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Introduction: Audio description (AD) enables access to blind/low vision audiences by translating visual content into narrated descriptions. This study examines AD translation approaches for the Oscar-winning animated short Feast.Methods: Chinese and English AD scripts from Feast were analyzed to compare priorities in content selection and patterns in translation techniques.Results: Both versions prioritized graphics and dynamic symbols when deciding what to translate. Shared translation techniques included compensation, iconic description, and substitution. Differences emerged with more reduction, adaptation, and technical descriptions in the Chinese AD, versus more generalization in the English AD.Discussion: Disparities highlight the linguistic and cultural factors integral to effective AD translation.Implications: This analysis offers practical customization guidelines for AD providers and theoretical insights into intersemiotic translation complexity. Further comparative research could support tailored AD practices and accessibility for diverse global audiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The number of universities offering Master of Translation and Interpreting (MTI) in China has increased to 316 in 15 years. This paper aims to take a closer look at the production patterns of experimental report theses in terms of total number, distribution across universities, supervision model and research content, reflects on the problems and suggests improvements, provides a reference for MTI education in China and beyond. Design/methodology/approach: This paper presents a bibliometric analysis of the published final theses of experimental reports for the MTI in China between the years 2012 and 2022, the period during which this type of thesis was produced, to identify the production patterns of these theses. Findings: The number of experimental reports published by the nine leading universities accounts for 80% of the total 296 papers. The uneven development is also reflected in the supervision model and research content. Most universities can structure the main content of theses according to the suggestions of the MTI Guidance Training Outline. However, there are still deficiencies in the areas of experimental design, experimental validity, research questions and academic standards. Originality/value: This paper reflects on the problems of MTI theses of experimental reports. Also, suggestions are made for linking top-level design and university education, for joint progress in faculty development and talent training and for integrating industrial aspects and international visions, to provide a reference for MTI education in China and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The electrical resistivity method was verified as an optional technique to monitor the change of mesostructure of saturated soils. To investigate the change laws of resistivity and analyze the reliquefaction meso-mechanism during the consecutive liquefaction process, five successive impact liquefaction tests were performed in a one-dimensional cubical chamber. The resistivity variation and excess pore water pressure (EPWP) were measured. The results indicate that the excess pore water pressure experienced four stages: quick increase stage, slow dissipation stage, rapid dissipation stage, and stability stage. Meanwhile, a swift decrease of resistivity emerged before the start of the rapid dissipation stage of EPWP, and then an increasing trend of resistivity is demonstrated with the densification of soil. It is proved that the vertical pore connectivity of liquefied sand is better than its random deposit state, based on a comparative study of porosity calculated from the settlement and resistivity of sand after each test. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A chiral Brønsted acid‐catalysed asymmetric hydrophosphinylation of 2‐vinylazaarenes by secondary phosphine oxides is described. A variety of P‐chiral 2‐azaaryl‐ethylphosphine oxides are synthesized with high yields and ees, of which both the substituents of phosphines and azaarenes can be flexibly modulated, underscoring an exceptionally broad scope of substrates. These adducts are valuable to asymmetric metal catalysis since the resultant P‐chiral tertiary phosphines from the reduction of them are verified as a kind of effective C1‐symmetric chiral 1,5‐hybrid P,N‐ligands. Importantly, this catalysis platform enables the generic and efficient kinetic resolution of P‐chiral secondary phosphine oxides. It thus provides an expedient approach to access the enantiomers of the P‐chiral tertiary phosphine oxides derived from asymmetric hydrophosphinylation, further improving the utility of the method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A chiral Brønsted acid‐catalysed asymmetric hydrophosphinylation of 2‐vinylazaarenes by secondary phosphine oxides is described. A variety of P‐chiral 2‐azaaryl‐ethylphosphine oxides are synthesized with high yields and ees, of which both the substituents of phosphines and azaarenes can be flexibly modulated, underscoring an exceptionally broad scope of substrates. These adducts are valuable to asymmetric metal catalysis since the resultant P‐chiral tertiary phosphines from the reduction of them are verified as a kind of effective C1‐symmetric chiral 1,5‐hybrid P,N‐ligands. Importantly, this catalysis platform enables the generic and efficient kinetic resolution of P‐chiral secondary phosphine oxides. It thus provides an expedient approach to access the enantiomers of the P‐chiral tertiary phosphine oxides derived from asymmetric hydrophosphinylation, further improving the utility of the method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A low‐power wideband self‐biased phase‐locked loop (SPLL) is proposed for multi‐protocol SerDes applications in this letter. With the proposed adaptive fast‐locking current circuit (AFLCC) and self‐biased charge pump (CP), the settling time is reduced significantly, and no extra power and jitter contribution. In addition, a start‐up module is adopted to reset the system to an optimal initial operating frequency quickly. The proposed 1‐3‐GHz SPLL, fabricated in TSMC 28‐nm CMOS process, occupies a compact 0.028 mm2 area. It achieves a roughly constant settling time of 5 μs over all frequencies and division ratios range. Only 0.96 mW is consumed at 1 GHz frequency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hard petroleum asphalt, which is a high modulus asphalt binder material, is used for improving asphalt pavement rutting distress. This property is attributed to the good high-temperature rheological characteristics of hard petroleum asphalt. The study investigates the performance of hard petroleum asphalt and Styrene-Butadiene-Styrene polymer modified asphalt (SBSPMA) based on three aspects: asphalt oil source, asphalt grade, and aging degree. The short-term and long-term aging of four hard petroleum asphalts and SBSPMA of comparative samples were measured using the rolling thin film oven test (RTFOT) and the pressure aging test (PAV). Firstly, the viscosity-temperature curve of hard petroleum asphalt was obtained using the Brookfield viscosity test at different temperatures combined with the improved REFUTAS formula. The complex shear modulus ( G ∗), phase angle (δ), and rutting factor ( G ∗ / sin δ) of each asphalt sample were then measured by the dynamic shear rheometer test (DSR). Furthermore, the temperature sensitivity of each asphalt sample was calculated using the complex modulus index method (GTS). The compaction and paving temperature ranges of each asphalt were then confirmed. The results showed that the high-temperature rheological characteristics of hard petroleum asphalt were similar to those of SBSPMA. The temperature sensitivity of hard petroleum asphalt was basically the same as that of SBSPMA, while the influence of aging on the G ∗ of hard petroleum asphalt was greater than that of SBSPMA. In addition, the hard petroleum asphalt construction temperature was lower than that of SBSPMA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrically-driven membrane