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Uncertainty exists about whether lowering systolic blood pressure to less than 120 mm Hg is superior to that of less than 140 mm Hg, particularly in patients with diabetes and patients with previous stroke.

Due to the high dispersion of solid powder, it is very easy to form a powder/gas hybrid system, which greatly increases the probability and severity of explosion accidents. The researchers both domestically and internationally have conducted extensive research on the hybrids explosion systems. This paper reviews the combustion characteristics, explosion mechanisms, and explosion prevention experiments of hybrids. Current research results on explosion prevention technology are organized, and the current challenges in experimental studies of hybrids explosions are summarized, providing references for future experimental studies.

The inverter output overcurrent (IOO) is a common abnormal state in an electric traction system (ETS), which can be caused by several sources within the ETS and results in an immediate inverter shutdown and requires maintenance at the station. In order to improve the efficiency and intelligence level of maintenance, this article proposes an event set pattern identification method to trace the causes of IOO faults. First, according to traction motor control theory and overcurrent fault mechanism analysis, the several feature indicators of related system signals within the period of stator current are extracted by using adaptive sliding window technique. Second, based on historical data, an event generation method is investigated with hysteresis comparators by studying the variation laws of feature indicators, and event template sequence patterns are constructed to represent different fault causes. Then, the online diagnosis framework has been proposed, which includes three parts, namely, diagnostic enabling, event sampling sequence calculation and fault identification. Finally, field experiments are conducted, and the results show that the proposed method has excellent performance under changes in stator current frequency and operating conditions, and it also has a potential for practical applications.

The aim of this study was to investigate the optimal CVP range in sepsis and septic shock patients admitted to intensive care unit.

AbstractGaussian process regression is widely used to model an unknown function on a continuous domain by interpolating a discrete set of observed design points. We develop a theoretical framework for proving new moderate deviations inequalities on different types of error probabilities that arise in GP regression. Two specific examples of broad interest are the probability of falsely ordering pairs of points (incorrectly estimating one point as being better than another) and the tail probability of the estimation error at an arbitrary point. Our inequalities connect these probabilities to the mesh norm, which measures how well the design points fill the space.

Background: The aldosterone-to-renin activity ratio (ARR) is recommended as a screening test for primary aldosteronism (PA). The use of antihypertensive medication is one of the most important factors to take into account when interpreting the ARR. Objectives: The goal of this study was to compare the effect of various antihypertensive drug classes on biochemical testing and provide practical recommendations for antihypertensive medication regimens in patients suspected of having PA. Methods: We retrospectively investigated 4218 hypertensive patients who underwent PA detection between January 2020 and February 2023. Finally, 25 patients with essential hypertension (EH) and 39 with PA were involved. The enrolled EH patients were selected from EH patients with at least two screening tests with interfering medication changes for at least 4 weeks. Results: A total of 2/18 (11.1%) EH patients had opposite screening results after angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs), angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs), dihydropyridine-calcium channel blockers (DHP-CCBs) and diuretics were withdrawn. A total of 3/3 (100%) of the patients were initially screened as positive but had results that tested negative after β-blockers withdrawal. A total of 3/39 (7.7%) PA patients were misdiagnosed with EH with drug effects. Only plasma renin activity was markedly reduced after antihypertensive medication washout (P= 0.0173). Conclusions: Not every patient receiving β-blockers, ACEIs, ARBs and DHP-CCBs with negative reports needed withdrawal or switching antihypertensive drugs. We recommend that patients be left on a regimen that includes β-blockers, ACEIs, ARBs, DHP-CCBs and spironolactone when determining the ARR during the initial test.

Halide perovskite-based nanomaterials have attracted considerable attention in the field of detection and photocatalytic removal of gaseous pollutants. These nanomaterials not only exhibit a strong response to visible light and good photocatalytic activity but also demonstrate high sensitivity and selectivity in the detection of gaseous pollutants. Consequently, they are expected to play a significant role in photocatalysis and pollutant gas detection. Despite their promising application potential, halide perovskite-based nanomaterials face challenges such as low stability, insufficient active sites, and low carrier migration effectiveness. In this review, we comprehensively discussed the research on halide perovskites for the photocatalytic removal of nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and halide perovskites as gas sensors for gaseous pollutant detection as well as the related mechanism. Finally, we clarified the challenges and future prospects of these materials, providing new insights for advancing the development of halide perovskites in gaseous pollutant detection and photocatalytic removal.

Accurately predicting the trajectories of vehicles in a driving environment composed of various traffic participants is very significant for the driving safety of intelligent vehicles. The critical difficulties of trajectory prediction lie in clarifying the interaction between traffic participants and describing the uncertainty of a vehicle's driving intention. This article proposes a vehicle trajectory prediction method based on the combination of a serial dual attention mechanism and a sampling generation model in graph structure mode. The serial dual attention mechanism describes the impact of different types of traffic participants on the vehicle. The edge attention mechanism in the serial structure considers the features of nodes and the direction of interaction simultaneously to analyse the vehicle's degree of attention to each agent of the same kind of traffic participant. In addition, a driving intention representation module based on a conditional variational autoencoder (CVAE) maps the aggregated features of the vehicle and its surrounding nodes into the latent variable space to describe the distribution of the vehicle's driving intention. Experimental results on the nuScenes dataset indicate that our method is superior to state-of-the-art prediction frameworks. Our method can consider the impact of traffic participants on the vehicle at different levels and reasonably predict the multimodal trajectory of the vehicle according to its driving intention. The result of the real-vehicle experiment shows that our method can guarantee high prediction accuracy in the practical application as well.

