Urbanization in China is progressing rapidly and continuously, especially in the newly developed metropolitan areas. The Google Earth Engine (GEE) is a powerful tool that can be used to efficiently ...investigate these changes using a large repository of available optical imagery. This work examined land-cover changes in the central region of the lower Yangtze River and exemplifies the application of GEE using the random forest classification algorithm on Landsat dense stacks spanning the 30 years from 1987 to 2017. Based on the obtained time-series land-cover classification results, the spatiotemporal land-use/cover changes were analyzed, as well as the main factors driving the changes in different land-cover categories. The results show that: (1) The obtained land datasets were reliable and highly accurate, with an overall accuracy ranging from 88% to 92%. (2) Over the past 30 years, built-up areas have continued to expand, increasing from 537.9 km
to 1500.5 km
, and the total area occupied by built-up regions has expanded by 178.9% to occupy an additional 962.7 km
. The surface water area first decreased, then increased, and generally showed an increasing trend, expanding by 17.9%, with an area increase of approximately 131 km
. Barren areas accounted for 6.6% of the total area in the period 2015-2017, which was an increase of 94.8% relative to the period 1987-1989. The expansion of the built-up area was accompanied by an overall 25.6% (1305.7 km
) reduction in vegetation. (3) The complexity of the key factors driving the changes in the regional surface water extent was made apparent, mainly including the changes in runoff of the Yangtze River and the construction of various water conservancy projects. The effects of increasing the urban population and expanding industrial development were the main factors driving the expansion of urban built-up areas and the significant reduction in vegetation. The advantages and limitations arising from land-cover mapping by using the Google Earth Engine are also discussed.
Electrochemical energy storage devices with a high energy density are an important technology in modern society, especially for electric vehicles. The most effective approach to improve the energy ...density of batteries is to search for high‐capacity electrode materials. According to the concept of energy quality, a high‐voltage battery delivers a highly useful energy, thus providing a new insight to improve energy density. Based on this concept, a novel and successful strategy to increase the energy density and energy quality by increasing the discharge voltage of cathode materials and preserving high capacity is proposed. The proposal is realized in high‐capacity Li‐rich cathode materials. The average discharge voltage is increased from 3.5 to 3.8 V by increasing the nickel content and applying a simple after‐treatment, and the specific energy is improved from 912 to 1033 Wh kg−1. The current work provides an insightful universal principle for developing, designing, and screening electrode materials for high energy density and energy quality.
Li‐ion batteries with high energy quality require a high capacity coupled with high operating voltage. This requires the electrode materials to not only have a high specific capacity but also a high discharge voltage for cathode materials and low charge voltage for anode materials.
Objectives
This study was conducted in order to establish and validate a radiomics model for predicting lymph node (LN) metastasis of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (IHC) and to determine its ...prognostic value.
Methods
For this retrospective study, a radiomics model was developed in a primary cohort of 103 IHC patients who underwent curative-intent resection and lymphadenectomy. Radiomics features were extracted from arterial phase computed tomography (CT) scans. A radiomics signature was built based on highly reproducible features using the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) method. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was adopted to establish a radiomics model incorporating radiomics signature and other independent predictors. Model performance was determined by its discrimination, calibration, and clinical usefulness. The model was internally validated in 52 consecutive patients.
Results
The radiomics signature comprised eight LN-status–related features and showed significant association with LN metastasis in both cohorts (
p
< 0.001). A radiomics nomogram that incorporates radiomics signature and CA 19-9 level showed good calibration and discrimination in the primary cohort (AUC 0.8462) and validation cohort (AUC 0.8921). Promisingly, the radiomics nomogram yielded an AUC of 0.9224 in the CT-reported LN-negative subgroup. Decision curve analysis confirmed the clinical utility of this nomogram. High risk for metastasis portended significantly lower overall and recurrence-free survival than low risk for metastasis (both
p
< 0.001). The radiomics nomogram was an independent preoperative predictor of overall and recurrence-free survival.
Conclusions
Our radiomics model provided a robust diagnostic tool for prediction of LN metastasis, especially in CT-reported LN-negative IHC patients, that may facilitate clinical decision-making.
Key Points
• The radiomics nomogram showed good performance for prediction of LN metastasis in IHC patients, particularly in the CT-reported LN-negative subgroup.
