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City reputation is a valuable asset for the local economy and firms in the contemporary society. However, the impact of city reputation on micro-level firms has been largely overlooked by the literature. This paper uses the National Civilized City (NCC) policy in China as a quasi-natural experiment to enhance city reputation. We employ the DID approach to investigate the relationship between city reputation and corporate risk-taking. The result shows that corporate risk-taking significantly increases following the NCC policy adoption. Moreover, information asymmetry can strengthen the positive impact of city reputation on corporate risk-taking. Channel tests show that city reputation improves financial condition and decreases default risk, leading to improved risk-taking tolerance. Overall, our paper indicates that city reputation is an important mechanism to improve corporate financial performance, providing empirical evidence for local governments to pursue the NCC title. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Desalination through reverse osmosis (RO) membrane is one of the most popular ways. However, conventional RO membranes meet a trade-off between salt rejection and water flux which limit their comprehensive performance. In this work, sulfonated zirconium (IV)-carboxylate metal–organic framework (MOF) material UiO-66-SO3H was successfully synthesized, and thin-film nanocomposite (TFN) with UiO-66-SO3H-incorporated polyamide (PA) layer was fabricated. Angstrom-sized UiO-66-X ion transport channels with different functional groups in TFN membranes change the membrane morphology and chemistry and accelerate the penetration of water molecules while maintaining the high ion screening effect. As a result, compared to the pristine TFC membrane, the optimized TFN-UiO-66-SO3H membrane exhibited an increase in water molecules permeability to 347% and still maintained a salt rejection with ~ 94.7% under 2000 ppm NaCl solution with reverse osmosis (RO) mode, leading to a great improvement of intrinsic separation properties. The improved performance was owing to the size exclusion effect and hydrophilic nature of UiO-66-SO3H particles. What is more, the additional water migration channels through the incorporated UiO-66-SO3H nanoparticles lead to a boosting water permeation and show optimized performance for desalination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pressure-driven reverse osmosis membrane has important application in seawater desalination. Inspired by the structure of aquaporin, we established and studied the mechanism of the structure of multilayer graphene with tapered channels as reverse osmosis. The water flux of multilayer graphene with tapered channels was about 20% higher than that of parallel graphene channel. The flow resistance model was established, and the relationship between flow resistance and opening angles was clarified. The relationship between flow resistance and outlet size was also described. By means of molecular dynamics simulation, slip coefficients of multilayer graphene with tapered channel were obtained and verified by the contact angle of water. Results show that the permeability of graphene with tapered channel is about three orders of magnitude higher than that of commercial reverse osmosis membrane and the desalination rate is 100%. Temperature difference between the two sides of the tapered channel will promote the water flux positively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

FTIR, TG–DTG, TG–FTIR, and Py–GC–MS were employed to investigate the similarities and differences in the pyrolytic characteristics of Fushun oil shale and its by-products, i.e., semi-coke and residual. The semi-coke was obtained by slowly pyrolyzing the oil shale to 450 °C. The residual was a solid residue prepared by completely extracting the semi-coke with a 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride and N-methyl pyrrolidon mixture. The pyrolysis of three samples is related to the cleavages of weak bonds (200–400 °C), decomposition of major organic structures (400–600 °C), and the cleavages of 3–4 kinds of chemical bonds. Gaussian fitting methods was used to fit the DTG curves to evaluate the contributions of various covalent bonds to the pyrolysis. The flash pyrolysis products and typical gaseous products were identified, showing the most outstanding performances of the aliphatic compounds. The differences in the pyrolytic characteristics of three samples are mainly attributed to the diverse forms of thermal bitumen. The attendance of thermal bitumen in the semi-coke, especially its light components generated from oil shale pyrolysis, prompts the more active mass loss behaviors at relatively low temperatures, while the absence of thermal bitumen results in a fairly low mass loss of the residual. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital medicine plays an important role in disease assessment, psychological intervention, and relapse management in mental illnesses. Patients with substance use disorders can be easily affected by the environment and negative emotions, inducing addiction and relapse. However, due to social discrimination, stigma, or economic issues, they are unwilling to go to the hospital for treatment, making it difficult for health workers to track their health changes. Additionally, mental health resources in China are insufficient. Digital medicine aims to solve these problems. This article reviews digital medicine in the field of addiction, hoping to provide a reference for the future exploration of more individualized and effective digital medicine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People start to use heroin in different patterns. This study identified three initial heroin use patterns in a heroin use cohort: No-factor initial pattern (with no factors of initial heroin use), Single-factor initial pattern (with 1 of 3 factors of initial heroin use), and Multiple-factor initial pattern (with 2 or 3 factors of initial heroin use). The cumulative heroin relapse rate was 53.3%, 62.4%, and 72.7% respectively for No-factor, Single-factor, and Multiple-factor initial patterns during the 5-year follow-up. The adjusted hazard ratio (AHR) was 1.401 (95% CI: 1.091–1.799, p = 0.008) in Single-factor initial pattern and 2.381 (95% CI: 1.546–3.668, p < 0.001) in Multiple-factor initial pattern compared to No-factor initial pattern. This study added new evidence to the impact of initial heroin use on long-term relapse risk, which suggested that initial heroin use patterns should not be neglected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whole-genome duplications (WGDs) are an important contributor to phenotypic innovations in evolutionary history. The diversity of blood oxygen transport traits is the perfect reflection of physiological versatility for evolutionary success among vertebrates. In this study, the evolutionary changes of hemoglobin (Hb) repertoire driven by the recent genome duplications were detected in representative Cyprinidae fish, including eight diploid and four tetraploid species. Comparative genomic analysis revealed a substantial variation in both membership composition and intragenomic organization of Hb genes in these species. Phylogenetic reconstruction analyses were conducted to characterize the evolutionary history of these genes. Data were integrated with the expression profiles of the genes during ontogeny. Our results indicated that genome duplications facilitated the phenotypic diversity of the Hb gene family; each was associated with species-specific changes in gene content via gene loss and fusion after genome duplications. This led to repeated evolutionary transitions in the ontogenic regulation of Hb gene expression. Our results revealed that genome duplications helped to generate phenotypic changes in Cyprinidae Hb systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This review aims to identify whether risky decision-making is increased in substance users, and the impact of substance type, polysubstance use status, abstinence period, and treatment status on risky decision-making. Methods: A literature search with no date restrictions was conducted to identify case-control studies or cross-sectional studies that used behavioral tasks to measure risky decision-making in substance users. A random-effects model was performed. GRADE criteria was used to assess the quality of evidence. Results: 52 studies were enrolled. The result showed that the difference in risky decision-making performance between user groups and control groups was significant (SMD = − 0.590; 95%CI = − 0.849 to − 0.330; p < 0.001; I2 = 93.4%; Pheterogeneity < 0.001). Subgroup analysis showed that users in the subgroups of alcohol (p < 0.001), tobacco (p < 0.01), cocaine (p < 0.001), opioid (p < 0.001), mixed group (p < 0.01), adult users (p < 0.001), small sample size (p < 0.001), large sample size (p < 0.01), low education (p < 0.001), high education (p < 0.001), short-abstinence period (p < 0.001), long-abstinence period (p < 0.001), without current polysubstance dependence (p < 0.001), and with treatment (p < 0.001) had increased risky decision-making when compared to the controls. On the other hand, elderly substance users with short-abstinence period showed increased risky decision-making. Moreover, current treatment status and polysubstance use may not influence the level of decision-making in substance users. Conclusions: The results show that substance use is associated with impaired risky decision-making, indicating that interventions targeting risky decision-making in substance users should be developed for relapse prevention and rehabilitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the