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The emergence of nanomaterials (NMs) has made everyone more aware of the close relationship between the size and performance of materials. Especially, the catalytic properties of materials may change dramatically when the macroscopic size of matter goes from bulk to nanometer to atomic level. It is very firmly believed that "Small size determines macroproperties, contains big science." Therefore, as chemists hope, it is very essential to rationally tune and characterize the size of materials and deeply understand the relationship between macroscopic catalytic properties and small structures. Herein, the recent progress in both multi‐scale materials from nanoscale, sub‐nano, clusters to atomic scale for various catalytic reactions is focused. Specifically, the catalytic reaction on the microstructures and the relationship between the small scale and big science are comprehensively summarized and discussed. This review systematically spans dimensions to reveal the catalytic performances of materials at different scales with a unique effect. This is crucial for rationally understanding the composition of materials and exploring their catalytic activity. Current opportunities, future challenges, and outlooks for the application of multiscale materials (NMs, sub‐nano, cluster, and atomically dispersed materials) in catalysis, energy and environmental protection, etc. are summarized and outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] The growing demand of advanced electrochemical energy storage devices for various applications, including portable electronic products, electric vehicles, and large-scale energy storage grids, has triggered extensive research interests and efforts on various rechargeable batteries such as lithium/sodium-ion batteries (LIBs/NIBs), aluminium-ion batteries (AIBs), liquid metal batteries (LMBs), and molten-air batteries (MABs) in the past decades. A key issue to push forward the development of these batteries is the exploration of high-performance electrodes and electrolytes, which calls for efficient and versatile synthetic methods. Molten salts (MSs), liquid-phase ionic compounds or mixtures, provide an effective platform to widen the reaction temperatures and enrich the chemical environments for the synthesis of novel electrode materials and electrolytes. In this review, the general principles of molten salts and recent research progresses on molten salt-based battery materials are surveyed. Molten-salt synthesis of electrode materials, including sintering and electrolysis, are emerging as competitive substitutes for conventional synthesis techniques. These methods have shown their effectiveness and uniqueness in adjusting the crystal structure, morphology, and performance of electrode materials for LIBs/NIBs, as suggested by recent progresses and applications of diverse cathodes (layered oxides, spinel oxides, polyanions, etc.) and anodes (metal oxides, alloys, carbons, etc.). Furthermore, the applications of molten salts as effective electrolytes are demonstrated in representative new-type secondary batteries including AIBs, LMBs and MABs. Finally, the emerging opportunities, challenges, and interesting research trends are envisioned to promote the further development of molten-salt methodology for rechargeable batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Socio‐economic status (SES) is one of the important indicators reflecting individual social participation and resource allocation, and it plays an important role in individual health shock. Health shock indicates the body being in a non‐healthy state, such as illness, injury and death. This study used data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study conducted in 2013, 2015 and 2018 and utilised the panel logit model, causal step‐by‐step analysis and path analysis to empirically test the impact of SES on fall inequality among the elderly and the mediating effect of health shock. The results demonstrated obvious group inequality in the fall risk among older adults, the core of which was the impact of SES on health, causing health inequality and affecting fall inequality. The activities of daily living and pain rate of the high‐income group were 61.16% and 28.69%, respectively, that of the low‐income group. The evaluation of good sight and hearing were 3.6833 and 3.8572 times, respectively, that of the low‐income group. The non‐depressive status was 38.4638 times of the low‐income group. The path effect confirmed the mediating role of health shock. Therefore, this study concluded that SES had an important impact on the risk of falls among the elderly, and this impact was mainly from health shock. This study proposed that to reduce the incidence of falls among the elderly, differences in health shock risks among the elderly with different SES must be actively monitored and accurate and effective policy interventions should be implemented from the level of group heterogeneity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This commentary details how a novel alkali-tolerance gene, I AT1 i , is anticipated to revolutionize crop production in >1 billion hectares of saline-alkaline land worldwide. At the global level, currently there are 618 million hectares of sodic land; if 20% of the world's salt-alkaline land used I AT1 i -modified crops, it will produce at least 250 million tons of grain per year in addition to the existing crop yield. In summary, the discovery of a novel alkali tolerant gene ( I AT1 i ) is anticipated to revolutionize crop production in >1 billion hectares of saline-alkaline land worldwide. It is necessary to develop an effective strategy to explore conserved salt-alkali-resistant genes from these less-studied halophyte plants, which may in turn benefit in creating more salt-alkaline tolerance crops. [Extracted from the article]

High-purity SiC ceramic devices are applied in semiconductor industry owing to their outstanding properties. Nevertheless, it is difficult to densify SiC ceramics without any sintering additive even by HP sintering. In this work, high-purity and dense SiC ceramics were fabricated by HP sintering with very low amounts of sintering aids. Residual B content was only 556 ppm and relative density was more than 99.5%. Furthermore, thermal conductivity of as-prepared SiC ceramics was improved from 155 W m−1 K−1 to 167 W m−1 K−1 by increasing holding time and their plasma corrosion resistance was promoted in the meantime. The as-prepared high-purity SiC ceramics have broad application prospects in the field of semiconductor industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Taoxi dome stands out as a rotated-circular structure on maps of the Wuyi terrane, south China. The origin and tectonic activity analysis of the Taoxi dome is a window to understand the tectonic framework and aggregation process of the Wuyi terranes in the Cathaysia block. Our field observations demonstrated that two major phases of deformation, counterclockwise rotation and dome uplift, were recorded in the Taoxi dome. Geochronological data indicated that the counterclockwise rotation was initiated at about 422 Ma as a result of a sinistral slide collision between the North Wuyi terrane and the South Wuyi terrane along the Nanping–Ninghua tectonic belt during the Caledonian. Zircon dating ages of the intrusions developed in the Taoxi dome suggested that the Taoxi dome had undergone at least two strong upheavals and the uplift of the Taoxi dome was active during the periods 229–222 Ma and 158–100 Ma. Geochemical data indicated that the intrusions developed in the Taoxi dome had characteristics of high silica (SiO2 > 70 wt.%) and belonged to the A2-type granites, which suggest that the Taoxi dome was long governed by a tectonic setting of post-collisional or anorogenic magmatism since the Caledonian. The strong movement of the Caledonian rotation and coeval strike-slip movement in the Wuyi terranes suggests that a slide rotation may have been a major characteristic in response to the rifting process of micro-terranes during the late Paleozoic in the Cathaysia block. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hyper-cross-linked polymers (HCPs) have been attracted widespread attention as adsorbents in recent years. A series of HCPs (HCP-1, HCP-2 and HCP-3) were synthesized via a Friedel-Crafts reaction using low-cross-linked pitch as precursor and dichloromethane (DCM) as cross-linking reagent and solvent. The prepared HCPs were characterized by N2 adsorption, Fourier transform infrared (FI-IR), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and static water contact angle. The resultant HCPs possess micro/meso pore structures and a high stability. The Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface areas of HCP-1, HCP-2 and HCP-3 are 152 m2·g−1, 467 m2·g−1 and 447 m2·g−1, respectively. Their total pore volumes vary from 0.207 cm·g−1 to 0.545 cm3·g−1 and following the sequence of HCP-1

