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The utilization of byproducts from foxtail millet polishing can reduce food loss and waste. Thus, it is necessary to know the chemical compounds from the millet and the segregation of the layers. The nutrients including minerals were compared among the husk, bran, and millet, and a LC-MS metabolomics analysis was also performed among them. The results showed that the protein, crude fat and 4 fatty acids, seven minerals, the nitrogen-containing compounds and phenolic acids were at much higher levels in the bran part than the husk and millet, whereas the husk only contained higher levels of dietary fibre, and some minerals. The millet section, as the edible part, contained the lowest level of chemical constituents. It illustrated that the bran part contained more functional and nutritional components than the millet and husk part. Therefore, the bran of the foxtail millet should be a food resources instead of wasting.

Abstract Electrochromic (EC) technology has been regarded as a promising energy‐saving technology in various applications, including smart windows, displays, thermal management, rear views, etc. Benefiting from the progress in electrochromic material synthesis, electrochromic electrode fabrication, and electrochromic device configuration design, the focus in electrochromic community has gradually shifted to multifunctional electrochromic devices (ECDs) in the era of Internet of Things. Multifunctional ECDs, such as electrochromic energy storage devices, multi‐color displays, deformable ECDs, smart windows, etc. have been showcased the ability to expand potential applications. In this review, the available device configurations, performance indexes and advanced characterization techniques for multifunctional ECDs are introduced and classified accordingly. The applications of multifunctional ECDs for energy storage, multicolor displays, deformable devices, self‐chargeable devices, smart windows, actuators, etc., are exemplified. The future development trends and perspectives of multifunctional ECDs are also overlooked. The aim of this review is to guide and inspire further efforts in the exploration of novel and advanced multifunctional ECDs.

A state-of-the-art review was delivered in the manuscript to analyze the current situations and the advantages/disadvantages of resilient deformation related issues to the unbound granular material (UGM), including testing methods, influencing factors and constitutive models, through which the bottlenecks in UGM resilient deformation characterizations were located and new theories and future research recommendations were proposed. Compared with other testing methods, the hollow cylinder test and true triaxial test are the only two to determine the anisotropic moduli of the UGM. Although significant advantages are observed in more advanced test apparatus such as true triaxial test, further improvements should be made, such as more advanced process identification control algorithm, to more conveniently control the nine independent hydraulic system and accurately measure UGM anisotropic properties. Confusions and conflicts in understanding the influencing factors to UGM resilient modulus were located, such as the stress history, the residual stress, the dry density, the gradation/fine content and the freeze-thaw cycle, based on which future research could be conducted. Through reviewing evolutions of the UGM constitutive models and comparing their representativeness and complexity comprehensively, major drawbacks were discovered and a new theory was proposed afterward to modify the UGM constitutive model, although further validations are still needed.

Reversibility of phase transformation, a basic requirement for functional properties of shape memory alloys, such as superelasticity, is severely affected by plastic deformation. Here, strain glass has been utilized to improve the reversibility of phase transformation. The incorporation of Al into Ti-Zr-Ni-Cu induces strain glass and endows the alloy with reversible phase transformation and thus ideal superelasticity. In situ x-ray diffraction and dynamic mechanical experiments were utilized to verify the mechanism for the conversion from transformation plasticity to superelasticity. This work provides a new way to improve the reversibility of phase transformation and expands the practical implications of strain glass.

To overcome incomplete point cloud data obtained from laser scanners scanning complex surfaces, multi-viewpoint cloud data needs to be aligned for use. A hybrid improved SAC-IA with a KD-ICP algorithm is proposed for local point cloud alignment optimization. The scanned point cloud data is preprocessed with statistical filtering, as well as uniform down-sampling. The sampling consistency initial alignment (SAC-IA) algorithm is improved by introducing a dissimilarity vector for point cloud initial alignment. In addition, the iterative closest point (ICP) algorithm is improved by incorporating bidirectional KD-tree to form the KD-ICP algorithm for fine point cloud alignment. Finally, the algorithms are compared in terms of runtime and alignment accuracy. The implementation of the algorithms is based on the Visual Studio 2013 software configurating point cloud library environment for testing experiments and practical experiments. The overall alignment method can be 40%~50% faster in terms of running speed. The improved SAC-IA algorithm provides better transformed poses, combined with the KD-ICP algorithm to select the corresponding nearest neighbor pairs, which improves the accuracy, as well as the applicability of the alignment.

