Group Consensus of Nonlinear Discrete Multi-Agent Systems with Input Saturation
The impact of technology optimisation incorporating machine learning algorithms on the financial sustainability of new energy companies
International Journal of Knowledge-based Development, Dec 31, 2022
The economic consequences of IPO sales growth management: Evidence from ChiNext‐listed companies in China
Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Sep 9, 2023
Based on a sample of Chinese ChiNext (Growth Enterprise Market) firms during their initial public... more Based on a sample of Chinese ChiNext (Growth Enterprise Market) firms during their initial public offerings (IPOs) from 2009 to 2019, this study explores whether these firms engage in sales growth management and examines its economic consequences. We provide evidence that ChiNext firms tend to manage their sales growth to influence issuance prices during IPOs. Further, the study identifies several indicators that suggest growth‐managing firms engage in more aggressive and riskier promotional strategies, such as longer turnover days of receivables, lower gross profit margins and higher allowance ratios for doubtful accounts. The study also finds that growth‐managing firms are more likely to have higher price‐to‐earnings ratios, offer prices, overfund ratios, first‐day closing prices and a higher percentage of positive posts, suggesting that these firms aim to inflate their growth to attract more funds from financial markets by influencing investors' expectations. Additionally, we find a negative relationship between sales management and post‐IPO stock returns, indicating that investors cannot effectively identify sales management by ChiNext IPO firms. Cross‐sectional analysis also shows that growth‐managing ChiNext IPO firms are likely to have depressed post‐IPO performance, whereas the market intermediary (brokers, auditors and asset appraisal institutions) with a good reputation helps to alleviate future performance reversals.
The erythromycin sorption removal at environmentally relevant concentration based on molecular imprinted polymer: Performance and mechanism
Heavy flavour physics provides excellent opportunities to indirectly search for new physics at ve... more Heavy flavour physics provides excellent opportunities to indirectly search for new physics at very high energy scales and to study hadron properties for deep understanding of the strong interaction. The LHCb experiment has been playing a leading role in the study of heavy flavour physics since the start of the LHC operations about ten years ago, and made a range of high-precision measurements and unexpected discoveries, which may have far-reaching implications on the field of particle physics. This review highlights a selection of the most influential physics results on CP violation, rare decays, and heavy flavour production and spectroscopy obtained by LHCb using the data collected during the first two operation periods of the LHC. The upgrade plan of LHCb and the physics prospects are also briefly discussed.
Deep Vein Thrombosis in Hospitalized Patients With COVID-19 in Wuhan, China
Circulation, Jul 14, 2020
Background: To investigate deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in hospitalized patients with coronavirus d... more Background: To investigate deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in hospitalized patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), we performed a single institutional study to evaluate its prevalence, risk factors, prognosis, and potential thromboprophylaxis strategies in a large referral and treatment center. Methods: We studied a total of 143 patients with COVID-19 from January 29, 2020 to February 29, 2020. Demographic and clinical data, laboratory data, including ultrasound scans of the lower extremities, and outcome variables were obtained, and comparisons were made between groups with and without DVT. Results: Of the 143 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 (age 63±14 years, 74 [51.7%] men), 66 patients developed lower extremity DVT (46.1%: 23 [34.8%] with proximal DVT and 43 [65.2%] with distal DVT). Compared with patients who did not have DVT, patients with DVT were older and had a lower oxygenation index, a higher rate of cardiac injury, and worse prognosis, including an increased proportion of deaths (23 [34.8%] versus 9 [11.7%]; P =0.001) and a decreased proportion of patients discharged (32 [48.5%] versus 60 [77.9%]; P <0.001). Multivariant analysis showed an association only between CURB-65 (confusion status, urea, respiratory rate, and blood pressure) score 3 to 5 (odds ratio, 6.122; P =0.031), Padua prediction score ≥4 (odds ratio, 4.016; P =0.04), D-dimer >1.0 μg/mL (odds ratio, 5.818; P <0.014), and DVT in this cohort, respectively. The combination of a CURB-65 score 3 to 5, a Padua prediction score ≥4, and D-dimer >1.0 μg/mL has a sensitivity of 88.52% and a specificity of 61.43% for screening for DVT. In the subgroup of patients with a Padua prediction score ≥4 and whose ultrasound scans were performed >72 hours after admission, DVT was present in 18 (34.0%) patients in the subgroup receiving venous thromboembolism prophylaxis versus 35 (66.0%) patients in the nonprophylaxis group ( P =0.010). Conclusions: The prevalence of DVT is high and is associated with adverse outcomes in hospitalized patients with COVID-19. Prophylaxis for venous thromboembolism may be protective in patients with a Padua protection score ≥4 after admission. Our data seem to suggest that COVID-19 is probably an additional risk factor for DVT in hospitalized patients.
