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Vestibular migraine (VM) is one of the most common causes of episodic central vestibular disorders; it is worth investigating whether VM belongs to the migraine subtype or is a separate disorder. The study is aimed at investigating resting-state functional brain activity alterations in patients with definite VM (dVM).Seventeen patients with dVM, 8 patients with migraine, and 17 health controls (HCs) were recruited. The amplitude of low frequency fluctuation (ALFF), fractional ALFF (fALFF), and regional homogeneity (ReHo) were calculated to observe the changes in spontaneous brain activity.Compared with HCs, VM patients showed significantly increased ALFF values in the right temporal lobe (P = 0.002) and increased ReHo values in the right superior, middle, and inferior temporal gyrus (STG, MTG, and ITG, P = 0.013); patients with migraine showed significantly increased ALFF values in the right limbic lobe (P = 0.04), left ITG (P = 0.024), and right frontal lobe (P 0.001), significantly decreased ALFF values in the pons and brainstem (P = 0.013), and significantly decreased ReHo values in the frontal cortex (P 0.001). Compared with patients with migraine, VM patients showed significantly increased fALFF values in the right parietal lobe (P = 0.011) and right frontal lobe (P = 0.026) and significantly increased ReHo values in the right thalamus (P = 0.043).Patients with VM and migraine both had altered brain function, but the regions involved are different.

Artificial Intelligence and related technologies represent a major advance in the human capacity to produce knowledge from different areas of knowledge. The application of these technologies in repetitive human activities that can be learned by a machine is already a constant in society, but their use in education still needs research, especially pedagogical research, which can make it clear how AI can contribute effectively to teaching and learning processes, since these processes are marked not only by cognitive characteristics, but also by cultural and emotional aspects. Having identified this gap, we conducted a qualitative study with students and teachers from four EU countries in order to find out what they know about the use of technologies and AI in education, what are their concrete needs and the recommendations of teachers on the pedagogical use of AI in education. This is a contribution to the gap identified by other authors in research on AI and education. This study gives voice to the participants and addresses the issue from the perspective of education. The results point to (1) A knowledge of the topic only from the perspective of users, (2) High expectations of the impact of AI on education (3) Recommendations of adapting AI to learning purposes, (4) Attention to guarantees of inclusion, citizenship, and democracy.

The human endogenous protein Galectin-9 (Gal-9) reactivates latently HIV-infected cells in vitro and ex vivo, which may allow for immune-mediated clearance of these cells. However, Gal-9 also activates several immune cells, which could negatively affect HIV persistence by promoting chronic activation/exhaustion. This potential "double-edged sword" effect of Gal-9 raises the question of the overall impact of Gal-9 on HIV persistence in vivo.We used the BLT (bone marrow, liver, thymus) humanized mouse model to evaluate the impact of Gal-9 on HIV persistence in vivo during antiretroviral therapy (ART).Two independent cohorts of ART-suppressed HIV-infected BLT mice were treated with either recombinant Gal-9 or PBS control. Plasma viral loads and levels of tissue-associated HIV DNA and RNA were measured by qPCR. Immunohistochemistry and HIV RNAscope were used to quantify CD4+ T, myeloid, and HIV RNA+ cells in tissues. T cell activation and exhaustion were measured by flow cytometry, and plasma markers of inflammation were measured by multiplex cytokine arrays.Gal-9 did not induce plasma markers of inflammation or T cell markers of activation/exhaustion in vivo. However, the treatment significantly increased levels of tissue-associated HIV DNA and RNA compared to controls (P = 0.0007 and P = 0.011, respectively, for cohort I and P = 0.002 and P = 0.005, respectively, for cohort II). RNAscope validated the Gal-9 mediated induction of HIV RNA in tissue-associated myeloid cells, but not T cells.Our study highlights the overall adverse effects of Gal-9 on HIV persistence and the potential need to block Gal-9 interactions during ART-suppressed HIV infection.

PurposeThe aim of this study is to empirically test the link between servitization and trade credit in manufacturing firms as well as the boundary conditions of this link.Design/methodology/approachUsing a unique dataset of 4,974 observations covering 838 manufacturing firms publicly listed in the United States during 1990–2020, this study examines the impact of servitization on trade credit and the moderating impacts of financial slack and service relatedness based on fixed-effect regression models.FindingsThe authors find that servitization shows a U-shaped relationship with trade credit. Besides, financial slack negatively moderates this U-shaped relationship whereas service relatedness has no significant impact on this relationship.Originality/valueThis paper is the first to empirically verify the influence of servitization on trade credit in manufacturing firms based on longitudinal secondary data and signaling theory. The research findings can provide several important theoretical and managerial implications for scholars and practitioners in operations management.

US spectrum licenses cover geographically distinct areas and often complement each other. A bidder seeking to acquire multiple licenses is exposed to the risk of winning only isolated patches. Using Auction 73 data, we model the bidding process as an entry game with interdependent markets and evolving bidder beliefs. Bidders’ decisions on bidding provide bounds on licenses’ stand-alone values and complementarity between licenses. We show that the effects of package bidding on bidders’ exposure risks depend on package format and size. More importantly, package bidding increases auction revenue substantially at the cost of reducing bidder surplus and increasing license allocation concentration. (JEL D44, H82, L96)

Background We model the potential impact of relaxing current nicotine vaping product (NVP) restrictions on public health in Australia. Aims and Methods A Restricted NVP Scenario was first developed to project current smoking and vaping rates, where a U.S. smoking model was calibrated to recent Australian trends. To model less restrictive NVP policies, a Permissive NVP Scenario applied rates of switching from smoking to vaping, initiation into NVP and cigarette use, and cessation from smoking and vaping based on U.S. trends. The model measures vaping risk relative to the excess mortality rate of smoking. The public health impacts are measured as the difference between smoking- and vaping-attributable deaths (SVADs) and life years lost (LYLs) in the Restricted and Permissive NVP Scenarios. Sensitivity analysis is conducted regarding the NVP excess risk and other factors. Results Assuming an NVP excess risk of 5% that of smoking, 104.2 thousand SVADs (7.7% reduction) and 2.05 million LYLs (17.3% reduction) are averted during 2017–2080 in the Permissive NVP Scenario compared to the Restricted NVP Scenario. Assuming 40% NVP excess risk, 70 thousand SVADs and 1.2 million LYLs are averted. The impact is sensitive to the rate at which smokers switch to NVPs and quit smoking, and relatively insensitive to the smoking initiation and NVP initiation and cessation rates. Conclusions The model suggests the potential for public health gains to be achieved by relaxing NVP access regulations. However, the model would benefit from better information regarding the impact of NVPs on smoking under a relaxation of current restrictions. Implications Australia has implemented a strong array of cigarette-oriented policies, but has restricted access to NVPs. The Smoking and Vaping Model offers a framework for modeling hypothetical policy scenarios. The Australian model shows the potential for public health gains by maintaining cigarette-oriented policies while relaxing the current restrictive NVP policy. Modeling results under a permissive NVP policy are particularly sensitive to the estimated rates of smoking cessation and switching to vaping, which are not well established and will likely depend on past and future cigarette-oriented policies and the specific NVP policies implemented in Australia.

