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Surface functionalization has been considered as an effective strategy to manipulate charge separation of carbon nitride and therefore to largely improve the photocatalytic H 2 evolution efficiency. Poly heptazine imide (PHI) is a new class of crystalline carbon nitride frameworks that exhibits remarkable photocatalytic performance for hydrogen evolution. To further improve the H 2 evolution performance of PHI and explore the reaction mechanism, ammonium thiocyanate was used as a precursor for the synthesis of poly heptazine imide at elevated temperatures under molten salt conditions. The optimized PHI with an abundance of surface cyano groups shows a significantly enhanced photocatalytic performance for H 2 evolution, which is 4.3 times that on pristine PCN. Most importantly, the surface cyano group adjusts the electron intensity of the polymeric framework, enhances the light absorbance, reduces the bandgap, and improves the charge separation efficiency. The synthetic technique also could be applied to other sulfur-containing precursors for the synthesis of PHI frameworks with excellent hydrogen evolution production performance. • Polymerization of sulfur-containing based precursors in the presence of NaCl/KCl generates poly heptazine imide. • The newly generated PHI(AT) bears an abundance of terminal cyano groups. • The terminal cyano groups promote the charge separation efficiency and enhance photocatalytic activities. • PHI(AT) showed 4.3 times higher HER than pristine PCN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gastric cancer (GC) is often diagnosed at an advanced stage and thus patients have a poor prognosis. This implies that early detection of this cancer will improve patient prognosis and survival. This systematic review explored the association of circulating protein and metabolite biomarkers with GC development. A literature search was conducted until November 2021 on Medline, Embase, Cochrane library, and Web of Science databases. Studies were included if they assessed circulating proteins and metabolites in blood, urine, or saliva and determined their association with GC risk. Quality of identified studies was determined using the Newcastle-Ottawa scale for cohort studies. Random and fixed effects meta-analyses were performed to calculate pooled odds ratio. A total of 53 studies were included. High levels of anti-Helicobacter pylORi IgG levels, pepsinogen I (PGI) <30 µg/L and serum pepsinogen I/ pepsinogen II (PGI/II) ratio<3 were positively associated with risk of developing GC (pooled odds ratio (OR): 2.70; 95% CI: 1.44–5.04, 5.96, 95% CI: 2.65–13.42 and 4.43; 95% CI: 3.04–6.47). In addition, an inverse relationship was found between ferritin, iron and transferrin levels and risk of developing GC (OR: 0.62; 95% CI: 0.38–1,0.97; 95% CI: 0.94–1 and 0.85; 95% CI: 0.76–0.94). However, there was no association between levels of glucose, cholesterol, vitamin C, vitamin B12, vitamin A, α-Carotene, β-Carotene, α-Tocopherol, γ-Tocopherol, and GC risk. The pooled analysis demonstrated that high levels of anti-Helicobacter pylORi IgG, PGI<30µg/L and serum PGI/II ratio <3 and low levels of ferritin, iron and transferrin were associated with risk of GC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Carbon fiber tensile strength was enhanced using silane coupling agent. • Non-destructive binding of fibers to sulfonated graphene was achieved by electrostatic self-assembly. • Sulfonated graphene improves fiber dispersion in composites. • Cross-linking of sulfonic acid groups with CTP inhibited crack formation. • Incorporation of assemblies improved mechanical properties and oxidation resistance of carbon/carbon composites. The application prospects of carbon/carbon composites are greatly limited by interfacial cracks and pores caused by binder pitch displacement and cracking during high-temperature carbonization. In this study, silane coupling agent was coated on the surface of oxygen plasma-treated carbon fibers (CFs) and subsequently electrostatically self-assembled with sulfonated graphene (SG) to improve the interfacial bonding between filler and CTP. The results indicate that the tensile strength of carbon fiber treated with silane coupling agent increased by 19 % compared to untreated CF. This increase in strength may be related to the layer of silane coupling agent that repaired the grooves and imperfections on the CF surface. The addition of SG not only improves the distribution characteristics of the fibers, allowing the silane-treated CF to play a greater role in the matrix, but also creates a three-dimensional hydrogen-bonded cross-linking between the SG and the coal tar pitch (CTP) on the surface of the fibers. This inhibits CTP displacement and pyrolysis, achieving a tight bonding of the fiber to the matrix. The composites' structural integrity and mechanical properties were significantly improved due to the synergistic effect of silane-treated CF and SG. The compressive strength was 216.98 MPa, with a flexural strength of 54.78 MPa, 250 % higher than the untreated carbon fiber-reinforced composites. Additionally, the porosity decreased by 31.5 %, and the antioxidant properties increased. The study presents a potential solution to improve the performance of carbon/carbon composites by using the silane-treated CF-SG multiscale reinforced phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Straw addition markedly affects the soil aggregates and microbial community structure. However, its influence on the profile of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), which are likely associated with changes in bacterial life strategies, remains unclear. To clarify this issue, a soil microcosm experiment was incubated under aerobic (WS) or anaerobic (AnWS) conditions after straw addition, and metagenomic sequencing was used to characterise ARGs and bacterial communities in soil aggregates. The results showed that straw addition shifted the bacterial life strategies from K- to r-strategists in all aggregates, and the aerobic and anaerobic conditions stimulated the growth of aerobic and anaerobic r-strategist bacteria, respectively. The WS decreased the relative abundances of dominant ARGs such as QnrS5 , whereas the AnWS increased their abundance. After straw addition, the macroaggregates consistently exhibited a higher number of significantly altered bacteria and ARGs than the silt+clay fractions. Network analysis revealed that the WS increased the number of aerobic r-strategist bacterial nodes and fostered more interactions between r-and K-strategist bacteria, thus promoting ARGs prevalence, whereas AnWS exhibited an opposite trend. These findings provide a new perspective for understanding the fate of ARGs and their controlling factors in soil ecosystems after straw addition. Straw soil amendment has been recommended to mitigate soil fertility degradation, improve soil structure, and ultimately increase crop yields. However, our findings highlight the importance of the elevated prevalence of ARGs associated with r-strategist bacteria in macroaggregates following the addition of organic matter, particularly fresh substrates. In addition, when assessing the environmental risk posed by ARGs in soil that receives crop straw, it is essential to account for the soil moisture content. This is because the species of r-strategist bacteria that thrive under aerobic and anaerobic conditions play a dominant role in the dissemination and accumulation of ARG. [Display omitted] • The bacterial life strategies and ARGs in aggregates were investigated after straw addition. • r- more than K-strategist bacteria community were closely related to ARGs profiles. • The aerobic/anaerobic r-strategist bacteria were dominant factors controlling the fate of ARGs. • Macroaggregates were hotspots for connections between ARGs and bacteria after straw addition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Four new monomeric sorbicillinoids, trichillinoids A − D (1 – 4), along with two known dimeric sorbicillinoids (5 and 6), and five known monomeric sorbicillinoids (7 – 11), were obtained from the marine-fish-derived fungus Trichoderma sp. G13. They were structurally characterized on the basis of comprehensive spectroscopic investigations (NMR, HRESIMS, and ECD). Compounds 1 – 4 displayed moderate anti-inflammatory activities, according to inhibiting the production of NO in RAW264.7 cells activated with IC 50 values ranging from 14 to 20 μM. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While childhood maltreatment is understood to be a significant risk factor for adolescent internalizing problems (depression and anxiety), underlying mechanisms linking each type of maltreatment to internalizing problems in adolescents remain unclear. Moreover, the current state of knowledge regarding the associations between maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies and each type of maltreatment, as well as their impact on adolescent internalizing problems, is limited. Additionally, it remains unclear whether these maladaptive strategies mediate this relationship. This study sought to investigate the effects of childhood maltreatment types on adolescent internalizing problems and to explore whether the overall and specific types of maladaptive strategies mediate these associations. Using a cross-sectional design, adolescents (N = 7071, M age = 14.05 years, SD age = 1.54) completed online questionnaires assessing childhood maltreatment, maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies (including rumination, catastrophizing, self-blame, and other-blame), anxiety, and depression. The hypothesized mediating effects were tested using the Lavaan package in R software (4.1.2). Different maltreatment types had varying effects on adolescent internalizing problems. Emotional neglect, emotional abuse, and sexual abuse significantly affected anxiety and depression, whereas physical neglect and physical abuse did not. Other than physical neglect and physical abuse, overall maladaptive strategies mediated the relationship between the other three types of maltreatment (emotional abuse, emotional neglect, and sexual abuse) and internalizing problems (anxiety and depression). For specific maladaptive strategies, rumination mediated the effects of physical abuse, emotional abuse, emotional neglect, and sexual abuse on internalizing problems (anxiety and depression). In contrast, catastrophizing mediated the relationship between physical neglect, emotional