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This paper proposes a digital image processing-based detection algorithm for cross joint traces of coal roadway heading face. Initially, the acquired images were preprocessed, i.e., adaptive correction was conducted for non-uniform illumination images based on the 2D gamma function. The edge detection algorithm was then applied to extract the edges of the structural plane, followed by the filtration of the non-structural plane noises. Moreover, the Hough transform algorithm was applied to extract the linear edges; finally, the edges were locally connected in accordance with the angle and distance criteria. The experimental results show that this algorithm can be used to reduce the noise caused by non-uniform illumination and avoid the mutual interference of multi-scale edges, so as to effectively extract the traces of the cross joint. Furthermore, Q-system and rock mass rating (RMR), were applied to conduct a quantitative evaluation on the stand-up time of unsupported roof in the four test images. The Q-system quality scores are 26.7, 43.3, 3.1, and 6.7, and the RMR quality scores are 56.84, 58.73, 48.42, and 51.42, respectively. The stand-up time of unsupported roofs with a span of 4.6 m are 30, 36, 7.7 and 14 d, respectively.

Abstract Background The spine is the most frequently affected part of the skeletal system to metastatic tumors. External radiotherapy is considered the first-line standard of care for these patients with spine metastases. Recurrent spinal metastases after radiotherapy cannot be treated with further radiotherapy within a short period of time, making treatment difficult. We aimed to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of MWA combined with cementoplasty in the treatment of spinal metastases after radiotherapy under real-time temperature monitoring. Methods In this retrospective study, 82 patients with 115 spinal metastatic lesions were treated with MWA and cementoplasty under real-time temperature monitoring. Changes in visual analog scale (VAS) scores, daily morphine consumption, and Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) scores were noted. A paired Student’s t-test was used to assess these parameters. Complications during the procedure were graded using the CTCAE version 5.0. Results Technical success was attained in all patients. The mean VAS score was 6.3 ± 2.0 (range, 4–10) before operation, and remarkable decline was noted in one month (1.7 ± 1.0 [P

The high-content image-based assay is commonly leveraged for identifying the phenotypic impact of genetic perturbations in biology field. However, a persistent issue remains unsolved during experiments: the interferential technical noises caused by systematic errors (e.g., temperature, reagent concentration, and well location) are always mixed up with the real biological signals, leading to misinterpretation of any conclusion drawn. Here, we reported a mean teacher-based deep learning model (DeepNoise) that can disentangle biological signals from the experimental noises. Specifically, we aimed to classify the phenotypic impact of 1108 different genetic perturbations screened from 125,510 fluorescent microscopy images, which were totally unrecognizable by the human eye. We validated our model by participating in the Recursion Cellular Image Classification Challenge, and DeepNoise achieved an extremely high classification score (accuracy: 99.596%), ranking the 2nd place among 866 participating groups. This promising result indicates the successful separation of biological and technical factors, which might help decrease the cost of treatment development and expedite the drug discovery process. The source code of DeepNoise is available at https://github.com/Scu-sen/Recursion-Cellular-Image-Classification-Challenge.

As the underground water-sealed storage is one of the important ways of oil and other energy storage in China, the development and innovation of basic theory and key technologies is of great importance. In the construction of the second phase of National Petroleum Reserve Projects in China, the entities involved in construction of those projects carried out the extensive scientific research and key technology research with reference to the actual construction conditions. However, the construction of the underground water-sealed oil storage in rock caverns with millions of cubic meters of reserves is a complex systematic project, which is still a new technology field in China. Thus, many key technologies related to the construction of large-scale underground water-sealed oil storage in rock caverns need to be studied in depth. Herein, the important research progress in the basic theory and key technologies of underground water-sealed storage in China in recent years was summarized. For the basic theory, the progress in water seal efficiency evaluation, water seal reliability analysis, and water inflow prediction method of storage caverns was introduced. For the key technologies, the progress in water sealing monitoring and evaluation technology, support design and stability monitoring technology was reviewed. Finally, five challenges and countermeasures in the construction of underground water-sealed storage were analyzed and summarized in combination with the development trend of underground water-sealed storage in China. The research results are expected to play a positive role in promoting the scientific and technological progress and high-quality development of underground water-sealed storage industry in China.

Acne scars are caused by inflammatory reactions, infections, and improper handling of acne lesions. Such scars have a high incidence and are difficult to treat. There are many methods currently used to treat acne scars, including medications, photoelectric technology, surgery, filling, chemical peeling, traditional Chinese medicine, biotherapy, and microneedle therapy, and many new methods are constantly emerging. However, there are still many issues, such as the lack of high-quality clinical studies, non-uniform treatment methods, and unsatisfactory therapeutic effects. The selection of appropriate methods for the comprehensive treatment of different types of acne scars at different stages in clinical practice remains challenging and is a research topic of great interest. From the perspective of evidence-based medicine, this consensus aims to provide a reference for the treatment of acne scars in clinical practice.

Pruning is time-consuming and laborious in watermelon cultivation, which can not meet the needs for simplified cultivation in the future. The development of branchless lines will provide important germplasms for breeding watermelon varieties and is an important method for genetic improvement. In this study, the watermelon accession, Wu Cha Zao (WCZ) is a branchless inbred line that carries the branchless gene Clbl, which was used as the donor parent to develop branchless near isogenic lines (NILs). To construct the NILs of Clbl, WCZ crossed with the normal branching watermelon inbred line WT20 which was used as the recurrent parent. The co-segregating markers dCAPS10 and Indel1 with Clbl were used for foreground selection, and a total of 108 SSR markers was selected with good polymorphism between two parental lines for background selection which had relatively uniform distribution across 11 chromosomes. Using these markers to select individuals from the BC1F1, BC2F1, and BC2F2 generations, three NILs with a proportion of recurrent parent genome (PRPG) > 99% were finally obtained. The lateral branch and plant height phenotypes did not significantly differ between the NILs and WCZ, indicating that the NILs of Clbl under the genetic background of WT20 has been successfully developed. These results provide ideal materials for further in-depth analysis of the genetic mechanisms of lateral branch development and ideal plant architecture breeding in watermelon.

