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The increasing number of plant mitochondrial DNA genomes (mtDNA) sequenced reveals the extent of transfer from both chloroplast DNA genomes (cpDNA) and nuclear DNA genomes (nDNA). This study created a library and assembled the chloroplast and mitochondrial genomes of the leafy sweet potato better to understand the extent of mitochondrial and chloroplast gene transfer. The full-length chloroplast genome of the leafy sweet potato (OM808940) is 161,387 bp, with 132 genes annotated, including 87 protein-coding genes, 8 rRNA genes, and 37 tRNA genes. The mitochondrial genome (OM808941) was 269,578 bp in length and contained 69 functional genes, including 39 protein-coding genes, 6 rRNA genes, and 24 tRNA genes. 68 SSR loci were found in the leafy sweet potato organelle genome, including 54 in the chloroplast genome and 14 in the mitochondria genome. In the sweet potato mitochondrial genome, most genes have RNA editing sites, and the conversion ratio from hydrophilic amino acids to hydrophobic amino acids is the highest, reaching 47.12%. Horizontal transfer occurs in the sweet potato organelle genome and nuclear genome. 40 mitochondrial genome segments share high homology with 14 chloroplast genome segments, 33 of which may be derived from chloroplast genome horizontal transfer. 171 mitochondrial genome sequences come from the horizontal transfer of nuclear genome. The phylogenetic analysis of organelle genes revealed that the leafy sweet potato was closely related to the tetraploid wild species Ipomoea tabascana and the wild diploid species Ipomoea trifida. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maize is one of the major crops that has demonstrated success in the utilization of heterosis. Developing high-yield hybrids is a crucial part of plant breeding to secure global food demand. In this study, we conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) for 10 agronomic traits using a typical breeder population comprised 442 single-cross hybrids by evaluating additive, dominance, and epistatic effects. A total of 49 significant single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and 69 significant pairs of epistasis were identified, explaining 26.2% to 64.3% of the phenotypic variation across the 10 traits. The enrichment of favorable genotypes is significantly correlated to the corresponding phenotype. In the confident region of the associated site, 532 protein-coding genes were discovered. Among these genes, the Zm00001d044211 candidate gene was found to negatively regulate starch synthesis and potentially impact yield. This typical breeding population provided a valuable resource for dissecting the genetic architecture of yield-related traits. We proposed a novel mating strategy to increase the GWAS efficiency without utilizing more resources. Finally, we analyzed the enrichment of favorable alleles in the Shaan A and Shaan B groups, as well as in each inbred line. Our breeding practice led to consistent results. Not only does this study demonstrate the feasibility of GWAS in F1 hybrid populations, it also provides a valuable basis for further molecular biology and breeding research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

STUDY QUESTION Does the core outcome set (COS) on polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) impact the selection of research outcomes? SUMMARY ANSWER Following the publication of the COS on PCOS, an increasing number of trials are reporting both the generic domain and body mass index; however, the uptake of this COS has not been as extensive as expected. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY The COS on PCOS included 33 core outcomes in the following seven domains: the generic (3), metabolic (8), reproductive (7), pregnancy (10), psychological (3), oncological (1), and long-term (1). This was done to improve consistency in outcome selection and definition. However, thus far, no studies have investigated the effectiveness of this COS in the above-mentioned tasks. STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION A methodological study based on the trial registries, including 395 eligible clinical trials registered between 1 January 2018 and 21 September 2022. PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS A total of 1258 registered clinical studies on PCOS were retrieved from the World Health Organization International Clinical Trials Registry Platform. Of those, 395 were selected according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, and divided into two groups based on the publication date of the COS on PCOS (4 February 2020): pre-publication and post-publication. The practical uptake of this COS was explored after data collation, assessment, comparison of the uptake of core outcomes or domains before and after the publication of this COS, and correlation analysis between the domains. MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE There were 26 out of 33 core outcomes and five out of seven domains reported in the 395 trials. The highest uptake was observed for the reproductive domain and the reproductive hormonal profile (63.0% and 38.7%, respectively). After the publication of the COS on PCOS, the uptake of the generic domain and body mass index increased from 24.1% to 35.8% (P  = 0.011) and 17.8% to 26.5% (P  = 0.039), respectively. The total number of reported core outcomes in the generic domain met statistical significance (P  = 0.012). Moreover, multivariable analyses still supported the above finding in the generic domain. Correlation analysis showed that most of the domains were positively correlated with each other. However, the pregnancy domain was negatively correlated with the metabolic domain. Reasons responsible for the unsatisfactory uptake may be the absence of specific definitions of core outcomes, as well as the lack of awareness among researchers regarding this COS. LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION Due to the lack of standardized definition of outcomes, it was difficult to avoid some subjectivity in the process of consistency assessment. WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS Two years after its publication, there was no substantial improvement in the uptake of the COS on PCOS. This suggests that this COS may require further revision, refinement, and promotion to improve the comparability of PCOS studies. STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTEREST(S) This work was funded by Beijing Municipal Health Science and Technology Achievements and Appropriate Technology Promotion Project (BHTPP2022069), and the special fund of Beijing Key Clinical Specialty Construction Project. The authors do not have conflicts of interest to declare. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER N/A. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ogura cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) is one of the important methods for hybrid seed production in cruciferous crops. The lack of a restorer of fertility gene (Rfo) in Brassica rapa L. restricts the development and utilization of its germplasm resources. In this research, Brassica napus with the Rfo gene was used to restore the fertility of Ogura CMS B. rapa with the golden heart trait. Through the distant cross of two B. rapa and four B. napus, six interspecific hybrid combinations received F1 seeds. The six combinations were different in seed receiving. By morphological observation and molecular marker-assisted selection (MAS), in F1, individuals containing the Rfo gene all appeared fertile, while those without it remained male-sterile. The pollen viability of the fertile individuals was measured, and the fertile lines of the six interspecific hybrid combinations were different (40.68–80.49%). Three individuals (containing both Rfo and GOLDEN genes) with the highest pollen vitality (≥60%) were backcrossed with fertile cytoplasmic B. rapa, resulting in a total of 800 plants. Based on the MAS, a total of 144 plants with GOLDEN but no Rfo were screened (18%). Moreover, through morphological investigation, one individual with normal cytoplasm, stable fertility but without the restoring gene Rfo, the GOLDEN gene, and morphological characteristics similar to those of B. rapa was obtained. These results increased the diversity of B. rapa germplasm and provided a new method for the utilization of CMS germplasm in Brassica crops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), a class of synthetic organochlorine chemicals, were broadly employed in industrial and commercial applications in the last century due to their good thermal and chemical stability. However, PCBs have a great influence on both individual organism and the entire ecosystem. It has been proven that PCBs pose potential risks to human health with neurotoxicity, carcinogenicity, reproductive toxicity, immunotoxicity, hepatotoxicity, and cardiovascular toxicity. Moreover, PCBs exhibit the long-range transport effect on the global scale and bio-enrichment effect along the food chains. This review mainly encompasses recent progress on the toxicity and detection techniques of PCBs in environment and foodstuffs. First of all, we highlighted the latest improvements and achievements of the classification, source, distribution, and toxicity of PCBs. Then, comprehensive summaries of the current technologies for sample preparation (e.g., SPE, DSPE, SPME and SBSE) and analytical determination (e.g., GC-ECD, GC-MS, GC-HRMS, HPLC-MS/MS and sensing technologies) were given. In the end, the shortcomings and prospects of the pretreatment methods for PCBs analysis as well as the future opportunities and challenges are tentatively discussed. Overview of toxicity and advanced methods for determination of PCBs in environment and foodstuffs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The idea of variable step-size was introduced into the Hybrid Affine Projection Algorithm (H-APA) and we propose two variable step size algorithms based on H-APA, which are called the Variable Step-Size