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In the pursuit of carbon neutrality, China's 2060 targets have been largely anchored in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, with less emphasis on the consequential benefits for air quality and public health. This study pivots to this critical nexus, exploring how China's carbon neutrality aligns with the World Health Organization's air quality guidelines (WHO AQG) regarding fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exposure. Coupling a technology-rich integrated assessment model, an emission-concentration response surface model, and exposure and health assessment, we find that decarbonization reduces sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and PM2.5 emissions by more than 90%; reduces nonmethane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs) by more than 50%; and simultaneously reduces the disparities across regions. Critically, our analysis reveals that further targeted reductions in air pollutants, notably NH3 and non-energy-related NMVOCs, could bring most Chinese cities into attainment of WHO AQG for PM2.5 5 to 10 years earlier than the pathway focused solely on carbon neutrality. Thus, the integration of air pollution control measures into carbon neutrality strategies will present a significant opportunity for China to attain health and environmental equality.

In the pursuit of carbon neutrality, China's 2060 targets have been largely anchored in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, with less emphasis on the consequential benefits for air quality and public health. This study pivots to this critical nexus, exploring how China's carbon neutrality aligns with the World Health Organization's air quality guidelines (WHO AQG) regarding fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exposure. Coupling a technology-rich integrated assessment model, an emission-concentration response surface model, and exposure and health assessment, we find that decarbonization reduces sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and PM2.5 emissions by more than 90%; reduces nonmethane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs) by more than 50%; and simultaneously reduces the disparities across regions. Critically, our analysis reveals that further targeted reductions in air pollutants, notably NH3 and non-energy-related NMVOCs, could bring most Chinese cities into attainment of WHO AQG for PM2.5 5 to 10 years earlier than the pathway focused solely on carbon neutrality. Thus, the integration of air pollution control measures into carbon neutrality strategies will present a significant opportunity for China to attain health and environmental equality.

The development of Internet of Things (IoT) systems has given rise to security concerns stemming from the exposure of wireless channels and the exponential growth of connected devices. The security challenges can be severer in the next-generation IoT systems that can disperse over large areas under a cell-free (CF) network setting. In this article, we propose a novel covert downlink transmission scheme that jointly optimizes beamforming and artificial noise (AN) vectors to obscure critical transmissions at an eavesdropper in CF IoT Networks. We classify access points (APs) as information APs (IAPs) and noise APs (NAPs) based on their proximity to the IoT devices. IAPs transmit information while NAPs generate AN to prevent eavesdropping. We derive a closed-form solution for the detection error probability. By using the Lagrangian dual algorithm, the complex logarithmic problem is transformed into sum-of-ratios form. Then, we use semidefinite relaxation (SDR) to maximize the covert transmit rate. Numerical results show that the proposed scheme outperforms the state of the art, i.e., the suboptimal Rand- AP scheme, by increasing the transmission rate by more than 23% while maintaining covertness and is better than the rest of the benchmark schemes.

China currently has the highest acid deposition globally, yet research on its status, impacts, causes and controls is lacking. Here, we compiled data and calculated critical loads regarding acid deposition. The results showed that the abatement measures in China have achieved a sharp decline in the emissions of acidifying pollutants and a continuous recovery of precipitation pH, despite the drastic growth in the economy and energy consumption. However, the risk of ecological acidification and eutrophication showed no significant decrease. With similar emission reductions, the decline in areas at risk of acidification in China (7.0%) lags behind those in Europe (20%) or the USA (15%). This was because, unlike Europe and the USA, China's abatement strategies primarily target air quality improvement rather than mitigating ecological impacts. Given that the area with the risk of eutrophication induced by nitrogen deposition remained at 13% of the country even under the scenario of achieving the dual targets of air quality and carbon dioxide mitigation in 2035, we explored an enhanced ammonia abatement pathway. With a further 27% reduction in ammonia by 2035, China could largely eliminate the impacts of acid deposition. This research serves as a valuable reference for China's future acid deposition control and for other nations facing similar challenges.

China currently has the highest acid deposition globally, yet research on its status, impacts, causes and controls is lacking. Here, we compiled data and calculated critical loads regarding acid deposition. The results showed that the abatement measures in China have achieved a sharp decline in the emissions of acidifying pollutants and a continuous recovery of precipitation pH, despite the drastic growth in the economy and energy consumption. However, the risk of ecological acidification and eutrophication showed no significant decrease. With similar emission reductions, the decline in areas at risk of acidification in China (7.0%) lags behind those in Europe (20%) or the USA (15%). This was because, unlike Europe and the USA, China's abatement strategies primarily target air quality improvement rather than mitigating ecological impacts. Given that the area with the risk of eutrophication induced by nitrogen deposition remained at 13% of the country even under the scenario of achieving the dual targets of air quality and carbon dioxide mitigation in 2035, we explored an enhanced ammonia abatement pathway. With a further 27% reduction in ammonia by 2035, China could largely eliminate the impacts of acid deposition. This research serves as a valuable reference for China's future acid deposition control and for other nations facing similar challenges.

Face presentation attack detection (PAD) is essential to secure face recognition systems primarily from high-fidelity mask attacks. Most existing 3D mask PAD benchmarks suffer from several drawbacks: 1) a limited number of mask identities, types of sensors, and a total number of videos; 2) low-fidelity quality of facial masks. Basic deep models and remote photoplethysmography (rPPG) methods achieved acceptable performance on these benchmarks but still far from the needs of practical scenarios. To bridge the gap to real-world applications, we introduce a large-scale High- Fidelity Mask dataset, namely HiFiMask. Specifically, a total amount of 54,600 videos are recorded from 75 subjects with 225 realistic masks by 7 new kinds of sensors. Along with the dataset, we propose a novel C ontrastive C ontext-aware L earning (CCL) framework. CCL is a new training methodology for supervised PAD tasks, which is able to learn by leveraging rich contexts accurately (e.g., subjects, mask material and lighting) among pairs of live faces and high-fidelity mask attacks. Extensive experimental evaluations on HiFiMask and three additional 3D mask datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of our method. The codes and dataset will be released soon.

