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Abstract Fludarabine (FA) is still considered as a first-line chemotherapy drug for hematological tumors related to B lymphocytes. However, it is worth noting that the non-specific distribution and non-different cytotoxicity of FA may lead to irreversible consequences such as central nervous system damage such as blindness, coma, and even death. Therefore, it is very important to develop a system to targeting delivery FA. In preliminary studies, it was found that B lymphoma cells would specific highly expressing the sialic acid-binding immunoglobulin-like lectin 2 (known as CD22). Inspired by the specific recognition of sialic acid residues and CD22, we have developed a supramolecular prodrug based on polysialic acid, an endogenous biomacromolecule, achieving targeted-therapy of B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (B-NHL). Specifically, the prepared hydrophobic reactive oxygen species-responsive FA dimeric prodrug (F2A) interacts with the TPSA, which polysialic acid were modified by the thymidine derivatives, through non-covalent intermolecular interactions similar to “Watson–Crick” base pairing, resulting in the formation of nanoscale supramolecular prodrug (F@TPSA). Cell experiments have confirmed that F@TPSA can be endocytosed by CD22+ B lymphoma cells including Raji and Ramos cells, and there is a significant difference of endocytosis in other leukocytes. Furthermore, in B-NHL mouse model, compared with FA, F@TPSA is determined to have a stronger tumor targeting and inhibitory effect. More importantly, the distribution of F@TPSA in vivo tends to be enriched in lymphoma tissue rather than nonspecific, thus reducing the leukopenia of FA. The targeted delivery system based on PSA provides a new prodrug modification strategy for targeted treatment of B-NHL. Graphical abstract

Abstract Understanding the fluid flow and solute transport in karst conduits is significant for preventing pollutants (treated as solutes) in karst areas. This study evaluates the evolution of eddies in semi‐circular rough conduits under different hydrodynamic conditions and their effects on solute transport. As inlet flow velocity increases, the non‐Fickian coefficient (a parameter used for qualifying the tailing of BTCs) increases first then decreases afterward. A critical equilibrium concentration is found when the concentration of the main flow stream and the concentration of the eddy zone reaches the same value, signaling the moment at which the mass transfer (due to diffusion) between the main flow stream and the eddy zone drops to zero. Such a critical equilibrium concentration and its corresponding moment of occurrence are found to follow two distinctive logarithmic functions of the inlet flow velocity. These findings provide crucial technical support for groundwater pollution control in karst areas.

Red blood cells (RBCs) naturally trap some bacterial pathogens in the circulation and kill them by oxidative stress. Following neutralization, the bacteria are presented to antigen-presenting cells in the spleen by the RBCs. This ability of RBCs has been harnessed to develop a system where they play a crucial role in enhancing the immune response, offering a novel approach to enhance the body’s immunity. In this work, a conjugate, G-OVA, was formed by connecting β-glucan and OVA through a disulfide bond. Poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) was then employed to encapsulate G-OVA, yielding G-OVA-PLGA. Finally, the nanoparticles were adsorbed onto RBCs to develop G-OVA-PLGA@RBC. The results demonstrated that the delivery of nanoparticles by RBCs enhanced the antibody response to antigens both in vitro and in vivo. The objective of this study was to investigate the increased immune activity of G-OVA-PLGA nanoparticles facilitated by RBCs transportation and to elucidate some of its underlying mechanisms. These findings are anticipated to contribute valuable insights for the development of efficient and safe immune enhancers.

Efficient delivery of therapeutic agents to the lesion site or specific cells is an important way to achieve “toxicity reduction and efficacy enhancement”. Macrocycles have always provided many novel ideas for drug or gene loading and delivery processes. Specifically, macrocycles represented by crown ethers, cyclodextrins, cucurbit[n]urils, calix[n]arenes, and pillar[n]arenes have unique properties, which are different cavity structures, good biocompatibility, and good stability. Benefited from these diverse properties, a variety of supramolecular drug delivery systems can be designed and constructed to effectively improve the physical and chemical properties of guest molecules as needed. This review provides an outlook on the current application status and main limitations of macrocycles in supramolecular drug delivery systems.

