Search

Abstract Simultaneous electromagnetic field probing system (SEMPS) has been popular in recent years. Herein, a simultaneous electromagnetic field probing system with Y‐shaped separation detection structure (SEMPS Y) is first proposed, in which the electric field probing region and the magnetic field probing region of the probe are separated by completely covering the shield along the loop and adding a pin‐shaped metal wire to capture the electric field, which are not the same as the classical dual probe structure. Combined with the non‐rotating asymmetric calibration method (NRACM), a 4‐port vector network analyser (VNA) and a highly symmetric grounded coplanar waveguide (GCPW) calibrator are used to solve the calibration matrix of the asymmetric SEMPS Y. The high symmetry GCPW calibrator is used to generate the standard electromagnetic field for calibration. The results of standing wave measurements show that the SEMPS Y can achieve ultrawideband electromagnetic field measurement of up to 20 GHz. Based on near‐field scanning measurements, SEMP Y can obtain results consistent with the calculation. In addition, when the probe is rotated 90° to invalidate the H‐field input, the decoupling curves of E‐field and H‐field are measured. Results show that the separation detection structure can effectively solve the cross‐coupling problem.

Abstract Background The COVID‐19 pandemic, caused by the SARS‐CoV‐2 virus, has resulted in illness, deaths and societal disruption on a global scale. Societies have implemented various control measures to reduce transmission of the virus and mitigate its impact. Individual behavioural changes are crucial to the successful implementation of these measures. One commonly recommended measure to limit risk of infection is frequent handwashing. It is important to identify those factors that can predict the uptake and maintenance of handwashing. Objectives We aimed to identify and synthesise the evidence on malleable psychological and psychosocial factors that determine uptake and adherence to handwashing aimed at reducing the risk of infection or transmission of COVID‐19. Search Methods We searched various literature sources including electronic databases (Medline ALL, Child Development & Adolescent Studies, ERIC, PsycInfo, CINAHL and Web of Science), web searches, conference proceedings, government reports, other repositories of literature and grey literature. The search strategy was built around three concepts of interest including (1) context (terms relating to COVID‐19), (2) behaviour of interest and (3) terms related to psychological and psychosocial determinants of COVID Health‐Related Behaviours and adherence or compliance with handwashing, to capture malleable determines. Searches capture studies up until October 2021. Selection Criteria Eligibility criteria included observational studies (both retrospective and prospective) and experimental studies that measure and report malleable psychological and psychosocial determinants and handwashing at an individual level, amongst the general public. Screening was supported by the Cochrane Crowd. Titles and abstracts were screened against the eligibility criteria by three independent screeners. Following this, all potentially relevant studies were screened at full‐text level by the research team. All conflicts between screeners were resolved by discussion between the core research team. Data Collection and Analysis All data extraction was managed in EPPI‐Reviewer software. All eligible studies, identified through full‐text screening were extracted by one author. We extracted data on study information, population, determinant, behaviour and effects. A second author checked data extraction on 20% of all included papers. All conflicts were discussed by the two authors until consensus was reached. We assessed methodological quality of all included studies using an adapted version of the Joanna Briggs Institute Quality appraisal tool for cross‐sectional studies. Main Results Our initial searches yielded 23,587 results, of which 56 studies were included in this review. The included studies were cross sectional in design, came from 22 countries and had a combined sample of 199,376 participants. The vast majority of studies had samples from the general public, with eight of the studies focusing on specific samples. All included studies considered people over the age of 18. The quality of the majority of the studies was good (n = 30 rated low risk of bias), with 8 rated high risk of bias, predominately due to lack of reporting of recruitment, sample characteristics and methodology. Thirty‐four studies were included in the narrative synthesis and 28 in the meta‐analysis. Findings indicated that emotions about COVID‐19 (worry [0.381, confidence interval [CI] = 0.270–0.482, I2 = 92%) and anxiety (0.308, CI = 0.154–0.448, I2 = 91%]), knowledge of COVID‐19 (0.323, CI = 0.223–0.417, I2 = 94%), and perceived social norms (0.303, CI = 0.184–0.413, I2 = 92%) were among the malleable determinants most associated with handwashing. Perceived severity (0.006, CI = ‐0.011–0.023) and susceptibility of COVID‐19 (0.041, CI = −0.034 to 0.115) had little to no effect on handwashing behaviour. Authors' Conclusions Understanding the effects of various malleable determinants on COVID‐related handwashing can aid in the development and implementation of interventions and public health campaigns to promote handwashing behaviour in potential new waves of COVID‐19 or other respiratory infections. Emotions about COVID, knowledge of COVID and perceived social norms warrant further consideration in future research and policy.

Abstract Background The COVID‐19 pandemic, caused by the SARS‐CoV‐2 virus, has resulted in illness, deaths and societal disruption on a global scale. Societies have implemented various control measures to reduce transmission of the virus and mitigate its impact. Individual behavioural changes are crucial to the successful implementation of these measures. One commonly recommended measure to limit risk of infection is face covering. It is important to identify those factors that can predict the uptake and maintenance of face covering. Objectives We aimed to identify and synthesise the evidence on malleable psychological and psychosocial factors that determine uptake and adherence to face covering aimed at reducing the risk of infection or transmission of COVID‐19. Search Methods We searched various literature sources including electronic databases (Medline ALL, Child Development & Adolescent Studies, ERIC, PsycInfo, CINAHL & Web of Science), web searches, conference proceedings, government reports, other repositories of literature and grey literature. The search strategy was built around three concepts of interest including (1) context (terms relating to COVID19), (2) behaviour of interest and (3) terms related to psychological and psychosocial determinants of COVID Health‐Related Behaviours and adherence or compliance with face covering, to capture malleable determines. Searches capture studies up until October 2021. Selection Criteria Eligibility criteria included observational studies (both retrospective and prospective) and experimental studies that measure and report malleable psychological and psychosocial determinants and handwashing at an individual level, amongst the general public. Screening was supported by the Cochrane Crowd. Studies titles and abstracts were screened against the eligibility criteria by three independent screeners. Following this, all potentially relevant studies were screened at full‐text level by the research team. All conflicts between screeners were resolved by discussion between the core research team. Data Collection and Analysis All data extraction was managed in EPPI‐Reviewer software. All eligible studies, identified through full‐text screening were extracted by one author. We extracted data on study information, population, determinant, behaviour and effects. A second author checked data extraction on 20% of all included papers. All conflicts were discussed by the two authors until consensus was reached. We assessed methodological quality of all included studies using an adapted version of the Joanna Briggs Institute Quality appraisal tool for cross‐sectional studies. Main Results Our initial searches yielded 23,587 results, of which 23 were included in this review. The included studies were cross‐sectional in design, came from nine countries and had a combined sample of 54,401 participants. The vast majority of studies had samples from the general public, with five of the studies focusing on specific samples. All included studies considered people over the age of 18. The quality of 10 of the studies was rated as unclear, 10 were rated as low, and 3 rated high risk of bias, predominately due to lack of reporting of recruitment, sample characteristics and methodology. Ten studies were included in the meta‐analysis and 16 in the narrative synthesis. Findings from the meta‐analysis indicated that knowledge of COVID‐19 (0.341, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.06, 0.530, I2 = 100%) was the malleable determinant most associated with face covering behaviour. Perceived susceptibility of COVID‐19 (r = 0.088, 95% CI = −0.004, 0.180, I2 = 80%) and COVID‐related worry and anxiety (r = 0.064, 95% CI = −0.066, 0.191, I2 = 93% had little to no effect on face covering behaviour. In the narrative synthesis, the strongest association was found between perceived benefits and effectiveness of behaviours and mask wearing behaviour. Authors' Conclusions Understanding the effects of various malleable determinants on COVID‐related face covering can aid in the development and implementation of interventions and public health campaigns to promote face covering behaviour in potential new waves of COVID‐19 or other respiratory infections. Knowledge of COVID and perceived benefits of face coverings warrant further consideration in future research and policy.

Abstract The asymmetric calibration method is a very interesting technology for differential output probes. It has been proven that the asymmetric calibration method (ACM) can broaden the application scenarios of the electromagnetic field dual probe. However, ACM is not verified on a back‐to‐back double‐loop differential magnetic field probing system. This paper calibrates a back‐to‐back double‐loop differential magnetic field probing system by inserting a connector for creating an asymmetry using ACM. The calibration results show that ACM can be used to calibrate an asymmetric back‐to‐back double‐loop differential magnetic field probing system. The calibration results are further verified by measuring the standing wave magnetic field, and the verification results show that the asymmetric calibration method is effective in eliminating the asymmetry of the back‐to‐back double‐loop differential magnetic field probing system and the work frequency band reaches up to 12 GHz.

