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This paper proposes a novel kernel‐based generalized random interval multilayer perceptron (KG‐iMLP) method for predicting high‐volatility interval‐valued returns of crude oil. The KG‐iMLP model is constructed by utilizing the DK distance based on a kernel function, which outperforms the conventional Euclidean distance. Additionally, the optimal kernel function is estimated using the variance–covariance matrix of the prediction error, contributing to a better understanding of the overall characteristics of interval‐valued data. The introduction of the kernel function renders the algorithms used for estimating machine learning parameters ineffective. Therefore, this paper further proposes a backward DK distance of accumulative error propagation algorithm to estimate both the kernel function and model parameters, which provides a feasible approach for utilizing kernel function in interval neural networks. In the empirical analysis of weekly and daily returns of WTI crude oil, the superior predictive performance of the proposed method is demonstrated, enabling stable and accurate predictions for both point values and interval values. The model exhibits consistent outstanding performance across different network structures, showcasing the potential of KG‐iMLP for crude oil price forecasting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The trap state at the surfaces and grain boundaries of perovskite is one of the major obstacles to the further commercialization of flexible perovskite solar cells (FPSCs). Herein, two innovative multifunctional fluorinated propylamine salt 2,2,3,3,3‐pentafluoropropylamine hydrochloride (PFPACl) and 3,3,3‐triflupropylamine hydrochloride (TFPACl) are in situ introduced onto the photo absorbing layer to improve the performance of the FPSCs. The nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy indicates strong interactions of both PFPACl and TFPACl with the perovskite precursor components. For the first time, the structures of the supramolecular complexes formed by two additives with FAI are deduced from NOESY NMR data, thus pointing to the importance of the preorganization of the perovskite components in solution before film casting. The experiments and density functional theory（DFT) calculations reveal that PFPACl is likely dissociated more into the form of R‐NH3+‐Cl− due to the higher electronegativity of the fluoroalkyl tail. Therefore, PFPA+ binds more strongly to VFA defects than TFPA+, and anion Cl− has strong enough interaction with VFAI and uncoordinated Pb2+, leading to homogeneous coverage of PFPACl on the entire surface of the perovskite films and better energy alignment with the hole transport layer. Consequently, PFPACl‐treated FPSCs achieved a relatively high PCE of 23.59% with excellent mechanical robustness and operational stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leveraging Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment mascon products spanning from April 2002 to September 2023, we, for the first time, ascertain the substantial influence of cryospheric mass variations on Earth's Chandler wobble (CW). Further, in contrast to traditional analysis conducted in the excitation domain, this study focuses on the polar motion domain and incorporates the wavelet analysis technique. Our findings reveal some intriguing phenomena: Between 2006 and 2020, the cryosphere contributed an average amplitude of approximately 4.85 mas to CW, equivalent to 5.05%, with its impact escalating to about 11 mas from 2018 to 2022, representing a fourfold rise in its contribution ratio to approximately 20%. This marked surge can be attributed to the more erratic glacier mass balance results from ongoing climate change. Moreover, there is a pronounced decrease in the CW signal post‐2018, which starkly contrasts with cryospheric contribution, suggesting a potential linkage to climate change yet warrants further investigation. Plain Language Summary: The Earth wobbles as it rotates like a spinning top. The largest of these wobbles, known as Chandler wobble, represents a free oscillation within the Earth's solid mantle. It undergoes subtle yet fluctuating temporal variations and is partially influenced by climate‐related fluid layers, including the atmosphere and ocean. This study explores the impact of the cryosphere—specifically the mass change in the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets and global alpine glaciers—on the Chandler wobble. By analyzing gravity satellite (GRACE and its follow‐on) data from 2002 to 2023, we ascertain for the first time that cryospheric variations can substantially affect this wobble. Furthermore, employing advanced data analysis techniques enables us to unveil an intensified influence of the cryosphere in recent years that has captured our attention. Such intensification can be attributed to ongoing climate shifts, which led to increasingly irregular mass variations within the cryosphere. These findings enhance our understanding of how the cryosphere dynamics influence Earth's wobble, providing insights into the broader impacts of climate change. Key Points: For the first time, we confirm the substantial excitation of the cryosphere on Chandler wobbleUsing innovative approaches, we reveal its time‐varying contribution to Chandler wobble, which remarkably surged to about 11 mas by 2022We emphasize the growing impact