Factors influencing shoulder stiffness after open reduction and internal fixation of proximal humeral fractures.

OBJECTIVES: The study aimed to investigate the factors associated with shoulder stiffness following open reduction and internal fixation (ORIF) of proximal humeral fractures. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The retrospective study included a total of 151 patients who underwent ORIF of proximal humeral fractures between January 2016 and May 2021. Based on their shoulder joint motion at the latest follow-up, the patients were divided into two groups. The stiffness group (n=32; 8 males, 24 females; mean age: 62.4±9.3 years; range, 31 to 79 years), exhibited restricted shoulder forward flexion (<120°), limited arm lateral external rotation (<30°), and reduced back internal rotation below the L3 level. The remaining patients were included in the non-stiffness group (n=119; 52 males, 67 females; mean age: 56.4±13.4 years; range, 18 to 90 years). Various factors were examined to evaluate the association with shoulder stiffness following ORIF of proximal humeral fractures by multivariate unconditional logistic regression models. RESULTS: The mean follow-up duration was 31.8±12.6 (range, 12 to 68) months. Based on the results of the multivariate regression analysis, it was found that high-energy injuries [compared to low-energy injuries; adjusted odds ratio (aOR)=7.706, 95% confidence interval (CI): 3.564-15.579, p<0.001], a time from injury to surgery longer than one week (compared to a time from injury to surgery equal to or less than one week; aOR=5.275, 95% CI: 1.7321-9.472, p=0.031), and a body mass index (BMI) >24.0 kg/m2 (compared to a BMI between 18.5 and 24.0 kg/m2 ; aOR=4.427, 95% CI: 1.671-11.722, p=0.023) were identified as risk factors for shoulder stiffness following ORIF of proximal humeral fractures. CONCLUSION: High-energy injury, time from injury to surgery longer than one week, and BMI >24.0 kg/m2 were identified as independent risk factors for shoulder stiffness after proximal humeral fracture surgery, which should be treated with caution in clinical treatment.

Does a novel 3D printed individualized guiding template based on cutaneous fiducial markers contribute to accurate percutaneous insertion of pelvic screws? A preliminary phantom and cadaver study.

BACKGROUND: Most 3D-printed guiding templates require dissection of soft tissues to match the corresponding surfaces of the guiding templates. This study sought to explore the accuracy and acceptability of the novel 3D printed individualized guiding templates based on cutaneous fiducial markers in minimally invasive screw placement for pelvic fractures. METHODS: The printed template was tested on five high-fidelity biomimetic phantom models of the bony pelvis and its surrounding soft tissues as well as on two fresh frozen cadavers. Four cutaneous fiducial markers were transfixed on each phantom model prior to performing CT scans to reconstruct their 3D models. Personalized templates for guiding screw insertion were designed based on the positions of the fiducial markers and virtually planned target screw channels after scanning, followed by 3D printing of the guide. Phase 1 consisted of five expert surgeons inserting one anterograde supra-pubic screw and one sacroiliac screw percutaneously into each phantom model using the 3D-printed guide. The deviation of screw positions between the pre-operative planned and post-operative actual ones was measured after registering their 3D modelling. A Likert scale questionnaire was completed by the expert surgeons to assess their satisfaction and acceptability with the guiding template. Phase 2 consisted of repeating the same procedures on the fresh frozen cadavers in order to demonstrate face, content and concurrent validity. RESULTS: In Phase 1, all ten screws were successfully implanted with the assistance of the guiding template. Postoperative CT scans confirmed that all screws were safely positioned within the bony pelvic channels without breaching the far cortex. The mean longitudinal deviation at the bony entry point and screw tip between the pre-operative planned and post-operative actual screw paths were 2.83 ± 0.60 mm and 3.12 ± 0.81 mm respectively, with a mean angular deviation of 1.25 ± 0.41°. Results from the Likert questionnaire indicated a high level of satisfaction for using the guiding template among surgeons. In Phase 2, results were similar to those in Phase 1. CONCLUSIONS: The 3D-printed guiding template based on cutaneous fiducial markers shows potential for assisting in the accurate insertion of percutaneous screws in the pelvis.

High Trunk Truncation as a Potential Sustainable Management Option for Asian Longhorned Beetle on Salix babylonica.

