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Three types of aggregate, including metallurgical slag aggregate (steel slag, copper slag, and iron sand), rare earth porcelain sand (REPS) aggregate as artificial aggregate, and recycled aggregate, were selected to produce concrete with the same basic mixture proportions in order to investigate the influence of aggregate types and aggregate replacement rates on their mechanical properties. Three levels of aggregate replacement rate—20%, 35%, and 50% for coarse aggregate (CA) and 20%, 30%, and 40% for fine aggregate (FA)—were employed in this study. The results indicate that replacing natural sand with metallurgical slag aggregate as FA enhances the mechanical properties of concrete. Among these, iron sand (IS) shows superior enhancement effects compared with copper slag (CS), and CS outperforms steel slag (SS). Specifically, at a 30% IS replacement rate, the compressive strength and splitting tensile strength of IS aggregate concrete are 32.8% and 35.6% higher than those of natural aggregate concrete, respectively. REPS used as CA demonstrates significant improvements in compressive strength, while REPS used as FA notably enhances splitting tensile strength. For recycled aggregate concrete with recycled coarse aggregate replacement rates of 35% and 50%, mechanical properties are effectively strengthened by incorporating CS as FA at a 30% replacement rate and REPS as CA at a 20% substitution ratio, respectively. Additionally, XRF and XRD techniques were employed to confirm aggregate composition and were combined with SEM and EDS techniques to analyze the concrete microstructure, clarifying the strengthening mechanisms of metallurgical and artificial aggregates on concrete. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to elucidate responses of the bacterial structure and diversity of the rhizosphere in flowering broomcorn millet after rehydration following drought stress. In this study, the broomcorn millet varieties 'Hequ red millet' (A1) and 'Yanshu No.10′ (A2), known for their different drought tolerance levels, were selected as experimental materials. The plants were subjected to rehydration after drought stress at the flowering stage, while normal watering (A1CK and A2CK) served as the control. Soil samples were collected at 10 days (A11, A21, A1CK1, and A2CK1) and 20 days (A12, A22, A1CK2, and A2CK2) after rehydration. High-throughput sequencing technology was employed to investigate the variations in bacterial community structure, diversity, and metabolic functions in the rhizosphere of the broomcorn millet at different time points following rehydration. The findings indicated that the operational taxonomic units (OTUs) of bacteria in the rhizosphere of broomcorn millet were notably influenced by the duration of treatment, with a significant decrease in OTUs observed after 20 days of rehydration. However, bacterial Alpha diversity was not significantly impacted by rehydration following drought stress. The bacterial community in the rhizosphere of broomcorn millet was mainly composed of Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria. After rewatering for 10 to 20 days after drought stress, the abundance of Sphingomonas and Aeromicrobium in the rhizosphere soil of the two varieties of broomcorn millet decreased gradually. Compared with Yanshu No.10, the abundance of Pseudarthrobacter in the rhizosphere of Hequ red millet gradually increased. A Beta diversity analysis revealed variations in the dissimilarities of the bacterial community which corresponded to different rehydration durations. The relative abundance of bacterial metabolic functions in the rhizosphere of broomcorn millet was lower after 20 days of rehydration, compared to measurements after 10 days of rehydration. This observation might be attributed to the exchange of materials between broomcorn millet and microorganisms during the initial rehydration stage to repair the effects of drought, as well as to the enrichment of numerous microorganisms to sustain the stability of the community structure. This study helps to comprehend the alterations to the bacterial structure and diversity in the rhizosphere of broomcorn millet following drought stress and rehydration. It sheds light on the growth status of broomcorn millet and its rhizosphere microorganisms under real environmental influences, thereby enhancing research on the drought tolerance mechanisms of broomcorn millet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ehrlichia chaffeensis infects and proliferates inside monocytes or macrophages and causes human monocytic ehrlichiosis (HME), an emerging life-threatening tick-borne zoonosis. After internalization, E. chaffeensis resides in specialized membrane-bound inclusions, E. chaffeensis-containing vesicles (ECVs), to evade from host cell innate immune responses and obtain nutrients. However, mechanisms exploited by host cells to inhibit E. chaffeensis growth in ECVs are still largely unknown. Here we demonstrate that host cells recognize E. chaffeensis Ech_1067, a penicillin-binding protein, and then upregulate the expression of PIT1, which is a phosphate transporter and transports phosphate from ECVs to the cytosol to inhibit bacterial growth. We found that host cells upregulate the PIT1 expression upon E. chaffeensis infection using transcriptome sequencing, qRT-PCR and Western blotting, and PIT1 is localized on the ECV membrane in infected THP-1 cells using confocal microscopy. Silence of PIT1 using shRNA enhances E. chaffeensis intracellular growth. Finally, we found that E. chaffeensis Ech_1067 induces the upregulation of PIT1 expression through the MyD88-NF-κB pathway using recombinant protein for stimulation and siRNA for silence. Our findings deepen the understanding of the innate immune responses of host cells to inhibit bacterial intracellular growth and facilitate the development of new therapeutics for HME. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to clarify the effect of different fertilizers on foxtail millet quality under low nitrogen conditions, we used JGNo.21 and LZGNo.2 as experimental materials and set up five treatments, including non-fertilization, nitrogen, phosphorus, compound, and organic fertilizers, to study the regulation of different fertilizer types on agronomic traits, nutrient fractions, and pasting characteristics of foxtail millet under low nitrogen conditions. Compared with the control, all of the fertilizers improved the agronomic traits of JGNo.21 to a certain extent. Nitrogen and compound fertilizer treatments reduced the starch content of JGNo.21; the starch content was reduced by 0.55% and 0.07% under nitrogen and compound fertilizers treatments. Phosphorus and organic fertilizers increased starch content, and starch content increased by 0.50% and 0.56% under phosphorus and organic fertilizer treatments. The effect of each fertilizer treatment on protein content was completely opposite to that of starch; different fertilizer treatments reduced the fat content of JGNo.21 and increased the fiber content. Among them, nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers increased the yellow pigment content; the yellow pigment content increased by 1.21% and 2.64% under nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizer treatments. Organic and compound fertilizers reduced the content of yellow pigment; the yellow pigment content was reduced by 3.36% and 2.79% under organic and compound fertilizer treatments. Nitrogen and organic fertilizers increased the fat content of LZGNo.2; the fat content increased by 2.62% and 1.98% under nitrogen, organic fertilizer treatment. Compound and phosphorus fertilizer decreased the fat content; the fat content decreased by 2.16% and 2.90% under compound and phosphorus fertilizer treatment. Different fertilizer treatments reduced the cellulose and yellow pigment content of LZGNo.2. The content of essential, non-essential, and total amino acids of JGNo.21 was increased under compound and nitrogen fertilizer treatments and decreased under organic and phosphorus fertilizer treatments. The content of essential, non-essential, and total amino acids of LZGNo.2 was significantly higher under compound, nitrogen, and organic fertilizer treatments compared with control and significantly decreased under phosphorus fertilizer treatments. Nitrogen and compound fertilizer treatments significantly reduced the values of peak viscosity, trough viscosity, breakdown viscosity, final viscosity, setback viscosity, and pasting time of each index of JGNo.21; phosphorus and organic fertilizer treatments improved the values of each index. In contrast, the pasting viscosity of LZGNo.2 increased under phosphorus fertilizer treatment and decreased under nitrogen fertilizer treatment. Reasonable fertilization can improve the quality of foxtail millet, which provides a scientific theoretical basis for improving the quality of foxtail millet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With China's rapid industrialization and urbanization in the process of socio-economic development, the extensive use of energy has resulted in a large amount of CO2 emissions, which puts great pressure on China's carbon emission reduction task. Through multivariate socio-economic data, this paper proposes an extraction and screening method of multivariate