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A stochastic modelling framework is developed to predict the flexural properties of high-strength sheet moulding compounds made of randomly oriented ultra-thin carbon fibre-reinforced thermoplastic prepreg tapes. The model enables reliable designs using ultra-thin randomly oriented strands with less testing, leading to potential applications in automotive primary structures. The stochastic model is based on a Monte Carlo simulation. The flexural modulus is predicted using classical laminate theory, while the flexural strength is predicted by following a Weibull distribution. Fibre discontinuities are considered through stress concentrations introduced by tape overlaps. The results are validated against new 3-point bending and previously reported 4-point bending experimental results. A scaling effect on strength and scatter is predicted, and its implications for structural applications are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Supercritical carbon dioxide dewatering (SCD) offers significant potential for wood treatment due to its unique physical-chemical properties. SCD has the advantage of avoiding drying defects caused by capillary tension during the removal of free water in conventional kiln drying (CKD). In this study, 150 mm-long specimens of Juglans mandshurica wood underwent both SCD and CKD treatments, allowing for comparison of various dewatering characteristics such as dewatering rate, moisture distribution, deformation, and drying stresses. The findings revealed that the optimal dewatering time was 25 min. SCD proved highly effective, especially during the high moisture content (MC) phase, demonstrating a dewatering rate up to 5.6 times faster than CKD. SCD achieved a more even dewatering process across the wood, with a maximum MC difference of 4.52% between the core and surface zones. In contrast, CKD exhibited an MC difference 8.3 times larger than SCD. Furthermore, in the longitudinal direction, CKD displayed lower MC at the wood's end locations compared to SCD. Additionally, wood showed shrinkage following CKD but swelling after SCD treatment. Interestingly, both SCD and CKD treatments resulted in nearly identical drying stresses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A fictional story is always narrated from a certain narrative voice and mode of focalization. These core narrative techniques have a major impact on how readers interpret the narrative plot and connect with the characters. This study used eye-tracking to investigate how classic narrative reading is affected by narrative voice and focalization. The results showed that the third-person narrative voice was read more slowly than the first-person narrative voice, especially when the narrative was presented with internal focalization. Importantly, the transition from a first-person to a third-person narrative voice generally resulted in longer reading times, whereas a switch from a third-person to a first-person narrative voice only yielded limited benefits in terms of reduced reading time. These findings provide direct evidence to support the assumption that there is a distinction between the first-person narration and the third-person narration and demonstrate the important role of narrative voice and focalization in understanding narrative texts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Post-transplantation cyclophosphamide (PTCy) can reduce the incidence of graft versus host disease (GVHD) and this intervention is often applied on adults with hematologic malignancy. However, the high relapse rate hinders the development of the intervention and data of PTCy used on children with hematologic malignancy remains limited. In order to overcome issue of high relapse rate in PTCy treatment, we used fludarabine (Flu), enhanced dose of cytarabine (Ara-C, 9 g/m2), busulfan (Bu), Cy, anti-thymocyte globulin (ATG) combined with PTCy for an intensified conditioning regimen. A total of 22 children with acute leukemia received intensified PTCy conditioning regimen (PTCy intensified group). We matched with 18 children who received modified Bu-Cy and ATG conditioning regimen in the same period (ATG group). The two-year cumulative incidences of grade II–IV acute GVHD was significantly lower in PTCy intensified group (13.6 ± 7.7% vs 38.9 ± 11.5%, P = 0.048). Two-year GVHD-free relapse free survival (GRFS) in PTCy seems to be better among the increment group despite not being significant (63.3 ± 10.3% vs 35.4 ± 11.9%, P = 0.092). The positive rate of minimal residual disease after transplantation was significantly lower than that before transplantation (20.0% vs 2.5%, P = 0.029). In conclusion, ATG and PTCy combined with Flu-based increased intensity conditioning regimen is effective for acute leukemia in children. It could reduce GVHD rate significantly and potentially improve GRFS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present manuscript considers the observer design problem for a class of scalar semi-linear hyperbolic partial differential equation (PDE) systems with a recycle loop through the boundary point. The design method of Kazantzis and Kravaris [(1998). Nonlinear observer design using Lyapunov's auxiliary theorem. Systems & Control Letters, 34(5), 241–247] developed for the nonlinear finite dimensional systems observer design is extended to semi-linear hyperbolic PDE systems. The observer design problem is tackled through a first-order associated PDE. Due to the existence of spatial partial derivative operator, Lyapunov's Auxiliary Theorem