Search Results (2,576)

Ooencyrtus kuvanae is an egg parasitoid species that attacks the egg masses of Dendrolimus spp and Lymantria spp. in China, which gives it a temporal niche advantage against pest infestations by Dendrolimus spp. and Lymantria spp. Moreover, it has a short life cycle, high offspring outcome, and female-biased population, showing distinctive ovarian development and oviposition behaviors and thus providing an ideal model for reproductivity and regulatory mechanisms. Previous studies have found that the Vitellogenin (Vg) and Vitellogenin Receptor (VgR) genes play important regulatory roles in the ovarian development of a few wasp species, but little is known about how these two genes work within O. kuvanae. Therefore, we observed their oviposition traits, characterized their gene structure, and clarified the function of Vg and VgR. The results showed that continuous daily oviposition significantly reduced the daily mature eggs and offspring per female by providing a single host egg for oviposition in each experimental trial, while the proportion of female offspring reached 100%, indicating that thelytokous parthenogenesis occurred. The full-length sequences of OkVg and OkVgR were cloned and submitted to GenBank. qPCR detection revealed that the transcription levels were the highest in adults. Feeding 20-hydroxyecdysone can increase OkVg gene expression (by 2.4-fold), while feeding juvenile hormone can promote their OkVgR expression (by 2.3-fold). RNA interference significantly downregulated OkVg and OkVgR expression in adult ovaries. And dsVg significantly reduced the ovarian egg load by 45% (p < 0.05), while dsVgR caused oviduct contraction and offspring decrease. Simultaneous silencing of OkVg and OkVgR significantly reduced offspring outcomes, indicating both genes may jointly dominate oocyte development. This study provides functional evidence of molecular regulation and interaction between OkVg and its receptor genes. Full article

The accuracy of numerical weather prediction largely depends on the quality of the initial conditions. Global Navigation Satellite System radio occultation (GNSS-RO) observations, with their high vertical resolution, play an important role in reducing initial condition errors. In this study, multiple simulations with different initialization times were conducted during the development of Typhoon BEBINCA using the WRF-GSI assimilation system to evaluate the impact of YunYao GNSS-RO observations on improving extreme weather simulation performance and to investigate the sensitivity of refractivity assimilation to different cloud microphysics parameterization schemes. The results show that assimilating YunYao GNSS-RO data significantly improves the consistency between the model initial fields and observations and enhances the analysis quality in the middle and upper troposphere. Compared with ERA5 reanalysis data, the assimilation experiments better reproduce the spatial and temporal evolution of key atmospheric variables, and the improvements persist from 36 h to 120 h forecast lead time. Statistical results from multiple initializations show that the maximum RMSE reductions exceed 0.2 K for temperature, 0.1 m s⁻¹ for wind speed, and geopotential height shows consistent improvements throughout the entire atmosphere. In addition, the assimilation experiments improve the simulation of Typhoon BEBINCA’s track and intensity. Statistical results from multiple initializations indicate that the 84 h track error is reduced by approximately 30 km on average, and the minimum central pressure bias is also reduced. Sensitivity experiments further show that the WSM6 microphysics scheme performs better in track forecasting, while the Thompson scheme is more suitable for intensity forecasting. Overall, YunYao GNSS-RO assimilation effectively improves typhoon forecast accuracy and demonstrates strong potential for operational applications. Full article

