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Intelligent evolutionary algorithm is an important method to solve optimization problems. Most of their inspiration comes from the laws of nature and biology. This paper proposes a new intelligent evolutionary algorithm based on the life habits of Rafflesia, which is called Rafflesia Optimization Algorithm. It mainly consists of three stages: attracting insects, swallowing insects, and spreading seeds. In the first stage, the ROA algorithm performs the local search to find the optimal solution. In the second stage, it improves execution efficiency and solution accuracy by reducing the number of individuals. In the third stage, it performs the global search to jump out of the local optimal position. In the experimental part, this paper uses numerical functions (the CEC2013 benchmark function set) and practical application problems (the logistics distribution centers location problem) to test the performance of the ROA algorithm, and compares it with seven meta-heuristics algorithms. The experimental results prove the effectiveness and practicability of the ROA algorithm. &nbsp

The severe wear of cemented carbide tool can lead to problems such as short tool life and poor part surface integrity. Fortunately, it has been found that the tool wear may be reduced by modifying the cutting edge microgeometry. However, there is a few studies that offer specific instructions for this modification. In addition, it is costly to realize this for machining tools through merely experiments. Therefore, in this paper, an improved approach is proposed by combining the finite-element (FE) simulation method with a user-defined wear rate model. To achieve this, a new wear rate model was proposed at first, regarding the wear mechanisms of the carbide tool during machining of Inconel 718 alloy. Then, four sets of carefully designed cutting tests and FE simulations were carried out to calibrate and verify the new model. At last, extensive FE simulations were conducted to investigate the influence of tool edge microgeometry on tool life. The simulated results indicate that the tool life increases with the increase of the form factor K within a given range. This finding on optimized tool edge was further verified by performing a group of cylindrical turning experiments. The experimental measurements reveal that the tool life has increased by 24% and 50% maximum when increasing K from 0.9 to 2.8 under the two given cutting conditions.

Thyroid hormone (TH) has a profound effect on energy metabolism and systemic homeostasis. Adipose tissues are crucial for maintaining whole-body homeostasis; however, whether TH regulates systemic metabolic homeostasis through its action on adipose tissues is unclear. Here, we demonstrate that systemic administration of triiodothyronine (T3), the active form of TH, affects both inguinal white adipose tissue (iWAT) and whole-body metabolism. Taking advantage of the mouse model lacking adipocyte TH receptor (TR) α or TRβ, we show that TRβ is the major TR isoform that mediates T3 action on the expression of genes involved in multiple metabolic pathways in iWAT, including glucose uptake and use, de novo fatty acid synthesis, and both UCP1-dependent and -independent thermogenesis. Moreover, our results indicate that glucose-responsive lipogenic transcription factor in iWAT is regulated by T3, thereby being critically involved in T3-regulated glucose and lipid metabolism and energy dissipation. Mice with adipocyte TRβ deficiency are susceptible to diet-induced obesity and metabolic dysregulation, suggesting that TRβ in adipocytes may be a potential target for metabolic diseases. Article Highlights How thyroid hormone (TH) achieves its diverse biological activities in the regulation of metabolism is not fully understood. Whether TH regulates systemic metabolic homeostasis via its action on white adipose tissue is unclear. Adipocyte TH receptor (TR) β mediates the triiodothyronine effect on multiple metabolic pathways by targeting glucose-responsive lipogenic transcription factor in white adipose tissue; mice lacking adipocyte TRβ are susceptible to high-fat diet–induced metabolic abnormalities. TRβ in white adipocytes controls intracellular and systemic metabolism and may be a potential target for metabolic diseases.

QUasi-Affine TRansformation Evolutionary (QUATRE) is an excellent algorithm that generalized differential evolution algorithm to matrix form. There are two approaches of Binary QUATRE (BQUATRE) algorithm that convert the continuous search space to the binary one. The convergence process of meta-heuristic algorithms can be regarded as two stages: exploration and exploitation. Generally speaking, transfer function plays an important role in the binary metaheuristic algorithms. Therefore, four families of transfer functions are converted into the time-varying form to balance the exploration and exploitation. In particular, a new timevarying formula for the V-shaped, U-shaped and Z-shaped transfer functions is designed in this manuscript. Then, two new approaches of BQUATRE algorithm using the timevarying transfer functions are proposed. In addition, a wrapper feature selection algorithm is designed based on the proposed time-varying BQUATRE. In order to verify the performance of the proposed algorithms, the UCI repository is used in the experiment and the results show that the proposed algorithms are superior to the original BQUATRE and the state-of-the-art algorithms. &nbsp

