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Background: The poor targeting delivery efficiency and limited efficacy of single therapeutic approach have consistently posed significant challenges in tumor management. Results: In this research, we have conceived and synthesized a dual-targeting nanodrug delivery system denoted as PDA-DEM-Fe3O4@M, which incorporates a polydopamine nanoparticle (PDA) with photothermal properties, diethyl maleate (DEM) as a chemotherapy agent accelerating tumor apoptosis, iron oxide nanoparticles (Fe3O4) eliciting magnetic targeting effects, and tumor cell membranes (M) contributing to homologous targeting capabilities. The synergistic effect of PDA-induced photothermal therapy and DEM-mediated chemotherapy has been demonstrated in this study to exert a robust inhibitory and cytotoxic influence on tumor cells. Additionally, the biocompatibility of this system has also been demonstrated. Conclusions: Through the synergistic effects of PDA's photothermal therapy and DEM's chemotherapy, this system demonstrated excellent inhibition and killing effects on tumor cells. Furthermore, we established its excellent biological safety profile. This study demonstrated the potential of this nanomaterial for clinical application in tumor therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The gut mycobiome of patients with lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) remains unexplored. This study aimed to characterize the gut mycobiome in patients with LUAD and evaluate the potential of gut fungi as non-invasive biomarkers for early diagnosis. Methods: In total, 299 fecal samples from Beijing, Suzhou, and Hainan were collected prospectively. Using internal transcribed spacer 2 sequencing, we profiled the gut mycobiome. Five supervised machine learning algorithms were trained on fungal signatures to build an optimized prediction model for LUAD in a discovery cohort comprising 105 patients with LUAD and 61 healthy controls (HCs) from Beijing. Validation cohorts from Beijing, Suzhou, and Hainan comprising 44, 17, and 15 patients with LUAD and 26, 19, and 12 HCs, respectively, were used to evaluate efficacy. Results: Fungal biodiversity and richness increased in patients with LUAD. At the phylum level, the abundance of Ascomycota decreased, while that of Basidiomycota increased in patients with LUAD. Candida and Saccharomyces were the dominant genera, with a reduction in Candida and an increase in Saccharomyces, Aspergillus, and Apiotrichum in patients with LUAD. Nineteen operational taxonomic unit markers were selected, and excellent performance in predicting LUAD was achieved (area under the curve (AUC) = 0.9350) using a random forest model with outcomes superior to those of four other algorithms. The AUCs of the Beijing, Suzhou, and Hainan validation cohorts were 0.9538, 0.9628, and 0.8833, respectively. Conclusions: For the first time, the gut fungal profiles of patients with LUAD were shown to represent potential non-invasive biomarkers for early-stage diagnosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The challenge of developing a high-efficiency microwave absorbent remains, because of the compatibility between microwave absorption and high-temperature-resistant performance in practical application. Herein, a facile method is used to obtain serial MXene/BN-zxy composites, where zx:y indicates the weight ratio of MXene and boron nitride (BN) in the composites, with adjustable microwave absorption performance (MAP) which can be regulated by the ratio of MXene and the BN nanosheet. In particular, the as-prepared absorbents with supercapacitance-like structure significantly enhanced the MAP and could be served more than 900 °C. The results of MAP reveal that the minimum reflection loss (RL) can reach −20.94 dB with a MXene/BN-101 composite coating thickness of 4.0 mm; the effective attenuation bandwidth (RL< −10 dB, i.e., 90% microwave energy is attenuated) is up to 9.71 GHz (7.94–17.65 GHz). From a detailed analysis, it is observed that attenuation is the critical limiting factor for MAPs rather than impedance mismatch, which can be assigned to the poor MAP of BN nanosheets. In any case, as-prepared absorbents have potential applications in the field of heating components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A quartic flow velocity field is proposed to establish an online rolling force predicting model for the rolling process of aluminum alloy thick plates. The solving process relies on the energy method. Through comparing the calculated rolling force data and the actual rolling force, it is found that this model can be applied for online rolling force predicting. The assumption of the metal flow velocity in this paper is a beneficial attempt at the plastic mechanics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a mature shape-controlling technology, the segmented cooling of the work roll can directly change the thermal expansion of the work roll, and that affects the thickness and elongation distribution along the width direction of the strip. However, it cannot improve shape defects at the two edges of a strip. In this paper, edge thermal spraying is applied to solve the shape defects at the two edges of a strip because it can change the temperature field and thermal expansion locally at the two edges of the work roll, which is contrary to cooling. Through establishing and solving the thermodynamic coupling finite element model of the work roll, it was found that edge thermal spraying can raise the temperature and thermal expansion at the edges of the work roll and hardly influence the temperature inside the work roll. The relationship between the local increment of thermal expansion and the temperature difference between cooling water and heating water was fitted to a linear model. Then, this model was applied in a real rolling process, and it was found that the effect of edge thermal spraying on flatness defects at the edges of the work roll was significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Co3O4 catalysts were prepared via carbonate precipitation and subsequent calcination under specific conditions. The different catalysts were characterized as received using several techniques and tested in the total oxidation of toluene or propane. Calcination at low temperature or under dynamic conditions resulted in Co3O4 catalysts with small crystallite sizes and large surface areas. The performances of the Co3O4 catalysts appeared to be closely related to the low-temperature reducibility. The best catalyst, Co-350D, showed a toluene oxidation rate of 44.5 nmol g−1 s−1 at 200 °C and a propane oxidation rate of 54.0 nmol g−1 s−1 at 150 °C. Meanwhile, Co-350D exhibited excellent cycling stability and decent long-term durability in both reactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the continuous development of encryption technology, the share of encrypted traffic in the network is increasing, which brings great challenges to the traditional methods of rule-based traffic identification. Deep learning is becoming an inspiring methodology to solve the problem. Previous studies have confirmed that time characteristics play an important role in Tor traffic classification. We find that there is a similarity of time characteristics among different programs. This paper proposes an end-to-end classification framework: the temporal sequence of data fluctuation network (TSDFN). It first extracts the temporal sequence of data fluctuation in the original flow and then uses the GRU network to learn the hidden temporal features. Experiments on public data sets validate the effectiveness of our proposal over other methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Asymmetrical deformation zone of the snake rolling process results in complex metal flow and unknown edge of the