An energy-efficient convolutional neural network (CNN) accelerator is proposed for the video application. Previous works exploited the sparsity of differential (Diff) frame activation, but the improvement is limited as many Diff-frame data is small but non-zero. Processing of irregular sparse data also leads to low hardware utilization. To solve these problems, two key innovations are proposed in this article. First, we implement a hybrid-precision inter-frame-reuse architecture which takes advantage of both low bit-width and high sparsity of Diff-frame data. This technology can accelerate 3.2x inference speed with no accuracy loss. Second, we design a conv-pattern-aware processing array that achieves the 2.48x-14.2x PE utilization rate to process sparse data for different convolution kernels. The accelerator chip was implemented in 65-nm CMOS technology. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first silicon-proven CNN accelerator that supports inter-frame data reuse. Attributed to the inter-frame similarity, this video CNN accelerator reaches the minimum energy consumption of 24.7 μJ/frame in the MobileNet-slim model, which is 76.3% less than the baseline.

† Pherodactylus Poinar, Su & Brown, 2020 = † Tresdigitus Xu, Fang & Wang, 2020 n. syn. = † Chunxiania Xu, Wang & Fang, 2022 n. syn. Diagnosis. Head round, pronotum elongate, longer than the wide, middle of pronotal disk with two distinct large dark “eyespots”, foreleg robust, with three apical spurs arranged on the inner side of fore tibia. Included species. † Pherodactylus micromorphus Poinar, Su & Brown, 2020 (type species by monotypy and original designation) and † Pherodactylus rectanguli (Xu, Fang & Wang, 2020) n. comb. Remarks. We treated genera † Tresdigitus n. syn. and Chunxiania n. syn. as synonyms of genus Pherodactylus Poinar, Su & Brown, 2020. We propose the genera and their species as synonyms or relocated: genera † Tresdigitus n. syn. and Chunxiania n. syn. as synonyms of genus Pherodactylus Poinar, Su & Brown, 2020, and † Tresdigitus gracilis Jiang, Xu, Jarzembowski & Xiao, 2022 n. syn. and † Chunxiania fania n. syn. as synonyms of † Pherodactylus rectanguli n. comb. The type specimen of each species represents different stages of the same species (Table 2), and they are all from the same locality. Besides, their morphological characters coincide with the diagnostic characters of † Pherodactylus. For additional taxonomic justifications, see † P. rectanguli n. comb. remarks., Published as part of Cadena-Castañeda, Oscar J., Liu, Yi-Jiao, Yu, Zhe-Yuan, Hu, Tian-Hao, Wu, Shi-Yang & He, Zhu-Qing, 2023, Are the recently described fossil Mole Crickets of Myanmar amber real gryllotalpids? (Orthoptera: Gryllotalpidae & Gryllidae), pp. 48-64 in Zootaxa 5311 (1) on page 52, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5311.1.2, http://zenodo.org/record/8090321, {"references":["Poinar Jr., G., Su, Y. N. & Brown, A. E. (2020) A new genus of crickets (Orthoptera: Gryllidae) in Mid-Cretaceous Myanmar Amber. Biosis: Biological Systems, 1 (1), 33 - 38. https: // doi. org / 10.37819 / biosis. 001.01.0049","Wang, H., Lei, X., Zhang, G., Xu, C., Fang, Y. & Zhang, H. (2020) The earliest Gryllotalpinae (Insecta, Orthoptera, Gryllotalpidae) from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber. Cretaceous Research, 107, 104292. https: // doi. org / 10.1016 / j. cretres. 2019.104292","Xu, C., Wang, H., Fang, Y., Jarzembowski, E. A. & Zhuo, D. (2022) Chunxiania fania: a new genus and species of mole cricket (Orthoptera: Ensifera: Gryllotalpidae) from mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber. Cretaceous Research, 134, 105 - 159. https: // doi. org / 10.1016 / j. cretres. 2022.105159","Jiang, X., Xu, C., Jarzembowski, E. A. & Xiao, C. (2022) A peculiar species of mole cricket (Orthoptera: Gryllotalpidae) from mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber. Cretaceous Research, 139, 1 - 6. https: // doi. org / 10.1016 / j. cretres. 2022.105273"]}

Subtribe † Pherodactylina Cadena-Castañeda & He n. subtr. Diagnosis. Slender body covered with several hairs. Head globose, slightly flattened dorsoventrally. Pronotum moderately elongated, 1.5 times as long as broad, rectangular. Forelegs fossorial type, with the distal portion of fore tibia laterally compressed, and three strong movable apical spurs arranged only on inner side of tibia. Hind tibia moderately flattened, slightly shorter than femur; with small spines on dorsal margin and six spurs apically, three inner spurs and three outer ones nearly equal in length and shorter than first tarsomere, upper inner spur significantly longest. Taxa included. † Pherodactylus Poinar, Su & Brown, 2020 (type genus) and † Burmagryllotalpa Wang et al., 2019. Remarks. This new subtribe is proposed to group fossil taxa only, in which some are originally described as mole crickets. After morphological analysis in this study, we conclude that they are true crickets with short dorsal spines on the hind tibia. Possessing serrated hind tibia is one of the characters that characterize Sclerogryllini taxa. Comparison. † Pherodactylina n. subtr. is included in Sclerogryllini, due to the structure of the hind tibia, in addition to the shape of the pronotum, which is more elongated in comparison with the field crickets of other Gryllinae tribes. The venation of the tegmina of the male of † P. rectanguli n. comb. resembles the venation of known Sclerogryllus males (Fig. 2). The same happens in the shape of the ovipositor in females, which presents a similar structure in its length with respect to the hind femur and the shape of the apex of the valves. Sclerogryllina n. stat. differs from † Pherodactylina n. subtr., due to its more robust appearance, glabrous body, and less pubescence. The species of † Pherodactylina n. subtr. are yellowish-brown in color, while Sclerogryllus species are almost black. Sclerogryllina n. stat. does not possess the fore tibiae with modification to dig, and it possesses three small apical spurs on each margin (outer and inner). On the other hand, the new tribe does not possess apical spines on the outer margin. Finally, Sclerogryllina n. stat. has conspicuously delineated hind femur chevrons traces, which does not appear in † Pherodactylina n. subtr., Published as part of Cadena-Castañeda, Oscar J., Liu, Yi-Jiao, Yu, Zhe-Yuan, Hu, Tian-Hao, Wu, Shi-Yang & He, Zhu-Qing, 2023, Are the recently described fossil Mole Crickets of Myanmar amber real gryllotalpids? (Orthoptera: Gryllotalpidae & Gryllidae), pp. 48-64 in Zootaxa 5311 (1) on page 52, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5311.1.2, http://zenodo.org/record/8090321, {"references":["Poinar Jr., G., Su, Y. N. & Brown, A. E. (2020) A new genus of crickets (Orthoptera: Gryllidae) in Mid-Cretaceous Myanmar Amber. Biosis: Biological Systems, 1 (1), 33 - 38. https: // doi. org / 10.37819 / biosis. 001.01.0049"]}

