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Hierarchical diagnosis and treatment (HDT) is an important exploration direction to alleviate the rising pressure of health expenses and medical insurance fund expenditure in China, and to maintain and protect the public health in this country. In recent years, the construction of compact county medical communities (CCMC) has become the primary approach for implementing the HDT. Utilizing the quasi-natural experiment of the pilot project of CCMC in Sichuan Province in 2019, coupled with county-level data extracted from the ' Sichuan Provincial Health Statistics Yearbook ' spanning the years 2008 to 2021, this research evaluates the effect of the pilot project of CCMC on promoting HDT under the medical insurance package payment model. The results show that the pilot project of CCMC has significantly increased the number of consultations per capita of medical and health institutions in pilot counties by 0.434 times, of which the number of consultations per capita of primary medical institutions has increased by 0.340 times; the number of hospitalizations per capita in public hospitals and primary medical institutions in pilot counties increased significantly, and the surgery rate of inpatients in public hospitals increased by 5% compared to before the pilot. There was no significant impact on the allocation of medical facilities and human resources in the pilot counties. Therefore, the construction of CCMC under the medical insurance package payment mode has promoted the realization of the county-level HDT. These findings provide valuable insights for healthcare policy, especially in developing and implementing effective strategies for HDT in county-level medical institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bile acids (BAs) currently occupy the research hotspot because of their unreplaceable physiological functions as well as their unique abilities to reflect the physiopathological status. It is always challenging to characterize BAs‐submetabolome using LC–MS/MS, primarily attributing to the high‐level structural diversity. The key obstructing confirmative identification is isomeric identification because of the inherent “isomer‐blind” disadvantage of MS/MS. The isomerism styles of BAs are broadly divided into: type‐I, 5α‐H and 5β‐H epimers; type‐II, α‐OH and β‐OH epimers; type‐III, C‐OH positional isomers; and type‐IV, hybrid isomers bearing two or more isomerism fashions. Herein, we aim to comprehensively pursue isomer‐selective clues for BAs through constructing three‐dimensional MS2 (3D‐MS2) spectrum that was accomplished by fortifying energy‐resolved MS (ER‐MS) program as the new dimension. The breakdown graphs of primary MS2 spectral signals composed of 3D‐MS2 spectrum namely full collision energy ramp (FCER)‐MS2 spectrum for each BA species after appropriate normalization, and seven isomeric BAs covering all isomerism styles were utilized as representative cases. After recording MS2 spectra with progressive CE levels, differences were observed for their FCER‐MS2 spectra. Diagnostic fragment ions (DFIs) occurred within type‐I, type‐II, type‐III or type‐IV isomers, and noteworthily, 2.02 Da neutral loss discriminated BAs containing cis‐6,7‐diol and trans‐6,7‐diol functional groups. Notably, the features such as the maximal relative ion intensity (RIImax) and optimal CE (OCE) enabled isomeric differentiation for all types, even type‐II and type‐III isomers. Above all, it is feasible to acquire in‐depth isomer‐selective MS/MS clues for BAs using FCER‐MS2 spectrum, regardless of the isomerism manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThe construction of island reef projects using natural seawater, tailored to local conditions, holds significant importance for the advancement of environmentally-friendly geotechnical engineering practices. Previous studies on the application of MICP technology in a seawater environment have been scarce. In this study, Sporosarcina pasteurii were acclimatized to a seawater environment and employed for MICP mineralization reinforcement of calcareous sand, resulting in an enhanced mineralization effect compared to previous attempts under similar conditions. Both direct domestication and gradient domestication methods proved successful in enabling Sporosarcina pasteurii to adapt effectively within a seawater environment. Following domestication, the amount of CaCO3 generated through MICP solidification increased from 2.30% to 4.47%, resulting in a corresponding increase in the Ca2+ conversion rate from 5.19% to 10.02%. Additionally, after domestication, the unconfined compressive strength (UCS) reached up to 309kPa – representing an impressive improvement of 35.53% compared to pre-domestication levels, however, it should be noted that its reinforcement effect still falls short when compared with pure water conditions. The CaCO3 minerals formed after MICP reinforcement using seawater nutrient solution in domesticated Sporosarcina pasteurii predominantly consist of needle-shaped aragonite and granular anorthite minerals, as opposed to the previously observed calcite-type CaCO3 minerals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lithium is an important mineral resource and a critical element in the production of lithium batteries, which are currently in high demand. Oilfield brine has significant value as a raw material for lithium extraction. However, it is often considered a byproduct of oil and gas production and is either abandoned or reinjected underground. Exploration and development of oilfield brines can enhance the economic benefits of oilfields and avoid wasting resources. Current methods for predicting brine distribution rely on geological genetic analysis, which results in low accuracy and reliability. To address this issue, we propose a workflow for lithium brine prediction that uses seismic and logging data. We introduced waveform clustering control and used the mapping relationship between seismic waveforms and well-logging curves to predict high-quality reservoirs based on the electrical and physical properties of lithium brine reservoirs. In this workflow, the seismic waveforms were first clustered using singular value decomposition. The sample sets of well-logging properties were established for the target location. The target properties were divided into high- and low-frequency components and predicted separately. The predicted results of the high-quality reservoirs in the study area were verified using elemental content test results to demonstrate the effectiveness of the method. Our study indicates that well-logging property prediction constrained by waveform clustering can predict lithium brines in a carbonate reservoir. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

System dynamics (SD) applications in high-volume production operations are widely used, helping to define decision rules to reduce costs associated with the variance in planning orders and inventory. The exploitation of SD in engineer-to-order (ETO) project-oriented supply chains—e.g., in construction, shipbuilding, and capital goods—is less well established. Hence, this research reviews the literature that takes a systematic ETO perspective in modeling construction projects, exploiting SD approaches. To comprehensively identify and filter previously published works, we used a keyword searching method using Web of Science and Scopus databases. After applying relevant exclusion criteria, 143 papers were selected. Although previous reviews of ETO literature, more generally, have been done, this work contributes to the body of knowledge by specifically reviewing SD applications in ETO industries and providing insights by creating a categorization system by which to determine existing gaps. Articles are categorized into the classic four phases of a project: aggregated planning, preproject planning, project execution, and postdelivery. Analyses of the methods, attributes, and applications of SD were undertaken for each phase. Findings indicate that SD research covers the range of ETO industries, of which construction is the most dominant, demonstrating SD's high applicability. The wealth of case-orientated research in the construction field provides a solid foundation for further SD studies in the ETO field. Further research should focus on (1) developing a general ETO archetype for performance benchmarking and strategy development in construction projects; (2) introducing analytical tools, such as control theoretic approaches as found in manufacturing production planning and control design, to improve understanding of the ETO systems' dynamic behaviors; (3) developing cross-phase, cross-project, design–production integrated, aggregated planning models via hybrid techniques modeling, which can improve understanding of an ETO system's performance; and (4) improving model fidelity. We also provide a research agenda for each phase of the ETO production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Let a E (n) be the normalized Frobenius traces. For any multiplicative function f satisfying some mild conditions, we investigate the sum ∑ n = 1 N f (n) a E (n) and obtain a nontrivial bound. We also prove cancelation in the sum of Frobenius traces twisted by the coefficients of automorphic L-function on GLm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A curve with single-signed, monotonically increasing or decreasing curvatures is referred to as a planar spiral. G 2 Hermite data are spiral G 2 Hermite data for which only interpolation by a spiral is possible. In this study, we design segmented spirals to geometrically interpolate arbitrary C-shaped G 2 Hermite data. To separate the data into two or three spiral data sets, we add one or two new points, related tangent vectors and curvatures. We provide different approaches in accordance with the various locations of the external homothetic centers of two end-curvature circles. We then match new data by constructing two or three segmented spirals. We generate at most three piecewise spirals for arbitrary C-shaped data. Furthermore, we illustrate the suggested techniques with several examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clinical predictive tools are a topic gaining interest. Many tools are developed each year to predict various outcomes in medicine and surgery. However, the proportion of predictive tools that are implemented in clinical practice is small in comparison to the total number of tools developed. This narrative review presents key principles to guide the translation of predictive tools from academic bodies of work into useful tools that complement clinical practice. Our review identified the following principles: (1) identifying a clinical gap, (2) selecting a target user or population, (3) optimizing predictive tool performance, (4) externally validating predictive tools, (5) marketing and disseminating the tool, (6) navigating the challenges of integrating a tool into existing healthcare systems, and (7) developing an ongoing