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Abstract Emergency communication network (ECN) is the important infrastructure to acquire the real-time information after disaster, which is essential for rescue task. However, the existed routing protocols seldom consider the uneven distribution of rescue area so that cannot satisfy the ECN’s requirement and the quality of rescue needs improvement. In this paper, we avoided the traditional linear propulsion from rim to core and proposed a novel four-quadrant mobility model (FQMM), which makes rescuers arrive the most intensity core area first, which can improve the rescue quality. Then, a FQMM-based protocol (FQMMBP) for ECN is designed, which aims to improve the performance of ECN in terms of package delivery rate (PDR) and end-to-end delay. Finally, we set up a virtual earthquake scenario to simulate our proposed protocol in NS2. Results show that the proposed protocol outperforms to the three compared routing protocols, i.e., AODV, DSDV and DSR. The average FDR is improved by 16.31%, and the average reduction of delay is 64.45%, which shows our proposed scheme’s advantages in quality of rescue.

The terrestrial cryosphere functions to provide critical freshwater and serve societies and ecosystems, driving nature's contributions to people (NCP). This becomes increasingly important for the oasis areas in Northwest China. The cryospheric meltwater is in demand to support the economy and reduce poverty, accompanied by growing requirements to protect the environment. We intend to investigate the contributions of cryospheric meltwater by analyzing the spatial functions and services pertinent to provisioning meltwater in China. Based on the currently available datasets during the 2000s of glaciers, snow cover, and permafrost, spatial clustering was utilized to analyze the contributions at the third-level basin scale. Further assessment is carried out for the exposure of primary, secondary, and tertiary industrial sectors to cryospheric meltwater, which reflects the spatiality of potential services that cryospheric meltwater may provide. In results, we spatially cluster the contribution of cryospheric meltwater into six function zones and twenty-seven sub-zones, in association with the degree of their reliance on glaciers, snow cover, and permafrost. Considering the sector's exposure, we further spatially cluster the contribution areas into eleven service zones concerning the potential service of cryospheric meltwater. Generally, the cryosphere contributes approximately 8.3% of the total water resource in China, with function zones mainly distributed in northeastern China, Qinghai−Tibet Plateau (QTP), and other arid regions of Northwest China with various significance. The overall contribution ratios of the glacier, snow cover, and permafrost to cryospheric meltwater are about 35.6%, 56.5%, and 7.9%, respectively. By looking into the service zones, the cryospheric meltwater mainly contributes to the primary industry in Northwest China and QTP, even though it has less significant effects on all other industrial sectors, while the services to the ecosystem are mainly located in QTP and high mountain regions. The results offer an overarching view on the contributions of cryospheric meltwater in China.

Homogeneous earth-abundant metal catalysis based on well-defined metal complexes is of interest for organic synthesis, but typically employs expensive catalysts, air sensitive or synthetically challenging chemicals. Here, the authors report an efficient and regio-selective catalytic system for hydroboration of vinylarenes and organic nitriles with HBPin, using commercially available CoI2 and KO t Bu under ligand-free conditions.

Abstract An extensive network of storm water conveyance systems in urban areas, often referred to as the “underground storm drain system” (USDS), serves as significant production habitats for mosquitoes. Knowledge of whether USDS habitats are suitable for newly introduced dengue vectors Aedes aegypti and Ae. albopictus will help guide surveillance and control efforts. To determine whether the USDS functions as a suitable larval habitat for Culex, Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus in southern California, we examined mosquito habitat utilization and larval survivorship using laboratory microcosm studies. The data showed that USDS constituted 4.1% of sampled larval habitats for Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus, and 22.0% for Cx. quinquefasciatus. Furthermore, USDS water collected in the summer completely inhibited Aedes larval development, but yielded a 15.0% pupation rate for Cx. quinquefasciatus. Food supplementation in the microcosms suggests that nutrient deficiency, toxins and other factors in the USDS water led to low success or complete failure of larval development. These results suggest that USDS habitats are currently not major productive larval habitats for Aedes mosquitoes in southern California. Our findings prompt inclusion of assessments of pupal productivity in USDS habitats and adult mosquito resting sites in the mosquito surveillance program.

Abstract Non‐orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) has attracted great attention due to its potential of providing high spectral efficiency and massive connectivity. Combining it with multiple‐input multiple‐output (MIMO) technology can further improve the spectrum efficiency. In this paper, the power allocation problem in downlink multi‐cluster MIMO‐NOMA systems is investigated for maximizing the fairness utility function. First, a long‐term fairness function is considered and the optimization problem is formulated as a weighted sum‐rate maximization problem. The problem is transformed into a convex form by introducing two sets of auxiliary variables, and propose an iterative algorithm to update the weight factors and the auxiliary variables. Then, an instantaneous fairness is considered and the optimization problem is formulated as a minimum data‐rate maximization problem. It is transfiormed into a one‐dimensional optimization problem based on an iterative algorithm and a closed‐form power allocation expression is deduced. Simulation results illustrate that the proposed two fairness power allocation schemes have better performance of edge‐user rate than the comparable schemes.

The influences of Ag and Co additions on the thermal stability and glass-forming abilities of twenty (Cu46-xZr47Al7Agx)100-yCoy (x = 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 and y = 0, 0.5, 1, 1.5) alloys were systematically investigated by X-ray diffraction and differential scanning calorimeter techniques. The mechanical performances (i.e., hardness, strength, and plasticity) of the alloys were evaluated, and the plasticization mechanisms of four representative (Cu46-xZr47Al7Agx)100-yCoy specimens were discussed based on the observations of scanning electron microscopy and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. It is found that (Cu43Zr47Al7Ag3)99.5Co0.5 bulk metallic glass exhibits excellent thermal stability and improved plasticity after compression tests. The improvement can be attributed to the large amount and density of shear bands, the coexistence of a large area of smooth regions, the vein-like pattern, and the river-like pattern on the fractures. More importantly, the new-formed B2-CuZr phases and nanocrystallines during compressive tests also contribute to the improved plastic deformation ability by exalting the number and density of shear bands.

This work presents a novel stereo coded aperture gamma camera based on four detection modules placed within four quadrants. Each module includes 48 × 48 strips of Bi4Ge3O12 scintillators, 24 × 24 pieces of silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs), and a set of data acquisition circuits. All signals from the SiPMs are individually extracted and finally simplified into 144 outputs to calculate the positions and energies of gamma-rays. Two masks of modified uniformly redundant arrays are fixed in the front of the top-right and bottom-left modules and two anti-masks are fixed in the top-left and bottom-right modules to achieve simultaneous imaging without dual measure. Once the projections of radioactive sources are determined, their source-to-detector distances can be estimated by our new multocular ranging algorithm. A series of lab and field experiments, including flood histogram and energy spectrum testing, field-of-view and angular resolution testing, real-time imaging, long-distance imaging, and ranging ability testing, with different radioactive sources, such as 137Cs, 22Na, 241Am, 60Co, 133Ba, and 75Se, have been completed to evaluate the comprehensive ability of the stereo gamma camera. The results show that the stereo gamma camera has a strong ability for the three-dimensional localization of radioactive sources over long distances with a high image sensitivity. So far, the stereo gamma camera has been successfully used in practical nuclear security and safety tasks although the angular resolution and the ranging algorithm robustness should be more optimized in the future.