Graphical Abstract: The three-dimensional conductive silk wearable devices (3D-CSWD) combine redesigning the fabric structure, employing plasma treatment to activate β-FeOOH scaffolds, and inducing in situ polymerization of polypyrrole. These fabric devices are capable of withstanding large mechanical stretching cycles and maintain high conductivity after washing, which can be used to monitor a wide range of human body motions, including pulse monitoring, breathing monitoring, swallowing actions, and wrist and finger bending movements. Furthermore, they can be used for electric heating and information exchange by transmitting morse code.

Transportation electrification is accelerating worldwide as part of the concerted effort to achieve carbon neutrality within the transportation sector. However, some challenges still need to be overcome. Government financial support in the new energy vehicle (NEV) markets, in regions and countries such as the European Union, the United States, China, and Japan, directly incentivizes research and development (R&D) and signals technology strategy emphasis of each country. To gain a comprehensive understanding of the distinct national approaches to realizing the shared goal of global carbon neutrality, this study has established an analytical framework. It aims to critically assess the policies and incentives that propel the industrial and technological routes for decarbonizing transportation, all under the overarching guidance of government-led R&D strategies within the NEV markets. Publicly available papers, reports, and roadmaps are analyzed. The findings of this investigation indicate that the future development of the NEV market is driven by carbon–neutral policies within the regions and countries covered in this study. Key areas of development focus include advanced batteries, more efficient motors, and clean hydrogen, but each country has a distinct strategy and organization. This strategic and organizational review can provide insights and suggestions that can facilitate tangible interventions in supporting the ongoing advancement of NEV technology.

Titanium nitride as a typical transition metal nitride (TMN) has attracted increasing interest for its fascinating characteristics and widespread applications. However, the synthesis of two-dimensional (2D) atomically thin titanium nitride is still challenging which hinders its further research in electronic and optoelectronic fields. Here, 2D titanium nitride with a large area was prepared via in situtopochemical conversion of the titanate monolayer. The titanium nitride reveals a thickness-dependent metallic-to-semiconducting transition, where the atomically thin titanium nitride with a thickness of ∼1 nm exhibits an n-type semiconducting behavior and a highly sensitive photoresponse and displays photoswitchable resistance by repeated light irradiation. First-principles calculations confirm that the chemisorbed oxygen on the surface of the titanium nitride nanosheet depletes its electrons, while the light irradiation induced desorption of oxygen leads to increased electron doping and hence the conductance of titanium nitride. These results may allow the scalable synthesis of ultrathin TMNs and facilitate their fundamental physics research and next-generation optoelectronic applications.

Optical flow is a highly efficient visual tracking algorithm, which is commonly used to estimate pixel movement between two consecutive images in a video sequence. However, its high computational complexity and large number of computations become a bottleneck that hinders the performance of embedded vision systems. When applied to simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM), it is necessary to consider not only time consumption, but also the overall accuracy of the system, causing even greater difficulties. In this paper, a real-time multi-scale Lucas Kanade (LK) optical flow hardware accelerator with parallel pipeline architecture is proposed. The designed circuit meets the high precision and real-time performance required by SLAM while fully considering the limitations of hardware resources. It is deployed on Xilinx Zynq SoC and achieves a frame rate of 93 fps for feature tracking of continuous frame images at $752\times 480$ resolution. Compared with the implementation on ARM CPU, the average speed is increased by $4.5\times $ . Finally, the feasibility and applicability of the hardware accelerator system designed in this paper are verified on the SLAM system. Experimental results on a public dataset show that the average Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of this work is 0.189 m, indicating that the hardware accelerator has comparable precision with existing state-of-the-art software algorithms, achieving a great balance of performance and precision.

In this article, an integrated coreless axial-flux permanent-magnet synchronous machine (AFPMSM) system is integrated with winding and drive/control circuits on a same printed circuit board (PCB) stator. The losses and thermal problems of winding and drive/control circuits are very important for the safe operation of the integrated PCB coreless AFPMSM system. First, the losses of each part of the integrated AFPMSM system are analyzed, including stator and rotor losses, drive controller losses and mechanical losses. Then, the thermal simulation model is established to evaluate the thermal characteristics. Furtherly, the losses and thermal performances are improved by redesigning the permanent-magnet pole-arc coefficient, the shape of winding and the circuit arrangement. Finally, two integrated PCB coreless AFPMSM system prototypes before and after improvement are manufactured and tested to validate the analysis results.

The introduction of Janus transition-metal dichalcogenide (TMD) monolayers is expected to bring fascinating properties into van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures. Hence, we investigate the electronic, optical, and charge transport properties of GaS/WXY (X/Y = S, Se, Te) vdW heterostructures using first-principles calculations and nonequilibrium Green’s function methods. When the Janus monolayer is flipped upside-down, its stacking order changes from GaS/SWSe to GaS/SeWS, resulting in the reversal of the direction of the out-of-plane dipole moment. Our results clearly show that the interlayer coupling determined by the stacking order is negatively correlated with the electron mobility of the system. Among them, GaS/SWSe and GaS/TeWSe, respectively, possess the largest and the smallest electron mobility of about 2.1 × 104and 3 × 102cm2/Vs. We further reveal the effect of in-plane strain on the electronic structure of different stacking orders. At the critical strain, the band alignment type is changed and the optical absorption coefficient is enhanced. Our work lays the theoretical foundation for selectively building the stacking order and new means of regulating interface interactions and provides a new platform for designing high-performance electronic and optoelectronic devices.

