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Background: The contents of ovarian endometrioma (OMA) such as inflammatory mediators, reactive oxygen species, and iron may disrupt normal folliculogenesis and result in subsequent oocyte apoptosis. Therefore, women with OMA have a potential risk of diminished ovarian reserve (DOR). The purpose of this study is to compare the in vitro fertilization (IVF) outcomes and efficiency between DOR patients with and without current OMA.Methods: This retrospective case-control study included a total of 493 women with DOR (serum anti-Müllerian hormone level < 1.1 ng/mL). Ninety patients with OMA (Group A) underwent 191 IVF cycles and 403 patients without ovarian OMA (Group B) underwent 888 IVF cycles in our center between January 2014 and December 2018. Basal characteristics and IVF outcomes were compared between Group A and Group B. Time to achieve live birth were compared between patients with live birth in two groups (Group A1, 31 patients; Group B1, 132 patients).Results: Clinical and demographic characteristics of patients were similar respectively between groups (A vs. B, A1 vs. B1). There were no statistically significant differences in implantation rate, live birth rate per OPU and per ET cycle and the cumulative live birth rate per patient and per patient with good-quality embryos between Group A and Group B (P > 0.05). Total time to achieve live birth has no statistically significant difference between Group A1 and Group B1 (P > 0.05).Conclusion: For DOR women, presence of endometrioma did not affect the IVF outcomes. Even the time to get live birth was not prolonged by current OMA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy storage provides sustainable energy. Magnesium hydroxide (Mg(OH)2) is a promising material for thermochemical energy storage. Zirconium oxynitrate (ZrO(NO3)2) and lithium hydroxide (LiOH) are investigated to improve the heat‐storage efficiency of Mg(OH)2. Experimental results indicate that the heat‐storage rate can be significantly increased by 306‐fold. The dehydration conversion can be increased up to 99% with 122‐fold increase in 15.3 min. The onset temperature of Mg(OH)2 dehydration decreases from 337 to 228°C. The activation energy of Mg(OH)2 dehydration significantly reduces by 57.7%. The cycle ability of heat storage and heat release also remarkably improves. Moreover, the heat‐storage time significantly decreases. The crystal parameters, crystal volume, and platelet size of Mg(OH)2 notably diminish. The acting mechanism of these additives is proposed using high‐resolution transmission electron microscopy, X‐ray powder diffraction, and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy data. Moreover, the kinetic equations for the dehydration of excellent Mg(OH)2 composites are disclosed for computing simulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Observation angles are of great importance with respect to Earth observation platforms. The richness of angular combination, i.e., the combination of three observational angles (viewing zenith angle, solar zenith angle, and relative azimuth angle), is an important parameter to illustrate the angle sampling capability of an Earth observation platform. Here, the angular combination characteristics of a Moon-based platform were investigated and compared with existing artificial satellites. Furthermore, the effects of the time sampling interval on the angular combination characteristics were analyzed using a newly established angular combination number index (ACNI). Results show that a Moon-based platform can complement angular sampling observations from existing satellites. We found that the time sampling interval has different effects on the angular combination for different observed points. Accordingly, the Earth's surface can be divided into two zones with respect to its sensitivity to the time sampling interval. When the time sampling interval increased from 10 min to 2 h, the maximum loss of the angular combination reached 50% for the observed points in the mid–low latitude zone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: This retrospective study was designed to evaluate risk factors of the occurrence and severity of chylous ascites after complete mesocolic excision (CME) and D3 lymphadenectomy in patients with right‐sided colon cancer. Methods: Consecutive patients receiving CME and D3 lymphadenectomy for right‐sided colon cancer were included. Risk factors of the occurrence and severity of chylous ascites by using logistic analysis were assessed. A nomogram predicting chylous ascites was constructed. Results: Among 661 patients included in the study, postoperative chylous ascites occurred in 48 (7.3%) patients. Logistic regression analysis demonstrated that prognostic nutritional index (PNI ≤ 47, OR = 2.172, p = 0.016), laparoscopic surgery (OR = 2.798, p = 0.034), operating time (>225 min, OR = 2.645, p = 0.002), and apical lymph node (APN) metastasis (OR = 3.698, p = 0.034) were correlated with the occurrence of postoperative chylous ascites. A nomogram predicting postoperative chylous ascites was constructed (C‐index 0.701). 31.2% (15/48) of patients with chylous ascites were resolved in more than 7 days. The number of retrieved lymph nodes (OR = 1.074, 95% CI: 1.002–1.152, p = 0.044) and PNI ≤ 47 (OR = 7.890, 95% CI: 1.224–50.869, p = 0.030) were independently predictive of prolonged chylous ascites resolution (≥7 days). Conclusions: In our series, 7.3% of patients developed chylous ascites after right hemicolectomy with CME and D3 lymphadenectomy. Laparoscopic surgery, PNI, operation time, and APN metastasis were independently predictive of postoperative chylous ascites. Lower PNI and more retrieved lymph nodes were correlated with prolonged resolution of chylous ascites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective Esophageal carcinoma (ESCA) is deadly cancer worldwide with unknown etiology. This study aimed to investigate the impact and mechanism of RAD6 on the development of Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Expressions of RAD6A and RAD6B in ESCA were investigated from TCGA dataset and their expressions in tissue sample of ESCA patients and cells were determined. Functional experiments were conducted to explore the impact of RAD6A and RAD6B on malignant characteristics of several kinds of ESCC cells. Animal experiment was established and injected with RAD6A and RAD6B shRNA to evaluate the effect on tumor growth. RAD6A and RAD6B were up-regulated in ESCC cells and tissues. Overexpressed RAD6A and RAD6B similarly increased ESCC cell proliferation, invasion and migration and silencing of RAD6 exerted opposite effects. Knockdown of RAD6A suppressed tumor growth and decreased the level of H2B, as data demonstrated positive correlation between RAD6A and CCNB1 in ESCC tissues. Collectively, this study elucidates that RAD6 is up-regulated in ESCC and promotes the progression of ESCC through up-regulation of CCNB1 to enhance H2B ubiquitination. These evidence provide a novel insight into the pathogenesis of ESCC and might contribute to the development of targeted therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Epidemiological evidence between the sleep disorders and allergy-related outcomes is limited. Objectives: The purpose of the present study was to estimate the relationship between sleep disorders and allergy-related outcomes in adults. Methods: We built logistic regression models to examine the associations between sleep disorders and allergy-related outcomes in adult participants using the 2005–2006 NHANES database. Allergy-related outcomes included sIgE levels, asthma, hay fever, sneezing, wheezing, and eczema. Sleep disorders included sleep latency, sleep length, sleep problems, OSA symptoms, and daytime sleepiness. A t-test was used for between-group comparisons. Results: Participants with OSA symptoms had 2.72 × higher odds of experiencing hay fever and 1.54 × higher odds of having eczema compared to Non-OSA symptoms participants. Participants with insufficient sleep (≤ 6 h/night) had 1.27 × higher odds of developing allergic sensitisation compared to participants with adequate sleep (7–8 h/night). Sneezing was positively associated with sleep problems (OR: 1.706; 95% CI 1.386, 2.099), OSA symptoms (OR: 1.297; 95% CI 1.049, 1.605), and daytime sleepiness (OR: 1.569; 95% CI 1.205, 2.04). Conclusion: Our findings suggest a positive association between allergy-related outcomes and sleep disorders. In particular, OSA symptoms, daytime sleepiness, and sleep problems are strongly associated with allergic conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing energy challenges and the rapidly developing astronautic technology require thermal insulators with low density and thermal conductivity, high–temperature thermal, chemical and mechanical stabilities. Herein, highly porous SiC frameworks were fabricated through procedures of assembling SiC fibers and formation of SiC joints by carbothermal reduction, which were named as SiC–bonded SiC fiber (SBSF) composites. The porosities were controlled in the range of 76–93% by varying aspect ratios of the SiC fibers. The SBSF composites exhibited outstanding corrosion resistance, oxidation resistance, and high–temperature thermal stability, as the inherent advantages of SiC ceramics. High strength and reversible compressibility