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The contradiction between high piezoelectricity and uniquely poor temperature stability generated by polymorphic phase boundary is a huge obstacle to high-performance (K, Na)NbO3 -based ceramics entering the application market as Pb-based substitutes. We possess the phase boundary by mimicking Pb(Zr, Ti)O3's morphotropic phase boundary structure via the synergistic optimization of diffusion phase boundary and crystal orientation in 0.94(Na0.56K0.44)NbO3−0.03Bi0.5Na0.5ZrO3−0.03(Bi0.5K0.5)HfO3 textured ceramics. As a result, a prominent comprehensive performance is obtained, including giant d33 of 550 ± 30 pC/N and ultrahigh temperature stability (d33 change rate less than 1.2% within 25-150 °C), representing a significant breakthrough in lead-free piezoceramics, even surpassing the Pb-based piezoelectric ceramics. Within the same temperature range, the d33 change rate of the commercial Pb(Zr, Ti)O3−5 ceramics is only about 10%, and more importantly, its d33 (~ 350 pC/N) is much lower than that of the (K, Na)NbO3-based ceramics in this work. This study demonstrates a strategy for constructing the phase boundary with MPB feature, settling the problem of temperature instability in (K, Na)NbO3-based ceramics. The authors induce a phase boundary similar to Pb(Zr, Ti)O3's morphotropic phase boundary structure in (K, Na)NbO3-based ceramics, which exhibit high residual polarization as well as a significantly improved piezoelectric constant d33. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Rare Metals is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of Central South University is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Purpose: Literature on antipsychotic medication adherence in early psychosis primarily assessed adherence behaviors and focused on young patients. There is a paucity of research investigating negative medication attitude and its determinants in the early illness course, particularly in older-aged sample. We aimed to examine prevalence and correlates of medication non-adherence behaviors and negative medication attitudes separately in adult patients with early psychosis. Methods: One hundred ninety-nine Chinese early psychosis patients aged 26–55 years who had received three-year treatment for first psychotic episode in Hong Kong were examined. Assessments encompassing socio-demographics, premorbid adjustment, clinical and treatment profiles, self-stigma and therapeutic alliance were conducted. Patients were evaluated with Medication Compliance Questionnaire, which is a modified Chinese-translated version of Medication Adherence Rating Scale and includes items measuring adherence behaviors and attitudes towards medications. Results: Rates of medication non-adherence and negative attitude towards medications were 38.7% and 50.8%, respectively. Multivariate regression analysis showed that more severe positive symptoms, greater self-stigma and negative medication attitude were independently associated with medication non-adherence. Negative attitude towards medications was significantly associated with younger age, higher educational attainment, diagnosis of other psychotic disorders, poorer insight, greater self-stigma and less satisfaction with communication with healthcare staff, which represented an index reflecting suboptimal therapeutic alliance. Conclusion: Antipsychotic non-adherence and negative medication attitudes are frequently observed in adult early psychosis patients. Our findings indicate that poor insight, elevated self-stigma and suboptimal therapeutic alliance may constitute potential treatment targets for promoting medication adherence and rectifying negative medication attitudes in the early illness stage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The macrostructure, microstructure and alloying element microsegregation of electroslag remelted (ESR) 7Cr13 steel with different nitrogen contents (0.043, 0.084, 0.164 pct) were studied. The maximum solubility of nitrogen in7Cr13 steel was calculated to be 0.161pct. The peritectic reaction does notoccur once the N content of the steeexceeds 0.121 pct, which leads to the coarsening of the grains of the remelted ingot. The width of the mushy zone decreases but the depth of the metal bath increases with the increase of N content from 0.043 to 0.164 pct. The reduction in the width of the mushy zone is beneficial to the reduction of the local solidification time and the refinement of the secondary dendrites. The microstructure of the ingot is composed of austenite, martensite and eutectic carbides, and irrespective of the N content of as-cast ingot. Nitrogen increases the equilibrium distribution coefficient of N, C and V elements, which is beneficial to the suppression of microsegregation of these elements during liquid steel solidification. The refinement of secondary dendrites makes the distribution of Cr element more uniform although the addition of nitrogen reduces the equilibrium distribution coefficient of Cr. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The orchid family (Orchidaceae) is one of the most diverse plant families in the world, but at the same time also contains one of the largest number of rare and endangered species. While conservation actions such as in situ and ex situ conservation and prohibition of international trade of wild orchids have achieved positive results to slow down the current decline of orchids, species with high medicinal or ornamental value may require more advanced measures. Recent pilot studies using novel cultivation techniques have successfully reintroduced endangered epiphytic orchids and facilitated the commercial cultivation of medicinal orchids. Because fungal partners play a key role in in situ symbiotic seed germination and industrial cultivation, we advocate for the development of fungus banks in laboratories engaging in orchid research, where fungi obtained from germinating seeds or seedlings can be studied and used to improve orchid germination under both in vitro and in situ conditions. Furthermore, these fungi could be shared nationally and internationally, enhancing orchid conservation efforts across the globe. Similar to