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The corrosion protection of tool steel surfaces is of significant importance for ensuring cutting precision and cost savings. However, conventional surface protection measures usually rely on toxic organic solvents, posing threats to the environment and human health. In this regard, an integrated process of laser texturing and electrostatic flocking is introduced as a green anti-corrosion method on a high-speed steel (HSS) surface. Drawing from the principles of textured surface energy barrier reduction and fiber array capillary water evaporation enhancement, a flocking surface with a synergistic optimization of surface wettability and evaporation performance was achieved. Then, contact corrosion tests using 0.1 mol/L of NaCl droplets were performed. Contact angles representing wettability and change in droplet mass representing evaporation properties were collected. The elements and chemical bonds presented on the corroded surfaces were characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The results revealed that the flocking surface exhibited the lowest degree of corrosion when compared with smooth and textured surfaces. Corrosion resistance of the flocking surface was achieved through the rapid spread and evaporation of droplets, which reduced the reaction time and mitigated electrochemical corrosion. This innovative flocking surface holds promise as an effective treatment in anti-corrosion strategies for cutting tools.

In mammals, 17-beta hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase 2 (Hsd17b2) enzyme specifically catalyzes the oxidation of the C17 hydroxyl group and efficiently regulates the activities of estrogens and androgens to prevent diseases induced by hormone disorders. However, the functions of the hsd17b2 gene involved in animal sex differentiation are still largely unclear. The ricefield eel ( Monopterus albus ), a protogynous hermaphroditic fish with a small genome size (2 n = 24), is usually used as an ideal model to study the mechanism of sex differentiation in vertebrates. Therefore, in this study, hsd17b2 gene cDNA was cloned and its mRNA expression profiles were determined in the ricefield eel. The cloned cDNA fragment of hsd17b2 was 1230 bp, including an open reading frame of 1107 bp, encoding 368 amino acid residues with conserved catalytic subunits. Moreover, real-time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) analysis showed that hsd17b2 mRNA expressed strongly in the ovaries at early developmental stages, weakly in liver and intestine, and barely in testis and other tissues. In particular, hsd17b2 mRNA expression was found to peak in ovaries of young fish and ovotestis at the early stage, and eventually declined in gonads from the late ovotestis to testis. Likewise, chemical in situ hybridization results indicated that the hsd17b2 mRNA signals were primarily detected in the cytoplasm of oogonia and oocytes at stage I-II, subsequently concentrated in the granulosa cells around the oocytes at stage Ⅲ-Ⅳ, but undetectable in mature oocytes and male germ cells. Intriguingly, in ricefield eel ovaries, hsd17b2 mRNA expression could be significantly reduced by 17β-estradiol (E2) or tamoxifen (17β-estradiol inhibitor, E2I) induction at a low concentration (10 ng/mL) and increased by E2I induction at a high concentration (100 ng/mL). On the other hand, both the melatonin (MT) and flutamide (androgen inhibitor, AI) induction could significantly decrease hsd17b2 mRNA expression in the ovary of ricefield eel. This study provides a clue for demonstrating the mechanism of sexual differentiation in fish. The findings of our study imply that the hsd17b2 gene could be a key regulator in sexual differentiation and modulate sex reversal in the ricefield eel and other hermaphroditic fishes.

Alkali metals (Li, Na, and K) are deemed as the ideal anode materials for next-generation high-energy-density batteries because of their high theoretical specific capacity and low redox potentials. However, alkali metal anodes (AMAs) still face some challenges hindering their further applications, including uncontrollable dendrite growth and unstable solid electrolyte interphase during cycling, resulting in low Coulombic efficiency and inferior cycling performance. In this regard, designing 3D current collectors as hosts for AMAs is one of the most effective ways to address the above-mentioned problems, because their sufficient space could accommodate AMAs' volume expansion, and their high specific surface area could lower the local current density, leading to the uniform deposition of alkali metals. Herein, we review recent progress on the application of 3D Cu-based current collectors in stable and dendrite-free AMAs. The most widely used modification methods of 3D Cu-based current collectors are summarized. Furthermore, the relationships among methods of modification, structure and composition, and the electrochemical properties of AMAs using Cu-based current collectors, are systematically discussed. Finally, the challenges and prospects for future study and applications of Cu-based current collectors in high-performance alkali metal batteries are proposed.

The driver in road hypnosis has not only some external characteristics, but also some internal characteristics. External features have obvious manifestations and can be directly observed. Internal features do not have obvious manifestations and cannot be directly observed. They need to be measured with specific instruments. Electroencephalography (EEG), as an internal feature of drivers, is the golden parameter for drivers' life identification. EEG is of great significance for the identification of road hypnosis. An identification method for road hypnosis based on human EEG data is proposed in this paper. EEG data on drivers in road hypnosis can be collected through vehicle driving experiments and virtual driving experiments. The collected data are preprocessed with the PSD (power spectral density) method, and EEG characteristics are extracted. The neural networks EEGNet, RNN, and LSTM are used to train the road hypnosis identification model. It is shown from the results that the model based on EEGNet has the best performance in terms of identification for road hypnosis, with an accuracy of 93.01%. The effectiveness and accuracy of the identification for road hypnosis are improved in this study. The essential characteristics for road hypnosis are also revealed. This is of great significance for improving the safety level of intelligent vehicles and reducing the number of traffic accidents caused by road hypnosis.

The wavelength attack utilizes the dependence of beam splitters (BSs) on wavelength to cause legitimate users Alice and Bob to underestimate their excess noise so that Eve can steal more secret keys without being detected. Recently, the wavelength attack on Gaussian-modulated continuous-variable quantum key distribution (CV-QKD) has been researched in both fiber and atmospheric channels. However, the wavelength attack may also pose a threat to the case of ocean turbulent channels, which are vital for the secure communication of both ocean sensor networks and submarines. In this work, we propose two wavelength attack schemes on underwater discrete modulated (DM) CV-QKD protocol, which is effective for the case with and without local oscillator (LO) intensity monitor, respectively. In terms of the transmittance properties of the fused biconical taper (FBT) BS, two sets of wavelengths are determined for Eve's pulse manipulation, which are all located in the so-called blue-green band. The derived successful criterion shows that both attack schemes can control the estimated excess noise of Alice and Bob close to zero by selecting the corresponding condition parameters based on channel transmittance. Additionally, our numerical analysis shows that Eve can steal more bits when the wavelength attack controls the value of the estimated excess noise closer to zero.

