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Circular RNA_0072995 (Circ_0072995) is involved in the pathogenesis of cancers; however, no study has investigated its role in cervical cancer. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the function of circ_0072995 in cervical cancer. Normal human cervical epithelial cells (hCECs), HeLa cells, and forty female nude BALB/c mice were used. Immunohistochemistry, invasion assays, flow cytometric analysis, luciferase assays, and tumour volume measurements were performed to explore the potential mechanism. Circ_0072995 was significantly up-regulated in cancer tissues, and its level was markedly correlated with the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics system (FIGO) staging. In vitro studies revealed that circ_0072995 interacts with miR-29a to induce WD repeat domain 5 (WDR5) expression and promotes the proliferation and invasion of cells, but inhibits apoptosis of cells. Knockdown of circ_0072995 or WDR5, or overexpression of miR-29a significantly inhibited tumour growth in vivo. In conclusion, circ_0072995 promoted cervical cancer development by inducing miR-29a-mediated WDR5 expression. What is already known on this subject? Global Cancer Statistics 2020 estimated that there were 1 021,494 new cases of cervical cancer and 439 201 deaths from cervical cancer. Circ_0072995 was first shown to promote breast cancer development in 2018. Subsequent studies have revealed that circ_0072995 is also involved in the development of other cancers, including epithelial ovarian cancer and hepatocellular carcinoma. However, no studies have explored the association between circ_0072995 and cervical cancer. What do the results of this study add? We hypothesized that circ_0072995 drives cervical cancer development by sponging miRNAs and inducing the expression of key factors involved in tumorigenesis. Based on this hypothesis, we investigated the role of circ_0072995 in cervical cancer and paracancerous tissues and explored the underlying mechanism in both in vitro and in vivo studies. What are the implications of these findings for clinical practice and/or further research? For the first time, our study revealed the key role of WDR5 in cervical cancer progression regulated by circ_0072995. We first reported the promoting effects of circ_0072995 in cervical cancer development by inducing miR-29a mediated WDR5 expression and also revealed the therapeutic potential of circ_0072995, miR-29a, and WDR5 in cervical cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Westgard Sigma Rules is a statistical tool available for quality control. Biological variation (BV) can be used to set analytical performance specifications (APS). The European Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (EFLM) regularly updates BV data. However, few studies have used robust BV data to determine quality goals and design a quality control strategy for tumor markers. The aim of this study was to derive APS for tumor markers from EFLM BV data and apply Westgard Sigma Rules to establish internal quality control (IQC) rules. Precision was calculated from IQC data, and bias was obtained from the relative deviation of the External quality assurance scheme (EQAS) group mean values and laboratory-measured values. Total allowable error (TEa) was derived using EFLM BV data. After calculating sigma metrics, the IQC strategy for each tumor marker was determined according to Westgard Sigma Rules. Sigma metrics achieved for each analyte varied with the level of TEa. Most of these tumor markers except neuron-specific enolase reached 3σ or better based on TEamin. With TEades and TEaopt set as the quality goals, almost all analytes had sigma values below 3. Set TEamin as quality goal, each analyte matched IQC muti rules and numbers of control measurements according to sigma values. Quality goals from the EFLM BV database and Westgard Sigma Rules can be used to develop IQC strategy for tumor markers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organic polymeric flocculants are commonly used in improving dredged sludge dewaterability, but less attention has been paid to residual water quality. In this paper, the effects of cationic etherified starch (CS) and poly-dimethyl diallyl ammonium chloride (PDDA) on dredged sludge dewatering efficiency and residual water quality of Baiyangdian lake were comprehensively investigated and evaluated by analytic hierarchy process (AHP). The results indicated that PDDA had stronger electrical effect and flocculation performance compared with CS, resulting in more efficient dewatering performance. PDDA can reduce the pollutants of discharged residual water, while CS significantly promoted the increase of NH 4 +-N and NO 3 –-N in the residual water. The increase of NH 4 +-N in the residual water of CS was due to the release of dredged sludge, while the increase of NO 3 –-N was introduced by CS leaching. AHP showed that PDDA performed better in flocculation treatment of dredged sludge than other organic polymers. This work provides a method for optimization of flocculation treatment for dredged sludge dewaterability. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Accumulating evidence has revealed that an increasing number of microRNAs (miRNAs) are dysregulated in papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) and that their dysregulation plays an important role in PTC onset and progression. Reportedly, miRNA-564 (miR-564) is downregulated in several types of human cancer. However, its expression profile and specific functions in PTC remain unclear to date. Methods: In this study, we used reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction to detect miR-564 expression in PTC tissues and cell lines. Further, the regulatory roles of miR-564 in the malignant development of PTC in vitro and in vivo were examined using a series of functional experiments. In addition, the possible underlying mechanisms and signaling pathways involved were investigated. Results: We demonstrated that miR-564 expression markedly decreased in PTC tissues and cell lines, and this decrease correlated with the lymph node metastasis and tumor–node–metastasis stage. miR-564 upregulation significantly inhibited cell proliferation, migration, and invasion and induced cell apoptosis in vitro as well as hindered tumor growth in vivo. Furthermore, astrocyte-elevated gene-1 (AEG-1) was identified as a direct target gene of miR-564 in PTC cells. Its expression was upregulated and inversely correlated with miR-564 expression in clinically PTC tissues. Additionally, the silencing of AEG-1 expression could imitate the action of miR-564 overexpression in PTC cells. Remarkably, the