Complex Area Research Articles

Evaluation of Facial Aging in Different Age and Gender Groups With Computed Tomography-Based Calvarium and Face Measurements.

The human face is a complex area formed by the combination of many different components and varies among individuals according to gender, age, and ethnicity. The aim of this study was to evaluate age-related changes in the facial and calvarial bones in a large sample of both genders. The retrospective study included nontraumatic brain computed tomography scans of 280 Turkish adults. Participants were divided into 7-decade groups with the age ranging from 20 to 89 years. Measurements of the face and calvaria were recorded, and calvarial volume was calculated. The relationship of these parameters with age and gender was examined. Statistically significant differences were observed in all the facial and calvarial measurements, except the transverse diameter of the head, with increasing age in both genders. Regardless of age, no significant differences were found in facial and calvarial measurements between genders. In addition, there was a significant decrease in the calvarial volume in both genders after the seventh decade of life. The structure of the face and calvarium continues to change and differentiate throughout life. Taking these changes into account during surgical and facial rejuvenation procedures can help predict outcomes and avoid the use of incorrect techniques.

Modulation instability and comparative observation of the effect of fractional parameters on new optical soliton solutions of the paraxial wave model

This work focuses on the study of the paraxial wave model with a space–time fractional form. This model has more importance for describing light propagation in nonlinear optical fibers and telecommunication lines. The main aim of this work is to observe the effect of the fractional parameters and compare the truncated M\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$M$$\\end{document}-fraction with the beta-fraction, conformable fraction form, and classical form of the PW model. For this observation, we applied the Simplest equation technique to acquire analytical solutions to the space–time (spatiotemporal) M\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$M$$\\end{document}-fractional paraxial wave model. We are able to acquire several new optical soliton solutions, including periodic waves, kink-type waves, rogue-type waves, and several novel periodic waves, by providing the appropriate fractional parametric values. These solutions have significance for shedding light on a number of physical phenomena in the realms of optical fiber and communication sciences. The diverse values of fractional parameters and the three-dimensional and contour plot graphs of certain chosen solutions are depicted, which are the most accurate physical characterizations of the outcomes. We also sketch the comparative graph of diverse fractional forms and the classical form of the paraxial wave equation in two-dimensional plots. Consequently, our findings represent an important breakthrough in this complex area and help further develop our comprehension of the behavior of solitons.

Sustainability and modern pet ownership.

Booming pet ownership in the UK and elsewhere brings significant implications for the carbon pawprint. Yet it is unlikely people will ever stop owning pets, so how can pet ownership be made more sustainable? At BVA Live, Justine Shotton and Jen Gale will explore the role of vets in this complex area and how they can support clients in minimising the impact of their pets on the planet.

Innovating in a bioimaging core through instrument development.

Developing devices and instrumentation in a bioimaging core facility is an important part of the innovation mandate inherent in the core facility model but is a complex area due to the required skills and investments, and the impossibility of a universally applicable model. Here, we seek to define technological innovation in microscopy and situate it within the wider core facility innovation portfolio, highlighting how strategic development can accelerate access to innovative imaging modalities and increase service range, and thus maintain the cutting edge needed for sustainability. We consider technology development from the perspective of core facility staff and their stakeholders as well as their research environment and aim to present a practical guide to the 'Why, When, and How' of developing and integrating innovative technology in the core facility portfolio. Core facilities need to innovate to stay up to date. However, how to carry out the innovation is not very obvious. One area of innovation in imaging core facilities is the building of optical setups. However, the creation of optical setups requires specific skill sets, time, and investments. Consequently, the topic of whether a core facility should develop optical devices is discussed as controversial. Here, we provide resources that should help get into this topic, and we discuss different options when and how it makes sense to build optical devices in core facilities. We discuss various aspects, including consequences for staff and the relation of the core to the institute, and also broaden the scope toward other areas of innovation.

Extending the Potency and Lifespan of Antibiotics: Inhibitors of Gram-Negative Bacterial Efflux Pumps.

