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Sodium‐ion batteries (SIBs) and potassium‐ion batteries (PIBs) are considered the next‐generation candidates for future energy storage systems to partially substitute commercial lithium‐ion batteries because of their abundant sodium/potassium reserves, cost‐effectiveness, and high safety. Polyanionic cathode materials are widely used in alkali ion batteries due to their stable structural framework, high thermal stability, excellent alkali ion diffusion kinetics, and adjustable working voltage. Generally, the polyanionic cathodes used for SIBs surpass PIBs in the aspect of energy density and cycle life in most cases, however, the PIBs also have their unique advantages that are seldom reported. To this end, the polyanionic materials are classified by the valence states of active metal sites, the storage mechanism of Na+ and K+ in different crystal structures is summarized, and the electrochemical performance between SIBs and PIBs is compared. Particularly, some unique advantages of polyanionic cathodes in PIBs, such as high working voltage, superior rate capability, and excellent capacity retention are revealed, and the possible reasons are discussed in detail. Finally, various viable solutions are proposed to improve the battery performance of polyanionic compounds for future development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large-scale experiments were carried out in an engine room platform to investigate the mass burning rate and smoke temperature under mechanical ventilation. Four air inlet heights ranged from 0.1 m to 1.0 m and six ventilation rates ranged from 38 h−1 to 126 h−1 were explored. The mass burning rates of pool fire and temperature distributions in the engine room were obtained. The average and maximum temperature values of the entire engine room were calculated to analyze the temperature characteristics of the engine room under various mechanical ventilation conditions. Results showed that the mass burning rates were slightly affected by ventilation rates. The vertical temperature distribution of ship engine room fires under mechanical ventilation presented to be a single-zone distribution. The average temperature of the entire engine room decreased with the increase of ventilation rate. On the basis of thermal balance analysis, a prediction model was proposed to calculate the average temperature of the entire engine room, which was consistent with the temperature trend measured in the experiments within 20% error. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cemented carbide used in the rotor of a mud pulser is subjected to the scouring action of solid particles and corrosive mud media for a long time, which causes abrasive wear and electrochemical corrosion. To improve the wear and corrosive resistance of cemented carbide, samples with different cobalt content (WC-5Co, WC-8Co, and WC-10Co) receive deep cryogenic treatment (DCT) at −196 °C for 2.5 h. An optical metalloscope (OM) and X-ray diffractometer (XRD) are used to observe the phase changes of cemented carbides, and the XRD is also used to observe the change in residual stress on the cemented carbide's surface. A scanning electron microscope (SEM) is used to characterize the wear and electrochemical corrosion surface microstructure of cemented carbides (untreated and DCT). The results show that the DCT promotes the precipitation of the η phase, and the diffraction peak of ε -Co tends to intensify. Compared with the untreated, the wear rates of WC-5Co, WC-8Co, and WC-10Co can be reduced by 14.71%, 37.25%, and 41.01% by DCT, respectively. The wear form of the cemented carbides is mainly the extrusion deformation of Co and WC shedding. The precipitation of the η phase and the increase in WC residual compressive stress by DCT are the main reasons for the improvement of wear resistance. The electrochemical corrosion characteristic is the dissolution of the Co phase. DCT causes the corrosion potential of cemented carbide to shift forward and the corrosion current density to decrease. The enhancement of the corrosion resistance of cemented carbide caused by DCT is due to the Co phase transition, η phase precipitation, and the increase in the compressive stress of cemented carbide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Li@Si 3 N 4 with the in-situ electrochemically generated Li 3 N/Li x Si protective layer can defend against the attack of Li dendrites and maintain uniform surface. [Display omitted] The unrestrained Li dendrite growth impedes the performance of Li metal batteries (LMBs) and brings safety concerns. To mitigate the unfavorable effect of Li dendrites, in this work, a shield-like artificial interlayer composed of Si 3 N 4 is employed to achieve the desirable electrochemical performance of LMBs. The Si 3 N 4 -based interlayer can in-situ electrochemically react with Li to generate inorganic Li 3 N and Li x Si alloys: the former with high ionic conductivity can effectively enhance the Li+ transference, while the latter with reversibility for Li+ insertion/deinsertion can act as Li+ reservoir to modulate Li+ platting/stripping. Thus, the Si 3 N 4 -derived compound shield effectively defends against the attack of Li dendrites and suppresses their growth, with which the Li||Li cells can cycle at 1 mA cm−2 (1 mAh cm−2) up to 500 h and the LiFePO 4 (LFP) ||Li batteries can operate 400 cycles at 1C with 91.5 % capacity retention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Chromosomal translocations involving the mixed lineage leukemia (MLL) gene generate potent fusion oncogenes and cause acute myeloid leukemia or lymphocytic leukemia, which account for ~75% infant and 5–10% child/adult acute leukemia cases with a poor prognosis (5-year survival rates < 45%). Protein–protein interactions between the most frequent MLL fusion partner proteins AF9/ENL and AF4 or histone methyltransferase DOT1L are critical to malignant gene expression and are therefore a potential drug target for cancer. Compound screening followed by medicinal chemistry studies identified several novel small-molecule inhibitors showing strong inhibition of these protein–protein interactions, significant suppression of characteristic gene expression, and robust cellular anticancer activities with negligible cytotoxicity. These compounds are useful chemical probes for biological studies of these protein–protein interactions, as well as pharmacological leads for further drug development against MLL-rearranged and other leukemias. Chromosomal translocations involving the mixed lineage leukemia (MLL) gene cause 5–10% acute leukemias with poor clinical outcomes. Protein–protein interactions (PPI) between the most frequent MLL fusion partner proteins AF9/ENL and AF4 or histone methyltransferase DOT1L are drug targets for MLL-rearranged (MLL-r) leukemia. Several benzothiophene-carboxamide compounds were identified as novel inhibitors of these PPIs with IC50 values as low as 1.6 μM. Structure–activity relationship studies of 77 benzothiophene and related indole and benzofuran compounds show that a 4-piperidin-1-ylphenyl or 4-pyrrolidin-1-ylphenyl substituent is essential for the activity. The inhibitors suppressed expression of MLL target genes HoxA9, Meis1 and Myc, and selectively inhibited proliferation of MLL-r and other acute myeloid leukemia cells with EC50 values as low as 4.7 μM. These inhibitors are useful chemical probes for biological studies of AF9/ENL, as well as pharmacological leads for further drug development against MLL-r and other leukemias. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: With the advance of bisulfite sequencing technologies, massive amount of methylation data have been generated, which provide unprecedented opportunities to study the epigenetic mechanism and its relationship to other biological processes. A commonly seen feature of the methylation data is the correlation between nearby CpG sites. Although such a spatial correlation was utilized in several epigenetic studies, its interaction to other characteristics of the methylation data has not been fully investigated. Results: We filled this research gap from an information theoretic perspective, by exploring the impact of the spatial correlation on the methylation entropy (ME). With the spatial correlation taken into account, we derived the analytical relation between the ME and another key parameter, the methylation probability. By comparing it to the empirical relation between the two corresponding statistics, the observed ME and the mean methylation level, genomic loci under strong epigenetic control can be identified, which may serve as potential markers for cell-type specific methylation. The proposed method was validated by simulation studies, and applied to analyze a published dataset of mouse brain methylome. Conclusions: Compared to other sophisticated methods developed in literature, the proposed method provides a simple but effective way to detect CpG segments under strong epigenetic