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Abstract Background In response to drought stress (DS), plants undergo complex processes that entail significant transcriptome reprogramming. However, the intricate relationship between the dynamic alterations in the three-dimensional (3D) genome and the modulation of gene co-expression in drought responses remains a relatively unexplored area. Results In this study, we reconstruct high-resolution 3D genome maps based on genomic regions marked by H3K9ac, an active histone modification that dynamically responds to soil water variations in rice. We discover a genome-wide disconnection of 3D genome contact upon DS with over 10,000 chromatin loops lost, which are partially recovered in the subsequent re-watering. Loops integrating promoter–promoter interactions (PPI) contribute to gene expression in addition to basal H3K9ac modifications. Moreover, H3K9ac-marked promoter regions with high affinities in mediating PPIs, termed as super-promoter regions (SPRs), integrate spatially clustered PPIs in a super-enhancer-like manner. Interestingly, the knockout mutation of OsbZIP23, a well-defined DS-responsive transcription factor, leads to the disassociation of over 80% DS-specific PPIs and decreased expression of the corresponding genes under DS. As a case study, we show how OsbZIP23 integrates the PPI cluster formation and the co-expression of four dehydrin genes, RAB16A–D, through targeting the RAB16C SPR in a stress signaling-dependent manner. Conclusions Our high-resolution 3D genome maps unveil the principles and details of dynamic genome folding in response to water supply variations and illustrate OsbZIP23 as an indispensable integrator of the yet unique 3D genome organization that is essential for gene co-expression under DS in rice.

Abstract The availability of an alternative and efficient genetic editing technology is critical for fundamental research and strain improvement engineering of Streptomyces species, which are prolific producers of complex secondary metabolites with significant pharmaceutical activities. The mobile group II introns are retrotransposons that employ activities of catalytic intron RNAs and intron‐encoded reverse transcriptase to precisely insert into DNA target sites through a mechanism known as retrohoming. We here developed a group II intron‐based gene editing tool to achieve precise chromosomal gene insertion in Streptomyces. Moreover, by repressing the potential competition of RecA‐dependent homologous recombination, we enhanced site‐specific insertion efficiency of this tool to 2.38%. Subsequently, we demonstrated the application of this tool by screening and characterizing the secondary metabolite biosynthetic gene cluster (BGC) responsible for synthesizing the red pigment in Streptomyces roseosporus. Accompanied with identifying and inactivating this BGC, we observed that the impair of this cluster promoted cell growth and daptomycin production. Additionally, we applied this tool to activate silent jadomycin BGC in Streptomyces venezuelae. Overall, this work demonstrates the potential of this method as an alternative tool for genetic engineering and cryptic natural product mining in Streptomyces species.

The increasing popularity of Internet of Things (IoT)-based wireless services highlights the urgent need to upgrade fifth-generation (5G) wireless networks and beyond to accommodate these services. Although 5G networks currently support a variety of wireless services, they might not fully meet the high computational and communication resource demands of new applications. Issues such as latency, energy consumption, network congestion, signaling overhead, and potential privacy breaches contribute to this limitation. Machine learning (ML) frequently offers solutions to these problems. As a result, sixth-generation (6G) wireless technologies are being developed to address the deficiencies of 5G networks. Traditional ML methods are generally centralized. However, the vast amount of wireless data generated, growing privacy concerns, and the increasing computational capabilities of edge devices have led to a shift towards optimizing system performance in a distributed manner. This paper provides a thorough analysis of distributed learning techniques, including federated learning (FL), multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL), and the multi-agent federated reinforcement learning (FRL) framework. It explains how these techniques can be effectively and efficiently implemented in wireless networks. These methods offer potential solutions to the challenges faced by current wireless networks, promising to create a more robust, capable, and versatile network that meets the growing demands of IoT and other emerging applications. Implementing the FRL framework can significantly improve the learning efficiency of wireless networks. To tackle the challenges posed by rapidly changing radio channels, we propose a robust FRL framework that enables local users to perform distributed power allocation, bandwidth allocation, interference mitigation, and communication mode selection. Finally, the paper outlines several future research directions aimed at effectively integrating the FRL framework into wireless networks.

In this paper, the reliability and security of ambient backscatter (AmBC) non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) systems on Nakagami-m distribution are studied. When an eavesdropper exists, the transmitter communicates with two NOMA users through the power domain multiplexing technology and successful interference cancelation (SIC) technology. Actually, assuming that in-phase and quadrature-phase imbalance (IQI) is present in all nodes. To be specific, the precise expressions of the outage probability (OP) and intercept probability (IP) are derived. And Monte Carlo simulation coincides better with the theoretical images, which confirms the accuracy of theoretical derivation. A surprising discovery is that IQI diminishes the reliability of considered networks but strengthens confidentiality. Moreover, the decrease of the average signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the link from the transmitter to the eavesdropper can enhance the security. Furthermore, according to the back-propagation (BP) neural networks, we provide a forecast method to achieve real-time analysis of the security performance. Comparing to the popular machine learning algorithms, the results show that the prediction time is shorter and the prediction accuracy is averagely increased by 91.2%. Meanwhile, similar results can be obtained in the prediction of other communication models, which proves that the prediction algorithm has positive applicability.

Accurate extraction of winter wheat and its planted area holds significance for agricultural research and government real-time food monitoring. Traditional machine learning methods often demand extensive data and corresponding labels for training in cross-domain classification problems. The heterogeneity of land cover types causes an uneven distribution of samples, leading to unsatisfactory results when these methods are applied directly to other regions. This article introduces a two-branch Graph Convolutional Fusion CNN network incorporating dynamic weighted stratified loss to address these challenges. To reduce the weight of losses generated by easily classified pixels, this loss function adds task masks and category dynamic weights to the cross-entropy loss. Dual branching merges global insights from graph convolutional networks with local emphasis from convolutional neural networks. It enhances the handling of cross-domain classification problems. The first branch introduces an adaptive mechanism and applies it to the graph's adjacency matrix to enhance the model's adaptability to different domain graph structures. The second branch alleviates the oversmoothing problem of edge clustering caused by graph convolution and handles multiscale and spectral information more efficiently. The experimental results showed that the proposed method achieved 99.98% accuracy and good classification results on the Zhoukou dataset. The zero-shot cross-domain prediction on the Suixian dataset achieved 96.11% accuracy. Ultimately, the entire winter wheat planting area of Shangqiu City was extracted with an accuracy of 91.92%. Numerous experiments and practical applications confirm that the proposed method is feasible and effective for winter wheat cross-domain extraction.

