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Summary: Microbe‐produced secondary metabolite phenazine‐1‐carboxylic acid (PCA) facilitates pathogen virulence and defense mechanisms against competitors. Magnaporthe oryzae, a causal agent of the devastating rice blast disease, needs to compete with other phyllosphere microbes and overcome host immunity for successful colonization and infection.However, whether M. oryzae produces PCA or it has any other functions remains unknown. Here, we found that the MoPHZF gene encodes the phenazine biosynthesis protein MoPhzF, synthesizes PCA in M. oryzae, and regulates appressorium formation and host virulence.MoPhzF is likely acquired through an ancient horizontal gene transfer event and has a canonical function in PCA synthesis. In addition, we found that PCA has a role in suppressing the accumulation of host‐derived reactive oxygen species (ROS) during infection. Further examination indicated that MoPhzF recruits both the endoplasmic reticulum membrane protein MoEmc2 and the regulator of G‐protein signaling MoRgs1 to the plasma membrane (PM) for MoRgs1 phosphorylation, which is a critical regulatory mechanism in appressorium formation and pathogenicity.Collectively, our studies unveiled a canonical function of MoPhzF in PCA synthesis and a noncanonical signaling function in promoting appressorium formation and host infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lung cancer is the leading global cause of cancer‐related death, however, resistance to chemotherapy drugs remains a huge barrier to effective treatment. The elevated recruitment of myeloid derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) to tumour after chemotherapy has been linked to resistance of chemotherapy drugs. Nevertheless, the specific mechanism remains unclear. oxPAPC is a bioactive principal component of minimally modified low‐density lipoproteins and regulates inflammatory response. In this work, we found that cisplatin, oxaliplatin and ADM all increased oxPAPC release in tumour. Treating macrophages with oxPAPC in vitro stimulated the secretion of MCP‐1 and LTB4, which strongly induced monocytes and neutrophils chemotaxis, respectively. Injection of oxPAPC in vivo significantly upregulated the percentage of MDSCs in tumour microenvironment (TME) of wild‐type LL2 tumour‐bearing mice, but not CCL2−/− mice and LTB4R−/− mice. Critically, oxPAPC acted as a pro‐tumor factor in LL2 tumour model. Indeed, cisplatin increased oxPAPC level in tumour tissues of WT mice, CCL2−/− and LTB4R−/− mice, but caused increased infiltration of Ly6Chigh monocytes and neutrophils only in WT LL2‐bearing mice. Collectively, our work demonstrates cisplatin treatment induces an overproduction of oxPAPC and thus recruits MDSCs infiltration to promote the tumour growth through the MCP‐1/CCL2 and LTB4/LTB4R pathways, which may restrict the effect of multiple chemotherapy. This provides evidence for a potential strategy to enhance the efficacy of multiple chemotherapeutic drugs in the treatment of lung cancer by targeting oxPAPC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Observational studies indicate that sleep apnea is associated with non‐alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and its related metabolic features, independent of confounding factors including obesity. However, the causal relationships remain to be determined. Methods: Univariable and multivariable Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses were performed to investigate the causal relationship between sleep apnea and NAFLD, along with its typical features including liver function, glycemic traits and lipid profiles. Summary‐level data for sleep apnea were obtained from the Finngen consortium (33,423 cases and 307,648 controls). Summary‐level data for NAFLD were available from a GWAS meta‐analysis (8434 cases and 770,180 controls), and data for 12 NAFLD‐related features from corresponding published GWASs. The inverse variance weighted (IVW) analysis was employed as the primary statistical method. Bidirectional MR and CAUSE analysis were conducted to avoid reverse causality and false positive findings. Results: In univariable MR analyses, we found evidence to support a causal effect of genetically predicted sleep apnea on NAFLD (OR = 1.50, 95% CI = 1.18–1.91) and HDL‐C (β = −0.045, 95% CI = ‐0.090 to −0.001). In reverse MR, genetically predicted serum TG was associated with an increased risk of sleep apnea (OR = 1.07, 95% CI = 1.02–1.12), while genetically predicted HDL‐C was associated with a decreased risk of sleep apnea (OR = 0.93, 95% CI = 0.89–0.98). After adjusting body mass index or educational attainment, none of these causal associations were retained. However, CAUSE method and MR analyses focusing on lipoprotein subfractions supported a causal effect of sleep apnea on HDL‐C and HDL subfractions. Conclusion: This MR study indicated that sleep apnea has no direct causal association with NAFLD, elevated liver enzymes and insulin resistance. Our results showed suggestive inverse associations of genetically predicted sleep apnea on HDL‐C and HDL subfractions, indicating that both HDL‐C levels and HDL function may be causally implicated in sleep apnea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water scarcity is a global challenge, and solar evaporation technology offers a promising and eco‐friendly solution for freshwater production. Photothermal conversion materials (PCMs) are crucial for solar evaporation. Improving photothermal conversion efficiency and reducing water evaporation enthalpy are the two key strategies for the designing of PCMs. The desired PCMs that combine both of these properties remain a challenging task, even with the latest advancements in the field. Herein, we developed copper nanoparticles (NPs) with different conjugated nitrogen‐doped microporous carbon coatings (Cu@C–N) as PCMs. The microporous carbon enveloping layer provides a highly efficient pathway for water transport and a nanoconfined environment that protects Cu NPs and facilitates the evaporation of water clusters, reducing the enthalpy of water evaporation. Meanwhile, the conjugated nitrogen nodes form strong metal‐organic coordination bonds with the surface of copper NPs, acting as an energy bridge to achieve rapid