Giant grouper (Epinephelus lanceolatus) is not only favored in the international live reef-fish trade but also a promising species for mariculture in coastal communities throughout Asia. Sperm cryopreservation contributes to the extensive utilization of artificial insemination in grouper aquaculture industry. Inevitable damage during the process of freezing can negatively affect post-thaw sperm quality and fertility, thus hindering its routine application in practice. Melatonin is an antioxidant that can protect sperm from the adverse effects of cryopreservation in a variety of species. This study was aimed to assess the effect of melatonin addition on post-thaw sperm function of giant grouper. Semen samples were cryopreserved with freezing medium containing different final concentrations of melatonin (1, 2 and 4 μM) and the control group (without melatonin). After thawing, multiple sperm functional parameters were evaluated. Generally, a positive effect on cryopreservation was observed for all doses of melatonin. Melatonin treatment at 1 and 2 μM seemed to be efficient in preventing sperm cryodamage, which yielded significantly higher total motility, progressive motility, mitochondrial membrane potential (P

The immune system provides full protection for the body by specifically identifying ‘self’ and removing ‘others’; thus protecting the body from diseases. The immune system includes innate immunity and adaptive immunity, which jointly coordinate the antitumor immune response. T cells, natural killer (NK) cells and tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) are the main tumor-killing immune cells active in three antitumor immune cycle. Cancer immunotherapy focusses on activating and strengthening immune response or eliminating suppression from tumor cells in each step of the cancer-immunity cycle; thus, it strengthens the body’s immunity against tumors. In this review, the antitumor immune cycles of T cells, natural killer (NK) cells and tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) are discussed. Co-stimulatory and co-inhibitory molecules in the three activity cycles and the development of drugs and delivery systems targeting these molecules are emphasized, and the current state of the art of drug delivery systems for cancer immunotherapy are summarized.

Cryopreservation of fish semen is a valuable technique for reproductive management in aquaculture. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of long-term storage in liquid nitrogen on post-thaw sperm functional parameters of brown-marbled grouper (Epinephelus fuscoguttatus). Samples were cryopreserved in a simple freezing medium (10 % DMSO + 0.3 M Glucose), sperm quality parameters were assessed at different storage periods (one month, one year, 2 years and 3 years). Our results indicated that cryostorage periods had a significant effect on the quality of frozen-thawed spermatozoa. Compared with fresh semen, cryopreserved sample was characterized by an overall decline in motility, viability, mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP), ATP content and increased level of lipid peroxidation with the storage time going on. For the analyzed quality parameters, there were no significant differences in storage time cryopreserved over one month. After 3 years of storage, frozen sperm still showed relatively high total motility, viability and MMP (all over 80 %), yielding acceptable fertilizing capacity close to that of fresh sperm. Therefore, it can be concluded that brown-marbled grouper sperm could be effectively cryopreserved for at least 3 years. The results of this study would be helpful to optimize gamete management in routine hatchery practices.

Over the past three decades, multiple reverberation mapping (RM) campaigns conducted for the quasar PG 2130+099 have exhibited inconsistent findings with time delays ranging from ∼10 to ∼200 days. To achieve a comprehensive understanding of the geometry and dynamics of the broad-line region (BLR) in PG 2130+099, we continued an ongoing high-cadence RM monitoring campaign using the Calar Alto Observatory 2.2 m optical telescope for an extra four years from 2019 to 2022. We measured the time lags of several broad emission lines (including He ii , He i , H β , and Fe ii ) with respect to the 5100 Å continuum, and their time lags continuously vary through the years. Especially, the H β time lags exhibited approximately a factor of 2 increase in the last two years. Additionally, the velocity-resolved time delays of the broad H β emission line reveal a back-and-forth change between signs of virial motion and inflow in the BLR. The combination of negligible (∼10%) continuum change and substantial time-lag variation (over 2 times) results in a significant scatter in the intrinsic R _H _β – L _5100 relationship for PG 2130+099. Taking the consistent changes in the continuum variability time scale and the size of the BLR into account, we tentatively propose that the changes in the measurement of the BLR size may be affected by “geometric dilution”

We conduct a reverberation mapping (RM) campaign to spectroscopically monitor a sample of selected bright active galactic nuclei with large anticipated broad-line region (BLR) sizes adequate for spectroastrometric (SA) observations by the GRAVITY instrument on the Very Large Telescope Interferometer. We report the first results for five objects, IC 4329A, Mrk 335, Mrk 509, Mrk 1239, and PDS 456, among which Mrk 1239 and PDS 456 are for the first time spectroscopically monitored. We obtain multiyear monitoring data and perform multicomponent spectral decomposition to extract the broad H β profiles. We detect significant time lags between the H β and continuum variations, generally obeying the previously established BLR size–luminosity relation. Velocity-resolved H β time lags illustrate diverse, possibly evolving, BLR kinematics. We further measure the H β line widths from mean and rms spectra and the resulting virial products show good consistency among different observing seasons. Adopting a unity virial factor and the FWHM of the broad H β line from the mean spectra as a measure of velocity, the obtained black hole masses averaged over seasons are $\mathrm{log}{M}_{\bullet }/{M}_{\odot }={8.02}_{-0.14}^{+0.09}$ , ${6.92}_{-0.12}^{+0.12}$ , ${8.01}_{-0.25}^{+0.16}$ , ${7.44}_{-0.14}^{+0.13}$ , and ${8.59}_{-0.11}^{+0.07}$ for the five objects, respectively. Black hole mass estimations using other line width measures are also reported. For objects with previous RM campaigns, our mass estimates are in agreement with earlier results. In a companion paper, we will employ BLR dynamical modeling to directly infer the black hole mass and thereby determine the virial factors.

Reverberation mapping (RM) has long been a powerful tool for measuring the masses of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) at the centers of active galactic nuclei (AGNs), but the precision of these mass measurements depends on the so-called virial factors. It has been demonstrated that the virial factors exhibit significant diversity, spanning approximately 1–2 orders of magnitude across different AGNs. However, the underlying physical drivers for the diversity have not yet been finalized. Here, adopting the SMBH mass–spheroid luminosity relations of inactive galaxies with different bulge classifications, we calibrate the virial factors corresponding to the AGNs with pseudobulges (PBs) and classical bulges (or elliptical hosts, CBs) using the latest nearby RM sample. We investigate the correlations between virial factors and the AGN spectral properties, and find that for both PB and CB samples, the FWHM-based virial factors exhibit significant anticorrelations with the emission-line widths and profiles, while the σ _line -based virial factors only show moderate anticorrelations with line widths for PBs. We attribute these correlations mainly to the inclination angle or opening angle of the broad-line regions. Moreover, we establish new relations to give more precise virial factors and, in combination with the latest iron-corrected radius–luminosity relation, tentatively develop new single-epoch estimators of SMBH masses, which enable more accurate measurements of SMBH masses in large AGN samples.

