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Although the global spice trade has played an essential role in world history, archaeobotanical remains of spices have, until now, been limited because of poor preservation conditions. As we first [...]

(Hyper)thermophilic enzymes derived from (hyper)thermophilic microorganisms have significant implications for both basic research and industrial applications. Investigating the thermal stability and catalytic mechanisms of thermophilic enzymes from a structural perspective is essential for the rational modification of these enzymes. Currently, X-ray crystallography remains one of the key techniques for determining the structures of biomolecules; however, protein crystallization is a multiparameter-regulated and often unpredictable process. Here, we present a method for the high-temperature crystallization of the GH57 family hyperthermophilic amylopullulanase from Aquifex aeolicus(AaApu), conducted at 338 K. In comparison to traditional crystallization methods performed at 277 or approximately 291 K, the crystals grown at high temperatures are larger, with dimensions increasing from 400 × 10 μm2to 200 × 150 μm2. Additionally, the time required for crystal growth is significantly reduced from 5 days to 2 h, and there is a notable improvement in resolution, enhancing from 2.5 to 1.7 Å. Furthermore, high-temperature crystallization facilitates the binding of larger molecular weight substrates to the protein molecules and reveals the catalytic mechanisms of enzymes. Overall, high-temperature crystallization preserves the original structure of thermophilic proteins, suggesting that it could be a promising method for thermophilic proteins.

In this article, we investigate the orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) waveform design problem when utilizing the base station (BS) for sensing applications. The high autocorrelation sidelobe level (SLL) of the OFDM waveform and the hardware limitations at the BS that further exacerbate the SLL pose significant challenges in the detection of weak targets. To address this high SLL problem, two metrics are proposed as optimization criteria: the first metric is the peak sidelobe level (PSL) and the second is the modified merit factor (MMF), which refers to the ratio of the mainlobe to the weighted sum of sidelobes. Then, we formulate two optimization problems, namely minimizing the PSL and maximizing the MMF, while jointly designing the OFDM sequence and receive filter subject to practical hardware limitations of the BS in terms of spectra and peak-to-average power ratio. To tackle the resultant two nonconvex problems, two algorithms are proposed, which combine alternating optimization and split alternating direction method of multipliers judiciously. Numerical simulations verify that both methods outperform the state-of-the-art approaches and illustrate that our proposed design can achieve significantly low SLLs at around −50 dB. Furthermore, experimental results verify the effectiveness of the proposed methods.

Rare earth elements have been widely applied in various sectors. Bastnaesite and monazite are crucial rare earth minerals, and flotation is a vital technique for recovering fine-grained rare earth minerals and separating them from associated gangue minerals such as fluorite and apatite. Flotation collectors play a key role in selectively adsorbing valuable minerals, enhancing their surface hydrophobicity, which has prompted considerable research interest. However, the interaction between minerals and reagents relies on the reactivity and selectivity of the reagent groups, as well as the reactive properties of the surface atoms of the minerals. This study proposes the use of H2O2oxidation to enhance the flotation process of rare earth minerals. The flotation experiments demonstrated that pre-adding H2O2before introducing the flotation collector significantly improved the grade and recovery of rare earth concentrates. The adsorption mechanisms of 2-hydroxy-3-naphthyl hydroxamic acid collector on rare earth mineral surfaces before and after H2O2pre-oxidation were studied. The 2-hydroxy-3-naphthyl hydroxamic acid interacts with Ce3+on the surface of unoxidized rare earth minerals, forming chelate compounds with five-membered ring structures. The H2O2exhibited potent oxidizing properties and oxidized the Ce3+on the bastnaesite and monazite surfaces to more stable Ce4+, which demonstrated stronger binding capability with hydroxamic acid.

Maximizing the molecular information density requires simultaneously functionalizing distinct monomers and their coupling connections. However, current synthesis generally focuses on distinct monomers rather than coupling reactions because the multistep reactions significantly escalate the synthetic complexity in an exponential increase. Here, we report the two-dimensional nanoarchitectures (2DNs) of end-on oligomers, with versatile molecular structures and negative differential resistance (NDR), synthesized by programmed and surface-initiated step electrosynthesis based on the simultaneous utilization of six reactions including cross- and homocouplings. The resulting vertically end-on oligomers, with similar values in thickness and molecular length, as crystalline 2DNs, exhibit subnanometer uniformity, ultrahigh compressive modulus of 40 GPa, and low-bias NDR at 0.13 V with an ultralow power consumption of down to 0.05 nW/μm2. This highly controlled electrosynthesis provides a unique dimension to enhance the structural diversity of molecular 2D nanomaterials for high-density and low-power consumption electronics.

Irreversible alveolar bone resorption is one of the important clinical manifestations of periodontitis, which is initiated by a plaque biofilm and exacerbated by the imbalance of osteoclast activity and osteogenesis, affecting a patient’s masticatory function and resulting in a high recurrence rate of periodontitis. Herein, to reestablish bone homeostasis in periodontitis, a minocycline hydrochloride (MH)-loaded glycopeptide hydrogel (MH/GRWgel) is fabricated to mediate alveolar bone absorption through sequential antibacterial and RANKL-blocking activities. GRWgelshows an ECM-like fibrous and porous microstructure serving as a scaffold for cell proliferation and differentiation and holds the merits including injectability, self-healing properties, and good biocompatibility. After injection in situ, MH is released rapidly from the hydrogel in the early stage, demonstrating a potent antimicrobial effect to combat the biofilm in the deep periodontal pocket. Moreover, MH/GRWgelexhibits a high specific binding efficiency with RANKL to suppress osteoclast maturation by shielding the RANKL/RANK interaction and enhancing osteogenic differentiation, thereby synergistically regulating bone homeostasis. In the rat periodontitis model, MH/GRWgelsignificantly curtails periodontitis progression through antimicrobial activity, inhibition of alveolar bone resorption, and promotion of bone regeneration, which is superior to the treatment of a commercial gel. These findings suggest that MH/GRWgelwith superiority in regulating bone homeostasis provides a promising therapeutic strategy for periodontitis.

