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Background/Aims: Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is defined as lipid accumulation with hepatic injury, inflammation and early to moderate fibrosis. Kupffer cells play a crucial role in promoting hepatic inflammation, which further facilitates the development of NASH. Here we investigated the effects of Cangju Qinggan Jiangzhi decoction (CQJD) on high fat diet (HFD) and methionine-choline deficient (MCD) induced mouse NASH pathogenesis. Methods: Mouse NASH models were developed by HFD and MCD diet. The treated mice were divided into three groups: the control group (n = 10), the low-dose CQJD treatment group (n = 10) and the high-dose CQJD treatment group (n = 10). The hepatic injury, inflammation, and apoptotic molecules were evaluated by H&E staining, immunohistochemistry and real-time PCR. Kupffer cells were isolated from control mice and CQJD-treated mice after stimulation by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and/or palmitic acid. The level of the inflammatory cytokines TNFα, IL1β, and CCL2 was measured by ELISA. Results: The HFD-fed mice displayed significant metabolic, inflammatory, and oxidative stress-related alterations due to hepatic lipid accumulation. CQJD treatment largely normalized the hepatic injury, lowered the ALT/AST level, and reduced the severity of liver inflammation, as revealed by the decreased inflammatory cytokines levels. In vitro, CQJD blocked the activation of LPS- or palmitic acid-primed Kupffer cells in a dose-dependent manner. In the MCD diet-induced NASH mice, similar therapeutic effects of CQJD were also observed. Conclusion: CQJD ameliorates mouse nonalcoholic steatohepatitis. The reduction in liver injury and inflammation induced by CQJD is associated with reduced activation of Kupffer cells. Our results suggest that CQJD is a promising therapeutic strategy in clinical steatohepatitis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The flame propagation through TiH 2 dust cloud at near constant pressure condition is studied in a series of experiments using an apparatus with transparent latex balloons. The influential factors for the combustion performance of TiH 2 dust cloud, including dust concentration, particle size, scale of isobaric space and oxygen content are investigated. Results show that the burning velocity increases with dust concentration in the fuel-lean mixtures, and then plateaus after crossing the stoichiometric condition, while the trend of flame speed changing with dust concentration varies for different mean particle sizes (D 50 ) of 48 and 106 μm. The flame propagation speed of dust cloud is positively correlated to the isobaric space scale and oxygen content. The burning mechanism of TiH 2 dust is thought to be mainly controlled by diffusion regime, the appearance of hydrogen gas accelerates the combustion rate of TiH 2 particles and also makes the TiH 2 dust changed from a discrete media to a continuum, which may account for the phenomenon that the flame speed in dust cloud of TiH 2 is larger than that of Ti at the same concentration no matter in air or oxygen atmosphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The association between prenatal BPA exposure and birth weight is controversial. Here, a meta-analysis was performed to estimate the association between prenatal BPA exposure and birth weight. We searched literature addressing the association of interest in relevant databases. Data were independently extracted and analyzed using partial regression coefficient (β) and/or odds ratio (OR) and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs). We identified 140 references and included 8 studies. Based on the results of meta-analysis, the association between prenatal BPA exposure and continuous birth weight was estimated to be 4.42 g (95% CI: −8.83 to 17.67 g) when comparing the highest vs. the lowest BPA concentration. Findings from this study indicated that prenatal BPA exposure was not statistically associated with continuous birth weight. However, more evidence, based on large prospective cohort studies, is required to provide conclusive evidence on whether or not prenatal BPA exposure is associated with birth weight. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A lightweight and low-cost unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) system for coastal wave and tide measurements is developed. This system is based on an assembly of a multirotor UAV, a robotic lidar, an altitude and heading reference system (AHRS), and a real-time kinematic (RTK) Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS).Agreat advantage of the system is that it can be operated at low altitude in a few meters; the accuracy and spatial resolution can therefore be increased. When the system was moved up and down in 2-12 m, the root-mean-square error (RMSE) was approximately 5 cm compared to the ground truth value measured by a manual RTK GNSS. The system was operated in a hover mode to measure the tide and waves in the field. The results of using the UAV-RTK lidar system were consistent with those of in situ measurements using a pressure sensor. The root-mean-square errors between the two techniques for measurements of tidal elevation, significant wave height, and wave period were 4.9 cm, 4.8 cm, and 0.028 s, respectively. This finding suggests the system could be applied to measure instantaneous sea surface displacement. The system provides the potential for using a low-cost, extremely portable, and efficient tool for monitoring wave properties, topographic changes, and water-level gradients in coastal zones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents an embedded cluster study of dimer bucking on the silicon(100) surface. Cluster models; Use of the Hartree-Fock molecular-orbital method and density functional theory; Agreement with slab calculations; Relaxation constraints used in previous embedded cluster studies; Importance of adequately modeling the relaxation of silicon(100) surface layers.

[Display omitted] The introduction of selenium-containing functional groups into steroids to study the biological activities of related derivatives is rarely reported in the literature. In the present study, using cholesterol as raw material, four cholesterol-3-selenocyanoates and eight B-norcholesterol selenocyanate derivatives were synthesized, respectively. The structures of the compounds were characterized by NMR and MS. The results of the in vitro antiproliferative activity test showed that the cholesterol-3-selenocyanoate derivatives did not exhibit obvious inhibitory on the tested tumor cell lines. However, the B-norcholesterol selenocyanate derivatives obtained by structural modification of cholesterol showed good inhibitory activity against the proliferation of tumor cell. Among them, compounds 9b - c , 9f and 12 showed similar inhibitory activity against tested tumor cells as positive control 2-methoxyestradiol, and better than Abiraterone. At the same time, these B-norcholesterol selenocyanate derivatives displayed a strong selective inhibitory against Sk-Ov-3 cell line. Except for compound 9g , the IC 50 value of all B-norcholesterol selenocyanate compounds against Sk-Ov-3 cells was less than 10 µM, and compound 9d was 3.4 µM. In addition, Annexin V-FITC/PI double staining was used to analyze the cell death mechanism. The results showed that compound 9c could induce Sk-Ov-3 cells to enter programmed apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, the in vivo antitumor experiments of compound 9f against zebrafish xenograft tumor showed that 9f displayed obvious inhibitory effect on the growth of human cervical cancer (HeLa) xenograft tumor in zebrafish. Our results provide new thinking for the study of such compounds as new antitumor drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To bridge western and traditional Chinese medicine, research in Chinese medicinal herbs has become an increasing trend for discovering new effective antiviral drugs. In addition, this pioneer study disclosed that synergistic interactions of electron-mediating contents in herbal medicines through electrochemical catalysis of electron shuttles could trigger effective disease treatment via electron transport stimulation as the platform of microbial fuel cells (MFCs) indicated. Hence, this study first attempted to decipher the bioenergy-assisted action of R. palmatum L. for antiviral assessment. Several processing methods can be performed to maximize phytoconstituent extraction and efficiency that can influence the chemical profile and bioactivity of herbal samples. To generate a comparative analysis, R. palmatum L. roots are subjected to several processing methods and are evaluated through phytochemical screening, antioxidant activity, high-performance liquid