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The Haiyuan-Liupanshan fault, an active tectonic feature at the Tibetan Plateau’s northeastern boundary, was ruptured by two M8 earthquakes (1920 and 1927) bracketing an unbroken section (the Tianzhu seismic gap). A high seismic hazard is expected along the gap. To monitor deformation characteristics and do a seismic risk assessment, we made measurements at two newly built campaign-mode Global Positioning System (GPS) stations and 13 pre-existing stations in 2013 and 2014. Adding existing data from 1999 to 2014, we derived a new velocity field. Based on the horizontal velocity, we used three block models to invert the deformation of four crustal blocks. The results suggest non-uniform deformation in the interior of the Lanzhou block, the Ordos block and the Alaxan block, but uniform deformation in the Qilian block. Fault slip rates derived from block models show a decreasing trend from west to east, (2.0–3.2 mm/a on the Haiyuan fault to 0.9–1.5 mm/a on the Liupanshan fault). The Haiyuan fault evidences sinistral striking-slip movement, while the Liupanshan fault is primarily thrusting due to transformation of the displacement between the strike-slip and crustal shortening. The locking depth of each segment along the Haiyuan fault obtained by fitting the fault parallel velocities varies drastically from west to east (21.8–7.1 km). The moment accumulation rate, calculated using the slip rate and locking depth, is positively correlated with the locking depth. Given the paucity of large seismic events during the previous millennium, the Tuolaishan segment and the Maomaoshan segment have higher likelihood of nucleation for a future event.

The magnetic cooling (MC) method developed by using magneto-caloric effect (MCE) of magnetic solids is generally taken as an excellent alternative way to widely used vapor expansion/compression based refrigerator due to its more environmental-friendly and higher energy-efficiency. In present work, systematic investigations of the melt-spun Cu22Al18Ho22Tm20Gd18 amorphous ribbon in terms of glass formation ability, magnetic and MCE properties have been reported. The undercooled liquid region and reduced glassy transition temperature for Cu22Al18Ho22Tm20Gd18 amorphous ribbon reach 28 K and 0.57, respectively. A broad typical ferromagnetic to paramagnetic transition (FM-PM, second ordered) around TC ~ 33.6 K accompanied by a considerable MCE is found in Cu22Al18Ho22Tm20Gd18 amorphous ribbon. The peak magnetic entropy change, temperature averaged entropy change with 5 K lift and refrigerant capacity values for Cu22Al18Ho22Tm20Gd18 amorphous ribbon are 8.70 J/kgK, 8.65 J/kgK and 401.8 J/kg for ΔH = 0–5 T, respectively.

Freshwater ecosystem monitoring is a historical necessity for the development of water resources management. The meaning, service functions and influencing factors of the freshwater ecosystem are summarized, and the shortages of the monitoring and evaluation indicators related to the freshwater ecosystem are analyzed. In order to understand the current situation, changes and evolution trends of freshwater ecosystems, combined with the principles, theories and methods of monitoring and evaluation of freshwater ecosystems, from the different levels of species, populations, communities and ecosystems, structural indicators, functional indicators and stability indicators are proposed.

In this paper, the glass forming ability (GFA), magnetic properties and magneto-caloric effect (MCE) performances in Er0.2Tm0.2Ho0.2Cu0.2Co0.2 amorphous ribbon were reported. A relatively big supercooled liquid region ~43.1 K and a broad typical ferromagnetic to paramagnetic phase transition around TC ~ 13.5 K accompanied by a large cryogenic MCE were observed in Er0.2Tm0.2Ho0.2Cu0.2Co0.2 amorphous ribbon. The magnetic entropy change peak and refrigerant capacity (relative cooling power) values in Er0.2Tm0.2Ho0.2Cu0.2Co0.2 amorphous ribbon for ΔH = 0–5 T are calculated to be 15.73 J/kgK and 354.3 (448.1) J/kg, respectively. The large MCE parameters together with good GFA, making the Er0.2Tm0.2Ho0.2Cu0.2Co0.2 amorphous ribbon is also attractive for cryogenic magnetic refrigeration (MR).

Along with the malignant proliferation of tumor requiring nutrients, the expression of L-type amino acid transporter 1(LAT1) and amino acid transporter B0,+ (ATB0,+) in cancer cells is up-regulated that can be used as new targets for active targeting of tumor. However, since normal cells also express amino acid transporters in small amounts, traditional ligand-exposure drug delivery systems are potentially toxic to the body. Therefore, we designed a smart-response drug delivery system that buries the tyrosine ligand in PEG hydration layer at normal tissues and exposes the ligand by cleaving the pH-sensitive bond of PEG at the tumor site. Irinotecan (CPT-11) is actively loaded into the inner aqueous phase of liposomes via a copper ion gradient mechanism which has high encapsulation efficiency and stable drug release profile. Smart-response liposomes showed the strongest cytotoxicity and the maximum cellular uptake in vitro, the largest amount of tumor site accumulation and the best antitumor effect in vivo, compared with non-targeted liposomes and non-sensitive liposomes. It is worth noting that smart-response liposomes not only achieved enhanced antitumor effect but also attenuated side effects compared to ligand-exposure liposomes. This provides a smart responsive drug delivery system for precise treatment and shows a good application prospect.

Exposure to particulate matter (PM) has been associated with increased risk of various diseases, possibly through its effect on inflammatory response. MicroRNAs (miRNAs), an epigenetic mechanism regulating gene expression, can affect the expression of pro-inflammatory genes. However, few epidemiological studies have examined the impact of PM on inflammation-related miRNAs and their target mRNAs, especially among vulnerable population. We recruited 160 and 113 children from areas with different PM level in Jinan, China. We measured benzo[a]pyrene-r-7,t-8,t-9,c-10-tetrahydotetrol-albumin (BPDE-Alb) adducts in serum and the expression of 5 candidate miRNAs involved in inflammation regulation and 7 pro-inflammatory genes predicted to be their targets in leukocytes. Generally, children in the polluted area had higher miRNAs and lower mRNAs expression than those in the control area. An interquartile increase of BPDE-Alb adducts was associated with 12.66 %, 14.13 %, and 12.76 % higher of let-7a, miR-146a-5p, and miR-155-5p, as well as 21.61 %, 20.16 %, and 12.49 % lower of IL-6, CXCL8, and TLR2 mRNAs at false discovery rate

