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In crowdsourcing scenarios, we can hire crowd workers to label crowdsourced tasks and then use label integration algorithms to infer the integrated label for each instance in the tasks. As more and more label integration algorithms are proposed, the performance of inference based only on the information of the inferred instance gradually converges. Recent algorithms attempt to exploit the information of the inferred instance’s nearest neighbors to infer and achieve good performance. However, when crowdsourced tasks are class-imbalanced, negative instances are more easily to occur in the nearest neighbors because negative instances are the majority, and thus recent algorithms are more easily biased toward the negative class. To this end, in this paper, we propose a novel label integration algorithm called farthest-nearest neighbor-based weighted voting (FNNWV) for class-imbalanced crowdsourcing. Specifically, FNNWV considers the nearest neighbors to be more similar to the inferred instance and thus uses them to vote ayes in weighted voting. Yet at the same time, FNNWV considers the farthest neighbors to be more different from the inferred instance and thus uses them to vote nays in weighted voting. Since negative instances are easier to occur in both the nearest neighbors and the farthest neighbors, FNNWV weakens the effect of negative instances by voting ayes and nays. The experimental results on 22 simulated and one real-world crowdsourced datasets show that FNNWV significantly outperforms all the other state-of-the-art competitors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In crowdsourcing scenarios, we can obtain each instance’s multiple noisy labels from different crowd workers and then infer its integrated label via label aggregation. In spite of the effectiveness of label aggregation methods, there still remains a certain level of noise in the integrated labels. Thus, some noise correction methods have been proposed to reduce the impact of noise in recent years. However, to the best of our knowledge, existing methods rarely consider an instance’s information from both its features and multiple noisy labels simultaneously when identifying a noise instance. In this study, we argue that the more distinguishable an instance’s features but the noisier its multiple noisy labels, the more likely it is a noise instance. Based on this premise, we propose a label distribution similarity-based noise correction (LDSNC) method. To measure whether an instance’s features are distinguishable, we obtain each instance’s predicted label distribution by building multiple classifiers using instances’ features and their integrated labels. To measure whether an instance’s multiple noisy labels are noisy, we obtain each instance’s multiple noisy label distribution using its multiple noisy labels. Then, we use the Kullback-Leibler (KL) divergence to calculate the similarity between the predicted label distribution and multiple noisy label distribution and define the instance with the lower similarity as a noise instance. The extensive experimental results on 34 simulated and four real-world crowdsourced datasets validate the effectiveness of our method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Winter precipitation over eastern China displays remarkable interannual variability, which has been suggested to be closely related to El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO). This study finds that ENSO impacts on eastern China precipitation patterns exhibit obvious differences in early (November–December) and late (January–February) winter. In early winter, precipitation anomalies associated with ENSO are characterized by a monopole spatial distribution over eastern China. In contrast, the precipitation anomaly pattern in late winter remarkably changes, manifesting as a dipole spatial distribution. The noteworthy change in precipitation responses from early to late winter can be largely attributed to the seasonally varying Kuroshio anticyclonic anomalies. During the early winter of El Niño years, anticyclonic circulation anomalies appear both over the Philippine Sea and Kuroshio region, enhancing water vapor transport to the entirety of eastern China, thus contributing to more precipitation there. During the late winter of El Niño years, the anticyclone over the Philippine Sea is further strengthened, while the one over the Kuroshio dissipates, which could result in differing water vapor transport between northern and southern parts of eastern China and thus a dipole precipitation distribution. Roughly the opposite anomalies of circulation and precipitation are displayed during La Niña winters. Further analysis suggests that the seasonally-varying Kuroshio anticyclonic anomalies are possibly related to the enhancement of ENSO-related tropical central-eastern Pacific convection from early to late winter. These results have important implications for the seasonal-to-interannual predictability of winter precipitation over eastern China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the leading cause of lower respiratory tract infection, especially in children and older people. However, no effective treatment is currently available. Type I interferons (IFNs) are a group of cytokines that help regulate the activity of the immune system. GB05, human IFNα1b inhalation solution, was developed under US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) standard guidelines to combat RSV infection. This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, dose-escalation phase I trial evaluated the safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics of nebulized GB05. Methods: A total of 35 eligible healthy Chinese adult volunteers were enrolled in this study. In the single ascending dose (SAD) study, volunteers were randomized into 0.2, 0.6, 1.2, and 1.8 million IU of GB05 or placebo. In the multiple ascending dose (MAD) study, volunteers received 1.2 or 1.8 million IU of GB05 or placebo for four consecutive days. Safety, tolerability, immunogenicity, and plasma pharmacokinetics were assessed for all groups. Results: All adverse events were mild or moderate and resolved spontaneously. The most common adverse event was decreased white blood cell count (8.6% in SAD and 10% in MAD). No serious adverse events, deaths, or adverse events that reached the termination criteria occurred during the study. In SAD, the maximum concentration and area under the curve increased across the dose range of 1.2–1.8 million IU in a non-linear relationship. The maximum plasma concentration after GB05 nebulization (1.06 IU/ml in the 1.8 million IU group) reflected a low concentration in the blood, suggesting a better lung uptake of GB05 and reduced incidence or risks of adverse events. In MAD, a steady state was reached after continuous administrations of twice daily for 3 days. Conclusions: Overall, nebulized GB05 exhibited satisfactory safety, tolerability, and favorable pharmacokinetic (PK) profiles in healthy adult volunteers, supporting further clinical investigation in patients infected with respiratory syncytial virus. Clinical Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT06277167. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The climatological connection between tropical cyclones (TCs) and boreal summer intraseasonal oscillation (BSISO) over the western North Pacific (WNP) is known, but here we additionally find that the influences of May–October BSISO on TC genesis and intensification at the interannual timescale reveal distinctive regional features. The strengthened BSISO variability over the subtropical WNP (7.5°–27.5°N, 145°E–165°W) contributes positively to the basin-total TC genesis count, while the BSISO amplitude over the central-western equatorial Pacific (5°S–5°N, 140°E–160°W) is significantly correlated with the average intensity that TCs can reach. The physical processes causing the differences in TC behavior associated with interannual changes in BSISO are quantified from the viewpoint of eddy energetics. During summers with enhanced BSISO over the subtropical WNP, more TCs form there. Composite diagnostic analysis results for TC genesis days show that local synoptic eddies (or TC embryos) gain more kinetic energy to grow into TCs from both the seasonal-mean and BSISO anomalies via barotropic energy conversion. Eddy self-augmentation processes related to baroclinic conversion and eddy geopotential flux also aid the generation of TCs. During summers with enhanced central-western equatorial BSISO, TCs stay longer over the open ocean before they reach maximum intensity. Further diagnosis along the TC tracks shows that these eddies may grow faster (with a larger kinetic energy tendency) and reach a higher intensity with the help of enhanced barotropic and baroclinic energy conversion processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chiral pesticides account for about 40% of the total pesticides. In the process of using pesticides, it will inevitably flow into the surface water and even penetrate into the groundwater through surface runoff and other means, as a consequence, it affects the water environment. Although the enantiomers of chiral pesticides have the same physical