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To mitigate the decrease in mechanical performance of Sn58Bi/Cu solder joints resulting from electromigration-induced damage. The CeO2 nanoparticles were incorporated into Sn58Bi solder by a melt-casting method, and their effects on the microstructure and properties of Sn58Bi/Cu solder joints under electromigration were investigated. The study results demonstrate that the addition of 0.125 ~ 0.5 wt% CeO2 nanoparticles refines the eutectic microstructure of Sn58Bi solder alloy. At an addition amount of 0.5 wt%, the composite solder alloy exhibits the maximum tensile strength of 68.9 MPa, which is 37% higher than that of the base solder. CeO2 nanoparticle-reinforced Sn58Bi solder can achieve excellent solderbility with Cu substrates and the joints can significantly inhibit the growth of the anodic Bi-rich layer, which is responsible for electromigration. With the extension of current stressing time, Bi-rich and Sn-rich layer are respectively formed on the anode and cathode in the joints. The intermetallic compound (IMC) layer grows asymmetrically, transitioning from a fan-shaped morphology to a flattened structure at the anode and to a thickened mountain-like morphology at the cathode. Adding the CeO2 nanoparticles helps to mitigate the decrease in mechanical performance caused by electromigration damage during current application to some extent. Over the current stressing period of 288 ~ 480 h, the fracture position shifts from the anodic IMC/Bi-rich interface to the cathodic Sn-rich/IMC interface. The fracture mechanism transitions from a brittle fracture characterized by plate-like cleavage to a ductile–brittle mixed fracture with fine dimples and cleavage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ships comprise the only and most important ocean transportation mode. Thus, ship detection is one of the most critical technologies in ship monitoring, which plays an essential role in maintaining marine safety. Optical remote-sensing images contain rich color and texture information, which is beneficial to ship detection. However, few optical remote-sensing datasets are open publicly due to the issue of sensitive data and copyrights, and only the HRSC2016 dataset is built for the ship-detection task. Moreover, almost all general object detectors suffer from the failure of multi-scale ship detection because of the diversity of spatial resolution and ship size. In this paper, we re-annotate the HRSC2016 dataset and supplement 610 optical remote-sensing images to build a new open source ship-detection benchmark dataset with rich multi-scale ship objects named the HRSC2016-MS dataset. In addition, we further explore the potential of a recursive mechanism in the field of object detection and propose a novel multi-scale ship-detection framework (MSSDet) in optical remote-sensing images. The success of detecting multi-scale objects depends on the hierarchical pyramid structure in the object-detection framework. However, the inherent semantic and spatial gaps among hierarchical pyramid levels seriously affect detection performance. To alleviate this problem, we propose a joint recursive feature pyramid (JRFP), which can generate semantically strong and spatially refined multi-scale features. Extensive experiments were conducted on the HRSC2016-MS, HRSC2016, and DIOR datasets. Detailed ablation studies directly demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed JRFP architecture and also showed that the proposed method has excellent generalizability. Comparisons with state-of-the-art methods showed that the proposed method achieves competitive performance, i.e., 77.3%, 95.8%, and 73.3% mean average precision accuracy on the HRSC2016-MS, HRSC2016, and DIOR datasets, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For practical rechargeable aqueous zinc-ion batteries, the long-term cycling stability of the zinc anode remains significantly constrained by its low utilization efficiency and the persistent challenge of hydrogen evolution. This study demonstrates the fabrication of ultrathin zinc electrodes with a robust Zn (002) texture while ensuring an adequate supply of zinc metal for use as an anode material. This approach effectively suppresses the tendency of zinc atoms to undergo deposition transformation due to dislocation-induced phenomena. Compared to zinc foils with higher deposition amount, the ultrathin Zn anode exhibits enhanced resistance to dendrite growth and interfacial side reactions. Assembled symmetrical cells based on this ultra-thin Zn anode show a cycle life of 1750 h (1 mAcm−2, 0.5 mAhcm−2), maintaining stable cycling for over 100h even at a high depth of discharge (DOD) of 46.23%. Additionally, the full cell couple with V 10 O 24 exhibits a high initial capacity of 429.6 mAh g−1 and a capacity retention of 75.8% after 1000 cycles. [Display omitted] • Preventing Zn dendrite formation during cycling by precisely controlling the deposition amount. • Synthesis of ultrathin, strong Zn (002) textured zinc anodes to achieve high utilization, cycling at 46 % DOD for over 100 h. • Elucidates the mechanism underlying the influence of deposition amount on zinc anode performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pickering emulsion have been widely used to encapsulate bioactives with the aim of preventing degradation, improving bioavailability and achieving the effect of slow release. Curcumin (Cur), as a bioactive compound, was famous as its excellent beneficial human health functions. However, the low solubility and susceptibility to environmental influences limit the application of Cur. In our previous study, the covalent nanoparticles (sugarcane leaf polyphenols-zein, SGLpZ) with excellent antioxidant capacity were successfully fabricated. In addition, the pickering emulsion stabilized using SGLpZ with significance storage stability and antioxidant properties, which inspired us for Cur delivery application. Therefore, in this study, SZP (pickering emulsion stabilized by SGLpZ) were prepared and were firstly used to delivery Cur evaluation. Results exhibited that the mechanism of excellent stabilization of SZP may be due to the wide range of O/W phase interfaces with SGLpZ, which could be further used as a delivery system for Cur. An in-vitro simulated digestion suggested that SZP provided better protection to Cur under three different conditions (different Na+ concentration, temperatures and UV exposure times), compared to ZZP (pickering emulsion stabilized by zein nanoparticles alone). SZP was able to achieve a slow release of Cur as well as the high bioaccessibility of Cur during the in-vitro simulated digestion. Finally, Cur, Cur-ZZP and Cur-SZP inhibited respectively by 33.20±1.00%, 53.26±0.94% and 71.59±0.14% (p ＜0.05) at the Cur concentration of 20 μg/mL in the in-vitro inhibition of AAPH-induced erythrocyte hemolysis assay. The study indicated that the pickering emulsion stabilized by SGLpZ was a reliable Cur delivery system and provided a novel idea of food material application for bioacitive substances delivery. [Display omitted] • A green-sustainable pickering emulsion stabilized by Sugarcane leaf polyphenols-Zein nanoparticles was firstly prepared. • Cur-SZP for better results compared with curcumin and Cur-ZZP in three different external environments. • Cur-SZP achieved slow release and improved bioavailability of curcumin in in-vitro digestion. • The inhibitory effect of Cur-SZP on hemolysis of red blood cells was studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

NPBS (Natural Products & Biological Sources) database is a chemical data resource with relational data between natural products and biological sources, manually curated from literatures of natural product researches. The relational data link a specific species and all the natural products derived from it and contrarily link a specific natural product and all the biological sources. The biological sources cover diverse species of plant, bacterial, fungal and marine organisms; the natural molecules have proper chemical structure data and computable molecular properties and all the relational data have corresponding references. NPBS database provides a wider choice of biological sources and can be used for dereplication to prevent re-isolation and re-characterization of already known natural products. Database URL : http://www.organchem.csdb.cn/scdb/NPBS [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Magnetite nanoparticle supported on sepiolite (Fe 3 O 4 -Sep) was fabricated. • Fe 3 O 4 -Sep showed high adsorption ability toward BPA. • Adsorbed BPA can be degraded in-situ via Fenton-like process. • Columnar Fe 3 O 4 -Sep remained stable in the fixed-bed reactor under continuous-flow. • Influence of real water matrix on the combined processes was negligible. In this work, a magnetic sepiolite composite was prepared by chemical co-precipitation method and firstly applied as both adsorbent and catalyst for the removal of bisphenol A (BPA) through a heterogeneous Fenton process. The composite was characterized by XPS, XRD, SEM and TEM techniques. The results of the kinetics study indicate that BPA (50 mg·L−1) can be adsorbed onto the composite via electrons transfer as well as π-π interaction, and then be completely degraded at pH 6.0 within 30 min after the addition of H 2 O 2 (1000 mg·L−1). The analysis of FTIR confirms that the degradation occurred through a combined process of adsorption and oxidation. BPA was pre-concentrated and fixed onto the composite surface and then