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Abstract Integration of functional fillers into liquid metals (LM) induces rheology modification, enabling the free-form shaping of LM at the micrometer scale. However, integrating non-chemically modified low-dimensional materials with LM to form stable and uniform dispersions remain a great challenge. Herein, we propose a solvent-assisted dispersion (SAD) method that utilizes the fragmentation and reintegration of LM in volatile solvents to engulf and disperse fillers. This method successfully integrates MXene uniformly into LM, achieving better internal connectivity than the conventional dry powder mixing (DPM) method. Consequently, the MXene/LM (MLM) coating exhibits high electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding performance (105 dB at 20 μm, which is 1.6 times that of coatings prepared by DPM). Moreover, the rheological characteristic of MLM render it malleable and facilitates direct printing and adaptation to diverse structures. This study offers a convenient method for assembling LM with low-dimensional materials, paving the way for the development of multifunctional soft devices.

Abstract Angucyclines are type II polyketide natural products, often characterized by unusual structural rearrangements through B- or C-ring cleavage of their tetracyclic backbone. While the enzymes involved in B-ring cleavage have been extensively studied, little is known of the enzymes leading to C-ring cleavage. Here, we unravel the function of the oxygenases involved in the biosynthesis of lugdunomycin, a highly rearranged C-ring cleaved angucycline derivative. Targeted deletion of the oxygenase genes, in combination with molecular networking and structural elucidation, showed that LugOI is essential for C12 oxidation and maintaining a keto group at C6 that is reduced by LugOII, resulting in a key intermediate towards C-ring cleavage. An epoxide group is then inserted by LugOIII, and stabilized by the novel enzyme LugOV for the subsequent cleavage. Thus, for the first time we describe the oxidative enzymatic steps that form the basis for a wide range of rearranged angucycline natural products.

Highlights We propose a broad range triboelectric sensor system employing elastic sponge and shielding layers, which can realize fast stiffness recognition within 1.0 s at a low cost. A novel algorithm is proposed for rapid stiffness identification by extracting signal characteristics, effectively reducing demand of computing resources. The proposed sensor system can identify the multi-layer stiffness structure of objects, enabling effective recognition of variable inclusions in soft objects with an accuracy of 99.7%.

Abstract Implanted bioelectronic devices can form distributed networks capable of sensing health conditions and delivering therapy throughout the body. Current clinically-used approaches for wireless communication, however, do not support direct networking between implants because of signal losses from absorption and reflection by the body. As a result, existing examples of such networks rely on an external relay device that needs to be periodically recharged and constitutes a single point of failure. Here, we demonstrate direct implant-to-implant wireless networking at the scale of the human body using metamaterial textiles. The textiles facilitate non-radiative propagation of radio-frequency signals along the surface of the body, passively amplifying the received signal strength by more than three orders of magnitude (>30 dB) compared to without the textile. Using a porcine model, we demonstrate closed-loop control of the heart rate by wirelessly networking a loop recorder and a vagus nerve stimulator at more than 40 cm distance. Our work establishes a wireless technology to directly network body-integrated devices for precise and adaptive bioelectronic therapies.

Soft starters are effective devices used to provide overload protection for motors from large mechanical shocks during the start-up period. However, existing soft starters require additional power supplies, sensors, and complex control elements that pose serious challenges to the integration, versatility, and operability of mechanical transmission system. Herein, we propose a newly soft starter based on the triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) and electrorheological fluid (ERF) to realize a self-powered mechanical transmission system. Both ERF’s rheological characteristic and the baffle structure play a role in the torque of device. Driven by TENG, the soft starter with optimized baffle achieves a 715% growth in transmission torque compared to that of the device without baffle. And a smooth start is obtained with transmission speeds ranging from 0% to 100%. In application demonstration, this triboelectric soft starter (TSS) has the capacity to gain a smooth operation of the high-speed motor. In contrast, the direct start generates an overshoot, leading to a break in the conveyor belt. The TSS designed in this work with the advantages of self-powered, highly integrated, easy to operate, and low cost, provides a prospective strategy for broadening the application of TENG in mechanical transmission systems.