deformation zone. In this study, three assumptions about the location of exit thickness appear and the exit thickness is calculated by those three assumptions. By comparing the exit thickness obtained by formulas and the finite element method, one formula with high accuracy is verified and the plastic deformation of the thick plate under several snake rolling conditions is obtained. The results show that through comparing the minimum thickness in different assumptions, the exit of the plastic deformation zone is located at the midpoint of the line between two work rolls' axis and the exit thickness is approximately equal to the length of the line which includes that midpoint and locates between the two work rolls in the vertical direction. Then with the increasing offset distance, the exit thickness increases and that leads to less deformation inside the plate. For maintaining the exit thickness equal to the preset value, an exit thickness compensation model is established according to the geometry of the deformation zone and verified by the results of simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Variable stiffness laminates and helicoidal composites have gained significant attention in recent years. This paper introduces a novel structure called variable stiffness helicoidal composite laminates, which combines these two materials. The fibers in each layer are arranged in curved paths, and all the layers are stacked in a helicoidal pattern. To ensure uniform thickness throughout the laminate, an equidistant placement method is proposed for designing the curvilinear fibers. By establishing the energy equation and fitting the displacements with Legendre polynomials, a semi-analytical method is proposed to determine the critical buckling load. An integrated design framework is developed to obtain the optimal design. The optimized models show more than 10% enhancement in the critical buckling load compared to the quasi-isotropic laminate under uniaxial compression and in-plane shear. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Underwater images typically suffer from color deviations and low visibility due to the wavelength-dependent light absorption and scattering. To deal with these degradation issues, we propose an efficient and robust underwater image enhancement method, called MLLE. Specifically, we first locally adjust the color and details of an input image according to a minimum color loss principle and a maximum attenuation map-guided fusion strategy. Afterward, we employ the integral and squared integral maps to compute the mean and variance of local image blocks, which are used to adaptively adjust the contrast of the input image. Meanwhile, a color balance strategy is introduced to balance the color differences between channel a and channel b in the CIELAB color space. Our enhanced results are characterized by vivid color, improved contrast, and enhanced details. Extensive experiments on three underwater image enhancement datasets demonstrate that our method outperforms the state-of-the-art methods. Our method is also appealing in its fast processing speed within 1s for processing an image of size $1024\times 1024 \times 3$ on a single CPU. Experiments further suggest that our method can effectively improve the performance of underwater image segmentation, keypoint detection, and saliency detection. The project page is available at https://li-chongyi.github.io/proj [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In weakly cemented reservoirs or coal-bed methane reservoirs, the conductivity of hydraulic fractures always declines after a period of production, which greatly influences gas production. In this paper, a comprehensive model considering fine-grained particle migration and proppant embedment is proposed to give a precise prediction for conductivity decline. Then, an experiment was conducted to simulate this process. A published experiment using coal fines was also tested and simulated. The results indicate that both fine-grained particle migration and proppant embedment have great negative effect on conductivity of fractures in weakly cemented sandstone and coal-bed methane reservoirs. The formulation we proposed matches the experimental data smoothly and can be widely used in the prediction of conductivity decline in weakly cemented sandstone and coal-bed methane reservoirs. In order to discuss the influencing factors of the filtration coefficient in the particle transport model, a porous media network model was established based on the theoretical model. The simulation results show that the filtration coefficient increases with the increase in particle size and/or throat size, and the filtration coefficient increases with the decrease in the fluid velocity. At the same time, it was found that the large larynx did not easily cause particle retention. Large size particles tend to cause particle retention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gesture recognition plays an important role in smart homes, such as human–computer interaction, identity authentication, etc. Most of the existing WiFi signal-based approaches exploit a large number of channel state information (CSI) datasets to train a gestures classification model; however, these models require a large number of human participants to train, and are not robust to the recognition environment. To address this problem, we propose a WiFi signal-based gesture recognition system with matched averaging federated learning (WiMA). Since there are differences in the distribution of WiFi signal changes caused by the same gesture in different environments, the traditional federated parameter average algorithm seriously affects the recognition accuracy of the model. In WiMA, we exploit the neuron arrangement invariance of neural networks in parameter aggregation, which can improve the robustness of the gesture recognition model with heterogeneous CSI data of different training environments. We carried out experiments with seven participant users in a distributed gesture recognition environment. Experimental results show that the average accuracy of our proposed system is up to 90.4 % , which is very close to the accuracy of state-of-the-art approaches with centralized training models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Promoted redox ability of Co 3 O 4 by Cu addition via co-precipitation. • Enhanced toluene oxidation efficiency and durability on Cu-Co oxide. • Poisoning effect of Cu on propane oxidation activity of Co 3 O 4. • Inhibitory effect of Cu on the accumulation of surface carbonaceous species. • Irreversible deactivation of the catalysts caused by NO introduction. Cu-Co mixed oxides were fabricated via co-precipitation, characterized by TG/DTA, FTIR, ICP, XRD, Raman and CO-TPR, and tested in the total oxidation of toluene and propane. Adding an appropriate amount of copper to cobalt oxide caused structural defects and weakened the Co O bond, thereby benefiting the activation of oxygen. Moreover, the reducibility of Co 3 O 4 was greatly improved in the presence of copper. In terms of toluene oxidation, a promoting effect of Cu was observed in both activity and durability, which could be related to the enhanced redox ability induced by the strong Cu-Co interaction and the inhibitory effect of Cu on the accumulation of surface carbonaceous species, respectively. Cu 0.2 Co exhibited the best toluene oxidation performance (T 90 = 240 °C) and excellent long-term durability. On the other hand, in propane oxidation, the activity of the Cu-Co catalysts decreased dramatically as the copper content increased, due to the extremely low intrinsic activity of CuO. The effects of CO 2 , water vapor and NO on propane oxidation over Co 3 O 4 and Cu 0.2 Co were also examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Promoted redox ability of