Search

Light attenuation in large scale neutrino detectors like Theia is an important concern. Theia plans to use Water Based Liquid Scintillator as its detecting medium. At UC Davis, we develop a Scattering and Attenuation Measuring Device(SAMD) to measure light attenuation as well as the scattering parameters of the WBLS. The poster will present the initial pure water attenuation result to show the reliability of the system. A future update plan of light attenuation and scattering in WBLS will be discussed as well.

Due to the shortage of radio spectrum in the current 5G and upcoming 6G systems, the cognitive radio (CR) technique is indispensable for spectrum management and can put the unutilized spectrum to good use. As the core technology of CR, blind modulation recognition (BMR) plays a pivotal role in improving spectral efficiency. However, the BMR research on MIMO-OFDM systems still lacks enough attention. Given the prosperity of deep learning, we propose a series-constellation multi-modal feature network (SC-MFNet) to recognize the modulation types of MIMO-OFDM subcarriers. Without any prior information, a blind signal separation algorithm is employed to reconstruct the impaired transmitted signal. Considering the insufficient features of signal series, we propose a segment accumulated constellation diagram (SACD) strategy to produce the striking constellation features. Moreover, the proposed multi-modal feature fusion network is employed to collect the advantages of series and SACD features, which are extracted by one-dimensional convolution (Conv1DNet) branch and improved EfficientNet branch, respectively. Experimental results demonstrate that in a realistic non-cooperative cognitive communication scenario where prior information is exempted, the proposed SC-MFNet outperforms the traditional feature-based methods and the state-of-the-art neural networks which are based on either constellation features or series features.

To investigate the influencing factors of transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) on patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) for tumor response (complete and partial response, CR + PR).This research conducted a retrospective study of the hospital charts of patients treated with TACE successfully renewed from October 2014 to December 2015 at Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center (Guangzhou, China). Univariate analysis (Chi-square test and repeated-measures ANOVA) selected nine influential tumor response factors from 22 core factors. The nine variables were included in a forward multiple logistic regression model predicting patients treated with TACE to achieve tumor response. Overall survival was calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method.Data of 277 of 282 patients were included in the analysis. Nine variables were analyzed by univariate analysis and independently associated with tumor response (tumor capsule integrity, nausea and vomiting, microwave ablation, liver dysfunction, the absolute value of lymphocyte (LYM), alpha-fetoprotein, and gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT). By multivariate analysis, GGT (odds ratio [OR] =0.996), liver dysfunction (OR = 0.395), combined with microwave ablation (OR = 0.503), and tumor capsule integrity (OR = 1.894) were the significant predictors of the tumor response group compared with the standard deviation group (P0.05).This study suggests that TACE combined with ablation on patients with complete tumor capsules may have a better prognosis in tumor response and OS; additionally, liver dysfunction and nausea and vomiting were the independent predictors of tumor response.

Three of the nitrilases (NITs), NIT1, NIT2, and NIT3, are ubiquitously existing in plant kingdom, which catalyze indole-3-acetonitrile into the most important auxin indole-3-acetic acid. Auxin is an indispensable hormone, which plays the important roles in almost all processes of plant growth and development. However, there are few reports on the regulation of flowering-time mediated by auxin. Here, we found that in Arabidopsis, nit1/2/3 showed a late flowering phenotype in short days. To explore the molecular mechanism by which NIT1/2/3 regulate flowering time, we performed transcriptome sequencing of nit1/2/3. The results showed that the expression of a MADS-box transcription factor gene MADS AFFECTING FLOWERING4 (MAF4) was dramatically increased in nit1/2/3 comparing to wild type (WT). MAF4 is one of the paralogs of the potent flowering inhibitor FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC). There are four other paralogs in FLC clade in Arabidopsis, including FLOWERING LOCUS M (FLM/MAF1), MAF2, MAF3, and MAF5. The late flowering phenotype of nit1/2/3 could not be observed in the maf4 background, indicating that the phenotype was specifically dependent on MAF4 rather than other FLC clade members. Interestingly, the expression of a lncRNA gene MAS, which is transcribed in the opposite direction of MAF4, was found significantly increased in nit1/2/3. Also, MAS has been reported to activate MAF4 transcription by promoting histone 3 lysine 4 trimethylation (H3K4me3). As expected, H3K4me3 deposition at MAF4 locus in nit1/2/3 was highly enriched and significantly higher than that of WT. In summary, we show that NITs, NIT1/2/3, positively regulate flowering by repressing MAF4 through manipulating H3K4me3 modification. Further study needs to be performed to explore the largely unknown mechanisms behind it.

