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As a new engineering technique, enzyme induced calcite precipitation (EICP) has demonstrated significant ecological benefits for bio-cementation and bioremediation, with urease serving as a key contributor to carbonate mineralization. This study investigated the enormous potential of urease-aided carbonate precipitation on the retention of free cadmium ions, also dig into its underlying mechanisms. Changes in pH and electrical conductivity (EC), as well as urease activity, were measured over six days. The carbonate precipitates generated during EICP process (with and without cadmium added) were analyzed by ATR-FTIR and XRD tests to determine the molecular composition and mineral types under different Ca and Mg ratios. SEM-EDS investigated the differences in carbonate morphology and internal mineral formation. The results showed that urease existed in the solution stably, however its activity decreased slightly with time. It was found that carbonate types and morphology mostly depend on calcium and magnesium ratios within pure EICP system, but with rare correlation in the presence of cadmium added solutions. The Cd2+ ions were sufficiently immobilized as carbonate precipitates and identified as pure otavite (CdCO 3), calcite co-precipitation (CaCO 3 -Cd), vaterite/aragonite chemisorption (CaMg(CO 3) 2). This suggested the role of urease-based EICP for a better means for metal bio-recovery and sequestration from the polluted environment. • Urease enzyme induced calcite precipitation (EICP) for cadmium was demonstrated. • Concentration of Mg2+/Ca2+ in mM: 10:10, 20:10, 30:10, 20:20, and 20:6.7 was used for EICP. • Cd2+ immobilized as carbonate precipitates namely otavite, calcite, vaterite, and aragonite. • Underlying mechanism of EICP on the retention of Cd2+ was elucidated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel method was used to synthesis nanosilica/waterborne polyurethane (WPU) hybrids by in situ hydrolysis and condensation of tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) and/or 3-aminopropyltriethoxylsilane bonding at the end of the WPU molecular chain. The hybrid was characterized by scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The results showed that the nanosilica/WPU hybrids with well-dispersed nanosilica particles were synthesized, in which the particles had typical diameters of about 50 nm. In addition, XPS and FTIR analyses demonstrated that chemical interaction occurred between WPU and silica. The effects of TEOS on surface wettability, water resistance, mechanical strength, and thermal properties of the hybrid were also evaluated by contact angle measurements, water absorption tests, mechanical tests, and differential scanning calorimetry, respectively. An increase in advancing contact angles, water resistance, and tensile strength, as well as decrease in elongation at break and glass transition temperature, were obtained with the addition of TEOS. Water absorption decreased from 17.3 to 5.5%. The tensile strength increased to a maximum of 29.7 MPa, an increase of about 34%. Elongations at break of the hybrids decreased 191%. These results were attributed to the effects of the nanosilica and the chemical interaction between WPU and silica. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2013 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of diphenylpyrimidine derivatives bearing a hydroxamic acid group was designed and synthesized as noncovalent EGFRT790M/L858R inhibitors to improve the biological activity and selectivity. One of the most promising compound 9d effectively interfered EGFRT790M/L858R binding with ATP and suppressed the proliferation of H1975 cells with IC 50 values of 1.097 nM and 0.09777 μM, respectively. Moreover, compound 9d also not only exhibited a high selective index of 43.4 for EGFRT790M/L858R over the wild-type and 10.9 for H1975 cells over A431, but also exhibited low toxicity against the normal HBE cells (IC 50 > 20 μΜ). In addition, the action mechanism validated that compound 9d effectively inhibited cell migration and promoted cell apoptosis by blocking cell cycle at G 2 /M stage. Furthermore, the target dose-dependently downregulated the expression of p-EGFR and arrested the activation of downstream Akt and ERK in H1975. All these studies provide important clues for the discovery of potent noncovalent EGFRT790M/L858R inhibitors. [Display omitted] • Potent noncovalent EGFRT790M/L858R inhibitors were designed and synthesized. • The scaffold of the target was diphenylpyrimidine bearing hydroxamic acid group. • 9d interfered EGFRT790M/L858R binding with ATP with IC 50 value of 1.097 nM. • 9d suppressed the proliferation of H1975 cells with IC 50 value of 0.09777 μM. • 9d exhibited low toxicity against the normal HBE cells (IC 50 > 20 μΜ). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the boom in machine learning, support vector machine (SVM) is widely employed in pattern recognition. However, most of SVM models concentrate on single-task learning, multi-task learning has been largely neglected. Compared with single-task learning, multi-task learning can achieve a good performance for each task by mining the shared information among tasks. In addition, loss function also plays an important role in the accuracy of SVM. Inspired by multi-task learning and the SVM with pinball loss (pin-SVM), we propose two novel multi-task support vector machines with pinball loss for binary classification, named as MTL-pin-SVM I and MTL-pin-SVM II. Both methods maximize the quantile distance for each task, which realizes less sensitive to noise and more stable for re-sampling. Moreover, MTL-pin-SVM II can use different combinations of kernel functions for different tasks, which can get better performance than other multi-task models by choosing the suitable combinations of kernel functions for different tasks. And they include the multi-task SVM with hinge loss as their special cases, which are denoted as MTL-C-SVM I and MTL-C-SVM II. The extensive experiments on multi-task datasets fully validate the validity of the proposed models. • Two novel multi-task algorithms named MTL-pin-SVM I and MTL-pin-SVM II are proposed. • The proposed methods achieve noise insensitivity and re-sampling stability. • MTL-pin-SVM II can utilize different nonlinear transformations for different tasks. • The regularization parameter gets a balance between common and private information. • Validity is verified by comparing them with related algorithms on benchmark datasets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Potent covalent EGFRT790M/L858R inhibitors were designed and synthesized. • The scaffold of the target was diphenylpyrimidine bearing hydroxamic acid group. • 10j interfered EGFRT790M/L858R binding with ATP with IC 50 value of 10.35 nM. • 10j suppressed the proliferation of H1975 cells with IC 50 value of 0.2113 μM. • 10j could block the cell cycle of H1975 cell lines at the G2/M stage. • 10j significantly suppressed tumour growth in xenograft mouse model. A series of 2,4-diarylaminopyrimidine derivatives bearing hydrophilic hydroxamic acids were designed and synthesized as potent EGFRT790M/L858R inhibitors. Among the derivatives synthesized, 10c (IC 50 = 5.192 nM), 10j (IC 50 = 10.35 nM), and 10o (IC 50 = 0.3524 nM) exhibited higher potencies against EGFRT790/M/L858R compared to the known EGFR inhibitor AZD-9291 (IC 50 = 20.80 nM). Moreover, 10j showed moderate activity against H1975 cells transfected with the EGFRT790M/L858R mutant, with an IC 50 of 0.2113 μM over A431 (wild-type EGFR, SI = 47.3). In addition, 10j exhibited low toxicity in normal HBE cells (human bronchial epithelial cells, IC 50 > 40 μΜ). Analysis of the mode of action indicated that 10j effectively induced apoptosis in H1975 cells by arresting the cells in the G2/M phase. Compound 10j also demonstrated efficacy in inhibiting tumor growth in a H1975 xenograft mouse model without losing body weight or killing the mice. Taken together, these results suggested that 10j might be a promising candidate for development as a potential treatment for NSCLC harboring the EGFRT790M/L858R mutation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Stress-sensitive effect on transient pressure behaviour of an MFHW is examined. • Flow regimes for an MFHW with a complex fracture network are greatly changed. • Convergence skin is exaggerated by stress-sensitive effect during late-time period. • Stress-sensitivity affects transient pressure behaviour in intermediate- and late-time periods. • Interface boundary shows its significant impact on transient pressure response. Combining horizontal drilling together with hydraulic fracturing greatly improves the economic viability of exploiting a tight reservoir, while the stress-sensitive effect raises the significant difficulty to accurately evaluate its well performance. In this paper, a semi-analytical model is proposed to evaluate transient pressure behaviour of a multi-fractured horizontal well (MFHW) in a naturally fractured reservoir with an arbitrary boundary and different fracture networks under stress-sensitive effect. More specifically, the boundary element method coupled with the Pedrosa's transform formulation is used to obtain accurate solutions of the nonlinear equations incorporated with stress-sensitive effect in an arbitrary-shaped reservoir with single-zone or two-zone matrix subsystems. Meanwhile, the Laplace-transform finite difference method can be utilized to semi-analytically deal with the nonlinear fracture subsystems consisting of primary, secondary, and natural fractures by dividing complex fracture networks into small fracture segments. The convergence-skin effect is then introduced to represent the radial flow pattern in hydraulic fractures near a horizontal wellbore. Not only can the effects of stress-sensitivity in the matrix and different fracture subsystems be respectively examined, but also the corresponding pressure responses together with pressure derivative curves are obtained. Such coupled theoretical formulations have been verified and then extended for field applications. The semi-analytical solution is found to be more accurate and reasonable than the solution with the uniform permeability modulus, while the stress-sensitivity has a dominant impact on the intermediate- and late-time flow periods. The convergence-skin effect can be aggravated in the late-time period by considering the inherent stress-sensitivity in a hydraulic fracture, especially at low fracture conductivity. Based on the sensitivity analysis associated with different networks, the initial fracture conductivity in primary and secondary fractures imposes a great impact on the early-stage bilinear flow and fluid feed regimes, while the initial fracture conductivity in natural fractures makes a difference to the transient pressure response in the transition flow regime. As the minimum fracture conductivity in the primary fractures decreases, such an influence becomes more dominant during the late-time flow period. However, the minimum fracture conductivity in secondary and natural fractures has an inappreciable effect on the flow regime. In the late-time flow period, the effect of boundary shape becomes more obvious on the type curves, especially for a relatively small reservoir compared with the size of a horizontal well intercepted by multiple hydraulic fractures. For a reservoir with two-zone systems, the smaller the mobility ratio in the two zones is, the earlier the boundary-dominated flow in the outer zone will commence. Not only does this study facilitate understanding the respective contribution of stress-sensitivity and convergence-skin effect on the well production, but also the newly proposed models can be applied to optimally design a hydraulic fracturing operation under various constraints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, fiber laser butt welding was performed on a 6 mm thick Ti-6Al-3Nb-2Zr-1Mo alloy and 10CrNi3MoV steel using two interlayer configurations, with the innovative introduction of an external alternating magnetic field. The microstructure, element distribution, and mechanical properties of the welded joint were investigated through various methods including scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometer, and X-ray diffraction. Results showed that joints with two interlayer configurations were present in an interfacial layer with non-uniform thickness and poor mechanical properties, due to the heterogeneous heat distribution in the thickness direction and the mixing of elements during the laser welding process. Applying an alternating magnetic field facilitated convection of the molten pool from center to sides, which accelerated forced convection in both vertical and horizontal directions leading to more uniform heat distribution as well as element distribution resulting in a significant reduction or disappearance of unmelted Cu for different interlayers, while also reducing the thickness of the interfacial layer at the upper part of the joint and significantly improving tensile strength by 5.9% and 8.3%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, high entropy (Ti 0.6 ,W 0.1 ,Mo 0.1 ,Nb 0.1 ,Ta 0.1)(C 0.78 ,N 0.22) ceramics (HECN) powders were synthesized by carbothermal reduction nitridation. (100-x) HECN-(x/2) Co-(x/2) Ni (x = 5–25 wt%) cermet was prepared by vacuum sintering. The relationship between microstructure and mechanical properties of HECN-based cermet sintered at 1450 °C and 1500 °C was studied. The results show that the second phase (W,Mo,Ti) 3+x (Co, Ni) 3−x C appears at both sintering temperatures, and its content decreases with the increase of binder Co, Ni content and sintering temperature; At the same time, the grain size of the hard phase of the cermet grows with the increase of Co and Ni content. In terms of mechanical properties, at both sintering temperatures, the cermet showed a decrease in hardness and an increase in fracture toughness with the increase of Co and Ni content, while the bending strength increased and then decreased. Among them, when the content of Co and Ni is 20 wt%, the bending strength of HECN-based cermet sintered at 1450 °C is the best, and the bending strength reaches 1640 MPa. This is attributed to the combined influence of many elements in high entropy cermet, which on the one hand leads to serious lattice distortion; On the other hand, improving the wettability and density of the cermet has a strengthening effect on the cermet. In addition, with the increase in Co and Ni content, the plastic deformation of the bond phase will inhibit crack propagation. The main paths are crack deflection and crack bridging, which increase the energy required for crack propagation and lead to a gradual increase in fracture toughness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

