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A series of x at% Gd3+: NaLa 0.975-x Nd 0.025 Gd x (WO 4) 2 mixed crystals were grown by means of the Czochralski method. The mixed crystals are formed by replacing La3+ ions in a part of NaLa(WO 4) 2 host with Gd3+ ions, and the first principle proves that doping Gd3+ improves the disorder and activity of NaLa(WO 4) 2 crystals. For NaLa 0.915 Nd 0.025 Gd 0.06 (WO 4) 2 mixed crystals, the physical and thermal properties were characterized by using structural refinement, infrared spectrum and thermal expansion coefficient. The results show that the grown crystal belongs to the space group Ι 4 1 / a with high phase purity, and has excellent thermal stability and anisotropy. Compared with NaLa 0.975 Nd 0.025 (WO 4) 2 single crystal, with the introduction of Gd3+, the local distortion electric field is generated, the original degenerate state of Nd3+ is changed, and the intensity of Nd3+ emission peak at 1062 nm and 1332 nm is increased by 2.34 and 1.89 times, respectively. The spectral bands of absorption and emission spectra are broadened by about 4 nm. The broadening of spectral band is discussed in detail by using the theory of uniform and non-uniform broadening. For uniform band broadening, the density functional theory is used to calculate the phonon state density and vibration mode of the mixed crystal, and the Raman spectrum proves that the spectral band broadening is caused by the introduction of Gd3+, which generates a new vibrational level and increases the electron-phonon coupling, thus widening the band. For the non-uniform broadening of the spectral band, combined with the variation of the dipole moment caused by the electric field distortion, the spectral band is proved. Finally, the J-O theoretical parameters, absorption and emission cross-sections of mixed crystals are calculated. The experimental results show that NaLa 0.915 Nd 0.025 Gd 0.06 (WO 4) 2 mixed crystals are excellent laser crystal materials, which can improve the utilization of laser pump light and improve the efficiency of laser. • A series of x at% Gd3+, NaLa 0.975-x Nd 0.025 Gd x (WO 4) 2 mixed crystals were grown by means of the Czochralski method. • Compared with NaLa 0.975 Nd 0.025 (WO 4) 2 single crystal, the emission intensity of Nd3+ is increased by 2.34 and 1.89 times • The spectral bands of absorption and emission spectra are broadened by about 4 nm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Li 2 CaGeO 4 and Er3+: Li 2 CaGeO 4 crystals were successfully grown by TSSG method. The electronic structure, vacancy defects, near-infrared luminescence, thermodynamic stability, and mechanical properties of the crystals were characterized and analyzed by first principles calculation and experimental tests. The results show that Li 2 CaGeO 4 and Er3+: Li 2 CaGeO 4 crystals are typical wide-gap direct bandgap crystals (3.64 and 3.96 eV). The effect of two cationic vacancy defects on crystal properties was studied. The results show that the defects of O2− or Li+ vacancy leads to the change of band structure, and the coupling degree between conduction band and valence band is reduced, and the degree of hybridization is reduced. The probability of non-radiative transition increases greatly and the luminescence intensity decreases. Spectral tests show that the Er3+: Li 2 CaGeO 4 crystal is an excellent laser crystal with a high near-infrared optical output at 1550 nm (4I 13/2 → 4I 15/2) and long fluorescence decay lifetime (5.804 ms). The thermal vibration and elastic constants of Er3+: Li 2 CaGeO 4 crystal are calculated by simulation. The results show that Er3+: Li 2 CaGeO 4 crystal is a kind of crystal material with easy processing, good brittleness, good thermal stability, and excellent thermal conductivity. Therefore, it has a very high application prospect in the field of laser or thermoelectric. • The Li 2 CaGeO 4 and Er3+: Li 2 CaGeO 4 crystals were successfully grown by TSSG. • Er3+: Li 2 CaGeO 4 crystal has a high optical output at near infrared 1.5 μm. • The O2− and Li+ vacancy defects were successfully calculated by DFT. • The ability of O defects to reduce transitions near the bandgap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The carrier plays a critical role in dispersing the active species and enhancing their catalytic performances. Cordierite is one of the most widely adopted industrial catalyst carriers. This work investigated the possibility of increasing catalytic performance of MnCu-loaded cordierite by doping transition metals during cordierite production. In brief, Zn, Pb, Cu, Cr, Cd, and Ni were doped into cordierites before MnCu was loaded onto the cordierite. The obtained catalysts were compared in catalytic oxidization of toluene and various characterizations. As a result, Cu doping obviously created lattice distortion of the cordierite, which promoted preferential growth of (−202) facet in CuO phase and (111) facet in Cu 2 O phase after loading the active species. The preferential growth resulted in a bigger concentration of lattice oxygen as well as more balanced distributions of Cu+/Cu2+ and Mn3+/Mn4+. All these properties helped to decompose toluene by the lattice oxygen, which was subsequently replenished by gaseous O 2. Therefore, doping-free cordierite only reached a toluene removal of 35.2 % at 270 °C, while metal-doped one attained a removal close to 100 %. The main result of this work is in favor of producing a more effective industry catalyst carrier. [Display omitted] • Metal doping created lattice distortion of cordierite. • The distortion promoted preferential growth of crystal facet. • The preferential growth resulted in more lattice oxygens. • The preferential growth also resulted in balanced valence distributions. • Metal-doped cordierite thus showed better catalytic activity for toluene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study successfully grew KBaY(MoO 4) 3 crystals doped with single Er3+ ions and co-doped with Ca2+/Er3+ ions using the top-seeded solution growth method. Thermal analysis of the KBaY(MoO 4) 3 crystals was performed by differential scanning calorimetry, and their phase and structure were characterized using X-ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The luminescent properties of the crystals in the visible and near-infrared wavelength ranges under different concentrations of Er3+ ions were analyzed through emission spectroscopy, and the concentration quenching mechanism was investigated in depth. The results showed that the strongest emission intensity was obtained at an Er3+ ion concentration of 5 mol%. Additionally, by substituting Ba2+ ions with Ca2+ ions, the emission intensity was significantly enhanced, especially when the Ca2+ ion doping concentration reached 6 mol%, resulting in the maximum emission intensity. Furthermore, we investigated the effects of matrix structure and lattice distortion on the spectral properties by employing Judd-Ofelt (J-O) theory and studying energy transfer mechanisms. The mechanisms of Ca2+-induced fluorescence quenching and factors influencing the fluorescence decay time were analyzed. Through the analysis of the absorption cross-section, emission cross-section, and gain cross-section of crystals with different Ca2+ ion concentrations, it was found that Ca2+, Er3+: KBYM crystals exhibited a low laser pump threshold. The results demonstrate that the 6 mol% Ca2+, 5 mol% Er3+: KBYM crystals possess excellent performance and are a promising laser gain medium. • A series of Er3+: KBYM and Ca2+, Er3+: KBaY(MoO 4) 3 crystals were successfully grown using the top seeded solution growth method. • The optimum doping concentration of Er3+ ions in KBaY(MoO 4) 3 crystal was investigated, and the energy transfer mechanism and fluorescence quenching mechanism of Er3+ ions were described in detail. • The doping of Ca2+ ions will reduce the symmetry of the local environment around Er3+ ions. • After doping with Ca2+ ions, the visible and near-infrared range emission intensity of Ca2+, Er3+: KBaY(MoO 4) 3 crystals has been greatly improved. • The absorption, emission and gain cross sections of Ca2+ doped crystals with different concentrations were calculated, and the potential of Ca2+, Er3+: KBYM crystals for laser output was evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Limited data