Search

This paper explores the joint optimization problem for trajectory planning and radio resource allocation in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) communications with the aim of maximizing data collection. Rather than decomposing the problem into subproblems, as most current approaches do, we express the quantity of data gathered by a UAV-assisted network as a function of both the size of the resource block allocated to all ground devices and their average upload rate. Based on this formula, it can be concluded that the problem of maximizing the average data collection can be reduced to minimizing the flight trajectory if each device communicates with the UAV within the maximum allowable coverage of the UAV. To address this issue, we propose an advanced hierarchical clustering algorithm that divides larger network-scale scenarios into many disjoint subregions to determine the initial hovering positions of the UAV. The non-convex minimization trajectory problem is decomposed into a series of convex optimizations to minimize path segments along the trajectory, based on the traveling salesman problem (TSP). Subsequently, the communication optimization process is modified to assign specific upload times for each device. The effectiveness of the optimization algorithm is demonstrated through extensive simulations, which show its superior performance in terms of average rates of data collection and upload failures.

A novel amorphous titanium dioxide (AT)-based heterojunction, composed of AT, silver bromide, and silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs), was synthesized and designated as AgBr/Ag/AT-4%. The band structure and active species of AgBr/Ag/AT-4% composites were investigated, and the existence of multiple electron transport pathways in the composites was determined. The Channel I is an all-solid-state Z-scheme heterostructure formed between AT and AgBr by Ag acting as an electron transport bridge, and Channel II is excited by the localized surface plasmon resonance effect induced by the Ag NPs on the photocatalyst surface. The Channel III is an electronically bridged medium with Ti3+/Ti4+redox coupling pairs and oxygen vacancy-mediated trap states constructed from defective structures. The activity of the sample was assessed by the photocatalytic degradation of tetracycline. It is hoped that this work will provide a new idea for the preparation of an amorphous titanium dioxide-based heterojunction with locally enhanced electron transport multiple pathways.

New carbonyl sulfoxonium ylide glyco-reagents have been developed, enabling the synthesis of versatile heteroarene C-glycosides through a Ru-catalyzed C–H activation/annulation strategy. These reactions tolerate various saccharide donors and represent a significant advance in the stereoselective synthesis of heterocyclic C-glycosides. Furthermore, the strategy and methods could be applied to large-scale reactions and late-stage modifications of some structurally complex natural products or drugs.

This article introduces a novel sliding mode control (SMC) law to achieve trajectory tracking for a class of descriptor systems with unknown uncertainties. It approximates the uncertainties by a cerebellar model articulation control (CMAC) neural network. We formulate the problem of training the CMAC as a scheme of estimating a reachable set for a discrete-time nonlinear system. A new online learning algorithm based on output feedback control of reachable set estimation is developed and the approximation error is bounded in an ellipsoidal reachable set. In order to dispel the effect of the approximation error of the CMAC, we develop a compensation controller by using the reachable set bounds. Controller gains and parameters of the learning algorithm are obtained via linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). Our computer simulation results show that the proposed CMAC-based SMC technique can achieve convergent tracking errors. The technique is applied to a salient permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) in our lab and demonstrates excellent performance.

Cp*Rh(III)-catalyzed nitro-directed C–H alkylation/alkenylation of nitroarenes has been reported for the first time. This protocol is associated with the features of high efficiency, broad substrate scope, and good functional group compatibility. Additionally, gram-scale experiments and synthetic applications proved the practicability of the method. Moreover, preliminary mechanistic investigations consistently revealed C–H bond cleavage as the rate-limiting step.

Effective extraction of patent technology points in new energy fields is profitable, which motivates technological innovation and facilitates patent transformation and application. However, since patent data exists the ununiform distribution of technology points information, long length of term, and long sentences, technology point extraction faces the dilemmas of poor readability and logic confusion. To mitigate these problems, the article proposes a method to generate patent technology points called IGPTP—a two-stage strategy, which fuses the advantage of extractive and generative ways. IGPTP utilizes the RoBERTa+CNN model to obtain the key sentences of text and takes the output as input of UNILM (unified pre-trained language model). Simultaneously, it takes a multi-strategies integration technique to enhance the quality of patent technology points by combining the copy mechanism and external knowledge guidance model. Substantial experimental results manifest that IGPTP outperforms the current mainstream models, which can generate more coherent and richer text.

With the emergence of a large-scale pre-training model based on the transformer model, the effect of all-natural language processing tasks has been pushed to a new level. However, due to the high complexity of the transformer's self-attention mechanism, these models have poor processing ability for long text. Aiming at solving this problem, a long text processing method named HBert based on Bert and hierarchical attention neural network is proposed. Firstly, the long text is divided into multiple sentences whose vectors are obtained through the word encoder composed of Bert and the word attention layer. And the article vector is obtained through the sentence encoder that is composed of transformer and sentence attention. Then the article vector is used to complete the subsequent tasks. The experimental results show that the proposed HBert method achieves good results in text classification and QA tasks. The F1 value is 95.7% in longer text classification tasks and 75.2% in QA tasks, which are better than the state-of-the-art model longformer.

We report herein an efficient approach for the enantioselective synthesis of inherently chiral calix[4]arenes via palladium-catalyzed asymmetric intramolecular C–H arylations. Using a chiral bifunctional phosphine-carboxylate ligand, the inherent chirality on macrocyclic scaffolds was induced successfully, from which a wide range of calix[4]arenes with fluorenone motifs were obtained with good yields and excellent enantioselectivities (up to >99% ee). The synthetic utility of this method was demonstrated by diverse transformations of the products, thus substantially expanding the chemical space of chiral calix[4]arenes. Further investigations of photophysical and chiroptical properties revealed that calix[4]arenes bearing two fluorenone moieties displayed remarkable glumvalues (up to 0.019), highlighting the great potential of inherent chirality in the development of organic optoelectronic materials.