originated from finite-dimensional systems can be no longer applied to seek conditions ensuring solvability of the associated PDE. In this manuscript, a new theorem is formulated and proved to ensure the solvability. The solution for the associated PDE is locally analytic nonlinear coordinate transformation which provides foundation for observer realization and a series solution approach is developed. Simulation examples are presented to study the performance of the proposed observer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The work addresses the output regulation problem for coupled linear multiple input multiple output (MIMO) hyperbolic partial integro-differential equation systems with disturbances affecting the systems through the space and boundary input. The exosystems are extended to generate ramp signals and general family of polynomial signals. The system decomposition is applied through the state transformation and yields a decoupled equivalent system. Based on the decoupled form, the backstepping transformation is applied and then in the new coordinate, the full state and output-feedback regulators are designed, respectively. For the state feedback regulator, the corresponding regulator equation is obtained and its solvability conditions are provided to facilitate the regulator design and feasibility. The design of observer-based regulator is based on the decoupling of the observer error system into a PDE subsystem and an ODE subsystem so that the backstepping approach achieves stabilisation by eigenvalue assignment leading to design of observer stabilizing gains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tissue scaffolds need to have anisotropic mechanical properties and a porous structure to meet the needs of different tissues and organs. This report presents results of a study on an especially-designed 3D printing method with oxidized nanocellulose and gelatin, analyzes the servo principle of pneumatic condensing extrusion 3D printer, and proposes a hexagonal algorithm. For the purpose of this study, a printing process file was written by G code, physical and mechanical performance of the 3D scaffolds was evaluated with Solidworks simulation, the porous structure and pressure-pull performance of the printed 3D scaffolds was observed by SEM, and experiments were conducted to measure their bio-compatibility. The study draws the conclusion that scaffolds thus printed have a highly porous structure and anisotropic mechanical properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the output regulation problem is addressed for a class of linear hyperbolic infinite-dimensional systems with spatially varying coefficients modelling a large class of convection-dominated transport reaction systems. In particular, distributed parameter systems with bounded input and unbounded output operators are considered. First, we demonstrate a general conclusion about the exponential stability of the considered system by relating the stability to the solution of an associated differential equation. Based on the assumption that the hyperbolic system satisfies the exponential stability conditions, the main manuscript contribution is the development of two novel finite-dimensional regulators, output and error feedback regulators, such that the controlled output of the plant tracks a reference signal generated by a known signal process (exosystem). In order to guarantee the feasibility of the proposed regulators, the solvability of the corresponding Sylvester equations is discussed and the solvability conditions are provided. Finally, simulations of output regulation of an axial dispersion reactor and a relevant numerical example illustrate the main results and performance of the proposed regulators synthesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integrin αvβ3 is restrictedly expressed on angiogenic blood vessels and tumour cells. It plays a key role in angiogenesis for tumour growth and metastasis. RGD peptide can specifically recognise the integrin αvβ3, which serves as targeted molecular for anti-angiogenesis strategies. Therefore, the targeted delivery of therapeutics by RGD peptide-based non-viral vectors to tumour vasculature and tumour cells is recognised as a promising approach for treating cancer. In this review, we illustrate the interaction between RGD peptide and integrin αvβ3 from different perspectives. Meanwhile, four types of RGD peptide-based non-viral gene delivery vectors for cancer therapy, including RGD-based cationic polymers, lipids, peptides and hybrid systems, are summarised. The aim is to particularly highlight the enhanced therapeutic effects and specific targeting ability exhibited by these vectors for cancer gene therapy both in vitro and in vivo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For tissue engineering applications tissue scaffolds need to have a porous structure to meet the needs of cell proliferation/differentiation, vascularisation and sufficient mechanical strength for the specific tissue. Here we report the results of a study of the 3D printing process for composite materials based on oxidized nanocellulose and gelatin, that was optimised through measuring rheological properties of different batches of materials after different crosslinking times, simulation of the pneumatic extrusion process and 3D scaffolds fabrication with Solidworks Flow Simulation, observation of its porous structure by SEM, measurement of pressure-pull performance, and experiments aimed at finding out the vitro cytotoxicity and cell morphology. The materials printed are