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Abstract The phenomenon of flexoelectricity, wherein mechanical deformation induces alterations in the electron configuration of metal oxides, has emerged as a promising avenue for regulating electron transport. Leveraging this mechanism, stress sensing can be optimized through precise modulation of electron transport. In this study, the electron transport in 2D ultra‐smooth In2O3 crystals is modulated via flexoelectricity. By subjecting cubic In2O3 (c‐In2O3) crystals to significant strain gradients using an atomic force microscope (AFM) tip, the crystal symmetry is broken, resulting in the separation of positive and negative charge centers. Upon applying nano‐scale stress up to 100 nN, the output voltage and power values reach their maximum, e.g. 2.2 mV and 0.2 pW, respectively. The flexoelectric coefficient and flexocoupling coefficient of c‐In2O3 are determined as ≈0.49 nC m−1 and 0.4 V, respectively. More importantly, the sensitivity of the nano‐stress sensor upon c‐In2O3 flexoelectric effect reaches 20 nN, which is four to six orders smaller than that fabricated with other low dimensional materials based on the piezoresistive, capacitive, and piezoelectric effect. Such a deformation‐induced polarization modulates the band structure of c‐In2O3, significantly reducing the Schottky barrier height (SBH), thereby regulating its electron transport. This finding highlights the potential of flexoelectricity in enabling high‐performance nano‐stress sensing through precise control of electron transport.

Predicting childhood blood lead levels (BLLs) has had mixed success, and it is unclear if individual- or neighborhood-level variables are most predictive. An ensemble machine learning (ML) approach to identify the most relevant predictors of BLL ≥2μg/dL in urban children was implemented. A cross-sectional sample of 603 children (~7 years of age) recruited between 2009-2019 from Montevideo, Uruguay participated in the study. 77 individual- and 32 neighborhood-level variables were used to predict BLLs ≥2μg/dL. Three ensemble learners were created: one with individual-level predictors (Ensemble-I), one with neighborhood-level predictors (Ensemble-N), and one with both (Ensemble-All). Each ensemble learner comprised four base classifiers with 50% training, 25% validation, and 25% test datasets. Predictive performance of the three ensemble models was compared using area under the curve (AUC) for the receiver operating characteristic (ROC), precision, sensitivity, and specificity on the test dataset. Ensemble-I (AUC: 0.75, precision: 0.56, sensitivity: 0.79, specificity: 0.65) performed similarly to Ensemble-All (AUC: 0.75, precision: 0.63, sensitivity: 0.79, specificity: 0.69). Ensemble-N (AUC: 0.51, precision: 0.0, sensitivity: 0.0, specificity: 0.50) severely underperformed. Year of enrollment was most important in Ensemble-I and Ensemble-All, followed by household water Pb. Three neighborhood-level variables were among the top 10 important predictors in Ensemble-All (density of bus routes, dwellings with stream/other water source and distance to nearest river). The individual-level only model performed best, although precision was improved when both neighborhood and individual-level variables were included. Future predictive models of lead exposure should consider proximal predictors (i.e., household characteristics).

Risks in the financial market are omnipresent, and the operations of listed companies are affected by various factors, so the study of the financial risks of listed companies is also of great significance. In this paper, the statement data of listed companies and the text data of annual reports are used separately. The XGBoost model is used to analyze its classification effect, and the confusion matrix and ROC curve evaluation methods are used to compare the accuracy of the prediction results between the XGBoost model and the GBDT model, which helps corporate managers to identify the financial risks of enterprises in advance, and at the same time, improves the level of operation control. The results show that the accuracy of the XGBoost model fluctuates around 0.85, and the highest accuracy of the model is 0.883 when the number of its features is 21. The results of the confusion matrix assessment show that the accuracy of the prediction results of the risk-free company of the XGBoost model reaches 94.95%, and the accuracy of the prediction results of the XGBoost model increases by 5.15% compared with that of the GBDT model. This is in accordance with the ROC curve evaluation results. Obviously, the XGBoost model has a better prediction effect and a more stable early warning performance, and the use of the XGBoost model can help the managers of listed companies to be informed of the deterioration of the company’s financial situation as early as possible so that they can implement the corresponding operational control measures to reduce losses in time.

