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Background As an important part of the general practice team, assistant general practitioners undertake a lot of grassroots general practice work, but at present, there is no recognized national level assistant general practitioners post competency model to provide scientific basis for training qualified assistant general practitioners. Objective The competency of assistant general practitioners for China was constructed to provide support for the design of national assistant physician qualification examination, and provide theoretical basis for the training and evaluation of assistant general practitioners. Methods Based on the research group's previous literature research and behavioral event interviews, from September 2019 to January 2020, the entry pool was established, and 30 experts engaged in general practice were consulted by Delphi method for 2 rounds. The index and weight coefficient of the Chinese assistant general practitioner post competency model were determined by AHP. Results Six first-level indicators [the basic medical and health services (0.244 8), medical knowledge and life-long learning (0.244 8), and professional quality (0.244 8), interpersonal communication and team work (0.138 9), the basic public health services (0.085 8), the information utilization ability and management capacity (0.041 0) ] and 63 second-level indicators were finalized, and the weight coefficients of each indicator were defined. Conclusion This study constructs the post competency of assistant general practitioners for China for the first time, which has a high degree of expert representativeness and authority, and a more comprehensive and reasonable index selection, laying a foundation for the empirical study of the index system.

Abstract This study evaluated the effects of supplementing the diet of lactating cows with Acremonium terrestris culture (ATC) on milk production, serum antioxidant capacity, inflammatory indices, and serum lipid metabolomics. Over 90 days, 24 multiparous Chinese Holstein cows in mid-lactation (108 ± 10.4 days in milk, 637 ± 25 kg body weight, 30.23 ± 3.7 kg/d milk yield) were divided into either a control diet (CON) or a diet supplemented with 30 g of ATC daily. All the data were analyzed using Student’s t test with SPSS 20.0 software. The results showed that compared with CON feeding, ATC feeding significantly increased milk yield, antioxidant capacity, and immune function. Lipidome screening identified 143 lipid metabolites that differed between the two groups. Further analysis using “random forest” machine learning revealed three glycerophospholipid serum metabolites that could serve as lipid markers with a predictive accuracy of 91.67%. This study suggests that ATC can be a useful dietary supplement for improving lactational performance in dairy cows and provides valuable insights into developing nutritional strategies to maintain metabolic homeostasis in ruminants.

Abstract Objectives This study aimed to summarize the clinical features of non-syndromic late developing supernumerary teeth (LDST) and comparisons with common supernumerary teeth (ST) and explore the association between LDST and the third dentition. Materials and methods This study retrospected cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) and medical history of 41,903 consecutive patients from January to December 2021. Comparisons between ST and LDST were evaluated by Chi-square test or Fisher exact test. Correlation between chronological age and dental stage age was evaluated by Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient. Binary logistic regression analysis was used to explore the features of LDST originating from the third dentition. Results Sixty patients with 126 non-syndromic LDST and 1602 patients with 1988 non-syndromic ST were identified. The prevalence of ST and LDST was 3.82% and 0.14%, respectively, with a male-female ratio of 1.78:1 and 1.31:1. LDST patients mainly had LDST in multiple (58.33%) and bilaterally (41.67%), with an average of 2.1/patient. Most LDST were normal-shaped (84.13%), vertically oriented (71.43%), located in the mandible (80.16%), and distributed in the premolar region (82.54%). The study also indicated that the development of LDST was correlated with permanent teeth, with LDST developing 6.48 to 10.45 years later. In this study, 72.22% of LDST met the clinical criteria for the third dentition. Conclusions LDST manifested different clinical features from common ST. LDST might be closely related to the third dentition. Clinical relevance This work would help to comprehend LDST from a clinical perspective, and may be complementary to the criteria of the third dentition.

