Precise and efficient grasping detection is vital for robotic arms to execute stable grasping tasks in industrial and household applications. However, existing methods fail to consider refining different scale features and detecting critical regions, resulting in coarse grasping rectangles. To address these issues, we propose a real-time coarse and fine granularity residual attention (CFRA) grasping detection network. First, to enable the network to detect different sizes of objects, we extract and fuse the coarse and fine granularity features. Then, we refine these fused features by introducing a feature refinement module, which enables the network to distinguish between object and background features effectively. Finally, we introduce a residual attention module that handles different shapes of objects adaptively, achieving refined grasping detection. We complete training and testing on both Cornell and Jacquard datasets, achieving detection accuracy of 98.7% and 94.2%, respectively. Moreover, the grasping success rate on the real-world UR3e robot achieves 98%. These results demonstrate the effectiveness and superiority of CFRA.

Microplastics (MPs) are carbon-rich polymers that are ubiquitous in the environment. With the increase of plastic production, microplastic pollution may be exacerbated and result in significant changes in microbial communities and biogeochemical processes such as carbon cycling, eventually impacting greenhouse gas emission and carbon storage in terrestrial ecosystems. However, current research on the effect of MPs on soil carbon cycling is still limited, and there is a lack of systematic review of the scattered information obtained from previous studies. Accordingly, this review provides a systematic overview of the current knowledge on the effects of MPs on soil carbon cycling and gives future research suggestions. Emerging evidence indicates that MPs could affect soil carbon stability and CO2 and CH4 emission by modifying soil physicochemical and microbiological properties; though biodegradable MPs often exhibit a greater effect than nonbiodegradable ones, the specific effects are highly dependent on plastic type, size and concentration. The specific mechanisms of MPs’ impact on soil carbon cycles remain elusive, which are discussed mainly from the perspective of microbial changes, including microbial biomass, microbial community composition, and key enzymes and functional genes associated with carbon metabolism. Further research is needed to elucidate whether MPs have a positive priming effect on soil carbon decomposition and the biotic and abiotic mechanisms involved. This review paper helps researchers gain a clearer picture of how and through which way MPs impact carbon cycling in soil ecosystems.

The coffee berry borer, Hypothenemus hampei (Ferrari) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), is a major destructive insect pest of coffee, which impacts the coffee crops negatively. As a draft genome has been completed for this insect, most molecular studies on gene transcriptional levels under different experimental conditions will be conducted using real-time reverse-transcription quantitative polymerase chain reactions (RT-qPCR). However, the lack of suitable internal reference genes will affect the accuracy of RT-qPCR results. In this study, the expression stability of nine candidate reference genes was evaluated under different developmental stages, temperature stress, and Beauveria bassiana infection. Data analyses were completed by four commonly used programs, BestKeeper, NormFinder, geNorm, and RefFinder. The result showed that RPL3 and EF1α combination were recommended as the most stable reference genes for developmental stages. EF1α and RPS3a combination were the top two stable reference genes for B. bassiana infection. RPS3a and RPL3 combination performed as the optimal reference genes both in temperature stress and all samples. Our results should provide a good foundation for the expression profile analyses of target genes in the future, especially for molecular studies on insect genetic development, temperature adaptability, and immune mechanism to entomogenous fungi in H. hampei.

Buckminsterfullerene (C60) is one of the most important carbon-based nanoparticles (CNPs). Industrial-scale production of C60 has reached the level of tons; release to the environment has been confirmed (Tremblay, 2002; Qiao et al., 2007). The present study was devoted to study of the effect of clay minerals on the migration process of C60. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were used to study the interaction of CNPS with clay minerals through study of the adsorption of C60 on various surfaces of kaolinite and pyrophyllite in vacuum and aqueous environments. Two kinds of surfaces, hydrophobic siloxane surfaces and hydrophilic hydroxyl surfaces, were investigated. C60 is mainly adsorbed onto the vacancy of the six-membered ring, composed of SiO4 tetrahedra or AlO6 octahedra, on clay-mineral surfaces. A single adsorption layer consisting of C60 molecules with an ordered hexagonal arrangement is presented for all surfaces in vacuum. In aqueous environments, however, the monolayer appears on the siloxane surfaces only, while a cluster of C60 molecules is formed on the hydroxyl surfaces. Free energies prove that the attachment of two C60 molecules is stronger than the adsorption of C60 onto the hydroxyl surface in water, which is the reason for unfavorable formation of C60 monolayer. On the other hand, the adsorption free energy is more negative on the hydrophobic siloxane surface, explaining the monolayer formation. The existence of water, which forms hydration layers on the surfaces of clay minerals, produces energy barriers, and reduces the adsorption affinity to some extent. Because clay minerals act as geosorbents in the environment, the present study is significant in terms of understanding the migration and fate of CNPS in nature.