and chemical properties, their distribution, ratio, metabolism, toxicity, etc. in the organism are often different, and sometimes even show completely opposite biological activities. In this article, the selective fate of different types of chiral pesticides such as organochlorine, organophosphorus, triazole, pyrethroid and other chiral pesticides in natural water bodies and sediments, acute toxicity to aquatic organisms, chronic toxicity and other aspects are summarized to further reflect the risks between the enantiomers of chiral pesticides to non-target organisms in the water environment. In this review, we hope to further explore its harm to human society through the study of the toxicity of chiral pesticide enantiomers, so as to provide data support and theoretical basis for the development and production of biochemical pesticides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Purpose: The traditional Chinese herbal medicine Suaeda salsa (L.) Pall (S. salsa) with a digesting food effect was taken as the research object, and its chemical composition and action mechanism were explored. Methods: The chemical constituents of S. salsa were isolated and purified by column chromatography, and their structures were characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance. The food accumulation model in mice was established, and the changes of the aqueous extract of S. salsa in gastric emptying and intestinal propulsion rate, colonic tissue lesions, serum brain-gut peptide hormone, colonic tissue protein expression, and gut microbiota structure were compared. Results: Ten compounds were isolated from S. salsa named as naringenin (1), hesperetin (2), baicalein (3), luteolin (4), isorhamnetin (5), taxifolin (6), isorhamnetin-3-O-β-d-glucoside (7), luteolin-3′-d-glucuronide (8), luteolin-7-O-β-d-glucuronide (9), and quercetin-3-O-β-d-glucuronide (10), respectively. The aqueous extract of S. salsa can improve the pathological changes of the mice colon and intestinal peristalsis by increasing the rate of gastric emptying and intestinal propulsion. By adjusting the levels of 5-HT, CCK, NT, SS, VIP, GT-17, CHE, MTL, and ghrelin, it can upregulate the levels of c-kit, SCF, and GHRL protein, and restore the imbalanced structure of gut microbiota, further achieve the purpose of treating the syndrome of indigestion. The effect is better with the increase of dose. Conclusion: S. salsa has a certain therapeutic effect on mice with the syndrome of indigestion. From the perspective of "brain-gut-gut microbiota", the mechanism of digestion and accumulation of S. salsa was discussed for the first time, which provided an experimental basis for further exploring the material basis of S. salsa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fe-MOFs of mixed valence was synthesized by a solvothermal method via the in-situ reduction of ethylene glycol (EG) pre-coordination with the proper ratio of Fe2+/Fe3+ between 0.83 and 2.46. Synchronously with copper introduction, the Fe/Cu MOFs of mixed valence (Fe/Cu-MVMOFs) was then one pot acquired to remarkably improve the affinity of Fe2+ and Cu+ to H2O2 and promote the conversion efficiency of Fe2+/Fe3+ via the electron transfer among Fe-Cu bimetal clusters (XPS and XRD). Hence, the maximum reaction rate of H2O2 with Fe/Cu-MVMOFs reached 16.65 M·s−1, along with Km as low as 0.0479 mM. H2O2 and glutathione (GSH) were efficiently detected, ranging from 0.25 to 60 µM and from 0.2 to 40 µM, respectively. The investigation of catalyzation selectivity and practical serum detection by Fe/Cu-MVMOFs illustrated the efficacy and efficiency, denoting Fe/Cu-MVMOFs as the promising peroxidase candidate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two-photon photodynamic therapy (TP-PDT) has garnered significant attention because of its excellent depth of tissue penetration and high spatiotemporal selectivity. However, the limited targeting ability and oxygen dependency of photosensitizers (PSs) significantly hinder the effectiveness of photodynamic therapy in hypoxic tumor treatment. Herein, we designed and synthesized two lipid droplet (LD)-targeted two-photon PSs (TBPCP and TBCP) by reducing benzene rings to achieve "acceptor planarization". Notably, acceptor planarization not only enhanced the intramolecular charge transfer but also transferred the photochemical reaction from type II (TBPCP) to type I (TBCP). Under the irradiation of 940 nm femtosecond pulsed laser, TBPCP and TBCP showed bright two-photon-excited fluorescence and excellent LD targeting in living cells. Comparing TBPCP (type II PS), the outstanding TP-PDT efficacy of TBCP (type I PS) under hypoxic conditions could be obtained in both cellular experiments and multicellular tumor spheroids (MCTS) model. Additionally, both TBPCP and TBCP could induce the lipid peroxidation in the type I or type II PDT due to the location of LD, depleting GSH and inactivating GPX4 to induce non-programmed ferroptosis in cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: High-quality large-area perovskite films are prepared using a solid–liquid two-step film formation method combined with CsBr modification for the buried interface and Urea additive for perovskite crystallization. The inverted perovskite solar modules' performance is enhanced to 20.56% in 61.56 cm2 with improved stability. A considerable efficiency gap exists between large-area perovskite solar modules and small-area perovskite solar cells. The control of forming uniform and large-area film and perovskite crystallization is still the main obstacle restricting the efficiency of PSMs. In this work, we adopted a solid–liquid two-step film formation technique, which involved the evaporation of a lead iodide film and blade coating of an organic ammonium halide solution to prepare perovskite films. This method possesses the advantages of integrating vapor deposition and solution methods, which could apply to substrates with different roughness and avoid using toxic solvents to achieve a more uniform, large-area perovskite film. Furthermore, modification of the NiOx/perovskite buried interface and introduction of Urea additives were utilized to reduce interface recombination and regulate perovskite crystallization. As a result, a large-area perovskite film possessing larger grains, fewer pinholes, and reduced defects could be achieved. The inverted PSM with an active area of 61.56 cm2 (10 × 10 cm2 substrate) achieved a champion power conversion efficiency of 20.56% and significantly improved stability. This method suggests an innovative approach to resolving the uniformity issue associated with large-area film fabrication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reanalysis data are extensively employed in investigation of the tropical large-scale climate variability. In this study, we attempt to use the Advanced Microwave Sounding unit-A (AMSU-A) window channel brightness temperature (TB) observations to examine their relationship with the sea surface temperature (SST). A close relationship is found between the AMSU-A window channel TB and SST in the tropical oceans. A TB Niño Index (TNI) of AMSU-A window (sounding) channels is found to sometimes reach its maximum for about 2 months ahead of Oceanic Niño Index (ONI) for half of El Niño cases from 1998 to 2020. The AMSU-A sounding channels TNI had minimum values about 1–3 months behind ONI peak month. Spatial correlation maps of AMSU-A window channel TB anomalies with TNI are similar to those of SST anomalies with ONI, featuring a horseshoe-shaped pattern in the tropical Pacific and a dipole-shaped pattern in the tropical Indian Ocean. The AMSU-A retrieved liquid water path (LWP) is also highly correlated with the ONI, with larger values in El Niño years. An active development of tropical convective disturbances and their movement associated with westerly wind bursts may be the reason for the peak TNI to occur 1–3 months earlier than the peak ONI. The potential for AMSU-A TB observations to reveal El Niño signals adds additional satellite data source for El Niño research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the synchronization and control of chaotic systems while proposing a novel chaotic-based path-tracking application for mobile robots (MRs) to ensure their safety and security. In security-based applications that use MRs, such as patrol MRs, the path of the MRs must be complex enough to prevent easy prediction. Multiple chaotic systems with a chaotic switching mechanism are introduced for secure path planning. The main challenges are that the dynamics of MRs are entirely unknown. The modeled dynamics of the MRs are unreliable in practice due to a broad range of uncertainties related to the parameters, operating conditions, environmental impacts, time delays, unmodeled frictions, noisy sensors, and faulty actuators. Also, the chaotic switching of reference signals between chaotic signals imposes a high dynamic perturbation. The main novelties are as follows: (1) a strong secure path is introduced for MRs. (2) A powerful fractional-order predictive controller using type-3 (T3) fuzzy-logic systems (FLSs) is developed. (3) The estimation and prediction errors of T3-FLSs are compensated by a designed parallel compensator. (4) T3-FLSs are tuned