,12 years, 12 years, 1 year, 14 years, and 4 years, respectively. The SSA-XGBoost model have the highest prediction accuracy, followed by XGBoost, BP, LSTM, and RF. The fitting degree between the predicted values and the actual values of the SSA-XGBoost model is 0.853, the mean absolute error is 0.104, the root mean square error is 0.124. Discussion: The trend between the predicted values and the actual values of the SSA-XGBoost model is generally consistent, indicating good model fitting performance, which can provide a basis for the management of bigeye tuna fisheries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the risk trade-offs between nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and ozone (O3) pollution is crucial for ozone governance. The air quality health index (AQHI) provides a more comprehensive measure of air pollution mixtures. This study used environmental, meteorological, and health data of 13 cities in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region for 2018–2020 to assess the health effects of pollutants during both cold and warm seasons. The study reveals that NO2 pollution in the cold season (20.4–63.4 µg/m3) is more severe compared to warm season (18.3–49.7 µg/m3), and its concentrations have been decreasing annually in most cities. However, the study also highlights a concerning trend of increasing ozone concentrations during the cold season across all cities in the region (The average annual increase is 3.5 µg/m3). This increase may be linked to the abatement of nitrogen oxides (NOX) and particulate matter (PM). The health benefit of reducing environmental air NO2 concentrations maybe offset by the increase in O3 concentrations. Emission control measures to reduce nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and particulate matter levels have been effective in reducing the negative impacts on health caused by air pollution in various cities in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region. It was necessary to construct the cold season AQHI (AQHI-C) and warm season AQHI (AQHI-W) separately in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region, especially for the assessment of health risks during the cold season. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to reduce turnout rail wear, the paper establishes a coupled dynamics model and a turnout rail wear model that consider the true profile of the turnout rail, the vehicle's continuous traction force while passing, and the operational resistance. Comparative analysis of various models for predicting turnout rail wear indicates that the wear energy model is better suited for this purpose. The ideal profile update step for the turnout rail is 0.05 mm, and the adaptive filtering algorithm, tailored to the turnout characteristics, smooths wear distribution effectively while retaining crucial data features. The wear model developed in the paper predicts wear depth that is 89.91% consistent with the measured data. The grinding model introduced in the paper significantly enhances the wheel-rail contact conditions in the turnout, with lateral and vertical vibration accelerations of the vehicle reduced by 52.56% and 30.43%, respectively, during turnout passage. The research offers theoretical support for mitigating rail wear in high-speed turnouts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on multiple datasets and different methods, this manuscript objectively determined the rainy season onset (RSO) over the Southeast Asia Low-Latitude Highlands (SEALLH) and investigated the relationship between RSO and spring drought. The RSO date is defined as the minimum of the rainfall departure over the SEALLH, with a mean value of 11 May and a standard deviation of 15 days. The RSO demarcates the transition between the dry and wet seasons, which is an effective indicator of the sudden emergence of rainfall and convection over the SEALLH. A delayed RSO is characterized by a reduction in April-May rainfall, accompanied by low-level divergence, descending motion and adiabatic warming, decreased cloud cover and increased solar radiation. Consequently, a delayed RSO is frequently associated with spring drought over the SEALLH due to the resulting water deficiency, warmer temperature, and increased evaporation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Document-level relation extraction (RE), which requires integrating and reasoning information to identify multiple possible relations among entities. However, previous research typically performed reasoning on heterogeneous graphs and set a global threshold for multiple relations classification, regardless of interaction reasoning information among multiple relations and positive–negative samples imbalance on databases. This paper proposes a novel framework for Document-level RE with two techniques, dual attention fusion and dynamic asymmetric loss. Concretely, to