restoration of AEG-1 expression partially abolished the tumor-suppressing effects induced by a miR-564 upregulation in PTC cells. Ectopic miR-564 expression deactivated the PTEN/Akt pathway in PTC cells in vitro and in vivo. Conclusion: Overall, the findings of the current study suggest that miR-564 is a tumor-suppressive miRNA that exerts crucial roles in the development and progression of PTC. Therefore, this miRNA might be a promising candidate target in the anticancer treatment of patients with PTC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We introduce a class of planar random source generating ring-shaped array profiles in the far field. The model for spatial correlation function of this new source is composed by the Fourier transform of the Laguerre-Gaussian array function with circular symmetry. The analytical expressions for the spectral density (average intensity) in free space and atmospheric turbulence are derived. The effect of the source parameters on the propagation properties are investigated in detail. Numerical results show that the source can produce a ring-shaped optical array profile consisting of dark-hollow-shaped or Gaussian-like-shaped beamlets at some distance, and then keep shape-invariant for long distances in free space. The number of rings, the position of beamlets, and other features can be conveniently controlled by changing the initial source parameters. In addition, increasing the relative separation distance of each beamlet or decreasing the radius of beamlets can reduce the turbulence-induced degradation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In some mammals, offspring may live with their parents for a very long time after weaning, but little is known about the effect of post-weaning parent-offspring cohabitation on the behavioral and neurobiological development of offspring. Here, we explored the effect of this experience on partner preference in adult mandarin vole (Microtus mandarinus). Levels of central oxytocin (OT), tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), as well as OT receptor (OTR), dopamine D1-type and D2-type receptors (D1R and D2R) mRNA expression in the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) and medial amygdala (MeA) were also measured. Our data showed that post-weaning living with parents inhibited the preference to partner over an unfamiliar opposite-sex conspecific. Voles with this experience possessed more OT-but less TH-immunoreactive neurons as compared to the control. Additionally, males with this experience had less D2R and OTR mRNA expression in the NAcc than the control while females had less D2R mRNA expression in the NAcc, but more OTR mRNA expression in the MeA. These findings demonstrate that post-weaning parent-offspring cohabitation inhibits the partner preference formation at adulthood, and these changes may be associated with alterations in the levels of central OT and DA, and their receptor mRNA expression in specific brain regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Relaxor ferroelectric 0.75(Pb 1–3 x /2 La x )(Mg 1/3 Nb 2/3 )O 3 -0.25(Pb 1–3 x /2 La x )TiO 3 (La 3+ :PMN-PT x /75/25, where x =2.8, 3.0, 3.5, and 4.0 mol% of La 3+ ) transparent ceramics were fabricated by the combination of oxygen atmosphere pressureless sintering and hot-pressing sintering process. The optical transmittances of above four ceramics are higher than 60% at the wavelength of 500–900 nm. La 3+ :PMN-PT 3.0/75/25 exhibits the highest transparency around 70% at 900 nm which is very close to the theoretical transmittance 71%. Each of the four ceramics exhibits the pure perovskite phases. They show fully dense microstructures and their relative densities are higher than 99.8%. The ferroelectric and dielectric measurements indicate that these four ceramics exhibit relaxation characteristics. With increasing La 3+ content, (200) peak in XRD patterns shifts to higher angles and the average grain size increases, while the temperature Tε max corresponding to the maximum ε r , the remanent polarizations P r and coercive fields E c decrease gradually. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In monogamous mammals, fathers play an important role in the development of the brain and typical behavior in offspring, but the exact nature of this process is not well understood. In particular, little research has addressed whether the presence or absence of paternal care alters levels of hippocampal glucocorticoid receptor (GR) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), and basal levels of serum corticosterone (CORT) and adrenocorticotropin (ACTH). Here, we explored this concept using socially monogamous mandarin voles (Microtus mandarinus), a species in which fathers display high levels of paternal care toward their pups. Our immunohistochemical study shows that paternal deprivation (PD) significantly decreased levels of GR and BDNF protein in the CA1 and CA2/3 of the hippocampus. In the dental gyrus, decreases in GR and BDNF induced by PD were evident in females but not in males. Additionally, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay results show that PD significantly upregulated levels of serum CORT and ACTH in females, but not males. These findings demonstrate that PD alters HPA axis activity in a sex-specific way. The changes in stress hormones documented here may be associated with alteration in hippocampal BDNF and GR levels. © 2014 S. Karger AG, Basel [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Ce/TiO 2 @LDH was prepared from waste Ti-BFS. • Ce greatly promoted the adsorption and visible light photodegradation. • Active surface oxygen and oxygen vacancies was distinctly increased. • The photodegradation pathway was studied. • The photocatalytic mechanism was proposed. [Display omitted] As a kind of bulk solid waste in iron and steel industry, titanium-bearing blast furnace slag (Ti-BFS) poses a serious threat to the environment, its disposal and reuse has been a hot and difficult spot. In this study, a new and high efficient hydrotalcite-like photocatalytic material (denoted CeTL) was prepared from Ti-BFS, and applied to the visible light catalytic degradation of antibiotics in water environment. The results showed that the degradation rate of tetracycline (TC) by the optimized CeTL reached 92.8% after 90 min of illumination. Dissolved organic matter with molecular weight 1–3 kDa was the most inhibiting to degradation rate. The introduction of Ce contributed to the nanopore structure and increased the specific surface area (302.58 m²/g), and effectively promoted the development of active surface oxygen and oxygen vacancies in the lattice, thus reducing the excited