Abstract Background Thymus mongolicus (family Lamiaceae) is a Thyme subshrub with strong aroma and remarkable environmental adaptability. Limited genomic information limits the use of this plant. Results Chromosome-level 605.2 Mb genome of T. mongolicus was generated, with 96.28% anchored to 12 pseudochromosomes. The repetitive sequences were dominant, accounting for 70.98%, and 32,593 protein-coding genes were predicted. Synteny analysis revealed that Lamiaceae species generally underwent two rounds of whole genome duplication; moreover, species-specific genome duplication was identified. A recent LTR retrotransposon burst and tandem duplication might play important roles in the formation of the Thymus genome. Using comparative genomic analysis, phylogenetic tree of seven Lamiaceae species was constructed, which revealed that Thyme plants evolved recently in the family. Under the phylogenetic framework, we performed functional enrichment analysis of the genes on nodes that contained the most gene duplication events (> 50% support) and of relevant significant expanded gene families. These genes were highly associated with environmental adaptation and biosynthesis of secondary metabolites. Combined transcriptome and metabolome analyses revealed that Peroxidases, Hydroxycinnamoyl-CoA shikimate/quinate hydroxycinnamoyl transferases, and 4-coumarate-CoA ligases genes were the essential regulators of the phenylpropanoid–flavonoid pathway. Their catalytic products (e.g., apigenin, naringenin chalcone, and several apigenin-related compounds) might be responsible for the environmental tolerance and aromatic properties of T. mongolicus. Conclusion This study enhanced the understanding of the genomic evolution of T. mongolicus, enabling further exploration of its unique traits and applications, and contributed to the understanding of Lamiaceae genomics and evolutionary biology.

ABSTRACTAs the melting of Arctic ice accelerates, the Arctic Passage continues to grow. Geopolitical influence has increased the strategic value of the Passage, attracting the attention of countries around the world. The geopolitical environment of the Arctic Passage is not affected by single factors but is instead determined by the combined effects of multiple factors. This paper analyses the multi-dimensional geopolitical environment factors of the Arctic Passage, and extracts features to construct a multi-dimensional geopolitical environment index system, which takes the Northern Sea Route as an example to construct the Arctic Passage Geo-potential Model, and quantitatively analyse the geo-potential for different states in Eurasia with the development and utilization of the Arctic Passage. This paper combines clustering and similarity analysis to explore the geo-spatial pattern of the Northern Sea Route, and identifies two interest groups that are represented by Russia and the United States. We further analyse the preference of stakeholders in the jurisdiction of the Northern Sea Route. This exploration addresses a gap in the current discussion on the Arctic Passage’s geopolitical environment, which only considers a single factor, and it helps to explore new methods and ideas that will assist the quantitative evaluation and pattern analysis of the Arctic Passage’s geopolitical environment, especially in Eurasia. Meanwhile, it will provide a comprehensive reference for the development and utilization of the Arctic Passage about the geopolitical environment patterns.

The increasing wind power penetration and proliferation of induction motor loads, of which dynamic impact cannot be revealed through steady-state analysis, bring challenges to the short-term voltage stability of modern power systems. This study proposes a hybrid model-data-driven approach for dynamic VAR source planning to enhance the short-term voltage stability of wind-penetrated power systems to reduce the computation burden of electro-mechanical transient models. Firstly, the theoretical background of Stochastic Spectral Embedding (SSE) is introduced. Then, a surrogate model for the electromechanical transient model is established using SSE following efficient expansion coefficient calculation and a designed partition strategy for the studied problem. Furthermore, a hybrid model-data-driven VAR deployment optimization model is established with 3 objectives, which is solved by a dual-population-based evolutionary algorithm (DPEA). The accuracy and effectiveness of the model are verified on a modified New England 39-bus system. Simulation results prove that the computational cost is reduced significantly in comparison with conventional model-based method without a compromise in accuracy and the proposed method is also more accurate than methods based on other surrogate models. The proposed SSE-based model can be applied to other power system analysis with electro-mechanical transient models to alleviate the computational cost.

ABSTRACT: The aim of this study was to elucidate the different effects and difference mechanism of gelling properties among egg white (EW) treated with different heating intensities and the composite addition of rhamnolipid and soybean lecithin. Particle size analyzer, potentiometric analyzer, surface hydrophobicity method, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy techniques were used to determine the physicochemical properties and molecular structure, respectively. Low-field nuclear magnetic resonance, magnetic resonance imaging, texture profile analysis, and scanning electron microscopy techniques were used to analyze the gelling properties and gel structure, respectively. And we illuminate the different mechanisms in the gelling properties of the EW with various treatments and key internal factors that play important roles in improving gelling properties by establishing the link between the gelling properties and relevant characteristics by mixed effects model and visual network analysis. The results indicate raising the content of rhamnolipid decreased the migration of immobilized water in the EW gel and the free water content. At the heating intensities of 55 °C/3.5, 65 °C/2.5, and 67 °C/1.5 min, with an increase in rhamnolipid, the gel's cohesiveness, gumminess, and chewiness gradually increased. The mixed effects model indicated that heating intensities and composite ratios have a 2-way interaction on zeta potential, the relaxation time of bound water (T21), the content of bound water (P21), the content of immobilized water (P22), and fractal dimension (df) attributes (P < 0.05). The visual network analysis showed that the protein solubility, the relaxation time of immobilized water (T22), surface hydrophobicity, zeta potential, average particle size (d43) and the relaxation time of free water (T23) are critical contributors to the different gelling properties of EW subjected to various treatments and the improvement of gelling properties. This study will provide theoretical guidance for the development of egg white products and the expansion of egg white's application scope in the egg product processing industry.

To schedule power sources operated by different entities in a short-time scale considering nonconvex generation cost and deep peak regulation (DPR) service constraints, this paper proposes an FRL-based multiple power sources coordination framework in wind-solar-thermal power network. In the studied power transmission network (TN), renewable energy sources and thermal power units connected to the same bus are aggregated as a wind-solar-thermal virtual power plant (WSTVPP). The transmission system operator (TSO) sends dispatch instructions to each WSTVPP by optimal power flow program, and allocates the cost of DPR service in TN. Based on the dispatch instruction, the internal power sources of each WSTVPP are scheduled by its local center control agent to achieve local economic operation while maximizing the overall DPR service revenue for the WSTVPP from the auxiliary service market. The multiple WSTVPPs operation is modeled as a partially observable Markov decision process, and solved by a designed FRL algorithm. The FRL algorithm employs a global neural network (NN) model for coordination, heterogeneous local NN models and data to efficiently train each WSTVPP control agent with individual objectives for handling multiple power sources scheduling in TN while preserving local privacy. Numerical studies validate the effectiveness of the proposed framework for handling the short-time scale power sources operation with nonconvex constraints.

Background Systematic reviews (SRs) are being published at an accelerated rate. Decision-makers may struggle with comparing and choosing between multiple SRs on the same topic. We aimed to understand how healthcare decision-makers (eg, practitioners, policymakers, researchers) use SRs to inform decision-making and to explore the potential role of a proposed artificial intelligence (AI) tool to assist in critical appraisal and choosing among SRs.Methods We developed a survey with 21 open and closed questions. We followed a knowledge translation plan to disseminate the survey through social media and professional networks.Results Our survey response rate was lower than expected (7.9% of distributed emails). Of the 684 respondents, 58.2% identified as researchers, 37.1% as practitioners, 19.2% as students and 13.5% as policymakers. Respondents frequently sought out SRs (97.1%) as a source of evidence to inform decision-making. They frequently (97.9%) found more than one SR on a given topic of interest to them. Just over half (50.8%) struggled to choose the most trustworthy SR among multiple. These difficulties related to lack of time (55.2%), or difficulties comparing due to varying methodological quality of SRs (54.2%), differences in results and conclusions (49.7%) or variation in the included studies (44.6%). Respondents compared SRs based on the relevance to their question of interest, methodological quality, and recency of the SR search. Most respondents (87.0%) were interested in an AI tool to help appraise and compare SRs.Conclusions Given the identified barriers of using SR evidence, an AI tool to facilitate comparison of the relevance of SRs, the search and methodological quality, could help users efficiently choose among SRs and make healthcare decisions.