Lactoferrin (Lf) is a conserved iron-binding glycoprotein with antimicrobial activity, which is present in secretions that recover mucosal sites regarded as portals of invaded pathogens. Although numerous studies have focused on exogenous Lf, little is known about its expression of endogenous Lf upon bacterial infection. In this study, we investigated the distribution of Lf in mice intestine during Escherichia coli (E. coli) K88 infection. PCR and immunohistology staining showed that mRNA levels of Lf significantly increased in duodenum, ileum and colon, but extremely decreased in jejunum at 8 h and 24 h after infection. Meanwhile, endogenous Lf was mostly located in the lamina propria of intestine villi, while Lf receptor (LfR) was in the crypts. It suggested that endogenous Lf-LfR interaction might not be implicated in the antibacterial process. In addition, it was interesting to find that the infiltration of neutrophils into intestine tissues was changed similarly to Lf expression. It indicated that the variations of Lf expression were rather due to an equilibrium between the recruitment of neutrophils and degranulation of activated neutrophils. Thus, this new knowledge will pave the way to a more effective understanding of the role of Lf in intestinal mucosal immunity.

Improving the accuracy of edge pixel classification is an important aspect of using convolutional neural networks (CNNs) to extract winter wheat spatial distribution information from remote sensing imagery. In this study, we established a method using prior knowledge obtained from statistical analysis to refine CNN classification results, named post-processing CNN (PP-CNN). First, we used an improved RefineNet model to roughly segment remote sensing imagery in order to obtain the initial winter wheat area and the category probability vector for each pixel. Second, we used manual labels as references and performed statistical analysis on the class probability vectors to determine the filtering conditions and select the pixels that required optimization. Third, based on the prior knowledge that winter wheat pixels were internally similar in color, texture, and other aspects, but different from other neighboring land-use types, the filtered pixels were post-processed to improve the classification accuracy. We used 63 Gaofen-2 images obtained from 2017 to 2019 of a representative Chinese winter wheat region (Feicheng, Shandong Province) to create the dataset and employed RefineNet and SegNet as standard CNN and conditional random field (CRF) as post-process methods, respectively, to conduct comparison experiments. PP-CNN’s accuracy (94.4%), precision (93.9%), and recall (94.4%) were clearly superior, demonstrating its advantages for the improved refinement of edge areas during image classification.

Underwater Towed Vehicle navigation and localization in deep sea environments are particularly challenging without high-precision inertial sensors. In this paper, the multi-sensors navigation fusion method of a towed underwater vehicle based on the ultrashort baseline (USBL) system, Doppler velocity log (DVL) and a pressure gauge in the deep sea is investigated. Combined with GPS real-time tide detection technology, the positioning principle of the USBL based on the depth constraint is given, and a straight-line model be proposed to estimate the position of the vehicle used the average heading when underwater towed vehicle is working normally in deep sea without DVL. The interacting multiple model (IMM) algorithm based on smoothing algorithm is proposed to improve the positioning accuracy in the deep sea, and the nonlinearity of the model, precision and stability of filtering are considered simultaneously using the adaptive robust square root cubature Kalman filter. The results of the simulated and practical experiments at 4800 m verify that the new algorithm can take full use of high-precision observation information and greatly improve the positioning accuracy and robustness of a deep sea underwater towed system.

Real-time single-frequency precise point positioning (RT-SF-PPP) has become a desired positioning approach because it can achieve high positioning accuracy with a low-cost global navigation satellite system (GNSS) chipset or receiver. For single-frequency precise point positioning (SF-PPP) applications, the ionospheric delay is a dominant error source, and thus the quality of applied ionospheric products is critical to the performance of SF-PPP. To meet the demands of the RT-SF-PPP users, the international GNSS service (IGS) is planning to provide open-access real-time ionospheric products. By now, the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES) is the only IGS analysis center (AC) to broadcast real-time ionospheric vertical total electron content (VTEC) message through its real-time service (RTS). The quality of the CNES real-time ionospheric products is drawing increasing attention from the GNSS community. We evaluate the quality of CNES real-time VTEC message both in the ionospheric correction domain and positioning domain. First, 374 consecutive days of CNES VTEC products are collected and compared with the IGS final global ionospheric map (GIM) products. Second, slant total electron content (STEC) computed with CNES VTEC message is fully assessed with respect to STEC derived from dual-frequency GNSS measurements. Finally, RT-SF-PPP is conducted for assessing the quality of CNES real-time ionospheric products in the positioning domain. The degree and order of the spherical harmonic expansions broadcasted in the CNES VTEC messages changed from 6 to 12 in the time span of collected data, the effects of higher degree and order parameters are investigated at the same time in the experiments above.

In recent years, the API level 24 allow the user have access to the GNSS raw measurements including pseudorange, doppler and carrier phase, which opens a new era for precise navigation on smart devices. As we known, many manufactures produce smartphones that access raw GNSS measurements, like Google, Huawei, Samsung et al. Different manufactures may use different GNSS chipset, which may result in different performance of measurements and navigation. The objective of this paper is to assess the performance of different types of smartphones including Huawei Mate9, Huawei P10, Samsung Note8, Google Pixel2 and HTC U11+ in open sky area. All of these smartphones are declared to be able to track GPS, BDS, Galileo and GlONASS satellites and access the pseudorange, and the first-three can also output the carrier phase measurements . Firstly, the tracked satellites number, SNR and their NMEA results were compared with that from nearby Trimble-R10. The result shows that each types of smartphone has its advantages and disadvantages. The Huawei Mate9 and Huawei P10 tracked fewer BDS and Galileo satellites, but they can track many satellites from GPS and GLONASS. For Google Pixel2 and HTC U11+, BDS satellites can be tracked only sometimes and also some Galileo satellites for Google Pixel2. Samsung Note8 can receive satellite data from all operational GNSS systems stably, though the satellites number is fewer for each system. For Samsung Note8, Google Pixel2 and HTC U11+, the SNR of most trackable satellites is above 20 and just few of them are between 10 and 20, while for Huawei Mate9 and Huawei P10, many satellite can be tracked whose SNR is between 10 and 20. Statistics results of the NMEA show that the accuracy of NMEA from Huawei Mate9 and Huawei P10 is much better than that from the other three phones. The accuracy of NMEA form Huawei P10 is highest and its RMS are 1.77m and 0.99m in north and east respectively. Secondly, The analysis of double-differenced pseudorange residual indicates that the UTC 11+ performs worst and its doubledifferenced residual varies within ±50m, the other four phones are almost at the same level and vary within ±30m. Double-differenced carrier phase residual shows obvious duty-cycle for all these smartphones, which limit the use of carrier phase. As different smartphone has different implementations of duty-cycle, the clock behaviors were analyzed and compared with each other, which allow us characterize the duty-cycle of these devices. We concluded that the higher precision compensated for temperature variations (TCXO)Hardware clock is not continuous (turning on and off) during the non-tracking periods for Google Pixel2 and HTC U11+, while for Huawei Mate9, Huawei P10 and Samsung Note8, the TCXO is turned off and low-power consumed crystal oscillator (XO) is providing time. After a comparison of the positioning result with raw pseudorange measurements, we did not find obvious difference for the five devices, then the doppler measurements are introduced to smooth the pseudorange and it can improve the accuracy effectively.

