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Hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) is a prevalent acute infectious disease caused by enteroviruses, presenting substantial public health challenges in Shanghai, especially among children. The dynamic nature of HFMD's etiology necessitates an ongoing evaluation of its epidemiological and virological trends to inform effective control strategies. This study aims to investigate the epidemiological patterns and viral evolution of HFMD in Fengxian District, Shanghai, China, with a focus on shifts in predominant viral strains over a 14-year period. We conducted a retrospective analysis of HFMD cases reported to the National Notifiable Disease Reporting System in Fengxian District from January 1, 2009 to December 31, 2022. Epidemiological trends, strain prevalence, and demographic impacts were assessed. A total of 27,272 HFMD cases were documented during the study period, with incidence showing pronounced seasonal fluctuations—peaking in spring and summer and a lesser peak in autumn. The disease incidence demonstrated significant positive correlations with several meteorological variables: daily average temperature (r = 0.30, P < 0.05), relative humidity (r = 0.20, P < 0.05), wind speed (r = 0.17, P < 0.05), and precipitation (r = 0.17, P < 0.05). Geographically, Nanqiao Town, Fengcheng Town, and Xidu Subdistrict reported the highest incidence rates. The demographic analysis revealed a male-to-female ratio of 1.60:1, predominantly affecting children aged 1–3 years. Prior to 2017, Enterovirus 71 (EV71) and Coxsackievirus A16 (CoxA16) were the primary detected strains; post-2017, Coxsackievirus A6 (CoxA6) emerged as the dominant strain. Statistical analysis confirmed significant year-to-year variations in virus detection rates, with decreasing trends for EV71 and other enteroviruses and an increasing trend for CoxA6. The findings indicate a distinct seasonal incidence of HFMD in Fengxian District. This study underscores the need for targeted public health education, enhanced surveillance, and proactive measures in childcare facilities to mitigate disease spread during peak seasons. Moreover, the evolving viral landscape warrants accelerated efforts in vaccine development against new strains to reduce HFMD incidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the development of deep learning, a higher level of perception of the environment such as the semantic level can be achieved in the simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) domain. However, previous works did not achieve a natural-language level of perception. Therefore, LP-SLAM (Language-Perceptive RGB-D SLAM) is proposed that leverages large language models (LLMs). The texts in the scene can be detected by scene text recognition (STR) and mapped as landmarks with a task-driven selection. A text error correction chain (TECC) is designed with a similarity classification method, a two-stage memory strategy, and a text clustering method. The proposed architecture is designed to deal with the mis-detection and mis-recognition cases of STR and to provide accurate text information to the framework. The proposed framework takes input images and generates a 3D map with sparse point cloud and task-related texts. Finally, a natural user interface (NUI) is designed based on the constructed map and LLM, which gives position instructions based on users' natural queries. The experimental results validated the proposed TECC design and the overall framework. We publish the virtual dataset with ground truth, as well as the source code for further research. https://github.com/GroupOfLPSLAM/LP_SLAM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reuse of gutter oil has always been a sensitive social issue. In the heat treatment industry, engineers have also been troubled by the need to move away from dependence on petroleum derivatives for cleaner production. While vegetable oils appear to be a viable alternative, the higher cost and poor thermal and oxidative stability limit their use in the heat treatment industry. The use of gutter oil as a quenchant raw material not only makes the quenchant cost effective but also environmentally friendly. In this study, the cooling performance of fatty acid methyl ester prepared from gutter oil was evaluated and compared with soybean oil and mineral oil. Firstly, fatty acid methyl ester was obtained by esterification and transesterification of gutter oil to reduce the free fatty acid content and make it suitable for quenching and heat treatment. The experiments were carried out using an Inconel 600 standard probe according to ISO 9950. The cooling behavior of the quenching media was tested at oil bath temperatures of 40 °C, 60 °C, and 80 °C. Quenching was carried out using AISI 4340 to obtain Vickers microhardness distributions on cross-sections of heat-treated specimens and residual stresses were determined by x-ray diffraction for all test materials. The fatty acid methyl ester used for analysis produced a hardening depth equivalent to that of commercial mineral oil when quenching the AISI 4340 alloy steel. And the test results achieved cooling properties and quenching intensity comparable to mineral oil. This indicates that fatty acid methyl ester prepared from gutter oil has the potential to replace mineral oil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fundus fluorescein angiography (FFA) is a crucial diagnostic tool for chorioretinal diseases, but its interpretation requires significant expertise and time. Prior studies have used Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based systems to assist FFA interpretation, but these systems lack user interaction and comprehensive evaluation by ophthalmologists. Here, we used large language models (LLMs) to develop an automated interpretation pipeline for both report generation and medical question-answering (QA) for FFA images. The pipeline comprises two parts: an image-text alignment module (Bootstrapping Language-Image Pre-training) for report generation and an LLM (Llama 2) for interactive QA. The model was developed using 654,343 FFA images with 9392 reports. It was evaluated both automatically, using language-based and classification-based metrics, and manually by three experienced ophthalmologists. The automatic evaluation of the generated reports demonstrated that the system can generate coherent and comprehensible free-text reports, achieving a BERTScore of 0.70 and F1 scores ranging from 0.64 to 0.82 for detecting top-5 retinal conditions. The manual evaluation revealed acceptable accuracy (68.3%, Kappa 0.746) and completeness (62.3%, Kappa 0.739) of the generated reports. The generated free-form answers were evaluated manually, with the majority meeting the ophthalmologists' criteria (error-free: 70.7%, complete: 84.0%, harmless: 93.7%, satisfied: 65.3%, Kappa: 0.762–0.834). This study introduces an innovative framework that combines multi-modal transformers and LLMs, enhancing ophthalmic image interpretation, and facilitating interactive communications during medical consultation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new etomidate analogue called methoxyethyl etomidate hydrochloride (ET-26) has been developed as an anesthesia induction agent for surgical patients. ET-26 has been designed to have similar cardiovascular and respiratory benefits as etomidate, but with minimal or no adrenocortical suppression. Preclinical studies in animals and a phase I clinical trial on healthy volunteers have shown that ET-26 has favorable pharmacological advantages and a good safety profile. Phase II clinical trials have demonstrated that ET-26 is effective and safe for anesthesia induction, with minimal adrenocortical suppression and fewer side effects compared to etomidate. Further investigation in a phase III clinical trial is underway to verify the efficacy and safety of ET-26. [Extracted from the article]