obtain more interdependency feature learning, we construct entity pairs and contextual matrixes using multi-head axial attention and co-attention mechanism to learn the interaction among entity pairs deeply. To alleviate the hard-thresholds influence from positive–negative imbalance samples, we dynamically adjust weights to optimize the probabilities of different labels. We evaluate our model on two benchmark document-level RE datasets, DocRED and CDR. Experimental results show that our DASL (Dual Attention fusion and dynamic aSymmetric Loss) obtains superior performance on two public datasets, we further provide extensive experiments to analyze how dual attention fusion and dynamic asymmetric loss guide the model for better extracting multi-label relations among entities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quantity of cable conductors is a crucial parameter in cable manufacturing, and accurately detecting the number of conductors can effectively promote the digital transformation of the cable manufacturing industry. Challenges such as high density, adhesion, and knife mark interference in cable conductor images make intelligent detection of conductor quantity particularly difficult. To address these challenges, this study proposes the YOLO-cable model, which is an improvement made upon the YOLOv10 model. Specifically, the Focal loss function is introduced, the C2F structure in the backbone is optimized, the Focal NeXt module is added, and a multi-scale feature (MSF) module is incorporated in the Neck section. Comparative experiments with various YOLO series models demonstrate that the YOLO-cable model significantly outperformed the baseline YOLOv10s model as it achieves recall, mAP0.5, and mAP scores of 0.982, 0.994, and 0.952, respectively. Further visualization analysis shows that the overlap of YOLO-cable detection boxes with manually labeled samples reaches 90.9% in length and 95.7% in height, indicating high data consistency. The IOU threshold adopted by the model enables it to effectively filter out false detection, thus ensuring detection accuracy. In short, the proposed model excels in detecting the number of cable conductors, enhancing quality control in cable production. This study provides new insights and technical support for the application of deep learning in industrial inspections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

East Antarctica has experienced significant positive temperature anomalies during winter 2018, with Zhongshan (ZS) station recording its highest winter average temperature since 2008 and fourth highest since its establishment in 1989. This study employs observational data and ERA5 reanalysis to diagnose the phenomenon, revealing that temperature anomalies at 300 hPa are mainly driven by advection and adiabatic processes, which is the second highest recorded from 2000 to 2020. However, diabatic process are significantly important at 700 hPa, being the third highest during the period. The reduction in sea ice, combined with enhanced sinking motion and increased sea‐air temperature difference, together contributes to the variations of diabatic heating. The increased precipitation, exceeding the historical average by 100% along the southwestern shore of Prydz Bay, further induces localized warming. The increased atmospheric pressure associated with the negative Southern Annular Mode phase is the primary cause influencing the advection, adiabatic, and diabatic processes. Plain Language Summary: Since 2015, East Antarctica has generally warmed due to a significant reduction in sea ice. However, a systematic understanding of this warming remains lacking. This study investigates the significant positive temperature anomalies observed in East Antarctica during the winter of 2018, when Zhongshan station records its highest winter average temperature since 2008 and fourth highest since its establishment in 1989. Observational data and ERA5 reanalysis are employed to analyze the mechanism behind the phenomenon, revealing strong temporal and spatial correlations between pressure and temperature. The positive temperature anomalies at 300 hPa are mainly due to warm air masses from northerly winds and air compression from increased downward winds, both influenced by pressure anomalies. However, temperature variations at lower altitudes are significantly influenced by heat transfer from ocean to atmosphere, with decreased sea ice, combined with enhanced vertical motion and sea‐air temperature deference, together contributing to the transfer. The increased precipitation further induces localized warming through latent heat release. The increased atmospheric pressure associated with the negative Southern Annular Mode phase is the primary cause influencing the local circulation and sea ice, eventually leading the anomalies of advection, adiabatic, and diabatic processes. Key Points: East Antarctica has