Apart from being an extraordinary optical and electronic material, diamond has also found applications in quantum mechanics especially in quantum sensing with the discovery and research development of various color centers. Elastic strain engineering (ESE), as a powerful modulation method, can tune the quantum properties and improve the performance of diamond quantum sensors. In recent years, deep ESE (DESE, when >5% elastic strain, or > σ _ideal /2 is achieved) has been realized in micro/nano-fabricated diamond and shows a great potential for tuning the quantum mechanical properties of diamond substantially. In this perspective, we briefly review the quantum properties of diamond and some of the corresponding sensing applications carried out with ESE, and look at how DESE could be applied for further tuning the quantum sensing properties of diamond with desired applications and what the critical challenges are.

We report first-time reverberation-mapping results for 14 active galactic nuclei (AGNs) from the ongoing Monitoring AGNs with H β Asymmetry campaign (MAHA). These results utilize optical spectra obtained with the Long Slit Spectrograph on the Wyoming Infrared 2.3 m Telescope between 2017 November and 2023 May. MAHA combines long-duration monitoring with high cadence. We report results from multiple observing seasons for nine of the 14 objects. These results include H β time lags, supermassive black hole masses, and velocity-resolved time lags. The velocity-resolved lags allow us to investigate the kinematics of the broad-line region.

Rigid robots have found wide-ranging applications in manufacturing automation, owing to their high loading capacity, high speed, and high precision. Nevertheless, these robots typically feature joint-based drive mechanisms, possessing limited degrees of freedom (DOF), bulky structures, and low manipulability in confined spaces. In contrast, continuum robots, drawing inspiration from biological structures, exhibit characteristics such as high compliance, lightweight designs, and high adaptability to various environments. Among them, cable-driven continuum robots (CDCRs) driven by multiple cables offer advantages like higher dynamic response compared to pneumatic systems and increased working space and higher loading capacity compared to shape memory alloy (SMA) drives. However, CDCRs also exhibit some shortcomings, including complex motion, drive redundancy, challenging modeling, and control difficulties. This study presents a comprehensive analysis and summary of CDCR research progress across four key dimensions: configuration design, kinematics and dynamics modeling, motion planning, and motion control. The objective of this study is to identify common challenges, propose solutions, and unlock the full potential of CDCRs for a broader range of applications.

This study characterizes the fractography of ferritic ductile iron under various loads, including tensile, fatigue and bending, and impact conditions. The results indicate that ductile fracture is the primary mechanism observed during tensile testing at room temperature. The fractography resulting from fatigue testing exhibits characteristics similar to cleavage fracture, and explains the formation of fatigue striations caused by the joint effects of dislocation slip and oxidation under crack tip stress. Under impact testing, the main fracture mechanism transitions from ductile to brittle with decreasing temperature. At high temperatures, fractography is mainly characterized by elliptical dimples with graphite nodules at the center that deform along the stress direction. In the ductile-brittle transition temperature range, a mixed fracture mechanism involving both dimples and cleavage patterns is observed. At low temperatures, the fracture mechanism is cleavage fracture, cleavage fracture is mainly caused by the deformation twin, inducing crack nucleation. These findings further validate D.O.Frenandino’s quantitative analysis method for determining the main crack propagation direction of ductile fracture and brittle fracture. By employing larger statistical datasets, it is shown that this method yields high accuracy in determining the main crack propagation direction of ferritic ductile iron, thereby promoting its application as a general method for impact fractography analysis.

The effect of laser irradiation and tensile stress on the microstructure and soft magnetic properties of the FeSiBNbCu nanocrystalline alloy prepared using a continuous laser has been investigated. The experimental results indicate that a decreased laser scanning speed provides more thermal energy to induce nanocrystals and encourage grain growth. When the scanning speed is excessively high, the crystallization process will cease due to a lack of energy to drive diffusion phase transitions. Nevertheless, the introduction of tensile stress could significantly promote crystallization in FeSiBNbCu alloy samples irradiated at these high laser scanning speeds. This phenomenon can be attributed to the augmentation of compressive thermal stress at the interface between the laser-treated track and the untreated region. This heightened compressive stress promotes the diffusivity of atoms, and, as a result, the transformation from amorphous to crystalline states can be enhanced. As the applied tensile stress increases, both grain size and crystalline volume fraction exhibit a proportional augmentation. Consequently, these changes manifest in the soft magnetic properties. The crystalline volume fraction can reach 62%, and the coercivity is 2.9 A/m at the optimized scanning speed; these values correspond to 54% and 3.3 A/m under specific tensile stress loading.

Potato diseases and pests have a serious impact on the quality and yield of potatoes, and timely prevention and control of potato diseases and pests is essential. A rich knowledge reserve of potato diseases and pests is one of the most important prevention and control measures; however, valuable knowledge is buried in the massive data of potato diseases and pests, making it difficult for potato growers and managers to obtain and use it in a timely manner and to develop the potential of knowledge. Therefore, this paper explores the construction method of a knowledge graph for automatic knowledge extraction, which extracts the knowledge of potato diseases and pests scattered in heterogeneous data from multiple sources, organises it into a semantically related knowledge base, and provides potato growers with professional knowledge and timely guidance to effectively prevent and control potato diseases and pests. In this paper, a data corpus on potato diseases and pests, called PotatoRE, is first constructed. Then, a model of ALBert-BiLSTM-Self_Att-CRF is designed to extract knowledge from the corpus to form a triplet structure, which is imported into the Neo4j graph database for storage and visualisation. Furthermore, the performance of the model constructed in this paper is compared and verified using the datasets PotatoRE and People’s Daily. The results show that compared to the SOTA models of ALBert BiLSTM-CRF and ALBert BiGRU-CRF, the accuracy of our model has been improved by 2.92% and 3.12%, respectively, using PotatoRE. Compared to the Bert BiLSTM-CRF model on two datasets, our model not only improves the accuracy, recall, and F1 values, but also has a higher efficiency. The model in this paper solves the problem of the difficult recognition of nested entities. On this basis, through comparative experiments, the TransH model is used to effectively represent the constructed knowledge graph, which lays the foundation for achieving inference, extension, and automatic updating of the knowledge base. The achievements of the thesis have made certain contributions to the automatic construction of large-scale knowledge bases.