energy transfer and provide high solar‐to‐vapor conversion efficiency. The Cu@C–N exhibited up to 89.4% solar‐to‐vapor conversion efficiency and an evaporation rate of 1.94 kg m−2 h−1 under one sun irradiation, outperforming conventional PCMs, including carbon‐based materials and semiconductor materials. These findings offer an efficient design scheme for high‐performance PCMs essential for solar evaporators to address global water scarcity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mechanochemical synthesis is a technology formed in the 1950s. By applying mechanical energy, mechanochemical synthesis stimulates chemical reactions, causing structural and phase changes and enabling difficult or otherwise impossible reactions to occur. Mechanochemical reactions are relatively safe, clean and efficient. At present, the synthesis of oxide ceramic materials by mechanochemical methods has attracted widespread attention. In the production of oxide ceramic materials, the characteristics of ceramic powder have a certain influence on the molding, sintering, microstructure, and mechanical properties of subsequent ceramics. In this paper, the research progress of mechanical chemistry in the synthesis of nanostructures and composite oxide ceramic powders is reviewed. The effects of process parameters such as ball milling time, speed, atmosphere, grinding media, additives, and ball‐to‐powder ratio on reaction kinetics, phase formation, and powder properties are summarized. In addition, challenges and opportunities for ceramic powder synthesis are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SUMMARY: Chromatin in eukaryotes folds into a complex three‐dimensional (3D) structure that is essential for controlling gene expression and cellular function and is dynamically regulated in biological processes. Studies on plant phosphorus signaling have concentrated on single genes and gene interactions. It is critical to expand the existing signaling pathway in terms of its 3D structure. In this study, low‐Pi treatment led to greater chromatin volume. Furthermore, low‐Pi stress increased the insulation score and the number of TAD‐like domains, but the effects on the A/B compartment were not obvious. The methylation levels of target sites (hereafter as RdDM levels) peaked at specific TAD‐like boundaries, whereas RdDM peak levels at conserved TAD‐like boundaries shifted and decreased sharply. The distribution pattern of RdDM sites originating from the Helitron transposons matched that of genome‐wide RdDM sites near TAD‐like boundaries. RdDM pathway genes were upregulated in the middle or early stages and downregulated in the later stages under low‐Pi conditions. The RdDM pathway mutant ddm1a showed increased tolerance to low‐Pi stress, with shortened and thickened roots contributing to higher Pi uptake from the shallow soil layer. ChIP‐seq results revealed that ZmDDM1A could bind to Pi‐ and root development‐related genes. Strong associations were found between interacting genes in significantly different chromatin‐interaction regions and root traits. These findings not only expand the mechanisms by which plants respond to low‐Pi stress through the RdDM pathway but also offer a crucial framework for the analysis of biological issues using 3D genomics. Significance Statement: This study is a pioneering study in the field of plant nutrient utilization. For the first time, this study discovered that the plant's low‐Pi response was closely linked to the RdDM pathway and chromatin spatial structure, and the low‐Pi response was validated by a mutant of chromatin remodeling gene ZmDDM1a (RdDM pathway gene). In addition, the results of ChIP‐seq and multi‐point GWAS for 2 years revealed the interaction of a large number of candidate genes related to Pi and roots with ZmDDM1A. We believe that the results presented in this article will have a great influence in this field and will be concerned and cited by many researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two structured ytterbium monosilicate environmental barrier coatings (Si/Yb2SiO5 and Si/mullite/Yb2SiO5) were prepared on SiC/SiC composites and their performance in wet oxygen at 1350°C was investigated. After 300 h of corrosion, coating peeling occurred for Si/Yb2SiO5–SiC/SiC, while it was intact for Si/mullite/Yb2SiO5–SiC/SiC system due to the mullite intermediate coating well alleviating the thermal expansion mismatched stress. During the assessment, Yb2SiO5 and mullite gradually densified, and a thin layer of ytterbium disilicates (Yb2Si2O7) was formed at their junction as a new protective layer, which pinned into the mullite layer and significantly improved their interface bonding strength and resistance against wet oxygen. The strength retention of SiC/SiC, Si/Yb2SiO5–SiC/SiC, and Si/mullite/Yb2SiO5–SiC/SiC was 64%, 72%, and 97%, respectively, after corrosion in wet oxygen at 1350°C/300 h. Their corrosion mechanism was proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tunnel junctions (TJs) offer a unique approach to utilizing nonequilibrium tunneling injection of holes and have demonstrated potential applications in ultraviolet (UV) emitters. However, high operating voltage caused by the wide bandgap of the III‐nitrides has impeded the further promotion of TJ. Here, 275 nm n+‐Al0.45Ga0.55N/p+‐Al0.5Ga0.5N ultrathin tunnel junction (UTJ) deep‐UV light‐emitting diodes (LEDs) are developed for minimizing the electrical losses and achieve, to the current knowledge, the lowest operating voltage (5.7 V) at 300 mA reported to date. This study discovers that Mg‐Si co‐doping occurs in the n+‐Al0.45Ga0.55N layer during the growth of n+‐Al0.45Ga0.55N/p+‐Al0.5Ga0.5N UTJ due to the memory and diffusion effect of Mg, which leads to the formation of Ohmic contact between high‐work‐function Ni/Au and Mg‐Si co‐doped n+‐ Al0.45Ga0.55N layer in UTJ. The Zener diode, fluorine resin, and optimally designed glass lens are incorporated into the chip encapsulation to enhance the reliability and optical performance of the device. Furthermore, a high‐efficiency sterilization deep‐UV light source is developed integrated with 120 UTJ deep‐UV LED chips. Complete surface inactivation at a long irradiation distance (20 cm) is achieved within only seconds using the high‐power sterilization deep‐UV