Search

Abstract: A simple but effective method for calculating the cascading of the multiple stages of optical fractional Fourier transform was proposed. Unlike the previous methods for solving the problems of cascading the optical fractional Fourier transform, we did not change the structures of the optical setups proposed by Lohmann but calculate the cascaded optical fractional Fourier transform with modified transform orders obtained by our method. Computer-simulation and experimental results were presented and a good agreement between them was obtained. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Influences of high magnetic fields on the precipitation behavior of the primary Al3Fe phase during the solidification of a hypereutectic Al-3.31wt% Fe are investigated. Under the uniform field the primary crystals tend to be distributed homogeneously, whereas under the positive gradient field they move upward in the specimen. Under both cases, they tend to align with [100] parallel to the field direction. The field also induces axial bifurcation of the primary crystals, gives rise to the formation of transverse cracks in the primary crystals and increases the number of nuclei. The homogeneous distribution of the primary crystals in the uniform field and the upward movement in the gradient field are attributed to the respective magnetic viscosity resistance force and the magnetization force. The alignment results from the magnetic torque due to the magnetic anisotropy of the primary crystals. The bifurcation and the cracks are related to the thermoelectric magnetic force and the linear shrinkage coefficient difference between the Al solid solution and the primary Al3Fe phase. The increased number of nuclei arises from the detachment of the primary crystals and the suppression of the descent of the original primary crystals in the initial material and the Fe solute diffusion by the field. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The microstructural and crystallographic characteristics of 5M martensite in an Ni50Mn28Ga22 alloy were investigated by electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) analysis. The microstructure of 5M martensite observed at room temperature can be characterized by broad plates with alternately distributed fine lamellae (variants). With the accurate EBSD orientation measurements and by application of monoclinic superstructure information, four twin-related variants in one broad plate were identified. On the basis of the correct orientation data of martensite variants acquired from the EBSD measurements, the more favourable orientation relationship between austenite and 5M martensite was revealed to be the Pitsch relation with (101)A//()5M and []A//[]5M by detailed crystallographic calculation without residual austenite. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a method to identify the type and the Burgers vector of dislocations visualized via transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The first step is to determine experimentally the orientation, with respect to the sample holder, of a grain of known crystal structure whose dislocation slip systems have been previously reported. With this determined orientation of the grain, the method calculates the orientation of the projections of the possible dislocation line vectors in the transmission electron microscope screen coordinate system and then compares them with the observed dislocations to identify their type and the Burgers vector. The coordinate transformations underlying the method are outlined, and its validity is demonstrated using TEM measurements on a titanium sample. The method is expected to simplify the related TEM determination work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: DNA/cationic surfactant interaction is relevant from the viewpoint of gene therapy, where the complexation and resulting compaction are essential to protect DNA from nuclease, and to allow entry of DNA into cells. In this work, light input and host–guest inclusion controlled DNA complexation by a novel cationic surfactant 1-[6-(4-phenylazo-phenoxy)-hexyl]-3-methylimidazolium bromide (AzoC6Mim) is reported. The surfactant is covalently attached with an azobenzene group, which undergoes reversible photoisomerizations by changing light input. Under visible light, trans-AzoC6Mim can bind to salmon sperm DNA through electrostatic attraction and hydrophobic interaction, resulting into DNA compaction. Under UV light, although cis-AzoC6Mim still binds to DNA chain, DNA/surfactant complex is decompacted owing to the decrease of surfactant hydrophobicity. On the other hand, azobenzene group can form an inclusion complex with α-CD through host–guest interaction, which removes AzoC6Mim from DNA chain and decompacts the DNA/surfactant complex. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Automated and accurate classification of MR brain images is of importance for the analysis and interpretation of these images and many methods have been proposed. In this paper, we present a neural network (NN) based method to classify a given MR brain image as normal or abnormal. This method first employs wavelet transform to extract features from images, and then applies the technique of principle component analysis (PCA) to reduce the dimensions of features. The reduced features are sent to a back propagation (BP) NN, with which scaled conjugate gradient (SCG) is adopted to find the optimal weights of the NN. We applied this method on 66 images (18 normal, 48 abnormal). The classification accuracies on both training and test images are 100%, and the computation time per image is only 0.0451s. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: For Ni–Mn–Ga ferromagnetic shape memory alloys, the characteristic features of modulated martensite (including the number/shape of constituent variants, the inter-variant orientation relationship and the geometrical distribution of variant interfaces) determine the attainability of the shape memory effect. In the present work, a comprehensive microstructural and crystallographic investigation has been conducted on a bulk polycrystalline Ni50Mn28Ga22 alloy. As a first attempt, the orientation measurements by electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) – using the precise information on the commensurate 5M modulated monoclinic superstructure (instead of the conventionally simplified non-modulated tetragonal structure) – were successfully performed to identify the crystallographic orientations on an individual basis. Consequently, the morphology of modulated martensite, the orientation relationships between adjacent variants and the characters of twin interfaces were unambiguously determined. With the thus-obtained full-featured image on the configuration of martensitic variants, the possibility of microstructural modification by proper mechanical “training” was further discussed. This new effort makes it feasible to explore the crystallographic/microstructural correlations in modulated martensite with high statistical reliability, which in turn provides useful guidance for optimizing the microstructure and shape memory performance. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The habit and morphology of the primary Al3Zr crystals formed during the solidification of Al-1.36wt% Zr alloy were analyzed. It was observed that the crystals have a tabular habit. The longitudinal cuts of the smaller and larger sized crystals appear, respectively, in octagonal and rectangular forms. The primary crystals also appear in the dendritic form. A crystallographic study indicates that the smaller sized crystals are bound by {001}, {101} and {111} faceted planes, whereas the larger sized ones by {001} and {101} faceted planes. One compound twin with two variants is found in the dendritic crystals and the complete twinning elements are determined. The tabular habit of the primary crystals is attributed to the low roughness of {001} planes. The disappearance of {111} planes in the larger sized crystals result from their high roughness. The twin formation is realized by lattice shear plus local atom stacking fault accompanied by local atomic reshuffling. The dendritic crystals are the result of the formation of the compound twin. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Path finding is a fundamental research topic in transportation planning, intelligent transportation system, routine selection, etc. It is usually simplified as the shortest path (SP) in deterministic networks. However, some parameters in real life are stochastic. In this article, a more pragmatic model for stochastic networks was proposed, which not only considers determinist variables but also the mean and variances of random variables. In order to fasten the solution of our model, a novel method was proposed, which combines artificial immune system (AIS), chaos operator, and particle swarm optimization (PSO). Numerical experiments were presented to demonstrate that this proposed model is valid, effective, and more close to real-life, and CIPSO outperforms GA and PSO in respect of route optimality and convergence time. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Al–0.24wt%Fe was semi-continuously cast with the application of static magnetic field of 0.1 and 0.2T. The magnetic field transfers the microstructure from the columnar grains growing in the 〈100〉 direction into twinned lamellar crystals growing in the 〈110〉 direction. The lamellas possess the morphology and the crystallographic growth direction of the “feathery crystals”. However, the “feathers” (secondary arms) that branch off the twinning plane only start to form at 0.2T. Under the two strengths of the magnetic field applied, no side arms in the twinning planes were observed. The increase of the lamellar spacing with the magnetic field is due to the initiation of the secondary arms. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The stress in the solid near the liquid/solid interface and its effect on the interface instability in directionally solidified Al–0.85wt.% Cu alloy and pure Al under a strong (10T) magnetic field has been investigated experimentally. Observing the liquid/solid interface shape and studying the electron backscatter diffraction of the interface substructure yields experimental evidence for the formation of the stress in the solid near the liquid/solid interface and the liquid/solid interface instability caused by the stress under a strong magnetic field. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Effect of a 0.2-T static magnetic field on the microstructure of a direct chill cast Al-9.8wt%Zn alloy slab was investigated. The static magnetic field transferred the microstructure from a mixture of equiaxed and columnar grains with the primary trunks growing in <100> directions to twinned lamellar feathery grains with the primary and secondary arms growing in <110> directions. The application of the static magnetic field results in the reduction of the heat discharge and solute mixing capacity through a damping effect on convection and thus a delay of the melt transformation to solid and a request to reduce the liquid/solid interface energy through reducing the interface area due to the loss of undercooling. The delay and the request account for the growth direction change and the formation of lamellas. The difference between the Al and Zn atomic radii and the related incoming flow facilitate the formation of the twins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This letter researched on the effect of spider-web-plot, which was proposed in the literature “ M. Saritha, K.P. Joseph, A.T. Mathew, Classification of MRI brain images using combined wavelet entropy based spider web plots and probabilistic neural network, Pattern Recognit. Lett. 34 (2013) 2151–2156 ”. We found it was unnecessary to use spider-web-plot as feature transform method. In addition, our simulation results showed that removing the procedure of spider-web-plot yielded the same classification accuracy of 100%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this paper, we present a novel method for preparing surface-modified Mg(OH)2 nanocrystallines (ncs), in which stearic acid (SA) as a surface modified agent was first introduced into a conventional azeotropic distillation (AD) system (n-butanol and wet colloid). During the modified AD process, SA could react with the exterior hydroxyls of Mg(OH)2 ncs to form surface modified layer, which would prevent the possibility of hard agglomeration of Mg(OH)2 ncs and change the surface character of Mg(OH)2 ncs from hydrophilicity to hydrophobicity. Therefore, the surface-modification and drying of Mg(OH)2 ncs was simultaneously processed. In addition, the structure and the properties of surface-modified Mg(OH)2 ncs were characterized by TEM, FT-IR, XRD, TGA, CAM (contact angle measurement), and the forming mechanism was also discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The structure and properties of organic–inorganic hybrid nanocomposites prepared from a resole phenolic resin and a POSS mixture containing >95wt% trisilanolphenyl POSS was investigated by POM (polarized optical microscopy), SEM, TEM, WAXD, FT-IR, DSC, and TGA techniques. Composites with 1.0–10.4wt% of POSS were prepared by dissolving the POSS and the phenolic resin into THF, followed by solvent removal and curing. Both nano- and micro-sized POSS filler aggregates and particles were shown to be heterogeneously dispersed in the cured matrix by POM, TEM, SEM, and X-EDS. POSS was found everywhere, including in both dispersed phase domains and in the matrix. The nanocomposite morphology appears to form by a multi-step POSS aggregation during the process of phase separation. Both the matrix and dispersed ‘particulate’ phase domains are mixtures of phenolic resin and POSS. POSS micro-crystals act as the core of the dispersed phase. The bigger dispersed domains consist of smaller particles or aggregates of POSS molecules that exhibit some order but regions of matrix resin are interspersed. A WAXD peak at 2θ∼7.3° indicates crystalline order in the POSS aggregates. This characteristic peak''s intensity increases with an increase in POSS loading, suggesting that more POSS molecules have aggregated or crystallized. FT-IR spectra confirm that hydrogen bonding exists between the phenolic resin and POSS Si–OH groups. This increases their mutual compatibility, but H-bonding does not prevent POSS aggregation and phase separation during curing. TGA measurements in air confirmed the temperature for 5% mass loss in increases with increase of POSS loading and at T>550° the thermal stability increases more sharply with POSS loading. The nanocomposite glass transition temperatures (T g) are only slightly be affected by the POSS filler. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The thermodynamic and kinetic characteristics of austenite-to-ferrite phase transformation in medium carbon steel in the high magnetic fields were investigated. Results showed that the magnetic field could obviously change the phase equilibrium—by increasing the amount of ferrite obtained during cooling—and greatly accelerate the transformation. Thus the microstructure obtained under fast cooling with high magnetic field was still ferritic and pearlitic, while that obtained without the magnetic field under the same cooling conditions was bainitic. Exploration in this area contributes both to enriching the new theory on electromagnetic processing of materials (EPM) and in establishing new techniques for materials processing. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The effects of magnetic field on nucleation barrier of the phase transformation from austenite to ferrite at different cooling rates in 42CrMo steel have been investigated. The microstructures of ferrite and pearlite aligned along the magnetic field direction (parallel to the hot-rolling direction) are obtained at a cooling rate of 10°C/min, resulting from the kinetic effects of the applied magnetic field during cooling and the microstructural influences of an inhomogeneous deformation occurring during the previous hot rolling. In this case, the formation of ferrite grains at higher temperatures is attributed mainly to the preferential nucleation at austenite boundaries. However, a fairly uniform microstructure of randomly distributed ferrite and pearlite is formed at a high cooling rate of 46°C/min in the magnetic field of 14T, as a result of both intergranular and intragranular nucleation at relatively low temperatures. Probing into this issue is helpful to gain a better understanding of kinetic influences of magnetic field on the phase transformation from austenite to ferrite. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

An as-quenched structural steel is tempered at 600 and 650 °C for 1 h without and with a 14-T magnetic field. The magnetic field can effectively prevent the directional growth of cementite along martensite plate boundaries and twin boundaries by increasing both the cementite/ferrite interfacial energy and the magnetostrictive strain energy. Finally, particle-like cementite is obtained. Moreover, the magnetic field can obviously retard the formation and growth of `distortion-free'' regions in the matrix, though without having any noticeable effect on the orientation distribution of the `distortion-free'' part. Investigating this subject contributes to the understanding of the way a magnetic field influences phase transformation in solid metallic materials. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Complete comonomer sequence assignments were made for a series of propylene-1-olefin copolymers, including 1-butene, 1-hexene, and 1-octene, to establish the effect of branch length on the sequence sensitivity of the backbone carbon chemical shifts. Particular attention was paid to the effect of branch length on the monomer sequence sensitivity of the αα carbon chemical shifts. As opposed to the ethylene-1-olefin copolymers where the reported αα carbon chemical shifts were exclusively tetrad sensitive regardless of the branch length, the αα carbons in each of the three propylene-1-olefin systems examined showed apparent tetrad, triad, and dyad monomer sequence sensitivities as the center dyad changed from PP to PX to XX where X represents the individual 1-olefin. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Semi-supervised multi-view learning has been an important research topic due to its capability to exploit complementary information from unlabeled multi-view data. This work proposes MMatch, a new semi-supervised discriminative representation learning method for multi-view classification. Unlike existing multi-view representation learning methods that seldom consider the negative impact caused by particular views with unclear classification structures (weak discriminative views). MMatch jointly learns view-specific representations and class probabilities of training data. The representations concatenated to integrate multiple views’ information to form a global representation. Moreover, MMatch performs the smoothness constraint on the class probabilities of the global representation to improve pseudo labels, whereas the pseudo labels regularize the structure of view-specific representations. A discriminative global representation is mined with the training process, and the negative impact of weak discriminative views is overcome. Besides, MMatch learns consistent classification while preserving diverse information from multiple views. Experiments on several multi-view datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of MMatch. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The non-equilibrium high-speed compressible flows present wealthy applications in engineering and science. With the deepening of Thermodynamic Non-Equilibrium (TNE), higher-order non-conserved kinetic moments of the distribution function are needed to capture the main feature of the flow state and the evolution process. Based on the ellipsoidal statistical Bhatnagar–Gross–Krook model, Discrete Boltzmann Models (DBMs) that consider various orders of TNE effects are developed to study flows in various depths of TNE. In numerical tests, DBMs including the first up to the sixth order TNE effects are demonstrated. Specifically, at first, the model's capability to capture large flow structures with zeroth-order TNE effects in two types of one-dimensional Riemann problems is demonstrated. The ability to capture large flow structures with first-order TNE effects is also shown in the Couette flow. Then, a shock wave structure given by Direct simulation Monte Carlo is used to verify the model's capability to capture fine structures at the level of the mean free path of gas molecules. Furthermore, we focus on the TNE degree of two colliding fluids mainly decided by two parameters: the relaxation time τ and relative speeds Δ u of two fluids. Consequently, three numerical tests for flows with various depths of TNE are constructed. Due to any definition of the TNE strength is dependent on the perspective of investigation, we propose to use a N-component vector S TNE to describe the TNE system from N perspectives. As specific applications, we use a three-component vector S TNE = (τ , Δ u , Δ 2 *) to roughly characterize three cases for numerical tests in this work. Then, we check the system TNE behavior from the perspective of the xx component of the TNE quantity, viscous stress Δ 2 * . It is found that, for the first two cases, at least up to the second-order TNE effects, i.e., the second-order terms in Knudsen number in the CE expansion, should be included in the model construction, while for the third case, at least up to the third-order TNE effects should be included. Similar to Δ 2 * , three