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The reproductive toxicity of SnS 2 nanoflowers (SnS 2 NFs) has been studied in our previous experiment, but the underlying mechanism is still not clear. Astaxanthin (ASX) is a red carotenoid pigment with antioxidant, anticancer and anti-inflammatory properties, showing neuroprotective properties via its antioxidant capacity. To examine the ASX effect on sub-chronic testis injury induced by SnS 2 NFs, we randomly and equally divided 40 Kunming male mice into four groups (control, ASX control, NF and NF + ASX groups). Then, ASX dissolved in olive oil was administered intragastrically for 30 consecutive days. Results showed that ASX treatment improved the sperm parameters in mice. Meanwhile, the ASX treatment significantly attenuated testis histopathological injury and ultrastructure alterations induced by SnS 2 NFs. It also alleviated testicular oxidative stress, inflammation, apoptosis and necroptosis in mice. Furthermore, ASX markedly upregulated the expression of Bcl-2 and downregulated the expressions of Fas, FasL, RIPK1, FADD, Bax, Cytochrome C, Caspase-9, Cleaved Caspase-8, Cleaved Caspase-3, RIPK3, MLKL and FLIP in the testis tissues compared with the NF group. Therefore, ASX had a markedly protective effect against SnS 2 NFs in mice, and the potential mechanism is associated with its ability to inhibit the oxidative stress, inflammatory response, testicular apoptosis and necroptosis, as well as downregulating in the expression of the RIPK1-RIPK3-MLKL signaling and mitochondrial related apoptosis genes. • ASX attenuated SnS 2 NF-induced histopathological and ultrastructural changes in mice testes. • ASX alleviated SnS 2 NF-induced oxidative stress in mice testes. • ASX suppressed the RIPK1-RIPK3-MLKL signaling in SnS 2 NFs-treated mice. • ASX ameliorated SnS 2 NF-induced inflammatory response, apoptosis and necroptosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Getah virus (GETV) is a mosquito-transmitted disease that affects animals, causing fever, aseptic meningitis, and abortion. Its prevalence in China poses risks to both animal health and public well-being. Currently, there is a scarcity of seroepidemiological data on GETV due to the absence of commercial antibody detection kits for pigs. The aim of this study is to develop a rapid, accurate, and sensitive ELISA, providing a reliable tool for GETV seroepidemiology and laying the foundation for future commercial assay development. In this study, we removed specific hydrophobic domains and intracellular structures from E2 proteins and constructed the recombinant plasmid pCold-TF-E2. The recombinant protein was expressed using a prokaryotic expression system, and efficient purification of the rE2 protein was achieved using a nickel affinity column. The purified rE2 protein is suitable for the development of an indirect ELISA (rE2 ELISA). Following the optimization of reaction conditions for the rE2-ELISA, the cut-off value was 0.356. Additionally, the rE2-ELISA method showed a positive rate of 37.1% for IgG antibodies against GETV when testing 986 pig clinical serum samples collected from pigs in Sichuan between May 2022 and September 2022. The rE2-ELISA method displayed a 95.1% overall agreement with VNT, boasting a sensitivity of 98.2% and a specificity of 92.6%. These results indicate that IgG ELISA based on rE2 protein is an efficient and economical method for the detection of GETV antibodies in pigs, facilitating the diagnosis and prevention of GETV. • An indirect ELISA method for detecting GETV antibodies in swine was established. • The soluble recombinant E2 protein acts as the coated antigen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the mining process of the stage empty field subsequent filling mining method, aiming at the problem of unloading failure and instability of the excavation face of the high-stress ore pillar, the theory of unloading stress component is introduced and combined with the energy release theory to explore the unloading failure mechanism of the excavation face of the ore pillar. The results show the following. (1) The degree of accumulation of strain energy in the pillar is related to the tangential stress. After the peak of the tangential stress, the energy changes from accumulation to release, indicating that energy release is the main cause of pillar damage. (2) In pillar unloading, there are 4 typical characteristic areas of stress during the loading process: crushing area, shaping area, elastic area, and original rock stress area. The energy accumulation area and the stress component area show good correspondence, and they all appear from the top to the bottom of the pillar. At 1/4, the starting point of unloading failure can be determined. (3) The mutation mechanism in the process of energy release is related to the time effect of tangential stress. On the contrary, the greater the tangential stress is, the longer the elastic zone lasts, and the