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The secondary metabolite Monacolin K (MK), derived from Monascus , exhibits potential lipid-lowering and anti-tumor effects. In this study, a mutant strain M. purpureus M400–6 was generated through X-ray treatment, resulting in an average MK production of 181.97 mg/L (a 54.20% increase compared to the parent strain M. purpureus M1) over five successive generations. Furthermore, optimization of medium compositions using response surface methodology led to a further enhancement in MK production by the mutant strain to 266.63 mg/L. Moreover, based on the outcomes of single-factor experiments, the addition of L-citrulline demonstrated a significantly higher level of enhancement in MK production. Therefore, a comparative transcriptome analysis was conducted to unveil the impact of L-citrulline on MK biosynthesis in M. purpureus. The data revealed a significant upregulation of glycolysis pathways, while oxidative phosphorylation including the TCA cycle and the electron transport chain, exhibited significant downregulation. Furthermore, the metabolisms of serine, glycine, threonine, alanine, aspartic acid and glutamate were found to be significantly disturbed. Additionally, the expressions of MPs and MK biosynthetic gene cluster showed a significant downregulation and upregulation respectively. Overall, these findings provide insights into enhancing MK production in submerged fermentation and elucidate the impact of L-citrulline on secondary metabolism. [Display omitted] • M. purpureus M400–6 with high MK production was generated through X-ray treatment. • L-citrulline can significantly enhance the MK production. • Response surface methodology was performed to further increase the MK production. • Transcriptome analysis reveals the impact of L-citrulline on MK biosynthesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Checkpoint blockade immunotherapies, such as anti-programmed death-1 (PD-1), unleash anti-tumor CD8+ T cell responses but may also induce immunosuppressive regulatory T cells (Tregs). In this issue of Cancer Cell , Geels et al. uncover that anti-PD-1 leads to Treg expansion via interleukin-2 (IL-2)-producing CD8+ T cells. Combining anti-PD-1 with anti-ICOSL interrupts this crosstalk, thereby enhancing tumor control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Impoverished housing environments are thought to prevent motivated behaviors and may result in frustration. We first aimed to investigate an effective physical enrichment protocol to improve dairy calves' welfare and initially determine their use of various items. Thereafter, we aimed to determine dairy calves' preference for and ways of interacting with various items, and whether this was influenced by social housing. In experiment 1, at 21 ± 3 d of age, 27 individually housed calves were assigned alternately into 1 of 3 treatments: control (CON, no additional items), rotating enrichment (RE, one item each week on a rotating presentation schedule), and fixed enrichment (FE, 4 types of item at the same time). The items were stationary brushes, ropes, springs, nets filled with strawberry-scented hay, and dry teats. Calves' behaviors were observed from 4 to 7 wk of age using focal observations after feeding, followed by instantaneous scan sampling. Their behavioral responses to a novel object were assessed at 43 ± 1 d of age. In the instantaneous scans, calves in FE tended to interact with items more often than calves in RE. Calves in RE and FE expressed less non-nutritive oral behavior than those in CON. Latency to touch novel objects did not differ significantly between treatments. Calves in RE and FE interacted with nets filled with strawberry-scented hay more often than with other items in instantaneous scans. In experiment 2, 24 calves were assigned alternately into 8 individual pens and 8 pair pens at 2 d of age. All pens were provided with a stationary brush, plastic chain, net filled with strawberry-scented hay, and dry teat. Calves' behaviors were collected from 2 to 5 wk of age using instantaneous scan sampling. Calves interacted with nets filled with strawberry-scented hay more often than with other items. Pair housing reduced calves' interactions with items compared with individual housing. Individually and pair-housed calves' frequencies of overall interaction with items varied with time of day, with frequencies increasing to peaks at 0700, 1500, and 1900 h. Calves showed scratching, sniffing, sucking, butting, and hay intake toward nets filled with strawberry-scented hay and showed the first 3 behaviors toward stationary brushes, plastic chains, and dry teats. In conclusion, dairy calves are likely to prefer a fixed multi-item enrichment presentation schedule over a rotating schedule with a single enrichment item presented at one time. For the fixed multi-item enrichment presentation schedule, items were used more in individual pens than in pair pens, and a diurnal pattern was observed for use of the items. Nets filled with scented hay might be the most multifunctional and attractive item of the items tested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The overheated photovoltaic (PV) panels during the late experimental period and severe temperature stratification of the phase change materials (PCMs) are critical factors influencing the photovoltaic/thermal-PCM system efficiency. In this work, an outdoor experimental switchable PV/T-PCM system coupled with copper fins and flexible thermal regulation strategies was investigated to maximize the energy conversion efficiency. The effect of different fin heights on the efficiency of the PV-PCM system without water flow was firstly investigated. Second, five cases under various thermal regulation strategies utilizing water flow were comprehensively investigated by the energy and exergy analysis. For the full-time regulation, both thermal energy and exergy efficiencies (η th and E x _th) increased when the water flow rate grew from 0.11 L/min (Case 2) to 2.92 L/min (Case 5). Case 5 presented the highest η th and E x_th of 86.49% and 2.06%, respectively, and increments of 4.40% and 4.35% in the electrical energy and exergy efficiencies, respectively, with the addition of PCMs. At the same water flow rate of 0.11 L/min, the electrical energy and exergy efficiencies in Case 6 increased by 11.46% and 11.35%, compared with Case 2, indicating that the intermittent regulation is more beneficial for improving the photoelectric efficiency of the PV/T-PCM system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An intermittent heat charging and discharging strategy is proposed for on-demand thermal utilization in a three-layer latent heat storage unit filled with nanoparticle-enhanced phase change materials. To optimize the utilization ratio of phase change materials, and the stored and released thermal exergy amounts, a multi-objective prediction and optimization methodology combining orthogonal experimental design, range and variance analyses, multi-nonlinear regression models, and non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm-II is introduced while considering the variables of nanoparticle concentration, heat transfer fluid velocity, and intermittent time interval. Results show that the time interval presents the most significant influence. Multi-nonlinear regression models for the above three variables are established with determination factors of 0.9871, 0.9625, and 0.9253, respectively. The ultimate optimal results are 0.8, 57094.03 J, and 43066.73 J, achieved at the three variables of 44.37 min, 0.38 m s−1 and 8.99%, respectively. The maximum verification error of 5.11% indicates the reliability of this methodology. The methodology aims to enhance the overall performance of the three-layer latent heat storage system by mitigating the constraints associated with single-performance optimization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The chiral afterglow is achieved by self-confining isolated chiral chromophores. • Advanced displays and encryptions are made using the chiral afterglow materials. • The work provides a facile way for developing chiral afterglow materials. Circularly polarized organic afterglow (CPOA) materials showing ultralong lifetime and chiral emission features have received widespread attention. However, generating CPOA emission remains a formidable challenge primarily due to the synergetic suppression non-radiative decay and chirality incorporation of triplet excitons. Herein, we propose a strategy to enable CPOA by covalently self-confining isolated chiral chromophores into the polymer matrix with rigidity and strong intermolecular interactions to effectively inhibit the non-radiative decay of chiral triplet excitons. The CPOA polymers exhibiting dual fluorescence and afterglow emission with a maximum luminescence dissymmetry factor of 1.06 × 10-2 and ultralong lifetime of up to 1.08 s have been achieved by crosslinking binaphthol derivatives into rigid self-host of polyacrylamide. Leveraging the superiority of afterglow and chiral attributes of CPOA polymers, advanced display and encryption demonstrations have been fabricated. This work underscores the significance of confining isolated chiral chromophores for the development of circularly polarized luminescent materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To effectively mitigate the spread of epidemics, disinfection robots are increasingly utilized for automatic disinfection. However, tradition robots and disinfection methods cannot ensure controllable disinfection coverage, potentially causing damage to sensitive surfaces and humans. In this paper, we introduce a novel Ultraviolet-C disinfection robot system built on the mobile manipulator structure. We propose a new multi-side disinfection end-effector to broaden the disinfection scope and improve adaptability to complex surfaces. In order to coordinate the movements of the base and manipulator, we propose a joint base placement and multi-configuration disinfected path planning(JPMDP) method. The algorithm generates the minimal number of mobile base placements and forms the