abuse, emotional neglect, sexual abuse and internalizing problems (anxiety and depression). These results suggest that the effects of maltreatment types on internalizing problems are different and that maladaptive strategies, particularly rumination and catastrophizing, are important mechanisms through which childhood maltreatment affects internalizing problems. This is a reminder that mental health workers need to consider the different effects of maltreatment types when intervening and recognize the importance of prioritizing interventions for rumination and catastrophizing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Most bioactive compounds in food waste (FW) inhibited methane production during AD. • AD of FW concomitant with flavoring agents and preservatives gained wide attention. • Bioactive compounds stress induced changes in microbial community and key enzymes. • More efforts should focus on microbial adaptability to bioactive compounds stress. • Co-digestion and pretreatment etc. could mitigate the bioactive compounds stress. Energy recovery from food waste (FW) through anaerobic digestion (AD) is an attractive disposal method for FW management and the utilization of sustainable fuel. Nevertheless, bioactive compounds from food, such as food flavoring agents (e.g., salt, capsaicin, allicin, spices, and herbs), food preservative (e.g., sodium benzoate, sorbate, and chitosan), natural flavors compounds (e.g., fruit flavors and tea polyphenols), and mycotoxins and related fungi, could accompany FW into AD systems and cause the instability in long-term AD. This review addressed the impacts of bioactive compounds from FW on AD. The potential microbial response mechanisms of bioactive compounds stress on AD were also elucidated. Furthermore, the mitigation strategies for bioactive compounds stress on AD were proposed in terms of co-digestion, pretreatment, external osmotic pressure, the addition of conductive materials, and dynamic microbiome disassembly and evolution response. This review aimed to provide a better understanding of the fates and environmental risks of FW concomitant with bioactive compounds and to stimulate new mitigation strategy based on microbial response mechanisms in AD systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Preparation of novel photocured polyurethane materials based on thiourethane bonds. • More than 90% self-healing efficiency can be achieved under near infrared light. • The material can be applied to the field of flexible electronic substrates. In this work, a photopolymerizable polyurethane oligomer (PETU) with thiourethane bonds was designed and synthesized. Afterwards, the near-infrared responsive self-healing polyurethane films (PETU-HI-X) were fabricated by photopolymerization using homemade PETU, polydopamine (PDA), and commercially available isobornyl acrylate (IBOA) and 2-hydroxyethyl acrylate (HEA). PETU-HI-X have good photopolymerization and photothermal conversion performance. The as-prepared near-infrared responsive self-healing polyurethane polymer PETU-HI-1.0 exhibited a tensile stress of 1.06 MPa, strain of 1021 %, initial decomposition temperature of 290 °C. In addition, the temperature of the material can rise to more than 100 °C after irradiation with near-infrared light for 3 min, showing excellent photothermal conversion performance, based on which the material shows more than 90 % self-healing efficiency after irradiation with near-infrared light for 30 min. More importantly, the near-infrared responsive self-healing polyurethane polymer PETU-HI-1.0 also has an excellent degradation property. The self-healing polyurethane films have also been used to prepare the flexible electronic device that can be healed and fully restored their conductivity after getting damaged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the widespread use of anaerobic soil disinfestation (ASD) to improve soil health, its impact on soil antibiotics, human pathogenic bacteria (HPB) and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) remains unclear. To address this knowledge gap, we conducted an incubation study in manure-amended soil with three treatments: no treatment (CK), crop straw only (CS), and CS combined with water flooding and plastic covering (ASD). The results showed that ASD increased the concentrations of tetracycline by 27 % and β-lactam by 22 %, while depleting macrolide by 51 %. Furthermore, ASD increased the numbers of potential HPB species and genes by 4.1 % and 23 %, respectively. Co-occurrence network analysis demonstrated intensified cooperation and competition among HPB and HNPB (human non-pathogenic bacteria) species under ASD, favoring the prevalence of HPB species such as Escherichia coli , Streptococcus equi , Clostridium tetani , and Bacillus anthracis. Potential HPB species in Proteobacteria exhibited negative correlations with macrolide and β-lactam antibiotics, whereas those in Firmicutes showed positive correlations with tetracycline antibiotics, suggesting that specific bacterial taxa contributed to the production and degradation of antibiotics in response to ASD. Interestingly, CS mitigated the presence of ARGs in soil, while ASD further amplified this reduction, almost eliminating nalC , acrB , OXA-60 , VIM-7 , tetL , and tetQ. The variation in ARG profiles (91.7 %) could be explained by antibiotics, HPB, and HNPB species, indicating their collective contribution to reducing soil ARGs under ASD. Moreover, host prediction and network analysis revealed that, compared with CK, where potential HPB species were the main carriers of ARGs, soil ARGs were less frequently carried by potential HPB species after ASD, indicating a reduction in the collaborative dissemination of HPB and ARGs in manured soil. In conclusion, ASD provides a promising strategy for mitigation of soil biologic contamination, which can have profound significance for environmental safety and agricultural sustainability. • ASD altered soil distribution of tetracycline, β-lactam and macrolide antibiotics. • ASD enriched soil potential HPB species by enhancing connections between HPB and HNPB species. • ASD removed most of the common ARGs, which was weakly correlated with soil antibiotics. • Most potential HPB species boosted by ASD were not the hosts of ARGs in soil. • ASD decreased the risks of synchronous dissemination of HPB and ARGs in soil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

School incivility is defined as low-intensity deviant behaviors with ambiguous intent that violate the norms of mutual respect at school. We explored the impact of it and propose possible measures to mitigate its negative effects on students. Drawing upon the frustration-aggression theory, we developed a moderated mediation model to examine the influence of school incivility on student state self-esteem and cyberbullying. We tested this model using a sample of 3978 students (Mean age = 17.77 years old) in China. Regression analysis results revealed that state self-esteem mediated the relationship between school incivility and cyberbullying. Additionally, the Big Five personality traits of openness, extraversion, and agreeableness moderated the indirect effect of school incivility on cyberbullying through state self-esteem. Our study contributes to theoretical and practical understanding of school incivility by enriching related research, empirically verifying the frustration-aggression theory, and identifying a potential predictor of cyberbullying. We urge increased attention to school incivility and recommend practical interventions to prevent it in the school environment. These include implementing courses and campaigns related to school incivility, fostering a supportive school climate and enhancing monitoring and reporting mechanisms for school incivility. • School incivility was positively associated with cyberbullying. • State self-esteem was negatively related to cyberbullying. • State self-esteem mediated the relationship between school incivility and cyberbullying. • Openness, extraversion, and agreeableness moderated the indirect effect through state self-esteem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • DON-induced gut toxicity is partly mediated by gut microbiota. • L. murinus is a potential probiotic against DON. • L. murinus and its EVs effectively alleviated DON-induced intestinal barrier disorder. • LmEVs upregulate TLR2 to promote M2 macrophage polarization to protect the gut barrier. Deoxynivalenol (DON) is a common environmental pollutant that poses a serious health risk to humans worldwide. This study was aim to explore whether gut microbiota is involved in DON-induced intestinal toxicity as well as to reveal effect of probiotics derived from gut microbiota in protecting intestinal barrier and to elucidate mechanism. We found that DON caused disturbed gut microbiota, particularly Lactobacillus murinus (L. murinus) deficiency. DON enhanced M1 macrophage polarization and decreased tight junction protein expression. Microbiota transplantation experiments showed that transfer of DON-disrupted microbiota to healthy mice resulted in delivery of DON-induced intestinal toxicity. Besides, DON lost its damaging effect on macrophage and intestinal barrier in antibiotic-treated mice. Further intervention experiments revealed that L. murinus induce macrophage conversion from M1 to M2 phenotype through secreted extracellular vesicles (EVs) to alleviate DON-induced intestinal barrier disruption. Mechanistically, EVs activate TLR2 to promote M2 macrophage polarization and release IL-10, which in turn enhances intestinal barrier function. Upon successful translation of its efficacy into clinical practice, EVs created from L. murinus could be a novel possible treatment strategy for DON-induced gut disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polylactic acid (PLA) is a novel biodegradable material that is widely used in fields like medicine, petrochemicals, disposable products, and has played significant role in the fast-growing agriculture sector in recent years. In this study, nanoscale sustained-release urea fiber materials were successfully fabricated by coaxial electrospinning by encapsulating urea inside polylactic acid fibers. The effects of different concentrations of PLA and urea on the preparation of fibrous membranes as well as the effects of different concentrations of PH and variations in temperature on the sustained release were investigated. The experimental results showed that the proposed method was feasible and the urea