Iron plays an important role both in bacterial pathogenicity and in host defense mechanisms, which has frequently been underestimated. The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of iron supplementation on the progression of bacterial infection. We used mice as an experimental model to supplement iron after Escherichia coli (E. coli) O157:H7 infection and found that iron supplementation exacerbated clinical symptoms of bacterial infection by increasing mortality and reducing body weight. Iron supplementation promoted the colonization of bacteria and enhanced inflammatory responses by increasing C-reaction protein level and the phagocytic capacity of PBMCs, as well as upregulating the expression of TNF-α and IL-1β in E. coli O157:H7-challenged mice. In vitro cell experiment confirmed that an excess of iron would enhance the growth of E. coli O157:H7 and worsen the outcome of bacterial infection. Therefore, it is certainly plausible that iron supplementation in bacterial infection may worsen rather than improve host outcome.

Imbalance of iron homeostasis has been involved in clinical courses of metabolic diseases such as type 2 diabetes mellitus, obesity, and nonalcoholic fatty liver, through mechanisms not yet fully elucidated. Herein, we evaluated the effect of dietary iron on the development of diabetic syndromes in genetically obese db/db mice. Mice (aged 7 weeks) were fed with high-iron (HI) diets (1000 mg/kg chow) or low-iron (LI) diets (12 mg/kg) for 9 weeks. HI diets increased hepatic iron threefold and led to fourfold higher mRNA levels of hepcidin. HI also induced a 60% increase in fasting glucose due to insulin resistance, as confirmed by decreased hepatic glycogen deposition eightfold and a 21% decrease of serum adiponectin level. HI-fed mice had lower visceral adipose tissue mass estimated by epididymal and inguinal fat pad, associated with iron accumulation and smaller size of adipocytes. Gene expression analysis of liver showed that HI diet upregulated gluconeogenesis and downregulated lipogenesis. These results suggested that excess dietary iron leads to reduced mass, increased fasting glucose, decreased adiponectin level, and enhancement of insulin resistance, which indicated a multifactorial role of excess iron in the development of diabetes in the setting of obesity.

One of the major challenges in the treatment of hearing loss is the low efficacy of therapeutic candidates. To achieve the optimum drug efficacy, we designed a novel peptide (D-Arg-Dmt-Arg-Phe-NH2)-mediated mitochondrial targeted delivery nanosystem for a promising candidate, geranylgeranylacetone (GGA). The zebrafish lateral line system, a robust model for mammalian hair cells, was used to identify the efficacy against gentamicin, a well-known ototoxic agent. The nanosystem facilitated lysosomal escape and mitochondrial accumulation, and thus conferred superior protective efficacy against a wide range of gentamicin compared with unmodified NPs and free drugs. Meanwhile, peptides-modified NPs internalized hair cells via both of dynamin-dependent and independent routes, following a classic endocytic or autophagy pathway. Although extracellular action via MET channels, the primary protective mechanism underlying peptides-modified NPs was revealed due to their intracellular interaction. Thus, our nanoplatform provided a general strategy to enhance the clinical efficacy of a broad range of drugs in the treatment of hearing loss.

We report a proof-of-concept for the development of mitochondria-targeting nanoparticles (NPs) loaded with geranylgeranylacetone (GGA) to protect against a wide range of gentamicin-induced ototoxicity symptoms in a zebrafish model. The polymeric NPs were functionalized with a mitochondrial-homing peptide (d‑Arg‑Dmt‑Orn‑Phe‑NH2) and exhibited greater mitochondrial uptake and lower gentamicin uptake in hair cells via mechanotransduction (MET) channels and tuned machinery in the hair bundle than the ordinary NPs did. Blockade of MET channels rapidly reversed this effect, indicating the reversible responses of hair cells to the targeting NPs were mediated by MET channels. Pretreatment of hair cells with mitochondria-targeting GGA-loaded NPs exhibited a superior acute or chronic protective efficacy against subsequent exposure to gentamicin compared with unmodified formulations. Mitochondrial delivery regulating the death pathway of hair cells appeared to cause the therapeutic failure of untargeted NPs. Thus, peptide-directed mitochondria-targeting NPs may represent a novel therapeutic strategy for mitochondrial dysfunction-linked diseases.

In the study described herein, we investigated and explored the association between wealth inequality and the risk of mental disability in the Chinese population. We used nationally represented, population-based data from the second China National Sample Survey on Disability, conducted in 2006. A total of 1,724,398 study subjects between the ages of 15 and 64, including 10,095 subjects with mental disability only, were used for the analysis. Wealth status was estimated by a wealth index that was derived from a principal component analysis of 10 household assets and four other variables related to wealth. Logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for mental disability for each category, with the lowest quintile category as the referent. Confounding variables under consideration were age, gender, residence area, marital status, ethnicity, education, current employment status, household size, house type, homeownership and living arrangement. The distribution of various types and severities of mental disability differed significantly by wealth index category in the present population. Wealth index category had a positive association with mild mental disability (p for trend &lt, 0.01), but had a negative association with extremely severe mental disability (p for trend &lt, 0.01). Moreover, wealth index category had a significant, inverse association with mental disability when all severities of mental disability were taken into consideration. This study’s results suggest that wealth is a significant factor in the distribution of mental disability and it might have different influences on various types and severities of mental disability.

