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Abstract An eight-year satellite observation dataset reveals that sulfate aerosols significantly influence the vertical structure of precipitation and latent heat (LH) in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region during summer. In this period, prevalent sulfate aerosols combine with warm, humid southerly winds and elevated convective available potential energy (CAPE), influencing precipitation dynamics. Under polluted conditions with specific CAPE and precipitation top temperature (PTT) ranges, precipitation particles experience accelerated growth within the mixed-phase layer, delineated by the −5 °C to 2 °C isotherms, compared to pristine environments. This results in a marked increase in both the intensity and height at which the maximum LH is released. Subsequent analysis reveals that hygroscopic sulfate aerosols, acting as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN), amplify the collision-coalescence process within the mixed layer amid high cloud water content, propelling rapid precipitation particle growth and elevating the PTT. This warming effect surpasses the cooling contribution from robust CAPE, culminating in a net elevation of PTT under polluted scenarios compared to pristine ones. Additionally, quantification of PTT sensitivity to both CAPE and aerosol optical depth (AOD) unveils a high consistency between satellite-detected PTT responses to CAPE and those predicted by cloud-resolving model simulations. The study deduces that the role of aerosols as CCN in either invigorating or diminishing the collision-coalescence process is contingent on the available cloud water.

UAV swarms have increasingly replaced human labor in various industries. However, controlling a large group of UAVs can be difficult and, if not done correctly, cause significant financial losses and delays. While many methods aim to improve how the group is controlled, little focus is given to optimizing and stabilizing movement trajectories, which limits the emergency response and reliability of UAV swarm in dynamic environments. This paper proposes a new method to control UAVs through Proximal Policy Optimization. This method utilizes two neural networks and incorporates the concept of a game. During training, one neural network generates an action based on the current state, while the other evaluates the output of the first network. With continuous refinement, the performance of both networks can be enhanced, ultimately leading to the optimal decision-making model. Additionally, this research introduces a hierarchical management mechanism to address the issue of complex computations in large bee colonies and to distribute control more evenly. Simulation results demonstrate that this approach can successfully reconstruct formations under various scenarios. Compared to similar algorithms, this method is at the forefront of tackling large-scale problems, with a collision rate close to 0 and a 100% success rate in emergency processing.

In most practical applications, the feature space of the training datasets and the target domain datasets are inconsistent, or the data distribution between them is inconsistent, which leads to the problem of data starvation and makes it difficult for terminal devices to obtain high accurate results. Aiming at the problems of limited terminal device resources, low accuracy of data processing results, and unsatisfactory processing speed, a Heterogeneous Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC) Framework based on Transfer Learning (TL) is proposed, abbreviated as HMECF-TL. This framework adopts a cloud-edge-end three-layer architecture. It uses model transfer to optimize the Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) model at each layer to achieve the goal of improving data processing speed and accuracy. Furthermore, a multi-agent Deep Reinforcement Learning Algorithm having Attention Mechanism (DRLAAM) is designed to further increase the timeliness performance of computation-intensive applications. The performance of HMECSF-TL framework is verified by simulation experiments, which not only reduces the delay by more than 24.66 %, but also improves the accuracy by more than 8.34 %. The framework not only increase the computing capacity to solve the shortage of terminal device resources, but also improve the quality of data processing to solve the problem of data starvation.

Objective: To evaluate the immunomodulatory function and safety of compound preparation containing Ganoderma lucidum polysaccharides. Methods: According to the Technical Standards for Testing and Assessment of Health Food (2003 Edition), the immunomodulatory function of compound preparation containing Ganoderma lucidum polysaccharides was evaluated comprehensively from cellular immunity, humoral immunity and non-specific immunity by measuring the ability of lymphocyte proliferation, degree of ear swelling, number of hemolytic plaques, phagocytic percentage, phagocytic index and natural killer (NK) cells activity in normal mice. Its safety was evaluated comprehensively by acute oral toxicity test in mice, Ames test and 30 d feeding test in rats. Results: In cellular immunity test, the tested substance had no significant effect on lymphocyte proliferation induced by concanavalin A and degree of ear swelling (P>0.05). In the humoral immunity test, the low dose group (0.17 g/kg), the middle dose group (0.33 g/kg) and the high dose group (1.00 g/kg) could increase the level of antibody-producing cells by 10.98%, 12.08%, 17.63% (P0.05), and no obvious pathological changes were found by histological examination. Conclusion: Compound preparation containing Ganoderma lucidum polysaccharides had a positive effect on immunomodulatory function in mice, and it had a good safety as a health food.

Spontaneous celiac artery dissection is uncommon. Abdominal pain is a common clinical presentation. Conservative medical treatments, endovascular interventions, and open surgery are used to treat spontaneous celiac artery dissection. A 49-year-old male patient visited our hospital, with back and subxiphoid pain that had persisted for 11 hours. He has been smoking 40 cigarettes a day for 20 years. The blood pressure was 180/100mmHg. Aortic computed tomography angiography (CTA) images revealed dissection of the celiac artery, common hepatic artery, left hepatic artery, right hepatic artery, and splenic artery. Urapidil hydrochloride and isosorbide dinitrate were administered to lower the blood pressure to approximately 110/70 mmHg. However, the back and subxiphoid pain persisted without relief. Angiography was performed and a vascular stent (BARD, LIFE STENT, VASCULAR, 8 × 60) was implanted into the celiac artery without involving the branches. Pain was immediately relieved after interventional therapy. The patient was discharged after 4 days. A subsequent aortic CTA after 10 months confirmed that the celiac artery dissection had still not reoccurred.

