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Model fusion is becoming a crucial component in the context of model-as-a-service scenarios, enabling the delivery of high-quality model services to local users. However, this approach introduces privacy risks and imposes certain limitations on its applications. Ensuring secure model exchange and knowledge fusion among users becomes a significant challenge in this setting. To tackle this issue, we propose PrivFusion, a novel architecture that preserves privacy while facilitating model fusion under the constraints of local differential privacy. PrivFusion leverages a graph-based structure, enabling the fusion of models from multiple parties without additional training. By employing randomized mechanisms, PrivFusion ensures privacy guarantees throughout the fusion process. To enhance model privacy, our approach incorporates a hybrid local differentially private mechanism and decentralized federated graph matching, effectively protecting both activation values and weights. Additionally, we introduce a perturbation filter adapter to alleviate the impact of randomized noise, thereby recovering the utility of the fused model. Through extensive experiments conducted on diverse image datasets and real-world healthcare applications, we provide empirical evidence showcasing the effectiveness of PrivFusion in maintaining model performance while preserving privacy. Our contributions offer valuable insights and practical solutions for secure and collaborative data analysis within the domain of privacy-preserving model fusion.

Federated learning (FL) has attracted increasing attention to building models without accessing raw user data, especially in healthcare. In real applications, different federations can seldom work together due to possible reasons such as data heterogeneity and distrust/inexistence of the central server. In this article, we propose a novel framework called MetaFed to facilitate trustworthy FL between different federations. MetaFed obtains a personalized model for each federation without a central server via the proposed cyclic knowledge distillation. Specifically, MetaFed treats each federation as a meta distribution and aggregates knowledge of each federation in a cyclic manner. The training is split into two parts: common knowledge accumulation and personalization. Comprehensive experiments on seven benchmarks demonstrate that MetaFed without a server achieves better accuracy compared with state-of-the-art methods [e.g., 10%+ accuracy improvement compared with the baseline for physical activity monitoring dataset (PAMAP2)] with fewer communication costs. More importantly, MetaFed shows remarkable performance in real-healthcare-related applications.

The market has seen an emergence of special viewing angle needs with the development of display devices. For instance, some consumers require displays with adjustable viewing angles to accommodate different scenarios. This paper proposes an optical micro‐nano film with an adjustable viewing angle effect. The rotation angle of liquid crystal molecules is controlled through the reasonable design of the liquid crystal layer's thickness and the voltage magnitude to achieve the control of the viewing angle. The display is best viewed at the center of the display when no voltage is applied. However, the quality of the wide viewing angle display is significantly better after voltage is applied. The simulation results indicate that the brightness in the viewing angle range of ‐27°to ‐23°and 37°to 41°is significantly improved after applying a voltage of 15V, suggesting a broad application prospect for this technology. In addition, the use of this technology reduces the difficulty of process preparation and makes it more universally applicable.

In deep space telemetry tracking and command (TT&C) missions, the low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the receiving signal restricts the improvement of measurement performance. In the article, we adopt the uplink signal which transmitted by the ground station to achieve very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) in the spacecraft. Notably, this methodology guarantees an SNR enhancement of at least 30 dB compared to the downlink signal, marking a significant improvement. Considering the restrict of spacecraft calculate resources, we adopt multiple baselines to simplify the VLBI method in spacecraft receiver and obtain the high accuracy angle measurement results. The simulation and analysis show that the algorithm achieves a measurement accuracy of 0.77 nrad on the baseline length of 74 km, while the accuracy of traditional delta differential one-way ranging ( $\Delta {\mathrm {DOR}}$ ) observations is 1 nrad with an 8400 km baseline length. In addition, we design a hardware platform for algorithm verification. This platform, under real-world conditions, exhibits an angle measurement error of less than 5 mrad even with a baseline length as short as 0.74 m.

Time series remains one of the most challenging modalities in machine learning research. Out-of-distribution (OOD) detection and generalization on time series often face difficulties due to their non-stationary nature, wherein the distribution changes over time. The dynamic distributions within time series present significant challenges for existing algorithms, especially in identifying invariant distributions, as most focus on scenarios where domain information is provided as prior knowledge. This paper aims to address the issues induced by non-stationarity in time series through the exploration of subdomains within a complete dataset for generalized representation learning. We propose Diversify, a general framework, for OOD detection and generalization on dynamic distributions of time series. Diversify operates through an iterative process: first identifying the ’worst-case’ latent distribution scenario, then working to minimize the gaps between these latent distributions. We implement Diversify by combining existing OOD detection methods according to either extracted features or outputs of models for detection while we also directly utilize outputs for classification. Theoretical insights support the framework's validity. Extensive experiments are conducted on seven datasets with different OOD settings across gesture recognition, speech commands recognition, wearable stress and affect detection, and sensor-based human activity recognition. Qualitative and quantitative results demonstrate that Diversify learns more generalized features and significantly outperforms other baselines.