Subtribe † Pherodactylina Cadena-Castañeda & He n. subtr. Diagnosis. Slender body covered with several hairs. Head globose, slightly flattened dorsoventrally. Pronotum moderately elongated, 1.5 times as long as broad, rectangular. Forelegs fossorial type, with the distal portion of fore tibia laterally compressed, and three strong movable apical spurs arranged only on inner side of tibia. Hind tibia moderately flattened, slightly shorter than femur; with small spines on dorsal margin and six spurs apically, three inner spurs and three outer ones nearly equal in length and shorter than first tarsomere, upper inner spur significantly longest. Taxa included. † Pherodactylus Poinar, Su & Brown, 2020 (type genus) and † Burmagryllotalpa Wang et al., 2019. Remarks. This new subtribe is proposed to group fossil taxa only, in which some are originally described as mole crickets. After morphological analysis in this study, we conclude that they are true crickets with short dorsal spines on the hind tibia. Possessing serrated hind tibia is one of the characters that characterize Sclerogryllini taxa. Comparison. † Pherodactylina n. subtr. is included in Sclerogryllini, due to the structure of the hind tibia, in addition to the shape of the pronotum, which is more elongated in comparison with the field crickets of other Gryllinae tribes. The venation of the tegmina of the male of † P. rectanguli n. comb. resembles the venation of known Sclerogryllus males (Fig. 2). The same happens in the shape of the ovipositor in females, which presents a similar structure in its length with respect to the hind femur and the shape of the apex of the valves. Sclerogryllina n. stat. differs from † Pherodactylina n. subtr., due to its more robust appearance, glabrous body, and less pubescence. The species of † Pherodactylina n. subtr. are yellowish-brown in color, while Sclerogryllus species are almost black. Sclerogryllina n. stat. does not possess the fore tibiae with modification to dig, and it possesses three small apical spurs on each margin (outer and inner). On the other hand, the new tribe does not possess apical spines on the outer margin. Finally, Sclerogryllina n. stat. has conspicuously delineated hind femur chevrons traces, which does not appear in † Pherodactylina n. subtr.

† Pherodactylus rectanguli (Xu, Fang & Wang, 2020) n. comb. Figs. 1–6 = † Chunxiania fania Xu, Wang & Fang, 2022 n. syn. = † Tresdigitus gracilis Jiang, Xu, Jarzembowski & Xiao, 2022 n. syn. General description. Male (based on specimens ECNU-AM-0019 and ECUN-AM-0010, Figs. 1–3). Smallsized (8.07 mm.). Predominantly yellowish coloration with grayish and black spots. Cephalic capsule with dorsal surface (from vertex to fastigium) and upper area of frons with dark brown to black stripes; area surrounding ocelli, mandibles, lower margin of genae, and frons ocher; ocelli yellow; eyes greyish. Frons with a yellow inverted “Y”, * for the data may be doubtful due to different measurement method. starting from vertex, dividing at fastigium, and branching to the inner margin of each lateral ocellus. Pronotal disc greyish brown, with black corner rims and delimiting pronotal disc from lateral lobes; pronotal disk with two distinct large dark “eyespots”. Lateral lobes of pronotum with upper half grayish brown and lower half yellowish. All legs are yellowish with black or grayish spots, irregularly scattered, most noticeable on femora. Tegminae translucent, with veins outlined in light yellow. Abdomen yellowish covered by various black or grayish spots. Body covered with short or mid-sized fine hairs. Head as wide as pronotum, rounded and smooth; almost as wide as high in frontal view, with epistomal suture little concave. Vertex rounded. Eyes ovoid, not protruding. Lateral ocelli circular, central ocellus absent. Eyes and antennal pits located very low on face, close to epistomal suture, almost at the same level. Fastigium wide, almost four times as wide as scape. Maxillary palpi with the 4 th and 5 th longer, apical segment of labial palpi flattened. Thorax. Pronotum longer than wide, covered by several and mid-sized hairs; anterior margin concave and broader than posterior margin, with long bristles; lateral lobules rectangular, wider than high and with a rounded lateral edge, ventral margin almost straight. Wings. Tegmina short and ovoid, reaching to the second abdominal tergite. Mirror in oval shape, longer than wide, with a curved dividing vein; harp with three dividing veins; apical field reduced; lateral field two longitudinal veins from base to apex, and ten transversal veins born from the second longitudinal vein to costal margin. Hind wings no visible. Legs. Coxa and trochanter not elongated. Foreleg robust with long setae, large and oval tympana in both sides, on middle of fore tibiae; three movable dactyls on apical part of fore tibiae, first tarsomere almost as long as fore tibiae, other two tarsomere short. Mid leg slender, coxa robust, with a process partly covering trochanter; femur slightly slenderer than fore femur; tibia slightly inflated, shorter than femur, armed at apex with three inner spurs and two outer spurs. Hind leg elongated, femur strong, tibia with several small spines on dorsal side at apex. Three internal apical spurs long, and two external apical spurs short. The first and third tarsomere long and the second one short. Abdomen cylindrical; tergites with few short hairs; epiproctus subtriangular, apex rounded; subgenital plate short, wider than long, apex rounded; cerci almost as long as the two-thirds of hind tibia, covered by abundant medium-sized hairs. Female (emended description; based on specimens ECNU-AM-0002 and ECUN-AM-0024, Figs. 4, 5). Similar to the males in shape and size, differing by the following characters: the color tones are darker than the males, but keep the same pattern. Tegmina absent. Abdomen with hairs and several long bristles on dorsal side. Epiproct triangular, with rounded posterior margin. Ovipositor almost straight, apex of valves sharp, pointed, and lanceolate in dorsal view. Subgenital plate trapezoidal, apex moderately protruding. Male nymph (based on specimen ECNU-AM-0045, Fig. 6). Similar to the adult males, but no developed wings, with a more fragile and slender appearance. It differs from the adults, because the tympana are smaller in diameter than the other adult specimens examined. The small tympana in immature specimens can happen. This structure increases its size in adults. Measurements (mm). Adult male ECNU-AM-0019 (Fig. 1, 2): BL: 8.07; HL: 1.07; PL: 1.57; PW: 1.43; FWL: 2.18; FFL: 1.61; FTL: 1.04; MFL: 1.41; MTL: 1.09; HFL: 3.15; HTL: 1.82; AL: 5.14; CL: 2.26. Adult male ECNU-AM-0010 (Fig. 3): PL: 1.47; PW: 1.33; FWL: 2.05; FFL: 0.98; FTL: 1.06; Body broken, uncertain for else. Adult female ECNU-AM-0002 (Fig. 4): BL: 8.20; HL: 1.21; PL: 1.69 PW: 1.71 FFL: 1.56; FTL: 0.97; MFL: 1.91; MTL: not visible; HFL: 3.63; HTL: 2.54; AL: 4.63, OL: 1.82. Adult female ECNU-AM-0024 (Fig. 5): BL: 5.24; HL: 1.06; PL: 1.60; PW: uncertain; FFL: 1.45; FTL: 0.95; MTL: 1.42, femur and tarsus incomplete; HFL: 3.34, HTL: 2.56; AL: 3.82, CL: 2.39, OL: 1.72. Nymph ECNU-AM-0045 (Fig. 6): BL: 5.22; HL: 0.87; PL: 1.33, PW: uncertain; FFL: 1.40; FTL: 0.83; MFL: 0.97, MTL: 0.82; HFL: 2.49; HTL: 1.71; AL: 3.25; CL: 1.67. Remarks. Synonymy and new combination at the species level are justified as follows: 1) † P. micromorphus Poinar et al. 2020 is a subadult female specimen, which looks different in the shape of the pronotum in contrast to the holotype of † P. rectanguli n. comb. (a subadult male). However, when the photos of specimens are taken from different angles, an optical effect will be caused, which confuses us to consider them as different shapes. This can be happened in the additional specimens of † P. rectanguli n. comb. studied here. The fore tibia does not vary in both specimens. Only in the holotype of P. rectangulari n. comb., a bending of the ventral edge is observed, but this can happen due to dehydration during fossilization. However, we prefer to keep this species as valid, since the subadult female holotype specimen of † P. micromorphus had a wing pad, which is different from the adult females of † P. rectangulari n. comb. 2) † C. fania n. syn. is an adult male specimen. In the images of the original description, its diagnostic characters coincide with † P. rectanguli n. comb. in terms of the shape of fore tibia, apical spurs organization and shape, and location of the spurs of hind tibia. The hind tibiae are thin and moderately elongated, and the shape of pronotum and its spots coincide in these specimens. Unfortunately, the venation of † C. fania n. syn. is not observed due to preservation.Although the subgenital plate of † C. fania n. syn. dehydrated in fossilization process and coiled dorsally, it still could be observed in a triangular shape, which is similar to those of field crickets in a semicircle shape. 3) † Tresdigitus gracilis n. syn. is a nymph of indefinite sex (possibly female in penultimate or ultimate instar), not as developed as the two “species” previously synonymized. In the key presented in the original description by Jiang et al., 2022, the arrangement of head and the shape of pronotum are some of the characters proposed by the authors to distinguish the species from † P. rectanguli n. comb. The disposition of the head can vary in the way that insects die, and thus remains when fossilized. In contrast to † P. rectanguli n. comb., its head is in a normal position, locating mouthparts down (hypognathous/ hypognathous mandible). Other characters that stand out in † T. gracilis n. syn. is the moderately expanded fore tibia, and the small tympanum. However, it is common for crickets that they are different in these characters in their early stages. Through molting and growth, the tympanum becomes larger, and the tibiae attains the shape final in the last stages of insect development (Table 2; Ball and Cowan, 1978). In this study, we provide well-preserved males, females, and nymphal specimens, in which most of the morphological characters can be studied. It is applicable to verify the similarities and differences with the other recently described fossil taxa of “Mole Crickets” with those specimens. In terms of coloration, it was feasible to show that the coloration of † P. micromorphus is similar to those of the two males studied here. † P. rectanguli n. comb. has the same color pattern, but its image was darker in the original description (possibly due to a lack of brightness or light from the photographic record). For † C. fania n. syn., the same issue happened as mentioned above. All the specimens in the different stages of development have similar coloration, with two distinct large dark “eyespots” of similar shape; lower half of the anterior lobe of the yellow pronotum; shape and location of apical spurs of fore tibia; hind tibia serrulate with small spines; apex with conspicuous slender spines. The number of dorsal spines on legs is not reliable classification characters due to its intraspecific variation, which may be different from one leg to the other leg on one specimen (Cadena-Castañeda et al. 2022b). We consider † Pherodactylus micromorphus and † P. rectanguli n. comb. as valid genus and species. Both genera were described in 2020, and the original description of † P. micromorphus is available on March of 2020, while † Tresdigitus rectanguli is published on August of 2020. It is worth noting that Poinar et al. (2020) proposed a more reasonable taxonomic placement of its genus and species than the other authors, consisting with our results discussed and analyzed here. † Burmagryllotalpa longa is proposed to move under Gryllidae: Gryllinae: Sclerogryllini: Pherodactylina n. subtr. Although this species shares some morphologies with † Pherodactylus species, † B. longa completely lacks tympanum, and its pronotum is dorsally curved without spots on pronotal disc that characterize † Pherodactylus species. Thus, we consider † B. longa as valid.

