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Widening the martensitic hysteresis ( T Dhys ) in NiTiNb shape memory alloys (SMAs) holds potential for broadening their working temperature range while enabling the room-temperature storage. In this study, the T Dhys is divided into two parts: the thermal-induced hysteresis ( T hys ) and the deformation-induced hysteresis ( T hys ′ ). In addition to decreasing the martensitic transformation start temperature ( M S ), it is found that grain refinement is an effective method for widening both T hys and T hys ′ of the Ni47Ti44Nb9 alloy, a commercial SMA widely used for shape memory couplings. According to thermodynamic analysis, grain refinement increases the dissipation energy ( Δ E dis ) (caused by thermal friction at martensite/austenite interface), thereby widening T hys . Moreover, the Ni47Ti44Nb9 alloy with finer grains has the potential to release more elastic strain energy ( Δ E el ) after deformation, thereby exhibiting a wider T hys ′ . When deforming a large strain, the alloy with finer grains generates more dislocations which stabilize the martensitic phase, thus further widening T hys ′ . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate the trimester‐specific associations between maternal total physical activity level vs moderate‐to‐vigorous exercise and fetal growth disorders. Methods: We analyzed 2062 mother–neonate pairs participating in the longitudinal China Medical University Birth Cohort Study. The Pregnancy Physical Activity Questionnaire was used to assess the physical activity level of women during the three trimesters. A higher level of total physical activity was defined as meeting or exceeding the cohort‐specific 75th percentile, and a higher level of exercise was defined according to the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. Fetal growth disorder was defined as small‐for‐gestational age (SGA) or large‐for‐gestational age (LGA) at birth. Results: Of the neonates included in this study, 7.1% were SGA and 15.5% were LGA. A higher level of total physical activity during the first trimester (adjusted relative risk (aRR), 0.62 (95% CI, 0.42–0.91)) and second trimester (aRR, 0.62 (95% CI, 0.41–0.95)) was associated with a lower risk of SGA, and a higher level of total physical activity during the third trimester was associated with a lower risk of LGA (aRR, 0.73 (95% CI, 0.54–0.97)). When analyzing physical activity by subtype, a higher level of occupational physical activity during the first and second trimesters was associated negatively with SGA risk, and higher levels of occupational and low‐intensity physical activity during the first trimester were associated negatively with LGA risk. No significant association was found between maternal adherence to the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans and risk of fetal growth disorders. Conclusions: A higher total physical activity level during the first and second trimesters was associated with a decreased risk of SGA, whereas a higher total physical activity level in the third trimester was associated with a decreased risk of LGA. Pregnant women should be advised to increase their total physical activity levels instead of focusing on engaging in only moderate‐to‐vigorous exercise. © 2024 International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Older major depressive disorder (MDD) patients have more complex clinical symptoms and higher abnormal lipid metabolism (ALM) rates. This study aimed to compare clinical differences between those with and without ALM in a sample of older first-episode drug naïve (FEDN) patients. Methods: We recruited 266 older MDD patients. Socio-demographic variables, clinical data, and lipid parameters were obtained. The Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD), Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAMA), and the positive subscale of the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS-P) were conducted to evaluate patients’ depression, anxiety and psychotic symptoms, respectively. Results: In this study, we found that the prevalence of comorbid ALM was 86.1% in older MDD patients. Compared with the non-abnormal lipid metabolism (NALM) group, the ALM group had a higher duration of illness, higher clinical global impression of severity scale (CGI-S) and HAMD scores, higher thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) and glucose levels. Logistic regression analysis indicated that duration of illness (OR = 1.11, P = 0.023, 95%CI = 1.015–1.216) and CGI-S score (OR = 2.28, P = 0.014, 95%CI = 1.18–4.39) were associated with ALM in older MDD patients. Conclusion: The importance of regular lipid assessment in older MDD patients needs to be taken into account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Detecting pancreatic duct adenocarcinoma (PDAC) in its early stages and predicting late‐stage patient prognosis undergoing chemotherapy is challenging. This work shows that the activation of specific oncogenes leads to elevated expression of mRNAs and their corresponding proteins in extracellular vesicles (EVs) circulating in blood. Utilizing an immune lipoplex nanoparticle (ILN) biochip assay, these findings demonstrate that glypican 1 (GPC1) mRNA expression in the exosomes‐rich (Exo) EV subpopulation and GPC1 membrane protein (mProtein) expression in the microvesicles‐rich (MV) EV subpopulation, particularly the tumor associated microvesicles (tMV), served as a viable biomarker for PDAC. A combined analysis effectively discriminated early‐stage PDAC patients from benign pancreatic diseases and healthy donors in sizable clinical from multiple hospitals. Furthermore, among late‐stage PDAC patients undergoing chemotherapy, lower GPC1 tMV‐mProtein and Exo‐mRNA expression before treatment correlated significantly with prolonged overall survival. These findings underscore the potential of vesicular GPC1 expression for early PDAC screenings and chemotherapy prognosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the inefficiencies in the logistics activities of rail vehicle manufacturing enterprises, arising from the absence of effective co-evolutionary mechanisms. The research introduces a novel approach using social network analysis and complex network techniques to simulate the coevolution of logistics organizations. This model, incorporating both static structure analysis and dynamic network reorganization, offers a practical pathway for evolving logistic organization networks. The study's relevance is underscored by applying it to real-world simulations within CRRC Corporation Limited's subsidiaries, enhancing the collaborative efficiency and safety of logistic networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Selenium (Se) biofortified wheat could enhance human health by providing essential Selenium. Different nitrogen application rates (0, 60, 120, 180, 240 and 300 kg N ha–1) on soil Se speciations and contents, the differences of Se accumulation and yield of triticales were investigated. The concerntration of total Se, water-soluble Se (SOLSe), and exchangeable Se (EXCSe) in 0–20 cm and 20–40 cm soil layers showed an increasing trend from anthesis to maturity, and decreasing tendency as nitrogen application increasing. TZ-8293 compared to TH-3 exhibited the highest grain Se content and accumulation at the maturity, measured 77.00 μg kg–1 and 73.11%, respectively. Compared to the control, the concentration of flour Se in TH-3, and TZ-8293 under the 240 kg N ha–1 treatment significantly increased by 90.97 and 91.67%, respectively, and the yield of TH-3 under 240 kg N ha–1 treatment was significantly the highest, measuring 7889.84 kg ha–1. Following anthesis, net photosynthetic rate (Pn) showed an significantly increasing tendency with the application of nitrogen increased, however, transpiration rate (Tr), intercellular CO2 and stomatal conductance (Ci), and gs in flag leaf decreased significantly