waste graphite/expanded polystyrene was used as a raw material to prepare recycled graphite/expanded (rGEPS) foam board. A convenient and facile way to regenerate graphite/polystyrene beads was proposed in this work. This can be applied in the further industrial production. The solvent could be recycled, which made the process more efficient and economic. The rGEPS beads were analyzed by TGA, FTIR and XRD. The results indicated that the properties were not deteriorated. Then, the test results of rGEPS foam board, such as water absorption, apparent density, bending strength, compressive strength, thermal conductivity and oxygen index, showed that the properties have reached enterprise standards of expanded polystyrene (EPS) foam board. The thermal conductivity was decreased by 13.16% compared with EPS foam board. Therefore, the prepared rGEPS foam board could be considered as a candidate of the thermal insulation materials in construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Methamphetamine (MA) use disorder is a growing global health challenge marked by a steady increase worldwide. GABAergic system plays an important role in the mechanism of drug dependence, however few studies about the association between methamphetamine use disorder and genes in GABAergic system. Concerning GABBR1 gene which encoding the GABAB receptor subunit 1 is an important regulator in the GABAergic system. The aim of the study is to explore whether GABBR1 gene play a role in methamphetamine dependence and relapse after rehabilitation. Three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs, rs2076483, rs29221, rs715044) of the GABBR1 gene were genotyped in 791 participants with MA use disorder and 448 healthy controls. The distribution of genotypes and alleles of the three SNPs between the two groups and their subgroups (dependence and abuse) was been analyzed. The multivariate logistic model was used to identify factors associate with relapse of MA use disorder during the following 2 years after drug rehabilitation. It was found that the C allele frequency of rs715044 of the GABBR1 gene was associated with MA use disorder and MA dependence. The CGA (rs2076483- rs29221- rs715044) was negatively associated with MA use disorder. The drug use years and rs29221 GG genotype were associated with relapse during the following 2 years after drug rehabilitation. GABBR1 gene may be associated with the susceptibility for MA use disorder and relapse and it indicates that the GABAergic system may play a role in the MA use disorder.GABBR1 gene may be associated with the susceptibility for MA use disorder and relapse and it indicates that the GABAergic system may play a role in the MA use disorder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wireless multimedia sensor networks (WMSN), with self-organizing and high fault tolerant characteristics, have achieved great advantages in target tracking region. However, the capabilities of these tiny devices are limited by their battery power, storage capacity, computational ability and communication bandwidth. In this paper, hybrid wireless multimedia sensors networks composed of acoustic and image sensors are proposed for target tracking. When the target appears in the detection area, it may change the environment parameters nearby, so acoustic sensors are used to gather target signal firstly. Then, a target location method is executed based on the strength of the received acoustic signal. Furthermore, to achieve energy-efficient target tracking with high reliability and robust, image sensors are used as supplements to the acoustic sensors. This approach also reduces the power consumption communication burden of the whole networks. In order to decrease the number of active nodes, Gauss Markov mobility model is also adopted to predict the target trajectory and minimize the tracking region with considering of vehicular kinematics. Simulation results verify that, compared with other algorithms, our scheme can reduce the energy consumption and improve tracking accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information of the difference in quality between farmed and wild fish is central to better ensuring fish products produced in aquaculture meet regulatory and consumer requirements. Proximate composition, amino acid and fatty acid profiles, and toxic elements contents of farmed and wild Chanodichthys mongolicus were established and compared. Significantly higher crude protein content while lower moisture content in farmed fish compared to wild fish were observed ( P<0.05). The percentages of total amino acids (TAA), total essential amino acids (TEAA), total non-essential amino acids (TNEAA) and total delicious amino acids (TDAA) in farmed fish were all significantly higher than those in the wild equivalent ( P<0.05). Compared to the FAO/WHO recommended reference