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Independent, bidirectional NIR-optogenetic manipulation of C. elegans motor behavior is demonstrated by synergistic integration of orthogonal emissive upconversion nanoparticles (OUCNPs) with a single dual-light responsive sensor, BiPOLES.

The Mo2C@NC/Mo2C hollow microspheres exhibit outstanding catalytic activity and fast kinetics toward hydrogen evolution in both acidic and alkaline solutions.

In recent years, the privacy issue in Vehicular Edge Computing (VEC) has gained a lot of concern. The privacy problem is even more severe in autonomous driving business than the other businesses in VEC such as ordinary navigation. Federated learning (FL), which is a privacy-preserved strategy proposed by Google, has become a hot trend to solve the privacy problem in many fields including VEC. Therefore, we introduce FL into autonomous driving to preserve vehicular privacy by keeping original data in a local vehicle and sharing the training model parameter only with the help of MEC server. Moreover, different from the common assumption of honest MEC server and honest vehicle in former studies, we take the malicious MEC servers and malicious vehicles into account. First, we consider honest-but-curious MEC server and malicious vehicles and propose a traceable identity-based privacy preserving scheme to protect the vehicular message privacy where improved Dijk-Gentry-Halevi-Vaikutanathan (DGHV) algorithm is proposed and a blockchain-based Reputation-based Incentive Autonomous Driving Mechanism (RIADM) is adopted. Further, when the case comes to the non-credibility of both parties where semi-honest MEC server and malicious vehicles are considered, we propose an anonymous identity-based privacy preserving scheme to protect the identity privacy of vehicles with Zero-Knowledge Proof (ZKP). Based on the simulation of virtual autonomous driving based on real-world road images, it is verified that our proposes scheme can reduce 73.7 % training loss of autonomous driving, increase the accuracy to around 5.55 % while keeps effective privacy of message and identity under the threat of dishonest MEC server and vehicles.

Eleven bla PER-1 -positive Pseudomonas aeruginosa clinical isolates showed variable susceptibility to ceftazidime-avibactam (CZA). The genetic contexts of bla PER-1 were identical (IS CR1 - bla PER-1 - gst ) except for the ST697 isolate HS204 (IS CR1 -IS Pa1635 - bla PER-1 - gst ).

The emergence of antimicrobial resistance poses a particular challenge globally, and the concept of P. aeruginosa with “difficult-to-treat” resistance (DTR- P. aeruginosa ) was proposed. Here, P. aeruginosa clinical isolates were highly susceptible to three β-lactamase inhibitor combinations, CZA, IMR, and ceftolozane-tazobactam.

PurposeTo evaluate whether postoperative circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in plasma of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) can be used as a biomarker for early detection of molecular residual disease (MRD) and prediction of postoperative recurrence.MethodsThis study subjects were evaluated patients with surgical resected non-small cell lung cancer. All eligible patients underwent radical surgery operation followed by adjuvant therapy. Tumor tissue samples collected during operation were used to detect tumor mutation genes, and blood samples collected from peripheral veins after operation were used to collect ctDNA. Molecular residue disease (MRD) positive was defined as at least 1 true shared mutation identified in both the tumor sample and a plasma sample from the same patient was.ResultsPositive postoperatively ctDNA was associated with lower recurrence-free survival (RFS).The presence of MRD was a strong predictor of disease recurrence. The relative contribution of ctDNA-based MRD to the prediction of RFS is higher than all other clinicopathological variables, even higher than traditional TNM staging. In addition, MRD-positive patients who received adjuvant therapy had improved RFS compared to those who did not, the RFS of MRD-negative patients receiving adjuvant therapy was lower than that of patients not receiving adjuvant therapy.ConclusionsPost-operative ctDNA analysis is an effective method for recurrence risk stratification of NSCLC, which is beneficial to the management of patients with NSCLC.

