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The simultaneous concentration of electromagnetic (EM) waves and heat fluxes in the same target region within an on‐chip system has substantial academic research importance and practical application value. However, the existing research is primarily aimed at the design and experimentation of concentrators for individual EM waves or temperature fields. In this study, a thermal‐EM concentrator capable of simultaneously concentrating EM waves and heat fluxes is designed using transformation optics and thermodynamics and fabricated using engineered thermal‐EM metamaterials. Both the numerically simulated and experimentally measured results demonstrate the concentrating capability of the proposed thermal‐EM concentrator, which can concentrate broadband transverse magnetic (TM)‐polarized EM waves ranging from 8 to 12 GHz and heat flux to the same target region within an on‐chip operating environment. The proposed thermal‐EM concentrator can be utilized for the efficient cooling of the specified component and for simultaneously enhancing the radiation and reception efficiency of the EM antenna within an on‐chip system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Plants can retain atmospheric particulate matter (PM) through their unique foliar microstructures, which has a profound impact on the phyllosphere microbial communities. Yet, the underlying mechanisms linking atmospheric particulate matter (PM) retention by foliar microstructures to variations in the phyllosphere microbial communities remain a mystery. In this study, we conducted a field experiment with ten Ulmus lines. A series of analytical techniques, including scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and high-throughput amplicon sequencing, were applied to examine the relationship between foliar surface microstructures, PM retention, and phyllosphere microbial diversity of Ulmus L. Results: We characterized the leaf microstructures across the ten Ulmus lines. Chun exhibited a highly undulated abaxial surface and dense stomatal distribution. Langya and Xingshan possessed dense abaxial trichomes, while Lieye, Zuiweng, and Daguo had sparsely distributed, short abaxial trichomes. Duomai, Qingyun, and Lang were characterized by sparse stomata and flat abaxial surfaces, whereas Jinye had sparsely distributed but extensive stomata. The mean leaf retention values for total suspended particulate (TSP), PM2.5, PM2.5-10, PM10-100, and PM> 100 were 135.76, 6.60, 20.10, 90.98, and 13.08 µg·cm− 2, respectively. Trichomes substantially contributed to PM2.5 retention, while larger undulations enhanced PM2.5-10 retention, as evidenced by positive correlations between PM2.5 and abaxial trichome density and between PM2.5-10 and the adaxial raw microroughness values. Phyllosphere microbial diversity patterns varied among lines, with bacteria dominated by Sediminibacterium and fungi by Mycosphaerella, Alternaria, and Cladosporium. Redundancy analysis confirmed that dense leaf trichomes facilitated the capture of PM2.5-associated fungi, while bacteria were less impacted by PM and struggled to adhere to leaf microstructures. Long and dense trichomes provided ideal microhabitats for retaining PM-borne microbes, as evidenced by positive feedback loops between PM2.5, trichome characteristics, and the relative abundances of microorganisms like Trichoderma and Aspergillus. Conclusions: Based on our findings, a three-factor network profile was constructed, which provides a foundation for further exploration into how different plants retain PM through foliar microstructures, thereby impacting phyllosphere microbial communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bacterial infections have a serious impact on public health. It is urgent to develop antibacterial hydrogels with good biocompatibility to reduce the use of antibiotics. In this study, poly(lipoic acid-co-sodium lipoate)–phytic acid (P(LA-SL)-PA) hydrogels are prepared by a simple mixture of the natural small molecules lipoic acid (LA) and phytic acid (PA) in a mild and green reaction environment. The crosslinking network is constructed through the connection of covalent disulfide bonds as well as the hydrogen bonds, which endow the injectable and self-healing properties. The P(LA-SL)-PA hydrogels exhibit an adjustable compression modulus and adhesion. The in vitro agar plates assay indicates that the antibacterial rate of hydrogels against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus is close to 95%. In the rat-infected wound model, the P(LA-SL)-PA hydrogels adhere closely to the tissue and promote epithelialization and collagen deposition with a significant effect on wound healing. These results prove that the P(LA-SL)-PA hydrogels could act as effective wound dressings for promoting the healing of infected wounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Functional Movement Screening (FMS) is a test used to evaluate fundamental movement patterns in the human body and identify functional limitations. However, the challenge of carrying out an automated assessment of FMS is that complex human movements are difficult to model accurately and efficiently. To address this challenge, this paper proposes an automatic evaluation method for FMS based on a multi-scale lightweight 3D