With a growing focus on properties of softness, miniaturization, and intelligence, extensive research has been focusing on constructing wearable electronic devices facilitating comfort, wearable health monitoring and diagnosis. Among recent progress in the development of wearable bioelectronics, wearable near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) devices demonstrate wide implementation possibilities in multiple health monitoring scenarios. Throughout the years, multiple design strategies have assisted in developing wearable NIRS devices with high wearing comfortability and miniaturized size. This review summarizes the principle of NIRS technology, recent advances in design strategies towards soft, wearable, miniaturized NIRS devices, and the future potential development directions. Based on the discussion of different design strategies, including modular device design, flexible hybrid electronics, and materials innovation, we also pinpoint some development directions for wearable NIRS. The reviewed and proposed research efforts may enhance the applicability and capability of NIRS as an important technology for digital health.

Abstract Swallowing is a complex neuromuscular activity regulated by the autonomic nervous system. Millions of adults suffer from dysphagia (impaired or difficulty swallowing), including patients with neurological disorders, head and neck cancer, gastrointestinal diseases, and respiratory disorders. Therapeutic treatments for dysphagia include interventions by speech-language pathologists designed to improve the physiology of the swallowing mechanism by training patients to initiate swallows with sufficient frequency and during the expiratory phase of the breathing cycle. These therapeutic treatments require bulky, expensive equipment to synchronously record swallows and respirations, confined to use in clinical settings. This paper introduces a wireless, wearable technology that enables continuous, mechanoacoustic tracking of respiratory activities and swallows through movements and vibratory processes monitored at the skin surface. Validation studies in healthy adults (n = 67) and patients with dysphagia (n = 4) establish measurement equivalency to existing clinical standard equipment. Additional studies using a differential mode of operation reveal similar performance even during routine daily activities and vigorous exercise. A graphical user interface with real-time data analytics and a separate, optional wireless module support both visual and haptic forms of feedback to facilitate the treatment of patients with dysphagia.

Low modulus materials that can change shape in response to external stimuli are promising for a wide range of applications. The authors here introduce a shape-reprogrammable construct, based on liquid metal microfluidic networks and electromagnetic actuation, that supports a unique collection of capabilities.

Although continuous monitoring of tissue oxygenation is critically important after tissue/organ graft procedures, current technologies have key limitations. Here, the authors develop a miniaturized, minimally invasive, self-anchoring optical probe and demonstrate continuous monitoring of oxygenation in porcine flap and organ models.

Complex gaps may be formed when carrying out live working in substations, while the discharge characteristics of complex gaps are different from those of single gaps. This paper focuses on the prediction of critical 50% positive switching impulse breakdown voltage ( U 50crit + of phase-to-phase complex gaps formed in 220 kV substations. Firstly, several electric field features were defined on the shortest discharge path of the complex gap to reflect the electric field distribution. Then support vector machine (SVM) prediction models were established according to the connection between electric field distribution and breakdown voltage. Finally, the U 50crit¸+ data of the complex gap were obtained through twice electric field calculations and predictions. The prediction results show that the minimum U 50crit + of phase-to-phase complex gaps is 1147 kV, and the critical position is 0.9 m away from the high voltage conductor, accounting for 27% of the whole gap. Both critical position and voltage are in good agreement with the values provided in IEC 61472.

Zhang et al. identify three hot regions of macrolide glycosyltransferase BsGT-1, that can play a role in epothilone B and sugar donor specificity. Further mutagenesis of BsGT-1 showed that specificity could be engineered and when the mutations were introduced into homologous GTs, promiscuity was improved, setting the stage for further rational glycodiversification of macrolides.

