Search

ObjectivesMethodsResultsDiscussionThe study aimed to explore whether TP could improve memory in the aged type 2 diabetic rat model by regulating microbiota-immune-synaptic plasticity axis.The experiment was divided into two parts. Firstly, to investigate the effects of TP on the physiopathology of the aged T2DM model rats, rats were randomly divided into the Normal control group, the aged group, the Aged T2DM model group, the TP 75, 150, 300 mg/kg groups, the 150 mg/kg Piracetam group and the 3 mg/kg Rosiglitazone group. Then, to further verify whether TP improved memory in aged T2DM rat model by regulating intestinal flora, the fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) from the rats in the 300 mg/kg TP group into the rats in the aged T2DM model group was carried out. Effects on gut microbiota, colonic integrity (epithelial tight junction proteins), and endotoxemia (serum LPS) were examined, along with synaptic structure, synaptic plasticity-related structural proteins and inflammation signaling of the hippocampus in our study.Our results demonstrated that TP alleviated memory impairments in the aged T2DM rat model. The specific outcomes were as follows: TP 300 mg/kg corrected the gut dysbacteriosis, alleviated intestinal permeability reduction and peripheral/central inflammation, inhibited the TLR4/NF-κB signaling pathway. Meanwhile, TP improved the synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus of the aged T2DM model rats, whose expressions of SYN, PSD 95, NMDAR1 and GluR1 in hippocampus were significantly up-regulated. Surprisingly, rats of the FMT group displayed the same changes.TP improves the memory in aged T2DM rat model. The mechanism may be related to the alteration of gut flora, which can inhibit hippocampal TLR4/NF-κB signaling to attenuate neuroinflammation, then improve synaptic plasticity. The study proposes that TP interventions aimed at manipulating the gut microbiota may hold great potential as an effective approach for preventing and treating this disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"The EU Artificial Intelligence Act: Regulating Subliminal AI Systems" by Rostam J. Neuwirth explores the need for regulation in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to address legal and ethical concerns. The book focuses on the specific challenge of regulating subliminal techniques used by AI systems. It examines the proposed EU Artificial Intelligence Act (AIA) and its objective, scope, and context. The book also delves into the psychology of subliminal messages and the potential negative effects they can have. It concludes by emphasizing the importance of global collaboration and a binding legal framework for regulating AI systems. This book provides valuable insights for researchers, policymakers, and legal professionals interested in understanding and addressing the impact of AI on society. [Extracted from the article]

This study is aimed at the preparation and evaluation of walnut meal-derived elastase inhibitory peptide loaded in chitosan-tripolyphosphate (CS-TPP) nanoparticles (NPs). It was shown that the maximum encapsulation efficiency of FFVPF could reach 94.58 ± 0.23%. TEM microphotographs, polydispersity index, and zeta-sizer reports indicated that FFVPF-loaded CS-TPP NPs were in nanometric range and were spherical, discrete, and uniform in size with PDI less than 0.3. FTIR analysis indicated that the peptides interacted with CS-TPP NPs through strong hydrogen bonds and electrostatic interactions. The CS-TPP FFVPF NPs showed better stability with heating treatment, pH treatment, or photochemical treatment. Moreover, the in vitro release profile of peptides was identified. The release rate of encapsulated FFVPF was released explosively to 77.22 ± 2.21% and gradually slowed down. These findings highlighted the prospect of CS-TPP NPs as an oral delivery system, and the application of peptides within food and pharmaceutical products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study has conducted a diachronic analysis of law and order metaphors in a self-compiled corpus of China's Government Work Reports (CGWR) over a span of 22 years (2000–2021). By mapping target domains with source domains, we categorized four major types of legal metaphors, including building, physical object, journey, and living being, among which physical object was overwhelmingly predominant. Our analysis suggests metaphorical expressions that highlight physicality more than specificity will constantly remain in use because the stability and universality of such metaphors are conducive to the dissemination and reinforcement of legal thoughts. Additionally, there is a direct correlation between legal metaphors and the government's economic, political, and social concerns, as evidenced by increasing attention paid to various security issues and new challenges in China. Given that the rule of law with Chinese characteristics becomes more institutionally recognized and systematically theorized, legal metaphors are implemented in a top-down manner to justify the exercise of power in CGWRs, making Chinese people identified with the governing philosophy and further contributing to the ideological construction of discourse. This study is thus conducive to a general but insightful understanding of how political stances are embodied and reinforced persuasively in discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Laser scribing technology is a straightforward technique to fabricate porous graphene, yet only conducted with polymeric precursors. Compared to polymers, molecular engineering of small organic molecules is much easier, which can be used to modify the graphene with tailored performance. Here we report the first employment of a laser to respectively transform small organic molecules, pentacene quinone and tetraazapentacene quinone (TAPQ), into graphene (P‐LIG and N‐LIG) as high‐performance lithium‐ion battery anodes. The TAPQ, as the N‐fused molecular precursor, produces nitrogen‐doped graphene. Both N‐LIG and P‐LIG exhibit significant self‐enhancement of capacity upon cycling; the N‐LIG anode delivers reversible capacities of 5863 mAh g‐1 at 0.2 A g‐1 and retains 1970 mAh g‐1 at 2 A g‐1 after another 500 cycles, which is the best performance for the graphene‐type anode. Kinetics studies and structural characterizations verify that the surface‐ and diffusion‐controlled processes are both progressively optimized, providing extra lithium storage upon cycling. It is also supported by small‐angle X‐ray scattering that the disordering level of micropores is increased upon cycling for N‐LIG, corresponding to the enhancement of microporous level. Our work successfully develops a novel facile approach to fabricating heteroatom‐doped microporous graphene exhibiting high performance and provides new insight into the lithium storage mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Squalene is a polyunsaturated triterpenoid compound present in various organisms. Squalene has multiple biological activities, which makes it a potential new functional food ingredient for nutrition enhancement or disease prevention. However, low extraction efficiency, high cost, and environmental issues greatly limit the practical application of squalene. This review discusses the latest findings on the biological activities, natural and genetically modified organism (GMO) sources, trends of extraction technologies, and delivery systems of squalene, providing innovative prospects for the large-scale production and application of squalene. Key findings and conclusions: Squalene has various biological activities, such as immunity enhancement, skin senility resistance, and hypolipidemic, antioxidant, antitumor, antibacterial, and detoxification effects. Thus, squalene can be widely applied in the food and pharmaceutical industries. Natural and GMO sources provide the foundation for large-scale squalene production. Innovative, green, sustainable extraction technologies are emerging as substitutes for traditional technologies. In addition, delivery systems can be used to maintain oxidation stability and efficacy of squalene in food applications. • Biological activities of squalene are presented. • Natural and GMO sources of squalene are summarized. • The advantages and limitations of squalene extraction technologies are discussed. • Delivery systems are beneficial for the application of squalene in food and drug. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study, from a sociosemiotic perspective, sets out to examine the meaning making process of the International Telecommunication Regulations by investigating the contributions submitted by the Member States and Sector Members of the International Telecommunication Union, and two versions of the International Telecommunication Regulations (1988 version and 2012 version). The findings show that the International Telecommunication Regulations, as a sign, may be ideologically and institutionally constrained as well as historically situated. As regards its review, Member States and Sector Members have divergent views carrying distinct institutional positions, which are induced by various national interests and different technological levels. Concerning its revision, a comparative analysis of the overall articles and the modal system of the 1988 version and the 2012 version reflects that the meaning making of the International Telecommunication Regulations is inherently embedded in specific historical backgrounds, and the frequent use of soft language in the 2012 version may be conceived of as a mediational means to compromise the distinct views of member states on the controversial issues and facilitate institutional interactions. It is therefore argued that the discourse construction of the International Telecommunication Regulations is an institutional process of "interest weighing", jurisdictional compromise and institutional dialogue among Member States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the ore beneficiation process, large block detection is necessary to ensure production safety. This typically involves identifying oversized ore on the conveyor belt and preventing material blockage accidents in the transfer buffer bin between the ore feeding belt and the ore receiving belt. Methods based on deep learning can learn to construct complex features from a large amount of data, but they also require a large number of hand-made datasets for training. Although the existing few shot detection methods for ore images reduce the cost of manual labeling, the corresponding detection performance is insufficient. This article mainly explores how to improve the performance of the detector under the ore image detection task in the case of few labeled images. First, a shot enhancement block is proposed to enhance the valuable foreground information for higher-quality support features. Subsequently, we present a dual-attention region proposal network that effectively leverages support features to enhance the precision of generating candidate proposals. Finally, we propose a lightweight multi-relational detector to effectively evaluate the relationship between query and support proposals, leading to a substantial enhancement in guidance performance. The proposed few-shot object detector (FS-OreDet) achieves the best detection results with state-of-the-art methods with an average precision (A P) of 55.1, a speed of 57 frames per second (F P S), and a model size of only 17 M B. Furthermore, our framework adeptly captures the feature information of ore images with substantial data. The detector's accuracy achieves a significant improvement of 14% in A P. Compared with general object detectors, the performance of the detector ranks first and meets the requirements for outdoor scene deployment. • Proposing a stronger few-shot object detector for ore images via feature enhancement and relationship exploration. • Some components are designed for boosting few-shot object detectors of ore images. • Extensive experiments on the ore dataset and theoretical analyses are also added to verify the superiority of the proposed detectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rising global population and improved living standards have led to an alarming increase in non‐communicable diseases, notably cardiovascular and chronic respiratory diseases, posing a severe threat to human health. Wearable sensing devices, utilizing micro‐sensing technology for real‐time monitoring, have emerged as promising tools for disease prevention. Among various sensing platforms, graphene‐based sensors have shown exceptional performance in the field of micro‐sensing. Laser‐induced graphene (LIG) technology, a cost‐effective and facile method for graphene preparation, has gained particular attention. By converting polymer films directly into patterned graphene materials at ambient temperature and pressure, LIG offers a convenient and environmentally friendly alternative to traditional methods, opening up innovative possibilities for electronic device fabrication. Integrating LIG‐based sensors into health monitoring systems holds the potential to revolutionize health management. To commemorate the tenth anniversary of the discovery of LIG, this work provides a comprehensive overview of LIG's evolution and the progress of LIG‐based sensors. Delving into the diverse sensing mechanisms of LIG‐based sensors, recent research advances in the domain of health monitoring are explored. Furthermore, the opportunities and challenges associated with LIG‐based sensors in health monitoring are briefly discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Avalanche transistor (AT)-based repetitive nanosecond pulse generators with high amplitude, fast rise time, narrow pulse width, and low jitter have been widely developed and applied in numerous fields. However, relatively little research has been carried out on the positive nanosecond pulse generation with high flexibility in a wide range of output voltage amplitude. In this article, a novel AT-based Marx circuit (MC) topology adopting base-triggering method is proposed to avoid the formation of current filamentation inside the transistors and resolve the contradiction between high-voltage output and high repetition rate operation. A $6\times 10$ -stage MC prototype is implemented with optimized parameters to validate the feasibility of the proposed topology. The conduction processes of transistors show that, with the injection of additional base current, the switched-ON modes are transformed, which contributes to reliable conduction of transistors even without sufficient overvoltage ramp. With the adoption of inner triggering loops, the minimum working voltage of the prototype is extended to 1150 V. The operation characteristics of the generator in the whole operation range are investigated in depth. Experimental results illustrate that, at the 75- $\Omega $ match-ended coaxial cable, the prototype is capable of generating positive pulses with an adjustable voltage amplitude in the range of 6.50 to 12.39 kV, a basically consistent rise time of 3.6 ns and pulse width of 19.5 ns. Over 107 successive pulses are generated at a maximum repetition rate of 1 kHz without any device failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the driving force of the evolutionary game, the strategy update mechanism is crucial to the evolution of cooperative behavior. At present, there has been a lot of research on the update mechanism, which mainly involves two aspects. On one hand, all players in the network use the same rule to update strategies; on the other hand, players use heterogeneous update rules, such as imitate and innovate. A sophisticated update mechanism is available. However, most of these studies are based on node dynamics, that is, individuals adopt the same strategy to their neighbors at the same time. Considering that in real life, faced with complex social relationships, the code of conduct generally followed by individuals is to adopt different decision-making behaviors for different opponents. Therefore, here, we are based on edge dynamics, which allows each player to adopt different strategies for different opponents. We analyze how the mixing ratio of the two mechanisms in the network affects the evolution of cooperative behavior based on imitation and myopic. The parameter u is introduced to represent the proportion of myopic players. The simulation results show that in the edge dynamics behavior patterns, compared with the myopic rule, the imitate rule plays a leading role in promoting the group to achieve a high level of cooperation, even when the temptation to defect is relatively large. Furthermore, for players who adopt the imitate update mechanism, individuals with high cooperation rate dominate