In the realm of nonlinear integrable systems,the presence of decompositions facilitates the establishment of linear superposition solutions and the derivation of novel coupled systems exhibiting nonlinear integrabilit...In the realm of nonlinear integrable systems,the presence of decompositions facilitates the establishment of linear superposition solutions and the derivation of novel coupled systems exhibiting nonlinear integrability.By focusing on single-component decompositions within the potential BKP hierarchy,it has been observed that specific linear superpositions of decomposition solutions remain consistent with the underlying equations.Moreover,through the implementation of multi-component decompositions within the potential BKP hierarchy,successful endeavors have been undertaken to formulate linear superposition solutions and novel coupled Kd V-type systems that resist decoupling via alterations in dependent variables.展开更多
Multi-component transition group metal borides(MMB_(2))have become a research hotspot due to their new composition design concepts and superior properties compared with conventional ceramics.Most of the current method...Multi-component transition group metal borides(MMB_(2))have become a research hotspot due to their new composition design concepts and superior properties compared with conventional ceramics.Most of the current methods,however,are complicated and time-consuming,the mass production remains a chal-lenge.Herein,we proposed a new high-efficiency strategy for synthesis of MMB_(2)using molten aluminum as the medium for the first time.The prepared Al-containing multi-component borides(TiZrHfNbTa)B_(2)microcrystals had a homogeneous composition with a hexagonal AlB_(2)structure and ultra-high hardness value of∼35.3 GPa,which was much higher than data reported in the literature and the rule of mix-ture estimations.Furthermore,combined with the First-principles calculation results,we found that the Poisson’s ratio(v)values exhibit a clearly ascending trend from 0.17 at VEC=3.5 to 0.18 at VEC=3.4,then to 0.201 at VEC=3.2 with the increasing of Al content.This indicates that the intrinsic toughness of multi-component boride microcrystals is obviously enhanced by the trace-doped Al elements.Besides,the fabricated Al-containing multi-component boride microcrystals have superior oxidation activation en-ergy and structural stability.The enhanced oxidation resistance is mainly attributed to the formation of a protective Al2 O3 oxide layer and the lattice distortion,both of which lead to sluggish diffusion of O_(2).These findings propose a new unexplored avenue for the fabrication of MMB_(2)materials with supe-rior comprehensive performance including ultra-hardness and intrinsically improved thermo-mechanical properties.展开更多
A convenient photocatalytic multi-component reaction of alkenes,quinoxalin-2(1H)-ones,and diazo compounds has been developed in the presence of water.A number of ester-containing quinoxalin-2(1H)-ones could be efficie...A convenient photocatalytic multi-component reaction of alkenes,quinoxalin-2(1H)-ones,and diazo compounds has been developed in the presence of water.A number of ester-containing quinoxalin-2(1H)-ones could be efficiently obtained in moderate to good yields at room temperature.This metal-free visiblelight-driven tandem reaction was conducted through proton-coupled electron transfer(PCET)process using water as the hydrogen donor and 1,2,3,5-tetrakis(carbazol-9-yl)-4,6-dicyanobenzene(4CzIPN)as the photocatalyst.展开更多
The spiral-wound heat exchanger(SWHE) is the primary low-temperature heat exchanger for large-scale LNG plants due to its high-pressure resistance, compact structure, and high heat exchange efficiency. This paper stud...The spiral-wound heat exchanger(SWHE) is the primary low-temperature heat exchanger for large-scale LNG plants due to its high-pressure resistance, compact structure, and high heat exchange efficiency. This paper studied the shell-side heat and mass transfer characteristics of vapor-liquid two-phase mixed refrigerants in an SWHE by combining a multi-component model in FLUENT software with a customized multicomponent mass transfer model. Besides, the mathematical model under the sloshing condition was obtained through mathematical derivation, and the corresponding UDF code was loaded into FLUENT as the momentum source term. The results under the sloshing conditions were compared with the relevant parameters under the steady-state condition. The shell-side heat and mass transfer characteristics of the SWHE were investigated by adjusting the component ratio and other working conditions. It was found that the sloshing conditions enhance the heat transfer performance and sometimes have insignificant effects. The sloshing condition is beneficial to reduce the flow resistance. The comprehensive performance of multi-component refrigerants has been improved and the improvement is more significant under sloshing conditions, considering both the heat transfer and pressure drop.These results will provide theoretical support for the research and design of multi-component heat and mass transfer enhancement of LNG SWHE under ocean sloshing conditions.展开更多
Wearable,flexible devices have garnered widespread attention in the realm of human motion and life activity detection.Currently,the development of simple,green,and easily scalable methods for fabricating strain sensor...Wearable,flexible devices have garnered widespread attention in the realm of human motion and life activity detection.Currently,the development of simple,green,and easily scalable methods for fabricating strain sensors still presents significant challenges.In this study,we successfully modified the surface of reduced graphene oxide(rGO)with SnCuNiIn multi-component alloy nanoparticles(MCA NPs),with an average size of 13.29 nm,utilizing a green and facile microwave heating approach.Leveraging the SnCuNiIn MCA NPs/rGO powder,we formulated a conductive ink based on water and ethylene glycol,which,when screen-printed,yielded conductive patterns with a minimum resistivity of 4.366 mΩ·cm.Strain sensors produced using this ink demonstrate exceptional performance,demonstrating favorable resistance change rates during a single bending process that meets practical application requirements,and enduring 5000 bending cycles with a resistance change of less than 5%.These sensors exhibited a high gauge factor(GF_(max)=52.7)and outstanding cycling stability.Lastly,strain sensors are employed to monitor human normal life activities and motion states,showcasing significant potential for application in wearable electronic products.展开更多
