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Tungsten–potassium (potassium-doped tungsten or WK), initially known from the electric filament industry, is a promising plasma-facing material (PFM) in future fusion facilities like International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). However, the brittle nature of W and irradiation-induced defects of WK materials may result in a risk of deuterium–tritium reaction failure in fusion reactors. Previous studies revealed that advanced W with ultrafine grains and nanostructures might be able to address these problems. However, K-doped W, a rapidly developed material for PFMs, lacks a systematical summary. In this review, we firstly describe the powder metallurgy and plastic deformation for the preparation of WK. Then, the mechanical properties of WK and thermal shock resistance results are reviewed. Important issues such as irradiation damages from neutron, heavy ion, and plasma (H isotope or He) irradiation are also discussed. Hitherto, WK under irradiations shows comparable or even better performances compared with other counterparts such as ITER grade pure tungsten. This review could be benefitial to the future efforts of improving the ductility and irradiation tolerance of WK materials.

Immoderate proliferation and deposition of collagen generally result in hypertrophic scars and even keloids. microRNA-29 (miR-29) has been proved as a crucial regulator in these pathological processes. Although mounting evidence have proved baicalein (BAI) impairs scar formation, it is still incompletely understood whether miR-29 participated in the underlying mechanism. In the present study, NIH-3T3 cells were stimulated with BAI, and then cell viability was analyzed by cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) and Western blot. We further analyzed total soluble collagen, collagen 1, and alpha-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) in NIH-3T3 cells, which were exposed to transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF-β1)/BAI, using a Sircol assay kit, quantitative reverse transcription-PCR (qRT-PCR) and Western blot, respectively. Besides, the miR-29 inhibitor was transduced and its transfection efficiency was verified by qRT-PCR. Finally, the phosphorylated p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38MAPK) and c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) were examined by Western blot. BAI effectively retarded NIH-3T3 proliferation in a dose-dependent manner. Besides, TGF-β1-induced deposition of total soluble collagen and synthesis of collagen 1 and α-SMA were repressed by BAI at mRNA and protein levels. However, miR-29 inhibitor reversed the effects of BAI. Remarkably, BAI promoted phosphorylated expression of p38MAPK and JNK while miR-29 inhibitor reversed its effects on the phosphorylated expression of p38MAPK and JNK. BAI effectively weakened the cell viability and repressed TGF-β1-induced total soluble collagen as well as collagen 1 and α-SMA by upregulating miR-29. Mechanically, BAI activates the p38MAPK/JNK pathway by promoting miR-29.

Many efforts have been taken to develop molecule target for cancer therapy. 14-3-3zeta protein has emerged as a critical regulator of diverse cellular pathways in multiple cancers. Furthermore, 14-3-3zeta expression was elevated and a predictor of poor prognosis in glioblastoma. However, there is no information to evaluate the potential effects of 14-3-3zeta RNAi in glioblastoma. The relationship between 14-3-3zeta expression and cell proliferation and apoptosis was tested in primary glioblastoma samples. Through an RNAi approach using human glioblastoma cells as a model system, we demonstrated the role of 14-3-3zeta in glioblastoma proliferation, apoptosis, invasion and tumor growth. The expression of 14-3-3zeta in glioblastoma stem cells was also investigated by immunostaining. The apoptosis was significantly higher in 14-3-3zeta-negative group than in positive group. 14-3-3zeta immunoreactivity score was negatively correlated with the apoptosis, and positively with proliferation in human specimens. 14-3-3zeta RNAi reduced cell proliferation, induced apoptosis, decreased the invasive capability and colony-formation, and impaired the growth of glioblastoma xenografts in nude mice. Moreover, 14-3-3zeta was positively expressed in glioblastoma stem cells. Our data highlight the importance of 14-3-3zeta in glioblastoma and identify 14-3-3zeta as a potential molecular target for glioblastoma treatment.

Tungsten alloys with high strength, high toughness and high-temperature stability are strongly desired in extreme conditions. The nanoengineering of potassium bubbles (5–50 nm) is a fascinating strategy to strengthen these properties. However, such nano potassium bubbles can only be acquired in tungsten wires through swaging and drawing process till now. Here, we report an intra- and inter-potassium nano-bubbles strengthened bulk tungsten fabricated via an industrially applicable process combining aluminum-potassium-silicon (AKS) doping and spark plasma sintering (SPS), which exhibits desirable strength and remarkable toughness, as well as high thermal-shock resistance. The AKS-doping incorporated the K-Al-Si-O particles inside the W grains and the rapid high-temperature sintering of SPS produced the nanometer K bubbles from the K-Al-Si-O particles and kept the K bubbles inside the W grains. Our K-bubble strengthened tungsten material displays high potential in high-temperature applications. This strategy is also potentially applicable to other refractory metals such as molybdenum.

Tungsten-potassium-titanium (W-K-Ti) alloys were fabricated by spark-plasma-sintering (SPS) and traditional rotary swaging (RS) techniques. Doping conditions and sintering methods were compared on the relative density, microstructure, hardness, recrystallization temperature, and the thermal shock resistance properties. Transient heat loads under 0.37 GW m−2 were applied on the W-K-Ti samples at room temperature for different cycles and pulsed durations. It was found that moderate Ti-doping (0.05 and 0.075 wt%) in W-K alloys can enhance the thermal shock resistance. Low-cycle thermal fatigue test suggested better thermal shock resistance in SPS-sintered W-K-Ti alloy (SPS-W-K-Ti) using TiH2 dopant. The main reason was that the decomposition of TiH2 significantly reduced the oxygen content of the ingots, which improved the ductility and thermal shock resistance of tungsten alloys. Further fracture analyses indicated that Ti-doping through TiH2 formed intra- and inter- Ti-rich voids in TiH2-doped W-K alloy, while only intergranular Ti particles were found lying along grain boundaries in the Ti-doped one. The formation mechanism of the Ti-rich voids was investigated in detail. This work provides a potential route for obtaining plasma facing materials with high thermal shock resistance.

