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Several alkyl glucosides exhibit various bioactivities. 1-Octyl β- d -glucopyranoside produced by organic synthesis is used as a nonionic surfactant. However, no convenient method has been developed for the selective production of alkyl α-glucosides (α-AGs), such as 1-octyl α- d -glucopyranoside (α-OG). Therefore, we developed a simple method for selective production of α-AGs using the glucosyl transfer enzyme XgtA, (E.C. 3.2.1.20), derived from Xanthomonas campestris WU-9701. When 0.80 M alkyl alcohol and 2.5 units XgtA were incubated in 2.0 mL of 30 mM HEPES-NaOH buffer (pH 8.0) containing 1.2 M maltose at 45 °C, a specific α-AG corresponding to each alkyl alcohol (C2–C10) was detected. Under the standard conditions, we examined the selective production of α-OG from 1-octanol and maltose using XgtA. The reaction product was isolated and identified as α-OG via 1H nuclear magnetic resonance and nuclear overhauser effect spectroscopy analyses. No other glucosylated products, such as maltotriose, were detected in the reaction mixture. Under the standard conditions at 45 °C for 96 h, 243 mM α-OG (71 g/L) was produced in one batch production. Moreover, the addition of glucose isomerase to the reaction mixture decreased the concentration of glucose released via the reaction and increased the amount of α-OG produced; 359 mM α-OG (105 g/L) was maximally produced at 96 h. In conclusion, this study demonstrates the selective production of α-AGs using a simple enzymatic reaction, and XgtA has the potential to selectively produce various α-AGs. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Here, a novel manganese oxidizing bacterium Morganella Morganii MnO x -1 was applied to synthesize biological iron-manganese oxides (BFMO) to simultaneously oxidize and adsorb As and Sb. The oxidization rates of As(III) and Sb(III) by BFMO were 74.13% and 51.85%, which were 1.43 and 1.30 times of that by biological manganese oxides (BMO), respectively. Moreover, the simultaneous removal rates of As(III), As(V), Sb(III) and Sb(V) (100 mg/L of each) by BFMO with the stain MnO x -1 were 87.05%, 94.23%, 79.65% and 84.33% in 7 days, and 80.26%, 99.32%, 82.97% and 88.50% in 28 days, respectively. In addition, BMO contributed to oxidize As(III) and Sb(III), and FeOOH was mainly responsible for adsorption by complexing with the metalloids in the simultaneous removal of As and Sb. The function groups on the surface of BFMO, such as -OH, C-O, C-O, C-C, etc. were also involved the adsorption processes. Our results have important implications for understanding the transformations of As and Sb intermediating by manganese oxidizing bacteria, and develop an environmental-friendly method for simultaneously removing As and Sb pollutants in water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Proposed a optical character correction method for large-curvature annular sector text. • Introduced polar coordinate transformation and image remapping to reconstruct text images. • Proposed a preprocessing method to improve text control point quality. • Distinguished the concavity and convexity of annular sector text. Optical character recognition (OCR) of complex morphologies represented by large-curvature annular sector text (AST) is a very challenging task. A three-segment text recognition framework consisting of detection, correction and recognition is currently an effective method for dealing with complex morphological OCR. Optical character correction (OCC) is a key component in processing largecurvature AST. This paper proposes an OCC method in the polar coordinate system, which consists of control point preprocessing, polar coordinate transformation, and image remapping. The control point preprocessing is used to normalize the control points of the large curvature AST region; the polar coordinate transformation is to convert the pixels in the rectangular coordinate system to the polar coordinate system; image remapping maps the original image in polar coordinate system to polar coordinate space for re-representation. The method proposed in this paper can be used in conjunction with most detection and recognition modules and is applicable to any language type. Furthermore, the correction process consumes very little computational resources and has little impact on the speed of text detection and recognition. Experimental results show that the proposed method outperforms state-of-the-art algorithms in large curvature AST correction and recognition experiments [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To understand pyroptosis induced by ionizing radiation and its implications for radiation therapy, we explored the involved factors, possible mechanisms of radiation-induced pyroptosis and consequent antitumor immunity. The occurrence of pyroptosis was assessed by cell morphology, lactate dehydrogenase release, Annexin V/PI staining and the cleavage of Gasdermin E (GSDME). Cell radiosensitivity was tested with MTT and colony survival assays. Xenograft tumor volume, Ki-67, CD8+ lymphocytes, and ELISA were used to evaluate the effect of GSDME on tumor suppression after irradiation. Irradiation induced pyroptosis in GSDME high-expressing tumor cell lines covering lung, liver, breast, and glioma cancers. Cleavage of GSDME occurred in a dose- and time-dependent manner after irradiation, and pyroptosis could be induced by various kinds of irradiation. The combination of chemotherapy drugs for DNA damage (cisplatin or etoposide) or demethylation (decitabine or azacytidine) and irradiation significantly enhanced the occurrence of pyroptosis. Moreover, we revealed that the Caspase 9/Caspase 3/GSDME pathway was involved in irradiation-induced pyroptosis. Notably, enhanced tumor suppression was observed in Balb/c mice bearing GSDME-overexpressing 4T1 tumors compared with those bearing vector tumors for the promotion of antitumor immunity, which was manifested as distinctly elevated levels of cytotoxic T lymphocytes and release of the related cytokines rather than the direct effect of pyroptosis on tumor cell radiosensitivity. As an immunogenic cell death caused by radiation, pyroptosis promotes antitumor immunity after irradiation. Our findings may provide new insights to improve the efficacy of tumor radiation therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, coamorphization and cocrystal technologies are of particular interest in the pharmaceutical industry due to their ability to improve the solubility/dissolution and bioavailability of poorly water-soluble drugs, while the coamorphous system often tends to convert into the stable crystalline form usually crystalline physical mixture of each component during formulation preparation or storage. In this paper, BCS II drug baicalein (BAI) along with nicotinamide (NIC) were prepared into a single homogeneous coamorphous system with a single transition temperature at 42.5 °C. Interestingly, instead of the physical mixture of crystalline BAI and NIC, coamorphous BAI-NIC would transform to its cocrystal form under stress of temperature and humidity. The transformation rate under isothermal condition was temperature-dependent, since the crystallinity of the cocrystal enhanced as the temperature increased. Further mechanic studies showed the activation energy for the transformation under non-isothermal condition was calculated to be 184.52 kJ/mol. Additionally, water vapor sorption tests with further solid characterizations indicated the transformation was faster under higher humidity condition due to the faster nucleation process of cocrystal BAI-NIC. This research not only discovered the mechanism of transformation from coamorphous BAI-NIC to cocrystal form, but also provided an unusual method for cocrystal preparation from its coamorphous form. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethyl α- d -glucopyranoside (α-EG) is detected in sake (Japanese rice wine), that has moisturizing and skin conditioning effects. The production of α-EG by fermentation or enzymatic synthesis to date generates unwanted by-products such as maltooligosaccharides and/or organic acids. In this study, we employed a reaction involving selective α-glucosylation of ethanol by the α-glucosyl transfer enzyme (XgtA) of Xanthomonas campestris WU-9701. Under standard conditions, when 0.80 M ethanol and 1.2 M maltose were used as substrates with XgtA (2.5 units) and incubated in 30 mM HEPES–NaOH buffer (pH 8.0) at 45°C, only one form of ethyl glucopyranoside was selectively obtained as a product. The isolated product was identified as ethyl α- d -glucopyranoside by 1H NMR, 1H–1H COSY, and NOESY analyses. In the reaction mixture, other glucosylated products such as maltotriose and ethylmaltoside were not detected. Under optimum conditions, 180 mM (37.5 g/L) α-EG was produced in one batch production for 80 h. Further, the reaction rate of α-EG production decreased with an increase in glucose, especially more than 500 mM. In contrast, the addition of glucose isomerase decreased the concentration of glucose and was useful for maintaining a glucose concentration of less than 500 mM in the reaction mixture. Thus, owing to the enzymatic reaction with XgtA and glucose isomerase, as much as 260 mM (54.1 g/L) α-EG was produced in one batch production for 100 h. Altogether, this study reports the highest concentration of α-EG produced by enzymatic reaction. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, a novel SiC superjunction MOSFET with Schottky diode containing N- and P-type barrier is proposed to improving short-circuit and reverse recovery ruggedness, investigated by TCAD simulations. The adoption of superjunction and p-shields structure can reduce saturation current, and thus, improve short-circuit capability. A fine gate oxide providing long-term reliability of the device is obtained. Also, N-type Schottky diode for electrons is used to dampen bipolar conduction of the parasitic body diode, while P-type Schottky diode for holes is introduced to constrain the hole inflow and extraction attributed to the transient variation of the superjunction. As a result, compared with an SBD-wall-integrated trench MOSFET (SWITCH-MOS), a low on-resistance and high breakdown voltage of the proposed structure are gained. More importantly, the proposed device exhibits stronger temperature-dependent immunity. As expected, simulation results indicate that the proposed device under 10 nH stray inductance shows a 30%–50 % reduction in the peak reverse recovery current and a 50%–70 % decrease in the current rising slope of reverse recovery, compared to only a single superjunction, when the metal workfunction varies from 5.1 to 5.6 eV. Moreover, the short-circuit withstanding time of the proposed structure increases roughly 2 times longer than that of SWITCH-MOS. • Dual-type Schottky diodes. • Improving short-circuit capability. • Good reverse recovery robustness. • A good tradeoff between breakdown voltage and specific on-resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• All dispersants considered acted in synergy with resins in peptizing asphaltenes. • Ionic liquid yielded the best dispersing power and the highest self-association. • Significant electron-withdrawing sites were main contributors to dispersing power. • Steric hinderance associated with molecular structure affected dispersing behavior. In confronting the global climate change, reusing waste asphalt materials stands out as a key strategy for the transportation sector to preserve natural resources and reduce the carbon footprint. Recycling additives or rejuvenators are usually required in this practice, especially for boosting the recycling rate. Given the imperative need for a general compositional design principle of rejuvenators, we previously proposed an innovative formulation concept by combining softeners with asphaltene dispersants, and reported that the use of dispersants largely reduced the total quantity of rejuvenators needed and thus would minimize the environmental impacts. The present study is aimed for probing the molecular mechanisms underlying this observation, with additional interest focused on the synergistic effect of the dispersants with resins and also on the impacts due to their self-association. Selection of representative materials consisted of three types of dispersants including an ionic liquid, a phenolic amphiphile, and an ester plasticizer, in combination with an aromatic oil as the softener. Long-time molecular dynamics (MD) simulation was employed to inspect the aggregation of asphaltenes. Quantum chemical (QC) computation was performed to provide insights into the source of different dispersing behaviors. The results indicated that the three dispersants all acted in concert with resins in dispersing asphaltenes. The dispersion characteristics of asphaltenes could be viewed as a net result of the two competing mechanisms of the dispersing capability and self-association of the dispersant used. The ionic liquid exhibited much higher propensity to self-association at increasing concentrations than the phenolic dispersant, and yet the optimum performance was achieved for both when they were added at low dosages. The ester plasticizer showed minimal self-association and yielded improved dispersion with increasing concentrations. In all cases, the dispersing functionality mainly originated from the presence or formation of significant electron-withdrawing sites, collectively due to the highly electronegative cation and anion, hydrogen bonding, and polar groups. Comparison of the dispersing power was also conducted from different perspectives. The findings are expected to provide molecular insights for formulating versatile and more environmentally benign asphalt rejuvenators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Rejuvenators were formulated by combining asphaltene dispersants with softeners. • All rejuvenation schemes effectively restored the rheology and moisture resistance. • Rejuvenated asphalts exhibited similar or better long-term performance than virgin. • Ionic liquid yielded the best dispersing efficiency and aromatic softener the least. • Polar groups and forming hydrogen bonding were speculated as primary contributors. The search and development of various asphalt rejuvenators have been following a trial-and-error methodology in essence; the imperative need of improved efficiency and versatility yearns for a general principle/framework of formulating rejuvenators. In this study, we propose one such formulation concept that rejuvenators can be designed by combining asphaltene dispersants (interacting with and dispersing asphaltenes) with softeners (diluting asphaltenes). This concept was preliminarily validated in an experimental program involving three rejuvenation schemes, namely using an aromatic softener alone (as the reference) and using it together with an ionic liquid or a phenolic compound (both acting as dispersants). Immediate and long-term rejuvenating effectiveness was evaluated based on viscoelastic properties, fatigue resistance, and moisture susceptibility. The results indicated that at respective optimum dosages, the three schemes all yielded satisfactory immediate performance of rejuvenation. After long-term aging, the rejuvenated asphalts demonstrated more desired viscoelastic characteristics in resisting high-temperature deformation and low-temperature cracking, and were more fatigue resistant, as compared to the virgin binder. Rejuvenation in all cases also recovered the moisture resistance nearly to the virgin level. Infrared spectrum analysis indicated that the performance restoration was accomplished by the agents blending physically with the aged binder, which decreased the concentrations of oxidation functional groups (carbonyl and sulfoxide). The incorporation of dispersants improved the aging resistance (in terms of high temperature viscoelasticity), and substantially reduced the need of aromatic softener while providing similar or better performance compared to using the softener alone, which would lead to pronounced environmental and economic benefits. The much higher dosage efficiency was ascribed to the capability of the dispersants in peptizing and dissociating the asphaltenes, as investigated by molecular dynamics simulations. The different dispersing behaviors of the additives were examined with reference to their chemical compositions and molecular structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Established the relationship between molecular properties and electrode performance. • Biomass is used to realize the value of energy storage. • The carbon source unsaturation is obtained from the double bond equivalent diagram. Porous carbon materials have been considered a kind of promising materials for supercapacitors due to high specific surface area and excellent electronic conductivity. Soluble portions (SPs) acquired from thermal dissolution of carbon-based raw materials have been used as the carbon source for hierarchical porous carbons (HPC). In this work, mixtures of rice straw and coal at different mass ratios were selected as the raw materials for co-thermal dissolution to obtain SP X. The variation of soluble proportions and subsequent impacts on the electrochemical properties of HPC X were investigated. During thermal dissolution, the addition of rice straw increased the content of nitrogen-containing compounds in SP X. Therefore, the specific capacitance of HPC 1/4 is 355 F/g. The specific capacitance of activated carbon material without rice straw is only 299 F/g. The relationship between the molecular characteristics of carbon source and the performance of supercapacitors has been determined. In addition to oxygen-containing compounds, the presence of nitrogen-containing compounds can also lead to a higher electrochemical property for porous carbon materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A nonlinear numerical model is developed by permafrost thermal degradation. • The permafrost evolution process of SAYR is showed from 1400 to 2100. • The "Permafrost Life Cycle" is presented by degradation simulation results. Permafrost degradation is currently receiving as much attention as global warming. Permafrost evolution is a particularly slow process, making it impossible to examine the entire process by observation. Based on the heat conduction theory, in this study, a nonlinear numerical model for the entire process of permafrost evolution was developed with consideration of phase transition. The numerical simulation model was used to retrospectively analyse the evolution process and degradation pattern of permafrost in Tangchama beach-land in the Source Area of the Yellow River (SAYR) from 1400 to 2100; this analysis was performed using ice core inversion results obtained from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau since the Little Ice Age and various future climate change scenarios from the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report. The simulation results showed that: 1) since 1900, permafrost temperatures have substantially increased, exceeding the range of change between 1400 and 1900; under the RCP2.6, RCP6.0 and RCP8.5 scenarios, permafrost will degrade and disappear in the next 100 years, and the degradation rate will subsequently accelerate. 2) The permafrost table steadily goes downward at first, and the onset of fast permafrost degradation is signalled by the appearance of a residual thawed layer at a depth of 3–4 m. The permafrost layer then gradually thins out as the permafrost table rapidly descends and the permafrost base slowly ascends. The permafrost will fully deteriorate and vanish once the permafrost table and the permafrost base bounds overlap. 