Up to now, the development of Ce/RE> 80% sintered permanent magnets still faces a challenge, owing to their seriously deteriorated microstructure. In this article, the Ce25.5∼31.5Nd0∼5Febal.B1.25M1.15 (wt.%) sintered magnets with Ce/RE > 80% were investigated, the roles of minor Nd substitution were explored. The typical island-like phase common existed in the grain-boundary (GB) regions of Ce2Fe14B-based SC alloys (which destroys the continuity of RE-rich GB phase), was confirmed as a tetragonal B-rich phase (fct-RE5Fe18B18), and probably generated by the peritectic reaction of “L + Ce2Fe14B → CeFe2 + B-rich” at 797 °C. It was found that: the deteriorated microstructures of high Ce sintered magnets were hardly improved (Nd element was not enriched in the main phase as it was expected), and the coercivity increments were far below expectations by directly adding 3–5% Nd in alloy designs. However, the GB phase distribution was more uniform and continuous, Nd-rich shells formed, and magnetic properties were remarkably promoted by blending 2% NdHx powders into the Ce27.5Nd3Febal.B1.25M1.15 (Ce27.5Nd3) magnet during JM milling, compared with the Ce25.5Nd5Febal.B1.25M1.15 (Ce25.5Nd5) magnet with similar composition. The good comprehensive magnetic properties of Hcj = 1.714 kOe, Br = 9.395 kG, and (BH)max = 11.16 MGOe have been reached in the Ce27.5Nd3+2% (NdHx) magnet (Ce accounted for 84.5 wt% of total rare earth). The present work deepens our understanding of metallurgical behavior, process/microstructure designing for Ce/RE> 80% sintered magnets, and shed a light on the large-scale utilization of Ce element in a permanent magnet.

Dioscorea alata L. anthocyanins (DAC) are natural compounds found in plants and have shown potential health benefits. The objective of this investigation was to assess the impact of anthocyanins sourced from Dioscorea alata L. on the growth, carcass traits, antioxidant potential, and immune response of Hainan black goats. In this study, 30 three-month-old Hainan black goats (with a weight of 11.30 ± 0.82 kg) were selected and randomly divided into two groups, with 15 goats in each group. During the 60-day experiment, the control group (CON) and the treatment group (DAC) were, respectively, supplemented with 0 and 40 mg/kg BW of DAC in the basal diet. The results showed that DAC had no significant impact on the growth performance and body characteristics of Hainan black goats (p > 0.05). However, in terms of meat quality, the addition of DAC significantly increased the pH value and cooking yield 24 h post-slaughter (p

Energy management strategies with prediction message show great potential in optimizing control objectives for fuel cell hybrid vehicles. This paper presents a novelty model-predictive-control based energy management framework for fuel cell commercial vehicle, in which the vehicle mass is firstly introduced as a variable parameter for controller. A vehicle mass identification model is established and embed in the framework based on recursive least square algorithm, and the influence of variable algorithm parameters on estimator is evaluated. Then the effects of mass varying on vehicle performance is talked about in detail. In addition, the performance for different drive cycles on different loaded is also given. The simulation results show that the fuel consumption is positively correlated with the mass identification error, and the designed controller can reduce the additional fuel consumption to around 0.1%, which is much batter to the deterministic parameters scheme. Finally, the shortcomings of the designed controller are given. This paper provides a reliable theoretical basis to address varying-mass vehicle energy management problems.

Modular multilevel converters (MMCs) are susceptible to subsynchronous oscillations (SSOs) caused by impedance interactions in the power line. Current research into the stability of MMCs focuses mainly on voltage feed-forward control, while the effect of current feed-forward control is neglected. This paper proposes a current feed-forward compensation method based on impedance reshaping for standalone MMCs. Initially, an impedance model was developed to identify the stability risks caused by the interaction between the MMC and power line impedance. The proposed method feeds the current compensation signal into the modulation circuit, thereby improving the control signal and suppressing the impedance interaction between the MMC and the power line. The analysis of the harmonic state space (HSS) method verifies that the proposed approach effectively reduces the negative damping region in the frequency band where the SSO is located. Additionally, the impedance frequency scanning method confirms the accuracy of impedance modeling. Using the MATLAB/Simulink platform and StarSim HIL hardware-in-the-loop experimental platform, the SSO phenomenon of the MMC is simulated, and the results show that the proposed method can effectively suppress harmonic currents during SSO, which verifies the accuracy of the stability analysis and the feasibility of the proposed method.

The UK is currently approaching a critical point in the fight against climate change. To achieve carbon neutral by 2050, it is crucial that the way in which buildings are heated are reviewed to determine the most suitable solution. The UK government has acknowledged that district heating (also referred to as heat networks) forms an important part of their plan for future sustainability in heating homes as well as improving energy costs. At present, there are five generations of district heating with distinctive improvements between each. However, research shows a lack of progression with only minor improvements to efficiencies and carbon emissions in the past two decades. Therefore, this paper aimed to review the key technologies and design principles of the low-impact network which shall be implemented into future networks to ensure sustainability and carbon neutral. Furthermore, data were utilised from UK government's ‘Heat Network Project Pipeline’ documents which cover a wide range of projects supported through the development stage by the UK Heat Network Delivery Unit. A statistical analysis was also undertaken to identify popular heat source technologies currently being implemented into the UK networks. Information such as technologies, size and costs were analysed to establish the intercorrelations, which may influence the type of technologies being selected. The results show that 56% of total networks contained Combined Heat and Power (CHP) as a primary heat source, of which over 40% were gas fired CHP, displaying the current dominance of the technology. Overall, it is evident in the UK that, the new networks have been improved from previous generations with a high concentration of renewable energy technologies and heat recovery methods being used. However, there is still a high reliance on natural gas, which does not fulfil the characteristics of a low-impact heating network.