Generalized linear models (GLMs) are a widely utilized family of machine learning models in real-world applications. As data size increases, it is essential to perform efficient distributed training for these models. However, existing systems for distributed training have a high cost for communication and often use large batch sizes to balance computation and communication, which negatively affects convergence. Therefore, we argue for an efficient distributed GLM training system that strives to achieve linear scalability, while keeping batch size reasonably low. As a start, we propose P4SGD, a distributed heterogeneous training system that efficiently trains GLMs through model parallelism between distributed FPGAs and through forward-communication-backward pipeline parallelism within an FPGA. Moreover, we propose a light-weight, latency-centric in-switch aggregation protocol to minimize the latency of the AllReduce operation between distributed FPGAs, powered by a programmable switch. As such, to our knowledge, P4SGD is the first solution that achieves almost linear scalability between distributed accelerators through model parallelism. We implement P4SGD on eight Xilinx U280 FPGAs and a Tofino P4 switch. Our experiments show P4SGD converges up to 6.5X faster than the state-of-the-art GPU counterpart.

Real train impact tests are so expensive that it is usually unrealistic to carry them out, whereas scaled model impact tests can significantly reduce the cost and are easier to conduct. This paper reports a three-dimensional scaled similitude rule for train collision. Based on the consistency of acceleration, the scaling factors of mass, velocity, time, displacement, moment of inertia, angular displacement, angular velocity, and angular acceleration between full scale and scaled models are identified. A three-dimensional simulation model for train-to-train collision is established to analyze the dynamic response between full-scale and scaled models under the condition of eccentric impact. Our results show that through multiplying the corresponding scale factors, dynamic responses of the scaled model are identical to that of the full-scale model. Thus, the three-dimensional similitude rule proposed in this paper is verified numerically and is able to guide scaled model tests in laboratory.

Traditional lithium batteries cannot work well at low temperatures due to the sluggish desolvation process, which limits their applications in low-temperature fields. Among various previously reported approaches, solvation regulation of electrolytes is of great importance to overcome this obstacle. In this work, a tetrahydrofuran (THF)-based localized high-concentration electrolyte is reported, which possesses the advantages of a unique solvation structure and improved mobility, enabling a Li/lithium manganate (LMO) battery to cycle stably at room temperature (retains 85.9% after 300 cycles) and to work at a high rate (retains 69.0% at a 10C rate). Apart from that, this electrolyte demonstrates superior low-temperature performance, delivering over 70% capacity at −70 °C and maintaining 72.5 mAh g–1(≈77.1%) capacity for 200 cycles at a 1C rate at −40 °C. Also, even when the rate increases to 5C, the battery could still operate well at −40 °C. This work demonstrates that solvation regulation has a significant impact on the kinetics of cells at low temperatures and provides a design method for future electrolyte design.

Lung adenocarcinoma is one of the most aggressive and rapidly fatal types of malignant lung tumor. Molecular docking and virtual screening were effectively and systematically used to identify specific targets in malignant tumors and screen potential drugs. Here, we screen perfect leading compounds from a medicate library (ZINC15 database) and analyze their properties (conveyance, absorption, metabolism, excretion, and harmless forecasts) with potential inhibition of Kirsten Rat Sarcoma Viral Oncogene Homolog (KRAS) G12C. Further results demonstrated that ZINC000013817014 and ZINC000004098458 were screened out from the ZINC15 database and were identified to have a much better binding affinity and more favorable interaction vitality binding with KRAS G12C and less rat carcinogenicity, Ames mutagenicity, way better dissolvability in water and noninhibition with cytochrome P-450 2D6. Molecular dynamics simulation analysis indicated that the binding capacity of these two compounds and KRAS G12C, ZINC000013817014-KRAS G12C, and ZINC000004098458-KRAS G12C is stable in the natural environment. Our findings reveal that ZINC000013817014 and ZINC000004098458 were perfect leading compounds to be inhibitors binding with KRAS G12C, which were selected as safe drug candidates and a cornerstone for KRAS G12C-related medicine plan and improvement. What is more, we have conducted a Cell Counting Kit-8 to verify the exactly inhibitory effects of the two selected drugs on Lung adenocarcinoma. This study establishes a solid framework for systematic anticancer medication research and development.

Ultrafast interfacing of electrical and optical signals at the nanoscale is highly desired for on-chip applications including optical interconnects and data processing devices. Here, we report electrically driven nanoscale optical sources based on metal–insulator–graphene tunnel junctions (MIG-TJs), featuring waveguided output with broadband spectral characteristics. Electrically driven inelastic tunneling in a MIG-TJ, realized by integrating a silver nanowire with graphene, provides broadband excitation of plasmonic modes in the junction with propagation lengths of several micrometers (∼10 times larger than that for metal–insulator–metal junctions), which therefore propagate toward the junction edge with low loss and couple to the nanowire waveguide with an efficiency of ∼70% (∼1000 times higher than that for metal–insulator–metal junctions). Alternatively, lateral coupling of the MIG-TJ to a semiconductor nanowire provides a platform for efficient outcoupling of electrically driven plasmonic signals to low-loss photonic waveguides, showing potential for applications at various integration levels.

