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The content of iron oxides has a large impact on the properties of magnesium refractories, knowledge about the thermodynamic equilibria of the FeO–Fe2O3–MgO system is important for the design of refractory materials and resource utilization of solid wastes. The phase equilibria and thermodynamic data of the FeO–Fe2O3–MgO system have been critically evaluated and re‐optimized using the CALPHAD method. The ionic two‐sublattice model (Fe+2, Mg+2)P(O−2, Va, FeO1.5)Q was used to describe the liquid phase. A set of self‐consistent thermodynamic model parameters is presented to describe the phase equilibrium of the FeO–Fe2O3–MgO system. The calculated phase diagrams and thermodynamic properties, employing the optimized model parameters, exhibit excellent agreement with the experimental data. Moreover, the results demonstrate improved consistency when extrapolated to the multicomponent system, such as CaO–MgO–FeO–Fe2O3 and SiO2–MgO–FeO–Fe2O3 systems. The present thermodynamic modeling is useful to construct multicomponent oxide thermodynamic database and to guide the utilization of solid waste resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Detecting if two functions in different compiled forms are similar has a wide range of applications in software security. We present a method that leverages both semantic and structural features of functions, learned by a neural-net model on the underlying control-flow graphs (CFGs). In particular, we devise a neural function-similarity regressor (NFSR) with attentions on dual CFGs. We train and evaluate NFSR on a dataset consisting of nearly 4 million functions from over 14 900 binary files. Experiments show that NFSR is superior to the SOTA models of SAFE, Gemini and GMN, especially for binary functions with large CFGs. An ablation study shows that attention on dual CFGs plays a significant role in detecting function similarities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Atherosclerosis is the main pathological basis of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). Fufang Danshen Tablet (FDT) is a traditional Chinese medicine that has been clinically used to treat CVDs for more than 40 years. Nevertheless, owing to the complexity of the ingredients, the pharmacological mechanism of FDT in the treatment of CVDs has not been fully elucidated. In this study, an integrated strategy of UFLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS, network pharmacology, molecular biology, and transcriptomics was used to elucidate the mechanisms of action of FDT in the treatment of atherosclerosis. In total, 22 absorbed constituents were identified in rat serum after oral administration of FDT. In silico, network pharmacology studies have shown that FDT regulates four key biological functional modules for the treatment of atherosclerosis: oxidative stress, cell apoptosis, energy metabolism, and immune/inflammation. In animal experiments, FDT exerted protective effects against atherosclerosis by reducing the plaque area and lipid levels in ApoE−/− mice. Furthermore, we found that FDT inhibited inflammatory macrophage accumulation by regulating the expression of Selp and Ccl2, which are both involved in monocyte adhesion and migration. The inhibition of monocyte recruitment by FDT is a new perspective to elucidate the anti-atherosclerotic mechanism of FDT, which has not been adopted in previous studies on FDT. Our results may help to elucidate the therapeutic mechanism of FDT against CVDs and provide potential therapeutic targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parts of China are abundant in tar-rich coal (pyrolysis yield of coal tar is more than 7%), if it can be converted into high-quality tar, it is a reliable means to deal with energy problems. This paper takes tar-rich coal in Shenmu area and uses modified granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS) for catalytic pyrolysis, and the effects of different metal oxides and different amounts of modified GGBS on tar yield are explored. The fractions of pyrolysis tar are analyzed by gas chromatography, and the pyrolysis cokes (PC) are analyzed by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The thermodynamics of modified GGBS with pyrolysis gas and pyrolysis tar of the reaction process is calculated by HSC Chemistry software. The results show that the yield of coal tar increased after catalytic pyrolysis, and the fraction of coal tar is directional transformation to phenolic oil. The modification of GGBS with CaO, Al2O3, and Fe2O3 has a good effect on increasing tar production and improving oil quality. Especially for CaO@GGBS, it can increase the tar yield of tar-rich coal to 15.12% with 97.72% phenol oil, far exceeding the current limit of coal pyrolysis tar yield of around 5%. The crystal structure of pyrolysis coke indicates that different reactions occurred. The possible reaction and equilibrium concentration of the reaction of pyrolysis tar under catalytic pyrolysis are revealed by HSC Chemistry. This provides a foundation for the high-value utilization of tar-rich coal and the comprehensive utilization of GGBS in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The array interferometric synthetic aperture radar (Array InSAR) system resolves shadow issues by employing two scans in opposite directions, facilitating the acquisition of a comprehensive three-dimensional representation of the observed scene. The point clouds obtained from the two scans need to be transformed into the same coordinate system using registration techniques to create a more comprehensive visual representation. However, the two-point clouds lack corresponding points and exhibit distinct geometric distortions, thereby preventing direct registration. This paper analyzes the error characteristics of array InSAR point clouds and proposes a robust registration method for array InSAR point clouds in urban scenes. It represents the 3D information of the point clouds using images, with pixel positions corresponding to the azimuth and ground range directions. Pixel intensity denotes the average height of points within the pixel. The KAZE algorithm and enhanced matching approach are used to obtain the homonymous points of two images, subsequently determining the transformation relationship between them. Experimental results with actual data demonstrate that, for architectural elements within urban scenes, the relative angular differences of registered facades are below 0.5°. As for ground elements, the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) after registration is less than 1.5 m, thus validating the superiority of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Library data contains many students' reading records that reflect their general knowledge acquisition. The purpose of this study is to deeply mine the library book-borrowing data, with concerns on different book catalogues and properties to predict the students' extracurricular interests. An intelligent computing framework is proposed by the fusion of a neural network architecture and a partial differential equations (PDE) function module. In model designs, the architecture is constructed as an adaptive learning backpropagation neural network (BPNN), with automatic tuning of its hyperparameters. The PDE module is embedded into the network structure to enhance the loss functions of each neural perceptron. For model evaluation, a novel comprehensive index is designed using the calculus of information entropy. Empirical experiments are conducted on a diverse and multimodal time-series dataset of library book borrowing records to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methodology. Results validate that the proposed framework is capable of revealing the students' extracurricular reading interests by processing related book borrowing records, and expected to be applied to "big data" analysis for a wide range of various libraries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One-dimensional shaving-like BiVO4 nanobelts were successfully synthesized via the oxide hydrothermal method (OHS), using V2O5 and Bi2O3 as raw materials and PEG 10000 (polyethylene glycol 10000) as a template. Multiple techniques, including XRD, SEM, TEM, HRTEM, UV–Vis, XPS, and photoelectrochemical measurements, were applied to characterize the obtained materials. The thickness of the BiVO4 nanobelt was approximately 10 nm, while the width was approximately 500 nm. EIS results showed that visible-light illumination caused the photogenerated charge of the BiVO4 nanobelts to have a faster transfer and a higher separation efficiency. Photocatalytic experiments indicated that with BiVO4 nanobelts as a catalyst, the degradation rate of MB (methylene blue) was close to 92.4%, and it disintegrated after two hours. Moreover, the pseudo-first-order kinetic model can be used to describe the photodecomposition reaction of MB catalysed by BiVO4 nanobelts. And this excellent photocatalytic activity of the shaving-like BiVO4 nanobelts may be related to their special morphology, narrow band gap (~2.19 eV), faster transfer and the separation efficiency of the photogenerated charge, leading to strong absorption in the visible region and improving the separation of the photogenerated electron–hole pairs. These novel monoclinic BiVO4 nanobelts exhibited great photocatalytic activity and are thus a promising candidate for application in visible-light-responsive photocatalysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To explore the application of intelligent nursing (IN) based on the Internet of Things (IoT) in children with pneumonia and sepsis treated with human gamma globulin (HGG). Methods: A total of 200 children with pneumonia combined with sepsis who attended the First People's Hospital of Shangqiu from January 1, 2020 to February 13, 2022 were consecutively collected. Children were randomly divided into IN group and routine nursing (RN) group, with 100 children in each group. All children received standard anti-infection treatment along with intravenous HGG. In IN group, IN measures based on the IoT cloud computing platform monitored the treatment process of children with HGG throughout the whole process, while children in the RN group only received RN measures. Information on both groups was collected from the medical records, such as gender, age, duration of hospitalization, fever, antibiotic use, serological indicators, pulmonary function indicators, immune function indicators and adverse effects of HGG. Multi-factorial logistic regression was performed to access the correlation between IN and the duration of hospitalization and a range of other factors studied above. Results: After adjusting for numerous confounding factors, multifactorial logistic regression revealed that the application of IN was associated with a shorter duration of hospitalization (p =.030) and lower white blood cell (WBC) and creatinine (Cr) levels in post-treatment children (p =.003, p =.010). It was also associated with higher levels of forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1), forced vital capacity (FVC) and peak expiratory flow (PEV) after treatment (p =.014, p =.001, p =.002) and higher levels of immune CD4+/CD8+ ratio after treatment (p =.001) and reduced symptoms of vomiting among the adverse effects (p =.047). Conclusion: The IoT cloud-based IN model significantly improved the efficacy of HGG in the treatment of pneumonia sepsis in children and reduce occurrence of some adverse reactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Attention needs to be paid to the environmental risks that may arise when returning contaminated straw to the soil. This study considers the potential effects of rice straw incorporation on cadmium (Cd) and arsenic (As) transformation and uptake in soil–rape–rice systems. Methods: Pot experiment was conducted with five straw-return methods: CK (control: no amendment), S (straw return), SD (straw return with straw-decomposing microbial inoculants), SC (straw with biochar), and SCFe (straw associated with iron-modified biochar). Results: The results showed that the returning of straw significantly decreased soil pH during the rape growing season, while soil pH increased during the rice growing season. As a result, contaminated straw return resulted in remarkable increases of the DTPA-extracted concentrations (DTPACd and DTPAAs) in rape soil, as well as the DTPAAs concentrations in rice soil. Treatments S, SD, and SC significantly enhanced the Cd accumulation in rape seeds, in contrast to CK, while the subsequent Cd accumulation in rice grains decreased. Moreover, the inorganic arsenic content in rice grains in both the SD and SC treatments was much lower than that in the CK and S treatments. After the rape growing season, both SC and SCFe have a positive effect on decreasing rice soil Cd and As bioavailability, compared with the S treatment. Conclusions: Collectively, a rape–rice rotation system could reduce the Cd uptake in after-reap rice grains with the incorporation of contaminated straw return, but the risk of As accumulation should be treated with caution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Cadmium (Cd) pollution in agricultural soils has been a worldwide problem that threatens eco-environmental sustainability and exerts a negative influence on plant growth. The effects of nitrification inhibitors (NIs)—namely, dicyandiamide (DCD) and 3,4-dimethylpyrazole phosphate (DMPP)—on Cd phytoavailability have been reported in some studies, but the underlying mechanisms driving the changes in Cd uptake and accumulation in rice (Oryza sativa L.) seedlings are not well understood. Methods: Here, rice seedlings were transplanted into Cd-contaminated paddy soil, treated with urea and NIs (DCD or DMPP), and cultivated for 21 days. Pot experiments showed that NIs treatments significantly inhibited the ammoxidation process and increased the rhizospheric pH, thereby reducing the DTPA-extracted Cd concentration in soil and decreasing Cd accumulation in rice tissues. Besides, hydroponic culture experiments were performed to explore the impacts of NIs on Cd uptake and translocation in rice seedlings and identify the underlying mechanisms. Results: It was found that adding urea combined with NIs weakened Cd uptake by rice roots through supplying a large amount of NH4+. Furthermore, NIs applications significantly limited net Cd2+ influx and down-regulated the transcription of Cd uptake-related genes in roots via increasing NH4+, thereby decreasing the movement of Cd2+ into roots and Cd accumulation in rice. However, DMPP treatments also promoted Cd root-to-shoot translocation, likely due to the DMPP-induced increase in the expression of the OsHMA2 and OsNRAMP1 genes. Conclusions: Our results suggested that the application of appropriate ratios of NIs and nitrogen fertilizer can inhibit Cd uptake and accumulation in rice. Highlights: • Cd accumulation in rice was driven by multiple factors through NIs application. • Cd uptake in rice was mainly affected by NIs altering soil pH and Cd availability. • N forms was also regulated by NIs thus influencing Cd uptake in rice. • Urea + DMPP inhibited the expressions of NRAMP5 in rice roots. • Urea + DMPP elevated Cd translocation by promoting the HMA2 and NRAMP1 transcription. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A copper alloy with the addition of zirconium and yttrium is an attractive high strength and high conductivity (HSHC) copper alloy. The study of the solidified microstructure, thermodynamics and phase equilibria in the ternary Cu–Zr–Y system is expected to provide new insight into designing an HSHC copper alloy. In this work, the solidified and equilibrium microstructure and phase transition temperatures in the Cu–Zr–Y ternary system were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) and differential scanning calorimeter (DSC). The isothermal section at 973 K was experimentally constructed. No ternary compound was found, while the Cu6Y, Cu4Y, Cu7Y2, Cu5Zr, Cu51Zr14 and CuZr phases substantially extended into the ternary system. According to the experimental phase diagram data from the present work and the literature, the Cu–Zr–Y ternary system was assessed using the CALPHAD (CALculation of PHAse diagrams) method. The isothermal sections, vertical section and liquidus projection calculated by the present thermodynamic description agree well with the experimental results. This study not only establishes a thermodynamic description of the Cu–Zr–Y system, but also contributes to the design of a copper alloy with the required microstructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Methyltransferase like 3 (METTL3), a primary N6‐methyladenosine (m6A) methyltransferase, has been implicated in various biological and pathological processes including immune responses. However, the functions and mechanisms of METTL3 in pathogenic T helper (Th)17 cells are poorly understood. Here we found significantly decreased METTL3 expression along with reduced m6A levels in eyeballs and T cells of experimental autoimmune uveitis (EAU). Overexpression of METTL3 ameliorated the development of EAU and suppressed pathogenic Th17 cell responses in vivo and in vitro. Mechanistically, METTL3 promoted the expression of absent, small, or homeotic‐like 1 (ASH1L) via enhancing its stability in a YT521‐B homology domain containing 2 (YTHDC2)‐dependent manner, which further decreased the expression of IL‐17 and IL‐23 receptor (IL‐23R), resulting in reduced pathogenic Th17 responses. Together, our data reveal a pivotal role of METTL3 in regulating pathogenic Th17 responses, which may contribute to human uveitis therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Network civilization is a product of the rapid development of the virtual world. This study aims to investigate the psychological structure of college students' network civilization and to explore the role of value judgment and value identification between college students' psychological perception and value selection. In this study, 1096 college students (511 men and 585 women) completed the anonymous questionnaire on network civilization. They completed the scales of psychological perception, value judgment, value identification, and value selection. The total scale and each subscale both had high Cronbach's alphas (0.90–0.97), indicating good reliability. Results indicated the following: (1) Psychological perception and value selection are positively correlated. (2) Psychological perception improves college students' value selection by enhancing their value judgment. (3) Psychological perception may positively affect college students' value selection via value identification. (4) There is a chain-mediating role between psychological perception, value judgment, value identification, and value selection. These testimonies also contribute to and provide an empirical basis for guidance strategies for the cultivation of network civilization and moral education among college students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Ni-Si-Ti system plays an important role in high temperature structural materials. Accurate atomic mobilities of fcc Ni-Si-Ti system are essential for the microstructure simulation of Ni-based superalloys. In the present work, diffusion couples of fcc Ni-Si-Ti system have been prepared and annealed at 1273, 1373 and 1473 K. By combining solid/solid diffusion couples with the electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) technique, the interdiffusivities in fcc Ni-Si-Ti were calculated via Matano-Kirkaldy method and numerical inverse method. Based on the reliable thermodynamic description and interdiffusion coefficients measured above, two sets of atomic mobilities were optimized by means of the CALTPP (CALculation of ThermoPhysical Properties) program. These atomic mobilities can reasonably describe the diffusion behaviors by comparing model-predicted diffusivities, concentration profiles and diffusion paths with the experimental ones. Besides, based on these atomic mobilities, three-dimensional surfaces for the interdiffusivity at 1273, 1373 and 1473 K were plotted. Furthermore, three-dimensional planes of the activation energy and frequency factor were evaluated using the Arrhenius equation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stocks price prediction is a current hot spot with great promise and challenges. Recently, there have been many stock price prediction methods. However, the prediction accuracy of these methods is still far from satisfactory. In this paper, we propose a stock price prediction method that incorporates multiple data sources and the investor sentiment, which can be called SILSTM. Firstly, we crawl multiple data sources on the Internet and preprocess them respectively. These data involve stock historical data, technical indicators, and non-traditional data sources, such as stock posts and financial news. Then, we use the sentiment analysis method based on convolutional neural network for the non-traditional data, which can calculate the investors' sentiment index. Finally, we combine sentiment index, technical indicators and stock historical transaction data as the feature set of stock price prediction and adopt the long short-term memory network for predicting the China Shanghai A-share market. The experiments show that the predicted stock closing price is closer to the true closing price than the single data source, and the mean absolute error can achieve 2.386835, which is better than traditional methods. We verified the effectiveness on the real data sets of five listed companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: High light stress is one of the main factors affecting the normal growth of Ulva prolifera. The response mechanism of U. prolifera to 12 h of high light stress was explored by the multi-omics method. We found that short-term high light could inhibit the assimilation process of U. prolifera, destroy the cellular structure, and inhibit respiration. Moreover, it was raised by the genes associated with photosynthetic pigment synthesis, optical system I, and electronic transport, and may be able to make up the ATP defects by circulating electronic transport. At the same time, it reduced NADPH production by attenuating photosystem II synthesis. The carbon fixed approach was also transformed from the C3 pathway to the C4 pathway. Revealing the response mechanism of U. prolifera to high light can provide a more theoretical basis for studying the outbreak of green tide of U. prolifera in the Yellow Sea. The main algal species of Ulva prolifera green tide in the coastal areas of China are four species, but after reaching the coast of Qingdao, U. prolifera becomes the dominant species, where the light intensity is one of the most important influencing factors. In order to explore the effects of short-term high light stress on the internal molecular level of cells and its coping mechanism, the transcriptome, proteome, metabolome, and lipid data of U. prolifera were collected. The algae were cultivated in high light environment conditions (400 μmol·m−2·s−1) for 12 h and measured, and the data with greater relative difference (p < 0.05) were selected, then analyzed with the KEGG pathway. The results showed that the high light stress inhibited the assimilation of U. prolifera, destroyed the cell structure, and arrested its growth and development. Cells entered the emergency defense state, the TCA cycle was weakened, and the energy consumption processes such as DNA activation, RNA transcription, protein synthesis and degradation, and lipid alienation were inhibited. A gradual increase in the proportion of the C4 pathway was recorded. This study showed that U. prolifera can reduce the reactive oxygen species produced by high light stress, inhibit respiration, and reduce the generation of NADPH. At the same time, the C3 pathway began to change to the C4 pathway which consumed more energy. Moreover, this research provides the basis for the study of algae coping with high light stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At present, art education curriculum reform is in full swing. Art education in China started late but as an important element of quality education. Art education is particularly important today with rapid economic development and advanced technology. The art subject is the sum of the teaching content of the art subject and the execution of teaching activities expressed through the network, including two components: the teaching content organized according to specific teaching objectives and teaching strategies and the network teaching support environment. Unlike existing multimedia courseware, several features reflect the advantages of online education, unlike online courseware. Each school generates a large amount of student performance data every year, and existing systems only perform simple backups, queries, and statistics on these data, which do not reflect the weaknesses of education in a centralized and comprehensive manner. Data mining can extract valuable information hidden behind the data from a large amount of data and has been applied in more and more fields with good results, which helps people to make correct decisions. In this study, we propose a decision tree model-based repository and search platform for school art and painting education resources, briefly outline the decision tree model, and analyze the architecture and operation of the school art and painting education resources repository and search platform. The experimental results show that the Virginica accuracy of the decision tree model is 0.42 higher than that of C4.5, which greatly improves the accuracy of the preferred class and ensures the overall accuracy remains unchanged. Therefore, this system realizes the art education resource repository system and realizes the needs of college users to share art professional information and resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a self-triggered saturated model predictive control (SMPC) for Markov jump system (MJS) is studied in finite-frequency domain. First, the MJS with multi-modes is transformed into a single mode system with embedded transition probability to prepare for the use of generalized Kalman–Yakubovich–Popov (GKYP) lemma. Second, a dynamic self-triggered mechanism with time-varying threshold is developed to predict the next triggering time according to the current time, states, and jumping mode. Third, for disturbances that only possess finite-frequency band, a co-design of triggering condition and SMPC is realized by properly employing GKYP lemma. Compared with existing works, the main motivation of this paper is to improve the anti-interference ability within a specified frequency range. Moreover, we also aim to shorten the gap between the finite band control theory and its applications to practical engineering problems. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed approach is demonstrated by both the numerical and practical simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Combination of the experimental measurements of diffusion behavior and kinetic computational simulation provides a unique tool to probe the design of multi-component refractory alloys with excellent properties. In this work, for the first time, the determination of the interdiffusion coefficients of bcc phase in Mo-Zr system and Mo-Nb-Zr ternary system as well as the relevant atomic mobility parameters of Mo, Nb and Zr in BCC phase are investigated systematically. The interdiffusion coefficients of bcc phase in Mo-Zr binary alloys and Mo-Nb-Zr ternary alloys at 1423-1523 K were measured by solid-phase diffusion couple method combined with Boltzmann-Matano method and Matano-Kirkaldy method, respectively. Simultaneously, the quite steep Mo concentration gradients of the corresponding ternary diffusion couples in the Mo-Nb-Zr system are observed in this study, and the contributions of which are carefully evaluated in the subsequent extraction of the ternary interdiffusion coefficients for the Mo-Nb-Zr system. On the basis of the determined interdiffusion coefficients of Mo-Zr system and Mo-Nb-Zr system in this work, along with the relevant thermodynamic parameters, the atomic mobility parameters of Mo, Nb and Zr in BCC phase were evaluated, which are incorporated into the atomic mobility database of bcc phase in Nb-Mo-Ti-Zr multi-component system. In addition, the component distance curves of a series of diffusion couples are simulated by applying the established atomic mobility database. The consistency between the simulated results and the measured values further verifies the reliability of the work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Land Surface Temperature (LST) has been operationally produced for a decade since the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (SNPP) launched in October 2011. A comprehensive evaluation of its accuracy and precision will be helpful for product users in climate studies and atmospheric models. In this study, the VIIRS LST is validated with ground observations from multiple high-quality radiation networks, including six stations from the Surface Radiation budget (SURFRAD) network, two stations from the Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN), and 13 stations from the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) network, to evaluate its performance over various land-cover types. The VNP21A1 LST was validated against the same ground observations as a reference. The results yield a close agreement between the SNPP VIIRS LST and ground LSTs with a bias of −0.4 K and a RMSE of 1.96 K over six SURFRAD sites; a bias of −0.2 K and a RMSE of 1.93 K over two BSRN sites; and a bias of −0.1 K and a RMSE of 1.7 K over the 13 ARM sites. The time series of the LST errors over individual sites indicate seasonal cycles. The data anomaly over the BSRN site in Cabauw and the SURFRAD site in Desert Rock is revealed and discussed in this study. In addition, a method using Landsat-8 data is applied to quantify the heterogeneity level of each ground station and the results provide promising insights. The validation results demonstrate the maturity of the JPSS VIIRS LST products and their readiness for various application studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This exploration aims to propose an urban green rainwater management model based on urban green ecological rainwater system (GERS) to solve the problem of urban waterlogging caused by urbanization and realize the local recycling of urban rainwater resources. First, the urban one-dimensional rainwater pipe network model and two-dimensional surface model are implemented based on MIKE URBAN model. Next, a green ecological rainwater facility model is implemented through node generalization to evaluate the rainwater pipe network pressure and land water area. Finally, the improved multi-objective optimization non-dominated sorting genetic algorithms-II (NSGA-II) is used to optimize the design and research of urban green ecological rainwater simulation systems. The results show that compared with traditional genetic algorithms and non-dominated sorting genetic algorithms (NSGA), the accuracy of NSGA-II is 96.17% and 88.57%, which greatly improves the application performance of the algorithm. The effectiveness of the algorithm is verified by comparing the performance of traditional genetic algorithm (GA) and improved sorting GA. The research conclusion is that NSGA-II is superior to the conventional design scheme in economy and hydraulic performance. The above results can provide a reference for using green ecological rainwater model to solve urban rainstorms and flood management in complex terrain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, with the continuous development of metal organic frameworks (MOFs), more and more MOFs have been reported. For the prepared materials with a porous structure and a rich specific surface area, they are gradually emerging in the application of environmental pollution control, but the high cost of raw materials limits their development in actual production. In this paper, the prepared Cu-BTC was used as the active component, and the Cu-BTC/FA catalyst was prepared by loading it on a shaped fly ash (FA) carrier. The catalyst performance was evaluated through SCR denitration, sulfur resistance and stability test. And combined with the XRD, FTIR, SEM, XPS, H2-TPR and Raman characterization of the catalyst, the possible denitration mechanism was explained. The results show that when the Cu-BTC loading is 9%, the denitration rate of the catalyst reaches 94%. And it has good stability and sulfur resistance at 200 °C. The possible reason is that NO and NH3 gas molecules are first adsorbed by Cu2+/Cu+ ions, and then Cu2+ is reduced to Cu+ by NH3, and Cu+ is reduced to Cu0 by NH3. Subsequently, Cu+ and Cu0 react with NO and re-convert to Cu2+ and causing the SCR reaction continues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stocks price prediction is a current hot spot with great promise and challenges. Recently, there have been many stock price prediction methods. However, the prediction accuracy of these methods is still far from satisfactory. In this paper, we propose a stock price prediction method that incorporates multiple data sources and the investor sentiment, which can be called SILSTM. Firstly, we crawl multiple data sources on the Internet and preprocess them respectively. These data involve stock historical data, technical indicators, and non-traditional data sources, such as stock posts and financial news. Then, we use the sentiment analysis method based on convolutional neural network for the non-traditional data, which can calculate the investors' sentiment index. Finally, we combine sentiment index, technical indicators and stock historical transaction data as the feature set of stock price prediction and adopt the long short-term memory network for predicting the China Shanghai A-share market. The experiments show that the predicted stock closing price is closer to the true closing price than the single data source, and the mean absolute error can achieve 2.386835, which is better than traditional methods. We verified the effectiveness on the real data sets of five listed companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maximal biclique