exist regarding risk factors for aortic stenosis (AS). The plasma proteome is a promising phenotype for discovery of novel biomarkers and potentially causative mechanisms. The aim of this study was to discover novel biomarkers with potentially causal associations with AS. We measured 4,877 plasma proteins (SomaScan aptamer-affinity assay) among ARIC (Atherosclerosis Risk In Communities) study participants in mid-life (visit 3 [V3]; n = 11,430; age 60 ± 6 years) and in late-life (V5; n = 4,899; age 76 ± 5 years). We identified proteins cross-sectionally associated with aortic valve (AV) peak velocity (AVmax) and dimensionless index by echocardiography at V5 and with incident AV-related hospitalization after V3 with the use of multivariable linear and Cox proportional hazard regression. We assessed associations of candidate proteins with changes in AVmax over 6 years and with AV calcification with the use of cardiac computed tomography, replicated analysis in an independent sample, performed Mendelian randomization, and evaluated gene expression in explanted human AV tissue. Fifty-two proteins cross-sectionally were associated with AVmax and dimensionless index at V5 and with risk of incident AV-related hospitalization after V3. Among 3,413 participants in the Cardiovascular Health Study, 6 of those proteins were significantly associated with adjudicated moderate or severe AS, including matrix metalloproteinase 12 (MMP12), complement C1q tumor necrosis factor–related protein 1 (C1QTNF1), and growth differentiation factor-15. MMP12 was also associated with greater increase in AVmax over 6 years, greater degree of AV calcification, and greater expression in calcific compared with normal or fibrotic AV tissue. C1QTNF1 had consistent potential causal effects on both AS and AVmax according to Mendelian randomization analysis. These findings identify MMP12 as a potential novel circulating biomarker of AS risk and C1QTNF1 as a new putative target to prevent AS progression. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• H-terminated mesoporous Si is prepared by electrochemical etching of p+-Si wafer. • The large surface area lowers the limit of detection (LOD) of R6G to 3.2 × 10−9 m. • The suppressed diffusion of probe in small-size pores favors the lowering of LOD. • The vertical nanostructure favors the excitation of interfacial electric dipoles. Surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) of the various semiconductors remains a hot research spot. We investigate the SERS activation of the vertically etched hydrogen-terminated semiconducting mesoporous Si films. The results indicate that the thin mesoporous Si layer with small pore dimensions has very low limit of detection (3.2 × 10−9 M) of the adsorbed rhodamine 6 G molecules owing to the suppressed diffusion of the molecules in the pores such that they stay in the shallow layer. The vertically etched mesoporous Si substrate is much superior to the planar Si substrate regarding the SERS activation. The observed SERS activation is partially ascribed to the efficient excitation of the oscillating electric dipoles at the organic molecule–semiconductor interface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The conformations and redox states of ferricytochrome c , before and after adsorption onto the surface of the indium tin oxide (ITO) nanoparticles, are studied to reveal the interaction nature between the cytochrome c and the conducting metal oxide surface. The characterizations with resonance Raman scattering and UV–Vis absorption reveal that the change of pH at moderate ionic strength induces transitions of conformations and redox-states, which suggests that there is intramolecular electron transfer. The conformations of the cytochrome c species are maintained after adsorption onto or collision with the ITO surface, but the redox states change significantly, and the change depends on the surface structure of the ITO nanoparticle. The adsorption or collision processes are governed by the pH-dependent electrostatic interaction between the proteins and the buffer anions bound to the ITO surface. This adsorption scenario differs from the conventional ones. Graphical Abstract The conformation and electron transfer function of cytochrome c are maintained when it is attached to the ITO surface by an intermediate HPO 4 2− anion via strong electrostatic force. Unlabelled Image Highlights • Cytochrome c before adsorption exhibits various conformations when pH changes between 1.0 and 12.0. • Protein adsorption is realized through magnetic stirring of the mixture of ITO nanoparticle and cytochrome c solutions. • Resonance Raman scattering and UV‒Vis absorption are used to characterize the conformations and redox states. • The conformation and electron transfer function of cytochrome c are maintained when it is attached to the ITO surface. • A pH-dependent redox transition that is indicative of autoxidation or autoreduction reaction is observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both Fasciola hepatica and Clonorchis sinensis are endemic in China, South Korea, Japan and other Southeast Asian countries. Reliable and sensitive diagnostic methods are needed for detecting their infections in humans and animals. Differential simplex and duplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) methods were developed. The PCRs targeted the second internal transcribed spacer ( its 2) (408 bp) of F. hepatica , and NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 gene ( nad 2) (527 bp) of C. sinensis . Both simplex PCRs detected as little as 2 pg genomic DNA in one microliter in a 25 μL PCR reaction system. The duplex PCR had similar detection limit as well, and detected as low as one egg in 200 mg feces. These methods were analytical specific with no amplification being observed from the gemonic DNA of Fasciolopsis buski , Haemonchus contortus , Ascaris ovis or Eimeri ahsata . Of 158 sheep fecal samples collected from various farms, four and one samples were PCR-positive for F. hepatica and C. sinensis , respectively. The duplex PCR method described here is time-saving and convenient, and may prove to be an invaluable tool for molecular detection and epidemiological investigation of F. hepatica and C. sinensis in endemic area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The equivalent stiffness of a saturated poroelastic halfspace that supports an infinite Euler-Bernoulli beam under a moving point load has been investigated in this paper. The smooth contact condition is assumed for the interface of beam and halfspace, however, with an improved continuity condition, i.e. the continuities of contact normal stress and contact vertical displacements are imposed across the width of the beam. The equivalent stiffness of the halfspace has been evaluated using a contour integration approach such that contributions of the Rayleigh pole and the dispersion branches can be explicitly taken into account. Influences of the continuity condition and the permeability on the equivalent stiffness have been studied. It is found that the imaginary part of the equivalent stiffness is nonzero since the viscous coupling between two phases of the saturated halfspace has been considered. This observation fundamentally differentiates the present paper to the work by Shi and Selvadurai (2016) where an infinite permeability has been assumed for the halfspace, i.e. null viscous coupling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Headwear research is an integral part of costume study, which is regarded as a cultural symbol of human society. In China, the lining of Futou (Chinese traditional male headwear) is called as Jinzi, whose production information is little known. This paper focuses on the analysis of materials and manufacture of Jinzi, found in Astana Cemeteries (dated from about the 3rd to the 9th centuries C.E.), Turpan Basin, Xinjiang, China. The fibers of Jinzi were identified by FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy), Light Microscope Examination and Drying-Twist Test; while the black pigment was characterized through Raman Spectroscopy. Proteomics was conducted to analyze the proteinous glue. The results suggested that three Jinzi samples were made from flax mixed with ramie fibers, and one Jinzi sample was made from silk. All of them were painted with