numerical tests for flows in various depths of Δ 3 , 1 * are constructed. It is found that from the perspective of Δ 3 , 1 , x * , for case 1 and case 3, at least up to the second-order TNE effects should be required, while for case 2, the first-order TNE effects are enough. These findings demonstrate that the inadequacy of focusing only on the few kinetic moments appearing in Navier–Stokes increases with the degree of discreteness and deviation from thermodynamic equilibrium. Finally, a two-dimensional free jet is simulated to indicate that, to obtain satisfying hydrodynamic quantities, the DBM should include at least up to the third-order TNE effects. This study is meaningful for the understanding of the TNE behavior of complex fluid systems and the choice of an appropriate fluid model to handle desired TNE effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Alternative splicing (AS) plays a crucial role in regulating the progression of colorectal cancer (CRC), but its distribution remains to be explored. Here, we aim to investigate the genes edited by AS which show differential expression in patients with mismatch repair deficiency (dMMR)/microsatellite instability (MSI). Materials and Methods. We applied long-read nanopore sequencing to determine the mRNA profiles and screen AS genes using Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) method in ten paired CRC tissues. CRC tissue and plasma samples were used to validate the differential genes with AS using real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR, immunohistochemistry, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results. ONT sequencing identified 404 genes were downregulated, and 348 genes were upregulated in MSI cancer tissues compared with microsatellite stability (MSS) cancer tissues. In total, 6,200 AS events were identified in 2,728 mRNA transcripts. WGCNA revealed dMMR/MSI-correlated gene modules, including INHBA and RPL22L1, which were upregulated; conversely, HMGCS2 was downregulated in MSI cancer. Overexpression of RPL22L1, INHBA, and CAPZA1 was further confirmed in CRC tissues. INHBA was found to be associated with tumor lymphatic metastasis. Importantly, the levels of INHBA in CRC plasma were significantly increased compared with those in noncancer plasma. INHBA showed a higher level in dMMR/MSI CRC than in MSS CRC, indicating that INHBA is a useful biomarker. Conclusion. Our results showed that ONT-identified genes provide a pool to explore AS-associated markers for dMMR/MSI CRC. We demonstrated INHBA as a promising signature for clinical application in predicting tumor lymphatic metastasis and screening dMMR/MSI candidates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper researched three definitions of Gauss map and found that the definition of “Gauss map” in the paper of Arasomwan and Adewumi may be incoherent with other publications. In addition, we analyzed the difference of continuous Gauss map and the floating-point Gauss map, and we pointed out that the floating-point simulation behaved significantly differently from the continuous Gauss map. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stock forecasting has long drawn people's attention because the stock market is a crucial source of financing for publicly traded corporations and a sizable investment market. To fully use the evidence from dissimilar typical prices and recover the stock forecasting effect, a Blockchain-based secure stock value forecasting model TL-EMD-LSTM-MA (TELM) is projected. Other methods are selected for prediction according to the oscillation frequencies of the details, and the high-frequency components use the depth of the transfer learning method to train the stacked LSTM. Deep transferable learning-trained stacked LSTMs incorporate data from several equities and have a deeper understanding of the marketplace or commerce, which can significantly lower forecasting mistakes. Furthermore, it is possible to more accurately estimate the low-frequency components and the overall trend of the stock by employing the average movement approach. 500 stocks in the stock market are shown, as well as indices such as the Stock Exchange Index and Stock Exchange Component Index, the outcomes demonstrate that compared with other models, TELM has the least prediction error and the highest goodness of fit. Finally, simulate the stock trading process based on the stock closing price predicted by TELM, and the results show that TELM investment has low risk and high returns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a diallel experiment to study the genetic nature of ear moisture loss rate (EMLR) in maize. Potential use of the specific interaction between nuclear genetic components and non-nuclear genetic factors in the enhancement of EMLR; Identification of inbred lines that could be used in a breeding program to lower harvest moisture of maize.

Summary: The effects of different isomalt concentrations on the quality of wheat flour dough and spicy wheat gluten sticks (SWGS) were evaluated at the physical, structural and molecular levels. The results showed that the radial expansion rate (RER) and oil absorption rate (OAR) of SWGS increased first and then decreased with increased isomalt supplementation, which reached the maximum at 3 wt%. The pasting properties of wheat starch also changed, and the peak viscosity, breakdown and setback were decreased with the addition of isomalt. Dynamic rheological properties results showed that the storage modulus (G') and loss modulus (G'') increased with the addition of isomalt, which may be attributed to the reinforcement of gluten network structure by hydrogen bonding of isomalt. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images illustrated that the SWGS surface becomes smooth and the broken gluten structure was reduced after the addition of different isomalt levels compared with the control group. Overall, the wheat flour dough quality analysis showed that the addition of isomalt could generate a close binding with wheat starch and protein and further strengthen the internal structure of gluten through isomalt hydrogen bonds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores whether young, low-income mothers' prenatal attachment to their infants is related to attachment and parenting behaviour postnatally. A small literature has documented continuity in maternal attachment from pregnancy to postpartum and shown that early maternal attachment is associated with positive parenting behaviour. Less is known about whether prenatal attachment has a unique impact on parenting behaviour, or if it is primarily a step in the development of postnatal attachment, which in turn influences parenting. Additionally, it is unclear whether associations between attachment and early parenting might be attributable to other factors such as depressive symptoms. This longitudinal study followed young primiparous mothers from pregnancy through 3-weeks postnatal. 