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• Examined the feasibility of CO 2 heat pump combined with rotor drying of banana slices. • Drying kinetics characteristics and drying quality of banana slices were investigated. • Low-humidity drying can shorten the drying time of low-temperature drying. • Low-temperature and low-humidity drying improves drying quality of banana slices. A CO 2 closed heat pump drying system combined with rotary dehumidification (HPRD) was investigated using both experimental and theoretical approaches. The advantages of HPRD over traditional CO 2 closed heat pump drying systems (THPSs) for drying banana slices were analyzed. After drying, the drying kinetics and quality of banana slices were investigated. The results demonstrated that HPRD reduced the banana slice drying time during low-temperature processing while retaining more color and vitamin C content than THPS. In particular, HPRD increased the drying rate of banana slices dried at low temperatures by up to 41 % compared to the rate obtained by THPS. In addition, it increased the vitamin C content by an average of 12 % and reduced the total color difference by an average of 16 %. And the specific moisture extraction rate of HPRD increases by 26 % compared to THPS. The highest-quality banana slices, which were 3 mm thick and dried by HPRD at 43 °C, maintained a high drying rate and high drying quality. The optimal model of Henderson & Pabis predicted the drying behavior within the experimental range. The results indicated that the drying rate and quality of banana slices dried at low temperatures using HPRD were superior to those dried using THPS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) offers a non-invasive approach to examining abnormal brain connectivity associated with brain disorders. Graph neural network (GNN) gains popularity in fMRI representation learning and brain disorder analysis with powerful graph representation capabilities. Training a general GNN often necessitates a large-scale dataset from multiple imaging centers/sites, but centralizing multi-site data generally faces inherent challenges related to data privacy, security, and storage burden. Federated Learning (FL) enables collaborative model training without centralized multi-site fMRI data. Unfortunately, previous FL approaches for fMRI analysis often ignore site-specificity, including demographic factors such as age, gender, and education level. To this end, we propose a specificity-aware federated graph learning (SFGL) framework for rs-fMRI analysis and automated brain disorder identification, with a server and multiple clients/sites for federated model aggregation and prediction. At each client, our model consists of a shared and a personalized branch, where parameters of the shared branch are sent to the server while those of the personalized branch remain local. This can facilitate knowledge sharing among sites and also helps preserve site specificity. In the shared branch, we employ a spatio-temporal attention graph isomorphism network to learn dynamic fMRI representations. In the personalized branch, we integrate vectorized demographic information (i.e. , age, gender, and education years) and functional connectivity networks to preserve site-specific characteristics. Representations generated by the two branches are then fused for classification. Experimental results on two fMRI datasets with a total of 1218 subjects suggest that SFGL outperforms several state-of-the-art approaches. • A specificity-aware federated graph learning method was designed for fMRI analysis. • A personalized network was designed to employ imaging and non-imaging data. • Experiments on 1,218 subjects with fMRI suggest the superiority of our method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The intertidal zone is an important pathway for the transport of dissolved carbon across the land–ocean interface. Quantifying carbon transformation and export from the intertidal zone remains large uncertainties due to the natural heterogeneity and various driving mechanisms. Here, we used the 224Ra/228Th disequilibrium method to quantify porewater exchange and dissolved carbon export from intertidal sandy and muddy sediments, two main intertidal wetland types in the coast. Porewater exchange fluxes from sandy sediments ranged from 1.4 ± 0.1 to 1084 ± 53 L m−2 h−1, which gradually increased in the landward direction. Porewater exchange fluxes from mangrove muddy sediments ranged from 0 to 4.4 ± 0.7 L m−2 h−1. Advective porewater exchange was recognized as the dominant solute transport process in sandy sediments, whereas bioturbation may be the key process in mangrove muddy sediments. Furthermore, marine dissolved organic carbon (DOC) was removed in sandy sediments, indicating that the sandy sediment acted as a sink of DOC, likely via aerobic remineralization. DOC consumption fluxes ranged from 3.7 ± 0.2 to 206 ± 9 mmol C m−2 d−1. The total consumption flux of DOC in the entire sandy beach was one order of magnitude higher than the globally maximum DOC removal flux in the upper ocean. Porewater-derived dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) export fluxes from sandy sediments ranged from 5.6 ± 0.3 to 883 ± 43 mmol C m−2 d−1. Nearly 50% of DIC export originated from the consumption of DOC. The rate constants for DOC transformation ranged from 0.009 to 0.155 h−1. In comparison, porewater-derived DOC and DIC export fluxes from muddy sediments were 25 ± 4 and 206 ± 30 mmol C m−2 d−1, respectively. Porewater-derived DIC export from sandy sediments was comparable or even higher than those from muddy sediments. These results showed that sandy sediments acted as a fast lane for marine DOC remineralization. Overall, both organic-poor sandy and organic-rich mangrove muddy sediments play important roles in the delivery of dissolved carbon to the ocean. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effective extravasation of therapeutic agents into solid tumors still faces huge challenges. Since the doubted effectiveness of enhanced penetration and retention effect, first-generation neutrophil cytopharmaceuticals with encapsulated drugs have been developed to improve the drug accumulation in tumors based on the active chemotaxis and extravasation of neutrophils. Herein, a new generation of neutrophil cytopharmaceuticals with enhanced tumor-specific extravasation is reported to satisfy more complex clinical demands. This neutrophil cytopharmaceutical is obtained by anchoring vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR2)-targeting peptide K237 on neutrophil membrane after endocytosis of chemotherapeutics by neutrophils. Leveraging the cytokine-mediated active migration of neutrophils, the specific-recognition of K237 peptide to tumor vascular endothelium expedites the migration and enhances tight adhesion of neutrophils to vascular endothelium, thus improving the extravasation of therapeutic agents to target sites. Moreover, anti-angiogenesis effect from VEGFR2-blocking by K237 peptide achieves a cooperative tumor destruction with cytotoxic effects from released chemotherapeutics. This study demonstrates the great potential of enhanced proactive extravasation of cytopharmaceuticals via a cell-anchoring technology, leading to expedited drug infiltration and boosted therapeutic effects, which can be applied in other cell therapies to improve efficacy. A more powerful neutrophil cytopharmaceuticals with enhanced extravasation is developed to exhibit an accelerated targeting and extensive extravasation from tumor vessels, thus achieving more highly-efficient drug delivery and tumor killing. [Display omitted] • The enhanced tumor-extravasation is necessary for neutrophils cytopharmaceuticals. • Membrane-anchored K237 peptide expedites the neutrophils extravasation into tumor. • Neutrophils cytopharmaceuticals K237-PNEs performs synergistic antitumor effect. • Membrane-anchoring technic constructs new-generation of cytopharmaceuticals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exploiting advanced patterning strategies and materials to achieve smaller sizes and higher precision is urgently and constantly pursued. In this work, to suppress the radiolytic low-energy secondary electron diffusion and accompanying unpredictable defects, we demonstrate a patterning control strategy to realize high-precision nanoscale fabrication through a quenching mechanism and achieve significant resolution and roughness enhancement in ∼10 nm patterning. [Display omitted] Nanopatterning is a well-established approach to fabricating nanostructures in electronics and optics, and exploiting patterning strategy to achieve smaller feature sizes and higher precision is urgently and constantly pursued. State-of-the-art extreme ultraviolet lithography and electron beam lithography have proven to produce smaller sizes. However, for such energetic radiation-based approaches, the serious diffusion behavior of the radiolytic low-energy secondary electrons will result in unpredictable defects in the unexposed matrix, limiting the ultimate resolution and hindering its potential in sub-10 nm patterning. Herein, we report significant progress in high-resolution patterning via suppressing of residues caused by secondary electron diffusion, and 10 nm line-space nanostructures are achieved by utilizing a free radical quencher in patterning a highly sensitive zirconium-containing photoresist. Lithography evaluation combined with theoretical calculation reveals this novel radical quencher approach can effectively suppress undesired electronic excitation and ionization reactions, thereby significantly improving resolution and edge roughness. By inhibiting secondary electron-induced active species, this quenching mechanism is found to increase the onset dose and effectively narrow the energy deposition; thus improving the patterning contrast and facilitating the acquisition of straight lines with sharp edges. This work provides a new perspective on active species diffusion control for higher precision nanoscale fabrication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The existing literature regarding the association between muscle strength and cardiovascular disease (CVD) and all-cause mortality relies mostly on a single measurement of muscle strength but has seldomly focused on the accumulated exposure. This study explored the association between cumulative muscle strength and risks of CVD and all-cause mortality in middle-aged and older adults. A total of 6,972 patients from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, who