Hybrid Affine Projection Algorithm (VSS-H-APA) and the Modified Variable Step-Size Hybrid Affine Projection Algorithm (MVSS-H-APA). These are two variable-step algorithms aim to further improve the robust performance and convergence speed of H-APA under non-Gaussian noise. This allows for faster convergence while maintaining stability. The MVSS-H-APA goes further than VSS-H-APA to estimate the noise in order to achieve better convergence performance. The proposed algorithm performs better than the existing algorithms in system identification under symmetric non-Gaussian noise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Humans and animals frequently encounter high‐density crowding stress, which may accelerate their aging processes; however, the roles of gut microbiota in the regulation of aging‐related processes under high‐density crowding stress remain unclear. In the present study, it is found that high housing density remarkably increases the stress hormone (corticosterone), accelerates aging‐related processes as indicated by telomere length (in brain and liver cells) and DNA damage or inflammation (as revealed by tumor necrosis factor‐α and interleukin‐10 levels), and reduces the lifespan of Brandt's vole (Lasiopodomys brandtii). Fecal microbiota transplantation from donor voles of habitats with different housing densities induces similar changes in aging‐related processes in recipient voles. The elimination of high housing density or butyric acid administration delays the appearance of aging‐related markers in the brain and liver cells of voles housed at high‐density. This study suggests that gut microorganisms may play a significant role in regulating the density‐dependent aging‐related processes and subsequent population dynamics of animals, and can be used as potential targets for alleviating stress‐related aging in humans exposed to high‐density crowding stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Piperidine is an important cyclic amine with versatile applications. However, its commercial process is not green and depends mainly on the hydrogenation of fossil resource-based pyridine. Here, we report a novel one-pot approach to the sustainable synthesis of piperidine from bio-renewable tetrahydrofurfurylamine (THFAM) via its hydrogenolysis to 5-amino-1-pentanol (APO) and the subsequent intramolecular amination of APO. SiO2-supported Rh–ReOx catalysts exhibited high efficiency and stability in the THFAM reaction to piperidine, providing a high yield of 91.5% at 200 °C and 2.0 MPa H2 in water. Such high efficiency of Rh–ReOx/SiO2 was found to be related to the synergistic effect between the Rh nanoparticles and ReOx species on the kinetically-relevant cleavage of the C–O bond neighboring the C–NH2 group in THFAM, involving the strong adsorption of the C–NH2 group on ReOx and the heterolytic dissociation of H2 on Rh. This work provides an efficient strategy for the selective cleavage of the C–O bonds neighboring the C–NH2 groups, irrespective of their presence in amino ethers or amino alcohols, and the green production of piperidine and its derivatives from biomass resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Establishing a baseline of ongoing secular velocity variations at the subsurface can improve the accuracy of detecting and interpreting short‐term velocity changes, and advance the understanding of observed seismic motions and the behavior of subsurface materials. Toward these goals, we develop and apply a deconvolved autocorrelation (DA) method to estimate regional daily and seasonal changes of seismic velocities in southern California. The DA method combines advantages of traditional autocorrelation and Horizontal‐to‐Vertical Spectral Ratio, and is used to analyze over 10 years of data recorded by 50 stations. The results indicate widespread daily and seasonal changes of up to 10% and 4%, respectively, in the top tens of meters of the crust. The thickness of the surface layer, distance from the coast, and topographic variations are important factors controlling the amplitudes of the resolved velocity variations. The results suggest that changes of soil moisture and thermoelastic strain are likely dominant factors affecting the daily and seasonal variations, respectively. The developed DA method can improve the accuracy and robustness of estimated changes of subsurface materials at other locations. Plain Language Summary: Temporal changes of subsurface seismic velocities can be important for many topics including understanding observed seismic motions and interpretation of crustal processes and structures. To accurately estimate temporal changes of subsurface velocities, we develop a new method and apply it to data recorded at 50 sites in southern California. The results reveal widespread daily and seasonal velocity variations with amplitudes up to 10% and 4% in the top tens of meters. We compare the amplitudes of the velocity variations with various attributes including thickness of the surface layer, surface geology, topography, geographical location, and vegetation. The amplitudes are generally larger in areas with reduced thickness of the surface layer. In addition, the amplitudes of daily variations increase with proximity to the coast, while the amplitudes of seasonal variations increase in areas with larger local topographic variations. The results suggest that changes of soil moisture and thermoelastic strain may govern the amplitudes of the daily and seasonal velocity variations at many sites. Key Points: A newly developed deconvolved autocorrelation method can estimate accurately and robustly subsurface variations of seismic velocitiesAnalysis of seismic data in southern California indicates widespread daily and seasonal velocity variations in the top tens of metersChanges of soil moisture and thermoelastic strain are likely key factors affecting the daily and seasonal variations, respectively [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Genotype-by-environment interaction (G-by-E) is a common but potentially problematic phenomenon in plant breeding. In this study, we investigated the genotypic performance and two measures of plasticity on a phenotypic and genetic level by assessing 234 maize doubled haploid lines from six populations for 15 traits in seven macro-environments with a focus on varying soil phosphorus levels. It was found intergenic regions contributed the most to the variation of phenotypic linear plasticity. For 15 traits, 124 and 31 quantitative trait loci (QTL) were identified for genotypic performance and phenotypic plasticity, respectively. Further, some genes associated with phosphorus use efficiency, such as Zm00001eb117170, Zm00001eb258520, and Zm00001eb265410, encode small ubiquitin-like modifier E3 ligase were identified. By significantly testing the main effect and G-by-E effect, 38 main QTL and 17 interaction QTL were identified, respectively, in which MQTL38 contained the gene Zm00001eb374120, and its effect was related to phosphorus concentration in the soil, the lower the concentration, the greater the effect. Differences in the size and sign of the QTL effect in multiple environments could account for G-by-E. At last, the superiority of G-by-E in genomic selection was observed. In summary, our findings will provide theoretical guidance for breeding P-efficient and broadly adaptable varieties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emerging ligation-free three-dimensional (3D) genome mapping technologies can identify multiplex chromatin interactions with single-molecule precision. These technologies not only offer new insight into high-dimensional chromatin organization and gene regulation, but also introduce new challenges in data visualization and analysis. To overcome these challenges, we developed MCIBox, a toolkit for multi-way chromatin interaction (MCI) analysis, including a visualization tool and a platform for identifying micro-domains with clustered single-molecule chromatin complexes. MCIBox is based on various clustering algorithms integrated with dimensionality reduction methods that can display multiplex chromatin interactions at single-molecule level, allowing users to explore chromatin extrusion patterns and super-enhancers regulation modes in transcription, and to identify single-molecule chromatin complexes that are clustered into micro-domains. Furthermore, MCIBox incorporates a two-dimensional kernel density estimation algorithm to identify micro-domains boundaries automatically. These micro-domains were stratified with distinctive signatures of transcription activity and contained different cell-cycle-associated genes. Taken together, MCIBox represents an invaluable tool for the study of multiple chromatin interactions and inaugurates a previously unappreciated view of 3D genome structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Epidemiological surveys show that a large number of cerebrovascular diseases occur in China every year, and among these cerebrovascular diseases, ischemic diseases are predominant. Ischemia leads to irreversible degenerative necrosis of a large number of brain neurons and severe neurological deficits. Aims. This study is aimed at exploring the mechanism of the major regulatory effect of hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF-1) pathway on proangiogenesis and providing new ideas for the treatment of ischemic stroke. Materials and Methods. The rats were randomly divided into normal and ischemic control groups, and the ischemic control group was subjected to the middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) cerebral ischemia model by the wire embolization method, and the rats were executed in batches at 6 h, 1 d, and 3 d after ischemia-reperfusion, and the brain tissue specimens were taken for examination to investigate the effect of hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF-l) signaling pathway on acute ischemic stroke. Results. At 3 d, the number of VEGFR2 positive cells increased significantly, and there was a significant difference compared with the