Co 3 O 4 by Cu addition via co-precipitation. • Enhanced toluene oxidation efficiency and durability on Cu-Co oxide. • Poisoning effect of Cu on propane oxidation activity of Co 3 O 4. • Inhibitory effect of Cu on the accumulation of surface carbonaceous species. • Irreversible deactivation of the catalysts caused by NO introduction. Cu-Co mixed oxides were fabricated via co-precipitation, characterized by TG/DTA, FTIR, ICP, XRD, Raman and CO-TPR, and tested in the total oxidation of toluene and propane. Adding an appropriate amount of copper to cobalt oxide caused structural defects and weakened the Co O bond, thereby benefiting the activation of oxygen. Moreover, the reducibility of Co 3 O 4 was greatly improved in the presence of copper. In terms of toluene oxidation, a promoting effect of Cu was observed in both activity and durability, which could be related to the enhanced redox ability induced by the strong Cu-Co interaction and the inhibitory effect of Cu on the accumulation of surface carbonaceous species, respectively. Cu 0.2 Co exhibited the best toluene oxidation performance (T 90 = 240 °C) and excellent long-term durability. On the other hand, in propane oxidation, the activity of the Cu-Co catalysts decreased dramatically as the copper content increased, due to the extremely low intrinsic activity of CuO. The effects of CO 2 , water vapor and NO on propane oxidation over Co 3 O 4 and Cu 0.2 Co were also examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, an asynchronous output-feedback controller is proposed for a class of Markovian jump systems (MJSs) with generally bounded transition rates (TRs). Specifically, two cases have been considered, one of which assumes the TR being completely unknown, while the other specifies the TR range. In particular, the designed asynchronous output-feedback controller is independent of the system modes, implying a sustainable controlling behavior against unavailable system modes. It is worth noting that the mode-dependent controller can be treated as a special case of the independent one. Furthermore, the existing conditions of such a controller are acquired in terms of linear matrix inequalities. Finally a practical example, concerning a single-machine infinite-bus power system, is given to confirm the feasibility of the proposed controller. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of Ir/LaFeO 3 catalysts calcined at 300–600 °C were synthesized by a solvent-free method and tested for propene total oxidation. Various characterizations depicted that iridium was well-dispersed on LaFeO 3 with no detectable iridium-related particles or aggregates. The loading of iridium hardly changed the structural and textural properties of LaFeO 3 , but greatly enhanced the low-temperature reducibility and oxygen mobility, leading to superior propene oxidation activity. For Ir/LaFeO 3 series, the catalytic activity decreased as the calcination temperature increased, due to the declined reducibility and active oxygen species content. Ir/LaFeO 3 -300 was demonstrated to be the optimal catalyst with the best propene oxidation performance (T 90 = 246 °C), excellent long-term stability, and decent water-resistance. Treating Ir/LaFeO 3 -300 in a reducing atmosphere further improved its catalytic performance by enhancing low-temperature reducibility and increasing surface-active oxygen species. Overall, this study provides insights into the synthesis of highly efficient and stable iridium-based catalysts for VOCs oxidation. [Display omitted] • Ir highly dispersed on LaFeO 3 via a solvent free method. • Enhanced catalytic activity due to better reducibility and more active O species. • Catalytic activity of Ir/LaFeO 3 inversely correlated with calcination temperature. • Ir/LaFeO 3 -300 showed best activity, decent stability and water resistance. • Reduction treatment further improved its catalytic performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Snake Optimizer (SO) is an advanced metaheuristic algorithm for solving complicated real-world optimization problems. However, despite its advantages, the SO faces certain challenges, such as susceptibility to local optima and suboptimal convergence performance in cases involving discretized, high-dimensional, and multi-constraint problems. To address these problems, this paper presents an improved version of the SO, known as the Snake Optimizer using Sobol sequential nonlinear factors and different learning strategies (SNDSO). Firstly, using Sobol sequences to generate better distributed initial populations helps to locate the global optimum solution faster. Secondly, the use of nonlinear factors based on the inverse tangent function to control the exploration and exploitation phases effectively improves the exploitation capability of the algorithm. Finally, introducing learning strategies improves the population diversity and reduces the probability of the algorithm falling into the local optimum trap. The effectiveness of the proposed SNDSO in solving discretized, high-dimensional, and multi-constraint problems is validated through a series of experiments. The performance of the SNDSO in tackling high-dimensional numerical optimization problems is first confirmed by using the Congress on Evolutionary Computation (CEC) 2015 and CEC2017 test sets. Then, twelve feature selection problems are used to evaluate the effectiveness of the SNDSO in discretized scenarios. Finally, five real-world technical multi-constraint optimization problems are employed to evaluate the performance of the SNDSO in high-dimensional and multi-constraint domains. The experiments show that the SNDSO effectively overcomes the challenges of discretization, high dimensionality, and multi-constraint problems and outperforms superior algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neuromedin U (NMU), a highly conserved peptide in mammals, is involved in a wide variety of physiological processes, including impairment of pancreatic β-cell function via induction of mitochondrial dysfunction and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, ultimately suppressing insulin secretion. NMU has two receptors, NMU receptor 1 (NMUR1) and NMUR2, both of which are G-protein–coupled receptors (GPCRs). Only NMUR1 is expressed in mouse islets and β cell–derived MIN6-K8 cells. The molecular mechanisms underlying the insulinostatic action mediated by NMUR1 in β cells have yet to be elucidated. In this study, we explored the molecular mechanism driving impairment of insulin secretion in β cells by the NMU–NMUR1 axis. Pretreatment with the Gαi/o inhibitor Bordetella pertussis toxin (PTX), but not the Gαq inhibitor YM254890, abolished NMU-induced suppression of glucose-stimulated insulin secretion and calcium response in β cells. Knockdown of Gαi2 and Gαo in β cells counteracted NMU-induced suppression of insulin secretion and gene alterations related to mitochondrial fusion (Mfn1, Mfn2), fission (Fis1, Drp1), mitophagy (Pink1, Park2), mitochondrial dynamics (Pgc-1α, Nrf1, and Tfam), ER stress (Chop, Atp2a3, Ryr2, and Itpr2), intracellular ATP level, and mitochondrial membrane potential. NMU decreased forskolin-stimulated intracellular cAMP in both mouse and human islets. We concluded that NMUR1 coupled to PTX-sensitive Gαi2 and Gαo proteins in β cells reduced intracellular Ca2+ influx and cAMP level, thereby causing β-cell dysfunction and impairment. These results highlight a novel signaling mechanism of NMU and provide valuable insights into the further investigation of NMU functions in β-cell biology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon fiber (CF) is a significant multifunction material, which is extensively used in aircraft because of its superb performance. However, its microwave absorption properties (MAPs) are seriously restricted as a result of the impedance mismatch