China’s political leadership has taken an increasingly public and proactive stance on climate change since 2014. This stance includes making a commitment that Chinese carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions will peak around 2030 and enacting measures through the 13th Five-Year Plan to support energy efficiency, clean energy technology, and carbon management. Chinese policymakers consider carbon capture and storage (CCS) a critical bridging technology to help accelerate the decarbonization of its economy. This paper reviews and analyzes Chinese CCS support policies from the perspective of an adaptive policymaking framework, recognizing uncertainty as an inherent element of the policymaking process and drawing general lessons for responding to changing circumstances. Notably, the political support for CCS in China remains fragmented with uncoordinated government leadership, undecided industry players, and even with opposing voices from some leading scientists. There is scope for expanding the framework to provide more granularity, in particular relating to the development of a CCS infrastructure and the development of storage-focused CO2-EOR. Overall, given the role CCS can play to decarbonize China’s power and other industrial sectors, a commitment to CCS from top policymakers and major stakeholders is needed.

W-K-TiC alloys with different titanium carbide concentrations (0.05, 0.1, 0.25, 0.5, 1, 2) wt.% were fabricated through Mechanical Alloying and Spark Plasma Sintering. The effects of the addition of nano-scaled TiC particles on the relative density, Vickers micro-hardness, microstructure, crystal information, thermal shock resistance, and tensile strength were investigated. It is revealed that the doped TiC nano-particles located at the grain boundaries. The relative density and Vickers micro-hardness of W-K-TiC alloys was enhanced with TiC addition and the highest Vickers micro-hardness is 731.55. As the TiC addition increased from 0.05 to 2 wt%, the room-temperature tensile strength raised from 141 to 353 MPa. The grain size of the W-K-TiC alloys decreased sharply from 2.56 μm to 330 nm with the enhanced TiC doping. The resistance to thermal shock damage of W-K-TiC alloys was improved slightly with the increased TiC addition. Keywords: Potassium-doped tungsten, Titanium carbide, Spark plasma sintering, Tensile strength, Thermal shock

Li2MgZrO4:Mn4+,Ga3+ phosphors are synthesized via a conventional high-temperature solid-state reaction. The red emission of Mn4+ is enhanced 6.68 times and 13.0 times under 352 nm and 468 nm excitation when Ga3+ ions with a concentration of 40% are introduced into the phosphor. The thermal stability of the phosphor is also slightly improved by Ga3+ doping. It is believed that the GaZr dopants in the Li2MgZrO4 host not only stabilize Mn ions in the 4+ state, but also lower the symmetry of Mn4+ sites, resulting in the significant improvement of the luminescence performance, especially under blue excitation. The results might provide meaningful reference to seek high-performance Mn4+ doped oxide phosphors for W-LED applications based on a blue-emitting InGaN chip.

This paper analyses the effect of wealth inequality on UK economic growth in recent decades with a heterogeneous-agent growth model where agents can enhance individual productivity growth by undertaking entrepreneurship. The model assumes wealthy people are more able to afford the costs of entrepreneurship. Wealth concentration therefore stimulates entrepreneurship among the rich and so aggregate growth, whose fruits in turn are largely captured by the rich. This process creates a mechanism by which inequality and growth are correlated. The model is estimated and tested by Indirect Inference and is not rejected. Policy-makers face a trade-off between redistribution and growth.

With the rise of mobile technology, the library reference service has dramatically changed. Targeting the new requirements, this paper aims to design a new library reference service system in Cordova-based hybrid frameworks, which caters to the web service embedded in two major mobile platforms, iOS and Android, as well as the PC platform. The new system adopts the WebSocket based technology to realize the function of independent online reference, which improves the quality of the normal digital reference service. The newly designed system also applies the ECS cloud server technology, thereby significantly slashing the hardware setup cost, extending the basic reference service, and improving its fitness-for-use and convenience, and optimizing the allocation of local resources.

Focused on the power demands of electric vehicles(EV) involving chaotic and high frequency transient component, the EV can hardly handle these power demand components due to the limitations of characteristics of the single Lithium-ion power battery. A symlets wavelet transform strategy is proposed for the power management of hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) with hybrid energy storage systems(HESS) including a Lithium-ion power battery and an ultracapacitor(UC). Firstly, the control system mechanism of multiport bidirectional DC/DC converter were presented briefly. Then the algorithm of symlets and the symlets wavelet transform based power management for HESS were analyzed. The proposed symlets wavelet transform strategy can distinguish the high-frequency components and low-frequency components in the power requirements of HEV, and allocate power to sources with different frequency characteristics to achieve the best power management control algorithm. Finally, a scaled-down experiments were performed under Highway Fuel Economy Test driving cycle(HWFET). The experimental results validated the effectiveness of symlets wavelet transform strategy management algorithm.