of climate change on Chandler wobble, indicated by the increasingly erratic cryospheric dynamics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among all‐inorganic perovskites, CsPbIBr2 has become a potential candidate in semitransparent perovskite solar cells (ST‐PSCs) due to its excellent thermal stability and suitable bandgap. Herein, by optimizing the ambient temperature in an N2‐filled glovebox, the growth process of CsPbIBr2 crystals is regulated to avoid the generation of pinholes and improve the photoelectric conversion capacity of perovskite cells. When the ambient temperature is around 25 °C, the champion power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 10.82% with opaque n–i–p structure is achieved. Based on MoOx/Ag/MoOx (20/12/20 nm) multilayer top electrode, the ST‐PSC device achieves a maximum PCE of 7.06% at the fluorine‐doped tin oxide side under the simulated 1 sun illumination condition and a PCE of 23.96% at MoOx/Ag/MoOx electrode side under the intensity of 1000 lux (≈350 μW cm−2) provided by a white light‐emitting diode lamp, along with an average visible transmittance of 29.25%. The resulting perovskite solar cell is the first bifacial inorganic ST‐PSC that could be used under both sunlight and indoor light, which is an important step toward all‐day power generation of inorganic ST‐PSCs and building‐integrated photovoltaics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soaring development in widely applicable materials raises an urgent demand to develop high‐performance epoxy resin (EP) materials combining superior flame retardancy, smoke suppression and mechanical properties. Phosphorus, boron and nitrogen‐containing flame retardants are high potential environmental‐friendly flame‐retardant additives in polymer manufacturing owing to their low toxicity, molecular diversity, and efficient flame resistance. In this paper, a novel additive flame retardant of RGO‐HCCP@MPB compound was fabricated which involved the functionalization of reduced graphene oxide (RGO) with hexachlorocyclotriphosphazene (HCCP), and the simple complexing RGO‐HCCP with melamine phosphate borate (MPB). The prepared RGO‐HCCP@MPB was then directly mixed with EP matrix to evaluate its flame resistance. It found that the addition of RGO‐HCCP@MPB obviously inhibited the heat release and smoke emission behaviors of EP matrix during combustion. With 5 wt% addition of RGO‐HCCP@MPB in EP, the LOI value of EP/RGO‐HCCP@MPB reached up to 28.4%, the peak heat release rate (PHRR) and the total heat release (THR) decreased by 61.1% and 30.5% compared to neat EP, respectively. Furthermore, the flexural strength and flexural modulus of the EP/RGO‐HCCP@MPB were also promoted compared with that of the pure EP. The flame‐retardant mechanism shows that elements of boron (B), nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) in RGO‐HCCP@MPB compound play a synergistic role in the enhancement of the flame retardancy of EP in a combustion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perfecting large‐area perovskite film coating technology remains a key challenge to commercialize perovskite solar cells. Herein, nontoxic dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) is recommended as the only solvent to fabricate formamidinium (FA)–cesium lead halide perovskite by heat‐assisted blade coating. DMSO effectively promotes the formation of α‐phase crystals and improves the crystallinity. In addition, high substrate temperature is found to improve the film compactness, preferred facet orientation, and desired phase transition. Fast coating mode is adopted to inhibit ion migration and reduce the hysteresis of solar cells. Without any additives or surface treatments, the resulting perovskite film with chemical formula FA0.75Cs0.25PbI2.7Br0.3 shows smooth surface, dense grains, and excellent crystallinity. The corresponding solar cells achieve efficiencies of 20.2% and 17.1% with active areas of 0.1 and 1.0 cm2, respectively. The unencapsulated devices maintain ≈100% and 70% of their initial efficiencies after 500 h of storage in air with relative humidity of about 25% and heating at 85 °C, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comprehensive Summary A series of nickel‐doped copper tungstate/oxygen‐rich TiO2 heterojunction‐constructed composites of xNi‐CuWO4/OTiO2 were successfully prepared to demonstrate the enhancement of the visible‐light photoactivity through promoting the photogenerated charge carrier separation efficiency. Of all these composites, 0.2Ni‐CuWO4/OTiO2 exhibits excellent and stable visible light photoactivity for the photooxidative coupling of benzylamine to the corresponding N‐benzyl‐1‐phenymethanimine (BPMI) in air atmosphere. The conversion of benzylamine and the selectivity to BPMI reach 97% and 99%, respectively. The catalyst shows good cyclability with the conversion of benzylamine decreasing just by 22% after being repeated six times with the well‐maintained selectivity of BPMI. The composite also exhibits excellent photo‐bactericidal ability, which greatly inhibits the reproducing of both the Gram‐positive bacteria (e.g., S. epidermidis) and Gram‐negative bacteria (e.g., E. coli). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