carbon black, and animal glue originated from bovine or caprinae was determined in two Jinzi samples. The different manufacture of Jinzi were probably related to the status of the occupiers of tombs. This is a unique report of the scientific analysis about traditional headwear in ancient Xinjiang. It is not only significant complement to the historical literature, but also the utilization of flax and ramie and the wearing of Jinzi shed light on the exchange of the species and culture in ancient Turpan area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Faience is a kind of ancient ceramic product which was widely found in many areas. Chinese faience appeared in the Western Zhou Dynasty (1046-771BCE), about three thousand years later than western Asia. The sudden and late emergence of Chinese faience implies that its production technology may be influenced by the West. However, little information is known about how the faience productions spread from the West to central China. The Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, located in the northwestern part of China, is one of the most important areas of cultural exchanges between the East and the West since ancient times. The study of faience unearthed in Xinjiang is of great significance to explore the early trade and cultural exchanges between central China and the West. In this paper, Synchrotron Radiation Micro-CT (SR-μCT) and Energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (EDXRF) have been applied to obtain the information of microstructure and chemical composition of faience beads excavated from Ya’er cemetery (1050-300BCE) in Hami Basin, The Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China. These faience beads are the earliest faience artifacts in China up to our knowledge and this is the first time to analyze the excavated faience in Xinjiang scientifically. Based on the microstructure of faience beads in CT slices, it is found that two glazing methods, direct application and efflorescence, were used in faience production. Additionally, a cylindrical core made of organic material sustained the faience bead during shaping and firing. According to EDXRF analysis, various glaze recipes have been used to produce these faience beads, possibly indicating different provenance. The characteristics of higher Na 2 O/K 2 O ratio of faience glaze showed that these faience beads might come from the West. Thus, it is suggested that there was a faience road from Western Asia through Xinjiang to central China about three thousand years ago. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The apicoplast, which is the result of secondary endosymbiosis, is a distinctive subcellular organelle and a crucial therapeutic target for apicomplexan parasites. The majority of apicoplast-resident proteins are encoded by the nuclear genome and target the apicoplast via bipartite targeting signals consisting of a signal peptide and a transit peptide. The properties and functions of these peptides are poorly understood, which hinders the identification of apicoplast proteins and the study for plastid evolution. Here, the targeting signals of the recently discovered apicoplast tRNA thiouridylase Tg MnmA of Toxoplasma gondii were analyzed. Our data using a reporter (the enhanced green fluorescent protein) fused with individual fragments containing various numbers of its N-terminal amino acids unequivocally revealed that the first 28 amino acids of Tg MnmA functioned as a signal peptide for cellular secretion. The N-terminal 150 amino acids were sufficient to direct the fusion protein to the apicoplast, whereas its deletion caused the fusion protein to be localized to the mitochondrion. Our data further demonstrated that the apicoplast, rhoptry, and mitochondrion shared similar targeting signals, indicating that the apicoplast localization peptide was trans-organellar in function. In addition, the apicoplast localization peptide was important for the healthy proliferation of tachyzoites. In conclusion, the targeting signals of the nucleus-encoded apicoplast-targeted protein Tg MnmA have been mapped out and the importance of this localization peptide has been elucidated in the current study. • The first N-terminal 150 AA of Tg MnmA target the EGFP to the apicoplast. • Without the localization peptide, Tg MnmAΔ1−150-EGFP localizes to the mitochondrion. • Mis-localization of Tg MnmA greatly affects the proliferation of T. gondii in vitro. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The parasite Cryptosporidium baileyi can infect the larynx, trachea, bursa and cloaca of poultry, causing high mortality during severe infection and leading to substantial economic losses of the poultry industry. The rhomboid protein is very important in Cryptosporidium infection. In this study, a nucleic acid based vaccine candidate pEGFP-CbROM was constructed. After orally challenging with C. baileyi oocysts, the corresponding immune responses induced were analyzed and the immunoprotective effect evaluated in chickens. Obtained results revealed that this nucleic acid based vaccine could induce antibody responses and peripheral blood T lymphocytes proliferation significantly ( P < 0.05), while the peripheral blood B lymphocyte proliferation increased significantly ( P < 0.05) only at a high dose of 100 μg of pEGFP-CbROM, compared with the PBS control group. After C. baileyi infection, the duration of oocysts shedding was shortened by 2 days in the 100 μg pEGFP-CbROM group, and the rate of reduction could reach to around 71.3%. While no significant difference in body weight gain was observed among the immunized groups ( P > 0.05), the differences between the immunized and the non-immunized groups were found to be significant ( P < 0.05). Our data provides a useful basis for further work in cryptosporidiosis prevention and treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changsha Kiln, located at Changsha in Hunan Province, south of China, is famous for exported and coloured porcelain during the Tang Dynasty (A.D. 7th-10th century) period. Although the opinion that copper-red porcelain originates from Changsha Kiln is widely accepted in academic circles, chemical characters of glaze and colour mechanism of its copper-red porcelain have not been fully investigated and studied. Therefore, a shard of opaque glaze porcelain with red pigments which excavated at Changsha Kiln (A.D. 7th-10th century) was analyzed by Energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF), Synchrotron X-ray absorption near-edge spectroscopy (XANES), micro X-ray diffraction (μ-XRD), microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) methods. Combining with XANES and μ-XRD results, it indicates that metal copper is the major colouring-generation element status of the red hue. On the other hand, for the first time the study demonstrates that glaze of the sample from Changsha kiln is a typical phase separated-crystalline glaze with large particles surrounding acicular crystals which lead the opaque appearances. Because the sample from Changsha Kiln is Chinese ancient early stage copper-red porcelain relic, it will help to understand the origin of copper-red porcelain in China and enrich the knowledge of Chinese ancient ceramic culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Babesia spp. are apicomplexan protozoan parasites of the red blood cells of mammals and are transmitted by ticks. Bovine babesiosis mainly caused by Babesia bovis and Babesia bigemina occurs worldwide, which is a great threat to animal health. Microscopy examination is a gold standard for the diagnosis of babesiosis. However, its sensitivity is too low. This study was conducted to establish a simple, efficient and fast LAMP-LFP method used for early diagnosis of animal babesiosis. LAMP was developed with a set of four primers targeting and amplifying six distinct regions of cytochrome b gene of Babesia spp. under isothermal conditions. Afterwards, a chromatographic lateral-flow dipstick (LFD) was used to detect LAMP products that were labeled with FITC at the 5′ end, avoiding gel electrophoresis. The LAMP-LFD method was very specific, yielding no positive results with DNA templates of Theileria sergenti , Thenileria ovis , Theileria equi and Toxoplasma gondii . The LAMP-LFP was highly sensitive and could detect 0.85 fg B. bigemina