Efflux is a natural process found in all prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells that removes a diverse range of substrates from inside to outside. Many antibiotics are substrates of bacterial efflux pumps, and modifications to the structure or overexpression of efflux pumps are an important resistance mechanism utilized by many multidrug-resistant bacteria. Therefore, chemical inhibition of bacterial efflux to revitalize existing antibiotics has been considered a promising approach for antimicrobial chemotherapy over two decades, and various strategies have been employed. In this review, we provide an overview of bacterial multidrug resistance (MDR) efflux pumps, of which the resistance nodulation division (RND) efflux pumps are considered the most clinically relevant in Gram-negative bacteria, and describe over 50 efflux inhibitors that target such systems. Although numerous efflux inhibitors have been identified to date, none have progressed into clinical use because of formulation, toxicity, and pharmacokinetic issues or a narrow spectrum of inhibition. For these reasons, the development of efflux inhibitors has been considered a difficult and complex area of research, and few active preclinical studies on efflux inhibitors are in progress. However, recently developed tools, including but not limited to computational tools including molecular docking models, offer hope that further research on efflux inhibitors can be a platform for research and development of new bacterial efflux inhibitors.

Added value of amateur observational network for high-resolution climatological analysis: a case study in the aterno valley, abruzzo, Italy

The ecological transition calls for an increasing need for local climate services. A fine spatial characterization of atmospheric relevant quantities (temperature, precipitation, humidity, wind, solar radiation, etc.) at long-term climatological scales is typically based on observational networks run by public entities such as the European Union (e.g. Copernicus services) and national and regional Agencies (e.g. National Met Office, Hydrographic Offices). The aim of this work is to verify if the density of these networks is adequate to represent the variability over the territory, with particular regard to a complex terrain area such as the Aterno river Valley in Abruzzo, Central Italy. We use a combination of public networks and the available dense amateur network of weather stations. We subject the database to careful data quality check both in terms of temporal and spatial anomalies. We found that the public network is generally adequate to represent the spatial and temporal variability over the area in terms of temperature and precipitation, but this is not the case for wind and relative humidity for the lack of sensors. We suggest that an integration of public and non-institutional observational networks is desirable for a finer climatological characterization of a complex territory and for allowing the description of more phenomena, in order to better inform adaptation measures with respect to climate change.

On the spectral wave climate of the French Atlantic Ocean

The accurate description of wave climate at different spatio-temporal scales requires the application of advanced statistical models together with a good knowledge of geophysical processes. Furthermore, accurate modelling of multimodal sea states is of primary importance for most of offshore and coastal activities, such as wave energy device optimization, maritime design practice and for safety at sea. The present manuscript is conceived within this scientific framework proposing to assess wave climate of a complex area of French Atlantic Ocean bordering seas. The main “Spectral Climatology Types” of the area are identified as resulting of defined combinations of wave systems detected through directional spectra and partitioned wave systems analysis. The presence of swell systems is evaluated quantitatively on the whole area, characterized by different regimes of multimodal sea-states at strong regional variability and put into relation with main meteorological forcing active on the area at different spatial scales. Celtic Sea exhibits a marked regional characterization with a prevalence of multimodal conditions given by different combination of wave systems with increasing contribution of swell systems moving from North-West to South. A significant presence of crossing sea states is observed in South Celtic Sea especially in proximity of bathymetric slope. The South Bay of Biscay is influenced by fully developed swell systems enhanced by refraction effects caused by both the coastline and bathymetry gradients. English Channel and North Sea show complex sea-states conditions induced by local topography features together with wind channelling and tide effects able to trigger geophysical processes at a sub-scale responsible for the development of multimodal seas. Crossing and bimodal seas are also found to be influenced by bathymetry gradients acting directly on the directional spectrum shape as well as by tide due to tidal current-induced refraction effect on wave propagation. No generalized significant trends are detected within the investigated spatial domain for the wave spectrum integral quantities; locations sited at northern Celtic Sea show a downward Significant Wave Height, while only locations confined at eastern English Chanel only shows a Peak Period upward trend.

A review of distributed ledger technologies application in medical systems interoperability