Abstract Background Cryptic balanced translocations often evade detection by conventional cytogenetics. The preimplantation genetic testing (PGT) technique can be used to help carriers of balanced translocations give birth to healthy offspring; however, for carriers of cryptic balanced translocations, there is only one report about trying assisted reproduction using the PGT technique but with no pregnancy. Case presentation A couple had 3 births out of 4 pregnancies, and all died very young, with two of them having both cerebral palsy and glaucoma. The husband with oligoasthenospermia was found to be a cryptic balanced translocation carrier for t (9,13) (p24.3, q31.3) with G-banding, FISH (fluorescence in-situ hybridization), and MicroSeq techniques; live birth of a healthy baby girl was achieved with PGT/NGS (next-generation sequencing) for the couple. Conclusion Here, we report for the first time a successful live birth of a healthy baby through the PGT technique for a family in which the husband is a carrier of the cryptic balanced translocation t (9,13) (p24.3, q31.3), presumably causative for cerebral palsy and glaucoma. Our study showed that the PGT/NGS technique can effectively help families with a cryptic balanced translocation have healthy offspring.

The analysis of metabolites offers promises in biomarker discovery. Here the authors demonstrate the metabolomics analysis of sub-nanoliter samples using triboelectric nanogenerator inductive nanoelectrospray ionization, which they apply to exhaled breath condensate from cystic fibrosis patients and mesenchymal stromal cells.

As pioneering information technology, the Internet of Things (IoT) targets at building an infrastructure of embedded devices and networks of connected objects, to offer omnipresent ecosystem and interaction across billions of smart devices, sensors, and actuators. The deployment of IoT calls for decentralized power supplies, self-powered sensors, and wireless transmission technologies, which have brought both opportunities and challenges to the existing solutions, especially when the network scales up. The Triboelectric Nanogenerators (TENGs), recently developed for mechanical energy harvesting and mechanical-to-electrical signal conversion, have the natural properties of energy and information, which have demonstrated high potentials in various applications of IoT. This context provides a comprehensive review of TENG enabled IoT and discusses the most popular and significant divisions. Firstly, the basic principle of TENG is re-examined in this article. Subsequently, a comprehensive and detailed review is given to the concept of IoT, followed by the scientific development of the TENG enabled IoT. Finally, the future of this evolving area is addressed.

Glycosyltransferases (GTs) are responsible for transferring glycosyl moieties from activated sugar donors to certain acceptors, among which the GT1 family enzymes have been known for their outstanding glycosylation capacities toward diverse natural products, such as glycolipids, flavonoids and macrolides etc. However, there still lacks a systematic collation of this important family members. In this minireview, all the GT1 family sequences were phylogenetically analyzed, and the grouping of GT1 proteins exhibited a taxonomic life domain-dependent pattern, revealing many untapped clades of GTs. The further phylogenetic analysis of the characterized GTs facilitated the classification of substrates coverage of GT1 family enzymes from different life domains, whereby the GTs from bacteria can tolerate a wider spectrum of chemical skeletons as substrates, showing higher promiscuity than those from other domains. Furthermore, the sequence sizes of GTs from different domains were compared to understand their different substrates selectivity. Based on the multiple sequence alignments of 28 representative GT1 enzymes with crystal structures, two critical regions located in the N-terminal of GTs were identified, which were most variable among sequences from different taxonomic domains and essential for substrates binding and/or catalysis. The key roles of these two regions were validated by enumerating the influential residues that interacted with substrates in the representative structures from bacteria and plants. The atlas for GT1 family in terms of phylogeny, substrates selectivity, sequence length, and critical motifs provides the clues for the exploration of unknown GT1s and rational engineering of known enzymes, synthesizing novel promising glycoconjugates for pharmaceutical application.

Summary Glycosylation of natural products can influence their pharmacological properties, and efficient glycosyltransferases (GTs) are critical for this purpose. The polyketide epothilones are potent anti‐tumour compounds, and YjiC is the only reported GT for the glycosylation of epothilone. In this study, we phylogenetically analysed 8261 GTs deposited in CAZy database and revealed that YjiC locates in a subbranch of the Macrolide I group, forming the YjiC‐subbranch with 160 GT sequences. We demonstrated that the YjiC‐subbranch GTs are normally efficient in epothilone glycosylation, but some showed low glycosylation activities. Sequence alignment of YjiC‐subbranch showed that the 66th and 77th amino acid residues, which were close to the catalytic cavity in molecular docking model, were conserved in five high‐active GTs (Q66 and P77) but changed in two low‐efficient GTs. Site‐directed residues swapping at the two positions in the two low‐active GTs (BssGT and BamGT) and the high‐active GT BsGT‐1 demonstrated that the two amino acid residues played an important role in the catalytic efficiency of epothilone glycosylation. This study highlights that the potent GTs for appointed compounds are phylogenetically grouped with conserved residues for the catalytic efficiency.