Abstract Introduction Refractory cough, a chronic cough with an unclear diagnosis or poor treatment response. The symptoms are often stubborn and persistent, causing serious complications and lowering the patient's quality of life. Cough hypersensitivity syndrome (CHS) is proposed as a potential cause, and reducing sensory nerve hyperresponsiveness is suggested as an effective treatment. However, current drugs have low efficacy and benefit rates and numerous side effects. This trail proposes using duloxetine, a selective 5-HT and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor, as a potential treatment for refractory cough, which has shown promise in treating pain and depression. Duloxetine may inhibit pain conduction and oxidative stress in peripheral nerves by inhibiting the activity of TRPV1 channels, which play an important role in the peripheral afferent pathway of refractory cough. Meanwhile, the antidepressant effects of duloxetine may also play a role in the treatment of refractory cough. Methods and analysis This is a single-center, prospective, randomized, double-blind, and controlled trial. A total of 98 individuals will be randomized in a 1:1 ratio to duloxetine group and placebo control group (starting with 20 mg QD, increasing 20 mg daily until 20 mg TID). After a screening period, the second stage runs from baseline to the 42nd (last) day of treatment, with follow-up visits on the 3rd, 7th, 14th, 21st, 28th, 35th, 42nd and 49th days. The main end-stage observation indicators include objective cough frequency, cough visual analog scale (VAS), cough symptom score, Leicester Cough Questionnaire (LCQ), and cough evaluation test (CET); the secondary end-stage observation indicators include capsaicin cough sensitivity, Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), Major Depression Inventory (MDI), the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 scale (GAD-7), Life Events Scale (LES-32), induced sputum supernatant. The safety measures will be AEs/SAEs, vital signs, liver and kidney function, fecal occult blood test. Discussion This study is the first randomized, double-blind, and controlled clinical trial investigating the use of duloxetine in the treatment of refractory coughs. The study aims to provide a high-quality basis for evaluating the efficacy and safety of duloxetine for this condition. Trial registration Our study was registered in the Chinese Clinical Trials Register ( www.chictr.org.cn/ ) (ChiCTR2000037429) in 28/08/2020.

Satellite-derived bathymetry (SDB) is an effective means of obtaining global shallow water depths. However, the effect of inherent optical properties (IOPs) on the accuracy of SDB under different water quality conditions has not been clearly clarified. To enhance the accuracy of machine learning SDB models, this study aims to assess the performance improvement of integrating the quasi-analytical algorithm (QAA)-derived IOPs using the Sentinel-2 and ICESat-2 datasets. In different water quality experiments, the results indicate that four SDB models (the Gaussian process regression, neural networks, random forests, and support vector regression) incorporating QAA-IOP parameters equal to or outperform those solely based on the remote sensing reflectance (Rrs) datasets, especially in turbid waters. By analyzing information gains in SDB, the most effective inputs are identified and prioritized under different water qualities. The SDB method incorporating QAA-IOP can achieve an accuracy of 0.85 m, 0.48 m, and 0.74 m in three areas (Wenchang, Laizhou Bay, and the Qilian Islands) with different water quality. Also, we find that incorporating an excessive number of redundant bands into machine learning models not only increases the demand of computing resources but also leads to worse accuracy in SDB. In conclusion, the integration of QAA-IOPs offers promising improvements in obtaining bathymetry and the optimal feature selection should be carefully considered in diverse aquatic environments.