technology plays a crucial role in water treatment and purification, finding applications in various fields like saline water and wastewater desalination, saline concentration and wastewater recycling. The content of this study is based on dually cross-linking and hot-pressing on a PVDF blend, to fabricate a kind of anion exchange membranes (AEMs) having semi-interpenetrating network and thus improve the defect of the traditional heterogeneous AEMs. The research explores the impact of vinyl imidazole (VIM) and dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA) monomers, primarily or dually cross-linking, and optimizes the membrane properties through a hot-pressing process. Under these optimized conditions, the resulting membranes exhibit robust mechanical properties and outstanding desalination capabilities, achieving an area resistance of 2.56 Ω cm2 (comparable to standard homogeneous membranes), a desalination rate of 97.26% (outperforming the Neosepta AMX: 76.90%), and a salt limiting concentration of 3.1 M (surpassing the heterogeneous AEM and Neosepta AMX). Notably, this synthesis method is characterized by its cheap raw material and low energy consumption. This research offers valuable insights for the advancement and large-scale implementation of anion exchange membrane desalination. [Display omitted] • A series of PVDF-based AEMs having semi-interpenetrating networks has been prepared. • The as-prepared AEMs optimized through a hot-pressing process. • The optimized AEM shows a desalination rate of 97.26% and a salt limiting concentration of 3.1 M. • The electrodialysis performance of optimized AEMs outperforms the commercial membranes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The major goal of this paper is to address the derivation of the frequency equation of flexural vibrating cantilever beam considering the bending moment generated by an additional mass at the free end of beam, not just the shear force. It is a transcendental equation with two unambiguous physical meaning parameters. And the influence of the two parameters on the characteristics of frequency and shape mode was made. The results show that the inertial moment of the mass has the significant effect on the natural frequency and the shape mode. And it is more reasonable using this frequency equation to analyze vibration and measure modulus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the intuition that natural face images lie on or near a low‐dimensional submanifold, the authors propose a novel spectral graph based dimensionality reduction method, named orthogonal enhanced linear discriminant analysis (OELDA), for face recognition. OELDA is based on enhanced LDA (ELDA), which takes into account both the discriminative structure and geometrical structure of the face space, and generates non‐orthogonal basis vectors. However, a significant fact is that eliminating the dependence of basis vectors can promote more effective recognition of unseen face images. For this purpose, the authors seek to improve the ELDA scheme by imposing orthogonal constraints on the basis vectors. Experimental results on real‐world face datasets show that, benefitting from orthogonality, OELDA has more locality preserving power and discriminative power than LDA and ELDA, and achieves the highest recognition rates among compared methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 2000, sporadic imported cases of dengue fever were documented almost every year in Yunnan Province, China. Unexpectedly, a large-scale outbreak of dengue virus (DENV) infection occurred from August to December 2013, with 1538 documented cases. In the current study, 81 dengue-positive patient samples were collected from Xishuangbanna, the southernmost prefecture of the Yunnan province, and 23 from Dehong, the westernmost prefecture of the Yunnan province. The full-length envelope genes were amplified and sequenced. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that nine strains (39.1%) and 14 strains (60.9%) from the Dehong prefecture were classified as genotype I of DENV-1 and Asian I genotype of DENV-2, respectively. All strains from Xishuangbanna were identified as genotype II of DENV-3. Bayesian coalescent analysis indicates that the outbreak originated from bordering southeastern Asian countries. These three epidemic genotypes were predicted to originate in Thailand and then migrate into Yunnan through different routes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) has been widely used in statistics for its great flexibility. However, parameter estimation for GMM with high dimensionality is a challenge because of the large number of parameters and the lack of observation data. In this paper, we propose an effective method named hierarchical Bayes based Adaptive Sparsity in Gaussian Mixture Model ( ASGMM ) to estimate the parameters in a GMM by incorporating a two-layer hierarchical Bayes based adaptive sparsity prior. The prior we impose on the precision matrices can encourage sparsity and hence reduce the dimensionality of the parameters to be estimated. In contrast to the l 1 -norm penalty or Laplace prior, our approach does not involve any hyperparameters that must be tuned, and the sparsity adapts to the observation data. The proposed method is achieved by three steps: first, we formulate an adaptive hierarchical Bayes model of the precision matrices in the GMM with a Jeffrey’s noninformative hyperprior, which expresses scale-invariance and, more importantly, is hyperparameter-free and unbiased . Second, we perform a Cholesky decomposition on the precision matrices to impose the positive definite property. Finally, we exploit the expectation maximization (EM) algorithm to obtain the final estimated parameters in the GMM. Experimental results on synthetic and real-world datasets demonstrate that ASGMM cannot only adapt the sparsity of high-dimensional data with small estimated error, but also achieve better clustering performance comparing with several classical methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] The core and coating components of engineered nanoparticles were labeled with rare isotopes. [•] These complex nanoparticles were injected into the rat. [•] Dose and tissue samples were analyzed for both rare isotopes. [•] The rare isotope ratio demonstrated that the citrate coating dissociated from the CENP. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Understanding mechanisms for forming protein coronas on nanomaterial surfaces is essential to designing drug delivery systems and designing and interpreting the results of nanomaterial toxicity tests. The study reports the adsorption behavior of a positively charged protein, lysozyme, on cerium dioxide (ceria) nanoparticles with three different surface charges. Adsorption isotherms were modeled with the Toth and Sips equations. Isotherm loading levels were compared to monolayer coverage estimate for ‘side-on’ and ‘end-on’ lysozyme orientations as well as random packing (jamming) and maximum packing limits. Evaluation of adsorption site energy distributions (generated using the model coefficients) suggested that the negatively charged ceria surface had a very broad site energy distribution and that its surface heterogeneity controls the adsorption process. By contrast, the adsorption of lysozyme on the positively charged nanoparticles appears to be influenced by lateral effects from adsorbed protein species. The results illustrate the importance of nanoparticle surface chemistry to protein adsorption. The modeling and site energy distribution evaluations may be useful for interpreting the formation of protein coronas on nanoparticles. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The threatening of antibiotic drugs for human and environment is being paid more and more attention. Ciprofloxacin (CIP), a strong quinolone antibiotic drug widely used in therapeutic treatments, is the most frequently detected in surface waters among the fluoroquinolones, which represents animal and human health risks. A novel highly fluorescent Ga-based hybrid (Eu3+@ 1) has been synthesized based on metal-organic framework (MOF) by encapsulating lanthanide cations Eu3+ in its channels. The as-synthesized compound possesses excellent water and pH-independent stability. It displays week red luminescence of Eu3+ in itself and can sense the CIP concentration as turn-on fluorescent probe in the human urine. With addition of CIP, the evident luminescence enhancement is clearly observed from the Eu3+@ 1. Linear correlation between the fluorescence intensity and the concentration of CIP is investigated, proving the excellent performance of Eu3+@ 1 in the detection of CIP with linear range (0.01–0.2 mg/mL) and low detection limit (2.4 ppm or 2.4 μg/mL). The response time is also very quick, less than 3 min. Based on these findings, we introduce AND logic gate strategy to the probe. The input of the logic gates (0, 1), (0, 1, 1), (1, 1, 1) cause the different outputs of CIP determination "LOW" (<25 ppm),"NORMAL" (25–76 ppm), "HIGH" (>76 ppm), respectively. The novel strategy can be applied for a real-time CIP concentration evaluation by intelligent discrimination. Novel fluorescence probe Eu3+ functionalized Ga-MOF Eu3+@ 1 is designed and can effectively detect CIP in human urine through a process of "off–on". Moreover, logic-gate strategy is introduced to the probe for detecting CIP concentration levels by intelligent discrimination. Image 1 • A turn-on fluorescence probe to detect the concentration of CIP in human urine. • The probe integrated with gate operation for CIP by intelligent discrimination. • Monitoring CIP with superior sensitivity, high selectivity and short response time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An electro-osmotic consolidation (EO) combined with vacuum preloading (VP) was investigated on marine clay using laboratory tests. To improve consolidation efficiency and reduce the settlement difference, a new prefabricated device was designed to combine EO and VP for the tests. The results indicated that the vacuum preloading with intermittent electro-osmotic consolidation (VP–I-ECM) provided more water discharge with higher discharge rate and produced larger soil settlement compared to traditional vacuum preloading and electro-osmotic consolidation. For the combined method, the VP effectively removed water from the soil for the first 12 h, and its efficiency decreased with the time. After 12 h, the intermittent EO was used to further consolidate the soil and maintain a high level of drainage rate. Test results also showed that the combined method of VP-I-ECM significantly improved the shear strength and bearing capacity of the marine clay to satisfy the construction requirements with a significant reduction in the anode erosion and the energy consumption. This research study provides useful information for the design guide and practical application of the combined technique for improving marine clay. • Vacuum preloading (VP) combined with electro-osmotic consolidation (EO) was investigated for marine clay improvement. • A new prefabricated device was designed to connect VP and EO with the improved efficiency in the construction. • Laboratory tests were conducted on marine clay using the combined method. • Three different techniques, including VPM, VP-ECM, and VP-I-ECM, were evaluated. • VP-I-ECM provided better consolidation efficiency and lower energy consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, steel slag was added into the marine silt to improve its dynamic properties. The characteristics of marine silt that can be studied by XRD, BET surface area, SEM, and FTIR were first described. Then, the influence of the sample density, water content, waste steel slag content, and the confining pressure on the dynamic shear modulus G and damping ratio λ was discussed by conducting resonant column tests. The results illustrated that the dynamic characteristics of the marine silt-steel slag admixtures were considerably improved. Additionally, G increased with the increasing steel slag content and λ increased with the decreasing steel slag content. Moreover, a dynamic model of the admixtures was developed based on the Hardin–Drnevich model. Furthermore, by comparing the dynamic characteristics of the admixtures with Nanjing sand, Fujian sand, Kiyohoro silty clay, and Wenzhou marine clay, it was found that the improved admixtures may be a more suitable geofiller in geotechnical engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Astroviruses (AstVs) are single-stranded RNA viruses that have been detected in a wide range of mammals and birds. They are associated with numerous interspecies transmissions and viral recombination events, posing a threat to human and animal health. Methods: We collected 1,333 samples from wild animals, including bats, rodents, wild boars, and birds, from various states and cities in the Yunnan Province, China, between 2020 and 2023 to investigate the presence of AstVs. AstVs were detected using a polymerase chain reaction targeting the RdRp gene. Finally, the Molecular Evolutionary Genetics Analysis software was used to construct the phylogenetic tree. Results: The overall positivity rate for AstVs was 7.12% in four species, indicating their widespread occurrence in the region. High genetic diversity among AstVs was observed in different animal species, suggesting the potential for interspecies transmission, particularly among rodents and birds. Additionally, we identified a novel AstV strain and, for the first time, provided information on the presence of bastroviruses in Yunnan, China. Conclusions: The widespread distribution and high genetic diversity of AstVs, along with the observed potential for interspecies transmission, highlight the importance of further investigation and surveillance in the region. The findings emphasize the need for increased attention to AstVs and their potential impact on human and animal health in Yunnan and other regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many zoonotic disease emergencies are associated with RNA viruses in rodents that substantially impact public health. With the widespread application of meta-genomics and meta-transcriptomics for virus discovery over the last decade, viral sequences deposited in public databases have expanded rapidly, and the number of novel viruses discovered in rodents has increased. As important reservoirs of zoonotic viruses, rodents have attracted increasing attention for the risk of potential spillover of rodent-borne viruses. However, knowledge of rodent viral diversity and the major factors contributing to the risk of zoonotic epidemic outbreaks remains limited. Therefore, this study analyzes the diversity and composition of rodent RNA viruses using virus records from the Database of Rodent-associated Viruses (DRodVir/ZOVER), which covers the published literatures and records in GenBank database, reviews the main rodent RNA virus-induced human infectious diseases, and discusses potential challenges in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To identify the main components in the extracts of different parts of Juandan Baihe (Lilium lancifolium) by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF-MS) technology and investigate their hypoglycemic activities. Methods The MS fragmentation pathways of the main types of compounds in Juandan Baihe (Lilium lancifolium) were studied, and the main components in the extracts were systematically identified using MS fragmentation pathways combined with MS mining technology. Based on the hyperglycemia male mouse model [specific pathogen free (SPF)-grade Kunming mice] induced by streptozotocin (intragastric administration of 80 mg/kg for 3 d), the hypoglycemic effects of extracts of Juandan Baihe (Lilium lancifolium) roots, stems, corms, leaves, and flowers were evaluated by measuring the changes of blood glucose, daily water consumption, daily food intake, and body weight. Results The MS fragmentation pathways of regalosides, dioscins, phenylpropanoids, flavonoids, and chlorogenic acids in Juandan Baihe (Lilium lancifolium) were clarified, and a mining method for compounds in this plant was constructed. A total of 58 compounds, including 6 chlorogenic acids, 14 regalosides, 13 phenylpropanoids, 5 flavonoids, and 20 dioscins, were