† Pherodactylus rectanguli (Xu, Fang & Wang, 2020) n. comb. Figs. 1–6 = † Chunxiania fania Xu, Wang & Fang, 2022 n. syn. = † Tresdigitus gracilis Jiang, Xu, Jarzembowski & Xiao, 2022 n. syn. General description. Male (based on specimens ECNU-AM-0019 and ECUN-AM-0010, Figs. 1–3). Smallsized (8.07 mm.). Predominantly yellowish coloration with grayish and black spots. Cephalic capsule with dorsal surface (from vertex to fastigium) and upper area of frons with dark brown to black stripes; area surrounding ocelli, mandibles, lower margin of genae, and frons ocher; ocelli yellow; eyes greyish. Frons with a yellow inverted “Y”, * for the data may be doubtful due to different measurement method. starting from vertex, dividing at fastigium, and branching to the inner margin of each lateral ocellus. Pronotal disc greyish brown, with black corner rims and delimiting pronotal disc from lateral lobes; pronotal disk with two distinct large dark “eyespots”. Lateral lobes of pronotum with upper half grayish brown and lower half yellowish. All legs are yellowish with black or grayish spots, irregularly scattered, most noticeable on femora. Tegminae translucent, with veins outlined in light yellow. Abdomen yellowish covered by various black or grayish spots. Body covered with short or mid-sized fine hairs. Head as wide as pronotum, rounded and smooth; almost as wide as high in frontal view, with epistomal suture little concave. Vertex rounded. Eyes ovoid, not protruding. Lateral ocelli circular, central ocellus absent. Eyes and antennal pits located very low on face, close to epistomal suture, almost at the same level. Fastigium wide, almost four times as wide as scape. Maxillary palpi with the 4 th and 5 th longer, apical segment of labial palpi flattened. Thorax. Pronotum longer than wide, covered by several and mid-sized hairs; anterior margin concave and broader than posterior margin, with long bristles; lateral lobules rectangular, wider than high and with a rounded lateral edge, ventral margin almost straight. Wings. Tegmina short and ovoid, reaching to the second abdominal tergite. Mirror in oval shape, longer than wide, with a curved dividing vein; harp with three dividing veins; apical field reduced; lateral field two longitudinal veins from base to apex, and ten transversal veins born from the second longitudinal vein to costal margin. Hind wings no visible. Legs. Coxa and trochanter not elongated. Foreleg robust with long setae, large and oval tympana in both sides, on middle of fore tibiae; three movable dactyls on apical part of fore tibiae, first tarsomere almost as long as fore tibiae, other two tarsomere short. Mid leg slender, coxa robust, with a process partly covering trochanter; femur slightly slenderer than fore femur; tibia slightly inflated, shorter than femur, armed at apex with three inner spurs and two outer spurs. Hind leg elongated, femur strong, tibia with several small spines on dorsal side at apex. Three internal apical spurs long, and two external apical spurs short. The first and third tarsomere long and the second one short. Abdomen cylindrical; tergites with few short hairs; epiproctus subtriangular, apex rounded; subgenital plate short, wider than long, apex rounded; cerci almost as long as the two-thirds of hind tibia, covered by abundant medium-sized hairs. Female (emended description; based on specimens ECNU-AM-0002 and ECUN-AM-0024, Figs. 4, 5). Similar to the males in shape and size, differing by the following characters: the color tones are darker than the males, but keep the same pattern. Tegmina absent. Abdomen with hairs and several long bristles on dorsal side. Epiproct triangular, with rounded posterior margin. Ovipositor almost straight, apex of valves sharp, pointed, and lanceolate in dorsal view. Subgenital plate trapezoidal, apex moderately protruding. Male nymph (based on specimen ECNU-AM-0045, Fig. 6). Similar to the adult males, but no developed wings, with a more fragile and slender appearance. It differs from the adults, because the tympana are smaller in diameter than the other adult specimens examined. The small tympana in immature specimens can happen. This structure increases its size in adults. Measurements (mm). Adult male ECNU-AM-0019 (Fig. 1, 2): BL: 8.07; HL: 1.07; PL: 1.57; PW: 1.43; FWL: 2.18; FFL: 1.61; FTL: 1.04; MFL: 1.41; MTL: 1.09; HFL: 3.15; HTL: 1.82; AL: 5.14; CL: 2.26. Adult male ECNU-AM-0010 (Fig. 3): PL: 1.47; PW: 1.33; FWL: 2.05; FFL: 0.98; FTL: 1.06; Body broken, uncertain for else. Adult female ECNU-AM-0002 (Fig. 4): BL: 8.20; HL: 1.21; PL: 1.69 PW: 1.71 FFL: 1.56; FTL: 0.97; MFL: 1.91; MTL: not visible; HFL: 3.63; HTL: 2.54; AL: 4.63, OL: 1.82. Adult female ECNU-AM-0024 (Fig. 5): BL: 5.24; HL: 1.06; PL: 1.60; PW: uncertain; FFL: 1.45; FTL: 0.95; MTL: 1.42, femur and tarsus incomplete; HFL: 3.34, HTL: 2.56; AL: 3.82, CL: 2.39, OL: 1.72. Nymph ECNU-AM-0045 (Fig. 6): BL: 5.22; HL: 0.87; PL: 1.33, PW: uncertain; FFL: 1.40; FTL: 0.83; MFL: 0.97, MTL: 0.82; HFL: 2.49; HTL: 1.71; AL: 3.25; CL: 1.67. Remarks. Synonymy and new combination at the species level are justified as follows: 1) † P. micromorphus Poinar et al. 2020 is a subadult female specimen, which looks different in the shape of the pronotum in contrast to the holotype of † P. rectanguli n. comb. (a subadult male). However, when the photos of specimens are taken from different angles, an optical effect will be caused, which confuses us to consider them as different shapes. This can be happened in the additional specimens of † P. rectanguli n. comb. studied here. The fore tibia does not vary in both specimens. Only in the holotype of P. rectangulari n. comb., a bending of the ventral edge is observed, but this can happen due to dehydration during fossilization. However, we prefer to keep this species as valid, since the subadult female holotype specimen of † P. micromorphus had a wing pad, which is different from the adult females of † P. rectangulari n. comb. 2) † C. fania n. syn. is an adult male specimen. In the images of the original description, its diagnostic characters coincide with † P. rectanguli n. comb. in terms of the shape of fore tibia, apical spurs organization and shape, and location of the spurs of hind tibia. The hind tibiae are thin and moderately elongated, and the shape of pronotum and its spots coincide in these specimens. Unfortunately, the venation of † C. fania n. syn. is not observed due to preservation.Although the subgenital plate of † C. fania n. syn. dehydrated in fossilization process and coiled dorsally, it still could be observed in a triangular shape, which is similar to those of field crickets in a semicircle shape. 