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The integration of distributed generation brings in new challenges for the operation of distribution networks, including out-of-limit voltage and power flow control. Soft open points (SOP) are new power electronic devices that can flexibly control active and reactive power flows. With the exception of active power output, photovoltaic (PV) devices can provide reactive power compensation through an inverter. Thus, a synergetic optimization operation method for SOP and PV in a distribution network is proposed. A synergetic optimization model was developed. The voltage deviation, network loss, and ratio of photovoltaic abandonment were selected as the objective functions. The PV model was improved by considering the three reactive power output modes of the PV inverter. Both the load fluctuation and loss of the SOP were considered. Three multi-objective optimization algorithms were used, and a compromise optimal solution was calculated. Case studies were conducted using an IEEE 33-node system. The simulation results indicated that the SOP and PVs complemented each other in terms of active power transmission and reactive power compensation. Synergetic optimization improves power control capability and flexibility, providing better power quality and PV consumption rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Direct laser writing is promising for fabrication of functional structures due to its high speed, low cost, and facile operation. However, high resolution is difficult to be implemented due to wet development-induced structural collapse. Ag-doped Sb4Te thin film is proposed for high-resolution direct laser writing dry lithography. The crystalline structures and binding environment of AgSb4Te thin films are investigated. The dry lithographic characteristics suggest that the developing selectivity of exposed to as-deposited film is as high as 17 under CHF3/O2 gas and the minimum linewidth of patterns can reach 80 nm via adjusting grating period. Developing selectivity mechanism is ascribed to exposure induced phase separation along with generation of Sb component and Ag7Te4 phases. The Sb component can be readily etched due to the lack of Ag atom protection and then etching of residual Ag7Te4 phase is further promoted while the uniformly distributed Ag atoms in as-deposited film restrain its etching. In addition, nanohole array is fabricated onto AgSb4Te thin films and tunable absorbance can be realized by adjusting pattern period and phase-change process. This work may provide a useful guide for the investigation of direct laser writing lithography mechanism and functional device fabrication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The presented research introduces a novel hybrid deep learning approach for the dynamic prediction of the attitude and position of super-large diameter shields - a critical consideration for construction safety and tunnel lining quality. This study proposes a hybrid deep learning approach for predicting dynamic attitude and position prediction of super-large diameter shield. The approach consists of principal component analysis (PCA) and temporal convolutional network (TCN). The former is used for employing feature level fusion based on features of the shield data to reduce uncertainty, improve accuracy and the data effect, and 9 sets of required principal component characteristic data are obtained. The latter is adopted to process sequence data in predicting the dynamic attitude and position for the advantages and potential of convolution network. The approach's effectiveness is exemplified using data from a tunnel construction project in China. The obtained results show remarkable accuracy in predicting the global attitude and position, with an average error ratio of less than 2 mm on four shield outputs in 97.30% of cases. Moreover, the approach displays strong performance in accurately predicting sudden fluctuations in shield attitude and position, with an average prediction accuracy of 89.68%. The proposed hybrid model demonstrates superiority over TCN, long short-term memory (LSTM), and recurrent neural network (RNN) in multiple indexes. Shapley additive exPlanations (SHAP) analysis is also performed to investigate the significance of different data features in the prediction process. This study provides a real-time warning for the shield driver to adjust the attitude and position of super-large diameter shields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Medical image analysis forms the basis of image-guided surgery (IGS) and many of its fundamental tasks. Driven by the growing number of medical imaging modalities, the research community of medical imaging has developed methods and achieved functionality breakthroughs. However, with the overwhelming pool of information in the literature, it has become increasingly challenging for researchers to extract context-relevant information for specific applications, especially when many widely used methods exist in a variety of versions optimized for their respective application domains. By being further equipped with sophisticated three-dimensional (3D) medical image visualization and digital reality technology, medical experts could enhance their performance capabilities in IGS by multiple folds. The goal of this narrative review is to organize the key components of IGS in the aspects of medical image processing and visualization with a new perspective and insights. The literature search was conducted using mainstream academic search engines with a combination of keywords relevant to the field up until mid-2022. This survey systemically summarizes the basic, mainstream, and state-of-the-art medical image processing methods as well as how visualization technology like augmented/mixed/virtual reality (AR/MR/VR) are enhancing performance in IGS. Further, we hope that this survey will shed some light on the future of IGS in the face of challenges and opportunities for the research directions of medical image processing and visualization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the common features of agroecosystems, ditches and ponds benefit the irrigation and drainage, as well as intercepting non-point source pollutants. However, most ditch-pond studies have been conducted in lowland areas. To test this source-sink assumption in upland areas, this study made observations on the ecological function of the ditch and pond system in a typical catchment in China. First, the changes in ponds in the catchment were analyzed using high-resolution remote sensing data. Then, the migration of agricultural pollutants in ditches and ponds were analyzed by field sampling and laboratory detection. The results showed that over the past 15 years the length of ditches in the catchment and the number of small ponds (< 500 m2) have increased by 32% and 75%, respectively. The rate of change in nutrient concentrations in the ditches and ponds were mostly from -20% to 20%, indicating ditches and ponds can be both sources and sinks for agricultural pollutants. Lastly, the contributing factors were explored and it was found that ditches and ponds are important sinks in dry season. However, during the rainy season, ditches and ponds become sources of pollutants, with the rapid drainage of ditches and the overflow of ponds in upland areas. The results of this study revealed that the ditches and ponds could be used for ecological engineering in upland catchments to balance drainage and intercept pollutants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To observe the curative effect of fire needle combined with rehabilitation training on spastic hemiplegia after stroke (SHAS). Methods: A total of 130 SHAS patients admitted to the People’s Hospital of Funan County from January 2020 to November 2021 were selected. The selected patients were randomly divided into 2 groups according to a random number table method, as the control group and the study group. There were 65 cases in the control group, and they were given conventional drugs combined with rehabilitation training. There were 65 cases in the study group, and they were given fire needle on the basis of the control group. The curative effect, modified Ashworth grade, motor function, Fugl-Meyer assessment (FMA) score and modified Barthel index (MBI) score were compared. Results: After treatment, the total effective rate of the study group (91.80%) was significantly higher than that of the control group (78.69%), and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). After treatment, the modified Ashworth grade of both study group and control group was better than that before treatment (P < 0.05). Moreover, the modified Ashworth grade of the study group was significantly better than that of the control group (P < 0.05) after treatment. After treatment, the FMA scores of upper limbs, FMA scores of lower limbs and MBI scores of study group and control group were higher than those before treatment (P < 0.05). Moreover, the FMA scores of upper limbs, FMA scores of lower limbs and MBI scores of the study group increased more significantly than those of the control group (P < 0.05) after treatment. Conclusion: The curative effect of fire needle combined with rehabilitation training on SHAS is certain, which can improve limb spasm, motor function and activities of daily living. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The existing monocular depth estimation methods based on deep learning have difficulty in estimating the depth near the edges of the objects in an image when the depth distance between these objects changes abruptly and decline in accuracy when an image has more noises. Furthermore, these methods consume more hardware resources because they have huge network parameters. To solve these problems, this paper proposes a depth estimation method based on weighted fusion and point‐wise convolution. The authors design a maximum‐average adaptive pooling weighted fusion module (MAWF) that fuses global features and local features and a continuous point‐wise convolution module for processing the fused features derived from the (MAWF) module. The two modules work closely together for three times to perform weighted fusion and point‐wise convolution of features of multi‐scale from the encoder output, which can better decode the depth information of a scene. Experimental results show that our method achieves state‐of‐the‐art performance on the KITTI dataset with δ1 up to 0.996 and the root mean square error metric down to 8% and has demonstrated the strong generalisation and robustness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to observe the expression of insulin-signaling molecules in different organs of mice with insulin resistance (IR). Firstly, mice were fed a high-fat and high-sugar diet (HF group) to establish an IR model, and the controls (NF group) were fed with a normal diet. Next, the weight, fasting blood glucose (FBG), serum insulin and insulin tolerance were detected. Pathological changes of liver tissues were observed by H&E staining. The expressions of INSR, IRS-1 and IRS-2 in the liver, skeletal muscle and ovary were measured by qRT-PCR and western blotting. As a result, compared with the NF group, the HF group mice had increased weight, FBG, insulin and IR index after 6-week of feeding as well as a worse performance in the insulin tolerance test and H&E staining showed fatty liver-like changes after 12-week of feeding, exhibited lower expression of INSR, IRS-1 and IRS-2 in the liver of mice at 6 and 12 weeks. The expression of INSR and IRS-1 in skeletal muscle tissues exhibited the same trend, while those in ovary organs showed the opposite trend. These results suggested that the insulin signaling alters in the liver, skeletal muscle and ovary organs with the progress of IR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Non-invasive brain stimulation has improved cognitive functions in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and some studies suggest a close relationship between cognition and plasticity. However, the clinical benefits of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in patients still need to be evaluated. Aims This study examined the role of tDCS in improving cognition and whether the improved cognition is related to altered cortical plasticity. Methods 124 patients with AD were randomly assigned to active tDCS (n=63) or sham tDCS (n=61). The tDCS was applied at the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex for 30 treatment sessions across 6 weeks (5 days per week, 2 days off). The Mini-Mental State Examination and the Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale-Cognitive (ADASCog) were used for cognition evaluation at baseline, week 2 and week 6. The cortical plasticity was represented by motor-evoked potential (MEP) measured with an electromyogram. Results The results showed that multiple courses of active tDCS can improve the cognitive functions of patients with AD, especially in the memory domain (word recall, recall of test instructions and word recognition). In addition, the damaged MEP level was enhanced following active treatment. In the active tDCS group, the improvements in ADAS-Cog total and subitem (word recall and word recognition) scores were negatively correlated with the enhancement of MEP. Conclusions Our research indicates for the first time that twice-a-day tDCS may improve the cognitive function of patients with AD. This study also suggests that cognitive dysfunction may be related to impaired cortical plasticity, which warrants mechanistic investigations of the relationship between cognition and plasticity in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tunnel geohazard evaluation method is an important method for evaluating the geo-hazard during tunnel construction. The seismic method has become the most widely used approach for understanding the geological conditions ahead of the tunnel face. Limited by the small aperture in the tunnel and the little offset of the observation system, migration methods for imaging geological structures are mainly based on Ray theory without using the dynamic information of reflected waves, resulting in less accurate imaging results. To improve the detection accuracy, the time reversal mirror method was studied and improved for better imaging geological conditions ahead of the tunnel face. Specifically, for the positioning error caused by the traditional time reversal mirror method (based on constant velocity), the parameter of variable velocity was added and optimized for the calculation process. By calculating each velocity value in different propagation paths, the reflected waves can focus on the scattering point with a more accurate location. Based on several typical adverse geology numerical simulations proved that the improved time reverse mirror method can get more accurate imaging results than the traditional method, achieving the position and imaging of fault, fractured zone, etc. Then the improved method has been applied in a water supply project and successfully predicted the distribution of adverse geologies ahead of the tunnel face, which further verified the applicability and effectiveness of the improved time reversal mirror method. This paper provides reference and guidance for similar water diversion projects and tunnel engineering geological detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unknown geology ahead of the tunnel boring machine (TBM) brings a large safety risk for tunnel construction. Seismic aheadprospecting using TBM drilling noise as a source can achieve near-real-time detection, meeting the requirements of TBM rapid drilling. Seismic wavefield retrieval is the key data processing step for the efficient utilization of TBM drilling noise. The traditional solution is based on cross-correlation to extract reflected waves, but the reference waves remain in the result, disturbing the imaging and interpretation of the adverse geology. To solve this problem, the deep learning method was introduced in wavefield retrieval to improve the accuracy of geological prospecting. We trained a deep neural network (DNN) with its strong nonlinear mapping capability to transform seismic data from TBM drilling noise to data from the active source. The issue lies in its features for this specific tunnel task, including the decay of the seismic signal with time and the incomplete spatial correspondence. Thus, we improved a classical DNN with the time constraint as an additional input, and an additional pre-decoder to enlarge the receptive field. Additionally, a loss function weighted by the ground truth and time constraint is improved to achieve an accurate retrieval of the effective signal, considering the little effective information in tunnel data. Finally, the workflow of the proposed method was given, and a dataset designed with reference to the field case was employed to train the network. The proposed method accurately retrieved the reflection signal with higher dominant frequencies, which helped improve the accuracy of imaging. Numerical simulations and imaging on typical geological models show that the proposed method can suppress reference waves and get more accurate results with fewer artifacts. The proposed method has been applied in the Gaoligongshan Tunnel and imaged two abnormal zones, providing meaningful