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The interest in phononic crystals and acoustic metamaterials has been an intensive subject of research in recent years. Finding a robust way to significantly expand or actively control the bandgap has received extensive attention. In this study, we propose a prestressed metamaterial beam attached with multiply local resonators connected by actively tunable piezoelectric springs. The Euler–Bernoulli beam theory and Timoshenko beam theory are applied in the theoretical analysis of the system. Further, the spectral element method is utilized to analytically compute the dispersion relation and transmission ratio and excellent agreement with reference to the benchmark is reported. The influences of an external axial force on the bandgap range and attenuation behavior are further studied. Subsequently, the effect of resonator number and mass on the local resonance bandgap structure is investigated in two parametric studies. The active control of bandgap range and frequency is then verified. By analyzing frequency response function, the tunable transmission ratio of a supercell can be observed. To conclude, this paper not only provides a guideline for designs of wave attenuation with multiple frequency regimes in a one-dimensional system, but it can also be extended to sub-wavelength wave manipulation designs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a new variational phase-field model aimed at investigating the fully coupled hydro-mechanical-damage processes in saturated quasi-brittle rocks. Biot's poroelasticity theory is incorporated with a damage-dependent permeability to describe both Darcy-type seepage in the solid matrix and Poiseuille-type flows in the cracked domain. The fluid pressure is introduced into a unified phase-field framework modified with a mixed-mode crack driving force. This framework can predict and reproduce complex crack initiation and propagation while explicitly determining the apparent crack width. First, the formulations of the proposed model are given. Then the fully coupled system is implemented using the finite element method and an alternate minimization Newton–Raphson iterative solver, facilitated by user subroutines provided by the software ABAQUS. The proposed model is validated by three benchmark problems. Subsequently, fracture propagation, pressure diffusion, and mechanical behavior are simulated and discussed in homogenous and heterogeneous quasi-brittle rock samples with pre-existing flaws under uniaxial compression, respectively. Finally, the proposed model is applied to simulate the damage evolution and investigate the fluid pressure distribution in jointed rock structures. The practicality and computational efficiency of the proposed model in accurately simulating realistic crack propagation and fluid pressure distribution in rock engineering problems are demonstrated. Highlights: A new variational phase-field model for predicting hydro-mechanical coupled fracture propagation is developed. A modified mixed-mode crack driving force is well incorporated in the proposed model. The three-field coupled system is efficiently solved by the implementation of a dual-layer numerical structure in ABAQUS. The model is well validated and then applied to simulate crack propagation in rock samples and jointed rock structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immunoglobulin G (IgG) autoantibodies can lead to the formation of autoimmune diseases through Fab and/or Fc-mediated interactions with host molecules as well as activated T cells. The neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn) binds at acidic pH IgG and albumin, and the mechanism for prolonging serum IgG half-life is making IgG re-entry into circulation by prompting it not to be degraded by lysosomes and back to the cell surface. Given the FcRn receptor's essential role in IgG homeostasis, one of the strategies to promote the quick degradation of endogenous IgG is to suppress the function of FcRn, which is beneficial to the treatment of IgG-driven autoimmune disorders like myasthenia gravis (MG), chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy (CIDP), stiff person syndrome, and immune thrombocytopenia (ITP). We elaborately read the literature about efgartigimod and systematically reviewed the research progress and clinical application of this novel FcRn inhibitor in autoimmune diseases. Efgartigimod is the firstly FcRn antagonist developed and was approved on 17 December 2021 by the United States for the therapy of acetylcholine receptor-positive MG. In January 2022, efgartigimod received its second regulatory approval in Japan. In addition, the market authorization application in Europe was submitted and validated in August 2021. China's National Medical Products Administration officially accepted the marketing application of efgartigimod on July 13, 2022. To suppress the function of FcRn, which is beneficial to the treatment of IgG-driven autoimmune disorders like MG, CIDP, ITP, and stiff person syndrome. We review the rationale, clinical evidence, and future perspectives of efgartigimod for the treatment of autoimmune disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

DNA topoisomerase II alpha (TOP2A) expression, gene alterations, and enzyme activity have been studied in various malignant tumors. Abnormal elevation of TOP2A expression is considered to be related to the development of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, its association with tumor metastasis and its mode of action remains unclear. Bioinformatics, real-time quantitative PCR, immunohistochemistry and immunoblotting were used to detect TOP2A expression in NSCLC tissues and cells. Cell migration and invasion assays as well as cytoskeletal staining were performed to analyze the effects of TOP2A on the motility, migration and invasion ability of NSCLC cells. Cell cycle and apoptosis assays were used to verify the effects of TOP2A on apoptosis as well as cycle distribution in NSCLC. TOP2A expression was considerably upregulated in NSCLC and significantly correlated with tumor metastasis and the occurrence of epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) in NSCLC. Additionally, by interacting with the classical ligand Wnt3a, TOP2A may trigger the canonical