Background: Older people living in residential aged care homes experience frequent emergency transfers to hospital. These events are associated with risks of hospital acquired complications and invasive treatments or interventions. Evidence suggests that some hospital transfers may be unnecessary or avoidable. The Early Detection of Deterioration in Elderly residents (EDDIE) program is a multi-component intervention aimed at reducing unnecessary hospital admissions from residential aged care homes by empowering nursing and care staff to detect and manage early signs of resident deterioration. This study aims to implement and evaluate the program in a multi-site randomised study in Queensland, Australia. Methods: A stepped-wedge randomised controlled trial will be conducted at 12 residential aged care homes over 58 weeks. The program has four components: education and training, decision support tools, diagnostic equipment, and implementation facilitation with clinical systems support. The integrated Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Health Services (i-PARIHS) framework will be used to guide the program implementation and process evaluation. The primary outcome measure will be the number of hospital bed days used by residents, with secondary outcomes assessing emergency department transfer rates, admission rates, length of stay, family awareness and experience, staff self-efficacy and costs of both implementation and health service use. A process evaluation will assess the extent and fidelity of program implementation, mechanisms of impact and the contextual barriers and enablers. Discussion: The intervention is expected to improve outcomes by reducing unnecessary hospital transfers. Fewer hospital transfers and admissions will release resources for other patients with potentially greater needs. Residential aged care home staff might benefit from feelings of empowerment in their ability to proactively manage early signs of resident deterioration. The p

The Heisenberg triangular lattice quantum spin liquid and the phase transitions to nearby magnetic orders have received much theoretical attention, but clear experimental manifestations of these states are rare. This work investigates a new spin-half Yb$^{3+}$ delafossite material, KYbSe$_2$, whose inelastic neutron scattering spectra reveal a diffuse continuum with a sharp lower bound. Applying entanglement witnesses to the data reveals multipartite entanglement spread between its neighbors, and analysis of its magnetic exchange couplings shows close proximity to the triangular lattice Heisenberg quantum spin liquid. Key features of the data are reproduced by Schwinger-boson theory and tensor network calculations with a significant second-neighbor coupling $J_2$. The strength of the dynamical structure factor at the $K$ point shows a scaling collapse in $\hbar\omega/k_\mathrm{B}T$ down to 0.3 K, indicating a second-order quantum phase transition. Comparing this to previous theoretical work suggests that the proximate phase at larger $J_2$ is a gapped $\mathbb{Z}_2$ spin liquid, resolving a long-debated issue. We thus show that KYbSe$_2$ is close to a spin liquid phase, which in turn sheds light on the theoretical phase diagram itself.

Near real-time urban traffic analysis and prediction are paramount for effective intelligent transport systems. Whilst there is a plethora of research on advanced approaches to study traffic recently, only one-third of them has focused on urban arterials. A ready-to-use framework to support decision making in local traffic bureaus using largely available IoT sensors, especially CCTV, is yet to be developed. This study presents an end-to-end urban traffic volume detection and prediction framework using CCTV image series. The framework incorporates a novel Faster R-CNN to generate vehicle counts and quantify traffic conditions. Then it investigates the performance of a statistical-based model (SARIMAX), a machine learning (random forest; RF) and a deep learning (LSTM) model to predict traffic volume 30 min in the future. Tests at six locations with varying traffic conditions under different lengths of past time series are used to train the prediction models. RF and LSTM provided the most accurate predictions, with RF being faster than LSTM. The developed framework has been successfully applied to fill data gaps under adverse weather conditions when data are missing. It can be potentially implemented in near real time at any CCTV location and integrated into an online visualization platform.

The Heisenberg triangular lattice quantum spin liquid and the phase transitions to nearby magnetic orders have received much theoretical attention, but clear experimental manifestations of these states are rare. This work investigates a new spin-half Yb$^{3+}$ delafossite material, KYbSe$_2$, whose inelastic neutron scattering spectra reveal a diffuse continuum with a sharp lower bound. Applying entanglement witnesses to the data reveals multipartite entanglement spread between its neighbors, and analysis of its magnetic exchange couplings shows close proximity to the triangular lattice Heisenberg quantum spin liquid. Key features of the data are reproduced by Schwinger-boson theory and tensor network calculations with a significant second-neighbor coupling $J_2$. The strength of the dynamical structure factor at the $K$ point shows a scaling collapse in $\hbar\omega/k_\mathrm{B}T$ down to 0.3 K, indicating a second-order quantum phase transition. Comparing this to previous theoretical work suggests that the proximate phase at larger $J_2$ is a gapped $\mathbb{Z}_2$ spin liquid, resolving a long-debated issue. We thus show that KYbSe$_2$ is close to a spin liquid phase, which in turn sheds light on the theoretical phase diagram itself.

Dubowitz syndrome (DubS) is considered a recognizable syndrome characterized by a distinctive facial appearance and deficits in growth and development. There have been over 200 individuals reported with Dubowitz or a “Dubowitz-like” condition, although no single gene has been implicated as responsible for its cause. We have performed exome (ES) or genome sequencing (GS) for 31 individuals clinically diagnosed with DubS. After genome-wide sequencing, rare variant filtering and computational and Mendelian genomic analyses, a presumptive molecular diagnosis was made in 13/27 (48%) families. The molecular diagnoses included biallelic variants in SKIV2L, SLC35C1, BRCA1, NSUN2; de novo variants in ARID1B, ARID1A, CREBBP, POGZ, TAF1, HDAC8, and copy-number variation at1p36.11(ARID1A), 8q22.2(VPS13B), Xp22, and Xq13(HDAC8). Variants of unknown significance in known disease genes, and also in genes of uncertain significance, were observed in 7/27 (26%) additional families. Only one gene, HDAC8, could explain the phenotype in more than one family (N = 2). All but two of the genomic diagnoses were for genes discovered, or for conditions recognized, since the introduction of next-generation sequencing. Overall, the DubS-like clinical phenotype is associated with extensive locus heterogeneity and the molecular diagnoses made are for emerging clinical conditions sharing characteristic features that overlap the DubS phenotype.

