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The electrocatalytic CO2 or CO reduction reaction is a complex proton‐coupled electron transfer reaction, in which protons in the electrolyte have a critical effect on the surface adsorbed *H species and the multi‐carbon oxygenate products such as ethanol. However, the coupling of *H and carbon‐containing intermediates into C2+ oxygenates can be severely hampered by the inappropriate distributions of those species in the catalytic interfaces. In this work, the controlled distribution of highly dispersed CeOx nanoclusters is demonstrated on Cu nanosheets as an efficient CO electroreduction catalyst, with Faradaic efficiencies of ethanol and total oxygenates of 35% and 58%, respectively. The CeOx nanoclusters (2−5 nm) enabled efficient water dissociation and appropriate distribution of adsorbed *H species on the Cu surface with carbon‐containing species, thus facilitating the generation of C2+ oxygenate products. In contrast, pristine Cu without CeOx tended to form ethylene, while the aggregated CeOx nanoparticles promoted the surface density of *H and subsequent H2 evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: In recent decades, numerous large survey projects have been initiated to enhance our understanding of the cosmos. Among these, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory's Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) stands out as a flagship project of the Stage IV cosmology imaging surveys, offering an open-source framework for data management and processing adaptable to various instruments. Methods: In this paper, we introduce the 'obs_mccd' software package, designed to serve as a bridge linking raw data from generic mosaic-CCD instruments to the LSST data management framework. The package also facilitates the deployment of tailored configurations to the pipeline middleware. To validate our data processing pipeline, we processed a batch of realistic data from a commissioning wide-field telescope. Results: We established a prototype of the quality control (QC) system capable of assessing image quality parameters such as PSF size, ellipticity, and astrometric calibration. Our findings indicate that using a fifth-order polynomial for astrometric calibration effectively characterizes geometric distortion, achieving a median average geometric distortion residual of 0.011 pixel. Discussion: When comparing the performance of our pipeline to our inhouse pipeline applied to the same dataset, we observed that our new 'obs_mccd' pipeline offers improved precision, reducing the median average geometric distortion residual from 0.016 pixel to 0.011 pixel. This enhancement in performance underscores the benefits of the obs_mccd package in managing and processing data from wide-field surveys, and it opens up new avenues for scientific exploration with smaller, flexible survey systems complementing the LSST. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Asian tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus, is a significant public health concern owing to its expanding habitat and vector competence. Disease outbreaks attributed to this species have been reported in areas under its invasion, and its northward expansion in Japan has caused concern because of the potential for dengue virus infection in newly populated areas. Accurate prediction of Ae. albopictus distribution is crucial to prevent the spread of the disease. However, limited studies have focused on the prediction of Ae. albopictus distribution in Japan. Herein, we used the random forest model, a machine learning approach, to predict the current and potential future habitat ranges of Ae. albopictus in Japan. The model revealed that these mosquitoes prefer urban areas over forests in Japan on the current map. Under predictions for the future, the species will expand its range to the surrounding areas and eventually reach many areas of northeastern Kanto, Tohoku District, and Hokkaido, with a few variations in different scenarios. However, the affected human population is predicted to decrease owing to the declining birth rate. Anthropogenic and climatic factors contribute to range expansion, and urban size and population have profound impacts. This prediction map can guide responses to the introduction of this species in new areas, advance the spatial knowledge of diseases vectored by it, and mitigate the possible disease burden. To our knowledge, this is the first distribution-modelling prediction for Ae. albopictus with a focus on Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] Adsorbents with dual-component active phases have attracted much attention owing to their potential application in synergistic H 2 S removal. The influence of spatial arrangements of two components within a support matrix on their desulfurization performance was investigated through regulating the mutual arrangements of CuO and MgO on an activated carbon surface. Their spatial locations were found to remarkably affect interfacial interactions, local pH, the conductivity of adsorbents, and electronic structure of copper oxide. A close contact of CuO with the carbon surface led to strong interactions of both components, inhibiting the reduction of CuO and decreasing its reactivity with H 2 S. On the other hand, a proximity of MgO to the carbon surface increased local pH, promoting the oxidation of H 2 S into elemental S, instead of sulfates. Cu+ in the copper oxide phase increased the desulfurization performance due to its ability to activate oxygen and to accelerate a lattice diffusion. Enhanced surface conductivity due to the interfacial interactions improved the desulfurization efficiency and favored the formation of elemental S through promoting an electron transfer in redox reactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Little is known regarding the shared genetic influences underlying the observed phenotypic association between chronotype and breast cancer in women. Leveraging summary statistics from the hitherto largest genome‐wide association study conducted in each trait, we investigated the genetic correlation, pleiotropic loci, and causal relationship of chronotype with overall breast cancer, and with its subtypes defined by the status of oestrogen receptor. We identified a negative genomic correlation between chronotype and overall breast cancer (rg = −0.06, p = 3.00 × 10−4), consistent across oestrogen receptor‐positive (rg = −0.05, p = 3.30 × 10−3) and oestrogen receptor‐negative subtypes (rg = −0.05, p = 1.11 × 10−2). Five specific genomic regions were further identified as contributing a significant local genetic correlation. Cross‐trait meta‐analysis identified 78 loci shared between chronotype and breast cancer, of which 23 were novel. Transcriptome‐wide association study revealed 13 shared genes, targeting tissues of the nervous, cardiovascular, digestive, and exocrine/endocrine systems. Mendelian randomisation demonstrated a significantly reduced risk of overall breast cancer (odds ratio 0.89, 95% confidence interval 0.83–0.94; p = 1.30 × 10−4) for genetically predicted morning chronotype. No reverse causality was found. Our work demonstrates an intrinsic link underlying chronotype and breast cancer, which may provide clues to inform management of sleep habits to improve female health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As one of the four major bay areas in the world, the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) is a highly integrated mega urban agglomeration and its unparalleled urbanization has induced prominent land contradictions between humans and nature, which hinders its sustainability and has become the primary concern in this region. In this paper, we probed the historical characteristics of land use and land cover change (LUCC) in the GBA from 2005 to 2015, and forecasted its future land use pattern for 2030, 2050, and 2070, using a cellular automata–Markov (CA–Markov) model, under three typical tailored scenarios, i.e., urban development (UD), cropland protection (CP), and ecology security (ES), for land use optimization. The major findings are as follows: (1) The encroachments of build-up land on the other land uses under rapid urbanization accounted for the leading forces of LUCCs in the past decade. Accordingly, the urban sprawl was up to 1441.73 km2 (23.47%), with cropland, forest land, and water areas reduced by 570.77 km2 (4.38%), 526.05 km2 (1.76%), and 429.89 km2 (10.88%), respectively. (2) Based on the validated CA–Markov model, significant differences are found in future land use patterns under multiple scenarios, with the discrepancy magnified