identified from the roots, stems, corms, leaves, and flowers of Juandan Baihe (Lilium lancifolium). Among them, 30 compounds were reported for the first time from this plant. The root and corm extracts demonstrated significant hypoglycemic activities by reducing blood glucose levels from 23.76 ± 1.21 and 24.29 ± 1.35 mmol/L to 17.21 ± 1.23 and 18.78 ± 1.49 mmol/L, respectively (P < 0.05). The roots and corms extracts could also attenuate the symptoms of polydipsia (P < 0.01), polyphagia (P < 0.05), and weight loss caused by diabetes. Conclusion This study clarifies that the roots of Juandan Baihe (Lilium lancifolium) are rich in regalosides and dioscins for the first time, and have significant hypoglycemic activities, providing the foundation for the comprehensive utilization of this plant and the development of hypoglycemic drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • A new patch-based method is proposed for single sample per person face recognition. • A Fisher-like criterion is designed to extract discriminant information of patches. • Two distance metrics are introduced simultaneously to enhance robustness. • A fusion strategy called joint majority voting is developed for recognition. Abstract Single sample per person face recognition is one of the most challenging problems in face recognition (FR), where only single sample per person (SSPP) is enrolled in the gallery set for training. Although the existing patch-based methods have achieved great success in FR with SSPP, they still have limitations in feature extraction and identification stages when handling complex facial variations. In this work, we propose a new patch-based method called Robust Heterogeneous Discriminative Analysis (RHDA), for FR with SSPP. To enhance the robustness against complex facial variations, we first present a new graph-based Fisher-like criterion, which incorporates two manifold embeddings, to learn heterogeneous discriminative representations of image patches. Specifically, for each patch, the Fisher-like criterion is able to preserve the reconstruction relationship of neighboring patches from the same person, while suppressing the similarities between neighboring patches from the different persons. Then, we introduce two distance metrics, i.e., patch-to-patch distance and patch-to-manifold distance, and develop a fusion strategy to combine the recognition outputs of above two distance metrics via a joint majority voting for identification. Experimental results on various benchmark datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the process of measuring the resistivity of calcareous sand by the two-electrode method, the contact resistance between calcareous sand and electrodes is an unavoidable problem. In this paper, the effects of the particle size, relative density, current frequency, and saturation on the contact resistance of calcareous sand samples with different electrode spacings were studied. The results show that the larger the particle size and relative density are, the greater the contact resistance. The contact resistance decreases with an increasing current frequency, and the decreasing amplitude decreases with an increasing saturation. The contact resistance decreases with an increasing saturation. The relationship between the contact resistance and current frequency and saturation is established in this paper. When the two-electrode method is used to study the resistivity of calcareous sand, the influence of contact resistance should be considered, especially for samples with low saturation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of research on neuromorphic computing is exploring artificial neuron and synaptic devices with high performance. In this context, two-dimensional (2D) materials have received broad attention due to their advantages of low power consumption and high electrostatic controllability. Here, we demonstrated an artificial synaptic transistor based on the 2D SnS2/T-layer van der Waals (vdW) heterostructure, where the T-layer refers to the 2D h-BN treated by O2 plasma. Relying on the charge trapping mechanism of the T-layer, synaptic characteristics such as the excitatory postsynaptic current, short-term plasticity, and long-term potentiation (LTP) are emulated. Moreover, these synaptic characteristics can be further modulated by light stimulation. Under the illumination of 820 nm wavelength, the nonlinearity of LTP is as low as −0.19, and the symmetricity is 39.4, which is superior to most of the 2D artificial synaptic devices reported to date. Our results demonstrate the great prospects of plasma-treated 2D vdW heterostructures for neuromorphic applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jingmen tick virus (JMTV) is a tick-borne segmented positive-sense ssRNA virus that can cause human disease. This virus has been confirmed to be widespread, having a wide host range. In human it can cause fever, headache, lymphadenopathy, and asthenia. Therefore, JMTV poses a threat to public health. In this study, we collected 478 ticks from imported cattle on three quarantine farms near the Yunnan border to detect medically significant tick-borne viruses. Our findings show that JMTV was the only detected virus, with an incidence rate of 56.67%. Phylogenetic analysis showed that our JMTV is more closely related to previously reported JMTV strains from Yunnan Province and neighboring Laos, implying that the tick-borne virus was most likely imported from Laos. In conclusion, we identified and characterized a novel JMTV strain in tick (Rhipicephalus microplus) from Yunnan imported cattle, emphasizing the importance of arbovirus quarantine of livestock imports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of rotavirus A (RVA) infections in children from Kunming, China, and the RVA genotypes present. A total of 16,311 children with acute gastroenteritis were recruited for the study, and 33.1 % (5,394/16,311) were RVA positive. Children under 24 months of age were more susceptible to RVA infection, with an infection rate of 87.4 % (4,712/5,394). The most prevalent genotype was G9P[8] (85/107, 79.4 %), which showed high sequence similarity to G9P[8] strains from other regions of China and neighbouring countries, but not to the licensed vaccine strain LLR. These findings should be useful for the prevention of RVA infections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the development of Moore’s law, the future trend of devices will inevitably be shrinking and integration to further achieve size reduction. The emergence of new two-dimensional non-layered materials (2DNLMs) not only enriches the 2D material family to meet future development, but also stimulates the global enthusiasm for basic research and application technologies in the 2D field. Van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures, in which two-dimensional layered materials (2DLMs) are physically stacked layer by layer, can also occur between 2DLMs and 2DNLMs hybrid heterostructures, providing an alternative platform for nanoelectronics and optoelectronic applications. Here, we outline the recent developments of 2DLMs/2DNLMs hybrid heterostructures, with particular emphasis on major advances in synthetic methods and applications. And the categories and crystal structures of 2DLMs and 2DNLMs are also shown. We highlight some promising applications of the heterostructures in electronics, optoelectronics, and catalysis. Finally, we provide conclusions and future prospects in the 2D materials field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Astroviruses (AstVs) are single-stranded RNA viruses, including two main genera: Mamastroviruses (MAstVs) and Avastroviruses (AAstVs). AstVs have been detected in more than 80 different mammals and birds, with the characteristics of multiple cross-species transmission and gene recombination. All these have accelerated the process of virus mutation and posed a potential threat to human beings and animal husbandry. Yunnan province is a global hotspot with rich biodiversity and abundant animal resources and an important area with significance for public health and security because it neighbors a few Southeast