control group (P < 0.05). At 3 d, the number of HIF-1α-positive cells increased significantly, and there was a significant difference compared with the control group (P < 0.05). The number of Hes1+factor VIII positive cells in the ischemic cortex increased significantly on the 1st and 3rd day, and there was a significant difference compared with the control group (P < 0.05). The expression of Hes1 protein was significantly lower than the normal level after 6 h of ischemia, and the protein expression was significantly increased at 1 d and 3 d after ischemia (P < 0.05). Conclusion. By detecting the expression changes of Hesl+factor VII in the ischemic area, the results show that ischemia and hypoxia activate the HIF-1, making the HIF-l the main regulatory pathway in the process of angiogenesis after ischemia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Four novel electrocatalysts (Ti, Nb, Mo, Tc-rF 4 TCNQ) for NRR have been selected out from 3d, 4d, 5d transition metal embedded rectangle F 4 TCNQ monolayers via high-throughput screening and first-principle calculations. [Display omitted] Extensive investigations on the electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction reactions (eNRR) and the high-efficiency single-atom catalysts (SACs) have increasingly given us confidence in intensive arrival of nitrogen (N 2) fixation into ammonia (NH 3) under ambient conditions in the future, which prompts us to speed up the exploration for highly active SACs for eNRR. Excellent SACs in eNRR should have three advantages: high selectivity, low overpotential, and high stability. Based on these aspects, we employed high-throughput screening method and first-principles calculations to study the catalytic performance of 30 transition-metal atoms (TMs) embedded rectangular tetrafluorotetracyanoquinodimethane (denoted as TM-rF 4 TCNQ) monolayers (TM = 3d, 4d, and 5d series transition metal atoms) for the eNRR process, and four potential catalysts, i.e., Ti-, Mo-, Nb-, and Tc-rF 4 TCNQ, were obtained. Among them, Ti-rF 4 TCNQ catalyzing the N 2 reduction to NH 3 through an enzymatic mechanism needs a theoretical onset potential of only −0.41 V. When Mo-rF 4 TCNQ catalyzes eNRR through a distal mechanism, the theoretical onset potential is as low as −0.43 V. The band structures show that these materials are all metallic, ensuring good charge transport during the eNRR process. Analyzing the projected density of states (PDOSs) before and after N 2 adsorption, the differential charge density, and the spin density reveals that the Ti-, Mo-, Nb-, and Tc-rF 4 TCNQ monolayers all can effectively adsorb and activate inert N 2 , which may be mainly attributed to the "acceptance-donation" interaction between TM and N 2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose/Significance: In the past many years, some scholars have studied bid evaluation experts, such as the behavior of bid evaluation experts. However, previous research ignores the performance and competency of bid evaluation experts, so this paper aims to provide a theoretical basis for incentive and constraint mechanism and hierarchical or dynamic management of bid evaluation experts by implementing performance and dynamic competency evaluation of bid evaluation experts. Method/Process: Firstly, the evaluation index system of performance and dynamic competency of bid evaluation experts is preliminarily constructed by referring to relevant literature, and then the constructed evaluation index was modified and improved by consulting relevant stakeholders' experts. Secondly, considering the hesitation and consistency of expert weighting, the calculation method of expert weight coefficient and index score interval number is improved. Based on the theory of weight interval number, the corresponding mathematical optimization model is constructed to calculate the index weight according to the purpose of performance judgment and dynamic competency clustering of bid evaluation experts. Finally, the data of performance and dynamic competency of bid evaluation experts is obtained by questionnaire survey, and the empirical analysis was carried out by simulating the bid evaluation experts consistent with the actual situation. Results/Conclusion: After improving the calculation method of index score interval number, and then calculating index weight interval number through index score interval number, the length of index weight interval number can be decreased and the calculation accuracy of index weight interval number can be increased. In addition, the index weight calculated by the constructed mathematical optimization model can make the intra-class discrimination smaller and the inter-class discrimination larger. Finally, some suggestions are also provided for the management of bid evaluation experts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, two new algorithms are proposed using modified sigmoid activation function as the cost function and combining with affine projection (AP) method, which are sigmoid affine projection sign algorithm (SAPSA) and sigmoid affine projection algorithm (SAPA). Conventional AP-type algorithms converge fast but are susceptible to impulsive interference. The sigmoid function has an upper bound, thus reducing the effect of impulse interference. The proposed algorithms combine the advantages of fast convergence speed of the affine projection method and strong noise resistance of the sigmoid cost function. Meanwhile the L 2 -norm constraint is used to adjust the updating formula of the weight vector, which further improves noise resistance. Several simulation experiments show that SAPSA and SAPA are superior to other AP-type algorithms under impulse interference. • A new cost function based on sigmoidal activation function is proposed. • The sigmoid affine projection sign algorithm (SAPSA) and sigmoid affine projection algorithm (SAPA) are proposed. • A new L 2 -norm constraint method is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the criterion of minimum error entropy, this paper proposes a novel conjugate gradient algorithm, called MEE-CG. This algorithm has robust performance under non-Gaussian interference. Theoretical analysis and experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm displays more robust performance than the conventional conjugate gradient methods on the basis of the mean square error and the maximum correntropy criterion. Compared with the stochastic gradient minimum error entropy algorithm and the recursive minimum error entropy algorithm, the proposed algorithm provides a trade-off between computational complexity and convergence speed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies on large‐sample gut microbial sequencing data indicate that gut microbiota can be divided into multiple community types; different community types may influence the community function and ecosystem service. However, the knowledge on the classification, diversity, interaction, and assembling of microbial community types in the gut of wild animals is still insufficient. Here, we used pika gut microbiota data as an example to study the microbial community types in large‐sample sequencing dataset. Cecal microbial communities from 118 wild plateau pika (Ochotona curzoniae) individuals at 5 elevational regions on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau were analyzed. Our results show that pika gut microbiota can be separated into 2 community types (Cluster I and Cluster II). Cluster I was mainly distributed on the high‐elevation regions with more than 3694 m and was most dominated by Firmicutes. Cluster II was from the low‐elevation areas (lower than 3580 m), and was predominated by Bacteroidetes. Cluster I had a higher community alpha‐diversity and predicted functional diversity than Cluster II, and the beta‐diversity and predicted functional profiles of these 2 clusters were significantly different. Network analysis revealed that there were more complex interactions between Cluster I, which had enhanced influence on the co‐occurrences of other microbes in the bacterial community when compared to Cluster II. Phylogenetic analysis found that the environmental filtering in the Cluster I was stronger than Cluster II. The assemblages of pika gut bacterial communities were determined mainly by deterministic processes, while the relative importance of deterministic processes accounted for more percentages in the Cluster I than Cluster II. Our results demonstrated that 2 gut microbial community types in pikas had distinct diversity patterns and ecological functions. Current methods are also helpful for identifying gut community types and the related mechanisms behind gut microbiota types in large‐sample sequencing data of wild animals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we focus on a further study of the weighted Lebesgue capacity associated with the following fractional heat equation: ∂ t + − Δ x α u t , x = 0 , ∀ α , t , x ∈ 0,1 × 0 , ∞ × ℝ n , u 0 , x = f x , ∀ x ∈ ℝ n. . More properties of that capacity are explored, and applications to a trace inequality for the weak solution of the equation are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study evaluated the genotyping by sequencing (GBS) protocol for fingerprinting Brassica rapa, and the data derived were more reliable than the re-sequencing data of B. rapa. Of the 10 enzyme solutions used to analyze the numbers of genotypes and single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in B. rapa, five solutions showed better results, namely, A (HaeIII, 450–500 bp), E (RsaI+HaeIII, 500–550 bp), F (RsaI+HaeIII, 500–600 bp), G (RsaI+HaeIII, 'All' fragment), and J (RsaI+EcoRV-HF®, 'All' fragment). The five enzyme solutions showed less than 40% similarity in different individuals from various samples, and 90% similarity between two individuals from one sample. The E enzyme solution was the most suitable for fingerprinting B. rapa, revealing well-distributed SNPs in the whole genome. Of the 82 highly inbred lines and 18 F1 lines of B. rapa sequenced by GBS in