control (e.g., with bipolar methylation pattern). Findings from this study shed light on the identification of cell-type specific genes/pathways based on methylation data from a mixed cell population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Originating from the Luria–Delbrück experiment in 1943, fluctuation analysis (FA) has been well developed to demonstrate random mutagenesis in microbial cell populations and infer mutation rates. Despite the remarkable progress in its theory and applications, FA often faces difficulties in the computation perspective, due to the lack of appropriate simulators. Existing simulation algorithms are usually designed specifically for particular scenarios, thus their applications may be largely restricted. There is a pressing need for more flexible simulators that rely on minimum model assumptions and are highly adaptable to produce data for a wide range of scenarios. In this study, we propose SimuBP, a simulator of population dynamics and mutations based on branching processes. SimuBP generates data based on a general two-type branching process, which is able to mimic the real cell proliferation and mutation process. Through simulations under traditional FA assumptions, we demonstrate that the data generated by SimuBP follow expected distributions, and exhibit high consistency with those generated by two alternative simulators. The most impressive feature of SimuBP lies in its flexibility, which enables the simulation of data analogous to real fluctuation experiments. We demonstrate the application of SimuBP through examples of estimating mutation rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Macrophages are closely involved in periodontitis. However, the molecular mechanism by which macrophages influence periodontitis is not well understood. We investigated the effects of phosphatase and tensin homologue (PTEN) on macrophage polarization, the underlying mechanism and the regulatory roles in periodontium regeneration. Materials and Methods: PTEN expression in periodontitis macrophages was detected ex vivo. The effects of PTEN on macrophage polarization and the underlying mechanisms were investigated in vitro. We also analysed the ability of PTEN inhibitors to repair periodontitis in vivo in a ligature‐induced mouse model of periodontitis. Results: Macrophage PTEN expression in periodontitis patients was significantly higher than that of controls. PTEN inhibition in macrophages induced alternative macrophage polarization, whereas PTEN overexpression facilitated classical polarization. PTEN inhibition facilitated activation of Akt1 while inhibiting expression of Akt2. Furthermore, Akt2 overexpression could rescue the effects of PTEN inhibition on NF‐κB. Treatment with a PTEN inhibitor significantly attenuated the local inflammatory status and prevented alveolar bone resorption in the mouse model. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that PTEN inhibition could induce alternative macrophage polarization by differentially regulating Akt1 and Akt2. This also changed a pro‐inflammatory microenvironment to an anti‐inflammatory environment by subsequently regulating the expression of NF‐κB, thereby attenuating inflammatory alveolar bone resorption induced by ligature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the global treaty negotiations aimed at addressing plastic pollution, particularly in marine environments, with a call to include wetlands explicitly due to their significant accumulation of legacy plastics. Topics include the environmental threat posed by legacy plastics in wetlands, where they harm biodiversity and disrupt ecological functions crucial for wetland health and carbon sequestration.

The smoke layer height in the ship engine room under forced ventilation has been experimental and theoretical investigated in this work. A series of test were carried out in a scaled engine cabin experimental platform to obtain the influence of air supply volume and air inlet height on the burning parameters, including the mass loss rate, smoke temperature, etc. The research results show that under the experimental conditions, the fire source mass loss rate increases exponentially, and smoke layer height also increases gradually with the increase in the air supply volume. The empirical formula of smoke layer height under different air supply conditions was given. Then, a prediction model of smoke layer height under different forced ventilation conditions was constructed through theoretical analysis based on conservation equations. Within the range of experimental air volume and air inlet height, the relative error between theoretical prediction results and experimental results was less than 11%, which could effectively predict the smoke layer height in the ship cabin fire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Rapidly growing genome-wide ChIP-seq data have provided unprecedented opportunities to explore transcription factor (TF) binding under various cellular conditions. Despite the rich resources, development of analytical methods for studying the interaction among TFs in gene regulation still lags behind. Results: In order to address cooperative TF binding and detect TF clusters with coordinative functions, we have developed novel computational methods based on clustering the sample paths of nonhomogeneous Poisson processes. Simulation studies demonstrated the capability of these methods to accurately detect TF clusters and uncover the hierarchy of TF interactions. A further application to the multiple-TF ChIP-seq data in mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs) showed that our methods identified the cluster of core ESC regulators reported in the literature and provided new insights on functional implications of transcrisptional regulatory modules. Conclusions: Effective analytical tools are essential for studying protein-DNA relations. Information derived from this research will help us better understand the orchestration of transcription factors in gene regulation processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Superconducting nanowire single photon detectors (SNSPDs) have attracted considerable attention in the field of free-space optical communications, especially for ultra-long-distance communications. Calibrating the inherent time delay in the optoelectronic circuit of SNSPD arrays is critical to enabling photon detection with high time accuracy. In this paper, we propose two methods for estimating the inherent timing error: Gaussian fitting calibration (GFC) and maximum-likelihood calibration (MLC). In particular, MLC estimates the timing error by taking into account the deadtime and jitter characteristics of SNSPD. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods. • Novel Gaussian fitting and maximum-likelihood methods proposed for SNSPD time delay calibration. • Maximum-likelihood calibration considers SNSPD deadtime and jitter to improve accuracy. • Experiments validate effectiveness of proposed methods, with MLC providing unbiased estimates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The heterogeneous Fe 2 O 3 /FeOCl is derived from low-cost FeCl 3 ·6H 2 O. • Fe 2 O 3 /FeOCl in-situ reacts with Li generating a hybrid Fe/Li 2 O/LiCl layer. • The organic-rich covers the inner inorganic-rich SEI, acting as a double protective layer. The lithium metal batteries (LMBs) using metallic Li as anode with high-energy density have been prevailed in the field of energy storage, while the aggregation of Li dendrites and brittle solid state electrolyte interface (SEI) impede the development of Li anode. In this work, to regulate the interface of Li anode, a Fe/Li 2 O/LiCl mixed electron/ion conducting layer is in-situ generated on the surface of Li anode, which is derived from the electrochemical reaction between Li anode and Fe 2 O 3 /FeOCl coatings on commercial separator. The synergistic effect between electron conductive Fe and ion conductive Li 2 O/LiCl is beneficial to build up dense and uniform SEI and promote uniform Li+ flux, resulting in smooth Li deposition, which will further stabilize the Li metal surface and prolong the battery life of LMBs. Specifically, the symmetric Li||Li cells with Fe 2 O 3 /FeOCl can operate steadily for 600 h at 1 mAh cm−2 without obvious voltage polarization, and the corresponding full battery matched with S-PAN delivers capacity retention of 64.43 % at 500 mA g−1 after 350 cycles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of Li metal batteries (LMBs) with high-energy density is impeded by the uncontrollable growth of Li dendrites. In this work, the Li foil is cold-pressed with ball-milled high entropy Mg/Ni/Co/Cu/Zn-based oxides (HEO), which can in-situ generate high entropy alloy/oxide and Li 2 O in the bulk phase and surface of composited Li anode (denoted as HEA/O@Li). During the cold-pressing process, the Li foil with polycrystalline nature transform into (200) textured Li. The in-situ generated Li 2 O can provide more lithiophilic