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Readout of multiparametric environmental signals typically uses discrete sensing formats that individually require unique signal conditioning circuitry and/or processing pathways. Here, adaptable sensor networks composed exclusively of passive material architectures that enable spectrometric comonitoring of chemical or physical environmental signals are proposed. Herein, a single radio frequency (RF) reader wirelessly interacts first with an intermediate wireless relay coil—this is tunable in length and can be designed to conform around surfaces. This relay (that is fused on textiles or surfaces) is then wirelessly coupled to arrays of passive RF sensors with individually programmable flexibility/reactivity to environmental signals. Multiple chemical and physical signals can then be monitored within the single spectral readout of a wearable reader. This technique can probe over tunable length scales, and is robust to mechanical disturbances that limit present techniques. As a proof of concept, this approach is used to comonitor chemophysical metrics such as nutrients, temperature, pressure, pH, and more on the skin or in utensils with a single readout. This technique may form a cornerstone of zero‐microelectronic sensor networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Dendrimer-like glucan nanoparticulate system (CoQ10-SMDG) was formulated using solid-dispersion preparation. • CoQ10-SMDG improved the water solubility of CoQ10 for 188.8-folds. • Structural characterizations revealed that crystal CoQ10 was entrapped in SMDG matrix for amorphous state. • The cellular antioxidant activity of CoQ10-SMDG was significantly improved compared with raw CoQ10. • SMDG was an excellent platform for encapsulation and delivery of hydropholic components. Aqueous coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) dispersions were prepared using sugary maize dendrimer-like glucan (SMDG) with solid-dispersion treatment. After measuring solubility, recovery rate and loading rate, the initial weight ratio of CoQ10:SMDG was optimized to be 1:27, with the solubility markedly increasing up 188.8-folds compared to pure CoQ10 solution. The structural characterizations of CoQ10-SMDG formulation showed crystal CoQ10 was entrapped in SMDG matrix for amorphous state, associated with the strong interactions with glucan chains. The antioxidant activity of CoQ10-SMDG was assessed via DPPH and FRAP assay. DPPH scavenging activity and FRAP value of it were as high as 95.1% and 0.87 mM, respectively. The cellular uptake of CoQ10 in CoQ10-SMDG group was significantly higher than that of natural CoQ10. CoQ10-SMDG also exhibited significant protective effects against cellular damage in H 2 O 2 -induced HaCaT cell model. The results indicated that dendrimer-like glucan is an excellent platform to encapsulate and improve biological activity of hydropholic compounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The expression of SIN3A is closely correlated with electroacupuncture (EA) treatment efficacy of scopolamine-induced amnesia (SIA), but its underlying mechanisms remain to be further explored. Methods: Quantitative real-time PCR was performed to analyze the expression of candidate microRNAs (miRNAs) and SIN3A mRNA in a rat model of SIA. Western blot was carried out to evaluate the differential expression of SIN3A proteins under different circumstances. Luciferase assay was used to explore the inhibitory role of certain miRNAs in SIN3A expression. A novel object recognition (NOR) test was performed to assess the memory function of SIA rats undergoing EA treatment. Immunohistochemistry was carried out to evaluate the expression of SIN3A in the hippocampus of SIA rats. Results: Rno-miR-183-5p, rno-miR-34c-3p and rno-miR-210-3p were significantly up-regulated in SIA rats treated with EA. In addition, rno-miR-183-5p and rno-miR-210-3p exerted an inhibitory effect on SIN3A expression. EA treatment of SIA rats effectively restored the dysregulated expression of rno-miR-183-5p, rno-miR-210-3p and SIN3A. EA treatment also promoted the inhibited expression of neuronal IEGs including Arc, Egr1, Homer1 and Narp in the hippocampus of SIA rats. Accordingly, the NOR test also confirmed the effect of EA treatment on the improvement of memory in SIA rats. Conclusion: In summary, the findings of this study demonstrated that scopolamine-induced amnesia was associated with downregulated expression of miR-210/miR-183 and upregulated expression of SIN3A. Furthermore, treatment with EA alleviated scopolamine-induced amnesia in rats and was associated with upregulated expression of miR-210/miR-183 and downregulated expression of SIN3A. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In Eukaryotes, inositol polyphosphates (InsPs) represent a large family of secondary messengers and play crucial roes in various cellular processes. InsPs are synthesized through a series of pohophorylation reactions catalyzed by various InsP kinases in a sequential manner. Inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate 3-kinase (IP3 3-kinase/IP3K), one member of InsP kinase, plays important regulation roles in InsPs metabolism by specifically phosphorylating inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP3) to inositol 1,3,4,5-tetrakisphosphate (IP4) in animal cells. IP3Ks were widespread in fungi, plants and animals. However, its evolutionary history and patterns have not been examined systematically. Results: A total of 104 and 31 IP3K orthologues were identified across 57 plant genomes and 13 animal genomes, respectively. Phylogenetic analyses indicate that IP3K originated in the common ancestor before the divergence of fungi, plants and animals. In most plants and animals, IP3K maintained low-copy numbers suggesting functional conservation during plant and animal evolution. In Brassicaceae and vertebrate, IP3K underwent one and two duplication events, respectively, resulting in multiple gene copies. Whole-genome duplication (WGD) was the main mechanism for IP3K duplications, and the IP3K duplicates have experienced functional divergence. Finally, a hypothetical evolutionary model for the IP3K proteins is proposed based on phylogenetic theory. Conclusion: Our study reveals the evolutionary history of IP3K proteins and guides the future functions of animal, plant, and fungal IP3K proteins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Medium- to high-resolution imagery is indispensable for various applications. Combining images from Landsat 8 and Sentinel-2 can improve the accuracy of observing dynamic changes on the Earth's surface. Many researchers use Sentinel-2 10 m resolution data in conjunction with Landsat 8 30 m resolution data to generate 10 m resolution data series. However, current fusion techniques have some algorithmic weaknesses, such as simple processing of coarse or fine images, which fail to extract image features to the fullest extent, especially in rapidly changing land cover areas. Facing the aforementioned limitations, we proposed a multiscale and attention mechanism-based residual spatiotemporal fusion network (MARSTFN) that utilizes Sentinel-2 10 m resolution data and Landsat 8 15 m resolution data as auxiliary data to upgrade Landsat 8 30 m resolution data to 10 m resolution. In this network, we utilized multiscale and attention mechanisms to extract features from coarse and fine images separately. Subsequently, the features outputted from all input branches are combined and further feature information is extracted through residual networks and skip connections. Finally, the features obtained from the residual network are merged with the feature information of the coarsely processed images from the multiscale mechanism to generate accurate prediction images. To assess the efficacy of our model, we compared it with existing models on two datasets. Results demonstrated that our fusion model outperformed baseline methods across various evaluation indicators, highlighting its ability to integrate Sentinel-2 and Landsat 8 data to produce 10 m resolution data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photodiode‐type solar‐blind photodetectors (SBPDs) with the self‐powered feature hold great promise for applications in