with the increase of nitrogen application rate. The correlation analysis showed that there were (extremely) significant negative correlations among Se content, yield and yield components (–0.30 ≤ R2 ≤ –0.89), excessive nitrogen application may hinder the formation of soil available Se, which can have a negative impact on the absorption of Se, finally impede the biofortification of Se in triticale. In conclusion for locally Se-enriched triticale cultivation, it was recommended to apply nitrogen fertilizer rate of 120–240 kg N ha–1 on TH-3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Abaloparatide (ABL) is a US Food and Drug Administration-approved parathyroid hormone-related peptide analog for treatment of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women at high risk of fracture. However, real-world data regarding its long-term safety and tolerability in large sample population are incomplete. We evaluated abaloparatide-associated safety signals by data mining of the FDA pharmacovigilance database. Introduction: We investigated 33,480(0.14%) ABL-related adverse events (AEs) through data mining of Food and Drug Administration Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) retrospectively. Methods: Reporting odds ratio (ROR), the proportional reporting ratio (PRR), the Bayesian confidence propagation neural network (BCPNN), and the multi-item gamma Poisson shrinker (MGPS) were employed to quantify the signals of ABL-related AEs from 2017Quarter2 to 2022.Serious and non-serious cases were compared by Mann-Whitney U test or Chi-squared (χ2) test. Results: We collected 8,470,497 reports from the FAERS database, including 11,487 reports defined ABL as the primary suspected (PS) drug. Additionally, 36.16% of the reports were submitted by healthcare professionals (n=4154), compared to 62.26% reported by consumers (n=7140). A total 99 signals simultaneously conforming to four algorithms were detected, among which, 35 signals were identified as unexpected signals. Such as growing pains (n=13), waist circumference increased (n=21), sensory disturbance (n=103), tinnitus (n=65), visual acuity reduced (n=54), blood alkaline phosphatase increased (n=61), and hair growth abnormal (n=13). Patient age (p < 0.001) might be associated with an increased risk of AEs severity. The most common timeframe for AE occurrence was 0–7 days. Conclusion: Our study provided a deeper and broader understanding of abaloparatide's safety profiles, which would help healthcare professionals to mitigate the risk of AEs in clinical practice, a low number of unexpected AEs supporting ongoing additional pharmacovigilance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A newly developed equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) route BC-UD2 was applied to extrude the Fe9Cr1.5W0.7Si (in weight) ferrite/martensitic steel, and the microstructural evolution and its effect on the internal friction (IF) behavior were investigated systematically. Microstructural characterization indicates that the initial ferrite/martensitic structure was broken into a fine laminar structure with a roughly 45 deg inclination to the extrusion direction (ED), and the corresponding initial weak Goss and ⟨ 111 ⟩ ‖ RD texture evolves into typical extrusion fibers b1, b2, and b3. At the same time, M23C6 and MX phases were partially dissolved after extrusion, which leads to a decrease in the Zener–Smith dragging force. Combined with the high stored energy produced by ECAP, both of them induced the decrease of recrystallization temperature and the increase of interfacial migration density during recrystallization, as revealed by the high-temperature IF behavior. In particular, the intensity variation of the recrystallization peak is also consistent with the hardness variation during annealing. The correlation between microstructure characterization results and IF behavior reflects the accuracy and reliability of the IF technique for the study of recrystallization behavior of structural materials in nuclear reactors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is widely acknowledged that greenhouse gases (GHG) like carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O), and methane (CH4) play a key role in the development of global climate change. 17% of China's GHG came from the agricultural industry. For China's future development, it is essential to investigate low-carbon emission paths in planting fields, as one of the key components of agriculture. In this study, the IPCC method was used to estimate the total carbon emission from cultivation in Eastern China. The Tapio decoupling model was used to study the relationship between economic growth and carbon emission. An extended STIRPAT stimulus model was established to predict the carbon emission of the planting industry in East China with three development paths. The results show that carbon emission in East China has shown a fluctuating downward trend with a peak in 1999, which has strong decoupling characteristics with economic growth. Adjusting agricultural structure and raising the mechanization rate can remarkably reduce agricultural carbon emission. Compared to 2020, carbon emission in 2035 will decrease by 12.50%, 13.68%, and 14.32% with Baseline, Low-carbon, and Enhanced Low-carbon scenarios, respectively. Effective measures such as optimizing planting structure by adjusting rice area, promoting intensive mechanization, and improving fertilizer use efficiency can reduce carbon emission actively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Piperlongumine, an alkaloid containing a dihydropyridine moiety and derived from long pepper, has been extensively investigated for its observable therapeutic properties, particularly its anti-inflammatory action. Multiple in-vitro experimental models simulating inflammatory diseases have shown its anti-inflammatory efficacy. Piperlongumine, displayed a strong inhibitory effect on the major inflammatory signaling cascades, including MAPK, NF-κB, and JAK/STAT, which was followed by a gradual decrease in the gene-protein expression of cyclooxygenase-inducible nitric oxide synthase and other inflammatory proteins. Moreover, Piperlongumine, efficiently deteriorates the protein activity of neutrophil elastase by regulating the endogenous ANXA1 gene expression, lowering the inflammation in the lungs and other bodily organs. This review examines the anti-inflammatory mechanism and origin of Piperlongumine, as well as its toxicity and biological resources as a therapeutic molecule with additional pharmacological benefits. In addition, the different chemical variants of Piperlongumine, that have been discovered in recent years, as well as its structural orientation in the context of its anti-inflammatory effect, have been used in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims. For decades now, researchers have been looking for a way to tie the kinematic and dynamic reference frames. Certain worldwide organizations have looked to using co-location in space, combining various techniques. Given the long list of possible applications of the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), it is worthwhile investigating the connection between the most accurate and stable International Celestial Reference Frame (ICRF) and the Earth-centered Celestial Inertial reference frame (ECI) used in GNSS data processing. Methods. We simulated phase-referencing observations of GNSS satellites and nearby radio source calibrators to realize the connection between the two celestial reference frames. We designed two schemes for observation plans. One scheme is to select the satellite target when it can be observed by the greatest number of stations in order to obtain high-precision positioning. During each scan, we employ four regional networks to simultaneously track four chosen satellites. The alternative scheme is to observe satellite orbits of as many satellites as possible on