The Asian longhorned beetle (ALB) causes substantial economic and ecological losses, thus, an environmentally friendly management strategy is needed. Here, we propose high trunk truncation (HTT), the removal of the above 200 cm portion of trees, as a sustainable management strategy to control ALB. To examine the hypothesis, an initial step involved the assessment of various biological characteristics of ALB. Subsequently, a controlled field experiment was carried out utilizing HTT. Finally, HTT was applied in two additional ALB infestation regions. The results of the study of the biological characteristics of ALB showed that 76.31-78.88% of frass holes and 85.08-87.93% of emergence holes were located on branches above 200 cm. Adults preferred to feed on branches 2-3 cm in diameter, ALB eggs were predominantly laid on 5 cm branches, and both were primarily located above 200 cm. These results revealed a correlation between the number of ALBs and the tree crown height. The controlled field experiment showed that the number of ALBs was significantly decreased when the HTT strategy was implemented: approximately 90% of frass holes and 95% of adults were eradicated by HTT compared with the control. Different field surveys involving HTT have shown similar results. These findings provide valuable insights into a sustainable and efficient management strategy for reducing the number of ALBs.

A novel g-C3N4-SH@konjac glucomannan composite aerogel for patulin removal from apple juice and its photocatalytic regeneration.

Patulin (PAT) is a hazardous mycotoxin frequently occurs in fruit industry. A reusable g-C3N4-SH@KG composite aerogel for PAT removal in a novel "dark adsorption-light regeneration" mode was prepared by thiol(-SH) functionalization and konjac glucomannan (KG) immobilization. The g-C3N4-SH@KG was characterized by SEM, FT-IR, XPS and UV-Vis DRS, and its PAT adsorption and photocatalytic regeneration behaviors and mechanisms were investigated. The g-C3N4-SH@KG exhibited good regeneration performance, maintaining 83% of PAT initial adsorption capacity (0.92 mg/g) after 5 "adsorption-regeneration" cycles. The adsorption process was endothermic and spontaneous. •OH and h+ generated by photocatalysis were the main substances that degraded PAT into two products and regenerated -SH. The g-C3N4-SH@KG could effectively remove PAT without negative impact on juice quality. The study provided a new strategy for the regeneration of thiol-functionalized PAT adsorbents, and a new idea for the application of non-selective photocatalysis in the control of food contaminations.

A comprehensive review of biodetoxification of trichothecenes: Mechanisms, limitations and novel strategies.

Trichothecenes are Fusarium mycotoxins with sesquiterpenoid structure, which are widely occurred in grains. Due to high efficiency and environmental friendliness, biological detoxification methods have been of great interest to treat this global food and feed safety concern. This review summarized the biological detoxification methods of trichothecenes from three aspects, biosorption, biotransformation and biotherapy. The detoxification efficiency, characteristics, mechanisms and limitations of different strategies were discussed in detail. Computer-aided design will bring a new research paradigm for more efficient discovery of biodetoxifier. Integrating different detoxification approaches assisted with computational tools will become a promising research direction in the future, which will help to maximize the detoxification effect, or provide precise detoxification programs for the coexistence of various toxins at different levels in actual production. In addition, technical and regulatory issues in practical application were also discussed. These findings contribute to the exploration of efficient, applicable and sustainable methods for trichothecenes detoxification, ensuring the safety of food and feed to reduce the deleterious effects of trichothecenes on humans and animals.

Effect of protein-polysaccharide hybrid gelator system on the material properties and 3D extrusion printability of mashed potatoes.

Mashed potatoes (MP) are famous as ready-to-eat products due to their excellent taste and texture. Problems such as complex injection occur when MP is used as a 3D printing material. To improve the smoothness of MP loading into a 3D syringe barrel and its 3D extrusion printability, the effects of the protein-polysaccharide hybrid gelator developed with different gelatin-B (GB, 2%, 4%, 6%) and κ-carrageenan (KG, 1%) on the rheology and 3D extrusion printability of MP were studied. The rheological results showed that the MP developed a glass transition temperature by adding the hybrid gelator. Adding 1% KG+6% GB (w/w, dry base) to the hybrid gelator has good shear thinning and self-supporting properties and showed the best geometric accuracy. In the extrusion stage, the yield stress, the consistency index (K), and the flow behavior index (n) of MP were 470.69 Pa, 313.48 Pa·sn, and 0.159, respectively. In the recovery stage, the shear recovery time is 30 s. In the self-supporting stage, the storage modulus and loss modulus are significantly higher than those of other groups and have the strongest mechanical properties. Moreover, water distribution, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction analysis, and microstructure of printed MP with different hybrid gelators were observed. The addition of hybrid gelators reduced the content of free water in MP. Hybrid gelators did not produce new functional groups in the printed materials and did not change the structure of starch. These results provide new insights for applying protein and polysaccharide hybrid gelators in 3D printing.

