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The purpose of this paper is to determine the spatial spillover effects of renewable energy on carbon emissions in China’s less-developed areas. However, few studies have considered this issue from the perspective of less-developed areas. Based on panel data of 21 provinces in China from 2000 to 2017, this paper analyzes the spatial spillover effects of renewable energy on carbon emissions using Moran’s I and Spatial Durbin Model (SDM). The results suggest that, first, Moran’s I ranges from 0.378 to 0.519, Moran scatter plot presents that provinces are located in the high–high (HH) and low-low (LL) quadrants, indicating provincial carbon emissions in the study area have a significant spatial correlation and agglomeration. Second, under the three matrices, the direct effect coefficients of renewable energy are -0.2522, -0.2639 and -0.2601, this shows that renewable energy is beneficial to local carbon emissions reduction. In contrast, the indirect effect coefficients of renewable energy are 0.0605, 0.1012 and 0.1125, which means higher renewable energy consumption in a single area is conducive to the improvement of carbon emissions to neighbouring areas. Third, urbanization, industrialization, physical capital and other variables have different impacts on local and nearby carbon emissions. This study provides empirical evidence to achieve carbon emission reduction targets by government policymakers.

High aspect ratio two-dimensional Ti3C2Tx MXene flakes with extraordinary mechanical, electrical, and thermal properties are ideal candidates for assembling elastic and conductive aerogels. However, the scalable fabrication of large MXene-based aerogels remains a challenge because the traditional preparation method relies on supercritical drying techniques such as freeze drying, resulting in poor scalability and high cost. Herein, the use of porous melamine foam as a robust template for MXene/reduced graphene oxide aerogel circumvents the volume shrinkage during its natural drying process. Through this approach, we were able to produce large size (up to 600 cm3) MXene-based aerogel with controllable shape. In addition, the aerogels possess an interconnected cellular structure and display resilience up to 70% of compressive strain. Some key features also include high solvent absorption capacity (∼50-90 g g-1), good photothermal conversion ability (an average evaporation rate of 1.48 kg m-2 h-1 for steam generation), and an excellent electrothermal conversion rate (1.8 kg m-2 h-1 at 1 V). More importantly, this passive drying process provides a scalable, convenient, and cost-effective approach to produce high-performance MXene-based aerogels, demonstrating the feasibility of commercial production of MXene-based aerogels toward practical applications.

An innovative method for the preparation of TiN–Ti5Si3 hybrid reinforced copper matrix composites by the reaction and spontaneous dispersion of Ti–Si3N4 mixture in Cu melts is proposed in this study. The microstructures of the composites and the reaction process of Ti and Si3N4 with different sizes in Cu melts were analyzed. It is found that the Si3N4 with small size, such as 2 μm, can easily react completely with Ti to form TiN and Ti5Si3. The formed TiN are particle-like and their size ranges from 0.5 μm to 3 μm, while Ti5Si3 are rod-like with a certain length to diameter ratio. In addition, many Ti5Si3 rods are combined with Cu cores to form core–shell structure. It is considered that these microstructure characteristics are helpful for TiN and Ti5Si3 to form a good hybrid enhancement effect. Although the Si3N4 with large size, such as 50 μm, can also be effectively added into Cu melts by Ti–Si3N4 reaction. However, unlike the composite prepared by 2 μm Si3N4, besides the forming TiN and Ti5Si3, there are other kinds of core–shell particles present in the matrix, including Si3N4@TiN, Cu@TiN and Si3N4@TiN@Cu@TiN.

The effectively early detection and determination of disease progression of gastric cancer (GC) are still required. An emerging demand for identifying the novel targets adherent to cancer cells has been still challenged since those valuable profilings not only could act as for early gastric tumor discovery but also being potential therapeutic views. We have retrospectively analyzed GC biopsies to identify those specific target peptides in association with disease progression. We have detected the polypeptide by liquid mass technology initiated BIO-HIGH innovational assay technology for tumor-specific target peptide identification. We have validated the accessibility and feasibility of multiple target cytotoxic T-lymphocyte for the assessment of potential molecular markers by equally comparing the frequencies of tumor peptides' loci identified in 138 GC patients. The aim was to separate peripheral blood lymphocytes by density gradient centrifugation and use specific target peptides in in vitro culture of lymphocytes. The Cell Counting Kit-8 assay was set up to prove the lymphocytes' proliferation stimulated by identified peptides. Both of GC-specific peptide and shared peptide were detected in the peripheral blood, and the frequencies and quantities were correlated with disease status and cancer differentiation, in which BHGa1510 (78%), BHGa1310 (66%), BHGa0910 (57%), BHGa0310 (54%), BHGa0210 (40%), BHGa0810 (35%), BHGa0110 (33%), and BHGa1410 (30%) were apparently scoped out as high-frequency (HF) peptides could be potentially specific tumor markers. Moreover, BHGa1410 was significantly associated with cancer progression, and BHGa0910 and BHGa0210 were significantly associated with TNM stage. The IHC data have shown that both the HF BHGa1510 and HF BHGa1310 were expressions by 100% in contrast with paracancerous tissues of 40% (p < 0.05) and 33%, respectively (p < 0.05). Those specific peptide pools could be valued in assessment of advanced tumor and differential status in GC patients.