Adaptive human learning utilizes reward prediction errors (RPEs) that scale the differences between expected and actual outcomes to optimize future choices. Depression has been linked with biased RPE signaling and an exaggerated impact of negative outcomes on learning which may promote amotivation and anhedonia. The present proof-of-concept study combined computational modeling and multivariate decoding with neuroimaging to determine the influence of the selective competitive angiotensin II type 1 receptor antagonist losartan on learning from positive or negative outcomes and the underlying neural mechanisms in healthy humans. In a double-blind, between-subjects, placebo-controlled pharmaco-fMRI experiment, 61 healthy male participants (losartan, n= 30; placebo, n= 31) underwent a probabilistic selection reinforcement learning task incorporating a learning and transfer phase. Losartan improved choice accuracy for the hardest stimulus pair via increasing expected value sensitivity towards the rewarding stimulus relative to the placebo group during learning. Computational modeling revealed that losartan reduced the learning rate for negative outcomes and increased exploitatory choice behaviors while preserving learning for positive outcomes. These behavioral patterns were paralleled on the neural level by increased RPE signaling in orbitofrontal-striatal regions and enhanced positive outcome representations in the ventral striatum (VS) following losartan. In the transfer phase, losartan accelerated response times and enhanced VS functional connectivity with left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex when approaching maximum rewards. These findings elucidate the potential of losartan to reduce the impact of negative outcomes during learning and subsequently facilitate motivational approach towards maximum rewards in the transfer of learning. This may indicate a promising therapeutic mechanism to normalize distorted reward learning and fronto-striatal functioning in depression.

Carrying out green energy transformation, implementing clean energy power replacement and supply, and developing a new power system are some primary driving forces needed to fulfill China’s carbon-peak and carbon-neutral strategic goals. The construction of new power systems in China’s provinces and cities is developing rapidly, and the lack of a typical model promotes the application. The new power system path design should be based on the actual development of the power grid in different regions, energy use characteristics, and other actual needs to carry out the differentiated path design. In this context, this study analyzes the characteristics of the new domestic power system based on the policy background of the new domestic power system, constructs a new model for power system development stage identification, and proposes the overall design of the new power system development path from the power supply, transmission and distribution, and load sides. It also uses the Hebei South Network as an example to explore the development stage of the Hebei South Grid based on actual development needs. Finally, this study designs a novel power system development path for the entire supply and demand chain for the Hebei South Grid to propose ideas for constructing a new power system in China and to help green energy transformation.

As basic building blocks for next-generation information technologies devices, high-quality p-njunctions based on van der Waals (vdW) materials have attracted widespread interest. Compared to traditional two-dimensional (2D) heterojunction diodes, the emerging homojunctions are more attractive owing to their intrinsic advantages, such as continuous band alignments and smaller carrier trapping. Here, utilizing the long-range migration of Cu+ions under an in-plane electric field, a lateral p-nhomojunction was constructed in the 2D layered copper indium thiophosphate (CIPS). The symmetric Au/CIPS/Au devices demonstrate an electric-field-driven resistance switching (RS) accompanied by a rectification behavior without any gate control. Moreover, such rectification behavior can be continuously modulated by poling voltage. We deduce that the reversable rectifying RS behavior is governed by the effective lateral build-in potential and the change of the interfacial barrier during the poling process. Furthermore, the CIPS p-nhomojuction is evidenced by the photovoltaic effect, with the spectral response extending up to the visible region due to the better photogenerated carrier separation efficiency. Therefore, this work provides a facile route to fabricate homojunctions through electric-field-driven ionic migration.

To assess whether atrial fibrillation (AF) self‐screening stations in general practice waiting rooms improve AF screening, diagnosis, and stroke risk management. Intervention study (planned duration: twelve weeks) in six New South Wales general practices (two in rural locations, four in greater metropolitan Sydney), undertaken during 28 August 2020 – 5 August 2021. People aged 65 years or more who had not previously been diagnosed with AF, and had appointments for face‐to‐face GP consultations. People with valvular AF were excluded. AF self‐screening station and software, integrated with practice electronic medical record programs, that identified and invited participation by eligible patients, and exported single‐lead electrocardiograms and automated evaluations to patients’ medical records. Screening rate; incidence of newly diagnosed AF during intervention and pre‐intervention periods; prescribing of guideline‐recommended anticoagulant medications. Across the six participating practices, 2835 of 7849 eligible patients (36.1%) had face‐to‐face GP appointments during the intervention period, of whom 1127 completed AF self‐screening (39.8%; range by practice: 12–74%). AF was diagnosed in 49 screened patients (4.3%), 44 of whom (90%) had CHA2DS2‐VA scores of 2 or more (high stroke risk). The incidence of newly diagnosed AF during the pre‐intervention period was 11 cases per 1000 eligible patients; during the intervention period, it was 22 per 1000 eligible patients (screen‐detected: 17 per 1000 eligible patients; otherwise detected: 4.6 per 1000 eligible patients). Prescribing of oral anticoagulation therapy for people newly diagnosed with AF and high stroke risk was similar during the pre‐intervention (20 of 24, 83%) and intervention periods (46 of 54, 85%). AF self‐screening in general practice waiting rooms is a feasible approach to increasing AF screening and diagnosis rates by reducing time barriers to screening by GPs. AF self‐screening could reduce the number of AF‐related strokes. Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12620000233921 (prospective).