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is an inflammatory skin disease arising from a complex interplay of genetic, immune, and environmental factors. The development and successful marketing of the anti-IL-4/IL-13 monoclonal antibody, dupilumab, and the topical nonsteroidal phosphodiesterase 4 (PDE4) inhibitor, crisaborole, as well as the Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor, delgocitinib, have brought hope for developing new therapeutic agents. The efficacy of these treatments contributes to our understanding of the pathophysiology of AD. Dupilumab modulates the Th2-related immune response, demonstrating that IL-4 and IL-13 contribute to epidermal hyperplasia, skin homeostasis, and innate immune responses on the skin surface in AD. The effectiveness of crisaborole reveals that PDE4 contributes to Th2 and Th17/Th22 inflammation and lesional skin barrier dysfunction, while delgocitinib shows that JAK-associated signaling is essential for the inflammatory reaction in AD. This review provides a brief overview of recent research on therapeutic monoclonal antibodies and small biologic molecules for AD and what these treatments reveal about AD pathophysiology.

A novel divided solenoid with high homogeneity is designed through linear programming (LP) for actual guiding magnet application in high power microwave devices. During the LP process, current density, magnetic field homogeneity, and total volume of coils are set as variable, constraint condition, and objective function, respectively. The divided solenoid is designed after calculating current density in the available zone where the coil current exists. After comparing the electrical parameters and magnetic field distribution of the conventional and the new solenoid, it is concluded that the inhomogeneity of the new design is reduced from 10% to 0.7%, the central magnetic field is equal, and other factors are in the same range. The divided solenoid magnet designed by LP is able to achieve high uniformity by improving the winding process and mechanical structure, which also has strong generalization.

As the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, China has a crucial role to play in tackling the climate crisis. Fortunately, China is signaling that it is taking this challenge seriously with President Xi Jinping’s recent announcement that China aims to peak its emissions before 2030 and reach carbon neutrality before 2060. New analysis by WRI finds that China can peak its carbon emissions as early as 2026 and get on track to achieving President Xi’s vision for carbon neutrality while generating nearly $1 trillion in net economic and social benefits in 2050. To realize this vision, China must focus on four key priorities during the next five years: transitioning to cleaner sources of electricity; improving industrial energy efficiency; electrifying the transportation sector; and accelerating the removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere using carbon capture methods. Scaling up plans to curb non-CO2 greenhouse gases are also necessary, as are efforts to phase out coal power. Strengthened climate policies will also reduce particulate emissions, which could improve air quality and help prevent the premature deaths of up to 1.89 million people by 2050—a benefit of $240 billion in avoided health impacts. Over 30 years, China can also expect to generate cost savings of $530 billion in fuel, operation, and maintenance expenditures and avoid $445 billion in climate damages. Three economically advanced regions—the Yangtze River Delta Region, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area, and Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Area—can lead the way to achieving China’s 2030 peaking and 2060 net-zero climate goals early while generating millions of new jobs in the process.

Multi-station integration is a new form of business in the development of energy Internet and a brand new practice of power iot. It is an innovative form that strengthens the interaction between charge and storage of source network on both sides of energy supply and demand, and enhances the flexibility of power grid by taking substation, energy storage station, distributed energy station and other resources as the core. However, there is not a set of construction mode that can guide implementation, copy and popularize. Therefore, guided by the existing construction practice of multi-station fusion in China and combined with multi-user scenarios, this paper studies the multi-station fusion mode, proposes a multi-station fusion planning system based on EIST theory, gives the fusion mode under different business scenarios, and synchronously constructs a new ecological business chain with multi-station fusion as the core. It aims to make full use of the innate advantages of substation in energy flow convergence, realize the “integration of energy flow, business flow and data flow”, comprehensively support the transformation of digital power grid, and practice the national development strategy of “digital economy” and “digital China”.

Using blockchain technology (BCT) in securing data has received a lot of attention these days. This technology is used not only as a new way with the aim of enhancing the cyber and physical security of power systems, but also has been applied to enhance the exchanged information between units. When Fuel Cell (FC), photovoltaic cells (PV) and wind turbines (WT) are used as sources of distributed generation (DG), there will be a situation called Islanding Micro-Grid (MG), so that this situation has the ability to control voltage, frequency and current of the system with no dependence on the utility. Hence, for overcoming load variations and disturbances, designing and implementing a robust controller is vital. Accordingly, a robust General Type-2 Fuzzy sliding mode controller (GT2FSMC) on the basis of gray wolf optimization algorithm is presented in the following study with the purpose of enhancing the power sharing amongst the distributed generations operating in the off-grid MG. The offered controller, in addition to warrant the stability and robust versus uncertainties of the lumped generated via extrinsic disturbances and un-modelled dynamics, has the ability to significantly decrease the control chattering inherent in primary sliding mode control. In the following paper, it is assumed that there are two distributed generations, each with specific duties. One has the duty of regulating the frequency and voltage through a reference signal, and another is responsible for working in load current control mode with the aim of sharing load correctly among each of them. For stopping malicious attacks, an assured policy framework according to the blockchain (BC) has been created to enhance the security of interchanged data among production units. Plus, two low-voltage parallel DG units exist in the MG. With the aim of evaluating the mentioned way, the simulation results have been done via MATLAB environment. According to the outcomes, it can be concluded that this mentioned controller has the ability of providing lower steady state error and Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) with faster response in comparison to the further controllers that generally are used. The simulation results show that the DG unit operations within the islanding MG have the ability of coordinating successfully under that mentioned control system with the aim of confirming stable operation of the throughout MG.

