Search

Singapore has achieved great success in economic transformation and industrial upgrading. The four reforms after Lee Kuan Yew took office changed the economic situation of Singapore, which included the development of import-oriented economy, labor-intensive industries, capital-intensive industries, and knowledge-based industries. Finally following the Industry 4.0 era began the development of artificial intelligence technology and innovation reforms. However, Singapore's industrial transformation was still problematic, and over-reliance on international trade caused Singapore's economy to take a hit during COVID19. In addition, Singapore is facing human resource problems, including a growing aging and unemployed population. This paper will analyze the implementation methods and effectiveness of Singapore's economic reforms through the process of economic transformation and review the reasons for Singapore's rapid economic development. Based on the transformation of Singapore's economy, it will also examine the aging population and the impact of COVID-19. Ultimately, we may provide some useful thoughts and lessons for the development of developing countries by analyzing Singapore's successful experience as well as the dynamics and reasons behind it.

This paper uses the data of Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share companies from the CSMAR database. The data range is from 2009 to 2019, studies the relationship between investment efficiency and financing constraints, and expounds on some of the problems faced by small and medium-sized enterprises today. The research uses a model to measure the optimal investment scale of the enterprise in the current period and uses the actual investment scale to gradually approach the optimal investment template to obtain the inefficient investment level of the enterprise. This paper studies the relationship between investment efficiency and financing constraints from an analyst's perspective. Research has found that analyst attention significantly impacts firms' inefficient investments. Analyst Attention and Report Attention can effectively alleviate corporate financing constraints and improve corporate investment efficiency, which is found that analyst attention and report attention have a more significant impact on small and medium-sized enterprises than on large enterprises.

Fracture is the most common damage form of concrete buildings. Due to the opaqueness of concrete, the internal structure can be hardly observed so that it is difficult to predict the occurrence and development of cracks. Therefore, an image-based modeling method using digital image correlation (DIC) is proposed in this work. The realistic distribution of each phase in a concrete structure is captured by a camera, and the corresponding concrete models are then established for further simulation. With the image-based models, a series of three-point and four-point bending experiments are carried out experimentally and numerically, and their fracture processes are compared. It is revealed that the simulation analysis is in good agreement with the experimental result on crack propagation and the trend of strain in three-point bending tests. It should also be remarked that the image-based model needs to be optimized for simulating crack development in four-point bending tests because of the randomness of crack position, although the strain field of simulation is close to one of the experiments.

In this paper, five new joints of special-shaped double-web steel-reinforced concrete (SDSRC) columns connected with steel beams are designed. The load-displacement curves, joint yield states and damage forms of the beam ends of the five joints under monotonic loading with the same axial pressure ratio are investigated. Additionally, the hysteresis performance, strength and stiffness degradation under cyclic loading are studied. The results show that the bearing capacity of joints with studs can increase by approximately 10%. Since the arrangement of multiple rows of studs at the connection between the beam web and the column has better force transfer performance and concrete synergy behavior, the failure modes of these joints are plastic hinge formation at the end of the beam, satisfying strong column-weak beam requirements. Moreover, these joints exhibit good ductility and energy dissipation capacity under cyclic loading, and their strength and stiffness gradually decrease. In contrast, joints with single-row studs or without studs at the connection between beam web and column exhibit beam flange buckling rather than full-section plastic hinge formation at the beam end, and tensile deformation of column web is larger. Although these joints exhibit good ductility performance, their energy dissipation capacity is weaker than that of joints with multiple rows of studs at the beam web-column connection.

Since the 1990s, Hunan TV’s “The Rose Date” and Shanghai TV’s “Meet on Saturday” have led the way to develop marriage programmes in China, bringing a new form to the traditional Chinese model of love and marriage. With the rapid evaluation of the economy and expansion of the commercial media, marriage shows are no longer about “marriage”, but have become a consumer culture, where the actresses and viewers consume and also are consumed. The mass media reshapes a new stereotypical image of women. Television, as a kind of mass media, accelerates the spread of this consumer culture and deepens the stereotypical image of women, based on its wide audience and fast dissemination. The prevailing consumer culture continues to shape our consumption habits, making it difficult to break this status quo in a short time. Based on Baudrillard’s theory of “consumer society”, this article explores the media image of women in contemporary Chinese marriage programmes in consumerism. From the perspective of the five basic elements of the communication process, it combs the relationship between the programme producers (media operators under the market mechanism) and the actresses (women taking part in the programme), the relationship between the media and the audience, and the impact of marriage programmes on the stereotyped image of women.