seed banks, the development of fungus banks will reduce the possibility of fungi going extinct and ensure their availability for reintroduction programs and commercial cultivation. With the availability of both a fungus and seed bank, the conservation of threatened orchid species can be significantly enhanced by improving restoration programs and commercial cultivation of medicinal orchids and releasing the pressure on wild populations from harvesting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is widely acknowledged that granite residual soil (GRS) is highly structured and water-sensitive due to the interparticle bonding of free iron oxides (FIOs). To further understand the effects of drying and wetting (D-W) cycles and the content of FIOs on the mechanical responses of GRS, a series of tests were presented to reveal the microstructure characteristics and mechanical behaviors of GRS under different D-W cycles (0, 1, 2, 4). The particle size distribution (PSD) curve exhibited evident bimodal peaks by the dynamic light scattering (DLS) analysis, then changed to single peak curve after the D-W cycles or the removal of FIOs. Quantitatively investigated by the dithionite-citrate-bicarbonate (DCB) method, the content of FIOs in GRS showed a decreasing trend but finally tended to be a stable value after the D-W cycles. Due to the intrinsically cemented structure, GRS presented complicated shear behaviors in response to D-W cycles. A phase transition was clearly observed in the stress-strain relationship of the soil. The GRS at 60 kPa which is undergoing the 0th and 1st D-W cycles exhibited weak strain-hardening type, but it would transform into the strain-softening state after the 2nd D-W cycle. The yield stress reached a maximum value at the 2nd cycle and then decreased with the subsequent D-W cycles. Similarly, cyclic D-Ws resulted in obvious increase in the small-strain stiffness, especially in the 1st cycle. The complicated mechanical properties of GRS are characterized by coupling effects among the irreversible volume deformation and the content of collodion and the development of microcracks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Fundus lesion segmentation determines the location and size of diabetes retinopathy in fundus image, which assists doctors in developing the best eye treatment plan. However, owing to the scattered distribution and the similarity of lesions, it is extremely difficult to extract representative lesions feature and accurately segment lesions area. Methods: To solve the thorny problem, a generative adversarial network with multi-attention feature extraction is developed to segment diabetic retinopathy region. The main contributions are as follows: (1) An improved residual U-Net network combining with self-attention mechanism is designed as generative network to fully extract local and global feature of lesions while reducing the loss of key feature information. Considering the correlation between the same lesions feature of different samples, external attention mechanism is introduced in the residual U-Net network to focus on the relevant features of the same lesions in different samples throughout the entire dataset. (2) A discriminative network based on the PatchGAN structure is designed to further enhance the segmentation ability of generation network by discriminating between true and false samples. Results: The proposed network is evaluated on the public dataset IDRiD, which achieved the Dice correlation coefficients of 75.7%, 76.53%, 50.06%, and 45.89% for EX, SE, MA, and HE, respectively. Conclusion: The experimental results show the generative adversarial neural network qualified for accurate segmentation of diabetic retinopathy from fundus image well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) have garnered significant interest due to their ability to facilitate both ionic and electronic transport. A large proportion of research efforts thus far have focused on investigating high-performance materials that can serve as mixed ion doping and charge transport layers. However, relatively less attention has been given to the gate-electrode materials, which play a critical role in controlling operational voltage, redox processes, and stability, especially in the context of semiconductor-based OECTs working in accumulation mode. Moreover, the demand for planarity and flexibility in modern bioelectronic devices presents significant challenges for the commonly used Ag/AgCl electrodes in OECTs. Herein, we report the construction of high-performance accumulation-mode OECTs by utilizing a gate electrode made of three-dimensional (3D)-printed graphene oxide. The 3D-printed graphene oxide electrode incorporating one-dimensional (1D) carbon nanotubes, is directly printed using an aqueous-based ink and showcases exceptional mechanical flexibility and porosity properties, enabling high-throughput preparation for both top gates and integrated planar architecture, as well as fast ion/charge transport. OECTs with high performance comparable to that of Ag/AgCl-gated OECTs are thus achieved and present promising feasibility for electrocardiograph (ECG) signal recording. This provides a promising choice for the application of flexible bioelectronics in medical care and neurological recording. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rain streaks degrade the images and badly affect the high-level vison tasks, and single image deraining methods based on data driven have witnessed the continuously growing and achieved great success. However, traditional convolution neural network can only model the features in frequency domain implicitly, while discrete cosine transform (DCT) can be considered as an explicit modeling of frequency domain. Therefore, we propose a split frequency attention to improve the internal correlation of the input features in frequency domain by DCT. We select the top-K low-frequency components as the output of DCT layer, which restore the image with high quality in frequency domain, and the split mechanism makes the network focus on the information-rich regions to maintain the fidelity of the restored image detail. The experiments on several datasets demonstrate that our method achieves better results than the recent state-of-the-art methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of next-generation transceiver system on the terahertz (THz) band demands the integration of key waveguide filters. In this paper, a dual-band filter using TM dual-mode cavities is proposed based on the stackable multilayer MEMS technology to achieve a highly compact design. TM120 and TM210 dual modes in the nearly square cavity have been introduced into the waveguide filter for obtaining the dual-band response. In addition, the non-resonating mode of TM110 in the cavity can be exploited as modal bypass coupling, which can generate two transmission zeros in the vicinity of each passband. Finally, such 220 GHz 3rd-order dual-band waveguide filter with quasi-elliptical response is fabricated through the silicon-based micromachining and nine stacked silicon platelets packaging techniques to achieve the compact thickness of only 2.34 mm. The measurement exhibits that the packaged filter has obtained the 3-dB fractional bandwidths of 4% from 217.5 to 226.5 GHz and 2.9% from 235.5 to 242.5 GHz, low insertion loss of about − 1.2 dB, as well as four obvious transmission zeros in the out-of-band, respectively. The exploitation of the advanced TM multi-mode cavity exemplifies innovation for highly compact THz waveguide filters, which are ideally suitable for multilayer silicon-based micro-processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding tourists' spatial distribution and subgroups is important for urban tourism planning and management. This study utilized mobile signaling data from 21 million equipments to examine the tourist spots travelers visited and their movements in the city of Shanghai. In addition, we used latent profile analysis (LPA) to identify potential tourist groups according to their duration of stay and the tourist spots they visited. The results indicated that historical tourist spots drew a lot of travelers and nearly half of all tourists visited at least one historical site/district. Areas within the inner ring and around the ancient towns beyond the outer ring were frequently visited by tourists. Tourists preferred to visit famous tourist spots sequentially, rather than stopping by nearby less famous spots. Moreover, the connections between these famous spots were more frequent than between other spots. Three groups of tourists were identified, including long-stay multi-interest traveler, short-stay history-lover, and short-stay culture-lover. This study contributes to the application of mobile signaling data in exploring urban tourists' spatial distribution, as well as can shed light on urban tourism planning and strategy development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate the longitudinal mechanical response of a pipeline or tunnel under reverse fault dislocation, this paper introduces the two-parameter Pasternak model and the vertical displacement profile equation. The analytical solution for the longitudinal mechanical response of the pipe or tunnel under reverse fault dislocation is obtained by solving the differential equation. The corresponding numerical simulations and model tests have been carried out, and the analytical solutions have been verified by combining the numerical simulation results and model test data. A parametric analysis is presented in which the effects of the shear stiffness of the elastic layer, the coefficient of subgrade reaction, the dip angle, and the ratio of soil thickness to tunnel diameter are investigated. The results show that as the shear stiffness of the elastic layer G increases, the difference between the bending moment and the shear force of the tunnel near the fault trace becomes smaller, and the value of the maximum displacement increases. As the coefficient of subgrade reaction k increases, the maximum deformation location of the tunnel is closer to the fault trace, the difference between the bending moment and the shear force of the tunnel is greater, and the active length decreases. The displacement, bending moment and shear force distributions of the tunnel become closer to the footwall as the dip angle α increases. The increases in the ratio of soil thickness to tunnel diameter H2/D lead to the distance of the maximum displacement position from the fault trace, the difference between the bending moment and the shear force decreases, but the active length increases. Highlights: Analytical solution is verified for the longitudinal mechanical response of the pipeline or tunnel under reverse fault dislocation. The continuity of foundation deformation and pipeline-foundation nonlinear interactions are considered in the solution. The shear stiffness of the elastic layer G and the ratio of soil thickness to tunnel diameter H2/D have dramatic effects on the tunnel responses. An approach to predict the active length of the pipeline or tunnel under reverse fault dislocation is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adjusting the adsorption energy of adsorbates on catalyst can directly regulate the catalytic performance and reaction pathways of heterogeneous catalysis. Herein, we report a novel strategy, introducing polarization-induced electric field (PIEF) with different directions, to manipulate the adsorption energy of intermediates and reaction pathway of formic acid electrooxidation on Pd. Tourmaline nanoparticles are applied as the PIEF provider, of which the direction is successfully controlled via aligning the dipoles in tourmaline in a strong external electric field. Experimental and theoretical results systematically reveal that positive PIEF leads to an electron-deficient state of Pd, reduced adsorption energy of COad, enhanced adsorption energy of *HCOOH and *OH, and promoted formate pathway of formic acid electrooxidation. Pd/TNP+/FTO, with the aid of positive PIEF, shows threefold enhancement in the formic acid electrooxidation (4.74 mA·cm−2) with high durability and anti-poisoning ability compared with pristine Pd. This study leads a new route to design formic acid electrocatalysts and provides an understanding on how to control the adsorption energy of adsorbates on electrocatalysts by an internal electric