AbstractOrthosiphon aristatus is a well-known folkloric medicine and herb for Guangdong soup for the treatment of rheumatism in China. Eight isopimarane-type and migrated pimarane-type diterpenoids (1-8), including a new one with a rarely occurring α,β-unsaturated diketone C-ring, were isolated from O. aristatus. Their structures were determined by spectroscopic methods and quantum chemical calculations. Furthermore, the most abundant compound, orthosiphol K, was structurally modified by modern synthetic techniques to give seven new derivatives (9-15). The anti-rheumatoid arthritis activity of these diterpenoids were evaluated on a TNF-α induced MH7A human rheumatoid fibroblast-like synoviocyte model. Compound 10 showed the most potent activity among these compounds. Based on their inhibitory effects on the release levels of IL-1β, the preliminary structure-activity relationships were concluded. Furthermore, western blot analysis revealed that 10 could increase the expression of IκBα and decrease the expression of NF-κB p65, and the expression levels of COX-2 and NLRP3 proteins were consequently down-regulated.

Microbial communities in the human gut play a significant role in regulating host gene expression, influencing a variety of biological processes. To understand the molecular mechanisms underlying host-microbe interactions, tools that can dissect signaling networks are required. In this review, we discuss recent advances in molecular tools used to study this interplay, with a focus on those that explore how the microbiome regulates host gene expression. These tools include CRISPR-based whole-body genetic tools for deciphering host-specific genes involved in the interaction process, Cre-loxP based tissue/cell-specific gene editing approaches, and in vitro models of host-derived organoids. Overall, the application of these molecular tools is revolutionizing our understanding of how host-microbiome interactions contribute to health and disease, paving the way for improved therapies and interventions that target microbial influences on the host.

The ever-increasing demand for oil & gas exploration from land to subsea necessitates using higher-strength and high-ductility heavy-wall thickness pipes, which may increase the microstructural inhomogeneity along the steel plate sections, ultimately impacting the mechanical properties. In this work, the differences in microstructure and mechanical properties between the through-thickness layers of a heavy-wall ferrite/bainite (F/B) dual-phase (DP) X70 pipeline steel plate were studied. The results showed that the size of the ferrite grain and the volume fraction of bainite increased from the surface layer to the mid-thickness layer of the DP X70 pipeline steel plate. The surface and mid-thickness layers had a lower uniform elongation and higher strength and hardness. In comparison, the quarter layer had higher uniform elongation and lower strength and hardness. The refined grain size and the strong {001} texture were responsible for enhanced in strength and hardness. The higher γ-fiber texture at the quarter layer favored the higher plasticity. The analysis results of strain-hardening behaviors based on the modified C-J model showed that the mid-thickness layer had a higher strain-hardening capacity at the beginning of the plastic strain, leading to deformation instability and reduced material plasticity. The surface layer maintained a high hardening exponent even at high plastic strains, which facilitated the deformation properties of the material. The results provide a basis for evaluating the influence of microstructural factors on the strength and plasticity of heavy-wall X70 pipeline steel and the coordination mechanism of micro deformation in DP steels.

This study used dummy variables to measure the influence of day-of-the-week effects and structural breaks on volatility. Considering day-of-the-week effects, structural breaks, or both, we propose three classes of HAR models to forecast electricity volatility based on existing HAR models. The estimation results of the models showed that day-of-the-week effects only improve the fitting ability of HAR models for electricity volatility forecasting at the daily horizon, whereas structural breaks can improve the in-sample performance of HAR models when forecasting electricity volatility at daily, weekly, and monthly horizons. The out-of-sample analysis indicated that both day-of-the-week effects and structural breaks contain additional ex ante information for predicting electricity volatility, and in most cases, dummy variables used to measure structural breaks contain more out-of-sample predictive information than those used to measure day-of-the-week effects. The out-of-sample results were robust across three different methods. More importantly, we argue that adding dummy variables to measure day-of-the-week effects and structural breaks can improve the performance of most other existing HAR models for volatility forecasting in the electricity market.