The advancement of bioinformatics and sequencing technology has resulted in the identification of an increasing number of new RNA viruses. This study systematically identified the RNA virome of the willow-carrot aphid, Cavariella aegopodii (Hemiptera: Aphididae), using metagenomic sequencing and rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE) approaches. C. aegopodii is a sap-sucking insect widely distributed in Europe, Asia, North America, and Australia. The deleterious effects of C. aegopodii on crop growth primarily stem from its feeding activities and its role as a vector for transmitting plant viruses. The virome includes Cavariella aegopodii virga-like virus 1 (CAVLV1) and Cavariella aegopodii iflavirus 1 (CAIV1). Furthermore, the complete genome sequence of CAVLV1 was obtained. Phylogenetically, CAVLV1 is associated with an unclassified branch of the Virgaviridae family and is susceptible to host antiviral RNA interference (RNAi), resulting in the accumulation of a significant number of 22nt virus-derived small interfering RNAs (vsiRNAs). CAIV1, on the other hand, belongs to the Iflaviridae family, with vsiRNAs ranging from 18 to 22 nt. Our findings present a comprehensive analysis of the RNA virome of C. aegopodii for the first time, offering insights that could potentially aid in the future control of the willow-carrot aphid.

Oxidative stress significantly contributes to ageing and disease, with antioxidants holding promise in mitigating its effects. Functional foods rich in flavonoids offer a potential strategy to mitigate oxidative damage by free radicals. We investigated the protective effects of mulberry leaf flavonoids (MLF) against H 2 O 2 -induced oxidative damage in HepG2 cells. It assessed the inhibitory effect of MLF (62.5-500 μg/mL) on H 2 O 2 -induced oxidative damage by analyzing cellular morphology and oxidative stress markers, including ROS production, mitochondrial membrane potential, antioxidant enzyme levels, MDA, and apoptosis-related proteins. The results demonstrated that MLF prevented spiny cell formation triggered by 750 μM H 2 O 2 and significantly reduced ROS levels, restored mitochondrial membrane potential, decreased lactate dehydrogenase and alanine transaminase leakage, and reduced MDA content induced by H 2 O 2 . MLF also modulated antioxidant enzymes and attenuated oxidative damage to HepG2 cell DNA, as confirmed by staining techniques. These findings indicate the potential of MLF as a hepatoprotective agent against oxidative damage in HepG2 cells.

Thermoelectric devices are both solid-state heat pumps and energy generators. Having a reversible process without moving parts is of high importance for applications in remote locations or under extreme conditions. Yet, most thermoelectric devices have a rather limited energy conversion efficiency due to the natural competition between high electrical conductivity and low thermal conductivity, both being essential conditions for achieving a high energy conversion efficiency. Heavy-fermion compounds Yb T 2 Zn 20 ( T = Co, Rh, Ir) have been reported to be potential candidate materials for thermoelectric applications at low temperatures. Motivated by this result, we applied chemical substitution studies on the transition metal site in order to optimize the charge carrier concentration as well as promote more efficient phonon scatterings. Here, we present the latest investigation on the Ni-doped specimens YbCo 2- x Ni x Zn 20 , where enhanced thermoelectric figure of merit values have been obtained.

A series of novel 4-Hydroxyquinazoline derivatives were designed and synthesized to enhance sensitivity in primary PARPi-resistant cells. Among them, the compound B1 has been found to have superior cytotoxicity in primary PARPi-resistant HCT-15 and HCC1937 cell lines, and dose-dependently suppressed the intracellular PAR formation and enhanced the γH2AX aggregation. Mechanistic study showed that B1 stimulated the formation of intracellular ROS and the depolarization of the mitochondrial membrane, which could increase apoptosis and cytotoxicity. An in vivo study showed that B1 significantly suppressed tumor growth at a dose of 25 mg/kg, and an acute toxicity study confirmed its safety. Molecular docking and dynamics simulations revealed that hydrogen bonding between B1 and ASP766 may be helpful to enhance anti-drug resistance ability. This study suggests that B1 is a potent PARP inhibitor that can overcome PARPi resistance and deserves further investigation.

To enhance the degradability of poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT), reed fiber (RF) was blended with PBAT to create composite materials. In this study, a fifteen day degradation experiment was conducted using four different enzyme solutions containing lipase, cellulase, Proteinase K, and esterase, respectively. The degradation process of the sample films was analyzed using an analytical balance, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The PBAT/RF composites exhibited an increased surface hydrophilicity, which enhanced their degradation capacity. Among all the enzymes tested, lipase had the most significant impact on the degradation rate. The weight loss of PBAT and PBAT/RF, caused by lipase, was approximately 5.63% and 8.17%, respectively. DSC analysis revealed an increase in the melting temperature and crystallinity over time, especially in the film containing reed fibers. FTIR results indicated a significant weakening of the ester bond peak in the samples. Moreover, this article describes a biodegradation study conducted for three months under controlled composting conditions of PBAT and PBAT/RF samples. The results showed that PBAT/RF degraded more easily in compost as compared to PBAT. The lag phase of PBAT/RF was observed to decrease by 23.8%, while the biodegradation rate exhibited an increase of 11.8% over a period of 91 days. SEM analysis demonstrated the formation of more cracks and pores on the surface of PBAT/RF composites during the degradation process. This leads to an increased contact area between the composites and microorganisms, thereby accelerating the degradation of PBAT/RF. This research is significant for preparing highly degradable PBAT composites and improving the application prospects of biodegradable green materials. PBAT/RF composites are devoted to replacing petroleum-based polymer materials with sustainable, natural materials in advanced applications such as constructional design, biomedical application, and eco-environmental packaging.

Gas turbine vibration data may exhibit considerable differences under time-varying conditions, which poses challenges for neural network anomaly detection. We first propose a framework for a gas turbine vibration frequency spectra process under time-varying operation conditions, assisting neural networks' ability to capture weak information. The framework involves scaling spectra for aligning all frequency components related to rotational speed and normalizing frequency amplitude in a self-adaptive way. Degressive beta variational autoencoder is employed for learning spectra characteristics and anomaly detection, while a multi-category anomaly index is proposed to accommodate various operating conditions. Finally, a dataset of blade Foreign Object Damage (FOD) fault occurring under time-varying operating conditions was used to validate the framework and anomaly detection. The results demonstrate that the proposed method can effectively reduce the spectra differences under time-varying conditions, and also detect FOD fault during operation, which are challenging to identify using conventional methods.

In this study, the total synthesis of osajin, scandenone and their analogues have been accomplished. The key synthetic steps include aldol/intramolecular iodoetherification/elimination sequence reactions and a Suzuki coupling reaction to assemble the tricyclic core, chemoselective propargylation and Claisen rearrangement reactions to obtain natural compounds. In addition, we also designed and synthesized twenty-five natural product analogues. All synthetic compounds were screened for anti-inflammatory activity against tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW264.7 macrophages. Collectively, Compound 39e and 39d were considered as promising lead compounds for further development.

A diamond gel polishing disk with self-sharpening ability is proposed to solve the problem of glazing phenomenon in the gel polishing disks. Aluminum nitride (AlN) powder with silica sol film coating (A/S powder) is added to the polishing disk, and a specific solution is used to dissolve the A/S powder during polishing, forming a pore structure on the polishing disk. To realize the self-sharpening process, the dissolution property of the A/S powder is analyzed. The effect of A/S powder content on the friction and wear performance and the polishing performance of 4H-SiC wafers are investigated. Results showed that the friction coefficient of the polishing disk with 9 wt% A/S powder content is the most stable. The surface roughness R a of 2.25 nm can be achieved, and there is no obvious glazing phenomenon on the polishing disk after polishing. The surface roughness of the 4H-SiC wafer is reduced by 38.8% compared with that of the polishing disk with no A/S powder addition after rough polishing, and the 4H-SiC wafer then obtained a damage-free surface with a R a less than 0.4 nm after fine polishing by chemical mechanical polishing (CMP).