Post-event rumination (PER) has been seen as a key element in the persistence of social anxiety (disorder). Studies on PER-targeted intervention, e.g., cognitive restructuring (CR), has, however, received little attention in adults, not yet in youth. In addition, previous research showed that, compared to interaction, participants reported higher levels of PER after speech task. The main aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of CR targeting PER among socially anxious (Chinese) adolescents and also to compare the intervention effect between speech and interaction situations. The present study recruited a sample of 73 high socially anxious adolescents aged 12–16 years and then randomly assigned them into speech (n = 37) or interaction (n = 36) group, without control group. PER and social anxiety (SA) were measured before and after CR. Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) results showed that adolescents’ PER and SA symptoms were significantly improved with intervention with moderate to high effect size. Furthermore, the decrease in PER could significantly predict the improvement of SA. However, the intervention effect showed no difference between groups. Although no control group was included, one-session CR still showed its potential to improve participants’ PER and SA. Limitations and future directions were discussed.

As the main global terrestrial ecosystem component, grasslands are extremely sensitive to global climate change. With increasing human activities over the last century, grassland ecosystems have been degraded to different degrees. However, the evolution of lake-grassland ecosystems in recent centuries remains unclear due to the dearth of high-resolution records. Here, we present high-resolution lacustrine sediment grain size, pollen (Artemisia, Myriophyllum), Pediastrum, and n-alkane records from Ganggeng Nur Lake to investigate vegetation, lake evolution, and human effects in semiarid northern China. Four stages were identified from the last ca. 150 years: (1) the natural evolution stage (AD 1870–1945), in which there was a wet climate around Ganggeng Nur and the lake level rose from increased runoff; (2) the human disturbance stage (AD 1945–1967), in which the regional climate got drier and human activities began having a detectable effect on the grassland ecosystem; (3) the human transformation stage (AD 1967–2005), in which a completely arid climate coupled with the implementation of a series of land reclamation policies resulted in a large reduction in grassland areas, extensive soil erosion, exacerbated climate change, and shrinking lake areas; and (4) the posttreatment stage (AD 2005–2018), in which soil erosion was alleviated by policy implementation and a favorable humid climate.

Shape memory polymers (SMPs) are a type of programmable materials capable of transforming their shapes in a pre-programmed way upon the application of an external stimulus. These materials have been tested for various potential applications particularly in the biomedical field for polymers with general and specific requirements. This review focuses on the recent advances in biomedical applications, including self-tightening sutures, pressure bandages, self-expansion stents, tissue engineering scaffolds, artificial muscles, drug delivery, and orthodontic archwires, after a brief description of the concepts, classifications, programming procedures, and material requirements of SMPs.

Telocyte (TC)—a new type of interstitial cell with long telopodes, can form cellular junctions with various tissues or cells to participate in the regulation of multitudes of physiological activities and diseases. This study aimed to characterize the morphology, molecular features, and potential functions of hormone regulation in Chinese soft-shelled turtle (Pelodiscus sinensis) testis TCs at different reproductive stages by histological evaluation, immunohistochemistry (IHC), immunofluorescence (IF), and transmission electron microscopy. During hibernation, TCs were widely distributed in the interstitial tissue. In contrast, during reproductive activity, TCs were noted to be in close proximity with peritubular myoid cells surrounding the seminiferous tubule. Moreover, formed cell–cell junctions were observed between TCs and PTMs. The results of IHC and IF showed that the immunophenotype of testicular TCs in hibernating Chinese soft-shelled turtles is CD34+Vimentin−, while the reproductive telopodes (Tps) show low expression of vimentin. The androgen receptor is expressed in Tps of TCs of testis during hibernation. Our results showed also that TCs in seasonal breeding animals regulate the activity of neighboring cells by releasing extracellular microvesicles (EXMVs), thus influencing the activity of spermatogenesis and steroidogenesis. Consideration of our novel and interesting results indicate that the whole area warrants further research.