Objectives: To evaluate the outbreak size and hospital cost effects of bacterial whole-genome sequencing availability in managing a large-scale hospital outbreak. Methods: We built a hybrid discrete event/agent-based simulation model to replicate a serious bacterial outbreak of resistant Escherichia coli in a large metropolitan public hospital during 2017. We tested the 3 strategies of using whole-genome sequencing early, late (actual outbreak), or not using it and assessed their associated outbreak size and hospital cost. The model included ward dynamics, pathogen transmission, and associated hospital costs during a 5-month outbreak. Model parameters were determined using data from the Queensland Hospital Admitted Patient Data Collection (N = 4809 patient admissions) and local clinical knowledge. Sensitivity analyses were performed to address model and parameter uncertainty. Results: An estimated 197 patients were colonized during the outbreak, with 75 patients detected. The total outbreak cost was A$460 137 (US$317 117), with 6.1% spent on sequencing. Without sequencing, the outbreak was estimated to result in 352 colonized patients, costing A$766 921 (US$528 547). With earlier detection from use of routine sequencing, the estimated outbreak size was 3 patients and cost A$65 374 (US$45 054). Conclusions: Using whole-genome sequencing in hospital outbreak management was associated with smaller outbreaks and cost savings, with sequencing costs as a small fraction of total hospital costs, supporting the further investigation of the use of routine whole-genome sequencing in hospitals.

Background: Residential aged care facility residents experience high rates of hospital admissions which are stressful, costly and often preventable. The EDDIE program is a hospital avoidance initiative designed to enable nursing and care staff to detect, refer and quickly respond to early signals of a deteriorating resident. The program was implemented in a 96-bed residential aged care facility in regional Australia. Methods: A prospective pre-post cohort study design was used to collect data on costs of program delivery, hospital admission rates and length of stay for the 12 months prior to, and following, the intervention. A Markov decision model was developed to synthesize study data with published literature in order to estimate the cost-effectiveness of the program. Quality adjusted life years (QALYs) were adopted as the measure of effectiveness. Results: The EDDIE program was associated with a 19% reduction in annual hospital admissions and a 31% reduction in the average length of stay. The cost-effectiveness analysis found the program to be both more effective and less costly than usual care, with 0.06 QALYs gained and $249,000 health system costs saved in a modelled cohort of 96 residents. A probabilistic sensitivity analysis estimated that there was an 86% probability that the program was cost-effective after taking the uncertainty of the model inputs into account. Conclusions: This study provides promising evidence for the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a nurse led, early intervention program in preventing unnecessary hospital admissions within a residential aged care facility. Further research in multi-site randomised studies is needed to confirm the generalisability of these results.

BACKGROUND: Hospitalisation rates for the older population have been increasing with end-of-life care becoming a more medicalised and costly experience. There is evidence that some of these patients received non-beneficial treatment during their final hospitalisation with a third of the non-beneficial treatment duration spent in intensive care units. This study aims to increase appropriate care and treatment decisions and pathways for older patients at the end of life in Australia. This study will implement and evaluate a prospective feedback loop and tailored clinical response intervention at three hospitals in Queensland, Australia.METHODS: A stepped-wedge cluster randomised trial will be conducted with up to 21 clinical teams in three acute hospitals over 70 weeks. The study involves clinical teams providing care to patients aged 75 years or older, who are prospectively identified to be at risk of non-beneficial treatment using two validated tools for detecting death and deterioration risks. The intervention's feedback loop will provide the teams with a summary of these patients' risk profiles as a stimulus for a tailored clinical response in the intervention phase. The Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research will be used to inform the intervention's implementation and process evaluation. The study will determine the impact of the intervention on patient outcomes related to appropriate care and treatment at the end of life in hospitals, as well as the associated healthcare resource use and costs. The primary outcome is the proportion of patients who are admitted to intensive care units. A process evaluation will be carried out to assess the implementation, mechanisms of impact, and contextual barriers and enablers of the intervention.DISCUSSION: This intervention is expected to have a positive impact on the care of older patients near the end of life, specifically to improve clinical decision-making about treatment

Background: Despite the rapid uptake of genomic technologies within cancer care, few studies provide detailed information on the costs of sequencing across different applications. The objective of the study was to examine and categorise the complete costs involved in genomic sequencing for a range of applications within cancer settings. Methods: We performed a cost-analysis using gross and micro-costing approaches for genomic sequencing performed during 2017/2018 across different settings in Brisbane, Australia. Sequencing was undertaken for patients with lung, breast, oesophageal cancers, melanoma or mesothelioma. Aggregated resource data were captured for a total of 1433 patients and point estimates of per patient costs were generated. Deterministic sensitivity analyses addressed the uncertainty in the estimates. Estimated costs to the public health system for resources were categorised into seven distinct activities in the sequencing process: sampling, extraction, library preparation, sequencing, analysis, data storage and clinical reporting. Costs were also aggregated according to labour, consumables, testing, equipment and 'other' categories. Results: The per person costs were AU$347-429 (2018 US$240-297) for targeted panels, AU$871-$2788 (2018 US$604-1932) for exome sequencing, and AU$2895-4830 (2018 US$2006-3347) for whole genome sequencing. Cost proportions were highest for library preparation/sequencing materials (average 76.8% of total costs), sample extraction (8.1%), data analysis (9.2%) and data storage (2.6%). Capital costs for the sequencers were an additional AU$34-197 (2018 US$24-67) per person. Conclusions: Total costs were most sensitive to consumables and sequencing activities driven by commercial prices. Per person sequencing costs for cancer are high when tumour/blood pairs require testing. Using the natural steps involved in sequencing and categorising resources accordingly, fu

Background: Hospital infection control requires timely detection and identification of organisms, and their antimicrobial susceptibility. We describe a hybrid modeling approach to evaluate whole genome sequencing of pathogens for improving clinical decisions during a 2017 hospital outbreak of OXA-181 carbapenemase-producing Escherichia coli and the associated economic effects. Methods: Combining agent-based and discrete-event paradigms, we built a hybrid simulation model to assess hospital ward dynamics, pathogen transmission and colonizations. The model was calibrated to exactly replicate the real-life outcomes of the outbreak at the ward-level. Seven scenarios were assessed including genome sequencing (early or late) and no sequencing (usual care). Model inputs included extent of microbiology and sequencing tests, patient-level data on length of stay, hospital ward movement, cost data and local clinical knowledge. The main outcomes were outbreak size and hospital costs. Model validation and sensitivity analyses were performed to address uncertainty around data inputs and calibration. Results: An estimated 197 patients were colonized during the outbreak with 75 patients detected. The total outbreak cost was US$318,654 with 6.1% of total costs spent on sequencing. Without sequencing, the outbreak was estimated to result in 352 colonized patients costing US$531,109. Microbiology tests were the largest cost component across all scenarios. Conclusion: A hybrid simulation approach using the advantages of both agent-based and discrete-event modeling successfully replicated a real-life bacterial hospital outbreak as a foundation for evaluating clinical outcomes and efficiency of outbreak management. Whole genome sequencing of a potentially serious pathogen appears effective in containing an outbreak and minimizing hospital costs.