240 ethnically/racially diverse low-income American women reported their attachment-related thoughts and feelings and their depressive symptoms during pregnancy and postnatally. At 3 weeks postpartum, mothers were observed interacting with their infant. There was stability in attachment and depressive symptoms from pregnancy to postpartum. In multivariate path models, prenatal attachment was directly associated with two types of parenting behaviour: positive engagement and encouragement of learning, even when accounting for depressive symptoms and postnatal attachment. There was an indirect effect of prenatal attachment on sensitivity through postnatal attachment. The foundation of a mother's emotional connection to her infant begins before birth. Parenting support programmes for young mothers should begin during pregnancy. Supporting the establishment of positive prenatal attachment may also have a positive influence on later parenting behaviour among mothers, including mothers experiencing depressive symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Uniform Fe-N-doped soot nanoparticles were used as the cathode catalyst for MFCs. • FePc modifies the textural properties of CTS during the solvothermal treatment. • The oxygen-containing functional group richness increases the active sites for ORR. • The interconnected porous structure of CTS improves the accessibility of the catalyst. • A P max of 2026 ± 160 mW m−2 is achieved by FePC@CTS, which is 34% higher than that of Pt/C. Coal tar soot (CTS), which is an industrial product of the incomplete combustion of coal tars or heavy oil, is a low-value additive for the production of cement, ink, oil paint, etc. However, it has considerable potential as the catalyst support for oxygen reduction reactions (ORRs) because of its abundant oxygen-containing functional groups and interconnected porous structure. Herein, we proposed a one-pot strategy for synthesizing the high ORR performance catalyst (FePc@CTS) by simultaneously incorporating Fe and N into the carbon matrix of CTS and modifying the textural properties of CTS by using solvothermal treatment with iron phthalocyanine (FePc) and CTS in n-hexane. Electron microscopy investigation shows that the solvothermal treatment produces FePc@CTS with a spherical shape and a rather narrow particle size distribution. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and elemental analysis indicate that the FePc@CTS has a high Fe and N content. Due to the interconnected macroporous structure and the abundant ORR active sites, the FePc@CTS sample had the most positive half-wave potential (0.057 V vs. Ag/Cl) and the highest limiting current density (5.63 mA cm−2) among the prepared samples. An air-cathode microbial fuel cell (MFC) with FePc@CTS delivered a peak power density of 2026 ± 160 mW m−2, which was much higher than that of a cell with Pt/C (1337 ± 179 mW m−2). This work provides a facile pathway to convert low-value soot into interesting nano-structured ORR catalyst for MFCs to recover energy from wastewater. Image, graphical abstract [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Sitodiplosis mosellana is one of the most destructive pests of wheat. Adults rely highly on wheat spike volatiles to search and locate oviposition sites. Insect odorant-binding proteins (OBPs) are important in binding and transporting host plant volatiles to the olfactory receptors. Therefore, OBP-based behavioral interference is believed to be a novel and effective pest management strategy. The objectives of this study were to clone two S. mosellana female antenna-enriched OBP genes (SmosOBP12 and SmosOBP17), determine the functions of the encoded SmosOBP proteins in binding wheat volatiles, and investigate behavioral responses of female S. mosellana to odorant molecules. Results indicated that SmosOBP12 had a broader ligand-binding spectrum than SmosOBP17 to wheat volatiles. Female S. mosellana showed intensive response to 3-hexanol, 1-octen-3-ol, D-panthenol, 3-carene, (Z)-3-hexenylacetate, hexyl acetate, methyl salicylate, heptyl acetate, ethyl heptanoate, α-farnesene, and ocimene. Notably, all these compounds except α-farnesene exhibited strong affinity to SmosOBP12. In conclusion, SmosOBP12 may play more crucial roles than SmosOBP17 in perception and transportation of biologically active host volatiles. This information has enhanced our molecular understanding of the S. mosellana olfaction, which could also serve as an important reference for developing attractants or repellents to control this pest. The wheat blossom midge Sitodiplosis mosellana, one of the most disastrous wheat pests, depends highly on olfactory cues to track suitable plants. To better understand the olfactory recognition mechanisms involved in host selection, in the present study we cloned two S. mosellana adult antenna-specific odorant binding protein (OBP) genes, SmosOBP12 and SmosOBP17, and evaluated bacterially expressed recombinant proteins for their selectivity and sensitivity for host wheat volatiles using the fluorescence-based ligand binding assay. The results showed that both SmosOBPs effectively bound alcohol, ester, ketone, and terpenoid compounds. Particularly, SmosOBP12 had significantly higher affinities (Ki < 10.5 μM) than SmosOBP17 (Ki2 > 0.1 μM) to 3-hexanol, 1-octen-3-ol, D-panthenol, 3-carene, (Z)-3-hexenylacetate, hexyl acetate, methyl salicylate, heptyl acetate, and ethyl heptanoate. Consistently, S. mosellana females were attracted to all these chemicals in a behavioral assay using Y-tube olfactometer. SmosOBP12 also bound aldehyde, but neither bound alkanes. Notably, SmosOBP12 exhibited strong affinity to ocimene (Ki = 8.2 μM) that repelled S. mosellana. SmosOBP17, however, was insensitive to this compound. Taken together, our results indicate that SmosOBP12 may play a greater role than SmosOBP17 in perceiving these biologically active plant volatiles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Domain generation algorithms (DGAs) use specific parameters as random seeds to generate a large number of random domain names to prevent malicious domain name detection. This greatly increases the difficulty of detecting and defending against botnets and malware. Traditional models for detecting algorithmically generated domain names generally rely on manually extracting statistical characteristics from the domain names or network traffic and then employing classifiers to distinguish the algorithmically generated domain names. These models always require labor intensive manual feature engineering. In contrast, most state-of-the-art models based on deep neural networks are sensitive to imbalance in the sample distribution and cannot fully exploit the discriminative class features in domain names or network traffic, leading to decreased detection accuracy. To address these issues, we employ the borderline synthetic minority over-sampling algorithm (SMOTE) to improve sample balance. We also propose a recurrent convolutional neural network with spatial pyramid pooling (RCNN-SPP) to extract discriminative and distinctive class features. The recurrent convolutional neural network combines a convolutional neural network (CNN) and a bi-directional long short-term memory network (Bi-LSTM) to extract both the semantic and contextual information from domain names. We then employ the spatial pyramid pooling strategy to refine the contextual representation by capturing multi-scale contextual information from domain names. The experimental results from different domain name datasets demonstrate that our model can achieve 