3) † Tresdigitus gracilis n. syn. is a nymph of indefinite sex (possibly female in penultimate or ultimate instar), not as developed as the two “species” previously synonymized. In the key presented in the original description by Jiang et al., 2022, the arrangement of head and the shape of pronotum are some of the characters proposed by the authors to distinguish the species from † P. rectanguli n. comb. The disposition of the head can vary in the way that insects die, and thus remains when fossilized. In contrast to † P. rectanguli n. comb., its head is in a normal position, locating mouthparts down (hypognathous/ hypognathous mandible). Other characters that stand out in † T. gracilis n. syn. is the moderately expanded fore tibia, and the small tympanum. However, it is common for crickets that they are different in these characters in their early stages. Through molting and growth, the tympanum becomes larger, and the tibiae attains the shape final in the last stages of insect development (Table 2; Ball and Cowan, 1978). In this study, we provide well-preserved males, females, and nymphal specimens, in which most of the morphological characters can be studied. It is applicable to verify the similarities and differences with the other recently described fossil taxa of “Mole Crickets” with those specimens. In terms of coloration, it was feasible to show that the coloration of † P. micromorphus is similar to those of the two males studied here. † P. rectanguli n. comb. has the same color pattern, but its image was darker in the original description (possibly due to a lack of brightness or light from the photographic record). For † C. fania n. syn., the same issue happened as mentioned above. All the specimens in the different stages of development have similar coloration, with two distinct large dark “eyespots” of similar shape; lower half of the anterior lobe of the yellow pronotum; shape and location of apical spurs of fore tibia; hind tibia serrulate with small spines; apex with conspicuous slender spines. The number of dorsal spines on legs is not reliable classification characters due to its intraspecific variation, which may be different from one leg to the other leg on one specimen (Cadena-Castañeda et al. 2022b). We consider † Pherodactylus micromorphus and † P. rectanguli n. comb. as valid genus and species. Both genera were described in 2020, and the original description of † P. micromorphus is available on March of 2020, while † Tresdigitus rectanguli is published on August of 2020. It is worth noting that Poinar et al. (2020) proposed a more reasonable taxonomic placement of its genus and species than the other authors, consisting with our results discussed and analyzed here. † Burmagryllotalpa longa is proposed to move under Gryllidae: Gryllinae: Sclerogryllini: Pherodactylina n. subtr. Although this species shares some morphologies with † Pherodactylus species, † B. longa completely lacks tympanum, and its pronotum is dorsally curved without spots on pronotal disc that characterize † Pherodactylus species. Thus, we consider † B. longa as valid., Published as part of Cadena-Castañeda, Oscar J., Liu, Yi-Jiao, Yu, Zhe-Yuan, Hu, Tian-Hao, Wu, Shi-Yang & He, Zhu-Qing, 2023, Are the recently described fossil Mole Crickets of Myanmar amber real gryllotalpids? (Orthoptera: Gryllotalpidae & Gryllidae), pp. 48-64 in Zootaxa 5311 (1) on pages 52-59, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5311.1.2, http://zenodo.org/record/8090321, {"references":["Wang, H., Lei, X., Zhang, G., Xu, C., Fang, Y. & Zhang, H. (2020) The earliest Gryllotalpinae (Insecta, Orthoptera, Gryllotalpidae) from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber. Cretaceous Research, 107, 104292. https: // doi. org / 10.1016 / j. cretres. 2019.104292","Xu, C., Wang, H., Fang, Y., Jarzembowski, E. A. & Zhuo, D. (2022) Chunxiania fania: a new genus and species of mole cricket (Orthoptera: Ensifera: Gryllotalpidae) from mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber. Cretaceous Research, 134, 105 - 159. https: // doi. org / 10.1016 / j. cretres. 2022.105159","Jiang, X., Xu, C., Jarzembowski, E. A. & Xiao, C. (2022) A peculiar species of mole cricket (Orthoptera: Gryllotalpidae) from mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber. Cretaceous Research, 139, 1 - 6. https: // doi. org / 10.1016 / j. cretres. 2022.105273","Xu, C., Fang, Y. & Wang, H. (2020) A new mole cricket (Orthoptera: Gryllotalpidae) from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber. Cretaceous Research, 112, 104428. https: // doi. org / 10.1016 / j. cretres. 2020.104428","Poinar Jr., G., Su, Y. N. & Brown, A. E. (2020) A new genus of crickets (Orthoptera: Gryllidae) in Mid-Cretaceous Myanmar Amber. Biosis: Biological Systems, 1 (1), 33 - 38. https: // doi. org / 10.37819 / biosis. 001.01.0049","Ball, E. E. & Cowan, N. (1978) Ultrastructural study of the development of the auditory tympana in the cricket Teleogryllus commodus (Walker). Journal of Embryology and Experimental Morphology, 46, 75 - 87. https: // doi. org / 10.1242 / dev. 46.1.75","Cadena-Castaneda, O. J., Quintana-Arias, R. F., Trujillo, D. M., Prias, J. P. & Castellanos-Morales, C. A. (2022 b) Studies on Neotropical crickets: Aclodes paz n. sp. a new phalangopsid cricket (Orthoptera: Phalangopsidae) from the Santander caves, Colombia. Zootaxa, 5141 (6), 568 - 580. https: // doi. org / 10.11646 / zootaxa. 5141.6.3"]}