The adjustment of enterprises’ stacked enjoyment of preferences in the revision of the 2021 corporate income tax return is a highlight. This paper takes the cost of capital use model as the basis to study the maximization of the net value of capital obtained by adopting the same optimal capital accumulation, and the utility mechanism of the reduced tax rate preferences and the halved levy preferences are studied, respectively. Finally, with high-tech enterprises as the main object of empirical research, we studied the effect mechanism of superimposed enjoyment of enterprise income tax concessions on R&D and analyzed the calculation process of the amount of superimposed enjoyment of income tax concessions. The results show that to tax-adjusted income of 60 million yuan to calculated through the original method of filing method to enjoy 1 million yuan of preferences, while the use of superimposed enjoyment of tax breaks and preferences amounted to 1,335,200 yuan. In this paper, the calculation of tax benefits enjoyed by using stacking is more accurate to reflect policy requirements and maintain the tax interests of high-tech and other enterprises.

In the background of big data informatization, social and economic development needs talent support, and colleges and universities are the main positions of talent training. Using the features of self-organization, distributed multi-intelligence and positive feedback of the ant colony algorithm, a personalized learning path recommendation algorithm supporting pattern knowledge is proposed by combining the above learning feature model. The subject starts an independent solution search simultaneously at multiple points in the problem space, which increases the algorithm’s reliability and gives the algorithm a strong global search capability. When performing talent development path recommendation, the collaborative mechanism of distributed multi-subjects of the ant colony algorithm makes it possible to find an acceptable path quickly. Combined with the new knowledge representation model, the matching degree of students and learning objects is calculated from three dimensions, the heuristic information is obtained accordingly, and the Euclidean distance is used for matching degree calculation. Using the ant colony optimization algorithm to analyze the paths for cultivating talents in college education, it is concluded that in terms of the number of teachers: the total number of teachers with positive senior titles in five colleges and universities is 238, accounting for 8.88%, and the number of full-time teachers with senior associate titles is 618, accounting for 23.07%, all of which are lower than the average level in Fujian Province. This study has some reference significance to the cultivation of applied talents in local colleges and universities and has some reference value to the government in formulating the policy of cultivating talents in colleges and universities.

Abstract Few rare‐earth (RE) atoms incorporated in lattice greatly tunned the optical, electrical, magnetic, and catalytic performance of doped crystal through the peculiar atomic electron structure of RE. The dimensionality scale‐down of RE oxides can further promote their unique traits and broaden their applications. The UV photodetection performance of (111) oriented CeO2 thin film is limited by the existence of grain boundaries, defects, and strains. Consequently, single‐crystal 2D CeO2 is promising for photodetection as it lacks of grain boundaries and defects. However, the synthesis of large‐sized high‐quality 2D CeO2 with lateral dimensions over 100 µm is challenging. In this work, a 3.9 nm thick CeO2 single crystal with 120 µm lateral size is synthesized over a sapphire substrate through a salt‐assisted chemical vapor deposition method, in which an intermediate insulating CeAlO3 layer is formed between the substrate and 2D CeO2 to enhance the crystal lattice matching and therefore facilitates the large area growth. The photodetector based on 2D CeO2 exhibits a photo response from 395 to 532 nm, possibly ascribed to a micro‐strain narrowed bandgap induced at the heterointerface. The photoresponsivity reaches 43.6 A W−1 while the detectivity reaches 7.58 × 1011 Jones under the 395 nm laser irradiation. Besides, the sub‐ms switching kinetics is achieved without gating bias, which is significantly improved over other reported RE oxides‐based photodetectors. This work demonstrates the possibility of the synthesis of large‐size high‐quality 2D RE oxides and their strong potential in high‐performance optoelectronic devices.