different daily observations. In addition, to test the two schemes, we used Monte Carlo methods to generate 1000 groups of random errors in the simulation. Results. Finally, we estimate the right ascension and declination offsets (∆α, ∆δ) of GNSS satellites in the ICRF, and then derive frame tie parameters based on those results: three global rotation angles (A1, A2, A3). The celestial angular offset results assessed from the former scheme show that this scheme leads to high precision of namely 1 mas, while the parameters of the frame tie determined from the second scheme can achieve an improved precision of better than 1.3 µas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rhizosphere bacterial community plays a crucial role in diverse biochemical processes, soil type modulates the composition of rhizosphere bacterial community, affects crop yields. In this study, four soil types including Grey clayey soil (GCS), Yellow clayey soil (YCS), Granitic sandy soil (GSS), and Purple clayey soil (PCS) in four rice growth stages were investigated for their impact on bacterial community related to rice rhizosphere and grain yield. The results showed that rice rhizosphere bacterial communities changed with both soil type and growth stage. Diversity index and OTUs number of bacterial community were more heavily influenced by soil type. The results of high-throughput sequencing showed that the bacterial phyla of Bacteroidetes, Chloroflexi, Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Gemmatimonadetes and Acidobacteria were commonly inhabited in the rhizosphere of rice. Among them, Acidobacteria showed the greatest effect on grain yield (λ=0.71, R2=0.51). Based on unweighted pair-group method with arithmetic means (UPGMA) clustering and principal component analysis, the influence of soil type on bacterial community structure was higher than rice growth stage. The physical and chemical properties and bacterial community of soil under YCS treatment were the best. Soil properties had a significant positive effect on rice yield. Bacterial community had a certain effect on rice yield, but the effect did not reach the significant level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel isochronous mass spectrometry, termed as B ρ -defined IMS, has been established at the experimental cooler-storage ring CSRe in Lanzhou. Its potential has been studied through high precision mass measurements of 58 Ni projectile fragments. Two time-of-flight detectors were installed in one of the straight sections of CSRe, thus enabling simultaneous measurements of the velocity and the revolution time of each stored short-lived ion. This allows for calculating the magnetic rigidity B ρ and the orbit length C of each ion. The accurate B ρ (C) function has been constructed, which is a universal calibration curve used to deduce the masses of the stored nuclides. The sensitivity to single stored ions, fast measurement time, and background-free characteristics of the method are ideally suited to address nuclides with very short lifetimes and smallest production yields. In the limiting case of just a single particle, the achieved mass resolving power allows one to determine its mass-over-charge ratio m/q with a remarkable precision of merely ∼ 5 keV. Masses of T z = - 3 / 2 fp-shell nuclides are re-determined with high accuracy, and the validity of the isospin multiplet mass equation is tested up to the heaviest isospin quartet with A = 55 . The new masses are also used to investigate the mirror symmetry of empirical residual proton-neutron interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While epigenetic mechanisms such as DNA methylation and histone modification are known to be important for gene suppression, relatively little is still understood about the interplay between these systems. The UHRF1 protein can interact with both DNA methylation and repressive chromatin marks, but its primary function in humans has been unclear. To determine what that was, we first established stable UHRF1 knockdowns (KD) in normal, immortalized human fibroblasts using targeting shRNA, since CRISPR knockouts (KO) were lethal. Although these showed a loss of DNA methylation across the whole genome, transcriptional changes were dominated by the activation of genes involved in innate immune signalling, consistent with the presence of viral RNA from retrotransposable elements (REs). We confirmed using mechanistic approaches that 1) REs were demethylated and transcriptionally activated; 2) this was accompanied by activation of interferons and interferon-stimulated genes and 3) the pathway was conserved across other adult cell types. Restoring UHRF1 in either transient or stable KD systems could abrogate RE reactivation and the interferon response. Notably, UHRF1 itself could also re-impose RE suppression independent of DNA methylation, but not if the protein contained point mutations affecting histone 3 with trimethylated lysine 9 (H3K9me3) binding. Our results therefore show for the first time that UHRF1 can act as a key regulator of retrotransposon silencing independent of DNA methylation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to comprehend the sensitivity effect of the electrode density combined with the total suspended solids on the improvement of the turbidity' removal. To this extent, three electro-coagulation lab-scale reactors (300 mm in length, 100 mm in width and 350 mm in height) equipped with aluminium made electrodes have been built to conduct the experiments with a test volume of 9 L. Consequently, the results have revealed that the removal efficiencies of chemical oxygen demand, total suspended solids, and turbidity are 54.65 %, 71.93% and 34.27% respectively for the reactor No.1. Regarding reactor No.2, the chemical oxygen demand, the total suspended solids, and the Turbidity's removal efficiency are 51.24%, 65.24% and 47.13%, respectively. Finally, the removal efficiencies in reactor No.3 are 54.65 %, 71.93% and 34.27%, respectively, for the chemical oxygen demand, the total suspended solids and the Turbidity, which led to considering implementing a full-scale electrocoagulation process in El Kerma wastewater treatment plant. Moreover, the results obtained have allowed developing statistically a quadratic polynomial model to describe the effluent turbidity. The model outcomes have showed an acceptable coefficient of determination with a significant corresponding probability of < 0.05 regarding the electrode density. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a recent survey of nematodes associated with tobacco in Shandong, China, the root-lesion nematode Pratylenchus coffeae was identified using a combination of morphology and molecular techniques. This nematode species is a serious parasite that damages a variety of plant species. The model plant benthi, Nicotiana benthamiana , is frequently used to study plant-disease interactions. However, it is not known whether this plant species is a host of P. coffeae. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the parasitism and pathogenicity of five populations of the root-lesion nematode P. coffeae on N. benthamiana. N. benthamiana seedlings with the same growth status were chosen and inoculated with 1,000 nematodes per pot. At 60 days after inoculation, the reproductive factors (Rf = final population densities (Pf)/initial population densities (Pi)) for P. coffeae in the rhizosphere of N. benthamiana were all more than 1, suggesting that N. benthamiana was a good host plant for P. coffeae. Nicotiana. benthamiana infected by P. coffeae showed weak growth, decreased tillering, high root reduction, and noticeable brown spots on the roots. Thus, we determined that the model plant N. benthamiana can be used to study plant- P. coffeae interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