Composite hydrogel films of bacterial cellulose/collagen/polyvinyl alcohol were prepared by soaking method using bacterial cellulose hydrogel (BC) was as the base material, collagen (COL) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) were introduced as the reinforcement material to further improve the tensile strength especially elongation at break. Morphology, mechanical property, and thermal stability of composite hydrogel films were also investigated. The swelling behavior was studied using Schott’s second-order swelling model in detail. Research results show that BC/PVA/COL composite showed 181.9 % improvement in elongation at break to that of BC. It further improved the tensile strength of the obtained BC/PVA/COL composite film by 12.9% after crosslinking treatment. Importantly, further investigation demonstrated that the structural stability and thermal stability of the composite hydrogel films were remarkably enhanced. Swelling behavior of BC and the composite nanofiber hydrogel films in DI water followed the Schott’s second-order swelling model, the swelling of composites significantly reduced after crosslinking treatment.

The increasing demand for portable and flexible energy storage devices drives the development of flexible electrodes and electrolytes. The aim of this work is to fabricate the flexible free-standing polyaniline/poly (vinyl alcohol) (PANI/PVA) composite electrode with good capacitance performance and shape memory behavior. The electrodes were fabricated by chemical oxidation polymerization of aniline in porous PVA (P-PVA) films. The morphology, electrochemical and mechanical properties of PANI/P-PVA electrodes were studied by scanning electron microscope, cyclic voltammetry, galvanostatic charge-discharge, and tensile test etc. The results revealed that the flexible PANI/P-PVA-1 electrode had good specific capacitance of 173.86 ​mF ​cm−2 at 1 ​mA ​cm−2, with the capacitance retention of 70.16% after 4000 charge-discharge cycles. Besides, it had excellent heat-induced shape memory effect. The fixed shape could completely recover to its original shape within 10 ​s at 80 ​°C, which is above the glass transition temperature (75.89 ​°C) of PANI/P-PVA-1. The comparatively tensile strength (2.86 ​MPa) and high elongation at break (315.72%) indicated its outstanding flexibility. Up to 200 times folding had no effect on the electrochemical properties. The free-standing polymer electrodes with excellent comprehensive performance provide potential applications in flexible energy-storage devices, electronic encapsulation and high stretchable electric devices etc.

Self-cleaning fabrics can be developed based on introducing two mechanisms of superhydrophobicity and photocatalytic activity to conventional fabrics. However, there are some downsides such as inefficiency of superhydrophobic coatings against oily contaminants and low effectiveness of photocatalytic surface treatments under visible light which have restricted the widespread applications of these functional products. This research presents the development of self-cleaning cotton fabric with dual functionalities of superhydrophobicity and photocatalytic activity using microhierarchial TiO2-based particles. It is aimed to fabricate fluorine-free durable superhydrophobic coatings with simultaneous photocatalytic self-cleaning under simulated sunlight. Fluorine-free coating formulations composed of flower-like particles, either TiO2 or nitrogen-doped TiO2, and polydimethyl siloxane (PDMS) polymer were applied to cotton fabrics using a facile dip-coating method. The self-cleaning performance of fabrics was assessed based on their superhydrophobicity and effective removal of oil-based stains under simulated sunlight. Additionally, the impact of nitrogen doping on enhancing the photocatalytic activity of flower-like TiO2 particles was investigated. The obtained results demonstrated that the presence of both PDMS and hierarchical particles generated excellent superhydrophobicity on the cotton fabric with a water contact angle of 156.7° ± 1.9°. In addition, the coated fabric exhibited highly efficient photocatalytic activity, decomposing absorbed stains after 30 min of irradiation. Nitrogen doping process significantly boosted the photocatalytic activity of TiO2 particles in degrading food stains and Rhodamine B dye solution. The developed fabrics showed high robustness against chemical and physical durability tests.