2D magnetic materials with distinct mechanical properties are of great importance for flexible spintronics. However, synthesizing 2D magnets with atomic thickness is challenging and their mechanical properties remain largely unexplored. Here, the growth of a ferrimagnetic 2D Cr9Se13 with anomalous elasticity is reported by an aged‐precursor‐assisted method. The obtained 2D Cr9Se13 exhibits an out‐of‐plane ferrimagnetic order with a coercivity larger than those of conventional magnetic materials. Noteworthy, it presents decent breaking strength and a Young's modulus of 52 ± 8 GPa that is among the smallest of the 2D family. This exceptional elasticity is attributed to the unique internal voids in Cr9Se13, as evidenced by the formed edge dislocations under strain. This work not only offers a facile method to synthesize 2D magnets but also develops avenues for obtaining 2D materials with desired mechanical properties, paving the way for future flexible spintronics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In patients not received chemotherapy, patients with low FAR were survival longer than those with high FAR ( SP 2 sp =1.026, P = 0.311; SP 2 sp =1.455, P = 0.228) (Figure 4). In patients received chemotherapy, patients with low FAR were survival longer than those with high FAR ( SP 2 sp = 7.861, P = 0.005; SP 2 sp = 8.830, P = 0.003). (A) Kaplan-Meier analysis of DFS for the FAR of all patients with TNBC, (B) Kaplan-Meier analysis of OS for the FAR of all patients with TNBC. ht Construction and Validation of the Predictive Nomogram The independent prognostic factors for DFS and OS were evaluated by univariate and multivariate Cox regression model. [Extracted from the article]