field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our society's appetite for ultra-high bandwidth communication networks and high-power optical sources, together with recent breakthroughs in mode multiplexing/demultiplexing schemes, forced the photonics community to reconsider the deployment of nonlinear multimode systems. These developments pose fundamental challenges stemming from the complexity of nonlinear mode-mode mixing by which they exchange energy in the process towards an equilibrium Rayleigh-Jeans (RJ) distribution. Here we develop a universal one-parameter scaling theory for the relaxation rates of out-of-equilibrium excitations towards their RJ thermal state. The theory predicts an exponential suppression of the rates with increasing disorder due to the formation of stable localization clusters resisting the nonlinear mode-mode interactions that tend to separate them. For low optical temperatures, the rates experience a crossover from linear to nonlinear temperature dependence which reflects a disorder-induced reorganization of the low frequency eigenmodes. Our theory will guide the design of nonlinear multimode photonic networks with tailored relaxation-scales. We demonstrate the analogous phenomenon of quantum Many-Body Localization in disordered nonlinear multimode photonic circuits with intricate mode-mode interactions. The developed theoretical framework for analyzing relaxation rates towards thermal equilibrium indicates that disorder exponentially slows down thermalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The study aims to observe the spontaneous remission of posterior vitreous detachment (PVD)-type vision degrading myodesopsia (VDM) during long-term follow-up. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed VDM patients with PVD type that refused any treatment. The ratio and time of significant spontaneous remission of floater symptoms occurring were described. The associated factors with significant remission of floater symptoms were analyzed in the univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses. Results: In total, 179 patients with VDM were assessed. The mean age of all patients was 60.56 ± 0.47 years old, and the mean duration of follow-up was 23.89 ± 6.63 months. Of the patients, 40.78% have significant improvement in their floater symptoms after mean 16.55 ± 10.63-month follow-up. Myopia (OR = 0.280, 95% CI = 0.084–0.932, P = 0.038), the number of floaters > 3 (OR = 0.343, 95% CI = 0.172–0.683, P = 0.002), and floaters with string-like pattern (OR = 0.370, 95% CI = 0.166–0.824, P = 0.015) and blocky pattern (OR = 0.299, 95% CI = 0.090–0.993, P = 0.049) were negatively correlated with the significant spontaneous remission of VDM symptoms in the multiple binary logistic regression analysis. Conclusions: Approximately 40% of VDM patients with PVD may experience significant spontaneous remission during long-term follow-up. Patients that are non-myopic and with fewer floaters are more likely to feel relief from VDM symptoms. Floaters with string-like or blocky patterns are less likely to undergo spontaneous remission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Landslide dams, especially long-term stable landslide dams, have been recognized as important contributors to regional geomorphological evolution. Here, the Diexi area, a long-term stable dam-prone area located in upstream of the Minjiang River on the eastern Tibetan Plateau, was adopted to reveal reasons that landslide dams are concentrated in this area and maintain long-term stability via detailed field investigations, landslide dam sampling, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) images, and digital surface models (DSM). The results show the controlling factors that the slopes are prone to sliding and rock mass structure deterioration including lithological combination mode, slope structure, topographic conditions, a series of NNE-trending radial fissures and hydrological conditions. Fault activities, which have caused many earthquakes, are the main inducing factor. Landslide dams are prone to occurrence in the Diexi area owing to the combined effect of the narrow channels, the large landslide dam volume and the rock fragments. The river flow, and the landslide dam volume, material, structure, and parameters control the stability of landslide dams. The landslide dam consists of various sizes of boulders and all landslide dams exhibit an obvious inverse grading sequence, and this size combination could consume most of the flow energy, and consequently protect the dam from incision. Additionally, a total of seven knickpoints were formed by landslide dams, and the longitudinal gradient upstream of every landslide dam was found to decrease by the action of knickpoint. In the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau, there are numerous landslide dams existed for hundreds or thousands of years. Studies on the long-term stable landslide dams in the Diexi area could provide experience for studying similar kinds of landslide dams in this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Iron metabolism dysregulation is tightly associated with cancer development. But the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. Increasing evidence has shown that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) participate in various metabolic processes via integrating signaling pathway. In this study, we revealed one iron-triggered lncRNA, one target of YAP, LncRIM (LncRNA Related to Iron Metabolism, also named ZBED5-AS1 and Loc729013), which effectively links the Hippo pathway to iron metabolism and is largely independent on IRP2. Mechanically, LncRIM directly binds NF2 to inhibit NF2-LATS1 interaction, which causes YAP activation and increases intracellular iron level via DMT1 and TFR1. Additionally, LncRIM-NF2 axis mediates cellular iron metabolism dependent on the Hippo pathway. Clinically, high expression of LncRIM correlates with poor patient survival, suggesting its potential use as a biomarker and therapeutic target. Taken together, our study demonstrated a novel mechanism in which LncRIM-NF2 axis facilitates iron-mediated feedback loop to hyperactivate YAP and promote