more significant the energy accumulation is. Also, the increase in tangential stress will lead the energy release time becomes shorter, and a large amount of accumulated energy is released in a short time, causing local instability and destruction of the pillar, and eventually spreads to the whole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • A compromise volume fraction of the added magnetizable particles was 0.40. • Preferred magnetizable particles made admixture MFB within magnetic stabilization. • The more stable the obtained magnetic stabilization, the better the intensification. • Mass transfer intensification depended on hydrodynamics in resulting admixture MFB. This work aimed to explore the property effects of added magnetizable particles on the magnetic intensification of mass transfer between the fluidizing gas and Geldart-B nonmagnetizable particles. A compromise volume fraction (x vM) of magnetizable particles in the resulting binary admixture was 0.40 to transmit the stabilizing effect of magnetic field to the nonmagnetizable particles and save the bed volume. When x vM was maintained the same (=0.40), the added magnetizable particles had an optimal size/density to maximize the magnetic intensification. When the gas velocity was three times the minimum fluidization velocity of the nonmagnetizable particles, the optimum size and density ratios between the added magnetizable particles and the nonmagnetizable particles were 0.41 and 2.99, respectively. When the mass fraction was kept constant (=0.77), the lighter magnetizable particles were preferred to transmit the magnetic stabilization. The property effects of added magnetizable particles on the magnetic intensification of mass transfer depended on its effects on the hydrodynamics in the resulting admixture MFB. Provided the added magnetizable particles could make the obtained admixture MFB locate in the magnetic stabilization flow regime, the mass transfer could be significantly intensified. The more stable the obtained magnetic stabilization, the better the magnetic intensification of the mass transfer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Designing an environmentally benign bio-adsorbent for the removal of heavy metal ions from aqueous medium was a sustainable strategy to ensure water safety. Herein, three-dimensional macroscopic aminosilyated nanocellulose aerogels (APTM S -modified TO-NFC) for the removal of heavy metal ions in water were successfully synthesized from bamboo-derived TEMPO-oxidized nanofibrillated cellulose (TO-NFC) and aminopropyltrimethoxysilane (APTMs) via a facile freeze-drying process. Owing to a relatively high BET surface area (129.32 m2 g−1), high porosity (99.14%) as well as high substitution degree of amino groups (0.41), the resulting APTM S -modified TO-NFC aerogel exhibited good adsorption capacity of 99.0, 124.5, and 242.1 mg g−1 for Cu2+, Cd2+ and Hg2+, respectively. Furthermore, the crosslinked and three-dimensionally porous architecture imparted it with relatively high compression strength, good excellent stability in water, and ease of recyclability from water after the usage. The pH value of the solution had a great influence on adsorption efficiency of the aerogel adsorbent, and optimal adsorption efficiency could be achieved at pH 3–7. Thermodynamic parameters suggested the spontaneous and endothermic nature of adsorption process. This work provides a facile method for preparing sustainable bio-adsorbent for effective heavy metal ions removal from aqueous medium. A novel and sustainable APTMs-modified NFC aerogel bio-adsorbent for effective removal of Cu2+, Cd2+ and Hg2+ ions was prepared via a facile freeze-drying of TEMPO oxidized NFC suspension in the presence of APTMs. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Software traceability plays a critical role in software maintenance and evolution. We conducted a systematic mapping study with six research questions to understand the benefits, costs, and challenges of using traceability in maintenance and evolution. We systematically selected, analyzed, and synthesized 63 studies published between January 2000 and May 2020, and the results show that traceability supports 11 maintenance and evolution activities, among which change management is the most frequently supported activity; strong empirical evidence from industry is needed to validate the impact of traceability on maintenance and evolution; easing the process of change management is the main benefit of deploying traceability practices; establishing and maintaining traceability links is the main cost of deploying traceability practices; 13 approaches and 32 tools that support traceability in maintenance and evolution were identified; improving the quality of traceability links, the performance of using traceability approaches, and tools are the main traceability challenges in maintenance and evolution. The findings of this study provide a comprehensive understanding of