Schiff bases that are generally formed from condensation reactions of aldehydes (or ketones) and amino groups could also be produced by a photodriven one-pot tandem reaction between alcohols and nitro compounds, in our case. Herein, TiO2-x porous cages derived from NH2-MIL-125 by a self-sacrificing template route are used to study the organic transformation and exhibit 100% conversion efficiency of nitrobenzene and 100% selectivity for Schiff bases in the system of benzyl alcohol (5 mL) and nitrobenzene (41 μL) upon light irradiation, but hydrogen by dehydrogenation of benzyl alcohol cannot be detected. Successful occurrence of the organic transformation is mainly attributed to Ti(III)-oxygen vacancy associates. Surface oxygen vacancy-related Ti(III) sites are responsible for binding with nitro groups, and low-coordinated Ti5c sites selectively adsorb hydroxyl groups of benzyl alcohol. The Ti(III) and oxygen vacancy associates capture photogenerated electrons for achievement of multielectron reduction of nitrobenzene and the subsequent Schiff base condensation reaction with the as-formed benzaldehyde.

To investigate the influence of basic characteristics of oil shale dust on wet dust removal, oil shales (Longkou oil shales Y1, Y2S2, and Y2S1 and Fushun oil shale) with different oil contents, brown coal (M1), and bituminous coal (M) were selected from a typical mining area in China to test their physiochemical parameters. Their proximate component, chemical structures, surface morphology, and mineral contents were determined. The sedimentation experiments of oil shale dust and coal dust were implemented using three anionic surfactants (AOS, SDS, and SDBS) and a nonionic surfactant (AEO-9), and the wettability of oil shale dust was analyzed and compared with that of coal dust. The experimental results indicate that the moisture content, volatile content, fixed carbon content, and content of oxygen-containing functional groups of oil shale are higher than those of the coal sample; otherwise, contents of ash, SiO2, aliphatic hydrocarbon, and aromatic hydrocarbon are lower. It can be found that oil shale has semiclosed pores, poor connectivity, a small pore size, a large specific surface area, and a rougher surface, which will lead to poorer wettability of oil shale. The wettability of oil shale can be improved by adding surfactants but is still weaker than that of the coal samples. Anionic surfactants are better than nonionic surfactants in improving the wetting performance. Among them, AOS shows strong wetting ability to oil shale dust. The research results of this paper have an important practical significance for analyzing the wettability of oil shale and controlling oil shale dust.

The phenomenon that different molecular packing modes in aggregates result in different optical properties has attracted intense attention, since it can provide useful information to establish the relationship between the micro- and macro-world. In this paper, DBTDO-DMAC was designed with 9,10-dihydro-9,9-dimethylacridine (DMAC) as electron donor. DBTDO-DPA and DBTDO-Cz were designed for comparison, which adopted diphenylamine (DPA) with twisted structure and carbazole (Cz) with planar structure as donors, respectively. As expected, two polymorphs (Crystal G and Crystal Y) of DBTDO-DMAC were obtained and exhibited distinct properties. Crystal G originating from planar conformation exhibited mechanochromism (MC) phenomenon and the emission color changed from green to yellow with a redshift of 35 nm after grinding. Nevertheless, Crystal Y with folded conformation displayed obvious room-temperature phosphorescence (RTP) with yellow afterglow. Careful single crystal analyses, powder X-ray diffraction and theoretical calculation reveal that the different emissive behaviors are highly related to the molecular conformation and packing modes. The successful adjustment of molecular conformation provides some guidance in the design of other MC and/or RTP luminogens, broadens the molecule family with the tunable molecular conformation and opens up a new avenue for exploring possible adjustment of molecular packing in aggregates.

Capacity fading of Li-rich cathodes in the cycling process is mainly caused by the irreversible side reactions at the interface of electrode and electrolyte by reason of the lack of a corrosion resistant surface. In this work, isocyanate-related functional groups (-N═C═O groups and polyamide-like groups) were tightly bonded on the surface of Li-rich oxides through a urea decomposition gas heat-treatment. The surface isocyanate functionalization inhibits the side reaction of PF5 hydrolysis to give LixPFyOz and HF species at the surface of Li-rich materials in the cycle process. As compared to the untreated Li-rich sample U0, the samples with the spinel-like layer and isocyanate functionalized surface exhibited an enhanced cycle stability. The capacity retention of the treated sample U3 reached as high as 92.6% after 100 cycles at the current density of 100 mA/g, larger than 66.8% for the untreated sample. Even at a higher current density of 1000 mA/g, sample U3 gives a capacity retention of 81.7% after 300 cycles. The findings of this work reveal the importance of surface isocyanate functionalization in restraining the surface side reactions and also suggest an effective method to design Li-rich cathode materials with better electrochemistry performance.