To understand the relationship between the damage mechanism of sapphire and the anisotropic characteristic of its crystal structure, in-situ scratch tests under the confocal laser scanning microscope (CLSM) were performed along different directions of C-plane sapphire wafer. The relation between in-situ images and normal/lateral forces was established. Craters in front of the contact region (CR) between the indenter and the material, and subsurface special cracks separated from CR were observed. As the scratch direction changed, these special cracks and craters initiated and propagated on the left front, front, and right front of the CR, respectively. The scratch phenomena in different scratch directions exhibited triple symmetric characteristic around the c-axis. The probability of slip/twinning activation and the theoretical stress field in front of the indenter were calculated to investigate the fracture mechanism of sapphire. Craters and those special cracks appeared in the region with the highest probability of rhombohedral twinning and basal twinning activation, respectively. According to the theoretical stress field, the material ahead of the indenter axis was separated into regions I and II. Craters in front of the CR and those special cracks separated from the CR appeared in these two regions, respectively.

High entropy alloys exhibit excellent performance under different-temperature conditions. In order to investigate the effect of temperature on the mechanical-thermal coupling fatigue failure of classical CoCrFeMnNi high entropy alloy to accelerate the application of high entropy alloys, the uniaxial tensile and fatigue tests at temperatures ranging from RT to 500 °C were conducted, and statics simulation analysis of fatigue specimens under fatigue loading conditions was conducted. The results of the uniaxial tensile tests illustrated that the yield stress and tensile strength of the alloy decreased with increasing temperature. In contrast, the elongation after the fracture of the alloy increased with temperature. The fatigue test results revealed that the fatigue life decreased as the temperature increased. The fracture morphology of the fatigue specimens and the flank morphology and dislocation distribution near the crack nucleation zone were collected to support the investigation. Accordingly, the reasons for the high-temperature-induced decrease in fatigue crack nucleation and propagation lives were systematically investigated. The main reasons for the higher-temperature-induced decrease in crack nucleation lives were a decrease in the yield stress of the alloy, more easily triggered dislocation motion and stress homogenization. The reasons for the decrease in fatigue crack propagation lives induced by higher temperatures were the more prone occurrence of dislocation motion, a decrease in yield stress, and a decrease in the area of the crack propagation region.

Superalloys play a critical role in aerospace applications due to their exceptional mechanical properties at high temperatures. The application of magnetic fields to regulate superalloys presents novel avenues for optimizing microstructures, controlling solidification defects, and enhancing their high-temperature properties. This paper provides a comprehensive review of research findings on the influence of magnetic fields on the microstructure and properties of superalloys. It systematically elucidates the effects of different types and intensities of magnetic fields on alloy solidification. Moreover, this paper extensively explores the effects of various types of magnetic fields on the phase composition, microstructure, and properties of superalloys, including Ni-based and Co-based alloys, as well as high-entropy alloys. The underlying mechanisms behind the impact of magnetic fields on these alloy types are thoroughly analyzed. Finally, the last section offers a brief summary of the current development status and prospects of magnetic field-regulated superalloys.

Developing high-entropy alloys (HEAs) faces challenges owing to the inherent strength-ductility trade-off. This study systematically investigated the microstructure and mechanical properties of Al0.25FeCoNiV face-centered cubic (FCC) and body-centered cubic (BCC) duplex HEA, subjected to 70% cold rolling and annealing at various temperatures. The mechanism of the nonlinear effect of the annealing temperature on precipitation in duplex HEA was investigated. An economical and efficient thermo-mechanical processing route was developed to construct a multiscale BCC secondary phase. After 70% cold rolling and annealing at 1373 K, the yield strength (YS), ultimate tensile strength, and fracture elongation were 750 MPa, 1169 MPa, and 46.5%, respectively. This demonstrates superior strength-ductility coordination. In-situ electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) tensile experiments were performed using a self-designed device to observe the dynamic evolution of the grain orientation and grain boundary distribution under diverse strain conditions. The influence of the multiscale BCC secondary phase on the mechanical properties was comprehensively investigated. The findings suggested that the exceptional mechanical performance was attributed to the coupled mechanism of multistage hetero-deformation-induced (HDI) strengthening and strain hardening produced by the multiscale BCC phase. Quantitative calculations revealed that the HDI strengthening (420 MPa) contributed over 50% to YS. This study lays a solid theoretical foundation for optimizing process parameters and innovating high-performance HEAs for engineering applications.

Abstract Aims Although central adiposity is a well-known risk factor for diabetes, the underlying mechanism remains unclear. The aim of this study was to explore the potential mediation role of circulating WBC counts in the association between central adiposity and the risk of diabetes. Materials and methods A cross-sectional study was conducted using data from the Fuqing cohort study, which included 6,613 participants aged 35–75 years. Logistic regression analysis and Spearman’s rank correlation analysis were used to examine the relationships between waist-to-hip ratio, WBC counts and glycemic status. Both simple and parallel multiple mediation models were used to explore the potential mediation effects of WBCs on the association of waist-to-hip ratio with diabetes. Results The study revealed a positive relationship between waist-to-hip ratio and risk of prediabetes (OR = 1.53; 95% CI, 1.35 to 1.74) and diabetes (OR = 2.89; 95% CI, 2.45 to 3.40). Moreover, elevated peripheral WBC counts were associated with both central adiposity and worsening glycemic status (P

High strain rates and continuous real-time data acquisition are difficult to balance in existing impact indentation techniques. Meanwhile, the inaccuracy of the testing P-h curves limits the development of quantitative applications for dynamic testing of mechanical properties at micro region. This article develops a momentum exchange impact indentation testing method, which extends the testing range of strain rate to above 105 s−1, and at the same time avoids secondary impact. Impact indentation tests are conducted on single-crystal aluminum specimens with impact velocity from 76.9 to 176 mm/s. Based on calibrated data, the comparison of calculation methods for dynamic hardness is carried out. The dynamic elastic modulus is obtained by means of the Oliver-Pharr method, which increases from 71.9 to 89.4 GPa with increasing impact velocity. A multi-dimensional data analysis method is proposed based on the obtained experimental data to quantitatively study the damping and stiffness characteristics of materials. This testing method is particularly useful for quantitatively obtaining the micro region dynamic mechanical properties of solid materials at high strain rates.