Protein-Protein Interactions (PPIs) are fundamental means of functions and signalings in biological systems. The massive growth in demand and cost associated with experimental PPI studies calls for computational tools for automated prediction and understanding of PPIs. Despite recent progress, in silico methods remain inadequate in modeling the natural PPI hierarchy. Here we present a double-viewed hierarchical graph learning model, HIGH-PPI, to predict PPIs and extrapolate the molecular details involved. In this model, we create a hierarchical graph, in which a node in the PPI network (top outside-of-protein view) is a protein graph (bottom inside-of-protein view). In the bottom view, a group of chemically relevant descriptors, instead of the protein sequences, are used to better capture the structure-function relationship of the protein. HIGH-PPI examines both outside-of-protein and inside-of-protein of the human interactome to establish a robust machine understanding of PPIs. This model demonstrates high accuracy and robustness in predicting PPIs. Moreover, HIGH-PPI can interpret the modes of action of PPIs by identifying important binding and catalytic sites precisely. Overall, “HIGH-PPI [https://github.com/zqgao22/HIGH-PPI]” is a domain-knowledge-driven and interpretable framework for PPI prediction studies.

The growing abundance of data is conducive to using numerical methods to relate air quality, meteorology and emissions to address which factors impact pollutant concentrations. Often, it is the extreme values that are of interest for health and regulatory purposes (e.g., the National Ambient Air Quality Standard for ozone uses the annual maximum daily fourth highest 8 h average (MDA8) ozone), though such values are the most challenging to predict using empirical models. We developed four different computational models, including the generalized additive model (GAM), multivariate adaptive regression splines, random forest, and support vector regression, to develop observation-based relationships between the fourth highest MDA8 ozone in the South Coast Air Basin and precursor emissions, meteorological factors and large-scale climate patterns. All models had similar predictive performance, though the GAM showed a relatively higher R2 value (0.96) with a lower root mean square error and mean bias.

Ghost imaging (GI) possesses significant application prospects in scattering imaging, which is a classic example of underdetermined conversion problem in optical field. However, even under the framework of single-pixel imaging (SPI), a challenge remains unresolved, i.e., structured patterns may be damaged by scattering media in both the emissive and receiving optical paths. In this study, an extendible ghost imaging, a numerical reproduction of the qualitative process using deep learning (DL)-based GI is presented. First, we propose and experimentally verify a brief degradation-guided reconstruction (DR) approach with a neural network to demonstrate the degradation principle of scattering, including realistic dataset simulations and a new training structure in the form of a convolutional neural network (CNN). Then, a novel photon contribution model (PCM) with redundant parameters is proposed to generate intensity sequences from the forward direction through volumetric scattering media; the redundant parameters are constructed and relate to the special output configuration in a lightweight CNN with two branches, based on a reformulated atmospheric scattering model. The proposed scheme recovers the semantics of targets and suppresses the imaging noise in the strong scattering medium, and the obtained results are very satisfactory for applications to scattering media of more practical scenarios and are available for various scattering coefficients and work distances of an imaging prototype. After using DL methods in computational imaging, we conclude that strategies embedded in optics or broader physical factors can result in solutions with better effects for unanalyzable processes.