• An IoT entity recommendation method based on adaptive preference transfer is proposed. • A lightweight user feedback feature embedding method is proposed to solve the problem of sparse user feedback. • The rigorous experiments are designed to verify the validity of the proposed method. Internet of Things (IoT) recommendation can effectively improve the convenience and intelligence of users in obtaining information about interested physical entities in a huge entity search space. However, existing transfer learning-based recommendation methods mainly focus on Internet resources and services, lack personalized transfer weight consideration for different user preferences, and fail to address the entity rating matrix sparsity problem, resulting in limited IoT entity recommendation performance. Thus, we design an adaptive preference transfer IoT entity (APTE) recommendation method in this paper. Firstly, considering various user preference characteristics, an adaptive dual-domain transfer model for item domain and social domain is designed to meet users' personalized requirements. Then, a lightweight user feedback embedding method is proposed to mine the explicit and implicit features and to embed the entity rating matrix to solve the problem of sparse user feedback information. Simulation results demonstrate that APTE can effectively improve the recommendation performance compared with state-of-the-art baselines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Drought is a significant condition that restricts vegetation growth on the Tibetan Plateau. Artemisia wellbyi is a unique semi-shrub-like herb in the family Compositae, which distributed in northern and northwest of Tibetan Plateau. It is a dominant species in the community that can well adapt to virous environment stress, such as drought and low temperature. Therefore, A. wellbyi. has a potential ecological value for soil and water conservation of drought areas. Understanding the molecular mechanisms of A. wellbyi. that defense drought stress can acquire the key genes for drought resistance breeding of A. wellbyi. and provide a theoretical basis for vegetation restoration of desertification area. However, they remain unclear. Thus, our study compared the transcriptomic characteristics of drought-tolerant "11" and drought-sensitive "6" material of A. wellbyi under drought stress. Results: A total of 4875 upregulated and 4381 downregulated differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were induced by drought in the tolerant material; however, only 1931 upregulated and 4174 downregulated DEGs were induced by drought in the sensitive material. The photosynthesis and transcriptional regulation differed significantly with respect to the DEGs number and expression level. We found that CDPKs (calmodulin-like domain protein kinases), SOS3 (salt overly sensitive3), MAPKs (mitogen-activated protein kinase cascades), RLKs (receptor like kinase), and LRR-RLKs (repeat leucine-rich receptor kinase) were firstly involved in response to drought stress in drought tolerant A. wellbyi. Positive regulation of genes associated with the metabolism of ABA (abscisic acid), ET (ethylene), and IAA (indole acetic acid) could play a crucial role in the interaction with other transcriptional regulatory factors, such as MYBs (v-myb avian myeloblastosis viral oncogene homolog), AP2/EREBPs (APETALA2/ethylene-responsive element binding protein family), WRKYs, and bHLHs (basic helix-loop-helix family members) and receptor kinases, and regulate downstream genes for defense against drought stress. In addition, HSP70 (heat shock protein70) and MYB73 were considered as the hub genes because of their strong association with other DEGs. Conclusions: Positive transcriptional regulation and negative regulation of photosynthesis could be associated with better growth performance under drought stress in the drought-tolerant material. In addition, the degradation of sucrose and starch in the tolerant A. wellbyi to alleviate osmotic stress and balance excess ROS. These results highlight the candidate genes that are involved in enhancing the performance of drought-tolerant A. wellbyi and provide a theoretical basis for improving the performance of drought-resistant A. wellbyi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Garnet-typed ceramics of Y 3 Mg 1- x Mn x Al 3 SiO 12 (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.2) have been synthesized using the traditional solid-state reaction method. The optimal microwave dielectric properties (ε r = 10.73, Q׃ = 62,824 GHz, τ f = −34.8 ppm/°C) are obtained for Y 3 Mg 0.9 Mn 0.1 Al 3 SiO 12 (x = 0.1) sintered at 1575 °C for 5h. A millimeter-wave dielectric resonator antenna is designed and fabricated using Y 3 Mg 0.9 Mn 0.1 Al 3 SiO 12 as a dielectric unit due to its excellent characteristics of low dielectric constant and high Q׃. The designed DRA resonates at 24.94 GHz with a bandwidth ∼2.20 GHz (S 11 < −10 dB). The simulated gain and efficiency are 6.64 dBi and 91.08%, respectively. The results indicate that the Y 3 Mg 0.9 Mn 0.1 Al 3 SiO 12 ceramic has a potential application as an antenna for the 5G/6G millimeter wave frequency band. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polyisoprene is widely used in the industrial production of tires, thermoplastic elastomers, pressure sensitive adhesives, coatings, plasticizers, lubricants, and other functional materials. However, due to the inherent molecular defect of containing many unsaturated double bonds, polyisoprene exhibits relatively weak environmental endurance, especially under extreme environmental conditions. To incorporate the excellent features of fluorinated polymer such as tough environmental endurance, a new type of fluorinated polyisoprene is tailored and a facile procedure of introducing fluoroalkyl side chains onto polyisoprene backbone is carried out via epoxidation and thiol–epoxy click chemistry under mild conditions. The results demonstrate that fluorinated alkyl side chains are successfully clicked onto backbone chains of polyisoprene and the corresponding film exhibits a microphase separation structure. As for the fluorinated polyisoprene film after the introduction of fluoroalkyl groups, the water contact angle enhances significantly from 79.4° to 114.8° and the UV reflectivity improves markedly. In addition, the surface chemical constituents confirm that the incorporated fluoroalkyl groups have a tendency to migrate and enrich spontaneously onto the film surface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

3D human pose estimation has always been an important task in computer vision, especially in crowded scenes where multiple people interact with each other. There are many state-of-the-arts for object detection based on single view. However, recovering the location of people is complicated in crowded and occluded scenes due to the lack of depth information for single view, which is the lack of robustness. Multi-view Human Pose Estimation for Multi-Person became an effective approach. The previous multi-view 3D human pose estimation method can be attributed to a strategy to associate the joints of the same person from 2D pose estimation. However, the incompleteness and noise of the 2D pose are inevitable. In addition, how to associate the joints itself is challenging. To solve this issue, we propose a CTP (Center Point to Pose) network based on multi-view which directly operates in the 3D space. The 2D joint features in all cameras are projected into 3D voxel space. Our CTP network regresses the center of one person as the location, and the 3D bounding box as the activity area of one person. Then our CTP network estimates detailed 3D pose for each bounding box. Besides, our CTP network is Non-Maximum Suppression free at the stage of regressing the center of one person, which makes it more efficient and simpler. Our method outperforms competitively on several public datasets which shows the efficacy of our center point to pose network representation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Silver nanowires (AgNWs) are used as transparent electrodes (TE) in many devices. However, the contact mode between the nanowires is the biggest reason why the sheet resistance of silver nanowires is limited. Here, simple and effective ultraviolet (UV) irradiation welding is chosen to solve this problem. The influence of the power density of the UV irradiation on welding of the silver nanowires is studied and the fixed irradiation time is chosen as one minute. The range of the UV (380 nm) irradiation power is chosen from 30 mW/cm2 to 150 mW/cm2. First of all, the transmittance of the silver nanowire film is not found to be affected by the UV welding (400–11,000 nm). The sheet resistance of the silver nanowires decreases to 73.9% at 60 mW/cm2 and increases to 127.6% at 120 mW/cm2. The investigations on the UV irradiation time reveal that the sheet resistance of the AgNWs decreases continuously when the UV irradiation time is varied from 0 to 3 min, and drops to 57.3% of the initial value at 3 min. From 3–6 min of the continuous irradiation time, the change of the sheet resistance is not obvious, which reflects the self-limiting and self-termination of AgNWs welding. By changing the wavelength of the UV irradiation from 350–400 nm, it is found that the welding effect is best when the UV wavelength is 380 nm. The average transmittance, square resistance, and the figure of merit of the welded AgNWs at 400–780 nm are 95.98%, 56.5 Ω/sq, and 117.42 × 10−4 Ω−1, respectively. The UV-welded AgNWs are also used in silicon-based photodetectors, and the quantum efficiency of the device is improved obviously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Single-phase Al 4 SiC 4 powder with a low neutron absorption cross section was synthesized and mixed with SiC powder to fabricate highly densified SiC ceramics by hot pressing. The densification of