Wnt signaling pathway in NSCLC. These observations suggest that TOP2A promotes EMT in NSCLC by activating the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway and positively regulates malignant events in NSCLC, in addition to its significant association with tumor metastasis. TOP2A promotes the metastasis of NSCLC by stimulating the canonical Wnt signaling pathway and inducing EMT. This study further elucidates the mechanism of action of TOP2A, suggesting that it might be a potential therapeutic target for anti-metastatic therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A core–shell ZIF-67@ZIF-8-derived Co nanoparticles embedded in N-doped carbon nanotube polyhedra (Co/C-NCNP) hybrid nanostructure was prepared by a pyrolysis method. The synthesized Co/C-NCNP was modified on the screen-printed carbon electrode and used for the portable wireless sensitive determination of breviscapine (BVC) by differential pulse voltammetry. The Co/C-NCNP had a large surface area and excellent catalytic activity with increasing Co sites to combine with BVC for selective determination, which led to the improvement of the sensitivity of the electrochemical sensor. Under optimized conditions, the constructed sensor had linear ranges from 0.15 to 20.0 µmol/L and 20.0 to 100.0 µmol/L with the limit of detection of 0.014 µmol/L (3S0/S). The sensor was successfully applied to BVC tablet sample analysis with satisfactory results. This work provided the potential applications of zeolitic imidazolate framework-derived nanomaterials in the fabrication of electrochemical sensors for the sensitive detection of drug samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blackwater constitutes a primary component of environmental pollution posing serious risk to human health; however, reusing the nutrients found in blackwater diminishes the associated pollution and promotes resource recycling. Conventional green-wall systems are not suitable for in situ treatment of high-concentration wastewater. Thereby, a novel multi-unit green-wall system with six independent treatment units was designed to achieve a cost-effective and eco-friendly in situ treatment of blackwater with high organic load. Zeolite carriers were selected for the matrix with carrier depth of 14.5 cm, ivy and chlorophytum were selected as the greening plants. Various pollutants were rapidly reduced at the initial stage and the concentration of the pollutants decreased as the number of treatment units increased. Overall, the green-wall system was more effective in removing COD and NH4+–N with the removal rates of 98.5% and 98%, which may be due to the good buffering capacity of the media and the roles of Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes in COD degradation and ammoniated nitrification reactions. In addition, the maximum TP and TN removal rates were observed with a value of 85% and 42%, respectively. Consequently, the novel multi-unit green-wall system is an effective method for in situ blackwater reuse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alzheimer's disease (AD) lacks effective clinical treatments. As the disease progresses, the cerebral glucose hypometabolism that appears in the preclinical phase of AD gradually worsens, leading to increasingly severe brain energy disorders. This review analyzes the brain energy deficit in AD and its etiology, brain energy rescue strategies based on ketone intervention, the effects and mechanisms of IF, the differences in efficacy between IF and ketogenic diet and the duality of IF. The evidence suggests that brain energy deficits lead to the development and progression of AD pathology. IF, which improves brain energy impairments by promoting ketone metabolism, thus has good therapeutic potential for AD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multi-modal MRI has become a valuable tool in medical imaging for diagnosing and investigating brain tumors, as it provides complementary information from multiple modalities. However, traditional methods for multi-modal MRI segmentation using UNet architecture typically fuse the modalities at an early or mid-stage of the network, without considering the inter-modal feature fusion or dependencies. To address this, a novel CMMFNet (cross-modal multi-scale fusion network) is proposed in this work, which explores both intra-modality and inter-modality relationships in brain tumor segmentation. The network is built on a transformer-based multi-encoder and single-decoder structure, which performs nested multi-modal fusion for high-level representations of different modalities. Additionally, the proposed CMMFNet uses a focusing mechanism that extracts larger receptive fields more effectively at the low-level scale and connects them to the decoding layer effectively. The multi-modal feature fusion module nests modality-aware feature aggregation, and the multi-modal features are better fused through long-term dependencies within each modality in the self-attention and cross-attention layers. The experiments showed that our CMMFNet outperformed state-of-the-art methods on the BraTS2020 benchmark dataset in brain tumor segmentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Type IIA topoisomerase (TOP2A) is significantly associated with malignant tumor development, invasion, treatment and its prognosis, and has been shown to be a therapeutic target against cancer. In contrast, the role of TOP2A in the immunotherapy of non-small cell lung cancer as well as in Vasculogenic mimicry (VM) formation and its potential mechanisms are unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of TOP2A in proliferation, skeleton regulation, motility and VM production in non-small cell lung cancer and its mechanisms by using bioinformatics tools and molecular biology experiments. Subgroup analysis showed that the low-risk group had a better prognosis, while the high-risk group was positively correlated with high tumor mutational load, M1-type macrophage infiltration, immune checkpoint molecule expression, and immunotherapy efficacy. As confirmed by further clinical specimens, the presence of TOP2A and VM was significantly and positively correlated with poor prognosis. Our study established a model based on significant co-expression of TOP2A genes, which significantly correlated with