disinfection path with the shortest working time. We have conducted extensive experiments in both simulated and real environments. Experimental results demonstrate that our system offers more comprehensive coverage in less time compared to traditional strategies, making it more efficient and adaptable to complex environments. • Proposing a novel UV-C disinfection robot for epidemic control. • Introducing a multi-side disinfection end-effector for complex surface adaptability. • Presenting a JPMDP method for optimal coordination of base and manipulator movements. • Validating the system's efficiency through extensive simulations and real tests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reactive oxygen species (ROS) generated by photoinduced molecular oxygen (O 2) activation has attracted great attention in environmental remediation and pollution control. Herein, we establish a facile sulfur doping strategy that promotes the activation of molecular oxygen over BiOCl for rapid and continuous degradation of organic pollutants. In this work, we demonstrate that the significantly enhanced built-in electric field (BIEF) induced by the heterogeneous introduction of S atoms not only multiplies the electron concentration in the BiOCl matrix, but also accelerates the rapid separation/transfer of charge carriers and inhibits recombination. Driven by this, the exciton behavior in the BOC undergoes a transformation. The electrons generated through exciton dissociation activate the adsorbed O 2 on the surface into superoxide radicals (•O 2 –). Benefited from the superior O 2 activation efficiency, the degradation rate constant of ciprofloxacin (CIP) the fabricated S-doped BiOCl increased by 8.8 times, under visible light. This work proposes a strategy to promote the photocatalytic O 2 activation via tuning BIEF and manipulating excitonic effects, which affords new perspective for understanding the reaction mechanisms related to charge transfer in photocatalytic systems. [Display omitted] • S doping dramatically alter morphology and physicochemical characteristics of BiOCl. • Enhanced built-in electric field induced by S doping promotes separation and migration of charge carriers in bulk BiOCl. • Remarkable efficiency of O 2 activation is achieved over S-doped BiOCl with abundant O vacancies. • Boosted dissociation of excitons into charge carriers transforms O 2 activation behavior. • S-doped BiOCl exhibits remarkable performance toward photocatalytic degradation of CIP and various antibiotics in water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Efficiently monitoring the condition of civil infrastructure requires automating the structural condition assessment in visual inspection. This paper proposes an Attention-Enhanced Co-Interactive Fusion Network (AECIF-Net) for automatic structural condition assessment in visual bridge inspection. AECIF-Net can simultaneously parse structural elements and segment surface defects on the elements in inspection images. It integrates two task-specific relearning subnets to extract task-specific features from an overall feature embedding. A co-interactive feature fusion module further captures the spatial correlation and facilitates information sharing between tasks. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed AECIF-Net outperforms the current state-of-the-art approaches, achieving promising performance with 92.11% mIoU for element segmentation and 87.16% mIoU for corrosion segmentation on the test set of the new benchmark dataset Steel Bridge Condition Inspection Visual (SBCIV). An ablation study verifies the merits of the designs for AECIF-Net, and a case study demonstrates its capability to automate structural condition assessment. • A deep learning model AECIF-Net is developed for automating the visual assessment of structural conditions. • SBCIV, an image dataset with annotations of structural elements and their surface defects, is created. • AECIF-Net outperforms current methods in segmenting structural elements and surface defects. • Merits of the designs for the AECIF-Net are verified by comprehensive experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Camellia sinensis cv. 'Yanling Huayecha' (YHC) is an albino-green chimaeric tea mutant with stable genetic traits. Here, we analysed the cell ultrastructure, photosynthetic pigments, amino acids, and transcriptomes of the albino, mosaic, and green zones of YHC. Well-organized thylakoids were found in chloroplasts in mesophyll cells of the green zone but not the albino zone. The albino zone of the leaves contained almost no photosynthetic pigment. However, the levels of total amino acids and theanine were higher in the albino zone than in the mosaic and green zones. A transcriptomic analysis showed that carbon metabolism, nitrogen metabolism and amino acid biosynthesis showed differences among the different zones. Metabolite and transcriptomic analyses revealed that (1) downregulation of CsPPOX1 and damage to thylakoids in the albino zone may block chlorophyll synthesis; (2) downregulation of CsLHCB6 , CsFdC2 and CsSCY1 influences chloroplast biogenesis and thylakoid membrane formation, which may contribute to the appearance of variegated tea leaves; and (3) tea plant variegation disrupts the balance between carbon and nitrogen metabolism and promotes the accumulation of amino acids, and upregulation of CsTSⅠ and CsAlaDC may enhance L-theanine synthesis. In summary, our study provides a theoretical basis and valuable insights for elucidating the molecular mechanisms and promoting the economic utilization of variegation in tea. • CsPPOX1 , CsLHCB6 , CsFdC2 and CsSCY1 downregulation and thylakoid damage in albino zone may cause variegated tea leaves. • Tea plant variegation disrupts the balance between carbon and nitrogen metabolism and promotes amino acids accumulation. • Upregulation of CsTSⅠ and CsAlaDC may enhance theanine synthesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Multiple components can be recovered by the novel pneumatic separation at one time. • The recovery of Cu in current collectors is 92.08%, and that of Al is 96.68%. • Suspension velocity of flaky powder can be given by the equivalent diameter method. In recycling of the spent lithium iron phosphorus (LiFePO 4) batteries, the mechanical pretreatment is critical for relieving the pressure of the subsequent recycling process and reducing the cost of whole recycling process. In order to achieve the separation and concentration of the cathode materials, anode materials, copper and aluminum foils from spent LiFePO 4 batteries, a novel pneumatic separation combined with froth flotation is designed in this research. A pulsated pneumatic separation with variable-diameter structure separator is used, through which 92.08% of copper and 96.68% of aluminum were recovered. In the pneumatic separation the movement of the copper and aluminum flakes can be described by an improved equivalent diameter method, based on the force analysis of the flaky particles. The froth flotation is utilized to recover the cathode materials and anode materials with the recovery of 92.86% and 83.21%, respectively. A mass balance and a technological route of the recycling process are provided finally. The present work provides a green and high-efficiency recycling process in which copper, aluminum, anode and cathode materials in lithium-ion batteries can be recovered respectively only by physical methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Non-synchronous Measurements (NSM) was proposed to enhance the accuracy of reconstruction and reduce the measurement cost. However, the investigated object of conventional NSM are only sparsely distributed sound sources, and little emphasis placed on the reconstructed accuracy of the spatially extended sound source. In this article, the traditional NSM is further investigated in the spatially extended sound source, and the sound pressure information is reconstructed by Bayesian compressive sensing algorithm (BCS). Firstly, the spatially extended sound source is scanned by moving the rectangular microphone array, and the measurement effects of the array with large aperture and high density are approximately obtained by using NSM technique. Then, BCS is applied to reconstruct sound field by the NSM of sound pressure. The results of numerical simulations provide evidence for the feasibility of applying the proposed investigation to the spatially extended sound source. NSM has advantages in reconstruction accuracy compared with the single measurement. At the same time, the reconstructed sound pressure under NSM can replace the simultaneous measurement (SM) results of multi-array, which avoids the limitation of using reference microphone in increasing the number of channels and spatial layout. The experimental results of the driven steel plate provide additional evidence to support the effectiveness and feasibility of the investigation. • The application problem of the NSM in the spatially extended sound source like the driven steel plate is investigated. • The NSM increases the number of microphones and avoids the limitation of using reference microphone in increasing the number of channels and spatial layout. • The traditional NSM is further investigated in the spatially extended sound source, and the sound pressure is reconstructed by BCS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Single Event Transient (SET) phenomenon, which occurs in combinational circuits, has emerged as the primary source of soft errors in Integrated Circuits (IC) in advanced deep-submicron technologies. Therefore, it is imperative to investigate the underlying mechanisms of SET effects in order to gain valuable insights for mitigating SET in combinational circuits. In advanced technologies, specifically those at the 28-nm and below, tap cells are commonly utilized as the well and substrate contact to achieve higher device density. This article presents a comprehensive study on the impact of tap cells on SET sensitivity for the first time. Furthermore, a comparison is made between the SET sensitivity of conventional and tap cell-based well