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The brain calibrates itself based on the past stimulus diet, which makes frequently observed stimuli appear as typical (as opposed to uncommon stimuli, which appear as distinctive). Based on predictive processing theory, the brain should be more "prepared" for typical exemplars, because these contain information that has been encountered frequently, allowing it to economically represent items of that category. Thus, one could ask whether predictability and typicality of visual stimuli interact, or rather act in an additive manner. We adapted the design by Egner and colleagues (2010), who used cues to induce expectations about stimulus category (face vs. chair) occurrence during an orthogonal inversion detection task. We measured BOLD responses with fMRI in 35 participants. First, distinctive stimuli always elicited stronger responses than typical ones in all ROIs, and our whole-brain directional contrasts for the effects of typicality and distinctiveness converge with previous findings. Second and importantly, we could not replicate the interaction between category and predictability reported by Egner et al. (2010), which casts doubt on whether cueing designs are ideal to elicit reliable predictability effects. Third, likely as a consequence of the lack of predictability effects, we found no interaction between predictability and typicality in any of the four tested regions (bilateral fusiform face areas, lateral occipital complexes) when considering both categories, nor in the whole brain. We discuss the issue of replicability in neuroscience and sketch an agenda for how future studies might address the same question. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) pathway is an evolutionarily conserved regulator of cell death, which is essential for coordinating tissue homeostasis. In this study, we have characterized the Drosophila Ste20-like kinase Slik as a novel modulator of JNK pathway-mediated apoptotic cell death. Results: First, ectopic JNK signaling-triggered cell death is enhanced by slik depletion whereas suppressed by Slik overexpression. Second, loss of slik activates JNK signaling, which results in enhanced apoptosis and impaired tissue homeostasis. In addition, genetic epistasis analysis suggests that Slik acts upstream of or in parallel to Hep to regulate JNK-mediated apoptotic cell death. Moreover, Slik is necessary and sufficient for preventing physiologic JNK signaling-mediated cell death in development. Furthermore, introduction of STK10, the human ortholog of Slik, into Drosophila restores slik depletion-induced cell death and compromised tissue homeostasis. Lastly, knockdown of STK10 in human cancer cells also leads to JNK activation, which is cancelled by expression of Slik. Conclusions: This study has uncovered an evolutionarily conserved role of Slik/STK10 in blocking JNK signaling, which is required for cell death inhibition and tissue homeostasis maintenance in development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vision is an important way for unmanned mobile platforms to understand surrounding environmental information. For an unmanned mobile platform, quickly and accurately obtaining environmental information is a basic requirement for its subsequent visual tasks. Based on this, a unique convolution module called Multi-Scale Depthwise Separable Convolution module is proposed for real-time semantic segmentation. This module mainly consists of concatenation pointwise convolution and multi-scale depthwise convolution. Not only does the concatenation pointwise convolution change the number of channels, but it also combines the spatial features from the multi-scale depthwise convolution operations to produce additional features. The Multi-Scale Depthwise Separable Convolution module can strengthen the non-linear relationship between input and output. Specifically, the multi-scale depthwise convolution module extracts multi-scale spatial features while remaining lightweight. This fully uses multi-scale information to describe objects despite their different sizes. Here, Mean Intersection over Union (MIoU), parameters, and inference speed were used to describe the performance of the proposed network. On the Camvid, KITTI, and Cityscapes datasets, the proposed algorithm compromised between accuracy and memory in comparison to widely used and cutting-edge algorithms. In particular, the proposed algorithm acquired 61.02 MIoU with 2.68 M parameters on the Camvid test dataset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kitchen waste (KW) has high water content and organic matter, which has great potential for energy application, but how to treat it effectively has always been a difficult problem. In this study, the feasibility of transforming kitchen waste into hydrochar as a solid fuel to replace the primary energy by hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) is put forward. An experimental study of proportioned KW under HTC conditions (reaction temperature, residence time, liquid–solid ratio) is carried out by elemental analysis, industrial analysis, energy density calculation, and calorific value measurement. The results show that a proper extension of the residence time to 3.5 h at a liquid–solid ratio of 10 and a reaction temperature of 265 °C for the kitchen waste after HTC would result in a maximum calorific value of 30.933 MJ/Kg for the prepared hydrochar. The maximum ash content of hydrochar at a 265 °C reaction temperature is 3.94% < 10%, which is much lower than the standard of extra-low-ash coal, and the study shows that the hydrochar prepared from kitchen waste by HTC for combustion will greatly improve the combustion efficiency. The three types of kitchen waste under HTC conditions are compared with the three typical types of coal in China by the van Krevelen diagram. The results show that the combustion properties of hydrochar from kitchen waste prepared by the HTC method are better than those of lignite close to bituminous coal and can provide a theoretical basis for replacing primary energy in the future. Finally, by combining thermogravimetric analysis with mathematical modeling, it is calculated that the hydrochar of kitchen waste has a lower activation energy than those of other biomass, which can better facilitate the reaction. The experimental results further determine the feasibility of hydrochar as an alternative primary energy source and provide a theoretical basis for the future conversion of kitchen waste into hydrochar as a solid fuel through HTC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carboxylesterases (CEs) play important physiological roles in the human body and are involved in numerous cellular processes. Monitoring CEs activity has great potential for the rapid diagnosis of malignant tumors and multiple diseases. Herein, we developed a new phenazine-based "turn-on" fluorescent probe DBPpys by introducing 4-bromomethyl-phenyl acetate to DBPpy, which can selectively detect CEs with a low detection limit (9.38 × 10−5 U/mL) and a large Stokes shift (more than 250 nm) in vitro. In addition, DBPpys can also be converted into DBPpy by carboxylesterase in HeLa cells and localized in lipid droplets (LDs), emitting bright near-infrared fluorescence under the irradiation of white light. Moreover, we achieved the detection of cell health status by measuring the intensity of NIR fluorescence after co-incubation of DBPpys with H2O2-pretreated HeLa cells, indicating that DBPpys has great potential applications for assessing CEs activity and cellular health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the rapid development of the miniaturization and portability of electronic devices, the demand for polymer composites with high thermal conductivity and mechanical flexibility has significantly increased. A carbon nanotube (CNT)-graphene (Gr)/polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) composite with excellent thermal conductivity and mechanical flexibility is prepared by ultrasonic-assisted forced infiltration (UAFI). When the mass ratio of CNT and Gr reaches 3:1, the thermal conductivity of the CNT-Gr(3:1)/PDMS composite is 4.641 W/(m·K), which is 1619% higher than that of a pure PDMS matrix. In addition, the CNT-Gr(3:1)/PDMS composite also has excellent mechanical properties. The tensile strength and elongation at break of CNT-Gr(3:1)/PDMS composites are 3.29 MPa and 29.40%, respectively. The CNT-Gr/PDMS composite also shows good performance in terms of electromagnetic shielding and thermal stability. The PDMS composites have great potential in the thermal management of electronic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is concerned with a nonlocal reaction–diffusion prey–predator model with free boundary. The spatial–temporal risk index R 0 p (t) which is threshold value, is introduced for this model. The global existence of positive solutions is proved and the long-time behavior of positive solutions is investigated. The sufficient conditions are found for vanishing of predators and the establishment of themselves in new environment. Furthermore, the spreading–vanishing criteria are established. The results show that the predators will vanish finally and not establish themselves if the sizes of habitant and spreading coefficient are relatively small or the initial value of predators is also relatively small with R 0 p (0) < 1 , and the predators will achieve if initial values of predators and preys are relatively big or R 0 p (t 0) > 1 for t 0 > 0. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is concerned with a cross-diffusion predator–prey system with prey-taxis incorporating Holling type II functional response under homogeneous Neumann boundary condition. By employing global bifurcation theory, it is obtained that a branch of nonconstant solutions can bifurcate from the positive constant solution whenever the chemotactic is attractive or repulsive. Furthermore, by using perturbation of simple eigenvalues it is found that the bifurcating solutions are locally stable near the bifurcation point under suitable conditions. These results imply that cross-diffusion can create coexistence for the predators and preys under the above special case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Selective laser melting (SLM) can effectively replace traditional processing methods to prepare parts with arbitrary complex shapes through layer-by-layer accumulation. However, SLM Ti-6Al-4V alloy typically exhibits low ductility and significant mechanical properties anisotropy due to the presence of acicular α′ martensite and columnar prior β grains. Post-heat treatment is frequently used to obtain superior mechanical properties by decomposing acicular α′ martensite into an equilibrium α + β phase. In this study, the microstructure and tensile properties of SLM Ti-6Al-4V alloy before and after various heat treatments were systematically investigated. The microstructure of the as-fabricated Ti-6Al-4V sample was composed of columnar prior β grains and acicular α′ martensite, which led to high strength (~1400 MPa) but low ductility (~5%) as well as significantly tensile anisotropy. The single heat treatment samples with lamellar α + β microstructure exhibited improved elongation to 6.8–13.1% with a sacrifice of strength of 100–200 MPa, while the tensile anisotropy was weakened. A trimodal microstructure was achieved through multi-step high-to-low-temperature (HLT) heat treatment, resulting in an excellent combination of strength (~1090 MPa) and ductility (~17%), while the tensile anisotropy was almost eliminated. The comprehensive mechanical properties of the HLT samples were superior to that of the conventional manufactured Ti-6Al-4V alloy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highly anisotropic SmCo 5 single crystal particles are promising candidates for high-density data storage and building nanocomposite permanent magnets with large maximum energy product. Previously, nanocrystalline SmCo 5 particles obtained by calciothermic reduction exhibit low magnetic energy product due to magnetic isotropy caused by severely agglomerated equiaxial particles. In this study, we report a new strategy to fabricate highly anisotropic SmCo 5 nanochips by reductive annealing of precursors with a special designed morphology. The precursors containing single crystal Co(OH) 2 nanoflakes and crystalline Sm(OH) 3 nanorods were synthesized by a hydrothermal process, and converted into SmCo 5 nanochips by subsequent thermal reduction, during which the Co(OH) 2 nanoflakes facilitate the formation of SmCo 5 nanochips as a template and Sm(OH) 3 nanorods help to maintain the hexagonal morphology and single crystal nature. The SmCo 5 nanochips exhibit strong magnetic anisotropy and excellent room temperature magnetic properties with a remanence of 7.7 kG, coercivity of 19.3 kOe, and maximum energy product of 14.4 MGOe, which is the highest recorded value for chemical synthesized nanostructured SmCo 5 particles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dynamic adaptive streaming addresses user heterogeneity by providing multiple encoded representations at different rates and/or resolutions for the same video content. For delay-sensitive applications, such as live streaming, there is however a stringent requirement on the encoding delay, and usually the encoding power (or rate) budget is also limited by the computational (or storage) capacity of the server. It is therefore important, yet challenging, to optimally select the source coding parameters for each encoded representation in order to minimize the resource consumption while maintaining a high quality of experience for the users. To address this, we propose an optimization framework with an optimal representation selection problem for delay, power, and rate constrained adaptive video streaming. Then, by the optimal selection of source coding parameters for each selected representation, we maximize the overall expected user satisfaction, subject not only to the encoding rate constraint, but also to the delay and power constraints at the server. We formulate the proposed optimization problem as an integer linear program formulation to provide the performance upper bound, and as a submodular maximization problem with two knapsack constraints to develop a practically feasible algorithm. Simulation results show that the proposed weighted rate and power cost benefit greedy algorithm is able to achieve a near-optimal performance with very low time complexity. In addition, it can strike the best tradeoff both between the rate and power cost, and between the algorithm’s performance and the delay requirements proposed by delay sensitive applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is concerned with a fractional diffusion predator-prey system with Holling type-II functional response in a bounded domain with no flux boundary condition. The local and global stabilities are investigated and sufficient conditions of stabilities are obtained. The existence of the non-constant steady states is considered and the sufficient conditions of the existence for the non-constant steady states are also obtained. The results show that the predator and the prey can coexist under some suitable conditions with fractional diffusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is purported to investigate a ratio-dependent prey–predator system with cross-diffusion in a bounded domain under no flux boundary condition. The asymptotical stabilities of nonnegative constant solutions are investigated to this system. Moreover, without estimating the lower bounds of positive solutions, the existence, multiplicity of positive steady states are considered by using fixed points index theory, bifurcation theory, energy estimates and the differential method of implicit function and inverse function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is purported to investigate a food chain reaction-diffusion predator-prey system with nonlocal delays in a bounded domain with no flux boundary condition. We investigate the global stability and find the sufficient conditions of global stability of the unique positive equilibrium for this system. The derived results show that delays often restrain stability. Using the method of linearizing this system, we see that the zero equilibrium is unstable. Moreover, by constructing upper-lower solutions, we find that there exist traveling wavefronts which connect the zero equilibrium and positive equilibrium when the wave speed is large enough and the prey intrinsic growth rate and the death rate of the predator are relatively big. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A ratio-dependent diffusion predator-prey system with free boundary is investigated to understand the impact of free boundary on spreading-vanishing dichotomy and a long time behavior of species. The existence and uniqueness of solutions are verified and the behavior of positive solutions is considered for this system. Moreover, the criteria for spreading-vanishing dichotomy are also derived. The results show that if the length of the initial occupying area is longer than a critical size for the predators or the length of the initial occupying area is shorter than a critical size, but the moving coefficient of free boundary is relatively big, then the spreading of predators always happens under relatively small rate of death for the predator. On the other hand, it is found that if the initial value of free boundary is smaller than a threshold value and the moving coefficient of free boundary is relatively small depending on initial size of predator or the rate of death is relatively big, the predators fail in spreading to new environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the cross-diffusion three-species model with prey-taxis incorporating Beddington–DeAngelis response under homogeneous Neumann boundary condition. In addition to random diffusion, the predators and preys have cross-diffusion and prey-taxis during the process of interaction. By applying the contraction mapping principle, the Hölder continuity, the parabolic Schauder estimates and parabolic L p estimates, we prove that there exists a unique global classical solution of this system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information about effects of conversion from rice fields to vegetable fields on denitrification process is still limited. In this study, denitrification rate and product ratio (i.e., N 2 O/(N 2 O + N 2) ratio) were investigated by soil-core incubation based N 2 /Ar technique in one rice paddy field (RP) and two vegetable fields (VF4 and VF7, 4 and 7 years vegetable cultivating after conversion from rice fields, respectively). Genes related to denitrification and bacterial community composition were quantified to investigate the microbial mechanisms behind the effects of land-use conversion. The results showed that conversion of rice fields to vegetable fields did not significantly change denitrification rate although the abundance of denitrification related genes was significantly reduced by 79.22%–99.84% in the vegetable soils. Whereas, compared with the RP soil, N 2 O emission rate was significantly (P < 0.05) increased by 53.5 and 1.6 times in the VF4 and VF7 soils, respectively. Correspondingly, the N 2 O/(N 2 O + N 2) ratio increased from 0.18% (RP soil) to 5.65% and 0.65% in the VF4 and VF7 soils, respectively. These changes were mainly attributed to the lower pH, higher nitrate content, and the altered bacterial community composition in the vegetable soils. Overall, our results showed that conversion of rice fields to vegetable fields increased the N 2 O emission rate and altered the product ratio of denitrification. This may increase the contribution of land-use conversion to global warming and stratospheric ozone depletion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the better operation of future electronic devices in complex situations, higher requirements of mechanical performance, especially bearing capacity, were put forward to functional composites. Therefore, the mechanical performance enhancement of functional composites had important practical application value. In this work, we reported a short carbon fiber-graphene nanoplatelets-polydimethylsiloxane (SGP)/epoxy acrylic resin (EA resin) composites with integrated thermal conductivity, electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding, and mechanical performances using a combination method of 3D printing and vacuum impregnation. In the SGP/EA resin composite, EA resin skeleton with different cell shapes was responsible for the bearing capacity of composite samples, while the thermal conductivity and EMI shielding performance were provided by the SGP compound. When the cell shape of skeleton was circular and the filling contents in SGP compound was 15 wt% SCF and 6 wt% GNP, the SGP/EA resin composite presented best combination properties of 323.5 kPa compressive modulus, 2.13 W/(m·K) thermal conductivity, and 45.93 dB EMI shielding performance at 12.4 GHz. This work provided a facile, low-cost, and scalable method to fabricate composite samples with integrated thermal conductivity, EMI shielding, and mechanical performances. These multifunctional composites are highly promising for applications concerning heat dissipation, EMI shielding, and load-bearing devices. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In addition to the rate-distortion (R-D) behavior, in a real-time wireless video communication system, the end-to-end delay would also significantly affect the overall video reception quality. To analyze, control, and optimize the R-D behavior under the end-to-end delay constraint, in this paper we extend the traditional R-D optimization (RDO) for the wireless video communication system and formulate a novel delay–RDO-based rate control problem, by investigating the allocation of end-to-end delay to different delay components. It aims at minimizing the average total end-to-end distortion under the transmission rate and end-to-end delay constraints, by a joint selection of both the source coding and the channel coding parameters. The wireless channel is represented by a finite-state Markov channel model characterizing the time-varying process and predicting the future channel condition. As applicable solutions, a practical algorithm based on the Lagrange multiplier approaches, Karush–Kuhn–Tucker conditions, and sequential quadratic programming methods is developed. The experimental results demonstrate the superiority of the proposed algorithm over the existing schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

With the continuous development of modern electronic equipment, thermal management of electronic devices has become the focus of attention due to the energy consumption. As an important part of thermal management system, it is necessary to develop an electrical equipment shell with both superior thermal conductivity and mechanical properties for better thermal management performance. However, it is very difficult to balance the relationship between thermal conductivity and mechanical properties of thermal conductive polymer composites. Increasing filling content of thermal conductive fillers would lead to heavy damage of mechanical properties. In this paper, we construct a bi-continuous structure to solve this problem. The ABS phase provides thermal conductivity enhancement, while the PC phase is responsible for mechanical property maintaining. A highest thermal conductivity of 0.476 W/(m⋅K), 138% higher than that of pure PC, can be obtained after optimum design of formulation and processing conditions. Meanwhile, the mechanical properties of PC/ABS composite are also enhanced comparing with filled-PC. Moreover, the reported PC/ABS composite has excellent electrical insulation and dielectric properties. Overall, our PC/ABS composites with simultaneous enhanced thermal conductivity and mechanical properties are of great prospect as electrical equipment shells for efficient thermal dissipation. [Display omitted] • A bi-continuous structure was built to balance the thermal conductivity and mechanical properties of polymer composites. • A highest thermal conductivity of 0.476 W/(m⋅K) and 48.10 MPa bending strength for PC/ABS composite were obtained. • The reported PC/ABS composite was of great prospect as electrical equipment shells for efficient thermal dissipation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Smart mobile phones are capable of performing video coding and streaming over wireless networks, but are often constrained by the end-to-end delay requirement and energy supply. To achieve optimal performance under the delay and energy constraints, in this paper we extend the traditional rate-distortion (R-D) model and the previously proposed delay R-D model to a novel delay-power-rate-distortion (d-P-R-D) model by including another two dimensions (the encoding time and encoder power consumption), which quantifies the relationship among source encoding delay, rate, distortion, and power consumption for IPPPP coding mode in H.264/AVC. We have verified the accuracy of our proposed d-P-R-D model through experiments. Based on the proposed d-P-R-D model, we develop a novel rate-control (RC) algorithm, which minimizes the encoding distortion under the constraints of rate, delay, and power. The experimental results demonstrate the superiority of the proposed RC algorithm over the existing scheme. Therefore, the d-P-R-D model and the model-based RC provide a theoretical basis and a practical guideline for the cross-layer system design and performance optimization in wireless video communication under delay and energy constraints. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Cancer cell invasion, one of the crucial events in local growth and metastatic spread of tumors, possess a broad spectrum of mechanisms, especially altered expression of matrix metalloproteinases. LFG-500 is a novel synthesized flavonoid with strong anti-cancer activity, whose exact molecular mechanism remains incompletely understood. This current study was designed to examine the effects of LFG-500 on tumor metastasis using in vitro and in vivo assays. LFG-500 could inhibit adhesion, migration and invasion of MDA-MB-231 human breast carcinoma cells. Meanwhile, it reduced the activities and expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9 via suppressing the transcriptional activation of NF-κB rather than AP-1 or STAT3. Moreover, LFG-500 repressed TNF-α induced cell invasion through inhibiting NF-κB and subsequent MMP-9 activity. Further elucidation of the mechanism revealed that PI3K/AKT but not MAPK signaling pathway was involved in the inhibitory effect of LFG-500 on NF-κB activation. LFG-500 could also suppress lung metastasis of B16F10 murine melanoma cells in vivo. Taken together, these results demonstrated that LFG-500 could block cancer cell invasion via down-regulation of PI3K/AKT/NF-κB signaling pathway, which provides new evidence for the anti-cancer activity of LFG-500. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Tracking carbon emissions historical trend in China's eight industrial sectors. • Regression analysis and Monte Carlo simulation to predict emissions trajectories. • Agriculture , Building , Others and Transportation are likely to peak before 2025. • Electricity and Mining may peak after 2030, while Business remains unclear. • Focusing on the emissions of various sectors facilitates meeting the Paris Agreement by 2030. To maintain global warming below 2 °C, as per the Paris Agreement, China should stop its energy-related carbon emissions from increasing by 2030. Given the dominating role of industrial-specific emissions in the national emissions inventory, exploring the potential peaking pathways of emissions in China's diverse industrial sectors is necessary. By accounting for the emissions from China's eight sectors over the past 23 years, this study examines the Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis for the eight sectors using both regression analysis and Monte Carlo simulation. We found that seven out of the eight sectors are expected to reach their peak emissions before 2040, despite continued economic growth. Specifically, emissions from the Agriculture , Building , Manufacturing , Others , and Transportation sectors are highly likely to peak before 2030, while those from the Electricity and Mining sectors may peak after 2030. Our findings, which provide a deeper understanding of China's potential peaking pathways at the sectoral level, can serve as a reference for other countries that are facing similar difficulties in identifying the appropriate ways of peaking sectoral emissions; this is currently a neglected field of analysis in many Nationally Determined Contributions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evaluation of corporation operation efficiency (especially innovation efficiency) has been always a hot topic. The currently popular evaluation methods are data envelopment analysis (DEA) and its improved methods. However, these methods have the following problems: the production process is regarded as a black box, and the actual production relationship between input and output is not analyzed. To solve these problems: (1) the black box theory and production function theory are introduced to uncover the black box of input and output; (2) regression models are used to alleviate the multicollinearity problem of inputs, and the most appropriate model of production relationship is selected; and (3) the results of the production function are compared with the results of the efficiency evaluation from multiple perspectives. Taking rural commercial banks in China as examples to evaluate their innovation efficiency, this article shows the following: (1) with the black box theory and production function theory, the staff, equipment, and intermediate business cost are suitable as innovation input variables, and intermediate business income is suitable as an innovation output variable; (2) the main challenges faced by rural commercial banks are reducing the reliance on human capital investment, strengthening technological innovation, and improving the efficiency of intermediate business cost management, which is hard to reveal with traditional DEA. The method proposed in this article provides an applicable reference for improving DEA method analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The vitamin D receptor (VDR) principally mediates the anticancer activities of vitamin D. Various epidemiological studies have investigated the associations of VDR gene polymorphisms with ovarian cancer; however, the results have been inconclusive. In the current study, we evaluated, in a meta-analysis, the association of five common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the VDR gene (ApaI, BsmI, Cdx-2, FokI, and TaqI) with the risk of ovarian cancer. Six eligible studies, with a total of 4,107 cases and 6,661 controls, which evaluated the association of these variants and ovarian cancer risk, were identified from the MEDLINE and PubMed databases. The meta-analysis indicated that FokI was associated with an increased ovarian cancer risk, with a pooled odds ratio (OR) of 1.10 [95% confidence intervals (95% CI) = 1.00–1.20] for CT heterozygotes and 1.16 (95% CI = 1.02–1.30) for TT homozygotes relative to common CC carriers. Carriers of the T allele (also known as the f allele) showed an 11% (pooled OR = 1.11, 95% CI = 1.02–1.21; TT/CT vs. CC) increased risk of ovarian cancer relative to CC carriers. For FokI, no significant heterogeneity between the studies was found (I2 = 0%, P = 0.62 for the Q test). There was no statistically significant association between the other four variants (ApaI, BsmI, Cdx-2 and TaqI) and risk of ovarian cancer. These data indicate that the polymorphism FokI on the VDR is a susceptibility factor for ovarian cancer. Nevertheless, more studies are warranted to elucidate the underlying mechanisms of the VDR in development of ovarian cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper is concerned with a cross-diffusion system arising in a predator–prey population model with Holling type-II functional response in a bounded domain with no flux boundary condition. Employing the energy estimates and Gagliardo–Nirenberg type inequalities to establish -bounds uniform in time, the global existence and uniform boundedness of solutions for a cross-diffusion system are proved. The global asymptotic stability of the constant positive steady state is also investigated. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The effect of aging treatment on the microstructures and hardening behavior of a metastable beta Ti–9.2Mo–2Fe alloy, which is new designed on the basis of Bo–Md molecular orbital method (Bo, the bond order; Md, the metal d-orbital energy level), has been investigated using hardness measurement, X-ray diffraction, optical microscopy and TEM characterization. The results reveal that, the athermal ω phase with the size of 2–5nm is found in Ti–9.2Mo–2Fe alloy when solution-treated at 860°C followed by water quench. The isothermal ω phase is also found when Ti–9.2Mo–2Fe alloy aged at temperatures from 300°C to 500°C, although the ω phase has a limited time of stability at 400°C and 500°C. The athermal ω phase does not lead to attractive hardening due to its too small size and volume fraction, so the hardness of the solution-treated alloy is about 370Hv. However, the isothermal ω phase with the size of 5–10nm shows a moderate hardening (470Hv), while the ω phase with the size of 50–100nm contributes the best hardening (∼500Hv). As well, the hardening due to isothermal ω phase precipitation hardly exhibits over-aging response as long as ω phase exists. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper proposes a distributed robust optimization scheme to jointly optimize overall video quality and traffic performance for scalable video multirate multicast over practical wireless networks. In order to guarantee layered utility maximization, the initial nominal joint source and network optimization is defined, where each scalable layer is tailored in an incremental order and finds jointly optimal multicast paths and associated rates with network coding. To enhance the robustness of the nominal convex optimization formulation with nonlinear constraints, we reserve partial bandwidth for backup paths disjoint from the primal paths. It considers the path-overlapping allocation of backup paths for different receivers to take advantage of network coding, and takes into account the robust multipath rate-control and bandwidth reservation problem for scalable video multicast streaming when possible link failures of primary paths exist. Specifically, an uncertainty set of the wireless medium capacity is introduced to represent the uncertain and time-varying property of parameters related to the wireless channel. The targeted uncertainty in the robust optimization problem is studied in a form of protection functions with nonlinear constraints, to analyze the tradeoff between robustness and distributedness. Using the dual decomposition and primal-dual update approach, we develop a fully decentralized algorithm with regard to communication overhead. Through extensive experimental results under critical performance factors, the proposed algorithm could converge to the optimal steady-state more quickly, and adapt the dynamic network changes in an optimal tradeoff between optimization performance and robustness than existing optimization schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to optimize the overall video quality and traffic performance for multi-rate video multicast over hybrid wired/wireless networks. In order to perform layered utility maximization over tiered networks, we propose a joint source-network flow optimization scheme where individual layers of the scalable video stream are imposed on their optimal multicast paths and associated rates for the highest sustainable layered video quality with minimum costs. It sufficiently guarantees that each destination node accesses progressive layered stream in an incremental order, considers network coding across overlapping paths to destination nodes for decent multicast capacity, and addresses the link contention problem during wireless transmission. We formulate the problem into convex programming with the objective to minimize the total rate-distortion variations between layers. Using primal decomposition and the primal-dual approach, we develop a decentralized algorithm with two levels of optimization. The numerical and packet-level results compare extensive performance under different control conditions over coded and non-coded hybrid networks. It demonstrates that the proposed algorithm could actually achieve the max-flow throughput and provide better video quality with optimal layered access for heterogeneous receivers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies a joint coding/routing optimization between network lifetime and video distortion by applying information theory to wireless visual sensor networks for correlated sources. Arbitrary coding [distributed video coding and network coding (NC)] from both combinatorial optimization and information theory could make significant progress toward the performance limit and tractable. Also, multipath routing can spread energy utilization across nodes within the entire network to keep a potentially longer lifetime, and solve the wireless contention issues by the splitting traffic. The objective function not only keeps the total energy consumption of encoding power, transmission power, and reception power minimized, but ensures the information received by sink nodes to approximately reconstruct the visual field. Also, a generalized power consumption model for distributed video sources is developed, in which the coding complexity of Key frames and Wyner-Ziv frames is measured by translating specific coding behavior into energy consumption. On the basis of the distributed multiview video coding and NC-based multipath routing, the balance problem between lifetime (costs) and distortion (capacity) is modeled as an optimization formulation with a fully distributed solution. Through a primal decomposition, a two-level optimization is relaxed with Lagrangian dualization and solved by the gradient algorithm. The low-level optimization problem is further decomposed into a secondary master dual problem with four cross-layer subproblems: a rate control problem, a channel contention problem, a distortion control problem, and an energy conservation problem. The implementation of the distributed algorithm is discussed with regard to the communication overhead and dynamic network change. Simulation results validate the convergence and performance of the proposed algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS) are prebiotics with numerous health benefits. So far, the dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration control strategy for fermentative production of FOS is still unknown. In order to improve FOS production, the effects of DO concentration and fermentation mode on FOS using Aureobasidium pullulans were investigated in this study. The greatest FOS production (123.2 ± 6.2 g/L), with a yield of 61.6% ± 3.0% (g FOS/g sucrose), was obtained in batch culture under high DO concentration. Furthermore, repeated-batch culture revealed that enzyme production and FOS production were not closely associated with cell growth. By keeping the DO concentration above 5% in the repeated-batch culture, a maximum FOS concentration of 548.3 ± 37.4 g/L and yield of 68.6% ± 2.6% (g FOS/g sucrose) were obtained, which were 3.45% and 11.4% times higher than those obtained in the batch culture without DO control, respectively. Additionally, the ratios of 1-fructofuranosyl nystose (GF4) and 1,1,1,1-kestohexose (GF5) were 33.8% and 23.2%, respectively, in the product of repeated-batch culture, but these compounds were not detected in batch culture. Thus, it can be concluded that the DO concentration affects not only the yield of FOS but also the composition of FOS with different degrees of polymerization, which is the key factor in the fermentative production of FOS with a high polymerization degree. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An MEMS microwave power sensor with thermovoltage compensation and transformation is presented. The sensor obtains a thermovoltage which is linear to the input power, thanks to the Seebeck effect. However, the thermovoltage decreases as the frequency of input power increases due to the loss. The novelty is that the variation of thermovoltage has been compensated by an algorithm, and a transformation line is obtained to transform the thermovoltage to measured power displayed on liquid crystal display. The result indicates that the relative error is smaller than 1.5%. This system has practical applications in precise power measuring instruments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tile-based rate adaption can improve the quality of experience (QoE) for adaptive 360-degree video streaming under constrained network conditions, which, however, is a challenging problem due to the requirements of accurate prediction for users’ viewports and optimal bitrate allocation for tiles. In this paper, we propose a strategy that deploys reinforcement learning-based Rate Adaptation with adaptive Prediction and Tiling for 360-degree video streaming, named RAPT360, to address these challenges. Specifically, to improve the accuracy of the state-of-the-art viewport prediction approaches, we fit the time-varying Laplace distribution-based probability density function of the prediction error for different prediction lengths. On the basis of that, we develop a viewport identification method to determine the viewport area of a user depending on the buffer occupancy, where the obtained viewport can cover the real viewport with any