DNA and 0.14 fg B. bovis DNA, 100-fold higher than a conventional PCR assay. This method could be adapted for quick and accurate diagnosis of bovine babesiosis in the fields in case the whole blood could be directly used, especially for identifying carrier animals with very low parasitaemia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To evaluate the safety and efficacy of the conformable thoracic aortic endograft (Conformable TAG Thoracic Endoprosthesis [CTAG]; W. L. Gore & Associates, Flagstaff, Ariz) and Valiant Captivia thoracic stent graft (Medtronic Inc., Santa Rosa, CA) for acute type B aortic dissection (TBAD). The early and mid-term outcomes were analyzed for 413 patients undergoing TEVAR using conformable TAG thoracic endoprosthesis and Valiant Captivia thoracic stent graft for acute TBAD. 100 propensity-matched pairs of patients were generated, including 100 patients in the CTAG group and 200 patients in the Valiant Captivia group. Operative mortality were 2.33% (3 of 129) in the CTAG group and 1.76% (5 of 284) in the Valiant Captivia group. The median follow-up was 41.67 (26.00–60.67) months. No significant difference in mortality (9 [7.00%] vs. 36 [12.68%], P = 0.95) or re-intervention rate (3 [2.33%] vs. 20 [7.04%], P = 0.29) was observed between two groups. CTAG group have a lower incidence rate of distal stent graft-induced new entry tear than Valiant Captivia group (2.33% vs. 9.86%, P = 0.045). Lower incidence of type Ia endoleak was identified in the CTAG group (2.22%) than the Valiant Captivia group (14.41%) in patients with type III arch (P = 0.039). Both Valiant Captivia thoracic stent graft and CTAG thoracic endoprosthesis can be safely performed for acute TBAD with low operative mortality, favorable mid-term survival and freedom from reintervention. CTAG thoracic endoprosthesis had fewer dSINE even with larger oversizing and potentially suitable for type III arch with fewer type Ia endoleaks. • Both Valiant Captivia and CTAG can be safely performed for acute TBAD. • CTAG is suitable for type III arch with lower probability of type I endoleak. • dSINE rates were significantly lower with CTAG even with large oversizing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Well preserved Early Bronze Age cow dung in Xinjiang provides a unique opportunity to investigate important issues concerning environment, landscape, and livestock at about 3.4–3.7 ka in northwestern China. In this study, pollen and phytolith analyses, in conjunction with identification of macrofossil plant remains in the cow dung were carried out. Seeds, plant fragments, pollen and phytoliths extracted from four cow pies from the Xiaohe Cemetery indicate that the area was a typical oasis, where reeds ( Phragmites australis ), lovegrass ( Eragrostis ), and Aster -type Asteraceae probably served as the main cattle feed. Xerophilous taxa, such as Chenopodiaceae and Artemisia , were present as well. The paleo-diet of these cattle mainly consisted of C 3 plants, accompanied by small numbers of C 4 plants. Archaeological and archaeobotanical evidence reveals that the environmental conditions of ancient Xiaohe and the surrounding area were very different to that of the present day, surrounded by desert. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] ITO nanostructures were prepared by atmospheric HCl fume etching ITO-glass. [•] SERS on ITO nanostructures was observed and performed from the side of glass. [•] On-line SERS spectra were studied to monitor solution concentration variation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: We report on the geLC–MS/MS proteomics analysis of cereals and cereal food excavated in Subeixi cemetery (500–300BC) in Xinjiang, China. Proteomics provided direct evidence that at the Subexi sourdough bread was made from barley and broomcorn millet by leavening with a renewable starter comprising baker's yeast and lactic acid bacteria. The baking recipe and flour composition indicated that barley and millet bread belonged to the staple food already in the first millennium BC and suggested the role of Turpan basin as a major route for cultural communication between Western and Eastern Eurasia in antiquity. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Proteomics of non-model organisms. Biological significance: We demonstrate that organic residues of thousand year old foods unearthed by archeological excavations can be analyzed by geLC–MS/MS proteomics with good representation of protein source organisms and coverage of sequences of identified proteins. In-depth look into the foods proteome identifies the food type and its individual ingredients, reveals ancient food processing technologies, projects their social and economic impact and provides evidence of intercultural communication between ancient populations. Proteomics analysis of ancient organic residues is direct, quantitative and informative and therefore has the potential to develop into a valuable, generally applicable tool in archaeometry. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Proteomics of non-model organisms. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Highlights: [•] ITO nanocap arrays were prepared using PAA surface as templates. [•] Surface and interference co-enhanced Raman scattering was observed. [•] Raman enhancement is sensitive to the preparing parameters of PAA and ITO. [•] A low detecting line of R6G probes of 1×10−7 M or 50ng/mL was obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Chaos optimization algorithm (COA), which has the features of easy implementation, short execution time and robust mechanisms of escaping from the local optimum, is a promising tool for the engineering applications. The design of approaches to improve the convergence of the COA is a challenging issue. Improved mutative-scale parallel chaotic optimization algorithm (MPCOA) are proposed in this paper, and three ways of improvements for MPCOA are investigated in detail: MPCOA combined with simplex search method, MPCOA based on competitive/cooperative inter-communication, MPCOA combined with harmony search algorithm. Several simulation results are used to show the effective performance of these chaos optimization algorithms. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Much research on Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been focusing on exploring various potential applications of intelligent systems. In most cases, the researches attempt to model human intelligence by mimicking the brain structure and function, but they ignore an important aspect in human learning and decision making: the artificial emotion. In this paper, we present a new unconstrained global optimization method, hybrid chaos optimization algorithm with artificial emotion (HCOAAE), which avoids trapping to local minima, and improves convergence in large space and high-dimension optimization problems. The main purpose of artificial emotion is to mimic decision making behavior process of humans, to choose most suitable parameters of HCOAAE and decide whether to change current search strategy or not in the next iteration. Numerical simulations of 13 benchmark functions with different dimensions are used to test the performance of HCOAAE. Experimental results show that the proposed method significantly outperforms the existing methods in terms of convergence speed, computational effectiveness, and numerical stability. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