values, the ratios of TEAA/TAA (39.84%-40.33%) were comparable to 40% and TEAA / TNEAA (66.22%-67.60%) were above 60%. Fatty acid profiles in both farmed and wild C. mongolicus were dominated by monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA), with farmed fish contained much more MUFA content compared to wild counterpart ( P<0.05). Notably, wild fish exhibited significantly higher levels of total polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) including eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) than farmed fish ( P<0.05). The EPA (C) and linoleic acid (C) were the predominant PUFA in wild and farmed C. mongolicus, respectively. Moreover, farmed fish displayed an overall lower toxic element levels (As, Cd, Pb and Hg) in comparison with wild fish, and both were far lower than the established limit standard. In conclusion, our results suggest that the nutritional quality of farmed C. mongolicus was inferior to their wild counterpart with respect to fatty acids nutrition, and therefore further studies should focus on the improving C. mongolicus diet in order to enhance the overall nutritional composition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic and technical features are equally important to radio resource allocation in wireless network virtualization (WNV). Regarding virtual resource (VR) as commodity, this paper proposes an effective VR allocation scheme for WNV from the perspective of the market-equilibrium theory. First, physical meaning clear utility functions are defined to characterize the network benefits of user equipments (UEs), infrastructure providers (InPs) and virtual network operators (VNOs) in WNV. Then, the VR allocation problem between one InP and multiple VNOs is formulated as a multi-objective optimization problem. To reduce the algorithm complexity, the multiple-objective problem is first decoupled into two single-objective sub-problems. The supplier-layer sub-problem aims to maximize the benefit of the unique InP, while the customer-layer sub-problem aims to maximize the benefits of the multiple VNOs. Both of the separated sub-problems are solved by using standard convex optimization method, and are combined by searching for the equilibrium-price (EP) of the VR market. As a result, the Pareto optimal solution of the original multi-objective problem is found, at which no one (the InP or anyone of the VNOs) can increase its benefit by deviating the EP without hurting others' benefits. The effectiveness of the proposed VR allocation scheme is testified through extensive experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowledge of oxygen consumption rates and asphyxiation points in fish is important to determine appropriate stocking and water quality management in aquaculture. The oxygen consumption rate and asphyxiation point in Chanodichthys mongolicus were detected under laboratory conditions using an improved respirometer chamber. The results revealed that more accurate estimates can be obtained by adjusting the volume of the respirometer chamber, which may avoid system errors caused by either repeatedly adjusting fish density or selecting different equipment specifications. The oxygen consumption rate and asphyxiation point of C. mongolicus increased with increasing water temperature and decreasing fish size. Changes in the C. mongolicus oxygen consumption rate were divided into three stages at water temperatures of 11-33°C: (1) a low temperature oxygen consumption rate stage when water temperature was 11-19°C, (2) the optimum temperature oxygen consumption rate stage when water temperature was 19-23°C, and (3) a high temperature oxygen consumption rate stage when water temperature was > 27°C. The temperature quotients (Q) obtained suggested that C. mongolicus preferred a temperature range of 19-23°C. At 19°C, C. mongolicus exhibited higher oxygen consumption rates during the day when the maximum values were observed at 10:00 and 14:00 than at night when the minimum occurred at 02:00. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to investigate the blood levels of methadone in participants receiving methadone for the treatment of opioid dependence. After stabilization on methadone for four weeks, blood samples from 95 participants were collected between treatment weeks 4 and 12, before and after receiving doses of methadone, and its blood levels were measured. A multiple linear regression model was used to examine the association between methadone blood levels and the outcomes of methadone maintenance treatment (MMT). Outcome differences between participants who had high (≥2) or low (<2) peak-to-trough ratios were also compared using an independent sample t-test. The blood level of methadone was not correlated with the clinical outcome of MMT with the moderate range of doses given. However, the retention of patients who had a free peak-to-trough