All‐inorganic perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have been demonstrated to solve the thermal instability problem of organic–inorganic hybrid PSCs. Therefore, NiOx film is prepared by electron beam evaporation as a hole transport layer of all inorganic CsPbIBr2 PSCs. Then, the postannealing is used to promote the diffusion of NiOx into the gold electrode, and enhance interface contact and reducing the electrical resistance of NiOx/Au. After optimizing NiOx/Au interface, the devices based on NiOx achieved a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 6.7%. Furthermore, the best all‐inorganic CsPbIBr2 PSC free of encapsulation retains 95% of initial efficiency over 100 h at 85 °C. Herein, an effective postannealing strategy is provided for optimized NiOx/Au interface to make stable and efficient all‐inorganic CsPbIBr2 PSCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hybrid perovskites are promising materials for new sustainable photovoltaic applications to operate under low lighting conditions, such as the reuse of residual photons that are wasted during indoor lighting. The requirements for a perovskite solar cell (PSC) to offer maximum power conversion efficiency (PCE) under low illumination conditions are not totally clear in the literature. In this work, the PCE of the commonly used SnO2 electron transport layer (ETL) is improved by a facile method, doping the precursor nanoparticles with small concentrations of a Pb source. Under low illumination conditions (i.e., 0.1 mW cm−2) the PCE is enhanced from 18.8% to 34.2%. From a complete analysis of the ETLs and devices using several structural and electrical techniques it is observed that the parameter that improves the most is the shunt resistance of the device which avoids the parallel leakage of the photogenerated current. The present work clearly shows that the shunt resistance is a very important parameter that needs to be optimized in PSCs for low illumination conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

2D Ruddlesden–Popper (2DRP) perovskites with hydrophobic bulky cations are proven to improve the environmental stability in photovoltaic devices significantly. However, these spacer cations lead to a weak interplay in the 2DRP perovskites, severely impacting the charge carrier transport and require a systematic understanding of the interaction between spacer cations and inorganic slabs. Herein, a series of novel perovskites (BA1−xNMAx)2MA3Pb4I13 (NMA = 1‐naphthalenemethylammonium, BA = n‐butylammonium) are successfully fabricated to reveal the interaction of mixed spacers and inorganic slabs. Incorporating NMA cations enhances the NH⋯I− hydrogen‐bonding interaction between the spacer cations and [PbI6]4− slabs, resulting in a preferentially crystal vertical orientation of smoothed perovskite films with larger crystal grains. Thus, a significant reduction in the density of trap states of the resulting 2DRP perovskites is achieved which leads to highly efficient charge carrier transport. Consequently, the champion (BA0.9NMA0.1)2MA3Pb4I13 device yields a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 14.21%, along with the unencapsulated devices that can retain 85% of their initial PCE for 1200 h under 35–65% relative humidity conditions. This work provides a simple and original method to modulate the interlayer interplay in 2DRP perovskites for highly efficient and air‐stable perovskite solar cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By transforming a 1D second‐order linear oscillator into a 2D first‐order polar motion differential equation, it can be shown that the finite smoothness (i.e., the presence of jump in finite order derivatives) of the applied Newtonian forcing constitutes the sufficient and necessary condition for instantaneous excitation of free eigen‐mode. This condition can be met by forcing functions originated from turbulent and multiphase fluid motions. Sub‐macroscopic transition time associated with astatic elastic deformation limits the physical smoothness of the applied forcing for the Earth's polar motion. Eigen‐modes can also be excited by an infinitely smooth forcing that has a finite domain of non‐zero values. The eigen‐period serves as a macroscopic timescale to characterize the inertia of a linear oscillator. If a zero mean irregular forcing of finite smoothness exhibits a high degree of randomness and the timescale is much shorter than the eigen‐period, then for negligible damping the eigen‐waveform will increase in proportion to the squareroot of time, while the waveform distortion is statistically a constant. As a result, the pattern of distinctive eigen‐oscillation will dominate the forced solution for longer enough duration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The inflammatory response plays important roles in acne vulgaris and pain pathogenesis. In previous study, Esc‐1GN with anti‐inflammatory, antimicrobial, and lipopolysacchride (LPS) binding activity was identified from the skin of the frog Hylarana guentheri. Here, we report its therapeutic potentials for acne vulgaris and inflammatory pain. Esc‐1GN destroyed the cell membrane of Propionibacteria acnes in the membrane permeability assays. In addition, bacterial agglutination test suggested that Esc‐1GN triggered the agglutination of P. acnes, which was affected by LPS and Ca2+. Meanwhile, in vivo anti‐P. acnes and anti‐inflammatory effects of Esc‐1GN were confirmed by reducing the counts of P. acnes in mice ear, relieving P. acnes‐induced mice ear swelling, decreasing mRNA expression and the production of pro‐inflammatory cytokines, and attenuating the infiltration of inflammatory cells. Moreover, Esc‐1GN also displayed antinociceptive effect in mice induced by acetic acid and formalin. Therefore, Esc‐1GN is a promising candidate drug for treatment of acne vulgaris and inflammatory pain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