Layered cathode materials of high-temperature lithium batteries, LiNi1/3Mn1/3Co1/3O2 are synthesized by a sol-gel method with variation in final sintering temperature for borehole applications. The structure, morphology and high-temperature discharge performance of these resulting products are investigated by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), laser particle size analysis, galvanostatic and pulse discharge. The results of structural analysis indicate that the sample sintered at 800 °C has the characteristics of good crystallinity, narrow size distribution and large specific surface area at the same time. The discharge experiments also indicate that this sample has the best electrochemical properties, with the maximum discharge capacities of 314.57 and 434.14 mAh·g-1 at 200 and 300 °C respectively and the minimum cell internal resistances at both temperatures.

Hong Kong (22.3°N, 114.2°E, dip: 30.5°N; geomagnetic 15.7°N, 173.4°W, declination: 2.7°W) is a low-latitude area, and the Hong Kong Continuously Operating Reference Station (CORS) network has been developed and maintained by Lands Department of Hong Kong government since 2001. Based on the collected GPS observations of a whole solar cycle from 2001 to 2012, a method is proposed to estimate the zonal drift velocity as well as the tilt of the observed plasma bubbles, and the estimated results are statistically analyzed. It is found that although the plasma bubbles are basically vertical within the equatorial plane, the tilt can be as big as more than 60° eastward or westward sometimes. And, the tilt and the zonal drift velocity are correlated. When the velocity is large, the tilt is also large generally. Another finding is that large velocity and tilt generally occur in spring and autumn and in solar active years.

The laws of gravity and mass interactions inspire the gravitational search algorithm (GSA), which nds optimal regions of complex search spaces through the interaction of individuals in a population of particles. Although GSA has proven effective in both science and engineering, it is still easy to suffer from premature convergence especially facing complex problems. In this paper, we pro- posed a new hybrid algorithm by integrating genetic algorithm (GA) and GSA (GA-GSA) to avoid premature convergence and to improve the search ability of GSA. In GA-GSA, crossover and mutation operators are introduced from GA to GSA for jumping out of the local optima. To demonstrate the search ability of the proposed GA-GSA, 23 complex benchmark test functions were employed, including unimodal and multimodal high-dimensional test functions as well as multimodal test functions with xed dimensions. Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were also utilized to execute statistical analysis of the results obtained by PSO, GSA, and GA-GSA. Experimental results demonstrated that the proposed algorithm is both efficient and effective.

The international GNSS service (IGS) has been providing an open-access real-time service (RTS) since 2013, which allows users to carry out real-time precise point positioning (RT-PPP). As the availability of RTS products is vital for RT-PPP, a disruption in receiving RTS products will be a concern. Currently, the IGS Ultra-rapid (IGU) orbit is accurate enough to be used as an alternative orbit for RTS during RTS outages, while the precision of the IGU predicted clock offsets is far below that of the RTS clock product. The existing clock prediction methods based on received RTS clock data will not work well if the discontinuity arises shortly after the start of the RT-PPP processing due to the lack of RTS clock data to fit the prediction model or to predict clock offsets at a high precision. Even if there is a sufficient amount of RTS clock data available, saving large amounts of RTS clock data would also use processor memory. An alternate approach for GPS clock prediction is proposed. The prediction model, composed of linear polynomial and sinusoidal terms, is similar to those used by the precious methods. The main innovation is the determination of the model coefficients: coefficients of linear and sinusoidal terms are estimated with the epoch-differenced clock offsets from the IGU observed part, while the constant coefficient is computed with the latest RTS clock corrections. There is no need to save the received RTS clock corrections, and clock prediction can be carried out even with only one epoch of RTS data. Evaluation of the proposed method shows that the predicted clock offsets within a short period of prediction time, e.g., 5 min, are slightly worse than RTS clock data. Even when the predicted time reaches up to 1 h, the precision of the predicted clock offsets is still higher than that of IGU predicted clock offsets by about 50%.

Visual impairment has become a global challenge, especially for developing countries. This study aims to estimate the prevalence, causes and social factors of visual impairment among Chinese adults. Data were from a nationally representative population-based cross-sectional study. The study population were 1,909,199 non-institutionalized adults aged 18 years and older in mainland China. In the survey, low vision and blindness were checked by ophthalmologists according to the WHO best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) criteria. Population weighted numbers and prevalence of low vision and blindness with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated where appropriate. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to identify the social factors of visual impairment. The weighted prevalence of visual impairment was 17.17 (95% CI, 16.84–17.50) per 1000 Chinese adults aged 18 years and older. Cataract (57.35%), disorders of choroid and retina (9.80%), and disorders of cornea (6.49%) contributed more than 70 percent to the visual impairment in Chinese adults. Older age groups, young or middle-aged male adults, female elders, illiterate, rural dwellers, non-eastern residents, singles, unemployment, and from family with lower income were associated with visual impairment. More efforts are warranted to enhance treatment and rehabilitation among people with eye disorders to prevent visual impairment.

Background Hydroxyapatite (HA) was emerging as the most promising biomaterial owing to its excellent bioactivity, biocompatibility, and high compressive strength for segmental bone defects. However, due to the lack of synergistic signals of osteogenic cells or growth factors, attempts concerning HA have not achieved an ideal therapeutical effect. Objective This work was intended to combine HA particles with nerve growth factor (NGF) to coaccelerate the bone repair. Method To deal with the strong absorption on HA particles and short half-life of exogenous NGF, bovine serum albumin (BSA) and silk fibroin (SF) were introduced. Result Protected with SF, maximum release rate was 49.8% at 48 h for 2 mg/ml SF used group while the release rate was less than 5% without SF. PC-12 cells cultured in the NGF release fluid quit proliferation and differentiated to neural phenotype, and approximately 9.5% of NGF loading released from the particles within 48 h. Conclusion Protected with BSA, in vitro release showed no obvious effect on strong absorption for the surface of HA particles, however, the drug loading of model protein decreased. Fortunately, SF demonstrated the capacity of adjusting the release profile of protein by varying the amount of SF embedded with no influence on drug loading and maintaining the bioactivity of NGF absorbed on HA particles.