over time and driven by different orientations. (3) Through comprehensive comparisons and tradeoffs, the ES scenario mode seems optimal for the GBA in the next decades, which optimizes the balance between socio-economic development and ecological protection. These results serve as an early warning for future land problems and can be applied to land use management and policy formulation to promote the sustainable development of the GBA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we examine the design process for a visual learning analytics (VLA) approach in addition to its effect on developing students' epistemic understanding of discourse and relationships to promote knowledge‐building inquiry. Over a 3‐month period, an experimental class of secondary school students took a visual arts course using a knowledge‐building design augmented by VLA, while a comparison class took the same course within a regular knowledge‐building environment. The VLA approach implemented in the experimental class emphasized collective reflections using assessment tools to visualize the students' online and classroom discussions. The analysis of the students' questionnaire responses and Knowledge Forum discourse showed that the VLA approach helped the students develop a deeper epistemic understanding of discourse for productive inquiry and greater domain knowledge. In addition, the students' epistemic understanding was associated with their performance in productive Knowledge Forum inquiry. Qualitative analysis of the classroom and group discussions, interview responses and learning artefacts showed that the VLA design helped them understand the nature of discourse deeply by encouraging them to notice community orientations, increase their awareness of productive discourse moves and advance idea development. The implications of the VLA design in improving epistemic understanding of discourse are discussed. We contribute to the literature by examining the epistemic dimensions of discourse and implementing VLA as an epistemic tool for knowledge building. Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topic Supporting students to develop a meta‐level understanding, ie, their epistemic understanding of the nature of discourse, is important for promoting productive inquiry but continues to be challenging in education, and limited research has focused on the epistemic aspects of discourse.Little research has examined the role of a computer‐supported knowledge‐building environment augmented by a visual learning analytics approach on students' epistemic understanding of discourse, productive inquiry and domain knowledge.What this paper adds A knowledge‐building design augmented by a visual learning analytics approach linking online and face‐to‐face discourse supported students' epistemic understanding of discourse, productive inquiry and domain knowledge.VLA‐supported collective reflection in knowledge‐building facilitated students' noticing of community orientations, awareness of productive discourse moves and their idea development. These metacognitive processes helped students develop deeper epistemic understanding of discourse, productive inquiry and greater domain knowledge.Implications for practice and/or policy Epistemic understanding of the nature of discourse acts as a medium for promoting productive knowledge‐building inquiry and learning outcomes, and it is critical to help students develop meta‐level understanding by combining discourse content and epistemic components.It is important to create a VLA‐supported community that provides VLA‐related data‐supported collective reflection opportunities to help students engage in productive inquiry and knowledge building.Teachers can scaffold students to link online and face‐to‐face discourse and help them inquire into and reflect on discourse processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increased oxidative stress is one of the critical pathologies inducing age-related macular degeneration (AMD), characterized by retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cell damage and death. The unbalanced acetylation and deacetylation of histones have been implicated in AMD pathogenesis or hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-induced cell damage. Therefore, strategies aimed at controlling the balance between acetylation and deacetylation may effectively protect RPE cells from oxidative damage. Artemisinin is an antimalarial lactone drug derived from Artemisia annua, with antioxidant activity known to modulate histone acetylation in the brain, but its effect on the retina is unknown. In this study, we aimed to investigate whether Artemisinin exerts a cytoprotective effect on oxidative stress-induced apoptosis in RPE cells by regulating histone acetylation. We hypothesized that Artemisinin confers cytoprotection toward H2O2-induced apoptosis in RPE cells through this mechanism. In the present study, we found that Artemisinin at a sub-clinic dosage of 20 μM inhibited the H2O2-induced cell viability decrease and B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) protein level decrease and attenuated the H2O2-induced decrease in the histone H4 lysine (Lys) 8 acetylation [Acetyl-H4 (Lys 8)] level in the retinal RPE cell line D407. As expected, histone deacetylase inhibitor Trichostatin A at the concentration of 250 nM increased the Acetyl-H4 (Lys 8) level in D407 cells and attenuated the H2O2-induced cell viability decrease and apoptosis. Similar findings were obtained using adult RPE (ARPE)19 cells, another human RPE cell line, and primary human RPE cell cultures. In conclusion, these results confirmed our hypothesis and indicated that Artemisinin attenuated H2O2-induced apoptosis in apparent correlation with the increase in the Acetyl-H4 (Lys 8) level, which is associated with gene transcription and cell survival. By modulating histone acetylation, Artemisinin may restore the balance between acetylation and deacetylation and enhance the resistance and survival of RPE cells under oxidative stress. Our study provides novel mechanistic insights into the effect of Artemisinin on histone acetylation and apoptosis in RPE cells and supports the potential application of Artemisinin in the prevention and/or treatment of AMD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Real-time detection of drilling fluid performance during drilling, data cloud storage, intelligent diagnosis and automatic optimization suggestions are the prerequisites for the oil and gas industry to achieve intelligent and Digital transformation. To this end, a drilling fluid intelligent detection system based on industry standards, on-site construction requirements, combined with the Internet of things and big data platforms has been developed. This system can perform 24 * 365 h full time, fully automatic, and uninterrupted detection of different drilling fluid system performance parameters under normal temperature ~ 200 °C and normal pressure ~ 8 Mpa conditions. The testing scope includes changes in drilling fluid temperature, density, rheological parameters, medium-pressure, high-temperature and high-pressure filtration parameters, and filtrate ion parameters. In addition, based on the intelligent analysis module, real-time parameters and design parameters of the drilling fluid are compared and analyzed, and optimization suggestions for the drilling fluid are provided in a timely manner to ensure the safety of underground construction. Through long-term indoor testing and thousands of sets of experimental comparison data from multiple test wells on site, the accuracy of the rheological module and filtration module is 97.3%; the accuracy of the ion testing module is 96.2%. The research results of this article provide accurate and stable data guarantee for safe, efficient, and intelligent oil and gas exploration and development prospects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pathogenic Th17 cells play a crucial role in autoimmune diseases like uveitis and its animal model, experimental autoimmune uveitis (EAU). Dimethyl itaconate (DMI) possesses potent anti‐inflammatory effects. However, there is still a lack of knowledge about the role of DMI in regulating pathogenic Th17 cells and EAU. Here, we reported that intraperitoneal administration of DMI significantly inhibited the severity of EAU via selectively suppressing Th17 cell responses. In vitro antigen stimulation studies revealed that DMI dramatically decreased the frequencies and function of antigen‐specific Th17, but not Th1, cells. Moreover, DMI hampered the differentiation of naive CD4+ T cells toward pathogenic Th17 cells. DMI‐treated DCs