Rare earth oxychlorides were investigated for the first time as precursors to prepare rare earth alloys through solid cathode electrolysis in molten CaCl2, and to demonstrate this approach the electrochemical reduction of a LaOCl and NiO mixture to LaNi5 was performed. It was found that LaOCl is a good solid precursor of La because it neither absorbs water from the air nor reacts with the molten electrolyte. The electrode process consists of two simple and rapid steps: the reduction of NiO to Ni, followed by the reduction of LaOCl on the formed Ni, generating LaNi5. Moreover, as most of the rare earth elements have similar physicochemical properties and their oxychlorides are easily available, our findings may promise a general route for the preparation of rare earth alloys. Keywords: Solid-state electrochemistry, Rare earth oxychlorides, LaNi5, Molten salts, Electrolysis

Objective and Impact Statement. Real-time monitoring of the temperatures of regional tissue microenvironments can serve as the diagnostic basis for treating various health conditions and diseases. Introduction. Traditional thermal sensors allow measurements at surfaces or at near-surface regions of the skin or of certain body cavities. Evaluations at depth require implanted devices connected to external readout electronics via physical interfaces that lead to risks for infection and movement constraints for the patient. Also, surgical extraction procedures after a period of need can introduce additional risks and costs. Methods. Here, we report a wireless, bioresorbable class of temperature sensor that exploits multilayer photonic cavities, for continuous optical measurements of regional, deep-tissue microenvironments over a timeframe of interest followed by complete clearance via natural body processes. Results. The designs decouple the influence of detection angle from temperature on the reflection spectra, to enable high accuracy in sensing, as supported by in vitro experiments and optical simulations. Studies with devices implanted into subcutaneous tissues of both awake, freely moving and asleep animal models illustrate the applicability of this technology for in vivo measurements. Conclusion. The results demonstrate the use of bioresorbable materials in advanced photonic structures with unique capabilities in tracking of thermal signatures of tissue microenvironments, with potential relevance to human healthcare.

Two specimens of nonductile reinforced concrete (RC) frame (ND-1) and nonductile RC frame retrofitted by corrugated steel plate shear walls slotted with columns (ND-2) are established by finite element. These specimens have same dimensions and steel skeletons. Finite element models had been verified by the existing experimental results. The hysteresis curves, skeleton curves, ductility, and stiffness curves of Specimen ND-1 and Specimen ND-2 are compared. The results show that the reinforcement effect is significant. Twenty-four models are built to study the seismic behavior on different influence parameters. The parameters are slit width, thickness of corrugated steel plate shear walls, concrete strength of nonductile RC frame, and boundary conditions of corrugated steel plate shear walls at slotted parts. The results indicate that the strength is declined with the increase of slit width. With the increase of thickness and concrete strength, the strength and stiffness are enhanced. The strength is larger with the boundary than without. Slit width and thickness have an important impact on the stiffness. Concrete strength and boundary conditions have little impact on stiffness. The strengthened nonductile RC frames have enough ductility.

Gas discharge plasma sources are bulky and of limited use in remote areas with no external power supply. Here the authors create triboelectric plasma by triggering TENGs with mechanical stimuli and discuss its application as a portable plasma source.

Peptides inherently feature the favorable properties of being easily synthesized, water-soluble, biocompatible, and typically non-toxic. Thus, boronic acid has been widely integrated with peptides with the goal of discovering peptide ligands with novel biological activities, and this effort has led to broad applications. Taking the integration between boronic acid and peptide as a starting point, we provide an overview of the latest research advances and highlight the versatile and robust functionalities of boronic acid. In this review, we summarize the diverse applications of peptide boronic acids in medicinal chemistry and chemical biology, including the identification of covalent reversible enzyme inhibitors, recognition, and detection of glycans on proteins or cancer cell surface, delivery of siRNAs, development of pH responsive devices, and recognition of RNA or bacterial surfaces. Additionally, we discuss boronic acid-mediated peptide cyclization and peptide modifications, as well as the facile chemical synthesis of peptide boronic acids, which paved the way for developing a growing number of peptide boronic acids.

Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) harvest ambient mechanical energy and convert it into electrical energy. Here, the authors couple surface polarization from contact electrification with dielectric polarization from a ferroelectric material in vacuum to dramatically enhance the TENG output power.

Self-powered nanogenerators by harvesting energy from the environment are desirable for future portable and wearable electronics. Liet al. show the use of ferroelectret nanogenerators to build microphone or loudspeaker, which convert electrical signals to mechanical motions in a reversible manner.

Abstract Emerging 2D electronic materials have shown great potential for regulating and controlling optoelectronic processes. A 2D ferroelectric semiconductor coupled with the piezo‐phototronic effect may bring unprecedented functional characteristics. Here, a heterojunction photodetector made of p‐Si/V‐doped‐ferroelectric‐ZnO 2D nanosheets (FESZ‐PD) is fabricated, and the ferroelectricity‐enhanced piezo‐phototronic effect on the photoresponse behavior of the FESZ‐PD is carefully investigated. By introducing the ferroelectricity and the piezo‐phototronic effect, improved current rectification performance is achieved and the photoresponse performance of the heterojunction is enhanced in a broad spectral range. The applied voltage bias during measurement naturally causes ferroelectric spontaneous polarizations to align, resulting in a change in band structure near the interface and the local piezo‐phototronic effect. The modulated energy band promotes the generation, separation, and transportation efficiency of photogenerated carriers greatly. Compared with the Si/ZnO 2D nanosheets photodetector without ferroelectricity under strain‐free conditions, the photoresponsivity R of the FESZ‐PD increases by 2.4 times when applying a −0.20‰ compressive strain at +1 V forward bias. These results confirm the feasibility of coupling the ferroelectricity with the piezo‐phototronic effect in 2D ferroelectric materials to enhance the photoresponse behavior, which provides a good way to enable the development of high‐performance electronic and optoelectronic devices.

The tail void grouting is a key step in shield tunnel construction and has an important influence on the loading on the surrounding soil and on the resulting settlement. In order to estimate the ground surface settlement caused by tail void grouting pressure in tunnel construction, the loading on the surrounding soil is simplified as an expansion problem of the cylindrical cavity in semi-infinite elastic space. A simple analytical formula is deduced by using the virtual image technique and Fourier transform solutions. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by case studies. The effects of elastic modulus, tail void grouting pressure, tunnel radius, and tunnel depth on the ground surface heave are conducted. The results indicate that the computed results are in accordance with Ye’s solution and it is more rational to consider the ground surface heave induced by tail void grouting pressure in the prediction of ground settlement due to shield excavation. Moreover, the ground surface heave owing to tail void grouting pressure resembled a Gaussian distributed curve. Thus, no matter the ground surface subsidence or ground surface heave can be predicted by means of adding the presented empirical formula to the Peck formula which cannot predict the ground surface heave. The ground surface heave decreases with an increase in elastic modulus. On the contrary, as the tail void grouting pressure and tunnel radius increase, the ground surface heave increases, respectively. The ground surface heave first steadily increases and then declines gradually with the tunnel depth increase.

Astragalus roots from Astragalus membranaceus Bunge or Astragalus membranaceus var. mongholicus (Bunge) Hsiao are among the most popular traditional medicinal plants due to their diverse therapeutic uses based on their tonic, antinephritic, immunostimulant, hepatoprotectant, diuretic, antidiabetic, analgesic, expectorant and sedative properties. Currently, the herb is produced or cultivated in various sites, including 10 different locations in China with very diverse environmental conditions. These differences affect their metabolic pools and consequently their medicinal properties. The comparative metabolic profiling of plants of different geographical origins or ages could contribute to detect biomarkers for their quality control and thus guarantee the efficacy of the herbal medicines produced with this drug. In this paper nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR)-based metabolomics was applied for to plants of different origins and age for this purpose. The results of this study show that in the set of samples evaluated, age is more discriminating than geographical location. The quantity of individual flavonoids and some primary metabolites contributed most to this age differentiation. On the other hand, based on the analysis of orthogonal partial least square (OPLS) modeling, the marker metabolites for the geographical origin were saponins and isoflavonoids.

The alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) system plays a critical role in sugar metabolism involving in not only ethanol formation and consumption but also the general "cofactor balance" mechanism. Candida maltosa is able to ferment glucose as well as xylose to produce a significant amount of ethanol. Here we report the ADH system in C. maltosa composed of three microbial group I ADH genes (CmADH1, CmADH2A and CmADH2B), mainly focusing on its metabolic regulation and physiological function.Genetic analysis indicated that CmADH2A and CmADH2B tandemly located on the chromosome could be derived from tandem gene duplication. In vitro characterization of enzymatic properties revealed that all the three CmADHs had broad substrate specificities. Homo- and heterotetramers of CmADH1 and CmADH2A were demonstrated by zymogram analysis, and their expression profiles and physiological functions were different with respect to carbon sources and growth phases. Fermentation studies of ADH2A-deficient mutant showed that CmADH2A was directly related to NAD regeneration during xylose metabolism since CmADH2A deficiency resulted in a significant accumulation of glycerol.Our results revealed that CmADH1 was responsible for ethanol formation during glucose metabolism, whereas CmADH2A was glucose-repressed and functioned to convert the accumulated ethanol to acetaldehyde. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of function separation and glucose repression of ADH genes in xylose-fermenting yeasts. On the other hand, CmADH1 and CmADH2A were both involved in ethanol formation with NAD regeneration to maintain NADH/NAD ratio in favor of producing xylitol from xylose. In contrast, CmADH2B was expressed at a much lower level than the other two CmADH genes, and its function is to be further confirmed.