Cadena-Castañeda, Oscar J., Liu, Yi-Jiao, Yu, Zhe-Yuan, Hu, Tian-Hao, Wu, Shi-Yang, He, Zhu-Qing (2023): Are the recently described fossil Mole Crickets of Myanmar amber real gryllotalpids? (Orthoptera: Gryllotalpidae & Gryllidae). Zootaxa 5311 (1): 48-64, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5311.1.2, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5311.1.2

Tribe Sclerogryllini Gorochov, 1985 Remarks. This tribe was described by Saussure (1877) as “Légion des Scléropterites”, including Acanthoplistus Saussure, 1877, and Scleropterus Haan, 1844. Subsequently, this taxon was treated as a subfamily by Shiraki (1930), and this status was followed by Chopard (1934, 1936) and Desutter (1987). Gorochov (1985) proposed a new name Sclerogryllus for Scleropterus Haan, 1844, which has been used for Scleropterus Schoenherr, 1825 (Coleoptera). At the same time, Gorochov also established the tribal status as Sclerogryllini, with Sclerogryllus as the type genus under Gryllinae. Otte (1994) argued that according to the nomenclatural change proposed by Gorochov, the subfamily name should be changed to Sclerogryllinae. Otte used the name Sclerogryllinae for the first time, and this was followed by Storozhenko et al. (2015). Recently, Yu et al. (2022) published a complete mitochondrial genome of cricket Sclerogryllus punctatus. By phylogenetic analysis, they verified that Sclerogryllus was grouped within the Gryllinae clade. Therefore, Sclerogryllinae should be treated as a synonym of Gryllinae, and Gorochov’s tribe Sclerogryllini under Gryllinae is recommended rather than a different subfamily from field crickets. Sclerogryllini is a monogeneric tribe, with five species distributed in Asia. Rhabdotogryllus caraboides Chopard, 1954 from Guinea (Africa), is only known from its holotype female, and no additional records have been reported since its description. R. caraboides is superficially similar to Sclerogryllus females, but possessing more conspicuous dorsal spurs on the hind tibia. Thus, the homology of Rhabdotogryllus and Sclerogryllus is still a question, and Sclerogryllini probably only occurs in Asia. Here, we propose a new fossil subtribe that more closely resembles extant Sclerogryllini species in morphology than any other tribal taxon of field crickets. Additionally, a key to separate the taxa of the tribe is provided., Published as part of Cadena-Castañeda, Oscar J., Liu, Yi-Jiao, Yu, Zhe-Yuan, Hu, Tian-Hao, Wu, Shi-Yang & He, Zhu-Qing, 2023, Are the recently described fossil Mole Crickets of Myanmar amber real gryllotalpids? (Orthoptera: Gryllotalpidae & Gryllidae), pp. 48-64 in Zootaxa 5311 (1) on page 51, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5311.1.2, http://zenodo.org/record/8090321, {"references":["Gorochov, A. V. (1985) On the Orthoptera subfamily of Gryllinae (Orthoptera, Gryllidae) from eastern Indochina. In: Medvedev, L. N. (Ed.), Fauna iekologiya nasekomykh Vetnama [The fauna and ecology of insects of Vietnam], 1985, pp. 9 - 17.","Saussure, H. (1877) Melanges orthopterologiques V. fascicule Gryllides. Memoires de la Societe de Physique et d'Histoire Naturelle de Geneve, 25 (1), 169 - 504.","Shiraki, T. (1930) Orthoptera of the Japanese Empire. Part I. (Gryllotalpidae and Gryllidae). Insecta Matsumurana, 4, 181 - 252.","Chopard, L. (1934) Catalogues raisonnes de la faune entomologique du Congo belge. Orthopteres - Gryllides. Annales du Musee du Congo belge Tervueren, Belgique, Zoologie, 3 (2), 4, 1 - 88.","Chopard, L. (1936) The Tridactylidae and Gryllidae of Ceylon. Ceylon Journal of Science (Biological Science), 20, 9 - 87.","Desutter, L. (1987) Structure et evolution du complexe phallique de Gryllidea (Orthopteres) et classification des genres neotropicauxde Grylloidea. Premiere partie. Annales de la Societe Entomologique de France, New Series, 23 (3), 213 - 239.","Otte, D. (1994) Crickets (Grylloidea). Orthoptera Species File. Vol. 1. Orthopterist' Society, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, iv + 120 pp.","Storozhenko, S. Y., Kim, T. W. & Jeon, M. J. (2015) Monograph of Korean Orthoptera. National Institute of Biological Resources, Incheon, 377 pp.","Yu, Z., Xie, H., Liu, Y., Li, K. & He, Z. (2022) The complete mitochondrial genome of cricket Sclerogryllus punctatus (Orthoptera: Gryllidae) and phylogenetic analysis. Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology, 25 (3), 1 - 9. https: // doi. org / 10.1016 / j. aspen. 2022.101933"]}

† Pherodactylus Poinar, Su & Brown, 2020 = † Tresdigitus Xu, Fang & Wang, 2020 n. syn. = † Chunxiania Xu, Wang & Fang, 2022 n. syn. Diagnosis. Head round, pronotum elongate, longer than the wide, middle of pronotal disk with two distinct large dark “eyespots”, foreleg robust, with three apical spurs arranged on the inner side of fore tibia. Included species. † Pherodactylus micromorphus Poinar, Su & Brown, 2020 (type species by monotypy and original designation) and † Pherodactylus rectanguli (Xu, Fang & Wang, 2020) n. comb. Remarks. We treated genera † Tresdigitus n. syn. and Chunxiania n. syn. as synonyms of genus Pherodactylus Poinar, Su & Brown, 2020. We propose the genera and their species as synonyms or relocated: genera † Tresdigitus n. syn. and Chunxiania n. syn. as synonyms of genus Pherodactylus Poinar, Su & Brown, 2020, and † Tresdigitus gracilis Jiang, Xu, Jarzembowski & Xiao, 2022 n. syn. and † Chunxiania fania n. syn. as synonyms of † Pherodactylus rectanguli n. comb. The type specimen of each species represents different stages of the same species (Table 2), and they are all from the same locality. Besides, their morphological characters coincide with the diagnostic characters of † Pherodactylus. For additional taxonomic justifications, see † P. rectanguli n. comb. remarks.

To address the issues that arise when auto-leveling the vehicle body of a hillside tractor under complex working conditions, an auto-leveling control system was developed based on a newly developed hillside tractor and four-point body leveling mechanism. In this approach, leveling accuracy and stability were improved by adopting a sliding mode variable structure control algorithm based on fuzzy switching gain adjustment to achieve real-time dynamic auto-leveling control. To obtain curves of front and rear axle leveling displacement, speed, flow, pressure and body tilting angle during the leveling process, AMEsim/Simulink co-simulation was used to simulate and analyze the control system. The simulation results revealed that the tractor achieves a good leveling effect under complex working conditions in hilly and mountainous areas; the tractor can remain within a ±2° tilting angle range during the leveling process and can return to 0° after leveling, demonstrating good dynamic stability. To further assess the algorithm, a model of the system was submitted to live-testing on a custom-built auto-leveling test bench. Comparison of the test and simulation results revealed a close agreement between the two, indicating that the self-leveling control system and control algorithm developed in this study have high leveling accuracies. The results reported in this paper could provide assistance with or in reference to obtaining solutions to the problems of tractor body leveling in hilly and mountainous areas.