underwent 3 repeated measurements of muscle strength over 4 years and were followed-up for another 3 years for CVD and all-cause mortality outcomes participated in this study. Muscle strength was evaluated by grip strength and chair-rising time. Cumulative muscle strength was calculated as the area under the curve. Odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were analyzed. The odds of CVD and all-cause mortality decreased as cumulative grip strength increased or cumulative chair-rising time decreased. For each 1 standard deviation (SD) increment in cumulative grip strength, the multivariable-adjusted OR for CVD and all-cause mortality were 0.81 (95% CI 0.73-0.91) and 0.85 (95% CI 0.73–0.99), respectively. For each 1 SD decrease in cumulative chair-rising time, the corresponding OR were 0.81 (95% CI 0.75–0.88) and 0.87 (95% CI 0.77–0.98), respectively. However, neither the change-slope of grip strength nor that of chair-rising time was related to decreased OR of CVD or of all-cause mortality. Cumulative muscle strength was associated with a reduced risk of CVD and all-cause mortality in middle-aged and older Chinese adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mechanism of Hydrogen-induced defects and cracking in Ti and Ti–Mo alloy was systematically analyzed from the perspective of microstructure. Results show that more hydrogen atoms can be dissolved in Ti–Mo alloy due to the existence of β phase, and the precipitation amount of hydride is reduced under the same hydrogen charging conditions. The analysis of positron annihilation results show that the solid solution of Mo element reduces the hydrogen induced defect concentration in the alloy and inhibit the combination of hydrogen and defects. At the same time, Mo atom can affect the electronic structure of Titanium hydrides, and then reduce the bonding between titanium atoms and hydrogen atoms, thereby reducing the formation of brittle titanium hydride. The reduction of hydride and hydrogen induced defect concentration significantly decrease the hardening rate of Ti–Mo alloy, thereby effectively reducing the hydrogen embrittlement sensitivity of titanium and inhibiting its hydrogen absorption cracking tendency. • The formation of β phase in Ti–Mo alloy improves the solubility of hydrogen, thereby reducing the precipitation of hydride. • The solid solution of Mo can affect the electronic structure of titanium hydride and weaken the bonding between Ti–H. • The solid solution of Mo can reduce the concentration of hydrogen-induced defects in Ti–Mo alloy. • Reducing the concentration of hydride and hydrogen induced defect can inhibit hydrogen absorption cracking tendency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deep embedded clustering is a popular unsupervised learning method owing to its outstanding performance in data-mining applications. However, existing methods ignore the difficulty in learning discriminative features via clustering due to the lack of supervision, which can be easily obtained in classification tasks. To alleviate this problem, we build a contrastive learning based deep embedded clustering method, i.e., CDEC. Specifically, our model adopts deep auto-encoders to learn a latent discriminative embedded clustering structure. To overcome the problem of lacking label information, the CDEC constructs positive samples and negative samples with the data reconstructed from the data itself and other data, respectively. By maximizing the distance between positive and negative ones, the CDEC can not only obtain the most representative features but also explore the discriminative features. Extensive experiments on several public datasets demonstrate that our method achieves the state-of-the-art clustering effectiveness. Our codes are available at: https://github.com/guoshuaiS/contrastive-deep. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The incidence of cognitive impairment is rising globally, but there is no effective therapy. Recent studies showed that fucoidan (Fuc), a sulfated polysaccharide enriched in brown algae, is widely used due to its anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and prebiotic effects. However, the effects and mechanisms of Fuc on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced neuronal cell damage and cognitive impairment in mice need to be explored further. In the present study, we found that Fuc treatment protected HT22 cells from LPS-induced damage by inhibiting the activation of NLRP3 inflammasomes. Fuc exerted neuroprotective effects in mice with LPS-induced cognitive impairment by ameliorating neuroinflammation, promoting neurogenesis, and reducing blood-brain barrier and intestinal barrier permeability. Mechanistically, Fuc supplement significantly restructured the gut microbiota composition, which may be related to glucose and fructose metabolism. In conclusion, Fuc ameliorated LPS-induced neuronal cell damage and cognitive impairment in mice, suggesting that Fuc may be a medicinal and food homologous functional agent to improve cognitive function. The possible mechanism by which Fucoidan ameliorates LPS-induced cognitive impairment in mice, especially by remodeling gut microbiota. [Display omitted] • Fuc protected HT22 cells from LPS-induced damage via the inhibition of NLRP3 inflammasome. • Fuc exerted neuroprotective effects on LPS-induced cognitive impairment by reducing BBB and gut permeability. • Fuc remodeled the gut microbiota, which may be related to glucose and fructose metabolism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aflatoxin B 1 (AFB 1) is one of the most widespread contaminants in agricultural commodities. Pleurotus eryngii (PE) is widely used as a feed additive for its anti-inflammatory properties, and its major active substance is believed to be polysaccharides. This study aims to explore the underlying mechanism of dietary PE polysaccharides alleviating AFB 1 -induced toxicity in ducks. The major monosaccharide components of PE polysaccharides were identified as glucose, mannose, galactose, glucuronic acid, and fucose. The results showed that dietary PE polysaccharides could alleviate liver inflammation, alleviate intestinal barrier dysfunction, and change the imbalanced gut microbiota induced by AFB 1 in ducks. However, PE polysaccharides failed to exert protective roles on the liver and intestine injury induced by AFB 1 in antibiotic-treated ducks. The PE + AFB 1 -originated microbiota showed a positive effect on intestinal barrier and inflammation, the SCFAs transport via the gut-liver axis, and liver inflammation compared with the AFB 1 -originated microbiota in ducks. These findings provided a possible mechanism that PE polysaccharides alleviated AFB 1 -induced liver inflammation in ducks by remodeling gut microbiota, regulating microbiota-derived SCFAs transport via the gut-liver axis, and inhibiting inflammatory gene expressions in the liver, which may provide new insight for therapeutic methods against AFB 1 exposure in animals. [Display omitted] • PE polysaccharides alleviate the inflammation induced by AFB 1 in ducks. • PE polysaccharides fail to exert positive effects in antibiotics-treated ducks. • The transport of SCFAs plays an important role in regulating inflammation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • The hydration processes of different polymorphs of Alite was studied. • The formation process of [SiO 5 ]6- trigonal bipyramid structure were analyzed. • The charge and energy variation of single atom were analyzed. • NMR was used to prove the existence of [SiO 5 ]6- in the simulation results. The hydration of tricalcium silicate (C 3 S, C = CaO, S = SiO 2) played a critical role in the mechanical property improvement in cement-based cementitious materials. In this study, we investigated the hydration mechanism of M3- and T1-C 3 S polymorphs using molecular dynamics simulation with the ReaxFF force field. Six surfaces were selected by their low-index surface energy and surface areas of the Wulff structure to study their hydration process, including M3-C 3 S (1 0 0), (0 0 1) and (1 1 1) surfaces, as well as T1-C 3 S (0 0 1), (0 1 0) and (1 1 1) surfaces. Bonding formation kinetics and radial distribution functions were analyzed. Results show that water dissociation degrees on the studied surfaces were comparable, independent of the crystal polymorphs. The final bond formation percent of Ca-OwH and Os/Oi-H on all the surfaces exhibited little difference. However, we observed the formation of pentacoordinate silicon atoms with a [SiO 5 ]6- trigonal bipyramid structure, occurring earlier in M3-C 3 S than in T1-C 3 S. Furthermore, the M3-C 3 S exhibited a higher abundance of pentacoordinate silicon atoms compared to the T1 crystal, suggesting greater reactivity of M3-C 3 S. This study provided valuable insights into enhancing the quality of cement clinker and activating other silicate minerals in supplementary cementitious materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • DFT calculations and experiments are combined to tunne cation types of LDHs. • CaAl-LDH has highest Cl- adsorption capacity, aligned with lowest binding energy. • CaAl-NO 3 -LDH transforms into Friedel's salt after reacted with Cl- • ZnAl-LDH retains the most Cl- after addition of SO 4 2- with crystallinity improved. • Divalent cations dominate LDHs' interlayer spacing and binding energy in some cases. Layered double hydroxides (LDHs) are new concrete additives that improve Cl- sorption capacity by varying their chemical composition. In this work, first-principles calculations were used to design the chemical compositions of LDHs with various cations. Accordingly, four cation types of LDHs (CaAl, MgAl, MgFe and ZnAl) were selected to be synthesized, their Cl- sorption kinetics were further measured. The objective was to establish a high-throughput screening approach to identifying the most promising cations for enhancing the sorption capacity of LDHs towards Cl-. Results revealed that the absolute value of Cl- binding energy increased as the interplanar spacing of different LDHs decreased from first-principles calculations. Particularly, CaAl exhibited the highest adsorption capacity for Cl- (3.25 mmol/g) from experiments, validating the simulation results that it has the highest absolute value of Cl- binding energy. MgFe-Cl-LDH has the smallest absolute value of Cl- binding energy with the lowest adsorption capacity for Cl- as well as the crystallinity. Moreover, multiple factors influencing the Cl- sorption ability of LDHs, such as chemical