monitoring and evaluation strategy. Although the review focuses on examples in orthopaedic surgery, the principles can be applied to other disciplines in medicine and surgery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To clarify the equivalent blasting load for the periphery hole with air-deck charge, the refined numerical model for two contour holes with air-deck charge was established on the LS-DYNA platform, and the instantaneous blasting process was carefully simulated through fluid-solid coupling algorithm. As for the charge section, the surrounding rock were crushed immediately due to the intensive blasting pressure, while the tensile stress due to the superstition of two blasting pressures produced the main crack along centerline. The pressure time-histories along centerline were triangle-shaped, and the peak value attenuated sharply with blasting distance. As for the air section, no crush zone appeared surrounding the hole, while the superimposed tensile stress could still produce the main crack along centerline. Comparing to the charge section, the pressure time-histories along centerline were characterized by multi-peaks, while the peak value decreased substantially and the duration increased notably. The peaks of real blasting load were averaged along center-line, which yielded the equivalent blasting load with ladder-type. The equivalent blasting load reflected the main features of real blasting load in a simplified way, which could provide some technical supports for the further numerical simulation about far-field vibration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the improvement of the airtightness of modern buildings, installing ventilation systems indoors is becoming increasingly important, which works for a long time continuously and needs to be monitored in real‐time. However, the complex wiring of monitoring sensors makes assembly and maintenance more difficult. This work reports a hybridized triboelectric‐electromagnetic nanogenerator (HNG) as a power supply of a self‐powered wireless monitoring system for ventilation systems. The HNG integrates an air inlet cover, a stator with coils and interdigitated copper electrodes, a rotor with magnets, fluorinated ethylene propylene films, and optimized built‐in wind blades. The HNG scavenges wind energy from a ventilation system and serves as a power supply for electric applications. Under the wind speed of 6.5 m s−1 in the ventilation system, the maximum stabilized voltage and maximum instantaneous current of the HNG are 177.5 V and 0.049 A, which can charge smartphones and light up a bulb. Furthermore, the HNG realizes the self‐powered wireless transmission of temperature and humidity sensing nodes. This work demonstrates an effective wind energy harvester, providing an innovative strategy for monitoring the condition of the ventilation system and broadening the thoughts of prospective energy harvesting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this research, we aimed to design a novel brain-computer interaction (BCI) approach in routing and forwarding mechanisms to realize a networking multi-modal and multi-brain linked control. In recent years, the field programmable gate array (FPGA) has become a popular choice to construct a heterogeneous network for routing and forwarding processes due to its ability to complete a high performance computation in single node. Conventional BCI mode focus on capturing the dynamic EEG signals from multiple electrode channels and this concept neglects the existing complexity and diversity of connecting information between two brain regions. To this moment, we build a heterogeneous multi-agent system (HMAS) architecture to simulate the memristive neuron networks (MNN) with a set of logic units for multi-agent in the Internet. Specifically, we first feed the non-linear features into an intelligent router to adjust their routing and forwarding processes. Subsequently, at one-time step, the output of all testing nodes is written into a heterogeneous logic space, which mainly consists of the sub-agent, forward port, and memory memristive neuron. In the FPGA, each programmable cell selectively integrates and stores a huge number of motion information between multiple interacting channels. We can achieve the networking cooperative functions of forward and route through FPGA large-scale computation. According to the extensive experimental results on several data, we validate the effectiveness of the proposed HMAS-BCI architecture to compare the optimization method of the multiple simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Feather is one of the most valuable and economical products in goose farming and plays a crucial physiological role in birds. For avian biology and the poultry industry, it is essential to comprehend and regulate how skin and feather follicles develop during embryogenesis. This study showed that several key regulatory genes (FOXO3, CTGF, and PTCH1, among others) and miRNAs (miR-144-y) participated in the developmental process of the skin and feather follicles in Zhedong white goose. Our findings are particularly important because they will serve as a valuable resource for upcoming studies on down feathers in agricultural economic growth regarding complex molecular mechanisms and breeding techniques. Skin and feather follicle development are essential processes for goose embryonic growth. Transcriptome and next-generation sequencing (NGS) network analyses were performed to improve the genome of Zhedong White goose and discover the critical genes, miRNAs, and pathways involved in goose skin and feather follicle morphogenesis. Sequencing output generated 6,002,591,668 to 8,675,720,319 clean reads from fifteen libraries. There were 1234, 3024, 4416, and 5326 different genes showing differential expression in four stages, E10 vs. E13, E10 vs. E18, E10 vs. E23, and E10 vs. E28, respectively. The differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were found to be implicated in multiple biological processes and pathways associated with feather growth and development, such as the Wnt signaling pathway, cell adhesion molecules, ECM–receptor interaction signaling pathways, and cell cycle and DNA replication pathways, according to functional analysis. In total, 8276 DEGs were assembled into twenty gene profiles with diverse expression patterns. The reliability of transcriptome results was verified by real-time quantitative PCR by selecting seven DEGs and five miRNAs. The localization of forkhead box O3 (FOXO3), connective tissue growth factor (CTGF), protein parched homolog1 (PTCH1), and miR-144-y by in situ hybridization showed spatial-temporal expression patterns and that FOXO3 and miR-144-y have an antagonistic targeting relationship. The correlation coefficient of FOXO3 and miR-144-y was -0.948, showing a strong negative correlation. Dual-luciferase reporter assay results demonstrated that miR-144-y could bind to the expected location to suppress the expression of FOXO3, which supports that there is a targeting relationship between them. The detections in this report will provide critical insight into the complex molecular mechanisms and breeding practices underlying the developmental characteristics of skin and feather follicles in Zhedong white geese. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Current evidence for flexor tendon repair management and outcomes performed at peripheral centres is unclear. Most studies are based on evidence from specialist hand centres. This study evaluated a peripheral hospital in New Zealand; where all flexor tendon repairs were performed by a generalist Orthopaedic service. The purpose of the study was to benchmark management and outcomes from a peripheral hospital in comparison to international standards. Methods: A retrospective single‐centre consecutive case series of Zones I and II flexor tendon repairs was extracted between 1 January 2014 and 1 January 2018. Medical records were used to evaluate management and outcomes of repairs. Hand therapy notes were used to evaluate rehabilitation protocols provided. The primary objective was to measure re‐rupture and re‐operation rates. Secondary objectives included auditing operative management and hand therapy compliance. Results: Forty‐six patients (76 tendon repairs) were included in our final analysis. Mean follow up time to last clinical appointment was 11.8 weeks, and to last patient episode was 4.9 years. Most patients received timely surgery with a four‐core repair using 3–0 or larger suture. All hand therapy followed a controlled active motion protocol. The re‐operation rate was 19.6% (P = <0.05) and the re‐rupture rate was 8.7% (P = 0.28). Conclusions: Most flexor tendon injuries at this peripheral centre were managed according to international standards. However, high complication rates including re‐operation and re‐rupture occurred. Due to a lack of local comparison studies, confounding factors cannot be excluded as a contributor for these results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Addressing health inequality is crucial for fostering healthy city development. However, there is a dearth of literature simultaneously investigating the effects of social deprivation and greenness exposure on mortality risks, as well as how greenness exposure may mitigate the adverse effect of social deprivation on mortality risks from a spatiotemporal perspective. Drawing on socioeconomic, remote sensing, and mortality record data, this study presents spatiotemporal patterns of social deprivation, population weighted greenness exposure, and all-cause and cause-specific mortality in Hong Kong. A Bayesian regression model was applied to investigate the impacts of social deprivation and greenness exposure on mortality and examine how socioeconomic inequalities in mortality may vary across areas with different greenness levels in Hong Kong from 1999 to 2018. We observed a decline in social deprivation (0.67–0.56), and an increase in greenness exposure (0.34–0.41) in Hong Kong during 1999–2018. Areas with high mortality gradually clustered in the Kowloon Peninsula and the northern regions of Hong Kong Island. Adverse impacts of social deprivation on all-cause mortality weakened in recent years (RR from 2009 to 2013: 1.103, 95%CI: 1.051–1.159, RR from 2014 to 2018: 1.041 95%CI: 0.950–1.139), while the protective impacts of greenness exposure consistently strengthened (RR from 1999 to 2003: 0.903, 95%CI: 0.827–0.984, RR from 2014 to 2018: 0.859, 95%CI: 0.763–0.965). Moreover, the adverse effects of social deprivation on mortality risks were found to be higher in areas with lower greenness exposure. These findings provide evidence of associations between social deprivation, greenness exposure, and mortality risks in Hong Kong over the past decades, and highlight the potential of greenness exposure to mitigate health inequalities. Our study provides valuable implications for policymakers to develop a healthy city. • Social deprivation declined and greenness exposure raised in Hong Kong over time. • Areas with high mortality risks gradually concentrated in the urban center. • Impacts of social deprivation on mortality risks are insignificant in recent years. • The protective effects of greenness exposure strengthened in recent years. • Greenness exposure is essential for mitigating the inequality of mortality rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Approximately 1 in 5 patients feel unsatisfied after total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Prognostic tools may aid in the patient selection process and reduce the proportion of patients who experience unsatisfactory surgery. This study uses the prognostic tool SMART Choice (Patient Prognostic Tool for Total Knee Arthroplasty) to predict patient improvement after TKA. The tool aims to be used by the patient without clinician input and does not require clinical data such as X-ray findings or blood results. The objective of this study is to evaluate the SMART Choice tool on patient decision making, particularly willingness for surgery. We hypothesise that the use of the SMART Choice tool will influence willingness to undergo surgery, especially when used earlier in the patient TKA journey.Methods: This is a multicentred, pragmatic, randomised controlled trial conducted in Melbourne, Australia. Participants will be recruited from the St. Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne (SVHM) Orthopaedic Clinic, and the client base of HCF, Australia (private health insurance company). Patients over 45 years of age who have been diagnosed with knee osteoarthritis and considering TKA are eligible for participation. Participants will be randomised to either use the SMART Choice tool or treatment as usual. The SMART Choice tool provides users with a prediction for improvement or deterioration / no change after surgery based on utility score change calculated from the Veterans-RAND 12 (VR-12) survey. The primary outcome of the study is patient willingness for TKA surgery. The secondary outcomes include evaluating the optimal timing for tool use and using decision quality questionnaires to understand the patient experience when using the tool. Participants will be followed up for 6 months from the time of recruitment.Discussion: The SMART Choice tool has the potential to improve patient decision making for TKA. Although many prognostic tools have been developed for other areas of surgery, most are confined within academic bodies of work. This study will be one of the first to evaluate the impact of a prognostic tool on patient decision making using a prospective clinical trial, an important step in transitioning the tool for use in clinical practice.Trial Registration: Australia and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ANZCTR) - ACTRN12622000072718 . Prospectively registered - 21 January 2022. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Context: Surgical site infections (SSIs) after spinal fusion surgery increase healthcare costs, morbidity and mortality. Routine measures of obesity fail to consider site specific fat distribution.Purpose: To assess the association between the spine adipose index and deep surgical site infection and determine a threshold value for spine adipose index that can assist in preoperative risk stratification in patients undergoing posterior instrumented lumbar fusion (PILF).Study Design/setting: Multicenter retrospective case-control study.Patient Sample: We reviewed patients who underwent PILF from January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2018.Outcome Measures: All patients developing a deep primary incisional or organ-space SSI within 90 days of surgery as per US Center for Disease Control and Prevention criteria were identified. We gathered potential pre-operative and intra-operative deep infection risk factors for each patient. A 1:1 match was performed using the following criteria: gender, age (±3 y), ethnicity, date of surgery (± 1 y), and hospital location of surgery. Spine adipose index was measured on pre-operative mid-sagittal cuts of T2 weighted MRI scans. Each measurement was repeated twice by three authors in a blinded fashion, with each series of measurement separated by a period of at least six weeks.Methods: Stepwise binary logistic regression analysis was used to assess the association between SAI and the development of deep SSI. Separate logistic regression models were used for body mass index (BMI) and direct measures of subcutaneous fat thickness. Receiver Operating Characteristic analysis was used to determine the optimal value for SAI, and subsequent risk ratios were calculated using the identified threshold. Intra- and inter-observer reliabilities were assessed using intra-class coefficients.Results: Forty-two patients were included in final analysis, with twenty-one cases and twenty-one matched controls. The spine adipose index was significantly greater in patients developing deep SSI (p=.029), and this relationship was maintained after adjusting for confounders (p=.046). Risk of developing deep SSI following PILF surgery was increased 2.0-fold when the spine adipose index was ≥0.51. The spine adipose index had excellent (ICC >0.9; p<.001) inter- and intra-observer reliabilities.Conclusion: The spine adipose index is a novel radiographic measure and an independent risk factor for developing deep SSI, with 0.51 being the ideal threshold value for pre-operative risk stratification in patients undergoing PILF surgery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research of intelligent fault diagnosis method has made great progress. The prerequisite for the effectiveness of most intelligent diagnosis models is to have abundant labeled data, which is difficult to satisfy in practice. Fortunately, we can obtain a large amount of rolling bearing failure data under laboratory conditions. Inspired by the idea of transfer learning, we propose a deep dynamic adaptive transfer network (DDATN) for intelligent fault diagnosis of rolling bearings. In addition to performing transfer diagnosis under different working conditions and failure degrees of the same type of bearing, it is also able to accomplish the task of cross-machine fault diagnosis from bearings under laboratory conditions to the bearings in practical applications. In the DDATN, the marginal probability distribution and conditional probability distribution of the data are aligned by dynamic domain adaptation using weight factor. First, the original vibration signal of the bearing is first processed to establish the source and target domains. Then, pseudo-label learning on target domain unlabeled data is performed and the transferable features between domains are extracted through the deep parameter-shared neural networks. Next, by performing dynamic adaptation on the extracted transferable features and optimizing the intelligent fault diagnosis model through backpropagation, the complete transfer diagnosis task in the target domain is accomplished. The effectiveness of the proposed DDATN method is demonstrated through variable working conditions and cross-machine transfer fault diagnosis tasks. Compared with other intelligent fault diagnosis methods, the proposed method shows clear advantages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several studies demonstrated that in insects cuticle melanism is interrelated with pathogen resistance, as melanin‐based coloration and innate immunity possess similar physiological pathways. For some insects, higher pathogen resistance was observed in darker individuals than in individuals with lighter cuticular coloration. Here, we investigated the difference in immune response between two color morphs (black and red) and between the life stages (pupa and adult) of the red palm weevil Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae). Here in this study, cuticle thickness, microbial test (antimicrobial activity, phenoloxidase activity, and hemocyte density), and immune‐related gene expression were evaluated at different stages of RPW. Study results revealed that cuticle thickness of black phenotype was thicker than red phenotype at old‐pupa stage, while no significant difference found at adult stage. These results may relate to the development processes of epidermis in different stages of RPW. The results of antimicrobial activity, phenoloxidase (PO) activity, and hemocyte density analyses showed that adults with a red phenotype had stronger pathogen resistance than those with a black phenotype. In addition to antimicrobial activity and PO activity, we tested relative gene expression in the fat body of old pupae. The results of hemolymph antimicrobial analysis showed that old pupae with a red phenotype were significantly different from those with a black phenotype at 12 hr after Staphylococcus aureus injection, suggesting that red phenotype pupae were more sensitive to S. aureus. Examination of gene expression in the fat body also revealed that the red phenotype had a higher immune response than the black phenotype. Our results were inconsistent with the previous conclusion that dark insects had increased immune function, suggesting that the relationship between cuticle pigmentation and immune function in insects was not a direct link. Additional possible factors that are associated with the immune response, such as life‐history, developmental, physiological factors also need to be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We introduce a superconducting coplanar waveguide, in the form of a ring resonator, as a quantum bus for circuit quantum electrodynamics (circuit QED). Due to its unique symmetry, the amplitude of the electromagnetic field inside is uniform along the resonator, which in principle leads to a location independent coupling between qubits and the resonator. For an experimental demonstration, we designed and fabricated a ring resonator capacitively coupled to two tunable Xmon superconducting qubits. We showed that nearly identical coupling was achieved between individual qubits and the resonator. In addition, the resonator was also used as a high quality quantum bus for generating Bell states between the qubits with a fidelity of F = 98.6 % , although an interference effect must be included for understanding the effective coupling between the two qubits. Our results suggest that ring resonators can be a useful addition to the toolbox of circuit QED. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Here we present an effective strategy to achieve strongly enhanced catalytic activity of platinum-copper bimetallic clusters through augmented plasmonic photochemical effects of an aggregated nanostructure. The excitation by light irradiation significantly amplified both the population and migration rate of hot carriers generated on the catalyst surface, thereby achieving a record-high reduction rate of p-nitrophenol at elevated concentration. This work provides important insights for the rational design of efficient metallic photocatalysts; it is also relevant for further improvement of the efficiencies of plasmonic photocatalysis and solar energy harvesting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The early weak fault characteristics of rolling bearings are extremely weak and are easily overwhelmed by other noises. In order to effectively extract the characteristics of the early weak faults of the rolling bearings and draw on the multilayer wavelet decomposition idea, a method for diagnosing the early weak faults of the rolling bearing based on the multilayer reconstruction filter is proposed. As we all know, empirical wavelet transform (EWT) makes full use of wavelet filter bank, and variational mode decomposition (VMD) uses Wiener filter bank. This paper fully combines the advantages of the above two methods, adaptively determines the number of modes through empirical wavelet decomposition and divides the original signal, extracts the frequency band that contains the fault characteristic information, and effectively eliminates noise interference. These steps are repeated until the optimal component of the condition is obtained. In the output layer, the weak fault impact components are further separated by the strong filtering and signal decomposition capability of VMD. The advantages of the proposed method are proved by the experiment of weak fault of rolling bearing and the accelerated failure experiment of full life. The proposed method has the advantages of reducing noise influence and adaptive estimation of decomposed modes, which can be applied more efficiently in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Preparation of air filtration materials through bicomponent spunbond nonwoven technique. • Polytetrafluoroethylene nanoparticles doping modification to increase surface potential. • 3D Fluffy structure, low air resistance, high dust holding capacity, and stable filtration efficiency. • After 180 days, the filtration efficiency decayed by only 3.58%. Electret fiber-based air filtration materials find extensive applications in various fields, including particulate matter filtration, indoor purification, and epidemic prevention. However, achieving high-efficiency filtration with low resistance and long-term stability remains a challenge. In this study, we present a novel approach to fabricate sheath-core bicomponent spunbond filters (BCSFs) doped with polytetrafluoroethylene nanoparticles (PNPs) using bicomponent spunbond, through-air bonding, and corona charging techniques. This strategy enables the filtration material to possess low air resistance, long-term stable filtration efficiency, and a high dust holding capacity. The resulting BCSFs-PNPs exhibit remarkable filtration performance, with a filtration efficiency of 99.25% and a dust holding capacity of up to 11.48 g m−2, while maintaining a pressure drop as low as 37.87 Pa. Notably, the filtration efficiency of BCSFs-PNPs only experienced a slight decrease of 3.58% over a period of 180 days, demonstrating excellent long-term stability. The successful preparation of BCSFs-PNPs using corona charging technology holds great promise and offers valuable insight for the design and application of advanced air filtration materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green development is essential for improving urban land use efficiency (ULUE) as it seeks to optimize resource utilization and minimize waste and pollution. However, a long-term evolution of ULUE and its determinants under the context of green development are less discussed in existing studies. Drawing on remote sensing and statistical data and utilizing the super efficiency slack-based model (SBM) and the geographically and temporally weighted regression (GTWR) model, this study evaluates green development-oriented ULUE and its spatiotemporal associations with determinants across 284 cities and eight economic zones in China from 2005 to 2019. We found that the green development-oriented ULUE in China generally increased in 15 years (from 0.404 to 0.55), with higher levels in coastal and northwestern regions than in central regions. Besides, per capita GDP, investment in technology and science, and degree of openness generally contributed to ULUE (over 75% observations showed positive coefficients), while investment in real estate had a negative impact on ULUE. The impact of industrial structure on ULUE experienced a transition from positive to negative in northern and eastern cities, with the highest coefficient decreasing from 0.194 in 2005 to −0.032 in 2019. Population density contributed to ULUE in southern and northwestern cities during 2005–2010 (coefficients ranging from 0.008 to 0.198), while it negatively influenced ULUE in most cities since 2015 (coefficients ranging from −0.009 to −0.283). The correlation between nighttime light, per capita road, and ULUE showed noticeable south-north differentiation. Our study provides valuable guidelines for Tailor-made strategies of efficient urban management towards sustainable urbanization. • Estimating green development-orientated Urban land use efficiency (ULUE) in China. • ULUE in 284 cities and eight economic zones generally increased in the last 15 years. • ULUE in coastal and northwestern regions is higher than that in central regions. • Associations between ULUE and socioeconomic factors varied over space and time. • Tailor-made strategies are required in different cities and regions to improve ULUE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Bimetallic MOFs derivatives could realize the efficient ionizing radiation degradation of chloramphenicol. • Compared with the single EB irradiation, the radiation-catalytic process brought a 21.2-fold enhancement in the TOC removal rate. • The synergistic effect of Fe/Ni element in valence state can be observed in the composite catalyst during electron beam irradiation, in which the generation of Fe2+ promoted the production of hydroxyl radical. Electron beam (EB) irradiation has received increased attention in sewage disposal due to the high efficiency, no additional chemicals and wastes produced. However, it's still limited by relatively high processing costs. In this work, we report a novel nitrogen-doped Fe/Ni bimetallic metal organic frameworks (MOFs) derivative for efficient ionizing radiation catalytic degradation of chloramphenicol (CAP). Compared with the single EB irradiation, the radiation-catalytic process allows a 2.8-fold increment in degradation rate constant and a 21.2-fold enhancement in the TOC removal rate. The EPR experimental results confirmed that the optimized composite catalyst significantly enhances the generation of hydroxyl radicals. Intriguingly, the synergistic effect of Fe/Ni element in the valence state were observed in the radiation-catalytic process, in which the generation of Fe2+ promoted the production of hydroxyl radical. The adsorption experiments reveal that most of the high removal effect origins from complete degradation rather than the adsorption effect. These key indicators of irradiation degradation are all the highest compared to the reported literature. In addition, the catalyst also has excellent cycle stability under irradiation. The high-performance ionizing radiation catalytic degradation in synergy with bimetallic MOFs derivatives provides a facile and general strategy for efficient EB irradiation treatment of organic wastewater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Thermoresistant basalt fiber is incorporated in high strength PVA-ECC. • High temperature resistance of structural HSECC is evaluated. • Residual flexural strength is enhanced by basalt fiber. • Basalt fiber restrains the propagation of micro cracks, especially in hybrid HSECC. Engineered cementitious composites (ECC) predominantly prefer polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fiber as reinforcement. However, PVA fiber experiences melting at approximately 235 °C. When structures with high strength ECC (HSECC) occasionally suffer elevated temperatures or fire, PVA fiber would inevitably induce deterioration in mechanical properties and increase the probability of structural failure. In present study, basalt fiber with high temperature resistance was selected to replace PVA fiber, visual observations and strength deterioration of HSECC were evaluated after heating. The incorporation of basalt fiber has shown potential ability in improving flexural behavior of HSECC upon elevated temperatures. Interfacial transition zone (ITZ) is observed to be effectively enhanced under 200 and 400℃. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• 3D direct writing Al/CuO films for low pressure applications were designed. • Films' self-sustained combustion performances were researched at different pressure. • Films' hydrophobicity address humidity challenge in low pressure environments. The application and optimization of nano-composite energetic materials in the extreme and particular environment have become a subject of wide concern. Additionally, the design and selection of metastable intermixed composites (MICs) films in low pressure environment is the key problem to explore its future application. Here, 90 wt% high loading Al/CuO nanothermite films were prepared by a simple 3D direct writing approach. Four films with different thicknesses (66, 128, 152, 182 μm) were designed and their combustion properties were tested respectively. The low pressure combustion results show that the self-sustained burning rate of the film (thicker than 66 μm) can be adjusted and controlled in various air pressure environments (101–60 kPa). The self-sustained burning rate of film is affected by both thickness (66–182 μm) and air pressure (101–60 kPa). The lower the air pressure, the lower the burning rate. The greater the thickness, the higher the burning rate. The 66 μm film self-sustainedly burns at atmospheric pressure and extinguishes when the pressure was significantly reduced. The self-sustained combustion rates of the 128 and 152 μm film decreases with decreasing pressure until the pressure drops to 75 and 60 kPa respectively. The 182 μm film keeps self-sustained combustion in a manner of deflagration which is almost unaffected by air pressure, even when the pressure drops to 10 kPa. Simultaneously, it is found that the ignition temperature of the film is almost not affected by pressure. In addition, it is verified that the film has performances of excellent hydrophobic and combustion through air–water interface. These can cope with complex environmental humidity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To reduce the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data acquisition time and improve the MR image reconstruction performance, reconstruction algorithms based on the iterative shrinkage thresholding algorithm (ISTA) are widely used. However, these traditional algorithms use global threshold shrinkage, which is not efficient. In this paper, a novel algorithm based on local threshold shrinkage, which is called the local shrinkage thresholding algorithm (LSTA), was proposed. The LSTA can shrink differently for different elements from the residual matrix to adjust the shrinkage speed for each element of the image during the iterative process. Then, by taking advantage of the sparser characteristics of the curvelet transform, the LSTA combined with the curvelet transform (CLSTA) can make the construction process more efficient. Finally, compared with ISTA, the generalized thresholding iterative algorithm (GTIA) and the fast iterative shrinkage threshold algorithm (FISTA), when analysing human (brain and cervical) MR images, a conclusion can be drawn that the proposed method has better reconstruction performance in terms of the mean square error (MSE), the peak signal to noise ratio (PNSR), the structural similarity index measure (SSIM), the normalized mutual information (NMI), the transferred edge information (TEI) and the number of iterations. The proposed method can better maintain the detailed information of the reconstructed images and effectively decrease the blurring of the images edges. Graphical abstract. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Due to tumor heterogeneity, immunohistochemistry (IHC) showed poor accuracy in detecting the expression of programmed cell death ligand-1 (PD-L1) in patients. Positron emission tomography (PET) imaging is considered as a non-invasive technique to detect PD-L1 expression at the molecular level visually, real-timely and quantitatively. This study aimed to develop novel peptide-based radiotracers [68Ga]/[18F]AlF-NOTA-IMB for accurately detecting the PD-L1 expression and guiding the cancer immunotherapy. Methods: NOTA-IMB was prepared by connecting 2,2′-(7-(2-((2,5-dioxopyrrolidin-1-yl)oxy)- 2-oxoethyl)-1,4,7-triazonane-1,4-diyl) diacetic acid (NOTA-NHS) with PD-L1-targeted peptide IMB, and further radiolabeled with 68Ga or 18F-AlF. In vitro binding assay was conducted to confirm the ability of [68Ga]/[18F]AlF-NOTA-IMB to detect the expression of PD-L1. In vivo PET imaging of [68Ga]NOTA-IMB and [18F]AlF-NOTA-IMB in different tumor-bearing mice was performed, and dynamic changes of PD-L1 expression level induced by immunotherapy were monitored. Radioautography, western blotting, immunofluorescence staining and biodistribution analysis were carried out to further evaluate the specificity of radiotracers and efficacy of PD-L1 antibody immunotherapy. Results: [68Ga]NOTA-IMB and [18F]AlF-NOTA-IMB were both successfully prepared with high radiochemical yield (> 95% and > 60%, n = 5) and radiochemical purity (> 95% and > 98%, n = 5). Both tracers showed high affinity to human and murine PD-L1 with the dissociation constant (Kd) of 1.00 ± 0.16/1.09 ± 0.21 nM (A375-hPD-L1, n = 3) and 1.56 ± 0.58/1.21 ± 0.39 nM (MC38, n = 3), respectively. In vitro cell uptake assay revealed that both tracers can specifically bind to PD-L1 positive cancer cells A375-hPD-L1 and MC38 (5.45 ± 0.33/3.65 ± 0.15%AD and 5.87 ± 0.27/2.78 ± 0.08%AD at 120 min, n = 3). In vivo PET imaging and biodistribution analysis showed that the tracer [68Ga]NOTA-IMB and [18F]AlF-NOTA-IMB had high accumulation in A375-hPD-L1 and MC38 tumors, but low uptake in A375 tumor. Treatment of Atezolizumab induced dynamic changes of PD-L1 expression in MC38 tumor-bearing mice, and the tumor uptake of [68Ga]NOTA-IMB decreased from 3.30 ± 0.29%ID/mL to 1.58 ± 0.29%ID/mL (n = 3, P = 0.026) after five treatments. Similarly, the tumor uptake of [18F]AlF-NOTA-IMB decreased from 3.27 ± 0.63%ID/mL to 0.89 ± 0.18%ID/mL (n = 3, P = 0.0004) after five treatments. However, no significant difference was observed in the tumor uptake before and after PBS treatment. Biodistribution, radioautography, western blotting and immunofluorescence staining analysis further demonstrated that the expression level of PD-L1 in tumor-bearing mice treated with Atezolizumab significantly reduced about 3 times and correlated well with the PET imaging results. Conclusion: [68Ga]NOTA-IMB and [18F]AlF-NOTA-IMB were successfully prepared for PET imaging the PD-L1 expression noninvasively and quantitatively. Dynamic changes of PD-L1 expression caused by immunotherapy can be sensitively detected by both tracers. Hence, the peptide-based radiotracers [68Ga]NOTA-IMB and [18F]AlF-NOTA-IMB can be applied for accurately detecting the PD-L1 expression in different tumors and monitoring the efficacy of immunotherapy. Two novel peptide-based radiotracers [68Ga]NOTA-IMB and [18F]AlF-NOTA-IMB were developed as promising agents for evaluating the immunotherapy effect by monitoring the changes of PD-L1 expression in real time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract A novel and facile approach to 3-allyl-2-aminoindoles via the copper-catalyzed reaction of 3-diazoindolin-2-imines with allyltrimethylsilane is described. The domino reaction proceeds efficiently in one-pot and shows broad substrate scope with respect to the diazo substrates. Furthermore, the synthesized 3-allyl-2-aminoindoles can be conveniently transformed into 3-allyl-3-hydroxylindolin-2-imines and 3-allyl-3-fluoroindolin-2-imines. Graphical abstract Image 1 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The first full-process of MPs distribution in urban drainage system was provided. • MPs abundance in sewer overflow can greatly aggravate to 83.1 ± 40.2 items/L. • Storm events is an important marker of increased MPs abundance in urban rivers. • Per capita generation of microplastics in the study area was 3461.5 items/d. • Annual emissions load of MPs via urban drainage system was 5.83×1010 items/km2. Urban drainage system is an important channel for terrigenous microplastics (<5 mm in size) to migrate to urban water bodies, especially the input load caused by overflow pollution in wet weather. Investigating how they transport and discharge is essential to better understand the occurrence and variability of microplastics in different water ecosystems. This study evaluated the abundance and distribution characteristics of microplastics in the drainage systems of typical coastal cities in China. The impacts of meteorological conditions and land use were explored. In particular, the prominent contribution of drainage sewer overflow pollution during storm events were investigated. The results showed that the microplastics abundance in daily sewage discharge from different drainage plots ranged between 13.6 and 30.8 items/L, with fibers as the dominant type of microplastics. Sewer overflow discharge can greatly aggravate microplastic abundance to 83.1 ± 40.2 items/L. Road runoff and sewer sediment scouring were the main pollution sources. Systematic estimates based on detailed data showed that the average microplastics emitted per capita per day in household wastewater was 3461.5 items. A quantitative estimation method was proposed to show that the annual emissions load of microplastics via urban drainage system in this research area was 5.83×1010 items/km2, of which the proportion of emissions in wet weather accounted for about 60%. This research provides the first full-process of assessment and source apportionment of the microplastic distribution characteristics in old drainage system. The occurrence of storm events is an important marker of increased microplastic abundance in urban rivers, with a view to urgent need for interception of surface runoff and purification of sewer overflow pollution. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to COVID-19, Southeast Asian (SEA) countries had imposed stringent lockdowns and restrictions to mitigate the pandemic ever since 2019. Because of a gradually boosting vaccination rate along with a strong demand for economic recovery, many governments have shifted the intervention strategy from restrictions to "Living with COVID-19" where people gradually resumed their normal activities since the second half of the year 2021. Noticeably, timelines for enacting the loosened strategy varied across Southeast Asian countries, which resulted in different patterns of human mobility across space and time. This thus presents an opportunity to study the relationship between mobility and the number of infection cases across regions, which could provide support for ongoing interventions in terms of effectiveness. This study aimed to investigate the association between human mobility and COVID-19 infections across space and time during the transition period of shifting strategies from restrictions to normal living in Southeast Asia. Our research results have significant implications for evidence-based policymaking at the present of the COVID-19 pandemic and other public health issues. We aggregated weekly average human mobility data derived from the Facebook origin and destination Movement dataset. and weekly average new cases of COVID-19 at the district level from 01-Jun-2021 to 26-Dec-2021 (a total of 30 weeks). We mapped the spatiotemporal dynamics of human mobility and COVID-19 cases across countries in SEA. We further adopted the Geographically and Temporally Weighted Regression model to identify the spatiotemporal variations of the association between human mobility and COVID-19 infections over 30 weeks. Our model also controls for socioeconomic status, vaccination, and stringency of intervention to better identify the impact of human mobility on COVID-19 spread. The percentage of districts that presented a statistically significant association between human mobility and COVID-19 infections generally decreased from 96.15% in week 1 to 90.38% in week 30, indicating a gradual disconnection between human mobility and COVID-19 spread. Over the study period, the average coefficients in 7 SEA countries increased, decreased, and finally kept stable. The association between human mobility and COVID-19 spread also presents spatial heterogeneity where higher coefficients were mainly concentrated in districts of Indonesia from week 1 to week 10 (ranging from 0.336 to 0.826), while lower coefficients were mainly located in districts of Vietnam (ranging from 0.044 to 0.130). From week 10 to week 25, higher coefficients were mainly observed in Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, north Indonesia, and several districts of the Philippines. Despite the association showing a general weakening trend over time, significant positive coefficients were observed in Singapore, Malaysia, western Indonesia, and the Philippines, with the relatively highest coefficients observed in the Philippines in week 30 (ranging from 0.101 to 0.139). The loosening interventions in response to COVID-19 in SEA countries during the second half of 2021 led to diverse changes in human mobility over time, which may result in the COVID-19 infection dynamics. This study investigated the association between mobility and infections at the regional level during the special transitional period. Our study has important implications for public policy interventions, especially at the later stage of a public health crisis. • The first cross-regional study to detect the spatiotemporal association between COVID-19 cases and human mobility in SEA. • A significant spatiotemporal heterogeneity