energy of photoelectron and expanding the spectral response range. Moreover, Ce acted as a medium to transfer photoelectrons, which successfully separates the reducing photoelectron in conduction band (CB) and the oxidized hole in valence band (VB), and generated·O 2 − and·OH with O 2 and OH−, respectively. These active species attacked TC molecules adsorbed on CeTL surface, degraded them into small molecules, and improved the antibacterial activity of CeTL. The good adsorption capacity and the enhanced visible light catalysis of CeTL synergistic realized the efficient removal of TC. This work enriched the research system of comprehensive utilization of Ti-BFS, and provided a new strategy for the preparation of efficient applied photocatalysts and the recycling of resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Living with parents during puberty reduces locomotor activity. [•] Post-weaning living with parents reduces contact interaction and sniffing. [•] Post-weaning living with parents increases the levels of parental care. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In this work, blast furnace slag was successfully used to prepare five kinds of polymeric titanium aluminium flocculant (PTAC) with different polymerization degrees by two-step acid leaching method, which were applied as the effective dredged sludge conditioners. The results indicated that PTAC can obviously improve the sludge dewaterability. Compared with other four types of PTAC, PTAC 0.6 showed the best sludge conditioning efficiency under the optimum dosage of 4 mg Al + Ti/g TSS. It can reduce the capillary suction time of the sediment by 81.4%, the specific resistance to filtration by 65.1%, and the moisture content of the mud cake from 81.9% to 45.81%. PTAC can significantly increase the zeta potential of the dredged sludge, while it has no obvious effect on the floc size D 0.5. The electric neutralization substantially contributed to the conditioning of PTAC on dredged sludge dewatering. The concentration of dissolved organic carbon, total phosphorus in the residual water was significantly reduced after PTAC conditioning. PTAC can also remove large molecular weight components in dissolved organic matter by flocculation, or hydrolyze large molecular components into small and medium molecular weight components, furthermore reduce the concentration of these organic components. 3D-EEM analysis results showed that PTAC can effectively remove fulvic acid-like substances and some protein-like substances by flocculation, especially the removal effect of fulvic acid-like substances was more prominent. [Display omitted] • Blast furnace slag was used to prepare various polymeric titanium aluminum flocculant. • PTAC showed good dewatering performance for dredged sludge. • The electric neutralization substantially contributed to the conditioning process. • PTAC conditioning could effectively improve the quality of residual water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study comprehensively analyzes the environmental risk of heavy metals (HMs) in the dewatering process of dredged sediment. First, the toxicity leaching capacity, total content, and chemical speciation of the HMs (As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Hg, Mo, Pb, Sb, Sr, Tl, Zn) in dewatered sediment were determined using toxicity characteristic leaching procedure and modified Community Bureau of Reference sequential extraction procedure. The ecotoxicity and environmental risk of the HMs were then evaluated based on sediment quality guidelines, geo-accumulation index, enrichment factor, potential ecological risk, and risk assessment code. The results showed that flocculants reduced the ecological risk of Hg and Mo in sediment, and promoted the transformation of Mo, Sb, and Tl from the biologically active fraction to the more stable fraction. The transformation percentages of Mo, Sb, and Ti were 45.15%, 50.59% and 76.44%, respectively, after chitosan (CTS) treatment, and 64.55%, 31.75% and 99.90%, respectively, after cationic polyacrylamide (CPAM) treatment. CTS reduced the potential risks of bioavailable As, Cr, Cu, Mo, Sb, and Hg by (at most) 46.28%, 45.92%, 43.01%, 100.00%, 44.45%, and 39.69%, respectively, whereas CPAM decreased the ecotoxicity of bioavailable Cd, Co, and Zn by (at most) 27.49%, 16.10%, and 20.89%, respectively. According to the result of principal component analysis, the main factors affecting the environmental risk of HMs in sediment dewatering were nitrogenous organic compounds (mainly protein substances), fulvic acid substances, and minerals. The most essential factor was nitrogenous organic compounds, which accounted for 89.52% of the total variance. Chemical speciation was apparently more suitable for environmental risk assessment of sediment dewatering than total content. This study provides an important basis for controlling the environmental risk of HMs caused by sediment dewatering. [Display omitted] • Flocculant greatly reduced the ecological risk of Hg and Mo in sediment. • Chemical speciation of HMs in sediment was changed by flocculant. • Nitrogenous substance was the major factor affecting dewatering ecological risk. • Chemical speciation was more suitable for HMs risk assessment than total content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mesh denoising is a fundamental yet open problem in geometry processing. The main challenge is to remove noise while recovering the shape of the underlying surface as accurately as possible. In this paper, we propose a novel joint bilateral filter on the face normal field. The key is to estimate a reliable guidance normal field by constructing a shape-aware consistent patch for accurately describing the local shape of each face. To this end, we first select a candidate patch for each face by using a newly defined consistent metric considering both patch flatness and face-to-patch orientation similarity. Then, spectral analysis is used in combination with ℓ 0 minimization to refine the candidate patches in a shape-aware manner. The refined patches do not contain any features, and therefore they can accurately describe the local shape of the underlying surface. After smoothing the face normal field, vertex positions are reconstructed to match the filtered face normals. Our mesh denoising method is theoretically rooted and practical for dealing with the meshes containing corners with low sampling rates, multi-scale features, or narrow structure regions. Extensive experimental results demonstrate that our method can significantly improve the feature preserving capability of joint normal filter and outperforms state-of-the-art methods visually and quantitatively. [Display