B Introduction: b ZANU (BGB-3111), a potent next-generation Bruton tyrosine kinase inhibitor, is approved in various countries for R/R MZL based on the MAGNOLIA study (NCT03846427) primary analysis. Efficacy was assessed by positron emission tomography (PET)-based Lugano criteria for pts with IRC-confirmed fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG)-avid disease at baseline; non-avid pts were assessed by computed tomography (CT)-based criteria. [Extracted from the article]

High interannual variability of precipitation and unbalanced N application rate has a considerable impact on wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) production in the drylands of the Loess Plateau, China. In this study, we conducted field experiments in Wenxi County, Shanxi Province, under six N application rates (0, 90, 120, 150, 180, and 210 kg ha-1) for three consecutive years from 2014 to 2017. The years were classified as the wet (2014-2015), dry (2015-2016), and normal growing seasons (2016-2017) based on total precipitation during the growth period. The results showed that in the wet growing season, the optimum N application rate was 180 kg ha-1, improved the total water consumption during the growth period by 1.9%-13.8%, the spike number by 0.6%-10.9%, the yield by 2.8%-14.3%, N recovery efficiency (NRE) by 15.2%-47.0%, and the economic by 4.4%-21.1%. In the normal and dry growing seasons, the optimum N application rate was 150 kg ha-1, the total water consumption increased during the growth period by 0.5%-16.3%, the spike number by 0.9%-19.8%, the yield by 0.3%-23.3%, water use efficiency by 2.5%-12.9%, and NRE by 12.9%-59.1%, the economic improved by 0.6%-74.7%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, bismuth hexacyanoferrate/graphene/carbon fibers composite (BiHCF/GN/CFs) was used as a multifunctional air diffusion electrode, which exhibited a promising catalytic effect in air O2 reduction (ORR) during photo-electro-Fenton process (PEF). BiHCF/GN/CFs, being a heterogeneous photo-electro-Fenton catalyst in PEF, could further simultaneously generate H2O2 and ·OH in ORR, and the generating rate of ·OH was 0.31 mmoL h−1. The photo-electro-catalytic properties of BiHCF/GN/CFs in PEF process were evaluated using three types of dye wastewater including methyl orange (MO), methylene blue (MB) and rhodamine B (RB). MO, MB and RB could be, respectively, decolorized with three first-order kinetic constants of 8.9 h−1, 3.3 h−1 and 3.0 h−1 at the same mass ratio of 3.8/1 in pH 4.0, 0.1 M Na2SO4. The degradation efficiency of MO was excellent with a higher TOC removal rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Davidia involucrata Baill. is a deciduous perennial tree. MADS-box genes are widely distributed in nature and play a key role in the growth and development of plants, especially in regulating the development of floral organs. In the present study, we have used transcriptomics to select 14 MADS-box genes differentially expressed in bract and leaf, followed by cloning and preliminary bioinformatics analysis. We predict that DiMADS-1 and DiMADS-2 belong to AGL and FLC respectively. Two key genes specifically expressed during Davidia involucrate flower development, DiMADS-1 and DiMADS-2, were transformed into Arabidopsis thaliana. Flowering appeared earlier in DiMADS-1 transgenic plants than in the wild type, whereas expression levels of some flowering promoters increased. DiMADS-2 transgenic plants were shorter and flowering was delayed, consistent with an increase in expression of flowering inhibitory factors and a decrease in flowering promoting factors. Subcellular localization displayed that both gene products were located in the nucleus. These results suggest that these two genes are involved in Davidia involucrata flowering time regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of ivermectin on the prevalence of gastrointestinal parasites of Jamuna basin sheep was investigated in relation to the areas, flock sizes and rearing systems. A total 420 faecal samples were examined microscopically by using Stoll's ova dilution technique from June to December 2020. The number of eggs per gram of feces was calculated and it ranged from 100-500. The study showed that 100% sheep were found to be infected with one or more species of parasites. Four types of parasites were identified. In grazing animals, stomach worm, Paramphistomum worm, Fasciola and install feeding, stomach worm and Trichuris were found. The prevalence of parasites in grazing on 0 day was stomach worm 20%, Paramphistomum worm 10% whereas in stall feeding it was stomach worm 15% and Trichuris 10%. In 15 days, in all grazing animals stomach worm was 10% and Paramphistomum worm 10% whereas in stall feeding it was stomach worm 5%. On 30th day, in grazing animals, stomach worm 15%, and Paramphistomum worm 10% were present, whereas in stall feeding it was stomach worm 10%, and Paramphistomum 10%. The highest prevalence of stomach worm was 20%, whereas Paramphistomum was the lowest with 10% as seen ingrazing animals. Stomach worm with 15% was the highest and theTrichuris with 10% was the lowest in stall feeding animals. Prevalence of parasites increased with the flock size on 0 day and ivermectin injection reduced the prevalence in 15 days and later it increased after 30 days of interval. The prevalence was higher in char area (35%) than the hilly area (15%). The sheep were more affected in grazing (25%) than stall feeding (20%). In conclusion, the use of ivermectin injection reduced the prevalence of gastrointestinal parasites up to one month in sheep. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The incidence of persistent clinical symptoms and risk factors in Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (PASC) in diverse US cohorts is unclear. While there are a disproportionate share of COVID-19 deaths in older patients, ethnic minorities, and socially disadvantaged populations in the USA, little information is available on the association of these factors and PASC.Objective: To evaluate the association of demographic and clinical characteristics with development of PASC.Design: Prospective observational cohort of hospitalized and high-risk outpatients, April 2020 to February 2021.Participants: One thousand thirty-eight adults with laboratory-confirmed symptomatic COVID-19 infection.Main Measures: Development of PASC determined by patient report of persistent symptoms on questionnaires conducted 60 or 90 days after COVID-19 infection or hospital discharge. Demographic and clinical factors associated with PASC.Key Results: Of 1,038 patients with longitudinal follow-up, 309 patients (29.8%) developed PASC. The most common persistent symptom was fatigue (31.4%) followed by shortness of breath (15.4%) in hospitalized patients and anosmia (15.9%) in outpatients. Hospitalization for COVID-19 (odds ratio [OR] 1.49, 95% [CI] 1.04-2.14), having diabetes (OR, 1.39; 95% CI 1.02-1.88), and higher BMI (OR, 1.02; 95% CI 1-1.04) were independently associated with PASC. Medicaid compared to commercial insurance (OR, 0.49; 95% CI 0.31-0.77) and having had an organ transplant (OR 0.44, 95% CI, 0.26-0.76) were inversely associated with PASC. Age, race/ethnicity, Social Vulnerability Index, and baseline functional status were not associated with developing PASC.Conclusions: Three in ten survivors with COVID-19 developed a subset of symptoms associated with PASC in our cohort. While ethnic minorities, older age, and social disadvantage are associated with worse acute COVID-19 infection and greater risk of death, our study found no association between these factors and PASC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mechanisms by which commensal organisms affect human physiology remain poorly understood. Lectins are non-enzymatic carbohydrate binding proteins that all organisms employ as part of establishing a niche, evading host-defenses and protecting against pathogens. Although lectins have been extensively studied in plants, bacterial pathogens and human immune