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Liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) photoactuators offer a versatile platform for executing complicated tasks through precisely controlled bending directions and amplitudes. Optical waveguides assist photoactuators to perform tasks unimpededly. While most existing optical waveguide actuators are limited to unidirectional bending, limiting their versatility. Here, a LCE actuator integrated with a tapered optical fiber with controllable bending directions and amplitudes is presented. The LCE actuator displays bending motions induced by uneven shrinkage due to the off‐center fiber. The bending directions are parallel to the previous uniaxial alignment of the LCE film, which can be adjusted to an arbitrary angle with the tapered optical fiber. The LCE actuators exhibit adaptable bending directions at 0°, 45°, and 90°, representing the possible bending motions. The bending amplitudes are regulated by infrared laser power. A hook‐like LCE actuator with 0° bending direction carried the handle of a basket. In addition, a 90° bending direction LCE actuator displays the shrinkage behavior, showing a special bending motion control. Moreover, a bionic hand, comprising five LCE actuators with various bending directions, exhibited diverse gestures with precise control. The controllable bending motions in optical waveguide actuators expand the promising applications in complicated scenarios, such as catheters or other medical devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metalized plastic current collectors (MPCCs) have shown potential in improving the energy density and safety of lithium‐ion batteries (LIBs). However, the poor mechanical strength, weak interfacial adhesion force, and surface metal corrosion have impeded the practical application of MPCCs. Here, an innovative engineering of MPCCs is proposed by incorporating halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) as fillers into polyimide (PI) polymer layer, which is further coated with two thin copper (Cu) layers. Because of the strong bonding between HNTs surface and the PI precursor, HNTs improve the mechanical strength of PI‐HNTs composite film, reinforce the interfacial adhesion force between the PI‐HNTs film and the coated Cu layer, and suppress the Cu corrosion by electrolyte. The prepared MPCCs exhibit a low mass density and only account about one‐fifth of the density of commercial Cu CCs. Furthermore, the PI‐HNTs‐Cu composite demonstrates significantly enhanced interfacial adhesion force doubled to 4 N cm−1 along with prolonged stability under electrolyte immersion and electrochemical reaction conditions, and delivers a high fracture strength of 125 MPa. LIBs assembled with MPCCs deliver a twice higher discharge capacity compared to battery with Cu CCs and reach a long‐term cycle capacity retention as high as 92.9% at 0.5 C after 500 cycles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Charge and spin transports through a normal lead coupled to an s‐wave superconductor and Majorana fermions at the ends of the nanowire are investigated using the Green's function method. In the limit of the superconducting gap Δ→∞, the analytical expressions of charge conductance Gc and spin conductance Gsn^ are obtained at zero temperature. For different values of coupling constant x between the normal lead and s‐wave superconductor, the impacts of Majorana fermions coupling energy εm, temperature kT, and superconducting gap Δ on charge conductance Gc and spin conductance Gsz are discussed. As x increases, Gc changes from peak to valley and then to peak at bias eV=±εm. The conductance of peaks and valleys is equal to quantum conductance 2e2/h, which corresponds to Majorana fermions. Moreover, Gsz decreases as x increases. For kT>0, the charge (spin) conductance of peaks and valleys cannot reach 2e2/h(e/4π). These results can help probe and understand Majorana fermions in experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identification of quality issues in batch production is relevant for stable and successful production. The identification of systematic quality issues and the identification of root causes is complex and challenging. Powerful multivariate statistical methods exist to perform batch analysis, yet their application is difficult due to data diversity and complexity in model training. Here, insights from data analysis projects on four batch plants are presented and real world challenges are reviewed. This leads to a semi‐automatic process for more efficient batch analysis overcoming the mentioned tedious tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dear Editor, Androgenetic alopecia (AGA) is the most common form of alopecia in men. Therefore, temporal angle, baihui acupoint, and hair whorl represent different hair loss regions in male AGA, while occipital tuberosity is the marker of no hair loss region. [Extracted from the article]