omitted] • A simple yet effective consistency metric is designed to select candidate patches. • A spectral partitioning method is introduced to produce shape-aware patches. • A variety of experiments to show that our method outperforms the state-of-the-arts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social experiences, especially during early development, have profound effects on the brain and behaviour in later life. We examined whether the provision of alloparental care by older siblings affects anxiety, sociability and parental behaviour at adulthood in both them and the younger siblings for which they care. Using mandarin voles, Microtus mandarinus, we kept the older litter in the parents'' cage at weaning where they provided alloparental care to younger siblings of the next litter. We found that mandarin voles that had cared for younger siblings displayed significantly more locomotor activity in a novel environment and engaged in more social investigation of unfamiliar same-sex individuals. Females of this group also provided more parental care compared to control voles. Individuals cared for by older siblings demonstrated lower levels of anxiety and aggression, and higher levels of parental investment at adulthood, compared to control animals. These results suggest that providing alloparental care increases locomotor activity, social investigation and maternal care in adulthood, and that receiving alloparental care reduces levels of anxiety and aggression and increases biparental care in adulthood. Giving and receiving alloparental care has clear benefits in this species and suggests that alloparental care may increase the inclusive fitness of both givers and receivers. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Various hypotheses have been proposed to explain factors influencing male alloparental behavior in cooperatively breeding species. Mandarin voles (Microtus mandarinus) are ideal animal models to investigate these factors because they are highly social rodents and display biparental care and spontaneous parental care when exposed to foster pups. Here we test the idea that the sexual and paternal experience of males influences alloparental behavior toward novel pups, and that these experiences alter the expression of neuropeptide oxytocin (OT) and estrogen receptor alpha (ERα). Alloparental behavior and OT and ERα expression were compared between virgin males that had no prior sexual or reproductive experience, exposed males that with prior exposure to novel pups before the test, paired males that had been housed with a female, and new fathers having their first litter with a female. Our results show that prior exposure to novel pups and prior mating and paternal experience increased male alloparental behavior toward a novel pup. This experience also increased OT expression and affected the expression of ERα. This study reveals important initiation factors for male alloparental behavior and suggests a relationship between alloparental behavior and central OT expression in males. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A digital twin-assisted dual transfer method was proposed with information and model adaptation for bearing fault diagnosis. • DTa-DT aims to simultaneously synthesize information transfer and model transfer for domain transfer error minimization. • DTd-IT method was proposed to information transfer with low distribution difference of twin data adapted. • DAd-MT method, composed of DBTN, was proposed to model transfer with feature distribution difference of domain-model adapted. • Experiments and ablation study verified that the proposed DTa-DT method can be well applied to small sample learning. Rolling bearing fault diagnosis is of great importance to the safety management of mechanical equipment. The scarcity of labelled fault data makes it difficult to adequately perform the training process of intelligent diagnosis models, and this will result in these intelligent models not being effectively and widely used in practice. Although some recent studies have verified that the addition of dynamic model response to the training process will greatly improve the ability of the model with low cost and high efficiency, it is still stuck in poor effect caused by large information distribution difference between dynamic model response and real measured data. Focusing on this issue, a digital twin-assisted dual transfer (DTa-DT) method with information and model adaptation was proposed for rolling bearing fault diagnosis. Different from the traditional digital-analogue driven transfer methods, the proposed DTa-DT aims to simultaneously synthesize data information transfer and feature model transfer together with domain transfer error minimization. In particular, it should be noted that the DTa-DT architecture consists of a dual transfer learning process, including digital twin-driven information transfer (DTd-IT) and digital-analogue-driven model transfer (DAd-MT), where the information is collaborated with the model to improve the integrated transfer diagnosis effect under sampling. On one aspect, with the employment of bearing dynamic model responses, DTd-IT is innovatively designed to establish the transfer of dynamic information and measured information. The information distribution difference between these twin data and real measured data is effetely adjusted with the introduced actual inference components, where the twin data with low information distribution difference can be well fusion generated by the information transfer digital twin (ITDT) model. On the other aspect, considering the truth that there are still small sample cases of real measured data and information distribution differences will affect the quality of the twin data, a digital-analogue driven model transfer (DAd-MT) method is further proposed, where the deep branch transfer network (DBTN) model with improved convolutional neural network (CNN) is used to achieve an accurate fault diagnosis effect with the help of digital twin data. Experiments and wear analysis verified that the proposed DTa-DT can significantly reduce the distribution difference between the dynamic model response and the real measured data, thus achieving low-cost and efficient rolling bearing transfer diagnosis compared to other ten state-of-the-art deep learning models. It can be predicted that the proposed dual transfer architecture provides more opportunities for the practical application of intelligent fault diagnosis under small sample sizes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• DeepLabV3 + was used to segment calyx, branch, and wire on kiwifruit canopy images. • Xception-65, Xception-71, ResNet-50, and