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Disruption of the blood-spinal cord barrier (BSCB) is a critical event in the secondary injury following spinal cord injury (SCI). Mertk has been reported to play an important role in regulating inflammation and cytoskeletal dynamics. However, the specific involvement of Mertk in BSCB remains elusive. Here, we demonstrated a distinct role of Mertk in the repair of BSCB. Mertk expression is decreased in endothelial cells following SCI. Overexpression of Mertk upregulated tight junction proteins (TJs), reducing BSCB permeability and subsequently inhibiting inflammation and apoptosis. Ultimately, this led to enhanced neural regeneration and functional recovery. Further experiments revealed that the RhoA/Rock1/P-MLC pathway plays a key role in the effects of Mertk. These findings highlight the role of Mertk in promoting SCI recovery through its ability to mitigate BSCB permeability and may provide potential targets for SCI repair. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The particulate Pt/TiO2 catalyst was prepared by coprecipitation method for efficient catalytic combustion of toluene. The physicochemical properties of the as-prepared samples were explored by techniques including XRD, BET, XPS, and HRTEM. It was found that the reduction treatment not only introduced Ti3+ and a large amount of oxygen vacancies in the catalyst, but also produced Pt0. The catalytic activity is strongly affected by the synergistic effect of oxygen vacancies and platinum clusters within the sample, which also makes the catalyst's catalytic activity for toluene oxidation much higher than that of the unreduced catalyst. With respect to the catalytic decomposition of toluene, the Pt/TiO2 catalyst with proper oxygen vacancies shows excellent catalytic performance with 100% conversion under the conditions of 220°C, space velocity of 13 000 h–1. Even after 1800 min of continuous reaction at 250°C, the toluene removal rate is up to 100%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CuCoOx was prepared by in situ pyrolysis of Cu2+ partially substituted MOF-74 precursor with Co-MOF as a template for catalytic oxidation of toluene. T90 (the temperature corresponding conversion of 90%) was only 212°C, at 1000 ppm toluene and weight hourly space velocity (WHSV) of 36 000 mL g–1 h–1. In addition, the conversion was maintained above 97% for 74 h of continuous reaction at 260°C. Even if after 2400 ppm 1,2-dichloroethane (1,2-DCE) poisoning for 2 h, the toluene conversion was still up to 93%, demonstrating excellent stability and resistance to deactivation of catalyst. Furthermore, The high activity and stability of CuCoOx could be attributed to the large specific surface area as well as the high Co2+/Co3+, Cu2+/Cu+, and Olatt/Oads molar ratios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Covert communication has been widely investigated to avoid the transmission behavior being overheard by the warder. However, covert communication may be illegitimately utilized by unauthorized parties to evade the supervision of authorized agencies, which leads to great challenges to information security. To meet the need for authorized parties to monitor and prevent illegitimate transmission between unauthorized nodes, a novel paradigm, called legitimate monitor, is proposed for counter covert communications. In the preceding covert communication system, the covert transmission rate is the focus. Differently, the core concern of the legitimate monitor system is the outage probability of the transmission between unauthorized nodes, which should be maximized to interrupt the potential but undetectable transmission. To achieve these goals effectively, a proactive guarding approach is proposed, where the authorized warder detects the transmission behavior and emits jamming signals to interfere with the potential transmission, simultaneously. In particular, the jamming power at the warder is optimized under cases where the instantaneous/statistical channel state information is available. Besides, the corresponding outage probability is derived to evaluate the system performance, which can also be simplified to scenarios with a passive warder. Numerical results demonstrate that proactive guarding outperforms the passive one, especially when the warder is not proximal to the unauthorized transmitter. In addition, the proposed jamming power allocation scheme also outperforms other benchmark schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

UWB positioning can be modeled as an optimization problem for a fitness function, which is resolved through the conventional whale optimization algorithm. The fitness function used in the conventional whale positioning algorithm does not use the range measurement data between labels, and the range measurement data is incomplete, which leads to a limited improvement in its positioning accuracy. Consequently, a novel whale cooperative positioning algorithm that can increase positioning accuracy is presented in this paper. First, a fitness function is established during the positioning process that contains the range measurement data between the labels to improve positioning accuracy. Then, the conventional whale positioning method provides a good initial position for the labels, enabling the proposed algorithm to quickly search for the optimal position. Finally, Levy flight mode is adopted to prevent the positioning result from converging to the local optimal solution. According to simulation results, the proposed algorithm can provide better positioning accuracy than the conventional whale positioning algorithm while realizing simultaneous positioning of all the labels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bone tissue renewal can be enhanced through co-transplantation of bone mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) and vascular endothelial cells (ECs). However, there are apparent limitations in stem cell-based therapy which hinder its clinic translation. Hence, we investigated the potential of alternative stem cell substitutes for facilitating bone regeneration. In this study, we successfully prepared cell membrane vesicles (CMVs) from BMSCs and ECs. The results showed that BMSC-derived cell membrane vesicles (BMSC-CMVs) possessed membrane receptors involved in juxtacrine signaling and growth factors derived from their parental cells. EC-derived cell membrane vesicles (EC-CMVs) also contained BMP2 and VEGF derived from their parental cells. BMSC-CMVs enhanced tube formation and migration ability of hUVECs, while EC-CMVs promoted the osteogenic differentiation of hBMSCs in vitro. Using a rat skull defect model, we found that co-transplantation of BMSC-CMVs and EC-CMVs could stimulate angiogenesis and bone formation in vivo. Therefore, our research might provide an innovative