Knowledge about the co-effect of nanoplastics (NPs) and copper (Cu) on early life stage energy metabolism and development of fish is still limited. In this study, zebrafish embryos were exposed to environmentally-relevant concentrations of polystyrene NPs, Cu and their mixture from 2 h to 98 h post-fertilization (hpf), respectively. The co-exposure to NPs and Cu induced the overproduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS), thereby causing mitochondria damage (the reduction of mitochondrial membrane potential and mtDNA copy number). Also, the co-exposure to NPs and Cu caused mitochondrial dysfunction, which led to the reduction of the mitochondrial complex enzyme activity, resulting in ATP synthesis ability reduction. Besides, the co-exposure to NPs and Cu increased fat synthesis and reduced fat hydrolysis and fatty acid oxidation, resulting in inhibition of the utilization of lipids from the yolk sac. Hence, mitochondrial dysfunction and blocked lipid utilization cause insufficient energy supply, which has an adverse impact on the development and survival of zebrafish in the early life stage. This study will provide a basis for assessing the risk of the biological toxicity of contamination of NPs and Cu to early life stage energy metabolism and development of fish and even other animals.

Vehicle trajectory prediction plays a vital role in intelligent driving modules and helps intelligent vehicles travel safely and efficiently in complex traffic environments. Several learning-based prediction methods have been developed that accurately identify vehicle behaviour patterns in actual driving data. However, these methods rely on manually curated structured data and are difficult to deploy in intelligent vehicles. In addition, modular information channels that perform vehicle detection, tracking, and prediction tasks encounter error propagation issues and insufficient computing resources. Therefore, this paper proposes a new multitask parallel joint framework in which vehicle detection, state assessment, tracking, and trajectory prediction are performed simultaneously according to raw LIDAR data. Specifically, a multiscale bird's eye view (BEV) backbone feature extraction model is proposed and combined with the designed vehicle state identification branch to distinguish dynamic and static vehicles, which is used as a strong prior for trajectory prediction. In addition, a spatiotemporal pyramid model with convolutions and a backbone residual network is used to generate high definition (HD) maps with strong constraints and guidance capabilities, thereby improving the trajectory prediction accuracy. The experimental results on the real-world dataset nuScenes show that the proposed multitask joint framework outperforms state-of-the-art vehicle detection and prediction schemes, including ES3D and PnPNet.

Cardiovascular health metrics are now widely recognized as modifiable risk factors for cognitive decline and dementia. Metabolic perturbations might play roles in the linkage of cardiovascular diseases and dementia. Circulating metabolites profiling by metabolomics may improve understanding of the potential mechanism by which cardiovascular risk factors contribute to cognitive decline. In a prospective community-based cohort in China (n= 725), 312 serum metabolic phenotypes were quantified, and cardiovascular health score was calculated including smoking, exercise, sleep, diet, body mass index, blood pressure, and blood glucose. Cognitive function assessments were conducted in baseline and follow-up visits to identify longitudinal cognitive decline. A better cardiovascular health was significantly associated with lower risk of concentration decline and orientation decline (hazard ratio (HR): 0.84–0.90; p< 0.05). Apolipoprotein-A1, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, cholesterol ester, and phospholipid concentrations were significantly associated with a lower risk of longitudinal memory and orientation decline (p< 0.05 and adjusted-p< 0.20). Mediation analysis suggested that the negative association between health status and the risk of orientation decline was partly mediated by cholesterol ester and total lipids in HDL-2 and -3 (proportion of mediation: 7.68–8.21%, both p< 0.05). Cardiovascular risk factors were associated with greater risks of cognitive decline, which were found to be mediated by circulating lipoproteins, particularly the medium-size HDL components. These findings underscore the potential of utilizing lipoproteins as targets for early stage dementia screening and intervention.

ABSTRACTEcological quality assessment is fundamental to revealing changes in ecological environments before the development of effective ecological conservation policies. The complex ecological environment can be assessed more reliably when multiple remote sensing indices are integrated, such as in the use of the prevalent Remote Sensing-based Ecological Index (RSEI). However, for effective ecological quality assessment, the requirement of acquisition time consistency for images has become an outstanding issue for broadening the application of the RSEI. In this study, we adjusted the RSEI to the Continuous Change Detection and Classification (CCDC) algorithm that predicts synthetic images instead of real images. Based on this algorithm, we mapped time-series RSEI (ts-RSEI), which provide comparable results for tracing the dynamics of ecological quality at any time. Our major findings are as follows: (1) The RSEI is very sensitive to the timespan of the image acquisition dates, with the Mean Absolute Difference (MAD) of 0.111 (19.2%) when the interval between dates exceeds one month. (2) The ts-RSEI from synthetic images is comparable to the RSEI from real images, with the MAD of 0.075 (10.5%), which is superior to that of two real images with the timespan of half-a-month. (3) For Hangzhou, the ecological quality was maintained for almost the past 35 years (the ts-RSEI changed from 0.679 to 0.705). However, special attention should be paid to the spatial polarization between natural (“better”) and human-dominated (“worse”) environments. The high temporal consistency and the capability of any- time mapping of the ts-RSEI are expected to be of value to policy makers and authorities in implementing effective ecological conservation measures.