convolution encoder–decoder (ML3D-ED) architecture. This method adopts a self-built multi-scale lightweight 3D convolution architecture to extract features from videos. The extracted features are then processed using an encoder–decoder architecture and probabilistic integration technique to effectively predict the final score distribution. This architecture, compared with the traditional Two-Stream Inflated 3D ConvNet (I3D) network, offers a better performance and accuracy in capturing advanced human movement features in temporal and spatial dimensions. Specifically, the ML3D-ED backbone network reduces the number of parameters by 59.5% and the computational cost by 77.7% when compared to I3D. Experiments have shown that ML3D-ED achieves an accuracy of 93.33% on public datasets, demonstrating an improvement of approximately 9% over the best existing method. This outcome demonstrates the effectiveness of and advancements made by the ML3D-ED architecture and probabilistic integration technique in extracting advanced human movement features and evaluating functional movements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Feed shortage has hindered the development of the world's livestock industry, and the rational use of non-conventional forages can help resolve this issue. To improve the fermentation quality of Caragana korshinskii silage, this study isolated lactic acid bacteria (LAB) from fresh Caragana korshinskii and silage samples, as alternatives to traditional commercial LAB inoculants. Utilizing Single Molecule, Real-Time (SMRT) sequencing technology and metabolomics analysis, the microbial community structure and metabolome were examined after 60 days of fermentation to elucidate the mechanism by which isolated LAB affect the fermentation quality of Caragana korshinskii silage. After 60 days of ensiling, the dominant microbial population in the silage shifted from harmful bacteria such as Erwinia, Pantoea, and Enterobacter to LAB. Compared to commercial LAB, the isolated Lactiplantibacillus plantarum significantly reduced the microbial diversity of Caragana korshinskii silage. The species composition of LAB became simpler with Lentilactobacillus parakefiri dominating and achieving a higher relative abundance. By down-regulating Butanoate metabolism and the Pentose phosphate pathway and up-regulating the Ascorbate and aldarate metabolism pathway, the isolated Lactiplantibacillus plantarum significantly lowered the pH of the silage, increased the content of water-soluble carbohydrates (WSC) and lactic acid (LA), reduced the neutral detergent fiber content (NDF), and improved in vitro neutral detergent fiber digestibility (IVNDFD), thereby enhancing the fermentation quality of Caragana korshinskii silage. On the other hand, the isolated Limosilactobacillus fermentum had the opposite effect, with its ensiling outcome being less effective than that of commercial LAB. The results of the study indicate that the addition of the isolated Lactiplantibacillus plantarum improved the quality of Caragana korshinskii silage by regulating metabolic pathways and the composition of microbes within the ensiled feed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The odor of alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.), the most extensively cultivated forage, can interfere with livestock feeding. This study used an electronic nose in conjunction with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) to examine the quality, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and metabolic pathways of alfalfa at budding (X), early flowering (C), and full flowering (S) stages. Results showed that terpenoids increased first and then decreased with growth and development, heterocyclic substances decreased continuously, and alcohols and ketones increased. The crude protein and ether extract decreased and were positively correlated with terpenoids, heterocycles, and nitrogen and sulfur compounds, while the dry matter content, soluble carbohydrates, and neutral detergent fiber increased and were positively correlated with alcohols and ketones. The VOCs were most accumulated in the early flowering stages, which had more sweet and fruity flavors, and the main substances that differed from the budding stage and the full flowering stage were methyl heptanoate, butyl butyrate, β-ionone, and other esters and terpenoids. The monoterpene, sesquiterpene, and triterpene pathways were up-regulated in the early flowering stage, and the phenyl-propylene synthesis pathway was up-regulated in the full flowering stage. These substances and pathways were key to further improving alfalfa odor, grade and utilization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document is a correction notice for an article titled "Effects of selenium enrichment on fermentation characteristics, selenium content and microbial community of alfalfa silage" published in BMC Plant Biology. The authors identified an error in Figure 4 of the original article, where panels 4b and 4c were the same. The correct figure has been provided in the correction notice. The original article has been updated to reflect this correction. The publisher, Springer Nature, remains neutral and does not endorse any jurisdictional claims or institutional affiliations. [Extracted from the article]