In the sensorless brushless DC (BLDC) motor control system, the commutation signal is the key to measure the system performance. To improve the commutation accuracy, a commutation compensation strategy based on terminal voltage reconstruction is proposed. By analyzing the commutation process, the integral of ideal terminal voltage is adopted to determine the commutation error. Then considering the voltage clamping of the freewheel diode, the actual terminal voltage is analyzed in different periods. In the non-commutation period, a PWM cycle is divided into three regions, and the corresponding duration can be calculated by floating phase current, and then the equality of actual and ideal terminal voltage integrals is revealed. In the commutation period, the instantaneous value of back-electromotive force (back-EMF) at commutation point is used to construct the ideal terminal voltage and the commutation time is determined by the edge detection. In this way, the integral of terminal voltage can be calculated precisely. Then the error index is introduced and the relationship between the commutation error and the error index is presented. To eliminate the commutation error, the PI controller is adopted which outputs the compensation angle. The proposed strategy avoids the phase shift errors and the accumulation of integral errors, moreover the feasibility and effectiveness are verified by simulations and experiments under different conditions. In addition, the strategy can also be used to correct the installation error of Hall sensor.

In situ Ti(C, N), ring phase, and multi-phase enhanced Ni204-based alloy coating were prepared by adding various Ti/C/TiN ratios particles. The effects of the reinforcement phase on the microstructure, microhardness, tribological property, and microstructure characteristics at the interface between the coating and substrate were investigated. The results show that the coatings with a 5:1 mass fraction ratio of TiN/C exhibits the highest microhardness, which is 3.78 times higher than that of the original Ni204 coating. While, the coating with 21:7:2 mass fraction ratio of TiN/Ti/C exhibits the lowest friction coefficient, which is 4.44 times smaller than that of the original Ni204 coating. The addition of Ti and C particles promotes the precipitation of ring phase and carbides, reduces ceramic agglomeration, alleviates the floating of ceramic particles, and improves the bonding strength of reinforcement phases. Owing to the good mutual solubility among Fe, Ni, and, Cr elements, the diffusion happened at the interface between the coating and substrate.

In this paper, we consider the pricing of double-barrier options under a Markov-modulated regime switching diffusion model. The proposed model incorporates structural changes in economic conditions...

Objective Alveolar repair has become a routine part of treatment protocols for patients with non-syndromic cleft lip and/or palate, but there is no clear conclusion of whether the presurgical orthodontic treatment is necessary to alveolar bone grafting or not. The purpose was to determine the necessity of the presurgical orthodontics in cleft lip and palate patients. Materials and Methods Electronic databases including PubMed, Ovid, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Knowledge, and China Biology Medicine disc (SinoMed) were searched. Only studies published in English or Chinese were included. The last search was updated on 1 May 2020. 1225 articles remaining after the exclusion of duplicates. Finally, there were 11 publications (five in English and six in Chinese) eligible for systematic review according to the previously established inclusion and exclusion criteria. A descriptive statistical method was used to present data. The methodological index for non-randomized studies (MINORS) was used to determine the risk of bias. Result Eleven articles were included in this review, of which seven publications were retrospective study and four articles were comparative study. The average success rate of reconstruction with the presurgical orthodontic treatment was approximately 70% to 97%, while the success rate of the non-presurgical orthodontics was 25% to 80%. The fixed and removable presurgical orthodontic methods were frequently performed, rather than a single treatment model. The incidence of the postoperative complications resulting from whether adopting the presurgical orthodontics was different from none to 75%. Conclusion There are a higher postoperative bone formation rate and a lower complication rate after ABG with presurgical orthodontics. However, more studies with high methodological quality and with a longer follow-up are needed to offer more safety for practitioners and patients regarding the surgical method selected to repair the cleft alveolar.

567 Background: Blank-microsphere transarterial chemoembolization (bTACE) has been demonstrated to have great efficacy, low toxicities and few adverse events. We report results of efficacy, safety and immunomodulatory effects from a phase II study of bTACE plus low-dose Lenvatinib (LD-LEN) and sequential microwave ablation (MWA) in patients with large hepatocellular carcinoma (L-HCC, ≥ 7 cm). Methods: Patients with large HCC with tumor number ≤ 3 and tumor diameter ≥ 7 cm (BCLC stage A/B) were treated with bTACE plus LD-LEN (4-8mg/day) and sequential MWA. bTACE was performed using blank microspheres and low-dose chemotherapeutic agents. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were isolated before and after b-TACE plus LD-LEN for the evaluation of immunomodulatory effects. The primary endpoint was objective response rate (ORR) per modified-RECIST (mRECIST) criteria. Secondary endpoints included progression free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), down-staging rate (DSR), complications and adverse events (AEs). Results: From November 2019 to March 2022, a total of 46 patients were enrolled in the study. The ORR per mRECIST was 93.02% (CR, n=26; PR, n=14) and DSR was 83.7 (36/43). Eight patients reached CR without MWA. The 1-year and 2-year OS rates were 89.4% and 67.5%, respectively. The 1-year and 2-year PFS rates were 57.8% and 34.8%, respectively. The median PFS were 16.7 months (95% CI, 8.6-not reached). The majority of the AEs observed were grade 1-2 (n = 21, 48.8%) and no treatment related death was observed. PBMC samples from 18 patients undergoing bTACE plus LD-LEN were investigated. Among myeloid cell populations, we observed a marked decline after treatment in CD11b+CD33+HLA-DR- MDSCs ( p +CD8+ and CXCR5+CD4+ T cells were found after treatment ( p < 0.005), exerting anti-tumor immunity. Conclusions: From November 2019 to March 2022, a total of 46 patients were enrolled in the study. The ORR per mRECIST was 93.02% (CR, n=26; PR, n=14) and DSR was 83.7 (36/43). Eight patients reached CR without MWA. The 1-year and 2-year OS rates were 89.4% and 67.5%, respectively. The 1-year and 2-year PFS rates were 57.8% and 34.8%, respectively. The median PFS were 16.7 months (95% CI, 8.6-not reached). The majority of the AEs observed were grade 1-2 (n = 21, 48.8%) and no treatment related death was observed. PBMC samples from 18 patients undergoing bTACE plus LD-LEN were investigated. Among myeloid cell populations, we observed a marked decline after treatment in CD11b+CD33+HLA-DR- MDSCs ( p +CD8+ and CXCR5+CD4+ T cells were found after treatment ( p < 0.005), exerting anti-tumor immunity. Clinical trial information: NCT05555316 .