sites and enrich the inorganic components of solid state interface (SEI), while the HEA/O fillers dispersed in the composited Li anode can strength corresponding mechanical stability and tune the Li+ stripping/plating process. As a result, the HEA/O@Li exhibits outstanding cycle stability for almost 1000 h at 1 mA cm−2 with fixed area capacity of 1 mAh cm−2. Moreover, the full batteries matched with LiFePO 4 cathode demonstrate favorable cycling stability (110 mAh g−1 at 0.5C after 700 cycles) and rate capability. [Display omitted] • The HEA/O@Li anode can in-situ generated HEO/A and Li 2 O fillers. • The in-situ generated Li 2 O can provide more lithiophilic sites. • The in-situ generated Li 2 O can enrich the inorganic components of SEI. • The HEA/O@Li anode delivers a long-term cycling stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long-term marine erosion and sustained loading will lead to the deterioration of the interface mechanical properties between smart-functional engineered cementitious composite (ECC) and steel rebar. To synthetically investigate the mechanical properties and self-sensing properties of interface between smart-functional ECC and steel rebar subjected to sustained load and chloride ion erosion, the coupling test of sustained load and chloride ion erosion and the self-sensing test were carried out, in which the test variables included ECC type, electrochemical corrosion time, preloading sustained load, and different erosion environments. The results showed that the smart-functional ECC type, electrochemical corrosion time and preloading sustained load had significant effects on the corrosion rate of rebar, interface bond strength and slip. The smart-functional ECC of TN type had the best corrosion resistance of steel rebar. Two failure modes of pull-out split failure and pull-out shear failure were found. An important finding is that the failure mode has significant influence on the self-sensing performance of the interface. Among them, the specimens with pull-out split failure mode had a good self-sensing performance, while the specimens with pull-out shear failure mode had a poor self-sensing performance. Another important finding is that the general development trend of the interface bond strength-time curve and the self-sensing property-time curve of specimens with pull-split failure mode was basically the same, and the two curves had a very good consistency. This finding provided a feasible way to monitor the mechanical properties of the interface by self-sensing properties. This study can provide a more comprehensive understanding and guidance of mechanical and self-sensing properties of interface between smart-functional ECC and rebar suffered from sustained load and chloride ion erosion. [Display omitted] • The feasibility of the self-sensing performance of interface between rebar and ECC based on the smart-functional ECC is studied. • The degradation law of mechanical properties of rebar-to-ECC interface under the coupling action of sustained load and chloride ion erosion is revealed. • The correlation and variation of the interface bond strength-time curve and the self-sensing property-time curve are revealed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new class of spatially-coupled turbo-like codes (SC-TCs), dubbed generalized spatially coupled parallel concatenated codes (GSC-PCCs), is introduced. These codes are constructed by applying spatial coupling on parallel concatenated codes (PCCs) with a fraction of information bits repeated $q$ times. GSC-PCCs can be seen as a generalization of the original spatially-coupled parallel concatenated codes proposed by Moloudi et al., 2017. To characterize the asymptotic performance of GSC-PCCs, we derive the corresponding density evolution equations and compute their decoding thresholds. The threshold saturation effect is observed and proven. Most importantly, we rigorously prove that the rate- $R$ GSC-PCC ensemble with 2-state convolutional component codes achieves at least a fraction $1-\frac {R}{R+q}$ of the capacity of the binary erasure channel (BEC) for repetition factor $q\geq 2$ and this multiplicative gap vanishes as $q$ tends to infinity. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first class of SC-TCs that are proven to be capacity-achieving. Further, the connection between the strength of the component codes, the decoding thresholds of GSC-PCCs, and the repetition factor is established. The superiority of the proposed codes with finite blocklength is exemplified by comparing their error performance with that of existing SC-TCs via computer simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the beginning of the twentieth century, the militarisation of school life was the primary motivation and the ideological basis for the introduction and promotion of the Boy Scouts in China. Church schools used Scouting to expand the influence of the schools themselves and even their religion. Chinese and western educators in Republican China jointly promoted the process of 'sinicisation' of Scouting, allowing young children to experience the fun while winning the recognition of the general public. Compared with the original British Scouting, this 'sinicisation' is mainly reflected in the Scout Motto, Oath and Law rather than organisation and training content. Early Scouting in Republican China further proves that Scouting is both military and educational. It was also its dual role that contributed to the Kuomintang's decision to directly lead the Boy Scouts in 1926. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Delayed wound healing remains a challenge, and macrophages play an important role in the inflammatory process of wound healing. Morphological changes in macrophages can affect their phenotype, but little is known about the underlying mechanism. Aligned electrospun nanofibers have natural advantages in modulating cell morphology. Therefore, the current study constructed aligned electrospun nanofibers that could transform macrophages into elongated shapes. Our results demonstrated that aligned nanofibers without exogenous cytokines could downregulate the proinflammatory M1 phenotype and upregulate the prohealing M2 phenotype in an inflammatory environment. Importantly, our study revealed that aligned electrospun nanofibers could inhibit macrophage M1 polarization via the JAK-STAT and NF-κB pathways. Furthermore, the conditioned medium from macrophages cultured on aligned nanofibers could encourage fibroblast migration, proliferation and collagen secretion. In vivo, aligned nanofibers alleviated the inflammatory microenvironment, promoted angiogenesis and accelerated wound healing in mouse skin defects by modulating macrophage phenotypes. Collectively, aligned electrospun nanofibers can influence macrophage polarization via the JAK-STAT and NF-κB pathways and attenuate the local inflammatory response in skin wounds. This study provides a potential strategy to modulate macrophage polarization and promote wound healing by controlling the topology of biomaterials and offers a new perspective for the application of nanotechnology in wound healing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a new approach to test associations between binary trees and covariates. In this approach, binary‐tree structured data are treated as sample paths of binary fission Markov branching processes (bMBP). We propose a generalized linear regression model and developed inference procedures for association testing, including variable selection and estimation of covariate effects. Simulation studies show that these procedures are able to accurately identify covariates that are associated with the binary tree structure by impacting the rate parameter of the bMBP. The problem of association testing on binary trees is motivated by modeling hierarchical clustering dendrograms of pixel intensities in biomedical images. By using semi‐synthetic data generated from a real brain‐tumor image, our simulation studies show that the bMBP model is able to capture the characteristics of dendrogram trees in brain‐tumor images. Our final analysis of the glioblastoma multiforme brain‐tumor data from The Cancer Imaging Archive identified multiple clinical and genetic variables that are potentially associated with brain‐tumor heterogeneity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • A simple synthesis parameter adjustment strategy was proposed to modulate Al spatial distribution. • Beta zeolite membranes with high Al spatial distribution showed hydrophilic and durable properties. • The membrane was used in continuous dehydration to obtain anhydrous n-butanol (99.9 wt%). • The membrane showed long-term acid stability in dehydration of organic solvents with a pH of ca. 2.0. Highly hydrophilic and durable Beta zeolite membranes with high aluminum (Al) spatial distribution were synthesized on inexpensive α-alumina supports via an organic template-free synthesis gel. In the absence of organic templates, the Al spatial distribution