given probability confidence level. We then propose a viewport-aware adaptive tiling scheme to improve the bandwidth efficiency, where three types of tile granularities are allocated according to the shape and position of the 2-D projection of that viewport. By establishing an adaptive streaming model and QoE metric specific to 360-degree videos, we finally formulate the rate adaptation problem for tile-based 360-degree video streaming as a non-linear discrete optimization problem that targets at maximizing the long-term user QoE under a bandwidth-constrained network. To efficiently solve this problem, we model the rate adaptation logic as a Markov decision process (MDP) and employ the deep reinforcement learning (DRL)-based algorithm to dynamically learn the optimal bitrate allocation of tiles. Extensive experimental results show that RAPT360 achieves a performance gain of at least 1.47 dB on average chunk QoE, including a video quality improvement of at least 1.33 dB, in comparison to the existing strategies for tile-based adaptive 360-degree video streaming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing 3-D point cloud attribute compression methods are rigid for complex signals defined in spatially irregular domain, as they solely depend on geometric information or adopt pre-defined analytic bases for transform. In this article, we propose a multi-scale structured dictionary learning algorithm for 3-D point cloud attribute compression. The proposed multi-scale dictionary leverages hierarchical sparsity within signals by adapting atoms in an arborescent structure. It supports hierarchical sparse transform for encoding voxelized point cloud attributes with progressive refinement of high-frequency details from coarser to finer scales. To represent spatial blocks with varying amounts of occupied voxels, a non-uniform binary weight matrix is incorporated in dictionary learning to characterize the dimensional irregularity of signals. To guarantee optimal approximation with improved efficiency, alternating optimizations including Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers and Gauss-Seidel iterations are adopted for the weighted mixed $\ell _{2}/\ell _{1}$ -minimization. Furthermore, we develop a lossy attribute compression framework by integrating sparse transform based prediction with dedicated quantization and entropy coding routines. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed framework outperforms the state-of-the-art transform-based coding methods and is competitive with the most recent MPEG PCC test models in point cloud attribute compression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of aging and neurodegenerative processes in the human brain requires a comprehensive understanding of cytoarchitectonic, myeloarchitectonic, and vascular structures. Recent computational advances have enabled volumetric reconstruction of the human brain using thousands of stained slices, however, tissue distortions and loss resulting from standard histological processing have hindered deformation‐free reconstruction. Here, the authors describe an integrated serial sectioning polarization‐sensitive optical coherence tomography (PSOCT) and two photon microscopy (2PM) system to provide label‐free multi‐contrast imaging of intact brain structures, including scattering, birefringence, and autofluorescence of human brain tissue. The authors demonstrate high‐throughput reconstruction of 4 × 4 × 2cm3 sample blocks and simple registration between PSOCT and 2PM images that enable comprehensive analysis of myelin content, vascular structure, and cellular information. The high‐resolution 2PM images provide microscopic validation and enrichment of the cellular information provided by the PSOCT optical properties on the same sample, revealing the densely packed fibers, capillaries, and lipofuscin‐filled cell bodies in the cortex and white matter. It is shown that the imaging system enables quantitative characterization of various pathological features in aging process, including myelin degradation, lipofuscin accumulation, and microvascular changes, which opens up numerous opportunities in the study of neurodegenerative diseases in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The low strength caused by the single FCC structure of the CrMnFeCoNi high entropy alloy (HEA) limits its application in the field of coating. Here, we prepared high-entropy alloy coatings of CrMnFeCoNi with different ZrC contents on Q235 steel by a plasma transferred arc process. The effects of ZrC on the microstructure and properties of the CrMnFeCoNi HEA coating were investigated by optical microscopy, scanning electron microscope, and X-ray diffraction and by employing a potensiostat/galvanostat. The results showed that ZrC mainly existed in the coatings as a second phase, having little influence on the main crystal structure and micromorphology of the CrMnFeCoNi HEA coating. The hardness of the CrMnFeCoNi HEA coating increased with the ZrC content. ZrC can effectively improve the corrosion resistance of the CrMnFeCoNi HEA coating. In a 1 mol/L NaCl solution with 4 wt% ZrC, the annual corrosion rate was only 5.997% of that of the HEA coating. Nevertheless, the improvement in the wear resistance of CrMnFeCoNi high-entropy alloy coatings was not apparent with the addition of ZrC. Consequently, the addition of ZrC to the FeCoCrNiMn high-entropy alloy coating holds promise for applications in corrosion resistance, particularly in oceanic environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The evolutionary conserved JNK pathway plays crucial role in cell death, yet factors that modulate this signalling have not been fully disclosed. In this study, we aim to identify additional factors that regulate JNK signalling in cell death, and characterize the underlying mechanisms. Materials and Methods: Drosophila were raised on standard media, and cross was carried out at 25°C. The Gal4/UAS system was used to express proteins or RNAi in a specific temporal and spatial pattern. Gene expression was revealed by GFP fluorescence, X‐gal staining or immunostaining of 3rd instar larval eye and wing discs. Cell death was visualized by acridine orange (AO) staining. Images of fly eyes and wings were taken by OLYMPUS microscopes. Results: We found that licorne (lic) encoding the Drosophila MKK3 is an essential regulator of JNK‐mediated cell death. Firstly, loss of lic suppressed ectopic Egr‐triggered JNK activation and cell death in eye and wing development. Secondary, lic is necessary for loss‐of‐cell polarity‐induced, physiological JNK‐dependent cell death in wing development. Thirdly, Lic overexpression is sufficient to initiate JNK‐mediated cell death in developing eyes and wings. Furthermore, ectopic Lic activates JNK signalling by promoting JNK phosphorylation. Finally, genetic epistatic analysis confirmed that Lic acts in parallel with Hep in the Egr‐JNK pathway. Conclusions: This study not only identified Lic as a novel component of the JNK signalling, but also disclosed the crucial roles and mechanism of Lic in cell death. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

4‑aminopyridine (4‑AP), a voltage‑gated potassium channel blocker, was revealed to possess pro‑apoptotic properties in various types of cancer cells. The present study aimed to explore the effect of 4‑AP on a cisplatin (DDP) resistant lung cancer cell line A549/CDDP and the underlying mechanism by which it had an effect. In the present study, an MTT assay and cell cycle analysis were used to determine that 4‑AP inhibited cell growth in vitro and a tumorigenesis assay in nude mice determined that 4‑AP also inhibited cell growth in vivo. 4‑AP induced cell apoptosis of A549/CDDP cells observed by electron microscopy and Annexin V‑APC/7‑ADD analysis. In addition, 4‑AP enhanced the sensitivity of A549/CDDP cells to DDP as revealed by an MTT assay. Mechanistically, 4‑AP upregulated the phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) and modulated the phosphoinositide 3‑kinase/protein kinase B signaling pathway and its downstream cell cycle factors, including cyclin D1, cyclin‑dependent kinase 4 and p21, as well as apoptosis‑associated proteins B‑cell lymphoma 2, pro‑caspase 9, pro‑caspase 3, cleaved caspase 9 and cleaved caspase 3. The effects of 4‑AP on cell growth and apoptosis were reversed by PTEN silencing. In conclusion, the results indicated that 4‑AP