The first and enantioselective total synthesis of (+)-plumisclerin A, a novel unique complex cytotoxic marine diterpenoid, has been accomplished. Around the central cyclopentane anchorage, a sequential ring-formation protocol was adopted to generate the characteristic tricycle[4.3.1.01,5 ]decane and trans-fused dihyrdopyran moiety. Scalable enantioselective LaIII -catalyzed Michael reaction, palladium(0)-catalyzed carbonylation and SmI2 -mediated radical conjugate addition were successfully applied in the synthesis, affording multiple grams of the complex and rigid B/C/D-ring system having six continuous stereogenic centers and two all-carbon quaternary centers. The trans-fused dihyrdopyran moiety with an exo side-chain was furnished in final stage through sequential redox transformations from a lactone precursor, which overcome the largish steric strain of the dense multiring system. The reported total synthesis also confirms the absolute chemistries of natural (+)-plumisclerin A.

This study was performed to reveal the health risks of co-exposure to organophosphorus flame retardants (OPFRs) and microplastics (MPs). We exposed mice to polyethylene (PE) and polystyrene (PS) MPs and OPFRs [tris (2-chloroethy) phosphate (TCEP) and tris (1,3-dichloro-2-propyl) phosphate (TDCPP)] for 90 days. Biochemical markers and metabolomics were used to determine whether MPs could enhance the toxicity of OPFRs. Superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) increased (p 0.05) by 21% and 26% respectively in 10 μg/L TDCPP + PE group compared to TDCPP group. Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in TDCPP + MPs groups were higher (18%-30%) than that in TDCPP groups (p 0.05). Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) in TCEP + PE groups were lower (10%-19%) than those in TCEP groups (p 0.05). These results suggested that OPFR co-exposure with MPs induced more toxicity than OPFR exposure alone. Finally, in comparison to controls we observed that 29, 41, 41, 26, 40 and 37 metabolites changed significantly (p 0.05; fold-change 1.2) in TCEP, TCEP + PS, TCEP + PE, TDCPP, TDCPP + PS and TDCPP + PE groups, respectively. Most of these metabolites are related to pathways of amino acid and energy metabolism. Our results indicate that MPs aggravate the toxicity of OPFRs and highlight the health risks of MP co-exposure with other pollutants.

Background Increasing lncRNAs are found to be involved in the biological process of multiple cancer types. Herein, we aimed to reveal the role of LOXL1-AS1 in endometrial cancer (EC) progression. Methods Tumor and corresponding normal tissues were obtained from EC patients. Si-LOXL1-AS1 and miR-28-5p inhibitor were transfected to downregulate the expressions of LOXL1-AS1 and miR-28-5p, while miR-28-5p mimics were used to upregulate the miR-28-5p expression. CCK-8 and colony assays were applied to estimate the cell proliferation. Flow cytometry was performed to measure the cell apoptosis. Wound healing and transwell assays were conducted to assess the cell migration and invasion abilities. Informatics analysis was used to explore the relationship among LOXL1-AS1, miR-28-5p and RAP1B. Results LOXL1-AS1 was found markedly up-regulated in EC tissues and cell lines. LOXL1-AS1 knockdown displayed evident suppression in cell proliferation, migration and invasion, as well as promotion in cell apoptosis. Moreover, the LOXL1-AS1 induced regulatory effects on EC cells were partially reversed by miR-28-5p inhibitor. Mechanistically, LOXL1-AS1 competitively bond to miR-28-5p, resulting in upregulation of RAP1B. Additionally, in vivo study confirmed the findings discovered in vitro. Conclusions In summary, LOXL1-AS1 exerted oncogenic roles in EC progression by sponging miR-28-5p and thereby upregulating RAP1B. This finding might provide potential targets for EC therapy.

Bilateral palpebral fissures (PF) are rarely symmetrical. Palpebral plastic surgery is common in the Chinese population. This study aimed to assess the classification of obviously asymmetric palpebral fissures (OAPF). In addition, double eyelid surgery-based correction for the primary subtype was examined. Various clinical signs and etiologies were examined, and OAPF were classified into 3 subtypes: primary, secondary, and aging. For the secondary and aging subtypes, curative surgeries target the relevant underlying conditions. Patients with the primary subtype underwent corrective surgery based on double eyelid operation. After 8 to 12 months of follow-up, the corrective effects of different surgeries were evaluated in patients (n = 48) with primary OAPF. Satisfying look was obtained in all 48 cases, with smooth double eyelid lines and shapes, and no overt asymmetry between the 2 eyes. Thirteen patients developed hypophasis after levator plication, which was resolved within 1 month. Preoperative and postoperative PF were significantly different (1.48 ± 0.24 versus 0.19 ± 0.09 mm; P < 0.05). Overall, patients with OAPF can be classified into the primary, secondary, and aging subtypes. The 48 cases with the primary subtype showed a satisfying look after double eyelid surgery-based correction.

Aim: To compare the effects of the liquid-isolating maneuver and the lever-elevating maneuver in protecting cervical structures during microwave ablation for treating high-risk benign thyroid nodules. Methods: This prospectively study was approved by the Medical Ethics Committee of Panzhihua Central Hospital. A total of 174 patients were enrolled and randomly assigned to a liquid-isolating maneuver group (LIM, n = 87) or a lever-elevating maneuver group (LEM, n = 87). Operation time, postoperative voice change, time to recovery of baseline voice, peri-thyroid hematoma, neck tension, and intraoperative vasovagal reaction were assessed. Results: Operation time was greater in the LIM group than in the LEM group (44.75 ± 13.14 vs. 32.87 ± 10.84 min; p = .017).Voice changes were observed in 6 patients in the LIM group and 2 in the LEM group (6.9% vs. 2.3%, p = .278). The time to recovery of baseline voice was significantly greater in the LIM group compared with the LEM group (36.15 ± 10.24 vs. 24.48 ± 11.53 days, p = .014). The incidences of peri-thyroid hematoma and neck tension were higher in the LIM than in the LEM group (11.5% vs. 3.4%, 10.3% vs. 2.3%, p = .044 and p = .029). One patient (1.1%) in the LEM group and none of the patients in the LIM group experienced a vasovagal response (p = 1.000). Conclusion: The lever-elevating method is feasible and effective for the microwave ablation of benign thyroid nodules, with better protection of neck structures than observed with the liquid-isolating method.