Three-dimensional (3D) embedded printing is emerging as a potential solution for the fabrication of complex biological structures and with ultrasoft biomaterials. For the supporting medium, bulk gels can support a wide range of bioinks with higher printing resolution as well as better finishing surfaces than granular microgel baths. However, the difficulties of regulating the physical properties of existing bulk gel supporting baths limit the further development of this method. This work has developed a bulk gel supporting bath with easily regulable physical properties to facilitate soft-material fabrication. The proposed bath is composed based on the hydrophobic association between a hydrophobically modified hydroxypropylmethyl cellulose (H-HPMC) and Pluronic F-127 (PF-127). Its rheological properties can be easily regulated; in the preprinting stage by varying the relative concentration of components, during printing by changing the temperature, and postprinting by adding additives with strong hydrophobicity or hydrophilicity. This has made the supporting bath not only available for various bioinks with a range of printing windows but also easy to be removed. Also, the removal strategy is independent of printing conditions like temperature and ions, which empowers the bath to hold great potential for the embedded printing of commonly used biomaterials. The adjustable rheological properties of the bath were leveraged to characterize the embedded printing quantitatively, involving the disturbance during the printing, filament cross-sectional shape, printing resolution, continuity, and the coalescence between adjacent filaments. The match between the bioink and the bath was also explored. Furthermore, low-viscosity bioinks (with 0.008-2.4 Pa s viscosity) were patterned into various 3D complex delicate soft structures (with a 0.5-5 kPa compressive modulus). It is believed that such an easily regulable assembled bath could serve as an available tool to support the complex biological structure fabrication and open unique prospects for personalized medicine.

IntroductionSeasonal allergic rhinitis (SAR) is a major health problem with a relatively high worldwide prevalence that severely limits the quality of life for sufferers. Acupuncture is widely used for SAR treatment in China; however, the evidence on the efficacy of acupuncture at the sphenopalatine ganglion (SPG) for SAR is inconclusive. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the efficacy and safety of acupuncture at the SPG acupoint for the treatment of SAR.Methods and analysisA total of 120 participants with SAR will be recruited and randomly assigned to the acupuncture group, placebo acupuncture (PA) group, or rescue medication (RM) group with a 1:1:1 allocation ratio. Participants in the acupuncture group and PA group will receive 8 sessions of acupuncture stimulus at the SPG plus RM or 8 sessions of shallow needling at the SPG acupoint plus RM for 4 weeks with a 4-week follow-up in the first year and a 1-week follow-up in the second year. Participants in the RM group will only receive RM throughout the study. The primary outcome is the change from baseline in the average daily combined symptoms and medication score (CSMS) over weeks 1–4. All analysis will be based on an intention-to-treat principle. All statistical tests will be two-sided and a p-value < 0.05 will be considered to be statistically significant.

While carboxylic acids are important components in both particle and gas phases in the atmosphere, their sources and partitioning are not fully understood. In this study, we present real-time measurements of both particle- and gas-phase concentrations for five of the most common and abundant low-molecular-weight carboxylic acids (LMWCA) in a rural region in the southeastern U.S. in Fall 2016. Through comparison with secondary organic aerosol (SOA) tracers, we find that isoprene was the most important local precursor for all five LMWCA but via different pathways. We propose that monocarboxylic acids (formic and acetic acids) were mainly formed through gas-phase photochemical reactions, while dicarboxylic acids (oxalic, malonic, and succinic acids) were predominantly from aqueous processing. Unexpectedly high concentrations of particle-phase formic and acetic acids (in the form of formate and acetate, respectively) were observed and likely the components of long-range transport organic aerosol (OA), decoupled from their gas-phase counterparts. In addition, an extraordinarily strong correlation (R2 = 0.90) was observed between a particulate LMWCA and aged SOA, which we tentatively attribute to boundary layer dynamics.

Embedded freeform writing addresses the contradiction between the material printability and biocompatibility for conventional extrusion-based bioprinting. However, the existing embedding mediums have limitations concerning the restricted printing temperature window, compatibility with bioinks or crosslinkers, and difficulties on medium removal. This work demonstrates a new embedding medium to meet the above demands, which composes of hydrophobically modified hydroxypropylmethyl cellulose and Pluronic F-127. The adjustable hydrophobic and hydrophilic associations between the components permit tunable thermoresponsive rheological properties, providing a programmable printing window. These associations are hardly compromised by additives without strong hydrophilic groups, which means it is compatible with the majority of bioink choices. We use polyethylene glycol 400, a strong hydrophilic polymer, to facilitate easy medium removal. The proposed medium enables freeform writing of the millimetric complex tubular structures with great shape fidelity and cell viability. Moreover, five bioinks with up to five different crosslinking methods are patterned into arbitrary geometries in one single medium, demonstrating its potential in heterogeneous tissue regeneration. Utilizing the rheological properties of the medium, an enhanced adhesion writing method is developed to optimize the structure’s strand-to-strand adhesion. In summary, this versatile embedding medium provides excellent compatibility with multi-crosslinking methods and a tunable printing window, opening new opportunities for heterogeneous tissue regeneration.