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) encompasses dynamic changes in cellular organization from epithelial to mesenchymal phenotypes, which leads to functional changes in cell migration and invasion. EMT occurs in a diverse range of physiological and pathological conditions and is driven by a conserved set of inducing signals, transcriptional regulators and downstream effectors. With over 5,700 publications indexed by Web of Science in 2019 alone, research on EMT is expanding rapidly. This growing interest warrants the need for a consensus among researchers when referring to and undertaking research on EMT. This Consensus Statement, mediated by 'the EMT International Association' (TEMTIA), is the outcome of a 2-year-long discussion among EMT researchers and aims to both clarify the nomenclature and provide definitions and guidelines for EMT research in future publications. We trust that these guidelines will help to reduce misunderstanding and misinterpretation of research data generated in various experimental models and to promote cross-disciplinary collaboration to identify and address key open questions in this research field. While recognizing the importance of maintaining diversity in experimental approaches and conceptual frameworks, we emphasize that lasting contributions of EMT research to increasing our understanding of developmental processes and combatting cancer and other diseases depend on the adoption of a unified terminology to describe EMT.

The traditional TS-1 zeolite is a typical microporous material, the diffusion of bulky molecules in TS-1 is greatly affected.[1] Besides, because of the highly hydrolyzable titanium source, the preparation of TS-1 requires complex synthesis conditions. Moreover, the difference in hydrolysis rate between the silicon source and titanium source tends to increase the difficulty of titanium insertion into the framework, and it is easy to generate extraframework Ti species during the synthesis. We propose a method of synthesizing hierarchical TS-1 from highly hydrolysis-resistant polymers containing titanium and silicon (Fig. 1a). This method completely solves the above problems and can conveniently and stably synthesize high-quality TS-1 free of extraframework Ti species. The TS-1 zeolite synthesized from the polymers exhibits excellent reaction performance in the oxidation of n-hexane and cyclohexene.

Purpose: Given the importance of measuring health-related quality of life (HRQoL) for cost–utility studies, this study aimed to determine the validity and responsiveness of two preference-based HRQoL instruments, the EuroQol-five dimensions-five levels questionnaire (EQ-5D-5L) and the Sheffield Preference-based Venous Ulcer questionnaire (SPVU-5D) in patients with venous leg ulcers (VLUs) in an Australian setting. Methods: This study analysed de-identified data collected from 80 patients with VLUs recruited by a prospective study in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Patients were asked to complete EQ-5D-5L and SPVU-5D surveys at baseline, 1-month, 3-month and 6-month follow-up as part of the prospective study. Baseline data and follow-up data were pooled to test the construct validity and level of agreement of the two instruments. Follow-up data were used to test the responsiveness. Results: The ceiling effects were negligible for EQ-5D-5L and SPVU-5D utility scores. Both instruments were able to discriminate between healed VLU and unhealed VLU and showed great responsiveness when healing status changed over time. Weak to strong correlations were found between dimensions of EQ-5D-5L and SPVU-5D. The utility scores produced from EQ-5D-5L were generally lower. Conclusions: This study found that both EQ-5D-5L and SPVU-5D were valid and responsive in detecting change of VLU healing status among a small Australian population. Both instruments may be used in economic evaluation studies that involve patients with healed or unhealed VLUs. However, given the limitations presented in this study, further research is necessary to make sound recommendations on the preferred instrument in economic evaluation of VLU-related interventions.

The traditional TS-1 zeolite is a typical microporous material, the diffusion of bulky molecules in TS-1 is greatly affected.[1] Besides, because of the highly hydrolyzable titanium source, the preparation of TS-1 requires complex synthesis conditions. Moreover, the difference in hydrolysis rate between the silicon source and titanium source tends to increase the difficulty of titanium insertion into the framework, and it is easy to generate extraframework Ti species during the synthesis. We propose a method of synthesizing hierarchical TS-1 from highly hydrolysis-resistant polymers containing titanium and silicon (Fig. 1a). This method completely solves the above problems and can conveniently and stably synthesize high-quality TS-1 free of extraframework Ti species. The TS-1 zeolite synthesized from the polymers exhibits excellent reaction performance in the oxidation of n-hexane and cyclohexene.

The traditional TS-1 zeolite is a typical microporous material, the diffusion of bulky molecules in TS-1 is greatly affected.[1] Besides, because of the highly hydrolyzable titanium source, the preparation of TS-1 requires complex synthesis conditions. Moreover, the difference in hydrolysis rate between the silicon source and titanium source tends to increase the difficulty of titanium insertion into the framework, and it is easy to generate extraframework Ti species during the synthesis. We propose a method of synthesizing hierarchical TS-1 from highly hydrolysis-resistant polymers containing titanium and silicon (Fig. 1a). This method completely solves the above problems and can conveniently and stably synthesize high-quality TS-1 free of extraframework Ti species. The TS-1 zeolite synthesized from the polymers exhibits excellent reaction performance in the oxidation of n-hexane and cyclohexene.