breast cancer development. Iron metabolism dysregulation is associated with various diseases including cancer. Here, the authors show that one iron-triggered lncRNA LncRIM regulates cellular iron metabolism effectively by wiring up the Hippo-YAP signaling pathway and promotes breast cancer development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents the results of investigation on thermal conductivity anisotropy of a typical kind of thinly interbedded rock, i.e., banded magnetite quartzite. Influence mechanism of main factors on the thermal conductivity anisotropy were studied through experimental and numerical approaches. Using optical scanning technique, distributed thermal conductivity on the sample surface was obtained through a series of parallel scanning lines. Based on the measured distributed thermal conductivity graphs, effects of the spatial location and geometric size of the analysis subdomain on the thermal conductivity anisotropy were investigated. The results indicated that local anisotropy factors calculated based on subdomains with different spatial locations show significant heterogeneous characteristics. The spatial inhomogeneity of anisotropy is mainly influenced by local variations of mineral bands thickness, visible fissure development and its orientation relation with bedding planes. With the increase of geometric size of analysis subdomain, the dispersion degree of the local anisotropy factors gradually reduced. Based on thermal contact theory, a finite element model was established to simulate the thermal conduction processes of thinly interbedded rocks and its anisotropic characteristics. The numerical model was calibrated based on the experimental results. Sensitivity analysis was performed to investigate the effects of main model parameters on the thermal conductivity anisotropy. The results of this study can provide better knowledge to the anisotropic thermal properties of interbedded rock masses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Q235b carbon steel, main material of early alkaline radioactive liquid waste tank, can be contaminated by 90Sr and 137Cs. In this work, batch contamination experiments were conducted to simulate contamination of steel. The results indicated that Fe3O4, main corrosion product, fell off to form sludges. Furthermore, Sr existed mainly in form of SrCO3 in oxide layer and sludge, and the corrosion made Sr enter into corrosion defects. While Cs was more limited to surface, mainly in form of CsNO3 on the surface of oxide layer and sludge. The findings of this work will facilitate the development of efficient decontamination techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing methods focus on destination image construction by textual description or visual content separately. However, descriptions and images are closely related since they are taken from the same reviews and represent tourists impression of the city. It's questionable to study them separately. In this paper, we used both images and descriptions from the reviews to construct Xi'an tourism destination image. More concretely, scene recognition, landmark recognition and food image recognition are utilized to obtain visual image. Lexical analysis is applied to obtain semantic image. We further compared the differences between visual image and semantic image then we proposed the fusion image. Finally, the top 300 key words and differences of the photo contents between the adjacent 2 years are selected to discovering new changes of the destination image. Results show that the visual image and semantic image are significant different from each other and the new changes of semantic image are closely related to the events or things that happened in that year and changes of visual image are not significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using fewer catalysts to promote the chemical conversion of more substrates is the dream synthesis pursued by synthetic chemists. Achieving highly selective reactions using trace amounts (< 1 ppm) of catalysts is rare and has undoubted practical value. Herein, we designed and synthesized a single-atom Pd-metalated porous organic ligand polymer, denoted as Pd1@POL, and used the polymer to realize the regioselective hydrosilylation of allenes (Pd loading was as low as 0.98 ppm). The synergistic effect of the dispersed catalytic active sites in the catalyst and supports with ligand regulation function can directionally realize the formation of specifically configured hydrosilylation products. The as-fabricated single-atom catalyst (SAC; i.e., Pd1@POL-5) showed an amazing catalytic efficiency and selectivity for hydrosilylation of allene (turnover number was up to 772,358, which was 200 times higher than previously recorded, and regioselectivity > 100:1). The catalyst could be recycled numerous times in a continuous flow system without reductions in activity and selectivity. This work demonstrated the application prospect of the SAC in the synthesis of complex organic compounds and trace amount catalysis, which can lay the foundation for its large-scale and industrialized application in drug synthesis and other fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Central South University is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article Metamaterial-based graphene thermal emitter, written by Cheng Shi, Nathan H. Mahlmeister, Isaac J. Luxmoore, and Geoffrey R. Nash, was originally published electronically on the publisher's internet portal (currently SpringerLink) on December 6th 2017 without open access. With the author(s)' decision to opt for Open Choice the copyright of the article changed in February 2018 to © The Author(s) 2018 and the article is forthwith distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, duplication, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made. The original article has been corrected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to study the bearing performance of a new type of prefabricated subway station structure (PSSS), firstly, a three-dimensional finite element model of the PSSS was established to study the nonlinear mechanics and deformation performance. Secondly, the bearing mechanism