In biological systems, the activities of macromolecular complexes must sometimes be turned off. Thus, a wide variety of protein inhibitors has evolved for this purpose. These inhibitors function through diverse mechanisms, including steric blocking of crucial interactions, enzymatic modification of key residues or substrates, and perturbation of post-translational modifications1. Anti-CRISPRs—proteins that block the activity of CRISPR–Cas systems—are one of the largest groups of inhibitors described, with more than 90 families that function through diverse mechanisms2–4. Here, we characterize the anti-CRISPR AcrIF25, and we show that it inhibits the type I-F CRISPR–Cas system by pulling apart the fully assembled effector complex. AcrIF25 binds to the predominant CRISPR RNA-binding components of this complex, comprising six Cas7 subunits, and strips them from the RNA. Structural and biochemical studies indicate that AcrIF25 removes one Cas7 subunit at a time, starting at one end of the complex. Notably, this feat is achieved with no apparent enzymatic activity. To our knowledge, AcrIF25 is the first example of a protein that disassembles a large and stable macromolecular complex in the absence of an external energy source. As such, AcrIF25 establishes a paradigm for macromolecular complex inhibitors that may be used for biotechnological applications.

The article offers a large-scale automated analysis of gender trends in the authorship of Computer Science literature. The analysis addresses questions including how the gender balance among authors has changed over time, when might gender parity might be reached among authors and how Computer Science compares against other fields of study in terms of gender equality.

As the core material that affects the performance of OLED devices, the demand for performance improvement of OLED materials is urgent. However, due to the molecular diversity of organic compounds, traditional methods of development are inefficient and expensive. Recently, the machine learning (ML) approach has attracted increasing attention in the field of organic luminescent materials, which can learn from the existing results and provide the relation between the input features to the output performance. By constructing the relationship between molecular structure and device performance of OLED, the efficiency of material development is higher and guidance for material design is better provided through the identification of molecular key factors. In this work, we attempt to use the ML approach to explore the quantificational relation between the external quantum efficiency (EQE) of red phosphorescent organic light‐emitting devices (OLEDs) and their material and device structural factors, aiming to screen out the key factors governing the EQE and predict EQE values directly by molecular structure. We established the dataset based on over 1000 device data from experiment, and reduced the number of molecular descriptors to below 35. Currently, the root mean squared error (RMSE) of test set has been lowered to 3.21%. These results provide essential guidance for material screening and experimental device optimization. On this basis, we further designed new red host materials, which have higher EQE, up to 27.56%. It has reached the first‐class level of commercial materials.

Objective Assess the evidence for Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) protocols in the cleft palate population.Design A systematic review of MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane, and CINAHL databases for articles detailing the use of ERAS protocols in patients undergoing primary palatoplasty.Setting New York-Presbyterian Hospital.Patients/Participants Patients with cleft palate undergoing primary palatoplasty.Interventions Meta-analysis of reported patient outcomes in ERAS and control cohorts.Main Outcome Measure(s) Methodological quality of included studies, opioid use, postoperative length of stay (LOS), rate of return to emergency department (ED)/readmission, and postoperative complications.Results Following screening, 6 original articles were included; all were of Modified Downs & Black (MD&B) good or fair quality. A total of 354 and 366 were in ERAS and control cohorts, respectively. Meta-analysis of comparable ERAS studies showed a difference in LOS of 0.78 days for ERAS cohorts when compared to controls (P< .05). Additionally, ERAS patients utilized significantly less postoperative opioids than control patients (P< .05). Meta-analysis of the rate of readmission/return to ED shows no difference between ERAS and control groups (P= .59). However, the lack of standardized reporting across studies limited the power of meta-analyses.Conclusions ERAS protocols for cleft palate repair offer many advantages for patients, including a significant decrease in the LOS and postoperative opioid use without elevating readmission and return to ED rates. However, this analysis was limited by the paucity of literature on the topic. Better standardization of data reporting in ERAS protocols is needed to facilitate pooled meta-analysis to analyze their effectiveness.