of Beta zeolite membrane crystal was regulated by the synthesis parameters such as the Al 2 O 3 /SiO 2 ratio, alkalinity, H 2 O/SiO 2 ratio and crystallization temperature, and the crystal morphology, Si/Al ratio and dehydration performance of the membrane could be further effectively controlled. Under optimal synthesis conditions, the prepared Beta zeolite membrane had an excellent separation factor of over 22,000 and a high permeation flux of 3.02 kg m−2 h−1 in the case of a 90 wt% n-butanol/water mixture at 75 °C. The high-performance Beta zeolite membrane was applied for continuous dehydration to obtain anhydrous n-butanol (99.9 wt%) from a 90 wt% n-butanol/water mixture. Furthermore, Beta zeolite membranes showed long-term acid stability in pervaporation dehydration of a 90 wt% n-butanol/water mixture with a pH value of approximately 2.0 at 75 °C for 192 h, indicating that these membranes by adjusting Al spatial distribution exhibited excellent hydrophilicity and acid resistance, which had a broad promising prospect of industrial applications for dehydration separation of acid-containing organic solvents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work aims to conduct the feasibility study of a smart functional strain-hardening cementitious composites (SHCC) which integrates the strengthening function and self-sensing function with both experimental testing and theoretical model. Specifically, the smart functional SHCC were experimentally explored in terms of self-sensing property, electrical conductivity, microstructure, mechanical properties, and workability. The effects of test parameters such as the type of conductive material (i.e., multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT), carbon fibers, aluminum powder, and copper powder), conductive material dosage, and water-to-binder ratio were studied comprehensively. The results showed that smart functional SHCC fabricated with MWCNT and carbon fibers showed better self-sensing capacity, conductivity, mechanical properties and workability compared with those fabricated with copper powder and aluminum powder. More importantly, a bi-linear mechanical-electrical model considering fracture damage was proposed to predict the relationship between mechanical stress and electrical signal, and predict the crack initiation and internal damage. This work can promote a more comprehensive understanding for developing smart functional SHCC to achieve integrated self-sensing and strengthening functions. • A smart functional strain-hardening cementitious composites (SHCC) that can achieve both "strengthening function" and "self-sensing monitoring capability" was developed. • The feasibility of the integrated method of strengthening and self-sensing monitoring based on smart functional (SHCC) for coastal bridges was verified. • A bi-linear mechanical-electrical model considering fracture damage was proposed, which can predict the relationship between mechanical stress and electrical signal, and the crack initiation and internal damage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. To analyze the time trends in cardia cancer detection rates using endoscopic surveillance from 1999 to 2019 in a high-volume Chinese hospital. Methods. In this retrospective, single-center study, data were collected from the Endoscopy Center of the Department of Gastroenterology, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, from 1999 to 2019. Cases of cardia cancer (n = 1567) were extracted from a database of patients who underwent endoscopy. Clinical and epidemiological characteristics of patients with cardia cancer were analyzed, including sex, age, and proportion of early gastric cancer and degree of tumor differentiation. The joinpoint regression method was used to identify change points in incidence trends. Annual percent change (APC) values, with 95% confidence intervals (CI), were calculated for time periods before and after change points. Results. Of the 343942 patients who underwent endoscopy during 1999–2009, 1567 (4.6%) were identified with cardia cancer. The overall cardia adenocarcinoma detection rate decreased significantly from 1999 to 2004 (APC = − 37.3 , 95% CI: -20.9, -6.4), followed by a relatively slower decline rate from 2004 to 2019 (APC = − 7.7 , 95% CI: -4.4, -7.6). The crude rate of detection of early cardia cancer could not be determined by joinpoint analysis. Rates of detection reduced significantly in patients aged 60–69 and 70-79 years (APC = − 8.3 , 95% CI: -9.8, -6.8 and APC = − 7.3 , 95% CI: -8.8, -5.8, respectively). The detection rate in males decreased rapidly from 1999 to 2004 (APC = − 35.9 , 95% CI: -18.2, 5.6, P < 0.05), while the decline rate was relatively slow from 2005 to 2019 (APC = − 6.9 , 95% CI: -3.4, -6.1, P < 0.05). Among females, the detection rates also decreased from 1999 to 2004 (APC = − 21.2 , 95% CI: -28.1, -13.7), but remained stable from 2007 to 2019 (APC = − 3.8 , 95% CI: -7.9, -0.5). Detection of poorly differentiated cardia cancer also declined from 2009 to 2019 (APC = − 12.8 , 95% CI: -15.3, -10.0). Conclusions. The detection rate of cardia cancer among gastric cancers has been stable from 2008 to 2019. The trend of detection rate of early cardia cancer showed no significant statistical meaning; hence, it remains necessary to carefully observe the cardia area during endoscopy examination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-temperature phases of solids are often dynamically stable only. First-principles study of point defects in such solids at 0 K is prohibited by their static instability, which results in random structures of the defect-containing supercell so that the total energy of the supercell is randomly affected by structural distortions far away from the defect. Taking cubic perovskite α -CsPbI3 as an example, we first present the problem incurred by the static instability and then propose an approach based on molecular dynamics to carry out ensemble average for tackling the problem. Within affordable simulation time, we obtain converged defect ionization energies, which are unattainable by a standard approach and allow us to evaluate its defect tolerance property. Our work paves the way for studying defects in statically unstable solids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pressure-induced geometry and crystal structures, electronic features, hydrogen bonding networks, and vibrational properties of two energetic pentazolate anion salts (N5−)2DABTT2+ and N5−GU+ were investigated by density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The results show that a critical point of phase transition at 9 GPa for (N5−)2DABTT2+ was found, while for N5−GU+ it was not. The distortion of cations DABTT2+ and GU+ was found to be positively correlated with the pressure, thereby affecting the hydrogen bond network distribution in the crystals. The discussions on electronic structures suggest that pressure can lead to an increase of charge overlap and delocalization, thereby improving the ability of electron transition. The topological analysis of the hydrogen bonds reveals that both hydrogen bonding interactions and the degree of contribution of a specific atom to the hydrogen bonding interactions gradually improve as the pressure increases, with a discontinuity at 9 GPa only for (N5−)2DABTT2+. The vibrational properties of both crystals were discussed and the critical point of phase transition at 9 GPa was also found in (N5−)2DABTT2+. Our findings provide a new perspective on the response mechanism of energetic pentazolate anion salts to high pressure, and are expected to provide meaningful guidance for the application of pentazole energetic materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