The de novo differentiation of hyperplastic adipocytes from adipocyte progenitor cells (APCs) is accompanied by a reduction in adipose tissue fibrosis and inflammation and improvement in insulin sensitivity in obesity and aging. However, the regulators of APC proliferation are poorly understood. Here, we show that fibroblast growth factor 6 (FGF6) acts in an autocrine and/or paracrine manner to control platelet-derived growth factor receptor α–positive APC proliferation via extracellular signal–regulated kinase (ERK) signaling. Specific FGF6 overexpression in inguinal white adipose tissue (iWAT) improved the signs of high-fat diet– or aging-induced adipose hypertrophy and insulin resistance. Conversely, chronic FGF6 expression blockade in iWAT, mediated by a neutralizing antibody or Fgf6 expression deficiency, impaired adipose tissue expansion and glucose tolerance. Overall, our data suggest that FGF6 acts as a proliferative factor for APCs to maintain fat homeostasis and insulin sensitivity. ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS

We developed a high sensitivity (13.4 mK Hz−1/2) silicon carbide divacancy-based thermometer using the thermal dynamical decoupling method and used it to monitor the laboratory temperature variations for 24 hours.

This article addresses the fixed-time (F-T) and predefined-time (P-T) cluster lag synchronization of stochastic multi-weighted complex networks (SMWCNs) via strictly intermittent quantized control (SIQC). Firstly, by exploiting mathematical induction and reduction to absurdity, a novel F-T stability lemma is proved and an accurate estimation of settling time (ST) is obtained. Subsequently, by virtue of the proposed F-T stability, some simple conditions that ensure the F-T cluster lag synchronization of SMWCNs are derived by developing a SIQC strategy. Furthermore, the P-T cluster lag synchronization is also explored based on a SIQC design, where the ST can be predefined by an adjustable constant of the controller. Note that the designed controllers here are simpler and more economical than the traditional design whose the linear part is still activated during the rest interval. Finally, two numerical examples are provided to verify the effectiveness of the theoretical results.

Point-to-face Z-scheme Cd0.6Zn0.4S/g-C3N4 with a robust internal electric field was synthesized by an in situ growth strategy and showed highly efficient H2O2 production activity.

A palladium-catalyzed β-C(sp3)–H nitrooxylation of aliphatic alcohols with AgNO2 is reported. Various nitrooxylated alcohols could be obtained and converted into 1,2-diol and 1,2-amino alcohol.

Dual leucine zipper kinase (DLK) and leucine zipper-bearing kinase (LZK) are regulators of neuronal degeneration and axon growth. Therefore, there is a considerable interest in developing DLK/LZK inhibitors for neurodegenerative diseases. Herein, we use ligand- and structure-based drug design approaches for identifying novel amino-pyrazine inhibitors of DLK/LZK. DN-1289 (

Feedstock design is crucial for lignocellulosic biomass use. Current strategies for feedstock design cannot be readily applied to improve the quality of biomass-based materials, limiting the sustainability and economics of lignocellulosic biorefineries. Recent studies have advanced the understanding of biomass structure-property relationships and discovered several characteristics, such as molecular weight, uniformity, linkage profile, and functional groups, that are critical for manufacturing diverse quality biomaterials. These discoveries call for fundamentally different strategies for feedstock development. Such strategies need to rediscover the roles of monolignol biosynthesis enzymes and leverage lignin polymerization enzymes to achieve precise control of lignin molecular structure. These innovations could transform biomass into feedstock for high-quality biomaterials, addressing essential environmental challenges and empowering the bioeconomy.