unattended secure communication, flame detection, and missile warning. However, the responsivity of SBPDs is usually limited due to the severe solar‐blind (SB) light extinction in substrates and charge transport layers. Herein, a spectrally selective hole extraction structure (SHE) is proposed for high‐efficiency perovskite SBPDs. The SHE consisting of a tandem Fabry–Perot cavity and energy‐level‐matched hole transport layer endows the device with narrowband absorption in the SB region and optimized charge extraction capability from the CsPbI2Br perovskite. The optimized SHE exhibits a peak transmittance of 27% at 255 nm and a half maximum at full width of 28 nm. Under SB light illumination, the champion device achieves a responsivity of 56.20 mA W−1 and a detectivity (D*) of 2.86 × 1013 Jones, which are the record values among the reported results. The approach demonstrated here paves the way for the optical and electrical design of perovskite photodetectors with spectrally selective detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quasi‐two‐dimensional (quasi‐2D) perovskites are emerging as efficient emitters in blue perovskite light‐emitting diodes (PeLEDs), while the imbalanced crystallization of the halide‐mixed system limits further improvements in device performance. The rapid crystallization caused by Cl doping produces massive defects at the interface, leading to aggravated non‐radiative recombination. Meanwhile, unmanageable perovskite crystallization is prone to facilitate the formation of nonuniform low‐dimensional phases, which results in energy loss during the exciton transfer process. Here, we propose a multifunctional interface engineering for nucleation and phase regulation by incorporating the zwitterionic additive potassium sulfamate into the hole transport layer. By using potassium ions (K+) as heterogeneous nucleation seeds, finely controlled growth of interfacial K+‐guided grains is achieved. The sulfamate ions can simultaneously regulate the phase distribution and passivate defects through coordination interactions with undercoordinated lead atoms. Consequently, such synergistic effect constructs quasi‐2D blue perovskite films with smooth energy landscape and reduced trap states, leading to pure‐blue PeLEDs with a maximum external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 17.32 %, spectrally stable emission at 478 nm and the prolonged operational lifetime. This work provides a unique guide to comprehensively regulate the halide‐mixed blue perovskite crystallization by manipulating the characteristics of grain‐growth substrate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quasi‐two‐dimensional (quasi‐2D) perovskites are emerging as efficient emitters in blue perovskite light‐emitting diodes (PeLEDs), while the imbalanced crystallization of the halide‐mixed system limits further improvements in device performance. The rapid crystallization caused by Cl doping produces massive defects at the interface, leading to aggravated non‐radiative recombination. Meanwhile, unmanageable perovskite crystallization is prone to facilitate the formation of nonuniform low‐dimensional phases, which results in energy loss during the exciton transfer process. Here, we propose a multifunctional interface engineering for nucleation and phase regulation by incorporating the zwitterionic additive potassium sulfamate into the hole transport layer. By using potassium ions (K+) as heterogeneous nucleation seeds, finely controlled growth of interfacial K+‐guided grains is achieved. The sulfamate ions can simultaneously regulate the phase distribution and passivate defects through coordination interactions with undercoordinated lead atoms. Consequently, such synergistic effect constructs quasi‐2D blue perovskite films with smooth energy landscape and reduced trap states, leading to pure‐blue PeLEDs with a maximum external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 17.32 %, spectrally stable emission at 478 nm and the prolonged operational lifetime. This work provides a unique guide to comprehensively regulate the halide‐mixed blue perovskite crystallization by manipulating the characteristics of grain‐growth substrate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Giant cell tumor of bone (GCTB) is an intermediate (locally aggressive) bone tumor with a recurrence rate of >30% following surgery. GCTB recurrence is ultimately due to the proliferation of neoplastic stromal (NS) cells. However, the precise mechanism underlying the regulation of NS cell proliferation remains unknown. p62 protein is a multifunctional adaptor protein that exerts a positive role in bone tumors and metabolic bone diseases. In the present study, the mRNA and protein expression levels of p62 were detected by reverse transcription-quantitative PCR and western blotting, respectively, in 8 paired fresh GCTB tumor tissues and adjacent normal cancellous bone tissues. The association between p62 expression level and patient prognosis was subsequently analyzed in 54 paraffin-embedded tumor specimens by immunohistochemistry assay. NS cells were isolated from GCTB primary cell culture, and the role of p62 was evaluated using in vitro cell proliferation, migration and invasion assays. The results revealed that p62 mRNA and protein were overexpressed in tumor tissues. High p62 expression levels were significantly associated with the recurrence of GCTB (P=0.001). The patients in the high p62 expression group had shorter 5-year recurrence-free survival rates compared with the patients in the low p62 expression group (P<0.001). Cox regression analysis identified p62 expression as an independent prognostic indicator of the recurrence-free survival of patients with GCTB (P<0.001). The in vitro experiments revealed that p62 downregulation inhibited NS cell proliferation, invasion and migration, and promoted apoptosis. In conclusion, it was found that p62 overexpression is associated with the recurrence of GCTB via the promotion of NS cell proliferation. Therefore, p62 could be a novel prognostic indicator, and a potential therapeutic target for GCTB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Coequally wetted composite materials are prepared via ultrasonication method. • Degradable and environmentally friendly β-CD and MCNT used for the synthesis. • MCNT@β-CD exhibit excellent interfacial activities. • An ultra-low concentration of MCNT@β-CD is utilized to break oily wastewater. • The separated water phase is similar to the distilled water. Emulsified oily wastewater has caused many problems in industrial production and ecological environment. To address this challenge, carbon nanotubes grafted with β-cyclodextrin (MCNT@β-CD) was prepared by an ultrasonic method to break oily wastewater. The composite materials were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, UV-visible spectroscopy, scanning electron microscope and thermogravimetric analysis. The demulsification test showed that the light transmittance of the resulting water phase was up to 94.5% at a low concentration of 50 mg/L within a few minutes at room temperature. Also, the corresponding oil remove rate was about 99.76%. In addition, it was suitable for acidic and neutral conditions with good salt tolerance. Interfacial activity, wettability, self-assembly at oil/water interface (WOI), dynamic interfacial tensions, zeta potential and photomicrograph were further investigated to confirm the possible mechanism. Generally speaking, the surface wettability of carbon nanotubes could be turned with β-CD. Therefore, MCNT@β-CD might rapidly migrate to WOI and replace the asphaltenes by π–π interactions and reduce the emulsion stability by charge neutralization. The current work provides a significant understand for the demulsification mechanism and indicates that MCNT@β-CD is a favorable interfacial activity, high demulsification efficiency and non-toxic demulsifier for oily wastewater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To protect Nb substrate from oxidation at elevated temperatures and make better use of the industrial solid wastes, spent MoSi 2 heating elements, ZrSi 2 and SiC were applied as raw materials to prepare MoSi 2 and MoSi 2 –ZrSi 2 –SiC coatings by Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS). After