Thunderstorm wind gusts are small in scale,typically occurring within a range of a few kilometers.It is extremely challenging to monitor and forecast thunderstorm wind gusts using only automatic weather stations.There...Thunderstorm wind gusts are small in scale,typically occurring within a range of a few kilometers.It is extremely challenging to monitor and forecast thunderstorm wind gusts using only automatic weather stations.Therefore,it is necessary to establish thunderstorm wind gust identification techniques based on multisource high-resolution observations.This paper introduces a new algorithm,called thunderstorm wind gust identification network(TGNet).It leverages multimodal feature fusion to fuse the temporal and spatial features of thunderstorm wind gust events.The shapelet transform is first used to extract the temporal features of wind speeds from automatic weather stations,which is aimed at distinguishing thunderstorm wind gusts from those caused by synoptic-scale systems or typhoons.Then,the encoder,structured upon the U-shaped network(U-Net)and incorporating recurrent residual convolutional blocks(R2U-Net),is employed to extract the corresponding spatial convective characteristics of satellite,radar,and lightning observations.Finally,by using the multimodal deep fusion module based on multi-head cross-attention,the temporal features of wind speed at each automatic weather station are incorporated into the spatial features to obtain 10-minutely classification of thunderstorm wind gusts.TGNet products have high accuracy,with a critical success index reaching 0.77.Compared with those of U-Net and R2U-Net,the false alarm rate of TGNet products decreases by 31.28%and 24.15%,respectively.The new algorithm provides grid products of thunderstorm wind gusts with a spatial resolution of 0.01°,updated every 10minutes.The results are finer and more accurate,thereby helping to improve the accuracy of operational warnings for thunderstorm wind gusts.展开更多
In the article“A Lightweight Approach for Skin Lesion Detection through Optimal Features Fusion”by Khadija Manzoor,Fiaz Majeed,Ansar Siddique,Talha Meraj,Hafiz Tayyab Rauf,Mohammed A.El-Meligy,Mohamed Sharaf,Abd Ela...In the article“A Lightweight Approach for Skin Lesion Detection through Optimal Features Fusion”by Khadija Manzoor,Fiaz Majeed,Ansar Siddique,Talha Meraj,Hafiz Tayyab Rauf,Mohammed A.El-Meligy,Mohamed Sharaf,Abd Elatty E.Abd Elgawad Computers,Materials&Continua,2022,Vol.70,No.1,pp.1617–1630.DOI:10.32604/cmc.2022.018621,URL:https://www.techscience.com/cmc/v70n1/44361,there was an error regarding the affiliation for the author Hafiz Tayyab Rauf.Instead of“Centre for Smart Systems,AI and Cybersecurity,Staffordshire University,Stoke-on-Trent,UK”,the affiliation should be“Independent Researcher,Bradford,BD80HS,UK”.展开更多
Magnetostrictive Fe-Ga alloys have captivated substantial focus in biomedical applications because of their exceptional transition efficiency and favorable cytocompatibility.Nevertheless,Fe-Ga alloys always exhibit fr...Magnetostrictive Fe-Ga alloys have captivated substantial focus in biomedical applications because of their exceptional transition efficiency and favorable cytocompatibility.Nevertheless,Fe-Ga alloys always exhibit frustrating magnetostriction coefficients when presented in bulk dimensions.It is well-established that the magnetostrictive performance of Fe-Ga alloys is intimately linked to their phase and crystal structures.In this study,various concentrations of boron(B)were doped into Fe_(81)Ga_(19) alloys via the laser-beam powder bed fusion(LPBF)technique to tailor the crystal and phase structures,thereby improving the magnetostrictive performance.The results revealed the capacity for quick solidification of the LPBF process in expediting the solid solution of B element,which increased both lattice distortion and dislocations within the Fe-Ga matrix.These factors contributed to an elevation in the density of the modified-D0_(3) phase structure.Moreover,the prepared Fe-Ga-B alloys also exhibited a(001)preferred grain orientation caused by the high thermal gradients during the LPBF process.As a result,a maximum magnetostriction coefficient of 105 ppm was achieved in the(Fe_(81)Ga_(19))_(98.5)B_(1.5) alloy.In alternating magnetic fields,all the LPBF-prepared alloys showed good dynamic magnetostriction response without visible hysteresis,while the(Fe_(81)Ga_(19))_(98.5)B_(1.5) alloy presented a notable enhancement of~30%in magnetostriction coefficient when compared with the Fe_(81)Ga_(19) alloy.Moreover.the(Fe_(81)Ga_(19))_(98.5)B_(1.5) alloy exhibited favorable biocompatibility and osteogenesis,as confirmed by increased alkaline phosphatase(ALP)activity and the formation of mineralized nodules.These findings suggest that the B-doped Fe-Ga alloys combined with the LPBF technique hold promise for the development of bulk magnetostrictive alloys that are applicable for bone repair applications.展开更多
This article explores the design of a wireless fire alarm system supported by advanced data fusion technology.It includes discussions on the basic design ideas of the wireless fire alarm system,hardware design analysi...This article explores the design of a wireless fire alarm system supported by advanced data fusion technology.It includes discussions on the basic design ideas of the wireless fire alarm system,hardware design analysis,software design analysis,and simulation analysis,all supported by data fusion technology.Hopefully,this analysis can provide some reference for the rational application of data fusion technology to meet the actual design and application requirements of the system.展开更多
This work investigated the anisotropy tensile properties of Inconel 625 alloy fabricated by laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) under various tests temperature, focusing the anisotropy evolution during the high temperature...This work investigated the anisotropy tensile properties of Inconel 625 alloy fabricated by laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) under various tests temperature, focusing the anisotropy evolution during the high temperature. The microstructure contained columnar grains with (111) texture in the vertical plane (90° sample), while a large equiaxed grain with (100) texture was produced in the horizontal plane (0° sample). As for 45° sample, a large number of equiaxed grains and a few columnar grains with (111) texture can be observed. The sample produced at a 0° orientation demonstrates the highest tensile strength, whereas the 90° sample exhibits the greatest elongation. Conversely, the 45° sample displays the least favorable overall performance. As the tests temperature increased from room temperature to 600℃, the anisotropy rate of ultimate tensile strength, yield strength and ductility between 0° and 45° samples, decreased from 8.98 to 6.96%, 2.36 to 1.28%, 19.93 to 12.23%, as well as between 0° and 90° samples decreased from 4.87 to 4.03%, 11.88 to 7.21% and 14.11 to 6.89%, respectively, because of the recovery of oriented columnar grains.展开更多
Solar flare prediction is an important subject in the field of space weather.Deep learning technology has greatly promoted the development of this subject.In this study,we propose a novel solar flare forecasting model...Solar flare prediction is an important subject in the field of space weather.Deep learning technology has greatly promoted the development of this subject.In this study,we propose a novel solar flare forecasting model integrating Deep Residual Network(ResNet)and Support Vector Machine(SVM)for both≥C-class(C,M,and X classes)and≥M-class(M and X classes)flares.We collected samples of magnetograms from May 1,2010 to September 13,2018 from Space-weather Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager(HMI)Active Region Patches and then used a cross-validation method to obtain seven independent data sets.We then utilized five metrics to evaluate our fusion model,based on intermediate-output extracted by ResNet and SVM using the Gaussian kernel function.Our results show that the primary metric true skill statistics(TSS)achieves a value of 0.708±0.027 for≥C-class prediction,and of 0.758±0.042 for≥M-class prediction;these values indicate that our approach performs significantly better than those of previous studies.The metrics of our fusion model’s performance on the seven datasets indicate that the model is quite stable and robust,suggesting that fusion models that integrate an excellent baseline network with SVM can achieve improved performance in solar flare prediction.Besides,we also discuss the performance impact of architectural innovation in our fusion model.展开更多