The purpose of the current study was to research the factors influencing thyroid volume (TVOL) in 6–12-year-old children and update the reference values. A cross-sectional study was carried out in iodine-sufficient areas of four provinces in China. Urine, edible salt and drinking water samples were collected from children. Children’s height, weight and TVOL were measured. Ridge regression was used to screen variables for solving the multicollinearity problem. Quantile regression was used to analyse the relationship between the quantiles of TVOL and other variables. In total, 5653 children aged 6–12 years were enrolled in this study, including 2838 boys and 2815 girls. There was no significant difference in TVOL between boys and girls (P > 0·05). Spearman correlation analysis showed that total TVOL was positively correlated with age, height, weight, body surface area (BSA) and BMI, and the correlation coefficients were 0·616, 0·663, 0·669, 0·685 and 0·479, respectively. Among them, the correlation between TVOL and BSA was the strongest. According to the ridge regression results, age and BSA influenced TVOL, and the ridge regression coefficients were 0·13 and 0·94, respectively. Quantile regression further showed that age and BSA had significant influences on the whole TVOL distribution (P < 0·001). Therefore, the TVOL of children aged 6–12 years in China was mainly influenced by age and BSA, and reference values for TVOL of different genders based on age and BSA were established.

The gut microbiota plays an important role in animals’ survival in their local environments. The intertidal rocky shore is a key interface of oceanic, atmospheric and terrestrial environments, and the transmission modes of microbes between an intertidal host and the environment are complex and largely ignored. In the present study, we characterized the gut microbiota of the intertidal snail Nerita yoldii, which is experiencing a northward range shift under the combined impacts of climate change and anthropogenic seascape transformation, and also determined the nearby environmental microbiota on the rock and in the seawater at five locations along the snail's distribution range in China. The gut microbial communities were significantly different from the environmental microbial communities, and the dominant phyla were Tenericutes, Cyanobacteria and Bacteroidetes, and Proteobacteria in the gut, rock and seawater microbial communities, respectively. At the genus level, Mycoplasma, with a relative abundance of 48.0 ± 10.2%, was the dominant genus in the gut microbial community, however, the relative abundances of this genus on the rock and in the water were low. These results imply that the gut microbial community of the intertidal snail N. yoldii is relatively independent from the environmental microbial community, and the dominant genus Mycoplasma in the gut, that is rare in the environment, can potentially assist the snail living in the harsh intertidal environment, especially at its northernmost distribution range edge.

The article aims to estimate and forecast the transmissibility of shigellosis and explore the association of meteorological factors with shigellosis. The mathematical model named Susceptible–Exposed–Symptomatic/Asymptomatic–Recovered–Water/Food (SEIARW) was used to explore the feature of shigellosis transmission based on the data of Wuhan City, China, from 2005 to 2017. The study applied effective reproduction number (Reff) to estimate the transmissibility. Daily meteorological data from 2008 to 2017 were used to determine Spearman's correlation with reported new cases and Reff. The SEIARW model fit the data well (χ2 = 0.00046, p > 0.999). The simulation results showed that the reservoir-to-person transmission of the shigellosis route has been interrupted. The Reff would be reduced to a transmission threshold of 1.00 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.82–1.19) in 2035. Reducing the infectious period to 11.25 days would also decrease the value of Reff to 0.99. There was a significant correlation between new cases of shigellosis and atmospheric pressure, temperature, wind speed and sun hours per day. The correlation coefficients, although statistically significant, were very low (<0.3). In Wuhan, China, the main transmission pattern of shigellosis is person-to-person. Meteorological factors, especially daily atmospheric pressure and temperature, may influence the epidemic of shigellosis.

The findings regarding the associations between red meat, fish and poultry consumption, and the metabolic syndrome (Mets) have been inconclusive, and evidence from Chinese populations is scarce. A cross-sectional study was performed to investigate the associations between red meat, fish and poultry consumption, and the prevalence of the Mets and its components among the residents of Suzhou Industrial Park, Suzhou, China. A total of 4424 participants were eligible for the analysis. A logistic regression model was used to estimate the OR and 95 % CI for the prevalence of the Mets and its components according to red meat, fish and poultry consumption. In addition, the data of our cross-sectional study were meta-analysed under a random effects model along with those of published observational studies to generate the summary relative risks (RR) of the associations between the highest v. lowest categories of red meat, fish and poultry consumption and the Mets and its components. In the cross-sectional study, the multivariable-adjusted OR for the highest v. lowest quartiles of consumption was 1·23 (95 % CI 1·02, 1·48) for red meat, 0·83 (95 % CI 0·72, 0·97) for fish and 0·93 (95 % CI 0·74, 1·18) for poultry. In the meta-analysis, the pooled RR for the highest v. lowest categories of consumption was 1·20 (95 % CI 1·06, 1·35) for red meat, 0·88 (95 % CI 0·81, 0·96) for fish and 0·97 (95 % CI 0·85, 1·10) for poultry. The findings of both cross-sectional studies and meta-analyses indicated that the association between fish consumption and the Mets may be partly driven by the inverse association of fish consumption with elevated TAG and reduced HDL-cholesterol and, to a lesser extent, fasting plasma glucose. No clear pattern of associations was observed between red meat or poultry consumption and the components of the Mets. The current findings add weight to the evidence that the Mets may be positively associated with red meat consumption, inversely associated with fish consumption and neutrally associated with poultry consumption.