ABSTRACT: Monitoring and controlling the freezing process and thermal properties of foods is an important means to understand and maintain product quality. Saccharides were used in this study to regulate the gelation of liquid egg yolks induced by freeze‒thawing; the selected saccharides included sucrose, L-arabinose, xylitol, trehalose, D-cellobiose, and xylooligosaccharides. The regulatory effects of saccharides on frozen egg yolks were investigated by characterizing their thermal and rheological properties and structural changes. The results showed that L-arabinose and xylitol were effective gelation regulators. After freeze‒thawing, the sugared egg yolks exhibited a lower consistency index and fewer rheological units than those without saccharides, indicating controlled gelation. Weaker aggregation of egg yolk proteins was confirmed by smaller aggregates observed by confocal laser scanning microscopy and smaller particle sizes. Saccharides alleviated the freeze-induced conversion of α-helices to β-sheets in egg yolk proteins, exposing fewer Trp residues. Overall, L-arabinose showed the greatest improvement in regulating the gelation of egg yolks, followed by xylitol, which is correlated with its low molecular weight.

Optimal Power Flow (OPF) plays a crucial role in the optimization and operation of the bipolar DC distribution network (Bi-DCDN). However, existing OPF models encounter difficulties in power optimization of Bi-DCDNs due to the optimal power is expressed as a product form, i.e., the product of voltage and current. Hence, this brief formulates the OPF problem of Bi-DCDNs using the branch flow model (BFM). The BFM employs power, instead of current, to account for the unique structure of Bi-DCDNs. Convex relaxation and linear approximation are sequentially applied to reformulate the BFM-based OPF, presenting it as a second-order cone programming (SOCP) problem. Further, the effectiveness of the proposed OPF model is verified in case studies. The numerical results demonstrate that the BFM-based OPF is a feasible and promising approach for Bi-DCDNs.

Abstract Background The purpose of this 6-month intervention pilot feasibility randomised trial was to test sending brief messages using mobile phones to promote self-management through taking medication as prescribed to people with type 2 diabetes. This was to inform the design and conduct of a future large-scale United Kingdom-based clinical trial and establish the feasibility of recruitment, the technology used, follow-up, and data collection. Methods A multicentre individually randomised, controlled parallel group trial in primary care, recruiting adults (≥ 35 years) with type 2 diabetes in England. Consenting participants were randomly allocated to receive short message system text messages up to four times a week, or usual care, for a period of 6 months; messages contained behavioural change techniques targeting medication use. The primary outcome was the rate of recruitment to randomisation of participants to the trial with a planned rate of 22 participants randomised per month. The study also aimed to establish the feasibility of follow-up at 6 months, with an aim of retaining more than 80% of participants. Data, including patient-reported measures, were collected at baseline and the end of the 6-month follow-up period, and a notes review was completed at 24 months. Results The trial took place between 26 November 2018 and 30 September 2019. In total 209 participants were randomly allocated to intervention (n = 103) or usual care (n = 106). The maximum rate of monthly recruitment to the trial was 60–80 participants per month. In total, 12,734 messages were sent to participants. Of these messages, 47 were identified as having failed to be sent by the service provider. Participants sent 2,864 messages to the automated messaging system. Baseline data from medical records were available for > 90% of participants with the exception of cholesterol (78.9%). At 6 months, a further HbA1c measurement was reported for 67% of participants. In total medical record data were available at 6 months for 207 (99.0%) of participants and completed self-report data were available for 177 (84.7%) of participants. Conclusion The feasibility of a large-scale randomised evaluation of brief message intervention for people with type 2 diabetes appears to be high using this efficient design. Failure rate of sending messages is low, rapid recruitment was achieved among people with type 2 diabetes, clinical data is available on participants from routine medical records and self-report of economic measures was acceptable. Trial registration ISCTRN ISRCTN13404264. Registered on 10 October 2018.

IntroductionChronic diseases are becoming a serious threat to the physical and mental health of older people in China as their aging process picks up speed. Home hospice care addresses diverse needs and enhances the quality of life for older adult individuals nearing the end of life. To ensure the well-being of chronically ill older adults at the end of life, it is vital to explore and assess the multidimensional hospice needs of terminally ill older individuals in their homes. The aim of this study was to investigate the current situation of home hospice care needs of Chinese older adults with chronic diseases at the end of life, and to analyze the influencing factors (sociodemographic and disease-related factors).MethodsIn this cross-sectional study, 247 older adult people with chronic diseases at the end of life were selected from the communities of 4 community health service centers in Jinzhou City, Liaoning Province from June to October 2023 by random sampling method. A general information questionnaire and the home hospice care needs questionnaire developed by our research group were used to investigate. Independent samples t-test or one-way ANOVA was used to compare the differences in the scores of different characteristics, and the factors with significant differences were selected for multivariate linear regression analysis to determine the final influencing factors.ResultsThe total score of home hospice needs of the dying older adult was 115.70 ± 12, with the mean scores for each dimension in descending order being Information Needs (3.96 ± 0.61), Social Support Needs (3.96 ± 0.44), Spiritual Needs (3.92 ± 0.43), Physical Needs (3.60 ± 0.59), Psychological Needs (3.37 ± 0.65). Status of residence, duration of illness (year), the type of disease, and self-care ability were influential factors in the total score of home hospice needs.DiscussionThe need for hospice care for the terminally ill older adult is high, and healthcare professionals should implement services according to the influencing factors of need to meet their multidimensional needs and improve their quality of life.

Abstract Purpose Currently, there are no accurate markers for predicting potentially lethal prostate cancer (PC) before biopsy. This study aimed to develop urine tests to predict clinically significant PC (sPC) in men at risk. Methods Urine samples from 928 men, namely, 660 PC patients and 268 benign subjects, were analyzed by gas chromatography/quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrophotometry (GC/Q-TOF MS) metabolomic profiling to construct four predictive models. Model I discriminated between PC and benign cases. Models II, III, and GS, respectively, predicted sPC in those classified as having favorable intermediate risk or higher, unfavorable intermediate risk or higher (according to the National Comprehensive Cancer Network risk groupings), and a Gleason sum (GS) of ≥ 7. Multivariable logistic regression was used to evaluate the area under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUC). Results In Models I, II, III, and GS, the best AUCs (0.94, 0.85, 0.82, and 0.80, respectively; training cohort, N = 603) involved 26, 24, 26, and 22 metabolites, respectively. The addition of five clinical risk factors (serum prostate-specific antigen, patient age, previous negative biopsy, digital rectal examination, and family history) significantly improved the AUCs of the models (0.95, 0.92, 0.92, and 0.87, respectively). At 90% sensitivity, 48%, 47%, 50%, and 36% of unnecessary biopsies could be avoided. These models were successfully validated against an independent validation cohort (N = 325). Decision curve analysis showed a significant clinical net benefit with each combined model at low threshold probabilities. Models II and III were more robust and clinically relevant than Model GS. Conclusion This urine test, which combines urine metabolic markers and clinical factors, may be used to predict sPC and thereby inform the necessity of biopsy in men with an elevated PC risk.

Abstract Coastal soil carbon stock is critical owing to the coexistence of terrestrial and marine carbon sinks and undergoes drastic changes under complex factors. Here we conduct surface soil organic carbon (SOC) stock mapping in northern China’s coastal areas in 2020 and 2010 based on large-scale field survey, remote sensing, and land cover data. Our results indicate that a 100 m resolution is the optimum mapping resolution for its good simulation accuracy and precise spatial details. The surface SOC stock and density in 2020 increased by 39.19% and 37.82%, respectively, compared with those in 2010 under extensive ecological restoration. The SOC densities of forests, grasslands, croplands, wetlands, and built-up areas increased by 72.58%, 74.25%, 41.39%, 4.58%, and 26.30% from 2010 to 2020, respectively. The study determines the optimum mapping resolution and denotes the positive effects of ecological restoration on coastal soil carbon.

This paper briefly summarized the structural characteristics of earthquake zones, the frequency of seismic activities, the number of primary and secondary school students and the volume of earthquake prevention and disaster reduction science popularization team in China. Taking “National Security Education Day for Primary and Secondary School Students” as an example, through two aspects of traditional science popularization education and new media science popularization education, seven specific forms of science popularization education are introduced, including earthquake emergency evacuation drills, lectures on science popularization knowledge, thematic research, knowledge competitions, live broadcast on mobile Internet, online education cloud platform, and intelligent digital interactive experience. These provided some valuable references for relevant functional departments of earthquake, education, emergency management, and primary and secondary schools to carry out a series of activities of earthquake prevention and disaster reduction science popularization education for primary and secondary school students. By promoting the continuous enrichment of earthquake prevention and disaster reduction science popularization forms and the continuous improvement of primary and secondary school students’ awareness and ability of earthquake prevention and disaster reduction, the broad masses of primary and secondary school students will gradually become “the future of the country” who understand earthquakes, respect earthquakes, and understand how to prevent earthquake hazards.