Reaumuria trigyna, an endangered recretohalophyte, is a small archaic wild shrub endemic to arid and semiarid plateau regions of Inner Mongolia, China. Based on salt-related transcriptomic data, we isolated a GRX family gene, glutaredoxin like protein (RtGRL1), from R. trigyna that is associated with the removal of active oxygen and regulation of redox status. RtGRL1 encodes a plasma membrane and chloroplast-localized protein induced by salt, cold, drought stress, ABA, and H2O2. In Arabidopsis thaliana, ectopically expressed RtGRL1 positively regulated biomass accumulation, chlorophyll content, germination rate, and primary root length under salt and drought stress. Overexpression of RtGRL1 induced expression of genes related to antioxidant enzymes and proline biosynthesis, thus increasing glutathione biosynthesis, glutathione-dependent detoxification of reactive oxygen species (ROS), and proline content under stress. Changes in RtGRL1 expression consistently affected glutathione/oxidizedglutathione and ascorbate/dehydroascorbate ratios and H2O2 concentrations. Furthermore, RtGRL1 promoted several GSH biosynthesis gene transcripts, decreased leaf Na+ content, and maintained lower Na+/K+ ratios in transgenic A. thaliana compared to wild type plants. These results suggest a critical link between RtGRL1 and ROS modulation, and contribute to a better understanding of the mechanisms governing plant responses to drought and salt stress.

Azeotropes have been studied for decades due to the challenges they impose on separation processes but fundamental understanding at the molecular level remains limited. Although molecular simulation has demonstrated its capability of predicting mixture vapor–liquid equilibrium (VLE) behaviors, including azeotropes, its potential for mechanistic investigation has not been fully exploited. In this study, we use the united atom transferable potentials for phase equilibria (TraPPE-UA) force field to model the ethanol/benzene mixture, which displays a positive azeotrope. Gibbs ensemble Monte Carlo (GEMC) simulation is performed to predict the VLE phase diagram, including an azeotrope point. The results accurately agree with experimental measurements. We argue that the molecular mechanism of azeotrope formation cannot be fully understood by studying the mixture liquid-state stability at the azeotrope point alone. Rather, azeotrope occurrence is only a reflection of the changing relative volatility between the two components over a much wider composition range. A thermodynamic criterion is thus proposed on the basis of the comparison of partial excess Gibbs energy between the components. In the ethanol/benzene system, molecular energetics shows that with increasing ethanol mole fraction, its volatility initially decreases but later plateaus, while benzene volatility is initially nearly constant and only starts to decrease when its mole fraction is low. Analysis of the mixture liquid structure, including a detailed investigation of ethanol hydrogen-bonding configurations at different composition levels, reveals the underlying molecular mechanism for the changing volatilities responsible for the azeotrope. Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada (RGPIN-4903-2014); National Natural Science Foundation of China (NFSC; No. 21878219); China Scholarship Council (CSC; No. 201500090106).

In order to mimic the natural heterogeneity of native tissue and provide a better microenvironment for cell culturing, multi-material bioprinting has become a common solution to construct tissue models in vitro. With the embedded printing method, complex 3D structure can be printed using soft biomaterials with reasonable shape fidelity. However, the current sequential multi-material embedded printing method faces a major challenge, which is the inevitable trade-off between the printed structural integrity and printing precision. Here, we propose a simultaneous multi-material embedded printing method. With this method, we can easily print firmly attached and high-precision multilayer structures. With multiple individually controlled nozzles, different biomaterials can be precisely deposited into a single crevasse, minimizing uncontrolled squeezing and guarantees no contamination of embedding medium within the structure. We analyse the dynamics of the extruded bioink in the embedding medium both analytically and experimentally, and quantitatively evaluate the effects of printing parameters including printing speed and rheology of embedding medium, on the 3D morphology of the printed filament. We demonstrate the printing of double-layer thin-walled structures, each layer less than 200 μm, as well as intestine and liver models with 5% gelatin methacryloyl that are crosslinked and extracted from the embedding medium without significant impairment or delamination. The peeling test further proves that the proposed method offers better structural integrity than conventional sequential printing methods. The proposed simultaneous multi-material embedded printing method can serve as a powerful tool to support the complex heterogeneous structure fabrication and open unique prospects for personalized medicine.