Background: To date, certain efforts have been made to investigate the clinical and genetic characteristics of patients with EYSmutations. However, data for Chinese patients are limited. Objectives: To perform a detailed phenotyping and genetic characterization of 55 Chinese patients with EYS-RD, and to identify risk factors for these clinical data. Methods: A total of 55 patients with EYS-RD were recruited. Best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), patient age, age at symptom onset, disease duration, and genetic information were collected. Results: Thirty-six novel variants, three hot mutations of EYS(30.3%, c.6416G>A, c.6557G>A, c.7492G>C) and one hot region (49.06%, Laminin G domains) were identified. In all, 36.84% of the mutations occurred at base G site, and majority of mutations (56.56%) were missense. Late-truncating mutations are significantly more prevalent (41.30%). The mean age of onset was 15.65 ± 14.67 years old; it had no significant correlation with genotype. The average BCVA was 0.73 ± 0.93 LogMAR, and 61.8% of eyes had a BCVA better than 0.52 logMAR. BCVA was positively correlated with disease duration time. The mean MD was 23.18 ± 7.34 dB, MD showed a significant correlation with genotype and age. Cataract was present in 56.45% of patients, and 42.59% of patients showed an absence of pigmentation in the retina. Cataract and hyperpigmentation both showed a significant correlation with age. Conclusions: EYS-RDis associated with a moderate phenotype with onset around adolescence, but great variability. Our study largely enhances the current knowledge of phenotypic and genotypic characteristics of EYS-RD, which could pave the way for better management of these patients.

Three copper 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylate (Cu-BTC) samples were prepared by facile solvothermal methods in two mixed solvents (DMF/EtOH/H2O and EtOH/H2O), and through steam-assisted conversion process (SAC). Furthermore, the physicochemical and spectroscopic analysis indicated the morphology, porosity and Lewis acidity of Cu-BTC samples could be easily changed by adjusting the kinds and amounts of solvents. The catalytic performance for synthesis of chalcone over three Cu-BTC samples was studied. It was found that Cu-BTC-STE shown a smaller acidic amount of 9.2 mmol/g, but presented the maximum yield of 84%, which was ascribed to its nanopore confinement superiority effect. Moreover, Cu-BTC-STE was easy for separation catalyst/product by the simple filtration and reused at least four recycles.

The green channel is usually selected as the optimal channel for vital signs monitoring in image photoplethysmography (IPPG) technology. However, some controversies arising from the different penetrability of skin tissue in visible light remain unresolved, i.e., making the optical and physiological information carried by the IPPG signals of the RGB channels inconsistent. This study clarifies that the optimal channels for different diseases are different when IPPG technology is used for disease classification. We further verified this conclusion in the classification model of heart disease and diabetes mellitus based on the random forest classification algorithm. The experimental results indicate that the green channel has a considerably excellent performance in classifying heart disease patients and the healthy with an average Accuracy value of 88.43% and an average F1score value of 93.72%. The optimal channel for classifying diabetes mellitus patients and the healthy is the red channel with an average Accuracy value of 82.12% and the average F1score value of 89.31%. Due to the limited penetration depth of the blue channel into the skin tissue, the blue channel is not as effective as the green and red channels as a disease classification channel. This investigation is of great significance to the development of IPPG technology and its application in disease classification.

This study investigates the mediation effects of online public attention on the relationship between air pollution and precautionary behavior based on a merged real-world data set that includes daily air quality, Internet search and media indices, social media discussions, and product purchases. Using a Bayesian structural equation modeling approach, we show that online public attention to air pollution increases when air pollution increases, and such attention is captured by more media reports, social media discussions, and Internet searches. A comprehensive relationship involving direct and indirect effects between air pollution and precautionary behavior is established. Air pollution has a positive effect on proactive defensive behaviors, reflected in increased purchases of preventive products, and this effect is partially mediated by online media coverage and the public's Internet searches. Air pollution also motivates passive defensive behaviors, reflected in decreased purchases of outdoor sports products, and this effect is partially mediated by social media coverage. These results suggest that governments could improve the quality of policy making by considering the different roles of various forms of online public attention in the public's risk perceptions of and reactions to air pollution.

ABSTRACTZinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnONPs) hold great promise for biomedical applications. Previous studies have revealed that ZnONPs exposure can induce toxicity in endothelial cells, but the underlying mechanisms have not been fully elucidated. In this study, we report that ZnONPs can induce ferroptosis of both HUVECs and EA.hy926 cells, as evidenced by the elevation of intracellular iron levels, lipid peroxidation and cell death in a dose- and time-dependent manner. In addition, both the lipid reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenger ferrostatin-1 and the iron chelator deferiprone attenuated ZnONPs-induced cell death. Intriguingly, we found that ZnONPs-induced ferroptosis is macroautophagy/autophagy-dependent, because the inhibition of autophagy with a pharmacological inhibitor or by ATG5gene knockout profoundly mitigated ZnONPs-induced ferroptosis. We further demonstrated that NCOA4 (nuclear receptor coactivator 4)-mediated ferritinophagy (autophagic degradation of the major intracellular iron storage protein ferritin) was required for the ferroptosis induced by ZnONPs, by showing that NCOA4knockdown can reduce the intracellular iron level and lipid peroxidation, and subsequently alleviate ZnONPs-induced cell death. Furthermore, we showed that ROS originating from mitochondria (mtROS) probably activated the AMPK-ULK1 axis to trigger ferritinophagy. Most importantly, pulmonary ZnONPs exposure caused vascular inflammation and ferritinophagy in mice, and ferrostatin-1 supplementation significantly reversed the vascular injury induced by pulmonary ZnONPs exposure. Overall, our study indicates that ferroptosis is a novel mechanism for ZnONPs-induced endothelial cytotoxicity, and that NCOA4-mediated ferritinophagy is required for ZnONPs-induced ferroptotic cell death.Abbreviations:3-MA: 3-methyladenine; ACTB: Actin beta; AMPK: AMP-activated protein kinase; ATG: Autophagy-related; BafA1: Bafilomycin A1; CQ: Choloroquine; DFP: Deferiprone; FACS: Fluorescence-activated cell sorting; Fer-1: Ferrostatin-1; FTH1: Ferritin heavy chain 1; GPX4: Glutathione peroxidase 4; GSH: Glutathione; IREB2/IRP2: Iron responsive element binding protein 2; LIP: Labile iron pool; MAP1LC3B/LC3B: Microtubule associated protein 1 light chain 3 beta; MTOR: Mechanistic target of rapamycin kinase; NCOA4: Nuclear receptor coactivator 4; NFE2L2/NRF2: Nuclear factor, erythroid 2 like 2; PGSK: Phen Green™ SK; ROS: Reactive oxygen species; siRNA: Small interfering RNA; SQSTM1/p62: Sequestosome 1; TEM: Transmission electron microscopy; ULK1: Unc-51 like autophagy activating kinase 1; ZnONPs: Zinc oxide nanoparticles.

Understanding the fundamental insights of oxygen activation and reaction at metal–oxide interfaces is of significant importance yet remains a major challenge due to the difficulty in in situ characterization of active oxygen species. Herein, the activation and reaction of molecular oxygen during CO oxidation at platinum–ceria interfaces has been in situ explored using surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) via a borrowing strategy, and different active oxygen species and their evolution during CO oxidation at platinum–ceria interfaces have been directly observed. In situ Raman spectroscopic evidence with isotopic exchange experiments demonstrate that oxygen is efficiently dissociated to chemisorbed O on Pt and lattice Ce–O species simultaneously at interfacial Ce3+defect sites under CO oxidation, leading to a much higher activity at platinum–ceria interfaces compared to that at Pt alone. Further in situ time-resolved SERS studies and density functional theory simulations reveal a more efficient molecular pathway through the reaction between adsorbed CO and chemisorbed Pt–O species transferred from the interfaces. This work deepens the fundamental understandings on oxygen activation and CO oxidation at metal–oxide interfaces and offers a sensitive technique for the in situ characterization of oxygen species under working conditions.

ABSTRACTBackgroundRotavirus infections, prevalent in human populations, are caused mostly by group A viruses. Immunization against rotaviruses in infancy is currently the most effective and economical strategy to prevent rotavirus infection. This study evaluated the safety of a novel hexavalent rotavirus vaccine and analyzed its dose and immunogenicity.MethodsThis randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled phase I clinical trial enrolled healthy adults, toddlers, and infants in Zhengding County, Hebei Province, northern China. 40 adults and 40 children were assigned in a 2:1:1 ratio to receive one vaccine dose, placebo 1, and placebo 2, respectively. 120 6–12 week old infants were assigned equivalently into 3 groups. The infants in each group were assigned in a 2:1:1 ratio to receive three doses of vaccine, placebo 1, and placebo 2, at a 28-day interval. Adverse events (AEs) until 28 days after each dose and serious adverse events (SAEs) until 6 months after the third dose were reported. Virus shedding until 14 days after each dose in infants was tested. Geometric mean concentrations (GMCs) and seroconversion rates were measured for anti-rotavirus IgA by using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).ResultsThe solicited and unsolicited AE frequencies and laboratory indexes were similar among the treatment groups. No vaccine-related SAEs were reported. The average percentage of rotavirus vaccine shedding in the infant vaccine groups was 5.00%. The post-3rd dose anti-rotavirus IgA antibody geometric mean concentrations (GMC) and seroconversion rate were higher in the vaccine groups than in the placebo groups.ConclusionsThe novel oral hexavalent rotavirus vaccine was generally well-tolerated in all adults, toddlers and infants, and the vaccine was immunogenic in infants.

This paper focuses on the strengthening study of the latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES) unit and proposes a coupling strengthening method with non-uniform graded metal foam and active rotation. The non-uniform graded metal foams are employed to enhance heat conduction, and the rotation method is selected to make full use of natural convection. The solidification and melting behavior under the coupling effect of non-uniform metal foam and active rotation are numerically analyzed. The aluminum foam is partially concentrated and divided into two parts (concentrated part and diluted part) and is divided into the even-layered or uneven-layered porous structures according to the different regions area. Under the same volume of phase change material (PCM), the effects of layered forms (even-layered and uneven-layered approach), concentrated porosity, concentrated ratio, and rotational speed are performed. It can be concluded that the metal foam should concentrated near the inner tube and the uneven-layered structure can further improve the phase change heat transfer performance compared to the even-layered structure. Moreover, the thermal performance of the LHTES unit improves firstly and then decreases as the concentrated porosity, concentrated ratio, and rotational speed increase. The optimal values are obtained at 0.86 concentrated porosity, 0.3 concentrated ratio, and 0.5 rpm rotational speed. Compared with the static case with uniform metal foam, the melting time, solidification time, and total melting and solidification time can be significantly reduced by 40.30 %, 28.66 %, and 33.18 %, respectively. Similarly, the thermal energy storage rate can be correspondingly increased by 62.57 %, 40.82 %, and 54.11 %, respectively.

