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At present, the challenge of high-performance flexible piezoresistive pressure sensors remains the combination of high sensitivity and a wide monitoring range. The micro-morphological engineering of sensing materials will greatly contribute to the design and development of flexible piezoresistive sensors. Therefore, a flexible piezoresistive sensor based on a multi-layer interlocking "sandwich" structure was developed. The structure is assembled from polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)/carbon nanotube (CNT) films with microdome arrays and thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU)/Ti3C2Tx MXene nanofiber films. The multi-layer interlocking structure not only significantly increases the contact area and sensitivity between layers, but also greatly improves mechanical and electrical stability. The results show that the PDMS/CNT–TPU/MXene pressure sensor has a high sensitivity of 82.17 kPa−1, a wide pressure detection range of 0–25 kPa, an extremely short response and recovery time of 100 ms, and an excellent dynamic cycling stability of more than 2000 cycles. In addition, the sensor has been used to perform comprehensive human motion monitoring, such as joint flexion, gait monitoring, and gesture recognition, demonstrating its potential for applications in health monitoring, wearable devices, and human–computer interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metal sulfides have been regarded as highly competitive anode materials for fast sodium storage due to their excellent redox reversibility and comparatively great electron properties. Nevertheless, metal sulfides suffer from serious structure collapse and capacity attenuation during fast cycling. Herein, the iron-based sulfide polycrystalline phase material grown in situ on hollow carbon nanofibers was synthesized (NHCFs-Fe7S8/FeS2). The construction of the polycrystalline phase is an effective strategy to enhance electron and ion transport, and improve the reaction kinetics of sodium ions. Meanwhile, the construction of a carbon network can effectively alleviate the volume expansion in the process of fast charge/discharge and maintain the stability of the structure. Thanks to these unique characteristics, NHCFs-Fe7S8/FeS2 exhibits a significantly enhanced electrochemical performance, which reveals outstanding long-term cycling stability (595.7 mA h g−1 at 1.0 A g−1 after 1000 cycles) and rate properties (154.7 mA h g−1 at 50.0 A g−1 and 107.0 mA h g−1 at 100.0 A g−1). The structure decoration method of metal sulfides can provide effective guidance for the design of other high-performance electrode materials for fast-charging sodium-ion batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) represents a substantial global health challenge, with its impact on mortality and morbidity rates surpassing that of cancer. The present study was designed to explore the cardioprotective properties of anthocyanin (ACN), a compound derived from black barley, against oxidative stress-induced damage in myocardial cells and to uncover the molecular mechanisms at play. Utilizing both in vitro and in vivo experimental models, our findings indicate that ACN notably reduced cell damage caused by oxidative stress and effectively prevented apoptosis. High-throughput RNA sequencing analysis has shed light on the mechanism by which ACN achieves its antioxidative stress effects, implicating the PTEN-Akt signaling pathway. ACN was found to modulate PTEN expression levels, which in turn influences the Akt pathway, leading to a reduction in apoptotic processes. This novel insight lays the groundwork for the potential clinical utilization of ACN in the management of CVD. While this study has shed light on some of the functions of ACN, it is important to recognize that natural compounds often interact with multiple molecular targets and engage in intricate signaling cascades. Future research endeavors will concentrate on further elucidating the regulatory mechanisms by which ACN influences PTEN expression, with the goal of enhancing our comprehension and expanding the therapeutic potential of ACN in the treatment of cardiovascular conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Erionite (ERI) zeolite has recently attracted considerable attention for its application prospect in the selective catalytic reduction of NOx with NH3 (NH3‐SCR), provided that the high‐silica (Si/Al > 5.5) analog with improved hydrothermal stability can be facilely synthesized. In this work, ERI zeolites with different Si/Al ratios (4.6, 6.4, and 9.1) are synthesized through an ultrafast route, and in particular, a high‐silica ERI zeolite with a Si/Al ratio of 9.1 is obtained by using faujasite (FAU) as a starting material. The solid‐state 29Si MAS NMR spectroscopic study in combination with a computational simulation allows for figuring out the atomic configurations of the Al species in the three ERI zeolites. It is revealed that the ERI zeolite with the highest Si/Al ratio (ERI‐9.1, where the number indicates the Si/Al ratio) exhibits a biased Al occupancy at T1 site, which is possibly due to the presence of a higher fraction of the residual potassium cations in the can cages. In contrast, the Al siting in ERI‐4.6 and ERI‐6.4 proves to be relatively random. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rolling mill bearings are prone to wear, erosion, and other damage characteristics due to prolonged exposure to rolling forces. Therefore, regular inspection of rolling mill bearings is necessary. Ultrasonic technology, due to its non-destructive nature, allows for measuring the oil film thickness distribution within the bearing during disassembly. However, during the process of using ultrasonic reflection coefficients to determine the oil film thickness and distribution state of rolling mill bearings, changes in bearing temperature due to prolonged operation can occur. Ultrasonic waves are susceptible to temperature variations, and different temperatures of the measured structure can lead to changes in measurement results, ultimately distorting the results. This paper proposes using density and sound speed compensation methods to address this issue. It simulates and analyzes the oil film reflection coefficients at different temperatures, ultimately confirming the feasibility and effectiveness of this approach. The paper establishes a functional relationship between bearing pressure and reflection coefficients, oil film thickness, and reflection coefficients. This allows for the compensation of reflection coefficients under any pressure conditions, enhancing the accuracy of oil film thickness