The primary roles of precision medicine are to perform real-time examination, administer on-demand medication, and apply instruments continuously. However, most current therapeutic systems implement these processes separately, leading to treatment interruption and limited recovery in patients. Personalized healthcare and smart medical treatment have greatly promoted research on and development of biosensing and drug-delivery integrated systems, with intelligent wearable medical devices (IWMDs) as typical systems, which have received increasing attention because of their non-invasive and customizable nature. Here, the latest progress in research on IWMDs is reviewed, including their mechanisms of integrating biosensing and on-demand drug delivery. The current challenges and future development directions of IWMDs are also discussed.

Sexual shame is the sense of shame that people feel when they mention or think about sex. Based on the existing research on sexual shame, this paper will discuss where the sexual shame of Chinese people comes from and analyze how to reduce the sexual shame of Chinese people.

Nitric oxide (NO) is an important signaling molecule involved in mediation of salt stress induced physiological responses in plants. In this study, we investigated the effect of NO on Nitraria tangutorum seedlings exposed to salt stress. Exogenous application of NO donor, sodium nitroprusside (SNP) increased fresh weight, shoot and root elongation and decreased electrolyte leakage and malondialdehyde (MDA) content in N. tangutorum seedlings under salt stress. Simultaneously, leaf senescence and root damage induced by salt stress were alleviated. SNP effectively increased NO content both in leaves and roots of plants under salt stress. Meanwhile, SNP activated the ascorbate-glutathione (AsA-GSH) cycle by increasing antioxidants contents, antioxidant enzymes activities, and related genes expression, thereby scavenging reactive oxygen species (ROS) and alleviating oxidative damage caused by salt stress. SNP alleviated salt stress induced ion toxicity by promoting Na

Acanthopanax senticosus (Ciwujia) has broad-spectrum pharmacological activities, including osteoprotective effects. However, the mechanisms underlying these effects remain unclear. We investigated whether Acanthopanax senticosus aqueous extract (ASAE) ameliorates ovariectomy-induced bone loss in middle-aged mice through inhibition of osteoclastogenesis. In vitro, ASAE significantly suppressed the receptor activator of nuclear factor-κB ligand (RANKL)-stimulated osteoclast differentiation and formation of F-actin rings by downregulating the expression of the nuclear factor of activated T cells, cytoplasmic 1 (NFATc1), c-Fos, and osteoclastogenesis-related marker genes and proteins, including c-Src, tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP), cathepsin K, β3-integrin, and matrix metallopeptidase-9 (MMP-9). This was achieved by inhibiting RANK signaling pathways, including p65, c-Jun N-terminal kinase, extracellular signal-regulated kinase, and p38 in osteoclast precursors. In vivo, ASAE markedly ameliorated bone loss in ovariectomized (OVX) middle-aged mice. ASAE significantly inhibited the serum levels of tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase 5b (TRACP-5b) and RANKL, whereas it increased those of osteocalcin, procollagen 1 N-terminal peptide (P1NP), and osteoprotegerin in OVX mice. ASAE significantly inhibited the OVX-induced expression of osteoclast-specific proteins and genes in the femur. In conclusion, ASAE prevents ovariectomy-induced bone loss in middle-aged mice by inhibiting RANKL-induced osteoclastogenesis through suppression of RANK signaling pathways and could be potentially used in mediated treatment of osteoclast-related diseases (e.g., osteoporosis).