The Cr3+, Yb3+ co-doped LaMgAl11O19 spectral conversion materials have been synthesized by solid-state reaction method. The phosphor can absorb photons in UV–vis spectral region and then give intense near-infrared emission around 980 nm originated from Yb3+: 2F5/2 → 2F7/2 transition. Phonon-assisted energy transfers from Cr3+ ions and Cr3+-Cr3+ ion pairs to Yb3+ ions are both witnessed in LaMgAl11O19 host. The doping concentration and temperature dependent luminescence properties have been investigated. It is believed that Cr3+, Yb3+ co-doped LaMgAl11O19 phosphor might potentially act as spectral convertor for silicon-based solar cells to enhance the photovoltaic conversion efficiency.

Mn4+/Yb3+ co-doped La2MgTiO6 near infrared phosphor were prepared by co-precipitation technique. The La2MgTiO6: Mn4+, Yb3+ phosphors can convert the short-wavelength sunlight in 250–550 nm spectral region into near infrared emission at 990 nm, which matches well with the high photosensitive region of Si-based solar cells. The mechanisms for the Mn4+→Yb3+ have been discussed based on the Mn4+ and Yb3+ concentration dependent steady-state and transient luminescence properties. The energy transfer efficiency is 31% in the La1.91MgTi0.998O6: 0.002Mn, 0.09Yb sample with the maximal 990 nm emission intensity. It is found that phonon-assisted energy transfer plays an important role in sensitization process from Mn4+ to Yb3+ in the Mn4+/Yb3+ co-doped La2MgTiO6.

The purpose of this study was to introduce a novel method of percutaneous achievement and maintenance of reduction for acute displaced scaphoid fractures and evaluate the feasibility of this method in treating acute displaced scaphoid fractures as well as explore its indications. From February 2012 to March 2014, 15 patients with acute displaced scaphoid fractures were treated with our technique. Two Kirschner wires were used to achieve and maintain the reduction of the scaphoid fractures throughout the entire process of the traditional percutaneous screw fixation process. The following parameters including function scores according to modified Mayo wrist scoring system, range of motion (ROM) of the wrist, grip strength, pinch strength, healing time, time to return to work, and final outcomes were recorded. All patients were followed up with a mean period of 2.5 years (range, 2–3.5 years). All fractures healed with a mean of 9.3 weeks (range, 7–11.5 weeks). All patients returned to pre-injury level of activity within six weeks. The functional scores averaged 90.3 (range, 80–100). ROM of the wrist was equal to that of the contralateral side at three months postoperatively. Grip strength and pinch strength compared with contralateral were 98% and 92%, respectively. All were satisfied with the final outcomes. Our technique is successfully performed in acute displaced scaphoid fractures resulting in shortened immobilization and prompt functional recovery. It broadens the indications of the percutaneous method, which means the advantages of the percutaneous method are maximally reserved whilst the drawbacks of open reduction were avoided.

Near-infrared emission material, C e 3 + , E r 3 + co-doped C a 1.5 Y 1.5 A l 3.5 S i 1.5 O 12 has been synthesized via a high-temperature solid-state reaction method. The luminescence intensity of 1532 nm emission excited with 455 nm increases 4.2 times after the introduction of C e 3 + ions because of C e 3 + → E r 3 + radiation-reabsorption energy transfer and nonradiative energy transfer sensitization as well as the 4 I 11 / 2 ( E r 3 + ) + 2 F 5 / 2 ( C e 3 + ) → 4 I 13 / 2 ( E r 3 + ) + C e 3 + ( 2 F 7 / 2 ) cross relaxation between C e 3 + and E r 3 + ions. The result shows that the developed material is convenient to obtain high-efficiency, near-infrared emission using a commercial blue GaN LED as a pumping source.

Li2Mg3TiO6: Mn4+/Na+/Ge4+ phosphors with rock structure have been prepared via solid state reaction method. The phosphor has broad excitation band ranging from 265 nm to 600 nm with two peaks at 345 nm and 468 nm and can give strong red emission band peaking at 667 nm. The co-doped Na+/Ge4+ ions largely improve the luminescence properties of Li2Mg3TiO6: Mn4+. It is found that the luminescence intensity of Li2Mg3TiO6: Mn4+/Na+/Ge4+ is increased by 132% as compared with that of Li2Mg3TiO6: Mn4+ phosphor. Meanwhile the quantum efficiency of Li2Mg3TiO6: Mn4+/Na+/Ge4+ has also increased from 32.83% to 53.55%. The mechanism of luminescence improvement may be attributed to the lowered symmetry of [TiO6] octahedral sites in Li2Mg3TiO6 host induced by the doped Na + ions and the reduction of energy transfer probability among Mn4+ ions caused by the doped Ge4+ ions. The developed phosphor with suitable spectral properties has potential application in white-LEDs and plant growth.

