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Spatial slope deformation pattern is crucial for landslide early warning and management. Quantitative modelling of the effects of multiple driving factors on the landslide spatial pattern has not yet been fully explored. To address this, this study utilizes data-driven models and Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) techniques to unveil the spatial pattern of landslides based on SUs (slope units). Specifically, we propose a methodology that establishes a correlation between InSAR deformation and topographic/meteorological factors by constructing a Generalized Additive Mixed Model (GAMM). Using this method, we analysed ALOS-2 ascending SAR images from April 2020 to September 2021 and successfully obtained cumulative minimum deformation during the period. Through the GAMM, we linked the observed cumulative minimum deformation in each SU to various factors, including topographic and meteorological factors. In terms of accuracy, there is an excellent agreement between the observed and fitted deformation, with a Pearson Correlation Coefficient (PCC) of 0.83. In terms of interpretability, our method can well explain the contribution of each factor to landslide deformation. We conclude that using the data-driven GAMM and InSAR techniques can effectively reveal the spatial pattern of landslides based on SUs. Furthermore, based on the method proposed in this study, it is possible to predict landslide deformation in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), carcinogenic substances primarily formed through pyrolysis and oxidation of fat at high cooking temperatures, are commonly found at high levels in grilled meats. Reducing PAHs formation by incorporating natural antioxidants, such as through marination, has been demonstrated to be effective. However, the inhibitory effect of fresh phenolic-rich fruit powders on PAHs formation in charcoal-grilled meats remains unknown. To clarify the application of the fruit powders, 15 experimental groups were conducted. All pretreatment techniques (spraying, marinating, and mixing) were applied across all four freeze-dried fruit powders (lemon, guava, papaya, and mango). Each method was systematically tested with each fruit powder to evaluate its effect on inhibiting the formation of the four PAHs (BaA, CHR, BbF, and BaP) in charcoal-grilled pork belly and loin. Firstly, guava powder exhibited the highest phenolic content and antioxidant activity compared to the lemon, papaya, and mango powders (p < 0.05), among which the main phenolic compounds were ellagic acid, quercetin, and epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG). Further, marination of pork belly with guava powder exhibited the highest inhibition rate of PAHs (94.8%), followed by lemon (91.1%), papaya (89.8%), and mango (89.0%), with a statistically significant difference at p < 0.05. The reduction in estimated daily intake (EDI) and the increase in the margin of exposure (MOE) indicate that consuming grilled meat treated with these fruit powders poses no safety concerns and may potentially reduce health risks. Finally, the sensory evaluation showed that marinating with guava powder did not perceptibly affect the sensory attributes of the meat. Overall, this study provides a potent strategy for inhibiting the formation of PAHs in meat during charcoal grilling by incorporating fruit powder while preserving sensory qualities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The excessive energy demand of the conventional Haber–Bosch process for ammonia (NH3) generation, coupled with the disruptive effects of nitrate (NO3−) pollution on the global nitrogen cycle, has made the electrocatalytic nitrate reduction reaction (NO3−RR) an essential exit strategy for sustainable NH3 synthesis. However, the intricate multi-step proton and electron transfer process posed a great challenge in achieving high-efficiency electrocatalysts. In this study, we report a selective and highly active NO3−RR electrocatalyst featuring molecular M–Nx sites derived from the immobilization of Fe ions within N-doped graphene quantum dots (NGQDs). We demonstrated that the formation of molecular Fe–Nx coordination activated the NO3−RR of NGQDs-Fe, despite the initial inactivity of NGQDs. In situ Raman analysis revealed that those Fe–Nx sites served as favourable adsorption sites for *NO3. Such catalyst achieved an FE of 93% and a yield rate of 15.41 mmol h−1 cm−2 for NH3 at −0.8 V (vs. RHE) in an alkaline medium. These findings revealed the preferential sequential 2e− and 6e− transfer pathways over the direct 8e− pathway in the NO3−RR, which provides new mechanistic insights into the nitrate reduction reaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taiwan is currently Asia-s leader in gender equality on three indicators: Its national legislature comprises 42 percent women, the largest proportion among all Asian countries; it was the first Asian country to legalize same-sex marriage; and it has a popularly elected woman president not from a politically established family. Despite these advances, efforts to make Taiwan's parliament gender-sensitive has encountered constraints. While new institutions were created to make the parliament a more gender-friendly workplace, little progress was made regarding gender mainstreaming in the legislative process. This article points out that parliamentary parties are missing actors in gender mainstreaming. The article concludes that unless all constitutional branches practice it, gender mainstreaming as a state strategy to promote gender equality remains challenging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Uremic toxins cause bone disorders in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). These disorders are characterized by low turnover osteodystrophy and impaired bone formation in the early stages of CKD. Evidence indicates that the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) mediates signals that suppress early osteogenic differentiation in bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs). However, whether the AhR mediates the effects of indoxyl sulfate (IS), a uremic toxin, on BMSC osteogenesis remains unclear. We investigated whether IS affects osteogenesis through the AhR/Hes1 pathway. Expression levels of osteogenesis genes (Runx2, Bmp2, Alp, and Oc), AhR, and Hes1 were measured in mouse BMSCs (D1 cells). At concentrations of 2–50 μM, IS significantly reduced mineralization, particularly in the early stages of BMSC osteogenesis. Furthermore, IS significantly downregulated the expression of Runx2, Bmp2, Oc, and Alp. Notably, this downregulation could be prevented using an AhR antagonist and through Ahr knockdown. Mechanistically, IS induced the expression of Hes1 through AhR signaling, thereby suppressing the transcription of Runx2 and Bmp2. Our findings suggest that IS inhibits early osteogenesis of BMSCs through the AhR/Hes1 pathway, thus suppressing the transcription of Runx2 and Bmp2. Our findings may guide new therapeutic strategies against CKD-related bone disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optical nonreciprocity through magneto-optical effects requires bulky apparatuses and strong magnetic fields, while magnetic-free approaches are difficult to implement. Here, the authors use optically-induced magnetisation in an atomic ensemble to get 50 dB of isolation over a large power dynamic range.