N6‐methyladenosine (m6A) mRNA modification represents the most widespread form of internal modifications in eukaryotic mRNAs. In the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, those known methyltransferases mainly deposit m6A at their target transcripts near the stop codon or in the 3′ untranslated region. Here, it is reported that FIONA1 (FIO1), a human METTL16 ortholog, acts as a hitherto unknown m6A methyltransferase that determines m6A modifications at over 2000 Arabidopsis transcripts predominantly in the coding region. Mutants of FIO1 show a decrease in global m6A mRNA methylation levels and an early‐flowering phenotype. Nanopore direct RNA sequencing reveals that FIO1 is required for establishing appropriate levels of m6A preferentially in the coding sequences of a subset of protein‐coding transcripts, which is associated with changes in transcript abundance and alternative polyadenylation. It is further demonstrated that FIO1‐mediated m6A methylation determines the mRNA abundance of a central flowering integrator SUPPRESSOR OF OVEREXPRESSION OF CONSTANS 1 (SOC1) and its upstream regulators, thus preventing premature flowering. The findings reveal that FIO1 acts as a unique m6A methyltransferase that mainly modifies the coding regions of transcripts, which underlies the key developmental transition from vegetative to reproductive growth in plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we propose partially information coupled bit-interleaved polar coded modulation (PIC-BIPCM), which is a class of spatially coupled polar coding schemes designed for $2^{Q}$ -ary modulations. Specifically, we consider PIC-BIPCM schemes respectively constructed with three BIPCM schemes: direct BIPCM, punctured BIPCM, and multi-kernel BIPCM. We analyze the error performance of the proposed PIC-BIPCM over the binary erasure channel (BEC) via density evolution. With the analysis as a guideline, we jointly design the positions of coupled bits and the modulation bit-mapper by taking into account the partial polarization of finite length polar codes as well as the unequal error protection of high order modulations. Simulation results demonstrate significant performance improvement of the proposed PIC-BIPCM over the uncoupled BIPCM on both BEC and AWGN channels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On May 29–30, 2021, The Third World Cultural Forum and Its Second Sub-forum in China, was held in Shandong University (Weihai). More than 100 experts and scholars from more than 10 countries participated the forum through both online and offline discussions, which focused on the cultural issues in the process of sinicization of Marxism, exchanges and mutual learning between diverse civilizations in the world in the context of COVID-19 pandemic, party cultures of various countries, Marxist cultural theories and the idea of cultural development for building a shared community for mankind, and the path of creative transformation and development of excellent traditional Chinese culture for its cultural construction in the new era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Accumulating evidence highlights the critical roles of fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) in regulating the progression of multiple human cancers, including non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In this study, we investigated the role of FGF11 in the progression of NSCLC.Methods: Previously published transcriptomic data (GSE75037 and GSE81089) were used to compare FGF11 expression level between NSCLC tumor tissues and adjacent normal tissues. 100 cases of NSCLC tumor tissues and 30 cases of matched adjacent normal tissues were used to validate FGF11 expression at mRNA and protein level by qPCR and immunohistochemistry. Bioinformatics analysis and dual luciferase reporter analysis were performed to confirm the regulatory effect of miR-525-5p on FGF11 expression. CCK-8 assay and transwell migration assay were employed to examine cellular proliferation, migration and invasion. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was performed to identify the signaling pathway associated with FGF11 expression. Finally, the functional role of FGF11 in NSCLC tumor growth was evaluated by in vivo study.Results: FGF11 was upregulated in NSCLC tumor tissues and tumor cell lines. High FGF11 expression was associated with a poor prognosis in NSCLC patients. In vitro loss- and gain-of function experiments demonstrated that FGF11 knockdown inhibited, whereas FGF11 overexpression promoted the proliferation, migration and invasion of NSCLC cells. Dual luciferase reporter assay confirmed that FGF11 was downregulated by miR-525-5p, and the effect of FGF11 on cell proliferation, migration and invasion could be interfered by miR-525-5p. GSEA analysis further revealed that FGF11 expression was enriched with genes in hypoxia signaling pathway and the oncogenic function of FGF11 could be suppressed by knocking down HIF-1α in NSCLC cells. Moreover, FGF11 knockdown suppressed NSCLC tumor growth whereas FGF11 overexpression promoted tumor growth in vivo.Conclusions: Our study showed that FGF11 functions as an oncogene in tumor NSCLC progression. miR-525-5p seems to negatively regulate FGF11 and the oncogenic role of FGF11 is dependent on the upregulation of HIF-1α. Our study suggests that targeting FGF11 and HIF-1α may serve as novel strategies for the treatment of NSCLC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grain number per panicle (GNP) is an important agronomic trait that contributes to rice grain yield. Despite its importance in rice breeding, the molecular mechanism underlying GNP regulation remains largely unknown. In this study, we identified a previously unrecognized regulatory gene that controls GNP in rice, Oryza sativa REPRODUCTIVE MERISTEM 20 (OsREM20), which encodes a B3 domain transcription factor. Through genetic analysis and transgenic validation we found that genetic variation in the CArG box-containing inverted repeat (IR) sequence of the OsREM20 promoter alters its expression level and contributes to GNP variation among rice varieties. Furthermore, we revealed that the IR sequence regulates OsREM20 expression by affecting the direct binding of OsMADS34 to the CArG box within the IR sequence. Interestingly, the divergent pOsREM20 IR and pOsREM20 ΔIR alleles were found to originate from different Oryza rufipogon accessions, and were independently inherited into the japonica and indica subspecies, respectively, during domestication. Importantly, we demonstrated that IR sequence variations in the OsREM20 promoter can be utilized for germplasm improvement through either genome editing or traditional breeding. Taken together, our study characterizes novel genetic variations responsible for GNP diversity in rice, reveals the underlying molecular mechanism in the regulation of agronomically important gene expression, and provides a promising strategy for improving rice production by manipulating the cis- regulatory element-containing IR sequence. OsREM20, a B3 domain transcription factor, acts as a key regulator of GNP in rice. Natural variation in the CArG box-containing inverted repeat (IR) sequence of OsREM20 promoter contributes to GNP variation among rice varieties. The IR sequence regulates OsREM20 expression by affecting the binding activity of OsMADS34, which could activate OsREM20 expression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the first-principles method, the structural, electronic, optical and mechanical properties of the vertical and lateral heterostructures based on the boron phosphide (BP) and GaN monolayers, named V-GaN@BP and L-GaN@BP, are investigated systematically. Our results revealed that the band structure of the V-GaN@BP is more sensitive than that of the L-GaN@BP to the strain and the external electric field (Efield). For the VD-GaN@BP, with the Efield and strain, the band structure not only undergoes a fascinating direct–indirect and semiconductor–metal transition, but also experiences a transition from type-I to type-II. However, the LNB-GaN@BP maintains a type-II semiconductor with an indirect band gap, though the band gaps can be strongly modulated by applied strain and the Efield. Moreover, the heterostructures are found to be mechanically stable presenting superior optical properties in the visible and UV light range. Consequently, we expect the GaN@BP heterostructures are novel architectures for the future development of efficient optoelectronic devices, due to the selective control of their bandgaps, the excellent optical and mechanical properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is a great challenge to maintain the hydrothermal stability of LTA zeolite membrane in pervaporation (PV) dehydration of water-rich solutions at high temperatures. In this work, high selective LTA zeolite membranes fabricated on coarse α-alumina supports were successfully applied for dehydration of water-rich acrylamide (AM) solutions. For dehydration of a 70 wt% AM/H 2 O solution at 353 K, the LTA zeolite membrane exhibited incredibly superior hydrothermal stability for running 240 h. The membrane exhibited a superb permeation flux of 7.96 kg m−2 h−1 and a high separation factor of more than 3800. The mechanism of stable existence of membrane crystals in the water-rich solutions was further investigated in detail. The results demonstrated that AM dynamically formed a new protective layer on LTA zeolite membrane surface, which effectively inhibited the degradation of zeolite crystals by high-temperature water. Importantly, the application of LTA zeolite membrane in the separation of other water-rich solutions could be further expanded by adding a small amount of AM. This study provides a new and simple method to improve the hydrothermal stability and application of LTA zeolite membranes in water-rich solutions at high temperature, which could expand the scope of industrial application and extend membrane lifetime. [Display omitted] • LTA zeolite membrane was applied in dehydration of a water-rich AM solution for the first time. • The formation of a new AM protective layer effectively inhibited the dissolution of LTA crystals in water-rich solutions. • Hydrothermal stability of LTA membrane greatly improved by