degraded in-situ by hydroxyl radicals, which were generated through the interaction between H 2 O 2 and surface active sites. To investigate the stability and regeneration properties of the catalyst, the powder composite was extruded into a small cylindrical sample and loaded in a fixed-bed reactor, which was operated under continuous-flow condition. The BPA removal efficiency after 4 h remained at 87%, while the leaching of Fe ions gradually increased. Further, degradation tests in different real waters including tap water and municipal wastewater spiked with BPA (50 μg·L−1) reveal that the influence of real matrix on the oxidation ability was very little. The findings of this study confirm the composite as a promising material for the catalytic removal of organics via the coupled adsorption-oxidation process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Zein/Sugarcane leaves polyphenols (SGLpZ) covalent nanoparticles were successfully prepared. • Pickering Emulsions stabilized by SGLpZ with ultrasound showed high stability in lipid oxidation during storage. • SGLp modification Pickering emulsions (SZP) exhibited low free fatty acids release in in-vitro digestion. • SZP showed high safety in hemocompatibility and cytotoxicity assays in-vitro. This study firstly used sugarcane leaf polyphenols (SGLp) to modify zein to form covalent nanoparticles (SGLpZ) and used SGLpZ as an emulsifier to stabilize pickering emulsions (SZP) via ultrasonic method. The results showed that the addition of SGLp could alter the physicochemical properties of zein, including improving increasing the hydrophilicity of zein and the antioxidant properties of zein (three basic antioxidant activities test in vitro). SGLpZ could be able to form a dense film on the surface of the pickering emulsions which inhibited lipid oxidation as the concentration of SGLp increased at 4 ℃ for 20 days, thus stabilizing pickering emulsions (SZP). Further assessment of storage stability of pickering emulsions stabilized by SGLp was evaluated via measuring the free fatty acids (FFA) release in vitro gastrointestinal digestion. The results showed that the FFA release of SZP decreased from 20.61 ± 0.10% to 16.14 ± 0.69%. In addition, SGLp gave SZP a yellow color, which inspired that SZP could be used in the food industry to make yellow-colored functional foods. Finally, the safety of SZP initially assessed by in-vitro hemocompatibility and cytotoxicity (MTT) assays. In conclusion, our fingdings were beneficial for the further design and development of SGLp in food fields and enabled the development a new type in functional protein-plant polyphenols food pickering emulsions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a sequence switching control (SSC) scheme based on an auxiliary parallel inductor is proposed to improve the transient performance of buck converters. The proposed SSC scheme introduces a small controlled inductor in parallel with the output inductor, so as to increase the inductor-current slew rate when it is activated during a load transient. Furthermore, an “n+ 1” sequence switching strategy is proposed to control the auxiliary parallel inductor. The proposed scheme divides the transient event inton+ 1 periods. In the formernperiods, the same small output voltage deviations are designed, while in the last period, a smaller deviation is done for a smooth transition from the transient to the steady state. The switching sequence is derived applying the capacitor–charge balance principle for each ofn+ 1 periods. For a given buck converter in the experiment, the settling time and the output voltage deviation of the proposed SSC scheme enhance more than 50% and 67%, respectively, over those of the time-optimal control for a 3-A load step. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Landfill leachate is a typical refractory wastewater for which research into rapid and efficient treatment methods has become very topical. In this study, a coagulation-ozonation process was developed to treat the concentrate arising from membrane treatment of landfill leachate. The effect of coagulant type and initial pH on treatment efficiencies was investigated. Results showed that many of organics were effectively removed in the coagulation process. Thereafter, ozone was applied to further treat the coagulation-resistant organic substances. Our results revealed that the degradation rate of these coagulation-resistant substances followed the trend (color number) CN > (light absorbance at 254 nm) UV 254 > (chemical oxygen demand) COD, and the residual coagulation-resistant substances were oxidized rapidly in the ozone process. Ozone first destroyed the molecular structure of fulvic acid and the by-products generated, such as protein-like substances. In addition, the molecular weight, organic condensation degree, and concentration of benzene ring compounds were considerably decreased. Moreover, the macro molecular organics (i.e., humic acid and fulvic acid) within the size range 1–100 kDa were effectively degraded and partially transformed into bicarbonate. Overall, the combined coagulation-ozonation process reduced COD, UV 254 , and CN in the landfill leachate concentrate by 88.32%, 94.37%, and 98.83%, respectively, and thus the biodegradability of the treated leachate also was significantly improved. This excellent performance proved the feasibility of the combined coagulation-ozonation process for the removal of recalcitrant organic substances contained in landfill leachate concentrate, benefiting subsequent biological treatment. Highlights • Ozonation was applied to treat residual coagulation-resistant substances. • Residual coagulation-resistant substances were oxidized rapidly in the ozone process. • Degradation mechanism of coagulation-resistant organics was investigated using multiple ways. • The combined process significantly improved the biodegradability of the concentrates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In this study, a ferrous-activated persulfate (PS) process induced by microwave (MW) energy was used to treat an industrial wastewater containing dinitrodiazophenol (DDNP). The effect of different operational parameters, such as PS dose, initial pH, MW power, and the mass ratio of ferrous to PS [i.e., n(Fe2+/PS)], on chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal and the pseudo first-order constant k was systematically studied. Results showed that the constant k and COD removal increased considerably with increasing PS dose, MW power, and n(Fe2+/PS); however, the constant k and COD removal decreased proportionally as the initial pH increased from 3 to 11. A base-activated PS system was formed when the initial pH further increased to 13, which resulted in a dramatic increase of k and COD removal. Controlled experiments demonstrated that the synergetic effect of MW, Fe2+, and PS were significant. The value of k was 0.2425 min−1, COD removal was 71.42%, and biodegradability remarkably increased from 0.056 to 0.6712 during treatment by MW-Fe2+/PS at a PS dose of 8 g/L, MW power of 600 W, initial pH of 3, n(Fe2+/PS) of 0.04, and reaction time of 14 min. Spectral analyses showed that the chromophores (including the diazo group and nitro group compounds) and benzene rings were greatly decomposed. Identification tests for reactive oxygen species showed that the predominant oxidizing species in the MW-Fe2+/PS process was the sulfate radical, and that the hydroxyl radical played a lesser role for color number elimination. From the perspective of both treatment efficiency energy consumption, the MW-Fe2+/PS process was confirmed to be an economical and promising pretreatment process for DDNP industrial wastewater. Graphical abstract Image 1 Highlights • MW-Fe2+/PS process was applied to the treatment of DDNP industrial wastewater. • A significant synergetic effect was observed among microwave, Fe2+, and persulfate in MW-Fe2+/PS process. • SO 4 – and OH were the dominant oxidizing species in the MW-Fe2+/PS process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • The MW-Fe0/H 2 O 2 process was used to treat concentrated landfill leachate. • Reaction parameters and the degradation mechanism were systematically studied. • Refractory organics were degraded by the synergistic effects of MW, Fe0 and H 2 O 2. • Various analyses proved that refractory organics were efficiently degraded. • The reaction mechanism of the MW-Fe0/H 2 O 2 process has wide applicability. Abstract To study the treatment effect and mechanism of a combined microwave (MW)-Fe0/H 2 O 2 Fenton-like process on concentrated landfill leachate, the effects of initial pH, Fe0 dosage, H 2 O 2 dosage, MW power and reaction time on the removal of organic substances were investigated. The phase change of Fe0 before and after reaction and its catalytic mechanism were investigated using multiple analytical techniques. Results showed that the removal efficiencies of chemical oxygen demand, UV 254 and color number were 58.70%, 85.69% and 88.30%, respectively, at initial pH of 2.0, Fe0 dosage of 0.5 g/L, H 2 O 2 dosage of 20 mL/L, MW power of 400 W and reaction time of 14 min. Comparison of different Fenton-like processes indicated that the MW-Fe0/H 2 O 2 Fenton-like process was the most efficient and significantly decreased the aromaticity degree, molecular weight and condensation degree of organic substances in the leachate. The fluorescence peak of concentrated leachate exhibited a blue-shift in the MW-Fe0/H 2 O 2 process, further indicating that the condensation degree of humic substances declined and