Su Chul Jang et al. develop exoSTING, consisting of an engineered extracellular vesicle loaded with a potent cyclic dinucleotide (CDN) agonist of the STING pathway. They find that exoSTING shows more than 100-fold increased potency in in vivo tumor models and has increased tumor retention and lower levels of systemic inflammatory cytokine production as compared to free CDN.

BACKGROUND As more attention is paid to selenium-rich products, the research on the determination of selenium content in crops has become more and more significant. However, existing methods for determining organic selenium has interferences of the matrix effect and polyatomic ion, which affect the accuracy of the measurement. OBJECTIVES To establish a rapid method to determine selenium species pf organic selenium in agricultural products by liquid chromatography-quadrupole/electrostatic field orbitrap high-resolution mass spectrometry (LC-Q Exactive Orbitrap MS). METHODS The selenium species were extracted using an ultrasonic extraction system with a mixture of protease XIV. The separation was carried out on a Waters Symmetry RP18 column by gradient elution with water and acetonitrile as mobile phases. The selenomethionine, selenocystine and methylselenocysteine were simultaneously analyzed in switching positive and negative modes. The quantitative and qualitative analyses were carried out by high-resolution mass spectrometry with electrospray ionization (ESI) source in negative ion acquisition mode under Full MS/dd-MS2 mode. RESULTS Under the optimal conditions, good linearity was obtained in the respective concentration ranges. The limits of detection for three compounds were in the range of 1.0-4.7μg/kg. The recoveries ranged from 76.4% to 116.0% with relative standard deviations less than 6.5%. CONCLUSIONS Compared with existing methods, this method has a wider linear range and is suitable for the analysis of a variety of grain and vegetable samples. The established method has been applied to the determination of the edible part of a variety of crops in Heilongjiang, which is the main grain production area in China. The results show that selenomethionine is the main ingredient in cereals, and methylselenocysteine is the main ingredient in vegetables, and that the organic selenium content of crops in this area is at a low level. Therefore, selenium supplementation is urgently needed.

This work proposes a learning model to predict the outcome of electrical defibrillation from ECG signals in ventricular fibrillation (VF) periods, which is a lethal situation happening when a patient is suffering cardiac arrest. An animal experiment of rats is conducted to obtain the ECG signals and necessary information for this study. This proposed model only extracts one feature from the ECG signals and enjoys low computational complexity at both training and testing stages. The statistics of this extracted single feature is further analyzed, and mathematical closed-form formulas for several interesting performance indices including the sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, precision and Area Under the Curve (AUC) are obtained to gain more insights of the proposed system. Moreover, the extracted feature can be treated as a linear combination of individual frequency components of the ECG signal, where the combining coefficients of the linear combination may show informative clinical inference. Frequencies corresponding to large trained combining coefficients imply that they contribute more in distinguishing the defibrillation outcome, and vice versa. As a result, important frequencies of the ECG signals can be identified and insignificant frequencies can also be filtered out by the proposed training. Simulation results corroborate the analytical results, and show that the proposed scheme greatly outperforms several competitive learning models and traditional methods in terms of testing accuracy and computational complexity.

A high-accuracy unsupervised classification model is developed in a multimode self-interference microring resonator (SIMRR). For the SIMRR, there are many whispering gallery modes (WGMs) present. Each of these resonance modes supported by the SIMRR has a different response to different target parameters, so that the SIMRR-based sensor has the super capability to distinguish between multiple components. In the classification model, principal component analysis (PCA) is firstly used to reduce the dimensionality of this multimode sensing information from the SIMRR-based sensor. When the original higher-dimensional data points are projected onto the lower-dimensional data with only the first few principal components, they can be easily categorized into several different types by using density-based spatial clustering of application with noise (DBSCAN) algorithm. As an example, the unsupervised classification method is numerically validated based on a designed three-gas SIMRR-based sensor. The numerical results prove that the classification model can achieve an ultra high classification accuracy for the designed three-gas sensor with more than 60 dB in signal-to-noise ratio.