With economic progression in China, Yellow River Basin serves as a critical economic belt, which has also been recognized as a cradle of Chinese culture. A watershed is a complex structure of social, economic, and natural factors, and the diversity of its components determines its complexity. Studies on the spatiotemporal distribution characteristics and factors influencing the tourism eco-efficiency at the watershed scale are crucial for the sustainable regional socio-economic development, maintaining a virtuous cycle of various ecosystems, and comprehensively considering the utilization and coordinated development of various elements. Based on tourism eco-efficiency, the coordination degree of regional human-land system and the sustainable development levels can be accurately measured. With the tourism eco-efficiency in the Yellow River Basin from 2009 to 2019, the present study considers 63 cities in the Yellow River Basin as the research area by adopting the super-efficiency slacks-based measure (Super-SBM) model. Methods such as trend surface analysis, spatial autocorrelation analysis, elliptic standard deviation analysis, and hot spot analysis were used to explore their spatiotemporal distribution and evolution characteristics. The geographical and temporal weighted regression (GTWR) model was used to determine the factors influencing the tourism eco-efficiency value. The findings are as follows: ①The level of tourism eco-efficiency in the Yellow River Basin is not high, exhibiting a fluctuating upward trend. ②The tourism eco-efficiency in the Yellow River Basin shows significant spatial interdependence and agglomeration. Furthermore, the track of the center of gravity moves from northeast to southwest. ③ The tourism eco-efficiency in the Yellow River Basin is affected by various factors, with the economic development level having the greatest influence.

Abstract Background When analyzing the relationship between adenotonsillar hypertrophy and craniofacial morphology, researchers generally regarded hypertrophied adenoids and tonsils as a whole. It remains unclear whether different enlarged sites of pharyngeal lymphoid tissue would correlate with multiple craniofacial subtypes. We hypothesized there would be craniofacial subtypes correlated with different locations of hypertrophied adenoid and tonsil. Methods Lateral cephalometric radiographs were obtained from 466 children (171 boys and 295 girls, aged 12.27 ± 2.69 years). They were divided into four groups according to different sites of enlarged pharyngeal lymphoid tissue: adenoid hypertrophy group (AG, n = 126), tonsillar hypertrophy group (TG, n = 59), adenotonsillar hypertrophy group (ATG, n = 69) and control group (CG, n = 212). Five commonly used angles for cephalometric measurements were investigated: SNA (Sella-Nasion-Point A), SNB (Sella-Nasion-Point B), ANB (Point A-Nasion-Point B), mandibular plane angle (MP/SN) and Y-axis angle (SGn/FH). Results Children with isolated tonsillar hypertrophy correlated with increased SNA (unstandardized regression coefficient B = 1.38, p = 0.009) and SNB (B = 1.99, p = 0.001) compared with controls. However, children with isolated adenoid hypertrophy correlated with decreased SNB (B=-0.94, p = 0.036), increased ANB (B = 0.74, p = 0.014) and increased MP/SN (B = 2.22, p

The bicyclo[3.3.1]nonane architecture is a privileged structural motif found in over 1000 natural products with relevance to neurodegenerative disease, bacterial and parasitic infection, and cancer among others. Despite disparate biosynthetic machinery, alkaloid, terpene, and polyketide-producing organisms have all evolved pathways to incorporate this carbocyclic ring system. Natural products of mixed polyketide/terpenoid origins (meroterpenes) are a particularly rich and important source of biologically active bicyclo[3.3.1]nonane-containing molecules. Herein we detail a fully synthetic strategy toward this broad family of targets based on an abiotic annulation/rearrangement strategy resulting in a 10-step total synthesis of garsubellin A, an enhancer of choline acetyltransferase and member of the large family of polycyclic polyprenylated acylphloroglucinols. This work solidifies a strategy for making multiple, diverse meroterpene chemotypes in a programmable assembly process involving a minimal number of chemical transformations.

Abstract The ground-based Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) water vapor tomography is increasingly important in GNSS meteorology. As the multi-GNSS and more ground-based GNSS sites can be incorporated into the regional water vapor tomographic model, determining the tomographic window and sampling rate is crucial for the modelling of the water vapor tomography. These two factors affect not only the number of available signal rays from the satellites, but also the number of tomographic voxels crossed by the signal rays. This study uses Hong Kong as the research area to explore the impact of 12 schemes with different tomographic window and sampling rate on the three water vapor tomography methods, including Least squares, Kalman filtering, and Multiplicative Algebraic Reconstruction Technique (MART). Numerical results show that the tomographic results with the three methods get better as the width of the tomographic window decreases and the sampling rate increases in these 12 schemes, and it is found that the Least squares method is most affected by the two factors, followed by Kalman filtering and MART methods. It is recommended to set a tomographic window width of 10 min and a sampling rate of 300 s in a GNSS water vapor tomographic experiment with dense GNSS site like Hong Kong.