adding some AM in solution. • The membrane showed a superior hydrothermal stability for separation of a water-rich solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Apoptosis‐inducing factor (AIF) plays a dual role in regulating cell survival and apoptosis, acting as a prosurvival factor in mitochondria via its NADH oxidoreductase activity and activating the caspase‐independent apoptotic pathway (i.e., parthanatos) after nuclear translocation. However, whether one factor conjunctively controls the separated functions of AIF is not clear. Here, it is shown that OTU deubiquitinase 1 (OTUD1) acts as a link between the two functions of AIF via deubiquitination events. Deubiquitination of AIF at K244 disrupts the normal mitochondrial structure and compromises oxidative phosphorylation, and deubiquitination of AIF at K255 enhances its DNA‐binding ability to promote parthanatos. Moreover, OTUD1 stabilizes DDB1 and CUL4 associated factor 10 (DCAF10) and recruits the cullin 4A (CUL4A)‐damage specific DNA binding protein 1 (DDB1) complex to promote myeloid cell leukemia sequence 1 (MCL1) degradation, thereby activating caspase‐dependent apoptotic signaling. Collectively, these results reveal the central role of OTUD1 in activating both caspase‐independent and caspase‐dependent apoptotic signaling and propose decreased OTUD1 expression as a key event promoting chemoresistance in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study a class of spatially coupled turbo codes, namely partially information- and partially parity-coupled turbo codes. This class of codes enjoy several advantages such as flexible code rate adjustment by varying the coupling ratio and the encoding and decoding architectures of the underlying component codes can remain unchanged. For this work, we first provide the construction methods for partially coupled turbo codes with coupling memory m and study the corresponding graph models. We then derive the density evolution equations for the corresponding ensembles on the binary erasure channel to precisely compute their iterative decoding thresholds. Rate-compatible designs and their decoding thresholds are also provided, where the coupling and puncturing ratios are jointly optimized to achieve the largest decoding threshold for a given target code rate. Our results show that for a wide range of code rates, the proposed codes attain close-to-capacity performance and the decoding performance improves with increasing the coupling memory. In particular, the proposed partially parity-coupled turbo codes have thresholds within 0.0002 of the BEC capacity for rates ranging from 1/3 to 9/10, yielding an attractive way for constructing rate-compatible capacity-approaching channel codes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanoparticles (NPs) possess the unique physical and chemical properties compared with gas-phase molecule and bulk crystal. Hence, the energetics, electronic structure, and vibrational properties of CL-20 and NTO NPs were investigated by the combinational strategy based on density-functional tight-binding (DFTB) and density-functional theory (DFT) methods. The results show that NPs possess quite different features from the isolated state molecule and the bulk crystal. The excess energies, surface energies, and enthalpy of sublimation for the NPs are predicted. The surface-induced surface states of the CL-20 and NTO NPs result in the significant decrease on the energy gaps and the formation of active sites on the surfaces. The vibrational properties related to the decomposition pathways for both CL-20 and NTO NPs, gas molecules, and bulk crystals are discussed and compared with previous theoretical and experimental values. Our results are expected to provide basic insights into the understandings of the surface effect of nano-sized energetic materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New Findings: What is the central question of this study?Does Dnmt3a play a crucial role in regulating diabetic muscle atrophy?What is the main finding and its importance?Muscle atrophy is one of the major long‐term complications of diabetes mellitus. However, little is known about the molecular mechanism involved. In this paper, we demonstrated that Dnmt3a overexpression effectively improves the diabetic muscle health in mice and documented the underlying mechanisms. DNMT3A might become a promising target to prevent muscle atrophy in patients with diabetes. Muscle atrophy is one of the major long‐term complications of diabetes mellitus, which greatly affects the mobility of patients. Epigenetic processes mediated by DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs) play crucial roles in the locomotor system, but little is known about the functions of DNMTs in diabetic muscle atrophy. Here, we investigated the function of Dnmt3a in diabetic muscle atrophy and explored the mechanisms involved. Adeno‐associated virus AAV2 overexpressing Dnmt3a or its vector control was injected into the tibialis anterior muscle of streptozotocin‐induced diabetic mice. Muscle mass and muscle cross‐sectional area were used to evaluate muscle atrophy. In vitro, adeno‐associated virus AAV2 overexpressing Dnmt3a or its vector control was transfected into C2C12 myoblasts. Horse serum was used to induce differentiation and palmitate to stimulate the C2C12 myoblasts. The expressions of myogenic regulatory factors were examined by real‐time PCR and western blot analysis. Overexpression of Dnmt3a attenuated muscle atrophy in diabetic mice and promoted myotube formation of C2C12 myoblasts. Overexpression of Dnmt3a restored the expressions of myogenic regulatory factors atrogin‐1, MuRF1, Pax7, Myod1 and myogenin, both in vivo and in vitro. Moreover, overexpression of Dnmt3a activated the phosphorylation of Akt by inhibiting the activation of Pten. This study demonstrates that overexpression of Dnmt3a prevents diabetic muscle atrophy by modulating the Pten/Akt pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, AT-rich interactive domain-containing protein 1A (ARID1A) has been widely accepted as a bona fide tumor suppressor due to its essential role in preventing tumorigenesis and tumor progression in both mouse and human contexts. ARID1A shows high mutation frequencies in both cancers and preneoplastic lesions. The loss of ARID1A expression in cancer cells leads to increases in cell proliferation, invasion and migration and reductions in cell apoptosis and chemosensitivity. The tumor-suppressive role of ARID1A is mainly attributed to its regulation of gene transcription, which can be induced either directly by chromatin remodeling or indirectly by affecting histone modifications. ARID1A also acts independently of its cardinal transcription-regulating mechanisms, which include interfering with protein-protein interactions. Interestingly, nonmutational mechanisms, such as regulation by DNA hypermethylation, microRNAs, and ubiquitinases/deubiquitinases, have provided another perspective on ARID1A inactivation in cancer. Since the critical tumor-suppressive role of ARID1A has been revealed, several studies have attempted to identify synthetic lethal targets with ARID1A mutation/inactivation as an alternative strategy for cancer treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Surface features of diamond wire sawn cut multicrystalline silicon wafer were characterized and evaluated. • The formation mechanism of the damage layer of silicon wafer and how to remove it effectively were studied. • Metal-catalyzed chemical etching method is used to etch the surface of diamond wire sawn cut multicrystalline silicon wafer. • The influence of damage layer on making texture surface and the performance of solar cells was discussed. Cutting silicon ingots into silicon wafer is a crucial step in solar cell production process. As a major cutting technique, diamond wire sawing (DWS) has already completely replaced the multi-wire slurry sawing (MWSS). In this work, the essential features of diamond wire cut multicrystalline silicon wafer, behavior of surface damage, formation mechanism, removal of damage layer, and influence of damage layer on making texture surface and performance of solar cells were investigated. Amorphous layer and defects layer are found on the surface of DWS wafer, which restricts the process of making texture. By using metal-catalyzed chemical etching (MCCE) method to make texture surface, the etching rate is faster without damage layer than with damage layer, and the reflectivity can be reduced from 19.08% to 14.79%. After removing the damage layer, the conversion efficiency of solar cell is 17.29%, which is 2.35% higher than that of the cell with the damage layer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein, an efficient and regioselective Rh(III)‐catalyzed [4+2] annulation/lactonization cascade of indoles with 4‐hydroxy‐2‐alkynoates at room temperature to access the furo[3′,4′:4,5]pyrimido[1,6‐a]indole‐1,5(3H,4H)‐diones is described. This method features mild reaction conditions, operational simplicity, excellent regioselectivity, broad substrate scope with good functional group tolerance, and good to excellent yields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