AbstractFew studies of monitoring rocky desertification based on Sentinel-2 MSI image with higher spatial and temporal resolutions have been reported. In this paper, nine typical surface parameters that derived from Sentinel-2 MSI image including three red edge indices have been introduced to establish two types of feature space monitoring index: point-to-line type and point-to-point type. The results show that: (1) The feature of space monitoring index based on Sentinel-2 MSI image has a higher applicability in obtaining rocky desertification information for karst zones; (2) The point-to-line BSI (bare soil index)-NDre1 (red edge index 1)feature space monitoring index of rocky desertification has the best applicability with R2=95.1% and root mean square error (RMSE)=0.872; (3) The feature space monitoring indexes that composed of red edge indices have a higher inversion accuracy, which indicates that the red edge indices are sensitive indicators of the rocky desertification condition and process;(4) The intensive and severe rocky desertification zones are mostly located in the southeast and central parts. The 3-dimensional or multidimensional feature space model will be constructed to improve the inversion accuracy of rocky desertification in further studies. The research results can provide methodological supports for revealing the rocky desertification evolution laws.

In recent years, an increasing number of pancreatic surgeons has begun to pay attention to duodenum-preserving pancreatic head resection (DPPHR). The purpose of this article is to summarize our experience in minimally invasive DPPHR.

Li3VO4(LVO) is considered as a novel alternative anode material for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) due to its high capacity and good safety. However, the inferior electronic conductivity impedes its further application. Here, nanofibers (nLICVO/NC) with In/Ce co-doped Li3VO4strengthened by nitrogen-modified carbon are prepared. Density functional theory calculations demonstrate that In/Ce co-doping can substantially reduce the LVO band gap and achieve orders of magnitude increase (from 2.79 × 10–4to 1.38 × 10–2S cm–1) in the electronic conductivity of LVO. Moreover, the carbon-based nanofibers incorporated with 5LICVO nanoparticles can not only buffer the structural strain but also form a good framework for electron transport. This 5LICVO/NC material delivers high reversible capacities of 386.3 and 277.9 mA h g–1at 0.1 and 5 A g–1, respectively. Furthermore, high discharge capacities of 335 and 259.5 mA h g–1can be retained after 1200 and 4000 cycles at 0.5 and 1.6 A g–1, respectively (with the corresponding capacity retention of 98.4 and 78.7%, respectively). When the 5LICVO/NC anode assembles with commercial LiNi1/3Co1/3Mn1/3O2(NCM111) into a full cell, a high discharge capacity of 191.9 mA h g–1can be retained after 600 cycles at 1 A g–1, implying an inspiring potential for practical application in high-efficiency LIBs.

• An ingenious design strategy of oil-absorbing foam is proposed to deal with thorny issue on complex spilled oil or harsh oil-recycling operating conditions. • A pH/thermoresponsive flame-retardant/photothermal bactericidal P-Fe 3 O 4 -PDA@MF oil-absorbing foam is developed. • Oil-absorbing foam is featured with "Several birds with one stone" functions of maneuverable magnetic recovery of spilled crude oil, complex oily waste, fire risk management. • Oil-absorbing foam demonstrates with superior performance in recovery efficiency of spilled oil, autodesorption of crude oil, and autorecycling of oil-absorbing material. Although many material designs or strategic methods have been proposed for treating oil spills and oily wastewater, the complex oily state, dealing with the harsh operating conditions of oil–water separation (such as the recovery of viscous spilled crude oil, bacteria-containing oily wastewater, and removal of spilled oil under fire), and the autorecycling of oil and absorption materials remain a great challenge. This work proposed an ingenious design strategy of "several birds with one stone" to prepare pH/thermoresponsive flame-retardant/photothermal bactericidal P-Fe 3 O 4 -polydopamine (PDA)@melamine–formaldehyde (MF) foams. This design makes the foams remarkably effective in the recovery of spilled viscous crude oil as well as in the separation of bacteria-containing oily emulsions, particularly for instant fire extinguishing by magnetically controlled oil absorption as well as for fire alarms. The photothermal effect and pH response induce a change in the surface wettability of the foams, facilitating excellent autoadsorption/desorption of the spilled oil. The photothermal bactericidal activity and fouling resistance of the foam are beneficial to the separation of bacteria-containing oily wastewater. Outstanding flame-retardant properties and maneuverable magnetic control enable the foam to rapidly recover the spilled oil in a large range of fires, extinguish fires instantly, and facilitate early fire warning. The proposed strategy is expected to inspire further research on treating oil spills under complex conditions. : [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses an adaptive neural network (NN) constraint control scheme for a class of fractional-order uncertain nonlinear nonstrict-feedback systems with full-state constraints and input saturation. The radial basis function (RBF) NNs are used to deal with the algebraic loop problem from the nonstrict-feedback formation based on the approximation structure. In order to overcome the problem of input saturation nonlinearity, a smooth nonaffine function is applied to approach the saturation function. To arrest the violation of full-state constraints, the barrier Lyapunov function (BLF) is introduced in each step of the backstepping procedure. By using the fractional-order Lyapunov stability theory and the given conditions, it proves that all the states remain in their constraint bounds, the tracking error converges to a bounded compact set containing the origin, and all signals in the closed-loop system are ensured to be bounded. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme is verified by two simulation examples.

