China's uncertain demographic present and future

This paper applies methods of probabilistic population forecasting to assess the range of uncertainty of China’s future population trends. Unlike previous applications of probabilistic population projections that consider stochastic future fertility, mortality and migration, this paper will also account for the significant uncertainty of China’s current fertility level (with published figures ranging from 1.2 to 2.3) and the related uncertainties about the sex ratio at birth (with estimates from 1.06 to above 1.2) and the size of the youngest cohorts in the 2000 census. The model applied in this paper will be based on assumed uncertainty ranges for current conditions, in addition to the probabilistic treatment of future trends. Given the sheer size of China’s population, these significant uncertainties about current conditions are of high importance not only for the future population of China but also for considerations on a global scale.

Active Open-Vocabulary Recognition: Let Intelligent Moving Mitigate CLIP Limitations

Active recognition, which allows intelligent agents to explore observations for better recognition performance, serves as a prerequisite for various embodied AI tasks, such as grasping, navigation and room arrangements. Given the evolving environment and the multitude of object classes, it is impractical to include all possible classes during the training stage. In this paper, we aim at advancing active open-vocabulary recognition, empowering embodied agents to actively perceive and classify arbitrary objects. However, directly adopting recent open-vocabulary classification models, like Contrastive Language Image Pretraining (CLIP), poses its unique challenges. Specifically, we observe that CLIP's performance is heavily affected by the viewpoint and occlusions, compromising its reliability in unconstrained embodied perception scenarios. Further, the sequential nature of observations in agent-environment interactions necessitates an effective method for integrating features that maintains discriminative strength for open-vocabulary classification. To address these issues, we introduce a novel agent for active open-vocabulary recognition. The proposed method leverages inter-frame and inter-concept similarities to navigate agent movements and to fuse features, without relying on class-specific knowledge. Compared to baseline CLIP model with 29.6% accuracy on ShapeNet dataset, the proposed agent could achieve 53.3% accuracy for open-vocabulary recognition, without any fine-tuning to the equipped CLIP model. Additional experiments conducted with the Habitat simulator further affirm the efficacy of our method

Teacher Leadership in the Context of Chinese Education

In response to addressing the increasing requirements to enhance the competencies of students and teachers, as well as the quality of schools in the global environment, the need for fostering teacher leadership has been proposed by many scholars and practitioners. School context is regarded as an important influence on the successful development of teacher leadership. While many studies related to teacher leadership have been reported in Western countries, a limited number of studies have been reported within the Chinese educational context. We also observed that among the limited studies, there was a lack of empirical research on how schools provide opportunities for teachers to exhibit teacher leadership attributes within the Chinese context. Therefore, to make up for the lack of empirical research in the context of Chinese education, this study investigated opportunities for teacher leadership development in Chinese schools. We adopted a mixed methods methodology to analyze the quantitative data from 234 surveys by snowball sampling and analyze the qualitative data from 15 Chinese senior and junior high school teachers’ interviews. The qualitative findings supported and supplemented the quantitative results, thereby substantiating how the opportunities provided by schools to develop and enhance teachers’ skills and competencies, as well as how teachers exhibited their teacher leadership attributes within the school context. Based on the results of statistical analysis and interview transcript analysis, this study demonstrated how the attributes of perception, influencing, cooperation and knowledge and skills were exhibited in the opportunities provided by schools: developmental focus to improve instructional knowledge and skills; recognition to influence teachers’ perception; autonomy to manipulate teaching in the classroom; collegiality to function in the teacher community; participation to be involved in important school-level action; open communication to dialogue for integral development; and positive environment to engage in teaching and learning. Support from the school environment is key to teacher leadership development. The findings enriched empirical research in the Chinese school context, thereby meeting the requirements for the theory and practice for the development of teacher leadership, and facilitating schools to implement supportive platforms for teachers to develop the skills and competencies associated with teacher leadership

Novel surfactant-free route to delaminated all-silica and titanosilicate zeolites derived from a layered borosilicate MWW precursor