molecular weight remarkably decreased. The mechanism exhibited an advanced oxidation effect of a heterogeneous Fenton reaction between iron oxide and H 2 O 2 , as well as of adsorption and precipitation effects of iron-based colloids, on organic substances. Moreover, thermal and non-thermal effects of MW accelerated these reactions, achieving fast removal of organic pollutants in the concentrated landfill leachate. Overall, the results of this study showe that the MW-Fe0/H 2 O 2 process is an effective and promising method to handle concentrated landfill leachate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Automatic Welding Helmet Use (WHU) detection technology is of great significance for the safety management of construction site, then, this paper proposes a lightweight face-assisted model using YOLOv5s for the detection of WHU (WHU-YOLO). First, the Ghost module is introduced into YOLOv5s to optimize feature extraction parts of backbone and neck, reducing model complexity. Then, the neck of YOLOv5s is reconstructed based on Bi-directional Feature Pyramid Network (Bi-FPN). The experimental results implemented on established Welding helmet and Human face Detection (WHD) dataset indicate that the false positives have been greatly decreased with the assistance of face data and the mean average precision (mAP) reaches 83.65%. Meanwhile, under the environment of NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 and 640 × 640 input size, WHU-YOLO with inference time up to 5.7 ms achieves model compression with 35.7%, 34.4% and 30.1% reductions in parameters, weight size and Floating Point Operations (FLOPs) compared with YOLOv5s, respectively, which has no decline on detection performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing complexity of modern engineering systems has motivated a shift of research focus from component-level reliability to system reliability with interdependent components. There is a growing demand for efficient reliability methods to analyze high-dimensional systems that involve numerous dependent components and component variables. The first-order reliability method (FORM), which is widely used for component-level reliability analysis, becomes inaccurate for high-dimensional systems composed of numerous components, each with a nonlinear high-dimensional limit state function. By integrating the orthogonal plane sampling, this paper proposes an improved FORM-based method to tackle the curse of dimensionality for series systems. The idea is to construct secant hyperplanes using the orthogonal plane samples so as to reduce the FORM error for high-dimensional nonlinear limit state functions. The design points of secant hyperplanes are projected to high-dimensional system space using an efficient procedure based on the specified correlation matrix of variables. Finally, the series system reliability is computed as high-dimensional multi-normal integral, which is addressed by the equivalent component method. Four numerical examples are investigated to demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed method. Results indicate that the proposed method is significantly more efficient than the Monte Carlo simulation and more accurate than the conventional FORM. • The OPS is leveraged for high-dimensional component reliability. • FORM is fused with OPS to analyze reliability of high-dimensional systems. • Solve high-dimensional Gaussian integral via equivalent component method. • The method can be orders more efficient than direct Monte Carlo simulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water shortages and the uneven distribution of water resources restrict China’s sustainable development. The concepts of virtual water and water footprints provide a new approach to alleviate regional shortages of Chinese water resources by the inter-provincial allocation of commercial water resources. In this study, an interregional input-output model was applied to quantitatively estimate the water footprint of each province in China and to quantify the inter-provincial transfer of virtual water. The results indicated that there was considerable diversity in the water footprints of the various provinces. Provinces with larger populations and greater GDP had larger water footprints, and developed regions had higher proportions of external water footprints. From the perspective of final demand, local consumption was the main factor driving the water footprints of these provinces. From the perspective of sectoral structure, the agricultural water footprint had a larger proportion in these provinces. The transfer of virtual water in China did not occur from regions with abundant water resources to those suffering from water shortages, but it generally occurred from west to east, from inland to coastal areas, and from underdeveloped to developed regions. Many water-deficient regions also had large net virtual water exports. Water shortages in China will be alleviated by the enhancement of industrial water-use efficiency in water-deficient regions, the transfer of water-intensive industries to regions with abundant water resources, and the development of tertiary industries with low water consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrospinning is a versatile and convenient technology to generate nanofibers suitable for tissue engineering. However, the low production rate of traditional needle electrospinning hinders its applications. Needleless electrospinning is a potential strategy to promote the application of electrospun nanofiber in various fields. In this study, disc-electrospinning (one kind of needleless electrospinning) was conducted to produce poly(ε-caprolactone)/gelatin (PCL/GT) scaffolds of different structure, namely the nanoscale structure constructed by nanofiber and multiscale structure consisting of nanofiber and microfiber. It was found that, due to the inhomogeneity of PCL/GT solution, disc-electrospun PCL-GT scaffold presented multiscale structure with larger pores than that of the acid assisted one (PCL-GT-A). Scanning electron microscopy images indicated the PCL-GT scaffold was constructed by nanofibers and microfibers. Mouse fibroblasts and rat bone marrow stromal cells both showed higher proliferation rates on multiscale scaffold than nanoscale scaffolds. It was proposed that the nanofibers bridged between the microfibers enhanced cell adhesion and spreading, while the large pores on the three dimensional (3D) PCL-GT scaffold provide more effective space for cells to proliferate and migrate. However, the uniform nanofibers and densely packed structure in PCL-GT-A scaffold limited the cells on the surface. This study demonstrated the potential of disc-electrospun PCL-GT scaffold containing nanofiber and microfiber for 3D tissue regeneration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Belt and Road Initiative was proposed by China in 2013 to promote the interconnected development and prosperity of all participating countries. In the context of global response to climate change, understanding the embodied carbon transfer change along economic trade before and after the Belt and Road Initiative is essential to reduce carbon overall emission. In this paper, we used a multi-regional input-output model to study the embodied carbon transfer in trade between the Belt and Road countries that have signed cooperation documents with China from 2004 to 2017. The results showed that from 2004 to 2017, the growth rate that China's carbon emissions imported from other Belt and Road Initiative countries was about 1.9 times that of its exports. From 2004 to 2017, the proportion of China's carbon imports from other Belt and Road countries in China's total carbon imports increased from 3.41% to 3.73%, and exports decreased from 6.52% to 6.03%. In both 2004 and 2017, Electricity, Gas and Water sector, Heavy Industry sector, Transport sector were the three largest carbon transfer sectors in China's multilateral trade. In 2017, the embodied carbon transfer by multilateral trade among other Belt and Road countries except China increased by 15.53% compared with 2004. By comparing the characteristics of carbon transfer between China and the Belt and Road countries from 2004 to 2017, this study will provide insights for carbon emission reduction policy setting of Belt and Road Initiative countries. • We took countries that have signed documents with China as research objects. • MRIO model was used to analyze the carbon transfer change from 2004 to 2017. • The embodied carbon transfer in 2017 of BRI increased by 15.53% compared with 2004. • The growth rate of China's carbon imports from BRI was 1.9 times that of exports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fabrication of 3D scaffold to mimic the nanofibrous structure of the nature extracellular matrix (ECM) with appropriate mechanical properties and excellent biocompatibility, remain an important technical challenge in tissue engineering. The present study reports the strategy to fabricate a 3D nanofibrous scaffold with similar structure to collagen in ECM by combining electrospinning and freeze-drying technique. With the technique reported here, a nanofibrous structure scaffold with hydrophilic and superabsorbent properties can be readily prepared by Gelatin and Polylactic acid (PLA). In wet state the scaffold also shows a super-elastic property, which could bear a compressive strain as high as 80% and recovers its original shape afterwards. Moreover, after 6 days of culture, L-929 cells grow, proliferate and infiltrated into the