Chloridobis(1,10-phenanthroline-κ2 N,N′)copper(I) dichloridocopper(II)

The asymmetric unit of the title compound, [CuCl(C12H8N2)2]·[CuCl2], contains two complex Cu(II) cations and two cuprate(I) anions. The Cu(II) atom is coordinated by two phenanthroline (phen) mol­ecules and one chloride anion in a distorted trigonal–bipyramidal geometry. The Cu(II) complex cations form layers through π–π stacking [interplanar distance = 3.481 (2) Å]. The dichloridocuprate(I) anions are located between the layers, forming a sandwich-like structure

Emergence of synchronization induced by the interplay between two prisoner's dilemma games with volunteering in small-world networks

We studied synchronization between prisoner's dilemma games with voluntary participation in two Newman-Watts small-world networks. It was found that there are three kinds of synchronization: partial phase synchronization, total phase synchronization and complete synchronization, for varied coupling factors. Besides, two games can reach complete synchronization for the large enough coupling factor. We also discussed the effect of coupling factor on the amplitude of oscillation of $cooperator$ density.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

Assessment of Ruminal Bacterial and Archaeal Community Structure in Yak (Bos grunniens)

The aim of this study was to determine the microbial community composition in the rumen of yaks under different feeding regimes. Microbial communities were assessed by sequencing bacterial and archaeal 16S ribosomal RNA gene fragments obtained from yaks (Bos grunniens) from Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, China. Samples were obtained from 14 animals allocated to either pasture grazing (Graze), a grazing and supplementary feeding regime (GSF), or an indoor feeding regime (Feed). The predominant bacterial phyla across feeding regimes were Bacteroidetes (51.06%) and Firmicutes (32.73%). At genus level, 25 genera were shared across all samples. The relative abundance of Prevotella in the graze and GSF regime group were significantly higher than that in the feed regime group. Meanwhile, the relative abundance of Ruminococcus was lower in the graze group than the feed and GSF regime groups. The most abundant archaeal phylum was Euryarchaeota, which accounted for 99.67% of the sequences. Ten genera were detected across feeding regimes, seven genera were shared by all samples, and the most abundant was genus Methanobrevibacter (91.60%). The relative abundance of the most detected genera were similar across feeding regime groups. Our results suggest that the ruminal bacterial community structure differs across yak feeding regimes while the archaeal community structures are largely similar

A new approach for optimising GNSS positioning performance in harsh observation environments

Maintaining good positioning performance has always been a challenging task for Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) applications in partially obstructed environments. A method that can optimise positioning performance in harsh environments is proposed. Using a carrier double-difference (DD) model, the influence of the satellite-pair geometry on the correlation among different equations has been researched. This addresses the critical relationship between DD equations and its ill-posedness. From analysing the collected multi-constellation observations, a strong correlation between the condition number and the positioning standard deviation is detected as the correlation coefficient is larger than 0·92. Based on this finding, a new method for determining the reference satellites by using the minimum condition number rather than the maximum elevation is proposed. This reduces the ill-posedness of the co-factor matrix, which improves the single-epoch positioning solution with a fixed DD ambiguity. Finally, evaluation trials are carried out by masking some satellites to simulate common satellite obstruction scenarios including azimuth shielding, elevation shielding and strip shielding. Results indicate the proposed approach improves the positioning stability with multi-constellation satellites notably in harsh environments

Environmentally Friendly Method for the Separation of Cellulose from Steam-Exploded Rice Straw and Its High-Value Applications

Separation of cellulose from agricultural straw is one of the key bottlenecks hindering the application of such kind of biomass resources. In this chapter, we provide three environmental-friendly ways for separation of cellulose from agricultural straw pretreated with steam explosion, which include delignification with recyclable water-polar aprotic organic solvent, selective bio-degradation of the lignin component, and extraction of cellulose with imidazolium-based ionic liquids from the steam-exploded rice straw. The isolated rice straw celluloses have been adopted as an enhancement for all-cellulose composites (ACCs) and cellulose/cement composites. Ultra-high tensile strength (650.2 MPa) can be achieved for the ACCs containing the activated straw cellulose fiber (A-SCF). The cellulose/cement composites show a significant promotion in the flexural strength and fracture toughness. The new nonderivative solvent for cellulose, tetrabutylammonium hydroxide (TBAH) aqueous solution with urea as additives has been proved to be manipulable for dissolving cellulose

Analysis of ill posedness in double differential ambiguity resolution of BDS

The ill posedness in a variance–covariance matrix will directly determine the convergence speed and accuracy of integer ambiguities. Unlike GPS or GLONASS, BDS (BeiDou Navigation Satellite System) consists of not only MEO satellites but also GEO and IGSO satellites, both of which are high orbit satellites. The angular velocities of the GEO and IGSO satellites are much smaller compared with MEO satellites. The changes of the geometric structure between satellites and stations of the high orbit satellites GEO/IGSO in BDS are not obvious during short observational spans due to their relatively small angular velocity. This results in stronger correlation of equations between adjacent epochs while calculating ambiguities, leading to serious ill posedness. In this paper the ill posedness of double differential (DD) ambiguity resolution (AR) of the current BDS was analysed. On this basis, some different combinations of GEO, IGSO and MEO satellites of BDS were used in the AR experiments to reveal the characteristics of ill posedness. Moreover, AR experiments of GPS, GLONASS and BDS/GPS/GLONASS fusion were also carried out for comparison with BDS. These experiments indicate that the AR of the current BDS is a more serious ill posed problem, and therefore takes much more time for AR fixing than GPS or GLONASS. The fusion with GPS or GLONASS, however, will solve the ill posed problem effectively and improve the AR much more, achieving fixes even instantaneously