Effect of low-voltage electrostatic field-assisted partial freezing on large yellow croaker protein properties and metabolomic analysis during storage.

BACKGROUND: Large yellow croaker is highly perishable during storage because of high protein and moisture content. The degradation of the fish is mainly attributed to microbial growth and enzyme activity, so it is important to find an efficient storage method to extend its shelf life. METHODOLOGY: This study investigated the effect of a low-voltage electrostatic field combined with partial freezing treatment on the physicochemical properties of myofibrillar protein (MP) and metabolomic analysis of large yellow croaker during preservation. The samples in chilled storage (C), partial freezing storage (PF) and 6 kV/m low-voltage electrostatic field partial freezing storage (LVEF-PF) were analyzed during an 18 day storage period. RESULTS: In comparison with the C and PF groups, LVEF-PF delayed the oxidation of MP by inhibiting the formation of carbonyl groups (2.25 nmol/mg pro), and maintaining higher sulfhydryl content (29.73 nmol/mg pro). Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and fluorescence spectroscopy analysis also demonstrated that the LVEF-PF treatment maintained the stability of the protein structure by increasing the a-helix ratio (19.88%) and reducing the random coil ratio (17.83%). Scanning electron microscopy showed that, compared with the LVEF-PF group, there was more degeneration and aggregation of MP in the C and PF groups after 18 days' storage. The results of untargeted metabolomic analysis showed that 415 kinds of differential metabolites were identified after storage, and the difference levels of differential metabolites were least between the samples treated with LVEF-PF stored on the ninth day and the fresh samples. The main differential metabolic pathways during storage were amino acid metabolism and lipid metabolism. CONCLUSION: The LVEF-PF treatment could maintain the stability of myofibrillar protein in large yellow croaker during storage. These results showed a potential application of the LVEF-PF method for aquatic product preservation. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry.

Effect of insoluble dietary fiber on printing properties and molecular interactions of 3D-printed soy protein isolate-wheat gluten plant-based meats.

Insoluble dietary fiber (IDF) has been characterized to prevent chronic diseases and improve gastrointestinal health, and it has been added to 3D printing plant-based meats (PM) to enhance texture and increase nutritional properties. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effects of IDF on 3D printing properties and molecular interactions of soy protein isolate (SPI) - wheat gluten (WG) PM. Without the participation of IDF, PM appeared to collapse. When the IDF concentration increased from 0 to 10 %, PM displayed good printing properties, water holding capacity, tensile strength, and elongation at break were increased. Tensile strength and elongation at break reached a maximum at 10 % IDF, and clearly similar results were found for texture attribute indices such as hardness, gumminess, chewiness, and cohesiveness after cooking. All printing inks exhibited shear-thinning behavior and solid-like viscoelasticity, but the structural recovery properties of 3D-printed PM deteriorated when the IDF content was over 10 %. Intermolecular forces indicated that the addition of IDF enhanced the disulfide bonds so that 10 % IDF presented better printing properties. These results indicated the potential for developing PM with dietary fiber functionality through 3D printing technology.

Integrated behavior and transcriptomic analysis provide valuable insights into the response mechanisms of Dastarcus helophoroides Fairmaire to light exposure.