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of central vision impairment among the elderly. Effective and accurate AMD screening tools are urgently needed. Indocyanine green angiography (ICGA) is a well-established technique for detecting chorioretinal diseases, but its invasive nature and potential risks impede its routine clinical application. Here, we innovatively developed a deep-learning model capable of generating realistic ICGA images from color fundus photography (CF) using generative adversarial networks (GANs) and evaluated its performance in AMD classification. The model was developed with 99,002 CF-ICGA pairs from a tertiary center. The quality of the generated ICGA images underwent objective evaluation using mean absolute error (MAE), peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR), structural similarity measures (SSIM), etc., and subjective evaluation by two experienced ophthalmologists. The model generated realistic early, mid and late-phase ICGA images, with SSIM spanned from 0.57 to 0.65. The subjective quality scores ranged from 1.46 to 2.74 on the five-point scale (1 refers to the real ICGA image quality, Kappa 0.79–0.84). Moreover, we assessed the application of translated ICGA images in AMD screening on an external dataset (n = 13887) by calculating area under the ROC curve (AUC) in classifying AMD. Combining generated ICGA with real CF images improved the accuracy of AMD classification with AUC increased from 0.93 to 0.97 (P < 0.001). These results suggested that CF-to-ICGA translation can serve as a cross-modal data augmentation method to address the data hunger often encountered in deep-learning research, and as a promising add-on for population-based AMD screening. Real-world validation is warranted before clinical usage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Moenomycin A, an antimicrobial growth promoter widely used as an additive in aquaculture feedstuffs, has been restricted for use in the European Union and China due to its potential risk of promoting resistant strains of pathogenic bacteria and causing residues in aquatic animal products. Although methods for analyzing moenomycin A in feedstuffs have been developed, no established method exists for aquatic matrices. In this study, we present, for the first time, a sensitive and validated high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC–MS/MS) method for the determination of moenomycin A in aquatic animal products. Samples were extracted using methanol and purified with the QuEChERS method employing C18 sorbent. The aliquot was dried under a nitrogen stream, reconstituted with methanol-water solvent, and analyzed by HPLC–MS/MS. The developed method exhibited good linearity (r2 > 0.995) over a wide concentration range (1–100 μg/L) and a low limit of detection (1 µg/kg). Average recoveries ranged between 70 and 110% at spiked concentrations of 1, 50, and 100 μg/kg, with associated intra- and inter-day relative standard deviations of 1.25 to 7.32% (n = 6) and 2.91 to 10.08% (n = 3), for different representative aquatic animal production, respectively. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported HPLC–MS/MS method for the quantification of moenomycin A in aquatic animal products. The new approach was effectively employed in the analysis of moenomycin A across various aquatic samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lipid droplets (LDs) are dynamic lipid storage organelles that can be degraded by autophagy machinery to release neutral lipids, a process called lipophagy. However, specific receptors and regulation mechanisms for lipophagy remain largely unknown. Here, we identify that ATG14, the core unit of the PI3KC3-C1 complex, also targets LD and acts as an autophagic receptor that facilitates LD degradation. A negative regulator, Syntaxin18 (STX18) binds ATG14, disrupting the ATG14-ATG8 family members interactions and subverting the PI3KC3-C1 complex formation. Knockdown of STX18 activates lipophagy dependent on ATG14 not only as the core unit of PI3KC3-C1 complex but also as the autophagic receptor, resulting in the degradation of LD-associated anti-viral protein Viperin. Furthermore, coronavirus M protein binds STX18 and subverts the STX18-ATG14 interaction to induce lipophagy and degrade Viperin, facilitating virus production. Altogether, our data provide a previously undescribed mechanism for additional roles of ATG14 in lipid metabolism and virus production. Lipophagy is the degradation of lipid droplets by the autophagy machinery. Here, the authors identify that autophagy protein ATG14 also targets lipid droplets and interacts with ATG8 proteins, functioning as an autophagic receptor for STX18-regulated lipophagy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key message: The mutated LsTT2 and Ls2OGD genes are responsible for white seeds and yellow seeds in lettuce, respectively. Three LsCHS genes are involved in the biosynthesis of flavonoid in seed coats. Lettuce seeds have several different colors, including black, yellow, and white. The genetic mechanisms underlying color variations of lettuce seeds remain unknown. We used genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and map-based cloning approaches to clone genes controlling the color of lettuce seeds. LsTT2, which encodes an R2R3-MYB transcription factor and is homologous to the TT2 gene in Arabidopsis, was shown to be the causal gene for the variation of black and white seeds in lettuce. A point mutation leads to the lack of stop codon in the LsTT2 transcript, resulting in white seeds. Knockout of the LsTT2 gene converted black seeds to white seeds. The locus controlling yellow seeds was mapped to Chromosome 2. Knockout of two 2-oxoglutarate-dependent dioxygenases (2OGD) genes from the candidate region converted black seeds to yellow seeds, suggesting that these two 2OGD proteins catalyze the conversion of yellow metabolites to black metabolites. We also showed that three LsCHS genes from the candidate region are associated with flavonoid biosynthesis in seeds. Knockout mutants of the three LsCHS genes decreased color intensity. This study provides new insights into the regulation of flavonoid biosynthesis in plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study were to understand the intake of selected metals (copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), iron (Fe) and magnesium (Mg)) during pregnancy; to detect serum Cu, Mg, Zn and Fe levels in pregnant women; to analyze the relationships among the selected metals, maternal thyroid function and fasting blood glucose (FBG) levels; to investigate the impact of the selected metals and maternal thyroid function on the risk of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM); and to provide clinical value for the rational intake of the selected metals and iodine during pregnancy to ensure normal fetal development. The population was recruited from pregnant women presenting to the obstetrics outpatient clinic of Shanxi Provincial People's Hospital (February 2021 to April 2022). Selected metal, thyroid hormone (TH (free thyroxine (FT4), free tri-iodothyronine (FT3), and thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH)) and FBG