The Lower Permian Fengcheng Formation in the Mahu Sag develops a set of organic-rich alkaline lacustrine shale strata, which is a key area for shale oil exploration and development. As an important storage space and seepage channel for shale reservoirs, natural fractures have an impact on shale oil enrichment, production and development effect. In this study, the types and characteristics of natural fractures were first analyzed using core, thin section and imaging logging data. On this basis, combined with the distribution of fractures in single wells, the vertical distribution law of fractures is discussed. Finally, the planar distribution of fractures is evaluated using different seismic attributes such as coherence, curvature, likelihood, and AVAz. The results showed that three types of fractures are existed, including transformational shear fractures, intraformational open fractures and bed-parallel shear fractures, with intraformational open fractures being the most developed. The development degree of fractures in different layers has obvious differences, mainly controlled by lithology and brittle mineral content. The basalt and tuff are developed in the Feng 1 Member, with low carbonate mineral content, resulting in a relatively low degree of fracture development. The dolomite and argillaceous dolomite are developed in the Feng 2 Member and the Feng 3 Member, with high carbonate mineral content and brittleness, resulting in a high degree of fracture development. Additionally, the closer to the fault, the higher the degree of fracture development. On the plane, the fracture zone develops near the main and secondary faults, with the trend mainly oriented in the E-W direction and approximately parallel to the direction of the faults. The width of the fracture zone is largest in the central and southern part of the study area. These fractures are fault-related and are caused by regional stress fields resulting from the activity of the main-secondary faults.

Ion adsorption/exchange at charged solid/water interfaces plays a central role during a broad spectrum of chemical, environmental and engineered processes. Almost all clay minerals are featured by strong charge heterogeneity (ChHg), and in this study, critical importance and regulatory mechanisms of ChHg during adsorption/exchange of metal ions and control of heavy metals at montmorillonite interfaces have been unraveled. Although increase of charge densities promotes adsorption of metal ions, inner-sphere (InS) Pb2+ appears only at very high charge densities (1.50 e/uc); In contrast, ChHg causes considerable InS(Pb2+) at 0.75 e/uc. Compared to InS(Ca2+), InS(Pb2+) emerges at much lower ChHg: 0.03 vs. 0.11 C/m2, and is apparently superior regarding both amount and stability; Moreover, stronger ChHg further promotes InS adsorption; e.g., at 0.11 C/m2, InS(Pb2+) and InS(Ca2+) have adsorption densities of 0.34 and 0.06 μmol/m2 and potential energies of -121.3 and -81.5 kJ/mol, respectively. Pb2+ dominates InS adsorption of binary Pb2+/Ca2+ systems, and impacts of co-ions are consistent for all ChHg and magnified at stronger ChHg: Pb2+ always suppresses Ca2+ adsorption whereas Ca2+ always promotes Pb2+ adsorption. Selectivity coefficients amount to 0.87, 1.06 and 1.16 when ChHg equals 0.00, 0.05 and 0.11 C/m2, respectively. Increase of ChHg causes the switch from Ca2+-selectivity to Pb2+-selectivity, and adds kinetic difficulty of Pb2+ exchange by Ca2+. Accordingly, ChHg within montmorillonite becomes source for efficient adsorption of divalent metal ions and control of heavy metals. Results rationalize experimental observations at molecular level, and provide new insights about adsorption/exchange of metal ions and control of heavy metals at clay/water interfaces that are significantly beneficial to screening and synthesis of efficient clay-based adsorbents.

Background: To compare the safety and efficacy of 2 different computed tomography-guided puncture techniques for simultaneous needle biopsy and microwave ablation of suspected malignant pulmonary nodules. Methods: This retrospective comparative before-and-after study analyzed the data of 81 patients (each with a suspected malignant pulmonary nodule) who underwent computed tomography-guided needle biopsy with simultaneous microwave ablation between September 2016 and September 2021. In group A, 41 patients (41 pulmonary nodules) underwent microwave ablation immediately through the biopsy channel, whereas in group B, 40 patients (40 pulmonary nodules) underwent computed tomography-guided percutaneous needle biopsy and microwave ablation through separate needle channels. Clinical data, technical success rates, complications, and short-term efficacy were compared between the groups to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of both techniques. Results: Of the 81 patients, 78 successfully underwent needle biopsy and microwave ablation, with a technical success rate of 96.3%. The incidence of pneumothorax was 56.1% (23 out of 41) and 30% (12 out of 40) in groups A and B, respectively, while that of chest pain was 34.1% (14 out of 41) and 40% (16 out of 40) in groups A and B, respectively. The differences were statistically insignificant ( p = .127 and p = .759). However, the incidence of hemoptysis was 39.0% (16 out of 41) and 17.5% (7 out of 40), respectively, which was statistically significant ( P = .015). Air embolism, bronchopleural fistula, and needle implantation metastasis were not observed in both groups. At a 6-month follow-up, there were no other complications in both groups, and complete ablation was observed in all cases. Conclusion: Computed tomography-guided biopsy combined with microwave ablation is safe and effective for the treatment of suspected malignant pulmonary nodules, and clinicians can use both techniques.

Abstract Exchange bias has increasingly practical significance in magnetoresistive and spintronic devices. However, the underlying mechanism of exchange bias in bulk compounds with the structural single‐phase and inhomogeneous magnetic phases is still elusive. Herein, based on experimental and simulation results, two important parameters are studied, i.e., the antiferromagnetic (AFM) volume fraction and the ferromagnetic (FM)/AFM interface area, which essentially determine the (spontaneous) exchange bias of Mn‐rich Ni44Co6Mn44‐xSn6+x (x = 0 ∼ 6) magnetic shape memory alloys. The substitution Sn for Mn changes magnetic ground state following the sequence of superparamagnetic/AFM → dilute spin glass/AFM → transition zone → cluster spin glass/AFM → FM, accompanying the growth of FM cluster and the weakening of AFM interactions. The results reveal that the magnetic ground state for exchange bias is optimized at transition zone between dilute spin glass/strong AFM and cluster spin glass/weak AFM, in which the optimal AFM volume fraction and FM/AFM interface area are achieved by tuning magnetic fields. A giant exchange bias field of 702.7 mT and a spontaneous exchange bias field of 318.7 mT are demonstrated. The work contributes to in‐depth understanding of (spontaneous) exchange bias in magnetically inhomogeneous compounds.

