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Based on the institutional perspective and socioemotional wealth (SEW) theory, this paper examines the impact of state logic, which is prevalent in the institutional environments of emerging markets, on the intrafamily succession intention (IFSI) of family firms. We posit that state logic shapes the set of institutional arrangements that constrain the family-centered socioemotional goals of family firms. Thus, the prevalence of a dominant state logic is negatively related to the probability of family business owners holding IFSI. However, the political power of owners can be leveraged to alleviate and even reverse this negative relationship. Moreover, the influence of political power is pronounced in settings with underdeveloped market institutions but not in those with developed ones. An empirical analysis of 774 fully family-controlled Chinese companies considering intrafamily succession substantiates our hypotheses. Plain English Summary: How does family firm succession respond to the state logic prevalent in emerging markets? State-dominated institutional environments are found to be related to family business owners lacking the inclination for intrafamily succession. We suggest family firms seek political power or operate in a favorable business environment to protect their emotional wealth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Particle segregation and mixing behavior play a crucial role in industrial processes. This study investigates the saturated jetsam fraction, which indicates the maximum capacity of flotsam to entrain jetsam, in an initially separated binary fluidized bed with particle size differences. According to the value of saturated jetsam fraction, three distinct regimes—segregation, mixing, and an intermediate regime—are identified. Moreover, intriguing relationships between the saturated jetsam fraction and superficial gas velocity are observed, exhibiting monotonic trends in both the segregation and mixing regimes, while a unique volcano-shaped curve in the intermediate regime. Additionally, a comprehensive entrainment model based on two-fluid model elucidates the observed phenomena, emphasizing the significance of mixing behavior in fluidized layer on the saturated jetsam fraction. This work offers potential insights for evaluating segregation in industrial applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To study the characteristics of nasal airflow in the presence of nasal cycle by computational fluid dynamics. CT scan data of a healthy Chinese individual was used to construct a three-dimensional model of the nasal cavity to be used as simulation domain. A sinusoidal airflow velocity is set at the nasal cavity entrance to reproduce the breathing pattern of a healthy human. There was a significant difference in the cross-sectional area between the two sides of the nasal cavity. Particularly, the decongested side is characterized by a larger cross-section area, and consequently, by a larger volume with respect to the congested side. The airflow velocity, pressure, and nasal resistance were higher on the congested narrow side. The temperature regulation ability on the congested narrow side was stronger than that on the decongested wider side. During the nasal cycle, there are differences in the nasal cavity function between the congested and decongested sides. Therefore, when evaluating the impact of various factors on nasal cavity function, the nasal cycle should be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, pure metallic zinc was distilled under vacuum at different temperatures, and pure metallic lead was distilled under vacuum at different temperatures and holding times, the condensation law and microscopic morphology of the condensates were studied in a specially designed multi-stage condenser. The special multi-stage condenser also proved to be a better instrument. Theoretical analysis shows that the volatilization and condensation processes of zinc are solid → gas and gas → solid, and the volatilization and condensation processes of lead are gas → liquid → solid and solid → liquid → gas, respectively. When the system pressure is the experimental pressure (5 Pa), the average number of collisions of zinc and lead molecules increases with the decrease of temperature, which is favorable for the condensation of zinc and lead. The vacuum distillation experiments showed that the volatilization rates of zinc and lead both increased with an increase in temperature. When the temperature was 600 °C and the holding time was 45 minutes, zinc was completely volatilized. When the temperature was 900 °C and the holding time was 75 minutes, the volatilization rate of lead was 68 pct. Photoluminescence spectroscopy analysis showed that in the microstructure of zinc, the hexagonal-layered particle structure has better photocatalytic properties. Increasing the temperature and holding time can promote the upward movement of the main condensation layer of lead, as well as lead particles of different sizes, and the nucleation growth mode of lead was described. This paper can lay the foundation for the study of the complete separation and condensation collection of zinc–lead from electric arc furnace dust and understanding the morphological characteristics of the condensate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scene text detection has drawn increasing attention due to its potential scalability to large-scale applications. Currently, a well-trained scene text detection model on a source domain usually has unsatisfactory performance when it is migrated to e large domain shift between them. To bridge this gap, this paper proposes a novel network integrates both text-specific Faster R-CNN (ts-FRCNN) and domain adaptation (ts-DA) into one framework. Compared to conventional FRCNN, ts-FRCNN designs a text-specific RPN to generate more accurate region proposals by considering the inherent characters of scene text, as well as text-specific RoI pooling to extract purer and sufficient fine-grained text features by adopting an adaptive asymmetric griding strategy. Compared to conventional domain adaptation, ts-DA adopts a triple-level alignment strategy to reduce the domain shift at the image, word and character levels, and builds a triple-consistency regularization among them, which significantly promotes domain-invariant text feature learning. We conduct extensive experiments on three representative transfer learning tasks: common-to-extreme scenes, real-to-real scenes and synthetic-to-real scenes. The experimental results demonstrate that our model consistently outperforms the previous methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrovoltaic effect is an innovative route to acquire electric energy from low-quality energy of water. Carbonized wood has shown great potential in hydrovoltaic conversion for the natural directional microtube structure which can induce sustaining water flow. But the induced-current, key performance of the hydrovoltaic effect, was still limited by intrinsic resistance of carbonized wood. To reduce the intrinsic resistance and promote the carrier migration, graphitizing as a proved method is used to improve the hydrovoltaic current. In this work, the carbonized wood was graphitized in different degree through transition metal catalytic method to investigate the influence. Double influence of graphitizing modification on hydrovoltaic conversion was verified. Moderately graphitizing modification can simultaneously promote the carrier to migrate and accumulate at double electric layer (DEL) interface, which benefits hydrovoltaic effect. But excessive modification shows a negative effect on carrier accumulation and reduces the hydrovoltaic performance. Comparing to the untreated carbonized wood, the maximal open-circuit voltage of graphitized carbonized wood can reach ~2.4 times higher (~0.47 V), while short-circuit current can be further enhanced to a notable ~27 times increase (~35 μA), demonstrating the remarkable enhancement of graphitizing modification on induced current. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Omicron spike (S) encoding vaccines as boosters, are a potential strategy to improve COVID-19 vaccine efficacy against Omicron. Here, macaques (mostly females) previously immunized with Ad26.COV2.S, are boosted with Ad26.COV2.S, Ad26.COV2.S.529 (encoding Omicron BA.1 S) or a 1:1 combination of both vaccines. All booster vaccinations elicit a rapid antibody titers increase against WA1/2020 and Omicron S. Omicron BA.1 and BA.2 antibody responses are most effectively boosted by vaccines including Ad26.COV2.S.529. Independent of vaccine used, mostly WA1/2020-reactive or WA1/2020-Omicron BA.1 cross-reactive B cells are detected. Ad26.COV2.S.529 containing boosters provide only slightly higher protection of the lower respiratory tract against Omicron BA.1 challenge compared with Ad26.COV2.S-only booster. Antibodies and cellular immune responses are identified as complementary correlates of protection. Overall, a booster with an Omicron-spike based vaccine provide only moderately improved immune responses and protection compared with the original Wuhan-Hu-1-spike based vaccine, which still provide robust immune responses and protection against Omicron. Variant booster vaccines are a strategy to improve protection against SARS-CoV-2. Here, the authors find that both Wuhan-Hu-1-based Ad26.COV2.S or an Omicron-adapted booster vaccine provide robust immune responses and protection against Omicron in NHP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Liver metastasis, a lethal malignancy of gastric cancer (GC) patients, execrably impairs their prognosis. As yet, however, few studies have been designed to identify the driving molecules during its formation, except screening evidence pausing before their functions or mechanisms. Here, we aimed to survey a key driving event within the invasive margin of liver metastases. Methods: A metastatic GC tissue microarray was used for exploring malignant events during liver-metastasis formation, followed by assessing the expression patterns of glial cell-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) and GDNF family receptor alpha 1 (GFRA1). Their oncogenic functions were determined by both loss- and gain-of-function studies in vitro and in vivo, and validated by rescue experiments. Multiple cell biological studies were performed to identify the underlying mechanisms. Results: In the invasive margin, GFRA1 was identified as a pivotal molecule involved in cellular survival during liver metastasis formation, and we found that its oncogenic role depends on tumor associated macrophage (TAM)-derived GDNF. In addition, we found that the GDNF-GFRA1 axis protects tumor cells from apoptosis under metabolic stress via regulating lysosomal functions and autophagy flux, and participates in the regulation of cytosolic calcium ion signalling in a RET-independent and non-canonical way. Conclusion: From our data we conclude that TAMs, homing around metastatic nests, induce the autophagy flux of GC cells and promote the development of liver metastasis via GDNF-GFRA1 signalling. This is expected to improve the comprehension of metastatic pathogenesis and to provide a novel direction of research and translational strategies for the treatment of metastatic GC patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this research, the nonlinear dynamics of cantilevered shell-shaped workpieces was investigated. The cantilevered shell-shaped workpiece was modeled as a double-curved thin shell subjected to a cutting force, which was concentrated and moving fast through the surface of the shell-shaped workpiece. Using Hamilton's principle, the equations of motion of the shell-shaped workpiece were derived based on the classic shell theory and the von Karman strain–displacement relations. Applying the Galerkin's approach, the nonlinear governing partial differential equations were reduced to the two-degree-of-freedom nonlinear system ordinary differential equations with external excitations. Considering the resonant cases of 1:1 internal resonance, the method of asymptotic perturbation method was utilized to obtain the averaged equations of cantilevered shell-shaped workpiece. Numerical method was used to study nonlinear dynamics of the cantilever shell-shaped workpiece and obtain the bifurcation diagram, two-dimensional phase portraits, waveforms phase, three-dimensional phase and frequency spectrum phase. The result showed that the system of the shell-shaped workpiece was very sensitive with the varying of the excitation parameters and the dumping coefficient, which exhibited the different dynamic behaviors including periodic motion and chaotic motion. The time-delay effects should also be considered. The slight difference of the time-delay effects can result in the complex dynamic behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The vacuum carbothermal reduction of Zn electric arc furnace dust (EAFD) was investigated using x-ray diffraction, SEM imaging, EDS-mapping, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, and chemical titration. In vacuum, 96.29% of Zn in EAFD was reduced and volatilized, and the maximum mass loss of EAFD occurred at 1000°C, which was lower than that in argon. In vacuum, the reduction of ZnFe2O4 to Fe3O4 and ZnO was initiated at 700°C. As the temperature increased from 700°C to 800°C, the reduction of Fe3O4 to FeO was initiated, whereas K salts in EAFD were completely volatilized and accumulated in a condenser. At 850°C, ZnFe2O4 and Fe3O4 were completely reduced, and the reduction of FeO and ZnO was initiated. At 1000°C, ZnO and FeO were completely reduced, and Zn was volatilized and accumulated in a condenser, whereas metal Fe remained in the slag to form a Fe-rich slag. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the outbreak of the 2019 Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at the end of 2019, it has caused great adverse effects on the whole world, and it has been hindering the global economy. It is ergent to establish an infectious disease model for the current COVID-19 epidemic to predict the trend of the epidemic. Based on the SEIR model, the improved SEIR models were established with considering the incubation period, the isolated population, and genetic algorithm (GA) parameter optimization method. The improved SEIR models can predict the trend of the epidemic situation better and obtain the more accurate epidemic-related parameters. Comparing some key parameters, it is capable to evaluate the impact of different epidemic prevention measures and the implementation of different epidemic prevention levels on the COVID-19, which has significant guidance for further epidemic prevention measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a hybrid cooperative differential evolution with the perturbation of the Covariance Matrix Adaptation Evolutionary Strategy (CMA-ES) with the local search of Limited-Memory Broyden–Fletcher–Goldfarb–Shanno (LBFGS) mechanism, named jSO_CMA-ES_LBFGS, is proposed to solve the complex continuous problems. In the proposed algorithm, jSO, as a variant of Differential Evolution (DE), is used as a global search operator to explore the entire solution space. When the population falls into stagnation, a relatively reliable initial solution for the local search operator is generated by the CMA-ES, which is activated to perturb the optimal candidates in the solution space. The LBFGS utilized as the local search strategy is embedded in CMA-ES to obtain the potential local optimal solutions. A cooperative co-evolutionary dynamic system is formed by jSO and CMA-ES with a local search operator. The proposed jSO_CMA-ES_LBFGS is tested on the CEC2017 benchmark test suite and compared with eleven state-of-the-art algorithms. Further, two practical engineering problems are investigated utilizing the proposed method. The experimental results reveal the effectiveness and efficiency of the jSO_CMA-ES_LBFGS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copper-doped α-MnO2 (Cu-α-MnO2) nanowires were synthesized with various amounts of Cu2+ via a hydrothermal method. Based on the XRD and XPS data, the substitution of larger Cu2+ ions in place of Mn3+ (0.645 Å) or Mn4+ ions (0.530 Å) result in the expansion in the lattice and increase of the amount of Mn3+. The electrocatalytic results indicate that the Cu-α-MnO2 shows superior ORR activity than that of the pristine α-MnO2 due to the decreases in the charge transfer resistance and enhance the kinetic rate. In addition, the Mg-air battery using Cu-α-MnO2 (Cu: Mn = 1:4) displays a maximal peak power density of 73.4 mW cm−2 and high discharge voltage. This finding provides an effective and cheap method to improve electrocatalyst for Mg-air batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The accuracy of the pitch angle deviation directly affects the guidance accuracy of the laser seeker. During the guidance process, the abnormal pitch angle deviation data will be produced when the seeker is affected by interference sources. In this paper, a new abnormal data detection method based on Smooth Multi-Kernel Polarization Support Vector Data Description (SMP-SVDD) is proposed. In the proposed method, the polarization value is used to determine the weight of the multi-kernel combination coefficient to obtain the multi-kernel polarization function, in which the particle swarm optimization is used to find the optimal kernels for higher detection accuracy. Besides, by using smoothing mechanism, the constrained quadratic programming problem is translated to be smooth and differentiable. Then, this problem can be solved by the conjugate gradient method, which could reduce the computational complexity. In experimental section, abundant simulation experiments were designed and the experimental results verify that the proposed SMP-SVDD method could achieve higher detection accuracy and low computational cost compared with different detection methods in different guidance stages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epididymal white adipose tissue (eWAT) secretes an array of cytokines to regulate the metabolism of organs and tissues in high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obesity, but its effects on bone metabolism are not well understood. Here, we report that macrophages in eWAT are a main source of osteopontin, which selectively circulates to the bone marrow and promotes the degradation of the bone matrix by activating osteoclasts, as well as modulating bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDMs) to engulf the lipid droplets released from adipocytes in the bone marrow of mice. However, the lactate accumulation induced by osteopontin regulation blocks both lipolysis and osteoclastogenesis in BMDMs by limiting the energy regeneration by ATP6V0d2 in lysosomes. Both surgical removal of eWAT and local injection of either clodronate liposomes (for depleting macrophages) or osteopontin-neutralizing antibody show comparable amelioration of HFD-induced bone loss in mice. These results provide an avenue for developing therapeutic strategies to mitigate obesity-related bone disorders. Visceral adipose tissue secretes cytokines to regulate the homeostasis of organs. Here, the authors show that epididymal white adipose tissue-secreted osteopontin induces lipophagocytic mobilization of macrophages and promotes bone matrix degradation via activating osteoclasts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The CVnCoV (CureVac) mRNA vaccine for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) was recently evaluated in a phase 2b/3 efficacy trial in humans1. CV2CoV is a second-generation mRNA vaccine containing non-modified nucleosides but with optimized non-coding regions and enhanced antigen expression. Here we report the results of a head-to-head comparison of the immunogenicity and protective efficacy of CVnCoV and CV2CoV in non-human primates. We immunized 18 cynomolgus macaques with two doses of 12 μg lipid nanoparticle-formulated CVnCoV or CV2CoV or with sham (n = 6 per group). Compared with CVnCoV, CV2CoV induced substantially higher titres of binding and neutralizing antibodies, memory B cell responses and T cell responses as well as more potent neutralizing antibody responses against SARS-CoV-2 variants, including the Delta variant. Moreover, CV2CoV was found to be comparably immunogenic to the BNT162b2 (Pfizer) vaccine in macaques. Although CVnCoV provided partial protection against SARS-CoV-2 challenge, CV2CoV afforded more robust protection with markedly lower viral loads in the upper and lower respiratory tracts. Binding and neutralizing antibody titres were correlated with protective efficacy. These data demonstrate that optimization of non-coding regions can greatly improve the immunogenicity and protective efficacy of a non-modified mRNA SARS-CoV-2 vaccine in non-human primates.CV2CoV, a second-generation mRNA COVID-19 vaccine with non-modified nucleosides but optimized non-coding regions, is demonstrated to be effective against SARS-CoV-2 challenge when tested in non-human primates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we report a 3D biomass foam absorber by uniformly loading plasmonic Au nanoparticles (Au-NPs) on carbonized rice husk porous substrate for solar vapor generation. The organic bubbles were simultaneously used as templates to construct porous channels and as carriers to introduce Au-NPs. Owing to the characteristic plasma heating effects, Au-NPs can be as additional heat spots for vapor generation to enhance the solar-thermal