composition, crystallinity, microstructures and their synergistic effects, are discussed thoroughly based on the experimental results. This study established a connection between the simulation and experimental approaches in understanding the mechanism of Cl- adsorption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Radiology images of the chest, such as computer tomography scans and X-rays, have been prominently used in computer-aided COVID-19 analysis. Learning-based radiology image retrieval has attracted increasing attention recently, which generally involves image feature extraction and finding matches in extensive image databases based on query images. Many deep hashing methods have been developed for chest radiology image search due to the high efficiency of retrieval using hash codes. However, they often overlook the complex triple associations between images; that is, images belonging to the same category tend to share similar characteristics and vice versa. To this end, we develop a triplet-constrained deep hashing (TCDH) framework for chest radiology image retrieval to facilitate automated analysis of COVID-19. The TCDH consists of two phases, including (a) feature extraction and (b) image retrieval. For feature extraction, we have introduced a triplet constraint and an image reconstruction task to enhance discriminative ability of learned features, and these features are then converted into binary hash codes to capture semantic information. Specifically, the triplet constraint is designed to pull closer samples within the same category and push apart samples from different categories. Additionally, an auxiliary image reconstruction task is employed during feature extraction to help effectively capture anatomical structures of images. For image retrieval, we utilize learned hash codes to conduct searches for medical images. Extensive experiments on 30,386 chest X-ray images demonstrate the superiority of the proposed method over several state-of-the-art approaches in automated image search. The code is now available online. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapeseed-derived peptides (RPPs) can maintain the homeostasis of human blood glucose by inhibiting Dipeptidyl Peptidase-IV (DPP-IV) and activating the calcium-sensing receptor (CaSR). However, these peptides are susceptible to hydrolysis in the gastrointestinal tract. To enhance the therapeutic potential of these peptides, we developed a chitosan/sodium alginate-based nanocarrier to encapsulate two RPP variants, rapeseed-derived cruciferin peptide (RCPP) and rapeseed-derived napin peptide (RNPP). A convenient three-channel device was employed to prepare chitosan (CS)/sodium alginate (ALG)-RPPs nanoparticles (CS/ALG-RPPs) at a ratio of 1:3:1 for CS, ALG, and RPPs. CS/ALG-RPPs possessed optimal encapsulation efficiencies of 90.7 % (CS/ALG-RNPP) and 91.4 % (CS/ALG-RCPP), with loading capacities of 15.38 % (CS/ALG-RNPP) and 16.63 % (CS/ALG-RCPP) at the specified ratios. The electrostatic association between CS and ALG was corroborated by zeta potential and near infrared analysis. 13C NMR analysis verified successful RPPs loading, with CS/ALG-RNPP displaying superior stability. Pharmacokinetics showed that both nanoparticles were sustained release and transported irregularly (0.43 < n < 0.85). Compared with the control group, CS/ALG-RPPs exhibited significantly increased glucose tolerance, serum GLP-1 (Glucagon-like peptide 1) content, and CaSR expression which play pivotal roles in glucose homeostasis (* p < 0.05). These findings proposed that CS/ALG-RPPs hold promise in achieving sustained release within the intestinal epithelium, thereby augmenting the therapeutic efficacy of targeted peptides. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deep cross-modal clustering has been developing rapidly and attracted considerable attention in recent years. It aims to pursue a consistent subspace from different modalities with deep neural networks and achieves remarkable clustering performance. However, most existing methods do not simultaneously consider the inherently diverse information of each modality and the neighbour geometric structure over cross-modal data, which inevitably degrades the cluster structure revealed by the common subspace. In this paper, we propose a novel method named Deep Cross-Modal Subspace Clustering with Contrastive Neighbour Embedding (DCSC-CNE) to address the above challenge. DCSC-CNE maintains the inherent independence of each modality while concurrently uncovering consistent information across diverse modalities. In addition, we introduce a contrastive neighbour graph in the proposed deep cross-modal subspace clustering framework by performing contrastive learning between positive and negative samples, to highlight the underlying neighbour geometry of the original data and learn discriminative latent (subspace) representations. In this way, DCSC-CNE integrates the consistent-inherent learning and the contrastive neighbour embedding into a unified deep learning framework. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method can significantly improve the cross-modal subspace clustering performance compared with state-of-the-art methods on six benchmark datasets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Glucose addition induced SOC increase despite of a positive priming effect (PE) • SOC and the PE increased with increased glucose amount and more in soils with low N. • Glucose-C was more protected and less used with its increased addition in low-N soils. • Glucose-C was less protected and more used with its increased addition in high-N soils. • Soil N to input C affected SOC increase via microbial anabolism and soil protection. Labile C inputs into soils will be partially transformed into soil organic carbon (SOC) through microbial assimilation or physicochemical protection as such mineral-organic interactions and soil aggregation. The C inputs may stimulate the decomposition of native SOC, inducing a phenomenon known as the priming effect. Increasing C inputs may increase SOC content, yet the relative role of these mechanisms in controlling the magnitudes of SOC increase among soils remains unclear. Four soils differing in microbiology and N content were incubated with 13C-labeled glucose at the amounts of 0.5 (G 0.5), 1.0 (G 1.0), and 2.0 (G 2.0) g C kg−1 soil for 48 days. The objectives of this study were 1) to quantify the fates of added glucose-C, the priming effect, and the changes in SOC and mineral N contents after the incubation, and 2) to identify the main mechanisms for SOC increase with the increased amount of C input and the effects of initial soil N availability and microbial composition. 13C isotope probing showed that 19 to 26 % and 37 to 96 % of added glucose were utilized for microbial respiration and growth, respectively, after the incubation in all soils, with the glucose-C use efficiency ranging from 30 to 60 %. The remaining accounted for 4 to 37 % in all cases except for Ultisol HN at G 1.0 and G 2.0 (–23 % and −2%), which was confirmed as the fraction protected in soil or re-utilized by microbes via acid extraction. The soil-protected glucose-C was higher, while glucose-C use efficiency was lower with the increased amount of added glucose only in the soils with low N. Glucose addition induced a positive priming effect, a SOC increase, and a mineral N loss irrespective of soil type and addition amount. Glucose addition increased the cumulative fungal biomass in all cases and the cumulative bacterial biomass only at G 2.0 in all soils and at G 1.0 in the high-N soils. It increased the final fungal necromass only at G 0.5 in Mollisol LN and Ultisol HN and at G 2.0 in Mollisol HN and the final bacterial necromass in all cases except for the low-N soils and Ultisol HN at G 2.0. With the increased amount of added glucose, the SOC content increased linearly and the priming effect and fungal biomass increased non-linearly, with larger magnitudes in the soils with lower N. These results indicated that glucose was quickly protected after addition and remained in the soil until soil N became a limiting factor for microbial utilization. The availability of soil N relative to input C mediated microbial growth and its controls over SOC change via the soil protection and priming effects. The carbon sequestration potential with increased input of dissolved substrates as such glucose e. g. through root exudation was likely larger in soils with lower fertility due to reduced substrate-C use efficiency and increased effect of soil protection despite an increased priming effect. Further studies are needed on more substrate types as they affect substrate-C use efficiency and soil protection mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • High density dislocations inhibit hydrogen atoms diffusion. • Different types of hydrides were identified by CDB spectrum and theoretical calculations. • Hydrogen concentration decreases with increasing dislocation density. This work aims to elucidate the interaction between hydrogen atoms and pre-introduced dislocations in commercially pure titanium (CP-Ti). Positron annihilation spectroscopy supplemented by the first-principle calculations was utilized to reveal the effects of dislocation densities on the formation of hydride types and the concentration of hydrogen-induced defects in CP-Ti. Results show that, in the hydrogen-charged sample with 40 % deformation, hydrogen-induced damage gradually decreases when the hydrogen enters the sample at a depth of about 350 nm. This finding suggests that the high-density dislocations present in deformed specimens effectively trap hydrogen atoms and inhibit their diffusion, which ultimately mitigate damage within the samples. γ-TiH and δ-TiH 2 hydrides are observed in the hydrogen-charged sample. The thermal desorption spectroscopy results show that the desorption amount of deuterium decreases from 1.14 × 1018 D/cm2 to 5.10 × 1017 D/cm2 with an increase in dislocation density because dislocations inhibit the diffusion of deuterium. In samples with higher deformation, the high dislocation density inhibits the formation of δ-TiH 2 hydrides and promotes the formation of γ-TiH hydrides, which significantly reduce the hardening of samples. These results provide insight into the interaction of hydrogen with pre-introduced defects and provide strong theoretical support for the development and improvement of more damage-resistant materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Squeezing flow within a thin porous gap driven by a moving boundary is a fundamental