levels were measured in pregnant women during early, middle and late pregnancy. Covariance analysis was used to analyze the overall trends in selected metal, TH and FBG levels during pregnancy, and binary logistic regression models were used to assess the impacts of the selected metals and thyroid function on the risk of GDM. In addtion, the potential mediation effects of thyroid functions were explored in the mediation analyses. A total of 65 pregnant women were included in this study. Regression models showed that maternal Mg and Cu levels were positively associated with the risk of GDM, conversely, logFT4 was negatively associated with the risk of GDM. Mediation analyses suggested that the associations between the selected metals (Zn, Cu and Mg) and GDM might be mediated by FT3 levels, and that the Cu-GDM and Zn-GDM association could be explained by FT4 levels. Additionally, the Zn-GDM association could also potentially be mediated by the FT3/FT4 ratio. Our findings suggest that Mg, Cu and FT4 levels may act as influencing factors for the development of GDM, and maternal FT3, FT4 and the FT3/FT4 ratio might be the potential mediators of the associations between the selected metals and GDM risk during pregnancy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

LiNi0.8Co0.1Mn0.1O2 (NCM811), a high nickel-positive electrode material, has higher discharge capacity, lower cost, and less environmental pollution than other systems, so it has attracted many people's attention. However, its poor thermal stability, cycle rate performance, and safety problems limit its practical application. In this paper, the NCM811 cathode material with Al3+ and PO43− co-doping (NCM-PA) was prepared by co-precipitation method and high-temperature solid-state method to improve its properties. The results show that the co-doping can effectively inhibit the mixing of lithium and nickel, maintain the good lamellar structure of the cathode material, and improve the electrochemical performance of the cathode material. The capacity retention rate of NCM-PA is 14.1% higher than that of the raw material after 100 cycles at 1 C. In addition, due to the small degree of electrode polarization of the co-doping material, NCM-PA still has a discharge-specific capacity of 155.8 mAh/g when the current density is 5 C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, rectal samples collected from 60 stray dogs in dog shelters were screened for canine kobuvirus and other enteroviruses by quantitative real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. Canine kobuvirus was detected in 25% (15/60) of the samples. In the 15 positive samples, the coinfection rates of canine distemper virus, canine coronavirus, canine astrovirus, canine norovirus, and canine rotavirus were 26.67%, 20.00%, 73.33%, 0%, and 20.00%, respectively. Phylogenetic analysis based on partial VP1 sequences identified a novel canine kobuvirus that was a recombinant of canine and feline kobuvirus. Bayesian evolutionary analysis revealed that the rate of evolution of the VP1 gene of canine kobuvirus was 1.36 × 10−4 substitutions per site per year (95% highest posterior density interval, 6.28 × 10−7 − 4.30 × 10−4 substitutions per site per year). Finally, the divergence time of VP1 was around 19.44 years ago (95% highest posterior density interval, 12.96–27.57 years). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of N-heterocyclic carbene, a well-known reactive site, in chemical catalysis has long been studied. However, its unique binding and electron-donating properties have barely been explored in other research areas, such as metal capture. Herein, we report the design and preparation of a poly(ionic liquid)-derived porous organic polycarbene adsorbent with superior gold-capturing capability. With carbene sites in the porous network as the "nanotrap", it exhibits an ultrahigh gold recovery capacity of 2.09 g/g. In-depth exploration of a complex metal ion environment in an electronic waste-extraction solution indicates that the polycarbene adsorbent possesses a significant gold recovery efficiency of 99.8%. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy along with nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy reveals that the high performance of the polycarbene adsorbent results from the formation of robust metal-carbene bonds plus the ability to reduce nearby gold ions into nanoparticles. Density functional theory calculations indicate that energetically favourable multinuclear Au binding enhances adsorption as clusters. Life cycle assessment and cost analysis indicate that the synthesis of polycarbene adsorbents has potential for application in industrial-scale productions. These results reveal the potential to apply carbene chemistry to materials science and highlight porous organic polycarbene as a promising new material for precious metal recovery. Efficient and selective gold recovery from electronic waste is highly demanded. Here, authors demonstrate the application of a porous organic polycarbene adsorbent with up to 2.09 g/g gold-capturing capability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Xinjiang is rich in copper-nickel ore. The solution obtained by leaching of copper-nickel ore will produce slag containing nickel and cobalt after removing cobalt by adding NiOOH. Recovering valuable metals in nickel–cobalt slag after water washing (hereinafter referred to as NCSW) has important environmental and economic significance. The purpose of this study was to optimize the parameters affecting the leaching of NCSW and to study the leaching kinetics of nickel and cobalt. According to XPS, there are trivalent nickel and trivalent cobalt in the NCSW, and the total amount of trivalent nickel and trivalent cobalt was determined by iodometry. In this study, the NCSW was leached by H2SO4 and H2O2. The best leaching conditions are that the dosage of concentrated sulfuric acid is 0.0076 mol/g NCSW, the dosage of hydrogen peroxide is 0.08 mL/g NCSW, temperature is 70°C, liquid–solid ratio is 4:1, and leaching time is 3 h. Based on the unreacted core model, the leaching kinetics of NCSW was determined, and the leaching reaction of nickel and cobalt conformed to the chemical reaction control model. According to the Arrhenius formula, the activation energies of nickel and cobalt were calculated to be 44.51 kJ/mol and 45.49 kJ/mol, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, an efficient nano-zero-valent iron supported by alkali-modified sludge biochar (nZVI@NaOH-SBC) composites were synthesized by a liquid-phase reduction method for Cu2+ removal. The preparation conditions (sodium hydroxide concentration, pyrolysis temperature, solid–liquid ratio, and modification time) of sludge biochar (SBC) were optimized by orthogonal experiments. The results showed that the best SBC was prepared under the conditions of sodium hydroxide concentration of 3 mol/L, pyrolysis temperature of 500 °C, a solid–liquid ratio of 1:20, and modification time of 24 h, and a maximum adsorption capacity was 183.22 mg/g, which is 2.43 times that of the pristine sludge biochar. The adsorption behavior was in accordance with a pseudo-second-order kinetic model, indicating that the removal of Cu2+ was mainly affected by chemisorption. The adsorption isotherm conformed to the Langmuir model, and the maximum adsorption capacity of Cu2+ was 358.42 mg/g at pH = 5, and 25 °C. Reusability tests confirmed the good reusability and stability of the material. Batch experiments and characterization reveal that the mechanism of Cu removal by nZVI@NaOH-SBC