Abstract Background Progesterone is widely used to improve the adverse pregnancy outcomes related to vaginal bleeding during early pregnancy. However, the evidence of its effectiveness is equivocal. Methods Six thousand six hundred fifteen mother-infant pairs from Tongji Maternal and Child Health Cohort (TMCHC) were involved in the study. Information on vaginal bleeding, progesterone administration in early pregnancy were obtained at enrolment. Birth outcomes were obtained from the hospital notes. Body weight of the infants at 12 months of age was collected by telephone interview. Multivariable logistic regression was conducted to estimate the effect of vaginal bleeding and progesterone administration in early pregnancy on birth outcomes and weight status of infants at 12 months of age. Results 21.4% (1418/6615) participants experienced bleeding in early pregnancy, and 47.5% (674/1418) of them were treated with progesterone. There were no significant associations between progesterone supplementation in early pregnancy and offspring outcomes. Compared to women without bleeding or any therapy, women with bleeding and progesterone therapy experienced increased risk of preterm (OR 1.74, 95% CI 1.21–2.52), and delivering a small-for-gestational-age (SGA) (OR 1.46, 95% CI 1.07–1.98) or low birth weight (LBW) (OR 2.10, 95% CI 1.25–3.51) neonate, and offspring of them had an increased risk of weight for age z-score (WAZ)

In order to modify the room-temperature plasticity of TiAl-based alloy, grain boundary character distribution (GBCD) in TiAl-based alloy was tuned through multidirectional isothermal forging (MDIF) combined with annealing. The experimental results showed that MDIF provided appropriate driving force for the regeneration of the coincidence site lattice (CSL) boundaries through recovery and recrystallization process. Combination of MDIF and annealing at 1100 °C for 90 min promoted the formation of a large number of annealing twins and increased the fraction of low-ΣCSL boundaries to 65.88% and the ratio of (Σ9+Σ27)/Σ3 to 15.12%, which contributed to the disruption of random boundary networks and enhanced the room-temperature plasticity of the TiAl-based alloy.

Abstract Platinum-based chemotherapy was previously the first-choice treatment for lung cancer. The discovery of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene mutations and the development of EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) marked the beginning of the targeted therapy era for non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Thirty percent of NSCLC patients carry EGFR gene mutations. For these advanced NSCLC patients, EGFR-TKIs are currently preferred for their superior activity and survival benefits over platinum-based chemotherapy. However, therapeutic efficacy is quite different in patients with EGFR exon 20 insertion (ex20ins) mutations versus common mutations. Patients with ex20ins mutations are insensitive to EGFR-TKIs and have poor prognosis. Some drugs targeting EGFR ex20ins mutations have been approved. Here, we systematically reviewed the recent clinical research of and treatments used for EGFR ex20ins mutations, summarized the latest data on emerging therapies, and discussed future prospects and treatments.

The high performance of deep learning networks relies mainly on massive data. However, collecting enough samples of crop disease is impractical, which significantly limits the intelligent diagnosis of diseases. In this study, we propose Heterogeneous Metric Fusion Network-based Few-Shot Learning (HMFN-FSL), which aims to recognize crop diseases with unseen categories using only a small number of labeled samples. Specifically, CBAM (Convolutional Block Attention Module) was embedded in the feature encoders to improve the feature representation capability. Second, an improved few-shot learning network, namely HMFN-FSL, was built by fusing three metric networks (Prototypical Network, Matching Network, and DeepEMD (Differentiable Earth Mover’s Distance)) under the framework of meta-learning, which solves the problem of the insufficient accuracy of a single metric model. Finally, pre-training and meta-training strategies were optimized to improve the ability to generalize to new tasks in meta-testing. In this study, two datasets named Plantvillage and Field-PV (covering 38 categories of 14 crops and containing 50,403 and 665 images, respectively) are used for extensive comparison and ablation experiments. The results show that the HMFN-FSL proposed in this study outperforms the original metric networks and other state-of-the-art FSL methods. HMFN-FSL achieves 91.21% and 98.29% accuracy for crop disease recognition on 5way-1shot, 5way-5shot tasks on the Plantvillage dataset. The accuracy is improved by 14.86% and 3.96%, respectively, compared to the state-of-the-art method (DeepEMD) in past work. Furthermore, HMFN-FSL was still robust on the field scenes dataset (Field-PV), with average recognition accuracies of 73.80% and 85.86% on 5way-1shot, 5way-5shot tasks, respectively. In addition, domain variation and fine granularity directly affect the performance of the model. In conclusion, the few-shot method proposed in this study for crop disease recognition not only has superior performance in laboratory scenes but is also still effective in field scenes. Our results outperform the existing related works. This study provided technical references for subsequent few-shot disease recognition in complex environments in field environments.

The structure of a material is an important factor in determining its physical properties. Here, we adjust the structure of the Ni50Mn37Ga13 spun ribbons by changing the wheel speed to regulate the exchange bias effect of the material. The characterization results of micromorphology and structure show that as the wheel speed increases, the martensite lath decreases from 200 nm to 50 nm, the structure changed from the NM to a NM and 10M mixed martensitic structure containing mainly NM, then changed to NM and 10M where 10M and NM are approaching. Meanwhile, HE first increased and then decreased as the wheel speed increased. The optimum exchange bias effect (HE = 7.2 kOe) occurs when the wheel speed is 25 m∙s−1, mainly attributed to the enhanced ferromagnetism caused by part of 10M in NM martensite, which enhanced the exchange coupling of ferromagnetism and antiferromagnetism. This work reveals the structural dependence of exchange bias and provides a way to tune the magnitude of the exchange bias of Heusler alloys.

The difference in the strengthening effect of different thickness reinforcement plates on an LY12 aluminum alloy central defect plate and the load distribution between the reinforcement plate and central defect plate in the reinforcement plate structure were studied. Through a method of equivalent transverse load in a small interval [a + Δa], the equivalent cyclic load of the central defect plate in the reinforced plate structure under different crack lengths was calculated, and then the distribution of the internal load of the reinforced plate structure with a different thickness with the crack propagation was solved. The secondary development program of the finite element software Abaqus was written in Python language, so that Abaqus software can solve the problem of high cycle fatigue. The finite element simulation of the different thickness-reinforced plate structure is carried out by this program. Through the output data, the equivalent cyclic load of the central defect plate in the reinforced plate structure under different crack lengths is calculated. Through three different fitting methods, the mathematical relationship between the equivalent cyclic load Δσ and the crack length a at both ends of the central defect plate in the reinforced plate structure is described. Based on the mathematical relationship and the finite element output data, the fatigue crack propagation life of the reinforced plate structures with different thicknesses is calculated. It is found that, under the same crack conditions, with the increase in the thickness of the reinforced plate, the bearing load of the cracked plate decreases and the life of the cracked plate increases. With the expansion of the crack, the bearing load ratio of the reinforced plate increases. The simulation method is compared with the experimental results to verify its effectiveness.