With the gradual integration of internet technology and the industrial control field, industrial control systems (ICSs) have begun to access public networks on a large scale. Attackers use these public network interfaces to launch frequent invasions of industrial control systems, thus resulting in equipment failure and downtime, production data leakage, and other serious harm. To ensure security, ICSs urgently need a mature intrusion detection mechanism. Most of the existing research on intrusion detection in ICSs focuses on improving the accuracy of intrusion detection, thereby ignoring the problem of limited equipment resources in industrial control environments, which makes it difficult to apply excellent intrusion detection algorithms in practice. In this study, we first use the spectral residual (SR) algorithm to process the data; we then propose the improved lightweight variational autoencoder (LVA) with autoregression to reconstruct the data, and we finally perform anomaly determination based on the permutation entropy (PE) algorithm. We construct a lightweight unsupervised intrusion detection model named LVA-SP. The model as a whole adopts a lightweight design with a simpler network structure and fewer parameters, which achieves a balance between the detection accuracy and the system resource overhead. Experimental results on the ICSs dataset show that our proposed LVA-SP model achieved an F1-score of 84.81% and has advantages in terms of time and memory overhead.

This study investigated the effect of sustained loading on the cumulative damage of a newly developed smart cement-based self-healing composite material (SMA-ECC). SMA-ECC is composed of engineered cementitious composite (ECC) and shape memory alloy (SMA) fibers. A uniaxial compressive test with five predefined loading levels (0%, 30%, 40%, 50%, and 60% of compressive strength) was conducted on SMA-ECC hollow-cylindrical specimens and ECC control hollow-cylindrical specimens. The cumulative damage was mainly determined by changes in the total water absorption of different groups of specimens during three different periods (not loaded, at a predefined loading level, and after unloading). A normalized water content index was proposed to couple the effects of self-healing, sustained loading, and cumulative damage. The test results indicate that the cumulative water absorption of SMA-ECC was 35% lower than that of ECC, which may indicate less irreparable damage. In addition, the self-healing ability of SMA-ECC specimens under different compression load levels was evaluated through normalized water content analysis. SMA-ECC exhibited a 100% repair rate at load levels of 30% and 40%. At a higher load level of 60%, the repair rate of SMA-ECC was 76%. These results collectively emphasize the significant impermeability and self-healing performance of SMA-ECC after unloading.

Low molecular weight heparins (LMWHs) are derived from heparin through chemical or enzymatic cleavage with an average molecular weight (Mw) of 2000-8000 Da. They exhibit more selective activities and advantages over heparin, causing fewer side effects, such as bleeding and heparin-induced thrombocytopenia. Due to different preparation methods, LMWHs have diverse structures and extensive biological activities. In this review, we describe the basic preparation methods in this field and compare the main principles and advantages of these specific methods in detail. Importantly, we focus on the non-anticoagulant pharmacological effects of LMWHs and their conjugates, such as preventing glycocalyx shedding, anti-inflammatory, antiviral infection, anti-fibrosis, inhibiting angiogenesis, inhibiting cell adhesion and improving endothelial function. LMWHs are effective in various diseases at the animal level, including cancer, some viral diseases, fibrotic diseases, and obstetric diseases. Finally, we briefly summarize their usage and potential applications in the clinic to promote the development and utilization of LMWHs.

There has been little research on the impact resistance of mortar-rock slope protection structures. To ensure that the mortar-rock interface has good adhesion properties under the action of impact loading, in this paper, based on fracture mechanics theory, a theoretical impact model was established for mortar-rock binary material. Dynamic fracture tests were carried out on mortar-rock interfaces using the split-Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) system. The Brazilian disc (CSTBD) specimen was prepared with one half in granite and the other half in mortar. The specimen used for the dynamic impact test was 48 mm in diameter and 25 mm thick. The effects caused by the change in interface inclination and interface shape on the dynamic fracture mode were discussed. The dynamic model parameters were obtained for different inclination angles and interfaces. The results show that both the interface inclination and interface shape have significant effects on the dynamic mechanical properties of the mortar-rock binary material. The fracture modes of the mortar-rock specimens can be classified into three types. When the interface inclination is 0°, the specimen shows shear damage with an interface fracture; when the interface inclination is in the range of 0-90°, the dynamic splitting strength of the mortar-rock material increases with increasing interface inclination, and the interface undergoes composite fracture; and when the interface inclination is 90°, the dynamic splitting strength of the specimen reaches its peak, and the interface undergoes tensile fracture. The mortar-rock interface damage follows the M-C criterion. The roughness of the interface shape has a large influence on the dynamic splitting strength of the specimens. The rougher the interface shape, the higher the interface cleavage strength and the higher the peak load that causes the material to damage. The results of this study can provide a reference for the design of mortar-rubble structures to meet the demand for impact resistance and have strong engineering application value.

YG8 is a common cemented carbide material with excellent mechanical properties and mechanical properties, so it is widely used in the actual industry. However, due to the active chemical properties and strong affinity of tungsten alloy steel, it is easy to produce bonding and peeling in application, resulting in an unstable process and short service life. In order to control and reduce the surface wear of YG8 cemented carbide, groove-textured surface (GS) and flocking surface (FS) were prepared on smooth surface (SS). The friction characteristics of the samples were studied under different applied load conditions. The results show that the average friction coefficient of SS, GS and FS is inversely proportional to the load in dry/oil environment. Compared with SS, FS exhibits the lowest friction coefficient, which is reduced by 30.78% (dry friction) and 13.13% (oil lubrication). FS effectively improves the tooth jump phenomenon of the sample and the amplitude of the friction coefficient, friction force and load, and has the best anti-friction characteristics. At the same time, the FS with the fastest contact angle drop at any time also showed excellent wetting ability, and the wear rate decreased by an order of magnitude. The implantation of fibers in the groove inhibits the spalling and furrow of wear track, which is attributed to the effect of fibers on damage repair. In the friction process, FS increases the content of the O element and induces the formation of oxides. The friction mechanism is mainly chemical wear. The excellent tribological properties of FS have a good guiding significance and theoretical support for improving the tribological properties of high hardness material surfaces.