Layered borosilicate zeolite precursor ERB-1P (Si/B = 11) is delaminated via simultaneous deboronation and SDA removal, to yield material DZ-1 consisting of silanol nests, using a simple aqueous Zn(NO_3)_2 treatment. Characterization of this synthesis process by PXRD shows loss of long-range order, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) demonstrates transformation of rectilinear layers in the layered zeolite precursor to single and curved layers in the delaminated material. N_2 physisorption confirms the expected decrease of micropore volume and increase in external surface area for delaminated materials relative to their calcined 3D zeolite counterpart. Elemental analysis shows loss of B and absence of Zn in the delaminated material. Resonances corresponding to silanol nests are evident via^(29)Si solid-state NMR spectroscopy in DZ-1, which should be located within 12-MR pockets near the external surface. We have successfully utilized these nests as tetrahedral recognition sites for incorporation of Ti within an isolated framework coordination environment in material Ti-DZ-1. Diffuse-reflectance ultraviolet (DR-UV) spectroscopy of Ti-DZ-1 confirms isolated framework Ti sites, which are assigned to bands in the range of 210 nm–230 nm. Infrared spectra of Ti-DZ-1 consist of a distinct absorption band at 960 cm^(−1), which is absent in DZ-1 prior to Ti incorporation and has been previously correlated with the presence of framework Ti species. Infrared spectra after pyridine adsorption demonstrate bands consistent with Lewis-acid sites in the resulting Ti-substituted delaminated zeolite. The accessibility of these Lewis-acid sites is confirmed when using Ti-DZ-1 as a catalyst for cyclohexene epoxidation using tert-butyl hydroperoxide as the organic oxidant – a reaction for which both DZ-1 and TS-1 are inactive

Spatial distribution of pico- and nano-phytoplankton and bacteria in the Chukchi Sea in relation to water masses

We evaluated the relationships between water masses and pico- and nano-phytoplankton and bacterial abundance in the Chukchi Sea. The abundance of picoplankton ranged from 0.01 × 103 cells∙mL-1 (100 m, station R05) to 2.21 × 103 cells∙mL-1 (10 m, station R05) and that of nanoplankton ranged from 0.03 × 103 cells∙mL-1 (100 m, station R07) to 2.21 × 104 cells∙mL-1 (10 m, station R05). The lowest abundance of bacteria in the whole water column (0.21 × 106 cells∙mL-1) was at 100 m at station R17, and the highest (9.61 × 106 cells∙mL-1) was at 10 m at station R09. Melting sea ice affected the physical characteristics of the Chukchi Sea by reducing salinity of the surface mixed layer, resulting in greater hydrodynamic stability of the water column. These changes were accompanied by increased bacterial abundance. The warm Pacific water brought nutrients into the Chukchi Sea, resulting in greater abundance of bacteria and nano-phytoplankton in the Chukchi Sea than in other regions of the Arctic Ocean. However, the abundance of pico-phytoplankton, which was related to chlorophyll a concentration, was higher in Anadyr water than in the other two water masses. The structures of pico- and nanoplankton communities coupled with the water masses in the Chukchi Sea can serve as indicators of the inflow of warm Pacific water into the Chukchi Sea

Analysis of interreader agreement in structured reports of pelvic multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging using the METastasis Reporting and Data System for Prostate Cancer guidelines

PURPOSETo evaluate interreader agreement on pelvic multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI) interpretation among radiologists using a structured reporting tool based on the METastasis Reporting and Data System for Prostate Cancer (MET-RADS-P) guidelines.METHODSA structured report for follow-up pelvic mpMRI for advanced prostate cancer (APC) patients was formulated based on MET-RADS-P guidelines. In total, 163 paired pelvic mpMRI examinations were performed from December 2017 to February 2021 on 105 patients with APC. These were retrospectively reviewed by two senior and two junior radiologists for metastatic lesion detection and were categorized by these readers using primary/secondary response assessment categories (RACs), with and without the structured report. Interreader agreement regarding metastasis detection and RAC scores was evaluated with Cohen’s kappa and weighted Cohen’s kappa statistics (K), respectively.RESULTSThe two senior radiologists showed higher agreement with the reference standard for metastasis detection using the structured report (S1: K = 0.83; S2: K = 0.73) compared with the conventional report (S1: K = 0.72; S2: K = 0.61). Junior radiologists showed similar results (J1: 0.66 vs. 0.59; J2: 0.65 vs. 0.57). The overall agreement between the two senior radiologists was excellent for the primary RAC pattern using the structured reports (K = 0.81) and was substantial for secondary RAC categorization (K = 0.75). The interreader agreement of the two junior radiologists was substantial for both primary and secondary RAC values (K = 0.76, 0.68).CONCLUSIONGood interreader agreement was found for the follow-up assessment of APC patients between radiologists, where the pelvic mpMRI was reported using MET-RADS-P guidelines. This improvement applied to both metastatic lesion detection and qualitative RAC assessment

