Search

• A decision-making approach for determining strategic priority of SC services is established. • SC services in smart environment domain should be enhanced. • SC services with long-term impacts and serving wider user groups should be prioritized. • High demand priority for SC services to satisfy physiological, safety, and self-actualization needs are testified. The development of sustainable smart city (SC) services is often carried out with limited resources, but there is little discussion about the strategic priority of promoting SC development from the citizens' perspective. This study developed a decision-making approach to determine the supply and demand priority of SC services using utility and need theories, with Hong Kong as a case study. The results show that smart environment services should be prioritized for all population groups, while the differences in priority among older adults, people with lower digital literacy, and people with lower income were relatively small. On the one hand, the supply of SC services should be prioritized for those that are closely linked to citizens' daily lives, have a long-term impact on communities, and are targeted to large user groups. On the other hand, priority should be given to those services that meet citizens' demands for physiological, safety, and self-actualization needs. This study enriches the theoretical framework of people-centric SC research through the innovative integration of Bradley-Terry and rank-ordered logit models for determining the development priority for SC services, which can serve as a practical decision-making tool for policy makers to effectively allocate resources for sustainable SC development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: This study aimed to investigate the relative efficacy of maxillary protraction combined with a modified alternate rapid maxillary expansion and constriction (Alt-RAMEC) protocol compared with conventional protocols in the early orthopedic treatment of skeletal Class III malocclusion.Methods: A sample of 39 patients was divided into 3 groups on the basis of different interventions. Conventional facemask (FM) with splint-type intraoral devices was performed in the FM group (7 males and 5 females; mean age, 9.53 ± 1.37 years). Maxillary expansion with an activation rate of 0.5 mm/d (twice a day) followed by FM therapy was applied in the rapid maxillary expansion group (RME/FM) (6 males and 6 females; mean age, 9.31 ± 1.60 years). In the Alt-RAMEC/FM group (7 males and 8 females; mean age, 10.01 ± 1.31 years), Alt-RAMEC was started simultaneously and throughout the entire course of maxillary protraction, with repetitive alternations between activation and deactivation of expanders (0.5 mm/d for 7 days). The patients in all groups were instructed to wear FMs for a minimum of 12 h/d. Pretreatment and posttreatment lateral cephalograms were all traced and measured.Results: The Alt-RAMEC group showed statistically more significant maxillary advancement than other groups (A-VRP, 3.87 mm vs 3.04 mm [RME/FM], vs 2.04 mm [FM]; P <0.05). Analysis of variance did not reveal significant intergroup differences in palatal plane angulation changes (P >0.05). No pronounced mandibular clockwise rotations were noted in the Alt-RAMEC/FM group with distinct intergroup differences (P <0.05). There were more skeletal effects (88.7%) during overjet correction in the Alt-RAMEC/FM protocol.Conclusions: A combination of the modified Alt-RAMEC protocol with FM revealed more favorable skeletal effects compared with FM and RME/FM protocols in treating prepubertal patients with maxillary deficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Use the sEOF-r method to inverse the global SSPs and evaluate the performance. • Add the EKE into the inversion formula to optimize the inversed results and improve the accuracy. • Verify the effectiveness of the optimized method from the perspective of sound field prediction. The sound speed profile (SSP) reflects the change in sound speed from the surface to the bottom of the seawater, which will have an important influence on underwater acoustic detection and communication. Depending on the inversion of sea surface data sets measured by satellite to obtain near-real-time and high-precision SSPs has become a research hotspot. In this paper, based on the Argo data and the sea surface data sets, we use the single empirical orthogonal function regression (sEOF-r) method to inverse the global SSPs and evaluate the performance of this method. There are also differences in the performance of inversed results at different sites and in different months at the global scale of the ocean. The eddy kinetic energy (EKE) affects the accuracy of inversion, we propose to add the EKE into the inversion formula at the same time to further optimize the inversed results and improve the accuracy, the global average inversion error after optimization reduces by 20%. Finally, we verify the effectiveness of the optimized method from the perspective of sound field prediction. In most cases, the correlation coefficient of the transmission loss (TL) calculated through the inversion SSP and Argo-SSP exceeds 0.7 and the error is controlled below 6 dB, which will have important implications for the actual sound field prediction and hydroacoustic communication. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Continental shelf slopes are widely found in transitional sea areas, which are the connecting part between shallow and deep seas. The sound propagation in this part has special effects. This paper takes the continental shelf slope sea area of the South China Sea (SCS) as the research object to analyze the influence of the shelf slope on sound propagation at different seasons. The seasonal difference in the three-dimensional sound ray trajectory and its corresponding transmission loss (TL) are mainly reflected in the case of a shallow sound source, which is caused by the difference in the sound speed field environment. Due to the presence of a strong surface sound channel in winter, the sound source at shallow depths can achieve long-distance propagation. As the strength of the surface sound channel becomes weaker, sound rays with large grazing angles can deflect across the surface sound channel towards the seabed, and sound energy leaks out of the surface sound channel. This part of the sound energy complements the area that the original sound energy can not reach, so the TL in this area is less than 90 dB. As for the slope enhancement effect, we verify it from the perspective of sound ray propagation, calculate the maximum distance between the sound ray and the shelf slope, and the mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) between the theoretical value and the actual value is 7.6%. The above results will have important implications for target detection and hydroacoustic communication in the sea area of continental shelf slopes. [Display omitted] • The continental shelf slope has a significant impact on sound propagation. • Seasonal differences in sound speed fields and sound source conditions are critical. • Long-distance transmission loss is low due to the leakage of sound energy. • Verify the slope enhancement effect from the perspective of sound ray propagation. • It has important implications for target detection and hydroacoustic communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Five complete mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes) of the Channa fish have been characterized. • New complete mitogenomes formed a typical circular molecule, with length from 16,714 bp to 16,895 bp. • The fastest-evolving atp8 and the slowest-evolving cox1 were identified in Channa mitogenomes. • One O L region was found between trnN and trnC in Channidae mitogenomes. • Three new pairs of sisters (C. andrao + C. bleheri , C. ornatipinnis + C. pulchra , and C. stewartia + C. gachua) were supported by phylogenetic analysis. The family Channidae, members of which are commonly known as snakehead fish, includes 53 Channa species and three Parachanna species. In this study, we characterized mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes) of five Channa species (C. andrao , C. bleheri , C. ornatipinnis , C. pulchra , and C. stewartii) for the first time. We compared the mitogenomes with the mitogenomes of 11 other Channidae fish. The newly sequenced mitogenomes were 16,714 – 16,895 bp in length and contained 37 typical genes [13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), two ribosomal RNA genes (rRNAs) and 22 transfer RNA genes (tRNAs)]. Positive AT-skews and negative GC-skews were found in the mitogenomes of Channidae. Most PCGs started with the conventional start codon, ATN; however, the sequence of the stop codon was variable. There was no essential difference in relative synonymous codon usage (RSCU) among the Channidae mitogenomes. The fastest-evolving gene atp8 and slowest-evolving gene cox1 were identified using Ka/Ks and pairwise relative genetic distance (p-distance). The displacement loop (D-loop) regions showed great variability, which affected the size of Channa mitogenomes. One origin of replication on the light strand (O L) region was found between trnN and trnC in the mitogenomes of Channidae. Phylogenetic analysis revealed three new sister pairs (C. andrao + C. bleheri , C. ornatipinnis + C. pulchra , and C. stewartii + C. gachua). Phylogenetic relationships established between the five Channa species based on mitogenomes were also supported by their morphological characteristics and geographical distribution. The novel information we obtained about these mitogenomes will contribute to elucidating the complex relationships among Channa species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The investigation of the electrical transport properties of ZrS 2 is conducted up to 30.7 GPa using first-principles calculation and electrical experimental methods. The electrical parameters of ZrS 2 are investigated under high pressure conditions using the thin film integrated microcircuit technology on a diamond anvil cell. The structural phase transitions occur at approximately 2.0 GPa and 6.0 GPa, as evidenced by changes in the energy band structure and discontinuities in electrical parameters. At around 12.3 GPa, the pressure-induced metallization is observed by temperature-induced resistivity and the closing of the band gap. The sudden decrease in resistivity can be attributed to the combined contribution of an increase in carrier concentration and mobility. Similarly, the abrupt decrease in Hall coefficient is attributed to the increase in carrier concentration. [Display omitted] • ZrS 2 undergoes two phase transitions by theoretical calculation. • The reversible structural phase transitions causes changes in electronic properties. • Metallization occurs at around 12.3 GPa via temperature-induced resistivity. • The measured electrical parameters confirm the generation of phase transitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The number of MDSCs is higher in both blood and tumor of CRC cases. • Germline mutations are reported to be the major cause of CRC development. • Among various treatment modalities, ICIs therapy have shown best response. • Epigenetic plays a role in the etiology of sporadic CRC. • In the majority of CRC patients, combination therapy is necessary. • The idea of combining epigenetic therapy such as histone methyl transferase inhibitors and immunotherapy is a promising approach. Colorectal cancer (CRC) is considered as the second most common cancer worldwide. For the past few years, the role of immunotherapy has been extensively studied and it has been demonstrated that its related approaches, such as programmed death-1 (PD-1) inhibitors, are promising. In addition to identifying molecular characteristics of tumor cells, recent studies are mainly focused on the profiling of tumor microenvironment. Dissecting immune status of a tumor is interesting, since development of a tumor is associated with deficiencies relate to immune defense, immune surveillance and immune hemostasis. In this review, we discuss main obstacles of immunotherapy including immunosuppressive niche and low immunogenicity of CRC as well as reviewing current achievements in immunotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]