Industrial processes often generate multimodal data with complex dynamics and distinct characteristics across multiple stages or conditions. Reconstructing the intrinsic semantic information from such data is essential for process monitoring and fault diagnosis. However, existing feature extraction methods often prioritize minimizing reconstruction error, which can overlook the importance of semantic interpretation and lead to limited accuracy and interpretability in the reconstructed results. To address this limitation, a novel semantic reconstruction framework for multimodal process data, driven by dual latent space constraints, is proposed. This approach utilizes a semantic consistency constraint and a multimodal characteristic constraint to extract latent space representations that effectively capture the intrinsic characteristics of the multimodal data. The core innovation of this framework lies in the integration of these dual constraints to obtain a comprehensive and interpretable representation of multimodal data. By jointly optimizing the dual latent space constraints and balancing reconstruction accuracy with interpretability, the proposed approach goes beyond simply minimizing the reconstruction error and focuses on learning expressive latent features that enable effective semantic interpretation. Experiments on three industrial benchmark datasets demonstrate the excellent performance of the proposed method, achieving an average accuracy of 96.73% and a maximum improvement of 13.34% compared to other methods.

Visual simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) systems frequently encounter challenges in low-texture environments, resulting in suboptimal performance. Integrating line features into SLAM has emerged as an effective solution. However, a significant drawback of line feature-based SLAM is its limited capability for real-time data processing. Hence, we present entropy-guided line tracking (EGLT)-SLAM, a real-time point-line fusion visual-inertial SLAM system. To promote the system’s robustness in complex environments, the traditional line extraction algorithm is enhanced to assist the feature tracking. An optical flow tracking model specifically designed for line features is developed to further optimize the real-time performance of the SLAM system. Our approach involves extracting line segments from individual frames and tracking them across multiple frames. Decisions for line segment extraction are based on the image entropy change threshold of specified keyframes within the sliding window. Furthermore, a line reprojection error metric that is independent of the endpoints of the line segments is introduced. Experimental results demonstrate that accurate and real-time localization is achieved by EGLT-SLAM even in challenging scenarios with weak textures, illumination changes, and motion blur.

Many environmental pollutants have neurotoxic effects, but the initial molecular events involved in these effects are unclear. Here, zebrafish were exposed to the neurotoxicant bisphenol S (BPS, 1, 10, or 100 μg/L) from the embryonic stage to the larval stage to explore the ability of BPS to interfere with energy metabolism in the brain. BPS, which is similar to a glucose transporter 1 (GLUT1) inhibitor, inhibited GLUT1 function but increased mitochondrial activity in the brains of larval zebrafish. Interestingly, GLUT1 inhibitor treatment and BPS exposure did not reduce energy production in the brain; instead, they increased ATP production by inducing the preferential use of ketone bodies. Moreover, BPS promoted the protein expression of the purinergic 2X receptor but inhibited the purinergic 2Y-mediated phosphatidylinositol signaling pathway, indicating that excess ATP acts as a neurotransmitter to activate the purinergic 2X receptor under the BPS-induced restriction of GLUT1 function. BPS-induced inhibition of GLUT1 increased the number of neurons but promoted apoptosis by activating ATP-purinergic 2X receptors in the brain, causing ATP excitatory neurotoxicity. Our data reveal a potential neurotoxic mechanism induced by BPS that may represent a new adverse outcome pathway.

•The genetic environment of mcr-1showed its position on the p0111 plasmid in 2 isolates, a rarely reported plasmid type for the mcr-1gene. Moreover, this type of plasmids was transferable in recipient J53, and mcr-1was encoded by three mobile elements ISApl1, Tn3, and IS26, forming a novel backbone Tn3–IS26-mcr-1–pap2-ISApl1 on the p0111 plasmid.•Four O15: H10-serotype Escherichia coli(E. coli) carrying the mcr-1gene have been identified in this study.•The mcr-1gene can transfer horizontally with much stability in this study.•The mcr-1gene from the present study has homology with mcr-1 E. colifrom other sources, showing its clonal dissemination among the different hosts and species, which poses a potential threat to public health.

In this article, a general theory and associated design methodology for outphasing power amplifier (OPA) is proposed. The design theory leads to the conclusion that, compared to previous OPAs, the proposed conjugation network of an OPA can be a much more flexible structure by satisfying input reflection coefficient conjugate, namely, impedance matching and phase compensation. Then, based on this theory, this article proposes a low-loss bandpass network of the power combiner in a wide operating band for the OPA. For verification, a broadband OPA operating at 2.2–2.8 GHz is designed and tested. Experimental results show that the saturation output power can be maintained between 43.78–45.47 dBm. The drain efficiencies are 65.5%–79.4% and 51.5%–87.5% at saturation output power and 6-dB power back-off points, respectively. For the down-link long-term evolution (LTE) signal with a channel bandwidth of 20 MHz and a peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) of 8 dB, the average adjacent channel power ratio of the fabricated OPA is better than 49.1 dBc after digital pre-distortion at the target frequency band with average output power back-off (OBO) efficiency of above 36.3%. The reported experiments confirm the validity and effectiveness of the proposed design methodology.

Purpose: Graves’ orbitopathy (GO) is the main extrathyroidal manifestation of Graves’ disease. However, limited studies have investigated the actual efficacy of selenium in GO therapy. This longitudinal study explored the effect of selenium on QOL and prognosis of patients with mild-to-moderate GO. Methods: We conducted a 5-year prospective controlled cohort clinical trial to determine the effect of selenium on 74 patients with mild-to-moderate GO. Patients received selenium yeast or placebo orally for 6 months and were followed up at 6 months and at 5 years by biochemical examination, ophthalmologist evaluation and QOL questionnaire to assess oculopathy and QOL. Results: (1) During a follow-up period of 3–6 months, in the selenium group, the symptoms of tearing, grittiness and conjunctival congestion improved (P< 0.01); clinical activity scores and total GO-QOL scores increased relative to baseline (P< 0.01); TRAb was decreased at the 6-month evaluation (P= 0.003); and patients treated with selenium had a higher rate of improvement and a lower rate of worsening than patients treated with placebo (P< 0.05). (2) Exploratory evaluations at 6 months after drug withdrawal confirmed the earlier results; further changes included alleviation of blurred vision and double vision symptoms in the selenium group (P< 0.01). (3) At the 5-year follow-up, compared with baseline, proptosis, clinical activity scores, TRAb level and total GO-QOL scores in both the selenium and placebo groups were significantly improved (P< 0.01). Conclusion: Six months of selenium supplementation may effectively change the early course of mild-to-moderate GO, but this regimen makes no difference in long-term outcomes.