Diagnosis of gastric lesions through a deep convolutional neural network
Digestive Endoscopy, Oct 27, 2020
Background and AimsA deep convolutional neural network (CNN) was used to achieve fast and accurat... more Background and AimsA deep convolutional neural network (CNN) was used to achieve fast and accurate artificial intelligence (AI)‐assisted diagnosis of early gastric cancer (GC) and other gastric lesions based on endoscopic images.MethodsA CNN‐based diagnostic system based on a ResNet34 residual network structure and a DeepLabv3 structure was constructed and trained using 21,217 gastroendoscopic images of five gastric conditions, peptic ulcer (PU), early gastric cancer (EGC) and high‐grade intraepithelial neoplasia (HGIN), advanced gastric cancer (AGC), gastric submucosal tumors (SMTs), and normal gastric mucosa without lesions. The trained CNN was evaluated using a test dataset of 1091 images. The accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) of the CNN were calculated. The CNN diagnosis was compared with those of 10 endoscopists with over 8 years of experience in endoscopic diagnosis.ResultsThe diagnostic specificity and PPV of the CNN were higher than that of the endoscopists for the EGC and HGIN images (specificity: 91.2% vs. 86.7%, by 4.5%, 95% CI 2.8–7.2%; PPV: 55.4% vs. 41.7%, by 13.7%, 95% CI 11.2–16.8%) and the diagnostic accuracy of the CNN was close to those of the endoscopists for the lesion‐free, EGC and HGIN, PU, AGC, and SMTs images. The CNN had image recognition time of 42 s for all the test set images.ConclusionThe constructed CNN system could be used as a rapid auxiliary diagnostic instrument to detect EGC and HGIN, as well as other gastric lesions, to reduce the workload of endoscopists.
Based Poly(ε-caprolactone)-dextran Star Polymer with Disulfide Bond-Linker as Theranostic Nanopar... more Based Poly(ε-caprolactone)-dextran Star Polymer with Disulfide Bond-Linker as Theranostic Nanoparticle for Tumor-Targeted MRI and Chemotherapy.
Evidence for the decays $B^{0}\rightarrow\bar{D}^{(*)0}\phi$ and updated measurements of the branching fractions of the $B^{0}_{s}\rightarrow\bar{D}^{(*)0}\phi$ decays
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), Jun 14, 2023
Remarkable Improvement in Photocatalytic Performance for Tannery Wastewater Processing via SnS <sub>2</sub> Modified with N‐Doped Carbon Quantum Dots: Synthesis, Characterization, and 4‐Nitrophenol‐Aided Cr(VI) Photoreduction
Small, Feb 8, 2019
Photocatalytic pathways are proved crucial for the sustainable production of chemicals and fuels ... more Photocatalytic pathways are proved crucial for the sustainable production of chemicals and fuels required for a pollution‐free planet. Electron–hole recombination is a critical problem that has, so far, limited the efficiency of the most promising photocatalytic materials. Here, the efficacy of the 0D N doped carbon quantum dots (N‐CQDs) is demonstrated in accelerating the charge separation and transfer and thereby boosting the activity of a narrow‐bandgap SnS2 photocatalytic system. N‐CQDs are in situ loaded onto SnS2 nanosheets in forming N‐CQDs/SnS2 composite via an electrostatic interaction under hydrothermal conditions. Cr(VI) photoreduction rate of N‐CQDs/SnS2 is highly enhanced by engineering the loading contents of N‐CQDs, in which the optimal N‐CQDs/SnS2 with 40 mol% N‐CQDs exhibits a remarkable Cr(VI) photoreduction rate of 0.148 min−1, about 5‐time and 148‐time higher than that of SnS2 and N‐CQDs, respectively. Examining the photoexcited charges via zeta potential, X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), surface photovoltage, and electrochemical impedance spectra indicate that the improved Cr(VI) photodegradation rate is linked to the strong electrostatic attraction between N‐CQDs and SnS2 nanosheets in composite, which favors efficient carrier utilization. To further boost the carrier utilization, 4‐nitrophenol is introduced in this photocatalytic system and the efficiency of Cr(VI) photoreduction is further promoted.
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), 2018
A Dalitz plot analysis of B 0 → η c (1S)K + π -decays is performed using data samples of pp colli... more A Dalitz plot analysis of B 0 → η c (1S)K + π -decays is performed using data samples of pp collisions collected with the LHCb detector at centre-of-mass energies of √ s = 7, 8 and 13 TeV, corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of 4.7 fb -1 . A satisfactory description of the data is obtained when including a contribution representing an exotic η c (1S)π -resonant state. The significance of this exotic resonance is more than three standard deviations, while its mass and width are 4096 ± 20 +18 -22 MeV and 152 ± 58 +60 -35 MeV, respectively. The spin-parity assignments J P = 0 + and J P = 1 -are both consistent with the data. In addition, the first measurement of the B 0 → η c (1S)K + π -branching fraction is performed and gives B(B 0 → η c (1S)K + π -) = (5.73 ± 0.24 ± 0.13 ± 0.66) × 10 -4 , where the first uncertainty is statistical, the second systematic, and the third is due to limited knowledge of external branching fractions.