• Prognosis of high-risk patients remains dismal after curative-intent resection.
• The radiomics model may facilitate clinical decision-making and define patient subsets benefiting most from surgery.
The purpose of this study was to examine differences in occupational socialization (OS) among pre-service physical education teachers’ (PPETs) in four year groups. 238 PPETs from a Chinese ...university. An online survey and the semi-structured interviews were used to collect data. The younger PPETs felt more prepared and believed in the benefit of professional development more than the older PPETs. The PPETs’ acculturation had a critical influence on their OS. The lack of early field experience may explain why the seniors felt less confident than their younger counterparts. This study would contribute a new angle to discuss the OS and physical education teacher education program quality, especially the design of the teaching practice opportunities, together.
Galactic winds from star-forming galaxies are crucial to the process of galaxy formation and evolution, regulating star formation, shaping the stellar mass function and the mass-metallicity relation, ...and enriching the intergalactic medium with metals. Galactic winds associated with stellar feedback may be driven by overlapping supernova explosions, radiation pressure of starlight on dust grains, and cosmic rays. Galactic winds are multiphase, the growing observations of emission and absorption of cold molecular, cool atomic, ionized warm and hot outflowing gas in a large number of galaxies have not been completely understood. In this review article, I summarize the possible mechanisms associated with stars to launch galactic winds, and review the multidimensional hydrodynamic, radiation hydrodynamic and magnetohydrodynamic simulations of winds based on various algorithms. I also briefly discuss the theoretical challenges and possible future research directions.
Recently, sensors that can imitate human skin have received extensive attention. Capacitive sensors have a simple structure, low loss, no temperature drift, and other excellent properties, and can be ...applied in the fields of robotics, human–machine interactions, medical care, and health monitoring. Polymer matrices are commonly employed in flexible capacitive sensors because of their high flexibility. However, their volume is almost unchanged when pressure is applied, and they are inherently viscoelastic. These shortcomings severely lead to high hysteresis and limit the improvement in sensitivity. Therefore, considerable efforts have been applied to improve the sensing performance by designing different microstructures of materials. Herein, two types of sensors based on the applied forces are discussed, including pressure sensors and strain sensors. Currently, five types of microstructures are commonly used in pressure sensors, while four are used in strain sensors. The advantages, disadvantages, and practical values of the different structures are systematically elaborated. Finally, future perspectives of microstructures for capacitive sensors are discussed, with the aim of providing a guide for designing advanced flexible and stretchable capacitive sensors via ingenious human‐made microstructures.
The advantages, disadvantages, and practical applications of several popular microstructures that are widely employed in capacitive sensors are summarized. A microstructured dielectric layer or electrode can improve sensor sensitivity, reduce hysteresis, and endow the rigid electronic device with excellent elastic stretchability, which is an essential part of next‐generation wearable devices and soft robots.
Computer-aided diagnosis system is becoming a more and more important tool in clinical treatment, which can provide a verification of the doctors’ decisions. In this paper, we proposed a novel ...abnormal brain detection method for magnetic resonance image. Firstly, a pre-trained AlexNet was modified with batch normalization layers and trained on our brain images. Then, the last several layers were replaced with an extreme learning machine. A searching method was proposed to find the best number of layers to be replaced. Finally, the extreme learning machine was optimized by chaotic bat algorithm to obtain better classification performance. Experiment results based on 5 × hold-out validation revealed that our method achieved state-of-the-art performance.
Multidrug resistance (MDR) occurs frequently after long-term chemotherapy, resulting in refractory cancer and tumor recurrence. Therefore, combatting MDR is an important issue. Autophagy, a ...self-degradative system, universally arises during the treatment of sensitive and MDR cancer. Autophagy can be a double-edged sword for MDR tumors: it participates in the development of MDR and protects cancer cells from chemotherapeutics but can also kill MDR cancer cells in which apoptosis pathways are inactive. Autophagy induced by anticancer drugs could also activate apoptosis signaling pathways in MDR cells, facilitating MDR reversal. Therefore, research on the regulation of autophagy to combat MDR is expanding and is becoming increasingly important. We summarize advanced studies of autophagy in MDR tumors, including the variable role of autophagy in MDR cancer cells.
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