Machine learning systems generally assume that the training and testing distributions are the same. To this end, a key requirement is to develop models that can generalize to unseen distributions. Domain generalization (DG), i.e., out-of-distribution generalization, has attracted increasing interests in recent years. Domain generalization deals with a challenging setting where one or several different but related domain(s) are given, and the goal is to learn a model that can generalize to an unseen test domain. Great progress has been made in the area of domain generalization for years. This paper presents the first review of recent advances in this area. First, we provide a formal definition of domain generalization and discuss several related fields. We then thoroughly review the theories related to domain generalization and carefully analyze the theory behind generalization. We categorize recent algorithms into three classes: data manipulation, representation learning, and learning strategy, and present several popular algorithms in detail for each category. Third, we introduce the commonly used datasets, applications, and our open-sourced codebase for fair evaluation. Finally, we summarize existing literature and present some potential research topics for the future.

Financial markets have remained resilient despite concerns about inflation and a debt bonanza. The Bank of America's Global Financial Stress indicator is at its lowest level since April 2021, and stock traders are flocking to bullish options. The US economy continues to perform well, while other regions like the UK, Europe, and Japan face recession. However, some experts warn that investors should consider downside risks, as equity exposure has increased and the need for hedges is growing. [Extracted from the article]

Controllable modulation strategies between one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional (2D) structures have been rarely reported for metal–organic frameworks (MOFs). Here, 1D, 1D/2D, and 2D Ni–MOFs can be facilely prepared by adjusting the ratio of Ni2+and the pyromellitic acid linker. A low-dimensional structure can shorten the transmission distance, while MOFs with a high Ni2+content can supply rich active sites for oxidation–reduction reactions. The 2D structure Ni-MOF with an optimized Ni2+/pyromellitic acid ratio presents a good performance of 1036 F g–1at a current density of 1 A g–1with a comparable rate performance of 62% at 20 A g–1. The study may offer a facile design to control the structure of MOFs for employing in electrochemical energy storage.

Adsorption is an efficient and highly selective method for gold recovery. Introducing rich N/S organic groups to combine with metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) as adsorbents is regarded as a practical and efficient approach to enhance gold recovery. Herein, a MOF (zirconium isothiocyanatobenzenedicarboxylate MOF, UiO-66-NCS) was designed to combine with amidinothiourea (AT) to form UiO-66-AT (zirconium amidothiourea-benzenedicarboxylate MOF) for efficient and rapid adsorption. The prepared UiO-66-AT delivers an improved adsorption capacity (about 903.02 mg/g at 1000 mg·L–1of the initial Au3+) and an impressive adsorption rate within minutes (about 10 min for 200 mg·L–1Au3+). Meanwhile, it exhibits sustainable stability after 5 cycles with a retention rate of 99.52% and excellent adsorption selectivity of 98.76% in actual wastewater. According to advanced characterizations and Density Functional Theory (DFT) simulation, the mechanism might be elaborated as electrostatic adsorption, chelating coordination, and chemical reduction. The modified active groups of the MOF provide the adsorption sites for Au(III) and the rapid reduction of Au(0). UiO-66-AT maintains a large adsorption capacity and high surface reduction activity while realizing stable application in multiple cycles, which is of good practical application value.

A new packed-bed reactor coupled with thermal energy storage (TES) for solar pyrolysis of biomass is developed to overcome the shortcomings of solar energy. The numerical model of a 3.5 kW reactor is formulated by coupling heat and mass transfer balances to chemical kinetics for biomass pyrolysis. It is solved numerically by finite element techniques. The model is applied to analyze the influence of the storage component on the thermal and chemical performance of the pyrolysis process. A new criterion Ydefined as the ratio of the char yield and the effective solar power input is proposed to evaluate the effectiveness of solar power input. Under different solar radiation conditions, the coupled TES reduces the solar energy consumption for the char production by over 16%. The storage component can alleviate the overheating and thermal cyclic stresses on the absorption surface. As compared to the non-TES design, the new design can decrease the temperature fluctuation on the absorption surface for over 300 K during solar intermittencies. Moreover, the latent heat in the storage component makes the pyrolysis process stable. Under short-term interruptions, the variation of char yield in the terminal temperature range of 623–673 K is as large as 34.9% in the non-TES design, and it can be decreased to 16.5% after coupling TES. This value can also be decreased from 66.8% to 17.0% under long-term interruptions by coupling the storage.