and substrate contact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • A series of peptide-drug conjugates (PDCs) were synthesized by integrating camptothecin (CPT) with the cationic anticancer peptide (CAP) of KM8-Aib to ameliorate the solubility and specificity of CPT. • Kb-CC07 possessed the superior anti-malignant activity over other PDCs, and displayed favorable metabolic stability as well as excellent water solubility. • Kb-CC07 might overcome drug resistance by increasing the cellular uptake of CPT, counteracting the efflux action of drug-resistant proteins on tumor surface. • Kb-CC07 demonstrated remarkable tumor targeting ability and antitumor efficacy in vivo, along with benign toxicity profiles. Camptothecin (CPT) is a natural plant alkaloid from Camptotheca that exhibits a potent anticancer activity. However, its continued utilization is hindered by drawbacks such as low water solubility and restricted tumor selectivity. Cationic anticancer peptides (CAPs) are generally soluble in water, and exhibit favorable selectivity against malignant cells. In previous study, we have reported a CAP termed KM8-Aib present conspicuous selective anticancer effect. Thus, it is postulated conjugating KM8-Aib with CPT might be a plausible approach to improve the defects of CPT. A series of peptide-CPT conjugates were synthesized and subjected to biological evaluation. Among these compounds, Kb-CC07 displayed the highest selective activity against a set of cancer cell lines including drug-resistant cells, showing the IC 50 values in the 0.11–1.01 μM range which is 1.9–22.6 times better than that of CPT, and a wide therapeutic index of 124.5 (vs 5.3 for CPT). The water solubility of Kb-CC07 was also improved by ∼ 100 fold compared with CPT. Further investigation unraveled that Kb-CC07 could effectively penetrate across plasma membranes and delivered more CPT molecules into cancer cells, overcoming the drug-resistance result from efflux drug transporters on tumor surface. In vivo experiments supported that Kb-CC07 has excellent in vivo antiproliferative activity against drug-resistant tumors over CPT (tumor growth inhibition of 98.2% and 37.5% for Kb-CC07 and CPT, respectively, at 5 μmol·kg−1), and prompts CPT accumulation in tumor tissue rather than normal organs, thus producing limited toxicities. To sum up, coupling therapeutic agents to CAPs would be a potential strategy to conquer the shortcomings of anticancer drugs. Additionally, Kb-CC07 is suggested to be a promising anticancer candidate deserving further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The conventional approaches for recovering valuable metals from spent lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) suffer from heavy dependence on chemical reagents, high energy consumption, and low recovery efficiencies. In this study, we developed a shearing-enhanced mechanical exfoliation combined with mild-temperature pretreatment (SMEMP) method. The method achieves high-efficiency exfoliation of the cathode active materials that remain strongly adhered to polyvinylidene fluoride after it melts during mild pretreatment. The pretreatment temperature was decreased from 500–550 °C to 250 °C, the duration was decreased to 1/4–1/6 of the traditional pretreatment duration, and the exfoliation efficiency and product purity reached 96.88% and 99.93%, respectively. Despite the weakening thermal stress, the cathode materials could be exfoliated by strengthened shear forces. Compared with other traditional methods, the superiority of this method in temperature reduction and energy saving was established. The proposed SMEMP method is environmentally friendly and economical, and it offers a new route for the recovery of cathode active materials from spent LIBs. [Display omitted] • A shearing-enhanced exfoliation method combined with mild pretreatment is proposed. • The exfoliation was achieved by synergy of thermal stress and strong shear action. • Heat treatment temperature dropped by about 250 °C with the duration reduced to 1/6. • The exfoliating efficiency could reach 96.88% with purity as high as 99.93%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Latent heat thermal energy storage unit alleviates the mismatch between energy supply and demand. However, the sole melting temperature of a phase change material in a single-layer heat storage unit does not adapt well to the environment. Therefore, the mechanisms associated with the better environmental adaptability of a multiple-layer heat storage unit are explored in this study based on energy and exergy evaluations via comparison with single-layer units. An innovative methodology is proposed to discuss transient thermal energy and exergy, and exergy distribution of these heat storage units in different seasons. Results show that the multiple-layer units address the limitations of single-layer units by exhibiting excellent heat storage capacity and quality, as well as uniform melting and exergy distribution. Compared with the single-layer unit with a melting temperature of 49 °C, the multiple-layer unit exhibits a 56.64% higher energy in the winter. Moreover, the exergy is 57.14% higher than that of the single-layer unit with a melting temperature of 33 °C in the summer. This study reveals the mechanism of excellent thermal energy storage performance of the multiple-layer latent heat storage unit in different seasons. • An innovative transient performance evaluation method was proposed. • Thermal energy and exergy quantities, and exergy distribution were discussed. • Enhanced mechanism of multiple-layer latent heat storage unit was revealed. • Multiple-layer latent heat storage unit has uniform melting and exergy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tissue engineering is essentially a technique for imitating nature. Natural tissues are made up of three parts: extracellular matrix (ECM), signaling systems, and cells. Therefore, biomimetic ECM scaffold is one of the best candidates for tissue engineering scaffolds. Among the many scaffold materials of biomimetic ECM structure, decellularized ECM scaffolds (dECMs) obtained from natural ECM after acellular treatment stand out because of their inherent natural components and microenvironment. First, an overview of the family of dECMs is provided. The principle, mechanism, advances, and shortfalls of various decellularization technologies, including physical, chemical, and biochemical methods are then critically discussed. Subsequently, a comprehensive review is provided on recent advances in the versatile applications of dECMs including but not limited to decellularized small intestinal submucosa, dermal matrix, amniotic matrix, tendon, vessel, bladder, heart valves. And detailed examples are also drawn from scientific research and practical work. Furthermore, we outline the underlying development directions of dECMs from the perspective that tissue engineering scaffolds play an important role as an important foothold and fulcrum at the intersection of materials and medicine. As scaffolds that have already found diverse applications, dECMs will continue to present both challenges and exciting opportunities for regenerative medicine and tissue engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Oder domain beamforming is proposed for the localization of rotating machineries under variable speed conditions. • A steering vector of order domain beamforming is constructed. Rotating machinery is widely used in the modern industry, which undergoes huge amounts of variable speed working conditions. Localizing the sound sources of the rotating machinery on a specific order is significant to noise source identification and fault diagnosis. The order domain beamforming method (ODBF) is proposed in this paper to localize the source in the rotating machinery at a specific order. Firstly, the measured acoustic array signals are resampled into the angle domain via the key phase signal. Then, the fast Fourier transform is operated to obtain the acoustic pressure on a specific order. Finally, with the derivated steering vector in the order domain, the proposed order domain beamforming method can obtain the acoustic map on the scanning plane to localize the primary acoustic sources of the rotating machinery. The numerical simulation investigates the performance of the proposed ODBF under different cases. The industrial motor noise source identification experiment further verifies the effectiveness of the proposed ODBF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are generally small cationic amphipathic peptides, which are thought to be ideal antineoplastic agents, owing to their favorable selectivity to cancer cells and the ability to overcome drug-resistance. In this study, an anticancer AMP (Mastoparan (INLKALAALAKKIL-NH2)) was selected as the lead compound and a series of Mastoparan derivatives were designed. Preliminary studies verified that an analogue of Mastoparan, KM8 (KLLKINLKALAALAKKIL-NH2), exhibited prominent selective antitumor effects. Instead, it presents a significant defect of metabolic instability, with a half-life in plasma of only about 0.5 h. Metabolite profiling of KM8 was performed and indicated the structure 9 AL 10 in peptide sequence could be the fragile site for KM8. Thus, the Aib (unnatural amnio acid) was employed to substitute the 9 Ala residue in KM8, and generating a long-acting KM8 derivative, namely KM8-Aib. Further investigations revealed KM8-Aib possessed higher metabolic stability, more potent anticancer activity in vitro & in vivo , and lower toxicity. Therefore, KM8-Aib is suggested be a potential antimalignant agent that worthy of more in-depth study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regulating photovoltaic (PV) cells temperature using phase change materials (PCMs) is considered a promising thermal management strategy. In this study, a solar PV-PCM collector with rectangular copper fins was proposed, and the effects of the PCM height and fin length, arrangement, and number, on the temperature characteristics, and electrical efficiency of PV cells were numerically investigated. A PCM height