fiber membranes acidic and basic conditions as well as elevated temperatures. The sustained release time for the urea was as long as 84 d. Scanning electron microscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometry were employed to characterize the morphology of the electrospun nanofibers. Thermogravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry showed that the release system was thermally stable up to a temperature of 126 °C, and urea concentration was determined by UV–Vis spectrophotometry. This method has broad application prospects in agricultural production and provides a more rational fertilizer choice for soil-free cultivation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The performance of supervised deep learning significantly relies on the volume of training samples. However, the vast majority of medical images lacks manual expert annotations. Compared to natural image annotation, the cost of medical image annotation is more expensive as it requires professional medical knowledge guidance. To tackle the predicament, semi-supervised learning and self-supervised learning are very effective technologies. In this paper, we present a twin self-supervision based semi-supervised learning (TS-SSL) approach that embeds two types of self-supervised strategies (namely generative self-supervised learning and discriminative self-supervised learning) into semi-supervised framework to simultaneously learn from few-shot labeled images and vast unlabeled images. TS-SSL is an end-to-end classification model, in which semi-supervision and self-supervision can be jointly trained. The proposed TS-SSL is applied to perform retinal anomaly classification based on spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) images. The experiments demonstrate that TS-SSL yields the good classification performance on one public SD-OCT dataset and two private SD-OCT datasets with only 10% labels. We also claim that TS-SSL can be transferred to other medical imaging modalities. The code is available at https://github.com/ZhangYH0502/TS-SSL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The combination of biomass and liquid metal (LM) makes the preparation process "greener" and application of LM composite materials more sustainable. Here we reported the solvent free preparation of lignosulfonate (LS) stabilized eutectic gallium/indium (EGaIn) LM nanodroplets through ball milling (BM), which was recognized to be efficient and environmentally-friendly alternatives to solution-based methods. By regulating the BM frequency and milling time, uniform LM nanodroplets with a size <200 nm can be achieved. Moreover, the surface of the EGaIn nanodroplets was covered by LS molecules, owing to the hydrogen bond formed between Ga 2 O 3 and LS. Hydrophilic LS shell endowed the LS@EGaIn nanodroplets excellent colloidal stability in the aqueous media. The elongation at break and fracture strength of hydrogel with the addition of LS@EGaIn significantly improved with the addition of LS@EGaIn. Besides, the conductivity and excellent stress responsibility of the LS@EGaIn composite hydrogel illustrated its potential application as s a stress sensor, flexible wearable devices and other related applications. Moreover, it was predicted that LS can be replaced by other synthesized or biological macromolecules, and induced the formation of types of LM based composite materials through such a simple method. Preparation of lignosulfonate (LS) stabilized eutectic gallium/indium (EGaIn) liquid metal nanodroplets through ball milling (BM). [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pregnant women with vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) may experience adverse pregnancy outcomes such as premature delivery, intrauterine infection, abortion, and neonatal infection. Therefore, finding new treatments for VVC in pregnancy is a public health priority. We aimed to study the adverse consequences of Candida albicans (C. albicans) vaginal infection in pregnant mice and explore the mechanisms by which C. albicans affects macrophages. Our findings contribute to the development of new approaches to treat VVC during pregnancy. We established an animal model of vaginal infection by C. albicans in pregnant mice and observed adverse pregnancy outcomes such as decreased body weight, reduced implantation number, and increased abortion rates. Additionally, we infected mouse macrophage line RAW264.7 cells with C. albicans and established a cell model. We employed RT-qPCR, Western blot, and immunofluorescence staining to verify the changes in the IL-15/STAT5 signaling pathway and the role it played on the M1 polarization of C. albicans -infected macrophages at both the gene and protein levels. Our results indicate that the adverse pregnancy outcomes in VVC may be linked to changes in the IL-15/STAT5 pathway induced by C. albicans , which could impact macrophage M1 polarization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) have emerged as highly competitive catalysts. However, the precise regulation of intrinsic structural parameters that account for the activity of AuNPs remains a challenge in designing high-performance electrocatalysts. Herein, the layered yttrium hydroxide (LYH) nanosheets supported AuNPs are prepared via a facile electrochemical deposition method. The tunability of morphology in LYH support and their utilization in controlling the growth of small AuNPs with uniform dispersion are emphasized. Finally, a novel sensor is constructed using flower-like AuNPs/LYH modified electrodes, which allows for simultaneous determination of the dihydroxybenzene isomers hydroquinone and catechol with good sensitivity, reproducibility and stability. The excellent performance can be attributed to the synergistic effects between AuNPs and LYHs. The strategy of depositing gold onto LYH nanosheets and the resulting high performance provide new approaches for further developing highly efficient composite electrodes across a wide range of applications. [Display omitted] • The AuNPs/LYH composites are fabricated by a facile electrochemical method. • The morphology of LYH substrate can effectively modulate both the size and distribution of AuNPs growth. • The electrode modified with flower-like AuNPs/LYH composite exhibits excellent electrochemical performance. • The novel sensor is successfully used in water samples for simultaneous determination of hydroquinone and catechol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To understand the non-uniformity of microwave heating, berry puree selected as representative material with high moisture content, movement simulation and beach experiments were employed to analyze the non-uniformity formation and evolution in the blueberry puree loaded in a rectangular container (BLRC) under microwave heating. The results showed that the coupling process via microwave dissipation and heat & mass transfer dominates the uniformity of microwave heating BLRC. The decisively heating modes of microwave dissipation are transverse electric wave and transverse magnetic wave, whose features of microwave dissipation dominate the heat and mass transfer process in BLRC as three distinct stages of temperature changes, including slow elevation then stabilization followed by quick increase. Thermal accumulation, thermal conduction, and latent heat of water vaporization at varying degrees consume microwave dissipation in BLRC. The results provide guidance for understanding microwave heating uniformity and processing technology for agricultural products with similar properties as berry fruit. • Microwave interaction with edges of berry puree produces the highest absorption. • Interaction of microwave resonant and temperature dominates temperature uniformity. • Microwave dissipation and heat transfer codetermine heating uniformity inside BLRC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) delivery has been broadly investigated as a cell-based therapy strategy towards various diseases and tissue injury. In these applications, the cell-delivery vehicle plays a crucial role in determining the therapeutic performance of MSCs and their fate post-implantation. We report here the development of a microcarrier system combining platelet-derived growth factor-BB (PDGF-BB) and a PDGF-BB-binding polysaccharide – Eucommia ulmoides (EUP3) – for MSC cultivation. First, we investigated the optimal conditions to prepare the EUP3-PDGF-BB complex, by comparing its i) diameter, ii) morphology, and iii) bioactivity to promote MSC proliferation and fibroblast migration in vitro, under different PDGF-BB/EUP3 ratios. Then, we fabricated microspheres using gelatin and EUP3 as the matrix while stabilizing PDGF-BB at the optimal ratio for MSC adhesion and growth. Live staining and SEM observation indicated that the prepared microspheric carrier supported MSC growth and maintained cell stemness. We suggest that the EUP3/PDGF-gelatin microcarriers can potentially serve as a cell-delivery vehicle for tissue engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study reported the synthesis of ERGO-MnTMPyP and its electrochemical detection performance for dopamine (DA) and uric acid (UA). The nanocomposite was based on the electrostatic interaction between graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets and manganese porphyrins (MnTMPyP). The material was characterized using various techniques including X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FT-IR), demonstrating successful synthesis. Various electrochemical tests, including cyclic voltammetry (CV), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV), were performed to analyze the electrochemical characteristics of modified glass carbon electrodes (GCE). The modified electrode exhibited a significant reduction in electron transfer resistance, decreasing to 100.9 Ω. Compared with previous studies, the modified electrode reveals a unique performance to effectively detect DA (208 mV) and UA (328 mV) simultaneously with the presence of ascorbic acid (AA) interference. The detection peaks of DA and UA were apparently separated with the detection limits of 0.29 μM in the linear range of 2.23–10.76 μM and 0.64 μM in the linear range of 2.23–10.76 μM (S/N = 3), respectively. • MnTMPyP was introduced into the interlayer of GO by electrostatic self-assembly. • The introduction of MnTMPyP into the interlayer of GO prevents restacking. • Graphene oxide was reduced environmentally without any reductive reagents. • Modified electrode can detect DA and UA in the