mutational load and immunotherapy outcomes in patients with non-small cell lung cancer. Further mechanistic exploration suggests that TOP2A plays an important role in immunotherapy and VM formation in NSCLC through upregulation of Wnt3a and PD-L1 expression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A neural network-based decoder, based on a long short-term memory (LSTM) network, is proposed to solve the problem that large decoding delay and performance degradation under non-Gaussian noise due to poor parallelism of existing turbo decoding algorithms. The proposed decoder refers to a unique component coding concept of turbo codes. First, each component decoder is designed based on an LSTM network. Next, each layer of the component decoder is trained, and the trained weights are loaded into the turbo code decoding neural network as initialization parameters. Then, the turbo code decoding network is trained end-to-end. Finally, a complete turbo decoder is realized. The structural advantage of turbo code component coding is fully considered in the design process, and the problem of decoding delay caused by the existence of interleaver is cleverly avoided. The introduction of deep learning technology provides a new idea to solve the traditional communication problems. Simulation results show that the performance of the proposed decoder is improved by 0.5–1.5 dB compared with the traditional serial decoding algorithm in Gaussian white noise and t-distribution noise. When BER performance is close, the LSTM decoder requires half or even less than that of BCJR. Moreover, the results demonstrate that the proposed decoder is adaptive and can be applied to communication systems with various turbo codes. The LSTM decoder shows lower bit error rate, computational complexity and higher decoding efficiency under the same conditions. Therefore, it is necessary to study the turbo code decoding technology based on deep learning combined with the actual channel environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, the fruitful results on robust control for large-scale interconnected systems have been reported, but most of them are contingent upon "known control directions" and/or only acquire uniformly ultimately bounded performance in the presence of disturbances. Of particular interest in this paper is to develop a continuous and decentralized control algorithm for such systems, which can release the need to know the control directions, guarantee robustness against general system uncertainties (e.g., exogenous disturbances, unknown interactions), and achieve asymptotic output tracking. To this end, we apply a new Nussbaum function to the decentralized controller to identify the control directions despite global interactions. Then resorting to the robust-integral-of-sign-of-error (RISE) technique, we develop a closed-loop system that fully eliminates the effects of the system uncertainties while preserving the control variables' continuity. Additionally, to synthesize the new Nussbaum function and the RISE method, a second-order filter designed for generating feasible feedback signals is constructed. Lyapunov-based stability analysis and numerical simulations are carried out to validate the robustness and the asymptotic convergence of the interconnected system under the proposed control scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Frontiers of Information Technology & Electronic Engineering 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.)

Cellulose and its derivatives are biopolymers abundant in nature, with the advantages of low cost, biodegradability, and high positive friction polarity. In this paper, a novel friction positive layer material sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC)-epichlorohydrin (ECH)-polyethyleneimine (PEI) aerogel (CEP aerogel) and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) film are reported as a friction pair to prepare high-performance CEP aerogel based triboelectric nanogenerator (CEP-TENG) for mechanical energy harvesting and sensing fields. The systematic optimization of the preparation process of CEP aerogel to improve its friction positive polarity not only expands the field of friction positive layer materials but also facilitates its better application to TENG with excellent output performance. The corresponding CEP-TENG can produce open-circuit voltage of 203 V, short-current density of 8.2 µA/cm2, and a power density of 3.38 W/m2 under the applied force of 15 N and frequency of 4 Hz, which is 13.5 times and 27.3 times higher than that of CMC aerogel and 0.03 mm PTFE film. In addition, CEP aerogel-based TENGs have been proven to be effective in powering electronic devices by charging commercial capacitors and detecting human motion such as finger tapping and arm bends. Therefore, the investigation demonstrates the feasibility of CEP aerogel as a friction layer material, thus providing insights to promote low cost-effective and environmentally friendly TENG development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is novel to apply three-dimensional (3D) light field imaging technology to recognize two-dimensional (2D) fake pedestrians. In this paper, we propose a parallel support vector machine (SVM) method based on 3D light field imaging (light field camera) and machine learning techniques. A light field (LF) camera with robust sensors, which is able to record rich 3D information, is used as hardware equipment. Histogram of oriented gradient (HOG) feature extraction algorithm and SVM classification method are used to recognize the real and 2D fake pedestrians efficiently. Besides, we carry out an experiment on our improved LF pedestrian dataset. The experimental results of parameter optimization study show that in the case of 400 training samples (200 positive samples and 200 negative samples), 120 to 420 testing samples, and an HOG cellsize as 8×8, the best recognition accuracy with polynomial kernel function is improved by more than 2% compared with the previous method. The best accuracy is 99.17%. Otherwise, the recognition accuracy of more than 98.00% will be obtained even under other experimental conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heavy metals (HMs) in road dust pose a significant threat to human health. The analysis of