As a special kind of glazed ceramic, faience has an important role to play in the technological trajectory that eventually leads to the development of ancient glass. In China, faience products first emerged in early Western Zhou Dynasty (1046BC–771BC), and their great significance as well as brilliant colors varying between blue and green attracted a lot of scholars. However, scientific researches on the color source of Chinese faience in view of microstructure characterization are quite few. In the present work, analyses by energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) and X-ray absorption near edge spectroscopy (XANES) were carried out on two faience beads with relatively blue and green color, respectively, both of which were excavated from Peng State archaeological cemetery site in Western Zhou Dynasty. The results show that the coloring element in both beads is copper with +2 valence, and the color divergence of these two beads may originate from different local chemical environments of Cu 2+ . It is suggested that the faience in this period is the earliest glaze with copper colorant in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • A continuous change of the hydration environment, from dilute solution to condensed phase, is conducted in the desolvation process. • Real-time resonance Raman spectra are used to monitor the protein structure and redox state. • The final stage of the desolvation process displays with crowding effect, which prevents large protein deformations. • Rapid reduction of free- and adsorbed-state ferricytochrome c is observed during their solution to condensed phase transitions. • The reduction mechanism is found to be thermal reduction and photoreduction, induced or catalyzed by laser illumination. Stability of the structure and redox state of ferricytochrome c during continuous changing of the hydration environment from dilute solution to condensed phase was studied based on real-time resonance Raman measurement. Our experimental results indicated that the structure and redox state of ferricytochrome c were sufficiently maintained during the entire desolvation process, which reflected that the stabilizing excluded-volume effect was stronger than the destabilizing crowder-protein interaction, at the case of globular mini-protein itself acting as the crowder. Rapid reduction of ferricytochrome c was observed at measurement sites at the time of solution to condensed phase transition. Similar phenomenon was observed on cytochrome c adsorbed on indium tin oxide surface. At present conditions, the rapid reduction was found to be derived mainly from thermal reduction under laser illumination and secondarily from photoreduction induced by the residual adsorbed ferrocyanide anions. After re-dissolved, the protein which had undergone sufficient desolvation recovered the structure and redox state in the initial solution phase, suggesting that the crowding effect in solution prevented large protein deformations observed in gas phase condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The stochastic gradient descent (SGD) method plays a central role in training deep convolutional neural networks (DCNNs). The recent advances in the field of optimization methods for DCNNs follow the direction of gradients. The innovations mainly lie in adopting different techniques to manage the history of gradients or automatically adapt the step size. In contrast, in this paper we propose a novel optimization approach for training the top dense layer of DCNN. It primarily utilizes the orientation directly pointing to the optimal values of parameters instead of the direction of gradients to navigate the parameters updates. The Moore–Penrose inverse method has been adopted to determine the difference between the current parameters and the optimal parameters, and the parameter updates are driven along this direction to compensate such a difference. Subsequently, the parameters have been fine-tuned along the direction of the classical gradient. Experiments have been conducted on extensively selected benchmark datasets. The results indicate that the proposed approach obtains a higher convergence rate and lower minimum loss compared to other state-of-the-art optimization methods. Furthermore, with the same DCNN architectures, the performance improvement margin between the proposed optimization method and other state-of-the-art optimization approaches is highly significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the prognostic implications of higher pulmonary artery systolic pressure (PASP) are well established, few data exist regarding longitudinal change in pulmonary pressure in late life. The aim of this study was to quantify changes in PASP over 6 years and determine the relative contributions of cardiac and pulmonary dysfunction. Among 1,420 participants in the ARIC (Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities) study with echocardiographic measures of PASP at both the fifth (2011-2013) and seventh (2018-2019) visits, longitudinal changes in PASP over about 6.5 years were quantified. Multivariable regression was used to determine the extent to which cardiac and pulmonary dysfunction were associated with changes in PASP and to define the relationship of changes in PASP with dyspnea development. The mean age was 75 ± 5 years at visit 5 and 81 ± 5 years at visit 7, 24% of subjects were Black adults, and 68% were women. Over the 6.5 years, PASP increased by 5 ± 8 mm Hg, from 28 ± 5 to 33 ± 8 mm Hg. PASP increased more in older participants. Predictors of greater increases in PASP included worse left ventricular (LV) systolic and diastolic function, pulmonary function, and renal function. Increases in PASP were associated with concomitant increases in measures of LV filling pressure, including E/e′ ratio and left atrial volume index. Each 5 mm Hg increase was associated with 16% higher odds of developing dyspnea (OR: 1.16; 95% CI: 1.07-1.27; P < 0.001). Pulmonary pressure increased over 6.5 years in late life, was associated with concomitant increases in LV filling pressure, and predicted the development of dyspnea. Interventions targeting LV diastolic function may be effective at mitigating age-related increases in PASP. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Image-based food pattern classification poses new challenges for mainstream computer vision algorithms. Recent works on feature fusion technique have significantly boosted the generalization performances of food categorization tasks. However, the use of representation learning in the training process of feature fusion has rarely been explored. This study addresses the issue through a new supervised subnetwork-based feature encoding and pattern classification model, termed a wide hierarchical subnetwork-based neural network (Wi-HSNN). In particular, Wi-HSNN is a subnet-based iterative training process in which one pair of subnets is added to the framework in each iteration. Furthermore, instead of learning the optimal representations with the whole dataset, this paper introduces a batch-by-batch parallel scheme of Wi-HSNN to process large-scale datasets, such as Place365 set with more than 1.8 million samples. Extensive evaluations on eight benchmark datasets from food classification to scene image recognition demonstrated that the proposed solution has better representation learning capacity compared to existing encoding methods, and achieves stronger performance than existing approaches for food image classification tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inspired by the phenomenon that the decoding weights of a well-trained autoencoder contain the information of the training samples, we proposed a data augmentation method by utilizing the decoding weights. Given a batch of training data, the autoencoder is trained and the decoding weights are activated; the decoding weights are then combined with the raw samples to generate augmented samples. Furthermore, we probe its working mechanism in three ways: (i) we prove that the decoding weights and the raw samples are of linear relationship under the transformation of a certain invertible function; (ii) the proposed method can sample from a larger range in both feature dimensions and label dimension, which can be interpreted as a broader distribution vicinity compared with those by other approaches; (iii) the model trained with our data augmentation approach has better representation capability, which is reflected by the higher Fisher's criteria value in deep feature space. We conduct extensive experiments on image and tabular dataset with multiple network architectures. The proposed method provides significant generalization performance improvement compared with the baseline and better or comparable performance compared with the other state-of-the-art data augmentation approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ventral striatum (VS) processes rewarding and punishing stimuli. Women and men vary in externalizing and internalizing traits, which may influence neural responses to reward and punishment. To investigate sex differences in how individual traits influence VS responses to reward and punishment, we curated the data of the