ResNet-101 were trained and compared. • A method of reconstructing discrete wires was developed and competitive in speed. • Uniform weights outperformed median frequency weights during network training. • ResNet-101 achieved the highest mIoU and acceptable speed for robotic harvesting. Kiwifruits are commercially grown on sturdy support structures such as T-bars and pergolas. Wires are widely used in modern agriculture as an important material for supporting T-bars. It may lead to damage to kiwifruit harvesting end-effector or robot when accessing fruits occluded by branches or wires. Additional development to segment calyxes, branches, and wires will help to achieve higher-level picking strategies. DeepLabV3+ was adopted to segment the fruit calyx, branch, and wire in this work. A method of discrete wire pixels reconstruction was then developed on Progressive probabilistic Hough transform (PPHT) to help sense distribution of the wire. Lines that didn't meet the constraints, i.e., angle or distance between the lines, were regarded as noise and eliminated. There were 327 images divided into training (261) and testing (66) sets, where the training set was augmented to 1566 images. The dataset was heavily imbalanced where the pixels of calyx, branch, and wire were much fewer than background pixels. For the imbalanced kiwifruit canopy image segmentation, it was proven that the uniform weights assignation method outperformed the median frequency weights. In terms of backbone, ResNet-101 achieved IoUs (intersection over union) of 0.686, 0.709, and 0.424 for calyx, branch, and wire, respectively, and the highest mIoU (mean IoU) of 0.694. It took about 210.0 ms to process a resolution of 512 × 341 pixels image, which could be acceptable for the kiwifruit harvesting robot. The PPHT achieved an correct detection rate of 92.4%, and was competitive in processing time of 6.4 ms/image. Canopy image segmentation can provide a basis for guiding the harvesting end-effector to pick kiwifruits safely, thus improving the harvesting success rate and reducing on-orchard costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we propose a novel guided normal filtering followed by vertex updating for mesh denoising. We introduce a two-stage scheme to construct adaptive consistent neighborhoods for guided normal filtering. In the first stage, we newly design a consistency measurement to select a coarse consistent neighborhood for each face in a patch-shift manner. In this step, the selected consistent neighborhoods may still contain some features. Then, a graph-cut based scheme is iteratively performed for constructing different adaptive neighborhoods to match the corresponding local shapes of the mesh. The constructed local neighborhoods in this step, known as the adaptive consistent neighborhoods, can avoid containing any geometric features. By using the constructed adaptive consistent neighborhoods, we compute a more accurate guide normal field to match the underlying surface, which will improve the results of the guide normal filtering. With the help of the adaptive consistent neighborhoods, our guided normal filtering can preserve geometric features well, and is robust against complex shapes of surfaces. Intensive experiments on various meshes show the superiority of our method visually and quantitatively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A KiwiDetector Android APP was developed to detect kiwifruits for yield estimation. • Kiwifruits were detected by two lightweight backbones MobileNetV2 and InceptionV3. • An 8-bit quantization was applied to compress model size and improve detection speed. • MobileNetV2 outperformed InceptionV3 in both true detected rate and detection speed. • Quantized MobileNetV2 performed fastest and can be improved by more powerful hardware. Fast and accurate detection of kiwifruit in orchard under natural environment is the primary technology for yield estimation. Deep learning has become a prevalent way of fruit detection and achieved outstanding results. Besides, easy-carry smartphones are getting popular and powerful. In this paper, single shot multibox detector (SSD) with two lightweight backbones MobileNetV2 and InceptionV3 were employed to develop an Android APP named KiwiDetector for field kiwifruit detection. An 8-bit quantization method was used to compress model size and improve detection speed by quantizing weight tensor and activation function data of convolutional neural networks from 32-bit floating point to 8-bit integer. Detection test was performed on 100 selected kiwifruit field images with resolution of 3,968 × 2,976 pixels using the four models on a HUAWEI P20 smartphone. Results showed that MobileNetV2, quantized MobileNetV2, InceptionV3, and quantized InceptionV3 obtained true detected rate (TDR) of 90.8%, 89.7%, 87.6%, and 72.8%, respectively. The TDR of MobileNetV2 and quantized MobileNetV2 was generally consistent and higher than InceptionV3 and quantized InceptionV3. For processing an image on the smartphone, MobileNetV2, quantized MobileNetV2, InceptionV3, and quantized InceptionV3 took about 163 ms, 103 ms, 1085 ms, and 685 ms with model sizes of 17.5 MB, 4.5 MB, 96.1 MB, and 24.1 MB, respectively. Quantized MobileNetV2 reached a significant TDR with the fastest detection speed and the smallest model size. The results indicated that the proposed Android APP is promising for yield estimation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dredged sediment contains various contaminants that are released during the process of dewatering and subsequent utilization. In this study, two organic polymers—chitosan (CS) and cationic polyacrylamide (CPAM) both in samples of varying molecular weights (MWs)—were used as flocculants to improve dewatering and rheological behaviors of dredged sediment, and floc properties were characterized to unravel the mechanisms of flocculation treatment. Moreover, pollutant transfer and release in the flocculation-dewatering process was investigated. Compared to CPAM, CS had better performance in dredged sediment dewatering, and more compact flocs were produced after treatment. The flocculated sediment belonged to the type of yield dilatant fluid and showed good shear resistance. Three-dimensional excitation–emission matrix spectroscopy and PARAFAC showed that protein-like substances were removed after treatment. The MW of CS had insignificant effects on flocculation performance, whereas CPAM removal efficiency for protein-like substances was increased at higher MWs, which may be related to the adsorption bridging effect of CPAM polymer chains. There were significant correlations between the dewatering performance of sediments, MW