Dissipative Kerr solitons (DKS)s offer an integrated platform for broad spectrum coverage, which is suitable for the high sensitivity spectroscopy. However, the large linespacing of the soliton comb limits the spectroscopy detection resolution. We overcome this limitation by modulating the soliton comb lines through an external EOM with a tunable RF source. By locking the pump laser to a reference cavity, the linewidth of the pump laser was compressed from $1.13\:\mathrm{MHz}$ to $72\:\mathrm{kHz}$, leading to the silimar linewidth of comb lines and showing a frequency resolution of hundreds of $kHz$. Based on the scanned microcomb, we measured the absorption spectra of a gas cell and the high-Q optical modes in the microcavity, with a fast scanning speed of $\mathrm{16\,\,\mathrm{GHz/\mu s}}$. The scanning comb allows the spectroscopy measurement to cover the whole comb mode spectrum over THz bandwidth. Our setup holds great potential for simple, robust spectroscopy measurement.

BACKGROUND The crystal structure of natural gas hydrate mainly depends on the species and composition of guest molecules. At present, the structure and spectral characteristics of single-component hydrate are relatively clear, but the studies of multi-component hydrates are relatively scarce. OBJECTIVES To solve the problem of structure identification of multi-component hydrate, and understand its spectral characteristics. METHODS Methane-propane (CH4-C3H8) and methane-tetrahydrofuran (CH4-THF) binary hydrates, as well as CH4, C3H8 and THF (molar ratio 1:17) single-component hydrate samples were synthesized and characterized by low-temperature X-ray powder diffraction (PXRD) and Raman spectroscopy. RESULTS Both of the binary hydrates were typical structure Ⅱ hydrates, which were the same as those of C3H8 and THF hydrate. The crystal cell parameters a for CH4-C3H8 and CH4-THF binary hydrates were 17.2312×10-10 m and 17.2241×10-10 m, respectively. For CH4-C3H8 hydrate, CH4 was distributed in both large and small cages, showing two characteristic Raman peaks (2900cm-1 and 2911cm-1); C3H8 was only distributed in the large cage. Compared with C3H8 hydrate, the C-H stretching vibration peak was almost unchanged while the C-C stretching vibration peak (873cm-1) shifted by 3cm-1 to low frequency. For CH4-THF hydrate, the large cage was occupied by THF and CH4 was only filled in the small cage (2910cm-1). The peak positions of C-C and C-H stretching vibrations of THF in CH4-THF hydrate were consistent with those of THF hydrate. CONCLUSIONS The structure types of binary hydrates are consistent with those of single component hydrates. Molecules with larger sizes play a key role in the crystal structure of binary hydrates containing CH4. Moreover, the distribution of CH4 molecules in the cages are also influenced by larger molecules, and the Raman spectral characteristics of binary hydrates are significantly different. The conclusion of this study has important guiding significance for identifying the microstructure of multi-component hydrate based on spectral characteristics.

The solidification microstructure of an Fe–Mn–C–Al high-Mn steel with added Nb was studied by optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The results showed that the size of the columnar and equiaxed grains in the solidified structure of the high-Mn steel without added Nb was large. When Nb was added, the size of the equiaxed and columnar grains in the solidification structure of the high-Mn steel decreased. The twin-induced plasticity in the high-Mn steel with added Nb clearly refined the grain size of the solidified structure and simultaneously increased the equiaxed crystallization rate. The high-melting-point second-phase particles increased the heterogeneous nucleation rate, which was beneficial for grain refinement. A large amount of Nb precipitates from the solidification process increased the equiaxed crystallization rate of the solidified microstructure. The increased crystallization rate affected the growth direction of the columnar and equiaxed grains during solidification and indirectly decreased the probability of crack formation, which improved the quality of the twin-induced plastic steel.

Abstract Background This study aimed to devise a Cancer symptoms Discrimination Scale (CSDS) suitable for China based on a cross-sectional survey. Methods The CSDS was developed using the classical measurement theory. A total of 3610 students from Yunnan province, China, participated in the cross-sectional survey. The test version of the scale was modified by the item analysis method, and after the official version of CSDS was developed, its reliability and validity were verified. A univariate analysis of variance and a multiple linear regression model were used to analyze the influencing factors of cancer symptoms discrimination among the university/college students. Results There were 21 items in total for the CSDS, including 3 subscales --- common clinical manifestations (11 items), physical appearance defects (6 items), and drainage tube(s) wearing (4 items). This CSDS had good validity (GFI = 0.930, AGFI = 0.905, RMR = 0.013, I-CVIs> 0.80, and the Pearson correlation coefficient was satisfactory.) and reliability (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.862, spearman-brown coefficient = 0.875). The multiple linear regression showed that certain factors may affect the students’ discrimination level against cancer symptoms (P