The number of layers and ply orientations determined the service performance of carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) materials. Under low-temperature service conditions, the unclear weakening mechanism of mechanical properties of CFRP aggravates the failure risks of aerospace structures. In present work, the unclear correlation between layers with alternating orientations and the tensile-failure mechanisms of CFRP, the low temperature-mechanical coupling micromechanical behavior, and the failure mechanism of CFRP was experimentally revealed by using a horizontal testing instrument integrated with a low-temperature loading module and real-time optical imaging function. Based on various temperatures in a range from −40 °C to room temperature (RT) and two strain rates, the gradually decreasing trends of tensile strength, Young's modulus, and elongation after fracture with decreasing temperature are obtained. Three failure modes including fiber brittle fracture, fiber pull-out, and interface debonding are proposed to reveal the low temperature-mechanical coupling failure mechanism. Low-temperature asynchronous shrinkage of carbon fiber and epoxy resin promoted the transition from fiber brittle fracture to delamination at the interface. The proposed instrument could establish the approximatively actual service conditions involving low temperature and mechanical load.

Soil salinity caused by NaCl is a major challenge to agricultural crops worldwide. For this, two WRKY transcription factors were evaluated for their role in salt stress tolerance in tomato plants (Solanum lycopersicum; Sl). SlWRKY36 and SlWRKY51 provided novel insight into the regulatory mechanism in tomato against salt stress via virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS). Salt stress significantly reduced chlorophyll-a, an abundant form of chlorophyll content to 6.0 and 5.1 mg/g and proline content to 0.06 mg/g and 0.09 mg/g respectively in SlWRKY36 and SlWRKY51 silenced tomato plants. This shows that salt stress affected proline content that act as osmo-protectant and damaged photosynthetic pigments in silenced SlWRKY36 and SlWRKY51 tomato plants. Similarly, the concentrations of Na+/ K+ ratio also showed a significantly higher trend 14 days after salt stress with 5.5 mg/g and 8.9 mg/g concentration at 200 mM for SlWRKY36 and SlWRKY51 showing silencing promotes Na+/K+ ion ratio under salt stress. Also, salt stress responsive genes such as salt overly sensitive SOS1 and Na+/H+ exchanger NHX1 displayed lower transcript level in silenced plants at 200 mM salt stress showing their negative regulation by SlWRKY36 and SlWRKY51 gene silencing. Collectively, these findings suggest for the first time the role of SlWRKY36 and SlWRKY51 as positive regulators of salt stress tolerance by managing ion homeostasis, proline content and photosynthetic machinery via transcriptional reprogramming. Overall, SlWRKY36 and SlWRKY51 were explored as potential candidates for engineering salt tolerance in tomato crop plants.

Background/Aims: The purpose of this study was to investigate whether computed tomography enterography can be used to predict the presence of perianal fistula in Crohn’s disease patients. Materials and Methods: According to the presentation of perianal fistula or not, this study divided retrospectively included Crohn’s disease patients into 2 groups. The disease duration, incidence of involved intestinal segments, and scoring of the activity of the lesions in all patients were statistically analyzed to explore significant factors between the 2 groups. The statistically significant findings identified in the univariate analysis were incorporated into the multivariate analysis. Logistic regression models were subsequently constructed to assess the predictive factors associated with the occurrence of perianal fistula in individuals with Crohn’s disease.The contribution of each factor to the outcome variable was confirmed by the nomogram. The clinical utility of the nomogram was confirmed by calibration and decision curves. Results: There were 40 cases with perianal Crohn’s disease and 58 without perianal Crohn’s disease. After univariate and multivariate analysis, disease duration (early stage of Crohn’s disease), ascending colon, and rectum were identified as the independent predictive factors for perianal fistula in Crohn’s disease patients. The clinical utility of the nomogram was effective, which implied potential benefits for Crohn’s disease patients. Conclusion: Computed tomography enterography can be used to predict the presence of perianal fistula in Crohn’s disease patients by analyzing the location and the stage of the disease.

Indentation tests create complex stress–strain states in the region beneath the indentation tip. However, it is difficult to observe the indentation responses of bulk materials. Therefore, this study presents a wedge-indentation test technology that can investigate the subsurface deformation behavior during loading and unloading inside a scanning electron microscope. In situ observations based on multiple techniques, including a secondary electron detector, electron backscatter diffraction, and digital image correlation, are realized and used to investigate the texture evolution and stress–strain behavior of monocrystalline copper in the microregion beneath the indentation tip. Indentation induces kinked slip bands along the [01‾1‾] and [011‾] directions. The maximum shear strain of 0.324 occurs at the sides of the area in direct contact with the indentation tip. The lattice rotations in three dimensions are calculated and obtained quantitatively, and the geometrically necessary dislocation density beside the contact region reaches 0.70 × 1014/m2. The proposed method has considerable potential for explaining the deformation mechanisms of materials at microscale.