Biomass-based composites are of immerse importance because they allow combining properties in ways that are not found in nature. This work reports facile routs to produce pressure sensor in large scale from biomass kapok fibers and natural rubber. Two different strategies were applied to introduce conductive elements into the pressure sensor and are systemically compared, which include carbonization of the tubular kapok fibers and coating the fibre with conductive polymer. When used as a pressure sensor, the kapok fiber and natural rubber-based composites can respond logarithmically to the loading in the compressive strain range of 0 ~ 15% with excellent recyclability. As a prototype of the concept for practical application, a weight scale was constructed using the kapok fiber and natural rubber-based composites and showed distinct weight-dependent resistance changes, being feasible for measuring weight within a certain weight range. Besides, the strategy based on conductive polymer enables the pressure sensor to be insulative at its original state and become conductive when pressed, hereby making the composite a potential pressure-sensing material and pressure-responsive circuit switch. This study provides a platform for developing biomass-based electronic pressure sensors.

Developing monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) for cancer immunotherapy is expensive and complicated. Nanobodies are small antibodies possessing favorable pharmacological properties compared with mAbs, but have limited anticancer efficacy due to the lack of an Fc region and poor pharmacokinetics. In this context, engineered universal endogenous antibody-recruiting nanobodies (UEAR Nbs), as a general and cost-effective approach, were developed to generate functional antibody-like nanobodies that could recapitulate the Fc biological functions for cancer immunotherapy. The UEAR Nbs, composed of the IgG binding domain and nanobody, were recombinantly expressed in E. coli and could recruit endogenous IgGs onto the cancer cell surface and trigger potent immune responses to kill cancer cells in vitro. Moreover, it was proved that UEAR Nbs displayed significantly improved half-lives in vivo. The in vivo antitumor efficacy of UEAR Nbs was demonstrated in a murine model using EGFR positive triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC)., Universal endogenous antibody recruiting nanobodies (UEAR Nbs), composed of IgGs binding domain and nanobody, could redirect endogenous IgGs onto target cell surfaces and evoke potent immune responses to eliminate cancer cells in vitro and in vivo.

The artificial solid-state nanopore/nanochannel based electrochemical sensing technique has demonstrated great advantages such as high sensitivity and minimalized equipment. However, its application is largely hindered by complex routes and high expense for fabrication. Here, we develop low-cost and easily accessible channels based on natural wood and present a pathway to utilize the wood membrane for local electrochemistry applications. Inspired by the natural mineralization of wood, Prussian blue (PB), an artificial peroxidase (POD)-like mimetic, is mineralized in wood channels via a contra-diffusion technique. Using glucose enantiomers (L/D-Glu) as model analysts, a target-activated strategy is used for chiral molecule recognition by combining glucose oxidase (GOx) with PB-modified wood channels. In the as-proposed hybrid channels, GOx catalyzes the oxidation of only D-Glu to gluconic acid and H2O2. These products dramatically activate the POD-like activity of PB and further trigger the oxidation of the uncharged substrate 2,2′-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonate) (ABTS) to cationic species (ABTS˙+) in the channels. More importantly, benefitting from the confinement effect of the channel and the asymmetrical mineralization of PB, a significantly selective and sensitive identification of D-Glu is achieved. This study provides a promising way to use natural wood as a novel channel membrane to replace artificial channels for constructing electrochemical sensing platforms.

Wearable conducting polymer-based NH3 sensors are highly desirable in real-time environmental monitoring and human health protection but still a challenge for their relatively long response/recovery time and moderate sensitivity at room temperature. Herein, we present an effective route to fulfill this challenge by constructing porous and neural network-like Au/polypyrrole (Au/PPy) electrospun nanofibrous film with hollow capsular units for NH3 sensor. Taking the unique architecture and synergistic effect between Au and PPy, our sensor exhibits not only super-rapid response/recovery time (both ∼7 s), faster than all reported sensors, but also stable and ultrahigh sensitivity (response reaches ∼2.3 for 1 ppm NH3) at room temperature even during repeated deformation. Furthermore, good selectivity has been also achieved. These outstanding properties make our sensor hold great potential in real-time NH3-related disease diagnosis and environmental monitoring at room temperature.

Gas adsorption properties of key natural fibres were investigated through monitoring the adsorption process of ammonia onto wool and cotton by time-resolved infrared spectroscopy. It was found that...

Bright emission of organic luminogens at aggregated state has attracted increasing attention for their potential applications in opto-electronic devices and bio-/chemo-sensors. In this article, upon the introduction of different substituents (Br, Ph and TPh) to the large conjugated core of 9-methyl-9 H -dibenzo[ a , c ]carbazole (DBC) moiety, the resultant luminogens demonstrated PL quantum yields in solid state ranging from 4.81% to 47.39%. Through the systematic investigation of molecular packing, together with theory calculation, the strong intermolecular electronic coupling in the dimers is proved as the main factor to the bright emission in the solid state. The results afforded a new avenue to investigate the intrinsic relationship among the molecular structures, packing modes and emission properties.