distribution of organics and rheological properties. CS and CPAM treatments caused the transformation of Fe/Al-P into Ca P, which could reduce phosphorus release and its ecological risk. The flocculants contributed to the formation of carbonate-bound forms of As, Cr, Pb, and Ni. Ecological risk assessment results of the geo-accumulation index showed that medium- and low-MW CS reduced risk of sediment contamination, whereas CPAM and high-MW CS increased the ecological risk. CS had a greater effect on the release of VOCs than CPAM, with an increased release of total VOCs at higher flocculant MWs. The study was helpful to understand the dewatering mechanism of dredged sediment and provided a new strategy for pollution release management in sediment dewatering. Unlabelled Image • CS performed better in improving dredged sediment dewaterability than CPAM. • The floc produced by CS treatment was more compact than that flocculated with CPAM. • Sediment dewatering efficiency was related to protein-like substances removal. • Flocculation conditioning affected the form and transferring of pollutants in sediment. • Pollutant release and transferring behavior in flocculation conditioning was related to MW of polymers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the data of China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) in 2018, this paper analyzes the influencing factors of empty nest family tourism consumption. It is found that family assets, pension income and Internet usage have a significant impact on empty nest family tourism consumption, positively promoting it. Internet usage has the greatest impact. This paper also carries out a heterogeneity test. The results show that the factors affecting the tourism consumption of empty nest families are different among middle-aged and elderly empty nest families, urban and rural empty nest families, and empty nest families in different regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Isoliquiritigenin (ISL) is an emerging natural flavonoid found in the roots of licorice, exhibits antioxidant, anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, anti-allergic, cardioprotective, hepatoprotective and neuroprotective properties. However, the effect of ISL in embryonic development is yet to be elucidated, and the mechanisms underlying its target-organ toxicity and harmful side effects are still unclear. In the present study, we employed zebrafish embryos to study the developmental toxicity effect of ISL and its underlying mechanisms. Zebrafish embryos upon treatment with either vehicle control (0.1% DMSO) or ISL solutions for 4–96 h post fertilization (hpf) showed that ISL exposure instigated severe developmental toxicity in heart, liver, and nervous system. Mortality and morphological abnormalities were also observed. High concentrations of ISL exposure resulted in abnormal phenotypes and embryonic malformations including pericardial edema, swim bladder defects, yolk retention, curved body shape and shortening of body length. Moreover, ISL exposure led to significant loss of dopaminergic neurons accompanied by reduced locomotor behaviour. Apoptotic cells were predominantly located in the heart area of 96 hpf embryo. Additionally, ISL significantly increased the levels of reactive oxygen species, lipid peroxidation content and decreased antioxidant enzyme activities. The expressions pattern of apoptosis-related genes Bad , Cyto c , Caspase-9 , Caspase-3 and Bax/Bcl-2 indicated that the oxidative stress–induced apoptosis triggered by ISL suggest involvement of Nrf2-HO1/JNK-ERK/mitochondrion pathways. In conclusion, here we provide first evidence that demonstrate ISL-induced dose-dependent developmental toxicity in zebrafish embryos. Furthermore, gene expression patterns in the embryos correlate the above and reveal potential genetic mechanisms of developmental toxicity. • ISL triggered developmental toxicity in zebrafish, caused death and malformations. • ISL exposure instigated developmental toxicity in heart, liver, and nervous system. • ISL triggered apoptosis in zebrafish via Nrf2-HO1/JNK-ERK/mitochondrion pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In coherent diffraction imaging systems, mulplex measurement on unknown object can enhance the quality of output image. We apply angular mulplexing scheme to capture several diffracting images. A tilt diffraction model is used for addressing the illumination beam in the imaging process. And an iterative phase retrieval algorithm is desingend and adopted to recover the image of sample. Numerical simulation results are provied to test the imaging method. This approach can be used to enhance the quality of reconstructed images in coherent diffraction imaging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the development of modern precision optical fabrication and measurement technologies, optical freeform surfaces have been widely employed in different applications, especially in off-axis reflective optical systems. For an infrared optical system operating in the long-wavelength spectrum, compactness, brightness, and a wide field of view are key requirements for military surveillance or scene sensing. In this paper, we present an off-axis two-mirror freeform infrared imager with compactness and brightness. It has a large pupil of size 12 mm and a fast focal ratio of 2.2 over a wide 23° diagonal field of view, as well as good image quality. XY-polynomial freeform surfaces are applied to the viewing mirror and focusing mirror. The multiple degrees of freedom of optical freeform surfaces are very helpful for off-axis aberration correction and improving the optical performance over the entire pupil across the full field of view. The overall dimension of our designed freeform infrared imager is about 30 mm by 30 mm by 30 mm, which is elegantly miniaturized. The final designed results of a reflective freeform infrared imager are demonstrated and discussed in detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Juveniles of cooperative breeding species usually remain in the natal area and provide care to younger siblings, a behavior considered one form of alloparenting in the natural condition. Previous studies have demonstrated the effects of providing or receiving alloparental care on adult behaviors, including anxiety-like behavior, social interaction, and parental behavior, but little is known about the influences on species-typical bonding behaviors, such as pair-bond formation. In this study, we explored this concept using socially monogamous mandarin voles (Lasiopodomys mandarinus). As the oxytocin (OT) and dopamine systems are involved in alloparental and pair-bonding behaviors, we also examined