of 60 mm could meet the thermal management requirement of a heat flux input of 800 W/m2 during the daytime. Compared with the PV-PCM model without fins, the PV cell performance was improved by 4.62% for the model uniformly arranged three fins with a height of 33.33 mm. The variable length and nonuniform arrangement of fins could further enhance the performance of PV cells; however, the temperature uniformity deteriorated. Compared with fin length and arrangement, the fin number played a more significant role in the thermal management of PV cells. The model with eleven fins performed the best with the average temperature, temperature unevenness, and efficiency of 48.58 °C, 3.20, and 11.19%, respectively. These values were 16.11 °C and 43.06% lower, and 7.70% greater than the model without fins. This study provides valuable insight into the design optimization of PV-PCM systems. • Phase change material was adopted for thermal management of the PV cell. • Temperature uniformity and electrical efficiency of the PV cell were studied. • Suitable PCM amount in PV-PCM collector was evaluated. • Different arrangements of fins in PV-PCM collector were optimized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, the tackified PDCPD (PDCPD-T) specialized for vacuum assistant resin infusion process (VARI) was developed. The epoxy resin and methyl nadic anhydride (NMA) was subsequently added to the PDCPD-T to improve the interfacial bonding with the carbon fibres. The results showed that the introduction of NMA-cured epoxy undermined the mechanical properties of the PDCPD-T owing to the agglomeration of the tackifier particles. Nonetheless, the mechanical properties of the CFRCs based on the co-cured blends of the PDCPD-T and the NMA-cured epoxy were comprehensively improved compared to the composites based on the PDCPD-T. The improvement was that a part of NMA-cured epoxy in the co-cured blends would phase separate on the surface of the carbon fibre, which formed the "bridge" connecting the matrix and the carbon fibre. In addition, the degree of the tackifier agglomeration would also decrease due to the decrease in the surrounding epoxy concentration. [Display omitted] • The continuous carbon fiber reinforced polydicyclopentadiene (PDCPD) composites based on the vacuum-assisted resin infusion process are realized by tackifying the dicyclopentadiene (DCPD) monomer. • The further addition of anhydride-cured epoxy resin to the tackified DCPD monomer solves the problem of poor interfacial bonding between the PDCPD resin and the carbon fiber. • The carbon fiber composites based on the modified PDCPD matrix are proved to be far superior in interlaminar fracture toughness and impact resistance than the epoxy-based composites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Transcriptome, translatome, and metabolome were used to analyse tea etiolation. • Ribosome profiling reveals carbon and phytohormone metabolism mediate leaf etiolation. • HY5 inhibited chlorophyll and flavonoids metabolism in etiolated leaf. • Changes in gene structure between EL and GL influence their gene expression. Albino tea plants (Camellia sinensis , Atps) are among the most attractive germplasm resources because of their unique phenotype and flavor. Although previous studies have extensively investigated the transcriptional and metabolic mechanisms in Atps, the lack of research at the translational level hinders the understanding of translation control and multi-omics integration. Here, we integrated the transcriptome, translatome, and metabolome to study the global translation and its effect on the metabolic characteristics of Atps. Comparative analysis of RNA-seq and Ribo-seq datasets indicated that 4,295 genes were expressed as synergic responses in etiolated leaves and were mainly enriched in the carbon metabolism and phytohormone pathways. Further integration-omics analyses revealed that the HY5 gene was upregulated at both the transcription and translation levels and repressed chlorophyll biosynthesis and flavonoids metabolism due to low levels of indole acetic acid and auxin response factors. Moreover, sequence characterizations (guanine-cytosine (GC) content, length, and normalized minimal free energy (NMFE)) highly influenced the translational efficiencies (TE) of genes and upstream open reading frames (uORFs), and a higher quantity of uORFs and TE were observed in EL, inhibiting the expression of downstream genes. In summary, we demonstrated that translation regulation contributes to causing leaf color variation and provided a valuable method for exploring the potential regulatory mechanisms controlling phytohormones that affect crop quality using multi-omics technology. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A framework for predicting seismic responses based on limited building information is proposed. • A dataset of seismic responses corresponding to 162 typical RC frames of low-medium rise and 200 diverse ground motions is built. • A CNN-based prediction model (call StruNet here) is established for regular RC frame structures based on the dataset. • StruNet maps the limited building information and ground motion time histories into seismic responses (PFA and IDR) of each floor. • StruNet shows sufficient accuracy and high computational efficiency in predicting seismic responses for four actual cases. Building portfolio is the important urban engineering system, and the seismic resilience assessment of a city needs the quick and accurate prediction of the seismic responses of existed buildings. However, many existed buildings generally possess the problem that the design information materials are incomplete or completely lost. The major challenge in the seismic resilience assessment of building portfolio is how to predict the seismic responses of buildings quickly and accurately just using limited building information. This manuscript aims to develop a method for the seismic response prediction of the existed reinforced concrete (RC) frame buildings just using limited building information. A total of 162 typical RC frame buildings of low to medium rise are designed, and the inter-story drift (IDR) as well as peak floor acceleration (PFA) of each floor in each building are computed for 200 ground motions with nonlinear time history analysis (NLTHA) method. A convolutional neural network (CNN) is developed with ground motion records and five easy-getting building parameters as inputs. The outputs are IDR and PFA of each floor for the given building. Considering the physical means of an input parameter—number of stories, the modified loss function and modified evaluation function are proposed. The developed network is trained with the computed dataset and the modified loss function, and the trained model (referred to StruNet) can take the characteristics of ground motions and structures into consideration together comparing to previous studies. The proposed model is verified through four cases (i.e., 4 actual buildings with different construction time, occupancy types, and plane layouts), which are independent of the deep learning dataset. The results confirm that the proposed method offers prediction results with sufficient accuracy and shows high computational efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel porous core-shell magnetic β-cyclodextrin/graphitic carbon nitride photocatalyst (Mβ-CD/GCN) was synthesized and employed in a solar light driven catalytic system for the degradation of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). The Mβ-CD/GCN display superior photocatalytic performance on account of porous structure and ultrathin GCN nanosheets design, the former improves the utilization of visible light by multiple scattering and reflection of incident light, and the latter accelerates electron transfer. The ultrahigh specific surface area (1255 m2 g−1) of Mβ-CD/GCN provided a large number of active sites for adsorption and degradation of the target pollution. The pseudo-first order reaction rate constant (k obs) for the degradation of PCB180 by Mβ-CD/GCN was 0.021 min−1, which improved 3.23 times than the bulk GCN. Additionally, the effects of various reaction parameters and water matrices were studied on the degradation of PCB180. Three possible degradation pathways and mechanism of PCB180 were speculated according to the identification of reaction intermediates and detection of reactive species. The solar light driven Mβ-CD/GCN catalytic technology is a promising method not only for the control of persistent organic pollutants (POPs), but also the catalyst could be recovered and reused through simple magnetic separation. [Display omitted] • Degradation of PCB180 is achieved by porous core-shell Mβ-CD/GCN under solar light. • Ultrahigh specific surface area (1255 m2 g−1) of Mβ-CD/GCN provides great active sites. • PCB180 is gradually transformed into alcohols, ketones and fatty acids. • Chlorine atoms are removed from biphenyl and generate tetrachloroethylene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Housing unweaned calves individually in barren environments negatively affects their growth, cognitive ability, and adaptability to environmental changes in later life. Social housing has been shown to improve those aspects, whereas physical environmental enrichment has rarely been studied in calves. Little is known about whether the combination of both components offers further benefits. Furthermore, curiosity has been considered an intrinsic factor underpinning cognitive performance, which has yet to be determined in calves. The first objective was to compare the effects of providing physical enrichment items and pair housing calves before weaning, and their combination on the weight gain, behaviour and cognitive ability of calves once regrouped after weaning. The second objective was to investigate if calves' exploratory behaviour in a novel environment can predict their cognitive ability. Forty-eight Holstein calves were allocated to eight groups 2 days after birth. Within each group, two calves were assigned to individual pens and four to two pair pens. One individual pen and one pair pen