produced less IL‐1β, IL‐6, and IL‐23, and displayed an impaired ability to stimulate antigen‐specific Th17 activation. Mechanistically, DMI activated the NRF2/HO‐1 pathway and suppressed STAT3 signaling, which subsequently restrains p‐STAT3 nuclear translocation, leading to decreased pathogenic Th17 cell responses. Thus, we have identified an important role for DMI in regulating pathogenic Th17 cells, supporting DMI as a promising therapy in Th17 cell‐driven autoimmune diseases including uveitis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the distortion of projection generated during the production of 360 ∘ video, most quality assessment algorithms used for 2D video have the problem of performance degradation. In this paper, we propose a full-reference 360 ∘ video quality assessment method, utilizing saliency to guide viewport extraction to eliminate the projection distortion. To be more specific, we first predict the visual saliency of each frame with a 360 ∘ saliency prediction network and then select the viewport that optimally represents the video frame through the optimal viewport positioning module (OVPM). Furthermore, we propose the attention-based three-dimensional convolutional neural network (3D CNN) quality assessment network to evaluate the video quality, in which 3D CNN convolution and attention modules can better capture the quality degradation of distorted viewports. Experimental results show that our method achieves superior performance in 360 ∘ video quality assessment tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, deep convolutional neural networks have made significant research progress in the field of underwater image enhancement and restoration. However, most of the existing methods use fixed-scale convolutional kernels, which are easily overfitted in practice, resulting in poor domain adaptation. Therefore, in this paper, we propose an underwater image enhancement and restoration network based on an encoder and decoder framework that focuses on extracting generic features of degraded underwater images, resulting in better restoration performance with domain adaptation. We first propose the Atrous spatial attention module to perform Atrous convolutional expanding on the image receptive field, and then cooperate with the spatial attention mechanism to accurately localize the image fog region. Then, a feature aggregation method called Cross-Scale Skip connection is used to effectively fuse global features rich in spatial location information with local features and integrate them into the decoder to ensure that the recovered area is consistent with the surrounding pixels. Finally, in order to make the recovered image more close to the ground truth image, a novel weighted Euclidean color distance is used instead of L1 distance in this paper, and it is considered as a novel reconstruction loss. We have done extensive experiments to demonstrate that the proposed method is state-of-the-art in terms of performance and is highly adaptable in different aspects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research aims to develop an original product design using elements of intangible cultural heritage (ICH). It attempts to evaluate the attractiveness of design with elements of ICH in individual countries and on the world stage. A Master of Art History from Korea National University of Arts participated in the analysis and research of ICH objects. Based on the Gmarket online store, the authors conducted fake door testing to determine the attractiveness of this design for consumers. The method of paired comparisons allowed the authors to assess the attractiveness of a design with the ICH elements on the world stage. Following the project's objectives, the study demonstrated 211 thousand views of the product page with the developed design and 767 thousand views of pages with similar products during one calendar month. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Methyleugenol, a bioactive compound in the phenylpropene family, undergoes its final and crucial biosynthetic transformation when eugenol O-methyltransferase (EOMT) converts eugenol into methyleugenol. While Melaleuca bracteata F. Muell essential oil is particularly rich in methyleugenol, it contains only trace amounts of its precursor, eugenol. This suggests that the EOMT enzyme in M. bracteata is highly efficient, although it has not yet been characterized. In this study, we isolated and identified an EOMT gene from M. bracteata , termed MbEOMT1 , which is primarily expressed in the flowers and leaves and is inducible by methyl jasmonate (MeJA). Subcellular localization of MbEOMT1 in the cytoplasm was detected. Through transient overexpression experiments, we found that MbEOMT1 significantly elevates the concentration of methyleugenol in M. bracteata leaves. Conversely, silencing of MbEOMT1 via virus-induced gene silencing led to a marked reduction in methyleugenol levels. Our in vitro enzymatic assays further confirmed that MbEOMT1 specifically catalyzes the methylation of eugenol. Collectively, these findings establish that the MbEOMT1 gene is critical for methyleugenol biosynthesis in M. bracteata. This study enriches the understanding of phenylpropene biosynthesis and suggests that MbEOMT1 could serve as a valuable catalyst for generating bioactive compounds in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present study, a Ni–Cr–Mo–V alloyed ductile iron with high hardness was developed. The Ni–Cr–Mo–V alloyed ductile iron fabricated by horizontal continuous casting was composed of dendritic austenite, martensite, carbides and graphite nodules and exhibited a hardness as high as 58.3 HRC. The microstructure was transformed into austenite and graphite nodules through austenitization at 1050 °C for 6 h and water quenching with a hardness of 23.0 HRC. Tempering treatment effectively increased the hardness to 56.6 HRC due to the precipitation of carbides and phase transformation from austenite to martensite. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Atherosclerosis, a multifaceted and persistent inflammatory condition, significantly contributes to the progression of cardiocerebrovascular disorders, such as myocardial infarctions and cerebrovascular accidents. It involves the accumulation of cholesterol, fatty deposits, calcium and cellular debris in the walls of arteries, leading to the formation of plaques. Our aim is to investigate the potential of sinomenine to counteract atherosclerosis in mice lacking Apolipoprotein E (ApoE−/−) Mice. We employed the high-fat diet-induced method to induce atherosclerosis in ApoE−/− mice, and the mice were treated with sinomenine (5, 10, and 15 mg/kg) and simvastatin (0.5 mg/kg) for 12 weeks. Body weight, water intake, and food intake were assessed. Lipid parameters, oxidative stress, inflammatory cytokines, and mRNA levels were estimated. Sinomenine treatment remarkably (P < 0.001) suppressed body weight, along with food and water intake. Sinomenine altered the levels of total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein (HDL), triglyceride (TG), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), and very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL), which were modulated in the atherosclerosis group. Sinomenine treatment also altered the levels of oxidative stress parameters such as glutathione peroxidase (GPx), catalase (CAT), malonaldehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione (GSH). In addition, it modulated cardiac parameters like C-reactive protein (CRP), endothelin-1 (ET-1), thromboxane B2 (TXB2), nitric oxide (NO), cardiac troponin I (cTnI), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), and creatinine kinase isoenzymes (CK-MB). Inflammatory cytokines interleukin (IL)-1α, IL-1β, TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-10 were also affected. Sinomenine further suppressed the mRNA expression of IL-6, IL-17, IL-10, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), Il-1β, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), MCP-2, MCP-3, transforming Growth Factor-1β (TGF-1β), vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 (VCAM-1), and intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1). The results suggest that sinomenine remarkably suppressed the development of atherosclerosis in the early stage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Segregation of A-site ions and microstructure evolution may result in performance degradation of composite electrode materials employed in reversible solid oxide cell (rSOC), which is highly related to particle interactions appeared during sintering and preparation