online, such that stability is ensured, and prediction accuracy is guaranteed. (5) The suggested scheme is implemented on a real-world MR, and the results demonstrate the feasibility and accuracy of the proposed method. Also, in several simulations, the efficacy of the introduced controller is examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High entropy alloys (HEA) are frequently employed as catalysts in electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution. However, the traditional high entropy alloy synthesis methods are time-consuming, energy-intensive, and environmentally polluting, which limits their application in the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). This study leveraged the capabilities of flash Joule heating (FJH) to synthesize carbon-supported high-entropy alloy sulfide nanoparticles (CC-S-HEA) on carbon cloth (CC) with good self-standing properties within 300 ms. The carbon thermal shock generated by the Joule heating could pyrolyze the sulfur source into gas, resulting in numerous pore structures and defects on CC, forming an S-doped carbon substrate (CC-S). Then the S atoms were used to stably anchor the metal atoms on CC-S to form high-density uniformly dispersed HEA particles. The electrochemical test results demonstrated that CC-S-HEA prepared at 60 V flash voltage had HER performance comparable to Pt/C. The density functional theory (DFT) calculation indicated that the S atoms on CC-S accelerated the electron transfer between the carbon substrate and HEA particles. Moreover, the unique electronic structure of CC-S-HEA was beneficial to H* adsorption and promoted catalytic kinetics. The simplicity and versatility of FJH synthesis are of great significance for optimizing the synthesis of HEA and improving the quality of HEA products, which provides a broad application prospect for the synthesis of nanocatalysts with efficient HER performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: A novel aqueous/aprotic electrolyte with low salt concentration (i.e., 0.5 m Zn(CF3SO3)2+1 m LiTFSI) demonstrated an expanded electrochemical window, which can simultaneously stabilize Zn metal anode and increase the operation voltage of Zn-ion hybrid supercapacitors. The coordination shell of the electrolyte induced by acetonitrile and LiTFSI can not only suppress the Zn corrosion and hydrogen evolution reaction but also promote the cathodic stability and ion migration, which is depicted by the density functional theory simulations together with experimental characterizations. The Zn-ion hybrid supercapacitor based on the developed electrolyte can operate within 0–2.2 V in a wide temperature range with an ultra-long lifespan (> 120,000 cycles). With the merits of the high energy density of batteries and power density of supercapacitors, the aqueous Zn-ion hybrid supercapacitors emerge as a promising candidate for applications where both rapid energy delivery and moderate energy storage are required. However, the narrow electrochemical window of aqueous electrolytes induces severe side reactions on the Zn metal anode and shortens its lifespan. It also limits the operation voltage and energy density of the Zn-ion hybrid supercapacitors. Using 'water in salt' electrolytes can effectively broaden their electrochemical windows, but this is at the expense of high cost, low ionic conductivity, and narrow temperature compatibility, compromising the electrochemical performance of the Zn-ion hybrid supercapacitors. Thus, designing a new electrolyte to balance these factors towards high-performance Zn-ion hybrid supercapacitors is urgent and necessary. We developed a dilute water/acetonitrile electrolyte (0.5 m Zn(CF3SO3)2 + 1 m LiTFSI-H2O/AN) for Zn-ion hybrid supercapacitors, which simultaneously exhibited expanded electrochemical window, decent ionic conductivity, and broad temperature compatibility. In this electrolyte, the hydration shells and hydrogen bonds are significantly modulated by the acetonitrile and TFSI− anions. As a result, a Zn-ion hybrid supercapacitor with such an electrolyte demonstrates a high operating voltage up to 2.2 V and long lifespan beyond 120,000 cycles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The purpose of this study was to look into the effects of glutathione S-transferase M1 (GSTM1) gene polymorphism on the formation of kidney calcium oxalate stones. Methods: A total of 159 patients with kidney calcium oxalate stones were included in this study as a case group. One hundred and three healthy individuals were included in the control group. The age, gender, and levels of calcium (Ca), uric acid (UA), creatinine (Cr), and urinary creatinine (Ucr) are tracked. Peripheral blood samples are used to perform a polymerase chain reaction to identify the glutathione S-transferase (GST) gene polymorphism (PCR). A commercial kit was used in this study to measure the levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), nitric oxide (NO), total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC), and 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) in peripheral blood. Results: There was no difference in age or gender distribution between the case and control groups (P > 0.05). The Cr, Ucr, Ca, UA, 8-OHdG, MDA, NO, and T-AOC in the case group were significantly higher than those in the control group (P < 0.001). The Hardy–Weinberg genetic equilibrium test showed no difference between the case group (P = 0.23) and the control group (P = 0.09). In the case group, the 8-OHdG and NO in GSTM1 null genotype were significantly higher than those in GSTM1 genotype (P < 0.05), but there was no significant difference in MDA and T-AOC (P > 0.05). Multivariate regression analysis showed that the GSTM1 null genotype was positively correlated with 8-OHdG (P < 0.001) and NO (P < 0.001). Conclusions: GSTM1 gene polymorphism might be a detecting risk factor for kidney calcium oxalate stone formation. Trial registration: ChiCTR2100051300. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Westerly wind bursts (WWBs), aperiodic burst-like atmospheric disturbances in the tropics, play an important role during the development stage of El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events and in turn can be strongly modulated by ENSO itself. Previous work argued that WWBs exhibit a pronounced seasonality at the equator during an El Niño evolution, i.e., being more frequent and vigorous during the developing boreal autumn compared to the decaying spring. Here we show that this seasonal difference in WWB activity at the equator is a segmentary manifestation of a meridional migration of WWB activity, which is closely linked to the southward displacement of the El Niño-related deep convection from the developing autumn to decaying spring. The highest climatological SSTs over the western-central Pacific are located mainly to the north of the equator in boreal autumn and south of it during boreal spring; hence the equatorially quasi-symmetric El Niño-related SST anomalies tend to induce deep convection and generate more WWBs in the Northern Hemisphere during the developing autumn and more in the Southern Hemisphere during the decaying spring. Despite some differences in the zonal distribution and intensity, there appears a close resemblance between the seasonal-varying features of WWBs during eastern Pacific (EP) and central Pacific (CP) El Niño events regarding the north–south displacement, due to similar meridional shifts of deep convection anomalies. This study provides a more comprehensive picture of the spatiotemporal characteristics of WWBs during El Niño events and improves our understanding of the relationship between ENSO and high-frequency atmospheric variability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

All-perovskite tandem solar cells hold great promise in surpassing the Shockley–Queisser limit for single-junction solar cells1–3. However, the practical use of these cells is currently hampered by the subpar performance and stability issues associated with mixed tin–lead (Sn–Pb) narrow-bandgap perovskite subcells in all-perovskite tandems4–7. In this study, we focus on the narrow-bandgap subcells and develop an all-in-one doping strategy for them. We introduce aspartate hydrochloride (AspCl) into both the bottom poly(3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene)–poly(styrene sulfonate) and bulk perovskite layers, followed by another AspCl posttreatment. We show that a single AspCl additive can effectively passivate defects, reduce Sn4+ impurities and shift the Fermi energy level. Additionally, the strong molecular bonding of AspCl–Sn/Pb iodide and AspCl–AspCl can strengthen the structure and thereby improve the stability of Sn–Pb perovskites. Ultimately, the implementation of AspCl doping in Sn–Pb perovskite solar cells yielded power conversion efficiencies of 22.46% for single-junction cells and 27.84% (27.62% stabilized and 27.34% certified) for tandems with 95% retention after being stored in an N2-filled glovebox for 2,000 h. These results suggest that all-in-one AspCl doping is a favourable strategy for enhancing the efficiency and stability of single-junction Sn–Pb perovskite solar cells and their tandems.AspCl doping in Sn–Pb perovskite solar cells improves