scaffold. The results suggest that this 3D nanofibrous scaffold would be promising for varied field of tissue engineering application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Silk fibroin (SF)/PEO nanofibers prepared by green electrospinning is safe, non-toxic and environment friendly, it is a potential drug delivery carrier for tissue engineering. In this study, a core–shell nanofibers named as Dex@SF/PEO were obtained by green electrospinning with SF/PEO as the shell and dexamethasone (Dex) in the core. The nanofiber morphology and core–shell structure were studied by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM). The Dex release behavior from the nanofibers was tested by High Performance liquid (HPLC) method. The protective effect of drug loaded nanofibers mats on Porcine hip artery endothelial cells (PIECs) against LPS-induced inflammatory damage were determined by MTT assay. TEM result showed the distinct core–shell structure of nanofibers. In vitro drug release studies demonstrated that dexamethasone can sustain release over 192 h and core–shell nanofibers showed more slow release of Dex compared with the blending electrospinning nanofibers. Anti-inflammatory activity in vitro showed that released Dex can reduce the PIECs inflammatory damage and apoptosis which induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Dex@SF/PEO nanofibers are safe and non-toxic because of no harmful organic solvents used in the preparation, it is a promising environment friendly drug carrier for tissue engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have attracted increasing attention in recent years because of their broad range of applications in city security, military reconnaissance, disaster rescue, and so on. As one of the critical algorithms in the field of artificial intelligence, object tracking greatly improves the working efficiency of UAVs. However, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) object tracking still faces many challenges. UAV objects provide limited textures and contours for feature extraction due to their small sizes. Moreover, to capture objects continuously, a UAV camera must constantly move with the object. The above two reasons are usual causes of object-tracking failures. To this end, we propose an end-to-end discriminative tracker called TMDiMP. Inspired by the self-attention mechanism in Transformer, a novel memory-aware attention mechanism is embedded into TMDiMP, which can generate discriminative features of small objects and overcome the object-forgetting problem after camera motion. We also build a UAV object-tracking dataset with various object categories and attributes, named VIPUOTB, which consists of many video sequences collected in urban scenes. Our VIPUOTB is different from other existing datasets in terms of object size, camera motion speed, location distribution, etc. TMDiMP achieves competitive results on our VIPUOTB dataset and three public datasets, UAVDT, UAV123, and VisDrone, compared with state-of-the-art methods, thus demonstrating the effectiveness and robustness of our proposed algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The histone chaperones play an important role in chromatin assembly and disassembly during replication and transcription. We have assessed the global roles of histone chaperones in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Microarray transcriptional analyzes indicate that histone chaperones have their own specific target genes, and various histone chaperones have partially overlapping functions during transcriptional regulation. The histone deacetylase inhibitor TSA and histone chaperones Asf1, Vps75 and Rtt106 can function in parallel pathways to regulate transcription. Moreover, TSA can specifically antagonize histone chaperone Chz1-mediated telomere anti-silencing. This study demonstrates that a mutual cross-talk mechanism exists between histone chaperones and histone deacetylation in transcriptional regulation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Aristolochic acids are known for nephrotoxicity, and implicated in multiple cancer types such as hepatocellular carcinomas demonstrated by recent studies. Natural products that are analogues to aristolochic acids have been constantly isolated from organisms; a larger chemical space of these compounds and a wider coverage of biological sources should be determined in consideration of the potential hazard of aristolochic acid analogues and the wide distribution of their biological sources in the nature. Therefore, we carried out an in silico research of naturally occurring aristolochic acid analogues and their biological sources, as a supplement to existing studies. The result shows a chemical space of 238 naturally occurring aristolochic acid analogues that are present in 175 species of biological sources including 44 traditional medicines. With the computational estimation for toxicity and the implication in hazard assessment of a biological source with the presence of aristolochic acid analogues, we propose that additional awareness should be raised to the public for avoidance of toxic species, especially those that are used as herbal medicines and easily accessible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A new epoxy resin matrix with good adherence to T800 carbon fibers (T800 CFs) in filament winding was developed by addition of hardener and resin diluter. Interfacial behavior of the T800 CF/epoxy composites was analyzed according to the Naval Ordnance laboratory (NOL) ring test, short-beam-shear test and fracture surface observation. Meanwhile, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) were used in analysis of the interfacial behavior. The interfacial properties of the T800 CF/epoxy filament wound composites were improved by optimizing the matrices through increasing the toughness and reducing the viscosity, which is an important factor in influencing the wettability of T800 CFs. The Interlaminar shear strength (ILSS) of the unidirectional T800 CF/epoxy composites and the tensile strength of NOL-ring in this work reached to 123 and 2570MPa, respectively. Also, the interfacial adhesion was much improved by the chemical reactions between the new matrix and the sizing on the T800 CFs. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Petroleum-contaminated soil (PCS) is a global environmental issue. An effective remediation technique is urgently needed to address this problem. This study applied a semi-aerobic aged refuse biofilter (SAARB) to the decontamination and remediation of PCS. The effects of petroleum content, surfactant content, and water content on oil removal efficiency were studied, and the operation conditions were optimized using the response surface method. Results showed that contents of petroleum and water that were too high or too low depressed total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) removal. The presence of surfactant markedly reduced the TPH removal efficiency. The optimal operation conditions were the ratio of aged refuse to PCS = 1.6; water content = 41%; and petroleum content = 3.8%. The TPH removal efficiencies under optimized conditions and during a confirmatory experiment were 59.89% and 51.38%, respectively. PCS contained an abundance of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and macro molecular alkanes, and these organic compounds were considerably removed by SAARB treatment. The microbial community exhibited a marked change at both phylum level and genus level after 3 months of remediation in the PCS. At the genus level, norank_f _SS1–B-06-26 became the most dominant; further isolation and verification experiments for its ability to degrade petroleum are needed. In addition, the abundance of norank_o _Saccharimonadales , Aquabacterium , Hydrogenophaga, and norank_f_ Saccharimonadaceae, which can degrade hydrocarbons, also increased. This study provides a theoretical reference for SAARB application in the remediation of PCS. • Petroleum-contaminated soil was remediated by SAARB technique. • Total petroleum hydrocarbon removal by SAARB was more than 50% under idea condition. • Petroleum hydrocarbons were degraded by SAARB, according to 3D-EEM and GC-MS analysis. • Microbial structure greatly changed after remediating by SAARB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solar photovoltaics (PV) deployment is not easy in dense urban areas because there is little space for the installation. Furthermore, tenants have few incentives to install PV panels because they frequently relocate, and most PV facilities are nonremovable. To address these factors, this study reports on an innovative model that collectively installed 260 W of mini-PV on the balconies of almost all the households in two high-rise apartment complexes in Seoul, South Korea. This project was unique in that it established energy commons in a community using private space. This study found that economic and social factors significantly influenced community-internal or micro factors, which in turn affected the success of the community energy project. Economic factors such as the expected economic benefit and residents paying no direct installation costs shaped the initial conditions for the commencement of the project. Leadership played a key role by speeding up the process, relieving residents' concerns and distrust. This study introduced an innovative community energy model that can be referenced by megacities and communities. It provides opportunities for enhancing awareness of energy transition via on-site