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Periodontitis, a common chronic inflammatory disease caused by pathogenic bacteria, can be treated with diverse biomaterials by loading drugs, cytokines or proteins. However, these biomaterials often show unsatisfactory therapeutic efficiency due to their poor adhesion, short residence time in the wet and dynamic oral cavity and emerging drug resistance. Here we report a wet-responsive methacrylated gelatin (GelMA)-stabilized co-enzyme polymer poly(α-lipoic acid) (PolyLA)-based elastic patch with water-induced adhesion and softening features. In PolyLA-GelMA, the multiple covalent and hydrogen-bonding crosslinking between PolyLA and GelMA prevent PolyLA depolymerization and slow down the dissociation of PolyLA in water, allowing durable adhesion to oral periodontal tissue and continuous release of LA-based bioactive small molecule in periodontitis wound without resorting external drugs. Compared with the undifferentiated adhesion behavior of traditional adhesives, this wet-responsive patch demonstrates a favorable periodontal pocket insertion ability due to its non-adhesion and rigidity in dry environment. In vitro studies reveal that PolyLA-GelMA patch exhibits satisfactory wet tissue adhesion, antibacterial, blood compatibility and ROS scavenging abilities. In the model of rat periodontitis, the PolyLA-GelMA patch inhibits alveolar bone resorption and accelerates the periodontitis healing by regulating the inflammatory microenvironment. This biomacromolecule-stabilized coenzyme polymer patch provides a new option to promote periodontitis treatment.

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The navigation and positioning system of mobile robots using multisensor fusion has become a research hotspot in the aspects of high accuracy, low computational complexity, and strong stability. In order to improve the accuracy of sensor asynchronous information fusion and meet the application requirements of geometric structure feature degradation in warehousing logistics, an adaptive weighted factor graph (AWFG) positioning method using inertial measurement unit (IMU), LiDAR, and stereo camera is proposed. Combining the dominant features of three sensors and factor graph theory, a new multisensor fusion factor graph model is established. By dynamically adjusting the reliability of sensor measurement information, an adaptive factor weight function is designed to improve positioning accuracy and system stability under abnormal sensor or environmental interference conditions. Besides, sliding window optimization is added to limit the factor scale, and the variable elimination algorithm is combined to optimize the factors in the window to further reduce the computational complexity. Compared with extended Kalman filter (EKF) and particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithms, simulation and experimental results show that the proposed method not only reduces the mean location error by about 30%, but also effectively enhances the computational efficiency and system stability.

As one of the emerging two-dimensional lead halide materials, lead iodide (PbI2) nanosheets have proven to possess strong application potential in the fields of high-energy radiation detection and highly efficient perovskite solar cells. However, the underlying photophysical properties such as hot-exciton-related carrier dynamics remain unclear for PbI2nanosheets. Here, we report the exciton dynamics of a single PbI2nanoflake prepared by an aqueous solution method. Through a three-dimensional (3D) diffusion model, we obtain the exciton annihilation radius and diffusion coefficient of a single PbI2nanoflake under non-resonant and resonant excitation conditions of band-edge exciton state. As initial exciton densities increase, we find the carrier recombination mechanism for a single PbI2nanoflake gradually changes from exciton-exciton annihilation to free-carrier recombination. Finally, we reveal the room-temperature circular polarization of a single PbI2nanoflake is due to free-carrier recombination with a band-edge exciton dissociation time of ~120 fs under the resonant excitation condition.

Background Quartz album is one of the mineral drugs commonly used in Chinese medicine. Different geogenesis of Quartz album led to differences in its composition and thus affected its clinical efficacy. Mineral Chinese medicines are mainly composed of inorganic elements, including some heavy metals and harmful elements, so their quality control is crucial to their clinical safety.Materials and Methods In this study, the contents of 30 elements in 13 batches Quartz album of different origins were determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Multiple elements and chemometrics were used to distinguish its different geogenesis.Results We found that the top elements in order of content were as follows: Al>Fe>Ca>K>Mg>Ti>Mn, all with content greater than 100 µg/g. In addition, the contents ranges of Pb, Cd, As, Hg, and Cu were 1.603–637.705, 0.011–1.387, 0.348–41.298, 0.033–10.877, and 0.808–86.482 µg/g, respectively. Quartz albums produced in Fengyang County, Anhui Province, had the lowest content of heavy metals. Correlation analysis showed that there was a strong correlation among the elements in the samples. Chemometrics were used to analyze the elemental content, and the results of the different models were found to be consistent and could be used to distinguish between Quartz albums of different geogenesis.Conclusion This study provided a reference for the quality control and safety of the clinical application of Quartz album.