This study of the literature delves into the complex area of medical systems interoperability, focusing on mitigating variables that impact security and data transfer at the structural and semantic levels. In the era of digital healthcare, the secure sharing of medical data is crucial, and this study looks at how Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLTs) can play a major role in addressing these challenges. Complex interoperability issues that come from differences in communication protocols, data formats, established data structures, data models, and data meaning and codification methodologies face the healthcare industry. These problems typically impede the seamless transmission of electronic medical records between healthcare systems. Because of their decentralized structure and cryptographic foundation, DLTs offer a workable solution to these issues. By critically evaluating previous research and case studies, DLTs may be able to lessen these interoperability issues, as this literature review illustrates. Since DLTs provide an immutable and secure platform for the transmission of medical data, guaranteeing data integrity and confidentiality, they are a natural fit for the sensitive nature of healthcare data. Their importance in creating safe communication protocols, enhancing the meaning of data, and defining models and formats for data is emphasized in this review. A comprehensive architecture for DLT interoperability in healthcare is also recommended by the research. This framework encourages the development of DLT integration, shared data models, standardized data formats, and governance and policy. By implementing this strategy and strengthening secure medical data sharing, healthcare organizations and governments may increase the efficiency, precision, and speed of healthcare delivery. The crucial role that DLTs play in removing the structural and semantic barriers to safe medical systems interoperability is highlighted in the conclusion of this literature review. By adopting DLTs, the healthcare sector may usher in a new era of standardized, safe, and efficient medical data transmission, which will ultimately benefit both patients and healthcare providers. This study shows how distributed ledger technologies (DLTs) have the potential to revolutionize the healthcare industry by enabling the secure and meaningful exchange of medical data between different systems, thereby improving patient care and healthcare outcomes.

Lattice Boltzmann simulation of dissolution patterns in porous media: single porosity versus dual porosity media

Understanding the influence of porous media structure, particularly dual porosity, on solvent transport and pore geometry evolution during chemical reactions is a complex and critical area of study. This research leverages the lattice Boltzmann method to investigate how the presence of aggregates in a medium affects solvent transport and pore space development, focusing on distinct dissolution regimes: face and wormhole dissolution. The study addresses the challenge of managing variable pore sizes in dual porosity media by developing specialized GPU algorithms, which efficiently handle fine grids and complex pore spaces. The findings reveal that dual porosity significantly enhances dissolution rates in both the face and wormhole dissolution regimes. Intriguingly, while the pattern of face dissolution remains largely unchanged, dual porosity markedly alters the pattern of wormhole dissolution. In dual-porosity media, the wormholes tend to be narrower and more elongated compared to the wider wormholes observed in single-porosity media. This variation is attributed to the reaction area dynamics, where the reduced reactive surface area along the main wormhole path in dual-porosity media results in less solvent engagement in the reaction processes. Moreover, the research provides insights into the microscale interactions in porous media, emphasizing how variations in microscale porosity can have substantial impacts on the overall dissolution dynamics. The study results are not only significant for understanding the fundamental aspects of chemical dissolution in porous media but also have practical implications in fields such as geo-energy and groundwater remediation. These findings help optimizing reaction processes in complex and heterogeneous porous systems, highlighting the need for detailed consideration of microstructural characteristics in modeling and industrial applications.

Possible Habitats for NH3, NH2D, H13CN, HC15N, SO, and C18O in the Initial Conditions of High-mass Star Formation

The initial condition of high-mass star formation is a complex area of study because of the high densities ( nH2>106 cm−3) and low temperatures (T dust < 18 K) involved. Under such conditions, many molecules become depleted from the gas phase by freezing out onto dust grains. However, the N-bearing and deuterated species could remain gaseous under these extreme conditions, suggesting that they may serve as ideal tracers. In this paper, using the Plateau de Bure Interferometer and Very Large Array observations at 1.3 mm, 3.5 mm, and 1.3 cm, we investigate the possible habitats for NH3, NH2D, H13CN, HC15N, SO, and C18O in eight massive precluster and protocluster clumps G18.17, G18.21, G23.97N, G23.98, G23.44, G23.97S, G25.38, and G25.71. We found that the NH3 cores are in good agreement with the 3.5 mm peak emission, but the NH3 is much more extended than the 3.5 mm emission structure. The SO distributions agree well with the 3.5 mm peaks for the evolved star formation stage, but we did not detect any SO emission in the four earliest star formation sources. C18O is a poor tracer in conditions of the cold (≲18 K) and dense (≳104 cm−3) cores, e.g., the prestellar cores. We also found that the NH2D cores are mainly located in the temperature range of 13.0–20.0 K, and the NH2D lines may be strongly depleted above 20 K.

Minerals and the Menstrual Cycle: Impacts on Ovulation and Endometrial Health.