Abstract Background Epigenetic modifications that exhibit circadian oscillations also promote circadian oscillations of gene expression. Brassica napus is a heterozygous polyploid species that has undergone distant hybridization and genome doubling events and has a young and distinct species origin. Studies incorporating circadian rhythm analysis of epigenetic modifications can offer new insights into differences in diurnal oscillation behavior among subgenomes and the regulation of diverse expressions of homologous gene rhythms in biological clocks. Results In this study, we created a high-resolution and multioscillatory gene expression dataset, active histone modification (H3K4me3, H3K9ac), and RNAPII recruitment in Brassica napus. We also conducted the pioneering characterization of the diurnal rhythm of transcription and epigenetic modifications in an allopolyploid species. We compared the evolution of diurnal rhythms between subgenomes and observed that the Cn subgenome had higher diurnal oscillation activity in both transcription and active histone modifications than the An subgenome. Compared to the A subgenome in Brassica rapa, the An subgenome of Brassica napus displayed significant changes in diurnal oscillation characteristics of transcription. Homologous gene pairs exhibited a higher proportion of diurnal oscillation in transcription than subgenome-specific genes, attributed to higher chromatin accessibility and abundance of active epigenetic modification types. We found that the diurnal expression of homologous genes displayed diversity, and the redundancy of the circadian system resulted in extensive changes in the diurnal rhythm characteristics of clock genes after distant hybridization and genome duplication events. Epigenetic modifications influenced the differences in the diurnal rhythm of homologous gene expression, and the diurnal oscillation of homologous gene expression was affected by the combination of multiple histone modifications. Conclusions Herein, we presented, for the first time, a characterization of the diurnal rhythm characteristics of gene expression and its epigenetic modifications in an allopolyploid species. Our discoveries shed light on the epigenetic factors responsible for the diurnal oscillation activity imbalance between subgenomes and homologous genes’ rhythmic expression differences. The comprehensive time-series dataset we generated for gene expression and epigenetic modifications provides a valuable resource for future investigations into the regulatory mechanisms of protein-coding genes in Brassica napus.

Studies on the lung cancer genome are indispensable for developing a cure for lung cancer. Whole-genome resequencing, genome-wide association studies, and transcriptome sequencing have greatly improved our understanding of the cancer genome. However, dysregulation of long-range chromatin interactions in lung cancer remains poorly described. To better understand the three-dimensional (3D) genomic interaction features of the lung cancer genome, we used the A549 cell line as a model system and generated high-resolution chromatin interactions associated with RNA polymerase II (RNAPII), CCCTC-binding factor (CTCF), enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2), and histone 3 lysine 27 trimethylation (H3K27me3) using long-read chromatin interaction analysis by paired-end tag sequencing (ChIA-PET). Analysis showed that EZH2/H3K27me3-mediated interactions further repressed target genes, either through loops or domains, and their distributions along the genome were distinct from and complementary to those associated with RNAPII. Cancer-related genes were highly enriched with chromatin interactions, and chromatin interactions specific to the A549 cell line were associated with oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes, such as additional repressive interactions on FOXO4 and promoter–promoter interactions between NF1 and RNF135. Knockout of an anchor associated with chromatin interactions reversed the dysregulation of cancer-related genes, suggesting that chromatin interactions are essential for proper expression of lung cancer-related genes. These findings demonstrate the 3D landscape and gene regulatory relationships of the lung cancer genome.

Abstract Streptomyces species have a complex life cycle and are the producers of ~70% of commercial antibiotics. Global regulators AfsR and AfsS are widespread among Streptomyces and have been identified as key activators of antibiotic production in several species. However, their roles as repressors of antibiotic production are unclear; in particular, nothing is known regarding the regulatory mechanism of AfsS, despite many decades of research, because it has no DNA‐binding domain. Here, we demonstrate that AfsR and AfsS negatively regulate avermectin production and morphological development in the industrially important species S. avermitilis. AfsR directly represses ave structural genes (aveA1, aveA4), cluster‐situated activator gene aveR, and eight key developmental genes, whereas it directly activates afsS, aco (for autoregulator avenolide biosynthesis), and avaR1 (encoding avenolide receptor). GST pull‐down, microscale thermophoresis, co‐immunoprecipitation, and chromatin immunoprecipitation‐quantitative PCR assays demonstrated that AfsS interacts with AfsR to co‐regulate target genes involved in avermectin production and development and that this interaction requires intact AfsS repeated sequences and enhances the binding affinity of AfsR to target promoters. AfsR/AfsS interaction also occurs in model species S. coelicolor and S. roseosporus (producer of daptomycin, a cyclic lipopeptide antibiotic widely used for the treatment of human infections), suggesting that such interaction is conserved in Streptomyces species. The master developmental repressor BldD acts as a direct activator of both afsR and afsS. Deletion of afsR or afsS strongly enhances avermectin production in wild‐type and industrial S. avermitilis strains. Our findings demonstrate novel regulatory roles and mechanisms of AfsR and AfsS in Streptomyces and facilitate methods for antibiotic overproduction.

ObjectiveTo observe the effectiveness and safety of Lianhua Qingwen granule in the treatment of non-influenza viral pneumonia.MethodsThis study was a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Subjects who met the inclusion and exclusion criteria and were clinically diagnosed with viral pneumonia (negative for influenza virus) were randomly divided into the Lianhua Qingwen granule trial group and placebo control group. Patients in the trial group was given Lianhua Qingwen granule, 2 bags at a time, 3 times a day, and the controls were given placebo, with a treatment course of 7 days. Patients’ clinical symptoms and signs, and treatment-associated adverse events were observed. Subjects should be included in the full analysis set (FAS) as long as they were all given the medication and had an effectiveness test performed after randomization. Subjects should be included in the Per Protocol Set (PPS),a subset of the total analysis set, which should contain those with strong compliance, no protocol violations, and complete baseline values for the primary indicators.ResultsA total of 169 subjects were enrolled in 12 subcenters, including 151 (76 in the trial group and 75 in the control group) in the FAS and 140 (68 in the trial group and 72 in the control group) in the PPS. After 7 days of treatment, the clinical symptom relief rates were 82.98% (FAS) and 87.12% (PPS) in the trial group, and 75.11% (FAS) and 76.02% (PPS) in the control group, respectively. The clinical symptom relief rates in the trial group were significantly higher than those in the control group (p 0.05).SafetyThere were no significant differences in body weight, vital signs, blood routine, urine routine, stool routine, and blood biochemical indicators (CK, AST, ALT, Cr, and Bun) between the two groups before and after treatment (p > 0.05). During treatment, there were no significant differences in the incidence of adverse events and serious adverse events between the two groups (p > 0.05).ConclusionLianhua Qingwen granules improved the clinical symptoms of patients with non-influenza virus pneumonia, especially ameliorating cough and expectoration. Lianhua Qingwen granules were associated with good safety.

PurposeThe aim of this study was to explore parental preferences for the procedural sedation of children in dentistry through a discrete choice experiment (DCE) to inform clinical decisions and oral health management.MethodsBased on literature reviews, interviews with parents of pediatric dental patients, and expert consultation, six attributes, including fasting time, recovery time, sedative administration routes, adverse reactions, sedation depth and procedure cost, were incorporated into the DCE questionnaire. The DCE questionnaire collected data on parental preferences for pediatric dental sedation treatment from June to August 2022. A conditional logit model was used to analyze preference and willingness to pay (WTP) for each attribute and its level. Subgroup analyses assessing the impact of parents' dental anxiety on procedural sedation preferences were also conducted using conditional logit models.ResultsA total of 186 valid questionnaires were gathered. Parents' preferences for fewer adverse reactions, a milder sedation depth, lower out-of-pocket cost, shorter fasting and recovery times and administration by inhalation were significantly associated with their choice of sedation model. The conditional logit model showed that parents were most interested in treatments with no adverse reactions (0% vs. 15%) (Coef, 1.033; 95% CI, 0.833–1.233), followed by those providing minimal sedation (vs. deep sedation) (Coef, 0.609; 95% CI, 0.448–0.769). Moreover, the relative importance of adverse reactions and fasting time was higher among anxious than nonanxious parents. The study found a WTP threshold of ¥1,538 for reducing adverse reactions (15% to 0%). The WTP threshold for the best sedation procedure scenario (no fasting requirement, 10 min recovery time, administration by inhalation, 0% adverse reaction incidence and minimal sedation) was ¥3,830.ConclusionReducing the adverse reactions and depth of sedation are predominant considerations for parents regarding procedural sedation in pediatric dentistry, followed by lower cost, shorter fasting and recovery times and inhalation sedation. Parents with dental anxiety had a stronger preference for options with a lower incidence of adverse reactions and shorter fasting time than parents without dental anxiety. This discovery is helpful for doctors and can promote collaborative decision-making among parents and doctors.