when u is relatively high, and individuals with low cooperation rate dominate when u is relatively large. For players who adopt the myopic update rule, regardless of the value of u, the individual's cooperation rate is 0.25 and 0.5 is dominant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The saturated gain performance of the two-pump fiber optical parametric amplifier (2-P FOPA) in the presence of random dispersion fluctuation as well as fourth-order dispersion coefficient are investigated. The gain spectra of the 2-P FOPA is simulated by solving the coupled equations numerically, considering the dispersion fluctuations along the fiber as a stochastic process with a given standard deviation and correlation length. The gain performance of 2-P FOPA is analysed with the variation of correlation length, standard deviation and fourth-order dispersion coefficient, respectively. It shows that, the gain saturation curves of 2-P FOPA exhibit obvious differences in the presence of dispersion fluctuations and fourth-order dispersion coefficients. The peak gain reduces with the increase of the standard deviation and the reduction is higher in case of shorter correlation lengths, also the variations of 2-P FOPA saturation powers are affected by the standard deviation and correlation length significantly. In addition, the performance of the 2-P FOPA varies greatly while considering the fourth-order dispersion coefficient, where the peak gain remains the same, but the 3 dB bandwidth is wider with considering the fourth-order dispersion coefficient. The numerical analysis is meaningful for the research of 2-P FOPA saturated gain performance, which having attracted great research interests in the optical fiber communication systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In patients with ultralow rectal cancer, surgical resection of the tumor without impairing sphincter function remains a technical challenge. The purpose of this study was to describe a new technique of transanal natural orifice specimen extraction (NOSE) surgery using our independently developed devices, aiming to achieve precise cancer resection and preserve sphincter function in patients with ultralow rectal cancer. Methods: Precision functional sphincter-preserving surgery (PPS) was performed on nineteen patients with ultralow rectal cancer between June 2019 and April 2020. With the help of our independently developed devices, surgeons directly and accurately removed the lower edge of the tumor and retained healthy rectal tissue on the nontumorous side. Hand-sewn anastomosis with a mattress suture was used to achieve sturdy anastomosis. Preoperative baseline characteristics, operative details, 90-day postoperative complications, costs, and anal function score at 6 months after surgery were documented. Results: Nineteen ultralow rectal cancer patients with a median distance to the dentate line of 2.0 cm successfully underwent PPS without serious postoperative complications. Six out of nineteen patients (31.6%) received a prophylactic stoma. The average cost was 62164.1 yuan. At 6 months after surgery, the average Wexner anal function score and the average Vaizey score were both 3 points. Conclusions: PPS can be employed to precisely resect rectal tumors and preserve sphincter function in ultralow rectal cancer patients. The use of our devices enhanced surgical efficiency, reduced the need for prophylactic stoma, reduced surgery-related costs, and prevented abdominal surgical incisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Enthalpy Control Process was proposed to prepare semi-solid 7075 aluminum alloy slurry. • Temperature distribution during the ECP process was predicted by machine learning. • The predicted results displayed an excellent fit with the experimental results. The rapid preparation of desired semi-solid slurry with a specific average temperature and a high temperature uniformity is of essential importance for the rheocasting of high-strength aluminum (Al) alloys. In this study, a novel semi-solid slurry preparation process, namely Enthalpy Control Process (ECP), has been proposed for rapid preparation of 7075 Al alloy slurry. The machine learning approach from the aspect of neural network was utilized to predict the average temperature and maximum temperature difference of the Al slurry prepared by ECP. The results indicated that the temperature values predicted by Back Propagation Neural Network optimized by Genetic Algorithm (GA-BPNN) models exhibit an excellent fit with the experimental results. The average relative error and the coefficient of determination for average temperature of were 0.9988 and 0.027%, while the values for the maximum temperature difference were 0.9910 and 3.4%, respectively. The GA-BPNN has a great latent capacity in predicting the temperature of the semi-solid slurry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing evidence demonstrated that mitophagy and endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS) was closely associated with memory decline in elderly type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Tea polyphenols (TP), an excellent natural antioxidant, has been reported to have neuroprotective properties in aging and diabetes, but the underlying mechanisms are still not fully understood. This study targets ERS-mitophagy in hippocampal neurons to investigate the improvement effect of memory in aged T2DM rats by TP. Rats were randomly divided into the control group, the aged group, the aged T2DM model group, the TP 75, 150, 300 mg/kg groups. TP 300 mg/kg ameliorated mitophagy by decreasing the levels of p-mTOR (S2448), P62 and HSP60 and increasing the levels of PINK1 and Parkin, the ratio of LC3Ⅱ/LC3Ⅰ, co-localization of LC3 and HSP60 and the number of autophagosomes and autolysosomes. TP 300 mg/kg attenuated ERS by downregulating the levels of p-PERK, p-eIF2α, ATF4, GRP78 and restoring the ER structure. To further verify epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), which is the main active component of TP, enhanced mitophagy by inhibiting ERS, PC12 cells were pretreated with ERS activator tunicamycin (TM) or ERS inhibitor 4-phenylbutyric acid (4-PBA). The results showed that the improvement of mitophagy by EGCG was inhibited by TM and promoted by 4-PBA. Collectively, ERS-mitophagy in hippocampal neurons plays a key role in the improvement of memory by TP in aged T2DM rats. This study will provide a new perspective and strategy for the prevention of memory decline in elderly with T2DM. [Display omitted] • Tea polyphenols improves spatial memory and apoptosis in hippocampal neurons. • Mitophagy and endoplasmic reticulum stress involve in the apoptosis. • Endoplasmic reticulum stress mediated by PERK/eIF2α/ATF4 signaling pathway. • Mitophagy mediated by mTOR/PINK1/Parkin signaling pathway. • Tea polyphenols improves mitophagy by inhibiting endoplasmic reticulum stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to deal with the relationship between terminological variation and ideology by examining the system of terminology and the defined individual terms in data protection legislation. With two self-compiled corpora incorporating data protection laws in the United States and the European Union respectively, we adopt a corpus-assisted approach as an effective toolkit to generate a general profile of the system of legal terminology on the one hand and identify the defined legal terms in the two corpora on the other. This study, based on Van Dijk's (1998) multidisciplinary approach to ideology, seeks to unravel the underlying ideological configurations behind the variation of legal terminology. The findings show that one plausible – though certainly not definitive – interpretation of the variation in legal terminology in the data protection domain lies in the distinct ideological stances imposed by such discourse communities as lawmakers, judges as well as the president and the party in power. The ideological investigation of terminology is a significant aspect of the study of variation phenomena. It is argued that the ideologically variable slants and historical experiences, as the contextual constraints on the ideological beliefs, may contribute to accounting for the spatial and temporal variation of legal terminology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emojis, used evidentially as any language is used in communication, have posed