within each group were provided with brushes, chains, teats, and nets filled with strawberry-scented hay as physical enrichment items. Remaining pens received no additional enrichment items. All calves from a group were introduced to one post-weaning pen when the youngest calf was 9 weeks of age. Calves were weighed on days 1 and 7 in post-weaning pens. They were video-recorded on days 1, 3 and 11 and behavioural data were collected. Spontaneous object recognition tests were conducted within one week after behavioural data collection to assess cognitive ability in terms of how long after exposure calves recognised objects, indicated by differential expression of exploratory behaviour. Physical enrichment items and pair housing had interactions on average daily gain (F 1,33 = 5.460, p = 0.026), with calves in physically enriched pair pens showing higher average daily gain than those in non-enriched pair pens and tending to show higher average daily gains than those in physically enriched individual pens. Physically enriched calves expressed more exploratory behaviour and social sniffing than non-enriched calves (F 1,111 = 20.691, p < 0.001; F 1,111 = 14.433, p < 0.001). Pair housed calves spent more time cross-sucking than individually housed calves (F 1,111 = 8.848, p = 0.008). Compared with non-enriched calves, physically enriched calves were more inclined to explore the novel object than the object already presented 15-min ago (χ2 = 3.282, df = 1, p = 0.070). There was no association between exploratory behaviour upon initial introduction to post-weaning pens and performance in object recognition tests. In conclusion, the combination of physical enrichment and pair housing improves calves' average daily gain after weaning when compared with either component alone. Physical enrichment seemed to improve calves' memory and adaptability to change, whilst pair housing did not. Calves' exploratory behaviour in novel environments may not contribute to their cognitive performance. • The combination of enrichment items and pair housing improved calves' later growth. • Enrichment items improved adaptability to environmental changes whereas pair housing did not. • Enrichment items tended to improve recognition memory whereas pair housing did not. • There was no association between exploratory behaviour and object recognition memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transformer discharge fault localization is important for the power supply reliability. The audible sound radiated by the transformer can reflect the extensive operation information. Thus, discharge faults can be localized by high spatial resolution acoustic imaging techniques to facilitate the inspection and maintenance of power equipment. In this paper, the grid-moving equivalent source method (GMESM) is proposed to visualize the discharge fault on a transformer, where the equivalent source grids can approach the discharge fault position adaptively. A probability framework is established in GMESM. The noise power can be firstly estimated by the Bayes rule to avoid an additional measurement of the background noise. Then, the expectation maximization algorithm is used to optimize the proposed model. Two experiment cases are used to validate the proposed method. It turns out that the proposed GMESM can visualize the discharge fault on the transformer with high spatial resolution and accuracy. • The transformer discharge fault is localized by audible acoustic array. • GMESM is proposed for high-resolution transformer discharge fault localization. • The background noise power is estimated to avoid an additional measurement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Magnetic multifunctional nanocomposites as catalysts were developed. • Synergy of adsorption, photodegradation and Fenton oxidation were carried out. • Degradation of PCBs in wastewater using Fe 3 O 4 @β-CD/g-C 3 N 4 was promising. • Degradation efficiency of six PCBs has been achieved to 77–98% in 55 min. • This catalyst is found to be stable and efficient for several repeated cycles. Herein, a multifunctional magnetic β-cyclodextrin/graphitic carbon nitride catalyst (Fe 3 O 4 @β-CD/g-C 3 N 4) was fabricated for PCBs degradation in wastewater. The catalysts were investigated using various characterization methods including X-ray diffractometry, field emission scanning electron microscopy, vibrating sample magnetometry and UV–Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy et al. As-synthesized Fe 3 O 4 @β-CD/g-C 3 N 4 displayed the superior catalytic activity, and the degradation efficiency of six PCBs was 77%–98% at 55 min, with pseudo-first order reaction rate constants were in the range of 0.027–0.065 min−1. The super synergy of photodegradation and heterogeneous Fenton oxidation was 2.1–4.6 times more efficient than that photodegradation or heterogeneous Fenton oxidation alone. Fe 3 O 4 @β-CD/g-C 3 N 4 could be reused for at least 6 cycles without significant deterioration to its catalytic activity. Several reaction intermediates were identified using GC-MS/MS. The products of the last stage of the reaction were alkanes, aldehyde, ketone and ester, which were formed via ring opening, dechlorinating and isomerization reactions. For PCBs degradation, •OH played a major role, •O 2 − played a secondary role, 1O 2 , h± and e− played minor roles based on reactive species trapping experiments. The catalytic performance of the Fe 3 O 4 @β-CD/g-C 3 N 4 − H 2 O 2 − visible light system towards degradation of PCBs in river water and municipal wastewater was 89–100% and 69–92%, respectively, which means the Fe 3 O 4 @β-CD/g-C 3 N 4 has great potential for environmental remediation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cardiotoxicity induced by human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER-2) inhibitors in patients with breast cancer has been reported widely. However, these data sources were largely limited to fewer patients in clinical trials and case reports, lacking more comprehensive analysis from real-world data. The cases diagnosed with breast cancer from January 2004 to December 2021 were extracted from the FDA adverse event database and further divided into 3 groups (the HER-2 inhibitor group, the positive control group, and the control group). The association between HER-2 inhibitors and cardiovascular adverse events was evaluated using the reporting odds ratio (ROR), a disproportionality method. A total of 167,639 breast cancer patients were included, including 18,615 cases in the HER-2 inhibitor drug group, 2568 cases in the positive control group, and 146,456 cases in the control group. A total of 2529 cases (13.5%) treated with HER-2 inhibitors experienced cardiovascular adverse events, mainly reported by health professionals (81.5%). The disproportionality analysis showed that cardiomyopathy was observed in all HER-2 inhibitors except trastuzumab deruxtecan. Trastuzumab-related CVAEs were most frequently reported (N =2075), and the median time was 80.50 days (IQR: 8.00 to 206.75 days). Based on real-world data analysis, our study demonstrated a significant association between HER-2 inhibitors and cardiovascular toxicity. Cardiac function in patients with breast cancer should be monitored early during anti-HER therapy, especially within six months. • Consistent significant disproportionality in cardiac failure and cardiomyopathy was found for HER-2 inhibitors. • The RORs in heart failure and cardiomyopathy for trastuzumab was the highest, while TDM-1 was the lowest. • The CVAEs in patients with breast cancer after receiving HER-2 inhibitors mainly occurred within six months. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A deep learning-based rapid peak seismic response prediction model for the most common two-story and three-span subway stations is proposed in this study. The established model predicts the peak seismic responses of subway stations with a data-driven fashion and using limited information. The prediction model extracts the features of ground motions using one-dimensional convolutional neural network (1D-CNN) and then integrates the information of subway stations (i.e., the seismic fortification intensity, buried depth, and shear wave velocity) through a fully connected neural network for regression, resulting in peak seismic responses, namely the peak floor acceleration (PFA) and maximum inter-story drift ratio (MIDR). The model is trained using 19,200 samples obtained from the nonlinear time-history analyses (NLTHAs) of the designed 48 typical subway station structures. Furthermore, the external model verification was performed on 960 additional samples. For the predictions of PFA and MIDR , the coefficient of determination (R 2) values are 0.967 and 0.986, respectively, and the damage states of subway stations are further evaluated, achieving an accuracy of 95.0%. These indicates that the model has good predictive performance and generalization ability. Moreover, the prediction model demonstrates a significantly higher computational efficiency compared to numerical simulation methods. ● Deep learning-based peak seismic response prediction model for two-story and three-span subway stations is established. ● Ground motion and structural characteristics can be considered simultaneously. ● The developed prediction model just requires the limited structural information. ● Peak seismic responses of each layer in subway stations can be obtained by the model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identifying acoustic sources with high spatial resolution and precision is significant for machinery noise control. Off-grid compressive beamforming is an effective method for creating acoustic maps with a high spatial resolution. In this study, a two-dimensional off-grid compressive beamforming method via weighted block ℓ 1 norm regularization (WBS-OCSBF) is proposed. The weighted ℓ 1 norm offers a more uniform sparsity penalty compared to the ℓ 1 norm. This method can enhance the performance of off-grid compressive beamforming. Additionally, it is easily implemented on mature linear programming solvers and converges with only