Due to the limitations of traditional geometric error measurement, the measurement accuracy of long-stroke geometric errors is generally not high and the operation is complicated. In response to the above situation, in this study, a geometric error measurement system is built with a laser beam as the reference line and 2D position sensitive detector as the photoelectric conversion device. The single measurement range is 40 m, and the measurement range is further expanded through the principle of segmented splicing. Using an ultra-long guide rail as the measurement object for straightness measurement, the experimental results are similar to those of a laser interferometer. The uncertainty analysis model was obtained through the analysis of quantity characteristics, and based on this, the variance synthesis theorem and probability distribution propagation principle were studied to form two uncertainty synthesis methods. The measurement evaluation results showed that the two methods were basically consistent. The work provided a reference method for the uncertainty evaluation of position-sensitive detector measurement systems in the future.

Pretreatment methods affect the properties of bean starch and thus the application of bean products. This article reviewed the effects of different pretreatment methods on the properties of bean starch such as particle morphology, molecular structure, solubility, pasting properties and resistant starch content, and analyzed the impact of those pretreatment methods on the application of beans in the development of low GI foods. Hydrothermal, ultra-high pressure, dry heated, irradiated, ultrasonic and enzymatic treatments under certain conditions increased the content of resistant starch or amylose starch in bean starch, which was beneficial for the application of bean in the development of low GI food. In addition, this paper summarized the current status of the application of different pretreated bean products in the development of low GI food, and provided an outlook on the future prospects.

Abstract The traditional Grey Wolf Optimization algorithm (GWO) has received widespread attention due to features of strong convergence performance, few parameters, and easy implementation. However, in actual optimization projects, there are problems of slow convergence speed and easy to fall into local optimal solution. The paper proposed a Grey Wolf Optimization algorithm based on Cauchy-Gaussian mutation and improved search strategy (CG-GWO) in response to the above problems. The Cauchy-Gaussian mutation operator is introduced to increase the population diversity of the leader wolves and improve the global search ability of the algorithm. This work retains outstanding grey wolf individuals through the greedy selection mechanism to ensure the convergence speed of the algorithm. An improved search strategy was proposed to expand the optimization space of the algorithm and improve the convergence accuracy. Experiments are performed with 16 benchmark functions covering unimodal functions, multimodal functions, and fixed-dimension multimodal functions to verify the effectiveness of the algorithm. Experimental results show that compared with four classic optimization algorithms, particle swarm optimization algorithm (PSO), whale optimization algorithm (WOA), sparrow optimization algorithm (SSA), and farmland fertility algorithm (FFA), the CG-GWO algorithm shows better convergence accuracy, convergence speed, and global search ability. The proposed algorithm shows the same better performance compared with a series of improved algorithms such as the improved grey wolf algorithm (IGWO), modified Grey Wolf Optimization algorithm (mGWO), and the Grey Wolf Optimization algorithm inspired by enhanced leadership (GLF-GWO).

A three-dimensional (3D) viscoelastic asphalt pavement, of which the surface was composed of asphalt mixture, was developed using ABAQUS and a moving 3D tire-pavement contact stress with different braking slip ratios was incorporated and programmed into ABAQUS by FORTRAN language. Five braking slip ratios were considered (Dual Tire Assembly (DTA): 0 (free rolling), 1.8%, 3.6%, 5.4%, and 7.0% (full braking); Wide Base Tire (WBT): 0 (free rolling), 1.5%, 3.0%, 4.5%, and 7.0% (full braking)). Results showed that the viscoelastic stress and strain of the asphalt mixture were significantly influenced by tire braking slip ratio and pavement temperature for both DTA and WBT loading conditions. As the slip ratio and the temperature increased, the stress and strain of the asphalt layer would increase and their positions shifted upwards to the surface of the asphalt layer. Comparatively, the peak shear strain was the most significantly influenced factor and its amplitude may increase by 10 times. However, the bottom strain of the asphalt layer was far less affected by tire breaking behaviours.

Zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs) are increasingly recognized as highly promising candidates for grid-scale energy storage systems due to their cost-effectiveness, environmental friendliness, and high security. Despite recent advancements in the research of cathode materials, Zn anodes, and electrolytes, several challenges persist and must be addressed, including cathode dissolution, generation of by-products, and zinc dendrite formation, which hinder the future application of ZIBs. In this review, we systematically summarize the recent developments in electrospinning technology within ZIBs. First, the principle technical parameters and subsequent thermal treatment of electrospinning technology are discussed, and then the synthetic preparation, morphologies, and electrochemical performance of electrospun nanostructured electrodes in ZIBs are comprehensively reviewed. Finally, some perspectives on research directions and optimization strategies for electrospinning technology in energy applications are outlined.