geological information for TBM drilling and tunnel construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An objective detection and tracking algorithm based on relative vorticity at 850 hPa using National Centers for Environmental Prediction--National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCEP--NCAR) Reanalysis-1 data was applied to track cyclones in the Southern Hemisphere during austral winters from 1948 to 2017. The climatological characteristics of extratropical cyclones, including track density, frequency, intensity, lifetime, and their related variabilities, are discussed. The frequency and average lifetime of cyclones have substantially decreased. The average maximum intensity of cyclones has shown an increasing trend over the 70-yr study period. The cyclone track density shows a decreasing trend in lower latitudes, consistent with the region where the upper-troposphere zonal wind weakens. Baroclinicity can explain the increase in cyclone intensity: when a cyclone moves to higher latitudes and enters the region with greater baroclinicity, it strengthens. As there is no discernible increase in cyclogenesis in the medium latitudes (45°-70°S), but significantly less cyclogenesis in lower and higher latitudes, it is hypothesized that there is no clear poleward cyclogenesis shift over the Southern Hemisphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The excessive use of fossil energy has caused a series of environmental problems. Hydrogen is a green energy substitute for fossil energy, and photocatalytic hydrogen production is an effective means of hydrogen production. Indium zinc sulfide catalyst has great application prospect in the field of photocatalysis due to its advantages of high stability and visible light absorption. Based on this, Cu doped indium zinc sulfide nanosheets were prepared in this paper. Compared with pure indium zinc sulfide nanosheets, copper doped indium zinc sulfide nanosheets have better photocatalytic hydrogen production performance. The design and synthesis of photocatalytic hydrogen-producing catalyst has important guiding significance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the place where students live for the longest time, the levels, sources and health risks of heavy metals in road dust from university campuses have not been widely studied. In the present study, 41 road dust samples were collected and analyzed by ICP-MS for Zn, V, Pb, Cr, Ni and Cu. The isotopic composition of Pb was analyzed by MC-ICP MS. These heavy metals were specifically analyzed using enrichment factor, geoaccumulation index, principal component analysis, iso-sources model and health risk assessment model. Zn and Pb pollution levels were high in road dust, and they were defined as moderate enrichment and contaminated. The sources of Pb in road dust from university campus were traffic exhaust, steel smelting, soil, and fly ash, accounting for 59.4%, 23.2%, 12.2%, and 5.2%, respectively. The non-carcinogenic risk of female and male university students is safe, but the carcinogenic risk of Cr needs to be concerned by the authorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The study aimed at screening indicators with differential diagnosis values and investigating the characteristics of laboratory tests in COVID-19 patients. Methodology: All the laboratory tests from COVID-19 patients and non-COVID-19 patients in this cohort were included. Test values from the groups during the course, days 1-7, and days 8-14 were analyzed. Mann-Whitney U test, univariate logistic regression analysis, and multivariate regression analysis were performed. Regression models were established to verify the diagnostic performance of indicators. Results: 302 laboratory tests were included in this cohort, and 115 indicators were analyzed; the values of 61 indicators had significant differences (p < 0.05) between groups, and 23 indicators were independent risk factors of COVID-19. During days 1-7, the values of 40 indicators had significant differences (p < 0.05) between groups, while 20 indicators were independent risk factors of COVID-19. During days 8-14, the values of 45 indicators had significant differences (p < 0.05) between groups, and 23 indicators were independent risk factors of COVID-19. About 10, 12, and 12 indicators showed significant differences (p < 0.05) in multivariate regression analysis in different courses respectively, and the diagnostic performance of the model from them was 74.9%, 80.3%, and 80.8% separately. Conclusions: The indicators obtained through systematic screening have preferable differential diagnosis values. Compared with non-COVID-19 patients, the screened indicators indicated that COVID-19 patients had more severe inflammatory responses, organ damage, electrolyte and metabolism disturbance, and coagulation disorders. This screening approach could find valuable indicators from a large number of laboratory test indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Combining thermal field sensing with microwave manipulation has always been a widely pursued topic for metamaterials for some time. However, most temperature-sensitive designs for metamaterials and metasurfaces are still limited in the single absorption manipulation. In this paper, we present a metasurface with programmable wave-front modulation for distributed thermal sensing. An element integrated with a Positive-Intrinsic-Negative (PIN) diode was designed for 1-bit phase response control, while a column of thermistors was applied for the distributed thermal stimulus. When the thermistors in distinct positions sensed the heat, a voltage control circuit directly changed the on-off states of diodes, to generate specific scattering fields. To demonstrate this behavior, a metasurface sample with 25 × 27 elements was designed, fabricated, and measured using four patterns. The results show great consistency with the simulation data, thereby validating the design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To further improve the comprehensive vibration isolation performance of commercial vehicles equipped with traditional passive air suspensions under complex driving conditions, this paper proposes a damping control method based on a new configuration of quasi-zero stiffness air suspension. First, the nonlinear model of quasi-zero stiffness air suspension is established by combining gas thermodynamics and suspension dynamics theories. The semi-active control model of a quarter vehicle quasi-zero stiffness air suspension system is generalized to a linear system considering the uncertainty of stiffness parameter based on the Taylor series expansion. Then, the H2 norm of the sprung mass acceleration is adopted as the control output performance index, while the suspension dynamic deflection constraint and the tire dynamic load constraint are taken as the H∞ performance constraint output index. Based on Lyapunov stability theory, the H2H∞ state feedback control law is designed, and the control law design problem is transformed into a convex optimization problem with linear matrix inequalities. Finally, co-simulation and hardware-in-the-loop test results demonstrate that the proposed new semi-active quasi-zero stiffness air suspension structure and H2H∞ robust control method are effective in substantially improving the multi-objective comprehensive performance of commercial vehicles under different driving conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The time fractional Burgers-type equations with He's fractional derivative by He-Laplace method. It is a numerical approach coupled the Laplace transformation and HPM. The approximations to the initial value problem with different fractional orders are given without any discretization and complicated computation. Numerical results are provided to confirm its efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modular steel buildings (MSBs) can meet the needs of building industrialization and have been developed in many countries. The inter-module connection is crucial to the overall performance of MSBs. An inter-module connection with bolt and shear key fitting was proposed in this paper, which is convenient for the on-site erection of the steel modules. The flexural performance of the connection was studied. Static tests were carried out to study the contribution of the key load-bearing components to the flexural performance of the novel connection. A finite element model was then proposed and verified, by which a parametric analysis to study the effects of the key components was conducted. It is found that the parameters significantly affecting the flexural performance of the connection include the diameter