3) Due to permafrost degradation, the ground temperature curve can be divided into the following stages: uniform gradient stage, C-type stage, zero-gradient type stage and phase transition stage. The four stages of the "permafrost life cycle" are initial temperature warming, continuous temperature rising, residual thawed layer, and final permafrost disappearance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the discharge coefficient of a cylindrical hole with gas jets in liquid crossflow in a cavitation tunnel. Utilizing the Π theorem, the research examines the dimensionless parameters influencing the discharge coefficient. The results indicate that an increase in the Froude number notably diminishes the discharge coefficient at low-pressure ratios, primarily due to intensified crossflow shear effects, which constrain the effective flow area of the gas jet. However, as the pressure ratio increases, the gas jet velocity rises, attenuating the shear effect of the liquid crossflow and augmenting the discharge coefficient. Examining the correlation between total pressure ratio and discharge coefficient reveals that below a total pressure ratio of 1, the inhibiting effect of crossflow static pressure on the discharge coefficient is more pronounced than that of dynamic pressure. Conversely, beyond a ratio of 1, dynamic pressure imposes a more substantial inhibiting effect compared to static pressure. Additionally, the study assesses the impact of the jet Reynolds number on the discharge coefficient, demonstrating that the viscosity of gas jet has a negligible effect compared to the shear effect of the liquid crossflow. Furthermore, it is found that with an increase in the Euler number, the discharge coefficient increases at the same pressure or velocity ratio, decreases at the same momentum ratio, and remains unchanged at the same momentum flux ratio. Comparing the effects of those above non-dimensional parameters on the discharge coefficient indicates that the momentum flux ratio is the most significant dimensionless parameter that affects the discharge coefficient. • Experimentally studied the discharge coefficient of a gas jet in a liquid crossflow. • Proposed an equivalent total pressure ratio based on the incompressibility assumption. • Found that the effective flow area of the jet directly affects the discharge coefficient. • Provided a method for correlating the discharge coefficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate prediction of the rate of penetration (ROP) is a difficult issue in the drilling process, especially under complex formation conditions. Many methods, such as mechanism and machine learning, were introduced to investigate it. However, most of them are offline prediction methods which may not be capable of capturing the online trend of ROP. In this paper, a novel dynamic model for ROP prediction is proposed considering the process characteristics, which consists of three stages. In the first stage, the correlations between ROP and eight drilling parameters are analyzed, and the rotational speed, weight on bit, depth are selected as the model inputs. In the second stage, the drilling data are pre-processed by using the filtering and re-sampling techniques. In the last stage, the moving window strategy, extreme learning machine, and 10-fold cross validation are used to establish the ROP model. Our main idea of online prediction of ROP lies in this last stage. Specifically, two steps (modeling and prediction) are executed alternately in the moving drilling depth windows so as to predict the ROP more accurately. Finally, the proposed ROP prediction model is applied to the drilling well ZK3 in Xiangyang area, Central China. The prediction accuracy is improved by at least 7% compared with seven well-known ROP prediction methods, two online and five offline, which validates the effectiveness of the proposed method. It is believed that the proposed model provides a basis for intelligent optimization control in drilling process. • A novel intelligent dynamic model is proposed for the online prediction of drilling ROP. • The influence of the length of moving window and distance between two windows are investigated thoroughly. • The proposed model can learn autonomously in the drilling process and has a fast computation speed. • The proposed method has a higher prediction accuracy than two online and five offline well-known conventional methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Airborne fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) is known to cause respiratory inflammation such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung fibrosis. NLRP3 inflammasome activation has been implicated in these diseases; however, due to the complexity in PM 2.5 compositions, it is difficult to differentiate the roles of the components in triggering this pathway. We collected eight real-life PM 2.5 samples for a comparative analysis of their effects on NLRP3 inflammasome activation and lung fibrosis. In vitro assays showed that although the PM 2.5 particles did not induce significant cytotoxicity at the dose range of 12.5 to 100 µg/mL, they induced potent TNF-α and IL-1β production in PMA differentiated THP-1 human macrophages and TGF-β1 production in BEAS-2B human bronchial epithelial cells. At the dose of 100 µg/mL, PM 2.5 induced NLRP3 inflammasome activation by inducing lysosomal damage and cathepsin B release, leading to IL-1β production. This was confirmed by using NLRP3- and ASC-deficient cells as well as a cathepsin B inhibitor, ca-074 ME. Administration of PM 2.5 via oropharyngeal aspiration at 2 mg/kg induced significant TGF-β1 production in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and collagen deposition in the lung at 21 days post-exposure, suggesting PM 2.5 has the potential to induce pulmonary fibrosis. The ranking of in vitro IL-1β production correlates well with the in vivo total cell count, TGF-β1 production, and collagen deposition. In summary, we demonstrate that the PM 2.5 is capable of inducing NLRP3 inflammasome activation, which triggers a series of cellular responses in the lung to induce fibrosis. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disease in the elderly population. However, there are no reliable diagnostic biomarkers for PD, and the pathogenesis of PD still needs further study. The aim of the current study was to identify potential biomarkers and explore the pathogenesis of PD. We conducted an integrative analysis of messenger RNA (mRNA), microRNA (miRNA), and long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) expression profiles of PD using data from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO). The GSE110720, GSE110719 and GSE133347 data sets were selected and analysed. Gene ontology (GO) enrichment and gene set variation analysis (GSVA) were performed for annotation, visualization, and integrated discovery. Protein–protein interaction (PPI) and competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) networks were constructed, and hub genes were identified. Meanwhile, the immune infiltration analysis of hub genes was analysed. Moreover, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were generated to verify the diagnostic value of the differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Finally, the genes with high area under the curve (AUC) values were verified by human samples. We identified 464 DEGs closely related to PD, including 154 mRNAs, 134 miRNAs, and 176 lncRNAs. The GO analyses indicated that changes in PD were mainly enriched in receptor ligand activity and cytokine receptor binding. The KEGG enrichment analysis showed that these DEGs were significantly involved in cytokine-cytokine receptor interactions, signalling pathways regulating the pluripotency of stem cells and Th17 cell differentiation. GSVA suggested that growth factor binding, IL2-stat5 signalling, and IL6-jak-stat3 signalling were crucial in the development of PD. A total of five hub genes (NPBWR2, CXCL10, CXCL5, S1PR5, and GALR1) were selected via the PPI network. A ceRNA network of the CXCL5, CXCL10 and S1PR5 genes was constructed, and target genes of the three genes were screened. The immune infiltration analysis showed that there were significant differences in a variety of immune cells between the hub genes. The expression of DEGs was validated in clinical human samples by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). The expression levels of hsa-miR6895–5p, hsa-miR6791–5p, hsa-miR518f-5p, hsa-miR455–3p and TEKT4P2 were decreased, while the levels of TPTE2P6 were increased in human samples. These findings are consistent with the bioinformatics analysis results. We found that the immune inflammatory response and immune cell regulation were involved in the pathogenesis of PD. Five hub genes involved in the immune infiltration biological processes of PD based on bioinformatics. We verified the DEGs with significant differences by qRT-PCR. These findings might provide new insight into the pathogenesis of PD and the development of diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for PD. • A total of 464 differentially expressed genes in Parkinson's disease were identified by bioinformatics. • Five hub genes were identified by network construction. • The relationship between hub gene expression and immune infiltration was analysed. • The interesting and meaningful genes were verified by qRT-PCR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Coordination polymer {[Mn 2 (BTIA) 2 (H 2 O)]·7H 2 O} n was synthesized solvothermally. • The structure is a 4,8-connected 3D framework. • Antiferromagnetic (AF) interactions exist between Mn2+ ions. • The porous Mn-MOF shows a small uptake capacity for CO 2. One three dimensional metal organic framework {[Mn 2 (BTIA) 2 (H 2 O)]·7H 2 O} n (Mn-1) was synthesized from the multidentate organic linker 4,6-bistriazole isophthalic acid (H 2 BTIA) and MnCl 2 ·4H 2 O under solvothermally condition. The structure of 1 exhibits as a three-dimensional framework fabricated by the binuclear subunits [Mn 2 (COO) 2 (H 2 O)] and the organic linkers (H 2 BTIA). Topologically, it displays a binodal framework with Schläfli symbol (44 · 62) 2 (416 · 612), which contains one dimensional channels along a direction. The magnetic behavior of Mn-1 was investigated, which discloses the antiferromagnetic (AF) interactions between Mn2+ ions with the coupling constant J = −1.38 cm−1. In additin, the porous Mn-MOF shows a small uptake capacity for CO 2. [Display omitted] One 3D coordination polymers {[Mn 2 (BTIA) 2 (H 2 O)]·7H 2 O} n have been