highly porous scaffolds with good mechanical properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the influence of causal and concessive relations on discourse coherence in Chinese by means of eye movement and self-paced reading techniques. We use the sentential structure like “NPHUMAN moved from place A to place B, {because (因为 yinwei) /although (尽管 jinguan) /no conjunction} + pronoun (he/she) + verb (e.g., like) + there (nali)… + NP”. The eye-movement data (Experiment 1) recorded from regions of interest consistently showed that the processing of concessive meaning is much slower than the processing of causal meaning, irrespective of whether the causal relation is explicitly coded through a causal marker (i.e., yinwei [because]) or not. In particular, although sentences containing pragmatic anomalies were processed more slowly than sentences containing no pragmatic anomalies in causal structures, there was no such distinction in concessive structures, indicating that the processing of a concessive relation can override that of a pragmatic incongruence. Moreover, although the initial place was reread more in cases of concessive structures as compared with causal structures in region 1 (e.g., place A), there was no difference between them in region 2 (e.g., place B). The results from self-paced reading (Experiment 2) showed that the difficulties observed from processing concessive compared with causal relations were not caused by the difference in pronoun resolution. These findings suggest that processing concessive meaning is cognitively more demanding than processing causal meaning, a conclusion that is also supported by a fine-grained linguistic (i.e., conceptual and pragmatic) analysis of causal and concessive relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Curved π bowl compounds represent another class of the completely conjugated materials with quantum dot nature. Non-equivalent hybridisation type from rim to hub carbon atoms in curved π bowl compound triggers anisotropic physical properties. With density functional method (CAM-B3LYP) and response theory calculations, curved π bowl compounds exhibit large radial and axial component ratio for its polarisability and the second hyperpolarisability. More importantly, they possess larger effective mass second hyperpolarisability (γmass) and nondiagonal components (γxxyy) compared to C60. Except the static properties, the dispersion characters of dynamic cubic response of curved π bowl compounds have been analysed in large frequency range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the output regulation problem for a class of regular first-order hyperbolic partial differential equation (PDE) systems. A state feedback and an error feedback regulator are considered to force the output of the hyperbolic PDE plant to track a periodic reference trajectory generated by a neutrally stable exosystem. A new explanation is given to extend the results in the literature to solve the regulation problem associated with the first-order hyperbolic PDE systems. Moreover, in order to provide the closed-loop stability condition for the solvability of the regulator problems, the design of stabilising feedback gain and its dual problem design of stabilising output injection gain are considered in this paper. This paper develops an easy method to obtain an adjustable stabilising feedback gain and stabilising output injection gain with the aid of the operator Riccati equation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The thermal behaviors of glycidyl methacrylate (GMA)-grafted polypropylene (PP) (PP-g-GMA) with two different grafting degrees, namely, GPP1 and GPP2, were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), polarized optical microscopy (POM), wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD), dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), and thermogravimetrical analysis (TGA). DSC results suggested that the GMA grafted PP exhibited higher crystallization temperatureTc, higher melting temperatureTm,and higher crystallinity compared with the neat PP. The isothermal crystallization kinetics was analyzed with the Avrami equation and the total crystallization activation energy was calculated. It was concluded that the crystallization processes of PP and the grafted PP were controlled by nucleation and the values of the crystallization activation energy of PP and the grafted PP were almost identical. POM results suggested that the GMA grafted PP exhibited smaller spherulites size compared with the neat PP. WAXD patterns indicated that the neat PP encouraged the formation of γ phase, compared with the grafted PP, during the crystallization process. DMA results showed that melt grafting did not induce a clear effect on the γ-transition and β-transition of the amorphous phase but resulted in a decrease in mobility of the PP chains in the crystals. TGA curves suggested that the melt grafting slightly improved the thermal stability of PP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While firm growth critically depends on financing ability and access to external capital, the operations management and engineering economics literature seldom considers the effects of financial constraints on the firms' operational decisions. Another critical assumption in traditional operations models is that corporate managers always act in the firm owners' best interests. Managers are, however, agents of the owners of the company, whose interests are often not aligned with those of equity holders or debt holders; hence, managers may make