In the context of Big Data and Business Intelligence, how to timely mine customer requirements (CRs) and accurately incorporate them into product design is of great significance, while the research concerning this issue is relatively scarce. The purpose of this study is to develop an integrated decision framework with sentiment analysis and optimisation model for customer-oriented product design. In the framework, CRs are firstly extracted by the proposed crawling and mining algorithms, and then they are transferred into corresponding product features (PFs) and product feature specifications (PFSs) based on the idea of QFD. Next, through the consideration of the customer sentiments and the psychological and behavioural factors, the achievements of PFSs towards CRs are measured. Further, a multi-objective product design optimisation model is constructed to generate desirable design schemes. The proposed framework is applied in the design of elderly smart bracelets. The feasibility and effectiveness of the framework are proved.

This article introduces a broadband outphasing power amplifier (OPA) design in virtue of a reconfigurable output combiner. Two T-type matching structures loaded with varactors are applied to replace the transmission lines in the conventional architecture. To have broadband performance, the bias voltage applied to the varactors is adjusted when the frequency changes, ensuring proper phase shifting amounts required for outphasing operation. This technique compensates for the frequency dispersion effects inherent in the conventional combiner. Besides, to provide the subamplifiers with correct reactance compensation and impedance in a large frequency band, a postmatching network (PMN) is further employed. These design strategies help to improve the bandwidth and drain efficiency (DE) of the whole OPA. For demonstration, a prototype circuit is successfully implemented using two 10-W GaN HEMT transistors. At 6-dB back-off (BO) power, over 49.3% DE is achieved from 2.4 to 2.8 GHz, accounting for 15.4% fractional bandwidth. In addition, a minimum of 63.6% DE is maintained at saturation in the same frequency band.

Trinitarian designs in the morphology, components, and microstructure remain challenging for advanced electromagnetic wave absorption (EMWA) materials with light weight, strong absorption, and well-defined structure–function relationships. Herein, a series of X-doped MoS2/Cu9S5with multilevel honeycomb structures (X-MoS2/Cu9S5MHs, X = P, Si, Ge) were designed by space-confined growth and in situ sulfidation of a polyoxometalate-based metal–organic framework. X-MoS2/Cu9S5MHs possess low density, high surface area, and abundant cation-cuprum and anion-sulfur double vacancies (VCuand VS) simultaneously that are unmatched by conventional EMWA materials. Also, the systematic investigation of the doping effect of various polyoxometalate heteroatoms on VCuand VSin the microhoneycomb has been conducted. Experimental results and density functional theory calculations reveal that the excellent EMWA performance (−56.21 dB) results from the synergistic effect of morphology design, component optimization, and vacancy regulation. This study not only provides an important opportunity to understand a morphology-component-microstructure strategy in electromagnetic wave absorption but also builds a noteworthy bridge between bioinspired engineering and microscale absorbers.

Large-area pressure sensor arrays with a wide linear response range and high sensitivity are beneficial to map the inhomogeneous interface pressure, which is significant in practical applications. Here, we demonstrate a pneumatic spraying method to prepare large-area microstructure films (PSMF) for high performance pressure sensor arrays. The sprayed surface morphology is designable by controlling the spraying parameters. It is worth noting that the constructed “broccoli” like morphology with a swollen top and shrunken bottom inspired a new mechanism to enlarge the linear response range by decreasing the series resistance with pressure increasing. At the same time, the pneumatic sprayed “broccoli” has a rough surface due to droplet stacking, which reduces the initial current effectively. Hence, the sensor achieves a 10 000 kPa ultrawide linear response range with a high sensitivity (98.71 kPa−1), and low detection (5 Pa). The prepared sensor has a small static response error (4.4%) and 5000 cycle full-range dynamic response durability. Finally, the constructed sensor arrays can distinguish the pressure distribution in different ranges clearly, which indicates a great potential in health care, motion detection, and the tire industry.

In this article, we explore the coherent frequency diverse array (FDA) radar for moving target indication (MTI). FDA radar enjoys wide space coverage because of its autoscanning feature of transmit beampattern. Motivated by this advantage, we propose an angle-dependent matched filtering (ADMF) algorithm to account for the angle-dependent envelop of FDA radar due to transmit beampattern modulation. It is verified that the ADMF simultaneously realizes pulse compression and transmit beamforming. An MTI procedure can be performed following the ADMF. Therefore, a fundamental signal processing scheme consisting of ADMF and MTI procedures is proposed, which can be implemented in parallel thus to cover the interested space. Besides, the range and angle resolutions of the coherent FDA radar are derived, where linear frequency modulation wave is utilized as baseband waveform. We further explore the coherent subarray FDA scheme, which leverages the space coverage and power efficiency for considering the practical applications. Simulation examples are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed framework.

Current mesh materials used for the clinical treatment of abdominal defects struggle to balance mechanical properties and bioactivity to support tissue remodeling. Therefore, a bioactive microgel-coated electrospinning membrane was designed with the superiority of cell-instructive topology in guiding cell behavior and function for abdominal wall defect reconstruction. The electrostatic spinning technique was employed to prepare a bioabsorbable PLCL fiber membrane with an effective mechanical support. Additionally, decellularized matrix (dECM)-derived bioactive microgels were further coated on the fiber membrane through co-precipitation with dopamine, which was expected to endow cell-instructive hydrophilic interfaces and topological morphologies for cell adhesion. Moreover, the introduction of the dECM into the microgel promoted the myogenic proliferation and differentiation of C2C12 cells. Subsequently, in vivoexperiments using a rat abdominal wall defect model demonstrated that the bioactive microgel coating significantly contributed to the reconstruction of intact abdominal wall structures, highlighting its potential for clinical application in promoting the repair of soft tissue defects associated with abdominal wall damage. This study presented an effective mesh material for facilitating the reconstruction of abdominal wall defects and contributed novel design concepts for the surface modification of scaffolds with cell-instructive interfaces and topology.