Bi3+, Mn2+ co-doped CaZnGe2O6 red long afterglow materials were prepared by high temperature solid state reaction method. The phosphor has broad excitation band ranging from 220 nm to 350 nm with two peaks at 255 nm and 300 nm and can give blue, green and red emission band peaking at 448 nm, 530 nm and 645 nm, respectively. Due to the emission properties of Bi3+ ions and the Bi3+→Mn2+ energy transfer, the co-doped Bi3+ ions can not only enhance the PL luminescence of the phosphor, but also adjust the emission color. After irradiation of 300 nm ultraviolet light, the phosphors exhibits long-persistent red phosphorescence. Thermoluminescence tests demonstrate that the introduction of Bi3+ ions can increase the trap depth and trap concentration, greatly improving the afterglow time and brightness of the CaZnGe2O6: Mn2+ phosphor. The present work might provide reference for designing new rare earth free red long afterglow materials.

A series of Mn4+ doped KmLamSr2-2mMgTeO6 phosphors and Mn4+, Bi3+ co-doped phosphors were prepared by high temperature solid state reaction method. It is found that the non-luminous Sr2MgTeO6: Mn4+ begins to glow when the Sr2+ sites are partially replaced by K+ and La3+ ions. The K0.5La0.5SrMgTeO6: Mn4+ phosphor gives the strongest emission peaking at 692nm, in which half of the Sr2+ ions are replaced by La3+ and K+ ions. The optimal doping concentration of Mn4+ in K0.5La0.5SrMgTeO6 is 0.7% in mole. As the concentration of Mn4+ continues to increase, the dipole-dipole interaction induced luminescence concentration quenching occurs. Moreover, the emission intensity of the phosphor can be further increased by 69% when co-doping Bi3+ with concentration of 1% in mole. The properties of the developed phosphor indicate that it has potential application prospects in plant growth LED.

Generally the boundary layer transition is tripped by the surface roughness, while at certain circumstances, the surface roughness can delay the boundary layer transition. In this paper, by introducing the two-dimensional wall blow-suction upstream, high-order numerical method is used to simulate the Ma = 6 hypersonic boundary layer stability with a typical wavy-wall model. First, the mechanism of transition delay by the wavy wall is analyzed by comparison of the disturbance development in the flat-plate and wavy-wall boundary layer. Then the effects of the wavy-wall wave number, depth and streamwise location on the boundary layer stability are investigated. The results show that the disturbance development is closely related to the separation region. Compared with the flat plate, the wavy wall can suppress the second-mode instability via multiple separation regions, thus delaying the boundary layer transition. Concerning the wave number, the wavy wall with a single wave number has only a single short separation region, so the second-mode instability grows rapidly downstream; the wavy wall with multiple wave numbers means multiple separation regions and suppresses the second-mode instability sharply. As for the depth, the separation region grows with the increase of the wavy-wall depth and the second-mode instability is suppressed more evidently. Also as the location of the wavy wall moves downstream, the suppression on the second-mode instability is more obvious.

This paper presents an approach for attributed scattering center (ASC) matching with application to synthetic aperture radar (SAR) automatic target recognition (ATR). A statistics-based distance measure is designed to evaluate the distance between individual ASCs. Afterwards, the Hungarian algorithm is employed to build a one-to-one correspondence between two ASC sets. Based on the correspondence, a global similarity and a local similarity are designed to comprehensively evaluate the global consistency and structural correlation between those two ASC sets. The two similarities comprehensively exploit the inner correlation between the two ASC sets, thus providing a reliable and robust similarity measure for SAR ATR. The two similarities are then fused based on the Dempster–Shafer evidence theory to determine the target type by the maximum belief rule. Extensive experiments conducted on the moving and stationary target acquisition and recognition dataset and the comparison with several state-of-the-art methods demonstrate the validity and robustness of the proposed method.

Mn 4+ doped and Mn 4+ /Cr 3+ co-doped alkali metal titanate phosphors have been prepared by solid state reaction method. A part of Li + ions in the Li 2 MgTiO 4 : Mn 4+ are substituted with Na + and K + ions and consequently the intensity of Mn 4+ emission at 678 nm is enhanced by 1.7 and 2.5 times, respectively. In the Mn 4+ /Cr 3+ co-doped (Li 0.95 K 0.05 ) 2 MgTi 0.999 O 4 , both emission of Cr 3+ at 726 nm and emission of Mn 4+ at 678 nm of Mn 4+ are observed. It is interesting to find that the intensity ratio of 726–678 nm emissions in the Mn 4+ /Cr 3+ phosphor continually increases with excitation wavelength increasing from 290 nm to 455 nm, which means that the intensity ratio in turn can be used to identify the excitation light wavelength. This refers a possible approach to design novel compact light-wavelength detector or spectrometer based on the phosphor. The mechanism of Na + or K + substitution induced luminescence enhancement in the Mn 4+ phosphor and the competition between the Cr 3+ and Mn 4+ emissions in the Mn 4+ /Cr 3+ co-doped has been discussed.

Azimuth sensitivity is a significant characteristic of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images. Most of the previous SAR target recognition algorithms try to cope with the property by pose estimation or training classifiers which are not sensitive to azimuth. Actually, the azimuth sensitivity can provide discriminative information for target recognition as a supplement to the original spatial image (SI). This letter describes the azimuth sensitivity by the azimuth sensitivity image (ASI) which is constructed by comparing the sub-aperture images of the SI. Then the SI and ASI are classified by the sparse representation-based classification (SRC), respectively. Afterwards, a score-level fusion is employed to combine the two results for robust target recognition. Extensive experiments are conducted on the moving and stationary target acquisition and recognition (MSTAR) dataset and the performance is compared with several state-of-the-art methods. The experimental results show that the ASI can complemen...