SiC ceramics was greatly improved by the decomposition of Al 4 SiC 4 and the formation of aluminosilicate liquid phase during the sintering process. The resulting SiC ceramics were composed of fine equiaxed grains with an average grain size of 2.0 μm and exhibited excellent mechanical properties in terms of a high flexure strength of 593 ± 55 MPa and a fracture toughness of 6.9 ± 0.2 MPa m1/2. Furthermore, the ion-irradiation damage in SiC ceramics was investigated by irradiating with 1.2 MeV Si5+ ions at 650 °C using a fluence of 1.1 × 1016 ions/cm2, which corresponds to 6.3 displacements per atom (dpa). The evolution of the microstructure was investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Raman spectroscopy. The breaking of Si–C bonds and the segregation of C elements on the irradiated surface was revealed by XPS, whereas the formation of Si–Si and C–C homonuclear bonds within the Si–C network of SiC grains was detected by Raman spectroscopy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phthalic acid esters (PAEs) are typical endocrine disruptors which are ubiquitous contaminants. Human exposure to PAEs is through multiple routes of which the diet is recognised as the main source of daily intake. The aim of this study was to evaluate the dietary exposure to PAEs of residents in Shenzhen (China) through a total diet study and assess the potential health risk. A total of 16 different phthalate esters in samples of 12 composite food groups were determined by GC–MS. The main dietary sources of PAE exposure among adult residents in Shenzhen were potatoes (21%), eggs (21%), meat (15%) and aquatic products (14%). The median total dietary exposure to PAEs in Shenzhen residents was 7780 ng kg−1 bw d−1, and the hazard quotients (HQ) of dimethyl phthalate (DMP), diethyl phthalate (DEP), di-isobutyl phthalate (DIBP), dibutyl phthalate (DBP) and di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) were 0.09, 0.06, 0.07, 0.10 and 0.03, respectively. Therefore, the risks from dietary PAE exposure were low. However, with the increasing use of PAEs and their accumulation in the environment, the probability of PAEs entering the food chain is gradually increasing and, therefore, PAEs should be strictly controlled and regularly monitored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a prominent semi-supervised learning algorithm, co-training can make full use of a few labeled samples as well as a quantity of unlabeled samples to train robust classifiers, thus it is widely researched in the last decades. However, there are still two severe problems in existing co-training methods: firstly, data used in co-training needs at least two sufficient and redundant views, but few practical datasets can meet it. Secondly, because there are a few labeled samples in the initial stage, the initial classifiers trained by co-training are usually too weak to correctly label unlabeled samples, which may bring in noisy labels for the following training process. To deal with these problems, we propose a co-training algorithm by predicting confidence of unlabeled neighbors (termed LCN-CoTrain). Specifically, LCN-CoTrain first defines an entropy-based view division method to generate redundant views. Meanwhile, LCN-CoTrain introduces a novel labeling confidence prediction strategy, which takes the nearest unlabeled neighbors into consideration when calculating the labeling confidence of a certain sample. To validate the efficiency of our proposed LCN-CoTrain algorithm, we experiment on four UCI datasets and compare LCN-CoTrain with several representative co-training methods. The experimental results indicate that our proposed LCN-CoTrain can learn robust classifiers and outperform most of baseline methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inhibiting negative knowledge behavior is one of the ways to improve the effective circulation of knowledge within the organization. This study puts employees' knowledge hiding behavior in the organizational relationship network situation and discusses the influence of network location on knowledge hiding, exploring the moderating role of knowledge acquisition in the relationship between network location and knowledge hiding. From the perspective of social network, 232 knowledge-based employees were used to obtain the data, and we used literature analysis, social network analysis, multiple regression analysis, UCINET, SPSS, and other software packages. Research shows that employees in the central network are less willing to do knowledge hiding behavior, and those in the structural hole network tend to do knowledge hiding behavior. Knowledge acquisition as the supply way of knowledge resources plays a positive role on the negative relationship between centrality and knowledge hiding and on the positive relationship between structure hole and knowledge hiding. The research results have positive significance for understanding and mastering the hiding behavior law of individual knowledge in the organizational relationship network and also provide certain theoretical basis and data support for organizational knowledge governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given that adhesion‐resistance of water severely weakens the bonding strength of tissue adhesives, instant adhesion to wet biological tissue surfaces remains challenging. Inspired by the robust underwater adhesion of natural creatures (such as mussels and barnacles whose underwater adhesion derives from the synergy of hydrophobic and adhesive matrix), a self‐hydrophobized adhesive is developed by co‐assembly of disulfide‐bond hydrolyzed hydrophobic natural sericin protein (a major component of silkworm silk fibers) and tannic acid. Once exposed to water, the self‐aggregation of hydrophobic chains within the adhesive repels water and enhances interfacial hydrogen bonding or electrostatic interactions, mechanistically leading to a robust (>0.5 MPa for solid plates and >0.1 MPa for tissues) and durable (still maintained at 0.4 Mpa even after five cycles) underwater adhesion. Owing to its robust underwater adhesion property, this adhesive possesses multiple advantages outperforming commercial adhesives, such as in vivo wound healing‐promoting effects, effective fluid leakage sealing, and rapid hemostasis activity. This study not only offers a novel strategy for designing and fabricating an underwater adhesive with natural protein but also provides a new adhesive for various potential applications, including promoting wound healing and hemostasis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polymers play important roles in the development of our society, ranging from common foods and medical products to synthetic resins and biodegradable materials. But traditional production of polymers mainly depends on non-renewable fossil fuels, which not only cause resource scarcity, but also lead to environmental deterioration. Biopolymers produced from renewable biomass have broad applicability, market demand, and promising prospects, due to their low cost and environmental friendliness. The methods of producing a variety of biodegradable biopolymers by microbial cell factories have hence attracted considerable attention. With the development of biotechnologies, more effective tools and strategies are developed to build highly performance engineered microorganisms and applied to generate various biopolymers including polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), polylactic acid (PLA), glycosaminoglycan, rubber, and other macromolecular materials. This review summarizes the recent evolution of the main technologies and applications of metabolic engineering strategies involved in the research of biomass-based synthetic polymers, and some key issues were also highlighted. On this basis, it is expected that more efficient technologies and strategies could be developed to solve these issues and promote the industrial production of these biopolymers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND Unsaturated fatty acids used to form unstable micro‐vesicles, while conjugate linoleic acid (CLA)‐sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) can self‐assembly to stable nano‐conjugate linoleic acid vesicles (nano‐CLAVs). Generally, micro‐capsule could geometrically provide higher loading capacity but also generate concerns in construction convenience, sustained release, bioaccessibility and stability. Hence there is a contradiction between loading capacity and encapsulation efficiency. Therefore, the study of the factors that decide the capsule size falling in nano or micron size with same capsule material would be a benefit to food or drug delivery science. RESULTS: The micron‐ and nano‐CLAVs were constructed for encapsulation and sustained release of ginsenoside Rg3. The formation mechanism of nano or micron capsule,s the effect of vesicle sizes on encapsulation efficiency, drug loading efficiency and stability of the encapsulated Rg3 were investigated. It was found that with the addition of salt (PBS), the size of CLAVs jumped from nano to micron. Furthermore, the salt concentration is the key factor that decides the vesicle size of nano or micron. The pH at fabrication triggers the vesiculation and dramatically affects the vesicle size over the nano and micron scales. CONCLUSION: Compared to the nano‐CLAVs, micron vesicles enhanced the loading capacity to 137.6% and the encapsulation efficiency to 138.4%, respectively. Meanwhile, the micron‐CLAVs performed similar sustained release of Rg3 as the nano‐CLAVs did, and was stable for 120 days at room temperature or sustained 98.9% of capsules after centrifuge at 6090 × g for 20 min. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is the most frequently diagnosed acute leukemia, and its incidence increases with age. Although the etiology of AML remains unknown, exposure to genotoxic agents or some prior hematologic disorders could lead to the development of this condition. The pathogenesis of AML involves the development of malignant transformation of hematopoietic stem cells that undergo successive genomic alterations, ultimately giving rise to a full-blown disease. From the disease biology perspective, AML is considered to be extremely complex with significant genetic, epigenetic, and phenotypic variations. Molecular and cytogenetic alterations in AML include mutations in those subsets of genes that are involved in normal cell proliferation, maturation and survival, thus posing significant challenge to targeting these pathways without attendant toxicity. In addition, multiple malignant cells co-exist in the majority of AML patients. Individual subclones are characterized by unique genetic and epigenetic abnormalities, which contribute to the differences in their response to treatment. As a result, despite a dramatic progress in our understanding of the pathobiology of AML, not much has changed in therapeutic approaches to treat AML in the past four decades. Dose and regimen modifications with improved supportive care have contributed to improved outcomes by reducing toxicity-related side effects. Several drug candidates are currently being developed, including targeted small-molecule inhibitors, cytotoxic chemotherapies, monoclonal antibodies and epigenetic drugs. This review summarizes the current state of affairs in the pathobiological and therapeutic aspects of AML. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sugar alcohols are a type of organic solid-liquid phase-change materials with high latent heat-storage capacity and low cost and have been considered as a promising candidate for low-to-medium temperature thermal energy storage. Nevertheless, sugar alcohols show inherent defects, such as low thermal conductivity, high supercooling, low thermal reliability, and easy exudation and leakage in their melting state. To overcome these inherent defects, four strategies have been summarized in this review to optimize their comprehensive performance, which include nanoadditives, porous impregnation, encapsulation technology, and molecular structure design. Combining sugar alcohols with nanoadditives was determined as the simplest and most effective way to improve the thermal response of sugar alcohols. Porous materials could enhance the thermal stability of sugar alcohols and depress their supercooling. Microencapsulation technology was determined to be an effective way to prevent the leakage of sugar alcohols during their phase transitions. The molecular structure design provided an effective method to decrease the phase-change temperatures of sugar alcohols. After the optimization by different strategies, sugar alcohols exhibit great application potential in low-to-medium temperature waste heat recovery, solar cookers, and thermoelectric power generation for industrial waste heat and solar energy storage. This review presents better understanding of designing and fabricating sugar alcohol-based composites for efficient thermal energy storage, conversion, and utilization. The future research and development direction of sugar alcohols are also prospected for designing sugar alcohol-based composites with a high latent heat capacity, a low supercooling degree, enhanced thermal conductance, and multiple functions for efficient utilization. [Display omitted] • Physical and chemical characteristics of sugar alcohol-based PCMs are summarized. • The thermal response of sugar alcohols can be improved by introducing nanoadditives. • Porous materials can effectively depress the supercooling of sugar alcohols. • Microencapsulation can prevent sugar alcohols from leaking and flowing. • Challenges and prospects in the development of sugar alcohols are analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Notch signaling regulates cartilage formation and homeostasis. Kashin-Beck Disease (KBD), an endemic osteochondropathy, is characterized by severe cartilage degradation. The etiology of KBD is related to the exposure of HT-2 toxin, a mycotoxin and primary metabolite of T-2 toxin. This study aims to explore the role of HT-2 toxin in the Notch signaling regulation and extracellular matrix (ECM) metabolism of hiPSCs-Chondrocytes. Immunohistochemistry and qRT-PCR were employed to investigate the expression of Notch pathway molecules in KBD articular cartilage and primary chondrocytes. hiPSCs-Chondrocytes, derived from hiPSCs, were treated with 100 ng/mL HT-2 toxin and the γ-secretase inhibitor (DAPT) for 48h, respectively. The markers related to the Notch signaling pathway and ECM were assessed using qRT-PCR and Western blot. Notch pathway dysregulation was prominent in KBD cartilage. HT-2 toxin exposure caused cytotoxicity in hiPSCs-Chondrocytes, and activated Notch signaling by increasing the mRNA and protein levels of NOTCH1 and HES1. HT-2 toxin also upregulated ECM catabolic enzymes and downregulated ECM components (COL2A1 and ACAN), indicating ECM degradation. DAPT-mediated Notch signaling inhibition suppressed the mRNA and protein level of ADAMTS5 expression while enhancing ECM component expression in hiPSCs-Chondrocytes. This study suggests that HT-2 toxin may induce ECM degradation in hiPSCs-Chondrocytes through activating Notch signaling. • Notch pathway dysregulation was prominent in cartilage from patients with Kashin-beck disease. • HT-2 toxin activates Notch pathway, degrading extracellular matrix in hiPSCs-Chondrocytes. • Notch signaling inhibition enhances extracellular matrix expression in hiPSCs-Chondrocytes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • A spatially confined cavitation with sonoluminescence (SL) was taken to study the erosion resistance of metals. • The erosion effect is intensified with deeper pit depth and appearance of melting effect under high hydrostatic pressure. • A method for evaluating materials' erosion resistance with measurable SL intensity was established. • This work is benefit to predict and avoid the cavitation erosion in deep-sea applications. Cavitation erosion is a general phenomenon in the fields of aviation, navigation, hydraulic machinery, and so on, causing great damage to fluid machinery. With the vast requirements in deep ocean applications, it is urgent to study the mechanism of cavitation erosion and the cavitation erosion resistance of different materials under high hydrostatic pressure to predict and avoid the effect of cavitation erosion. In this work, the spatially confined cavitation bubble cloud associated with Gaussian-like intensity distribution sonoluminescence (SL) was produced by a spherically focused ultrasound transducer with two opening ends near metallic plates under different hydrostatic pressures (0.1, 3, 6, and 10 MPa). The cavitation erosion effects on copper, 17-4PH stainless steel and tungsten plates were studied. Through coupling analysis towards the SL intensity distribution, the macro/micro morphology of cavitation erosion, and the physical parameters of different metallic materials (hardness, yield strength, and melting point), it is found that with increasing hydrostatic pressure, the erosion effect is intensified, the depth of cavitation pits increases, the phenomenon of melting can be observed on materials with relatively low melting points, and the cavitation erosion experienced an evolution process from high-temperature creep to fracture. This work has also established a method for the evaluation of materials' cavitation erosion resistance with measurable SL intensity distribution, which is promising to promote the designing and selection of anti-cavitation materials in deep-sea applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We prepare photoconductive films composed of PbS quantum dots with multiple excitonic peaks. • Mixed quantum dots films shows adjustable absorbance. • Mixed quantum dots films were successfully used to fabricate dual-band photodetectors. • Photoconductors based on mixed quantum dots film have a significantly higher responsivity. Dual-band infrared detection offers enhanced spectral information crucial for improved target identification. Traditional dual-band infrared photodetectors have often relied on expensive epitaxial growth bulk materials, limiting their widespread use in civilian applications. Colloidal quantum dots present an affordable alternative for dual-band infrared detection, owing to their spectral tunability and solution processability. In this study, we have developed an approach utilizing mixed lead sulfide quantum dot films to achieve dual-band infrared detection spanning the NIR (Near Infrared) and SWIR (Short Wave Infrared) ranges. These films exhibit a broad absorption spectrum, ranging from 400 to 1600 nm. When operating within the near-infrared band, the device based on mixed quantum dot films demonstrates an responsivity of 0.18A/W and specific detectivity of 2.38 × 109 c m ∙ H z 1 / 2 / W near 900 nm.While operated in the SWIR band, the detector has responsivity of 