The article proposes a modified series compensation (MSC) outphasing power amplifier (OPA) that maximizes saturation output power and extends power back-off range. The proposed OPA enables achieving output power back-off (OBO) compensation without affecting the saturation matching. Then, the circuit structure is simplified by introducing a post-matching circuit to integrate the combiner and the reactive compensation network (RCN). Moreover, a simplified dual-impedance matching network (DIMN) is placed between each transistor and the output combiner, leading to increased OBO range with improved efficiency. This technique not only takes into consideration the influence of parasitic parameters but also match the required impedance at both saturation and OBO points, simultaneously. The above design idea is successfully verified by using the gallium nitride (GaN) high-electron-mobility transistor (HEMT) to develop an OPA circuit operating at 2.6 GHz, providing 45.2 dBm of peak output power. At the 12-dB output back-off point, the drain efficiency reaches 61.5%. In addition, the prototype achieves values of the adjacent channel leakage ratio (ACLR) equal to −48.17 dBc and 47.74 dBc for LTE modulated signal with 8 dB PAPR value and for 5G NR signal with 11.7 dB PAPR value, respectively.

Background: Ischemic heart disease (IHD) is a major barrier to sustainable human development and is associated with various modifiable risk factors. The aim of this study was to estimate the IHD burden attributable to 18 risk factors in Nanjing adults from eastern China between 2011 to 2017. Methods: Data were collected from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017. We conducted a comparative risk assessment analysis to estimate the IHD mortality and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) attributable to one environmental, three behavioral, four metabolic, and 11 dietary risk factors in 2011 and 2017. The average exposure distributions were obtained from a systematic search of multiple databases. The means and 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs) were calculated and reported for IHD deaths, DALYs, and attributable to risk from 2011 and 2017. Results: The total IHD deaths in all ages increased between 2011 and 2017 in Nanjing, from 1747 (95%UI 1123–2371) to 2432 (95%UI 1839–3025) in men and 1866 (95%UI 1282–2450) to 2267 (95%UI 1702–2832) in women. IHD deaths accounted for 11.5% of all deaths in 2017, ranking only next to stroke (21.9%). Conversely, the age-standardized death rate of IHD decreased from 95.35 (95% UI 91.29–99.41) to 75.94 (95%UI 72.59–79.30) per 100,000 persons in men and from 79.85 (95%UI 76.11–83.59) to 56.10 (95%UI 53.26–58.94) per 100,000 persons in women. The four leading IHD risk factors for both mortality and DALY rates in 2017 were high systolic BP, high LDL-C, diet high in sodium, and diet low in fruits. Conclusions: Population growth and aging led to a steady increase in IHD burden from 2011 to 2017. Dietary, behavioral, metabolic, and environmental risk factors account for most of the IHD burden, highlighting many opportunities for prevention.

Naive pluripotent stem cells have the highest developmental potential but their in vivo existence in the blastocyst is transient. Here we report a blastocyst motif substrate for the in vitro reversion of mouse and human pluripotent stem cells to a naive state. The substrate features randomly varied microstructures, which we call motifs, mimicking the geometry of the blastocyst. Motifs representing mouse-blastocyst-scaled curvature ranging between 15 and 62 mm−1were the most efficient in promoting reversion to naivety, as determined by time-resolved correlative analysis. In these substrates, apical constriction enhances E-cadherin/RAC1 signalling and activates the mechanosensitive nuclear transducer YAP, promoting the histone modification of pluripotency genes. This results in enhanced levels of pluripotency transcription factor NANOG, which persist even after cells are removed from the substrate. Pluripotent stem cells cultured in blastocyst motif substrates display a higher development potential in generating embryoid bodies and teratomas. These findings shed light on naivety-promoting substrate design and their large-scale implementation.

Using spaceborne transmitter and airborne receiver, the space–air bistatic radar (SABR) system has advantages of wide coverage, antistealth, and anti-interference. However, the SABR encounters severe clutter spreading in spatial–temporal domain since it works in down-looking mode, which would cause serious performance degradation in moving target detection. Moreover, SABR encounters several practical factors, such as the separated transmitter and receiver, the non-side-looking array configuration, wide Earth coverage, and Earth rotation, which would induce range-dependent and high-order nonlinear spatial–temporal-coupled ground/sea clutter. Under this circumstance, this article first investigates the general space-time clutter model of SABR for arbitrary transmitter–receiver geometry and array configuration. Then, the high-order nonlinear coupling relationship of clutter curve is derived, where the expressions of the spatial frequency and Doppler frequency are derived with respect to the eccentric anomaly of bistatic iso-range ring. In the sequel, the spatial–temporal-coupled and range-dependent characteristics of the clutter in SABR is analyzed and discussed in detail for three typical geometrical configurations with high/medium/low elliptical orbit satellite as transmitter and aircraft as receiver. On the basis of the above analysis, an effective clutter compensation approach based on subspace rotation is proposed to eliminate the range dependence of the clutter. Numerical examples of different bistatic geometries are conducted to analyze the spatial–temporal coupling relationship of clutter and validate the effectiveness of the proposed compensation method.

This brief presents the design of a dual-band outphasing power amplifier (OPA) using multiple topology fitting. By adding extra transmission lines to the traditional noncommensurate transmission lines, the design space for the output combiner is largely expanded. Different line combinations with good load modulation effects can be chosen according to frequency and circuit dimension. As a proof of concept, a prototype OPA operating at 2.6 and 3.5 GHz is fabricated based on two 10-W GaN HEMTs. The fabricated circuit achieves saturation output power of 44.4 and 44.3 dBm at the two selected frequency bands, with accompanying peak drain efficiencies of 69.5% and 69.2%. Meanwhile, the corresponding efficiencies at 6-dB power back-off points are 62.4% and 63.5%, respectively.