major decisions that are suboptimal from the firm owners' point of view. This article builds on a news vendor model to make optimal production decisions in the presence of financial constraints and managerial incentives. We explore the relationship between operating conditions and financial leverage and observe that financial leverage can increase as margins reach either low or high extremes. We also provide some empirical support for this observation. We further extend our model to consider the effects of agency costs on the firm's production decision and debt choice by including performance-based bonuses in the manager's compensation. Our analyses show how managerial incentives may drive a manager to deviate from firm-optimal decisions and that low-margin producers face significant risk from this agency cost while high-margin producers face relatively low risk in using such compensation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CuO feather-like and flower-like crystals have been synthesized by a fast microwave-assisted solution approach using Cu(NO3)2 and NaOH. The morphology transformation of CuO could be achieved by ionic liquid 1-n-butyl-3-methyl imidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([BMIM]BF4). With [BMIM]BF4, flower-like CuO were obtained, whereas without [BMIM]BF4, feather-like CuO were obtained. The possible formation mechanism of flower-like CuO was discussed on the basis of experimental results. The products were characterized by XRD, FESEM/EDS, and TEM/SAED. In addition, the adsorption of [BMIM]BF4 on flower-like CuO was confirmed by FTIR and TG/DSC, and the band gap energies of the flower-like CuO was estimated by UV-vis spectra. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two-dimensional (2D) CuO nanoplatelets were synthesized in the presence of ionic liquids under the mild hydrothermal conditions at 140°C by self-assembly. The thickness of CuO nanoplatelets was about 35 nm prepared in 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride. XRD, FESEM, and TEM were used to characterize the structure features of the products. FTIR spectra and TG curves confirmed the adsorption of ionic liquids on the surface of CuO nanoplatelets. In addition, UV-visible absorption spectra were employed to estimate the band gap energies of the CuO nanoplatelets as nanosized semiconductors. It was demonstrated that the ionic liquids could act as a cosolvent, soft template agent and modifiers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cardiovascular disease (CVD), including heart attack, stroke, heart failure, arrhythmia, and other congenital heart diseases remain the leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The leading cause of deaths in CVD is attributed to myocardial infarction due to the rupture of atherosclerotic plaque. Atherosclerosis refers a condition when restricted or even blockage of blood flow occurs due to the narrowing of blood vessels as a result of the buildup of plaques composed of oxidized lipids. It is well-established that free radical oxidation of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in lipoproteins or cell membranes, termed lipid peroxidation (LPO), plays a significant role in atherosclerosis. LPO products are involved in immune responses and cell deaths in this process, in which previous evidence supports the role of programmed cell death (apoptosis) and necrosis. Ferroptosis is a newly identified form of regulated cell death characterized by the iron-dependent accumulation of lipid hydroperoxides to lethal levels, which exhibits distinct features from apoptosis, necrosis and autophagy in morphology, biochemistry and genetics. Emerging evidence appears to demonstrate that ferroptosis is also involved in CVD. In this review, we summarize the recent progress on ferroptosis in CVD and atherosclerosis, highlighting the role of free radical LPO. The evidence underlying the ferroptosis and challenges in the field will also be critically discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

THZ1, a CDK7 inhibitor, has potent antitumor effects in several cancers; however, its role in Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is unclear. We explored the effects and potential mechanisms of THZ1, alone and in combination with azacitidine (AZA), in AML cells and xenograft models. THZ1 decreased cell viability, induced apoptosis in a dose and time-dependent manner, induced G0/G1 cell cycle arrest, decreased phosphorylated CDK1 and CDK2 expression, and inhibited RNA Pol II phosphorylation at multiple serine sites. The combination of AZA and THZ1 exhibited synergistic antileukemic effects in AML cell lines and primary cells with MCL1 and c-MYC downregulation. Moreover, the combination therapy significantly decreased tumor burden and prolonged animal survival in xenograft mice models. Our data demonstrate that CDK7 inhibition induces the apoptosis of AML cells and exerts a synergistic antileukemia effect with AZA in vitro and in vivo, which supports future exploration of this combination in clinical studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, a novel soybean oil-based urethane acrylate polyol called ADSO was synthesized by the condensation reaction of hydroxyethyl acrylate modified isophorone diisocyanate with chlorinated soybean oil (SOL). The soybean oil-based waterborne polyurethane called ADSO-WPU was prepared with SOL and ADSO as polyols. Using the carbon-carbon double bonds of ADSO-WPU as reaction sites, methyl methacrylate (MMA), butyl methacrylate (BA) and 2-(perfluorohexyl)ethyl methacrylate (PFOMA) were grafting copolymerized to obtain the soybean oil-based waterborne polyurethane grafted fluorine-containing acrylate (ADSO-PUA). The results of Fourier transform infrared spectrometer, dynamic light scattering analyzer and transmission electron microscopy showed that the grafted copolymer latex was successfully prepared with particle size of about 100–300 nm. Furthermore, effects of the ratio of PFOMA, MMA and BA on properties of grafted copolymer films were studied. Compared with ADSO-WPU film, ADSO-PUA film had significantly lower water absorption, higher hardness, better mechanical properties and higher thermal stability. With the increase of PFOMA content, the water absorption rate decreased from 108% to about 10%, the hardness increased from 4H to 6H, and the tensile strength increased from 3.05 MPa to 9.79 MPa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, the isocyanate terminated castor oil based urethane oligomer (CO-IPDI) was prepared by the reaction of castor oil and isophorone diisocyanate (IPDI) without adding any organic solvent. After the acrylic copolymer pressure sensitive adhesive (PSA) was heated at 80 °C for 20 min, it was mixed with CO-IPDI, trifunctional acrylic monomer and photo-initiator in a certain proportion to give a UV-curable peelable adhesive for silicon wafer cutting process. Before UV irradiation, the acrylate copolymer chains were cross-linked by CO-IPDI to form a network. After UV irradiation, another polymer network formed by photo-polymerization of trifunctional acrylic monomer hold together with it to form an interpenetrating network (IPN) structure. The results showed that this IPN structured UV-curable peelable PSA had a high peeling strength of 13.99 N/25 mm before UV curing to meet the suggested requirements for silicon wafer cutting process. The peeling strength was significantly decreased to 0.49 N/25 mm after UV curing, and the tape was easily peeled off from wafer with about 0.96% residual adhesive estimated by the area ratio of all residual adhesive particles to silicon wafer observed by scanning electron microscopy. This work provides a new candidate idea for green and efficient preparation of UV-curable peelable PSA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nano-TiO2/poly(methylmethacrylate) nanofibres were prepared by electrospinning with poly(methylmethacrylate) (PMMA) and anatase nano-TiO2 as main materials which were blended mechanically and dissolved in dimethylformamide (DMF) and ethyl ethanoate (EA) solvent. The nanofibres morphologies and physical states were investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetry analysis (TG), fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and UV–visible (UV–Vis) spectroscopy. Scanning electron microscopy observations revealed that when the content of TiO2 was 5%, nano-TiO2/poly(methylmethacrylate) nanofibres had the minimum average diameter which was 409 nm. Results from FTIR, XRD and TG suggested that anatase nano-TiO2 had been successfully introduced to the PMMA matrix and TiO2/PMMA nanofibres had good thermal stability within 300 °C. Results from UV–Vis suggested that when 10% of anatase nano-TiO2 was added, the photocatalytic decomposition of methyl orange was 50% higher than that of pure PMMA nanofibres under sunlight irradiation for 5 h. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

1-acryloylpyrrolidine-2-carboxylic acid (APCA) monomer was copolymerized with acrylonitrile (AN) by aqueous suspension polymerization. High molecular weight (HMW) copolymers of AN and APCA [poly(AN-co-APCA)] with different copolymer composition were successfully prepared by employing azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) as initiator and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as dispersant in a H2O/N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) mixture at 60°C. The PAN homopolymer and copolymers were characterized by elemental analysis (EA), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The EA results indicated that the content of oxygen increased significantly in PAN copolymers with increasing APCA content. The APCA copolymer composition calculated from the EA was higher than that from1H NMR spectra. The FTIR spectra of PAN and poly(AN-co-APCA) with different monomer ratios confirmed that the contents of APCA units in the copolymer chains increased with increasing APCA content in the feed. The DSC exotherms revealed that copolymerization with APCA could slow the rate of the exothermic reactions during the heat-treatment processes. The XRD results indicated that the PAN homopolymer and copolymers poorly crystallized and the crystallinity decreased with increasing APCA contents. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study presents the complete mitochondrial (mt) genome of Polylabris halichoeres, which is the largest mt genome sequenced of monogeneans so far and the second complete sequence after Microcotyle sebastis from the Microcotylidae. It is basically similar to that of M. sebastis, with the exception of a high level of gene rearrangement located between trnC and trnL(UUR), a translocation of trnM and trnH, as well as a highly repetitive region (HRR) in the large non-coding region (NCR). We also find a series of trnI pseudogenes (ΨΨI) and one unknown short open reading frame (ORF) in the large NCR. Although the ORF cannot be unambiguously regarded as an atp8 gene, we cannot rule out the possibility that it has other functional importance, but it need further study in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]