Asian countries. This study collected 860 samples from 13 species of animals in Yunnan province for AstVs detection. The results showed that the positive rate of AstVs was 6.05%, and its extremely high genetic diversity was observed in different animal species. Potential cross-species transmission events were also detected from rodents to birds. Therefore, AstVs, which are widely distributed with highly diverse genes and the risk of cross-species transmission to people, deserve more attention in this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the continuous scarcity of sand and gravel under environmental protection policies, a new geo-backfill material with the good liquefaction resistance is urgently needed. Steel slag is a kind of industrial solid waste. The aged eight-month steel slag usually could be used as backfill material. It is important to investigate the liquefaction resistance behaviours of steel slag. According to the soil classification method, the waste steel slag is also divided into gravel steel slag, coarse steel slag and fine steel slag. Dynamic triaxial tests were carried out to investigate the liquefaction resistance of gravel steel slag in the paper by considering the effects of consolidation stress ratio, loading frequency, confining pressure and gravel-size particle contents. The variations of pore water pressure and cyclic shear resistance were analysed. The calculation model of pore water pressure of saturated sand proposed by Seed and Finn could be applied to analyse the dynamic pore water pressure development of gravel steel slag. Compared with conventional soils, the cyclic liquefaction resistance of gravel steel slag is better than that of fine sand, gravel soil, sand-gravel soils and sand pebbles. Gravel steel slag can be used to replace some conventional cohesionless soils as a geo-backfill material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To investigate the longitudinal associations of serum inflammatory markers and adipokines with joint symptoms and structures in participants with knee OA. Methods Two hundred participants (46.5% female, mean age 63.1 years, mean BMI 29.5 kg/m2) from Tasmania, part of the VIDEO (Vitamin D Effect on OA) study, were randomly selected in the current study. Serum levels of 19 biomarkers, scores of WOMAC and MRI-assessed knee structures were evaluated at baseline and month 24. The patterns of biomarkers were derived from principal component analysis and their association with knee symptoms and structures were examined using adjusted generalized estimating equations. Results Five components explained 78% of the total variance. IL-1β, -2, -4, -6, -8, -17 A, -17 F, -21, -22 and -23 loaded the highest on the first component, which was associated with increased bone marrow lesions (BMLs) and WOMAC dysfunction score. IL-10, -12 and GM-CSF loaded on the second component, which was associated with increased cartilage volume, and decreased effusion synovitis and WOMAC scores. Leptin, adipsin and CRP loaded on the third component, which was positively associated with WOMAC scores. Resistin loaded on the fourth component, which was associated with increased BMLs and cartilage defects. Apelin-36 and adiponectin loaded on the fifth component, which was associated with increased BMLs. Conclusion Various inflammatory and metabolic components were associated differently with joint symptoms and structural changes in knee OA, suggesting a complex inflammatory and metabolic interrelationship in the pathogenesis of knee OA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Obesity was considered as a rapidly growing chronic disease that influences human health worldwide. In this study, we investigated the primary structure characteristics of Chinese yam polysaccharide (CYP) and its role in regulating lipid metabolism in a high-fat diet (HFD)-fed obese mice. The molecular weight of CYP was determined to be 3.16 × 103 kDa. Periodic acid oxidation & smith degradation and nuclear magnetic resonance results suggested that CYP consists of 1 → 2, 1 → 2, 6, 1 → 4, 1 → 4, 6, 1→, or 1 → 6 glycoside bonds. The in vivo experiment results suggested that the biochemical indices, tissue sections, and protein regulation associated with lipid metabolism were changed after administering CYP in obese mice. In addition, the abundances of short-chain fatty acid (SCFA)-producing bacteria Lachnospiraceae , Lachnospiraceae_NK4A136_group , and Ruminococcaceae_UCG-014 were increased, and the abundances of bacteria Desulfovibrionaceae and Ruminococcus and metabolites of arginine, propionylcarnitine, and alloisoleucine were decreased after CYP intervention in obese mice. Spearman's correlation analysis of intestinal flora, metabolites, and lipid metabolism parameters showed that CYP may affect lipid metabolism in obese mice by regulating the intestinal environment. Therefore, CYP may be used as a promising nutritional intervention agent for lipid metabolism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The geotechnical earthquake engineering profession has struggled with the inherent complexity of the multiphase soil response to cyclic loading owing to the progressive nature of the generation of excess pore pressure (EPP) and degradation of soil stiffness and strength. One approach to improve understanding of the cyclic response and correlate the transition from a two-phase saturated soil to a single, fluid-phase liquefied soil is to treat the soil as a non-Newtonian viscous liquid. However, the work to date suggests that the viscous fluid model approach can only be implemented following the onset of sustained soil liquefaction. This paper presents a unified thixotropic fluid model and framework that effectively links the pre-shear soil fabric and its progressive cyclic response to the onset and maintained state of soil liquefaction. The framework treats the soil fabric as a fluid net-type structure proposed for use with thixotropic fluids, and presents the constitutive state and rate equations describing the deconstruction of the liquefiable soil fabric in response to cyclic loading. The unified framework uses physically meaningful soil parameters that can be obtained from common cyclic laboratory tests to seamlessly link the state-dependent and shear-strain-rate-dependent nature of soils to the generation of EPP, the latter of which is shown to increase in significance as EPP accumulates. The proposed thixotropic-induced excess pore pressure model should prove advantageous for use in forward modelling of the stress–strain rate response of liquefiable soil and generation of EPP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To achieve recycled use of waste steel slag and waste tyres, it was proposed to incorporate waste tyre particles into waste steel slag and mix with sand to form a new geomaterial. Considering the effects of confining pressure, incorporation ratios of tyre particles and in corporation ratios of sand, the dynamic shear modulus and damping ratio of the new geomaterial were studied by a torsional shear vibration method based on resonance column tests. The specific control density of steel slag combined with different mixing ratios of tyre particles and sand were determined according to the relative density. The relationship between the dynamic shear modulus and the shear strain of the new geomaterial suited the hyperbolic model of Davidenkov. The maximum dynamic shear moduli of the new geomaterial with the tyre particle mixing ratio of 5% reached 166 MPa at the confining pressure of 200 kPa and were close to those of Fujian standard sand. The maximum dynamic shear modulus of the new geomaterial with the tyre particle mixing ratio of 15% was 103 MPa at the confining pressure of 200 kPa and was larger than those of Nanjing fine sand. The minimum damping ratio of the new geomaterial was in the range of 0·21–1·95% at the confining pressure of 200 kPa and was larger than that of the pure steel slag with 0·15–1·2%. These findings showed that the new geomaterial could be applied instead of sand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Resistin acts as an endogenous ligand of Toll-like receptor (TLR)-4 that triggers