Treatment of human urine is an emerging approach to minimize environmental pharmaceutical contamination. This study investigated the application of ferrate(VI) (FeVIO42–, Fe(VI)) oxidation to degra...

The signal acquisition process is limited by the installation position and number of sensors in particular types of equipment. Moreover, the observed signals are often compounded by all sources. In order to solve these problems, an underdetermined blind source separation (UBSS) approach with source number estimation and improved sparse component analysis (SCA) is studied. Firstly, the angular probability distribution of scatter as one of measures is obtained in time-frequency (TF) domain based on the sparsity of observations. Meanwhile, the energy sum of each frequency bin as another measure is calculated to eliminate the influence of poor sparsity or non-sparsity. Source number estimation can be obtained by selecting a small peak value between the above two measures. Then, the frequency bins corresponding to these peaks of the energy sum are clustered into two categories, whose first row in cluster center matrix is regarded as the corresponding column of estimated mixing matrix. Finally, the combinatorial algorithm of L1-norm is used to realize the estimation of source signals. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed method can effectively separate the simulated vibration signals and is more accurate than traditional clustering and hyperplane space methods. Additionally, the natural frequency and damping ratio of modal response can be accurately identified in the test of measured cantilever beam hammering.

Fractures are the most common large-organ, traumatic injury in humans. The fracture healing stage includes the inflammatory stage (0-5d), cartilage callus stage (5-14d) and hard callus stage (14-21d). All mice underwent open tibial fracture surgery and were treated with saline, Glu or SCII for 21d. Calluses were harvested 5d, 10d and 21d after fracture. Compared with the model group, SCII significantly decreased TNF-α and increased aggrecan serum levels by 5d. H&E results showed that fibrous calluses were already formed in the SCII group and that chondrocytes had begun to proliferate. By 10d, the chondrocytes in the SCII group became hypertrophic and mineralized, and the serum TGF-β and Col-Iα levels were significantly increased, which indicated that the mice with SCII treatment rapidly passed the cartilage repair period and new bone formation was accelerated. Skeletal muscle repaired bones through muscle paracrine factors. IGF-1 and irisin are the two major secretory cytokines. The results showed that the content of muscle homogenate IGF-1 in the SCII group reached the peak at 10d, followed by the up-regulation of Ihh, Patched, Gli1 and Col10α in the callus through the bone surface receptor IGF-1R. Besides, SCII also significantly elevated the muscle irisin level (10 and 21d), and then increased Wnt10b, LRP5, β-catenin and Runx2 expression in the callus by receptor αVβ5. These results suggest that SCII can accelerate the process of endochondral osteogenesis and promote fracture healing through activating the Ihh/PThrp and Wnt/β-catenin pathways by regulating muscle paracrine factors. To our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the effect of marine-derived collagen on fracture healing. This study may provide a theoretical basis for the high-value application of the laryngeal cartilage of squid in the future.

Visible infrared person re-identification (VI-ReID) is an extremely challenging task. VI-ReID suffers from two challenges. One is the cross-modality discrepancy due to different camera spectrums, the other is the intra-modality variation caused by the noise of background clutter or occlusion. We propose a global-level and local-level constraints network (GLoC-Net) to learn discriminative feature representations. It mainly contains two aspects. 1) We employ a non-local attention mechanism for extracting shared features to mitigate the cross-modality discrepancy, and present the division operation of local features to alleviate the problem that the non-local attention mechanism is less robust to noise. 2) We propose joint constraints of global-level and local-level to alleviate the intra-modality variation, which makes the algorithm more robust to noise. Experiments demonstrate that the superior performance of proposed method compared with the state-of-the-arts.