high-temperature sintering, cracks were found in a single MoSi 2 coating while MoSi 2 –ZrSi 2 –SiC coating was crack-free without any defects by the CTE mismatch reduction. Diffusion layers formed on the substrate and it strengthened the bonding in the coating system with good metallurgical combination. The oxide scale of the composite coatings possessed compact and crack-free morphologies with fractional consumption after oxidation at 1500 °C. Circular Mo 5 Si 3 phases that possessed pores and cracks generated in the silica layer of MoSi 2 coating at 1700 °C while MoSi 2 –ZrSi 2 –SiC composite coating still kept crack-free oxide scale, thus showing excellent 1700 °C anti-oxidation properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report a specially designed type of temporal resolved x-ray spectroscopic diagnostic using a spherically bent quartz crystal for z-pinch plasmas. Registration of time-resolved spectra was accomplished by coupling fast plastic scintillator, an optical fiber array, an optical streak camera, and a charge coupled device as the recording medium of this diagnostic. The diagnostic has been tested in imploding wire array experiments on S-300 pulsed power facility. Time-resolved K-shell lines were successfully obtained for aluminum wire array implosion plasmas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For decades, differentially pumped environmental transmission electron microscopy has been a powerful tool to study dynamic structural evolution of catalysts under a gaseous environment. With the advancement of micro-electromechanical system-based technologies, windowed gas cell became increasingly popular due to its ability to achieve high pressure and its compatibility to a wide range of microscopes with minimal modification. This enables a series of imaging and analytical technologies such as atomic resolution imaging, spectroscopy, and operando, revealing details that were unprecedented before. By reviewing some of the recent work, we demonstrate that the windowed gas cell has the unique ability to solve complicated catalysis problems. We also discuss what technical difficulties need to be addressed and provide an outlook for the future of in situ environmental transmission electron microscopy (TEM) technologies and their application to the field of catalysis development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel MOFs, {[Mn 6 (TTHA) 2 (4, 4′-bipy) 3 (H 2 O) 10 ⋅3H 2 O} n (1), where H 6 TTHA ​= ​1,3,5-triazine-2,4,6-triamine hexaacetic acid, has been synthesized under hydrothermal condition and fully structurally characterized. The X-ray single-crystal diffraction measurement and topological analysis indicate that 1 exhibits a 3D network with 2, 3, 4, 4-connected topology. Moreover, the adsorption performance study of 1 shows a general water adsorption capacity of 7.61% (4.226 ​mmol/g) at 90% RH and 298 ​K. Additionally, the investigation of magnetic susceptibility on 1 reveals that weak antiferromagnetic interactions were dominant within multinuclear Mn(II) units, according to the analysis of fit constants including J and θ. A MnII-MOFs with novel topological structure was synthesized and exhibits weak antiferromagnetic interaction and general water adsorption capacity. Image 1 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to reduce the cost of demulsifiers and improve the demulsification performance of carbon material demulsifier, the nano-SiO 2 was grafted onto the surface of oxidized carbon black (Ox-CB) by sol-gel method in current study. The novel composite demulsifier was analyzed by fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), field-emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) and X-ray diffraction spectra (XRD) which confirmed the partial grafting of SiO 2 on the oxidized carbon black (Ox-CB).The influences of temperature, settling time, and concentration of the composite demulsifier on the efficiency for breaking up water-in-oil emulsions were investigated in detail by bottle test. It was found that the best operating conditions to remove more than 90% of the water from the original emulsion were a temperature of 75 ℃ and a demulsifier concentration of 500 mg/L. The wettability, oil-water interfacial tensions (IFT) and interfacial activity of the demulsifier were further measured to explore the demulsification mechanism. Possible demulsification mechanism showed that the composite demulsifier could lead to the breakup of water-in-oil emulsions by bridging, flocculation and coalescence. The high interfacial activity is the main factor affecting the demulsification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Little is known about the relationship between lipoprotein (a) [Lp(a)] and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) and their joint association with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD).Objectives: The purpose of this study was to assess whether Lp(a)-associated ASCVD risk is modified by hsCRP in the context of primary prevention.Methods: The current study included 4,679 participants from the MESA (Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis) Apolipoprotein ancillary data set. Cox proportional hazards models and Kaplan-Meier curves were used to assess the association among Lp(a), hsCRP, and time to cardiovascular disease (CVD) events.Results: During a mean follow-up of 13.6 years, 684 CVD events occurred. A significant interaction was observed between Lp(a) and hsCRP (P = 0.04). With hsCRP <2 mg/L, no significant CVD risk was observed at any level of Lp(a) from <50 mg/dL to >100 mg/dL. However, with hsCRP ≥2 mg/L, a significant CVD risk was observed with Lp(a) of 50-99.9 mg/dL (HR: 1.36; 95% CI: 1.02-1.81) and Lp(a) ≥100 mg/dL (HR: 2.09; 95% CI: 1.40-3.13). Isolated elevations of either Lp(a) or hsCRP were not associated with increased CVD risk. In contrast, the combination of elevated Lp(a) (≥50 mg/dL) and hsCRP (≥2 mg/L) was independently associated with significant CVD risk (HR: 1.62; 95% CI: 1.25-2.10) and all-cause mortality (HR: 1.39; 95% CI: 1.12-1.72).Conclusions: Lp(a)-associated ASCVD risk is observed only with concomitant elevation of hsCRP. Individuals with concomitant presence of elevated Lp(a) and systemic inflammation have greater ASCVD risk and all-cause mortality, and thus may merit closer surveillance and more aggressive ASCVD risk management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is of great significance for disaster prevention and mitigation to carry out disaster simulations for dam failure accidents in advance, but at present, there are few professional systems for disaster simulations of tailings dams. In this paper, we focused on the construction of a virtual geographic environment (VGE) system that provides an effective tool for visualizing the dam-break process of a tailings pond. The dam-break numerical model of the tailings dam based on computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was integrated into the VGE system. The infrastructure of the VGE was supported by a 3-D geographic information system (GIS) with a user-friendly interface for the initiation, visualization, and analysis of the dynamic process of tailings dam failure. Key technologies, including the integration of numerical models, rendering of large-scale scenes, and optimizations of disaster simulation and visualization, were discussed in detail. In the prototype system, information on the run-out path, travel distance, etc. can be obtained to visually describe the flow motion released by two dam failure cases. The simulation results showed that the VGE can be used for the multidimensional, dynamic and interactive visualization of dam-break disasters, and can also be useful for assessing the risk associated with tailings dams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biologically active scaffolds with tunable mechano- and bio-performance remain desirable for soft tissue engineering. Previously, highly elastic and robust silk fibroin (SF) scaffolds were prepared via cryogelation. In order to get more insight into the role of ethylene glycol diglycidyl ether (EGDE) on the structure and properties of SF scaffolds, we investigated the fate of SF scaffolds with different usages of the crosslinking agent in vitro and in vivo. Although SF scaffolds with varied EGDE contents showed similar micro-morphology, increasing EGDE from 1 mmol/g to 5 mmol/g resulted in firstly increased and later decreased content of β-sheet conformation, and linearly increased tensile modulus and decreased elasticity. The dual-crosslinked SF scaffolds with EGDE up to 5 mmol/g did not show in vitro cytotoxicity for NIH3T3 fibroblasts. In vivo subcutaneous implantation of SF scaffolds with <3 mmol/g EGDE displayed excellent degradation behavior and tissue ingrowth after 28 days of implantation. However, with ≥3 mmol/g EGDE, SF scaffolds exhibited obvious post-implantation foreign body reactions, probably associated with slow degradation due to excess chemical crosslinks and less mechanical compatibility. These results suggest that an appropriate dosage of crosslinking agent was critical to achieve balanced mechanical properties, degradability in vivo and immuno-properties of the SF scaffold platform for soft tissue engineering. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is one of the main risk factors for intracranial cerebral artery stenosis (ICAS), and fasting blood glucose (FBG) might be an effective predictor of ICAS. However, there are a few studies revealing the relationship between FBG and ICAS. We aim to identify the association between FBG and ICAS in Koreans. Methods: This was a secondary study based on a cross-sectional study. A total of 1011 Korean individuals who were asymptomatic but with high cerebrovascular risk underwent an examination in a Korean medical centre from March 2008 to December 2014. The main measure was FBG, while the main outcome was ICAS. Multivariate logistic regression analyses of FBG in the presence of ICAS were performed to examine the potential association. The author used the data provided by the paper "Association between Serum Alkaline Phosphatase Level and Cerebral Small Vessel Disease" for secondary analysis. Results: The average age of the participants was 64.2 ± 9.1 years old, and approximately 35% of them were males. There were 24 participants suffering from ICAS in the first FBG tertile (< 5.4 mmol/L), while there were 26 in the second tertile (5.4–7.1 mmol/L) and 50 in the third tertile (≥ 7.1 mmol/L). The non-adjusted relationship between FBG and ICAS was positive. After controlling potential confounders, the association of FPG with ICAS remained positive, as well as in subgroups analysis, such as age, sex, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidaemia and COAD. The association remained unchanged after adjusted sex, age, hypertension, DM, uric acid, hyperlipidaemia, and CAOD (OR = 1.08, 95% CI = 1.02–1.15). The analyses also showed that the positive association was statistically significant (P < 0.05) among individuals without diabetes. Conclusions: This study showed a positive relationship between FBG and ICAS, which suggests that clinicians may need to be simultaneously concerned about FBG and ICAS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Employing suitable materials and device engineering is one of the crucial methods toward the realization of multifunctional memristive devices for constructing bioinspired neuromorphic systems. In this work, dual-functional memristors composed of eco-friendly natural silk sericin, coexistently enabling the achievement of threshold switching and memory switching triggered by adjusting the compliance current value, have been fabricated with a specific two-terminal device structure: Ag/Ag−In−Zn−S/silk sericin/W. Experimentally, the as-manufactured memristors exhibit several desirable qualities, such as low switching voltage (< 0.7 V), relatively small cycle-to-cycle and device-to-device variabilities, nonvolatile multilevel storage characteristics, and rapid switching speed (40 ns). Beyond these qualities, fundamental synaptic behaviors, such as paired-pulse facilitation and spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP), have been mimicked. This was made possible by a filamentary mechanism based on Ag migration. The fitted time constants corresponding to the STDP potentiation and depression are about 30 ms, and the highest changes in synaptic weight for positive and negative voltage pulses are 84.4% and 61.7%, respectively. Furthermore, the typical coincidence detection task has been executed, demonstrated by simulation based on the fitted STDP's parameters of the sericin-based device. The results from this study indicate that the sericin-based memristors, as designed, have the potential to be employed in the creation of versatile neuromorphic devices for neuromorphic computing systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microchannel plate (MCP) photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) are frequently used in experimental diagnostics, where they are operated in single-pulse current measurement mode. However, considering the significant amplitude fluctuations in the measured signal, the resulting output signal from the MCP-PMT is inevitably distorted by gain saturation. Therefore, understanding the correlation between the MCP-PMT output signal and gain saturation is critical in assessing the extent of output signal distortion and determining the MCP-PMT saturation level. This knowledge allows for a more precise assessment of the input signal's features. In this paper, we present an experimental method for restoring the initial waveform from the saturated MCP-PMT signal. To correct the amplitude-drop caused by gain saturation, our technique involves calibrating the MCP-PMT's relative gain as a function of the accumulated output charge using a square-wave light source. We then applied this approach to restore a ∼500 ns saturated pulse from a double-layer 10 mm diameter MCP-PMT. The restored signal showed a deviation of less than 6% from the reference waveform, which validates the effectiveness of the technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the mechanical properties' behaviors of woven composite cut-out structures with specific parameters. Because of the complexity of micro-scale and meso-scale structure, it is difficult to accurately predict the mechanical material behavior of woven composites. Numerical simulations are increasingly necessary for the design and optimization of test procedures for composite structures made by the woven composite. The results of the proposed method are well satisfied with the results obtained from the experiment and other studies. Moreover, parametric studies on different plates based on the stacking sequences are investigated. Design/methodology/approach: A multi-scale modeling approach is suggested. Back-propagation neural networks (BPNN), radial basis function (RBF) and least square support vector regression are integrated with efficient global optimization (EGO) to reduce the weight of assigned structure. Optimization results are verified by finite element analysis. Findings: Compared with other similar studies, the advantage of the suggested strategy uses homogenized properties behaviors with more complex analysis of woven composite structures. According to investigation results, it can be found that 450/−450 ply-orientation is the best buckling load value for all the cut-out shape requirements. According to the optimal results, the BPNN-EGO is the best candidate for the EGO to optimize the woven composite structures. Originality/value: A multi-scale approach is used to investigate the mechanical properties of a complex woven composite material architecture. Buckling of different cut-out shapes with the same area is surveyed. According to investigation, 45°/−45° ply-orientation is the best for all cut-out shapes. Different surrogate models are integrated in EGO for optimization. The BPNN surrogate model is the best choice for EGO to optimization difficult problems of woven composite materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taiwan's National Health Insurance (NHI) implemented in 1995, covers over 99% of Taiwan population of 23 million with positive health outcome, the lowest administration cost in the world of 2 percentand high satisfactory rate. National LTC Need Study (NLTCNS) conducted in 2009-2011 and 2015-2016, indicated Taiwan's disability rate in general population is 2.89%; in