Vitamin C alleviates LPS-induced cognitive impairment in mice by suppressing neuroinflammation and oxidative stress
International Immunopharmacology, Dec 1, 2018
Neuroinflammation is believed to be one of the primary causes of cognitive impairment. Previous s... more Neuroinflammation is believed to be one of the primary causes of cognitive impairment. Previous studies showed that the antioxidant vitamin C (Vit C) performs many beneficial functions such as immunostimulant and anti-inflammatory actions, but its role in inflammatory cognitive impairment is unclear. In the current study, we investigated the effect and possible mechanism of action of Vit C in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced cognitive impairment. Intracerebroventricular LPS-induced memory impairment was used as the model for neuroinflammatory cognitive dysfunction. Vit C was administered by intracerebroventricular microinjection 30 min prior to LPS exposure. It was found that Vit C significantly protected animals from LPS-induced memory impairment as evidenced by improved performance in the Morris water maze and novel object recognition tests without changes in spontaneous locomotor activity. Vit C pretreatment inhibited the activation of microglia and the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, including tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-1β (IL-1β). Furthermore, Vit C pretreatment markedly decreased the malondialdehyde (MDA) level, increased superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, and modulated the Bax/Bcl-2 ratio and p-p38 MAPK activation in the hippocampus of LPS-treated mice. Together, these results suggest that vitamin C pretreatment could protect mice from LPS-induced cognitive impairment, possibly through the modulation of oxidative stress and inflammatory responses.
Discovery of a novel small molecule with efficacy in protecting against inflammation in vitro and in vivo by enhancing macrophages activation
Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy, Sep 1, 2023
Passivating Surface States of Graphitic Carbon Nitride for Improved Photocatalytic Fenton-Like Decontamination
Interpretation on fire interaction mechanisms of multiple pool fires
Proceedings of the Combustion Institute, 2019
Abstract This work intends to interpret the fire interaction mechanisms of multiple pool fires (M... more Abstract This work intends to interpret the fire interaction mechanisms of multiple pool fires (MPF). A series of n-heptane and ethanol MPF tests with fuel pan diameters D of 0.2 m, 0.15 m, 0.05 m and different S/D (S: fire spacing) are performed. It is revealed that the air entrainment and convection of the center fire, and the leaning of the outer fire depend on the difference of the burning rates between the center and outer fires. Besides, it is indicated that the fire merging criterion depends on fuel type. For the typical fuels used in this work, compared to ethanol MPF, n-heptane MPF has a larger critical S/D attributed to its higher burning rate and flame height. The results also indicate that for MPF with no air entrainment restriction, the mass burning flux and heat feedbacks of the center fire monotonically increase with decreasing S/D. However, if air entrainment is restricted, the heat feedback rates and fractions non-monotonically depend on S/D. Furthermore, an under-ventilated burning phenomenon of MPF is found and illustrated as a result of air entrainment restriction. It is indicated that the under-ventilated burning induces the spill of excess unconsumed fuel vapors, influences the near-field radial velocity profile of MPF, and weakens the conduction heat feedback of the center fire. Finally, for the center fire of convection-dominated MPF, a modified mass burning flux correlation is derived based on the stagnant layer theory, which is verified to reasonably agree well with the experimental data.
Microstructured Sulfur-Doped Carbon-Coated Fe<sub>7</sub>S<sub>8</sub> Composite for High-Performance Lithium and Sodium Storage
From the perspective of resource reserves, environmental effects, and production costs, direct ut... more From the perspective of resource reserves, environmental effects, and production costs, direct utilization of natural ores as electrode materials for rechargeable batteries after mineral processing is of more practical significance than chemosynthetic materials. While the corresponding investigation is relatively insufficient, herein phenolic resin (PR)-coated natural pyrite composite (FeS2@PR) is successfully fabricated using natural pyrite and oligomeric phenolic resin as starting materials. Subsequent oligomer polymerization and calcination process convert FeS2@C into sulfur-doped carbon-coated Fe7S8 (FS@C). Benefiting from the good electric and ionic conductivity of Fe7S8, abundant sulfur active sites, and porosity on carbon shell and effective carbon buffering, FS@C exhibits impressive electrochemical performance as anodes for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) and sodium-ion batteries (SIBs). It delivers high reversible capacities of 1319 and 796 mAh g–1 after 100 cycles at 0.1 A g–1 for LIBs and SIBs, respectively. Even at a high current density of 2.0 A g–1, considerable capacities of 771 mAh g–1 after 1000 cycles and 545 mAh g–1 after 400 cycles are retained for LIBs and SIBs. This work provides a promising prospect toward scalable production of high-capacity iron sulfide anode for lithium-ion and sodium-ion batteries.