were obtained in the out–of–plane compression load tests, and low thermal conductivity of 0.036–0.102 W/m · K at 25–800 °C was achieved. The results of this study suggest that the SBSF composites are a good candidate for high–temperature thermal insulators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethylene, a hydrocarbon (C2H4), is one of the widely used products in the chemical industry. A traditional dehydration method of ethanol to ethylene relies strongly on high‐temperature and high‐pressure process with significant energy consumption. In this regard, producing ethylene from bioethanol through dehydration is a promising and sustainable approach, but, this process under mild conditions results in low yields and poor selectivity. Herein, an integrated solar energy catalytic system driven by only sun energy under ambient conditions is established for the first time for bioethanol dehydration using oxygen‐vacancy‐abundant (Ov) WO3 coupled with a thin layer of carbon coating (CL) (WO3−x@C). A record‐high ethylene selectivity of 98.1% is achieved driven by full solar spectrum without any external power, featuring zero pollution emission nature. In this process, Ov acts as a solid acid center, which is the key to initiate the dehydration of ethanol to ethylene via a solar thermal process, while the CL promotes solar thermal synergy, ensuring the high reaction temperature and hot carriers transmission simultaneously. In‐situ infrared spectroscopy and thermodynamic calculations demonstrate a novel proton hydrogen‐mediated catalytic process over WO3−x@C. This work provides a new opportunity of using full‐spectrum solar energy for catalytic generation of value‐added chemicals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A concise and efficient method for the large-scale total synthesis of oxyphyllacinol (1) has been achieved in six steps with an overall yield of 46%. Simultaneously, yakuchione-A (11) was obtained in a satisfactory yield (52%) during the process. By employing a Weinreb amide (6) as the key masonry block, yakuchione-B (13) was also constructed in a great overall yield (56%) and high purity. To overcome the challenges regarding the practical scale, high purity, and reproducibility, the synthetic route that was processed takes advantage of available materials, conventional reactions, and convenient purification methods without using column chromatography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ti65 alloy has extensive potential applications in manufacturing high-temperature components in the aerospace industry. During thermomechanical processing in the α+β phase region, complicated microstructure and texture evolution occurs. In this work, isothermal hot compression experiments were conducted to comprehensively investigate the substructure and texture evolution of Ti65 alloy with bimodal microstructure via the electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) technique, and the influence of processing parameters on the evolution of substructure and texture was systematically analyzed. The experimental results showed that the distribution of grain boundaries and the transformation of low-angle boundaries (LABs) to high-angle boundaries (HABs) exhibited sensitivity to temperature and strain rate. The fraction of sub-grain boundaries decreased, while the fraction of HABs increased with the increasing of strain rate or temperature due to the spheroidization of the lamellar α phase accompanied by the wedging of the β phase during deformation and the relative misorientation angle distribution between different α variants precipitated from β phase. Temperature rising at a high strain rate resulting from adiabatic heat promoted atomic activity, caused dislocations to be absorbed by sub-grain boundaries or HABs, and finally reduced the dislocation density in both α p and α s phases. Dynamic spheroidization was the main mechanism with increasing temperature, and coarsening of the lamellar α phase was the main mechanism with increasing strain rate. With the increase of temperature or decrease of strain rate, the texture of the α p phase became stronger and the basal and pyramidal slip could be activated. For the α s phase, spheroidization and variant selection together influence the orientation distribution. As a result, the texture evolution showed a complicated tendency. • Substructure evolution of a novel near-α Ti65 alloy were studied. • Texture evolution of α p and α s under different conditions was discussed. • Deformation mechanisms were discussed based on the experiments results. • The slip systems activated under different parameters were analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Umbilical cables are integral components of subsea production systems. In this study, the buckling failure of umbilical cable with damaged sheath under bending and compression loads was investigated. A finite element (FE) model of an umbilical cable with a damaged sheath was established using software ANSYS. The influences of the location and area of sheath defects on birdcage buckling and the impacts of the exposed area of the armor wire and the applied bending radius on the buckling mode were analyzed. The results indicate that the exposed area of the armor wire determines the buckling mode and critical buckling load. An increase in the exposed area triggered a transition from lateral buckling to birdcage buckling. Lateral buckling occurred when the exposed area was below 6%, birdcage buckling occurred when it exceeded 10%, and both types of buckling occurred when the exposed area was 8%. Furthermore, when different bending radii were applied, such transitions consistently occurred when the exposed area was 8%. This study elucidated the buckling mechanism of armor wires by considering the combined loads and damaged sheaths, thus contributing to the prevention of buckling failure. • The buckling mechanism of umbilical cable with damaged sheath under bending and compression loads was elaborated. • The influence of the location and area of sheath defect on the birdcage buckling was analyzed. • The influence of the exposed area of the armor wire and bending radius on the buckling mode was discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Freeze-drying increases the extraction rate of anthocyanins from Lycium ruthenicum. • Different drying pretreatment affects anthocyanin composition and concentration. • Ultrasonic-assisted enzymatic extraction of anthocyanins can reach 3.16 g/100 g. • Pretreatments had less effect on the types of anthocyanins, but more on the content. Extraction of anthocyanins from Lycium ruthenicum Murr. (L. ruthenicum) is a notable challenge in food production, requiring methods that balance efficiency and safety. In this study, we conducted a comparative analysis the extraction of anthocyanins by natural air drying (NAD), vacuum freeze drying (VFD), hot air drying (HAD), and vacuum microwave drying (MVD) combined with ultrasonic-assisted enzymolysis extraction (UAEE). The results demonstrated that the extraction yield and antioxidant activity of anthocyanins were significantly higher in VFD. This phenomenon can be attributed to the modification of raw material's microstructure, leading to an increased extraction yield of specific anthocyanins such as Cyanidin-3-galactoside, Delphinidin chloride, Cyanidin, and Petunidin. According to the pretreatment results, the extraction process of anthocyanins was further optimized. The highest yield (3.16 g/100 g) was obtained in following conditions: 0.24 % pectinase, 48 °C, solid:liquid = 1:21, and 21 min ultrasonic time. This study improves the commercial value and potential application of L. ruthenicum in food industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The leaching of heavy metals from abandoned mine tailings can pose a severe threat to surrounding areas, especially in the regions influenced by acid rain with high frequency. In this study, the potential risks of heavy metals in the tailings collected from a small-scale abandoned multi-metal mine was assessed, and their leaching behavior and mechanism were investigated by batch, semi-dynamic and in situ leaching experiments under simulated and natural rainfall conditions. The results suggested that Zn, Cu, Pb, and Cd in the tailings could cause high/very high risks. Both batch and semi-dynamic leaching tests consistently confirmed that the leaching of heavy metals (particularly Cd) could lead to serious pollution of the surrounding environment. The leaching rates of heavy metals were pH-dependent and related to their chemical speciations in the mine tailings. The leaching behavior of Cu and Cd was dominated by surface wash-off, Zn was controlled by diffusion initially and then surface wash-off, and the leaching mechanisms of Pb and As varied with the pH conditions. It was estimated that acid rain could greatly elevate the release fluxes of Zn (20.8%), Cu (36.7%), Pb (49.9%) and Cd (35.3%) in the study area. These findings could improve the understanding of the leaching behavior of heavy metals from mine tailings and assist in developing appropriate management strategies. [Display omitted] • Cu, Zn, Pb and Cd in tailings posed high risks to surrounding areas. • Metal leaching under rainfall was correlated to the acid soluble form. • Leaching behavior and mechanism varied with elements and pH