Bosten Lake is a crucial water source in arid northwest China, which has been maintaining the ecological balance of the southern Xinjiang region. It contributes to the sustainable development of the local economy and watershed ecology. Insufficient hydrological data for the basin, however, cause uncertainty in hydrological modeling and makes it difficult to calculate water availability and lake-water storage using conventional methods. Therefore, this article proposed a novel method to retrieve the lake’s water depth from Landsat-8 OLI and ICESat-2 satellite data using neural network (NN) model. Specifically, the Rayleigh-corrected top-of-atmosphere (TOA) reflectance ( $\rho _{\mathrm {rc}}$ ) in the 443–2300 nm range was employed as the input to the NN model for the retrieval of water depth. This avoids the requirement to correct the effects of aerosols. In addition, the water depth retrieved by the NN model was compared with a conventional dual-band ratio model (DBRM). To evaluate the accuracy of the corrected ICESat-2 photon data, the in situ water depths were compared with the corrected ICESat-2 photon data (considering water-level variations at different times), and 20 in situ water depth values near the ICESat-2 track were selected for verification. The results showed that 1) the in situ water depth and the corrected ICESat-2 photon data had the coefficient of determination ( $R^{2}$ ) values of 0.94; 2) NN inversion of bathymetry presented a feasible method of obtaining regional bathymetry, with $R^{2}$ of 0.87, root mean square error (RMSE) being 1.17 m, and mean absolute error (MAE) being 0.26 m. In contrast, DBRM generated the $R^{2}$ , RMSE, and MAE values of 0.74, 1.62, and 0.93 m, respectively; and 3) the water storage in Bosten Lake’s from April to September in 2022 ranged from $6.73\times 10^{9}$ to $7.50\times 10^{9}\,\,\text{m}^{3}$ . The findings can provide a strong scientific basis for the sustainable development and the rational allocation regional water resources.

One of the foremost tasks of radar systems is target localization, which is mainly characterized by target range, angle, and velocity. The frequency diverse array multiple-input and multiple-output (FDA-MIMO) radar has been widely applied in parameter estimation due to its additional range information introduced by FDA and increased transmit degrees-of-freedom brought by MIMO. However, the effect of frequency diversity on Doppler frequency has not been thoroughly investigated, and the existing estimators usually consider clutter-free background, which is oversimplified to hold in practice. In this article, a joint range angle and velocity estimation method is proposed for FDA-MIMO radar under both clutter-free and clutter backgrounds. First, we analyze the inner bin range dependence (IRD) property of clutter scatterers within the same range bin and the angle-Doppler defocusing (ADD) property of high-speed moving targets. Then, a three-stage search-based method is proposed for joint range angle and velocity estimation. In particular, the velocity ambiguity problem can be solved by exploiting the coupling relationship between the transmit carrier frequency and the target velocity. In the sequel, the multiple parameters estimation performance is evaluated with respect to the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and the number of snapshots. Moreover, the velocity ambiguity resolvability of the proposed method is compared with a typical existing method in relation to the SNR and the number of pulses. Numerical results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method and show that it has lower requirement on SNR and the number of pulses.

Target skyrmion, characterized by a central skyrmion surrounded by a series of concentric cylinder domains known as kπ-skyrmions (k≥ 2), holds promise as a novel storage state in next-generation memories. However, target skyrmions comprising one or more concentric cylindrical domains have not been observed in chiral magnets, particularly at room temperature. In this study, we experimentally achieved kπ-skyrmions (k= 2, 3, and 4) with diameters of ∼220, 320, and 410 nm, respectively, and room-temperature stability under zero magnetic field by tightly confining these topological spin textures in β-Mn-type Co8Zn10Mn2nanodisks. The magnetic configurations and their field-driven evolutions were simultaneously investigated by using in situ off-axis electron holography. In combination with numerical simulations, we further investigated the dependence of kmaxon the nanodisk diameter. These findings highlight the potential of kπ-skyrmions as information carriers and offer insights into manipulation of kπ-skyrmions in the future.

This study aimed to evaluate the oncological outcomes and safety of carbon ion re-irradiation with pencil beam scanning (PBS) delivery technique for previously irradiated and unresectable locally recurrent rectal cancer (LRRC). Between June 2017 and September 2021, 24 patients of unresectable LRRC with prior pelvic photon radiotherapy who underwent carbon ion re-irradiation at our institute were retrospectively analyzed. Carbon ion radiotherapy was delivered by raster scanning with a median relative biological effectiveness-weighted dose of 72 Gy in 20 fractions. Weekly CT reviews were carried out, and offline adaptive replanning was performed whenever required. The median follow-up duration was 23.8 months (range, 6.2–47.1 months). At the last follow-up, two patients had a local disease progression, and 11 patients developed distant metastases. The 1- and 2-year local control, progression-free survival and overall survival rates were 100 and 93.3%, 70.8 and 45.0% and 86.7 and 81.3%, respectively. There were no Grade 3 or higher acute toxicities observed. Three patients developed Grade 3 late toxicities, one each with gastrointestinal toxicity, skin reaction and pelvic infection. In conclusion, definitive carbon ion re-irradiation with PBS provided superior oncologic results with tolerable toxicities and may be served as a curative treatment strategy in unresectable LRRC.

Excessive reactive oxygen species (ROS) at severe burn injury sites may promote metabolic reprogramming of macrophages to induce a deteriorative and uncontrolled inflammation cycle, leading to delayed wound healing and regeneration. Here, a novel bioactive, anti-fouling, flexible polyzwitterionic hydrogel encapsulated with epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG)-copper (Cu) capsules (termed as EGCG-Cu@CBgel) is engineered for burn wound management, which is dedicated to synergistically exerting ROS-scavenging, immune metabolic regulation and pro-angiogenic effects. EGCG-Cu@CBgelcan scavenge ROS to normalize intracellular redox homeostasis, effectively relieving oxidative damages and blocking proinflammatory signal transduction. Importantly, EGCG-Cu can inhibit the activity of hexokinase and phosphofructokinase, alleviate accumulation of pyruvate and convert it to acetyl coenzyme A (CoA), whereby inhibits glycolysis and normalizes tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle. Additionally, metabolic reprogramming of macrophages by EGCG-Cu downregulates M1-type polarization and the expression of proinflammatory cytokines both in vitroand in vivo. Meanwhile, copper ions (Cu2+) released from the hydrogel facilitate angiogenesis. EGCG-Cu@CBgelsignificantly accelerates the healing of severe burn wound viapromoting wound closure, weakening tissue-damaging inflammatory responses and enhancing the remodeling of pathological structure. Overall, this study demonstrates the great potential of bioactive hydrogel dressing in treating burn wounds without unnecessary secondary damage to newly formed skin, and highlights the importance of immunometabolism modulation in tissue repair and regeneration.