major inflammatory pathways and mediates inflammatory processes. The role of resistin in osteoarthritis (OA) pathogenesis is unclear. The aim of this study is to describe the longitudinal associations of serum levels of resistin with knee synovitis measures and structural abnormalities in patients with knee OA. A prospective cohort study. Patients (n = 200) with symptomatic knee OA (mean age 63.1 years, range 49-79; female 46.5%) participated. All measures were performed at baseline and 2 years later. Serum resistin was measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Infrapatellar fat pad (IPFP) high signal intensity alteration and effusion synovitis were measured from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Knee structures including cartilage volume, cartilage defects, and bone marrow lesions (BMLs) were also assessed by MRI semiquantitatively or quantitatively. Linear or logistic mixed effects regression analyses were used in longitudinal analyses. Serum resistin was positively associated with high signal intensity alteration measures of IPFP as well as the presence [relative risk = 1.06, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.02, 1.10] and volume (β = 0.77, 95% CI 0.01, 1.53) of effusion synovitis in multivariable analyses. Serum levels of resistin were also positively associated with higher tibiofemoral cartilage defect (β = 1.98, 95% CI 0.34, 3.57) and BML scores (β = 3.18, 95% CI 0.99, 5.37) after adjustment for covariates. Higher serum levels of resistin are associated with knee synovitis surrogate measures and structural abnormalities, suggesting that obesity may promote OA not only by increasing weight loading on joints but also by triggering 1 or more inflammatory pathways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Waste steel slag is a recycled industrial solid waste and is sometimes used as backfills, but the dynamic shear properties of waste steel slag have not been researched at present. To understand the dynamic shear properties of waste steel slag, the resonance column tests were carried out to investigate the dynamic shear modulus and damping ratio of the steel slag considering the effect of the relative density of steel slag and confining pressure. The maximum dynamic shear modulus was discussed, and the dynamic model of the steel slag was constructed by the Hardin–Drnevich model. The regression analysis of the normalized dynamic shear modulus ratio and damping ratio of the steel slag showed that the dynamic model was very fit for the steel slag. The comparisons of the dynamic shear properties of the steel slag with those of Nanjing fine sand and Fujian standard sand showed that the steel slag had similar dynamic shear resistance to Fujian standard sand and had potential to become a substitute for sand in the practical geotechnical engineering in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphical abstract Highlights • Locally enhanced heat transfer for power battery module was presented. • A novel CPCM was prepared by loading graphene, carbon tube and expanded graphite into paraffin. • The locally enhanced heat transfer effect of the CPCM was almost the same as copper foam/PCM. • Temperature of the battery module was more uniform when the enhanced region was narrowed. Abstract The rapid development of new energy vehicles urgently requires lightweight power battery modules with excellent thermal performance. To achieve this goal, a high thermal conductivity composite phase change materials (CPCM) was prepared and its locally enhanced heat transfer characteristics of power battery module were experimentally studied. The results showed that CPCM had almost the same localized heat transfer effect as copper foam/PCM under different thermal environment. Furthermore, locally enhanced heat transfer characteristics have been comparatively studied for center regions with different sizes in the power battery module using the CPCM as cooling media. The results showed that when 4 batteries were enhanced using CPCM, the maximum temperature in a 36-battery module during the 3C discharge was limited to 44.6 °C while the maximum temperature difference was limited to 0.8 °C. Interestingly, the results revealed that the maximum temperature of battery module was slightly increased (less than 1%) but the temperature difference was reduced by 46.7% compared with enhancement for 16 batteries, which was helpful to improve the temperature consistency of the battery module. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aspergillus sojae 3.495 and Aspergillus oryzae 3.042 are essential microbial starters in fermented foods due to their high hydrolytic enzyme activities. However, their metabolic characteristics and differences during soy sauce fermentation are still unclear. This study identified 42 non-volatile differential metabolites based on UHPLC-MS/MS, among which 10 amino acids and derivatives and 4 non-volatile acids were high in A. sojae 3.495 koji , while 3 sugar alcohols, 5 flavonoids, and 4 fatty acids were prominent in A. oryzae 3.042. Further analysis revealed that higher acidic protease (1887.43 U/g) in A. sojae 3.495 and higher glucoamylase (2413.36 U/g) and cellulase (890.78 U/g) in A. oryzae 3.042 dominated the formation of differential metabolites. Metabolic pathway analysis showed that shikimate and phenylalanine metabolic pathways in A. sojae 3.495 were more active and enhanced 3-methyl-butanal and 2-phenylethanal in moromi fermentation. The more prominent pathways of sugar alcohol metabolism and flavonoid biosynthesis in A. oryzae 3.042 koji enhanced 2-methyl-butanoic acid and ethyl 3-methylbutyrate in moromi and significantly elevated reducing sugars (1.56 g/100 mL). Overall, comparative metabolomics elucidated the metabolic framework and flavor formation mechanisms of different inocula in soy sauce koji , providing ideas for scientific control of soy sauce fermentation and multi-strain koji -making for flavor enhancement. • A. sojae 3.495 soy sauce koji has more amino acids and their derivatives and acids. • A. oryzae 3.042 soy sauce koji has more sugar alcohols and flavonoids. • Glucoamylase, cellulase and acid protease dominate differential metabolite formation. • Differential metabolites in koji affect the acids, aldehydes and esters of moromi. • Metabolic differences mainly affect the pH and reducing sugar of moromi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We obtained high n-type conductivity and low donor ionization energy for an AlN film grown on SiC by Si ion implantation. The room temperature conductivity reaches 0.26 Ω−1 cm−1, and the donor ionization energy is only 112 meV, which is the best result of Si-implanted heteroepitaxial AlN. The lattice damage caused by ion implantation can be almost completely repaired by annealing at 1330 °C for 2 h. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) results show few O impurity in the sample. The low donor ionization energy is attributed to avoiding the introduction of O impurities and the mitigation of self-compensating effect. These results show the great potential of Si-implanted heteroepitaxial AlN for device applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Flexible phase change material (FPCM) with shape memory property is proposed. • The flexibility of FPCM could be maintained at −15 to 60 °C. • A sleeve with a heat shrink function for easy assembly and reduced TCR is designed. • Room-temperature FPCM is superior in reducing thermal contact. The development of conventional battery thermal management (BTM) based on phase change material (PCM) is restricted by its low thermal conductivity, leakage and high rigidity. To solve these problems, the thermally induced flexible phase change materials (FPCMs) have been proposed, but their flexibility only manifests at temperatures above the phase change temperature, which is detrimental to the assembly at room temperature. Herein, using paraffin (PA) as PCM, thermoplastic polyether ester elastomer (TPEE) as flexible support material and expanded graphite (EG) as heat transfer enhancement material, a novel FPCM with shape memory property and wider flexible temperature (−15 to 60 °C) was