Solar cell defect detection is crucial for quality inspection in photovoltaic power generation modules.In the production process,defect samples occur infrequently and exhibit random shapes and sizes,which makes it cha...Solar cell defect detection is crucial for quality inspection in photovoltaic power generation modules.In the production process,defect samples occur infrequently and exhibit random shapes and sizes,which makes it challenging to collect defective samples.Additionally,the complex surface background of polysilicon cell wafers complicates the accurate identification and localization of defective regions.This paper proposes a novel Lightweight Multiscale Feature Fusion network(LMFF)to address these challenges.The network comprises a feature extraction network,a multi-scale feature fusion module(MFF),and a segmentation network.Specifically,a feature extraction network is proposed to obtain multi-scale feature outputs,and a multi-scale feature fusion module(MFF)is used to fuse multi-scale feature information effectively.In order to capture finer-grained multi-scale information from the fusion features,we propose a multi-scale attention module(MSA)in the segmentation network to enhance the network’s ability for small target detection.Moreover,depthwise separable convolutions are introduced to construct depthwise separable residual blocks(DSR)to reduce the model’s parameter number.Finally,to validate the proposed method’s defect segmentation and localization performance,we constructed three solar cell defect detection datasets:SolarCells,SolarCells-S,and PVEL-S.SolarCells and SolarCells-S are monocrystalline silicon datasets,and PVEL-S is a polycrystalline silicon dataset.Experimental results show that the IOU of our method on these three datasets can reach 68.5%,51.0%,and 92.7%,respectively,and the F1-Score can reach 81.3%,67.5%,and 96.2%,respectively,which surpasses other commonly usedmethods and verifies the effectiveness of our LMFF network.展开更多
In this paper, the problem of cubature Kalman fusion filtering(CKFF) is addressed for multi-sensor systems under amplify-and-forward(AaF) relays. For the purpose of facilitating data transmission, AaF relays are utili...In this paper, the problem of cubature Kalman fusion filtering(CKFF) is addressed for multi-sensor systems under amplify-and-forward(AaF) relays. For the purpose of facilitating data transmission, AaF relays are utilized to regulate signal communication between sensors and filters. Here, the randomly varying channel parameters are represented by a set of stochastic variables whose occurring probabilities are permitted to exhibit bounded uncertainty. Employing the spherical-radial cubature principle, a local filter under AaF relays is initially constructed. This construction ensures and minimizes an upper bound of the filtering error covariance by designing an appropriate filter gain. Subsequently, the local filters are fused through the application of the covariance intersection fusion rule. Furthermore, the uniform boundedness of the filtering error covariance's upper bound is investigated through establishing certain sufficient conditions. The effectiveness of the proposed CKFF scheme is ultimately validated via a simulation experiment concentrating on a three-phase induction machine.展开更多
BACKGROUND Ependymoma with lipomatous differentiation is a rare type of ependymoma.The ZFTA fusion-positive supratentorial ependymoma is a novel tumor type in the 2021 World Health Organization classification of centr...BACKGROUND Ependymoma with lipomatous differentiation is a rare type of ependymoma.The ZFTA fusion-positive supratentorial ependymoma is a novel tumor type in the 2021 World Health Organization classification of central nervous system tumors.ZFTA fusion-positive lipomatous ependymoma has not been reported to date.CASE SUMMARY We reported a case of a 15-year-old Chinese male who had a sudden convulsion lasting approximately six minutes.Magnetic resonance imaging showed a round cystic shadow of approximately 1.9 cm×1.5 cm×1.9 cm under the right parieto-occipital cortex.Microscopic examination showed characteristic perivascular pseudorosettes and adipose differentiation in the cytoplasm.Immunohisto-chemical staining showed that the tumor cells were negative for cytokeratin,NeuN,Syn and p53,but positive for GFAP,vimentin and S-100 protein.Signi-ficant punctate intracytoplasmic EMA immunoreactivity was observed.The level of Ki-67 was about 5%.Genetic analysis revealed ZFTA:RELA fusion.A cranio-tomy with total excision of the tumor was performed.The follow-up time was 36 months,no evidence of disease recurrence was found in magnetic resonance imaging.CONCLUSION Based on these findings,the patient was diagnosed as a ependymoma with ZFTA fusion and lipomatous differentiation.This case report provides information on the microscopic morphological features of ependymoma with ZFTA fusion and lipomatous differentiation,which can help pathologists to make a definitive diagnosis of this tumor.展开更多
To increase the strength of the laser powder-bed fusion (LPBF) Al-Si-based aluminum alloy, TiB_(2) ceramic particles were selected to be mixed with high-Mg content Al-Si-Mg-Zr powder, and then a novel TiB_(2)/Al-Si-Mg...To increase the strength of the laser powder-bed fusion (LPBF) Al-Si-based aluminum alloy, TiB_(2) ceramic particles were selected to be mixed with high-Mg content Al-Si-Mg-Zr powder, and then a novel TiB_(2)/Al-Si-Mg-Zr composite was fabricated using LPBF. The results indicated that a dense sample with a maximum relative density of 99.85% could be obtained by adjusting the LPBF process parameters. Incorporating TiB_(2) nanoparticles enhanced the powder's laser absorption rate, thereby raising the alloy's intrinsic heat treatment temperature and consequently facilitating the precipitation of Si and βʺ nanoparticles in the α-Al cells. Moreover, the rapid cooling process during LPBF resulted in numerous alloying elements with low-stacking fault energy dissolving in the α-Al matrix, thus promoting the formation of the 9R phase. After a 48 h direct aging treatment at 150℃, the strength of the alloy slightly increased due to the increase of nanoprecipitates. Both yield strength and ultimate tensile strength of the LPBF TiB_(2)/Al-Si-Mg-Zr alloy were significantly higher than that of other LPBF TiB_(2)-modified aluminum alloys with external addition.展开更多