The global energy crisis and growing environmental concerns provide a strong impetus for the development of fuel-efficient hydraulic excavators (HEs). The boom potential energy of a conventional HE is consumed by throttling in a lowering process, which is a major reason for energy inefficiency. To solve the issue, this paper presents a flywheel-based boom energy regeneration system for HEs using load-sensing systems. The otherwise wasted boom potential energy is regenerated by a pump/motor and stored in a flywheel. The recaptured energy is reused in the form of pressure energy released to the pump outlet. The energy efficiencies of a conventional load-sensing system and the proposed system were analyzed. A control strategy was proposed to optimize the energy-saving procedure. To obtain a more reliable simulation model, a coasting experiment of the flywheel was carried out to obtain the key parameters related to the friction of the flywheel. A 4-t HE in our laboratory was selected as a study case to investigate the energy-saving effect of the flywheel-based boom energy regeneration system. Numeric simulations showed that compared with a conventional load-sensing system, the energy-saving rate was about 32.7% in a typical digging and dumping cycle. These findings indicated that the flywheel-based boom energy regeneration system is promising for developing energy-efficient HEs.

Background: Sepsis is a fatal disease with a high rate of morbidity and mortality, during which acute lung injury is the earliest and most serious complication. Injury of pulmonary microvascular endothelial cells (PMVECs) induced by excessive inflammation plays an important role in sepsis acute lung injury. This study is meant to explore the protective effect and mechanism of ADSCs exosomes on excessive inflammation PMVECs injury. Results: We successfully isolated ADSCs exosomes, the characteristic of which were confirmed. ADSCs exosomes reduced excessive inflammatory response induced ROS accumulation and cell injury in PMVECs. Besides, ADSCs exosomes inhibited excessive inflammatory response induced ferroptosis while upregulated expression of GPX4 in PMVECs. And further GPX4 inhibition experiments revealed that ADSCs exosomes alleviated inflammatory response induced ferroptosis via upregulating GPX4. Meanwhile, ADSCs exosomes could increase the expression and nucleus translocation of Nrf2, while decrease the expression of Keap1. miRNA analysis and further inhibition experiments verified that specific delivery of miR-125b-5p by ADSCs exosomes inhibited Keap1 and alleviated ferroptosis. In CLP induced sepsis model, ADSCs exosomes could relieve the lung tissue injury and reduced the death rate. Besides, ADSCs exosomes alleviated oxidative stress injury and ferroptosis of lung tissue, while remarkably increase expression of Nrf2 and GPX4. Conclusion: Collectively, we illustrated a novel potentially therapeutic mechanism that miR-125b-5p in ADSCs exosomes could alleviate the inflammation induced PMVECs ferroptosis in sepsis induced acute lung injury via regulating Keap1/Nrf2/GPX4 expression, hence improve the acute lung injury in sepsis.

Chlorophyll-a concentration (Chla) is an important index for water eutrophication. In this study, retrieval models of Chla were established based on the measured water spectra, spectral response function, measured Chla and the corresponding Sentinel-2 imagery of the Pingzhai Reservoir, the first large-scale trans-regional, trans-basin, and long-distance source reservoir in Guizhou. The retrieved results from 11 Sentinel-2 from 2018 to 2021 were used to analyze the spatiotemporal variations in Chla and the influence of different environmental factors on their spatial differentiation, providing a powerful approach for monitoring Chla in the Pingzhai Reservoir. Our binomial function model based on B8*(B7-B5) of Sentinel-2 yielded acceptable to high fitting accuracies, accounting for 89% of the variation in Chla. Overall, the Chla was relatively low, with a mean value of 10.24 μg/L. Higher Chla were distributed in the catchment area, such as the Nayong River and the dam. Moreover, significant seasonal fluctuations and intra-year changes were observed . Spatio-temporal variations in Chla were influenced by human activities and environmental factors such as Dissolved Oxygen (DO), Total Nitrogen (TN), and Ammoniacal Nitrogen (NH4+-N). Our work provided compelling evidence that Sentinel-2 could be used for quantitative inversion of Chla in Pingzhai Reservoir.