the levels of central OT and tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), as well as OT receptor (OTR) and dopamine D1-type and D2-type receptors (D1R and D2R) mRNA expression in the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) and amygdala to investigate the underlying mechanisms. Our results show that mandarin voles providing alloparental care to younger siblings displayed facilitation of partner preference formation, lower levels of OT expression in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVN) and lateral hypothalamus (LH), and increased OTR and D2R mRNA expression in the NAcc compared to controls. Individuals receiving alloparental care also demonstrated facilitation of partner preference formation in adult voles. Additionally, alloparental care enhanced OT expression in the PVN, anterior medial preoptic nucleus (MPOAa), medial amygdala (MeA), and TH expression in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and zona incerta (ZI). Furthermore, males displayed decreased D1R mRNA expression in the NAcc, whereas females showed slightly increased D2R expression in the amygdala. These results demonstrate that providing or received alloparental care can promote partner preference formation in monogamous species and that these changes are associated with altered OT and dopamine levels and their receptors in specific brain regions. • Providing alloparental care promoted partner preference in monogamous species. • Providing alloparental care decreased OT expression in the PVN and LH. • Providing alloparental care increased OTR and D2R mRNA expression in the NAcc. • Receiving alloparental care increased OT expression in the PVN, MPOAa and MeA. • Receiving alloparental care increased TH expression in the VTA and ZI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Bisphenol A (BPA) is a widespread endocrine disrupting chemical that influences adult physiology and behavior after perinatal exposure. However, it is not clear if pubertal exposure to BPA exerts hormone dependent effects on behaviors. Using C57BL/6J mice, we sought to determine how pubertal exposure to BPA affects locomotion, exploration, anxiety and sociability in adulthood. Compared to controls, pubertal exposure to BPA or E2 (17β-estradiol) significantly altered female exploratory and anxiety behavior. Moreover, BPA and E2-treated female mice displayed increased levels of affiliation to female stimulus mice and decreased levels of affiliation to male stimulus mice; while our control males showed affiliation preference to female stimulus. These results indicate that pubertal exposure to BPA or E2 may masculinize female social and emotional behavior. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The basal ascomycetes in genus Taphrina have strict host specificity and coevolution with their host plants, making them appealing models for studying the genomic basis of ecological divergence and host adaption. We therefore performed genome sequencing and comparative genomics of different Taphrina species with distinct host ranges to reveal their evolution. We identified frequent chromosomal rearrangements and highly dynamic lineage‐specific (LS) genomic regions in Taphrina genomes. The LS regions occur at the flanking regions of chromosomal breakpoints, and are greatly enriched for DNA repeats, non‐core genes, and in planta up‐regulated genes. Furthermore, we identified hundreds of candidate secreted effector proteins (CSEPs) that are commonly organized in gene clusters that form distinct AT‐rich isochore‐like regions. Nearly half of the CSEPs constitute two novel superfamilies with modular structures unique to Taphrina. These CSEPs are commonly up‐regulated during infection, enriched in the LS regions, evolved faster, and underwent extensive gene gain and loss in different species. In addition to displaying signatures of positive selection, functional characterization of selected CSEP genes confirmed their roles in suppression of plant defence responses. Overall, our results showed that extensive chromosomal rearrangements and rapidly evolving CSEP superfamilies play important roles in speciation and host adaptation in the early‐branching ascomycetous fungi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To improve C sequestration in soils and mitigate climate change, it is essential to understand how nutrient management strategies impact on soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks and labile fractions. This study was designed to explore changes in soil bulk density (BD), SOC concentrations, SOC stocks and soil labile organic C fractions (mineralizable C (Cmin), microbial biomass C (MBC), dissolved organic C (DOC), particulate organic C (POC), light fraction organic C (LFOC) and permanganate oxidizable C (KMnO 4 -C)) under 26-year fertilization regimes in a wheat-maize rotation system in the North China Plain. Soil from the following six treatments was analyzed: (1) Control with no amendment addition (CK); (2) Standard rate of mineral fertilizer treatment (SMF) reflecting local farmers' practice; (3) Standard rate of organic manure treatment (SMA) with total N input equal to SMF; (4) Half the standard rate of mineral fertilizer plus half the standard rate of organic manure treatment (1/2 SMF + 1/2 SMA); (5) Double standard rate of mineral fertilizer treatment (DMF); (6) Double standard rate of organic manure treatment (DMA). Results showed that all long-term fertilization regimes significantly decreased BD in topsoil compared to CK except for SMF, with treatments that included organic manure resulting in the lowest BDs. Treatments that included organic manure had significantly higher SOC concentrations and stocks than mineral or unfertilized treatments. The organic manure treatments also had higher concentrations of non-labile C but at the same time a higher proportion of labile C than the mineral or unfertilized treatments. This was confirmed by the carbon management index (CMI) which was significantly increased by organic manure addition. Control and mineral fertilized treatments had higher efficiencies of C retention (RE) from added inputs (crop residues only). Differences in Cmin, POC and KMnO 4 -C were affected by differences in MA-C, however, changes in rhizodeposition-C, stubble-C and root-C significantly affected DOC, MBC and LFOC. This study demonstrates that fertilization strategies that include organic manure can increase the pool of stable C in the surface soil layer, while at the same time increasing concentrations and proportions of labile C. Organic manure use can therefore contribute to improved nutrient cycling services and higher soil quality in the North China