ratio >2 was significantly poorer than those whose ratio was <2. Thus, monitoring plasma methadone levels is unlikely to be effective for guiding dosing decisions in situations where compliance with MMT is already very high or when the methadone dose is no longer the dominant factor in determining the clinical outcome. However, monitoring plasma methadone levels is still helpful for guiding the dosage for patients with a rapid metabolism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concentrations of Cu, Zn, Cr, As, Cd, Pb and Hg were determined in 153 samples covering 18 fish species collected from Heilongjiang River, China, and the potential health risks to local residents through fish consumption were estimated. Results revealed that all metals were detected with Cd and Pb having considerably lower detection rate. There were 28.6 % of Lethenteron camtschaticum samples exceeding the limit of inorganic As content established by Chinese legislation. Metal bioaccumulation in fish were poorly correlated with fish sizes, and generally tended to increase with trophic levels. The hazard quotient values of all fish species were far below 1 for general population and fishermen. The carcinogenic risk of As in L. camtschaticum for the local fishermen exceeded the acceptable level of 10 rise in cancer rates, but was considered safe given the migratory habits of the fish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

White matter (WM) alterations have been reported in methamphetamine (MA) users. However, knowledge about longitudinal changes in WM during abstinence from MA remains unknown. The present study aimed to examine how WM changes in long-term MA abstinent, in particular, whether the WM deficits would recover as the duration of abstinence extended. Twenty male MA dependent individuals and 19 healthy controls (HCs) were recruited and participated in both clinical assessments and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) scans. The MA group underwent two DTI scans, a baseline scan with a duration of abstinence of 6.4 months and and a follow-up scan with a duration of abstinence of 13.0 months. Tract-Based Spatial Statistics was utilized to conduct baseline DTI analysis of MA group compared with HCs. The clusters with significant group differences of factional anisotropy (FA) were extracted as region of interests (ROIs). Mean values of DTI measurements (FA, mean diffusivity, axial diffusivity and radial diffusivity) were calculated within the ROIs in each subject's native space at baseline and follow-up. The MA group showed significant lower FA in the right internal capsule and superior corona radiate than HCs. The deficits did not recover when the duration of abstinence from MA reached 13 months. No significant correlations were found between FA and clinical measurements. Our results suggested persistent microstructure deficits of WM tracts surrounding the basal ganglia in MA dependent individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research have revealed that circulating miRNAs may offer noninvasive biomarkers for human disease, offering the prospect for earlier diagnosis, and improved precision of diagnoses. The diagnoses of drug use disorders is still mainly based on subjective report and no objective biomarkers available. Many animal and cell studies found that miRNAs were involved in substance use disorders, including alcohol, morphine, cocaine and amphetamine use disorders. However, no study on circulating miRNAs for drug use disorders so far. We investigated the differential expression of plasma miRNAs in 124 patients with methamphetamine (MA) use disorders. Based on the preliminary results from microarray screen, plasma expression of 6 candidate miRNAs were measured by Quantitative real-time RT-PCR. We found that the expression of miR181a, miR15b, miR- let-7e, miR- let-7d in plasma were decreased compared to normal controls. The expression of the altered miRNAs were negative correlated with drug use frequencies in past months. Our findings suggested that miR-181a, miR-15b, miR-let-7e and miR-let-7d may play a potential role in the pathology of MA use disorder, and could serve as a potential peripheral biomarker for MA use disorder when confirmed by future studies. Further study are needed to elucidate the molecular mechanism modulated by miRNAs and explore potential novel intervention targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Detecting skin-colored pixels, although seems a straightforward easy task, has proven to be quite a challenging task in images that are captured under complex unconstrained imaging conditions. Color segmentation is an important method of segmenting the body in images. In this paper, we first provides a review of skin color modeling research works for face detection. In particular, we focus on discussing the challenges of skin color