Palladium nanoparticle (PdNP) loaded cotton fabrics were successfully prepared through in situ synthesis of PdNPs via heating. The resulting PdNP-treated cotton fabrics showed color originated from the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) effect of PdNPs, with satisfactory color fastness to washing and rubbing, and enhanced UV protection properties. The PdNP-treated cotton greatly accelerated the reduction reaction of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) by sodium borohydride, exhibiting distinct catalytic activity. More importantly, the PdNP-treated cotton fabric displayed enzyme mimicking activity to catalyze the oxidation of a chromogenic enzymatic substrate (3,3′,5,5′-tetramethylbenzidine) in the presence of hydrogen peroxide, which provides a visual sensing platform for hydrogen peroxide. This work demonstrated a versatile approach to fabricate PdNP-treated cotton fabrics with multiple functions. This study on the surface modification of cotton fabrics with PdNPs could promote the practical applications of functional fibrous materials in catalysis and sensing fields.

An indoor simulation experiment was conducted to explore the effects of cuticular wax content and specific leaf area (SLA) on accumulation and distribution of PAHs in different tissues of wheat leaf. Three levels (0, 1.25, 6.0 mg L−1) of mixed solution of five PAHs (Σ5PAHs) including phenanthrene (PHE), anthracene (ANT), pyrene (PYR), benz[a]anthracene (BaA), and benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) were sprayed on leaves of seven varieties of winter wheat for every other day during 20 consecutive days. Shoot and root biomass of wheat under 6.0 mg L−1 Σ5PAHs exposure were 5.87 and 0.33 g, which were significantly (p

Non-nature mineral vaterite crystals with lipophilicity are generated in the crude oil migration process, which adversely affects the oil recovery and causes environmental pollution. In this work, a simulated interfacial self-propagating strategy has been designed to obtain quasi hydrophobic and oleophilic vaterite crystals by mixing heavy alkyl-benzene sulfonate (HABS)/Na2CO3/crude-oil emulsion and partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (HPAM)/CaCl2/crude-oil emulsion. Oleophilic vaterite is produced through ions migration and self-assembly of nanocrystals at the oil/water interfaces. Monodispersed vaterite spheres were achieved with an average diameter of 2.4 μm, a water contact angle of 88.5°, and a kerosene contact angle of 4.5°. Due to the oleophilic surface, the vaterite has a good compatibility with polyethylene, which exerts an essential role in improving the mechanical properties of polyethylene. This finding enriches the understanding of CaCO3 mineralization in oilfield, and provides new strategy not only for waste-derived application of the vaterite scales but also for organic-inorganic composites manufacturing.

Conducting polymer (CP)-based pseudocapacitive electrodes with good capacitance/rate capabilities and high potential window retention (namely, a neglectable IR drop) under high current density are of great interest due to their practical applications in fabricating instantaneous and high-power energy devices. However, they remain a challenge to realize. Herein, we report an alternative route for enhancing the capacitive properties of polypyrrole nanofibrous membrane (PPy NM)-based electrodes without adding any capacitive materials. The new strategy involves doping with Au nanoparticles via electrospinning followed by in situ polymerization. Compared with a pristine PPy NM, the specific capacitance of the Au/PPy NM was enhanced from 193.7 to 455.3 F g−1 at a scan rate of 5 mV s−1. Additionally, the rate capabilities were enhanced over broad ranges of current density (0.5–30 A g−1) and scan rate (5–1000 mV s−1). Interestingly, the potential window retention was greatly enhanced from 74.5% (PPy NM) to 95.6% (Au/PPy NM) over a wide range of current densities (0.5–30 A g−1). The Au/PPy NM also exhibited good cycling stability (>85% over 10 000 charge–discharge cycles under a current density of 30 A g−1).

Rhamnose and sTn antigen were co-conjugated to bovine serum albumin (BSA), a weakly immunogenic carrier protein, for cancer vaccine development. The immune responses against sTn have been significantly augmented with the involvement of Rha-specific antibodies to enhance antigen uptake.

Considering the key role of electron donors to the intramolecular charge transfer of organic dyes, molecular arrangement and electron processes in dye-sensitized solar cells, four organic dyes (LI-133–136) were designed and synthesized with indolo[3,2-b]indole (IDID) as the main electron donor and various aromatics as the assistant ones. The broad light response was achieved by the strong electron-donating ability of IDID with a planar structure, and with the aid of the electron-rich property of carbazole and triphenylamine. Moreover, the twisted configuration and large size of triphenylamine on the head of dye LI-136 can be beneficial to suppressing dye aggregation and electron recombination, contributing to the improved photovoltaic performance. With the systematic investigation of their photophysical and electrochemical impedance properties, together with theoretical calculations, the electronic characteristics of IDID and the spatial configuration of triphenylamine were highlighted as a synergy effect on the photovoltaic performance, affording an efficient strategy to simultaneously enhance the light-harvesting property and suppress the charge recombination.