Light traps have been widely used to monitor and manage pest populations, but natural enemies are also influenced. The Dastarcus helophoroides Fairmaire is an important species of natural enemy for longhorn beetles. However, the molecular mechanism of D. helophoroides in response to light exposure is still scarce. Here, integrated behavioral, comparative transcriptome and weighted gene co-expression network analyses were applied to investigate gene expression profiles in the head of D. helophoroides at different light exposure time. The results showed that the phototactic response rates of adults were 1.67%-22.5% and females and males displayed a negative phototaxis under different light exposure [6.31 × 1018 (photos/m2/s)]; the trapping rates of female and male were influenced significantly by light exposure time, diel rhythm, and light wavelength in the behavioral data. Furthermore, transcriptome data showed that a total of 1,052 significantly differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified under different light exposure times relative to dark adaptation. Bioinformatics analyses revealed that the "ECM-receptor interaction," "focal adhesion," "PI3K-Akt signaling," and "lysosome" pathways were significantly downregulated with increasing light exposure time. Furthermore, nine DEGs were identified as hub genes using WGCNA analysis. The results revealed molecular mechanism in negative phototactic behavior response of D. helophoroides under the light exposure with relative high intensity, and provided valuable insights into the underlying molecular response mechanism of nocturnal beetles to light stress.

[mRNA Expression Profile Changes in Angiotensin-â ¡-Induced Atrial Myocardial Fibrosis in Rats].

Objective: To study the differences between the mRNA expression profile in angiotensin Ⅱ (Ang Ⅱ)-induced fibrotic cardiomyocytes and that of normal cardiomyocytes and the relevant signaling pathways. Methods: Six 8-week-old male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly assigned to a control group and an Ang Ⅱ group, with 3 rats in each group. Rats in the control group were injected via caudal vein with 0.9% normal saline at 2 mg/kg per day, while rats in the Ang Ⅱ group were injected with Ang Ⅱ via caudal vein at 2 mg/kg per day. The medications were continuously administered in the two groups for 14 days. The degree of myocardial fibrosis was determined by Masson's Trichrome staining and the content of collagen Ⅰ was determined by immunohistochemistry. High throughput sequencing was performed to measure the mRNA expression of rat cardiomyocytes in the two groups and to screen for differentially-expressed mRNAs. The differentially-expressed mRNAs were analyzed by Gene Ontology (GO) analysis and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis. Results: Compared with those of the control group, the degree of myocardial fibrosis and the content of collagen Ⅰ in Ang Ⅱ group were significantly higher ( P<0.05). Through sequencing, 313 differentially-expressed mRNAs were identified, with 201 being up-regulated and 112 being down-regulated. Go and KEGG analyses showed that these differentially-expressed mRNA were involved in a variety of biological regulatory functions and pathways of myocardial fibrosis. Conclusion: Ang Ⅱ can cause myocardial fibrosis in rats. There are significant differences in mRNA expression between fibrotic cardiomyocytes and normal cardiomyocytes. The differentially expressed mRNAs may play an important role in biological processes, including immune response, cell remodeling, and extracellular matrix deposition.

Local Style Transfer via Latent Space Manipulation for Cross-Disease Lesion Segmentation.

Automatic lesion segmentation is important for assisting doctors in the diagnostic process. Recent deep learning approaches heavily rely on large-scale datasets, which are difficult to obtain in many clinical applications. Leveraging external labelled datasets is an effective solution to tackle the problem of insufficient training data. In this paper, we propose a new framework, namely LatenTrans, to utilize existing datasets for boosting the performance of lesion segmentation in extremely low data regimes. LatenTrans translates non-target lesions into target-like lesions and expands the training dataset with target-like data for better performance. Images are first projected to the latent space via aligned style-based generative models, and rich lesion semantics are encoded using the latent codes. A novel consistency-aware latent code manipulation module is proposed to enable high-quality local style transfer from non-target lesions to target-like lesions while preserving other parts. Moreover, we propose a new metric, Normalized Latent Distance, to solve the question of how to select an adequate one from various existing datasets for knowledge transfer. Extensive experiments are conducted on segmenting lung and brain lesions, and the experimental results demonstrate that our proposed LatenTrans is superior to existing methods for cross-disease lesion segmentation.

Analysis of Zinc and Stromal Immunity in Disuse Osteoporosis: Mendelian Randomization and Transcriptomic Analysis.