Taking the mixed cross-sectional data of large and medium-sized industrial enterprises in Shanghai from 2014 to 2021 as the research sample, this paper empirically analyses the impact of government subsidies and R&D investment on the high-quality development of the manufacturing industry. First, the quantile regression model is established to analyse the relationship among the three factors, and the asymmetric linear loss function is introduced to obtain the point estimation of quantile. According to the Moivre–Laplace limit theorem, the asymptotic distribution is obtained; the sample quantile function is calculated and the fitting residual of quantile regression is used to estimate the asymptotic covariance matrix. The model was tested by goodness-of-fit criterion; it can more comprehensively describe the characteristics of distribution, so as to get a comprehensive conclusion. The experimental results show that: with increase of the quantile, the advantage gradually increases. Medium-sized enterprises have a less significant ‘inverted U’ relationship at 0.8, while large enterprises have a more significant ‘U’ relationship at 0.2–0.5. It can effectively reduce the estimation deviation and reduce the root mean squared error, so as to improve the estimation accuracy.

In order to effectively provide guidance for the selection of aircraft dissimilar metals from the perspective of corrosion protection, the corrosion behavior of typical aircraft lap structures was studied by finite element simulation and corrosion test for the specific service environment of aircraft. The aluminum alloy, composite material and lap joints were subjected to cyclic immersion corrosion test in the laboratory. Then the galvanic corrosion law between aluminum alloy and composite was revealed by polarization curve measurement test, macroscopic and microscopic morphology observation, fatigue test and XRD measurement. Taking the electrochemical parameters measured by polarization curve as boundary conditions, the corrosion simulation model of lap joint was established. After 0 cycle and 10 cycles of cyclic immersion corrosion test, the results show that the self-corrosion potential and self-corrosion current density of aluminum alloy are -802 mV and 2.357×10-7 A/cm2, -872 mV and 1.477×10-6 A/cm2. The self-corrosion potential and self-corrosion current density of composite material are -240 mV and 6.217×10-7 A/cm2, -98 mV and 2.286×10-7 A/cm2, respectively. With the extension of the corrosion cycle, 7B04 aluminum alloy shows a trend of increasing self-corrosion rate and negative shift of self-corrosion potential, while composite material shows a trend of positive shift of self-corrosion potential and slowly increasing self-corrosion rate. The corrosion products of lap joints gradually increase and the corrosion degree becomes more and more serious. With the extension of corrosion cycle, fatigue life decreases and the depth of corrosion pits increases. The corrosion products include Al(OH)3, Al2O3, AlCl3. The simulation results of lap joints are in good agreement with cyclic immersion corrosion test results. The corrosion prone parts of the typical lap structure of the aircraft were given, and the law of galvanic corrosion was revealed, which points out the direction for the corrosion protection of the aircraft structure.

Objectives: More convenient and effective non-invasive diagnostic methods are essential for the detection and prognosis of cancer. This study aimed to mine the information in plasma cfDNA to find novel biomarkers for the diagnosis of esophageal cancer (ESCA). Methods: Blood samples were collected from esophageal cancer patients and healthy individuals. SALP-seq method was used to construct libraries and sequence cfDNA samples from 40 esophageal cancer patients and 10 normal cfDNA samples, and mutation analysis was performed. Results: Esophageal cancer related mutational signatures and 52 mutated genes were identified. Many of these genes are known cancer-related genes. Mutations in these genes were also found in 11 additional ESCA cfDNA samples. Conclusion: SALP-seq based cfDNA mutation analysis can obtain reliable and verifiable biomarkers for ESCA. These biomarkers provide a novel reference for the diagnosis of esophageal cancer, as well as offer novel insights into understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms of esophageal carcinogenesis. Finally, our method provides a new avenue to explore novel cancer biomarkers.