deploying traceability practices in software maintenance and evolution phase and can be used by researchers for future directions and practitioners for making informed decisions while using traceability in maintenance and evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Visible-light-driven photoreduction of U(VI) is achieved using ZnFe 2 O 4 as catalyst. • 50 ppm of uranium(VI) was almost completely removed in 60 min. • The photocatalytic activity of ZnFe 2 O 4 is dependent on its morphology. • ZnFe 2 O 4 rods own good stability, recyclability and magnetic separability. Visible-light-driven photocatalytic reduction of uranium(VI) is becoming an effective manner to remove uranium(VI) from waste water, whereas applicable catalysts are extremely limited. Herein, we report a first study of visible-light-driven photocatalytic reduction of uranium(VI) using visible light responsive ZnFe 2 O 4. The ZnFe 2 O 4 catalysts with different morphologies were successfully obtained and well characterized. The photoreduction of uranium(VI) under visible light was achieved over these ZnFe 2 O 4 samples with the activity order of rods > microspheres > nanoparticles. Using ZnFe 2 O 4 rods, for example, the 50 ppm of uranium(VI) was almost completely removed in 60 min, representing one of the most effective visible-light-driven photocatalytic removal. The effects of catalyst dosage, hole scavenger (CH 3 OH) dosage and solution pH on the photocatalytic reactions, as well as the photoreduction mechanisms were investigated in detail. In addition, ZnFe 2 O 4 rods own good stability, recyclability and magnetic separability. All these features make ZnFe 2 O 4 a promising photocatalyst for radioactive environmental remediation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Guo, X.; Liang, P., and Xie, Z., 2020. Executive stock ownership, dynamic adjustment of capital structure and corporate performance: Evidence from Chinese listed marine industry companies. In: Gong, D.; Zhang, M., and Liu, R. (eds.), Advances in Coastal Research: Engineering, Industry, Economy, and Sustainable Development. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 106, pp. 300–304. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. Taking the Chinese A-share listed companies traded at Shanghai Stock Exchange and Shenzhen Stock Exchange from 2010 to 2017 as samples and further investigating companies concerned with marine industry, this paper conducts empirical research on the impact of executive stock ownership on capital structure adjustment and corporate performance. It also verifies whether the speed of adjustment and degree of capital structure deviation have mediating effects on the relationship between executive stock ownership and corporate performance. The research found that executive stock ownership significantly promotes capital structure adjustment, which exerts a certain degree of mediating effect on executive stock ownership and corporate performance, and that on differentiated levels of corporate debts, such an effect is more obvious in the over-indebted companies. When the executive stock ownership is less than 5%, the effect is more significant. In the group concerned with marine industry, the speed of capital structure adjustment and the degree of capital structure deviation exert partial mediating effects on the relationship between executive stock ownership and corporate performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Effect of marine phospholipids on the oxidative stability of fish oil was studied. • Benzaldehyde, 2,5-dimethylpyrazine, etc. were the main volatiles during storage. • Significant pyrrolisation was observed after 28 days in this work. • It was oxidized followed by non-enzymatic browning reactions. The aim of this research was to investigate the effect of herring roe phospholipids (PLs) on the oxidative stability of cod liver oil during storage. The effect of PLs on the oxidative stability of cod liver oil was assessed in terms of peroxide value, free fatty acids, secondary oxidation products and pyrrolisation. The results show that the PV was lower in cod liver oil containing PLs (P < 0.05) than in the control without PLs. Benzaldehyde, 2,5-dimethylpyrazine, 2-methyl-2-pentenal, 1-penten-3-ol and 3-methylbutanal were the main volatiles. In addition, significant pyrrolisation was observed after 28 days when PLs were added to cod liver oil. The results suggested that cod liver oil with dispersed PLs was oxidized during storage followed by non-enzymatic browning reactions. The findings indicated that the ratio between pyrroles formed and α-tocopherol may influence the formation of new peroxides and secondary oxidation products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advancing the application of bioelectrochemical systems necessitates the comprehensive understanding of electron transfer process in electrode-associated biofilm. While in situ electrical measurement by using the split electrode