The goals and approaches to fluid therapy vary through different stages of resuscitation. This pilot study was designed to test the safety and feasibility of a fluid therapy protocol for the second or optimisation stage of resuscitation in patients with predicted severe acute pancreatitis (SAP).Spontaneously breathing patients with predicted SAP were admitted after initial resuscitation and studied over a 24-h period in a tertiary hospital ward. Objective clinical assessment (OCA; heart rate, mean arterial pressure, urine output, and haematocrit) was done at 0, 4, 8, 12, 18-20, and 24 h. All patients had mini-fluid challenge (MFC; 250 ml intravenous normal saline within 10 min) at 0 h and repeated at 4 and 8 h if OCA score ≥2. Patients who were fluid responsive (10% change in stroke volume after MFC) received 5-10 ml/kg/h, otherwise 1-3 ml/kg/h until the next time point. Passive leg raising test (PLRT) was done at each time point and compared with OCA for assessing volume status and predicting fluid responsiveness.This fluid therapy protocol based on OCA, MFC, and PLRT and designed for the second stage of resuscitation was safe and feasible in spontaneously breathing predicted SAP patients. The PLRT was superior to OCA (at 0 and 8 h) for predicting fluid responsiveness and guiding fluid therapy.This pilot study found that a protocol for intravenous fluid therapy specifically for the second stage of resuscitation in patients with predicted SAP was safe, feasible, and warrants further investigation.

The treatments currently used for prostate cancer (PC) do not meet clinical needs, and thus, new therapies with greater effectiveness are urgently required. Metabolic reprogramming of tumor cells is emerging as an exciting field for cancer therapy. Although the Warburg effect is a common feature of glucose metabolism in many cancers, PC cells have a unique metabolic phenotype. Non-neoplastic prostate cells show reduced oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) because large, accumulated zinc inhibits citrate oxidation. During transformation, there are low levels of zinc in PC cells, and the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle is reactivated. However, metastatic PC exhibits the Warburg effect. Due to metabolic differences in prostate tissue, targeting metabolic alterations in PC cells is an attractive therapeutic strategy. In this study, we investigated the effect of juglone on energy metabolism in PC cells. We found that juglone inhibited cell proliferation and induced apoptosis. Mechanistically, we demonstrated that juglone suppressed OXPHOS and glycolysis due to its inhibition of hexokinase (HK), phosphofructokinase (PFK), and pyruvate kinase (PK) activity. Furthermore, downregulation of PFK and PK, but not HK contributed to the inhibition of these enzyme activities. The current study indicates that further development of juglone for PC treatment would be beneficial.

To efficiently solve severe energy shortage and environmental pollution issues, step-scheme (S-scheme) photocatalytic system, as perfect photocatalyst with strong redox ability and swift separation efficiency of carriers, has been considered a feasible tactic. Herein, a novel S-scheme silver/silver iodide/bismuth oxybromide heterojunction with rich oxygen vacancies (OVs) (labeled as Ag/AgI/BiO

In Cloud Radio Access Networks (C-RANs), the performance of real-time Internet of Things (IoT) content retrieval is improved by placing/requesting the contents into/from remote radio heads (RRHs) and baseband units (BBUs). In the previous studies for the problem in jointly placing user contents and allocating storage allocation of RRHs and BBUs, a strategy of minimizing system resource consumption or transmission delay was used. In this paper, we adopt a distinct strategy to maximize the profit of content retrieval services under the constraints of meeting the real-time requirements of users and the limited system resources in C-RANs. The problem is formulated as integer linear programming (ILP). Then, an algorithm for solving the ILP is proposed, and it can provide an approximate solution close to the optimal one with a bounded factor. In the simulation conducted, the results verified the above claims. Further, another algorithm is proposed to effectively expand the storage budgets in C-RANs. By controlling a bounded factor, not only the system performance is guaranteed, but also the upper limit of the expanded storage budget is provided. The smaller the bounding factor, the stricter the performance guarantee, but the expected storage budget will increase.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is caused by imbalance in lipid metabolism. In this study, we show that the hepatokine orosomucoid (ORM) 2 is a key regulator of de novo lipogenesis in the liver. Hepatic and plasma ORM2 levels are markedly decreased in obese murine models and patients with NAFLD. Through multiple loss- and gain-of function studies, we demonstrate that ORM2 is essential to maintain hepatic and systemic lipid homeostasis. At the mechanistic level, ORM2 binds to inositol 1, 4, 5-trisphosphate receptor type 2 to activate AMP-activated protein kinase signaling, thereby inhibiting sterol regulatory element binding protein 1c-mediated lipogenic gene program. Notably, intraperitoneal injections of recombinant ORM2 protein or stabilized ORM2-FC fusion protein markedly improved liver steatosis, steatohepatitis and atherosclerosis in preclinical mouse models, without adverse effects on body weight or food intake. Thus, these findings suggest that ORM2 may serve as a potential target for therapeutic intervention in NAFLD, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis and related lipid disorders.