presence of ascorbic acid. • The limit of detection for DA and UA is better than some of other graphene materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • A salt-tolerant polyelectrolyte hydrogel was fabricated. • Mutual interactions of adjacent cations and aromatic rings endow the hydrogel with salt-tolerant properties. • The composite gradient hydrogels present enhanced adsorption and catalytic performance. • The gradient hydrogel matrix demonstrates good stability and reusability used in the saline solutions. The integration of nanostructured materials into hydrogel matrix with chemical gradient holds great promise in gathering the pollutants and enhancing their adsorption or photocatalytic performance. However, the electric potentials rooting in the common gradient polyelectrolyte hydrogel are almost completely shielded by the co-existing counter-ions. In this study, a salt-tolerant gradient polycationic electrolyte hydrogel was fabricated by free radical copolymerization under the induction of unilateral UV illumination, which was used as nanofillers matrix. The cation-π interactions between the adjacent cations and aromatic rings endow the gradient polycationic electrolyte hydrogels deserving the salt-tolerant properties. Thus, the build-in electric potentials are still reactive on enrichment of the anionic heavy metals in highly concentrated salt solutions, altering the defects of the common gradient polyelectrolyte hydrogel. Using Sb(V) adsorption and Cr(VI) photocatalytic reduction as target reactions, the gradient composite hydrogels always display fast and high removal capacities towards these anionic pollutants in the saline solutions of 500 mM, as well as good stability and reusability. This salt-tolerant hydrogel matrix provides a smart material platform with self-driven forces in the fields of pollutant enrichment and removal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • A low-cost multifunctional fabric was made from waste cotton fabrics and carbon fibers. • The multifunctional composite fabric shows excellent X-band EMI rating of 82.63 dB. • The multifunctional composite fabric possesses outstanding infrared stealth property. • The multifunctional composite fabric has outstanding flame-retardant property. The challenge of developing multifunctional military tent fabrics with low-cost, stable electromagnetic shielding and infrared stealth in complicated environments is enormous. Herein, a novel aluminium-flammability carbonized waste cotton-carbon felt (A-FCWCF) composite fabric consisting of hydrophobic flame-retardant fabric, carbonized waste cotton felt and carbon fiber felt was prepared via a simple yet low-cost stitching process. The resulting composite fabric was extensively investigated for its stability and applicability in a complicated environment. Due to the significant conductivity and impedance mismatches, the A-FCWCF composite fabric displayed exceptional EMI-shielding properties, plus an X-band EMI rating of 82.63 dB. Moreover, the A-FCWCF composite fabric presented excellent infrared stealth performance at room and extremely cold outdoor temperatures, owing to its high porosity and low emissivity. The functional finishing on the A-FCWCF composite fabric also made it stable flame retardate and hydrophobic. Furthermore, the EMI-shielding and infrared stealth performances of A-FCWCF composite fabric were almost unaffected even if subjected to environmental stability, mechanical properties and weather resistance tests, making it a promising candidate for tough natural environments. Overall, this low-cost and simple preparation strategy of multi-layer stitched multifunctional fabric can revolutionize the production of military materials, improving functionality even in the most complex environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reductive soil disinfestation (RSD) is a widely practiced strategy for remediating soil degradation that seriously threatens crop production and sustainable agriculture. However, the soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamics and its underlying mechanisms induced by RSD remain unknown. To clarify this problem, a field experiment explored the SOC dynamics under degraded soils (C 3) remediated with CK (untreated) and RSD (combination of added maize straw (C 4), water flooding, and plastic mulch). The relationships of SOC dynamics with microbial community composition and activities of C-related hydrolase were also disentangled using structural equation model (SEM) and variation partitioning analysis (VPA). Results indicated that the SOC concentration under CK treatment decreased by 0.96 g C kg−1 compared with that in the initial soil, while the SOC concentration under RSD treatment increased by 1.26 g C kg−1 because of old SOC loss (0.56 g C kg−1) and new SOC formation (1.82 g C kg−1). Compared to the CK, the RSD increased the soil dissolved organic C (DOC), but decreased the microbial biomass C (MBC) and abundances of bacteria and fungi. The soil microbial community shifted from Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria to Firmicutes and Ascomycota after RSD treatment, and the activities of C-related hydrolase were also enhanced, such as β-glucosidase, cellobiohydrolase, β-xylosidase, and invertase. The SEM and VPA suggested that the new SOC formation and the reduced old SOC loss under RSD treatment were collaboratively driven by soil properties (i.e. , redox potential, DOC, and MBC), microbial taxa (i.e. , Arthobacter , Symbiobacterium) and hydrolase activities (i.e. , BG and CBH). Meanwhile, the RSD doubled the yield of subsequent tomato by mitigating soil degradation (i.e. , salinization and Fusarium oxysporum) and increasing the SOC concentration. In summary, RSD, as a remediation strategy for soil degradation, can increase SOC concentration by modifying microbial community and C-related hydrolase activities. • Reductive soil disinfestation (RSD) increased soil organic carbon (SOC) concentration. • RSD promoted formation of new SOC and reduced the loss of old SOC. • The SOC dynamics had stronger response to bacterial than fungal community under RSD. • The SOC increase was linked to activities of β-xylosidase and cellobiohydrolase. • RSD doubled tomato yield as soil degradation was mitigated and SOC concentration increased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The backup protection including fault identification and location methods is proposed for VSC-HVDC transmission lines. • The waveform difference in same/different-mode traveling waves between faulty and unfaulty lines is elaborated in theory. • The protection can identify the double-pole-to-ground fault with unequal positive and negative pole fault resistances. • The waveform difference between 1-mode differential forward and backward currents can locate faults rapidly and accurately. • The methods can improve the protection selectivity, reliability, rapidity, and sensitivity. Due to the low-damping characteristic of the voltage source converter based high voltage direct current (VSC-HVDC) transmission system, the line current will reach the peak value within a few milliseconds after DC fault, threatening the safety of power electronic devices. Therefore, a reliable and rapid protection scheme comprising fault identification and location is necessary. The detection time cost of traditional backup protections is high. Worse still, most existing methods cannot distinguish the double-pole-to-ground fault with unequal positive and negative pole fault resistances. To solve the issues, a backup protection based on the same/different-mode traveling wave, differential forward/backward current, and traveling waveform difference for VSC-HVDC lines is proposed in the paper. The fault characteristics of same/different-mode traveling wave and relationship between fault distance and differential forward/backward current are elaborated. The waveform differences in positive/negative-pole same/different-mode traveling waves and 1-mode differential forward/backward currents are summarized. According to these analyses, the protection is established and the VSC-HVDC is modeled in PSCAD. Based on the sufficient simulation tests, it is verified the proposed fault identification and location schemes have great performance, with superiority in fault resistance and distance tolerance (2,000 Ω and the whole line), strong anti-interference capability, fast fault distinguishment, and accurate fault location. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The backup protection scheme based on traveling wave and waveform similarity is proposed for the VSC-HVDC transmission line. • The difference in 1-mode forward and backward traveling waves between internal and external faults are proven theoretically. • The difference in instantaneous currents between faulty-pole and unfaulty-pole DC lines are proven theoretically. • The protection scheme has superiorities in fault resistance tolerance (2,000 Ω) and quicker fault judgment (less than 4 ms). • The protection scheme can identify the double-pole-to-ground fault with unequal positive-pole and negative-pole fault resistances accurately. The voltage source converter based high voltage direct current (VSC-HVDC) system is a practical solution to improve renewable energy integration, flexible consumption, and wide-range complementarity. Because the DC line fault must be cleared within a few milliseconds, a reliable and rapid identification of faulty lines and poles is crucial. Unfortunately, the traditional backup protection cannot respond to internal faults fast enough and is sensitive to fault resistance. What is worse is that a double-pole-to-ground fault with unequal positive-pole and negative-pole fault resistances cannot be identified by most of the existing protection methods. The paper proposes a pilot backup protection based on directional traveling wave and waveform similarity for VSC-HVDC transmission lines to compensate for the drawbacks. The fault characteristic of 1-mode directional traveling waves and the waveform similarity of instantaneous currents of DC lines are elaborated theoretically. Based on the analyses, the protection is established, and the four-terminal VSC-HVDC grid is modeled in PSCAD and OPAL-RT. Detailed theoretical analyses and extensive simulation/experiment results have proven that the proposed protection scheme has higher reliability, selectivity, rapidity, and sensitivity. Compared with the existing backup protections, the proposed protection scheme has superiorities in fault