The incorporation of nutrients with immunomodulatory properties into the daily diet has emerged as a pressing health requirement. The aim of this study was to screen apple polyphenols with immunomodulatory activitiy using molecular docking and to investigate the modulatory effects of apple polyphenol-isochlorogenic acid A on the activation of macrophage immune responses and the inhibition of inflammation through the immunoreceptors TLR2 and TLR4. The results showed that isochlorogenic acid A of apple polyphenols had high docking scores with TLR2 and TLR4. The isochlorogenic acid A exhibited favorable ADMET properties and water solubility. Cellular assays results showed that isochlorogenic acid A enhanced the viability of RAW264.7 cells and promoted the expression of NO, TNF-α, IL-1β, TLR2, and TLR4 in cells, and inhibited the expression of NO, TNF-α, IL-6, TLR2, and TLR4 in inflammatory cells. The isochlorogenic acid A bound to residues Phe325, Phe349, Leu350 and Pro352 of TLR2 by hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic interactions, and to residues Val82, Arg90, Ser127, Cys133 and Ser441 of TLR4-MD-2 viaπ-alkyl and hydrogen bonds. In summary, the immunoreceptors TLR2 and TLR4 play a crucial role as recognition receptors for isochlorogenic acid A of apple polyphenols in the regulation of cellular immune response and inflammation.

Borylated aza-arenes are of great importance in the area of organic synthesis. A radical borylative cyclization of isocyanoarenes with N-heterocyclic carbene borane (NHC-BH3) under metal-free conditions was developed. The reaction allows the efficient assembly of several types of borylated aza-arenes (phenanthridines, benzothiazoles, etc.), which are difficult to access using alternative methods. Mild reaction conditions, a good functional-group tolerance, and generally good efficiencies were observed. The utility of these products is demonstrated, and the mechanism is discussed.

AimsTo investigate the frequency of USH2Amutation and the clinical and genetic differences between Usher syndrome type II (USH2) and retinitis pigmentosa (RP) in a large cohort of Chinese patients.MethodsA total of 1381 patients with inherited retinal disease (IRD) were recruited. The phenotypic and genotypic information of patients with USH2Amutations was evaluated.ResultsThe prevalence of patients with USH2Amutations was 15.75%, which was the most frequently detected gene in this cohort of patients. Hotspot of USH2Amutations was c.8559-2A >G and c.2802T >G. Patients with USH2 had an earlier and more serious decline of visual function and damage to retina structure than did patients with RP in the first 10 years (p<0.05), but there was no difference in the visual prognosis between the two groups when the course of disease exceeded 10 years (p>0.05). Missense variants had less severe consequences and were found more commonly in RP, whereas more deleterious genotypes were associated with an earlier onset of disease and were found more commonly in USH2.ConclusionsThis study provides detailed clinical–genetic assessment of patients with USH2Amutations of Chinese origin, enabling precise genetic diagnoses, better management of these patients and putative therapeutic approaches.

Activatable molecular probes hold great promise for targeted cancer imaging. However, the hydrophobic nature of most conventional probes makes them generate precipitated agglomerate in aqueous media, thereby annihilating their responsiveness to analytes and precluding their practical applications for bioimaging. This study reports the development of two small molecular probes with unprecedented aggregation enhanced responsiveness to H2S for in vivo imaging of H2S-rich cancers. The subtle modulation of the equilibrium between hydrophilicity and lipophilicity by N-methylpyridinium endows these designed probes with the capability of spontaneously self-assembling into nanoprobes under physiological conditions. Such probes in an aggregated state, rather than a molecular dissolved state, show NIR fluorescence light up and photoacoustic signals turn on upon H2S specific activation, allowing in vivo visualization and differentiation of cancers based on differences in H2S content. Thus, our study presents an effective design strategy which should pave the way to molecular design of optimized probes for precision cancer diagnostics.

The outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has led to a major concern and caused a pandemic globally. The goal of this study was to clarify the clinical characteristics of recovery and death in patients with severe or critical COVID-19.

Though the traditional algorithms could be embedded into neural architectures with the proposed principle of [H. Xiao, Hungarian layer: Logics empowered neural architecture, arXiv: 1712.02555], the variables that only occur in the condition of branch could not be updated as a special case. To tackle this issue, we multiply the conditioned branches with Dirac symbol (i.e., 1x>0), then approximate Dirac symbol with the continuous functions (e.g., 1−e−α|x|). In this way, the gradients of condition-specific variables could be worked out in the back-propagation process, approximately, making a fully functional neural graph. Within our novel principle, we propose the neural decision tree (NDT), which takes simplified neural networks as decision function in each branch and employs complex neural networks to generate the output in each leaf. Extensive experiments verify our theoretical analysis and demonstrate the effectiveness of our model.

Sudden, large-scale and diffuse human migration can amplify localized outbreaks of disease into widespread epidemics1–4. Rapid and accurate tracking of aggregate population flows may therefore be epidemiologically informative. Here we use 11,478,484 counts of mobile phone data from individuals leaving or transiting through the prefecture of Wuhan between 1 January and 24 January 2020 as they moved to 296 prefectures throughout mainland China. First, we document the efficacy of quarantine in ceasing movement. Second, we show that the distribution of population outflow from Wuhan accurately predicts the relative frequency and geographical distribution of infections with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) until 19 February 2020, across mainland China. Third, we develop a spatio-temporal ‘risk source’ model that leverages population flow data (which operationalize the risk that emanates from epidemic epicentres) not only to forecast the distribution of confirmed cases, but also to identify regions that have a high risk of transmission at an early stage. Fourth, we use this risk source model to statistically derive the geographical spread of COVID-19 and the growth pattern based on the population outflow from Wuhan; the model yields a benchmark trend and an index for assessing the risk of community transmission of COVID-19 over time for different locations. This approach can be used by policy-makers in any nation with available data to make rapid and accurate risk assessments and to plan the allocation of limited resources ahead of ongoing outbreaks.

