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We apply computer vision pose estimation techniques developed expressly for the data-scarce infant domain to the study of torticollis, a common condition in infants for which early identification and treatment is critical. Specifically, we use a combination of facial landmark and body joint estimation techniques designed for infants to estimate a range of geometric measures pertaining to face and upper body symmetry, drawn from an array of sources in the physical therapy and ophthalmology research literature in torticollis. We gauge performance with a range of metrics and show that the estimates of most these geometric measures are successful, yielding strong to very strong Spearman's $\rho$ correlation with ground truth values. Furthermore, we show that these estimates, derived from pose estimation neural networks designed for the infant domain, cleanly outperform estimates derived from more widely known networks designed for the adult domain

A new alkaloid named aspergilalkaloid A (1) with pyridoindole hydroxymethyl piperazine dione structure along with six known compounds 2-7 were isolated from deep-sea derived fungus Aspergillus sp. HDN20-1401. The structure including absolute configuration was elucidated by extensive NMR analyses, HRESIMS, ECD calculation, and theoretical NMR calculation with DP4+ analysis. All isolated compounds were tested for antimicrobial and anticancer activity. Aspergilalkaloid A (1) showed inhibitive activity against Bacillus cereus with MIC value of 12.5 μM and weak activity against MRCNS.

Biases in attention to emotional stimuli (i.e., affect-biased attention) contribute to the development and mainte-nance of depression and anxiety and may be a promising target for intervention. Past attempts to therapeutically modify affect-biased attention have been unsatisfactory due to issues with reliability and precision. Electroencephalogram (EEG)-derived steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPS) provide a temporally-sensitive biological index of attention to competing visual stimuli at the level of neuronal populations in the visual cortex. SSVEPS can potentially be used to quantify whether affective distractors vs. task-relevant stimuli have "won" the competition for attention at a trial-by-trial level during neuro-feedback sessions. This study piloted a protocol for a SSVEP-based neurofeedback training to modify affect-biased attention using a portable augmented-reality (AR) EEG interface. During neurofeedback sessions with five healthy participants, signifi-cantly greater attention was given to the task-relevant stimulus (a Gabor patch) than to affective distractors (negative emotional expressions) across SSVEP indices (p0.000l). SSVEP indices exhibited excellent internal consistency as evidenced by a maximum Guttman split-half coefficient of 0.97 when comparing even to odd trials. Further testing is required, but findings suggest several SSVEP neurofeedback calculation methods most deserving of additional investigation and support ongoing efforts to develop and implement a SSVEP-guided AR-based neurofeedback training to modify affect-biased attention in adolescent girls at high risk for depression.

Organic solvents frequently lead to substantial occupational health issues in secondary industries. This study examined the xylene diffusion process in painting workshops as a case study to develop a control of indoor air quality in manufacturing workshops. Three-dimensional simulations of xylene emission were built based on a ventilated chamber test to provide the source term for the mathematical model. An exponential relationship was established between xylene emissions rates and time. Numerical results obtained using the emissions rate model were more consistent with experimental data than those from constant emission rate. Owing to the property that is denser than air; therefore, given the coupled influence of molecular diffusion, gravity and environmental turbulence, the xylene concentration at a height of 0.75–2.5 m is high, and it could possibly exceed the Chinese standard, GBZ 2.1–2019 permissible concentration time weighted average (PC-TWA) of 50 mg/m3 in human-occupied zones. At the height of the human breathing zone (1.1 m), the aggregated concentration may even exceed the PC-TWA at 450 s by 100 times. Considering that the diffusion of xylene in a painting workshop represents heavy-gas pollutant diffusion problems, this study can be extended to predict pollutant concentration distributions in other secondary industrial workshops.

Objective Wuhan was the first Chinese city to be lockdown for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in springtime of 2020. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between sleep status, body mass index, anxiety and depression in college students during the post-pandemic era in the universities of Wuhan, China. Methods A total of 1457 college students completed the online surveys from December 25, 2020 to January 16, 2021. Collected data included gender, age, school name, native place, grade, major, body mass index (BMI), the scores of self-assessment lists of sleep (SRSS), Zung self-rating anxiety scale (SAS) and Zung depression self-rating scale (SDS). Results 1445 valid questionnaires (99.18%) were received. Of all the respondents, the prevalence of insomnia, overweight and obesity, anxiety and depression were 32.73%, 19.45%, 15.43% and 62.91%, respectively. Female students were more likely to have insomnia and anxiety than male students. The rate of insomnia, overweight and obesity in postgraduates were higher than undergraduates. Non-medical students were more likely to be overweight and obese than medical students. In addition, insomnia severity was positively correlated to anxiety severity, and BMI was positively correlated to anxiety or depression severity. There was also a positive correlation between the severity of anxiety and depression. Conclusion During the post-pandemic era, insomnia and depression are common problems among college students in Wuhan, suggesting that we should strengthen the sleep education of college students to improve sleeping disorders and psychosomatic health.