Yellow and pink calcite samples from the Huanggangliang and Xilingol mining areas in Inner Mongolia were investigated to elucidate the relationships among chemical composition, unit-cell parameters, coloration, and luminescence. Electron probe micro-analysis, laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, X-ray diffraction, infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy, and photoluminescence measurements show that samples of yellow and pink calcite differ significantly in impurity incorporation and optical behavior. Yellow calcite is relatively enriched in Mg and rare earth elements, especially Y and Ce, whereas pink calcite contains markedly higher Mn and Fe contents. The pink calcite has smaller lattice parameters and unit-cell volume, consistent with greater substitution of Ca²⁺ by smaller-radius cations. Spectra reveal that the pink coloration is mainly related to Mn-associated absorption bands at 402 and 527 nm, whereas the yellow color is attributed to weak impurity- and defect-related absorption. Under ultraviolet excitation, yellow calcite exhibits a broad blue–white emission centered at ~470 nm, whereas pink calcite shows an intense orange–red emission near 625 nm characteristic of Mn²⁺. Variable-temperature photoluminescence further demonstrates that the pink calcite has higher thermal stability, with a thermal-quenching activation energy of 0.218 eV, compared with 0.074 eV for the yellow calcite. These results demonstrate that trace element incorporation plays a key role in regulating the coloration and luminescence of calcite and provide useful insight into the optical behavior of carbonate minerals. Full article

The instantaneous contact zone in robotic abrasive belt grinding involves highly coupled thermo-mechanical interactions between abrasive grains and the workpiece material. Acoustic Emission (AE) signals generated during this process are inherently nonlinear and nonstationary, posing challenges for accurate process monitoring and mechanistic understanding. To address this, this study introduces an innovative AE signal processing framework designed to elucidate the robotic grinding mechanism for Ti-6Al-4V (TC4) titanium alloy. An improved Completely Complementary Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition (CCEEMD) algorithm, building upon Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD), is developed to precisely extract intrinsic mode functions (IMFs) from raw AE data. Subsequently, a novel denoising algorithm utilizing noise statistical characteristics effectively removes invalid noise from the robotic machining system. Validation through robotic grinding experiments on TC4 workpieces successfully established quantifiable relationships between extracted AE features and the underlying grinding mechanism. Significantly, implementing this methodology contributed to extending the effective service life of a structured abrasive belt by approximately 20% while increasing machining efficiency by approximately 12%. This work presents a novel methodology combining improved CCEEMD and statistical denoising for AE analysis in robotic grinding, providing a robust link between AE signatures and material removal mechanisms, ultimately enabling quantitative process optimization. Full article

In this paper, an intelligent localization framework based on deep learning is proposed to address the limitations of insufficient accuracy and robustness in defect identification and localization during the ultrasonic guided-wave non-destructive testing (NDT) of receiver tubes in tower-type molten salt Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) stations. In the proposed method, a 1D convolutional neural network (1D-CNN) initially processes raw time-series-guided wave signals, achieving coarse identification and preliminary localization of defective segments. Then, Mel spectrograms are employed to exploit multi-dimensional features in the time–frequency domain and transform 1D signals into 2D representations, thereby enriching feature diversity. A regression-based 2D-CNN was designed to predict the start and end points of defect segments, enabling precise interval localization. Furthermore, the Tree Seed Algorithm (TSA) was integrated to jointly optimize key hyperparameters, enhancing training efficiency and prediction accuracy. Experimental validation on a dataset of ultrasonic guided-wave signals from molten salt receiver tubes demonstrates that the TSA-optimized Mel+2D-CNN model achieves superior performance, with a Mean Absolute Error (MAE) of 75.11 sampling points and a Coefficient of Determination (R²) of 0.90. At an Intersection over Union (IoU) threshold of 0.3, the model achieves a hit rate of 89.21%, exhibiting significantly higher localization accuracy and stability compared to the 1D-CNN baseline model. These findings indicate that the proposed method effectively enhances the accuracy and robustness of guided wave-based defect localization in slender structures. While promising, the model’s generalization capability remains dependent on the data distribution and operating conditions; future work will focus on validating its engineering applicability across diverse, multi-scenario industrial environments. Full article