Objective: To identify subgroups of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with different liver function reserves using an unsupervised machine-learning approach on the radiomics features from preoperative gadoxetic-acid-enhanced MRIs and to evaluate their association with the risk of post-hepatectomy liver failure (PHLF)., Methods: Clinical data from 276 consecutive HCC patients who underwent liver resections between January 2017 and March 2019 were retrospectively collected. Radiomics features were extracted from the non-tumorous liver tissue at the gadoxetic-acid-enhanced hepatobiliary phase MRI. The reproducible and non-redundant features were selected for consensus clustering analysis to detect distinct subgroups. After that, clinical variables were compared between the identified subgroups to evaluate the clustering efficacy. The liver function reserve of the subgroups was compared and the correlations between the subgroups and PHLF, postoperative complications, and length of hospital stay were evaluated., Results: A total of 107 radiomics features were extracted and 37 were selected for unsupervised clustering analysis, which identified two distinct subgroups (138 patients in each subgroup). Compared with subgroup 1, subgroup 2 had significantly more patients with older age, albumin-bilirubin grades 2 and 3, a higher indocyanine green retention rate, and a lower indocyanine green plasma disappearance rate (all p < 0.05). Subgroup 2 was also associated with a higher risk of PHLF, postoperative complications, and longer hospital stays (>18 days) than that of subgroup 1, with an odds ratio of 2.83 (95% CI: 1.58-5.23), 2.41(95% CI: 1.15-5.35), and 2.14 (95% CI: 1.32-3.47), respectively. The odds ratio of our method was similar to the albumin-bilirubin grade for postoperative complications and length of hospital stay (2.41 vs. 2.29 and 2.14 vs. 2.16, respectively), but was inferior for PHLF (2.83 vs. 4.55)., Conclusions: Based on the radiomics features of gadoxetic-acid-enhanced MRI, unsupervised clustering analysis identified two distinct subgroups with different liver function reserves and risks of PHLF in HCC patients. Future studies are required to validate our findings.

Probiotics are beneficial for human health. However, they are vulnerable to adverse effects during processing, storage, and passage through the gastrointestinal tract, thus reducing their viability. The exploration of strategies for probiotic stabilization is essential for application and function. Electrospinning and electrospraying, two electrohydrodynamic techniques with simple, mild, and versatile characteristics, have recently attracted increased interest for encapsulating and immobilizing probiotics to improve their survivability under harsh conditions and promoting high-viability delivery in the gastrointestinal tract. This review begins with a more detailed classification of electrospinning and electrospraying, especially dry electrospraying and wet electrospraying. The feasibility of electrospinning and electrospraying in the construction of probiotic carriers, as well as the efficacy of various formulations on the stabilization and colonic delivery of probiotics, are then discussed. Meanwhile, the current application of electrospun and electrosprayed probiotic formulations is introduced. Finally, the existing limitations and future opportunities for electrohydrodynamic techniques in probiotic stabilization are proposed and analyzed. This work comprehensively explains how electrospinning and electrospraying are used to stabilize probiotics, which may aid in their development in probiotic therapy and nutrition.

In order to develop new anti-cancer drugs more efficiently and reduce side effects based on active drug targets, the virtual drug screening was carried out through the target of G-quadruplexes and 23 hit compounds were, thus, screened out as potential anticancer drugs. Six classical G-quadruplex complexes were introduced as query molecules, and the three-dimensional similarity of molecules was calculated by shape feature similarity (SHAFTS) method so as to reduce the range of potential compounds. Afterwards, the molecular docking technology was utilized to perform the final screening followed by the exploration of the binding between each compound and four different structures of G-quadruplex. In order to verify the anticancer activity of the selected compounds, compounds 1, 6 and 7 were chosen to treat A549 cells in vitro, the lung cancer epithelial cells, for further exploring their anticancer activity. These three compounds were found to be of good characteristics in the treatment of cancer, which revealed the great application prospect of the virtual screening method in developing new drugs.

Cadmium (Cd) is a kind of heavy metal. Cadmium pollution in paddy fields will accumulate a large amount of cadmium in rice, which will affect the growth and development of rice. In addition, long-term consumption of rice contaminated with Cd can harm human health. In this study, four rice varieties with high Cd accumulation (S4699, TLY619, JHY1586, QLY155) and four varieties with low Cd accumulation (YY4949, CYJ-7, G8YXSM, MXZ-2) were screened through field experiments for two consecutive years (2021 and 2022) and differences in antioxidant enzyme systems and expression of genes in their organs were analyzed. The total Cd content showed as follows: indica rice > japonica rice, high-Cd-accumulation variety > low-Cd-accumulation variety, and the total Cd content of each organ of rice showed root > stem > leaf > grain. The results of the antioxidant enzyme system showed that the contents of malondialdehyde (MAD), reduced glutathione (GSH), oxidized glutathione (GSSH), and peroxidase (POD) were positively correlated with the total Cd content in rice, and superoxide dismutase (SOD) showed the opposite performance in the leaves. There was no correlation between catalase (CAT) and Cd content, but CAT content decreased in leaves and grains and increased in roots and stems with increasing fertility. Based on this study, RT-qPCR was used to further validate the expression of Cd-uptake-related genes in different rice varieties. It was found that high expression of OsHMA3 , OsCCX2 , OsNRAMP5 , and OsHMA9 genes promoted Cd uptake and translocation in rice, especially in rice varieties with high Cd accumulation. The high expression of OslRT1 , OsPCR1 , and OsMTP1 genes hindered Cd uptake by rice plants, which was especially evident in low-accumulating Cd rice varieties. These results provide an important theoretical reference and scientific basis for our in-depth study and understanding of the mechanism of cadmium stress tolerance in rice., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

With the development of space technology, the functions of lunar vehicles are constantly enriched, and the structure is constantly complicated, which puts forward more stringent requirements for its ground micro-low-gravity simulation test technology. This paper puts forward a high-precision and high-dynamic landing buffer test method based on the principle of magnetic quasi-zero stiffness. Firstly, the micro-low-gravity simulation system for the lunar vehicle was designed. The dynamic model of the system and a position control method based on fuzzy PID parameter tuning were established. Then, the dynamic characteristics of the system were analyzed through joint simulation. At last, a prototype of the lunar vehicle's vertical constant force support system was built, and a micro-low-gravity landing buffer test was carried out. The results show that the simulation results were in good agreement with the test results. The sensitivity of the system was better than 0.1%, and the constant force deviation was 0.1% under landing impact conditions. The new method and idea are put forward to improve the micro-low-gravity simulation technology of lunar vehicles.

Aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs), the favorite of next-generation energy storage devices, are popular among researchers owing to their environmental friendliness, low cost, and safety. However, AZIBs still face problems of low cathode capacity, fast attenuation, slow ion migration rate, and irregular dendrite growth on anodes. In recent years, many researchers have focused on Zn anode modification to restrain dendrite growth. This review introduces the energy storage mechanism and current challenges of AZIBs, and then some modifying strategies for zinc anodes are elucidated from the perspectives of experiments and theoretical calculations. From the experimental point of view, the modification strategy is mainly to construct a dense artificial interface layer or porous framework on the anode surface, with some research teams directly using zinc alloys as anodes. On the other hand, theoretical research is mainly based on adsorption energy, differential charge density, and molecular dynamics. Finally, this paper summarizes the research progress on AZIBs and puts forward some prospects.