of a PSSS was investigated in detail. Finally, the development law of damages to a thin-walled prefabricated component and the failure evolution mechanism of a PSSS were discussed. The results showed that this new type of the PSSS had good bearing capacity. The top arch structure was a three-hinged arch bearing system, and the enclosure structure and the substructure were respectively used as the horizontal and vertical support systems of the three-hinged arch structure to ensure the integrity and stability of the overall structure. Moreover, the tongue-and-groove joints could effectively transmit the internal force between the components and keep the components deformed in harmony. The rigidity degradation of the PSSS caused by the accumulation of damages to the spandrel, hance, arch foot, and enclosure structure was the main reason of its loss of bearing capacity. The existing thin-walled components design had significant advantages in weight reduction, concrete temperature control, components hoisting, transportation and assembly construction, which achieved a good balance between safety, usability and economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To the best of our knowledge, compounds B 1-5 b and B 11 b were isolated for the first time from the genus I Litsea i , compounds B 1-11 b were isolated from I Litsea cubeba i for the first time. Compounds B 1-5 b and B 11 b were isolated for the first time from the genus I Litsea i , compounds B 1-11 b were isolated from I Litsea cubeba i for the first time. Compound B 1 b is a biphenyl neolignan isolated for the first time from the plant and the genus I Litsea i . Lignans represent one of the subclasses of natural products in the genus I Litsea i , which features different structural types, including neolignans, aryl tetralones, dihydrobenzofurans, furofurans, lignanamides, ditetrahydrofurans, tetrahydrofurans, benzofurans, biphenyl lignans, arylnaphthalene lignans, and dibenzylbutanelignans. [Extracted from the article]

In the field of biomedicine, instance segmentation / individualization is important in analyzing the number, the morphology and the distribution of neurons for the whole slide images. Traditionally, biologists apply the stereology technique to manually count the number of neurons in the regions of interest and estimate the number in anatomical regions or the entire brain. This is very tedious and time-consuming. In this paper, we propose a multiscale fully convolutional regression neural network combined with a competitive region growing technique to individualize size-varying and touching neurons in the major anatomical regions of the macaque brain. Given that neuron instance or contour annotations are infeasible to obtain in certain regions, such as the dentate gyrus where thousands of touching neurons are present, we ask an expert to perform point annotations in the center location of neurons (noted as neuron centroids) for training. Thanks to the multiscale resolution achieved by parallel multiple receptive fields and different network depths, our proposed network succeeds in detecting the centroids of size-varying and touching neurons. Competitive region growing is then applied on these centroids to achieve neuron instance segmentation. Experiments on the macaque brain data suggest that our proposed method outperform the state-of-the-art methods in terms of neuron instance segmentation performance. To our knowledge, this is the first deep learning research work to individualize size-varying and touching neurons only using point annotations in major anatomical regions of the macaque brain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The collagenases of Vibrio species, many of which are pathogens, have been regarded as an important virulence factor. However, there is little information on the structure and collagenolytic mechanism of Vibrio collagenase. Here, we report the crystal structure of the collagenase module (CM) of Vibrio collagenase VhaC and the conformation of VhaC in solution. Structural and biochemical analyses and molecular dynamics studies reveal that triple-helical collagen is initially recognized by the activator domain, followed by subsequent cleavage by the peptidase domain along with the closing movement of CM. This is different from the peptidolytic mode or the proposed collagenolysis of Clostridium collagenase. We propose a model for the integrated collagenolytic mechanism of VhaC, integrating the functions of VhaC accessory domains and its collagen degradation pattern. This study provides insight into the mechanism of bacterial collagenolysis and helps in structure-based drug design targeting of the Vibrio collagenase. The collagenolytic mechanism of Vibrio collagenase, a virulence factor, remains unclear. Here, the authors report the structure of Vibrio collagenase VhaC and propose the mechanism for collagen recognition and degradation, providing new insight into bacterial collagenolysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early myocardial ischemia-induced sudden cardiac deaths (EMI-SCD) remain a great diagnostic challenge for forensic pathologists due to no gross or non-specific histological pathology. The goal of this study was to assess whether three secretory proteins, related with cellular endoplasmic reticulum stress, can be applied in forensic diagnosis of EMI-SCD. These markers included LMAN2, CAPN-1, and VCP and were compared with two clinically used markers (CK-MB and cTnI). A total of 21 EMI-SCD cases with a mean age of 53.0 (± 10.5) years and a mean ischemia interval of < 2.77 (± 2.56) hours were collected. Another 23 cases (mean 44.6 ± 15.0 year old) that died from non-cardiac causes served as control. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was performed to detect target proteins' serum concentrations in the EMI-SCD and control groups. We found that LMAN2, CAPN-1, and VCP were all significantly increased in the EMI-SCD group as compared with control serum, with the fold changes ranging from 1.48 (p = 0.0022, LMAN2), 1.33 (p = 0.041, CAPN-1), to 1.26 (p = 0.021, VCP), respectively. The concentrations of these proteins remained highly stable within 6 h and were not affected by death time, postmortem interval (< 4 h), age, and month at death. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves showed that the areas under the curve (AUC) were 0.8178 (LMAN2), 0.6988 (CAPN-1), and 0.7267 (VCP), all of which were higher than CK-MB (AUC 0.5590) and cTn-I (AUC 0.5911). The diagnostic specificity (all above 60%) was obviously higher than CK-MB (43.48%) and cTnI (34.78%). In conclusion, LMAN-2, CAPN-1, and VCP could be stable serological biomarkers for diagnosis of EMI-SCD cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mechanical response law of underground utility tunnels passing through active faults is complicated, and the structures suffer severe damage. An experimental model test with a scaling ratio of 1:30 has been designed to simulate thrust fault dislocation with the 45° dip angle. Through the monitoring and analysis of the lining structure vertical displacement, strains, contact pressure, and failure patterns, the mechanical behavior of the utility tunnel structure with flexible joints passing through the active thrust fault with the 45° dip angle is investigated. The results show that the compression failure occurs mainly in the joint area of the segmental lining. The surrounding rock forms a triangular shear zone as a result of thrust fault displacement. After the fault dislocation is completed, the longitudinal direction of the tunnel is bent into a Z-shape, forming a compression zone and void zone near the fault trace to accommodate the displacement of the thrust fault. The cracks, fragments of concrete peeling off and dislocations are mainly concentrated in the vicinity of the fault trace; especially, the segments B–D are the most damaged. The three segments B, C, and D appear to have an obvious dislocation at the flexible joint, and the average displacement is 6.9 mm (actually 0.207 m) and 4.3 mm (actually 0.129 m). The maximum tensile and compressive strains are distributed in 3# with values of1716.5 με and − 1182.6 με, respectively. Compression and tensile failure occur. The segments with flexible joints improve the overall anti-disconnection performance. When the thrust fault displacement exceeds 50 mm (actually 1.5 m), the damage length of the lining structure within the hanging wall and the footwall is 3.5S (S is the maximum span of the tunnel) and 2.4S, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, effective thermal conductivity (λEff) of fractured rock masses was numerically investigated. A two-dimensional Discrete Fracture Network (DFN) model of the fractured rock masses was established based on the statistic results of natural fracture development in a potential area for high level radioactive waste disposal in China. Steady state heat transfer processes in the fractured granite rock masses were numerically simulated using finite element method (FEM). The calculated λEff values of the fractured granite rock masses in dry and saturated conditions are 1.99 W/(m K) and 2.31 W/(m K), respectively. Compared with the thermal conductivity of intact granite [λIntact, 2.5 W/(m K)], the drop rates are 20.4% and 7.6%, respectively. Sensitivity analysis was conducted on the main model parameters including fracture density (FDensity), trace length (FLength), thermal contact resistance (FTCR), and λIntact. The results indicate the relation between λEff and three fracture parameters (FDensity, Flength and FTCR) can be fitted using power law or negative exponent functions with good consistency. When fracture network parameters remain unchanged, λEff is in linear positive correlation to λIntact. The slop of the fitted line is determined by the fracture network parameters. Due to the fact that distribution of generated fractures in different directions are quite uniform, λEff did not show significant difference in different directions. On the basis of the above-mentioned results, an estimation model was proposed for the determination of λEff of fractured rock masses using P21 (total length of fracture traces per unit area), FTCR, and λIntact. The proposed estimation model shows good consistency to the calculated results of FEM model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the degradation related parameters of GaInP/GaAs/Ge triple-junction solar cell induced by electron irradiation are carried out by numerical simulation. The degradation results of short-circuit current, open-circuit voltage, maximum power have been investigated, and the degradation mechanism is analyzed. Combining the degradation results, the degradation of normalized parameters versus displacement damage dose is obtained. The results show that the degradation increases with the increase of the electron fluence and electron irradiation energy. The degradation normalized related parameters versus displacement damage dose can be characterized by a special curve that is not affected by the type of irradiated particles. By calculating the annual displacement damage dose and the on-orbit operation time of special space orbit, the degradation of normalized parameters can be obtained with the fitting curve in the simulation. The study will provide an approach to estimate the radiation damage of triple-junction solar cell induced by space particle irradiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objective: Rapamycin and its semi-synthetic analogues (rapalogues) are frequently used in combination with other prescribed medications in clinical settings. Although the inhibitory effects of rapalogues on cytochrome P450 enzymes (CYPs) have been well examined, the inhibition potentials of rapalogues on human esterases have not been investigated. Herein, the inhibition potentials and inhibitory mechanisms of six marketed rapalogues on human esterases are investigated. Methods: The inhibitory effects of six marketed rapalogues (rapamycin, zotarolimus, temsirolimus, everolimus, pimecrolimus and tacrolimus) on three major esterases, including human carboxylesterases 1 (hCES1A), human carboxylesterases 2 (hCES2A) and butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE), were assayed using isozyme-specific substrates. Inhibition kinetic analyses and docking simulations were performed to investigate the inhibitory mechanisms