successfully prepared through melt-mixing method. And then it was skillfully assembled on power batteries at room temperature through flexibility in conjunction with shape memory property. On this basis, the flexibility of FPCM can be utilized to reduce thermal contact resistance during the whole process of battery operation. The results revealed that the measured thermal contact resistance of the above BTM was 0.272 °C/W, lower than that of previous thermally induced FPCM reported. Furthermore, the maximum temperature of the battery module with the passive BTM based on FPCM could be maintained below 55 °C and the temperature difference was within 3 °C under the high discharge rate of 5C and 40 °C ambient temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary Objectives About 2% of the world population is infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV), a leading cause of hepatic cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. The Niemann–Pick C1-like 1 cholesterol absorption receptor (NPC1L1) was recently identified to be an important factor for HCV entry into host cells. Whether genetic variations of the NPC1L1 gene are associated with HCV infection is unknown. Methods In this study, five single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the NPC1L1 gene were analyzed in 261 HCV-infected individuals and 265 general controls from Yunnan Province, China. Results No significant differences were identified in genotypes or alleles of the SNPs between the two groups. After constructing haplotypes based on the five SNPs, a significant difference between HCV-infected individuals and general controls was shown for two haplotypes. Haplotype GCCTT appeared to be a protective factor and haplotype GCCCT was a risk factor for HCV-infected individuals. Genotypes of four SNPs correlated with biochemical characteristics of HCV-infected persons. Genotypes of SNPs rs799444 and rs2070607 were correlated with total bilirubin. Genotype TT of rs917098 was a risk factor for the gamma-glutamyltransferase level. Furthermore, HCV-infected individuals carrying genotype GG of rs41279633 showed statistically higher gamma-glutamyltransferase levels than HCV-infected persons with GT and TT. Conclusion The results of this study identified the association between genetic susceptibility of the NPC1L1 gene and HCV infection, as well as biochemical characteristics of HCV-infected persons in Yunnan, China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report 301 dengue virus infections among cross-border travelers entering Yunnan Province, China, from Myanmar during 2017. Phylogenetic analysis of 99 strains found all 4 serotypes co-circulating; genetic characteristics have also changed. This finding highlights the urgent need for monitoring dengue virus cross-border transmission as early warning of severe dengue fever. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Monovalent cation permselective membranes were prepared by the combination of surface-crosslink and inorganic nanomaterial doping. • Two-dimensional MOFs were introduced into the monovalent cation permselective membranes for the first time. • 2D MOF, Zn-TCPP, effectively enhanced the ion transport. • Tremendous permselectivity and permeability were obtained simultaneously. Monovalent cation permselective membranes (MCPMs) manifest remarkable effectiveness and potential in lithium extraction whereas facing the challenge to achieve high permselectivity and high Li+ permeability simultaneously. In this work, Zn-TCPP, a kind of two-dimensional nanosheet with abundant negative charges, was successfully synthesized via surfactant-assisted method and introduced into surface cross-linked SPES membrane to fabricate MCPMs. The physicochemical properties, electrochemical properties and Li+/Mg2+ separation performance of resulted MCPMs were systematically estimated. As ions passing through the membrane, dense PVA/GA crosslinked layer separated Li+ and Mg2+ by pore-size sieving effect. Afterwards, uniformly distributed Zn-TCPP nanosheets with rich negative charges and physically adsorbed water molecules elevated the charge density and water content in the membrane and thus expedited Li+ transporting. Therefore, high Li+/Mg2+ permselectivity (P Mg 2 + Li + = 8.99) and Li+ permeation flux (J Li + = 9.12 × 10−9 mol cm−2∙s−1) were obtained. Furthermore, membrane surface resistance was reduced from 108.99 Ω cm2 to 24.12 Ω∙cm2. This study points out the feasibility of the new method for accelerating monovalent ion transport and alleviating the restriction between ion permeation and permselectivity in selective ion exchange membranes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hepatitis C was the most popular chronic infectious liver disease worldwide. It was identified that Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection could lead to mitochondrial dysfunction, though the mechanism was not fully understood. To investigate whether mtDNA copy number could be affected by HCV infection and be associated with clinical features of HCV patients, mtDNA copy numbers were analyzed in 242 patients with HCV infection and 226 matched control samples. The results suggested that mtDNA copy numbers significantly decreased in HCV patients (68.80 ± 3.33) than in control samples (81.54 ± 4.50) (p = 0.022). When males/females were separated from total patients to compare mtDNA copy numbers with gender matched controls, mtDNA copy numbers still significantly decreased in male HCV patients (p = 0.002). Further analysis indicated that level of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) was negatively correlated with mtDNA copy numbers in total HCV patients (r = −0.128,p = 0.047), and this correlation was more significant in male HCV patients (r = −0.266,p = 0.030). Intriguingly, aspartate amino-transferase (AST) showed positive correlation with mtDNA copy numbers (r = 0.260,p = 0.034) in male HCV patients. Our results indicated that mtDNA copy numbers depleted and correlated with clinical features in male HCV patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study was designed to determine the Human papillomavirus (HPV) prevalence and its distribution of genotypes in various regions of Yunnan Province, China.Method: In this study, participants were recruited during routine gynecologic examination between Oct 2013 and Feb 2015. A total of 17,898 women were recruited. Polymerase chain reaction was used for detecting the HPV positive samples and HPV geno-array test was used for genotyping.Results: The overall HPV infection rate (19.9 %) among the south-western women was significantly higher (P = 0.001) than that among the north-western (18.0 %), south-eastern (13.3 %), north-eastern (11.1 %) and central women (12.9 %). The high-risk (HR) (18.1 %, P = 0.001) and single genotype (16.7 %, P = 0.001) infection rates among the South-western women were also significantly higher than those of among the north-western (13.9 %, 11.3 %), south-eastern (11.6 %, 10.5 %), north-eastern (9.6 %, 9.1 %) and central women (10.5 %, 10.0 %), respectively. While, the infections with multiple HPV (4.2 %) genotypes were significantly more common (P = 0.001) among women in north-western Yunnan than women in the south-western (1.3 %, 3.1 %), south-eastern (1.7 %, 2.7 %), north-eastern (1.5 %, 2.0 %) and central Yunnan (2.4 %, 2.9 %). A total of 30 HPV genotypes were detected; among them 13 were HR-HPV, 3 were PHR-HPV (Potential High risk), 8 were LR-HPV (Low risk) and six were unclassified. The most common HPV genotypes were HPV-52, 16, 58, 53 in control group, HPV-16, 52, 58, 39 and 53 in CINI (Cervical intraepithelial Neoplasia), HPV-52, 16, 58, 33, 53 and 81 in CINII, HPV16, 58, 18, 52, 81 in CINIII and HPV-16 18, 58, 52 in cervical cancer (CC), respectively. Such variation has also been observed about distribution of HPV genotypes distribution among single and multiple infections.Conclusion: This study gives an epidemiological estimate of HPV prevalence and different genotype distribution in various region of Yunnan province and further explains its prevalence in different neoplastic lesions. Overall HPV-16, 52, 58, and 18 are the leading HR-HPV genotypes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