The fusion of infrared and visible images should emphasize the salient targets in the infrared image while preserving the textural details of the visible images.To meet these requirements,an autoencoder-based method f...The fusion of infrared and visible images should emphasize the salient targets in the infrared image while preserving the textural details of the visible images.To meet these requirements,an autoencoder-based method for infrared and visible image fusion is proposed.The encoder designed according to the optimization objective consists of a base encoder and a detail encoder,which is used to extract low-frequency and high-frequency information from the image.This extraction may lead to some information not being captured,so a compensation encoder is proposed to supplement the missing information.Multi-scale decomposition is also employed to extract image features more comprehensively.The decoder combines low-frequency,high-frequency and supplementary information to obtain multi-scale features.Subsequently,the attention strategy and fusion module are introduced to perform multi-scale fusion for image reconstruction.Experimental results on three datasets show that the fused images generated by this network effectively retain salient targets while being more consistent with human visual perception.展开更多
BACKGROUND The classification of uterine sarcomas is based on distinctive morphological and immunophenotypic characteristics,increasingly supported by molecular genetic diagnostics.Data on neurotrophic tyrosine recept...BACKGROUND The classification of uterine sarcomas is based on distinctive morphological and immunophenotypic characteristics,increasingly supported by molecular genetic diagnostics.Data on neurotrophic tyrosine receptor kinase(NTRK)gene fusionpositive uterine sarcoma,potentially aggressive and morphologically similar to fibrosarcoma,are limited due to its recent recognition.Pan-TRK immunohistochemistry(IHC)analysis serves as an effective screening tool with high sensitivity and specificity for NTRK-fusion malignancies.CASE SUMMARY We report a case of a malignant mesenchymal tumor originating from the uterine cervix,which was pan-TRK IHC-positive but lacked NTRK gene fusions,accompanied by a brief literature review.A 55-year-old woman presented to the emergency department with abdominal pain and distension,exhibiting significant ascites and multiple solid pelvic masses.Pelvic examination revealed a tumor encompassing the uterine cervix,extending to the vagina and uterine corpus.A punch biopsy of the cervix indicated NTRK sarcoma with positive immunochemical pan-TRK stain.However,subsequent next generation sequencing revealed no NTRK gene fusion,leading to a diagnosis of poorly differentiated,advanced-stage sarcoma.CONCLUSION The clinical significance of NTRK gene fusion lies in potential treatment with TRK inhibitors for positive sarcomas.Identifying such rare tumors is crucial due to the potential applicability of tropomyosin receptor kinase inhibitor treatment.展开更多
To enhance the mechanical properties of Mo alloys prepared through laser powder bed fusion(LPBF),a hot isostatic pressing(HIP)treatment was used.Results show that following HIP treatment,the porosity decreases from 0....To enhance the mechanical properties of Mo alloys prepared through laser powder bed fusion(LPBF),a hot isostatic pressing(HIP)treatment was used.Results show that following HIP treatment,the porosity decreases from 0.27%to 0.22%,enabling the elements Mo and Ti to diffuse fully and to distribute more uniformly,and to forming a substantial number of low-angle grain boundaries.The tensile strength soars from 286±32 MPa to 598±22 MPa,while the elongation increases from 0.08%±0.02%to 0.18%±0.02%,without notable alterations in grain morphology during the tensile deformation.HIP treatment eliminates the molten pool boundaries,which are the primary source for premature failure in LPBFed Mo alloys.Consequently,HIP treatment emerges as a novel and effective approach for strengthening the mechanical properties of LPBFed Mo alloys,offering a fresh perspective on producing high-performance Mo-based alloys.展开更多
Successful polyethylene glycol fusion(PEG-fusion)of severed axons following peripheral nerve injuries for PEG-fused axons has been reported to:(1)rapidly restore electrophysiological continuity;(2)prevent distal Walle...Successful polyethylene glycol fusion(PEG-fusion)of severed axons following peripheral nerve injuries for PEG-fused axons has been reported to:(1)rapidly restore electrophysiological continuity;(2)prevent distal Wallerian Degeneration and maintain their myelin sheaths;(3)promote primarily motor,voluntary behavioral recoveries as assessed by the Sciatic Functional Index;and,(4)rapidly produce correct and incorrect connections in many possible combinations that produce rapid and extensive recovery of functional peripheral nervous system/central nervous system connections and reflex(e.g.,toe twitch)or voluntary behaviors.The preceding companion paper describes sensory terminal field reo rganization following PEG-fusion repair of sciatic nerve transections or ablations;howeve r,sensory behavioral recovery has not been explicitly explored following PEG-fusion repair.In the current study,we confirmed the success of PEG-fusion surgeries according to criteria(1-3)above and more extensively investigated whether PEG-fusion enhanced mechanical nociceptive recovery following sciatic transection in male and female outbred Sprague-Dawley and inbred Lewis rats.Mechanical nociceptive responses were assessed by measuring withdrawal thresholds using von Frey filaments on the dorsal and midplantar regions of the hindpaws.Dorsal von Frey filament tests were a more reliable method than plantar von Frey filament tests to assess mechanical nociceptive sensitivity following sciatic nerve transections.Baseline withdrawal thresholds of the sciatic-mediated lateral dorsal region differed significantly across strain but not sex.Withdrawal thresholds did not change significantly from baseline in chronic Unoperated and Sham-operated rats.Following sciatic transection,all rats exhibited severe hyposensitivity to stimuli at the lateral dorsal region of the hindpaw ipsilateral to the injury.However,PEG-fused rats exhibited significantly earlier return to baseline withdrawal thresholds than Negative Control rats.Furthermore,PEG-fused rats with significantly improved Sciatic Functional Index scores at or after 4 weeks postoperatively exhibited yet-earlier von Frey filament recove ry compared with those without Sciatic Functional Index recovery,suggesting a correlation between successful PEG-fusion and both motor-dominant and sensory-dominant behavioral recoveries.This correlation was independent of the sex or strain of the rat.Furthermore,our data showed that the acceleration of von Frey filament sensory recovery to baseline was solely due to the PEG-fused sciatic nerve and not saphenous nerve collateral outgrowths.No chronic hypersensitivity developed in any rat up to 12 weeks.All these data suggest that PEG-fusion repair of transection peripheral nerve injuries co uld have important clinical benefits.展开更多
基金sponsored by the National Natural Science Foundations of China under Grant Nos.12301315,12235007,11975131the Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No.LQ20A010009。
文摘In the realm of nonlinear integrable systems,the presence of decompositions facilitates the establishment of linear superposition solutions and the derivation of novel coupled systems exhibiting nonlinear integrability.By focusing on single-component decompositions within the potential BKP hierarchy,it has been observed that specific linear superpositions of decomposition solutions remain consistent with the underlying equations.Moreover,through the implementation of multi-component decompositions within the potential BKP hierarchy,successful endeavors have been undertaken to formulate linear superposition solutions and novel coupled Kd V-type systems that resist decoupling via alterations in dependent variables.