0.17A/W and specific detectivity of 2.11 × 109 c m ∙ H z 1 / 2 / W near 1600 nm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global incidence and prevalence of arrhythmias are continuously increasing. However, the precise mechanisms of underlying arrhythmogenesis and the optimal measures for effective treatment remain incompletely understood. The inducible form of heme oxygenase, known as heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), is recognized as a potent antioxidant molecule capable of exerting anti-inflammatory and anti-apoptotic effects. Recent research indicates that HO-1 plays a role in preventing arrhythmias by mitigating cardiac remodeling, including electrical remodeling, ion remodeling, and structural remodeling. This review aimed to consolidate current knowledge regarding the involvement of HO-1 in arrhythmias and elucidate its underlying mechanisms of action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Improvement potential of deep IGCtH are first assessed by advanced exergy analysis. • Efficiency of deep IGCtH are measured and compared by CExC per kg hydrogen as index. • CExC per kg hydrogen reduction by 16.4% for deep IGCtH compared with Lurgi SGCtH. • Lowest cost by deep IGCtH and better ability to resist market risk than Lurgi SGCtH. • Carbon tax of 132 RMB/t CO 2 for deep IGCtH with 80% CR equalize cost of without CCS. The deep in-situ gasification based coal-to-hydrogen (deep IGCtH) is attracting attention for its unique advantage in utilizing unrecoverable coal seam. In this paper, its improvement scope in energy conversion and utilization is analyzed using advanced exergy analysis, and the efficiency from cumulative exergy consumption (CExC) perspective and economic competitiveness with Lurgi surface gasification based coal-to-hydrogen (Lurgi SGCtH), coke-oven gas-to-hydrogen (COGtH) and natural gas-to-hydrogen (NGtH) are compared. Results indicate 39.9 % and 25.1 % of the exergy destruction of deep IGCtH and Lurgi SGCtH are unavoidable, while steam methane reforming and coal gasification possess the largest improvable potential, with avoidable endogenous/exogenous destruction of 96.63 MW/81.58 MW and 162.52 MW/151.19 MW, suggesting thermodynamic improvement can also be achieved by improving other components or optimizing process structure in addition to increasing its own efficiency. The CExC of deep IGCtH outputting 1 kg hydrogen is only 83.6 % that of Lurgi SGCtH, indicating it is more efficient route with significantly energy consumption reduction and can better demonstrate its efficiency advantage under large production capacity condition. The deep IGCtH shows only 68.7 % that of Lurgi SGCtH in investment and also presents significant advantage in cost. However, its profitability advantage over NGtH loses with hydrogen price increasing and there exists lower limit on capacity of 0.46 billion Nm3 to maintain cost and profitability competitiveness over COGtH. Furthermore, deep IGCtH shows emission reduction cost advantage over Lurgi SGCtH when capture rate exceeds 80 %, and profitability will not be limited by carbon tax and coal seam thickness within the considered range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Species distribution of Na & Cl in kitchen waste and hydrothermal products was quantified. • Feedstocks and cooking method had little effect on Na & Cl migration. • All Na and inorganic Cl ionically flow into liquid phase during hydrothermal carbonization. • The content of organic chlorine retained in hydrochar was 0.21–0.32 wt%. • 90% of organic Cl can be removed by adding Na 2 CO 3 solution or pyrolysis treatment. Hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) is a sustainable approach to recover nutrients from kitchen waste (KW) to realize the applications of hydrochar as fuel, soil amendment and so on. However, the salt content of KW can be as high as 5 wt%, which brings potential risks for product utilization. Thus, the migration path of endogenous (from ingredients) and exogenous (from condiments) Na & Cl in KW during HTC process was investigated. Results showed that the endogenous and total Na element in KW was 0.03–2.98 wt% and 2.97–4.82 wt%, respectively. The main form of sodium was water-soluble (48–82%). The KW feedstocks and cooking methods had little effect on the migration of Na & Cl. During HTC treatment, all sodium element was transformed into water-soluble state, subsequently about 97% was dissolved into the liquid phase. The content of Na element in hydrochar was only below 0.05 wt%, so its negative effect can be negligible. As for the fate of chlorine, the endogenous and total Cl element in KW was 0.31–1.62 wt% and 1.82–3.19 wt%, respectively, and the main form was inorganic Cl accounting for 83–91%. During HTC treatment, about 40–75% of endogenous organochlorine was converted into inorganic Cl by breaking C-Cl bonds, and all inorganic Cl was leached into the liquid phase. In this pattern, partial organochlorine remained in hydrochar with a content of 0.21–0.32 wt%, which need to be further reduced. Methods of adding Na 2 CO 3 solution or HTC-pyrolysis were effective, and approximately 90% of the organic Cl can be removed. Based on the above findings, this study can provide theoretical guidance for the value-added conversion of solid waste with high moisture and high salinity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • VMA-CDs exhibit good inhibitory ability to G+ bacteria. • VMA-CDs were used as fluorescent probe to realize selective imaging of S. aureus. • The detection of Au3+ was realized with VMA-CDs as fluorescent sensing platform. • V-SP inherits the excellent fluorescent and antibacterial properties of VMA-CDs. • V-SP hydrogel with the assistance of smartphone realized the detection of Au3+. The carbon dots (CDs) with excellent optical properties and their hydrogel complex are of great significance in biomedicine, healthcare and biochemical detection fields. This paper reports the preparation of green-emitting CDs (MA-CDs) through one-step hydrothermal route with citric acid as reducing agent, L-malic acid as carbon source and N-(2-hydroxyethyl)ethylenediamine as nitrogen source. To expand its application in biology, MA-CDs were coupled with vancomycin to obtain multifunctional CDs (VMA-CDs). The prepared VMA-CDs exhibit selective antibacterial behavior to Gram-positive bacteria, and it could be used as a fluorescent probe to selectively label Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). Moreover, thanks to the excellent optical properties of VMA-CDs, it has been used as a fluorescent sensor to detect Au3+ with detection range of 6.50 nM–21.93 μM and detection limit 3.98 nM. By introducing the fluorescence of CDs as the reference signal, and VMA-CDs as a response signal, the hydrogel (V-SP) was prepared and realized the detection of Au3+ in microfluidics with assistance of a smartphone to collect and analyze data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] Current therapeutic options for renal cell carcinoma (RCC) are very limited, which is largely due to inadequate comprehension of molecular pathological mechanisms as well as RCC's resistance to chemotherapy. Dual-specificity phosphatase 6 (DUSP6) has been associated with numerous human diseases. However, its role in RCC is not well understood. Here, we show that diminished DUSP6 expression is linked to RCC progression and unfavorable prognosis. Mechanistically, DUSP6 serves as a tumor suppressor in RCC by intervening the TAF10 and BSCL2 via the ERK-AKT pathway. Further, DUSP6 is also transcriptionally regulated by HNF-4a. Moreover, docking experiments have indicated that DUSP6 expression is enhanced when bound by Calcium saccharate, which also inhibits RCC cell proliferation, metabolic rewiring, and sunitinib resistance. In conclusion, our study identifies Calcium saccharate as a prospective pharmacological therapeutic approach for RCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Real-time visualization of beef deterioration distribution by fluorescence imaging. • Fluorescence property of porphyrin was highly correlated with beef spoilage. • Gompertz growth curves for TVC at different storage temperatures were built. • Quantitative model for predicting microbial indicator was built by SVR algorithm. • Establish classification models for beef freshness by SVM, KNN and RF algorithms. This study presents a novel fluorescence imaging method for the real-time monitoring of beef quality deterioration and freshness. The fluorescence property of porphyrin in the form of heme can be used to characterize quality changes in beef during storage. Therefore, a fluorescence imaging system with an excitation light source of 440 nm and a CCD camera with a specific wavelength filter of 595 nm was constructed, and the porphyrin fluorescence images of beef samples stored at different temperatures were then collected. The quantitative model for predicting the microbial freshness indicator (TVC) of beef was built with the support vector machine regression (SVR) algorithm and produced satisfactory results with R c 2 and R p 2 of 0.858 and 0.812, respectively. The classification model based on the support vector machine (SVM) algorithm classified beef freshness into "fresh" and "spoiled", with calibration and prediction accuracy of 100 % and 90.9 %, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nonylphenol (NP) and octylphenol (OP) are environmental contaminants with potential