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a type of inflammatory bowel disease without curative therapeutics. Recent studies demonstrate that Akkermansia muciniphila exerts mitigating effects on UC, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. In this study, we isolated a strain of A. muciniphila, designated NND9, from the feces of DSS-induced ulcerative colitis model mice and investigated its effects on UC of the mouse model. NND9 significantly alleviated UC severity in the mice by restoring gut barrier integrity through improving colonic mucus layer thickness, mitigating goblet cell depletion, and halting epithelial cell death. Mechanistically, NND9 suppressed the expression of the Tnfrsf10b gene encoding death receptor 5 (DR5) on the surface of colonic epithelial cells. Additionally, NND9 inhibited the phosphorylation of kinase 3 (RIPK3) and the pseudokinase mixed-lineage kinase domain-like protein (MLKL) associated with the necrotic apoptosis pathway, thereby reducing gut epithelial cell death. NND9 also markedly ameliorated the gut microbiome of the colitis mice. Untargeted metabolomics analysis demonstrated that NND9 modulated both tryptophan and bile acid metabolism. In conclusion, NND9 exhibits curative effects on UC by resolving inflammatory reactions of the gut mucosa through the DR5-RIPK3/p-RIPK3-MLKL/p-MLKL pathway and redressing gut dysbiosis. This study provides valuable information for the development of innovative therapeutic strategies for the treatment of UC. Full article

Gravel particles are widely developed and randomly distributed in deep reservoirs of the Tarim Oilfield, western China. The mechanical behavior of conglomerate, the main component of the gravel layer, under varying confining pressure and different gravel content, remains poorly understood, especially in terms of the microscopic aspect, which limits the analysis of the variation patterns of underground engineering parameters. This study conducts triaxial compression tests on outcrop specimens from various stress levels to analyze the effects of stress state and stress differences on the mechanical parameters and failure modes. After that, a kind of numerical modeling method based on the discrete element method (DEM) is proposed, which considers the random distribution of gravel particles, to study the microscopic observation of mechanical characteristics and crack propagation of conglomerate under different stress state conditions. The experimental and numerical simulation results indicate that the horizontal strain before failure remains nearly constant in the axial direction while increasing linearly for the horizontal stress. And, it was observed that the volumetric failure was accompanied by gravel fragmentation, sliding, and falling. Numerical simulations reveal that cementation strength and gravel content significantly influence mechanical properties and failure modes, which are the main factors. This study provides some useful references for further understanding of the mechanical behavior and failure mechanisms of rocks in the gravel layer, in particular, the numerical modeling method for heterogeneous materials. Full article

(1) Background: Frailty is a major geriatric syndrome associated with adverse health outcomes, while direct assessment of cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) is often impractical in routine clinical settings. This study investigated the association between estimated cardiorespiratory fitness (eCRF) and incident frailty in middle-aged and older adults from three nationally representative aging cohorts. (2) Methods: We analyzed longitudinal data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS; 2006–2020) in the United States, the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA; 2004–2018) in England, and the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS; 2011–2018) in China. Participants aged 50 years or older were included. eCRF was calculated using validated sex-specific non-exercise algorithms. Frailty was assessed using a 30-item Frailty Index (FI), and incident frailty was defined as FI ≥ 0.25. Cox proportional hazards models were used to evaluate the association between baseline eCRF and incident frailty. (3) Results: A total of 8152 participants (3982 women and 4170 men) were included in the longitudinal analysis. Each 1-SD increase in eCRF was associated with a lower risk of incident frailty in HRS (HR = 0.60, 95% CI: 0.54–0.68), ELSA (HR = 0.54, 95% CI: 0.46–0.64), and CHARLS (HR = 0.74, 95% CI: 0.63–0.87). Compared with the low-eCRF group, the moderate- and high-eCRF groups had progressively lower risks of incident frailty across all three cohorts, indicating a graded inverse dose–response relationship. Findings were generally consistent across subgroup and sensitivity analyses. (4) Conclusions: Higher eCRF was associated with a lower risk of incident frailty among middle-aged and older adults across three nationally representative cohorts. As an accessible, non-invasive metric, eCRF may be useful for identifying individuals at elevated risk of incident frailty. Full article