issue. To address this issue, an efficient strategy is conducted by a series of CF@MoS 2 and CF@MoS 2 @Fe 3 O 4 composites that are fabricated by in-situ grown MoS 2 nanosheets (MoS 2 -NS) and Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles (Fe 3 O 4 -NPs) on the surface of CF. The results of microwave absorption performance (MAP) reveal that the minimum reflection loss (RL) can reach −21.4 dB with a CF@MoS 2 composite coating thickness of 3.8 mm; the effective attenuation bandwidth (RL < −10 dB, i.e. , 90% microwave energy is attenuated) is up to 10.85 GHz (7.15–18.0 GHz). From a detailed analysis, it is observed impedance mismatch is the critical limiting factor for MAPs rather than attenuation. Furthermore, for CF@MoS 2 @Fe 3 O 4 , the MAP is strongly dependent on the level of coating of magnetic Fe 3 O 4 -NPs on the surface of CF@MoS 2 composites. The mechanisms underlying the superb MAP and related phenomena are investigated, opening new directions for fabricating CF-based microwave absorbers with high efficiency and wide-bandwidth. Finally, the occurrence of multi-reflection phenomena of EM waves in absorbers are critically analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Co 3 O 4 -based catalysts are promising systems for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) elimination. In the last few years, significant efforts have been devoted to improving their catalytic activity at low temperatures. This review summarizes recent progress on single, composite, and supported Co 3 O 4 catalysts for the total oxidation of propane, a representative VOC. First, single Co 3 O 4 modification is comprehensively discussed, including optimization of synthesis parameters, structure construction, morphology control, facet engineering, and defect engineering, with the aim of tuning surface-active species. Secondly, the design and construction of composite Co 3 O 4 are presented in detail, which could produce synergetic effects such as electronic, geometric, and interfacial effects that promote catalytic performance. Thirdly, supported Co 3 O 4 systems desirable in industrial applications are introduced. Moreover, the propane total oxidation mechanisms over Co 3 O 4 -based catalysts are summarized. Some poisoning effects on propane oxidation over Co 3 O 4 -based catalysts are also discussed. Finally, the challenges, opportunities, and future research direction of developing advanced Co 3 O 4 -based catalysts are prospected. [Display omitted] • Single, composite, and supported Co 3 O 4 catalysts for propane total oxidation. • Various routes of promoting propane combustion performance over single Co 3 O 4. • Propane total oxidation mechanisms over Co 3 O 4 -based catalysts. • Poisoning effects on Co 3 O 4 -based catalysts for propane total oxidation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decentralized Model Reference Adaptive Control problems are investigated for a class of linear time-invariant two time-scale model, having fast and slow dynamics and unmatched interconnections. Design of full state feedback controller is a critical task to the system having interrelated dynamics and nonlinear interconnections of time varying lags, however, can be addressed by singular perturbation procedures and time scale modeling. In this research, full order observer-based state feedback control is designed to two-time scale system to ensure the stability of the closed loop system. Then, decentralized model reference adaptive controller with the novel reference model is designed to individual subsystems. It is found that the proposed design enforces the system states to track the reference state asymptotically. To investigate the proposed design, an example of drying process is considered. Simulation results are analyzed to confirm the efficacy of the proposed control scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes a method on simultaneous estimation of the system fault and sensor fault for a kind of the Markovian jump system with generally uncertain transition rates. In order to estimate these system fault and sensor fault, we first design a novel reduced-order observer, in which the gain matrix can not only decouple the existed unknown input, but also compel the observer error dynamic system to be stable. Then, the existing conditions of the proposed observer are derived in terms of linear matrix inequalities, making the problem tractable. Finally, an example is provided to illustrate the effectiveness and validation of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Over 34 countries in Africa have introduced rotavirus vaccine to their national immunization programs: monovalent (Rotarix®, RV1) and pentavalent (RotaTeq®, RV5) after South Africa introduced it in 2009. Since then several studies assessing the impact of the vaccine have been conducted. The principal aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of rotavirus vaccine in sub-Saharan Africa. Methods: A Literature search was performed using Mendeley, PubMed, ScienceDirect, grey literature and Web of Science databases of published studies from January 1, 2017, as years of recent publications on rotavirus vaccine impact in sub-Saharan Africa. A meta-analysis was conducted for rotavirus infection in children under 5 years using proportions of pre and post-vaccine introduction in these populations. Random-effect estimates were considered since the samples were from universal populations. Results: Out of the 935 articles identified, 17 studies met the inclusion for systematic review and meta-analysis. The pooled proportion for pre-vaccination period was 42%, 95% (CI: 38–46%), and reduced to 21%, 95% (CI: 17–25%) during post-vaccination period. Rotavirus diarrhea significantly reduced in children < 12 months as compared to children 12–24 months old. Seasonal peaks of rotavirus diarrhea were between June–September. However, data is limited to one year of post-vaccine introduction, and bias may present due to early vaccine impact. Conclusion: We observed that the introduction of the rotavirus vaccine was partly responsible for the significant reduction in the burden of rotavirus-associated diarrhea in sub-Saharan Africa. Therefore, there is a need to encourage the remaining countries to introduce the vaccine to their routine national immunization programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The buckling mode of helicoidal composite panel are non-axisymmetric, resulting its different capability to resist loads in different orientation and the irregular buckling mode after curvilinearly stiffened. A method was proposed to design asymmetric curved stiffeners considering the local displacement gradient of the buckling mode shape. The displacement gradient depends on the bending stiffness and yields a better optimization. The basic unit of the stiffener family includes two stiffeners that pass through the midpoint of the panel; the remainder can be formed from this unit via translation. A simply supported curved grid-stiffened panel using uniaxial compression or shear loads under multiple load cases was addressed, and an integrated design framework was developed to obtain the designs. The curved grid-stiffened helicoidal composite panel yields a weight reduction of up to 13.26% compared to angle-grid designs under uniaxial compression and 11.68% for shear loads in multiple load cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lightweight and easily available foams used for microwave absorption are hotspots for preventing electromagnetic (EM) pollution. In this paper, we focused on a novel kind of Ni-based foam that modified by MnO 2 nanosheets (denote as Ni@MnO 2 NS foam) was synthesized by a facile hydrothermal reaction, then analyzed by XRD, XPS and SEM characterization techniques. The Ni@MnO 2 NS foam possess excellent microwave absorption performance (MAP). In details, the superb reflection loss (RL) was up to −37.55 dB with the coating thickness of 3.6 mm and ultra-wide effective absorption (RL < −10 dB), suggesting 90% EM wave were attenuated, which could reach 11.2 GHz (from 6.8 GHz to 18 GHz). Meanwhile, the EM wave attenuation mechanism was discussed and it was proposed that the prominent MAP could be responsible for magnetic loss (natural resonance of Ni frameworks) and dielectric loss (interface polarization and dipole polarization). Ni@MnO 2 NS foam is a multifunction material that not only can be used in controlling EM pollution but also has potential application in other fields. • A novel Ni@MnO 2 NS foam was successfully synthesized. • The maximum reflection loss value is −37.55 dB. • The bandwidth with effective attenuation is up to 11.2 GHz. • It is a versatile material: abatement EM pollution and other filed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) based materials are promising and low-cost absorbers. To develop new varieties of these absorbers, two kinds of GNPs/ZnO nanocomposites (GNPs/ZnO nanorod arrays and GNPs/ZnO nanoneedles) were synthesized in this paper, and the microwave absorption performance (MAP) together with the relevant mechanism were investigated based on the different microstructures, followed by the discussion of the growth mechanism of ZnO nanorod and nanoneedle. The result reveals that GNPs/ZnO nanorod arrays have strong reflection loss (RL) up to −44.8 dB, and effective attenuation bandwidth (RL˂-10 dB) of 4.65 GHz. While, GNPs/ZnO nanoneedles possess effective attenuation bandwidth of 6.7 GHz that covered entire X-band, and the superb RL was −15.3 dB. According to the detail analysis, we found that the pathways of attenuation EM wave are the same, and the differences between each other are responsible for the different intensity of interface polarization and multiple-scattering, due to the different microstructures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the observer-based leader–follower consensus problem of multi-agent systems with one-sided Lipschitz conditions and quadratic inner-boundedness nonlinearity. Based on the relative outputs of neighboring agents, an adaptive protocol over a directed graph is designed via assigning a time-varying coupling weight to each node. Compared with the existing protocols, the proposed protocol can not only be utilized in the unidirectional flow of information, but it does not require any global graph information for its design. It has been shown that the established criteria can not only make the observer error tendency zero, but one can also achieve the leader–follower consensus of such nonlinear multi-agent systems. Furthermore, the gains of observer and protocol parameters can be constructed by solving the linear matrix inequalities (LMIs), which are conveniently checked. The results are illustrated by numerical simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study addresses the consensus problem of linear time invariant (LTI) multi‐agent systems with constant input delay and matched external disturbances by using relative output information. First, distributed disturbance observers are constructed to estimate the disturbances generated by linear exosystems with unknown initial conditions. Next, a disturbance observer‐based predictor feedback control law is developed for each agent to realise consensus disturbance rejection in the presence of input delay. Then, a linear matrix inequality‐based control design algorithm is given to determine the satisfactory control parameters. It is proved that state consensus can be achieved for both leaderless and leader–follower networks in the presence of large input delay and matched disturbances under the control scheme. Finally, a simulation example is provided to validate the theoretical results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multiple factors can help predict knee osteoarthritis (OA) patients from healthy individuals, including age, sex, and BMI, and possibly metabolite levels. Using plasma from individuals with primary OA undergoing total knee replacement and healthy volunteers, we measured lysophosphatidylcholine (lysoPC) and phosphatidylcholine (PC) analogues by metabolomics. Populations were stratified on demographic factors and lysoPC and PC analogue signatures were determined by univariate receiver-operator curve (AUC) analysis. Using signatures, multivariate classification modeling was performed using various algorithms to select the most consistent method as measured by AUC differences between resampled training and test sets. Lists of metabolites indicative of OA [AUC > 0.5] were identified for each stratum. The signature from males age > 50 years old encompassed the majority of identified metabolites, suggesting lysoPCs and PCs are dominant indicators of OA in older males. Principal component regression with logistic regression was the most consistent multivariate classification algorithm tested. Using this algorithm, classification of older males had fair power to classify OA patients from healthy individuals. Thus, individual levels of lysoPC and PC analogues may be indicative of individuals with OA in older populations, particularly males. Our metabolite signature modeling method is likely to increase classification power in validation cohorts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Molybdenum disulfide (MoS 2 ), as a significant microwave absorption materials, has been widely reported. However, it is unclear and insufficient about its microwave absorption mechanism. In this work, a series of MoS 2 -based materials with different morphology, including MoS 2 nanosheets (MoS 2 -NS), hierarchical MoS 2 (H-MoS 2 ) microspheres, hollow hierarchical MoS 2 (HH-MoS 2 ) microspheres and hydrangea-like MoS 2 / C (MoS 2 / C) microspheres, were synthesized via hydrothermal reaction. More importantly, the microwave absorption mechanism and the dielectric properties as well as microwave absorption performance (MAP) were systemically studied. The results indicated that MoS 2 / C exhibited eminent dielectric properties and MAP, which resulted from the unique structure and component. The minimum reflection loss (RL) value of MoS 2 / C microspheres/wax with 30 wt% loading is −44.67 dB at the thickness of 1.4 mm, and the corresponding bandwidth with effective attenuation (RL < -10 dB) is up to 3.32 GHz (11.7–15.02 GHz). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous epidemiological studies suggest that air pollutants cause a decline in the quality of human spermatozoa and thus a reduction in fertility. However, the exact cause of infertility remains unknown. Air pollution gases, such as NH 3 and H 2 S are either free or bound to airborne particular materials (PM) and are abundant and reactive. The aim of this current investigation was to explore the impacts of NH 3 and/or H 2 S on male fertility and the underlying mechanisms. Male mouse exposed to H 2 S and/or NH 3 and after two generations were used to evaluate the impacts on fertility. The fertility, and spermatozoa quality parameters and proteins involved in spermatogenesis were investigated. Our current investigation demonstrates: i) H 2 S and/or NH 3 decrease male fertility by 20–30%, reduce the spermatozoa concentration about 20–40%, decrease 10–20%, increase around 30%; ii) the reduction in male fertility by H 2 S and/or NH 3 can be inheritable; iii) H 2 S and/or NH 3 can diminish male fertility through the disruption of spermatogenesis without affecting other body parameters such as body weight and organ index. One component of air pollutants, for example NH 3 , does not have a severe impact; however, two or more pollutants such as H 2 S and NH 3 combined can cause serious health problems, especially with regard to male fertility. We suggest that