elderly population is 16.50%; the disabled population is estimated to raise from 740,000 in 2014 to 1,200,000 in 2031. After implementation of National Health Insurance in 1995, Taiwan government initiated the first 10 year Long Term Care (LTC1.0) Plan in 2008 ending 2017. During initial planning for LTC 2.0, government recognized a major barrier to implement LTC effectively was due to separate operations and lack of coordination of health and social welfare systems. After three years' planning, the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MHW) was established by combining Bureaus of Health and Social Welfare in 2013. Although NLTCNS indicated high public support for long term care insurance (87%), newly elected administration decide paying through a tax-based financing. Integrated Health and LTC Study (IHLTCS) was funded in 2014-2015 to explore integration strategies and resources needed to support system integration. Researchers and policy makers visited the U.S. conducted model reviews. Presenter will discuss findings from both NLTCNS and IHLTCS to describe Taiwan's disability population, service utilization, issues causing fragmentation and stakeholder opinions. In addition, presenter will discuss findings from data analysis, model reviews, focus groups and official interviews, four (4) targeted areas were recommended for initiation and the nature of support structure for implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new flexible triazine-based polycarboxylate coordination polymer, {[Co3(H3TTHA)2(4,4′-bipy)5(H2O)8]·12H2O}n (1), where H6TTHA = 1,3,5-triazine-2,4,6-triamine hexaacetic acid, has been synthesized under hydrothermal conditions and structurally characterized by infrared spectroscopy, elemental analysis, TGA, XRD and X-ray single-crystal diffraction. Structural analysis indicates that 1 displays a planar structure with alternate rectangular structures of 22.695 × 11.485 Å2. The investigation of water vapor adsorption shows that the adsorption capacity of 1 is comparable to that of the typical adsorption material of MCM-41 with 73.86% (41.03 mmol g−1) water uptake at 90% relative humidity (RH). Based on the resistance to water and high-density hydrophilic units as well as abundant hydrogen-bonding networks in the complex, the proton conductivities of 1 under different conditions were measured. The results indicate that the proton conductivity values are highly temperature and relative humidity dependent, with the highest conductivity of nearly 10−3 S cm−1 at 353 K and 98% RH. The Arrhenius activation energy derived in the wide temperature range of 293–353 K is 0.32 eV, corresponding to a typical Grotthuss mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Caesalpinia minax Hance, whose seeds are known as "Ku-shi-lian" in China, have been used in Chinese folk medicine for treatment of rheumatism, dysentery, and skin itching. However, the anti-neuroinflammatory constituents of its leaves and their mechanism are rarely reported. To search for new anti-neuro-inflammatory compounds from the leaves of C. minax and elucidate their mechanism on anti-neuroinflammatory effect. The main metabolites of the ethyl acetate fraction from C. minax were analyzed and purified via HPLC and various column chromatography techniques. Their structures were elucidated on the basis of 1D and 2D NMR, HR-ESI-MS, and single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. Anti-neuroinflammatory activity was evaluated in BV-2 microglia cells induced by LPS. The expression levels of molecules in NF-κB and MAPK signaling pathways were analyzed through western blotting. Meanwhile, the time- and dose-dependent expression of associated proteins such as iNOS and COX-2 were detected by western blotting. Furthermore, Compounds 1 and 3 were performed on the NF-κB p65 active site using molecular docking simulation to elucidate the molecular level inhibition mechanism. 20 cassane diterpenoids, including two novel ones (caeminaxins A and B) were isolated from the leaves of C. minax Hance. Caeminaxins A and B possessed a rare unsaturated carbonyl moiety in their structures. Most of the metabolites exhibited potent inhibition effects with IC 50 values ranging from 10.86 ± 0.82 to 32.55 ± 0.47 μM. Among them, caeminaxin A inhibited seriously the expression of iNOS and COX-2 proteins and restrained the phosphorylation of MAPK and the activation of NF-κB signaling pathways in BV-2 cells. The anti-neuro-inflammatory mechanism of caeminaxin A has been studied systematically for the first time. Furthermore, biosynthesis pathways for compounds 1 – 20 were discussed. The new cassane diterpenoid, caeminaxin A, alleviated the expression of iNOS and COX-2 protein and down-regulated of intracellular MAPK and NF-κB signaling pathways. The results implied that cassane diterpenoids had potential to be developed into therapeutic agents for neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Automatic building information extraction is an active research field in photogrammetry and remote sensing. However, most methods are proposed for supervised segmentation of point clouds or images, which can only capture limited building texture or geometric information, resulting in the obtained buildings being often fragmented. Therefore, we propose a bidirectionally greedy framework to extract spatial-continuous, geometry-complete, fine-textured 3D building models from large-scale 3D meshes captured by airborne in an unsupervised manner. The framework consists of two key steps in opposite directions, namely greedy culling and greedy recovery. Greedy culling will maximize the removal of non-building primitives based on geometric and textural features. Greedy recovery is designed to maximize the detection of building primitives that are mistakenly removed by the greedy culling, by utilizing topological accessibility. The framework is assessed quantitatively and visually on five high-resolution datasets with different scenes. The results indicate the framework's effectiveness in accurately extracting fine-grained building models with complete geometry that can be visualized and analyzed for various 3D applications. • The first attempt to segment buildings from airborne -based 3D meshes in an unsupervised manner. • We proposed a greedy framework which can extract geometry-complete and fine-textured 3D building models from 3D meshes. • The paper shows a new approach utilizes topological accessibility to ensure geometric integrity of buildings. • We provide multi labeled geomeshes for the realistic 3D building extraction task. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nitrate is one of the main sources of nitrogen for plant growth. Nitrate transporters (NRTs) participate in nitrate uptake and transport, and they are involved in abiotic stress tolerance. Previous studies have shown that NRT1.1 has a dual role in nitrate uptake and utilization; however, little is known about the function of MdNRT1.1 in regulating apple growth and nitrate uptake. In this study, apple MdNRT1.1, a homolog of Arabidopsis NRT1.1, was cloned and functionally identified. Nitrate treatment induced an increased transcript level of MdNRT1.1, and overexpression of MdNRT1.1 promoted root development and nitrogen utilization. Ectopic expression of MdNRT1.1 in Arabidopsis repressed tolerance to drought, salt, and ABA stresses. Overall, this study identified a nitrate transporter, MdNRT1.1, in apples and revealed how MdNRT1.1 regulates nitrate utilization and abiotic stress tolerance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Curcumin is a diketone compound extracted from the rhizomes of some plants in the Zingiberaceae and Araceae family. It possesses a variety of biological activities, including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties. However, the cellular and molecular antipruritic mechanisms of curcumin remain to be explored. Objective: Our objective was to study the role of curcumin in pruritus and determine whether its antipruritic effect is related to MrgprB2 receptor. Methods: The effect of curcumin on pruritus in mice was examined by scratching behavior test. The antipruritic mechanism of curcumin was explored by using transgenic mice (MrgprB2−/− mice, MrgprB2CreTd/tomato mice), histological