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Computational intelligence applications in predicting energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, and drying performance of hybrid infrared dryer
A genome-structure adaptive framework for ROH-based inbreeding estimation in Penaeus vannamei
Research on the optimization efficiency of secondary vibrating screening based on EDEM simulation
Effects of alkali contamination on mechanical properties and microstructure of red clay
Abstract Alkaline environments significantly affect the engineering properties of red clay. Although the effects of alkali contamination on the microstructure and mechanical characteristics of cohesive soils have been extensively studied, systematic research focusing on red clay remains limited. This study employed NaOH solution to simulate alkali contamination of red clay. By utilizing unconsolidated undrained (UU) triaxial shear tests, mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), laser particle size analysis (LPSA), and X-ray diffraction (XRD), this work systematically investigated the influence of different alkali concentrations on the mechanical properties and microstructure of red clay. The results indicate a distinct threshold effect of alkali concentration on red clay behavior, with the existence of a most unfavorable concentration (3.5%) and an optimal concentration (14%). At the 3.5% concentration, destructive dissolution was dominant, in which mineral dissolution led to particle refinement, surface smoothing, and an increase in the proportion of large pores, resulting in a significant reduction in soil strength. At 14% concentration, reconstructive cementation became prevalent. XRD analysis confirmed the formation of new crystalline phases (sodium aluminosilicate), indicating the occurrence of geopolymerization. The newly formed cementitious materials effectively bonded soil particles and filled pores, thereby enhancing shear strength, although their brittle nature resulted in strain softening during shearing. At excessively high concentrations (e.g., 21%), structural degradation and strength reduction were again observed. This research reveals the dynamic evolution of the “dissolution-cementation” competition mechanism in red clay under different concentrations of alkali contamination, providing a theoretical basis for preventing alkali contamination in red clay foundations and for soil reinforcement techniques based on alkali activation principles.
Food insecurity among waste-picking children in Iran and its associated factors
Combined effects of nitrate and antimicrobial compounds on in vitro subgingival biofilms
Abstract Chlorhexidine and antibiotics are commonly used as adjunct treatments for periodontitis. However, these antimicrobials can lead to microbial resistance and chlorhexidine can impair health-associated nitrate (NO 3 - ) metabolism. We tested the effect of chlorhexidine (0.002%), metronidazole (16 µg/ml) and amoxicillin (0.7 µg/ml), with and without 8 mM NO 3 - , on the bacterial composition and NO 3 - metabolism of subgingival plaque samples from 12 periodontitis patients grown in vitro for 8 h. The low sublethal concentrations of amoxicillin and chlorhexidine significantly inhibited microbial growth and impaired NO 3 - reduction, whereas the physiological concentration of metronidazole did not. A lower subgingival microbial dysbiosis index (SMDI) was found in the NO 3 - condition compared with amoxicillin alone and chlorhexidine with or without NO 3 - ( p < 0.05). The SMDI of the metronidazole conditions was also significantly lower than in those with chlorhexidine ( p < 0.05). Moreover, NO 3 - alone or combined with metronidazole appeared to increase Neisseria spp. and Aggregatibacter spp., whilst disease-associated changes were found in the chlorhexidine and amoxicillin conditions. Adding NO 3 - to metronidazole led to health-associated changes compared with metronidazole alone. In conclusion, low levels of amoxicillin and chlorhexidine limited microbial growth, impaired NO 3 - metabolism and were linked to disease-associated microbial profiles. A dual treatment of metronidazole + NO 3 - should be further investigated in clinical studies.
Early-Stage degradation of electrolytic iron particle-based magnetorheological elastomer under natural weathering conditions
Semantic-aware self-supervised learning using progressive sub-action regression for action quality assessment
Comprehensive 16s rRNA sequencing and metabolomics to investigate the effect of anticancer bioactive peptides combined with oxaliplatin on gastric cancer
Multimodal spatiotemporal graph convolutional attention network for dynamic risk stratification and intervention strategy generation in rare disease rehabilitation nursing
Abstract Rare disease rehabilitation nursing presents unique challenges due to heterogeneous clinical manifestations, limited sample sizes, and complex comorbidity patterns that render traditional risk assessment tools inadequate. This study proposes a novel multimodal spatiotemporal graph convolutional attention network (MSTGCA-Net) for dynamic risk stratification and intervention strategy generation in rare disease rehabilitation. The framework integrates four principal innovations: a heterogeneous patient relationship graph construction scheme encoding clinical similarities, an adaptive multimodal fusion module employing cross-attention mechanisms, a spatiotemporal encoder capturing both inter-patient relationships and longitudinal dependencies, and a knowledge-guided intervention generation component. Experiments conducted on a retrospective cohort of 2,847 patients with 156 rare disease categories demonstrate that MSTGCA-Net achieves superior performance compared to baseline methods, with accuracy of 0.867, F1 score of 0.845, and AUC of 0.923. Expert evaluation of generated intervention strategies yielded favorable assessments across clinical appropriateness, safety, and feasibility dimensions. The attention-based architecture provides interpretable predictions that facilitate clinical adoption. This framework offers promising decision support tools for precision rehabilitation nursing in rare disease populations.