modeling, detection, and segmentation, and then we present the skin color modeling and region-based skin segmentation. We also propose a new approach to analyze the hue characteristics of monitoring personnel in coal mine. We determine the skin color boundaries of the miners using the boundary detection method based on the response of visual hue. And then, we apply to determining hue area method using dual hue detector to segment skin color for miners. Experiments show that the method has excellent ability to segment skin regions of miners. We also summarize the most widely used methods for skin detection approaches and collecting their numerical evaluation results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study was undertaken to assess the contents of heavy metals (Cu, Zn, Cr, Pb, Cd, As and Hg) in sea cucumber ( Apostichopus japonicus) juveniles from coastal areas of Bohai and Yellow seas in northern China. Sea cucumber juveniles were collected from twenty commercial hatcheries distributed in five coastal cities. The mean concentrations obtained for heavy metals in mg/kg were as follows: Cu (0.179), Zn (2.634), Cr (0.108), Pb (0.065), Cd (0.161), As (0.372), Hg (0.034). All the mean concentrations were below the maximum residual limits set by Chinese legislation, but As in 10 % samples exceeded the safety threshold. Significant differences in contents of Cr, Pb and Hg were found among the five investigated areas. Overall, the heavy metal levels in sea cucumber juveniles were relatively low and more attention should be paid to toxic metals Pb, Cd, As and Hg in future routine monitoring program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hemibarbus labeo is a valuable freshwater fish species distributed in the Heilongjiang River basin in China. Wild resources have declined sharply in recent years because of overfishing and pollution. Herein, twenty polymorphic microsatellites were isolated from an enriched genomic library in H. labeo for genetic conservation. These markers were characterized in 27 wild and 48 cultured individuals. The number of alleles per locus ranged from two to ten, with an average of 5.200. The observed heterozygosity and the expected heterozygosity varied from 0.086 to 0.870 (mean = 0.538) and from 0.116 to 0.861 (mean = 0.5441), respectively. Three and two loci significantly deviated from Hard-Weinberg equilibrium in wild and cultured individuals, respectively. Three pairwise comparisons of six loci showed significant genotypic linkage disequilibrium in cultured individuals. These polymorphic markers represent a powerful tool to study population genetic diversity, genetic conservation and breeding systems in H. labeo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanofluid, a new class of solid/liquid mixtures, provided theoretical challenges because the measured effective thermal conductivity containing a few loadings of nanoparticle (<5 vol%) showed greater enhancement than traditional models predicted. The solid-like nanolayer around the nanoparticle acts as a thermal bridge between the particle and the base fluid, so is a key mechanism to enhance heat transfer of nanofluid. Based on the two-dimension Fourier's law in the cylindrical coordinates, we deduced an expression for calculating the effective thermal conductivity of carbon nanotube-based nanofluid considering the interfacial nanolayer, as well as an empirical shape factor. The theoretical predictions on the enhanced thermal conductivity agree quite well with the available experimental data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous researches showed that the dopamine receptor D1 (DRD1) may play a critical role in drug dependence. This research aimed to determine whether DRD1 played a role in development of heroin dependence in Chinese heroin-dependent patients. 465 Chinese Han heroin-dependent subjects and 379 healthy controls were recruited in the Shanghai region. Five single-nucleotide-polymorphisms (SNPs) of the DRD1 gene were genotyped in all subjects. The results found that the frequencies of DRD1 SNP genotypes or haplotypes were not different between heroin-dependent patients and controls. Among heroin-dependent patients, subjects with rs5326CC and/or rs6882300AA genotypes develop to heroin-dependent more rapidly than those without rs5326CC and/or rs6882300AA genotypes. The results indicated that DRD1 gene polymorphism may not play an important role in the susceptibility of heroin dependence in the Chinese Han population, but it may be associated with the rapidity of heroin dependence development from first drug use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A kind of piezoresistive response extraction method for smart cement-based composites/ sensors was proposed. Two kinds of typical piezoresistive cement-based composites/sensors were fabricated by respectively adding carbon nanotubes and nickel