In this paper, the electronic expansion valve (EXV) on the single-tube heat exchange experimental platform was used as a research object. Firstly, the EXVs were selected according to the experimental requirements, and the functional parameters were set. Subsequently, the effective opening ranges of the EXVs were determined by manual control, and the control effects of the EXVs installed at the front and back ends of the test section were compared. Finally, by self-tuning and optimizing the best response curves, the proportional and integral coefficients suitable for the experimental platform were obtained; thus, the automatic intelligent control of EXV based on the proportional integral (PI) control algorithm was realized. From setting EXV functional parameters to realizing PI control, an appropriate experimental system-debugging solution for the whole process could be obtained. Based on the solution, the system stability could be improved, and the transition process time could be shortened. Furthermore, the solution also provided a method to guarantee the accuracy of experimental data and could be applied to the debugging of similar experimental systems.

Pancreatic cancer (PC) is a highly malignant tumor with increased morbidity and mortality, which is difficult to diagnose and cure in the clinic. Through secreting exosomes containing biological molecules, including diverse RNAs and proteins, bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BM‐MSCs) influence the immunity, inflammation, tumor environment, and cancer metastasis. In this study, low expression of miRNA‐1231 (miR‐1231) in exosomes derived from the peripheral blood was significantly correlated with the TNM stage of PC, suggesting the potential inhibitory effect of exosomal miR‐1231 on PC occurrence and development. The proliferation, migration, invasion, and adhesion to the matrix of PC cells BxPC‐3 and PANC‐1 were negatively regulated by exosomes derived from the supernatants of BM‐MSCs that transfected with miR‐1231 oligonucleotides. Simultaneously, tumor growth in vivo was seriously restrained in BALB/C nude mice by tail vein injection with exosomes originated from BM‐MSCs that transfected with miR‐1231 mimics. The exosomes extracted from BM‐MSCs with high level of miR‐1231 inhibit the activity of PC, providing the potential application for developing new and efficient medicine for cancer therapy, especially for PC treatment. The exosomal miR‐1231 of peripheral blood may also be a potential indicator for PC diagnosis in the future., The expression change of exosomal miR‐1231 derived from BM‐MSCs may provide important reference value for cancer diagnosis, especially for pancreatic cancer. And the exosomes with a high level of miR‐1231 may develop as promising new and highly efficient medicines for pancreatic cancer therapy.

Carbon monoxide (CO), a byproduct of heme catalyzed by heme oxygenase (HO), has been reported to exert antioxidant and anti-inflammatory actions, and to produce significant neuroprotective effects. The potential effects of CO and even HO on depressive-like behaviors are still poorly understood. Utilizing several approaches including adeno-associated virus (AAV)-mediated overexpression of HO-1, systemic CO-releasing molecules (CO-RMs), CO-rich saline or CO gas treatment procedures in combination with hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-induced PC12 cell injury model, and lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced depression mouse model, the present study aimed to investigate the potential antidepressant- and anxiolytic-like effects of endogenous and exogenous CO administration in vivo and in vitro. The results of in vitro experiments showed that both CO-RM-3 and CO-RM-A1 pretreatment blocked H2O2-induced cellular injuries by increasing cell survival and decreasing cell apoptosis and necrosis. Similar to the effects of CO-RM-3 and CO-RM-A1 pretreatment, AAV-mediated HO-1 overexpression in the dorsal hippocampus produced significant antidepressant-like activities in mice under normal conditions. Further investigation showed that the CO gas treatment significantly blocked LPS-induced depressive- and anxiety-like behaviors in mice. Taken together, our results suggest that the activation of HO-1 and/or exogenous CO administration produces protective effects and exerts antidepressant- and anxiolytic-like effects. These data uncover a novel function of the HO-1/CO system that appears to be a promising therapeutic target for the treatment of depression and anxiety.

In order to solve the problem of vigorous vibration of agricultural machinery frames, taking a vegetable precision seeder as an example, the concept of vibration reduction was proposed. The modal analysis of the frame was carried out, and the accuracy of the finite element model was verified by comparing the modal test of multipoint input and multipoint output (MIMO) and simulation results. Additionally, the main frequency of engine vibration was the main excitation source of frame resonance. According to the modal shapes, it was proposed to increase the fixed beam structure and to carry out simulation tests. The time-domain signal of the maximum deformation position in the first-order vibration mode was measured, and the vibration spectrum analysis maps before and after optimization were obtained by Fourier transform. A field experiment showed that the seeding quality of the whole machine was significantly improved after optimization. This study provides a reference for the analysis of vibration characteristics and the vibration reduction design of the agricultural machinery equipment.