a few iterations. Numerical simulations are conducted to analyze the effects of several major parameters on the performance of the proposed method. The simulation results demonstrate the superiority of the proposed method over some traditional methods. The proposed method is then validated using a loudspeaker noises localization experiment. A gearbox transmission system and a transformer are used as two specific objects to explore the industrial application value. The proposed method can effectively localize the gear meshing noise and transformer discharge faults with a high spatial resolution. • Compressive beamforming via weighted Block L1 Norm is proposed in this paper. It enhances the spatial sparsity of the reconstruction results. • Simulation and speaker positioning experiments verify the effectiveness of the method. • Two industrial application experiments proved the potential industrial application value of the method proposed in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A large-scale samples and multi-year, multi-point data was used to characterize the variation of amino acids in tea plant. • The potential effects of tree age on the accumulation of amino acid components in tea plants was investigated in two hybrid populations. • The accumulation of amino acids in tea plant was closely related to leaf color variation and the tree age during growing period. Albino tea has been receiving growing attention on the tea market due to its attractive appearance and fresh taste, mainly caused by high amino acid contents. Here, variations in the contents of five free amino acids in relation to pigment contents and tree age in two hybrid populations'Longjin 43′(♀) × 'Baijiguan'(♂) and 'Longjin 43′(♀) ×'Huangjinya'(♂) with 334 first filial generation individuals including chlorophyll-deficient and normal tea plants were investigated. The data showed that the contents of main amino acids in all filial generation gradually decreased as plant age increased. Principal component analysis indicated that the amino acid content of individual plant tended to be stable with the growth of plants. Correlation analysis clarified that several main amino acids were significantly negatively correlated with chlorophyll a , chlorophyll b and carotenoid contents. Our results showed that the accumulation of amino acids in tea plant was closely related to leaf color variation and the tree age during growing period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The isothermal and cyclic oxidation behavior of Mo-6Si-12B-(1, 2, 4, 8)Al samples was investigated from 800 to 1300 ℃. With increasing Al content, the isothermal oxidation resistance is enhanced and the pesting behavior is suppressed at 800 ℃. The Mo-6Si-12B–4Al alloy with an oxide layer of both an alumino-borosilicate glasses and mullite has the best overall oxidation performance. An oxidation kinetics model was developed based upon the contributions of the individual phase oxidation rates weighted by their relative amounts and sizes that provides a good account of the oxidation behavior. • With increasing Al content, isothermal oxidation resistance is enhanced but the cyclic oxidation resistance is degraded. • A model was developed to analyze the transient oxidation stage of Mo-Si-B-Al alloys. • The mullite/Al-doped borosilicate glass interface is characterized by atomic resolution transmission electron microscopy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To review the use of oral gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) antagonists and synthesize their efficacy and safety parameters for the treatment of endometriosis-associated pain. Systematic review and network meta-analysis. Not applicable. Premenopausal women with endometriosis who had experienced moderate or severe pain. The Web of Science, Embase, Scopus, and MEDLINE were searched until April 10, 2022. Only randomized controlled trials were included. The risk of bias in the included studies was assessed using the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool 2. A Bayesian random-effects network meta-analysis was used to perform indirect comparisons. I2 was used to assess the global heterogeneity. Relative treatment estimates were performed. Treatment ranking was performed through the surface under the cumulative ranking curve. The certainty of evidence was assessed using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation framework. Endometriosis-associated pain, dysmenorrhea, dyspareunia, and noncyclic pelvic pain reduction. (s): Five studies and 6 randomized controlled trials, including a total of 2,796 women and 10 different doses of oral GnRH antagonist treatments, were eligible for inclusion. All studies were considered to have a low risk of bias. Almost all efficacy- and safety-related outcomes showed a dose-response relationship. Regarding endometriosis-associated pain, the top 3 treatments were elagolix 400 mg, linzagolix 75 mg, and linzagolix 200 mg, with mean differences of −1.26 (95% credible interval [CrI], −1.70 to −0.79), −0.98 (95% CrI, −1.84 to −0.15), and −0.98 (95% CrI, −1.90 to −0.064), respectively. The top 3 treatments to decrease dysmenorrhea were relugolix 40 mg, elagolix 400 mg, and relugolix 20 mg, with mean differences of −1.60 (95% CrI, −2.07 to −1.14), −1.25 (95% CrI, −1.56 to −0.95), and −1.10 (95% CrI, −1.59 to −0.62), respectively. However, only high-dose treatments were significantly associated with most quality of life– and adverse effect–related outcomes. Relugolix 40 and 20 mg and elagolix 400 mg, with odds ratios of 6.88 (95% CrI, 2.18–24.58), 1.60 (95% CrI, 0.62–4.13), and 1.85 (95% CrI, 1.05–3.30), had a significantly increased incidence of adverse events. (s): Oral GnRH antagonists are effective for endometriosis-associated pain and dysmenorrhea and the patient global impression. The incidence of ovarian hypoestrogenic effects in a short-term duration was significant in a dose-effect response, particularly the highest dose. International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews registration number CRD42022332904. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Basic principles and affecting parameters of electrospinning process are overviewed. • Summary of application of electrospinning biohybrid technology. • Applications of electrospinning biohybrid technology targeting different pollutants. • Microbial selection, fabricating routes of electrospinning biohybrid composites. • Bioremediation capacity of electrospinning biohybrid technology in water treatment. • The actual state and future challenges of electrospinning biohybrid technology. With the rapid development of nanotechnology and additive manufacturing industries, electrospinning for the fabrication of high-performance nanofibers has attracted increasing attention. The rapid development of biohybrid environmental remediation technology has led to sustainable water treatment materials aimed at different pollutants and application scenarios. The coupling of biohybrid materials with electrospinning technology further addresses potential drawbacks of traditional biomaterials, such as low activity, poor diffusion, and loss of biological activity. In recent years, advanced techniques for constructing biohybrid fibers have been achieved through electrospinning methods such as fiber encapsulation, microtube encapsulation, and co-electrospinning, utilizing microbial cells (bacteria, algae, yeast, etc.). In this review, we firstly introduce the basic principle of electrospinning technology and parameters affecting spinning process. Then systematically analyze the microbial selection, material synthesis routes, and degradation efficiency of electrospinning biohybrid technology in water treatment processes targeting different pollutants, while assessing the application prospects or drawbacks of each case. Finally, we summarize and prospect the technical characteristics, current issues, and industrial prospects of electrospinning biohybrid technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coexistence of microplastics (MPs) and heavy metals in sediments has caused a potential threat to sediment biota. However, differences in the effects of MPs and heavy metals on microbes and plants in sediments under different sediment conditions remain unclear. Hence, we investigated the influence of polyethylene (PE) and polylactic acid (PLA) MPs on microbial community structure, Pb bioavailability, and wheatgrass traits under sequential incubation of sediments (i.e., flood, drainage, and planting stages). Results showed that the sediment enzyme activities presented a dose-dependent effect of MPs. Besides, 10 % PLA MPs significantly increased the F1 fractions in three stages by 11.13 %, 30.10 %, and 17.26 %, respectively, thus resulting in higher Pb mobility and biotoxicity. MPs altered sediment bacterial composition and structures, and bacterial community differences were evident in different incubation stages. Moreover, the co-exposure of PLA MPs and Pb significantly decreased the shoot length and total biomass of wheatgrass and correspondingly activated the antioxidant enzyme activity. Further correlation analysis demonstrated that community structure induced by MPs was mainly driven by sediment enzyme activity. This study contributes to elucidating the combined effects of MPs and heavy metals on sediment ecosystems under different sediment conditions. [Display omitted] • Effects on enzyme activities varied with MPs types and sediment conditions. • 10 % PLA MPs significantly increased the bioavailability of Pb in sediment. • MPs reduced the complexity and stability of bacterial co-occurrence networks. • Co-exposure PLA MPs and Pb exhibited stronger negative impact on wheatgrass growth. • The bacterial structures were mainly driven by sediment enzyme activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Non-stationary noise source localization of permanent magnet synchronous motors (PMSMs) is investigated. • Spatial acoustic maps of PMSMs at a characteristic order can be restored. • Physical insights into the non-stationary noise mechanism of the motors can be