In this paper, a novel co-optimization model is proposed for integrated electricity-gas-heat urban energy systems to improve resilience during extreme events. This paper modelled and analysed data centres’ optimal operation, workload redistribution, and waste heat reuse. In addition to guaranteeing power supply as critical loads, data centres also provide the generated waste heat to customers via the urban heating network. Meanwhile, the proposed model considers complex interactions of multiple energy systems and the recovery decisions of the power distribution system. Energy conversion devices and electric-driven coupling components are modelled. Even more importantly, the dynamic characteristics of natural gas and heating systems, which cannot be neglected, are also considered and discussed in detail. Case studies verify the effectiveness of the proposed co-optimization model. The results indicate that the resilience of urban energy systems requires to be improved by collaboration between multiple sectors. Considering interdependencies and coupling among multiple energy systems can enhance their response and resistance to extreme events.

This article presents an eight-channel 1.9-dB noise figure (NF) $K$ -band phased-array receiver (RX) for satellite communication (SATCOM). It employs the hybrid-packaged 65-nm CMOS beamformer and 0.1- $\mu \text{m}$ GaAs low-noise amplifiers (LNAs) based on the fan-out wafer-level chip-scale packaging (WLCSP) technology. For the power-efficient RX implementation, the power consumption of gain and phase tuning blocks is discussed, and the fully passive phase shifter (PS) and attenuator (ATT) are employed in this work. A global biasing scheme is proposed to ensure performance uniformity across temperature variations. Across the SATCOM band of 17.7–20.2 GHz, the proposed hybrid-packaged phased-array RX IC only consumes 30.2-mW dc power per channel and achieves < 1.2-dB gain variation and < 0.9-dB NF variation from −40° to 85 °C. Based on the RX IC, a dual-polarized 1024-element RX antenna array is further introduced. The measured gain-to-noise temperature ratios (G/Ts) are 6.22 and 6.51 dB/K at 19.7 GHz for left- and right-hand circular polarizations, respectively.

Approximate computing is considered an innovative paradigm with wide applications to high performance and low power systems. These applications have relaxed requirements for accuracy, so they can tolerate errors in results and achieve high performance. In approximate computing, multipliers have been widely studied, but squarers (as similar schemes) have not received much attention. In this paper, an accurate squarer is designed based on a Radix-8 Booth-folding square algorithm to reduce the number of partial products and the depth of the partial product array. Several approximate squarers (R8AS1, R8AS2 and R8AS3) are proposed based on the exact squarer to reduce power and delay. Two approximate partial product generators are also designed to simplify the Radix-8 Booth square encoder in R8AS1 and R8AS2. In addition, approximate compressors with compensation are used in the partial product compression stage to reduce additional area and power consumption in R8AS3. Synthesis results for power, area, and delay at 28nm CMOS technology are presented. Compared with designs in the technical literature with the same accuracy, the proposed 16-bit designs reduce the PDP by 37%; in general, the PDP is decreased by up to 51%. Finally, the proposed approximate squarers are implemented in a square-law detector as a communication application and achieve an SNR close to 30dB. Also, the three proposed approximate squarers are applied to the k-means clustering algorithm for machine learning to accomplish high performance in classification.

The classification of tight sandstone reservoirs is of significance for hydrocarbon exploration and production. Different from conventional reservoirs, tight sandstone reservoirs are characterized by a complex pore structure and strong heterogeneity. Tight sandstone reservoir classification may not be reliable with conventional reservoir classification methods. In this paper, a classification method of tight sandstone reservoirs was proposed on the basis of the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) transverse relaxation (T2) distribution, and it was employed for reservoir classification on the Shaximiao Formation in central Sichuan, China. As a result of the complex pore structure of a tight sandstone reservoir, the NMR T2distribution is characterized by the presence of multiple peaks. Therefore, the three-peak Gaussian function was used to fit the T2distribution and obtain the characteristic parameters. On the basis of high-pressure mercury intrusion (HPMI) experiments, the correlation between the characteristic parameters of the NMR T2distribution and pore structure parameters and petrophysical properties was analyzed, and then the optimal characteristic parameters of the NMR T2distribution were selected according to the results of correlation analysis and used to establish the pore structure index. In combination of petrophysical properties with the pore structure index, the model for classification of tight sandstone reservoirs was established by the naive Bayesian method based on hierarchical clustering, and the accuracy of the model was verified by k-fold cross-validation. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method was verified using the actual NMR logging data in conjunction with the oil test data. The results showed that the method for classification of tight sandstone reservoirs based on the NMR T2distribution can provide effective guidance for production capacity evaluation.