Engineering metal sulfides with hierarchical interfaces for advanced sodium-ion storage systems
Journal of materials chemistry. A, Materials for energy and sustainability, 2020
Utilizing oxygen functional groups, interfacial reactions were carried out on the surface of natu... more Utilizing oxygen functional groups, interfacial reactions were carried out on the surface of natural stibnite, resulting in the formation of Sb2S3/Sb core–shell structure and sulfur-doped carbon matrix with improved sodium-storage capabilities.
Preparation of Methoxy Poly(ethylene glycol) Benzaldhyde (mPEG-CHO) mPEG-CHO was synthesized acco... more Preparation of Methoxy Poly(ethylene glycol) Benzaldhyde (mPEG-CHO) mPEG-CHO was synthesized according to previous preport, 1 Typically, mPEG (5000 Da, 8 g, 4 mmol) was dissolved in 150 mL dichloromethane (DCM). p-formylbenzoic acid (6 g, 40 mmol), dicyclohexyl carbodiimide (DCC, 8.2 g, 40 mmol), and 4-(dimethylamino)pyridine (DMAP, 1.2 g, 10 mmol) were added into the mPEG solution, respectively. After being stirred for 24 h, the solution was filtered. The filtrate was concentrated, dissolved in 80 mL isopropanol, and cooled at 0 o C for 2 h. the crystals were washed with isopropanol and diethyl ether and collected by centrifuging at 8000 rpm. The final product was characterized by 1 H-NMR (δ 10.12 (s, 1H), 8.23 (d, 2H), 7.97 (d, 2H), 3.65 (m, CH2 of PEG), 3.39 (s, 3H)), and the data was in line with the previous literature. 1 Bovine serum albumin (500 mg) was dissolved in 1% SDS solution (50 mL). mPEG-CHO (500 mg) was added under vigorous stirring and kept at 60 o C for 2 h. cyanoborohydride sodium hydride (1 g) was then added and kept reaction over night.
To investigate the ability of drug-loaded N,O-carboxymethyl chitosan (CMCS) hydrogels to modulate... more To investigate the ability of drug-loaded N,O-carboxymethyl chitosan (CMCS) hydrogels to modulate wound healing after glaucoma filtration surgery. Methods: The drug-loaded CMCS hydrogels were in situ synthesized using genipin as the crosslinker in the presence of 5-fluorouracil (5Fu) or bevacizumab. Their structures were characterized by FTIR, ultraviolet-visible (uV-vis) spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SeM). In-vitro drug release experiments and in vivo evaluation in rabbits were performed. Results: The results of FTIR, uV-vis spectroscopy and SeM analyses indicated that 5Fu was encapsulated into the CMCS hydrogels that were crosslinked by genipin. The in vitro drug release experiments showed that nearly 100% of 5Fu was released from the drug-loaded hydrogels within 8 h, but less than 20% bevacizumab was released after 53 h. The in vivo evaluation in rabbits indicated that the drugloaded CMCS hydrogels were nontoxic to the cornea and were gradually biodegraded in the eyes. Furthermore, the drug-loaded CMCS hydrogels effectively inhibited conjunctival scarring after glaucoma filtration surgery and controlled postoperative intraocular pressure (IoP). The drug-loaded CMCS hydrogels provide a great opportunity to increase the therapeutic efficacy of glaucoma filtration surgery.
Background Modification of the gut microbiota has been reported to reduce the incidence of type 1... more Background Modification of the gut microbiota has been reported to reduce the incidence of type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1D). We hypothesized that the gut microbiota shifts might also have an effect on cognitive functions in T1D. Herein we used a non-absorbable antibiotic vancomycin to modify the gut microbiota in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced T1D mice and studied the impact of microbial changes on cognitive performances in T1D mice and its potential gut-brain neural mechanism. Results We found that vancomycin exposure disrupted the gut microbiome, altered host metabolic phenotypes, and facilitated cognitive impairment in T1D mice. Long-term acetate deficiency due to depletion of acetate-producing bacteria resulted in the reduction of synaptophysin (SYP) in the hippocampus as well as learning and memory impairments. Exogenous acetate supplement or fecal microbiota transplant recovered hippocampal SYP level in vancomycin-treated T1D mice, and this effect was attenuated by vagal inhibitio...
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Papers by L. M. Zhang