light source. These results indicate that UTJ is promising in developing deep UV LEDs and their integrated light sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Spodoptera frugiperda is an invasive, widespread agricultural pest in China. However, there have been no reports assessing feeding damage on wheat caused by S. frugiperda. To clarify the fitness and potential damage of S. frugiperda to wheat, this study analyzed the population parameters of S. frugiperda fed on wheat in a laboratory and simulated the potential damage in field conditions. Results: The population parameters of S. frugiperda were compared using life tables on wheat at the seedling and adult plant stages. The adult female longevity of S. frugiperda varied from 12.29 days on seedling plants to 16.60 days on adult plants. Egg production was significantly higher when fed on wheat at the seedling stage (646.34 eggs) than when fed on adult plants (495.86 eggs). On wheat at the seedling and adult plant stages, the mean generation times were 35.42 and 38.34 days, respectively, and the intrinsic rates of increase were 0.15 and 0.14, respectively. Spodoptera frugiperda completed development and increased its population in wheat at both plant growth stages. In the field, the effect of different larval densities on the 1000‐kernel weight of wheat was significantly different. An action threshold of 40 larvae per m2 was estimated, and the higher population densities caused a yield loss of 17.7%. Conclusion: Spodoptera frugiperda can complete its life cycle on wheat at different stages. Wheat can serve as an alternative host for S. frugiperda. If S. frugiperda reaches 320 larvae per m2 density during wheat growth, it will cause yield loss exceeding 17%. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a roll‐to‐roll compatible technology, slot‐die coating has shown great potential for manufacturing industrial‐level organic solar cells (OSCs). However, in the slot‐die coatings process, coffee rings are often formed due to the slow film‐forming kinetics, leading to a significant loss of power conversion efficiency (PCE) in upscaling device area. Herein, the coffee rings are suppressed by introducing an airflow‐assisted slot‐die technique to obtain a suitable active layer morphology with improved flatness and homogeneity. Synergistically, optimization of airflow and substrate temperature conditions, the PCE of 1 cm2 flexible OSC devices reaches 13.69%. Moreover, large‐area flexible OSC modules with 30 cm2 achieve a PCE of 13.08%, maintaining 95% of 1 cm2 device, which is the minimum PCE loss from 1 cm2 to large‐area devices. Morphology characterization shows that airflow can suppress excessive molecular aggregation and obtain suitable phase separation. Therefore, this work provides an efficient method to fabricate high‐efficiency flexible large‐area OSC modules, which will promote OSC devices from lab to fab. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous literature has shown that consumers often see themselves as possessing the characteristics of products they own, referring to product‐to‐self judgment effect. For example, consumers perceive themselves as more innovative after owning an innovative product. The current research identifies and demonstrates a boundary condition for this effect, showing that product anthropomorphism lowers the tendency for consumers to judge themselves in assimilation with the traits and abilities of the product. We further demonstrate that this moderating effect arises because consumers are less likely to classify anthropomorphized product into the "Self" category, for they see the product as an entity like other people. Three experiments provide supportive evidence for this moderating effect and the underlying mechanism. Overall, our research contributes to the literature by uncovering the process of how product anthropomorphism may hinder consumers from using products to express themselves, thus providing implications for promoting products that focus on enhancing consumer self‐expression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Earth, in large portions, is covered in oceans, sediments, and glaciers. High‐resolution body wave imaging in such environments often suffers from severe reverberations, that is, repeating echoes of the incoming scattered wavefield trapped in the reverberant layer, making interpretation of lithospheric layering difficult. In this study, we propose a systematic data‐driven approach, using autocorrelation and homomorphic analysis, to solve the twin problem of detection and elimination of reverberations without a priori knowledge of the elastic structure of the reverberant layers. We demonstrate, using synthetic experiments and data examples, that our approach can effectively identify the signature of reverberations even in cases where the recording seismic array is deployed in complex settings, for example, using data from (a) a land station sitting on Songliao basin, (b) an ocean bottom station in the fore‐arc setting of the Alaska amphibious community seismic experiment, and (c) a station deployed on ice‐sediment strata in the glaciers of Antarctica. The elimination of the reverberation is implemented by a frequency domain filter whose parameters are automatically tuned using seismic data alone. On glaciers where the reverberating sediment layer is sandwiched between the lithosphere and an overlying ice layer, homomorphic analysis is preferable in detecting the signature of reverberation. We expect that our technique will see wide application for high‐resolution body wave imaging across a wide variety of conditions. Plain Language Summary: The Earth, in large portions, is covered in oceans, sediments, and glaciers. Because of the large differences in rock properties between these layers and the solid Earth underneath, waves get trapped in them which hampers the successful investigation of deeper layers. This is often referred to as "reverberation," waves that "echo" or "sing" again and again. In this study, we propose a systematic approach to detect and eliminate this "singing" effect using only observed data, without any knowledge of the local geological structure. Our approach extends the autocorrelation analysis, a widely used method to detect repeating patterns in time series, and also takes advantage of the homomorphic analysis, a popular technique in speech and audio processing. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach using both human‐generated and real seismic data, collected from complex geosettings around the world, including in the oceans to the south of the Alaska Peninsula, sedimentary basin in northeast China, and Antarctica. On glaciers where the reverberation comes from the complicated coupled effect of ice and sediment, homomorphic analysis is preferable in detecting the signature of reverberation. We expect that our technique will greatly improve the imaging of deep Earth structure across a wide variety of conditions. Key Points: A data‐driven approach using autocorrelation and homomorphic analysis is proposed to detect the signature of reverberations in seismic dataThe proposed approach can be applied to various geological settings where reverberations are present; that is, sediments, oceans, and glaciersSignal enhancement using either approach is best in single‐layer systems, while homomorphic analysis is preferred for ice‐sediment systems [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human society encompasses diverse social influences, and people experience events differently and may behave differently under such influence, including in forming an impression of others. However, little is known about the underlying neural relevance of individual differences in following others' opinions or social norms. In the present study, we designed a series of tasks centered on social influence to investigate the underlying relevance between an individual's degree of social conformity and their neural variability. We found that individual differences under the social influence are associated with the amount of inter‐trial electroencephalogram (EEG) variability over multiple stages in a conformity task (making face judgments and receiving social influence). This association was robust in the alpha band over the frontal and occipital electrodes for negative social influence. We also found that inter‐trial EEG variability is a very stable, participant‐driven internal state measurement and could be interpreted as mindset instability. Overall, these findings support the hypothesis that higher inter‐trial EEG variability may be related to higher mindset instability, which makes participants more vulnerable to exposed external social influence. The present study provides a novel approach that considers the stability of one's endogenous neural signal during tasks and links it to human social behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyses the relationship between the Scandinavian (SCA) teleconnection pattern and summer precipitation over the eastern side of the Tibetan Plateau (ESTP) between 1960 and 2020 and further studies the underlying physical mechanism. Statistical analysis showed that there is a significant and high negative correlation coefficient (around −0.59) between ESTP summer precipitation and the SCA teleconnection pattern over the period 1960–2020. When the SCA teleconnection pattern is in its negative phase, there is a significant increase in precipitation over most of the ESTP, and vice versa. Moisture budget analysis showed that vertical moisture advection makes a larger contribution to precipitation changes related to the SCA teleconnection pattern than evaporation and horizontal moisture advection. Specifically, positive precipitation anomalies related to the SCA teleconnection pattern are dominated by the enhanced dynamic component of vertical moisture advection, which is induced mainly by the significant ascending motion over almost the whole of the ESTP region. In summer, under the effect of the SCA teleconnection pattern, the abnormal westerly wind transports the mean warm air from TP to ESTP and forms an abnormal warm advection over the ESTP, resulting in a significant vertical upward motion and more summer precipitation over the ESTP. This study reveals the possible physical mechanism of the impacts of SCA teleconnection pattern on summer precipitation over the ESTP region and provides a scientific basis for ecological protection and disaster mitigation measures associated with major projects such as the Sichuan–Tibet railway and the Chengdu–Chongqing Economic Circle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solid/solid interface is the major challenge for high‐performance solid‐state batteries. Solid electrolytes (SEs) play a crucial role in the fabrication of effective interfaces in solid‐state batteries. Herein, the electrolyte distribution with varied particle sizes is tuned to construct solid‐state batteries with excellent performance at different operating temperatures. Solid‐state batteries with the configuration S/L (small‐sized SE in composite cathode and large‐sized SE in electrolyte layer) show the best performance at room temperature (168 mA h g−1 at 0.2 C, retention of 99%, 100 cycles) and −20 °C (89 mA h g−1 at 0.05 C), while the configuration S/S displays better performance at elevated temperature. The superior performance of S/L battery is associated with faster lithium‐ion dynamics due to the better solid/solid interface between active materials and electrolytes. Moreover, the inferior performance at 60 °C is caused by the formation of voids and cracks in the electrolyte layer during cycling. In contrast, the S/S battery delivers superior performance at elevated operating temperature because of the integrated structure. This work confirms that tailoring electrolyte size has significant effect on fabricating all‐climate solid‐state batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A viscous feature is beneficial for a solid electrolyte with respect to assembling solid‐state batteries, which can change the solid‐solid contacts from point to face. Here, novel halide‐based deep eutectic solid electrolytes (DESEs) prepared by a facile ball milling method is reported. The mixture of halides triggers the deep eutectic phenomena by intermolecular interactions, leading to diverse morphologies and viscous statuses in terms of composition. Chemical‐ and micro‐structure analyses via the cryogenic technique reveal that the LiCl and LiF nanoparticles are dispersed in an amorphous halide matrix, which endow