New media technologies have opened up new possibilities for the communication of cultural heritage, and digital reading aligns with the participatory shift in museums, becoming an indispensable part of information communication. Currently, there exists a certain contradiction between the professional content of cultural heritage and the non-linear and immersive narrative style of new media. In order to find a balance between form and content, and explore the information communication pattern of cultural heritage in the era of mobile media, starting from practical issues, this article introduces the theory of embodied cognition, combines it with relevant theories in communication studies, and systematically explores the impact of embodied factors on audience reading behavior by using semi-structured interviews and grounded theory. The research reveals that embodied cognition, situational cognition, and interactive cognition have a significant impact on the digital reading information communication of cultural heritage on social media, which includes six factors: functional experience, sensory experience, interactive experience, scene simulation, emotional elevation and social experience. This study further constructed a theoretical model of the factors influencing the effectiveness of information communication in cultural heritage digital reading on the social media platform under the influence of embodied cognition theory, which confirms that these six factors play a significant role in the process of museum content generation, audience understanding, as well as the emergence of and the feedback loop of new meanings.

Epidemiological evidence has shown that smoking is associated with an increased risk of hearing loss. However, the underlying mechanisms regarding the impact of nicotine on the cochlea remain unclear. This study aimed to investigate the cytotoxic effects of nicotine on cochlear cells using cultured cochlear basilar membranes. Cochlear basilar membranes were isolated from newborn rats, cultured, and treated with 1–100 ng/mL nicotine for 48 h. Cuticular plates and stereocilia bundle staining were used to evaluate hair cell (HC) loss. Spiral ganglion neuron and acoustic nerve fiber staining were assessed to evaluate cochlear neural injury. Scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy imaging were employed to examine cochlear ultrastructural changes. Our results showed that compared to spiral ganglia and nerve fibers, HCs are more susceptible to nicotine-induced toxicity. HC loss was more severe in the basal turn than in the middle and apical turns, while nerve fibers and spiral ganglion cells were morphologically maintained. Ultrastructural changes revealed disordered and damaged stereocilia, swelling and decreased mitochondrial density, swelling, and degranulation of the endoplasmic reticulum. Our results suggest that nicotine causes HCs’ degeneration and loss and may have implications for smoking-related hearing loss.

In this research, mercury injection capillary pressure (MICP) experiments and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiments were carried out on 19 reservoir core samples. Based on the experimental results, the relationships between the capillary pressure (Pc) and NMR transverse relaxation time (T2) were established. A novel classified piecewise multi-parameter power function transformation (CPMPFT) method is proposed to predict the MICP curves using the NMR T2distributions and is described as follows. First, the multi-parameter power function transformation model is established, after which the reservoir is classified and the appropriate pore segmentation point is selected. Then, for each type of reservoir, the coefficients of the transformation model for large and small pores are calculated based on the simulated annealing and genetic algorithm combined with non-linear programming, and the models for predicting the MICP curves are ultimately obtained. Using these models, the MICP curves can be predicted continuously based on the NMR T2distribution, based on which the pore structure parameters, including the displacement pressure (Pd), median pressure (Pc50), and so forth, can be precisely extracted. 19 core samples and well data were processed using the proposed method, and the predicted results were compared with the measured results; the results were found to match well, thereby proving the reliability of the proposed method.

The newly fabricated Ni/Cu-TiO2enhances the water splitting by improving the generation of oxygen vacancies (VOs) in the photo-reaction and the consumption of VOs in the thermo-reaction.

On the basis of metal–ligand coordination, uniform folic acid–Co nanotubes are synthesized as sacrificial templates for hierarchically porous Co–N/CNTs that exhibit outstanding activity for oxygen reduction reaction.