Optic never fibers in the visual pathway play significant roles in vision formation. Damages of optic nerve fibers are biomarkers for the diagnosis of various ophthalmological and neurological diseases; also, there is a need to prevent the optic nerve fibers from getting damaged in neurosurgery and radiation therapy. Reconstruction of optic nerve fibers from medical images can facilitate all these clinical applications. Although many computational methods are developed for the reconstruction of optic nerve fibers, a comprehensive review of these methods is still lacking. This paper described both the two strategies for optic nerve fiber reconstruction applied in existing studies, i.e., image segmentation and fiber tracking. In comparison to image segmentation, fiber tracking can delineate more detailed structures of optic nerve fibers. For each strategy, both conventional and AI-based approaches were introduced, and the latter usually demonstrates better performance than the former. From the review, we concluded that AI-based methods are the trend for optic nerve fiber reconstruction and some new techniques like generative AI can help address the current challenges in optic nerve fiber reconstruction.

The hydrophilic polysaccharides (PS) were isolated and purified from the tuberous roots of Pseudostellaria heterophylla. The extraction process of PS from Pesudostellariae radix was optimized by single–factor experiments and orthogonal design. The extract was purified by DEAE cellulose column to obtain the pure polysaccharide PHP. Then PHP was treated with different intensities of sonication to study the effect of sonication on PHP’s characteristics and its biological activity in vitro and in vivo. The results of this study revealed that ultrasound treatment did not significantly change the properties of PHP. Further, with the increase of ultrasound intensity, PHP enhanced the proliferation and phagocytosis of macrophage RAW264.7. Meanwhile, it could also significantly improve the body’s antioxidant activity and immune function. The results of this study demonstrated that PHP has the potential as a food additive with enhanced antioxidant and immune functions, and its biological activities could be enhanced by sonication.

Urban flood is one of the most frequent and deadly natural disasters in the world, seriously affecting urban sustainability and people's well-being in China. As the largest developing country in the world, China urgently needs to improve its urban flood resilience. Previous studies related to urban flood resilience are mostly focused on its assessment method and simulation. However, few studies directly aim to reveal the influencing factors of urban flood resilience and their inner relationships. In order to make a significant contribution to the long-term improvement of urban flood resilience in the context of global climate change and urbanization, it is crucial to explore the influencing mechanisms of urban flood resilience. This study aims to identify key influencing factors and their interactions on urban flood resilience in China. To this end, a conceptual framework based on Pressure-State-Response model and Social-Economic-Natural Complex Ecosystem theory (PSR-SENCE model) are established and 24 factors are identified within three dimensions. The relationships between the factors are tested using a fuzzy-DEMATEL method. The results reveal that factors in pressure and response dimensions have a greater impact on the whole system, while the factors in the state dimension are more influenced by the other two dimensions. The results identify 14 critical factors, with four detailed influence paths discussed among the different dimensions. Accordingly, the implications for improving urban flood resilience are discussed within the context of the key influencing paths. The study provides a theoretical basis and approach to directly explore how the factors influencing urban flood resilience and proposes specific impact paths and improvement implications.

The robot used for disaster rescue or field exploration requires the ability of fast moving on flat road and adaptability on complex terrain. The hybrid wheel-legged robot (WLR-3P, prototype of the third-generation hydraulic wheel-legged robot) has the characteristics of fast and efficient mobility on flat surfaces and high environmental adaptability on rough terrains. In this paper, 3 design requirements are proposed to improve the mobility and environmental adaptability of the robot. To meet these 3 requirements, 2 design principles for each requirement are put forward. First, for light weight and low inertia with high stiffness, 3-dimensional printing technology and lightweight material are adopted. Second, the integrated hydraulically driven unit is used for high power density and fast response actuation. Third, the micro-hydraulic power unit achieves power autonomy, adopting the hoseless design to strengthen the reliability of the hydraulic system. What is more, the control system including hierarchical distributed electrical system and control strategy is presented. The mobility and adaptability of WLR-3P are demonstrated with a series of experiments. Finally, the robot can achieve a speed of 13.6 km/h and a jumping height of 0.2 m.