Stainless steel welding has been widely used in industrial manufacturing, and friction stir welding has been recognized to reduce production costs significantly. To fully utilize the different properties of 2507 super duplex stainless steel (SDSS) and 317L austenitic stainless steel (ASS), the mechanical and surface properties of 2507 SDSS and 317L ASS dissimilar stainless steel joints were improved using the friction stir welding (FSW) method. The influence of rotation speed on the microstructural characteristics, mechanical properties, and corrosion behavior of the weld joints was investigated by welding at a constant speed of 20 mm/min within the range of 300–600 rpm. Specifically, at 400 rpm, a welded joint with optimal performance was obtained. When the rotation speed is 400 rpm, the yield strength (YS) and ultimate tensile strength (UTS) of the welding joint are 493 and 692 MPa, respectively, and the elongation (EL) is 32 %. The tensile strength is higher than 317L ASS but lower than 2507 SDSS, the EL is lower than those of 317L ASS and 2507 SDSS, and the friction coefficient of the welded joint is 0.93, which is between 317L ASS and 2507 SDSS. Notably, the refinement of grains in the stirred zone significantly improved the corrosion resistance of the welded joint, considerably exceeding that of the 317L ASS but still lower than the 2507 SDSS. This work can provide a process reference for studying the mechanical and corrosion properties of dissimilar stainless steel FSW.

Abstract Due to the large computational and GPUs memory cost of semantic segmentation, some works focus on designing a lite weight model to achieve a good trade‐off between computational cost and accuracy. A common method is to combined CNN and vision transformer. However, these methods ignore the contextual information of multi receptive fields. And existing methods often fail to inject detailed information losses in the downsampling of multi‐scale feature. To fix these issues, we propose AG Self‐Attention, which is Enhanced Atrous Self‐Attention (EASA), and Gate Attention. AG Self‐Attention adds the contextual information of multi receptive fields into the global semantic feature. Specifically, the Enhanced Atrous Self‐Attention uses weight shared atrous convolution with different atrous rates to get the contextual information under the specific different receptive fields. Gate Attention introduces gating mechanism to inject detailed information into the global semantic feature and filter detailed information by producing “fusion” gate and “update” gate. In order to prove our insight. We conduct numerous experiments in common semantic segmentation datasets, consisting of ADE20 K, COCO‐stuff, PASCAL Context, Cityscapes, to show that our method achieves state‐of‐the‐art performance and achieve a good trade‐off between computational cost and accuracy.

Erzhi Wan (EZW), a classic Traditional Chinese Medicine formula, has shown promise as a potential therapeutic option for Alzheimer's disease (AD), yet its mechanism remains elusive. Herein, we employed an integrative in-silico approach to investigate the active components and their mechanisms against AD. We screened four active components with blood-brain barrier permeabilities from TCMSP, along with 307 corresponding targets predicted by SwissTargetPrediction, PharmMapper, and TCMbank websites. Then, we retrieved 2260 AD-related targets from Genecards, OMIM, and NCBI databases. Furthermore, we constructed the protein-protein interaction (PPI) network of the intersected targets via the STRING database and performed the GO and KEGG enrichment analyses using the “clusterProfiler” R package. The results showed that the intersected targets were intimately related to the p53/PI3K/Akt signaling pathway, serotonergic synapse, and response to oxygen level. Subsequently, 25 core targets were found differentially expressed in brain regions by bioinformatics analyses of GEO datasets of clinical samples from the Alzdata database. The binding sites and stabilities between the active components and the core targets were investigated by the molecular docking approach using Autodock 4.2.6 software, followed by pocket detection and druggability assessment via the DoGSiteScorer server. The results showed that acacetin, β-sitosterol, and 3-O-acetyldammarenediol-II strongly interacted with the druggable pockets of AR, CASP8, POLB, and PREP. Eventually, the docking results were further cross-referenced with the literature research and validated by 100 ns of molecular dynamics simulations using GROMACS software. Binding free energies were calculated via MM/PBSA strategy combined with interaction entropy. The simulation results indicated stable bindings between four docking pairs including acacetin-AR, acacetin-CASP8, β-sitosterol-POLB, and 3-O-acetyldammarenediol–II–PREP. Overall, our study demonstrated a theoretical basis for how three active components of EZW confer efficacy against AD. It provides a promising reference for subsequent research regarding drug discoveries and clinical applications.

Since the data samples on client devices are usually non-independent and non-identically distributed (non-IID), this will challenge the convergence of federated learning (FL) and reduce communication efficiency. This paper proposes FedQMIX, a node selection algorithm based on multi-agent reinforcement learning(MARL), to address these challenges. Firstly, we observe a connection between model weights and data distribution, and a clustering algorithm can group clients with similar data distribution into the same cluster. Secondly, we propose a QMIX-based mechanism that learns to select devices from clustering results in each communication round to maximize the reward, penalizing the use of more communication rounds and thereby improving the communication efficiency of FL. Finally, experiments show that FedQMIX can reduce the number of communication rounds by 11% and 30% on the MNIST and CIFAR-10 datasets, respectively, compared to the baseline algorithm (Favor).