successfully obtained based on multidentate linker 4,6-bistriazole isophthalic acid (H 2 BTIA). The structure of 1 fabricated into a 3D MOF by the binuclear subunits [Mn 2 (COO) 2 (H 2 O)] and the organic connectors (H 2 BTIA). It displays a binodal framework with Schläfli symbol (44 · 62) 2 (416 · 612) with 1D channels along a direction. The magnetic behavior of Mn-1 discloses AF couplings between Mn2+ ions in every subunit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Semi-analytic methods are used to solve 3D DPL problems. • Compared with FEM, the semi-analytic method has higher computational efficiency. • The phase lag of heat flow and the phase lag of temperature gradient have influence on the temperature response speed and the formation of temperature field. With the development of picosecond laser technology, the dual-phase-lagging (DPL) model is more suitable to describe the heat transfer problem with micro-scale effect and micro-time effect. In this paper, a three-dimensional dual-phase-lagging heat transfer model for picosecond laser processing is established. Then Fourier transform (FT) and Laplace transform (LT) are used to derive the frequency response functions (FRFs) of the problem in the frequency domain, and the inverse Laplace transform (ILT) and discrete-convolution fast Fourier transform (DC-FFT) algorithm are used to solve the temperature field. The calculation accuracy of this method is verified and the effect of phase lag constants on temperature field is studied. The results show that the semi-analytical method has a high accuracy for solving the dual-phase-lagging heat conduction model, and the phase lag of heat flux will affect the heating rate in the heating stage, and the phase lag of temperature gradient will delay the formation of temperature field. The effect of phase lag constants on temperature-time history is investigated and the related phenomena are explained by using the two-step heat transfer theory. This semi-analytical method provides a new approach to solve the problem of three-dimensional dual-phase-lagging heat transfer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The laser-ablated reaction process of two aluminized cyclotrimethylene-trinitramine (RDX) explosives with additives is presented, one formulation is RDX/aluminum (Al) /ammonium perchlorate (AP) and named AH, the other is RDX/Al/AP/Boron (B)/magnesium hydride (MgH 2) and named BH. Laser ablation combined with a high-speed photography and an emission spectrometer in this paper provides a high time-resolution observation of the reaction process of energetic materials in laboratory scale. A sample plate with an array of cylindrical holes was used to load the explosive powders for high-throughput studies, and a complete fresh sample was ablated each time to ensure the consistency of the sample status. From the laser-ablated images, AH exhibits a longer combustion duration than aluminized RDX with no additional additives, and BH has an even longer combustion duration than AH. Both AH and BH show a monotonic decreasing trend in luminous intensities, but AH has higher intensities than BH from 3 to 30 µs. In addition to the observation of AlO molecular emission lines in the spectra of AH and BH, neutral magnesium (Mg I) emission lines were observed in the spectra of BH. The spectral distribution with time indicates that the oxidation reaction of Al is the main reason leading to persistent combustion in AH and BH. Overall analysis directly reveals that AP promotes the combustion of AH and makes the afterburning of Al with ambient air less significant, and B/MgH 2 prolongs the combustion duration of BH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• PM2.5 inhibits activation of NLRP3 inflammasome induced by LPS combined with H1N1 PR8 infection. • AHR-TIPARP axis mediates the role of PM2.5 in suppressing expression of type I interferon induced by influenza virus. • PM2.5 increases the susceptibility of H1N1 virus infection in vivo. PM2.5, a major component of air pollutants, has caused severe health problems. It has been reported that PM2.5 index is closely associated with severity of influenza A virus (IAV) infection. However, the underlying mechanisms have not been addressed. NLRP3 inflammasome and type I interferon signaling regulate host defense against influenza infection. The present study investigated the potential effects of air pollutants on host defense against influenza infection in vitro and in vivo. In this study, different concentrations of PM2.5 were pre-exposed to macrophages and mice before IAV infection to assess the negative effects of air pollutants in virus infection. We found that exposure to PM2.5 deteriorated influenza virus infection via compromising innate immune responses manifested by a decrease IL-1β and IFN-β production in vitro. Meanwhile, mice exposed with PM2.5 were susceptible to PR8 virus infection due to down-regulation of IL-1β and IFN-β. Mechanistically, PM 2.5 exposure suppressed the NLRP3 inflammasome activation and the AHR-TIPARP signaling pathway, by which compromised the anti-influenza immunity. Thus, our study revealed that PM2.5 could alter macrophage inflammatory responses by suppressing LPS-induced activation of NLRP3 inflammasome and expression of IFN-β during influenza infection. These findings provided us new insights in understanding that PM2.5 combining with influenza infection could enhance the severity of pneumonia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An ensemble visual-audio emotion recognition framework is proposed based on multi-task and blending learning with multiple features in this paper. To solve the problem that existing features can not accurately identify different emotions, we extract two kinds features, i. e., Interspeech 2010 and deep features for audio data, LBP and deep features for visual data, with the intent to accurately identify different emotions by using different features. Owing to the diversity of features, SVM classifiers and CNN are designed for manual features, i.e., Interspeech 2010 features and local LBP features, and deep features, through which four sub-models are obtained. Finally, the blending ensemble algorithm is used to fuse sub-models to improve the recognition performance of visual-audio emotion recognition. In addition, multi-task learning is applied in the CNN model for deep features, which can predict multiple tasks at the same time with fewer parameters and improve the sensitivity of the single recognition model to user's emotion by sharing information between different tasks. Experiments are performed using eNTERFACCE database, from which the results indicate that the recognition of multi-task CNN increased by 3% and 2% on average over CNN model in speaker-independent and speaker-dependent experiments, respectively. And emotion recognition accuracy of visual-audio by our method reaches 81.36% and 78.42% in speaker-independent and speaker-dependent experiments, respectively, which maintain higher performance than some state-of-the-art works. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we proposed a FPGA implementation architecture for SVM classifier. The architecture is based on the proposed Shared Dot Product Matrix (SDPM) method which computes and stores the dot product of all training data before SVM searching process. We implemented the proposed method by software simulation and hardware implementation. The software simulation of SDPM method achieves twice the speed of LIBSVM, which is one of the most popular SVM implementation libraries. This acceleration mainly results from the reduction of repeat Kernel function calculation. Then the hardware software collaboration architecture for SDPM is also proposed in this paper. Results show that the proposed architecture achieves approximately 30 times faster searching speed compared with LIBSVM. • The contributions of this manuscript are as follows: • We propose a Shared dot product matrix algorithm to reduce the computation complexity of SVM OTPC searching. • Based on the proposed algorithm, we implement it in software and compare the performance with that of LIBSVM. • We also design a hardware software collaboration architecture based on the proposed algorithm to accelerate the searching process. • In our design, the software implementation and LIBSVM is processed by C++. The hardware software collaboration architecture is implemented by FPGA. Test results show that the software implementation can reach 2 times faster than that of LIBSVM. The hardware software collaboration architecture can reach approximately 30 times faster than that of LIBSVM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is about a method to build direct biomass cells enabling complete fuel oxidation. Heated at a temperature from 40 °C to 90 °C, the fuel (glycerol) will be esterified in a solution of phosphoric acid to form monophosphate. A fuel cell fed with thus partly phosphorylated glycerol come with open circuit voltages varying from 0.65 to 0.83 V. The current densities are close to the values of a fuel cell run in a solution of NaOH, but 10 times higher than that of a cell with a neutral electrolyte (e.g. Na 2 SO 4). Under optimized conditions, peak values of current density and power density are obtained at about 20 mA cm−2 and 2.2 mW cm−2 respectively. Thereafter a series of oxidized C 1 –C 3 intermediates are detected in the discharged solutions. More importantly several cycles of fuel refeeding do not lead to any accumulation of glycerol or the discharging intermediates. This means in situ phosphorylation can successfully activate the fuel and facilitate its' complete oxidation. Though discharging performance needs to be further improved, this partly phosphorylation method can be simple and effective to increase fuel utilization percentages in direct saccharide cells. Image 1 • Direct biomass fuel cell fed with glycerol in phosphoric acid. • In situ phosphorylation leads to the complete oxidation of the fuel. • The electrolyte is sustainable (not consumed by CO 2 in the air or acidic discharging intermediates). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dependence of county industry on high CO 2 emission industries makes it difficult to balance the development of county economy and CO 2 emission reduction. Therefore, this article attempts to study on the spatial-temporal evolution and influencing factor on land use-related CO 2 emissions at region-county level to promote county economy from CO 2 source to CO 2 sink. 9 regions and 38 counties in Chongqing of China were thus selected as study objects. Based on land use data, land use-related CO 2 emissions were estimated using direct and indirect CO 2 emission models for the period 1997–2015. On this basis, the space-time patterns were revealed from two scales of region and county. And the main factors influencing CO 2 emissions according to land use were revealed based on Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) and geographic detector analysis (GDA), respectively. The results show that: 1) at regional scale, CO 2 emissions of different regions all greatly improve in which southeastern ecological protection and development area showed the largest increase. Increases in per capita CO 2 emissions in two-wing (suburban) areas are higher than those in downtown and surrounding-downtown areas. 2) at regional scale, the influences of various decomposed factors on the change of CO 2 emissions fluctuate. The effect of population shows an insignificant influence on CO 2 emissions. Economic development greatly influences CO 2 emissions. Additionally, energy consumption shows a significant inhibitory effect on CO 2 emissions while energy mix exhibits significant hysteresis. 3) at county scale, heavy CO 2 emissions are concentrated in core urban areas; moderate and mild emissions occur mainly in the main urban expansion area, the region around the main urban areas, and in regional hub cities; low emissions are mainly concentrated in the Wuling mountainous area in southeast Chongqing and the Three Gorges Reservoir area in northeast Chongqing. 4) at county scale, the main influences on land use-related CO 2 emissions are total energy consumption, per capita GDP, and urbanization rate. Minor influences include population size, proportion of secondary and tertiary industries, and proportion of land used for construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A facile and practical melt blending to prepare antimicrobial PET was proposed. • The antimicrobial PP- g -PHMG enriched on the surfaces of PET materials. • The PET materials had excellent antimicrobial activities and nonleaching characteristic. Antimicrobial poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) materials are highly demanding in various applications in the industry. However, the combination of large-scale preparation, cost-effective and nonleaching characteristic still remains challenges. Herein, antimicrobial PET materials were prepared by an easy-to-scale-up melting blending between neat PET and polypropylene grafted poly(hexamethylene guanidine) (PP- g -PHMG). Such PET materials exhibited excellent antimicrobial activities, such as above 98.0% and 99.9% of inhibition rates against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus , respectively. Nonleaching characteristic was confirmed by the inhibition zone test. More importantly, the antimicrobial component enriched on the surfaces of PET materials due to the difference in the compatibility between PET matrix and PP- g -PHMG and the heterogeneous repulsive effect of crystallization. This work provides a facile and easy-to-scale-up way to obtain nonleaching antimicrobial PET. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A ratiometric electrochemical sensor for TBHQ detection is developed. • ERGO at the MnO 2 /ERGO/GCE can improve the sensitivity for TBHQ detection. • The MnO 2 nanoparticles are used as an internal reference electrochemical probe. • The ratiometric sensor was applied for TBHQ detection in real edible oil samples. In the work, a ratiometric electrochemical sensor for tert-butylhydroquinone (TBHQ) detection is constructed based on the modified electrode consisting of manganese dioxide (MnO 2) and electrochemically reduced graphene oxide (ERGO) nanocomposite film. MnO 2 was electrodeposited onto the electrochemically reduced graphene oxide (ERGO) placed on a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) to form the MnO 2 /ERGO/GCE. The construction process of the MnO 2 /ERGO/GCE electrode was characterized by scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and Raman spectroscopy. The electrochemical signal responses of the TBHQ sensor were recorded by differential pulse voltammetric measurements. The experimental results demonstrate that MnO 2 can be used as the inner reference electrochemical probe, and ERGO can improve the sensitivity for TBHQ detection. It can be found that as the TBHQ concentration increases, the anodic peak current of TBHQ at the MnO 2 /ERGO/GCE increases, but the anodic peak current of MnO 2 at such the modified electrode almost remains unchangeable. The net peak current ratio between TBHQ and MnO 2 is chosen for quantitative detection of TBHQ. The developed ratiometric sensor exhibits two linear ranges of 1.0–50.0 μM and 100.0–300.0 μM for detecting TBHQ. The detection limit for TBHQ detection is estimated to be 0.8 μM on the basis of signal-to-noise (S / N) of 3. Moreover, the ratiometric electrochemical sensor is successfully applied for TBHQ detection in real edible oil samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Similar to gluten, zein can form a viscoelastic network upon hydration and shear. This makes zein a promising protein to develop gluten-free bakery products. In this study, the effect of addition of different hydrocolloids (hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC), guar and xanthan gum), and the inclusion of pregelatinized starch (PG starch) and lactic acid (LA) on zein-corn starch dough and bread properties was examined. The addition of HPMC, and to a lesser extent guar gum, significantly changed the viscoelastic zein dough properties and resulted in bread samples with improved loaf volume and sensory properties. Scanning electron microscopy revealed the formation of a continuous fine foam-like structure in the zein-starch dough when HPMC and guar gum were added. This finer structure translated in a lower dough stiffness and resistance to deformation, and a higher degree of deformation characterized by lower complex moduli and increased creep compliance values. Xanthan gum addition, conversely, had an adverse effect on zein bread loaf volume which was attributed to potential weak repulsion between xanthan and zein molecules. In addition, the amount of α-helix and β-sheet secondary structures in bread samples was altered upon hydrocolloid and PG starch addition and played a role in bread crumb hardness. Overall, the zein bread with HPMC showed textural properties most similar to gluten bread. This research sheds light on different structure levels of zein-based gluten-free recipes as affected by inclusion of hydrocolloids, PG starch and LA, and provides a sound basis for the rational development of zein-based gluten-free breads. [Display omitted] • Zein forms a viscoelastic fibrillar network upon hydration and shear. • Zein-starch (Z-S) systems hold promise for gluten-free bread production. • Hydrocolloid addition alters the viscoelastic dough properties of Z-S recipes. • Hydrocolloid characteristics strongly determine protein structure in Z-S recipes. • Molecular built and microstructure of hydrocolloid Z-S dough relate to loaf quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • The work provides a rapid preparation method for defective HKUST-1 with hierarchical micropores and mesopores and Cu1+/Cu2+ mixed-valence sites. • Defective HKUST-1 exhibited specific loading of silibinin A&B with larger molecules from silymarin within 5 min, and high separation efficiency with 91.2% purity after primary separation. • The site competition mechanism for specific recognition and loading of active monomers into mesopores of defective MOF was elucidated at molecular level. • Silibinin A&B preferentially acted on Cu2+ and Cu1+ clusters with the highest binding energy via hydrogen and coordination bonds, respectively. • The separation approach by defective MOF is easy to operate, and requires no specific equipment. Discovering and separating active monomers from natural products is an efficient way to develop new drugs, but faces the difficulty in complex and time-consuming separation process. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are considered a promising separation strategy due to their molecular recognition properties, but their microporous nature poses challenges for capturing most natural compounds with molecule sizes larger than 20 Å. For the first time, this study proposed a simple and efficient approach to separate active monomeric components with larger diameters from structurally similar natural compounds by defect modulation strategy. In this study, defective HKUST-1 with hierarchical microporous/ mesoporous structures and Cu1+/Cu2+ mixed-valence sites was rapidly synthesized. The defective MOF demonstrated specific loading of silibinin A&B from silymarin containing seven structurally similar flavonoids within 5 min, and high separation capacity with the purity of ∼91.2% after primary separation. FTIR, XPS, and DFT calculation revealed the site competition mechanism for specific recognition and loading, where silibinin A&B preferentially acted on Cu2+ and Cu1+ clusters with the highest binding energy via hydrogen and coordination bonds, respectively. Compared to traditional separation techniques, the separation approach via defective MOF shows multiple advantages including high specificity, high separation efficiency, and easy to operate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of nanophononic metamaterials presents new opportunities for controlling thermal conduction. Using the theory of elasticity and the finite element method, we systematically investigated the thermal conductance of two-dimensional nanophononic