detection. The proposed method provides technical support for the maintenance of plate rolling processes in the steel industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Underwater object detection is a challenging task in the process of marine exploration and development. Addressing the issue of poor underwater target detection performance in existing algorithms due to problems such as low visibility and color distortion in underwater images, an improved YOLOv7 underwater target detection algorithm is proposed with the aim of improving underwater object detection performance. Firstly, a multi-information flow fusion attention mechanism (spatial group-wise coordinated competitive attention, SGCA) is designed to solve the problem of feature loss caused by the loss of global context information of the image in the convolution process. It improves the detection accuracy of the model in the case of image blur. Additionally, the switchable atrous convolution (SAConv) module is used to replace the 3×3 convolution module in the ELAN structure to enhance the feature extraction capability of the backbone network. Secondly, Wise-IoU is used as the loss function in the prediction part, which obtains more accurate detection results by balancing model training outcomes on images of varying quality. Finally, an underwater image enhancement method based on dark channel prior (DCP) and depth transmission maps is employed to enhance the images in the underwater dataset. Experimental results show that the improved algorithm achieves a mAP of 87.3% on the selfbuilt underwater object detection dataset, which is 3.4 percengtage points higher than that of the original YOLOv7 algorithm. On the enhanced underwater image dataset, mAP is 87.1%, increases 2.1 percentage points. Therefore, the proposed approach exhibits superior performance in underwater object detection tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: The shortage of water resources and the increase of greenhouse gas emissions from soil seriously restrict the sustainable development of agriculture. Under the premise of ensuring a stable yield of winter wheat through a reasonable irrigation scenario, identifying a suitable straw returning method will have a positive effect on agricultural carbon sequestration and emission reduction in North China Plain. RESULTS: Straw burying (SR) and straw mulching (SM) were adopted based on traditional tillage under in the winter wheat growing season of 2020–2021 and 2021–2022. Three irrigation scenarios were used for each straw returning method: no irrigation (I0), irrigation 60 mm at jointing stage (I1), and irrigation of 60 mm each at the jointing and heading stages (I2). Soil moisture, soil respiration rate, cumulative soil CO2 emissions, yield, water use efficiency (WUE) and soil CO2 emission efficiency (CEE) were mainly studied. The results showed that, compared to SM, SR improved the utilization of soil water and enhanced soil carbon sequestration. SR reduced soil respiration rate and cumulative soil CO2 emissions in two winter wheat growing seasons, and increased yield by increasing spike numbers. In addition, with an increase in the amount of irrigation, soil CO2 emissions and yield increased. Under SR‐I1 treatment, WUE and CEE were the highest. SR‐I1 increases crop yields at the same time as reducing soil CO2 emissions. CONCLUSION: The combination of SR and irrigation 60 mm at jointing stage is a suitable straw returning irrigation scenario, which can improve water use and reduce soil CO2 emission in NCP. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In railway signalling systems, trackside equipment and signalling devices are controlled by wayside object controllers (OC). With the application of radio communication to wirelessly transmit command control and signals, the cost of cabling and installation has been significantly reduced. However, for non-electrified regional lines in rural areas, dedicated cables are still installed along the track to drive the wayside object controllers, which increases both capital and operational costs. With the development of renewable energy sources (RES) and wayside energy storage systems (ESS), a concept of smart wayside object controllers (SWOC) is proposed, which are autonomous, off-grid and powered by local renewable energy sources to reduce the related costs. To assist future system development, this work develops methods to not only calculate power and energy demand for system configuration but also estimate the life cycle cost in long-term operation. A case study based on a railway test site in Sweden is performed. This study shows that it is sufficient to use 100% local renewable energy sources to power the SWOC, trackside equipment and signalling devices. Compared with the existing system, the SWOC shows a significant cost saving in long-term operation by removing cabling and installation, reducing trackside maintenance and replacing the power supply with renewable energy power sources for decarbonisation. Therefore, the SWOC shows its significant benefits over the existing system from both economical and environmental aspects. In the end, some suggestions for future development and implementation of SWOC are given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To study on the expression of forkhead box D1 (FOXD1) in pancreatic cancer and the mechanism of invasion and metastasis of pancreatic cancer through FOXD1 via the extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) pathway. Methods We searched the database of expression of FOXD1 in both pancreatic cancer and normal pancreatic tissue from the Cancer Genome Atlas and analyzed the difference in expression of FOXD1. Expression of FOXD1 mRNA in pancreatic tissue of 15 cases with pancreatic cancer was detected using polymerase chain reaction. Expression of FOXD1 in pancreatic cancer cell lines was analyzed using Western Blot. The effect of FOXD1 knockdown on the expression of proteins associated with epithelial mesenchymal transition(EMT) was investigated using Western Blot. The effect of FOXD1 knockdown on the proliferation and invasion of pancreatic cancer cell lines were tested by cell counting kit-8 assay and Transwell assay. Results FOXD1 was highly expressed in pancreatic cancer tissues and cell lines. Knockdown of FOXD1 attenuated the proliferation and invasion of pancreatic cancer cell lines and enhanced expression of EMT associa-ted proteins including epithelial cadherin and ERK while attenuated expression of neuronal cadherin and phosphorylated ERK. Conclusions FOXD1 would be the oncogene of pancreatic cancer by promoting invasion and metastasis of pancrea-tic cancer via ERK pathway.