BackgroundBestrophin-1 (BEST1) gene is associated with a wide range of ocular phenotypes, collectively termed as bestrophinopathy. The aim of the current study was to identify the mutation spectrum of BEST1in a large cohort of Chinese patients with bestrophinopathy.MethodsPatients clinically suspected of bestrophinopathy were screened using multigene panel testing. All BEST1variants were confirmed by Sanger sequencing, and validated in the families.FindingsA total of 92 patients (Best vitelliform macular dystrophy (BVMD)=77; autosomal recessive bestrophinopathy (ARB)=15) from 58 unrelated families of Chinese origin and their available family members (n=65) were recruited. Overall, 39 distinct disease-causing BEST1variants were identified, including 13 novel variants, and two reported variants but novel for ARB. Of them, 14 were associated with ARB, 23 with BVMD and two (c.604C>T and c.898G>A) with both BVMD and ARB. Most mutations associated with BVMD were missense (97.78%), while ARB was associated with more complex mutations, including missense (88.46%), splicing effect (3.85%), and frameshifts (15.38%). BEST1hotspots were c.898G>A and c.584C>T among BVMD and ARB patients, respectively. Hot regions were located in exons 8, 2 and 6 in BVMD patients, and in exons 5 and 7 in ARB patients. The overall penetrance of BEST1in our cohort was 71.30%, no de novo mutations were identified.ConclusionThis is the largest study to date that provides major population-based data of the BEST1mutation spectrum in China. Our results can serve as a well-founded reference for genetic counselling for patients with bestrophinopathy of Chinese origin.

A novel cascade Cp*Rh(III)-catalyzed C–H alkylation/Cu(II)-promoted α-oxygenation which enabled a three-component carboxygenation of activated alkene is reported. Mild reaction conditions, broad substrate scope, and good functional group tolerance were observed. The synthetic utility of the protocol was showcased by the facile transformations of the product to a variety of structurally diverse molecules. Preliminary mechanistic studies were conducted.

In this work, 0.75 wt ‰ 2,3-pyridinedicarboxylic anhydride (PDA) as a novel dopant was utilized to obtain modified graphitic carbon nitride with ultratrace doping (3MCN-PDA3) by facile thermal polymerization. Characterization of the microstructure, surface state, and porosity properties of the samples indicated that 3MCN-PDA3has a thinner sheet-like, larger-scale, and tighter lamellar stacking structure than that of pristine graphitic carbon nitride (3MCN). Based on photo/electrochemical analysis, the PDA dopant formed an extended coplanar conjugated system by anhydride-amine thermal condensation with heptazine rings, and the channels of amide covalent bonds and superconjugation of the solitary pair of electrons of the nitrogen atoms of PDA synergistically promoted the charge transport performance of 3MCN-PDA3. Under visible light, the photodegradation efficiency of Rhodamine B (RhB) over 3MCN-PDA3reached 92.4% in 60 min and realized almost entire removal in 200 min (99.2%), 1.43 times that of 3MCN. Furthermore, the experimental results and generalized density theory calculations confirmed that PDA acts as an intermediate molecular island and constructs an efficient carrier transfer pathway between different heptazine units. The results indicate that PDA is a promising candidate to enhance the charge transfer performance through ultratrace doping in the large-scale preparation and application of the graphitic carbon nitride photocatalyst.

The latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES) technology based on solid-liquid phase change material (PCM) is characterized by high energy storage density, small volume change, and constant operation temperature, which is widely employed in waste heat recovery, solar thermal utilization, and equipment thermal management. This paper introduces active flipping and graded porous to strengthen natural convection and heat conduction to alleviate the issue of low thermal conductivity and non-uniform phase change of PCM. Based on the fixed grid system, the enthalpy-porosity method combined with time-dependent gravity and non-Darcy porous effect is employed to solve the solid-liquid phase change problem under different porosity gradients, dimensionless flipping times (t*), and modified Ra(Ra*) numbers. Furthermore, the effects of the Ra* on the optimal t* and porosity gradient are also discussed. The results show that the flipping method can significantly enhance flow and heat transfer within the container, improve temperature field uniformity, and increase the proportion of latent heat storage. With the increase of porosity gradient and t*, the melting time initially decreases and then increases and the optimal thermal performance is achieved at a 6 % porosity gradient and t* = 0.4. Compared to the uniform porous structure without flipping, it can shorten melting time by 49.37 % and improve thermal energy storage rate (TESR) by 76.23 %. Additionally, the optimal porosity gradient is 6 % under different Ra*, but the optimal t* decreases with the increase of Ra*. This paper explores the charging performance of the thermal energy storage system with the graded metal foam structure and active flip method, which can contribute to the study of heat transfer enhancement in LHTES technology.

In recent years, online sentiment texts are generated by users in various domains and in different languages. Binary polarity classification (positive or negative) on business sentiment texts can help both companies and customers to evaluate products or services. Sometimes, the polarity of sentiment texts can be modified, making the polarity classification difficult. In sentiment analysis, such modification of polarity is termed as polarity shifting, which shifts the polarity of a sentiment clue (emotion, evaluation, etc.). It is well known that detection of polarity shifting can help improve sentiment analysis in texts. However, to detect polarity shifting in corpora is challenging: (1) polarity shifting is normally sparse in texts, making human annotation difficult; (2) corpora with dense polarity shifting are few; we may need polarity shifting patterns from various corpora.In this article, an approach is presented to extract polarity shifting patterns from any text corpus. For the first time, we proposed to select texts rich in polarity shifting by the idea of natural annotation, which is used to replace human annotation. With a sequence mining algorithm, the selected texts are used to generate polarity shifting pattern candidates, and then we rank them by C-value before human annotation. The approach is tested on different corpora and different languages. The results show that our approach can capture various types of polarity shifting patterns, and some patterns are unique to specific corpora. Therefore, for better performance, it is reasonable to construct polarity shifting patterns directly from the given corpus.