Solar-induced photothermal catalysis of water splitting is a promising method to produce hydrogen and could be promoted by surface defects, especially oxygen vacancies on the surfaces of metal oxides. The interaction between water and surface is likely to lead to the formation of oxygen vacancies and alters the pathway of overall water splitting. The complete free energy profiles of the two different pathways on the anatase TiO2(101) surface are calculated based on density functional theory, and hydrogen evolution is found to be the rate-determining step. The doping of Fe and Cu both reduces the energy barriers of oxygen vacancy formation but has different effects on hydrogen evolution on oxygen vacancies. The balance between the formation and reactivity of surface oxygen vacancies is the key factor for the pathway preference for water splitting. Therefore, the two different pathways of overall water splitting on the surfaces of metal oxides should be taken into consideration for photothermal catalyst design and screening.

In this work, to achieve both clean energy production and carbon emission reduction, a united conversion to couple CO2mineralization with thermochemical hydrogen production is proposed. Natural magnesium silicate minerals are used to fix CO2in the form of carbonate minerals, whereas H2O is dissociated to produce H2in the thermochemical cycle. The integration provides a new solution to the challenges of the high energy consumption and poor economic value of conventional CO2mineralization processes, and the technical feasibility has been proven. Moreover, the energy economy and CO2conversion capacity were investigated. Hydrolyzation and carbonation experiments were performed in a homemade reactor, and it was found that an optimal MgI2hydrolyzation rate of 75% could be achieved without alkali consumption. A detailed simulation of the whole system was also developed. The optimal energy conversion efficiency of the cycle reached 47.6%, which is higher than most of the published theoretical energy efficiency values for sulfur–iodine thermochemical cycles. A modified calculation of the net energy requirement for CO2mineralization was carried out. Finally, a comparison and an evaluation of the energy efficiencies were made based on the calculation. In the optimal case, the modified net energy requirement is 1.4 MJ/kg CO2, which means that this method is competitive compared to those of previous works.

Three-dimensional (3D) printing technology has opened a new paradigm to controllably and reproducibly fabricate bioengineered neural constructs for potential applications in repairing injured nervous tissues or producing in vitronervous tissue models. However, the complexity of nervous tissues poses great challenges to 3D-printed bioengineered analogues, which should possess diverse architectural/chemical/electrical functionalities to resemble the native growth microenvironments for functional neural regeneration. In this work, we provide a state-of-the-art review of the latest development of 3D printing for bioengineered neural constructs. Various 3D printing techniques for neural tissue-engineered scaffolds or living cell-laden constructs are summarized and compared in terms of their unique advantages. We highlight the advanced strategies by integrating topographical, biochemical and electroactive cues inside 3D-printed neural constructs to replicate in vivo-like microenvironment for functional neural regeneration. The typical applications of 3D-printed bioengineered constructs for in vivorepair of injured nervous tissues, bio-electronics interfacing with native nervous system, neural-on-chips as well as brain-like tissue models are demonstrated. The challenges and future outlook associated with 3D printing for functional neural constructs in various categories are discussed.

Allotetraploid cotton is an economically important natural-fiber-producing crop worldwide. After polyploidization, Gossypium hirsutumL. evolved to produce a higher fiber yield and to better survive harsh environments than Gossypium barbadense, which produces superior-quality fibers. The global genetic and molecular bases for these interspecies divergences were unknown. Here we report high-quality de novo–assembled genomes for these two cultivated allotetraploid species with pronounced improvement in repetitive-DNA-enriched centromeric regions. Whole-genome comparative analyses revealed that species-specific alterations in gene expression, structural variations and expanded gene families were responsible for speciation and the evolutionary history of these species. These findings help to elucidate the evolution of cotton genomes and their domestication history. The information generated not only should enable breeders to improve fiber quality and resilience to ever-changing environmental conditions but also can be translated to other crops for better understanding of their domestication history and use in improvement.

The solar photo-thermochemical cycle (PTC) for the conversion of CO2into fuels over metal oxides is a novel and promising method to alleviate the increasing energy crisis and worsening global climate change. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations of the anatase (101) surface of TiO2and M-doped TiO2(M = Zn, Ni, and Cu) were performed to provide guidance for enhancing the PTC. Additionally, M-doped TiO2films were produced using a sol-gel method and applied to the PTC for CO2conversion to provide experimental verifications. A maximum, stable production of CO of 10.80μmol/g was achieved using Cu-doped TiO2, which was nearly 6.39-fold higher than the amount of CO produced by clean TiO2. The CO yield was in good agreement with the calculation results. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDXS), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and electron spin resonance (ESR) were used to evaluate the crystal structures and morphologies. UV–visible diffuse reflectance spectra (UV–visible DRS), photoluminescence (PL) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analyses were also conducted to investigate the surface charge-transfer and reaction mechanisms. As a result, a complete cycle reaction mechanism for Cu-doped TiO2was proposed. Several key factors of the mechanism were clarified, and an effective guide for nanostructure design was proposed.