human health risks of HMs is an important theoretical basis for risk screening and management. The chemical forms and characteristics of HMs in road dust were analyzed. Based on the bio-toxicity of the different fractions of the HMs and Monte Carlo, three assessment models, including the health risk assessment based on bio-toxicity, the health risk assessment based on the Monte Carlo simulation, and the health risk assessment based on the Monte Carlo simulation and bio-toxicity, were established. Under the Traditional Model, the non-carcinogenic risks were only harmful to children, while the carcinogenic risks were not harmful to adults and children. Under the M-Traditional Model, the probability of non-carcinogenic risks being harmful to children's health was 83.17%. The probability that carcinogenic risks pose a threat to children's health was 28.61%. Considering the bio-toxicity of HMs in different chemical forms, non-carcinogenic risks and carcinogenic risks under the B-Traditional Model were all less than the corresponding critical values, indicating that the HMs in the road dust did no harm to both the adults and children. Based on the MB-Traditional Model, the chance of non-carcinogenic risks being harmful to children's health is 15.43%. Among different HMs, the non-carcinogenic risks of As are highest and the carcinogenic risks of Cr were the highest, so As and Cr should be listed as priority control contamination. MB-Traditional Model established in this study simultaneously considered bio-toxicity and random simulation and obtained more accurate results, which could provide a theoretical basis for risk analysis and management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concentration of cementation solution (CCS) is one of the key factors influencing the cementation effect on soil improvement through the microbially induced carbonate precipitation (MICP) process. To precipitate more calcium carbonate per treatment, a higher CCS is needed. However, the MICP process may be retarded or even terminated with an increase in CCS. This retarding effect can be a major limitation for the MICP-based soil treatment and thus needs to be understood properly. This paper presents a systematic study on the conditions causing retarding and its effect on biocementation. The test results of this study have identified that there is retarding effect of CCS on the MICP process, showing that the calcium conversion efficiency, which represents the amount of calcium that has been converted into calcium carbonate in each treatment, reduces with the increase in CCS, and the concentration of calcium is the control factor. The retarding effect will dominate increasingly when CCS is higher than 1.0 M and the amount of calcium carbonate precipitation will reduce for the given amount and type of bacteria used in this study and become zero with CCS of 2.5 M. For the same calcium carbonate content, the unconfined compressive strength is greater for sand treated using a lower CCS as the contribution to the bonding strength by the calcium carbonate generated under a lower CCS is greater than that under a higher CCS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To solve the excessive thermal load problem of the crane engine and engine compartment, a combined 1-D and 3-D thermal simulation method is developed to numerically simulate the heat flow field inside and outside the engine compartment, the engine thermal system and the cooling system. Simultaneously, to ensure the accuracy of the numerical calculation boundary and the feasibility of the combined thermal simulation method, the trailer heat balance test is conducted under the rated conditions and the maximum torque conditions. By reasonably sealing the heat dissipation assembly at the front of the nacelle, bottom guards under the engine are added and other improvement measures are taken. It is found that the engine outlet's coolant temperature is decreased by 15.9 °C under rated conditions when the improved crane is in the 36 °C environment. While the outlet's coolant temperature is decreased by 20 °C under maximum torque conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the field of system health management, the quality of rolling equipment is very important. Therefore, the fault diagnosis of rolling bearings has become a hot research topic. In this paper, the traditional fault feature extraction method is used to optimize the non-linear and non-stationary characteristics of the bearing vibration signal. Furthermore, in order to improve the performance of the fault diagnosis, a novel signal fingerprint is proposed to recognize the fault type. The simulation result show that the new method is successful and effective, and the recognition rate can be improved up to 95.33%, which is better than the traditional methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We utilized 2300 wheat accessions including worldwide landraces, cultivars and primary synthetic-derived germplasm with three Australian cultivars: Annuello, Yitpi and Correll, to investigate field-based resistance to leaf (Lr) rust, stem (Sr) rust and stripe (Yr) rust diseases across a range of Australian wheat agri-production zones. Generally, the resistance in the modern Australian cultivars, synthetic derivatives, South and North American materials outperformed other geographical subpopulations. Different environments for each trait showed significant correlations, with average r values of 0.53, 0.23 and 0.66 for Lr, Sr and Yr, respectively. Single-trait genome-wide association studies (GWAS) revealed several environment-specific and multi-environment quantitative trait loci (QTL). Multi-trait GWAS confirmed a cluster of Yr QTL on chromosome 3B within a 4.4-cM region. Linkage disequilibrium and comparative mapping showed that at least three Yr QTL exist within the 3B cluster including the durable rust resistance gene Yr30. An Sr/Lr QTL on chromosome 3D was found mainly in the synthetic-derived germplasm from Annuello background which is known to carry the Agropyron elongatum 3D translocation involving the Sr24/Lr24 resistance locus. Interestingly, estimating the SNP effects using a BayesR method showed that the correlation among the highest 1% of QTL effects across environments (excluding GWAS QTL) had significant