energy production using renewable energy and allows even communities that have insufficient common space to build energy commons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• DOM composition in landfill and incineration leachate was systematically compared. • Transformations of the DOM molecular compositions by MBR/NF were investigated. • Phenolic compounds, polyphenols and polycyclic aromatics enriched in MBR leachate. • NF lowered the DOM abundances but with more complex DOM in the NF concentrate. • Coagulation in conjunction with an advanced O 3 /H 2 O 2 process was used to treat NF concentrate. Transformations of the molecular compositions of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in incineration leachate (IL) were investigated. Results revealed that DOM in IL had a lower oxidation degree than that in mature MSW landfill leachate (LL). Moreover, aliphatic compounds (2.0 ≥ H/C ≥ 1.5) having the highest bioavailability were the most abundant type of DOM in IL, making IL significantly more biodegradable than LL. Under microbial actions, etc., DOM composed of phenolic compounds (aromaticity index (AI) ≤ 0.50 and H/C < 1.5), polyphenols (0.66 ≥ AI > 0.50) and polycyclic aromatics (AI > 0.66) in MBR-treated effluents were enriched and more diverse than in the untreated leachates. Nanofiltration (NF) dramatically lowered the relative abundances of phenolic compounds, polyphenols and polycyclic aromatics in effluent generated by treatment of IL in a MBR. Although the concentration of DOM in NF effluent was comparatively low, the DOM compositions in the resulting NF concentrate were nearly identical to those in MBR effluent, but were more complex than those in an international standard DOM due to a higher content of CHOS and CHONS heteroatomic compounds. Particularly, coagulation in conjunction with ozone/hydrogen peroxide oxidation process were dramatically reduced most polyphenols and polycyclic aromatics from the NF concentrate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chemically unstable natural products are prone to show their reactivity in the procedures of extraction, purification, or identification and turn into contaminants as so-called "artifacts". However, identification of artifacts requires considerable investments in technical equipment, time, and human resources. For revealing these reactive natural products and their artifacts by computational approaches, we set up a virtual screening system to seek cases in a biochemical database. The screening system is based on deep learning models of predicting the two main classifications of conversion reactions from natural products to artifacts, namely solvolysis and oxidation. A set of result data was reviewed for checking validity of the screening system, and we screened out a batch of reactive natural products and their probable artifacts. This work provides some insights into the formations of natural product artifacts, and the result data may act as warnings regarding the improper handling of biological matrixes in multicomponent extraction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the current close-to-smart power systems, renewable energies are the most significant elements that need to be carefully addressed in power system studies. In this regard, microgrids (MGs) have been introduced recently to activate the large penetration of renewables. However, integration of such generation technologies that are associated with severe uncertainty in their power output would significantly impact the scheduling of energy resources in MGs. Thus, efficient energy management systems are required to be employed in MGs. Therefore, this paper presents a day-ahead scheduling framework for an MG equipped with a solar photovoltaic (PV) unit. In this respect, different climate conditions and their impacts on the power output of the PV unit and the optimal scheduling of the MG have been investigated in this paper. To this end, four different days from the four seasons have been used to extract the data of solar irradiance. The scheduling problem has been formulated in a single-objective optimization framework, where the objective function is defined as minimizing the total operating cost over the scheduling period. An effective optimization algorithm named "modified krill herd (MKH)" algorithm is proposed to solve the mentioned day-ahead scheduling problem, while there are renewable and non-renewable generating units, besides an energy storage system. Furthermore, a comprehensive comparison has been made between the MKH algorithm and some well-known optimization algorithms to verify the superior performance of the suggested method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most methods for creating an indoor thermal environment are based on controlling heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems and do not consider the various needs of individuals in a multiperson space. Personal comfort systems (PCS) and personal comfort models (PCM) are popular technologies for achieving personal thermal comfort. This paper presents a thermal environmental collaborative control system (TECCS) that regulates environments at different spatial scales by leveraging the advantages of the HVAC system, PCS, PCM, and PCM-based automatic control to address the issue of individual differences in thermal demand in multiperson environments. The TECCS predicts thermal sensation votes (TSV) by combining facial skin temperature data obtained by an infrared sensor with environmental parameters. Subsequently, it performs the corresponding PCS control and adjusts the air conditioner according to the operating state of the PCS. This study proposes a collaborative control strategy with PCS at the core, enabling communication between thermal state recognition, HVAC system, and PCS. Twenty-eight adult males participated in the experiments testing the TECCS's performance. The results indicate that the TECCS can automatically regulate environments at different spatial scales based on thermal sensation prediction and that the operating state of the PCS can effectively guide air conditioning operations. Compared with constant setpoint control, the TECCS offers the advantage of improving thermal comfort. This paper also proposes future optimization directions based on the research results, focusing on recognition, equipment, and control. [Display omitted] • Skin-temperature-based comfort model and device collaborative control strategy. • Match occupant needs with environmental heat and cold supply. • Personal comfort system plays the role of both feedback and effector. • Realize the information interaction between occupants, PCS, and HVAC. • Prove the comfort improvement effect of the proposed system by subject experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Machine translation of chemical nomenclature has considerable application prospect in chemical text data processing between languages. However, rule based machine translation tools have to face significant complication in rule sets building, especially in translation of chemical names between English and Chinese, which are the two most used languages of chemical nomenclature in the world. We applied two types of neural networks in the task of chemical nomenclature translation between English and Chinese, and made a comparison with an existing rule based machine translation tool. The result shows that deep learning based approaches have a great chance to precede rule based translation tools in machine translation of chemical nomenclature between English and Chinese. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to statistics, falls are the primary cause of injury or death for the elderly over 65 years old. About 30% of the elderly over 65 years old fall every year. Along with the increase in the elderly fall accidents each year, it is urgent to find a fast and effective fall detection method to help the elderly fall.The reason for falling is that the center of gravity of the human body is not stable or symmetry breaking, and the body cannot keep balance. To solve the above problem, in this paper, we propose an approach for reorganization of accidental falls based on the symmetry principle. We extract the skeleton information of the human body by OpenPose and identify the fall through three critical parameters: speed of descent at the center of the hip joint, the human body centerline angle with the ground, and width-to-height ratio of the human body external rectangular. Unlike previous studies that have just investigated falling behavior, we consider the standing up of people after falls. This method has 97% success rate to recognize the fall down behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Semi-aerobic aged refuse biofilters (SAARB) are known to efficiently remove organic matter, nitrogenous substances, and anions from landfill leachate. However, long-term recirculation of mature landfill leachate inevitably leads to accumulation of pollutants and decreases treatment capacity. In this study, the washing action provided by domestic sewage was used to recover and even enhance the treatment performance of SAARBs treating mature landfill leachate. Three SAARB columns were operated for 300 d after which a "Recirculation-Washing-Recirculation" sequence was followed. In the first recirculation period (22 d), removal of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total nitrogen (TN) decreased from ca. 90% and 60%, respectively, initially to about 75% and less than 20%, respectively. Thereafter, washing (20 