Purpose: To investigate the association between COVID-19 infection and the 1-year risk of acute urinary retention (AUR) and related urological complications in patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTs). Materials and Methods: Using the TriNetX global network, patients with BPH and LUTs between January 2020 and January 2024 were identified. Participants were classified into a COVID-19 cohort (N = 32,948) and a non-COVID control cohort (N = 434,123). Propensity score matching (1:1) balanced demographics, comorbidities, medications, and laboratory parameters. The primary outcome was AUR within one year. Secondary outcomes included Foley catheterization, urinary tract infection (UTI), gross hematuria, bladder stones, and prostate-related surgery. Results: After matching, 32,918 patients remained in each cohort. The COVID-19 group showed a significantly higher 1-year incidence of AUR compared with controls (2.18% vs. 0.32%; aHR 6.89, 95% CI 5.62–8.45; p < 0.0001). Increased risks were also observed for Foley catheterization (aHR 4.10), UTI (aHR 3.52), and prostate-related surgery (aHR 6.02). Kaplan–Meier analysis demonstrated persistent divergence in AUR-free survival. Conclusion: COVID-19 infection is independently associated with a markedly increased risk of AUR and urological complications in patients with BPH, highlighting the need for closer post-infection monitoring. Full article

Complex environments, such as underground pipe galleries, subway tunnels, and bridge piles, seriously affect the construction of underground passages. Reducing the disruption of the surrounding environment and road traffic during the construction of underground passages in urban transportation hubs is very important for underground passages. Overcoming these difficulties is a problem that we constantly strive to solve. In this paper, we innovatively propose an open-shield construction method (OSM) without a support structure. It simplifies the construction process, is very adaptable to low soil cover depth and complex construction environments, and has minimal impact on traffic disruption during construction. We first analyze the main problems in the construction of urban underground passages and then elaborate on the OSM in detail. Then, an example of an actual project is used to explain the requirements for prefabricated pipe segments and the waterproof structure. Finally, the effect of applying this method is evaluated by using numerical simulation technology and actual monitoring data. This method provides practical engineering application references for the construction of urban underground passages. Full article

Epidemiological studies have demonstrated that kidney aging is a risk factor for acute kidney injury (AKI) and chronic kidney disease (CKD). Therefore, understanding the mechanisms of kidney aging is key to designing novel anti-kidney aging strategies. In this regard, animal models of kidney aging are essential tools. In this review article, we focus on D-galactose (D-gal)-induced accelerated aging in rodents. This animal aging model is a popular and widely used experimental method in the field of aging and aging-related degenerative disorders. It has been shown that the major characteristics of the D-gal-induced aging process are increased oxidative stress, decreased antioxidant enzymes, elevated cell death, increased tissue fibrosis, and accumulation of inflammatory mediators. This review focuses on D-gal-induced kidney aging in mice and rats, with discussions on both kidney aging mechanisms and anti-kidney aging regimens using this model. It is our belief that D-gal induction of accelerated kidney aging will continue to be used as a convenient platform for elucidating kidney aging mechanisms and exploring novel anti-kidney aging targets that may slow down kidney aging and retard the development of aging-related renal disorders. Full article

Shellfish aquaculture can alter sediment conditions and affect benthic ecosystem functioning, so dredging is widely applied as a management strategy to mitigate sediment deterioration. However, its ecological effectiveness remains uncertain. This study evaluated ecological quality under the disturbance of dredging in shellfish farming areas of Gamak Bay, South Korea, using multiple macrobenthic indices. Macrobenthic samples and environmental data were collected before (May 2025) and after dredging (August 2025). Five macrobenthic indices, including the AZTI Marine Biotic Index (AMBI), BENTIX, Benthic Polychaete/Amphipod ratio (BPA), Benthic Pollution Index (BPI), and Multivariate AMBI (M-AMBI), along with a composite index, were used to assess ecological quality. Temporal changes within groups were tested using Wilcoxon signed-rank tests, and differences between dredged and control stations were examined using Mann–Whitney U tests. Multivariate analyses were used to explore environmental gradients and community responses. Results showed clear seasonal variation in environmental conditions and macrobenthic community structure. Most indices indicated a decline in ecological quality after dredging, with higher AMBI values and lower BENTIX, BPI, and M-AMBI values at dredged stations. However, these changes were not statistically significant (p > 0.05), suggesting limited short-term effects of dredging. The proportion of stations with acceptable ecological status decreased slightly from May to August. Seasonal factors, particularly temperature and salinity, played a dominant role in structuring benthic communities. Overall, the findings indicate that the short-term dredging effects were weaker than seasonal environmental variability. A multi-index approach is recommended for robust ecological assessment, and long-term monitoring is necessary to fully evaluate the effectiveness of dredging in shellfish aquaculture systems. Full article