This study investigates how social capital affects managers’ use of corporate resources. We find that for firms located in U.S. counties with a high level of social capital, (i) corporate cash holdings have higher marginal value, (ii) the contribution of capital expenditures to shareholder value is higher, and (iii) acquirers experience higher announcement-period abnormal stock returns. We further find that social capital decreases both over- and under-investment, and thus improves ex post corporate investment efficiency. Our evidence suggests that in communities with a high level of social capital, strong social norms and dense social networks constrain unethical corporate behavior, which induces more efficient use of corporate resources.

Efficient utilization of crop residues can help to solve the problem of global resource scarcity. The pyrolysis and combustion characteristics of 40 crop residues and 3 lignocellulosic components in different atmospheres by thermogravimetric analysis were analyzed. The results showed that with the increase of heating rate, the pyrolysis and combustion of cellulose, hemicelluloses, lignin and crop residues shifted to higher temperature zones. Meanwhile, the comprehensive combustibility index increased significantly, indicating that a higher heating rate could intensify and improve the pyrolysis and combustion performances. At the heating rate of 20 °C/min, the variation ranges of ignition temperatures of crop residues in N2, air and O2 were 253–295 °C, 247–275 °C and 245–268 °C, and the variation ranges of burnout temperatures were 555–682 °C, 466–596 °C and 323–357 °C, respectively. The comprehensive combustibility index in O2 was 144.24 × 10−7, which were much higher than those in air and N2. The variation ranges of activation energies of crop residues were 25.52–36.84, 27.96–43.35 and 41.07–69.35 kJ/mol in N2, air and O2 at 20 °C/min, respectively, and the combustion of crop residues in O2 is the most intense. Overall, rape stalk showed the best comprehensive pyrolysis and combustion performance, and rice straw was the poorest.

Efficient technology is needed to realise reservoir stimulation for deep geothermal energy exploitation. However, the main control parameters of traditional hydraulic fracturing technology are not clear, as well as their coupling effects; besides, the damage mechanism of novel gas fracturing technology is still not determined, which restricts the mining of hot dry rock resources. Therefore, through a series of true triaxial hydraulic fracturing tests, this paper explores the coupling effect of horizontal stress difference and injection rate on hydraulic fracturing; then, the cohesive element is used to establish hydraulic fracturing and gas fracturing models under the same test conditions. Differences in fracture width and fracture network morphology between the two technologies were compared, and the rock-breaking effects in in-situ reservoirs were analysed. The results show that the breakdown pressure of granite increases gradually with the increase of injection rate, at the small horizontal stress difference; but this trend is opposite at the large horizontal stress difference. Under a higher horizontal stress difference, the increment of the maximum fracture width of gas fracturing becomes larger than that of hydraulic fracturing after increasing the injection rate. When the fracturing cluster spacing is reduced, the fracture width and length of gas fracturing gradually become larger than those of hydraulic fracturing; when the injection rate is increased, the hydraulic fracturing network becomes more complex than gas fracturing. This study can provide useful information for applying hydraulic fracturing and gas fracturing in deep geothermal reservoirs.

The clogging of porous and permeable pavements is a problem that faces many municipalities and, because of the high associated costs, it has become a major impediment to the uptake of such water sensitive and sustainable technologies. This study has experimentally examined the performance of seven cleaning methods that were shown to be able to restore higher infiltration rates in partially clogged pavement systems. It was found that high-pressure water injection was the most effective cleaning method, particularly when combined with vacuuming. The highest restoration of infiltration rate was achieved using high-pressure water injection combined with the highest-pressure vacuum, which produced an average increase in infiltration rate of 20.9%. Cleaning a porous pavement involves removing the sediment that has caused clogging in the first place. In normal circumstances, this collected sediment would have to be dried before disposal to a landfill, which is another costly process. Through a sustainability analysis, the potential reuse of collected sediment was investigated and it was found that the resulting economic and environmental benefit-cost ratios were high. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) play a critical role in tumor metastasis. However, the dynamic process of MSCs-mediated cancer cell invasion remains inconclusive. In breast cancer mouse models, we observed that MSCs promoted lung metastasis. We constructed a microfluidic-based 3D co-culture device to monitor MSCs-mediated cancer cell invasion in a nutrient-deficient hypoxic microenvironment. On biomimetic microfluidic devices, MSCs guided cancer cell migration in a "cluster-sprout-infiltrating" mode. Importantly, hypoxic conditions significantly promoted MSCs migration at the infiltration stage, leading to accelerated breast cancer cell invasion. Moreover, hypoxia related LncRNA analysis showed that H19 was dramatically upregulated in response to hypoxic conditions. Conversely, H19 depletion impaired MSCs-directed breast cancer cell invasion. Mechanistically, H19 functions as a competitive endogenous RNA (ceRNA) which sequesters miRNA let-7 to release its target matrix metalloproteinase-1 (MMP1). Intriguingly, aspirin dramatically suppressed H19 and MMP1 expression and blocked MSCs infiltration under hypoxic conditions, resulting in alleviated breast cancer cell invasion. These findings point to the metastatic promoting role of MSCs in tumor stroma and suggest that MSCs might be a therapeutic target for metastatic breast cancer.