With the increase of nitrate and V(v) pollution globally, microbially-driven pollutant reduction has attracted more and more attention. In this study, the explicit vanadium release and reduction processes were distinguished in a complex contaminated system with a liquid carbon source as an external carbon source, although the microbial driving mechanism regarding this part has not been explored. Here, we performed experiments containing three liquid carbon sources and obtained the variation of nitrate and V(v) under anaerobic conditions. Student's t-test and PcoA showed that microorganisms might be the driving force to distinguish these two processes. ANOSIM tests revealed that the microbial composition was affected by the types of pollutants, especially the release of V(v) caused by the addition of nitrate. The genera Desulfosarcinaceae, LNR_A2-18, Anaerocellaand Flavobacteriumhad fermentation ability, and were conducive to the release of V(v). In the process of V(v) reduction, the metal resistant and reducing genera with increased abundance were recognized as important candidates. Taken together, our findings provide a promising bioremediation strategy for the combined pollution of nitrate and V(v), and an in-depth study on the mechanisms of microbial action will help to improve the technological innovation in the remediation of co-contaminated groundwater.

The impacts of trust, legalism and ownership within China-based international joint ventures (IJV) on enforcement strategies on IJV satisfaction are investigated. Findings indicate that trust is positively related with IJV satisfaction for Western, Chinese, and Asian partners, while legalism is only significant for Western partners. The effects of the Chinese, Western, and Asian cultures on IJV satisfaction are analyzed.

Recently, self-assembled monolayer (SAM) based inverted perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have been extensively studied due to their remarkable stability and compatibility with large-area devices. Microporesat the SAM/perovskite buried interface are commonly observed, which result in the increased defect density and hindered charge extraction. Herein, a multifunctional organic material, namely 2-(methylthio)-4,5-dihydro-1 H-imidazole ammonium iodide (MTIm), is introduced as an interfacial modification material to react with the residual PbI2, forming one-dimensional (1D) (MTIm)PbI3small grains. We found that the 1D perovskite distributes at both top and buried interfaces of PSC, achieving dual-interfacial passivation of defects. Moreover, the 1D perovskite leads to a favorable n-type doping at the top interface, and relaxes the lattice strain at the buried interface. As a result, the champion PSC device achieves significantly improved power conversion efficiency from 21.7 % to 23.8 %, and retains over 90 % of its initial PCE after storing in air for 1500 hours.

A major challenge in modern rice production is to achieve the dual goals of high yield and good quality with low environmental costs. This study was designed to determine whether optimized nitrogen (N) fertilization could fulfill these multiple goals. In two-year experiments, two high yielding ‘super’ rice cultivars were grown with different N fertilization management regimes, including zero N input, local farmers’ practice (LFP) with heavy N inputs, and optimized N fertilization (ONF). In ONF, by reducing N input, increasing planting density, and optimizing the ratio of urea application at different stages, N use efficiency and the physicochemical and textural properties of milled rice were improved at higher yield levels. Compared with LFP, yield and partial factor productivity of applied N (PFP) under ONF were increased (on average) by 1.70 and 13.06%, respectively. ONF increased starch and amylose content, and significantly decreased protein content. The contents of the short chains of A chain (degree of polymerization (DP) 6–12) and B1 chain (DP 13–25) of amylopectin were significantly increased under ONF, which resulted in a decrease in the stability of rice starch crystals. ONF increased viscosity values and improved the thermodynamic properties of starch, which resulted in better eating and cooking quality of the rice. Thus, ONF could substantially compensate the negative effects caused by N fertilizer and achieve the multiple goals of higher grain quality and nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) at high yield levels. These results will be useful for applications of high quality rice production at high yield levels.

The identification of alternatives to the lithium-ion battery architecture remains a crucial priority in the diversification of energy storage technologies. Accompanied by the low reduction potential of Ca2+/Ca, −2.87 V vs standard hydrogen electrode, metal-anode-based rechargeable calcium (Ca) batteries appear competitive in terms of energy densities. However, the development of Ca batteries lacks high-energy-density intercalation cathode materials. Using first-principles methodologies, we screen a large chemical space for potential Ca-based cathode chemistries, with composition of CaiTMjZk, where TM is a first- or second-row transition metal and Z is oxygen, sulfur, selenium, or tellurium. Ten materials are selected, and their Ca intercalation properties are investigated. We identify two previously unreported promising electrode compositions: the post-spinel CaV2O4and the layered CaNb2O4, with Ca migration barriers of ∼654 and ∼785 meV, respectively. We analyze the geometrical features of the Ca migration pathways across the 10 materials studied and provide an updated set of design rules for the identification of good ionic conductors, especially with large mobile cations.