We lay the groundwork for research in the algorithmic comprehension of infant faces, in anticipation of applications from healthcare to psychology, especially in the early prediction of developmental disorders. Specifically, we introduce the first-ever dataset of infant faces annotated with facial landmark coordinates and pose attributes, demonstrate the inadequacies of existing facial landmark estimation algorithms in the infant domain, and train new state-of-the-art models that significantly improve upon those algorithms using domain adaptation techniques. We touch on the closely related task of facial detection for infants, and also on a challenging case study of infrared baby monitor images gathered by our lab as part of in-field research into the aforementioned developmental issues.

Strongly fluorescent and water soluble bioprobes are in great demand for studying important biological events and processes. The quenching effect of conventional organic dyes caused by aggregation, and the high toxicity of inorganic quantum dots are thorny issues that have constantly obsessed scientists in this area of research. In this work, a large number of tetraphenylethene (TPE) units were successfully attached to N-succinyl-chitosan (NSCS) macromolecular chains to fabricate a novel TPE-NSCS fluorescent bioconjugate, which was strongly emissive in the solid state due to its aggregation-induced emission effect. TPE-NSCS could be solubilized in water over a wide range of pH values. We were pleasantly surprised to see that stained cells still showed a bright fluorescence emission for as many as 30 passages. The water solubility over a wide pH range, ultra long-term retention in cells, and strong fluorescence signals indicate that TPE-NSCS is a promising candidate for various biomedical applications.

In this study, a new kind of sustained-release silver-loaded chitosan-based sponge was developed by a simple and green method as a long-lasting antimicrobial dressing. The embedded silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were prepared by catechol-conjugated chitosan (CCS). The CCS-coated AgNPs (CCS-AgNPs) were incorporated into the chitosan (CS) matrix through interactions between the catechol and amino groups of CS. Well-dispersed and unaggregated CCS-AgNPs were observed in the composite sponges. Due to an interconnected multi-porous structure, the composite sponges exhibited excellent flexibility and water absorption capability, which is beneficial to remove excess exudates effectively. In silver release tests, CCS-AgNPs/CS showed sustained release, whereas the control group without catechol exhibited burst release. As a bridge to bind AgNPs into the CS matrix, catechol extended the silver release time from 1 day to at least 4 days. The prolonged silver release endows CCS-AgNPs/CS sponges with long-lasting bacteriostatic effects against both Gram positive and negative bacteria. Bacterial growth was completely inhibited for up to 3 days. Meanwhile, the embedded CCS-AgNPs significantly improved the bactericidal effect. More than 99.99% bacteria could be killed by the composite sponges, which completely satisfies antibacterial requirements for wound healing. As a double-edged sword, an excessively high silver content induced cytotoxicity in MC3T3 cells. In general, the CCS-AgNPs/CS sponge with appropriate silver content (0.63 wt%) is considered as a potential candidate for wound healing dressings due to its long-lasting bacteriostatic effect, powerful bactericidal activity, and excellent biocompatibility.

A novel chitosan (CS)-based asymmetric scaffold composed of a dense layer and a loose layer was fabricated via the self-deposition approach. The micro-structure and mechanical properties were verified to satisfy the criteria for the guided tissue regeneration (GTR) membrane. The in vitro biocompatibility of the scaffold was verified by the CCK-8 assays of MC3T3 osteoblastic cells. The rat skull defect model was applied to estimate the in vivo bone regeneration performance. The micro-CT and histological results manifested its outstanding bone regenerative ability and superior degradability over the Bio-gide® membrane. Considering the relative low expense and simple fabrication process, the prepared asymmetric CS scaffold is a prospective candidate for GTR therapy.

In this study, catechol-conjugated chitosan (CSS) was synthesized to prepare silver nanoparticles in aqueous solution as both a reducing and stabilizing agent. The entire reaction process complied with the principles of green chemistry. The stability and physicochemical properties of CSS-coated silver nanoparticles (CSS–Ag NPs) were well characterized by a series of techniques. A narrow diameter distribution and excellent stability were observed in the target CSS–Ag NPs. Determination of the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and the disk diffusion test were applied to evaluate the antibacterial activities with respect to quantity and quality, respectively. The cytotoxic effects on HepG2 cells were also evaluated with a series of assays. The resulting CSS–Ag NPs combined the unique properties of chitosan and silver nanoparticles, showing effective antibacterial activities and low cytotoxicity. The effective toxic concentration of CSS–Ag NPs towards E. coli and S. aureus is too low to damage HepG2 cells. The results demonstrated that CSS–Ag NPs could be a potential candidate for use in biological and pharmaceutical areas to prevent infections caused by microorganisms.