OBJECTIVE: Disuse osteoporosis is known to be primarily caused by a lack of exercise. However, the causal relationships between zinc and immunity and disuse osteoporosis remain unknown. This study investigated these relationships and their potential mechanisms. METHODS: This study was an integrative study combining genome-wide association studies and transcriptomics. Two-sample Mendelian randomization analysis (MR) was used to analyze the causal relationships between exposures (zinc, immunity, physical activity) and the outcome (osteoporosis) with the aid of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) as instrumental variables (IVs). Four models, MR-Egger, inverse variance weighted, weighted median and MR-Pleiotrophy RESidual Sum and Outlier (MRPRESSO), were used to calculate odds ratio values. Sensitivity and heterogeneity analyses were also performed using MRPRESSO and MR-Egger methods. The mRNA transcriptomic analysis was subsequently conducted. Zinc metabolism scores were acquired through single-sample Gene Set Enrichment Analysis algorithms. Stromal scores were obtained using the R Package "estimate" algorithms. Important Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes and Gene Ontology pathways were also derived through gene set variation analysis. Cytoscape software helped construct the transcription factor (TF)-mRNA-microRNA (miRNA) network. Virtual screening and molecular docking were performed. Polymerase chain reaction validation was also carried out in vivo. RESULTS: Causal relationships were demonstrated between zinc and exercise (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.30-2.95, p = 0.001), exercise and immunity (95% CI = 0.36-0.80, p = 0.002), exercise and osteoporosis (95% CI = 0.97-0.99, p = 0.0007), and immunity disorder and osteoporosis (95% CI = 1.30-2.03, p = 0.00002). One hundred and seventy-nine mRNAs in important modules were screened. Combining the differential expressional genes (DEGs) and the Boruta selection, six DEGs were screened (AHNAK, CSF2, ADAMTS12, SRA1, RUNX2, and SLC39A14). TF HOXC10 and miRNA hsa-miR-204 were predicted. Then, the TF-mRNA-miRNA network was successfully constructed. RUNX2 and SLC39A14 were identified as hub mRNAs in the TF-mRNA-miRNA network. Eventually, the novel small drug C6O4NH5 was designed according to the pharmacophore structure of SLC39A14. The docking energy for the novel drug was -5.83 kcal/mol. SLC39A14 and RUNX2 were downregulated (of statistical significance p-value < 0.05) in our animal experiment. CONCLUSION: This study revealed that zinc had a protective causal relationship with disuse osteoporosis by promoting exercise and immunity. SLC39A14 and RUNX2 mRNA participated in this zinc-related mechanism.

Effect of pulsed light on myofibrillar protein of large yellow croaker (Pseudosciaena crocea) during refrigerated storage.

This study mainly evaluated the effect of different energies of pulsed light (PL) treatment (100, 200, 300, 400, and 500 J/pulse) on myofibrillar protein (MP) of large yellow croaker during refrigerated storage. The results showed that PL treatment would cause a certain degree of oxidation to the MP of large yellow croaker at the initial stage, which showed that the total sulfhydryl content of the protein decreased, the carbonyl content and the average particle size increased, and the ß-sheet to ß-turn transformation, the tertiary structure of the protein unfolds, and the hydrophobic groups were exposed, causing the reduction of intrinsic fluorescence intensity. However, subsequent storage studies found that PL treatment could slow down the oxidation rate of MP. The decrease rate of total sulfhydryl content and the increase rate of carbonyl content in the 300 J/pulse group were both reduced by about 1.7 times compared with the control group. At the same time, the PL treatment with this intensity could also better protect the secondary structure, tertiary structure, and microstructure of MP. This study provided theoretical basis and reference for analyzing the quality change rule and mechanism of large yellow croaker during refrigerated storage after PL treatment. Studies have shown that PL treatment can reduce the adverse changes of MP in large yellow croaker during cold storage.

Combination of enzymatically hydrolyzed potato powder with skimmed milk powder on the quality improvements of yogurt during refrigeration storage.

This study aimed to prepare a stirred type of fat-free yogurt from enzymatically hydrolyzed potato powder (EHPP) and skimmed milk powder (SMP) without changing its quality and consumer acceptance. The yogurt formulations prepared contained different amount of EHPP 0, 10, 25 and 50% and were stored for 28 days at 4 °C and observed that with increasing substitution ratio, acid production was increased while the viability of lactic acid bacteria was decreased after 28 days of storage at 4 °C. The antioxidant activities (2-Diphenyl-1-picryl-hydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging activity and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) of the yogurt were increased with increasing EHPP over the storage period. The yogurt formulations having 25 to 50% EHPP has the highest DPPH free radical scavenging activity and FRAP values. Water holding capacity (WHC) was decreased over the storage period with 25% EHPP. The hardness, adhesiveness and gumminess were decreased while no significant change was found in springiness with EHPP addition over the storage period. The rheological analysis showed an elastic behavior of yogurt gels with EHPP supplementation. The sensory results of yogurt containing 25% EHPP have the highest values of taste and acceptance. Yogurt in combination with EHPP and SMP has the higher levels of WHC than non-supplemented yogurt and better stability was recorded during storage. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13197-023-05737-9.