conversion effect at visible waves. The 3D porous absorber enables convenient water transport and high light absorption of ~ 94.6%. The solar vapor evaporation efficiency is ~ 84% in pure water and ~ 75% in 15 wt% NaCl solution under 1 kW m−2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel tetraphenylethylene (TPE)-functionalized arylimidazole derivative (HTPEAIM) has been designed and synthesized. The structure was characterized by FT-IR, HR-MS, 1H and 13C NMR. The photophysical properties were investigated by UV–vis absorption and PL spectra. HTPEAIM exhibited excellent aggregation-induced emission (AIE) property that it was non-emission in organic solution and with high fluorescence in aggregation state as the restriction of intramolecular motions (RIMs). Moreover, HTPEAIM could be a fluorogenic probe for sensing picric acid (PA) and Cu2+ in the aqueous environment. Since the proton binding capacity of the N atom of the imidazole group and the donor–acceptor interactions, HTPEAIM was able to sensitively and selectively detect PA through the synergistic effects of photoinduced energy transfer (PET) and fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) with a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.99 μM. Meanwhile, driving by the metal binding ability of the pincer-like structure of hydroxyl and imidazole group, HTPEAIM was used for sensing Cu2+ in the aqueous environment. The response mechanism was systemically studied, and the results showed that the stable Cu(HTPEAIM)2 complex was formed and that induced the fluorescence highly quenching to obtain a low LOD of 34.8 nM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrovoltaic effect is emerging as a potential way to acquire electric energy from water. Some carbon materials, such as carbon nanotubes, graphene or porous carbon, have revealed featured water-electric process due to their typical double electric layer (DEL) behavior. In this work, the carbonized wood (CW) was demonstrated to exhibit a considerable hydrovoltaic performance as water flows in its vertical-pores. Electrochemical studies verified that the maximum open-circuit voltage and short-circuit current achieved ~ 0.27 V and ~ 0.62 μA in 0.5 M NaCl solution, respectively. Further research manifested that carbonization temperature featured prominently on the hydrovoltaic performance owing to the evolution of pyrolytic carbon. At different heat treatment temperatures from 500 to 800 °C, the organic matters of wood were gradually transformed into stacked polyaromatic hydrocarbon, organic mesophase and amorphous carbon through process of thermopolymerization and pyrolyzation. The structure and specific surface area of the amorphous carbon involved played a pivotal role on the water-induced voltage resulting from the DEL effect and electron drag process between water and carbon atoms. The lower resistance of amorphous carbon also enhances the short-circuit current of the CW device. This work is mainly dedicated to provide a potential strategy to get water-induced energy from biochar materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In underdetermined blind source separation (UBSS), the estimation of the mixing matrix is crucial because it directly affects the performance of UBSS. To improve the estimation accuracy, this paper proposes a joint clustering analysis method based on density based spatial clustering of applications with noise (DBSCAN) and clustering by fast search and find of density peaks (CFSFDP). In the reprocessing, the observed signals in the time domain are transformed into sparse signals in the frequency domain through a short time Fourier transform (STFT), and single-source-point (SSP) detection is used to enhance the linear clustering characteristic of signals. In addition, to facilitate the use of density-based clustering analysis, mirroring mapping is used to transform the linear clustering into compact clustering on the positive half unit circle (or sphere). For the estimation of the underdetermined mixing matrix (UMM), the DBSCAN algorithm is first used to search for high-density data points, and automatically find the number of clusters and the cluster centers; then, the CFSFDP algorithm is used to search the density peaks of the data clusters, so as to further modify the cluster centers. Because each cluster center corresponds to a column vector of the mixing matrix, the proposed algorithm can estimate the UMM through cluster analysis. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can not only improve the estimation accuracy of the UMM, but also provide a more robust estimator. In addition, the joint clustering method also makes up for the shortcomings of the CFSFDP algorithm that requires human intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tripartite motif containing 44 (TRIM44) has been reported to regulate various biological effects in malignant cancers and matrix Metalloproteinases has been demonstrated to be associated with cancer cell migration and invasion. Nonetheless, the expression and molecular mechanism of TRIM44 in colorectal cancer (CRC) remain rarely known. TRIM44 was overexpressed or knocked down in CRC cells. Subsequently, the effects of TRIM44 on cell migration and invasion as well as underlying molecular mechanisms were detected. Data showed that TRIM44 was highly expressed in CRC cell lines. Downregulation of TRIM44 inhibited the cell viability, migration, and invasion in SW-480 cells. In addition, overexpression of TRIM44 enhanced the expression of NF-κB and CXCR4, and enhanced the binding between NF-κB and CXCR4 promoter region. In summarize, TRIM44 may serve as a potential target for CRC diagnosis and progression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Fe–Ce/Ti catalysts with different molar ratios of Fe and Ce were synthesized by the precipitation method and impregnation method and used for the SCR reaction. BET, XRD, NH3-TPD, XPS, H2-TPR, UV–Vis, TEM, SEM–EDS mapping techniques were performed to explore the physicochemical properties of catalysts synthesized by different methods. As a result, the catalysts synthesized by precipitation method yields higher catalytic activity than that of the catalysts prepared by the impregnation method. The precipitated catalysts possess larger specific surface areas, higher ratios of Ce3+/Ce4+ and Fe3+/Fe2+ and more surface chemisorbed oxygen, as well as the enhanced surface acid sites and redox ability. Besides these, it holds a high dispersion of active species and more uniform smaller nanoparticles. All mentioned above will result in a higher catalytic performance of catalysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mn–Ce/TiO2 catalysts were co-pretreated with SO2 and Ca and applied for the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) of NO with ammonia. The effect of co-pretreatment of SO2 and Ca on the physicochemical properties of catalysts was investigated by BET, XRD, XPS, NH3-TPD, H2-TPR, and UV–Vis techniques. The results show the co-pretreatment of SO2 and Ca greatly influences the physicochemical properties of catalysts such as texture characteristics, surface acidity and redox ability, amounts of active species and surface OH group, and therefore