miR-203 act as tumor repressor by inhibiting cell proliferation and is repressed in a variety of human tumors, although the molecular mechanisms responsible have not been elucidated. Here, we reveal that miR-203 is regulated by E2F1, an important transcription factor that can induce cell proliferation by controlling cell cycle progression. We found that miR-203 expression was induced by cisplatin, which also induced E2F1 protein accumulation in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) cell lines. miR-203 expression was elevated upon activation of ectopic E2F1, whereas this induction was abolished when the E2F1 gene was silenced. Moreover, with luciferase reporter assays and chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assays, we demonstrated that E2F1 transactivates miR-203 by directly binding to the miR-203 gene promoter. In addition, we found that miR-203 inhibited cell proliferation by inducing G1/S cell cycle arrest, but not apoptosis, in ESCC cell lines. Finally, we observed that miR-203 negatively inhibited the expression of CDK6, subsequently decreasing E2F1 expression possibly through Rb phosphorylation. Taken together, our data show that cancer-related miR-203 is a novel transcriptional target of E2F1 and that it regulates cell cycle arrest by participating in a feedback loop with E2F1. J. Cell. Physiol. 230: 903-910, 2015. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proteins that bind small-molecule mediators of inflammation and hemostasis are essential for blood-feeding by arthropod vectors of infectious disease. In ticks and triatomine insects, the lipocalin protein family is greatly expanded and members have been shown to bind biogenic amines, eicosanoids and ADP. These compounds are potent mediators of platelet activation, inflammation and vascular tone. In this paper, the structure of the amine-binding protein (ABP) from Rhodnius prolixus, a vector of the trypanosome that causes Chagas disease, is described. ABP binds the biogenic amines serotonin and norepinephrine with high affinity. A complex with tryptamine shows the presence of a binding site for a single ligand molecule in the central cavity of the β-barrel structure. The cavity contains significant additional volume, suggesting that this protein may have evolved from the related nitrophorin proteins, which bind a much larger heme ligand in the central cavity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies on esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) indicated that it contains much dysregulation of microRNAs (miRNAs). DNA hypermethylation in the miRNA 5′ regulatory region is a mechanism that can account for the downregulation of miRNA in tumors (Esteller, N Engl J Med 2008;358:1148-59). Among those dysregulated miRNAs, miR-203, miR-34b/c, miR-424 and miR-129-2 are embedded in CpG islands, as is the promoter of miR-34a. We investigated their methylation status in ESCC by bisulfite sequencing PCR (BSP) and methylation specific PCR (MSP). The methylation frequency of miR-203 and miR-424 is the same in carcinoma and in the corresponding non-tumor tissues. The methylation ratio of miR-34a, miR-34b/c and miR-129-2 is 66.7% (36/54), 40.7% (22/54) and 96.3% (52/54), respectively in ESCC, which are significantly higher than that in the corresponding non-tumor tissues( p < 0.01). Quantitative RT-PCR analysis in clinical samples suggested that CpG island methylation is significantly correlated with their low expression in ESCC, 5-aza-2′-deoxycytidine (DAC) treatment partly recovered their expression in EC9706 cell line. We conclude that CpG island methylation of miR-34a, miR-34b/c and miR-129-2 are frequent events and important mechanism for their low expression in ESCC. DNA methylation changes have been reported to occur early in carcinogenesis and are potentially good early indicators of carcinoma (Laird, Nat Rev Cancer 2003;3:253-66). The high methylation ratio of miR-129-2 indicated its potential as a methylation biomarker in early diagnosis of ESCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comprehensive Summary A series of nickel‐doped copper tungstate/oxygen‐rich TiO2 heterojunction‐constructed composites of xNi‐CuWO4/OTiO2 were successfully prepared to demonstrate the enhancement of the visible‐light photoactivity through promoting the photogenerated charge carrier separation efficiency. Of all these composites, 0.2Ni‐CuWO4/OTiO2 exhibits excellent and stable visible light photoactivity for the photooxidative coupling of benzylamine to the corresponding N‐benzyl‐1‐phenymethanimine (BPMI) in air atmosphere. The conversion of benzylamine and the selectivity to BPMI reach 97% and 99%, respectively. The catalyst shows good cyclability with the conversion of benzylamine decreasing just by 22% after being repeated six times with the well‐maintained selectivity of BPMI. The composite also exhibits excellent photo‐bactericidal ability, which greatly inhibits the reproducing of both the Gram‐positive bacteria (e.g., S. epidermidis) and Gram‐negative bacteria (e.g., E. coli). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]