new challenges for courts to adopt emojis as evidence beyond the traditional mode of speech and communication and to interpret them appropriately, especially their aggressive side of meaning. To meet these challenges, the present study, based on a comprehensive literature review, starts with case studies with aims to unravel the nature of emojis and develop a sociosemiotic approach to interpret emojis in the context of social media with a focus on the aggressiveness of emojis in social platforms and their consequences (social and legal ones). It is argued that the meaning of emojis could not simply depend on their grammar or general rules but lies in communication within discourse communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Issues concerning cyber asset in cyberspace have intrigued the legislators, the judicial practitioners, the netizens, and even the onlookers in real world; simultaneously, academia is discussing the disputes aroused by this intangible object. However, various studies in the past refined the discussions in domains of law but the refinement fails to clarify the cyber-asset issues and to resolve the disputes. Therefore, a better understanding of what "cyber asset" is can be achieved by exploring cyber asset in the judicial discourses from a socio-semiotic perspective. In this study, judicial discourses are tantamount to the semiotic resource. Then, incorporating in a generic model of judicial discourses, we examine (1) how cyber asset as a sign has been framed by agents of the judicial institution of the People's Republic of China; (2) how the judicial institution justified their framing; and (3) whether any temporal change in the semiotic system of cyber asset took place. Furthermore, by applying the five questions introduced by Van Leeuwen, we examine why the quandaries of cyber asset are aroused. In conclusion, we propose that the cyber-asset disputes can hardly be resolved unless joint efforts are made by the legislature and the judiciary of the People's Republic of China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Laser-induced graphene (LIG) has gained popularity for electrochemical water disinfection due to its efficient antimicrobial activity when activated with low voltages. However, the antimicrobial mechanism of LIG electrodes is not yet fully understood. This study demonstrated an array of mechanisms working synergistically to inactivate bacteria during electrochemical treatment using LIG electrodes, including the generation of oxidants, changes in pH—specifically high alkalinity associated with the cathode, and electro-adsorption on the electrodes. All these mechanisms may contribute to the disinfection process when bacteria are close to the surface of the electrodes where inactivation was independent of the reactive chlorine species (RCS); however, RCS was likely responsible for the predominant cause of antibacterial effects in the bulk solution (i.e., ≥100 mL in our study). Furthermore, the concentration and diffusion kinetics of RCS in solution was voltage-dependent. At 6 V, RCS achieved a high concentration in water, while at 3 V, RCS was highly localized on the LIG surface but not measurable in water. Despite this, the LIG electrodes activated by 3 V achieved a 5.5-log reduction in Escherichia coli (E.coli) after 120-min electrolysis without detectable chlorine, chlorate, or perchlorate in the water, suggesting a promising system for efficient, energy-saving, and safe electro-disinfection. [Display omitted] • An array of mechanisms works synergistically to inactivate bacteria close to LIG electrodes. • The RCS was likely responsible for the predominant cause of antibacterial effects in the bulk solution. • At a low applied voltage (3 V), highly localized RCS on the LIG surface contributed to efficient disinfection. • LIG with low voltages inactivated bacteria without high levels of oxidants, suggesting a safe electro-disinfection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The analysis and discrimination of time series data has important practical significance. Currently, transforming the time series data into networks through visibility graph (VG) methods is an effective approach for classifying the series data through GNNs. However, there are two main obstacles to the VG method: (1) the tension between efficiency and complexity during weighted graph construction; (2) difficulty in assigning the different importance of nodes. To tackle these difficulties, we propose an improved weighted visibility graph algorithm (WLVG) in this paper. The proposed algorithm can first intelligently assign weights to the network according to the Euclidean distance among nodes, and then resample the network by the weight coefficients resulting in the removal of the unimportant edges. Finally, in order to effectively aggregate the information among neighbors, the graph isomorphism network (GIN) is utilized for identifying the objects. Experimental results show WLVG outperforms other baseline methods on several practical datasets and demonstrate its effectiveness. • We propose a new weighting method, which can reduce the interference of remote noisy nodes. • We propose an improved visibility graph algorithm to actively drop the trivial edges in the network. • We combine the proposed weighting method with VG/HVG, which is then integrated with GIN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A lightweight and effective few-shot detector is designed to address the over-fitting issue under limited labeled data for ore particle detection. • We introduce a support feature mining block to characterize the importance of semantic information. • A relationship guidance block is used to establish the correlation between support and query features for guiding the generation of precise candidate proposals. • The novel dual-scale semantic aggregation module is proposed to retrieve detailed features at different resolutions to contribute with the prediction process. For the ore particle size detection, obtaining a sizable amount of high-quality ore labeled data is time-consuming and expensive. General object detection methods often suffer from severe over-fitting with scarce labeled data. Despite their ability to eliminate over-fitting, existing few-shot object detectors encounter drawbacks such as slow detection speed and high memory requirements, making them difficult to implement in a real-world deployment scenario. To this end, we propose a lightweight and effective few-shot detector to achieve competitive performance with general object detection with only a few samples for ore images. First, the proposed support feature mining block characterizes the importance of location information in support features. Next, the relationship guidance block makes full use of support features to guide the generation of accurate candidate proposals. Finally, the dual-scale semantic aggregation module retrieves detailed features at different resolutions to contribute with the prediction process. Experimental results show that our method consistently exceeds the few-shot detectors with an excellent performance gap on all metrics. Moreover, our method achieves the smallest model size of 19 MB as well as being competitive at 50 FPS detection speed compared with general object detectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on one specially created corpus of U.S. cybersecurity-related laws, this study employs the corpus approach to examine the referent objects and securitizing actors in U.S. cybersecurity legislative discourse, which are two critical issues in constructing security, including cybersecurity. Through corpus data analysis, it is found that unlike traditional security, cybersecurity has become more people-oriented in terms of referent objects with critical infrastructure as a key referent object. Additionally, the role of private sectors and cooperative security are highlighted in U.S. cybersecurity legislative discourse. From a sociosemiotic perspective, it is noted that the meaning-making process of U.S. cybersecurity not only is conveyed by the texts but also interacts with other sign systems, such as historical background, cyberspace as a virtual realm and social contexts, which suggests that the specific meanings of signs constructing cybersecurity and cybersecurity itself should be interpreted in specific temporal or spatial contexts. Furthermore, a sociosemiotic approach to U.S. cybersecurity legislative discourse also offers valuable insights to how signs and concepts in cybersecurity contribute to sketching a holistic landscape of cybersecurity and further security on a large scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various topics within the issue including legal discourse on non-traditional security in cyberage, corpus of U.S. cybersecurity-related laws, and dynamics of violence, gender discrimination and power abuse in Cyber Bullying.