Economic model predictive control (EMPC) has received increasing attention in the wind energy community due to its ability to trade‐off economic objectives with ease. However, for wind turbine applications, inherent nonlinearities, such as from aerodynamics, pose difficulties in attaining a convex optimal control problem (OCP), by which real‐time deployment is not only possible but also a globally optimal solution is guaranteed. A variable transformation can be utilized to obtain a convex OCP, where nominal variables, such as rotational speed, pitch angle, and torque, are exchanged with an alternative set in terms of power and energy. The ensuing convex EMPC (CEMPC) possesses linear dynamics, convex constraints, and concave economic objectives and has been successfully employed to address power control and tower fatigue alleviation. This work focuses on extending the blade loads mitigation aspect of the CEMPC framework by exploiting its individual pitch control (IPC) capabilities, resulting in a novel CEMPC‐IPC technique. This extension is made possible by reformulating static blade and rotor moments in terms of individual blade aerodynamic powers and rotational kinetic energy of the drivetrain. The effectiveness of the proposed method is showcased in a mid‐fidelity wind turbine simulation environment in various wind cases, in which comparisons with a basic CEMPC without load mitigation capability and a baseline IPC are made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Janus functional thermal device (JFTD) can produce different thermal modulation effects on the heat flow incident from different directions. To solve the problems of material anisotropy and non-interaction with the external environment in the thermal target region of the previous JFTD, an open JFTD is proposed by using a moving thermal conductive medium in four rectangular modules on the background thermal conductive plate. The thermal target region within the proposed open JFTD is an isotropic thermal conductive medium (e.g., the same as the background medium), which can be connected to the external region. The simulated results show that the proposed open JFTD performs as a thermal concentrator for the heat flows with incident angles between 0° and the critical angle and a thermal cloak for the heat flows with incident angles between the critical angle and 90°, which can be applied to the separate processing of multiple heat flows from different directions in various integrated systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-entropy oxide (HEO) nanoparticles have been regarded as a promising catalytic material system for oxygen evolution reaction in recent years. However, their traditional physical and chemical synthesis remains challenges due to the limitation of fabricating controllable small size HEO nanoparticles. Herein, a general and novel method of low-energy-recoil ion implantation and subsequent annealing is successfully developed to synthesize high-entropy oxide nanoparticles catalysts. By controlling the fluence of irradiation Ar+ ions, the size and the load of HEO nanoparticles can be accurately controlled. The obtained (FeCoNiCrAl)O HEO nanoparticles exhibit an overpotential of 295 mV at 10 mA cm−2, a small Tafel slope of 39 mV dec−1 and good stability in 1 M KOH, which is much better than the properties of binary and medium entropy oxide counterparts prepared by the same method, showing the good application prospect of low-energy-recoil ion implantation in the preparation of complicated multi-element-metal oxide nanoparticles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing highly efficient, low cost, and stable electrocatalysts that work at a large current density is crucial for upgrading the current industrial electrochemical water splitting to produce H2. Molybdenum selenide (MoSe2) is a promising 2D transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD), however, its reported output is inadequate due to its inert basal plane. Herein, the catalytic activity of MoSe2 nanosheet arrays is activated by a novel and controllable method of He+ ion irradiation to introduce multiple vacancies simultaneously into their inert basal planes. The vacancies activated MoSe2 have improved electrocatalytic performance and stability with a minimum overpotential of 90 mV at 10 mA cm−2, a Tafel slope of 49 mV dec−1 and high stability of 650 h at the industry‐level large current density of 1000 mA cm−2 compared to several hours for the pristine sample. The DFT results reveal that single Se and single Mo vacancies on the MoSe2 basal plane can efficiently increase the electrical conductivity and reduce energy barriers for water dissociation and subsequent proton adsorption, thus improving the electrocatalytic capability. This finding proves the application of ion beam in defect engineering for effective hydrogen evolution in TMDs‐based catalysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel 3D‐printed biodegradable cage composed of polycaprolactone (PCL) and beta‐tricalcium phosphate (β‐TCP) in a mass ratio of 50:50, with stable resorption patterns and mechanical strength has been developed for lumbar interbody fusion. This is a prospective cohort study to evaluate the short‐ and mid‐term safety and efficacy of this biodegradable cage in posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF) surgery. This