In modern society, there is an increasing demand for energy storage solutions with superior energy density. Due to the low capacity of commercial graphite anode (372 mAh/g), high capacity and high stability anode materials for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have become a research hotspot. Among all kinds of anode materials, Ga-based materials have attracted much attention due to their high theoretical capacity and self-healing properties. These characteristics make it very suitable for the anode of high-performance LIBs and drive its commercialization. In this review, we analyzed the modification strategy, the feasibility of Ga-based lithium batteries, and how to utilize the electrochemical properties of Ga efficiently, to provide some insights into the design of high-performance batteries.

ObjectiveTo analyze the clinical characteristics and risk factors of viral shedding time in mildly symptomatic and asymptomatic patients with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Omicron variant (BA.2 and BA2.2) infection in Shanghai, and the effect of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) treatment, so as to provide a reference basis for epidemic prevention, control and clinical treatment.MethodsA total of 6,134 asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic Omicron-infected patients admitted to Tianhua Road fangcang shelter hospital in Jinshan, Shanghai, between April 2022 and May 2022 were included. Demographic characteristics and clinical histories were collected and compared in subgroups according to the different durations of viral shedding. Spearman's correlation analysis was performed to explore the association between virus shedding time and clinical variables. Multiple linear regression was used to evaluate the risk factors for viral shedding time.ResultMost patients with asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic Omicron infection were male, and more than half of patients had a viral shedding time of 8–15 days. The patients were divided into three groups according to the time of viral shedding: short-duration (≤ 7 days), intermediate-duration (8–15 days) and long-duration group (≥16 days). The proportion of patients aged ≤ 29 years was the highest in the short-duration group (30.2%), whereas the proportion of patients aged 50–64 yeas was the highest in the long-duration group (37.9%). The proportion of patients with the chronic non-communicable diseases among the short-, intermediate- and long-duration groups was 6.2, 9.4, and 14.9%, respectively. Among them, hypertension was the most found (4.9, 7.8, and 11.7%, respectively). By multivariate analyses, we identified that viral shedding time of Omicron variants was independently negatively correlated with male patients, TCM treatment, and manual laborers, while it was independently positively associated with age and hypertension. Additionally, TCM treatment could significantly shorten the length of viral shedding time, especially for men, age ≥30 years, comorbid chronic non-communicable diseases, unemployed people and manual worker.ConclusionsOur results suggested that age and hypertension were independent risk factors for the duration of viral shedding in asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic omicron infected patients. TCM can effectively shorten viral shedding time.

This meta-analysis evaluated the diagnostic value of ultrasonic elastography in detecting placental stiffness in the diagnosis of preeclampsia (PE). A systematic search was conducted in the EMBASE, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Scopus database, and PubMed databases to identify studies published before June 2023 using ultrasonic elastography to diagnose PE. The sensitivity, specificity, and diagnostic odds ratio of ultrasonic elastography for diagnosing PE were calculated, and a summary receiver operating characteristic curve model was constructed. The degree of heterogeneity was estimated using the I2 statistic, and a meta-regression analysis was performed to explore its sources. A protocol was determined previously (PROSPERO: CRD42023443646). We included 1188 participants from 11 studies, including 190 patients with PE and 998 patients without PE as controls. Overall sensitivity and specificity of ultrasonic elastography in detecting placental stiffness for the diagnosis of PE were 89% (95% CI: 85–93) and 74% (95% CI: 51–89), respectively. The I2 values for sensitivity and specificity were 59% (95% CI: 29–89) and 96% (95% CI: 95–98), respectively. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.90 (95% CI: 0.87–0.92). The meta-regression analysis showed no significant heterogeneity. Ultrasonic elastography exhibits good diagnostic accuracy for detecting placental stiffness and can serve as a non-invasive tool for differentially diagnosing PE.