In view of the extensive application of swirl flow pipes (vortex tubes) in refrigeration systems, the parameters of swirl flow pipes were investigated to provide optimal cooling and heating conditions. Three-dimensional numerical simulations were carried out using available experimental data and models. The analysis verified that the heat pipe with a length of 175 mm performed better than the swirl flow pipe with a length of 125 mm, confirming experiments by Agrawal. Meanwhile, by comparing different pressures, it was found that in the single-nozzle swirl flow pipe, the greater the increase of pressure (0.1–1.0 MPa), the greater the burden on the vortex chamber and the more serious the wear is, which can be seen in the higher inlet pressure. In order to improve the durability of the swirl flow pipe, we suggest using a swirl flow pipe with more nozzles. Finally, according to the simulation results, with the rise of carbon dioxide pressure potential energy at the inlet, the cooling effect of the swirl flow is first increasing and then decreasing. When the swirl flow pipe is used as a refrigeration device to determine the minimum cooling temperature under the maximum pressure, the lowest temperature of the 125 mm swirl flow pipe was 252.4 K at 0.8 MPa, while the lowest temperature of the 175 mm swirl flow pipe was 246.0 K. Secondly, the distance from the inlet to the hot outlet of the swirl flow pipe had little effect on the cooling temperature and radial velocity, but increasing its distance increased the wall temperature of the swirl flow pipe because it increases the contact time between the airflow and the hot end of the tube wall. When the swirl flow pipe is used as a heat-producing device, increasing the tube length of the swirl flow pipe appropriately increases its maximum heat-producing temperature.

Sepsis-induced cardiomyopathy (SIC) is a major complication of sepsis. SET and MYND domain containing 1 (SMYD1) has central importance in heart development, and its role in SIC has not been identified. Herein, we found that the expression of SMYD1 was downregulated in myocardial tissues of SIC patients (from GEO database: GSE79962) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced SIC rats, and LPS-induced H9c2 cardiomyocytes. We used LPS-stimulated H9c2 cells that mimic sepsis in vitro to explore the function of SMYD1 in SIC. MTT assay, LDH and CK-MB release assay, flow cytometry, and ELISA assay showed that SMYD1 overexpression enhanced cell viability, alleviated cell injury, impeded apoptosis, and reduced the level of proinflammatory factors and NF-κB activation under the condition of LPS stimulation. Moreover, SMYD1 exerted protective effect on H9c2 cells stimulated with LPS through relieving endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress. In conclusion, overexpression of SMYD1 alleviates cardiac injury through relieving ER stress during sepsis.

Most previous studies have indicated inconsistent relationships between rice cadmium (Cd) and the soil properties of paddy fields at a regional scale under the adverse effects of confounding factors and spatial heterogeneity. In order to reduce these effects, this study integrates Geodetector, a stepwise regression model, and a hierarchical Bayesian method (collectively called GDSH). The GDSH framework is validated in a large typical rice production area in southeastern China. According to the results, significant stratified heterogeneity of the bioaccumulation factor is observed among different subregions and pH strata (q = 0.23, p 0.01). Additionally, the soil-rice relationships and dominant factors vary by the subregions, and the available soil Cd and pH are found to be the dominant factors in 64% and 50% of subregions, respectively. In the entire region, when the pH 6, the dominant factors are organic matter and available Cd, and when pH ≥ 6 they are organic matter, pH, and available Cd. Furthermore, these factors presented different sensitivity to the spatial heterogeneity. The results indicate that, at the subregional level, the GDSH framework can reduce the confounding effects and accurately identify the dominant factors of rice Cd. At the regional level, this model can evaluate the sensitivity of the dominant factors to spatial heterogeneity in a large area. This study provides a new scheme for the complete utilization of regional field survey data, which is conducive to formulating precise pollution control strategies.

Mechanoluminescence (ML) and room-temperature photophosphorescence (RTP) were achieved in polymorphisms of a triphenylamine derivative with ortho-substitution. This molecular packing-dependent emission afforded crucial information to deeply understand the intrinsic mechanism of different emission forms and the possible packing-function relationship. With the incorporation of solid-state 13 C NMR spectra of single crystals, as well as the analysis of crystal structures, the preferred packing modes for ML and/or RTP were investigated in detail, which can guide the reasonable design of organic molecules with special light-emission properties.