cells for their role in disease pathophysiology and as therapeutics, the role of bacterial lectins in the human microbiome is largely unexplored. Here we report on the characterization of a lectin produced by a common human associated bacterium that interacts with myeloid cells in the blood and intestine. In mouse and cell-based models, we demonstrate that this lectin induces distinct immunologic responses in peripheral and intestinal leukocytes and that these responses are specific to monocytes, macrophages and dendritic cells. Our analysis of human microbiota sequencing data reveal thousands of unique sequences that are predicted to encode lectins, many of which are highly prevalent in the human microbiome yet completely uncharacterized. Based on the varied domain architectures of these lectins we predict they will have diverse effects on the human host. The systematic investigation of lectins in the human microbiome should improve our understanding of human health and provide new therapeutic opportunities. Lectins are non-enzymatic carbohydrate binding proteins important to human cellular functions. Here, the authors characterize a lectin produced by a human associated bacterium, and show that interacts with myeloid cells in the blood and intestine, suggesting commensal microbiota lectins as a diverse and widespread mechanism to interact with host physiology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Arterial stiffness is a common issue that may represent an indicator of vascular ageing. We aimed to investigate the association of arterial stiffness with the risk of functional disability and mobility limitation in older adults. Design: Prospective cohort study. Setting and Participants: A total of 1699 older adults from the Rugao Longitudinal Ageing Study were included and analysed. Measurements: Arterial stiffness was assessed by brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV). Functional disability and mobility limitation were evaluated by the activities of daily living and the Timed Up and Go test, respectively. The associations of baPWV and risk of functional disability and mobility limitation were analysed using logistic regression models. Restricted cubic spline regressions were applied to estimate the possible nonlinear relationships between them. Results: During the 3.5-year follow-up, 97 (10.00%) and 285 (31.11%) individuals were defined as new-onset functional disability and mobility limitation, respectively. After adjusting for confounding factors, elevated baPWV was significantly associated with a higher risk of incident functional disability (odds ratio [OR] 1.18, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.06–1.31) and mobility limitation (OR 1.08, 95% CI 1.01–1.16). Additionally, consistent results were obtained from the stratified analyses of the different subgroups. Multivariable restricted cubic spline regression analysis further demonstrated that a near-linear association occurred between baPWV and the risk of incident functional disability and mobility limitation (P-overall < 0.01, P-nonlinear > 0.05). Conclusion: Arterial stiffness, as assessed by baPWV, was associated with the risk of functional disability and mobility limitation in this community-based cohort, and these associations were nearly linear. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tillage method does exert a certain regulatory effect on yield of rainfed crops. A field experiment was established on the Loess Plateau and was for 8 years during 2009-2017. Three types of fallow tillage (no-tillage, deep plough and subsoiling) were used, and divided the yield with cluster analysis, studied the relationship of the main yield components and precipitation, soil water storage and water use. The results showed that the yield of wheat was influenced by the adjustment of the distribution of yield components in different precipitation years, and the number of plural was the main factor to obtain higher yield, which was influenced by the precipitation during the fallow-period and the sowing-anthesis period, the reasonable distribution of grain number per spike and 1000-grain weight is the factor of high yield, which is mainly affected by precipitation and soil water consumption at the later growth stage. In addition, cultivation during fallow-period can achieve higher yield, but under the influence of precipitation type, DP during growth-dry year type was more favorable to the increase of field evapotranspiration, the growth-wet type of SS was more beneficial to the improvement of water use efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dilution rate and contour quality are important indicators for studying the forming quality of laser cladding technology. Currently, the acquisition of the dilution rate mainly relies on manual marking under the metallographic assistant software, and the evaluation of contour quality mainly relies on human observation. In order to solve the problem that the manual labeling of the dilution rate and the manual evaluation of the cladding layer contour quality rate are low and subjectively affected, this paper proposes the use of artificial intelligence to identify the cladding layer dilution rate and perform a parameterized evaluation of the cladding layer contour. The Semantic Segmentation Visual Geometry Group (SSVGG) network is proposed by improving the VGG16, and the improvement of the convolutional layer reduces the calculation of the convolutional network. Adding a deconvolution layer enables the features to be displayed to the original image dimension. The feature fusion layer is added to increase semantic information. The experiment proves that the accuracy of Intersection over Union for extracting cladding topography by the SSVGG network is 93.89%. The neural network can accurately output the size of the cladding layer and the dilution zone, the accuracy rate of obtaining the dilution rate is 93.33%, and the dilution rate obtained by the area method can better characterize the cladding effect compared with the length method. The arc of the cladding layer output by the neural network can be parameterized to indicate the quality of contour forming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the cold and warm gas content, kinematics, and spatial distribution of six local massive elliptical galaxies to probe the origin of the multiphase gas in their atmospheres. We report new observations, including Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy [C ii ], Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array CO, Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) H α +[N ii ], and Very Large Array (VLA) radio observations. These are complemented by a large suite of multiwavelength archival data sets, including thermodynamical properties of the hot gas and radio jets, which are leveraged to investigate the role of active galactic nucleus (AGN) feeding/feedback in regulating the multiphase gas content. Our galactic sample shows a significant diversity in cool gas content, spanning filamentary and rotating structures. In our noncentral galaxies, the distribution of such gas is often concentrated, at variance with the more extended features observed in central galaxies. Misalignment between the multiphase gas and stars suggest that stellar mass loss is not the primary driver. A fraction of the cool gas might be acquired via galaxy interactions, but we do not find quantitative evidence of mergers in most of our systems. Instead, key evidence supports the origin via condensation out of the diffuse halo. Comparing with chaotic cold accretion (CCA) simulations, we find that our cool gas-free galaxies are likely in the overheated phase of the self-regulated AGN cycle, while for our galaxies with cool gas, the k-plot and AGN power correlation corroborate the phase of CCA feeding in which the condensation rain is triggering more vigorous AGN heating. The related C-ratio further shows that central/noncentral galaxies are expected to generate an extended/inner rain, consistent with our sample. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerical simulation of evolution of a convective cloud and precipitation during a thunderstorm event that took place on August 11, 2017 in Beijing (China) against a background of high aerosol air pollution was performed using a numerical nonstationary three-dimensional model. Different microphysical parameters of drops and ice particles which depend on aerosol pollution of the atmosphere, were varied: an autoconversion threshold for cloud droplets and raindrops and parameters of raindrop and hailstone size distribution. It was found for this case that liquid drops do not play a significant role in the convective cloud evolution. The effect of aerosol pollution both on the raindrop size spectrum and on the transition of cloud droplets to raindrops does not influence significantly dynamic, microphysical and electrical properties of the cloud. At the same time, the change in the ice particle spectrum towards the size decrease that happens under the influence of increased aerosol pollution, has a significant impact on the evolution of the cloud and precipitation. The amount of precipitation decreases both within the cloud and on the underlying surface. However, the lightning activity of the cloud changes little. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Supersonic gas–solid separation is a new dedusting concept, in which a de Laval nozzle is employed to accelerate a gas laden with solid particles to supersonic speeds. In the present work, a correction for the curved nature of the nozzle walls is implemented in the turbulent boundary layer model. A gas-particle coupled quasi-one-dimensional flow model is established based on an Eulerian–Lagrangian method. Combining the flux vector splitting of gas-phase equations, fifth-order weighted essentially non-oscillatory spatial discretization, and three-step third-order total variation diminishing Runge–Kutta time marching, we create a set of uniformly high-order accurate, stable, and efficient numerical methods. The validation against previous experiments demonstrates the validity and accuracy of the numerical model. The dependence of the flow fields on parameters including particle size and mass loading, nozzle inlet stagnation temperature and pressure, and nozzle expansion angle is numerically computed and analyzed. The results show that the decrease in particle size or mass loading and the increase in inlet stagnation temperature, pressure, or nozzle expansion angle facilitate an increase in exit particle velocity. The increase in particle size, inlet stagnation pressure, or nozzle expansion angle and the decrease in particle mass loading or inlet stagnation temperature increase the exit gas Mach number. In the current parametric study, particle size and mass loading have the largest effects on exit particle velocity and exit gas Mach number, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The maximum recovery stress is an essential parameter for evaluating the reliability of shape-memory alloys. In this study, the factors that determine the maximum recovery stress of the Ni47Ti44Nb9 shape-memory alloy were investigated. Although the recovery stress is generated by the shape recovery during constrained heating, the maximum recovery stress mainly depends on plastic deformation rather than the shape recovery strain. In the present work, because of the softening effect caused by dislocation annihilation and grain coarsening, plastic deformation occurs more easily with the increase in annealing temperature. This results in a sharp decrease in the maximum recovery stress, while the recovery strain remains high. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chronic sclerosing sialadenitis of the submandibular gland (also known as Küttner tumor) is characterized by concomitant swelling of the submandibular glands secondary to strong lymphocytic infiltration and fibrosis. The pathogenesis of this disease has been unclear, but it is associated with immune disorders. ADAMTS18 is a member of the ADAMTS superfamily of extracellular proteinases. In this study, we showed that Adamts18 is highly expressed in submandibular salivary gland (SMG) during embryonic development and decreases but is retained in adult SMG tissue in mice. Adamts18 deficiency led to reduced cleft formation and epithelial branching in embryonic SMG before embryonic day 15.5 in mice. No significant histologic changes in the later stages of branching or the morphology of SMG were detected in Adamts18 −/− mice. However, Adamts18 deficiency causes spontaneous SMG fibrogenesis and fibrosis in adult mice. At 8 wk of age, Adamts18 −/− mice began to manifest the first signs of pathologic changes of mild fibrosis and CD11b+ cell infiltration in SMG tissues. At ≥8 mo, all male and female Adamts18 −/− mice developed unilateral or bilateral SMG scleroma that is similar to patients with chronic sclerosing sialadenitis of the submandibular gland. Adamts18 −/− mice also showed secretory dysfunction and severe dental caries. Histologically, SMG scleroma is characterized by progressive periductal fibrosis, acinar atrophy, irregular duct ectasis, and dense infiltration of IgG-positive plasma cells. A significant infiltration of CD4+ T lymphocytes and CD11b+ monocytes and macrophages was also detected in the SMG scleroma of Adamts18 −/− mice. The levels of TGF-β1, IL-6, and IL-33 were significantly increased in Adamts18 −/− SMGs, which induces chronic inflammation and myofibroblast activation, ultimately leading to fibrosis. This study indicates that Adamts18 regulates the early branching morphogenesis of embryonic SMG and plays a role in protecting from spontaneous SMG fibrogenesis via modulating local inflammation, autoimmune reaction, and myofibroblast activation in adult mice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a novel bimodal model to predict a complete sunspot cycle based on comprehensive precursor information is proposed. We compare the traditional 13 month moving average with the Gaussian filter and find that the latter has less missing information and can better describe the overall trend of the raw data. Unlike the previous models that usually only use one precursor, here we combine the implicit and geometric information of the solar cycle (peak and skewness of the previous cycle and start value of the predicted cycle) with the traditional precursor method based on the geomagnetic index and adopt a multivariate linear approach with a higher goodness of fit (>0.85) in the fitting. Verifications for cycles 22–24 demonstrate that the model has good performance in predicting the peak and peak occurrence time. It also successfully predicts the complete bimodal structure for cycle 22 and cycle 24, showing a certain ability to predict whether the next solar cycle is unimodal or bimodal. It shows that cycle 25 is a single-peak structure and that the peak will come in 2024 October with a peak of 145.3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a robust adaptive repetitive control (RARC) method for a class of periodically time-varying nonlinear systems with aperiodic uncertainties. A σ modification is introduced in the learning algorithm of RARC, in order to guarantee robustness of the system undertaken. The closed-loop type learning algorithm is examined and it is shown that the realisability cannot be assured when the σ modification is applied. To avoid the causality contradiction, an open-loop type learning algorithm with switching σ modification is proposed to guarantee robustness and achieve the asymptotic convergence of the tracking error, when the disturbances disappear. Extension to the RARC for robotic manipulators is given and the numerical simulation is carried out to verify the effectiveness of the learning control scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The