IntroductionThe erythrocyte membranes used in nanovaccines include high membrane stability, long circulation life, adaptability and extremely good bio compatibility. Nanoparticles encapsulated by erythrocyte membranes are widely used as ideal drug delivery vehicles because of their high drug loading, long circulation time, and excellent biocompatibility. The mannose modification of delivery materials can help target mannose receptors (MRs) to deliver antigens to antigen-presenting cells (APCs).MethodsIn this study, the antigen gene gp90 of avian reticuloendotheliosis virus (REV) was encapsulated with carboxymethyl chitosan (CS) to obtain CSgp90 nanoparticles, which were coated with mannose-modied fowl erythrocyte membranes to yield CS-gp90@M-M nanoparticles. The physicochemical characterization and immune response of the CS-gp90@M-M nanoparticles were investigated in vitro and in vivo.ResultsCS-gp90@M-M nanoparticles were rapidly phagocytized in vitro by macrophages to induce the production of cytokines and nitric oxide. In vivo, CS-gp90@M-M nanoparticles increased cytokine levels, the CD4+/8+ ratio, REV-specific antibodies in the peripheral blood of chicks, and the mRNA levels of immune-related genes in the spleen and bursa of immunized chicks. CS-gp90@M-M nanoparticles could be targeted to lymphoid organs to prolong the retention time of the nanoparticles at the injection site and lymphatic organs, leading to a strong, sustained immune response. Moreover, the CS-gp90@M-M nano-vaccine showed a lasting immunoprotective effect and improved the body weight of chicks after the challenge.ConclusionOverall, CS-gp90@M-M nanoparticles can be used in vaccine designs as an effective delivery carrier with immune response-enhancing effects.

With global climate change and rapid urbanization, it is critical to assess urban flood resilience (UFR) within the social-economic-natural complex ecosystem in dealing with urban flood disasters. This research proposes a conceptual framework based on the PSR-SENCE model for evaluating and exploring trends in urban flood resilience over time, using 27 cities in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) of China as case studies. For the overall evaluation, a hybrid weighting method, VIKOR, and sensitivity analysis were used. During that time, UFR in the YRD region averaged a moderate level with an upward trend. This distinguishes between the resilience levels and fluctuation trends of provinces and cities. Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui provinces all displayed a trend of progressive development; however, Shanghai displayed a completely opposite pattern, mainly because of resilience in the state dimension. During that time, 81.41% of cities exhibited varying, upward trends in urban flood resistance, with few demonstrating inverse changes. Regional, provincial, and city-level implications are proposed for future UFR enhancement. The research contributes to a better understanding of the urban complex ecosystem under flood conditions and provides significant insights for policymakers, urban planners, and practitioners in the YRD region and other similar flood-prone urban areas.

The data-driven models have been widely used in building energy analysis due to their outstanding performance. The input variables of the data-driven models are crucial for their predictive performance. Therefore, it is meaningful to explore the input variables that can improve the predictive performance, especially in the context of the global energy crisis. In this study, an algorithm for calculating the balance point temperature was proposed for an apartment community in Xiamen, China. It was found that the balance point temperature label (BPT label) can significantly improve the daily energy consumption prediction accuracy of five data-driven models (BPNN, SVR, RF, LASSO, and KNN). Feature importance analysis showed that the importance of the BPT label accounts for 25%. Among all input variables, the daily minimum temperature is the decisive factor that affects energy consumption, while the daily maximum temperature has little impact. In addition, this study also provides recommendations for selecting these model tools under different data conditions: when the input variable data is insufficient, KNN has the best predictive performance, while BPNN is the best model when the input data is sufficient.

Environmental, economic, and social activities involve inherent spatial dimensions. The geospatial information system (GIS), a platform containing principles, methods, and tools to link, create, visualize, analyze, and model artificial activities and environment, provides the possibility to develop sustainability in the building sector. With globally political collaborations across governments, the demands to manage and visualize sustainable data (e.g., building energy and environment with geospatial reference) and implement more rigorous building modelling are increasing. A systematic mapping at multiple scales will help urban engineers, architectural engineers, policymakers, and energy planners identify emission hotspots, locate spatial resources, restructure district energy mix, and achieve net zero energy targets. To achieve net zero energy goals, it is crucial to minimize energy consumption, improve energy efficiency, and most importantly, apply renewable energy in buildings. However, these processes imply many aspects and challenges, regarding e.g., data availability, scalability, integrability, and a lack of clear and applicable frameworks. In this conceptional perspective paper, we aim to explore the potential of applying and installing renewable energy in net zero energy buildings using the GIS. More specifically, the described virtual framework will effectively support policy- and decision-makers in optimizing the energy structure, reducing building emissions, and applying renewable energy technologies. We also present challenges, limitations, and future directions for real practice.