The traditional TS-1 zeolite is a typical microporous material, the diffusion of bulky molecules in TS-1 is greatly affected.[1] Besides, because of the highly hydrolyzable titanium source, the preparation of TS-1 requires complex synthesis conditions. Moreover, the difference in hydrolysis rate between the silicon source and titanium source tends to increase the difficulty of titanium insertion into the framework, and it is easy to generate extraframework Ti species during the synthesis. We propose a method of synthesizing hierarchical TS-1 from highly hydrolysis-resistant polymers containing titanium and silicon (Fig. 1a). This method completely solves the above problems and can conveniently and stably synthesize high-quality TS-1 free of extraframework Ti species. The TS-1 zeolite synthesized from the polymers exhibits excellent reaction performance in the oxidation of n-hexane and cyclohexene.

Bromine and iodine chemistry has been updated in the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model to better capture the influence of natural emissions from the oceans on ozone concentrations. Annual simulations were performed using the hemispheric CMAQ model without and with bromine and iodine chemistry. Model results over the Northern Hemisphere show that including bromine and iodine chemistry in CMAQ not only reduces ozone concentrations within the marine boundary layer but also aloft and inland. Bromine and iodine chemistry reduces annual mean surface ozone over seawater by 25%, with lesser ozone reductions over land. The bromine and iodine chemistry decreases ozone concentration without changing the diurnal profile and is active throughout the year. However, it does not have a strong seasonal influence on ozone over the Northern Hemisphere. Model performance of CMAQ is improved by the bromine and iodine chemistry when compared to observations, especially at coastal sites and over seawater. Relative to bromine, iodine chemistry is approximately four times more effective in reducing ozone over seawater over the Northern Hemisphere (on an annual basis). Model results suggest that the chemistry modulates intercontinental transport and lowers the background ozone imported to the United States.

© 2018 Elsevier B.V. X-chromosomal short tandem repeats (X-STRs) have been widely used in forensic practice involving complicated cases of kinship and also play an increasingly important role in population genetics. X-STRs have been studied in regional populations of China but there is a lack of data for the Manchu population. In this study, we have investigated the forensic genetic properties of 12 X-STRs in the Investigator Argus X-12 Kit (QIAGEN, Hilden, Germany) in 772 Manchu (male = 514, female = 258) individuals from the Xiuyan and Huanren Manchu autonomous counties of Liaoning province. We observed a total of 166 alleles at 12 X-STR loci with allele frequencies ranging from 0.001295to 0.615285. The most polymorphic locus was DXS10135 with 24 alleles while DXS7423 was the least polymorphic locus with 5 alleles. We found significant linkage disequilibrium (LD) between the following pairs of markers for males: DXS10103/DXS10101, DXS10135/DXS10146, DXS10101/DXS10148, DXS10135/DXS10148, DXS7423/DXS10148 and DXS10079/DXS10148. For females, LD was only observed for DXS10103/DXS10101. The combined power of discrimination was 0.9999999979699 for males and 0.999999999999998 for females. The numbers of observed haplotypes in Manchu males were 310, 172, 182 and 172 in four linkage groups; LG1, LG2, LG3 and LG4, respectively, however, these linkage groups did not form stable haplotypes as indicated by linkage equilibrium (LE) of STRs within the groups and significant LD between the groups. This study represents an extensive report on X-STR marker variation in the Manchu population for forensic applications and population genetic studies.

© 2018 Elsevier B.V. X-chromosomal short tandem repeats (X-STRs) have been widely used in forensic practice involving complicated cases of kinship and also play an increasingly important role in population genetics. X-STRs have been studied in regional populations of China but there is a lack of data for the Manchu population. In this study, we have investigated the forensic genetic properties of 12 X-STRs in the Investigator Argus X-12 Kit (QIAGEN, Hilden, Germany) in 772 Manchu (male = 514, female = 258) individuals from the Xiuyan and Huanren Manchu autonomous counties of Liaoning province. We observed a total of 166 alleles at 12 X-STR loci with allele frequencies ranging from 0.001295to 0.615285. The most polymorphic locus was DXS10135 with 24 alleles while DXS7423 was the least polymorphic locus with 5 alleles. We found significant linkage disequilibrium (LD) between the following pairs of markers for males: DXS10103/DXS10101, DXS10135/DXS10146, DXS10101/DXS10148, DXS10135/DXS10148, DXS7423/DXS10148 and DXS10079/DXS10148. For females, LD was only observed for DXS10103/DXS10101. The combined power of discrimination was 0.9999999979699 for males and 0.999999999999998 for females. The numbers of observed haplotypes in Manchu males were 310, 172, 182 and 172 in four linkage groups; LG1, LG2, LG3 and LG4, respectively, however, these linkage groups did not form stable haplotypes as indicated by linkage equilibrium (LE) of STRs within the groups and significant LD between the groups. This study represents an extensive report on X-STR marker variation in the Manchu population for forensic applications and population genetic studies.

A corrigendum for Scientific Reports 7: Article number: 41238; published online: 25 January 2017; updated: 25 April 2017 The original version of this Article contained an error in the spelling of the author Huan Li, which was incorrectly given as Li Huan. The Author Contributions Statement, Study concept and design: Y.C., Y.C.T., M.H.T. Acquisition of data: Y.C., Y.C.T., Y.H.Q., J.W.X., L.H., J.P., H.S.T., R.K., H.Y., M.H.T. Analysis and interpretation of data: Y.C., Y.C.T., Y.H.Q., J.W.X., L.H., J.P., M.H.T. Manuscript drafting: Y.C., Y.C.T., Y.H.Q., M.H.T. Critical revision of manuscript: Y.C., Y.C.T., Y.H.Q., J.W.X., L.H., J.P., H.S.T., R.K., H.Y., M.H.T. Statistical analysis: Y.C., Y.C.T., J.W.X., L.H., Y.H.Q., J.P. Obtaining funding: H.Y., M.H.T. now reads: Study concept and design: Y.C., Y.C.T., M.H.T. Acquisition of data: Y.C., Y.C.T., Y.H.Q., J.W.X., H.L., J.P., H.S.T., R.K., H.Y., M.H.T. Analysis and interpretation of data: Y.C., Y.C.T., Y.H.Q., J.W.X., H.L., J.P., M.H.T. Manuscript drafting: Y.C., Y.C.T., Y.H.Q., M.H.T. Critical revision of manuscript: Y.C., Y.C.T., Y.H.Q., J.W.X., H.L., J.P., H.S.T., R.K., H.Y., M.H.T. Statistical analysis: Y.C., Y.C.T., J.W.X., H.L., Y.H.Q., J.P. Obtaining funding: H.Y., M.H.T. In addition, the Acknowledgements section in this Article was incomplete. “This work is supported by Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, BMRC & JCO-DP, Agency for Science, Technology and Research in Singapore (A*STAR), and Janssen. JWX was an MBI PhD scholar. We would like to thank Dr. Johnathan Lai and Ms Foong Yu Miin for generating EBVi cell lines used in this study, and Prof Chan Soh Ha for kindly providing B95–8 cells for the production of EBV. We acknowledge the helpful services of Dr. Parul Saxena and Dr. Wen Chaoming from Biopolis Shared Facilities, A*STAR, for performing the Affymetrix microarray experiments.” now reads: “This work is supported by Institute of Bioengi