freely mobile ions for fast ion transport. The optimized DESE thus achieves low activation energy and high ionic conductivity of 16 mS cm−1 at room temperature, one of the highest values among various electrolytes so far. By integrating with the active materials to form a composite cathode, the viscous DESE yields a super‐dense composite pellet which possesses intensively enhanced ionic conductivity in contrast to those formed by the sulfide‐based electrolyte additives, demonstrating an attractive application prospect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SexSy is considered as a promising cathode material as it can deliver higher energy density than selenium (Se) and offer improved conductivity and enhanced reaction kinetics compared with S. However, the electrochemistry of the Li‐SeS2 all‐solid‐state battery (ASSB) has not been well understood to date. Herein the electrochemistry of Li‐SeS2 battery was revealed by in‐situ transmission electron microscopy. The charge products were phase‐separated Se and S, rather than the widely believed SeS2. Among the various SexSy cathodes, SeS2 achieved the best electrochemical performance. The Li‐SeS2 ASSB delivered a high reversible capacity of 1052 mAh g−1 at 1 A g−1 over 350 cycles, and a high areal capacity of 4 mAh cm−2 was also achieved with a high cathode mass loading of 7.6 mg cm−2. These results represent the best performance achieved to date in the Li‐SeS2 ASSB and brings us one step closer toward its practical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bisphenol AF (BPAF) is a structural counterpart of bisphenol A that is utilized in the food and beverage industry. The present study investigated the potential mechanisms in BPAF‐induced neurotoxicity in zebrafish embryos. The BPAF concentrations (0.03, 0.1, 0.3, and 1.0 µM) had no obvious effect on hatching, mortality, and body length of zebrafish larvae, while curved tail and pericardial edema were observed in the 1.0 μM group at 72 and 96 h postfertilization (hpf). Locomotor activity of the larvae (at 120 hpf) significantly decreased from dark to light but increased from light to dark transitions in BPAF groups (0.1, 0.3, and 1.0 μM). Acridine orange showed that BPAF significantly increased green fluorescence protein intensity (22.6%) in the 1.0 μM group. Consistently, the induced apoptosis significantly up‐regulated caspase 3 at 0.3 μM (1.95‐fold) and 1.0 μM (2.26‐fold) and bax at 0.3 μM (1.60‐fold) and 1.0 μM (1.78‐fold), whereas bcl‐2 expression was significantly decreased at 0.3 μM (0.72‐fold) and 1.0 μM (0.53‐fold). In addition, increased reactive oxygen species concentrations at 0.3 μM (27%) and 1.0 μM (61.4%) resulted in suppressed superoxide dismutase and catalase activities. Moreover, quantitative polymerase chain reaction results showed that BPAF (0.3 and 1.0 μM) significantly altered normal dopaminergic signaling where dat was up‐regulated, while drd2a and th1 were down‐regulated, in a concentration‐dependent manner. Aberrations in dopamine‐related genes were congruous with the dysregulations in neurodevelopment genes (sox11b, pax6a, syn2a, and rob2). Our findings suggest that BPAF‐evoked oxidative stress and apoptosis could translate into phenotypical behavioral and neurodevelopmental abnormalities. These highlights could provide theoretical reference for risk assessment and act as an early indicator to BPAF exposure. Environ Toxicol Chem 2022;41:2273–2284. © 2022 SETAC [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel "N‐π‐N" type oligomeric acceptor of 2BTP‐2F‐T, constructed by two small non‐fullerene acceptor (NFA) units linked with a thiophene π bridge is reported. The 2BTP‐2F‐T not only combines the advantages of small NFA and polymeric acceptors (PYF‐T‐o) with similar units but also exhibits superior characteristics of high absorption coefficient and high electron moblity(µe)) with less dependence on molecular packing. Using PM6 as the donor, a remarkable efficiency of 18.19% is obtained with an open circuit (Voc) of 0.911 V, short current circuit (Jsc) of 25.50 mA cm−2, and fill factor (FF) of 78.3%, which is much better than that of the corresponding monomer (16.54%) and PYF‐T‐o (15.8%) based devices. The much‐improved efficiency results from two aspects: 1) an enhanced FF due to the largely improved µe and well‐controlled morphology ; 2) a higher value of (Jsc × Voc) due to its higher absorption coefficient and efficient charge generation at a similar low energy loss. Furthermore, the PM6/2BTP‐2F‐T device possesses the longest T80 lifetime to light‐soaking and comparable high thermal stability with PM6/PYF‐T‐o. The results indicate that the "N‐π‐N" type oligomeric acceptor has a great application prospect due to its superior high efficiency and improved stability in organic solar cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The severe parasitic interface reaction and dendrite growth retard the practical applications of all‐solid‐state (ASS) Na batteries with sulfide solid electrolytes (SEs). Here, a novel composite SE is proposed, with a high ionic conductivity, composed of Na3SbS4 (NSS) and oxysulfide glass. The study reveals that the P2S7‐aOa and PS4‐aOa units in oxysulfide play various roles: The former is deoxidized to release free O ions, which reacts with the anode via migrating to form oxides, favoring an improved interface stability. The latter is highly stable upon cycling, thereby maintaining an ion transport network. Meanwhile, NSS acts as a dendrite predator via reacting with penetrated Na. These advantages enable the resulting ASS Na battery with superior long‐term cycling performance at a high current density at room temperature, one of the best results so far. This discovery sheds light on innovative advanced SE materials through an oxysulfide‐based composite design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