of correlation between COVID-19 infections and human mobility in SEA. • The association between COVID-19 cases and human mobility strengthened first and then weakened during transitional period. • Movement restrictions were not a good option of recovering from the public health crisis at a later stage. • Regional collaboration and equal allocation of healthcare resources should be attached more importance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The US confronted a "triple-demic" of influenza, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and COVID-19 in the winter of 2022, leading to increased respiratory infections and a higher demand for medical supplies. It is urgent to analyze these epidemics and their spatial-temporal co-occurrence, identifying hotspots and informing public health strategies. Methods: We employed retrospective and prospective space-time scan statistics to assess the situations of COVID-19, influenza, and RSV in 51 US states from October 2021 to February 2022, and from October 2022 to February 2023, respectively. This enabled monitoring of spatiotemporal variations for each epidemic individually and collectively. Results: Compared to winter 2021, COVID-19 cases decreased while influenza and RSV infections significantly increased in winter 2022. We found a high-risk cluster of influenza and COVID-19 (not all three) in winter 2021. In late November 2022, a large high-risk cluster of triple-demic emerged in the central US. The number of states at high risk for multiple epidemics increased from 15 in October 2022 to 21 in January 2023. Conclusions: Our study offers a novel spatiotemporal approach that combines both univariate and multivariate surveillance, as well as retrospective and prospective analyses. This approach offers a more comprehensive and timely understanding of how the co-occurrence of COVID-19, influenza, and RSV impacts various regions within the United States. Our findings assist in tailor-made strategies to mitigate the effects of these respiratory infections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is still challenging to achieve a complex grasp or fine finger control by using surface functional electrical stimulation (FES), which usually requires a precise electrode configuration under laboratory or clinical settings. The goals of this study are as follows: 1) to study the possibility of selectively activating individual fingers; 2) to investigate whether the current activation threshold and selective range of individual fingers are affected by two factors: changes in the electrode position and forearm rotation (pronation, neutral and supination); and 3) to explore a theoretical model for guidance of the electrode placement used for selective activation of individual fingers. A coordinate system with more than 400 grid points was established over the forearm skin surface. A searching procedure was used to traverse all grid points to identify the stimulation points for finger extension/flexion by applying monophasic stimulation pulses. Some of the stimulation points for finger extension and flexion were selected and tested in their respective two different forearm postures according to the number and the type of the activated fingers and the strength of finger action response to the electrical stimulation at the stimulation point. The activation thresholds and current ranges of the selectively activated finger at each stimulation point were determined by visual analysis. The stimulation points were divided into three groups (“Low”, “Medium” and “High”) according to the thresholds of the 1st activated fingers. The angles produced by the selectively activated finger within selective current ranges were measured and analyzed. Selective stimulation of extension/flexion is possible for most fingers. Small changes in electrode position and forearm rotation have no significant effect on the threshold amplitude and the current range for the selective activation of most fingers (p > 0.05). The current range is the largest (more than 2 mA) for selective activation of the thumb, followed by those for the index, ring, middle and little fingers. The stimulation points in the “Low” group for all five fingers lead to noticeable finger angles at low current intensity, especially for the index, middle, and ring fingers. The slopes of the finger angle variation in the “Low” group for digits 2~4 are inversely proportional to the current intensity, whereas the slopes of the finger angle variation in other groups and in all groups for the thumb and little finger are proportional to the current intensity. It is possible to selectively activate the extension/flexion of most fingers by stimulating the forearm muscles. The physiological characteristics of each finger should be considered when placing the negative electrode for selective stimulation of individual fingers. The electrode placement used for the selective activation of individual fingers should not be confined to the location with the lowest activation threshold. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern ship is an important transportation and even military equipment on the ocean, which has ubiquitous ocean wind energy with high‐speed and stable wind direction. However, much higher‐speed wind energy during the movement of the ship is often abandoned. Triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) that can generate electrical energy by scavenging ambient mechanical energy is one of the emerging energy harvesting technologies. By coupling the TENG and electromagnetic generators (EMG), a high‐performance rotary‐structured triboelectric‐electromagnetic hybrid nanogenerator (RS‐HG) is designed in this study. By introducing a matched inductor in the paired energy management circuit (EMC), the charging efficiency of RS‐TENG can be effectively enhanced by 15 times compared to that without EMC. At a simulated wind speed of 15 m s−1, the peak power of lateral TENG (L‐TENG), top TENG (T‐TENG) and EMG are 7.54, 7.85, and 22.5 mW, respectively. The demonstrated RS‐HG comprising two RS‐TENGs and one EMG can readily charge a 1 mF capacitor to 8 V within 15 s under the wind speed of 15 m s−1 and continuously power the electronic devices. Moreover, the RS‐HG can also successfully charge a smartphone through the step‐down and voltage stabilization module to further expand its application scenarios. The applications of powering portable electronics reveal the huge prospects of hybrid nanogenerators in energy harvesting and self‐powered environmental monitoring during navigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hardness cations are ubiquitous and abundant in source water, while the effect of hardness on the performance of coagulation for dissolved organic matter (DOM) removal in water treatment remains unclear due to the limitation of methods that can characterise the subtle interactions between DOM, coagulant and hardness cations. This work quantified the competition between coagulant Al 3+ and hardness cations to bind onto DOM using absorbance spectroscopy acquired at different Al 3+ concentrations in the absence and presence of Ca 2+ or Mg 2+ . The results indicate that, in the presence of either Mg 2+ or Ca 2+ , an increasing depression of the binding of Al 3+ -DOM could be observed in the differential spectra of DOM with the increasing of Mg 2+ or Ca 2+ at a level of 10, 100 and 1000 μM, with the observation being more significant at higher pH from 6.5 to 8.5. The results of zeta potentials of DOM indicate that the competition of hardness cations results in the negative DOM being less efficiently neutralised by Al 3+ . This study demonstrates that the removal of DOM by coagulation would significantly deteriorate with the presence of hardness cations, which would compete with coagulant Al 3+ to neutralise the unsaturated sites in DOM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new sauropod-dominanted dinosaur fauna, including several new species of sauropods and stegosaurs, was recently excavated from the Lower Shaximiao Formation in Yunyang, northeastern Chongqing, southwestern China. Although this dinosaur fauna could possibly provide significant clues for a better understanding of the basal sauropod's evolution and diversification of basal sauropods in the Jurassic, many aspects of this fauna are not well defined constrained in terms of detailed stratigraphy, geochronology, and comparison with similar faunas in other regions of the Sichuan Basin. This paper reports on the petrological features of this locality, using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersive Spectrometry (EDS), with laser ablation-multi-collector-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) zircon U-Pb geochronology for a tuffaceous siltstone layer beneath the dinosaur fossil-bearing layers from the fossil site. The SEM and XRD results show a typical tuffaceous mineral composition of this layer. Zircon U-Pb data yielded a weighted average age of 166.0 ± 1.5 Ma, indicating a maximum burial age for this dinosaur fauna. This fauna is chronologically comparable with the Shunosaurus-Omeisaurus Fauna, which is primarily found in the central Sichuan Basin. • 166.0 ± 1.5 Ma as the maximum burial age for dinosaur fauna in Chongqing, SW China. • Precise age constraints on newly discovered dinosaur in Lower Shaximiao Formation. • Basal sauropods in Sichuan Basin are younger than biostratigraphic ages. • Providing age constraints on the radiation of basal sauropods in Jurassic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Four types of Al/MoO 3 micro energetic semiconductor bridge (MESCB) initiators were prepared by integrating 3 µm Al/MoO 3 reactive multilayer films (RMFs) on micro semiconductor bridge (MSCB) with different bridge areas. The bridge areas were varied from 11661 µm2 to 489 µm2, and the ratio of length to width, the thickness, V-type angle were fixed at 0.54, 2.5 µm, 90°, respectively. The heating process of MSCB before electrical explosive was analyzed with multi physical simulation (MPS). The electrical explosive characteristics of these MESCB as well as MSCB were investigated under the stimulation of 47 µF tantalum capacitor discharge. The MPS results reveal that the V-shaped sharp corner of MSCB has highest temperature and the completed melting time of MSCB is decreased with lowing of bridge area. The critical burst time and critical burst energy of MSCB and MESCB also decrease with the decreasing of bridge area. When bridge area is 11661 µm2, the critical burst time of MSCB and MESCB drops with applied voltage, while critical burst energy is independent on applied voltage. Besides, the critical burst time and energy of MESCB are the higher than that of MSCB with bridge area of 11661 µm2. When the bridge area is reduced to 2915 µm2, the critical burst time and critical burst energy for MESCB are no significant difference with the corresponding MSCB. In addition, the critical burst time MSCB and MESCB have no relationship with outer stimulation energy as the bridge