the E enzyme solution, known parents of 10 F1 lines were verified, and male parents were discovered for 8 F1 lines that had only known female parents. This study provides a valuable method for screening parents for F1 lines in B. rapa for the efficient evaluation of GBS with varied library construction strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate seismic images of the crust are essential for assessing seismic hazards and elucidating tectonic processes that shape surface landforms. Although California and Nevada have been studied extensively using various seismic datasets and tomographic methods, the region lacks a seismic model that can accurately define both the shallow (<8 km) and deeper crust. We take the advantage of recent increases in seismic data coverage to build a new 3D shear wave speed model by jointly inverting Rayleigh wave ellipticity, phase velocity, and teleseismic P waveforms. In the Great Valley, the new model reveals an asymmetric basement, steeply dipping in the west and gently dipping in the east. Beneath its western margin, in the Coast Ranges, we resolve a wedge‐shaped, low‐velocity zone in the upper‐middle crust, interpreted as Franciscan Complex. Our images confirm that uplift of the western Great Valley and an eastward shift of its depositional center are caused by wedging and underthrusting of the complex during subduction. Across the Basin and Range, the resolved crust has an average thickness of 38 km in the southern half of the northern Basin and Range, about 5 km thicker than neighboring regions. The thickened crust overlaps with major volcanic centers of the mid‐Cenozoic ignimbrite flare‐up. This spatial correlation may suggest magmatic intrusions and underplating contributed to crustal growth and thickening prior to Miocene Basin and Range extension. Overall, the new model is consistent with active source studies in the region but provides a more comprehensive view of shallow and deep structures across this large and tectonically complex region. Plain Language Summary: Accurate velocity models provide constraints on the depth of and materials that make up shallow sedimentary basins and deep crystalline crust, and can help researchers better assess seismic hazards and related tectonic processes. Although a number of such models have been built for California and Nevada using different datasets and methods, this region lacks a self‐consistent model that can accurately define both shallow (<8 km) and deep crustal features. In this study, we take advantage of a dense network of earthquake stations across these states to build a new velocity model by inverting multiple earthquake datasets to produce images of the shallow and deep crust. The new model provides a more comprehensive view of shallow and deep features across this large and tectonically complex region, and helps to elucidate their development. Key Points: We jointly inverted a geologically comprehensive S‐wave speed model which can delineate shallow basin and deeper crustal structuresOur new model reveals that the wedging process of Franciscan complex has great impacts on the formation of the Great Valley basinThe intrusion of mantle‐derived magmas is proposed as a mechanism for crustal growth in the southern half of northern Basin and Range [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sterol regulatory element-binding protein 1 (SREBP-1), a master transcription factor in lipogenesis and lipid metabolism, is critical for disease progression and associated with poor outcomes in prostate cancer (PCa) patients. However, the mechanism of SREBP-1 regulation in PCa remains elusive. Here, we report that SREBP-1 is transcriptionally regulated by microRNA-21 (miR-21) in vitro in cultured cells and in vivo in mouse models. We observed aberrant upregulation of SREBP-1, fatty acid synthase (FASN) and acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC) in Pten/Trp53 double-null mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) and Pten/Trp53 double-null mutant mice. Strikingly, miR-21 loss significantly reduced cell proliferation and suppressed the prostate tumorigenesis of Pten/Trp53 mutant mice. Mechanistically, miR-21 inactivation decreased the levels of SREBP-1, FASN, and ACC in human PCa cells through downregulation of insulin receptor substrate 1 (IRS1)-mediated transcription and induction of cellular senescence. Conversely, miR-21 overexpression increased cell proliferation and migration; as well as the levels of IRS1, SREBP-1, FASN, and ACC in human PCa cells. Our findings reveal that miR-21 promotes PCa progression by activating the IRS1/SREBP-1 axis, and targeting miR-21/SREBP-1 signaling pathway can be a novel strategy for controlling PCa malignancy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Activated Cdc42-associated kinase 1 (ACK1), a kind of tyrosine kinase, is considered to be an oncogene in many cancers, and it is likely to become a potential target for cancer treatment. We found that the expression of the ACK1 gene in colon cancer was higher than that in normal tissues adjacent to cancer, and high expression of the ACK1 gene was associated with poor prognosis of patients. We assessed the prognosis of colon cancer based on ACK1-related genes and constructed a model that can predict the prognosis of colon cancer patients in colon cancer data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. We then explored the relationship between ACK1 and the immune microenvironment of colon cancer. The overexpression of ACK1 might hinder the function of antigen-presenting cells. The colon cancer prognosis prediction model we constructed has certain significance for clinicians to judge the prognosis of patients with colon cancer. The expression of the ACK1 gene might affect the infiltration level of a variety of immune cells and immunomodulators in the immune microenvironment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proposed a synergistic catalysis effect of micro-mesoscopic channel for enhanced methyl oleate catalytic cracking to BTX inside the hierarchical ZSM-5 zeolites via molecular simulation. Such synergistic catalysis effect could increase the BTX yield by enhancing the adsorption of the reaction substrate, facilitating the transfer of the as-formed C 3 H 6 and C 4 H 8 from mesopore into micropore and accelerating the rapid diffusion of BTX to mesopore. [Display omitted] • Synergistic catalysis effect of micro-mesoscopic channel for enhanced methyl oleate catalytic cracking to BTX is proposed. • Microporous and hierarchical ZSM-5 zeolite models have been constructed that are consistent with the experimental properties. • Pioneering study of the adsorption properties of long-chain molecules inside hierarchical zeolite. • Channel dependence to produce BTX inside two zeolites is systematically discussed. The hierarchical ZSM-5 zeolite exhibits superior catalytic performance for methyl oleate catalytic cracking to BTX, while the promotion mechanism at the molecular level is still unclear. Herein, the adsorption and diffusion behaviors of reaction species in hierarchical ZSM-5 zeolite, including methyl oleate, C 3 H 6 , C 4 H 8 and BTX, were theoretically investigated by Monte Carlo combined with Molecular Dynamics simulation. It is found that the introduction of mesopores exposes the strong adsorption sites (Brønsted acid) without a confinement effect, thereby promoting the adsorption and cracking of methyl oleate. Moreover, the as-formed C 3 H 6 and C 4 H 8 rapidly transfer from mesopore into micropore, enhancing the aromatization reaction to form BTX. Finally, thanks to the adjacent mesopore providing sufficient space for molecule rotation, the desired BTX products easily desorbs from the micropore. Such synergistic catalysis effect of micro-mesoscopic channel increases the BTX yield by decreasing the diffusion coefficient of C 3 H 6 and C 4 H 8 from 13.2 × 10-9 m2/s on the traditional to 6.4 × 10-9 m2/s on the hierarchical ZSM-5. We anticipate that this work could enrich our understanding of the microcosmic mechanism of hierarchical zeolites for prolific aromatics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• CuCeWTi-FSP for Hg adsorption is synthesized by flame spray pyrolysis (FSP). • The MOE remains above 95 % after adsorbing 149,000 μg/g of Hg0. • Cu atoms dispersed in CuCeWTi-FSP adsorb oxygen from the environment. • The adsorbed oxygen rather than surface oxygen is consumed for CuCeWTi-FSP. High-concentration mercury capture at high temperatures poses a significant challenge during the periodic shutdown of raw meal mills in cement clinker production. This study synthesized CuO x -CeO x -WO 3 /TiO 2 nanomaterials for mercury removal using wet impregnation, laminar premixed flame (∼1800 K), and flame spray pyrolysis (FSP, ∼ 2800 K). The performance of the synthesized sorbents was evaluated for mercury removal at temperatures above the typical shutdown conditions, specifically at 450 °C. The results demonstrated that the FSP-synthesized sorbent maintained an adsorption efficiency of over 95 % even after 30 days of continuous absorption, while the wet-impregnated sorbent reached saturation after only 50 h. To gain insights into the adsorption mechanism, various physicochemical properties of the sorbents were characterized, including surface area, pore volume, average pore diameter, phase composition, morphology, and valence states of surface elements. The findings revealed that the FSP-synthesized sorbent exhibited a larger specific surface area and smaller primary particle sizes compared to the wet-impregnated sorbent. Furthermore, Cu atoms were dispersed within the FSP-synthesized sorbent, while CuO clusters were supported on CeO 2 in the wet-impregnated sorbent. Based on the XPS results, it was determined that the FSP-synthesized sorbent utilized adsorbed molecular oxygen as the oxidizing species, whereas the wet-impregnated sorbent relied on active oxygen on the CeO 2 surface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High temperature is a major constrait limiting the yield and