composites involves multiple processes: adsorption, precipitation, electrostatic attraction, and reduction. This study proposes a new biochemical adsorbent, which provides a good choice for the treatment of copper-containing wastewater and the resource utilization of sludge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studying the formation mechanisms and influencing factors of typical regional landslides is a crucial step in landslide control and disaster prediction. The mechanism of formation and the influence of hydrodynamic factors on accumulated landslides in the Three Gorges Reservoir have always been a focus of attention. Although rainfall and reservoir water level factors interact with each other, refining the impact areas and characteristics of these two factors will be beneficial for future research on accumulated landslides in the Three Gorges Reservoir area. Taking the Sanmendong landslide as an example and relying on its geological background and professional monitoring data, this study employs gray correlation analysis to analyze the sensitivity between changes in hydrodynamic factors and changes in landslide safety factor. It discusses the regions affected by rainfall and the descending speed of the reservoir water level under different conditions, as well as the changing patterns of data. The ILF-FFT landslide prediction model is utilized to study the relationship between real monitoring data of the Sanmendong landslide and fluctuations in hydrodynamic factors, obtaining the weight coefficients of hydrodynamic factors in the model and separating the fluctuation curve under the influence of rainfall and reservoir water level fluctuations. A comparative analysis of the contribution of hydrodynamic factors to the deformation of the Sanmendong landslide is conducted. The results indicate that the overall deformation of the Sanmendong landslide is more sensitive to rainfall factors, and as the descending speed of the reservoir water level increases, its sensitivity to landslide deformation will also increase. The local deformation of the landslide toe is greatly affected by the factors of reservoir water level descent, and with the increase of the descending speed of the reservoir water level, the correlation results also increase. It is important to note that there is a sudden change in the correlation results at a descending speed of 1.0 m/d in the local stability analysis, which is related to the most dangerous sliding surface identified in the simulation calculation and requires special attention during the process of reservoir water level descent. Furthermore, the deformation of the landslide toe in Sanmendong is greatly affected by the descent of the reservoir water level, while the deformation of the landslide head is more influenced by rainfall factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key message: We identified the loss ofBoFLC gene as the cause of non-vernalization requirement inB. oleracea. Our developed codominant marker ofBoFLCgene can be used for breeding program ofB. oleraceacrops. Many species of the Brassicaceae family, including some Brassica crops, require vernalization to avoid pre-winter flowering. Vernalization is an unfavorable trait for Chinese kale (Brassica oleracea var. chinensis Lei), a stem vegetable, and therefore it has been lost during its domestication/breeding process. To reveal the genetics of vernalization variation, we constructed an F2 population through crossing a Chinese kale (a non-vernalization crop) with a kale (a vernalization crop). Using bulked segregant analysis (BSA) and RNA-seq, we identified one major quantitative trait locus (QTL) controlling vernalization and fine-mapped it to a region spanning 80 kb. Synteny analysis and PCR-based sequencing results revealed that compared to that of the kale parent, the candidate region of the Chinese kale parent lost a 9,325-bp fragment containing FLC homolog (BoFLC). In addition to the BoFLC gene, there are four other FLC homologs in the genome of B. oleracea, including Bo3g005470, Bo3g024250, Bo9g173370, and Bo9g173400. The qPCR analysis showed that the BoFLC had the highest expression among the five members of the FLC family. Considering the low expression levels of the four paralogs of BoFLC, we speculate that its paralogs cannot compensate the function of the lost BoFLC, therefore the presence/absence (PA) polymorphism of BoFLC determines the vernalization variation. Based on the PA polymorphism of BoFLC, we designed a codominant marker for the vernalization trait, which can be used for breeding programs of B. oleracea crops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During injury, monocytes are recruited from the circulation to inflamed tissues and differentiate locally into mature macrophages, with prior reports showing that cavity macrophages of the peritoneum and pericardium invade deeply into the respective organs to promote repair. Here we report a dual recombinase-mediated genetic system designed to trace cavity macrophages in vivo by intersectional detection of two characteristic markers. Lineage tracing with this method shows accumulation of cavity macrophages during lung and liver injury on the surface of visceral organs without penetration into the parenchyma. Additional data suggest that these peritoneal or pleural cavity macrophages do not contribute to tissue repair and regeneration. Our in vivo genetic targeting approach thus provides a reliable method to identify and characterize cavity macrophages during their development and in tissue repair and regeneration, and distinguishes these cells from other lineages. Body cavity macrophages reside on the serous surfaces of organs and believed to participate in organ repair following injury. Here the authors show with a fate-mapping reporter system that these cells, although accumulate at the surfaces of injured liver or lung, don't penetrate deeply into the tissue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the moduli space of J-holomorphic subvarieties in a 4-dimensional symplectic manifold. For an arbitrary tamed almost complex structure, we show that the moduli space of a sphere class is formed by a family of linear system structures as in algebraic geometry. Among the applications, we show various uniqueness results of J-holomorphic subvarieties, e.g. for the fiber and exceptional classes in irrational ruled surfaces. On the other hand, non-uniqueness and other exotic phenomena of subvarieties in complex rational surfaces are explored. In particular, connected subvarieties in an exceptional class with higher genus components are constructed. The moduli space of tori is also discussed, and leads to an extension of the elliptic curve theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is devoted to classifying the dynamical behavior of solutions to a free boundary problem of a predator–prey model with a nonlocal reaction term. We investigate the spreading-vanishing dichotomy, that is, the asymptotic behavior of predator and prey species. Moreover, some criteria are also established for spreading and vanishing. At last, when spreading occurs, we obtain an upper and a lower bound of the asymptotic spreading speed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bone morphogenic protein and activin membrane-bound inhibitor (BAMBI) is a transmembrane protein that affects the growth, development and muscle regeneration of the body by regulating the TGF-β, BMP and Wnt signaling pathways. Studies have found that BAMBI has important regulatory functions in skeletal muscle and preadipocytes in