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This study aims to investigate the effects of different modified quinoa proteins (MQP) on the gel quality of silver carp surimi, as well as to explore their feasibility for three‐dimensional (3D) printing. Five different methods were employed to modify quinoa protein, water bath (WB), microwave (MW), ultrasonic (US), microwave followed by ultrasonic (M‐U), and ultrasonic followed by microwave (U‐M), to prepare compound surimi gels (MQPs). The results showed that the addition of quinoa protein improved the gel quality of surimi, while the MQP had an even better effect on enhancing the gel quality. Among them, QP modified by US exhibited a smoother surface, with an expressible water content of 9.78%, gel strength of 22.26 N·mm, and hardness of 27.59 N. The addition of all MQP reduced the cooking loss of surimi, promoted the formation of bound water, and enhanced the G′ and G″ values of MQPs. The characterization of MQP based on molecular driving force revealed that the addition of MQP enhanced the hydrophobic interactions within the surimi gel. This improvement is attributed to the structural changes in quinoa protein induced by the modification process, where the exposure of a large number of hydrophobic groups to water facilitated the formation of a more uniform network structure among the surimi proteins. Additionally, feasibility research on 3D printing of compound products was conducted, revealing that all MQPs exhibited good support and surface smoothness, making them suitable for applications in the field of food 3D printing. Practical Application: This study investigated the effects of quinoa protein addition on the physical properties and mechanism of silver carp surimi under different modification methods, as well as the feasibility of 3D printing. The results demonstrated that incorporating modified quinoa protein improved the quality of the surimi gel. This research expands the range of surimi products and provides a theoretical foundation for the development and production of plant protein‐surimi compound products. Additionally, it contributes theoretical insights into the characteristic application of quinoa protein. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Composite concrete structures are designed to integrate various concrete types at different levels, thereby improving their shear properties. In this paper, the effects of the interfacial keyway, reinforcement ratio, and pouring sequence on the shear strength of concrete-coal gangue concrete interface are studied by experiments and analyses. A total of 10 specimens were made, and the push-off test was carried out. Nonlinear finite element simulation was carried out using ABAQUS, and the influence of keyway angle on crack development was studied based on the extended finite element method (XFEM). It is found that the remarkable tensile and crack stability of engineered cementitious composites (ECC) has a positive effect on the shear strength of the ECC-coal gangue concrete interface. The ultimate shear strength of the interface and the ductility of the interface under shear load are significantly improved by interfacial shear reinforcement. The introduction of an interfacial keyway improves the shear strength of the concrete interface, and the number of keyways has the most significant effect on the interfacial shear strength. The angle between the crack propagation direction and interface will increase with the increase of keyway angle, the simulation results are in good agreement with the experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In practical applications, the proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell stack is often exposed to wind environment, and the speed and direction of the ambient wind are random. The performance variation of an open-cathode PEM fuel cell under various ambient wind directions and speeds was studied. The results show that when the ambient wind direction is opposite to the cathode reactant or from the side of stack, the stack temperature increases and the stack power decreases finally. Moreover, with the increase in the wind speed, the running time of the stack is shortened significantly. For the ambient wind in the same direction as the cathode gas, the stack power increases at a high current and decreases at a low current. For the given speed and direction of ambient wind, the increased air flow rate of fan could alleviate the interference of ambient wind on the stack performance and temperature. However, while the stack temperature is more than the allowable maximum operating temperature, the stack power declines even though the air flow rate of fan increases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil heavy-metal pollution is one of the most important environmental problems in the world, and seriously endangers plant growth and human health. Microbial remediation has become a key technology in the field of soil heavy-metal remediation due to its advantages of being harmless, green and environmental. In this study, a fungus Penicillium spp. XK10 with high tolerance to cadmium (Cd) and antimony (Sb) was screened from mine slag, and its adsorption characteristics to heavy metals under different environmental conditions were studied. The results showed that at pH0 = 6, C0 (Cd) = 0.1 mM, and the adsorption time was 4 days, the maximum removal rate of cadmium by XK10 was 32.2%. Under the conditions of pH0 = 4, T = 7d, and the initial antimony concentration of 1 mM, the removal rate of antimony by XK10 was the highest, which was 15.5%. This study provides potential microbial materials for bioremediation of heavy metal-contaminated soils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to examine whether participation in more types of after-school tutoring for 3- to 6-year-old preschool children is more beneficial to their social behavior. The study