The present study focuses on investigating the microstructure, hardness, wear, and corrosion resistance of Al1.2CoCrFeNiScxhigh entropy alloys, where the Sc content (x) varies between 0, 0.1, 0.2, and 0.3. The results indicate that the addition of Sc promotes the formation of the FCC phase and improves the hardness and wear resistance, but reduces the corrosion resistance of the alloy. The alloy's evolution can be observed as a transition from a single BCC phase to a combination of Fe, Cr-rich BCC phase, Al, Co, Ni-rich BCC phase, and Ni, Sc-rich FCC phase. As the Sc content increases from 0 to 0.3, the hardness increases from 438 HV to 581 HV, representing a 32.6 % increment. This increase can be mainly attributed to grain size strengthening and solid solution strengthening. Additionally, the average friction coefficient experiences a notable reduction from 0.999 to 0.574, indicating a 42.5 % decrease. With respect to wear resistance, the Al1.2CoCrFeNiSc0.3alloy exhibits superior performance, demonstrated by its lower friction coefficient, reduced wear rate, and smaller volume, width and depth of wear marks. Furthermore, the addition of Sc to the Al1.2CoCrFeNiScxalloys leads to an overall decrease in corrosion potential, accompanied by an increase in corrosion current density, suggesting that Sc has a detrimental effect on the corrosion resistance of the alloy. Moreover, the Al1.2CoCrFeNi alloy displays pitting corrosion, while the Al1.2CoCrFeNiScxalloys demonstrate intercrystalline corrosion, which preferentially occurs on the Ni, Sc-rich phase due to the high electrochemical activity and low equivalent chemical potential.

Self-powered photodetectors (PD) based on ferroelectric materials have gained huge attention because of the spontaneous polarization and unique photovoltaic effect. However, the low photocurrent values and switch ratio of the ferroelectric materials limit their further practical applications in a wide temperature range. In this study, the self-powered ZnO nanofiber array/BaTiO3(ZnO-NFA/BTO) PD was fabricated by high-ordered ZnO-NFA via electrospinning method deposited on a 300 nm BTO film synthesized using sol–gel method. The electrospinning can prepare ZnO-NFAs with a controllable diameter (100 nm) and orientation and is directly deposited on the quartz at a large scale, which simplifies the fabrication process. This device possesses a greater on/off ratio of 2357 at zero bias than that of BTO PD (3.33) and the ZnO-NFA PD (125) at 0.2 V. The highest responsivity and specific detectivity are 1.41 mA W–1and 1.48 × 109Jones at 368 nm under 0 V bias, respectively, which is enhanced about three magnitudes than the pristine BTO PD (1.21 μA W–1and 1.02 × 109Jones). The photocurrent of the ZnO-NFA/BTO PD strongly depends on the temperature. After the cooling system and prepolarization processing are both introduced, the largest light current (475 nA) and photovoltaic plateaus (585 nA) are enhanced by about 4417 and 4278% under 368 nm at a power intensity of 4.46 mW cm–2at 0 °C, respectively. The enhancement of photocurrent is associated with a ferro-pyro-phototronic effect, evidenced by enhanced ferroelectric polarization. The ZnO-NFA/BTO PD can detect weak signals at low power intensity with a wide temperature range of 0–100 °C under 0 V bias. The self-powered ZnO-NFA/BTO PD provides a new and promising way to fabricate high-performance and low-cost photodetectors from inorganic perovskite materials.

Clove (Syzygium aromaticum) Clove trees are native to the volcanic islands of Maluku Utara (northern Moluccas), often termed the "Spice Islands." Other ginger plants The other edible Zingiberaceae species found at Oc Eo - galangal (Alpinia galanga), fingerroot (Boesenbergia rotunda), and sand ginger (Kaempferia galanga) - are all native to tropical Asia and widely cultivated today in Southeast Asia. Some studies in South Asia have reported archaeological presences of black pepper, mustard (Brassica spp.), clove (Syzygium aromaticum), nutmeg (Myristica fragrans), and cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum). Archaeobotanical findings of turmeric were unknown in Southeast Asia before this study, and the large quantity of turmeric starch found at Oc Eo underlines the culinary influence there of Indian culture. [Extracted from the article]

This study aimed to investigate the potential mitigating effects of N-acyl homoserine lactonase (AHLase) on the virulence of Salmonella typhimuriumand its induction of intestinal damages in broilers. In vitro study was firstly conducted to examine if AHLase treatment could attenuate the virulence of S. typhimurium. Then, an in vivo experiment was performed by allocating 240 broiler chicks at 1 d old into 3 groups (8 replicates per group): negative control (NC), positive control (PC), and PC supplemented with 10,000 U/kg AHLase. All chicks except those in NC were orally challenged by S. typhimuriumfrom 8 to 10 d of age. Parameters were measured on d 11 and 21. The results showed that treatment with 1 U/mL AHLase suppressed the biofilm-forming ability (including biofilm biomass, extracellular DNA secretion and biofilm formation-related gene expression), together with swarming motility and adhesive capacity of S. typhimurium. Supplemental 10,000 U/kg AHLase counteracted S. typhimurium-induced impairments (P < 0.05) in broiler growth performance (including final body weight, average daily gain and average daily feed intake) during either 1–11 d or 12–21 d, and increases (P < 0.05) in the indexes of liver, spleen and bursa of Fabricius on d 11, together with reductions (P < 0.05) in ileal villus height and its ratio to crypt depth on both d 11 and 21. AHLase addition also normalized the increased (P < 0.05) mRNA expression of ileal occludin on both d 11 and 21 in S. typhimurium-challenged broilers. However, neither S. typhimuriumchallenge nor AHLase addition altered (P > 0.05) serum diamine oxidase activity of broilers. Noticeably, S. typhimuriumchallenge caused little change in the mRNA expression of ileal inflammatory cytokines except for an increase (P < 0.05) in interleukin-8 expression on d 11, whereas AHLase addition normalized (P < 0.05) this change. In conclusion, AHLase treatment could attenuate the virulence and pathogenicity of S. typhimurium, thus contributing to alleviate S. typhimurium-induced growth retardation and intestinal damages in broilers.