of the rapalogues with strong hCES2A inhibition potency. Results: Zotarolimus and pimecrolimus displayed strong inhibition of human hCES2A but these agents did not inhibit hCES1A or BuChE. Further investigation demonstrated that zotarolimus could strongly inhibit intracellular hCES2A in living HepG2 cells, with an estimated IC50 value of 4.09 µM. Inhibition kinetic analyses revealed that zotarolimus inhibited hCES2A-catalyzed fluorescein diacetate hydrolysis in a mixed manner, with the Ki value of 1.61 µM. Docking simulations showed that zotarolimus could tightly bind on hCES2A at two district ligand-binding sites, consistent with its mixed inhibition mode. Conclusion: Our findings demonstrate that several marketed rapalogues are potent and specific hCES2A inhibitors, and these agents can serve as leading compounds for the development of more efficacious hCES2A inhibitors to modulate the pharmacokinetic profiles and toxicity of hCES2A-substrate drugs (such as the anticancer agent irinotecan). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CD44 is a marker of cancer stem cell (CSC) in many types of tumors. Alternative splicing of its 20 exons generates various CD44 isoforms that have different tissue specific expression and functions, including the CD44 standard isoform (CD44s) encoded by the constant exons and the CD44 variant isoforms (CD44v) with variant exon insertions. Switching between the CD44v and CD44s isoforms plays pivotal roles in tumor progression. Here we reported a novel mechanism of CD44 alternative splicing induced by TGF-β1 and its connection to enhanced epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and stemness in human prostate cancer cells. TGF-β1 treatment increased the expression of CD44s and N-cadherin while decreased the expression of CD44v and E-cadherin in DU-145 prostate cancer cells. Other EMT markers and cancer stem cell markers were also upregulated after TGF-β1 treatment. RNAi knockdown of CD44 reversed the phenotype, which could be rescued by overexpressing CD44s but not CD44v, indicating the alternatively spliced isoform CD44s mediated the activity of TGF-β1 treatment. Mechanistically, TGF-β1 treatment induced the phosphorylation, poly-ubiquitination, and degradation of PCBP1, a well-characterized RNA binding protein known to regulate CD44 splicing. RNAi knockdown of PCBP1 was able to mimic TGF-β1 treatment to increase the expression of CD44s, as well as the EMT and cancer stem cell markers. In vitro and in vivo experiments were performed to show that CD44s promoted prostate cancer cell migration, invasion, and tumor initiation. Taken together, we defined a mechanism by which TGF-β1 induces CD44 alternative splicing and promotes prostate cancer progression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electroslag remelting (ESR) gives a combination of liquid metal refining and solidification structure control. One of the typical aspects of liquid metal refining during ESR for the advanced steel and alloy production is desulfurization. It involves two patterns, i.e., slag-metal reaction and gas-slag reaction (gasifying desulfurization). In this paper, the advances in desulfurization practices of ESR are reviewed. The effects of processing parameters, including the initial sulfur level of consumable electrode, remelting atmosphere, deoxidation schemes of ESR, slag composition, melting rate, and electrical parameters on the desulfurization in ESR are assessed. The interrelation between desulfurization and sulfide inclusion evolution during ESR is discussed, and advancements in the production of sulfur-bearing steel at a high-sulfur level during ESR are described. The remaining challenges for future work are also proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims/hypothesis: Adiponectin stimulates mitochondrial biogenesis through peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ coactivator 1α (PGC-1α), a major regulator of mitochondrial biogenesis. MOTS-c (mitochondrial open reading frame of the 12S rRNA) is a biologically active mitochondrial-derived peptide encoded by mitochondrial DNA. It influences the mechanisms of obesity and diabetes. We hypothesised that the adiponectin pathway may regulate the production and/or secretion of MOTS-c in skeletal muscle. We aimed to determine whether exercise and adiponectin affect MOTS-c to improve insulin resistance in mice. Methods: To investigate this hypothesis, we used wild-type C57BL/6 mice subjected to high-fat diet, an exercise regimen, and i.p. injection of recombinant mouse adiponectin (Acrp30) or MOTS-c, and adiponectin knockout (Adipoq−/−) mice (C57BL/6 background) subjected to i.p. injection of Acrp30. C2C12 myotubes were also treated with sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) inhibitor, PGC-1α inhibitor, SIRT1 activator, plasmid-expressed active APPL1 (adaptor protein, phosphotyrosine interacting with PH domain and leucine zipper), pcDNA-SIRT1, or siRNA against APPL1, SIRT1 or PGC-1α. Results: In Adipoq–/– mice, MOTS-c levels in the plasma and skeletal muscle were downregulated. In C2C12 myotubes, adiponectin increased the mRNA expression of MOTS-c. APPL1 protein level following adiponectin treatment positively correlated with MOTS-c protein and mRNA levels in C2C12 myotubes. SIRT1 overexpression increased the adiponectin-induced mRNA and protein expression of MOTS-c, SIRT1 and PGC-1α. Pharmacologic and genetic inhibition of PGC-1α suppressed the increases in MOTS-c mRNA and protein levels induced by SIRT1 overexpression. In mice, plasma and skeletal muscle MOTS-c levels were significantly downregulated following high-fat-diet. Exercise and i.p. Acrp30 or MOTS-c increased MOTS-c levels and adiponectin mRNA and protein expression in the plasma and skeletal muscle. Conclusions/interpretation: Our findings showed that the APPL1–SIRT1–PGC-1α pathway regulates the production and/or secretion of skeletal muscle MOTS-c by mediating adiponectin signalling. Our study provides an insight into the cellular and molecular pathways underlying the pathogenesis of diabetes and shows that MOTS-c is a potential novel therapeutic target in the treatment of diabetes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]