Research on Photoinduction-Based Technology for Trapping Asian Longhorned Beetle (Anoplophora glabripennis (Motschulsky, 1853) (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae).

Light traps play a crucial role in monitoring pest populations. However, the phototactic behavior of adult Asian longhorned beetle (ALB) remains enigmatic. To provide a theoretical foundation to select the suitable light emitting diode (LED)-based light sources used for monitoring ALB, we compared the effect of exposure time on the phototactic response rates of adults at wavelengths of 365 nm, 420 nm, 435 nm, and 515 nm, and found that the phototactic rate increased gradually when the exposure time was prolonged, but there was no significant difference between different exposure times. We evaluated the effect of diel rhythm and found the highest phototactic rate at night (0:00-2:00) under 420 nm and 435 nm illumination (74-82%). Finally, we determined the phototactic behavioral response of adults to 14 different wavelengths and found both females and males showed a preference for violet wavelengths (420 nm and 435 nm). Furthermore, the effect of the light intensity experiments showed that there were no significant differences in the trapping rate between different light intensities at 120 min exposure time. Our findings demonstrate that ALB is a positively phototactic insect, showing that 420 nm and 435 nm are the most suitable wavelengths for attracting adults.

Effect of low voltage electrostatic field combined with partial freezing on the quality and microbial community of large yellow croaker.

The effect of low voltage electrostatic field combined with partial freezing (LVEF- PF) treatment on storage quality and microbial community of large yellow croaker was studied. Three different methods including chilled (C), partial freezing (PF) and 6 kV/m electrostatic field combined partial freezing storage were used to preserve large yellow croaker for 18 days. Total viable counts (TVC), sensory evaluation, and physiochemical index including pH, total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N), K value and centrifugal loss were examined. During storage, the large yellow croaker was susceptible to microbial growth and spoilage. However, LVEF-PF treatment was found to be effective in enhancing sensory quality, inhibiting microbial growth, and maintaining myofibril microstructure. Low field nuclear magnetic resonance showed that LVEF-PF treatment reduced the migration of immobilized water to free water. At 18th day, the TVC value of LVEF-PF, PF and chilled group were 3.56 log CFU/g, 5.11 log CFU/g, 7.73 log CFU/g, respectively. Therefore, from the results of TVB-N and TVC value, the shelf life of LVEF-PF group was at least 3 days longer than PF group, and 6 days longer than the chilled group. High-throughput sequencing showed that the microbial community diversity significantly decreased during storage. The predominant bacteria in chilled, PF, LVEF-PF group at 18th day were Pseudomonas, Psychrobacter and Shewanella, respectively, and the relative abundance of spoilage bacteria such as Pseudomonas and Psychrobacter were reduced by LVEF-PF treatment, that corresponding with lower values of TVB-N and TVC value. LVEF-PF treatment could be used as a new processing and storage method to delay deterioration and prolong shelf life of large yellow croaker.

Prediction of Axial Compressive Load-Strain Curves of Circular Concrete-Filled Steel Tube Columns Using Long Short-Term Memory Network.

No study has been reported to use machine learning methods to predict the full-range test curves of circular CFST columns. In this paper, the long short-term memory (LSTM) network was introduced to calculate the axially compressive load-strain curves of the circular CFST columns according to an experiment database of limited scale. To improve the feasibility of input data for the recurrent neural network algorithm, data preprocessing methods and data configurations were discussed. The prediction results indicate that the LSTM network provides more accurate estimations compared with the artificial neural networks, random forest and support vector regression. Meanwhile, this method can be used to calculate the mechanical properties including the elastic modulus, ultimate bearing capacity, and the ductility of the columns with acceptable accuracy for engineering practice (the prediction error within 20%). For future research, it is expected that the machine learning method will be applied to predict the structural response of different members under various loading conditions.

Luminescent Amorphous Silicon Oxynitride Systems: High Quantum Efficiencies in the Visible Range.