procedures. In this study, both experimental and modeling methods are implemented to characterize the sintered morphology and to analyze the A-site ions migration behaviors for the perovskite material La 0.75 Sr 0.25 Cr 0.5 Mn 0.5 O 3 (LSCM) compounded with yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) in the sintering process. A molecular dynamics (MD) method is further developed to predict particle diffusion and stress distribution, which is associated to the migration and segregation behaviors for LSCM-YSZ materials. The effects of the sintering temperature, nanoparticle sizes and mass composition are also studied. It is found that the particle stress of the composite materials is positively correlated with particle migration under high sintering temperature. The diffusivities of particles increase by 5.6%–19.7% when the sintering temperature increases from 1473 K to 1873 K. The diffusivities of particles and the specific surface area increase by 25.2%–47.6% and 21%, respectively, when the nanoparticle size decreases from 60 Å to 40 Å. Low stress and weak ion segregation are both achieved for the mass composition ratio of LSCM:YSZ = 2:1 in the sintering process. • MD simulation and experimental preparation for sintered LSCM-YSZ nanoparticles. • Microstructure and stress properties during sintering preparation. • Effects on the migration and segregation under sintering of LSCM-YSZ. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we propose a novel rank-adaptive higher-order orthogonal iteration (RA-HOOI) algorithm to solve the fixed-accuracy low multilinear-rank approximation of tensors. On the one hand, RA-HOOI relies on a greedy strategy to expand the subspace, which avoids computing the full SVD of the matricization of the input tensor. On the other hand, the new rank-adaptive strategy introduced in the RA-HOOI algorithm enables the obtained truncation to be more accurate. A series of numerical experiments related to synthetic and real-world tensors are carried out to show that the proposed RA-HOOI algorithm is comparable to state-of-the-art methods in terms of both accuracy and efficiency and performs better in certain situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The lubricating material near the friction area plays a crucial role for many friction components. In this study, utilizing the advantages of 3D printing layer-by-layer accumulation, a lubricating layer containing microcapsules was constructed on the surface of the matrix to achieve active lubrication on-demand. It was found that using on-demand lubrication printing scheme allowed equal amounts of microcapsules to provide superior lubrication compared to integral lubrication. The coefficient of friction (COF) of the composites with on-demand lubrication was reduced to 0.08, with a decrease of 89.6%, compared to the uniform distribution of the conventional lubricant, with no significant reduction in the compressive strength and a reduction in the wear rate by two orders of magnitude; The on-demand lubricated composite has a friction coefficient as low as 0.057 and a compressive strength of about 160 MPa when destroyed. It was demonstrated that the part containing microcapsules on the surface acted as a lubricant, and the part without microcapsules acted as load-bearing. Therefore, the composite material had good mechanical properties and excellent self-lubricating ability. This study pioneered the application of microcapsules in light-curing 3D printing, compared the effects of various printing schemes and different additions of microcapsules added into the photosensitive resins, and provided ideas for the preparation of friction parts with better overall performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the influence of varying austenitizing temperatures on the microstructure and mechanical properties of 35Si2MnCr2Ni3MoV steel, utilizing Charpy impact testing and microscopic analysis techniques such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). The findings reveal that optimal combination of strength and toughness is achieved at an austenitizing temperature of 980 °C, resulting in an impact toughness of 67.2 J and a tensile strength of 2032 MPa. The prior austenite grain size initially decreases slightly with increasing temperature, then enlarges significantly beyond 1100 °C. The martensite blocks' and packets' structures exhibit a similar trend. The proportion of high–angle grain boundaries, determined by the density of the packets, peaks at 980 °C, providing maximal resistance to crack propagation. The amount of retained austenite increases noticeably after 980 °C; beyond 1200 °C, the coarsening of packets and a decrease in density reduce the likelihood of trapping retained austenite. Across different austenitizing temperatures, the steel demonstrates superior crack initiation resistance compared to crack propagation resistance, with the fracture mode transitioning from ductile dimple fracture to quasi–cleavage fracture as the austenitizing temperature increases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid decline in Arctic sea ice has created more open water for ocean wave development and highlighted the importance of wave–ice interactions in the Arctic. Some studies have made contributions to our understanding of the potential role of the prognostic floe size distribution (FSD) in sea ice changes. However, these efforts do not represent the full interactions across atmosphere, ocean, wave, and sea ice. In this study, we implement a modified joint floe size and thickness distribution (FSTD) in a newly developed regional atmosphere–ocean–wave–sea ice coupled model and conduct a series of pan-Arctic simulations with different physical configurations related to FSD changes, including FSD-fixed, FSD-varied, lateral melting rate, wave-fracturing formulation, and wave attenuation rate. Firstly, our atmosphere–ocean–wave–sea ice coupled simulations show that the prognostic FSD leads to reduced ice area due to enhanced ice–ocean heat fluxes, but the feedbacks from the atmosphere and the ocean partially offset the reduced ice area induced by the prognostic FSD. Secondly, lateral melting rate formulations do not change the simulated FSD significantly, but they influence the flux exchanges across atmosphere, ocean, and sea ice and thus sea ice responses. Thirdly, the changes in FSD are sensitive to the simulated wave height, wavelength, and wave period associated with different wave-fracturing formulations and wave attenuation rates, and the limited oceanic energy imposes a strong constraint on the response of sea ice to FSD changes. Finally, our results also demonstrate that wave-related physical processes can have impacts on sea ice changes with the constant FSD, suggesting the indirect influences of ocean waves on sea ice through the atmosphere and the ocean. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a model‐based, semi‐mechanistic dose‐finding (SDF) design for phase I oncology trials that incorporates pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) information when modeling the dose‐toxicity relationship. This design is motivated by a phase Ib/II clinical trial of anti‐CD20/CD3 T cell therapy in non‐Hodgkin lymphoma patients; it extends a recently proposed SDF model framework by incorporating measurements of a PD biomarker relevant to the primary dose‐limiting toxicity (DLT). We propose joint Bayesian modeling of the PK, PD, and DLT outcomes. Our extensive simulation studies show that on average the proposed design outperforms some common phase I trial designs, including modified toxicity probability interval (mTPI) and Bayesian optimal interval (BOIN) designs, the continual reassessment method (CRM), as well as an SDF design assuming a latent PD biomarker (SDF‐woPD), in terms of the percentage of correct selection of maximum tolerated dose (MTD) and average number of patients allocated to MTD, under a variety of dose‐toxicity scenarios. When the working PK model and the class of link function between the cumulative PD effect and DLT probability is correctly specified, the proposed design also yields better estimated dose‐toxicity curves than CRM and SDF‐woPD. Our sensitivity analyses suggest that the design's performance is reasonably robust to prior specification for the parameter in the link function, as well as misspecification of the PK model and class of the link function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the leading cancer worldwide. Microbial agents have been considered to contribute to the pathogenesis of different disease. But the underlying relevance between CRC and microbiota remain unclear. Methods: We dissected the fecal microbiome structure and genomic and transcriptomic profiles of matched tumor and normal mucosa tissues from 41 CRC patients. Of which, the relationship between CRC-associated bacterial taxa and their significantly correlated somatic mutated gene was investigated by exome sequencing technology. Differentially expressed functional genes in CRC were clustered according to their correlation with differentially abundant species, following by annotation with DAVID. The composition of immune and stromal cell types was identified by XCELL. Results: We identified a set of 22 microbial gut species associated with CRC and estimate the relative abundance of KEGG ontology categories. Next, the interactions between CRC-related gut microbes and clinical phenotypes were evaluated. 