ABSTRACT: Allicin, one of the main bioactive compounds in garlic, is an excellent feed additive. It is unknown whether allicin affects the expression of P-gp and BCRP, 2 important ABC efflux transporters related to the pharmacokinetics of antimicrobials in chickens. In this study, by bidirectional transport test and broiler jejunum in situ perfusion, we found that allicin inhibited the efflux transport of P-gp and BCRP for their substrates sulfadiazine and florfenicol, 2 commonly used antimicrobials in broilers. Furthermore, we observed that allicin decreased the mRNA expression of chicken jejunum P-gp and BCRP. Pretreatment with allicin changed the pharmacokinetic behavior of orally administered sulfadiazine, by increasing AUC (41.85 vs. 31.24, P < 0.01) and Cmax values (9.82 vs. 8.40, P < 0.05) and decreasing CLZ (0.45 vs. 0.62, P < 0.01). Similarly, pretreatment with allicin also altered pharmacokinetics of orally administered florfenicol, by increasing AUC (18.38 vs. 13.52, P < 0.01) and decreasing CLZ. The results indicate that allicin could inhibit jejunum P-gp and BCRP expression and efflux function, thereby increasing the plasma concentrations of their substrates in broilers.

Urinary tract infections (UTI) are recognized as one of the most common infectious diseases worldwide, and uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) is the main causative agent of UTI. Dendrobium officinale polysaccharides (DOPs), the main effective ingredient in Dendrobium officinale, have been reported to possess an anti-inflammatory role. Whether DOPs can attenuate the inflammatory injury (pyroptosis) induced by UPEC remains unknown. The present study aimed to assess the protective effect and potential mechanism of DOPs in UPEC-induced pyroptosis. Cell viability of THP-1 differentiated macrophage cells with DOPs was determined using MTT assay. Pyroptosis by UPEC in macrophage cells with or not DOPs pre-treatment was evaluated with flow cytometry analysis, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) assay, and proinflammatory cytokines secretion. Expression level of key proteins in the NLRP3/Caspase-1/GSDMD pyroptotic pathway was analyzed with western blot. Furthermore the effect of DOPs on ROS activation was investigated. Results indicated that DOPs attenuated UPEC-induced cell damage in macrophage cells, inhibited the activation of NLRP3 mediated inflammasome, subsequently decreased induction and activation of caspase-1/GSDMD, and reduced the secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokine (IL-1β et al.). Moreover, pretreatment with DOPs significantly reduces ROS production, an important/putative pyroptosis stimulus signal. These results suggested that DOPs successfully mitigate UPEC-promoted pyroptosis in macrophage cells. The protective effects of DOPs are associated with the inhibition of the NLRP3/Caspase-1/GSDMD pathway and ROS signal activation.

Different media had different effects on the induction of rooting of Lagerstroemia indica ‘Zijingling’. The aims of this study were to identify the best rooting medium, determine the changes in endogenous hormone content in aseptic seedlings of ‘Zijingling’, and then analyze its role in the rooting process, to improve the rooting rate. Using a test tube seedling of ‘Zijingling’ as the experimental material, the tissue cells were observed via paraffin sectioning, and the changes in endogenous hormone content during the rooting process were determined using high-performance liquid chromatography. The results showed that 1/2 MS Medium had the most significant effect on rooting in the basic medium. The promoting effects of different auxins on rooting decreased in magnitude in the order 3-Indolebutyric acid (IBA) > Naphthalene acetic acid (NAA)> Indole-3-aceticacid (IAA). The optimal rooting medium was 1/2 MS + 0.6 mg L-1 IBA+ 15 g L-1 sucrose + 5 g L-1 agar + 200 mg L-1 activated carbon , and the highest induction rate of adventitious roots was 92.5%. The rooting of ‘Zijingling’ is classified as a primordial type of induced rooting. Exogenous IBA content promoted an increase in endogenous IAA and Gibberellic acid (GA3) contents. High contents of IAA, GA3, and Abscisic acid (ABA) and low content of Zeatin riboside (ZR) promoted the growth of adventitious roots, whereas high contents of IAA and ZR, and low contents of GA3 and ABA were required for the induction of root primordia. High levels of IAA/ZR and low levels of IAA/ABA promoted the differentiation of root primordia. However, low levels of IAA/ZR and high levels of IAA/ABA promoted adventitious root elongation.

Water mobility is an important factor affecting the production of coalbed methane. It is of great significance to analyze the effect of porosity and permeability on water mobility for the development of coalbed methane in Jixi Basin. In order to analyze the influence of porosity and permeability of coal reservoir on the water mobility, we performed low field NMR, permeability and water saturation experiments on the main coal seams of different mining areas in Jixi Basin.The results show that: ①Adsorption pores are relatively developed and the average proportion is 58.36%, while the seepage pores and fractures are similarly developed, with the average proportion of 21.23% and 20.41%, respectively.The seepage pores and fracture are well connected; ②The centrifugal force that makes the studied coal seam reach the bound water state is 1.38 MPa, under which the movable water can be discharged from half-open or open pores with a radius of more than 0.1 μm.By which the movable water saturation is 27.84%-60.87%, with an average of 37.86%; the irreducible water saturation is higher which is calculated as 39.13%-72.16%(av.62.14%).With the increase of pressure, the movable water flows first along the fracture, and then flows out through the seepage pores, while the irreducible water mainly existing in the adsorption pores is difficult to flow because of the large capillary resistance during centrifugation; ③There are obvious differences in water mobility and occurrence in coal samples with similar metamorphic degree, which may be one of the reasons for the difference of water and gas production in different block's CBM wells; ④The movable water in the study area is easy to flow out from coals with higher movable water saturation, greater permeability and more developed pore throat of more than 1 000 nm, but the water is difficult to flow out from coals with lower movable water saturation and more developed pore throat of 0-100 nm in which water is trapped.

Abstract Normal mammalian secondary palate development undergoes a series of processes, including palatal shelf (PS) growth, elevation, adhesion and fusion, and palatal bone formation. It has been estimated that more than 90% of isolated cleft palate is caused by defects associated with the elevation process. However, because of the rapidly completed elevation process, the entire process of elevation will never be easy to clarify. In this article, we present a novel method for three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction of thick tissue blocks from two-dimensional (2D) histological sections. We established multiplanar sections of the palate and tongue in coronal and sagittal directions, and further performed 3D reconstruction to observe the morphological interaction and connection between the two components prior to and during elevation. The method completes an imaging system for simultaneous morphological analysis of thick tissue samples using both synthetic and real data. The new method will provide a comprehensive picture of reorientation morphology and gene expression pattern during the palatal elevation process.