conditions. • Acid rain promoted the release fluxes of Cu, Zn, Pb, and Cd from tailings. • The predictions of release fluxes were verified by the in-situ experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Here, Fe/N co-doped porous biochars (FeNKBCs) were obtained by grinding corncob, CH 3 COOK, FeCl 3 ·6H 2 O, and C 3 H 6 N 6 via one-step synthesis and were applied to remove antibiotics from wastewater. Notably, CH 3 COOK had an excellent porous activation ability. The developed nanotubular structure of Fe1N2KBC had a high pore volume (V total) (1.2131 cm3/g) and specific surface areas (SSA) (2083.54 m2/g), which showed outstanding sorption abilities for TC (764.35 mg/g), OTC (560.82 mg/g), SMX (291.45 mg/g), and SMT (354.65 mg/g). The adsorption process of TC was controlled by chemisorption. Moreover, Fe1N2KBC has an excellent dynamic adsorption performance (620.14 mg/g) in a fixed-bed column. The properties of SSA, V total , and the content of graphite N and Fe–N were positively correlated with TC adsorption capacity. The high performance of TC removal was related to π-π stacking, pore-filling, hydrogen bond, and electrostatic interaction. Fe1N2KBC possessed stable sorption amounts in pH 2–12 and actual water, and well reuse performance. The results of this work present an effective preparation method of Fe/N porous biochar for TC-contaminated water remediation. • Fe and N addition significantly affected pore structure and N species of biochar. • SSA and V total of Fe1N2KBC were 2083.54 m2/g and 1.2131 cm3/g. • TC sorption capacity of Fe1N2KBC was 764.35 mg/g. • Graphite N and Fe–N were involved in TC sorption. • Multiple mechanisms dominated TC sorption process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • The formation of K aluminosilicates mainly contributes to the retention of K in ash. • For K 2 CO 3 and K 2 SO 4 in biomass, coal retains much higher content of K than for KCl in biomass. • For KCl in biomass, organic compounds in coal facilitates K to form aluminosilicates. A steam atmosphere increases the retention of K. • The agglomerates formed after co-gasification are more easily to be broken than that formed from the gasification of biomass alone. Co-gasification of biomass and coal has many advantages, which also mitigates some of the ash-related problems induced by potassium (K) in biomass. However, this effect varies with the occurrence mode of inorganic K in biomass, which varies with the species of biomass. Therefore, the present work investigated the effect of a bituminous coal on the transformation of K and the ash chemistry of bed agglomeration (without considering the effect of fluidization) during co-gasification (steam and CO 2 atmospheres) for different types of inorganic K (K 2 CO 3 , K 2 SO 4 and KCl) in biomass. The results show that for both K 2 CO 3 and K 2 SO 4 in biomass, K is mainly retained as KAlSiO 4 and K 2 SO 4 in the gasification ash with KAlSiO 4 being the dominant phase. In addition, for K 2 CO 3 in biomass, more KAlSiO 4 and less K 2 SO 4 are formed under the steam atmosphere than under the CO 2 atmosphere. However, the K retention of the ash or the agglomerate for both K 2 CO 3 and K 2 SO 4 in biomass is similar and is much higher than that for KCl in biomass, which tends to release and to induce other ash-related problems. In addition, both the organic compounds of coal and the gasification atmosphere significantly alter the reaction between coal with KCl in biomass: The majority of KCl reacts with coal to form KAlSiO 4 , the formation of which is quite limited for the coal ash; More K is retained in the ash and more KAlSiO 4 is formed under the steam atmosphere than under the CO 2 atmosphere. Lastly, although co-gasification with coal (silica sand as the bed material) cannot stop the formation of agglomerates for K 2 CO 3 , K 2 SO 4 and KCl in biomass, these agglomerates are more easily to be broken than those produced from the gasification of biomass alone, thus mitigating bed agglomeration in fluidized-bed reactors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban renewal is a critical avenue and strategic tool for achieving high-quality and sustainable development, and the residential market plays a vital role in promoting urban renewal and urban growth. However, the impact of urban renewal on housing prices remains inconclusive, closely tied to the characteristics of the study area, the sources of research data, and so on. To address this, we employ the difference-in-difference method and a mixed panel dataset of housing transactions from 2010 to 2021 to analyze in detail the effects of different urban renewal types (Industrial Renewal, Residential Renewal, and Commercial Renewal) on surrounding housing prices in Bao'an District at different renewal phases (announcement, start, and completion). We found that Industrial Renewal exerts the most significant impact on housing prices at the beginning and completion of renewal, followed by Residential Renewal and Commercial Renewal. Moreover, Urban renewal generates both positive and negative externalities on housing prices, especially in the case of numerous small-scale renewal projects. The findings suggest that urban renewal should be supported by systematic research on renewal types, the establishment of scale entry threshold, and the monitoring of the entire process. • Typological differentiation: The economic effects of Residential, Commercial, and Industrial Renewal are different. • Time-series effects: The economic effects of urban renewal vary at different stages in time. • Externalities: Urban renewal generates both positive and negative externalities, which gradually decrease over time. • The scale: Both the area and quantity of urban renewal projects need to be focused on in urban planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Four types of inflammatory endotypes were identified: Th1, Th17, neutrophils with type 2, and type 2. • AR and CRS were important clinical phenotypes that affected the adenoid inflammation endotypes. • Serum TIgE level was an important indicator for predicting the endotype of adenoid inflammation. • Identification of adenoid inflammatory endotypes can facilitate accurate diagnosis and treatment of patients with AH. To identify adenoid inflammatory endotypes based on inflammatory markers, match endotypes to phenotypes, and predict endotypes. This cross-sectional study included 72 children with adenoid hypertrophy. Thirteen inflammatory markers and total immunoglobulin E (TIgE) in adenoid tissue were analyzed using Luminex and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for performing cluster analysis. Correlation analysis was used to examine the characteristics of each cluster. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed to screen for preoperative characteristic data with predictive value for adenoid inflammation endotype. The patients were divided into four clusters. Cluster 1 exhibited non-type 2 signatures with low inflammatory marker concentrations, except for the highest expression of Th1-related cytokines. Cluster 2 showed a non-type 2 endotype with the highest concentration of interleukin (IL)-17A and IL-22. Cluster 3 exhibited moderate type 2 inflammation, with the highest concentration of neutrophil factors. Cluster 4 demonstrated significant type 2 inflammation and moderate neutrophil levels. The proportions of AR and serum TIgE levels increased from clusters 1 to 4, and there was a gradual increase in the prevalence of chronic sinusitis from low to high neutrophilic inflammation. The area under the ROC curve for serum TIgE was higher than those for combined or other separate preoperative characteristics for predicting non-type 2 and type 2 inflammation in the adenoid tissue. The evaluation of cytokines in adenoid tissue revealed four endotypes. Serum TIgE level was an important indicator of the endotype of adenoid inflammation. Identification of adenoid inflammatory endotypes can facilitate targeted treatment decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurately defining the size of cities is essential for urban studies. As the country with the world's largest urban population, China has experienced numerous changes in its definition of city size. We carefully collected and analyzed China's city size based on authoritative population census or recorded data from 1918 to 2020. Our key findings are as follows. (1) Over the past century, the administrative proper of Chinese cities has seen a marked expansion, from its proximity to urban entities to the concept of an extended region. The definition of city size in China was optimized from the total population within the city proper based on the administrative boundary to that within the city entity based on the urbanized built-up area. (2) There are two main aspects to optimizing China's definition of city size. The first is the use of township- or village-level administrative units to match the city entities. The second is the use of residential population rather than the traditional hukou registration population to indicate size. (3) China's city size distribution based on the city entity has shifted from being predominantly small- and medium-sized cities to being dominated by large cities. Cities with larger populations a century ago, mainly located in coastal urban agglomerations and inland provincial capitals, still had a strong size advantage a century later. The experiences of optimizing the definition of city size in China offer implications for other rapidly urbanizing countries and for international city size comparisons. • The definition of city size is optimized from the population within the city proper to that within the city entity in China. • Using the total population based on the city's administrative area would lead to overestimating the city size. • City entities based on township- and village-level units have been effectively utilized to match the city's built-up area. • China's city size distribution has shifted to being dominated by large cities over a century. • Cities with larger populations a century ago still have a strong size advantage a century later. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Novel composite membranes based on electrospun PLA fibers have been fabricated. • They have amphipathic feature, tunable wettability and photothermal conversion. • Excellent oil/water separation ability is achieved for the composite membranes. • The composite membranes can remove oil and dye in one-time oil/water separation. As an eco-friendly material, the wide application of polylactide (PLA) in wastewater treatment is favorable for eliminating the possible second-pollution induced by the common membrane materials. However, the application of PLA is also greatly restricted by the hydrophobicity and inert surface of PLA-based materials. In this work, the electrospun PLA fiber film with stereocomplex crystallites (SC-PLA) was prepared through electrospinning, then the successive decorations of self-polymerization of polydopamine (PDA) and PDA-assisted MXene deposition were carried out. The physicochemical performances such as wettability, mechanical properties, and photothermal conversion ability were intensively researched. Then, the oil/water separation ability and the organic pollutants removal effect of the composite membranes were systematically researched. The results show that the composite membrane is amphiphilic, which results in the membrane exhibiting high fluxes and excellent oil/water separation performance in the separation process of different types of emulsions, and oil/water separation efficiency can be further enhanced under light irradiation. Specifically, the maximum adsorption capacity of the composite membrane for methylene blue (MB) reached 434.8 mg/g, and the composite membrane can also simultaneously remove oil and MB from the emulsified solution in the one-time separation process. This work demonstrates that the PLA-based composite membranes have potential application in sewage purification and can be the alternative for the next generation membrane separation material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study investigated how a group of 27 Wuhan citizens employed metaphors to communicate about their lived experiences of the Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic through in-depth individual interviews. The analysis of metaphors reflected the different kinds of emotional states and psychological conditions of the research participants, focusing on their mental imagery of COVID-19, extreme emotional experiences, and symbolic behaviors under the pandemic. The results show that multiple metaphors were used to construe emotionally-complex, isolating experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic. Most metaphorical narratives were grounded in embodied sensorimotor experiences such as body parts, battling, hitting, weight, temperature, spatialization, motion, violence, light, and journeys. Embodied metaphors were manifested in both verbal expressions and nonlinguistic behaviors (e.g., patients' repetitive behaviors). These results suggest that the bodily experiences of the pandemic, the environment, and the psychological factors combine to shape people's metaphorical thinking processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To evaluate the dose difference between measurement and double Gaussian beam model prediction according to the field size and correct the measurements in patient‐specific quality assurance (QA). Methods: The field size dependence of the dose was evaluated with volumes of 20 × 20 × 80 mm3, 40 × 40 × 80 mm3, 60 × 60 × 80 mm3, and 80 × 80 × 80 mm3 of 1 Gy uniform dose at three depths. Additional two 80 × 80 × 80 mm3 volumes of nonuniform fields were created: one high‐dose field was given 1 Gy at the central 40 × 40 mm2 and 0.5 Gy in its surrounding, and the other low‐dose field was given 0.5 Gy in the middle and 1 Gy at the periphery. The dose in the center of the spread‐out Bragg peak (SOBP) was measured in a water phantom and compared with the treatment planning system (TPS) predication. A field factor based on the two‐dimensional (2D) dose distribution was proposed to estimate the field size. The field factor was first evaluated against the dose difference in the square fields, and then used to analyze and correct the patient‐specific QA results. Results: TPS overestimated dose for fields smaller than 80 × 80 mm2. A practically positive correlation was observed between the measured dose and the field factor. In the patient‐specific QA, measured doses were lower than the TPS predication as they were calculated a relatively small field factor. The corrected dose differences were no longer field factor dependent. Conclusions: Using the proposed field factor, we have shown that all the measurements with a large dose deviation were due to the small‐sized field. It is clinically relevant to take into consideration the field size in the QA analysis as long as the double Gaussian beam model being used for the dose calculation. Correction to the measurement can be made based on the field factor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Photodynamic therapy had made great progress in the treatment of acne vulgaris. However, there is no meta‐analysis on the effectiveness and safety of red light therapy for acne vulgaris. Objective: To assess the efficiency and safety of red light therapy for acne vulgaris. Methods: PubMed, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, and Web of Science were retrieved to identify related studies. The outcomes were expressed as improvement in the average percentages of inflammatory acne lesions (MPRI) and non‐inflammatory acne lesions (NMPRI), as well as the improvement of acne lesions respectively after treatment. Results: 13 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) consisting of 422 participants were included. There was no significant difference in the average number of non‐inflammatory lesions (weighted mean difference (WMD = −0.527; 95% CI,‐3.055~2.001; p = 0.683). Moreover, there was no statistically significant difference in the average number of inflammatory lesions (WMD =0.701; 95% CI, −0.809~2.212; p =0.363). In the subgroup analysis of the outcome changes in comedones, pustules, papules, and total lesions, it was found that red light therapy elicited no significant superiority compared with other conventional treatment methods (WMD = −1.125; 95% CI, −3.122~0.873; p = 0.270). Adverse events of the red light group were generally mild or even completely non‐existent. Conclusion: There was no statistically significant difference between red light therapy and traditional therapies in terms of efficacy. However, due to the heterogeneity of the researches and the lack of large sample size, the result of this study needs to be interpreted with caution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Moon-based platform can provide efficient observations of large-scale geoscience phenomena on Earth. This study focuses on the global spatio-temporal sampling characteristics of Moon-based Earth observations and quantifies the variations of the spatio-temporal sampling distributions to establish a suitable accumulated sampling period. A theoretical derivation is performed based on the parametric equations, while proposing a metric for measuring the uniformity of the spatio-temporal distributions. Results show that the distributions are mainly affected by the position of the nadir corresponding to the start time and the accumulated sampling period. We find that the accumulated spatio-temporal sampling presents a strong periodicity with one orbital period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Uneven development theory and its corollary (i.e. rent-gap theory) are either excessively general or insufficiently flexible to expound the variations of gentrification with unique historical trajectories. A representative example is education-led gentrification in China. The lacuna restricts the explanatory power of rent-gap theory and justifies the fault line between the rent gap and two important phenomena: the forms of displacement identified by Marcuse and territorial stigmatisation. This paper recasts Neil Smith's insights about uneven development from two perspectives, temporal and social differentiations, and elaborates how the interplay between both differences engenders territorial stigmatisation and displacement. Moreover, as two diametrically opposed phenomena, territorial glorification (e.g. super-gentrification and education-led gentrification) and territorial stigmatisation are simultaneously situated in one framework, which is evaluated in education-led gentrification in Nanjing. Redirecting the empirical research