As a new kind of contactless crime, the telecom and internet fraud has become a public hazard, with criminals targeting massive numbers of innocent victims. It is a prominent criminal problem that currently affects social stability and the sense of security of the public. Since the six Ministries and Commissions jointly cracked down the crime in 2016, the number of cases and the number of people deceived have decreased, but the occurrence and frequency has still been at a high rate, and the situation is deteriorating. Regardless of the scientific and technological means used by fraudsters, the main medium is language. From a sociosemiotic perspective, this study identifies that the criminal suspects use the discourse resources to fabricate false information and construct false identities through discursive practice, with the aim of achieving the communicative purpose of obtaining victims' trust, tricking, deceiving and manipulating their victims into giving out confidential information and funds. This study, taking telecom fraud discourse as one type of genre, examines the dynamic process of selecting and constructing identities by manipulating related discourse resources and strategies in the social-cultural context. This study further provides a sociosemiotic solution to telecom fraud prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyzes the relational frames constructed in Chinese President Xi Jinping's foreign visit speeches at three levels – the metaphorical surface frame; the non-metaphorical surface frame; and the deep frame – with the help of corpus-based mechanisms, e.g. semantic annotation and classification, semantic network retrieval, etc. In analyzing 11 foreign visit speeches between 2012 and 2017 (amounting to 20,213 words), the study reports three major findings. First, the metaphorical relational surface frames were constructed by intimate interpersonal concepts, war concepts and physical concepts, which are commonly shared by human beings. Second, the non-metaphorical relational surface frames were constructed by highlighting audiences' beneficiary positions. Third, the deep frames were constructed by underscoring common benefits, cultural communication, people to people communication and the concerns about war and peace. The relational frames identified are compared with the cognition of the international audiences and it shows that the two conform significantly, which improves the acceptability of the speeches. Three strategies can be summarized for diplomatic speech design. First, the presentations based on universally shared experiences and knowledge can minimize perceptive difficulties in audiences. Second, presentations highlighting the audiences' benefits are more easily accepted. Third, the cognition conceived in the presentations should conform to the audiences' needs and preferences. The general communication features of Xi's foreign visit speeches illustrated in the present study may offer a discourse model for diplomatic speeches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The clarity improvement and the noise suppression of digital subtraction angiography (DSA) images are very important. However, the common methods are very complicated. An image time-domain integration method is proposed in this study, which is based on the blood flow periodicity. In this method, the images of the first cardiac cycle after the injection of the contrast agent are integrated to obtain the time-domain integration image. This method can be used independently or as a postprocessing method of the denoising method on the signal image. The experimental results on DSA data from an aortic dissection patient show that the image time-domain integration method is efficient in image denoising and enhancement, which also has a good real-time performance. This method can also be used to improve the denoising and image enhancement effect of some common models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low power capillary discharge based pulsed plasma thrusters (CDPPTs) are electrothermally dominated thrusters and they have aroused renewed interest in the investigation and enhancement of the basic performance for the application of micro/nano satellites recently. Research on the ignition mechanism of a CDPPT has been conducted to provide insight into the optimization of the structure design and promotion of the lifetime performance. It has been found that the electrical parameters, the geometry parameters, and the cumulative effect of discharge jointly determine the discharge ignition characteristics. A single ignition process is divided into the breakdown of igniter and the development of the main discharge, while the results show that the jitter of the ignition delay time is mainly introduced from the former. Shorter ignition delay time and lower jitter can be obtained with a higher ignition energy and main charging voltage or a shorter and narrower cavity, which is positively correlated to the electric field distribution along the propellant surface. Moreover, with long duration experiments, it reveals that the surface deposits and morphology of propellant and igniter are the dominant factors that cause the dispersity of the ignition effect and main discharge characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The diffusion of polymer molecules across an interface is an important topic in polymer physics. Measuring this diffusion process requires a labeling experiment so that the mixing of otherwise identical molecules can be followed. Here we examine the use of nonradiative energy transfer to follow the interdiffusion of polymer molecules during the annealing of latex films. Those films are prepared from a mixture of phenanthrene (Phe, the donor)- and anthracene(An, the acceptor)-labeled poly(butyl methacrylate) (PBMA) latex particles. We examine in some detail the kinetics of direct energy transfer (DET) at an interface and the evolution of the DET kinetics as the components mix. Time resolved and steady state measurement approaches are compared, and the former is employed to examine molecular diffusion in a series PBMA latex films. Various diffusion models are considered. Diffusion coefficients are calculated by treating the data in terms of a Fickian spherical diffusion model. A film from one set of samples is similar in molecular weight to that studied by small angle neutron scattering (SANS) [K. Hahn, G. Ley, H. Schuller, and R. Oberthur, Colloid Polym. Sci. 264, 1029 (1986)]. Diffusion coefficients calculated from both sets of experiments using similar Fickian diffusion models are very similar in magnitude. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We propose the layered gravity bridge algorithm (LGB) to derive the seed set. • We present the hierarchical gravity approach (HGA) to derive the candidate seeds. • Extensive experiments demonstrate our LGB outperforms the considered approaches. Influence maximization (IM) is a widely investigated issue in the study of social networks because of its potential commercial and social value. The purpose of IM is to identify a group of influential nodes that will spread information to other nodes in a network while simultaneously maximizing the number of nodes that are ultimately influenced. Traditional IM methods have different limitations, such as limited scalability to address large-scale networks and the neglect of community structural information. Here, we propose a novel influence maximization approach, i.e., the layered gravity bridge algorithm (LGB), to address the IM problem, which emphasizes the local structural information of networks and combines community detection algorithms with an improved gravity model. With the proposed LGB, a community detection method is used to derive the communities, and then the bridge nodes are found, which can be regarded as possible candidate seeds. Later, communities are merged