correlations, with average r values of 0.26, 0.16 and 0.55 for Lr, Sr and Yr, respectively. These results indicate the importance of small effect QTL in achieving durable rust resistance which can be captured using genomic selection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To effectively and conveniently detect pathogenic bacteria, this study aimed to develop label-free biosensors fabricated affinity peptides that can recognize targeted bacteria strains and enable precise quantitative detections. Results: A 12-mer peptide with high binding affinity toward Escherichia coli O157:H7 was discovered by biopanning of phage-displayed peptide library. The peptide modified with glycine residues (G3) and one cysteine (C) residue at C-terminal, could self-assemble on gold electrodes, enabling electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) analysis for quantitative detection of E. coli O157:H7. This method showed a low detection limit of 20 CFU/mL and a liner range from 2 × 102 to 2 × 106 CFU/mL. Conclusion: It appears that, by designing and optimizing the structures of peptides, such a strategy can be greatly promising in developing quick, sensitive and quantitative biosensor of pathogens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous sessile drop and micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) studies have been conducted to quantify geologic carbon storage formation wettability by measuring static contact angles (θ); however, the influence of pore geometry remains unknown. In this work, six sandstones (Bandera Brown, Berea, Bentheimer, Mt. Simon, Navajo, and Nugget) are used to measure θ using the two aforementioned experimental methods at identical testing conditions (45 °C and 12.41 MPa). The range of θ measured at in situ conditions (micro-CT) exceeds the range at ex situ (sessile drop method) conditions for all sandstones. However, when droplets with more representative in situ diameters are analyzed, θ averages show ex situ θ exceed those of in situ θ. Pore geometry does influence local θ, but the size of ex situ droplets relative to pore size appears to influence θ. This is important to consider for future sessile drop studies used for analysis of CO2 behavior in carbon storage reservoirs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key message: A multi-environment genomic prediction model incorporating environmental covariates increased the prediction accuracy of wheat grain protein content. The advantage of the haplotype-based model was dependent upon the trait of interest. The inclusion of environment covariates (EC) in genomic prediction models has the potential to precisely model environmental effects and genotype-by-environment interactions. Together with EC, a haplotype-based genomic prediction approach, which is capable of accommodating the interaction between local epistasis and environment, may increase the prediction accuracy. The main objectives of our study were to evaluate the potential of EC to portray the relationship between environments and the relevance of local epistasis modelled by haplotype-based approaches in multi-environment prediction. The results showed that among five traits: grain yield (GY), plant height, protein content, screenings percentage (SP) and thousand kernel weight, protein content exhibited a 2.1% increase in prediction accuracy when EC was used to model the environmental relationship compared to treatment of the environment as a regular random effect without a variance–covariance structure. The approach used a Gaussian kernel to characterise the relationship among environments that displayed no advantage in contrast to the use of a genomic relationship matrix. The prediction accuracies of haplotype-based approaches for SP were consistently higher than the genotype-based model when the numbers of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) in a haplotype were from three to ten. In contrast, for GY, haplotype-based models outperformed genotype-based methods when two to four SNPs were used to construct the haplotype. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a radial and axial integrated auxiliary bearing (RAIAB) device which can eliminate all radial and axial protective clearances after the rotor dropping is proposed to improve the reliability of the active magnetic bearing systems. In the proposed RAIAB, a strategy that the rotor end and the inner bushing are machined into conical surface is adopted so that the radial and axial clearances between the rotor and the inner bushing can be eliminated simultaneously when the inner bushing moves along the axial direction. In order to research the influence of the conical degree of the inner bushing on the performance of the RAIAB, the preliminary prototype experimental rig is developed and the cases of a 5 degree of freedom AMB rotor dropping on RAIABs at maximum speed of 30000 rpm are tested. The experimental results show that the RAIAB installed with a 30-conical degree inner bushing can successfully eliminate all protective clearances after the AMB rotor drops. However, the RAIAB installed with a 45-conical degree inner bushing is not able to eliminate clearance when the dropping speed of the rotor exceeds 18000 rpm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a thermo-mechanical finite element analysis model for the stress and fatigue analyses of engine pistons. The model consists of the piston, piston pin, piston ring, bushing, cylinder liner and connecting rod. The oil film and contact pressure are considered in the contact surfaces between the piston and piston pin, the piston pin and bush, and the piston skirt and cylinder liner. A self-compiled code, which considers the factors of the piston skirt profile and ellipticity, is applied to calculate the initial clearance at the oil film surfaces between the piston and piston pin, the piston pin and bush, and the piston skirt and cylinder liner. The dynamic loads of the piston and connecting rod under the peak torque and peak power cases are calculated using powertrain commercial software, which are then used to carry out the stress and fatigue analyses. Compared with those published in literature, the present model is able to simulate the actual working conditions of the piston more accurately. The model can be used to evaluate and assess the piston skirt pressure, the stress and fatigue life of the concerned areas of the piston. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key message: Imputing genotypes from the 90K SNP chip to exome sequence in wheat was moderately accurate. We investigated the factors that affect imputation and propose several strategies to improve accuracy. Abstract: Imputing genetic marker genotypes from low to high density has been proposed as a cost-effective strategy to increase the power of downstream analyses (e.g. genome-wide association studies and genomic prediction) for a given budget. However, imputation is often imperfect and its accuracy depends on several factors. Here, we investigate the effects of reference population selection algorithms, marker density and imputation algorithms (Beagle4 and FImpute) on the accuracy of imputation from low SNP density (9K array) to the Infinium 90K single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array for a collection of 837 hexaploid wheat Watkins landrace accessions. Based on these results, we then used the best performing reference selection and imputation algorithms to investigate imputation from 90K to exome sequence for a collection of 246 globally diverse wheat accessions. Accession-to-nearest-entry and genomic relationship-based methods were the best performing selection algorithms, and FImpute resulted in higher accuracy and was more efficient than Beagle4. The accuracy of imputing exome capture SNPs was comparable to imputing from 9 to 90K at approximately 0.71. This relatively low imputation accuracy is in part due to inconsistency between 90K and exome sequence formats. We also found the accuracy of imputation could be substantially improved to 0.82 when choosing an equivalent number of exome SNP, instead of 90K SNPs on the existing array, as the lower density set. We present a number of recommendations to increase the accuracy of exome imputation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key message : Heuristic genomic inbreeding controls reduce inbreeding in genomic breeding schemes without reducing genetic gain. Abstract: Genomic selection is increasingly being implemented in plant breeding programs to accelerate genetic gain of economically important traits. However, it may cause significant loss of genetic diversity when compared with traditional schemes using phenotypic selection. We propose heuristic strategies to control the rate of inbreeding in outbred plants, which can be categorised into three types: controls during mate allocation, during selection, and simultaneous selection and mate allocation. The proposed mate allocation measure GminF allocates two or more parents for mating in mating groups that minimise coancestry using a genomic relationship matrix. Two types of relationship-adjusted genomic breeding values for parent selection candidates ( $${{\widetilde{\text{GEBV}}}_{\text{P}}}$$ ) and potential offspring ( $${{\widetilde{\text{GEBV}}}_{\text{O}}}$$ ) are devised to control inbreeding during selection and even enabling simultaneous selection and mate allocation. These strategies were tested in a case study using a simulated perennial ryegrass breeding scheme. As compared to the genomic selection scheme without controls, all proposed strategies could significantly decrease inbreeding while achieving comparable genetic gain. In particular, the scenario using $${{\widetilde{\text{GEBV}}}_{\text{O}}}$$ in simultaneous selection and mate allocation reduced inbreeding to one-third of the original genomic selection scheme. The proposed strategies are readily applicable in any outbred plant breeding program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of novel hyperbranched polymers (HBPs) consisting of a 2,7-subsituted 9-(heptadecan-9-yl)-9 H-carbazole unit (A+A') and a tetra-substituted green thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) dye of 2,3,5,6-tetra(9 H-carbazol-9-yl)-4-pyridinecarbonitrile (4CzCNPy, B4) have been synthesized via Suzuki cross-coupling reaction following an 'A+A'+B' method. The polymers are named according to the polymerization ratio of 4CzCNPy monomer (5 mol%, 10 mol% and 15 mol% for HBPs of P2−P4 respectively, and 0 mol% for the control linear polymer P1). Their thermal, optoelectronic and electrochemical properties have been characterized by a combination of techniques. All the polymers exhibit high thermal stability with the decomposition temperatures ( T ) above 400 °C and glass transition temperatures ( T ) up to 98 °C. Unfortunately, the incorporation of TADF moiety into these HBP materials induced non-TADF characteristics. However, when the HBPs functionalized as the host for our previously developed 4CzCNPy TADF dopant in solution processed devices, maximum external quantum efficiency of 5.7% and current efficiency of 17.9 cd/A have been achieved in P3-based device, which is significantly higher than those of 1.5% and 4.2 cd/A for the linear polymer P1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Donor-acceptor (D-A) type fully conjugated block copolymer systems have been rarely reported due to the challenges in synthetic approaches to prepare well-defined low-polydispersity products. In this work, fully conjugated block copolymers are synthesized in a one-pot reaction through Stille coupling polycondensation, by utilizing the end-functional polymer copolymerization method. End-functional P3HT are copolymerized with AA (2,7-dibromo-9-(heptadecan-9-yl)-9 H-carbazole) and BB (4,7-bis(5-(trimethylstannyl)thiophen-2-yl)benzo[c][1,2,5]thiadiazole, TBT) type monomers, respectively. The orthogonal solubility between the very soluble P3HT donor and the insoluble PCDTBT acceptor block improves the purity of block copolymers as well as distinct nano-scale phase-separation compared with other reports on miscibility of donor and acceptor polymer block. Further purification via preparative GPC is carried out to remove the excess of unreacted P3HT and free PCDTBT as well as to achieve low polydispersity of block copolymers. The chemical structure of the P3HT- b-PCDTBT block copolymers are verified via H-NMR, and further confirmed by FTIR spectra. The block copolymer shows broad absorption and moderate optical band gap of 1.8 eV. Furthermore, the fully conjugated block copolymer films exhibit significant fine structures, much smoother film morphology compared to P3HT/PCDTBT polymer blends. By adding a small amount of block copolymer P3HT- b-PCDTBT as a compatibilizer into the bulk-heterojunction of P3HT:PCBM blends, polymer solar cells with an 8% increase of short circuit current ( J and 10% increase of power conversion efficiency (PCE) are achieved owing to the improvement of the active-layer film morphology. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on donor-acceptor type fully conjugated block copolymer as an effective ternary additive in polymer: fullerene bulk heterojunction solar cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The prolyl isomerase Pin1, which is frequently highly expressed in many different cancers, can directly regulate cell proliferation and the cell cycle. However, the role of Pin1 in chemo-resistance remains to be elucidated in cervical cancer. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the role of Pin1 in the chemo-resistance of cervical cancer. The cisplatin resistance was assessed using the MTT assay. Pin1, FoxM1, β-catenin, Cyclin D1, and c-myc expression levels were detected by RT-qPCR or Western blot. The results showed that Pin1 expression displayed a similar expression pattern with the resistance to cisplatin in five cervical cell lines. Knockdown of Pin1 significantly increased the sensitivity to cisplatin in HeLa cells, while Pin1 overexpression decreased the sensitivity to cisplatin in Me180 cells. Knockdown of Pin1 significantly down-regulated FoxM1 expression in HeLa cells, while Pin1 overexpression showed a contrary effect in Me180 cells. Besides, overexpression of Pin1 markedly increased the protein expression of β-catenin and its target genes cyclin D1 and c-myc. FoxM1 siRNA remarkably reversed the promotory effect of pcDNA-Pin1(+) on β-catenin and its target genes cyclin D1 and c-myc in Me180 cells. Furthermore, we also found that FoxM1 siRNA and IWP-2 markedly decreased cell viability, and IWP-2 decreased cell viability to the maximum extent in the Me180 cells co-transfected with pcDNA-Pin1(+) and FoxM1 siRNA. Taken together, these data suggest that Pin1 contributes to cisplatin resistance, partly by up-regulating FoxM1 and Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway involved in cervical cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A carbon ionic liquid electrode ( CILE) was constructed by using ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-meth-ylimidazolium dihydrogen phosphate, ( BMIM) H PO, as modifier and further employed as a novel working electrode for the determination of guanosine-5′-monophosphate ( GMP). The study of electrochemical behavior of GMP on the CILE showed a single well-defined irreversible oxidation peak on the cyclic voltammogram. Under the selected conditions the oxidation peak current was proportional to GMP concentration in the range from 5.0 to 1000 μM with the limit of detection of 1.3 μM (3σ) by differential pulse voltammetry. The proposed method showed good selectivity to the GMP detection without the interferences of coexisting substances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a carbon ionic liquid electrode (CILE) was fabricated using ionic liquid 1-hexylpyridinium hexafluorophosphate as modifier, which was further in situ electrodeposited with graphene (GR) and gold nanoparticles step by step to get an Au/GR nanocomposite modified CILE. Myoglobin (Mb) was further immobilized on the Au/GR/CILE surface with Nafion film to get the modified electrode denoted as Nafion/Mb/Au/GR/CILE. Cyclic voltammetric experiments indicated that a pair of well-defined quasi-reversible redox peaks appeared in pH 3.0 phosphate buffer solution with the formal potential ( E) located at −0.197 V (vs. saturated calomel electrode), which was the typical characteristics of Mb heme Fe(III)/Fe(II) redox couples. Thus, the direct electron transfer rate between Mb and the modified electrode was promoted due to the high conductivity and increased surface area of Au/GR nanocomposite present on electrode surface. Based on the cyclic voltammetric data, the electrochemical parameters of Mb on the modified electrode were calculated. The Mb-modified electrode showed excellent electrocatalytic activities towards the reduction of trichloroacetic acid and HO with wider linear range and lower detection limit. Using GR and Au nanoparticles modified CILE, a new third-generation electrochemical Mb biosensor was constructed with good stability and reproducibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We experimentally study the wavelength dependence of light propagation in a water suspension of lithium niobate microcrystalline particles. First, the ballistic transmission in the visible range of the suspension is measured. The nonlinear relationship is observed between the transport mean free path and the wavelength of the incident light. Secondly, we measure the coherent backscattering (CBS) of the sample at different wavelengths. The full width at half maximum of the CBS cone at 532 nm is about 1.24 times as large as that at 671 nm. The results indicate that the light with a long wavelength propagates further than the short wavelength light and the localization state of the short one is stronger. Finally, we investigate the light-controllable CBS experiments in the disordered materials of anisotropic scatterers, which show that the configuration of pump light with the longer wavelength and the probe light with the shorter wavelength performs better. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a support vector machine-based fuzzy rules acquisition system (SVM-FRAS). The character of SVM in extracting support vector provides a mechanism to extract fuzzy If-Then rules from the training data set. We construct the fuzzy inference system using fuzzy basis function (FBF). The gradient technique is used to tune the fuzzy rules and the inference system. Theoretical analysis and comparative tests are performed comparing with other fuzzy systems. Experimental results show the SVM-FRAS model possesses good generalization capability as well as high comprehensibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A closed form solution to the problem of segmenting multiple 3D motion models was proposed from straight-line optical flow. It introduced the multibody line optical flow constraint (MLOFC), a polynomial equation relating motion models and line parameters. The motion models can be obtained analytically as the derivative of the MLOFC at the corresponding line measurement, without knowing the motion model associated with that line. Experiments on real and synthetic sequences were also presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the contents of 16 trace elements in the strata of the Chagelebulu Stratigraphic Section, Badain Jaran Desert, since 150 kyr B.P. and discovered that both the contents of the relatively stable elements, such as P, Mn, Zr, Cr, Pb, Rb, Nb, Y, and the relatively active elements, such as V, Sr, Ni, Cu, Zn, As fluctuated with the sedimentary cycles composed of 25 aeolian dune sands, loess, paleosols, lacustrine facies, alluvial, and colluvial sandy gravels, showing 25 cycles of low-high variation and a fluctuant jagged graph of chemical elements’ migration and accumulation. The lower contents of the elements in the aeolian sands show the erosion, migration and deposition of wind power in a cold and arid climate. The relative accumulation of sandy-gravel layers, especially the lacustrine facies, loess, and paleosols correlates with the section’s position in the special depression relief with a background of warm and humid climate. The above-mentioned variational characteristics were mainly caused by 25 cycles of arid-cold, windy, and warm-humid climatic fluctuation on the southern fringe of the Badain Jaran Desert since 150 kyr B.P. The essential reason bears a relationship with the back and force swing of the East Asia winter monsoon and summer monsoon influenced by climatic vicissitudes during the glacial and interglacial periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We aimed to provide evidence for radiotherapy treatment regimens in patients with clinically recurrent ovarian cancer. We analyzed the survival and prognostic factors in 43 patients who were treated for recurrent ovarian cancer at 58 tumor sites using three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3D-CRT) or intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) during January 2006–December 2017. t years 1, 2, and 3, overall survival (OS) rate was 82.4%, 68.4%, and 57.9%; local control (LC) rate was 100%, 100% and 80%; recurrence free survival (RFS) rate was 86.8%, 66.6%, and 61.1%; and disease-free survival (DFS) rate was 79.7%, 56.7%, and 46.8%, respectively. The radiotherapy technique was determined to be an independent prognostic factor for survival; the survival rate of patients was significantly improved with IMRT compared to 3D-CRT (P = 0.035). Radiotherapy dose was an independent prognostic factor; survival rate improved when patients were treated with a radiation dose ≥ 60 Gy as compared to < 60 Gy (P = 0.046). Elective nodal prophylactic radiation therapy (ENRT) did not lead to a significant improvement in survival when compared to involved-field radiation therapy (IFRT). The toxicities of 3D-CRT and IMRT were tolerable. One patient (2.3%) had grade 3 acute gastrointestinal (GI) toxicity, 2 (4.6%) grade 3 late GI toxicity, 5 (11.6%) grade 3 hematological toxicity, and 2 (4.6%) had grade 4 hematological toxicity. IMRT improved LC and OS in patients with recurrent ovarian cancer after surgery and multiple chemotherapy; toxicities were tolerable. The IMRT technique and radiotherapy dose of ≥ 60 Gy had independent prognostic significance for the survival of such patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

H1.4 is one of the 11 variants of linker histone H1, and is associated with tumorigenesis and development of various cancers. However, it is unclear for the role of histone H1.4 in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In this study, we found that overexpression of H1.4 significantly inhibited the cell viability, migration, invasion and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) processes, whereas silencing H1.4 by shRNA knockdown promoted these processes in NSCLC cell lines A549 and H1299. We further showed that H1.4 overexpression reduced ERK1/2 expression or its phosphorylation levels, while H1.4 knockdown increased ERK1/2 expression or phosphorylation levels in NSCLC. Furthermore, we demonstrated that H1.4 bound to the promoter of ERK1/2, and acted as a transcriptional suppressor to inhibit ERK1/2 expression in A549 or H1299 cells. Importantly, we found that ERK ecto-expression can largely recovered the inhibitory effects of H1.4 on cell viability, migration, invasion and EMT processes. In summary, our study reveals that the H1.4-ERK pathway is crucial for cell viability, migration, invasion and EMT of NSCLC and could be a therapeutic target for NSCLC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To evaluate the rate and magnitude of change in surgical practice for breast cancer in Canada in relation to publication dates of clinical trials and consensus conferences., Methods: Hospital separations with a diagnosis of invasive breast cancer were extracted from the Hospital Morbidity File from 1981 to 2000. Age-standardized rates of in-patient procedures for breast-conserving surgery and mastectomy were analyzed by province and age group and by geographic region., Results: In Canada, mastectomy rates decreased from 62.2 to 37.9 per 100,000 between 1981 and 2000; declines were largest between 1984 and 1985, following publication of the NSABP B-06 clinical trial in March 1985, and between 1991 and 1993, after the US NIH Consensus Conference in February 1991. Mastectomy rates plateaued between 1985 and 1991, and from 1993 to 2000; the transitory peak in 1988 corresponded to publicity surrounding Nancy Reagan's choice of mastectomy in 1987. Regional variations from the main pattern led to increasingly divergent mastectomy rates over time. Women aged 80+ were less likely to be treated by any surgery., Interpretation: Publication of clinical trial results and consensus conferences were associated with changes in surgical treatment for breast cancer in Canada. However, divergent mastectomy rates among Canadian regions point to inconsistent adoption of less invasive therapy despite a publicly-funded health care system and national consensus guidelines.