Sustainable organic materials have gained considerable attention as electrodes for zinc-ion batteries (ZIB) due to their high theoretical capacity, structural versatility, and environmental friendliness. However, issues of inferior capacities and poor rate performance owing to limited inherent electronic conductivity and severe dissolution still persist. Herein, sandwich-structured perylene diimide-ethylene diamine/graphene (PDI-EDA/EG) composites are judiciously designed and synthesized. The two-dimensional graphene host can interact with the PDI-EDA polymer through π–π stacking, endowing accelerated ion/electron transfer, abundant active sites, excellent structural integrity, and mitigated solubility of the hybrid electrodes. When evaluated as an anode in ZIB, the hybrid electrode delivers a high capacity (110.2 mAh g−1 at 0.1 A g−1), superior rate capability (88.9 mAh g−1 at 5 A g−1), and exceptional durability (93.4% capacity retained after 1000 cycles). The structure evolution of the hybrid electrode during the insertion/extraction cycle was investigated by ex-situ Fourier transform infrared spectra (FTIR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), revealing the reversible Zn2+ storage at carbonyl sites. In addition, a prototype rocking-chair ZIB cell was constructed with a zinc pre-intercalated MnO2 cathode, displaying an ultrahigh energy density of 54.9 Wh kg−1 at a power density of 42.5 W kg−1 and excellent stability with negligible capacity decay after 1000 cycles.

Introduction: Rural residents have been shown to have limited access to reliable health information and therefore may be at higher risks for the adverse health effects of the COVID-19. The aim of this research is 2-fold: (1) to explore the impacts of demographic factors on the accessibility of health information; and (2) to assess the impacts of information channels on the reliability of health information accessed by rural residents in China during the COVID-19 outbreak.Methods: Mixed methods research was performed to provide a relatively complete picture about the accessibility and reliability of health information in rural China in the face of the COVID-19. A quantitative research was conducted through surveying 435 Chinese rural residents and a qualitative study was performed through collecting materials from one of the most popular social media application (WeChat) in China. The logistic regression techniques were used to examine the impacts of demographic factors on the accessibility of health information. The Content analysis was performed to describe and summarize qualitative materials to inform the impacts of information channels on the reliability of health information.Results: Age was found to positively associate with the accessibility of health information, while an opposite association was found between education and the accessibility of health information. Rural residents with monthly income between 3,001 CNY and 4,000 CNY were the least likely to access health information. Rural residents who worked/studied from home were more likely to access health information. Meanwhile, health information tended to be derived from non-official social media channels where rumors and unverified health information spread fast, and the elderly and less-educated rural residents were more likely to access health misinformation.Conclusions: Policy makers are suggested to adopt efficient measures to contain the spread of rumors and unverified health information on non-official social media platforms during the outbreak of a pandemic. More efforts should be devoted to assist the elderly and less-educated rural residents to access reliable health information in the face of a pandemic outbreak.

(1) Background: In order to study the effects of different electric cookers on the nutritional components of millet porridge, five different electric cookers (No. 1–5) were selected to cook millet porridge, then sensory and nutritional components in millet porridge, millet soup, and millet grains were analyzed; (2) Methods: Using principal component and cluster analysis, a variety of nutritional components were comprehensively compared; (3) Results: The results showed that among the different cooked samples, the content of amylose and reducing sugars was the highest in the samples cooked by electric cooker No. 3. The electric cooker No. 4 samples had the highest sensory evaluation score, crude fat, and protein content. The contents of ash, fatty acids, bound amino acids, and minerals were the highest in the electric cooker No. 5 samples. The sensory evaluation score and content of crude fat, ash, reducing sugars, direct starch, and Cu were higher in millet grains than in millet soup or porridge. The content of fatty acids, protein, amino acid, Zn, Fe, Mg, Mn, and Ca was highest in millet soup. Different electric cookers produced millet porridge with varying nutritional levels; (4) Conclusions: This study provides a reference for the further development of new electric cookers.