Graph convolutional networks have attracted wide attention for their expressiveness and empirical success on graph-structured data. However, deeper graph convolutional networks with access to more information can often perform worse because their low-order Chebyshev polynomial approximation cannot learn adaptive and structure-aware representations. To solve this problem, many high-order graph convolution schemes have been proposed. In this article, we study the reason why high-order schemes have the ability to learn structure-aware representations. We first prove that these high-order schemes are generalized Weisfeiler-Lehman (WL) algorithm and conduct spectral analysis on these schemes to show that they correspond to polynomial filters in the graph spectral domain. Based on our analysis, we point out twofold limitations of existing high-order models: 1) lack mechanisms to generate individual feature combinations for each node and 2) fail to properly model the relationship between information from different distances. To enable a node-specific combination scheme and capture this interdistance relationship for each node efficiently, we propose a new adaptive feature combination method inspired by the squeeze-and-excitation module that can recalibrate features from different distances by explicitly modeling interdependencies between them. Theoretical analysis shows that models with our new approach can effectively learn structure-aware representations, and extensive experimental results show that our new approach can achieve significant performance gain compared with other high-order schemes.

Photothermal therapy (PTT) stimulated by light in the second near-infrared (NIR-II) biowindow shows great superiorities in the penetration ability of tissue and maximum permissible exposure (MPE). Exploring new photothermal agents with good optical absorbance in the NIR-II region is highly desirable for efficient cancer therapy. Herein, we successfully prepare carambola-like bismuth telluride (Bi2Te3) superstructures modified with PEGylated phospholipid (Bi2Te3@PEG) for CT imaging-guided PTT in the NIR-II biowindow. Attributing to their superstructures, Bi2Te3@PEG exhibited enhanced photoabsorption with higher photothermal conversion efficiency (55.3% for 1064 nm) compared with that of Bi2Te3 nanoparticles. Furthermore, the good X-ray attenuation capacity of Bi endows Bi2Te3@PEG with an outstanding performance as computed tomography (CT) contrast agents. Bi2Te3@PEG superstructures have been confirmed to effectively eliminate tumor in vitro and in vivo with negligible long-term toxicities, offering them great potential to act as theranostic platforms for cancer diagnosis and treatment.

Long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) small nucleolar RNA host gene 12 (SNHG12) plays important roles in the pathogenesis and progression of cancers. However, the role of SNHG12 in the metastasis of gastric cancer (GC) has not yet been thoroughly investigated. In the present study, we demonstrated that SNHG12 was upregulated in GC tissues and cell lines. In addition, the expression level of SNHG12 in GC samples was significantly related to tumor invasion depth, TNM stage and lymph node metastasis and was associated with disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) in GC patients. In vivo and in vitro assays indicated that SNHG12 promotes GC metastasis and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Bioinformatics and mechanistic analyses revealed that SNHG12 can directly target miR-218-5p to regulate YWHAZ mRNA, forming an SNHG12/miR-218-5p/YWHAZ axis and decreasing the ubiquitination of β-catenin. In addition, SNHG12 stabilizes CTNNB1 mRNA by binding with HuR, thus activating the β-catenin signaling pathway. Further analysis also revealed that the transcription factor YY1 negatively modulates SNHG12 transcription. In conclusion, SNHG12 is a potential prognostic marker and therapeutic target for GC. Negatively modulated by YY1, SNHG12 promotes GC metastasis and EMT by regulating the miR-218-5p/YWHAZ axis and stabilizing CTNNB1 via activation of the β-catenin signaling pathway.

This paper presents a new methodology for designing a broadband three-way Doherty power amplifier (DPA), which utilizes a reactance compensation generated by parallel peaking amplifiers to extend the bandwidth and improve the back-off efficiency. By analyzing the load impedance and efficiency of the reactance-compensated DPA, the optimal reactance at the output of the peaking amplifier required for bandwidth extension can be obtained. Then, a structure using two parallel peaking amplifiers is proposed to reduce the output reactance for the desired distribution. Using a $\lambda _{0}$ /4 transmission line, a sufficiently large output reactance of the peaking branch can be realized at the combining point over a wider frequency band, which can compensate the effective load impedance of the carrier amplifier and improve its efficiency and bandwidth. A wideband three-way DPA is designed and fabricated to verify the proposed method. Measurement results indicate that an efficiency of 50–53% at 10 dB output power back-off and a saturated efficiency of 54–68% can be achieved over the frequency range from 1.6 to 2.7 GHz.

A two-dimensional asymmetric bistable stochastic resonance (TABSR) system model is proposed, and the parameter optimization is performed adaptively by genetic algorithm (GA). In essence, the model is coupled by a monostable model with an asymmetric piecewise-linear model utilizing linear coupling. The monostable model is used as the control system, and the asymmetric piecewise-linear model is used as the controlled system. A set of parameters of the controlled system is firstly obtained, so the TABSR system model can achieve better performance by adjusting the parameters and coupling coefficients of the control system. The output signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) formula of the two-dimensional model is derived and compared with the asymmetric piecewise-linear stochastic resonance (APSR) model. Then the effects of system parameters and coupling coefficients of the control system on system performance are explored. Through numerical simulation, the correctness of the theoretical analysis is verified, and the system is proved to have high theoretical research value. Finally, TABSR is applied to industrial bearing fault diagnosis to recognize weak fault signals which shows the practical application value, and the comprehensive performance comparison with APSR is conducted to validate the advancement of TABSR.

Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is a green oxidant widely used in various fields, from water treatment to rocket propellant. Currently, H2O2 is predominantly manufactured via the anthraquinone process, which requires large infrastructure investments and high energy consumption. In this study, an argon plasma-catalytic bubble process was designed to generate underwater plasma bubbles for efficient delivery of reactive species for H2O2 synthesis, using only water as a reactant and solar radiation as the renewable energy source. The process demonstrates unprecedented energy efficiency by employing a plasma-bubble catalytic reactor capable of operation in two discharge modes, i.e., glow and spark discharges, and using dual reactors within a single AC-circuit to mitigate energy losses around the ground electrode. The results suggest that the principal route of H2O2 generation is from the combination of dissolved ˙OH radicals at the plasma–liquid interface (PLI) of the forming bubbles. The dissolution of H2O2 formed in the gas phase also contributes to aqueous H2O2 generation, especially when employing humid argon. By employing a secondary reactor to utilise the lost energy around the low-voltage electrode and integrating a strongly interfacial-coupled 2D-TiO2/2D-g-C3N4 photocatalyst in the glow discharge area, the achieved H2O2 production rate and energy efficiency of the system are 164.6 mg h−1 and 9.0 g kW h−1, respectively. This study provides new insights for sustainable and decentralised H2O2 production, and the proposed strategy can be further developed as a stand-alone or auxiliary technology in green and sustainable chemistry.

From nurturing living organisms to feeding billions of people, the transformation of atmospheric nitrogen to ammonia (NH3) is essential to sustain life on earth. In nature, bacteria and plants can produce ammonia from air and water at ambient conditions via nitrogen fixation processes. To follow this feat, we couple plasma-driven nitrogen oxides intermediary (NOx) generation and their electrocatalytic reduction to pave the way for scalable green ammonia at ambient conditions. We developed a non-thermal plasma bubble column reactor that brings together dual reactor configuration with multiple discharge schemes and bubble dynamic control to generate NOx intermediaries at low specific energy consumption of 3.8 kW h mol−1. The NOx intermediaries were converted to ammonia at a rate of 23.2 mg h−1 (42.1 nmol cm−2 s−1), using a scalable electrolyzer operating at a low cell voltage of 1.4 V, current densities of over 50 mA cm−2, and specific energy consumption of 0.51 kW h mol−1 NH3.

Integrating multi-modal imaging and therapy functions into a nanoplatform has been recognized as a promising strategy for cancer theranostics with high accuracy and efficiency. However, there are still some challenges, such as the complicated synthesis process and instability. Herein, we successfully prepared clearable MnCo2O4 nanodots modified with polyacrylic acid (MnCo2O4@PAA) as nanoagents for T1/T2 bimodal MRI imaging-guided PTT. Owing to their intrinsic magnetic properties, single MnCo2O4@PAA nanomaterials can serve as contrasts for T1/T2 bimodal MRI, providing precise diagnotic information. Moreover, excellent absorption in the NIR biowindow endows MnCo2O4@PAA with good photothermal performance, and the ultrasmall size of MnCo2O4@PAA allows them to penetrate deeply into tumors, resulting in a good anticancer effect in vitro and in vivo. What is more, MnCo2O4@PAA can almost be completely cleared from mice at 7 d postinjection, implying their negligible long-term toxicity. These findings demonstrate that MnCo2O4@PAA are promising nanoagents for cancer diagnosis and treatment, which have great potential for clinical applications.

As an important modeling parameter in multi-point geostatistics, training images determine the modeling effect to a great extent. It is necessary to evaluate and optimize the applicability of candidate training images before modeling by multi-point geostatistics. Conventional two-dimensional training images can’t describe the overlapping relation of sedimentary facies in space, and there is a deficiency in describing the event relation of single data. This paper puts forward a new training image optimization method. The basic idea is to arrange and analyze sand bodies filled with sedimentary sand bodies in point dams and river channels in different periods. The method of obtaining three-dimensional training images is to use sand thickness maps and sedimentary facies maps for spatial constraints. The simulation test shows that compared with the sedimentary facies model obtained from two-dimensional training images, the sedimentary facies model obtained from three-dimensional training images through multi-point geostatistics has high compatibility and is more in line with geological understanding. On the basis of fully understanding the development characteristics of the sedimentary system and quantitative geometry of sedimentary body in the study area, sedimentary microfacies models based on sequential indicator simulation method and target simulation method are established, respectively. By comparing and analyzing the sedimentary microfacies models established by three different methods, the results show that the multi-point geostatistics can stably present the planar distribution characteristics and overlapping spatial relationship of sedimentary microfacies and reproduce the complex spatial structure and geometric shape of fluvial facies. The model established by this method is more in line with the geological sedimentary model.