The purple tubers of Dioscorea alata L. have been found to contain a variety of bioactive chemical components, including anthocyanins, which make it significant to investigate the pre-protective effects of Dioscorea alata L. and its crude extracts on cells prior to oxidative stress. To establish a suitable oxidative damage model, an injured model of IPEC-J2 cells was created using H2O2 as the oxidant. Specifically, when the concentration of H2O2 was 120 μmol/L and the injured time was 8 h, the survival rate of cells decreased to approximately 70%, and the cells exhibited a noticeable oxidative stress reaction. Moreover, the crude extracts of Dioscorea alata L. demonstrated beneficial pre-protective effects on IPEC-J2 cells by increasing the total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) and catalase (CAT) activities, augmenting the expression of total superoxide dismutase (T-SOD) and its genes, reducing the content of malondialdehyde (MDA) and the activity of glutathione peroxidase (GSH-PX) and its expression of genes, and promoting the expression of glucose transporter SGLT1 gene while reducing that of GULT2 gene, thereby facilitating the entry of anthocyanins into cells. In addition, the 50 μg/mL crude extracts effectively inhibited the phosphorylation of IκB and the p65 protein, thus reducing cellular oxidative stress. Given these findings, Dioscorea alata L. can be considered a natural antioxidant for practical breeding and production purposes, with an optimal concentration of crude extracts in this experiment being 50 μg/mL.

We aimed to assess the potential of ultrasonic treatment on the processing of polysaccharides as functional foods or food additives. The polysaccharide from Sinopodophyllum hexandrum fruit (SHP, 52.46 kDa, 1.91 nm) was isolated and purified. SHP was treated with various levels of ultrasound (250 W and 500 W), resulting in the formation of two polysaccharides, SHP1 (29.37 kD, 1.40 nm) and SHP2 (36.91 kDa, 0.987 nm). Ultrasonic treatment was found to reduce the surface roughness and molecular weight of the polysaccharides, leading to thinning and fracturing. The effect of ultrasonic treatment on polysaccharide activity was evaluated in vitro and in vivo. In vivo experiments showed that ultrasonic treatment improved the organ index. Simultaneously, it enhanced the activity of superoxide dismutase, total antioxidant capacity, and decreased the content of malondialdehyde in the liver. In vitro experiments demonstrated that ultrasonic treatment also promoted proliferation, nitric oxide secretion, phagocytic efficiency, costimulatory factors (CD80+, CD86+) expression, and cytokine(IL-6, IL-1β) production of RAW264.7 macrophages.

To improve the mileage capacity of electric vehicles (EVs), a dual-motor front-wheel-drive EV is considered as the research object. Through experiments with actual vehicles, data from four typical working conditions are collected; a C4.5 decision tree algorithm is developed to train a working condition recognition model. The long short termmemory neural network is used to train four deep-learning working condition prediction models, and the particleswarm algorithm is used to optimize their structural parameters. The braking strength, demand torque, and demand speed are determined based on the predicted working conditions. Based on four common braking energy recovery control strategies, front- and rear-wheel braking force distribution strategies are formulated according to the changes in braking strength. The maximum regenerative braking torque and remaining mechanical braking torque provided by the front wheels are optimized. The Seagull Optimization Algorithm is used to optimize the torque distribution of the dual motors on the front wheels and improve the working efficiency of the motors. In the experimental conditions, the recovered energy at 100 km is 2.6 kWh; the energy recovery rate is 19.1%, and the power consumption ratio is reduced by 15.8%, improving the EV cruising range.

BACKGROUND: Recognising that high levels of emotional intelligence (EI) are required for involvement in the nursing practice, this study was conducted to assess the traits of emotional intelligence, perception of emotional intelligence and factors associated with emotional intelligence among nursing teams in Northeast England. MATERIALS AND METHODS: For this descriptive cross-sectional study, a concurrent mixed method was employed (qualitative and quantitative method) using a convenience sampling technique. Data were obtained from one hundred and ten (110) staff nurses practicing with the National Health Service via a validated semi-structured questionnaire and in-depth interview. Data collected through questionnaires (online- Google form link) were retrieved via Ms excel spreadsheet and then imported to Statistics Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25 for analyses. Interviews recorded were transcribed word for word as Nvivo software (version 12) was utilised for thematic analysis and rapid analysis was also adopted to validate the responses. RESULTS: Majority (77%) of the respondents were females, and about half (46%) have work experience between one to five years. The mean emotional intelligence trait score for each domain was self-awareness (20.20), self-regulation (38.15), self-motivation (20.54), empathy (18.78), and social skills (29.60), as 82% of the nurses had high emotional intelligence trait. There was a statistically significant relationship between empathy, and race of the respondents (P = 0.040). Also, from the qualitative data; cultural differences, personality traits, self-care, family support, and organisational structure are key predictors of emotional intelligence traits among nurses. CONCLUSION: Enhancing emotional intelligence traits among nursing teams is significant, as it may serve as an intervention strategy to manage changes and still increase level of morale and productivity among nurses. Hence, creating a more supportive environment, encouragement from team leads or supervisors, and training on stress management strategies can help to reduce burnout, anxiety and stress in nurses.