Cancer is a heterogeneous disease that is driven by the accumulation of both genetic and nongenetic alterations, so integrating multiomics data and extracting effective information from them is expected to be an effective way to predict cancer driver genes. In this paper, we first generate comprehensive instructive features for each gene from genomic, epigenomic, transcriptomic levels together with protein-protein interaction (PPI)-networks-derived attributes and then propose a novel semisupervised deep graph learning framework GGraphSAGE to predict cancer driver genes according to the impact of the alterations on a biological system. When applied to eight tumor types, experimental results suggest that GGraphSAGE outperforms several state-of-the-art computational methods for driver genes identification. Moreover, it broadens our current understanding of cancer driver genes from multiomics level and identifies driver genes specific to the tumor type rather than pan-cancer. We expect GGraphSAGE to open new avenues in precision medicine and even further predict drivers for other complex diseases.

Poplar and willow species in the Salicaceae are dioecious, yet have been shown to use different sex determination systems located on different chromosomes. Willows in the subgenus Vetrix are interesting for comparative studies of sex determination systems, yet genomic resources for these species are still quite limited. Only a few annotated reference genome assemblies are available, despite many species in use in breeding programs. Here we present de novo assemblies and annotations of 11 shrub willow genomes from six species. Copy number variation of candidate sex determination genes within each genome was characterized and revealed remarkable differences in putative master regulator gene duplication and deletion. We also analyzed copy number and expression of candidate genes involved in floral secondary metabolism, and identified substantial variation across genotypes, which can be used for parental selection in breeding programs. Lastly, we report on a genotype that produces only female descendants and identified gene presence/absence variation in the mitochondrial genome that may be responsible for this unusual inheritance.

Melanization mediated by the prophenoloxidase (PPO)-activating system is an important innate immunity to fight pathogens in insects. In this study, the in vitro time-dependent increase in the intensity of melanization and phenoloxidase (PO) activity from the hemolymph of Odontotermes formosanus (Shiraki) challenged by pathogenic bacteria was detected. PPO is one of the key genes in melanization pathway, whereas the molecular characteristics and functions of O. formosanus PPO are unclear. The OfPPO gene was cloned and characterized. The open reading frame of OfPPO is 2085 bp in length and encodes a 79.497 kDa protein with 694 amino acids. A BLASTx search and phylogenetic analyses revealed that OfPPO shares a high degree of homology to the Blattodea PPOs. Moreover, real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR analysis showed that OfPPO is ubiquitously expressed in all castes and tissues examined, with the highest expression in workers and variable expression patterns in tissues of different termite castes. Furthermore, the expression of OfPPO was significantly induced in O. formosanus infected by pathogenic bacteria. Intriguingly, in combination with silencing of OfPPO expression, pathogenic bacteria challenge caused greatly increased mortality of O. formosanus . These results suggest that OfPPO plays a role in defense against bacteria and highlight the novel termite control strategy combining pathogenic bacteria application with termite PPO silencing.

Aiming at the problem of low-altitude windshear wind speed estimation for airborne weather radar without independent identically distributed (IID) training samples, this paper proposes a low-altitude windshear wind speed estimation method based on knowledge-aided sparse iterative covariance-based estimation STAP (KASPICE-STAP). Firstly, a clutter dictionary composed of clutter space-time steering vectors is constructed using prior knowledge of the distribution position of ground clutter echo signals in the space-time spectrum. Secondly, the SPICE algorithm is used to obtain the clutter covariance matrix iteratively. Finally, the STAP processor is designed to eliminate the ground clutter echo signal, and the wind speed is estimated after eliminating the ground clutter echo signal. The simulation results show that the proposed method can accurately realize a low-altitude windshear wind speed estimation without IID training samples.

The optimization of a broach surface is of great significance to improve the cutting performance of the tool. However, the traditional optimization method (surface texture, coating, etc.) destroys the stress distribution of the tool and reduces the service life of the tool. To avoid these problems, four kinds of flocking surfaces (FB1, FB2, FB3, and FB4), imitating the biological structure of Daphniphyllum calycinum Benth (DCB), were fabricated on the rake face of the broach by electrostatic flocking. The broaching experiment, wettability, and spreading experiment were then conducted. Moreover, the mathematical model of the friction coefficient of the bionic broach was built. The effect of broaches with different flocking surfaces on the broaching force, chip morphology, and surface quality of workpieces was studied. The results indicate that the flocked broaches (FB) with good lubricity and capacity of microchips removal (CMR) present a smaller cutting force ( F c ) and positive pressure ( F t ) compared to the unflocked broach (NB), and reduce the friction coefficient (COF). The chip curl was decreased, and the shear angle was increased by FB, which were attributed to the function of absorbing lubricant, storing, and sweeping microchips. Its vibration suppression effect enhanced the stability in the broaching process and improved the surface quality of the workpiece. More importantly, the FB2 with the most reasonable fluff area and spacing exhibited the best cutting performance. The experimental conclusions and methods of this paper can provide a new research idea for functional structure tools.

The rapid spread of COVID-19 has become a major concern for people's lives and health all around the world. COVID-19 patients in various phases and severity require individualized treatment given that different patients may develop different symptoms. We employed machine learning methods to discover biomarkers that may accurately classify COVID-19 in various disease states and severities in this study. The blood gene expression profiles from 50 COVID-19 patients without intensive care, 50 COVID-19 patients with intensive care, 10 non-COVID-19 individuals without intensive care, and 16 non-COVID-19 individuals with intensive care were analyzed. Boruta was first used to remove irrelevant gene features in the expression profiles, and then, the minimum redundancy maximum relevance was applied to sort the remaining features. The generated feature-ranked list was fed into the incremental feature selection method to discover the essential genes and build powerful classifiers. The molecular mechanism of some biomarker genes was addressed using recent studies, and biological functions enriched by essential genes were examined. Our findings imply that genes including UBE2C, PCLAF, CDK1, CCNB1, MND1, APOBEC3G, TRAF3IP3, CD48, and GZMA play key roles in defining the different states and severity of COVID-19. Thus, a new point of reference is provided for understanding the disease's etiology and facilitating a precise therapy.

A predominant polysaccharide isolated from Ischnoderma resinosum underwent evaluation for its capacity to scavenge free radicals and its potential antioxidant properties at a cellular-oriented level. This proved that Ischnoderma resinosum polysaccharide (IRP) remarkably curtailed AAPH-induced erythrocyte hemolysis through the inhibition of the generation of ROS (p < 0.05). Rather, it caused the restoration of intracellular antioxidant enzyme (SOD, GSH-Px, and CAT) activities at an acceptable pace and the silencing of intracellular MDA formation, as well as the rescaling of LDH leakage. Furthermore, a model of oxidative stress in HepG2 cells was established by adopting 400 μM of hydrogen peroxide, which suggested that IRP manifests promising antioxidant activity. Notably, after the intervention of IRP in the H2O2-induced HepG2 cells, there was a statistical elevation in cell survivability (p < 0.05). IRP diminished the morphological alterations in the nucleus and decreased the secretion of ROS (p < 0.05), with a dose-dependent abrogation of apoptosis (p < 0.05). Consequently, IRP, which was isolated and purified, was able to scavenge free radicals and possessed favorable antioxidant activity that could dampen the occurrence of oxidative stimulation and effectively alleviate the AAPH-induced erythrocyte hemolysis and H2O2-induced oxidative damage in HepG2 cells. This provides a basis and theoretical reference for the development and utilization of IRP as a natural antioxidant, with emphasis on the exploitation of environmentally friendly and cost-effective antioxidants.