Compressed Sensing (CS) is a Machine Learning (ML) method, which can be regarded as a single-layer unsupervised learning method. It mainly emphasizes the sparsity of the model. In this paper, we study an ML-based CS Channel Estimation (CE) method for wireless communications, which plays an important role in Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) applications. For the sparse correlation between channels in Multiple Input Multiple Output Filter Bank MultiCarrier with Offset Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (MIMO-FBMC/OQAM) systems, a Distributed Compressed Sensing (DCS)-based CE approach is studied. A distributed sparse adaptive weak selection threshold method is proposed for CE. Firstly, the correlation between MIMO channels is utilized to represent a joint sparse model, and CE is transformed into a joint sparse signal reconstruction problem. Then, the number of correlation atoms for inner product operation is optimized by weak selection threshold, and sparse signal reconstruction is realized by sparse adaptation. The experiment results show that the proposed DCS-based method not only estimates the multipath channel components accurately but also achieves higher CE performance than classical Orthogonal Matching Pursuit (OMP) method and other traditional DCS methods in the time-frequency dual selective channels.

This paper investigates the covert communication of cooperative non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) systems, where the near user serves as a decode-and-forward (DF) relay and the far user receives the covert information from both the source and the near user. To improve the covertness performance, cooperative jamming and power randomness are adopted. Specifically, we derive detection error probability (DEP) of Willie and the minimum detection error probability (MDEP) at the optimal decision threshold for each phase. In addition, the reliability of the proposed system is investigated by deriving closed-form expressions for the outage probability (OP) of the two users. Under the covertness and reliability constraints, an optimization algorithm to maximize the effective covert rate is designed. Simulation results have confirmed the correctness of the theoretical analysis, and the proposed scheme can achieve a better covert communication.

Abstract In the process of mining graphite mine, rock mass is often subjected to dynamic loads such as blasting or mechanical crushing, which involves dynamic responses of different strain rates, and blasting and crushing effect are affected by the rock dynamic properties and damage specials. The dynamic response characteristics and damage rule of graphite ore rock under different strain rates are very important but rarely studied in the past. To study these issues and provide support for graphite ore rock mining, the dynamic compression tests of graphite ore rock under five kinds of impact pressures were designed and carried out by using the Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar (SHPB) test system, combining with the high-speed photography system and crushing screening tests. The dynamic characteristics, crushing process, crushing mode, crushing form and fragmentation distribution of the graphite ore rock under different strain rates were analyzed. The results show that the dynamic characteristics of the graphite ore rock have obvious strain rate effect. The hardening coefficient (DIF) is positively correlated with the cubic root of strain rate, and the softening factor (K) is negatively correlated with the cubic root of strain rate. Shear failure mainly occurs in the graphite ore rock under impact load, and the crushing process can be divided into five stages, they are compaction, crack initiation, crack expansion and penetration, fragmentation collision and fragmentation fall. In addition, the crushed blocks are mainly triangular pyramid (or cone-like) fine granular and powder. The broken fragments of the graphite ore rock are in accord with the fractal geometry characteristics. That is, the average broken particle size (d S ) decreases linearly with the increase of strain rate, and the fractal dimension (D a ) increases weakly with the increase of strain rate. Based on D-P fracture criterion and Weibull distribution model, the dynamic damage constitutive model of the graphite ore rock was established, and the correlation between strain rate and Weibull distribution parameters (m and F 0 ) was used to reasonably modify the damage constitutive model. The modified damage constitutive model curve is in good agreement with the experimental curve, which can basically reflect the strain rate effect of the dynamic characteristics of the graphite ore rock and the evolution characteristics of the dynamic stress–strain curve at different stage.

Anther length is the critical floral trait determining hybrid rice seed production and is controlled by many quantitative trait loci (QTL). However, the cloning of genes specifically controlling anther size has yet to be reported. Here, we report the fine mapping of qAL5.2 for anther size using backcross inbred lines (BILs) in the genetic background of Oryza sativa indica Huazhan (HZ). Gene chip analysis on the BC4F2 and BC5F1 population identified effective loci on Chr1, Chr5, and Chr8 and two genomic regions on Chr5, named qAL5.1 and qAL5.2. qAL5.2 was identified in both populations with LOD values of 17.54 and 10.19, which explained 35.73% and 25.1% of the phenotypic variances, respectively. Ultimately qAL5.2 was localized to a 73 kb region between HK139 and HK140 on chromosome 5. And we constructed two near-isogenic lines (NILs) for RNA-seq analysis, named NIL-qAL5.2HZ and NIL-qAL5.2KLY, respectively. The result of the GO enrichment analysis revealed that differential genes were significantly enriched in the carbohydrate metabolic process, extracellular region, and nucleic acid binding transcription, and KEGG enrichment analysis revealed that alpha-linolenic acid metabolism was significantly enriched. Meanwhile, candidate genes of qAL5.2 were analyzed in RNA-seq, and it was found that ORF8 is differentially expressed between NIL-qAL5.2HZ and NIL-qAL5.2KLY. The fine mapping of qAL5.2 conferring anther length will promote the breed improvement of the restorer line and understanding of the mechanisms driving crop mating patterns.

This paper focuses on the effect of magnetron sputtering process parameters on the performance of thin metal film. Copper–tin alloy metal film was deposited on both sides of the PVDF film using direct current magnetron sputtering technology, and the effects of different working pressures, sputtering powers, sputtering times, and argon flow rates on the uniformity, deposition rate, and electrical conductivity of the metal film were studied separately. The main and minor factors affecting the conductivity of the metal film were determined by multiple linear regression, and the process parameters were optimized. The optimal process parameters include a working pressure of 0.065 Pa, a sputtering power of 70 W, a sputtering time of 20 min, and an argon flow of 20 SCCM. The samples with the best electrical conductivity were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy and energy spectrometry for microscopic morphology and elemental composition. The experimental results showed that the sputtering time and sputtering power have a greater effect on the metal film uniformity and that the working pressure and argon flow rate have a smaller effect on the metal film uniformity; when the working pressure is lower, the sputtering power is higher, the sputtering time is longer, the argon flow rate is higher, and the conductivity of the sputtered metal film is better. The deposition rate decreased with the increase in the working pressure and increased with the increase in the sputtering power and argon flow rate. The working pressure is the main factor affecting the conductivity of the metal film, and the sputtering power and sputtering time are secondary factors.