d) of the SAARBs was accomplished by applying domestic sewage. In the subsequent second recirculation period (30 d), the SAARBs were operated at the same hydraulic loading as used initially, but achieved high (ca. 90%) COD and relatively high (ca. 59%–76%) TN removal, including degradation of refractory organic matter such as humic- and fulvic-like substances. Overall, the mechanisms of the treatment performance recovery (including organics degradation and nitrification-denitrification) using domestic sewage can be attributed to three main effects: (1) some accumulated pollutants were washed out, thereby leading to recovery of the adsorption ability of aged refuse; (2) the inhibition of bio-refractory organics stress on microbial activities was mitigated by domestic sewage washing; and (3) the wash out of some accumulated salts (e.g., chloride and sulfate ions) probably helped the microbial activity recover. • A "Recirculation-Washing-Recirculation" sequence was operated in SAARBs. • SAARBs treated landfill leachate and were washed with domestic sewage. • Pollutant removal from landfill leachate was improved by washing action. • Microbial activity was improved after washing action. • Washing action greatly promote nitrification-denitrification within SAARBs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ultraviolet-quenching substances (UVQS), recently identified pollutants in landfill leachate, can interfere with ultraviolet disinfection when landfill leachate is co-treated with municipal sewage. This study investigated the elimination of UVQS in mature landfill leachates through a membrane bioreactor (MBR) and a semi-aerobic aged refuse biofilter (SAARB). Humus (i.e., fulvic and humic acids) was the main component of organic matter in both MBR- and SAARB-treated landfill leachates, while there was a more stable chemical structure of humus in the MBR-treated leachate. The concentration of UVQS in MBR-treated mature landfill leachate was higher than that of SAARB-treated leachate. Ozonation can degrade UVQS effectively, especially for landfill leachate containing a high concentration UVQS (i.e., MBR-treated landfill leachate). However, a large accumulation of small molecule acid might be caused by ozonation for highly concentrated UVQS in landfill leachate, leading to the delayed degradation of total organic carbon. Moreover, ozonation degraded both fulvic acid and humic acid; and degraded humic acid more effectively. For instance, 88.0% removal (MBR-CP2) and 96.0% removal (SAARB-CP2) of humic acid was higher than those (83.3% for MBR-CP1 and 92.3% for SAARB-CP1) of fulvic acid. The destruction of UV-quenching functional groups of organics (such as C C) by ozone was the main UVQS degradation mechanism of ozonation applied to MBR- and SAARB-treated landfill leachates. Therefore, the ozonation process can efficiently decrease UV absorption intensity in both MBR- and SAARB-treated landfill leachates. • More leachate UVQS can be reduced by SAARB (6.35 cm−1) than MBR (29.85 cm−1). • Humus is the main UVQS in MBR- and SAARB-treated landfill leachates. • Humic can be degraded more efficient than fulvic in ozonation process. • Ozonation process can destruct UV-quenching polar functional groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Cartilage decellularized matrix (CDM) is processed into inks for 3D printing. • CDM-based scaffolds with controlled 3D shape and pore structure are obtained. • Fibers can improve the mechanical property of 3D-printed CDM scaffolds. • 3D-printed fiber-reinforced CDM scaffolds exhibit elasticity in wet condition. • Fiber-reinforced CDM scaffolds can repair articular cartilage defects in rabbits. Cartilage decellularized matrix (CDM) is considered a promising biomaterial for fabricating cartilage tissue engineering scaffolds. An ideal CDM-based scaffold should possess customizable 3D shape for complex tissue regeneration and proper pore size for cell infiltration, as well as provide mechanical support for cell growth. 3D printing is an efficiently technique for preparing customizable 3D scaffolds, however, fabricating CDM-based 3D-printed scaffolds with customizable shapes, proper pore structure and satisfactory mechanical properties remains a challenge. In the current study, to achieve customizable CDM-based 3D scaffolds, CDM was successfully processed into inks suitable for 3D printing. Further, the poor mechanics of CDM-based scaffolds were significantly improved by adding electrospinning fiber into the CDM-based inks for 3D printing. Importantly, the 3D-printed electrospinning fiber-reinforced CDM-based scaffold presented good biocompatibility and can enhance repair articular cartilage defects in rabbits. The current study provides a novel strategy for printing electrospinning fiber-reinforced CDM-based scaffolds for tissue regeneration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• MW-PS-H 2 O 2 binary-oxidant process was firstly used to treat DDNP wastewater. • The oxidant utilization rate considerably increased with the binary oxidant process. • Both S O 4 · - and · O H were major contributions to organics degradation. Microwave (MW) irradiation is a superior approach to a warm-up system than conventional heating, and persulfate (PS) and hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2) can be efficiently activated to produce a reactive oxygen species for organic degradation. However, shortcomings remain regarding whether to use a low oxidant or the low treatment efficiency of a single oxidant process. In this study, a PS-H 2 O 2 binary oxidant process induced by MW was developed to treat dinitrodiazophenol industrial wastewater. The best chemical oxygen demand (COD) (73.5%) and color number (CN) (98.1%) removal efficiencies were obtained for the MW-PS-H 2 O 2 process under conditions of a total oxidant dose = 7.4 mM and n(PS)/n(H 2 O 2) = 3.7/3.7. In the MW-PS-H 2 O 2 process, the combination of ·OH and SO 4 − better degrades organics in DDNP industrial wastewater with the advantages of lower residual salinity (sulfate ions) and less invalid decomposition of excessive H 2 O 2. In addition, benzene ring substances and functional group substances were greatly degraded, and the molecular weight of the organics considerably decreased as a result of the MW-PS-H 2 O 2 process. Overall, the results demonstrate that the MW-PS-H 2 O 2 process is a promising treatment method for dinitrodiazophenol industrial wastewater with high treatment efficacy and high oxidant utilization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Provincial CO 2 emissions of China are investigated from different perspectives. • Embodied emission flows driven by final demands and primary inputs are quantified. • Income-based emissions are relatively higher in energy resource-abundant province. • Tertiary industries are the major contributors to China's income-based emissions. Emission accounting can help to identify main CO 2 emitters and inform emission mitigation policymaking. Previous studies have proved that the application of different accounting principles results in different emission levels, thus bring different policy implications, while the emissions enabled by primary inputs (or income-based emission) have been overlooked in studies for carbon mitigation in China. Understanding the role of primary inputs in CO 2 emissions is a prerequisite to create efficient supply-side mitigation policies. Here, we conduct a quantitative study of China's provincial production-, consumption-, and income-based CO 2 emissions in a unified multi-regional input-output analysis framework. The results are compared from the three perspectives for 30 provinces in China to help the government identify the main policy targets from production, demand, and supply sides. We found that 64% and 35% of China's emissions are transferred among provinces driven by final demands and primary inputs, respectively. Mitigation policies in heavily industrialized provinces, such as Hebei, Liaoning, and Henan, where the production-based emissions are higher than the consumption- and income-based emissions, should be focused on production side. Similarly, policies in eastern coastal developed provinces and resource-abundant provinces should be focused on demand- and supply-side, respectively. Moreover, we found that tertiary industries, which previous studies generally regard as low-carbon industries, are the major contributors to China's income-based CO 2 emissions with a total of 2026 Mt or 31% of China's total income-based CO 2 emissions. Thus, expanding tertiary industries without reducing their industrial linkages to carbon-intensive industries is not conducive to China's emission reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fabrication of three-dimensional (3D) electrospun fibrous scaffolds with customizable shapes and large pores is a challenging task. In this study, for the first time, one-dimensional (1D) gelatin/poly (lactic- co -glycolic acid) (PLGA) electrospun fibers were processed into inks suitable for 3D printing. By combining 3D printing and freeze drying, electrospun fiber-based inks were successfully fabricated into 3D-printed scaffolds (3DP) with precisely controlled shapes and large pores, in addition to fibrous surface morphologies similar to that of a native extracellular matrix (ECM). The 3DP exhibited good elasticity and water-induced shape memory, and was found to be superior to 3D-printed scaffolds fabricated using pure gelatin fibers and freeze-shaped scaffolds fabricated using non-fibrous gelatin/PLGA powder. Moreover, 