Capabilities in continuous monitoring of key physiological parameters of disease have never been more important than in the context of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Soft, skin-mounted electronics that incorporate high-bandwidth, miniaturized motion sensors enable digital, wireless measurements of mechanoacoustic (MA) signatures of both core vital signs (heart rate, respiratory rate, and temperature) and underexplored biomarkers (coughing count) with high fidelity and immunity to ambient noises. This paper summarizes an effort that integrates such MA sensors with a cloud data infrastructure and a set of analytics approaches based on digital filtering and convolutional neural networks for monitoring of COVID-19 infections in sick and healthy individuals in the hospital and the home. Unique features are in quantitative measurements of coughing and other vocal events, as indicators of both disease and infectiousness. Systematic imaging studies demonstrate correlations between the time and intensity of coughing, speaking, and laughing and the total droplet production, as an approximate indicator of the probability for disease spread. The sensors, deployed on COVID-19 patients along with healthy controls in both inpatient and home settings, record coughing frequency and intensity continuously, along with a collection of other biometrics. The results indicate a decaying trend of coughing frequency and intensity through the course of disease recovery, but with wide variations across patient populations. The methodology creates opportunities to study patterns in biometrics across individuals and among different demographic groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The standard of clinical care in many pediatric and neonatal neurocritical care units involves continuous monitoring of cerebral hemodynamics using hard-wired devices that physically adhere to the skin and connect to base stations that commonly mount on an adjacent wall or stand. Risks of iatrogenic skin injuries associated with adhesives that bond such systems to the skin and entanglements of the patients and/or the healthcare professionals with the wires can impede clinical procedures and natural movements that are critical to the care, development, and recovery of pediatric patients. This paper presents a wireless, miniaturized, and mechanically soft, flexible device that supports measurements quantitatively comparable to existing clinical standards. The system features a multiphotodiode array and pair of light-emitting diodes for simultaneous monitoring of systemic and cerebral hemodynamics, with ability to measure cerebral oxygenation, heart rate, peripheral oxygenation, and potentially cerebral pulse pressure and vascular tone, through the utilization of multiwavelength reflectance-mode photoplethysmography and functional near-infrared spectroscopy. Monte Carlo optical simulations define the tissue-probing depths for source-detector distances and operating wavelengths of these systems using magnetic resonance images of the head of a representative pediatric patient to define the relevant geometries. Clinical studies on pediatric subjects with and without congenital central hypoventilation syndrome validate the feasibility for using this system in operating hospitals and define its advantages relative to established technologies. This platform has the potential to substantially enhance the quality of pediatric care across a wide range of conditions and use scenarios, not only in advanced hospital settings but also in clinics of lower- and middle-income countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: By conducting the switching operation to the operation personnel at the hydraulic station and checking the correctness, ensure the correctness of the operation personnel, enhancing the traceability of the operation management mode, and avoiding faulty operation; The operator training simulating system serves as the operation training platform for the operation personnel so as to improve the quality of the operation; meet the requirement of safety evaluation. This article discusses the main applications and typical configurations of the operator training simulation system at the hydraulic power station firstly, and then describes the main functions of operator training simulating system for the Three Gorges Power Station, and finally gives an introduction to the key technology of the system-self-developed Simulog language. Simulog is a model description language used in the simulation process developed by IWHR Technology, which can realize the computational description and analysis of the operation of the mathematical model for the hydraulic power station equipments. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Continuous monitoring of biomarkers at locations adjacent to targeted internal organs can provide actionable information about postoperative status beyond conventional diagnostic methods. As an example, changes in pH in the intra-abdominal space after gastric surgeries can serve as direct indicators of potentially life-threatening leakage events, in contrast to symptomatic reactions that may delay treatment. Here, we report a bioresorbable, wireless, passive sensor that addresses this clinical need, designed to locally monitor pH for early detection of gastric leakage. A pH-responsive hydrogel serves as a transducer that couples to a mechanically optimized inductor-capacitor circuit for wireless readout. This platform enables real-time monitoring of pH with fast response time (within 1 hour) over a clinically relevant period (up to 7 days) and timely detection of simulated gastric leaks in animal models. These concepts have broad potential applications for temporary sensing of relevant biomarkers during critical risk periods following diverse types of surgeries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The remora optimization algorithm (ROA) is a meta heuristic optimization algorithm proposed in 2021. It simulates the behavior of parasitic attachment to the host, empirical attack and host foraging in the ocean. The structure of ROA is simple and easy to implement, but the overall situation is slightly insufficient, which easily leads to ROA’s slow convergence speed and even difficult convergence in the later period. To solve the above problems, host switching mechanism is added in the exploration phase, and new host beluga is introduced to improve the exploration ability of original ROA. At the same time, through adding joint opposite selection strategy, the ability of the algorithm to jump out of the local optimum is enhanced, and the comprehensive optimization performance of the algorithm is further improved. Through the above improvements, an improved remora optim-ization algorithm (IROA) is proposed, which integrates the joint opposite selection and host switching mechanism. In order to verify the performance and improvement advantages of IROA, IROA is compared with the original ROA, six typical original algorithms and four improved algorithms on ROA. Experimental results of CEC2020 standard test function show that IROA has stronger optimization ability and higher convergence accuracy. Finally, the advantages and engineering applicability of the improved algorithm are further verified by solving the car crashworthiness design problem.

Integrating direct-write (DW) devices into three-dimensional (3D) printed parts is key to continuing innovation in engineering applications such as smart material systems and structural health monitoring. However, this integration is challenging because: (1) most 3D printing techniques leave rough or porous surfaces if they are untreated; (2) the thermal sintering process required for most conductive inks could degrade the polymeric materials of 3D printed parts; and (3) the extensive pause needed for the DW process during layer-by-layer fabrication may cause weaker interlayer bonding and create structural weak points. These challenges are rather common during the insertion of conductive patterns inside 3D printed structures. As an avoidance tactic, we developed a simple ‘print-stick-peel’ method to transfer the DW device from the polytetrafluoroethylene or perfluoroalkoxy alkanes film onto any layer of a 3D printed object. This transfer can be achieved using the self-adhesion of 3D printing materials or applying additional adhesive. We demonstrated this method by transferring Aerosol Jet® printed strain sensors into parts fabricated by PolyJet™ printing. This report provides an investigation and discussion on the sensitivity, reliability, and influence embedding the sensor has on mechanical properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]