It was estimated that 70% of patients with colorectal cancer were found to have viable exfoliated malignant cells in adjacent intestinal lumen. Exfoliated malignant cells had been reported to implant on raw surfaces, such as polypectomy site, anal fissure, anal fistula, hemorrhoidectomy wound, and anastomotic suture line. Tumors at anastomosis could be classified into four groups: local recurrence, local manifestation of widespread metastasis, metachronous carcinogenesis, and implantation metastasis. However, all of the previous studies only reported the phenomena of implantation metastasis at anastomosis. No study had proved the origin of anastomotic metastasis by genomic analysis. In this study, a 43-year-old woman presented with persistent hematochezia was diagnosed as having severe mixed hemorrhoids. She was treated by procedure for prolapse and hemorrhoids (PPH), without receiving preoperative colonoscopy. Two months later, she was found to have sigmoid colon cancer by colonoscopy due to continuous hematochezia and received radical sigmoidectomy. Postoperative histological examination confirmed the lesion to be a moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma (pT3N1M0). Six months later, she presented with hematochezia again and colonoscopy revealed two tumors at the rectal anastomosis of PPH. Both tumors were confirmed to be moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma without lymph node and distant metastasis and were finally removed by transanal endoscopic microsurgery (TEM). Pathological examination, whole exome sequencing (WES), and Lineage Inference for Cancer Heterogeneity and Evolution (LICHeE) analysis demonstrated that the two tumors at the rectal anastomosis were probably implantation metastases arising from the previous sigmoid colon cancer. This is the first study to prove implantation metastasis from colon cancer to a distal anastomosis by WES and LICHeE analysis. Therefore, it is recommended to rule out colorectal cancer in proximal large bowel before performing surgery with a rectal anastomosis, such as PPH and anterior resection. For patients with a suspected implanted tumor, WES and LICHeE could be used to differentiate implantation metastasis from metachronous carcinogenesis.

Deoxynivalenol(DON)，as a secondary metabolite of some fusarium species，has been harmful to the food and feed industry.To improve spore-producing ability of Bacillus subtilis，the fermentation pH，temperature，supplemental carbon source and duration of Bacillus subtilis that efficiently degraded DON were studied in 5L-quadruple fermenters.The best fermentation conditions were determined，the fermentation pH was controlled at 7.5 and the temperature was controlled by stages，kept at 37 ℃ for first 12 hours，then raised to 39 ℃ until the end; 10 g/L molasses was added once at the 12th hour，then the fermentation was terminated at the 30th hour.Under the optimal conditions，the number of spores could reach 2.9×1010 CFU/mL and the spores’ rate could reach 96.7%.The fermentation liquid were further prepared into direct inoculated microbial inoculum and applied to remove DON from grain processing by-products; Under the condition that dry matter content in the composite material culture medium was not more than 30%，and the inoculation amount of the bacterium preparation was more than 0.1%，DON in the grain by-products could be effectively removed by fermentation and the highest degradation rate could reach 98.8%.

Primary Sjögren’s syndrome is an autoimmune disease that is predominantly seen in women. The disease is characterized by exocrine gland dysfunction in combination with serious systemic manifestations. At present, the causes of pSS are poorly understood. Pulmonary and renal inflammation are observed in pSS mice, reminiscent of a subset of pSS patients. A growing body of evidence indicates that inflammation mediated by Damage-Associated Molecular Patterns (DAMPs) contributes to autoimmunity, although this is not well-studied in pSS. Degraded extracellular matrix (ECM) constituents can serve as DAMPs by binding pattern-recognition receptors and activating Myd88-dependent signaling cascades, thereby exacerbating and perpetuating inflammatory cascades. The ECM components biglycan (Bgn) and decorin (Dcn) mediate sterile inflammation and both are implicated in autoimmunity. The objective of this study was to determine whether these ECM components and anti-ECM antibodies are altered in a pSS mouse model, and whether this is dependent on Myd88 activation in immune cells. Circulating levels of Bgn and Dcn were similar among pSS mice and controls and tissue expression studies revealed pSS mice had robust expression of both Bgn and Dcn in the salivary tissue, saliva, lung and kidney. Sera from pSS mice displayed increased levels of autoantibodies directed against ECM components when compared to healthy controls. Further studies using sera derived from conditional knockout pSS mice demonstrated that generation of these autoantibodies relies, at least in part, on Myd88 expression in the hematopoietic compartment. Thus, this study demonstrates that ECM degradation may represent a novel source of chronic B cell activation in the context of pSS.