phenomenon in industrial and biological systems but lacks accurate theoretical models. This study fills the gap by introducing a comprehensive solution using Fourier transforms, considering porous media effects, and handling arbitrary moving boundaries. The model explores the impact of Womersley and Brinkman numbers on velocity and pressure, providing a robust framework for various applications. By harmonizing the considerations of arbitrary moving boundaries with porous characteristics, this work not only deepens our theoretical understanding but also sets the stage for innovative research and development in the field of squeezing flow dynamics. • A theoretical model for squeezing porous flow with arbitrary moving boundaries. • Key influences include viscous effect, inertial effect, and porous resistance. • Showed that porous media can stabilize the squeezing process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Floral organ development is one of the most vital events in flowering plants and is closely related to ornamental properties. The proliferate flower (a new branch or flower occurring in the centre of a flower) in plants is an interesting type, while the specific molecular mechanism remains largely unknown. Osmanthus fragrans 'Tianxiang Taige' has two different flower morphologies: normal flower and proliferate flower. Phenotypic observation suggested that a normal flower was composed of calyx, petal, stamen and pistil (reduced to leaf-like carpel). While in proliferate flower, the leaf-like carpel continued to grow and was replaced by a new branch. Paraffin section indicated that the re-growth of leaf carpels might be the main reason for proliferate flower formation. Transcriptome sequencing of normal and proliferate flower was performed, and the expression levels of related genes were analysed. Among the differentially expressed genes, OfBFT-a and OfBFT-b had differential expression during the proliferate flower formation process. The expression patterns revealed that both OfBFT-a and OfBFT-b were highly accumulated in carpels, and were significantly downregulated during the proliferate flower development process. Subcellular localization indicated that OfBFT-a and OfBFT-b proteins were located in the nucleus. Functional studies in 'Tianxiang Taige' and Arabidopsis showed that OfBFT-a and OfBFT-b had important roles in floral organ development, especially the proliferate flower formation process by downregulating the accumulation of AG and SEP3 homologous genes. These results may shed new light on the study of proliferate flower formation and flower morphology breeding in flowering plants. • Osmanthus fragrans 'Tianxiang Taige' has proliferate flower morphology. • The re-growth of leaf carpels was the main reason for proliferate flower formation in 'Tianxiang Taige'. • OfBFT s were involved in proliferate flower formation through down-regulating O fAG and OfSEP3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• S, C co-doped FeNiCeP/NF is prepared via high-valence metal engineering strategy. • High-valence Ce promotes electron transfer of metal phosphides. • The optimized material presents efficient OER, HER and supercapacitor performance. • The self-powered OWS is successfully assembled to produce hydrogen. The construction of cost-effective and high-performance metal organic framework (MOF) derived metal phosphides as multifunctional electrode materials for self-powered overall water splitting (OWS) is considerable promising. Herein, the trimetallic phosphides embedded in sulfur-containing carbon matrix (SC-FeNiCeP/NF) derived from high-valence metal engineered MOF are grown on nickel foam by hydrothermal and chemical vapor deposition for achieving self-powered OWS. Based on the electron coupling between the metal phosphide interface by high-valent Ce as "electronic storage" to accelerate electron transfer, the SC-FeNiCeP/NF as electrocatalysts present low overpotential with 208 mV and 107 mV at 10 mA cm−2 in oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), respectively. For supercapacitor, the SC-FeNiCeP/NF nanoarray exhibits high specific capacitance with 2290 F g−1 at 1 A g−1. Combined with excellent SC-FeNiCeP/NF-based asymmetric supercapacitor (ASC) and OWS devices, the self-powered OWS are assembled to produce H 2 and O 2 simultaneously in alkaline water for up to ∼ 120 s, creating new possibilities for the energy storage and conversion systems based on the designable and multifunctional MOF-derived materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Simplified signal label construction using RCA amplification of G-quadruplex-loaded MB. • CIP aptamers with low cost and good affinity are used as recognition elements. • AuPt@PEI-g-C 3 N 4 possessed excellent electrical conductivity. • This developed aptasensor was successfully applied to detect CIP in the milk and surface water. The precise and sensitive quantification of ciprofloxacin (CIP) is imperative due to its prevalent misapplication and overutilization, which can elicit detrimental side effects. Here, an electrochemical aptasensor based on PEI-g-C 3 N 4 compounded with gold-platinum nanoshell nanomaterials (AuPt@PEI-g-C 3 N 4) combined with a rolling circle amplification (RCA) strategy for an ultrasensitive detection of CIP. Physicochemical properties of nanoparticles and aptamers and analytical parameters of aptasensor were determined by Fourier Transform Infrared, scanning and transmission electron microscopy, gel electrophoresis, cyclic voltammetry, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. Furthermore, the RCA strategy was employed to generate long G-rich sequences to load an amount of methylene blue (MB) as signal probes in a potassium ions (K+) environment for signal amplification. In the presence of CIP, the formation of the Apt-CIP complex will cause the dissociation of signal probes from gold electrodes (AuE), reducing electrochemical signals significantly. Under optimal experimental conditions, the designed aptasensor showed excellent comprehensive performance with a good linear relationship in the wide range of 1.0 × 10−4 to 1.0 × 102 ng/mL, and its detection limit was low at 1.03 × 10−5 ng/mL. The assay revealed satisfactory levels of specificity, immunity to interference, stability, and repeatability. Additionally, we successfully applied this aptasensor to spiked milk and surface water samples from Dongfeng Canal (China) for CIP detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The optimal doping molar concentration of Tb3+ in GdPO 4 ·H 2 O:x%Tb3+ was 20%. • With the rise of the pH from 1 to 9, the morphology of the products varied from long nanorods to spherical shape and then to short nanorods. • When pH = 5, the smaller size nanospheres were obtained, showing better luminescence properties, indicating the small size effect of nanomaterials. • The nanosphere GdPO 4 ·H 2 O:20%Tb3+ had good paramagnetism, and the magnetization was about 4.1429 emu/g. In this study, some nano-phosphors (GdPO 4 ·H 2 O:x%Tb3+) were prepared in different acid-base systems by the hydrothermal method. The intrinsic correlations between the crystal structure and morphology of the products and their luminescent properties were analyzed in depth. The results of this study showed that the crystal structure and morphology of the phosphor were not dependent on different doping amounts of Tb3+, and a hexagonal crystal structure and nanorods were produced. The most significant excitation peak of GdPO 4 ·H 2 O:Tb3+ phosphor was located at 367nm, belonging to the 7F 6 →5L 10 transition of Tb3+; its strongest emission peak was at 545nm, belonging to the 5D 4 →7F 5 transition. The optimal doping molar concentration of Tb3+ in GdPO 4 ·H 2 O:x%Tb3+ was 20%, the concentration quenching mechanism was explained as the electric dipole-electric quadrupole interaction, and the critical distance for energy transferred between Tb3+ ions was 0.85 nm. As the pH increased from 1 to 9, the morphology of the products varied from long nanorods to spherical shape and then to short nanorods. The maximum length of the nanorods was nearly 180 nm; the diameter of the nanospheres was approximately 40 nm. Smaller spherical nano-phosphors had better luminescent properties, which indicated the small-size effect of nanomaterials. Furthermore, GdPO 4 ·H 2 O had excellent paramagnetism. In this study, the spherical GdPO 4 ·H 2 O:20%Tb3+ with a high doping concentration was well prepared, such that the luminescent properties were enhanced, while its good magnetic properties were maintained. As depicted in the morphology of the products varied constantly with the gradual increase of pH. When pH=1, the products displayed an elongated rod-like structure with a diameter of nearly 45 nm and a length of approximately 180 nm; the particles were well dispersed and uniformly distributed in size. When pH=3, the products were short nanorod-like particles uniformly distributed in size, with a diameter of about 45 nm and a length of nearly 100 nm. When pH=5, the products were relatively homogeneous spherical nanoparticles uniformly distributed in size, with an average particle size of approximately 40 nm. When pH=7, the products were short nanorod-like particles that were uniformly distributed in size, with a diameter of about 30 nm and a length of 70 nm. When pH=9, the products turned out to be partly homogeneous spherical nanoparticles, with considerable fine and short rod-shaped nanoparticles with a diameter of about 30 nm and a length of about 65 nm. As revealed by the above-described results, variations in the pH value had a large impact on the morphology of the products. The main reason may be that: variations in pH will affect the reaction balance and reaction rates, thus changing the growth rate of the products, and ultimately affecting the morphology of the products. The hexagonal crystal structure was characterized by the highly anisotropic growth. When the pH value of the reaction system was less than 5, and there were large amounts of H+, the growth rate along the C axis was elevated, and the growth rate in the direction perpendicular to the C axis was relatively low, such that GdPO 4 nanorods were formed. When the pH value increased to 5, the growth and anisotropy in the direction of C axis was inhibited, such that spherical nanoparticles were formed. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Recent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging studies have provided strong evidence of abnormal regional spontaneous brain activities among anxiety-disordered patients. However, the evidence has been divergent and inconclusive. Therefore, it is necessary to perform a meta-analysis identifying a common pattern of altered regional spontaneous brain activity for anxiety disorders.Method: Corresponding research of anxiety disorders, namely, whole-brain rs-fMRI studies that measured differences in regional homogeneity, amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations, or fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations, were analyzed in this study. Overall, seven studies with 235 anxiety-disordered patients and 241 healthy controls were ultimately included in the meta-analysis. The meta-analysis was processed by seed-based d mapping.Results: Compared with healthy controls, patients with anxiety disorders showed significantly decreased regional spontaneous brain activities in the right putamen, the right orbital inferior frontal gyrus, and the right temporal pole. No increases in regional spontaneous brain activities were detected in patients relative to the controls.Limitation: Limited number of available studies, only Asian samples, and insufficient information of sample characteristics.Conclusion: The present study suggests that anxiety disorders are associated with aberrant regional brain activity in areas connected with emotion processing, which extends our understanding of anxiety disorders' pathophysiology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We have 15 publications with 5,740 cases and 9,931 controls were included in this meta-analysis. • We found that the T allele of the X -ray cross-complementing group 3 protein (XRCC3) Thr241Met polymorphism was significantly associated with an increased risk to gynecological malignancies (GM) in Asians but not in Caucasians. • Our findings indicate that the effect of the XRCC3 Thr241Met polymorphism on the risk of GM is ethnically different and this SNP has its obvious effect on the development of GM in Asians. • There was no meta-analysis about the association between XRCC3 Thr241Met polymorphism and risk of GM until now. Studies have investigated the relationship between the X -ray cross- complementing group 3 (XRCC3) Thr241Met polymorphism and the risk of gynecological malignancies (GM) with the contradictory conclusions. Here, a meta-analysis was performed to provide clear picture of the association between Thr241Met and GM risk. The Pubmed and Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) databases were searched for published eligible studies. The pooled odds ratios (OR) with their corresponding 95% confidence interval (CI) was used to assessed the strength of association. Totally, 15 publications with 5,740 cases and 9,931 controls were included. In the overall analysis, the results of meta-analysis showed no significant association between the Thr241Met and the risk of GM. However, in the Asians subgroup, significant increased risks were found in the comparisons of TT/CT+TT vs. CC(TT vs. CC: OR=3.25, 95% CI=1.47–7.18; CT+TT vs. CC: OR=1.51, 95%CI=1.10–2.09) in Asians; additionally, stratified analysis by cancer type in Asians, significantly increased risks was found in cervical carcinoma (CT vs. CC: OR=1.50, 95%CI=1.04–2.14; TT vs. CC: OR=3.14, 95%CI=1.38–7.14; CT+TT vs. CC: OR=1.64, 95% CI=1.17–2.31). It suggests that the risk of GM might be significantly increased by the XRCC3 Thr241Met polymorphism according to ethnicity and cancer types. Further studies with larger sample size in different ethnic populations and different sites of GM are needed to verify the findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A novel carboxyl-functionalized POP (COOH-POP) was synthesized for the first time. • The COOH-POP showed high adsorption capacity to phenolic compounds. • A COOH-POP based SPE-HPLC method was developed to determine five phenolic compounds. • Hydrogen bond, π-π and hydrophobic interactions were the main adsorption mechanism. • The COOH-POP holds great application potential in the adsorption/separation field. Herein, a novel carboxyl-functionalized porous organic polymer (COOH-POP) was prepared as sorbent. Due to multiple hydrogen bonds and π-π interactions between COOH-POP and phenols, COOH-POP shows good enrichment ability and very fast adsorption rate for phenols. Then, an analytical method was developed for determination of five phenols (2-chlorophenol, bisphenol A, 2,6-dichlorophenol, 2,4-dichlorophenol and p-tert-butylphenol) in bottled water, lemon juice, peach juice and honey samples using COOH-POP as solid phase extraction sorbent in combination with high performance liquid chromatography. Under optimal conditions, the COOH-POP based method gave the detection limits (S/ N = 3) of 0.02–0.10 ng mL−1 for bottled water, 0.03–0.12 ng mL−1 for lemon juice, 0.03–0.25 ng mL−1 for peach juice and 0.7–1.5 ng g−1 for honey samples. The recoveries for spiked samples ranged from 84.0 % to 119.0 % with relative standard deviation less than 7.6 %. This study provides a new yet effective method for enrichment of phenols by designing carboxyl-functionalized porous organic polymer as sorbent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

NbMoTaW refractory high-entropy alloy (RHEA) exhibits high strength and excellent softening resistance at elevated temperature, while normal compositional modification cannot overcome the trade-off between high-temperature (HT) strength and room-temperature (RT) plasticity. Here, we proposed a heterostructure strategy by tuning dendrite segregation to reach large RT plasticity without deterioration in HT strength. The optimized Nb 45 Mo 45 Ta 5 W 5 RHEA shows large RT plasticity of 6.1% and high yield strength of 440 MPa at 1873 K, which mainly originates from the heterostructure. Nanoscale precipitates form in the interdendrite region after annealing at 1873 K, which further increases the RT plasticity to 9.0% with a comparable yield strength of 415 MPa at 1873 K. The strength retention up to 1873 K arises from the large modulus misfit of Nb 45 Mo 45 Ta 5 W 5 alloy and the hetero-deformation in the dendrite and interdendrite regions. The nanoscale precipitates in the interdendrite region is temperature-dependent and stress-promoted, which contributes to work-hardening at RT and softening resistance at 1873 K. The dendritic heterostructure strategy in this work provide a feasible method to toughen brittle RHEAs and paves the way to design RHEAs with excellent HT strength in combination of large RT plasticity. • Pronounced dendritic heterostructure was obtained by increasing the content of interdendrite elements Mo and Nb. • The room-temperature strength and plasticity of NM45 alloy was simultaneously increased. • Hetero-deformation arising from the dendritic heterostructure contributes to high yield strength at 1873 K. • The oxides at the grain boundary showed limited influence on RT plasticity while resulted in brittleness at 1873 K. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Spatial differences in hydrochemistry of major rivers in the Northern Anhui Plain poses obviously. • Silicate weathering and evaporite dissolution are the dominant water–rock interactions. • Human activities greatly contribute to the spatial distribution of chloride and sulfate. • Soil sulfate and mine drainage are the main sources of river sulfate. The spatial variability of river hydrochemistry in coal-grain composite areas is influenced by natural processes and human activities. However, there is little information thus far on the hydrochemical characteristics of river water and the spatial variability in coal–grain composite areas under the influence of multiple superimposed effects. In this study, river water samples (n = 31) were collected in a coal-grain composite area in the northern plain of Anhui Province (China). The main hydrochemical ions and stable isotopes (δ2H-H 2 O, δ18O-H 2 O, δ34S-SO 4 2- and δ18O-SO 4 2-) were then investigated. The objective was to analyze the spatial characteristics and controlling indicators of the main hydrochemical ions via multivariate statistical and isotope analysis methods. The values of δ34S-SO 4 2- and δ18O-SO 4 2- in river water ranged from 7.5 ‰ to 17.5 ‰ and from 4.4 ‰ to 10.7 ‰, respectively. According to the clustering analysis method, the river water samples were divided into two groups. Bayesian mixed model analysis indicated that the sources of SO 4 2- in river water mainly included soil sulfate and mine drainage, with contribution proportions of 74.0 ± 3.1 % and 18.4 ± 4.1 % in River Group I, respectively, and 77.2 ± 3.0 % and 11.1 ± 5.1 % in River Group II, respectively. These results suggested that the controlling indicators of the spatial distribution characteristics of river hydrochemistry were natural processes (water–rock interactions) and human activities (coal mining, manure release and sewage discharge). The results could provide valuable information for regional water resource management, development, and similar coal–grain composite areas elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evolution of defects and irradiation damage in Ti and Ti-Mo alloy under hydrogen ion irradiation were investigated by slow positron-beam doppler broadening spectroscopy (DBS) and coincidence doppler broadening spectroscopy (CDB), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The XRD results indicate that the existence of the β phase enhances the solid solubility of hydrogen in Ti-Mo alloy. The metastable γ-TiH hydrides are formed in pure titanium after hydrogen ion irradiation, while no hydride is found in Ti-Mo alloy under the same irradiation conditions. Moreover, DBS and CDB results show that hydrogen vacancy-complexes are formed in Ti and Ti-Mo alloys after hydrogen ion irradiation. Calculated doppler curves trend qualitatively agrees well with the experimental results. The TEM results show lower defect concentration and smaller defect sizes in Ti-Mo alloy with (α + β) than pure titanium. The addition of molybdenum significantly refines the grains and increases the density of the interface, which plays an important role in the management of irradiation-induced defects. • Molybdenum alloying increases the solid solubility of titanium alloy to hydrogen. • Molybdenum alloying can reduce hydrogen-induced defects and irradiation damage. • The hydrogen-vacancy complexes were identified by calculated Doppler spectra. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We characterized and compared the venom protein profiles of Hydrophis curtus (synonyms: Lapemis hardwickii , Lapemis curtus and Hydrophis hardwickii) and Hydrophis cyanocinctus , the two representatives of medically important venomous sea snakes in Chinese waters using proteomic approaches. A total of 47 and 38 putative toxins were identified in H. curtus venom (HcuV) and H. cyanocinctus venom (HcyV), respectively, and these toxins could be grouped into 15 functional categories, mainly proteinases, phospholipases, three-finger toxins (3FTxs), lectins, protease inhibitors, ion channel inhibitors, cysteine-rich venom proteins (CRVPs) and snake venom metalloproteases (SVMPs). The constituent ratio of each toxin category varied between HcuV and HcyV with 3FTx (54% in HcuV/69% in HcyV) and PLA2 (38% in HcuV/22% in HcyV) unanimously ranked as the top two most abundant families. Both HcuV and HcyV exhibited relatively high lethality (LD 50 values in mice of 0.34 μg/g and 0.24 μg/g, respectively), specific PLA2 activity and hemolytic activity. On the basis of several previous reports of HcuV and HcyV collected from other areas, these findings greatly expand our understanding of geographical variation and interspecies diversity of the two sea snake venoms and can provide a scientific basis for the development of specific sea snake antivenom in the future. Image 1 • Neurotoxins, phospholipases—two most protein families in sea snake venoms from China. • Toxin diversity exists among different geographical sea snake species. • Venom proteome enhances the development of treatments against sea snake bites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mechanical properties and atomic-scale structure of the [(Fe 0.5 Co 0.5) 0.75 B 0.2 Si 0.05 96 Nb 4 bulk metallic glass (BMG) treated with cryogenic thermal cycling were studied. The obtained Fe-based BMG shows an improvement of plastic strain from 1.4 to 6.1% and maintains a high yield strength over 4000 MPa. The high structural disorder degree caused by rejuvenation, as well as the fine-tuned crystal-like ordering structures induced by internal stress, contribute to the formation of multiple shear bands, and thus results in the enhancement of plasticity. This work provides a new insight to develop plastic Fe-based BMGs through modulating atomic-scale structure. Image, graphical abstract [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Robust Principal Component Analysis (RPCA) aiming to recover underlying clean data with low-rank structure from the corrupted data, is a powerful tool in machine learning and data mining. However, in many real-world applications where new data (i.e., out-of-samples) in the testing phase can be unseen in the training procedure, (1) RPCA which is a transductive method can be naturally incapable of handing out-of-samples, and (2) violently applying RPCA into this applications does not explicitly consider the relationships between reconstruction error and low-rank representation. To tackle these problems, in this paper, we propose a Double Robust Principal Component Analysis to deal with the out-of-sample problems, which is termed as DRPCA. More specifically, we integrate a reconstruction error into the criterion function of RPCA. Our proposed model can then benefit from (1) the robustness of principal components to outliers and missing values, (2) the bridge between reconstruction error and low-rank representation, (3) low-rank clean data extraction from new datum by a linear transform. To this end, extensive experiments on several datasets demonstrate its superiority, when comparing with the state-of-the-art models, in several clustering and low-rank recovery tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

TiO 2 -C@polyaniline (PANI) are synthesized on the surface of carbon cloth (CC) as flexible electrode, in which TiO 2 -C nanowire arrays (NWAs) work as supporting frame to enhance the mechanical stability of composites, while PANI is coated on TiO 2 -C NWAs to make a core-shell structure and form a continuous conductive 3D network between isolated TiO 2 -C nanowires. By virtue of such unique structure design, the as-prepared TiO 2 -C@PANI composites achieve desirable cycling performance while possess high specific capacitance. Concretely, this TiO 2 -C@PANI composite shows remarkable specific capacitance of 1818 F g−1 at a current density of 1 A g−1, good rate capability with 75.5% capacitance retention at 10 A g−1, and excellent cycling performance with 80% capacity retention over 5000 cycles at a charge-discharge current of 10 A g−1. Besides, the prefabricated TiO 2 -C@PANI//AC asymmetric hybrid supercapacitor also exhibits a high energy density of 32.4 Wh kg−1 at a power density of 850.0 W kg−1. In sum, such TiO 2 -C@PANI CC electrode material has a bright future in the application of supercapacitors and provides a new strategy for other conductive polymer-based electrochemical devices. Unlabelled Image • A 3D interconnected TiO 2 -C@PANI core-shell porous structure was elaborated for high performance supercapacitor. • TiO 2 -C@PANI composite shows remarkable specific capacitance of 1818 F g−1 at a current density of 1 A g−1. • Due to the unique core/shell structure design, the composite obtains excellent cycling stability as high as 80% retention after 5000 cycles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of (1,2,4)triazole[4,3-a]pyridine (TZP) derivatives have been designed and synthesized. Compound 8d was identified as having the most potent inhibitory activity on NO release in response to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulation and inhibition of the migration induced by MCP-1 protein on RAW264.7 macrophages. Based on the screening data, an immunofluorescence assay and a real-time qPCR assay were conducted, indicating that compound 8d suppressed NF-κB p65 translocation and expression of inflammatory genes by concanavalin A (Con A)-induced RAW264.7 macrophages. More importantly, 8d also exhibited potent efficacy, alleviating Con A-induced hepatitis by downregulating the levels of plasma alanine transaminase (ALT), aspartate transaminase (AST) and inflammatory infiltration in a mouse autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) model. In addition, the flow cytometry (FCM) data showed that compound 8d inhibited the accumulation of MDSCs in the liver of Con A-induced mice. These findings raise the possibility that compound 8d might serve as a potential agent for the treatment of AIH. Image 1 • A series of new (1,2,4)triazole[4,3-a]pyridine derivatives were synthesized. • 8d suppressed NF-κB p65 translocation and expression of inflammatory genes. • Preliminary mechanisms of anti-inflammatory action were discovered. • 8d could be a lead compound as AIH therapeutic agent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Double perovskites are prepared by molten-salt synthesis and tested for NO oxidation. • La 2 CoMnO 6 achieves a maximum NO conversion of 80% among La 2 MMnO 6 double perovskites. • 75% molar doping Ba content renders the maximum NO conversion of 88%. • The NO conversion of La 2 Co 1-y Cu y MnO 6 decreased with the Cu-substitution increasing. • The higher the B-site ionic magnetic moments, the better for NO oxidation. Diesel engine exhaust has been identified to be highly carcinogenic. In order to improve the control of diesel engine exhaust emissions, the diesel engine oxidation catalyst (DOC) + catalytic diesel particulate filter (CDPF) + selective catalytic reduction catalyst (SCR) + NH 3 oxidation catalyst (ASC) united technology has become the mainstream technology for catalytic aftertreatment. Perovskite oxides have emerged as a promising catalyst for NO oxidation and can be used as the DOC. Undoped La 2 MMnO 6 (M = Co, Fe, Ni, Cu) double perovskites, A-site Ba-doping (La 2-x Ba x)CoMnO 6 (%Ba = 0, 25%, 50%, 75%, 100%) perovskites and B-site Cu-doping La 2 Co 1-y Cu y MnO 6 (y = 0, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, 1) double perovskites were prepared by a facile molten-salt synthesis method and examined by XRD, SEM, BET, in situ DRIFTS, and XPS. In addition, we calculated the B-site ionic magnetic moments of the double perovskites μ which were contributed by the effective Bohr magneton number n p of the B-site 3d transition metal ions, such as Mn3+, Mn4+, Co3+, Fe3+, Ni2+, and Cu2+. The correlations between the B-site ionic magnetic moments and the maximum NO conversion over all those double perovskites were also calculated. The B-site ionic magnetic moments has a strong positive correlation with the highest conversion rate of NO catalytic oxidation over all those double perovskites. That is, the higher the B-site ionic magnetic moments, the better the catalytic oxidation performance of NO over the double perovskites. So enhancing the B-site ionic magnetic moments by A-site doping is a method to improve the catalytic activity of NO oxidation over the perovskites. Increasing the B-site ionic magnetic moments is the key index to improve the catalytic activity of NO oxidation of the double perovskites by B-site doping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ocular hypotony is an infrequent, yet potentially vision-threatening, entity. The list of differential causes is extensive, involving any condition that may compromise aqueous humor dynamics or the integrity of the globe and sometimes following medical treatments or procedures. Depending on the cause and the clinical impact, treatment options aim to correct the underlying pathology and to reestablish anatomical integrity, as well as visual function. We review the pathophysiology, clinical presentation, different causes, and associated therapeutic options of ocular hypotony. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphical abstract Highlights • The 2rd equivalent circuit model is applied to study the degradation. • The model parameters are studied for the battery degradation. • The linear relation between the ohmic resistance and the capacity fade is found. • The primary factor contributing to the battery degradation is the ohmic resistance. Abstract State of health (SOH) of batteries is generally defined as the ratio of the remaining capacity after the battery fully charged to the normal capacity. In fact, the capacity of batteries that are employed as a power source in an electric vehicle cannot be measured online. Therefore, establishing the relation of the capacity loss to the measurable parameters is a crucial factor that solves the issue of the online SOH estimation. In this study, both the experimental test and the 2nd equivalent circuit model are applied to study the fading characteristic of the lithium-ion battery. Based on the measured capacity and the high-accurate identified parameters of the model, the quantitative relation is explored between the capacity change and the measurable parameters of the model. Results show that the available capacity decreases linearly with the increasing ohmic resistance of the battery. This linear relation provides the theoretical foundation of online estimating SOH. In addition, the main factors contributing to the capacity loss of the battery are also found. The primary factor is the ohmic resistance due to its contribution to the capacity loss always exceeding 60% during the entire life cycles. Besides, the polarization resistance is the second factor accounted for the fading, including the electrochemical polarization resistance and concentration polarization resistance. This conclusion provides a reasonable strategy to find the method that can evaluate and predict the battery cycle life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Non bonding electrons are firstly determined and quantified in tricalcium silicates. • Non bonding electrons are in both of the isolated and covalent bonded oxygen atoms. • There are more non bonding electrons in M1-C 3 S than that in M3-C 3 S. • Some substituted cations can increase the number of non-bonding electrons on O atoms. • The beneficial cations substituted in alite are with weak electronegativity properties. Alite is one of the most important phases in cement clinker. It is a solid solution of tricalcium silicate (Ca 3 SiO 5 , C 3 S for short, C = CaO, S = SiO 2) which has seven polymorphs. M1-C 3 S and M3-C 3 S are the most common polymorphs in cement clinker. Much experimental research had identified that cations doping affected the polymorph of alite and the hydration properties of cement clinker. This article systemically investigated the influence of cation doping on crystal structures and electronic structures of M1-C 3 S and M3-C 3 S employed by first-principles calculations based on density functional theory. Non-bonding electrons dispersed on the p orbitals of Oi (the isolated oxygen atoms) and Oc (covalent bonded oxygens in nesosilicate tetrahedrons) in C 3 S were determined and quantified by the integration of partial density of states at specified energy levels. Non-bonding electrons are the most probable electrons that will be transferred when the oxygen atoms suffer from electrophilic attack as minerals contact with water. The results showed that there were more non-bonding electrons in both of Oi and Oc atoms in M1-C 3 S than that in M3-C 3 S, which lead to M1-C 3 S more reactive. The substituted cations with specific valence electrons configurations and weak electronegativity are determined, which will typically increase the amount of non-bonding electrons in the systems generally. These would help to understand how cation doping affected the hydration of alite, and furthermore, improve the quality of cement clinker. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The MADS-box transcription factor APETELA1 (AP1) is crucially important for reproductive developmental processes. The function of AP1 and the classic LFY - AP1 interaction in woody plants are not widely known. Here, the OfAP1-a gene from the continuously flowering plant Osmanthus fragrans 'Sijigui' was characterized, and its roles in regulating flowering time, petal number robustness and floral organ identity were determined using overexpression in Arabidopsis thaliana and Nicotiana tabacum. The expression of OfAP1-a was significantly induced by low ambient temperature and was upregulated with the floral transition process. Ectopic expression OfAP1-a revealed its classic function in flowering and flower ABC models. The expression of OfAP1-a is inhibited by LEAFY (OfLFY) through direct promoter binding, as confirmed by yeast one-hybrid and dual luciferase assays. Arabidopsis plants overexpressing OfAP1-a exhibited accelerated flowering and altered floral organ identities. Moreover, OfAP1-a- overexpressing plants displayed variable petal numbers. Likewise, the overexpression of OfLFY in Arabidopsis and Nicotiana altered petal number robustness and inflorescence architecture, partially by regulating native AP1 in transformed plants. Furthermore, we performed RNA-seq analysis of transgenic Nicotiana plants. DEGs were identified by transcriptome analysis, and we found that the expression of several floral homeotic genes was altered in both OfAP1-a and OfLFY -overexpressing transgenic lines. Our results suggest that OfAP1-a may play important roles during floral transition and development in response to ambient temperature. OfAP1-a functions as a petal number modulator and may directly activate a subset of flowers to regulate floral organ formation. OfAP1-a and OfLFY mutually regulate the expression of each other and coregulate genes that might be involved in these phenotypes related to flowering. The results provide valuable data for understanding the function of the LFY - AP1 module in the reproductive process and shaping floral structures in woody plants. • OfAP1-a and OfLFY related to flower development were cloned. • The expression of OfAP1-a and OfLFY were influenced by low ambient temperature. • Overexpression of OfAP1-a and OfLFY accelerated flowering and changed floral organ identities. • OfAP1-a , together with OfLFY , mutually regulate the expression of each other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The ecohydraulic modeling framework is a valuable tool for assessing fish ecology in dammed rivers. • Cascade dam construction could fragment spawning site habitats and reduce fish population abundance in the tailwater zone of the main stream. • Spawning site habitats would improve, leading to an increase in fish population abundance in the backwater zone of tributaries. • The effects of cascade dam construction on endemic fish habitat and population status depend on spawning site location, fish species, and life stages. Cascade dam constructions will alter the habitat of spawning sites and affect fish population in the Lancang River basin. This paper examines the impacts of cascade dam construction on four spawning sites, focusing on two co-distributed and endemic fish species: Schizothorax prenanti and Schizothorax davidi. An ecohydraulic modeling framework that combined hydro-morphodynamic, habitat, and population models was used to investigate changes in habitat quality and fish population under two scenarios: no-dam and with-dam. Fish habitat quality was evaluated using the habitat suitability index, and population fluctuations were assessed by the abundance and density of fish populations at all life stages. The simulation results indicated that cascade dam construction would fragment the spawning site habitat in the tailwater zone of the main stream and result in a decrease in fish population abundance and density. Conversely, spawning site habitats in backwater zone of tributaries would improve, and fish population abundance and density would increase. Additionally, the simulation results showed that the magnitude of fish population variations varied by species and life stages. These results highlight the different responses of spawning site location, fish species, and life stages to dam construction, which can help identify areas of the habitat with higher potential for finer-scale endemic fish conservation and recovery efforts. This study provides a comprehensive framework tool for fish ecological evaluation in dammed rivers, which has the potential to assist decision-makers involved in river ecosystem ecological conservation. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

WTaMoNb based refractory high-entropy alloys (RHEAs) are promising as the structural materials at ultrahigh temperatures, while the poor processability limits their application. In this work, WTaMoNb RHEA with different thickness was fabricated by laser cladding using the spherical spray-granulated powder. Dual heterogeneous structure (HS) was in situ formed through introducing C from the spray-granulated powder, and constructed FCC skeleton structure in BCC matrix with dispersive FCC hard particles. The HS was conductive to reduce property anisotropy of WTaMoNb RHEAs, enhancing the resistance to crack and ensuring high formation quality. Laser remelting after cladding triple layers further refined the microstructure, improved the cracking resistance, and increased the hardness, fracture toughness and elastic properties. The sample after remelting showed superior mechanical properties and wear resistance, including harness of 653 HV, fracture toughness of 4.9 ± 0.8 MPa·m1/2 and the ratio of recovery elastic energy of 18.8 %, and low wear rate of 1.0 × 10–5 mm3/(N·m), which mainly attributes to the formation of dual HS. This work provides a novel strategy to fabricate WTaMoNb RHEAs with high formation quality, good mechanical properties and high wear resistance. [Display omitted] • WTaMoNb cladding layers with good formation quality were fabricated by laser cladding. • Dual heterogeneous structure was constructed through alloying C from the spray-granulated powder. • Fine substructure contributes to restrain cracks, improve mechanical properties and enhance wear resistance. • Heterogeneous structure helps to weaken the property anisotropy of laser-manufactured WTaMoNb based RHEAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bimetallic Ni−Fe alloy catalyst offers boosting effect for dry reforming of methane (DRM) by strong interaction between Ni and Fe. However, the facile segregation of iron species from the alloy particles remains an open challenge. Herein, in pursuit of a stable Ni−Fe alloy, Ni 1 Fe 1 /Al 2 O 3 and Ni 3 Fe 1 /Al 2 O 3 catalysts were developed by an evaporation-induced self-assembly method. Ni 1 Fe 1 /Al 2 O 3 exhibited superior stability to Ni 3 Fe 1 /Al 2 O 3 at 600 °C for 50 h. The structural evolution of Ni−Fe alloys existed on Ni 1 Fe 1 /Al 2 O 3 and Ni 3 Fe 1 /Al 2 O 3 in DRM, leading to the generation of Ni 3 Fe 1 /Al 2 O 3 and Ni/Al 2 O 3 , respectively, where the equimolar alloy provided sufficient FeO x in the dealloying process. Compared to Ni 3 Fe 1 /Al 2 O 3 , Ni 1 Fe 1 /Al 2 O 3 possessed smaller amounts of coke deposition with lower graphitization, which is beneficial to realloying of the segregated FeO x for Ni−Fe alloy. Furthermore, the two catalysts presented distinct pathways for coke deposition, where CO and CH 4 dissociation concurrently occurred on Ni 3 Fe 1 /Al 2 O 3 , while only CH 4 dissociation appeared on Ni 1 Fe 1 /Al 2 O 3. [Display omitted] • Ni 1 Fe 1 /Al 2 O 3 and Ni 3 Fe 1 /Al 2 O 3 catalysts were developed by EISA method for