variables based on land-use types, and the downscaled spatial decomposition of carbon emissions at different scales was carried out by using the spatial lag model (SLM). This paper makes up for the shortcomings of previous studies, such as an insufficient modeling scale, simple modeling variables, limited spatio-temporal span of spatial decomposition, and no consideration of geographical correlation. Based on the results of the spatial decomposition of carbon emissions, this paper explores the spatial and temporal dynamics of carbon emissions at different scales. The results showed that SLM is capable of downscaling the spatialization of carbon emissions with high precision, and the continuity of the decomposition results at the provincial scale is stronger, while the differences of the decomposition results at the municipal scale are more obvious within the municipal units. In terms of the spatial and temporal dynamics of CO2 emissions, carbon emissions at both scales showed a significant positive correlation. The dominant spatial correlation types are "Low–Low" at the provincial level, and "Low–Low" and "High–High" at the municipal level. The smaller spatial scope is more helpful to show the geographic dependence and geographic differences of China's carbon emissions. The findings of this paper will help deepen the understanding of the spatial and temporal changes of carbon emissions in China. They will provide a scientific basis for the formulation of feasible carbon emission reduction policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the diversity in emotional tendencies and needs toward urban green spaces (UGSs) among people from different cultural backgrounds in the wave of cultural integration. We utilized social media data as research tools, gathering a wide range of perspectives and voices. Utilizing geolocation data from 176 UGSs in Macau, we collected 139,162 social media comments to analyze the emotional perceptions of different cultural groups. Furthermore, we conducted regression analysis on the number of posts and emotional intensity values from four linguistic groups—Chinese, English, Southeast Asian languages, and Portuguese—in UGSs, correlating them with ten locally relevant landscape features. Our findings reveal diverse attitudes, emotional inclinations, and functional and design needs of different linguistic groups toward UGSs, as follows: (1) there were significant differences in emotional intensity and tweet counts across 176 UGSs; (2) Chinese and Portuguese speakers showed a more positive attitude toward plazas and natural ecological areas, whereas English- and Southeast-Asian-language speakers tended to favor recreational areas and suburban parks; (3) Chinese speakers exhibited a more positive emotional intensity toward sports facilities, while English speakers placed more emphasis on green space areas, architecture, sports infrastructure, and plant landscapes; (4) there was no specific landscape feature preference for Portuguese- and Southeast-Asian-language speakers. This research not only deepens our understanding of the emotional perceptions and preferences of UGSs among different cultural groups but also explores the association between these groups and various urban landscape features. This provides important theoretical and practical insights for future UGS planning, construction, and promoting multicultural coexistence for sustainable urban development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Both genetics and vitamin D deficiency are associated with childhood obesity. However, the role of vitamin D status between polygenic and childhood obesity has been unknown. The current study aimed to determine the relation between genetic factors, vitamin D status, and BMI-for-age z score (zBMI) in Chinese preschool children. Methods: A total of 1046 participants aged 3.7 to 6.6 years old from the Long-term Health Effects Assessment Project of Infants and Toddlers Nutritional Pack (LHEAPITNP) were included in this study. The polygenic risk score (PRS) was established based on 55 BMI-related single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) derived from a published genome-wide association study (GWAS) for BMI. Serum 25(OH)D was used as an index of vitamin D status and measured with liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS-MS) assay. The Wilcoxon test or Kruskal–Wallis test was used to compare the differences of variables between different groups and Spearman correlation analysis was used for analyzing the correlations between the PRS, 25(OH)D levels, and zBMI. Results: The PRS showed a positive relation to zBMI (rs = 0.0953, p = 0.0022) and 25(OH)D showed a negative relation to zBMI (rs = −0.1082, p = 0.0005) in the full-adjustment model. In addition, the differences in zBMI at different vitamin D statuses in the low-risk PRS group and the intermediate-risk PRS group were both statistically significant (plow = 0.0308, pintermediate = 0.0121), the median zBMI was both higher at vitamin D insufficiency status. And the difference in zBMI between different genetic risk groups was also statistically significant at vitamin D sufficiency status (p = 0.0077). Furthermore, genetic risk showed a positive relation to zBMI at vitamin D sufficiency status, and the p for trend was 0.0028. Conclusions: Our findings suggested that vitamin D was related to zBMI negatively in Chinese preschoolers and maintaining adequate vitamin D levels may only contribute to lower the zBMI in preschoolers with low and intermediate genetic susceptibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The echo state network (ESN) is a recurrent neural network that has yielded state-of-the-art results in many areas owing to its rapid learning ability and the fact that the weights of input neurons and hidden neurons are fixed throughout the learning process. However, the setting procedure for initializing the ESN's recurrent structure may lead to difficulties in designing a sound reservoir that matches a specific task. This paper proposes an improved pre-training method to adjust the model's parameters and topology to obtain an adaptive reservoir for a given application. Two strategies, namely global random selection and ensemble training, are introduced to pre-train the randomly initialized ESN model. Specifically, particle swarm optimization is applied to optimize chosen fixed and global weight values within the network, and the reliability and stability of the pre-trained model are enhanced by employing the ensemble training strategy. In addition, we test the feasibility of the model for time series prediction on six benchmarks and two real-life datasets. The experimental results show a clear enhancement in the ESN learning results. Furthermore, the proposed global random selection and ensemble training strategies are also applied to pre-train the extreme learning machine (ELM), which has a similar training process to the ESN model. Numerical experiments are subsequently carried out on the above-mentioned eight datasets. The experimental findings consistently show that the performance of the proposed pre-trained ELM model is also improved significantly. The suggested two strategies can thus enhance the ESN and ELM models' prediction accuracy and adaptability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ehrlichia chaffeensis infects human monocytes or macrophages and causes human monocytic ehrlichiosis (HME), an emerging life-threatening zoonosis. After internalization, E. chaffeensis resides in membrane-bound inclusions, E. chaffeensis-containing vesicles (ECVs), which have early endosome-like characteristics and fuse with early autophagosomes but not lysosomes, to evade host innate immune microbicidal mechanisms and obtain nutrients for bacterial intracellular growth. The mechanisms exploited by E. chaffeensis to modulate intracellular vesicle trafficking in host cells have not been comprehensively studied. Here, we demonstrate that E. chaffeensis type IV secretion system (T4SS) effector Etf-3 induces RAB15 upregulation in host cells and that RAB15, which is localized on ECVs, inhibits ECV fusion with lysosomes and induces autophagy. We found that E. chaffeensis infection upregulated RAB15 expression using qRT-PCR, and RAB15 was colocalized with E. chaffeensis using confocal microscopy. Silence of RAB15 using siRNA enhanced ECV maturation to late endosomes and fusion with lysosomes, as well as inhibited host cell autophagy. Overexpression of Etf-3 in host cells specifically induced RAB15 upregulation and autophagy. Our findings deepen the understanding of E. chaffeensis pathogenesis and adaptation in hosts as well as the function of RAB15 and facilitate the development of new therapeutics for HME. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on designing and optimizing Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motors (PMSMs) using hybrid rare earth and ferrite materials. Two distinctive rotor topologies of the Hybrid-Type Permanent Magnet Motor (HTPMM) are proposed: series and parallel magnetic circuits. Initially, the rotor topology and magnetic circuit principles of both the prototype and the designed HTPMM are introduced. Subsequently, a multi-objective genetic algorithm is employed to optimize the two HTPMMs, determining the final optimized parameters. Thise study further analyzes the cost advantage of HTPMMs from the perspective of permanent magnet materials, and detailed finite element analysis is conducted to evaluate the electromagnetic performance, including the air-gap flux density, no-load back electromotive force, cogging torque, load torque characteristics, and demagnetization properties. A comparative analysis of the prototype and two designed motors reveals that the HTPMM exhibits similar performance to the prototype, effectively reducing the usage of rare earth materials and significantly lowering the manufacturing costs. This research validates the feasibility of reducing rare earth material usage while maintaining a similar performance and provides a new perspective for the design of permanent magnet motors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The flowering stage is a critical period for water sensitivity and quality formation of broomcorn millets. However, the effects and mechanisms of drought stress on the quality formation of broomcorn millets are not clear. We used the drought-resistant variety Hequ red millet (H) and the drought-sensitive variety Yanshu No. 10 (Y) were used as materials for drought stress treatment during the flowering stage, metabolomics and physiological methods were used to study the differences in protein, starch, amino acids, medium and medium-long chain fatty acids, and their response characteristics to drought in broomcorn millet. The results showed that different genotypes of broomcorn millets exhibited different response mechanisms in the face of drought stress. In Hequ red millet, drought stress significantly increased the contents of amylopectin (2.57%), pyridoxine (31.89%), and anthocyanin, and significantly decreased the contents of water-soluble protein (5.82%), glutelin (10.07%), thiamine (14.95%) and nicotinamide (23.01%). In Yanshu No. 10, drought significantly decreased amylose by 6.05%, and significantly increased riboflavin and nicotinamide contents by 21.11% and 32.59%. Correlation analysis showed that total starch and amylose were highly significantly positively correlated with methyl palmitate; negatively correlated with amylopectin, vitamins, proteins, free amino acids, and medium-long chain fatty acids; and amylopectin was significantly positively correlated with water-soluble protein, riboflavin, and pyridoxine. Water-soluble protein and glutelin were significantly positively correlated with most free amino acids, medium-long chain fatty acids, and nicotinamide. Thiamine showed significant positive correlation with nicotinamide and significant negative correlation with pyridoxine. Riboflavin was significantly positively correlated with nicotinamide, pyridoxine, and water-soluble protein, and pyridoxine was significantly positively correlated with water-soluble protein. Hequ red millet transforms into amylopectin by consuming water-soluble protein and glutelin, and improves drought resistance by accumulating pyridoxine, and changes its physicochemical properties by decreasing the content of amylose and protein and elevating the content of amylopectin. Yanshu No. 10 resisted drought by catabolizing lipids to produce fatty acids and by consuming amylose for conversion into other metabolites. The present study helps to understand the response of the nutritional quality of millets to drought stress at the flowering stage and provides a theoretical basis for the selection and breeding of superior varieties of millets and drought resistance research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The basic leucine zipper (bZIP) transcription factors constitute the most widely distributed and conserved eukaryotic family. They play crucial roles in plant growth, development, and responses to both biotic and abiotic stresses, exerting strong regulatory control over the expression of downstream genes. In this study, a genome-wide characterization of the CebZIP transcription factor family was conducted using bioinformatic analysis. Various aspects, including physicochemical properties, phylogenetics, conserved structural domains, gene structures, chromosomal distribution, gene covariance relationships, promoter cis-acting elements, and gene expression patterns, were thoroughly analyzed. A total of 70 CebZIP genes were identified from the C. ensifolium genome, and they were randomly distributed across 18 chromosomes. The phylogenetic tree clustered them into 11 subfamilies, each exhibiting complex gene structures and conserved motifs arranged in a specific order. Nineteen pairs of duplicated genes were identified among the 70 CebZIP genes, with sixteen pairs affected by purifying selection. Cis-acting elements analysis revealed a plethora of regulatory elements associated with stress response, plant hormones, and plant growth and development. Transcriptome and qRT-PCR results demonstrated that the expression of CebZIP genes was universally up-regulated under low temperature conditions. However, the expression patterns varied among different members. This study provides theoretical references for identifying key bZIP genes in C. ensifolium that confer resistance to low-temperature stress, and lays the groundwork for further research into their broader biological functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transparent ceramics (Gd0.975−xLuxDy0.025)3Al5O12 (x = 0.2, 0.5, 0.975) are fabricated by vacuum sintering with the transmittance of ~60% at 583 nm. The doping of Lu3+ was beneficial to stabilize the garnet phase, and the best doping concentration was 20 at.%. All three (Gd, Lu)3Al5O12:Dy ceramics display typical Dy3+ emission, originating from 4F9/2 → 6HJ (J = 15/2, 13/2, 11/2) transition. Temperature-dependent luminescence spectra from 303.15 K to 603.15 K prove that the (Gd, Lu)3Al5O12:Dy ceramics had good thermal stability and could be an ideal yellow-emitting candidate in light-emitting diodes. The luminous efficiency of the encapsulated white LED lamp was found to be ~87.9 lm/W when the injection current was 600 mA. The transparent (Gd, Lu)3Al5O12:Dy ceramics show great application potential in various optical systems especially in the fields of luminescence and display. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drought stress restricts plant growth and development. The flowering stage is a period of abundant microbial diversity in the rhizosphere of broomcorn millet. However, the diversity and community structure of rhizosphere fungi during the flowering stage of broomcorn millet and the response mechanism to drought stress are still unclear. In this study, two broomcorn millet varieties, 'Hequ red millet' (A1) and 'Yanshu No.10′ (A2), with different drought resistances, were used as experimental materials. Using the pot water control method, drought treatment at the flowering stage was carried out, and normal watering (A1CK, A2CK) was used as the control. High-throughput sequencing technology was used to study the diversity and structural changes in rhizosphere fungi in broomcorn millet. The results show that the number of fungi OTUs in the A1, A2, A1CK and A2CK samples were 445, 481, 467 and 434, respectively, of which 331 OTUs were shared by all groups. The fungal community in the rhizosphere of broomcorn millet was mainly composed of Ascomycota and Basidiomycota. Drought treatment significantly reduced the abundance of Mortierella and significantly increased the abundance of Phoma. The abundance of Nectriaceae in the rhizosphere soil of 'Hequ Red millet' was significantly increased. The abundance of Pseudocercospora in the rhizosphere soil of 'Yanshu No.10′ was higher, and the lower was Hypocreales and Nectriaceae. However, there was no significant difference in the alpha diversity of fungal communities in the four treatments, and the fungal community structure between A2 and A1CK was more similar, whereas the difference between A1 and A2CK was larger. Correlation analysis showed that drought stress had little effect on the interaction of rhizosphere fungi, and metabolic functions such as nucleotide metabolism and electron transport in rhizosphere fungi accounted for a relatively high proportion. The results show that the diversity and community structure of rhizosphere fungi were less affected by drought, which may have been due to the close interaction between species, which made the fungal community more stable under drought stress, and the difference in planting varieties may have affected the enriched rhizosphere fungal species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies have pointed out that spectral nudging is still insufficient in improving the long-term simulation ability of numerical models. In response to this problem, this study started with the Luzon Strait and its adjacent areas and discussed the influence of the selection of correction targets on its long-term spectral nudging. We established two sets of numerical experiments with the same parameter configuration except for the correction target: one was the monthly climatological target, and the other was the monthly real-time. The results showed that, compared with the climatology, the real-time target improved the consistency with the observations in large-scale variability on the premise of ensuring the correction of the climatological bias of the model. Further verification of the real-time scheme better simulated the meso- and small-scale characteristics, especially more accurately reproducing the position, intensity, and movement trend of eddies when the Kuroshio intrusion event occurred. Multi-scale energy analysis revealed the significance of adjusting large-scale potential energy to improve the overall simulation ability. The premise is that the correction target needs to fully contain these effective large-scale signals and non-stationary features, and then introduce them into the numerical integration of the regional model through appropriate band-pass filter parameter settings, driving a more reasonable large-scale background state thereby. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Apo pickle is a fermented food with a long edible history in the Jiangnan region of China. Traditionally, plastic bottles are used as Apo pickle's fermentation containers, and artificial bottling costs are high. The goal of this study is to compare the fermentation effects of Apo pickle fermented under low pressure in a vacuum bag (VBA) and Apo pickle fermented under normal pressure in plastic bottles (TBA) to determine the feasibility of fermenting Apo pickle in a vacuum bag rather than a plastic bottle, thereby lowering production costs. At the same time, a gas-sensitive colorimetric sensor array (CSA) was developed to distinguish different fermentation stages of Apo pickle. The results revealed that the main genera in the initial and final phases of Apo pickle fermentation were Weissella and Lactobacillus, unaffected by fermentation containers. At the same fermentation time, the abundance of Lactobacillus and the content of flavor substances in VBA were higher, and the fermentation speed of VBA was faster at 0–15 d, so a vacuum bag could be used instead of a plastic bottle. The CSA could discriminate between different fermentation procedures of Apo pickles with an accuracy rate of 93.8%. Its principle is similar to that of an electronic nose. It has the advantages of convenience, rapidity, and no need for professional equipment, so it can be used as a new method to judge the fermentation degree of apo pickle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For high-resolution remote sensing image retrieval tasks, single-scale features cannot fully express the complexity of the image information. Due to the large volume of remote sensing images, retrieval requires extensive memory and time. Hence, the problem of how to organically fuse multi-scale features and enhance retrieval efficiency is yet to be resolved. We propose an end-to-end deep hash remote sensing image retrieval model (PVTA_MSF) by fusing multi-scale features based on the Pyramid Vision Transformer network (PVTv2). We construct the multi-scale feature fusion module (MSF) by using a global attention mechanism and a multi-head self-attention mechanism to reduce background interference and enhance the representation capability of image features. Deformable convolution is introduced to address the challenge posed by varying target orientations. Moreover, an intra-class similarity (ICS) loss is proposed to enhance the discriminative capability of the hash feature by minimizing the distance among images of the same category. The experimental results show that, compared with other state-of-the-art methods, the proposed hash feature could yield an excellent representation of remote sensing images and improve remote sensing image retrieval accuracy. The proposed hash feature can gain an increase of 4.2% and 1.6% in terms of mAP on the UC Merced and NWPU-RESISC45 datasets, respectively, in comparison with other methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study synthesized the NaGdF4@NaGdF4: Yb, Tm@NaGdF4: Yb, Nd upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs), combined with another three-layer structure NaYF4@NaYF4: Yb, Er@NaYF4 UCNPs, with a core-shell-shell structure, effectively suppressing fluorescence quenching and significantly improving upconversion luminescence efficiency. Two types of modified UCNPs were coupled with antibodies against fenpropathrin and procymidone to form signal probes, and magnetic nanoparticles were coupled with antigens of fenpropathrin and procymidone to form capture probes. A rapid and sensitive fluorescence immunoassay for the simultaneous detection of fenpropathrin and procymidone was established based on the principle of specific binding of antigen and antibody and magnetic separation technology. Under the optimal competitive reaction conditions, different concentrations of fenpropathrin and procymidone standards were added to collect the capture probe-signal probe complex. The fluorescence values at 542 nm and 802 nm were measured using 980 nm excitation luminescence. The results showed that the detection limits of fenpropathrin and procymidone were 0.114 µg/kg and 0.082 µg/kg, respectively, with sensitivities of 8.15 µg/kg and 7.98 µg/kg, and they were applied to the detection of fenpropathrin and procymidone in tomatoes, cucumbers, and cabbage. The average recovery rates were 86.5~100.2% and 85.61~102.43%, respectively, with coefficients of variation less than 10%. The results showed good consistency with the detection results of high-performance liquid chromatography, proving that this method has good accuracy and is suitable for the rapid detection of fenpropathrin and procymidone in food. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study delves into investors' perceptions of the polluting label attached to listed manufacturing firms, emphasizing the interplay between external political ties and internal green innovative capability in influencing these perceptions. Drawing on a longitudinal analysis of listed manufacturing firms in China from 2010 to 2020 and employing a difference-in-differences (DID) approach, we treat firms identified under the National Specially Monitored (NSM) program as the treated group, while non-NSM firms form the control group. The time variable captures the period post the introduction of the NSM program. Our findings highlight that the polluting label created a loss prospect for investors, signifying diminishing returns over time. Interestingly, firms with closer connections to local governments experienced amplified negative investor perceptions. In contrast, strong affiliations with the central government and robust green innovative capabilities cushioned these adverse reactions. Notably, central ties proved even more beneficial when complemented by green innovative capability. By melding signal theory with the literature on sense-making, this research adds nuance to the discourse on the role of resources in determining firm success amidst environmental controversies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ironless linear permanent magnet synchronous motor (ILPMSM) is highly compact, easy to control, and exhibits minimal thrust fluctuations, making it an ideal choice for direct loading applications requiring precise positioning accuracy in linear motor test rigs. To address the issue of temperature rise resulting from increased primary winding current and to simultaneously enhance thrust density while minimizing thrust fluctuations, this paper introduces a bilateral-type ILPMSM with a cooling water jacket integrated between the dual-layer windings of the primary movers. The primary winding of the motor adopts a dual-layer coreless structure where the upper and lower windings are closely spaced and cooled by a non-conductive metal cooling water jacket, while the dual-sided secondary employs a Halbach permanent magnet array. The motor's overall braking force is a combination of the electromagnetic braking force generated by the energized windings and the eddy current braking force induced on the cooling water jacket. This paper specifically focuses on the analysis of the eddy current braking force. Initially, the motor's geometry and working principle are presented. Subsequently, the equivalent magnetization intensity method is employed to determine the no-load air gap magnetic density resulting from the Halbach array. An analytical model is then developed to derive expressions for the eddy current density and braking force induced in the water-cooling jacket. The accuracy of the analytical method is validated through finite element analysis. Then, a comparative analysis of the braking forces in two primary cooling structures, namely the inter-cooled type and the two-side cooled type ILPMSM, is conducted. Moreover, the characteristics of the eddy current braking force are thoroughly examined concerning motor size parameters and operating conditions. This paper provides a solid theoretical foundation for the subsequent optimization design of the proposed motor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heavy metal contamination in wheat not only endangers human health, but also causes crop quality degradation, leads to economic losses and affects social stability. Therefore, this paper proposes a Pyraformer-based model to predict the safety risk level of Chinese wheat contaminated with heavy metals. First, based on the heavy metal sampling data of wheat and the dietary consumption data of residents, a wheat risk level dataset was constructed using the risk evaluation method; a data-driven approach was used to classify the dataset into risk levels using the K-Means++ clustering algorithm; and, finally, on the constructed dataset, Pyraformer was used to predict the risk assessment indicator and, thus, the risk level. In this paper, the proposed model was compared to the constructed dataset, and for the dataset with the lowest risk level, the precision and recall of this model still reached more than 90%, which was 25.38–4.15% and 18.42–5.26% higher, respectively. The model proposed in this paper provides a technical means for hierarchical management and early warning of heavy metal contamination of wheat in China, and also provides a scientific basis for dynamic monitoring and integrated prevention of heavy metal contamination of wheat in farmland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Licorice is a traditional and versatile herbal medicine and food. Glabridin (Gla) is a kind of isoflavone extracted from the licorice root, which has anti-obesity, anti-atherosclerotic, and antioxidative effects. Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) is a widespread liver disease induced by chronic alcohol consumption. However, studies demonstrating the effect of Gla on ALD are rare. The research explored the positive effect of Gla in C57BL/6J mice fed by the Lieber–DeCarli ethanol mice diet and HepG2 cells treated with ethanol. Gla alleviated ethanol-induced liver injury, including reducing liver vacuolation and lipid accumulation. The serum levels of inflammatory cytokines were decreased in the Gla-treated mice. The reactive oxygen species and apoptosis levels were attenuated and antioxidant enzyme activity levels were restored in ethanol-induced mice by Gla treatment. In vitro, Gla reduced ethanol-induced cytotoxicity, nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) nuclear translocation, and enhanced nuclear factor (erythroid-derived 2)-like 2 (Nrf2) nuclear translocation. Anisomycin (an agonist of p38 MAPK) eliminated the positive role of Gla on ethanol-caused oxidative stress and inflammation. On the whole, Gla can alleviate alcoholic liver damage via the p38 MAPK/Nrf2/NF-κB pathway and may be used as a novel health product or drug to potentially alleviate ALD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aiming at the problems of the dynamic increase in data in real life and that the naive Bayes (NB) classifier only accepts or rejects the sample processing results, resulting in a high error rate when dealing with uncertain data, this paper combines three-way decision and incremental learning, and a new three-way incremental naive Bayes classifier (3WD-INB) is proposed. First, the NB classifier is established, and the distribution fitting is carried out according to the minimum residual sum of squares (RSS) for continuous data, so that 3WD-INB can process both discrete data and continuous data, then carry out an incremental learning operation, select the samples with higher data quality according to the confidence of the samples in the incremental training set for incremental learning, solve the problem of data dynamics and filter the poor samples. Then we construct the 3WD-INB classifier and determine the classification rules of the positive, negative and boundary domains of the 3WD-INB classifier, so that the three-way classification of samples can be realized and better decisions can be made when dealing with uncertain data. Finally, five discrete data and five continuous data are selected for comparative experimental analysis with traditional classification methods. The results show that 3WD-INB has high accuracy and recall rate on different types of datasets, and the classification performance is also relatively stable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flood hazards resulting from short-term severe precipitation have caused serious social and economic losses and have posed extraordinary threats to the safety of lives and property. Vulnerability, which reflects the degree of the adverse impact of flooding on a city, the sensitivity of the environment, and the extent to which rescues are possible during flooding, is one of the significant factors of the disaster risk assessment. Because of this, this paper proposes an Environmental Vulnerability Analysis Model (EVAM), based on comprehensively evaluating multi-source remote sensing data. The EVAM includes a two-stage, short-term flood vulnerability assessment. In the first stage, the flood's areal extension and land-use classification are extracted, based on the U-NET++ network, using multi-source satellite remote sensing images. The results from the first stage are used in the second stage of vulnerability assessment. In the second stage, combining multi-source data with associated feature extraction results establishes the Exposure–Sensitivity–Adaptive capacity framework. The short-term flood vulnerability index is leveraged through the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and the entropy method is calculated for an environmental vulnerability evaluation. This novel proposed framework for short-term flood vulnerability evaluation is demonstrated for the Henan Province. The experimental results show that the proportion of vulnerable cities in the Henan Province ranging from high to low is 22.22%, 22.22%, 38.89%, and 16.67%, respectively. The relevant conclusions can provide a scientific basis for regional flood control and risk management as well as corresponding data support for post-disaster reconstruction in disaster regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: The depression of egg quality during the late stage of the laying cycle is one of the knotty issues in the poultry industry, which cause a great economic loss. Our study revealed that 0.45 mg/kg selenium yeast supplementation can alleviate the decline of egg quality in aged laying hens. In addition, organs Se levels and plasma antioxidant capacity were significantly higher with Se supplementation. Transcriptomic analysis identified some key candidate genes and potential molecular processes involved in selenium yeast's effects on eggshell formation. We inferred that 0.45 mg/kg selenium yeast has potential functions to alleviate the decrease in eggshell quality in aged laying hens to extend the laying cycle. These findings provide several new fundamental insights into improving egg quality in aged laying hens and extending the laying cycle. Internal egg and eggshell quality are often deteriorated in aging laying hens, which causes huge economic losses in the poultry industry. Selenium yeast (SY), as an organic food additive, is utilized to enhance laying performance and egg quality. To extend the egg production cycle, effects of selenium yeast supplementation on egg quality, plasma antioxidants and selenium deposition in aged laying hens were evaluated. In this study, five hundred and twenty-five 76-week-old Jing Hong laying hens were fed a selenium-deficient (SD) diet for 6 weeks. After Se depletion, the hens were randomly divided into seven treatments, which included an SD diet, and dietary supplementation of SY and sodium selenite (SS) at 0.15, 0.30, and 0.45 mg/kg to investigate the effect on egg quality, plasma antioxidant capacity, and selenium content in reproductive organs. After 12 weeks of feeding, dietary SY supplementation resulted in higher eggshell strength (SY0.45) (p < 0.05) and lower shell translucence. Moreover, organs Se levels and plasma antioxidant capacity (T-AOC, T-SOD, and GSH-Px activity) were significantly higher with Se supplementation (p < 0.05). Transcriptomic analysis identified some key candidate genes including cell migration inducing hyaluronidase 1 (CEMIP), ovalbumin (OVAL), solute carrier family 6 member 17 (SLC6A17), proopiomelanocortin (POMC), and proenkephalin (PENK), and potential molecular processes (eggshell mineralization, ion transport, and eggshell formation) involved in selenium yeast's effects on eggshell formation. In conclusion, SY has beneficial functions for eggshell and we recommend the supplementation of 0.45 mg/kg SY to alleviate the decrease in eggshell quality in aged laying hens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a wide range of naturally regenerated Morus alba in the declining Robinia pseudoacacia plantation of the Yellow River Delta. It is important to clarify the key mechanism of natural regeneration of M. alba for the transformation of declining R. pseudoacacia plantation. According to the death density of R. pseudoacacia, the plantation of R. pseudoacacia was divided into nondeclining, moderately declining, and severely declining forests. The structural characteristics of adult trees and seedlings of M. alba in different decline degrees forest were investigated. A pot experiment was conducted to study the seed germination and early seedling growth of M. alba in saline alkali soil and nonsaline alkali soil under different soil salt contents and light intensities. The results showed that the natural regeneration of M. alba was obviously affected by the decline of R. pseudoacacia plantation. With the increase of decline degree, M. alba density and seedling density first increased and then decreased, and were the highest in the medium decline plantation. Under full light intensity, the vigor index of M. alba seeds and the biomass of seedlings were significantly greater than those of 25% full light intensity. The germination rate and germination index under 1‰ soil salt content were significantly lower than those