The nerve trunk healing process of a transected peripheral nerve trunk is composed of angiogenesis, nerve fiber regeneration, and scarring. Nerve trunk healing and neuroma formation probably share identical molecular mediators and similar regulations. At the nerve transection site, angiogenesis is sufficient and necessary for nerve fiber regeneration. Angiogenesis and nerve fiber regeneration reveal a positive correlation in the early time. Scarring and nerve fiber regeneration show a negative correlation in the late phase. We hypothesize that anti-angiogenesis suppresses neuromas. Subsequently, we provide potential protocols to test our hypothesis. Finally, we recommend employing anti-angiogenic small-molecule protein kinase inhibitors to investigate nerve transection injuries.

Abstract Background At present, skeletal tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis is mostly by histopathology, but the positivity rate is low. There is a need to develop new methods for the molecular identification of this disorder. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the clinical utility of quantitative PCR (qPCR)-based diagnosis of skeletal TB from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissues and its comparative evaluation with acid-fast bacillus staining (AFS). Methods We detected Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis/MTB) DNA using qPCR and AFS in FFPE tissue samples from 129 patients suspected of having skeletal TB. The sensitivity, specificity as well as area under the curve (AUC) of qPCR and AFS were calculated. Meanwhile, some factors potentially affecting qPCR and AFS results were investigated. Results Overall, qPCR outperformed AFS in detecting M. tuberculosis. The AUC of qPCR was higher than that of AFS (0.744 vs.0.561, p

A precision reducer with a high ratio and a small size is essential for precise control of the position of a robotic arm. The rotate vector (RV) is a reducer widely applied in robotic joints. However, its complex structure, over-positioning and difficult assembly restrict its application industrial robots. Herein, a novel abnormal cycloidal gear (ACG) reducer is proposed. In comparison to the RV reducer, the proposed reducer has the characteristics of compact structure, less over-positioning and high ratio. The compound tooth profile of “epicycloid-involute hypocycloid” is used as the driving teeth for improving the performance of the reducer. The operating principle, mechanism design and reduction ratio of the proposed reducer is investigated, and the design method of the ACG tooth profile is also introduced. A dynamic characteristic model is established to verify the correctness of the design method of the reducer. A prototype of the ACG reducer is fabricated by using the computer numerical control (CNC) machining technology. Results show that the ACG reducer is capable to cover a wide range of reduction ratios with a simple mechanism. The numerical and theoretical results are in agreement, which depict the structural feasibility and correctness of the design method of the reducer. The adaptation of the ACG tooth profile as the driving teeth helps in improving the performance of the reducer.

By 2022, the total length of roads in Tibet Autonomous Region reached 121,447 kilometers. Due to the unique geological conditions in Tibet, various natural disasters such as earthquakes, mudslides, landslides, avalanches, and strong winds frequently occur. Along the Sichuan-Tibet Highway alone, over 300 disasters happen each year, significantly impacting the region's economic development. This study focuses on the complexity and randomness of natural disaster mechanisms and combines Markov chain theory to improve the accuracy of prediction data for mudslides, landslides, and earth subsidence etc. The main method is to modify the state interval of the prediction model parameter-Markov chain based on the distribution of discrete points on the number axis. The following state interval division methods are proposed:(1) If the relative error of the predicted value exceeds 50%, adjust the prediction model. (2) Obtain the lower bound of state E1 by taking the floor value downward. (3) The width of each interval does not need to be uniform. (4) Arrange continuous, dense, and close points on the number line in the same side in batches, and represent a state continuously, dividing it into one suitable interval or batches. Using this method, an improved RMSE of 0.28mm and MAPE of 0.87% were obtained for engineering examples, outperforming other models such as GM(1,1), Verhulst, DGM(2,1) with corresponding RMSE values of 0.86 mm, 0.69 mm, and 1.38 mm, and MAPE values of 2.75%, 2.53%, and 5.99%. The combined prediction results for five sets of data yielded an RMSE of 0.14 mm and MAPE of 0.56%, which are quite close to the results obtained using Markov selection correction with an RMSE of 0.37 mm and MAPE of 1.01%. Furthermore, comparing the four sets of case, the average reduction in RMSE and MAPE is 3.56mm and 1.72%, respectively, demonstrating that this method can further improve the performance of Markov chain prediction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To set up methods of objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) for application in the assessment of clinical competencies of residents trainees in standardized training of anesthesiology. Methods Designed OSCE assessment stations, including writing medical records, training standardized patients, as well as creating forms for assessment scoring. All third-year residents attended the OSCE in 2018 and 2019. At the end of the exams, the residents' performance was evaluated according to the preset score forms. Results Six stations were set up for OSCE, including oral examination, endo-tracheal intubation, spinal anesthesia, deep vein catheterization, cardiopulmonary resuscitation and preoperative interview, the OSCE lasted for 70 minutes. Totally 44 residents took part in OSCE and all passed examination. Compared with the results of oral exam, clinical skills and preoperative interview, the results showed that the score of clinical skills was significantly higher than that of oral exam and preoperative interview (P＜0.01), the score of oral exam was significantly lower than that of preoperative interview station (P＜0.01). There were moderate positive correlations between oral exam and clinical skill, clinical skill and preoperative interview, and between oral exam and preoperative interview. Conclusions Clinical competence of anesthetic residents can be assessed by OSCE in multiple aspects, which provides an effective examination method for residents training in anesthesiology.