4 significantly mutated gene: TP53, APC, KRAS, SMAD4 were pointed out and the associations with cancer related microbes were identified. Among them, Fusobacterium nucleatum positively corelated with different host metabolic pathways. Finally, we revealed that Fusobacterium nucleatum modified the tumor immune environment by TNFSF9 gene expression. Conclusion: Collectively, our multi-omics data could help identify novel biomarkers to inform clinical decision-making in the detection and diagnosis of CRC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exploring interfacial thermal transport of a heterojunction interface is crucial to achieving advanced thermal management for gallium nitride-based high electron mobility transistor devices. The current research primarily focuses on material enhancements and microstructure design at the interfaces of epitaxial layers, buffer layers, and substrates, such as the GaN/SiC interface and GaN/AlN interface. Yet, the influence of different concentrations of Al/Ga atoms and interface roughness on the interfacial thermal conductance (ITC) of AlGaN/GaN interface, the closest interface to the hot spot, is still poorly understood. Herein, we focus on the rough AlGaN/GaN interface and evaluate the changes in ITC under different Al–Ga atomic concentrations and interface roughness using atomistic simulations. When the interface is completely smooth and AlGaN and GaN are arranged according to common polarization characteristic structures, the ITC gradually increases as the proportion of Al atoms decreases. When the proportion of Al atoms is reduced to 20%–30%, the impact of the interface structure on heat transfer is almost negligible. For interface models with different roughness levels, as the interface roughness increases, the ITC drops from 735.09 MW m−2 K−1 (smooth interface) to 469.47 MW m−2 K−1 by 36.13%. The decrease in ITC is attributed to phonon localization induced by rough interfaces. The phonon modes at the interface are significantly different from those in bulk materials. The degree of phonon localization is most pronounced in the frequency range that contributes significantly to heat flux. This work provides valuable physical insights into understanding the thermal transfer behaviors across the rough AlGaN/GaN interfaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chiral pesticides have the special chiral structures, so enantioselective biological effects are usually observed in living organisms. Current study used paclobutrazol as a case study and explored the enantioselective degradation and oxidative stress effect on wheat. The results demonstrated that the degradation of R‐paclobutrazol was faster than S‐paclobutrazol significantly and improved the content of MDA and O2− in wheat plants, which proved that the R‐paclobutrazol induced oxidative damage in wheat, showing selective biological effects, and S‐paclobutrazol was friendly to wheat. This study provided a theoretical basis for the selective activity of chiral pesticides and the development of chiral pesticide monomers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Arctigenin (ATG) is a natural product with a variety of biological activity, which can improve the pathological changes of Alzheimer's disease (AD) model mice through multiple mechanisms. This study aims to further elucidate the potential mechanism by which ATG improves memory impairment in AD mice. Methods: Here, we used pR5 mice as an experimental model, and ATG was administered continuously for 90 days. Novel object recognition, Y-maze, and Morris water maze were used to evaluate the therapeutic effect of ATG on memory impairment in AD mice. Immunohistochemical and immunofluorescence analyses were used to evaluate the effects of ATG on tau hyperphosphorylation and neuroinflammation, respectively. Finally, proteomics techniques were used to explore the possible mechanism of ATG. Key findings: ATG significantly improved memory impairment in pR5 mice and inhibited tau phosphorylation in the hippocampus and neuroinflammation in the cortex. According to the proteomic analysis, the altered cognitive function of ATG was associated with the proteins of the tricarboxylic acid cycle and the electron transport chain. Conclusion: These results suggest that ATG is a potential therapeutic agent for diseases related to aberrant energy metabolism that can treat AD by improving mitochondrial function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In view of the close relationship between gas-liquid mass transfer performance and flow regime, the coaxial mixer was selected as the research object, and the effects of rotation mode, inner impeller diameter, gas flow rate, and viscosity on flow regimes were experimentally investigated. The results showed that the main growth interval of the mass transfer coefficient was the loading regime, and the critical complete dispersion regime was an efficient and economic operation condition. In this state, the co-rotation mode had a low-power advantage compared to the counter-rotation mode. The anchor speed and gas flow rate could improve mass transfer performance, but at the expense of higher power consumption. Although it was easier to achieve the complete dispersion regime with a larger diameter impeller, the mass transfer performance was reduced at this time. The viscosity had a significant negative influence on gas-liquid dispersion and mass transfer performance. In terms of impeller combinations, PBTD+Anchor and RT+Anchor performed well in low and high viscous systems, respectively. In addition, applying the artificial neural network model to estimate the N cd for the coaxial mixer correlated with the studied parameters to recognize the complete dispersion regime. [Display omitted] • The critical complete dispersion regime was the most efficient operating condition. • Effects of rotation mode, inner diameter impeller, gas flow rate, and liquid viscosity were investigated. • PBTD+Anchor and RT+Anchor performed well in low- and high-viscous systems, respectively. • Mathematical model for accurate estimation of the N cd of the coaxial mixer were established. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Let V be an ℕ-graded vertex algebra over a field 픽, and let g be an automorphism of V with a finite order T. Assume that the field 픽 contains a Tth primitive root of unity. We construct two associative algebras, Ag(V ) and Rg(V ), and investigate their properties and interconnections. As applications, we establish the following results: (1) If Rg(V ) is finite-dimensional, then Ag(V ) is also finite-dimensional; (2) If V is strongly finitely generated, then Ag(V ) is stably noetherian; (3) If V is strongly finitely generated and M is an irreducible admissible g-twisted V-module, then the endomorphism algebra EndV(M) is finite-dimensional. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Ni 3 S 2 /Ni 2 O 3 @N-CNA was prepared through the polymerization and the carbonization. • Zn-ion hybrid supercapacitors with the dual-ion electrolytes were assembled. • Electrochemical kinetic analysis indicated the evident capacitance characteristic. • Theoretical calculations revealed the effect of the Ni 3 S 2 /Ni 2 O 3 heterojunction. As a member of transition metal sulfides, Ni 3 S 2 has been reported as one type of the effective pseudocapacitive electrode materials for supercapacitors, due to its good electrical conductivity and high electrochemical activity. To further improve the energy density of the Ni 3 S 2 -based supercapacitors, we propose a novel approach to the Ni 3 S 2 /Ni 2 O 3 heterojunction anchored on N-doped carbon nanosheet aerogels (Ni 3 S 2 /Ni 2 O 3 @N-CNA), which is used as the cathode for Zn-ion hybrid supercapacitors with the dual-ion electrolytes. The Ni 3 S 2 /Ni 2 O 3 @N-CNA samples can be prepared through the bubble-templated polymerization of pyrrole and the carbonization of the polypyrrole nanosheet hydrogel/Ni2+. The Ni 3 S 2 /Ni 2 O 3 @N-CNA cathode is immersed into the Li-ion catholyte for Li+ storage, while the Zn foil anode is immersed into the Zn-ion anolyte for Zn2+ storage. Electrochemical kinetic analysis of the dual-ion hybrid supercapacitor indicates its evident capacitance characteristic. Additionally, theoretical calculations reveal that the Ni 3 S 2 /Ni 2 O 3 heterojunction can facilitate the adsorption and dehydration of a hydrated Li+ ion to further play a great role in the enhancement of pseudocapacitance. Based on the novel strategy of the alkaline dual-ion electrolytes, this dual-ion hybrid supercapacitor with the high energy density (64.2 Wh kg−1) opens up a new avenue to develop high-performance Zn-ion hybrid supercapacitors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'Albedo bluing' of fruits occurs in many varieties of citrus, resulting in a significant reduction in their commercial value. We first presented a breakthrough method for successfully extracting and purifying the 'albedo bluing' substance (ABS) from citrus fruits, resulting in the attainment of highly purified ABS. Then, HPLC and UPLC-QTOF-MS were used to prove that ABS in the fruits of three citrus varieties (Citrus reticulate Blanco cv. 'Gonggan', 'Orah', and 'Mashuiju') are identical. However, the chemical structure of ABS remains elusive for many reasons. Fortunately, a more stable derivative of ABS (ABS-D) was successfully obtained. Through various analytical techniques such as HRESIMS, 1D and 2D NMR, and chemical shift calculation, ABS-D was identified as 2,4-dihydroxy-6-(β-D-glucopyranosyloxy)phenyl(5,6-dihydroxy-7-(β-D-glucopyranosyloxy)benzo[d]thiazol-2-yl)methanone, indicating that both ABS and its derivative belong to a rare category of benzothiazole glucosides. Furthermore, both ABS and ABS-D demonstrated potent antioxidant abilities. These findings lay the groundwork for further elucidating the chemical structure of ABS and the causative mechanism of the 'albedo bluing' phenomenon in citrus fruits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Circularity confers protection to viral genomes where linearity falls short, thereby fulfilling the form follows function aphorism. However, a shift away from morphology-based classification toward the molecular and ecological classification of viruses is currently underway within the field of virology. Recent years have seen drastic changes in the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses' operational definitions of viruses, particularly for the tailed phages that inhabit the human gut. After the abolition of the order Caudovirales, these tailed phages are best defined as members of the class Caudoviricetes. To determine the epistemological value of genome topology in the context of the human gut virome, we designed a set of seven experiments to assay the impact of genome topology and representative viral selection on biological interpretation. Using Oxford Nanopore long reads for viral genome assembly coupled with Illumina short-read polishing, we showed that circular and linear virus genomes differ remarkably in terms of genome quality, GC skew, transfer RNA gene frequency, structural variant frequency, cross-reference functional annotation (COG, KEGG, Pfam, and TIGRfam), state-of-the-art marker-based classification, and phage–host interaction. Furthermore, the disparity profile changes during dereplication. In particular, our phage–host interaction results demonstrated that proportional abundances cannot be meaningfully compared without due regard for genome topology and dereplication threshold, which necessitates the need for standardized reporting. As a best practice guideline, we recommend that comparative studies of the human gut virome always report the ratio of circular to linear viral genomes along with the dereplication threshold so that structural and functional metrics can be placed into context when assessing biologically relevant metagenomic properties such as proportional abundance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Temper embrittlement is a major challenge encountered during the heat treatment of high-performance steels for large forgings. This study investigates the microstructural evolution and mechanical properties of Cr-Ni-Mo-V thick-walled steel, designed for large forgings with a tensile strength of 1500 MPa, under different tempering cooling rates. Optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) were employed to analyze the microstructural features. The results demonstrate that the embrittlement occurring during air cooling after tempering is attributed to the concentration of impurities near Fe3C at the grain boundaries. The low-temperature impact toughness at −40 °C after water quenching reaches 29 J due to the accelerated cooling rate during tempering, which slows down the diffusion of impurity elements towards the grain boundaries, resulting in a reduced concentration and dislocation density and an increased stability of the grain boundaries, thereby enhancing toughness. The bainite content decreases and the interface between martensite and bainite undergoes changes after water quenching during tempering. These alterations influence the crack propagation direction within the two-phase microstructure, further modifying the toughness. These findings contribute to the understanding of temper embrittlement and provide valuable guidance for optimizing heat treatment processes to enhance the performance of high-performance steels in large forgings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ZK60 alloy metal ribbons were prepared successfully in a carbon dioxide atmosphere by varying the speeds of melt spinning. The thin metal ribbon with different solidification speeds was prepared by controlling different rotation speeds, and the influence of solidification speed on the ZK60 ribbon was studied. The results show that the gas mark has a significant effect on the local structure of the ribbon. The gas mark's proportional area of the ZK60 ribbon increases first and then decreases with the increase in roll speed, and the gas mark proportion area is the smallest at 17.6 m/s. With the increase in the solidification rate, the base texture of the ribbon is enhanced, and the proportion of columnar crystals in the ribbon gradually increases. At the rate of 17.6 m/s, columnar crystals run through the entire side of the ribbon, and uniformly distributed spherical–particle phases are found inside the grain. At the speed of 17.6 m/s, the mechanical properties of different areas of the ribbon are close and different from those of the other two speeds, and the performance of the quenching zone is better than that of the slow-cooling zone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Invasive fungal spondylodiscitis (IFSD) is rare and could be lethal in certain circumstances. The previous literature revealed limited data concerning its outcomes. This study aimed to establish a risk-scoring system to predict the one-year mortality rate of this disease. Methods: A total of 53 patients from a multi-centered database in Taiwan were included in this study. All the clinicopathological and laboratory data were retrospectively analyzed. Variables strongly related to one-year mortality were identified using a multivariate Cox proportional hazards model. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to express the performance of our IFSD scoring model. Results: Five strong predictors were included in the IFSD score: predisposing immunocompromised state, the initial presentation of either radiculopathy or myelopathy, initial laboratory findings of WBC > 12.0 or <0.4 103/µL, hemoglobin < 8 g/dL, and evidence of candidemia. One-year mortality rates for patients with IFSD scores of 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 were 0%, 16.7%, 56.3%, 72.7%, and 100%, respectively. The area under the curve of the ROC curve was 0.823. Conclusions: We developed a practical scoring model with easily obtained demographic, clinical, and laboratory parameters to predict the probability of one-year mortality in patients with IFSD. However, more large-scale and international validations would be necessary before this scoring model is commonly used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sequential recommendation aims to predict the next items that users will interact with according to the sequential dependencies within historical user interactions. Recently, self-attention based sequence modeling methods have become the mainstream method due to their competitive accuracy. Despite their effectiveness, these methods still have non-trivial limitations: (1) they mainly take the transition patterns between items into consideration but ignore the semantic associations between items, and (2) they mostly focus on dynamic short-term user preferences and fail to consider user static long-term preferences explicitly. To address these limitations, we propose a Knowledge Enhanced Personalized Hierarchical Attention Network (KPHAN), which can incorporate the semantic associations among items by learning from knowledge graphs and capture the fine-grained long- and short-term interests of users through a novel personalized hierarchical attention network. Specifically, we employ the entities and relationships in the knowledge graph to enrich semantic information for items while preserving the structural information of the knowledge graph. The self-attention mechanism then captures semantic associations among items to obtain short-term user preferences more accurately. Finally, a personalized hierarchical attention network is developed to generate the final user preference representations, which can fully capture user static long-term preferences while fusing dynamic short-term preferences. Experimental results on three real-world datasets demonstrate that our method can outperform prior works by 2.7% - 35.5% on HR metrics and 6.7% - 27.9% on NDCG metrics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We demonstrate a Ho:GdVO4 solid‐state laser pumped by a thulium (Tm)‐doped fiber laser at 1940nm. In continuous wave mode, a maximum output power of 6.1 W was obtained under the absorbed pump power of 31.9 W with the slope efficiency of 24.3% at the temperature of 18°C. The wavelength of output laser was 2048.53 nm with full width at half maximum of 0.2 nm. In Q‐switched mode, a maximum single pulse energy of 0.94 mJ was obtained with a minimum pulse duration of 7.3 ns at the pulse repetition frequency of 5 kHz, corresponding to a peak power of 129 kW and an average output power of 4.7 W. The beam quality factor of M2 was 1.01 under the maximum absorbed pump power. To the best of our knowledge, 0.94 mJ is the highest single pulse energy in single holmium (Ho) doped GdVO4 laser pumped by Tm‐doped fiber laser at 1940 nm, and 1.01 is the best beam quality factor of M2 in Ho:GdVO4 laser pumped by a Tm‐doped fiber laser. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined fostering low-achieving students’ epistemic understanding of discourse in knowledge building classrooms using video-based visual learning analytics. The participants were two Grade 9 visual arts classes of low-achieving students. The experimental class (n = 33) engaged in a knowledge building classroom supported by video-based visual learning analytics, and the comparison class (n = 29) in a regular knowledge building classroom. Quantitative analysis of questionnaire data indicated that the experimental class acquired a deeper epistemic understanding of discourse and domain knowledge than the comparison class. Four themes related to knowledge building principles were identified, including improving ideas, developing community knowledge, creating new knowledge, and synthesizing ideas. Qualitative analysis of classroom talk, interview responses, and prompt sheets described how the scaffolding of video-based learning analytics helped students develop their understanding. The implications of using video-based visual learning analytics as scaffolds to promote low-achieving students’ epistemic understanding are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein, the exposure of highly‐active nitrogen cation sites has been accomplished by photo‐driven quasi‐topological transformation of a 1,10‐phenanthroline‐5,6‐dione‐based covalent organic framework (COF), which contributes to hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) synthesis during the 2‐electron O2 photoreduction. The exposed nitrogen cation sites with photo‐enhanced Lewis acidity not only act as the electron‐transfer motor to adjust the inherent charge distribution, powering continuous and stable charge separation, and broadening visible‐light adsorption, but also providing a large number of active sites for O2 adsorption. The optimal catalyst shows a high H2O2 production rate of 11965 μmol g−1 h−1 under visible light irradiation and a remarkable apparent quantum yield of 12.9 % at 400 nm, better than most of the previously reported COF photocatalysts. This work provides new insights for designing photo‐switchable nitrogen cation sites as catalytic centers toward efficient solar to chemical energy conversion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein, the exposure of highly‐active nitrogen cation sites has been accomplished by photo‐driven quasi‐topological transformation of a 1,10‐phenanthroline‐5,6‐dione‐based covalent organic framework (COF), which contributes to hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) synthesis during the 2‐electron O2 photoreduction. The exposed nitrogen cation sites with photo‐enhanced Lewis acidity not only act as the electron‐transfer motor to adjust the inherent charge distribution, powering continuous and stable charge separation, and broadening visible‐light adsorption, but also providing a large number of active sites for O2 adsorption. The optimal catalyst shows a high H2O2 production rate of 11965 μmol g−1 h−1 under visible light irradiation and a remarkable apparent quantum yield of 12.9 % at 400 nm, better than most of the previously reported COF photocatalysts. This work provides new insights for designing photo‐switchable nitrogen cation sites as catalytic centers toward efficient solar to chemical energy conversion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study examined the long-term risks of heart failure (HF) and coronary heart disease (CHD) following traumatic brain injury (TBI), focusing on gender differences. Methods: Data from Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database included 29,570 TBI patients and 118,280 matched controls based on propensity scores. Results: The TBI cohort had higher incidences of CHD and HF (9.76 vs. 9.07 per 1000 person-years; 4.40 vs. 3.88 per 1000 person-years). Adjusted analyses showed a significantly higher risk of HF in the TBI group (adjusted hazard ratio = 1.08, 95% CI = 1.01–1.17, P = 0.031). The increased CHD risk in the TBI cohort became insignificant after adjustment. Subgroup analysis by gender revealed higher HF risk in men (aHR = 1.14, 95% CI = 1.03–1.25, P = 0.010) and higher CHD risk in women under 50 (aHR = 1.32, 95% CI = 1.15–1.52, P < 0.001). TBI patients without beta-blocker therapy may be at increased risk of HF. Conclusion: Our results suggest that TBI increases the risk of HF and CHD in this nationwide cohort of Taiwanese citizens. Gender influences the risks differently, with men at higher HF risk and younger women at higher CHD risk. Beta-blockers have a neutral effect on HF and CHD risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: MicroRNA-424 (MiR-424) is proved to be a tumor suppressor against many malignancies, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Nevertheless, its role in diagnosing HCC remained poorly understood. The authors' research investigated diagnostic value of serum miR-424 in HCC. Materials and Methods: Relative expression levels of serum miR-424 in HCC patients and healthy individuals were measured via quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. χ2 test was applied to analyze the correlation between miR-424 expression and clinical features of HCC cases. Diagnostic value was estimated via plotting a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Results: Serum miR-424 expression was obviously downregulated in HCC cases in comparison to healthy persons (p < 0.001). miR-424 expression presented strong correlation with tumor node metastasis stage (p = 0.022), Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer stage (p < 0.001), metastasis (p = 0.037), and vein invasion (p = 0.033). ROC curve analysis manifested an area under the curve of 0.768 with a sensitivity of 75.0% and a specificity of 72.4%, suggesting that serum miR-424 had high diagnostic value in HCC patients. Conclusions: The data suggest that serum miR-424 may represent a biomarker in early detection of HCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The restoration control of the modern alternating current–direct current (AC–DC) hybrid power grid after a major blackout is difficult and complex. Taking into account the interaction between the line‐commutated converter high‐voltage direct current (LCC‐HVDC) and the AC