Lead exposure and neighborhoods can affect children’s behavior, but it is unclear if neighborhood characteristics modify the effects of lead on behavior. Understanding these modifications has important intervention implications. Blood lead levels (BLLs) in children (~7 years) from Montevideo, Uruguay, were categorized at 2 µg/dL. Teachers completed two behavior rating scales (n = 455). At one-year follow-up (n = 380), caregivers reported child tantrums and parenting conflicts. Multilevel generalized linear models tested associations between BLLs and behavior, with neighborhood disadvantage, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), and distance to nearest greenspace as effect modifiers. No effect modification was noted for neighborhood disadvantage or NDVI. Children living nearest to greenspace with BLLs < 2 µg/dL were lower on behavior problem scales compared to children with BLLs ≥ 2 µg/dL. When furthest from greenspace, children were similar on behavior problems regardless of BLL. The probability of daily tantrums and conflicts was ~20% among children with BLLs < 2 µg/dL compared to ~45% among children with BLLs ≥ 2 µg/dL when closest to greenspace. Furthest from greenspace, BLLs were not associated with tantrums and conflicts. Effect modification of BLL on child behavior by distance to greenspace suggests that interventions should consider both greenspace access and lead exposure prevention.

Newcastle disease virus (NDV) infects poultry and antagonizes host immunity via several mechanisms. Dendritic cells (DCs) are characterized as specialized antigen presenting cells, bridging innate and adaptive immunity and regulating host resistance to viral invasion. However, there is little specific knowledge of the role of DCs in NDV infection. In this study, the representative NDV lentogenic strain LaSota was used to explore whether murine bone marrow derived DCs mature following infection. We examined surface molecule expression and cytokine release from DCs as well as proliferation and activation of T cells in vivo and in vitro in the context of NDV. The results demonstrated that infection with lentogenic strain LaSota induced a phenotypic maturation of immature DCs (imDCs), which actually led to curtailed T cell responses. Upon infection, the phenotypic maturation of DCs was reflected by markedly enhanced MHC and costimulatory molecule expression and secretion of proinflammatory cytokines. Nevertheless, NDV-infected DCs produced the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 and attenuated T cell proliferation, inducing Th2-biased responses. Therefore, our study reveals a novel understanding that DCs are phenotypically mature but dysfunctional in priming T cell responses during NDV infection.

Many “hot spot” geographic areas across the world with drinking water co-contaminated with inorganic arsenic (iAs) and fluoride (F-), two of the most common natural contaminants in drinking water. Both iAs and F- are known neurotoxins and affect neurodevelopment of children. However, very few studies have investigated the neurodevelopmental effects of concurrent exposure to iAs and F-, which could potentially pose a greater risk than iAs or F- exposure alone. Further, perturbations of gut microbiota, which plays a regulatory role in neurodevelopment, resulting from iAs and F- exposure has been reported in numerous studies. There is lacking of information regarding to the relationship among concurrent iAs and F- exposure, microbiome disruption, and neurodevelopmental impacts. To fill these gaps, we treated offspring rats to iAs (50 mg/L NaAsO2) and F- (100 mg/L NaF), alone or combined from early life (in utero and childhood) to puberty. We applied Morris water maze test to assess spatial learning and memory of these rats and generated gut microbiome profiles using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. We showed that concurrent iAs and F- exposure caused more prominent neurodevelopmental effects in rats than either iAs or F- exposure alone. Moreover, Unsupervised Principal Coordinates Analysis (PCoA) and Linear Discriminant Analysis Effect Size (LEfSe) analysis of gut microbiome sequencing results separated concurrent exposure group from others, indicating a more sophisticated change of gut microbial communities occurred under the concurrent exposure condition. Further, a correlation analysis between indices of the water maze test and microbial composition at the genus level identified featured genera that were clearly associated with neurobehavioral performance of rats. 75% (9 out of 12) genera, which had a remarkable difference in relative abundance between the control and combined iAs and F- exposure groups, showed significantly strong correlations (r = 0.70–0.90) with the water maze performance indicators. Collectively, these results suggest that concurrent iAs and F- exposure led to more prominent effects on neurodevelopment and gut microbiome composition structures in rats, and the strong correlation between them indicates a high potential for the development of novel microbiome-based biomarkers of iAs and/or F- associated neurodevelopmental deficits.