into larger communities according to our proposed algorithm, and new bridge nodes are determined. Finally, all candidate seed nodes are sorted through an improved gravity model to determine the final seed nodes. The algorithm fully explores the network structural information provided by the communities, thereby making it superior to the current algorithms in terms of the number of ultimately infected nodes. Furthermore, our proposed algorithm possesses the potential to alleviate the influence overlap effect of seed nodes. To verify the effect of our approach, the classical SIR model is adopted to propagate information with the selected seed nodes, while experiments are performed on several practical datasets. As indicated by the obtained results, the performance of our proposed algorithm outperforms existing ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the design of a self-developed EMP simulator with a 5 m height and an inverted conducting mono-cone antenna with a cone half-angle of 32° is introduced. The experimental region of the simulator is a circular area of 25 m in diameter around the cone vertex. Two feeding modes, feed-in over the ground and feed-in under the ground, are realized by two different high-voltage pulse sources. It can be concluded through radiation field testing that the radiation field waveform generated by the simulator has a rise time of 2–3 ns and a half-width of about 25 ns, meeting the specifications of the EMP experimental waveform in the IEC61000-2-9 standard. Meanwhile, the differences between the engineering implementation of the simulator and its ideal structure during the design process can lead to some distortion issues in the antenna radiation characteristics and the electromagnetic radiation field it generates. The radiation field waveform and the distribution of the EMP field generated by the simulator under different feeding methods, antenna wire quantities, antenna end processing methods, and different antenna resistive loading were studied, and the changes in the radiation field waveform and field distribution with different angles and distances of the monitoring point were analyzed. Based on the measurement results, the radiation characteristics of the antenna and the factors that affect the waveform of the field were studied and analyzed. Through the aforementioned work, a comprehensive understanding of the performance, radiation characteristics, and engineering factors affecting the electromagnetic environment generated by the simulator has been obtained. On this basis, the parameters of the antenna wire quantity, antenna end processing method, and test point position of the designed simulator were reconfirmed and optimized. In summary, this work has important reference significance for mastering the development technology of such simulators, understanding their antenna radiation characteristics, and conducting EMP-related assessments and effect experiments in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Laparoscopic surgery and enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) programs were two major improvements for the management of colorectal diseases. The purpose of this systemic review was to examine whether laparoscopic colorectal surgery still improved short-term postoperative outcomes in comparison with open surgery when both groups of patients received ERAS programs. Methods: PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and reference lists of the identified studies were searched to identify randomized clinical trials that compared laparoscopic with open surgery in patients undergoing colorectal resection in the context of ERAS programs. The outcome measures were analyzed, and the quality of evidence for each outcome was assessed using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) system. Results: Five randomized clinical trials encompassing 598 patients were included in the final analysis. Two of them were multicenter trials. The ERAS programs implemented in the five included trials cannot be classified as optimal ERAS programs, but suboptimal ERAS programs. Laparoscopic colorectal surgery significantly reduced total hospital stay (weighted mean difference (WMD) −1.92 days; 95 % confidence interval (CI) −2.61-−1.23 days; P < 0.00001) and number of complications (relative risk (RR) 0.78; 95 % CI 0.66-0.94; P = 0.007) compared with open surgery in the setting of ERAS programs. No significant differences were found between groups for primary hospital stay, number of patients with complications, readmission rates, and mortality. The quality of evidence for all outcomes was low-to-moderate on the GRADE scale, and none had high quality. Conclusions: Laparoscopic colorectal resection significantly reduced total hospital stay and number of complications when compared with open surgery in the setting of suboptimal ERAS programs, but the benefits of laparoscopic colorectal resection remain to be proved within optimal ERAS programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Hospital readmission is gathering increasing attention as a measure of health care quality and a potential cost-saving target. The purpose of this prospective study was to determine risk factors for readmission within 30 days of discharge after gastrectomy for patients with gastric cancer. Methods: We conducted a prospective study of patients undergoing radical gastrectomy for gastric cancer from October 2013 to November 2014 in our institution. The incidence, cause and risk factors for 30-day readmission were determined. Results: A total of 376 patients were included in our analysis without loss in follow-up. The 30-day readmission rate after radical gastrectomy for gastric cancer was 7.2% (27of 376). The most common cause for readmission included gastrointestinal complications and postoperative infections. On the basis of multivariate logistic regression analysis, preoperative nutritional risk screening 2002 score ≥ 3 was an independent risk factor for 30-day readmission. Factors not associated with a higher readmission rate included a history of a major postoperative complication during the index hospitalization, prolonged primary length of hospital stay after surgery, a history of previous abdominal surgery, advanced age, body mass index, pre-existing cardiopulmonary comorbidities, American Society of Anesthesiology grade, type of resection, extent of node dissection and discharge disposition. Conclusions: Readmission within 30 days of discharge after radical gastrectomy for gastric cancer is common. Patients with nutritional risk preoperatively are at high risk for 30-day readmission. Preoperative optimization of nutritional status of patients at nutritional risk may effectively decrease readmission rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Postoperative fatigue (POF) is an important complication that is commonly observed postoperatively and is also one of the most serious obstacles to postoperative convalescence. However, the risk factors for POF have not been fully addressed, and there is no effective method to predict POF. The aim of the present study was to investigate the risk factors for POF and to explore prediction of the degree of POF. Methods A prospective observational study was conducted of patients undergoing elective gastrointestinal surgery. Fatigue score, grip strength, length of postoperative hospital stay (LOS), as well as preoperative and intraoperative factors were collected. ?