their performance and stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the main structural bodies of underground facilities such as subway stations, frame tunnel structures play an important role in urban development and construction. In recent years, with the frequent occurrence of explosions after vehicle impacts in tunnels, which have caused severe damage to frame tunnels, the lack of relevant papers makes it necessary to develop a dynamic response analysis of frame tunnels. In this paper, by optimizing the design of an original frame tunnel structure, a dynamic response numerical model of the frame tunnel considering the impact effect of a 3D solidified vehicle and the joint effect is investigated. The deformation trend and damage evolution of the frame tunnel are analysed under different collision masses (1.4, 2.4, 6 and 15 t), collision angles (5, 10, 15 and 75°), collision speeds (60, 80 and 100 km/h), blast delay times (10, 20 and 30 ms) and blast equivalents (50, 100 and 200 kg TNT). This paper improves the active and passive robustness of frame tunnels using both improved operational management and the optimal design of the tunnel structure as a way to ensure the structural safety and functional resilience of frame tunnels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For real-time classification of rock-masses in hard-rock tunnels, quick determination of the rock lithology on the tunnel face during construction is essential. Motivated by current breakthroughs in artificial intelligence technology in machine vision, a new automatic detection approach for classifying tunnel lithology based on tunnel face images was developed. The method benefits from residual learning for training a deep convolutional neural network (DCNN), and a multi-scale dilated convolutional attention block is proposed. The block with different dilation rates can provide various receptive fields, and thus it can extract multi-scale features. Moreover, the attention mechanism is utilized to select the salient features adaptively and further improve the performance of the model. In this study, an initial image data set made up of photographs of tunnel faces consisting of basalt, granite, siltstone, and tuff was first collected. After classifying and enhancing the training, validation, and testing data sets, a new image data set was generated. A comparison of the experimental findings demonstrated that the suggested approach outperforms previous classifiers in terms of various indicators, including accuracy, precision, recall, F1-score, and computing time. Finally, a visualization analysis was performed to explain the process of the network in the classification of tunnel lithology through feature extraction. Overall, this study demonstrates the potential of using artificial intelligence methods for in situ rock lithology classification utilizing geological images of the tunnel face. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The distribution of residual stress in titanium alloy cylinder component is uneven, and there is stress concentration field in cylinder, which leads to serious processing deformation, bad tensile strength and poor fatigue resistance for component. The residual stress gradient testing was measured by critical refracted longitudinal wave (LCR wave) before and after ultrasonic regulation, and the residual stress in cylinder blank was reduced and homogenized by the method of high-energy acoustic beam regulation. The wall thickness of cylinder had effect on the distribution of residual stress and the stress control of the blank had positive influence on the subsequent processing effect. The results showed that the reduction rate of residual stress values in semi-finishing machining cylinders after regulation were more than 65% compared with that before regulation, and the homogenization rate of residual stress distributions after regulation were enhanced by more than 60% compared with that before regulation. The deformations of roundness were less than or equal 0.1 mm after ultrasonic regulation, which makes the cylinders satisfy the requirement of machining accuracy and have capability on stable shape preservation, explaining that the machining deformation can be effectively controlled by using the method of high-energy ultrasonic wave regulation. X-rays non-destructive method was used to macroscopically analyze the quality defects of cylinders, representing that the occurrence of structural quality defects in cylinders was inhibited effectively by using ultrasonic regulation technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrochemical dechlorination reaction (EDR) is a promising, environmentally friendly, and economically profitable technology for treating chlorinated organic pollutants. For efficient environmental protection, electrocatalysts with high stability and low cost are of extremely significance to the development of EDR technology. Carbon-based materials have aroused broad interest as electrocatalysts for many electrochemical reactions due to their characteristics including large specific surface area, controllable structure, good conductivity, and chemical stability. For EDR, the carbon-based materials also show many unique superiorities, like strong adsorption capacity to chlorinated organic compounds (COCs), excellent catalytic activity and stability, and environmental compatibility. This review starts with a detailed summary on the mechanisms of electrochemical dechlorination (direct and indirect electron transfer pathway) and factors affecting the effectiveness of EDR. Then the paper comprehensively overviews the current progresses of carbon-based materials for EDR of COCs, following their two major application scenarios, i.e., directly as electrocatalysts and as advanced supports for other catalysts. Moreover, the formation of different active sites in carbon-based electrocatalysts and their EDR activities are analyzed. Finally, the current challenges and perspectives in this field are discussed. This review will provide an in-depth understanding for the design of advanced carbon-based materials and promote the development of EDR technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A combined temporal and spatial research approach helps us to evaluate the ecological status of a river scientifically and comprehensively. To understand the response mechanisms of bacteria in the Li River to different environments, we conducted a 1-year study (2020–2021) and collected water samples from 18 sections of the river in October, January, April, and August. 16S sequencing was used to study the composition and structure of bacterial communities in Li River at different temporal and spatial scales. The results showed that NO3−-N, TP, T, pH, and DO were significantly different on spatial and temporal scales. Alpha diversity of planktonic bacteria in Li River fluctuated significantly with the season, reaching its highest in summer. Proteobacteria remained the most dominant phylum in all seasons, but the differential microorganisms varied between seasons. Although the abundance of metabolic functions of planktonic bacteria did not show significant differences between seasons, we found that DO, TP, T, and COD were the key environmental factors affecting bacterial metabolism. In addition, the co-occurrence network analysis showed that the autumn network had a higher number of nodes and edges and exhibited a high degree of complexity, while the summer network had the highest degree of modularity and exhibited greater stability. These results deepen our knowledge of the response mechanisms of river microorganisms to temporal and spatial changes and provide a scientific reference for the study of river ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polysaccharides from Dendrobium officinale polysaccharides (DOPs) are the main bioactive components of Dendrobium officinale, which have the functions of antioxidation and immune regulation. However, it is not clear whether DOPs have any effect on the prevention of reproductive disorders induced by oxidative stress. The purpose of this study was to explore the protective effect of DOPs on reproductive oxidative stress injury in male mice and its possible mechanism. In this study, the mouse model of reproductive injury was established by intraperitoneal injection of cyclophosphamide (CTX). The reproductive function was evaluated by relative testicular mass, sperm parameters, and sex hormone levels. The oxidative stress level of male mice with reproductive injury treated with DOPs was analyzed by the levels of 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8-OHdG), malondialdehyde (MDA), and nitric oxide (NO) in sperm. The expression of follicle-stimulating hormone receptor (FSHR) mRNA, androgen-binding (ABP) mRNA, and c-kit mRNA was detected by quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) to explore its mechanism. After CTX administration, the sperm density, sperm motility, normal sperm morphology, and sex hormone levels in mice were significantly lower than those in the control group (P < 0.05). At the same time, the expression of p53 protein was upregulated, and the expression of Bcl-2 protein was downregulated (P < 0.05). In addition, the expression of FSHR and ABP