Zearalenone and its metabolites are mycotoxins generated by Fusarium species while crops are growing and can typically be found in various foods, posing a risk to human health. Governments have implemented stricter regulations concerning the permissible levels of zearalenone in food products to safeguard public health. Stricter regulations on zearalenone levels in food have been implemented. However, detecting zearalenone and its metabolites remains challenging due to sample complexity and interference. Surprisingly few reviews of sample preparation methods for zearalenone in food have appeared in the past decade. In this overview, we outline the most recent developments in the sample pre-treatment technology of zearalenone and its metabolites in food samples based on chromatography–mass spectrometry methods since 2012. This review covers some prominent technologies, such as liquid–liquid extraction-based methods, solid-phase extraction-based methods, and QuEChERS (quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe) extraction, providing valuable insights into their advantages and limitations for potential applications. The assessment of the methods discussed, along with an overview of current challenges and prospects, will guide researchers in advancing the field and ensuring safer food quality for consumers worldwide.

The target simulation of airplanes is an important research topic. It is particularly important to find the right balance between high performance and low cost. In order to balance the contradictions between realistic target simulations and controllable costs, the scientific formulation of the performance parameters of target simulation is the key to achieving high performance. This paper proposes an intelligent simulation technology based on RCS imaging simulation through the combination of 60° variation corner reflector and a Luneberg lens reflector. It is designed to simulate several important RCS characteristics of the aircraft. At the same time, the different RCS images are automatically shifted to the corresponding gear position to achieve the purpose of simulation, and the price is low and the performance is good. It can be used for the training of radar target searching.

There is great interest in methods for catalytic enantioselective construction of axially chiral compounds found in natural products. Here, the authors develop a cycloaddition strategy for atroposelective construction of indole-based biaryls via chiral phosphoric acid-catalysed cycloaddition.

Single qubit in solid-state materials recently emerges as a versatile platform for quantum information. Among them, the nitrogen vacancy (NV) centre in diamond has become a powerful tool in quantum sensing for detecting various physics parameters, including electric and magnetic fields, temperature, force, strain, with ultimate precision and resolutions. It has been widely used in different conditions, from samples in ambient to samples in ultra-high pressure and low temperature. It can detect quantum phase transitions as well as neuron activities. Here we give a general review on both the physics of the sensing mechanism and protocols and applications.

Abstract While conventional chemical fungicides directly eliminate pathogens, plant immunity inducers activate or prime plant immunity. In recent years, considerable progress has been made in understanding the mechanisms of immune regulation in plants. The development and application of plant immunity inducers based on the principles of plant immunity represent a new field in plant protection research. In this review, we describe the mechanisms of plant immunity inducers in terms of plant immune system activation, summarize the various classes of reported plant immunity inducers (proteins, oligosaccharides, chemicals, and lipids), and review methods for the identification or synthesis of plant immunity inducers. The current situation, new strategies, and future prospects in the development and application of plant immunity inducers are also discussed.

Assessing the condition of a road exposed to the atmosphere is crucial for safety. A three-wavelength road-condition sensor is a noncontact sensor that can be used for qualitative recognition and quantitative measurement of road conditions. However, the sensor is not robust to anomalous changes in the light intensity received that can be caused by several factors (such as changes in distance to the measuring point from a road bump or pothole). These changes cause the measurement state to deviate from the calibration state, reducing the sensor detection accuracy. However, existing studies on reducing the influence of the abovementioned problems on road-condition detection have only focused on how to ensure robustness in the qualitative classification of road-covering types, and no studies have been performed on how to ensure robustness in the quantitative measurement of the road-covering thickness. Thus, a quantitative calibration method for three-wavelength road-condition sensors using a dual-wavelength response ratio is proposed in this study. This method consists of using the response voltage ratio of two wavelengths to replace the response voltage of one wavelength during the quantitative calibration of sensors, making quantitative measurement insensitive to the deviation between measurement and calibration states. Comparison experiments were performed using the three-wavelength road-condition sensor calibrated by different quantitative methods, and an analysis was performed on the influence of the deviation of the measurement state from the calibration state on the quantitative measurement results and the measured covering thickness under changes in the measurement state. The experimental results verified the effectiveness of the novel approach compared with the traditional quantitative calibration method.

The sample imbalance of expression datasets always leads to poor recognition results for minority classes. To solve this problem, we propose a facial expression recognition network, called Residual Attentive Sharing Network (RASN). There is a fact that different expressions have affinity features, which makes it possible for the minority classes to benefit from the majority classes in the expression feature extraction process, from which we propose a sharing affinity features module to compensate for the inadequate feature learning of minority classes by sharing affinity features. In addition, an affinity features attention module is added to highlight expression-related affinity features and suppress expression-unrelated ones for enhancing the role of sharing affinity features. Experiments on the CK+, RAF-DB, and FER2013 datasets validate the robustness of our method to sample imbalance. The validation accuracies of our method are 96.97% on CK+, 71.44% on FER2013, and 90.91% on RAF-DB, respectively, which exceed current state-of-the-art methods.

The interaction between the permanent magnets and the armature teeth of the PMSM generates cogging torque. It causes vibration and noise. Therefore, this paper establishes the analytical formula of the cogging torque of the motor with auxiliary slots on the surface of the rotor. It shows that reasonable slots can weaken the cogging torque. But it’s essential to determine whether the air-gap flux density harmonics will increase appreciably by slotting. A V-type IPMSM with 8-pole, 48-slot is modeled to analyze the cogging torque. Two new rotor slot shapes—inwardly biased slots and outwardly biased slots—are proposed and researched to reduce the cogging torque of the V-type IPMSM. And they are compared with the traditional symmetrical auxiliary slots. Research shows that the inwardly biased slots and the symmetric auxiliary slots can obtain a better effect on the cogging torque than the outwardly biased slots. By the symmetrical auxiliary slots, the cogging torque is weakened by 75.88%, but the torque ripple increases from 22.36% to 29.60%. By the inwardly biased slots, the cogging torque is weakened by 75.64%, and the torque ripple drops from 22.36% to 12.95%. The inwardly biased slots could successfully suppress the torque ripple.