基金financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.52271033 and 52071179)the Key program of National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.51931003)+2 种基金Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province,China(No.BK20221493)Jiangsu Province Leading Edge Technology Basic Research Major Project(No.BK20222014)Foundation of“Qinglan Project”for Colleges and Universities in Jiangsu Province.
文摘Multi-component transition group metal borides(MMB_(2))have become a research hotspot due to their new composition design concepts and superior properties compared with conventional ceramics.Most of the current methods,however,are complicated and time-consuming,the mass production remains a chal-lenge.Herein,we proposed a new high-efficiency strategy for synthesis of MMB_(2)using molten aluminum as the medium for the first time.The prepared Al-containing multi-component borides(TiZrHfNbTa)B_(2)microcrystals had a homogeneous composition with a hexagonal AlB_(2)structure and ultra-high hardness value of∼35.3 GPa,which was much higher than data reported in the literature and the rule of mix-ture estimations.Furthermore,combined with the First-principles calculation results,we found that the Poisson’s ratio(v)values exhibit a clearly ascending trend from 0.17 at VEC=3.5 to 0.18 at VEC=3.4,then to 0.201 at VEC=3.2 with the increasing of Al content.This indicates that the intrinsic toughness of multi-component boride microcrystals is obviously enhanced by the trace-doped Al elements.Besides,the fabricated Al-containing multi-component boride microcrystals have superior oxidation activation en-ergy and structural stability.The enhanced oxidation resistance is mainly attributed to the formation of a protective Al2 O3 oxide layer and the lattice distortion,both of which lead to sluggish diffusion of O_(2).These findings propose a new unexplored avenue for the fabrication of MMB_(2)materials with supe-rior comprehensive performance including ultra-hardness and intrinsically improved thermo-mechanical properties.
基金supported by Sichuan Science and Technology Program(No.2023NSFSC0101)the 2024 Provincial platform project of Chengdu Normal University(No.GNFZ202404)+1 种基金Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province(No.ZR2021MB065)National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.22101237)。
文摘A convenient photocatalytic multi-component reaction of alkenes,quinoxalin-2(1H)-ones,and diazo compounds has been developed in the presence of water.A number of ester-containing quinoxalin-2(1H)-ones could be efficiently obtained in moderate to good yields at room temperature.This metal-free visiblelight-driven tandem reaction was conducted through proton-coupled electron transfer(PCET)process using water as the hydrogen donor and 1,2,3,5-tetrakis(carbazol-9-yl)-4,6-dicyanobenzene(4CzIPN)as the photocatalyst.
基金funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.51806236,No.51806239)the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities(No.2015XKMS059)+1 种基金Shaanxi Postdoctoral Fund Project(No.2018BSHEDZZ56)Foundation of Key Laboratory of Thermo-Fluid Science and Engineering(Xi'an Jiaotong University),Ministry of Education(No.KLTFSE2017KF01)。
文摘The spiral-wound heat exchanger(SWHE) is the primary low-temperature heat exchanger for large-scale LNG plants due to its high-pressure resistance, compact structure, and high heat exchange efficiency. This paper studied the shell-side heat and mass transfer characteristics of vapor-liquid two-phase mixed refrigerants in an SWHE by combining a multi-component model in FLUENT software with a customized multicomponent mass transfer model. Besides, the mathematical model under the sloshing condition was obtained through mathematical derivation, and the corresponding UDF code was loaded into FLUENT as the momentum source term. The results under the sloshing conditions were compared with the relevant parameters under the steady-state condition. The shell-side heat and mass transfer characteristics of the SWHE were investigated by adjusting the component ratio and other working conditions. It was found that the sloshing conditions enhance the heat transfer performance and sometimes have insignificant effects. The sloshing condition is beneficial to reduce the flow resistance. The comprehensive performance of multi-component refrigerants has been improved and the improvement is more significant under sloshing conditions, considering both the heat transfer and pressure drop.These results will provide theoretical support for the research and design of multi-component heat and mass transfer enhancement of LNG SWHE under ocean sloshing conditions.
基金financially supported by Heilongjiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China(No.YQ2022E024)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.52375327)。
文摘Wearable,flexible devices have garnered widespread attention in the realm of human motion and life activity detection.Currently,the development of simple,green,and easily scalable methods for fabricating strain sensors still presents significant challenges.In this study,we successfully modified the surface of reduced graphene oxide(rGO)with SnCuNiIn multi-component alloy nanoparticles(MCA NPs),with an average size of 13.29 nm,utilizing a green and facile microwave heating approach.Leveraging the SnCuNiIn MCA NPs/rGO powder,we formulated a conductive ink based on water and ethylene glycol,which,when screen-printed,yielded conductive patterns with a minimum resistivity of 4.366 mΩ·cm.Strain sensors produced using this ink demonstrate exceptional performance,demonstrating favorable resistance change rates during a single bending process that meets practical application requirements,and enduring 5000 bending cycles with a resistance change of less than 5%.These sensors exhibited a high gauge factor(GF_(max)=52.7)and outstanding cycling stability.Lastly,strain sensors are employed to monitor human normal life activities and motion states,showcasing significant potential for application in wearable electronic products.
基金supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China(Grant No.2022YFC3004104)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.U2342204)+4 种基金the Innovation and Development Program of the China Meteorological Administration(Grant No.CXFZ2024J001)the Open Research Project of the Key Open Laboratory of Hydrology and Meteorology of the China Meteorological Administration(Grant No.23SWQXZ010)the Science and Technology Plan Project of Zhejiang Province(Grant No.2022C03150)the Open Research Fund Project of Anyang National Climate Observatory(Grant No.AYNCOF202401)the Open Bidding for Selecting the Best Candidates Program(Grant No.CMAJBGS202318)。
文摘Thunderstorm wind gusts are small in scale,typically occurring within a range of a few kilometers.It is extremely challenging to monitor and forecast thunderstorm wind gusts using only automatic weather stations.Therefore,it is necessary to establish thunderstorm wind gust identification techniques based on multisource high-resolution observations.This paper introduces a new algorithm,called thunderstorm wind gust identification network(TGNet).It leverages multimodal feature fusion to fuse the temporal and spatial features of thunderstorm wind gust events.The shapelet transform is first used to extract the temporal features of wind speeds from automatic weather stations,which is aimed at distinguishing thunderstorm wind gusts from those caused by synoptic-scale systems or typhoons.Then,the encoder,structured upon the U-shaped network(U-Net)and incorporating recurrent residual convolutional blocks(R2U-Net),is employed to extract the corresponding spatial convective characteristics of satellite,radar,and lightning observations.Finally,by using the multimodal deep fusion module based on multi-head cross-attention,the temporal features of wind speed at each automatic weather station are incorporated into the spatial features to obtain 10-minutely classification of thunderstorm wind gusts.TGNet products have high accuracy,with a critical success index reaching 0.77.Compared with those of U-Net and R2U-Net,the false alarm rate of TGNet products decreases by 31.28%and 24.15%,respectively.The new algorithm provides grid products of thunderstorm wind gusts with a spatial resolution of 0.01°,updated every 10minutes.The results are finer and more accurate,thereby helping to improve the accuracy of operational warnings for thunderstorm wind gusts.