greater attention should be paid to these air pollutants to improve human health and fertility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three-dimensional (3D) network structure nanomaterials (NMs) show excellent catalytic performance due to the larger active surface area. A glucose-directed, surfactant-free and one-step direct chemical co-reduction method for synthesis of Pt-Cu alloy nanowires (NWs) under room temperature was demonstrated in present paper. The Pt-Cu NWs were obtained through the co-reduced of CuCl 2 and H 2 PtCl 6 by sodium borohydride in the presence of glucose, the glucose in which not only acted as one-dimensional (1D) growth-directing agent, also as the stabilizing agent. The average diameter of NWs was about 3.1 nm and NWs showed typical face-centered-cubic (fcc) alloy crystal structure. The influence of Pt/Cu ions ratios in precursor solution on the bimetallic composition of NWs had been studied, and NWs displayed the feature of composition-tuning. The electro-catalytic activity of Pt-Cu alloy NWs for ethylene glycol oxidation reaction (EGOR) in alkaline medium was strongly related on their compositions. The Pt 31 Cu 69 NWs exhibited about 1.8 times higher than that of commercial Pt/C and higher durability. The enhanced catalytic performance of Pt-Cu alloy NWs was mainly attributed to their unique 3D network structure and the synergetic effects between Pt and Cu. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is responsible for hepatitis E, which represents a global public health problem. HEV genotypes 3 and 4 are reported to be zoonotic, and animals are monitored for HEV infection in the interests of public hygiene and food safety. The development of novel diagnostic methods and vaccines for HEV in humans is thus important topics of research. Opening reading frame (ORF) 2 of HEV includes both linear and conformational epitopes and is regarded as the primary candidate for vaccines and diagnostic tests. We investigated the precise location of the HEV epitopes in the ORF2 protein. We prepared four monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against genotype 4 ORF2 protein and identified two linear epitopes, G438IVIPHD444 and Y457DNQH461, corresponding to two of these mAbs using phage display biopanning technology. Both these epitopes were speculated to be universal to genotypes 1, 2, 3, 4, and avian HEVs. We also used two 12-mer fragments of ORF2 protein including these two epitopes to develop a peptide-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to detect HEV in serum. This assay demonstrated good specificity but low sensitivity compared with the commercial method, indicating that these two epitopes could serve as potential candidate targets for diagnosis. Overall, these results further our understanding of the epitope distribution of HEV ORF2, and provide important information for the development of peptide-based immunodiagnostic tests to detect HEV in serum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To test whether type 2 diabetic patients have an elevated level of advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) and responsible for altered phosphatidylcholine metabolism, which we recently found to be associated with osteoarthritis (OA) and diabetes mellitus (DM), synovial fluid (SF) and plasma samples were collected from OA patients with and without DM. Hyperglycemia-related AGEs including methylglyoxal (MG), free methylglyoxal-derived hydroimidazolone (MG-H1), and protein bound N-(Carboxymethyl)lysine (CML) and N-(Carboxyethyl)lysine (CEL) levels were measured in both SF and plasma samples using liquid chromatography coupled tandem mass spectrometry methodology. The correlation between these AGEs and phosphatidylcholine acyl-alkyl C34:3 (PC ae C34:3) and C36:3 (PC ae C36:3) were examined. Eighty four patients with knee OA, including 46 with DM and 38 without DM, were included in the study. There was no significant difference in plasma levels of MG, MG-H1, CML, and CEL between OA patients with and without DM. However, the levels of MG and MG-H1, but not CML and CEL in SF were significantly higher in OA patients with DM than in those without (all p ≤0.04). This association strengthened after adjustment for age, body mass index (BMI), sex and hexose level (p<0.02). Moreover, the levels of MG-H1 in SF was negatively and significantly correlated with PC ae C34:3 (ρ = -0.34; p = 0.02) and PC ae C36:3 (ρ = -0.39; P = 0.03) after the adjustment of age, BMI, sex and hexose level. Our data indicated that the production of non-protein bound AGEs was increased within the OA-affected joint of DM patients. This is associated with changes in phosphatidylcholine metabolism and might be responsible for the observed epidemiological association between OA and DM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study reports the case of a 64-year-old patient with papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) and tracheal invasion, along with primary lung cancer. Firstly, the patient received tumor electrocautery under tracheoscopy to enlarge the space for tracheal intubation. Next, the patient received one-stage radical thyroidectomy, with window resection of the trachea and thoracoscopic radical resection of the lung cancer. The patient was discharged safely after several days of therapy. To the best of our knowledge, this case is the first reported case of a one-stage radical thyroidectomy with a window resection of the trachea and thoracoscopic radical resection of the lung cancer in the literature. Simultaneous surgery for PTC with tracheal invasion and lung cancer is a great challenge for the patient and the surgeon. Appropriate surgical management of the tracheal invasion is of great importance to the operation and prognosis. This case may provide reference for surgeons in similar situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Adjuvant therapy for stage IB non‐small cell lung cancer remains debatable. In this real‐world study, we evaluate the efficacy and safety of adjuvant epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR‐TKIs) for resected stage IB lung adenocarcinoma. Methods: This real‐world study recruited 249 patients diagnosed with stage IB disease after surgical resection between January 2013 and September 2021. Sixty‐six (26.5%) patients received adjuvant targeted therapy (TKIs group), and 183 (73.5%) were enrolled in the clinical observation (CO) group. Propensity scores were matched to minimize the observed confounder effects between the two groups, and 59 patient pairs were matched. The primary endpoint was disease‐free survival (DFS). Results: In the TKI group, 38 (64.4%) patients chose to receive icotinib, 27.1% (16/59) received gefitinib, and 5 patients (8.5%) chose osimertinib. The median follow‐up time was 30.8 months (range: 7–107 months). Two (3.4%) patients in the TKI group and 10 (16.9%) in the CO group experienced disease relapse. The 3‐year DFS rates were 98.3% in the TKI group and 83.0% in the CO group (HR: 0.10; 95% CI: 0.01–0.78; p = 0.008). DFS differences were found in the entire cohort (p = 0.005) and the matched cohort (p = 0.024) between the two groups. Multivariate analysis showed that adjuvant EGFR‐TKIs was an independent factor for DFS (HR: 0.211; 95% CI: 0.045–0.979; p = 0.047), along with poor cell differentiation (HR: 5.256; 95% CI: 1.648–16.769; p = 0.005), and spread through air spaces (HR: 5.612; 95% CI: 1.137–27.700; p = 0.034). None of the patients discontinued EGFR‐TKIs owing to the low occurrence rate of treatment‐related serious adverse events. Conclusion: Adjuvant EGFR‐TKIs could significantly improve DFS among patients with stage IB lung adenocarcinoma compared with CO, with a safe and tolerable profile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bile acids (BAs) are well known to facilitate the absorption of dietary fat and fat-soluble molecules. These unique steroids also function by binding to the ubiquitous cell membranes and nuclear receptors. As chemical signals in gut–liver axis, the presence of metabolic disorders such as nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), and even tumors have been reported to be closely related to abnormal levels of BAs in the blood and fecal metabolites of patients. Thus, the gut microbiota interacting with BAs and altering BA metabolism are critical in the pathogenesis of numerous chronic diseases. This review intends to summarize the mechanistic links between metabolic disorders and BAs in gut–liver axis, and such stage-specific BA perturbation patterns may provide clues for developing new auxiliary diagnostic means. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the robust consensus reliable control problem against actuator faults for linear parameter-varying multiagent systems. First, the actuator faults are modeled via a polytopic uncertainty method. Second, a distributed observer is designed for the single agent by sharing the communication network sensors to estimate the state information. Then by these estimated information, a robust consensus reliable control protocol against actuator faults is obtained and desired disturbance rejection performance can be guaranteed by this proposed protocol. Third, the nonconvexity conditions of the consensus control protocol can be translated into an linear matrix inequality optimization problem via simple matrix calculation. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed reliable controller scheme is illustrated by two examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By using the salting-out phenomenon to induce phase separation, the novel CO 2 phase change absorbents (CPCAs) composed of MEA/water-miscible alcohol/H 2 O were developed. The absorbents using 1-propanol, 2-propanol and tertiary butanol as the diluent were selected as CPCAs. The CPCAs composed of MEA/1-propanol/H 2 O were further examined include the species distributions in the two phases, physical properties, cyclic capacity and absorbent regenerability. In comparison to 30 wt% MEA/H 2 O, the optimal CO 2 cycle capacity of CPCA is 2.59 mol CO 2 /kg which increase 62% and the volume of CPCA sent to the stripper decreased over 67%. The developed CPCAs would benefit to reduce energy consumption of CO 2 capture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the T-S fuzzy modelling and H∞ attitude control in three channels for hypersonic gliding vehicles (HGVs). First, the control-oriented affine nonlinear model has been established which is transformed from the reentry dynamics. Then, based on Taylor’s expansion approach and the fuzzy linearization approach, the homogeneous T-S local modelling technique for HGVs is proposed. Given the approximation accuracy and controller design complexity, appropriate fuzzy premise variables and operating points of interest are selected to construct the T-S homogeneous submodels. With so-called fuzzy blending, the original plant is transformed into the overall T-S fuzzy model with disturbance. By utilizing Lyapunov functional approach, a state feedback fuzzy controller has been designed based on relaxed linear matrix inequality (LMI) conditions to stable the original plants with a prescribed H∞ performance of disturbance. Finally, numerical simulations are performed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed H∞ T-S fuzzy controller for the original attitude dynamics; the superiority of the designed T-S fuzzy controller compared with other local controllers based on the constructed fuzzy model is shown as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proposes an adaptive non‐singular integral terminal sliding mode control (ANITSMC) scheme for trajectory tracking of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) with dynamic uncertainties and time‐varying external disturbances. The ANITSMC is first proposed for a first‐order uncertain non‐linear dynamic system to eliminate the singularity problem in conventional terminal sliding mode control (TSMC) and avoid the requirement of the bound information of the lumped system uncertainty. The time taken to reach the equilibrium point from any initial error is guaranteed to be finite. The proposed ANITSMC is then applied to trajectory tracking control of AUVs. It guarantees that the velocity tracking errors locally converge to zero in finite time and after that the position tracking errors locally converge to zero exponentially. The designed ANITSMC of AUVs avoids the requirement of the prior knowledge of the lumped system uncertainty bounds as opposite to the existing globally finite‐time stable tracking control (GFTSTC), provides higher tracking accuracy than the existing GFTSTC and adaptive non‐singular TSMC (ANTSMC) and offers faster convergence rate and better robustness against dynamic uncertainties and time‐varying external disturbances than the adaptive proportional‐integral sliding mode control (APISMC). Comparative simulation results are presented to validate the superiority of the ANITSMC over the APISMC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An optimal disturbance rejection controller design method is put forward analytically for the synchronised output regulation of time‐delayed multi‐agent systems (MAS). All kinds of linear MAS can be described by a novel block diagram based on transfer functions in a unified framework. For each subsystem without intercommunication, the optimal output, input and balancing output–input load disturbance rejection controllers are designed independently. A filter is used to be in series with each controller to not only stabilise the whole systems but also achieve a tradeoff between nominal performance and robustness by adjusting a single tuning parameter. The proposed distributed H2 controllers calculated by algebraic solution perform better capacity of disturbance attenuation than the conventional given‐structured protocols. Two simulation examples demonstrate the validity of the new algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As reliability requirements become increasingly demanding for many engineering systems, conventional system reliability demonstration testing (SRDT) based on the number of failures depends on a large sample of system units. However, for many safety critical systems, such as missiles, it is prohibitive to perform such testing with large samples. To reduce the sample size, existing SRDT methods utilize test data from either system level or component level. In this paper, an aggregation-based SRDT methodology is proposed for hierarchical systems by utilizing multilevel reliability information of components, subsystems, and the overall system. Analytical conditions are identified for the proposed method to achieve lower consumer risk. The performances of different SRDT design strategies are evaluated and compared according to their consumer risks. A numerical case study is presented to illustrate the proposed methodology and demonstrate its validity and effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cooperative output regulation is a general framework, which considers output synchronisation, homogenisation and disturbance rejection simultaneously. To be an extension, this study divides the lumped disturbance into two parts, namely, local disturbance which is slow‐varying, mismatched and non‐linear, and global disturbance generated by an autonomous linear system. Generalised extended state observers (GESOs) are constructed to estimate the local states, the local disturbances and the global disturbance simultaneously. Observer‐based controllers are designed to realise cooperative output regulation in the presence of mismatched uncertainties. In control design, a linear matrix