The rapid development of new technologies has made the acquisition and processing of big data much easier and more accessible to various domains including construction management. This trend has resulted in numerous new technical or management issues in the field, as well as increased research needs. Thus, it is very necessary to invest and assess the past, present, and possible future developments of construction management-related studies. This paper provides a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of the articles published in this field over the previous two decades. The seven most popular research themes were identified and discussed with the data adopted in the related studies, including modern technology, waste management, performance management, risk management, project management, knowledge management, and organization management. Typical research data, research approaches, and future research directions were discussed. Emerging topics such as smart technology, sustainability, resilience, and human factors are suggested to be further explored in the domain. The review conducted in this study can provide some insights into what has been done and what can be achieved in future research in the construction management domain towards a data-rich era.

(1) Background: The mammary glands of the perinatal goats are susceptible to reactive oxygen species (ROS) leading to oxidative injury. Although Dioscorea alata L. is rich in anthocyanins with high safety and excellent free-radical-scavenging ability, the effect and mechanism of Dioscorea alata L. anthocyanins (DAC) on the antioxidant capacity of the black Hainan goat has been the subject of few studies to date; (2) Methods: For this reason, feeding experiments were performed by feeding experimental diets, and the pre-protective capacity of DAC on goat mammary epithelial cells was explored on the basis of the established model of H2O2 injury; (3) Results: As well as altering rumen fermentation parameters in perinatal female goats, dietary challenge also improves antioxidant capacity in their blood and milk. thereby enhancing children’s antioxidant capacity and increasing their resistance to oxidative stress. However, we also found that DAC pretreatment was capable of activating both Nrf2 and MAPK/JNK pathways, which results in enhanced antioxidase activity and elimination of ROS; (4) Conclusions: Together, these findings suggest that DAC may have a pre-protective role on perinatal Hainan black goats through the regulation of Nrf2 and MAPK/JNK pathways in GMEC.

DEC-205 receptor-mediated dendritic cells (DC) targeting nanoliposomes is a promising delivery system in eliciting an immune response against pathogens. When this delivery system carries both antigen and immunomodulator, it can effectively regulate the DC function as well as the initial T cell response. To maximize the desired therapeutic effects of Eucommia ulmoides Oliv. polysaccharides (EUPS), and induce an efficient humoral and cellular immune response against an antigen, we encapsulated the OVA and EUPS in long-circling nanoliposomes and conjugated it with anti-DEC-205 receptor antibody to obtain a DEC-205-targeted nanoliposomes (anti-DEC-205-EUPS-OVA-LPSM). The physicochemical properties and immune-modulating effects were investigated in vitro and in vivo by a series of the experiment to evaluate the targeting efficiency of anti-DEC-205-EUPS-OVA-LPSM. In vitro, anti-DEC-205-EUPS-OVA-LPSM (160 μg mL−1) could enhance DCs proliferation and increase their phagocytic efficiency. In vivo anti-DEC-205-EUPS-OVA-LPSM remarkably promoted the OVA-specific IgG and IgG isotypes levels, enhanced the splenocyte proliferation, and induced the NK cell and CTL cytotoxicity. Besides, the anti-DEC-205-EUPS-OVA-LPSM enhanced the maturation of DCs. These findings suggest that the DEC-205 receptor antibody-conjugated EUPS nanoliposome can act as an efficient antigen delivery system to enhance the cellular and humoral immune response by promoting DC maturation. This indicates that the anti-DEC-205-EUPS-OVA-LPSM has significant potential as an immune-enhancing agent and antigen delivery system.

Central management of fire stations and traditional optimization strategies are vulnerable to response time, a single point of failure, workload balancing, and cost problems. This is further intensified by the absence of modern communication systems and a comprehensive management framework for firefighting operations. These problems motivate the use of new technologies such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with the capability to transport extinguishing materials and reach remote zones. Forest fire management in remote regions can also benefit from blockchain technology (BC) due to the facilitation of decentralization, tamper-proofing, immutability, and mission recording in distributed ledgers. This study proposed an integrated drone-based blockchain framework in which the network users or nodes include drones, drone controllers, firefighters, and managers. In this distributed network, all nodes can have access to data; therefore, the flow of data exchange is smooth and challenges on spatial distance are minimized. The research concluded with a discussion on constraints and opportunities in integrating blockchain with other new technologies to manage forest fires in remote regions.