metamaterials embedded with cylindrical arrays. When the sound speed of the embedded material is higher than matrix, there is a weak correlation between structural parameters and thermal conductance. However, when the nanophononic metamaterials are embedded with lower sound speed materials, they exhibit clear local resonances. The local resonance frequency can move to a higher or lower range depending on the filler radius. Local resonances reduce group velocity but greatly increase the phonon density of states, contributing to an increase in thermal conductance. Furthermore, this conclusion applies to nanophononic metamaterials with different matrix materials. • We investigate thermal transport properties of 2D nanophononic metamaterials. • Nanophononic metamaterials embedded with soft materials exhibit local resonances. • Local resonances reduce group velocity but increase the phonon density of states. • Local resonances finally lead to an increase in thermal conductance. • The frequency of these local resonances can move to a higher or lower range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Oxidative aging promoted and further stabilized asphaltene aggregation. • The driving force for aggregation was dispersion between the fused aromatic cores. • All additives reduced asphaltene aggregation and improved orientational randomness. • TBC exhibited the highest potential due to spatial distribution of four polar sites. Economic and environmental sustainability has been a significant stimulus to the use of recycled asphalt materials in the pavement industry. In this practice, rejuvenators are usually required to treat the oxidized asphalts with the aim to restore the physical properties and engineering performance. A critical function required for rejuvenators is that they can deagglomerate the asphaltene aggregates by effectively interacting with them. This study employed the techniques of molecular dynamics simulations and quantum chemical calculations, and investigated the impacts of oxidation on asphaltenes and the deagglomerating potential of three selected additives with different molecular structures and polarities, i.e., tributyl citrate (TBC), limonene, and myristamide. Analyses based on the aggregation number, orientational order parameter, and decomposition of the interaction energy indicated that oxidation strengthened the binding between the asphaltenes and thus promoted their aggregation behaviors. Among the three additives, TBC exhibited the highest rejuvenating effectiveness as it restrained the formation of large asphaltene aggregates and improved the orientational randomness of the aromatic cores. This capability was attributed to the highest number of polar sites in TBC and its three-dimensional spatial structure, which enhanced the compatibility and interactions with the aged asphaltenes. Based on the independent gradient model (IGM) method, the asphaltene aggregation is driven by the π-π interactions dominated by dispersion forces between the fused aromatic cores. The additives weakened the asphaltene interactions to different degrees, but the reversing effects were limited compared to the unaged state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Two coordination polymers {[Co(TIA)(H 2 O) 2 ]·0.25H 2 O} n and {[Mn(TIA)(H 2 O) 2 ]·0.5H 2 O} n were successfully obtained. Both of them are as 3,3-linked two-dimensional layers. The static and/or dynamic magnetic characteristics of the two polymers were investigated.Graphical Abstract Two coordination polymers {[Co(TIA)(H 2 O) 2 ]·0.25H 2 O} n (Co-1), and {[Mn(TIA)(H 2 O) 2 ]·0.5H 2 O} n (Mn-2) were obtained solvothermally based on the exquisite combination of multidentate rigid linker 5-(1H-1,2,4-triazol-1-yl) isophthalic acid (H 2 TIA) and M(NO 3) 2 ·6H 2 O (M = Co(II), Mn(II)). The structures of 1-2 are both as 3,3-linked two-dimensional layers, which assemble into three dimensional supramolecular microporous structures by O−H⋅⋅⋅O hydrogen bonds. In addition, the static and/or dynamic magnetic characteristics of the two polymers were investigated. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For an electron confined to a surface reconstructed by double-frequency corrugations, we give the effective Hamiltonian by the formula of geometric influences, obtain an additive scalar potential induced by curvature that consists of attractive wells with different depth. The difference is generated by the multiple frequency of the double-frequency corrugation. Subsequently, we investigate the effects of geometric potential on the transmission probability, and find the resonant tunneling peaks becoming rapidly sharper and the transmission gaps being substantially widened with increasing the multiple frequency. As a potential application, double-frequency corrugations can be employed to select electrons with particular incident energy, as an electronic switch, which are more effective than a single-frequency ones. • For an electron confined on a thin film reconstructed by dual-frequency corrugation, the depth of the attractive wells determined by geometric potential is extremely affected by the multiple frequency number n of the composite corrugation. • The grade number of Dirac combs constructed by the geometric potential is determined by the multiple frequency number n. In different grades, the attractive wells have different depths. • In the discussed model, transmission gaps and resonant tunneling domains emerge from the corrugations. More specifically, the transmission gaps are extremely widened and the resonant tunneling domains are substantially sharpened by increasing the multiple frequency number n. • These results can be briefed as 1) A thin film reconstructed by a composite corrugation; 2) Transmission gaps reshaped by the composite corrugation; 3) Curvature-tunable electronic switch. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In this work, high pure Mo-10 wt% Cu composite powders with a ultrafine particle size are prepared by a two-step reduction process (first carbothermal reduction and then hydrogen reduction). Ammonium heptamolybdate and copper nitrate trihydrate powders are used as molybdenum and copper source, respectively. The mixtures of raw materials are calcined at 400 °C firstly to form the composite oxides which are then reacted with insufficient carbon black at 1050 °C for 2 h. The as-prepared powders are further reduced by hydrogen at 750 °C for 2 h to obtain the ultrafine Mo-10 wt% Cu composite powders. The experimental results show that the residual carbon of the Mo-10 wt% Cu powders can be decreased to 0.015 wt%, and the composite powders have an average particle size of 200 nm. The sintering behavior of ultrafine Mo Cu powders and the properties (vickers hardness and thermal conductivity) of samples after sintering are investigated. High sintering temperature is beneficial to increase the density of the compact. At 1200 °C, the relative density of the Mo Cu compacts is 98.8%. The vickers hardness and thermal conductivity of the Mo-10 wt% Cu composites sintered at 1200 °C for 3 h are 233 HV and 130 (W/m·k), respectively. Graphical abstract Unlabelled Image Highlights • Mo-10 wt.% Cu powders are prepared by carbothermal and hydrogen reduction. • The average particle size of Mo-10 wt.% Cu composite powders is about 200 nm. • Mo-10 wt.% Cu compact after sintering at 1200 °C exhibits excellent properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A fatigue simulation algorithm based on W R sum failure criterion was validated for bio-binders. • Bio-oil modification reduced binder stiffness but improved resistance to fatigue cracking. • Aging enhanced binder deformation resistance but compromised fatigue performance. • Consistent observations on fatigue were made from rheological parameters and LAS approach. This study was aimed to evaluate the fatigue characteristics of asphalt binders modified with different dosages of bio-oil under a variety of aging conditions. The frequency sweep test was performed to determine four rheological parameters indicative of cracking resistance. The linear amplitude sweep (LAS) test was conducted to yield damage characteristic relationship, failure criterion, and failure envelope based on the viscoelastic continuum damage theory. In general, consistent observations were obtained between the rheological parameters and the LAS-based fatigue analysis, in that higher percentages of bio-oil in modification provided improved resistance to cracking, while higher aging intensities produced lower fatigue performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The teeth of planetary gear trains are prone to wear and can be damaged. In traditional wear monitoring, the equipment needs to be disassembled, and the efficiency is low. The wear debris in lubricating oil can provide information about machine wear. On-line oil monitoring technology can easily recognize the change of wear debris concentration in the gearbox oil pan without the need for disassembling equipment. However, existing on-line monitoring systems are often based on wear debris concentration, providing limited information on particle shape and type, which are important for root cause analysis. In this study, some new features of wear debris were extracted for on-line wear monitoring in order to improve wear state evaluation and prediction using on-line approach. • The new algorithms can realize the on-line wear debris monitoring images denoising and wear information extraction. • Several new indicators of wear debris chains can be used to analyze the shape and concentration of wear debris. • The new factor can be used to estimate the distribution of indicators accurately and evaluate the wear state quickly. • Gear box wear tests and on-line wear debris analysis was conducted to evaluate the performances of new methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • We investigate thermal transport properties of black and blue phosphorene nanoribbons with different edges and widths. • Black and blue phosphorene nanoribbons all exhibit a clear anisotropic thermal performance. • We model an in-plane