With the rapid growth of peer-to-peer (P2P) traffic in the access network, the capability to implement inter-optical network unit (ONU) communication (IOC) has become a fundamental requirement for the underlying passive optical network (PON). The conventional IOC is realized electronically on layer 2 or layer 3 and relies on the transfer operations in the optical line terminal (OLT), thus resulting in high transmission latency and excessive bandwidth consumption. To achieve an efficient IOC, the optical virtual private network (OVPN) is proposed to establish direct optical layer links among ONUs by adding some auxiliary optical components to the existing PON system. However, in previously reported OVPN schemes, the added devices are only used for IOC and cannot fulfill other network functions, which leads to poor flexibility. To improve the reconfigurability of the whole PON system, we present two simple modifications that can not only achieve a high-bandwidth OVPN but also increase the upstream channel capacity. The proposed schemes introduce a new wavelength as the OVPN channel to refrain from changing the physical configuration of the normal upstream and downstream. One scheme retrofits the optical line terminal (OLT) with a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) based reflection module, while the other employs an additional short-length distribution fiber for each ONU to redirect IOC traffic. In both schemes, optical switches (OSWs) are used to control the added OVPN wavelength and the original upstream wavelength so that the two wavelengths can transmit IOC traffic and upstream traffic flexibly. According to the states of OSWs, PON systems will form multiple working modes adapted to different network conditions. To evaluate the improvement in flexibility of wavelength usage, the throughput performances of proposed schemes were analyzed theoretically under varying offered loads and IOC traffic proportions. In addition, the feasibility of both schemes was verified through physical layer simulations, where the optical spectra and bit error rates (BERs) of signals on different wavelengths were investigated. • Two flexible optical virtual private network schemes assisted by optical switches. • The two proposed schemes can improve the capacity of the upstream channel. • The throughput performance of the two proposed schemes is analyzed in theory. • The feasibility of the two proposals is verified through physical layer simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neuroimaging-based brain age prediction using deep learning is gaining popularity. However, few studies have attempted to leverage diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to predict brain age. In this study, we proposed a 3D convolutional neural network model (3DCNN) and trained it on fractional anisotropy (FA) data from six publicly available datasets (n = 2406, age = 17–60) to estimate brain age. Implementing a two-loop nested cross-validation scheme with a tenfold cross-validation procedure, we achieved a robust prediction performance of a mean absolute error (MAE) of 2.785 and a correlation coefficient of 0.932. We also employed Grad-Cam++ to visualize the salient features of the proposed model. We identified a few highly salient fiber tracts, including the genu of corpus callosum and the left cerebellar peduncle, among others that play a pivotal role in our model. In sum, our model reliably predicted brain age and provided novel insight into age-related changes in brains' axonal structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Al/Ti dissimilar alloy plates with a thickness of 6 mm were butt joined using the direct laser fusion-brazing method. A systematic comparison of laser fusion brazing of four groups of AA5083 to TA31 plates with different groove angles ranging from 60 to 90° was performed by laser beam offsetting to the aluminum alloy side. The related weld appearance, microstructures in the weld and at the joint interface, defects formation mechanism, and fracture resistance were analyzed and compared in detail. A preferable joint appearance characterized by wetting the top and bottom sides of the titanium alloy with molten aluminum alloy can be obtained except for the joints with 60° groove angle. The uniformity of intermetallic compound (IMC) morphology and thickness distribution at the interface was improved as the groove angle decreases, accompanied by a decrease in the diffusion distance of main elements at the same location. Severe interfacial crack and intergranular hot crack defects were formed in the joints with 90 and 60° groove angles, respectively. The interfacial cracks are induced by the difference in hardness and elastic modulus between TiAl3 phases and titanium base metal or aluminum weld. The hot crack defects are mainly caused by microstructure mismatch including grain size and texture orientation mismatch between the fine grain zone near the interface and the coarse grain zone inside the aluminum alloy weld. The crack-free joints with groove angles of 70° show the highest tensile strength of 268.76 MPa due to the relatively uniformly distributed and fine interfacial IMCs. This study reveals the possibility to realize efficient joining of medium-thick titanium alloy and aluminum alloy plates by using the laser fusion-brazing method without other auxiliary equipment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The Artemisia species are widely distributed around the world, and have found important usage in traditional medicinal practice. This study was designed to investigate the metabolites of Tibetan Artemisia species and understand the metabolic pathways. Methods: The metabolites from three Artemisia species in Tibet, were analyzed using LC–MS/MS. The differential metabolites were classified and analyzed by principal component analysis (PCA), partial least squares analysis and hierarchical clustering. KEGG Pathway enrichment analysis was used to identify the key metabolic pathways involved in the differential metabolites of three Artemisia species. Result: The metabolites of three Artemisia species were analyzed. Under the positive ion mode in LC–MS/MS, 262 distinct metabolites were differentially detected from Artemisia sieversiana and Artemisia annua, 312 differential metabolites were detected from Artemisia wellbyi and Artemisia sieversiana, 306 differential metabolites were screened from Artemisia wellbyi and Artemisia annua. With the negative ion mode, 106 differential metabolites were identified from Artemisia sieversiana and Artemisia annua, 131 differential metabolites were identified from Artemisia wellbyi and Artemisia sieversiana,133 differential metabolites were differentially detected from Artemisia wellbyi and Artemisia annua. The selected differential metabolites were mainly organic acids and their derivatives, ketones, phenols, alcohols and coumarins. Among these natural compounds, artemisinin, has the highest relative content in Artemisia annua. Conclusions: This is the first reported attempt to comparatively determine the types of the metabolites of the three widely distributed Artemisia species in Tibet. The information should help medicinal research and facilitate comprehensive development and utilization of Artemisia species in Tibet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A novel pyramid-BiVO 4 /CdSe photoanode with enriched oxygen vacancies was prepared. • Pyramid-BiVO 4 /CdSe heterojunction promotes solar harvesting and carrier separation. • The pyramid-BiVO 4 /CdSe photoanode exhibits superior PEC performance and stability. • The corrosion potential of 304SS coupled with 8V-BC photoanode drop 708 mV. In order to solve the bottleneck problem of weak efficiency of carriers' separation and transfer in BiVO 4 photocatalyst, a novel pyramid-BiVO 4 with sufficient oxygen vacancies was successfully synthesized via a low-temperature solvothermal method. By adjusting solution pH and adding SDBS surfactant, the prepared samples could have a variety of controllable morphologies and exposed {0 0 1} facets, which were determined by SEM, XRD, and BET methods. XPS O1s peak and ESR signals indicated that pyramid-BiVO 4 exhibited higher oxygen vacancies concentration than others. Besides, CdSe quantum dots (QDs) were introduced to construct BiVO 4 /CdSe heterojunctions composite based photoanode to further promote solar harvesting and carrier separation. The photoelectrochemical experimental results showed that 304 stainless steel (304SS) coupled with 8V-BC photoanode showed an enhanced photocurrent density (608 μA·cm−2) and maximum potential drop (708 mV), which were equivalent to 5.06 times and 2.10 times that of the original BiVO 4 , respectively. Mechanism study illustrated that the ultra-high performance of the 8V-BC photoanode was attributed to the synergistic effect of enriched oxygen vacancies, exposed {0 0 1} facets, enlarged visible light absorption and larger specific surface area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In this paper, a back propagation neural network-based function approximation scheme is proposed to provide the capacity of the nonuniform quantization (FABP) in intensity modulated direct detection-based optical filter bank multicarrier (IMDD-FBMC) system. In the means of leveraging this scheme, the quantization noise can be reduced to further improve the ratio of Signal-to-Quantization noise, namely SQNR. Further, with the help of the nonlinear programming, the optimal quantization levels are accurately calculated. And, to validate the feasibility of our method, the simulation and experiment investigation are conducted on the 10-Gb/s transmission system with optical order offset quadrature amplitude modulation based optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OQAM-OFDM) signals through 80-km fiber. Results verified that, our scheme can achieve the error vector magnitude (EVM) improvement of ∼ 2.0% and received sensitivity improvement of at least 2 dB in the same quantization bit case compared with uniform quantization scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hyperspectral imaging has emerged as a promising high-resolution and real-time imaging technology with potential applications in medical diagnostics and surgical guidance. In this study, we developed a high-speed hyperspectral camera by integrating a Fabry-Perot cavity filter on each CMOS pixel. We used it to non-invasively detect three blood components (haemoglobin, platelet, and total bilirubin). Specifically, we acquired transmission images of the subject's fingers, extracted spectral signals at each wavelength, and used dynamic spectroscopy to obtain non-invasive blood absorption spectra. The prediction models were established using the PLSR method and were modelled and validated based on the standard clinical-biochemical test values. The experimental results demonstrated excellent performance. The best predictions were obtained for haemoglobin, with a high related coefficient (R) of 0.85 or more in both the calibration and prediction sets and a mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) of only 5.7%. The results for total bilirubin were also ideal, with R values exceeding 0.8 in both sets and a MAPE of 10.6%. Although the prediction results for platelets were slightly less satisfactory, the error was still less than 15%, indicating that the results were also acceptable. Overall, our study highlights the potential of hyperspectral imaging technology for the development of portable and affordable devices for blood analysis, which can be used in various settings. [Display omitted] • A hyperspectral camera with 24 wavelengths has been achieved by integrating a Fabry Perot cavity on a CMOS sensor. • Using this hyperspectral camera, we have achieved non-invasive detection of hemoglobin, platelets and bilirubin. • The prediction error of all three components is less than 15%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we propose a novel polar coded intensity modulation direct detection (IM/DD) optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) system for short reach system. A method of evaluating the channel signal noise ratio (SNR) is proposed for soft-demodulation. The experimental results demonstrate that, compared to the conventional case, ∼ 9.5 dB net coding gain (NCG) at the bit error rate (BER) of 1E-3 can be achieved after 40-km standard single mode fiber (SSMF) transmission. Based on the experimental result, (512,256) polar code with low complexity and satisfactory BER performance meets the requirement of low latency in short reach system, which is a promising candidate for latency-stringent short reach optical system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A digital chaos-masked optical encryption scheme is proposed and demonstrated. The transmitted signal is completely masked by interference chaotic noise in both bandwidth and amplitude with analog method via dual-drive Mach-Zehnder modulator (DDMZM), making the encrypted signal analog, noise-like and unrecoverable by post-processing techniques. The decryption process requires precise matches of both the amplitude and phase between the cancellation and interference chaotic noises, which provide a large two-dimensional key space with the help of optical interference cancellation technology. For 10-Gb/s 16-quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) signal over the maximum transmission distance of 80 km without dispersion compensation or inline amplifier, the tolerable mismatch ranges of amplitude and phase/delay at the forward error correction (FEC) threshold of 3.8×10 −3 are 0.44 dB and 0.08 ns respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Y 2 O 3 reduced the grain size and decreased the weight gain of alumina-forming austenitic oxide dispersion strengthened steel. • Al 2 O 3 layer were observed in the grain boundaries, and reduced the corrosion degree of the underlying material. • The structure in the inner layer was affected slightly by Y 2 O 3 particles. • Y 2 O 3 particles at the oxide/matrix interface caused the sunken corrosion pits, but the further development was inhibited by Al addition. A new alumina-forming austenitic oxide dispersion strengthened steel was prepared, and the general corrosion behavior was studied. The results showed that the Y 2 O 3 addition reduced the grain size. With small grains, the grain boundary density increased, which accelerated the formation of stable oxide scale in the corrosion process and obviously decreased the weight gain of AFA-ODS steel. A four-layer oxide scale was formed on the both sides of grain boundary in the inner layer, and a Cr-depletion and metallic Ni layer were formed at the oxide/matrix interface. The upper part of inner layer had many cavities. Al 2 O 3 protective layer appeared in the inner oxide layer and the corrosion degree of the underlying material was reduced. Grain boundary migration was also induced by the element diffusion. The structure surrounding Y 2 O 3 particles in the inner layer was affected slightly by Y 2 O 3 particles. Y 2 O 3 particles at the oxide/matrix interface could promote the corrosion and caused the sunken corrosion pits because the element could diffuse easily through the interface between Y 2 O 3 particles and the material. However, with the addition of Al, Al could diffuse into the sunken pits and wrapped Y 2 O 3 particles, which inhibited the further development of the sunken pits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Preparation of high-quality two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) is the precondition for realizing their applications. However, the synthesized 2D TMDCs (e.g., MoS 2 ) crystals suffer from low quality due to the massive defects formed during the growth. Here, we report single-atom sulfur (S 1 ) as a highly reactive sulfur species to grow ultrahigh-quality monolayer MoS 2 . Derived from battery waste, sulfurized polyacrylonitrile (SPAN) is found to be exclusive and efficient in releasing S 1 . The monolayer MoS 2 prepared by SPAN exhibits an ultralow defect density of ∼7 × 10 12 cm -2 and the narrowest photoluminescence (PL) emission peak with full-width at half-maximum of ∼47.11 meV at room temperature. Moreover, the statistical resonance Raman and low-temperature PL results further verify the significantly lower defect density and higher optical quality of SPAN-grown MoS 2 than those of the conventional S-powder-grown samples. This work provides an effective approach for preparing ultrahigh-quality 2D single crystals, facilitating their industrial applications.