chromatography analysis, and dual-chambered-MFCs for bioenergy production. Molecular docking analysis of marker substances was also employed to establish the potential of R. palmatum L. for antiviral drug development. Ethanol extracts are revealed to be toxic for MFCs despite having increased phenolic compounds. Overall, vinegar-processed Rheum palmatum water extracts exhibited the highest bioenergy-stimulating capabilities and antioxidant activity. Furthermore, rhein from the same extract was found to exhibit strong binding affinities towards Flaviviridate viruses and can potentially inhibit NS5B polymerase from the Hepatitis C Virus. This study clearly suggests the potential of R. palmatum L. roots as a promising herb for antiviral drug development. This work also provided a novel protocol for prescreening candidate species for antiviral drug development. [Display omitted] • Traditional Chinese medicinal processing could enhance herb's therapeutic effects. • Vinegar processed Rheum palmatum L. shows the most bioenergy-stimulating potential. • Rhein is a promising antiviral candidate against the Hepatitis C virus. • Microbial fuel cells can screen herbs for antiviral drug development applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ji-Ming-Shan (JMS) is a traditional herbal prescription consisting of seven herbs including Areca cathechu Burm.f. , Citrus reticulata Blanco , Chaenomeles speciosa (Sweet) Nakai , Euodia ruticarpa (A. Juss.) Benth. , Perilla frutescens (L.) Britton , Zingiber officinale Roscoe, Platycodon grandiflorus (Jacq.). It was first recorded during the Song dynasty and has been used extensively for protection against rheumatism, treatment of swelling of tendons, relief from foot pain, gout and diuresis and other forms of inflammation. The aim of this study is to evaluate the anti-inflammatory and anti-osteoarthritis activity of JMS extracts with the use of different cell lines (RAW 264.7 cells, SW1353 cells and primary cultured rat chondrocytes). MIA-induced rat animal models were used to assess the anti-osteoarthritis activity of the extract. This study investigated the anti-inflammatory activity of JMS-95E on LPS-induced RAW 264.7 macrophages and IL-1β-stimulated chondrocytes. For the in vivo study, male Wistar rats were used and they were randomly assigned in different groups: blank, control, positive control and three different JMS-95E treatment groups (200, 400, 800 mg/kg/d). Paw edema, hind-limb weight bearing, serum inflammatory cytokines including hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining experiments were used to assess the efficacy of the extract in the rat model. JMS 95% ethanol extract (JMS-95E, marker substance: narirutin (5.10 mg/g) and hesperidin (11.33 mg/g) has been identified in the extract using high pressure liquid chromatography. For in vitro assays, JMS-95E did not exhibit cytotoxicity and was able to downregulate the protein expression of iNOS, COX-2 and MMP-13. The production of inflammatory mediators such as NO and PGE 2 were also reduced with an increase in dose-dependent manner in various cell lines. Inhibitory activity on the key enzyme xanthine oxidase was also observed in this study. In rat animal models, JMS-95E reduced the inflammatory responses such as acute swelling, chondrocyte degradation and pain section of paw edema in rat model. Molecular marker studies of inflammation demonstrated that JMS-95E significantly decrease PGE 2 expression in MIA model. JMS-95E inhibited the inflammatory pathway leading to the production or expression levels of NO, iNOS, COX-2 and PGE 2 in macrophage cells. In primary cultured rat chondrocytes iNOS and SW1353 MMP-13 expression were downregulated after JMS-95E treatment. For the in vivo study JMS-95E significantly reduced the paw volume of carrageenan-induced rat paw edema through each dose and significantly inhibited paw volume, counterweight the distribution of hind-paw weight bearing through the MIA model which means JMS-95E could promote recovery of the acute swelling and chondrocyte degradation of the ankle joints. The above results provided the multiple mechanism of JMS-95E in OA treatment of the scientific founding which supported the description of JMS in traditional use. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDC) is a key control point of energy metabolism and is subject to regulation by multiple mechanisms, including posttranslational phosphorylation by pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase (PDK). Pharmacological modulation of PDC activity could provide a new treatment for diabetic cardiomyopathy, as dysregulated substrate selection is concomitant with decreased heart function. Dichloroacetate (DCA), a classic PDK inhibitor, has been used to treat diabetic cardiomyopathy, but the lack of specificity and side effects of DCA indicate a more specific inhibitor of PDK is needed. This study was designed to determine the effects of a novel and highly selective PDK inhibitor, 2((2,4-dihydroxyphenyl)sulfonyl) isoindoline-4,6-diol (designated PS10), on pyruvate oxidation in diet-induced obese (DIO) mouse hearts compared with DCA-treated hearts. Four groups of mice were studied: lean control, DIO, DIO + DCA, and DIO + PS10. Both DCA and PS10 improved glucose tolerance in the intact animal. Pyruvate metabolism was studied in perfused hearts supplied with physiological mixtures of long chain fatty acids, lactate, and pyruvate. Analysis was performed using conventional ¹H and 13C isotopomer methods in combination with hyperpolarized [1-13C]pyruvate in the same hearts. PS10 and DCA both stimulated flux through PDC as measured by the appearance of hyperpolarized [13C]bicarbonate. DCA but not PS10 increased hyperpolarized [1-13C]lactate production. Total carbohydrate oxidation was reduced in DIO mouse hearts but increased by DCA and PS10, the latter doing so without increasing lactate production. The present results suggest that PS10 is a more suitable PDK inhibitor for treatment of diabetic cardiomyopathy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and aims Early detection of atrial fibrillation after stroke is important for secondary prevention in stroke patients without known atrial fibrillation (AF). We aimed to compare the performance of CHADS 2 , CHA 2 DS 2 -VASc and HATCH scores in predicting AF detected after stroke (AFDAS) and to test whether adding stroke severity to the risk scores improves predictive performance. Methods Adult patients with first ischemic stroke event but without a prior history of AF were retrieved from a nationwide population-based database. We compared C-statistics of CHADS 2 , CHA 2 DS 2 -VASc and HATCH scores for predicting the occurrence of AFDAS during stroke admission (cohort I) and during follow-up after hospital discharge (cohort II). The added value of stroke severity to prediction models was evaluated using C-statistics, net reclassification improvement, and integrated discrimination improvement. Results Cohort I comprised 13,878 patients and cohort II comprised 12,567 patients. Among them, 806 (5.8%) and 657 (5.2%) were diagnosed with AF, respectively. The CHADS 2 score had the lowest C-statistics (0.558 in cohort I and 0.597 in cohort II), whereas the CHA 2 DS 2 -VASc score had comparable C-statistics (0.603 and 0.644) to the HATCH score (0.612 and 0.653) in predicting AFDAS. Adding stroke severity to each of the three risk scores significantly increased the model performance. Conclusions In stroke patients without known AF, all three risk scores predicted AFDAS during admission and follow-up, but with suboptimal discrimination. Adding stroke severity improved their predictive abilities. These risk scores, when combined with stroke severity, may help prioritize patients for continuous cardiac monitoring in daily practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the equation of E = 1/2CV 2 , increasing voltage can significantly enhance the energy density of electric double-layer capacitors (EDLCs). However, with the voltage above 2.7 V, the lifespan of EDLCs drops rapidly due to the undesired parasitic processes. To operate at voltage above 2.7 V, a frame-filling C/C composite is prepared by constructing relatively perfect carbon network and reducing the oxygen-containing groups. The as-prepared sample F310-800 exhibits high specific surface area (2626 m 2  g −1 ), adequate e -conductivity (142 S m −1 ), high sp 2 -bonding carbon content (92.6%) and low oxygen content (4.6  wt %). Although totally free of any carbon black, it demonstrates excellent EDLC performances. It can successfully operate at voltage of 3 V in TEABF 4 /PC electrolyte and obtain high gravimetric capacitance ( C g ) of 140 F g −1 and volumetric capacitance ( C v ) of 57.4 F cm −3 at 50 mA g −1 with rate capacity C 10/0.05 as high as 66%. Additionally, at voltage of 3.5 V in pure EMIMBF 4 electrolyte, it achieves ultrahigh C g of 156 F g −1 and C v of 64 F cm −3 at 50 mA g −1 . Its energy density can reach up to 66.3 Wh kg −1 . Meantime, after 5000 cycles at 2.5 A g −1 , it holds 91.9% of its initial capacitance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present paper the basic characteristics (length, peak intensity, and full-width half-maximum) of nanojets formed in the vicinity of dielectric core-shell cuboids with different types of index grading are investigated by finite-difference time domain method. The latitudinal and longitudinal sizes of a nanojet and its peak intensity depending on the optical contrast variation of cuboids core-shells are numerically investigated. It has been shown that it is possible to control and elongate the nanojet abnormally. It also was shown that graded cuboid with dimensions of 4 × 4 × 4 wavelength may has FWHM of a jet less than uniform cuboid with dimensions of 1 × 1 × 1 wavelength. At wavelength of 600 nm graded index cuboid with dimensions of 4 × 4 × 4 wavelength and index grading = 2 allow to form photonic jet with FWHM about 232 nm or 0.39 wavelength. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organization-Public Relationship (OPR), as a key concept addressed in the field of public relations has attracted wide attention in the past three decades. This study presents a comprehensive review of 156 relevant studies from 1998 to 2016 and categorizes them into five main clusters, which include the outcomes, antecedents, mediation, process, and structure of OPR. Findings also identify five gaps in current OPR research such as idealized propositions based on mutual benefits, a lack of research on multi-party relationships, problematic “trust” as the measurement, unilateral self-reported research data, and dominated cross-sectional methods By drawing contingency theory of accommodation and the relationship management theory, this study proposes the concept of contingent organization-public relationship (COPR) for future studies that seek to explore variations of OPR longitudinally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Patients with mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) usually suffer from the post-concussion symptoms (PCS). PCS could recover by 3 months post-injury, but some patients still persistently complain of those symptoms for years. Accordingly, the Chang-Gung University Brief Intervention for Post-Concussion Symptoms (CGU-BIPCS) was developed to intervene PCS based on the established advantages of health education. This prospective study thus aims to evaluate the effectiveness of CGU-BIPCS for patients with MTBI. Methods: A total of 130 participants, which included 53 healthy participants and 77 patients with MTBI. Patients were further subdivided as two groups: "regular intervention" (RI) and "health education intervention" (EI). PCS of patients with MTBI were respectively evaluated at 2 weeks and 3 months post-injury, and symptoms of healthy participants were also examined. Results: Both patients in RI and EI reported significantly more PCS than healthy participants did at 2 weeks and 3 months post-injury but less PCS at 3 months than at 2 weeks post-injury. However, the PCS endorsement of patients in RI and EI were not significantly different. In addition, more patients in EI reported significantly PCS deterioration than patients in RI did at 3 months post-injury. Conclusions: Although establishing the effectiveness of CGU-BIPCS was unsuccessful in this study, it is further suggested that a potential iatrogenic effect from this kind of early interventions should never be overlooked. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: The present study investigates the differences in immune function, hemorheological alterations and prognostic evaluation in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients with different traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) syndromes. METHODS: A total of 128 patients, diagnosed as stage II and III of CRC, were recruited. They were assigned into three TCM syndromes: deficiency syndrome, excess syndrome, and syndrome of intermingled deficiency and excess, and another 53 healthy individuals were selected as the control. Flow cytometry was used to determine the peripheral blood lymphocyte subsets (the levels of CD+3 , CD+ 4 , CD+8 , NK cells, and the ratios of CD+ 4/CD+8 , Th1/Th2 and Tc1/Tc2). Whole blood viscosity (WBV), plasma viscosity (PV), hematocrit (Hct), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), plasma fibrinogen concentration (PFC) were measured using a fully-automatic blood rheological instrument. The univariate analysis and Cox regression analysis were conducted to evaluate the prognosis of CRC patients with different TCM syndromes. RESULTS: Compared with healthy individuals, CRC patients with three different syndromes had lower levels of CD+3 , CD+4 , NK cells, and ratios of CD+4 /CD+8 , Th1/Th2 and Tc1/Tc2, but higher level of CD+8 , WBV, PV, Hct, ESR and PFC. Besides, patients with excess syndrome showed the highest levels of CD+3, CD+4 and NK cells, and ratios of CD+4 /CD+8 , Th1/Th2 and Tc1/Tc2, but the lowest level of CD+8 among three syndromes, and those with deficiency syndrome showed an opposite trend. Compared with patients with excess syndrome, those with deficiency syndrome showed decreased WBV, PV, Hct, ESR and PFC. The pathological type, surgical approach, tumor node metastasis (TNM) stage, liver metastasis, TCM treatment time and different TCM syndromes were independent factors of prognostic survival in CRC patients except perioperative blood transfusion volume. CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, we conclude that patients with TCM deficiency syndrome has lower immune function and poorer prognosis while patients with TCM excess syndrome has higher immune function and better prognosis of CRC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By incorporating social media strategies into the traditional framework of crisis communication strategies (CCS), this article presents a comprehensive review of the scholarship on CCS within a global context. Through a content analysis of articles published in 11 journals listed in the Social Science Citation Index (SSCI), 73 articles focusing on the social‐mediated crisis management (SMCM) are identified. Findings show that new strategies such as enhancing and transferring from the organizational perspective are added, the stakeholders and their desired strategies are analysed and an asymmetrical CCS pattern from a contextual perspective is proposed within the SMCM research. Results also point out some weaknesses within the current literature. An interactive crisis communication (ICC) model is proposed for future research agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A visible-light-mediated decarboxylative cyclization of N-acyloxylphthalimides with vinyl azides has been developed under metal-free conditions. This protocol features mild conditions, a broad substrate scope, and an excellent functional group tolerance, thus providing a facile and efficient access to substituted phenanthridines. Control experiments revealed that the reaction proceeded via a radical process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Protein kinase N2 (PKN2) is a PKC-related serine/threonine-protein kinase. PKN2 is required for tumor cell migration, invasion and apoptosis. However, the functional role of PKN2 in regulating tumor associated macrophages (TAMs) polarization in colon cancer has never been reported. Methods: PKN2 expression in human colon cancer tissues was examined with immunohistochemistry (IHC). M1/M2 macrophage signatures were evaluated by RT-PCR, IHC and flow cytometry. The effects of PKN2 on tumor growth and TAM polarization were investigated both in vitro and in vivo. PKN2 targeted cytokines/pathway were analyzed by gene expression analysis and further confirmed by PCR, luciferase assay or western blot. Correlations between PKN2 and transcriptional factors for IL4 and IL10 were confirmed by ChIP-qPCR. The catalytic activities of PKN2 and DUSP6 were determined by kinase activity assay. Interactions between PKN2 and DUSP6 were confirmed by Co-IP. Results: The expression of PKN2 in colon cancer cells predicted a favorable prognosis and was associated with low M2 macrophage content in human colon cancer tissues. PKN2 inhibited tumor growth in mice xenograft model and inhibited M2 phenotype polarization both in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, PKN2 suppresses the expression of IL4 and IL10 from colon cancer cells by inhibiting Erk1/2 phosphorylation, which is required for phosphorylation and binding of CREB and Elk-1 to the promoters of IL4 and IL10. DUSP6, which is phosphorylated and activated