ABSTRACTLeaf yellowing caused by chlorophyll degradation directly reduces the commercial quality of post-harvest Chinese flowering cabbage. However, the mechanism of chlorophyll degradation in post-harvest Chinese flowering cabbage remains unclear. In this work, we identified a leaf senescence-responsive NAC family transcription factor, a homologue of JUB1 in Arabidopsis, termed BrJUB1 in post-harvest Chinese flowering cabbage. The expression of BrJUB1 was found to increase continuously during storage time, accompanied by an upregulation of chlorophyll catabolic genes (CCGs) and reduced chlorophyll content. Subcellular localisation and transactivation analyses in tobacco revealed that BrJUB1 possessed two characteristics of transcription factors: nuclear localisation and transactivation of gene activity. More importantly, electrophoretic mobility shift assay and dual-luciferase analysis demonstrated that BrJUB1 bound to NAC recognition sequence in the promoters of major CCGsincluding BrNYC1, BrPAO, BrPPH1and BrSGR1, and activated their transcription. Taken together, these findings show that BrJUB1 might act as an important regulator in leaf senescence of post-harvest Chinese flowering cabbage through activating chlorophyll degradation. This study expands our understanding of molecular mechanisms involved in leaf senescence of harvested Chinese cabbage and possibly other leafy vegetables.

The article discusses the environmental challenges faced by multinational corporations (MNC) operating in China, as well as their potential solutions. Also cited are the MNCs' focus on environmental protection as corporate social responsibility (CSR), the efforts by the Chinese government to intensify its environmental enforcement, and the government's actions to promote environmental governance like strengthening rule of law and improving administrative transparency.

The influence of service quality management on modern services industry is evaluated.

Carotenoids are a class of bioactive compounds that exhibit health-promoting properties for humans, but their regulation in bananas during fruit ripening remains largely unclear. Here, we found that the total carotenoid content continued to be elevated along the course of banana ripening and peaked at the ripening stage followed by a decrease, which is presumably caused by the transcript abundances of carotenoid biosynthetic genes MaLCYB1.1 and MaLCYB1.2. Moreover, a ripening-inducible transcription factor MaSPL16 was characterized, which was a nuclear protein with transactivation activity. Transient transformation of MaSPL16 in banana fruits led to enhanced transcript levels of MaLCYB1.1 and MaLCYB1.2 and hence the total carotenoid accumulation. Importantly, MaSPL16 stimulated the transcription of MaLCYB1.1 and MaLCYB1.2 through directly binding to their promoters. Collectively, our findings indicate that MaSPL16 behaves as an activator to modulate banana carotenoid biosynthesis, which may provide a new target for molecular improvement of the nutritional and bioactive qualities of agricultural crops that accumulate carotenoids.

Stability analysis of underground constructions requires a model study of rock masses’ long-term performance. Creep tests under different stress conditions was conducted on intact granite and granite samples fractured at 30° and 45° angles. The experimental results indicate that the steady creep strain rates of intact and fractured rock present an exponential increase trend with the increase of stress level. A nonlinear creep model is developed based on the experimental results, in which the initial damage caused by fracture together with the damage caused by constant load have been taken into consideration. The fitting analysis results indicated that the model proposed is more accurate at identifying the full creep regions in fractured granite, especially the accelerated stage of creep deformation. The least-square fit error of the proposed creep model is significantly lower than that of Nishihara model by almost an order of magnitude. An analysis of the effects of elastic modulus, viscosity coefficient, and damage factors on fractured rock strain rate and creep strain is conducted. If no consideration is given to the effects of the damage, the proposed nonlinear creep model can degenerate into to the classical Nishihara model.

The layered double hydroxides (LDHs) with redox metal centers and tailorable layered structures have been regarded as the favorable electrode materials for supercapacitors. In this work, a two-in-one strategy has been designed to synthesis two-dimensional (2D) boron-doped NiCo-LDH with abundant wrinkles by reacting NiCo-zeolite imidazolate frameworks with KBH4in only 30 min. The abundant wrinkles can afford rich active sites for redox reaction and the 2D structure can shorten the ion transport path. The theoretical calculation confirms that mixed NiCo composition and B doping can enhance the OH−adsorption and regulate the electronic properties. Because of the synergistic effect of Ni and B occurred in the B-NiCo-LDH, the resulting B doped NiCo-LDH/nickel foam electrode can achieve good performance of 1351 F g−1at 1 A g−1and maintains 802 F g−1at 20 A g−1. This study may provide a facile and efficient protocol for construction of B doped LDH based supercapacitor electrodes.

Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text.

The ethylene response factor (ERF) and phytohormone jasmonate (JA) are reported to function in leaf senescence. The involvement of ERF in JA-mediated leaf senescence, however, needs to be elucidated. In the present work, we demonstrate a Chinese flowering cabbage ERF transcription factor (TF), BrERF72, that is associated with JA-promoted leaf senescence. Exogenous application of methyl jasmonate (MeJA)-accelerated leaf senescence of Chinese flowering cabbage, evidenced by the data that MeJA treatment led to the stronger reduction in the maximum quantum yield (Fv/Fm), photosynthetic electron transport rate (ETR), and total chlorophyll content, while significant induction in the expression of several senescence-associated genes (SAGs) including BrSAG12, BrSAG19, and chlorophyll catabolic genes (CCGs) BrPAO1, BrNYC1, BrPPH1, and BrSGR1. Increases in levels of endogenous JA and transcripts of JA biosynthetic genes BrLOX4, BrAOC3, and BrOPR3were also found after MeJA treatment. BrERF72 was a MeJA-inducible, nucleus-localized protein, and possessed trans-activation ability. Transient overexpression of BrERF72in tobacco leaves also promoted leaf senescence. More importantly, further experiments revealed that BrERF72 directly activated expression of BrLOX4, BrAOC3, and BrOPR3through binding to their promoters via the GCC or DRE/CRT cis-element. Together, the novel JA-ERF association reported in our study uncovers a new insight into the transcriptional regulation of JA production mediated by ERF during JA-promoted leaf senescence in Chinese flowering cabbage. Researchers in China have uncovered a gene involved leaf aging in response to the plant hormone jasmonate in Chinese flowering cabbage. A team led by Jian-ye Chen of the South China Agricultural University treated Chinese flowering cabbage with jasmonate, which is known to promote leaf senescence in other species. In addition to accelerating senescence, the treatment caused the cabbage to produce more jasmonate. The team also used RNA sequencing to discover a new transcription factor, BrERF72, linking jasmonate and leaf senescence. BrERF72is active during leaf senescence and was more strongly expressed in jasmonate-treated leaves. The team found that BrERF72activates jasmonate biosynthesis genes, potentially creating a feedback loop reinforcing senescence. These findings extend our understanding of how leaves age, which will help improve breeding, treatment, and storage of leafy crops.

Both NAC transcription factors (TFs) and reactive oxygen species (ROS) are known to be involved in leaf senescence. However, how NAC TFs modulate ROS metabolism associated with leaf senescence remains largely uncharacterized, especially during leaf senescence of postharvest economically leafy vegetables such as Chinese flowering cabbage. Here, we found that expression levels of two genes BrRbohBand BrRbohC-likeencoding ROS-producing enzymes respiratory burst oxidase homologues (RBOHs) were increased consistently with the progression of postharvest leaf senescence, exhibiting a good correlation with ROS accumulation and chlorophyll degradation, as well as expressions of two chlorophyll catabolic genes (CCGs), BrNYC1and BrNYE1. Significantly, a novel, nuclear-localized transcriptional activator BrNAC055 was identified, and observed to show a similar expression pattern with BrRbohB, BrRbohC-like, BrNYC1and BrNYE1. Further gel mobility shift and dual luciferase reporter assays confirmed that BrNAC055 bound directly to the NAC binding sequence (NACBS) in BrRbohB, BrRbohC-like, BrNYC1, and BrNYE1promoters, and activated their activities. Moreover, transient overexpression of BrNAC055in tobacco leaves made an increased ROS level and accelerated chlorophyll degradation via the up-regulation of NbRbohAand NbSGR1, resulting in the promoted leaf senescence. On the basis of these findings, we conclude that BrNAC055 acts as a transcriptional activator of ROS production and chlorophyll degradation by activating the transcriptions of RBOHsand CCGsand thereby accelerates leaf senescence in Chinese flowering cabbage.