Human Connectome Project and identified 981 (473 men) subjects evaluated by the Achenbach Adult Self-Report Syndrome Scales. We processed the imaging data with published routines and extracted VS response (β) to win and to loss vs. baseline in a gambling task for correlation with externalizing and internalizing symptom severity. Men vs. women showed more severe externalizing symptoms and higher VS response to monetary losses (VS-loss β) but not to wins. Men but not women showed a significant, positive correlation between VS-loss β and externalizing traits, and the sex difference was confirmed by a slope test. The correlations of VS-loss vs. externalizing and of VS-win vs. externalizing and those of VS-loss vs. externalizing and of VS-loss vs. internalizing traits both differed significantly in slope, confirming its specificity, in men. Further, the sex-specific relationship between VS-loss β and externalizing trait did not extend to activities during exposure to negative emotion in the face matching task. To conclude, VS responses to loss but not to win and their correlation with externalizing rather than internalizing symptom severity showed sex differences in young adults. The findings highlight the relationship of externalizing traits and VS response to monetary loss and may have implications for psychological models of externalizing behaviors in men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Kyphoplasty is widely used for Osteoporotic Vertebral Compression Fracture (OVCF) under general or local anesthesia, more attention was paid to its post-operative efficacy. Patients' pain and discomfort control strategies during surgery have not been taken seriously.Objective: This study aimed at assessing the efficacy of preoperative preemptive analgesia combined with intraoperative sedation for pain and tension relief in OVCF patients undergoing kyphoplasty under local anesthesia.Methods: We enrolled 128 patients with single-level OVCF who underwent kyphoplasty in our hospital from July 2013 to July 2016. The patients were randomly allocated into three groups: conventional group (i.e., local anesthesia with 0.5% lidocaine (1); n = 42), preemptive group (i.e, (1) + oral 200 mg Celecoxib on the night before surgery with intravenous 40 mg parecoxib sodium an hour before surgery (2); n = 43), and combined group (i.e., (1) + (2) + continuous intravenous 0.5 μg/kg/h dexmedetomidine intraoperatively; n = 43). Hemodynamic variations (heart rate, blood pressure, pulse oxygen saturation (SpO2)), Pain Visual Analogue Score (VAS), Ramsay score, and adverse events were recorded during perioperative period.Results: Blood pressure and heart rate were more stable with significantly smaller values in the combined group than in the conventional and preemptive groups both intra- and postoperatively. In contrast, SpO2 showed no significant difference among the groups throughout the perioperative period. Intraoperative VAS scores revealed significant differences among the groups with the combined group having the smallest values followed by the preemptive group. Similarly, intraoperative Ramsay scores reflected significantly more favorable effects of sedation in the combined than in conventional group. Both VAS and Ramsay scores showed no significant differences among the groups postoperatively, and no differences in complication incidences were noted among the groups as well.Conclusions: For kyphoplasty under local anesthesia for single-level OVCF, intraoperative sedation combined with preemptive analgesia worked better in mitigating pain and tension intraoperatively and in preventing hemodynamic changes intra- and post-operatively, as compared to local anesthesia alone or additional preemptive analgesia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indo-Pacific glass beads are produced by the drawn technique, which originates from South Asia, and their chemical compositions are unique in South and Southeast Asia. However, a small number of Indo-Pacific beads with Sassanian glass compositions are excavated in Asia and Africa after the 3rd c. CE, and their production sites in South/Southeast Asia or in the Sassanian region remain controversial. In this study, 15 drawn glass beads with various colours from Astana necropolis (ca. the 4th-8th c. CE) in Xinjiang, northwest China were investigated by using laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS), Scanning Electron Microscope, Raman spectroscopy and visible to near-infrared spectroscopy to characterize the production technology and origins. The results show that most Astana glass beads share similar chemical compositions with the glassware from Veh Ardašīr, a famous Sasanian site. Furthermore, Sasanian glass compositions predominate in Indo-Pacific beads in Xinjiang during the 4th-8th c. CE, while popular glass recipes in contemporary South/Southeast Asia are infrequently found; thus, it is deduced that the drawn method should have been mastered by Sasanian craftsmen. Moreover, the cobalt materials in Sasanian glass were imported from further western regions and changed over time. The popular Sasanian glass across central Eurasia reflects the trade monopoly of Sasanian in West and Central Asia, and the land glass bead trade is distinct from the contemporary maritime trade in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• CTD significantly reduces the expression of inflammatory factors in the aortic tissue of TAD mice model. • CTD weakened the proliferation, migration, invasion, inflammation ANG II induced TAD cell model. • CTD attenuates ANG II induced TAD model by inhibiting the NF-κB signaling pathway in VMSCs. Thoracic aortic dissection (TAD) is one of the most fatal cardiovascular diseases. One of its important pathological characteristics is the local inflammatory response. Many studies have found that Macrophage polarization plays an extremely critical role in the inflammatory progression and tissue remodeling of TAD. Costunolide (CTD) has an improving effect on oxidative stress and inflammation in the body. However, whether it can promote the integrity of extracellular matrix in Aortic dissection and its mechanism are still unclear. The male C57BL/6J mice were used to construct an animal model of TAD with β-aminopropionitrile (BAPN) (100 mg/kg/day, lasting for 28 days), and then CTD (10 mg/kg or 100 mg/kg) was injected intraperitoneally for 28 days to check the survival rate, TAD incidence, aortic morphology and other indicators of the mice. Using hematoxylin-eosin (HE), Masson, Elastin van Gieson (EVG) staining, immunofluorescence (IF), and immunohistochemical staining, the study aimed to determine the therapeutic effects of CTD on an animal model with BAPN-induced TAD. To enhance the examination of the regulatory mechanism of CTD, we conducted transcriptome sequencing on arterial tissues of mice in both the BAPN group and the BAPN + CTD100 group. Next, ANG II were used to construct TAD model in vascular smooth muscle cells (VMSCs). The effects of CTD on the proliferation, migration, invasion, and apoptosis of ANG II-induced cells are to be detected. The expression of MMP2, MMP9, P65, and p-P65 in each group will be examined using Western blot. Finally, the overexpression of IκB kinaseβ (IKKβ) will be established in VMSCs cells to further explore the protective function of CTD. The result showed that CTD significantly inhibited BAPN induced mortality and TAD incidence in the animal model, improved aortic vascular morphology, promoted the integrity of extracellular matrix in TAD, reduced tissue inflammation, reduced the accumulation of M1 macrophage, promoted M2 macrophage polarization, and reduced the expression of NF-κB pathway related proteins. Mechanistically, CTD significantly weakened the proliferation, migration, invasion, and apoptosis. p-P65 protein expression of TAD cells were induced by ANG II and IKK-β. CTD has the potential to alleviate inflammation, VSMC apoptosis, MMP2/9 levels, and enhance extracellular matrix integrity in TAD by inhibiting the NF-κB signaling pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The electric current effects on (La,Ca)MnO3 thin films epitaxially grown on SrTiO3 and LaAlO3 substrates were carefully investigated. When the applied electric current density exceeds a sample dependent critical value, apparent asymmetric curves are clearly observed on the stimulated (La,Ca)MnO3/SrTiO3 films. The larger current and longer processed time enhance the asymmetry. No asymmetry was observed on all the (La,Ca)MnO3/LaAlO3 films independent of applied electric current and stimulated time. The comparison study indicates that the observed asymmetric behavior of the (La,Ca)MnO3/SrTiO3 films is closely related to the electric field induced conductivity of the underlying SrTiO3 substrates. We proposed an equivalent circuit to qualitatively explain our results. Our results also imply that in dealing with the electric current (field) effects on the thin films fabricated on SrTiO3 substrates, the electric field induced conductivity of the substrates should be considered. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this paper, a novel electrochemical immunosensor for the determination of casein based on gold nanoparticles and poly(l-Arginine)/multi-walled carbon nanotubes (P-l-Arg/MWCNTs) composite film was proposed. The P-l-Arg/MWCNTs composite film was used to modify glassy carbon electrode (GCE) to fabricate P-l-Arg/MWCNTs/GCE through electropolymerization of l-Arginine on MWCNTs/GCE. Gold nanoparticles were adsorbed on the modified electrode to immobilize the casein antibody and to construct the immunosensor. The stepwise assembly process of the immunosensor was characterized by cyclic voltammetry and differential pulse voltammetry. Results demonstrated that the peak currents of [Fe(CN)6]3−/4− redox pair decreased due to the formation of antibody–antigen complex on the modified electrode. The optimization of the adsorption time of gold nanoparticles, the pH of supporting electrolyte and the incubation time were investigated in details. Under optimal conditions, the peak currents obtained by DPV decreased linearly with the increasing casein concentrations in the range from 1×10−7 to 1×10−5 gmL−1 with a linear coefficiency of 0.993. This electrochemical immunoassay has a low detection limit of 5×10−8 gmL−1 and was successfully applied to the determination of casein in cheese samples. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• In this paper, x at.% Nd3+: KGLW (x = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) crystals were successfully grown by top seed pulling method (TSSG). • When the doping concentration is 3 at.%, the spectral mass factor is the lowest, which is 0.3734. • The emission cross section of x at.% Nd3+: KGLW (x = 1,2,3,4,5) is calculated, and the maximum emission cross section is 13.5 × 10−20 cm2. In this paper, x at.% Nd3+: KGd 0.1 Lu 0.9-x (WO 4) 2 (x = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) crystals were grown by the top seed solution growth method (TSSG). The crystal structure was analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and the crystal structure data was obtained by Rietveld refinement. The absorption spectra, near-infrared emission spectra and fluorescence decay curves of Nd3+ ions in the crystal were measured at indoor temperature. According to Judd-Ofelt theory, the spectral intensity parameters Ω 2 , Ω 4 and Ω 6 are calculated. When the doping concentration is 3 at.%, Ω 2 is the largest, which is 3.84 × 10−20 cm2, while the spectral mass factor is the lowest, which is 0.3734. The absorption and emission cross-section are calculated by combining the absorption spectrum and emission spectrum, and the maximum calculated result of emission cross-section is 1.35 × 10−19 cm2. The results show that Nd3+: KGd 0.1 Lu 0.9 (WO 4) 2 crystals has great application potential in the 1.0 µm field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A total of 1627 differentially expressed circRNAs between OA and KBD were identified. • Differential expression of hsa_circ_20014_CBC1 was verified by qRT-PCR. • The hsa_circ_0020014_CBC1 could distinguish patients with KBD and OA. This research aims to explore differentially expressed circRNA between OA and KBD and potential diagnostic biomarkers. Total RNA was extracted from 5 pairs of KBD and OA knee joint cartilage specimens, and the expression of circRNAs was analyzed by Chip Scanning Analysis. The microarray data was verified by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). CircRNA-miRNA network was constructed to predict targeting microRNAs of circRNA genes. Peripheral blood samples from 25 KBD patients and 25 OA patients were collected for verification by qRT-PCR. Diagnostic value was evaluated by the area under the receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve. A total of 1627 circRNAs were differentially expressed between OA and KBD. Five bone and joint disease-related circRNAs were chosen for qRT-PCR validation. The difference in expression profile of hsa_circRNA_0020014 was confirmed by qRT-PCR, and its circRNA-miRNA regulation network was set up. The ROC curve demonstrated that hsa_circ_0020014_CBC1 in peripheral blood could distinguish patients with KBD and OA. The expression profiles of circRNA were significantly different between OA and KBD. hsa_circRNA_0020014 is a potential biomarker for differential diagnosis between these two diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Complex video analysis is a challenging problem due to the long and sophisticated temporal structure of unconstrained videos. This paper introduces pooled-feature representation (PFR) which is derived from a double layer encoding framework (DLE) to address this problem. Considering that a complex video is composed of a sequence of simple frames, the first layer generates temporal sub-volumes from the video and represents them individually. The second layer constructs the pool of features by fusing the represented vectors from the first layer. The pool is compressed and then encoded to provide video-parts vector (VPV). This framework allows distilling the representation and extracting new information in a hierarchical way. Compared with recent video encoding approaches, VPV can preserve the higher-level information through typical encoding in the higher layer. Furthermore, the encoded vectors from both layers of DLE are fused along with a compression stage to develop PFR. The early and late fusion stages are adopted based on the priority of compression stage over concatenation of represented vectors. To validate the proposed framework, we conduct extensive experiments on four complex action datasets: UCF50, HMDB51, URADL, and Olympic. Experimental results demonstrate that PFR with early fusion achieves the state-of-the-art performance by capturing the most prominent features with minimum dimension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

B–Ba–Te–Nd borate glasses doped with different heavy metals Bi3+ or Sb3+ were successfully prepared by a high temperature melting process. The basic properties, NIR luminescence properties and decay lifetime of the glasses under Bi3+ or Sb3+ doping conditions were investigated. Interestingly, it was found that doping with heavy metals Bi3+ or Sb3+ was effective in improving the structure of the borate glass matrix, effectively enhancing the 1067 nm luminescence intensity of Nd3+ ions by a factor of 1.78 and 1.53, respectively. In addition, the mechanism of improved luminescence by heavy metal doping was discussed in conjunction with FT-IR, emission spectra and decay curves. This study provides a new way to enhance the luminescence performance of borate-based glasses. • B–Ba–Te–Nd borate glasses doped with different heavy metals Bi3+ or Sb3+ were successfully prepared. • It was found that doping with the heavy metals Bi3+ or Sb3+ was effectively enhancing the NIR 1067 nm luminescence intensity of Nd3+ ions. • This study provides a new way to enhance the luminescence performance of borate-based glasses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cobalt blue is a famous pigment in human history. In the past decade it is widely reported that the cobalt aluminate has been detected in ancient ceramics as blue colorant in glaze, yet the acquired Raman spectra are incredibly different from that of synthesised references, necessitating a reassessment of such contradictory scenario with more accurate analytic strategies. In this study, micro-Raman spectroscopy (MRS) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) in association with energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS) were performed on