through direct association with PKN2, suppresses Erk1/2 activation. Conclusions: The expression of PKN2 in colon cancer cells suppresses tumor associated M2 macrophage polarization and tumor growth. Targeting PKN2 signaling pathway may provide a potential therapeutic strategy for colon cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The two-step floating catchment area (2SFCA) method, which is one of the most widely used methods for measuring healthcare spatial accessibility, defines the catchment area of each facility as the area within a certain distance from the facility. However, in some cases, the service utilization behavior is constrained by administrative boundaries, therefore the definition of catchment area within a certain distance may be inappropriate. Methods: In this study, we aim to propose a modification of the 2SFCA method for measuring spatial accessibility to healthcare services in a system constrained by administrative boundaries. The proposed method defines the catchment areas of healthcare facilities within certain administrative units. The method is applied in a case study of the healthcare services in Yanqing District of Beijing, China. Three types of healthcare facilities, including general hospitals, community healthcare centers and stations, are included. Results: Based on the sensitivity analysis of the distance-decay parameter β, result of the β = 1 scenario is relatively appropriate and is utilized for further analysis. The difference between spatial accessibility with or without constraint of administrative boundary is relatively significant. The results of the proposed model show that the village-level spatial accessibility to healthcare services shows a significant disparity, and the uneven distribution of general hospitals is the main cause. Conclusions: The constraint of administrative boundary has a significant impact on healthcare accessibility, which verifies the validity of the modification proposed by this study in empirical studies. The empirical results also lead to policy recommendations to improve healthcare equity in the study area. At the town-level, the improvement of equity in healthcare accessibility could be achieved in two ways. First, the sizes of community healthcare centers in towns with small accessibility scores should be expanded. Second, new general hospitals can be built in the eastern part of Yanqing District. Within each town, to improve the equity in healthcare accessibility, community healthcare stations should be expanded or newly built in the periphery villages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Luminescent molecular thermometers have attracted great attention due to their potential application for temperature detection in special environments. By a very simple one-step method, we have synthesized one novel cuprous compound, [I@Cu8(HMTZ)(MTZ)7]·MeCN·2H2O (I@Cu8), which consists of an infrequent octatomic [I@Cu8S8] ring. Importantly, compound I@Cu8 features dual-emitting behavior and shows successive visual luminescent emissions varying from green, to yellow, to orange, and then to red in the temperature range of 80-300 K, suggesting potential application for a luminescent molecular thermometer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new template-approach was demonstrated to fabricate N-doped graphitic nanocages (NGNs) with designable doped structure for efficiently electrocatalyzing oxygen reduction and their graphitic structure has been prepared with in situ N-doping from floating catalytic pyrolysis of N-precursors, catalysts and carbon resources. Because of short time pyrolysis, the process of pyrolyzing N-precursors is incomplete, leading to the structure of N-doping is made up from inheriting incompletely pyrolyzed the precursor. Thus, its structure can be optimized by using a special precursor in this approach. Compared with nanocages prepared from acetonitrile, NGNs prepared from imidazole or pyrrole have pyrrolic structures, leading to their more efficient catalysis for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Furthermore, compared with N-doped structure prepared from pyrrole, the structure prepared from imidazole has one more N atom in each pyrrolic ring, which enhances O 2 bridge adsorption and leads to the efficient ORR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, BiPO4 has been proved to be an efficient photocatalyst which exhibits more attractive activity than that of TiO2-P25 under UV irradiation. However, photocatalytic oxidation-reduction ability of BiPO4 under visible light still needs to be improved. Conjugated polymer just like polyaniline was demonstrated to be a new and efficient visible co-photocatalyst in the field of pollutant governance. As far as we know, the attempt to enhance the photochemical ability of BiPO4 by employing polyaniline as a co-photocatalyst is still very limited. Hence, in order to testify the potential enhanced performance of such heterostructure, BiPO4-polyaniline heterostructure was prepared via hydrothermal method and hybridization in this paper. The experimental results indicated that several typical pollutants such as organic dyes and heavy metal ions can be effectively removed by BiPO4-polyaniline under visible light. The enhanced removal mechanism was attributed to the high separation efficiency of photo-induced electron-hole pairs and more efficient absorption of visible light after the loading of polyaniline on the surface of BiPO4 as an out-layer compared with single BiPO4. BiPO4-polyaniline heterostructure was prepared via hydrothermal method and hybridization. Several typical pollutants such as organic dye and heavy metal ions can be effectively removed by BiPO4-polyaniline under visible irradiation. The enhanced removal performance of BiPO4-polyaniline was attributed to the high separation efficiency of photoexcited electron-hole pairs and efficient absorption of visible light with the loading of polyaniline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The insulation effect of the air cavity surrounding the riser in a 3D printed sand mold was studied. The influence of the air cavity on heat flux was theoretically analyzed. The results demonstrated that the heat flux of the air cavity in the 3D printed sand mold was significantly less than that of resin-bonded sand. The insulation effect of the air cavity in sand molds for a cylinder casting and a stress-frame casting were simulated using software COMSOL. The results illustrated that the air cavity could be used to insulate the riser and it was more suitable for a lower melting point metal casting. An air cavity with 10-15 mm width and 5-10 mm away from the riser can significantly prolong the solidification of the riser by over 10%. Meanwhile, the sand mold for the stressframe was made by 3D printing technology and poured with aluminum alloy A356 melt. The experiment results showed that the presence of the air cavity led to a 12.5% increase of the solidification time of its riser. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel heterocyclic and plank-shape diamine monomer, 2,6-(4,4′-diaminodiphenyl) benzo[1,2-d:5,4-d'] bisoxazole (PBOA), was successfully synthesized from readily available compounds of 4,6-diaminoresorcinol dihydrochloride (DAR) and p -aminobenzoic acid (PABA). A series of poly(benzobisoxazole- co -imide) (PBOI) fibers based on 3,3′,4,4′-biphenyltetracarboxylic anhydride (BPDA), 4,4′-diaminodiphenyl ether (ODA) and PBOA were fabricated via a two-step wet-spinning method. PBOA was characterized in detail, and the effect of the monomer in the polymer backbones on the fibers' microstructure and properties were described. 