experienced significant positive temperature anomalies during the winter of 2018, especially at lower altitudesTemperature anomalies at 300 hPa are mainly due to advection and adiabatic processes, while diabatic effects are most important at 700 hPaAnomalies of sea ice, winds and precipitation, induced by negative Southern Annular Mode phase, together contribute to the positive temperature anomalies [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cardiotoxicity, particularly drug-induced arrhythmias, poses a significant challenge in drug development, highlighting the importance of early-stage prediction of human ether-a-go-go-related gene (hERG) toxicity. hERG encodes the pore-forming subunit of the cardiac potassium channel. Traditional methods are both costly and time-intensive, necessitating the development of computational approaches. In this study, we introduce AttenhERG, a novel graph neural network framework designed to predict hERG channel blockers reliably and interpretably. AttenhERG demonstrates improved performance compared to existing methods with an AUROC of 0.835, showcasing its efficacy in accurately predicting hERG activity across diverse datasets. Additionally, uncertainty evaluation analysis reveals the model's reliability, enhancing its utility in drug discovery and safety assessment. Case studies illustrate the practical application of AttenhERG in optimizing compounds for hERG toxicity, highlighting its potential in rational drug design. Scientific contribution AttenhERG is a breakthrough framework that significantly improves the interpretability and accuracy of predicting hERG channel blockers. By integrating uncertainty estimation, AttenhERG demonstrates superior reliability compared to benchmark models. Two case studies, involving APH1A and NMT1 inhibitors, further emphasize AttenhERG's practical application in compound optimization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alcohols carbonylation is of great importance in industry but remains a challenge to abandon the usage of the halide additives and noble metals. Here we report the realization of direct alcohols heterogeneous carbonylation to carbonyl‐containing chemicals, especially in methanol carbonylation, with a remarkable space‐time‐yield (STY) of 4.74 molacetyl/kgcat./h and a durable stability as long as 100 h on Ni@MoS2 catalyst. Mechanistic analysis reveals that the Mo−Ni dual sites localized at edge sulfur vacancies of Ni@MoS2 exhibit distinct charge density, which strongly activate CH3OH to break its C−O bond and non‐dissociatively activate CO. Density functional theory calculations further suggest that the low charge density in Mo−Ni, the Ni site, could significantly lower the barrier for CO migration and nucleophilic attack of methoxy species, and finally leads to the rapid formation of acetyl products. Ni@MoS2 catalyst could also effectively realize the carbonylation of ethanol, n‐propanol and n‐butanol to their acyl products, which may demonstrate its universal application for alcohols carbonylation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alcohols carbonylation is of great importance in industry but remains a challenge to abandon the usage of the halide additives and noble metals. Here we report the realization of direct alcohols heterogeneous carbonylation to carbonyl‐containing chemicals, especially in methanol carbonylation, with a remarkable space‐time‐yield (STY) of 4.74 molacetyl/kgcat./h and a durable stability as long as 100 h on Ni@MoS2 catalyst. Mechanistic analysis reveals that the Mo−Ni dual sites localized at edge sulfur vacancies of Ni@MoS2 exhibit distinct charge density, which strongly activate CH3OH to break its C−O bond and non‐dissociatively activate CO. Density functional theory calculations further suggest that the low charge density in Mo−Ni, the Ni site, could significantly lower the barrier for CO migration and nucleophilic attack of methoxy species, and finally leads to the rapid formation of acetyl products. Ni@MoS2 catalyst could also effectively realize the carbonylation of ethanol, n‐propanol and n‐butanol to their acyl products, which may demonstrate its universal application for alcohols carbonylation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Teat number is one of the most important indicators to evaluate the lactation performance of sows, and increasing the teat number has become an important method to improve the economic efficiency of farms. Therefore, it is particularly important to deeply analyze the genetic mechanism of teat number traits in pigs. In this study, we detected Single Nucleotide Ploymorphism (SNP), Insertion-Deletion (InDel) and Structural variant (SV) by high-coverage whole-genome resequencing data, and selected teat number at birth and functional teat number as two types of teat number traits for genome-wide association study (GWAS) to reveal candidate genes