powders as conductive fillers into cement paste or cement mortar. The variation in measured electrical resistance of such cement-based composites/sensors was explored without loading and under repeated compressive loading and impulsive loading. The experimental results indicate that the measured electrical resistance of piezoresistive cement-based composites/sensors exhibits a two-stage variation trend of fast increase and steady increase with measurement time without loading, and an irreversible increase after loading. This results from polarization caused by ionic conduction in these composites/sensors. After reaching a plateau, the measured electrical resistance can be divided into an electrical resistance part and an electrical capacity part. The piezoresistive responses of electrical resistance part in measured electrical resistance to loading can be extracted by eliminating the linear electrical capacity part in measured electrical resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information of defects and 3d electrons in transition metals (Ti, V, Cu) and TiAl-based alloys (Ti50Al50, Ti50Al48V2, Ti50Al48Cu2) can be extracted from the positron lifetime and coincidence Doppler broadening spectra. The results show that the 3d electron signals for the transition metals Ti, V and Cu increase with the number of 3d electrons. The 3d electron signal and the electron density for binary TiAl alloy are relatively low due to the (Ti)3d-(Al)3p interactions. The addition of V and Cu atoms to TiAl alloy leads to the increase in the electron densities in bulk and the defects on grain boundaries simultaneously, as well as the enhancement of the 3d electron signal. The 3d electron signal in the spectrum of Ti50Al48Cu2 alloy is higher than that of Ti50Al48V2 alloy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ostariophysans are the most diverse group of freshwater fishes and feature a pheromone-elicited fright reaction. However, the genetic basis of fright reaction is unclear. Here, we compared vomeronasal type 2 receptor-like (OlfC) genes from fishes having and lacking fright reaction, to provide insight into evolution of pheromonal olfaction in fishes. We found OlfC genes expanded remarkably in ostariophysans having fright reaction compared with fishes lacking fright reaction. Phylogenetic analysis indicates OlfC subfamily 9 expanded specifically in ostariophysans having fright reaction. Principle component and phylogenetic logistic regression analysis partitioned fishes by ecotype (having or lacking fright reaction) and identified OlfC subfamily 9 as being an important factor for fright reaction. Expression levels of expanded OlfC subfamily genes after fright reaction in zebrafish changed more than did genes that had not expanded. Furthermore, evidence of positive selection was found in the expanded OlfC proteins in ostariophysan fishes having fright reaction. These results provide new insight into the genetic basis of fright reaction in ostariophysan fish and will enable future research into the mechanism of action of OlfC proteins. Yang et al. investigate the genetic basis of pheromone-elicited fright behavior in ostariophysan fish. They identify a subfamily of vomeronasal type 2 receptor-like (OlfC) that appears to be under strong positive selection; its transcriptional variation suggests a role in the fright behavior of ostariophysan fish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract : Addiction is associated with high impulsivity. Behavioral impulsivity sets the vulnerability in addiction formation, facilitates drug use, and acts as one most important risk factors for relapse. However, the pattern of individual heterogeneity across addictive disorders for precision medicine is still unclear. We performed network-based analysis using the clinical data of trait impulsivity from 1687 subjects with stimulant and heroin use disorders, as well as Internet gaming disorder (IGD). Based on Barratt Impulsivity Scale (BIS) measurements, the trait impulsivity networks and individual differential impulsivity networks (IDINs) were constructed. The three types of addiction respectively accompany different core impulsivity traits. The global network strength in stimulant use disorder was significantly higher than that in other addiction types, and non-planning impulsivity connections in heroin subjects differed from the rest groups. Based on the individual differential impulsivity networks, these subjects were clustered into three types, as deviated from control subjects. The three deviation patterns were related to addiction type, age, education, and addiction duration. These findings indicated different core impulsivity traits across addictions and heterogeneity of individual trait impulsivity patterns, which supports individualized medicine in managing impulsivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]