To evaluate the antioxidant activity of flavonoids extracted from Chinese herb mulberry leaves (ML), flavonoids from mulberry leaves (FML) were extracted and purified by using ultrasonic-assisted enzymatic extraction and D101 macroporous resin. Using LC-MS/MS-Liquid Chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry analysis, hesperidin, rutoside, hyperoside, cyanidin-3-o-glucoside, myricitrin, cyanidin, and quercetin were identified, and NMR and UV were consistent with the verification of IR flavonoid characteristics. The antioxidant activity of FML has also been evaluated as well as the protective effect on 2,2 0-azobis (2-amidinopropane) dihydrochloride (AAPH)-induced oxidative stress. The results showed that FML exhibited powerful antioxidant activity. Moreover, FML showed dose-dependent protection against AAPH-induced sheep erythrocytes' oxidative hemolysis. In the enzymatic antioxidant system, pretreatment with high FML maintained the balance of SOD, CAT, and GSH-Px; in the non-enzymatic antioxidant system, the content of MDA can be effectively reduced after FML treatment. This study provides a research basis for the development of natural products from mulberry leaves.

Autophagy is a critical cellular adaptive response in tumor formation. Nutritional deficiency and hypoxia exacerbate autophagic flux in established malignancies, promoting tumor cell proliferation, migration, metastasis, and resistance to therapeutic interventions. Pro-survival autophagy inhibition may be a promising treatment option for advanced cancer. Furthermore, excessive or persistent autophagy is cytotoxic, resulting in tumor cell death. Targeted autophagy activation has also shown significant promise in the fight against tumor drug resistance. Several research groups have examined the ability of natural products (NPs) such as alkaloids, terpenoids, polyphenols, and anthraquinones to serve as autophagy inhibitors or activators. The data support the capacity of NPs that promote lethal autophagy or inhibit pro-survival autophagy from being employed against tumor drug resistance. This paper discusses the potential applications of NPs that regulate autophagy in the fight against tumor drug resistance, some limitations of the current studies, and future research needs and priorities.

Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn. is an important perennial aquatic herb that has high ornamental, edible, medicinal, and economic value, being widely distributed and used in China. The NAC superfamily (NAM, ATAF1/2, CUC2) plays critical roles in plant growth, development, and response to abiotic and biotic stresses. Though there have been a few reports about NAC genes in lotus, systematic analysis is still relatively lacking. The present study aimed to characterize all the NAC genes in the lotus and obtain better insights on the NnNACs in response to salt stress by depending on ABA signaling. Here, 97 NAC genes were identified by searching the whole lotus genome based on the raw HMM models of the conserved NAM domain and NAC domain. They were characterized by bioinformatics analysis and divided into 18 subgroups based on the phylogenetic tree. Cis-element analysis demonstrated that NAC genes are responsive to biotic and abiotic stresses, light, low temperature, and plant hormones. Meanwhile, NAC genes had tissue expression specificity. qRT-PCR analysis indicated that NAC genes could be upregulated or downregulated by NaCl treatment, ABA, and fluoridone. In addition, NAC016 , NAC025 , and NAC070 , whose encoding genes were significantly induced by NaCl and ABA, were located in the nucleus. Further analysis showed the three NAC proteins had transcriptional activation capabilities. The co-expression network analysis reflected that NAC proteins may form complexes with other proteins to play a role together. Our study provides a theoretical basis for further research to be conducted on the regulatory mechanisms of salinity resistance in the lotus.

This paper studies the consensus fault-tolerant control problem of a class of second-order leader-follower multi-agent systems with unknown disturbance and actuator faults, and proposes an integral non-singular terminal sliding mode control algorithm based on a finite-time observer. First, a finite-time disturbance observer was designed based on a combination of high-order sliding mode and dual layers adaptive rules to realize fast estimation and compensation of disturbance and faults. Then, a sliding surface with additional integral links was designed based on the conventional sliding surface, and an integral non-singular terminal sliding mode controller is proposed to realize the robust consensus in finite time and accurately diminish the chattering phenomena. Finally, a numerical example and simulation verify the effectiveness.

Methamphetamine use disorder (MUD) is a chronic brain disorder that involves frequent failures of inhibitory control and relapses into methamphetamine intake. However, it remains unclear whether the impairment of inhibitory control in MUD is proactive, reactive or both. To address this issue, the current study used the conditional stop-signal task to assess proactive and reactive inhibitory control in 35 MUD patients with long-term abstinence and 35 matched healthy controls. The results showed that MUD patients with long-term abstinence had greater preparation costs than healthy controls, but did not differ in performance, implying a less efficient utilization of proactive inhibitory control. In contrast, MUD patients exhibited intact reactive inhibitory control; reactive but not proactive inhibitory control was associated with high sensation seeking in MUD patients with long-term abstinence. These findings suggest that proactive and reactive inhibitory control may be two different important endophenotypes of addiction in MUD patients with long-term abstinence. The current study provides new insight into the uses of proactive and reactive inhibitory control to effectively evaluate and precisely treat MUD patients with long-term abstinence.

Internode starch biosynthesis is one of the most important traits in lotus rhizome because of its relation to crop productivity. Understanding the microRNA (miRNA) and mRNA expression profiles related to lotus internode starch biosynthesis would help develop molecular improvement strategies, but they are not yet well-investigated. To identify genes and miRNAs involved in internode starch biosynthesis, the cDNA and small RNA libraries of Z6-1, Z6-2, and Z6-3 were sequenced, and their expression were further studied. Through combined analyses of transcriptome data and small RNA sequencing data, a complex co-expression regulatory network was constructed, in which 20 miRNAs could modulate starch biosynthesis in different internodes by tuning the expression of 10 target genes. QRT-PCR analysis, transient co-expression experiment and dual luciferase assay comprehensively confirmed that Nnu miR396a down-regulated the expression of NnSS2 and ultimately prevents the synthesis of amylopectin, and Nnu miR396b down-regulated the expression of NnPGM2 and ultimately prevents the synthesis of total starch. Our results suggest that miRNAs play a critical role in starch biosynthesis in lotus rhizome, and that miRNA-mediated networks could modulate starch biosynthesis in this tissue. These results have provided important insights into the molecular mechanism of starch biosynthesis in developing lotus rhizome.