of the bolt and the thickness of the bottom plate. The results also showed that the contribution of the shear key to the flexural performance of the connection could be ignored. The flexural performance of multi-module connection was studied, and the results revealed that the multi-module connection can be designed as multiple two-module connections. Formulas for calculating the flexural capacity and rotational stiffness of the connection were finally proposed and verified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The blue-crowned laughingthrush Pterorhinus courtoisi (Ménégaux, 1923) is listed as a critically endangered species on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List. This species occupies an extremely small known breeding range in China. In this study, we obtain the complete mitochondrial genome of the blue-crowned laughingthrush by using Illumina NovaSeq sequencing. The total length of the genome is 17,875 bp, containing 13 protein-coding genes, 22 transfer RNA genes, 2 ribosomal RNA genes and 2 control regions, with a slight A-T preference (52.84%) in base composition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is applied as a robust therapeutic option for tumor, which exhibits some advantages of unique selectivity and irreversible damage to tumor cells. Among which, photosensitizer (PS), appropriate laser irradiation and oxygen (O 2) are three essential components for PDT, but the hypoxic tumor microenvironment (TME) restricts the O 2 supply in tumor tissues. Even worse, tumor metastasis and drug resistance frequently happen under hypoxic condition, which further deteriorate the antitumor effect of PDT. To enhance the PDT efficiency, critical attention has been received by relieving tumor hypoxia, and innovative strategies on this topic continue to emerge. Traditionally, the O 2 supplement strategy is considered as a direct and effective strategy to relieve TME, whereas it is confronted with great challenges for continuous O 2 supply. Recently, O 2 -independent PDT provides a brand new strategy to enhance the antitumor efficiency, which can avoid the influence of TME. In addition, PDT can synergize with other antitumor strategies, such as chemotherapy, immunotherapy, photothermal therapy (PTT) and starvation therapy, to remedy the inadequate PDT effect under hypoxia conditions. In this paper, we summarized the latest progresses in the development of innovative strategies to improve PDT efficacy against hypoxic tumor, which were classified into O 2 -dependent PDT, O 2 -independent PDT and synergistic therapy. Furthermore, the advantages and deficiencies of various strategies were also discussed to envisage the prospects and challenges in future study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are fundamental differences in howneonatal and adult intestines absorb nutrients. In adults, macromolecules are broken down into simplermolecular components in the lumen of the small intestine, then absorbed. In contrast, neonates are thought to rely on internalization of whole macromolecules and subsequent degradation in the lysosome. Here, we identify the Maf family transcription factors MAFB and c-MAF asmarkers of terminally differentiated intestinal enterocytes throughout life. The expression of these factors is regulated byHNF4a andHNF4?, master regulators of enterocyte cell fate. Loss of Maf factors results in a neonatal-specific failure to thrive and loss of macromolecular nutrient uptake. RNA-Seq and CUT&RUN analyses defined an endolysosomal program as being downstreamof these transcription factors. We demonstrate major transcriptional changes in metabolic pathways, including fatty acid oxidation and increases in peroxisome number, in response to loss of Maf proteins. Finally, we show that loss of BLIMP1, a repressor of adult enterocyte genes, shows highly overlapping changes in gene expression and similar defects in macromolecular uptake. This work defines transcriptional regulators that are necessary for nutrient uptake in neonatal enterocytes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Renal fibrosis is a common characteristic and the final pathological mechanism of chronic kidney disease (CKD). Although CKD remains incurable, inhibition of renal fibrosis is beneficial to inhibit the CKD process. Relaxin alleviates renal fibrosis in some experimental models, but its mechanism remains unclear. In the following, we studied the regulatory effect of relaxin on epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) after unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO). Our results demonstrate that relaxin could downregulate Wnt/β-catenin signaling and decrease EMT, thus protecting against loss of transporters in tubular epithelial cells (TECs) and abrogate renal interstitial fibrosis following UUO. We confirmed that relaxin can downregulate Wnt/β-catenin signaling and decrease EMT in NRK52E, thus abrogating G2 cell cycle arrest in vitro experiments. Therefore, a novel mechanism by which relaxin is antifibrotic is that relaxin regulates the EMT program of TECs via Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. The inhibition of EMT contributes to protecting the functional capabilities of TECs and promoting the regeneration of TECs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a robot model with multiple spines and investigates its effects on the bounding gait of quadruped robot. Contrastive tests, carried out by adding an active driving joint (ADJ) and changing the number of passive driving joints, were divided between simulation and physical. The results reveal that the spinal structure (one ADJ and several passive driving joints) is closely related to the performance parameters. Increasing the number of passive driving joints can improve the velocity and energy efficiency. This structure may have significant guidance for designing a quadruped robot. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to analyze the clinical and pathological features of germinal center (GC)- derived diffuse large B-cell lymphomas (DLBCL) with aberrant co-expression of MUM1 and to further analyze the differences between adults and pediatric populations. Clinical and pathological data of 32 cases of GC-derived DLBCL with aberrant co-expression of MUM1 were reviewed and analyzed. Thirty-two cases were categorized into pediatric (n=12) and adult (n=20) groups. GC-derived DLBCL with aberrant co-expression of MUM1 was found to manifest a wide age range, extensive involvement sites, different histopathological distribution, and complex clinical presentations. Compared to adults, pediatric patients showed a significantly higher frequency of Waldeyer's ring (WR) involvement (P=0.008), higher frequency of stage II (P=0.035), and lower incidence of fatality (P=0.014). Among the 32 cases, lymphomas were frequently involved in WR, followed by the gastrointestinal tract, lymph nodes, and bone marrow. Pediatric patients showed a significantly higher frequency of WR involvement than adult patients (P=0.008). Lymphomas involving WR in adults showed similar localized clinical stages, excellent outcomes, and pathological features compared to the disease in the pediatric population. Lymphomas involving the gastrointestinal tract in adults shared clinical features with the disease in children but with high P53 positive expression. GC-derived DLBCL with aberrant co-expression of MUM1 in adults is clinically more heterogeneous than children. Tumors involving WR in adults share many similarities to their pediatric counterparts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The treatment of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) during the COVID-19 pandemic has been affected to varying degrees. This study is the first to explore the impact of COVID-19 on the treatment and prognosis of rural and urban AMI in developing countries. Methodology: A total of 128 patients with AMI in our hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic were enrolled. A total of 197 patients diagnosed with AMI before the COVID-19 pandemic were selected as the control group and one year of follow-up was performed. Results: Hospital stay and the proportion of Killip class ≥ 2 patients were increased among rural AMI patients in the 'during COVID-19' group, compared with the 'before COVID-19' group. Among ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) total and rural STEMI patients, the treatment time in the during-COVID-19 group was longer than that in the before-COVID-19 group, whereas only the symptom to door (S to D) total and door to balloon (D to B) were extended in urban STEMI patients. In AMI total and rural AMI patients, major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs) and all-cause mortality were increased in the during-COVID-19 group compared with the before-COVID-19 group. Kaplan--Meier analysis revealed that the survival and occurrence of MACEs in AMI total and rural AMI patients were significantly higher in the during-COVID-19 group. Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic led to delayed treatment and worse prognosis in AMI patients. Rural areas appear to be at a greater risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Datasets are very important in image recognition research based on machine learning methods. In particular, advanced methods such as deep learning and transfer learning are more dependent on datasets used for training models. The quality of datasets directly affects the final effect of these methods. In the research of crop disease image recognition, due to the complication of the agricultural environment and the variety of crops, datasets are scarce at present. Therefore, more and more researches adopt methods based on transfer learning, which can make up for the lack of data in the target domain with the help of other datasets. Among these methods, the selection of auxiliary domain datasets has great impact on the modeling effect of target domain. In order to clarify the impact of datasets on the research of crop disease image recognition, this study used different deep neural network frameworks to study and compare the effects of different datasets in crop disease image recognition based on transfer learning. The selected datasets include PlantVillage and Image Database for Agricultural Diseases and Pests Research (IDADP), which have been widely used in recent studies. And the selected deep neural network frameworks include ResNet50, InceptionV3, and EfficientNet. In the method of this study, the datasets are preprocessed first, such as data enhancement. After dividing the auxiliary domain and the target domain, the selected deep neural network frameworks are used to pre-train the model on the auxiliary domain dataset. Finally, the parameter-based transfer learning method was used to construct the corresponding crop disease recognition model in the target. In the experiments, multiple different datasets and different models were tested and compared. The results show that when the test set samples and training sample scenarios are consistent, the recognition accuracy of different network frameworks on multiple test sets is generally high. When the scenarios of test set samples and training samples are inconsistent, the recognition of various test sets by different network models cannot obtain ideal results. For the recognition of crop disease images that are collected from the actual cultivation environment, the use of IDADP dataset modeling is better, and it has more practical value in the actual application of crop disease image recognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • 113 members of the AP2/ERF family were identified for the first time in mango. • Transient overexpression of MiERF4 in tobacco and mango improves defense against bacteria. • MiERF4 increases ETH and MeJA content and enhances plant resistance. An important regulatory role for ethylene-responsive transcription factors (ERFs) is in plant growth and development, stress response, and hormone signaling. However, AP2/ERF family genes in mango have not been systematically studied. In this study, a total of 113 AP2/ERF family genes were identified from the mango genome and phylogenetically classified into five subfamilies: AP2 (28 genes), DREB (42 genes), ERF (33 genes), RAV (6 genes), and Soloist (4 genes). Of these, the ERF family, in conjunction with Arabidopsis and rice, forms a phylogenetic tree divided into seven groups, five of which have MiERF members. Analysis of gene structure and cis -elements showed that each MiERF gene contains only one AP2 structural domain, and that MiERF genes contain a large number of cis -elements associated with hormone signaling and stress response. Collinearity tests revealed a high degree of homology between MiERF s and CsERF s. Tissue-specific and stress-responsive expression profiling revealed that MiERF genes are primarily involved in the regulation of reproductive growth and are differentially and positively expressed in response to external hormones and pathogenic bacteria. Physiological results from a gain-of-function analysis of MiERF4 transiently overexpressed in tobacco and mango showed that transient expression of MiERF4 resulted in decreased colony count and callose deposition, as well as varying degrees of response to hormonal signals such as ETH, JA, and SA. Thus, MiERF4 may be involved in the JA/ETH signaling pathway to enhance plant defense against pathogenic bacteria. This study provides a basis for further research on the function and regulation of MiERF genes and lays a foundation for the selection of disease-resistant genes in mango. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To process real-world datasets, modern data-parallel systems often require extremely large amounts of memory, which are both costly and energy inefficient. Emerging non-volatile memory (NVM) technologies offer high capacity compared to DRAM and low energy compared to SSDs. Hence, NVMs have the potential to fundamentally change the dichotomy between DRAM and durable storage in Big Data processing. However, most Big Data applications are written in managed languages and executed on top of a managed runtime that already performs various dimensions of memory management. Supporting hybrid physical memories adds a new dimension, creating unique challenges in data replacement. This article proposes Panthera, a semantics-aware, fully automated memory management technique for Big Data processing over hybrid memories. Panthera analyzes user programs on a Big Data system to infer their coarse-grained access patterns, which are then passed to the Panthera runtime for efficient data placement and migration. For Big Data applications, the coarse-grained data division information is accurate enough to guide the GC for data layout, which hardly incurs overhead in data monitoring and moving. We implemented Panthera in Open- JDK and Apache Spark. Based on Big Data applications' memory access pattern, we also implemented a new profiling-guided optimization strategy, which is transparent to applications. With this optimization, our extensive evaluation demonstrates that Panthera reduces energy by 32--53% at less than 1% time overhead on average. To show Panthera's applicability, we extend it to QuickCached, a pure Java implementation of Memcached. Our evaluation results show that Panthera reduces energy by 28.7% at 5.2% time overhead on average. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/aim: Alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) is a natural compound, one of the natural antioxidants with high activity. In the NADPH oxidase family, NADPH oxidase 4 (NOX4) is an important subunit participating in the production of ROS. NADPH oxidase 2 (NOX2) can form active NADPH oxidase complexes when binding to several other subunits in the cytoplasm, and NOX2 is its major functional subunit. Rapid atrial pacing (RAP) model was constructed to study the effects of ALA on electrical and structural remodeling in rabbits. Materials and methods: Thirty rabbits were divided into SHAM group, RAP group and ALA+RAP group. Their right atriums were paced at a speed of 600 beats/min for 12 h in the RAP and ALA+RAP groups, and the atrial effective refractory period (AERP) and AERP frequency adaptability were determined during the pace. In ALA+RAP group, ALA (30 mg/kg) was administered intraperitoneally daily to the rabbits for 3 days before RAP. Atrial tissue was collected from each group to detect malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and reactive oxygen species (ROS) to observe the effect of oxidative stress. The pathological structure of the atrial tissue was observed through hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining. Ultrastructural changes in the atrial myocytes were observed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and the expression levels of Nox2 and Nox4 were detected by immunohistochemistry, western blot and ELISA. Results: AERP gradually shortened, while ALA injection could remarkably delay this process. HE staining showed that the most of the nuclei appeared normal, the myocardial fibers did not show ruptures, and their arrangement was slightly ordered, and myofilament dissolution and mitochondrial swelling and deformation were rarely observed by TEM in the ALA+RAP group. Compared with the RAP group, the contents of MDA