The role of minerals in female fertility, particularly in relation to the menstrual cycle, presents a complex area of study that underscores the interplay between nutrition and reproductive health. This narrative review aims to elucidate the impacts of minerals on key aspects of the reproductive system: hormonal regulation, ovarian function and ovulation, endometrial health, and oxidative stress. Despite the attention given to specific micronutrients in relation to reproductive disorders, there is a noticeable absence of a comprehensive review focusing on the impact of minerals throughout the menstrual cycle on female fertility. This narrative review aims to address this gap by examining the influence of minerals on reproductive health. Each mineral's contribution is explored in detail to provide a clearer picture of its importance in supporting female fertility. This comprehensive analysis not only enhances our knowledge of reproductive health but also offers clinicians valuable insights into potential therapeutic strategies and the recommended intake of minerals to promote female reproductive well-being, considering the menstrual cycle. This review stands as the first to offer such a detailed examination of minerals in the context of the menstrual cycle, aiming to elevate the understanding of their critical role in female fertility and reproductive health.

A Rapid Evidence Assessment on The Effectiveness of Interventions for Autistic Adolescents with Harmful Sexual Behaviors.

The management and treatment of harmful sexual behaviors (HSBs) in autistic adolescents is a complex area of research and clinical practice. Autistic adolescents face unique challenges in understanding social and sexual interactions, putting them at a higher risk of engaging in HSBs. Existing research on interventions for HSBs among autistic adults is growing, but evidence for adolescents is not well understood. Thus, understanding the effectiveness of interventions targeting HSBs in autistic adolescents is crucial. We conducted a rapid evidence assessment to review peer-reviewed research on the effectiveness of interventions for autistic adolescents at risk of or engaging in HSBs. In all, 12 studies met the criteria for review. Inclusion criteria required articles to be published in a peer-reviewed journal, be related to HSB prevention and intervention in adolescents aged 12 to 18 with autism spectrum disorder, be written in English, and include original data. Six databases were used, and we screened the titles and abstracts of 34 studies. The reviewed studies described cognitive-behavioral therapy, pharmacological interventions, family involvement, and multidisciplinary team approaches in addressing HSBs. However, the literature has significant limitations and we suggest that the literature is not robust enough to indicate a promising evidence-based approach for interventions for autistic adolescents who are at risk of or who display and engage in HSBs, and the findings are not transferable to practice. Additional research is required to better prepare healthcare professionals for addressing HSBs in autistic adolescents.

A Hybrid Perspective on Threat Analysis and Activity-Based Attack Modeling for Strengthening Access Control in IoT

The rapid expansion of Internet of Things (IoT) devices has resulted in an unparalleled surge in the production of data and interconnectivity. Nevertheless, as IoT ecosystems become increasingly intricate, security concerns become of utmost importance, particularly in access control systems. The objective of this research is to improve the security of IoT access control by utilizing a hybrid model for analyzing threats and modeling attacks based on activities. This study has two primary objectives: a) A hybrid classification model is used to predict labels (attack or not) in binary classification with an impressive accuracy of 98.18%. b) Another hybrid classification model is employed to predict types of attacks in M2M communication, achieving a commendable accuracy of 90%. The primary goal is to create and assess a hybrid classification model for binary classification. This model will differentiate between regular system behavior and malicious attacks on access control schemes in the Internet of Things (IoT). The hybrid model, which combines the strengths of Gated Recurrent Units (GRU) and Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks, achieves an exceptional accuracy rate of 98.18%. The model's high accuracy demonstrates its effectiveness in precisely detecting potential threats and minimizing false positives, thereby establishing a strong basis for improving access control security. The second objective focuses on the complex area of security, with the goal of categorizing distinct forms of attacks in Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication within the Internet of Things (IoT) framework. The hybrid classification model, employing both GRU and LSTM networks, achieves a remarkable accuracy of 90%. This accomplishment showcases the model's aptitude in detecting and distinguishing different types of attacks, including Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) and Man-in-the-Middle attacks. The hybrid model provides security professionals with valuable insights to proactively respond to diverse threats in M2M communication by accurately classifying attack types. This strengthens the overall security posture of IoT access control systems. Overall, this study offers a thorough and efficient combination of threat analysis and activity-based attack modeling to enhance access control in IoT. The obtained accuracies in binary classification and prediction of attack types highlight the practical usability of the suggested hybrid model, establishing a strong basis for improving the security of IoT access control systems against evolving cyber threats

Система автономного управления дорожно-строительной машиной

The increasing requirements for the accuracy of construction work lead to the need to create modern control systems that will eliminate the human operator from the process of controlling road construction machines, increase the energy efficiency and productivity of these machines, as well as the quality of the finished construction object. The use of unmanned control systems has become an absolute technological break-through. Improving the accuracy of work with the help of unmanned control systems is an urgent and complex area of research. This is due to the need to improve algorithms and improve sensors to more accurately de-termine the coordinates of the machine and make decisions. Only by possessing high accuracy, modern unmanned vehicles are able to minimize errors in construction work and associated safety risks. To do this, it is necessary to provide the ability to recognize and analyze various factors, such as moving objects, weather conditions, terrain, etc. The article presents the results of a functional analysis of a number of road construction machines, defines the range of tasks that a modern unmanned control system should solve, describes a possible implementation option for such a system, and shows the differences in flowcharts of working processes of construction machines both without automatic control systems and equipped with standard and developed automatic control systems.