Resuscitation-promoting factor B (RpfB) is one of the five members of Rpf-like family in Mycobacteriales, which have the resuscitation-promoting activity. Most strains of Rhodococcus also have RpfB gene, but the study of rpfB gene in Rhodococcus is not thorough. Here, we amplified the rpfB gene of intact Rhodococcus sp. (GX12401) and cloned it into pET30a (+) expression vector. Then a recombinant form of soluble RpfB was expressed in Escherichia coli BL21. The soluble recombinant RpfB was purified by Ni–Sepharose affinity chromatography and molecular weight of the protein was 55 kDa, determined by 12% SDS–PAGE stained with Coomassie brilliant blue R-250. When 4-methylumbelliferyl-β-D-N,N′,N″-triacetylchitoside was used as enzyme substrate to test lysozyme activity, the recombinant protein RpfB had good stability and enzyme activity, and the lysozyme activity was low (4.74 U), among which Mg2+, Na+, Al3+ and DMSO could significantly increase the activity of RpfB. The purified recombinant protein was added to Rhodococcus VBNC cells, and the VBNC cells were resuscitated at the concentration of 1 picomolar concentrations, which increased by 18% compared with the control, while the cell resuscitation was inhibited at the concentration of 1,000 picomolar concentrations. Therefore, RpfB can improve the survival ability of Rhodococcus in extreme or harsh environment and enhance the corresponding biological activity.

With the increasing demand for remote sensing image applications, extracting the required images from a huge set of remote sensing images has become a hot topic. The previous retrieval methods cannot guarantee the efficiency, accuracy, and interpretability in the retrieval process. Therefore, we propose a bag-of-words association mapping method that can explain the semantic derivation process of remote sensing images. The method constructs associations between low-level features and high-level semantics through visual feature word packets. An improved FP-Growth method is proposed to achieve the construction of strong association rules to semantics. A feedback mechanism is established to improve the accuracy of subsequent retrievals by reducing the semantic probability of incorrect retrieval results. The public datasets AID and NWPU-RESISC45 were used to validate these experiments. The experimental results show that the average accuracies of the two datasets reach 87.5% and 90.8%, which are 22.5% and 20.3% higher than VGG16, and 17.6% and 15.6% higher than ResNet18, respectively. The experimental results were able to validate the effectiveness of our proposed method.

Meroterpenes derived from dimethylorsellinic acid (DMOA) and farnesyl pyrophosphate have attracted much biosynthetic attention, yet only recently have synthetic solutions to any family members appeared. A key point of divergence in DMOA-derived meroterpene biosynthesis is the protoaustinoid A carbocation, which can be diverted to either the berkeleyone, andrastin, or terretonin structural classes by cyclase-controlled rearrangement pathways. Shown herein is that the protoaustinoid bicyclo[3.3.1]nonane nucleus can be reverted to either andrastin or terretonin ring systems under abiotic reaction conditions. The first total syntheses of members of these natural product families are reported as their racemates.