² was used to compare categorical variables, and multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to further analyze correlation between POF and preoperative and intraoperative factors. Results A total of 155 patients were included in our analysis without loss in follow-up. Multivariate logistic regression analysis after adjustment for factors with severe POF in univariate analysis including preoperative fatigue, plasma albumin and hemoglobin level, and cardiopulmonary function demonstrated that old age, gastrectomy, and a nutritional risk screening 2002 score =3 were associated with a higher relative risk of severe POF. Moreover, laparoscopic-assisted surgery was associated with lower relative risk of severe POF. Conclusions Old age, nutritional risk screening 2002 score =3 and gastrectomy were risk factors for POF in patients undergoing elective gastrointestinal surgery. POF was reduced in laparoscopic-assisted surgery. Consideration of these factors could be important for the prevention and treatment of POF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ginsenoside Rb1 is reported to possess anti-fatigue activity, but the mechanisms remain unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate the molecular mechanisms responsible for the anti-fatigue effect of ginsenoside Rb1 on postoperative fatigue syndrome induced by major small intestinal resection (MSIR) in aged rat. Aged rats with MSIR were administrated with ginsenoside Rb1 (15 mg/kg) once a day from 3 days before surgery to the day of sacrifice, or with saline as corresponding controls. Rats without MSIR but going through the same surgery procedure were administrated with saline as blank controls. Anti-fatigue effect was assessed by an open field test; superoxide dismutase, reactive oxygen species and malondialdehyde in skeletal muscle were determined. The mRNA levels of Akt2 and Nrf2 in skeletal muscle were measured by real-time quantitative PCR. The activation of Akt and Nrf2 was examined by western blot and immunohistofluorescence. Our results revealed that ginsenoside Rb1 significantly increased the journey and the rearing frequency, decreased the time of rest in aged rats with MSIR. In addition, ginsenoside Rb1 significantly reduced reactive oxygen species and malondialdehyde release and increased the superoxide dismutase activity of skeletal muscle in aged rats with MSIR. Ginsenoside Rb1 also increased the expression of Akt2 and Nrf2 mRNA, up-regulated Akt phosphorylation and Nrf2 nuclear translocation. These findings indicate that ginsenoside Rb1 has an anti-fatigue effect on postoperative fatigue syndrome in aged rat, and the mechanism possibly involves activation of the PI3K/Akt pathway with subsequent Nrf2 nuclear translocation and induction of antioxidant enzymes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aiming at the actual production problems of hydraulic manipulator, a five freedom hydraulic manipulator was introduced to meet high load, high positional accuracy, high productivity and other requirements of the high-power load handling. The manipulator was designed with five degrees of freedom which include gripping mechanism, tilt mechanism, sliding mechanism and slewing mechanism to achieve multidegree of freedom of the automatic load positioning, clamping and transfer functions. The rationality of the design was verified by the analysis of the manipulator kinematics and simulation results of the end actuator trajectory. Hydraulic manipulator system was designed, including the loop of gripping mechanism drive, the loop of tilt mechanism drive, the loop of sliding mechanism drive, the loop of slewing mechanism drive, and components were selected, parameters were calculated. Siemens controllers and electro-hydraulic servo control technology were used to achieve a high performance of motion control. The research results show that, the hydraulic manipulator has a simple structure, stable operation, required accuracy, and high transfer eeficiency. It can be beter able to solve handling production problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Fast-track surgery aims to attenuate the surgical stress response, reduce complications, and shorten hospital stay. The goal of the present meta-analysis is to assess the safety and effectiveness of fast-track surgery in patients undergoing gastrectomy for gastric cancer compared with conventional perioperative care. Methods: PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and reference lists of the identified studies were searched to identify randomized clinical trials that compared fast-track surgery with conventional perioperative care in patients undergoing gastrectomy for gastric cancer. Results: Five studies with a total of 400 patients were included in the meta-analysis. Meta-analysis shows that postoperative hospital stay (weighted mean difference (WMD) −1.87 days, 95 % confidence interval (CI), −2.46 to −1.28 days, P < 0.00001), time to first passage of flatus (WMD −0.71 days, 95 % CI, −1.03 to −0.39 days, P < 0.0001), and hospital costs (WMD −505.87 dollars, 95 % CI, −649.91 to −361.84 dollars, P < 0.00001) were significantly reduced for fast-track surgery. No significant differences were found for readmission rates (relative risk (RR), 1.97 95 % CI, 0.37 to 10.64, P = 0.43) and total postoperative complications (RR, 0.99 95 % CI, 0.56 to 1.76, P = 0.97). Conclusions: Fast-track surgery is safe and effective in gastrectomy for gastric cancer. Further randomized trials are needed to strengthen the conclusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Examines the way in which epistemic modality is employed in civil judgments. [•] Compares how different types of epistemic modality are used in the different jurisdictions of Hong Kong and Scotland. [•] Integrates subjective appraisal and objective assessment perspectives in understanding the principle of proof. [•] Proposes an integrated framework of principle of proof and discusses a continuum of probability in law. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background: The safety and effectiveness of early oral feeding after colorectal surgery has not been determined. We performed a meta-analysis to evaluate surgical outcomes following early oral feeding compared with traditional oral feeding in patients undergoing elective colorectal surgery. Methods: MEDLINE, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials were searched to identify randomized clinical trials comparing the outcomes following early oral feeding versus traditional oral feeding in patients undergoing elective colorectal surgery. The trials must have reported at least one of the following end points: anastomotic dehiscence, pneumonia, wound infection, nasogastric tube reinsertion, vomiting, mortality, length of hospital stay, hospital costs, and quality of life. Results: Seven trials, which included a total of 587 patients, met our inclusion criteria. Compared with traditional oral feeding, early oral feeding reduced the length of hospital stay (weighted mean difference -1.58 days; 95% CI -2.77 to -0.39; p = 0.009) and the total postoperative complications (relative risk 0.70; 95% CI 0.50-0.98; p = 0.04). There were no significant differences in the risk of anastomotic dehiscence, pneumonia, wound infection, rate of nasogastric tube reinsertion, vomiting, or mortality. Conclusions: Early oral feeding is safe and effective in patients undergoing elective colorectal surgery. © 2013 S. Karger AG, Basel [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Image segmentation approaches have been utilized to determine the particle size distribution of crushed ores in the past decades. It is not possible to deploy large and high-powered computing equipment due to the complex working environment, so existing algorithms are difficult to apply in practical engineering. This article presents a novel efficient and lightweight framework for ore image segmentation to discern full and independent ores. First, a lightweight backbone is introduced for feature extraction while reducing computational complexity. Then, we propose a compact pyramid network to process the data obtained from the backbone to reduce unnecessary semantic information and computation. Finally, an optimized detection head is proposed to obtain the feature to maintain accuracy. Extensive experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of our method, which achieves 40 frames per second on our new ore image dataset with a very small model size. Meanwhile, our method maintains a high level of accuracy—67.68% in A P 50 b o x and 46.73% in A P 50 m a s k —compared with state-of-the-art approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The polymer film dielectric has been widely used in high voltage equipment for bulk insulation owing to the excellent insulation performance. Martin’s empirical formula for bulk breakdown is frequently used to predict the breakdown field strength of multilayer thin film with different electrode areas. In this article, based on the academic consensus that the cumulative breakdown probability of single-layer film obeys the Weibull distribution, the relationship between the cumulative breakdown probability of film dielectric under different electrode areas and the applied electrical field is deduced. Moreover, the relationship between the cumulative