Abstract To facilitate the application of various renewable generations as well as diversified loads, hybrid DC/AC microgrids have aroused widespread interest; however, direct access of different types of sources and loads to the utility through multiple converters may be inefficient. In addition, with the complexity growth of the system, the stable and efficient operation puts forward new requirements for the isolation protection and more intelligent control. Facing these problems, the isolated two‐stage converter topology based on solid state transformer (SST) is designed and the automatic seamless switching power sharing control strategy is proposed. The proposed topology replaces the conventional passive transformer with dual‐active‐bridge converter (DABC) to realize voltage matching and galvanic isolation for higher controllability and less volume occupation. Constant ratio control method is adopted for DABC to operate as an ideal DC transformer. Further, AC frequency and DC voltage are measured as characterizations of power level to adjust the transferred power of the converter. Through the non‐directional strategy, bidirectional power support and decentralized cooperation are realized, and the capacity and sensitivity of microgrids are considered. The stability of the proposed control strategy is analyzed and the feasibility is verified by several real‐time hardware‐in‐loop experiments.

Abstract This paper proposes a data‐driven method of mmWave beam selection in multi‐cell systems to achieve a near‐optimal fast beam allocation with low complexity. In particular, an online learning algorithm based on support vector machine (SVM) equipped with the radial basis function kernel, namely SVM‐based online beam selection (SBOS) algorithm is proposed. The proposed algorithm starts with an adaptive beam selection process for certain traffic pattern that uses an SVM learning model to adaptively refine the beam selection strategy. Specifically, SVM‐based model labels the feedback (the average information rate) from the cellular system, then learns from samples, and makes the scheme space smaller by maximising samples' minimum distances to all labelled samples in the sample space constrained by newly learned boundaries. Then, according to the aggregated data about the traffic patterns and the performance of corresponding beam selection strategy, SBOS algorithm exploits beam selection schemes recorded in the database or explores new schemes for unknown situations, respectively, and how to tune the hyperparameters for the SBOS algorithm is discussed. Furthermore, the extensive simulation results show that the proposed algorithm achieves a better performance versus upper confidence bound and Random methods.

Abstract Background Protein content determines the state of cells. The variation in protein abundance is crucial when organisms are in the early stages of heat stress, but the reasons affecting their changes are largely unknown. Results We quantified 47,535 mRNAs and 3742 proteins in the filling grains of wheat in two different thermal environments. The impact of mRNA abundance and sequence features involved in protein translation and degradation on protein expression was evaluated by regression analysis. Transcription, codon usage and amino acid frequency were the main drivers of changes in protein expression under heat stress, and their combined contribution explains 58.2 and 66.4% of the protein variation at 30 and 40 °C (20 °C as control), respectively. Transcription contributes more to alterations in protein content at 40 °C (31%) than at 30 °C (6%). Furthermore, the usage of codon AAG may be closely related to the rapid alteration of proteins under heat stress. The contributions of AAG were 24 and 13% at 30 and 40 °C, respectively. Conclusion In this study, we analyzed the factors affecting the changes in protein expression in the early stage of heat stress and evaluated their influence.

Society could sustain the impact of climate change by adapting to the change and mitigating risks from adverse effects of increasing changes, so that it can continue maintaining its prospect and improving wellbeing. Nevertheless, climate change is more or less affecting society's functions at different scales, including both individuals and communities. In this review, we discuss the relationship between society and climate change in China from the aspects of the needs at different socioeconomic developing stages. The relationship as well as the current spatial pattern and future risks of the climate change impacts on societies are summarized. The complexity of social and climatic systems leads to the spatial heterogeneity of climate impacts and risks in China. To more effectively leverage increasing knowledge about the past, we advocate greater cross-disciplinary collaboration between climate adaption, poverty alleviation and Nature-based Solutions (Nbs). That could provide decision makers with more comprehensive train of thoughts for climate policy making.

ObjectivesIn order to develop a computation method for the corrugated core panel bending issue and solve the bending deflection and stress of such panels, an equivalent stiffness method is proposed. MethodsFirst, the middle cores of these sandwich panels are taken as equivalent to orthotropic elastic materials, then the equivalent elastic modulus of the cores are solved by Castigliano's theorem and the integral stiffnesses of the sandwich panels are calculated by laminated plate theory. According to the solved integral stiffness constants, the distribution of bending deflection is achieved by solving the orthotropic plate bending equilibrium equations, and stress distribution is derived by adopting Hooke's law.ResultsIt is validated that the stiffness error evaluated by this proposed method is −6.98% compared with the method in literature(Ref.[7]), the maximum error of deflection is −2.01% and stress is 3.63%, which correspond with the FEM results.ConclusionsThis proposed method for calculating integral stiffness through layered accumulation not only avoids the complicated derivation of applying the method of Ref.[7] completely, but also satisfies calculation precision when computing the bending issue.

Abstract Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is a long-term task, which puts forward high requirements on the sustainability of related policies and actions. Using the text analysis method, we analyze the China National Sustainable Communities (CNSCs) policy implemented over 30 years and its effects on achieving SDGs. We find that the national government needs to understand the scope of sustainable development more comprehensively, the sustained actions can produce positive effects under the right goals. The SDGs selection of local governments is affected by local development levels and resource conditions, regions with better economic foundations tend to focus on SDGs on human well-being, regions with weaker foundations show priority to basic SDGs on the economic development, infrastructures and industrialization.

Representative elementary volume (REV) is a fundamental concept in rock mechanics and its existence is a prerequisite for estimating the equivalent parameters of rock mass and applying the continuum method to investigating the rock mass. To comprehensively consider the effects of fracture size, orientation and density on the REV of rock mass, the heterogeneity index (HI) is presented to estimate the REV. The concept and meaning of HI are elaborated and 20 random realizations of fracture network models with moderate spacing and medium persistence are implemented using the General Block software. For each realization, ten rock mass models with different sizes are selected to calculate the HI. The results show an obvious size effect of the homogeneity index. The mean value and standard deviation of the homogeneity index are 0.5 and 0.14, respectively, when the size of the rock mass is not less than 8 m, and the REV for the rock mass is determined to 8 m. The investigation of the surrounding rock mass of the underground powerhouse in the Three Gorges using the HI shows a REV size of 60 m, which can be used as a criterion for the applicability of the discontinuous method. HI is a new index proposed from the perspective of rock mass structure, which is suitable for determining the REV and statistical range of rock masses. It is of great significance for the statistical analysis and investigation of the equivalent parameters of rock masses.

In this manuscript, a class of implicit impulsive Langevin equation with Hilfer fractional derivatives is considered. Using the techniques of nonlinear functional analysis, we establish appropriate conditions and results to discuss existence, uniqueness, Ulam-Hyers, generalized Ulam-Hyers, Ulam-Hyers-Rassias and generalized Ulam-Hyers-Rassias stability results of our proposed model, with the help of Banach's fixed point theorem. An example is provided at the end to illustrate our results.