Background: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is now the most common cause of chronic liver disease. Studies have found that ezetimibe may be utilized as a supplemental treatment for NAFLD. Additionally, many clinical trials reported the potential impacts of ezetimibe on patients with NAFLD, although some conclusions remain controversial. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the effects of ezetimibe on patients with NAFLD., Method: Online search was conducted across databases including PubMed, Embase, Scopus, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Wanfang, VIP, and CNKI to retrieve all relevant controlled studies on the treatment of NAFLD with ezetimibe from the inception of the databases until April 2024. This meta-analysis comprised 10 randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Statistical analysis was conducted using the Meta package in R v4.3.2., Results: A total of ten RCTs were included in this study, encompassing 578 patients (290 in the ezetimibe group and 288 in the control group) diagnosed with NAFLD/non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). The results indicated that ezetimibe significantly reduced levels of aspartate aminotransferase ( P < 0.01), glutamyl transferase (γ-GT) ( P < 0.01), total cholesterol ( P < 0.01), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol ( P < 0.01), high-sensitivity C-reactive protein ( P < 0.01), and interleukin-6 ( P < 0.01), and markedly increased levels of glycated hemoglobin ( P = 0.02)., Conclusions: Ezetimibe may partially improve transaminase levels and positively impact liver function in patients with NAFLD/NASH., Systematic Review Registration: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/, identifier CRD42023461467., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Jiao, Wang, Liu, Zhao and Zhang.)