Pr3+, Yb3+ and Sm3+, Yb3+ co-doped SrMoO4 phosphors have been prepared via high temperature solid-state reaction method. The quantum cutting based on Sm3+,Yb3+ couple results in a new emission band at 1000 nm and the quantum cutting based on Pr3+,Yb3+ couple realizes a broad near-infrared emission of about 76 nm in full width at half maximum, centered at 1000 nm. Meanwhile the near infrared emission intensity for Sm3+, Yb3+ and Pr3+, Yb3+ co-doped SrMoO4 phosphors have also been increased by 2.1 and 1.8 times, with 36.5% and 9.6% energy transfer efficiencies from Sm3+ to Yb3+ and Pr3+ to Yb3+, respectively. The result provides a meaningful reference for designing broad-band near infrared phosphors or tunable near infrared laser materials.

Multi-feature decision fusion is a robust way to enhance the performance of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) automatic target recognition (ATR). This study fuses two physically relevant features namely attributed scattering centres and target contour for SAR ATR. The two features provide an intuitive and comprehensive description of targets which can not only promote the ATR performance but also benefit human interpretation. The two features complement each other with weak spatial correlation. Furthermore, both the features can be concisely represented by simple point pattern thus remarkably saving the memory of the feature database. Specific classifiers are designed for the two features whose outputs are fused by the Dempster–Shafer evidence theory to produce the final decision. Experiments based on the moving and stationary target acquisition and recognition database demonstrate the validity of the proposed method.

The paper is concerned with the problem of the robust stabilization for a class of fractional order linear systems with positive real uncertainty under Riemann–Liouville (RL) derivatives. Firstly, by utilizing the continuous frequency distributed model of the fractional integrator, the fractional order system is expressed as an infinite dimensional integral order system. And via using indirect Lyapunov approach and linear matrix inequality techniques, sufficient condition for robust asymptotic stability of the fractional order systems and design methods of the state feedback controller are presented. Secondly, by using matrixs singular value decomposition technique the static output feedback controller and observer-based controller for asymptotically stabilizing the fractional order systems are derived. Finally, the validity of the proposed methods are demonstrated by numerical examples.

A novel peptide (P75) targeting EGFR and HER2 is successfully screened from a one-bead-one-compound (OBOC) library containing approximately 2 × 105 peptides built with the aid of computational simulation. In vitro and in vivo analyses show that P75 binds to human epithelial growth factor receptor (EGFR) with nanomolar affinity and to epithelial growth factor receptor-2 (HER2) with a lower affinity but comparable to other reported peptides. The peptide is used to modify the surface of magnetosome nanoparticles (NPs) for targeted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). In vitro and in vivo fluorescence imaging results suggest peptide P75 modified magnetosomes (Mag-P75) specifically bind to MDA-MB-468 and SKBR3 cells as well as xenograft tumors with surprisingly low accumulation in other organs including liver and kidney. In vivo T2-weighted MR imaging studies of the xenograft tumors from SKBR3 and MDA-MB-468 cells show obviously negative contrast enhancement. The high affinity and specificity of P75 to EGFR and HER2 positive tumors, together with the success of peptide functionalized magnetosome NPs for targeted MRI demonstrate the potential of this peptide being used in the EGFR and HER2 positive tumors diagnosis and therapy.

Bone morphogenetic protein 15 (BMP15) is strongly associated with animal reproduction and woman reproductive disease. As a multifunctional oocyte-specific secret factor, BMP15 controls female fertility and follicular development in both species-specific and dosage-sensitive manners. Previous studies found that BMP15 played a critical role in follicular development and ovulation rate in mono-ovulatory mammalian species, especially in sheep and human, but study on knockout mouse model implied that BMP15 possibly has minimal impact on female fertility of poly-ovulatory species. However, this needs to be validated in other poly-ovulatory species. To investigate the regulatory role of BMP15 on porcine female fertility, we generated a BMP15-knockdown pig model through somatic nuclear transfer technology. The BMP15-knockdown gilts showed markedly reduced fertility accompanied by phenotype of dysplastic ovaries containing significantly declined number of follicles, increased number of abnormal follicles, and abnormally enlarged antral follicles resulting in disordered ovulation, which is remarkably different from the unchanged fertility observed in BMP15 knockout mice. Molecular and transcriptome analysis revealed that the knockdown of BMP15 significantly affected both granulosa cells (GCs) and oocytes development, including suppression of cell proliferation, differentiation, and follicle stimulating hormone receptor (Fshr) expression, leading to premature luteinization and reduced estradiol (E2) production in GCs, and simultaneously decreased quality and meiotic maturation of oocyte. Our results provide in vivo evidence of the essential role of BMP15 in porcine ovarian and follicular development, and new insight into the complicated regulatory function of BMP15 in female fertility of poly-ovulatory species.