under 3‰, but the biomass of seedlings was on the contrary. The 1000-seed weight, seed germination, and seedling biomass of moderately declining R. pseudoacacia plantations were close to those of nonsaline alkali land, while significantly higher than those of nondeclining plantations, but the germination index of moderately declining R. pseudoacacia plantation was higher than that of nonsaline alkali land. Therefore, the germination ability of maternal trees in saline alkali land was higher than that in nonsaline alkali land under salt stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cooking food in water or soup, such as hot pot, is a widely used cooking method in China. This type of cooking requires no oil and cooks at a lower temperature, but that does not mean it produces fewer pollutants or is less harmful. There are few research studies on the emission characteristics and mechanisms of particulate matter emissions when eating hot pot (the boiling process), which leads to the unreasonable design of ventilation systems for this kind of catering. In this paper, the effects of boiling different ingredients (including noodles, potatoes, fish, tofu, meatballs, and pork) on particle number concentration emissions were studied. The particle number concentration and particle size distribution of PM with diameters of 0.3 μm and less, 0.3–0.5 μm and 0.5–1.0 μm (PM0.3, PM0.3–0.5 and PM0.5–1.0, respectively) were measured in an experimental chamber. The food type and shape showed very little change in the PM emission characteristics of boiling. When the boiling state was reached, the number concentration, particle size distribution, and arithmetic mean diameter of particles all fluctuated within 60 s. The emission characteristics of particles produced by boiling water and heating oil were compared. Heating oil produced more small particles, and boiling water released more large particles. Transient and steady methods were used to calculate the emission rate of particles, and the steady-state calculation has a high estimation of the emission rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) is caused by chronic excessive alcohol consumption, which leads to inflammation, oxidative stress, lipid accumulation, liver fibrosis/cirrhosis, and even liver cancer. However, there are currently no effective drugs for ALD. Herein, we report that a natural phytosterol Daucosterol (DAU) can effectively protect against liver injury caused by alcohol, which plays anti−inflammatory and antioxidative roles in many chronic inflammatory diseases. Our results demonstrate that DAU ameliorates liver inflammation induced by alcohol through p38/nuclear factor kappa B (NF−κB)/NOD−like receptor protein−3 (NLRP3) inflammasome pathway. Briefly, DAU decreases NF−κB nuclear translocation and inhibits NLRP3 activation by decreasing p38 phosphorylation. At the same time, DAU also protects against hepatic oxidative stress and lipid accumulation. In conclusion, our research provides a new clue about the protective effects of naturally active substances on ALD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chemotherapeutics' development has enhanced the survival rate of cancer patients; however, adverse effects of chemotherapeutics on ovarian functions cause fertility loss in female cancer patients. Cisplatin (CP), an important chemotherapeutic drug for treating solid tumors, has adversely affected ovarian function. Melatonin (MT) has been shown to have beneficial effects on ovarian function owing to its antioxidative function. In this research, an animal model was established to explore the effect of MT on CP-induced ovarian damage. Immunohistochemical analysis and Western blot were also used to explore its mechanism. This study reported that MT protects mouse ovaries from CP-induced damage. Specifically, MT significantly prevented CP-induced ovarian reserve decline by maintaining AMH and BMP15 levels. We also found that MT ameliorated CP-induced cell cycle disorders by up-regulating CDC2 expression, and inhibited CP-induced ovarian inflammation by decreasing IL-1β and IL-18 levels. Moreover, MT protected the ovary from CP-induced mitochondrial damage, as reflected by restoring mitochondria-related protein expression. Furthermore, CP caused ovarian apoptosis, as indicated by up-regulated BAX expression. MT was also shown to activate the MAPK pathway. Our results showed that MT could ameliorate ovarian damage induced by CP, implying that MT may be a viable alternative to preserve female fertility during CP chemotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Apo pickle is a traditional Chinese fermented vegetable. However, the traditional fermentation process of Apo pickle is slow, easy to ruin, and cannot be judged with regard to time. To improve fermentation, LP-165 (L. Plantarum), which has a high salt tolerance, acidification, and growth capacity, was chosen as the starter culture. Meanwhile, a colorimetric sensor array (CSA) sensitive to pickle volatile compounds was developed to differentiate Apo pickles at varying degrees of fermentation. The color components were extracted from each dye in the color change profiles and were analyzed using principal component analysis (PCA) and linear discriminant analysis (LDA). The fermentation process of the Apo pickle was classified into four phases by LDA. The accuracy of backward substitution verification was 99% and the accuracy of cross validation was 92.7%. Furthermore, the partial least squares regression (PLSR) showed that data from the CSA were correlated with pH total acid, lactic acid, and volatile acids of the Apo pickle. These results illustrate that the CSA reacts quickly to inoculated Apo pickle and could be used to detect fermentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promoting farmland transfer through the farmland rental market is an essential instrument to achieve the centralized scale operation of farmland in China. However, few studies have explored or verified the economies of scale after land concentration. This study uses face-to-face interviews to randomly select 395 farmers engaged in land scale management in 68 villages of 11 cities in Shandong Province. Based on these data, a production cost function model is used to measure the cost elasticity of farmland scale management and further empirically test whether farmland scale management can achieve economies of scale in actual agricultural production. The empirical results show that the development of farmland scale operation can reduce production costs and realize the economy of scale. In other words, the scale of farmland management still has the possibility of further expansion. More importantly, we find the operation cost of farmland is significantly influenced by the price of farmland transfer, fixed capital input and labor input, especially the scale operator with rich planting experience and good cultural quality is an important human capital stock, which can make significant contribution to reducing production cost and developing the positive effect of scale operation. To promote farmland scale management in China, we should pay attention to reducing the transferring cost and transaction cost of farmland by building the land transfer market trading platform, increasing the subsidies for farmland transfer and developing agricultural mechanization, which is helpful to improve agricultural productivity and realize the scale economy. This research can provide a reference for rational land scale management and land use policymaking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aiming to design a generator with high reliability, high efficiency, and especially a constant output voltage over a wide speed range for hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), this paper proposes a novel topology of a hybrid excitation doubly salient generator with separate windings (HEDSGSW). The topology herein utilizes a hybrid excitation type of PMs and DC windings to generate parallel magnetic circuits. In addition, PMs are embedded in the magnetic bridge to insulate the excitation windings with armature windings. This design can achieve compactness, efficiency, and especially constant output capability over a wide speed range. The geometry and flux regulation principles, including magnetic flux circuits, are elaborated. After comparing three power generation modes, the most suitable mode, namely, the doubly salient generation 2 (DSG2) mode, is confirmed to ensure a stable voltage output performance. Then, considering the non-uniformity effect of the stator and rotor slots, the no-load back electromotive force (EMF) expressions are derived based on the EMF to air-gap relative permeance method. Furthermore, a 1 kW HEDSGSW FEA model, with an output voltage of 42 V and a rated speed of 6000 rpm, is built to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. Finally, the operating properties of the HEDSGSW, such as no-load characteristics and adjustment characteristics, are analyzed to further verify the rationality of its magnetic flux circuit and the flexibility of the excitation regulation capability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Genetic testing promises to provide guidance for early diagnosis and treatment of cholangiocarcinoma (CCA). Due to the different mutation landscapes across populations and the