Oil-lubricated hydrodynamic bearing is a typical support for motorized spindle. However, a motorized spindle supported by the oil-lubricated hydrodynamic bearing has disadvantages regarding high-temperature rise and low rotational speed. To overcome this problem, this technical brief proposes novel water-lubricated hydrodynamic spiral groove bearings for the motorized spindle. A rotor-bearing static model for the motorized spindle was established considering the external loads and the tilting effect of bearings. An experimental prototype for the motorized spindle was developed, and the theoretical calculation and experimental research on the bearing static characteristics were carried out. The result shows that the water-lubricated hydrodynamic spiral groove bearings have significant advantages in terms of low-temperature rise, good high-speed performance, and moderate spindle stiffness, together with the inherent low manufacture cost and high rotation accuracy of the bearings, and the proposed bearings can be a potential alternative to the fluid bearing for the high-speed motorized spindle.

The hydrodynamic herringbone groove journal bearing (HGJB) performs exceptionally well at high speeds but is limited by a low load-carrying capacity, largely due to the lubrication characteristics of water. To address this issue, a hybrid water-lubricated HGJB is proposed in this study. A lubrication model for the high-speed hybrid water-lubricated HGJB is developed, taking into account turbulence, thermal effects, and tilt. A comparative analysis of the static characteristics is conducted between the hybrid HGJB and both the hydrodynamic HGJB and the hybrid plain journal bearing (PJB). The results show that the proposed hybrid water-lubricated HGJB offers significantly greater load-carrying capacity than the conventional hydrodynamic HGJB, particularly during start-up or at low speeds. For example, when the bearing operates at 1000 rpm with an eccentricity ratio of 0.5, the load-carrying capacity of the water-lubricated hybrid HGJB under a supply pressure of 1.6 MPa reaches 650 N, compared to just 261 N for the water-lubricated hydrodynamic HGJB. Additionally, the hybrid water-lubricated HGJB demonstrates a higher flowrate and lower temperature rise than the traditional hybrid PJB, thanks to the improved pumping effect of the herringbone grooves at high speeds.

ABSTRACTIn the clinical application of ceramic prostheses, micro-leakage, porcelain chipping, low-treatment efficiency and quality uncertainty have appeared as the major problems that dentists encountered. However, the full-contour zirconia monolithic prostheses have the potentials for solving the problems. It appears that the full-contour zirconia monolithic prostheses produced through the fully digital workflow can ensure that the restorations can be closely aligned with the abutment and be easy to adjust and to wear, thus to assure the stability and accuracy of occlusal, which are crucial to the ultimate integration of the full-contour zirconia monolithic prostheses by avoiding unfavourable grinding. The newly developed full digital approach can greatly simplify the previous workflow that involved many manual operations. It improves not only the treatment efficiency but also the reliability of the prostheses by avoiding manual operational mistakes.

In the clinical application of ceramic prostheses, micro-leakage, porcelain chipping, low-treatment efficiency and quality uncertainty have appeared as the major problems that dentists encountered. However, the full-contour zirconia monolithic prostheses have the potentials for solving the problems. It appears that the full-contour zirconia monolithic prostheses produced through the fully digital workflow can ensure that the restorations can be closely aligned with the abutment and be easy to adjust and to wear, thus to assure the stability and accuracy of occlusal, which are crucial to the ultimate integration of the full-contour zirconia monolithic prostheses by avoiding unfavourable grinding. The newly developed full digital approach can greatly simplify the previous workflow that involved many manual operations. It improves not only the treatment efficiency but also the reliability of the prostheses by avoiding manual operational mistakes.

Near-infrared (NIR)-II fluorescence agents hold great promise for deep-tissue photothermal therapy (PTT) of cancers, which nevertheless remains restricted by the inherent nonspecificity and toxicity of PTT. In response to this challenge, we herein develop a hydrogen sulfide (H2S)-activatable nanostructured photothermal agent (Nano-PT) for site-specific NIR-II fluorescence-guided PTT of colorectal cancer (CRC). Our in vivo studies reveal that this theranostic Nano-PT probe is specifically activated in H2S-rich CRC tissues, whereas it is nonfunctional in normal tissues. Activation of Nano-PT not only emits NIR-II fluorescence with deeper tissue penetration ability than conventional fluorescent probes but also generates high NIR absorption resulting in efficient photothermal conversion under NIR laser irradiation. Importantly, we establish NIR-II imaging-guided PTT of CRC by applying the Nano-PT agent in tumor-bearing mice, which results in complete tumor regression with minimal nonspecific damages. Our studies thus shed light on the development of cancer biomarker-activated PTT for precision medicine.