The air quality of many large coastal areas in the United States is affected by the confluence of polluted urban and relatively clean marine airmasses, each with distinct atmospheric chemistry. In this context, the role of iodide-mediated ozone (O) deposition over seawater and marine halogen chemistry accounted for in both the lateral boundary conditions and coastal waters surrounding the continental U.S. is examined using the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model. Several nested simulations are conducted in which these halogen processes are implemented separately in the continental U.S. and hemispheric CMAQ domains, the latter providing lateral boundary conditions for the former. Overall, it is the combination of these processes within both the continental U.S. domain and from lateral boundary conditions that lead to the largest reductions in modeled surface O concentrations. Predicted reductions in surface O concentrations occur mainly along the coast where CMAQ typically has large overpredictions. These results suggest that a realistic representation of halogen processes in marine regions can improve model prediction of O concentrations near the coast.

A corrigendum for Scientific Reports 5: Article number: 10038; published online: 12 May 2015; updated: 03 August 2015 In the original version of this Article, there is a typographical error in Affiliation 1 which was incorrectly listed as ‘Institute of Biotechnology and Nanotechnology, A*STAR, The Nanos, #04-01, 31 Biopolis Way, Singapore 138669, Singapore’. The correct affiliation is listed below: Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, A*STAR, The Nanos, #04-01, 31 Biopolis Way, Singapore 138669, Singapore This error has now been corrected in the PDF and HTML versions of the Article.

© 2015 IEEE. The Visual Object Tracking challenge 2015, VOT2015, aims at comparing short-term single-object visual trackers that do not apply pre-learned models of object appearance. Results of 62 trackers are presented. The number of tested trackers makes VOT 2015 the largest benchmark on short-term tracking to date. For each participating tracker, a short description is provided in the appendix. Features of the VOT2015 challenge that go beyond its VOT2014 predecessor are: (i) a new VOT2015 dataset twice as large as in VOT2014 with full annotation of targets by rotated bounding boxes and per-frame attribute, (ii) extensions of the VOT2014 evaluation methodology by introduction of a new performance measure. The dataset, the evaluation kit as well as the results are publicly available at the challenge website.

© 2015 IEEE. The Visual Object Tracking challenge 2015, VOT2015, aims at comparing short-term single-object visual trackers that do not apply pre-learned models of object appearance. Results of 62 trackers are presented. The number of tested trackers makes VOT 2015 the largest benchmark on short-term tracking to date. For each participating tracker, a short description is provided in the appendix. Features of the VOT2015 challenge that go beyond its VOT2014 predecessor are: (i) a new VOT2015 dataset twice as large as in VOT2014 with full annotation of targets by rotated bounding boxes and per-frame attribute, (ii) extensions of the VOT2014 evaluation methodology by introduction of a new performance measure. The dataset, the evaluation kit as well as the results are publicly available at the challenge website.

2014 Copyright held by the Owner/Author. Publication rights licensed to ACM. (Figure Presented) Painting is a major form of content creation, offering unlimited control and freedom of expression. However, it can involve tedious manual repetitions, such as stippling large regions or hatching complex contours. Thus, a central goal in digital painting research is to automate tedious repetitions while allowing user control. Existing methods impose a sequential order, in which a small exemplar is prepared and then cloned through additional gestures. Such sequential mode may break the continuous, spontaneous flow of painting. Moreover, it is more suitable for homogeneous areas than nuanced variations common in real paintings. We present an interactive digital painting system that autocompletes tedious repetitions while preserving nuanced variations and maintaining natural flows. Specifically, users paint as usual, while our system records and analyzes their workflows. When potential repetition is detected, our system predicts what the user might want to draw and offers auto-completes that adjust to the existing shape-color context. Our method eliminates the need for sequential creation-cloning and better adapts to the local painting contexts. Furthermore, users can choose to accept, ignore, or modify those predictions and thus maintain full control. Our method can be considered as the painting analogy of auto-completes in common typing and IDE systems. We demonstrate the quality and usability of our system through painting results and a pilot user study.

2014 Copyright held by the Owner/Author. Publication rights licensed to ACM. (Figure Presented) Painting is a major form of content creation, offering unlimited control and freedom of expression. However, it can involve tedious manual repetitions, such as stippling large regions or hatching complex contours. Thus, a central goal in digital painting research is to automate tedious repetitions while allowing user control. Existing methods impose a sequential order, in which a small exemplar is prepared and then cloned through additional gestures. Such sequential mode may break the continuous, spontaneous flow of painting. Moreover, it is more suitable for homogeneous areas than nuanced variations common in real paintings. We present an interactive digital painting system that autocompletes tedious repetitions while preserving nuanced variations and maintaining natural flows. Specifically, users paint as usual, while our system records and analyzes their workflows. When potential repetition is detected, our system predicts what the user might want to draw and offers auto-completes that adjust to the existing shape-color context. Our method eliminates the need for sequential creation-cloning and better adapts to the local painting contexts. Furthermore, users can choose to accept, ignore, or modify those predictions and thus maintain full control. Our method can be considered as the painting analogy of auto-completes in common typing and IDE systems. We demonstrate the quality and usability of our system through painting results and a pilot user study.