In order to enhance the robustness of image compression sensing system and reduce the mutual coherence between measurement matrix and sparse basis, this paper proposes an image measurement matrix optimization algorithm based on posterior information. Based on the traditional measurement matrix optimization model, the proposed algorithm considers the image reconstruction error from the OMP algorithm and uses it as a regular term. Matrix F-norm expansion and singular value decomposition are used to reduce the computational complexity and ensure the convergence of algorithm. Besides, the gradient matrix method is used to iteratively solve the measurement matrix. The proposed measurement matrix optimization model makes full use of the reconstruction error information of the image itself, not only improves the robustness of image compression sensing system, but also reduces the mutual coherence between the measurement matrix and the sparse basis. Experiments results show that compared with the state-of-the-art measurement matrix optimization algorithms, the proposed algorithm can reduce the average correlation coefficient more effectively, and the peak signal-to-noise ratio of the image can be increased by up to 1.2 dB.

Background Career intention is closely related to the distribution of university graduates across sectors in pharmacy-related field. The aim of the study was to describe career intention and identify its influencing factors among final-year pharmacy undergraduate students in China. Methods A questionnaire study on demographic characteristics, educational situation, family background, occupational value and career intention was conducted among final-year pharmacy undergraduate students at three universities in northwest China. Exploratory factor analysis was used to identify the constructs of occupational value. Multinominal logistic regression was adopted to analyse the factors influencing career intention. Results Among the 275 student participants, 62.6% intended to work in public medical institutions (rural: 44.4%; urban: 18.2%), 26.5% aimed to work in the pharmaceutical industry, 6.5% wanted to work in other sectors in the pharmacy-related field, and 4.4% planned to work in other fields. Their gender, father’s education level, monthly household income per capita, whose opinions were considered most during job selection, the self-gratification factor of occupational value, and employment guidance had significant impacts on students’ career intentions. Conclusion In the Chinese background, the career intention of more than half of the undergraduate pharmacy students was to work in public medical institutions. The career intentions of the overall participants were mainly determined by their gender, family background as well as psychological self-gratification, and they could also be influenced by employment guidance.

The specific diagnosis and treatment of gliomas is a primary challenge in clinic due to their high invasiveness and blood-brain barrier (BBB) obstruction. It is highly desirable to find a multifunctional agent with good BBB penetration for precise theranostics. Herein, we design and construct a core-shell structured nanotheranostic agent (YVO4:Nd3+-HMME@MnO2-LF, marked as YHM) with YVO4:Nd3+ particles as the core and MnO2 nanosheets as the shell. Sonosensitizer hematoporphyrinmonomethyl ether (HMME) and lactoferrin (LF) were further loaded and modified on the surface, giving it a good ability to cross the BBB, near-infrared fluorescence imaging in the second window (NIR-II)/magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) bimodality, and highly efficient sonodynamic therapy (SDT) of orthotopic gliomas. The YVO4:Nd3+ (25%) core exhibited good NIR-II fluorescence properties, enabling YHM to act as promising probes for NIR-II fluorescence imaging of vessels and orthotopic gliomas. MnO2 shell can not only provide O2 in the tumor microenvironments (TME) to significantly improve the healing efficacy of SDT, but also release Mn2+ ions to achieve T1-weight MRI in situ. Non-invasive SDT can effectively restrain tumor growth. This work not only demonstrates that multifunctional YHM is promising for diagnosis and treatment of orthotopic glioma, but also provides insights into exploring the theranostic agents based on rare earth-doped yttrium vanadate nanoparticles.

In this study, we characterized two novel species that were closely related to but hard to distinguish from C . kroppenstedtii by routine identification methods used in clinical laboratories. Since all 27 C. kroppenstedtii -like isolates were obtained from breast specimens of female patients with mastitis, they may be potential pathogens causing mastitis. We hope to perform further epidemiological investigation of these strains and explore their role in mastitis.

ε-Polylysine (ε-PL) is a cationic antimicrobial peptide, which easily forms complexes with food polyanions to weaken its antibacterial activity. A whey protein-ε-PL complex delivery system was found to be able to solve this problem. This study investigated the antimicrobial activity of the complexes and their mechanism against Gram-positive bacteria. The minimal inhibitory concentration of the complexes with different ε-PL contents against