A CuBi-bearing mixed metal organic oxide (MOO) combined with graphene as a heterogeneous composite photocatalyst (CuBi-MOO/Gr) has been synthesized via a one pot hydrothermal method. Raman spectroscopy data and TEM images confirm the presence of graphene on the surfaces of the crystalline particles of the as-prepared CuBi-MOO/Gr sample. The energy gap of CuBi-MOO/Gr is about 2.67 eV which means that the composite can absorb light both in visible and UV regions. The photocatalytic study of Rhodamine B (RhB) with varied pH values (from 1.82 to 11.50) using CuBi-MOO/Gr and CuBi-MOO as photocatalyst, respectively, is performed and compared indicating the high structural stability of the as-prepared CuBi-MOO/Gr composite. The unique photocatalytic results show that within 10 min almost 100% of degradation of RhB in aqueous solution is achieved at pH = 1.82 under visible light irradiation, and the composite is reusable with high stability. One very interesting phenomenon is that, at pH of 1.82, RhB is significantly observed to be adsorbed by simply adding CuBi-MOO/Gr without any light irradiation indicating CuBi-MOO/Gr is a better adsorbent for RhB than CuBi-MOO under dark acidic conditions.

In this paper, we developed a novel process integrating vacuum distillation with atmospheric chlorination reaction (VD-ACR) to realize the flexible production of tetrachloroethane (TeCA) and pentachloroethane (PCA) from 1,2-dichloroethane (DCA). During the simulation, the distillation column and reactors were operated for separation and chlorination respectively under variable pressures and temperatures. It is interesting to note that VD-ACR processes producing pure TeCA or PCA can exhibit the similar configuration parameters after optimization, which enables the flexible production of TeCA and PCA with different molar ratios viachanging operating parameters. The molar ratio of TeCA/PCA can be fine-tuned within the range of 0.9:0.1-0.1:0.9 through adjusting the amount of chlorine pumped into side reactors, giving rise to the increase of the heat duty of reboiler by five times. A pilot-scale experiment was then operated based-upon this VD-ACR process and the result matched well with the simulation. Therefore, the VD-ACR model presented in this study will be beneficial for the industrial-scale flexible production of TeCA and PCA from DCA.

ObjectiveThere is little evidence that adjuvant therapy after radical surgical resection of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) improves recurrence-free survival (RFS) or overall survival (OS). We conducted a multicentre, randomised, controlled, phase IV trial evaluating the benefit of an aqueous extract of Trametes robinophilaMurr (Huaier granule) to address this unmet need.Design and resultsA total of 1044 patients were randomised in 2:1 ratio to receive either Huaier or no further treatment (controls) for a maximum of 96 weeks. The primary endpoint was RFS. Secondary endpoints included OS and tumour extrahepatic recurrence rate (ERR). The Huaier (n=686) and control groups (n=316) had a mean RFS of 75.5 weeks and 68.5 weeks, respectively (HR 0.67; 95% CI 0.55 to 0.81). The difference in the RFS rate between Huaier and control groups was 62.39% and 49.05% (95% CI 6.74 to 19.94; p=0.0001); this led to an OS rate in the Huaier and control groups of 95.19% and 91.46%, respectively (95% CI 0.26 to 7.21; p=0.0207). The tumour ERR between Huaier and control groups was 8.60% and 13.61% (95% CI −12.59 to −2.50; p=0.0018), respectively.ConclusionsThis is the first nationwide multicentre study, involving 39 centres and 1044 patients, to prove the effectiveness of Huaier granule as adjuvant therapy for HCC after curative liver resection. It demonstrated a significant prolongation of RFS and reduced extrahepatic recurrence in Huaier group.Trial registrationNCT01770431; Post-results.

ABSTRACTRotavirus remains a major cause of diarrhea among 5-y-old children, and vaccination is currently the most effective and economical measure. We conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase II clinical trial designed to determine the dosage, immunogenicity, and safety profile of a novel hexavalent rotavirus vaccine. In total, 480 eligible healthy infants, who were 6–12 weeks of age at the time of randomization were randomly allocated (1:1:1) to receive 105.5focus-forming unit (FFU) or 106.5FFU of vaccine or placebo on a 0, 28 and 56-d schedule. Blood samples were collected 28 d after the third dose to assess rotavirus immunoglobulin A (IgA) antibody levels. Adverse events (AEs) up to 28 d after each dose and serious adverse events (SAEs) up to 6 months after the third dose were recorded as safety measurements. The anti-rotavirus IgA seroconversion rate of the vaccine groups reached more than 70.00%, ranging from 74.63% to 76.87%. The postdose 3 (PD3) geometric mean concentrations (GMCs) of anti-rotavirus IgA among vaccine recipients ranged from 76.97 U/ml to 84.46 U/ml. At least one solicited AE was recorded in 114 infants (71.25%) in the high-dose vaccine group, 106 infants (66.25%) in the low-dose vaccine group and 104 infants (65.00%) in the placebo group. The most frequently solicited AE was fever. The novel oral hexavalent rotavirus vaccine was safe and immunogenic in infants support the conclusion to advance the candidate vaccine for phase 3 efficacy trials.

Probes bearing good aqueous solubility and biocompatibility as well as fast response can serve as ideal tools for evaluating the underlying molecular mechanism of endogenous production of H2S caused by drugs; however, they are still lacking but highly desirable. Here, we demonstrate a novel strategy for constructing highly efficient H2S nanoprobes through locking Förster resonance energy transfer borondipyrromethene (BODIPY) pairs in water-dispersible core–shell silica nanoparticles. Importantly, these nanocomposites can effectively confine complementary guests within the same cores due to the existence of a shield, thus guaranteeing efficient Förster resonance energy transfer. Interestingly, the interior microenvironment of such nanoparticles could be tuned by silylation agents. In this way, an ideal probe for rapid and ratiometric detection of H2S within 15 s is established by optimizing the amount of silylation agent with a polar organic group. Obviously, the silylation agents are explored to serve as a platform not only for establishment of robust structures but also for optimizing the microenvironment of the interior to afford an ideal probe. These silica nanocomposites have also been successfully employed in disclosing the endogenous production of H2S induced by estrogen in cardiomyocytes.