analysis, western blot and immunofluorescence. In addition, the relationship between curcumin and MrgprB2/X2 receptor was studied in vitro by using calcium imaging, plasmid transfection and molecular docking Results: In the current study, we found that curcumin had obvious antipruritic effect. Its antipruritic effect was related to the regulation of MrgprB2 receptor activation and mast cells tryptase release. In vitro, mouse peritoneal mast cells activated by compound 48/80 could be inhibited by curcumin. In addition, curcumin was also found to suppress the calcium flux in MrgprX2 or MrgprB2-overexpression HEK cells induced by compound 48/80, substance P, and PAMP 9-20, displaying the specific relation with the MrgprB2/X2 receptor. Moreover, molecular docking results showed that curcumin had affinity to MrgprX2 protein. Conclusions: Overall, these results indicated that curcumin has the potential to treat pruritus induced by mast cell MrgprB2 receptor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The high electron concentration and low mobility of ZnSnN 2 hinder its potential applications in photocatalytic and optoelectronic devices. To reveal the mechanism, herein, ZnSnN 2 thin films were prepared under different sputtering pressure. The results show that impurity band conduction, an electron density of above 1020cm−3 and a mobility of 2 cm2 V−1 s−1 dominated by variable-range hopping are observed in samples prepared at lower sputtering pressure, due to the unintentional incorporation of substitutional oxygen which is from residual vapour and which substitutes nitrogen, while conduction band conduction, an electron density of 1019 cm−3, a mobility of 24 cm2 V−1 s−1 limited by ionized impurity scattering and self-compensation ratio as well as an interband direct recombination emission are found in samples prepared at higher sputtering pressure, due to the decrease in substitutional oxygen doping. Highlights • Increasing the sputtering pressure can reduce unintentional oxygen doping. • The effective electron mass is 0.12m 0 (m 0 : the rest mass of an electron). • The forbidden band gap is about 2.0 eV. • Lower sputtering pressure leads to impurity band conduction with low mobility. • Higher sputtering pressure results in conduction band conduction with high mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The deposition of ZnSnN 2 by co-sputtering was studied systematically. Different deposition parameters, including substrate temperatures, N 2 flow rates and different work pressure etc. were tried and the structural, optical and electrical properties were studied. The results show that the deposition parameters to fabricate ZnSnN 2 are relatively wide. The suitable substrate temperature to obtain polycrystalline ZnSnN 2 is around 350 °C when other parameters are kept constant. Relatively larger N 2 flow rate can suppress the formation of metallic phase such as Sn and favour the deposition of ZnSnN 2 with relatively pure phase, with other parameters to be constant. The addition of the substrate bias voltage or a relatively lower power of the Sn target is harmful to the film crystallization of ZnSnN 2. The samples are considered to be wurtzite due to the absence of the orthorhombic (110) and (011) peaks at 20°–22°. The hexagonal lattice constants a and c are about 3.36–3.40 Å and 5.49 Å, respectively. The sputtering pressure can affect the structural and electrical properties of ZnSnN 2. ZnSnN 2 prepared at larger work pressure such as 7.0 Pa has a lower electron density (6.72 × 1019 cm−3) and a higher mobility (24.3 cm2 V−1 s−1) as compared with those prepared at 1.0 and 3.0 Pa. Highlights • ZnSnN 2 of relatively pure phase was fabricated successfully by cosputtering • Relatively larger N 2 flow rate can prevent the formation of metallic phase • Applying bias voltage to substrate is harmful to the film crystallization • Increasing the sputtering pressure leads to ZnSnN 2 with lower electron density • Increasing the sputtering pressure leads to ZnSnN 2 with higher mobility [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper presents a 9-bit 400-MS/s successive approximation register (SAR) analog-to-digital converter (ADC) with hybrid arranged capacitor array. High-speed operation is achieved by introducing a redundant weighting method into the hybrid arranged SAR CDAC and using a fast control logic which shorten the critical path. By using a custom-designed unit capacitor which minimizes top plate parasitic capacitance, the SAR ADC can realize a wide input range of 1.6 V diff,p-p at 1-V reference voltage. At 400 MS/s sampling rate, the ADC achieves an SNDR of 52.47 dB and consumes 1.19 mW, resulting in a figure of merit (FOM) of 7.8 fJ/conversion-step. The ADC is fabricated in a 28 nm CMOS technology and its core occupies an active area of 171 μm × 112 μm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The efficiency of optimization for the high dimensional problem has been improved by the metamodeling techniques in multidisciplinary in the past decades. In this study, comparative studies are implemented for high dimensional problems on the accuracy of four popular metamodeling methods, Kriging (KRG), radial basis function (RBF), least square support vector regression (LSSVR) and cut-high dimensional model representation (cut-HDMR) methods. Besides, HDMR methods with different basis functions are considered, including KRG-HDMR, RBF-HDMR and SVR-HDMR. Four factors that might influence the quality of metamodeling methods involving parameter interaction of problems, sample sizes, noise level and sampling strategies are considered. The results show that the LSSVR with Gaussian kernel, using Latin hypercube sampling (LHS) strategy, constructs more accurate metamodels than the KRG. The RBF with Gaussian basis function performs poor in the group. Generally, cut-HDMR methods perform much better than the other metamodeling methods when handling the function with weak parameter interaction, but not better when handling the function with strong parameter interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To elucidate mechanisms of bone loss after spinal cord injury (SCI), we evaluated the time-course of cancellous and cortical bone microarchitectural deterioration via microcomputed tomography, measured histomorphometric and circulating bone turnover indices, and characterized the development of whole bone mechanical deficits in a clinically relevant experimental SCI model. 16-weeks-old male Sprague-Dawley rats received T9 laminectomy (SHAM, n = 50) or moderate-severe contusion SCI (n = 52). Outcomes were assessed at 2-weeks, 1-month, 2-months, and 3-months post-surgery. SCI produced immediate sublesional paralysis and persistent hindlimb locomotor impairment. Higher circulating tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase 5b (bone resorption marker) and lower osteoblast bone surface and histomorphometric cancellous bone formation indices were present in SCI animals at 2-weeks post-surgery, suggesting uncoupled cancellous bone turnover. Distal femoral and proximal tibial cancellous bone volume, trabecular thickness, and trabecular number were markedly lower after SCI, with the residual cancellous network exhibiting less trabecular connectivity. Periosteal bone formation indices were lower at 2-weeks and 1-month post-SCI, preceding femoral cortical bone loss and the development of bone mechanical deficits at the distal femur and femoral diaphysis. SCI animals also exhibited lower serum testosterone than SHAM, until 2-months post-surgery, and lower serum leptin throughout. Our moderate-severe contusion SCI model displayed rapid cancellous bone deterioration and more gradual cortical bone loss and development of whole bone mechanical deficits, which likely resulted from a temporal uncoupling of bone turnover, similar to the sequalae observed in the motor-complete SCI population. Low testosterone and/or leptin may contribute to the molecular mechanisms underlying bone deterioration after SCI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Oleosins play essential roles in stabilization of lipid droplets (LDs) and seed oil production. • 65 oleosin genes were identified in genome-sequenced Theaceae species. • Most oleosin genes displayed inter-species