resistance and distance tolerance (2,000 Ω and the entire length of DC lines), fault differentiation of double-pole-to-ground fault with unequal positive-pole and negative-pole fault resistances, immunity from signal noise and measurement error interference, and quicker fault judgment (less than 4 ms). © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multi-label classification (MLC) can attach multiple labels on single image, and has achieved promising results on medical images. But existing MLC methods still face challenging clinical realities in practical use, such as: (1) medical risks arising from misclassification, (2) sample imbalance problem among different diseases, (3) inability to classify the diseases that are not pre-defined (unseen diseases). Here, we design a hybrid label to improve the flexibility of MLC methods and alleviate the sample imbalance problem. Specifically, in the labeled training set, we remain independent labels for high-frequency diseases with enough samples and use a hybrid label to merge low-frequency diseases with fewer samples. The hybrid label can also be used to put unseen diseases in practical use. In this paper, we propose Triplet Attention and Dual-pool Contrastive Learning (TA-DCL) for multi-label medical image classification based on the aforementioned label representation. TA-DCL architecture is a triplet attention network (TAN), which combines category-attention, self-attention and cross-attention together to learn high-quality label embeddings for all disease labels by mining effective information from medical images. DCL includes dual-pool contrastive training (DCT) and dual-pool contrastive inference (DCI). DCT optimizes the clustering centers of label embeddings belonging to different disease labels to improve the discrimination of label embeddings. DCI relieves the error classification of sick cases for reducing the clinical risk and improving the ability to detect unseen diseases by contrast of differences. TA-DCL is validated on two public medical image datasets, ODIR and NIH-ChestXray14, showing superior performance than other state-of-the-art MLC methods. Code is available at https://github.com/ZhangYH0502/TA-DCL. • Propose clinic-driven multi-label medical image classification method TA-DCL • Experiments on two public datasets present superior performance than other methods • Prediction accuracy of unseen diseases is improved by almost 15% [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modification of porous titanium (PT) implants with biological coatings is being challenged due to their inert surface and complex internal structure. A facile flow-casting technique has been utilized to prepare a bioceramic coating consisting of 45S5 bioactive glass (BG) and core-shelled Ag@MSN particles homogeneously on the entire surface of PT. The addition of Ag@MSN nanoparticles facilitated the sintering of BG and subsequently enhanced the adhesion of the coating. Slightly delayed hydroxyapatite formation was also detected probably due to minimized release and consumption of calcium ions. In-vitro assessments of the coating cultured with MC3T3-E1 osteoblasts and Staphylococcus aureus were carried out to assess their potential as multifunctional bone implants with excellent bioactivity and antibacterial properties. A template for producing robust and multi-component ceramic coatings on PT and other porous implants with tailorable biological properties for bone tissue engineering has been established. • A flow-casting technique was applied to prepare homogeneous bioceramic coatings on PT. • The addition of Ag@MSN facilitated the sintering of BG and enhanced the coating adhesion. • The coated PT exhibited good bioactivity by inducing HA formation in SBF in 3 days. • The BG-Ag@MSN coating exhibit excellent osteogenic and antibacterial properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The "depth-charge" sentence, No head injury is too trivial to be ignored, is often interpreted as "no matter how trivial head injuries are, we should not ignore them" while the literal meaning is the opposite – "we should ignore them". Four decades of research have failed to resolve the source of this entrenched semantic illusion. Here we adopt the noisy-channel framework for language comprehension to provide a potential explanation. We hypothesize that depth-charge sentences result from inferences whereby comprehenders derive the interpretation by weighing the plausibility of possible readings of the depth-charge sentences against the likelihood of plausible sentences being produced with errors. In four experiments, we find that (1) the more plausible the intended meaning of the depth-charge sentence is, the more likely the sentence is to be misinterpreted; and (2) the higher the likelihood of our hypothesized noise operations, the more likely depth-charge sentences are to be misinterpreted. These results suggest that misinterpretation is affected by both world knowledge and the distance between the depth-charge sentence and a plausible alternative, which is consistent with the noisy-channel framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Explore the possibility of predictively generating post-therapeutic SD-OCT images based on pre-therapeutic SD-OCT images with nAMD. • Graph evolution module (GEM) is proposed to imprison the process of disease evolution in the high-dimensional latent space by graph representation learning. • Evaluation reinforcement module (ERM) is proposed to reinforce the disease evolution process by combining additional reconstruction generator and contrastive learning. • Design targeted experimental schemes according to actual clinical realities, and the qualitative and quantitative results demonstrate superior predictive generation performance than other methods. Most of the existing disease prediction methods in the field of medical image processing fall into two classes, namely image-to-category predictions and image-to-parameter predictions.Few works have focused on image-to-image predictions. Different from multi-horizon predictions in other fields, ophthalmologists prefer to show more confidence in single-horizon predictions due to the low tolerance of predictive risk. We propose a single-horizon disease evolution network (SHENet) to predictively generate post-therapeutic SD-OCT images by inputting pre-therapeutic SD-OCT images with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD). In SHENet, a feature encoder converts the input SD-OCT images to deep features, then a graph evolution module predicts the process of disease evolution in high-dimensional latent space and outputs the predicted deep features, and lastly, feature decoder recovers the predicted deep features to SD-OCT images. We further propose an evolution reinforcement module to ensure the effectiveness of disease evolution learning and obtain realistic SD-OCT images by adversarial training. SHENet is validated on 383 SD-OCT cubes of 22 nAMD patients based on three well-designed schemes (P-0, P-1 and P-M) based on the quantitative and qualitative evaluations. Three metrics (PSNR, SSIM, 1-LPIPS) are used here for quantitative evaluations. Compared with other generative methods, the generative SD-OCT images of SHENet have the highest image quality (P-0: 23.659, P-1: 23.875, P-M: 24.198) by PSNR. Besides, SHENet achieves the best structure protection (P-0: 0.326, P-1: 0.337, P-M: 0.349) by SSIM and content prediction (P-0: 0.609, P-1: 0.626, P-M: 0.642) by 1-LPIPS. Qualitative evaluations also demonstrate that SHENet has a better visual effect than other methods. SHENet can generate post-therapeutic SD-OCT images with both high prediction performance and good image quality, which has great potential to help ophthalmologists forecast the therapeutic effect of nAMD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• NH 4 + and PO 4 3- co-precipitated with Mg2+ generating from the sacrificial Mg anode and were recovered as struvite. • High-purity struvite can be partly deposited on and separated from cathode plate. • Electric field improved the cake layer structure, thus mitigating membrane fouling. • Electrochemical reactions provided alkalinity and effectively inhibited anaerobic acidification. Severe membrane fouling and the inability to remove/recover nitrogen and phosphorus are bottlenecks of anaerobic membrane bioreactors (AnMBRs) for large-scale application in wastewater treatment. Herein, an electrochemical AnMBR with a Mg anode-membrane module (electro-AnMBR) was built and showed good performance in terms of membrane fouling mitigation and nutrient recovery during sewage treatment. Compared with the traditional AnMBR, membrane fouling in the electro-AnMBR was reduced by up to 30%. The application of an electric field decreased the zeta potential, viscosity, and EPS concentration of the sludge-water liquor in the electro-AnMBR, which could improve the cake layer structure and thus enhance water permeability. Meanwhile, 26% of NH 4 + and 48% of PO 4 3- co-precipitated with Mg2+ generating from the sacrificial Mg anode and were recovered as struvite deposited onto cathode in the electro-AnMBR. Hydrogen evolution provided a relatively alkaline pH environment, resulting in struvite electrodeposition on the graphic cathode, which partly separated the formed struvite from the sludge with a purity of 77%. In the electro-AnMBR, the electrochemical reactions provided alkalinity and effectively inhibited anaerobic acidification. The applied voltage of 0.6 V reduced the relative abundance of methanosaeta, but increased that of methanosarcina, which is also beneficial for the membrane anti-fouling. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bike-sharing systems have become an indispensable transportation mode due to the environmental friendliness and shareability in the sustainable cities development process. However, the asymmetry of people's travel patterns during the morning and evening rush hours has contributed to the imbalance in bike inventory. Consequently, station rentals and returns require redistribution to address the rebalancing of bikes. In this paper, a user-based repositioning method through a bi-level programming model is proposed. With the objective of minimizing the repositioning workload, the upper-level model yields redistribution proportions that enable the balance between rentals and returns at the station. In addition, aiming at maximum user profit, the lower-level model calculates a redistribution matrix between station pairs and provides recommended stations for users. Finally, three levels of evaluation indicators for the bike-sharing system, operators, and users are presented. The results indicate that the proposed user-based repositioning is remarkably effective in improving the bike inventory balance and the station's turnover rate. This study provides a novel idea for the bike-sharing repositioning problem and contributes to the improvement of urban transportation. • A user-based repositioning method using a bi-level programming model is proposed. • The proposed method is evaluated in terms of users, operator and bike-sharing system. • The effectiveness of the model is validated in the Philadelphia bike-sharing system. • The suggested polices could accommodate both repositioning costs and efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The non-unit protection based on the traveling waveform similarity is proposed for the VSC-HVDC transmission line. • The traveling waveform similarity differences between internal and external faults are proved in theory. • The protection scheme can identify the double-pole-to-ground fault with its positive-pole fault resistance unequal to negative-pole fault resistance accurately. • The scheme provides high performance considering the possible influence factors. • The method improves the protection selectivity, reliability, rapidity, and sensitivity. The protection for the voltage source converter based high voltage direct current (VSC-HVDC) transmission lines must detect the faulty DC lines and faulty poles within a few milliseconds, because the fault current rises quickly. The traditional protections are easily influenced by fault resistance and signal noise. What is worse, the double-pole-to-ground (DPG) fault with its positive-pole fault resistance unequal to negative-pole fault resistance cannot be detected accurately. To solve the problems, a non-unit protection scheme based on the waveform similarity and wavelet transform modulus maximum (WTMM) theories for the VSC-HVDC lines is proposed in this paper. A four-terminal VSC-HVDC power network is modeled in PSCAD to verify the protection. Extensive simulations of various fault situations prove that the protection scheme can detect high-fault-resistance, DPG, and remote faults. Moreover, it is insensitive to the sampling frequency, signal noise, smoothing reactor, and start delay. Furthermore, it can meet the rapidity requirement. Therefore, the proposed protection can identify the DC faults accurately, which minimizes the disturbance to power grids and improves system security and stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a green synthesis route was developed to prepare Ca and Co oxides supported carbon aerogel from renewable alginate. The sodium alginate was adopted as a template and carbon source, and a hydrogel with a three-dimensional and core-shell structure was chelated by introducing calcium and cobalt bimetals. The synthesized Ca Co oxides supported carbon aerogel can completely remove Hg0 in the HCl-containing waste gasification gas at room temperature. The Hg0 adsorption capacity on the 4Ca-1Co/CA adsorbent is as high as 4.02 mg/g when the 5% breakthrough occurs. At a 20% breakthrough of HCl, the captured amount of HCl could reach 175.37 mg/g. We concluded that the introduction of calcium and cobalt on the adsorbent provides sufficient active sites for the removal of HCl in a large amount, at the same time, the excellent oxygen supply capacity of Co species in an oxygen-free atmosphere can form active chlorine sites, which is conductive to enhance the removal of Hg0. Additionally, the 4Ca-1Co/CA adsorbent has the characteristics of wide temperature window and wide application range of space velocity, which can meet the needs of various working conditions. [Display omitted] • A green synthesis route to prepare Ca and Co oxides supported carbon aerogel from renewable alginate is provided. • There is a synergistic effect on removing HCl and Hg0 at 4Ca-1Co/CA adsorbent. • The introduction of Ca and Co provides sufficient active sites for the highly efficient removal of HCl and Hg0. • A wide temperature window and high space velocity could be performed on 4Ca-1Co/CA adsorbent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OMABS not only effectively initiates photopolymerization of methacrylates, but also reduces their volume shrinkage by reversible "breaking-recovering" of S S bonds under LED irradiation. [Display omitted] • A photopolymerizable dithioaniline derivative (OMABS) was synthesized. • OMABS effectively initiates polymerization of methacrylates under LED irradiation. • OMABS obviously reduces volume shrinkage of methacrylates under LED irradiation. This work reports a photopolymerizable dithioaniline derivative (OMABS), having the double functions of reducing volume shrinkage and initiating polymerization under light emitting diode (LED) irradiation. Its photochemistry and photoinitiation properties were investigated by UV–vis absorption spectroscopy, electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy (EPR), real-time infrared spectroscopy (RTIR) and confocal micro-Raman spectroscopy. OMABS shows a weak absorption around 385 nm and 405 nm, but can generate arylthiyl radicals to effectively initiate the polymerization of bisphenol A glycerolate dimethacrylate (Bis-GMA)/triethylene glycol dimethacrylate (TEGDMA) system and itself under 385 and 405 nm LED irradiation, and the double bond conversion reaches up to 83.2 %. Significantly, OMABS can obviously reduce the volume shrinkage of Bis-GMA/TEGDMA system, and the volume shrinkage (4.89 %) of Bis-GMA/TEGDMA with OMABS system declines by almost half compared with that (8.10 %) without OMABS system due to the existence of dynamic reversible S S bond and intermolecular hydrogen bonding interaction. Moreover, OMABS has little influence on the gel yield, thermal stability and frictional resistance of the Bis-GMA/TEGDMA system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• An easily available electrophilic bromodfiluoromethylating reagent based on the sulfonium ylide skeleton was developed. • Bromodifluoromethylative hydroxylation of styrenes were achieved under photoredox catalyst. • Direct bromodifluoromethylation of caffeine deriatives were developed using bromodfiluoromethyl sulfonium ylide as the bromodifluoromethyl radical source. An easily available electrophilic bromodfiluoromethylating reagent based on the sulfonium ylide skeleton was developed. Under irradiation of visible light, photoredox catalyst catalyzed the generation of bromodifluoromethyl radical from bromodifluoromethyl sulfonium ylide and subsequent reactions with styrenes and caffeine derivatives gave the corresponding bromodifluoromethylated compounds in good yields. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Few studies have employed person-centered approaches (i.e. latent profile analysis in this study) to investigate the specific patterns of childhood maltreatment in a large sample of Chinese adolescents, and little is known about the predictive validity of latent profile analysis on internalizing problems, compared with multiple individual risk model and cumulative risk model. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether differential patterns of maltreatment existed by employing latent profile analysis with a sample of 9071 Chinese adolescents, and further examined the predictive validity of latent profile analysis on internalizing problems, relative to the cumulative risk and multiple individual risk model. Using a stratified sampling approach, 10,515 participants (Mean age = 14.24; SD = 1.73) were chosen from three different types of middle schools in Chongqing city, China. 9071 valid responses (males = 4775; females = 4296) were obtained for final analysis. Participants reported their childhood maltreatment experience, anxiety and depression symptoms. Latent profile analysis was used to obtain possible patterns of maltreatment with Mplus version 7. 4. Bolck-Croon-Hagenaars (BCH) method was used to test the association between maltreatment patterns and anxiety and depression symptoms. Relative weight analysis and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to test the predictive validity of latent profile analysis, multiple individual risk and cumulative risk model. Using latent profile analysis, two patterns of childhood maltreatment were uncovered ("No Maltreatment" and "Multiple Maltreatment"). Further analysis showed that multiple individual risk model accounted for the largest variance in anxiety (R 2 = 26.7%) and depression (R 2 = 33%), followed by the latent profile analysis (R 2 = 14.7% for anxiety and 18.6% for depression) and the cumulative risk model (R 2 = 12.9% for anxiety and 15.2% for depression). Our findings suggested that the multiple individual risk model is the optimal model for identifying adolescents at the risk of developing anxiety and depression symptoms, and the results suggested emotional abuse and emotional neglect are risk factors for higher levels of anxiety and depression among adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Elevation is the most important regional-scale predictor of phylogenetic distance. • Resource availability shapes community assembly and diversity at the regional level. • Local and regional patterns of diversity are different because of shift in assembly. • It is vital to establish a complex gradient to dissect assembly mechanism. Diversity and its maintaining mechanism (community assembly) shift along resource availability gradients at local and regional levels. It is necessary to identify key natural factors shaping community assembly or diversity patterns, so that understanding the patterns of diversity and assembly along these factors across local to regional scales. In this study, we investigated the six local sites of plant community in Qinling Mountains region. Based on the relative importance of environmental factors in shaping the phylogenetic diversity, a complex resource availability gradient was established to assess taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity and assembly patterns along it at local or regional scale separately. Phylogenetic analyses and the biodiversity index were estimated along environmental gradients as well, to assess the difference between change tendencies along natural environmental and resource availability gradients. We found that 1) elevation was the most important regional-scale environmental predictor of phylogeny of community; 2) taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity studies showed similar patterns along both resource and elevational gradients at regional scale, and that diversity at local scale may differ regardless of gradients; 3) at the regional level, phylogenetic structures revealed convergent tendencies along the elevational gradient across different species pools. Phylogenetic assembly patterns along the elevation gradient at the local scale differed from the patterns at the regional scale, with consistent clustering tending to overspread along the resource availability gradient. In conclusion, resource availability shaped community assembly at the regional level. Local patterns of diversity influenced regional patterns differently because of variation in the colonization history or assembly process. Owing to varying assembly patterns along simple environmental gradients, it is vital to establish a complex resource availability gradient to dissect the real assembly mechanism or biodiversity patterns operating in local to regional-scale processes. These findings may provide valuable reference about forest restoration and management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The secondary recombination of photogenic charge carriers caused by structural defects at the interface of BaTiO 3 /KNbO 3 heterojunction is successfully suppressed by the built-in electric field generated by the piezoelectric effect in BaTiO 3 and KNbO 3. BaTiO 3 /KNbO 3 composite photocatalyst exhibits excellent degradation performance for direct lake blue 5B dye (DLB 5B) under the synergistic effect of piezocatalysis and photocatalysis. [Display omitted] • BaTiO 3 /KNbO 3 heterostructure photocatalysts were successfully prepared for the first time. • BaTiO 3 /KNbO 3 presented good piezo-photocatalytic activity in degrading direct lake blue 5B dye under light irradiation and ultrasonic vibration. • The synergistic effect of piezocatalysis and photocatalysis on the separation and transfer of charge carriers was proposed. In order to reduce the secondary recombination of photogenic charge carriers caused by the structural defects at the interface of traditional heterostructure photocatlysts, and the charge shielding effect of static condition on the built-in electric field in ferroelectric/piezoelectric photocatalyst, two typical piezoelectric photocatalysts, BaTiO 3 and KNbO 3 , were successfully compounded into a series of BaTiO 3 /KNbO 3 heterostructure photocatalysts for the first time. BaTiO 3 nanoparticles with good crystallinity are uniformly distributed on the surface of KNbO 3 prism to form the BaTiO 3 /KNbO 3 heterostructure. The piezo-response force microscopy (PFM) results and piezo-photocatalytic degradation experiments stimulated by ultrasonic vibration and light irradiation show that the separation efficiency of photogenic charge carriers and degradation performance are enhanced by the synergistic effect of piezocatalysis and photocatalysis. The piezo-photocatalytic degradation efficiency of BaTiO 3 /KNbO 3 over direct lake blue 5B dye can reach up to 93.3%. The reaction rate constant of 0.3BaTiO 3 /0.7KNbO 3 over the target dye is 4.44 and 8.57 times higher than that of BaTiO 3 and KNbO 3. This work will provide a promising paradigm to degrade organic pollutants by using synergetic effect of piezocatalysis and photocatalysis, which perhaps facilitates the practical applications of piezo-photocatalytic technology in the environmental field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Berberine is a quaternary ammonium isoquinoline alkaloid, mainly extracted from plants berberaceae, papaveraceae, ranunculaceae and rutaceae such as coptis chinensis Franch , Phellodendron chinense , and berberis pruinosa. The plants are extensively used in traditional medicine for treating infection, diabetes, arrhythmia, tumor, osteoporosis et al. Pharmacological studies showed berberine has effects of anti-inflammation, anti-tumor, lower blood lipid, lower blood glucose, anti-osteoporosis, anti-osteoarthritis et al. This review aims to summarize the application of natural herbs that contain berberine, the further use and development of berberine, the effects as well as mechanism of berberine on osteoblasts and osteoclasts, the recent advances of in vivo studies, in order to provide a scientific basis for its traditional uses and to prospect of the potential applications of berberine in clinics. The research was achieved by retrieving from the online electronic database, including PubMed, Web of Science, Google Scholar and China national knowledge infrastructure (CNKI). Patents, doctoral dissertations and master dissertations are also searched. Berberine has a long history of medicinal use to treat various diseases including bone disease in China. Recent studies have defined its function in promoting bone regeneration and great potential in developing new drugs. But the systemic mechanism of berberine on bone regeneration still needs more research to clarify. This review has systematically summarized the application, pharmacological effects, mechanism as well as in vivo studies of berberine and herbs which contain berberine. Berberine has a definite effect in promoting the proliferation and differentiation of osteoblasts as well as inhibiting the production of osteoclasts to promote bone regeneration. However, the present studies about the system mechanisms and pharmacological activity of berberine were incomplete. Applying berberine for new drug development remains an exciting and promising alternative to bone regeneration engineering, with broad potential for therapeutic and clinical practice. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Addressing the global challenge of traffic crashes necessitates transcending traditional statistical models, which often fail to fully capture the interactions between factors causing crashes. This oversight restricts the predictive accuracy and adaptability of current methodologies. Additionally, there is a notable gap in research that examines the links between behavior-cause relationships and crash injury severity. Our study deploys Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Frequent Pattern (FP) growth algorithm to mine crash narratives for behavior-cause connections, combines with the predictive strength of eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) and the interpretative clarity offered by SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP), our approach not only predicts crash injury severity with satisfactory precision but also explains the influence of specific behavior-cause and environment conditions on crash outcomes. The integration of NLP and XGBoost, complemented by SHAP insights, has shown promising results with an accuracy of 0.79, outperforming traditional discrete choice models and competes closely with other machine learning approaches, including Support Vector Machines, Random Forest, Categorical Boosting (CatBoost), and Light Gradient Boosting Machine (LightGBM). Through detailed textual analysis and the establishment of a behavior-cause matrix, identifying five broad crash causes linked to 141 specific crash cause with behaviors, we uncover critical patterns such as the prominence of distracted driving in severe crashes. This comprehensive approach not only fills a critical research gap by linking behavior-cause relationships with injury severity but also sets the stage for developing targeted interventions to enhance road safety. • Merges NLP and XGBoost model for crash injury severity prediction. • Identifies crash causes and related driver behaviors using NLP and FP-growth. • Aids in developing traffic safety interventions based on SHAP interpretability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Impact of fractal dimension on aggregate scattering cross-section predicted by EMA was assessed. • Condition when EMA is more accurate than RDG-FA was proposed with reference to MSTM. • A critical aggregate size parameter value for which EMA is applicable was suggested. Particles within aggregates are commonly in a status of dependent scattering due to the near-field multiple scattering and far-field interferences from neighboring particles. The integral radiative characteristics of fractal aggregates are consequently not only influenced by the monomer size parameter x s , the refractive index n m , and the monomer number N s , but also tied to the fractal dimension D f. The effective-medium approximation (EMA) simplifies the calculation of aggregate radiative characteristics by treating an aggregate and its surrounding medium as a homogeneous sphere with an effective refractive index, and by applying the Lorenz-Mie theory to this equivalent sphere. The study aims to assess the applicability of EMA to predict the scattering cross-section of fractal aggregates consisting of non-absorbing monomers with x s , varying from 0.001 to 1.25, N s ranging from 10 to 500, under different fractal dimensions D f. The accurate results obtained using the multiple spheres T-matrix were used as a reference. In addition, the RDG-FA (Rayleigh-Deybe-Gans Fractal Aggregates) theory, which is widely used for aggregates with monomer size x s ≪ 1, was also evaluated for comparison. The finding reveals that both EMA and RDG-FA provide accurate predictions for aggregates satisfying the equivalent aggregate size parameter χ m less than D f , where the dependent scattering is limited. As the dependent scattering effect increases, the fractal dimension D f emerges as a critical factor influencing EMA's accuracy, with EMA excelling for aggregates with larger fractal dimensions close to 3. Furthermore, 2.1 is a critical value of D f above which EMA outperforms RDG-FA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • A novel aminated ZIF-8 composite cellulose aerogel was prepared. • The unique structure of aerogel enhances the adsorption capacity. • The adsorption capacity of the composite aerogel for Mo(VI) was 872.39 mg/g. • Adsorbent exhibits a removal rate of over 80% in simulated wastewater adsorption. Biomass adsorbents possess significant potential for both metal recovery from industrial leaching solutions and wastewater treatment. However, standalone biomass materials suffer from the drawback of low adsorption capacity. In this study, by the combination of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) with organic biomaterials, a novel aerogel of aminated ZIF-8 composite cellulose (CPEZN) was developed for molybdenum ions adsorption, and the incorporation of