Problems of Criminological Determination and Causation in the Scientific Doctrine of Professor Vitaliy Anatolyevich Nomokonov

A famous Russian criminologist, Doctor of Law, Professor, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, Vice-President of the Russian Criminological Association, author of over 400 research works and textbooks Vitaliy Anatolyevich Nomokonov has celebrated his 75th birthday. He is a well-known figure in both Russian and foreign criminology famous for his works, his conceptual and fundamental scientific views and approaches, unfailing principles and loyalty to universal human values when developing the strategy and tactics of corruption counteraction. Being one of the founders of a highly complex problem area in the field of criminology — the theory of crime determination and causation — he also consistently studies the modern aspects of this theory. The Professor was also one of the first scientists who researched the mechanisms of counteracting organized crime and corruption. He has been studying the regional aspects of these interconnected forms of crime over a long period of time, as well as promoting the ideas of its prevention at the political and public levels. Advocating the proactive development of criminology and its methodological basis along the lines of the transforming society, the Professor has been developing new directions in criminology stressing the anticriminal and anticorruption policy. Positive criminology is a trend in his works, he argues for the humane-personal approach in the theory of the criminal’s personality and proves the importance of understanding the regularities of positive law-abiding behavior and identifying the anti-criminogenic factors underlying it. The number of his students and followers is constantly growing. Over 15 researcher, who wrote their dissertation thesis under V.A. Nomokonov’s supervision, have become the founders of the theory of cybercrime, they promote his ideas regarding anticorruption policy, drug abuse, human trafficking, etc., and have the law enforcement experience that they successfully use in their current work. The Professor’s approaches to understanding organized crime and corruption, as well as the basic and special measures of counteracting these dangerous phenomena, are a safe basis for the corresponding criminological theory, they reflect his forward-thinking and astute attitude. His scientific intuition allows the Professor to be ahead of other research in the sphere of counteracting corruption and provide highly professional predictions on the future regularities of criminal behavior, thus contributing to the development and enriching the theory of criminology and its practical significance.

Long-term safety evaluation of soft rock tunnel structure based on knowledge decision-making and data-driven models

Tunnel structure are often subjected to continuous deformation caused by the creep effect of soft rock, leading to posing significant long-term operational risks. This paper focuses on ensuring the safe operation of a typical soft rock tunnel in the complex and dangerous mountainous area of western China. On the basis of studying the structural mechanic characteristics of the tunnel under the influence of soft rock creep, the VlseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR) model based on Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Entropy Weight Method (EWM) to determine subjective and objective weights, and game theory (GT) to obtain comprehensive weights was established. Additionally, the differential evolution-grey wolf optimization (DE-GWO) improved extreme learning machine (ELM) model was also constructed. By comparing the safety evaluation results of the two models on typical monitoring sections of soft rock tunnel structure, it is demonstrated that the proposed knowledge-based decision-making and data-driven models effectively and accurately evaluated the long-term safety of typical monitoring sections. Ulteriorly, to address the issue of structure safety evaluation caused by the inability to comprehensively monitor the entire tunnel (missing monitoring data), the DE-GWO improved ELM model was further adopted, and the structure safety status of the entire tunnel was precisely deduced.