synteny among tea and oil tea species. • Our findings provide valuable information for further functional analysis and utilization of oleosin genes in tea and oil tea. Oleosins play essential roles in stabilization of lipid droplets (LDs) and seed oil production. However, evolution of this gene family has not been reported in Theaceae, a large plant family that contains many important tea and oil tea species. In this study, a total of 65 oleosin genes were identified in nine genome-sequenced Theaceae species. Among these genomes, the gene number of oleosin showed significant difference, with Camellia sinensis var. sinensis cv. Shuchazao and Camellia lanceoleosa displayed more oleosin numbers than other species. Phylogenetic analyses revealed that Theaceae oleosin genes were classified into three clades (U, SL, SH) respectively. Proteins within the same clade had similar gene structure and motif composition. Segmental duplication was the primary driving force for the evolution of oleosin genes in Shuchazao (SCZ), Huangdan (HD), C.lanceoleosa (Cla), and wild tea (DASZ). Synteny analysis showed that most oleosin genes displayed inter-species synteny among tea and oil tea species. Expression analysis demonstrated that oleosin genes were specifically expressed in seed and kernel of Huangdan (HD) and C.lanceoleosa. Moreover, expression divergence was observed in paralogous pairs and ∼1–2 oleosin genes in each clade have become activate. This study leads to a comprehensive understanding of evolution of oleosin family in Theaceae, and provides a rich resource to further address the functions of oleosin in tea and oil tea species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The morphotropic phase boundary (MPB) of PbMg1/3Nb2/3O3-xPbTiO3 (PMN-xPT) and its derivatives has been reported to exhibit a giant piezoelectric coefficient (d33). Hence, it is essential to understand the origin of excellent piezoelectric properties. In the present work, we observed that the cubic–tetragonal–rhombohedral triple point in the phase diagram of the PMN-xPT system is itself a critical point. The criticality of the triple point is evidenced by the nearly zero transition thermal hysteresis, the maximized dielectric permittivity, and the largest degree of elastic softening. The Landau modeling calculations reveal that such a critical triple point exhibits infinitely high piezoelectricity, which explains the origin of the giant piezoelectricity of the PMN-xPT system. This work illustrates that the near-criticality of the MPB composition is inherited from the criticality of the triple point. This study would stimulate work on searching materials with high piezoelectricity by designing a critical triple point. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A letter to the editor is presented in response to the article about the risk factors and outcomes associated with stroke after coronary artery bypass grafting, which was published in a 2011 issue.

Introduction: In 2015, WHO proposed that the care for older people should be organized based on their intrinsic capacity and functional ability with a comprehensive and integrated approach and published Integrated Care for Older People (ICOPE)pathways and tool kits in 2019. Seven countries were selected for demonstration, with China included. In 2020, with support from WHO and funding from Beijing municipal government, an ICOPE pilot project was implemented in Chaoyang District of Beijing. Objectives: In China, although the concept of integrated care has been advocated over the past decade, the fragmentation between tertiary and primary care, health and social care is still substantial. There is a lack of implementation pathways, tools and qualified workforce to support care integration. The ICOPE pilot initiative is aimed to explore feasibility of integration mechanisms and ICOPE applications in context with China policy and cultural environments. Target population: A total of 33,504 Chaoyang District residents aged 65 and over were targeted received preliminary screening, among which 7,482 residents were identified with declining intrinsic capacity. After further assessment, 2,148 medium and high-risk residents were recruited and randomized into intervention (n=537) and control groups (n=1,611). In addition to health education received by the control group, the intervention group received various ICOPE intervention measures such as rehabilitation, nutrition improvement and cognitive stimulation delivered by integrated care teams both online and offline. The project was implemented from September 2020 to August 2021. Highlights: The project was led by a local management team, with experts from tertiary hospitals, community and home health agencies, who played an essential role in coordinating resources across different settings to form integrated care teams, determining payments, performing assessment, delivering needed care and evaluating outcomes. Guided by ICOPE guidelines, an integrated care plan was generated, explained and implemented by the integrated care team, with payment provided on per capita basis directly from the project. A unique feature is the systematic training of the care providers to enable their better understanding of integration concepts and ICOPE implementation. IT system is fully utilized to support real time decision makings and deliver timely interventions. Data were collected at the beginning of the project and six months after. The report showed ADL, physical, mental and nutritional status were improvements for both control and experimental groups, with significantly more improvement for the intervention group. Compared to service utilization for the second half of 2020, 7.7% of less medical visits and 14.3% lower medical expenses were reported. Conclusions: The study found essential elements for implementation include cross-organizational and cross-disciplinary coordination, system capacity building, standardized practice guidelines, interoperative IT platform, evidence-based data collection and incentivized payment system. In the future, locally-relevant interventions and innovative payment methods need to be further explored, developed and evaluated in promoting value-based integrated care and healthy aging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a background calibration scheme for the pipelined‐Successive Approximation Register (SAR) Analog‐to‐Digital Converter (ADC) based on the neural network. Due to the non‐linear function fitting capability of the neural network, the linearity of the ADC is improved effectively. However, the hardware complexity of the neural network limits its application and promotion in ADC calibration. Hence, this paper also presents the optimization schemes, including the neuron‐based sharing neural network and the partially binarized with fixed neural network, in terms of calibration architecture and algorithm. A 60 MS/s 14‐bit pipelined‐SAR ADC prototyped in 28‐nm technology is utilized to verify the feasibility of the proposed calibration method. The measurement results show that the proposed calibration greatly enhances the Spurious Free Dynamic Range (SFDR) and Signal‐to‐Noise‐and‐Distortion Ratio (SNDR) from low frequency to Nyquist frequency. Meanwhile, the original calibrator and improved calibrator are synthesized in Synopsys Design Compiler to compare their hardware complexity. Compared with the unoptimized version, the optimized schemes can decrease the logic area and the network weights up to 76% and 52%, with negligible loss in calibration performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The original version of this article unfortunately contains 2 mistakes. The authors wish to revise the mistaken figures (Figure 15b, Figure 17a, Figure 17b, Figure 18a, and Figure 18b) and a mistaken description of the article to improve their work, see below corrections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tea, which is processed by the tender shoots or leaves of tea plant (Camellia sinensis), is one of the most popular nonalcoholic beverages in the world and has numerous health benefits for humans. Along with new progress in biotechnologies, the refined chromosome-scale reference tea genomes have been achieved, which facilitates great promise for the