The coffee white stem borer, Xylotrechus quadripes Chevrolat (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae), is a major destructive pest of Coffea arabica L. (Gentianales: Rubiaceae), widely planted in many Asian countries, including China. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) is a common method for quantitative analysis of gene transcription levels. To obtain accurate and reliable qRT-PCR results, it is necessary to select suitable reference genes to different experimental conditions for normalizing the target gene expression. However, the stability of the expression of reference genes in X. quadripes has rarely been studied. In this study, the expression stability of nine candidate reference genes were investigated under biotic and abiotic conditions for use in qRT-PCR's normalization. By integrating the results of four algorithms of NormFinder, BestKeeper, geNorm, and RefFinder, the optimal reference gene combinations in different experimental conditions were performed as follows: RPL10a and EIF3D were the optimal reference genes for developmental stage samples, EIF4E, RPL10a, and RPS27a for tissue samples, V-ATP and EF1α for the sex samples, EIF3D and V-ATP for temperature treatment, RPS27a and RPL10a for insecticide stress, and RPL10a, RPS27a, and EF1α for all the samples. This study will help to obtain the stable internal reference genes under biotic and abiotic conditions and lay the foundation for in-depth functional research of target genes or genomics on olfactory molecular mechanisms, temperature adaptability, and insecticide resistance in X. quadripes.

Spodoptera litura is an important pest that causes significant economic damage to numerous crops worldwide. Sex pheromones (SPs) mediate sexual communication in S. litura and show a characteristic degree of rhythmic activity, occurring mainly during the scotophase; however, the specific regulatory mechanisms remain unclear. Here, we employed a genome-wide analysis to identify eight candidate circadian clock genes in S. litura. Sequence characteristics and expression patterns were analyzed. Our results demonstrated that some circadian clock genes might regulate the biosynthesis and perception of SPs by regulating the rhythmic expression of SP biosynthesis-related genes and SP perception-related genes. Interestingly, all potential genes exhibited peak expression in the scotophase, consistent with the SP could mediate courtship and mating behavior in S. litura. Our findings are helpful in elucidating the molecular mechanism by which circadian clock genes regulate sexual communication in S. litura.

In this paper, the generation of relativistic electron mirrors (REMs) and the reflection of an ultra-short laser off this mirrors are discussed, applying two-dimensional particle-in-cell (2D-PIC) simulations. REMs with ultra-high acceleration and expanding velocity can be produced from a solid nanofoil illuminated normally by an ultra-intense femtosecond laser pulse with a sharp rising edge. Chirped attosecond pulse can be produced through the reflection of a counter-propagating probe laser off the accelerating REM. In the electron moving frame, the plasma frequency of the REM keeps decreasing due to its rapidly expanding. The laser frequency, on the contrary, keeps increasing due to the acceleration of REM and the relativistic Doppler shift from the lab frame to the electron moving frame. Within an ultra-short time interval, the two frequencies will be equal in the electron moving frame, which leads the resonance between laser and REM. The reflected radiation near this interval and the corresponding spectra will be amplified due to the resonance. Through adjusting the arriving time of the probe laser, certain part of the reflected field could be selectively amplified or depressed, leading to the selectively adjusting of the corresponding spectra.

This study aimed at estimating the transmissibility of hepatitis C. The data for hepatitis C cases were collected in six districts in Xiamen City, China from 2004 to 2018. A population-mixed susceptible-infectious-chronic-recovered (SICR) model was used to fit the data and the parameters of the model were calculated. The basic reproduction number (R0) and the number of newly transmitted cases by a primary case per month (MNI) were adopted to quantitatively assess the transmissibility of hepatitis C virus (HCV). Eleven curve estimation models were employed to predict the trends of R0 and MNI in the city. The SICR model fits the reported HCV data well (P < 0.01). The median R0 of each district in Xiamen is 0.4059. R0 follows the cubic model curve, the compound curve and the power function curve. The median MNI of each district in Xiamen is 0.0020. MNI follows the cubic model curve, the compound curve and the power function curve. The transmissibility of HCV follows a decreasing trend, which reveals that under the current policy for prevention and control, there would be a high feasibility to eliminate the transmission of HCV in the city.