2D wide-angle X-ray diffraction indicated that the incorporated PBOA in the BPDA-ODA polyimide backbone is beneficial for forming well-defined crystalline regions in the resulted fibers during the thermal stretching process and significantly improving the crystallinity and crystal orientation of the drawn PBOI fibers. Small-angle X-ray scattering patterns of the drawn PBOI fibers suggested the presence of typical periodic lamellar crystal in the fibers. It is shown that increasing PBOA contents will result in higher values of the long period ( L ) and the lamellar thickness ( l C ). Maximum improvements of 153% in tensile strength and 282% in modulus were achieved when increasing the molar content of PBOA in the mixed diamine from 10 mol% to 50 mol%. Correspondingly, the temperature at the maximum degradation rate ( T d-max ) and glass transition temperature ( T g ) of resulted PBOI fibers in nitrogen increased by 28 and 30 °C, respectively, making these novel polymeric fibers as good reinforcements in fabricating advanced composites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Asymmetric synthesis of pharmacologically interesting piperidine-fused spiro-oxindole derivatives has been achieved via an organocatalytic Michael/aza-Henry/hemiaminalization cascade reaction. Chiral compounds synthesized by this strategy potently inhibited the proliferation of several breast cancer cell lines. Mechanistic studies suggest that the most potent compound 9e can directly interfere with MDM2-p53 interactions and elevate protein levels of p53 and p21, thereby inducing cell cycle arrest and mitochondrial apoptosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first enantioselective formal [5+4] cycloaddition is realized under palladium catalysis to deliver benzofuran-fused nine-membered rings. These medium-sized heterocycles and derivatives undergo unique rearrangements induced by transannular bond formation, resulting in the production of two classes of densely substituted polycyclic heterocycles in excellent efficiency and stereoselectivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recombination in InGaN upper waveguide in c-plane InGaN-based green laser diodes (LDs) has been investigated by both simulation and experiments. It is found that a potential barrier located at the interface between GaN last barrier and InGaN upper waveguide layer causes strong recombination in InGaN upper waveguide layer and lowers the carrier injection efficiency of InGaN-based green LDs when In content is higher than 4%. A suitable reduction of indium content in InGaN upper waveguide layer can effectively suppress recombination in waveguide and thus reduce the threshold current of green LDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conventional gyroscopes are equipped with a single-axis control input, limiting their performance. Although researchers have proposed control algorithms with dual-axis control inputs to improve gyroscope performance, most have verified the control algorithms through numerical simulations because they lacked practical devices with dual-axis control inputs. The aim of this study was to design a piezoelectric gyroscope equipped with a dual-axis control input so that researchers may experimentally verify those control algorithms in future. Designing a piezoelectric gyroscope with a dual-axis control input is more difficult than designing a conventional gyroscope because the control input must be effective over a broad frequency range to compensate for imperfections, and the multiple mode shapes in flexural deformations complicate the relation between flexural deformation and the proof mass position. This study solved these problems by using a lead zirconate titanate (PZT) material, introducing additional electrodes for shielding, developing an optimal electrode pattern, and performing calibrations of undesired couplings. The results indicated that the fabricated device could be operated at 5.5 ± 1 kHz to perform dual-axis actuations and position measurements. The calibration of the fabricated device was completed by system identifications of a new dynamic model including gyroscopic motions, electromechanical coupling, mechanical coupling, electrostatic coupling, and capacitive output impedance. Finally, without the assistance of control algorithms, the "open loop sensitivity" of the fabricated gyroscope was 1.82 μV/deg/s with a nonlinearity of 9.5% full-scale output. This sensitivity is comparable with those of other PZT gyroscopes with single-axis control inputs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we describe thermokinetic properties and decomposition characteristics of benzoyl peroxide, dicumyl peroxide, and lauroyl peroxide, which are widely used in the polymerization process as energy boosters. In the past, many accidents occurred that involved overpressure and runaway excursion of the process and thermal explosion. One reason for accidents is because of the peroxy group (-O-O-) of organic peroxides (OPs) due to its thermal instability and high sensitivity when exposing to heat. Apparent activation energy and pre-exponential factor were obtained during decomposition via non-isothermal well-recognized kinetic equation, fitting curve tests, and approximate solution to design safer reaction conditions when OPs are used as fuel. Moreover, the storage conditions were investigated for the simulation of thermal explosion in a 24-kg cubic box package and a 400-kg barrel reactor for commercial application. Experimental results established the novel features of solid explosion hazard of OPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Visible light driven photocatalysts based on crystalline microporous metal halogenides received much less attention compared with dense or composite oxide semiconductors. Using the well-known photosensitive transition metal-complexes [TM(2,2-bipy)3]2+ (TM=Fe, Co, Ni, Ru) as templates, a special three-dimensional (3D) metal halogenide framework of [TM(2,2-bipy)3]Cu4Br6 was designed with [Cu4Br4] cluster as 4-connected node. These microporous materials feature narrow band gaps and stable visible light driven photocatalytic properties including water reduction to provide H2 and photodegradation of organic pollutants. The study of electronic band structure shows that the TM complexes effectively prevent the recombination of photo-induced electron/hole pairs leading to excellent photocatalytic activity and photochemical stability. This work represents the first 3D microporous metal halogenides used as visible light driven photocatalyst to provide hydrogen energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beipanjiang Bridge, a railway-reinforced concrete arch bridge with span of 445 m, is located in Guizhou, China. The self-shored technology with a frame of concrete-filled steel tube is applied in this construction, in which the frame performs as the falsework for casting concrete into arch ring and also serves as the major reinforcement of the permanent structure. The time-variant behaviors of long-span concrete arch bridge may be sensitive to the creep and shrinkage of concrete, especially when the staged construction is applied. Owing to the random property of concrete creep and shrinkage, the stochastic analysis is necessary to be employed in order to give a more rational and objective evaluation about the structural long-term behaviors. A hybrid approach including Monte Carlo sampling based on response surface method is developed in this study, based on which the statistical results of long-term deflection and time-variant stress are discussed. Finally, the stochastic contributions of input variables to structural responses are investigated with the sensitivity analyses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We first numerically and experimentally report large-area super-resolution optical imaging achieved by using core-shell microfibers. The particular spatial electromagnetic waves for different core-shell microfibers are studied by using finite-difference time-domain and ray tracing calculations. The focusing properties of photonic nanojets are evaluated in terms of intensity profile and full width at half-maximum along propagation and transversal directions. In experiment, the general optical fiber is chemically etched down to 6 µm diameter and coated with different metallic thin films by using glancing angle deposition. The direct imaging of photonic nanojets for different core-shell microfibers is performed with a scanning optical microscope system. We show that the intensity distribution of a photonic nanojet is highly related to the metallic shell due to the surface plasmon polaritons. Furthermore, large-area super-resolution optical imaging is performed by using different core-shell microfibers placed over the nano-scale grating with 150 nm line width. The core-shell microfiber-assisted imaging is achieved with super-resolution and hundreds of times the field-of-view in contrast to microspheres. The possible applications of these core-shell optical microfibers include real-time large-area micro-fluidics and nano-structure inspections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposed a cluster algorithm based on the combination ofLDA(Latent Dirichlet allocation) probabilistic topic model and VSM (Vector Space Model), with the three-tier framework adopted containing text, topic and feature word. Although LDA alone has the ability to seek out the hidden topic knowledge, it is hard for the low-dimensional model to remain the integrity of the text information, leading to insufficient capacity for distinguishing texts. The paper is set to launch the cluster analysis in turns of feature words and topic through integrating two model above. With a better mix of LDA and VSM, the clustering effect will be improved, paralleling determining the optimal clustering number K of the K-means algorithms and optimum topic number T of LDA model. In order to design the algorithms more scientifically