The clinical success of orthopedic implants is closely related to their integration in the bone tissue promoted by rough device surfaces. The biological response of precursor cells to their artificial microenvironments plays a critical role in this process. In this study, we elucidated the relation between cell instructivity and surface microstructure of polycarbonate (PC)-based model substrates. The rough surface structure (hPC) with an average peak spacing (Sm) similar to the trabecular spacing of trabecular bone improved osteogenic differentiation of human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (hBMSCs), as compared to the smooth surface (sPC) and the surface with a moderate Sm value (mPC). The hPC substrate promoted the cell adhesion and assembling of F-actin and enhanced cell contractile force by upregulating phosphorylated myosin light chain (pMLC) expression. The increased cell contractile force led to YAP nuclear translocation and the elongation of cell nuclei, presenting higher levels of active form of Lamin A/C. The nuclear deformation alternated the histone modification profile, particularly the decrease of H3K27me3 and increase of H3K9ac on the promoter region of osteogenesis related genes (ALPL, RUNX2, and OCN). Mechanism study using inhibitors and siRNAs elucidated the role of YAP, integrin, F-actin, myosin, and nuclear membrane proteins in such a regulatory process of surface topography on stem cell fate. These mechanistical insights on the epigenetic level give a new perspective in understanding of the interaction of substrate and stem cells as well as provide valuable criteria for designing bioinstructive orthopedic implants.

The purpose is to optimize supply chain management (SCM) programs in global organizations and promote international economic development. This paper first discusses the development of cloud technology and the international organization supply chain under big data, artificial intelligence, the internet of things, mobile internet and cloud computing (BIIMC). Then, the application design concept of cloud technology in the global organization supply chain is discussed. Finally, based on the current international organization supply chain foundation, the management optimization program is designed using cloud technology and evaluated. The results show that the program performs prominently in the SCM of Taobao and Amazon.

Ventricular septal defect (VSD) is one of the commonest congenital heart diseases (CHDs). Current occluders for VSD treatment are mainly made of nitinol, which has the risk of nickel allergy, persistent myocardial abrasion and fatal arrythmia. Herein, a fully biodegradable polydioxanone (PDO) occluder equipped with a shape line and poly-l-lactic acid PLLA membranes is developed for VSD closure without the addition of metal marker. PDO occluder showed great mechanical strength, fatigue resistance, geometry fitness, biocompatibility and degradability. In a rat subcutaneous implantation model, PDO filaments significantly alleviated inflammation response, mitigated fibrosis and promoted endothelialization compared with nitinol. The safety and efficacy of PDO occluder were confirmed in a canine VSD model with 3-year follow-up, demonstrating the biodegradable PDO occluder could not only effectively repair VSD, induce cardiac remodeling but also address the complications associated with metal occluders. Furthermore, a pilot clinical trial with five VSD patients indicated that all the occluders were successfully implanted under the guidance of echocardiography and no adverse events occurred during the 3-month follow-up. Collectively, the fully bioresorbable PDO occluder is safe and effective for clinical VSD closure and holds great promise for the treatment of structural CHDs.

Lithium metal anodes suffer from enormous mechanical stress derived from volume changes during electrochemical plating and stripping. The utilization of derived stress has the potential for the dendrite-free deposition and electrochemical reversibility of lithium metal. Here, we investigated the plating and stripping process of lithium metal held within a cellular three-dimensional graphene skeleton decorated with homogeneous Ag nanoparticles. Owing to appropriate reduction-splitting and electrostatic interaction of nitrogen dopants, the cellular skeletons show micron-level pores and superior elastic property. As lithium hosts, the cellular skeletons can physically confine the metal deposition and provide continuous volume-derived stress between Li and collectors, thus meliorating the stress-regulated Li morphology and improving the reversibility of Li metal anodes. Consequently, the symmetrical batteries exhibit a stable cycling performance with a span life of more than 1900 h. Full batteries (NCM811 as cathodes) achieve a reversible capacity of 181 mA h g–1at 0.5 C and a stable cycling performance of 300 cycles with a capacity retention of 83.5%. The meliorative behavior of lithium metal within the cellular skeletons suggests the advantage of a stress-regulating strategy, which could also be meaningful for other conversion electrodes with volume fluctuation.

N/S-doped non-graphitized carbons characterize highly-disordered microstructure enabled by graphene foam as self-support anode in SIBs, showing diverse Na-ion storage behaviors at high-potential region.

There is increasing interest in replacing alteplase with tenecteplase as the preferred thrombolytic treatment for patients with acute ischaemic stroke. We aimed to establish the non-inferiority of tenecteplase to alteplase for these patients.

Precision nanomedicine can be employed as an alternative to chemo- or radiotherapy to overcome challenges associated with the often narrow therapeutic window of traditional treatment approaches, while safely inducing effective, targeted antitumor responses. Herein, we report the formulation of a therapeutic nanocomposite comprising a hyaluronic acid (HA)-coated gold nanoframework (AuNF) delivery system and encapsulated IT848, a small molecule with potent antilymphoma and -myeloma properties that targets the transcriptional activity of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB). The porous AuNFs fabricated via a liposome-templated approach were loaded with IT848 and surface-functionalized with HA to formulate the nanotherapeutics that were able to efficiently deliver the payload with high specificity to myeloma and lymphoma cell lines in vitro. In vivostudies characterized biodistribution, pharmacokinetics, and safety of HA-AuNFs, and we demonstrated superior efficacy of HA-AuNF-formulated IT848 vsfree IT848 in lymphoma mouse models. Both in vitroand in vivoresults affirm that the AuNF system can be adopted for targeted cancer therapy, improving the drug safety profile, and enhancing its efficacy with minimal dosing. HA-AuNF-formulated IT848 therefore has strong potential for clinical translation.