Yu, Zhe-Yuan, Li, Kai, He, Zhu-Qing (2023): First report of complete mitogenome for an Itarinae species (Orthoptera, Grylloidea) with phylogenetic analysis. Zoosystema 45 (8): 213-223, DOI: 10.5252/zoosystema2023v45a8

To investigate the outcomes of open reduction and internal fixation combined with medial buttress plate (MBP) and allograft bone-assisted cannulated screw (CS) fixation for patients with unstable femoral neck fracture with comminuted posteromedial cortex.In a retrospective study of patients operated on for unstable femoral neck fractures with comminuted posteromedial cortex from March 2016 to August 2020, the clinical and radiographic outcomes of 48 patients treated with CS + MBP were compared with the outcomes of 54 patients treated with CS only. All patients in the CS + MBP group were fixed by three CS and MBP (one-third tubular plates or reconstructive plates) with bone allografts. The surgery-related outcomes and complications were evaluated, including operative time, blood loss, union time, femoral head necrosis, femoral neck shortening, and other complications after the operation. The Harris score was evaluated at 12 months after the operation.All patients were followed up for 12-40 months. The average age of patients in the CS-only group (54 cases, 22 females) and CS + MBP group (48 cases, 20 females) was 48.46 ± 7.26 and 48.73 ± 6.38 years, respectively. More intraoperative blood loss was observed in the CS + MBP group than that of patients in CS-only group (153.45 ± 64.27 vs 21.86 ± 18.19 ml, t = 4.058, P = 0.015). The average operative time for patients in the CS + MBP group (75.35 ± 27.67 min) was almost double than that of patients in the CS-only group (36.87 ± 15.39 min) (t = 2.455, P 0.001). The Garden alignment index of patients treated by CS + MBP from type I to type IV was 79%, 19%, 2%, and 0%, respectively. On the contrary, they were 31%, 43%, 24% and 2% for those in the CS-only group, respectively. The average healing times for the CS-only and CS + MBP groups were 4.34 ± 1.46 and 3.65 ± 1.85 months (t = 1.650, P = 0.102), respectively. Femoral neck shortening was better in the CS + MBP group (1.40 ± 1.73 mm, 9/19) than that in the CS-only group (4.33 ± 3.32 mm, 24/44). Significantly higher hip function was found in the CS + MBP group (85.60 ± 4.36 vs 82.47 ± 6.33, t = 1.899, P = 0.06). There was no statistical difference between femoral head necrosis (4% vs 11%, χFor unstable femoral neck fractures with comminuted posteromedial cortex, additional MBP combined with bone allografts showed better reduction quality and neck length control than CS fixation only, with longer operative time and more blood loss.

There are a lot of uncertainties in the water resources system, which makes the water allocation plan very risky. In order to analyze the risks of water resources allocation under uncertain conditions, a new methodology called the stochastic simulation-based risk assessment approach is developed in this paper. First, the main hydrological stochastic variable is fitted by a proper probability distribution. Second, suitable two-stage stochastic programming is constructed to obtain the expected benefit and optimized water allocation targets. Third, the Monte Carlo method is used to obtain a suitable stochastic sample of the hydrological variable. Fourth, a pre-allocated water optimization model is proposed to obtain optimized actual benefit. The methodology can give a way for risk analysis of water allocation plans obtained by uncertain optimization models, which provides reliable assistance to water managers in decision-making. The proposed methodology is applied to the Zhanghe Irrigation District and the risk of the water allocation plan obtained under the randomness of annual inflow is assessed. In addition, three different division methods of the annual inflow are applied in the first step, namely three levels, five levels and seven levels, respectively. From the results, the risk of the water allocation scheme obtained by the TSP model is 0.372–0.411 and decreases with the increase of the number of hydrological levels. Considering both the risk and model complexity, seven hydrological levels are recommended when using the TSP model to optimize water allocation under stochastic uncertainty.

A copper-catalyzed regiodivergent hydrosilylation of a wide range of simple allenes is reported. Linear and branched allylsilanes were formed by judicious choice of solvents. Furthermore, branched allylsilanes were obtained with high enantioselectivity (up to 97% enantiomeric excess) with the aid of a C2-symmetric bisphosphine ligand in the unprecedented asymmetric allene hydrosilylation.

In this work, CdS nanosheets were synthesized by microwave hydrothermal method. We used a simple synthesis method to prepare Mn3O4/CdS composites. The crystal phase, surface chemical component and optical properties of Mn3O4/CdS, Mn3O4 and CdS were analyzed based on the characterizations such as XRD, FT-IR, DRS and PL. Mn3O4/Cd composites showed obvious broadened visible-light adsorption at wavelength over 460 nm. When the mass ratio of Mn3O4 and CdS was 1.0%, Mn3O4/CdS displayed the best RhB degradation efficiency which was 22.39% higher than the pure CdS. The improved photocatalytic efficiency should be attributed to the lower photo-induced electron–hole pair recombination rate and accelerated transfer rate of photogenerated electrons based on heterojunction structure. The achievements provided new way to exploring novel CdS-based heterojunctions for decomposing organic pollutants.

Introduction Tobacco couponing continues to be part of contemporary tobacco marketing in the United States. We performed a systematic review of the evidence of tobacco product coupon receipt and redemption to inform regulation. Aims and Methods We searched EMBASE OVID and Medline databases for observational (cross-sectional and longitudinal) studies that examined the prevalence of tobacco coupon receipt and coupon redemption across different subpopulations, as well as studies of the association between coupon receipt and redemption with tobacco initiation and cessation at follow-up. We extracted unadjusted and adjusted odds ratios for the associations between coupon exposure (receipt, redemption) and tobacco use outcomes (initiation, cessation) and assessed each studies’ potential risk of bias. Results Twenty-seven studies met the criteria for inclusion. Of 60 observations extracted, 37 measured coupon receipt, nine measured coupon redemption, eight assessed tobacco use initiation, and six assessed cessation. Tobacco product coupon receipt and redemption tended to be more prevalent among younger adults, women, lower education individuals, members of sexual and gender minorities, and more frequent tobacco users. Coupon receipt at baseline was associated with greater initiation. Coupon receipt and redemption at baseline were associated with lower cessation at follow-up among tobacco users. Results in high-quality studies did not generally differ from all studies. Conclusions Tobacco product coupon receipt and redemption are often more prevalent among price-sensitive subpopulations. Most concerning, our results suggest coupon receipt may be associated with higher tobacco initiation and lower tobacco cessation. Couponing thereby increases the toll of tobacco use and could prove to be a viable public health policy intervention point. Implications A systematic review was conducted of the scientific literature about the receipt, redemption, and effects on tobacco initiation and cessation of tobacco product couponing. This review found that tobacco coupons are more often received by price-sensitive persons and these coupons serve to increase tobacco initiation and decrease tobacco cessation. Policy efforts to address these consequences may help curb tobacco’s harms and address health inequities.