文摘In the article“A Lightweight Approach for Skin Lesion Detection through Optimal Features Fusion”by Khadija Manzoor,Fiaz Majeed,Ansar Siddique,Talha Meraj,Hafiz Tayyab Rauf,Mohammed A.El-Meligy,Mohamed Sharaf,Abd Elatty E.Abd Elgawad Computers,Materials&Continua,2022,Vol.70,No.1,pp.1617–1630.DOI:10.32604/cmc.2022.018621,URL:https://www.techscience.com/cmc/v70n1/44361,there was an error regarding the affiliation for the author Hafiz Tayyab Rauf.Instead of“Centre for Smart Systems,AI and Cybersecurity,Staffordshire University,Stoke-on-Trent,UK”,the affiliation should be“Independent Researcher,Bradford,BD80HS,UK”.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.52275395,51935014,and 82072084)the Science and Technology Innovation Program of Hunan Province(No.2023RC3046)+4 种基金the Young Elite Scientists Sponsorship Program byCAST(No.2020QNRC002)the NationalKeyResearchand Development Program of China(No.2023YFB4605800)the Central South University Innovation-Driven Research Programme(No.2023CXQD023)the Jiangxi Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China(No.20224ACB204013)the Project of State Key Laboratory of Precision Manufacturing for Extreme Service Performance,Central South University.
文摘Magnetostrictive Fe-Ga alloys have captivated substantial focus in biomedical applications because of their exceptional transition efficiency and favorable cytocompatibility.Nevertheless,Fe-Ga alloys always exhibit frustrating magnetostriction coefficients when presented in bulk dimensions.It is well-established that the magnetostrictive performance of Fe-Ga alloys is intimately linked to their phase and crystal structures.In this study,various concentrations of boron(B)were doped into Fe_(81)Ga_(19) alloys via the laser-beam powder bed fusion(LPBF)technique to tailor the crystal and phase structures,thereby improving the magnetostrictive performance.The results revealed the capacity for quick solidification of the LPBF process in expediting the solid solution of B element,which increased both lattice distortion and dislocations within the Fe-Ga matrix.These factors contributed to an elevation in the density of the modified-D0_(3) phase structure.Moreover,the prepared Fe-Ga-B alloys also exhibited a(001)preferred grain orientation caused by the high thermal gradients during the LPBF process.As a result,a maximum magnetostriction coefficient of 105 ppm was achieved in the(Fe_(81)Ga_(19))_(98.5)B_(1.5) alloy.In alternating magnetic fields,all the LPBF-prepared alloys showed good dynamic magnetostriction response without visible hysteresis,while the(Fe_(81)Ga_(19))_(98.5)B_(1.5) alloy presented a notable enhancement of~30%in magnetostriction coefficient when compared with the Fe_(81)Ga_(19) alloy.Moreover.the(Fe_(81)Ga_(19))_(98.5)B_(1.5) alloy exhibited favorable biocompatibility and osteogenesis,as confirmed by increased alkaline phosphatase(ALP)activity and the formation of mineralized nodules.These findings suggest that the B-doped Fe-Ga alloys combined with the LPBF technique hold promise for the development of bulk magnetostrictive alloys that are applicable for bone repair applications.
基金Chongqing Engineering University Undergraduate Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Program Project:Wireless Fire Automatic Alarm System(Project No.:CXCY2024017)Chongqing Municipal Education Commission Science and Technology Research Project:Development and Research of Chongqing Wireless Fire Automatic Alarm System(Project No.:KJQN202401906)。
文摘This article explores the design of a wireless fire alarm system supported by advanced data fusion technology.It includes discussions on the basic design ideas of the wireless fire alarm system,hardware design analysis,software design analysis,and simulation analysis,all supported by data fusion technology.Hopefully,this analysis can provide some reference for the rational application of data fusion technology to meet the actual design and application requirements of the system.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.52205140,52175129)the Outstanding Youth Foundation of Hunan Province(Grant No.2023JJ20041)the Science and Technology Innovation Program of Hunan Province(2023RC3241).
文摘This work investigated the anisotropy tensile properties of Inconel 625 alloy fabricated by laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) under various tests temperature, focusing the anisotropy evolution during the high temperature. The microstructure contained columnar grains with (111) texture in the vertical plane (90° sample), while a large equiaxed grain with (100) texture was produced in the horizontal plane (0° sample). As for 45° sample, a large number of equiaxed grains and a few columnar grains with (111) texture can be observed. The sample produced at a 0° orientation demonstrates the highest tensile strength, whereas the 90° sample exhibits the greatest elongation. Conversely, the 45° sample displays the least favorable overall performance. As the tests temperature increased from room temperature to 600℃, the anisotropy rate of ultimate tensile strength, yield strength and ductility between 0° and 45° samples, decreased from 8.98 to 6.96%, 2.36 to 1.28%, 19.93 to 12.23%, as well as between 0° and 90° samples decreased from 4.87 to 4.03%, 11.88 to 7.21% and 14.11 to 6.89%, respectively, because of the recovery of oriented columnar grains.