HPV genotypes have distinct distributions among various ethnic populations worldwide. In December 2013, 237 and 159 cervical samples were collected from Hani and Han ethnic women, respectively, in Mojiang, a rural county in southern Yunnan. The overall HPV infection rate (21.1%) among the Hani women was significantly higher than that among the Han women (12.6%). The high-risk (HR) and low-risk (LR) HPV and single- and multiple-genotype infection rates among the Hani women were 11.0%, 4.6%, 15.6%, and 5.5%, respectively. HPV-16 (3.8%) was the most prevalent genotype among the Hani women, followed by HPV-52 (1.7%), HPV-31 (0.8%), and HPV-33 (0.8%). Comparatively, the Han women had lower infection rates of high-risk (8.2%), low-risk (1.2%), single-genotype (9.4%), and multiple-genotype HPV infections (3.1%). HPV-16 (3.1%) was also the predominant genotype among the Han women, followed by HPV-52 (1.3%), HPV-33 (0.6%), HPV-44 (0.6%), and HPV-54 (0.6%). The area background, number of children, and past history of STIs were recognized as potential risk factors for HPV infection. Rural background, age, education level, number of children, and illness history were significantly associated with HPV infection among the Hani women. These findings highlight the urgent need for HPV prevention and control strategies in Yunnan, particularly for the Hani ethnic women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Type 4 cardiorenal syndrome (CRS) is a life-threatening world health problem in which chronic kidney disease leads to progressive cardiovascular disease. In type 4 CRS, cardiac inflammation is an excellent target for both detection and therapy; however, this progression was underestimated by previous studies due to the lack of effective detection methods. To noninvasively visualize cardiac inflammation and monitor therapeutic efficacy of anti-inflammatory treatment in type 4 CRS, we here synthesized a dual-modality magneto-fluorescent nanoparticle (MNP) by combining ultrasmall superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticle and Rhodamine B for both magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and optical imaging. This dual-functional MNP exhibited excellent performance such as high r2 relaxivity coefficient (283.4 mM −1 s −1 ), high magnetism (96.7 emu/g iron) and a near neutral surface charge to minimize the reticuloendothelial system uptake. In vivo cardiac MRI showed significant negative contrast in the type 4 CRS rats, and the signal intensity on optical imaging was significantly higher in the type 4 CRS group compared with sham-operated and drug-treated groups. The specific targeting profile of MNPs to monocyte-macrophages was proven by histopathological analysis. Taken together, we demonstrate that this dual-modality strategy is feasible for noninvasively assessing myocardial inflammation and monitoring therapeutic efficacy in type 4 CRS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Owing to its excellent electro-optic, ferroelectric and nonlinear optical properties, photorefractive crystal (PRC) provides a versatile platform for developing nonlinear waveguides, which has a great potential in integrated optics components. In this paper, we theoretically study nonlinear coupling of optical guided modes in photorefractive waveguides by the spatial-partition fast Fourier transform beam propagation method (SP FFT-BPM). The modulation of applied external electrical field on the guided modes is investigated, and demonstrated as a new method to modulate the guided modes without artificially refabricating physical configuration or structure of the waveguide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Genotypes and alleles of the IFNλ genes SNPs do not confer HCV infection. [•] One haplotype of the IFNλ genes may increase the risk of HCV infection. [•] The IFNλ gene SNPs are associated with biochemical features of HCV patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Curing kinetics and mechanisms of polysulfone nanofibrous membranes toughened TGDDM/DDS were investigated by using isothermal DSC and NIR, and compared to those of TGDDM/DDS and PSF films toughened TGDDM/DDS. At early curing stage, the curing rate of nanofibrous membranes toughened system was faster than those of other two systems, whereas the final conversion of toughened systems was lower than that of resin matrix. Most of the primary amine was consumed by gelation and the concentration of secondary amine reached the maximum around gelation. The faster consuming rates of primary and secondary amines in nanofibrous membranes toughened system resulted in higher concentration of hydroxyl groups and tertiary amines at gelation, which led to larger amounts of branching and crosslinking compared to resin matrix. The comparison of the results obtained from two methods showed that the epoxide conversion exhibited identical variations as a function of time, as well as the curing rate. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The phase separation process and morphology evolution of 5wt% polysulfone (PSF) nanofibrous membranes toughened epoxy resin at different temperatures were investigated by synchrotron radiation small angel X-ray scattering (SR-SAXS), phase contrast microscopy (PCM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The onset time of phase separation obtained by different methods was basically identical. As the curing proceeded at constant temperature, the scattering peak corresponding to the maximum scattering intensity shifted to a smaller scattering vector (q m ), and the average diameters of PSF spheres increased, which showed a phase separation pattern of nucleation and growth mechanism. PSF spheres exhibited random alignment in “sea-island” morphology, which was attributed to the in situ phase separation of PSF nanofibers. Also, the effects of phase separation kinetics on the phase morphology and fracture toughness of nanofibrous membranes toughened epoxy resin were investigated. Results showed that the phase separation process was faster than the curing reaction process, which implied that the diffusion coefficient of PSF in epoxy resin increased with increasing the curing temperature, resulting in the increase of PSF sphere size that in turn improved the fracture toughness at higher temperature. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• Y-shape joints between segment and wall column of subway station built by enlarging tunnels were proposed. • Experiments of low frequency cyclic load of full scale joint models were carried out. • The pre-embedded steel plate joint have advantages in terms of energy dissipation capacity. • Both of the joints could meet the performance requirement of strong joint and weak component. To improve the seismic performance of subway stations built by enlarging two parallel shield tunnels, joints of special structures between prefabricated open-loop segments and cast-in-site main station structures were proposed. Experiments on the low-frequency cyclic loading of full-scale models of joints under different structural configurations were carried out. The seismic performance, such as the load–displacement hysteresis curves, skeleton curves, structural ductility, strength degradation, energy dissipation, strain of the cable-stayed bars and failure modes, were studied. The results showed that compared with the pre-embedded connector joint, the pre-embedded steel plate joint had advantages in terms of the mechanical stability, intensity, stiffness, energy dissipation capacity and ductility performance. However, the relative displacement between the segment and wall column of the pre-embedded steel plate joint was larger than that of the pre-embedded connector joint. Both types of joints had a full hysteretic circle, good ductility nature, energy dissipation ability, and stable elastic and elastic–plastic deformation. The cable-stayed bars did not yield in the stretch area when the joints failed. Both of the joints could meet the performance requirements of strong joints and weak components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]