and ROS were reduced, SOD activity was enhanced, and the expression of NOX2 and NOX4 was decreased in the ALA+RAP group. Conclusion: ALA can inhibit atrial electrical remodeling and structural remodeling, and its mechanism may be related to inhibiting the activity of NADPH oxidase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cerebellar inhibitory interneurons are important regulators of neural circuit activity for diverse motor and nonmotor functions. The molecular layer interneurons (MLIs), consisting of basket cells (BCs) and stellate cells (SCs), provide dendritic and somatic inhibitory synapses onto Purkinje cells, respectively. They are sequentially generated in an inside-out pattern from Pax2+ immature interneurons, which migrate from the prospective white matter to the ML of the cortex. However, little is known about how MLI subtype identities and pool sizes are determined, nor are their contributions to motor learning well understood. Here, we show that GABAergic progenitors fated to generate both BCs and SCs respond to the Sonic hedgehog (Shh) signal. Conditional abrogation of Shh signaling of either sex inhibited proliferation of GABAergic progenitors and reduced the number of Pax2+ cells, whereas persistent Shh pathway activation increased their numbers. These changes, however, did not affect early born BC numbers but selectively altered the SC pool size. Moreover, genetic depletion of GABAergic progenitors when BCs are actively generated also resulted in a specific reduction of SCs, suggesting that the specification of MLI subtypes is independent of Shh signaling and their birth order and likely occurs after Pax2+ cells settle into their laminar positions in an inside-out sequence. Mutant mice with reduced SC numbers displayed decreased dendritic inhibitory synapses and neurotransmission onto Purkinje cells, resulting in an impaired acquisition of eyeblink conditioning. These findings also reveal an essential role of Shh signaling-dependent SCs in regulating inhibitory dendritic synapses and motor learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The abnormalities in the mine ventilation system can reflect the risks and hidden dangers during the mine production. By combining the basic information of the mine and the ventilation monitoring data with the production status, the gas concentration and wind speed are used as the calculation indicators, and the k-nearest neighbor (KNN) is used to study the abnormal change characteristics of calculation indicators of mine ventilation system in different ventilation periods, and a ventilation hazard warning model was constructed and the model results were compared and validated. In addition, the dominant factors of the warning level were obtained by combining the grey correlation analysis (GCA). The results show that under different ventilation periods (easy ventilation period and difficult ventilation period), the correct rates of calculation and verification in easy ventilation period and difficult ventilation period are 95.65% and 97.82% respectively. It can be seen that the accuracy of the warning model is over 95%, which has good application and promotion value. Furthermore, the correlation coefficient of the wind speed in two periods is relatively high, which is indicating that the speed is the main indicator that affects the warning level. The research of this paper can provide theoretical support for realizing the intelligent management of mine risk in advance and short-term early warning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A metal‐organic framework ZJU‐136‐Ce with ideal water stability was synthesized. It was adopted to load Mn2+ and DOX for chemo/chemodynamic therapy of tumor, the loading capacity of Mn2+ and DOX was 0.87 wt % and 10.19 wt % in ZJU‐136‐Ce, respectively. DOX&Mn@ZJU‐136‐Ce exhibited significant effects of inhibition of Hela cell growth, which confirmed it had a potential application prospect in the multimodal cancer therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective • It has been well documented that microRNAs (miRNAs) play essential roles in cancer initiation and development. In this study, we aimed to provide a better understanding of the mechanism of cell proliferation in glioblastoma (GBM). Methods • Levels of miR-601 expression were detected in GBM tissues and cells. The effects of miR-601 dysregulation on GBM cell proliferation by mean transit time (brain tissue blood flow) (MTT) assays, colony formation, anchorage-independent growth assay, bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) labeling and immunofluorescence assay. Bioinformatics analysis, luciferase reporter system and Western blot assays were used to predict and confirm the target gene miR-601. Results • MiR-601 levels were identified as significantly up-regulated in GBM primary tumors and cell lines. Ectopic expression of miR-601 suppressed cell proliferation of GBM. Moreover, miR-601 showed its function by suppressing potential target TINP1 and TINP1 suppression reversed the effects of miR-601-in in U87MG GBM cells. Conclusion • Taken together, our results indicate that miR-601 promotes proliferation of GBM via inhibition of TINP1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The construction of large-scale photovoltaic plants will inevitably change the local environment. We consider that the influences of such increasing large-scale photovoltaic installations on radiation, temperature, wind profile and other factors within the region can be described in a layer of photovoltaic canopy. This paper improves the UCRC-Solar model for photovoltaic plants, with reference to the calculation of sensible heat flux of the underlying forest surface. Model verification was done with measured data from the Red Rock photovoltaic plant, Arizona, USA. In this study, it indicates that photovoltaic plant has locally generated heat island effects in daytime. The calculation of local microclimate changes before and after the construction of the photovoltaic plants and, the impact of photovoltaic coverage finds an increase in the temperature daily range and a reduction in the ground temperature by about 5 °C. Furthermore, a 15 % increase in photovoltaic coverage increased the daily 3 m air temperature difference by 0.55 °C and reduced the ground temperature by 3.6 °C in the day and 1.1 °C at night, respectively. In the future, rain and snow processes would be considered to further explore the microclimate impact of photovoltaic plants. • Improved energy balance model under the definition of photovoltaic canopy. • Quantitatively studied influences of photovoltaic plants on local microclimate. • Photovoltaic power plant has locally generated heat island effects in daytime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Pancreatic cancer is a kind of harmful human cancer, rated as the seventh leading cause of global death. Research has shown that in various cancers, the expression of Leucine zipper tumor suppressor 1 (LZTS1) has been found low, but its effects on pancreatic cancer is yet to be elucidated. In this research, the aim was to investigate the biological functions of LZTS1 and the underlying molecular mechanism in pancreatic cancer. Methods: GEPIA database was reported for the relative expression of LZTS1 in pancreatic cancer tissues and cell lines compared to normal ones. Kaplan-Meier analysis was done on GEPIA based on the previous data. Gene expression analysis was performed on human pancreatic cancer cell lines (BXPC3, CFPC-1, Panc-1, AsPC-1 and L3.6pl) as well as a normal cell line HEK-293T by employing RT-qPCR. Transfection procedure was done to up- or down-regulate the expressions of LZTS1 in Panc1 cell line. CCK-8 assay and flow cytometric method were adopted to determine cell viability and apoptosis, respectively. Protein expression levels were determined by Western blot. Results: Expressions of LZTS1 were high in both tumor tissues and cells. Patients with higher LZTS1 had lower 5-year overall survival rate compared to those with lower LZTS1. Overexpressed LZTS1 promoted proliferation and inhibited apoptosis in cancer cell lines. A significant promotion of phosphorylated level of AKT and GSK-3β proteins were achieved through the overexpression of LZTS1. Conclusion: The results from this study revealed that overexpression of LZTS1 increased cell viability and inhibited cell apoptosis, by activation of AKT/GSK-3β signaling pathway. Our findings indicated that LZTS1 might be a prognostic biomarker in pancreatic cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper mainly discusses the influence of the Weyl fractional integrals on continuous functions and proves that the Weyl fractional