The transcriptional regulation of aroma formation genes remains poorly understood in the banana. In this work, we found that the expressions of a subset of aroma biosynthetic genes including MaOMT1, MaMT1, MaGT1, MaBCAT1, MaACY1, MaAGT1, and BanAAT, as well as two bZIPgenes, MabZIP4and MabZIP5, were down-regulated when prestored at 7 °C compared to those prestored at 22 °C during the ripening process of banana. Furthermore, MabZIP4 and MabZIP5 were shown to be able to activate the transcription of these aroma biosynthetic genes. Importantly, MabZIP4 directly binds to BanAATpromoter, while MabZIP5 binds to the promoters of MaMT1, MaACY1, MaAGT1, and BanAATvia the G-box motif, implicating the diverse functional significances of MabZIPs in controlling aroma biosynthesis in banana. Overall, this work sheds new insights on the understanding of transcriptional regulatory mechanisms associated with aroma formation during banana ripening.

To observe the clinical effect of lower-reinforcing and upper-reducing acupuncture method for hyperplasia of mammary gland (HMG) and its influence on estradiol (E2) and progesterone (P). A randomized, single-blinded and controlled trial was conducted. A total of 124 cases conforming to the inclusion criteria were randomized by random number table into a treatment group and a control group, with 62 cases in each group. Patients in both groups received acupuncture therapy at the same acupoints, while patients in the treatment group received lower-reinforcing and upper-reducing method, and patients in the control group received even reinforcing-reducing manipulation. The treatment started around 10 d before menstruation and was conducted every other day. Patients received 5 treatments in each menstruation cycle for consecutive 3 cycles. The levels of E2, P and E2/P and clinical efficacy were measured before and after treatment. After treatment, the breast lump size, pain intensity and concomitant symptoms score in both groups were substantially lower than those before treatment, showing statistical significances (all P<0.01), and the improvement in the treatment group was higher than that in the control group, and the between-group comparisons showed statistical significances (all P<0.01). After treatment, the overall effective rate was 91.9% in the treatment group, higher than 72.6% in the control group, and the between-group comparison showed a statistical significance (P<0.01). After treatment, levels of E2, P and E2/P value showed no statistical significance when compared with those before treatment in the two groups (all P>0.05). Lower-reinforcing and upper-reducing acupuncture method can effectively alleviate clinical symptoms and signs in HMG patients, and produce a better effect than even reinforcing-reducing manipulation. The majority of HMG patients’ E2, P level and E2/P value were not beyond the normal ranges; therefore, acupuncture showed no substantial influence on E2and P levels and E2/P value. 观察下补上泻针刺法治疗乳腺增生病的临床疗效, 以及对雌二醇(E2)和孕酮(P)水平的影响。 采用随机、单盲、对照设计, 将124例符合纳入标准的患者按随机数字法随机分为观察组和对照组, 每组62例。两组取穴相同, 观察组采用下补上泻针刺法, 对照组予平补平泻针刺法。两组均于月经前10 d针刺, 隔日治疗1次。每个月经周期治疗5次连续治疗3个月经周期。观察治疗前后两组E2、P、E2/P值的变化及治疗后的临床疗效。 治疗后, 两组患者的乳房肿块大小、疼痛程度及伴随症状评分均较同组治疗前明显降低(均P<0.01), 且观察组的改善程度优于对照组, 组间评分差异均有统计学意义(均P<0.01)。治疗后, 观察组的总有效率为91.9%,高于对照组的72.6%, 组间差异具有统计学意义(P<0.01)。治疗后, 两组患者E2、P及E2/P值与治疗前均无统计学差异(均P>0.05)。 下补上泻针法能有效缓解乳腺增生病患者的临床症状和体征, 疗效优于平补平泻针刺法。因多数乳腺增生病患者的E2、P及E2/P值并未超出正常范围, 故针刺治疗对患者E2、P及E2/P值的影响不明显。