Observation of residual indent is widely adopted to evaluate the mechanical properties of material in temperature indentation test. However, the potential influence of the difference between the testing and observing temperatures on the material is always neglected. In this study, crystal plasticity finite element model of copper was constructed, and the processes of high-temperature indentation test and specimen temperature reduction to the observed temperature after the test were simulated. The simulations showed that the error of test hardness can reach up to 4.92% as the residual indent area decreases with temperature decreasing from 800 °C to 20 °C. The stress values of the indentation influence zone were also reduced considerably, in which the maximum stress at 20 °C was 59% of that at 800 °C. The distribution of stresses at surface and subsurface both changed substantially, while the depth of the influence zone increased by 31%. The mechanical properties of material were also found to affect the micro region deformation of residual indents during temperature recovery. Therefore, the influence of temperature variation between the testing and observing processes on residual indent should be seriously considered.

Abstract Background Acute mesenteric ischemia is a rare but lethal disease. Acute occlusive mesenteric ischemia consists of mesenteric artery embolism, mesenteric artery thrombosis, and mesenteric vein thrombosis. This study aimed to investigate the factors that may affect the outcome of acute occlusive mesenteric ischemia. Methods Data from acute occlusive mesenteric ischemia patients admitted between May 2016 and May 2022 were reviewed retrospectively. Patients were divided into 2 groups according to whether complications(Clavien‒Dindo ≥ 2) occurred within 6 months of the first admission. Demographics, symptoms, signs, laboratory results, computed tomography angiography features, management and outcomes were analyzed. Results 59 patients were enrolled in this study. Complications(Clavien‒Dindo ≥ 2) occurred within 6 months of the first admission in 17 patients. Transmural intestinal necrosis, peritonitis, white blood cell count, percentage of neutrophils, percentage of lymphocytes, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, lactate dehydrogenase, creatine kinase isoenzyme, cardiac troponin I, laparoscopic exploration rate, open embolectomy rate, enterostomy rate, length of necrotic small bowel, length of healthy small bowel, surgical time and intraoperative blood loss differed significantly between groups. Creatine kinase isoenzyme (OR = 1.415, 95% CI: 1.060–1.888) and surgical time (OR = 1.014, 95% CI: 1.001–1.026) were independent risk factors associated with complications(Clavien‒Dindo ≥ 2). Conclusions Our analysis suggests that acute occlusive mesenteric ischemia patients with a creatine kinase isoenzyme level greater than 2.22 ng/mL or a surgical time longer than 156 min are more likely to experience complications’(Clavien‒Dindo ≥ 2) occurrence within 6 months of the first admission.

3C silicon carbide (3C-SiC) has great potential and value for innovated high-precision devices. However, the high hardness make it a daunting task to understand its deformation behavior and anisotropy effect, which impedes its processing and application. In this study, we performed molecular dynamic simulations of nanoindentation to study the deformation behavior and anisotropy effect of 3C-SiC. It is found that the elastic deformation and incipient plastic deformation are orientation-dependent, exhibiting fourfold symmetry, central symmetry and threefold symmetry while indenting on 3C-SiC (010), (110) and (111) surfaces. The dislocations nucleate and propagate due to the high shear stress induced by indentation, which in turn leads to the dissipation of shear stress in the sample. In the plastic stage, the dislocations evolve from embryonic dislocations to ribbon dislocations, and finally to prismatic dislocations. The prismatic dislocation loops are surrounded by stacking faults in {111} planes, most of which are enclosed by four stair-rod dislocations in orientations. Moreover, we find that Thompson tetrahedron is suitable for understanding the anisotropy effect of ceramics with cubic diamond structure, and it is applied to investigate the formation and evolution of dislocations systematically in 3C-SiC. This research is meaningful for understanding the deformation behavior and anisotropy effect of 3C-SiC. The results may provide theoretical support for the processing and application of 3C-SiC.

To investigate the effect of temperature on the compressive strength of CoCrFeMnNi high entropy alloy with lattice structures prepared by powder bed fusion, the mechanical properties of the lattice structures at a temperature in a range from 20 °C to 900 °C were obtained through a self-developed in-situ mechanical-thermal coupling compressive system. The real-time deformation behaviors of the lattice structures were observed by an optical-infrared dual-spectrum imaging system. The experimental results indicated that the compressive strength, structural stiffness, and energy absorption of the specimens increased with the increasing temperature ranging from 20 °C to 600 °C during the load-bearing stage, accompanied by a fracture mode from cleavage step to dimple. At an elevated temperature of 900 °C, the specimens exhibited the worst compressive strength and structural stiffness but the highest densification strain. Significantly, the temperature-dependent deformation behaviors were revealed, as the gradually increased temperature promoted the deformation failure behavior transforming from “layer by layer” to “45° shear band”. The improved plasticity at elevated temperatures enhanced the deformation capacity of lattice structures, released the local concentrated load and effectively weakened the stress concentration.

High-precision cryogenic micromechanical testing apparatuses are of significant importance in investigating the micro-region mechanical properties and deformation behaviors of materials at cryogenic temperatures. In this study, a modular cryogenic indentation apparatus was designed and developed utilizing a contact-atmosphere hybrid refrigeration technique with a minimum temperature of −150 °C. The temperature of both the indenter tip and the specimen was independently controlled through a dual-channel proportional–integral–derivative (PID) feedback loop to eliminate contact thermal drift to within 0.1 nm/s. The application of cryogenic nitrogen (N2) atmosphere refrigeration eliminated additional stiffness at the indenter tip completely. The feasibility of the apparatus was demonstrated through calibrations and tests conducted on standard fused silica and single crystal nickel. Highly accurate indentation curves and micro-region mechanical properties of single crystal nickel were obtained at variable cryogenic temperatures. With decreasing temperature, both slip bands and pile-up around residual indentation imprints were weakened. Notably, at −150 °C, the slip bands disappeared, and the phenomenon of pile-up was replaced by sink-in. This developed cryogenic indentation apparatus will be a powerful tool to reveal the effect of cryogenic temperatures on the evolution mechanisms of materials’ micro-region mechanical properties.