anode active material graphite in the waste lithium-ion battery was prepared into graphene oxide, which was used for preparation of graphene aerogel through hydrothermal reduction. Taking Congo red as the model dye contaminant, the effects of graphene aerogel input, initial concentration of pollutants, initial pH, temperature and adsorption time on the adsorption of Congo red were studied. The kinetics thermodynamics of adsorption process was analyzed. The experimental results showed that the adsorption rate was up to 99% under optimal condition. The adsorption process of Congo red by graphene aerogel was in accordance with the Freundlich isotherm adsorption model. The adsorption process was multi-molecular layer adsorption, and the quasi-second-order kinetic equation indicated that the adsorption could be chemical adsorption. The maximum adsorption capacity was 53.91 mg g−1, and the adsorption activation energy was 72.49 kJ mol−1. Our results show that the strategy of using the recycled anode material for dye removal may have high environmental and economic benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel 3D metal coordination polymer, {[Na4(µ2-H2O)(DMF)2(BCT)2]⋅DMF}n (I) (DMF = N,N-dimethylformamide, H2BCT = 3,5-bis(4'-carboxy-phenyl)-1,2,4-triazole), was synthesized under solvothermal conditions and characterized by single-crystal and powder X-ray diffraction, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, thermal gravimetric and elemental analysis techniques. X-ray diffraction structural analyses revealed that I featured a 3D framework. Furthermore, the photocatalytic experiment result showed the degradation ratios of rhodamine B(RhB) to reach 76.2% when I acted as catalyst. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To quantify the responses of drivers to traffic information and the congestion evacuation effect on the basis of traffic guidance information, a multilayer network congestion risk propagation model of urban roads was built to analyse the influence of the advanced traveller information system (ATIS) penetration rate, group behaviours of drivers, and traveller flow distribution features on the traffic congestion risk propagation of urban roads. Meanwhile, the dynamic evolutionary characteristics of group behaviours of drivers in a road network under the guidance of traffic information were analysed with the microscopic Markov chain approach (MMCA). A simulation analysis of the artery network in the fourth ring of Beijing was also carried out. Results demonstrated that the influence of traffic information and drivers' information reinforcement psychology on congestion risk propagation depend on the aggregation effect caused by traffic information. Increasing the ATIS market penetration rate and drivers' acceptance of information is beneficial to relieve traffic congestion as long as the drivers' aggregation effect is within a critical range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heat stress has become more common in recent years, limiting wheat production in Huang-Huai-Hai plain in China. To identify the effect of long-term heat stress on wheat production, two heat-resistant (JM44, JM23) and two heatsensitive (XM26, GC8901) wheat varieties were sown in heat tents and normal conditions, and heat stress (9 to 12°C higher than control) was imposed for seven days at post-anthesis. All varieties under heat stress exhibited early senescence and reduced grain-filling rate, while the grain-filling period of heat-tolerant varieties was longer than that of the heat-sensitive. Furthermore, long-term heat stress significantly reduced kernel mass, grain number, harvest index, chlorophyll content, maximum quantum yield of PSⅡ photochemistry, effective quantum yield of PSⅡ photochemistry, photosynthetic rate, and transpiration efficiency. In addition, the distribution of dry matter to vegetative organs, catalase activity, and malondialdehyde content increased. These results indicated that the lesser yield reduction of heat-resistant varieties (11-26%) than that of heat-sensitive (16-37%) is due to relatively higher antioxidative and photosynthetic performance and higher assimilation in the grain from vegetative organs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Borosilicate glass has potential application in the vitrification of high-level waste; therefore, its radiation durability attracts extensive attention. Borosilicate glass samples were irradiated with Xe and Au ions. The samples after irradiation were analyzed by nanoindenter, the Raman, photoluminescence (PL) and infrared spectroscopy. With increase of irradiation dose, the hardness of NBS2 glass samples dropped and then saturated. The changes in PL and infrared spectra of NBS2 glasses samples were deduced. The relation between changes in Raman spectra and those in PL spectra was discussed. The results from PL and infrared spectra revealed the formation of a non-bridging oxygen hole center and transformation of BO4 to BO3 in the NBS2 glass after the irradiation of ions. Relations between the changes in hardness and microstructures of borosilicate glass were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, carbon/epoxy composites were manufactured by coating with a polyamide at different weight percentages (5 wt.%, 10 wt.%, 15 wt.%, and 20 wt.%) to improve their impact resistance and fracture toughness. The chemical reaction between the polyamide and epoxy resin were examined by fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The mechanical properties and fracture toughness of the carbon/epoxy composites were analyzed. The mechanical properties of the carbon/epoxy composites, such as transverse flexural tests, longitudinal flexural tests, and impact tests, were investigated. After the impact tests, an ultrasonic C-scan was performed to reveal the internal damage area. The interlaminar fracture toughness of the carbon/epoxy composites was measured using a mode I test. The critical energy release rates were increased by 77% compared to the virgin carbon/epoxy composites. The surface morphology of the fractured surface was observed. The toughening mechanism of the carbon/epoxy composites was suggested based on the confirmed experimental data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A primary dendrite identification method based on deep learning is proposed. The primary dendrite identification is an important part of laser cladding surface performance test which is the base of mechanical properties research. Traditional primary dendrite identification depends primarily on artificial vision detection. With the rapid development of deep learning, industrial automatic detection has become an inevitable trend, because deep learning technology can greatly improve the accuracy and efficiency, therefore, the study of primary dendrite automatic detection technology has great practical value. In this paper, the semantic segmentation neural network in deep learning is used to label the primary dendrite by using only small-scale dataset training the neural network. The semantic segmentation neural network is constructed based on the improved U-Net structure. The experimental results show that after training, the mean Intersection over Union (IoU) index of the test set results is 0.789, and manual recognition takes about 18 times longer than deep learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainability of winter wheat yield under dryland conditions depends on improvements in crop photosynthetic characteristics and crop yield. Therefore, studying the effects of different sowing methods and nitrogen rates on photosynthetic characteristics of flag leaves, nitrogen translocation, and yield could be an effective strategy to improve the crop yield. In this study, four nitrogen application concentrations and two sowing methods were used. The results showed that the photosynthetic rates were the highest at different