Based on the data of Chinese listed private companies from 2016 to 2020, this paper investigates the influence of the Chairman's member status of Communist Party of China (CPC) on targeted poverty alleviation. The research results demonstrate that the Chairman's CPC member status of private companies significantly increases the companies' willingness and the amounts of investment in poverty alleviation. The construction of the CPC organization can strengthen the role of the chairman's Communist Party of China member status in promoting targeted poverty alleviation. The conclusions are still valid through robustness tests, such as substituting dependent variables, adjusting the sample range, and PSM-paired samples. In addition, the Impact Threshold for a Confounding Variable is used to deal with endogenous problems.

Gallbladder cancer (GBC) is a highly malignant tumor with extremely poor prognosis. Previous studies have suggested that the carcinogenesis and progression of GBC is a multi-stage and multi-step process, but most of them focused on the genome changes. And a few studies just compared the transcriptome differences between tumor tissues and adjacent noncancerous tissues. The transcriptome changes, relating to every stage of GBC evolution, have rarely been studied. We selected three cases of normal gallbladder, four cases of gallbladder with chronic inflammation induced by gallstones, five cases of early GBC, and five cases of advanced GBC, using next-generation RNA sequencing to reveal the changes in mRNAs and lncRNAs expression during the evolution of GBC. In-depth analysis of the sequencing data indicated that transcriptome changes from normal gallbladder to gallbladder with chronic inflammation were distinctly related to inflammation, lipid metabolism, and sex hormone metabolism; transcriptome changes from gallbladder with chronic inflammation to early GBC were distinctly related to immune activities and connection between cells; and the transcriptome changes from early GBC to advanced GBC were distinctly related to transmembrane transport of substances and migration of cells. Expression profiles of mRNAs and lncRNAs change significantly during the evolution of GBC, in which lipid-based metabolic abnormalities play an important promotive role, inflammation and immune activities play a key role, and membrane proteins are very highlighted molecular changes.

The Hooded Crane (Grus monacha) is listed as a Vulnerable species in the IUCN red list. Tidal wetland (tideland), the major habitat for wintering Hooded Cranes at East China's Chongming Dongtan, has dramatically changed in the past two decades, but there is limited knowledge about the population and habitat changes of the Hooded Cranes. This study investigated the population size and distribution of wintering Hooded Cranes at Chongming Dongtan from 2000 to 2021. We used remote sensing images combined with a vegetation classification algorithm to analyse the distribution of saltmarsh vegetation. The quadrat method was used to investigate the density and weight of the underground corms of Sea Bulrush (Scirpus mariquter), the main food on tideland for the Hooded Cranes. From 2000 to 2021, the population number of wintering Hooded Cranes at Chongming Dongtan remained stable at approximately 100. In 2000, the area of Scirpus spp. and Common Reed (Phragmites australis) accounted for approximately half of the total saltmarsh area at Chongming Dongtan, respectively. The invasive Smooth Cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora) rapidly expanded on tideland in the 2000s while the Scirpus spp. was competed out and thus significantly reduced in area. After the implementation of an ecological project to control Smooth Cordgrass and to restore Scirpus spp. in the 2010s, the area of the Smooth Cordgrass decreased considerably while the area of Scirpus spp. increased. The corms of Sea Bulrush decreased on the southeastern tideland during the study period, which might be the cause of the northward movement of the foraging Hooded Cranes on tideland. We also found Hooded Cranes foraged crops in the nearby farmland in mid-winter, causing human-bird conflicts in the recent decade. Our results found that changes in habitat and food conditions on tideland impacted wintering Hooded Cranes. Foraging in farmland with human disturbance in the recent decade might be related to insufficient food on tideland. We suggest active intervention to accelerate the restoration of Sea Bulrush on tideland and reduce human disturbance in farmland to improve the habitat quality of the wintering Hooded Crane at Chongming Dongtan.

BackgroundMixed neuroendocrine non-neuroendocrine neoplasm (MiNEN) is an extremely rare entity, consisting of neuroendocrine and non-neuroendocrine components. It can occur in various organs throughout the body, with a rising incidence. Its clinical management is a rapidly growing field of interest; however, large-scale patient cohorts are still missing to guide clinical practice.Patients and methodsThe demographic, clinicopathological, and survival information of all patients diagnosed with MiNEN in the national Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program database (2000–2017) were extracted and further analyzed. The information of the patients before and after 2010 was compared to understand the epidemiological changes of MiNEN. The characteristics of MiNEN originating in different organs were compared. The clinical significance of surgical resection for metastatic MiNENs was also analyzed.ResultsA total of 1081 patients were screened, and after applying the exclusion criteria, 767 patients were finally analyzed. There was no obvious sex preference (49.2% vs 50.8%, p>0.05) and the majority of the patients were Caucasians (n=627, 81.7%). A total of 88.3% of the patients were older than 50 years old, and the median age was 60 years. 79.3% of the tumors are located in the distal digestive tract, and 67.7% were grade 3/4. Distant metastasis was presented in 33.9% of the patients at diagnosis. A total of 88% of the patients underwent surgical treatments. The number of patients increased 10-fold between 2000 and 2017. There was no significant difference in sex, race, stage, or surgical treatments among the patients diagnosed before and after 2010. More patients older than 60 years were diagnosed after 2010 (p=0.009). The median survival was 61.0 ± 9.8 months for the whole cohort. After multivariate analysis, older age (>60 years, p