Background: The combination of low-load (LL) training with blood flow restriction (BFR) has recently been shown to trigger a series of hemodynamic responses and promote vascular function in various populations. To date, however, evidence is sparse as to how this training regimen influences hemodynamic response and vascular function in older adults. Objective: To systematically evaluate the effects of LL-BFR training on hemodynamic response and vascular function in older adults. Methods: A PRISMA-compliant systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted. The systematic literature research was performed in the following electronic databases from their inception to 30 February 2022: PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, EBSCO host, the Cochrane Library and CNKI. Subsequently, a meta-analysis with inverse variance weighting was conducted. Results: A total of 1437 articles were screened, and 12 randomized controlled trials with a total 378 subjects were included in the meta-analysis. The meta-analysis results showed that LL-BFR training caused a significant acute increase in heart rate (WMD: 4.02, 95% CI: 0.93, 7.10, p < 0.05), systolic blood pressure (WMD: 5.05, 95% CI: 0.63, 9.48, p < 0.05) and diastolic blood pressure (WMD: 4.87, 95% CI: 1.37, 8.37, p < 0.01). The acute hemodynamic response induced by LL-BFR training is similar to that elicited by high-load (HL) training. Training volume, cuff pressure and width were identified as significant moderators in our subgroup and meta-regression analyses. After 30 min of training, resting systolic blood pressure significantly decreased (WMD: −6.595, 95% CI: −8.88, −3.31, p < 0.01) in the LL-BFR training group, but resting hemodynamic indexes exhibited no significant differences compared with common LL and HL training; long-term LL-BFR training resulted in significant improvements in flow-mediated vasodilation (FMD) (WMD: 1.30, 95% CI: 0.50, 2.10, p < 0.01), cardio ankle vascular index (CAVI) (WMD: 0.55, 95% CI: 0.11, 0.99, p < 0.05) and ankle brachial index (ABI) (WMD: 0.03, 95% CI: 0.00, 0.06, p < 0.05) in older adults. Conclusion: This systematic review and meta-analysis reveals that LL-BFR training will cause an acute hemodynamic response in older adults, which can return to normal levels 30 min after training, and systolic blood pressure significantly decreased. Furthermore, the beneficial effect of LL-BFR training on vascular function is to improve FMD, CAVI and ABI of older adults. However, due to the influence of the quality of the included studies and the sample size, more high-quality studies are needed to confirm such issues as BFR pressure and training risk.

Background Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fourth most common cause of cancer death worldwide, and the prognosis remains dismal. In this study, two pivotal factors, microvascular invasion (MVI) and vessels encapsulating tumor clusters (VETC) were preoperatively predicted simultaneously to assess prognosis. Methods A total of 133 HCC patients who underwent surgical resection and preoperative gadolinium ethoxybenzyl-diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (Gd-EOB-DTPA)-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were included. The statuses of MVI and VETC were obtained from the pathological report and CD34 immunohistochemistry, respectively. A three-dimensional convolutional neural network (3D CNN) for single-task learning aimed at MVI prediction and for multitask learning aimed at simultaneous prediction of MVI and VETC was established by using multiphase Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MRI. Results The 3D CNN for single-task learning achieved an area under receiver operating characteristics curve (AUC) of 0.896 (95% CI: 0.797–0.994). Multitask learning with simultaneous extraction of MVI and VETC features improved the performance of MVI prediction, with an AUC value of 0.917 (95% CI: 0.825–1.000), and achieved an AUC value of 0.860 (95% CI: 0.728–0.993) for the VETC prediction. The multitask learning framework could stratify high- and low-risk groups regarding overall survival (p < 0.0001) and recurrence-free survival (p < 0.0001), revealing that patients with MVI+/VETC+ were associated with poor prognosis. Conclusions A deep learning framework based on 3D CNN for multitask learning to predict MVI and VETC simultaneously could improve the performance of MVI prediction while assessing the VETC status. This combined prediction can stratify prognosis and enable individualized prognostication in HCC patients before curative resection.

Global warming has increased the security risk of permafrost environment in the Tibetan Plateau, which has been threatening infrastructures along the Qinghai–Tibet Engineering Corridor (QTEC). Combined with the traditional risk identification and the causal feedback relationship of system dynamics, the authors present a novel engineering environment risk identification model including five risk subsystems, i.e., regional geomorphology, climate change, ecological environment, permafrost environment and water environment. Our model could successfully identify the interaction relationships and transmission path among risk factors of the environment of the QTEC. The basic data calculation, interaction degree analysis and regional distribution characteristic analysis of the identified risk factors were carried out by using a geographic information system (GIS), a partial correlation analysis and a zoning analysis. The results show that the static factors (i.e., elevation, slope, aspect, relief degree of land surface and volume ice content) mainly affected the spatial distribution of environmental risk factors, while the climate change factors (i.e., mean annual air temperature, mean annual precipitation and surface solar radiation), among the dynamic factors, were the root factors of the dynamic changes in environmental risks. The model identified five types of parallel risk paths in the QTEC. This novel method and proposed model can be used to identify and assess multi-scale engineering environmental risks in the cryosphere.

It is known that surface waves have significant influence on the hydrodynamic performance of ocean current turbines which locate near the water surface. In order to quantitatively analyze the wave influence and reveal the interaction mechanism between the wave and the turbine flow, this paper proposes a three-dimensional transient computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model which can accurately predict the hydrodynamic performance of ocean current turbines under current-wave interaction flow conditions. The influences of two key wave parameters, the wave height and the submerged depth of the turbine, on the hydrodynamic forces and flow structures of a three-bladed horizontal axis ocean current turbine are discussed in depth. It is found that the both the average value and the oscillation amplitude of the torque on the turbine increase with the increased wave height, but decrease with the increase of the submerged depth. It is also found that in the cases of shallow submerged depth, the wake structures of the turbine are affected by the surface wave.