breakdown probability of film dielectric with various numbers of film layers and the applied electrical field is obtained and simplified. On these bases, combined with the experimental results of the average breakdown field of film dielectric with smaller electrode areas and fewer layers, a prediction model of the average breakdown field strength of film dielectric with different electrode areas and film layers is established. To obtain the solution of the prediction model concerning the number of film layer, an effective approximate solution method is proposed to solve the calculation problem with ultralarge and ultrasmall data, which significantly reduces the complexity of the solution process. A coaxial film capacitor is developed and tested to verify the prediction model with the “Chenguang” accelerator. The experimental breakdown field strength of 54 layers of 15 $\mu \text{m}$ biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP) film with an electrode area of 218.1 cm2 is 355.6 V/ $\mu \text{m}$ , which is comparable to the predicted result of 374 V/ $\mu \text{m}$. The prediction model presented in this article is of certain reference significance for the insulation design of film dielectrics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Fibronectin (Fn) plays an important part in the branching morphogenesis of salivary gland, lung, and kidney. Here, we examine the effect of the conditional knockout of Fn in the mammary epithelium [FnMEp−/−] on postnatal mammary gland development, using Cre-loxP-mediated gene knockout technology. Our data show that Fn deletion causes a moderate retardation in outgrowth and branching of the ductal tree in 5-week-old mice. These defects are partially compensated in virgin 16-week-old mice. However, mammary glands consisting of Fn-deficient epithelial cells fail to undergo normal lobuloalveolar differentiation during pregnancy. The severity of lobuloalveolar impairment ranged from lobular hypoplasia to aplasia in some cases and was associated with the amount of Fn protein recovered from these glands. Decreased rates of mammary epithelial cell proliferation accounted for delayed ductal outgrowth in virgin and lack of alveologenesis in pregnant FnMEp−/− mice. Concomitant decreased expression of integrin β1 (Itgb1) and lack of autophosphorylation of focal adhesion kinase (Fak) suggest that this pathology might, at least in part, be mediated by disruption of the Fn/Itgb1/Fak signaling pathway. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This study investigated the combustion characteristics of low calorific gas in silicon carbide (SiC) foam. The temperature distribution, reaction zone, maximum temperature, and combustion wave propagation velocity were analysed at different inlet velocities, equivalence ratios of premixed gases, and pore densities. The temperature distribution near the reaction zone was determined by a time-based method. Super-adiabatic combustion was obtained in porous media under different conditions. The experimental results showed that higher temperatures were obtained in SiC foams of 30 pores per inch (PPI) than those measured for foam of 20 PPI. Increased equivalence ratio of premixed gases and pore density led to a thicker reaction zone and a higher preheating efficiency in the preheating zone. The combustion wave propagation velocity, which was less than 2mm/s under these experimental conditions, was increased with increased inlet velocity and decreased equivalence ratio of premixed gases. The combustion wave propagation in foams of 20 PPI had the lowest velocity because of the good match of convection and radiation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Ginseng saponin, the most important secondary metabolite in ginseng, has various pharmacological activities. Many studies have been directed towards converting major ginsenosides to the more active minor ginsenoside, Rg3. Due to the difficulty in preparing ginsenoside Rg3 enzymatically, the compound has been mainly produced by either acid treatment or heating. A microbial strain GS514 was isolated from soil around ginseng roots in a field and used for enzymatic preparation of the ginsenoside Rg3. Blast results of the 16S rRNA gene sequence of the strain GS514 established that the strain GS514 belonged to the genus Microbacterium. Its 16S rRNA gene sequence showed 98.7%, 98.4% and 96.1% identity with those of M. esteraromaticum, M. arabinogalactanolyticum and M. lacticum. Strain GS514 showed a strong ability to convert ginsenoside Rb1 or Rd into Rg3. Enzymatic production of Rg3 occurred by consecutive hydrolyses of the terminal and inner glucopyranosyl moieties at the C-20 carbon of ginsenoside Rb1 showing the biotransformation pathway: Rb1→Rd→Rg3. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• HAPNWs were used as flexible matrix to prepare all-inorganic thermal conductive films. • BNNSs were integrated with HAPNWs through facile vacuum-assistant filtration. • The resultant composite films possess good flexibility and fire-resistant ability. • Significant enhancement of in-plane thermal conductivity was achieved. With the enlarging application of thermal conductive composites in aviation field and so on, not only high in-plane thermal conductivity (TC), mechanical flexibility and electrical insulation, but also thermal stability and fire resistance are critically desired. Although with outstanding advantages such as light weight, good flexibility and processability, the intrinsic flammability and high temperature intolerance are Achilles' heel for most polymer-based thermal conductive composites, which severely hinders their application in harsh environments. To solve this issue, we here proposed a facile strategy to prepare flexible all-inorganic composite films inspired by the recent progress of using inorganic nanowires to prepare fire-resistant paper. In this design, one-dimensional hydroxyapatite nanowires (HAPNWs) synthesized via solvothermal method and two-dimensional boron nitride nanosheets (BNNSs) prepared by liquid phase exfoliation were integrated together by vacuum-assisted filtration to form layer-structured composite films, in which HAPNWs provided flexibility and BNNSs offered orientational thermal conductive pathways. When BNNSs loading content was 30 wt%, the in-plane TC value of the resultant composite film reached 6.4 W m−1 K−1 at 25 °C and was still maintained at 5.5 W m−1 K−1 under 100 °C. As expected, the all-inorganic films exhibited excellent flexibility, fire retardant ability and low coefficient of thermal expansion, which show great potential as thermal conductive materials used in harsh environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Melamine foams were used as raw materials for strain sensors preparation. • The sensors were prepared by dip-coating and solution absorption of rGO and SEBS. • The strain sensors could be stretchable as well as compressible. • The sensors exhibited good durability and potential in human motion monitoring. With the progress of intelligent electronic equipment, flexible and wearable strain sensors are being widely used in various applications such as electronic skins and smart robot. In this work, we proposed a facile method for the preparation of stretchable strain sensors as well as compressible strain sensors by using commercially available melamine form (MF). Firstly, MF was coated with reduced graphene oxide (rGO) to construct conductive networks via layer-by-layer assembly of polyethyleneimine and graphene oxide followed by chemical reduction. Thermoplastic elastomer poly (styrene- b -ethylene-butylene- b -styrene) (SEBS) was then infused into the MF@rGO scaffolds through solution absorption method. By adjusting the concentration of SEBS solution used, stretchable and compressible strain sensors were fabricated and both of them exhibited excellent mechanical properties, sensitive responsiveness and electromechanical durability. The deformation capacity of these two types of sensors could reach as high as 50% strain and the maximum gauge factors of stretchable and compressible strain sensors was 2.43 and 1.74, respectively. Stable signals during at least 1000 cycles for both stretchable and compressible strain sensors were well maintained. The potential sensing application of real-time monitoring of human motions was also demonstrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]