Abstract The multi‐phase annular brushless exciter (MPABE) of nuclear power plants has suffered numerous armature winding open‐phase faults (AWOPF) in the field operation. In order to achieve reliable protection of the MPABE, its AWOPF is systematically studied through theoretical analysis, simulation calculation and model machine experiments. First, proceeding from the armature current waveform in normal operation and the influence of the AWOPF on it, the armature reaction magnetomotive force (MMF) is analysed deeply. Then, the theoretical analysis about the harmonic electromotive force (EMF) induced by armature reaction MMF on the field winding is presented, obtaining the harmonic characteristics of field current: the even‐order field harmonic currents increase obviously under the AWOPF. Finally, correlate experiments and simulations were performed on a customized experimental prototype. The experimental and simulation results are consistent and verify the conclusion of the theoretical analysis, which can serve as a theoretical basis for the monitoring and diagnosis method of the AWOPF in the MPABE.

After multi-stage volume hydraulic fracturing in a shale oil reservoir, massive amounts of water can be imbibed into the matrix pores. One of the key imbibition characteristics of a shale reservoir is the imbibition water and its height distribution. Based on high pressure mercury injection (HPMI) experiments and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analyses, this study quantitatively evaluated the pore-size distribution of Chang 7 continental shale oil reservoirs in Yanchang Formation, Ordos Basin. The pores could be divided into three types as micropores (≤0.1 μm), mesopores (0.1–1.0 μm), and macropores (>1.0 μm), while the volume of micropores and mesopores accounted for more than 90%. This demonstrated that there were strong heterogeneity and micro–nano characteristics. According to the spontaneous imbibition (SI) experiments, the cumulative proportion of imbibition water content was the largest in micropores, exceeding 43%, followed by mesopores around 30%, and that of macropores was the lowest, and basically less than 20%. The negative values of stage water content in the macropore or mesopore indicated that these pores became a water supply channel for other dominant imbibition pores. Additionally, combining the fractal theory with the NMR T2 spectrum, the relative imbibition water and actual height were calculated in different pores, while the height distribution varied with cores and shale oil. The shorter the core, the higher was the relative height, while the radius of macropores filled with imbibition water was reduced. This indicates that the height distribution was affected by the pore structure, oil viscosity, and core length.

During the aging process of laying hens, hepatic oxidative stress damage and lipid accumulation are prone to occur, leading to the deterioration of egg quality and a decline in production properties. This research was designed to explore the effects of different levels of coated sodium butyrate (CSB) addition on oxidation resistance, inflammatory reaction, lipid metabolism and hepatic oxidative damage-related gene expression in aged laying hens. A total of 720 healthy 52 weeks old Huafeng laying hens were arbitrarily divided into 5 groups of 6 replicates with 24 birds each and fed a basal diet supplemented with 0, 250, 500, 750 and 1000 mg/kg CSB for 8 weeks, respectively. The CSB quadratically upgraded GSH-Px activities and downgraded MDA content in the liver and serum. The LDL-C, NEFA and TG contents decreased quadratically in CSB groups and significantly reduced the fatty vacuoles as well as the formation of fat granules in the liver (p < 0.05). Meanwhile, the CSB quadratically upregulated the gene expression of IL-10, Nrf2 and HO1, but downregulated the gene expression of IFN-γ, TNF-α and Keap1 in a quadratic manner (p < 0.05). Moreover, the CSB quadratically degraded the mRNA level of fatty acid synthesis but increased the gene level of key enzymes of fatty acid catabolism (p < 0.05). In conclusion, dietary CSB supplementation has a favorable effect in protecting against liver injury and alleviating lipid accumulation and inflammation by enhancing hepatic antioxidative function in aged laying hens.

This work explores the possibility that iterative classes of elliptic equations have both single and coupled positive radial solutions. Our approach is based on using the well-known Guo–Krasnoselskii and Avery–Henderson fixed-point theorems in a Banach space. Furthermore, we utilize Rus’ theorem in a metric space, to prove the uniqueness of solutions for the problem. Examples are constructed for the sake of verification.

As medical data become increasingly important in healthcare, it is crucial to have proper access control mechanisms, ensuring that sensitive data are only accessible to authorized users while maintaining privacy and security. Ciphertext-Policy Attribute-Based Encryption (CP-ABE) is an attractive access control solution that can offer effective, fine-grained and secure medical data sharing, but it has two major drawbacks: Firstly, decryption is computationally expensive for resource-limited data users, especially when the access policy has many attributes, limiting its use in large-scale data-sharing scenarios. Secondly, existing schemes are based on data users’ attributes, which can potentially reveal sensitive information about the users, especially in healthcare data sharing, where strong privacy and security are essential. To address these issues, we designed an improved CP-ABE scheme that provides efficient and verifiable outsourced access control with fully hidden policy named EVOAC-HP. In this paper, we utilize the attribute bloom filter to achieve policy hiding without revealing user privacy. For the purpose of alleviating the decryption burden for data users, we also adopt the technique of outsourced decryption to outsource the heavy computation overhead to the cloud service provider (CSP) with strong computing and storage capabilities, while the transformed ciphertext results can be verified by the data user. Finally, with rigorous security and reliable performance analysis, we demonstrate that EVOAC-HP is both practical and effective with robust privacy protection.

Because the adjustment of the stay cable tension and girder counterweight is limited at the operation stage it is a difficult problem to control the negative reaction risk of the auxiliary pier (NRRAP) caused by multisource construction uncertainties and traffic growth. This paper proposes a pavement strategy optimization to control the NRRAP by adjusting the pavement thickness. The pavement strategy optimization is formulated as a reliability-constrained, multiobjective optimization problem, which is resolved by the nondominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II). A sensitivity analysis and a reliability analysis based on the generalized regression neural network (GRNN) surrogate model were performed to illustrate the significance of the uncertainty level in auxiliary pier negative reactions. The Pareto front examines the balance of construction cost, driving comfort and specified reliability threshold. The efficiency and accuracy of the proposed method are validated in a real cable-stayed bridge, and the results exhibit its advantages in controlling the NRRAP.

Opportunities networks’ message transmission is significantly impacted by routing prediction, which has been a focus of opportunity network research. The network of student nodes with smart devices is a particular type of opportunity network in the campus setting, and the predictability of campus node movement trajectories is also influenced by the regularity of students’ social mobility. In this research, a novel Markov route prediction method is proposed under the campus background. When two nodes meet, they share the movement track data of other nodes stored in each other’s cache in order to predict the probability of two nodes meeting in the future. The impact of the node within the group is indicated by the node centrality. The utility value of the message is defined to describe the spread degree of the message and the energy consumption of the current node, then the cache is managed according to the utility value. By creating a concurrent hash mapping table of delivered messages, the remaining nodes are notified to delete the delivered messages and release the cache space in time after the messages are delivered to their destinations. The method suggested in this research can successfully lower the packet loss rate, minimize transmission latency and network overhead, and further increase the success rate of message delivery, according to experimental analysis and algorithm comparison.