quality of wheat. Wheat heat shock transcription factor (Hsf) plays important roles in regulating plant response to heat shock. In previous study, we found there are 82 Hsfs in wheat and TaHsfA2–11 expression was obviously upregulated by heat stress. In this study, we aim to investigate TaHsfA2–11 function and regulating mechanism in response to heat shock through genetic transformation into wheat Fielder. Gene expression analyses results showed that TaHsfA2–11 was expressed in all detected tissues and the most highly expressed level was in wheat mature roots. The expression level of TaHsfA2–11 was strongly upregulated by heat shock in wheat leaves. Subcellular localization results represented that TaHsfA2–11 is located to the nucleus. Transgenic wheat seedlings overexpressing TaHsfA2–11 showed stronger thermotolerance than the control Fielder after treated under 50 °C for 12 h. After heat shock, the TaHsfA2–11 overexpressing lines showed increased survival rate, chlorophyll content, POD (Peroxidase) activity, SOD (Superoxide dismutase) activity and photosynthetic rate, and decreased relative electrolyte leakage and MDA (malondialdehyde) content compared with Fielder. The results of RNA-sequence data demonstrated that TaHsfA2–11 can regulate many heat response genes, such as Hsp genes TaHsp16.6 and TaHsp21 , ER (Endoplasmic reticulum) stress genes TaBiP2 and TaERDJ3A, photoprotectant for PSII gene TaELIPHV58 , flavone biosynthesis related genes TaUGT-2A and TaPMaT , etc after heat stress. These results showed that TaHsfA2–11 can impove thermotolerance perhaps through effecting signal pathway of heat, ER stress, photosynthesis and ROS (Reactive Oxygen Species). The findings will provide useful gene resource for performing genetic modification of wheat thermotolerance in heat-resistant breeding. • TaHsfA2-11 up-regulated in wheat response to HS, H 2 O 2 and SA treatment. • TaHsfA2-11 has transactivation transcriptional activity. • Overexpression of TaHsfA2-11 in wheat improves thermotolerance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, three cycles of combined cold rolling and annealing (CRA) were applied to study the mechanical behavior of NiAl bronze (NAB) alloy. The underlying mechanisms for microstructure and mechanical properties were elucidated. Microstructure characterization and quantitative analysis demonstrated significant morphology changes by CRA. The results showed that large α-Cu phase is compressed, lamellar κ III phase is broken and sphericalized, and κ II phase accumulates and forms a hard phase band skeleton. Finally, the microstructure with spheroidized κ III phase embedded in the skeleton of the κ II phase is obtained. The optimal ultimate tensile strength of 903 MPa and yield strength of 596 MPa are obtained after one cycle of CRA, which exhibits an improvement of about 40 % and 130 % compared to the as-cast samples, respectively. The best ductility of 18.0 % is obtained after three cycles of CRA, with an improvement of about 75 % over the as-cast samples. The high strength is mainly attributed to the grain refinement and high density of dislocations. Additionally, the higher density of low-angle grain boundaries can promote the formation and growth of twins. The saturation fraction of twin boundaries in experimental alloys of about 66 % is achieved after two cycles of CRA. [Display omitted] • Cold rolling and annealing (CRA) processes are applied to enhance NiAl bronze (NAB) alloy mechanical properties. • The microstructure evolution and mechanical properties of NAB alloy are investigated. • The CRA leads to significant refinement of α-Cu grains and contributes to the markable increasement of strength. • The increment in the density of LAGBs can promote the formation and growth of twins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inferring the point spread function (PSF) at galaxy positions is one of the crucial steps of the shear measurement. We introduce a novel method to estimate the PSFs at the galaxy positions by using the galaxy images, which could provide additional constrains for the PSF field variations. We construct the PSF for each star image by using Principal-Components-Analysis (PCA) method, which can capture the most significant characteristics of the data. Our method utilizes the image difference of the same object between multi-exposures to probe the coefficients of the principal components, in which the differences are mainly caused by PSFs. We apply our method to the observed data. The results show that the corresponding PSFs can be properly estimated from multiple images of different exposures. We then use the obtained principal components from the observations to mock multi-exposure images, where the PSFs field of each exposure is constructed by bivariate polynomial on coefficients. We find that our method can reproduce the PSFs consistently with mocked data. Our results show that the multi-exposed galaxy images could provide us additional constraints for the PSF fields in PCA scenario. It offers a promising prospect for combing the information of stars and galaxies together to construct the PSF field when the point sources are sparsely sampled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multiple enzyme‐driven biological catalytic cascades occur in living organisms, guiding highly efficient and selective transformations of substrates. Inspired by the merits of these biological catalytic cascade systems, enormous efforts have been devoted to developing novel cascade catalytic systems to mimic biological cascade catalytic reactions over the past few years. Nanozymes, a class of enzyme mimics, are nanomaterials with enzyme‐like catalytic activity. The emergence and development of nanozymes has significantly advanced the development of biomimetic cascade nanoreactors. Currently, biomimetic cascade nanoreactors driven by advanced nanozymes have been widely used and exhibit many advantages such as superior cascade catalytic efficiency and high stability, resulting in significant advancements in biosensing and biomedical applications. The latest advances in understanding the cascade catalytic mechanism of nanozyme‐engineered biomimetic cascade catalytic nanoreactors and their progressive applications for biosensing and biomedical applications are comprehensively covered here. First, nanozyme and enzyme/nanozyme‐engineered biomimetic cascade catalytic nanoreactors are categorized according to their catalytic mechanism and properties. Then, the biosensing and biomedical applications, including cancer therapy, antibacterial activity, antioxidation, and hyperuricemia therapy of the cascade catalytic systems are covered. The conclusion describes the most important challenges and opportunities remaining in this exciting area of research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Visualization charts are widely utilized for presenting structured data. Under many circumstances, people want to digitalize the data in the charts collected from various sources (e.g., papers and websites), in oder to further analyze the data or create new charts. However, existing automatic and semi-automatic approaches are not always effective due to the variety of charts. In this paper, we introduce a crowdsourcing approach that leverages human ability to extract data from visualization charts. There are several challenges. The first is how to avoid tedious human interaction with charts and design effective crowdsourcing tasks. Second, it is challenging to evaluate worker’s quality for truth inference, because workers may not only provide inaccurate values but also misalign values to wrong data series. Third, to guarantee quality, one may assign a task to many workers, leading to a high crowdsourcing cost. To address these challenges, we design an effective crowdsourcing task scheme that splits a chart into simple micro-tasks. We introduce a novel worker quality model by considering worker’s accuracy and task difficulty. We also devise effective task assignment and early-termination mechanisms to save the cost. We evaluate our approach on real-world datasets on real crowdsourced platforms, and the results demonstrate the effectiveness of our method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Density-dependent change in aggressive behavior contributes to the population regulation of many small rodents, but the underlying neurological mechanisms have not been examined in field conditions. We hypothesized that crowding stress and aggression-associated oxytocin (OT) and arginine vasopressin (AVP) in specific regions of the brain may be closely related to aggressive behaviors and population changes of small rodents. We analyzed the association of OT and AVP expression, aggressive behavior, and population density of Brandt's voles in 24 large semi-natural enclosures (0.48 ha each) in Inner Mongolia grassland. We tested the effects of population density on the OT/AVP system and aggressive behavior by experimentally manipulating populations of Brandt's voles in the grassland enclosures. High density was positively and significantly associated with more aggressive behavior, and increased expression of mRNA and protein of AVP and its receptor, but decreased expression of mRNA and protein of OT and its receptor in specific brain regions of the voles. Our study suggests that changes in OT/AVP expression are likely a result of the increased psychosocial stress that these voles experience during overcrowding, and thus the OT/AVP system can be used as indicators of density-dependent stressors in Brandt's voles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an in situ combustion diagnostic tool, tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS) tomography has been widely used for imaging 2-D temperature distributions in reactive flows. Compared with the computational tomographic algorithms, convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have been proved to be more robust and accurate for image reconstruction, particularly in the case of limited access of laser beams in the region of interest (RoI). In practice, the flame in the RoI that requires to be reconstructed with the good spatial resolution is commonly surrounded by low-temperature background. Although the background is not of high interest, spectroscopic absorption still exists due to heat dissipation and gas convection. Therefore, we propose a pseudoinversed CNN (PI-CNN) for hierarchical temperature imaging that: 1) uses efficiently the training and learning resources for temperature imaging in the RoI with good spatial resolution and 2) reconstructs the less spatially resolved background temperature by adequately addressing the integrity of the spectroscopic absorption model. In comparison with the traditional CNN, the newly introduced pseudoinversion of the RoI sensitivity matrix is more penetrating for revealing the inherent correlation between the projection data and the RoI to be reconstructed, thus prioritizing the temperature imaging in the RoI with high accuracy and high computational efficiency. In this article, the proposed algorithm was validated by both numerical simulation and lab-scale experiment, indicating good agreement between the phantoms and the high-fidelity reconstructions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a 3 HP solar direct-drive photovoltaic air conditioning system which operates without batteries, ice thermal storage is used to store solar energy. The refrigeration compressor will suffer from loss of power even cannot startup or shut down if the PV power generation suddenly fluctuates. In the case of the solar radiation fluctuations to keep the system running continuously and steadily, that requires a proper system design to match the power consumption of solar air conditioning system with a proper PV capacity, matching an adaptive controller and a suited compressor simultaneously. Solar air conditioners with different capacity of PV panel, with and without MPPT controller and different types compressors were built and tested outdoors to experimentally investigate the matching characteristics of photovoltaic disturbance and refrigeration compressor. The experimental results of the system with a variable speed compressor and a MPPT controller have shown good ice-making performance and reliable operation as well as a great improvement in the available solar energy. Finally, the highest system COP reached 0.289 when the cumulative daily total radiation was 18.2 MJ/m2 in Kunming, China. The research work shows that the direct drive ice storage by solar photovoltaic system has a certain application prospect in the regions where the electricity is tight but requiring cooling. • Design of air conditioner directly driven by distributed solar PV was studied. • Ice thermal storage was used to completely replace batteries. • A MPPT controller was design to effectively utilize solar energy. • Variable speed compressor was suited for PV directly driven cooling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Eukaryotic genomes are highly folded for packing into higher‐order chromatin structures in the nucleus. With the emergence of state‐of‐the‐art chromosome conformation capture methods and microscopic imaging techniques, the spatial organization of chromatin and its functional implications have been interrogated. Our knowledge of 3D chromatin organization in plants has improved dramatically in the past few years, building on the early advances in animal systems. Here, we review recent advances in 3D genome mapping approaches, our understanding of the sophisticated organization of spatial structures, and the application of 3D genomic principles in plants. We also discuss directions for future developments in 3D genomics in plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate shear measurement is a key topic in weak lensing community. Point spread function (PSF), which smears the observed galaxy image, plays one of the main roles in the systematic errors in shear measurement and must be treated carefully to avoid bias and errors in cosmological parameters. In this paper, we present new PSF measurement methods, Smooth-PCA (SPCA) and Improved-SPCA (iSPCA), which can reconstruct smooth PSFs with high efficiency. Our methods decompose the star images into smooth principal components by using the Expectation-Maximization-PCA (EMPCA) method, and the smooth principal components are composed by Moffatlets basis functions, which are derived from the Moffat function. We demonstrate our approaches based on simulated Moffat PSFs and phosim star images. The constructed smooth principal components show flexible and efficient as the same as EMPCA, and have more stable patterns than EMPCA under noises contamination. We then check the reconstruction accuracy on the shape of PSFs. We find that our methods are able to reconstruct the PSFs at the same precision as the EMPCA method that indicates and iSPCA are promising for weak lensing shear measurement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is known that social stress could alter oxytocin (OT) and arginine‐vasopressin (AVP) expression in specific regions of brains which regulate the aggressive behavior of small rodents, but the effects of density‐induced social stress are still unknown. Brandt's voles (Lasiopodomys brandtii) are small herbivores in the grassland of China, but the underlying neurological mechanism of population regulation is still unknown. We tested the effects of housing density of Brandt's voles on OT/AVP system with physical contact (allowing aggression) and without physical contact (not allowing aggression) under laboratory conditions. Then, we tested the effects of paired‐aggression (no density effect) of Brandt's voles on OT/AVP system under laboratory conditions. We hypothesized that high density would increase aggression among animals which would then increase AVP but reduce OT in brains of animals. Our results showed that high housing density induced more aggressive behavior. We found high‐density‐induced social stress (with or without physical contact) and direct aggression significantly increased expression of mRNA and protein of AVP and its receptor, but decreased expression of mRNA and protein of OT and its receptor in specific brain regions of voles. The results suggest that density‐dependent change of OT/AVP systems may play a significant role in the population regulation of small rodents by altering density‐dependent aggressive behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A high‐resolution sedimentary map of southeastern Australia is of great importance to explore natural resources as well as to evaluate seismic hazards. In this study, we build a 3‐D Vs model of the upper crust beneath southeastern Australia by jointly inverting Rayleigh wave phase velocity, ellipticity, and teleseismic P‐coda waves. At depths less than 3 km, sedimentary basins are revealed as prominent low‐velocity anomalies. The average sediment depth in the Murray Basin is ∼713 m with the maximum depth reaching 1,500 m, while, in the Sydney‐Gunnedah‐Bowen Basin (SGBB), the average sediment depth is 600 m with a maximum depth of ∼3,000 m. Vs of the sedimentary layer in the Murray Basin is lower than that in the SGBB, suggesting that the sediments in the Murray Basin are less consolidated compared with those in the SGBB. The unconsolidated sediments make the Murray Basin more vulnerable to seismic hazards. In the upper and middle crystalline crust, we image two low‐velocity zones: one beneath the Adelaide Fold Belt and the other beneath the Begargo Hill volcanic zone. The low‐velocity zone beneath the Adelaide Fold Belt is likely caused by high temperature and/or a weak granitic composition, which lead to the concentration of intraplate seismic activities in this area. The low‐velocity zone beneath the Begargo Hill Volcanic zone indicates that there exists magma in the upper to middle crust or the temperature there is still very high after the latest eruption. Key Points: A 3‐D sedimentary structure of southeastern Australia is built by jointly inverting passive seismic datasetsThe sediments in the Murray basin are less consolidated compared with those in Sydney‐Gunnedah‐Bowen BasinTwo low‐velocity zones are imaged in the upper and middle crystalline crust under Flinders Ranges and Begargo Hill volcanic zone [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The IEEE Std. 1687 facilitates flexible access to on-chip instruments through the JTAG test-access port. This flexibility enables the minimization of the overall access time (OAT), and a number of techniques have been proposed in the literature to achieve this goal. However, the OAT is still high for instruments that require a large amount of test data if this data is shifted through the scan chain serially. In order to further reduce the OAT, we present an efficient test-scheduling method that exploits broadcast and hardware parallelism for instrument access. A broadcast scheduling method is synergistically combined with three parallel IJTAG designs. We show that under different cost criteria, we can select the most efficient parallel IJTAG design such that the equivalent access time (EAT) is minimized. In addition, an interconnect fabric design and an integer-linear-programming method is used to balance the lengths of multiple scan chains. Two industry chip designs and three IJTAG benchmarks are used to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is considerable interest, from both experimental and theoretical perspectives, in molecules incorporating multiple bonds between main group elements. Herein, we not only consider the parent molecules HE=EH (E=As, Sb, Bi), but also a number of their isomers. For each E2H2 molecule, a number of different structures were optimized with four different DFT methods. Final structures were determined with the coupled cluster method CCSD(T) using large basis sets, namely cc‐pVQZ‐PP, incorporating relativistic psuedopotentials. All feasible dissociation pathways are examined. For all three E2H2 molecules the trans isomer lies lowest in energy, with the cis isomer higher by 2.7 (As), 2.1 (Sb), and 1.8 (Bi) kcal mol−1, respectively. However, both cis and trans structures should be observable, as large barriers (27.7, 20.5, and 17.7 kcal mol−1) separate them. For both the cis and trans structures, in the infrared the strong E‐H stretching frequencies should also be observable. Only the cis structures have dipole moments (0.62, 0.01, and 0.83 debye, respectively), and their observation by microwave spectroscopy would be stunning. Also considered were the higher energy vinylidene‐like, pyramidal, monobridged, and linear structures. We conclude that molecules such as HSb=SbH‐Fe(CO)4, HBi=BiH‐Fe(CO)4, and related systems, should be feasible synthetic targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The structures and properties of binary boron-aluminum B5Aln0/-/+ (n = 1–4) clusters have been systematically explored using the density functional theory method at the B3LYP/6–311+G(d) level and the coupled cluster method at the CCSD(T)/6–311+G(2df)//B3LYP/6–311+G(d) level. Lowest-energy structures, stabilities, growth behaviors and chemical bonding of these clusters were analyzed. Our results show that when the number of doped Al atoms is one or two, the Al atoms are located at the periphery, and the host B5 cluster preferentially forms a W-shape core, which is only slightly affected by the Al atoms. When there are three or four Al atoms, the B5Aln0/-/+ (n = 3, 4) clusters have their lowest energy structures preferentially in capped bipyramid configurations. Neutral B5Aln (n = 1, 3) clusters are somewhat more stable than their neighboring n clusters, while anionic and cationic B5Aln-/+ (n = 2, 4) clusters tend to be somewhat more stable. We also simulated the infrared (IR) spectrum and photoelectron spectroscopy (PES) of these clusters for future experimental comparison. Adaptive natural density partitioning (AdNDP) analysis shows that a variety of delocalized multicenter bonds appear in these clusters, which may enhance the stability of the clusters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A carboxyl group functionalized magnetic covalent organic framework nanocomposite was prepared as a magnetic solid-phase extraction adsorbent for extraction of seven sulfonamides from meat samples. The obtained magnetic covalent organic framework composites were characterized in terms of morphology and magnetism. Due to the presence of aromatic benzene rings and amino groups in the structures of sulfonamides, π–π interactions and electrostatic interactions are the main mechanisms for adsorbing sulfonamides by adsorbents. The extraction parameters including adsorbent dosage, pH, adsorption time, ionic strength, eluting solvent, and desorption time were systematically investigated. Under the optimized extraction conditions, an efficient and convenient method for the extraction and determination of sulfonamides from meat samples was developed by combining magnetic solid-phase extraction and HPLC-MS/MS. The proposed method provided a good linearity with coefficients of determination (R2) ≥ 0.9984, low LODs (0.1–0.4 μg kg−1) and the spiked recoveries into meat samples were obtained in the range of 85.34–102.61%. The nanocomposite is a promising adsorbent for the efficient extraction of sulfonamides from complex food samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The optimization of high-dimensional functions is an important problem in both science and engineering. Particle swarm optimization is a technique often used for computing the global optimum of a multivariable function. In this paper, we develop a new particle swarm optimization algorithm that can accurately compute the optimal value of a high-dimensional function. The iteration process of the algorithm is comprised of a number of large iteration steps, where a large iteration step consists of two stages. In the first stage, an expansion procedure is utilized to effectively explore the high-dimensional variable space. In the second stage, the traditional particle swarm optimization algorithm is employed to compute the global optimal value of the function. A translation step is applied to each particle in the swarm after a large iteration step is completed to start a new large iteration step. Based on this technique, the variable space of a function can be extensively explored. Our analysis and testing results on high-dimensional benchmark functions show that this algorithm can achieve optimization results with significantly improved accuracy, compared with traditional particle swarm optimization algorithms and a few other state-of-the-art optimization algorithms based on particle swarm optimization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grain yield and its component traits are essential targets in maize breeding. These traits are genetically complex and controlled by a large number of quantitative trait loci (QTL). The aim of this study was to compile reported QTL and major genes for grain yield and its component traits in a QTL atlas, as a valuable resource for the maize community. To this end, 1,177 QTL related to maize yield were collected from 56 studies published between 1992 and 2018. These QTL were projected to genetic map "IBM2 2008 Neighbors", which led to the identification of 135 meta‐QTL. Some genomic regions appear to be hotspots for yield‐related meta‐QTL, often affecting more than one of the investigated traits. Moreover, we catalogued 20 major maize loci associated with yield and identified 65 maize homologs of 21 rice yield‐related genes. Interestingly, we found that a significant proportion of them are located in meta‐QTL regions. Collectively, this study provides a reference for QTL fine‐mapping and gene cloning, as well as for molecular marker‐assisted breeding of yield‐related traits in maize. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focused on online scheduling of distributed Earth observation satellite system in a dynamic environment. The objective was to maximize the total profit of the overall system by efficiently coordinating the different satellites with stochastic arrival of urgent tasks, subject to rigid communication and observation time window constraints. We formulated this problem as a single-task, single-robot, time-extended assignment problem with intra-schedule dependency using the multi-robot task assignment taxonomy and formulated the sub-problem after releasing urgent tasks in a mixed-integer linear programming model. We first described the online scheduling algorithm for a single satellite, then we proposed the modified consensus-based bundle algorithm (m-CBBA) and modified asynchronous consensus-based bundle algorithm (m-ACBBA) with synchronous and asynchronous communication, respectively. Compared with initial versions of CBBA and ACBBA, the modified versions added the communication loop prediction phases to efficiently utilize scarce communication opportunities and reduce the communication requirements. Additionally, we introduce two contract net protocol (CNP)-based algorithms for comparison, respectively SingleItem-CNP-based (SI-CNP) algorithm and Batch-CNP-based (BA-CNP) algorithm. Computational experiments indicated that both the total profit and percentage of scheduled urgent tasks achieved by the m-ACBBA and m-CBBA algorithms were much higher than those achieved by both SI-CNP and BA-CNP. Additionally, the number of communications needed by either m-ACBBA or m-CBBA algorithm was lower than that by SI-CNP. When the communication cost in the system is high, the m-CBBA algorithm is preferred because it balances the profit and the required number of communications. When the communication cost is low, the m-ACBBA algorithm is preferred because it achieves high total profit and high percentage of scheduled urgent tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heat shock transcription factor (Hsf) plays a transcriptional regulatory role in plants during heat stress and other abiotic stresses. 31 non-redundant ZmHsf genes from maize were identified and clustered in the reference genome sequenced by Single Molecule Real Time (SMRT). The amino acid length, chromosome location, and presence of functional domains and motifs of all ZmHsfs sequences were analyzed and determined. Phylogenetics and collinearity analyses reveal gene duplication events in Hsf family and collinearity blocks shared by maize, rice and sorghum. The results of RNA-Seq analysis of anthesis and post-anthesis periods in maize show different expression patterns of ZmHsf family members. Specially, ZmHsf26 of A2 subclass and ZmHsf23 of A6 subclass were distinctly up-regulated after heat shock (HS) at post-anthesis stage. Nanopore transcriptome sequencing of maize seedlings showed that alternative splicing (AS) events occur in ZmHsf04 and ZmHsf17 which belong to subclass A2 after heat shock. Through sequence alignment, semi-quantitative and quantitative RT-PCR, we found that intron retention events occur in response to heat shock, and newly splice isoforms, ZmHsf04-II and ZmHsf17-II, were transcribed. Both new isoforms contain several premature termination codons in their introns which may lead to early termination of translation. The ZmHsf04 expression was highly increased than that of ZmHsf17, and the up-regulation of ZmHsf04-I transcription level were significantly higher than that of ZmHsf04-II after HS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social stress can dramatically influence the health of animals via communication between gut microbiota and the HPA system. However, this effect has been rarely investigated among different social ranked animals after chronic repeated social encounters. In this study, we evaluated changes and differences in microbiota among control, dominant, and subordinate male greater long-tailed hamsters (Tscherskia triton) over 28 successive days of repeated social encounter. Our results indicated that as compared with the control group, short-term repeated social encounters significantly altered fecal microbiota of subordinate hamsters, while chronic repeated social encounters altered colonic mucosa-associated microbiota of both dominant and subordinate hamsters. Fecal microbiota showed a transition in composition and diversity on day 2 for the subordinate group but on day 4 for the control and dominant groups under repeated encounters. Compared with their baseline, genus Lactobacillus increased in both dominant and subordinate groups, while genus Bifidobacterium increased in the subordinate group and genus Adlercreutzia increased in the dominant group. Our results suggest that chronic repeated social encounter can alter diversity and composition of gut microbiota of hamsters in both feces and colonic mucosa, but the latter performed better in reflecting the effects of chronic stress on microbiota in this species. Future studies should focus on elucidating how these microbiota alterations may affect animal behavior and fitness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

β-Cyclodextrin-functionalized magnetic covalent organic framework (Fe3O4@COF@Au-β-CD) was developed as sorbent for magnetic solid phase extraction of trace sulfonamides in meat samples prior to HPLC-MS/MS analysis. The sorbent was synthesized by loading gold nanoparticles onto a Fe3O4@COF surface and then functionalized by thiolated-β-cyclodextrin immobilization via Au-S bonding formation. The prepared composite material was employed for sulfonamides extraction. The main parameters were optimized to obtain the best extraction efficiency. The experiments of adsorption kinetics were carried out to investigate the adsorption mechanism. Results showed the pseudo-second-order kinetic was better fitted with the adsorption kinetics of sulfonamides. Under optimized conditions, the magnetic solid phase extraction-HPLC method showed good linearity (R2 ≥ 0.9936), and the limits of detection were in the range of 0.8–1.6 μg kg−1. The proposed method was successfully used for quantitation of sulfonamides in real samples. The recoveries ranged from 78.9 to 112.0% with relative standard deviations (RSDs) < 10% (n = 5). The proposed method exhibited great potential for enrichment and determination of sulfonamides in many other food or environment samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enlightened by the high specificity and reactivity of thiol radical toward allyl, here, we first established a rapid thiol radical-based chemical isotope-labelling (CIL) strategy coupled with high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) analysis for the quantitative profiling of sterols. In this strategy, N-(4-(carbazole-9-yl)-phenyl)-N-maleimide labelled derivative of ethylenedithiol (NCPM-d 0 -SH) and its deuterated analogue NCPM-d 2 -SH were employed as a novel pair of CIL reagents to efficiently label sterols. Under lighting condition, the thiol radical obtained from NCPM-d 0 /d 2 -SH attacks one allyl hydrogen in the B-ring of sterols to produce a reactive radical intermediate which can quickly react with another thiol radical to form the last labelled derivatives. This labelling reaction can rapidly complete only within 1.5 min. Absorbingly, the NCPM-d 0 -SH and NCPM-d 2 -SH labelled derivatives of sterols can produce two specific product ions (PIs) containing different isotope tags at m / z of 431.6 and 433.6 via collision induced dissociation, which were employed to develop the multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode-based analysis. According to the specific mass differences with a fixed value, the peak pairs with similar retention times can be easily extracted from the two PIs spectrums and designated as the candidates for the identification of sterols. NCPM-d 0 -SH and NCPM-d 2 -SH labelled derivatives of sterols can be readily distinguished from their several ion chromatograms. Thus, sterols from two samples labelled by different isotope tags were ionized at the same conditions and measured respectively, providing excellent identification and precise quantitation by compensating the matrix effect and instrument fluctuation during MS-based analysis. The detection sensitivities of thiol-containing drugs improved by 53.5–560.3-fold due to NCPM-labelling. The limits of detection (LODs) and the limits of quantitation (LOQs) were in the range of 0.15–0.40 μg kg−1 and 0.50–1.30 μg kg−1, respectively. Using the developed method, we quantitatively profiled five sterols in vegetable oils with good applicability. As promising, the proposed thiol radical-based CIL strategy is a potential platform for the quantitation of sterols. Image 1 • A thiol radical-based CIL strategy was first developed for the determination sterols. • NCPM-d 0 -SH and NCPM-d 2 -SH were prepared to efficiently label sterols. • The thiol radical-based chemical labeling can rapidly complete only with 1.5 min. • LODs for sterols were in the micrograms per kilogram level. • The proposed method was successfully applied to analysis sterols in vegetable oils samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mycotoxins exposure from foodstuffs can trigger serious health hazards (e.g. cancers, deformity and mutation), which has been a global public health concern. In recent years, large-scale poisoning incidents and international trade disputes caused by fungal contamination are extremely common. Unremitting efforts have been devoted to the investigations on classification, toxicity and occurrence of mycotoxins. Monitoring mycotoxins is highly important to ensure human health. Pretreatment technologies offer a pre-analytical separation process for reducing the instruments contamination, signal interference and matrix effects of complex foodstuffs. In this review, the classification, toxicity and occurrence of mycotoxins were concisely summarized. We then concentrated our attentions on the methods of extraction, clean-up, separation and determination of mycotoxins. Especially, the rapid development of nanotechnology has brought many opportunities for sample pretreatment. We have also summarized the available and advanced adsorbents based on the emerging nanomaterials for pretreatment of mycotoxins in foodstuffs. At the end of the article, future opportunities and challenges in the field of mycotoxins research are tentatively proposed. Key Findings and Conclusions : This review comprehensively summarized the latest achievements and improvements in the classification, toxicity, occurrence and detection approaches of mycotoxins. Impressively, the sample pretreatment and detection methods applied for mycotoxins determination in foodstuffs have been summarized, regarding the novel nanomaterial-based pretreatment technologies as well as the development of chromatographic and sensing technologies in the last six years. Furthermore, the current trends and the future perspectives in the toxicity and detection method of mycotoxins are tentatively proposed. • Classification, toxicity and occurrence of mycotoxins were concisely summarized. • New methods of extraction, separation and determination of mycotoxins were reviewed. • Future opportunities and challenges of mycotoxins research are tentatively proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study developed an efficient method to simultaneously separate and purify syringoside and oleuropein from Syringa oblata Lindl. extract using macroporous resins. The adsorption and desorption property of 11 resins were systematically evaluated. Based on the adsorption performance, HPD-100B resin was selected for the separation of syringoside and oleuropein. The HPD-100B resin fitted well to the Langmuir isotherm model (R2 > 0.97), as ascertained by the results of the static adsorption experiment. Kinetic and dynamic adsorption/desorption experiments were conducted using the HPD-100B resin to optimize the separation parameters of syringoside and oleuropein. On the optimal parameters, syringoside and oleuropein were obtained from the 20% and 40% ethanol eluates, respectively. In addition, the adsorption effluent (15–60 BV) contained a large amount of syringoside with less impurities; therefore, this part was also collected for further syringoside separation and enrichment of syringoside. By only one cycle treatment, the syringoside and oleuropein contents in the final products increased by 7.1-fold and 8.2-fold, respectively, compared to the initial extract. The method developed in this study provides a potential basis for the industrial-scale enrichment and separation of syringoside and oleuropein from S. oblata extract. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The ITER current lead insulation consist of interleaved pre-preg and polyimide tapes. • The acceptance high voltage test for current lead includes DC, Paschen and PD test. • ASIPP has completed the insulation qualification of ITER current lead. The ITER high temperature superconducting current lead is a critical component for the magnet system, which has the benefit of reduction in the heat load of the cryogenic system compare with the conventional lead. The current lead is located in the coil terminal box and dry box at the end of the ITER feeder system. As a warm to cold transition section, the current leads feed the huge current from the power supply system into the coils. At the outer surface of the current lead, one layer of a composite insulation is applied to isolate the high voltage potential of the current lead to the ground potential of the environment. The main body of the current lead is that of a long cylinder, but at the cold termination and the cooling inlet, the local geometry is much more irregular. So the insulation wrapping and curing technology of the current lead had to be developed to acquire its uniform mechanical and electrical performance. Now, the multi-stage autoclave curing technology has been qualified in ASIPP and the series ITER current leads are being manufactured based on the qualified procedure. In this paper, the latest insulation progresses for the ITER current lead are introduced, the high voltage testing results as part of the formal qualification are presented and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]