Logistic regression analysis of clinical and computed tomography features of pulmonary abscesses and risk factors for pulmonary abscess-related empyema

OBJECTIVES: This study was conducted to investigate the risk factors for pulmonary abscess-related empyema by investigating the clinical characteristics and chest computed tomography imaging features of patients with pulmonary abscesses. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed the chest computed tomography findings and clinical features of 101 cases of pulmonary abscess, including 25 cases with empyema (the experimental group) and 76 cases with no empyema (the control group). The potential risk factors for pulmonary abscess-related empyema were compared between the groups by using univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses. RESULTS: The incidence of pulmonary abscess-related empyema was 24.8% (25/101). Univariate analysis showed that male gender, diabetes, pleuritic symptoms, white blood cells 410 109 /L, albumin level o25 g/L, and positive sputum cultures were potential clinical-related risk factors and that an abscess 45 cm in diameter and transpulmonary fissure abscesses were potential computed tomography imaging-related risk factors for pulmonary abscess-related empyema. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that transpulmonary fissure abscesses (odds ratio=9.102, p=0.003), diabetes (odds ratio=9.066, p=0.003), an abscess 45 cm in diameter (odds ratio=8.998, p=0.002), and pleuritic symptoms (odds ratio=5.395, p=0.015) were independent risk factors for pulmonary abscess-related empyema. CONCLUSIONS: Transpulmonary fissure abscesses, diabetes, giant pulmonary abscesses, and pleuritic symptoms increased the risk of empyema among patients with pulmonary abscesses

Advances in application of single-cell RNA sequencing in cardiovascular research

Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) provides high-resolution information on transcriptomic changes at the single-cell level, which is of great significance for distinguishing cell subtypes, identifying stem cell differentiation processes, and identifying targets for disease treatment. In recent years, emerging single-cell RNA sequencing technologies have been used to make breakthroughs regarding decoding developmental trajectories, phenotypic transitions, and cellular interactions in the cardiovascular system, providing new insights into cardiovascular disease. This paper reviews the technical processes of single-cell RNA sequencing and the latest progress based on single-cell RNA sequencing in the field of cardiovascular system research, compares single-cell RNA sequencing with other single-cell technologies, and summarizes the extended applications and advantages and disadvantages of single-cell RNA sequencing. Finally, the prospects for applying single-cell RNA sequencing in the field of cardiovascular research are discussed

Elevated Serum Growth Differentiation Factor 15 Levels in Hyperthyroid Patients

Background: Recent studies have shown that growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF15), a member of the transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β)/bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) superfamily, plays an important role in appetite, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases. Since thyroid hormone has pleiotropic effects on whole-body energy metabolism, we aimed to explore the effect of thyroid hormone on circulating GDF15 levels in humans and GDF15 genes expression in C57BL/6 mice.Methods: A total of 134 hyperthyroid patients and 105 healthy subjects were recruited. Of them, 43 hyperthyroid patients received thionamide treatment for 3 months until euthyroidism. Serum GDF15 levels were determined using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method. To determine the source for the increased circulating GDF15, C57BL/6 mice were treated with T3, and GDF15 gene expressions in the liver, skeletal muscle, brown adipose tissue (BAT), inguinal white adipose tissue (iWAT), epididymal white adipose tissue (eWAT) were analyzed by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR).Results: Serum GDF15 levels were significantly elevated in hyperthyroid patients as compared with healthy subjects (326.06 ± 124.13 vs. 169.24 ± 82.96 pg/mL; P < 0.001). After thionamide treatment, GDF15 levels in hyperthyroid patients declined markedly from 293.27 ± 119.49 to 118.10 ± 71.83 pg/mL (P < 0.001). After adjustment for potential confounders, serum GDF15 levels were independently associated with hyperthyroidism. T3 treatment increased GDF15 expression in the brown adipose tissue of C57BL/6 mice.Conclusions: Serum GDF15 levels were elevated in patients with hyperthyroidism and declined after thionamide treatment. Thyroid hormone treatment upregulated GDF15 expression in mice. Therefore, our results present the clinical relevance of GDF15 in humans under the condition of hyperthyroidism