Computed tomography (CT) images play a vital role in diagnosing rib fractures and determining the severity of chest trauma. However, quickly and accurately identifying rib fractures in a large number of CT images is an arduous task for radiologists. We propose a U-net-based detection method designed to extract rib fracture features at the pixel level to find rib fractures rapidly and precisely. Two modules are applied to the segmentation network—a combined attention module (CAM) and a hybrid dense dilated convolution module (HDDC). The features of the same layer of the encoder and the decoder are fused through CAM, strengthening the local features of the subtle fracture area and increasing the edge features. HDDC is used between the encoder and decoder to obtain sufficient semantic information. Experiments show that on the public dataset, the model test brings the effects of Recall (81.71%), F1 (81.86%), and Dice (53.28%). Experienced radiologists reach lower false positives for each scan, whereas they have underperforming neural network models in terms of detection sensitivities with a long time diagnosis. With the aid of our model, radiologists can achieve higher detection sensitivities than computer-only or human-only diagnosis.

In this study, Ti-6Al-4V matrix composites reinforced with TiB ceramic whiskers were in situ synthesized and hydrogenated using the melt hydrogenation technique (MHT). The effects of MHT on the microstructure evolution and hot compression behavior of the composites were investigated by optical microscopy (OM), electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Hot compression tests were performed at strain rates of 0.1/s, 0.01/s, and 0.001/s and temperatures of 800 °C, 850 °C, and 900 °C; the hot workability of composites significantly improved after hydrogenation, for example, the 900 °C peak flow stress of hydrogenated composites (43 MPa) decreased by 53.76% compared with that of unhydrogenated ones (93 MPa) at a strain rate of 0.01/s. Microstructural observations show that MHT can effectively facilitate the dispersion of TiB whiskers and induce the α/β lath refinement of the matrix in our as-cast hydrogenated composite. During hot compression, MHT effectively promoted the as-cast composite microstructure refinement, accelerated the dynamic recrystallization (DRX) generation, and reduced the stress concentration at the interface between the reinforcement and matrix; in turn, the hydrogenated composites presented low peak stress during hot compression.

In this study, a comprehensive investigation into the inter-relationships among twelve atmospheric variables and their responses to precipitation was conducted. These variables include two Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) tropospheric products, eight weather variables and two time-varying parameters. Their observations and corresponding precipitation record over the period 2008–2019 were obtained from a pair of GNSS/weather stations in Hong Kong. Firstly, based on the correlation and regression analyses, the cross-relationships among the variables were systematically analyzed. Typically, the variables of precipitable water vapor (PWV), zenith total delay (ZTD), temperature, pressure, wet-bulb temperature and dew-point temperature have closer cross-correlativity. Next, the responses of these variables to precipitation of different intensities were investigated and some precursory information of precipitation contained in these variables was revealed. The lead times of using ZTD and PWV to detect heavy precipitation are about 8 h. Finally, by using the principal component analysis, it is shown that heavy precipitation can be effectively detected using these variables, among which, ZTD, PWV and cloud coverage play more prominent roles. The research findings can not only increase the utilization and uptake of atmospheric variables in the detection of precipitation, but also provide clues in the development of more robust precipitation forecasting models.

Abstract Cleft palate repair is a challenging procedure for cleft surgeons to teach, and in research, it can be difficult to evaluate different techniques and develop new treatments. In this study, a congenital cleft palate New Zealand rabbit model has been described and could be beneficial in future studies concerning cleft palate repair. Pregnant New Zealand rabbits received 1.0 mg dexamethasone injection intramuscularly once a day from the 13th gestation day (GD13) to GD16. On GD31. Newborn rabbits were delivered by cesarean sections, fed with a standardized gastric tube feeding method, and divided into two groups. The rate of survival and the incidence of cleft palate was calculated. Weight, appearance, behavior, maxillary occlusal view, and regional anatomic and histological comparisons were recorded within 1 month after birth. Infants from the two groups with similar physiological conditions were selected for continuous maxillofacial and mandibular Micro-CT scan and three-dimensional reconstruction analysis. Ten pregnant rabbits gave birth to 48 live infants. The survival and cleft palate rates were 65.6% and 60.4% respectively. Both groups survived over 1 month with no difference in weight, appearance, and behavior. The cleft type was stable, and anatomical defects, histological characteristics, and nasal-maxillary abnormalities of the cleft were similar to those of humans. There was no statistically significant difference in maxillary and mandible development between the two groups within one month after birth. This congenital cleft palate model is considered to have more research possibilities with efficient cleft induction, reliable feeding methods, stable anatomical defects, and maxillofacial development similar to those seen in humans.

Abstract China Geodetic Coordinate System 2000 (CGCS2000), as the formal national coordinate reference frame, has been used for 20 years. The coordinates of all Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) stations in China need referring to this system. To this end, the first step is to align the coordinates of all stations, usually included in a regional GNSS network, with a given International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF), then these coordinates are corrected to the CGCS2000 in consideration of plate movement. For a better alignment result, regional control stations are needed and their coordinates were estimated from the combination of constraint-free normal equation systems provided by several International GNSS Service (IGS) analysis centers. The effect in using these refined coordinates, which determine a regional coordinate datum, on the alignment result should be evaluated by the coordinate corrections of the regional control stations to the regional coordinate datum, i.e. smaller corrections mean better alignments of the two associated frames. The test results show that the refined coordinates are more accurate than the ones calculated from the station's velocity, and are well aligned with the ITRF2005. Moreover, for obtaining the coordinates of GNSS stations in an updated CGCS2000 frame, a gridded linear velocity field based on the estimated velocities at 1025 CGCS2000 stations was generated for mainland China using the optimal interpolation method, the inverse distance weighting, which is selected from five interpolation methods. The overall precisions of the constructed velocity field at all stations in the East (E) and, North (N) directions are 0.78 mm/a and 0.95 mm/a, respectively. For evaluating the accuracy of the updated CGCS2000 frame, monthly solutions for the coordinates of some CGCS2000 CORS stations in the ITRF2014 during the period from 2000.0 to 2018 were obtained and the Root Mean Square (RMS) of the differences between the coordinates corrected to the CGCS2000 and the known coordinates at these stations are about 2–3 cm.

Abstract Understanding the mechanisms of how urbanization influences the evolution of native species is vital for urban wildlife ecology and conservation in the Anthropocene. With thousands of years of agriculture‐dominated historical urbanization followed by 40 years of intensive and rapid urbanization, Shanghai provides an ideal environment to study how the two‐stage urbanization process influences the evolution of indigenous wildlife, especially of anuran species. Therefore, in this study, we used mitochondrial Cyt‐b gene, microsatellite (SSR), and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data to evaluate the demographic history and genetic structure of the eastern golden frog (Pelophylax plancyi), by sampling 407 individuals from 15 local populations across Shanghai, China. All local populations experienced bottlenecks during historical urbanization, while the local populations in urban areas maintained comparable contemporary effective population sizes (Ne) and genetic diversity with suburban and rural populations. Nevertheless, the rapid modern urbanization has already imposed significant negative effects to the integrity of populations. The 15 local populations were differentiated into eight genetic clusters, showing a spatial distribution pattern consistent with the current urbanization gradient and island–mainland geography. Although moderate gene flow still occurred from the rural peripheral cluster to urban and suburban clusters, population fragmentation was more serious in the urban and suburban populations, where higher urbanization levels within 2‐km radius areas showed significant negative relationships to the Ne and genetic diversity of local populations. Therefore, to protect urban wildlife with limited dispersal ability, improving conditions in fragmented habitat remnants might be most essential for local populations living in more urbanized areas. Meanwhile, we highlight the need to preserve large unfragmented rural habitats and to construct corridor networks to connect discrete urban habitat remnants for the long‐term wildlife conservation in intensively urbanizing environments.