integrals can retain good properties of many functions. For example, a bounded variation function is still a bounded variation function after the Weyl fractional integral. Continuous functions that satisfy the Holder condition after the Weyl fractional integral still satisfy the Holder condition, furthermore, there is a linear relationship between the order of the Holder conditions of the two functions. At the end of this paper, the classical Weierstrass function is used as an example to prove the above conclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report a facile method of doping cations from an electrospray ionization (ESI) source into superfluid helium droplets. By decelerating and stopping the ion pulse of reserpine and substance P from an ESI source in the path of the droplet beam, about 104 ion-doped droplets (one ion per droplet) can be recorded, corresponding to a pickup efficiency of nearly 1 out of 1000 ions. We attribute the success of this simple approach to the long residence time of the cations in the droplet beam. The resulting size of the doped droplets, on the order of 104/droplet, is measured using deflection and retardation methods. Our method does not require an ion trap in the doping region, which significantly simplifies the experimental setup and procedure for future spectroscopic and diffraction studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For a direct dry cooling system, the turbine back pressure fluctuates with the meteorological conditions. Moreover, the operation of axial flow fans plays an important role in the cooling performance of air‐cooled condensers (ACC). It is of significant use to study the operation strategies of axial flow fans under various ambient conditions. Based on typical 2 × 660MWdirect dry cooling power generating units, the ACC model coupled with the turbine thermodynamic characteristics is developed, by which the thermo‐flow performances of the ACC are predicted in the dominant wind direction, and then the standard coal consumption is calculated. The results show that the increased ambient temperature and wind speed, or the reduced fan rotational speed leads to the high turbine back pressure. At the low ambient temperature and wind speed, the standard coal consumption rate of the unit can be reduced by reducing the speed of axial flow fans appropriately, with the maximum drop in coal consumption rate reached 0.734 g/(kWh) when the ambient temperature is 10°C without wind. If the wind speed exceeds 12 m/s or the ambient temperature reaches 25°C, 110% of the rated fan rotational speed is recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid identification of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) profiles and mechanisms is critical for clinical management and drug development. However, the current AMR detection approaches take up to 48 h to obtain a result. Here, we demonstrate a Raman spectroscopy-based metabolomic approach to rapidly determine the AMR profile of Campylobacter jejuni, a major cause of foodborne gastroenteritis worldwide. C. jejuni isolates with susceptible and resistant traits to ampicillin and tetracycline were subjected to different antibiotic concentrations for 5 h, followed by Raman spectral collection and chemometric analysis (i.e., second-derivative transformation analysis, hierarchical clustering analysis [HCA], and principal-component analysis [PCA]). The MICs obtained by Raman-2nd derivative transformation agreed with the reference agar dilution method for all isolates. The AMR profile of C. jejuni was accurately classified by Raman-HCA after treating bacteria with antibiotics at clinical susceptible and resistant breakpoints. According to PCA loading plots, susceptible and resistant strains showed different Raman metabolomic patterns for antibiotics. Ampicillin-resistant isolates had distinctive Raman signatures of peptidoglycan, which is related to cell wall synthesis. The ratio of saturated to unsaturated fatty acids in the lipid membrane layer of ampicillin-resistant isolates was higher than in susceptible ones, indicating more rigid envelope structure under ampicillin treatment. In comparison, tetracycline-resistant isolates exhibited prominent Raman spectral features associated with proteins and nucleic acids, demonstrating more active protein synthesis than susceptible strains with the presence of tetracycline. Taken together, Raman spectroscopy is a powerful metabolic fingerprinting technique for simultaneously revealing the AMR profiles and mechanisms of foodborne pathogens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The positioning technology, as one of the key technologies of wireless sensor network, can make each node acquire its own position information in the network to achieve target monitoring, data acquisition and behavior prediction. Under indoor environment, owing to the influence of obstacles, signal transmission between mobile nodes generally is under the non-line-of-sight environment, causing more localization errors. In this paper, focused research on the localization algorithm in the initial state and mobile state when nodes enter the network is conducted under non-line-of-sight environment. Firstly, a multi-signal-based localization algorithm is proposed against the initial localization stage at which mobile unknown enters the network. Appropriate anchor nodes are selected to participate in localization computing through the signal strength value, thereby narrowing the area where unknown nodes locate and improving the localization accuracy of nodes. Meanwhile, aiming at the problem of non-line-of-sight errors, anchor nodes with low errors are selected by introducing non-line-of-sight inhibitory factor to reduce the impact of non-line-of-sight measured value on the localization results. Secondly, aiming at the motion state of mobile nodes, a localization algorithm based on historical localization is proposed. Mobile nodes are located according to the number of anchor nodes around node localization moment in conjunction with the historical localization information of nodes. Meanwhile, the coordinate computing method is modified by introducing a modification value to make the coordinate values of nodes closer to the real value. The simulation result indicates that the proposed localization method can improve the localization accuracy effectively and has good adaptability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper focuses on the analysis of the neural network mathematical model for temperature and pressure compensation in steam flow measurement, summarizes two types of compensation models suitable for DCS configuration, and introduces the realization of steam flow measurement in ABB Industrial TDCS configuration ways and methods of temperature and pressure compensation. At the same time, the paper uses the scientific neural network intelligent model control method to analyze, optimize, configure and manage the information, improve the operation and management level of the steam system, and realize the optimized operation of the steam system, so as to achieve the purpose of energy saving and consumption reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent experiment shows that an elastic strain gradient field can be utilized to transport spherical particles on a stretchable substrate by rolling, inspired by which a generalized plane-strain Johnson-Kendall-Roberts model is developed in this paper in order to verify possible rolling of an elastic cylinder adhering on an elastic substrate subject to a strain gradient. With the help of contact mechanics, closed form solutions of interface tractions, stress intensity factors, and corresponding energy release rates in the plane-strain contact model are obtained, based on which a possible rolling motion of an elastic cylinder induced by strain gradients is found and the criterion for the initiation of rolling is established. The theoretical prediction is consistent well with the existing experimental observation. The result should be helpful for understanding biological transport mechanisms through muscle contractions and the design of transport systems with strain gradient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An objective normalization strategy is essential in any evolutionary multiobjective or many-objective optimization (EMO or EMaO) algorithm, due to the distance calculations between objective vectors required to compute diversity and convergence of population members. For the decomposition-based EMO/EMaO algorithms involving the Penalty Boundary Intersection (PBI) metric, normalization is an important matter due to the computation of two distance metrics. In this