All-solid-state (ASS) Na-S batteries are promising for a large-scale energy-storage system owing to numerous merits. However, the high conversion reaction barrier impedes their practical application. In this work, the basic mechanism on how Se catalyzes the conversion reaction in the Na-S batteries is unraveled. The sodiation/desodiation of Na-SeS2 nanobatteries are systematically evaluated via in situ transmission electron microscopy (in situ TEM) with a microheating device. The real-time analyses reveal an amorphous Na-SexSy intermediate phase appears during the direct conversion from SeS2 to Na2S, and a reverse reaction succeeds at 100 °C with a prior formation of Se. The absence of polysulfides and a much lower desodiation temperature in contrast to Na-S nanobatteries demonstrate that the Se incorporation significantly lowers the conversion reaction barrier. According to these findings, the ASS SeS2 batteries using a Na3SbS4 solid electrolyte (SE) are assembled using various SE:C ratios in the composite cathodes to investigate the effect of the ion and electron transport on the electrochemical properties, including the effective transport properties, MacMullin number, and the tortuosity factor. The obtained results in turn confirm the findings from the in situ TEM. These findings are applicable to optimize other S-based active materials and improve their utilization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Stem cells from human exfoliated deciduous teeth (SHED) have excellent immunomodulatory and neuroprotective abilities. It is possible that systemic SHED transplantation could ameliorate trigeminal neuralgia. The phosphorylation of c‐Jun contributes to the development of hyperalgesia and allodynia. Objective: The present study aimed to evaluate whether systemic SHED transplantation could lead to analgesic effects by regulating peripheral c‐Jun in the trigeminal ganglia (TG) in a rat model of trigeminal neuralgia. Methods: Chronic constriction injury of the infraorbital nerve (CCI‐ION) was performed to establish a rat pain model. SHED were obtained from discarded exfoliated deciduous teeth from children and transplanted by a single infusion through the tail vein. SHED were labelled with the PKH26 red fluorescent cell linker mini kit for tract distribution. The mechanical threshold was determined using von Frey filaments. The mRNA levels of c‐Jun in the ipsilateral TG were quantified. The phosphorylation of c‐Jun in the ipsilateral TG was assessed by immunohistochemistry and Western blotting. Results: PKH26‐labelled SHED were distributed to both sides of TG, lung, liver and spleen. Systemic SHED transplantation significantly elevated the mechanical thresholds in CCI‐ION rats and blocked the upregulation of c‐Jun mRNA levels in the TG caused by nerve ligation. The activation of c‐Jun in the TG was blocked by SHED transplantation. Conclusions: These findings demonstrate that systemic SHED administration reverts trigeminal neuralgia via downregulation of c‐Jun in the TG. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modulating the morphology of all‐small‐molecule organic solar cells (ASM‐OSCs) has proved to be a considerable challenge in the context of efficient exciton dissociation and charge transport. Regulating the morphology of ASM‐OSCs is a great challenge due to the low viscosity of the small molecules, which tend to form large domain sizes and loose molecular packing, especially in the interfacial region. Here, a polymerized small‐molecule acceptor (PJ1) is introduced as an interface modulator to strengthen the interfacial molecular interactions in a high‐efficiency system, consisting of a novel small molecule donor (ZR‐TT) and a widely used acceptor (Y6). Optimized ASM‐OSCs exhibit a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 14.33% without any additives. A small amount of PJ1 effectively condenses the morphology, enhances the crystallinity of the blend, and decreases the domain sizes. Upon 3% PJ1 addition in the blends, the accelerated hole transfer and the enhanced charge transport ultimately lead to an increased PCE of 15.54% with improved short circuit current and fill factor. Notably, the generality of this interfacial modulator strategy is proved by using PJ1 in three other ASM‐OSCs and using another polymerized host acceptor, PYT‐F‐o. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hybrid organic–inorganic perovskite (HOIP) material‐based devices have attracted much attention in the past few years owing to their superior photoelectric performance. However, ion migration has hindered the commercialization of these devices. The accumulation of migrated ions or defects near electrodes and boundaries is inevitable under a voltage bias. This paper reports a systematic study on the optical properties of ion accumulation areas in HOIP. Quantitative electric fields are applied to MAPbX3 (MA = methylammonium and X = Cl, Br, or I) single crystals, and micro‐optical characterizations, including photoluminescence (PL) spectra, PL lifetimes, and Raman spectra, are performed. Significant differences in the intensity and peak position are observed in the PL spectrum near the anode and cathode regions, respectively. The phenomena observed in the study can be attributed to the migration and accumulation of halide ions, halide vacancies, and MA+ ions. Moreover, the results reveal that halide ions and vacancies play a significant role in carrier recombination. Finally, the Raman spectrum confirms that the migrated ions affect the interaction between the organic MA+ ions and inorganic Pb–X cages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Previous studies have provided evidence linking the DPEP1 gene to the risk of osteoarthritis (OA) in Europeans. In this study, we aimed to examine the relationship between DPEP1 gene and the susceptibility and clinical severity of OA in a Chinese Han population. Methods: This study comprised two independent samples. For the discovery stage, 1022 patients with knee OA and 1864 controls were recruited. Fourteen tag single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) covering the DPEP1 gene were selected and genotyped. Associated SNPs in the discovery data set were subsequently genotyped in the replication data set consisting of 826 hip OA cases and 1662 controls. Both genotypic and allelic genetic associations were tested. The relationship of significant SNPs to the expression of DPEP1 and its neighboring genes was examined using the GTEx database. Results: A nonsynonymous SNP, rs1126464, was determined to be associated with the disease status of OA in both the discovery and replication stages (odds ratio [OR] 0.75, 95% confidence interval [95% CI] 0.68‐0.82, P = 7.16 × 10−11). This SNP was further characterized as being significantly related to a higher Kellgren‐Lawrence grade in OA patients (OR 0.64, 95% CI 0.55‐0.74, P = 2.53 × 10−9). According to the GTEx data, SNP rs1126464 was significantly related to the gene expression of 15 genes in multiple types of human tissues. Conclusion: We reported a common DNA variant in the DPEP1 gene that contributes to the risk of OA, providing additional evidence that the DPEP1 gene plays a significant role in the pathological mechanisms of OA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cerium has been used as an implanted alloy additive for many years for it can enhance the mechanical properties of the alloy and restrain the corrosion of the implant. Moreover, cerium oxide nanoparticles are often used as an antibacterial material. However, there were few researches focusing on the antibacterial properties of Ce3+ and Ce4+ ions, instead of their corresponding oxide, as potential antibacterial coatings. Thus in this work, we loaded Ce ions into the porous structure of the ZIF‐8 nanoparticles and co‐deposited them with hydroxyapatite as a composite coating onto anodized titanium dioxide nanotubes array in order to test whether it can improve the anti‐corrosion and antibacterial properties of the materials without affecting the biocompatibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the receiver function technique has been successfully applied to high‐resolution imaging of sharp discontinuities within and across the lithosphere, it suffers from severe limitations when applied to seafloor seismic recordings. This is because the water and sediment layer could strongly influence the receiver function traces, making detection and interpretation of crust and mantle layering difficult. This effect is often referred to as the singing phenomena in marine environments. We demonstrate, using analytical and synthetic modeling, that this singing effect can be reversed using a selective dereverberation filter tuned to match the elastic property of each layer. We apply the dereverberation filter to high‐quality earthquake records collected from the NoMelt seismic array deployed on normal, mature Pacific seafloor. An appropriate filter designed using the elastic properties of the underlying sediments, obtained from prior studies, greatly improves the detection of Ps conversions from the Moho (∼8.6 km) and from a sharp discontinuity (<∼5 km) across the lithosphere asthenosphere transition (∼72 km). Sensitivity tests show that the dereverberation filter is mostly sensitive to the two‐way travel time of the shear wave in sediment and is robust to seismic noise and small errors in the sediment properties. Our analysis suggests that selectively filtering out the sediment reverberations from ocean seismic data could make inferences on subsurface structure more robust. We expect that this study will enable high‐resolution receiver function imaging of the oceanic plate across the growing ocean bottom seismic arrays being deployed in the global oceans. Key Points: A dereverberation filter is proposed to eliminate the sediment reverberation effects on receiver functions of ocean bottom seismological dataThe proposed filter is proven effective and robust to small errors in sediment properties using synthetic modelingA Moho of 8.6 km depth and a sharp discontinuity of the lithosphere asthenosphere transition of 72 km depth is observed [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Diet strongly affects human health by modulating gut microbiota (GM) composition. Lycium barbarum (LB), which contains polysaccharides and polyphenols, can alter the GM and intestinal barrier function, thereby reducing and preventing the occurrence of intestinal diseases. To investigate how LB improves colonic barrier function, male C57BL/6J mice were fed diets containing 1.5% or 3% LB for 10 weeks. Results of HiSeq 16S rDNA analysis showed that LB markedly altered microbial profile by supporting the growth of Verrucomicrobia, Bacteroidetes, Bacteroidales_S24‐7_group, Anaerotruncus, Coprococcus_1, Ruminococcaceae_UCG‐014 and Akkermansia, while suppressing Firmicutes, Helicobacter, Bacteroides and Mucispirillum. LB supported the short‐chain fatty acid (SCFA)‐producing bacteria, and the SCFA concentrations increased, while the ammonia concentrations and pH values in faeces decreased, thereby increasing the expression of tight junction proteins and mucin, subsequently improving intestinal function and histomorphology. Dietary LB, as a functional dietary component, enhanced colonic barrier function and improved gut health by altering GM composition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Weaning may cause oxidative injury, immune response impairment, apoptosis and other injuries in piglets. Oxidative and endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS) can elicit inflammatory responses, and persistent oxidative and ERS also may lead to apoptotic cascades, which is associated with the pathogenesis of multiple diseases. β‐carotene, a natural carotenoid, has potential anti‐inflammatory and antioxidant functions. However, the effect of β‐carotene on apoptosis in weaned piglets and the detailed molecular mechanism remain unclear. In this study, we found that β‐carotene decreased malondialdehyde (MDA) levels and increased the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH‐Px) in piglet serum. β‐carotene could inhibit the mRNA levels of caspase‐3 significantly, but had no significant inhibitory effect of the mRNA levels of caspase‐9 and caspase‐12 in the piglet jejunum. In addition, β‐carotene decreased the activation of GRP78, CHOP, and JNK/p38 MAPK and the ratio of Bax/Bcl‐2. Furthermore, β‐carotene had a significant influence on the activation of ERS and apoptosis‐related signals in TG‐induced IPEC‐J2. In the present study, β‐carotene pre‐treatment attenuated the ratio of Bax/Bcl‐2 and prevented TG‐induced increases in the level of PERK‐CHOP and IRE1‐JNK/p38 MAPK pathway activation in a dose‐dependent manner. Overall, these findings indicate that β‐carotene may protect weaning‐induced apoptosis through inhibiting ERS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The collision of the Indian and Eurasian plates, to the east of the eastern Himalayan