inhibited cell growth, induced apoptosis and sensitized A549/CDDP cells to DDP via the upregulation of PTEN. 4‑AP may be a potential therapeutic agent for patients with DDP resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adhesive patches are advanced but challenging alternatives to suture, especially in treating fragile internal organs. So far there is no suture‐free adhesive patch based on metabolizable poly(amino acid) materials with excellent mechanical strength as well as immunomodulation functionality. Here, a polyglutamic acid‐based elastic and tough adhesive patch modified by photosensitive groups on the surface to achieve robust light‐activated adhesion and sealing of flexible internal organs is explored. With the porous internal morphology and excellent biodegradability, the patches promote regeneration through a macrophage‐regulating microenvironment. Treated rabbits achieve rapid full‐thickness gastric regeneration with complete functional structure within 14 d, suggesting its robust tissue adhesion and repair‐promoting ability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the field of laser ablation micro-propulsion, the property of double-layer tape has significant impact on the propulsion performance. In this paper, low temperature plasma was used to treat the surface of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) to improve its adhesion with energetic polymer. The PET surface pre- and post-plasma treatment was characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and atomic force microscopy (AFM), and the enhancement mechanism of the interface adhesion was discussed. In addition, the ablation performance of the double-layer tape after the plasma treatment was studied. The results showed that the plasma etching effect increased the root mean square roughness of the PET surface from 1.74 nm to 19.10 nm. In addition, after the plasma treatment, the number of C–OH/COOH bonds and O=C–O bonds increased, which also greatly improved the adhesion between the PET and energetic polymers. In the optimization of the ablation performance, the optimal laser pulse width was about 200 μs. The optimal values of the specific impulse (Isp), impulse coupling coefficient (Cm), and ablation efficiency (η) were 390.65 s, 250.82 μN/W, and 48.01%, respectively. The optimization of the adhesion of the double-layer tape and the ablation performance lay the foundation for the engineering application of laser ablation micro-thrusters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Resistance to platinum-based chemotherapy is one of the crucial problems in ovarian cancer treatment. Ghrelin, a widely distributed peptide hormone, participates in a series of cancer progression. The aim of this study is to determine whether ghrelin influences the sensitivity of ovarian cancer to cisplatin, and to demonstrate the underlying mechanism. Methods: The anti-tumor effects of ghrelin and cisplatin were evaluated with human ovarian cancer cells HO-8910 PM in vitro or in vivo. Cell apoptosis and cell cycle were analyzed via flow cytometry assay. The signaling pathway and the expression of cell cycle protein were analyzed with Western Blot. Results: Our results showed that treatment with ghrelin specifically inhibited cell proliferation of HO-8910 PM and sensitized these cells to cisplatin via S phase cell cycle arrest, and enhanced the inhibitory effect of cisplatin on tumor growth of HO-8910 PM derived xenografts in vivo. Treatment with ghrelin inhibited the expression of p-Erk1/2 and p-p38, which was opposite the effect of cisplatin. However, under the treatment of ghrelin, cisplatin treatment exhibited a stronger effect on inhibiting P21 expression, upregulating p-CDK1 and cyclin B1 expression, and blocking cell cycle progression. Mechanistically, ghrelin promoted S phase cell cycle arrest and upregulated p-CDK1 and cyclin B1 expression induced by cisplatin via inhibition of p38. Conclusion: This study revealed a specifically inhibitory effect of ghrelin on platinum-resistance via suppressing p-P38 and subsequently promoting p-CDK1 mediated cell cycle arrest in HO-8910 PM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study performance optimization for scalable video coding and multicast over networks. Multi-path video streaming, network coding based routing, and network flow control are jointly optimized to maximize a network utility function defined over heterogeneous receivers. Content priority of video coding layers is considered during the flow routing to determine the optimal multicast paths and associated data rates for each layer. Our optimization scheme attempts to find content distribution meshes with minimum path costs for each video coding layer while satisfying the inter-layer dependency during scalable video coding. Based on primal decomposition and primal-dual analysis, we develop a decentralized algorithm with two optimization levels to solve the performance optimization problem. We also prove the stability and convergence of the proposed iterative algorithm using Lyapunov theories. Extensive experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm not only achieves the max-flow throughput using network coding, but also provides better video quality with balanced layered access for heterogeneous receivers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we investigate the adaptive video delivery for multiple users over time-varying and mutually interfering multi-cell wireless networks. The key research challenge is to jointly design the physical-layer resource allocation scheme and application-layer rate adaptation logic, such that the users’ long-term fair quality of experience (QoE) can be maximized. Due to the timescale mismatch between these two layers and the asynchrony of user requests, however, it is difficult to directly model the cross-layer stochastic control problem by using a reinforcement learning framework. To address this difficulty, we propose a novel two-level decision framework where an optimization-based beamforming scheme (performed at the base stations) and a deep reinforcement learning (DRL)-based rate adaptation scheme (performed at the user terminals) are, respectively, developed, such that a highly complex long-term multi-user QoE fairness problem is decomposed into some relatively simple problems and solved effectively. Our strategy represents a significant departure from the existing schemes with consideration of either a short-term multi-user QoE maximization or a long-term single-user point-to-point QoE maximization. Extensive simulations demonstrate that the proposed cross-layer design is effective and promising. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A composite wrapping system for main cable protection of suspension bridges was designed by using prepreg fiber-reinforced composites and nitrile rubber. The circumferential expansion performance of the system was tested, and the curves of circumferential bearing capacity and radial displacement of the components were obtained. Failure modes of each group of components were compared and analyzed. The results show that most of the components are vertically fractured at the lap transition. The increase of the number of prepreg layers contributed the most to the circumferential bearing capacity of components, with a growth rate of 65.31%~109.01%. The increase of rubber belt layers had the most significant effect on the radial displacement of the components, with a growth rate of 7.06%~23.5%. In the initial stage of the test, the strain of each part of the component was smaller due to the compaction by the loading device, and the strain value of the component was generally linearly increased during the loading process, during which the strain of the overlap was the smallest. The calculated cross-sectional temperature deformation of the main cable is in good agreement with the experimental data. The application of the rubber belt increases the deformation of the main cable; therefore, the protection system for the main cable could have more deformation redundancy and delay the arrival of the ultimate strain of the outer prepreg wrap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing decentralized coded caching solutions cannot guarantee small loads in the general scenario with arbitrary file sizes and cache sizes. In this paper, we propose an optimization framework for decentralized coded caching in the general scenario to minimize the worst-case load and average load (under an arbitrary file popularity), respectively. Specifically, we first propose a class of decentralized coded caching schemes for the general scenario, which are specified by a general caching parameter and include several known schemes as special cases. Then, we optimize the caching parameter to minimize the worst-case load and average load, respectively. Each of the two optimization problems is a challenging nonconvex problem with a nondifferentiable objective function. For each optimization problem, we develop an iterative algorithm to obtain a stationary point using techniques for solving Complementary Geometric Programming (GP). We also obtain a low-complexity approximate solution by solving an approximate problem with a differentiable objective function which is an upper bound on the original nondifferentiable one, and characterize the performance loss caused by the approximation. Finally, we present two information-theoretic converse bounds on the worst-case load and average load (under an arbitrary file popularity) in the general scenario, respectively. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work that provides optimization-based decentralized coded caching schemes and information-theoretic converse bounds for the general scenario. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Aberrant expression of circular RNAs contributes to the initiation and progression of cancers, but the underlying mechanism remains elusive. Methods: RNA-seq and qRT-PCR were performed to screen differential expressed circRNAs between gastric cancer tissues and adjacent normal tissues. Candidate circRNA (circMRPS35) was screened out and validated by qRT-PCR. Cell proliferation and invasion ability were determined by CCK-8 and cell invasion assays. RNA-seq, GO-pathway, RNA pull-down and ChIRP were further applied to search for detailed mechanism. Results: Here, a novel circRNA named circMRPS35, was screened out by RNA-seq in gastric cancer tissues, whose expression is related to clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis in gastric cancer patients. Biologically, circMRPS35 suppresses the proliferation and invasion of gastric cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, circMRPS35 acts as a modular scaffold to recruit histone acetyltransferase KAT7 to the promoters of FOXO1 and FOXO3a genes, which elicits acetylation of H4K5 in their promoters. Particularly, circMRPS35 specifically binds to FOXO1/3a promoter regions directly. Thus, it dramatically activates the transcription of FOXO1/3a and triggers subsequent response of their downstream target genes expression, including p21, p27, Twist1 and E-cadherin, resulting in the inhibition of cell proliferation and invasion. Moreover, circMRPS35 expression positively correlates with that of FOXO1/3a in gastric cancer tissues. Conclusions: Our findings not only reveal the pivotal roles of circMRPS35 in governing histone modification in anticancer treatment, but also advocate for triggering circMRPS35/KAT7/FOXO1/3a pathway to combat gastric cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three-dimensional (3D) printing is a layered additive manufacturing technology. In common 3D printing methods, direct ink writing (DIW) and fused deposition modeling (FDM) are new extrusion-based technologies. FDM works by melting a hot-melt material and squeezing it out through a tiny nozzle. Conversely, DIW, accurately deposit accurate amount of paste at different distances through the conveying system (extruder). As a unique approach, this technology introduces design freedom, versatility and stability into the printing structure at the same time. In addition, DIW technology is suitable for thermoset 3D printing. The influences of filler orientation in polymer matrix and printing paths on the thermal conductivity (λ) of thermoset 3D printing products are worth studying. Therefore, we built a thermoset 3D printer, and optimized the structure of the nozzle device, effectively improved the printing accuracy. Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and hexagonal boron nitride (h BN) are selected as polymer matrix and thermally conductive filler, respectively. Compared with pure PDMS, the λ value of h BN/PDMS composites increases obviously with increasing h BN content. Meanwhile, the mechanical properties of composites with different printing paths are systematically studied. This designable orientation provides opportunities and challenges for other functional structure design such as hollow structure. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Macroscopic hysteresis loops and microscopic magnetic moment distributions have been determined by 3-D model for Co nanowire with various easy axis deviations from applied field. It is found that both the coercivity and the remanence decrease monotonously with the increase of easy axis deviation as well as the maximum magnetic product, indicating the large impact of the easy axis orientation on the magnetic performance. Moreover, the calculated angular distributions and the evolution of magnetic moments have been shown to explain the magnetic reversal process. It is demonstrated that the large demagnetization field in the two ends of the nanowire makes the occurrence of reversal domain nucleation easier, hence the magnetic reversal. In addition, the magnetic reversal was illustrated in terms of the analysis of the energy evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cobalt nanowires were synthesized by reduction of carboxylate salts of Co in 1, 2-butanediol using a solvothermal chemical process. These nanowires crystallize with the hcp structure and the growth axis is parallel to the crystallographic c-axis. The morphology of the nanowires that prepared with mechanical stirring during earlier stage of the reaction process exhibits a smaller averaged aspect ratio but narrow size distribution. The assembly of the nanowires that prepared with mechanical stirring shows almost same coercivity and remanent magnetization but 59% increase of magnetic energy product. This remarkable improvement of energy product has been further understood by micromagnetic simulations. The magnetic performance at variant temperatures of Co nanowires has also been presented. These ferromagnetic nanowires could be new ideal building blocks for permanent magnets with high performance and high thermal stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • The ZVI/PMS process accelerated the degradation of IPM. • The ZVI/PMS process significantly decreased the I-THMs formation potential. • Fe3+ further enhance the removal of IPM by the ZVI/PMS process. • Fe3+ further reduced the formation of I-DBPs from disinfection of IPM via ZVI/PMS. The traditional coagulation process in drinking water treatment cannot effectively remove the organic precursors of highly toxic iodinated disinfection by-products (I-DBPs). This study proposes a combination of zero-valent iron (ZVI) and peroxymonosulfate (PMS) to remove the organic precursor of I-DBPs during the coagulation stage. This study investigated the degradation of iopamidol (IPM), a typical organic precursor of I-DBPs, by the combination of ZVI/peroxymonosulfate (PMS) and the influence on the generation of I-DBPs during disinfection. IPM was effectively decomposed by ZVI/PMS, because of the formation of hydroxyl (HO•) and sulfate (SO 4 •−) radicals. SO 4 •− was a major contributor (>64.7 %) to the degradation. The anions (Cl− and SO 4 2−) in the conventional coagulants have a weak effect on the removal of IPM by the ZVI/PMS process, while the common cations (Fe3+) further enhance the removal of IPM by the ZVI/PMS process. The formation of I-THMs was obviously decreased during the chlorination of IPM in the presence of the ZVI/PMS process (14.4 μg/L) compared to that in the presence of the ZVI process (258.1 μg/L) and the chlorination alone process (29.7 μg/L). The formation of I-THMs was increased by more than 1.7-fold in the presence of natural organic matter (NOM). The presence of Fe3+ further reduced the formation of I-DBPs to below the limit of quantitation (LOQ). Therefore, it is feasible to use the ZVI/PMS process to degrade IPM in the coagulation stage of drinking water treatment, and it can also reduce the I-DBPs formed by subsequent disinfection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]