Two types of triazine-based covalent organic polymers were successfully constructed through a one-pot and catalyst-free polycondensation approach. More specifically, two kinds of aromatic aldehyde containing different hydroxyl content named terephthalaldehyde and 2, 4, 6-trihydroxyisophthalaldehyde were selected and the derived polymers (denoted as POPs-1 and POPs-2) with large Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface areas (> 360 m2/g), high total pore volume (> 0.47 m3/g), good stability and different heteroatoms (such as N and O) contents were prepared. Interestingly, POPs-1 featuring high BET surface area and N content (up to 34.83 %) exhibited excellent iodine vapor uptake of 441 wt% at 348 K/1.0 bar, POPs-2 with high O content (up to 25.83 %) showed better CO2 adsorption capacity (91.8 mg/g) at 273 K/1.0 bar and higher isosteric heat of adsorption (up to 85.0 kJ/mol) than that of POPs-1. This value of the isosteric heat is the highest value reported to date for porous organic polymers. This excellent adsorption performance was resulted either from the large BET surface area or high heteroatoms (N and O) contents of the porous adsorbents. The study offer an alternative route to develop high-performance porous adsorbents to capture carbon dioxide and iodine.

The objective of this article is to examine potential techniques for suppressing solar heat flow on the optical antenna of a laser communication sensor. Firstly, the characteristics of the geosynchronous Earth orbit’s (GEO) space radiation environment are analysed, and a combined passive and active thermal control solution is proposed. Secondly, the temperature distribution of the lasercom sensor under extreme operating conditions is simulated utilising IDEAS-TMG (6.8 NX Series) software, which employs Monte Carlo and radiative heat transfer numerical calculation methods. Finally, a strategy for avoiding direct sunlight around midnight is proposed. The simulation results demonstrated that the thermal control solution and solar avoidance strategy proposed in this paper achieved long-term fine-stable control of the temperature field of the optical antenna, which met the thermal permissible communication hours per daily orbit cycle in excess of 14 h per day.

IntroductionLow-temperature stress negatively impacts rice yield, posing a significant risk to food security. While previous studies have explored the physiological and linear gene expression alterations in rice under low-temperature conditions, the changes in competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) networks remain largely unexamined.MethodsWe conducted RNA sequencing on two japonica rice varieties with differing cold-tolerance capabilities to establish ceRNA networks. This enabled us to investigate the transcriptional regulatory network and molecular mechanisms that rice employs in response to low-temperature stress.ResultsWe identified 364 differentially expressed circular RNAs (circRNAs), 224 differentially expressed microRNAs (miRNAs), and 12,183 differentially expressed messenger RNAs (mRNAs). WRKY family was the most prominent transcription factor family involved in cold tolerance. Based on the expression patterns and targeted relationships of these differentially expressed RNAs, we discerned five potential ceRNA networks related to low-temperature stress in rice: osa-miR166j-5p from the miR166 family was associated with cold tolerance; osa-miR528-3p and osa-miR156j-3p were linked to stress response; and osa-miR156j-3p was involved in the antioxidant system. In addition, Os03g0152000 in the antioxidant system, as well as Os12g0491800 and Os05g0381400, correlated with the corresponding stress response and circRNAs in the network. A gene sequence difference analysis and phenotypic validation of Os11g0685700 (OsWRKY61) within the WRKY family suggested its potential role in regulating cold tolerance in rice.Discussion and conclusionWe identified Os11g0685700 (OsWRKY61) as a promising candidate gene for enhancing cold tolerance in japonica rice. The candidate miRNAs, mRNAs, and circRNAs uncovered in this study are valuable targets for researchers and breeders. Our findings will facilitate the development of cold-tolerant rice varieties from multiple angles and provide critical directions for future research into the functions of cold-tolerance-related miRNAs, mRNAs, and circRNAs in rice.

ObjectiveTo investigate the clinical characteristics and outcomes of three patients with symptomatic Spinal epidural lipomatosis (SEL) treated using Unilateral Biportal Endoscopic (UBE) surgery.MethodsThis report retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of three patients with SEL admitted to our hospital. The analysis covers onset characteristics, clinical manifestations, and the most recent radiologic grading system of neural compression (Manjila classification). Furthermore, it details the decompression accomplished through the application of a minimally invasive UBE surgical technique, specifically targeting the removal of proliferated fat responsible for nerve and spinal cord compression.ResultsThis technique was performed successfully in 3 patients with SEL. Radiating pain was reduced, and the functional disability and radiologic compression were improved in all three patients. Postoperative spinal instability and surgical complications related to the procedure were not observed.ConclusionsFor SEL, timely diagnosis and appropriate intervention can prevent the progression of neurological disability. UBE is a minimally invasive muscle-preserving technique that achieves neural decompression directly by the removal of excessive intraspinal adipose tissue buildup.

Terahertz biotechnology has been increasingly applied in various biomedical fields and has especially shown great potential for application in brain sciences. In this article, we review the development of terahertz biotechnology and its applications in the field of neuropsychiatry. Available evidence indicates promising prospects for the use of terahertz spectroscopy and terahertz imaging techniques in the diagnosis of amyloid disease, cerebrovascular disease, glioma, psychiatric disease, traumatic brain injury, and myelin deficit. In vitro and animal experiments have also demonstrated the potential therapeutic value of terahertz technology in some neuropsychiatric diseases. Although the precise underlying mechanism of the interactions between terahertz electromagnetic waves and the biosystem is not yet fully understood, the research progress in this field shows great potential for biomedical noninvasive diagnostic and therapeutic applications. However, the biosafety of terahertz radiation requires further exploration regarding its two-sided efficacy in practical applications. This review demonstrates that terahertz biotechnology has the potential to be a promising method in the field of neuropsychiatry based on its unique advantages.