The increasing release of non-biodegradable heavy metals, particularly lead (Pb²⁺) and cadmium (Cd²⁺), poses severe risks to ecosystems and human health. Herein, we present a sustainable “treating-waste-with-waste” strategy that simultaneously addresses heavy-metal contamination in water and the accumulation of expanded perlite waste. Expanded perlite waste was directly converted into a high-purity, low-silica CHA zeolite via a simple, one-pot, template-free hydrothermal conversion. The resulting sodium-exchanged material (Na-CHA-p) demonstrated excellent Pb²⁺ and Cd²⁺ removal performance, featuring ultrafast adsorption kinetics (reaching equilibrium within 5 min for both ions), high adsorption capacities (555.6 mg·g⁻¹ for Pb²⁺ and 211.0 mg·g⁻¹ for Cd²⁺), and superior selectivity. This study demonstrates an efficient pathway for the high-value utilization of perlite waste and highlights the strong potential of waste-derived CHA zeolites as advanced adsorbents for heavy-metal wastewater remediation. Full article

To address the growing demand for sustainable road infrastructure development and resolve technical bottlenecks in reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) recycling, this study optimized the performance of recycled asphalt mixtures (RAMs) and validated their engineering applicability for field construction. RAM specimens were prepared using 5-year and 10-year aged RAP from Ningxia, with a constant RAP content of 30%. Laboratory tests including high-temperature rutting, moisture susceptibility, low-temperature cracking, dynamic modulus, and four-point bending fatigue were performed to determine the optimal mix proportion. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and Thin-Layer Chromatography-Flame Ionization Detection (TLC-FID) were employed to reveal the regeneration mechanism of waste engine oil (WEO). Results showed that WEO modified the functional groups and four fractions of asphalt, optimizing its colloidal structure, while excessive WEO compromised high-temperature stability. The optimal WEO contents were 4% for RAP (5Y) and 8% for RAP (10Y), which significantly enhanced the overall performance of RAM to adapt to Ningxia’s climate. This study provides technical support for sustainable road infrastructure in arid and semi-arid regions. Full article

To investigate the synergistic effect of hydraulic fracturing and hot water injection on enhancing methane extraction from low-permeability coalbeds and elucidate the underlying thermal-hydraulic coupling mechanism, methane desorption experiments were conducted in coal samples with varying fracture networks using a self-developed multi-field coupling experimental system. Tests were performed under different injection pressures and temperatures to analyze coal temperature evolution and methane desorption-seepage characteristics. The results demonstrate that hydraulic fracturing significantly improves pore structure and connectivity, thereby optimizing methane desorption behavior. The methane migration in the samples is influenced by water injection, exhibiting an initial promotion followed by inhibition. The combined fracturing-thermal injection approach effectively reduces the dynamic viscosity of water, mitigates the water lock effect, and enhances the desorption capacity. The hydraulic fracturing and the hot water injection complement each other, achieving synergistic production enhancement. The optimal injection pressure and water temperature can be selected according to specific reservoir conditions to balance the production increase and cost efficiency. This laboratory-scale study provides theoretical support for optimizing hydraulic measures and thermal injection techniques in coalbed methane extraction, revealing complementary synergies between these two methods and offering new insights into multi-field coupling enhancement mechanisms with practical application guidelines. Full article