Fungal cellulolytic and hemicellulolytic enzymes are promising tools for industrial hydrolysis of cellulosic biomass; however, the regulatory network underlying their production is not well understood. The recent discovery of the transcriptional activators ClrB and McmA in Aspergillus nidulans implied a novel regulatory mechanism driven by their interaction, experimental evidence for which was obtained from transcriptional and DNA-binding analyses in this study. It was found that ClrB was essential for induced expression of all the genes examined in this study, while McmA dependency of their expression was gene-dependent. DNA-binding studies revealed McmA assisted in the recruitment of ClrB to the cellulose-responsive element (CeRE) in the promoters of eglA and eglB, expression of which was significantly reduced in the mcmA mutant. The CCG triplet within the CeRE served as the recognition sequence for the ClrB monomer. In contrast, ClrB did not require McmA for binding as a homodimer to the CGGN8CCG sequences in the promoter of mndB, expression of which was affected less in the mcmA mutant than in all other examined genes. Thus, there are two types of ClrB-mediated regulation: McmA-assisted and McmA-independent. This novel McmA-ClrB synergistic system provides new insights into the complex regulatory network involved in cellulase and hemicellulase production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The southern Great Hinggan Range in northeast China, mainly bounded by the Kangbao-Chifeng Fault to the south and the Hegenshan-Heihe Suture to the north, is a Palaeozoic subduction-related accretionary belt added to the northern margin of the North China Craton. The area has been considered as a Yanshanian metallogenic province, with more than 20 Mo deposits being discovered. Recently, six of the Mo deposits were proven to have formed during the Indosinian (Triassic) Orogeny, indicating the significance of the Indosinian mineralization, orogeny and magmatism. In this contribution, we summarize available data of the Indosinian Mo deposits, and show that Triassic Mo mineralization occurred in the time range of 248-232 Ma, coincident with a regional granitic event, and was presented as porphyry and intrusion-related quartz vein systems. The Indosinian ore-related granitoids show geochemical features of high-K calc-alkaline metaluminous-peraluminous and adakitic rocks, and have been formed by partial melting of thickened lower crust in a post-subduction tectonic setting. Rhenium contents of molybdenite crystals and sulphur-lead isotopic compositions indicate that the ore-forming materials originated from continental crust with some mantle components involved. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Donggebi giant porphyry Mo deposit in Hami city, Xinjiang Province, NW China, was formed in the Triassic in the Jueluotage metallogenic belt of Eastern Tianshan. Mo mineralization is associated with the Donggebi porphyritic granite, occurring as numerous stockworks in the altered wall rocks. The hydrothermal ore-forming process can be divided into four stages, from early to late, characterized by veinlets composed of (1) quartz + K-feldspar ± beryl ± pyrite ± tourmaline; (2) quartz + molybdenite ± K-feldspar ± tourmaline ± fluorite ± beryl; (3) quartz + polymetallic sulphides ± fluorite; and (4) quartz + calcite ± fluorite. Three types of fluid inclusions (FIs) are distinguished in this study based on petrographic and microthermometric criteria, i.e. carbonic (C-type), aqueous (W-type) and solid-bearing fluid inclusions (S-type). All three types of FIs can be observed in the quartz, beryl and fluorite formed in stages 1, 2 and 3, while the stage 4 minerals only contain aqueous inclusions. The FIs in minerals of stages 1, 2, 3 and 4 yield homogenization temperatures of 261-443, 210-385, 152-304 and 159-263 °C, respectively, and salinities of ≤9.3 wt.% NaCl equiv., without consideration of the contribution from daughter minerals. The maximum estimated pressure decrease from 193 MPa in stage 1, through 182 MPa in stage 2, to 129 MPa in stage 3, suggesting the maximum mineralizing depths decreased from 8.4, through 7.9, to 5.6 km, and possibly occurred at 5.6-7.9 km. Therefore, the ore-forming fluids at Donggebi are characterized by high-temperature, CO2-bearing and NaCl-poor and then progressively evolved to CO2-poor and lower-temperature. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Xiaoqinling gold field in central China is the second largest orogenic Au province in China. In the Xiaoqinling area, the Dahu Au-Mo deposit is typical because it is one of the five early-discovered large gold deposits, but also unique for its northernmost location and Mo-association. This study shows that the deposit is a fault-controlled lode system formed by a three-stage hydrothermal process. The early-stage pyrite-quartz veins are structurally deformed and broken. The middle-stage molybdenite-pyrite-quartz stockworks (mostly coaxial) infill the cracks of the early-stage veins and minerals. The late-stage open-space filling quartz-carbonate veinlets show a comb-like texture. The early- and late-stage quartz only contains the fluid inclusions of CO2-H2O and H2O-NaCl types, respectively, suggesting an evolution from CO2-rich to CO2-poor; whereas the middle-stage quartz contains fluid inclusions of CO2-H2O, H2O-NaCl, pure CO2 and daughter mineral-bearing types, supporting a boiling fluid system, because they can occur in a microscopic domain of a single crystal, homogenize divergently at similar temperatures clustering between 293 and 410 °C, and show contrasting salinities of <13.6 wt.