stages of wide-space sowing (WSS) after flowering. Nitrogen concentration of 240 kg ha-1 improved the photosynthetic characteristics and significantly increased the net photosynthesis, stomatal conductance, and transpiration rate after flowering and significantly reduced the intercellular CO2 concentration compaired to other nitrogen concentrations. Our overall findings suggested that WSS nitrogen treatment with 240 kg ha-1 enhanced photosynthetic characteristics of flag leaves and nitrogen content of the plants leading to high yield under dryland conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contamination of drinking water by per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) emitted from manufacturing plants, fire-fighting foams, and urban waste streams has received considerable attention due to concerns over toxicity and environmental persistence; however, PFASs in ambient air remain poorly understood, especially in the United States (US). We measured PFAS concentrations in ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5) at 5 locations across North Carolina over a 1 year period in 2019. Thirty-four PFASs, including perfluoroalkyl carboxylic, perfluoroalkane sulfonic, perfluoroalkyl ether carboxylic and sulfonic acids were analyzed by UHPLC/ESI-MS/MS. Quarterly averaged concentrations ranged from <0.004–14.1 pg m−3. Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) ranged from <0.18 to 14.1 pg m−3, comparable to previous PM2.5 measurements from Canada and Europe (<0.02–3.5 pg m−3). Concentrations above 1 pg m−3 were observed in July–September at Charlotte (14.1 pg m−3, PFOA), Wilmington (4.75 pg m−3, PFOS), and Research Triangle Park (1.37 pg m−3, PFOS). Notably, PM2.5 has a short atmospheric lifetime (<2 weeks), and thus, the presence of PFOS in these samples raises questions about their sources, since PFOS production was phased out in the US ∼20 years ago. This is the first US study to provide insights into ambient PFAS concentrations in PM2.5. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The blue straggler binary WOCS 5379 is a member of the old (6–7 Gyr) open cluster NGC 188. WOCS 5379 comprises a blue straggler star with a white dwarf companion in a 120 day eccentric orbit. Combined with the orbital period, this helium white dwarf is evidence of previous mass transfer by a red giant. Detailed models of the system evolution from a progenitor main-sequence binary, including mass transfer, are made using the Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics. Both of the progenitor stars are evolved in the simulation. WOCS 5379 is well reproduced with a primary star of initial mass 1.19 M⊙, whose core becomes the white dwarf. The secondary star initially is 1.01 M⊙. The secondary finished receiving mass from the donor 300 Myr ago, having moved beyond the NGC 188 turnoff as a 1.20 M⊙ blue straggler. The successful model has a mass-transfer efficiency of 22%. This nonconservative mass transfer is key to expanding the orbit fast enough to permit stable mass transfer. Even so, the mass transfer begins with a short unstable phase, during which half of the accreted mass is transferred. With increasing mass, the secondary evolves from a radiative core to a convective core. The final blue straggler interior is remarkably similar to a 2.1 Gyr old 1.21 M⊙ main-sequence star at the same location in the H-R diagram. The white dwarf effective temperature is also reproduced, but the modeled white dwarf mass of 0.33 M⊙ is smaller than the measured mass of 0.42 M⊙. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was aimed to investigate the socio-economic characteristics and present scenario of farmers engaged in sheep production at Sherpur district in Bangladesh. Data were primarily collected with a pre-tested interview schedule from the local sheep farmers. Results showed that average family size, male and female ratio and age was 5.58, 3:10, and 45.23 year, respectively. Family size, land size and yearly livestock income was found significant (P<0.01). Most of the farmers belong to primary education (46.70%) and illiterate (30.00%). Maximum numbers of farmers belong to small holder (81.91 decimal of land). The average monthly income and expenditure of farmers was estimated BDT 10123.00 and 11476.00, respectively. The male partner was dominant over female partner in different decision-making process. The co-efficient of family size (-9843.99), land size (404.27) and yearly livestock income (1.02) was significantly different (P<0.05). It is implied that one unit increases of land size and yearly livestock income might help in increasing 404.27 and 1.02 unit in family yearly income, respectively whereas, one unit increase of family size, resulted 9843.99 unit decreases of yearly family income, considering all other variables constant. It is concluded that there is great opportunity to improve livelihood of the small farmers particularly increase family income through sheep farming in the study areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A full three-dimensional global potential energy surface is reported first time for the title system, which is important for the photodissociation processes. It is obtained using double many-body expansion theory and an extensive set of accurate ab initio energies extrapolated to the complete basis set limit. Such a work can be recommended for dynamics studies of the N(2D) + H2 reaction, a reliable theoretical treatment of the photodissociation dynamics and as building blocks for constructing the double many-body expansion potential energy surface of larger nitrogen/hydrogen containing systems. In turn, a preliminary theoretical study of the reaction N(2D)+H2(X1Σg+)(ν=0,j=0)→NH(a1Δ)+H(2S) has been carried out with the method of quasi-classical trajectory on the new potential energy surface. Integral cross sections and thermal rate constants have been calculated, providing perhaps the most reliable estimate of the integral cross sections and the rate constants known thus far for such a reaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Although a high‐salt diet is associated with high risk of chronic diseases such as hypertension, stroke and cardiovascular disease, little is known about the relationship between a high‐salt diet and the risk of primary liver cancer (PLC). Consequently, we prospectively assessed the association of high perceived salt intake with the risk of PLC in the Kailuan Study. Methods: In total, 97 006 participants who were healthy adults or free living adults at the baseline (2006) were included in the present study. The data of perceived salt intake were collected via questionnaire and classified into three categories: <6 g day−1 for low salt intake, 6–10 g day−1 for intermediate salt intake, >10 g day−1 for high‐salt intake. PLC including hepatocellular carcinoma and intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (excluding liver metastasis), and was confirmed by review of medical records. We used a Cox proportional hazards model to analyse the association between high perceived salt diet and the risk of PLC after adjusting for possible confounders, including age, gender, body mass index, high sensitivity‐C‐reactive protein, low‐density lipoprotein‐cholesterol, total cholesterol, triglycerides, alanine aminotransferase, HbsAg positive, cirrhosis, fatty liver, hypertension, diabetes, drinking status, smoking status and physical exercise. Results: During the follow‐up period of 1 113 816 person‐years, 397 PLC events were diagnosed. After adjusting for most potential confounders, subjects in intermediate salt intake and high salt intake had a multivariable hazard ratio and 95% confidence interval of 1.49 (0.97–2.29) and 1.98 (1.22–3.22) (P for trend = 0.0042), respectively, compared to low salt intake. Conclusions: A higher perceived salt intake was associated with a higher risk of PLC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]