DRM. • Ni 1 Fe 1 /Al 2 O 3 possessed superior stability to Ni 3 Fe 1 /Al 2 O 3 at 600 °C for 50 h. • A structural evolution of Ni−Fe alloy catalysts occurred in DRM. • Structure changes were established during the reaction by the dealloying process. • Coke pathways on the two catalysts were determined for distinct coke deposition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • A FSV method was introduced to quantitatively evaluate the LRCS model. • The FSV method was compared with the relative error and RMSE analysis. • The FSV method compared the feature difference unaffected by the offset of curve. Abstract A feature selection validation (FSV) method was introduced to quantitatively evaluate the laser radar cross section (LRCS) model. To verify the performance of the LRCS model, we compared the agreement between the LRCS experimental data and the corresponding simulated data using the FSV method, the relative error and the root mean square error (RMSE) analysis, respectively. The experimental results demonstrate that the FSV method outperforms the relative error and the RMSE analysis in comprehensiveness and accuracy under the conditions of sparse experimental data and the angle offset of experimental curve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract An ultrasensitive photoelectrochemical (PEC) aptasensor was designed for detection of chloramphenicol (CAP) based on graphene quantum dots-sensitized TiO 2 nanotube arrays (GQDs/TiO 2 NTs). The GQDs/TiO 2 NTs nanohybrids were prepared by a coupling technique of linker molecule binding and electrophoretic deposition. It exhibited significantly enhanced visible-light photoelectrochemical activity, which was firstly employed as the photoactive material for fabrication of PEC aptasensor. As the recognition unit, the aptamers of CAP were immobilized on GQDs/TiO 2 NTs photoelectrode via π–π stacking interaction between GQDs and the nucleobases of the aptamer. In this signal-on proposal, the aptasensor was used for the label-free analysis of CAP by monitoring the increase in photocurrent that resulted from the formation of aptamer-CAP bioaffinity complexes with ascorbic acid as an efficient electron donor for scavenging photogenerated holes. Under the optimized conditions, the aptasensor showed a wide linear range from 0.5 nM to 100 nM for CAP detection with a low detection limit of 57.9 pM (S/N = 3). With good selectivity and sensitivity, the PEC aptasensor was applied to the determination of CAP in spiked honey samples with satisfactory results, suggesting that the GQDs/TiO 2 NTs photoelectrode has a promising application in constructing PEC sensor platform. Graphical abstract A novel visible-light driven photoelectrochemical aptasensor based on graphene quantum dots-sensitized TiO 2 nanotube arrays has been fabricated and used for the determination of chloramphenicol with good selectivity and high sensitivity. fx1 Highlights • A "signal-on" PEC aptasensor based on GQDs/TiO 2 NTs was developed. • The GQDs/TiO 2 NTs nanohybrids significantly improve photocurrent response. • The aptasensor exhibits high sensitivity for chloramphenicol detection. • The proposed method can be used in food safety detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • LIBS combined with semi-supervised learning can be used to identify explosives. • The semi-supervised learning improved the accuracy of KNN algorithm. • The method required only a little prior information (save time and work). • The algorithm had good robustness and practicability. Abstract Public places are often under threat from explosion events, which pose health and safety risks to the public. Therefore, the detection of explosive materials has become an important concern in the fields of antiterrorism and security. Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) has been demonstrated to be useful in identifying explosives but has limitations. This study focuses on using semi-supervised learning combined with LIBS for explosive identification. Labeled data were utilized for the construction of a semi-supervised model for distinguishing explosive clusters and improving the accuracy of the K-nearest neighbor algorithm. The method requires only minimal prior information, and the time for obtaining a large amount of labeled data can be saved. The results of our investigation demonstrated that semi-supervised learning with LIBS can be used to discriminate explosives from interfering substances (plastics) containing similar components. The algorithm exhibits good robustness and practicability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A method towards polymeric PAGs generating polymeric photoacids is proposed. • The polymeric PAGs can be used for one-component chemically amplified resist. • Pattern with high line/space resolution of 0.175 μm is obtained by KrF lithography. Photoacid generator (PAG) bound polymers have been developed to form chemically amplified resists (CARs) due to their improved lithographic performance. With poly(sodium p-styrenesulfonate-co-4-hydroxystyrene-co-alkyl methacrylate) prepared as a precursor, a new type of PAG bound polymers are synthesized with sulfonium salts units bonded onto the copolymers and partly protection of phenolic hydroxy groups with t-BOC groups. The PAG bound polymers exihibit good solubilities in common resist solvents, high thermal stability and moderate absorbance at 248 nm. Upon irradiation, the sulfonium salt units undergo photolysis effectively to generate a small amount of polymeric sulfonic acids. By incorporating the sulfonium salt PAGs and the acidolytic t-BOC protect groups into the same polymer chains, we can prepare one-component positive-tone chemically amplified resists (CARs) with this new kind of PAG bound polymer. The photolithography of the resists are evaluated with KrF laser stepper and show outstanding performance in resolution and photosensitivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphical abstract Highlights • Bi 2 WO 6 nanosheets loaded with PtO x nanoparticles were synthesized by photoreduction. • Optimal CH 4 yield was achieved with a content of 0.5% PtO x loading. • PtO x loading boosted the process of carrier separation and water oxidation. Abstract Solar CO 2 photoreduction into hydrocarbons is promising and significative. However, many conventional catalysts reported usually suffer from poor photocatalytic activities. Herein, ultrathin Bi 2 WO 6 nanosheets with a thickness of about 4.8 nm have been synthesized by hydrothermal method, which exhibited a CH 4 production rate of 19 ppm g−1 h−1 under a low CO 2 concentration of 400 ppm. PtO x nanoparticles with a size of about 2 nm were then loaded on the Bi 2 WO 6 nanosheets as excellent co-catalysts by photoreduction in aqueous solution, and an optimal CH 4 yield of 108.8 ppm g−1 h−1 was achieved, which was about 5.7 times than that of pristine Bi 2 WO 6 nanosheets. Further analyses of photocurrent curves, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and polarization curves of water oxidation indicated that the improved photocatalytic activity was suggested to result from the enhanced carrier separation and accelerated water oxidation by PtO x nanoparticles. The work will likely give a deeper insight of PtO x nanoparticles and provide a new idea to design catalysts for CO 2 photoreduction to CH 4. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In this work, an FeCoBSiNbCu bulk glassy alloy (BGA) with a diameter up to 4 mm was successfully prepared by copper mold casting method. The (Fe 0.5 Co 0.5) 71.6 B 20 Si 4 Nb 4 Cu 0.4 BGA exhibits a high strength over 4 GPa and an enhanced plasticity of 3.7%, combined with good soft magnetic properties. A well-developed vein pattern on the fracture surface and highly dense multiple shear bands throughout the overall rod were observed on the deformed specimen. The improved plasticity is strongly related to the nano-scale heterogeneous structure introduced to the glassy alloy by phase separation with minor Cu addition, which can hinder the propagation of shear bands, promote multiple shearing and enhance the plasticity. This work might have a guiding significance for a deep-understanding of the plastic deformation mechanism of Fe-based BGA in a high strength level. Highlights • FeCoBSiNbCu BGAs were successfully prepared by copper mold casting method. • BGAs exhibited good thermal stability and large glass-forming ability. • BGAs exhibited an enhanced plasticity of 3.7% and a high strength over 4 GPa. • Well-developed vein patterns and highly dense multiple shear bands were observed. • Mechanical and magnetic properties were related to the nano-scale heterogeneity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract CROWDED NUCLEI (CRWN) family in Arabidopsis consists of four members, CRWN1 to CRWN4. It has been previously reported that the CRWN proteins are involved in the control of nuclear morphology and degradation of ABI5. In this study, however, we discover that CRWN-family proteins are not only involved in attenuating responsiveness to abscisic acid (ABA), but also implicated in inhibiting reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and DNA damage induced by genotoxic agent methyl methanesulfonate (MMS). Our results demonstrate that three crwn double mutants, i.e. crwn1 crwn3 , crwn2 crwn3 , and crwn2 crwn4 , show slightly earlier leaf senescence, enhanced leaf cell death, and obvious overaccumulation of ROS under regular growth conditions. When treated with 0.15 μM ABA or 0.01% MMS, two double mutants, crwn1 crwn3 and crwn2 crwn3 , exhibit significant decreased germination rates as well as leaf opening and greening rates. Moreover, subsequent investigations indicate that the MMS treatment strongly inhibits the growth of crwn mutant seedlings, while this inhibition is substantially relieved by imidazole (IMZ); by contrast, DNA methylation inhibitor 5-aza-2′-deoxycytidine (5-aza-dC) has no effect on relief of the growth inhibition. Further studies reveal that under 0.01% MMS treatment conditions, crwn mutants, especially the three double mutants, accumulate more ROS compared to Col-0, and their genomic DNA suffers from more severe DNA damage relative to Col-0, which is indicated by significantly higher 8-oxo-7-hydrodeoxyguanosine (8-oxo dG) content as observed in the crwn mutants. Altogether, these data clearly demonstrate that the CRWN-family proteins play important roles in diminishing ROS accumulation and protecting genomic DNA against excessive oxidative damage caused by MMS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]