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This study reports the use of deep‐eutectic‐solvent‐ (DES‐) assisted hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) to disrupt the floc structure of sewage sludge (SS) for deep carbonization, with the resulting hydrochars employed in the preparation of formaldehyde‐free plywood bioadhesives. Sewage‐sludge‐based bioadhesive exhibits an excellent wet shear strength, complying with the requirements of Chinese national standard GB/T 9846–2015 (≥0.7 MPa). The molecular weight of proteins and the formation of covalent bonds via dehydration have a notable role in improving adhesive performance (wet shear strength). The Maillard reaction is a key reaction during HTC to destroy the secondary structure of proteins, resulting in the release of more OH and NH2. The main reaction during hot‐press treatment is dehydration. High ash content in bioadhesives improves flame resistance potential, particularly on addition of DES. A plausible mechanism is proposed for this. This work provides a new method for the valorization of SS‐derived hydrochars and contributes to the development of greener formaldehyde‐free wood bioadhesives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ceramic stereolithography 3D printing technology has demonstrated great potential in alumina core manufacturing for advanced turbine blade casting. However, there have been very few photosensitive material formulas specifically designed for alumina core fabrications. Herein, we present the design of a 3D printable ceramic paste based on bimodal particle size distributions for additive manufacturing of high‐quality alumina cores. The coarse particles in the paste remain in their original shape while the fine particles transform into platelet‐like particles during sintering. The effects of coarse particles, platelet‐like particles, and grain growth on maintaining porosity and limiting shrinkage rates are studied. Furthermore, the vacuum sintering process is found to be beneficial for core material properties. The physical properties tests verify that the newly designed alumina paste in this work can meet the application requirement, which is superior to the previous research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent advances in deep convolutional neural networks have shown improved performance in face super‐resolution through joint training with other tasks such as face analysis and landmark prediction. However, these methods have certain limitations. One major limitation is the requirement for manual marking information on the dataset for multi‐task joint learning. This additional marking process increases the computational cost of the network model. Additionally, since prior information is often estimated from low‐quality faces, the obtained guidance information tends to be inaccurate. To address these challenges, a novel Decoder Structure Guided CNN‐Transformer Network (DCTNet) is introduced, which utilises the newly proposed Global‐Local Feature Extraction Unit (GLFEU) for effective embedding. Specifically, the proposed GLFEU is composed of an attention branch and a Transformer branch, to simultaneously restore global facial structure and local texture details. Additionally, a Multi‐Stage Feature Fusion Module is incorporated to fuse features from different network stages, further improving the quality of the restored face images. Compared with previous methods, DCTNet improves Peak Signal‐to‐Noise Ratio by 0.23 and 0.19 dB on the CelebA and Helen datasets, respectively. Experimental results demonstrate that the designed DCTNet offers a simple yet powerful solution to recover detailed facial structures from low‐quality images. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the rust conversion coating that acts directly on the surface of rust layer, was studied from the preparation of rust conversion agents gallic acid (GA), 2‐hydroxyphosphonyl acetic acid (HPAA), and their compound (GA/HPAA), rust conversion effect and anticorrosive mechanism. Results show that 1) when GA and HPAA were combined to form GA/HPAA with a mass ratio of 2:1, the strengthening effect of rust conversion was observed, and a more complete, dense, and smooth covering film was generated on the rust surface. In this case, the corrosion current of GA/HPAA was reduced to 4.10 × 10−7 A cm−2, while the GA was 2.35 × 10−6 A cm−2 and HPAA was 2.16 × 10−6 A cm−2. 2) The mechanism of rust conversion and corrosion resistance can be expressed as that the chelation reaction can occur between the rust and rust conversion agent, which can generate new coordination covalent bonds O–Fe–O, P–O–Fe, and C–Fe–O. In this case, they can firmly lock the rust and prevent it from spreading further. Meanwhile, a highly cross‐linked dense anticorrosion protective film can be formed. Due to the presence of these chelating products, they can act as obstacles, prolonging the diffusion path of corrosive medium and slowing down the interaction with the metal matrix. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The phytophagous caterpillar Illiberis ulmivora is a serious pest of Ulmus glaucescens Franch (Ulmaceae, Ulmus). In order to test potent sex attractant, field trails of synthetic candidate attractants were conducted in China. In this study, baits with ternary blends, (2S)‐butyl (7Z)‐dodecenoate, (2S)‐butyl (9Z)‐tetradecenoate, and (2S)‐butyl (5Z)‐decenoate (8:4:1 ratio) resulted in a higher number of male moths capture than the rest of the baits that were offered. Traps positioned at a height of 1.2 m attracted more males than those installed at heights of 2.2 m and 3.2 m. The slope aspect, temperature and humility had a significant effect on the trap catches. More catches occurred in traps placed on semi‐shady and semi‐sunny slopes than those placed on sunny and shady slopes. The number of pheromones in the septa decreased with age. The residual amounts of pheromones in the lures combined with 2,6‐di‐tert ‐ butyl‐p‐cresol (BHT) were higher than those in the control. However, there were no differences in the male captures between components and components combined with BHT during the first 8 d. These findings on monitoring and trap positions can be used to predict the occurrence and population dynamics of I. ulmivora, to develop ecological management of I. ulmivora. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ovarian cancer (OC) often presents at an advanced stage and is still one of the most frequent causes of gynecological cancer-related mortality worldwide. The nuclear factor erythroid-2 (NFE2) transcription factors include nuclear factor, erythroid 2 like 1 (NFE2L1), NFE2L2, and NFE2L3. NFE2 members bind to the antioxidant-response element (ARE) region and activate the expression of targeted genes. The distinct functions of NFE2 members in OC remain poorly elucidated. Several online bioinformatics databases were applied to determine gene expression, prognosis, mutations, and immune infiltration correlation in OC patients. NFE2L1 and NFE2L2 were decreased in OC, whereas NFE2L3 was increased. NFE2L2 and NFE2L3 were significantly correlated with the clinical stages of OC. High NFE2L1 level was significantly associated with short progression-free survival (PFS) in patients with OC (HR = 1.18 , P = 0.021), while high NFE2L2 expression strongly correlated with long PFS (HR = 0.77 , P = 0.00067). High NFE2L3 expression was associated with better overall survival and postprogression survival in OC. Functional analysis showed that NFE2 members mainly focused on transcription coactivator activities. Genetic alterations of NFE2 members were found in 13% of OC patients, and amplification ranked the top. The expression of NFE2 members was significantly correlated with immune infiltration of CD4+ T cells, CD8+ T cells, B cells, macrophages, and neutrophils in OC. Our study provides novel insights into the roles and prognostic potential of NFE2 family members in OC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this work was to determine the best conditions for the use of synthetic sex attractants to monitor Illiberis pruni Dyar (Lepidoptera: Zygaenidae, Procridinae) in the Helan Mountain National Nature Reserve, Ningxia, China. Traps with binary blends of 2‐butyl (7Z)‐dodecanoate (300 µg) and 2‐butyl (9Z)‐tetradecanoate (300 µg) at a ratio of 1:1 caught the most moths. Catches were significantly different across 5–45 m inter‐trap distances; the optimal trapping radius was 25 m. Trap height did not affect catches. The slope aspect, temperature, and humidity significantly influenced catches. More moths were caught as temperatures increased and relative humidity decreased. Traps placed on shady slopes caught significantly more moths than did traps placed on sunny slopes. This study elucidates how various factors influence the effectiveness of traps. The implications of these findings could facilitate safer and more environmentally friendly in situ management of I. pruni. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) filled thermoplastic vulcanizate (TPV) dielectric elastomer based on polypropylene (PP)/ethylene‐propylene‐diene monomer blends were fabricated via a simple melt compounding. MWCNT could be selectively distributed in PP matrix which induced by the dynamic vulcanization reaction. By reducing the rotor speed of melting blending to 60 rpm, the MWCNT network formation can be effectively inhibited, which have been verified by a higher volume resistivity (above 109 Ω cm). With increasing the MWCNTs loading to 4.1 vol%, a maximum increase, 423.4% (from 3.04 to 12.87), of the dielectric constant have been achieved for TPV/MWCNTs elastomer at 103 Hz, while the dielectric loss is still lower than 0.072 at 101–103 Hz. Meanwhile, with various MWCNTs loading, the tensile recovery of these series TPV elastomer does not change anymore, resulting an excellent rebound resistance. The TPV elastomer exhibits an enhanced dielectric performance and balanced elastic recovery performance, providing a simple and scalable melt compounding approach to fabricate high‐performance dielectric