In recent years, researchers have placed great importance on the use of silicon (Si)-related materials as efficient light sources for the purpose of realizing Si-based monolithic optoelectronic integration. Previous works were mostly focused on Si nanostructured materials, and, so far, exciting results from Si-based compounds are still lacking. In this paper, we have systematically demonstrated the high photoluminescence external quantum efficiency (PL EQE) and internal quantum efficiency (PL IQE) of amorphous silicon oxynitride (a-SiNxOy) systems. Within an integration sphere, we directly measured the PL EQE values of a-SiNxOy, which ranged from approximately 2% to 10% in the visible range at room temperature. Then, we calculated the related PL IQE through temperature-dependent PL measurements. The obtained PL IQE values (~84% at 480 nm emission peak wavelength) were very high compared with those of reported Si-based luminescent thin films. We also calculated the temperature-dependent PL EQE values of a-SiNxOy systems, and discussed the related PL mechanisms.

Construction of ecological network based on MSPA-Conefor-MCR at the county scale: A case study in Yanqing District, Beijing, China.

The acceleration of urbanization and the frequent occurrence of natural disasters have led to increasingly fragmented habitats and decreased ecological connectivity, which in turn hinder rural sustainable development. Constructing ecological networks is a key direction in the spatial planning. By strengthening source protection, corridor construction, and ecological control, it can effectively alleviate the contradiction between regional ecological and economic development imbalance and promote biodiversity enhancement. With Yanqing District as an example, we constructed the ecological network by means of the morphological spatial pattern analysis, the connectivity analysis software, and the minimum cumulative resistance model. We analyzed various network elements from a county perspective, and provide suggestions for the development of towns. The results showed that the ecological network of Yanqing District as a whole presented the distribution characteristics of "the Mountain and the Plain". A total of 12 ecological sources were identified, covering an area of 1085.54 km2, accounting for 54.4% of the total area. 66 ecological corridors were screened with a total length of 1057.18 km, including 21 important corridors and 45 general corridors, with the length of which accounting for 32.6% and 67.4%, respectively. 27 first-class ecological nodes and 86 second-class ecological nodes were identified, which were concentrated in "the Mountain" such as Qianjiadian and Zhenzhuquan. The distribution of ecological networks in different towns was closely related to their geographical environment and development orientation. The towns such as Qianjiadian and Zhenzhuquan were located in "the Mountain", covering a wide range of ecological sources and corridors. Strengthening protection of ecological source was the focus of network construction, which can promote the coordinated development of ecology and tourism in towns. The towns such as Liubinbao and Zhangshanying were located at the junction of "the Mountain-Plain", hence strengthening corridor connectivity was the main direction of network construction, which could promote the construction of ecological landscape in towns. The towns such as Yanqing and Kangzhuang were located in the "the Plain", with serious landscape fragmentation due to the lack of ecological sources and corridors. Those towns need to build green livable towns through increasing ecological nodes and strengthening ecological restoration. This study enriched the construction of ecological networks at the county scale, explored the interface with spatial planning, strengthened ecological restoration and ecological control, which had reference value for promoting the sustainable development of towns and the construction of a multi-scale ecological network.

Microstructural, physicochemical properties and starch digestibility of brown rice flour treated with extrusion and heat moisture.

Effects of heat moisture treatment (HMT), extrusion treatment (ET), and the combination treatment (HMT-ET) on microstructural, physicochemical properties, and starch digestibility of brown rice flour (BRF) were investigated. With a rise in resistant starch (RS), melting temperature, and a decrease in swelling capacity (SC), peak viscosity, and apparent amylose content (AAC), the HMT-ET BRF showed a significant lower expected glycemic index (eGI) than HMT and ET. XRD and FTIR results showed ET, HMT-ET caused the transition of starch crystals from amorphous to crystalline region, suggesting the formation of the starch-lipid complex. The analysis of DSC and RVA proved HMT-ET flours induced starch gelatinization and inhibited the starch retrogradation of BRF compared with the other three flours. Correlation analysis suggested that the combined effect of HMT and ET was response for the changes in physicochemical properties and reduction of in vitro starch digestibility. Overall, the BRF after HMT-ET with improved physicochemical properties and starch digestibility could be better utilized as a good substitute for carbohydrate sources.