mRNA on Sertoli cells was also significantly inhibited (P < 0.05). DOPs can effectively reduce the oxidative stress injury of testicular tissue. After DOP treatment, the sperm quality and sex-related hormone levels of mice were significantly improved and positively correlated with the dose of DOPs (P < 0.05). Administration of DOPs can reduce the damage caused by oxidative stress by reducing the level of oxidative stress, improving the hormone environment in testes, and regulating the expression of specific genes in Sertoli cells and spermatogenic cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Straw incorporation into the soil is a common agricultural practice, but its effect on soil cadmium (Cd) mobility is not well understood. We added 0–20 g kg−1 organic matters (OMs) with different C/N ratios to three spiked alkaline paddy soils that contained a realistically low concentration of total Cd (0.94 mg kg−1), and then investigated soil Cd solubility in alternate watering conditions. As current physical and chemical methods have difficulties in accurately determining the distribution and speciation of Cd in soil at a low concentration, we measured multiple soil properties to identify key factors regulating dissolved Cd concentration. For all three soils, pH and dissolved Cd concentration both decreased after flooding and increased after subsequent drying. OM addition significantly reduced soil Cd solubility at both flooding and drying stages. Random forest and linear regressions further confirmed that soil total organic carbon, rather than pH, dissolved organic carbon, or total inorganic carbon as previously suggested, was the primary predictor of Cd solubility. OMs with different C/N ratios had similar effects on soil Cd solubility, whereas the effect of OM addition rate depended on soil type. The results demonstrated the potential of straw incorporation for the remediation of Cd-contaminated alkaline paddy soils, through mechanisms that differ from those reported for acid soils. Highlights: OM addition promoted Cd immobilization in alkaline paddy soils after flooding and drying. Soil TOC (not pH, DOC, or DIC) was the primary predictor of Cd solubility. Effect of C/N ratio of added OM was minimal, and effect of OM addition rate depended on soil type. OM addition largely decreased soil pH and increased soil DOC concentration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Matrine is a Sophora alkaloid that exerts antitumor effects on a variety of diseases, but few studies have investigated the role of matrine in sepsis-induced myocardial injury. In the present study, we investigated the effects of matrine on septic myocardial injury and the potential mechanisms. Network pharmacology approaches were used to predict the targets of matrine in the treatment of sepsis-induced myocardial injury. A mouse sepsis-induced myocardial injury model was established to determine the effect of matrine. Mouse cardiac function was evaluated by ultrasonography, and cardiac morphology and cardiomyocyte apoptosis were evaluated by HE and TUNEL staining. Oxidative stress was assessed by measuring ROS levels and MDA and SOD activity. Bax, Bcl2, GPX4, ACSL4, PI3K, and AKT protein levels were evaluated by immunohistochemical staining and western blotting. Bioinformatics analysis identified that the potential therapeutic effect of matrine on sepsis-induced myocardial injury is closely related to ferroptosis and apoptosis regulation and showed significant involvement of the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway. In vivo, the matrine group showed improved myocardial function, morphology, and apoptosis ratio and alleviated oxidative stress compared with the LPS group, whereas 25 mg/kg matrine exerted the optimal inhibitory effect. Matrine alleviated LPS-induced cardiomyocyte ferroptosis and apoptosis, resulting in upregulation of Bax/Bcl2 and GPX4 expression and downregulation of ferroptosis marker protein (ACSL4) expression, as shown by immunohistochemistry and western blotting. Moreover, matrine increased PI3K/AKT pathway-related molecule expression and thus modulated ferroptosis and apoptosis. Matrine regulates PI3K/AKT pathway activity to inhibit apoptosis and ferroptosis and thereby alleviates sepsis-induced myocardial injury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To assess the consistency of Ovarian-Adnexal Reporting and Data System (O-RADS) lexicon interpretation between senior and junior sonologists and to investigate its impact on O-RADS classification and diagnostic performance. Methods: We prospectively studied 620 patients with adnexal lesions, all of whom underwent transvaginal or transrectal ultrasound performed by a senior sonologist (R1) who selected the O-RADS lexicon description and O-RADS category for the lesion after the examination. Meanwhile, the junior sonologist (R2) analyzed the images retained by R1 and divided the lesion in the same way. Pathological findings were used as a reference standard. kappa (к) statistics were used to assess the interobserver agreement. Results: Of the 620 adnexal lesions, 532 were benign and 88 were malignant. When using the O-RADS lexicon, R1 and R2 had almost perfect agreement regarding lesion category, external contour of solid lesions, presence of papillary inside cystic lesions, and fluid echogenicity (к: 0.81–1.00). Substantial agreement in solid components, acoustic shadow, vascularity and O-RADS categories (к: 0.61–0.80). Consistency in classifying classic benign lesions in the O-RADS category was only moderate (к = 0.535). No significant difference in diagnostic performance between them using O-RADS (P = 0.1211). Conclusion: There was good agreement between senior and junior sonologists in the interpretation of the O-RADS lexicon and in the classification of O-RADS, except for a moderate agreement in the interpretation and classification of classic benign lesions. Differences in O-RADS category delineation between sonologists had no significant effect on the diagnostic performance of O-RADS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the dominant form of mesoscale variability in the equatorial eastern Pacific, Tropical Instability Waves (TIWs) are known to interact with the El Niño and Southern Oscillation (ENSO) in complex ways. TIWs activity is modulated by the ENSO state and also provide significant feedback on ENSO via nonlinear dynamic heating (NDH), acting as a source of asymmetry between the El Niño and La Niña phases. In this work, we show that the interannual variability of TIWs-induced heat flux and NDH can be approximately expressed in terms of the mean meridional temperature gradient as TIWs tend to transport heat downgradient of the temperature anomalies along the Sea Surface Temperature (SST) front. The TIWs-induced NDH can be quantified as an asymmetric negative feedback on ENSO by a nonlinear thermal eddy diffusivity which depends on the background TIWs pattern and the ENSO-related linear and nonlinear processes. This proposed parameterization scheme can capture well the direct ENSO modulation on TIWs activity, the combination effect arising from the nonlinear interaction between ENSO and the cold tongue annual cycle, and associated ENSO nonlinearity. This parameterization scheme is effectively tested using four ocean reanalysis datasets with different horizontal resolutions that exhibit contrasted patterns of TIWs activity. This scheme may be useful for assessing the TIWs-induced feedback on ENSO in mechanistic ENSO models to better understand the dynamics of ENSO complexity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leaf rust, caused by Puccinia triticina Eriksson (Pt), is one of the most severe foliar diseases of wheat. Breeding for leaf rust resistance is a practical and sustainable method to control this devastating disease. Here, we report the identification of Lr47, a broadly effective leaf rust resistance gene introgressed into wheat from Aegilops speltoides. Lr47 encodes a coiled-coil nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat protein that is both necessary and sufficient to confer Pt resistance, as demonstrated by loss-of-function mutations and transgenic complementation. Lr47 introgression lines with no or reduced linkage drag are generated using the Pairing homoeologous1 mutation, and a diagnostic molecular marker for Lr47 is developed. The coiled-coil domain of the Lr47 protein is unable to induce cell death, nor does it have self-protein interaction. The cloning of Lr47 expands the number of leaf rust resistance genes that can be incorporated into multigene transgenic cassettes to control this devastating disease. Leaf rust is one of the most severe foliar diseases of wheat. Here, the authors report the cloning of Lr47, a broadly effective leaf rust resistance gene introgressed into wheat from Aegilops speltoides, and show it encodes a coiled-coil nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat protein. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: River sediments play a crucial role in wetland ecosystems, as they are essential for the biogeochemical cycling of river nutrients. In this study, we examined the structure of microbial communities in sediments located in the Li River basin in North China and investigated how these communities and physicochemical properties respond to seasonal changes. Materials and methods: Sixty-four sediment samples were collected over four consecutive seasons in the Li River basin. High-throughput sequencing of the V3-V4 high-variance region of the 16S rRNA gene of bacteria in sediments was performed to compare the differences of microbiota in different seasons. In addition, we also analyzed the sediment's physicochemical properties. Results and discussion: Seasonal variations had a significant impact on the physicochemical properties of the sediments, including pH, TP, NO3-N, and NH4-N. The microbial diversity and abundance also varied with the changing seasons. Mantel tests revealed that pH, TP, NO3-N, and NH4-N were the primary factors influencing the microbial community. Additionally, co-occurrence network analysis showed that microbial communities exhibited closer and more complex associations during autumn and summer. Based on PICRUSt predictions, there was a seasonal decline in genes related to amino acid and carbohydrate metabolism from autumn to summer. Conclusions: The seasonal variations in sediment pH, TP, NO3-N, and NH4-N significantly impact the microbial community structure and co-occurrence networks, making them key factors affecting the overall structure of the microbial community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) sea surface temperature (SST) anomaly skewness encapsulates the nonlinear processes of strong ENSO events and affects future climate projections. Yet, its response to CO2 forcing remains not well understood. Here, we find ENSO skewness hysteresis in a large ensemble CO2 removal simulation. The positive SST skewness in the central-to-eastern tropical Pacific gradually weakens (most pronounced near the dateline) in response to increasing CO2, but weakens even further once CO2 is ramped down. Further analyses reveal that hysteresis of the Intertropical Convergence Zone migration leads to more active and farther eastward-located strong eastern Pacific El Niño events, thus decreasing central Pacific ENSO skewness by reducing the amplitude of the central Pacific positive SST anomalies and increasing the scaling effect of the eastern Pacific skewness denominator, i.e., ENSO intensity, respectively. The reduction of eastern Pacific El Niño maximum intensity, which is constrained by the SST zonal gradient of the projected background El Niño-like warming pattern, also contributes to a reduction of eastern Pacific SST skewness around the CO2 peak phase. This study highlights the divergent responses of different strong El Niño regimes in response to climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Development of suitable hole transport materials is vital for perovskite solar cells (PSCs) to diminish the energy barrier and minimize the potential loss. Here, a low-cost hole transport molecule named SFX-POCCF3 (23.72 $/g) is designed with a spiro[fluorene-9,9'-xanthene] (SFX) core and terminated by trifluoroethoxy units. Benefiting from the suitable energy level, high hole mobility, and better charge extraction and transport, the PSCs based on SFX-POCCF3 exhibit improved open-circuit voltage by 0.02 V, therefore, the PSC device based on SFX-POCCF3 exhibits a champion PCE of 21.48%, which is comparable with the control device of Spiro-OMeTAD (21.39%). More importantly, the SFX-POCCF3 based PSC possesses outstanding light stability, which retains 95% of the initial efficiency after about 1,000 h continuous light soaking, which is in accordance with the result continuous output at maximum power point. Whereas, Spiro-OMeTAD witnesses a rapid decrease to 80% of its original efficiency after 100 h light soaking. This work demonstrated that an efficient alignment of energy levels between HTL and perovskite will lead to significant highly efficient PSCs with remarkably enhanced light stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The unification of grounding and causation has been proposed in the literature. Also, it has encountered many objections. In this paper, I argue that there is a strategy that enables us to reply to many of the objections to the unification. That is the ‘blame the relata strategy’ which claims that all the differences between grounding and causation come from relata rather than relation. I clarify this strategy by appealing to positionalism about relations, and present three arguments for this strategy. Also, I argue that the difference between causal relata and grounding relata is that the former are distinct entities, while the latter are non-distinct. I suggest the ‘essential connections criterion’ to define ‘distinct’ and ‘non-distinct’, showing that grounding is partly grounded in essence in an indirect manner. Given the above strategy and criterion, we can see that there is no real objection to the unification of grounding and causation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pesticides are considered to be the second-largest non-point source pollution in water. Our research assayed the river network of typical agricultural areas in the middle and lower Yangtze River as the study area. Pesticides residues in aquatic environment were determined by QuEChERS, combined with high-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry, or gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer. At chiral pesticides' levels, we detected pesticides contents in water, classified and counted the types of pesticides, and analyzed their environmental risk assessment. Furthermore, potential correlations between chiral pesticides concentrations and water quality indicators were assayed. Additionally, we explored their relations with microbial communities at species levels. Enantiomers of Diclofop-methyl, Ethiprole, Difenoconazole and Epoxiconazole were enantioselectively distributed. More interestingly, due to various chiral environment of the sampling site, the enantiomers of Tebuconazole Acetochlor, Glufosinate ammonium and Bifenthrin had completely different distributions at different sites. Based on that, the chiral pesticides Diclofop-methyl, Bifenthrin, Ethiprole, Tebuconazole and Difenoconazole are enantioselective to the risk of aquatic environment. Generally, enantiomeric selectivity had high positive correlations with total nitrogen and phosphorus. Then we found that chiral fate behavior of Tebuconazole and Paichongding in water might be affected by prokaryotes. In addition, the chiral behavior of Diclofop-methyl, Propiconazole, Difenoconazole, and Tebuconazole isomers in water might be negatively affected by eukaryotes. That research helped us to comprehensively understand the impact of non-point source pollution of chiral pesticides in aquatic environment and provided basic data support for developing biological and water quality indicators for monitoring pollution in aquatic environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Siderophores belonging to the ferrichrome family are essential for the viability of fungal species and play a key role for virulence of numerous pathogenic fungi. Despite their biological significance, our understanding of how these iron-chelating cyclic hexapeptides are assembled by non-ribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS) enzymes remains poorly understood, primarily due to the nonlinearity exhibited by the domain architecture. Herein, we report the biochemical characterization of the SidC NRPS, responsible for construction of the intracellular siderophore ferricrocin. In vitro reconstitution of purified SidC reveals its ability to produce ferricrocin and its structural variant, ferrichrome. Application of intact protein mass spectrometry uncovers several non-canonical events during peptidyl siderophore biosynthesis, including inter-modular loading of amino acid substrates and an adenylation domain capable of poly-amide bond formation. This work expands the scope of NRPS programming, allows biosynthetic assignment of ferrichrome NRPSs, and sets the stage for reprogramming towards novel hydroxamate scaffolds. Fungal siderophores are biosynthesised by nonribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs) with highly unusual domain architectures. Here, the authors characterise cryptic programming events occurring within SidC NRPS, responsible for ferricrocin biosynthesis in Aspergillus nidulans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To evaluate the effect of total parathyroidectomy (tPTx) on malnutrition and inflammation in patients on maintenance dialysis (MHD) having secondary hyperparathyroidism (SHPT). Methods: Twenty-five patients on MHD having SHPT who were being treated with tPTx were selected, and changes in their general condition (dry body mass), parathyroid hormone (PTH) and calcium levels, nutrition state (hemoglobin, hematocrit, serum albumin, and total iron binding capacity), and inflammatory status [serum C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α), and the malnutrition–inflammation score (MIS)] were observed at 12, 24, and 36 months postoperatively. Results: Compared with the preoperative period, the dry body mass increased at 12, 24, and 36 months postoperatively (P < 0.01), hemoglobin, hematocrit, and serum albumin increased significantly (P < 0.01), whereas