Acylated homoserine lactone (AHL)-mediated quorum sensing (QS) is ecologically important in multi-species systems in laboratory-scale studies; however, little is known about QS in the biofilm formation process in full-scale wastewater treatment plants, which is driven by multiple environmental variables. Here, a model integrated fixed-film-activated sludge system was employed in full-scale municipal wastewater treatment plant to investigate the AHL distribution during the biofilm development process in response to variable environmental factors. The whole biofilm development process can be divided into three phases: initial biofilm attachment process (week 1 to 3), biofilm development and mature phase (week 4 to 6), and biofilm detachment and reformation process (week 7 to 17). N-decanoyl-DL-homoserine lactone (C10-HSL) and N-dodecanoyl-DL-homoserine lactone (C12-HSL) presented high concentrations during the biofilm formation process, which was closely related with the biofilm initial attachment process. The AHL concentration in biofilms was higher than in activated sludge. During the initial attachment process, tryptophan and protein-like substances related to biological substance were strongly positively correlated with all detected AHL concentrations (p 0.05). Three environmental variables (total nitrogen, pH, and Na

Nitrogen is one of the most significant pollutants in the Yangtze River estuary (YRE), China. Reliable estimation of nitrogen concentration in the water is crucial for assessment of the water quality of the estuary. Because ocean fronts exist in the YRE, which divide water masses into different regions, it is necessary to account for the heterogeneity of the water surface when predicting nitrogen concentrations. A new geostatistical method, called spatiotemporal point mean of surface with non-homogeneity (ST-PMSN), is proposed to model the non-stationary spatiotemporal random process of nitrogen concentrations between 2004 and 2013 in the YRE. The method considers the spatiotemporal correlation of surface water nitrogen and uses information from both sides of a boundary for heterogeneous water masses. Comparing with several other interpolating methods, including spatial ordinary kriging (OK), stratified ordinary kriging (SOK), point mean of surface with non-homogeneity (P-MSN), spatiotemporal ordinary kriging (STK), and stratified spatiotemporal ordinary kriging (SSTK), the cross-validation results show that ST-PMSN has the highest accuracy, followed by SSTK, STK, P-MSN, SOK, and OK in descending order. ST-PMSN is therefore demonstrated to be effective in estimating the nitrogen pollutant concentrations in a stratified estuary. According to interpolated nitrogen concentrations in the YRE, water quality has generally deteriorated-with fluctuations-from 2004 to 2013. The average annual reduction in area of water quality of Grades I and II from 2004 to 2013 was 1.10%. At the same time, the average annual increase in area of water quality of Grades III and IV was 0.89% and that of Grade V was 0.21%. The results of this study provide a new and more accurate interpolating method for assessing the pollutant concentration in the marine and offers guidance for more precise classification of water quality in the YRE.

Twenty reported compounds (1–20), including four sterols, five triterpenes, two anthraquinones, three chromones, two stilbenes and four flavonoids, were obtained from Fallopia aubertii by phytochemical methods. Their structures were confirmed on the basis of spectroscopic methods. Among them, nine compounds were firstly reported from the genus Fallopia, while eight of them were obtained from this species for the first time. In addition, this study discussed the relatonships between F. aubertii and some plants of Polygonaceae family.

Heavy metal pollution in soil has become a prominent problem affecting agricultural security and ecological health. Hyperspectral remote sensing is used as a rapid method to predict soil heavy metal concentrations. The processing of spectral data and the variables of the estimated model has an important impact on the predictive model of soil heavy metal elements. In this paper, smoothed and resampled spectral reflections are preprocessed by using three preprocessing methods, namely, standard normal variate (SNV), multiplication scatter correlation (MSC) and normalization (NOR). Then, first and second order differential (FD and SD, respectively) and absorbance transformation (AT) are performed. Based on the adsorption and retention of heavy metals by various soil components, the relevant spectral bands are extracted as modeling variables. An extreme learning machine algorithm (ELM) is used to establish the model, and the effects of different factors on the model are compared. Results show that the combination of the three preprocessing methods (SNV, MSC and NOR) with spectral transformation can enhance the stability and predictive ability of the resulting model. The combination of SNV and FD can predict the contents of Cr, Ni and Pb. The R2 of the model is 0.85, 0.87 and 0.80 respectively. The optimal model of Cu is derived from the combination of NOR and SD (R2 = 0.84), and the spectral responses of soil Cr, Ni, Cu and Pb, are closely related to clay mineral-related and organic matter-related bands. The model established by the clay-related bands enhances the stability of the prediction of Ni content, and the RPD value was increased from 2.46 to 2.72 compared with the full-band model. The combination of bands associated with organic matter and clay minerals can accurately predict the content of Cr and Cu in soil; indeed, the predict model R2 for these elements reaches 0.88. Accurate prediction of soil Pb by the full-band model indicates that the Pb concentration in the study area is related to a various of soil chemical components. The prediction effects of the four heavy metal elements show the order Cr > Cu > Ni > Pb. The results of the current study complement the theoretical basis for estimating the heavy metal content of soil by hyperspectral spectroscopy, and provide important insights into the application of hyperspectral remote sensing to monitor other heavy metals.