This work investigates the proactive eavesdropping based legitimate surveillance for integrated satellite-terrestrial relay networks with multiple proactive monitors. To study the eavesdropping non-outage probability, we propose three different presentative proactive eavesdropping cases/modes, where the legitimate monitors could change its roles between eavesdropping and jamming, namely, Case I: Eavesdropping then Jamming, Case II: Jamming then Eavesdropping, Case III: Always Eavesdropping. Particularly, we get the accurate expressions of the eavesdropping non-outage probability for the proposed three proactive eavesdropping modes in the presence of multiple monitors. To derive further insights, we provide the asymptotic analysis of the three eavesdropping non-outage probabilities. Besides, the colluding proactive eavesdropping scenario is considered, in which all the monitors cooperate to overhear or jam the legitimate users. Finally, numerical results are obtained to verify the rightness of the analytical analysis.

Non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) has emerged as a promising solution for enabling massive connectivity in future wireless networks. A great deal of research has extensively considered the implementation of the NOMA with other technologies such as multi-antenna and cooperative communications. Most of the previous studies focused on investigating the downlink NOMA networks, while the uplink papers received relatively less attention. Besides, the majority of the current studies on uplink NOMA schemes have neglected practical limitations. Motivated by this, we investigate the uplink single-input multiple-output cooperative NOMA (SIMO-CNOMA) performance in the presence of hardware impairment (HWI), imperfect channel state information (ipCSI), and imperfect successive interference cancellation (ipSIC). We expand the scope of the proposed system to encompass multiple relay schemes, within which the selection relay technique is executed. We derive the outage probability (OP) and the system throughput of the considered system over the Rayleigh fading channels. In this respect, we provide performance analysis for different combinations of relays and antennas. The OP and system throughput analytical expressions are validated through computer simulations. In addition, the effects of HWI, ipCSI, and ipSIC on the performance of the uplink SIMO-CNOMA are discussed. The results show that the system’s performance can be improved with an increase in the relays and antenna numbers. Also, there is an error floor at the high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in ideal conditions (i.e., in the absence of HWI, ipCSI, and ipSIC), and the error floor is increased in non-ideal conditions (i.e., in the presence of HWI, ipCSI, and ipSIC). The arbitrary number of users in the presence of non-ideal conditions increases the error and reduces the system’s performance. Finally, although the performance gains obtained through the use of multiple antennas and relays, the adverse effects of HWI, ipCSI, and ipSIC on system performance cannot be avoided.

Deep neural networks generally cannot gather more helpful information with limited data in image classification, resulting in poor performance. Self-distillation, as a novel knowledge distillation technique, integrates the roles of teacher and student into a single network to solve this problem. A better understanding of the efficiency of self-distillation is critical to its advancement. In this article, we provide a new perspective: the effectiveness of self-distillation comes not only from distillation but also from the supervisory information provided by the shallow networks. At the same time, we find a barrier that limits the effectiveness of self-distillation. Based on this, reverse self-distillation is proposed. In contrast to self-distillation, the internal knowledge flow is in the opposite direction. Experimental results show that reverse self-distillation can break the barrier of self-distillation and further improve the accuracy of networks. On average, 2.8% and 3.2% accuracy boosts are observed on CIFAR100 and TinyImageNet.

In this paper, we analyze the outage performance of a rate-splitting multiple access (RSMA)-aided semi-grant-free (SGF) transmission system, in which a grant-based user (GBU) and multiple grant-free users (GFUs) access the base station by sharing the same resource blocks. In the RSMA-aided SGF (RSMA-SGF) transmission system, the GBU and admitted GFU are respectively treated as the primary and secondary users by using the cognitive radio principle. With the aid of RSMA, the admitted GFU’s transmit power allocation, target rate allocation, and successive interference cancellation decoding order are jointly optimized to attain the maximum achievable rate for the admitted GFU, without deteriorating the GBU’s outage performance compared to orthogonal multiple access. Taking into account the extended non-outage zone achieved by rate-splitting, a closed-form expression is derived for the outage probability of the admitted GFU in the considered RSMA-SGF system. Asymptotic analysis for the admitted GFU’s outage probability is also provided. The superior outage performance and full multiuser diversity gain achieved by the RSMA-SGF transmission system are verified by the analytical and simulation results.

Abstract This special issue editorial introduces the latest development in emerging technologies of biomedical engineering, including big medical data, artificial intelligence, cloud/fog computing, federated learning, ubiquitous computing and communication, internet of things, wireless technologies, and security and privacy. In this special issue, nine manuscripts are published related to advanced learning and computing systems for biomedical engineering.

Objective:. This study aimed to investigate the association between single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of PCSK1 (proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 1) related to obesity and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Methods:. In this case-control observational study, four candidate SNPs (rs6234, rs155971, rs6232, rs3811951) of PCSK1 were genotyped in 732 NAFLD patients and 823 healthy control participants, all of whom were of ethnic Han Chinese descent. All participants came from Shanghai, China, and joined our study during 2015 to 2016. The frequencies of each allele and genotype, paired linkage disequilibrium, and haplotype were calculated on the SHEsis platform. In addition to SHEsis, five different genetic models (codominant, dominant, recessive, overdominant, and log-additive) were employed to identify the correlation between genotype frequency and NAFLD. This study was approved by the Medical Ethics Committee of Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (approved No. 2017LCSY069). Results:. In a comparison of NAFLD patients and healthy participants, none of the four PCSK1 SNPs were significantly correlated with the occurrence of NAFLD (P > 0.05), in either genotypic or allelic distribution. The recessive model of rs3811951 appeared to show a correlation (odds ratio = 1.077; 95% confidence interval = 0.924–1.256; P = 0.04), but there was no statistical significance after Bonferroni correction (Pcorr > 0.0125). Conclusions:. Four obesity-related PCSK1 SNPs (rs6234, rs155971, rs6232, rs3811951) showed no significant correlation with the development of NAFLD in a Han Chinese population.

Abstract Backscatter communication, an emerging ultra‐low‐power wireless communication paradigm, has been studied as a promising solution for wireless communications in some Internet‐of‐Things (IoT) applications. The required ubiquitous data transmission in the IoT world is demanding information security. Different from mathematical encryption at higher protocol layers, the directional modulation (DM) technology can provide physical‐layer wireless security, which does not require digital and computation resources that are otherwise scarce in low‐power IoT devices. In this paper, a synthesis‐free Van‐Atta backscatter array is constructed and studied. The authors show that a Van‐Atta array can be made to project orthogonal interference upon the backscattered signals in the radio frequency domain. The design details of the Van‐Atta DM array are elaborated, and its efficacy is validated via bit error rate simulations.

Non-Orthogonal Multiplex Access (NOMA) can be deployed in Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) networks to improve spectrum efficiency. Due to the broadcasting feature of NOMA-UAV networks, it is essential to focus on the security of the wireless system. This paper focuses on maximizing the secrecy sum rate under the constraint of the achievable rate of the legitimate channels. To tackle the non-convexity optimization problem, a reinforcement learning-based alternative optimization algorithm is proposed. Firstly, with the help of successive convex approximations, the optimal power allocation scheme with a given UAV trajectory is obtained by using convex optimization tools. Afterwards, through plenty of explorations of the wireless environment, the Q-learning networks approach the optimal location transition strategy of the UAV, even without the wireless channel state information.