aminated ZIF-8 improved the availability of reactive groups. The unique aerogel structure effectively prevented the accumulation of MOFs, thereby increasing the specific surface area and improving the exposure of active site. In addition, the positively charged surface of CPEZN effectively adsorbed molybdenum ions. Experimental results showed that the introduction of ZIF-8-NH 2 improved the adsorption performance of the composites. The adsorption of Mo(VI) followed the Langmuir adsorption isotherm model, and its adsorption rate followed the pseudo-second-order model. The adsorbent exhibited a maximum Mo(VI) adsorption capacity of 872.39 mg/g at pH = 3, and a removal rate of more than 80 % in mixed coexisting ion solutions. Moreover, the adsorbent demonstrated good stability, with a removal rate of above 80 % after 5 cycles of adsorption. Comprehensive characterizations revealed that the adsorption mechanism of Mo(VI) on CPEZN was a synergistic effect of chemisorption, electrostatic interaction, redox, and complex ligand processes. The simulated industrial wastewater adsorption experiment showed that the prepared adsorbent had good removal ability for molybdenum ions. This study not only provides a reference for the design and preparation of MOF and biomass-based composite adsorbent materials, particularly in terms of understanding the adsorption mechanism and designing high-capacity functional groups, but also provides a theoretical basis for its practical application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Various AOPs in improving SCFAs production from WAS were reviewed and compared. • CaO 2 and K 2 FeO 4 have received increasing attention on SCFAs production. • The positive effects of emerging contaminants on SCFAs production were evaluated. • Knowledge gaps and prospects of AOPs techniques in SCFAs production were discussed. • An integrated solution in SCFAs production from WAS in WWTPs was constructed. Applying advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) in waste activated sludge (WAS) to enhance short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) from anaerobic fermentation has attracted much interest. The current review critically evaluated the efficiency of AOPs in improving the SCFAs production from WAS. Various oxidants (including CaO 2 , peracetic acid, sodium percarbonate, O 3 , persulfate, sulfite, K 2 FeO 4 , KMnO 4 and periodate) can generate different types of highly reactive species to promote the release of biodegradable substrates, and SCFAs yield. Moreover, the positive effects of emerging contaminants (ECs) on SCFAs production were fully investigated, and the efficiencies of AOPs for ECs removal from WAS were analyzed. Finally, intrinsic limitations and opportunities of AOPs-based conditioning techniques in SCFAs production from WAS were proposed. Based on these developments and challenges, an integrated solution in SCFAs production from WAS in wastewater treatment plants was constructed to realize the transition from "linear economy" to "circular economy". This review provides theoretical support for the development of practical engineering with more economical, environmentally friendly and high efficiency regarding the application of AOPs in SCFAs production from WAS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The voltage source converter based high voltage direct current (VSC-HVDC) technology is a feasible solution to realize wide-area complementarity and flexible consumption of the renewable clean energy resources but DC line faults are crucial problems. The traditional traveling wave protection for HVDC transmission lines are easily affected by the fault resistance and signal noise. Besides, it cannot detect the double-pole-to-ground fault. To overcome these problems, a single-ended protection scheme based on the phase-mode transformation and wavelet transform modulus maximum (WTMM) theories for DC lines in the VSC-HVDC transmission system is proposed in this paper. The protection scheme includes the protection startup unit, the internal fault identification unit, and the faulty pole detection unit. Extensive simulation tests carried out in PSCAD/EMTDC verify that the protection scheme has high selectivity in the high fault resistance faults, remote faults, and close-by faults with different fault types. And it does not rely too much on data synchronization. Furthermore, sensitivity analysis and comparisons with other methods indicate that the protection is insensitive to signal noise and suitable for different operational modes. And the effectiveness of the protection is independent of the high sampling frequency. Moreover, it can identify the double-pole-to-ground fault correctly. • A single-ended protection scheme is proposed for VSC-HVDC Transmission Lines. • The method improves the selectivity, reliability, and rapidity of protection systems. • The proposed protection scheme is able to identify the double-pole-to-ground faults. • The different signal noise levels and operational modes do not affect the protection. • The effectiveness of the protection is independent of the high sampling frequency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Propose an automated time adaptive prediction model for GA growth. • Comparison experiment in 6 scenarios verified the influence of prior information on prediction accuracy. • Prediction accuracy was improved by almost 10%. The automated prediction of geographic atrophy (GA) lesion growth can help ophthalmologists understand how the GA progresses, and assess the efficiency of current treatment and the prognosis of the disease. We developed an integrated time adaptive prediction model for identifying the location of future GA growth. The proposed model was comprised of bi-directional long short-term memory (BiLSTM) network-based prediction module and convolutional neural network (CNN)-based refinement module. Considering the discontinuity of time intervals among sequential follow-up visits, we integrated time factors into BiLSTM-based prediction module to control the time attribute expediently. Then, the results from prediction module were refined by a CNN-based strategy to obtain the final locations of future GA growth. The 10 scenarios were designed to evaluate the prediction accuracy of our proposed model. The 1–6th scenarios demonstrated the importance of the prior information similarity, the 7–8th scenarios verified the effect of time factors and refinement methods respectively and the 9th scenario compared the prediction results between those using a single follow-up visit for training and using 2 sequential follow-up visits for training. The 10th scenario showed the model generalization performance across regions. The average dice indexes (DI) of the predicted GA regions in the 1–6th scenarios are 0.86, 0.89, 0.89, 0.92 and 0.88, 0.90, respectively. By integrating time factors to the BiLSTM models, the prediction accuracy was improved by almost 10%. The CNN-based refinement strategy can remove the wrong GA regions effectively to preserve the actual GA regions and improve the prediction accuracy further. The prediction results based on 2 sequential follow-up visits showed higher correlations than that based on single follow-up visit. The proposed model presented a good generalization performance while training patients and testing patients were from different regions. Experimental results demonstrated the importance of prior information to the prediction accuracy. We demonstrate the feasibility of creating a model for disease prediction. Image, graphical abstract [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the gain-scheduled state estimation issue is investigated for a kind of complex networks subject to randomly occurring nonlinearities under bit-rate constraints. An array of random variables is introduced to govern the nonlinearities whose occurring probability is a time-varying but bounded value with known upper and lower bounds. A bit-rate constraint model is established and an encoding–decoding mechanism is proposed, under which an upper bound of the decoding error is acquired. The primary purpose of the issue considered in this paper is to design a gain-scheduled state estimator to obtain an estimate of the network state with an acceptable accuracy according to available output measurements. By means of the stochastic analysis and Lyapunov stability theory, a sufficient condition is provided such that the estimation error dynamics achieve the exponentially mean-square ultimate boundedness. The required estimator gain matrix is parameterized by solving a series of matrix inequalities. A numerical simulation is exploited to show the usefulness of the obtained gain-scheduled state estimator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The classical and traditional Chinese medicine prescription, Liuwei Dihuang (LWDH), has been commonly used to treat the menopausal syndrome. It has been reported that LWDH could improve estrogen receptor α (ERα) expression to prevent atherosclerosis (AS), while the mechanism of LWDH on regulating ERα expression was still unknown. To reveal the mechanism of LWDH on regulating the ERα expression. The protective effect of LWDH on Hcy-induced apoptosis of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) was examined. The expression of ERα and DNA methyltransferases 1 (DNMT1) were detected by Western blot and real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The methylation rate of the ERα gene was assayed by the bisulfite sequencing PCR (BSP). High-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS) was applied to determine the level of S-Adenosyl methionine (SAM) and S-Adenosyl homocysteine (SAH). In vivo, the ApoE−/- mice were ovariectomized to establish postmenopausal atherosclerosis (AS) model. In vitro study showed that LWDH protects HUVECs from Hcy-induced apoptosis. Treatment with LWDH significantly increased the ERα expression and reduced the methylation rate of the ERα gene by inhibiting the DNMT1 expression. The level of main methyl donor SAM and the ration of SAM/SAH were reduced by LWDH. In vivo, LWDH prevented the formation of plaque and reduced the concentration of Hcy. In addition, LWDH upregulated the ERα expression, as well as inhibiting the expression of DNMT1 in atherosclerotic mice. LWDH exerted protective effects on postmenopausal AS mice, and HUVECs treated with Hcy. LWDH increased of ERα expression via inhibiting DNMT1-dependent ERα methylation. Image 1 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]