Climate change is a key issue receiving increasing global attention. Coastal areas play an important role in mitigating climate change because of enormous potentials for carbon sequestration. Simulating and evaluating the carbon storage, increment, and value of coastal areas is of considerable importance in achieving carbon neutrality. In this study, the South Coast of Hangzhou Bay in China was selected as the study area. A three-class carbon pool system was established based on vegetation and soil and considering the coastline as the boundary for comprehensively revealing the carbon sink in coastal areas and accurately distinguishing the roles of different carbon pools. Then, the maps of carbon storage and increment were generated by integrating the field and remote sensing data through “from point to area” spatial simulations. An accounting list was developed for systematically summarizing, precisely quantifying, and visually displaying the carbon storage, increment, and value following the three-class carbon pools. Results indicated that the carbon sink showed a gradient change from sea to land. Salt marshes had low storage but high increment, whereas areas above the coastline had the opposite characteristics. The total carbon storage of vegetation and soil were 1417.94 Gg and 3359.07 Gg, respectively, and their carbon increments during 2011–2022 were 309.17 Gg/yr and 29.46 Gg/yr, respectively. The carbon storage per area of vegetation and soil were 27.66 Mg/ha and 53.09 Mg/ha, respectively, and their carbon increments during 2011–2022 were 6.03 Mg/(ha yr) and 0.47 Mg/(ha yr), respectively. As the main body of blue carbon, salt marshes have achieved distinctly higher increment than the adjacent areas above the coastline. The carbon increment per area of soil was lower than 1/5 of vegetation in salt marshes. Mudflats had low carbon increment but large storage because of the extensive area. Alien species had higher increment in terms of vegetation but similar one from the perspective of soil compared with native species, denoting the low decrease of soil carbon sink when eliminating alien species. Considering the hazard of alien species to the health of coastal wetlands, this indicates the feasibility and necessity to develop the high-quality carbon sink in the study area. The carbon sink value based on the carbon stored in the soil summed to 1.68 million yuan, and were increased by 33%, 7%, 48%, and 45% in scenarios of baseline scenario, economic development, ecological protection, and comprehensive optimization, respectively. The present study validated the high carbon increment and immense increase potential and provided an applicable system to normalize carbon mapping and accounting in coastal areas.

This paper put forward the concept of the polar coastal zone and expounded the definition and scope of the polar coastal zone and coastline from the connotation of the coastal zone, and analyzed the particularity and importance of the polar coastal zone. Then, the survey and monitoring practices related to the polar coastal zone were summarized from the perspectives of survey and monitoring technology development and related disciplines. At the same time, the frontier issues of polar coastal zone investigation and research were analyzed, also the development direction of the survey and monitoring of the ecological elements of polar coastal zone resources were proposed, that was, to make full use of remote sensing and on-site detection methods to explore regional resources, environmental and ecological elements, temporal and spatial variation characteristics of large-scale and long-term polar coastlines at a low cost. Finally, the knowledge and technology system of "dual-source-data mining-spatial coupling simulation-regional comprehensive assessment-impact simulation and prediction" was constructed, which provided a scientific and technological support for China to build a policy system of the management and protection of regional resource and ecology in the polar coastal zone.

The potential of potassium chloride (KCl) to be used as a substitute for sodium chloride (NaCl) was studied by monitoring the effects of salt treatment on thermal behavior, aggregation kinetics, rheological properties, and protein conformational changes. The results show that the addition of KCl can improve solubility, reduce turbidity and particle size, and positively influence rheological parameters such as apparent viscosity, consistency coefficient (K value), and fluidity index (n). These changes indicate delayed thermal denaturation. In addition, KCl decreased the content of β-sheet and random coil structures and increased the content of α-helix and β-turn structures. The optimal results were obtained with 2% KCl addition, leading to an increase in Tp up to 85.09 °C. The correlation results showed that Tp was positively correlated with solubility, α-helix and β-turn but negatively correlated with ΔH, turbidity, β-sheet and random coil. Overall, compared to NaCl, 2% KCl is more effective in delaying the thermal aggregation of LWE, and these findings lay a solid theoretical foundation for the study of sodium substitutes in heat-resistant liquid egg products.

Thermal power units (TPUs) play a crucial role in accommodating the high penetration of renewable energy sources (RESs) like wind turbines (WTs) and photovoltaics (PVs). This paper proposes an evaluation framework to quantitatively analyze the flexibility potential of retrofitted TPUs in enhancing the accommodate capability of RESs through coupling integration and optimal scheduling. Firstly, the coordination framework for coupling TPUs with RESs is outlined, including a comprehensive analysis of benefits and implementation strategies. Secondly, an annual optimal scheduling model for TPUs and RESs is developed, incorporating deep peak regulation services, ladder-type constraints for retrofitted TPUs, and their operational characteristics before and after the coupling integration. Thirdly, indices to evaluate RES accommodation levels and TPU regulation capacities are proposed to quantify the performance of power sources. Finally, a real-world case study is conducted to demonstrate that integrating retrofitted TPUs with RESs through coupling significantly enhances RES utilization by 3.6% and boosts TPUs’ downward regulation capabilities by 32%.

Water filling occurs during the rapid salting of separated egg yolks. The purpose of this study was to investigate the changes in water migration, protein aggregation and structures of the separated egg yolks salted with 20% salt solution over 24 hours to understand the principles of this phenomenon. The results showed that water filling occurred within 12 h. The hardness of the salted egg yolk increased significantly within approximately 0−6 h and then decreased significantly. The springiness and cohesiveness of the egg yolk did not change significantly during salting. With the appearance of water filling, the T23, A23, soluble protein content, free sulfhydryl content, β-turns, α-helices and maximum fluorescence intensity (FImax) increased; the T22, A22, disulfide bonds, β-sheets, irregular curls, maximum emission wavelength (λmax) and average particle sizes decreased. This work showed that water filling enhanced the hydrogen bonding between proteins and water and inhibited protein aggregation.

In general, gearbox is prone to occur compound fault due to its harsh working environment and its fault vibration signal contains multi-components which correspond to each gearbox parts. As the multi-components are often coupled with each other and accompanied by strong noise which brings great difficulties to diagnose fault, however, the existing diagnosis methods are mainly applied on single fault rather than the entire gearbox health maintenance, therefore, this paper presents a gearbox compound fault diagnosis method and develops a diagnosis system which has potential value for gearbox health maintenance. In specific, on account of the morphological difference between multi-components, this paper uses resonance sparse signal decomposition (RSSD) to decompose the fault vibration signal into high and low resonance components respectively for achieving gearbox compound fault separation. Furthermore, as for low resonance component containing rolling bearing fault information, a weak fault feature extraction algorithm based on singular value decomposition (SVD) and cepstrum pre-whitening stochastic resonance is proposed, besides, aiming at the high resonance component containing gear fault information, an early gear fault warning algorithm based on local mean decomposition and two-dimensional approximate entropy of chaotic oscillator is also given. Finally, a gearbox fault diagnosis system, which has the ability such as the gearbox vibration signal acquisition, fault indicator warning, health status evaluation, fault signal storage is developed. Simulation validation and comparison prove the effectiveness of proposed method in this paper.