heterostructures of black and blue phosphorene nanoribbons. • The in-plane heterostructures possess a tunable thermal conductance which depends on the way how they are linked. Abstract The thermal transport properties of black and blue phosphorene nanoribbons and in-plane heterostructures are systematically investigated by non-equilibrium Green's-function method. Both edge shape and width have a sensitive influence on the thermal conductance of pristine black and blue phosphorene nanoribbons and they all exhibit a clear anisotropic thermal performance. Interestingly, the in-plane heterostructures possess a tunable thermal conductance which depends on the percentage of black phosphorene nanoribbons and the way how they are linked. These findings will provide new applications in nanoelectronic and thermoelectric devices based on phosphorene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In gear transmissions, there is a tight relationship between the gear nonlinear dynamics and the tribology. Due to the complicated kinematic and meshing properties, there are lack of investigations of tribo-dynamics in spiral bevel gears. For this reason, a tribo-dynamic model of spiral bevel gear is proposed at present study through an iterative numerical scheme to bridge an eight degree-of freedom nonlinear dynamic model with a recently developed mixed lubrication model. The tribo-dynamic model can handle the complex gear contact geometry, entraining flow angle and real machined surface roughness. Based on the surface normal pressure and tangential shear obtained from tribo-dynamic model, the fatigue life is simulated using a rolling-contact fatigue (RCF) life model. The results show that the tribology has a significant influence on gear nonlinear dynamic behavior, especially in the vicinity resonance. In addition, in comparison of the simulation results between the tribo-dynamic and quasi-static conditions, evident deviations are observed, pointing to the important role of the gear dynamics in the lubrication performance and fatigue life in spiral bevel gears. Highlights • Tis paper is to develop a tribodynamic model in spiral bevel gears through an iterative numerical scheme. • Based on the tribo-dynamic model, the fatigue life is simulated using a rolling-contact fatigue (RCF) life model. • The important role of the gear dynamics in the lubrication performance and fatigue life in spiral bevel gears is found. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • The chemical and rheological parameters were sensitive to material composition. • Fair to good correlations were observed among chemical and rheological properties. • All binder parameters yielded generally consistent observations with SCB J c. • The best ranking agreement with SCB J c was provided by Carbonyl Index and A LAS. Abstract This study was aimed to evaluate chemical and rheological properties of recovered asphalt binders, and to ascertain their implications on crack resistance as determined by the semi-circular bend test on the asphalt mixtures. The asphalt mixtures incorporated various contents of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) and recycled asphalt shingles (RAS) and warm-mix asphalt (WMA) technologies. The determined asphalt binder parameters generally presented consistent trends with respect to RAP/RAS content. The WMA technologies evaluated were found to produce mixtures with similar cracking performance with the conventional hot-mix asphalt mixtures. The rank correlations between asphalt properties and mixtures' crack resistance was also evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract A tunable dual-wavelength fiber ring-cavity laser based on semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) using two external-injected distributed feedback (DFB) lasers is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. When one of the injected DFB lasers operates at 25 °C and the other at 0 °C, a stable dual-wavelength simultaneous oscillation at 1553.68 nm and 1553.90 nm with a wavelength spacing of 0.22 nm is achieved. The wavelength spacing can be tuned by adjusting the operating temperatures of the two injected DFB lasers, and a tuning range from 0.22 nm to 2.95 nm is obtained. Our experimental results demonstrate the new concept of dual-wavelength fiber ring-cavity laser using two DFB lasers injection and the technical feasibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • The GR fatigue failure criterion unified LAS and TS tests but was temperature dependent. • The WR sum failure criterion unified both LAS and TS tests under all test temperatures. • WCO softened asphalt binders and generally improved binder fatigue performance. • Both SBS and crumb rubber modifications significantly enhanced binder fatigue resistance. Abstract This study assessed the fatigue performance of asphalt binders modified with crumb rubber, waste cooking oil (WCO), and Styrene-Butadiene-Styrene (SBS). The experimental program included linear amplitude sweep (LAS) and time sweep (TS) tests with different loading profiles under various test temperatures. The objective was to compare the fatigue analyses based on the recently proposed GR and WR sum failure criteria within the viscoelastic continuum damage (VECD) modeling framework. Simulation algorithms were developed for the two criteria which allowed for fatigue performance evaluation. The results indicated that the damage characteristic relationship was slightly dependent on test method and strain profile, and the degree of dependence was material specific. The two failure criteria appeared to be fundamental material functions; the GR criterion was temperature dependent but was able to unify both LAS and TS tests, while the WR sum criterion unified both test methods under all temperatures. With respect to modification, an optimum WCO dosage of 3% was identified according to the WR sum criterion for the best fatigue performance. Both the SBS and crumb rubber modifications were observed to significantly improve the fatigue resistance based on the two failure criteria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Biomaterials play a significant role in energy storage devices owing to their renewable, inexpensive and eco-friendly peculiarity. In this study, potato biomass porous carbon (PBPC), which was fabricated by a facile two-step carbonization, was used as the anode material for potassium-ion batteries (KIBs). The crystal structure and mesoporous morphology of the carbon derivative at various carbonation temperatures are fully investigated. The electrochemical performance of PBPC electrodes is evaluated, presenting a high reversible specific capacity (248 mA h g−1 at 100 mA g−1), an excellent rate performance (152 mA h g−1 at 1000 mA g−1) and a superior cycle stability (almost no capacity decay after 400 cycles at a current density of 500 mA g−1 with a Coulombic efficiency about 100%). The superior electrochemical performance is mainly attributed to the uniformly distributed mesopores on PBPC electrode which facilitate the electrolyte transportation and diffusion. This work provides a simple and novel strategy to construct porous carbon as high-performance anode materials for KIBs through a sustainable and environment-friendly way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • The basement structural evolution of North China Craton experienced three stages. • Faults, orogenic belts and rock series are basis for dividing basement tectonic units. • Gravity and magnetic anomalies are important basis for structural unit divisions. • Magnetic abnormalities well identify structural boundaries and faults. • Multi-scale decomposed Bouguer anomalies well reflect deep basement conditions. Abstract The tectonic divisions of the North China Craton (NCC) basement has always been a hot and yet unresolved topic. We collected the latest gravity and magnetic data, and then used a two-dimensional discrete wavelet transform method to decompose the Bouguer gravity anomaly of the NCC into the 1st to 8th Approximations and Details, respectively. We then compared the dynamic tectonic division schemes with the gravity and magnetic division schemes for the Precambrian basement at the end of the Neoarchean and Archean. Our results show that the 2nd-order Detail field of the Bouguer gravity anomalies is well consistent with the Paleoproterozoic tectonic divisions of the NCC by Zhao et al. (2005), for it clearly outlines the 3-unit layout of the Eastern and Western blocks and the central Trans-North China Orogen, with some anomalous zones identically trending with the dike swarms. Faults and volcanic rocks generally produce magnetic anomalies, but the main anomalous zones in the magnetic field are merely distributed around the plate boundaries of the NCC. It may indicate that the amalgamation of the NCC was mostly completed in the Paleoproterozoic. The 5th-order Detail field of Bouguer gravity anomalies of the NCC corresponds well with its tectonic division at the end of the Neoarchean, for it well reflects the general boundaries and axial trends of the Archean units. These Archean units are mainly separated into three Paleoproterozoic tectonic units by Paleoproterozoic tectonic boundaries, respectively. The magnetic anomalies within the Western and Eastern blocks have separately similarities with the Trans-North China Orogen. The 6th-order Detail fields, however, match well the boundaries of the 10 continental nucleii of the Archean NCC, but the anomalous distributions in the 6th-order Detail are also divided by the Paleoproterozoic tectonic borders. In view of the gravity and magnetic anomalies, it further reveals that the NCC basement may have experienced a dynamic evolutionary process from continental nucleation to micro-continental amalgamation, and to a final unified crystalline basement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • A VECD-based analysis system was developed for analyzing indirect tension test. • Fatigue resistance of asphalt mixture was indicated by Material Fatigue Sensitivity. • MFS provided consistent fatigue evaluation results with DCSE. • MFS