power grid, this paper proposes a novel optimization method of restoration path to reconfigure the skeleton network for the blackout power grid. Based on the system strength, the supporting capability of the AC power grid for the LCC‐HVDC is first analysed from the aspects of start‐up and operation of LCC‐HVDCs. Subsequently, the quantitative relationship between the restoration path and the restoration characteristic of LCC‐HVDC is derived in detail based on the system strength indices of the short‐circuit capacity and the frequency regulation capability. Then, an optimization model of restoration path considering non‐tree paths is formulated and a feasible optimization algorithm is proposed to achieve the optimal path restoration scheme. A modified IEEE 39‐bus system and a partial power grid of Southwest China are simulated to show that the proposed method is suitable for the restoration of AC–DC power grids and can improve restoration efficiency. This research can be an important guidance for operators to rapidly restore the AC–DC power grid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of benzofuro‐fused 7‐deazapurine (6H‐furo[2,3‐e]pyrimido[4,5‐b]indole) 2'‐deoxyribo‐ and ribonucleosides was designed and synthesized. The synthesis of key compound 10‐chloro‐6H‐furo[2,3‐e]pyrimido[4,5‐b]indole was based on the Negishi cross‐coupling of iodobenzofurane with zincated 4,6‐dichloropyrimidine followed by azidation and photochemical cyclization. Glycosylation of the heterocycle with either Hoffer's chlorodeoxyribose or protected ribose followed by cross‐coupling or substitution reactions at position 10 gave the desired two sets of final nucleosides that showed moderate to weak cytostatic activity and interesting fluorescence properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disulfidptosis is a newly-identified non-programmed cell death mode with tight associations with glucose metabolism. Elevated glycolysis is an important metabolic feature of tumor cells, which fulfills the energy requirement for their rapid growth and progression. Our present study determined to develop a disulfidptosis and glycolysis related gene (DGRG) risk score signature to predict the prognosis and ICI therapeutic responsiveness for CRC patients. First, the gene expression and clinical profiles for CRC patients were obtained from TCGA and GEO database. Using weighted gene co-expression network analysis, we identified hub genes showing the strongest correlations with both disulfidptosis and glycolysis activities. Next, a DGRG risk score signature was successfully developed through univariate and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator method Cox regression method. A DGRG risk score-based nomogram could further enhance the predictive performance. In addition, an array of systemic analysis was performed to unravel the correlation of DGRG risk score with tumor microenvironment. The results showed that CRC patients with low DGRG risk level had up-regulated immune cell infiltrations, enhanced metabolic activities and heightened gene mutation frequencies, while high risk patients was the opposite. Moreover, our present study identified low risk CRC patients as potential beneficiaries from immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapies. Our present work highlighted the potential utility of DGRG risk score signature in prognosis prediction and ICI responsiveness determination for CRC patients, which demonstrated promising clinical application value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At present, many cloning selection algorithms have been studied, and improvements have been made to the cloning, mutation and selection steps. However, there is a lack of research on the optimization of the updating operation steps. The clonal selection algorithm is traditionally updated through a random complement of antibodies, which is a blind and uncertain process. The added antibodies may gather near a local optimal solution, resulting in the need for more iterations to obtain the global optimal solution. To solve this problem, our improved algorithm introduces a crowding degree factor in the antibody updating stage to determine whether there is crowding between antibodies. By eliminating antibodies with high crowding potential and poor affinity, the improved algorithm guides the antibodies to update in the direction of the global optimal solution and ensures stable convergence with fewer iterations. Experimental results show that the overall performance of the improved algorithm is 1% higher than that of the clonal selection algorithm and 2.2% higher than that of the genetic algorithm, indicating that the improved algorithm is effective. The improved algorithm is also transplanted to other improved clonal selection algorithms, and the overall performance is improved by 0.97%, indicating that the improved algorithm can be a beneficial supplement to other improved clonal selection algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Let V be a Z -graded vertex operator superalgebra and G a finite automorphism group of V of order T. For g ∈ G and n ∈ 1 T Z + , a series of associative algebras A g , n (V) are constructed to study the twisted representations of V. In addition, we introduce a G -twisted associative algebra A G , n (V) such that A g , n (V) is a quotient algebra of A G , n (V) for any g ∈ G. As an application of the theory of A G , n (V) , we obtain a duality theorem of Schur-Weyl type. In particular, for any g ∈ G , every irreducible g -twisted V-module is a completely reducible V G -module. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pathogenic Th17 cells are critical drivers of multiple autoimmune diseases, including uveitis and its animal model, experimental autoimmune uveitis (EAU). However, how innate immune signals modulate pathogenic Th17 responses remains largely unknown. Here, we showed that miR‐338‐3p endowed dendritic cells (DCs) with an increased ability to activate interphotoreceptor retinoid‐binding protein (IRBP)1–20‐specific Th17 cells by promoting the production of IL‐6, IL‐1β, and IL‐23. In vivo administration of LV‐miR‐338‐infected DCs promoted pathogenic Th17 responses and exacerbated EAU development. Mechanistically, dual‐specificity phosphatase 16 (Dusp16) was a molecular target of miR‐338‐3p. miR‐338‐3p repressed Dusp16 and therefore strengthened the mitogen‐activated protein kinase (MAPK) p38 signaling, resulting in increased production of Th17‐polarizing cytokines and subsequent pathogenic Th17 responses. In addition, methyltransferase like 3 (Mettl3), a key m6A methyltransferase, mediated the upregulation of miR‐338‐3p in activated DCs. Together, our findings identify a vital role for Mettl3/miR‐338‐3p/Dusp16/p38 signaling in DCs‐driven pathogenic Th17 responses and suggest a potential therapeutic avenue for uveitis and other Th17 cell‐related autoimmune disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

C9H6Br6, hexagonal, P63/m (no. 176), a = 8.8911(3) Å, c = 10.6847(5) Å, V = 731.48(6) Å3, Z = 2, Rgt(F) = 0.0441, wRref(F2) = 0.1094, T = 293 K. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inversion of atmospheric ducts is of great importance in the field of performance evaluation for radar and communication systems. Since the model parameters in machine learning play a crucial role in prediction performance, this paper develops a random forest (RF) model integrated with Bayesian optimization (BO) called BO-RF for atmospheric duct prediction, and the BO is adopted to determine appropriate model parameters during the training process. In addition, the K-fold cross-validation (CV) method is also incorporated into the model to obtain the best model partition and overcome the overfitting problem. To test the performance of the proposed model, the results obtained by the BO-RF are compared with other commonly used methods, such as classical RF, extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) with/without BO, and K-nearest neighbor (KNN) with/without BO. Comparisons demonstrate that BO-RF has the best accuracy and anti-noise ability for the estimation of duct parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There exists a linear algorithm to decide whether a polyomino tessellates the plane by translation only. On the other hand, the problem of deciding whether a set of 1 1 or more polyominoes can tile the plane by translation is undecidable. We narrow the gap between decidable and undecidable by showing that it remains undecidable for a set of 1 0 polyominoes, which partially solves a conjecture posed by Ollinger. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]