syntaxes, forms the Sanjiang lateral collision zone in the southeast margin of the Tibetan Plateau, where there are intense crustal deformation, active faults, earthquakes, as well as a metallogenic belt. Given the lack of adequate seismic data, shear‐wave splitting in this area has not been studied. With seismic data from a temporary seismic linear array, as well as permanent seismic stations, this paper adopts the identification on microseismic event to pick more events and obtains shear‐wave splitting parameters from local earthquakes. From the west to the east, the study area can be divided into three subzones. The "fast" polarization (i.e. the polarization of the fast shear wave) varies gradually from NNW to NS to NNE in these three subzones. The time delay of the slow shear wave (i.e. the time difference between the two split shear waves) also increases in the same direction, indicating the presence of seismic anisotropy above 25 km in the crust. Both shear‐wave splitting parameters are closely related to stress, faults and tectonics. The scatter and the "dual" (i.e. two) dominant orientations of the fast polarizations at several stations indicate strong distortions caused by nearby faults or deep tectonics. The anisotropic parameters are found to be related to some degree to the metallogenic belt. It is worth to further analyse the link between the anisotropic pattern and the metallogenic area, which suggests that shear‐wave splitting could be applied to study metallogeny. This paper demonstrates that the identification on microseismic event is a useful tool in detecting shear‐wave splitting details and exploring its tectonic implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Electrorheological elastomers (EREs) present a tunable viscoelasticity with the application of an electric field. For their application, it is necessary to investigate the viscoelasticity of the EREs under various loading conditions and establish an accurate constitutive model. In this study, anisotropic silicone-rubber-based EREs with 30 vol % TiO2-urea core-shell particles were prepared under an orientation electric field. We evaluated their viscoelasticities by testing their shear stress-shear strain hysteresis loops under various electric fields, frequencies, and strain amplitudes. On the basis of the experimental data, a nonlinear, revised Bouc-Wen phenomenological model was established, and the parameters in the model were identified. The results indicate that the revised model could accurately describe the viscoelastic properties of the EREs within a low frequency. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2017, 134, 45407. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a clean and renewable energy source, wind energy has been increasingly gaining global attention. Wind speed forecasting is of great significance for wind energy domain: planning and design of wind farms, wind farm operation control, wind power prediction, power grid operation scheduling, and more. Many wind speed forecasting algorithms have been proposed to improve forecast accuracy. In terms of such factors, in this article, a novel hybrid wind speed forecasting method was proposed based on Kalman filter and Generalized regression neural network as well as the idea of filtering error threshold in data preprocessing. The proposed models can implement long-term wind speed forecasting with higher precision and reliability compared with single method and conventional approach, as demonstrated by several cases study using daily average wind speed samples collected in western China in a given year. © 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 34: 1536-1546, 2015 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT The objective of this work is to improve the properties of natural rubber composites (NRC) that were frequently used in medical and health supplies, using nanosilver additions. Silver nanocolloids were biosynthesized with an aqueous medium of aloe leaf extract (ALE) as capping agent, and then were filled in natural rubber matrix to prepare nanosilver-based NRC. UV-vis spectrophotometer, X-ray diffraction, and transmission electron microscopic analyses proved that the particle size of resultant silver was about 20 nm. The antibacterial activities against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli bacteria of NRC were dependable on the silver nanoparticles content and the treating methods on ALE, which was used in synthesizing silver nanocolloids. The morphology and thermal stability effect of nanosilver on NRC were determined with scanning electron microscopic and thermogravimetric analysis, respectively. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014, 131, 40746. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One-Selector One-Resistor Devices: Multi-Functional Controllable Memory Devices Applied for 3D Integration Based on a Single Niobium Oxide Layer (Adv. Multi-functional controllable devices exhibit excellent one-selector one-resistor (1S1R) and threshold switching properties, which are valuable for the development of integration. In article number 1900756, Guokun Ma, Li Tao, Hao Wang, and co-workers discuss this multi-function and use finite element analysis to solidly understand the mechanism behind it. [Extracted from the article]

To achieve the highest integration density, a one‐selector one‐resistor (1S1R) structure is essential because of its smallest feature size in crossbar arrays. However, the complexity of structure and poor stability of the 1S1R property has seriously hampered its development. A multi‐functional controllable device with simple Pt/NbOx/TiN structure is fabricated and exhibits excellent 1S1R characteristics and threshold switching properties, which is suitable for integration due to the reduced leakage current. Meanwhile, two modes of 1S1R characteristics are found and discussed in detail, which is beneficial to understand the degeneration of 1S1R property. Furthermore, finite element analysis is utilized to analyze and provide further support for the multi‐behaviors. A multi‐functional device is demonstrated and the multi‐behavior mechanisms are explained, which is helpful to promote the application of 3D storage technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]