article, we make a theoretical analysis of the effect of instabilities in the normalization process on the performance of PBI-based MOEA/D and a proposed PBI-based NSGA-III procedure. Although the effect is well recognized in the literature, few theoretical studies have been done so far to understand its true nature and the choice of a suitable penalty parameter value for an arbitrary problem. The developed theoretical results have been corroborated with extensive experimental results on three to 15-objective convex and non-convex instances of DTLZ and WFG problems. The article, makes important theoretical conclusions on PBI-based decomposition algorithms derived from the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neural networks for fault diagnosis need enough samples for training, but in practical applications, there are often insufficient samples. In order to solve this problem, we propose a wavelet-prototypical network based on fusion of time and frequency domain (WPNF). The time domain and frequency domain information of the vibration signal can be sent to the model simultaneously to expand the characteristics of the data, a parallel two-channel convolutional structure is proposed to process the information of the signal. After that, a wavelet layer is designed to further extract features. Finally, a prototypical layer is applied to train this network. Experimental results show that the proposed method can accurately identify new classes that have never been used during the training phase when the number of samples in each class is very small, and it is far better than other traditional machine learning models in few-shot scenarios [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerical simulations are used to explore the potential for local blockage effects and dynamic tuning strategies to enhance the performance of turbines in tidal channels. Full- and partial-width arrays of turbines, modeled using the volume-flux-constrained actuator disc and blade element momentum theories, are embedded within a two-dimensional channel with a naturally low ratio of drag to inertial forces. For steady flow, the local blockage effect observed by varying the cross-stream spacing between the turbines is found to agree very well with the predictions of the two-scale actuator disc theory of Nishino and Willden (2012, "The Efficiency of an Array of Tidal Turbines Partially Blocking a Wide Channel," J. Fluid Mech., 708, pp. 596-606). For oscillatory flow, however, results show that, consistent with the findings of Bonar et al. (2019, "On the Arrangement of Tidal Turbines in Rough and Oscillatory Channel Flow," J. Fluid Mech., 865, pp. 790-810), the shorter and more highly blocked arrays produce considerably more power than predicted by two-scale theory. Results also show that, consistent with the findings of Vennell (2016, "An Optimal Tuning Strategy for Tidal Turbines," Proc. R. Soc. A, 472(2195), p. 20160047), the "dynamic" tuning strategy, in which the tuning of the turbines is varied over the tidal cycle, can only produce significantly more power than a temporally fixed turbine tuning if the array has a large number of turbine rows or a large local blockage ratio. For all cases considered, trends are consistent between the two turbine representations but the effects of local blockage and dynamic tuning are found to be much less significant for the more realistic tidal rotor than for the idealized actuator disc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. Intraosseous epidermal inclusion cysts (IEpC) are benign bone lesions lined with squamous epithelium. Finger phalanges are the second most common site of predilection after the skull. Case report. We presented a case of a typical IEpC at the distal phalanx of the right ring finger following a remote history of a crush injury to the finger (40 years earlier). The patient experienced painful enlargement and progressive swelling of that finger during the previous month. On physical examination, the finger showed typical "clubbing" with local tenderness. X-ray showed bone destruction, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed abnormal signals in bone tissue in the distal phalanx of the right ring finger. The patient underwent distal phalanx amputation of the right ring finger. The diagnosis of IEpC was histopathologically confirmed. At follow-up 2 years later, the stump healed well and without recurrence. Conclusion. IEpC with a history of up to 40 years is very rare, and although the patient presents with a typical "clubbing" finger, the diagnosis was eventually confirmed by surgery and pathology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heat-modified citrus pectin, a water-soluble indigestible polysaccharide fiber derived from citrus fruits and modified by temperature treatment, has been reported to exhibit anticancer effects. However, the bioactive fractions and their mechanisms remain unclear. In this current study, we isolated an active compound, trans-4,5-dihydroxy-2-cyclopentene-l-one (DHCP), from heat-treated citrus pectin, and found that is induces cell death in colon cancer cells via induction of mitochondrial ROS. On the molecular level, DHCP triggers ROS production by inhibiting the activity of succinate ubiquinone reductase (SQR) in mitochondrial complex II. Furthermore, cytotoxicity, apoptotic activity, and activation of caspase cascades were determined in HCT116 and HT-29 cell-based systems, the results indicated that DHCP enhances the sensitivity of cancer cells to tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL), with DHCP-induced ROS accounting for the synergistic effect between DHCP and TRAIL. Furthermore, the combination of DHCP and TRAIL inhibits the growth of HCT116 and HT-29 xenografts synergistically. ROS significantly increases the expression of TRAIL death receptor 5 (DR5) via the p53 and C/EBP homologous protein pathways. Collectively, our findings indicate that DHCP has a favorable toxicity profile and is a new TRAIL sensitizer that shows promise in the development of pectin-based pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, and dietary agents aimed at combating human colon cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A multi‐microgrid system is composed of multiple low‐voltage microgrids and the distributed energy connected to adjacent feeders. Considering the uncertainty factors, this study presents a two‐stage game framework to achieve energy management in the daily operation of islanded multi‐microgrids. In the upper stage, the power surplus and power shortage conditions of microgrids are analysed and the corresponding profit models are established. Then, during this cooperative game, each microgrid maximises its own profits through transactions and achieves a win–win situation by changing the number of coalition members. In the lower stage, the uncertainty models of both the photovoltaic power generation and the controllable load are constructed to achieve the maximum match between the power generation and the load curve. Finally, it is shown via a practical example that the proposed method can effectively promote the total profit of the islanded multi‐microgrid system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effluent from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) is considered to be an important source of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in the environment, which has become a global issue for human and animal health. However, the conventional treatment processes in WWTPs including the disinfection process cannot remove ARGs completely. This study estimated the removal efficiency of selected ARGs (sul1, sul2, tetO, and tetX) from WWTP effluent by electrocoagulation (EC). A reduction of 1.48–2.61 logs for selected ARGs was obtained by EC with the electrolysis time of 60 min under a current density of 20.0 mA/cm2 at neutral pH. Adsorption and enmeshment of the precipitated flocs generated electrochemically were proposed as the main mechanism for the removal of ARGs by EC. High current density and low pH (3.0–7.0) could promote the removal of ARGs. When pretreated with conventional ultraviolet (UV) disinfection, the reduction logs of ARGs were higher than the sum of that by single UV disinfection and EC process, ranging from 1.62 to 2.83 logs after 30 min of electrolysis. Moreover, it was found that the abundance of extracellular ARGs was increased after UV disinfection but reduced significantly after the subsequent EC treatment. The results showed that EC would be an effective method for the removal of both intracellular and extracellular ARGs from WWTPs effluent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]