The continued growth of the industrial Internet of Things (IoT) paves the way for the fifth industrial revolution (Industry 5.0), which is expected to further enhance the wireless connectivity and human machine collaboration. Nonetheless, Industry 5.0 will inevitably face the great challenges such as large scale connectivity and explosive data traffic because of the proliferation of IoT devices. To meet these challenges, we propose a novel non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA)-based overlay cognitive radio (OCR) network for Industry 5.0. Specifically, the hybrid full-duplex (FD)/ half-duplex (HD) mode at the secondary user (SR) is adopted and in-phase and quadrature phase imbalance (IQI) is introduced to better comply with the practical scenarios. We investigate the outage probability (OP) and ergodic sum rate (ESR) of the considered network with the Nakagami-m channels. Extensive simulation experiments are performed to verify the accuracy of the analysis. From the simulation results, we can conclude: i) Increasing the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), OP decreases but ESR increases and tends to a fixed value at high SNR regimes, indicating that the existence of IQI leads to a ceiling for the ESR; ii) The primary system has higher reliable performance at low SNR regions when SR is in FD mode, and for ergodicity, the system with FD relay is superior to HD relay; iii) The reliable performance of OMA system for primary users will be better since there is no interference at the relay.

Objective: DNA methylation plays a potential role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, little is known about the global changes of blood leukocyte DNA methylome profiles from Chinese patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and with AD, or the specific DNA methylation-based signatures associated with MCI and AD. In this study, we sought to dissect the characteristics of blood DNA methylome profiles in MCI- and AD-affected Chinese patients with the aim of identifying novel DNA methylation biomarkers for AD.Methods: In this study, we profiled the DNA methylome of peripheral blood leukocytes from 20 MCI- and 20 AD-affected Chinese patients and 20 cognitively healthy controls (CHCs) with the Infinium Methylation EPIC BeadChip array.Results: We identified significant alterations of the methylome profiles in MCI and AD blood leukocytes. A total of 2,582 and 20,829 CpG sites were significantly and differentially methylated in AD and MCI compared with CHCs (adjusted p < 0.05), respectively. Furthermore, 441 differentially methylated positions (DMPs), aligning to 213 unique genes, were overlapped by the three comparative groups of AD versus CHCs, MCI versus CHCs, and AD versus MCI, of which 6 and 5 DMPs were continuously hypermethylated and hypomethylated in MCI and AD relative to CHCs (adjusted p < 0.05), respectively, such as FLNC cg20186636 and AFAP1 cg06758191. The DMPs with an area under the curve >0.900, such as cg18771300, showed high potency for predicting MCI and AD. In addition, gene ontology and pathway enrichment results showed that these overlapping genes were mainly involved in neurotransmitter transport, GABAergic synaptic transmission, signal release from synapse, neurotransmitter secretion, and the regulation of neurotransmitter levels. Furthermore, tissue expression enrichment analysis revealed a subset of potentially cerebral cortex-enriched genes associated with MCI and AD, including SYT7, SYN3, and KCNT1.Conclusion: This study revealed a number of potential biomarkers for MCI and AD, also highlighted the presence of epigenetically dysregulated gene networks that may engage in the underlying pathological events resulting in the onset of cognitive impairment and AD progression. Collectively, this study provides prospective cues for developing therapeutic strategies to improve cognitive impairment and AD course.

A reconfigurable intelligent reflective surface (RIS)-assisted cognitive radio (CR) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) secure communication system is considered. In the presence of an eavesdropper, a primary base station (PBS) and a cognitive base station (CBS) equipped with multiple antennas communicate to a primary user (PU) and a secondary user (SU), respectively. In order to maximize the achievable secrecy rate of the system, the secrecy rate maximization problem is first transformed into a secure energy efficiency (SEE) problem using an objective function. Then, the security energy efficiency of the system is maximized by jointly optimizing the transmit beam formation of the base station and the reflected beam formation of the smart reflecting surface under the conditions that the total transmitted power constraint and the interference power constraint are satisfied. To address the difficulty in solving the resulting optimization problem, we apply an algorithm based on alternating optimization and semidefinite relaxation, as well as Dinklbach’s algorithm, to solve the problem. Simulation results show that this method can significantly improve the safety energy efficiency of the system.

Summary: Histone modification H3K27me3 is an important chromatin mark that plays vital roles in repressing expression of developmental genes. Here, we construct high-resolution 3D genome maps using long-read chromatin interaction analysis by paired-end tag sequencing (ChIA-PET) and characterize H3K27me3-associated chromatin interactions in an elite rice hybrid, Shanyou 63. We find that many H3K27me3-marked regions may function as silencer-like regulatory elements. The silencer-like elements can come into proximity with distal target genes via forming chromatin loops in 3D space of the nuclei, regulating gene silencing and plant traits. Natural and induced deletion of silencers upregulate expression of distal connected genes. Furthermore, we identify extensive allele-specific chromatin loops. We find that genetic variations alter allelic chromatin topology, thus modulating allelic gene imprinting in rice hybrids. In conclusion, the characterization of silencer-like regulatory elements and haplotype-resolved chromatin interaction maps provide insights into the understanding of molecular mechanisms underlying allelic gene silencing and plant trait controlling.

Patulin is a mycotoxin with potential reproductive toxicity. We explored the impact of patulin on Leydig cell (LC) development in male rats. Male Sprague Dawley rats (21 days postpartum) were gavaged patulin at doses of 0.5, 1, and 2 mg/kg/day for 7 days. Patulin markedly lowered serum testosterone at ≥0.5 mg/kg and progesterone at 1 and 2 mg/kg, while increasing LH levels at 2 mg/kg. Patulin increased the CYP11A1+ (cholesterol side-chain cleavage, a progenitor LC biomarker) cell number and their proliferation at 1 and 2 mg/kg. Additionally, patulin downregulated Lhcgr (luteinizing hormone receptor), Scarb1 (high-density lipoprotein receptor), and Cyp17a1 (17α-hydroxylase/17,20-lyase) at 1 and 2 mg/kg. It increased the activation of pAKT1 (protein kinase B), pERK1/2 (extracellular signal-related kinases 1 and 2), pCREB (cyclic AMP response binding protein), and CCND1 (cyclin D1), associated with cell cycle regulation, in vivo. Patulin increased EdU incorporation into R2C LC and stimulated cell cycle progression in vitro. Furthermore, patulin showed a direct inhibitory effect on 11β-HSD2 (11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase 2) activity, which eliminates the adverse effects of glucocorticoids. This study provides insights into the potential mechanisms via which patulin affects progenitor LC development in young male rats.

Non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) has been a strong candidate to support massive connectivity in future wireless networks. In this regard, its implementation into cooperative relaying, named cooperative-NOMA (CNOMA), has received tremendous attention from researchers. However, most of the existing CNOMA studies have failed to address practical constraints since they assume ideal conditions. Particularly, the error performance of CNOMA schemes with imperfections has not been investigated yet. In this paper, we provide an analytical framework for error and outage performance of CNOMA schemes under practical assumptions where we take into account imperfect successive interference canceler (ipSIC), imperfect channel state information (ipCSI), and hardware impairments (HWI) at the transceivers. We derive analytical expressions of bit error rate (BER) expressions in CNOMA schemes whether the direct links between source and users exist or not which is, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, the first study in the open literature. We also derive the outage probability (OP) expressions for CNOMA schemes with and without direct links under practical assumptions. For comparisons, we provide BER and OP expressions for downlink NOMA with practical constraints which also have not been given in the literature, yet. The theoretical BER and OP expressions are validated with computer simulations where the perfect match is observed. Finally, we discuss the effects of the system parameters (e.g., power allocation, HWI level, ipCSI factor) on the performance of CNOMA schemes to reveal fruitful insights for society. The results demonstrate that the HWI, ipCSI and ipSIC have a significant effect on the performance of the systems.