inequality‐based design methodology is proposed to get the exponentially convergent GESO with guaranteed decay rate. A simulation example is then shown to validate the theoretical results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nitrogen addition has been shown to affect plant litter decomposition in terrestrial ecosystems. The way that nitrogen deposition impacts the relationship between plant litter decomposition and altered soil nitrogen availability is unclear, however. This study examined 18 co-occurring litter types in a subtropical forest in China in terms of their decomposition (1 yr of exposure in the field) with nitrogen addition treatment (0, 0.4, 1.6, and 4.0 mol·N·m−2·yr−1) and soil fauna exclusion (litter bags with 0.1 and 2 cm mesh size). Results showed that the plant litter decomposition rate is significantly reduced because of nitrogen addition; the strength of the nitrogen addition effect is closely related to the nitrogen addition levels. Plant litters with diverse quality responded to nitrogen addition differently. When soil fauna was present, the nitrogen addition effect on medium-quality or high-quality plant litter decomposition rate was −26% ± 5% and −29% ± 4%, respectively; these values are significantly higher than that of low-quality plant litter decomposition. The pattern is similar when soil fauna is absent. In general, the plant litter decomposition rate is decreased by soil fauna exclusion; an average inhibition of −17% ± 1.5% was exhibited across nitrogen addition treatment and litter quality groups. However, this effect is weakly related to nitrogen addition treatment and plant litter quality. We conclude that the variations in plant litter quality, nitrogen deposition, and soil fauna are important factors of decomposition and nutrient cycling in a subtropical forest ecosystem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surfactant Protein A (SP-A) is a collagenous C-type lectin (collectin) that plays an important role in the early stage of the host immune response. In chicken, SP-A (cSP-A) is expressed as a 26 kDa glycosylated protein in the lung. Using immunohistochemistry, cSP-A protein was detected mainly in the lung lining fluid covering the parabronchial epithelia. Specific cSP-A producing epithelial cells, resembling mammalian type II cells, were identified in the parabronchi. Gene expression of cSP-A markedly increased from embryonic day 14 onwards until the time of hatch, comparable to the SP-A homologue chicken lung lectin, while mannan binding lectin and collectins CL-L1 and CL-K1 only showed slightly changed expression during development. cSP-A protein could be detected as early as ED 18 in lung tissue using Western blotting, and expression increased steadily until day 28 post-hatch. Our observations are a first step towards understanding the role of this protein in vivo . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To improve remote sensing image transmission efficiency, we propose a cloud detection method using a multi-feature embedded learning support vector machine (SVM) to address cloud coverage occupying channel transmission bandwidth. Specifically, we first consider the imaging and physical properties of the clouds to construct a multi-feature space of cloud and non-cloud samples, which mainly includes five valuable features of grayscale, geometry, contrast, correlation, and angular second moment. Subsequently, we regard cloud detection (CDRSI) of remote sensing images as a binary classification problem, and construct a classifier by using multi-feature embedded learning SVM. Finally, the CDRSI is implemented by image block operations. Additionally, we build a large-scale real-world Remote Sensing Image Cloud Detection Benchmark (RSICDB) including 1520 images, where 790 non-cloud images and 430 cloud images are used as training datasets, 150 of which as test samples with the corresponding 150 mask results. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method can detect clouds with higher accuracy and robustness than compared methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To develop robust and cost-effective catalysts for propene total oxidation, LaFe 1−x Co x O 3 (x = 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 1) perovskites were prepared via a citrate sol-gel method. XRD, FTIR and Raman analyses suggested that after cobalt substitution, the LaFeO 3 structure was well maintained, whereas abundant lattice distortions were generated accompanied by weaker Fe−O bond. H 2 -TPR and O 2 -TPD results demonstrated that cobalt incorporation led to better reducibility and higher oxygen mobility of the oxides. The propene oxidation activity of the catalysts was found to increase with the cobalt content, which correlated well with the amount of surface-active oxygen species. The optimal catalyst LaFe 0.8 Co 0.2 O 3 presented comparable activity to LaCoO 3 at much lower cost. Moreover, it showed excellent cyclability (6 cycles) and stability (35 h), decent performance at high space velocity (24,0000 mL g–1 h–1) or in the presence of 5 vol% water, thereby being a promising candidate for industrial application. [Display omitted] • Substitute Fe by Co in LaFeO 3 to obtain cost-effective perovskite catalysts for C 3 H 6 oxidation. • Enhanced activity due to better reducibility and higher oxygen mobility. • A linear relationship between C 3 H 6 oxidation activity and Co content. • LaFe 0.8 Co 0.2 O 3 shows decent stability and good water resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the authors mainly focus on the event‐triggered control design problem of networked control systems (NCSs) with dynamic quantisation and fault. The research contents are divided into two parts. The first part assumes that quantised measurements of the state are available, asymptotic stability analysis and feedback controller design of the event‐triggered NCSs with constant sensor fault and actuator fault are accomplished. The second part assumes that quantised measurements of the input are available, stochastic actuator fault, which is modelled by the Bernoulli distributed white sequence is considered in this situation, and a robust feedback controller is designed. At the end, numerical examples are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the obtained results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The conversion of equilibrium-limited reactions can be efficiently improved by selective removal of product using a Pervaporation Membrane Reactor (PVMR), which attracts substantial attentions due to its excellent performance. For modeling the PVMR process, a pseudo-binary system was often assumed, nevertheless, it is inadequate to predict the performance when both the reactant and product have the similar properties and can simultaneous permeate through the membrane. A detailed model was established by coupling multi-component pervaporation and reaction kinetics with the butanoxime hydrolysis reaction employed as the experiment system. A modified Flory–Huggins (FH) approach and the Maxwell–Stefan (MS) formulation were used to describe the pervaporation model. The mass transfer fluxes and the concentration profiles of permeants within the membrane were modeled by a finite difference approach. Two coexisted behaviors, i.e. competitive adsorption and plasticizing effects were considered to influence mass transfer. The PVMR performance was predicted and a good agreement between experiment and calculation was obtained. The mechanism that how the simultaneous permeation of reactant and product influence the PVMR performance were further clarified in different operating conditions, including initial reactant concentration, downstream pressure, membrane thickness, ratio of membrane area to reaction volume, and temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]