Prevention of hair cell death is an important target for the prevention of hearing loss. Here, we report the engineering of biodegradable poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) nanoparticles (PLGA NPs) decorated with triphenylphosphonium (TPP) cations as a robust mitochondrial delivery platform, with the aim of preserving mitochondrial integrity and shutting off the initiation of cell death. Geranylgeranylacetone (GGA), a 70 kDa heat shock protein (HSP70) inducer, was used as a therapeutic molecule to attenuate gentamicin (Gen) induced hearing loss. The diameter of the mitochondria-targeting NPs is 145 nm and the encapsulation efficiency is 80.6%. Lysosomal escape and mitochondrial targeting studies indicated the promising therapeutic potential of TPP modified NPs. Finally, the zebrafish lateral line model was applied to verify the efficacy of the GGA loaded targeting NPs for preventing gentamicin-induced death hair cell. The results showed that the prepared targeted NPs provided significant protection: the survival of hair cells increased from 36% to 69% under acute exposure and from 20% to 62% under chronic exposure. In addition, targeted NPs exhibited significantly improved efficiency in alleviating gentamicin-induced hair cell damage compared with free drugs and untargeted NPs, supporting the hypothesis of mitochondrial targeting delivery in the treatment of aminoglycoside-induced hearing loss. These TPP modified NPs demonstrated promise for the treatment of mitochondrial dysfunction.

The focused plenoptic cameras capture the scenes by one snap, which means calibration is not required. Therefore it is a great advantage to obtain the depth information. However, the existing algorithms to obtain the depth information are complicated and time consuming. In this paper, we put forward a depth measurement method based on the data obtained by focused plenoptic camera. The simulation experiment proved that this method is time-saving and has a good performance compared with the classical method.

There is very limited published data on Tibetan dietary patterns and its association with nutrient intakes and socioeconomic factors. The aim of this study was to identify and describe the dietary patterns and the associations with nutrient intakes in rural Tibetan pregnant, lactating mothers.Dietary patterns and nutrient intakes were identified via a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). We identified dietary patterns using principle component analysis (PCA) of intakes of 17 food groups and specific Tibetan foods. Quartile categories of each dietary pattern were used, and non-dietary lifestyle factors and total energy intake were adjusted for the analysis. We identified two dietary patterns: "Varied pattern" and "Staple pattern".The "Varied pattern" was characterized by a high intake of vegetables, fruits and soy foods which showed significant positive associations with vitamins. Vitamin C (Ptrend0.01) and vitamin E (Ptrend0.01) were strongly associated with "Varied pattern" among mothers with children younger or older than 12 months. The "Staple pattern" was characterized by Tibetan staple foods, Tibetan beverages and Tibetan snacks and showed significant negative associations with protein (Ptrend0.01) among mothers with children younger than 12 months or older than 12 months. Carbohydrate intakes significantly increased with "Staple pattern" among mother with children younger than 12 months only.The results presented here suggested our dietary patterns to great extent characterize the dietary behavior of Tibetan lactating mothers. There is, therefore, potential for dietary patterns to be used as a valid tool in assessing Tibetan diet.

Recent observational studies have suggested a positive association of white rice and protective associations of green tea and coffee with the risk of diabetes. However, none have examined the interaction between these dietary factors on the risk of diabetes. We prospectively investigated the effect modification of green tea and coffee on the association between rice and incident diabetes in elderly Japanese men and women.Among subjects who participated in the baseline survey (2004-2007), 11717 (91 %) subjects responded to the follow-up survey (2010-2012). By using multiple logistic regression analysis, ORs of incident diabetes were calculated according to categories of cereal food, green tea, and coffee intakes, examining also the effect modification of green tea and coffee.464 new cases of diabetes were identified. Women, but not men, showed a positive association of rice intake (trend p=0.008) and an inverse association of green tea intake (trend p=0.02) with incident diabetes. Coffee showed no association with incident diabetes either in men or women. In the analysis stratified by green tea intake, the association between rice and diabetes disappeared among women with an intake of=7 cups/d of green tea (interaction p=0.08).Rice intake was associated with an increased risk of diabetes only in women, and women with a higher intake of green tea had a lower risk of diabetes. A high intake of green tea may be protective against increased risk of diabetes with a higher intake of rice in women.

Background Very few studies have explored the association between cigarette or alcohol use and high-risk sexual behaviors (HRSBs) among Chinese youth. Aim To identify the associations between cigarette and/or alcohol use and HRSBs in unmarried youth 15 to 24 years old in China. Methods Data were obtained from a nationally representative survey of youth 15 to 24 years old in China. Population numbers, prevalences, and proportions were calculated where appropriate. The χ2 test was used to examine the different proportions of cigarette and alcohol use behaviors and HRSBs in female vs male youth. Logistic regression with propensity score-based weighting was used to elucidate the separate and combined associations of cigarette use and alcohol use with each HRSB. Outcomes The sexual behaviors of condom non-use during the first sexual experience, sexual activity with multiple partners, being forced to have sexual intercourse, taking part in casual sex, engaging in commercial sex, taking part in anal sex, and condom non-use during the most recent sexual encounter were classified as HRSBs. Results Of youth 15 to 24 years old, 23.2% ever used cigarettes, 38.1% used alcohol, and 19.9% used cigarettes and alcohol. Compared with cigarette and alcohol non-use, cigarette and alcohol use showed a significantly increased risk of condom non-use during the first sexual experience (odds ratio = 2.9, 95% CI = 2.5–3.3), sexual activity with multiple partners (4.9, 3.8–6.2), forced sex (2.7, 1.1–6.9), casual sex (4.0, 3.1–5.3), commercial sex (2.9, 2.1–3.9), anal copulation (3.1, 2.1–4.6), condom non-use during the most recent sexual encounter (2.5, 2.1–3.0), and any HSRB (3.2, 2.8–3.6) among youth. The relations between cigarette and alcohol use and HRSBs were stronger among female youth than among male youth for all HRSBs. Clinical Implications More efforts should be made to implement HIV and AIDS prevention that consider the role of cigarette and alcohol use in precipitating HRSBs. Strengths and Limitations This study provided a more detailed evaluation with greater confidence of the association between cigarette and/or alcohol use and HRSBs with sex disparity taken into account using nationally representative data, although no detailed information about cigarette and alcohol use behaviors such as dependence and cessation was gathered in this survey. Conclusion Youth who use cigarette and alcohol are at greater risk of HRSBs, especially female youth.