Abstract Background To compare the oncological outcomes of radical chemotherapy (R‐CT), abdominal radical hysterectomy (ARH), and neoadjuvant chemotherapy and radical surgery (NACT) for International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) 2018 stage IIIC cervical cancer, according to histological types: squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and adenocarcinoma (AC)/adenosquamous cell carcinoma (ASC). Methods A comparison of 5‐year overall survival (OS) and disease‐free survival (DFS) was performed for the SCC and AC/ASC subgroups for the three initial treatments, assessed using Kaplan–Meier and Cox proportional hazards regression analysis and validated using propensity score matching (PSM). Results The study included 4086 patients: R‐CT, n = 1913; ARH, n = 1529; and NACT, n = 644. AC/ASC had a lower survival rate (63.7%) than SCC (73.6%) and a higher recurrence and mortality rate (36.3% and 26.4%, respectively). The 5‐year OS and DFS rates were different in the SCC group for R‐CT, ARH, and NACT (OS: 69.8% vs. 80.8% vs. 73.0%, p

Abstract Clarifying the consecutive droplet rebound mechanisms can provide scientific inspirations to regulate dynamic wettability of superhydrophobic surface, which facilitates the practical applications on efficient heat control and active anti-icing. Generally, droplet rebound behaviors are directly affected by surface structure and Weber number. Here, we report a novel “golden section” design criterion to regulate the droplet rebound number determined by the structure spacing, subverting conventional knowledge. Especially, the droplet can continuously rebound for 17 times on the metal-based surface, exhibiting an amazing phenomenon of “droplet trampoline”. The droplet rebound number has been experimentally revealed to be closely related to Weber number. We propose novel quantitative formulas to predict droplet rebound number and clarify the coupling effect of the structure spacing and the Weber number on the rebound mechanisms, which can be utilized to establish the regulation criteria of rebound numbers and develop novel metal-based superhydrophobic materials.

Abstract Recently, with the development of deep‐learning, the performance of multiple object tracking (MOT) algorithm based on deep neural networks has been greatly improved. However, it is still a difficult problem to successfully solve the tracking misalignment caused by occlusion and complex tracking scenes. Most of the work focusses on designing a sophisticated network, only little work focusses on data association. Actually, data association is very helpful in MOT. In this study, data association in tracking is taken as the main research task, and the authors introduce quadratic graph matching into MOT. Considering the objects in each frame as a graph, we can model the data association between two frames as a quadratic graph matching problem. And then it is transformed into a convex quadratic optimisation problem. Introducing high‐order structure features into the matching function effectively solves some tracking problems. The data association is designed into the tracking model as an overall solution. Experiments show that the proposed data association algorithm performs favourably against several state‐of‐the‐art data association methods and can be used in any tracking‐by‐detection method. Our code is publicly available from https://github.com/gjy0514/G_Model.

Overload failure under coupling conditions of elevated temperature and combined tension-bending (CTB) is one of the typical failure modes of aero-engine low-pressure compressor blade materials, which is commonly occurring in fighter engines performing low-altitude high-speed penetration missions. In this study, the elasto-plastic deformation behavior and fracture mechanism of Ti–6Al–4V titanium alloy under coupling conditions of elevated temperature and CTB were investigated by experiments and finite element analysis (FEA). CTB tests were conducted on Ti–6Al–4V alloy in the pre-tension ratio range of 0.60–0.90 and in the temperature range of 298 K–573 K. The results show that the maximum bending load, effective bending modulus, and total energy dissipated for the Ti–6Al–4V alloy at room temperature increase with the increase of the pre-tension ratio. The maximum bending load and the energy dissipated are significantly higher at elevated temperatures compared to that of room temperature, due to the elevated temperature induced deformation mode change from bending-dominated to tensile-dominated. The FEA results are in good agreement with the experimental results. SEM fractography indicated that the Ti–6Al–4V alloy fracture at elevated temperature showed only equiaxed dimples, which exhibited a tensile fracture mode. This study is valuable for the in-depth understanding of the deformation behavior and fracture mechanism of blade materials under elevated temperature and complex loads.

Ultrasonic vibration-assisted machining is a promising technique for improving the removability of materials, especially for difficult-to-machine materials, but the material removal mechanism under ultrasonic vibration status is still far from clear. Scratch testing is generally employed to study the material removal mechanism, but currently, there is a lack of instruments capable of performing scratch testing under ultrasonic vibration. To address this gap, this study developed an ultrasonic vibration scratch tester that can perform quantitative ultrasonic vibration-assisted scratch (UVAS) testing of materials. A prototype was designed and fabricated, followed by characterizing its performance parameters. Comparative experiments of conventional scratch (CS) testing and UVAS testing were performed on AL1050 to investigate the effects of ultrasonic vibration on scratch characteristics, such as the scratch depth and coefficient of friction. It was found that compared to CS testing, UVAS testing, with an amplitude of 1.45 µm and a frequency of 20 kHz, achieved a maximum reduction in the coefficient of friction of approximately 22.5% and a maximum increase in the depth of the residual scratch of approximately 175%. These findings confirm the superiority of ultrasonic vibration-assisted machining and demonstrate the requirement for the development of ultrasonic vibration scratch testers.