and feasible approach for cell-free therapy in bone tissue regeneration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) are commonly used for gastric acid-related disorders, but their safety profile and risk stratification for high-burden diseases need further investigation. Analyzing over 2 million participants from five prospective cohorts from the US, the UK, and China, we found that PPI use correlated with increased risk of 15 leading global diseases, such as ischemic heart disease, diabetes, respiratory infections, and chronic kidney disease. These associations showed dose-response relationships and consistency across different PPI types. PPI-related absolute risks increased with baseline risks, with approximately 82% of cases occurring in those at the upper 40% of the baseline predicted risk, and only 11.5% of cases occurring in individuals at the lower 50% of the baseline risk. While statistical association does not necessarily imply causation, its potential safety concerns suggest that personalized use of PPIs through risk stratification might guide appropriate decision-making for patients, clinicians, and the public.The safety profile of proton pump inhibitor (PPI) use remains controversial. Here, the authors show that PPI use is associated with an increased risk of 15 leading global diseases, with absolute risks increasing with baseline risks, highlighting the need for personalized PPI use strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ticket automation plays a crucial role in ensuring the normal operation of IT software systems. One of the key tasks of ticket automation is to assign experts to resolve incoming tickets. However, when facing a large number of tickets, inappropriate expert assignments can result in frequent ticket transfers between experts, leading to time delays and wasted resources. Therefore, it is essential to find an appropriate expert efficiently and effectively with minimal steps. To address this challenge, we propose a sequence-to-sequence-based translation model that is combined with a recurrent recommendation network to recommend suitable experts for tickets. The sequence-to-sequence model transforms the ticket description into the corresponding resolution for capturing the potential and useful features of representing tickets. The recurrent recommendation network recommends the appropriate expert based on the assumption that the previous expert in the recommendation sequence cannot solve the ticket. To evaluate the performance of our proposed model, we conducted experiments on two real-world datasets and compared SSR-TA with several baselines. The experimental results demonstrate that our proposed model outperforms the baselines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hydrolysis-driven redox co-precipitation method was employed to initiate the reduction of KMnO4 by H2O2, facilitated by the generation of H+ through the hydrolysis of cobalt salts. This controlled redox kinetics resulted in the formation of a Co–Mn solid solution catalyst, which exhibited high efficiency in the catalytic oxidation of toluene. T90 (the reaction temperature corresponding to a conversion of 90%) was only 214°C, at toluene concentration of 1000 ppm and weight hourly space velocity (WHSV) of 36 000 mL g–1 h–1. Moreover, the conversion of toluene was still more than 98% with a continuous reaction of 77 h at 260°C. Additionally, the conversion of toluene remained above 98% even after 4 h of 1,2-dichloroethane poisoning reaction at 260°C, indicating that the Co1Mn2 catalyst exhibited both high activity and resistance to toxicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A highly active MnO2 catalyst with mixed crystal forms for the catalytic combustion of ethyl acetate was successfully prepared. The characterization results showed that increasing the hydrothermal temperature promotes the transformation of MnO2 from α phase to β phase, and the microscopic morphology gradually evolves from stacked granular to rod-like structure, thereby obtaining biphasic mesoporous MnO2. In particular, the lattice fringes of α and β phases observed in HRTEM further proved that MnO2 possesses a dual-phase structure. XPS verified that MnO2–180°C has the highest Oads/Olatt (0.45) and Mn3+/Mn4+ (0.90) ratio, and as oxygen vacancies appear together with the formation of Mn3+ ions. The MnO2–180°C catalyst displayed the best performance that T99 (the temperature needed for 99% conversion) is as low as 170°C even though under the high space velocity of 68 000 mL g–1 h–1. Furthermore, the catalytic activity remained unchanged after 24 h of continuous reaction, demonstrating excellent low-temperature catalytic performance and good stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The traditional grey wolf (GW) positioning algorithm enjoys a good positioning effect, but its improvement of localization accuracy is limited due to the lack of ranging information between the labels. This paper presents a novel GW cooperative positioning algorithm that can improve the localization accuracy. Firstly, a new notion of fitness is established which takes the ranging information between the labels into account. Then the ranging information from the label to the base station is used to acquire a good initial location of the label, based on the traditional GW positioning algorithm. Finally, the entire ranging information and the acquired initial location are employed to obtain a precise positioning. Simulation results demonstrate that when compared to the traditional GW positioning algorithm, the positioning accuracy of the proposed algorithm shows different improvement effects under different conditions, but the improvement degree is more than 34%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the conventional differential evolution (DE) localization algorithm provides reasonable localization results, its improvement in localization performance is limited. Considering the distance information between the tags being an effective way to improve localization performance, this paper proposes a novel cooperative DE-based localization algorithm by presenting the localization process and the fitness function, which contains the distance information between the tags. Specifically, our method first utilizes the conventional DE algorithm to provide the initial values of the tags. Then, according to the initial values, the distance information between the tags is fully utilized to improve the localization performance. The simulation results demonstrate our algorithm's effectiveness in improving the localization performance and simultaneously realizing the localization of all tags. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SarA is a global transcription regulator in S. aureus which regulates the expression of over 120 genes related to quorum sensing, biofilm synthesis, drug resistance and many other important physiological processes during host infection. SarA can bind to the promoter region of agr and other target genes to activate or repress the transcription. The crystal structure of SarA uncovered a MarR protein-like conformation with two symmetrical winged helix domains, while its DNA binding mechanism is still unknown. We have constructed a monomeric DNA binding domain of SarA (SarAΔN19) for the study of the interaction between SarA and DNA with NMR spectroscopy. Here, we report the 1H, 13C and 15N NMR assignment of SarAΔN19/DNA complex which is the first step towards further structure and function analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus plays important roles in marine benthic ecosystem as environmental cleaners, and it is the important aquaculture species in China. High water temperature poses critical threat for the survival of A. japonicus, which has resulted in extensive death in summer. To explore the genes expression profiles under different levels of heat stress, the high-throughput RNA-seq was applied in this study. Our results revealed a total of 1 371, 1 225 and 1 408 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in 26°C for 6 h, 26°C for 48 h and 30°C for 6 h respectively in comparison with Control group. The pathway analysis suggested "Protein processing in endoplasmic reticulum (ER)" was significantly enriched in all these heat stress (HS) treatment groups. The expression results of key DEGs in this pathway (Hsp70, Derlin, NEF, PDI, GPR94 and ERP57) by qRT-PCR was in accordance with the RNA-seq data. The subcluster analysis of DEGs revealed that a variety of heat shock proteins (HSPs) and calcium ion binding proteins had an obvious up-regulated expression in 26°C for 6 h, comparatively low expression in 26°C for 48 h, and the highest expression in 30°C for 6 h. The other DEGs subcluster, consisting of critical components of extracellular matrix (ECM) and a subset of peptidases and proteases, showed significantly rising tendency in 30°C for 6 h. Additionally, the expression of matrix metalloproteases (MMP1, MMP16 and MMP19) was prominently affected by HS, and peaked in 30°C for 6 h. This study provides a series of candidate genes for further study about heat shock response in A. japonicus, especially genes associated with protein processing in ER and regulation of ECM, which also offers new insights into cellular homeostasis under stressful conditions in marine invertebrates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ler is a master regulator for the gene regulation of the locus of enterocyte effacement (LEE) pathogenicity island (PAI), which could activate the transcription of LEE2 to LEE5 by counteracting the repression of H-NS. Ler contains an N-terminal oligomerization domain, a linker region, and a C-terminal DNA binding domain. However, the DNA binding mechanism of Ler remains unclear. Here, we report the 1H, 13C, and 15N NMR assignments of LerCTD/3A3T-DNA complex. We have achieved 97.8% completeness for the backbone and side-chain resonance assignments of LerCTD in the complex, excluding 13C′ resonances. In addition, about 91.5% of the 1H resonances of 3A3T-DNA have been assigned. Our near complete assignments of this complex will significantly advance the parsing of the intermolecular NOE signals between Ler CTD and 3A3T-DNA. Therefore, our NMR assignments formed a good basis for further DNA binding mechanism studies of Ler. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cup-to-disc ratio (CDR) is one of the most significant indicator for glaucoma diagnosis. Different from the use of costly fully supervised learning formulation with pixel-wise annotations in the literature, this study investigates the feasibility of accurate CDR measurement in fundus images using only tight bounding box supervision. For this purpose, we develop a two-task network named as CDRNet for accurate CDR measurement, one for weakly supervised image segmentation, and the other for bounding-box regression. The weakly supervised image segmentation task is implemented based on generalized multiple instance learning formulation and smooth maximum approximation, and the bounding-box regression task outputs class-specific bounding box prediction in a single scale at the original image resolution. To get accurate bounding box prediction, a class-specific bounding-box normalizer and an expected intersection-over-union are proposed. In the experiments, the proposed approach was evaluated by a testing set with 1200 images using CDR error and F1 score for CDR measurement and dice coefficient for image segmentation. A grader study was conducted to compare the performance of the proposed approach with those of individual graders. The experimental results show that the proposed approach achieves CDR error of 0.0458 and F1 score of 0.917 in CDR measurement and dice coefficients of 0.882 and 0.950 in optic cup and disc segmentation, respectively. These results indicate that the proposed approach outperforms the state-of-the-art performance obtained from the fully supervised image segmentation (FSIS) approach using pixel-wise annotation for CDR measurement. Its performance is also better than those of individual graders. In addition, the proposed approach gets performance close to the state-of-the-art obtained from FSIS and the performance of individual graders for optic cup and disc segmentation. The codes are available at https://github.com/wangjuan313/CDRNet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A high localization precision is obtained by the traditional chicken swarm optimization (CSO) localization algorithms that have a good convergence and simple calculation operations. However, the ranging data between the location tags is underutilized, which results in a limited improvement of the localization precision. In order to enhance the localization precision, a novel CSO cooperative localization algorithm is proposed, and an objective function containing the ranging data between the location tags is developed. During the positioning procedure, conventional CSO positioning method uses the ranging data between the base station and the location tag to provide the initial location. On the basis of this initial location, the ranging data between the location tags is then applied for precise positioning. The simulation outcomes indicate that the novel algorithm could enhance efficiently the localization performance, and complete the synchronous positioning of all the location tags, compared to the conventional CSO algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Refrigerator insulation replacement results in discarding a large amount of waste refrigerator polyurethane (WRPU). Insect larvae like mealworms have been used to biodegrade pristine