Searching n-type high-performance organic thermoelectric material with good air-stability and high transparency remains a big challenge. Here, we report an all-transparent n-type charge transfer complex [ZnBr2(Br-C6H4-NH2)2] with an ultra-wide band gap of 4.25 eV (~ 163 kBT). This material exhibits an ultrahigh electrical conductivity of ~ 2,936 S cm− 1 and a high Seebeck coefficient of − 114 µV K‒1, leading to an extraordinarily high power factor of ~ 3,797 µW m‒1 K‒2 at room temperature, which is a record value for organic thermoelectric materials. Remarkably, figure-of-merit (ZT) values of 0.23 at 298 K and 0.45 at 473 K were achieved, respectively. The ZT values are not only the state-of-the-art performance for n-type organic thermoelectric materials, but also better than those of some typical inorganic thermoelectric materials at near room-temperature range. The extraordinarily high thermoelectric performance is attributed to the electron transfer induced n-type heavily doped characteristic, high valley band degeneracy and heavy effective mass. Owing to its exceptional thermoelectric performance and excellent air-stability, [ZnBr2(Br-C6H4-NH2)2] can be considered as a milestone in the development of organic thermoelectric materials.

Echinococcosis is a zoonotic parasitic disease that is highly endemic to the Qinghai province of China. Limited data are available on the prevalence of the causal pathogen, Echinococcus spp., in definitive hosts in this region. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of Echinococcus spp. in wild foxes and stray dogs in Qinghai province. Five hundred and twenty-eight feces from wild foxes and 277 from stray dogs were collected from 11 counties in the Golog, Yushu, and Haixi prefectures and screened for Echinococcus spp. using copro-DNA polymerase chain reaction (PCR). In total, 5.5% of wild foxes and 15.2% of stray dogs tested positive for Echinococcus spp. The prevalence rates of Echinococcus spp. in wild foxes in Golog, Yushu, and Haixi were 7.3%, 5.2%, and 1.9%, respectively. In stray dogs, these rates were 13.3%, 17.3%, and 0%, respectively. Sequencing analysis determined that Echinococcus multilocularis was the most prevalent species, occurring in 4.0% and 12.6% of wild foxes and stray dogs, respectively. Echinococcus shiquicus was observed in 1.5% of wild foxes and 0.7% of stray dogs. Echinococcus granulosus was observed only in wild dogs, with a prevalence rate of 1.8%. To our knowledge, this is the first report on the prevalence of E. shiquicus in dogs in Qinghai province. The current results improve our understanding of the transmission and dissemination of human echinococcosis and suggest that exposure to the eggs of E. multilocularis harbored by wild foxes and stray dogs may pose a great risk of alveolar echinococcosis to humans in Qinghai province.

Developing highly active and stable nanocarbon catalysts for selective oxidation reactions has attracted much attention due to their potential as an alternative to traditional metal-based or noble metal catalysts. However, the nature of active sites and the reaction mechanism of nanocarbon catalysts for oxidation reactions still remains largely unknown, which hinders the rational design and development of highly efficient carbon-based catalysts. Here we report a facile strategy for the synthesis of boron and nitrogen co-doped carbon nanosheet material (BNC), which exhibits excellent catalytic activity with 91% conversion and 99% selectivity in selective oxidation of benzyl alcohol into benzaldehyde, superior to those of traditional carbon materials (oxidized carbon nanotubes, graphites and commercial nanocarbons). Structural characterizations and kinetic measurements are studied to clarify the active site, in which phenolic hydroxyl on BNC is responsible for the production of benzaldehyde. Meanwhile, we put forward a possible reaction mechanism and point out the key factors in determining the reactivity for this reaction. Therefore, the present work provides new insight into structure–function relationships, paving the way for the development of highly efficient nanocarbon catalysts.