Balancing exploration and exploitation according to evolutionary states is crucial to meta-heuristic search (M-HS) algorithms. Owing to its simplicity in theory and effectiveness in global optimization, gravitational search algorithm (GSA) has attracted increasing attention in recent years. However, the tradeoff between exploration and exploitation in GSA is achieved mainly by adjusting the size of an archive, named Kbest, which stores those superior agents after fitness sorting in each iteration. Since the global property of Kbest remains unchanged in the whole evolutionary process, GSA emphasizes exploitation over exploration and suffers from rapid loss of diversity and premature convergence. To address these problems, in this paper, we propose a dynamic neighborhood learning (DNL) strategy to replace the Kbest model and thereby present a DNL-based GSA (DNLGSA). The method incorporates the local and global neighborhood topologies for enhancing the exploration and obtaining adaptive balance between exploration and exploitation. The local neighborhoods are dynamically formed based on evolutionary states. To delineate the evolutionary states, two convergence criteria named limit value and population diversity, are introduced. Moreover, a mutation operator is designed for escaping from the local optima on the basis of evolutionary states. The proposed algorithm was evaluated on 27 benchmark problems with different characteristic and various difficulties. The results reveal that DNLGSA exhibits competitive performances when compared with a variety of state-of-the-art M-HS algorithms. Moreover, the incorporation of local neighborhood topology reduces the numbers of calculations of gravitational force and thus alleviates the high computational cost of GSA.

In the past few years, precise point positioning (PPP) has become an important positioning method for many practical applications. It is based on ionosphere-free carrier phase combination measurements, in which only first-order ionospheric error is removed. Past research has shown that high-order ionospheric effect can affect PPP performance. In this study, the effect of high-order ionospheric error, the second-order one, on PPP has been evaluated in Hong Kong, a low latitude area. First, a method regarding how to calculate second-order ionospheric error is introduced and the evaluation method is also discussed. After that, the numerical results are shown. Based on the results, it is found that the effect of the second-order ionospheric error on ionosphere-free carrier phase combination measurements reached up to the cm level in 2001 and the effect of the second-order ionospheric error on both kinematic and static PPP also reached the cm level. Further, it is also demonstrated that the effect of second-order ionospheric error on PPP is closely related to solar activity.

In recent years, GNSS has been more and more widely used for all kinds of applications, including those in urban environment. Carrier phase observations from GNSS are necessary for precise navigation applications. However, before that, cycle slip has to be detected and corrected. For static GPS observations, as the distance between the receiver and the GPS satellites is smooth, the testing quantities formed with carrier phase observations between satellites can be used for cycle slip detection and correction. These testing quantities have two advantages. First, as only carrier phase observations are used, they are not affected by big noise of code observations. Second, the wavelength of the testing quantities is about 20 cm, long enough to be insensitive to carrier phase noise and multipath. However, generally these testing quantities cannot be used for kinematic observations with a sample interval of 1 s as the moving of the receiver and the distance between the receiver and the satellites is not...

By analyzing different resistance values, this collector of this article collects signal of the Unbonded Elastic Wire Resistance Type Sensor (UEWRTS in brief) acquisition embedded in the dams, reservoirs and other hydraulic buildings, and monitors the facilities in real time view. The position of embedded sensors can be distinguished by setting the address and code. The analog signal is one-on- one converted to digital signals through high-precision analog-to-digital conversion and amplification chips by digitized transducers. The digital signals are transported to the central server, and the deformation of the structure is estimated by original data in the server. Meanwhile, it extended the transformer’s effective measuring distance from normal analog 200 meters up to digitalized 1200 meters. In situation of multi UEWRTS installed field, all the output of the transformers can be connected in parallel to eliminate the cables to only one RS485-Bus as a twisted-pair cable and a power line. Applications of the transducer in several reservoir dams’ security monitoring system proof that is of high accuracy, reliable, strong anti-interference solution for all the UEWRTS applications of the relative monitoring and measurement projects. The collector has been applied in dam monitoring, and achieved good results.

Fast high precision relative Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) positioning is very important to various applications and ambiguity resolution is a key requirement. It has been a continuing challenge to determine and fix GNSS carrier-phase ambiguity, especially for medium- and long-distance baselines. In past research, with dual-frequency band Global Positioning System (GPS), it is almost impossible for fast ambiguity resolution of medium- and long-distance baselines mainly due to the ionospheric and tropospheric effects. With the launch of the BeiDou system, triple-frequency band GNSS observations are available for the first time. This research aims to test the ambiguity resolution performance with BeiDou triple-frequency band observations. In this research, two mathematical models are compared: zenith tropospheric delay as an unknown parameter versus corrected tropospheric delay. The ambiguity resolution performance is investigated in detail with BeiDou observations. Different distance baselines are tested: 45 km, 70 km and 100 km and the performances are investigated with different elevation cut-off angles. Also the performance with BeiDou alone and combined BeiDou and GPS are compared. Experimental results clearly show that with practical observations of triple-frequency bands, ambiguity of medium- or long-distance baselines can be fixed. The results also show that: the performance of ambiguity resolution with an elevation cutoff angle of 20° is much better than that of 15°; The performance with tropospheric effect corrected is slightly better than that with tropospheric effect as an estimated parameter; Dual-frequency band GPS observations will benefit ambiguity resolution of integrated BeiDou and GPS.

Co-doped samples are synthesized by a sol–gel method and investigated in detail to improve the high-rate discharge performance of the spinel LiMn 2 O 4 cathode in high-temperature lithium batteries. The results of X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy confirm that the cobalt additive incorporates into the LiMn 2 O 4 lattice and that the lattice parameters decrease gradually with increasing Co substitute content. The galvanostatic discharge results indicate that the Co-doped LiMn 2 O 4 satisfies both high-capacity and high-rate discharge requirements at 200–300 °C when proper substitute contents are chosen. At a high current density of 30 mA cm −2 , enhanced high-rate capacities of 219.71 mAh g −1 at 200 °C and 307.38 mAh g −1 at 300 °C are obtained in LiMn 1.7 Co 0.3 O 4 and LiMn 1.5 Co 0.5 O 4 , respectively, which have promising applications in high-temperature lithium batteries. These improvements are partly attributed to the enhanced electrical conductivity, as observed through electrochemical impedance spectroscopy.