Based on hydrometeorological data and land-use data (from 1980 to 2015), the effects of water balance on landscape patterns in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River were studied using water balance analysis, the landscape index method, and other methods. Eight appropriate landscape indices (NP, COHESION, LPI, AI, SHDI, CONTAG, SPLIT, and LS) were selected to explore the spatial and temporal characteristics of landscape patterns. From 1980 to 2015, the precipitation in the study area decreased by 6.97%, and the annual precipitation of farmland was maintained at about 1,050 mm. The evapotranspiration (ET) had little change in general, but it varies greatly under different land-use types. Soil water storage variables showed a downward trend, and soil water storage variables of various land-use types changed dramatically during the study period. The total number of patches increased and the patch shape became more complex. At the level of landscape structure, SHDI and SPLIT increased, while CONTAG and COHESION decreased, and the degree of patch fragmentation and landscape heterogeneity improved. Correlation analysis showed that from a time perspective, LSI, SPLIT, and SHDI were significantly negatively correlated with ET, and CONTAG was significantly positively correlated with ET. There was a significant negative correlation between SPLIT and soil water (SW), and a significant positive correlation between COHESION and SW. These results indicated that with the decrease of ET and soil water storage variables, patches became more dispersed and landscape patterns became more fragmented. From the perspective of spatial distribution, the increase of SW increased landscape diversity and decreased landscape connectivity and contagion. The correlation coefficients between SW and the three groups of landscape pattern indexes (SHDI, CONTAG, and COHESION) were higher than those between ET and the three groups of landscape pattern indexes, which meant that soil water is more correlated with landscape pattern characteristics, and the effect of soil water change on landscape heterogeneity is more obvious. The study of the relationship between hydrological processes and landscape pattern characteristics in this paper enriches and expands the theoretical method system of ecological hydrology and ecological environmental protection in arid/semi-arid regions in our country.

As a new type of biomass-based molecular material, nanocrystalline cellulose (NCC) has become a research hotspot in many fields. In present work, a novel microfluidic technology was employed to produce NCC from microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) via sulfuric acid hydrolysis. The microfluidic chip was designed and made with complete load-bearing reaction according to flow characteristics. A closed reaction environment and fully automated operations can ensure the safety of experimenters. NCC (MN-60) with high yield and uniformity was obtained via acid hydrolysis in microfluidic system by 60 % sulfuric acid solution at 35 °C for 40 min. The characteristics of MN-60 and conventional method NCC (N-60) under the same reaction conditions were compared. It was found that the yield of MN-60 reached 48.13%, while it was only 17.30 % in the absence of microfluidic chip. Although the results showed that MN-60 and N-60 exhibited similar rod-like structures, the size distribution of MN-60 was narrower than that of N-60. Furthermore, the width, length, and height of MN-60 were 15±5 nm, 150±75 nm, and 5±2 nm, respectively. The main functional groups and crystal forms of MN-60 were similar to MCC, but the crystallization index of MN-60 was higher than MCC. In conclusion, microfluidic technology could realize the preparation of high-yield and uniform NCC.

Despite effective combination antiretroviral therapy (cART), people living with HIV (PLWH) continue to harbor replication-competent and transcriptionally active virus in infected cells, which in turn can lead to ongoing viral antigen production, chronic inflammation, and increased risk of age-related comorbidities. To identify new agents that may inhibit postintegration HIV beyond cART, we screened a library of 512 pure compounds derived from natural products and identified (–)-hopeaphenol as an inhibitor of HIV postintegration transcription at low to submicromolar concentrations without cytotoxicity. Using a combination of global RNA sequencing, plasmid-based reporter assays, and enzyme activity studies, we document that hopeaphenol inhibits protein kinase C (PKC)- and downstream NF-κB-dependent HIV transcription as well as a subset of PKC-dependent T-cell activation markers, including interleukin-2 (IL-2) cytokine and CD25 and HLA-DRB1 RNA production.

Background Secondary bacterial pneumonia is an important complication of seasonal influenza, but little data is available about impact on death and risk factors. This study identified risk factors for all-cause in-hospital mortality and secondary bacterial pneumonia among hospitalized adult patients with community-acquired influenza. Methods A retrospective cohort study was performed at a tertiary teaching hospital in southwest China. The study cohort included all adult hospitalized patients with a laboratory-confirmed, community-acquired influenza virus infection during three consecutive influenza seasons from 2017 to 2020. Cause-specific Cox regression was used to analyze risk factors for mortality and secondary bacterial pneumonia, respectively, accounting for competing events (discharge alive and discharge alive or death without secondary bacterial pneumonia, respectively). Results Among 174 patients enrolled in this study, 14.4% developed secondary bacterial pneumonia and 11.5% died during hospitalization. For all-cause in-hospital mortality, time-varying secondary bacterial pneumonia was a direct risk factor of death (cause-specific hazard ratio [csHR] 3.38, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.25–9.17); underlying disease indirectly increased death risk through decreasing the hazard of being discharged alive (csHR 0.55, 95% CI 0.39–0.77). For secondary bacterial pneumonia, the final model only confirmed direct risk factors: age ≥ 65 years (csHR 2.90, 95% CI 1.27–6.62), male gender (csHR 3.78, 95% CI 1.12–12.84) and mechanical ventilation on admission (csHR 2.96, 95% CI 1.32–6.64). Conclusions Secondary bacterial pneumonia was a major risk factor for in-hospital mortality among adult hospitalized patients with community-acquired influenza. Prevention strategies for secondary bacterial pneumonia should target elderly male patients and critically ill patients under mechanical ventilation.

Nanoscale metallic glasses offer opportunities for investigating fundamental properties of amorphous solids and technological applications in biomedicine, microengineering, and catalysis. However, the top-down fabrication of metallic glass nanostructure is restricted by the availability of bulk metallic glass; in contrast, the bottom-up synthesis remains rarely explored due to the rigorous formation conditions, especially the extreme cooling rate. Here we develop a kinetically controlled flash carbothermic reaction, featuring ultrafast heating and cooling rates, for the synthesis of metallic glass nanoparticles within milliseconds. Ten permutations of noble metals, base metals, and metalloid (M1-M2-P, M1 = Pt/Pd, M2 = Cu/Ni/Fe/Co/Sn) were synthesized with widely tunable particle sizes and supportive substrates. Through combinatorial development, we discovered a substantially expanded phase space for metallic glass at the nanoscale than that at the bulk scale, revealing an enhanced glass forming ability due to the nanosize effect. Leveraging this effect, we synthesized several nanoscale metallic glasses with elemental compositions that have never, to our knowledge, been synthesized in bulk. The metallic glass nanoparticles show high intrinsic activity in electrocatalysis and heterogeneous catalysis, outperforming crystalline nanoparticle counterparts and commercial precious metal nanoparticle benchmarks.

Traditional artificial intelligence implemented in software is usually executed on accurate digital computers. Nevertheless, the nanoscale devices for the implementation of neuromorphic computing may not be ideally identical, and the performance is reduced by nonuniform devices. In biological brains, information is usually encoded by a cluster of neurons such that the variability of nerve cells does not influence the accuracy of human cognition and movement. Here, we introduce the population encoding strategy in neuromorphic computing and demonstrate that this strategy can overcome the problems caused by nonuniform devices. Using magnetic memristor device based on current-induced domain-wall motion as an example, we show that imperfect storage devices can be applied in a hardware network to perform principal component analysis (PCA), and the accuracy of unsupervised classification is comparable to that of conventional PCA using ideally accurate synaptic weights. Our results pave the way for hardware implementation of neuromorphic computing and lower the criteria for the uniformity of nanoscale devices., 5 figures