The detection and repair of cycle slips are key steps in high-accuracy GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) data processing using carrier phase observations. BDS (BeiDou Navigation Satellite System) triple-frequency observations provide better combinations for cycle slip detections and repairs compared to dual-frequency observations. Although a number of algorithms have been developed and may correctly detect cycle slips most of the time, the reliability of empirical thresholds methods cannot be guaranteed. In this study, an adaptive threshold is proposed for three sets of triple-frequency Geometry-Free (GF) pseudorange minus phase combinations to improve the cycle slip detection performance and reduce the false alarm rate of the cycle slip detection by combining the predicted epoch-differenced ionospheric delays under active ionospheric conditions. Moreover, in the cycle slip repair, the integral combined cycle slips are determined by directly rounding the estimated float-combined cycle slips, which will lead to a repair error if the between-epoch ionospheric variation is large. In this study, a new rounding method considering the predicted epoch-differenced ionospheric delays is proposed, and it is proven that the new method has a higher success rate for estimating the integer value of a cycle slip than the traditional method. The performance of the newly proposed method is validated by using static BDS triple-frequency observations that contain simulated cycle slips. BDS triple-frequency observations were collected at 30-s sampling intervals under active ionospheric conditions. The results show that this method can successfully detect and repair all slips of more than one cycle. In addition, dynamic BDS data collected with a vehicle-based receiver at a 1-s sampling intervals are processed, and the results show that the proposed method is also effective in the detection and repair of cycle slips in dynamic data.

In recent years, precipitable water vapor has been widely used in heavy precipitation prediction, which is obtained from a conversion of the zenith total delay (ZTD) of the GNSS signal. Since the parameter directly estimated for the tropospheric delay from Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) data processing is the ZTD, this study investigated the feasibility of directly using ZTD to predict heavy precipitation. Based on the finding that, prior to a heavy precipitation events, ZTD was likely to start with a duration of continuous rise followed by a sharp drop, a new heavy precipitation detection model containing seven predictors derived from ZTD was established. The seven predictors reflect not only the ascending and descending trends but also long-term and short-term variations in the ZTD time series. Three criteria, representing different situations for the formation of heavy precipitation, were also constructed using the predictors to detect heavy precipitation. The optimal set of thresholds for the seven predictors for each summer month were determined based on hourly ZTD and precipitation records at a pair of co-located GNSS/weather station−HKSC-KP in Hong Kong over the period 2010−2017. The model was evaluated using the predictions in 2018 and 2019 to compare against the corresponding precipitation records. Results showed that the new model correctly predicted 98.8% of the heavy precipitation events, with a mean lead time of 4.37 h. Compared with the existing models, the new model also reduced the false alarms by 32.3%. Similar results were also obtained from the other three pairs of co-located stations. These results suggest that it is rational and effective to use the new ZTD-based model for improving the performance of heavy precipitation detection.

Micro smart sensors and sensor networks are the key bases for building a fully visible, perceptible and controllable transparent substation in power grid. However, the massive deployment of micro smart sensors often leads to network congestion and directly affects the quality of information transmission. In practice, control design for micro sensor networks is often disturbed by factors such as nonlinearity, time delay and time-varying parameters, and the mathematical model is inaccurate. To solve these problems, this paper proposes a Koopman operator based data-driven congestion control scheme without using any system model information, based on model predictive control (MPC) and extended state observer (ESO). Firstly, according to the Koopman operator theory, a data-driven linear Koopman model for micro smart sensor networks is derived, only using the input/output data. Then an ESO based MPC scheme is designed to obtain the optimal packet dropping probability in the micro smart sensor node buffer area. Specifically, ESO performs real-time online estimation of the modeling errors, such as time-varying parameters, time delay and the external disturbances. Then the estimated modeling errors are viewed as total disturbances and are compensated in MPC, so that the queue length in the node buffer can quickly stabilize at the set value. Extensive simulations are conducted to verify the accuracy of Koopman model, and the effectiveness of the proposed control system design.

Coastal inundation causes considerable impacts on communities and economies. Sea level rise due to climate change increases the occurrence of coastal flood events, creating more challenges to coastal societies. Here we intend to draw the understanding of coastal inundation from our early studies, and provide a silhouette of our approaches in assessing climate change impacts as well as developing risk-based climate adaptation. As a result, we impart a distinctive view of the adaption towards the integration of asset design, coastal planning and policy development, which reflect multiscale approaches crossing individual systems to regions and then nation. Having the approaches, we also discussed the constraints that would be faced in adaptation implementation. In this regard, we initially follow the risk approach by illustrating hazards, exposure and vulnerability in relation to coastal inundation, and manifest the impact and risk assessment by considering an urban environment pertinent to built, natural, and socioeconomic systems. We then extend the scope and recommend the general approaches in developing adaptation to coastal inundation under climate change towards ameliorating overall risks, practically, by the reduction in exposure and vulnerability in virtue of the integration of design, planning and polices. In more details, a resilience design is introduced, to effectively enhance the capacity of built assets to resist coastal inundation impact. We then emphasize on the cost-effective adaptation for coastal planning, which delineates the problem of under-adaptation that leaves some potential benefits unrealized or over-adaptation that potentially consumes an excessive amount of resources. Finally, we specifically explore the issues in planning and policies in mitigating climate change risks, and put forward some emerging constraints in adaptation implementation. It suggests further requirements of harmonizing while transforming national policies into the contents aligned with provincial and local governments, communities, and households.

PurposeThis study aimed to explore a visual model for predicting the prognosis of patients with parathyroid carcinoma (PC) and analyze related biochemistries in different groups of stage.MethodsThe training dataset of 342 patients with PC was obtained from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database, and the validation dataset included 59 patients from The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were performed to evaluate significant independent prognostic factors. Based on those factors, nomograms and Web-based probability calculators were constructed to evaluate the overall survival (OS) and the cancer-specific survival (CSS) at 3, 5, and 8 years. The concordance index (C-index), receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, calibration curve, and decision curve analysis (DCA) were used to evaluate the nomogram in the training set and validation set. Moreover, biochemistries from the validation set were retrospectively analyzed in different groups of stage by Kruskal–Wallis test.ResultsAge, marital status, tumor size, stage, lymph node status, and radiation were identified as prognostic factors of OS. In contrast, only tumor size and stage were predictive for CSS. The nomogram was developed based on these independent factors. The C-index, ROC curve, calibration curve, and DCA of the nomogram in both training and validation sets showed that the nomogram had good predictive value, stability, and clinical benefit in predicting 3-, 5-, and 8-year OS and CSS in PC patients. Among the 59 PC patients from our hospital, lower albumin (ALB) levels and higher postoperative parathyroid hormone (PTH) levels were found in patients with distant metastasis (Distant vs. Regional ALB levels: p = 0.037; Distant vs. Local ALB levels: p = 0.046; Distant vs. Regional postoperative PTH levels: p = 0.002; Distant vs. Local postoperative PTH: p = 0.002).ConclusionThe established nomogram application can provide accurate prognostics for patients with PC in the Chinese population, but it must be validated on prospectively collected real-world data.