affects the catalytic activity of catalysts. The Mn–Ce–Ti(S–OH) catalyst co-pretreated with SO2 and Ca(OH)2 exhibits better catalytic activity than Mn–Ce–Ti(S–Cl) catalyst co-pretreated with SO2 and CaCl2. The Mn–Ce–Ti(S–OH) catalyst possesses larger specific surface area, higher concentrations of surface active species and surface chemisorbed oxygen, better surface acidity and redox ability, which may contribute to the accelerated catalytic activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A safe and effective vaccine for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) may be required to end the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic1–8. For global deployment and pandemic control, a vaccine that requires only a single immunization would be optimal. Here we show the immunogenicity and protective efficacy of a single dose of adenovirus serotype 26 (Ad26) vector-based vaccines expressing the SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) protein in non-human primates. Fifty-two rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) were immunized with Ad26 vectors that encoded S variants or sham control, and then challenged with SARS-CoV-2 by the intranasal and intratracheal routes9,10. The optimal Ad26 vaccine induced robust neutralizing antibody responses and provided complete or near-complete protection in bronchoalveolar lavage and nasal swabs after SARS-CoV-2 challenge. Titres of vaccine-elicited neutralizing antibodies correlated with protective efficacy, suggesting an immune correlate of protection. These data demonstrate robust single-shot vaccine protection against SARS-CoV-2 in non-human primates. The optimal Ad26 vector-based vaccine for SARS-CoV-2, termed Ad26.COV2.S, is currently being evaluated in clinical trials. The protective efficacy of a single dose of adenovirus serotype 26 (Ad26) vector-based vaccine expressing the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein in non-human primates is demonstrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Patient–ventilator asynchrony is common in mechanically ventilated patients and may be related to adverse outcomes. Few studies have reported the occurrence of asynchrony in brain-injured patients. We aimed to investigate the prevalence, type and severity of patient–ventilator asynchrony in mechanically ventilated patients with brain injury. Methods: This prospective observational study enrolled acute brain-injured patients undergoing mechanical ventilation. Esophageal pressure monitoring was established after enrollment. Flow, airway pressure, and esophageal pressure–time waveforms were recorded for a 15-min interval, four times daily for 3 days, for visually detecting asynchrony by offline analysis. At the end of each dataset recording, the respiratory drive was determined by the airway occlusion maneuver. The asynchrony index was calculated to represent the severity. The relationship between the prevalence and the severity of asynchrony with ventilatory modes and settings, respiratory drive, and analgesia and sedation were determined. Association of severe patient–ventilator asynchrony, which was defined as an asynchrony index ≥ 10%, with clinical outcomes was analyzed. Results: In 100 enrolled patients, a total of 1076 15-min waveform datasets covering 330,292 breaths were collected, in which 70,156 (38%) asynchronous breaths were detected. Asynchrony occurred in 96% of patients with the median (interquartile range) asynchrony index of 12.4% (4.3%–26.4%). The most prevalent type was ineffective triggering. No significant difference was found in either prevalence or asynchrony index among different classifications of brain injury (p > 0.05). The prevalence of asynchrony was significantly lower during pressure control/assist ventilation than during other ventilatory modes (p < 0.05). Compared to the datasets without asynchrony, the airway occlusion pressure was significantly lower in datasets with ineffective triggering (p < 0.001). The asynchrony index was significantly higher during the combined use of opioids and sedatives (p < 0.001). Significantly longer duration of ventilation and hospital length of stay after the inclusion were found in patients with severe ineffective triggering (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Patient–ventilator asynchrony is common in brain-injured patients. The most prevalent type is ineffective triggering and its severity is likely related to a long duration of ventilation and hospital stay. Prevalence and severity of asynchrony are associated with ventilatory modes, respiratory drive and analgesia/sedation strategy, suggesting treatment adjustment in this particular population. Trial registration The study has been registered on 4 July 2017 in ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT03212482) (https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03212482). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shape memory alloy (SMA) is a very important smart material, which has been widely used in many fields, especially in vibration. Phase transformation can be induced by changing temperature and its stiffness changes accordingly. In this paper, the primary resonance vibration of a one-dimensional SMA oscillator is analyzed using the harmonic balance (HB) method. The amplitude-frequency curves of the SMA oscillator with different temperatures are drawn, and the effect of temperature and frequency on the amplitude is discussed. Then, the energy flow of SMA in the vibration process is researched by the power flow analysis (PFA) approach. The time-averaged input power (TAIP) is calculated using the analytical and numerical method, respectively, and the calculation time is compared. It is found that the difference between the analytical and numerical solutions is not significant in most cases, but the calculation time of analytical solution is only about one-tenth of that of the numerical solution, which is very important in saving computational cost, real-time control and so on. Finally, some other characteristics of energy flow in the SMA oscillator are identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photoanodes in quantum-dot-sensitized solar cells are essential to the process of light collection and charge transfer. In this paper, three-dimensional inverse opal (ZnO@ZIF-8 3D IO) photoanode is fabricated via a self-assembled opal template method. The synthesized photoanode has completely connected pores with extended diameter, thus promoting the permeability of QDs and electrolyte. Meanwhile, the light trapping ability and charge transfer process can be enhanced due to the slow photon and multi-scattering effect of the regularly interconnected macroporous array structure. ZIF-8 shell coated on the surface of ZnO IO not only provides high porosity but also serves as a protective passivation layer to reduce the carriers recombination occurred at the interfacial. In order to investigate the charge transport mechanism of ZnO @ ZIF-8 IO, cascaded CdS/CdSe quantum dots were used as sensitizers. Benefiting from the IO structure and ZIF-8 modification, the photoelectric conversion efficiency of solar cells based on ZnO@ZIF-8 IO can reach 1.75% (1.71 ± 0.04%), almost twice of that of the solar cells based on ZnO IO photoanode (0.81 ± 0.05%). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phosphorus deficiency is one of the major factors limiting plant growth and grain yield. Improving plant tolerance to Pi deficiency through genetic mechanism is an important source to increase grain yield. In this study, bioinformatics analysis, expression, and natural variation in ZmNAC134 gene with low Pi tolerant traits were analyzed under low Pi conditions. A total of 177 diverse heterotic groups of maize inbreds were used to identify the nucleotide diversity and alleles of ZmNAC134, which plays a vital role in the regulation of root architecture in response to Pi deficiency evolutionary results showed that ZmNAC134 has 3 homologous genes and these genes have one exon and conserved domain. The phenotypic traits showed significant difference for each of the 22 traits under deficient and sufficient Pi conditions. A total of 27 SNPs were identified in the coding region of ZmNAC134 and no InDels among 177 inbred lines. Among 27 SNPs, a total of 8 sites were highly significantly associated with multiple traits of low Pi tolerant trait index at − log10 P = 3.43. Although, 7 sites under Pi normal and 9 sites under Pi deficient conditions, of which four synonymous sites (position S24, S82, S164, and S1037) were associated with diverse number of traits in low Pi and normal Pi conditions and LD was not tight among these sites. Furthermore, the expression pattern was compared between Pi tolerant 178 and Pi sensitive 9782 inbred lines. ZmNAC134 was highly up-regulated in the roots and leaves of Pi tolerant 178 inbred line at 3 days, 7 days, and 9 days in roots and 7 days and 12 days in leaves while down-regulated in roots and leaves of Pi sensitive 9782 inbred line. In addition, protein encoded by ZmNAC134 was located in both nucleus and cytoplasm. Our findings provide the new insight of ZmNAC134 gene involved in low Pi stress and responsible against low Pi condition and the significant association of polymorphic loci with traits could be helpful to find out the molecular marker for genetic resources for further molecular maize breeding program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

g-C3N4 has been widely investigated in photocatalytic water splitting, even though they still suffer low specific surface area and high carrier recombination. Here Co-doped g-C3N4 (Co–C3N4) has been successfully synthesized under an argon atmosphere to 550 °C for 4 h via pyrolysis of an organic–inorganic hybrid precursor which was pre-prepared through the hydrothermal procedure. The Co–C3N4 possesses a higher specific surface area of 82 m2/g, which is 16.4 times as high as that of the bulk g-C3N4. On the other hand, the in situ Co doping can extend the light absorption region to visible light and greatly improve the charge transfer rate. Both the changes in surface area and optical property are beneficial to the photocatalytic reaction. The Co–C3N4 photocatalyst with the optimal ratio of cyanuric acid to melamine for 1:40 exhibited an excellent H2 production rate of 741.6 µmol g−1 h−1 under Xe lamp irradiation. The possible formation mechanism of tubular Co–C3N4 is proposed. Meanwhile, designing unique organic–inorganic hybrid structures may open up a new way for excellent photocatalytic water splitting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The no-wait flow shop scheduling problem (NWFSP), as a typical NP-hard problem, has important ramifications in the modern industry. In this paper, a jigsaw puzzle inspired heuristic (JPA) is proposed for solving NWFSP with the objective of minimizing makespan. The core idea behind JPA is to find the best match for each job until all the jobs are scheduled in the set of process. In JPA, a waiting time matrix is constructed to measure the gap between two jobs. Then, a matching matrix based on the waiting time matrix is obtained. Finally, the optimal scheduling sequence is built by using the matching matrix. Experimental results on large-scale benchmark instances show that JPA is superior to the state-of-the-art heuristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microstructures play an important role in the research on shape memory alloys (SMA). By using mathematical modeling tools to study microstructures, it is possible to predict the behaviors of these materials under applied fields. In the current paper, a thermo-mechanical model is proposed to simulate the microstructure of a SMA rod with both fixed and impact boundary conditions via Legendre wavelets collocation method. Because of the good performance of Legendre wavelets basis, this method shows excellent properties in both precision and stability. A detailed numerical algorithm is given, and the backward differentiation formula is employed to perform all the simulations in the current paper. Computational simulations are carried out to study the stress-induced phase transformation. The dynamics of microstructure evolution, presented at different temperatures, is well captured by our developed technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, seismic time series has been used to construct complex network models in order to describe the seismic complexity. The effect of the factor focal depth has been elided in some of these models. In this paper, we aim to construct a new complex network model for seismicity by considering depth factor from the earthquake catalog and investigate the statistical properties of the network. Since the networks have been proved to be scale-free and small-world properties, the new network models should be studied whether the properties have changed. The results show that the new network model by considering depth factor is still scale-free and small-world. However, it is found that its average degree is smaller than the original network. The clustering coefficient increases at the year including mainshocks. The assortativity coefficient, which demonstrates preferential attachment of nodes, is positive and shows consistent pattern when main shocks occur. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Atrazine, one of the most widespread herbicides in the world, is considered as an environmental estrogen and has potential carcinogenicity. In this study, atrazine was degraded on boron-fluorine co-doped TiO2 nanotube arrays (B, F-TiO2 NTAs), which had similar morphology with the pristine TiO2 NTAs. The structure and morphology of TiO2 nanotube samples were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and UV-visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS). It showed that the decoration of fluorine and boron made both the absorption in the visible region enhanced and the band edge absorption shifted. The efficiency of atrazine degradation by B, F-TiO2 NTAs through photoelectrocatalysis was investigated by current, solution pH, and electrolyte concentration, respectively. The atrazine removal rate reached 76% through photoelectrocatalytic reaction by B, F-TiO2 NTAs, which was 46% higher than that under the photocatalysis process. Moreover, the maximum degradation rate was achieved at pH of 6 in 0.01 M of Na2SO4 electrolyte solution under a current