from global cities to less established but more representative urban centres, this research shows the potentially wide applicability of the theoretical framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we show that the Euler equations, when linearized around a low frequency perturbation to Couette flow, exhibit norm inflation in Gevrey-type spaces as time tends to infinity. Thus, echo chains are shown to be a (secondary) linear instability mechanism. Furthermore, we develop a more precise analysis of cancellations in the resonance mechanism, which yields a modified exponent in the high frequency regime. This allows us, in addition, to remove a logarithmic constraint on the perturbations present in prior works by Bedrossian, Deng and Masmoudi, and to construct solutions which are initially in a Gevrey class for which the velocity asymptotically converges in Sobolev regularity but diverges in Gevrey regularity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work investigates the differential gain and gain compression factor of an interband cascade laser (ICL), through the analysis of the small-signal modulation response. The differential gain of the ICL is extracted to be 7.9 × 10−16 cm2, which is comparable to that of typical quantum well lasers. On the other hand, the gain compression factor is determined to be 5.1 × 10−15 cm3, which is two orders of magnitude higher than the latter. In addition, we demonstrate that the ICL is overdamped due to the strong gain compression effect. It is found that the K factor governed by the damping factor and the resonance frequency is as high as 31.4 ns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents a new multi-material topology optimization method with a novel adjoint sensitivity analysis that can accommodate not only multiple plasticity but also multiple hardening models for individual materials in composite structures. Based on the proposed method, an integrated framework is developed which details the nonlinear finite element analysis, sensitivity analysis and optimization procedure. The proposed method and framework are implemented and illustrated by three numerical examples presented in this paper. An in-depth analysis of the numerical results has revealed the significant impact of the selection of plasticity and hardening model on the results of topology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Walking dysfunction exists in most patients after stroke. Evidence regarding gait training in two weeks is scarce in resource-limited settings; this study was conducted to investigate the effects of a short-term robot-assisted gait training plan for patients with stroke. Methods. 85 patients were randomly assigned to one of two treatment groups, with 31 patients in withdrawal before treatment. The training program comprised 14 2-hour sessions, for 2 consecutive weeks. Patients allocated to the robot-assisted gait training group were treated using the Gait Training and Evaluation System A3 from NX (RT group, n = 27). Another group of patients was allocated to the conventional overground gait training group (PT group, n = 27). Outcome measurements were assessed using time-space parameter gait analysis, Fugl-Meyer Assessment (FMA), and Timed Up and Go test (TUG) scores. Results. In the time-space parameter analysis of gait, the two groups exhibited no significant changes in time parameters, but the RT group exhibited a significant effect on changes in space parameters (stride length, walk velocity, and toe out angle, P < 0.05). After training, FMA scores (20.22 ± 2.68) of the PT group and FMA scores (25.89 ± 4.6) of the RT group were significant. In the Timed Up and Go test, FMA scores of the PT group (22.43 ± 3.95) were significant, whereas those in the RT group (21.31 ± 4.92) were not. The comparison between groups revealed no significant differences. Conclusion. Both the RT group and the PT group can partially improve the walking ability of stroke patients within 2 weeks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marfan syndrome (MFS), an autosomal dominant heritable disease of the connective tissue, is characterized by broad clinical manifestations in the musculoskeletal, cardiovascular, pulmonary, and ocular systems. In this study, a male patient with MFS caused by a heterozygous mutation NM_000138.5(FBN1):c.6037 + 2 T > C in the fibrillin 1 gene (FBN1) underwent preimplantation genetic testing (PGT) by using affected-embryo-based single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) haplotyping. Multiple displacement amplification was used for whole genome amplification of biopsied trophectoderm cells after controlled ovarian stimulation. Sanger sequencing and next-generation sequencing (NGS) were used to detect the state of FBN1 mutation. A total of 14 blastocysts formed after intracytoplasmic sperm injection were biopsied. After NGS, 60 informative polymorphic SNP markers located upstream and downstream of the FBN1 gene and its pathogenic mutation site were linked to individual alleles. Sanger sequencing further confirmed that 8 blastocysts carried the mutation NM_000138.5(FBN1):c.6037 + 2 T > C, while 6 did not. Four of the non-carriers were euploid verified by copy number variation results. A female infant without MFS was born at 37 weeks gestation after a subsequent frozen embryo transfer. In conclusion, the successful case indicates that SNP haplotyping using sibling embryos as a reference is applicable to PGT in monogenetic diseases. Abbreviations MFS: Marfan syndrome; PGT: preimplantation genetic testing; FBN1: fibrillin 1 gene; NGS: next-generation sequencing; SNP: single nucleotide polymorphism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Butterfly hillstream loach (Beaufortia kweichowensis), a benthic fish in the torrential mountain streams, possesses a totally flat ventrum, flattened craniofacial and body skeletons, and enlarged paired fins covered by substantially small keratinous structures. However, little is known about the genetic basis of these specialized morphological adaptations. Here we present a 448.52‐Mb genome assembly with contig N50 length of 5.53 Mb by integrating Illumina short‐read sequencing, Nanopore long‐read sequencing and HiC‐based chromatin map. Demographic history reconstruction of the butterfly hillstream loach reveals that the population dynamics is correlated with the different stages of uplifting of the Tibetan Plateau. Comparative genomic analysis finds evidence of six keratin genes in butterfly hillstream loach evolving under positive selection. Within these genes, two keratin genes exhibit species‐specific and divergent amino acid changes, suggesting a role in the formation of the unculi. Additionally, a series of positively selected genes, rapid evolving genes, specific variant genes and expanded gene families are found, including genes related to Hedgehog, Notch and BMP pathways, which may be involved in craniofacial development. These findings may have important implications for understanding the genetic basis of phenotypic adaptation to torrential mountain stream life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim was to evaluate the thoracic aorta in different cardiac phases to obtain the correct cardiac phase for measuring the maximum diameter required to predict aortic disease. Cardiac CT was performed on 97 patients for suspected coronary artery disease. The average diameter of ascending (AAD) and descending aorta (DAD) in the plane of pulmonary bifurcation, in the plane of the sinus junction (AAD [STJ] and DAD [STJ]), descending aorta in the plane of the diaphragm (DAD [Dia]), the diameter of the main pulmonary artery (MPAD), distance from the sternum to the spine (S-SD), and distance from the sternum to the ascending aorta (S-AAD) were assessed at 20 different time points in the cardiac cycle. Differences in aortic diameter in different cardiac phases and the correlation between aortic diameter and traditional risk factors were analyzed by the general linear mixed model. The diameter of the thoracic aorta reached the minimum at the phase of 95–0%, and reached the maximum at 30–35%. The maximum values of AAD, AAD (STJ), DAD, DAD (STJ), and DAD (Dia) were 32.51 ± 3.35 mm, 28.86 ± 3.01 mm, 23.46 ± 2.88 mm, 21.85 ± 2.58 mm, and 21.09 ± 2.66 mm, respectively. The maximum values of MPAD/AAD and DAD/AAD (STJ) were 0.8140 ± 0.1029, 0.7623 ± 0.0799, respectively. The diameter of the thoracic aorta varies with the cardiac phase. Analyzing the changes in aortic diameter, which can be done using cardiac CT, could provide a more accurate clinical measurement for predicting aortic disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diverging from air breakdown‐based triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs), recent TENG designs present high output power density without requiring precise control over discharge channels. However, existing researches predominantly ascribe its direct current output to electrostatic induction, disregarding the critical factor of charge leakage. This oversight hampers efforts to improve device performance, especially in material selection and optimization. Here, the generation of direct current signals ultimately stems from material charge leakage and spatial electrostatic induction is illustrated. Through theoretical analysis, visualization, and experimental measurement of four phenomena in the device, a quadruple‐effect mechanoelectrical conversion mechanism is established to refine the material selection rule. Under this guideline, the output power density is increased by 34.42% in contrast to the electrostatic induction direct current TENG. For practical applications, a power management circuit is utilized to boost the device's charging rate by up to 18 times. Furthermore, the high voltage of the device can activate discharge‐type UV tubes, demonstrating great potential in developing self‐powered wastewater treatment systems. The multiple charge behaviors proposed in this work, along with the material selection rule, lay a solid foundation for achieving high output power density in direct current TENGs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organic‐inorganic hybrid perovskites (OIHPs) have recently emerged as groundbreaking semiconductor materials owing to their remarkable properties. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), as a very powerful characterisation tool, has been widely used in perovskite materials for structural analysis and phase identification. However, the perovskites are highly sensitive to electron beams and easily decompose into PbX2 (X = I, Br, Cl) and metallic Pb. The electron dose of general high‐resolution TEM is much higher than the critical dose of MAPbI3, which results in universal misidentifications that PbI2 and Pb are incorrectly labelled as perovskite. The widely existed mistakes have negatively affected the development of perovskite research fields. Here misidentifications of the best‐known MAPbI3 perovskite are summarised and corrected, then the causes of mistakes are classified and ascertained. Above all, a solid method for phase identification and practical strategies to reduce the radiation damage for perovskite materials have also been proposed. This review aims to provide the causes of mistakes and avoid misinterpretations in perovskite research fields in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Delayed gastric emptying (DGE) is associated with prolonged hospital stay and higher healthcare costs. This study aimed to investigate the risk factors for DGE after D3 radical resection for colon cancer and to build a nomogram for this complication. Methods: We analyzed, retrospectively, 1160 consecutive patients who underwent surgery with D3 lymphadenectomy for colon cancer between January, 2012 and June, 2018. A multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to identify the risk factors for DGE and to build a DGE nomogram model. Results: There were ten, six and four patients with DGE classified as grades A, B and C, respectively, representing a DGE rate of 1.7%. Multivariate analysis revealed that age (P = 0.001), dissection of the gastrocolic ligament lymph nodes (GCLNs) (P = 0.001), surgical duration (P = 0.017) and preoperative hemoglobin level (P = 0.016) were independent risk factors, and were included to build a predictive model for DGE. The therapeutic index of GCLN dissection was approximately half that of D3 lymphadenectomy (2.9 vs. 5.6). Conclusions: DGE is more likely to develop in patients aged > 75 years, those with a preoperative hemoglobin < 90 g/L, those with a surgical duration > 210 min, and those who undergo GCLN dissection. The nomogram may facilitate the stratification of patients at risk for DGE following D3 lymphadenectomy for colon cancer. Assessing long-term outcomes will help to evaluate the survival benefit of GCLN dissection in the future, to avoid unnecessary dissection and reduce the incidence of DGE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We prove local well-posedness for the periodic derivative nonlinear Schrödinger equation, which is L 2 critical, in Fourier-Lebesgue spaces which scale like H s (T) for s > 0 . Our result is optimal in the sense that it covers the full subcritical regime. In particular we close the existing gap in the subcritical theory by improving the result of Grünrock and Herr (SIAM J Math Anal 39(6):1890–1920, 2008), which established local well-posedness in Fourier-Lebesgue spaces which scale like H s (T) for s > 1 4 . We achieve this result by a delicate analysis of the structure of the solution and the construction of an adapted nonlinear submanifold of a suitable function space. Together these allow us to construct the unique solution to the given subcritical data. This constructive procedure is inspired by the theory of para-controlled distributions developed by Gubinelli et al. (Forum Math Pi, 3:75, 2015) and Catellier and Chouk (Ann Probab 46(5):2621–2679, 2018) in the context of stochastic PDE. Our proof and results however, are purely deterministic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to elucidate the roles and potential underlying mechanisms of long noncoding RNA lnc-ZNF281 in glioma. We performed qRT-PCR to detect the expression levels of lnc-ZNF281 in glioma tissues. The effects of lnc-ZNF281 on the proliferative and migrative abilities of T98G and HS683 glioma cells were examined by cell proliferation assay, colony formation assay, wound-healing assay, and transwell assay. Also, the effects of lnc-ZNF281 on AKT/GSK-3β/β-catenin pathway were analyzed. The results showed that the expression of lnc-ZNF281 in glioma tissues was decreased compared with normal tissues. lnc-ZNF281 overexpression inhibited the proliferative and migrative abilities of glioma cells, while lnc-ZNF281 knockdown obtained the opposite findings. Besides, overexpression of lnc-ZNF281 in glioma cells inactivated the AKT/GSK-3β/β-catenin signaling pathway. Furthermore, β-catenin activation reversed the suppressive effects of lnc-ZNF281 on glioma cells. Taken together, lnc-ZNF281 inhibits glioma cell proliferation and migration via AKT/GSK-3β/β-catenin pathway and may serve as a potential target for glioma treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acne scarring is one of the most common facial skin disorders. The appropriate treatments for acne scars in patients with rosacea have not been studied. This study was designed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of non-ablative fractional 1440-nm laser (1440-nm NAFL) therapy for treatment of atrophic acne scars in patients with rosacea. In this prospective, interventional study, 32 patients with rosacea and acne scars underwent three sessions of 1440-nm NAFL therapy. Therapy efficacy, epidermal barrier function, and side effects were evaluated. Thirty patients completed and the median acne scar scores significantly reduced from 45 (30, 50) to 15 (15, 30) after three treatments (P < 0.001). The improvement score of acne scars was 2.7 ± 0.7; 22 (73.3%) were satisfied or highly satisfied. The rosacea erythema scores changed from 2.1 ± 0.4 to 1.9 ± 0.5 (P = 0.326), and flushing, burning, and stinging were not worse. The oil content after treatments was significantly reduced (P < 0.001), while there was no significant difference in other indicators of skin barrier function. The quality-of-life score decreased from 17.5 ± 3.8 to 14.1 ± 3.0 (P < 0.001). No serious side effects were observed. The 1440-nm NAFL therapy is effective in the treatment of acne scaring in patients with rosacea with little damage to the skin barrier. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we consider the defocusing Hartree nonlinear Schrödinger equations on T 3 with real-valued and even potential V and Fourier multiplier decaying such as |k|−β. By relying on the method of random averaging operators [Deng et al., arXiv:1910.08492 (2019)], we show that there exists β0, which is less than but close to 1, such that for β > β0, we have invariance of the associated Gibbs measure and global existence of strong solutions in its statistical ensemble. In this way, we extend Bourgain's seminal result [J. Bourgain, J. Math. Pures Appl. 76, 649–702 (1997)], which requires β > 2 in this case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to study the axial performance of steel fiber-reinforced rubberized concrete-filled circular steel tubular columns, a total of 11 steel fiber-reinforced rubberized concrete-filled circular tubular columns are subjected to axial compression tests, considering the main parameters are rubber substitution rate, rubber particle size, steel fiber content, and concrete strength. The test results show that the use of rubber will reduce the bearing capacity of the columns but can increase the ductility of the columns. The smaller the rubber particles, the greater the reduction in the bearing capacity. The incorporation of steel fibers can increase the compressive strength of concrete, thereby improving the axial performance of the columns. The strength of concrete has the greatest influence on the columns, and the bearing capacity increases approximately linearly with the increase of concrete strength. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of the cardiac cycle on the vena cava and determine the phase of measuring maximum diameters. A total of 152 patients who underwent cardiac computed tomography (CT) were included. Patients' basic information was collected. The major axis, minor axis, and cross-sectional area (CSA) of the vena cava in 10 phases reconstructed at 10% step from 5% to 95% R–R interval were measured in four planes (SVC1 layer: the bifurcation of the pulmonary artery; SVC2 layer: the superior vena cava (SVC) into the right atrium; IVC1 layer: the intersection of the inferior vena cava (IVC) and the right atrium; IVC2 layer: the IVC into the anterior hepatic plane). The difference in vena cava diameters between cardiac cycles was determined using the linear mixed model. The variations in diameter and CSA of the SVC in cardiac cycles were statistically significant (p < 0.05), while those of the suprahepatic IVC were not. In the SVC1 layer, the maximum value of the SVC major and minor axes was observed in 85% and 45% phases, respectively, while that in the SVC2 layer was observed in 45% phases. The maximum SVC diameters in the SVC1 and SVC2 layers were 19.48 ± 2.57 mm and 17.43 ± 3.09 mm, respectively. The SVC and IVC diameters and CSA were positively correlated with the body surface area in the linear mixed model. The maximum SVC diameter and CSA were mostly observed in 45% phase, which provides a reference for selecting the best phase to measure the abnormality of vena cava diameter in the future. • The variation of vena cava during cardiac cycle was quantitatively studied by cardiac CT for the first time. • The cardiac cycle is a factor that cannot be ignored when measuring the vena cava. • The maximum values of the SVC diameter and CSA were mostly observed in 45% phase of the cardiac cycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spatial policies are crucial to regulating the harmful consequences of land use change on social-ecological systems. As the urban development model transitions to urban regeneration, the efficacy of spatial policies on urban renewal remains insufficiently explored. To investigate the mechanism of multi-level spatial policies on urban renewal, we employ logit models to scrutinize the impact of four spatial policies on urban renewal in Shenzhen from 2010 to 2020, along with embedding interaction effect models to examine the interaction between multiple policies. This study comprehends the mechanism of multi-level policies in three dimensions: spatial, temporal, and interactive. (1) Small-scale spatial policies tend to have a more substantial control effect, with micro land use policies increasing the probability of urban renewal by 2.04–3.77 times. Urban renewal prioritizes inward development, demanding a higher level of spatial policy resolution. (2) Except for the planned main city centers, the effects of all policies escalate over time, with the intensity of commercial planning surging up to 139% in 2016–2020 compared to the previous period. (3) Interaction effects between policies exist between policies at different scales. The effects of the main centers and the urban renewal planning reinforce each other by 37%, while the effects of the main centers and the commercial plans counteract each other by 34%. The coordination of multisectoral policies and the diversified use of policy instruments are conducive to enhancing the interactive effects between policies. • Investigating the impact of multi-level spatial policies on multifunctional urban renewal. • Small-scale spatial policies have greater control effects than large-scale policies. • Except for the planned main city centers, the effects of all policies escalate over time by up to 139 %. • Meso and micro spatial policies interact significantly, with effects ranging from 20% to 37%. • Spatial policy improvements suggested considering space, time, and diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• First experimental study using prestressed CFRP plates to strengthen or repair RC girders with HOLLOW sections. • Essential experimental results and structural beheaviour obeservations for further analytical development. • Practical solutions for strengthening and repairing aged and over-used hollow RC box girders. The paper presents a well-rounded experimental study on the flexural performance of Reinforced Concrete (RC) box girders strengthened with prestressed carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) plates. The motivation behind the study was twofold: the rising need for structural reinforcement of existing aged and heavily utilised hollow RC box girders, and the absence of prior attempts to integrate prestressed CFRP plate strengthening for those hollow girders. Previous experimental studies are scarce and fewer studies are focused on the combined prestress and thin-wall effects, such as prestress-related stress condensation and shear lag. However, experimental results are important in directing further analytical studies for hollow sections with more complex behaviours than solid sections since there is a need to predict the behaviour of the prestress-strengthened hollow RC structures for routine design. This pivotal experimental study aims to quantify the structural interactions initiated by prestress in hollow sections and evaluate the impact of age while promoting further analytical initiatives. In this study, two types of CFRP plates, ordinary CFRP and steel-wire-CFRP (SW-CFRP), were used on different specimen beams with varying prestressing levels, sizes of the CFRP plates, and pre-damaged states representing aged and over-used members. Their performance indexes, including cracking load, yield load, ultimate load, structural stiffness, ductility, and crack resistance, were tested and summarised in this paper. The CFRP plates of the eight specimen beams were prestressed to different levels (non-prestressed, and 30% and 40% of the CFRP plate's ultimate strength). The test results suggest that the crack load increased by 86% and 134%, when the specimens were enhanced with the combinations of 30% prestress level for the same CFRP cross-section, and 40% prestress level with a thicker CFRP plate, respectively. The flexural capacity also increased by 42% and 72%, and flexural stiffness increased by 3% and 63%, respectively. The experimental results proved that the proposed prestressed CFRP plate technology effectively strengthens the new or aged RC box girders, but the ductility is sacrificed. These first-hand test results provide an excellent target dataset for further development in the analysis and design of prestressed CFRP plate-strengthened RC box girders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Choice of DNA extraction kit caused the highest variability in microbial profiling. • Targeted metagenomes could be susceptible to different sequencing run batches. • Technical variabilities may sometimes mask biological variabilities. • A complex environmental reference material (ERM) is established for standardization. • Reproducible and high confidence microbial profiles are prepared for the ERM. Breakthroughs in DNA-based technologies, especially in metagenomic sequencing, have drastically enhanced researchers' ability to explore environmental microbiome and the associated interplays within. However, as new methodologies are being actively developed for improvements in different aspects, metagenomic workflows become diversified and heterogeneous. Through a single-variable control approach, we quantified the microbial profiling variations arising from 6 common technical variables associated with metagenomic workflows for both simple and complex samples. The incurred variations were constantly the lowest in replicates of DNA isolation and DNA sequencing library construction. Different DNA extraction kits often caused the highest variation among all the tested variables. Additionally, sequencing run batch was an important source of variability for targeted platforms. As such, the development of an environmental reference material for complex environmental samples could be beneficial in benchmarking accrued non-biological variability within and between protocols and insuring reliable and reproducible sequencing outputs immediately upstream of bioinformatic analysis. To develop an environment reference material, sequencing of a well-homogenized environmental sample composed of activated sludge was performed using different pre-analytical assays in replications. In parallel, a certified mock community was processed and sequenced. Assays were ranked based on the reconstruction of the theoretical mock community profile. The reproducibility of the best-performing assay and the microbial profile of the reference material were further ascertained. We propose the adoption of our complex environmental reference material, which could reflect the degree of diversity in environmental microbiome studies, to facilitate accurate, reproducible, and comparable environmental metagenomics-based studies. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Achieving reliable results with sequencing throughput above 0.5 Gb. • Validating performance of variant deconvolution pipeline. • Deciphering the variant prevalence through wastewater genomic sequencing. • Tracking variant trends 16 days earlier than clinical data using wastewater data. • Uncovering novel SARS-CoV-2 mutations and alleles in wastewater. Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) has been widely used as a complementary approach to SARS-CoV-2 clinical surveillance. Wastewater genomic sequencing could provide valuable information on the genomic diversity of SARS-CoV-2 in the surveyed population. However, reliable detection and quantification of variants or mutations remain challenging. In this study, we used mock wastewater samples created by spiking SARS-CoV-2 variant standard RNA into wastewater RNA to evaluate the impacts of sequencing throughput on various aspects such as genome coverage, mutation detection, and SARS-CoV-2 variant deconvolution. We found that wastewater datasets with sequencing throughput greater than 0.5 Gb yielded reliable results in genomic analysis. In addition, using in silico mock datasets, we evaluated the performance of the adopted pipeline for variant deconvolution. By sequencing 86 wastewater samples covering more than 6 million people over 7 months, we presented two use cases of wastewater genomic sequencing for surveying COVID-19 in Hong Kong in WBE applications, including the replacement of Delta variants by Omicron variants, and the prevalence and development trends of three Omicron sublineages. Importantly, the wastewater genomic sequencing data were able to reveal the variant trends 16 days before the clinical data did. By investigating mutations of the spike (S) gene of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, we also showed the potential of wastewater genomic sequencing in identifying novel mutations and unique alleles. Overall, our study demonstrated the crucial role of wastewater genomic surveillance in providing valuable insights into the emergence and monitoring of new SARS-CoV-2 variants and laid a solid foundation for the development of genomic analysis methodologies for WBE of other novel emerging viruses in the future. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Enriched decoding of spontaneous speech achieves better recognition performance. • Part-of-speech features help to reduce the perplexity of language model. • Hierarchical prosodic model enriches the recognition output with break type and prosodic state information. • Reduplication-word language model help to suppress outputting redundant words. A deep neural network (DNN)-based automatic speech recognition (ASR) method for enriched decoding of Mandarin spontaneous speech is proposed. It adopts an enhanced approach over the baseline model built with factored time delay neural networks (TDNN-f) and rescored with RNNLM to first building a baseline system composed of a TDNN-f acoustic model (AM), a trigram language model (LM), and a recurrent neural network language model (RNNLM) to generate a word lattice. It then sequentially incorporates a multi-task Part-of-Speech-RNNLM (POS-RNNLM), a hierarchical prosodic model (HPM), and a reduplication-word LM (RLM) into the decoding process by expanding the word lattice and performing rescoring to improve recognition performance and enrich the decoding output with syntactic parameters of POS and punctuation (PM), prosodic tags of word-juncture break types and syllable prosodic states, and an edited recognition text with reduplication words being eliminated. Experimental results on the Mandarin conversational dialogue corpus (MCDC) showed that SER, CER, and WER of 13.2 %, 13.9 %, and 19.1 % were achieved when incorporating the POS-RNNLM and HPM into the baseline system. They represented relative SER, CER, and WER reductions of 7.7 %, 7.9 % and 5.0 % as comparing with those of the baseline system. Futhermore, the use of the RLM resulted in additional 3 %, 4.6 %, and 4.5 % relative SER, CER, and WER reductions through eliminating reduplication words. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a 3D semi-analytical method is proposed by introducing the Durbin's Laplace transform, as well as its numerical inversion method, state space approach and differential quadrature method to analyse the transient behaviour of functionally graded material cylindrical panels. Moreover, to investigate the effectiveness of the proposed semi-analytical solution, four boundary conditions are used to undertake the analyses. Comparing the proposed approach with other theoretical methods from the literatures, we see better agreements in the natural frequencies. Besides, the semi-analytical solution acquires nearly the same transient response as those obtained by ANSYS. Convergence studies indicate that the proposed method has a quick convergence rate with growing sample point numbers along the length direction, so do layer numbers increase along the radial direction. The effects of thickness/outer radius ratio, length/outer radius ratio and functionally graded indexes are also studied. When carbon nanotube is added to functionally graded material cylindrical panel, the composite structures have been reinforced greatly. The proposed 3D semi-analytical method has high accuracy for the analysis of composite structures. This study can serve as a foundation for solving more complicated environments such as fluid–structure interaction of flexible pipe or thermal effect analysis of functionally graded material in aerospace field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider the effects of mixing by smooth bilipschitz shear flows in the linearized Euler equations on. Here, we construct a model which is closely related to a small high frequency perturbation around Couette flow, which exhibits linear inviscid damping for L sufficiently small, but for which damping fails if L is large. In particular, similar to the instability results for convex profiles for a shear flow being bilipschitz is not sufficient for linear inviscid damping to hold. Instead of an eigenvalue-based argument the underlying mechanism here is shown to be based on a new cascade of resonances moving to higher and higher frequencies in y, which is distinct from the echo chain mechanism in the nonlinear problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Frictional shearing along the basal slip surface is the main energy dissipation mechanism in coherent landslides, which undergo little internal deformation during runout. Most landslide bodies, however, deform and break down more or less extensively; thus, only a portion of their potential energy is dissipated through basal shearing. The mineral components of rocks and soils have individual melting temperatures. Therefore, as temperature increases, selective melting will occur in a defined sequence. The product of such melting is termed frictionite. Here, we exploited a sliding block model to investigate the role of selective melting in the evolution of the frictional resistance (and hence mobility) of partially coherent landslides. We recognized three frictional stages, characterized by weakening, strengthening, and melt lubrication. As melting proceeds, a gradual transition from solid friction to viscous flow occurs, which can be modeled in terms of the molten mineral fraction. The chemical composition also evolves and so does its viscosity. Rocks with different mineral proportions (e.g., mafic vs. felsic rocks) will exhibit different frictional evolutions. Our model results are consistent with the recognized role of landslide thickness in defining its mobility. Moreover, the frictional strengthening stage is shown to become irrelevant under high confinement, thereby facilitating higher mobility, or sometimes shifting slip surface if weak layer exists. We also discussed the relevance of some strengthening‐upon‐melting behavior observed at the experimental scale, pointing out the role of the energy conversion coefficient, which is a proxy for landslide coherence. Key Points: Selective melting may occur in rock minerals on the slip surface upon shearing under sufficient stress and shear rateA molten fraction with variable composition defines the solid and molten rock friction as well as the molten rock viscosityLandslide and shear‐zone thicknesses and the energy conversion coefficient control the mobility of partially coherent landslides [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is increasingly clear that longitudinal risk factor levels and trajectories are related to risk for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) above and beyond single measures. Currently used in clinical care, the Pooled Cohort Equations (PCE) are based on regression methods that predict ASCVD risk based on cross-sectional risk factor levels. Deep learning (DL) models have been developed to incorporate longitudinal data for risk prediction but its benefit for ASCVD risk prediction relative to the traditional Pooled Cohort Equations (PCE) remain unknown. Our study included 15,565 participants from four cardiovascular disease cohorts free of baseline ASCVD who were followed for adjudicated ASCVD. Ten-year ASCVD risk was calculated in the training set using our benchmark, the PCE, and a longitudinal DL model, Dynamic-DeepHit. Predictors included those incorporated in the PCE: sex, race, age, total cholesterol, high density lipid cholesterol, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, diabetes, hypertension treatment and smoking. The discrimination and calibration performance of the two models were evaluated in an overall hold-out testing dataset. Of the 15,565 participants in our dataset, 2170 (13.9%) developed ASCVD. The performance of the longitudinal DL model that incorporated 8 years of longitudinal risk factor data improved upon that of the PCE [AUROC: 0.815 (CI 0.782–0.844) vs 0.792 (CI 0.760–0.825)] and the net reclassification index was 0.385. The brier score for the DL model was 0.0514 compared with 0.0542 in the PCE. Incorporating longitudinal risk factors in ASCVD risk prediction using DL can improve model discrimination and calibration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]