The objective of this study was to investigate the platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) in patients who underwent intravesical treatment for non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC). A total of 197 patients who underwent intravesical Bacillus Calmette-Guerin treatment after transurethral resection of bladder (TURB) were included. We divided the patients into different groups according to the treatment stage before and during induction treatment as Group 1 and Group 2, and set the change value of PLR as the Group 3. The cutoff values of PLR were determined through receiver operation characteristics curves analysis. we found a significant difference in recurrence-free survival (RFS) and progression-free survival (PFS) between patients with high serum PLR and those with low serum PLR in Group 1, as well as Group 2. Cox multivariate analysis revealed that tumor number ≥3, high grade, and history of carcinoma in situ (CIS) were significant factors predicting RFS and PFS. The PLR values before and during induction therapy could be used as predictors for the progression and recurrence of NMIBC patients receiving BCG immunotherapy. the PLR values after induction therapy have a stronger predictive power.

ObjectivesThe purpose of this study was to apply the amplitude of the low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) method to investigate the spontaneous brain activity alterations in patients with residual dizziness (RD) after successful canalith repositioning manoeuvre for benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV).MethodsAll BPPV patients underwent visual vertigo analog scale (VVAS) evaluations and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The ALFF method was used to assess the spontaneous brain activity. Screening of brain regions with significant changes in ALFF values was based on analysis of the whole brain. We further analyze the relationship between ALFF values of the altered regions and VVAS scores in BPPV patients with RD.ResultsFifteen BPPV patients with RD and fifteen without RD were recruited in this study. In contrast to without RD, RD patients exhibited increased scores in VVAS tests (p < 0.001) and RD patients also showed significant ALFF decrease in the bilateral precuneus (left: 251 voxels; x = −10, y = −69, z = 51; peak t-value = −3.25; right: 170 voxels; x = 4, y = −59, z = 42; peak t-value = −3.43). Correlation analysis revealed that the mean ALFF z-values in the left precuneus displayed significant negative correlations with the VVAS scores(r = −0.44, p = 0.01).ConclusionsThis study shows that RD is associated with left precuneus function as revealed by fMRI. It might provide useful information for explaining neural mechanisms in BPPV patients with RD.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a chronic and metabolic liver disease and commonly occurs in humans with obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM); such a condition also exists in animals such as rodents and laying hens. Since the pathogenesis of fatty liver hemorrhagic syndrome (FLHS) of laying hens is similar to human NAFLD, hen's FLHS is commonly selected as a study model of NAFLD. Altered circulating amino acids, particularly elevated branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) and aromatic amino acids (AAAs), are consistently reported in patients with NAFLD and T2DM. How long-term dietary individual BCAA, such as valine, impacts amino acid and fatty acid metabolism remains unknown. In this study, we demonstrated that when laying hens are fed with dietary valine at different levels (59, 0.64, 0.69, 0.74, and 0.79%) in a feeding trial that lasted for 8 weeks, long-term exposure to excessive valine diets at 0.74 and 0.79% levels could induce amino acid imbalance, impair amino acid metabolism, increase fatty acid synthesis, and inhibit fatty acid utilization. Long-term intake of excessive dietary valine could result in impaired amino acid metabolism via inhibiting C/EBP-β/asparagine synthetase (Asns). This process is mediated by downregulating the general control nonderepressible-eukaryotic initiation factor 2α- activating transcription factor (GCN2-eIF2α-ATF4) pathway and elevating corresponding circulating BCAAs and AAAs levels, which could ultimately result in amino acid imbalance. High levels of dietary valine stimulated lipid deposition by suppressing the GCN2-eIF2α-ATF4-fibroblast growth factor-19 (FGF19)-target of rapamycin complex 1 (TORC1) signaling pathway to promote fatty acid synthesis, repress fatty acid utilization, and eventually accelerate the development of NAFLD. The Spearman correlation analysis revealed that circulating amino acid imbalance is significantly associated with fatty acid metabolism disorder and enhanced oxidative stress. The inhibition of the GCN2-TORC1 pathway induced autophagy suppression to trigger liver oxidative stress and inflammatory response. In conclusion, our results revealed the adverse metabolic response to excessive dietary valine mediated by amino acid and fatty acid metabolism disorders. This study also suggested reducing dietary valine as a novel approach to preventing and treating NAFLD in humans and FLHS in laying hens.

Working memory functions are known to be altered after total sleep deprivation (TSD). However, few studies have explored the deficits of working memory updating (WMU) after TSD, or the underlying electrophysiological mechanisms of these alterations. In the current exploratory study, we enrolled 14 young male volunteers who performed two kinds of WMU tasks—spatial and object two-back tasks—with simultaneous electroencephalography recordings under two sleep conditions: a normal sleep baseline condition and after 36 h of TSD. Repeated-measures analysis of variance showed that compared with those at baseline, the rates of correct responses in the WMU tasks decreased significantly after TSD. Analysis of event-related potentials revealed that the average amplitude of P3 components decreased significantly in the frontal and central brain regions and increased significantly in the parietal brain regions. Our findings suggest that TSD damages WMU behavior, impairs cognitive functions in the frontal and central brain regions, and triggers greater activation in the parietal brain regions. This is the first study to report the existence of event-related compensatory neural activity. This event-related compensatory effect may provide a new perspective for understanding the mechanisms underlying the influences triggered by sleep loss.

Abstract Background Mosquitoes are vectors of many tropical diseases. Understanding the ecology of local mosquito vectors, such as species composition, distributions, population dynamics, and species diversity is important for designing the optimal strategy to control the mosquito-borne diseases. Methods Entomological surveillance of adult mosquitoes was conducted in five sites representing different ecological settings across Hainan Island from January to December of 2018 using BG Sentinel (BGS) traps and Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) light traps. In each site, we selected three areas representing urban, suburban and rural settings. Eighteen trap-days were sampled in each setting at each site, and CDC light traps and BGS traps were setup simultaneously. Mosquito species composition, distribution, population dynamics, and species diversity were analyzed. Mosquito densities were compared between different study sites and between different settings. Results Nine species of mosquitoes belonging to four genera were identified. Culex quinquefasciatus (80.8%), Armigeres subalbatus (13.0%) and Anopheles sinensis (3.1%) were the top three species collected by CDC light traps; Cx. quinquefasciatus (91.9%), Ae. albopictus (5.1%), and Ar. subalbatus (2.8%) were the top three species collected by BGS traps. Predominant species varied among study sites. The population dynamics of Ae. albopictus, An. sinensis and Cx. quinquefasciatus showed clear seasonal variation regardless of study sites with a varied peak season for different species. Mosquito abundance of all species showed significant differences among different study sites and among urban, suburban and rural areas. Danzhou had the highest mosquito biodiversity, with an α, β, and Gini-Simpson biodiversity index of 8, 1.13 and 0.42, respectively. BGS traps captured Aedes mosquito at a higher efficiency than CDC light traps, whereas CDC light traps captured significantly more Anopheles and Armigeres mosquitoes than BGS traps. Conclusions Mosquitoes were abundant on Hainan Island with clear seasonality and spatial heterogeneity. Population density, species composition, distribution, and species diversity were strongly affected by the natural environment. Different tools are required for the surveillance of different mosquito species.