C/C-SiC-ZrC composites with different ZrC distributions were fabricated using precursor infiltration pyrolysis combined with different drying processes. The microstructural and ablation resistance properties of the composites with different ZrC distributions were investigated. For the C/C-SiC-ZrC composites fabricated using conventional heating-drying, where ZrC particles were largely agglomerated into islands with a dimension range of 10–20 μm, the mass and linear ablation rates under a plasma flame for 60 s were 0.558 mg/s and 16.33 μm/s, respectively. By contrast, for the composites fabricated using freeze-drying, where isolated ZrC particles with a size range of 200–300 nm were uniformly dispersed in the matrix, the mass and linear ablation rates were only 0.078 mg/s and 14.20 μm/s, respectively. This difference in the distribution of ZrC particles led to the difference in ablation resistances, as the uniformly distributed fine ZrC particles were easily oxidized and well dispersed in SiO 2 molten glass, which increased the viscosity of the molten glass layer. The high-viscosity SiO 2 -ZrO 2 molten layer covering the surface of the composites effectively prevented the penetration of oxygen and resisted the scour of airflow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sandy beaches, prime recreational assets that attract more people than other types of shorelines, are the main assets underpinning many coastal economies and developments. However, the intense stressors to the ecology of sandy beaches caused by recreational activities are generally underestimated or ignored. This study was the first to emphasize the ecological characteristics of recreational beaches in China and assess the response of macrobenthos at Liandao Beach, a typical sandy beach in the central part of China. Using the Before/During/After/Control/Impact (BDACI) method, differences in multiple variables (species richness, mean density, diversity) between a heavily recreationally impacted transect (TrH/Impact) and a less‐impacted transect (TrL/Control) in different impact periods (Before, During & After) were applied to assess the response of sandy‐beach macrobenthos to recreation and tourism. Meanwhile, a comparison between the macrobenthos conditions of the studied beach and reference conditions calculating from historical data of similar beaches with little recreation and tourism disturbances was carried out. Furthermore, the quality control chart approach was used to detect in detail the macrobenthos stable state and yearly response to recreational activities. The results showed that recreation and tourism posed a serious threat to the beach ecosystem; macrobenthos on the studied beach were seriously disturbed by recreational activities, and their variations were highly negatively related to the human recreational level. After monthly recreational impacts, the macrobenthos decreased sharply and recovered with difficulty during 1 year. Over the long‐term, the macrobenthos had a sharp decreasing trend, which indicated that the ecological environment of the beach was highly disturbed. Conservation measures for recreational beaches are very challenging because of the economic value and popularity of sandy beaches as recreational sites. However, practicable conservation measures could be implemented that prevent or slow ecological degradation. A number of management and conservation suggestions are put forward, such as the establishment of the ecological carrying capacity of Liandao Beach in terms of direct recreational use, creation of themed exhibitions related to the beach macrobenthos and beach ecosystem and dissemination of this knowledge to visitors, implementation of spatial zoning of beach use, visitor management and environmental education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Salt freeze-thaw cycles had significant negative influences on interface bonding behaviors. • Occurrence of interface fracture and degradation of interface shear strength under salt freeze-thaw cycles could be significantly influenced by ECC strength grade and interface roughness. This paper reveals an investigation of damage behaviors of ECC-to-concrete interface with various ECC strength grades and interface roughness of concrete substrate subjected to salt freeze-thaw cycles. The test results showed that salt freeze-thaw cycles had significant negative influences on bonding behaviors of ECC-to-concrete interface. The occurrence of interface fracture and degradation of interface shear strength under salt freeze-thaw cycles could be significantly influenced by ECC strength grade and interface roughness of substrate concrete. The lower ECC strength and the smoother interface always caused earlier occurrences of interface fracture under salt freeze-thaw cycles. Besides, the lower ECC strength and the smoother interface always caused earlier occurrences of a sharp decline of interface shear strength and more decrease of interface shear strength. The area erosion rate of interface under salt freeze-thaw cycles could be significantly influenced by interface roughness of substrate concrete, and the smoother interface always caused more area erosion rate of interface. Based on the micro-damage mechanism of ECC-to-concrete interface under salt freeze-thaw cycles, a damage prediction model of ECC-to-concrete interface was proposed in this paper. The model is expected to be used to predict the damage degree of ECC-to-concrete interface subjected to salt freeze-thaw cycles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vitamin C (VC) serves as a pivotal nutrient for anti-oxidation process, metabolic responses, and stem cell differentiation. However, its precise contribution to placenta development and gestation remains obscure. Here, we demonstrated that physiological levels of VC act to stabilize Hand1, a key bHLH transcription factor vital for the development trajectory of trophoblast giant cell (TGC) lineages, thereby promoting the differentiation of trophoblast stem cells into TGC. Specifically, VC administration inactivated c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) signaling, which directly phosphorylates Hand1 at Ser48, triggering the proteasomal degradation of Hand1. Conversely, a loss-of-function mutation at Ser48 on Hand1 not only significantly diminished both intrinsic and VC-induced stabilization of Hand1 but also underscored the indispensability of this residue. Noteworthy, the insufficiency of VC led to severe defects in the differentiation of diverse TGC subtypes and the formation of labyrinth's vascular network in rodent placentas, resulting in failure of maintenance of pregnancy. Importantly, VC deficiency, lentiviral knockdown of JNK or overexpression of Hand1 mutants in trophectoderm substantially affected the differentiation of primary and secondary TGC in E8.5 mouse placentas. Thus, these findings uncover the significance of JNK inactivation and consequential stabilization of Hand1 as a hitherto uncharacterized mechanism controlling VC-mediated placentation and perhaps maintenance of pregnancy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study how to fairly allocate a set of m indivisible chores to a group of n agents, each of which has a general additive cost function on the items. Since envy-free (EF) allocations are not guaranteed to exist, we consider the notion of envy-freeness up to any item (EFX). In contrast to the fruitful results regarding the (approximation of) EFX allocations for goods, very little is known for the allocation of chores. Prior to our work, for the allocation of chores, it is known that EFX allocations always exist for two agents or general number of agents with identical ordering cost functions. For general instances, no non-trivial approximation result regarding EFX allocation is known. In this paper, we make progress in this direction by providing several polynomial time algorithms for the computation of EFX and approximately EFX allocations. We show that for three agents we can always compute a (2 + 6) -approximation of EFX allocation. For n ≥ 4 agents, our algorithm always computes a (3 n 2 − n) -approximation. We also study the bi-valued instances, in which agents have at most two cost values on the chores. For three agents, we provide an algorithm for the computation of EFX allocations. For n ≥ 4 agents, we present algorithms for the computation of partial EFX allocations with at most (n − 1) unallocated items; and (n − 1) -approximation of EFX allocations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ultra-low-loss resin materials are widely utilized in the novel electronic packaging. In this study, we have investigated the curing reaction kinetics of ultra-low-loss thermosetting resin systems represented by thermosetting polyphenylene oxide/small molecule