associated with pig teat number traits. Results: In this study, we used whole genome resequencing data from 560 Yorkshire sows to detect SNPs, InDels and SVs, and performed GWAS for the traits of born teat number and functional teat number, and detected a total of 85 significant variants and screened 214 candidate genes, including HEG1, XYLT1, SULF1, MUC13, VRTN, RAP1A and NPVF. Among them, HEG1 and XYLT1 were the new candidate genes in this study. The co-screening and population validation of multiple traits suggested that HEG1 may have a critical effect on the born teat number. Conclusion: Our study shows that more candidate genes associated with pig teat number traits can be identified by GWAS with different variant types. Through large population validation, we found that HEG1 may be a new key candidate gene affecting pig teat number traits. In conclusion, the results of this study provide new information for exploring the genetic mechanisms affecting pig teat number traits and genetic improvement of pigs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hole transport materials (HTM) play a vital role in the performance of perovskite solar cells (PSCs). Optimizing the molecular structure of HTMs has been proven to be an important method for improving PSCs' efficiency and stability. Herein, a novel dibenzofuran‐terminated spiro‐type HTM with extending π‐conjugation is designed and developed, named spiro‐BNF. The structure–property relationship is also studied with spiro‐OMeTAD and spiro‐DBF as the reference. The results show that spiro‐BNF has improved hole mobility and glass transition temperature (reaching 198 °C) than spiro‐OMeTAD and spiro‐BDF. spiro‐BNF also exhibits matched highest occupied molecular orbital level with perovskite and superior morphology on the perovskite layer. Accordingly, the PSCs employing spiro‐BNF display a higher power conversion efficiency of 23.65% and improved stability than the device employing spiro‐OMeTAD or spiro‐BDF. The findings provide a new insight for enhancing the performance of PSCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An analytical solution based on the infinite layer theory of Novak and Biot's consolidation equation is developed in this study to evaluate the impact of local debonding occurring at the pile–soil interface. The potential functions are employed to decouple the differential equations that govern the soil deformations, while the dynamic resistances of soil are determined from the boundary conditions at the pile–soil interface in accordance with computational theory for mixed boundary problems. The Adomian decomposition method is introduced to obtain the dynamic impedances of pile. The effects of local debonding on the dynamic resistances of soil are investigated by comparing the results from the present solution with available schemes based on perfect contact assumption. The influences of pile–soil modulus ratio, exciting frequency, soil permeability, and slenderness ratio of pile while considering local debonding were then examined. The numerical results indicate that the local debonding occurring at the pile–soil interface dramatically weakened the lateral dynamic impedances of pile, and this trend was particularly pronounced at high frequency and small modulus ratio. Additionally, the local debonding phenomenon also imposes limitations on the implementation of the equivalent single‐phase solution in practical engineering applications. The presented solution theoretically demonstrates the significant impact of local debonding on the dynamic response of piles embedded in saturated soil and may provide insight into determining parameter values in empirical equations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to compare the succession of natural microbiota in pork held under refrigerated storage for up to 10 days after dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma treatment. Two methods were used to assess the impact of DBD on microorganisms. Firstly, traditional selective media (SM) were employed to detect the bactericidal effects of DBD on Pseudomonas spp., Enterobacteriaceae, Lactic acid bacteria (LAB), and Brochothrix thermosphacta. Secondly, the thin agar layer (TAL) method was used to further evaluate the bactericidal effects of DBD. In addition, the Baranyi and Roberts model was applied to explore the kinetic parameters of Pseudomonas spp., Enterobacteriaceae, LAB, and B. thermosphacta during storage. Finally, the modified Lotka–Volterra model was used to describe the interactions between each microorganism. The study found that when using traditional selective media (SM), 85 kV DBD had a significant bactericidal effect on Pseudomonas spp., Enterobacteriaceae, LAB, and Brochothrix thermosphacta. However, when using the thin agar layer (TAL) method, the results suggested that DBD had no significant bactericidal effect, suggesting that DBD caused sublethal damage to the natural microorganisms on pork. Analysis with the Baranyi and Roberts model showed that DBD treatment significantly extended the lag phase of these four types of microorganisms and significantly reduced the μmax of all microorganisms except LAB. The analysis results of the modified Lotka–Volterra model showed that LAB had a greater impact on Pseudomonas spp., Enterobacteriaceae, and B. thermosphacta (a21 > a12). In conclusion, DBD treatment was shown to have a significant sublethal bactericidal effect that impacted both the count and composition of natural microorganisms found on pork. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chitinase-3-like-1 (Chi3l1), also known as YKL-40 or BRP-39, is a highly conserved mammalian chitinase with a chitin-binding ability but no chitinase enzymatic activity. Chi3l1 is secreted by various cell types and induced by several inflammatory cytokines. It can mediate a series of cell biological processes, such as proliferation, apoptosis, migration, differentiation, and polarization. Accumulating evidence has verified that Chi3l1 is involved in diverse inflammatory conditions; however, a systematic and comprehensive understanding of the roles and mechanisms of Chi3l1 in almost all human body system-related inflammatory diseases is still lacking. The human body consists of ten organ systems, which are combinations of multiple organs that perform one or more physiological functions. Abnormalities in these human systems can trigger a series of inflammatory environments, posing serious threats to the quality of life and lifespan of humans. Therefore, exploring novel and reliable biomarkers for these diseases is highly important, with Chi3l1 being one such parameter because of its physiological and pathophysiological roles in the development of multiple inflammatory diseases. Reportedly, Chi3l1 plays an important role in diagnosing and determining disease activity/severity/prognosis related to multiple human body system inflammation disorders. Additionally, many studies have revealed the influencing factors and regulatory mechanisms (e.g., the ERK and MAPK pathways) of Chi3l1 in these inflammatory conditions, identifying potential novel therapeutic targets for these diseases. In this review, we comprehensively summarize the potential roles and underlying mechanisms of Chi3l1 in inflammatory disorders of the respiratory, digestive, circulatory, nervous, urinary, endocrine, skeletal, muscular, and reproductive systems, which provides a more systematic understanding of Chi3l1 in multiple human body system-related inflammatory diseases. Moreover, this article summarizes potential therapeutic strategies for inflammatory diseases in these systems on the basis of the revealed roles and mechanisms mediated by Chi3l1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) has been extensively utilized in archeology, human evolutionary genetics, and forensic genetic for over three decades, primarily due to its maternal inheritance and relatively high mutation rate. The Chinese Han, the largest and most widely distributed ethnic group in China, have been the focus of numerous genetic studies. However, the forensic parameters and genetic structure of the Shandong Han, specifically in relation to the whole mitochondrial genome, remain undocumented. Methods: We performed whole mitochondrial genome sequencing on 141 unrelated Han individuals from Shandong province using massively parallel sequencing. Results: A total of 135 unique mtDNA haplotypes were identified, classified into 105 haplogroups, resulting in a haplotype diversity value of 0.9993. The discriminatory capacity of whole mitochondrial genome was calculated at 0.9574, compared to 0.8936 when only the control region was analyzed. The majority of the haplogroups observed were specific to East Asian lineages, including D4, D5 and F1. Population comparisons revealed that the modern Shandong Han share genetic connections with ancient populations from the Yellow River and West Liao River basins. Additionally, the Shandong Han may have integrated a significant number of maternal lineages from other regions during their development. The demographic expansion of the Shandong Han is estimated to have occurred approximately 9,000 years ago, corresponding to the Neolithic period, a time of significant cultural and technological development. Discussion: The dataset generated in this study is available in the EMPOP database under the accession number EMP00886 and will serve as an important mtDNA reference for forensic casework in China. The study of whole mitochondrial genome based on the analysis of matrilineal genetic structure of the Shandong Han population can help to enrich the forensic mtDNA reference database in East Asia and provide reference for future archeology and forensic genetics research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]