Abstract Background The COVID‐19 pandemic, caused by the SARS‐CoV‐2 virus, has resulted in illness, deaths and societal disruption on a global scale. Societies have implemented various control measures to reduce transmission of the virus and mitigate its impact. Individual behavioural changes are crucial to the successful implementation of these measures. Common recommended measures to limit risk of infection include frequent handwashing, reducing the frequency of social interactions and the use of face coverings. It is important to identify those factors that can predict the uptake and maintenance of these protective behaviours. Objectives We aimed to identify and map the existing evidence (published and unpublished) on psychological and psychosocial factors that determine uptake and adherence to behaviours aimed at reducing the risk of infection or transmission of COVID‐19. Search Methods Our extensive search included electronic databases (n = 12), web searches, conference proceedings, government reports, other repositories including both published peer reviewed, pre‐prints and grey literature. The search strategy was built around three concepts of interest including (1) context (terms relating to COVID‐19), (2) behaviours of interest and (3) terms related to psychological and psychosocial determinants of COVID Health‐Related Behaviours and adherence or compliance with recommended behaviours, to capture both malleable and non‐malleable determinants (i.e. determinants that could be changed and those that could not). Selection Criteria This Evidence and Gap Map (EGM) includes all types of studies examining determinants of common recommended behaviours aimed at mitigating human‐to‐human spread of COVID‐19. All potential malleable and non‐malleable determinants of one or more behaviours are included in the map. As part of the mapping process, categories are used to group determinants. The mapping categories were based on a previous rapid review by Hanratty 2021. These include: ‘behaviour’, ‘cognition’, ‘demographics’, ‘disease’, ‘emotions’, ‘health status’, ‘information’, ‘intervention’, and ‘knowledge’. Those not suitable for categorisation in any of these groups are included in the map as ‘other’ determinants. Data Collection and Analysis Results were imported to a bibliographic reference manager where duplications of identical studies gathered from multiple sources were removed. Data extraction procedures were managed in EPPI‐Reviewer software. Information on study type, population, behaviours measured and determinants measured were extracted. We appraised the methodological quality of systematic reviews with AMSTAR‐2. We did not appraise the quality of primary studies in this map. Main Results As of 1 June 2022 the EGM includes 1034 records reporting on 860 cross‐sectional, 68 longitudinal, 78 qualitative, 25 reviews, 62 interventional, and 39 other studies (e.g., mixed‐methods approaches). The map includes studies that measured social distancing (n = 487), masks and face coverings (n = 382), handwashing (n = 308), physical distancing (n = 177), isolation/quarantine (n = 157), respiratory hygiene/etiquette (n = 75), cleaning surfaces (n = 59), and avoiding touching the T‐zone (n = 48). There were 333 studies that assessed composite measures of two or more behaviours. The largest cluster of determinants was ‘demographics’ (n = 730 studies), followed by ‘cognition’ (n = 496 studies) and determinants categorised as ‘other’ (n = 447). These included factors such as ‘beliefs’, ‘culture’ and ‘access to resources’. Less evidence is available for some determinants such as ‘interventions’ (n = 99 studies), ‘information’ (n = 101 studies), and ‘behaviour’ (149 studies). Authors' Conclusions This EGM provides a valuable resource for researchers, policy‐makers and the public to access the available evidence on the determinants of various COVID‐19 health‐related behaviours. The map can also be used to help guide research commissioning, by evidence synthesis teams and evidence intermediaries to inform policy during the ongoing pandemic and potential future outbreaks of COVID‐19 or other respiratory infections. Evidence included in the map will be explored further through a series of systematic reviews examining the strength of the associations between malleable determinants and the uptake and maintenance of individual protective behaviours.

The deployment of dynamic reactive power source can effectively improve the voltage performance after a disturbance for a power system with increasing wind power penetration level and ubiquitous induction loads. To improve the voltage stability of the power system, this paper proposes an adaptive many-objective robust optimization model to deal with the deployment issue of dynamic reactive power sources. Firstly, two metrics are adopted to assess the voltage stability of the system at two different stages, and one metric is proposed to assess the tie-line reactive power flow. Then, a robustness index is developed to assess the sensitivity of a solution when subjected to operational uncertainties, using the estimation of acceptable sensitivity region (ASR) and D-vine Copula. Five objectives are optimized simultaneously: ① total equipment investment; ② adaptive short-term voltage stability evaluation; ③ tie-line power flow evaluation; ④ prioritized steady-state voltage stability evaluation; and ⑤ robustness evaluation. Finally, an angle-based adaptive many-objective evolutionary algorithm (MaOEA) is developed with two improvements designed for the application in a practical engineering problem: ① adaptive mutation rate; and ② elimination procedure without a requirement for a threshold value. The proposed model is verified on a modified Nordic 74-bus system and a real-world power system. Numerical results demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed model.

The penetration of distributed energy resources (DERs) and energy-intensive resources is gradually increasing in active distribution networks (ADNs), which leads to frequent and severe voltage violation problems. As a densely distributed flexible resource in the future distribution network, 5G base station (BS) backup battery is used to regulate the voltage profile of ADN in this paper. First, the dispatchable potential of 5G BS backup batteries is analyzed. Considering the spatial-temporal characteristics of electric load for 5G BS, the dispatchable capacity of backup batteries at different time intervals is evaluated based on historical heat map data. Then, a voltage profile optimization model for ADN is established, consisting of 5G BS backup batteries and other voltage regulation resources. In this model, the charging/discharging behavior of backup batteries is based on its evaluation result of dispatchable capacity. Finally, the range of charging/discharging cost coefficients of 5G BS that benefits ADN and 5G operators are analyzed respectively. Further, an incentive policy for 5G operators is proposed. Under this policy, the charging/discharging cost coefficients of 5G BS can achieve a win-win situation for ADN and 5G operators. As an emerging flexible resource in ADN, the effectiveness and economy of 5G BS backup batteries participating in voltage profile optimization are verified in a test distribution network.

To optimize the placement of soft open points (SOPs) in active distribution networks (ADNs), many aspects should be considered, including the adjustment of transmission power, integration of distributed generations (DGs), coordination with conventional control methods, and maintenance of economic costs. To address this multi-objective planning problem, this study proposes a multi-stage coordinated robust optimization model for the SOP allocation in ADNs with photovoltaic (PV). First, two robust technical indices based on a robustness index are proposed to evaluate the operation conditions and robust optimality of the solutions. Second, the proposed coordinated allocation model aims to optimize the total cost, robust voltage offset index, robust utilization index, and voltage collapse proximity index. Third, the optimization methods of the multi-and single-objective models are coordinated to solve the proposed multi-stage problem. Finally, the proposed model is implemented on an IEEE 33-node distribution system to verify its effectiveness. Numerical results show that the proposed index can better reveal voltage offset conditions as well as the SOP utilization, and the proposed model outperforms conventional ones in terms of robustness of placement plans and total cost.

Bipolar direct current (DC) distribution networks can effectively improve the connection flexibility for renewable generations and loads. In practice, concerns regarding the potential voltage unbalance issue of the distribution networks and the frequency of switching still remain. This paper proposes a day-ahead polarity switching strategy to reduce voltage unbalance by optimally switching the polarity of renewable generations and loads while minimizing the switching times simultaneously in the range of a full day. First, a multi-objective optimization model is constructed to minimize the weighted sum of voltage unbalance factors and the sum of number of switching actions in the day based on the power flow model. Second, a two-step solution strategy is proposed to solve the optimization model. Finally, the proposed strategy is validated using 11-node and 34-node distribution networks as case studies, and a switching and stabilizing device is designed to enable unified switching of renewable generations and loads. Numerical results demonstrate that the proposed strategy can effectively reduce the switching times without affecting the improvement of voltage balance.

Highlights: This is the first empirical study to replicate Jadad algorithm assessments to evaluate discordance across systematic reviews. In 62% (13/21) of cases, we were unable to replicate the Jadad algorithm assessment and ultimately chose a different systematic review than the authors. When assessing systematic reviews using the Jadad algorithm, some steps of the Jadad algorithm were vague in description, making it difficult to operationalise, interpret, and use. The Jadad algorithm has several limitations as it does not account for the last literature search of the systematic review and publication recency of included trials. To assess discordance in the absence of an algorithm, we recommend decision makers consider relevance (objectives that most closely resemble their clinical question), recency (dates of search), comprehensiveness (most trials), and risk of bias (lowest risk of bias SR) when choosing one systematic review across multiple.

Identifying and quantifying the impacts of human activity on island plant diversity can help inform their management. Here, we examined the spatial pattern of plant diversity across 11 inhabited islands near to, but outside, the Yangtze River Estuary in the Shengsi Archipelago, China, that represent a diverse range of environmental conditions and human activity levels. We quantified six factors (island morphology, landscape, proximity, ecology, terrain, and soil) and 30 environmental indicators, with different levels of human influence. Regression and canonical correction analyses were used to determine the effects of various factors on the spatial distribution of trees, shrubs, and herbs at four regional scales: sample, island, sub-archipelago, and archipelago. We recorded 287 vascular species belonging to 201 genera at 93 sampling sites in Shengsi, of which 10 invasive alien species at 60 sampling sites were recorded. The plants showed a diverse spatial distribution pattern at the sampling site scale because of the synergistic influence of multiple environmental factors. From the sub-archipelago and island scales, area and isolation are the most critical factors affecting the richness and diversity of shrubs and herbs. The diversity and distribution of trees is highly dependent on human residents, and herbs show strong adaptability on barren landscapes. At the site scale, when collinearity among environmental factors was eliminated, we found that soil bulk density and salinity were critical factors driving the distribution of shrubs and herbs, respectively.