Abstract Objective To estimate the prognostic value of positive surgical margins (PSM) location and perineural invasion (PNI) for biochemical recurrence (BCR) in patients undergoing radical prostatectomy (RP). Methods All men with prostate cancer (PCa) who received RP in the second hospital of Tianjin Medical University from 2014 to 2018 were retrospectively identified. All patients met the following criteria: no neoadjuvant or adjuvant treatment, absence of lymph node invasion, or distant metastasis confirmed by surgery or imaging. Comparisons were made between cases with only apex positive (AM), isolated nonapical positive (OM), multiple positive (MM), and negative surgical margins (NSM). Patients were also subdivided according to the Gleason score and pathological tumor stage for analysis. Results A total of 416 patients available for analysis, of which 132 (31.7%) were PSM, 43 were AM, 37 were OM, and 52 were MM at a median follow-up of 27 months. The PNI was in 30.5% of patients. BCR occurred in 22.6% of patients during follow-up. Both AM and MM were noticed to be independent predictors of BCR with a hazard ratio of 4.192 (95% CI 2.185–8.042; p < 0.001) and 2.758 (95% CI 1.559–4.880; p < 0.001), respectively, when compared to NSM. Though the correlation was significant in univariate analysis, PNI was not an independent risk factor for BCR (p = 0.369). Subgroup analyses suggested that MM was not particularly predictive for BCR in the Gleason score

China Geodetic Coordinate System 2000 (CGCS2000) has been used for several years as a formal published reference frame. The coordinates of all global navigation satellite system (GNSS) stations in China need to be corrected to align with the CGCS2000 frame. Different strategies can be adopted for the realization of an optimal reference frame. However, different strategies lead to different results, with differences as great as several decimeters when GNSS station coordinates are transformed into CGCS2000-defined coordinates. The two common methods for the coordinate correction of a GNSS station are quasi-stable adjustment under CGCS2000 and plate movement correction, and the differences between their results can be greater than 10 cm. In this study, a statistic method called “supervised clustering” is applied to the selection of GNSS reference stations; a new scheme named “partition spacing” for the grouping of all processed GNSS stations is proposed; and the plate movement correction method is used to correct the coordinates of all GNSS stations from the GNSS epoch to the CGCS2000 epoch. The results from the new partitioning method were found to be significantly better than those from the conventional station-blocking approach. When coordinates from the stations without grouping were used as the standard, the accuracy of all the three-dimensional coordinate components from the new partitioning method was better than 2 mm. The root mean squares (RMSs) of the velocities in the x, y, and z directions resulting from the supervised clustering method were 0.19, 0.45, and 0.32 mm∙a−1, respectively, which were much smaller than the values of 0.92, 0.72, and 0.97 mm∙a−1 that resulted from the conventional approach. In addition, singular spectrum analysis (SSA) was used to model and predict the position nonlinear movements. The modeling accuracies of SSA were better than 3, 2, and 5 mm in the east (E), north (N), and up (U) directions, respectively; and its prediction accuracies were better than 5 mm and 1 cm for the horizontal and vertical domains, respectively.

Anopheles sinensis is a major malaria vector in Southeast Asia. Resistance to pyrethroid insecticides in this species has impeded malaria control in the region. Previous studies found that An. sinensis populations from Yunnan Province, China were highly resistant to deltamethrin and did not carry mutations in the voltage-gated sodium channel gene that cause knockdown resistance. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that other genomic variants are associated with the resistance phenotype. Using paired-end whole genome sequencing (DNA-seq), we generated 108 Gb of DNA sequence from deltamethrin -resistant and -susceptible mosquito pools with an average coverage of 83.3× depth. Using a stringent filtering method, we identified a total of 916,926 single nucleotide variants (SNVs), including 32,240 non-synonymous mutations. A total of 958 SNVs differed significantly in allele frequency between deltamethrin -resistant and -susceptible mosquitoes. Of these, 43 SNVs were present within 37 genes that code for immunity, detoxification, cuticular, and odorant proteins. A subset of 12 SNVs were randomly selected for genotyping of individual mosquitoes by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) and showed consistent allele frequencies with the pooled DNA-seq derived allele frequencies. In addition, copy number variations (CNVs) were detected in 56 genes, including 33 that contained amplification alleles and 23 that contained deletion alleles in resistant mosquitoes compared to susceptible mosquitoes. The genomic variants described here provide a useful resource for future studies on the genetic mechanism of insecticide resistance in this important malaria vector species.

Here the authors present an approach that can reveal the full complement of mRNA isoforms encoded by individual genes, and they identify a major isoform of the retinal degeneration gene CRB1 which functions at the cell-cell junctions of the outer limiting membrane to promote photoreceptor survival.

Mg matrix composites were often reinforced by non-deformable ceramic particles. In this paper, a novel Mg matrix composite reinforced with deformable TC4 (Ti–6Al–4 V) particles was fabricated and then extruded. The evolutions of microstructure and mechanical properties of the composite during hot extrusion were investigated. Hot extrusion refined grains and eliminated the segregation of TC4 particles. TC4 particles, as deformable particles, stimulated the nucleation of dynamic recrystallization during extrusion. However, since the deformation of TC4 particles partly released the stress concentrations around them, the recrystallized grains are just slightly smaller around TC4 particles than that away from them, which is evidently different from the case in Mg matrix composites reinforced by non-deformable ceramic particles. Compared with AZ91 matrix composites reinforced by SiC particles, the present composite possesses the superior comprehensive mechanical properties, which are attributed to not only the strong interfacial bonds between TC4p and matrix but also the deformability of TC4 particles.

REV7 has emerged as a critical regulator of DNA double-strand breaks repair. Here, the authors show that REV7 is crucial for both antibody class switch recombination and somatic hypermutation in activated B cells, in addition to their survival upon AID-deamination.

Abstract Background Genetic research on longevity has provided important insights into the mechanism of aging and aging-related diseases. Pinpointing import genetic variants associated with aging could provide insights for aging research. Methods We performed a whole-genome sequencing in 19 centenarians to establish the genetic basis of human longevity. Results Using SKAT analysis, we found 41 significantly correlated genes in centenarians as compared to control genomes. Pathway enrichment analysis of these genes showed that immune-related pathways were enriched, suggesting that immune pathways might be critically involved in aging. HLA typing was next performed based on the whole-genome sequencing data obtained. We discovered that several HLA subtypes were significantly overrepresented. Conclusions Our study indicated a new mechanism of longevity, suggesting potential genetic variants for further study.