Few-Shot Learning for Crop Mapping from Satellite Image Time Series

Recently, deep learning methods have achieved promising crop mapping results. Yet, their classification performance is constrained by the scarcity of labeled samples. Therefore, the development of methods capable of exploiting label-rich environments to classify crops in label-scarce environments using only a few labeled samples per class is required. Few-shot learning (FSL) methods have achieved this goal in computer vision for natural images, but they remain largely unexplored in crop mapping from time series data. In order to address this gap, we adapted eight FSL methods to map infrequent crops cultivated in the selected study areas from France and a large diversity of crops from a complex agricultural area situated in Ghana. The FSL methods are commonly evaluated using class-balanced unlabeled sets from the target domain data (query sets), leading to overestimated classification results. This is unrealistic since these sets can have an arbitrary number of samples per class. In our work, we used the Dirichlet distribution to model the class proportions in few-shot query sets as random variables. We demonstrated that transductive information maximization based on α-divergence (α-TIM) performs better than the competing methods, including dynamic time warping (DTW), which is commonly used to tackle the lack of labeled samples. α-TIM achieved, for example, a macro F1-score of 59.6% in Ghana in a 24-way 20-shot setting (i.e., 20 labeled samples from each of the 24 crop types) and a macro F1-score of 75.9% in a seven-way 20-shot setting in France, outperforming the second best-performing methods by 2.7% and 5.7%, respectively. Moreover, α-TIM outperformed a baseline deep learning model, highlighting the benefits of effectively integrating the query sets into the learning process.

GEDUNG OLAHRAGA PENYANDANG TUNANETRA PADA KAWASAN KOMPLEK PERTUNI BANJARBARU

Sports are very necessary for everyone's sports needs, including the blind. Blind people have limitations in their activities which is a problem in this writing. A special building was created for blind people to exercise in the PERTUNI Banjarbaru complex area using methods that can facilitate independence, comfort and safety when exercising. A design with the concept of orientation and mobility was chosen because this concept can prioritize comfort, comfort and safety for blind people. With this concept, it is hoped to produce a plan that suits the needs of blind people in carrying out sports activities.

Mesozoic structural evolution of the Northern South China Sea margin using potential field modelling

This study conducts a comprehensive geophysical inspection of the Northern South China Sea Margin (NSCSM), a complex and pivotal area for unraveling the tectonic history of Southeast China. We employ structural interpretation of the gravity and magnetic data by applying processing techniques and 2D forward modelling to delineate and subdivide the primary subsurface structures, and also to identify the sedimentary basins. Our findings reveal that the NSCSM exhibits a succession of extensional forearc basins above a heterogeneous basement, including a Mesozoic Andean-type magmatic arc and a Western Pacific-type marginal oceanic basin. It has substantial variations in crustal densities and susceptibilities across the NSCSM, reflecting its intricate geological history. The integrated interpretation of this study highlights the substantial impact of the Indosinian and Yanshanian thrusting and orogenies. These geological processes have played a significant role in deformation partitioning, leading to the development of elongated troughs and basins intersected by numerous prominent structures trending in the NE, ENE, and EW directions. The Indosinian faults provide insights into the boundary between these structures, which formed due to the Dian-Qiong Suture and the Paleo-Pacific Plate subduction. These tectonic processes have major structural trends, particularly impacting the offshore forearc region in the NE and EW directions, characterized by deep basins overlying thin crust. Our study also identifies multiple minor trends, including horse-tails and secondary fault systems of the Yanshanian origin, which inherited from the regional tectonics. These trends suggest that post-orogenic stresses and shearing have played a role in rotational and ridge jump processes during the opening and closing phases of the South China Sea (SCS). Furthermore, an uneven relationship exists between the calculated magnetic anomaly and the thickness of Cenozoic sediments, with a significant increase in sediment depth observed in the southern NSCSM compared to both crustal thickness and its heterogeneity.

Matrix Metalloproteinase-Responsive Hydrogel with On-Demand Release of Phosphatidylserine Promotes Bone Regeneration Through Immunomodulation.

Inflammation-responsive hydrogels loaded with therapeutic factors are effective biomaterials for bone tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. In this study, a matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-responsive injectable hydrogel is constructed by integrating an MMP-cleavable peptide (pp) into a covalent tetra-armed poly-(ethylene glycol) (PEG) network for precise drug release upon inflammation stimulation. To establish a pro-regenerative environment, phosphatidylserine (PS) is encapsulated into a scaffold to form the PEG-pp-PS network, which could be triggered by MMP to release a large amount of PS during the early stage of inflammation and retain drug release persistently until the later stage of bone repair. The hydrogel is found to be mechanically and biologically adaptable to the complex bone defect area. In vivo and in vitro studies further demonstrated the ability of PEG-pp-PS to transform macrophages into the anti-inflammatory M2 phenotype and promote osteogenic differentiation, thus, resulting in new bone regeneration. Therefore, this study provides a facile, safe, and promising cell-free strategy on simultaneous immunoregulation and osteoinduction in bone engineering.