基金supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (Grant No.2022YFF0503700)the National Natural Science Foundation of China (42074196, 41925018)
文摘Solar flare prediction is an important subject in the field of space weather.Deep learning technology has greatly promoted the development of this subject.In this study,we propose a novel solar flare forecasting model integrating Deep Residual Network(ResNet)and Support Vector Machine(SVM)for both≥C-class(C,M,and X classes)and≥M-class(M and X classes)flares.We collected samples of magnetograms from May 1,2010 to September 13,2018 from Space-weather Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager(HMI)Active Region Patches and then used a cross-validation method to obtain seven independent data sets.We then utilized five metrics to evaluate our fusion model,based on intermediate-output extracted by ResNet and SVM using the Gaussian kernel function.Our results show that the primary metric true skill statistics(TSS)achieves a value of 0.708±0.027 for≥C-class prediction,and of 0.758±0.042 for≥M-class prediction;these values indicate that our approach performs significantly better than those of previous studies.The metrics of our fusion model’s performance on the seven datasets indicate that the model is quite stable and robust,suggesting that fusion models that integrate an excellent baseline network with SVM can achieve improved performance in solar flare prediction.Besides,we also discuss the performance impact of architectural innovation in our fusion model.
基金supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grants 62463002,62062021 and 62473033in part by the Guiyang Scientific Plan Project[2023]48–11,in part by QKHZYD[2023]010 Guizhou Province Science and Technology Innovation Base Construction Project“Key Laboratory Construction of Intelligent Mountain Agricultural Equipment”.
文摘Solar cell defect detection is crucial for quality inspection in photovoltaic power generation modules.In the production process,defect samples occur infrequently and exhibit random shapes and sizes,which makes it challenging to collect defective samples.Additionally,the complex surface background of polysilicon cell wafers complicates the accurate identification and localization of defective regions.This paper proposes a novel Lightweight Multiscale Feature Fusion network(LMFF)to address these challenges.The network comprises a feature extraction network,a multi-scale feature fusion module(MFF),and a segmentation network.Specifically,a feature extraction network is proposed to obtain multi-scale feature outputs,and a multi-scale feature fusion module(MFF)is used to fuse multi-scale feature information effectively.In order to capture finer-grained multi-scale information from the fusion features,we propose a multi-scale attention module(MSA)in the segmentation network to enhance the network’s ability for small target detection.Moreover,depthwise separable convolutions are introduced to construct depthwise separable residual blocks(DSR)to reduce the model’s parameter number.Finally,to validate the proposed method’s defect segmentation and localization performance,we constructed three solar cell defect detection datasets:SolarCells,SolarCells-S,and PVEL-S.SolarCells and SolarCells-S are monocrystalline silicon datasets,and PVEL-S is a polycrystalline silicon dataset.Experimental results show that the IOU of our method on these three datasets can reach 68.5%,51.0%,and 92.7%,respectively,and the F1-Score can reach 81.3%,67.5%,and 96.2%,respectively,which surpasses other commonly usedmethods and verifies the effectiveness of our LMFF network.
基金supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(12171124,61933007)the Natural Science Foundation of Heilongjiang Province of China(ZD2022F003)+2 种基金the National High-End Foreign Experts Recruitment Plan of China(G2023012004L)the Royal Society of UKthe Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of Germany
文摘In this paper, the problem of cubature Kalman fusion filtering(CKFF) is addressed for multi-sensor systems under amplify-and-forward(AaF) relays. For the purpose of facilitating data transmission, AaF relays are utilized to regulate signal communication between sensors and filters. Here, the randomly varying channel parameters are represented by a set of stochastic variables whose occurring probabilities are permitted to exhibit bounded uncertainty. Employing the spherical-radial cubature principle, a local filter under AaF relays is initially constructed. This construction ensures and minimizes an upper bound of the filtering error covariance by designing an appropriate filter gain. Subsequently, the local filters are fused through the application of the covariance intersection fusion rule. Furthermore, the uniform boundedness of the filtering error covariance's upper bound is investigated through establishing certain sufficient conditions. The effectiveness of the proposed CKFF scheme is ultimately validated via a simulation experiment concentrating on a three-phase induction machine.
文摘BACKGROUND Ependymoma with lipomatous differentiation is a rare type of ependymoma.The ZFTA fusion-positive supratentorial ependymoma is a novel tumor type in the 2021 World Health Organization classification of central nervous system tumors.ZFTA fusion-positive lipomatous ependymoma has not been reported to date.CASE SUMMARY We reported a case of a 15-year-old Chinese male who had a sudden convulsion lasting approximately six minutes.Magnetic resonance imaging showed a round cystic shadow of approximately 1.9 cm×1.5 cm×1.9 cm under the right parieto-occipital cortex.Microscopic examination showed characteristic perivascular pseudorosettes and adipose differentiation in the cytoplasm.Immunohisto-chemical staining showed that the tumor cells were negative for cytokeratin,NeuN,Syn and p53,but positive for GFAP,vimentin and S-100 protein.Signi-ficant punctate intracytoplasmic EMA immunoreactivity was observed.The level of Ki-67 was about 5%.Genetic analysis revealed ZFTA:RELA fusion.A cranio-tomy with total excision of the tumor was performed.The follow-up time was 36 months,no evidence of disease recurrence was found in magnetic resonance imaging.CONCLUSION Based on these findings,the patient was diagnosed as a ependymoma with ZFTA fusion and lipomatous differentiation.This case report provides information on the microscopic morphological features of ependymoma with ZFTA fusion and lipomatous differentiation,which can help pathologists to make a definitive diagnosis of this tumor.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.51801079 and 52001140)the National Science Centre,Poland(Narodowe Centrum Nauki)(No.UMO-2021/42/E/ST5/00339).
文摘To increase the strength of the laser powder-bed fusion (LPBF) Al-Si-based aluminum alloy, TiB_(2) ceramic particles were selected to be mixed with high-Mg content Al-Si-Mg-Zr powder, and then a novel TiB_(2)/Al-Si-Mg-Zr composite was fabricated using LPBF. The results indicated that a dense sample with a maximum relative density of 99.85% could be obtained by adjusting the LPBF process parameters. Incorporating TiB_(2) nanoparticles enhanced the powder's laser absorption rate, thereby raising the alloy's intrinsic heat treatment temperature and consequently facilitating the precipitation of Si and βʺ nanoparticles in the α-Al cells. Moreover, the rapid cooling process during LPBF resulted in numerous alloying elements with low-stacking fault energy dissolving in the α-Al matrix, thus promoting the formation of the 9R phase. After a 48 h direct aging treatment at 150℃, the strength of the alloy slightly increased due to the increase of nanoprecipitates. Both yield strength and ultimate tensile strength of the LPBF TiB_(2)/Al-Si-Mg-Zr alloy were significantly higher than that of other LPBF TiB_(2)-modified aluminum alloys with external addition.