revealed. • Experimental results with two industrial PMSMs verify the efficacy of the proposed method. Noise source localization of rotating machinery plays an important role in machinery noise diagnosis and control. Various beamforming methods have been developed for stationary sound source localization. However, for rotating machinery working under time-varying speed conditions, the radiated acoustic signals are typically nonstationary. Under these conditions, characterizing and localizing nonstationary sound sources remains a challenge. Permanent magnet synchronous motors are one of the most widely used rotating machinery in modern industries and often work under variable speed conditions. Herein, the noise source localization problem of motors under time-varying speed conditions was studied. A nonstationary noise source localization method based on the Vold-Kalman filter and time-domain beamforming is proposed to restore the spatial acoustic maps of permanent magnet synchronous motors(PMSMs) at a characteristic order. First, the Vold-Kalman filter is adopted to extract acoustic signals at a characteristic order from the nonstationary measurements using a microphone array. Then, the filtered multichannel acoustic signals are fed into the time-domain beamforming algorithm to obtain the noise source localization result in a characteristic order. Combining Vold-Kalman filter with time-domain beamforming enables the characterization of non-stationary sound sources in the time, spatial, and order domains. The experimental results verify the effectiveness of the proposed method in noise source localization for motors under time-varying speed conditions. In addition, the experimental case with two motors further proves that the proposed method can simultaneously realize noise source separation at different characteristic orders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • A core–shell QQ-encapsulated structure was prepared by a standardized method. • SIPN shell enables excellent biocontainment with physical and chemical stability. • The anti-biofouling and phosphorus removal were enhanced in QQ microcapsule MBR. • QQ microcapsule promoted the application of QQ media for anti-biofouling in MBR. Microbial quorum quenching (QQ) has been proven to be a sustainable anti-biological fouling strategy for membrane bioreactors (MBR), but the long-term stability and practical application in MBR were uncertain. We reported a novel semi-interpenetrating network (SIPN) hydrogels-based design of QQ bacteria (Rhodococcus sp. BH4) encapsulation for both biofouling control and enhancement of organic pollutants removal in MBR. The microcapsule included the alginate core, chitosan thin intermediate compartment and SIPN (sodium alginate / polyacrylamide) shell, which exhibited near-perfect biocontainment, including preventing detectable QQ bacteria escape and improving mechanical strength. The QQ-microcapsules in the MBR demonstrated its significant anti-biofouling effect for treating synthetic wastewater (i.e., membrane fouling was delayed by 233%-280% compared to the control MBR membrane). Meanwhile, the efficiency of phosphorus removal was developed in QQ-microcapsule MBR because of the enhanced phosphorus removal triggered by the flocculation of polyacrylamide (PAM) fraction in SIPN. This promising QQ media brings the broad potential for biofouling control and long-term efficient operation in actual MBR wastewater treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the leading killer of life and health, stroke leads to limb paralysis, speech disorder, dysphagia, cognitive impairment, mental depression and other symptoms, which entail a significant financial burden to society and families. At present, physiology, clinical medicine, engineering, and materials science, advanced biomaterials standing on the foothold of these interdisciplinary disciplines provide new opportunities and possibilities for the cure of stroke. Among them, hydrogels have been endowed with more possibilities. It is well-known that hydrogels can be employed as potential biosensors, medication delivery vectors, and cell transporters or matrices in tissue engineering in tissue engineering, and outperform many traditional therapeutic drugs, surgery, and materials. Therefore, hydrogels become a popular scaffolding treatment option for stroke. Diverse synthetic hydrogels were designed according to different pathophysiological mechanisms from the recently reported literature will be thoroughly explored. The biological uses of several types of hydrogels will be highlighted, including pro-angiogenesis, pro-neurogenesis, anti-oxidation, anti-inflammation and anti-apoptosis. Finally, considerations and challenges of using hydrogels in the treatment of stroke are summarized. [Display omitted] • Hydrogels can play a role in stroke treatment by pro-angiogenesis, pro-neurogenesis, anti-oxidation, anti-inflammation and anti-apoptosis. • Hydrogel treatments have significant potential in treating ferroptosis, blood toxicity, reactive gliosis, and mitochondrial dysfunction following a stroke. • Hydrogels can provide significant benefits in individual and clinical stroke treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microplastics (MPs) accumulation in sediments has posed a huge threat to freshwater ecosystems. However, it is still unclear the effect of MPs on riparian sediment structures and contaminant adsorption under different hydrological processes. In this study, three concentrations of polyamide (PA) MPs-treated sediments (0.1%, 1%, and 10%, w/w) were subjected to natural (NA) exposure, dry-wet (DW) cycles, and freeze-thaw (FT) cycles. The results indicated that PA MPs-added sediment increased the micro-aggregates by 10.1%−18.6% after FT cycles, leading to a decrease in aggregate stability. The pH, OM, and DOC of sediments were significantly increased in DW and FT treatments. In addition, the increasing concentration of PA MPs showed an obvious decrease in aromaticity, humification, and molecular weight of sediment DOM in FT treatments. Also, high level of MPs was more likely to inhibit the formation of humic-like substances and tryptophan-like proteins. For DW and FT cycles, 0.1% and 1% PA MPs-treated sediments slightly increased the adsorption capacity of Cd(II), which may be ascribed to the aging of MPs. Further correlation analysis found that DW and FT altered the link between DOM indicators, and aggregate stability was directly related to the changes in sediment organic carbon. Our findings revealed the ecological risk of MPs accumulating in riparian sediments under typical hydrological processes. [Display omitted] • Macro-aggregate and aggregate stability significantly reduced by combined FT cycles and MPs. • DW and FT cycles showed an obvious increase in sediment properties. • The aromaticity and humification degree of DOM were significantly decreased in 10% MPs-treated sediment. • DW and FT cycles slightly increased the Cd(II) adsorption onto 0.1% and 1% MPs-treated sediments. • There was a relationship between aggregate stability and sediment organic carbon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • A new quorum quenching strain LZX01 was isolated and produce intracellular lactonase. • LZX01 can rapidly degrade AHL and effectively mitigated membrane biofouling. • LZX01 decreased activated sludge TB-EPS and enhances its hydrophilicity. • LZX01 affected the growth of biofilm-associated bacteria but not MBR performance. • LZX01 still has high QQ activity in the environment rich in some toxic substances. Significant progress has been made in mitigating membrane biofouling by microbial quorum quenching (QQ). More efficient and survivable QQ strains need to be discovered. A new strain named Bacillus thuringiensis LZX01 was isolated in this study using a low carbon source concentration "starving" method from a membrane bioreactor (MBR). LZX01 secreted intracellular lactonase to enable QQ behavior and was capable of degrading 90 % of C8-HSL (200 ng/mL) within 30 min, which effectively delayed biofouling by inhibiting the growth of bacteria associated with biofouling and improving the hydrophilicity of bound extracellular polymeric substances. As a result, the membrane biofouling rate of MBR adding LZX01 was four times slower than that of the control MBR. Importantly, LZX01 maintains its QQ activity even in environments contaminated with typical toxic pollutants. Therefore, with high efficiency, toxicity resistance, and easy culture, LZX01 holds great potential and significant promise for biofouling control applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • N/S-GQDs/KMnO 4 hybrid was used as a dual-signal responsive probe. • The N/S-GQDs/KMnO 4 hybrid showed excellent fluorescence and colorimetric responses. • The as-proposed probe showed excellent sensitivity for the detection of ascorbic acid. • Also, the N/S-GQDs/KMnO 4 presented good applicability in detection of ascorbic acid in real samples. A nitrogen and sulfur co-doped graphene quantum dots (N/S-GQDs) and permanganate was employed to prepare a N/S-GQDs/KMnO 4 dual-signal readout colorimetric and fluorescent probe for sensitive detection of ascorbic acid (AA). In the detection system, the addition of KMnO 4 quenched significantly the fluorescence (FL) of N/S-GQDs, meanwhile, the transparent aqueous dispersion of N/S-GQDs changed into yellow–brown with new absorption peak (maximum absorption at 338 nm). Interestingly, introduction of AA into the N/S-GQDs/KMnO 4 system could recover the quenched fluorescence and result in a decrease in the absorbance (at 338 nm) of the test solution in a concentration dependent manner, and hence demonstrated the potential practical use of the sensing system for AA detection. Based on various spectroscopic studies, it has been concluded that the static as well as inner filter effect was the main quenching mechanisms in the detection system. The dual-response sensor showed linear response in the concentration range between 0.01 and 30 µM with the limit of detection (LOD) of 8.3 nM and 100 nM, respectively, for the fluorescent and colorimetric detections. In