Visual tracking has attracted a significant attention in the last few decades. The recent surge in the number of publications on tracking-related problems have made it almost impossible to follow the developments in the field. One of the reasons is that there is a lack of commonly accepted annotated data-sets and standardized evaluation protocols that would allow objective comparison of different tracking methods. To address this issue, the Visual Object Tracking (VOT) workshop was organized in conjunction with ICCV2013. Researchers from academia as well as industry were invited to participate in the first VOT2013 challenge which aimed at single-object visual trackers that do not apply pre-learned models of object appearance (model-free). Presented here is the VOT2013 benchmark dataset for evaluation of single-object visual trackers as well as the results obtained by the trackers competing in the challenge. In contrast to related attempts in tracker benchmarking, the dataset is labeled per-frame by visual attributes that indicate occlusion, illumination change, motion change, size change and camera motion, offering a more systematic comparison of the trackers. Furthermore, we have designed an automated system for performing and evaluating the experiments. We present the evaluation protocol of the VOT2013 challenge and the results of a comparison of 27 trackers on the benchmark dataset. The dataset, the evaluation tools and the tracker rankings are publicly available from the challenge website (http://votchallenge. net)

The fatty acid profile, oxidative stability and toxicological safety of bayberry (Myrica rubra Sieb. et Zucc.) kernel oil (BKO) extracted by supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) and solvent of diethyl ether were assessed. Fatty acid profile was determined by gas chromatography, oxidative stability by placing the sample of 25 g in a blast oven at 50 ± 1 °C to accelerate oxidation and toxicological safety by bacterial reverse mutation (Ames test) and acute oral toxicity in mice. The results demonstrated that in comparison to lard and rapeseed oil, the peroxide values of BKO were higher but the acid values were similar during the incubation test. The Ames test demonstrated no mutagenicity and no obvious acute toxicity were observed, suggesting that the BKO has potential as a novel edible oil.

Contains fulltext : 97568.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access), Mutagen sensitivity, a measurement of chromatid breaks induced by various mutagens in short-term cultures of peripheral blood lymphocytes, is an established risk factor for a number of cancers and is highly heritable. The purpose of this study is to identify genetic predictors of mutagen sensitivity. Therefore, we conducted a multi-stage genome-wide association study. The primary scan analyzed 539,437 autosomal SNPs in 673 healthy individuals, followed by validations in two independent sets of 575 and 259 healthy individuals, respectively. One SNP, rs8093763, on chromosome 18q21 showed significant association with bleomycin (BLM) sensitivity (combined P = 2.64 x 10). We observed significantly lower BLM-induced chromotid breaks for genotypes containing wild-type allele compared with the homozygous variant genotype in the discovery set (0.71 versus 0.90, P= 3.77 x 10) and in replication phase 1 (0.61 versus 0.84, P= 7.00 x 10). The result of replication phase 2 was not statistically significant (0.65 versus 0.68, P= 0.44). This SNP is approximately 64 kb from PMAIP1/Noxa, which is a radiation-inducible gene and exhibits higher expression in BLM-sensitive lymphoblastoid cell lines than insensitive cell lines upon BLM treatment. In conclusion, we identified a biologically plausible genetic variant on 18q21 near the PMAIP1/Noxa gene that is associated with BLM sensitivity.

NA

Sea breezes are characteristic features of coastal regions that can extend large distances from the coastline. Oscillations close to the inertial period are thought to account for around half the kinetic energy in the global surface ocean and play an important role in mixing. In the vicinity of 30°N/S, through a resonance between the diurnal and inertial frequencies, diurnal winds could force enhanced anti-cyclonic rotary motions that contribute to near-inertial energy. Observations of strong diurnal anti-cyclonic currents in water of depth 175 m off the Namibian coastline at 28.6°S are analysed over the annual cycle. Maxima in the diurnal anti-cyclonic current and wind stress amplitudes appear to be observed during the austral summer. Both the diurnal anti-cyclonic current and wind stress components have approximately constant phase throughout the year. These observations provide further evidence that these diurnal currents may be wind forced. Realistic General Ocean Turbulence Model (GOTM) 1-D simulations of diurnal wind forcing, including the first order coast-normal surface slope response to diurnal wind forcing, represent the principal features of the observed diurnal anti-cyclonic current but do not replicate the observed vertical diurnal current structure accurately. Cross-shelf 2-D slice simulations suggest that the first order surface slope response approximation applies away from the coast (>140 km). However, nearer to the coast, additional surface slope variations associated with spatial variations in the simulated velocity field (estimated from Bernoulli theory) appear to be significant and also result in transfer of energy to higher harmonics. Evidence from 3-D simulations at similar latitude in the northern hemisphere suggests that 3-D variations, including propagating near-inertial waves, may also need to be considered

Contains fulltext : 97568.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access), Mutagen sensitivity, a measurement of chromatid breaks induced by various mutagens in short-term cultures of peripheral blood lymphocytes, is an established risk factor for a number of cancers and is highly heritable. The purpose of this study is to identify genetic predictors of mutagen sensitivity. Therefore, we conducted a multi-stage genome-wide association study. The primary scan analyzed 539,437 autosomal SNPs in 673 healthy individuals, followed by validations in two independent sets of 575 and 259 healthy individuals, respectively. One SNP, rs8093763, on chromosome 18q21 showed significant association with bleomycin (BLM) sensitivity (combined P = 2.64 x 10). We observed significantly lower BLM-induced chromotid breaks for genotypes containing wild-type allele compared with the homozygous variant genotype in the discovery set (0.71 versus 0.90, P= 3.77 x 10) and in replication phase 1 (0.61 versus 0.84, P= 7.00 x 10). The result of replication phase 2 was not statistically significant (0.65 versus 0.68, P= 0.44). This SNP is approximately 64 kb from PMAIP1/Noxa, which is a radiation-inducible gene and exhibits higher expression in BLM-sensitive lymphoblastoid cell lines than insensitive cell lines upon BLM treatment. In conclusion, we identified a biologically plausible genetic variant on 18q21 near the PMAIP1/Noxa gene that is associated with BLM sensitivity.