3DP combined with chondrocytes achieved satisfactory cartilage regeneration in vivo. The novel strategy of 3D printing electrospun fibers established in this study provides a research model for the design and fabrication of multiple scaffolds for various tissue regeneration applications. Unlabelled Image • Electrospun fibers were processed into three-dimensional inks for the first time. • Fiber scaffolds with controlled shapes and large pores were successfully fabricated. • Three-dimensional printed fiber scaffolds exhibited elastic property in the wet condition. • Three-dimensional fiber scaffolds combined with chondrocytes achieved satisfactory cartilage regeneration in vivo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metformin/glipizide tablets are a compound formulation composed of metformin hydrochloride and glipizide. This study aimed to assess the pharmacokinetics and bioequivalence of two fixed-dose combination (FDC) tablets of metformin/glipizide (500 mg/2.5 mg) in healthy Chinese subjects. We conducted a single-center, open-label, randomized, two-way crossover study with a total of 48 subjects enrolled (24 in each dietary group). The test or reference formulations were given to the subjects at random at a ratio of 1 : 1, with a seven-day washout period. Blood samples, collected at prearranged intervals before and up to 24 hours after dosage, were analyzed using validated LC-MS/MS technology to ascertain plasma concentrations of metformin and glipizide. Finally, 23 subjects completed the fasting and fed studies, respectively. In both studies, the 90% confidence intervals for the geometric mean ratios (test/reference) of the C m ax , AUC0-t, and AUC0-∞ were all found to fall within the acceptable range for bioequivalence (80%–125%). The exposure of metformin/glipizide FDC tablets in vivo was not significantly affected by food. No serious adverse events were observed. In conclusion, this study demonstrated that both the test and reference metformin/glipizide tablets exhibited bioequivalence and were well tolerated under both fasting and fed conditions. This trial is registered with CTR202686. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low-bandgap conjugated polymers with photocurrent response to near-infrared (NIR) wavelength are the basis of optoelectronic technologies such as semitransparent organic photovoltaics (STOPVs), NIR polymer photodetectors (PPDs), ambipolar field-effect transistors (FETs), photoacoustic (PA) imaging and photothermal therapy (PTT). Compared with inorganic-based photodetectors, PPDs, based on low-bandgap conjugated polymers with the chemical structures easy to be tuned, can achieve a wide range of spectral responses. On the other hand, this kind of polymers can enhance the short-circuit current (JSC) in TOPV by extending the absorption spectrum range. In this review, our focus will be on the development of low-bandgap conjugated polymers extending over 1000 nm and the performance of PPDs or OPVs. The perspective article summarizes the design strategy of such polymers, the derivation process of the useful heterocycles, absorption, bandgap, and energy levels. Thereafter, we will draw attention to the challenges and the possible research direction in the future to provide readers with a deeper understanding of the design of NIR polymers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Anaesthetic methods and drugs with rapid onset, rapid recovery and better postoperative analgesia are more suitable for rapid recovery in obstetric anaesthesia. We formulated the following hypothesis: a combination of mepivacaine and ropivacaine could provide a longer analgesic effect and have more advantages in terms of rapid-recovery indicators. Methods: A total of 180 pregnant women scheduled to undergo elective caesarean sections were randomly assigned to three surgical groups, which received 2% mepivacaine (Group M), 2% mepivacaine + 0.75% ropivacaine (Group MR) (Volume 1:1) or 0.75% ropivacaine (Group R) through an epidural catheter. The situation of postoperative analgesia and other indicators of rapid recovery were recorded. Results: One hundred and fifty patients were included in the final analysis. Their demographic data were similar. The visual analogue scale (VAS) scores of Group MR and Group R were lower than Group M at 1 and 2 h after surgery both at rest and with movement (P < 0.05), and the time to first ambulation in Group MR (17.38 ± 2.06 h) and Group M (17.20 ± 2.09 h) was shorter than that in Group R (22.18 ± 1.74 h) (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Application of 2% mepivacaine combined with 0.75% ropivacaine for epidural anaesthesia can provide longer postoperative analgesia and earlier ambulation, these effect may be more suitable than that of 2% mepivacaine or 0.75% ropivacaine alone for caesarean section. Trial registration: This study was registered at Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (Registration number: ChiCTR 2300078288; date of registration: 04/12/2023). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: Status epilepticus (SE) is the most common neurological emergency in pediatric patients. This study aimed to screen for prognostic biomarkers of SE in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) using metabolomics. Methods: Ultra‐performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time‐of‐flight tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC‐QTOF‐MS) was conducted to identify prognostic biomarkers in CSF metabolomics by comparing the poor outcome group (N = 13) with the good outcome group (N = 15) of children with SE. Differentially expressed metabolites were identified using Mann–Whitney U test corrected by Benjamini‐Hochberg and partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS‐DA). Results: The PLS‐DA model identified and validated significant metabolic differences between the poor and good outcome groups of children with SE (PLS‐DA with R2Y = 0.992 and Q2 = 0.798). A total of 49 prognosis‐related metabolites were identified. Of these metabolites, 20 including glutamyl‐glutamine, 3‐iodothyronamine, and L‐fucose had an area under the curve (AUC) ≥ 80% in prognostic prediction of SE. The logistic regression model combining glutamyl‐glutamine and 3‐iodothyronamine produced an AUC value of 0.976, with a sensitivity of 0.863 and specificity of 0.956. Pathway analysis revealed that dysregulation of the citrate cycle (TCA) and arginine biosynthesis may contribute to poor SE prognosis. Conclusions: This study highlighted the prognosis‐related metabolomic disturbances in the CSF of children with SE and identified potential prognostic biomarkers. A prognostic prediction model combining glutamyl‐glutamine and 3‐iodothyronamine with high predictive value was established. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a multi-period frame transient switching control (MP-TSC) scheme for buck converter with a controlled coupled inductor, aiming at improving the load transient response. The proposed buck converter utilizes a controlled coupled inductor as the output inductor. During a load transient, the coupled inductor is controlled as a small equivalent inductance so as to achieve fast transient regulation. While in the steady state, the coupled inductor behaves as a large inductance to reduce the output current ripple. Furthermore, on the basis of the proposed variable inductance circuit, an MP-TSC control scheme is proposed and implemented in a digital form. With the proposed control scheme, the load transient event is divided into n + 1 sub-periods, and in each sub-period, the capacitor-charge balance principle is used to determine the switching time sequence. Moreover, the control principle design and transient response index analysis are provided. Furthermore, its feasibility is validated in simulation and experiment with a 12–3.3V low-voltage high-current synchronous buck converter. Experimental results demonstrate that the voltage deviation of the proposed MP-TSC scheme (coupled coefficient of the controlled coupled inductor is 0.52) has improved by more than 79% compared to that with the auxiliary circuit disabled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphical abstract Highlights • Degradation of BPA was investigated by · OH - and SO 4 · - - AOPs. • The TOC removal rate achieved 36% and 24% for the catalyzed H 2 O 2 and persulfate. • BPA followed different transformation pathways in two systems. • The less radical scavenging may led to the higher removal of BPA by catalyzed H 2 O 2. • The magnetic fly ash presented good structural stability during the recycle runs. Abstract In this study, H 2 O 2 and persulfate (PS) were both proved to be heterogeneously catalyzed by the Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticle supported on coal fly ash for reactive oxidation species (ROS). The two heterogeneous advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) were systematically investigated, and the system with H 2 O 2 exhibited higher reactivity for Bisphenol A (BPA) elimination and total organic carbon (TOC) reduction. The two systems were comprehensively compared in terms of degradation kinetics, transformation way, water matrix species and catalyst stability. Systems with H 2 O 2 and PS can remove 100% and 80.2% of the BPA after 120 min (0.22 mmol/L), respectively([H 2 O 2 ] = 22 mmol/L, [PS] = 22 mmol/L). The oxidant efficiency in system with H 2 O 2 was obviously higher probably due to the less radical scavenging. A mechanism was proposed that the interface interactions