Circulating microRNAs carried by exosomes have emerged as promising diagnostic biomarkers for cancer because of their abundant amount and remarkable stability in body fluids. Exosomal microRNAs in blood are typically quantified using the RNA isolation-qRT-PCR workflow, which cannot distinguish circulating microRNAs secreted by cancer cells from those released by non-tumor cells, making it potentially less sensitive in detecting cancer-specific microRNA biomarkers. We have developed a sensitive and simple tethered cationic lipoplex nanoparticles (tCLN) biochip to detect exosomal microRNAs in human sera. The tCLN biochip allows the discrimination of tumor-derived exosomes from their non-tumor counterparts, and thus achieves higher detection sensitivity and specificity than qRT-PCR. We have demonstrated the clinical utility of the tCLN biochip in lung cancer diagnosis using sera from normal controls, therapy-naive early stage and late stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. Total five microRNAs (miR-21, miR-25, miR-155, miR-210, and miR-486) were selected as the biomarkers. Each microRNA biomarker measured by tCLN assay showed higher sensitivity and specificity in lung cancer detection than that measured by qRT-PCR. When all five microRNAs were combined, the tCLN assay distinguished normal controls from all NSCLC patients with sensitivity of 0.969, specificity of 0.933 and AUC of 0.970, and provided much better diagnostic accuracy than qRT-PCR (sensitivity = 0.469, specificity = 1.000, AUC = 0.791). Remarkably, the tCLN assay achieved absolute sensitivity and specificity in discriminating early stage NSCLC patients from normal controls, demonstrating its great potential as a liquid biopsy assay for lung cancer early detection.

Background: Next generation sequencing (NGS)-based multi-gene panel tests have been performed to predict the treatment response and prognosis in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC). Whether the multi-gene mutation results of formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissues are identical to those of fresh frozen tissues remains unknown.Methods: A 22-gene panel with 103 hotspots was used to detect mutations in paired fresh frozen tissue and FFPE tissue from 118 patients with CRC.Results: In our study, 117 patients (99.2%) had one or more variants, with 226 variants in FFPE tissue and 221 in fresh frozen tissue. Of the 129 variants identified in this study, 96 variants were present in both FFPE and fresh frozen tissues; 27 variants were found in FFPE tissues only; 6 variants were found only in fresh frozen tissues. The mutation results demonstrated >94.0% concordance in all variants, with Kappa coefficient >0.500 in 64.3% (83/129) of variants. At the gene level, concordance ranged from 73.8 to 100.0%, with Kappa coefficient >0.500 in 81.3% (13/16) of genes.Conclusions: The results of mutation analysis performed with a multi-gene panel and FFPE and fresh frozen tissue were highly concordant in patients with CRC, at both the variant and gene levels. There were, however, some important differences in mutation results between the two tissue types. Therefore, fresh frozen tissue should not routinely be replaced with FFPE tissue for mutation analysis with a multi-gene panel. Rather, FFPE tissue is a reasonable alternative for fresh frozen tissue when the latter is unavailable.

Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are important mediators of chronic inflammation in numerous autoimmune diseases, although the role of these receptors in primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS) remains incompletely understood. Previous studies in our laboratory established Myd88 as a crucial mediator of pSS, although the disease-relevant ligands and the upstream signaling events that culminate in Myd88 activation have yet to be established. The objective of this study was to identify specific Myd88-dependent TLR-related pathways that are dysregulated both locally and systemically in a mouse model of pSS [NOD.B10Sn-H2b/J (NOD.B10)]. We performed RNA-sequencing on spleens derived from NOD.B10 mice. We then harvested salivary tissue and spleens from Myd88-sufficient and deficient C57BL/10 (BL/10) and NOD.B10 mice and performed flow cytometry to determine expression of Myd88-dependent TLRs. We cultured splenocytes with TLR2 and TLR4 agonists and measured production of inflammatory mediators by ELISA. Next, we evaluated spontaneous and TLR4-mediated inflammatory cytokine secretion in NOD.B10 salivary tissue. Finally, we assessed spontaneous Myd88-dependent cytokine secretion by NOD.B10 salivary cells. We identified dysregulation of numerous TLR-related networks in pSS splenocytes, particularly those employed by TLR2 and TLR4. We found upregulation of TLRs in both the splenic and salivary tissue from pSS mice. In NOD.B10 splenic tissue, robust expression of B cell TLR1 and TLR2 required Myd88. Splenocytes from NOD.B10 mice were hyper-responsive to TLR2 ligation and the endogenous molecule decorin modulated inflammation via TLR4. Finally, we observed spontaneous secretion of numerous inflammatory cytokines and this was enhanced following TLR4 ligation in female NOD.B10 salivary tissue as compared to males. The spontaneous production of salivary IL-6, MCP-1 and TNFα required Myd88 in pSS salivary tissue. Thus, our data demonstrate that Myd88-dependent TLR pathways contribute to the inflammatory landscape in pSS, and inhibition of such will likely have therapeutic utility.