Objective: To analyze the patent information and medication rules of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) prescriptions for the treatment of diabetes, so as to provide reference for domestic pharmaceutical enterprises in new drug development and patent layout. Methods: The retrieval strategy was formulated based on the characteristics of TCM prescription. The patent data were retrieved by incoPat and WTMPD patent database. SPSS Statistic21.0 was used to analyze the internal strengths (S), weaknesses (W), opportunities (O) and threats (T) of TCM for the treatment of diabetes on the basis of patent analysis, and different types of combinations of strategies were worked out. Results: At present, the patent application for the prescription of TCM for the treatment of diabetes gradually enters the declining period. Three typical domestic pharmaceutical companies (Hebei Yiling Pharmaceutical, Tianjin Tianshili Pharmaceutical and Lunan Pharmaceutical Group) have their own characteristics in the field of technological innovation and patent layout in the treatment of diabetes, but there is a defect of insufficient power of original technology. The high-frequency core TCM for the treatment of diabetes is Radix Astragali, Angelica sinensis, Salvia miltiorrhiza, Chinese yam, Pueraria lobata and so on. The taste of the medicine is mainly sweet, the medicine is warm and flat, and most of them return to the spleen and liver meridian. The prescription of TCM for the treatment of diabetes should be based on replenishing qi and nourishing yin, clearing heat and promoting fluid. Conclusion: The development of TCM patents related to diabetes in China should take the opportunity of market demand and domestic policy support, draw lessons from the characteristic system of TCM patents of key patentees, pay attention to the layout of the peripheral patents and international kindred patents, and establish patent early warning and navigation analysis system at home and abroad to effectively reduce the risk of patent infringement in the international environment.

ObjectivesThe present study aimed to investigate the characteristics of salivary microbiota of children with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and to assess longitudinal alterations in salivary microbiota before and after adenotonsillectomy.MethodsA set of cross-sectional samples consisted of 36 OSA children (17 boys and 19 girls, 7.47 ± 2.24 years old) and 22 controls (9 boys and 13 girls, 7.55 ± 2.48 years old) were included in the study, among which eight OSA children (five boys and three girls, 8.8 ± 2.0 years old) who underwent treatment of adenotonsillectomy were followed up after 1 year. Saliva samples were collected, and microbial profiles were analyzed by bioinformatics analysis based on 16S rRNA sequencing.ResultsIn cross-sectional samples, the OSA group had higher α-diversity as estimated by Chao1, Shannon, Simpson, Pielou_e, and observed species as compared with the control group (p < 0.05). β-Diversity based on the Bray–Curtis dissimilarities (p = 0.004) and Jaccard distances (p = 0.001) revealed a significant separation between the OSA group and control group. Nested cross-validated random forest classifier identified the 10 most important genera (Lactobacillus, Escherichia, Bifidobacterium, Capnocytophaga, Bacteroidetes_[G-7], Parvimonas, Bacteroides, Klebsiella, Lautropia, and Prevotella) that could differentiate OSA children from controls with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.94. Linear discriminant analysis effect size (LEfSe) analysis revealed a significantly higher abundance of genera such as Prevotella (p = 0.027), Actinomyces (p = 0.015), Bifidobacterium (p < 0.001), Escherichia (p < 0.001), and Lactobacillus (p < 0.001) in the OSA group, among which Prevotella was further corroborated in longitudinal samples. Prevotella sp_HMT_396 was found to be significantly enriched in the OSA group (p = 0.02) with significantly higher levels as OSA severity increased (p = 0.014), and it had a lower abundance in the post-treatment group (p = 0.003) with a decline in each OSA child 1 year after adenotonsillectomy.ConclusionsA significantly higher microbial diversity and a significant difference in microbial composition and abundance were identified in salivary microbiota of OSA children compared with controls. Meanwhile, some characteristic genera (Prevotella, Actinomyces, Lactobacillus, Escherichia, and Bifidobacterium) were found in OSA children, among which the relationship between Prevotella spp. and OSA is worth further studies.