Starch is the final product of photosynthesis and the main storage form in plants. Studies have shown that there is a close synergistic regulatory relationship between ABA signal transduction and starch biosynthesis. In this study, we employed RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) to investigate transcriptomic changes of the Euryale ferox seeds treated by exogenous ABA. The differentially expressed genes engaged in the "Starch and sucrose" and "TCA cycle" pathway. Furthermore, the key transcription factor EfABI4 in ABA signaling pathway and the key genes of starch biosynthesis ( EfDBE1 , EfSBE2 , EfSS1 , EfSS2 , EfSS3 , EfSS4 and EfGBSS1 ) were significantly up-regulated. Further, the Euryale ferox plant was treated with ABA, it was found that the total starch content of Euryale ferox seeds at different development stages was significantly higher than that of the control, and the key genes of starch synthesis in Euryale ferox seeds were also significantly up-regulated. Finally, yeast one-hybrid and dual luciferase assay proved that EfABI4 can promote the expression of EfSS1 by directly binding to its promoter. Subcellular localization results showed that EfABI4 protein was located at the nucleus and EfSS1 protein was located in the cytomembrane. These findings revealed that ABA promotes starch synthesis and accumulation by mediating EfABI4 to directly promote EfSS1 gene expression, which is helpful for understanding starch synthesis in seeds.

Cross-lingual document retrieval, which aims to take a query in one language to retrieve relevant documents in another, has attracted strong research interest in the last decades. Most studies on this task start with cross-lingual comparisons at the word level and then represent documents via word embeddings, which leads to insufficient structure information. In this work, the cross-lingual comparison at the document level is achieved through the cross-lingual semantic space. Our method, MDL (deep multilabel multilingual document learning), leverages a six-layer fully connected network to project cross-lingual documents into a shared semantic space. The semantic distances can be calculated when the cross-lingual documents are transformed into embeddings in semantic space. The supervision signals are automatically extracted from the data and then used to construct the semantic space via a linear classifier. The ambiguity of manual labels could be avoided and the multilabel supervision signals can be acquired instead of a single label. The representation of the semantic space is enriched by multilabel supervision signals, which improves the discriminative ability of the embeddings. The MDL is easy to extend to other fields since it does not depend on specific data. Furthermore, MDL is more efficient than the models training all languages jointly, since each language is trained individually. Experiments on Wikipedia data showed that the proposed method outperforms the state-of-the-art cross-lingual document retrieval methods.

Waterfowl parvovirus (WPFs) has multiple effects on the intestinal tract, but the effects of recombinant Muscovy duck parvovirus (rMDPV) have not been elucidated. In this study, 48 one-day-old Muscovy ducklings were divided into an infected group and a control group. Plasma and ileal samples were collected from both groups at 2, 4, 6, and 8 days post-infection (dpi), both six ducklings at a time. Next, we analyzed the genomic sequence of the rMDPV strain. Results showed that the ileal villus structure was destroyed seriously at 4, 6, 8 dpi, and the expression of ZO-1, Occludin, and Claudin-1 decreased at 4, 6 dpi; 4, 6, 8 dpi; and 2, 6 dpi, respectively. Intestinal cytokines IFN-α, IL-1β and IL-6 increased at 6 dpi; 8 dpi; and 6, 8 dpi, respectively, whereas IL-2 decreased at 6, 8 dpi. The diversity of ileal flora increased significantly at 4 dpi and decreased at 8 dpi. The bacteria Ochrobactrum and Enterococcus increased and decreased at 4, 8 dpi; 2, 4 dpi, respectively. Plasma MDA increased at 2 dpi, SOD, CAT, and T-AOC decreased at 2, 4, 8 dpi; 4, 8 dpi; and 4, 6, 8 dpi, respectively. These results suggest that rMDPV infection led to early intestinal barrier dysfunction, inflammation, ileac microbiota disruption, and oxidative stress.

For the alignment problem of strapdown inertial navigation system (SINS) under the complex environment of unknown latitude, angular oscillation interference, and line interference, the ant colony simulated annealing algorithm of gravity vector optimization is proposed to obtain the gravity apparent motion vector optimization equation, and the polynomial fitting method is proposed to simultaneously perform latitude estimation and self-alignment in combination with the alignment principle of SINS. Simulations and experiments show that the proposed method has more robust anti-interference capability than the traditional interference-based alignment method, the latitude estimation accuracy is improved by six times, the self-alignment yaw angle error RMSE value after obtaining the latitude is within 0.7°, and the roll angle and pitch angle error values are within 0.1°.

Single-axis rotation modulation (SRM) still accumulates errors in the roll axis direction, which leads to the navigation accuracy not meeting the requirements of guided missiles. Compound rotation modulation (CRM) superimposes one-dimensional rotation on the basis of SRM, so that the error of the projectile in the direction of the roll axis is also modulated. However, the error suppression effect of CRM is not only affected by the error of the IMU itself, but also related to the modulation angular velocity. In order to improve the accuracy of rotary semi-strapdown inertial navigation system (RSSINS), this paper proposes an optimal rotation angular velocity determination method. Firstly, the residual error in CRM scheme is analyzed; then, the relationship between the incomplete modulation error and the modulation angular velocity in CRM is discussed; finally, a method for determining the optimal modulation angular velocity is proposed ( K -value method). The analysis of the results shows that the navigation accuracy of the guided projectile is effectively improved with the rotation scheme set at the modulation angular velocity determined by the K -value method.

With the superior ductility and flexibility brought by compliant bodies, soft manipulators provide a nondestructive manner to grasp delicate objects, which has been developing gradually as a rising focus of soft robots. However, the unexpected phenomenon caused by environmental effects, leading to high internal nonlinearity and unpredictable deformation, makes it challenging to design, model, and control soft manipulators. In this paper, we designed a soft pneumatically actuated manipulator consisting of four soft actuators, as well as a flange, and investigated the influence of structural parameters on the output characteristics of the manipulator through finite element analysis (FEA). To enhance the bending deformation of the soft actuator, annular rings were employed on the soft actuator. A mathematical model for the bending deformation of air cavities was established to explore the relationship between the driving pressure and the bending angle based on the Yeoh strain energy function. Moreover, an end-output force model was established to depict the variation of the force output with the bending angle of the soft actuator, which was then experimentally validated by adopting the manufactured manipulator. The soft actuator studied in this paper can bend from 0° to 110° under an applied pressure of 0-60 kPa, and the maximum grasping load of the soft manipulator is 5.8 N. Finally, practical tests were conducted to assess the adaptability of the soft manipulator when grasping delicate fruits, such as apples, pears, tomatoes, and mangoes, demonstrating its broad application prospects in nondestructive fruit harvesting.