Abstract Hydrogels, a highly versatile material platform, are poised to become a promising candidate for interfacial solar evaporators on account of their record‐high evaporation rates. Nevertheless, conventional hydrogels with loose crosslinking, low solid content, and isotropic network structure are plagued by fragile mechanical tolerance, impairing their application in severe seawater environments. Herein, we develop a skeleton‐construct polyelectrolyte hydrogel (SCPH) evaporator by a universal, simple strategy that maintains not only the original properties of hydrogels, but also endows a high mechanical strength. By virtue of this strategy, the SCPH increased its mechanical strength to 1 MPa, 500 times higher than the original hydrogel. Surprisingly, the strategy also endows the SCPH with some extra properties, such as a high salt rejection ratio, a high water‐pumping rate, and low thermal conductivity, which render the SCPH a perfect evaporator. Specifically, this SCPH material significantly improves the long‐term stability of evaporators, enabling the evaporator to be capable of evaporating for 30 days in 20 wt% brine at a stable evaporation rate, exceeding the longest evaporation time ever reported. In addition, it achieves an evaporation rate of up to 2.13 kg m−2 h−1, which is twice that of the currently existing polyelectrolyte hydrogel evaporators. The skeleton construction has the potential to significantly improve the efficiency, stability, and durability of evaporators, hence bringing interfacial desalination technology toward practical applications.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the most refractory and fatal human malignancies. Leucine-rich repeat neuronal protein-1 (LRRN1) plays a crucial role in the development of the nervous system. However, the clinical implications and biological functions of LRRN1 in PDAC remain unclear. We found that LRRN1 expression was upregulated in PDAC tissues compared with paracancerous tissues and normal pancreatic tissues through the different public databases, tissue microarray-based immunohistochemistry, and dimethylbenzanthracene-induced PDAC murine model. The expression level of LRRN1 was closely related to the overall survival and disease-free survival of PDAC patients. Cox multivariate analysis indicated that LRRN1 was an independent adverse prognostic factor. The small hairpin RNA (shRNA)-mediated LRRN1 knockdown remarkably restrained the proliferative, migratory, and invasive capacities, as well as promoted cell apoptosis and increased G0/G1 arrest in PDAC cells. The xenograft murine subcutaneous bearing model and metastasis model verified that silencing of LRRN1 effectively dampened tumor growth and metastasis in vivo. Specifically, LRRN1 exerted its biological functions through the HIF-1α/Notch signaling pathway, and LRRN1 knockdown could dampen Jagged 1-mediated Notch pathway activation. Therefore, LRRN1 could serve as the potential therapeutic or prognostic target for PDAC.

BackgroundReactivation of latent varicella-zoster virus (VZV) can induce herpes zoster (HZ). Ramsay Hunt syndrome (RHS) occurs through the reactivation and proliferation of VZV in the geniculate ganglion, which can lead to vesicular rash in the ear or oral mucosa, accompanied by neurological disorders.Materials and methodsA 50-year-old man sought a remedy for pain in the right ear and face. Within 1 week, all his lower right teeth fell out, and in the following 3 months, his lower right mandibular alveolar bone gradually became necrotic. In the past 20 days, he experienced blister rash, hearing and taste loss, and slight facial paralysis.ResultsAfter ruling out tumors and other infectious diseases, he was diagnosed with trigeminal HZ and RHS.ConclusionRamsay Hunt syndrome with tooth loss and alveolar osteonecrosis is rare. It requires long-term treatment of pain, and prevention and treatment of tooth loss and alveolar bone necrosis are difficult and warrant further study.

BackgroundAssessing the correlation between gut microbiota (GM) and bone homeostasis has increasingly attracted research interest. Meanwhile, GM dysbiosis has been found to be associated with abnormal bone metabolism. However, the function of GM in disuse-induced osteoporosis (DIO) remains poorly understood. In our research, we evaluated the characteristics of GM and fecal metabolomics to explore their potential correlations with DIO pathogenesis.MethodsDIO rat models and controls (CON) underwent micro-CT, histological analyses, and three-point bending tests; subsequently, bone microstructures and strength were observed. ELISAs were applied for the measurement of the biochemical markers of bone turnover while GM abundance was observed using 16S rDNA sequencing. Metabolomic analyses were used to analyze alterations fecal metabolites. The potential correlations between GM, metabolites, and bone loss were then assessed.ResultsIn the DIO group, the abundance of GM was significantly altered compared to that in the CON group. Moreover, DIO significantly altered fecal metabolites. More specifically, an abnormally active pathway associated with bile acid metabolism, as well as differential bacterial genera related to bone/tissue volume (BV/TV), were identified. Lithocholic acid, which is the main secondary bile acid produced by intestinal bacteria, was then found to have a relationship with multiple differential bacterial genera. Alterations in the intestinal flora and metabolites in feces, therefore, may be responsible for DIO-induced bone loss.ConclusionsThe results indicated that changes in the abundance of GM abundance and fecal metabolites were correlated with DIO-induced bone loss, which might provide new insights into the DIO pathogenesis. The detailed regulatory role of GM and metabolites in DIO-induced bone loss needs to be explored further.

The integration of 3D bioprinting and stem cells is of great promise in facilitating the reconstruction of cranial defects. However, the effectiveness of the scaffolds has been hampered by the limited cell behavior and functions. Herein, a therapeutic cell-laden hydrogel for bone regeneration is therefore developed through the design of a void-forming hydrogel. This hydrogel is prepared by digital light processing (DLP)-based bioprinting of the bone marrow stem cells (BMSCs) mixed with gelatin methacrylate (GelMA)/dextran emulsion. The 3D-bioprinted hydrogel can not only promote the proliferation, migration, and spreading of the encapsulated BMSCs, but also stimulate the YAP signal pathway, thus leading to the enhanced osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs. In addition, the in vivo therapeutic assessments reveal that the void-forming hydrogel shows great potential for BMSCs delivery and can significantly promote bone regeneration. These findings suggest that the unique 3D-bioprinted void-forming hydrogels are promising candidates for applications in bone regeneration.

Summary: We describe a protocol for measuring phospholipid class and fatty acid composition in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae using a liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS)-based approach. We compile a mass spectral-retention time library verified for major phospholipids in the budding yeast and showcase the profiling process of phospholipid compositions in mutants with defective syntheses of phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) and phosphatidylcholine (PC). We further provide methods for extracting and quantifying phospholipids in mammalian systems.For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Fang et al. (2022). : Publisher’s note: Undertaking any experimental protocol requires adherence to local institutional guidelines for laboratory safety and ethics.

To investigate the effects of stirrup ratio and connection type of stirrups on axial compression performance of stirrup-confined concrete-filled steel tubular (CFST) stub column, experiments were conducted on 16 CFST stub columns. The axial compressive bearing capacity and ductility of square and circular CFST stub columns with welded and non-welded stirrups were studied. Besides, numerical models of the stirrup-confined CFST stub columns were established to validate whether the numerical modeling method for welded stirrup-confined CFST column is suitable for the non-welded counterparts. Then, the applicability of the formulas for the axial compressive bearing capacity of the large stirrup ratio CFST stub column was investigated. The results indicated that the stirrups have a significant constraint effect on the steel tube and improve the axial compressive bearing capacity and ductility of the CFST stub column obviously. The effects of the stirrups on the square composite column are more significant than the circular composite column. The welded stirrups are more effective on the bearing capacity and ductility. The numerical modeling method and formulas are suitable for the non-welded stirrup-confined and large stirrup ratio CFST stub columns.