Objectives To develop a clinicopathological‐based nomogram to improve the prediction of the seeding risk of after percutaneous thermal ablation (PTA) in primary liver carcinoma (PLC). Methods A total of 2030 patients with PLC who underwent PTA were included between April 2009 and December 2018. The patients were grouped into a training dataset (n = 1024) and an external validation dataset (n = 1006). Baseline characteristics were collected to identify the risk factors of seeding after PTA. The multivariate Cox proportional hazards model based on the risk factors was used to develop the nomogram, which was used for assessment for its predictive accuracy using mainly the Harrell's C‐index and receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). Results The median follow‐up time was 30.3 months (range, 3.2‐115.7 months). The seeding risk was 0.89% per tumor and 1.5% per patient in the training set. The nomogram was developed based on tumor size, subcapsular, α‐fetoprotein (AFP), and international normalized ratio (INR). The 1‐, 2‐, and 3‐year cumulative seeding rates were 0.1%, 0.7% and 1.2% in the low‐risk group, and 1.7%, 6.3% and 6.3% in the high‐risk group, respectively, showing significant statistical difference (P, Seeding on the thoracoabdominal wall from primary liver carcinoma is a potential complication after percutaneous thermal ablation. Seeding risk is a liver ablation complication that affects future oncology management. A calibrated and objective model to predict seeding risk after liver ablation may guide patient selection and ablation treatment.

Highlights The MoS2 nanosheets served as co-catalyst could reduce Fe3+ ions with lower Fenton reaction activity into the highly reactive Fe2+ ions, thereby boosting the production of hydroxyl radical (•OH) for high efficiency chemodynamic therapy (CDT). The photothermal effect of MoS2 nanosheets motivated by second near-infrared light could further improve the treatment effectiveness by synergetic photothermal-enhanced CDT and photothermal therapy. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s40820-020-00516-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users., In spite of the tumor microenvironments responsive cancer therapy based on Fenton reaction (i.e., chemodynamic therapy, CDT) has been attracted more attentions in recent years, the limited Fenton reaction efficiency is the important obstacle to further application in clinic. Herein, we synthesized novel FeO/MoS2 nanocomposites modified by bovine serum albumin (FeO/MoS2-BSA) with boosted Fenton reaction efficiency by the synergistic effect of co-catalyze and photothermal effect of MoS2 nanosheets triggered by the second near-infrared (NIR II) light. In the tumor microenvironments, the MoS2 nanosheets not only can accelerate the conversion of Fe3+ ions to Fe2+ ions by Mo4+ ions on their surface to improve Fenton reaction efficiency, but also endow FeO/MoS2-BSA with good photothermal performances for photothermal-enhanced CDT and photothermal therapy (PTT). Consequently, benefiting from the synergetic-enhanced CDT/PTT, the tumors are eradicated completely in vivo. This work provides innovative synergistic strategy for constructing nanocomposites for highly efficient CDT. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s40820-020-00516-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

A flame-retardant jute/PP composite with excellent flame retarding and mechanical properties was prepared by the surface powder spraying process. The flame-retardant layer used the green and pollution-free β-cyclodextrin as a char agent. To improve the char forming ability of β-cyclodextrin, ammonium polyphosphate (APP) and melamine (MEL) were also used as acid source and a blowing agent, respectively. The results indicated that the char forming ability of β-CD could be improved by the reaction between β-CD and APP. The composite with 20% flame retardants containing β-CD, APP and MEL (1:2:1) showed the better flame-retardant properties. The LOI value of the composite increased to 27.8%, which reached the second fire resistance according to Japan's JISD 1201-77 standard, and the self-extinguishing time reached to 37 s. Compared with pure jute/PP, the PHRR value and Av-EHC value of the composites were reduced by 50% and 21%, respectively. The carbon residual at 700 °C was increased by 10.9%. The tensile strength and bending strength were increased by 5% and 19%. These results revealed that the flame retardancy, thermal stabilities and mechanical properties of composites containing β-CD/APP/MEL system were significantly improved by the surface powder spraying method.

Ruthenium alkoxymethylidene complexes have rarely been demonstrated as active species in metathesis reactions and are frequently regarded as inert. Herein, we highlight the ability of these Fischer-type carbenes to participate in cascade alternating ring-opening metathesis polymerization (AROMP) through their efficient alkyne addition reactions. When enyne monomers are combined with low-strain cyclic vinyl ethers, a controlled chain-growth copolymerization occurs that exhibits high degrees of alternation (>90% alternating diads) and produces degradable poly(vinyl ether) materials with low dispersities and targetable molecular weights. This new method is amenable to the synthesis of alternating diblock polymers that can be degraded to small molecule fragments under aqueous acidic conditions. This work furthers the potential of Fischer-type ruthenium alkylidenes in polymerization strategies and presents new avenues for the generation of functional metathesis materials.

Peracetic acid (PAA) is an emerging disinfectant for municipal wastewater treatment owing to good biocidal effects and limited harmful by-product formation. This study investigated the inactivation of Gram-negative