and effectively, silhouette coefficient and Dunn coefficient have been brought in to make assessments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The aim of this study was to explore the relationships between depressive symptoms and healthrelated quality of life (HRQOL) measurements for inpatients with major depressive disorder (MDD) before and after 6-week fluoxetine treatment, and to elucidate the factors related to the HRQOL changes. Methods: A total of 131 inpatients with MDD were enrolled to receive 20 mg of fluoxetine for 6 weeks. Symptom severity and adverse events were assessed at weeks 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6 using the 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD-17) and UKU Side Effect Rating Scale, respectively. HRQOL was measured using the Short Form 36 (SF-36), including 8 subscales, physical component summary (PCS) and mental component summary (MCS), at baseline and week 6. Spearman's coefficient, Cohen's d, and multiple linear regression model were used for statistical analysis. Results: One hundred and six patients completing all measures at weeks 0 and 6 entered the analysis. HAMD-17 negatively correlated with SF-36 at baseline and week 6. The HAMD-17 had a larger effect size than SF-36. MCS, rather than PCS, showed statistically significant improvement. After using multiple linear regression analysis, age at onset, HAMD-17 score change, and number of adverse events reported during the trial period were related to MCS change after adjusting for confounding variables. Conclusions: Fluoxetine treatment was associated with an improvement in depressive symptomology and HRQOL. Depressive symptoms had a greater extent of change than HRQOL. Clinicians must consider the negative effects of adverse events caused by antidepressants on the improvement of HRQOL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we have successfully synthesized a forchlorfenuron (CPPU)-imprinted polymer in dimethyl sulfoxide by molecular imprinting technique. In the molecular imprinting, β-cyclodextrin was used as the monomer with 1,6-hexamethylene diisocyanate (HMDI) as the cross-linking agent that formed a complex with forchlorfenuron by inclusion interactions. The adsorption equilibrium was attained in approximately 30 min and the maximum binding capacity was 26.79 mg/g, which indicated that the adsorption kinetics was relatively fast. The results of adsorption and selectivity experiments have shown that the imprinted polymer was able to bind forchlorfenuron specifically and reversibly. The specific recognition of the imprinted polymer for forchlorfenuron resulted from the cooperative effects of inclusion interaction and hydrophobic interaction. This imprinted polymer was also used to accurately determine forchlorfenuron residue in real fruit samples. In the standard spiked strawberry sample, the adsorption recoveries for forchlorfenuron were as high as 90.3, 84.5, and 90.8%, respectively. The binding specificity of the imprinted polymer for forchlorfenuron resulted from the imprinting effect. Therefore, as a reusable material possessing high affinity and selectivity, the imprinted polymer is promising in application to detect pesticide residues in fruit samples. In addition, because β-cyclodextrin is water soluble and can include neutral compounds, this molecularly imprinted polymer can be used to recognize pesticides in aqueous solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By using transition-metal (TM) complex cationic dyes as structure-directing agents and photosensitizers, a series of inorganic–organic hybrid metal halides, namely, [TM(2,2′-bipy)3]AgPb2I7 [TM = Ni (1), Co (2) and Zn (3)], [Co(2,2′-bipy)3]CuPb2Br7 (4) and [TM(2,2′-bipy)3]AgPb2Br7 [TM = Ni (5) and Fe (6)], have been solvothermally prepared and structurally characterized. Compounds 1–3 feature 1D [AgPb2I7]2− chains built from the condensation of [Ag2I6] dimers and [Pb4I14] tetramers, and compounds 4, 5 and 6 contain similar 1D [CuPb2Br7]2− and [AgPb2Br7]2− chains, respectively. UV-Vis diffuse reflectance measurements reveal narrow band gaps of 1.75–2.18 eV for compounds 1–6, which lead to efficient and stable photocatalytic degradation activities over organic pollutants under visible light irradiation. Among the title compounds, sample 5 shows the highest photocatalytic degradation activity. The possible mechanism for their stable photocatalytic activities is proposed based on the experimental and theoretical studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a novel and efficient system is proposed to capture human movement evolution for complex action recognition. First, camera movement compensation is introduced to extract foreground object movement. Secondly, a mid-level feature representation called trajectory sheaf is proposed to capture the temporal structural information among low-level trajectory features based on key frames selection. Thirdly, the final video representation is obtained by training a sorting model with each key frame in the video clip. At last, the hierarchical version of video representation is proposed to describe the entire video with higher level representation. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method achieves state-of-the-art performance on UCF Sports, and comparable results on several challenge benchmarks, such as Hollywood2 and HMDB51 dataset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background With the aging of the population in Taiwan, the financial burden of stroke on the healthcare system is expected to rise. We aimed to investigate the trends in vascular risk factors, adherence to stroke performance measures, and stroke outcomes based on a nationwide representative sample. Methods Adult patients hospitalized for first-ever ischemic stroke between 2000 and 2012 were identified from a nationwide administrative database. The study period was divided into 1-year intervals. The Cuzick test and the Cochran-Armitage test were used to determine the significance of changes over time. Trends in stroke outcomes as a function of year were assessed using logistic regression, controlling for age, sex, comorbidity, and stroke severity. Results A total of 11,462 patients (mean age 67.3 years, female 40.9%) were hospitalized. Between 2000 and 2012, the prevalence of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidemia, and atrial fibrillation increased while the prevalence of coronary artery disease decreased. The proportion of patients taking antihypertensive or antidiabetic medication prior to stroke decreased, whereas the proportion of patients taking lipid lowering medication increased. Adherence to the five selected performance measures significantly improved. A significant decreasing trend in the proportion of recurrent stroke or all-cause death within one year was observed regardless of whether adjustment for age, sex, comorbidity, and stroke severity was made. Conclusions Despite the rising prevalence of vascular risk factors, improved adherence to stroke performance measures was accompanied by better stroke outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the development of personalized healthcare, tailor-made medications are receiving increasing attention. Solutions of specific concentrations or flow rates need to be acquired before medication can be manufactured. To efficiently and accurately generate solutions with specific concentrations or flow rates, we proposed the design of random variable-width (RVW) microfluidic chips, which perform significantly outperform random equal-width (REW) microfluidic chips, and predict their performance through Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN). First, we proposed the design of RVW microfluidic chips to extend the range of concentrations and flow rates. Second, the KD-MiniVGGNet model was designed, which effectively improved the accuracy of predicting the outlet concentrations and flow rates of the RVW microfluidic chips. Finally, a database of 51 032 RVW microfluidic chips was built by the KD-MiniVGGNet, which provided a sufficient number of candidate designs. The results showed that the RVW microfluidic chip could provide broader and better candidate designs, and the prediction accuracy of the outlet fluid behavior could be increased to 93%. [Display omitted] • Predicting the concentration and flow rate of microfluidic chips by deep learning. • The range of concentration and flow rate at the outlets was extended by the design of random variable-width micro channel. • A KD-MiniVGGNet model was proposed with an accuracy of 93.45% and 92.71% for predicting flow rate and concentration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The vast and sparsely populated plateau areas, e.g., the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, are facing a major challenge in providing equitable and accessible education for all children. Taking primary schools in Tibet, China as a case study, this study develops a methodological framework for evaluating the spatial allocation of educational facilities in plateau areas that integrates accessibility and cost. Grid-level accessibility assessment shows that accessibility to primary schools is quite inequal in Tibet. 