To support the massive connectivity in Internet of Things (IoT), several promising techniques like cognitive radio (CR) and non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) enables the user to share spectrum resources. This work aims to achieve fairness among secondary users (SUs) in IoT cooperative NOMA-based CR transmission. We design a power allocation algorithm, an independent battery constraint at each node is considered, and power gap among transmissions of two NOMA users is applied for successive interference cancellation. The simulation results show that the proposed framework provides excellent performance and for sufficient available transmission power perfect fairness is achieved.

Abstract Background The daily cycling of plant physiological processes is speculated to arise from the coordinated rhythms of gene expression. However, the dynamics of diurnal 3D genome architecture and their potential functions underlying the rhythmic gene expression remain unclear. Results Here, we reveal the genome-wide rhythmic occupancy of RNA polymerase II (RNAPII), which precedes mRNA accumulation by approximately 2 h. Rhythmic RNAPII binding dynamically correlates with RNAPII-mediated chromatin architecture remodeling at the genomic level of chromatin interactions, spatial clusters, and chromatin connectivity maps, which are associated with the circadian rhythm of gene expression. Rhythmically expressed genes within the same peak phases of expression are preferentially tethered by RNAPII for coordinated transcription. RNAPII-associated chromatin spatial clusters (CSCs) show high plasticity during the circadian cycle, and rhythmically expressed genes in the morning phase and non-rhythmically expressed genes in the evening phase tend to be enriched in RNAPII-associated CSCs to orchestrate expression. Core circadian clock genes are associated with RNAPII-mediated highly connected chromatin connectivity networks in the morning in contrast to the scattered, sporadic spatial chromatin connectivity in the evening; this indicates that they are transcribed within physical proximity to each other during the AM circadian window and are located in discrete “transcriptional factory” foci in the evening, linking chromatin architecture to coordinated transcription outputs. Conclusion Our findings uncover fundamental diurnal genome folding principles in plants and reveal a distinct higher-order chromosome organization that is crucial for coordinating diurnal dynamics of transcriptional regulation.

DC-biased optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (DCO-OFDM) has been proposed in visible light communication (VLC) to overcome the limited modulation bandwidth of light emitting diode (LED). Due to the implementation of the inverse fast Fourier transform at the DCO-OFDM transmitter, DCO-OFDM suffers from its high peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR), which restricts its use in some VLC applications, especially where the optical power efficiency is a crucial requirement. That is because the LEDs used in VLC systems have a limited optical power-current linear range. To this end, a novel discrete Fourier transform spread-optical pulse amplitude modulation (DFTS-OPAM) signal scheme based on the single carrier-interleaved frequency division multiple access (SC-IFDMA) signal is introduced in this paper to address the high PAPR issue of OFDM. DFTS-OPAM is achieved by considering a PAM as an SC-IFDMA data symbol and duplicate the output vector of the fast Fourier transform at the SC-IFDMA transmitter side. Simulation results show that the PAPR of the proposed scheme is 7 dB lower than that of DCO-OFDM. Furthermore, this significant PAPR improvement is experimentally investigated where the practical results show that the proposed scheme can provide more 2.5 dB reduction in the average transmitted power requirement compared to DCO-OFDM and can subsequently increase the maximum achieved distance between the transmitter and the receiver up to 44%.

The gut microbiome and host genetics are both associated with major depressive disorder (MDD); however, the molecular mechanisms among the associations are poorly understood, especially in the Asian, Chinese group. Our study applied linear discriminant analysis (LDA) effect size (LEfSe) and genome-wide association analysis in the cohort with both gut sequencing data and genomics data. We reported the different gut microbiota characteristics between MDD and control groups in the Chinese group and further constructed the association between host genetics and the gut microbiome. Actinobacteria and Pseudomonades were found more in the MDD group. We found significant differences in the ACE and Chao indexes of alpha diversity while no discrepancy in beta diversity. We found three associations between host genetics with microbiome features: beta diversity and rs6108 (p = 8.65 × 10–9), Actinobacteria and rs77379751 (p = 8.56 × 10–9), and PWY-5913 and rs1775633082 (p = 4.54 × 10–8). A species of the Romboutsia genus was co-associated with the species of Ruminococcus gnavus in an internetwork through four genes: METTL8, ITGB2, OTULIN, and PROSER3, with a strict threshold (p < 5 × 10–4). Furthermore, our findings suggested that the gut microbiome diversity might affect microRNA expression in the brain and influenced SERPINA5 and other spatially close genes afterward. These findings suggest new linkages between depression and gut microbiome in Asian, Chinese people, which might be mediated by genes and microRNA regulation in space distance.

Abstract The future sixth generation (6G) is going to face the significant challenges of massive connections and green communication. Recently, reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS) and non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) have been proposed as two key technologies to solve the above problems. Motivated by this fact, we consider a downlink RIS-aided NOMA system, where the source aims to communicate with the two NOMA users via RIS. Considering future network supporting real-time service, we investigate the system performance with the view of effective capacity (EC), which is an important evaluation metric of delay sensitive systems. Specifically, we derive the analytical expressions of the EC of the near and far users. To obtain more useful insights, we deduce the analytical approximation expressions of the EC in the low signal-to-noise-ratio approximation by utilizing Taylor expansion. Moreover, we provide the results of orthogonal multiple access (OMA) for the purpose of comparison. It is found that (1) The number of RIS components and the transmission power of the source have important effects on the performance of the considered system; (2) Compared with OMA, NOMA system has higher EC due to the short transmission time.

Abstract Background Clinical notes are documents that contain detailed information about the health status of patients. Medical codes generally accompany them. However, the manual diagnosis is costly and error-prone. Moreover, large datasets in clinical diagnosis are susceptible to noise labels because of erroneous manual annotation. Therefore, machine learning has been utilized to perform automatic diagnoses. Previous state-of-the-art (SOTA) models used convolutional neural networks to build document representations for predicting medical codes. However, the clinical notes are usually long-tailed. Moreover, most models fail to deal with the noise during code allocation. Therefore, denoising mechanism and long-tailed classification are the keys to automated coding at scale. Results In this paper, a new joint learning model is proposed to extend our attention model for predicting medical codes from clinical notes. On the MIMIC-III-50 dataset, our model outperforms all the baselines and SOTA models in all quantitative metrics. On the MIMIC-III-full dataset, our model outperforms in the macro-F1, micro-F1, macro-AUC, and precision at eight compared to the most advanced models. In addition, after introducing the denoising mechanism, the convergence speed of the model becomes faster, and the loss of the model is reduced overall. Conclusions The innovations of our model are threefold: firstly, the code-specific representation can be identified by adopted the self-attention mechanism and the label attention mechanism. Secondly, the performance of the long-tailed distributions can be boosted by introducing the joint learning mechanism. Thirdly, the denoising mechanism is suitable for reducing the noise effects in medical code prediction. Finally, we evaluate the effectiveness of our model on the widely-used MIMIC-III datasets and achieve new SOTA results.