Plain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Asian honeybee ( Apis cerana ) is an important indigenous species that play an indispensable role in the ecological balance and biological diversity. Few studies have been conducted to characterize the simple sequence repeats (SSRs) derived from A . cerana , so, in this study, a genome-wide screening for SSRs were firstly performed in the genome of A . cerana by comparison with that in west honeybee ( Apis mellifera ). There were 20,9991 SSRs distributed throughout the genome of A . cerana (Korea strain) and di-nucleotides were the most frequent SSR type. Both total number and density of SSRs in A . cerana genome were smaller than that in A . mellifera genome. Through comparing length discrepancy of SSRs loci among several isolates based on sequence alignment, 218 potential polymorphic SSRs primers derived from A . cerana were presented. Five among these SSR markers were evaluated for amplification in twenty-eight colonies of Apis cerana cerana (Chinese honeybee), which showed highly polymorphic, with the value of Polymorphism information content (PIC) ranging from 0.47 to 0.61. All these results will contribute to further develop more effective SSRs markers derived from A . cerana , which can be used to study genetic structure and population polymorphism of Asian honeybee. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Capsaicin bestows spiciness by activating TRPV1 channel with exquisite potency and selectivity. Although a capsaicin-bound channel structure was previously resolved by cryo-EM at 4.2- to 4.5-Å resolution, capsaicin was registered as a small electron density, reflecting neither its chemical structure nor specific ligand-channel interactions-important details required for mechanistic understanding. We obtained the missing atomic-level details by iterative computation and confirmed them by systematic site-specific functional tests. We observed that the bound capsaicin takes a 'tail-up, head-down' configuration. The vanillyl and amide groups form specific interactions to anchor its bound position, while the aliphatic tail may sample a range of conformations, making it invisible in cryo-EM images. Capsaicin stabilizes TRPV1's open state by 'pull-and-contact' interactions between the vanillyl group and the S4-S5 linker. Our study provides a structural mechanism for the agonistic function of capsaicin and its analogs, and demonstrates an effective approach to obtain atomic-level information from cryo-EM structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The socially monogamous mandarin vole ( Microtus mandarinus) shows significant behavioral plasticity. We examined whether levels of sociability, parental care and central expression of estrogen receptor alpha differed between two populations with different ecologies. Our results show that males from the Chengcun population display significantly more amicable and less aggressive behaviors towards novel same-sex individuals compared to males from the second population of Xinzheng. Chengcun voles directed more licking behavior towards neonatal pups than did Xinzheng voles. Differences were also found in the number of estrogen receptor alpha-immunoreactive neurons. For example, Xinzheng males displayed significantly higher immunoreactivity than Chengcun males in the medial amygdala, medial preoptic area and ventromedial nucleus of the hypothalamus. Xinzheng females expressed higher levels of estrogen receptor alpha-immunoreactivity than Chengcun females in the medial preoptic area. Chengcun females exhibited significantly more estrogen receptor alpha expression than Xinzheng females in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis. Our results indicate that mandarin voles from the Chengcun site possess monogamous traits, and animals from Xinzheng possess polygamous traits. It also appears that different social behavior and levels of parental care in these two populations may be associated with differences in estrogen receptor alpha-immunoreactive neurons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A method to avoid detecting branch/wire occluded kiwifruits as pickable targets. • Fruits were divided as four/five classes by robot picking strategy/field occlusion. • YOLOv3 and YOLOv4 were compared by mAP and detection speed. • Fruits classified into more classes was beneficial to achieving higher mAP. • YOLOv4 in the five-classes achieved the highest mAP and met real-time detection. Deep learning has achieved kiwifruit detection with high accuracy and fast speed. However, all the kiwifruits have been labeled and detected as only one class in most researches for robotic fruit picking, where fruits occluded by branches or wires have been detected as pickable targets. End-effectors or robots may be damaged by the branches or wires when they are forced to pick those fruits. Therefore, kiwifruits are labeled, trained, and detected in multi-classes based on their occlusions to avoid detecting fruits occluded by branches or wires as pickable targets. Fruits are classified into four classes and five classes according to robotic picking strategy and field occlusions, respectively. Well-known YOLOv3 and recently released YOLOv4 are employed to do transfer learning for multi-classes kiwifruit detection. Results show that mAP (mean average precision) of fruits in the five-classes is higher than that in the four-classes, while mAP of YOLOv4 is higher than YOLOv3. The mAP of YOLOv4 and YOLOv3 in the five-classes and four-classes are 91.9%, 91.5%, 91.1%, and 89.5%, respectively. The results demonstrate that fruits labeled and trained in more classes can achieve higher mAP. There are significant differences in average detection speed in YOLOv3 and YOLOv4, but no in the four-classes and five-classes. Overall, the highest mAP of 91.9% was achieved by YOLOv4 in the five-classes, which cost 25.5 ms on average to process a 2352 × 1568 image. The results illustrate that multi-classes kiwifruit detection is helpful for avoiding damage to the end-effectors or robots. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a method to generate beams according to transmission limitation condition by using the multi-distance phase retrieval algorithm. Propagation properties of hollow beams were determined by several intensity patterns along the travel axis. Predicted beams were obtained using a two-step phase filtering from a Gaussian beam with fundamental mode. An iterative phase retrieval method was employed for calculating the phase distribution in the filtering mask. This beam generation approach matched special propagation characteristics of the beams in practical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]