paucity of sequencing data of Chinese patients with CCA, the existing mutation landscape is insufficient to reflect the mutation characteristics of Chinese patients. We retrospectively analyzed 72 Chinese patients with CCA who had received genetic testing of targeted capture sequencing. A total of 2152 somatic mutations were detected in 56 (77.78%, 56/72) patients, of which, the frequently mutated driver genes were TP53, KMT2D, KMT2C, BCOR, APC, BAP1, ARID1A, NF1, PIK3CA, KRAS, and LRP1B. Most mutations were enriched in NRF2, TP53, and TGF-Beta oncogenic signaling pathways and cadherin repeat domain which were associated with intercellular adhesion. We identified 118 novel pathogenic or likely pathogenic somatic mutations and 77 actionable alterations, which provided potential targets for early diagnosis and treatment planning of CCA. The early diagnosis and treatment of cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) remain a challenge worldwide. Genetic testing promises to solve these problems. Due to the different mutation landscapes across populations and the paucity of sequencing data of Chinese patients with CCA, the existing mutation landscape is insufficient to reflect the mutation characteristics of Chinese patients. Thus, we retrospectively analyzed 72 Chinese patients with CCA who had received genetic testing of targeted capture sequencing. A total of 2152 somatic mutations were detected in 56 (77.78%) patients, of which, the frequently mutated driver genes were TP53 (27.78%), KMT2D (23.81%), KMT2C (20.63%), BCOR (18.06%), APC (15.28%), BAP1 (13.89%), ARID1A (12.50%), NF1 (12.50%), PIK3CA (12.50%), KRAS (11.11%), and LRP1B (11.11%). Most mutations were enriched in NRF2, TP53, and TGF-Beta oncogenic signaling pathways and cadherin repeat domains which were associated with intercellular adhesion. Based on cancer-related public databases and multiple protein function prediction algorithms, we identified 118 novel pathogenic or likely pathogenic somatic mutations and 77 actionable alterations. Molecular analysis of tumors from a precision oncology perspective can provide potential targets for early diagnosis and treatment of CCA and assist physicians in clinical decision making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Artificial reefs are considered to have the function of repairing and improving the coastal habitat and increasing the fishery production, which are mainly achieved by changing the regional hydrodynamic conditions. The characteristics of flow turbulence structure are an important part of the regional hydrodynamic characteristics. Different methods are used to evaluate the performance of artificial reefs according to their shape and the purpose for which the reef was built. For this study, the M-shaped unit reefs, which are to be put into the area of Liaodong Bay, were selected as the research object and have never been fully investigated before. Experimental tests were conducted to assess the effect of these M-shaped artificial reefs on the vertical and longitudinal turbulent intensity under different hydraulic conditions and geometries, and datasets were collected by using the Particle Image Velocimetry technique implemented within the experimental facility. The distribution and variation characteristics of the turbulence intensity were analyzed, and the main results obtained can confirm that in the artificial reef area, there was an extremely clear turbulent boundary. Furthermore, the area of influence of the longitudinal turbulence was identified to be larger than that of the vertical turbulence, and the position where the maximum turbulence intensity appeared was close to where the maximum velocity was measured. Finally, results demonstrate that low turbulence conditions are typically located in front of the unit reef, the general turbulence area is located within the upwelling zone, and the more intense turbulence area is located between the two M-shaped monocases. These results are extremely important, because they provide the local authorities with specific knowledge about what could be the effect of these M-shaped reefs within the area where they will be implemented, and therefore, specific actions can be taken in consideration with the geometrical setup suggested as an optimal solution within this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dam-break flows may change into debris flows if certain conditions are satisfied, such as abundant loose material and steep slope. These debris flows are typically characterized by high density and can generate strong impact forces. Due to the complexity of the materials that they are made of, it has always been very challenging to numerically simulate these phenomena and accurately reproduce experimentally debris flows' processes. Therefore, to fill this gap, the formation-movement processes of debris flows induced by dam-break were simulated numerically, modifying the existing smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method. By comparing the shape and the velocity of dam break debris flows under different configurations, it was found that when simulating the initiation process, the number of particles in the upstream section is overestimated while the number of particles in the downstream area is underestimated. Furthermore, the formation process of dam-break debris flow was simulated by three models which consider different combinations of the viscous force, the drag force and the virtual mass force. The method taking into account all these three kinds of interface forces produced the most accurate outcome for the numerical simulation of the formation process of dam-break debris flow. Finally, it was found that under different interface force models, the particle velocity distribution did not change significantly. However, the direction of the particle force changed, which is due to the fact that the SPH model considers generalized virtual mass forces, better replicating real case scenarios. The modalities of dam failures have significant impacts on the formation and development of debris flows. Therefore, the results of this study will help authorities to select safe sites for future rehabilitation and relocation projects and can also be used as an important basis for debris flow risk management. Future research will be necessary to understand more complex scenarios to investigate mechanisms of domino dam-failures and their effects on debris flows propagation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: New strategies are needed to combat multidrug-resistant bacteria. The restriction of iron uptake by bacteria is a promising way to inhibit their growth. We aimed to suppress the growth of Vibrio bacterial species by inhibiting their ferric ion-binding protein (FbpA) using food components. Methods: Twenty spices were selected for the screening of FbpA inhibitors. The candidate was applied to antibacterial tests, and the mechanism was further studied. Results: An active compound, rosmarinic acid (RA), was screened out. RA binds competitively and more tightly than Fe3+ to VmFbpA, the FbpA from V. metschnikovii, with apparent KD values of 8 μM vs. 17 μM. Moreover, RA can inhibit the growth of V. metschnikovii to one-third of the control at 1000 μM. Interestingly, sodium citrate (SC) enhances the growth inhibition effect of RA, although SC only does not inhibit the growth. The combination of RA/SC completely inhibits the growth of not only V. metschnikovii at 100/100 μM but also the vibriosis-causative pathogens V. vulnificus and V. parahaemolyticus, at 100/100 and 1000/100 μM, respectively. However, RA/SC does not affect the growth of Escherichia coli. Conclusions: RA/SC is a potential bacteriostatic agent against Vibrio species while causing little damage to indigenous gastrointestinal bacteria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Artificial reefs are effective measures to improve the marine ecological environment and increase fishery production. However, there are several geometries being investigated nowadays and their setup, including the spacing between groups of them, can provide dissimilar effects on hydrodynamics. To enhance the understanding of this topic, in this paper, the focus is mainly on M-Type artificial reefs that will be adopted in Juehua Island, Liaodong Bay, China. An experimental campaign was carried out in order to simulate the influence that M-Type unit reef groups may have on the local flow field and the Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) technique has been implemented to provide velocity maps. The results showed that with the increase of velocity's current approaching the artificial reef, the height, length and area of the upwelling and the back vortex rise with the increase of spacing between the artificial reefs. Furthermore, when comparing different geometrical configurations with similar currents approaching the artificial reef, the maximum values of both upwelling and back vortex were obtained when the spacing between unit reefs was 1.25 L. Finally, the entropy method was used to evaluate the effects on the flow field under four kinds of spacing based on the hydrodynamic characteristics and the economic cost. The comprehensive score obtained for all the configurations followed the order 1.25 L > 1.50 L > 0.75 L > 1.00 L. Therefore, it is suggested that the original design