understanding of fundamental genomic architecture and evolution of the tea plants. Here, we summarize recent achievements in genome sequencing in tea plants and review the new progress in origin and evolution of tea plants by population sequencing analysis. Understanding the genomic characterization of tea plants is import to improve tea quality and accelerate breeding in tea plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and the implementation of closure measures in 2020, population mobility and human activities have decreased, which has seriously impacted atmospheric quality. Huaibei City is an important coal and chemical production base in East China, which faces increasing environmental problems. The impact of anthropogenic activities on air quality in this area was investigated by comparing the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020 with the normal situation in 2021. Tropospheric NO2, HCHO and SO2 column densities were observed by ground-based multiple axis differential optical absorption spectroscopy (MAX-DOAS). In situ measurements for PM2.5, NO2, SO2 and O3 were also taken. The observation period was divided into four phases, the pre-lockdown period, phase 1 lockdown, phase 2 lockdown and the post-lockdown period. Ground-based MAX-DOAS results showed that tropospheric NO2, HCHO and SO2 column densities increased by 41, 14 and 14%, respectively, during phase 1 in 2021 vs. 2020. In situ results showed that NO2 and SO2 increased by 59 and 11%, respectively, during phase 1 in 2021 vs. 2020, but PM2.5 and O3 decreased by 15 and 17%, respectively. In the phase 2 period, due to the partial lifting of control measures, the concentration of pollutants did not significantly change. The weekly MAX-DOAS results showed that there was no obvious weekend effect of pollutants in the Huaibei area, and NO2, HCHO and SO2 had obvious diurnal variation characteristics. In addition, the relationship between the column densities and wind speed and direction in 2020 and 2021 was studied. The results showed that, in the absence of traffic control in 2021, elevated sources in the Eastern part of the city emitted large amounts of NO2. The observed ratios of HCHO to NO2 suggested that tropospheric ozone production involved NOX-limited scenarios. The correlation analysis between HCHO and different gases showed that HCHO mainly originated from primary emission sources related to SO2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As one of the three staple crops, nutritional traits in maize are important for human and animal nutrition. Grain quality-related traits are closely related to grain commercial value. Understanding the genetic basis of quality-related traits in maize would be helpful for breeding high-quality maize varieties. In this study, two association panels (AM122 and AM180) were subjected to genome-wide association analysis of grain quality-related traits, including protein content, oil content, starch content, and fiber content. In total, 98 SNPs (P < 1 × 10−4) were identified to be significantly associated with these four grain quality-related traits. By integrating two sets of public transcriptome data, 31 genes located in 200 kb regions flanking the associated SNP showed high expression during kernel development and were differentially expressed in two maize inbred lines, KA225 and KB035, with significantly different quality. These genes might regulate maize grain quality by participating in plant hormone processes, autophagy processes, and others. All these results could provide important reference information for breeding high‑quality maize varieties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sclerostin is a circulating osteocyte-derived glycoprotein that negatively regulates Wnt-signaling after binding the LRP5/LRP6 co-receptors. Pharmacologic sclerostin inhibition produces bone anabolic effects after spinal cord injury (SCI), however, the effects of sclerostin-antibody (Scl-Ab) on muscle morphology remain unknown. In comparison, androgen administration produces bone antiresorptive effects after SCI and some, but not all, studies have reported that testosterone treatment ameliorates skeletal muscle atrophy in this context. Our purposes were to determine whether Scl-Ab prevents hindlimb muscle loss after SCI and compare the effects of Scl-Ab to testosterone enanthate (TE), an agent with known myotrophic effects. Male Sprague-Dawley rats aged 5 months received: (A) SHAM surgery (T8 laminectomy), (B) moderate-severe contusion SCI, (C) SCI+TE (7.0 mg/wk, im), or (D) SCI+Scl-Ab (25 mg/kg, twice weekly, sc). Twenty-one days post-injury, SCI animals exhibited a 31% lower soleus mass in comparison to SHAM, accompanied by >50% lower soleus muscle fiber cross-sectional area (fCSA) (p<0.01 for all fiber types). Scl-Ab did not prevent soleus atrophy, consistent with the relatively low circulating sclerostin concentrations and with the 91–99% lower LRP5/LRP6 gene expressions in soleus versus tibia (p<0.001), a tissue with known anabolic responsiveness to Scl-Ab. In comparison, TE partially prevented soleus atrophy and increased levator ani/bulbocavernosus (LABC) mass by 30–40% (p<0.001 vs all groups). The differing myotrophic responsiveness coincided with a 3-fold higher androgen receptor gene expression in LABC versus soleus (p<0.01). This study provides the first direct evidence that Scl-Ab does not prevent soleus muscle atrophy in rodents after SCI and suggests that variable myotrophic responses in rodent muscles after androgen administration are influenced by androgen receptor expression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a novel multi-hierarchical successive optimization method is proposed to reduce the spring-back in autoclave forming. Compared with other popular engineering optimization method, the proposed method decomposes the original problem into several sub-problems according to the global sensitivity index. The optimization should be completed for each sub-problem successively according to the order of global sensitivity index (GSIs) of all sub-problems. To guarantee the feasibility of the final optimized solution, three popular heuristic global optimization methods are integrated with the least square support vector regression. Moreover, the accuracy of finite element evaluation is another key issue for the optimization. To obtain the high accurate result, four user subroutines, UMAT, USDFLD, HETVAL and UEXPAN, are used in the simulation of the autoclave forming process in ABAQUS. Furthermore, the simulation results show that the predictions agree well with each other and that they give good predictions compared to the experimental results of autoclave forming process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents a quantitative sensitivity analysis for the assessment of fiber reinforced composites (FRCs). Global sensitivity analysis (GSA) approach is based on the variance based method incorporating Random Sampling-High Dimensional Model Representation (RS-HDMR) expansion in which component functions are determined by diffeomorphic modulation under observable response preserving homotopy (D-MORPH) regression. The advantage of the D-MORPH regression lies in its capability to solve linear algebraic equations with a limited number of sample points. The main purpose is to investigate the influence of fiber path, regarded as the design variable, on the formability and structural performance of FRCs. Wherein, spring-back and load-carrying capacity are two meaningful problems to be addressed. Two typical FRCs are included that an L-shaped part with straight fiber path using autoclave manufacturing process and a variable stiffness composite cylindrical shell under pure bending. The work not only focuses on the ranking of design variables but also hopes to find out their interactions represented by the second order global sensitivity indexes. After being tested by three typical numerical functions, the GSA algorithm highlights that spring-back of FRC using autoclave manufacturing process is most sensitive to fiber orientation angles on plies close to the tool. And buckling performance of the VS cylinder is dominated by fiber orientation angles at compression/tension regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]