of 0.02 A and visible light for 2 h in the presence of B, F-TiO2 NTAs. These results showed that B, F-TiO2 NTAs exhibit remarkable photoelectrocatalytic activity in degradation of atrazine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solar vapor generation is emerging as a reliable way to directly transfer solar illumination to vapor evaporation. Graphene-based porous photothermal materials are considered as promising absorbers in this system owing to the broadband absorption and excellent photothermal properties. In this paper, we construct a three-dimensional (3D) graphene oxide foam with a convenient surfactant foaming method for solar vapor generation. Abundant porous channels and good hydrophilicity are simultaneously achieved by means of the self-assembly and hydrophilic characteristics of the foaming agents. Detailed light absorption and vapor generation tests reveal that the foam monolith possesses an absorption rate at ~ 89% and a considerable solar vapor efficiency of ~ 81% under a solar intensity of 1 kW m−2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rechargeable aluminum batteries are promising large-scale energy storage candidates due to the high natural earth abundance and high theoretical volumetric capacity of Al metal. However, they face many problems, including a limited lifetime, rate performance, and high electrolyte cost. Herein, we have designed a high-performance Al rechargeable battery using a graphite cathode and an economical AlCl3/Et3NHCl ionic liquid electrolyte. Based on the high conductivity of the AlCl3/Et3NHCl electrolyte, the battery achieved a reversible capacity of 96 mAh g−1 at 100 mA g−1, which is even higher than that of the battery using an AlCl3/urea electrolyte (89 mAh g−1). Furthermore, almost no capacity attenuation was observed, with AlCl3/Et3NHCl electrolyte having a capacity of 64 mAh g−1 after 1000 cycles, at 1000 mA g−1, while the AlCl3/urea electrolyte had a capacity of only 24 mAh g−1. Therefore, the aluminum/ graphite battery using AlCl3/Et3NHCl ionic liquid electrolyte with a high specific capacity and good long-term cycling stability is a promising candidate for future high-performance, large-scale energy storage devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hierarchical HZSM-5 was prepared via dealumination and desilication of commercial Al-rich HZSM-5, and characterized by X-ray diffraction, 27Al magic-angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, scanning electron microscope, transmission electron microscope, N2 adsorption-desorption, NH3 temperature-programmed desorption, performed thermogravimetric and Raman spectrum. The results showed that partial framework of HZSM-5 was removed after steam treatment at 0.15 MPa, 500°C for 3 h. HZSM-5 with high specific surface area and much mesoporosity was obtained by the subsequent alkaline treatment. The regulation of acid quantity was achieved by altering the concentration of alkaline. Dealumination and desilication of Al-rich HZSM-5 zeolites became more effective using a combination of steam and alkaline treatments than using alkaline treatment alone. Methanol aromatization reaction was employed to evaluate the catalytic performance of treated HZSM-5 at 0.15 MPa, 450°C and MHSV of 1.5 h–1. The results indicated that after steam treatment, HZSM-5 further treated with 0.2 mol/L NaOH exhibits the best catalytic performance: the selectivity of aromatics reached 42.1% and the lifetime of catalyst attained 212 h, which are much better than untreated HZSM-5. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The uranyl ion (UO22+) poses high risks to human health and the environment, hence its detection and monitoring is of utmost significance. However, the development of an ultra-sensitive, high-efficiency and convenient approach for on-site detection of UO22+ remains a challenge. Herein, a reliable and reusable surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS)-based microfluidic biosensor was developed for rapid detection of UO22+ in real samples. The detection protocol involved the reaction of 5′-Rhodamine B (RhB)-labeled double-stranded DNA for UO22+-specific DNAzyme-cleavage reaction in a U-shaped microchannel. Then, the reaction products were delivered into three parallel samples for high-throughput tests by SERS biochips, where 3D ZnO-Ag mesoporous nanosheet arrays (MNSs) were modified with a single-stranded DNA (ssDNA). The ssDNA was sequence-complementary with the 5′-RhB-labeled cleaved-stranded DNA (csDNA) from the reaction products. By the hybridization of ssDNA and csDNA, the signal probe RhB was fixed close to the surface of the ZnO-Ag MNSs to enhance the Raman signal. The limit of detection for UO22+ with the microfluidic-SERS biosensor was 3.71×10−15 M. An over 20,000-fold selectivity towards UO22+ response was also achieved in the presence of 15 other metal ions. The high-throughput microfluidic-SERS biosensor operated well for practical UO22+ detection, with excellent recoveries in contaminated river and tap water from 95.2% to 106.3% (relative standard deviation (RSD) <6.0%, n=6). Although the SERS-based microfluidic biosensor developed in this study was deployed for the detection of UO22+, the reusable and high-efficiency system may be expanded to the detection of other analytes on-site. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heterojunction is considered as very promising material for various applications in photocatalysis. Herein, an efficient heterojunction photocatalyst N/Zn-TiO2@NH2-MIL-125 was successfully synthesized for photo-degradation organic oxidation by biological-templated method. The electron-hole pairs can be separated in space more efficiently because of heterojunction structure. Systematical analyses of spectroscopy and microscopy measurements revealed that N/Zn-TiO2@NH2-MIL-125 heterojunction materials exhibited hierarchical porous structure with high surface area of 366.02 m2 g−1 and outstanding optical properties. Photocatalytic activity was investigated by degradating of rhodamine B (1000 µM) under visible-light irradiation. The N/Zn-TiO2@NH2-MIL-125 showed enhanced photocatalytic activity for RhB degradation, which is respectively about 1.81 and 1.97 times higher than that of the pristine N/Zn-TiO2 and NH2-MIL-125. Various advanced spectroscopic characterizations were applied including photoluminescence, Mott-Schottky curves and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. A possible mechanism of enhanced photocatalytic oxidation activity for N/Zn-TiO2@NH2-MIL-125 composite under visible light irradiation was discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Liquid foam is used as a soft template to construct nitrogen-doped carbon foam (CF) with hierarchical porous structure directly. After activated by KOH, the specific surface area of activated carbon foam (K-CF) is dramatically increased from 207.8 to 1121.7 m2/g which results in good rate capability, excellent stability and superior electrochemical performance with specific capacitance of 182.7 F/g at a current density of 1 A/g in 6 M KOH. The significant improvement of specific surface area and specific capacitance for K-CF can be attributed to the numerous active sites