yielded reasonable fatigue assessments as per material composition factors. Abstract The indirect tension (IDT) test has been adopted as an evaluation tool to ascertain fatigue crack resistance of asphalt mixtures using the dissipated creep strain energy (DCSE) concept. This study was aimed to develop a new systematic analysis framework that is tailored for this test based on the viscoelastic continuum damage theory. The damage characteristic relationship and the Material Fatigue Sensitivity (MFS) parameter were determined to assess the fatigue properties of ten asphalt mixtures with different compositions. It was found that MFS was able to discriminate the mixtures as per material composition factors. Moreover, MFS in general yielded consistent ranking observations regarding fatigue resistance with DCSE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The plants developed more dedicated regulatory pathways than the animals did to response various environment stresses, since they could not run away. The cross-talk among the pathways generally introduce non-trivial regulatory behaviors, from which the plants may benefit. For better understanding the regulatory mechanism due to cross-talk, we study in this work two entangled stress regulatory pathways in root cells. A quantitative model of the regulatory network is constructed in the simplest fashion. An analytic parameter-free approach is then employed to analyse the response tendencies. It leads us to a simple constraint on the non-linear regulatory exponents. Under the constraint, a transition to the non-monotonic growth inhibition happens at finite concentration of ABA, due to which the plants could survive from cold/heat stress. The parameter-free tendency analysis would also be applied to further experiments, especially in the case of insufficient data for multi-parameter fitting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A dual-wavelength fiber ring-cavity laser based on InP/InGaAsP multi-quantum wells semiconductor optical amplifier is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The proof of concept device consists of a semiconductor optical amplifier with InP/InGaAsP multi-quantum wells structure as the gain medium and two intracavity cascaded fiber Bragg gratings as wavelength selector by changing their operation temperature. The results demonstrate the new concept of dual-wavelength fiber laser based semiconductor optical amplifier with InP/InGaAsP multi-quantum wells structure and the technical feasibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most of the conventional multidimensional differential sensors currently need at least two-step fabrication, namely synthesis of probe(s) and identification of multiple analytes by mixing of analytes with probe(s), and were conducted using multiple sensing elements or several devices. In the study, we chose five different nucleobases (adenine, cytosine, guanine, thymine, and uracil) as model analytes, and found that under hydrothermal conditions, sodium citrate could react directly with various nucleobases to yield different nitrogen-doped carbon nanodots (CDs). The CDs synthesized from different nucleobases exhibited different fluorescent properties, leading to their respective characteristic fluorescence spectra. Hence, we combined the fluorescence spectra of the CDs with advanced chemometrics like principle component analysis (PCA), hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA), K-nearest neighbor (KNN) and soft independent modeling of class analogy (SIMCA), to present a conceptually novel “synthesis-identification integration” strategy to construct a multidimensional differential sensor for nucleobase discrimination. Single-wavelength excitation fluorescence spectral data, single-wavelength emission fluorescence spectral data, and fluorescence Excitation-Emission Matrices (EEMs) of the CDs were respectively used as input data of the differential sensor. The results showed that the discrimination ability of the multidimensional differential sensor with EEM data set as input data was superior to those with single-wavelength excitation/emission fluorescence data set, suggesting that increasing the number of the data input could improve the discrimination power. Two supervised pattern recognition methods, namely KNN and SIMCA, correctly identified the five nucleobases with a classification accuracy of 100%. The proposed “synthesis-identification integration” strategy together with a multidimensional array of experimental data holds great promise in the construction of differential sensors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When a coded strip-patterns image (CSI) is captured in a structured light system (SLs), it often suffers from low visibility at low exposure settings. Besides degrading the visual perception of the CSI, this poor quality also significantly affects the performance of 3D model reconstruction. Most of the existing image-enhanced methods, however, focus on processing natural images but not CSI. In this paper, we propose a novel and effective CSI enhancer (CSIE) designed for SLs. More concretely, a bidirectional perceptual consistency (BPC) criterion, including relative grayscale (RG), exposure, and texture level priors, is first introduced to ensure visual consistency before and after enhancement. Then, constrained by BPC, the optimization function estimates solutions of illumination with piecewise smoothness and reflectance with detail preservation. With well-refined solutions, CSIE results can be achieved accordingly and further improve the details performance of 3D model reconstruction. Experiments on multiple sets of challenging CSI sequences show that our CSIE outperforms the existing used for natural image-enhanced methods in terms of 2D enhancement, point clouds extraction (at least 17% improvement), and 3D model reconstruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A two-stage network framework containing feature extraction from multiple domains. • A two-stage domain adaptation method based on global and class granularity. • A pseudo-tag filtering method based on high-confidence multi-classifier voting. The issue of restricted target domain tags and constrained information offered by a single source domain in the intelligent fault diagnosis may be successfully resolved by multi-source domain adaptation. Compared with traditional domain adaptation methods, multisource domain adaptation methods face more difficult challenges: the differences between domains are more complex. Hence, a two-stage domain alignment method for multi-source domain fault diagnosis is proposed. The method is accomplished by developing a common feature extractor and several domain feature extractors and classifiers, along with the two-stage distribution adaptation method. Finally, the classifier is used to forecast target samples, while the voting mechanism is utilized to construct the target samples' pseudo labels. With the resulting pseudo labels, the final model training is completed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • 1D/2D hybrid carbon film and PDMS were developed as strain-temperature sensor. • CNTs in hybrid film served as "bridges" to widen the strain sensing range. • The prestrain-induced microcracks strategy improved the temperature sensitivity. • The sensor can be used for monitoring various human motions. • The sensor can perceive body or environmental temperature for thermal management. E-skin that can mimic the complex functions of human skin has attracted considerable interest in health monitoring and medical diagnosis. However, the accurate and reliable detection of multiple external stimuli using a sole sensing component remains challenging. Herein, we describe a flexible strain-temperature sensor fabricated by employing conductive 1D multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), 2D reduced graphene oxide (RGO) and a flexible polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrate to construct a sandwich structure. Consequently, the flexible MWCNTs@RGO hybrid film with optimized conductivity exhibits a high gauge factor (GF = 1888) at a strain up to 40 %, prominent long-term durability (8000 cycles at 25 % strain), low strain detection (0.05 %) and rapid response (57 ms). The significantly enhanced performance is attributed to the synergy of tubular MWCNTs and layered RGO, as revealed by finite element analysis. Additionally, the hybrid film sensor exhibits temperature-sensing ability with a typical negative temperature coefficient of resistance and delivers an improved sensitivity upon thermal stimulus via prestrain-induced microcracks and a thermal expansion strategy. Owing to its excellent sensing properties, it can not only detect human motions in various situations but also be adopted as a temperature warning/cooling system, supporting its feasibility for use by patients lacking temperature perception and bringing convenience to daily life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Total ionizing dose effect on the voltage-controlled magnetic anisotropy Hall bar device based on HfZrO/CoFeB hybrid film. • Voltage-controlled magnetic anisotropy effect is enhanced with the accumulation of irradiation dosage. • The proposed mechanism focus on interfacial trapped charges. • HfZrO/CoFeB hybrid film possess potential for radiation-hard memory. We investigate the total ionizing dose (TID) effect on the voltage-controlled magnetic anisotropy (VCMA) Hall bar device based on HfZrO/CoFeB hybrid film. Devices under test are exposed to 1.17 MeV 60Co γ-ray at the dose rate of 50 rad(Si)/s. The Anomalous Hall measurement is performed at several certain irradiation dosages. The results show that the VCMA effect is enhanced with the accumulation of irradiation dosage. We propose a mechanism of interface trapped charges to explain this phenomenon. Thus, our work indicates that the magnetic tunneling junction based on HfZrO/CoFeB hybrid film is a promising building block for radiation-hard VCMA-MRAM (magneto-resistive random-access memory). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]