vivo and in vitro. However, research on this protein in cattle is lacking. In this study, to determine the role of BAMBI in the growth and development of cattle, we first found that the expression of BAMBI in adipose tissue and longissimus muscle of newborn and adult Qinchuan beef cattle was significantly different. Then we showed that BAMBI knockdown promoted the differentiation of bovine preadipocytes and suppressed myoblast myogenesis, as indicated by the increased lipid droplets and the decreased myotubes, as well as the corresponding significant changes in the expression of PPARγ, C/EBPα, C/EBPβ, FABP4, MyoD, MyoG and Myf6. Finally, to further verify the effect of BAMBI on the growth performance of cattle, we identified seven novel SNPs in the BAMBI genomic region, which were significantly correlated with one or more growth traits (p < 0.05). Furthermore, individuals with haplotype H1H4 (TC-GA-CT-CA-AT-AT-AG) had a higher body and carcass quality than those with other haplotypes (p < 0.05). In brief, BAMBI may be a functional gene for the differentiation of bovine preadipocytes and myoblasts, and variations in the BAMBI genomic region, especially the combined haplotype H1H4, may benefit marker-assisted selection in cattle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wild teas are valuable genetic resources for studying domestication and breeding. Here we report the assembly of a high-quality chromosome-scale reference genome for an ancient tea tree. The further RNA sequencing of 217 diverse tea accessions clarifies the pedigree of tea cultivars and reveals key contributors in the breeding of Chinese tea. Candidate genes associated with flavonoid biosynthesis are identified by genome-wide association study. Specifically, diverse allelic function of CsANR, CsF3'5'H and CsMYB5 is verified by transient overexpression and enzymatic assays, providing comprehensive insights into the biosynthesis of catechins, the most important bioactive compounds in tea plants. The inconspicuous differentiation between ancient trees and cultivars at both genetic and metabolic levels implies that tea may not have undergone long-term artificial directional selection in terms of flavor-related metabolites. These genomic resources provide evolutionary insight into tea plants and lay the foundation for better understanding the biosynthesis of beneficial natural compounds. Wild teas are considered as valuable resource for studying domestication and breeding. Here, Zhang et al. report genome of wild tea DASZ and transcriptome of 217 accessions, which clarify pedigree of Chinese tea cultivars and show tea may not have undergone long-term artificial directional selection on flavor-related metabolites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ability to grow properly sized and good quality crystals is one of the cornerstones of single-crystal diffraction, is advantageous in many industrial-scale chemical processes1–3, and is important for obtaining institutional approvals of new drugs for which high-quality crystallographic data are required4–7. Typically, single crystals suitable for such processes and analyses are grown for hours to days during which any mechanical disturbances—believed to be detrimental to the process—are carefully avoided. In particular, stirring and shear flows are known to cause secondary nucleation, which decreases the final size of the crystals (though shear can also increase their quantity8–14). Here we demonstrate that in the presence of polymers (preferably, polyionic liquids), crystals of various types grow in common solvents, at constant temperature, much bigger and much faster when stirred, rather than kept still. This conclusion is based on the study of approximately 20 diverse organic molecules, inorganic salts, metal–organic complexes, and even some proteins. On typical timescales of a few to tens of minutes, these molecules grow into regularly faceted crystals that are always larger (with longest linear dimension about 16 times larger) than those obtained in control experiments of the same duration but without stirring or without polymers. We attribute this enhancement to two synergistic effects. First, under shear, the polymers and their aggregates disentangle, compete for solvent molecules and thus effectively 'salt out' (that is, induce precipitation by decreasing solubility of) the crystallizing species. Second, the local shear rate is dependent on particle size, ultimately promoting the growth of larger crystals (but not via surface-energy effects as in classical Ostwald ripening). This closed-system, constant-temperature crystallization driven by shear could be a valuable addition to the repertoire of crystal growth techniques, enabling accelerated growth of crystals required by the materials and pharmaceutical industries. A method of growing crystals that does not require undisturbed solutions involves adding polyelectrolytes to the starter solution and shearing (that is, stirring). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key message: Transposon insertion and point mutation independently activated the BoMYB2 gene in three purple cultivars of Brassica oleracea including kale, kohlrabi, and cabbage. Several varieties of B. oleracea have both green and purple cultivars. In this study, the causal genes for the purple traits in kale, kohlrabi and cabbage were cloned using map-based cloning approach. The purple traits in all three varieties were mapped to the same locus as the BoMYB2 gene in cauliflower. Surprisingly, the insertion of Harbinger transposon of BoMYB2 in cauliflower was not found in purple kale, kohlrabi and cabbage. Sequencing of the BoMYB2 gene in purple kale and purple kohlrabi discovered a 7606 bp CACTA-like transposon in its promoter region. Transient assay and promoter activity study showed that the insertion upregulated the expression of the BoMYB2 gene. On the other hand, the activation of the BoMYB2 gene in purple cabbage was caused by point mutation and/or 1-bp insertion in its promoter region. Sequence analysis of the BoMYB2 gene in different varieties suggested that the activating events most likely occurred independently after the divergence of cabbage, cauliflower, and kale/kohlrabi. Our results not only contribute to a better understanding of anthocyanin inheritance in B. oleracea, but also provide useful information for future hybrid breeding of purple cultivars through combination of different functional alleles of the BoMYB2 gene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An innovative way to enhance the thermal conductivity of composite phase change materials (PCMs) is by carbonizing the carbohydrate-coated mineral substrate to modify its porous structure. Here, we study the effect of introducing different amounts of carbonized starch acting as a filler for enhancing the thermal conductivity of the shape-stabilized composite PCMs (ss-CPCMs) based on polyethylene glycol (PEG) and modified expanded vermiculite (MEV). The experimental exploration of the thermal behavior of composite PCMs has been explored sufficiently in depth. The MEV is shown by SEM images to tightly adhere to the carbon layer and to be composed of a dense micropore structure. Results from DSC indicate that the latent heat of the PEG/MEV ss-CPCMs gradually decreases with the increase of carbon layer mass fraction. Results obtained from FT-IR and TGA show that PEG/MEV ss-CPCMs exhibit good chemical and thermal stabilities. The thermal conductivity of the PEG/MEV ss-CPCMs increases with the carbon layer mass fractions and reaches up to 1.94 times