due to the hierarchical structure formed by introducing liquid foam and then the treatment of activated process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The porous and water-stable polyoxometalates-based Zr-MOFs PW12@UiO-NH2 was proposed for photocatalytic H2 evolution and degradation pollutants via adopting Keggin-type polyoxometalates (POMs) into UiO-66-NH2 through a facile one-step solvothermal method. Systematically characterizations were carried out to confirm the encapsulation of Keggin-type PW12 within the cavities of porous UiO-66-NH2 without modifying its fundamental framework. Benifiting from the integration of Keggin-type PW12 units with redox activity and porous UiO-66-NH2, the results showed that enhanced photocatalytic H2 evolution performance and RhB degradation activity for PW12@UiO-NH2 were realized compared with pristine UiO-66-NH2 under visible-light irradiation. The significant improvement of photocurrent density under a monochromatic light irradiation implied the faciliated separation procedure of photo-generated charge carriers with the incorporation of Keggin-type PW12 units. Hence, our findings reveal a novel topology POM-based MOFs which paves a way for environmental and energy applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we synthesize a needle-like polyoxometalates@Fe-based metal-organic framework (POM@Fe-MOFs) composites, in which the Keggin-type W-based POM with negative charges exist as secondary building units of Fe-based MOFs. Based on the synthesized POM@Fe-MOFs, WO2@FeWO4 is easily prepared by appropriate thermal treatment. On the one hand, the derivative retains the original POM@Fe-MOFs morphology. Owing to the face that the Fe element contains variable valence state and the W element in tungstophosphoric acid exists in the form of high valence, both of which have great potential in the field of electrochemistry. According to the systematical characterization, the results show that WO2@FeWO4 composite can be used as positive electrodes in supercapacitors which is reported for the first time. In addition, the WO2@FeWO4 is confirmed to exhibit an excellent capacity of 124 F g−1 at a current density of 0.5 A g−1 in 6 M KOH when used in supercapacitors, which can be attributed to the redox reaction of W element. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With increasing concern about the problems of environmental pollution and energy, the visible light photocatalytic for dye degradation is receiving considerable attention. CdSe quantum dot (CdSe QDs) sensitized MIL-125/TiO2@SiO2 biogenic hierarchical materials (CMTS) has been fabricated through dual modification of CdSe with TiO2 and MIL-125, that is the metal-organic framework (MOF) with Ti ions as metal centers and terephthalic acid as the organic ligand. The hierarchical porous heterostructured MIL-125/TiO2@SiO2 composites are firstly obtained by a biogenic-templated method using rice husk as biomorphic. CdSe QDs as sensitizer is further deposited on MIL-125/TiO2@SiO2 via a dipping method. This strategy applies CdSe, MIL-125, and TiO2 undergo a two-level heterostructure, setting a stage for efficient charge separation. In addition, CMTS possesses a hierarchical porous structure in scale from micrometer to nanometer with high BET surface area. As a result, the CMTS can efficiently adsorption target, improving light harvesting and promoting degradation of organic waste from water. Meanwhile, Rhodamine B aqueous solution can be degraded more than 98% by CMTS in 100 min under visible light irradiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fabrication of low-cost and environmentally friendly photocatalysts with superior photodegradation efficiency remains one of the most pressing challenges in present research. Herein, we elaborately designed and synthesized a promising N-doped carbon quantum dots/CeO2 hollow microsphere (NCQDs/h-CeO2) photocatalyst with superior photoresponse property and photoactivity in visible light. The removal efficiencies of rhodamine B (RhB) under visible light illumination for NCQDs/h-CeO2 exhibits a 30.3% enhancement compared with pure h-CeO2. The results of EIS and PL imply that the excellent performance may be attributed to the strong synergistic effect between NCQDs and h-CeO2, thus effectively promoting charge transfer and restraining the recombination of photogenerated holes and electrons. Accordingly, a synergistic photocatalysis mechanism was proposed to explain the photocatalytic reaction process. Besides, the NCQDs/h-CeO2 exhibits better cycle stability than common CQDs/h-CeO2 after a four-cycle photocatalytic test. Therefore, the NCQDs/h-CeO2 may represent a promising strategy for the current water pollution issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One-dimensional/three-dimensional (1D/3D) hierarchical porous network configurations are composed of NiCo2S4 nanowires in-situ grown on biomass carbon (NiCo2S4/3DHC). The 3D biomass carbon (3DHC) with hierarchical micron- to nano-porous structure which is suitable for as a basal growth has been obtained from a pyrolysis active process of wood (Metasequoia). NiCo2S4 nanowires were produced on 3D biomass carbon via a facile hydrothermal method. The characterization and comparison of various properties of NiCo2S4/3DHC have been investigated systematically. A maximum specific capacitance of 765.8 F/g was observed for the NiCo2S4/3DHC electrode at 1 A/g in a 6 M KOH electrolyte solution, while 32.3 F/g for 3DHC at the same condition. The method reported here can be potentially applied to feasible construct 3D electrode configuration for energy storage devices using biomass as main raw materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The photocatalytic mineralization efficiency of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) is determined by adsorption of reactants, separation of charge carriers, and reaction activity of catalyst surface. Herein, we provide a strategy to synthesize a novel catalyst, namely, PhPt-Micro, which is characterized by high adsorption ability, charge separation efficiency, and surface reaction activity. Toluene was chosen as the model VOC. The effects of photochemical deposition of Pt on the physical properties of microporous amorphous TiO2 (Micro) and toluene mineralization were studied using N2 adsorption/desorption, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, GC-flame ionization detection, and surface photovoltage spectroscopy (SPS) analyses. After photochemical treatment, the structure of Micro was optimized, and Pt nanoparticles were successfully deposited at the outlet of electrons on the catalyst surface. SPS result proved that the optimized structure enhanced the separation efficiency of charge carriers and the migration of photo-generated electrons to the PhPt-Micro surface. The quasi-equilibrium adsorption amount of toluene over PhPt-Micro was two times higher than that with commercial nano TiO2 (P25). The micropores concentrated toluene on the catalyst surface and hindered intermediate desorption. The mineralization efficiency of toluene over PhPt-Micro was 2.4 and 5.9 times higher than those over Micro and P25, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]