calcium, phosphorus, and PTH levels decreased significantly (P < 0.01). Serum CRP, IL-6, and TNF-α levels were significantly decreased at 12, 24, and 36 months after surgery (P < 0.01). Furthermore, MIS was reduced as well but to a lesser extent (P < 0.01). Conclusion: tPTx effectively reduced MIS in maintenance dialysis patients, and the alleviated malnutrition and improved inflammatory status may contributed to improving the quality of life of patients on MHD with SHPT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key message: The diploid wheat recessive stem rust resistance gene SrTm4 was fine-mapped to a 754-kb region on chromosome arm 2AmL and potential candidate genes were identified. Race Ug99 of Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici (Pgt), the causal agent of wheat stem (or black) rust is one of the most serious threats to global wheat production. The identification, mapping, and deployment of effective stem rust resistance (Sr) genes are critical to reduce this threat. In this study, we generated SrTm4 monogenic lines and found that this gene confers resistance to North American and Chinese Pgt races. Using a large mapping population (9522 gametes), we mapped SrTm4 within a 0.06 cM interval flanked by marker loci CS4211 and 130K1519, which corresponds to a 1.0-Mb region in the Chinese Spring reference genome v2.1. A physical map of the SrTm4 region was constructed with 11 overlapping BACs from the resistant Triticum monococcum PI 306540. Comparison of the 754-kb physical map with the genomic sequence of Chinese Spring and a discontinuous BAC sequence of DV92 revealed a 593-kb chromosomal inversion in PI 306540. Within the candidate region, we identified an L-type lectin-domain containing receptor kinase (LLK1), which was disrupted by the proximal inversion breakpoint, as a potential candidate gene. Two diagnostic dominant markers were developed to detect the inversion breakpoints. In a survey of T. monococcum accessions, we identified 10 domesticated T. monococcum subsp. monococcum genotypes, mainly from the Balkans, carrying the inversion and showing similar mesothetic resistant infection types against Pgt races. The high-density map and tightly linked molecular markers developed in this study are useful tools to accelerate the deployment of SrTm4-mediated resistance in wheat breeding programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anchor joint is conducive to improving the automation level of the shield tunneling method, whose mechanical behavior is still not fully clear due to the complicated interaction among various structural components. In this paper, a refined FEM model is established and adopted to investigate the anchor joints' assembly and tensile performance. The operation principles of the anchor joint are first introduced for better understanding. Then, a detailed description is presented for the developed refined FEM, including the material properties, structural features, and verification. After that, 76 working conditions in total are set, and an in-depth study is conducted to examine the influence of surface roughness, gap sizes, and strength grades on the assembly and tensile behavior of anchor joints both quantitatively and qualitatively. The results show that the surface roughness mainly influences the maximum assembly load and tensile capacity of anchor joints. The gap size obviously impacts both quantitative and qualitative assembly characteristics and tensile behavior for anchor joints, whose effect is more significant than the surface roughness. The strength grade has a different influence on the distinct mechanical behavior of anchor joints. There is a positive correlation between anchor joints' assembly and tensile behavior. To satisfy the requirement of enough tensile capacity and reasonable assembly difficulty, a good solution should be to reach an appropriate balance between the assembly and tensile behavior of anchor joints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are recognized as direct seeds of metastasis. However, CTC count may not be the "best" indicator of metastatic risk because their heterogeneity is generally neglected. In this study, we develop a molecular typing system to predict colorectal cancer metastasis potential based on the metabolic fingerprints of single CTCs. After identification of the metabolites potentially related to metastasis using mass spectrometry-based untargeted metabolomics, setup of a home-built single-cell quantitative mass spectrometric platform for target metabolite analysis in individual CTCs and use of a machine learning method composed of non-negative matrix factorization and logistic regression, CTCs are divided into two subgroups, C1 and C2, based on a 4-metabolite fingerprint. Both in vitro and in vivo experiments demonstrate that CTC count in C2 subgroup is closely associated with metastasis incidence. This is an interesting report on the presence of a specific population of CTCs with distinct metastatic potential at the single-cell metabolite level. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are the tumor cells responsible for metastasis. Here, the authors develop a home-built single-cell quantitative mass spectrometric platform and discover a cluster of CTCs with distinct metastatic potential using a molecular typing system based on the single-cell metabolic fingerprints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The northern Gulf of Mexico coast is affected by the North Atlantic hurricane season, which causes storm surge disasters every year and brings serious economic losses to the southern USA; therefore, it is necessary to make an accurate advance prediction of storm surge level. In this paper, a model with simple structure, fast computation speed, and accurate prediction results has been constructed based on nonlinear auto-regressive exogenous (NARX) neural network. Five types of data collected from observation stations are selected as the input factors of the model. To improve the model's computational efficiency, a neuron pruning strategy based on sensitivity analysis is introduced. By analyzing the output weights of the neurons in the hidden layer on the sensitivity of the model prediction output, the model structure can be adjusted accordingly. Moreover, a modular prediction method is introduced based on the tide harmonic analysis data so as to make the model prediction results more accurate. At last, a complete storm surge level prediction model, pruned modular (PM)-NARX, is constructed. In this paper, the model is trained by using historical data and used for storm surge level prediction along the northern Gulf of Mexico coast in 2020. The simulation test results show that the correlation between the predicted data and the observed data is stable above 0.99 at 12 h in advance and the model is able to produce the results within one minute. The prediction speed, accuracy, and stability are higher than those of conventional models. In addition, two sets of follow-up tests show that the prediction accuracy of the model can still maintain a high level. The above can prove that the pruned modular (PM)-NARX model can effectively provide early warning before the storm surge to avoid property damage and human casualties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aqueous zinc metal batteries are appealing candidates for grid energy storage. However, the inadequate electrochemical reversibility of the zinc metal negative electrode inhibits the battery performance at the large-scale cell level. Here, we develop practical ampere-hour-scale aqueous Zn metal battery pouch cells by engineering the electrolyte solution. After identifying the proton reduction as the primary source of H2 evolution during Zn metal electrodeposition, we design an electrolyte solution containing reverse micelle structures where sulfolane molecules constrain water in nanodomains to hinder proton reduction. Furthermore, we develop and validate an electrochemical testing protocol to comprehensively evaluate the cell's coulombic efficiency and zinc metal electrode cycle life. Finally, using the reverse micelle electrolyte, we assemble and test a practical ampere-hour Zn||Zn0.25V2O5•nH2O multi-layer pouch cell capable of delivering an initial energy density of 70 Wh L−1 (based on the volume of the cell components), capacity retention of about 80% after 390 cycles at 56 mA g−1cathode and ~25 °C and prolonged cycling for 5 months at 56 mA g−1cathode and ~25 °C. The negative electrode reversibility limits the lifespan of Zn metal batteries. Here, authors report an aqueous electrolyte with a reverse micelle structure that improves the reversibility of the Zn metal anode enabling the production of an ampere-hour-level pouch cell with five months lifetime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The number of publications on blepharoplasty is increasing rapidly. Bibliometric analysis can help surgeons quickly and systematically understand the current state of development. To our knowledge, there are no bibliometric studies on blepharoplasty, and therefore, we conducted this study to reveal research trends and perspectives of blepharoplasty. Methods: Relevant publications from 2002 to 2021 were extracted from the Web of