that of PEG/EV ss-CPCMs. The PEG/MEV ss-CPCMs result in a promising material for applications in energy-efficient buildings due to its excellent thermal properties, ideal thermal conductivity and good chemical and thermal stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abundant anthocyanins accumulate in many flowers, leaves, fruits, as well as stems. In this study, an F segregating population derived from a cross between Chinese kale with a purple stem and kale with a green stem was used to decipher the genetic basis for the stem color. Bulked segregant analysis in combination with RNA sequencing (BSR-seq) was used to genetically map the causal gene for the purple stem ( Ps), and the allele frequency difference between the two pools showed a single peak on chromosome C09. Ps was fine-mapped to the 0.32 cM interval with 406 kb sequences. A gene-encoding dihydroflavonol 4-reductase ( DFR), an enzyme in the anthocyanin biosynthesis pathway, was differentially expressed between the two pools, and was identified as the candidate gene for the purple stem in Chinese kale. Sequence analysis revealed that 1 bp was inserted in the coding sequence of exon 2 of the BoDRF gene in green kale, causing frameshift and loss of function. The expression level of the BoDFR gene was significantly lower than the Chinese kale cultivar with a purple stem. The genetic results of the Ps gene will be useful for future development of purple vegetables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SiO, TiO, and SiO-TiO binary oxides supported Cu-ZnO catalysts prepared by co-precipitation method were compared in the hydrogenation of ethyl acetate (EA) to ethanol (EtOH), and it shows the SiO-TiO binary oxides supported Cu-ZnO catalyst has a larger catalytic activity over the unitary SiO or TiO supported ones. Comprehensive characterizations by N adsorption, X-ray diffraction, H-temperature programmed reduction, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and X-ray induced Auger electron spectroscopy reveal that Cu-ZnO/SiO-TiO catalyst has an appropriate Cu/Cu molar ratio of about 1 with highly dispersed copper species and strong metal-support interaction. Furthermore, the electron transfer from TiO to copper species can accelerate the activation of C=O and improve the catalytic performance. Under the optimized reaction conditions of P = 2.0 MPa, T = 523 K, WHSV = 0.5 h, and n(H)/n(EA) = 20, the conversion of EA was up to 96% with EtOH selectivity of 99.5%. Graphical Abstract: [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Correction to: I Nature Communications i https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-35971-w, published online 17 January 2023 The original version of this Article contained a typographical error in the affiliation details for Authors Xinghao Li, Jin Wen, Linlin Zheng, Cheng Qian, Zhonghua Cheng, Hongyu Zuo, Mingqing Yu, Weiyi Zhang, and Yaozu Liao, which was previously incorrectly given as '1State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai, 201620, China' but should have been 'State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai, 201620, China'. Furthermore, in the original Methods section, one of the subheadings also contained a typographical error and was incorrectly given as "Synthesis of 4-cyanomethy-1-viny-1,2,4-triazolium bromide" but should have been "Synthesis of 4-cyanomethyl-1-vinyl-1,2,4-triazolium bromide". [Extracted from the article]

Heat shock factors (HSFs) are critical regulators of spermatogenesis. However, heat shock responses, the associated components and the underlying functional mechanisms remain to be elucidated. Here, we characterize the expression pattern of HSFY, a member of the HSF family in the testis and epididymis. Its expression in testis and epididymis was initially identified by western blots. Immunofluorescence staining demonstrated that HSFY was confined to the cytoplasm of late spermatocytes and spermatids in adult testes, gonocytes in newborn testes and undifferentiated spermatogonia in 7 days post-parturition testes. In the epididymis, HSFY was predominantly expressed in principal cells. Furthermore, a single transient scrotal heat stress did not change HSFY protein expression in the testes or epididymis, either on the expressional level or in cellular localization. In summary, this study detected the expression pattern of HSFY in the testes and epididymis and demonstrated that its expression was not regulated by transient elevated temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explore alternative architectures to reduce cost of IP-over-optical core networks. We conducted a detailed cost study of three architectures. We start with a Baseline architecture that captures present mode of operations with future traffic projections and utilizes technologies such as Ethernet line-cards and OTN sub-wavelength switching. The next architecture, Streamlined, replaces the hub-and-spoke topology of Baseline with a flat topology and is also more judicious in its restoration design. Our detailed study shows significant cost savings for the Streamlined architecture compared to the Baseline. We reduce the cost further in our third proposed architecture: Ethernet enabled IP core consisting of OTN switches (with and without packet switching) and without any backbone routers or MPLS switches. Our results also demonstrate that we can achieve significant reduction in switching costs but reducing cost of transport remains a significant challenge. This paper is an extended version of our previous work published in (11th international conference on the design of reliable communication networks (DRCN), pp 227-234, ). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

13-Oxyingenol dodecanoate (13OD) is an ingenol derivative prepared from Chinese traditional medicine Euphorbia kansui without any report about its bioactivity. The present study demonstrated for the first time that 13OD displayed potent cytotoxicity against chronic myeloid leukemia K562 cells in vitro. 13OD inhibited proliferation, induced G2/M phase arrest, and exhibited potent apoptotic activity in K562 cells. In K562 cells, 13OD disrupted the mitochondrial membrane potential and induced high level of ROS, which played an indispensable role in 13OD-induced apoptosis. Further investigations on the molecular mechanisms revealed that total Akt protein level was decreased in a caspase-dependent way after treatment with 13OD; in addition, ERK was activated by 13OD, and this activation played a protective role in 13OD stimulation. Altogether, these results revealed that the cytotoxic ingenol derivative 13OD induced apoptosis with novel mechanisms for the proapoptotic function in cancer cells, and suggested that 13OD may serve as a lead template for rational drug design and for future anticancer agent development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider the problem of Single-Tiered Relay Placement with Basestations, which takes as input a set $$S$$ of sensors and a set $$B$$ of basestations described as points in a normed space $$(M,d)$$ , and real numbers $$0< r\le R$$ . The objective is to place a minimum cardinality set $$Q$$ of wireless relay nodes that connects $$S$$ and $$B$$ according to the following rules. The sensors in $$S$$ can communicate within distance $$r$$ , relay nodes in $$Q$$ can communicate within distance $$R$$ , and basestations are considered to have an infinite broadcast range. Together the sets $$S, B$$ , and $$Q$$ induce an undirected graph $$G=(V,E)$$ defined as follows: $$V=S\cup B\cup Q$$ and $$E=\{uv|u,v\in B\}\cup \{uv|u\in Q$$ and $$v\in Q\cup B$$ and $$d(u,v)\le R\} \cup \{uv|u\in S$$ and $$v\in S\cup Q\cup B$$ and $$d(u,v)\le r\}$$ . Then $$Q$$ connects $$S$$ and $$B$$ when this induced graph is connected. In the case of the two-dimensional Euclidean plane, we get a $$(1+\ln 6+\epsilon )<2.8$$ -approximation algorithm, improving the previous best ratio of 3.11. Let $$\varDelta $$ be the maximum number of points on a unit ball with pairwise distance strictly bigger than 1. Under certain assumptions, we have a $$\left( 1+\ln (\varDelta +1)+\epsilon \right) $$ -approximation algorithm. When biconnectivity is required, we show that a variant of our previously proposed algorithm has approximation ratio of $$\varDelta + 2$$ . In the case of the two-dimensional Euclidean plane, our ratio of 7 improves our previous bound of 16. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cyclopamine (CPM) showed promise as a human cancer chemotherapy agent. However, limitations such as stomach acid instability and low solubility impair its clinical application. In this study, we synthesized a novel CPM analogue, isocyclopamine (ICPM), which had comparative bioactivity with CPM and improved stability and solubility. ICPM reversed doxorubicin resistance and had potent synergy with doxorubicin in MCF-7/ADR cells. We further demonstrated that the synergistic mechanism was related to the increased intracellular accumulation of doxorubicin in the cells and the downregulation of the cancer stem-like cells via modulation on both ABCB1 and ABCG2 transporters with independence of Smoothened. The present study identified ICPM as a novel derivative of CPM with better stability and solubility, which provided a useful tool for the biological and medicinal studies, as well as a novel agent for the development of new cancer chemotherapy with improved efficacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study that investigated the effectiveness of short message service (SMS) in improving patients' compliance and reducing cancellation rates. Topics include pre-procedural preparation and patient compliance, mobile service system, pre-procedural education and reminder function, and pre-procedural instructions using SMS.

Objective: To evaluate the effects of lesion location on adhesion and angiogenesis of transplanted endometriotic lesions in SCID mice. Methods: Three groups of female SCID mice included intraperitoneal (i.p.) ( n = 12), subcutaneous (s.c.) ( n = 12), and mock surgery (control) ( n = 12). At 2 weeks after ovariectomy, the mice were transplanted with eutopic endometrium from endometriosis patients either subcutaneously or sutured within the peritoneal, or underwent mock surgery. After 4 weeks, the mice were sacrificed to evaluate the adhesion and volume changes of the implanted lesions. Furthermore, semiquantitative immunohistochemical staining was performed to analyze expression of MMP-2 and TIMP-2 as adhesion makers, and vWF, VEGF, and HIF-1α as angiogenesis markers. Results: Adhesion occurred in 9 of 12 mice in the i.p. group, 3 of 12 mice in the s.c. group, and 3 of 12 mice in the control group. Fisher's exact test showed that the difference of adhesion occurrence between i.p. and s.c. groups was statistically significant ( p < 0.05). Graft volume changes were higher in the s.c. group than those in the i.p. group. MMP-2 expression was higher in the s.c. group than that in the i.p. group ( p < 0.01). There was no significant difference of TIMP-2 expression between s.c. and i.p. groups. vWF, VEGF, and HIF-1α expression was significantly higher in the s.c. group than that in the i.p. group ( p < 0.01). Conclusions: Lesion location might be involved in the pathological changes of endometriosis. The intraperitoneal location is related to endometriotic adhesion, whereas the subcutaneous location is related to the infiltration of endometriotic lesions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The skutterudites are an excellent candidate for thermoelectric materials used in mechanic free heat pump and electric generator. Using the ab initio density functional theory we have calculated the electronic band structure and thermoelectric properties of skutterudite RuSbTe. RuSbTe compound belongs to an indirect band gap semiconductor. The density of states has a sharp upturn at the conduction band edge and is very low at the valence band top. This feature suggests that Seebeck coefficient is larger for n doped than for p doped RuSbTe compound. The calculated Seebeck coefficient confirms this trend. It is in a qualitative agreement with the experiments if the temperature is not too high. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Taubes current is introduced by Taubes in (J Symplectic Geom 9:161-250, ) as an intermediate step to construct almost Kähler forms. In this paper, we prove that an almost complex structures being almost Kähler structure in dimension four is the equivalent of the existence of Taubes currents. Precisely, we show that Taubes currents could be regularized to almost Kähler forms up to small perturbations of cohomology classes on any 4-dimensional almost complex manifold $$(M, J)$$. A similar result is established for higher dimensions under the assumption of almost Kähler. An application to Donaldson's 'tamed to compatible' question is provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reliable transmission in Intermittently Connected Mobile Networks (ICMNs) is a challenging work because the effective and reliable connection between the source and the destination can not be sustained. To reliably hand over data packets to the destination, many dissemination-based routing protocols are proposed. Dissemination-based routing protocols assure nodes including intermediate nodes and destinations have more chances to receive packets, which will increase the probability that the packets can be correctly received by the destination. However, the existing error recovery mechanisms in network layer use the simple CRC to check the data packets independently, and discard the error packets even if one correct packet can be obtained from more than one partly error packets. In this paper, first we propose a novel Network layer Error Recovery method (abbreviated as NER) based on Forward Error Correction (FEC). NER divides a data packet into Reed Solomon (RS) blocks and insert redundancy to each block. So the intermediate nodes and destinations can recover a correct data packet from multiple partially error copies of the same packet. Then we propose a novel routing protocol named NER-DRP based on the Epidemic routing and NER, which can improve the performance of ICMNs in terms of delivery ratio, end-to-end delay and count of hops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multipath routing has been extensively employed in wireless mesh networks (WMNs) for providing network reliability and survivability, therefore, improves energy consumptions. To provide network survivability, each user should be protected against failures, either node or link failures. For each request, a primary path is set up for normal transmission, and an alternate path ( protection path) should also be provided to protect the request in case of network failure. In this paper, we study how to provide survivability using multi-path scheme for dynamic network traffic, where users' requests have random arrival times. Compared with previous work, our scheme considers interference and reusability factors when providing multiple paths for each request. By applying our scheme, the numerical results show that we can accommodate about 17% more requests than previous schemes. Meanwhile, the results show that our scheme not only accommodates more requests, but also takes less running time to find a solution for each request. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In view of the low thrust power ratio caused by the high resistance of pulsed plasma thruster using water propellant, the paper argues that the easily ionized elements Na and K with low ionic potentials are added in the water propellant to improve its performance. The measurement of the discharging current and plasma emission spectrographic analysis prove the improvement. The experiments show that the elements Na and K have certain effect on the improvement of the performance of pulsed plasma thruster: In comparison with water propellant, the NaCl and KCl water propellant has a lower total resistance and a higher ratio of thruster power and specific impulse, and the NaCl water propellant has a slightly stronger effect on pulsed plasma thruster than the KCl. The plasma emission spectrographic analysis is in consistent with the experiment of measuring the discharging current: The elements Na and K can intensify the plasma emission spectrographic signal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to research the effect of grape seed procyanidin extract (GSPE) on cell apoptosis in human bladder cancer BIU87 cells and investigate its molecular mechanism. BIU87 cells were treated with different concentrations of GSPE and cultured for 24 h in vitro while untreated group as control, MTT[3-(4,5-dimethylthiazole-2-yl) -2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide] assay, Hoechst 33258 stainning, flow cytometry, RT-PCR and Western blot were used to detect the apoptotic induction effect of GSPE on BIU87 cells. We found that GSPE induced cell apoptosis in BIU87 cells by a dose-dependent manner. Semiquantitated RT-PCR and Western blot analyses indicated that GSPE increased the expression of caspase-3 and decreased the expression of survivin ( P < 0.01). GSPE induces apoptosis in BIU87 cells in vitro, and the effect maybe related with its down-regulation of survivin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study rate allocation for a set of end-to-end communication sessions in multi-radio wireless mesh networks. We propose cross-layer schemes to solve the joint rate allocation, routing, scheduling, power control and channel assignment problems with the goals of maximizing network throughput and achieving certain fairness. Fairness is addressed using both a simplified max-min fairness model and the well-known proportional fairness model. Our schemes can also offer performance upper bounds such as an upper bound on the maximum throughput. Numerical results show that our proportional fair rate allocation scheme achieves a good tradeoff between throughput and fairness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reliability is a very important issue in Mobile Ad hoc NETworks (MANETs). Shortest paths are usually used to route packets in MANETs. However, a shortest path may fail quickly, because some of the wireless links along a shortest path may be broken shortly after the path is established due to mobility of mobile nodes. Rediscovering routes may result in substantial data loss and message exchange overhead. In this paper, we study reliable ad hoc routing in the urban environment. Specifically, we formulate and study two optimization problems. In the minimum Cost Duration-bounded Path (CDP) routing problem, we seek a minimum cost source to destination path with duration no less than a given threshold. In the maximum Duration Cost-bounded Path (DCP) routing problem, we seek a maximum duration source to destination path with cost no greater than a given threshold. We use a waypoint graph to model the working area of a MANET and present an offline algorithm to compute a duration prediction table for the given waypoint graph. An entry in the duration prediction table contains the guaranteed worst-case duration of the corresponding wireless link. We then present an efficient algorithm which computes a minimum cost duration-bounded path, using the information provided in the duration prediction table. We also present a heuristic algorithm for the DCP routing problem. In addition, we show that the proposed prediction and routing schemes can be easily applied for designing reliable ad hoc routing protocols. Simulation results show that our mobility prediction based routing algorithms lead to higher network throughput and longer average path duration, compared with the shortest path routing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite increasing knowledge about dimerization of G-protein-coupled receptors, nothing is known about dimerization in the largest subfamily, odorant receptors. Using a combination of biochemical and electrophysiological approaches, we demonstrate here that odorant receptors can dimerize. DOR83b, an odorant receptor that is ubiquitously expressed in olfactory neurons from Drosophila melanogaster and highly conserved among insect species, forms heterodimeric complexes with other odorant-receptor proteins, which strongly increases their functionality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vortex-free high-speed stir casting (VFHSC) methodology can achieve uniform dispersion of particles in melt without air entrapment for fabricating particle reinforced composites, and it has been proved to be feasible for preparing micron-composites by this methodology. In this work, in order to study deeply on particles in nano-size magnitude in composites by this methodology, the preparation of 1.5 vol.% Nano-Al2O3p/Al–Cu–Mg–Si composite is also investigated. The proper stirring parameters for ideal particle dispersion are determined to prepare the materials. Porosity of the composite can be limited to 0.147 % under the VFHSC methodology. The composition and microstructure of ingots, including the incorporation of Al2O3 particles as well as the morphology of precipitated phases, are examined by OM, XRD, SEM, TEM, HRTEM and EDS. The nano-particles are incorporated ideally in the matrix with restricted aggregation and sedimentation, and the well-bounded Al2O3–Al interface possesses semi-coherent interface. Moreover, the VFHSC 1.5 vol.% Nano-Al2O3p/Al–Cu–Mg–Si composite exhibits obvious strengthening, limited ductility reduction, higher hardness as well as better wear resistance than those of matrix, validating the efficacy of the VFHSC methodology on fabricating 1.5 vol.% Nano-Al2O3p/Al–Cu–Mg–Si composite. The work proves that incorporating nano-particles in Al matrix by VFHSC methodology is feasible and efficient. The work presented in this paper proposes a viable approach for the fabrication of nanocomposites using the stir casting method, thereby offering valuable insights for further research on stir casting technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we study an attraction-repulsion chemotaxis system with a free boundary in one space dimension. First, under some conditions, we investigate existence, uniqueness and uniform estimates of the global solution. Next, we prove a spreading-vanishing dichotomy for this model. In the vanishing case, the species fail to establish and die out in the long run. In the spreading case, we provide some sufficient conditions to prove that the species successfully spread to infinity as t→∞ and stabilize at a constant equilibrium state. The criteria for spreading and vanishing are also obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]