% and >26.3 wt.% NaCl equiv. The inclusions in early-stage quartz are homogenized at 402-503 °C, with salinities of 4.5-10.4 wt.% NaCl equiv.; and those in late-stage quartz are homogenized at temperatures of <251 °C, with salinities of 14.4-14.8 wt.% NaCl equiv. The trapping pressures of inclusions are estimated to be 138-331 MPa in the early stage and 78-237 MPa in the middle stage, implying that the fluid system alternately fluctuated from lithostatic to hydrostatic, which was controlled by a fault-valve mechanism at depths of >11 km and ~7.8 km, respectively. Hydrogen and oxygen isotope signatures indicate that the fluids originated from metamorphic devolatilization in the early stage, then mixed with meteoric water in the middle stage, and finally replaced by meteoric water in the late stage. Hence, it is concluded, that metal precipitation at the Dahu deposit was mainly caused by fluid boiling, followed by fluid mixing, along with a trans-compressing at the transitional zone from a magmatic arc to back-arc basin, which resulted from the Triassic northward subduction of the Mian-Lue oceanic slab. © 2014 The Authors. Geological Journal published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Throughout postnatal years, medullary adipocytes (MAs) increase in both number and size; however, knowledge of these cells pales in comparison to that of other adipocyte depots. It is widely hypothesized that MAs derive from multipotent progenitor cells of the bone marrow, such as human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs). Nevertheless, there is a paucity of comparative, molecular-level studies in support of this hypothesis. In the present article, RTPCR was used to examine similarities and differences in gene expression among MAs, hMSC-derived adipocytes, and subcutaneous adipocytes. While little or no message for lineage-specific markers was detected in undifferentiated hMSCs, the data demonstrate that hMSC-derived adipocytes, MAs, and subcutaneous adipocytes commonly express mRNA encoding for adipogenic transcription factors (PPARγ2, C/EBPα, and SREBP1), adipokines (adipsin, leptin, APM1, and angiotensinogen), and lipid-metabolizing agents (aP2 and LPL), among other genes. None of the cell populations examined expressed a detectable level of the brown fat marker UCP1. This suggests highly similar gene expression between human subcutaneous and MAs, not previously substantiated to this degree. Coupled with the hMSC-derived adipocyte analysis, these data provide a framework ultimately for characterizing MAs and identifying their origin and function. J. Cell. Physiol. © 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vibrio parahaemolyticus is the leading cause of illness associated with seafood consumption globally. In this study, we examined 136 V. parahaemolyticus isolates from Ningbo, China for antimicrobial resistance phenotypes, genotypes, virulence factor genes (tdh, trh, T3SS) and molecular typing. Carbenicillin resistance (100.0%) was the most prevalent in all isolates followed by ampicillin with 46.1% in aquatic, 9.2% in clinical, and 83.3% in environmental isolates. Trimethoprim‐sulfamethoxazole (7.7%), streptomycin (3.1%), tetracycline (3.1%), and nalidixic acid (1.6%) resistance were only present in aquatic isolates. The virulence factor genes tdh (83.1%) and trh (10.8%) were found in clinical isolates while tdh was carried by aquatic (6.2%) and environmental (83.3%) isolates. T3SS2α genes were present in tdh+/trh− isolates and T3SS2β genes were present only in trh+ isolates. Molecular typing by enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus‐polymerase chain reaction classified our 136 isolates into nine clusters at a 0.66 similarity and aquatic isolates showed high degrees of genetic diversity. Our findings characterized the risk factors among aquatic, clinical, and environmental V. parahaemolyticus isolates from Ningbo, China. Practical Applications: The threat of pathogenic Vibrio parahaemolyticus to seafood safety is more serious than ever before as antimicrobial resistance has emerged and developed globally in the past decades. This study emphasizes the antimicrobial susceptibility, virulence, and molecular characterization of aquatic, clinical, and environmental V. parahaemolyticus isolated in Ningbo, which will be helpful for improving seafood safety management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]