In order to predict the elastic constants of 3D four-direction braided composites, unit cell model was established for braided composites with 20°,30°,45° braided angle respectively. The elastic properties of the interior cell and the surface cell were predicted using both the stiffness volume average method and the numerical analysis method, and all quasi-static tensile tests were performed on MTS machine. The experimental results, theoretical analysis and numerical simulation results were analyzed. It is found that the axial tensile modulus decreases,and the transverse tensile modulus and transverse shear stiffness increases with the increase of braiding angles because of the decrease of the component of carbon fiber stiffness in the direction of the carrier movement and the increase of the transverse component of carbon fiber stiffness. Tests reveal that the stress-strain curve for the extension tests of specimen of 20° braided angle exhibit linear elastic type, the stress-strain curve of 30° specimen shows nonlinear characters, the stress-strain curve of 45° specimen shows bilinear relation, but the transverse tensile stress-strain curves of all the specimens are basically linear. Combining the longitudinal and transverse tensile test results with the theoretical and numerical data, it is found that the stiffness volume average method and the numerical analysis methods are able to predict the stiffness in the direction of the carrier movement of 3D braided composites well. However, the prediction precision for the transverse stiffness of specimen is not satisfactory, mainly because these methods neglect the interface damage between the fiber and the matrix in tests.

Abstract To compare protein expression levels, gene mutation and survival among Right-Sided Colon Cancer (RSCC), Left-Sided Colon Cancer (LSCC) and rectal cancer patients, 57 cases of RSCC, 87 LSCC and 145 rectal cancer patients were included retrospectively. Our results demonstrated significant differences existed among RSCC, LSCC and rectal cancer regarding tumor diameter, differentiation, invasion depth and TNM stage. No significant difference was identified in expression levels of MLH1, MSH2, MSH6, PMS2, β-Tubulin III, P53, Ki67 and TOPIIα, and gene mutation of KRAS and BRAF among three groups. Progression Free Survival (PFS) of RSCC was significantly lower than that of LRCC and rectal cancer. In univariate analyses, RSCC, preoperative chemoradiotherapy, poor differentiation, advanced TNM stage, elevated serum CEA and CA19-9 level, tumor deposit, perineural and vascular invasion were found to be predictive factors of shorter PFS. In multivariate analyses, only differentiation and TNM stages were found to be independent predictors of PFS. In conclusion, compared with LSCC and rectal cancer, RSCC has larger tumor size, poor differentiation, advanced TNM stage and shorter survival. The shorter survival in RSCC might be attributed to the advanced tumor stage caused by its inherent position feature of proximal colon rather than genetic difference.

The use of AI-based social robots has been shown to be beneficial for learning English as a Second Language (ESL). Not much is known, however, about the drivers of parental intention to use those robots in support of their children's ESL learning. This study aims to explore the factors that drive parental intention to adopt AI-based social robots for children's ESL learning. The research model is proposed based on the theories and literature regarding motivations, product smartness, personality traits and physical risk perception. Data collected from 315 participants are analyzed using the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) method. The results show that utilitarian and hedonic motivations positively affect parental intention to adopt AI-based social robots. In addition, utilitarian motivation is influenced by robots' autonomy and parental personal innovativeness, while hedonic motivation is influenced by robots' autonomy and humanlike interaction, and parental personal innovativeness. From the findings, important implications for promoting parental intention to adopt AI-based social robots in children's ELS learning are offered.