was a prospective single‐arm pilot clinical trial in 22 patients with a follow‐up time of 1, 3, 6, and 12 months, postoperatively. Clinical outcomes were assessed using the Japanese Orthopedic Association Back Pain Evaluation Questionnaire (JOABPEQ) and Visual analogue scale (VAS) for leg pain and low back pain. Radiological examination included X‐ray, CT scan, and three‐dimensional reconstruction to evaluate surgical indications, intervertebral space height (ISH), intervertebral bone fusion and cage degradation. A total of 22 patients was included, with an average age of 53.5 years. Among 22 patients, one patient lost to follow‐up and one patient withdrew from the clinical trial because of cage retropulsion. The remaining 20 patients showed significant improvement in clinical and imaging outcomes compared to the preoperative period. The overall mean VAS for back decreased from 5.85 ± 0.99 preoperatively to 1.15 ± 0.86 at the 12‐month follow‐up (p <.001); the VAS for leg decreased from 5.75 ± 1.11 to 1.05 ± 0.76 (p <.001); the JOA score improved from 13.8 ± 2.64 to 26.45 ± 2.46 (p <.001). The mean intervertebral space height (ISH) increased from 11.01 ± 1.75 mm preoperatively to 12.67 ± 1.89 mm at the 12‐month follow‐up and the bone fusion reached 95.2% (20/21 disc segments). Partial resorption (inferior to 50% compared with the initial cage size) were found in all cages (21/21). The clinical and radiological assessments showed that the application of 3D‐printed biodegradable PCL/β‐TCP cages in PLIF yielded satisfactory results at the 12‐month follow‐up. In the future, long‐term clinical observations and controlled clinical trials are required to further validate the safety and efficacy of this novel cage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During aerobic exposure of silage, the fatty acid and amino acid composition may alter the quality and palatability, resulting in economic losses in livestock production. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of Lactiplantibacillus plantarum (LP), Lenti Lentilactobacillus buchneri (LB), and a mixture of LP and LB (PB) on the fatty acids, amino acids, and antioxidant capacity of Leymus chinensis silage during aerobic exposure. The lactic acid bacteria were added at 1 × 106 CFU/g. The silage treatments were opened after 60 days of fermentation, and sampled on days 0, 4, and 8 of aerobic exposure. The LB group had higher total fatty acid and polyunsaturated fatty acid content, and less decrease in amino acid content and antioxidant capacity, while the LP group had a higher monounsaturated fatty acid content but a larger decrease in all indicators after exposure. Correlation analysis showed that Lactobacillus, Cryptococcus, Penicillium, and Thermoascus were more correlated with fatty acid changes, and that Lactobacillus, Actinomyces, Clostridium, and Penicillium were more correlated with amino acid changes. In conclusion, Lentilactobacillus buchneri could effectively improve the antioxidant capacity and fatty acid and amino acid contents of Leymus chinensis silage during aerobic exposure, while Lactiplantibacillus plantarum could effectively improve the content of each index of Leymus chinensis silage at opening, but deterioration was faster during aerobic exposure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Silage of native grasses can alleviate seasonal forage supply imbalance in pastures and provide additional sources to meet forage demand. The study aimed to investigate the effects of Lactobacillus plantarum (LP), Lactobacillus buchneri (LB), and Lactobacillus plantarum in combination with Lactobacillus buchneri (PB) on the nutritional quality, fermentation quality, and microbial community of native grass silage at 2, 7, 15, and 60 days after ensiling and at 4 and 8 days after aerobic exposure. The results showed that dry matter content, crude protein content, the number of lactic acid bacteria, and lactic acid and acetic acid content increased and pH and ammonia nitrogen content decreased after lactic acid bacteria (LAB) inoculation compared with the control group (CK). LP had the lowest pH and highest lactic acid content but did not have greater aerobic stability. LB maintained a lower pH level and acetic acid remained at a higher level after aerobic exposure; aerobic bacteria, coliform bacteria, yeast, and molds all decreased in number, which effectively improved aerobic stability. The effect of the compound addition of LAB was in between the two other treatments, having higher crude protein content, lactic acid and acetic acid content, lower pH, and ammonia nitrogen content. At the phylum level, the dominant phylum changed from Proteobacteria to Firmicutes after ensiling, and at the genus level, Lactiplantibacillus and Lentilactobacillus were the dominant genera in both LAB added groups, while Limosilactobacillus was the dominant genus in the CK treatment. In conclusion, the addition of LAB can improve native grass silage quality by changing bacterial community structure. LP is beneficial to improve the fermentation quality in the ensiling stage, LB is beneficial to inhibit silage deterioration in the aerobic exposure stage, and compound LAB addition is more beneficial to be applied in native grass silage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]