In this paper, an electro-hydraulic servo resonance technology is proposed to meet the loading requirements of a high-frequency sound fatigue test for large tonnage. First of all, we analyze the static and dynamic loading structure of electro-hydraulic servo vibration and establish the vibration equation of the system. Additionally, the modal and vibration characteristics of the system are analyzed by simulation, which verified the feasibility of the proposed electro-hydraulic servo resonant loading technology. Finally, the influence of various factors such as sample stiffness, lead screw stiffness, class II spring stiffness, class II weight mass, lower beam mass, and upper beam mass on the natural frequency and amplification coefficient of the system is analyzed. In this paper, a new technology is proposed to provide theoretical support for the research and development of large-tonnage high-frequency noise fatigue testing equipment.

Aiming at the shortcomings of single-sensor sensing information characterization ability, which is easily interfered with by external environmental factors, a method of intelligent perception is proposed in this paper. This method integrates multi-source and multi-level information, including spindle temperature field, spindle thermal deformation, operating parameters, and motor current. Firstly, the internal and external thermal-error-related signals of the spindle system are collected by sensors, and the feature parameters are extracted; then, the radial basis function (RBF) neural network is utilized to realize the preliminary integration of the feature parameters because of the advantages of the RBF neural network, which offers strong multi-dimensional solid nonlinear mapping ability and generalization ability. Thermal-error decision values are then generated by a weighted fusion of different pieces of evidence by considering uncertain information from multiple sources. The spindle thermal-error sensing experiment was based on the spindle system of the VMC850 (Yunnan Machine Tool Group Co., LTD, Yunnan, China) vertical machining center of the Yunnan Machine Tool Factory. Experiments were designed for thermal-error sensing of the spindle under constant speed (2000 r/min and 4000 r/min), standard variable speed, and stepped variable speed conditions. The experiment’s results show that the prediction accuracy of the intelligent-sensing model with multi-source information fusion can reach 98.1%, 99.3%, 98.6%, and 98.8% under the above working conditions, respectively. The intelligent-perception model proposed in this paper has higher accuracy and lower residual error than the traditional BP neural network perception and wavelet neural network models. The research in this paper provides a theoretical basis for the operation, maintenance management, and performance optimization of machine tool spindle systems.

Citrus Huanglongbing (HLB), caused by the phloem-inhibiting bacterium Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (CLas), is the most devastating citrus disease, intimidating citrus production worldwide. Although commercially cultivated citrus cultivars are vulnerable to CLas infection, HLB-tolerant attributes have, however, been observed in certain citrus varieties, suggesting a possible pathway for identifying innate defense regulators that mitigate HLB. By adopting transcriptome and small RNAome analysis, the current study compares the responses of HLB-tolerant lemon (Citrus limon L.) with HLB-susceptible Shatangju mandarin (Citrus reticulata Blanco cv. Shatangju) against CLas infection. Transcriptome analysis revealed significant differences in gene expression between lemon and Shatangju. A total of 1751 and 3076 significantly differentially expressed genes were identified in Shatangju and lemon, respectively. Specifically, CLas infected lemon tissues demonstrated higher expressions of genes involved in antioxidant enzyme activity, protein phosphorylation, carbohydrate, cell wall, and lipid metabolism than Shatangju. Wet-lab experiments further validated these findings, demonstrating increased antioxidant enzyme activity in lemon: APX (35%), SOD (30%), and CAT (64%) than Shatangju. Conversely, Shatangju plants exhibited higher levels of oxidative stress markers like H2O2 (44.5%) and MDA content (65.2%), alongside pronounced ion leakage (11.85%), than lemon. Moreover, microscopic investigations revealed that CLas infected Shatangju phloem exhibits significantly more starch and callose accumulation than lemon. Furthermore, comparative sRNA profiles revealed the potential defensive regulators for HLB tolerance. In Shatangju, increased expression of csi-miR166 suppresses the expression of disease-resistant proteins, leading to inadequate defense against CLas. Conversely, reduced expression of csi-miR166 in lemon plants enables them to combat HLB by activating disease-resistance proteins. The above findings indicate that when infected with CLas, lemon exhibits stronger antioxidative activity and higher expression of disease-resistant genes, contributing to its enhanced tolerance to HLB. In contrast, Shatangju shows lower antioxidative activity, reduced expression of disease-resistant genes, significant ion leakage, and extensive callose deposition, possibly related to damage to plant cell structure and blockage of phloem sieve tubes, thereby promoting the development of HLB symptoms.

With the development of rice varieties and mechanized planting technology, reliable and efficient nitrogen and planting density status diagnosis and recommendation methods have become critical to the success of precise nitrogen and planting density management in crops. In this study, we combined population structure, plant shape characteristics, environmental weather conditions, and management information data using a machine learning model to simulate the responses of the yield and nitrogen nutrition index and developed an ensemble learning model-based nitrogen and planting density recommendation strategy for different varieties of rice types. In the third stage, the NNI and yield prediction effect of the ensemble learning model was more significantly improved than that of the other two stages. The scenario analysis results show that the optimal yields and nitrogen nutrition indices were obtained with a density and nitrogen amount of 100.1 × 104 plant/ha and 161.05 kg·ha−1 for the large-spike type variety of rice, 75.08 × 104 plant/ha and 159.52 kg·ha−1 for the intermediate type variety of rice, and 75.08 × 104 plant/ha and 133.47 kg·ha−1 for the panicle number type variety of rice, respectively. These results provide a scientific basis for the nitrogen application and planting density for a high yield and nitrogen nutrition index of rice in northeast China.