elastomer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper herein studies subcritical crack growth ( SCG) behavior of a perovskite-structured Ba0.5Sr0.5Co0.8Fe0.2O3−δ ( BSCF) as an oxygen transport membrane material. The SCG behavior of BSCF is evaluated by a constant load method and constant stress rate method at room temperature ( RT) and 800°C in air, respectively. The low crack velocity measurements are carried out by ring-on-ring bending tests while the high crack velocity measurements by compact tension tests. The stress rates vary approximately from 0.1012 to 101.2 MPa/min. The fracture stress increases with increasing stress rate at 800°C. The SCG parameter, n, of BSCF is determined to be 24.32 and 13.83 at RT and 800°C in air, respectively. This indicates that BSCF is more susceptible to SCG at 800°C. The strength-probability-time ( SPT) diagram is constructed for design proposes. The stress for a lifetime of 40 years should not exceed 27.21 MPa at RT or 4.53 MPa at 800°C to assure a failure probability below 1%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose. To investigate the visual quality after SMILE and Femto-LASIK. Methods. About 123 eyes from 63 patients were enrolled in this study. The parameters were measured preoperatively and 1 week, 1 month, and 3 months postoperatively using Sirius System. Results. The MTF curve increase slightly from low to high frequency at 3 mm and 6 mm pupil diameter after SMILE surgery (P<0.05) during the follow-up time comparing with the preoperative values. And the SR has a significant increase at various pupil diameters as well (P<0.05). However, there was little increase for MTF at intermediate to high frequency at 3 mm pupil diameter after Femto-LASIK procedure (P<0.05). And the SR had only significant increase at 3 mm pupil diameter. Between SMILE and Femto-LASIK, there was no statistic difference both in MTF and SR (P>0.05) at 3 mm pupil diameter at vertical and horizontal meridian. However, significant difference was found in MTF at low to mediate frequency at 6 mm pupil diameter at vertical meridian at 1 week postoperatively (P<0.05). Conclusions. Both SMILE and Femto-LASIK show a great improvement in optical quality at small diameter. It was found that SMILE shows better optical quality than Femto-LASIK at larger pupil diameter, which might be good for the night vision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose To investigate the aberration compensation between anterior and posterior corneal surfaces after SMILE and FS- LASIK. Methods Fifty-five subjects (55 eyes) undergoing SMILE and 51 subjects (51 eyes) undergoing FS- LASIK were enrolled in this study. Wavefront aberrations of anterior and posterior corneal surfaces and the whole cornea at 6 mm in diameter were measured using a Scheimpflug Camera preoperatively and one, three and 6 months postoperatively. The compensation factor ( CF), where CF = 1 − (aberration of the whole cornea/aberration of anterior corneal surface), was calculated. Results Spherical aberration of the posterior surface and the whole cornea remained stable after SMILE. However, spherical aberration of posterior surface increased significantly at 6 months in the FS- LASIK group. The total higher-order aberration ( tHOA) of the anterior surface and the whole cornea was lower at 6 months than at one and 3 months ( p = 0.001 and 0.001, respectively) in the FS- LASIK group. Meanwhile, in the SMILE group, no significant difference in tHOA was found between various postoperative time points. There were significant decreases in the CF of tHOA compared with preoperative values in both groups. The CF of spherical aberration reduced significantly in both groups at 3 and 6 mm in diameter one, three and 6 months postoperatively. Significant decreases in the CF of vertical coma were found at three and 6 months postoperatively in the FS- LASIK group compared with preoperative values at 6 mm in diameter ( p = 0.021 and 0.008, respectively). The change in CF (Δ CF) of spherical aberration was smaller in the SMILE group than in the FS- LASIK group at one and 3 months postoperatively ( p = 0.003 and p < 0.0001, respectively). The Δ CF of spherical aberration was significantly lower in moderately myopic subjects than in subjects with high myopia at 1 month in the SMILE group ( p = 0.041) and at one, three and 6 months in the FS- LASIK group ( p = 0.014, 0.020, and 0.004, respectively). Conclusions The posterior corneal surface plays an important role in compensating for spherical aberration of the anterior corneal surface. The compensation mechanisms of spherical aberration and higher-order aberration between anterior and posterior corneal surfaces were disrupted by the SMILE and the FS- LASIK procedures. The change in the CF of spherical aberration was smaller in the SMILE group compared with the FS- LASIK group, especially in subjects with high myopia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT This work is aim to study the encapsulated morphology development in ternary blends of polyamide 6/high density polyethylene/maleic