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Based on the nonlocal piezoelectric semiconductor theory, the transient multi-fields coupling response of a nanosized piezoelectric semiconductor composite fiber is studied. The one-dimensional phenomenological theory of piezoelectric semiconductors is used to derive the coupling constitutive relation. Combining nonlocal piezoelectric semiconductor theory and coupling constitutive relation, the size-dependent governing equations for bending, the charge equation of electrostatics and the conservation of charge for electrons are obtained, and the multi-fields coupling response of the nanofiber under shear force is solved. The bending vibration, the electric potential, and the concentration of electrons along the nanofiber with different nonlocal effects are analyzed. It is found that the change of electric potential and concentration from positive and negative in the nanofiber can be used to control the performance of electronic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective We tried to explore the optimal dose of esketamine combined sevoflurane for the daytime pediatric circumcision. Methods According to the random number table, children who underwent daytime circumcision were randomly divided into Group A (0.5 mL/kg esketamine), Group B (0.75 mL/kgesketamine), and Group C (1mL/kg esketamine) with 30 cases in each group. Each group were induced with sevoflurane inhalation anesthesia by mask and given a single intravenous dose of the corresponding esketamine after the eyelash reflex disappeared. The occurrence of intraoperative movement and esketamine bolus times was recorded. Heart rate (HR), mean arterial pressure (MAP), pulse oxygen saturation (SpO2) and respiratory rate (RR) were monitored at the time of entry (T0), the beginning of surgery (T1), intraoperative ligation (T2) and the end of surgery (T3). The times of opening eyes and talking after surgery were also recorded. Modified Alertness/Sedation Score (MOAA/S score) at 15 min, 30 min and 60 min after surgery, the Eastern Ontario Children's Hospital Pain Score (CHEOPS score), Bieri Modified Facial expression score and verbal rating scale (VRS) score at the time of awakening, 2 h and 6 h after surgery were all recorded. Moreover, intraoperative and postoperative adverse reactions (respiratory depression, laryngeal spasm, agitation, nausea and vomiting, dizziness and diplopia ect.) were all marked. Results The incidence of intraoperative body movement andesketamine bolus times in Group B and C were all less than that in Group A (P < 0.05). The time of opening eyes and talking in Group A and Group B were shorter than those in Group C (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference in intraoperative vital signs, postoperative alertness score and pain score among the 3 groups (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference in the incidence of adverse reactions among the 3 groups (P < 0.05). Conclusion A does of 0.75 mg/kg esketamine combined with sevoflurane could effectively meet the anesthetic and analgesic needs of children's prepuce operation and shorten postoperative recovery time. It is the optimal dose and deserving promotion in daytime pediatric circumcision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After exposure to cold stress, animals enhance the production of beige adipocytes and expedite thermogenesis, leading to improved metabolic health. Although brown adipose tissue in rodents is primarily induced by β3-adrenergic receptor (ADRB3) stimulation, the activation of major β-adrenergic receptors (ADRBs) in pigs has been a topic of debate. To address this, we developed overexpression vectors for ADRB1, ADRB2, and ADRB3 and silenced the expression of these receptors to observe their effects on the adipogenic differentiation stages of porcine preadipocytes. Our investigation revealed that cold stress triggers the transformation of subcutaneous white adipose tissue to beige adipose tissue in pigs by modulating adrenergic receptor levels. Meanwhile, we found that ADRB3 promotes the transformation of white adipocytes into beige adipocytes. Notably, ADRB3 enhances the expression of beige adipose tissue marker genes, consequently influencing cellular respiration and metabolism by regulating lipolysis and mitochondrial expression. Therefore, ADRB3 may serve as a pivotal gene in animal husbandry and contribute to the improvement of cold intolerance in piglets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Death attitudes can have significant impacts on individuals' mental health. The present study used a person-centered approach to identify 588 Chinese college students' profiles of death attitudes (i.e., fear of death, death avoidance, neutral acceptance, escape acceptance, and approach acceptance), as well as their associations with socio-demographic factors and mental health outcomes. Latent profile analysis identified five subgroups of students: healthy (28.8%), acceptant (11.7%), indifferent (43.5%), paradoxical (10.7%), and avoidant (5.3%). The healthy profile had the most favorable mental health outcomes, whereas the paradoxical profile had the least favorable mental health outcomes. Moreover, women and students from better-resourced universities were more likely to report adaptive patterns of death attitudes. Our findings demonstrated the advantages of using a person-centered approach to achieve a more nuanced understanding of Chinese college students' death attitudes in relation to their mental health. The findings can inform death-related education and mental health interventions for college students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Angiosperms (flowering plants) are by far the most diverse land plant group with over 300,000 species. The sudden appearance of diverse angiosperms in the fossil record was referred to by Darwin as the "abominable mystery," hence contributing to the heightened interest in angiosperm evolution. Angiosperms display wide ranges of morphological, physiological, and ecological characters, some of which have probably influenced their species richness. The evolutionary analyses of these characteristics help to address questions of angiosperm diversification and require well resolved phylogeny. Following the great successes of phylogenetic analyses using plastid sequences, dozens to thousands of nuclear genes from next‐generation sequencing have been used in angiosperm phylogenomic analyses, providing well resolved phylogenies and new insights into the evolution of angiosperms. In this review we focus on recent nuclear phylogenomic analyses of large angiosperm clades, orders, families, and subdivisions of some families and provide a summarized Nuclear Phylogenetic Tree of Angiosperm Families. The newly established nuclear phylogenetic relationships are highlighted and compared with previous phylogenetic results. The sequenced genomes of Amborella, Nymphaea, Chloranthus, Ceratophyllum, and species of monocots, Magnoliids, and basal eudicots, have facilitated the phylogenomics of relationships among five major angiosperms clades. All but one of the 64 angiosperm orders were included in nuclear phylogenomics with well resolved relationships except the placements of several orders. Most families have been included with robust and highly supported placements, especially for relationships within several large and important orders and families. Additionally, we examine the divergence time estimation and biogeographic analyses of angiosperm on the basis of the nuclear phylogenomic frameworks and discuss the differences compared with previous analyses. Furthermore, we discuss the implications of nuclear phylogenomic analyses on ancestral reconstruction of morphological, physiological, and ecological characters of angiosperm groups, limitations of current nuclear phylogenomic studies, and the taxa that require future attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A variable universe fuzzy proportional‐integral‐differential (PID) algorithm was designed and first application for a laser power stabilization system. To validate the algorithm's effectiveness, it is applied to the simulation model of Simulink and the experimental system based on an acousto‐optic modulator. The results demonstrate that the variable universe fuzzy PID presents higher control precision, better robustness, and can suppress long‐term drift phenomena compared with the traditional feedback control algorithm. The algorithm design method in this paper has significant reference and guidance value for laser power stabilization system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the use of acupuncture and doxylamine-pyridoxine for the treatment of nausea and vomiting in pregnancy (NVP). The authors address comments from other experts, acknowledging that their sham acupuncture control intervention may actually have some physiological effects and that the true effect of active acupuncture may be underestimated. They also highlight the challenges of developing a standardized system for adjuvant acupoint regimens according to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) due to the diversity in clinical presentation and the subjectivity of practitioners. The authors suggest that further research is needed to evaluate the most feasible acupuncture regimens for clinical practice. [Extracted from the article]

Metal oxide semiconductors (MOSs) hold great promise for electronic devices such as gas sensors. The utilization of ZnO as a conductometric gas sensor material can be traced back to its early stages; however, its application has primarily been limited to high-temperature environments. A gas sensor based on highly porous and interconnected 3D networks of ZnO tetrapod (ZnO-T) micro-nano structures was fabricated via an easy chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method. Homemade instruments were utilized to evaluate the gas-sensing of the sample at room temperature. It exhibited good gas-sensing at room temperature, particularly with a response of up to 338.80% toward 1600 ppm ethanol, while also demonstrating remarkable repeatability, stability, and selectivity. Moreover, the unique gas-sensing properties of ZnO-T at room temperature can be reasonably explained by considering the effect of van der Waals forces in physical adsorption and the synergistic effect of carrier concentration and mobility. The aforementioned statement presents an opportunity for the advancement of gas sensors utilizing ZnO at room temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A detailed experimental and numerical investigation of the combustion characteristics of carbon-free NH 3 /H 2 blends in N 2 O was performed in the present work. The experiments with various hydrogen fractions (α = 0–1.0) and equivalence ratios (φ = 0.6–1.4) were performed at ambient pressure (1 atm) and temperature (283 K) in a standard 3.375-L cubic combustion vessel. The explosion behaviors (maximum explosion pressure P max and maximum pressure rise rate (d p / d t) max) were obtained from the pressure-time curves. Further, the combustion characteristics (e.g. laminar burning velocity (S L), thermal expansion ratio (σ), flame thickness (δ), effective Lewis number (L e e f f ) and Markstein length (L b)) were calculated numerically by means of chemical kinetic analysis using Zhang's mechanism (Zhang et al. , Combust. Flame, 2017, 182: 122–141). Besides, sensitivity analyses of the explosion pressure and laminar burning velocity were performed to identify the contribution of dominant elementary reactions. The results show that, for combustion supported by N 2 O, the flame instability and the potential of deflagration to detonation transition (DDT) should be considered for the evaluation of P max and (d p / d t) max. Moreover, the hydrodynamic instability of premixed H 2 /NH 3 /N 2 O flame reaches its peak near the stoichiometric ratio and increases monotonously with the hydrogen fraction. The diffusion-thermal instability is more significant in the leaner mixture, and it is not invariably enhanced with the increase of hydrogen fraction but is relevant to the composition of the mixture. In addition, the sensitivity analysis of explosion pressure demonstrates that R80 (N 2 O + H 2 N 2 +H 2 O) and R70 (N 2 O+(M) = N 2 +O (+M)) are the most dominant reactions contributing to the pressure rise. The sensitivity analysis of laminar burning velocity shows that R70 (N 2 O+(M) = N 2 +O (+M)), R71 (N 2 O + H N 2 +OH) and R80 (N 2 O + H 2 N 2 +H 2 O) are the most dominant reactions enhancing laminar burning velocity. • The combustion characteristics of NH 3 /H 2 blends in N 2 O were firstly investigated. • The flame instability and DDT were considered for the combustion supported by N 2 O. • The parameters of hydrodynamic and diffusion-thermal instability were analyzed. • The sensitivity analysis based on different mechanisms was performed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cyclability of aqueous zinc‐ion batteries is greatly influenced by Zn dendrites and parasitic reactions. Although separator modifications have proven to be effective in addressing these issues, most of the developed separators are too thick to meet practical requirements. Herein, an amino (−NH2)‐functionalized Zr‐based metal–organic framework (MOF), i.e., UiO‐66‐NH2, is incorporated into lignocellulose separator. The amino functional groups not only possess good zincophilicity but also strongly interact with H2O molecules through hydrogen bonding. Therefore, the abundant intersecting subnano‐sized channels within UiO‐66‐NH2 act as desolvation sieves and facilitate the migration and uniform distribution of Zn2+ ions. Even at a rather low thickness of 20 µm, the modified separator can significantly improve the reversibility of Zn electrochemistry and suppress water‐induced hydrogen evolution. With the use of this separator, the Zn electrodes demonstrate a working life exceeding 2000 h at a current density of 2 mA cm−2 with remarkable dendrite‐free characteristic and remain operationally viable under ultrahigh areal capacity of 25 mAh cm−2. Additionally, the resultant Zn//MnO2 battery provides superior rate capability and excellent cyclability. This study provides novel insights into the utilization of amino functional groups to inhibit unfavorable phenomena in aqueous batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multiplicity fluctuations play a crucial role in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. In this work, we explore how the multiplicity fluctuations can be effectively suppressed in the measurement of particle correlations. In particular, through proper normalization, particle correlations can be evaluated in a manner irrelevant to multiplicity. When the multiplicity fluctuations are adequately extracted, Monte Carlo simulations show that the remaining correlations possess distinct features buried in the otherwise overwhelming fluctuations. Moreover, we argue that such a normalization scheme naturally agrees with the multi-particle correlator, which can be evaluated using the Q-vectors. The implications of the present study in the data analysis are also addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With bacterial cellulose (BC) as the skeleton, bimetallic CoZn-MOF (bi-MOF) was integrated into BC networks through an in situ growth approach. After carbonization at 600 °C, a highly porous, lightweight, conductive, compressible, and hydrophobic aerogel was obtained. Characterization results revealed that the MOF-derived magnetic Co/ZnO species are inlaid in the carbon matrix and dispersed uniformly. As-prepared composite aerogels were investigated for electromagnetic wave absorption. The optimized CZn-2 sample presented a total shielding effectiveness (SE T) of 46.5 dB (X band, 8.2–12.4 GHz) at a thickness of 3 mm. The absorption shielding effectiveness (SE A) and the absorption proportion were determined to be 45.9 dB and 98.7%, respectively. The superior performance was attributed to the synergy of the conduction loss and magnetic loss, as well as the unique porous structure of aerogel. The hybrid aerogel also had an efficient electrothermal response, enabling its normal function in cold conditions. Moreover, the hybrid aerogel can be processed into a sensitive sensor for strain monitoring and displayed a high sensitivity for various human movements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The role of chemoradiotherapy in unresectable locally advanced pancreatic cancer is still unclear. Methods: Data from patients with unresectable locally advanced pancreatic cancer were extracted from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program database. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were conducted to identify the independent prognostic factors of survival. Propensity score matching was carried out to minimize the interference of confounding factors. Subgroup analysis was performed to screen the characteristics of patients who would benefit from chemoradiotherapy. Results: A total of 5002 patients with unresectable locally advanced pancreatic cancer were included. Among them, 2423 (48.4%) received chemotherapy, and 2579 (51.6%) received chemoradiotherapy. The median overall survival of all patients was 11 months. Multivariate Cox analysis showed that age (p < 0.001), marital status (p < 0.001), tumor size (p = 0.001), N stage (p = 0.015) and radiotherapy (p < 0.001) were independent prognostic factors of survival. Both before (HR, 0.817; 95% CI, 0.769–0.868; p < 0.001) and after (HR, 0.904; 95% CI, 0.876–0.933; p < 0.001) propensity score matching, chemoradiotherapy significantly improved the median overall survival of patients from 10 to 12 months. Subgroup analysis showed that chemoradiotherapy was significantly associated with improved survival regardless of sex, primary site or N stage. In addition, the following subgroups all significantly benefited from chemoradiotherapy: age ≥ 50 years, not divorced, grade 2–4, tumor size > 2 cm, adenocarcinoma, mucinous adenocarcinoma and white race. Conclusions: Chemoradiotherapy is highly recommended for patients with unresectable locally advanced pancreatic cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study reports the Mach reflection of gaseous detonation on porous wedges experimentally, in which the porous wall is consisted of equidistant inline square columns. The smoked foil technique was utilized to monitor the evolution of the triple-point trajectory and detonation cells in the Mach stem region. In addition to the wedge angle and initial pressure of gaseous mixture, this paper also focuses on the effect of porosity and pore size on the Mach reflection and its mechanism. The results show that the strength of the Mach stem is significantly weakened by the porous media compared with that on the smooth wedge, which is ascribed to the diffraction and reflection waves generated by the interaction of the Mach stem front with the pore. Furthermore, the onset of the triple-point trajectory is delayed, the angle of which is decreased. The porosity and pore size present distinct influence on the Mach stem height. With the increase in the porosity and the decrease in the pore size, the Mach stem region is attenuated more dramatically and the Mach stem is harder to be formed or even could not be observed. Furthermore, the triple-point trajectory on the porous wall exhibits local self-similarity and satisfies the frozen limit in the near field and the equilibrium limit in the far field. However, the lengths of the existence of the frozen limit and the transition to the equilibrium limit on the porous wall are found to be much shorter than the hydrodynamic thickness, and the recovery of the self-similarity depends largely on the porosity and pore size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Skutterudites CoSb3 material has been the focus of research for the conversion applications of waste heat to electricity due to its ability to accommodate a large variety of ions in the cages that have been proven effective in improving the thermoelectric performance. Although the co-doped CoSb3 bulk materials have attracted increasing attention and have been widely studied, co-doped CoSb3 thin films have been rarely reported. In this work, Ag and Ti were co-doped into CoSb3 thin films via a facile in situ growth method, and the influence of doping content in the thermoelectric properties was investigated. The results show that all the Ag and Ti co-doped CoSb3 thin films contain a pure well-crystallized CoSb3 phase. Compared to the un-doped thin film, the co-doped samples show simultaneous increase in the Seebeck coefficient and the electrical conductivity, leading to a distinctly enhanced power factor. The high power factor value can reach ~0.31 mWm−1K−2 at 623 K after appropriate co-doping, which is two times the value of the un-doped thin film we have been obtained. All the results show that the co-doping is efficient in optimizing the performance of the CoSb3 thin films; the key point is to control the doping element content so as to obtain high thermoelectric properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Link prediction aims at predicting missing or potential links based on the known information of complex networks. Most existing methods focus on pairwise low-order relationships while ignoring the high-order interaction and the rich attribute information of entities in the actual network, leading to the low performance of the model in link prediction. To mine the cross-modality interactions between the high-order structure and attributes of the network, this paper proposes a hypernetwork link prediction method for fusion topology and attributes (TA-HLP). Firstly, a dual channel coder is employed for jointly learning the structural features and attribute features of nodes. In structural encoding, a node-level attention mechanism is designed to aggregate neighbor information to learn structural patterns effectively. In attribute encoding, the hypergraph is used to refine the attribute features. The high-order relationship between nodes and attributes is modeled based on the node-attribute-node feature update, which preserves the semantic information jointly reflected by nodes and attributes. Moreover, in the joint embedding, a hyperedge-level attention mechanism is introduced to capture nodes with different importance in the hyperedge. Extensive experiments on six data sets demonstrate that this method has achieved a more significant link prediction effect than the existing methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A calculation method of the ultimate side resistance of screw pile is established by regarding the soil slip surface under screw thread as a logarithmic slip surface, and its accuracy is proved by a model test and a situ test. The shape of soil slip surface around a screw pile has three possible types, including a cylinder with a diameter equal to the pile's outer diameter, intersected and separated of logarithmic spiral. The shape of the screw pile is determined by the first critical pitch and the second critical pitch. The screw thread geometry including screw pitch, the effective screw thread width and the dip angle of thread surface have a significant effect on the side resistance enhancement factor of screw pile. No matter how the form of screw thread is changed, the side resistance enhancement factor is always larger when the pitch is taken as the second critical pitch. To improve the ultimate lateral resistance of a screw pile, a smaller dip angle of thread surface and a larger effective screw thread width should be selected to obtain a larger second critical pitch, and screw pitch should be selected as close as possible to the second critical pitch. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global energy demand has put forward new requirements for building cooling and heating. As a renewable energy, shallow geothermal resources have attracted much attention. Ground source heat pumps are an effective utilization form of geothermal resources, most of which use U-shaped borehole heat exchangers to exchange heat with rock and soil mass. Therefore, the thermal physical parameters of rock-soil and the stratum structure will affect the heat transfer performance of the borehole heat exchanger. In this paper, a sandbox test bench and a 3D single U numerical model are constructed for the main geological conditions in karst areas to explore the heat transfer law of borehole heat exchanger under special geological structure. The results indicate that: (1) The thermal conductivity of limestone is higher than that of dolomite and sandstone, and the limestone stratum has strong heat transfer capacity and the fastest heat recovery rate. In order to avoid the thermal accumulation caused by the long-term operation of the system, the recovery time of stratum temperature field shall be kept at 1:1 ratio to the operation time of the system; (2) The average heat exchange of the three layers is 22.6 W/m, which is better than that of the double layers 21.4 W/m and the single layer 18.4 W/m. The heat transfer capacity of layered strata is better than that of single-layer strata, and they have layered characteristics; (3) The heat transfer capacity of borehole heat exchanger increases with the increase in thermal conductivity along the vertical direction of the formation. Each increase of 0.4 W/(m·K) in the thermal conductivity of the lower rock-soil increases the heat exchange per unit well depth by about 6 W/m; (4) The calculation equation of heat transfer under multi-layer stratum structure is proposed by using the calculation method of comprehensive thermal conductivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explore the quasiparticle model at the finite chemical potential related to Ru-Keng Su's distinguished contributions to the topic. In addition, we discuss the recent developments in the model, and in particular, one argues that the effective mass of the quasiparticle might attain a specific form as a function of momentum, in addition to its dependence on the temperature and chemical potential. Unlike the approaches based on the properties of underlying symmetry or the renormalization group, the momentum dependence emerges as a special solution to an integro-differential equation resulting from the underlying thermodynamic consistency. Moreover, this special solution to the problem is shown to be more general than previously explored in the literature. Instead of fitting to the lattice QCD data at the vanishing chemical potential, in this work, we adopt a "bottom-up" approach by assuming some analytic ansatzes that are manifestly thermodynamically consistent. The remaining physical quantities are subsequently derived, and possible implications are also addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through the interaction of Higgs with heavy quarks in standard model, we have systematically studied and predicted the production of excited doubly heavy baryons based on non-relativistic QCD theory. The decay widths, differential distributions, and major theoretical uncertainties of the excited doubly heavy baryons via the process H → ⟨ Q Q ′ ⟩ [ n ] → Ξ Q Q ′ + Q ′ ¯ + Q ¯ are discussed in detail. The spin and color quantum number of the intermediate P-wave diquark state ⟨ Q Q ′ ⟩ [ n ] can be ⟨ c c ⟩ [ 1 P 1 ] 3 ¯ , ⟨ c c ⟩ [ 3 P J ] 6 , ⟨ b c ⟩ [ 1 P 1 ] 3 ¯ / 6 , ⟨ b c ⟩ [ 3 P J ] 3 ¯ / 6 , ⟨ b b ⟩ [ 1 P 1 ] 3 ¯ and ⟨ b b ⟩ [ 3 P J ] 6 , with J = 0 , 1 , 2 . The contributions from all summed P-wave states can be about 3.05 % , 3.23 % and 2.19 % of the S-wave states for the production of Ξ cc , Ξ bc and Ξ bb , accordingly. Therefore, there will be about 0.41 × 10 4 events of Ξ cc , 6.35 × 10 4 events of Ξ bc and 0.28 × 10 4 events of Ξ bb produced per year at the HL-LHC, and a smaller number of events would be produced at the CEPC or ILC but with a cleaner background to be measured by the experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The measurement of a time-varying magnetic field is different from a constant magnetic field, due to its field intensity variation with time. Usually, the time-varying magnetic field measurement converts the solution of the magnetic induction intensity into the calculation of the induced electromotive force (EMF); then, the magnetic induction intensity is obtained by the time integration of the EMF, but the process is vulnerable to external interference. In this paper, a non-steady state nuclear magnetic resonance (NSS-NMR) scheme for the measurement of a time-varying magnetic field is proposed. In a time-varying magnetic field environment, an RF excitation signal with a certain frequency bandwidth is applied to excite the nuclear spin system. The NSS-NMR signal, which varies with time in the frequency range corresponding to the frequency bandwidth of the RF excitation, could finally be obtained after a series of processing of the probe output signal. During the NSS-NMR experiment, an orthogonal dual-coil probe is adopted to synchronously generate the RF excitation and induce the probe output signal. Moreover, a directional coupler that utilized in the experiment outputs a reference signal from the coupling port for the subsequent signal processing. The experimental results show that the weak NSS-NMR signal is indeed observed. The longitudinal time-varying magnetic field ranges from 0.576 T to 0.582 T, which is inverted by the Larmor precession relationship, have been successfully detected based on the so-called NSS-NMR effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, the atomic level doping of Sn into Ga2O3 films was successfully deposited by using a plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition method. Here, we systematically studied the changes in the chemical state, microstructure evolution, optical properties, energy band alignment, and electrical properties for various configurations of the Sn-doped Ga2O3 films. The results indicated that all the films have high transparency with an average transmittance of above 90% over ultraviolet and visible light wavelengths. X-ray reflectivity and spectroscopic ellipsometry measurement indicated that the Sn doping level affects the density, refractive index, and extinction coefficient. In particular, the chemical microstructure and energy band structure for the Sn-doped Ga2O3 films were analyzed and discussed in detail. With an increase in the Sn content, the ratio of Sn–O bonding increases, but by contrast, the proportion of the oxygen vacancies decreases. The reduction in the oxygen vacancy content leads to an increase in the valence band maximum, but the energy bandgap decreases from 4.73 to 4.31 eV. Moreover, with the increase in Sn content, the breakdown mode transformed the hard breakdown into the soft breakdown. The C-V characteristics proved that the Sn-doped Ga2O3 films have large permittivity. These studies offer a foundation and a systematical analysis for assisting the design and application of Ga2O3 film-based transparent devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After fertilization, the zygote genome undergoes dramatic structural reorganization to ensure the establishment of totipotency, and then the totipotent potential of the zygote or 2-cell-stage embryo progressively declines. However, cellular potency is not always a one-way street. Specifically, a small number of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) occasionally overcome epigenetic barriers and transiently convert to a totipotent status. Despite the significant potential of the somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) technique, the establishment of totipotency is often deficient in cloned embryos. Because of this phenomenon, the question arises as to whether strategies attempting to induce 2-cell-like cells (2CLCs) can provide practical applications, such as reprogramming of somatic cell nuclei. Inspired by strategies that convert ESCs into 2CLCs, we hypothesized that there will be a similar pathway by which cloned embryos can establish totipotent status after SCNT. In this review, we provide a snapshot of the practical strategies utilized to induce 2CLCs during investigations of the development of cloned embryos. The 2CLCs have similar transcriptome and chromatin features to that of 2-cell-stage embryos, and we propose that 2CLCs, already a valuable in vitro model for dissecting totipotency, will provide new opportunities to improve SCNT efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Glutaredoxin (Grx) is a class molecule oxidoreductase, which plays a key role in maintaining redox homeostasis and regulating cell survival pathways. However, the expression pattern and function of Grx remain unknown in the mud crab (Scylla paramamosain). In the present study, a novel full-length of Grx 5 from the mud crab (designated as Sp-Grx 5) was cloned and characterized. The open reading frame of Sp-Grx 5 was 441 bp, which encoded a putative protein of 146 amino acids. The amino acid sequence of Sp-Grx 5 contained a typical C-G-F-S redox active motif and several GSH binding sites. Sp-Grx 5 widely existed in all tested tissues with a high-level expression in hepatopancreas. Subcellular localization showed that Sp-Grx 5 was located in the cytoplasm and nucleus. The expression of Sp-Grx 5 was significantly up-regulated after Vibrio parahaemolyticus infection and cadmium exposure, suggesting that Sp-Grx 5 was involved in innate immunity and detoxification. Furthermore, overexpression of Sp-Grx 5 could improve cells viability after H 2 O 2 exposure. All these results indicated that Sp-Grx 5 played important roles in the redox homeostasis and innate immune response in crustaceans. • Grx 5 gene from the mud crab was identified and characterized. • Sp-Grx 5 was located in the cytoplasm and nucleus. • Bacterial challenge induced Sp-Grx 5 expression. • Over-expression of Sp-Grx 5 regulated antioxidant response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Direct upgrading of the biomass-derived sorbitol platform to high-value isosorbide esters is important for efficient utilization of the biomass polyhydroxyl structure, but it is challenging owing to the tandem nature of the reaction and severe side reactions such as isomerization and humin formation. Here we report a simple and efficient approach for the selective direct conversion of sorbitol in fatty acids to isosorbide esters over H-beta zeolite by utilizing methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK). The key to the success of this tandem reaction is the introduction of MIBK to control the reaction pathway and minimize the side reactions. The reactive terminal vicinal-diol group on sorbitol and the 1,4-sorbitan intermediate is first stabilized by MIBK via preferential ketalization, forming the 1,3-dioxolane structure. This terminal five-membered ketal ring can both promote the dehydration of sorbitol to isosorbide resulting in controlling the cascade sequence of sorbitol dehydration–esterification and prevent the side reactions of sorbitol and 1,4-sorbitan. In addition, MIBK stabilizes the esterification derivatization of the isosorbide intermediate, completely inhibiting the byproduct formation. Consequently, humin formation is markedly restrained and the humins form predominantly from sorbitol, while isomerization is fully suppressed. With this method, the direct dehydration–esterification of sorbitol in various C2–C8 fatty acids can be achieved over recyclable H-beta (Si/Al = 20), giving selectively the corresponding isosorbide esters within a very short reaction time in excellent 79–84% yields including 59–65% diesters. This study opens a straightforward way through MIBK mediation for selective removal and functionalization of hydroxyl groups in biobased polyhydroxylated molecules into valuable oxygenates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Right ventricular (RV) failure determines the prognosis in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), but the underlying mechanism is still unclear. Growing evidence has shown that microRNAs participate in RV remodeling. This study is undertaken to explore the role of miR-335-5p in regulating RV remodeling induced by PAH. Two PAH models were used in the study, including the monocrotaline rat model and hypoxia/su5416 mouse model. miRNA sequencing and RT-qPCR validation identified that miR-335-5p was elevated in the RV of PAH rats. In vitro, miR-335-5p expression was increased after angiotensin II treatment, and miR-335-5p inhibition relieved angiotensin II-induced cardiomyocyte hypertrophy. The luciferase reporter assay showed that calumenin was a target gene for miR-335-5p. Pretreatment with miR-335-5p inhibitors could rescue calumenin downregulation induced by angiotensin II in H9C2 cells. Moreover, intracellular Ca2+ concentration and apoptosis were increased after angiotensin II treatment, and miR-335-5p inhibition decreased intracellular Ca2+ accumulation and apoptosis. Finally, in vivo miR-335-5p downregulation (antagomir miR-335-5p) attenuated RV remodeling and rescued calumenin downregulation under conditions of hypoxia/su5416 exposure. Our work highlights the role of miR-335-5p and calumenin in RV remodeling and may lead to the development of novel therapeutic strategies for right heart failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The present study aimed to investigate the prevalence rate of objective and subjective psychosis‐like experiences (PLEs) in non‐help‐seeking college students and to explore their differential contributions to suicidal ideation. Methods: First‐year college students were recruited and surveyed with the Chinese version of the 16‐item Prodromal Questionnaire (CPQ‐16), Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ‐SF), Patient Health Questionnaire‐9 (PHQ‐9), General Anxiety Disorder‐7 (GAD‐7) and Beck Scale for Suicide Ideation (BSI). The Structured Interview of Psychosis‐Risk Syndromes (SIPS) was conducted in individuals with a CPQ‐16 score of 9 or higher. Results: Data were available for 8367 students. Three hundred and seventy of them scored 9 or higher on the CPQ‐16, suggesting potential PLEs (4.42%). Among them, 194 agreed to the SIPS screening. The PLEs were confirmed in 103 individuals who scored 1–5 on any positive symptom scales of the SIPS (objective PLEs, oPLEs). For the remaining 91 individuals, their PLEs were not confirmed by the SIPS and thus were categorized as individuals with subjective PLEs (sPLEs). In univariate logistic regression, oPLEs was associated with a two times risk of suicidal ideation compared to sPLEs (OR = 1.971, p =.029). In multivariate logistic regression when non‐PLE status was set as a reference, oPLEs significantly predicted suicidal ideation (OR = 3.441, p =.011), while the sPLEs (OR = 2.277, p =.091) was no longer a significant predictor after controlling for PHQ‐9, GAD‐7 and CPQ‐SF scores. Conclusions: OPLEs and sPLEs have differential contributions to suicidal ideation. OPLEs seems to be associated with a higher risk of suicidal ideation and is independent of other psychopathology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a novel type of composite explosive was prepared by adding titanium fiber into the RDX explosive. The effects of the content of titanium fiber on the performance of the RDX explosive were systematically studied, and the optimal concentration was obtained by comparing its performances with the RDX explosive. Underwater explosion experiments showed the optimal concentration was 15 mass%, in which the value of specific bubble energy, as well as total energy was acquired the maximum. Especially, the energy density of composite explosive with 10 mass% titanium fiber was 10.64 kJ·cm−3, compared with aluminum fiber explosive, which was increased by 17.96%. Meanwhile, results of the MTS809 machine indicated that the optimal concentration was 19.16 volume%, in which the ultimate stress increased by 175%, and critical strain increased by 393%. Additionally, better mechanical properties ensured process safety in the course of transportation and storage of explosives. Therefore, titanium fiber could be a potential energetic additive and played double roles in improving the properties of the RDX explosive significantly including detonation performances and anti-pressure ability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The catechol meta-cleavage pathway is widely involved in the degradation of aromatic compounds, including those halogenated aromatic hydrocarbons and their derivatives. CnbG is a kind of 4-oxalocrotonate tautomerase (4-OT) located in the catechol meta-cleavage pathway, catalyzes the ketonization of cis,cis -5-chloro-2-hydroxymuconate and cis,cis -2-hydroxymuconate to yield 5-chloro-2-oxo-3-hexene-1,6-dioate and 2-oxo-3-hexene-1,6-dioate, and contributes to the degradation of 4-chloronitrobenzene and chlorobenzene in Comamonas testosteroni CNB-1. Yet, the reason why CnbG and those 4-OTs could recognize various substrates is not well explained. Here, we determined the crystal structure of CnbG at resolution of 2.0 Å and identified that the potential substrate pocket involved in four conserved residues, residues Pro1, Arg11, Arg39 and Trp50, but not five conserved residues as those reported in other 4-OTs. We also found the four conserved residues assemble different sequence patterns in different 4-OTs, indicating their potential roles in catalysis and substrate binding. Via molecular docking, we found the 5-chloro group was clamped by two residues and extended to the solvent, indicating a substrate binding mode that could bear the substitution of different groups in the 5-position. Our work extends the knowledge of the substrate specificity of enzymes in the catechol meta-cleavage pathway. • A 2.0 Å structure of the CnbG hexamer has been determined. • Residues Pro1, Arg11, Arg39 and Trp50 assembled different sequence patterns in different 4-OTs. • Molecular docking revealed that substrate binding mode could bear the substitution of different groups in the 5-position. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because of the precise control of film thickness, atomic layer deposition (ALD) offers significant advantages in fabricating high-quality superlattice films. For the first time, a SiN x /SiO 2 superlattice with an ultrathin SiN x sublayer layer (1.5 nm) and a SiO 2 barrier layer (3 nm) was successfully fabricated using plasma-enhanced ALD. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) measurements demonstrate the maintenance of multilayer structures with smooth interfaces. Next, the annealing effect on the microstructural, optical, and chemical properties of these SiN x /SiO 2 superlattice structures was thoroughly investigated. With increasing annealing temperature, X-ray reflection (XRR) and TEM measurements revealed consistent changes in interface, morphology, roughness, density, and thickness. After high-temperature annealing, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) measurements combined with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements revealed significant reductions in Si–H-related defects and absorption bands. Photoluminescence (PL) was used to characterize the light emission property, and it was discovered that increasing the annealing temperature decreased the PL peak intensity at ∼550 and 900 nm. The silicon nanocrystals (Si–NCs)-related PL peak (∼900 nm) became dominant as the annealing temperature increased. The findings in this paper shed light on the annealing effect on the new superlattice material prepared via ALD. Improved PL properties of this type of superlattice are expected and can be obtained in future research by optimizing the ALD deposition process and annealing parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cellular instabilities of expanding hydrogen-propane-nitrous oxide spherical flames were experimentally and theoretically investigated at various equivalence ratios (ϕ =0.4–1.6), hydrogen fractions (X H =0–0.8), and initial pressures (P u =1.1–1.5 bar). The experiments were conducted in a constant volume combustion chamber (CVCC) using high-speed schlieren technology to record the flame morphology, while the theoretical analysis was based on linear stability theory. The controlling parameters, critical conditions for the onset of instability, flame front oscillation intensity, logarithmic growth rate of perturbation, etc. were studied. The results indicate that the instability of premixed hydrogen-propane-nitrous oxide flames is dominated by hydrodynamic instability at X H ≤ 0.6 , while the competitive mechanism between thermal-diffusion and hydrodynamic instabilities is considered at X H = 0.8. The oscillation intensity in the horizontal direction of the flame profile is more prominent than those in other directions, and with the increasing hydrogen fraction, the equivalence ratio at which the highest oscillation strength occurs shifts from ϕ =1.0 to ϕ =0.6. The trends of the experimental critical radius and Peclet number with each initial condition are completely identical to that of the theoretical value, but the experimental value is somewhat underpredicted. The three main reasons are proposed in the paper. Novelty and Significance Statement: This work is the first study on the cellular instabilities of hydrogen-propane-nitrous oxide flames by experiment and theory. It is under a small scale and reduced initial pressure condition that the cellular destabilization of hydrogen-propane flames is realized in the nitrous oxide atmosphere, while in the air atmosphere, the initial condition at which flame cellular destabilization occurs is harsher. Flame front oscillation strength, growth rate of disturbance, etc. were used to characterize quantitatively the degree of wrinkles and instabilities. Some novel findings were presented in the study. The present work is of great significance for the combustion community to understand deeply the cellular instabilities characteristic of expanding spherical flames supported by nitrous oxide, as well as for the engineering community to optimize the engine, propulsion, and energy supply systems, etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influence of grain orientation angle and processing parameters on the compressive flow stress and corrosion behaviour of 6061-T6 Al alloy was investigated in this study by altering the grain orientation angles in relation to the compressive direction. At relatively low processing temperatures (≤ 300 °C), an increase in the grain orientation angle from 0° to 90°reduced flow stress at low strain ranges (< 0.1) due to the facilitated slip of Al grains. As strain and processing temperature increased, changes in orientation angles had a negligible effect on the flow stress, attributed to the enhanced contribution of intermetallic particles (IMPs) and the occurrence of recrystallisation. Microstructural analysis revealed that higher processing temperatures resulted in a diverse range of IMPs, including Mg 2 Si (β phase) and Al 15 (Fe,Mn) 3 Si 2 phases. When the Al alloy was compressed at a high strain rate (25 s−1) and processed at 500 °C, submicron-scale β ", β ', and β phases coexisted. Corrosion tests indicated that a wider distribution of Al 15 (Fe,Mn) 3 Si 2 phases reduced the corrosion resistance of the Al alloy. This led to the formation of connected corrosion sites in specimens compressed at 500 °C, where a larger corrosion area and enhanced charge transfer ability were confirmed by equivalent circuit fitting. However, no significant variation in corrosion resistance was observed for Al alloys with various grain orientation angles, due to similar grain structure and precipitation behaviour at similar processing temperatures. • The microstructure of Al alloys with various orientation angles after compression was studied. • The flow behaviour of Al alloys with various orientation angles was revealed. • The corrosion mechanism of Al alloys with various orientation angles after compression was clarified. • Suggestion on manufacturing of Al alloy with high corrosion resistance was proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• DFT and microkinetic modeling were performed to study the mechanism of the propane dehydrogenation over Pd(100), Pd(210), Pd 3 Bi 1 (100), Pd 2 Bi 1 (100), Pd 1 Bi 1 (100), and Pd 1 Bi 1 (210). • With the increase of the Bi concentration, the ε d of the surface layer moves to the lower energy, and the propylene bonding strength decreases. AIMD finds the temperature at which propylene begins to desorb also decreases. • Two selectivity descriptors (Δ E selec, 1 and Δ E selec,2) succeed in predicting the propylene selectivity on the pure Pd and Pd-Bi intermetallic compounds, because the barriers for both C-C crack and propylene deep dehydrogenation approximately increase with Bi concentration. • Under typical reaction conditions, the apparent activation energies are 1.04, 1.34, 1.78, and 2.07 eV on the Pd(100), Pd 3 Bi 1 (100), Pd 2 Bi 1 (100), and Pd 1 Bi 1 (100), respectively. And the propylene selectivity increases from 0.64 on the Pd(100) to 0.99 on the Pd 1 Bi 1 (100). • The isolated Pd sites on the Pd 1 Bi 1 (100) and Pd 1 Bi 1 (210) result in a relatively high e a eff for propane dehydrogenation and a lower TOF of propylene. As a compensation between activity and selectivity, the Pd 2 Bi 1 (100) may be more suitable for PDH. Propylene is an important industrial raw material. The high temperature needed by the propane dehydrogenation (PDH) on the pure Pt or Pd catalyst may give rise to hydrogenolysis and carbon deposition, which ultimately poisons the catalysts. Experiments synthesized a series of Pd-Bi intermetallic compounds loaded on SiO 2. The Pd-Bi/SiO 2 catalyst with a moderate Bi concentration bears high activity and selectivity. But the reason is unknown. In the present paper, the DFT calculation and microkinetic modeling were performed to study the reaction network of PDH on the Pd(100), Pd 3 Bi 1 (100), Pd 2 Bi 1 (100), Pd 1 Bi 1 (100), Pd(210), and Pd 1 Bi 1 (210). Due to the isolated Pd sites, Pd 1 Bi 1 (100) and Pd 1 Bi 1 (210) showed the highest propylene selectivity but low TOF of propylene. The Pd 2 Bi 1 (100) may be more suitable for PDH because of the compensation between activity and selectivity. Two selectivity descriptors (Δ E selec, 1 and Δ E selec, 2) could measure the influence of deep dehydrogenation and hydrogenolysis on the selectivity for propylene in the PDH, respectively. The barriers for both C-C crack and propylene deep dehydrogenation approximately increase with Bi concentration, which may be why both Δ E selec, 1 and Δ E selec, 2 succeed in predicting the propylene selectivity on the pure Pd and Pd-Bi catalysts. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The CKLF-like MARVEL transmembrane domain containing 6 (CMTM6) plays an extremely important role of the programed death receptor ligand-1 (PD-L1) protein. Our study is aimed at investigating the expression of CMTM6 and PD-L1 proteins in triple-negative breast cancer and their correlation with the clinical pathological data of patients. We selected 89 cases of triple-negative breast cancer and 62 cases of normal breast tissue specimens. Immunohistochemical methods were used to detect the expression levels of CMTM6 and PD-L1 and to carefully study differences in their expression. The expression of CMTM6 and PD-L1 in TNBC was higher than that in normal breast tissue, and the expression of the two was positively correlated (p < 0.05). In TNBC, CMTM6 expression is positively correlated with tumor size, lymph node metastasis, Ki67 proliferation index, and TNM stage (p < 0.05). PD-L1 expression is positively correlated with tumor size, lymph node metastasis, Ki67 proliferation index, TNM stage, and vascular infiltration (p < 0.05). Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that the positive expression of CMTM6 and PD-L1 had no correlation with the survival rate of patients (p > 0.05). According to KM-plotter, we found that a higher CMTM6 expression was positively related with relapse-free survival rate of patients (p < 0.05). A higher PD-L1 expression was positively correlated with relapse-free, overall, and distant metastasis survival rate of patients (p < 0.05). In timer database, we found a positive correlation between the expression of CMTM6 and PD-L1 in triple-negative breast cancer. Both CMTM6 and PD-L1 are highly expressed in TNBC, and their expressions are positively related. In the future, the two gene might become targets for the treatment of TNBC, providing a basis of clinical treatment of TNBC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gene duplication provides raw material for functional innovation, but gene duplicability varies considerably. Previous studies have found widespread asymmetrical sequence evolution between paralogs. However, it remains unknown whether the rate of evolution among paralogs affects their propensity of being retained after another round of whole‐genome duplication (WGD). In this study, we investigated gene groups that have experienced two successive WGDs to determine which of two older duplicates with different evolutionary rates was more likely to retain both younger duplicates. To uncouple the measurement of evolutionary rates from any assignment of duplicate or singleton status, we measured the evolutionary rates of singleton genes in out‐lineages but classified these singleton genes according to whether they are retained or not in a crown group of species. We found that genes that retained younger duplicates in the crown group of genomes were more constrained prior to the younger duplication event than those that failed to leave duplicates. In addition, we also found that the retained clades have more genes in out‐lineages. Subsequent analyses showed that genes in the retained clades were expressed more broadly and highly than genes in the singleton clades. We concluded that the set of repeatedly retained genes after two WGDs is biased toward slowly evolving genes in angiosperms, suggesting that the potential of genes for both functional conservation and divergence likely affects their propensity of being retained after WGD in angiosperms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fragaria nilgerrensis Schlecht. is a wild diploid strawberry species. The intense peach-like aroma of its fruits makes F. nilgerrensis an excellent resource for strawberry breeding programs aimed at enhancing flavors. However, the formation of the peach-like aroma of strawberry fruits has not been comprehensively characterized. In this study, fruit metabolome and transcriptome datasets for F. nilgerrensis (HA; peach-like aroma) and its interspecific hybrids PA (peach-like aroma) and NA (no peach-like aroma; control) were compared. In total, 150 differentially accumulated metabolites were detected. The K-means analysis revealed that esters/lactones, including acetic acid, octyl ester, δ-octalactone, and δ-decalactone, were more abundant in HA and PA than in NA. These metabolites may be important for the formation of the peach-like aroma of F. nilgerrensis fruits. The significantly enriched gene ontology terms assigned to the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were fatty acid metabolic process and fatty acid biosynthetic process. Twenty-seven DEGs were predicted to be associated with ester and lactone biosynthesis, including AAT, LOX, AOS, FAD, AIM1, EH, FAH, ADH, and cytochrome P450 subfamily genes. Thirty-five transcription factor genes were predicted to be associated with aroma formation, including bHLH, MYB, bZIP, NAC, AP2, GATA, and TCPfamily members. Moreover, we identified differentially expressed FAD, AOS, and cytochrome P450 family genes and NAC, MYB, and AP2 transcription factor genes that were correlated with δ-octalactone and δ-decalactone. These findings provide key insights into the formation of the peach-like aroma of F. nilgerrensis fruits, with implications for the increased use of wild strawberry resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Incisional tissue biopsy is highly invasive, but it remains the current practice for oral cancer diagnosis through histopathological interpretation. To reduce biopsy invasiveness without compromising diagnosis, we pioneered a multigene RT-qPCR method for cancer detection using only a tiny 1 mm3 minimally invasive biopsy. Here we presented international multicohort validation of our second-generation method which involved new genes from matrix/stroma and immune regulations enabling sensitive, quantitative and precise oral cancer detection in otherwise ambiguous oral lesions. Background: Heterogeneity in oral potentially malignant disorder (OPMD) poses a problem for accurate prognosis that impacts on treatment strategy and patient outcome. A holistic assessment based on gene expression signatures from both the tumour cells and their microenvironment is necessary to provide a more precise prognostic assessment than just tumour cell signatures alone. Methods: We reformulated our previously established multigene qPCR test, quantitative Malignancy Index Diagnostic System (qMIDS) with new genes involved in matrix/stroma and immune modulation of the tumour microenvironment. An algorithm calculates and converts a panel of 16 gene mRNA expression levels into a qMIDS index to quantify risk of malignancy for each sample. Results: The new qMIDSV2 assay was validated in a UK oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) cohort (n = 282) of margin and tumour core samples demonstrating significantly better diagnostic performance (AUC = 0.945) compared to previous qMIDSV1 (AUC = 0.759). Performance of qMIDSV2 were independently validated in Chinese (n = 35; AUC = 0.928) and Indian (n = 95; AUC = 0.932) OSCC cohorts. Further, 5-year retrospective analysis on an Indian dysplastic lesion cohort (n = 30) showed that qMIDSV2 was able to significantly differentiate between lesions without transformation and those with malignant transformation. Conclusions: This study validated a novel multi-gene qPCR test on a total of 535 tissue specimens from UK, China and India, demonstrating a rapid minimally invasive method that has a potential application for dysplasia risk stratification. Further study is required to establish if qMIDSV2 could be used to improve OPMD patient management, guide treatment strategy and reduce oral cancer burden. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A calculation method of the bearing capacity of single squeezed branch pile is established based on the load transfer method. In the method, the hyperbolic model is used to describe the nonlinear load-displacement relationship of pile-soil interaction at the pile tip, the pile skin, and the squeezed branch, and the theoretical expression of six load transfer coefficients of squeezed branch pile is given. The correctness of the method is proved by a small-scale model test in homogeneous soil and a large-scale model test in stratified soil. The results show that the calculation based on the load transfer method is applicable to predict the ultimate load in engineering application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Secreted protein, acidic and rich in cysteine (SPARC, also known as osteonectin), is a small molecule glycoprotein associated with cell secretions. The purpose of our research is to clarify the clinicopathological and prognostic significance of SPARC expression in breast cancer. In this study, we performed a meta-analysis and bioinformatics analysis using the PubMed, Web of Science, Wanfang Data, and CNKI databases. The meta-analysis showed that SPARC expression was elevated in breast cancer tissue, compared with normal tissue, while SPARC expression in tumor stromal cells was higher than that of tumor cells. The expression of SPARC was positively correlated with histological grade and TNM staging. The Kaplan-Meier plotter showed that low SPARC expression was negatively correlated with the overall, postprogression, and distant metastasis survival rates of patients. According to Oncomine database, SPARC expression was upregulated in breast cancer than normal tissues. In TCGA database, univariate analysis showed that lymph node metastasis, distant metastasis, and TNM staging were negatively correlated with patient prognosis in breast cancers. Cox multivariate analysis showed that age, lymph node metastasis, distant metastasis, and TNM staging were important factors affecting the survival time of breast cancer patients. SPARC expression can be employed as a good indicator of prognosis of breast cancer patients, which will provide new methods and ideas of preventive treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The key to successful in vitro embryo production (IVEP) is to mimic the natural in vivo oviductal microenvironment. Although the chemically defined media in extensive use for the in vitro culture of mammalian embryos is based on the composition of oviductal fluid, the IVEP systems in current use must still bypass the oviduct to produce embryos in vitro. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) in the oviduct are versatile intercellular delivery vehicles for maternal–embryo communication, and a lack of them can be associated with failed early embryonic development under in vitro culture conditions. Herein, we isolated EVs from porcine oviduct fluid and confirmed that oviductal EV supplementation improves the embryonic development of parthenogenetically activated (PA) embryos in terms of blastocyst formation rates and total cell numbers. Our experiments also revealed that a beneficial effect of oviductal EVs on PA embryos was achievable, at least in part, by relieving endoplasmic reticulum stress. These results suggest that the maternal–embryo communication mediated by oviductal EVs benefits early embryonic development. Given the contribution of oviductal EVs to early embryonic development, these findings offer novel insights for the optimization of current IVEP systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A broadband single‐layer reflectarray comprising three‐layer concentric split ring elements is proposed. The reflection phase is achieved by changing the flare angle of the inner and outer split rings. The resonance of the element is easily controlled by varying the relative relationships between the homomorphic patches. And the length of the split ring changes in the azimuth direction, which improves the utilization rate of unit space. The middle split ring acts as a parasitic structure with constant size, making the surface current distribution of the element more uniform to improve the element bandwidth. A reflectarray containing 256 elements is designed and tested. The measured results indicate that the peak gain is 25.3 dBi corresponding to the aperture efficiency of 42%. And the 1‐dB gain bandwidth of the reflectarray of 21.7% is achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The precise explanation for the p-type characteristics of SnO at a microscopic level remains unclear. However, understanding SnO conduction behavior is critical for optimizing SnO-based p-type transparent conducting. Through a combination of Density Functional Theory (DFT) and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) analyses, we have discovered that the p-type properties of SnO arise from the existence of these extra holes in the dispersive Bloch-like band formed by Sn2+-O 2 -Sn4+ complexes. We hope that our findings will aid in the development of highly efficient SnO-based technology. • XRD, Raman, and IR techniques unequivocally confirm the exceptional crystallinity of SnO. • High-resolution 119Sn and 117Sn NMR spectra of SnO have been successfully obtained. • DFT calculations elucidate the role of H impurities and the formation of Sn2+-O 2 -Sn4+ complexes, providing crucial insights into the sources of p-type conductivity in SnO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • 1 m3/h pilot-scale micro-channel separation technology was established. • A month-long field test with the effluent turbidity < 20 NTU. • No chemical consumption for removing fine particles were achieved. • The produced water by the separation technology met the reusable standard. The presence of microparticles in coal gasification wastewater (CGW) tends to cause fouling and blockage of heat exchangers and pipelines, increasing maintenance costs and affecting the stable operation of zero liquid discharge. Here, a 1 m3/h pilot-scale micro-channel separation technology was established for removing microparticles. The feasibility of this technology was verified by conducting a month-long field test. The results showed that the removal rate of suspended solids (SS) and the turbidity of the CGW were 85.2 % and 83.6 %, respectively. Over the operational period, the process was found to run stably, with an effluent turbidity < 20 NTU, which meets the requirements of subsequent working conditions. Scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction techniques were used to characterize the separation medium, and no scaling was found on the surface during operation. In the micro-channel separation process, the removal of fine particles can be achieved without the addition of chemicals, thereby improving the operational stability of the existing process plant. The new method represents an environmentally friendly and sustainable process for the effective removal of SS from CGW. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The motion condition of a friction stir welding tool significantly affects weld formation and quality in dissimilar joining between Al alloy and steel owing to its direct effect on thermo-mechanical condition during the process. In this study, a finite element simulation based on the coupled Eulerian–Lagrangian formulation was used to investigate the thermomechanical field evolutions in the friction stir lap welding of Al and steel, focusing on the effect of tool revolutionary pitch on thermal energy generation and material flow. Simulation results indicated that an increasing revolutionary pitch increased the proportion of heat input generated by plastic deformation, exhibiting an approximately linear relationship under the adopted welding parameters. With a fixed revolutionary pitch, a high- parameter-matching of rotational created higher welding temperatures. A lower revolutionary pitch resulted in higher welding temperature, leading to a thicker intermetallic layer at the Al/steel interface. However, a high revolutionary pitch under high-matching parameters significantly weakened the mixing of two materials behind the pin by decreasing material migration from the Al alloy and steel at the pin bottom on the retreating side, due to reduced temperature and increased deformation resistance. A parabolic mathematical correlation between interfacial strength and revolutionary pitch was observed, suggesting that maintaining a revolutionary pitch within the range of 0.4 to 1.2 mm/rev could produce a robust Al/steel lapped interface with joining efficiencies of approximately 91% or higher compared to the Al alloy base metal. [Display omitted] • CEL modelling of Al/steel FSLW was developed to study the effect of revolutionary pitch on heat transfer and material flow. • A positive linear relationship was found between revolutionary pitch and plastic-deformation heat input proportion. • Higher revolutionary pitches with high-matching parameters significantly weakened the two materials mixing. • Higher-parameter-matchings for a fixed revolutionary pitch favor a higher joint strength. • The Al/steel interfacial strength demonstrated a parabolic relationship with revolution pitch. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present study, both experiments and thermo-mechanical coupled simulations were conducted to characterise the diverse crystallisation behaviours and the processing parameter-microstructure-mechanical property relationships occurring in laser-assisted tape placement (LATP) manufacturing of carbon fibre (CF)/Polyetheretherketone (PEEK) laminates. Specifically, at various processing temperatures (350 °C or 400 oC), increasing the compaction pressure from 2 to 4 bar causes distinct defect distribution behaviours. However, variations in processing parameters show minimal effect on the morphology and size of crystallised spherulites, which were consistently around 2–3 μm in size, resulting in a final crystallinity of manufactured laminates within 30%–35%. It was found that the cold crystallisation processes occurring in PEEK during LATP play an important role in determining the final degree of crystallinity. Experimental measurements and simulations indicate that changes in processing parameters have a negligible effect on residual stress levels, especially regarding interlaminar residual stresses. A processing temperature of 400 °C was found to generate a diffuse, yet coherent, interphase spanning the fibre/matrix interface with a thickness approximately 70 nm. In contrast, at a processing temperature of 350 °C, a distinct, incoherent interface was confirmed between fibre and matrix. The formation of the interphase, coupled with fewer defects, leading to a relatively high interlaminar shear strength (78 MPa) of manufactured laminates under appropriate processing conditions. Therefore, it is suggested that regulating the degree of cold crystallisation in polymer matrices while ensuring a strong fibre/matrix interfacial bond by the optimisation of processing temperature, will enable the tailoring of microstructure and design of composites to meet specific strength property requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the propagation behaviors of quasi-detonations in a round tube filled with repeated perforated plates. Stoichiometric hydrogen-oxygen mixtures at different initial pressures were tested. Photodiodes and soot foil were used to record detonation velocity and cellular structure between two adjacent perforated plates. The orifice diameter (d), hole spacing (l) of the perforated plate and the obstacle spacing (S) were varied. The results show that the ratio of the overall jet diameter (D 0 , defined as the diameter of the circumcircle of the orifices) to the detonation cell size (λ) is in the range of 12–14 for the occurrence of Chapman-Jouguet detonations. The combustion regimes are affected by l / d , i.e., smaller l / d results in higher combustion velocity. At the detonation propagation limits, the results confirm the criterion L / λ > 7, in which L = (S + D) / [ 2 (1 − 1 − B R) ] , D and B R are, respectively, the tube diameter and blockage ratio of the perforated plate. • Effects of repeated perforated plates on hydrogen-oxygen detonation propagation were studied. • The critical tube diameter criterion was suitable for the onset of CJ detonation. • Detonation propagation limits were found to be L / λ = (S + D) / [ 2 (1 − 1 − B R) ] / λ > 7. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, for the Chinese automatic question answering technology in open domain, in addition to considering the traditional association between questions and questions, the correlation between questions and answers is added. The cosine similarity between questions and answers is used as the semantic similarity between them. A bi-directional long short-term memory network (BiLSTM) is added between the question and question, answer and the answer to seek the association between the contexts. and an attention mechanism is added to make question and answer related. Finally, the experimental verification shows that the accuracy of automatic question answering by the proposed method reaches 70%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, atherosclerosis accounts for the majority of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality worldwide, and predicting the stability of atherosclerotic plaque is the main method to prevent atherosclerotic death. This study aims to establish a dual-label time-resolved fluorescence immunoassay (TRFIA) of matrix metalloprotein-9 (MMP-9) and lipoprotein-associated phospholipaseA2 (Lp-PLA2) to predict atherosclerotic plaque stability. A dual-label TRFIA was introduced for the simultaneous quantification of MMP-9 and Lp-PLA2 using fluorescent lanthanide (Eu3+ and Sm3+) chelates. The performance (sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, precision and reference intervals in different subjects) of this TRFIA was evaluated and compared with commercial kit. The sensitivity of the TRFIA for MMP-9 was 0.85 ng/mL and for Lp-PLA2 was 0.68 ng/mL with high affinity and specificity. The average recoveries were 94.58% to 109.82%, and 104.32% to 109.26%, respectively. All intra- and inter-assay CVs ranged from 3.10% to 5.46%. For the normal subjects, the cutoff value was 160.70 ng/mL for MMP-9 and 183.73 ng/mL for LP-PLA2; for the subjects with stable plaque, the cutoff value was 181.98~309.22 ng/mL for MMP-9 and 194.73~337.89 ng/mL for LP-PLA2; for the subjects with unstable plaque, the cutoff value was 330.43 ng/mL for MMP-9 and 343.23 ng/mL for LP-PLA2. This TRFIA detection results agreed well with the results of commercial kit (R2=0.9567 and R2=0.9771, respectively) in clinical serum samples. The TRFIA developed has a wide detection range and good sensitivity for the high-throughput simultaneous detection of MMP-9 and Lp-PLA2 in serum, which provides a new method for predicting the stability of atherosclerotic plaque. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]