area further decrease at 489 µm2. The flame duration time of MESCB barely decreases when lowing the bridge area, which suggests that the energy consumption of MESCB can be reduced by decreasing the bridge area without weakening its firing performance. [Display omitted] • Four types of MESCB initiators were prepared by integrating Al/MoO 3 RMFs MSCB with different bridge areas. • The effect of bridge areas on the electrical explosive characteristic of MESCB were systematically investigated. • Energy consumption of MESCB remarkably reduced by decreasing the bridge area without weakening its firing performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, combined sewer overflow (CSO) has been identified as a significant contributor to the deterioration of the urban water environment. It is thought that remolding it to a separate sewer system is a thorough and effective method of controlling the CSO in the appropriate area. However, according to current research, the separate stormwater sewer systems will also have overflow pollution due to functional defects, damaged or inappropriately connected with sewage, which has serious consequences for the separate system's operational efficiencies and the urban water environment. The event mean concentration, first flush effect, source apportionment, and correlation analysis of variables in overflow pollution generated in three residential catchments in Nanning, China, were investigated in this study. The results showed that the event mean concentration values in drainage outlets inappropriately connected with sewage were 2–4 times higher than those in stormwater outlets, especially for NH 3 –N, TN, and TP. Meanwhile, more than 80% of overflow events at outlets inappropriately connected with sewage had a weak first flush or even a weak dilution effect, with peak pollutant concentrations occurring 40–60 min after the overflow began. Besides, the discharge pollution load was primarily derived from the inside of the sewer. When the rainfall was heavy, the contribution rate of sewer sediment erosion exceeded 60%, which was much higher than the contribution rate of rainfall runoff and sewage. The variability in event mean COD and TSS concentrations was primarily attributed to the antecedent dry period and rainfall intensity. The COD concentration increased from 140.7 to 277.1 mg/L with the increase of antecedent dry period from 3 to 10 days. This study could help guide the implementation of targeted measures to treat overflow pollution in urban residential catchments, as well as the development of strategies to mitigate the effects on receiving water bodies. [Display omitted] • The illicitly connection increased the overflow concentration by 2–4 times. • Illicitly connected sewage aggravated and prolonged the overflow pollution. • The contribution rate of sewer sediment erosion exceeded 60% when rainfall was heavy. • Rainfall conditions have a significant effect on overflow pollution characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Objective: To evaluate the efficiency of an implanted chip system for the control of heart rate (HR). Methods: The HR was recorded in six conscious Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. An implanted chip system was designed to regulate the HR by stimulating the right cervical vagus nerve according to the feedback of real time HR. Each rat was subjected to 30-min regulation and 30-min recovery. The change of HR during the regulation period was compared with the control. The ECG was recorded during the experiment for 24 h. Results: The ECG signals were successfully recorded during the experiment. The HR was significantly decreased during the period of regulation compared with control (−79.3 ± 34.5, P < 0.01, n = 6) and then recovered to normal after regulation. Conclusion: The described implanted chip system can regulate the HR to a designated set point. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Comprehensive Summary Localized surface plasmon resonance has been demonstrated to provide effective photophysical enhancement mechanisms in plasmonic photocatalysis. However, it remains highly challenging for distinct mechanisms to function in synergy for a collective gain in catalysis due to the lack of spatiotemporal control of their effect. Herein, the anisotropic plasmon resonance nature of Au nanorods was exploited to achieve distinct functionality towards synergistic photocatalysis. Photothermal and photochemical effects were enabled by the longitudinal and transverse plasmon resonance modes, respectively, and were enhanced by partial coating of silica nanoshells and epitaxial growth of a reactor component. Resonant excitation leads to a synergistic gain in photothermal‐mediated hot carrier‐driven hydrogen evolution catalysis. Our approach provides important design principles for plasmonic photocatalysts in achieving spatiotemporal modulation of distinct photophysical enhancement mechanisms. It also effectively broadens the sunlight response range and increases the efficacy of distinct plasmonic enhancement pathways towards solar energy harvesting and conversion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: As one of the most famous natural products, salvianolic acid A (SAA) is undergoing clinical trials for the treatments of angina pectoris and coronary heart disorders. However, the in vivo metabolites of SAA have only been tentatively identified, leading to a barrier for precise therapeutical drug monitoring. Methods: Ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time of flight tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC–Qtof-MS/MS) was firstly employed to acquire high-resolution MS1 and MS2 spectra for all metabolites. Through paying special attention onto the features of ester bond dissociation, metabolism sites were restricted at certain regions. To further determine the metabolism site, such as the monomethylated products (M23, M25, and M26), post collision-induced dissociation energy-resolved mass spectrometry (post-CID ER-MS) was proposed through programming progressive exciting energies to the second collision chamber of hybrid triple quadrupole-linear ion trap mass spectrometry (Qtrap-MS) device. Results: After SAA oral administration, 29 metabolites (M1–M29), including five, thirteen, and sixteen ones in rat plasma, urine, and feces, respectively, were detected in rats. The metabolism route was initially determined by applying well-defined mass fragmentation pathways to those HR-m/z values of precursor and fragment ions. Metabolism site was limited to SAF- or DSS-unit based on the fragmentation patterns of ester functional group. Through matching the dissociation trajectories of concerned 1st-generation fragment ions with expected decomposition product anions using post-CID ER-MS strategy, M23 and M25 were unequivocally assigned as 3'-methyl-SAA and 3''-methyl-SAA, and M26 was identified as 2-methyl-SAA or 3-methyl-SAA. Hydrolysis, methylation, glucuronidation, sulfation, and oxidation were the primary metabolism channels being responsible for the metabolites' generation. Conclusion: Together, the metabolism regions and sites of SAA metabolites were sequentially identified based on the ester bond dissociation features and post-CID ER-MS strategy. Importantly, the present study provided a promising way to elevate the structural identification confidence of natural products and metabolites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Jilin white goose is an excellent local breed in China, with a high annual egg production and laying eggs mainly from February to July each year. The testis, as the only organ that can produce sperm, can affect the sexual maturity and fecundity of male animals. Its growth and development are affected and regulated by a variety of factors. Proteomics is generally applied to identify and quantify proteins in cells and tissues in order to understand the physiological or pathological changes that occur in tissues or cells under specific conditions. Currently, the female poultry reproductive system has been extensively studied, while few related studies focusing on the regulatory mechanism of the reproductive system of male poultry have been conducted. Results: A total of 1753 differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) were generated in which there were 594, 391 and 768 different proteins showing differential expression in three stages, Initial of Laying Cycle (ILC), Peak of Laying Cycle (PLC) and End of Laying Cycle (ELC). Furthermore, bioinformatics was used to analyze the DEPs. Gene ontology (GO) enrichment, Clusters of Orthologous Groups (COG), Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) and protein-protein interaction (PPI) network analysis were adopted. All DEPs were found to be implicated in multiple biological processes and pathways associated with testicular development, such as renin secretion, Lysosomes, SNARE interactions in vesicle trafficking, the p53 signaling pathway and pathways related to metabolism. Additionally, the reliability of transcriptome results was verified by real-time quantitative PCR by selecting the transcript abundance of 6 selected DEPs at the three stages of the laying cycle. Conclusions: The funding in this study will provide critical insight into the complex molecular mechanisms and breeding practices underlying the developmental characteristics of testicles in Jilin white goose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bis(2-chloroethyl) ether (BCEE) has become one of the most frequently detected chlorinated ether contaminants in the US and Europe, and is classified as a B2 carcinogen. In this study, the degradation rate of BCEE by mercury lamps, xenon lamp and electromagnetic induction electrodeless lamp (EIEL) activated persulfate were compared, and EIEL activated persulfate was confirmed to have higher degradation capability and lower energy consumption. In this sense, the degradation kinetics and mechanism in EIEL system were further investigated. The degradation reaction followed pseudo first-order, and the removal rate of BCEE exceeded 95% in 60 min when the initial pH, the concentration of BCEE and Na 2 S 2 O 8 were 3, 4 mg L−1 and 15 mM, respectively. Presence of inorganic anions and humic acids would reduce the degradation rate constant. In accordance with the results of electron paramagnetic resonance and quenching experiments, SO 4 −· was dominant in the acidic regime and OH· was dominant in the alkaline regime. Meanwhile, OH· had higher degradation rate with BCEE when initial pH was 7. Seven degradation products were identified and the reaction pathways included OH· substitution and free radical coupling. Although the total organic carbon was eliminated slowly during the degradation of BCEE, the predicted toxicity of most degradation products to Fathead minnow , Daphnia magna and oral rat were lower than BCEE. Image 1 • Electromagnetic induction electrodeless lamp activated persulfate was more effective to degrade BCEE. • The decrease of initial pH of the reaction