can illustrate the electron conduction in biofilm, the accuracy and interpretation of the obtained data is still in debate. Here, conductance of Geobacter sulfurreducens biofilm is measured by using the split electrode as substrate concentration is changed. Biofilm conductance decreases with the current production as the consumption of substrate. In addition, the measured conductance increases with the area of drain electrode (13.8 ± 1.8 μS for 0.5 cm2 and 29.4 ± 4.2 μS for 1 cm2). These results suggest the measured conductance of biofilm is influenced by microbial metabolism. This effect will diminish when the measurement is performed by using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy or under non-turnover condition. Our results provide the insight on the electrochemical origin of biofilm conductance determined by the in situ electrical measurement. • Biofilm conductance decreased with current production as consumption of substrate. • Biofilm conductance increased with the area of drain electrode. • The measurement of biofilm conductance was influenced by microbial metabolism. • Biofilm conductance significantly decreased under non-turnover condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Waterlogging caused yield reductions in wheat with greater yield losses in modern cultivars than in older ones. • Synergcistic improvements in yield components contributed to the establishment of high- and stable-yield cultivars. • Promoting the photosynthetic capacity of the flag leaf facilitated the selection of high- and stable-yield cultivars. Frequent waterlogging events have severely constrained wheat production in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, China (YR). Understanding the effects of waterlogging on agronomic traits and grain yield in historic wheat cultivars can help establish strategies for stable- and high-yield breeding programs. We conducted a two-year field experiment using 10 winter wheat cultivars that were released and widely planted in YR from 1967 to 2010. Ten days of waterlogging were imposed on plants beginning at stem elongation (Zadoks growth stage, GS33). Grain yield was improved with the year of cultivar release, gaining 53 kg ha−1 yr−1 (0.6% yr−1) under normal watering condition and 35 kg ha−1 yr−1 (0.51% yr-1) under waterlogging treatment from 1967 to 2010, showing that waterlogging tolerance declined with cultivar improvement. Yield improvement was primarily due to the synergistic development of kernels per spike and 1000-kernel weight, as well as the increased harvest index from the 1960s to 1990s and the increased total biomass from the 1990s to 2000s. Furthermore, genetic improvement significantly increased post-anthesis biomass, leaf area at milk-ripe (GS75), and net photosynthetic rate in flag leaf. Due to waterlogging, kernels per spike, sing-spike yield, total biomass, post-anthesis biomass, leaf area at milk-ripe decreased more with the year of cultivar release, but we did not find a significant reduction in spikes per m2, 1000-kernel weight, and harvest index across cultivars. Grain yield and single-spike yield were significantly and positively correlated with leaf area at milk-ripe, as well as net photosynthetic rate in flag leaf. However, their reductions were only significantly correlated with the reduction in leaf area. Moreover, waterlogging did not significantly affect flag leaf area. This study suggests that improving the photosynthetic capacity of flag leaf will assist in the selection of new wheat varieties with waterlogging-tolerance and high-yields. Further studies are required to investigate the responses of wheat canopy architecture and photosynthesis to waterlogging and their functions for crop yield. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Frequent waterlogging near anthesis is a primary constraint for wheat production in the Yangtze River Basin, China. This study aimed to identify the critical stage for waterlogging on wheat yield and its components and identify the possible factors determining this stage. In the first experiment (E1), we evaluated three varieties and initiated a 10-day waterlogging starting at the stem elongation (S1), booting (S2), and anthesis (S3) stages. In the second experiment (E2), waterlogging was applied at the stem elongation (S1) and anthesis (S3) stages and for three durations (five, 10, and 15 days). In E1, waterlogging at S1 and S2 resulted in a lower grain yield than at S3. In the second year of E1, grain yield under waterlogging at S1 and S3 was similar but significantly lower than under waterlogging conditions at S2. Waterlogging at S1 and S2 greatly decreased the kernel number per spike and 1000-kernel weight, but waterlogging at S3 only decreased the 1000-kernel weight. Moreover, different varieties did not change the stages mostly reducing grain yield and yield components. In E2, grain yield decreased with prolonged exposure to waterlogging and was significantly lower under 