Commercial N50 sintered Nd–Fe–B magnets were grain boundary diffusion (GBD) processed with TbHx powders. The diffusion temperature and time dependent microstructure and magnetic properties of the GBD processed magnets were investigated. High remanence and coercivity were obtained when the magnet was GBD processed at 875 °C for 14 h; the coercivity of the magnet increased from 12.57 kOe to 22.65 kOe. The relationships between microstructure and coercivity, remanence, and thermal stability of the GBD processed magnets were analyzed and discussed.

Assessing the energy performance of existing residential buildings (ERB) has been identified as key to improving building energy efficiency and reducing associated greenhouse gas emissions in Canada. However, identifying optimal retrofit packages requires a significant amount of knowledge of building energy modelling, and it is a time-consuming and laborious process. This paper proposed a data-driven framework that combines machine learning, multi-objective optimization, and multi-criteria decision-making techniques to evaluate the energy performance of ERB and thereby formulate optimal retrofit plans. First, an artificial neural network (ANN) was developed to predict the energy performance of a wide range of retrofit packages. A genetic algorithm was employed to determine the best structure and hyperparameters of the ANN model. Then, the energy consumption results were integrated with environmental and economic impact data to evaluate the environmental and economic performance of retrofit packages and thereby identify Pareto optimal solutions. Finally, a multi-criteria decision-making method was used to select the best retrofit packages among the optimal solutions. The proposed framework was validated using data on a typical residential building in British Columbia, Canada. The results indicated that this framework could effectively predict building energy performance and help decision-makers to make an optimal decision when choosing retrofit packages.

Many construction activities generate fine particles and severely threaten the physical health of construction workers. Although many dust control measures are implemented in the industry, the occupational health risks still exist. In order to improve the occupational health level, this study proposes a new method of reducing the construction dust pollution through a reasonable site layout plan. This method is based on the field measurement and dust diffusion law. The dust diffusion law can be fitted based on the field monitoring data. With diffusion law, the average dust concentration exposed to workers of different site layouts can be simulated. In addition, the cost of the dust control method is a concern for site managers. Therefore, the total transportation cost reduction is another optimization objective. Finally, the multi-objective particle swarm optimization (MOPSO) algorithm is used to search for an optimized site layout that can reduce dust pollution and transportation cost simultaneously. The result shows that average dust concentration exposed to workers and total transportation cost are significantly reduced by 60.62% and 44.3%, respectively. This paper quantifies the construction dust pollution and provides site managers with a practical solution to reduce the construction dust pollution at low cost.

Buildings have a significant impact on energy consumption and carbon emissions. Smart buildings are deemed to play a crucial role in improving the energy performance of buildings and cities. Managing a smart building requires the modelling of data concerning smart systems and components. While there is a significant amount of research on optimising building energy using the smart building concept, there is a dearth of studies investigating the modelling and management of smart systems’ data, which is the starting point for establishing the necessary digital environment for representing a smart building. This study aimed to develop and test a solution for modelling and managing smart building information using an industry foundation classes (IFCs)-based BIM process. A conceptual model expressed in the SysML language was proposed to define a smart building. Five BIM approaches were identified as potential ‘prototypes’ for representing and exchanging smart building information. The fidelity of each approach is checked through a BIM-based validation process using an open-source visualisation platform. The different prototypes were also assessed using a multi-criteria comparison method to identify the preferred approach for modelling and managing smart building information. The preferred approach was prototyped and tested in a use case focused on building energy consumption monitoring to evaluate its ability to manage and visualise the smart building data. The use case was applied in a real case study using a full-scale demonstrator, namely, the ‘Nanterre 3’ (N3) smart building located at the CESI campus in Paris-Nanterre. The findings demonstrated that an open BIM format in the form of IFCs could achieve adequate modelling of smart building data without information loss. Future extensions of the proposed approach were finally outlined.

In this investigation, to maximize the desired immunoenhancement effects of PsEUL and stimulate an efficient humoral and cellular immune response against an antigen, PsEUL and the model antigen ovalbumin (OVA) were coupled using the N-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)-N′-ethylcarbodiimide hydrochloride (EDC) reaction to yield a novel delivery system (PsEUL-OVA). The physicochemical characteristics and immune regulation effects of this new system were investigated. We found the yield of this EDC method to be 46.25%. In vitro, PsEUL-OVA (200 μg mL−1) could enhance macrophage proliferation and increase their phagocytic efficiency. In vivo, PsEUL-OVA could significantly increase the levels of OVA-specific antibody (IgG, IgG1, IgG2a, and IgG2b) titers and cytokine (IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IFN-γ) levels. Additionally, it could activate T lymphocytes and facilitate the maturation of dendritic cells (DCs). These findings collectively suggested that PsEUL-OVA induced humoral and cellular immune responses by promoting the phagocytic activity of macrophages and DCs. Taken together, these results revealed that PsEUL-OVA had the potential to improve immune responses and provide a promising theoretical basis for the design of a novel delivery system.