anhydride- grafted-ethylene propylene diene monomer (PA6/HDPE/EPDM- g-MA) and polyamide 6/maleic anhydride- grafted-high density polyethylene/ethylene propylene diene monomer (PA6/HDPE- g-MA/EPDM) through thermodynamically control described by Harkins spreading theory. The phase morphology was confirmed by using scanning electron microscope (SEM) and selective solvent extraction revealed that PA6/HDPE/EPDM- g-MA blend having a composition of 70/15/15 vol % is constituted of polyamide 6 matrix with dispersed composite droplets of HDPE subinclusions encapsulated by EPDM- g-MA phase, while for PA6/HDPE- g-MA/EPDM blend with the same composition is constituted of polyamide 6 matrix with dispersed composite droplets of HDPE- g-MA subinclusions encapsulated by EPDM phase. Quiescent annealing test revealed that for PA6/HDPE/EPDM- g-MA blend, a perfect core-shell structure with one HDPE particle encapsulated by EPDM- g-MA phase was formed during annealing, and for PA6/HDPE- g-MA/EPDM blend, a novel complete inverting HDPE- g-MA/EPDM core/shell structure was achieved. Moreover, quantitative analysis about coalescent behaviors of HDPE- g-MA and HDPE subinclusions during quiescent annealing were investigated by image analysis and the result suggested that the grafted maleic anhydride group in HDPE- g-MA, acted as a role of steric repulsion, could suppress coalescence effects, thus leaded to a lower coalescent rate than that of HDPE subinclusions. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014, 131, 39937. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The formation of core-shell morphology within the dispersed phase was studied for composite droplet polymer-blend systems comprising a polyamide-6 matrix, ethylene-propylene-diene terpolymer (EPDM) shell and high density polyethylene (HDPE) core. In this article, the effect of EPDM with different molecular weights on the morphology and properties of the blends were studied. To improve the compatibility of the ternary blends, EPDM was modified by grafting with maleic anhydride (EPDM- g-MAH). It was found that core-shell morphology with EPDM- g-MAH as shell and HDPE as core and separated dispersion morphology of EPDM- g-MAH and HDPE phase were obtained separately in PA6 matrix with different molecular weights of EPDM- g-MAH in the blends. DSC measurement indicated that there may be some co-crystals in the blends due to the formation of core-shell structure. Mechanical tests showed that PA6/EPDM- g-MAH/HDPE ternary blends with the core-shell morphology exhibited a remarkable rise in the elongation at break. With more perfect core-shell composite droplets and co-crystals, the impact strength of the ternary blends could be greatly increased to 51.38 kJ m−2, almost 10 times higher than that of pure PA6 (5.50 kJ m−2). POLYM. ENG. SCI., 2013. © 2012 Society of Plastics Engineers [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, polyamide 6 (PA6), maleic anhydride grafted ethylene-propylene-diene monomer (EPDM- g-MA), high-density polyethylene (HDPE) were simultaneously added into an internal mixer to melt-mixing for different periods. The relationship between morphology and rheological behaviors, crystallization, mechanical properties of PA6/EPDM- g-MA/HDPE blends were studied. The phase morphology observation revealed that PA6/EPDM- g-MA/HDPE (70/15/15 wt %) blend is constituted from PA6 matrix in which is dispersed core-shell droplets of HDPE core encapsulated by EPDM- g-MA phase and indicated that the mixing time played a crucial role on the evolution of the core-shell morphology. Rheological measurement manifested that the complex viscosity and storage modulus of ternary blends were notable higher than the pure polymer blends and binary blends which ascribed different phase morphology. Moreover, the maximum notched impact strength of PA6/EPDM- g-MA/HDPE blend was 80.7 KJ/m2 and this value was 10-11 times higher than that of pure PA6. Particularly, differential scanning calorimetry results indicated that the bulk crystallization temperature of HDPE (114.6°C) was partly weakened and a new crystallization peak appeared at a lower temperature of around 102.2°C as a result of co-crystal of HDPE and EPDM- g-MA. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2013 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have prepared a 10 vol% zirconium oxide ( ZrO2) powder aqueous ink for ink-jet printing. This ink shows severe segregation or coffee staining during drying on solid substrates. Coffee staining is suppressed by the addition of 10 wt% poly(ethylene glycol) ( PEG) to the ink formulation. However, coffee staining occurs with the PEG solution ink when drops are printed onto a substrate made from a preprinted ZrO2 powder layer. The mechanism for this phenomenon remains unknown but may be related to the draining of solvent into the powder. The stability of printed features is controlled by the overlap of printed drops and the range of line stability is shown to be consistent with models in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]