Magnesium will be a very promising anode material for primary high energy density batteries, in the event that the corrosion of Mg electrode in aqueous electrolyte is effectively inhibited. Double liquid electrolyte (DLE) is designed and it reduces the corrosion significantly. DLE consists of an aqueous phase and an organic phase, which is immiscible with the former. Cathodic and anodic reactions proceed in the two phases separately, therefore Mg electrode no longer contacts with aqueous electrolyte. Anodic efficiency of pure Mg is above 90% in DLE, much higher than in single aqueous electrolyte.

Igneous emplacement on the NW Pacific oceanic crust via mantle activity, such as hot spots and mantle plumes, results in perturbations of crustal thickness. Therefore, mapping crustal thickness variations is key for understanding these mantle structures and processes. Improvements in resolution and accuracy of marine gravity anomalies promote the use of Moho gravity inversion effects, especially for large-scale applications. For improving the Moho gravity inversion accuracy, density variations of the lithospheric mantle are modelled via lithospheric age-temperature-density relationship since age grid with a resolution of 2 arc-minutes is available, and density variations of the mantle beneath lithosphere are modelled via seismic wave velocity-density relationship since velocity structure with penetration to 700 km is available. Comparisons between the Moho geometries by gravity inversion and seismic interpretation demonstrate that the mantle density modelling improves the Moho inversion accuracy. Our crustal map shows that (1) the crustal thickness of 26% of the NW Pacific region is thicker than 7 km; (2) the southern end of the Emperor seamounts was emplaced on the western flank of the Hess Rise, and a part of the central Hawaiian seamounts was emplaced on the eastern end of the Mid-Pacific Mountains; (3) the magma production of Hawaiian seamounts is greater than that of the Emperor seamounts; (4) the leakiness of the fracture along which the Line Islands formed decreases in the order of the central, southern and northern segments.

The Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) combined with acoustic technique has achieved significant economic benefits in oil exploration. During positioning of ocean bottom seismometers, hundreds of underwater transponders attached to seismometers are typically deployed. In order to improve the positioning accuracy of multi-sensor in shallow water, this paper analyses the ship GNSS data, Long baseline system (LBL) and single-beam bathymetric data, and presents the solution method of multi-target underwater acoustic positioning in shallow water with the depth constraints. Combined with the Natural Neighbor Interpolation (NNI) method, the regional elevation model is constructed, and the transponders elevation interpolation is performed in the horizontal position of robust estimation solution. According to the symmetry observation and the smooth terrain of the construction sea area, the bending error of the sound line is further eliminated by using the new piecewise incident model of the sound line bending to improve the plane positioning accuracy of the multi-target underwater in shallow water. Experiments in the South China Sea show that the new method model is more stable, has better anti-gross error performance, and effectively improves the accuracy of positioning under the condition of inaccurate sound velocity measurements and more gross errors of observation data.

Global Navigation Satellite System-Acoustic (GNSS-A) combined positioning is the main technique for seafloor geodetic control points localization, typically including datum transfer and subsequent positioning adjustment. This conventional step-wise method is time-consuming and accuracy-limited. In this paper, a novel one-step integrated positioning method for seafloor control network localization is proposed, which estimates positions of surveying vessels and seafloor points simultaneously. The effectiveness of new method is verified by computer simulation and comparative analysis. First, the conventional underwater acoustic positioning stepwise adjustment method is introduced and the positioning errors are analyzed. Then, to better constrain positions, the baseline lengths and depth-differences between pair of seafloor transponders are taken into consideration. The novel integrated positioning model based on overall adjustment is established. Furthermore, to deal with rank deficiency problem in overall adjustment, selecting weight fitting (SWF) method is applied in consideration of reliable priori information of surveying vessel coordinates. Finally, the regulating parameter determination for SWF method is discussed. Tests demonstrate that depth-differences constraint performs better than baseline length constraint in light of vertical geometry weakness. The novel method is notably superior to the conventional method in terms of positioning accuracy according to rms (Root Mean Square) statistics.

BackgroundParticulate matter is the key component of air pollutants, mainly produced by emissions of coal-fired plants and road traffic. Exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) pollution is associated with increased morbidity and mortality for respiratory diseases. However, few population-based studies have been conducted to assess the alterations of circulating pulmonary proteins due to long-term PM2.5exposure.MethodsWe designed a two-stage study. At the first stage, we enrolled 558 coke plant workers with a wide range of PM2.5exposure levels as the exposed group and 210 controls in China. Pulmonary injury was measured by lung function and serum Clara cell protein (CC16), surfactant protein A (SP-A), and surfactant protein D (SP-D). Linear regression models were used to assess the associations between PM2.5, pulmonary injury markers, and lung function. At the second stage, significant initial findings were validated by an independent diesel engine exhaust (DEE) cohort with 50 DEE exposed workers and 50 controls.ResultsSerum CC16 decreased in a dose-response manner in association with both external and internal PM2.5exposures in two cohorts. In the first stage, serum CC16 levels decreased with increasing duration of occupational PM2.5exposure history. An IQR (122.0 μg/m3) increase in PM2.5was associated with a 5.76% decrease in serum CC16, whereas an IQR (1.06 μmol/mol creatinine) increase in urinary 1-OHP concentration was associated with a 5.36% decrease in serum CC16 in the COE cohort. In the validation stage, the concentration of serum CC16 in PM2.5exposed group were 22.42% lower than that of the control and an IQR (1.24 μmol/mol creatinine) increase in urinary 1-OHP concentration was associated with a 12.24% decrease in serum CC16 in DEE cohort.ConclusionsReduction of serum CC16 may be a sensitive marker for pulmonary damage in populations with high PM2.5exposure.