Purpose: Automatic interpretation of Nominal Compounds is a crucial issue for many applications, for example, sentence understanding, machine translation, question-answering system and so forth. Many automatic interpretation models of Nominal Compounds use the strategies based on verbs or rules to obtain the interpretation of compounds. However, the performances of these models are still limited. The purpose of this paper is to propose an effective approach for automatic interpretation of Chinese nominal compounds. Design/methodology/approach: The authors propose a top-down and bottom-up model based on rules and large-scale corpus for automatic interpretation of Nominal Compounds. Findings: Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed model outperforms the state-of-the-art automatic interpretation model. Originality/value: The paper is an up-to-date study of automatic interpretation for Nominal Compounds. It can help people understand the meaning of Nominal Compounds in reading. With a better understanding of Nominal Compounds, we can discover more hidden knowledge in them.

As the second most common cancer in men around the world, prostate cancer is increasingly gaining more attention. Dihydroartemisinin (DHA) has been proven to be a promising anticancer agent in vitroas well as in vivoin accumulating data. However, the detailed mechanisms of how DHA action in human prostate cancer PC-3 cells remain elusive. This study aimed to investigate the effects of DHA, a novel anticancer agent, by inhibiting the expression of ubiquitin like containing PHD and ring finger 1 (UHRF1) in PC-3 cells. The apoptosis and cell-cycle distribution were detected by flow cytometry. Quantitative real-time PCR was performed to examine both UHRF1 and DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1) expressions at mRNA levels, whereas the expressions of UHRF1, DNMT1, and p16INK4Aproteins at protein levels were detected by Western blotting. Methylation levels of p16INK4ACpG islands were determined by bisulfite genomic sequencing. We showed that DHA induced the downregulation of UHRF1 and DNMT1, accompanied by an upregulation of p16INK4Ain PC-3 cells. Decreased p16INK4Apromoter methylation levels in DHA-treated groups were also observed in PC-3 cells. Furthermore, DHA significantly induced apoptosis and G1/S cell-cycle arrest in PC-3 cells. Our results suggested that downregulation of UHRF1/DNMT1 is upstream to many cellular events, including G1 cell arrest, demethylation of p16INK4A, and apoptosis. Together, our study provides new evidence that DHA may serve as a potential therapeutic agent in the treatment of prostate cancer.

Cyanidins are considered the most widespread anthocyanin in nature, and the cyanidin-3-O-arabinoside from apple with anti-tumor activity has been screened in our previous study. However, the anti-tumor mechanism of cyanidin-3-O-arabinoside needs to be further researched. In the present study, a UPLC-Q-TOF-MS-based metabomics approach was applied to reveal the metabolite changes and metabolic pathways in Caco-2 cells after cyanidin-3-O-arabinoside treatment. The results showed 10 differential metabolites between cyanidin-3-O-arabinoside treated and untreated Caco-2 cells. Especially, sphingosine, phosphoethanolamine, and taurine were found to be significantly altered in the Caco-2 cell after cyanidin-3-O-arabinoside treatment. A comparison of the Caco-2 cell group treated with cyanidin-3-O-arabinoside versus the control group (simvastatin) revealed seven identical metabolites, including uracil, pantothenate, cytidine, phosphatidylcholine (PC), γ-linolenic acid, dodecanoic acid, and myristic acid. Cyanidin-3-O-arabinoside could exert anti-tumor effects by inducing apoptosis, reducing cell membrane synthesis and energy metabolism, and triggering DNA damage. These results provide new insights into the anti-tumor mechanism of cyanidin-3-O-arabinoside on Caco-2 cells.

This study describes the nickel-catalyzed reductive decarboxylative/deaminative glycosylation of activated aliphatic acids/amines. Various alkyl C-glycosides were efficiently constructed under simple and mild reaction conditions. The reactions were high-yielding and exhibited a broad substrate scope, thereby enabling the transformation of some structurally complex natural products and late-stage modifications of drugs.

The indole-substituted trifluoromethyl sulfonium ylide has been developed via Cp*Rh(III)-catalyzed diazo-carbenoid addition to trifluoromethylthioether and is the first example of an Rh(III)-catalyzed diazo-carbenoid addition reaction with trifluoromethylthioether. Several kinds of indole-substituted trifluoromethyl sulfonium ylide were constructed under mild reaction conditions. The reported method exhibited high functional group compatibility and broad substrate scope. In addition, the protocol was found to be complementary to the method disclosed by a Rh(II) catalyst.

Osteosarcoma is one of the most common primary malignant bone tumors, mainly occurring in children and adolescents, and is characterized by high morbidity and poor prognosis. MicroRNAs, a class of noncoding RNAs consisting of 19 to 25 nucleotides, are involved in cell proliferation, invasion, metastasis, and apoptosis to regulate the development and progression of osteosarcoma. Studies have found that microRNAs are closely related to the diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of osteosarcoma patients and have an important role in improving drug resistance in osteosarcoma. This paper reviews the role of microRNAs in the pathogenesis of osteosarcoma and their clinical value, aiming to provide a new research direction for diagnosing and treating osteosarcoma and achieving a better prognosis.

Journal bearing reaction is usually represented by a set of forces and moments concentrated at a single point. This single point support model cannot be utilized to describe the behavior of fairly long bearing. This technical brief proposes a multiple nodes model for the long bearing considering the distributed characteristics of bearing reaction and the effect of shaft deformation. The static behaviors of a rotor-bearing case with the proposed multiple nodes model are compared with those of the other three typical models. The result shows that the proposed multiple nodes model is practical for the analysis of the rotor system with a fairly long bearing, and the distributed effect of bearing reaction should be considered when the ratio of bearing length to the half of rotor length exceeds 0.2.