Robotic milling has broad application prospects in many processing fields. However, the milling performance of a robot in a certain posture, such as in face milling or grooving tasks, is extremely sensitive to process parameters due to the influence of the serial structure of the robot system. Improper process parameters are prone to produce machining defects such as low surface quality. These deficiencies substantially decrease the further application development of robotic milling. Therefore, this paper selected a certain posture and carried out the robotic flat-end milling experiments on a 7075-T651 high-strength aeronautical aluminum alloy under dry conditions. Milling load, surface quality and vibration were selected to assess the influence of process parameters like milling depth, spindle speed and feed rate on the milling performance. Most notably, the contribution ratio based on the analysis of variance (ANOVA) was introduced to statistically investigate the relation between parameters and milling performance. The obtained results show that milling depth is highly significant in milling load, which had a contribution ratio of 69.25%. Milling depth is also highly significant in vibration, which had a contribution ratio of 51.41% in the X direction, 41.42% in the Y direction and 75.97% in the Z direction. Moreover, the spindle speed is highly significant in surface roughness, which had a contribution ratio of 48.02%. This present study aims to quantitatively evaluate the influence of key process parameters on robotic milling performance, which helps to select reasonable milling parameters and improve the milling performance of the robot system. It is beneficial to give full play to the advantages of robots and present more possibilities of robot applications in machining and manufacturing.

In order to study the synergistic effects of organic and inorganic thickening agents on the rheological properties of cement paste, the rheological parameters, thixotropy cement-paste containing limestone powder (LP), re-dispersible polymer powder (RPP), and hydroxypropyl methylcellulose ether (HPMC) were investigated using the Anton Paar MCR 102 rheometer at different resting times. The early-age hydration process, hydration products, and microstructure were also analyzed with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and thermogravimetry analyses (TGA). The results showed that the addition of LP, RPP, and HPMC affected the rheological properties of cement paste, but the thickening mechanism between organic and inorganic thickening agents was different. The small amount of LP increased the plastic viscosity but decreased the yield stress of cement paste due to its dense filling effect. Adding 1% of RPP improved the thixotropic property of cement paste by 50%; prolonging the standing time could improve the thixotropic performance by as much as two times. Only 0.035% HPMC added to the cement paste increased the plastic viscosity by 20%, while the yield stress increased nearly twice. The more HPMC added, the more significant effect it showed. Cement paste compounds with LP, RPP, and HPMC balanced the yield stress and plastic viscosity and improved the thixotropy. The C-L6-R1.0-H0.035 paste presented as a pseudoplastic, its rheological indexes were close to one, and it was hardly affected by the resting time. The composite superposition effect of organic and inorganic thickening agents reduced the impact of resting time for all pastes. As the organic thickening component inhibited the hydration more than the LP promoted the hydration of the cement paste, indicating that the C-L6-R1.0-H0.035 paste remained in the particle fusion stage after curing for three days, as shown by the SEM images.

Radiotherapy is a helpful treatment for cancer, but it can also potentially cause changes in many molecules, resulting in adverse effects. Among these changes, the occurrence of abnormal DNA methylation patterns has alarmed scientists. To explore the influence of region-specific radiotherapy on blood DNA methylation, we designed a computational workflow by using machine learning methods that can identify crucial methylation alterations related to treatment exposure. Irrelevant methylation features from the DNA methylation profiles of 2052 childhood cancer survivors were excluded via the Boruta method, and the remaining features were ranked using the minimum redundancy maximum relevance method to generate feature lists. These feature lists were then fed into the incremental feature selection method, which uses a combination of deep forest, k-nearest neighbor, random forest, and decision tree to find the most important methylation signatures and build the best classifiers and classification rules. Several methylation signatures and rules have been discovered and confirmed, allowing for a better understanding of methylation patterns in response to different treatment exposures.

A GaN-based blue photonic crystal surface emitting laser (PCSEL) featured with membrane configuration was proposed and theoretically investigated. The membrane dimension, photonic crystal (PhC) material, lattice constant and thickness were studied by RCWA (Rigorous Coupled Wave Analysis), FDTD (Finite Difference Time Domain) simulations with the confinement factor and gain threshold as indicators. The membrane PCSEL's confinement factor of active media is of 13~14% which is attributed to multi-pairs of quantum wells and efficient confinement of the mode in the membrane cavity with air claddings. The excellent confinement factor and larger Q factor of resonance mutually contribute to the lower gain threshold of the design (below 400 cm -1 for GaN-PhC with 100 nm thick top and bottom GaN layer, 40 nm hole radius and 40 nm depth). The PhC confinement factor exceeds 13% and 6% for TiO 2 -PhC with 80 nm and 60 nm PhC thickness and 20 nm and 40 nm distance between PhC and active media, respectively. It is around two times larger than that of GaN-PhC, which is attributed to the higher refractive index of TiO 2 that pulls field distribution to the PhC layer.

Eicosanoids are crucial downstream signals in the insect immune responses. Phospholipase A2 (PLA2) catalyzes phospholipids, the initial step in eicosanoid biosynthesis. In mammals, the biological roles of Ca 2+ -independent Phospholipase A2 (iPLA2) have been extensively studied; however, only a few studies have attempted to explore iPLA2 functions in insects. In this study, we identified two iPLA2 genes (designated as BmiPLA2A and BmiPLA2B ) in the silkworm, Bombyx mori . BmiPLA2A had a 2427 base pair (bp) open reading frame (ORF) that coded for a protein with 808 amino acids. In contrast, BmiPLA2B had a 1731 bp ORF that coded for a protein with 576 amino acids. Domain analysis revealed that BmiPLA2A had six ankyrin repeat domains, but BmiPLA2B lacks these domains. BmiPLA2A and BmiPLA2B were transcribed widely in various tissues and developmental stages with different expression patterns. The administration of 20-hydroxyecdysone increased their expression levels in the epidermis and hemocytes. Furthermore, challenged with virus, fungus, Gram-negative bacteria, and Gram-positive bacteria induced the expression of BmiPLA2A and BmiPLA2B with variable degrees along with different time points. Our findings imply that BmiPLA2A and BmiPLA2B may have important biological roles in the development and innate immunity of B. mori .

Aiming at the problems of low accuracy of strawberry fruit picking and large rate of mispicking or missed picking, YOLOv5 combined with dark channel enhancement is proposed. In "Fengxiang" strawberry, the criterion of "bad fruit" is added to the conventional three criteria of ripeness, near-ripeness, and immaturity, because some of the bad fruits are close to the color of ripe fruits, but the fruits are small and dry. The training accuracy of the four kinds of strawberries with different ripeness is above 85%, and the testing accuracy is above 90%. Then, to meet the demand of all-day picking and address the problem of low illumination of images collected at night, an enhancement algorithm is proposed to enhance the images, which are recognized. We compare the actual detection results of the five enhancement algorithms, i.e., histogram equalization, Laplace transform, gamma transform, logarithmic variation, and dark channel enhancement processing under the different numbers of fruits, periods, and video tests. The results show that combined with dark channel enhancement, YOLOv5 has the highest recognition rate. Finally, the experimental results demonstrate that YOLOv5 is better than SSD, DSSD, and EfficientDet in terms of recognition accuracy, and the correct rate can reach more than 90%. Meanwhile, the method has good robustness in complex environments such as partial occlusion and multiple fruits.