12.9% of the population have to travel more than 1 h to reach the nearest school, mainly in Ali, Nyingci, Nagqu and Chamdo. The townships with high-to-medium population density, low-to-medium accessibility and low cost are identified as priority areas in future allocation of educational services. By contrast, for the townships with low population density, low accessibility and high cost, low-cost educational service provision modes, e.g., small-scale teaching sites and remote educational services, are suggested. Finally, it is found that educational accessibility can be significantly improved by promoting nearby schooling policy in border areas between townships. The results of this study can provide evidences for the rational allocation of educational facilities in Tibet. The proposed methodological framework and analytic methods are applicable in plateau areas or other remote and low-population density areas. • The sparsely populated plateau areas face a major challenge in providing equitable and accessible educational services. • Evaluating the spatial allocation of primary schools considering equity versus efficiency and access versus cost. • Assessing 1 km*1 km grid-level travel time to primary schools to identify shortage areas of educational services. • The accessibility to primary schools under nearby schooling and local schooling is measured and compared. • Optimizing the allocation of primary schools considering population density, accessibility and service cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • AI has been extensively applied in bioprocess modeling and optimization. • Convenient, accurate and rapid monitoring technologies are emerging. • Advanced control strategies based on AI technologies have been proposed. • Integrating AI with GEMs and CFD will further improve bioprocess. Bioprocess control and optimization are crucial for tapping the metabolic potential of microorganisms, and which have made great progress in the past decades. Combination of the current control and optimization technologies with the latest computer-based strategies will be a worth expecting way to improve bioprocess further. Recently, artificial intelligence (AI) emerged as a data-driven technique independent of the complex interactions used in mathematical models and has been gradually applied in bioprocess. In this review, firstly, AI-guided modeling approaches of bioprocess are discussed, which are widely applied to optimize critical process parameters (CPPs). Then, AI-assisted rapid detection and monitoring technologies employed in bioprocess are summarized. Next, control strategies according to the above two technologies in bioprocess are analyzed. Lastly, current research gaps and future perspectives on AI-guided optimization and control technologies are discussed. This review provides theoretical guidance for developing AI-guided bioprocess optimization and control technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Heat induces crosslinking of amino acids in gelatin and genipin in gardenia blue. • High temperature improves thermal stability and stable structure of blue system. • Blue system has the enhanced chemical stability mainly due to hyperchromic effect. • UV irradiation stability is raised due to compact matrix and gelatin protection. • Blue system has potential application in food 2D writing/printing and 3D printing. Gardenia blue could be effectively stabilized by gelatin and could be further enhanced by high-temperature based covalent-crosslinking reaction. The crosslinking reaction between amino acids and genipin promotes the generation of new gardenia blue molecules, facilitates the stable network structure, and improves the thermal stability of gelatin-gardenia blue systems (T 1 increased to 90 °C and T 2 increased from 310 °C to 315 °C), which is confirmed by UV absorbance, amino acid analysis, TGA, FTIR, XRD, SEM and particle size (774 nm). The treated samples also possess high resistance against acid and alkali chemicals (A/A0 ≈ 1) because of hyperchromic effect, high resistance against UV irradiation (ΔE < 5) due to the compact nanosized matrix, as well as great shear-thinning behavior (n < 1) and thixotropy (96.83 %). Its applications in 2D writing/printing, food functionalization and 3D printing on paper and various food, illustrate high-definition patterns and satisfying colors. Overall, the crosslinked gelatin-gardenia blue based system has potential application in food under high-temperature, acidic, basic or salty conditions, with wide consumption groups and high food industry values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrogen cooler is a key equipment of the precooling unit in hydrogen refueling stations with the requirement of high heat transfer efficiency, high compactness and high pressure resistance. Printed circuit heat exchanger is a promising candidate for the hydrogen cooler due to its great performance on extremely high pressure and high temperature working environment. In this paper, a hydrogen cooler with a thermal load of 72 kW is firstly designed by using the segmented thermal design method and logarithmic mean temperature difference method. Then, the capital model of the hydrogen cooler is established to evaluate the performance using the exergoeconomic method. The results show that the operating cost, which is related to exergy destruction, accounts for 94.5% of the total cost of the hydrogen cooler. The thermal exergy destruction accounts for 92.4% of the total exergy destruction. Finally, the geometrical parameters of the channel are optimized by using the multi-objective optimization. The channel radius shows the most significant impact on the construction cost and operating cost among the three geometrical parameters. Compared with the coaxial tube evaporators, the printed circuit heat exchanger has better performance on the volume and total cost, which are reduced by 88.0% and 4.0% respectively. • PCHE used for hydrogen cooler is estimated by segmental thermal design method. • Geometrical parameters are optimized by multi-objective optimization method. • Heat transfer performance and capital of PCHE hydrogen cooler are analyzed. • PCHE shows superior performance on volume and total cost than conventional coolers. • PCHE hydrogen cooler reduces cost of producing hydrogen per kilogram. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ti doped ta-C films were deposited by a hybrid coating system with filtered cathodic vacuum arc and pulsed DC magnetron sputtering. The microstructure, mechanical and tribological properties of ta-C: Ti films were investigated. Results showed that the Ti content in the films linearly increased from 0 to 19.9 at. % by increasing the Ti target current from 0 to 2 A. Without and with small amount of Ti doing, ta-C films presented typical amorphous characteristic. TiC phase was formed in the film at Ti content of 5.5 at. %, and as the Ti content further increased, the microstructure of the films gradually transformed to nanocomposite structure, where TiC nanocrystalls were embedded in amorphous carbon matrix. The sp3 bonding fraction was decreased with increasing Ti content, accordingly, the hardness and residual stress of films also decreased with diminishing sp3 content. In addition, the Ti doping had a positive impact on the adhesion force between films and substrates. ta-C film with Ti doping content of 5.5 at. % had the lowest friction coefficient and the lowest wear rate under different friction temperatures, corresponding to 0.09 and 3.6 × 10−8 mm3/N·m at room temperature, and 0.25 and 22.5 × 10−8 mm3/N·m at 400 °C, respectively, which was mainly attributed to the relative high hardness, lower residual stress, good adhesion of the film. [Display omitted] • ta-C:Ti films are fabricated by a hybrid deposition method consisting of FVCA technique and PDC sputtering technique. • The evolution of microstructure and sp3-C bond fraction were revealed. • Doped Ti has a significant effect on the enhancement of adhesion strength for ta-C film. • The excellent tribological properties could be obtained at the content of 5.5 at. % Ti doping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The advanced manufacturing industry is located at the top of the manufacturing value chain. Its development is restricted by supply chain collaboration (SCC), the level of which is affected by many factors. Few studies comprehensively summarize what