was based on survey data collected from 823 children aged between 3 and 6 years in Beijing City, the Guangdong Province and the Jiangxi province, China. Binary logistic regression and hierarchical multiple regression results revealed that: (1) gender, age, and family socioeconomic status were important factors that affected whether preschool children participated in after-school tutoring; (2) in terms of the types of after-school tutoring, participation in the arts and health-related activities was beneficial to the development of children's social skills, participation in arts and science ameliorated children's problem behavior, but participation in arts, science, and health-related activities simultaneously posed a negative impact on children's problem behavior; (3) in terms of the breadth of participation, children's social skills were weakly strengthened if the participation breadth is greater, but this, however, did not reduce problem behavior; (4) parental involvement and individual factors were important in determining children's social behavior. Based on the findings of this study, we suggest that parents should carefully consider the impact of after-school tutoring on preschool children's social behavior and choose after-school tutoring appropriately. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recycled powder is a kind of powder particle with a particle size of less than 75 μm produced in the process of preparing recycled aggregate from construction waste with concrete and brick as the main components. It has the potential to replace part of cement as an auxiliary cementitious material. This has important engineering application value for promoting the full-component and high-quality utilization of construction waste, which meets the needs of national sustainable development. Based on the physical and chemical characteristics of recycled powder, the preparation process and basic properties of the recycled powder were systematically analyzed. Based on the low activity of recycled powder, different methods of its activity excitation were described in detail. In addition, some existing problems in the current research were also prospected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and purpose: IIn the past, the prognosis of glioma was mainly predicted by biochemical indicators. In clinical practice, it is difficult to predict the prognosis of glioma due to the contamination of various factors, which leads to relatively poor prediction efficiency. This study aimed to investigate the value of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) by microfluidic core in the diagnosis and prognosis of gliomas. Methods: A total of 96 patients with brain glioma admitted to the Department of Neurosurgery in People's Hospital of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region from March 2016 to March 2020 were studied. CTCs were enriched in peripheral blood by microfluidic core technology, and identified by immunofluorescence method. The regression model was used to analyze the relationship between the detection of CTCs in peripheral blood of glioma patients and the clinical characteristics of glioma patients. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was established, and the survival curve was made to analyze CTCs test results and the postoperative survival time of glioma patients. Results: CTCs enrichment by microfluidic core technology combined with immunofluorescence showed CTCs with a positive detection rate of 42.71%, and the number of CTCs detected in peripheral blood was (66.27±6.36)/mL. Univariate analysis showed that CTC in peripheral blood was closely correlated to tumor stage, histological type, cystic lymph node metastasis and neuron-specific enolase (NSE) (P<0.05), but had no correlation with age, gender, smoking status Cartesian functional status score, glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) content and other clinical characteristics. Multivariate analysis showed that tumor stage, histological type, NSE expression and CTCs were closely related. The area under the curve (AUC) of tumor stage, histological type and NSE were 0.645, 0.687 and 0.720, respectively, and the predictive probability AUC was 0.814 (P<0.05). The CTCs test results and the postoperative survival curve of glioma patients were analyzed. Conclusion: The microfluidic core technology established in this study can quantitatively detect peripheral blood CTCs in patients with glioma, whose CTCs level is closely related to tumor stage, histological type and NSE, and directly affects the long-term survival rate of patients with glioma. Therefore, peripheral blood CTCs can be used as an important indicator for the diagnosis and prognosis of glioma patients, providing a new idea for clinical research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A multifunctional supramolecular complex is reported for the integrated multiple magnetic resonance imaging/computed X-ray tomography (MRI/CT) imaging and photothermal therapy, wherein a gadolinium-substituted paramagnetic polyoxometalate cluster and food-borne antioxidant peptides identified from the trepang protein hydrolysates are introduced. The as-prepared complex maintained an uniform particle size and much better biocompatibility, and is an ideal candidate for the in vivo applications. The complex allows for T1-weighted MR imaging and a high Hounsfield unit value for enhanced CT imaging. Interestingly, we demonstrate that the complex possesses outstanding photothermal cancer-killing effects due to its high photothermal conversion efficiency under the exposure of an NIR laser and enhanced antibacterial activity to avoid bacterial infection from the thermal therapeutic process. These results indicate that the supramolecular complex platform exhibit potential for accurate medical diagnosis at an early stage and effective eradication of the tumor cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dust accumulation significantly affects the solar PV(Photovoltaic) performance, resulting in a considerable decrease in output power, which can be reduced by 40% with the dust of 4 g/m2. Understanding the dust deposition characteristics of PV modules can provide theoretical support for selecting dust cleaning methods and formulating cleaning strategies. This paper introduced the factors affecting dust accumulation and presented the research status of dust deposition mechanisms. Moreover, the dust cleaning methods were discussed and compared. In future research, a comprehensive particle deposition model including surface energy and other factors could be established to explore the dust accumulation mechanism. Additionally, investigating the particle deposition condition to determine the deposition of particles is beneficial to understanding the dust accumulation characteristics and predicting the dust accumulation amount. Compared with mechanical cleaning methods, the cleaning effect of electrostatic (cleaning efficiency can reach 90%), coating, and acoustic wave methods is superior. If the three methods can be combined, using an electrostatic or coating method to remove small particles and acoustic waves to remove large particles is a promising approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Micropattern of bioactive substances in food, such as functional protein and enzyme immobilization, play a crucial role in catalysis, proteomics, tissue engineering, nutrition transportation and biological detection. Currently, various techniques have been reported for the immobilization of bioactive substances on solid but the fabricated methods are often not facile and universal. In this study, we overcome these problems to localized capture ovalbumin (OVA) and trypsin (Try) efficiently by fabricating patterned porous film via simple breath figure approach. Upon optimization of preparation conditions, ordered honeycomb porous film were obtained. We confirmed the morphology and investigated thermostability and surface wettability of porous film. The immobilization of OVA and Try was confirmed by confocal laser scanning microscopy and SDS‐polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, respectively. To our best knowledge, this work is the first report on patterning and trapping of food protein and enzyme via self‐organized patterned porous film. Our findings are essential for establishing a new convenient and efficient route to design food protein/enzyme‐trapped porous film materials, which opens a new sustainable way for food protein/enzyme immobilization and expected to used in the food industry, biological applications, and so on. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The thermal decomposition behaviours of the outer material of the high-pressure fully wrapped composite hydrogen storage tank were studied in cone calorimeter with a piloted ignition at various heat fluxes. The characteristic parameters, such as ignition time, mass loss rate, heat release rate and effective heat of combustion, were measured. In particular, the correlations of the ignition temperature, thermal response parameter, the heat of gasification and the heat of combustion were derived. The composite material satisfies the thermally thick model. The only one peak appears on the curve of MLR, HRR or EHC at the heat fluxes below or equal to 30 kW m−2, while one main peak and multiple small peaks appear at the heat fluxes greater than 30 kW m−2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper conducts a theoretical research into bond–slip relationship between ribbed steel bars and concrete. According to whether the concrete is cracked or not, the ascending part of the bond–slip curve is divided into two sections which are calculated by two different mechanical models. Based on the wedging action mechanism, the slip is introduced as displacement boundary conditions into the model, which is the main innovation of this study. The boundary conditions of the model are changed by the changing slip, so the bond stress values corresponding to all levels of slip are obtained. According to the rebar geometrical parameters specified in National Standard GB1499‐2007, the spacing of the adjacent ribs is fitted as a linear function of the rebar diameter. Then characteristic slip with the rib spacing as the main parameter is adopted in this study. Also, a negative exponential function is proposed for the descending part of the bond–slip curve. Specially, parameters of slipping path are therefore suggested for engineering applications. Comparison between calculated values and test results shows that the theoretical model can reasonably predict the local bonding problems with different steel bar diameters and concrete strength grades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chinese herbal medicine plays an important role in disease treatment and world medicine market. Its fire safety, especially pyrolysis in storage deserves more attentions due to low bulk density. As an herbal medicine representative and malarial drug, Artemisia apiacea pyrolysis was investigated based on thermogravimetric analysis in an inert atmosphere at different heating rate from 10 to 50 K min−1. Two model-free methods of Kissinger–Akahria–Sunose (KAS) and Flynn–Wall–Ozawa (FWO) were employed to estimate pyrolysis activation energy. A model-fitting method called Coats–Redfern (CR) was used to predict the reaction mechanism for pyrolysis of Artemisia apiacea stem and leaf. For stem, a single peak can be observed at a range from 584 to 604 K, while two shoulders and a single peak exist for leaf. With increasing the conversion rate, activation energy of stem pyrolysis increases but leaf pyrolysis activation energy first decreases, then increases and lastly decays. So the cellulose plays a significant role in stem pyrolysis, while hemicellulose, cellulose