The demand for high-energy-density lithium batteries (LBs) that work under a wide temperature range (−40 to 60 °C) has been increasing recently. However, the conventional lithium hexafluorophosphate (LiPF6)-based ester electrolyte with a solvent-based solvation structure has limited the practical application of LBs under extreme temperature conditions. In this work, a novel localized high-concentration electrolyte (LHCE) system is designed to achieve the anion-containing solvation structure with less free solvent molecules using lithium difluorophosphate (LiPO2F2) as a lithium salt, which enables wide-temperature electrolyte for LBs. The optimized solvation structure contributes to the cathode–electrolyte interface (CEI) with abundant LiF and P–O components on the surface of the LiNi0.5Co0.2Mn0.3O2(NCM523) cathode, effectively inhibiting the decomposition of electrolyte and the dissolution of transition-metal ions (TMIs). Moreover, the weakened Li+–dipole interaction is also beneficial to the desolvation process. Therefore, the 4.3 V Li||NCM523 cell using the modified electrolyte maintains a high capacity retention of 81.0% after 200 cycles under 60 °C. Meanwhile, a considerable capacity of 70.9 mAh g–1(42.0% of that at room temperature) can be released at an extremely low temperature of −60 °C. This modified electrolyte dramatically enhances the electrochemical stability of NCM523 cells by regulating the solvation structure, providing guidelines for designing a multifunctional electrolyte that works under a wide temperature range.

Studying an ecological restoration zoning process under the background of ecological security patterns is of great significance to the rapid adjustment and optimization of a landscape pattern. In this study, a remote sensing ecological index and a morphological spatial pattern analysis method were used to assess the quality of habitats and identify ecological sources in the city of Ningbo; ecological corridors, ecological pinch points, and ecological barrier points were extracted by using a circuit theory to construct ecological security patterns and ecological restoration zones. The results indicate: (1) There were 47 ecological sources, and 83 key ecological corridors in Ningbo, and the ecological land area was about 1898.39 km2, accounting for 19.89% of the total study area. (2) The ecological source areas were distributed in “one patch and three belts”, and the low-resistance ecological corridors were concentrated in southern Yuyao city, western Haishu district, and central and western Fenghua district; the ecological network in the western and southern regions was dense. (3) There were four types of ecological restoration zones that need to be established, which were prioritized restoration zones, prioritized protection zones, key conservation zones, and general conservation zones distributed hierarchically from inner part towards outside. (4) Ninghai county, Yuyao city, and Fenghua district had large ecological land areas, however, prioritized restoration and protection zones in Ninghai and Fenghua were also large. The analysis results are expected to provide a reference for optimizing a territorial ecological space in a city.

• Propose analysis methodology for volume-penalization-induced errors of the wall-bounded flows. • Capture the elements with certain oscillation through the priori analysis of discretization errors. • Handle the state vector of inviscid term with an entropy conserving average function. • The proposed flux limiter can reduce numerical overshooting and undershooting in narrow regions. In the application of Discontinuous Galerkin method (DGM) to the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations, the discretization of the convection-diffusion operator are usually directly constructed on the same discontinuous function space. However, due to overshooting and undershooting generated by inviscid term in narrow regions along sharp layers, the compressibility constraint will be only satisfied in a weak sense for the test function from space of pressure functions, thus leading to stochastic oscillations in the simulation of wall-bounded flows with complex configuration. For this, the reckless addition of artificial viscosity may introduce spurious non-physical forces on the cross-element edges, and further cause the problem about approximation of curvature arises due to the discrete representation of the interface. In this work, we propose a Entropy Conserving flux limiter based on volume-penalization(VP) applied in the DGM-based k-ω -SST IDDES framework (in Appendix). The VP-induced errors will be first analyzed and discretization error of inviscid terms can be checked a priori so that we can capture the elements with certain oscillation errors; and then pass the eigenvalue of state vector of these elements to the entropy-conserving average function; the overshoot and undershoot will be processed by the flux limiter, and finally reduce the stochastic oscillations in wall- bounded flows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The endophytic bacterial Stenotrophomonas geniculataKJ-6, was isolated from Arisaematis rhizoma. This strain has the ability to control three postharvest pathogenic fungi of Lanzhou lily (Trichoderma lixiiF-2, Talaromyces tumuliF-3, and Fusarium annulatumF-6) by releasing volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The experiment utilized the double-layer sealed bottom plate method. The results demonstrate that KJ-6 effectively inhibits the mycelial growth of F-2, F-3, and F-6, with inhibition rates of 81.59%, 79.87%, and 84.7%, respectively. Moreover, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed abnormal mycelium morphology in the test pathogenic fungi treated with KJ-6 VOCs, characterized by multiple wrinkles, cracks, and distortions. Using five common phytopathogenic fungi as controls, our results demonstrated that the VOCs from KJ-6 exhibited broad-spectrum antifungal effects. Analysis using headspace gas chromatography-ion mobility spectrometry identified three components of the VOCs produced by KJ-6, including 1-propanethiol, isoamyl acetate, and 2-methyl-1-butanol. Antifungal tests revealed that 1-propanethiol plays a crucial role in the inhibitory activity of VOCs. It exhibited inhibitory rates of 64.17%, 72.73%, and 26.71% on the mycelium growth of F-2, F-3, and F-6, respectively. In vivoexperiments further confirmed that VOCs can significantly reduce the disease index and decay rate of Lanzhou lily bulbs during storage. Moreover, KJ-6 treatment led to a significant reduction in the degree of browning of lily bulbs. Additionally, it enhanced the activity of defense-related enzymes, improved disease resistance, and extended the shelf life of lily bulbs. As a result, this study offers a theoretical foundation for the biological control of postharvest diseases in Lanzhou lily.