Science Core Collection database. After manual screening, VOSviewer software and CiteSpace software were used to collect and analyze the acquired data. Results: A total of 1125 publications were included and the publications per year increased annually. Contributions from the USA led both quantity and quality. The University of California System was one of the most influential academic institutions. Aesthetic Plastic Surgery had the most publications, and Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery was the most frequently cited or co-cited journal. Massry GG and Hamra ST were the most prolific and co-cited authors, respectively. Additionally, Rohrich RJ had the highest number of citations per publication. References co-cited analysis identified that lower eyelid research was a hotspot. Keywords were mainly divided into 6 clusters, namely "lower lid blepharoplasty," "complications," "facial rejuvenation," "blepharoptosis," "upper blepharoplasty," and "Asian blepharoplasty and epicanthoplasty." Conclusions: Blepharoplasty research is flourishing, and three clusters may be the hotspots: "Lower blepharoplasty and mid-face rejuvenation," "overall facial outcome and quality-of-life," and "Asian blepharoplasty and epicanthoplasty." Level of Evidence III: This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to provide theoretical and practical supports for the risk prevention and management of intelligent ship at sea, a N-K model is adopted to investigate the coupling mechanism of risk factors of intelligent ship. Firstly, the navigation risks of intelligent ships are divided into four aspects: navigation environment perception, remote control center, environment and emergency management, and then the risk factors affecting the safety are analyzed. The risk coupling is divided into single factor coupling, double factor coupling and multiple factor coupling. Secondly, the formation mechanism of coupling risk is analyzed based on the concept of comprehensive security threshold. Finally, a N-K model is used to describe the coupling relationship within the system quantitatively. For the first time, a case study of N-K model was carried out based on 299 maritime accident statistics data matching intelligent ships released by major maritime agencies from 2011 to 2021. The results show that the coupling risk factors are proportional to the coupling information interaction value, and the coupling information interaction value determines the occurrence probability of safety accidents; the factors of remote control center have the greatest influence on coupling information interaction value. In the construction and operation of intelligent ships in the future, managers should strengthen the construction and control of remote control center, avoid multi-factor coupling, pay more attention to the weak link of navigation risk, establish an anti-coupling mechanism, and improve the safety of intelligent ship production and operation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Music Emotion Recognition (MER) has attracted much interest in the past decades. Many deep learning methods have been applied to this field recently. However, the previous methods for MER mostly utilized simple convolutional layers to extract features from the original audio signals, in which representative emotion-related features cannot be extracted. In this paper, we propose a novel method named Modularized Composite Attention Network (MCAN) for continuous MER. A sample reconstruction technique is proposed to enhance the stability of the network. Specifically, a feature augmentation module is constructed to extract salient features and we design a weighted attention module to control the focus of the whole network. Furthermore, a style embedding module is introduced to enhance the detail processing capability of the network. We conduct experiments on two datasets, that is, the benchmark dataset DEAM and the newly proposed dataset PMEmo. The superior results prove the effectiveness of our proposed MCAN. Especially qualitative analyses are given to for explaining the performance of our model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adverse drug–drug interactions (DDIs) can severely damage the body. Thus, it is essential to accurately predict DDIs. DDIs are complex processes in which many factors can cause interactions. Rather than merely considering one or two of the factors, we design a two-pathway drug–drug interaction framework named TP-DDI that uses multimodal data for DDI prediction. TP-DDI effectively explores the combined effect of a topological structure-based pathway and a biomedical object similarity-based pathway to obtain multimodal drug representations. For the topology-based pathway, we focus on drug chemistry structures through the self-attention mechanism, which can capture hidden critical relationships, especially between pairs of atoms at remote topological distances. For the similarity-based pathway, our model can emphasize useful biomedical objects according to the channel weights. Finally, the fusion of multimodal data provides a holistic view of DDIs by learning the complementary features. On a real-world dataset, experiments show that TP-DDI can achieve better performance than the state-of-the-art models. Moreover, we can find the most critical substructures with certain interpretability in the newly predicted DDIs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, due to the high correlation between breast cancer and breast density, the quantitative and qualitative analysis of breast density has attracted wide attention from researchers. To provide approaches for researchers who are eager for breast density measurement through computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) manner, we survey related works in the past 2 decades. In this work, we review the methods of breast density analysis in terms of qualitative and quantitative measurements based on image analysis, respectively. Various applications of these methods were mentioned, and underlying difficulties, limitations, merits, and disadvantages were discussed in applying these methods. The researchers will find it helpful to choose and use the appropriate model for a better application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Arctic warming around the Barents and Kara Sea frequently coincides with the Eurasian cooling winters, which is referred to as the warm Arctic-cold Eurasia (WACE) pattern. We here show that the WACE pattern during late winter (January-March) is closely associated with the tropical El Niño-Southern Oscillation but with a striking asymmetric linkage. In general, La Niña events are accompanied with an anomalous high-pressure system over Eurasia, facilitating the formation of the positive WACE pattern. However, a weak connection is detected between the El Niño and WACE pattern. This asymmetric influence of El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) on Eurasian circulation and surface air temperature can be attributed to the nonlinearity in its modulation on planetary waves and the spatial structure of stratospheric polar vortex during the warm and cold phases. During La Niña winters, the height anomalies over Eurasia tend to prevail in the troposphere due to an enhancement in the wave-1 planetary wave in the middle and low layers, in contrast to El Niño years with height anomalies more confined to the upper stratosphere. The identified linkage between La Niña and the WACE pattern provides a potential predictability source of cold winters over Eurasia on seasonal-to-interannual timescales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The three strongest positive Indian Ocean dipole (pIOD) events over the past four decades occurred in 1994, 1997, and 2019 and caused severe social-economic impacts in the Indian Ocean (IO) rim countries. These three strongest positive pIOD events exhibited similar oceanic and atmospheric anomaly patterns during their mature phase, though with different physical origins. The extreme amplitudes of these pIOD events were closely related to concurrent El Niño or Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO) activity. For the 1997 extreme pIOD case, the concurrent extreme El Niño in the Pacific triggered strong easterly wind anomalies over the equatorial IO and therefore favored the rapid growth of the pIOD via intense upwelling along the Sumatra-Java coast. In contrast, the long stalled MJO convective anomalies over the western IO exerted an important role in the 2019 extreme pIOD event especially during September–October by causing easterly anomalies over the equatorial IO. During that year, the Pacific moderate warming had likely a small impact since no strong associated convection was present over the western and central equatorial Pacific due to the small amplitude of the Pacific sea surface temperature anomalies. Different from the 1997 and 2019 cases, both El Niño conditions in the Pacific as well as MJO activity over the western IO contributed to the 1994 extreme pIOD event. Our results emphasize that MJO activity should be considered as one physical drivers for the extreme pIOD event in addition to the traditional El Niño-associated forcing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]