plastics. However, knowledge about mealworms degrading WRPU is scarce. This study presents an in-depth investigation of the degradation of WRPU by mealworms using the micro-morphology, composition, and functional groups of WRPU and the egested frass characteristics. It was found that the WRPU debris in frass was scoured, implying that WRPU was ingested and degraded by mealworms. The carbon content of WRPU-based frass was lower than that of WRPU, indicating that mealworms utilized WRPU as a carbon source. The urethane groups in WRPU were broken, and benzene rings’ C=C and C-H bonds in the isocyanate disappeared after being ingested by mealworms. Thermal gravimetric-differential thermal gravimetry analysis showed that the weight loss temperature of WRPU-based frass was 300 °C lower than that of WRPU, indicating that the thermal stability of WRPU deteriorated after being ingested. The carbon balance analysis confirmed that carbon in the ingested WRPU released as CO2 increased from 18.84 % to 29.80 %, suggesting that WRPU was partially mineralized. The carbon in the mealworm biomass ingesting WRPU decreased. The possible reason is that WRPU does not supply sufficient nutrients for mealworm growth, and the impurities and odor present in WRPU affect the appetite of the mealworms. The microbial community analysis indicated that WRPU exerts a considerable effect on the gut microorganism of mealworms. These findings confirm that mealworms degrade WRPU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The whole liver transplantation is the most effective treatment for end-stage fibrosis. However, the lack of available donors, immune rejection and total cost of surgery remain as the key challenges in advancing liver fibrosis therapeutics. Due to the multi-differentiation and low immunogenicity of stem cells, treatment of liver fibrosis with stem cells has been considered as a valuable new therapeutic modality. The pathological progression of liver fibrosis is closely related to the changes in the activities of intrahepatic cells. Damaged hepatocytes, activated Kupffer cells and other inflammatory cells lead to hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) activation, further promoting apoptosis of damaged hepatocytes, while stem cells can work on fibrosis-related intrahepatic cells through relevant transduction pathways. Herein, this article elucidates the phenomena and the mechanisms of the crosstalk between various types of stem cells and intrahepatic cells including HSCs and hepatocytes in the treatment of liver fibrosis. Then, the important influences of chemical compositions, mechanical properties and blood flow on liver fibrosis models with stem cell treatment are emphasized. Clinical trials on stem cell-based therapy for liver fibrosis are also briefly summarized. Finally, continuing challenges and future directions of stem cell-based therapy for hepatic fibrosis are discussed. In short, stem cells play an important advantage and have a great potential in treating liver fibrosis by interacting with intrahepatic cells. Clarifying how stem cells interact with intrahepatic cells to change the progression of liver fibrosis is of great significance for a deeper understanding of liver fibrosis mechanisms and targeted therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Panonychus citri, a major citrus pest. In pest management, bifenazate is a novel acaricide with high biological activity against red mites, such as Tetranychus urticae Koch. However, in the field, pests are frequently exposed to sublethal or lethal concentrations of pesticides. At present, its sublethal effects on P. citri have not been reported. Therefore, in order to investigate sublethal effect of bifenazate on biological traits and enzymatic properties of P. citri. The newly emerged females were treated with two concentrations of bifenazate: LC10 and LC30, the development and fecundity were observed. The results showed that female adult duration, fecundity, oviposition days, longevity were decrease compared with control, but pre-oviposition period was longer, net reproductive rate (R0), mean generation (T) were decreased, intrinsic rate of increase (rm), finite rate (λ) were decreased in LC30, however, doubling time was increased. Enzymatic tests showed that CAT, POD, CarE activities were higher in treatments than control. The SOD and GST activities were lower in LC30 than control and LC10, the CYP450 activity was decreased with the increasing concentrations. This study demonstrated that low lethal concentrations of bifenazate adversely affected life table parameters, enzymatic properties in P. citri. Therefore, bifenazate has the potential to control this pest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study was undertaken to study the function of miRNA-199-3p in the regulation of human lung cancer growth and metastasis. The results showed significant (P < 0.05) downregulation of miRNA-199-3p in lung cancer tissues and cell lines. Overexpression of miR-197 caused considerable inhibition of the viability and colony formation of the lung cancer cells. The inhibition of proliferation was found to be due to the arrest of the SK-LU-1 lung cancer cells. At the G2/M phase of the cell cycle. In silico analysis and subsequent the dual-luciferase assays showed that miR-199-3p targets Sp1 at molecular. The expression of Sp1 was significantly (P < 0.05) upregulated in lung cancer cells and tissues. Nonetheless, miR-199-3p overexpression could cause post-transcriptional suppression of Sp1. Silencing of Sp1suppress the proliferation of SK-LU-1 lung cancer cells. However, overexpression Sp1 transcription factor prevents the tumor-suppressive effects of miR-199-3p on lung cancer cells. Additionally, miR-199-3p was found to suppresses the migration, invasion and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition of human lung cancer cells. Summing up, miRNA-199-3p/SP1 axis controls the growth and metastasis of SK-LU-1 lung cancer cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A newly developed frosting simulation method, p-VOF method, is applied to simulate the dynamic frost formation on the NACA0012 airfoil under strong convection. The p-VOF method is a pseudo VOF method of the multiphase flow simulation with phase change. By solving a simplified mass conservation equation explicitly instead of the original volume fraction equations in CFD software, the efficiency and robustness of calculation are greatly improved. This progress makes it possible to predict a long-time frost formation. The p-VOF method was successfully applied to the simulation of dynamic frosting on the two-dimensional NACA0012 airfoil under strong convection conditions with constant frost physical properties. The simulation result shows that the average thickness of the frost layer increases, and the frost bulges and