and lignin together do in leaf pyrolysis. Correspondingly, the average values of activation energy were also estimated for both stem and leaf by three above methods. The diffusion-Valensi model or diffusion-Ginstling model can be used to describe stem reaction mechanism. Furthermore, a detailed pseudo-mechanistic model serves for leaf reaction mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to study the contamination characteristics of insulators under different conditions and to ensure the safe operation of electrical systems, the mechanical properties and motor characteristics/behavior of particles near the insulators were analyzed. A wind tunnel contamination test of a porcelain insulator was also conducted. The deposition criteria model based on energy of particles on the insulator surface was progressively optimized from three aspects: particle positive and negative charge ratio, insulator and particle surface energy, and particle size distribution. The effect of the contamination characteristics of the porcelain insulators in the wind tunnel was investigated, and the results showed that three optimization models were obtained. Compared with the Wind-tunnel contamination test results, the average relative error of the simulation results decreased by 6.6%, 21.5%, and 6.4%, respectively, and their surface deposit amount all display a consistent changing pattern with DC voltage variation and a V-shaped distribution, which verifies the rationality of the three optimization models. Thus, it can be used as a reference for numerical simulation of porcelain insulators. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents basic parameters test and an efficient numerical model for the bond between reinforcing bars and concrete after elevated temperatures. The chemical adhesive and friction coefficient are measured by self-designed setups, and the variation law of the parameters is summarized. In the 3D modeling, bar-to-concrete interface has been modeled by means of an explicit discretization of the bar ribs. Surface-to-surface contact pair elements are employed for the interface, and the tangential contact behavior is elastic-plastic with a Coulomb-type friction model. Comparison between experimental and numerical results shows that the proposed model describes the behavior of steel bar relatively well in the pull-out process after elevated temperatures. The 3D modeling makes up some deficiencies of macro pull-out test, such as the detailed stress distributions and crack patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considerable carbon emissions from the cement industry pose a notable challenge to achieving long-term sustainable development and creating an enriched social environment. Biochar (BC) obtained from biomass pyrolysis can be used as a carbon-negative material, and it plays a crucial role in the reduction of global carbon emissions. The development of more efficient and cost-effective technologies to fully realize this potential and reduce the environmental impact of BC production and use remains a formidable challenge. The utilization of BC to prepare sustainable cementitious composites with economically value-added benefits has recently attracted much research interest. Therefore, this review analyzes factors influencing the physicochemical properties of BC and their optimization methods, as well as the impact of BC addition on various cement composites and their potential applications. Besides, recent advances in machine learning for predicting the properties of composites and the environmental-economic implications of material are reviewed. The progress and challenges of BC–cement composites are discussed and potential directions for exploration are provided. Therefore, it is recommended to explore commercialization pathways tailored to local conditions and to develop machine learning models for performance prediction and life-cycle analysis, thereby promoting the widespread application of BC in industry and construction. Highlights: Mechanical performance was enhanced by the addition of biochar (BC) in cementitious composites. BC enhances the potential application of cementitious composites. The performance of BC-enhanced composites could be predicted by machine learning. BC introduces economic and environmental implications to cement composites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to investigate whether melatonin, a free radical scavenger and a general antioxidant, regulates the brain cell apoptosis caused by carbon ions in mice at the level of signal transduction pathway. Young Kun-Ming mice were divided into five groups: control group, irradiation group and three melatonin (1, 5, and 10 mg/kg daily for 5 days i.p.) plus irradiation-treated groups. An acute study was carried out to determine oxidative status, apoptotic cells, and mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm) as well as pro- and anti-apoptotic protein levels in a mouse brain 12 hr after irradiation with a single dose of 4 Gy. In irradiated mice, a significant rise in oxidative stress and apoptosis (TUNEL positive) was accompanied by activated expression of Bax, cytochrome c, caspase-3, and decreased ΔΨm level. Melatonin supplementation was better able to reduce irradiation-induced oxidative damage marked by carbonyl or malondialdehyde content, and stimulate the antioxidant enzyme activities (superoxide dismutase and catalase) together with total antioxidant capacity. Moreover, administration with melatonin pronouncedly elevated the expression of Nrf2 which regulates redox balance and stress. Furthermore, melatonin treatment mitigated apoptotic rate, maintained ΔΨm, diminished cytochrome c release from mitochondria, down-regulated Bax/Bcl-2 ratio and caspase-3 levels, and consequently inhibited the important steps of irradiation-induced activation of mitochondrial pathway of apoptosis. Thus, we propose that the