influences SCC and distinguish the impact level of each factor. Practitioners have difficulty isolating the primary factors that affect SCC and managing them effectively. Therefore, based on synergetics and the theory of comparative advantage, this study analyzes what influences SCC in the advanced manufacturing industry and how these influencing factors work, using data from 94 manufacturing enterprises and the Haken model to identify the influencing factors. The results show that China's advanced manufacturing supply chain underwent a phase change and entered a new stage during 2017–2018. In the new stage, the competitive advantages of enterprises are one order parameter (slow variable) and are primary factors affecting SCC. The interest demands of enterprises are a fast variable and are secondary factors affecting SCC. The competitive advantages of enterprises dominate the interests of enterprises in affecting the collaboration level of China's advanced manufacturing supply chain. In addition, in the process of influencing SCC, there is a positive correlation between the competitive advantages of enterprises and the interest demands of enterprises, and the two factors have a positive feedback mechanism. Finally, when the enterprises in the supply chain cooperate based on their differential advantages, the collaboration capability of the supply chain is at the highest level, and the overall operation of the supply chain is orderly. In terms of theoretical contribution, this study is the first to propose a collaborative motivation framework that conforms to the characteristics of sequential parameters, which provides a theoretical reference for subsequent studies on SCC. In addition, the theory of comparative advantage and synergetics are linked for the first time in this study, and both of them are enriched and developed. Equally importantly, this study compares the bidirectional influence between firms' competitive advantages and firms' interest demands and the ability of both to influence SCC, enriching previous validation studies of unidirectional influence. In terms of practical implications, this study guides top managers to focus on the management practice of collaborative innovation in the supply chain and advises purchasing managers and sales managers on selecting supply chain partnerships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Myocarditis, a health-threatening heart disease, is attracting increasing attention. This systematic study was conducted to study the prevalence of disease through the trends of incidence, mortality, disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) over the last 30 years, which would be helpful for the policymakers to better the choices for reasonable decisions. Methods: The global, regional, and national burdens of myocarditis from 1990–2019 were analyzed by using the 2019 Global Burden of Disease (GBD) database. This study on myocarditis produced new findings according to age, sex, and Social-Demographic Index (SDI) by investigating DALYs, age-standardized incidence rate (ASIR), age-standardized death rate (ASDR), and corresponding estimated annual percentage change (EAPC). Results: The number of myocarditis incidence increased by 62.19%, from 780,410 cases in 1990 to 1,265,770 cases in 2019. The ASIR decreased by 4.42% (95%CI, from -0.26% to -0.21%) over the past 30 years. The number of deaths from myocarditis increased by 65.40% from 19,618 in 1990 to 324,490 in 2019, but the ASDR was relatively stable over the investigated period. ASDR increased in low-middle SDI regions (EAPC=0.48; 95%CI, 0.24 to 0.72) and decreased in low SDI regions (EAPC=-0.97; 95%CI, from -1.05 to -0.89). The age-standardized DALY rate decreased by 1.19% (95%CI, from -1.33% to -1.04%) per year. Conclusions: Globally, the ASIR and DALY for myocarditis decreased and the ASDR was stable over the past 30 years. The risk of incidences and death cases increased with age. Measures should be taken to control the risk of myocarditis in high-burden regions. Medical supplies should be improved in the high-middle SDI regions and middle SDI regions to reduce the deaths from myocarditis in these regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of body mass index (BMI) on the prevalence of overt hepatic encephalopathy (OHE) after the transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) procedure in decompensated cirrhotic patients. A retrospective observational cohort study of 145 cirrhotic patients receiving TIPS was carried out in our department from 2017 to 2020. The relationships between BMI and clinical outcomes including OHE, as well as risk factors of developing post-TIPS OHE, were analyzed. BMI was categorized as normal weight (18.5 ≤ BMI < 23.0 kg/m2), underweight (BMI < 18.5 kg/m2), and overweight/obese (BMI ≥ 23.0 kg/m2). Among the 145 patients, 52 (35.9%) were overweight/obese and 50 (34%) had post-TIPS OHE. Overweight/obese patients more frequently had OHE compared with normal weight patients (OR: 2.754, 95% CI: 1.236–6.140; p = 0.013). Overweight/obesity (p = 0.013) and older age (p = 0.030) were independent risk factors for post-TIPS OHE according to the logistic regression analysis. Kaplan–Meier curve analysis suggested that overweight/obese patients had the highest cumulative incidence of OHE (log-rank p = 0.0118). In conclusion, overweight/obesity and older age may raise the risk of post-TIPS OHE in cirrhotic patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Study Design: We performed decompression surgery or conservative treatments on 135 cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM) patients with concomitant hypertension and did follow-up assessments up to 1 year to examine the change of blood pressure, spinal cord function, and cervical pain.Objective: The aim of this study was to determine whether concomitant hypertension is relieved after decompression surgery, and whether it is related to the improvement of spinal cord function or cervical pain.Summary Of Background Data: In clinical practice, we often found that some patients with CSM have concomitant hypertension. Interestingly, after CSM was treated successfully by decompression surgery, some patients' high blood pressure returned to normal range even without oral medications.Methods: We enrolled 135 CSM patients with hypertension, 103 of whom received decompression surgery, and remaining 32 patients accepted conservative treatments. We did follow-up assessments at 3, 6, and 12 months. The primary endpoints were changes of blood pressure, and secondary endpoints were changes of modified Japanese Orthopedic Association (mJOA) score and cervical pain visual analogue scale (VAS). Spearman correlation coefficients were calculated between changes in systolic blood pressure (SBP) and mJOA scores, VAS scores.Results: In patients with decompression surgery, the significant decrease in both SBP and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) that was seen 3 months and sustained through subsequent visit at 12 months. Paired-samples t test showed that both SBP and DBP were significantly lower than baseline blood pressure at all time points after procedure (P < 0.001). Significant correlation was found between the improvement rates of mJOA score and changes in SBP (r = -0.579, P < 0.001). But the correlation between changes in VAS score and changes in SBP was not significant (r = 0.58, P = 0.571).Conclusion: Cervical decompression surgery could reduce concomitant high blood pressure in CSM patients, indicating a significant association between the decrease in blood pressure and the improvement of spinal cord function.Level Of Evidence: 2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this research, hydroxylated and carboxylated graphene (GROH and GRCOOH) with controllable functionalized level by means of diazonium addition was successfully prepared, and the dielectric properties of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) composites fabricated via a simple solution-cast and hot-pressing method are examined. Tunable dielectric properties, low percolation threshold (0.20 wt%) and large energy density (up to 17.33 J cm-3 of GROH-50) in the polymeric composites of PVDF/GROH and PVDF/GRCOOH suggests strong chemical bonding are formed between the filler and polymer matrix. Hydroxyl groups, which act as an electron donor, is believed to improve the dielectric properties when compared to carboxyl groups with electron accepting nature, thus GROH/PVDF presents better dielectric behavior (not only high dielectric constant, but also low dielectric loss) than GRCOOH/PVDF. Such polymer composites consisted of functionalized graphene can be used to store charge and electrical energy and play a key role in modern electronics and electric power systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]