The borocarbonitrides (BCNs) have exhibited enormous potential as non-metallic catalysts for alkane oxidative dehydrogenation (ODH) reactions. However, the poor electron transportation ability in BCN leads to a low reactivity of oxygen functional groups (–C=O and –B–OH). Herein, we present a generalized strategy to promote the catalytic activity of BCN through in situ encapsulation of transition-metal (Fe, Co, Ni) nanoparticles within BCN nanotubes (BCNNTs). Among them, individual metal particles themselves do not contribute directly on ODH reactions and mainly serve as electron modulators to tune the electron density of –C=O and –B–OH active sites on BCNNTs. As a result, catalytic activities of all metal@BCNNTs catalysts surpass pure BCN in ethylbenzene (EB) ODH reactions, among which Fe@BCNNTs displays a significant activity enhancement with 36% EB conversion with the styrene (ST) selectivity remaining >98% under gentle reaction conditions. Structural and kinetic analyses proved that the promotion effect originated from the strong interactions between metal nanoparticles and BCNNTs. The theoretical calculations disclosed that the enhanced ODH activity was due to the electron transfer from the encapsulated metal to BCNNTs, which increases the electron transportation ability and electron density of BCNNTs, thus promoting the nucleophilicity of –C=O and –B–OH active sites, leading to the reduced activation energy barrier for –C–H bond dissociation. The present work sets forth the structure-function relationship, identifying opportunities for rational design of highly efficient BCN catalysts for ODH reactions.

To provide guidance for plague surveillance and a reliable basis for plague prevention and control, we analyzed the habitat characteristics of Himalayan marmots, developed Himalayan marmot information collection system V3.0 based on global navigation satellite system (GNSS), remote sensing, and geographic information system (“3S”) technology, and drew a predictive spatial distribution map of Himalayan marmots in Qinghai Province. Field survey data of 352 marmot plague sites in Qinghai Province were collected in 2014, and the data from 80 sample sites were included. The Himalayan marmot habitat characteristics were analyzed based on “3S” technology using five environment variables (elevation, slope, aspect, vegetation cover, and grass type) and the geographical coordinates. Himalayan marmot information collection system V3.0, which has been approved by the National Copyright Administration of the People’s Republic of China (No.00764743), was used to draw a predictive spatial distribution map of Himalayan marmots in Qinghai province. Moreover, from 2015 to 2017, positioning data of the plague-foci and plague-free areas in Qinghai Province were collected using GNSS receptor for field validations to verify the accuracy of the marmot predictive spatial distribution map. Elevation, slope, vegetation cover, and grassland type were identified as important environmental factors that determine the spatial distribution of Himalayan marmots. The suitable range of environmental features was 3400–4600 m elevation, 5°–20° slope, 0.60–1.00 vegetation cover, and alpine meadows. The Himalayan marmot predictive spatial distribution map in Qinghai Province based on “3S” technology and marmot information collection system V3.0 had a spatial resolution of 30 m. Field validation in areas of Qinghai Province revealed a prediction accuracy and mean absolute error of 0.8669 and 0.1331, respectively, which indicated excellent prediction accuracy. This study greatly improved the work efficiency of plague surveillance and effectively reduced the work intensity of researchers. Application of “3S” technology and marmot information collection system V3.0 has improved the data collection efficiency, provided new technical means for plague investigation and research, and provided a reference for development of plague surveillance programs. The research results will play a positive role in promoting the improvement and perfection of plague prevention and control strategies in Qinghai province and even in China.

Summary Network latent space models assume that each node is associated with an unobserved latent position in a Euclidean , and such latent variables determine the probability of two nodes connecting with each other. In many applications, nodes in the network are often observed along with high-dimensional node variables, and these node variables provide important information for understanding the network structure. However, classical network latent space models have several limitations in incorporating node variables. In this paper, we propose a joint latent space model where we assume that the latent variables not only explain the network structure, but are also informative for the multivariate node variables. We develop a projected gradient descent algorithm that estimates the latent positions using a criterion incorporating both network structure and node variables. We establish theoretical properties of the estimators and provide insights into how incorporating high-dimensional node variables could improve the estimation accuracy of the latent positions. We demonstrate the improvement in latent variable estimation and the improvements in associated downstream tasks, such as missing value imputation for node variables, by simulation studies and an application to a Facebook data example.

Boron nitride (BN) as an emerging and revolutionary metal-free catalyst has demonstrated great potential in various oxidative dehydrogenation reactions. However, traditional BN sheets always presen...