Soil seed banks are the main seed reservoirs globally and are critical for the regeneration of grassland plant populations. Grazing often affects the density and diversity of grassland soil seed banks; however, it is not clear how these effects vary on a global scale with grazing intensity, grazing duration, and climatic conditions. Here, we screened 92 independent published articles and performed a meta-analysis of the extracted data. The effects of grazing on four soil seed bank density and diversity indices were analyzed. Four alpha diversity indices, namely Shannon–Wiener, Margalef, Pielou, and Simpson indices, were selected in this study. The Shannon–Wiener index reflects the species complexity of the community. The Margalef index reflects species richness of the seed bank. The Pielou index reflects whether the number of seeds of all species in the seed bank is evenly distributed, and the Simpson’s index reflects the status of dominant plants in the seed bank. We found that grazing significantly decreased the total density of soil seed banks. Perennial plant seed banks were more affected by grazing than annual plant seed banks. Heavy grazing significantly decreased the Margalef index of seed banks, while moderate grazing significantly decreased the Simpson’s alpha diversity index. Long-term grazing (>10 years) had the greatest impact on Simpson’s alpha diversity index, while medium-term grazing (5–10 years) had a significant negative impact on Shannon–Wiener, Margalef, and Pielou indices. In addition, our results show that grazing has a greater effect on seed banks in arid areas than those in temperate areas. Knowledge of climate-specific effects will contribute to understanding the risk of local extinctions in grassland populations and help decision-makers maintain the health of grassland ecosystems.

Rapid global changes are altering regional hydrothermal conditions, especially in ecologically vulnerable areas such as coastal regions, subsequently influencing the dynamics of vegetation growth. However, there is limited research investigating the response of vegetation in these regions to extreme climates and the associated time lag-accumulation relationships. This study utilized a combined approach of gradual and abrupt analysis to examine the spatiotemporal patterns of vegetation dynamics in the coastal provinces of China from 2000 to 2019. Additionally, we evaluated the time lag-accumulation response of vegetation to extreme climate events. The results showed that (1) extreme high temperatures and extreme precipitation had increased over the past two decades, with greater warming observed in high latitudes and concentrated precipitation increases in water-rich southern regions; (2) both gradual and abrupt analyses indicate significant vegetation improvement in coastal provinces; (3) significant lag-accumulation relationships were observed between vegetation and extreme climate in the coastal regions of China, and the time-accumulation effects were stronger than the time lag effects. The accumulation time of extreme temperatures was typically less than one month, and the accumulation time of extreme precipitation was 2–3 months. These findings are important for predicting the growth trend of coastal vegetation, understanding environmental changes, and anticipating ecosystem evolution.

With the purpose of developing an alternative set yogurt with high consumer acceptability, liquid whole egg (LWE), at levels that varied from 0 to 30%, was incorporated into set yogurt, and the effects on the physicochemical, quality, fermentation, and sensory characteristics of yogurt were evaluated. The fat content was lower in egg yogurt than in control yogurt. All color variables were significantly affected by LWE amount. The amount of bacteria in the egg yogurt was greater than in the control yogurt. Sensory analysis data suggested that color, odor, and texture consistently impacted the overall acceptability of the egg yogurt. The addition of 5% whole egg, which resulted in an increase of 6.28-fold in hardness, increase of 6.1-fold in viscosity, decrease in pH values, and a 5.6% decline in water-holding capacity (WHC). The aroma and flavor of the set yogurt was improved as well. LWE addition significantly increased the protein content and dynamic rheology. More importantly, the addition of LWE increased the protein content of the set yogurt. This investigation demonstrated the feasibility of fabricating LWE-enriched set yogurt and its superior quality compared with the corresponding normal product. It also emphasized the reconstruction of LWE with enhanced properties.

The widespread use of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in many fields has brought convenience to human lives but has also caused unavoidable environmental pollution issues. In particular, the resistance gene problem resulting from accumulating antibiotics that cannot be fully absorbed by biological individuals has been a concern; thus, it is urgent to find efficient technologies to boost the degradation efficiency of antibiotics in the environment. Here, an ε-MnO2 catalyst was prepared by a novel droplet-interface-drying method and utilized as a Fenton-like catalyst for efficiently degrading ciprofloxacin (CIP). The ε-MnO2 shell was formed preferentially at the gas–liquid interface and then continued to decompose into ε-MnO2 with abundant O vacancies in the air-insulated microcavity. The XPS result confirms that this particular preparation method can regulate the content of O vacancies in the material. Compared with ε-MnO2 samples obtained by the direct drying method (ε-MnO2-B), the catalytic performance of ε-MnO2 prepared by the droplet-interface-drying method (ε-MnO2-P) is significantly improved. By activating peroxymonosulfate (PMS) with the ε-MnO2-P catalyst, the CIP degradation efficiency can reach 84.1%. The detection and analysis of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the ε-MnO2-P/PMS oxidation system confirms that ·OH, SO4·− and 1O2 are the main ROS for CIP degradation. This study highlights the creation of miniature hypoxic space to regulate the content of O vacancies in ε-MnO2, providing a new idea for the synthesis of other O-vacancy-rich materials.

Measuring the landscape pattern from a three-dimensional perspective is of great significance for comprehensively revealing the complex spatial characteristics of island ecosystems. However, the archipelago composed of rocky islands has received little attention as its three-dimensional landscape characteristics are difficult to quantify. This study took the largest archipelago in China, the Zhoushan Archipelago, as the study area and constructed an island landscape pattern evaluation model from a dual-three-dimensional (dual-3D) perspective. The model divided the island into upper and lower layers, namely the surface landscape based on topography and the landscape elements above the surface (i.e., vegetation and buildings), and then evaluated their landscape patterns from a three-dimensional perspective, respectively. The landscape pattern model based on a dual-3D perspective and multiple scales achieved excellent results in the archipelago. First, the island landscape pattern was evaluated from three-dimensional perspectives, including human interference, landscape fragmentation, vegetation space, and building space. Second, landscape indices such as the human interference three-dimensional index (HITI), the landscape fragmentation three-dimensional index (LFTI), the vegetation three-dimensional index (VTI), and the building three-dimensional index (BTI) established at multiple spatial scales revealed spatial heterogeneity within and between islands. Environmental factors such as elevation, slope, and island area exhibited significant correlations with them. There were significant differences in landscape pattern indices between the two-dimensional (2D) and the three-dimensional (3D) perspectives, and high values were mainly distributed in areas with significant topographic changes and larger islands. In addition, as the evaluation unit increased, the landscape indices increased, and HITI became more responsive to the transitions from 2D to 3D, while LFTI was the opposite. Therefore, the multiscale landscape pattern measurement of China’s largest archipelago based on high-resolution remote sensing was carried out from three-dimensional perspectives to accurately reveal the spatial heterogeneity.

Nano‐/microparticles of gallium (Ga), as a low‐melting‐point metal, are extensively used in the fields of soft electronics and sensors to provide thermal and electrical conductivity. However, a passivating oxide layer can be formed on the surface of Ga nano‐/microparticles during the synthesis process. This oxide layer is removed by a secondary sintering step, especially mechanical sintering, which is generally not a controllable process, and compromises the integrity of the system. Herein, thiol molecules, 1‐butanethiol, thiophenol, and 4‐mercaptopyridine, that can functionalize the surface of Ga via sonication to reduce the oxidation of Ga surface are used. The resulting particles exhibit electrical conductivity based on metal–molecule junctions without the requirement for a sintering step. In particular, 4‐mercaptopyridine functionalized, thiolated Ga particles exhibit higher electrical conductivity compared to the other three thiolated Ga systems as the organic material conjugation provides conductive pathways for the mix. Subsequently, using these particle systems, soft devices are developed that can be used for gas, exhalation, and flex sensing. This study provides insights into the possibility of creating combinations of organic molecules with liquid metal‐based nano‐/microparticles to generate electrically conductive mixes and the prospects of fabricating multifunctional sensors.

In northern China, thermal power units (TPUs) are important in improving the penetration level of renewable energy. In such areas, the potentials of coordinated dispatch of renewable energy sources (RESs) and TPUs can be better realized, if RESs and TPUs connected to the power grid at the same point of common coupling (PCC) are dispatched as a coupled system. Firstly, the definition of the coupled system is introduced, followed by an analysis on its characteristics. Secondly, based on the operation characteristics of deep peak regulation (DPR) of TPUs in the coupled system, the constraint of the ladder-type ramping rate applicable for day-ahead dispatch is proposed, and the corresponding flexible spinning reserve constraint is further established. Then, considering these constraints and peak regulation ancillary services, a day-ahead optimal dispatch model of the coupled system is established. Finally, the operational characteristics and advantages of the coupled system are analyzed in several case studies based on a real-world power grid in Liaoning province, China. The numerical results show that the coupled system can further improve the economic benefits of RESs and TPUs under the existing policies.