Evolutionary dynamics of rabies viruses highlights the importance of China rabies transmission in Asia

AbstractRabies in Asia is emerging as a serious public health issue. To explore the possible origin, phylogenetic relationships, and evolutionary dynamics of Asian Rabies viruses (RABV), we examined 200 complete nucleoprotein (N) gene sequences from RABV isolates in the region. Phylogeny supported the classification of Asian RABVs into five distinct clusters in lyssavirus genotype 1. Our geospatial and temporal analyses demonstrated that China appears to be the prime source of Asian RABVs. Understanding of rabies transmission and associated human activities, such as dog translocation, can help rabies control and elimination in Asia through collaborative efforts or programs

Practical Asynchronous Distributed Key Generation: Improved Efficiency, Weaker Assumption, and Standard Model

Distributed key generation (DKG) allows bootstrapping threshold cryptosystems without relying on a trusted party, nowadays enabling fully decentralized applications in blockchains and multiparty computation (MPC). While we have recently seen new advancements for asynchronous DKG (ADKG) protocols, their performance remains the bottleneck for many applications, with only one protocol being implemented (DYX+ ADKG, IEEE S&P 2022). DYX+ ADKG relies on the Decisional Composite Residuosity assumption (being expensive to instantiate) and the Decisional Diffie-Hellman assumption, incurring a high latency (more than 100s with a failure threshold of 16). Moreover, the security of DYX+ ADKG is based on the random oracle model (ROM) which takes hash function as an ideal function; assuming the existence of random oracle is a strong assumption, and up to now, we cannot find any theoretically-sound implementation. Furthermore, the ADKG protocol needs public key infrastructure (PKI) to support the trustworthiness of public keys. The strong models (ROM and PKI) further limit the applicability of DYX+ ADKG, as they would add extra and strong assumptions to underlying threshold cryptosystems. For instance, if the original threshold cryptosystem works in the standard model, then the system using DYX+ ADKG would need to use ROM and PKI. In this paper, we design and implement a modular ADKG protocol that offers improved efficiency and stronger security guarantees. We explore a novel and much more direct reduction from ADKG to the underlying blocks, reducing the computational overhead and communication rounds of ADKG in the normal case. Our protocol works for both the low-threshold and high-threshold scenarios, being secure under the standard assumption (the well-established discrete logarithm assumption only) in the standard model (no trusted setup, ROM, or PKI)

RBC, HB, HCT, CRP, and ESR at different postoperative periods after the application of intravenous unit dose transient acid in PLIF: A case control study

BackgroundTranexamic acid (TXA) has been used in posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF) and reduces blood loss. However, it has not been reported whether it will continue to affect postoperative red blood cells (RBC), hemoglobin (HB), hematocrit (HCT), C-reactive protein (CRP) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR). The purpose of this study was to observed the above indicators at different time after PLIF with unit dose intravenous (iv) TXA.MethodsThe data of 44 patients treated by single-segment PLIF from 2020.11 to 2022.3 were retrospectively analyzed. Observation group was given a unit dose of ivTXA (1 g/100 mL) 15 min before skin incision after general anesthesia. Patients without TXA were recorded as control group. Main observation indicators include RBC, HB, HCT, CRP and ESR on the 1st, 4th, 7th and last tested day after surgery. Secondary observation indicators include postoperative activated partial thrombin time (APTT), prothrombin time (PT), thrombin time (TT), and fibrinogen (FIB); and operation time, intraoperative blood loss, postoperative drainage volume, incision healing, postoperative deep vein thrombosis and postoperative hospital stay.ResultsThe operation was successfully completed without related complications. At term of main observation indicators, RBC, HB and HCT remained relatively stable, while CRP and ESR fluctuated to some extent after PLIF. The RBC, HB and HCT in the observation group were higher than those in the control group with statistically significant (p < 0.05). Except the CRP of 7th postoperative day of the observation group was significantly lower than that of the control group (p < 0.05), there was no difference in other CRP and ESR between the two groups (p > 0.05). At term of secondary observation indicators, the intraoperative blood loss and postoperative drainage volume of the observation group were lower than those of the control group with statistically significant (p < 0.05). There was no significant difference in postoperative APTT, PT, TT, FIB, and operation time and postoperative hospital stay between the two groups (p > 0.05).ConclusionThe application of unit dose of ivTXA in PLIF can safely and effectively reduce blood loss. Meanwhile, it can also maintain higher RBC, HB, HCT levels without disturbing CRP and ESR levels after surgery

The Protective Efficacy of a SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine Candidate B.1.351V against Several Variant Challenges in K18-hACE2 Mice

The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOCs) with increased transmissibility and partial resistance to neutralization by antibodies has been observed globally. There is an urgent need for an effective vaccine to combat these variants. Our study demonstrated that the B.1.351 variant inactivated vaccine candidate (B.1.351V) generated strong binding and neutralizing antibody responses in BALB/c mice against the B.1.351 virus and other SARS-CoV-2 variants after two doses within 28 days. Immunized K18-hACE2 mice also exhibited elevated levels of live virus-neutralizing antibodies against various SARS-CoV-2 viruses. Following infection with these viruses, K18-hACE2 mice displayed a stable body weight, a high survival rate, minimal virus copies in lung tissue, and no lung damage compared to the control group. These findings indicate that B.1.351V offered protection against infection with multiple SARS-CoV-2 variants in mice, providing insights for the development of a vaccine targeting SARS-CoV-2 VOCs for human use