The rectangular noise-like pulse (NLP) and dissipative soliton resonance (DSR) were generated in a thulium-doped fiber laser based on a nonlinear optical loop mirror (NOLM). The NLP and DSR pulses could be switched in the fiber laser by properly manipulating the intracavitary polarization controller (PC). The two different states are investigated by using the optical spectrum and radio frequency spectrum. The center wavelength of NLP is 1930.11 nm with the 3-dB bandwidth of 12.19 nm, and aforesaid parameters of DSR is 1944.04 nm, 10.36 nm, respectively. The radio frequency spectrum of the NLP pulse has two sub-peaks obviously, corresponding to the unstable long pulse train in the time domain. These findings may contribute to distinguish two rectangular pulses and lucubrate the dynamics of the rectangular pulses.

A stable Yb doped pulsed fiber nonlinear amplifier are demonstrated. A noise like pulse with the pulse width of 84 fs is generated after compressing by the grating pair. The peak power is 12 kW and the signal-to-noise ratio of RF spectrum is over 80 dB. This experiment is expected to be applied in nonlinear imaging and other fields.

Ozone levels have been declining in the Los Angeles, CA, USA area for the last four decades, but there was a recent uptick in the 4th highest daily maximum 8-h (MDA8) ozone concentrations from 2014 to 2018 despite continued reductions in the estimated precursor emissions. In this study, we assess the emissions and meteorological impacts on the 4th highest MDA8 ozone concentrations to better understand the factors affecting the observed MDA8 ozone using a two-step generalized additive model (GAM)/least squares approach applied to the South Coast Air Basin (SoCAB) for the 1990 to 2019 period. The GAM model includes emissions, meteorological factors, large-scale climate variables, date, and the interactions between meteorology and emissions. A least squares method was applied to the GAM output to better capture the 4th highest MDA8 ozone. The resulting two-step model had an R

A novel fuzzy rule is proposed to adopt a positive pitch strategy when the error between the measured and rated generator speed becomes large and continues to increase, and to adopt a negative pitch strategy when the error is small. The improved approach is introduced into the normal Fuzzy-Proportional-Integral (Fuzzy-PI) control strategy by dividing the fuzzy rules into four areas and analyzing the design method for each area. Furthermore, a low pass filter is used to reduce the ultimate loads of the pitch driver caused by the novel fuzzy rules. The modeling of the wind turbine load under turbulent wind conditions is conducted in GH Bladed, and MATLAB/Simulink is used to interact with the modeling to verify the novel Fuzzy-PI control. The results show that, compared with normal Fuzzy-PI control, the novel Fuzzy-PI control can greatly reduce the ultimate loads and fatigue loads of the pitch driver. The novel Fuzzy-PI control not only reduces the extremum of power deviation, but also decreases some ultimate loads and fatigue loads of the tower base and the blade root. It can reduce these loads by up to 21.53% under the normal turbulent wind condition and by up to 18.14% under the extreme turbulent wind condition.