Nanoparticle-on-mirror plasmonic nanocavities, capable of extreme optical confinement and enhancement, have triggered state-of-the-art progress in nanophotonics and development of applications in enhanced spectroscopies. However, the optical quality factor and thus performance of these nanoconstructs are undermined by the granular polycrystalline metal films (especially when they are optically thin) used as a mirror. Here, we report an atomically smooth single-crystalline platform for low-loss nanocavities using chemically synthesized gold microflakes as a mirror. Nanocavities constructed using gold nanorods on such microflakes exhibit a rich structure of plasmonic modes, which are highly sensitive to the thickness of optically thin (down to ∼15 nm) microflakes. The microflakes endow nanocavities with significantly improved quality factor (∼2 times) and scattering intensity (∼3 times) compared with their counterparts based on deposited films. The developed low-loss nanocavities further allow for the integration with a mature platform of fiber optics, opening opportunities for realizing nanocavity-based miniaturized photonic devices for practical applications.

ABSTRACTTiAlN/AlCrSiN multilayer coatings were prepared by arc ion plating. The implements of various thickness ratio (0, 0.89, 1.04, 1.14 and 1.49) of TiAlN/AlCrSiN on microstructure, mechanical properties and thermal stability of TiAlN/AlCrSiN multilayer coatings were investigated. The AlCrSiN single coating without TiAlN inserted layer exhibits a mixed-phase structure of c-AlN and c-CrN, while TiAlN/AlCrSiN multilayer coatings show a single-phase cubic structure. As the thickness ratio of TiAlN/AlCrSiN increases, the critical load of multilayer coating gradually increases up to 99 N, the hardness decreases and the thermal stability improved. The TiAlN/AlCrSiN multilayer coating with a high thickness ratio of 1.49 was able to maintain a single (200) preferred c-TiAlN/AlCrN solid solution phase structure after annealing at 800°C in Ar for 2 h. The obtained single-phase cubic structure of AlCrSiN at room temperature and the improved thermal stability properties can be explained by the template effect of TiAlN on the AlCrSiN.

Stable partial nitritation and anammox (PN/A) are highly related to the interaction of microorganisms, but the characteristics of the microbial community and its link to system stability remain unclear. In this study, a stable PN/A system was obtained under a micro-aerobic condition in a lab-scale reactor. The characteristics of the microbial community in the stable PN/A were investigated and compared to unstable (anoxic and over-aerated) conditions using a high-throughput analysis. Under the micro-aerobic condition, the highest community richness was observed as well as the most abundant microbial correlation network. Comparatively, the microbial community diversity was lower under the anoxic condition (two-stage anammox process) and the over-aerated condition (unstable PN/A operation), and the correlation network structure was simpler as well. Further analysis suggested that micro-aerobic conditions (DO concentration less than 0.1 mg L−1) could drive a complicated microbial community through the enrichment of both aerobic and anaerobic bacteria, which might determine the stable nitrogen removal performance. Overall, this study confirms the succession divergence of microbial communities under different DO conditions and provides a better understanding of the link between the microbial community and PN/A operation.

ABSTRACTLiver cancer is an aggressive malignancy with exhibits both high mortality and morbidity. The current treatment options are associated with several limitations, novel specific anti-cancer drugs are urgently needed to improve liver cancer treatment. In this study, a new peptide KK-64 was designed, and it showed strong cytotoxicity against liver cancer cells. To obtain the tumor targeting property, a plasmid that contains KK-64 DNA fragment and driven by human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) promoter was constructed. pcTERT-kk-64 plasmid was found to specifically inhibit the viability of liver cancer cells HepG2, induce substantial apoptosis as well as damage to the cell membranes, but had minimal effects toward normal liver HL-7702 cells. Furthermore, pcTERT-kk-64 plasmids was also noted to significantly attenuate migration and invasion of HepG2 cells. The anti-tumor effect of pcTERT-kk-64 plasmid was also observed in H22 cell-bearing mice, and it appeared to cause significant tumor regression, trigger tumor cell apoptosis, and infiltrate cytotoxicity T cells to the tumor tissues after plasmids injection. Thus, pcTERT-kk-64 plasmids showed both strong cytotoxicity and tumor selectivity in vitro and in tumor-bearing mice in liver cancer models.

A large-scale sand ridge group is distributed in the central Jiangsu coastal area, and a deposition muddy sea bank was developed in the nearshore area. Quantitative monitoring of coastline changes is of great significance for tidal beach development and protection. The shorelines of the central coast of Jiangsu within six periods (1973–2018) were extracted in this study, and their length changes over the years were analyzed. The Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) was employed to generate a cross section perpendicular to the baseline and calculate the linear regression rate (LRR) of the shoreline, changes in end point rate (EPR), and net shoreline movement (NSM), based on which the shoreline change features were analyzed. The DSAS results indicated that the shorelines in the study area maintained fluctuating growth and presented a continuous advancing trend towards the sea. From the changes in shoreline evolution distance during 1973–2018, the advancing shorelines in the study area accounted for over 50% of the total shorelines and presented first rising and then declining trends with the period of 2003–2013 taken as the time boundary. The average shoreline change rate was 207 m/year, and the periods with the highest change degrees were 1983–1993 and 1993–2013. The shoreline change tended to be stable during 2013–2018, and only a few estuaries and ports underwent obvious erosion and sedimentation.