92.36% accuracy, an 89.55% recall rate, a 90.46% F1-score, and 95.39% AUC in identifying DGA and legitimate domain names, and it can achieve 92.45% accuracy rate, a 90.12% recall rate, a 90.86% F1-score, and 96.59% AUC in multi-classification problems. It achieves significant improvement over existing models in terms of accuracy and robustness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Imaging speed is one of the key factors limiting atomic force microscope's (AFM) wide applications. To improve its performance, a variable-speed scanning (VSS) method is designed in this note for an AFM. Specifically, in the VSS mode, the scanning speed is tuned online according to the feedback information to properly distribute imaging time along sample surface. Furthermore, some practical mechanism is proposed to determine the best time of moving the AFM tip to the next scanned point. The contrast experiment results show that the VSS method speeds up the imaging rate while ensuring image quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• CeO 2 with three different morphologies were used as supports to load copper. • Cu/CeO 2 -hollow nanospheres catalysts performed high catalytic activity in the RWGS reaction. • The surface oxygen vacancies directly participate in CO 2 adsorption and activation. • Bidentate carbonate and bidentate formate are key intermediates for the RWGS reaction. Self-assembled CeO 2 with 3D hollow nanosphere, nanoparticle and nanocube morphologies were prepared and used to support Cu particles. The obtained samples (denoted as Cu/CeO 2 -hs, Cu/CeO 2 -np and Cu/CeO 2 -nc, respectively) were tested for the reverse water-gas shift (RWGS) reaction. Under the reaction conditions, V (H 2): V (CO 2) = 3:1 and weight hourly space velocity (WHSV) = 300,000 mL g−1 h−1, the Cu/CeO 2 -hs sample exhibited the best catalytic performance among the as-prepared catalysts. In order to reveal the key factors affecting the catalytic performance, the physicochemical properties of the catalysts were analyzed by XRD, BET, SEM, TEM, H 2 -TPR, quasi in-situ XPS and in situ UV-Raman techniques. The results point out that the particle size of Cu is not the rate-determining factor while the amount of surface oxygen vacancies is highly correlated with the catalytic reaction rate. In situ UV-Raman and in situ DRIFTS experiments indicate the formation of bidentate carbonate and formate species on oxygen vacancy sites which is thought to be the key intermediates for the RWGS reaction. These findings unravel the crucial roles of surface oxygen vacancies on CO 2 adsorption and activation and also highlight a feasible way for the design of highly efficient catalysts for the important RWGS reaction in chemical industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Single-scan high-efficiency cleaning of the rubber curing die with non-uniformly deposited contaminants was achieved. • Laser cleaning of the net cracks on the chromium layer of the die was firstly investigated. • The cleaning mechanism of different thickness contaminants was systematically analysed. Removal of rubber contaminants from chrome-plated die with slots was studied using an acousto-optic Q-switched Nd:YAG nanosecond pulsed laser with an average power of 100 W. The contaminants deposited non-uniformly on the die can be distinguished as rubber particles with a nominal diameter of 10 μm, located mainly in the plane region (PR), while a thick rubber layer up to 50 μm can be discovered in the slot region (SR). Results show that, by positive defocusing the laser with single pulse energy density of 0.97 J/cm2 and adding the argon gas, single-scan high-efficiency cleaning of the slots could be achieved, and the net cracks on the chromium layer could be cleaned too. The optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) were used to investigate the surface of the die before and after cleaning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The experimental discovery of four-layer orthorhombic (4O) martensite has added new research motivation to the Ni–Mn–Sn magnetic shape memory alloy. Herein, the martensitic transformation, magnetic properties, and electronic structures of Ni2Mn1+xSn1−x alloys are investigated using the first-principles calculations. The results show that the increasing Mn content destabilizes the stability of austenite (A) compared to the non-modulated (NM) martensite. This composition adjustment promotes the occurrence of martensitic transformation in the range of 0.375 ≤ x ≤ 0.75, and the corresponding phase transition sequence is A → 4O → NM during cooling. An intense hybridization bond exists between excess Mn and its surrounding atoms. The increasing antiferromagnetic interaction between excess Mn and normal Mn weakens each atomic moment and, thus, the total magnetic moment. Furthermore, the physical essence of the phase stability and magnetic properties variation with composition was explained based on the electronic density of states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the course of generating the CT images, the streak metal artifacts emerge from the reconstructed images, often degraded the quality of the images and blur the fringe information around the metal implant. Although a number of attempts had been reported, among them, our proposed interpolation-based method is the simplest and most efficient approaches. In this paper, three interpolation approaches are compared with subjective and objective criterion based on both simulation and clinical cases. Our results have shown an improvement from the original images. As for the comparison with NRMSD and MAD. For the execution time, the L-MAR possesses the shortest time with S-MAR time being the slowest among the interpolation-based methods. For NRMSD and MAD, the digits from small to large are P-MAR, S-MAR, L-MAR and original. This shows that among interpolation-based methods the image corrected by P-MAR approach is the closest to the ideal image, followed by S-MAR correction, L-MAR correction, and the gap between the original image and the ideal image is the largest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multivariate Time Series (MTS) forecasting has gained significant importance in diverse domains. Although Recurrent Neural Network (RNN)-based approaches have made notable advancements in MTS forecasting, they do not effectively tackle the challenges posed by noise and unordered data. Drawing inspiration from advancing the Transformer model, we introduce a transformer-based method called STFormer to address this predicament. The STFormer utilizes a two-stage Transformer to capture spatio-temporal relationships and tackle the issue of noise. Furthermore, the MTS incorporates adaptive spatio-temporal graph structures to tackle the issue of unordered data specifically. The Transformer incorporates graph embedding to combine spatial position information with long-term temporal connections. Experimental results based on typical finance and environment datasets demonstrate that STFormer surpasses alternative baseline forecasting models and achieves state-of-the-art results for single-step horizon and multistep horizon forecasting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Aquila optimization (AO) algorithm has the drawbacks