endocrine disrupting effects. However, there is limited research on the mechanisms and intervention of combined NP and OP exposure-induced neurotoxicity. This study aims to explore the cytotoxicity of combined NP and OP exposure and evaluate the potential of Lycium barbarum polysaccharides (LBP) in mitigating the aforementioned toxicity. In present study, LBP (62.5, 125 and 250 µg/mL) were applied to intervene rat adrenal pheochromocytoma (PC-12) cells treated with combined NP and OP (NP: OP = 4:1, w/w; 1, 2, 4 and 8 µg/mL). The results showed that NP and OP induced oxidative stress, disrupted the 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) and cholinergic systems in PC-12 cells. Additionally, they activated the p38 protein kinase (p38) and suppressed the expression of silent information regulation type 1 (SIRT1), monoamine oxidase A (MAOA), phosphorylated cyclic-AMP response binding protein (p-CREB), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and phosphorylated tropomyosin-related kinase receptor type B (p-TrkB). However, N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC) treatment counteracted the changes of signalling molecule p38, SIRT1/MAOA and CREB/BDNF/TrkB pathways-related proteins induced by NP and OP. LBP pretreatment ameliorated combined NP and OP exposure-induced oxidative stress and neurotransmitter imbalances. Furthermore, the application of LBP and administration of a p38 inhibitor both reversed the alterations in the signaling molecule p38, as well as the proteins associated to the SIRT1/MAOA and CREB/BDNF/TrkB pathways. These results implied that LBP may have neuroprotective effects via p38-mediated SIRT1/MAOA and CREB/BDNF/TrkB pathways. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate the influence of cryogenic treatment time on the mechanical properties and the microstructure of the AZ31 Mg alloy sheets, the different times of cryogenic treatment after two-pass cross-rolling were carried out at air-cooling, 1 hour, 3 hours and 6 hours. The consequences of the tensile experiment illustrated that the cross-rolling Mg alloy with 1-hour cryogenic treatment showed the highest ultimate tensile strength (343 MPa), which was 9.6%, 9.6% and 11.7% higher than air-cooling, 3-hour cryogenic and 6-hour cryogenic samples. The primary reasons for this include fine-grained strengthening, twin strengthening, low-angle grain boundaries (LAGBs) strengthening, dislocation strengthening and precipitation strengthening. The internal grain of the magnesium alloy sheet after 1 hour of cryogenic treatment was refined to 5.2 μm. The {10−11} contraction twin, {10−12} extension twin and {10−12}-{10−11} double twin were surveyed according to the electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) results. On the <11–20> axis, all the four samples exhibited the {0001} basal texture. And the sample of 1-hour cryogenic treatment exhibited the highest basal texture intensity. According to the micro-structure observation, high-density dislocation and several precipitates were illustrated in the sample of 1-hour cryogenic treatment. • Cryogenic treatment after two-pass cross-rolling were proposed. • Mechanical properties, microstructure and texture was improved. • High-density dislocation, twinning behavior and several precipitates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and aims: Drunken horse grass (DHG, Achnatherum inebrians) is a perennial grass widely distributed in the grasslands of northwestern China, forming a symbiosis with the Epichloë endophyte, and has a strong growth advantage in the community. However, the mechanism of its competitive success remains unclear.Epichloë gansuensis-infected (EI) and endophyte-free (EF) DHG were employed in greenhouse experiments. EI plants served as competitive species, while EF plants were the target species. Aggressivity was employed to quantify the competitiveness. The effects of endophyte, plant density, and three different nitrogen levels in the pot on the competitiveness of plants were investigated.This study indicates that under 0.1 mM and 1 mM nitrogen stress, E. gansuensis enhances its competitiveness by improving the growth performance, light utilization capacity, and nitrogen absorption efficiency of the host plant, with a relative increase of 15.0% and 5.2%, 72.0% and 23.0%, 21.5% and 17.2%. Notably, the gain effect of E. gansuensis on the competitiveness of DHG gradually weakened with the decrease in the number of EI plants.The E. gansuensis enhances DHG competitiveness under nitrogen limitation but diminishes as soil nitrogen content increases. These results provide insights into the competitive solid advantage of EI DHG and the high infection rate of DHG in natural grasslands with harsh habitats.Methods: Drunken horse grass (DHG, Achnatherum inebrians) is a perennial grass widely distributed in the grasslands of northwestern China, forming a symbiosis with the Epichloë endophyte, and has a strong growth advantage in the community. However, the mechanism of its competitive success remains unclear.Epichloë gansuensis-infected (EI) and endophyte-free (EF) DHG were employed in greenhouse experiments. EI plants served as competitive species, while EF plants were the target species. Aggressivity was employed to quantify the competitiveness. The effects of endophyte, plant density, and three different nitrogen levels in the pot on the competitiveness of plants were investigated.This study indicates that under 0.1 mM and 1 mM nitrogen stress, E. gansuensis enhances its competitiveness by improving the growth performance, light utilization capacity, and nitrogen absorption efficiency of the host plant, with a relative increase of 15.0% and 5.2%, 72.0% and 23.0%, 21.5% and 17.2%. Notably, the gain effect of E. gansuensis on the competitiveness of DHG gradually weakened with the decrease in the number of EI plants.The E. gansuensis enhances DHG competitiveness under nitrogen limitation but diminishes as soil nitrogen content increases. These results provide insights into the competitive solid advantage of EI DHG and the high infection rate of DHG in natural grasslands with harsh habitats.Results: Drunken horse grass (DHG, Achnatherum inebrians) is a perennial grass widely distributed in the grasslands of northwestern China, forming a symbiosis with the Epichloë endophyte, and has a strong growth advantage in the community. However, the mechanism of its competitive success remains unclear.Epichloë gansuensis-infected (EI) and endophyte-free (EF) DHG were employed in greenhouse experiments. EI plants served as competitive species, while EF plants were the target species. Aggressivity was employed to quantify the competitiveness. The effects of endophyte, plant density, and three different nitrogen levels in the pot on the competitiveness of plants were investigated.This study indicates that under 0.1 mM and 1 mM nitrogen stress, E. gansuensis enhances its competitiveness by improving the growth performance, light utilization capacity, and nitrogen absorption efficiency of the host plant, with a relative increase of 15.0% and 5.2%, 72.0% and 23.0%, 21.5% and 17.2%. Notably, the gain effect of E. gansuensis on the competitiveness of DHG gradually weakened with the decrease in the number of EI plants.The E. gansuensis enhances DHG competitiveness under nitrogen limitation but diminishes as soil nitrogen content increases. These results provide insights into the competitive solid advantage of EI DHG and the high infection rate of DHG in natural grasslands with harsh habitats.Conclusion: Drunken horse grass (DHG, Achnatherum inebrians) is a perennial grass widely distributed in the grasslands of northwestern China, forming a symbiosis with the Epichloë endophyte, and has a strong growth advantage in the community. However, the mechanism of its competitive success remains unclear.Epichloë gansuensis-infected (EI) and endophyte-free (EF) DHG were employed in greenhouse experiments. EI plants served as competitive species, while EF plants were the target species. Aggressivity was employed to quantify the competitiveness. The effects of endophyte, plant density, and three different nitrogen levels in the pot on the competitiveness of plants were investigated.This study indicates that under 0.1 mM and 1 mM nitrogen stress, E. gansuensis enhances its competitiveness by improving the growth performance, light utilization capacity, and nitrogen absorption efficiency of the host plant, with a relative increase of 15.0% and 5.2%, 72.0% and 23.0%, 21.5% and 17.2%. Notably, the gain effect of E. gansuensis on the competitiveness of DHG gradually weakened with the decrease in the number of EI plants.The E. gansuensis enhances DHG competitiveness under nitrogen limitation but diminishes as soil nitrogen content increases. These results provide insights into the competitive solid advantage of EI DHG and the high infection rate of DHG in natural grasslands with harsh habitats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Thermal processing is promising to enhance P reclamation from sewage sludge. • Practical strategies for P reclamation from sewage sludge have been proposed. • Thermal treatment facilitated transformation of non-apatite P to apatite P. • P can be effectively extracted from thermal products using 1 M H 2 SO 4. • Sewage sludge ash is promising resource for P recovery after acid leaching. In the context of circular economy and global shortage of phosphorus (P) fertilizer production, it is crucial to effectively recover P during the treatment and disposal of sewage sludge (SS). Although thermal treatment of SS has been widely applied, a targeted P reclamation route is not yet well established. This study has comprehensively investigated and compared the physicochemical properties of SS and solid residues (hydrochar (HC), biochar (BC), sewage sludge ash (SSA), hydrochar ash (HCA), and biochar ash (BCA)) after application of three typical thermal treatment techniques (i.e., hydrothermal carbonization (180‒240 °C), pyrolysis (400‒600 °C) and combustion (850 ℃). P speciation and transformation during thermal processes were extensively explored followed by a rational proposal of effective P reclamation routes. Specifically, thermal processing decomposed organic P and converted non-apatite P to apatite P. Orthophosphate-P was found to be the main species in all samples. Physicochemical properties of the resulting thermal-derived products were significantly affected by the thermal techniques applied, thereby determining their feasibility for different P reclamation purposes. In particular, ash is not recommended for agricultural use due to higher harmful metals content, while acid leaching can be an alternative solution to synthesize non-Fe-containing P products because of the lower co-dissolved Fe content in the leachate. HC and BC offer the option for synthesis of Fe containing products. Eventually, HC and BC demonstrate great potential for agriculture application, however, a comprehensive risk assessment should be conducted before their real-world applications. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Municipal sludge composition significantly affects biodegradability of HTL aqueous. • Higher SS ratio in mixed sludge increases COD and ammonia in HTL aqueous. • Aqueous biodegradability: 69–78% aerobic, 58–70% mesophilic, 42–56% thermophilic. • High SS ratio in mixed sludge led to more biodegradable HTL aqueous. • Protein content in sludge correlates with aerobic biodegradability of HTL aqueous. Hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) aqueous phases derived from mixed sludge and digested sludge of two wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) were characterized considering variations in primary-secondary sludge ratios, an aspect previously overlooked in the literature. Mixed sludge was obtained by mixing primary and secondary sludge to simulate high primary sludge, average, and high secondary sludge cases. Aerobic and mesophilic/thermophilic anaerobic biodegradability tests were conducted. Higher chemical oxygen demand, total ammonium-N, orthophosphate-P, fatty acids, and N-heterocycles in HTL aqueous samples were detected as the secondary sludge ratio increased in mixed sludge. A similar trend was observed in the biodegradability tests. Characteristics of HTL aqueous derived from mixed sludge of WWTP 1 showed much higher variation, whereas WWTP 2 mixed sludge was not affected significantly by primary-secondary sludge ratios. Finally, the biodegradability levels of HTL aqueous samples were determined to be 69–78 % under aerobic, 58–70 % under mesophilic anaerobic, and 42–56 % under thermophilic anaerobic conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Health monitoring of robot manipulators is crucial for their long-term reliable operation. Since the feedback data provided by the controller of robot manipulators are most often from the actuator's side, health monitoring of rotate-vector (RV) reducers housed on the output of actuators is challenging. To avoid the increased cost and complexity of adding sensors to robot manipulators, this paper investigates the long-term health monitoring of RV reducers, using only feedback data from the controller. A generic model for RV reducers is first developed to characterize their nonlinear behaviours and performance degradation. The model is then extended to robot manipulators to analyse their dynamic response under the time-varying excitation generated by healthy and faulty RV reducers. Next, a new motor-torque-based residual together with an adaptive threshold is proposed for the health monitoring of RV reducers, taking payload, measurement noise and friction disturbance into account. The proposed threshold depends only on the variance of measurement noise, and is therefore easy to implement in practice. Extensive simulations and experiments are conducted on two robot manipulators to validate the proposed model, residual and threshold. The results show that the proposed model is able to account for the effects of faults and nonlinear behaviours of RV reducers on the motor performance. The proposed residual with an adaptive threshold is sensitive to faults in RV reducers and robust to friction disturbance and time-varying payload, and it outperforms conventional momentum-based residuals. • RV reducers generic model with nonlinear behaviour & performance degradation • Manipulator dynamics including excitations caused by normal & faulty RV reducers • Torque-based residual w. adaptive threshold for RV reducers health monitoring [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The key corrosive media and coupling corrosion mechanism in waste incinerators were investigated. The presence of H 2 O(g) and the fluctuation of HCl/SO 2 concentration significantly affect corrosion by affecting chemical reactions rather than molten phase formation·H 2 O(g) had higher adsorption energy (−40.67 kJ/mol) on NaCl (100) surface than O 2 (−7.95 kJ/mol), generating more HCl than Cl 2 and inhibiting corrosion. Oxidation of HCl was catalyzed by alkali salts in waste incineration ash, enhancing the production of Cl 2 by 110% and accelerating corrosion. SO 2 participated in the sulfidation of NaCl/KCl to form Cl 2 and increased the corrosion weight gain by about 1–2.5 times. [Display omitted] • H2O(g)/HCl/SO2 are the key corrosive media during gas-deposit coupling corrosion. • H2O(g) is preferentially adsorbed on NaCl(100) than O2, thus inhibiting corrosion. • Alkali salts catalyze the conversion of HCl to Cl2(+110%) and accelerated corrosion. • SO2 promoted NaCl/KCl sulfidation and enhanced the corrosion rate by 1–2.5 times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the ongoing depletion of fossil energy, alternative energy-sources and their respective conversion technologies have become very essential. An inexhaustible and clean energy form, which is already widely used, is solar energy. However, despite much progress in recent decades, due to the limitations of materials and manufacturing technology, the ability of solar cells to convert light into electrical energy is still not very high. Enhancing light absorption and reducing electric loss are the keys to improving the overall conversion efficiency of solar cells and reducing raw material costs. The former can be achieved by using micro/nanostructures and other surface features, while the latter can be realized by surface passivation. Researchers have developed different silicon-surface texturing methods to fabricate random or periodic micro/nanostructures on the surface of silicon wafers. Thanks to the special and efficient light-trapping effects of silicon micro/nanostructures, both full angle and wideband light absorption can be achieved. Different passivation methods and materials have also been widely studied, which helps to improve the surface recombination of photogenerated carriers caused by light trapping structure and significantly enhance the power conversion efficiency of Si solar cells. In this work, theoretical studies of enhanced light-trapping in micro/nanostructures are introduced. In addition, several advanced methods for preparing micro/nanostructures on the surface of monocrystalline silicon are discussed. These can be classified as top-down and bottom-up approaches. Furthermore, passivation methods for micro/nanostructures on the surface of monocrystalline silicon solar cells are reviewed, including chemical passivation and field-effect passivation. Finally, advantages and disadvantages of the micro/nanostructure preparation technologies, and light-trapping effects of the micro/nanostructures, which were fabricated using these manufacturing technologies were summarized. Moreover, the effects of different passivation technologies on the optical properties and electrical properties of these micro/nanostructures are studied. An outlook of expected and emerging research directions for monocrystalline silicon solar cells concludes this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a tracking method combining feature enhancement and template update, aiming to solve the problems of existing trackers lacking global information attention, weak feature characterization ability, and not being well adapted to the changing appearance of the target. Pre-extracted features are enhanced in context and on channels through a feature enhancement network consisting of channel attention and transformer architectures. The enhanced feature information is input into classification and regression networks to achieve the final target state estimation. At the same time, the template update strategy is introduced to update the sample template judiciously. Experimental results show that the proposed tracking method exhibits good tracking performance on the OTB100, LaSOT, and GOT-10k benchmark datasets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exposure to natural environments has a range of health benefits, including enhancing psychological restoration and cognitive development. While there are various explanations on the causes for the benefits of the natural exposure, such as less air pollution and noise, more physical activity, stronger social interactions, or even more diverse microbial community, etc., this study has zeroed in on the air quality of the natural environment. In addition to low-level pollution, what makes the natural air superior remains unclear. To this end, we conducted a series of psychological evaluation and cognitive tests on a couple of subjects in a national forest park in southwest China. Based on the results, we built an artificial chamber where selected air parameters can be independently manipulated and carried out similar tests in the chamber. We came to the following conclusion. (1) Exposure to real natural environment demonstrated tangible benefits for cognitive performances and mental states and the benefits can be obtained to some extent in the artificial environment by creating air qualities similar to the air in the natural environment. (2) Scents in natural environments may be one of the key beneficial factors. (3) Adopting proper cognitive test is critical for distinguishing the differences made by the natural exposure. Working memory showed marked responses to the natural exposure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of mesoporous calcium oxide materials with hierarchical porous structure have been synthesized for no-glycerol biodiesel preparation, which was prepared by using stigma maydis as a novel template, impregnated in calcium acetate solution and subsequently calcined in air and expressed as CaO(O). The experimental results demonstrate that the resulting solid base CaO(O) exhibit favorable catalytic capability in coupling transesterification based on three mixture (methanol, rapeseed oil and methyl acetate) under selection of suitable calcinated temperature (600 °C) and calcium acetate obtained experimentally under molar ratio 1/1/8 of rapeseed oil/methyl acetate/methanol and 10 wt% of catalyst consumption at 65 °C for 2.5 h. However, no more than 60% yield of biodiesel can be obtained over commercial CaO under same react condition. Based on the analysis conclusions, it can be summarized that a uniform CaO coat was deposited on the surface of the biotemplate with multi-basic sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is one of the most common causes of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) in men, which is characterized by a noncancerous enlargement of the prostate. BPH troubles the vast majority of aging men worldwide; however, the pathogenetic factors of BPH have not been completely identified. The heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) subfamily, which mainly includes HSP70, glucose-regulated protein 78 (GRP78) and GRP75, plays a crucial role in maintaining cellular homeostasis. HSP70s are overexpressed in the course of BPH and involved in a variety of biological processes, such as cell survival and proliferation, cell apoptosis, epithelial/mesenchymal transition (EMT) and fibrosis, contributing to the development and progress of prostate diseases. These chaperone proteins also participate in oxidative stress, a cellular stress response that takes place under stress conditions. In addition, HSP70s can bind to the androgen receptor (AR) and act as a regulator of AR activity. This interaction of HSP70s with AR provides insight into the importance of the HSP70 chaperone family in BPH pathogenesis. In this review, we discuss the function of the HSP70 family in prostate glands and the role of HSP70s in the course of BPH. We also review the potential applications of HSP70s as biomarkers of prostate diseases for targeted therapies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unmanned aerial vehicles are becoming promising platforms for disaster relief, such as providing emergency communication services in wireless sensor networks, delivering some living supplies, and mapping for disaster recovery. Dynamic task scheduling plays a very critical role in coping with emergent tasks. To solve the multi-UAV dynamic task scheduling, this paper constructs a multi-constraint mathematical model for multi-UAV dynamic task scheduling, involving task demands and platform capabilities. Three objectives are considered, which are to maximize the total profit of scheduled tasks, to minimize the time consumption, and to balance the number of scheduled tasks for multiple UAVs. The multi-objective problem is converted into single-objective optimization via the weighted sum method. Then, a novel dynamic task scheduling method based on a hybrid contract net protocol is proposed, including a buy-sell contract, swap contract, and replacement contract. Finally, extensive simulations are conducted under three scenarios with emergency tasks, pop-up obstacles, and platform failure to verify the superiority of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Specific edge load (SEL) is the extensively employed theory to characterize the refining results in low consistency pulp refining. But the physical meaning of its core parameter, cutting edge length ( L C ), is not very clear, resulting in the limited applications of SEL in pulp refining. In this study, the physical meaning of L C was investigated in two aspects, total bar sliding length per cycle and total equivalent bar length, as well as the application of two refining intensities related to it, SEL and the net tangential force per bar crossing zone ( f t net ). After the comparison of the refining intensities and the experimental results, it was found SEL calculated by the L C with physical meanings can only properly characterize the results of the pulp refining conducted by straight bar plates with constant angular parameters. While, for the situations of varied angular parameters, the f t net and Modified Edge Load (MEL), calculated by the edge length expanded empirically by Meltzer, can also better characterize the refining process, either for the evolution of fiber length or the global refining effect (pulp Schopper Riegler). In addition, the application of f t net can be potentially expanded to other refiner plates to gain a better understanding and optimization of the pulp refining process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the leading cause of death and disability in trauma patients. However, the effects and mechanism of autophagy after TBI remain unclear. This study aimed to investigate whether tetrandrine could ameliorate TBI through autophagy to reduce ferroptosis. A mice model for TBI was implemented. Behavioral and histomorphological experiments were performed to evaluate outcomes of the mice. The ferroptosis levels was detected by Perls staining. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was applied to detect malondialdehyde (MDA), glutathione (GSH), and glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4) levels in the brain tissue. Western blot test was performed to detect Beclin 1, light chain 3 (LC3) II/I, p62, GPX4, SCL7A11, and ferritin heavy chain 1 (FTH1) levels, and the expression of LC3B, Beclin 1, GPX4, and FTH1 in the brain tissue was detected by immunofluorescence (IF). The behavioral and histomorphological results demonstrated that tetrandrine improved the neurological function and cerebral edema on days 1, 3, and 7 after TBI. The ELISA results suggested that tetrandrine reduced the MDA concentration and increased GSH concentration on days 1, 3, and 7 after TBI. IF staining and Perls staining reflected that tetrandrine promoted autophagy and inhibited ferroptosis on days 1, 3, and 7 after TBI, respectively. Tetrandrine further improved the neurological function, cerebral edema, autophagy, and ferroptosis on days 1, 3, and 7 after TBI after adding the autophagy inducer rapamycin. The effect of TET in alleviating TBI increased with the increase of time and dose. Tetrandrine ameliorated TBI by regulating autophagy to reduce ferroptosis, providing a new therapeutic strategy for TBI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-starch polysaccharides (NSPs) are food ingredients proven to be beneficial in a large number of health issues. However, there is no literature systematic review about the effects and corresponding mechanisms of NSPs on the prevention and remediation of cognitive impairment. In this review, studies on prevention and remediation of NSPs for cognitive deficit caused by diseases, menopause, ageing, chronic stress and environmental pollutants were summarized and the corresponding mechanisms were established. The anti-cognitive deficit effects of NSPs were associated with the modulation of amyloid β (Aβ) deposition, p-Tau aggregation, oxidative stress, inflammation, neuron apoptosis, neurogenesis, neurotransmitters, synaptic plasticity, autophagy and gut microbiota. Although the structure-function relationship has not been elucidated, several structural properties of NSPs such as molecular weight, sulfate content, hydroxyl group content, monosaccharide composition and molecular chain linkage might be crucial for the anti-cognitive deficit property. Notably, this review revealed that NSPs had a positive effect on cognitive impairment and proposed the future perspectives for further research on the anti-cognitive dysfunction effects of NSPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]