Alzheimer's disease is the most common major neurocognitive disorder. Although currently, no cure exists, understanding the neurobiological substrate underlying Alzheimer's disease progression will facilitate early diagnosis and treatment, slow disease progression, and improve prognosis. In this study, we aimed to understand the morphological changes underlying Alzheimer's disease progression using structural magnetic resonance imaging data from cognitively normal individuals, individuals with mild cognitive impairment, and Alzheimer's disease via a contrastive variational autoencoder model. We used contrastive variational autoencoder to generate synthetic data to boost the downstream classification performance. Due to the ability to parse out the nonclinical factors such as age and gender, contrastive variational autoencoder facilitated a purer comparison between different Alzheimer's disease stages to identify the pathological changes specific to Alzheimer's disease progression. We showed that brain morphological changes across Alzheimer's disease stages were significantly associated with individuals' neurofilament light chain concentration, a potential biomarker for Alzheimer's disease, highlighting the biological plausibility of our results., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Interference colors hold significant importance in optics and arts. Current methods for printing interference colors entail complex procedures and large-scale printing systems for the scarcity of inks that exhibit both sensitivity and tunability to external fields. The production of highly transparent inks capable of rendering transmissive colors has presented ongoing challenges. Here, a type of paramagnetic ink based on 2D materials that exhibit polychrome in one magnetic field is invented. By precisely manipulating the doping ratio of magnetic elements within titanate nanosheets, the magneto-optical sensitivity named Cotton-Mouton coefficient is engineerable from 728 to a record high value of 3272 m -1 T -2 , with negligible influence on its intrinsic wide optical bandgap. Combined with the sensitive and controllable magneto-responsiveness of the ink, modulate and non-invasively print transmissive interference colors using small permanent magnets are precised. This work paves the way for preparing transmissive interference colors in an energy-saving and damage-free manner, which can expand its use in widespread areas., (© 2024 Wiley‐VCH GmbH.)