under-glaze cobalt pigments from one submerged blue and white porcelain shard dated from Wanli reign (1573–1620 CE) of Ming dynasty (1365–1644 CE) excavated at Nan'ao I shipwreck off the southern coast of China. The micro-structural inspection reveals that the pigment particles have characteristics of small account, tiny size, heterogeneously distribution, and more importantly, been completely enwrapped by well-developed anorthite crystals in the glaze, indicating that the signals recorded in previous publications are probably not from cobalt pigments themselves but from outside thickset anorthite shell. The further spectromicroscopic analyses confirm this presumption when the accurate spectra of cobalt aluminate pigment and surrounding anorthite were obtained separately with precise optical positioning. Accordingly, we reassess and clarify the previous Raman studies dedicated to cobalt blue pigment in ancient ceramics, e.g. cobalt blue in celadon glaze, and in turn demonstrate the superiority and necessity of coupling spectroscopic analysis with corresponding structure observation, especially in the characterization of pigments from complicated physico-chemical environment like antiquities. Thus, this study promotes a better understanding of Raman spectroscopy study of cobalt blue pigments in art and archaeology field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Honglvcai (also named red and green porcelain) was prosperous in Jin Dynasty (1115–1234 AD) and had played a pivotal role in ancient ceramic development history in China, connecting with former glazed pottery Tang Sancai and later polychrome porcelain like Wucai and Doucai, but little scientific analysis has been reported up until the present day. In this research, one precious sherd unearthed from Linshui (one major site of Cizhou kiln system) in Hebei province was adopted as specimen for compositional and micro-structural analysis. Optical microscope (OM), X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF) and energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS) in association with scanning electron microscope (SEM) were employed for investigation of the multi-colour decors and black outline. The extensive data reveal that although high lead content has been detected by surface analysis and the iron-rich pigment particles do locate in the middle of the whole vitrified region, the black outline in fact belongs to high temperature fired under-glaze painted decoration, rather than the deceptive low temperature fired lead based over-glaze decor or the generally believed ‘sandwich’ (glazed twice) structure. Furthermore, a corresponding criterion then has been established for differentiation among three main decorating methods, especially for the puzzling ‘sandwich’ effect scenario. Moreover, once this ongoing vexed debate over the nature of the black decoration in Cizhou kiln system has been clarified, it is then reasonable to deduce that, from idealistic and technical point of view, there is no difference between producing prototype like this sherd and real Doucai in Ming dynasty (1365–1644 AD) except for the types of under-glaze pigment. Overall, all these results together firstly provide realising scientific proofs for the origin of Doucai. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grass woven baskets is a famous feature of Gumugou cemetery (3800 BP), an early Bronze Age necropolis in Tarim basin, northwestern China. They were suggested to be used for storage of liquid foods, for example gruel, ephedra soup or milk, however this notion has not been supported by analytical facts. We applied comprehensive multi-technique analytical approach, including FT-IR, proteomics, GC–MS and starch grains analyses to characterize minute amount of dried organic film preserved on the inner surface of one of the Gumugou grass woven baskets. The analysis revealed the presence of Bovidae milk proteins and traces of lactic acid bacteria. Together with the relative abundance of detected caseins and whey proteins it suggested that the organic deposit in the woven basket was strained sour milk. No ephedra biomarkers or starch grains were found. The protein composition of Gumugou sample differed from solid dairy products recently discovered at the nearby Xiaohe Cemetery. We speculate that the alterations in local dairy technologies might be the result of two processes: climatic changes in the region of Tarim basin and admix of early European settlers with lactose-intolerant Eastern ethnic group. European ancestry of Gumugou inhabitants suggested that the milking practice in the Tarim region was promoted by the eastward migration of European population which was predominantly lactose–persistent. Xiaohe site (3600 BP) was inhabited by a West-East admixed community for whom solid dairy products became a dietary requirement that offered its inhabitants an advantage in better adaptation to the worsening climate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Well-designed surface texturing could reduce the ring/liner friction. However, so far most researchers have focused on the aspect of texturing under fully flooded lubrication. In this study, the performances of textures under starved lubrication are investigated. Specially for the textured ring/liner system, the flow conservation equations at the inlet region are built. In this way, the effect of the oil trapped in the texture features can be modeled clearly. The simulation results show that the textured liner can obtain a steady benefit on the tribological properties. However, the positive influence of the textured ring may remain unsteady under starved lubrication conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report the semiconducting behavior at room temperature and a metal-semiconductor transition (MST) at lower temperature in copper sulfides (Cu x S) thin films. Cu x S thin films, deposited by direct magnetron sputtering technique, are found to be of CuS-Cu 1.8 S mixed phase by XRD. The deposited films exhibit low electrical resistivity close to ∼10 −4 Ω cm at room temperature and free-carrier absorption in the near infrared (NIR) region due to excess holes in the valence band. Temperature dependent resistivity measurements show the MST at ∼260 K, to the best of our knowledge, for the first time. The temperature dependent metal-semiconductor transition is attributed to the phase transition from Cu 1.8 S to CuS at T c during the cooling process. This work could help give insight into the transport characteristics as well as phase transition at lower temperature in copper sulfides thin films. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Non-destructive approach including GC/MS, FTIR and SR-μCT has been performed to identify an ancient jet artifact. • There exists difference in the FTIR spectra of jet around the world. • The use of jet by lower status officials is related to the first large-scale exploitation of coal in the Western Han Dynasty. Some bright black beads with dense surface and poor light transmittance are generally considered as jet artifacts in China. However, little scientific investigation has been applied to support this judgment. This study focuses on the nondestructive identification of a jet bead, unearthed from the Changle Cemetery, Han Dynasty (202 BC-AD 220), Ningxia, China through multi nondestructive approach. The results of Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS) analysis indicate that the bead belongs to coal products, based on the typical coal biomarkers including n -alkanes, acyclic isoprenoids and terpenoids. FTIR analysis further confirms that the bead is made of jet in comparison with modern jet samples in China. The bead is also scanned with Synchrotron Radiation Micro-computed Tomography (SR-μCT) to obtain the structure and drilling technology information, which suggests that the bead is uniform and was drilled from both sides. The nondestructive identification of ancient jet artifacts is first reported in China up to date, which not only reveals the varied utilizations of coal products in ancient society but also suggests that the popularization of jet in the Han Dynasty might be related to the first large-scale exploitation of coal, and offers an effective method suitable for archaeological jet samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]