between solid and liquid phase will affect the collision among molecular of oxidants and catalyst, as well as the lifetime of radicals during the their diffusion process. The quenching experiments demonstrated that the primary radical species in two systems were · OH and SO 4 · - / · OH , respectively, thus causing the different BPA degradation pathways and by-products. The catalyst presented good structural stability and relatively low Fe leaching in both systems during the recycle. The valence state transformation from Fe2+ to Fe3+ after the reaction explained the gradual catalytic activity loss. In the tap water and municipal wastewater, the system with PS was less influenced by the real water matrix due to the lower university of SO 4 · - toward organics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • A heterogeneously catalyzed H 2 O 2 /persulfate system was investigated. • Bisphenol A can be effectively degraded in the binary oxidants system. • The oxidants ratios and solution pH affected the system efficiency and radicals. Abstract Bisphenol A is one of the typical endocrine chemicals that can be found in many different kinds of water bodies. A heterogeneously catalyzed H 2 O 2 /peroxydisulfate system coupled with magnetite supported on coal fly ash was investigated for the degradation of bisphenol A. The activity tests results showed that the bisphenol A (50 mg/L) degradation efficiency of 60 min in the binary oxidants system can be significantly enhanced from 16.7% to 100% after the addition of catalyst ([oxidants] 0 = 20 mM, [H 2 O 2 ] 0 /[PDS] 0 = 4, [Catalyst] = 2 g/L, pH = 5, T = 25 °C), while the oxidation process can be affected by solution pH, catalyst surface properties and oxidant ratios. Based on the results of quenching experiments, it was proposed that in a binary system, there were 3 radicals including hydroxyl radical, sulfate radical and superoxide radical possibly responsible for the bisphenol A degradation, and either radical may predominate over the other two depending on the adsorption behaviors on the catalyst surface as well as the radicals' inter-conversions. The stability and reusability analysis of catalyst were carried out in 7 sequential batch studies. The negligible concentration of dissolved Fe ion in first 4 runs illustrated the dominant role of heterogeneous process, while the gradually leached Fe ion in following runs demonstrated the involvement of homogeneous process. The findings of this study strongly suggest that the heterogeneous binary oxidant system is a promising treatment technology for the abatement of bisphenol A, while the suitable oxidant ratio and solution pH are essential for making the most of the radicals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sepsis is a critical condition affecting patients worldwide. Systemic inflammatory response syndrome in sepsis contributes to organ dysfunction and mortality. The oXiris is a recently developed continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) hemofilter indicated for the adsorption of cytokines from the bloodstream. In our study, in a septic child, CRRT with three filters, including the oXiris hemofilter, resulted in a downregulation of inflammatory biomarkers and a reduction of vasopressors. Herein, we described the first report of such usage in septic children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As for ripple-current mode control, it cannot achieve average current tracking, resulting in poor current accuracy and even current waveform distortion. Meanwhile, fast-scale instability may occur in some operating conditions. To solve these problems effectively, a current-ripple compensation (CRC) control technique is proposed in this paper. The error between the average of the controlled current and the reference current is compensated by certain compensation signal, achieving average current tracking while suppressing fast-scale instability. On this basis, the compensator in the outer-voltage loop is further simplified to a proportional part by introducing a rebuilt average reference current. The idea and design procedure of the proposed CRC control technique are discussed in detail. Accordingly, two available implementation schemes for the proposed CRC are presented, including slope compensated and parabolic compensated schemes. Finally, two application cases, respectively, to dc–dc Buck converter and Boost PFC converter, are presented to verify the proposed CRC control technique. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

To improve the stability of the bridge structure, we detect bolts in the bridge which cause the symmetry failure of the bridge center. For data acquisition, bolts are small-scale objects under complex background in images, and their feature expression ability is limited. Due to those questions, we propose a new bolt positioning detection based on improved YOLOv5 for bridge structural health monitoring. This paper makes three major contributions. Firstly, according to the calibration anchor boxes of bolts, the size and proportion parameters of the initial anchor boxes are optimized by K-means++ clustering algorithm to solve the initial clustering problem of anchor boxes in object detection. Second, the hypercolumn (HC) technique fuses the low-level global features of the trunk and the high-level local features of three different scales to solve the problem of the inefficient distribution of anchors and insufficient extraction of classification features. In this way, we improve the detection accuracy and speed of bolt detection. Finally, we establish a dataset of bridge bolts through network collection and public datasets, including 1494 images. We compare and verify the new method in the collected bolt dataset. The experimental results show that the precision (P) of the improved YOLOv5x is up to 87.3%, and the average precision (AP) is up to 86.3%, which are 6.5% and 5.9% higher than the original YOLOv5x, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For single-atom catalysts (SACs), the catalyst supports are not only anchors for single atoms, but also modulators for geometric and electronic structures, which determine their catalytic performance. Selecting an appropriate support to prepare SACs with uniform coordination environments is critical for achieving optimal performance and clarifying the relationship between the structure and the property of SACs. Approaching such a goal is still a significant challenge. Taking advantage of the strong d-π interaction between Cu atoms and diacetylenic in a graphdiyne (GDY) support, we present an efficient and simple strategy for fabricating Cu single atoms anchored on GDY (Cu1/GDY) with uniform Cu1-C4 single sites under mild conditions. The Cu atomic structure was confirmed by combining synchrotron radiation X-ray absorption spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The as-prepared Cu1/GDY exhibits much higher activity than state-of-the-art SACs in direct benzene oxidation to phenol with H2O2 reaction, with turnover frequency values of 251 h−1 at room temperature and 1889 h−1 at 60°C, respectively. Furthermore, even with a high benzene conversion of 86%, high phenol selectivity (96%) is maintained, which can be ascribed to the hydrophobic and oleophyllic surface nature of Cu1/GDY for benzene adsorption and phenol desorption. Both experiments and DFT calculations indicate that Cu1-C4 single sites are more effective at activating H2O2 to form Cu=O bonds, which are important active intermediates for benzene oxidation to phenol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By fully utilizing the abundant surface functional groups of the fungus to coordinate with metal cobalt ions and the phosphorus and nitrogen elements of the organism itself to regulate the coordination environment of the central metal atoms, a cobalt-based single-atom catalyst TAHCF/Co-N was successfully constructed for selective hydrogenation of nitroaromatic compounds with good performance. [Display omitted] • Hyphae could be biocultured into macroscopic 3D structure. • Hyphae have natural functional groups for anchoring metal ions. • Fungal phosphorus sources could tailor the coordination of single metal sites. • The catalyst exhibits impressive performance for nitroarene hydrogenation. Utilizing biomass as a versatile catalyst building platform holds tremendous promise for catalyst design. In this study, we demonstrate a facile and effective method to fabricate high-performance catalysts using Trichoderma afroharzianum hyphae derived carbon fiber (TAHCF) embedded with Co 1 -N 3 P 1 active sites for nitroaromatic hydrogenation. This strategy leverages the intrinsic self-assembly and metal ion adsorption capabilities of Trichoderma afroharzianum (TA). During the carbonization process, amino acid-rich fungi undergo transformation into biochar substrates co-doped with functional heteroatoms, facilitating the creation of TAHCF single-atom catalyst. Moreover, the catalytic performance can be further enhanced by tailoring the coordination structure of metal atoms on the carbon substrates. Remarkably, we achieve a high turnover frequency of 1553 h−1 for the hydrogenation of nitrobenzene, along with exceptional conversion and selectivity for various nitro compounds with the metal loading as low as 0.02 wt%. Our study presents a characteristic synthetic method that advances the design of single-atom catalysts by leveraging the inherent structure characteristics of biomass in the pursuit of energy sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]