Discs and numerous other consumer products have been developed for point of care testing (POCT) to replace traditional large and expensive biochemical devices in certain scenarios. Herein, we propose a drip-dry strategy (2D strategy) assisted Blu-ray disc (BD) biosensor, termed BDB, for rapid and portable POCT within 30 min with the cost of a single test < $1. The platform utilizes the covered area formed by the deposition of the substance to be measured on the activated BD surface after the evaporation of water and realizes the quantitative detection of the target through the error readout of free disc quality diagnosis software. As a proof of concept, we first demonstrated the feasibility of direct quantitative detection of substances in solution in a single system through the detection of pure proteins avoiding colorimetric reagent used in traditional optical detection. For the complex mixed systems, we then innovatively utilize the principle that soluble targets promote/inhibit the dissolution of insoluble precipitates to achieve specific detection of targets and successfully apply BDB to the indirect quantitative detection of glutathione (GSH) with LOD of 0.447 mM in the range of 2-16 mM and organophosphorus pesticides (OPs) with LOD of 2.122 × 10 -7 M in the range of 1.289 × 10 -7 -1.289 × 10 -4 M. The BDB is widely applicable, easy to operate, and less time-consuming, which is anticipated to provide an alternative method for early, on-site detection or screening.

This paper presents a gesture-controlled robotic arm system designed for agricultural harvesting, utilizing a data glove equipped with bending sensors and OptiTrack systems. The system aims to address the challenges of labor-intensive fruit harvesting by providing a user-friendly and efficient solution. The data glove captures hand gestures and movements using bending sensors and reflective markers, while the OptiTrack system ensures high-precision spatial tracking. Machine learning algorithms, specifically a CNN+BiLSTM model, are employed to accurately recognize hand gestures and control the robotic arm. Experimental results demonstrate the system's high precision in replicating hand movements, with a Euclidean Distance of 0.0131 m and a Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of 0.0095 m, in addition to robust gesture recognition accuracy, with an overall accuracy of 96.43%. This hybrid approach combines the adaptability and speed of semi-automated systems with the precision and usability of fully automated systems, offering a promising solution for sustainable and labor-efficient agricultural practices.

Spinocerebellar ataxia type 3 (SCA3) is primarily characterized by progressive cerebellar degeneration, including gray matter atrophy and disrupted anatomical and functional connectivity. The alterations of cerebellar white matter structural network in SCA3 and the underlying neurobiological mechanism remain unknown. Using a cohort of 20 patients with SCA3 and 20 healthy controls, we constructed cerebellar structural networks from diffusion MRI and investigated alterations of topological organization. Then, we mapped the alterations with transcriptome data from the Allen Human Brain Atlas to identify possible biological mechanisms for regional selective vulnerability to white matter damage. Compared with healthy controls, SCA3 patients exhibited reduced global and nodal efficiency, along with a widespread decrease in edge strength, particularly affecting edges connected to hub regions. The strength of inter-module connections was lower in SCA3 group and negatively correlated with the Scale for the Assessment and Rating of Ataxia score, International Cooperative Ataxia Rating Scale score, and cytosine-adenine-guanine repeat number. Moreover, the transcriptome-connectome association study identified the expression of genes involved in synapse-related and metabolic biological processes. These findings suggest a mechanism of white matter vulnerability and a potential image biomarker for the disease severity, providing insights into neurodegeneration and pathogenesis in this disease., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

2D materials are promising for strain engineering due to their atomic thickness and exceptional mechanical properties. In particular, non-uniform and localized strain can be induced in 2D materials by generating out-of-plane deformations, resulting in novel phenomena and properties, as witnessed in recent years. Therefore, the locally strained 2D materials are of great value for both fundamental studies and practical applications. This review discusses techniques for introducing local strains to 2D materials, and their feasibility, advantages, and challenges. Then, the unique effects and properties that arise from local strain are explored. The representative applications based on locally strained 2D materials are illustrated, including memristor, single photon emitter, and photodetector. Finally, concluding remarks on the challenges and opportunities in the emerging field of locally strained 2D materials are provided., (© 2024 Wiley‐VCH GmbH.)

The process of lignin extraction often involves intricate chemical transformations, influencing its potential for high-value utilization. By investigating the process of lignin derivatives extraction from hemp fibers using supercritical CO 2 , ethanol, and water, we identified the relationship between the chemical structure of lignin derivatives and temperature. This discovery contributes to controlling the chemical structure of lignin derivatives through temperature modulation. We observed that lignin derivatives extracted within the temperature range of 100-120 °C exhibited the lowest average molecular weight and polydispersity index, presenting a disordered microstructure with the highest hydroxyl content. Lignin derivatives extracted between 140 and 160 °C showed an increase in average molecular weight and polydispersity index, decreased hydroxyl content, and a gradual transformation of microstructure into spherical particles. At 180 °C, the average molecular weight and polydispersity index of lignin derivatives decreased, the microstructure of lignin derivatives showed fewer spherical particles, while its hydroxyl content exhibited a partial recovery. Chemical analysis revealed a lower degree of condensation in lignin derivatives at 100-120 °C. Between 120 and 160 °C, the degree of condensation increased. At 180 °C, extensive degradation occurred in lignin derivatives. This research advances innovative techniques for lignin derivative separation, contributing to their utilization in higher-value applications., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Aim: Precision liver resection is considered the gold standard in liver surgery. Therefore, optimizing the resection of lesions and minimizing unnecessary time of liver ischemia and hypoxia have become focal points., Methods: A total of 96 patients with primary liver cancer admitted to Cangzhou People's Hospital from January 2017 and December 2019 were included in this retrospective study, and divided into two groups according to the different surgical treatment, with 50 cases in the control group (conventional hepatic resection) and 46 cases in the observation group (precision liver resection). The surgical indicators, liver function, alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), complications, and three-year follow-up results were analyzed in the two groups., Results: The operation time, intraoperative bleeding, hospital stay, and time of anal venting in the observation group were shorter than those in the control group (P<0.05). One week after surgery, AST, TBiL, ALT, and γ-GT levels decreased in both groups, with more significant decreases in the observation group than those in the control group (P<0.05). PCT and hs-CRP levels in the observation group were significantly lower than those in the control group (P<0.05) observation. The incidences of pleural effusion, bile leak, abdominal infection, pulmonary infection, as well as the total complication rates in the observation group were lower in the observation group than those in the control group (P<0.05). The follow-up data revealed that the observation group exhibited a lower recurrence rate observationand higher survival rate than the control group within 3 years, but these differences were not significant (P>0.05)., Conclusion: Precision liver resection can effectively treat primary liver cancer, reduce the incidence of complications, and promote patient recovery after surgery., Competing Interests: None., (AJTR Copyright © 2024.)