Abstract Background Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a disorder that extends from simple hepatic steatosis to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), which is effectively alleviated by lifestyle intervention. Nevertheless, DNA methylation mechanism underling the effect of environmental factors on NAFLD and NASH is still obscure. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of exercise and diet intervention in NAFLD and NASH via DNA methylation of GAB2. Methods Methylation of genomic DNA in human NAFLD was quantified using Infinium Methylation EPIC BeadChip assay after exercise (Ex), low carbohydrate diet (LCD) and exercise plus low carbohydrate diet (ELCD) intervention. The output Idat files were processed using ChAMP package. False discovery rate on genome-wide analysis of DNA methylation (q

This study aimed to explore the main influencing factors of suicide risk among Chinese students and establish an early warning model to provide interventions for high-risk students. We conducted surveys of students in their first and third years from a cohort study at Jining Medical College. Logistic regression models were used to screen the early warning factors, and four machine learning models were used to establish early warning models. There were 8 factors related to suicide risk that were eventually obtained through screening, including age, having a rough father, and CES-D, OHQ, ASLEC-4, BFI-Neuroticism, BFI-Openness, and MMC-AF-C scores. A random forest model with SMOTE was adopted, and it verified that these 8 early warning signs, for suicide risk can effectively predict suicide risk within 2 years with an AUC score of 0.947. Among the factors, we constructed a model that indicated that different personality traits affected suicide risk by different paths. Moreover, the factors obtained by screening can be used to identify college students in the same year with a high risk of suicide, with an AUC score that reached 0.953. Based on this study, we suggested some interventions to prevent students going high suicide risk.

Abstract. Dengue is the most prevalent and rapidly spreading mosquito-borne viral disease. As a dengue non-endemic country, China has experienced several dengue outbreaks in recent years. However, dengue patients in China display clinical characteristics that are distinct from those of patients in dengue-endemic countries. To standardize the diagnosis and treatment of dengue fever, the experts at the Society of Infectious Diseases, Society of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology of the Chinese Medical Association, and the Society of Emergency Medicine of China Association of Chinese Medicine have developed a guideline after reviewing the following guidelines and data: guidelines for diagnosis, treatment, prevention, and control of dengue (World Health Organization, 2009); the guidelines for diagnosis and treatment of dengue (National Health and Family Planning Commission of the People's Republic of China, 2014, Edition 2); health industry standard of the People's Republic of China “diagnosis for dengue fever (WS216-2018)”; and systemic reports on dengue. The new guideline includes eight aspects: introduction, terminology, epidemiology and prevention, etiology and pathogenesis, clinical features, diagnosis, treatment, and problems to be solved.

Abstract. Objective:. Venlafaxine is a common antidepressant and its therapeutic effect varies among people with different genetic backgrounds. The aim of this study was to investigate whether single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the SLC17A7 gene are associated with the treatment outcome of venlafaxine in a Chinese Han population with major depressive disorder. Methods:. This prospective pharmacogenetic case-control study that involved genotyping of four SNPs of SLC17A7 was conducted on 175 major depressive disorder patients of Chinese Han origin, aged 18 to 65 years, participated in the study from April 2005 to September 2006. Comparisons of allele and genotype frequencies of all SNPs were performed between the responder/remission group and the nonresponder/nonremission group. This study was approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee of Sichuan University (approval No. 20151112-265). Results:. The allele and genotype frequencies of the four candidate SNPs in SCL17A7 showed no significant difference between responders and nonresponders. Meanwhile, no significant difference was detected in the four investigated SLC17A7 SNPs between patients who did and did not exhibit remission. Although one of the investigated SLC17A7 variants (rs1578944) demonstrated a significant association (P = 0.022) with a response to venlafaxine after 6 weeks of treatment in the survival analysis, the association was unclear after a Bonferroni multiple comparisons test was conducted. Conclusion:. No significant association exists between the four candidate SNPs (rs1043558, rs1320301, rs1578944, and rs74174284) in SLC17A7 and venlafaxine treatment in the Chinese Han population.

Abstract Negative life events (NLEs) are an important predictor of depressive symptoms (DS). College students experiencing NLEs are at risk of developing DS that could further weaken their academic engagement (AE), while social supports may assuage such negative effect. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between negative life events, depressive symptoms, and academic engagement, and how the NLE-DS-AE relationship is affected by the level of social support among Chinese college students. To test this hypothesis, we applied data from the Decoding Happiness Gene Cohort Study (DHGCS). Baseline depressive symptoms and academic engagement were measured at the beginning of the first academic year. Approximately 12 months later, negative life events and social support over the past year were assessed retrospectively along with current depressive symptoms and academic engagement. A total of 3629 college students (Age = 18.67 ± 0.82) were included in the study. The prevalence of depressive symptoms was 26.7% and 36.7% in college students at the beginning of the first and second academic year, respectively. Depressive symptoms predicted subsequent academic engagement rather than the reverse based on cross-lagged analyses. Using structural equation modeling analyses, findings revealed a partial mediation effect of social support between negative life events and the development of depressive symptoms, and a partial mediation effect between negative life events and academic engagement. The findings presented negative life events jeopardize the academic engagement via depressive symptoms, while social supports are able to cancel such negative effect among college students under the Chinese cultural context.

The performance of supercapacitors is directly influenced by the conductivity of polypyrrole, which serves as the electrode material. In order to balance considerations of cost-effectiveness and conductivity, this study employs magnetron sputtering to fabricate a copper–tin alloy layer as the conductive layer for polypyrrole. The deposition of a copper–tin alloy film through magnetron sputtering has a significant impact on the polymerization effect of pyrrole as well as being a crucial factor influencing the performance of supercapacitors. Various parameters, including working pressure, sputtering time, and sputtering power, affect the conductivity of the copper–tin alloy film. Furthermore, the degree of influence of each parameter on the conductivity of the copper–tin alloy film varies. This study utilizes an orthogonal experimental design to investigate the impact of various factors and levels on the conductivity and uniformity of a metal film. The objective is to optimize the process parameters for the creation of a copper–tin alloy film with desirable characteristics. Experimental results indicate that the working voltage, sputtering time, and sputtering power significantly influence the coefficient of variation, deposition rate, target current, and operating voltage of the film. Furthermore, FT-IR, XRD, and SEM tests are conducted on samples prepared using the identified optimal process parameters. In addition, we demonstrate various approaches to enhance the experiment’s reliability. The findings indicate that the most favorable process parameters for achieving optimal results are a working pressure of 0.065 Pa, a sputtering time of 20 min, and a sputtering power of 70 W. It was observed that the sputtering time significantly influences the uniformity of the copper–tin alloy film, whereas the sputtering power has a minimal impact on its uniformity. The deposition rate is primarily influenced by the working pressure, with the greatest effect observed. Conversely, the sputtering time has the least impact on the deposition rate. Similarly, the target current is predominantly affected by the sputtering power, exhibiting the greatest influence, while the sputtering time has the least effect. Furthermore, the working voltage is most significantly influenced by the working pressure, whereas the sputtering time has the least impact on the working voltage.