ABSTRACTThe corner crack is an important issue during special steel continuous casting. To comprehensively investigate the heat transfer, stress, and shrinkage behaviours of slab corner, a full-scale thermo-mechanical model of a slab and its mould was developed, the inverse algorithm was applied to the model. The model was validated by comparing the calculated data with the measured data in the plant trials. The results showed that the thermo-mechanical behaviours of the slab corner showed a similar tendency but were not the same, which reflected the necessity of building a full-scale model. There exists ‘hot spots’ at the slab off-corner region, and its position moved away from the corner along the casting direction, which affects the temperature and stress distributions. The maximum stress value reached approximately 16 MPa at the mould exit. The model provides an in-depth understanding of slab corner during special steel continuous casting.

Successful attachment of conceptus to the uterine luminal epithelium (LE) is crucial for establishing a functional placenta in pigs. However, the underlying mechanisms are yet to be elucidated. The uterine LE-conceptus interface is enriched in various glycoconjugates essential to implantation. Using MALDI-MS profiling, we identified for the first time the O-glycan repertoire of pig endometrium during the conceptus attachment stage. The expression pattern of blood group A, O(H), Lewis x, y, a, b (Lex, Ley, Lea, and Leb), the sialylated and sulfated Lexantigens in the uterine LE-conceptus interface was assessed using immunofluorescence assays. Notably, the Lex-carrying O-glycans exhibited a temporal–spatial expression pattern. They were absent in the endometrium on estrous cycle days but strongly and spatially presented in the conceptus and uterine LE to which the conceptus apposes during the early conceptus attachment stage. In addition, Lex-carrying O-glycans were co-localized with secreted phosphoprotein 1 (SPP1), a well-characterized factor that plays a role in promoting conceptus attachment through interacting with integrin αVβ3 and integrin αVβ6. Meanwhile, the immunoprecipitation assays revealed an interaction between the Lex-carrying O-glycans and SPP1, integrin αV, and integrin β6. Furthermore, we provided evidence that the β1,4-galactosyltransferase 1 (B4GALT1) gene is a potential regulator for Lexantigen expression in the uterine LE-conceptus interface during the early conceptus attachment stage. In conclusion, our findings show that Lex-carrying O-glycans, presumably dependent on B4GALT1gene expression, might modulate conceptus attachment by interacting with the SPP1-integrin receptor complex in pigs.Graphical Abstract

Collaborative filtering recommendation systems generate personalized recommendation results by analyzing and collaboratively processing a large numerous of user ratings or behavior data. The widespread use of recommendation systems in daily decision-making also brings potential risks of privacy leakage. Recent literature predominantly employs differential privacy to achieve privacy protection, however, many schemes struggle to balance user privacy and recommendation performance effectively. In this work, we present a practical privacy-preserving scheme for user-based collaborative filtering recommendation that utilizes fuzzy C-means clustering and Shapley value, FSPPCFs, aiming to enhance the recommendation performance while ensuring privacy protection. Specifically, (i) we have modified the traditional recommendation scheme by introducing a similarity balance factor integrated into the Pearson similarity algorithm, enhancing recommendation system performance; (ii) FSPPCFs first clusters the dataset through fuzzy C-means clustering and Shapley value, grouping users with similar interests and attributes into the same cluster, thereby providing more accurate data support for recommendations. Then, differential privacy is used to achieve the user’s personal privacy protection when selecting the neighbor set from the target cluster. Finally, it is theoretically proved that our scheme satisfies differential privacy. Experimental results illustrate that our scheme significantly outperforms existing methods.

ABSTRACTStaphylococcal Enterotoxin B (SEB), produced by Staphylococcus aureus(S. aureus), is a powerful superantigen that induces severe immune disruption and toxic shock syndrome (TSS) upon binding to MHC-II and TCR. Despite its significant impact on the pathogenesis of S. aureus, there are currently no specific therapeutic interventions available to counteract the mechanism of action exerted by this toxin. In this study, we have identified a human monoclonal antibody, named Hm0487, that specifically targets SEB by single-cell sequencing using PBMCs isolated from volunteers enrolled in a phase I clinical trial of the five-antigen S. aureusvaccine. X-ray crystallography studies revealed that Hm0487 exhibits high affinity for a linear B cell epitope in SEB (SEB138–147), which is located distantly from the site involved in the formation of the MHC-SEB-TCR ternary complex. Furthermore, in vitrostudies demonstrated that Hm0487 significantly impacts the interaction of SEB with both receptors and the binding to immune cells, probably due to an allosteric effect on SEB rather than competing with receptors for binding sites. Moreover, both in vitroand in vivostudies validated that Hm0487 displayed efficient neutralizing efficacy in models of lethal shock and sepsis induced by either SEB or bacterial challenge. Our findings unveil an alternative mechanism for neutralizing the pathogenesis of SEB by Hm0487, and this antibody provides a novel strategy for mitigating both SEB-induced toxicity and S. aureusinfection.

Objectives: This retrospective study aimed to investigate the effects of idebenone on cognitive function and serum levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) in individuals with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI). Methods: Retrospective data were collected from the Neurology outpatient department of Liaocheng People’s Hospital from January 2021 to June 2023. Patients with a newly diagnosed aMCI who received treatment were included in the idebenone treatment group. The treatment group took 30 mg of oral idebenone three times a day for 6 months. A control group of 51 MCI patients who did not receive cholinesterase inhibitors or other cognitive-enhancing drugs during the period was selected. Cognitive function assessments and serum Biomarkers were conducted before and after treatment in both groups. Results: MoCA scores were significantly improved after 6 months of idebenone treatment, and the difference was statistically significant. The delayed recall score was significantly improved, and the difference was statistically significant; The level of SOD increased and the level of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein decreased after the treatment, but there was no significant change in the control group. Conclusions: The results of this study demonstrate that idebenone treatment significantly improves cognitive function in individuals with aMCI, particularly in the domain of delayed memory. In addition, idebenone reduces the degree of inflammation and oxidative stress and improves antioxidant levels. These findings suggest that idebenone may be a promising intervention for the management of cognitive impairments associated with aMCI. Graphical Abstract: