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Abstract Background Acute type A aortic dissection is a dangerous disease that threatens public health. In recent years, with the progress of medical technology, the mortality rate of patients after surgery has been gradually reduced, leading that previous prediction models may not be suitable for nowadays. Therefore, the present study aims to find new independent risk factors for predicting in-hospital mortality and construct a nomogram prediction model. Methods: The clinical data of 341 consecutive patients in our center from 2019 to 2023 were collected, and they were divided into two groups according to the death during hospitalization. The independent risk factors were analyzed by univariate and multivariate logistic regression, and the nomogram was constructed and verified based on these factors. Results: age, preoperative lower limb ischemia, preoperative activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), preoperative platelet count, Cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) time and postoperative acute kidney injury (AKI) independently predicted in-hospital mortality of patients with acute type A aortic dissection after surgery. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) for the nomogram was 0.844. The calibration curve and decision curve analysis verified that the model had good quality. Conclusion: The new nomogram model has a good ability to predict the in-hospital mortality of patients with acute type A aortic dissection after surgery.

To gain insight into the flow mechanisms and stress sensitivity for fractured-vuggy reservoirs, several core models with different structural characteristics were designed and fabricated to investigate the impact of effective stress on permeability for carbonate fractured-vuggy rocks (CFVR). It shows that the permeability performance curves under different pore and confining pressures (i.e. altered stress conditions) for the fractured core models and the vuggy core models have similar change patterns. The ranges of permeability variation are significantly wider at high pore pressures, indicating that permeability reduction is the most significant during the early stage of development for fractured-vuggy reservoirs. Since each obtained effective stress coefficient for permeability (ESCP) varies with the changes in confining pressure and pore pressure, the effective stresses for permeability of four representative CFVR show obvious nonlinear characteristics, and the variation ranges of ESCP are all between 0 and 1. Meanwhile, a comprehensive ESCP mathematical model considering triple media, including matrix pores, fractures, and dissolved vugs, was proposed. It is proved theoretically that the ESCP of CFVR generally varies between 0 and 1. Additionally, the regression results showed that the power model ranked highest among the four empirical models mainly applied in stress sensitivity characterization, followed by the logarithmic model, exponential model, and binomial model. The concept of “permeability decline rate” was introduced to better evaluate the stress sensitivity performance for CFVR, in which the one-fracture rock is the strongest, followed by the fracture-vug rock and two-horizontal-fracture rock; the through-hole rock is the weakest. In general, this study provides a theoretical basis to guide the design of development and adjustment programs for carbonate fractured-vuggy reservoirs.

In response to the difficulties of grid integration and consumption of a high proportion of new energy generation, as well as the high pressure on traditional thermal power generation to regulate peak loads, this paper constructs a wind-solar-fire-water complementary power generation system with “dual energy storage” and proposes a two-layer scheduling optimization strategy for this system. The scheduling model’s higher layer uses the system’s complementary power generation system’s maximum benefit as its objective function. The lower tier model has the minimization of the system’s cost of regulating load peaks as the objective function, and the model is solved by the improved adaptive immune particle swarm optimization algorithm considering various constraints. Taking the improved IEEE30 node system as an example for analysis, according to the operation of the original power system and the different characteristics of pumped storage and storage power plants, pumped storage and energy storage power stations are gradually added to the system for scheduling comparative analysis, and different capacities are configured, respectively. Through the analysis of examples, it is verified that the proposed dual-storage joint scheduling optimization strategy can effectively improve the overall operation of the system, reduce the peaking pressure of thermal power units, and achieve the expected goal of maximizing economic benefits. It also improves the new energy consumption in the region and alleviates the thermal power peaking pressure.

To explore high temperature ductility, a new Mg-2.70Zn-1.34Y-0.37Ca-0.02Zr (wt.%) alloy has been fabricated by novel multidirectional forging (MDF) and hot rolling. The microstructure and mechanical properties were investigated. The average grain size of MDF + hot rolled alloy is 10.89 ± 0.90 μm refined from the as-cast average grain size of 60.03 ± 0.72 μm. The ultimate tensile strength of 260.51 ± 1.03 MPa, yield strength of 192.29 ± 1.21 MPa, and elongation of 17.83 ± 0.72 % were obtained at room temperature. For high temperature tensile behavior, microstructural examination revealed that continuous dynamic recrystallization and discontinuous dynamic recrystallization are the main softening mechanism in the temperature range of 573–673 K, while dynamic grain growth with bimodal grains and twins is discovered at 723 K in this alloy. X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy –energy dispersive spectroscopy examinations revealed that the constituent phases are composed of α-Mg solid solution and intermetallic compounds of Ca2Mg6Zn3, Mg3YZn6 (I-phase), and Mg3Zn3Y2 (W-phase). The microstructural evolution, such as dynamic recrystallization and dynamic grain growth at desired tensile temperatures, is related to the thermal stability of constituent phases. The elongation to failure of 215.4 % was demonstrated at 673 K and 1.67 × 10−2 s−1, exhibiting high strain rate quasi-superplasticity. A power-law constitutive equation was established. The deformation activation energy of 177.948 kJ/mol and stress exponent of 4.494 revealed that the dominant deformation mechanism of this alloy at elevated temperatures of 573–723 K is dislocation climb controlled by lattice diffusion.

Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) are valuable bioactive polysaccharides with promising biomedical and pharmaceutical applications. In this study, we analyzed GAGs using HPLC-MS/MS from the bone (B), muscle (M), skin (S), and viscera (V) of Scophthalmus maximus (SM), Paralichthysi (P), Limanda ferruginea (LF), Cleisthenes herzensteini (G), Platichthys bicoloratus (PB), Pleuronichthys cornutus (PC), and Cleisthenes herzensteini (CH). Unsaturated disaccharide products were obtained by enzymatic hydrolysis of the GAGs and subjected to compositional analysis of chondroitin sulfate (CS), heparin sulfate (HS), and hyaluronic acid (HA), including the sulfation degree of CS and HS, as well as the content of each GAG. The contents of GAGs in the tissues and the sulfation degree differed significantly among the fish. The bone of S. maximus contained more than 12 μg of CS per mg of dry tissue. Although the fish typically contained high levels of CSA (CS-4S), some fish bone tissue exhibited elevated levels of CSC (CS-6S). The HS content was found to range from 10–150 ug/g, primarily distributed in viscera, with a predominant non-sulfated structure (HS-0S). The structure of HA is well-defined without sulfation modification. These analytical results are independent of biological classification. We provide a high-throughput rapid detection method for tissue samples using HPLC-MS/MS to rapidly screen ideal sources of GAG. On this basis, four kinds of CS were prepared and purified from flounder bone, and their molecular weight was determined to be 23–28 kDa by HPGPC-MALLS, and the disaccharide component unit was dominated by CS-6S, which is a potential substitute for CSC derived from shark cartilage.

Abstract Introduction Recent observational studies have reported the association between ischemic stroke (IS) and cerebral microbleeds (CMBs). Whether this reflects a causal association remains to be established. Herein, we adopted a two-sample bidirectional Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis to comprehensively evaluate the causal association of IS and CMBs. Methods The summary-level genome-wide association studies (GWASs) data of IS were obtained from the GIGASTROKE consortium (62,100 European ancestry cases and 1,234,808 European ancestry controls). All IS cases could be further divided into large-vessel atherosclerosis stroke (LVS, n = 6399), cardio-embolic stroke (CES, n = 10,804) and small-vessel occlusion stroke (SVS, n = 6811). Meanwhile, we used publicly available summary statistics from published GWASs of CMBs (3556 of the 25,862 European participants across 2 large initiatives). A bidirectional MR analysis was conducted using inverse-variance weighting (IVW) as the major outcome, whereas MR-Egger and weighted median (WM) were used to complement the IVW estimates as they can provide more robust estimates in a broader set of scenarios but are less efficient (wider CIs). A Bonferroni-corrected threshold of p

Co-assembling peptides can be crafted into supramolecular biomaterials for use in biotechnological applications, such as cell culture scaffolds, drug delivery, biosensors, and tissue engineering. Peptide co-assembly refers to the spontaneous organization of two different peptides into a supramolecular architecture. Here we use molecular dynamics simulations to quantify the effect of anionic amino acid type on co-assembly dynamics and nanofiber structure in binary CATCH(+/-) peptide systems. CATCH peptide sequences follow a general pattern: CQCFCFCFCQC, where all C's are either a positively charged or a negatively charged amino acid. Specifically, we investigate the effect of substituting aspartic acid residues for the glutamic acid residues in the established CATCH(6E-) molecule, while keeping CATCH(6K+) unchanged. Our results show that structures consisting of CATCH(6K+) and CATCH(6D-) form flatter β-sheets, have stronger interactions between charged residues on opposing β-sheet faces, and have slower co-assembly kinetics than structures consisting of CATCH(6K+) and CATCH(6E-). Knowledge of the effect of sidechain type on assembly dynamics and fibrillar structure can help guide the development of advanced biomaterials and grant insight into sequence-to-structure relationships.

Abstract Myocardial fibrosis, oxidative stress, and autophagy both play key roles in the progression of adverse cardiac remodeling. Stomatin-like protein 2 (SLP-2) is closely related to mitochondrial function, but little is known about its role and mechanism in cardiac remodeling. We developed doxorubicin (Dox), angiotensin (Ang) II, and myocardial ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury induced cardiac remodeling model and Dox treated H9C2 cell injury model using SLP-2 knockout (SLP-2-/-) mice and H9C2 cells with low SLP-2 expression. We first examined cardiac functional and structural changes as well as levels of oxidative stress, apoptosis and autophagy. We found that SLP-2 deficiency leads to decreased cardiac function and promotes myocardial fibrosis. After Dox and Ang II treatment, SLP-2 deficiency further aggravated myocardial fibrosis, increased myocardial oxidative stress and apoptosis, and activated autophagy by inhibiting PI3K-Akt-mTOR signaling pathway, ultimately exacerbating adverse cardiac remodeling. Similarly, SLP-2 deficiency further exacerbates adverse cardiac remodeling after myocardial I/R injury. Moreover, we extracted cardiomyocyte mitochondria for proteomic analysis, suggesting that SLP-2 deficiency may be involved in myocardial I/R injury induced adverse cardiac remodeling by influencing ubiquitination of intramitochondrial proteins. In addition, the oxidative stress, apoptosis and autophagy levels of H9C2 cells with low SLP-2 expression were further enhanced, and the PI3K-Akt-mTOR signaling pathway was further inhibited under Dox stimulation. Our results suggest that SLP-2 deficiency promotes myocardial fibrosis, disrupts normal mitochondrial function, overactivates autophagy via PI3K-Akt-mTOR signaling pathway, affects the level of ubiquitination, leads to irreversible myocardial damage, and ultimately exacerbates adverse cardiac remodeling.

Decoding the user’s natural grasp intent enhances the application of wearable robots, improving the daily lives of individuals with disabilities. Electroencephalogram (EEG) and eye movements are two natural representations when users generate grasp intent in their minds, with current studies decoding human intent by fusing EEG and eye movement signals. However, the neural correlation between these two signals remains unclear. Thus, this paper aims to explore the consistency between EEG and eye movement in natural grasping intention estimation. Specifically, six grasp intent pairs are decoded by combining feature vectors and utilizing the optimal classifier. Extensive experimental results indicate that the coupling between the EEG and eye movements intent patterns remains intact when the user generates a natural grasp intent, and concurrently, the EEG pattern is consistent with the eye movements pattern across the task pairs. Moreover, the findings reveal a solid connection between EEG and eye movements even when taking into account cortical EEG (originating from the visual cortex or motor cortex) and the presence of a suboptimal classifier. Overall, this work uncovers the coupling correlation between EEG and eye movements and provides a reference for intention estimation.

During the acquisition of electroencephalographic (EEG) signals, various factors can influence the data and lead to the presence of one or multiple bad channels. Bad channel interpolation is the use of good channels data to reconstruct bad channel, thereby maintaining the original dimensions of the data for subsequent analysis tasks. The mainstream interpolation algorithm assigns weights to channels based on the physical distance of the electrodes and does not take into account the effect of physiological factors on the EEG signal. The algorithm proposed in this study utilizes an attention mechanism to allocate channel weights (AMACW). The model gets the correlation among channels by learning from good channel data. Interpolation assigns weights based on learned correlations without the need for electrode location information, solving the difficulty that traditional methods cannot interpolate bad channels at unknown locations. To avoid an overly concentrated weight distribution of the model when generating data, we designed the channel masking (CM). This method spreads attention and allows the model to utilize data from multiple channels. We evaluate the reconstruction performance of the model using EEG data with 1 to 5 bad channels. With EEGLAB’s interpolation method as a performance reference, tests have shown that the AMACW models can effectively reconstruct bad channels.

Due to the size limitations of shaking tables, dynamic scale models of large-span space structures for engineering have small cross-sections and thin wall thicknesses. It is difficult to use the structural steels commonly used in prototypes to make dynamic scale models. In this paper, 304 stainless steel is proposed for making the scale model, and the similarity relationship between the structural-steel prototype and the 304-stainless-steel dynamic scale model was studied. Firstly, a uniaxial test was conducted to study the elastic modulus similarity and the yielding stress similarity. The test results demonstrated that the elastic modulus similarity ratio was 1:1, and the stress similarity ratios of the 304 stainless steel and the three typical structural steels were 1:1 (Q235 steel), 1:1.5 (Q355 steel) and 1:1.8 (Q420 steel). Then, the similarities of other variables were derived using the dimensional analysis method. In the end, a numerical analysis was conducted to verify the similarity relationship between the structural-steel prototype and the 304-stainless-steel dynamic scale model. In the numerical analysis, a single-layer spherical reticulated shell structure and a dynamic scale model with a length similarity ratio of 1:20 were established by using the ABAQUS 2021 software, and the node displacement, the element internal force and natural vibration characteristics were analyzed. The results show that standard deviations of the displacements, the internal forces and the natural vibration frequencies between the prototype and the scale model were within 5%. It turns out that the proposed similarity between the structural-steel prototype and the 304-stainless-steel dynamic scale model was applicable in the elastic stage. The findings provide a reference for designing a dynamic scale model of large-span space structures for engineering by using 304 stainless steel.

To improve the ambient strength and high temperature ductility, a novel Al-3.25Mg-0.37Zr-0.28Mn-0.19Y (wt.%) alloy has been fabricated by multidirectional forging and warm rolling. Microstructures and mechanical properties were investigated by light microscope, X-ray diffraction apparatus, transmission electron microscope, and tensile tester. The ultimate tensile strength, yield strength, and elongation of 354.67 ± 0.04, 254 ± 3 MPa, and 18.47% were achieved in the processed alloy, respectively, at room temperature. The maximum superplasticity of 412.5% was demonstrated in this fine-grained (grain size of 8.80 ± 1.06 μm) alloy at 793 K and 8.33 × 10−4 s−1. An ambient strengthening sequence was obtained: grain boundary strengthening > dislocation strengthening > Orowan strengthening > solid solution strengthening. The occurrence of Portevin–Le Chatelier effect or serrated flow in as-annealed alloy was confirmed by theoretical model estimation and experimental evidence. Microstructural evolution and flow stress curves confirmed that dynamic recovery and dynamic grain growth occurred at elevated temperatures; Sotoudeh-Bate curves were discovered at higher temperatures and lower strain rates. Solute Mg, dynamic grain growth, and flow localization were responsible for the formation of Sotoudeh-Bate curves. Modified Johnson–Cook constitutive equation considering dislocation variables and power-law constitutive equation were established. In this fine-grained alloy at 793 K and 8.33 × 10−4 s−1, the number of dislocations inside a grain was 6, the stress exponent was 2, the grain size exponent was 2, and the average activation energy for deformation was 140.10 kJ/mol. These pieces of evidence demonstrated that grain boundary sliding accommodated by intragranular dislocation controlled by lattice diffusion governs the rate-controlling process.

Single-layer spherical reticulated shells are typical roof structures for the gymnasiums. The center-hung scoreboard (CHS) is large weight display device which is usually suspended on the roof of the gymnasium. The effect of the CHS on the dynamic characteristics and seismic responses of the single-layer spherical reticulated shell (SPRS) is not fully clear. In this paper, the effect of the CHS on the SPRS under vertical seismic action is investigated. Two kinds of FE models are built with Abaqus software, including the flexibly suspended model and the simplified model. In a simplified model, the CHS is simplified as four fixed masses on the four CHS suspension nodes. The dynamic explicit method is used for the seismic responses, and the Lanczos method is used for the dynamic characteristics. The influence of the CHS weight and the sling length of on dynamic characteristics and seismic responses are analysed. It turns out that in the flexibly suspended model, the first three vibration modes are free swing of the CHS, and the CHS weight and the sling length have a significant impact on the fourth and subsequent modes. The length of the sling has a large impact on some low-order frequencies, but has little impact on the high-order frequencies. Compared with the simplified model, the axial forces of some structural members and some nodal acceleration in the flexibly suspended model under vertical seismic motions would increase by as high as 523% and 564%, respectively. It turns out that the seismic responses of the SPRS would be underestimated if a simplified model is used for analysis. The region in the central of the SPRS, the hoop members of the SPRS, and the support platform are the most affected regions in terms of both axial force and nodal acceleration.

Single-layer reticulated shells are widely used as roof structures of gymnasiums. However, the seismic performance of the single-layer reticulated shell with a center-hung scoreboard (CHS), which is a kind of large-scale display device suspended on the roof center of many gymnasiums, has not been fully studied. In this paper, the influence of the CHS on the seismic response of single-layer reticulated shells is investigated. Single-layer reticulated shells and the CHS-integrated models including flexibly suspended models and simplified models are established, respectively, using the Abaqus software. The responses of integrated models are calculated by an explicit dynamic method under 3D seismic action. The axial forces of the flexibly suspended case and the simplified case where the scoreboard is simplified as fixed masses on the roof structure are compared. Compared with those in the simplified model, the axial forces of some shell members and some nodal acceleration in the flexibly suspended model under multiple seismic excitations would increase by as high as 125% and 315%, respectively. It turns out that seismic responses of the single-layer reticulated shell would be underestimated if a simplified model was used for seismic response analysis. The region near the boundary and the region neighbouring the support platform members are the most affected regions due to the combination of the horizontal swing effect and the vertical impact effect of the CHS under multiple seismic excitations.

Post-transcriptional modification of RNA can contribute to regulating behavior. Here, the authors show that modulating the expression of Fto results in epitranscriptomic changes in the mouse hippocampus associated with depression-like behavior.

Crosstalk is the primary source of noise in quantum computing equipment. The parallel execution of multiple instructions in quantum computation causes crosstalk, which causes coupling between signal lines and mutual inductance and capacitance between signal lines, destroying the quantum state and causing the program to fail to execute correctly. Overcoming crosstalk is a critical prerequisite for quantum error correction and large-scale fault-tolerant quantum computing. This paper provides an approach for suppressing crosstalk in quantum computers based on multiple instruction exchange rules and duration. Firstly, for the majority of the quantum gates that can be executed on quantum computing devices, a multiple instruction exchange rule is proposed. The multiple instruction exchange rule reorders quantum gates in quantum circuits and separates double quantum gates with high crosstalk on quantum circuits. Then, time stakes are inserted based on the duration of different quantum gates, and quantum gates with high crosstalk are carefully separated in the process of quantum circuit execution by quantum computing equipment to reduce the influence of crosstalk on circuit fidelity. Several benchmark experiments verify the proposed method’s effectiveness. In comparison to previous techniques, the proposed method improves fidelity by 15.97% on average.

Abstract Background Dysregulation of the balance between proliferation and apoptosis is the basis for human hepatocarcinogenesis. In many malignant tumors, such as hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), there is a correlation between apoptotic dysregulation and poor prognosis. However, the prognostic values of apoptosis-related genes (ARGs) in HCC have not been elucidated. Methods To screen for differentially expressed ARGs, the expression levels of 161 ARGs from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database ( https://cancergenome.nih.gov/ ) were analyzed. Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment and the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analyses were performed to evaluate the underlying molecular mechanisms of differentially expressed ARGs in HCC. The prognostic values of ARGs were established using Cox regression, and subsequently, a prognostic risk model for scoring patients was developed. Kaplan–Meier (K-M) and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were plotted to determine the prognostic value of the model. Results Compared with normal tissues, 43 highly upregulated and 8 downregulated ARGs in HCC tissues were screened. GO analysis results revealed that these 51 genes are indeed related to the apoptosis function. KEGG analysis revealed that these 51 genes were correlated with MAPK, P53, TNF, and PI3K-AKT signaling pathways, while Cox regression revealed that 5 ARGs (PPP2R5B, SQSTM1, TOP2A, BMF, and LGALS3) were associated with prognosis and were, therefore, obtained to develop the prognostic model. Based on the median risk scores, patients were categorized into high-risk and low-risk groups. Patients in the low-risk groups exhibited significantly elevated 2-year or 5-year survival probabilities (p < 0.0001). The risk model had a better clinical potency than the other clinical characteristics, with the area under the ROC curve (AUC = 0.741). The prognosis of HCC patients was established from a plotted nomogram. Conclusion Based on the differential expression of ARGs, we established a novel risk model for predicting HCC prognosis. This model can also be used to inform the individualized treatment of HCC patients.

The loop-free single-layer hyperbolic cable net structure (LSHCS) is a new tensile cable structure for buildings, and it can overcome the disadvantages of key elements and the high tension in tensile cable structures with loop cables. The imperfection of the LSHCS is that cable clamps near the inside boundary are redundant. In this paper, the static behavior and dynamic characteristics of thirty-one schemes in five levels of deleting cable clamps are carried out with ANSYS software and Midas/Gen software. The results show that SE1/1, SE2/1, SE3/1, and SE4/1 are the best cable clamp deleting schemes for their respective levels. Displacements are the most sensitive to deleting cable clamps, the natural vibration period comes in second, and tensions are not sensitive with the growth rates of 6.09%, 5.11%, 15.97%, and 19.28% in the best scheme of each level. It is concluded that schemes involving the virtual rings of cable clamps closest to the inside boundary cause the smallest effect on static behavior and dynamic characteristics. Deleting the cable clamps affects the structural stiffness significantly, but the bearing capacity is not seriously affected. It turns out that removing redundant cable clamps in the dense part of the LSHCS is feasible.

A double-sided thin steel plate shear wall filled with rigid polyurethane foam (SWR) is proposed. A quasi-static monotonic loading test and quasi-static cycling loading test on shear behavior and the energy dissipation capacity of the SWR were carried out. Four kinds of test specimens, including the pure steel frames, the steel frame with double-sided thin steel plates, the SWR, and the SWR with an open hole, were tested. The results showed that compared with the pure steel frame, the erection of thin steel plates on both sides enhances the shear bearing capacity, initial shear stiffness, and energy consumption capacity. It turns out that the rigid foam polyurethane (RPUF) significantly increases the shear performance of the thin steel plate shear wall. The main reason for this is that the bond effect and support effect of the RPUF delay the out-of-plane buckling of thin steel plates and improve shear performance and energy dissipation capacity.

Space truss structures are commonly used in long-span roof structures. Recently, middle-hung scoreboards (MHS), a kind of large-scale display device flexibly suspended in the center of the roof, have been widely used in gymnasiums. However, the effect of the MHS on dynamic characteristics and earthquake response of space truss structures needs to be investigated. In this paper, the effect on the MHS under horizontal earthquake motion is studied. The simplified model, where the MHS is simplified to four fixed masses on a structure, and the flexibly suspended model are established with Abaqus software, and the earthquake response is analyzed by the time-history method with the dynamic explicit method. The influence laws of the wire extent and the MHS weight are discussed. Compared with the simplified model, the nodal acceleration and the axial force rise up to 2.123 times and 1.575 times, respectively, in the flexibly suspended model, indicating that the amplification effect of the MHS acts significantly under horizontal earthquake motion. It turns out that the earthquake response of a space truss structure could be underestimated if a simplified model is used. The crest acceleration of both top chord nodes and bottom chords nodes are greatly influenced by the MHS weight but little affected by the wire extent. The influence laws of the MHS weight and the wire extent on crest axial forces of structural members are very complicated. The central regions of both the top chords and the bottom chords are the most affected regions, and the boundary regions parallel to the direction of the earthquake motion are the least affected regions. It is suggested that the envelope value under the conditions of different wire extent and MHS weight are used for structural design.

Nowadays more and more IoT devices, including a large number of IoT servers, have been deployed on the Internet. The security of IoT servers has always been a challenge. In this paper, a new model named addressless IoT server is proposed, which allows people to use the large IPv6 address space to protect IoT server security. The server is allocated an IPv6 prefix instead of an address. When the authenticated client initiates communication, it uses an encryption mechanism to generate a specific destination address under the prefix. The server verifies the destination address when receiving the packet, and discards the packet if the verification fails. In this way, the model can prevent attackers from perceiving the server and launching scans or attacks, while remains compatible with the current Internet. The prototype is implemented and an extensive set of experiments are conducted in this paper. The results demonstrate that the model can better protect server security.

To explore new approaches to severe plastic deformation and the ductility of a multicomponent magnesium–lithium alloy, an ultralight microduplex Mg-9.55Li-2.92Al-0.027Y-0.026Mn alloy was made by novel multidirectional forging and asymmetrical rolling, and the superplasticity behavior was investigated by optical microscope, hot tensile test, and modeling. The average grain size is 1.9 μm in this alloy after multidirectional forging and asymmetrical rolling. Remarkable grain refinement caused by such a forming, which turns the as-cast grain size of 144.68 μm into the as-rolled grain size of 1.9 μm, is achieved. The elongation to failure of 228.05% is obtained at 523 K and 1 × 10−2 s−1, which demonstrates the high strain rate quasi-superplasticity. The maximum elongation to failure of 287.12% was achieved in this alloy at 573 K and 5 × 10−4 s−1. It was found that strain-induced grain coarsening at 523 K is much weaker than the strain-induced grain coarsening at 573 K. Thus, the ductility of 228.05% is suitable for application in high strain rate superplastic forming. The stress exponent of 3 and the average activation energy for deformation of 50.06 kJ/mol indicate that the rate-controlling deformation mechanism is dislocation-glide controlled by pipe diffusion.

The center-hung scoreboard is a large electronic display device, that usually has a significant weight and is flexibly suspended from the roof of the gymnasium. The suspen-dome structure is one of the common roof structures of gymnasiums. In order to investigate the effect of the center-hung scoreboard on the natural vibration characteristics and seismic response, including acceleration, displacement, and strain, of the suspen-dome structure and considering that the dynamic behavior of the structure under seismic action can be realistically reflected, a shaking table test was carried out based on the suspen-dome structure of the Gymnasium of the Lanzhou Olympic Sports Center. Firstly, according to the size of the shaking table, a dynamic scale model with a geometric similarity ratio of 1:20 was established. After that, the white noise excitation test and numerical modal analysis were conducted on the models with and without the center-hung scoreboard to compare the two modes’ natural vibration characteristics. Furthermore, the earthquake simulation test was carried out on the models with and without a center-hung scoreboard, and their various seismic responses, including acceleration, displacement, and strain, were compared and analyzed. Finally, the acceleration response and displacement response of the center-hung scoreboard were investigated. The results show that the higher-order natural frequencies of the suspen-dome structure will increase when the center-hung scoreboard is suspended from the roof, and the swing of the center-hung scoreboard will be excited first in the low-order mode. In addition, the various seismic responses, including acceleration, displacement, and strain, of the model with the center-hung scoreboard are all increased compared to the model without the center-hung scoreboard. Meanwhile, the influence of the center-hung scoreboard on the seismic response of the suspen-dome structure decreases from the inner ring to the outer ring of the structure. Moreover, under the action of an earthquake, the acceleration response and displacement response of the center-hung scoreboard are both extremely high. Considering the center-hung scoreboard in the analysis and design stage of the suspen-dome structure is necessary.

AimThis study was conducted in order to reveal the alterations in the N6-methyladenosine (m6A) modification profile of cerebral ischemia–reperfusion injury model rats.Materials and MethodsRats were used to establish the middle cerebral artery occlusion and reperfusion (MCAO/R) model. MeRIP-seq and RNA-seq were performed to identify differences in m6A methylation and gene expression. The expression of m6A methylation regulators was analyzed in three datasets and detected by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, western blot, and immunofluorescence.ResultsWe identified 1,160 differentially expressed genes with hypermethylated or hypomethylated m6A modifications. The differentially expressed genes with hypermethylated m6A modifications were involved in the pathways associated with inflammation, while hypomethylated differentially expressed genes were related to neurons and nerve synapses. Among the m6A regulators, FTO was specifically localized in neurons and significantly downregulated after MCAO/R.ConclusionOur study provided an m6A transcriptome-wide map of the MACO/R rat samples, which might provide new insights into the mechanisms of cerebral ischemia–reperfusion injury.

Eliminating unnecessary exposure is a principle of server security. The huge IPv6 address space enhances security by making scanning infeasible, however, with recent advances of IPv6 scanning technologies, network scanning is again threatening server security. In this paper, we propose a new model named addressless server, which separates the server into an entrance module and a main service module, and assigns an IPv6 prefix instead of an IPv6 address to the main service module. The entrance module generates a legitimate IPv6 address under this prefix by encrypting the client address, so that the client can access the main server on a destination address that is different in each connection. In this way, the model provides isolation to the main server, prevents network scanning, and minimizes exposure. Moreover it provides a novel framework that supports flexible load balancing, high-availability, and other desirable features. The model is simple and does not require any modification to the client or the network. We implement a prototype and experiments show that our model can prevent the main server from being scanned at a slight performance cost.

Velvet antler is one of the most important animal medicines or functional foods widely used in East Asia for many centuries, which has several biological activities including anti-ageing and health promotion. To date, the mechanism underlying these effects of velvet antler is widely studied by its protein or polypeptide components. Few studies have been reported for the function of the other components in velvet antler. Herein, C. elegans is used as the model animal to dissect how none protein components of velvet antler affect in vivo oxidative stress. Methanol extracts (MEs) from velvet antler which has few protein components extends the maximum lifespan of C. elegans compared to the control under oxidative stress, while water extracts (WEs) which is protein-rich component has no apparent function. The activity of MEs is mediated by clk-1 signaling pathway, but not via daf-2, eat-2 or glp-1 pathway. Further investigations show MEs decrease endogenous ROS by promoting SKN-1 nuclei translocation, subsequently up-regulating the expression of its target genes gst-4, gst-7 and gst-10 in C. elegans. In all, MEs, the none protein components of velvet antler, protects against oxidative stress in C. elegans, which indicates it might be a product with potential of being a curative medicine.

Galectin-1 (G1) and galectin-3 (G3) are carbohydrate-binding proteins that can signal apoptosis in T cells. We recently reported that a synthetic tetramer with two G1 and two G3 domains (“G1/G3 Zipper”) induces Jurkat T cell death more potently than G1. The pro-apoptotic signaling pathway of G1/G3 Zipper was not elucidated, but we hypothesized based on prior work that the G1 domains acted as the signaling units, while the G3 domains served as anchors that increase glycan-binding affinity. To test this, here we studied the involvement of different cell membrane glycoproteins and intracellular mediators in pro-apoptotic signaling via G1/G3 Zipper, G1, and G3. G1/G3 Zipper induced Jurkat T cell death more potently than G1 and G3 alone or in combination. G1/G3 Zipper, G1, and G3 increased caspase-8 activity, yet only G1 and G3 depended on it to induce cell death. G3 increased caspase-3 activity more than G1/G3 Zipper and G1, while all three galectin variants required it to induce cell death. JNK activation had similar roles downstream of G1/G3 Zipper, G1, and G3, whereas ERK had differing roles. CD45 was essential for G1 activity, and was involved in signaling via G1/G3 Zipper and G3. CD7 inhibited G1/G3 Zipper activity at low galectin concentrations but not at high galectin concentrations. In contrast, CD7 was necessary for G1 and G3 signaling at low galectin concentration but antagonistic at high galectin concentrations. Collectively, these observations suggest that G1/G3 Zipper amplifies pro-apoptotic signaling through the integrated activity of both the G1 and G3 domains.

Perceptual learning (PL) can significantly improve human performance in perceptual tasks primarily through template reweighting. Previous studies have documented how PL changes perceptual template in stimulus feature space. We investigated how PL reweights visual information in time. With a dynamic external noise paradigm and the elaborated perceptual template model (ePTM) analysis, we found that training with an orientation identification task in the zero external noise condition reduced contrast thresholds in both zero and high external noise conditions, whereas training in the high external noise condition only reduced contrast thresholds in high external noise conditions. The ePTM analysis showed that training in both zero and high external noise changed the overall amplitude, but not the shape of the temporal window of the perceptual template to exclude external noise across time, and training in zero external noise additionally reduced additive internal noise. Our results provided additional constraints for models of PL.

Ion-cutting of piezoelectric LiNbO3 (LN) thin film provides a material platform for the design and fabrication of novel integrated photonics and RF MEMS devices. In this paper, the ion-slicing mechanisms of He-implanted LN with different orientations are investigated. The anisotropy of film exfoliation is observed on LN wafers with different orientations. The Z-cut LN shows regular surface blistering and “plate-like” exfoliation, while the Y-cut LN shows the unique “rolled-up” exfoliation. Two types of defect, i.e. the pressure-related plateau defect and the stress-related crack defect, are observed to contribute to the film exfoliation. Moreover, the defect evolution in H-implanted LN is investigated. In comparison with the He-implanted LN, implanted H ions are mainly trapped by O-H bond and the implantation-induced strain is not strong enough, which are inadequate to form the continuous crack. Therefore the H ions are not favorable for the mass production of LNOI substrates.

A cut-edge detection method based on machine vision was developed for obtaining the navigation path of a combine harvester. First, the Cr component in the YCbCr color model was selected as the grayscale feature factor. Then, by detecting the end of the crop row, judging the target demarcation and getting the feature points, the region of interest (ROI) was automatically gained. Subsequently, the vertical projection was applied to reduce the noise. All the points in the ROI were calculated, and a dividing point was found in each row. The hierarchical clustering method was used to extract the outliers. At last, the polynomial fitting method was used to acquire the straight or curved cut-edge. The results gained from the samples showed that the average error for locating the cut-edge was 2.84 cm. The method was capable of providing support for the automatic navigation of a combine harvester.

Owing to its unique structure and properties, the glucose dendrimer phytoglycogen is gaining interest for medical and biotechnology applications. Although many maize variants are available from commercial and academic breeding programs, most applications rely on phytoglycogen extracted from the common maize variant, sugary1. Here we characterized the solubility, hydrodynamic diameter, water-binding properties, protein contaminant concentration, and cytotoxicity of phytoglycogens from different maize sources, A632su1, A619su1, Wesu7, and Ia453su1, harboring various sugary1 mutants. A619su1-SW phytoglycogen was cytotoxic while A632su1-SW phytoglycogen was not. A632su1-Pu phytoglycogen promoted cell growth, whereas extracts from A632su1-NE, A632su1-NC, and A632su1-CM were cytotoxic. Phytoglycogen extracted from Wesu7su1-NE using ethanol precipitation was cytotoxic. Acid-treatment improved Wesu7 phytoglycogen cytocompatibility. Protease-treated Wesu7 extracts promoted cell growth. Phytoglycogen extracted from Ia453su1 21 days after pollination (“Ia435su1 21DAP”) was cytotoxic, whereas phytoglycogen extracted at 40 days (“Ia435su1 40DAP”) was not. In general, size and solubility had no correlation with cytocompatibility, whereas protein contaminant concentration and water-binding properties did. A632su1-CM had the highest protein contamination among A632 mutants, consistent with its higher cytotoxicity. Likewise, Ia435su1 21DAP phytoglycogen had higher protein contamination than Ia435su1 40DAP. Conversely, protease-treated Wesu7 extracts had lower protein contamination than the other Wesu7 extracts. A632su1-NE, A632su1-NC, and A632su1-CM had similar water-binding properties which differed from those of A632su1-Pu and A632su1-SW. Likewise, water binding differed between Ia435su1 21DAP and Ia435su1 40DAP. Collectively, these data demonstrate that maize phytoglycogen extracts are not uniformly cytocompatible. Rather, maize variant, plant genotype, protein contaminants, and water-binding properties are determinants of phytoglycogen cytotoxicity.

Throughout nature, self-assembly gives rise to functional supramolecular biomaterials that can perform complex tasks with extraordinary efficiency and specificity. Inspired by these examples, self-assembly is increasingly used to fabricate synthetic supramolecular biomaterials for diverse applications in biomedicine and biotechnology. Peptides are particularly attractive as building blocks for these materials because they are based on naturally derived amino acids that are biocompatible and biodegradable; they can be synthesized using scalable and cost-effective methods, and their sequence can be tailored to encode formation of diverse architectures. To endow synthetic supramolecular biomaterials with functional capabilities, it is now commonplace to conjugate self-assembling building blocks to molecules having a desired functional property, such as selective recognition of a cell surface receptor or soluble protein, antigenicity, or enzymatic activity. This review surveys recent advances in using self-assembling peptides as handles to incorporate biologically active molecules into supramolecular biomaterials. Particular emphasis is placed on examples of functional nanofibers, nanovesicles, and other nano-scale structures that are fabricated by linking self-assembling peptides to proteins and carbohydrates. Collectively, this review highlights the enormous potential of these approaches to create supramolecular biomaterials with sophisticated functional capabilities that can be finely tuned to meet the needs of downstream applications.

Foodborne pathogens including Salmonella typhimurium (S. typhimurium) are responsible for over 600 million global incidences of illness annually, posing a significant threat to public health. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), coupled with element labeling strategies, has emerged as a promising platform for multivariate and accurate pathogen detection. However, achieving high specificity and sensitivity remains a critical challenge. Herein, we synthesize clustered magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) and popcorn-shaped gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) to conjugate capture and report DNA probes for S. typhimurium, respectively. These engineered nanoparticles facilitate the identification of S. typhimurium DNA through a sandwich hybridization technique. ICP-MS quantification of Au within the sandwich-structure complexes allows for precise S. typhimurium detection. The unique morphology of the AuNPs and MNPs increases the available sites for probe attachment, enhancing the efficiency of S. typhimurium DNA capture, broadening the detection range to 10·-1010 copies mL-1, and achieving a low detection limit of 1 copy mL-1, and the overall assay time is 70 min. The high specificity of this method is verified by anti-interference assays against ten other pathogens. The recovery was 96.8-102.8% for detecting S. typhimurium DNA in biological samples. As these specially designed nanoparticles may facilitate the attachment of various proteins and nucleic acid probes, they may become an effective platform for detecting multiple pathogens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]