crosslinking agent triallyl isocyanurate/macromolecular crosslinking agent 1,2-polybutadiene. Their curing process is very different from the commonly used epoxy resin. First, the curing reaction of such resin systems is decelerating, unlike typical auto-accelerating systems. Due to the high reaction temperature, the initiator concentration rapidly declines during curing, resulting in dead-end polymerization. Therefore, calculating the activation energy with conversion by the isoconversional method is not completely applicable. However, the calculation results are helpful for further analysis of the reaction mechanism and fitting of the reaction rate. More importantly, samples with high initiator content suffer from diffusion-controlled reactions, leading to a rapid increase in dielectric loss. This phenomenon has a great impact on materials requiring ultra-low dielectric loss. The use of higher reaction temperature initiators, especially carbon-carbon initiators, can mitigate the excessive and increasing dielectric loss. These research findings have great reference value for developing new resin materials with ultra-low loss. • The curing kinetics of the novel low dielectric loss resin material were studied. • By-products of diffusion-controlled curing reaction was found to increase dielectric loss. • Discussed how to mitigate the negative effect of by-products on dielectric properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The effect of ECC construction method on shear properties of ECC-to-concrete interface was studied. • The construction method of spraying ECC had an obvious decreasing effect on interface tensile strength. • A shear strength mechanical model and a shear stress-slip model of ECC-to-concrete interface were proposed. This paper reveals an investigation of the influences of ECC mixture construction method (i.e., common casting and spraying ECC), ECC strength grade, interface roughness of concrete substrate, and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fiber type on shear properties of ECC-to-concrete interface. The test results show that two failure modes of interface shear failure and ECC failure were observed. The roughness degree of concrete substrate had a strong effect on the failure mode, while ECC strength grade, ECC mixture construction method, and PVA fiber type had almost no influence on the failure mode. The shear load-slip curves of all specimens were basically similar. Compared to the casting ECC, the spraying ECC had an obvious decreasing effect on interface shear strength. The ECC strength grade and roughness degree of concrete substrate had a significant influence on interface shear strength, and higher ECC compressive strength and coarser interface could cause higher interface shear strength. On the contrary, PVA fiber type had a slight influence on interface shear strength. Based on the micro-bonding mechanism and test results of shear load-slip curves, a shear strength mechanical model and a shear stress-slip model of ECC-to-concrete interface were proposed to predict interface shear strength and shear stress-slip curve, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ni-decorated ZrAlCo O nanotube arrays (Ni/ZAC-O NTAs) have been fabricated via pulse electrodeposition of Ni into ZrAlCo O nanotube arrays (ZAC-O NTAs) which were obtained by anodization of Zr 56 Al 16 Co 28 amorphous alloy. The ZAC-O NTAs exhibited good electrocatalytic performance in the detection of glucose with a short response time (less than 2 s) and sensitivity of 34.15 μA mM−1 cm−2, 51.60 μA mM−1 cm−2 at different linear ranges. The electrocatalytic performance toward glucose oxidation was improved significantly after electrochemical deposition of Ni into ZAC-O NTAs with an ultrahigh sensitivity of 1553.0 μA mM−1cm−2 and a lower detection limit of 1.02 μM (S/N = 3). Moreover, Ni/ZAC-O NTAs demonstrat superior selectivity and reproducibility. The outstanding electrocatalytic performance of the as-prepared Ni/ZAC-O NTAs glucose sensor was attributed to the synergistic effect of the special nanotubular structure and high catalytic properties of Ni and Co species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A systematical theoretical study of structure, vibrational properties, and initial decomposition mechanisms of δ-HMX in the pressure range of 0–30 GPa was performed by using density functional theory (DFT). The results show that HMX presents a structural transition at 8 GPa, which has not been found in experiments yet. As the pressure increases, the intra-molecular hydrogen bonding interactions enhance gradually, but they have a sudden decrease at 8 GPa. A comprehensive analysis of density of states and population analysis indicates that the N-N bonds are prone to cleave upon impact or stimulation and the N-NO 2 group may act as the active site of the initial decomposition of δ-HMX under the compression. The pressure-dependent frequency shifts indicate that all the modes move towards higher vibrational frequencies. Between the two competition decomposition mechanisms of the δ-HMX crystal, the N-NO 2 homolysis becomes more preferential than the HONO elimination as the pressure increases. Our studies may shed a light on a new understanding of the initial decomposition mechanisms of energetic materials under high pressures. Pressure-dependent activation barriers of the two initial decomposition pathways of δ-HMX crystal. Image 1 • We performed a theoretical study of structure, vibrational properties, and initial decomposition mechanisms of δ-HMX. • The GGA/PBE method shows reasonably good accuracy in comparison with available experimental data. • δ-HMX presents a structural transition at 8 GPa. • The N-NO 2 homolysis becomes more preferential than the HONO elimination as the pressure increases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic development requires energy support, but the economy that relies too much on high energy consumption and high pollution is not sustainable. However, due to blind investment and low-level expansion of some new energy companies, some new energy industry has overcapacity and low production efficiency, slowing down the pace of new energy industry development, and limiting the development space of new energy companies. Thus, this paper is based on the GIS technology and image quality processing design improvement, around this idea, completed the new system simulation analysis, system development, experimental testing and so on. This paper focuses on the evaluation of the distribution efficiency of new energy industry based on image processing. Natural images have their own unique statistical properties, and interference can cause them to deviate from the original "natural statistical state." According to the image itself and the characteristics of the human visual system, the expression of the image is adjusted, which is more conducive to the transmission, storage and understanding of information. Therefore, this paper proposes a new energy industry distribution efficiency evaluation method based on GIS technology and image processing from three aspects of the nature of natural images, the expression of image information and the characteristics of human visual system. The research shows that the method can objectively and effectively evaluate the distribution efficiency of the new energy industry, and has certain practicability, which can effectively alleviate the bottleneck problems faced above. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We designed a new family of pentazole‐based high energy density compounds with oxygen balance equal to zero by introducing −NH2, −NO2, −N3, −CF2NF2, and −C[NO2]3, and the properties including density, heats of formation, detonation performances, and impact sensitivity were investigated using density functional theory. The results show that half of these new energetic molecules exhibit higher densities than RDX (1.82 g/cm3), in which H5 gives the highest density of 2.09 g/cm3. Among all the 54 designed molecules, 22 compounds have higher D and P than RDX and eleven compounds have higher D and P than HMX, indicating that designing the pentazole‐based derivatives with oxygen balance equal to zero is a very effective way to obtain potential energetic compounds with outstanding detonation properties. Taking both the detonation performance and stability into consideration, nine compounds may be recognized as potential candidates of high energy density compounds. It is expected that our results will contribute to the theoretical design of new‐generation energetic explosives. We designed a new family of pentazole‐based high energy density compounds with oxygen balance equal to zero by introducing series of groups such as –NH2, –NO2, –N3, –CF2NF2, and –C(NO2)3. The results show that our design strategy is a very effective way to obtain potential energetic compounds. Nine compounds are selected as potential candidates of high energy density compounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]