of local optimization and poor optimization accuracy when confronted with complex optimization problems. To remedy these drawbacks, this paper proposes an Enhanced aquila optimization (EAO) algorithm. To avoid elite individual from entering the local optima, the elite opposition-based learning strategy is added. To enhance the ability of balancing global exploration and local exploitation, a dynamic boundary strategy is introduced. To elevate the algorithm's convergence rapidity and precision, an elite retention mechanism is introduced. The effectiveness of EAO is evaluated using CEC2005 benchmark functions and four benchmark images. The experimental results confirm EAO's viability and efficacy. The statistical results of Freidman test and the Wilcoxon rank sum test are confirmed EAO's robustness. The proposed EAO algorithm outperforms previous algorithms and can useful for threshold optimization and pressure vessel design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Understanding the genetic mechanisms underlying gray leaf spot (GLS) resistance in maize is crucial for breeding GLS-resistant inbred lines and commercial hybrids. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and gene functional annotation are valuable methods for identifying potential SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphism) and candidate genes associated with GLS resistance in maize. Results: In this study, a total of 757 lines from five recombinant inbred line (RIL) populations of maize at the F7 generation were used to construct an association mapping panel. SNPs obtained through genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) were used to perform GWAS for GLS resistance using a linear mixture model in GEMMA. Candidate gene screening was performed by analyzing the 10 kb region upstream and downstream of the significantly associated SNPs linked to GLS resistance. Through GWAS analysis of multi-location phenotypic data, we identified ten candidate genes that were consistently detected in two locations or from one location along with best linear unbiased estimates (BLUE). One of these candidate genes, Zm00001d003257 that might impact GLS resistance by regulating gibberellin content, was further identified through haplotype-based association analysis, candidate gene expression analysis, and previous reports. Conclusions: The discovery of the novel candidate gene provides valuable genomic resources for elucidating the genetic mechanisms underlying GLS resistance in maize. Additionally, these findings will contribute to the development of new genetic resources by utilizing molecular markers to facilitate the genetic improvement and breeding of maize for GLS resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the current study, based on the national fire statistics from 2003 to 2017, we analyzed the 24-hour occurrence regularity of fire in China to study the occurrence regularity and influencing factors of fire and provide a reference for scientific and effective fire prevention. The results show that the frequency of fire is low from 0 to 6 at night, accounting for about 13.48%, but the death toll due to fire is relatively high, accounting for about 39.90%. Considering the strong seasonal characteristics of the time series of monthly fire frequency, the SARIMA model predicts the fire frequency. According to the characteristics of time series data and prediction results, an optimized Seasonal Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average Model (SARIMA) model based on Quantile outlier detection method and similar mean interpolation method is proposed, and finally, the optimal model is constructed as SARIMA (1,1,1) (1,1,1) 12 for prediction. The results show that: according to the optimized SARIMA model to predict the number of fires in 2018 and 2019, the root mean square error of the fitting results is 2826.93, which is less than that of the SARIMA model, indicating that the improved SARIMA model has a better fitting effect. The accuracy of the results is increased by 11.5%. These findings verified that the optimized SARIMA model is an effective improvement for the series with quantile outliers, and it is more suitable for the data prediction with seasonal characteristics. The research results can better mine the law of fire aggregation and provide theoretical support for fire prevention and control work of the fire department. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Effects of polyols (mannitol and xylitol) on physical properties, pasting properties and dynamic rheological properties of wheat flour and the microstructure, water activity (Aw), radial expansion ratio (ER), oil absorption rate (OAR) and texture of extruded flour products were evaluated in this work. The results show that both mannitol and xylitol can promote gluten network formation, enhance tensile resistance and increase the storage modulus (G') and loss modulus (G'') of the dough. More dense and uniform particles were also found on the surface of extruded flour products in the presence of polyols by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Furthermore, the Aw, hardness and chewiness were reduced while the ER and ORA were increased for extruded flour products by incorporation of polyols. Thus, the extruded flour products with improved quality by polyols exhibit great application prospect in food industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The phase stability, martensitic transformation, and magnetic and mechanical properties of (Ni2-xCoxMn1.5Ti0.5)1-yBy (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.625; y = 0.03 and 0.06) alloys are systematically studied through the first-principles calculations method. The Co and B atoms are inclined to be aggregated distribution in the Ni2Mn1.5Ti0.5 alloy, and the phase stability of the austenite and non-modulated (NM) martensite decreases by co-doping. The ferromagnetic activation effect in the austenite occurs when x = 0.03 and y = 0.625. The magnetism of the austenite changes from an antiferromagnetic to a ferromagnetic state, which is ascribed to the elongation of the nearest neighboring distance of Mn–Mn, the nearest Mn–Mn distance increases from 2.50–2.79 to 2.90–2.94 Å, while the NM martensite always shows antiferromagnetism. Additionally, the doped B accelerates the change from antiferromagnetic to ferromagnetic for the austenite, but B-doping decreases the stability of the whole alloy system. The Co and B co-doping increases the stiffness of the NiMnTi alloy but decreases toughness and plasticity. However, the toughness and plasticity of the NiCoMnTiB alloy are better than those of the NiMnTiB alloy, indicating that the Co doping increases the d-orbital hybridization in the NiMnTiB alloy. The above results are expected to support the performance design of the NiMnTi-based alloy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editors discuss digital image processing simulation in the applications of medical field.

An introduction is presented which discusses various topics including simulation-optimization model for one-way traffic reconfiguration, using biogeography-based optimization method for path finding in stochastic networks and using a trajectory decision model for complicated mountain roads.