system was conducive to the removal of BCEE. • OH· contributed more than SO 4 -·when initial pH was 7, and had a higher degradation rate with BCEE. • Dichloromethane and 2-chloroethyl ethyl ether which were unreported previously were detected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Removing dissolved organic matter (DOM) is of great concern due to its adverse effects on water supplies. Great effort has been given to studying DOM removal by coagulation, while the mechanism of DOM removal and the changes in its properties during coagulation have not been clearly illustrated due to the limitations of detection methods under practical environmental conditions. In this paper, the changes in DOM during coagulation were quantified using differential UV–Visible absorbance spectroscopy, and the differential spectra of DOM in the wavelength range of 200–600 nm could be deconvoluted into six Gaussian bands with maxima at approximately 200, 240, 276, 316, 385, and 457 nm after coagulation, respectively. The intensity of these maxima decreased with the type and dosage of coagulants. These observations should reflect the difference in the removability of DOM by coagulation, and this perspective was further confirmed by examining the deprotonation-protonation properties of DOM before and after coagulation. The affinity sites of DOM in coagulated waters, quantified by spectra parameter DlnA 400 (differential log-transformed spectra at wavelength 400 nm) in combination with the revised NICA model, increased as the coagulant dosage, which indicates that coagulation is inclined to remove the DOM fraction with fewer functional groups. Polyaluminum chloride (PAC) and Al-aggregate (Al 13) were more efficient than Alum for removing DOM due to their high efficiency for removing DOM fractions with fewer functional groups. The residual dissolved Al concentration depended on the total amount of reactive binding sites in DOM, and there was a strong linear correlation between residual dissolved Al and the total amount of reactive binding sites in DOM for Alum, while a weaker correlation was presented for PAC and Al 13. This indicates that Al a was the dominant species to bind with the affinity sites in DOM to form residual dissolved Al. • DOM properties during coagulation could be quantified by differential spectra. • Property of DOM changes inconsistently with different type and dosage of coagulants. • Coagulation is inclined to remove non-functional-group hydrophobic DOM fraction. • The residual dissolved Al is determined by the available binding sites in DOM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transcytosis‐based tubular reabsorption of endogenous proteins is a well‐known energy‐saving pathway that prevents nutrient loss. However, utilization of this well‐known reabsorption pathway for the delivery of exogenous nanodrugs remains a challenge. In this study, using the surface mimic strategy of a specific PEPT1/2‐targeted Gly−Sar peptide as a ligand, renal‐clearable luminescent gold nanoparticles (P−AuNPs) were developed as protein mimics to investigate the transcytosis‐based tubular reabsorption of exogenous substances. By regulating the influential factors (H+ content in tubular lumens and PEPT1/2 transporter counts in tubular cells) of Gly−Sar‐mediated transcytosis, the specific and efficient interaction between P−AuNPs and renal tubular cells was demonstrated both in vitro and in vivo. Efficient transcellular transportation significantly guided the reabsorption of P−AuNPs back into the bloodstream, which enhanced the blood concentration and bioavailability of nanoparticles, contributing to high‐contrast tumor imaging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transcytosis‐based tubular reabsorption of endogenous proteins is a well‐known energy‐saving pathway that prevents nutrient loss. However, utilization of this well‐known reabsorption pathway for the delivery of exogenous nanodrugs remains a challenge. In this study, using the surface mimic strategy of a specific PEPT1/2‐targeted Gly−Sar peptide as a ligand, renal‐clearable luminescent gold nanoparticles (P−AuNPs) were developed as protein mimics to investigate the transcytosis‐based tubular reabsorption of exogenous substances. By regulating the influential factors (H+ content in tubular lumens and PEPT1/2 transporter counts in tubular cells) of Gly−Sar‐mediated transcytosis, the specific and efficient interaction between P−AuNPs and renal tubular cells was demonstrated both in vitro and in vivo. Efficient transcellular transportation significantly guided the reabsorption of P−AuNPs back into the bloodstream, which enhanced the blood concentration and bioavailability of nanoparticles, contributing to high‐contrast tumor imaging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] Higher-order topological phases give rise to new bulk and boundary physics, as well as new classes of topological phase transitions. While the realization of higher-order topological phases has been confirmed in many platforms by detecting the existence of gapless boundary modes, a direct determination of the higher-order topology and related topological phase transitions through the bulk in experiments has still been lacking. To bridge the gap, in this work we carry out the simulation of a two-dimensional second-order topological phase in a superconducting qubit. Owing to the great flexibility and controllability of the quantum simulator, we observe the realization of higher-order topology directly through the measurement of the pseudo-spin texture in momentum space of the bulk for the first time, in sharp contrast to previous experiments based on the detection of gapless boundary modes in real space. Also through the measurement of the evolution of pseudo-spin texture with parameters, we further observe novel topological phase transitions from the second-order topological phase to the trivial phase, as well as to the first-order topological phase with nonzero Chern number. Our work sheds new light on the study of higher-order topological phases and topological phase transitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traffic flow forecasting is the foundation of intelligent transportation development and an important task in realizing intelligent transportation services. This task is challenging due to the complex spatiotemporal dependencies between road nodes and some other external factors. Most existing GCN-based methods usually use a single and fixed adjacency matrix to characterize the global spatiotemporal relationship of road networks, which limits the expressiveness of the model in different scenarios and ignores the dynamic nature of node relationships that change over time. In addition, sudden traffic accidents may also cause fluctuations in traffic flow in the short term, which may affect the accuracy of the model prediction. To address the above problems, this paper proposes a dynamic multi-graph neural network (DMGNN) incorporating traffic accidents for multi-step traffic flow prediction. First, to provide richer prior knowledge for the model, we construct multiple graphs to represent various contextual dependencies among nodes. Second, we designed a dynamic graph adjustment module to update the adjacency matrix used in each training step. Finally, we build a deep learning framework based on GAT and Bi-LSTM to focus on local fluctuations caused by traffic incidents and to extract sophisticated spatiotemporal correlations between data. We conducted extensive experiments on two real traffic datasets to evaluate the model, and the ablation experiments verified the effectiveness of each module. On the standard public dataset PEMSD3, compared to the optimal baseline model, our model improves the RMSE, MAE, and MAPE of the multi-step prediction by about 21%, 21%, and 22%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flood visualization plays a pivotal role in understanding and predicting flood disasters, as it aids in the development of effective disaster mitigation measures and emergency response strategies. However, traditional methods of flood computation and visualization often suffer from poor timeliness and subpar visualization effects, particularly in virtual reality (VR) scenarios. Panoramic data, inherently suitable for VR visualization, offers a low data volume attribute that significantly reduces the time cost of data processing. This allows for the real-time overlay of flood simulation results with the actual environment. We proposed a multi-scale flood simulation method which is subsequently integrated with panoramic images or videos through a dimensionality reduction process, enhancing visualization effects. We developed a prototype system to validate the proposed methodology, and the results demonstrated improved visualization outcomes, rendering efficiency, and user experience in VR panoramic flood simulations. • The CA-PBD method enhances the visualization of floods across multiple spatial scales. • The real-time fusion of 3D flood data with panoramic data improves the timeliness. • User interaction with panoramic videos or images represents a new approach to disaster perception. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The Milankovitch cycles are well preserved in the Dameigou Formation. • Coal seams derive organic matter from submerged and floating aquatic plants, as well as terrestrial higher plants. • Differences in the sources of organic matter in coal seams are driven by a combination of eccentricity, obliquity, and precession. Coal seams, as a terrestrial carbon sink, are not only important sedimentary and energy mineral resources but also excellent recorders of paleoclimate change. The study of coal-bearing strata is particularly significant in exploring the relationship between geological records and orbital forcing. However, the understanding of the relationship between coal seams of different sources of organic matter and astronomical cycles is incomplete. This study focuses on the Dameigou Formation, a typical Jurassic coal seam in the Qaidam Basin, Northwestern China. Organic petrology analysis, biomarker analysis, and whole-rock mineral analysis were combined to reconstruct the vegetation types and paleolake water level changes during coal seam deposition. In addition, using a time-series analysis method and high-precision gamma-scanning data from Well D1, we established a floating astronomical timescale and a time-depth model for cyclostratigraphical analysis. The results show that the Dameigou Formation, as coal-bearing strata, preserves well-developed Milankovitch cycles, and the climatic conditions and vegetation types during coal formation vary among different coal seams. Different patterns of variation in eccentricity, obliquity, and procession determine the thickness of the coal seam. This study is of great significance for understanding the astronomical factors that influenced climate evolution and coal deposition during the Middle Jurassic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]