The hormone ethylene is crucial in the regulation of ripening in climacteric fruit, such as bananas. The transcriptional regulation of ethylene biosynthesis throughout banana fruit ripening has received much study, but the cascaded transcriptional machinery of upstream transcriptional regulators implicated in the ethylene biosynthesis pathway is still poorly understood. Here we report that ethylene biosynthesis genes, including MaACS1, MaACO1, MaACO4, MaACO5, and MaACO8, were upregulated in ripening bananas. NAC (NAM, ATAF, CUC) transcription factor, MaNAC083, a ripening and ethylene-inhibited gene, was discovered as a potential binding protein to the MaACS1promoter by yeast one-hybrid screening. Further in vitroand in vivoexperiments indicated that MaNAC083 bound directly to promoters of the five ethylene biosynthesis genes, thereby transcriptionally repressing their expression, which was further verified by transient overexpression experiments, where ethylene production was inhibited through MaNAC083-modulated transcriptional repression of ethylene biosynthesis genes in banana fruits. Strikingly, MaMADS1, a ripening-induced MADS (MCM1, AGAMOUS, DEFICIENS, SRF4) transcription factor, was found to directly repress the expression of MaNAC083, inhibiting trans-repression of MaNAC083 to ethylene biosynthesis genes, thereby attenuating MaNAC083-repressed ethylene production in bananas. These findings collectively illustrated the mechanistic basis of a MaMADS1–MaNAC083–MaACS1/MaACOs regulatory cascade controlling ethylene biosynthesis during banana fruit ripening. These findings increase our knowledge of the transcriptional regulatory mechanisms of ethylene biosynthesis at the transcriptional level and are expected to help develop molecular approaches to control ripening and improve fruit storability.

A level analysts flagged as a battle line for stocks held up Wednesday, handing bearish equity traders their biggest defeat in a month. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For bridge cranes, the movement of the trolley will cause the vibration of the cart and the vertical deformation of the cranes, including the elastic deformation of the main beam, the elastic deformation of the cart running mechanism and the supporting legs. This paper analyzes the influence of the crane vertical deformation on anti-sway control, presents a novel three-mass three-degree-of-freedom elastic dynamic model of the trolley system when the cart is stationary and only the trolley is running. The validity of the model is verified by Matlab.

Dynamic obstacle detection is the key to ensure the agricultural robots could move autonomously in the non-structural environments. In this study, a method of dynamic obstacle detection based on multi-sensor information fusion is presented by selecting a Compass Equipment, an Inertial Measurement Unit and a 2D laser scanner as the system’s external sensors. A method based on Kalman filter to fuse data from a Compass Equipment and an Inertial Measurement is presented to obtain the position of agricultural machinery. 2D laser scanner has the feature of scanning widely and getting the angle and distance of each obstacle directly. On this foundation, the absolute position and motion state of the obstacle is obtained by the transformation of the relative coordinates. After filtering, clustering and segmentation of laser data by using the method of Voxel grid method and Euclidean method, the absolute position of the same obstacle in the adjacent sampling period is analyzed to distinguish the static and dynamic obstacles. The experiment verify the effectiveness of the algorithm and have certain significance for the realization of autonomous mobile robot.

The development of high-performance electrocatalyst with earth-abundant elements for water-splitting is a key factor to improve its cost efficiency. Herein, a noble metal-free bifunctional electrocatalyst was synthesized by a facile pyrolysis method using sucrose, urea, Co(NO3)2and sulfur powder as raw materials. During the fabrication process, Co, S co-doped graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) was first produced, and then this in-situ-formed template further induced the generation of a Co, N, S tri-doped graphene coupled with Co nanoparticles (NPs) in the following pyrolysis process. The effect of pyrolysis temperature (700, 800, and 900 °C) on the physical properties and electrochemical performances of the final product was studied. Thanks to the increased number of graphene layer encapsulated Co NPs, higher graphitization degree of carbon matrix and the existence of hierarchical macro/meso pores, the composite electrocatalyst prepared under 900 °C presented the best activity for both hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) with outstanding long-term durability. This work presented a facile method for the fabrication of non-noble-metal-based carbon composite from in-situ-formed template and also demonstrated a potential bifunctional electrocatalyst for the future investigation and application.

The non-isothermal crystallization kinetics of Mg61Zn35Ca4 glassy alloy prepared via melt-spinning were studied by using isoconversion method. The crystalline characterization of Mg61Zn35Ca4 was examined by X-ray diffraction. Different scanning calorimeter was used to investigate the non-isothermal crystallization kinetics at different heating rates (3-60 K/min). The calculated value of Avrami exponent obtained by Matusita method indicated that the crystalline transformation for Mg61Zn35Ca4 is a complex process of nucleation and growth. The Kissinger-Akahira-Sunose method was used to investigate the activation energy. The activation energy of crystallization varies with the extent of crystallization and hence with temperature. The Sestak-Berggren model was used to describe the non-isothermal crystallization kinetics.

To investigate the possible advantages of acupotomy over sodium hyaluronate injection for the treatment of knee osteoarthritis (KOA).