Comprehensively revealing the spatial pattern of soil condition is vital for exploring the evolution mechanism of island ecosystem and providing reference for ecological maintenance. However, it is difficult to meet the demands of comprehensiveness and accuracy in mapping the soil condition in an archipelago that contains remote islands. Such an archipelago, namely, Shengsi Archipelago off the Yangtze River Estuary, China, was selected as the study area. Field survey was conducted on part of islands that have relatively high accessibility in the archipelago, and remote sensing data that cover the entire study area was adopted. An island soil index system, including soil content, storage, and quality indices, was proposed to represent the island soil integrated condition. Soil content indices are original soil measured data, and soil storage and quality indices are composite indices that are determined based on soil content indices. Then, a predictor system based on remote sensing and the 10-fold cross-validation were used to conduct the spatial simulations of soil indices. The results validated that the combination of soil measured data sourced by field survey could respond more sensitively to remote sensing data and integrate with it better than the original soil measured data, thereby increasing the simulation accuracies of soil storage and quality indices to higher levels than the corresponding soil content indices and achieving the spatial exhibition of soil integrated condition. The spatial pattern of soil indices in Shengsi Archipelago indicated that islands or areas with good vegetation condition but low soil salinity, land surface aridity, and human interference generally had good soil integrated condition. Then, suggestions to improve the island soil integrated condition were proposed from perspectives of different essential components of the island ecosystem. The study has provided a practical method for comprehensively mapping the soil condition in areas with low accessibility.

The evaluation of island carrying capacity is the premise for conducting the island spatial planning and can contributes to guiding island ecological conservation and socioeconomic developments. In this study, the island carrying capacities were evaluated for the three major development types, namely, ecological resource, agricultural production, and urban construction, based on the quantity and quality. The occupancy and vacancy rates of island carrying capacity were measured in different scenarios. Miaodao Archipelago and Dongtou Archipelago in China were selected as the study area to demonstrate the evaluation. The former is constituted all by spatially isolated rocky islands, while the latter is featured by the coexistence of the sandy and rocky islands and the connection with the mainland by bridges. The results indicated the high variances of occupancy and vacancy rates of island carrying capacity at multiple spatial scales. Across the two archipelagos, climate conditions, island composition, and spatial connections with the mainland controlled the spatial variance at this scale. For different types of islands, the sandy island presented distinctly higher occupancy and vacancy rates for agricultural production than the rocky islands. At the single island scale within the same archipelago, the developments of agricultural production and urban construction distinctly increased with the increase in the island area. The dependency of island constructions on the external world in Dongtou Archipelago was higher than that in Miaodao Archipelago. Meanwhile, the difference in traffic conditions between the two archipelagos did not distinctly influence the food dependency on the external world. Then, practical suggestions in terms of quantity control and quality promotion were proposed to improve the island carrying capacity.

The chronic infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) is an important health problem that affects millions of people worldwide. Current therapies for HBV always suffer from a poor response rate, common side effects, and the need for lifelong treatment. Novel therapeutic targets are expected. Interestingly, non-canonical structures of nucleic acids play crucial roles in the regulation of gene expression. Especially the formation of G-quadruplexes (G4s) in G-rich strands has been demonstrated to affect many bioprocesses including replication, transcription, and translation, showing great potential as targets in anticancer and antiviral therapies. In this review, we summarize recent antiviral studies about G4s and discuss the potential roles of G4 structures in antiviral therapy for HBV.

PurposeFatty acid metabolism (FAM) affects the immune phenotype in a metabolically dynamic tumor microenvironment (TME), but the use of FAM-related genes (FAMGs) to predict the prognosis and immunotherapy response of cutaneous melanoma (CM) patients has not been investigated. In this study, we aimed to construct FAM molecular subtypes and identify key prognostic biomarkers in CM.MethodsWe used a CM dataset in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) to construct FAM molecular subtypes. We performed Kaplan–Meier (K-M) analysis, gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA), and TME analysis to assess differences in the prognosis and immune phenotype between subtypes. We used weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) to identify key biomarkers that regulate tumor metabolism and immunity between the subtypes. We compared overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), and disease-specific survival (DSS) between CM patients with high or low biomarker expression. We applied univariable and multivariable Cox analyses to verify the independent prognostic value of the FAM biomarkers. We used GSEA and TME analysis to investigate the immune-related regulation mechanism of the FAM subtype biomarker. We evaluated the immune checkpoint inhibition (ICI) response and chemotherapy sensitivity between CM patients with high or low biomarker expression. We performed real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR (qRT-PCR) and semi-quantitative analysis of the immunohistochemical (IHC) data from the Human Protein Atlas to evaluate the mRNA and protein expression levels of the FAM biomarkers in CM.ResultsWe identified 2 FAM molecular subtypes (cluster 1 and cluster 2). K-M analysis showed that cluster 2 had better OS and PFS than cluster 1 did. GSEA showed that, compared with cluster 1, cluster 2 had significantly upregulated immune response pathways. The TME analysis indicated that immune cell subpopulations and immune functions were highly enriched in cluster 2 as compared with cluster 1. WGCNA identified 6 hub genes (ACSL5, ALOX5AP, CD1D, CD74, IL4I1, and TBXAS1) as FAM biomarkers. CM patients with high expression levels of the six biomarkers had better OS, PFS, and DSS than those with low expression levels of the biomarkers. The Cox regression analyses verified that the 6 FAM biomarkers can be independent prognostic factors for CM patients. The single-gene GSEA showed that the high expression levels of the 6 genes were mainly enriched in T-cell antigen presentation, the PD-1 signaling pathway, and tumor escape. The TME analysis confirmed that the FAM subtype biomarkers were not only related to immune infiltration but also highly correlated with immune checkpoints such as PD-1, PD-L1, and CTLA-4. TIDE scores confirmed that patients with high expression levels of the 6 biomarkers had worse immunotherapy responses. The 6 genes conveyed significant sensitivity to some chemotherapy drugs. qRT-PCR and IHC analyses verified the expression levels of the 6 biomarkers in CM cells.ConclusionOur FAM subtypes verify that different FAM reprogramming affects the function and phenotype of infiltrating immune cells in the CM TME. The FAM molecular subtype biomarkers can be independent predictors of prognosis and immunotherapy response in CM patients.

Vegetation-soil systems vary spatially across sandy and rocky islands due to the complex interaction of natural and anthropogenic factors. Revealing the spatial responses of vegetation-soil system to these factors is important for island conservation and the understanding of island ecology. An island chain in China, which is characterized by the coexistence of sandy and rocky islands connected by bridges, was selected for the study. The vegetation-soil system was represented using the vegetation health index (VHI), soil health index (SHI), and vegetation-soil system health index (VSSHI). A total of 20 factors were identified in aspects of island basic factors (e.g., area, shape, and isolation), landscape pattern (i.e., composition and configuration), terrain condition (e.g., altitude, slope, and distance to the shoreline), and ecological indices (vegetation, salinity, heat, humidity, and aridity indices). The spatial responses were analyzed at the island (10 islands) and site (111 sites) scales. The results indicated that the vegetation-soil system presented distinctly better conditions on the rocky islands than on the sandy island. The spatial responses showed similar and different characteristics across the dual scales. The similarity was represented by the higher sensitivities of VHI and VSSHI than that of SHI at the two scales, and the difference mainly lay in the decrease in the influences of landscape pattern along the scales from island to site. The factors related to macro aspects (i.e., island area, sea reclamation scale, land use intensity, and vegetation coverage) were the main influencing factors at the island scale. Islands with small area and sea reclamation scale, low land use intensity, and high vegetation coverage presented a high VSSHI. The detailed land surface characteristics that refer to the factors in micro aspects, including aridity degree, soil salinity, vegetation quality, and altitude, became the main influencing factors at the site scale. The VSSHI generally decreased and increased with the increase in the former and latter two factors, respectively. Across different types of islands, anthropogenic activities dominated the vegetation-soil system on the sandy island through intensive sea reclamation and land uses, and natural and anthropogenic factors jointly determined the system on the rocky islands.