We optimized the hot water extraction of polysaccharides from the root of Henry wood betony (RHWPs) using a uniform test and explored their anti-tumor activities in vitro and in vivo. The optimal extraction conditions were as follows: 40 min extraction time, liquid/solid ratio 30 mL/g, 100 min soaking time, two extraction cycles, 100% ethanol concentration, and extraction temperature of 80 °C. The molecular weight distribution of RHWPs with MWs was 228,600 g/mol and 5001 g/mol. The IR spectrum further indicated that RHWPs are acidic polysaccharides containing pyranose and furan rings. The main monosaccharides found in RHWPs were mannose, ribose, l-rhamnose monohydrate, glucuronic acid, galacturonic acid, glucose, galactose, xylose, arabinose, and fucose. RHWPs inhibited the proliferation of S180 tumor cells and induced apoptosis in vitro. Oral administration of RHWPs to tumor-bearing mice significantly inhibited the growth of the S180 xenografts, accelerated apoptosis in tumor cells, and expanded the necrotic regions. Furthermore, RHWPs also markedly increased the levels of TNF-α, IFN-γ, and IL-2 in the sera of tumor-bearing mice, and activated immune cells such as lymphocytes, NK cells, and macrophages, thereby inducing tumor cell apoptosis. Taken together, RHWPs are a promising anti-tumor agent that ought to be explored further.

The effects of the fractal characteristics on the dynamic characteristics of the oblique impact system are studied via considering the normal contact stiffness with fractal dimension parameter of the microstructure of the interface in this paper. The normal distribution is used to describe the trend of contact line length. The effects of the position parameters and the scale parameters are analyzed. The simulation results show that the increasing of the interface roughness can make the system response more stable. The system response eventually evolves into chaos as the fractal dimension increases. The system response changes between quasiperiod and chaos affected by the contact line length with a normal random distribution.

This research aimed to investigate the immunomodulatory effects of phosphorylated Radix Cyathulae officinalis Kuan polysaccharides (pRCPS) in immunosuppressed mice, improving their cellular and humoral immune function. Our results showed that pRCPS increased serum immunoglobulin (IgG, IgA, IgM) concentrations significantly, enhanced splenocyte proliferation, and the thymus and spleen indices. pRCPS also promoted phagocytosis in peritoneal macrophages and enhanced cytokine (IFN-γ, IL-2, -4, -5, -6, and -10) serum levels. Importantly, pRCPS increased the proportions of selected T cell subpopulations (CD3+, CD4+, and the CD4+ to CD8+ ratio). Our results revealed that phosphorylation of the polysaccharides promoted their immune-enhancing effects. Thus, pRCPS can enhance cellular and humoral immunity and could be used as an immune-enhancing agent to overcome cyclophosphamide (CY)-induced immunosuppression.

A novel uncoupled and isotropic 2-degree-of-freedom parallel mechanism is presented in this article. The parallel mechanism consists of two kinematic chains: R-4R-R kinematic structure and R-R-P-R-R kinematic structure. The x -axis and y -axis projective angles of the output linkages can be actuated by the corresponding motor mounted on the fixed base. Forward kinematic, inverse kinematic, uncoupled, and isotropic characteristics of the parallel mechanism are analyzed. Singularity analysis and workspace analysis are achieved. The uncoupled and isotropic architecture of the parallel mechanism has some merits such as the larger workspace, a simple mathematical treatment, an easy control, high stiffness, and dexterity. The parallel mechanism can be applied in fields that require aiming at subjects, such as the use of machining tools, radar scanners, telescopes, cameras, satellite solar arrays, the human wrist, and minimally invasive surgery.

The aim of this study was to investigate whether phosphorylated Radix Cyathulae officinalis Kuan polysaccharides (pRCPS) used as adjuvant with foot-and-mouth disease vaccine (FMDV) can stimulate specific humoral and cellular immune responses in ICR mice. The results demonstrated that pRCPS significantly up-regulated FMDV-specific IgG, IgG1, IgG2b and IgG2a antibody levels and splenocyte proliferation. pRCPS also promoted the killing activities of cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) and natural killer cells (NK). In addition, pRCPS enhanced the expression levels of IL-2, IL-4, and IFN-γ in CD4+ T cells and the level of IFN-γ in CD8+ T cells. Importantly, pRCPS enhanced the expression of MHCII, CD40+, CD86+, and CD80+ in dendritic cells (DCs). This study indicated that phosphorylation modification could increase immune-enhancing activities of RCPS, and pRCPS could promote humoral and cellular immune responses through facilitating DC maturation.