Contains fulltext : 97568.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access), Mutagen sensitivity, a measurement of chromatid breaks induced by various mutagens in short-term cultures of peripheral blood lymphocytes, is an established risk factor for a number of cancers and is highly heritable. The purpose of this study is to identify genetic predictors of mutagen sensitivity. Therefore, we conducted a multi-stage genome-wide association study. The primary scan analyzed 539,437 autosomal SNPs in 673 healthy individuals, followed by validations in two independent sets of 575 and 259 healthy individuals, respectively. One SNP, rs8093763, on chromosome 18q21 showed significant association with bleomycin (BLM) sensitivity (combined P = 2.64 x 10). We observed significantly lower BLM-induced chromotid breaks for genotypes containing wild-type allele compared with the homozygous variant genotype in the discovery set (0.71 versus 0.90, P= 3.77 x 10) and in replication phase 1 (0.61 versus 0.84, P= 7.00 x 10). The result of replication phase 2 was not statistically significant (0.65 versus 0.68, P= 0.44). This SNP is approximately 64 kb from PMAIP1/Noxa, which is a radiation-inducible gene and exhibits higher expression in BLM-sensitive lymphoblastoid cell lines than insensitive cell lines upon BLM treatment. In conclusion, we identified a biologically plausible genetic variant on 18q21 near the PMAIP1/Noxa gene that is associated with BLM sensitivity.

Anthropogenic emissions of air pollutants in China influence not only local and regional environments but also the global atmospheric environment; therefore, it is important to understand how China's air pollutant emissions will change and how they will affect regional air quality in the future. Emission scenarios in 2020 were projected using forecasts of energy consumption and emission control strategies based on emissions in 2005, and on recent development plans for key industries in China. We developed four emission scenarios: REF[0] (current control legislations and implementation status), PC[0] (improvement of energy efficiencies and current environmental legislation), PC[1] (improvement of energy efficiencies and better implementation of environmental legislation), and PC[2] (improvement of energy efficiencies and strict environmental legislation). Under the REF[0] scenario, the emission of SO2, NOx, VOC and NH3 will increase by 17%, 50%, 49% and 18% in 2020, while PM10 emissions will be reduced by 10% over East China, compared to that in 2005. In PC[2], sustainable energy polices will reduce SO2, NOx and PM10 emissions by 4.1 Tg, 2.6 Tg and 1.8 Tg, respectively; better implementation of current control policies will reduce SO2, NOx and PM10 emission by 2.9 Tg, 1.8 Tg, and 1.4 Tg, respectively; strict emission standards will reduce SO2, NOx and PM10 emissions by 3.2 Tg, 3.9 Tg, and 1.7 Tg, respectively. Under the PC[2] scenario, SO2 and PM10 emissions will decrease by 18% and 38%, while NOx and VOC emissions will increase by 3% and 8%, compared to that in 2005. Future air quality in China was simulated using the Community Multi-scale Air Quality Model (CMAQ). Under RE[0] emissions, compared to 2005, the surface concentrations of SO2, NO2, hourly maximum ozone in summer, PM2.5, total sulfur and nitrogen depositions will increase by 28%, 41%, 8%, 8%, 19% and 25%, respectively, over east China. Under the PC[2] emission scenario, the surface concentrations of SO2

NA

Sea breezes are characteristic features of coastal regions that can extend large distances from the coastline. Oscillations close to the inertial period are thought to account for around half the kinetic energy in the global surface ocean and play an important role in mixing. In the vicinity of 30°N/S, through a resonance between the diurnal and inertial frequencies, diurnal winds could force enhanced anti-cyclonic rotary motions that contribute to near-inertial energy. Observations of strong diurnal anti-cyclonic currents in water of depth 175 m off the Namibian coastline at 28.6°S are analysed over the annual cycle. Maxima in the diurnal anti-cyclonic current and wind stress amplitudes appear to be observed during the austral summer. Both the diurnal anti-cyclonic current and wind stress components have approximately constant phase throughout the year. These observations provide further evidence that these diurnal currents may be wind forced. Realistic General Ocean Turbulence Model (GOTM) 1-D simulations of diurnal wind forcing, including the first order coast-normal surface slope response to diurnal wind forcing, represent the principal features of the observed diurnal anti-cyclonic current but do not replicate the observed vertical diurnal current structure accurately. Cross-shelf 2-D slice simulations suggest that the first order surface slope response approximation applies away from the coast (>140 km). However, nearer to the coast, additional surface slope variations associated with spatial variations in the simulated velocity field (estimated from Bernoulli theory) appear to be significant and also result in transfer of energy to higher harmonics. Evidence from 3-D simulations at similar latitude in the northern hemisphere suggests that 3-D variations, including propagating near-inertial waves, may also need to be considered

An integrated emission inventory of China was validated through comparing the Community Multi-scale Air Quality (CMAQ) simulations with the NO2 and SO2 column retrieved from Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI), Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) retrieved from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), and ground observations of SO2, NO2, PM10, PM2.5 and its components. The model simulations were performed for year 2005. The model generally reproduces both spatial distribution and seasonal variation of tropospheric NO2, SO2 column densities and AOD in China that have been observed by OMI and MODIS. The correlation coefficients between model simulated and satellite observed NO2 column densities, SO2 column densities and AOD over east China are 0.90, 0.85 and 0.79, and the normalized mean bias (NMBs) are -8%, 1%, and -8% respectively, which are comparable with the errors from satellite retrievals. The surface concentrations of NO2, SO2, and PM10 given by CMAQ model are also comparable with those observed in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, with the NMBs ranging from 1% to 18%, -3% to -25%, and -12% to 18%, respectively. The results suggest that the anthropogenic emissions of SO2, NOx, and PM10 used in this study are in line with both the satellite and ground observations therefore are of acceptable accuracy. There is overestimation for SO2 and underestimation for PM10 in some industry-intensive areas because of the inaccuracy of spatial and temporal allocations. The CMAQ model also significantly underestimates the PM2.5 concentration in Beijing, minly due to the limitation of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation mechanism used in the model and the underestimation of primary OC and EC emissions. Therefore more efforts shall be made to improve the primary emission estimates of OC and EC, as well as the temporal allocation factor of SO2 and PM10 emissions.