Osteogenesis serves an important role in bone tissue repairing. Novel biomaterials are widely prevalent as materials for orthopedic implants due to their biocompatibility and osteogenetic ability. The purpose of this study was to comprehensively analyze hotspots and future trend of biomaterials research in osteogenesis based on bibliometric and visualized analysis. A total of 1,523 papers about biomaterials research in osteogenesis between 2000 and 2021 were included in this study. During the above 20 years, China’s leading position in the global biomaterials research in osteogenesis was obvious, and it was also the country that most frequently participates in international cooperation. Chinese Academy of Sciences was the most productive institution and the leader of research cooperation. Acta Biomaterialia and Biomaterials have published the largest number of articles in the field of biomaterials research in osteogenesis. Meanwhile, Acta Biomaterialia and Biomaterials were also the two journals with the highest total citation frequency. Wu CT, Chang J, Kaplan DL, and Xiao Y all made important contributions in the field of biomaterials research in osteogenesis. At present, there are five research hotspots in the field of biomaterials research in osteogenesis: 1) the immunomodulatory role of biomaterial-related inflammatory; 2) mechanisms of osteogenesis in biomaterials; 3) 3D printing and clinical application of biomaterials; 4) bone tissue engineering for biomaterial osteogenesis; and 5) regenerative medicine for biomaterial osteogenesis. The results of this study showed that mechanisms of osteogenesis in biomaterials, bone tissue engineering for biomaterial osteogenesis, and regenerative medicine for biomaterial osteogenesis will remain research hotspots in the future. International cooperation was also expected to expand and deepen the field of biomaterials research in osteogenesis.

Abstract Background Chinese eye acupuncture, focuses on treating different diseases by applying needle stimulation around the orbit of the eye. Since 1970, it has been used in China for the management of pain-related disorders. This scoping review systematically collected clinical studies on the use of eye acupuncture to treat pain conditions and identify any adverse events. Methods Six databases including PubMed, the Cochrane Library, CNKI, VIP, Wan Fang Data and SinoMed were searched from 1970 to March 2019. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs), clinical controlled trials (CCTs) and case series on eye-acupuncture for pain conditions meeting the inclusion criteria were identified. Data were extracted on patients, interventions, details of eye acupuncture, control treatments and outcomes. Results Searches identified 81 clinical studies and a trend demonstrating an increasing number of published studies. All studies were conducted in China and published in Chinese. These included, 45 (55.6%) RCTs, 5 (6.2%) CCTs, and 31 (38.3%) case series, treating 7113 patients with 44 different pain-related diseases or symptoms. The most frequently reported conditions were headache (18, 16.2%), acute lumbar pain (7, 6.3%) and lumbar disc herniation (7, 6.3%). Treatment using small needles (φ0.25 × 13 mm), retained ≤30 min, needling the horizontal outer orbital edge and the avoidance of manipulation during treatment were the most frequent descriptions of the interventions used. Eye acupuncture was used alone in about half of the studies and of the remaining studies it was combined with other treatment. All studies suggested some beneficial effects including: pain relief, improved quality of life and mental health, and 18 (22.2%) adverse events. Conclusion Eye acupuncture, predominantly studied in China, may be a promising intervention for managing diverse pain conditions. However, given the variety of study designs and reported treatment outcomes, conclusions about the evidence for eye acupuncture for specific conditions are not possible at this stage.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.

Abstract As a critical step of VAR planning, candidate bus selection can significantly reduce the scale of the planning problem without impairing the optimality of the planning decisions. A novel candidate bus selection method is proposed considering not only the capacity sensitivity of candidate buses, but also the correlation among uncertainties of wind power generation and load demands. First, two metrics are proposed for different sensitivity analysis purposes to evaluate voltage performance in the post‐contingency stage comprehensively, considering the extent of the voltage deviation and voltage recovery time simultaneously. Then, D‐vine copulas are constructed systematically and employed to generated correlated operational scenarios for the dependent variable sensitivity analysis based on Kucherenko indices. Morris screening method is used for the independent capacity sensitivity analysis of the candidate buses. Finally, a 2‐dimensional candidate bus selection process is proposed for the decision‐makers to determine the candidate buses flexibly. The proposed method is tested on a modified Nordic 74‐bus system with an industry‐standard complex load model. Simulation results verify the effectiveness and accuracy of the proposed method.

Introduction An increasing growth of systematic reviews (SRs) presents notable challenges for decision-makers seeking to answer clinical questions. In 1997, an algorithm was created by Jadad to assess discordance in results across SRs on the same question. Our study aims to (1) replicate assessments done in a sample of studies using the Jadad algorithm to determine if the same SR would have been chosen, (2) evaluate the Jadad algorithm in terms of utility, efficiency and comprehensiveness, and (3) describe how authors address discordance in results across multiple SRs.Methods and analysis We will use a database of 1218 overviews (2000–2020) created from a bibliometric study as the basis of our search for studies assessing discordance (called discordant reviews). This bibliometric study searched MEDLINE (Ovid), Epistemonikos and Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews for overviews. We will include any study using Jadad (1997) or another method to assess discordance. The first 30 studies screened at the full-text stage by two independent reviewers will be included. We will replicate the authors’ Jadad assessments. We will compare our outcomes qualitatively and evaluate the differences between our Jadad assessment of discordance and the authors’ assessment.Ethics and dissemination No ethics approval was required as no human subjects were involved. In addition to publishing in an open-access journal, we will disseminate evidence summaries through formal and informal conferences, academic websites, and across social media platforms. This is the first study to comprehensively evaluate and replicate Jadad algorithm assessments of discordance across multiple SRs.

BackgroundWe aimed to evaluate the impact of tumor location on cancer outcomes in patients with pT3N0M0 upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) treated with radical nephroureterectomy (RNU) with bladder cuff excision.Materials and MethodsWe retrospectively reviewed 302 patients with pT3N0M0 UTUC who underwent RNU with bladder cuff excision at our institution between 2005 and 2019, including 191 renal pelvis tumors and 111 ureteral tumors. Clinicopathologic characteristics were compared between renal pelvis and ureter urothelial carcinomas. Multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression was used to assess the association between outcomes and clinical factors. Outcomes of interest included intravesical recurrence-free survival (IVRFS), local recurrence-free survival (LRFS), distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS), and cancer-specific survival (CSS), which were measured using the Kaplan–Meier curve with a log-rank test.ResultsA total of 302 patients underwent RNU with bladder cuff excision. During the median follow-up of 42.7 months, 70 (23.2%), 95 (31.5%), and 99 (32.8%) patients experienced intravesical recurrence, local recurrence, and distant metastasis, respectively. Seventy (23.2%) patients died from UTUC. Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that tumor location was an independent predictor of local recurrence (HR = 2.05, p = 0.001), with borderline independent significance in intravesical recurrence (HR = 1.54, p = 0.074) and distant metastasis (HR = 1.45, p = 0.08). Kaplan–Meier analysis showed that ureter tumors had a worse 5-year local recurrence (log-rank p < 0.001) and borderline worse 5-year intravesical recurrence (log-rank p = 0.055) and 5-year distant metastasis (log-rank p = 0.073).ConclusionUreter tumors seem to be associated with worse oncological outcomes, especially with local recurrence in UTUC. Further large and long-term studies are warranted for investigating biological differences based on tumor location.

Abstract Background Hip fracture is common, affecting 20% of women and 10% of men during their lifetime. The trajectory of patients’ recovery as they transition from the acute hospital setting to their usual residence is poorly understood. Recently, the use of activity trackers to monitor physical activity during recovery has been investigated as a way to explore this trajectory. Methods This prospective observational cohort study followed patients from hospital to home as they recovered from a hip fracture. Participants were recruited from a single centre and provided with a 3-axis logging accelerometer worn as a pendant, for 16 weeks from recruitment. Participants received monthly follow-up visits which included questions about wearing the monitor. Monthly activity monitor data were also downloaded. Participant activity was estimated from the monitor data using the calibrated “Euclidean Norm Minus One” (ENMO) metric. Polynomial mixed-effects modelling was used to evaluate the difference between the weekly activity trends of 2 groups of participants: those with and without independent mobility at 16 weeks (defined by whether aids or personal assistance were required to mobilise). Results Twenty-nine participants from 125 eligible patients were recruited. Of these, 19 (66%) reported being aware of wearing the monitor at least some of the time. Fourteen (48%) participants withdrew before study completion. Data for thirteen (45%) participants were of sufficient quantity to be included in the activity modelling procedure. Of these, 8 reported independent mobility at 16 weeks post-surgery, and 5 did not. By week 7, the weekly predicted mean ENMO ( ENMO ¯ W $$ {\overline{ENMO}}_W $$ ) values were significantly different between the two participant groups, demonstrating feasibility of the model’s ability to predict which patients will report independent mobility at 16 weeks. Conclusions This is the first study to our knowledge to investigate acceptability and feasibility of a pendant-worn activity monitor in this patient cohort. Acceptability of wearing the monitor and feasibility of recruitment and retention of participants were limited. Future research into the use of activity monitors in this population should use minimally intrusive devices which are acceptable to this population. Study registration MoHIP is a sub-study of the World Hip Trauma Evaluation (WHiTE) Study (ISRCTN 63982700).