spacing should be increased by 25% when the M-type unit reef is put into practice. Additionally, after having completed a comparative analysis, it is recommended to further change the reef group into four reef monocases. By executing this adjustment, the unit reef cost was reduced by 10%, and the influence range on the flow field increased by 10%, and this result can consequently achieve greater ecological benefits with less economic input. The results of this study provide a preliminary reference for the construction of artificial reefs M-Type from the perspective of theory and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Salmonella genus represents the most common foodborne pathogens causing morbidity, mortality, and burden of disease in all regions of the world. The introduction of antimicrobial agents and Salmonella-specific phages has been considered as an effective intervention strategy to reduce Salmonella contamination. However, data from the United States, European countries, and low- and middle-income countries indicate that Salmonella cases are still a commonly encountered cause of bacterial foodborne diseases globally. The control programs have not been successful and even led to the emergence of some multidrug-resistant Salmonella strains. It is known that the host immune system is able to effectively prevent microbial invasion and eliminate microorganisms. However, Salmonella has evolved mechanisms of resisting host physical barriers and inhibiting subsequent activation of immune response through their virulence factors. There has been a high interest in understanding how Salmonella interacts with the host. Therefore, in the present review, we characterize the functions of Salmonella virulence genes and particularly focus on the mechanisms of immune escape in light of evidence from the emerging mainstream literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-homogeneous viscous debris flows are characterized by high density, impact force and destructiveness, and the complexity of the materials they are made of. This has always made these flows challenging to simulate numerically, and to reproduce experimentally debris flow processes. In this study, the formation-movement process of non-homogeneous debris flow under three different soil configurations was simulated numerically by modifying the formulation of collision, friction, and yield stresses for the existing Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) method. The results obtained by applying this modification to the SPH model clearly demonstrated that the configuration where fine and coarse particles are fully mixed, with no specific layering, produces more fluctuations and instability of the debris flow. The kinetic and potential energies of the fluctuating particles calculated for each scenario have been shown to be affected by the water content by focusing on small local areas. Therefore, this study provides a better understanding and new insights regarding intermittent debris flows, and explains the impact of the water content on their formation and movement processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polarimetric radar and disdrometer observations obtained during the 2014 Observation, Prediction, and Analysis of Severe Convection of China (OPACC) field campaign are used in this study to investigate the microphysical characteristics of three primary types of organized intense rainfall events (meiyu rainband, typhoon outer rainband, and squall line) in eastern China. Drop size distributions (DSDs) of these three events on the ground are derived from measurements of a surface disdrometer, while the corresponding three-dimensional microphysical structures are obtained from the Nanjing University C-band polarimetric radar (NJU-CPOL). Although the environmental moisture and instability conditions are different, all three events possess relatively high freezing level favorable for warm-rain processes where the high medium to small raindrop concentration at low levels is consistent with the high surface rainfall rates. Convection is tallest in the squall line where abundant ice-phase processes generate large amounts of rimed particles (graupel and hail) above the freezing level and the largest surface raindrops are present among these three events. The storm tops of both the typhoon and meiyu rainbands are lower than that in the squall line, composed of less active ice processes above the freezing level. The typhoon rainrate is more intense than that of meiyu, enhanced by higher coalescence efficiency. A revised generalized intercept parameter versus mass-weighted mean diameter (Nw-Dm) space diagram is constructed to describe the DSD distributions over the three events and illustrate the relative DSD positions for heavy precipitation. DSDs of these intense rainfall convections observed in this midlatitude region of eastern Asia somewhat represent the typical DSD characteristics in low latitudes, suggesting that the parameterization of microphysical characteristics in eastern China in numerical models needs to be further investigated to improve rain fall forecasts in these heavy rainfall events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Riverbank erosion is a natural process in rivers that can become exacerbated by direct and indirect human impacts. Unfortunately, riverbank degradation can cause societal impacts such as property loss and sedimentation of in-stream structures, as well as environmental impacts such as water quality impact. The frequency, magnitude, and impact of riverbank collapse events in China and worldwide are forecasted to increase under climate change. To understand and mitigate the risk of riverbank collapse, experimental/field data in real conditions are required to provide robust calibration and validation of hydraulic and mathematical models. This paper presents an experimental set of tests conducted to characterize riverbank erosion and sediment transport for banks with slopes of 45°, 60°, 75°, and 90° and quantify the amount of sediments transported by the river, deposited within the bank toe or settled in the riverbed after having been removed due to erosion. The results showed interesting comprehension about the characterization of riverbank erosion and sediment transport along the river. These insights can be used for calibration and validation of new and existing numerical models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, heavy mineral analysis was carried out in different size fractions of the Yellow River sediment to extract its end-members. It shows that heavy mineral contents, species, and compositions vary in different grain sizes. Distribution curve of heavy mineral concentration (HMC) and particle size frequency curve are in normal distribution. In most samples, the size fraction of 4.5–5.0 Φ contains the maximum HMC (18% on average). Heavy mineral assemblages of the Yellow River are featured by amphibole + epidote + limonite + garnet. Amphibole content is high in coarse fraction of >3.0 Φ and reaches its peak value in 3.5–4.5 Φ. Epidote is rich in a size fraction of >3.5 Φ, and increase as the particle size becomes fine. Micas content is high in coarse subsamples of <3.0 Φ, but almost absent in fine grains of >4.0 Φ. Metallic minerals (magnetite, ilmenite, hematite, and limonite) increase as the sediment particle size become fine, and reach the peak in silt (>4.0 Φ). Other minerals such as zircon, rutile, tourmaline, garnet, and apatite account for about 15%, and mainly concentrate in fine sediment. Further analysis reveals that similarity value between the most abundant grain size group and wide window grain size group is high (0.978 on average). The grain size of 4.0–5.0 Φ ± 0.5 Φ is suitable to carry out detrital mineral analysis in the Yellow River sediments. Our study helps to eliminate cognitive bias due to narrow grain size strategy, and to provide heavy mineral end-members of the Yellow River sediment for provenance discrimination in the marginal seas of East China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-homogeneous debris flows are characterized by a wide grain size gradation, high volumetric weight and sediments not uniformly distributed along the vertical direction of the flow depth. These flows usually occur in the southwestern mountainous area of China during the rainy season, causing tangible and non-tangible damages; therefore, it is crucial to study their dynamic characteristics. An experimental campaign was conducted to replicate three processes typical of debris flows: (i) formation; (ii) propagation; and (iii) accumulation. Different flow rates, soil composition and flume slopes were applied. Multiple experimental parameters were quantified for each test conducted such as pore water pressure and velocity and a series of regression analyses were used to determine the relative impact of each experimental variable on these recorded parameters. The results showed that the flowrate and the vertical grading coefficient associated with the soil composition have the maximum and the minimum influence on the formation of debris flows and propagation velocities measured, respectively. This result is significant and needs to be considered when planning or designing control measures to reduce the impacts of debris flows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]