flow separation appear earlier, when the airfoil surface temperature decreases or the air humidity increases. The frost bulges and flow separation appear earlier, when the air velocity is faster, the growth rate of the frost layer at the early stage is greater, but the final frost layer is thinner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of insects is critically affected by temperature, which therefore plays an important role in the control of stored grain pests. Extreme temperature stress conditions lead to biological responses in mites, such as the synthesis of heat shock proteins. Tyrophagus putrescentiae (Tp) is a pest mite in stored grain that has negative effects on both economy and health. Since T. putrescentiae population dynamics are strongly influenced by temperature, in the present study we have cloned the cDNA of HSP70 and HSP90 (referred to as TpHSP70-1, TpHSP70-2 and TpHSP90) and determined their expression by fluorescence real time quantitative PCR. TpHSP70 and TpHSP90 showed high homology with similar genes in other species and the open reading frames of TpHSP70-1, TpHSP70-2 and TpHSP90 encoded proteins of 665, 661 and 718 amino acid residues, respectively. Under thermal stress, expression of TpHsp70-1 and TpHsp90 was up-regulated at higher temperatures, suggesting their role in the defense against thermal stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The purpose of this randomized controlled trial was to compare the 24-month success rates of indirect pulp treatment (IPT) and iRoot BP Plus pulpotomy of primary molars with extremely deep caries. Materials and methods: Generally healthy children aged 3–7 years requiring general anesthesia for treating primary molars with extremely deep caries or reversible pulpitis were recruited. Patients with systemic disease, mental health problems, or manifestations of irreversible pulpitis were excluded. In total, 175 molars were randomized and blinded for either IPT (n = 87) or iRoot BP Plus pulpotomy (n = 88). All teeth were restored with stainless steel crowns and evaluated after 6, 12, 18, and 24 months by two blinded calibrated investigators. Kaplan-Meier survival curves were used to compare the survival rates between the groups. The correlations between success rate and patient characteristics were explored with the Cox proportional hazards model. Results: A total of 168 primary molars in 67 patients (average age: 3.83 years) were evaluated. The cumulative survival probability at 24 months was not significantly different between the IPT (93.8%) and pulpotomy (97.7%) groups (P = 0.238). IPT treatment success was significantly associated with age (odds ratio = 2.347; 95% CI: 1.068–5.156; P = 0.034) and preoperative sensitivity (odds ratio = 9.742; 95% CI: 1.079–87.970; P = 0.043). Conclusions: The 24-month success rates of IPT and iRoot BP Plus pulpotomy performed in primary molars with extremely deep caries were not significantly different. Increasing age and preoperative sensitivity were found to be associated with the cumulative survival probability in IPT-treated primary molars with extremely deep caries. Primary teeth with extremely deep carious lesions without signs of irreversible pulpitis can be treated successfully by either indirect pulp capping or iRoot BP Plus pulpotomy. Trial registration: ChiCTR2000032462 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

System logs that trace system states and record valuable events comprise a significant component of any computer system in our daily life. Each log contains sufficient information (i.e., normal and abnormal instances) that assist administrators in diagnosing and maintaining the operation of systems. If administrators cannot detect and eliminate diverse and complex anomalies (i.e., bugs and failures) efficiently, running workflows and transactions, even systems, would break down. Therefore, the technique of anomaly detection has become increasingly significant and attracted a lot of research attention. However, current approaches concentrate on the anomaly detection analyzing a high-level granularity of logs (i.e., session) instead of detecting log-level anomalies which weakens the efficiency of responding anomalies and the diagnosis of system failures. To overcome the limitation, we propose an LSTM-based generative adversarial network for anomaly detection based on system logs using permutation event modeling named LogGAN, which detects log-level anomalies based on patterns (i.e., combinations of latest logs). On the one hand, the permutation event modeling mitigates the strong sequential characteristics of LSTM for solving the out-of-order problem caused by the arrival delays of logs. On the other hand, the generative adversarial network-based model mitigates the impact of imbalance between normal and abnormal instances to improve the performance of detecting anomalies. To evaluate LogGAN, we conduct extensive experiments on two real-world datasets, and the experimental results show the effectiveness of our proposed approach on the task of log-level anomaly detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional particle swarm optimization (PSO) localization method can achieve good localization accuracy with the advantages of fewer parameters and simpler calculations. However, its localization performance is constrained by the limited ranging information available between the anchor node and the unknown node. Thus, an improved PSO localization method is proposed to further improve the localization performance. Firstly, we use the ranging information between the unknown node and the anchor node to make an initial positioning through the traditional PSO method. Then, based on the initial positioning, all ranging information is employed to calculate a more precise location. Compared with the traditional PSO method, the proposed algorithm can reduce the impact of the ranging error and improve localization performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conventional Cuckoo search (CS) localization method can obtain good positioning results that are highly accurate and robust. However, its positioning performance is constrained by the limited distance information available between the unknown node and the anchor node. In order to further enhance the positioning accuracy of the CS method, an improved CS localization algorithm is proposed that can take advantage of all of the distance information available. In the positioning process, an objective function which contains the distance information among the unknown nodes is given. Firstly, we use this distance information between the anchor node and the unknown node to determine an initial position through the conventional CS method. Then, based on the initial position, all of the distance information available is used to compute a more precise position. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm can enhance the positioning accuracy in comparison with the conventional CS algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The volute tongue, as the crucial component inducing rotor-stator interaction, is detrimental to unsteady pressure pulsations of centrifugal pumps. In the present paper, to investigate the effect of the volute tongue cut on pressure pulsations of a low specific speed centrifugal pump, three volute tongues are obtained through twice cuts, named cases 1, 2, 3. Twenty measuring points are evenly mounted on periphery of the volute casing to obtain unsteady pressure signals using high response transducers. Pressure amplitudes at the blade passing frequency fBPF and root mean square (rms) values in 0 Hz-500 Hz frequency band are applied to evaluate the cutting effect. Results show that pressure spectrum is significantly affected by the volute tongue cut, especially for the component at fBPF. For different measuring points, influences of the volute tongue cut on three cases are not identical. From rms values, it is evident that cutting the volute tongue will lead to pressure energy increasing for most of the concerned measuring points, especially for the points at the far away region from the volute tongue. Finally, from comparison with the original shape case 1, the averaged increment of the twenty points is more than 20%. So it is concluded that for this type centrifugal pump, cutting the volute tongue is not reasonable considering low pressure pulsation requirement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Yushugou granulite-peridotite complex, located at the east part of the northern margin of South Tianshan, may represent an ophiolitic slice subducted to 40–50 km depth with high-pressure granulite facies metamorphism. Although a lot of studies have been conducted on rocks in this belt, the rock association and tectonic background of the ophiolitic slice are still in dispute. A detailed study on petrology, phase equilibrium modeling and U-Pb zircon ages have been performed on the metagabbro vein in peridotite unit to constrain the tectonic evolution of the Yushugou granulite-peridotite complex. Three stages of mineral assemblage in the metagabbro were defined as stage I: CpxA+OpxA+PlA, which represents the original minerals of the metagabbro vein; stage II: CpxB+OpxB+PlB+Spl, which represents the mineral assemblage of granulite facies metamorphism with peak P-T conditions of 4.2–6.9 kbar and 940–1 070 °C; stage III is characterized by the existence of prehnite, thomsonite and amphibole in the matrix, indicating that the metagabbro vein may be influenced by fluids during retrograde metamorphism. Combined with the crosscut relationship, it can be deduced that the metagabbro vein, together with the peridotite in Yushugou granulite-peridotite complex has experienced similar high-temperature granulite facies metamorphism. The zircon chronological data shows that the protolith age of the metagabbro vein is 400.5±6.2 Ma, reflecting Devonian magmatism event and the granulite facies metamorphism occurred at ~270 Ma which may be related to the post-collisional magmatism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a contraction transformation algorithm to plan a complete coverage trajectory for a mobile robot to accomplish specific types of missions based on the Arnold dynamical system. First, we construct a chaotic mobile robot by combining the variable z of the Arnold equation and the kinematic equation of the robot. Second, we construct the candidate sets including the initial points with a relatively high coverage rate of the constructed mobile robot. Then the trajectory is contracted to the current position of the robot based on the designed contraction transformation strategy, to form a continuous complete coverage trajectory to execute the specific types of missions. Compared with the traditional method, the designed algorithm requires no obstacle avoidance to the boundary of the given workplace, possesses a high coverage rate, and keeps the chaotic characteristics of the produced coverage trajectory relatively unchanged, which enables the robot to accomplish special missions with features of completeness, randomness, or unpredictability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem of time series prediction has been well explored in the community of data mining. However, little research attention has been paid to the case of predicting the movement of a collection of related time series data. In this work, we study the problem of simultaneously predicting multiple time series data using joint predictive models. We observe that in real-world applications, strong relationships between different time-sensitive variables are often held, either explicitly predefined or implicitly covered in nature of the application. Such relationships indicate that the prediction on the trajectory of one given time series could be improved by incorporating the properties of other related time series data into predictive models. The key challenge is to capture the temporal dynamics of these relationships to jointly predict multiple time series. In this research, we propose a predictive model for multiple time series forecasting and apply it to the domain of inventory management. The relationships among multiple time series are modeled as a class of constraints, and in turn, refine the predictions on the corresponding time series. Experimental results on real-world data reveal that the proposed algorithms outperform well-established methods of time series forecasting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compositionally and texturally zoned diabase dykes and sills occur in the outer zone of the Emeishan large igneous province (ELIP) in the southern Guizhou Province, Southwest China. Based on the detailed petrology, whole rock geochemistry, zircon U-Pb geochronology and Hf isotopes and clinopyroxene mineral compositions studies, we investigate a representative diabase sill in the Luodian region with a view to understanding its petrogenesis and tectonic implications. Formed as composite zoned sub-volcanic intrusion, the diabase sill is characterized by gabbros and diabases in the inner zone and amygdaloidal diabases sporadically in the chilled zone within the upper sill margin. The diabasic and gabbroic rocks are composed of quartz-free and quartz-bearing groups. The quartz-free group rocks have low SiO2 (45.7 wt.%–49.5 wt.%), moderate MgO (5.66 wt.%–7.88 wt.%), high TiO2 (2.54 wt.%–3.65 wt.%), and Ti/Y values (536–747), corresponding to high-Ti type rocks. The quartz-bearing group rocks have higher SiO2 (49.8 wt.%–51.7 wt.%) and lower MgO (4.23 wt.%–4.74 wt.%), higher TiO2 (3.16 wt.%–3.63 wt.