Baicalein (BAI) is an acknowledged flavonoids compound, which is regarded as a useful therapeutic pharmaceutical for numerous cancers. However, its involvement in melanoma is largely unknown. This study aimed to examine the anti-melanoma function of BAI and unraveled the regulatory mechanism involved. A375 and SK-MEL-28 were treated with BAI for 24 h. Then, CCK-8 assay, flow cytometry, and transwell assay were carried out to investigate cell growth, migration, and invasion. RT-qPCR was applied to detect the expression of colon cancer associated transcript-1 (CCAT1) in melanoma tissues and cells. The functions of CCAT1 in melanoma cells were also evaluated. Western blot was utilized to appraise Wnt/β-catenin or MEK/ERK pathways. BAI restrained cell proliferation and stimulated cell apoptotic capability of melanoma by suppressing cleaved-caspase-3 and cleaved-PARP. Cell migratory and invasive abilities were restrained by BAI via inhibiting MMP-2 and vimentin. CCAT1 was over-expressed in melanoma tissues and down-regulated by BAI in melanoma cells. Overexpressed CCAT1 reversed the BAI-induced anti-growth, anti-migratory, and anti-invasive effects. Furthermore, BAI inhibited Wnt/β-catenin and MEK/ERK pathways-axis via regulating CCAT1. Our study indicated that BAI blocked Wnt/β-catenin and MEK/ERK pathways via regulating CCAT1, thereby inhibiting melanoma cell proliferation, migration, and invasion.

Vehicle re-identification (re-ID) is to identify the same vehicle captured by different cameras with non-overlapping views, which plays an important role in intelligent transportation system and traffic safety. Compared with face recognition and person re-ID tasks, it is difficult to train an effective vehicle re-ID model since different vehicles of the same vehicle model, such as Mercedes-Benz C300, may exhibit strong inter-class similarity. To handle this difficulty, we propose a multi-grain ranking loss with the auxiliary of vehicle model, which models the vehicle re-ID task as two sub-tasks with different granularities including matching vehicles in the same vehicle model and different vehicle models. In particular, we infer the vehicle model labels online for the unlabeled training samples by clustering. The experimental results on two benchmarks demonstrate the proposed method can achieve state-of-the-art performance.

Bone morphogenetic protein 15 (BMP15) is a multifunctional oocyte-specific secreted factor. It controls female fertility and follicular development in both species-specific and dosage-sensitive manners. Previous studies found that BMP15 played a critical role on follicular development and ovulation rate of mono-ovulatory mammalian species, but has minimal impact on poly-ovulatory mice. However, whether this is true in non-rodent poly-ovulatory species need to be validated. To investigate this question, we generated a BMP15 knockdown pig model. We found that BMP15 knockdown gilts showed markedly reduced fertility accompanied with phenotype of dysplastic ovaries containing significantly declined number of follicles, increased number of abnormal follicles, and abnormally enlarged antral follicles resulting in disordered ovulation. Molecular and transcriptome analysis revealed that knockdown of BMP15 significantly suppressed cell proliferation, differentiation, Fshr expression, leading to premature luteinization and reduced estradiol production in GCs, and simultaneously decreased the quality and meiotic maturation of oocyte. Our results provide in vivo evidences for the essential role of BMP15 in porcine ovarian and follicular development, and new insight into the complicated regulatory function of BMP15 in female fertility of poly-ovulatory species.

In this paper, a novel improved Antlion optimization algorithm (IALO) has been proposed for solving three different IEEE power systems of optimal reactive power dispatch (ORPD) problem. Such three power systems with a set of constraints in transmission power networks such as voltage limitation of all buses, limitations of tap of all transformers, maximum power transmission limitation of all conductors and limitations of all capacitor banks have given a big challenge for global optimal solution search ability of the proposed method. The proposed IALO method has been developed by modifying new solution generation technique of standard antlion optimization algorithm (ALO). By optimizing three single objective functions of systems with 30, 57 and 118 buses, the proposed method has been demonstrated to be more effective than ALO in terms of the most optimal solution search ability, solution search speed and search stabilization. In addition, the proposed method has also been compared to other existing methods and it has obtained better results than approximately all compared ones. Consequently, the proposed IALO method is deserving of a potential optimization tool for solving ORPD problem and other optimization problems in power system optimization fields.

Vehicle re-identification (ReID) aims to identify a target vehicle in different cameras with non-overlapping views, and it plays an important role when the car licence plate recognition is unavailable or unreliable. Compared with face recognition and person ReID tasks, it is difficult to train an effective vehicle ReID model due to two reasons: the different views greatly affect the visual appearance of a vehicle, and different vehicles may exhibit fairly similar visual appearance when their images are captured from one unified single view. To handle these training difficulties, we introduce several latent groups to represent multiple views. Then, the vehicle ReID problem is modeled as two sub tasks, including matching vehicles in a same view and across different views. A fine-grain ranking loss and a relative coarse-grain ranking loss are proposed to each task respectively. Extensive experimental analyses and evaluations on two benchmarks demonstrate the proposed method can achieve state-of-the-art performance.

Although the toxicity and molecular mechanisms of graphene oxide (GO) have been reported for several cell types, no proteomic study of GO has yet been conducted on macrophage cells. In this study, we used proteomics based on stable isotope labeling with amino acids in cell culture (SILAC) to quantify the proteomic changes in macrophage RAW 264.7 cells following GO treatment. We found 73 proteins that were significantly dysregulated after GO treatment. The down-regulated proteins included many ribosomal subunit proteins, indicating that GO affected cell growth. The most elevated proteins were lipoprotein lipase (LPL) and lysozyme 1 (LYZ1) which have not been reported before, and both can be used as candidate markers for GO exposure. Further enrichment analysis of the up-regulated proteins indicated these proteins are associated with the integrin complex and membrane rafts, as well as with two signal pathways: the phagosome and steroid biosynthesis pathways. We confirmed a GO concentration-dependent increase in membrane rafts and the production of phagosomes. GO exposure also induced necrotic cell death and an inflammation response in RAW 264.7 cells. We also observed an increase in the oxidative stress response (ROS) and autophagy, and the results suggest that ROS induced autophagy by the ROS-NRF2-P62 pathway.