addition, the proposed detection system has been successfully applied to the detection of AA in vitamin C tablets. Moreover, the proposed detection strategy is convenient and fast, prevents complex and tedious probe preparation procedure, and capable of visual detection of AA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] LWHTH (Leu-Trp-His-Thr-His) is an antioxidant pentapeptide isolated from Styela clava tissue. Based on LWHTH, we designed and synthesized a series of novel peptides using the alanine scanning technique and determined the pharmacological activities of these derivatives. Among the ten newly synthesized LWHTH analogs, peptide CWHTH was identified as the most potent compound with prominent antioxidant activity. CWHTH not only showed the ability to scavenge several biologically important radicals, protected cells from H 2 O 2 or APAP-induced damage by activating the PI3K/Akt and suppressing the JNK/c-Jun pathways, but also exerted strong in vivo hepatoprotective effects in an APAP-induced liver injury model in mice. Moreover, it was demonstrated that CWHTH possesses potent angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory activity and high stability against gastrointestinal proteases. In summary, CWHTH is a promising antioxidant peptide worthy of further investigation as a potential hepatoprotective and antihypertensive agent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Introduing N defects over g-C 3 N 4 significantly increased photocatalytic activity. • An IEF was built to further strengthened the transport of photoexcited carriers. • The excellent O 2 adsorption capacity promoted H 2 O 2 production via 2e− ORR. • A possible H 2 O 2 generation pathway formed via 1O 2 was proposed. The development of photocatalysts for the efficient generation of hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2) and degradation of antibiotic pollutants is a mutual-beneficial solution to the chemical resource demands and environmental remediation. Herein, efficient visible-light-driven H 2 O 2 production and antibiotic degradation are achieved by using nitrogen-deficient modified polymeric carbon nitride (g-C 3 N 4) to facilitate the reduction of dioxygen. The N defects modified g-C 3 N 4 reached an excellent H 2 O 2 generation rate of 623.5 μmol g−1h−1 without O 2 bubbling. The structural features and entire photocatalytic conversion process were systematically studied via experiments and theoretical calculations. It was found that the N defects in the framework constructed a giant internal electric field (IEF), which effectively inhibited carrier recombination. Revealed the neglected H 2 O 2 production via 1O 2 pathway, which effectively promoting the selective 2e− oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). More interestingly, the N defects structure greatly improved the O 2 adsorption ability and O 2 production ability of the material, while inhibiting the in situ generated H 2 O 2 from being decomposed and maintaining high efficiency of H 2 O 2 production under air conditions. This study thoroughly revealed the synergistic effects of the terminal cyano group and nitrogen vacancies over g-C 3 N 4 for efficient H 2 O 2 photogeneration photosynthesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A novel method of electrospinning was employed to enhance quorum quenching hydrogel. • QQ-ECHB performs excellent physical stability and environmental-tolerance. • Stable and long-lasting quorum quenching can be effected at low dosage of QQ-ECHB. • MBR biofouling greatly mitigated and extended service cycle with QQ media addition. Bacterial quorum quenching (QQ) is an effective strategy for controlling biofouling in membrane bioreactor (MBR) by interfering the releasing and degradation of signal molecules during quorum sensing (QS) process. However, due to the framework feature of QQ media, the maintenance of QQ activity and the restriction of mass transfer threshold, it has been difficult to design a more stable and better performing structure in a long period of time. In this research, electrospun fiber coated hydrogel QQ beads (QQ-ECHB) were fabricated by using electrospun nanofiber coated hydrogel to strengthen layers of QQ carriers for the first time. The robust porous PVDF 3D nanofiber membrane was coated on the surface of millimeter-scale QQ hydrogel beads. Biocompatible hydrogel entrapping quorum quenching bacteria (sp.BH4) was employed as the core of the QQ-ECHB. In MBR with the addition of QQ-ECHB, the time to reach transmembrane pressure (TMP) of 40 kPa was 4 times longer than conventional MBR. The robust coating and porous microstructure of QQ-ECHB contributed to keeping a lasting QQ activity and stable physical washing effect at a very low dosage (10g beads/5L MBR). Physical stability and environmental-tolerance tests also verified that the carrier can maintain the structural strength and keep the core bacteria stable when suffering long-term cyclic compression and great fluctuations in sewage quality. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microplastics (MPs) are able to interact with diverse contaminants in sediments. However, the impacts of MPs on sediment properties and bacterial community structure in heavy metal-contaminated sediments remain unclear. In this study, we investigated the adsorption of Pb(II) by sediment-MPs mixtures and the effects of different concentration MPs on sediment enzyme activities, DOM fractions, and Pb bioavailability in riverine sediments, and further explored the response of sediment microbial community to Pb in the presence of MPs. The results indicated that the addition of MPs significantly decreased the adsorption amount of Pb(II) by sediments, especially decreased by 12.6% at 10% MPs treatment. Besides, the changes in enzyme activities, DOM fractions exhibited dose-dependent effects of MPs. The higher level of MPs (5% and 10%) tends to transform Pb into more bioavailable fractions in sediments. Also, MPs amendment was observed to alter sediment bacterial community structures, and community differences were evident in the uncontaminated and lead-contaminated sediments. Therein, significant increase of Bacteroidota , Proteobacteria and decrease of Firmicutes abundance in Pb-contaminated sediment at the phylum level were observed. These findings are expected to provide comprehensive information for assessing the combined ecological risks of heavy metals and MPs in riverine sediments. [Display omitted] • The adsorption capacity of sediment for Pb(II) decreased with the content of MPs. • The changes in sediment enzyme activities and DOC structures varied with MPs concentration. • High doses of MPs increased the bioavailability of Pb in sediments. • MPs had a greater impact on bacterial community in Pb-contaminated sediments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • The BH4 immobilized media were prepared using nano-silica and silica beads as core reinforcements. • The inclusion of two types of silicon in the beads ensured they were ready for prolonged use. • The application of two quorum quenching media effectively mitigated MBR biofouling. Quorum quenching (QQ) is a strategy to alleviate membrane biofouling in membrane bioreactors (MBRs). As a stable inorganic material with a large specific surface area, silica is often used to prepare of microbial immobilization composites. This study selected two different sizes of silica materials (silica beads and Nano-silica) to make the core encapsulate a QQ bacterial strain (Rhodococcus sp. BH4). The compressive strength and stability under extreme environments were characterized, and the positive effect of silica on QQ beads was verified. The results showed that both QQ beads could resist the impact of high pressure, acid, alkali, salt and EDTA buffer. It was proved that they have the potential to quench effectively continuously. Both beads were still more than 70 % QQ activity after five months of use. In the lab-scale continuous MBR experiment, the time of transmembrane pressure (TMP) reaching 50 kPa in both experimental groups was more than 3 times that in the blank group. The TMP contamination time was extended from 5 to 6 days in the blank group to 18–19 days. Among them, silica beads greatly improve the compressive strength of the beads, and also have a better performance in QQ. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The bioactive lipid sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P) is implicated in many pivotal processes for the physiological and pathological actions via activating five types of G-protein-coupled S1P receptors (S1PR1‐5). The role of S1P in renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and its receptor subtype specific mediating mechanism are poorly studied. So we focus on the regulatory role of S1P in RCC progression and the receptor subtypes involved in S1P-induced actions, intending to further clarify a novel therapeutic target for RCC. Analysis of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) databases showed that the patients with high expression of S1PR3 had significantly worse overall than with low expression. We further demonstrated that S1P could promote proliferation, migration, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of renal cancer cells in vitro, and the actions were enhanced with the increase of S1PR3 expression. Meanwhile, the results in animal experiments also showed that S1PR3 could accelerate tumorigenesis and metastasis of RCC. Our study also clarified the mechanism for S1P induced cell proliferation is mediated by S1PR3/Gi/p38/Akt/p65/cyclin D1-CDK4 pathway and the main pathway for migration is S1PR3/Gi/q/ERK/p38/p65. In addition, S1PR3 was involved in epidermal growth factor (EGF)-induced actions by enhancing protein expression, not by transactivation of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). These results also further supported our conclusion that the carcinogenic role of S1P/S1PR3 axis. Thus, our findings provide that S1PR3 may be a promising small molecular therapeutic target for S1PR3 expressed cancers. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]