%), but lower Ti/Y values (399–419) than the quartz-free group ones, and thus belong to the low-Ti type. Both groups of rocks are enriched in LREE and LILE with negative Nb-Ta anomalies, and show broad tholeiitic affinity. The precursor magma of the high-Ti rocks might have originated from a source composed of mantle plume and subcontinental lithosphere mantle components, with minor crustal contamination during ascending. The magma of the low-Ti rocks was produced by mingling of the high-Ti diabasic rocks with minor injected intermediate-acidic magma plugs or blebs, suggesting magma mingling as one of the effective ways to change the high-Ti to low-Ti rocks of the ELIP. The diabasic sill underwent a rapid cooling event probably in response to a rapid tectonic uplift event, which probably occurred in the waning stage of ELIP during transition between the Middle and Late Permian after the domal uplift induced by the mantle-plume or in the Late Jurassic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The WhiB4 protein, a member of WhiB-like proteins, plays an important role in the survival and pathology of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). As a transcription factor, WhiB4 regulates the expression of genes involved in maintaining redox homeostasis, central metabolism, and respiration. Furthermore, WhiB4 leads to the condensation of mycobacterial nucleoids and is capable of binding to DNA. WhiB4 contains four cysteine residues and exists in multiple forms under different redox environments, including a dimeric holo form with iron-sulfur cluster, multimeric disulfide-linked oxidized apo forms and monomeric reduced apo form. Here, we report the 1H, 13C, 15N chemical shifts of WhiB4 protein in its reduced apo state, providing a basis for the determination of its solution structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we report newly found strongly retrograded eclogite blocks in the Kekesu Valley, eastern segment of southwestern Tianshan, northwestern China. Based on detailed petrographical studies and mineral chemistry analyses, we constrain P-T evolution of two representative samples via phase equilibrium modeling method using THERMOCALC software. The peak stage is evidenced by the primary inclusions of omphacite+glaucophane+lawsonite (inferred)+chlorite+white mica in garnet. Using grossular and pyrope isopleth thermobarometry in garnet, the P peak conditions for this stage were constrained to be ~23 kbar, 480-500 °C and the T peak conditions were constrained to be 19-20 kbar, 500-520 °C. Subsequent exhumation led to the transformation of lawsonite to epidote. Using Si-inphengite barometry, the P was constrained to be 16-20 kbar at T of 500-520 °C for this stage. Further retrograde stage was evidenced by the mineral assemblages of glaucophane+garnet+epidote+paragonite+ chlorite+white mica+quartz. Later stage retrogression is evidenced by glaucophane+epidote+chlorite+ quartz+white mica+albite+actinolite with P of 5-9 kbar when T<490 °C, indicating the eclogite may have been exhumed to the middle crust level and overprinted by blueschist-greenschist facies metamorphism. The results show that eclogite at the eastern segment of SW Tianshan shares similar P-T path to the HP rocks from the western segment, implying a similar P-T evolution for these rocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of artificial enzyme mimics has been rapidly growing in recent years, and it is attracting increasing attention owing to their remarkable advantages over natural enzymes. Herein, we developed a general and facile method to fabricate efficient glutathione peroxidase (GPx) mimics by grafting selenium-containing molecules (phenylselenylbromide, PhSeBr) to a Zr(IV)-based UiO-66-NH2 framework. In the presence of glutathione (GSH) serving as substrate, the fabricated UiO-66-Se catalysts can catalyze the reduction of hydroperoxides. The as-prepared UiO-66-Se systems show good catalytic activity over three cycles. These high-efficiency GPx mimic metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are endowed with excellent thermal and structural stability, providing a promising avenue for the development of artificial enzyme mimics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Migmatite-like rocks transformed from strongly metamorphosed and deformed enclavebearing felsic plutons usually make people confuse with the true migmatites and mistake in interpretation of their petrogenesis and tectonic implications. Here we report a suite of rocks that have long been called as migmatites from the Guandi complex in Zhoukoudian region, southwest of Beijing. The rocks are dominated by felsic gneisses with garnet-free amphibolites. Field occurrence, petrography and geochemistry indicate that the felsic gneisses and amphibolites were metamorphosed from protoliths of intermediate-acid and basic igneous rocks, respectively. New LA-ICP-MS zircon U-Pb dating and geothermobarometry study further reveal that precursor magmas of the two types of rocks were emplaced at 2.54-2.56 Ga and the rocks subsequently underwent medium P/T-type metamorphism with upper amphibolite facies conditions of 0.55-0.90 GPa and 670-730 °C at ~2.48-2.50 Ga. Geochemically, precursor magmas of the amphibolites were suggested to be derived from an enriched lithospheric mantle source in continental arc setting, and those of the felsic gneisses are characterized by tonalitic to trondhjemitic magmas that are usually considered to be generated by partial melting of hydrated, thickened metamorphosed mafic crust with garnet as residues, suggesting that the rock associations are not of true migmatites but migmatite-like rocks. Our study reveal that protoliths of the migmatite-like rocks from the Guandi complex, were likely formed via magmatism in a continental arc setting, followed by accretion and collision of the continental arc as well as the intro-oceanic arc terranes to the Eastern Block of the North China Craton in the transition from the Late Neoarchean to Early Paleoproterozoic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of five constant temperatures (16, 20, 24, 28 and 32 °C) on the development, survival and reproduction of Tetranychus cinnabarinus (Boisduval) [= Tetranychus urticae Koch (red form)] fed on cassava leaves was examined in the laboratory at 85% relative humidity. Development time of various immature stages decreased with increasing temperature, with total egg-to-adult development time varying from 27.7 to 6.7 days. The lower thermal threshold for development was 10.8 °C and the thermal constant from egg to adult was 142.4 degree-days. Pre- and post-oviposition period and female longevity all decreased as temperature increased. The longest oviposition period was observed at 20 °C with 20.4 days. Under different temperatures, mated females laid, on average, 1.0, 2.9, 4.7, 4.7 and 4.9 eggs per day, respectively. The maximum fecundity (81.5 eggs per female) was at 28 °C and the intrinsic rate of increase (rm) was highest (0.25) at 32 °C. The results of this study indicate that T. cinnabarinus population could increase rapidly when cassava leaves serve as a food source. At the appropriate temperature T. cinnabarinus could seriously threaten growth of cassava. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The degradation of ofloxacin (OFX) at low concentration in aqueous solution by UVA-LED/TiO2 nanotube arrays photocatalytic fuel cells (UVA-LED/TiO2 NTs PFCs) was investigated. TiO2 nanotube arrays (TiO2 NTs) photoanode prepared by anodization-constituted anatase–rutile bicrystalline framework. The results indicated that the degradation efficiency of OFX by UVA-LED/TiO2 NTs PFC was significantly enhanced by 14.3% compared with UVA-LED/TiO2 NTs photocatalysis. The pH affected the degradation efficiency markedly; the highest degradation efficiency (95.0%) and the pseudo-first-order reaction rate constant k value (0.049 min−1) were achieved in neutral condition (pH 7.0). The degradation efficiency increased with the increasing concentration of dissolved oxygen (DO) in the UVA-LED/TiO2 NTs PFC. The main reactive species of OFX degradation are positive holes (h+) and superoxide ion radicals (O2·−) in a DO sufficient condition. Furthermore, the possible pathways of OFX degradation were proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the sharply increasing number of users and venues in Location-Based Social Networks, it becomes a big challenge to provide recommendations which match users' preferences. Furthermore, the sparse data and skew distribution (i.e., structural noise) also worsen the coverage and accuracy of recommendations. This problem is prevalent in traditional recommender methods since they assume that the collected data truly reflect users' preferences. To overcome the limitation of current recommenders, it is imperative to explore an effective strategy, which can accurately provide recommendations while tolerating the structural noise. However, few study concentrates on the process of noisy data in the recommender system, even recent matrix-completion algorithms. In this paper, we cast the location recommendation as a mathematical matrix-completion problem and propose a robust algorithm named Linearized Bregman Iteration for Matrix Completion (LBIMC), which can effectively recover the user-location matrix considering structural noise and provide recommendations based solely on check-in records. Our experiments are conducted by an amount of check-in data from Foursquare, and the results demonstrate the effectiveness of LBIMC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The advent of Big Data era drives data analysts from different domains to use data mining techniques for data analysis. However, performing data analysis in a specific domain is not trivial; it often requires complex task configuration, onerous integration of algorithms, and efficient execution in distributed environments. Few efforts have been paid on developing effective tools to facilitate data analysts in conducting complex data analysis tasks. In this paper, we design and implement FIU-Miner, a Fast, Integrated, and User-friendly system to ease data analysis. FIU-Miner allows users to rapidly configure a complex data analysis task without writing a single line of code. It also helps users conveniently import and integrate different analysis programs. Further, it significantly balances resource utilization and task execution in heterogeneous environments. Case studies of real-world applications demonstrate the efficacy and effectiveness of our proposed system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marine heat flow is of great significance for the formation and occurrence of seabed oil, gas and gas hydrate resources. Geothermal gradient is an important parameter in determining the thickness of the hydrate stability zone. The northern slope of the South China Sea is rich in gas hydrate resources. Several borehole drilling attempts were successful in finding hydrates in the Shenhu area, while others were not. The failures demand further study on the distribution regularities of heat flow and its controlling effects on hydrate occurrence. In this study, forty-eight heat flow measurements are analyzed in the Shenhu gas hydrate drilling area, located in the northern South China Sea, together with their relationship to topography, sedimentary environment and tectonic setting. Canyons are well developed in the study area, caused mainly by the development of faults, faster sediment supply and slumping of the Pearl River Estuary since the late Miocene in the northern South China Sea. The heat flow values in grooves, occurring always in fault zones, are higher than those of ridges. Additionally, the heat flow values gradually increase from the inner fan, to the middle fan, to the external fan subfacies. The locations with low heat flow such as ridges, locations away from faults and the middle fan subfacies, are more conducive to gas hydrate occurrence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The bluish yellow lappet moth, Trabala vishnou guttata is an extraordinarily important pest in China. The complete mitochondrial genome is sequenced and determined firstly, which is based on traditional PCR amplification and primer walking methods with a length of 15,281 bp, including 13 protein-coding (PCG) genes, 22 transfer RNA (rRNA) genes, two ribosomal RNA (tRNA) genes, and an A + T-rich region. The gene order and orientation of the T. vishnou guttata mitogenome were identical to the other sequenced Lasiocampidae species. The overall nucleotide composition of T. vishnou guttata is A (40.27 %), T (40.59 %), C (11.58 %) and G (7.56 %), respectively. All the PCGs initiate with the three orthodox start codons ATN except for coxI with CGA start codon. Three PCGs ( coxI, coxII and nad4) used incomplete stop codon T, while the other 10 PCGs terminate with complete stop codon TAA. All tRNA genes have a typical clover-leaf structure except for the absence of a dihydrouridine arm in trnS (AGN). The length of A + T-rich region is 383 bp. Phylogeny is established to reveal the genetic relationship between T. vishnou guttata and other lepidopteran species based on 13 PCGs nucleotide sequences of the sequenced species (32 taxa) by Maximum likelihood and Bayesian methods. Phylogenetic analyses presents that T. vishnou guttata and its closely related species ( Dendrolimus taxa) are clustered on Lasiocampidae group. It is a sister clade relationship between Lasiocampidae and other families in Bombycoidea with a bootstrap value of 83 % and a posterior probability of 0.75. This study supports that Lasiocampidae may be independent from Bombycoidea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]