Abstract Background Clozapine is considered to be the most effective antipsychotic medication for schizophrenia. However, it is associated with several adverse effects such as leukopenia, and the underlying mechanism has not yet been fully elucidated. The authors performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) in a Chinese population to identify genetic markers for clozapine-induced leukopenia (CIL) and clozapine-induced neutropenia (CIN). Methods A total of 1879 patients (225 CIL cases, including 43 CIN cases, and 1,654 controls) of Chinese descent were included. Data from common and rare single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were tested for association. The authors also performed a trans-ancestry meta-analysis with GWAS results of European individuals from the Clozapine-Induced Agranulocytosis Consortium (CIAC). Results The authors identified several novel loci reaching the threshold of genome-wide significance level (P

The old economic and social growth model, characterized by centralized fossil energy consumption, is progressively shifting, and the third industrial revolution, represented by new energy and Internet technology, is gaining traction. Energy Internet, as a core technology of the third industrial revolution, aims to combine renewable energy and Internet technology to promote the large-scale use and sharing of distributed renewable energy as well as the integration of multiple complex network systems, such as electricity, transportation, and natural gas. This novel technology enables power networks to save energy. However, multienergy synchronization optimization poses a significant problem. As a solution, this study proposed an optimized approach based on the concept of layered control–collaborate optimization. The proposed method allows the distributed device to plan the heat, cold, gas, and electricity in the regional system in the most efficient way possible. Moreover, the proposed optimization model is simulated using a real-number genetic algorithm. It improved the optimal scheduling between different regions and the independence of distributed equipment with minimal cost. Furthermore, the inverse system and energy and cost saving rate of the proposed method are better than those of existing methods, which prove its effectiveness.

Satellite-terrestrial networks (STNs) have received significant attention from research and industry due to their capability of providing a stable connection to rural and distant areas, where the allocation of terrestrial infrastructures is uneconomical or difficult. Moreover, the STNs are considered as a promising enabler of fifth-generation communication networks. However, expected massive connectivity in future communication networks will face issues associated with spectrum scarcity. In this regard, the integration of cognitive radio and non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) techniques into STNs is considered as a promising remedy. Thereafter, in this article, we investigate NOMA-assisted cognitive STN under practical system conditions, such as transceiver hardware impairments, channel state information mismatch, imperfect successive interference cancellation, and interference noises. Generalized coverage probability formulas for NOMA users in both primary and secondary networks are derived considering the impact of interference temperature constraint and its correctness is verified through Monte Carlo simulation. Furthermore, to achieve performance fairness among the users, power allocation factors based on coverage fairness for primary and secondary NOMA users are provided. Moreover, the numerical results demonstrate superior performance compared to the ones obtained from an orthogonal multiple access scheme and examine the imperfection's impact on the system performance in terms of coverage and throughput.

One of the key enablers of future wireless communications is constituted by massive users can access the core network in wireless systems simultaneously, which can improve the spectral efficiency. In existing scheme of massive connections, namely non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA), is investigated in conventional relaying networks. This method results in excessive power consumption and high hardware costs. Recently, reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) has been considered as one of the revolutionary technologies to enable energy-efficient and smart wireless communications, which is a two-dimensional structure with a large number of passive elements. This paper examines the RISs used in emerging communications systems based on NOMA scheme. The two-user system model contains the far user and the near user which employing RIS and NOMA is conducted in this study. In particular, we design two links (backscatter and direct links) to target to improve performance of far user. System performance was characterized through closed-form expressions of outage probability, ergodic capacity and throughput, which are beneficial to evaluate performance of two users. In Monte-Carlo simulations, it was revealed that the probability of the two users experiencing system outage was determined by factors related to power allocation, power transmission at the base station, and the number of reflecting elements in the RISs.

In this paper, we consider the decode-and-forward (DF) relay system in millimeter-wave (mmWave) massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems, and propose a hybrid beamforming design method for the mixed structure, which contains the fully-connected and sub-connected structures. To satisfy constant-modulus and block-diagonalization (BD) constraints, the analog beamforming is designed by the idea of sorted successive interference cancellation (SSIC). More specifically, the proposed method first sorts the capacities of different analog sub-channels in descending order, and then designs the analog beamforming serially according to the order of the capacities. To efficiently mitigate the inner-user and inter-user interference, we propose a modified baseband BD technology to reduce the information loss in digital beamforming design, thereby improving the system capacity. In addition, the proposed hybrid beamforming algorithm is designed by considering both uniform linear arrays (ULAs) and uniform planar arrays (UPAs). Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed hybrid beamforming design scheme can obtain good performance in terms of the achievable sum-rate and power efficiency in ULAs and UPAs.

DiGeorge Syndrome Critical Region Gene 8 (DGCR8) is a key component of the microprocessor complex governing the maturation of most microRNAs, some of which participate in schizophrenia and neural development. Previous studies have found that the 22q11.2 locus, containing DGCR8, confers a risk of schizophrenia. However, the role of DGCR8 in schizophrenia and the early stage of neural development has remained unknown. In the present study, we try to identify the role of DGCR8 in schizophrenia from human samples and animal models. We found that the G allele and GG genotype of rs3757 in DGCR8 conferred a higher risk of schizophrenia, which likely resulted from higher expression of DGCR8 according to our test of dual-luciferase reporter system. Employed overexpression model in utero and adult mice, we also revealed that the aberrant increase of Dgcr8 delayed neuronal migration during embryological development and consequently triggered abnormal behaviors in adult mice. Together, these results demonstrate that DGCR8 may play a role in the etiology of schizophrenia through regulating neural development.

Polymorphisms in the oxytocin receptor (OXTR) gene are related to individual differences in negative emotions, such as depressive symptoms and anxiety. However, it remains unclear what the potential roles of OXTR polymorphisms are in subjective well-being (SWB), which is negatively correlated with depressive symptoms. We examined attributional styles as mediator between SWB and five polymorphisms of the oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR rs53576, rs2254298, rs1042778, rs2268494, and rs2268490) among 627 full-time college freshmen (Mage = 20.90, SD = 0.82 for male; Mage = 20.81, SD = 0.92 for female) using structural equation modeling. The results showed that individuals with the OXTR rs2254298 AA genotype and rs53576 AA/GA genotype reported higher scores on SWB, which suggested that individuals with this genotype experienced more happiness. Moreover, external attributional style partially mediated the association between OXTR rs2254298 polymorphism and SWB (β = 0.019, 95%CI [0.001, 0.036], p = 0.035). In conclusion, our findings demonstrated that the genetic variations of OXTR played a role in the individual differences of SWB, and external attribution style could mediate the association.

Abstract Background Maize ears and tassels are two separate types of inflorescence which are initiated by similar developmental processes but gradually develop distinct architectures. However, coordinated trans and cis regulation of differentially expressed genes determining ear and tassel architecture within the 3D genome context is largely unknown. Results We identify 56,055 and 52,633 open chromatin regions (OCRs) in developing maize ear and tassel primordia using ATAC-seq and characterize combinatorial epigenome features around these OCRs using ChIP-seq, Bisulfite-seq, and RNA-seq datasets. Our integrative analysis of coordinated epigenetic modification and transcription factor binding to OCRs highlights the cis and trans regulation of differentially expressed genes in ear and tassel controlling inflorescence architecture. We further systematically map chromatin interactions at high-resolution in corresponding tissues using in situ digestion-ligation-only Hi-C (DLO Hi-C). The extensive chromatin loops connecting OCRs and genes provide a 3D view on cis- and trans-regulatory modules responsible for ear- and tassel-specific gene expression. We find that intergenic SNPs tend to locate in distal OCRs, and our chromatin interaction maps provide a potential mechanism for trait-associated intergenic SNPs that may contribute to phenotypic variation by influencing target gene expression through chromatin loops. Conclusions Our comprehensive epigenome annotations and 3D genome maps serve as valuable resource and provide a deep understanding of the complex regulatory mechanisms of genes underlying developmental and morphological diversities between maize ear and tassel.