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Lithium–oxygen batteries have attracted research attention due to their low cost and high theoretical capacity. Developing inexpensive and highly efficient cathode materials without using noble metal-based catalysts is highly desirable for practical applications in lithium–oxygen batteries. Herein, a heterostructure of NiFe and NiCx inside of N-doped carbon (NiCx-NiFe-NC) derived from bimetallic Prussian blue supported on biochar was developed as a novel self-standing cathode for lithium–oxygen batteries. The specific discharge capacity of the best sample was 27.14 mAh·cm−2 at a stable discharge voltage of 2.75 V. The hybridization between the d-orbital of Ni and s and p-orbitals of carbon in NiCx, formed at 900 °C, enhanced the electrocatalytic performance due to the synergistic effect between these components. The structure of NiCx-NiFe-NC efficiently improved the electron and ion transfer between the cathode and the electrolyte during the electrochemical processes, resulting in superior electrocatalytic properties in lithium–oxygen batteries. This study indicates that nickel carbide supported on N-doped carbon is a promising cathode material for lithium–oxygen batteries.

Sliding on gear teeth working surfaces has negative effects on the performances of gears, such as tooth surface wear, pitting, etc. In order to reduce the gear sliding during high speed and heavy load, a new type of pure rolling gear, named as an asymmetric logarithmic spiral gear, is designed referring to the characteristics of the Issus planthopper gear. To explore the meshing principle of this kind of gear, the equations of the teeth surfaces, their working lines, and contact lines are all derived. Then, the tooth profile parameters and slip rate are calculated. To ensure accurate gear engagement, the gear interferences are analyzed to build the gear models. Subsequently, the gear is performed to simulate its working condition by the finite element method. Furthermore, the results are compared with that of the pure rolling single arc gear. As a result, the asymmetric logarithmic spiral gear behaviors less contact and bending stresses than the pure rolling single arc gear under the same work condition.

In order to improve the automatic test effect of the electronic controller, this paper combines the intelligent control algorithm to construct the automatic test system of the electronic controller. Moreover, the paper makes a detailed theoretical analysis of several basic problems relating to signal integrity and gives a general method to solve the main SI problems. In addition, this paper analyzes the principle of the microstrip transmission line parameter model and its relationship with the signal integrity and constructs an automated test system for an intelligent electronic controller. The simulation test results show that the electronic controller automated test system based on the intelligent control algorithm proposed in this paper can play an important role in the electronic controller automated test.

Recently Camelina sativa, has been genetically modified to produce oils rich in omega-3 (n-3) long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFA), EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and EPA + DHA (docosahexaenoic acid). The aim of this study was to test the feasibility of using these novel sources of de novo EPA and EPA + DHA as substitutes for marine oil in feeds for juvenile Atlantic Bluefin tuna (ABT). The results showed the oils were practical sources of n-3 LC-PUFA which could potentially replace fish oil (FO) in feeds for ABT juveniles. Fish fed the test diets (ECO, EPA alone and DCO, EPA + DHA) displayed good growth performance, survival and feed utilisation approaching that of ABT fed the reference diet (MGK) containing marine fish oil with the rank order being MGK > DCO > ECO. The test diets showed positive effects, upregulating the expression of genes of major nuclear receptors and those of lipid metabolism including digestion, LC-PUFA synthesis and antioxidant pathways. The results indicated that the DCO feed containing both DHA and EPA performed better than the ECO feed with much lower DHA. However, feeds formulated with both these oils may still require supplementary DHA to satisfy the high requirement of ABT for this essential nutrient.

Air temperature is an important parameter in the research of meteorology, environment, and ecology. Obtaining accurate temperature values with high spatial–temporal resolution is the premise for regional climate monitoring and analysis and is also the basis for the calculation of various ecological and environmental factors. In this study, we proposed a temperature refinement method using the ERA5 reanalysis data, which constructed the correlation between the measured temperature derived from weather stations and the interpolated temperature based on the artificial neutral network (ANN) model. Experiments in a high-intensity coal mining area in China were conducted, and the root mean square error (RMSE) and compound relative error (CRE) were adopted as the statistical values in the internal and external accuracy tests. Numerical results showed that the proposed temperature refinement method outperformed the traditional interpolated method with an approximately 42% and 33% RMSE improvement in the internal and external accuracy test, respectively. Moreover, the proposed method effectively improved the geographic differences of the traditional method and obtained temperature estimates with high accuracy at arbitrary sites.