With the development of e-commerce and information technology, new modes of distribution are emerging. A new type of distribution tool, UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle), has entered into the public’s field of vision. In the background of growing e-commerce, this paper proposes a new delivery mode of joint delivery of trucks and UAVs which particularly has been popular in recent years, with the advantages of prompt delivery, low cost, and independence from terrain restrictions, while traditional transportation tools such as trucks have more advantages in terms of flight distance and load capacity. Therefore, the joint delivery mode of trucks and UAVs proposed in this paper can well realize the complementary advantages of trucks and UAVs in the distribution process and consequently optimize the distribution process. Moreover, the growing e-commerce promotes customers’ higher needs for delivery efficiency and the integrity of the delivered goods which urges companies to pay more attention to customers’ satisfaction. This paper analyzes the joint delivery mode of trucks and UAVs, aims to minimize total delivery cost and maximize customer satisfaction, and builds a multiobjective optimization model for joint delivery. Furthermore, an improved ant colony algorithm is proposed in order to solve the mode in this paper. In order to effectively avoid prematurity of the ant colony algorithm, the limited pheromone concentration and the classification idea of the artificial bee colony algorithm are introduced to improve the ant colony algorithm. Finally, some experiments are simulated by MATLAB software, and the comparison shows that the joint delivery of trucks and UAVs has more advantages, and the improved ant colony algorithm is more efficient than the traditional ant colony.

Objectives To characterize the novel subclass B1 MBL AFM-1, encoded by a blaIMP-45-bearing megaplasmid from a carbapenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa (CRPA) clinical isolate. Methods CRPA HS17-127 and its transconjugant were discovered to carry blaAFM-1 in our previous study. blaAFM-1 and blaNDM-1 were cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli TOP10 and P. aeruginosa PAO1, respectively, to test the resistance phenotype. Kinetic studies were performed to elucidate the biochemical characteristics of the AFM-1 enzyme. Comparative genomic analysis was applied to investigate the genetic context of blaAFM-1. Results PAO1 transconjugant TcHS17-127 exhibited carbapenem resistance with an imipenem MIC of 64 mg/L. E. coli transformants with cloned blaAFM-1 or blaNDM-1 had increased MICs of all β-lactams tested (except aztreonam) and imipenem MICs of 4–8 mg/L. Kinetic studies showed that AFM-1 had greater catalytic efficiency against cephalosporins than carbapenems. blaAFM-1 was located on a 486 963 bp IncP-2 plasmid, pHS17-127, containing a 57.3 kb MDR Tn1403-derivative transposon, Tn6485e, which is genetically closest to the blaIMP-45-bearing Tn6485 transposon but has acquired an extra ISCR27n3-blaAFM-1 module. Multicentre surveillance of 605 P. aeruginosa clinical isolates identified three blaAFM carriers from different STs. Two of them co-carried blaAFM-1 and blaIMP-45. A BLAST search against the NCBI database showed six blaAFM carriers on various plasmids and the chromosomes of different Gram-negative species. Conclusions The blaAFM-1 gene confers carbapenem resistance and has been captured in distinct species of non-fermenters. Co-carriage of blaAFM-1 and blaIMP-45 in an MDR transposon on a conjugative plasmid can be expected to promote further dissemination of blaMBLs.

Polyaniline nanofiber (PANI-f) was covalently linked with cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) modified graphene oxide nanosheets (CTGO) to fabricate a smart composite coating for corrosion protection of carbon steel. In the copolymerization process, CTAB served both as a modifier for the modification of GO and a dispersant for the preparation of polyaniline nanofibers. The prepared PANI-f can avoid the accelerated corrosion of steel by a conventional synthesis method using hydrochloric acid as medium. The covalent binding between PANI-f and CTGO improved the compatibility of PANI-f-GO with the waterborne epoxy emulsion, which significantly enhanced the hydrophobicity and antipermeability of the coating. The PANI-f-GO waterborne epoxy coating exhibited excellent smart corrosion protection efficiency by catalyzing the formation of passivation film on the steel surface. Molecular adsorption energy on Fe(110) and radial distribution function confirmed the chemical adsorption of the PANI-f-GO composite on the steel surface. The superior smart protective performance can be ascribed to the synergistic effects of PANI-f and CTGO.

Hydrogen activation and the consequent catalytic hydrogenation of nitrobenzene on metal-free catalysts have been an attractive alternative to traditional metal-based catalytic process. Here we design a type of B/P co-doped nanocarbon (BPC) catalyst