Purpose: Coronary artery disease (CAD) patients frequently face readmissions due to suboptimal disease management. Prediction models are pivotal for detecting early unplanned readmissions. This review offers a unified assessment, aiming to lay the groundwork for enhancing prediction models and informing prevention strategies., Methods: A search through five databases (PubMed, Web of Science, EBSCOhost, Embase, China National Knowledge Infrastructure) up to September 2023 identified studies on prediction models for coronary artery disease patient readmissions for this review. Two independent reviewers used the CHARMS checklist for data extraction and the PROBAST tool for bias assessment., Results: From 12,457 records, 15 studies were selected, contributing 30 models targeting various CAD patient groups (AMI, CABG, ACS) from primarily China, the USA, and Canada. Models utilized varied methods such as logistic regression and machine learning, with performance predominantly measured by the c-index. Key predictors included age, gender, and hospital stay duration. Readmission rates in the studies varied from 4.8% to 45.1%. Despite high bias risk across models, several showed notable accuracy and calibration., Conclusion: The study highlights the need for thorough external validation and the use of the PROBAST tool to reduce bias in models predicting readmission for CAD patients., Competing Interests: The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work., (© 2024 Zhang et al.)

The spread of misinformation online is a global problem that requires global solutions. To that end, we conducted an experiment in 16 countries across 6 continents (N = 34,286; 676,605 observations) to investigate predictors of susceptibility to misinformation about COVID-19, and interventions to combat the spread of this misinformation. In every country, participants with a more analytic cognitive style and stronger accuracy-related motivations were better at discerning truth from falsehood; valuing democracy was also associated with greater truth discernment, whereas endorsement of individual responsibility over government support was negatively associated with truth discernment in most countries. Subtly prompting people to think about accuracy had a generally positive effect on the veracity of news that people were willing to share across countries, as did minimal digital literacy tips. Finally, aggregating the ratings of our non-expert participants was able to differentiate true from false headlines with high accuracy in all countries via the 'wisdom of crowds'. The consistent patterns we observe suggest that the psychological factors underlying the misinformation challenge are similar across different regional settings, and that similar solutions may be broadly effective., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.)

Optical chaos is vital for various applications such as private communication, encryption, anti-interference sensing, and reinforcement learning. Chaotic microcombs have emerged as promising sources for generating massive optical chaos. However, their inter-channel correlation behavior remains elusive, limiting their potential for on-chip parallel chaotic systems with high throughput. In this study, we present massively parallel chaos based on chaotic microcombs and high-nonlinearity AlGaAsOI platforms. We demonstrate the feasibility of generating parallel chaotic signals with inter-channel correlation <0.04 and a high random number generation rate of 3.84 Tbps. We further show the application of our approach by demonstrating a 15-channel integrated random bit generator with a 20 Gbps channel rate using silicon photonic chips. Additionally, we achieved a scalable decision-making accelerator for up to 256-armed bandit problems. Our work opens new possibilities for chaos-based information processing systems using integrated photonics, and potentially can revolutionize the current architecture of communication, sensing and computations., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

The wastewater discharge from the process of chrome plating, which contains 6:2 chlorinated polyfluorinated ether sulfonate (F-53B) and chromium (Cr), may be toxic to biofilm. In this study we found that the biofilm formed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 was inhibited by exposure to a combination of F-53B and Cr(VI). The combined pollution damaged the cell membranes and the structure of the biofilm, and inhibited the production of the Pseudomonas quinolone-based signal, which affected biofilm formation. Moreover, the secretion of extracellular polymeric substances decreased as a result of this combined exposure. Exposure to F-53B and Cr(VI) individually or in combination could induce the excessive accumulation of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS), and the ROS positive rate of the bacteria increased under the treatment with 0.2 mmol/L of Cr(VI) and 250 nmol/L of F-53B, respectively. In addition, the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) were enhanced for scavenging ROS in the bacteria that were exposed to Cr(VI) and F-53B. As an antioxidant, rutin was used to repair the toxicity of Cr(VI) and F-53B towards the biofilm formed by the bacteria. When rutin was added to the bacteria medium, with either Cr(VI) or F-53B as pollutant, or with the combined pollutants, the extracellular protein content of the bacteria recovered to 0.84, 0.94, and 0.85 times that of the control, respectively. Meanwhile, the accumulation of ROS and the activities of SOD and CAT decreased, which indicated that the addition of rutin can alleviate the oxidative stress and promote the antioxidant stress system., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this article., (Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Current materials comprising suture anchors used to reconstruct ligament-bone junctions still have limitation in biocompatibility, degradability or mechanical properties. Magnesium alloys are potential bone implant materials, and Mg 2+ has been shown to promote ligament-bone healing. Here, we used Mg-2 wt.% Zn-0.5 wt.% Y-1 wt.% Nd-0.5 wt.% Zr (ZE21C) alloy and Ti6Al4V (TC4) alloy to prepare suture anchors to reconstruct the patellar ligament-tibia in SD rats. We studied the degradation behavior of the ZE21C suture anchor via in vitro and in vivo experiments and assessed its reparative effect on the ligament-bone junction. In vitro , the ZE21C suture anchor degraded gradually, and calcium and phosphorus products accumulated on its surface during degradation. In vivo , the ZE21C suture anchor could maintain its mechanical integrity within 12 weeks of implantation in rats. The tail of the ZE21C suture anchor in high stress concentration degraded rapidly during the early implantation stage (0-4weeks), while bone healing accelerated the degradation of the anchor head in the late implantation stage (4-12weeks). Radiological, histological, and biomechanical assays indicated that the ZE21C suture anchor promoted bone healing above the suture anchor and fibrocartilaginous interface regeneration in the ligament-bone junction, leading to better biomechanical strength than the TC4 group. Hence, this study provides a basis for further research on the clinical application of degradable magnesium alloy suture anchors., Competing Interests: No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors., (© 2023 The Authors.)