Microalloying by introducing small atoms into the interstitial sites of crystal represents an important strategy in composition design, usually enabling a leap in material performance under a tiny doping concentration. However, for the Ni–Mn-based magnetic shape memory alloys, plenty of critical scientific issues related to interstitial alloying remains ambiguous. In this work, by first-principles calculations, the occupation preferences, and the impacts and the underlying mechanisms of H, C, N, and O on magnetism, phase stability, and electronic structures of Ni2MnGa, were systemically investigated. By using a two-stage relaxation strategy, it is confirmed that all the studied interstitial atoms prefer to occupy the octahedral interstice, although the undistorted octahedral interstice possesses a smaller size than that of the tetragonal interstice. The magnetic moments of Ni and Mn around the interstitial element are highly modified, which is attributed to the decreased concentration of conduction electrons, resultant from the formation of covalent bonds between Ni and the interstitial atoms, and the revised distances between Mn–Ni(Mn) caused by the local lattice distortion. Interstitial alloying can highly tailor the phase stability and the c/a ratio of martensite. The doping of C has a great potential to destabilize the austenite owing to the reduced ferromagnetism, which is opposite to the case in steel. The atom radius of an interstitial atom may be the critical factor dominating the elastic stability of the alloyed systems. This work is expected to provide fundamental information for interstitial alloying to promote the design of advanced magnetic shape memory alloys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we present the observation of large low-temperature magnetocaloric effect and good mechanical properties in the Ni36Co13Mn35Ti16 alloy. The phase transition behaviors, magnetocaloric effect, and mechanical properties for the Ni36Co13Mn35Ti16 non-textured polycrystalline alloy were systematically investigated. Under the magnetic field changes of 5 T, a typical meta-magnetic behavior with a large magnetization change of about 110 A m2 kg−1 between the austenite and martensite can be observed, the maximum magnetic entropy changes (ΔSm) of the Ni36Co13Mn35Ti16 alloy is ∼16.1 J kg−1 K−1 at 148 K. Furthermore, the maximum compressive stress and strain are 894 MPa and 8.0%, respectively. The scanning electron microscope and first-principles calculations were used to analyze the fracture mechanism and the bonding interaction. In the combination of the large low-temperature magnetocaloric effect and good mechanical properties, the Ni36Co13Mn35Ti16 alloy has a good prospect for low-temperature magnetic refrigeration applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transition metal-based oxides have been reported as an important family of electrocatalysts for water splitting owing to their possible large-scale applications that are highly desirable for the hydrogen generation industry. Herein, we report a facile method for the preparation of phosphate-decorated NiFe oxides on nickel foam as efficient oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalysts for water oxidation. The OER electrocatalysts were developed through the pyrolysis of MIL(Fe) metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), which were modified with Ni and P species. It was found that the formation of NiO on the Fe2O3 surface (NiO@Fe2O3) can enrich electrocatalytic active sites for the OER. Meanwhile, the incorporation of P into NiO@Fe2O3 (Px-NiO@Fe2O3) creates abundant oxygen vacancies, which facilitates the surface charge transfer for OER electrocatalysis. Benefiting from the structure and composition advantages, P2.0-NiO@Fe2O3/NF exhibits the best performance for OER electrocatalysis among other prepared electrocatalysts, with an overpotential of 208 mV at the OER current density of 10 mA cm−2 and a small Tafel slope of 69.64 mV dec−1 in 1 M KOH solution. Additionally, P2.0-NiO@Fe2O3/NF shows an outstanding durability for the OER electrocatalysis, maintaining the OER current density above 20 mA cm−2 for more than 100 h. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To describe the specific MRI characteristics of different pathologic subtypes of esophageal carcinoma (EC) Methods: This prospective study included EC patients who underwent esophageal MRI and esophagectomy between April 2015 and October 2021. Pathomorphological characteristics of EC such as localized type (LT), ulcerative type (UT), protruding type (PT), and infiltrative type (IT) were assessed by two radiologists relying on the imaging characteristics of tumor, especially the specific imaging findings on the continuity of the mucosa overlying the tumor, the opposing mucosa, mucosa linear thickening, and transmural growth pattern. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) were calculated for the consistency between two readers. The associations of imaging characteristics with different pathologic subtypes were assessed using multilogistic regression model (MLR). Results: A total of 201 patients were identified on histopathology with a high inter-reader agreement (ICC = 0.991). LT showed intact mucosa overlying the tumor. IT showed transmural growth pattern extending from the mucosa to the adventitia and a "sandwich" appearance. The remaining normal mucosa on the opposing side was linear and nodular in UT. PT showed correlation with T1 staging and grade 1; IT showed correlation with T3 staging and grades 2–3. Four MLR models showed high predictive performance on the test set with AUCs of 0.94 (LT), 0.87 (PT), 0.96 (IT), and 0.97 (UT), respectively, and the predictors that contributed most to the models matched the four specific characteristics. Conclusions: Different pathologic subtypes of EC displayed specific MR imaging characteristics, which could help predict T staging and the degree of pathological differentiation. Clinical relevance statement: Different pathologic subtypes of esophageal carcinoma displayed specific MR imaging characteristics, which correspond to differences in the degree of differentiation, T staging, and sensitivity to radiotherapy, and could also be one of the predictive factors of cause-specific survival and local progression-free rates. Key Points: Different types of EC had different characteristics on MR images. A total of 91/95 (96%) LTEC showed intact mucosa over the tumor, while masses or nodules are specific to PTEC; 21/27 (78%) ITEC showed a "sandwich" sign; and 33/35 (60%) UTEC showed linear and nodular opposing mucosa. In the association of tumor type with degree of differentiation and T staging, PTEC was predominantly associated with T1 and grade 1, and ITEC was associated with T3 and grades 2–3, while LTEC and UECT were likewise primarily linked with T2–3 and grades 2–3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]