Reaumuria trigyna, an endangered recretohalophyte, is a small archaic wild shrub endemic to arid and semiarid plateau regions of Inner Mongolia, China. Based on salt-related transcriptomic data, we isolated a GRX family gene, glutaredoxin like protein (RtGRL1), from R. trigyna that is associated with the removal of active oxygen and regulation of redox status. RtGRL1 encodes a plasma membrane and chloroplast-localized protein induced by salt, cold, drought stress, ABA, and H

In March and April 2020, the South Coast Air Basin of California (USA) experienced noticeable declines in on-road activity and primary traffic-related pollutant emissions. However, secondary ozone concentration trends were not consistent across the basin. This research letter explores the impact of meteorology and emissions during this time period. The study elucidates the potential impacts on ozone nonattainment status for the region.

Caffeine is chemically stable and not readily oxidized under normal physiological conditions but also has antioxidant effects, although the underlying molecular mechanism is not well understood. Superoxide dismutase (SOD) 2 is a manganese-containing enzyme located in mitochondria that protects cells against oxidative stress by scavenging reactive oxygen species (ROS). SOD2 activity is inhibited through acetylation under conditions of stress such as exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation. Sirtuin 3 (SIRT3) is the major mitochondrial nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+)-dependent deacetylase, which deacetylates two critical lysine residues (lysine 68 and lysine 122) on SOD2 and promotes its antioxidative activity. In this study, we investigated whether the antioxidant effect of caffeine involves modulation of SOD2 by SIRT3 using in vitro and in vivo models. The results show that caffeine interacts with SIRT3 and promotes direct binding of SIRT3 with its substrate, thereby enhancing its enzymatic activity. Mechanistically, caffeine bound to SIRT3 with high affinity (K D = 6.858 × 10-7 M); the binding affinity between SIRT3 and its substrate acetylated p53 was also 9.03 (without NAD+) or 6.87 (with NAD+) times higher in the presence of caffeine. Caffeine effectively protected skin cells from UV irradiation-induced oxidative stress. More importantly, caffeine enhanced SIRT3 activity and reduced SOD2 acetylation, thereby leading to increased SOD2 activity, which could be reversed by treatment with the SIRT3 inhibitor 3-(1H-1,2,3-triazol-4-yl) pyridine (3-TYP) in vitro and in vivo. Taken together, our results show that caffeine targets SIRT3 to enhance SOD2 activity and protect skin cells from UV irradiation-induced oxidative stress. Thus, caffeine, as a small-molecule SIRT3 activator, could be a potential agent to protect human skin against UV radiation.

This study describes various methods for optical imaging through scattering media based on compression detection. In these methods, low-intensity micro-structured light patterns are launched sequentially onto an object by using a digital micro-mirror device. The corresponding light intensity information is collected and an intensity correlation algorithm is used to recover the information of the object in the scattering media. For each specific sampling reconstruction method, its related systems are listed and its parameter indicators and application scenarios are analyzed. Prospects for the development of single-pixel imaging through scattering media are also discussed.

This article is intended to reach peak carbon policy as the breakthrough point, to adopt new energy automotive industry is an important part of the carbon amount to peak strategy this conclusion, and with the company as the research object, by adopting division of the valuation method and price-to-sales ratio valuation method to estimate the company eventually concluded that carbon reach peak policy analysis on the influence of the automobile manufacturing company valuations and make relevant summary.

This study examines the conditions under which local social environments are likely to influence corporate tax behavior. Using a social capital index at the county level, we find that on average, social capital reduces firms’ aggressive tax avoidance behavior. The impact of social capital on corporate tax avoidance is weaker when managers are under excessive pressure to meet earnings targets, during the periods of financial constraints, and when managers are incentivized to undertake risk. We further find that corporate tax avoidance activities engaged by firms headquartered in high-social-capital counties tend to be less value-increasing, indicating that potential social sanctions in these areas may reduce the benefits of tax avoidance activities accrue to firms. However, the negative impact of tax avoidance on firm value in high-social-capital counties tends to be lower for firms with strong corporate governance, which suggests that managers in well-governed firms can better exploit tax avoidance opportunities. Overall, our evidence is consistent with our conjecture that although the local social environments have a significant influence on corporate tax behavior, this influence is fragile in the presence of excessive earnings pressure, financial constraints, and equity risk incentives.