基金Supported by the Henan Province Key Research and Development Project(231111211300)the Central Government of Henan Province Guides Local Science and Technology Development Funds(Z20231811005)+2 种基金Henan Province Key Research and Development Project(231111110100)Henan Provincial Outstanding Foreign Scientist Studio(GZS2024006)Henan Provincial Joint Fund for Scientific and Technological Research and Development Plan(Application and Overcoming Technical Barriers)(242103810028)。
文摘The fusion of infrared and visible images should emphasize the salient targets in the infrared image while preserving the textural details of the visible images.To meet these requirements,an autoencoder-based method for infrared and visible image fusion is proposed.The encoder designed according to the optimization objective consists of a base encoder and a detail encoder,which is used to extract low-frequency and high-frequency information from the image.This extraction may lead to some information not being captured,so a compensation encoder is proposed to supplement the missing information.Multi-scale decomposition is also employed to extract image features more comprehensively.The decoder combines low-frequency,high-frequency and supplementary information to obtain multi-scale features.Subsequently,the attention strategy and fusion module are introduced to perform multi-scale fusion for image reconstruction.Experimental results on three datasets show that the fused images generated by this network effectively retain salient targets while being more consistent with human visual perception.
基金Supported by Grant of the Korea Health Technology R&D Project through the Korea Health Industry Development Institute,funded by the Ministry of Health&Welfare,Republic of Korea,No.RS-2022-KH129889.
文摘BACKGROUND The classification of uterine sarcomas is based on distinctive morphological and immunophenotypic characteristics,increasingly supported by molecular genetic diagnostics.Data on neurotrophic tyrosine receptor kinase(NTRK)gene fusionpositive uterine sarcoma,potentially aggressive and morphologically similar to fibrosarcoma,are limited due to its recent recognition.Pan-TRK immunohistochemistry(IHC)analysis serves as an effective screening tool with high sensitivity and specificity for NTRK-fusion malignancies.CASE SUMMARY We report a case of a malignant mesenchymal tumor originating from the uterine cervix,which was pan-TRK IHC-positive but lacked NTRK gene fusions,accompanied by a brief literature review.A 55-year-old woman presented to the emergency department with abdominal pain and distension,exhibiting significant ascites and multiple solid pelvic masses.Pelvic examination revealed a tumor encompassing the uterine cervix,extending to the vagina and uterine corpus.A punch biopsy of the cervix indicated NTRK sarcoma with positive immunochemical pan-TRK stain.However,subsequent next generation sequencing revealed no NTRK gene fusion,leading to a diagnosis of poorly differentiated,advanced-stage sarcoma.CONCLUSION The clinical significance of NTRK gene fusion lies in potential treatment with TRK inhibitors for positive sarcomas.Identifying such rare tumors is crucial due to the potential applicability of tropomyosin receptor kinase inhibitor treatment.
基金National Natural Science Foundation of China(52105385)Stable Support Plan Program of Shenzhen Natural Science Fund(20220810132537001)+2 种基金Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation(2022A1515010781)Joint Fund of Henan Province Science and Technology R&D Program(225200810002)Fundamental Research Funds of Henan Academy of Sciences(240621041)。
文摘To enhance the mechanical properties of Mo alloys prepared through laser powder bed fusion(LPBF),a hot isostatic pressing(HIP)treatment was used.Results show that following HIP treatment,the porosity decreases from 0.27%to 0.22%,enabling the elements Mo and Ti to diffuse fully and to distribute more uniformly,and to forming a substantial number of low-angle grain boundaries.The tensile strength soars from 286±32 MPa to 598±22 MPa,while the elongation increases from 0.08%±0.02%to 0.18%±0.02%,without notable alterations in grain morphology during the tensile deformation.HIP treatment eliminates the molten pool boundaries,which are the primary source for premature failure in LPBFed Mo alloys.Consequently,HIP treatment emerges as a novel and effective approach for strengthening the mechanical properties of LPBFed Mo alloys,offering a fresh perspective on producing high-performance Mo-based alloys.
基金supported by DOD AFIRMⅢW81XWH-20-2-0029 subcontract,UT POC19-1774-13Neuraptive Therapeutics Inc.26-7724-56+1 种基金NIH R01-NS128086 grantsLone Star Paralysis gift(to GDB)。
文摘Successful polyethylene glycol fusion(PEG-fusion)of severed axons following peripheral nerve injuries for PEG-fused axons has been reported to:(1)rapidly restore electrophysiological continuity;(2)prevent distal Wallerian Degeneration and maintain their myelin sheaths;(3)promote primarily motor,voluntary behavioral recoveries as assessed by the Sciatic Functional Index;and,(4)rapidly produce correct and incorrect connections in many possible combinations that produce rapid and extensive recovery of functional peripheral nervous system/central nervous system connections and reflex(e.g.,toe twitch)or voluntary behaviors.The preceding companion paper describes sensory terminal field reo rganization following PEG-fusion repair of sciatic nerve transections or ablations;howeve r,sensory behavioral recovery has not been explicitly explored following PEG-fusion repair.In the current study,we confirmed the success of PEG-fusion surgeries according to criteria(1-3)above and more extensively investigated whether PEG-fusion enhanced mechanical nociceptive recovery following sciatic transection in male and female outbred Sprague-Dawley and inbred Lewis rats.Mechanical nociceptive responses were assessed by measuring withdrawal thresholds using von Frey filaments on the dorsal and midplantar regions of the hindpaws.Dorsal von Frey filament tests were a more reliable method than plantar von Frey filament tests to assess mechanical nociceptive sensitivity following sciatic nerve transections.Baseline withdrawal thresholds of the sciatic-mediated lateral dorsal region differed significantly across strain but not sex.Withdrawal thresholds did not change significantly from baseline in chronic Unoperated and Sham-operated rats.Following sciatic transection,all rats exhibited severe hyposensitivity to stimuli at the lateral dorsal region of the hindpaw ipsilateral to the injury.However,PEG-fused rats exhibited significantly earlier return to baseline withdrawal thresholds than Negative Control rats.Furthermore,PEG-fused rats with significantly improved Sciatic Functional Index scores at or after 4 weeks postoperatively exhibited yet-earlier von Frey filament recove ry compared with those without Sciatic Functional Index recovery,suggesting a correlation between successful PEG-fusion and both motor-dominant and sensory-dominant behavioral recoveries.This correlation was independent of the sex or strain of the rat.Furthermore,our data showed that the acceleration of von Frey filament sensory recovery to baseline was solely due to the PEG-fused sciatic nerve and not saphenous nerve collateral outgrowths.No chronic hypersensitivity developed in any rat up to 12 weeks.All these data suggest that PEG-fusion repair of transection peripheral nerve injuries co uld have important clinical benefits.