enumeration is a fundamental problem in analysing bipartite graphs, which has a wide range of real applications, such as web mining, recommendation systems, and social network analysis. As real-world bipartite graphs constantly evolve over time, it is useful and necessary to incrementally maintain maximal bicliques in dynamic bipartite graphs. Existing solutions for this problem suffer from the major issue of enumerating duplicate maximal bicliques, which inevitably bring huge computation overhead. In this paper, we devise a novel framework to efficiently maintain maximal bicliques when the graph evolves with edge insertions. There are two major steps, i.e., new maximal biclique enumeration and subsumed maximal biclique enumeration. In particular, we sort edges in order when a batch of edges is inserted or removed. Based on the sequence of edges, we construct a recursion search tree to avoid duplicate new maximal bicliques and non-maximal bicliques. Besides, for subsumed maximal biclique eumeration, we first check the maximality of bicliques in an efficient way, and then delete these are no longer maximal. Furthermore, we also show that our techniques can be easily extended to deal with edge deletions. The experiment results demonstrate the efficiency of our techniques, which show a superior performance over the state-of-the-art method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate diffusivities and atomic mobility parameters of fcc Cu–Mn–Si alloys are essential to understand the growth behavior of Mn barrier layer between the Cu interconnect and Si-based dielectric in microelectronic integrated circuits. Totally twelve diffusion couples of fcc Cu–Mn–Si alloys at 923, 1023 and 1123 K are prepared and their composition profiles are determined by EPMA technique. The composition profiles are input in CALTPP program to extract the interdiffusivity matrices by the Matano–Kirkaldy method (version 1) and numerical inverse approach (version 2). Then, the corresponding atomic mobilities are evaluated based on these two versions of diffusivities, respectively. The quality of these two versions of atomic mobility parameters is examined by comparing the diffusion behaviors between the model-predicted and measured ones. In the current work, atomic mobilities of version 2 are recommended on account of their better consistency with composition profiles. The three-dimensional main interdiffusion coefficients, activation energy and frequency-factor planes of fcc Cu–Mn–Si alloys are constructed to display the composition- and temperature-dependent diffusion properties. The reliable atomic mobility parameters obtained in this work are key input for the computation design for multi-component Cu alloys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The low-temperature catalytic efficiency of the catalyst and poor sulfur resistance are the shortcomings of traditional catalysts, which greatly limit its industrial application. In this paper, Cu-BTC was successfully synthesized, and the influence of different temperature, molar ratio and time on its structure was studied, and then, it was applied to SCR low-temperature denitration. The physicochemical properties of catalyst were characterized by N2 adsorption–desorption, XRD, FTIR, TG, SEM, TPD, TPR and XPS. The results show that the molar ratio of substrate (Cu(NO3)2·3H2O) to ligand (1,3,5-trimellitic acid) was 1:1, synthesis time was 12 h, temperature was 120 °C and the Cu-BTC had the best structure, contained less impurity Cu2O and CuO and had high purity. The catalyst also showed the highest NH3-SCR activity, up to 83.87%. BET showed Cu-BTC had larger specific surface area. The stronger NH3 adsorption ability was found, which could be beneficial for SCR. It still showed high NO removal rate (as high as 78.34%) and good stability under the condition of SO2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oxygen vacancies and heteroatom doping play important role in oxygen reduction activity of metal oxides. Developing efficient modification method is one of the key issues in catalysts research. Room temperature plasma treatment, with the advantages of mild working conditions, no emissions and high efficiency, is a new catalyst modification method developed in recent years. In this work, hydrothermal synthesized α -MnO2 nanorods are treated in NH3 plasma at room temperature. In the reducing atmosphere, oxygen vacancies and N doping are achieved simultaneously on the surface. The NH3 plasma etched MnO2 demonstrate a significant enhanced oxygen reduction activity with half-wave potential of 0.84 V, limiting current density of 6.32 mA cm−2 and transferred electrons number of 3.9. The Mg–air battery with N-MnO2 display a maximum power density of 76.3 mW cm−2 as well as stable discharge performance. This work provides new ideas for preparing efficient and cost-effective method to boost the catalysts activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sophora flavescens has been widely used in traditional Chinese medicine for over 1700 years. This plant is known for its heat-clearing, damp-drying, insecticidal, and diuretic properties. Phytochemical research has identified prenylated flavonoids as a unique class of bioactive compounds in S. flavescens. Recent pharmacological studies reveal that the prenylated flavonoids from S. flavescens (PFS) exhibit potent antitumor, anti-inflammatory, and glycolipid metabolism-regulating activities, offering significant therapeutic benefits for various diseases. However, the pharmacokinetics and toxicological profiles of PFS have not been systematically studied. Despite the diverse biological effects of prenylated flavonoid compounds against similar diseases, their structure-activity relationship is not yet fully understood. This review aims to summarize the latest findings regarding the chemical composition, drug metabolism, pharmacological properties, toxicity, and structure-activity relationship of prenylated flavonoids from S. flavescens. It seeks to highlight their potential for clinical use and suggest directions for future related studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aluminosilicate solid waste, primarily comprising red mud, coal gangue, fly ash, and tailings, is characterized by high annual production, low comprehensive utilization rate, and significant environmental damage. Currently, there is an urgent need for effective methods to manage and valorize aluminosilicate solid wastes. Thermodynamic investigations enable the assessment of phase transition behaviors, process conditions (such as temperature and pressure), and the direction and feasibility of reactions. Moreover, thermodynamics can predict the composition of resulting products and reveal the reaction mechanisms. All the aforementioned issues are instrumental in refining solid waste treatment processes and achieving efficient use of resources. Therefore, to promote the application of aluminosilicate solid waste, this paper describes the predictive and guiding functions of thermodynamics in the utilization of solid waste, focusing on three aspects: composition design, ceramization, and process optimization. Additionally, current challenges and future trends are discussed herein. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Pt/graphene was synthesized via novel one-step thermal expansion method. • Defects-rich graphene and uniform Pt nanoparticles are obtained. • Pt/graphene with 3.8 wt% Pt loading shows an ORR activity close to commercial 20 wt% Pt/C. • Pt/graphene presents superior conductivity and stability. In this paper, graphene with low platinum loading was prepared using the thermal expansion method, resulting in uniform dispersion of ultrafine Pt nanoparticles. The synthesized Pt/graphene exhibits a large specific surface area, abundant graphene defects, and homogeneous Pt particles. In 0.1 M KOH, the catalyst exhibits a half-wave potential of 0.84 V (vs. RHE), a limiting current density of 5.66 mA cm−2, and an electron transfer number of 3.9. The performance is close to that of the commercial 20 wt% Pt/C and outperforms the 10 wt% Pt/C. Moreover, it demonstrates better charge transfer kinetics and exceptional stability compared to the commercial 20 wt% Pt/C. This provides a promising avenue for the development of novel Pt-based catalysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To satisfy the demand of industrial production, selecting strains suitable for fermentation initiation is necessary. In this study, the effects of mixed‐starter culture including Leuconostoc, Lactobacillus, and Weissella on the quality of Sichuan pickle were discussed. Results showed that mixed‐starter culture can accelerate fermentation and had the highest efficiency for nitrite degradation, that is, the maximum nitrite concentration was 8.97 g/kg on day 1 and decreased to 1.88 mg/kg after 3 days. The mixed‐starter culture improved the sensory properties of pickles, which easily produced acids but had reduced amounts of total acids. The pickle products fermented by the mixed‐starter culture contained increased lactic acid (17.52 g/kg), mannitol (0.62%), umami (35.85), and sweet (11.36) amino acids on day 4. The strains Weissella paramesenteroides C2‐2 and Lactobacillus brevis ZP11‐2 grew well in the mixed‐starter culture fermentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Empirical wavelet transform (EWT) is an adaptive tool for vibration signals processing and has been adopted for fault diagnosis of rolling bearings, while still suffers two weaknesses in detecting the weak, early-stage defects. First, adaptive and robust boundaries determination of the EWT segments is a challenge. Second, vestigial noise and unwanted vibrations still exist in the filtered signal, which may bury the weak fault signature and weaken the detection performance of early-stage faults. In this article, a two-step denoising strategy (TSDS) is proposed for early-stage fault detection, which includes frequency filtering and time-domain denoising steps. In the scheme, an automated EWT segmentation method is proposed for identifying each primary harmonic component; then, EWT-based correlated kurtogram is adopted to optimize the filtering frequency band such that to enhance the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the fault information. Furthermore, the two-layer sliding-correlated kurtosis (TLSCK) algorithm is applied as the second step, which eliminates the vestigial noise and outputs pure periodic pulses, indicating the occurrence moments of the fault impulses. Thus, the weak, early-stage fault signature can be significantly enhanced and detected. A simulation study is conducted and validates the successfulness of the proposed scheme when the SNR is as low as −19 dB. A run-to-failure experiment verifies the effectiveness of the proposed method for weak faults identification, and comparison studies show that the proposed scheme could diagnosis bearing defects at much earlier moment than traditional methods like spectral kurtosis and dyadic wavelet transform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The CaO–Al2O3–SiO2 system is a fundamental system in aluminosilicate materials, and its thermodynamic description provides key information for ceramic design, cement production, slag tapping, and geological prediction. However, the existing thermodynamic calculations for the CaO–Al2O3 system show inaccurate heats of formation for the compounds and consequently a decomposition of the CA2 (CaO⋅2Al2O3) phase at a low temperature. Besides, the solid solutions in anorthite and cristobalite have never been considered in the previous thermodynamic assessments for the CaO–Al2O3–SiO2 system. Therefore, thermodynamic reassessments of the CaO–Al2O3 and CaO–Al2O3–SiO2 systems are carried out in the present work using the CALculation of PHAse Diagram method, considering the solid solution in anorthite and cristobalite for the first time. The anorthite and cristobalite phases are modeled based on the individual mechanism of solid solution, with the anorthite described by (Ca+2, Va)1(Al+3, Si+4)2(Si+4)2(O−2)8 and the cristobalite described by (Va, Ca+2)1(Si+4, Al+3)2(O−2)4. The present assessment solves the above issues and provides consistent thermodynamic descriptions for the liquid and solid phases. Based on the established thermodynamic database, a Scheil solidification simulation is carried out for a cement clinker and the variations of mass fractions of the phases as well as the composition of liquid during Scheil cooling are calculated. The present work guides the design of relevant materials and lays an essential foundation for the establishment of the thermodynamic database of multicomponent aluminosilicate materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drought stress limits crop yield, but the molecular modulators and their mechanisms underlying the trade-off between drought resistance and crop growth and development remain elusive. Here, a grain width and weight2 (GW2)-like really interesting new gene finger E3 ligase, TaGW2, was identified as a pivotal regulator of both kernel development and drought responses in wheat (Triticum aestivum). TaGW2 overexpression enhances drought resistance but leads to yield drag under full irrigation conditions. In contrast, TaGW2 knockdown or knockout attenuates drought resistance but remarkably increases kernel size and weight. Furthermore, TaGW2 directly interacts with and ubiquitinates the type-B Arabidopsis response regulator TaARR12, promoting its degradation via the 26S proteasome. Analysis of TaARR12 overexpression and knockdown lines indicated that TaARR12 represses the drought response but does not influence grain yield in wheat. Further DNA affinity purification sequencing combined with transcriptome analysis revealed that TaARR12 downregulates stress-responsive genes, especially group-A basic leucine zipper (bZIP) genes, resulting in impaired drought resistance. Notably, TaARR12 knockdown in the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated nuclease 9 (Cas9)-mediated tagw2 knockout mutant leads to significantly higher drought resistance and grain yield compared to wild-type plants. Collectively, these findings show that the TaGW2–TaARR12 regulatory module is essential for drought responses, providing a strategy for improving stress resistance in high-yield wheat varieties. The E3 ligase TaGW2 positively regulates drought resistance by promoting the degradation of the type-B ARR transcription factor TaARR12 in wheat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the potential importance of the removal of contaminated straw for heavy metal output from agricultural soils, previous studies have primarily focused on the variation in the metal concentration without considering the impact input of heavy metals from atmospheric deposition. Here, rice was grown under field conditions, and, as a reference, in a deposition-free environment, and exposed to different ambient air Cd levels. Two consecutive years of pot experiments were conducted in two study areas (ZZ and LY) to examine the changes in soil physicochemical properties as well as Cd accumulation in the soil–rice (Oryza sativa L.) system in response to straw return or removal. The results showed that rice straw return enhanced the soil pH and organic matter (OM) content, but reduced the soil redox potential (E h); and the variation in amplitude increased with number of cultivation years. After two years of cultivation, the concentrations of soil total Cd and extractable Cd in the straw-removal treatments reduced by 9.89–29.49% and 4.88–37.74%, respectively, whereas those in the straw-return treatments exhibited a slight decrease, or even an increase. This indicated that straw removal could effectively reduce the concentration and bioavailability of Cd in contaminated farmland, which was further confirmed by the results for accumulation of Cd in rice tissues. In addition, the contribution from atmospheric deposition was confirmed by the greater variation in Cd concentration in soils and rice tissues under deposition-free conditions. A major implication of our findings is that the adoption of reasonable straw-treatment measures and proper control over ambient air heavy metals can promote the remediation efficiency of Cd-contaminated fields. [Display omitted] • Rice straw removal can significantly reduce the concentrations of Cd in soil. • Cd accumulation in rice under straw removal was lower than that under straw return. • Deposition isolation resulted in higher remediation efficiency via straw removal. • Deposited Cd had greater impact on rice grains in the high deposition flux area. • Effects of straw treatments on extractable Cd were greater than total Cd in soil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we present the synthesis of porous carbon materials designated as B, N co-doped porous carbon materials (PRNB), co-doped with boron and nitrogen through a two-step carbonization process of self-made phenolic resin. Among them, urea, boric acid, and potassium oxalate were used as the heteroatom dopants and activator, respectively. The co-doping of boron and nitrogen induced a unique electronic structure, resulting in improved capacitance performance compared to single-doped materials. Moreover, the addition of potassium oxalate as an activator facilitated the etching of the carbon framework during pyrolysis. Owing to the co-doping effect of boron and nitrogen and the abundant micropores, the PRNB material exhibited a remarkably high specific capacitance of 330 F g−1 at 1 A g−1. It also displayed excellent rate performance (70 %) and stability, with only a 6 % loss after 10,000 cycles compared to other materials. The symmetric electrode based on PRNB achieved an energy density of up to 29.7 Wh kg−1 in a neutral electrolyte, which provides a novel approach for resin-derived carbon to improve electrochemical performance. [Display omitted] • Carbon materials with porous structures were synthesized by a simple two-step pyrolysis process. • The double-doped porous material possesses moderate surface area and the optimal graphitization degree. • The double-doped porous material exhibits better electrochemical properties than the single-doped porous material. • The devices thus assembled exhibit excellent energy density and power density. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Systematic comparison of Arrhenius and VFT models for viscosities of slags. • A combined model of VFT model and CALPHAD method. • A linear relationship between ln(A) and T 0 in the VFT model. • Updated viscosity description for CaO-Al 2 O 3 system. The first step of modeling the viscosity of slags is to choose a temperature-related viscosity model which plays a significant role in determining the framework of the entire model. In the present work, two temperature-related viscosity models, the Arrhenius and the VFT (Vogel-Fulcher-Tammann) models are compared for calculating the viscosity of slag systems taking the experimental data for the SiO 2 -Al 2 O 3 -CaO system as basis. The results show that the VFT model shows a better performance in describing experimental data for the temperature dependence of dynamic viscosity among all the investigated systems compared to the Arrhenius model. Such a good performance by the VFT model is explained by the actual network structure of liquid oxide systems described well by this model. Moreover, a linear relationship between the two semi-empirical parameters of the VFT model (ln A and T 0) is found for the first time, which can decrease the number of independent parameters when modeling the viscosity of slags by this model. In addition, the viscosities of the CaO-Al 2 O 3 and SiO 2 -CaO systems are modelled by the combined VFT-CALPHAD (CALculation of PHAse Diagrams) model over wide temperature and composition ranges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interfacial energy plays a significant role in the microstructure evolution of materials. A general model for predicting both coherent solid/solid and immiscible liquid/liquid interfacial energies is derived from a thermodynamic point of view. In this model, the interfacial energy can be calculated only using the data about molar area and Gibbs energies of two bulk phases and interface phase. The present model is applied to the coherent solid/solid interfacial energies in the Al–Ni, Ni–Ge, Ni–Ga, Ni–Si, Ni–Ti, Au–Ni and Ni–Cr–Al systems. The model-predicted interfacial energies show a reasonable agreement with the literature data. The presently developed model can calculate the interfacial energies between the disordered γ (fcc_A1) and ordered γ' (fcc_L12) phases, where the Gibbs energies of both γ and γ' phases are given by the same expression. The previous model in the literature cannot capture some disordered/ordered interfacial energies, like the Al–Ni system. The present model can also be used to calculate the immiscible liquid/liquid interfacial energies in the Al–Pb, Al–In and Al–Bi systems, showing a good agreement with the literature data. These applications validate the reliability of present model in the calculation of coherent solid/solid and immiscible liquid/liquid interfacial energies in the binary and multi-component systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Polysorbate 80, as pharmaceutical excipient and virus inactivating agent, is commonly used in the protein pharmaceutical industry. In this study, a method has been developed for the determination of low concentration of Polysorbate 80 in the presence of high concentration proteins (≤100 mg/ml) and excipients. This colorimetric method is based on the interaction of Polysorbate 80 and Coomassie brilliant blue, and suitable for quantitation of Polysorbate 80 in the range of 10–100 μg/ml. Dozens or hundreds of samples can be quantified simultaneously by using microplate. Besides Polysorbate 80, this method can also be used to determine other types of surfactants in protein solutions, such as Polysorbate 20, Triton X-100, NP40, SDS, Benzalkonium chloride/bromide and PEG4000. Highlights • This method is able to accurately and precisely quantify 10–100 μg/ml Polysorbate 80 in ≤100 mg/ml protein solutions. • Dozens or hundreds of samples can be quantified simultaneously by using microplate. • Besides Polysorbate 80, this method can also be used to determine other types of surfactants in protein solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate interdiffusion information is not only useful to determine alloy stability under long-term service conditions but also valuable in dealing with processing design. The work entailed an initial preparation of four beta phase Mo-Ti diffusion couples, which were used to determine the composition-dependent interdiffusivities at 1273, 1373, 1423 and 1473 K to validate the literature data and provide new experimental data over the whole composition range. Besides, utilizing 18 groups of bulk diffusion couples applied to EPMA technique, the composition dependence of ternary interdiffusion coefficients were obtained by using Whittle–Green method along with the uncertainty analysis for the obtained interdiffusion coefficients. The reliability of the experimental interdiffusivities is validated via thermodynamic constraints. Taking Ti as the solvent element, the present work indicates that in the temperature range between 1273 and 1473 K, the ternary interdiffusion coefficients increase by one order of magnitude per 100 K, and the diffusion of Zr is generally faster than that of Mo. The ternary main interdiffusion coefficients D ~ MoMo Ti with different compositions of Zr at 1273, 1373, and 1473 K were compared with the values obtained for the boundary binary Mo-Ti system in both present experimental work and the literature. A composition-dependent decreasing-increasing tendency is observed for D ~ MoMo Ti . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The atomic mobilities of Co, Mn, Pt and Re in face-centered cubic (fcc) Co–X (X = Mn, Pt and Re) alloys have been assessed as a function of temperature and composition by CALculation of PHAse Diagram (CALPHAD) approach. To validate the literature data and provide new experimental data, we prepared two fcc Co–Mn diffusion couples, which were used to determine the composition-dependent inter-diffusivities at 1073 and 1273 K. Based on various kinds of experimental diffusivities available in the literature and the experimental results in this work, the atomic mobilities in fcc Co–X (X = Mn, Pt and Re) alloys were obtained. Comprehensive comparisons between the calculated and measured diffusivities show that most of the experimental data can be well reproduced by the presently obtained atomic mobilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Wafer surface is usually contaminated by organic residues, such as benzotriazole(BTA), after chemical mechanical planarization (CMP). Due to the reason that these organic residuals need to be removed during the post-CMP cleaning process as well as keep the copper corrosion prevented, it is critically important for some large scale industrial applications to develop an effective and low-cost cleaning solution, which will remove the organic residuals and inhibiting corrosion of copper surface. In this work, the effect of surfactant based on alkaline chelating agent was investigated for BTA removal and copper corrosion during post-CMP cleaning. BTA removal was characterized using contact angle measurements and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis. The degree of corrosion of Cu surface was characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and electrochemical techniques. The Cu surface quality after cleaning was characterized by atomic force microscopy (AFM). The defect maps of the 300 mm Cu patterned wafer surface after cleaning were also collected. The experimental results demonstrate that surfactant in the cleaning solution can effectively inhibit the Cu surface corrosion with a lower surface roughness and simultaneously facilitate the removal of BTA residues. The related cleaning mechanism has been studied and proposed based on our experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on 18 bulk diffusion couples, the composition-dependent interdiffusion coefficients in the fcc Co-V-Mo alloys at 1273, 1373 and 1473 K were obtained from the intersection points of the diffusion couples by means of EPMA technique coupled with the Whittle and Green method. With the experimentally determined interdiffusion coefficients and the critically reviewed experimental diffusivities available in the literature, the atomic mobilities of fcc Co-V-Mo alloys were assessed by means of Diffusion Controlled Transformation (DICTRA) software. The quality of the assessed atomic mobilities was confirmed by the comprehensive comparisons between various DICTRA-calculated diffusion behaviors and the experimental ones, including concentration profiles and diffusion paths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tiger bone, which had long been used in traditional Chinese medicine, had the action of removing wind and alleviating pain, strengthening the sinews and bones, and often used to treat bone impediment, and atrophic debility of bones in TCM clinical practice. As a substitute of natural bone tiger, artificial tiger bone Jintiange (JTG), has been approved by the State Food and Drug Administration of China for relief the symptom of osteoporosis, such as lumbago and back pain, lassitude in loin and legs, flaccidity and weakness legs, and walk with difficulty based on TCM theory. JTG has similar chemical profile to natural tiger bone, and contains mineral substance, peptides and proteins, and has been shown to protect bone loss in ovariectomized mice and exert the regulatory effects on osteoblast and osteoclast activities. But how the peptides and proteins in JTG modulate bone formation remains unclear. To investigate the stimulating effects of JTG proteins on osteogenesis and explore the possible underlying mechanisms. JTG proteins were prepared from JTG Capsules by extracting calcium, phosphorus and other inorganic elements using SEP-PaktC18 desalting column. MC3T3-E1 cells were treated with JTG proteins to evaluate their effects and explore the underlying mechanisms. Osteoblast proliferation was detected by CCK-8 method. ALP activity was detected using a relevant assay kit, and bone mineralized nodules were stained with alizarin red-Tris-HCl solution. Cell apoptosis was analyzed by flow cytometry. Autophagy was observed by MDC staining, and autophagosomes were observed by TEM. Nuclear translocations of LC3 and CHOP were detected by immunofluorescence and observed under a laser confocal microscope. The expression of key proteins related to osteogenesis, apoptosis, autophagy and PI3K/AKT and ER stress pathways was analyzed by Western Blot analysis. JTG proteins improved osteogenesis as evidenced by the alteration of proliferation, differentiation and mineralization of MC3T3-E1 osteoblasts, inhibited their apoptosis, and enhanced autophagosome formation and autophagy. They also regulated the expression of key proteins of PI3K/AKT and ER stress pathways. In addition, PI3K/AKT and ER stress pathway inhibitors could reverse the regulatory effects of JTG proteins on osteogenesis, apoptosis, autophagy and PI3K/AKT and ER stress pathways. JTG proteins increased the osteogenesis and inhibited osteoblast apoptosis by enhancing autophagy via PI3K/AKT and ER stress signaling pathways. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pathogenic Th17 cells are critical drivers of multiple autoimmune diseases, including uveitis and its animal model, experimental autoimmune uveitis (EAU). However, how innate immune signals modulate pathogenic Th17 responses remains largely unknown. Here, we showed that miR‐338‐3p endowed dendritic cells (DCs) with an increased ability to activate interphotoreceptor retinoid‐binding protein (IRBP)1–20‐specific Th17 cells by promoting the production of IL‐6, IL‐1β, and IL‐23. In vivo administration of LV‐miR‐338‐infected DCs promoted pathogenic Th17 responses and exacerbated EAU development. Mechanistically, dual‐specificity phosphatase 16 (Dusp16) was a molecular target of miR‐338‐3p. miR‐338‐3p repressed Dusp16 and therefore strengthened the mitogen‐activated protein kinase (MAPK) p38 signaling, resulting in increased production of Th17‐polarizing cytokines and subsequent pathogenic Th17 responses. In addition, methyltransferase like 3 (Mettl3), a key m6A methyltransferase, mediated the upregulation of miR‐338‐3p in activated DCs. Together, our findings identify a vital role for Mettl3/miR‐338‐3p/Dusp16/p38 signaling in DCs‐driven pathogenic Th17 responses and suggest a potential therapeutic avenue for uveitis and other Th17 cell‐related autoimmune disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The attack graph (AG) is an abstraction technique that reveals the ways an attacker can use to leverage vulnerabilities in a given network to violate security policies. The analyses developed to extract security-relevant properties are referred to as AG-based security evaluations. In recent years, many evaluation approaches have been explored. However, they are generally limited to the attacker’s “monotonicity” assumption, which needs further improvements to overcome the limitation. To address this issue, the stochastic mathematical model called absorbing Markov chain (AMC) is applied over the AG to give some new insights, namely, the expected success probability of attack intention (EAIP) and the expected attack path length (EAPL). Our evaluations provide the preferred mitigating target hosts and the vulnerabilities patching prioritization of middle hosts. Tests on the public datasets DARPA2000 and Defcon’s CTF23 both verify that our evaluations are available and reliable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) library for G. mustelinum Miers ex G. Watt (AD4) was constructed. Intact nuclei from G. mustelinum (AD4) were used to isolate high molecular weight DNA, which was partially cleaved with Hind III and cloned into pSMART BAC (Hind III) vectors. The BAC library consisted of 208,182 clones arrayed in 542 384-microtiter plates, with an average insert size of 121.72 kb ranging from 100 to 150 kb. About 2% of the clones did not contain inserts. Based on an estimated genome size of 2372 Mb for G. mustelinum, the BAC library was estimated to have a total coverage of 10.50 × genome equivalents. The high capacity library of G. mustelinum will serve as a giant gene resource for map-based cloning of quantitative trait loci or genes associated with important agronomic traits or resistance to Verticillium wilt, physical mapping and comparative genome analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soaking of legumes results in the loss of macronutrients, micronutrients and phytochemicals. Fibre, protein and phytochemicals found in legumes exert emulsifying activity that may improve the structure and texture of gluten-free bread. The legume soaking water of haricot beans, garbanzo chickpeas, whole green lentils, split yellow peas and yellow soybeans were tested in this study for functional properties and use as food ingredients. Composition, physicochemical properties and effect on the quality of gluten-free bread were determined for each legume soaking water. Haricot beans and split yellow peas released the highest amount of solids in the legume soaking water: 1.89 and 2.38 g/100 g, respectively. Insoluble fibre was the main constituent of haricot beans legume soaking water, while water-soluble carbohydrates and protein were the major fraction of split yellow peas. High quantities of phenolics (∼400 µg/g) and saponins (∼3 mg/g) were found in the legume soaking water of haricot beans, whole green lentils and split yellow peas. High emulsifying activity (46 and 50%) was found for the legume soaking water of garbanzo chickpeas and split yellow peas, probably due to their protein content and high ratio of water-soluble carbohydrates to dry matter. Such activity resulted in softer texture of the gluten-free bread. A homogeneous structure of crumb pores was found for split yellow peas, opposing that of whole green lentils. A balance between the contents of yeast nutrients and antinutrients was the likely basis of the different appearances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]