Cycle slip detection and correction is an important part of GPS data processing. In the past research, geometry-free and non-geometry-free testing quantities have been proposed. Both of them can be used for static cases. Each of them has their own advantages and disadvantages. This research is aiming to compare these two kinds of testing quantities for static cycle slip detection and correction in different situations, such as in low and high elevation angles, especially in cases of strong atmospheric variations. The performance of geometry-free and non-geometry-free testing quantities is compared with observations of different situations. The numerical results show that the effect of the rapid change of relative humidity on cycle slip detection and correction with these two kinds of testing quantity is not obvious. However, the results clearly show that in the case of a low elevation angle (

Plasma bubble is one of the important weather events of the ionosphere. In past research, many studies on its occurrence characteristics have been done based on various observations, such as ionosondes, topside sounders, radio scintillations and in situ measurements by satellites. In recent years, GPS has become an important tool for the studies in this aspect. In this research, a study is made on occurrence characteristics of plasma bubbles with the GPS observations collected by the Hong Kong local GPS network for about 12 years.

COMPASS or BeiDou is the new satellite navigation system under construction in China. In this paper, the standalone performance of COMPASS is compared to the Global Positioning System (GPS), including: Single Point Positioning (SPP), differential positioning (DGPS and Differential COMPASS) and single epoch ambiguity resolution and positioning. Based on the results, it was found that COMPASS SPP performance is clearly worse than that of GPS, due to larger broadcast orbit and satellite clock errors, especially the latter. Differential positioning performance of COMPASS and GPS are essentially similar, with GPS marginally better. COMPASS single epoch ambiguity resolution performance is obviously better than that of GPS due to more observed satellites and the single epoch positioning performance of COMPASS and GPS are similar.

The ionosphere is an important part of the atmosphere and it is the largest error source of GNSS positioning for single-frequency users. So establishing a precise ionosphere model is one of the critical steps for satellite navigation and also for ionospheric research. Our targeted area of our research is a low latitude area – Hong Kong. Though some ionospheric models have been established in the past research, they are not fit for the Hong Kong area for various reasons. In this research, we are trying to establish a 2-dimensional model fit for the Hong Kong area based on the local GPS network and the model should be able to be used to predict VTEC for GPS navigation.

This research is aiming for cycle slip detection and correction in case of ionospheric scintillation. Different from the normally discussed situation without ionospheric scintillation, ionospheric delay cannot be neglected due to abrupt ionosphere change. In this case, ionosphere-free testing quantities for cycle slip detection and correction have to be used. In the past research, several geometry-free and ionosphere-free testing quantities have been proposed and in every of them, code measurements are involved. So these geometry-free and ionosphere-free testing quantities are sensitive to code observation noise and multipath. In this research, non-geometry-free and ionosphere-free testing quantities are proposed. Different from previously proposed, the code measurements are not longer involved. Detailed discussion on cycle slip detection and correction in case of ionospheric scintillation are given and method using the new proposed non-geometry-free testing quantities in combination with one previously proposed geometry-free & ionosphere-free wide-lane testing quantity is described. The cycle slip detection and correction performance may not be very reliable with the new proposed method. But it is expected that this research will benefit for future work in this aspect.

The strain generated in a reaction tank of hydrogen storage alloys were measured in order to analyze strain variation in different locations during hydrogen absorption-desorption cycles. Strain gauges were set on the various locations of the tank. The change of strain was continuously monitored using the strain analyzer. The results indicate that plastic deformation had occurred during activation period, and it did not become larger in the later hydriding-dehydriding cycles though the tank still had the ability for elastic deformation. The stress induced by alloy swell on the tank was over 8 MPa. Tangential strain was greater than longitudinal strain in each place. There wasn't much more difference in Longitudinal at respective points while tangential strain in the middle part was much larger than that in two sides' parts of the tank. The nonuniform packing density lead the deformation tended to occur more serious in tail part than in head part.

Although the prevalence of oral clefts in China is among the highest worldwide, little is known about the prevalence of speech disability associated with cleft palate in Chinese children. The data for this study were collected from the Second China National Sample Survey on Disability, and identification of speech disability associated with cleft palate was based on consensus manuals. Logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). A weighted number of 112,070 disabled children affected by cleft palate were identified, yielding a prevalence of 3.45 per 10,000 children (95% CI: 3.19–3.71). A history of speech disability in the mother (OR = 20.266, 95% CI 5.788–70.959, p < 0.0001), older paternal child-bearing age (OR = 1.061, 95% CI 1.017–1.108, p = 0.0065, per year increase in age), and lower parental education (maternal: OR = 3.424, 95% CI 1.082–10.837, p = 0.0363; paternal: OR = 2.923, 95% CI 1.245–6.866, p = 0.0138) were strongly associated with risk of speech disability associated with cleft palate in the offspring. Our results showed that maternal speech disability, older paternal child-bearing age, and lower levels of parental education were independent risk factors for speech disability associated with cleft palate for children in China. These findings may have important implications for health disparities and prevention.

Simultaneous optimization of different validity measures can capture different data characteristics of remote sensing imagery (RSI) and thereby achieving high quality classification results. In this paper, two conflicting cluster validity indices, the Xie-Beni ( XB ) index and the fuzzy C-means (FCM) ( Jm ) measure, are integrated with a diversity-enhanced and memory-based multi-objective gravitational search algorithm (DMMOGSA) to present a novel multi-objective optimization based RSI classification method. In this method, the Gabor filter method is firstly implemented to extract texture features of RSI. Then, the texture features are syncretized with the spectral features to construct the spatial-spectral feature space/set of the RSI. Afterwards, cluster of the spectral-spatial feature set is carried out on the basis of the proposed method. To be specific, cluster centers are randomly generated initially. After that, the cluster centers are updated and optimized adaptively by employing the DMMOGSA. Accordingly, a set of non-dominated cluster centers are obtained. Therefore, numbers of image classification results of RSI are produced and users can pick up the most promising one according to their problem requirements. To quantitatively and qualitatively validate the effectiveness of the proposed method, the proposed classification method was applied to classifier two aerial high-resolution remote sensing imageries. The obtained classification results are compared with that produced by two single cluster validity index based and two state-of-the-art multi-objective optimization algorithms based classification results. Comparison results show that the proposed method can achieve more accurate RSI classification.