anti-apoptotic action with the alterations in apoptosis regulator provided by melatonin may be responsible at least in part for its antioxidant effect by the abolishing of carbon ion-induced oxidative stress along with increasing Nrf2 expression and antioxidant enzyme activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fusarium head blight (FHB), also called wheat scab, is an important disease in warm and humid regions worldwide, which not only reduces crop yield and grain quality, but also is a major safety concern in food and feed production due to mycotoxin contamination. Growing wheat cultivars with FHB resistance is one of the most economical and effective means to control the disease. Chinese wheat landrace Wangshuibai is an important resistant source from southern China. Several resistance QTLs in Wangshuibai were identified and mapped on chromosomes or chromosomal arms including 3BS, 4B, 6BS, 7AL, etc. In the present research, a mutant with increased FHB susceptibility, designated as NAUH117, was identified from the M progenies of Wangshuibai irradiated by fast neutron. Genetic analysis of the F, F, and F families from the reciprocal cross of Wangshuibai and NAUH117 indicated that NAUH117 was a recessive mutant. Genome-wide molecular marker analysis identified a deletion in the short arm of chromosome 3B of NAUH117, spanning the region of FL0.57 to FL1.00 that covers the locus of Fhb1 previously mapped on chromosome 3BS. Further molecular cytogenetics characterization by bi-color fluorescence in situ hybridization using three repetitive sequences, pSc119.2, pAs1 and GAA-satellite indicated that a multiple chromosome rearrangements occurred in chromosomes 3B, 6B, 3D, 4D, and 3A of the mutant. During these processes, a distal fragment of chromosome arm 3BS was eliminated, which is confirmed by molecular marker analysis. Four markers covered the deletion fragment were used for analysis of the F population. The result showed that the 3BS deletion was only present in the susceptible plants, indicating that the deletion of 3BS fragment in NAUH117 increased susceptibility to FHB. The susceptible mutant will be valuable for the validation of the contribution of the resistant QTL located on 3BS, and for the characterization of the molecular mechanisms of FHB resistance in Wangshuibai. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil microorganisms play an important role in regulating a variety of ecological functions. In recent years, the research on ecological restoration after mining has made people more aware of the importance of microbial diversity to ecosystem restoration. The present study investigated the effect of ecological restoration on microbial community structure and its relationship with soil physicochemical properties in the Dabaoshan mining area, China. High throughput sequencing technology was used to analyze and compare the microbial community composition of three types of soil (undamaged area, unrestoration area, and ecological restoration area). The contents of organic carbon, total nitrogen, and total phosphorus were 2.38–12.97 g/kg, 0.39–1.62 g/kg, and 0.99–1.51 g/kg, respectively. In different soil states, undamaged area and ecological restoration area were significantly higher than those in unrestoration area. The results showed that the structure of soil microbial community was significantly correlated with soil physicochemical properties, and formations in the repaired and unrepaired soils were different. Operational Taxonomic Unit (OTU) cluster analysis and diversity index analysis showed that soil microbial community changed at phylum and genus levels. The results showed that at the phylum level, all soil samples contained Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, and actinobacteria. Firmicutes and Proteobacteria of the ecological restoration area (ER1, ER2) were the highest in relative abundance compared with other samples, accounting for more than 45%. Proteobacteria and Acidobacteria were the dominant phylum in the undamaged area (UD), accounting for 32.7% and 22.3%, respectively. It can be seen that soil restoration produced a new dominant population, and Proteobacteria showed an absolute competitive advantage in the mining soil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spatial and quantitative assessments of water yield services in watershed ecosystems are necessary for water resource management and improved water ecological protection. In this study, we used the InVEST model to estimate regional water yield in the Dongjiang Lake Basin in China. Moreover, we designed six scenarios to explore the impacts of climate and land use/land cover (LULC) changes on regional water yield and quantitatively determined the dominant mechanisms of water yield services. The results are expected to provide an important theoretical reference for future spatial planning and improvements of ecological service functions at the water source site. We found that (1) under the time series analysis, the water yield changes of the Dongjiang Lake Basin showed an initial decrease followed by an increase. Spatially, water yield also decreased from the lake area to the surrounding region. (2) Climate change exerted a more significant impact on water yield changes, contributing more than 98.26% to the water yield variability in the basin. In contrast, LULC had a much smaller influence, contributing only 1.74 %. (3) The spatial distribution pattern of water yield services in the watershed was more vulnerable to LULC changes. In particular, the expansion of built-up land is expected to increase the depth of regional water yield and alter its distribution, but it also increases the risk of waterlogging. Therefore, future development in the basin must consider the protection of ecological spaces and maintain the stability of the regional water yield function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]