Evidence from psychology and cognitive neuroscience indicates that the human brain's semantic system contains several specific subsystems, each representing a particular dimension of semantic information. Word ratings on these different semantic dimensions can help investigate the behavioral and neural impacts of semantic dimensions on language processes and build computational representations of language meaning according to the semantic space of the human cognitive system. Existing semantic rating databases provide ratings for hundreds to thousands of words, which can hardly support a comprehensive semantic analysis of natural texts or speech. This article reports a large database, the Six Semantic Dimension Database (SSDD), which contains subjective ratings for 17,940 commonly used Chinese words on six major semantic dimensions: vision, motor, socialness, emotion, time, and space. Furthermore, using computational models to learn the mapping relations between subjective ratings and word embeddings, we include the estimated semantic ratings for 1,427,992 Chinese and 1,515,633 English words in the SSDD. The SSDD will aid studies on natural language processing, text analysis, and semantic representation in the brain., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

The neural representation of concepts is a focus of many cognitive neuroscience studies. Prior works studying concept representation with neural imaging data have been largely limited to concrete concepts. The use of relatively small and constrained sets of stimuli leaves open the question of whether the findings can generalize other concepts. We share an fMRI dataset in which 11 participants thought of 672 individual concepts, including both concrete and abstract concepts. The concepts were probed using words paired with images in which the words were selected to cover a wide range of semantic categories. Furthermore, according to the componential theories of concept representation, we collected the 54 semantic features of the 672 concepts comprising sensory, motor, spatial, temporal, affective, social, and cognitive experiences by crowdsourcing annotations. The quality assessment results verify this as a high-quality neuroimaging dataset. Such a dataset is well suited to study how the brain represents different semantic features and concepts, creating the essential condition to investigate the neural representation of individual concepts., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Aconitine is a plant toxin derived from aconitum genus and well known for its neurological and vascular toxicity. However, the mechanism of toxicity on the growth and apoptosis of the neurological cells has not been well investigated. In this study, we used HT22 cell lines derived from hippocampus to explore the mechanism. We began with examination of the viability and DA (dopamine) contents of cells treated with different dose of aconitine. In this study, we investigated the role of apoptosis in AC-induced HT22 cells. Our results showed that aconitine inhibited HT22 cells growth and increased DA contents in a dose dependent manner. Aconitine treatment induced apoptosis in HT22 cells and we found aconitine induced apoptosis by upregulating the expression of Bax, Cyto c, Apaf-1, Caspase9, Fas, Fas-L, Fadd, Caspase8, Caspase3 with concomitant decreasing of Bcl-2 and Bid expression. Collectively, results suggest that aconitine induce apoptosis through mitochondrial-mediated and death receptor signaling pathways in HT22 cells., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

A novel ferrate(VI)/titanium dioxide/ultraviolet [Fe(VI)/TiO 2 /UV] system was successfully established for the photocatalytic oxidation of dimethyl phthalate (DMP). This system demonstrated a higher removal efficiency of DMP (95.2%) than the conventional TiO 2 /UV and Fe(VI) alone systems (51.8% and 23.5%, respectively) and produced obvious synergistic effects. Response surface methodology (RSM), based on a three level, three independent variables design, was conducted through Design Expert 8.0.6 program, and a second-order polynomial model (R 2 = 0.998) was developed to quantitatively describe the photocatalysis of TiO 2 combined with Fe(VI) oxidation under ultraviolet irradiation. The fresh TiO 2 and photochemical reacted Fe(VI)/TiO 2 were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), and element dispersive spectrum (EDS), which indicated that Fe(VI) was imprinted into the TiO 2 , and the surface adsorbed Fe-O-(organic) materials inhibited DMP degradation. This photocatalytic oxidant showed high activity and stability after nine cycles without loss of its effectiveness (counting from the second cycle). The intermediates/products of DMP were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The proposed pathway for DMP degradation involved one electron transfer of hydroxyl radical and breaking of the ester bond and benzene ring. The mineralization efficiencies of DMP in actual industrial wastewater and simulated water were 87.1% and 95.2%, respectively, suggesting practical field applications. A ecotoxicity test (17.3% inhibition on bioluminescence) in treating actual industrial wastewater containing DMP implied that the proposed Fe(VI)/TiO 2 /UV had a potential for industrial water treatment., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Social distancing is the core policy response to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). But, as federal, state and local governments begin opening businesses and relaxing shelter-in-place orders worldwide, we lack quantitative evidence on how policies in one region affect mobility and social distancing in other regions and the consequences of uncoordinated regional policies adopted in the presence of such spillovers. To investigate this concern, we combined daily, county-level data on shelter-in-place policies with movement data from over 27 million mobile devices, social network connections among over 220 million Facebook users, daily temperature and precipitation data from 62,000 weather stations, and county-level census data on population demographics to estimate the geographic and social network spillovers created by regional policies across the United States. Our analysis shows that the contact patterns of people in a given region are significantly influenced by the policies and behaviors of people in other, sometimes distant, regions. When just one-third of a state's social and geographic peer states adopt shelter-in-place policies, it creates a reduction in mobility equal to the state's own policy decisions. These spillovers are mediated by peer travel and distancing behaviors in those states. A simple analytical model calibrated with our empirical estimates demonstrated that the "loss from anarchy" in uncoordinated state policies is increasing in the number of noncooperating states and the size of social and geographic spillovers. These results suggest a substantial cost of uncoordinated government responses to COVID-19 when people, ideas, and media move across borders., Competing Interests: Competing interest statement: D.H., J.A., D.G., and D.E. were previously employees, interns, or contractors of Facebook, and J.A. has and, until recently, D.E. had a significant financial interest in Facebook. While this paper was under editorial review, S.A. and D.E. received a grant from Facebook for other research.