To promote the solar-energy cascade utilization, it is necessary to increase the thermal effect of irradiation in the catalytic reactions, while simultaneously augmenting the non-thermal effect, so as to fulfill photothermal coupling. Herein, the non-thermal and thermal effect of light radiation on the surface of In2O3-based catalysts are explored and enhanced by the modification of transition metals Fe and Cu. Optical characterizations combined with water-splitting experiments show that Fe doping greatly broadens the radiation response range and enhances the absorption intensity of semiconductors’ intrinsic portion, and Cu doping facilitates the absorption of visible-infrared light. The concurrent incorporation of Fe and Cu offers synergistic benefits, resulting in improved radiation response range, carrier separation and migration, as well as higher photothermal temperature upon photoexcitation. Collectively, these advantages comprehensively enhance the photothermal synergistic water-splitting reactivity. The characterizations under variable temperature conditions have demonstrated that the reaction temperature exerts a significant influence on the process of radiation absorption and conversion, ultimately impacting the non-thermal effect. The results of DFT calculations have revealed that the increasing temperature directly impacts the chemical reaction by reducing the energy barrier associated with the rate-determining step. These findings shine new light on the fundamental mechanisms underlying non-thermal and thermal effect, while also imparting significant insights for photo-thermal-coupled catalyst designing.

B atoms modify the local electronic structure of Bi with positive valence sites. B doped Bi boosts highly efficient electroreduction of CO2to formate.B dopant differentiates the proton participations in CO2RR and HER processes.The dominant mechanistic pathway of B promoted formate generation is unraveled.

This article describes a laser-shared photothermal system that achieves tight temperature regulation by frequency-domain photoacoustic (FD-PA) feedback. To this end, a continuous-wave laser system was designed with arbitrarily modulatable laser intensity. And, by fast alternating in the time domain between a constant laser intensity for photothermal heating and a modulated laser intensity for FD-PA temperature measurement, photothermal temperature variations are captured by FD-PA in real time. A proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller monitors the feedback from FD-PA measurements and controls photothermal heating dose accordingly, thus stabilizing the temperature at preset values. The proposed system is demonstrated to achieve ultrafast temperature measurement at a 4 kHz rate, and with proper averaging, the measurement and regulation accuracy are 0.75 deg and 0.9 deg respectively.

Vertical mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of the hepatitis B virus (HBV) remains an important issue. Timely administration of hepatitis B immunoglobulin (HBIG) and of the HBV vaccine is effective in preventing MTCT in infants born to HBV-infected mothers. However, HBIG is often not easily available in low-income countries or regions.

Electro-oxidative organic upgrading is recently considered as a promising strategy for energy saved H2co-generation but still challenging for high productivity of value-added chemicals at large current density. Herein, the synthesized defects-rich Ni3S2-CNFs nanoheterostructures exhibit robust electrocatalytic performance for selectively catalyzing methanol to value-added formate with high productivity and without CO2emission, in which the large current density (> 700 mA cm−2) is achieved with high faradaic efficiency (> 90%). By replacing the sluggish OER, the methanol upgrading reaction can greatly boost H2co-generation from water with reduced energy consumption. DFT calculations indicate the in situ formed Ni–OOH and SOxspecies with synergistic effect can effectively modulate the dband center of Ni3S2in Ni3S2-CNFs nanoheterostructures, acting as unique collaborative active sites for the thermodynamically favorable conversion from methanol to formate and suppressing the further oxidation to CO2, resulting in the high activity and selectivity of CO2-emission-free methanol upgrading reaction.

Solar-induced photothermal catalytic H2O splitting is a promising method for H2production. On metal oxides, the interaction between H2O and the surface can lead to the formation of oxygen vacancies (VOs) and alter the reaction pathway for overall H2O splitting. Herein, the free energy profiles of two different pathways on the In2O3(110) surface are calculated based on density functional theory, and the relation between surface VOformation and the reactivity of surface VOs reveals that surface VOs with a lower formation energy are more unfavorable for H2evolution. Doping In2O3with a transition metal can effectively enhance the electron transfer from the surface O atoms to the doped metal, benefitting the formation of surface VOs and causing the doped metal to become the active reaction center for H2O splitting.