In view of the potential risk and disaster caused by the unreasonable controlling measures during blasting work, ground motion experiments under two in situation blasting were carried out. Based on ground motion data acquired from blasting experiments, analysis of time-frequency characteristics is carried out. Frequency spectrum of velocity and acceleration is obtained by using FFT method. Then general law of spectrum distribution of ground motion signal at different blasting distance is obtained. The result shows that the velocity and acceleration data of two blasting experiments were highly similar to each other in time and frequency domain, and the frequency distribution concentrated in lower frequency band if the position is farther away from the detonation center. Empirical calculation formula of the peak velocity is obtained by fitting the ground motion data using the Sadolski method which can provide reference for the following blasting work.

As absorbable hemostatic dressings, chitosan with a deacetylation degree of 40% (CS-40) and 73% (CS-73) have been fabricated into sponges via a modified method. The hemostatic, biocompatible and biodegradable properties were evaluated through in vivo assays. In a hepatic hemorrhage model, the chitosan sponges, with excellent blood compatibility, achieved less blood loss than the gelation sponge (GS). In addition, CS-40 showed better hemostatic capability and biodegradability than CS-73. After implantation, a histological analysis indicated that CS-40 exhibited the best biodegradability, tissue regeneration and least tissue adhesion. By contrasting CS-40 and CS-73, the deacetylation degree is confirmed to be a key factor for the hemostatic effect, biodegradability, biocompatibility and tissue regeneration. Our overall results demonstrated the potential application of CS-40 for use in absorbable hemostatic dressings.

In order to prepare a novel hemostatic dressing for uncontrolled hemorrhage, a porous chitosan sponge was coated with self-assembled (thrombin/tannic acid) n films, which were based on hydrogen bonding interactions between thrombin and tannic acid at physiologic pH. According to the whole blood clotting test, the coated chitosan sponges showed a significantly high rate of blood clotting due to the addition of thrombin. On the other hand, the storable half-life of immobilized thrombin is extended to 66.9 days at room temperature, which is 8.5 times longer than unfixed thrombin. It is because of the immobilization effect of, not only the porous structure of chitosan sponge but also the interactions between thrombin and tannic acid. In addition, the tannic acid has similar antibacterial effect to chitosan. Therefore, it is an excellent combination of chitosan, thrombin and tannic acid. Besides, all of materials in this research have been approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). So the chitosan-based sponge is a promising candidate dressing for uncontrolled hemorrhage due to its storable, bio-safe and highly effective hemostatic properties.

This paper presents an optimization approach to explain why and how a quantum system evolves from an arbitrary initial state to a stationary state, satisfying the time-independent Schr\"{o}dinger equation. It also points out the inaccuracy of this equation, which is critial important in quantum mechanics and quantum chemistry, due to a fundamental flaw in it conflicting with the physical reality. The some directions are suggested on how to modify the equation to fix the problem, Comment: Presented in the 12th international conference on Mathematical Results in Quantum Mechanics (QMATH12), Humboldt University of Berlin, September, 2013

In a society of multiple individuals, if everybody is only interested in maximizing his own payoff, will there exist any equilibrium for the society? John Nash proved more than 50 years ago that an equilibrium always exists such that nobody would benefit from unilaterally changing his strategy. Nash Equilibrium is a central concept in game theory, which offers the mathematical foundation for social science and economy. However, the original definition is declarative without including a solution to find them. It has been found later that it is computationally difficult to find a Nash equilibrium. Furthermore, a Nash equilibrium may be unstable, sensitive to the smallest variation of payoff functions. Making the situation worse, a society with selfish individuals can have an enormous number of equilibria, making it extremely hard to find out the global optimal one. This paper offers a constructive generalization of Nash equilibrium to cover the case when the selfishness of individuals are reduced to lower levels in a controllable way. It shows that the society has one and only one equilibrium when the selfishness is reduced to a certain level. When every individual follows the iterative, soft-decision optimization process presented in this paper, the society converges to the unique equilibrium with an exponential rate under any initial conditions. When it is a consensus equilibrium at the same time, it must be the global optimum. The study of this paper suggests that, to build a good, stable society (including the financial market) for the benefit everyone in it, the pursuing of maximal payoff by each individual should be controlled at some level either by voluntary good citizenship or some proper regulations.

The fundamental laws of quantum world upsets the logical foundation of classic physics. They are completely counter-intuitive with many bizarre behaviors. However, this paper shows that they may make sense from the perspective of a general decision-optimization principle for cooperation. This principle also offers a generalization of Nash equilibrium, a key concept in game theory, for better payoffs and stability of game playing.