15-day conditions than the five-day conditions. There was no significant interaction between the stage and duration of waterlogging. Finally, our results indicate that in yield formation, a greater reliance on kernel weight instead of the kernel number per spike can contribute to a reduction in yield loss for waterlogging at S1 and S2. This study, therefore, indicates that the stem elongation stage is the most affected by waterlogging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• ILs exhibited higher extraction yield than optimized organic solvent pyridine. • [Bmim]Cl showed selective extraction ability for sulfur-containing compounds. • More sulfur was released during pyrolysis process through IL pretreatment. • High carbon number components in tar decreased after IL pretreatment. • IL pretreatment could improve the product distribution and increase oil yield. Four different ionic liquids (ILs) were used to identify their extraction properties on high-sulfur bituminous coal. And the effect of ILs pretreatment on pyrolysis characteristic was investigated in a fixed-bed reactor. The imidazolium-based ILs used namely: 1-butyl-3-methyl-imidazolium chloride ([Bmim]Cl), 1-butyl-3-methyl-imidazolium bromide ([Bmim]Br), 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hydrogen sulfate ([Bmim]HSO 4), 1-butyl-3-methyl-imidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([Bmim]BF 4). All the selected ILs exhibited extraordinary extraction ability for oxygen-containing compounds, mainly furans and ethers. Among them, [Bmim]Cl got the highest extraction yields of 20.82% and performed selective extraction ability for sulfur-containing compounds with a relative content of 5.10% in light oils. Compared with pyridine pretreated coal (R-PY), the yields of CO and CO 2 in pyrolysis gas showed increase trend when coal pretreated by ILs (R-ILs). The relative contents of tricyclic and larger PAHs, sulfur-containing compounds, and oxygen-containing compounds in tar from pyrolysis of [Bmim]Cl and [Bmim] Br treated coal increased significantly than R-PY tar, while phenols got decreased. High carbon number components from R-ILs tar reduced dramatically compared with R-PY tar, which was conducive to the upgrading of tar, after pretreated with ILs, the sulfur content was reduced. The crosslinks between coal macromolecules structure were destroyed after pretreated by ILs, and the pyrolysis products distribution had evident change. The oil phase yield got a substantial increase while [Bmim]Cl obtained highest oil yield of 24.89%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High electrochemical reversibility is required for the application of high-energy- density lithium (Li) metal batteries; however, inactive Li formation and SEI (solid electrolyte interface)-instability- induced electrolyte consumption cause low Coulombic efficiency (CE). The prior interfacial chemical designs in terms of alloying kinetics have been used to enhance the CE of Li metal anode; however, the role of its redox chemistry at heterointerfaces remains a mystery. Herein, the relationship between heterointerfacial redox chemistry and electrochemical transformation reversibility is investigated. It is demonstrated that the lower redox potential at heterointerface contributes to higher CE, and this enhancement in CE is primarily due to the regulation of redox chemistry to Li deposition behavior rather than the formation of SEI films. Low oxidation potential facilitates the formation of the surface with the highly electrochemical binding feature after Li stripping, and low reduction potential can maintain binding ability well during subsequent Li plating, both of which homogenize Li deposition and thus optimize CE. In particular, Mg hetero-metal with ultra-low redox potential enables Li metal anode with significantly improved CE (99.6%) and stable cycle life for 700 cycles at 3.0 mA cm-2. This work provides insight into the heterointerfacial design principle of next-generation negative electrodes for highly reversible metal batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new ascochlorin glycoside (1) and 8 known ascochlorin derivatives (2-9), and ilicicolin H (10) were purified from brittlestar derived fungus Acremonium sp. GXIMD02024. Their structural elucidations were carried out by analyses of 1D and 2D NMR, high resolution mass spectrometry, and CD spectroscopic data and comparison of those with literature data. Compound 1 was a rare fungal polyketide-sesquiterpenoid possessing sugar moiety. The antibacterial and cytotoxicity activities of compounds 1-10 have been performed in vitro. Compounds 1-3, 7, 8, and 10 were measured for their inhibitory effect on α-glucosidase. Compound 1 exhibited poor activity or was inactive, but the detail analysis indicated sugar moiety in 1 maybe play an important role in effect on biological activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In March 1966, Ms 6.8 and 7.2 earthquakes occurred in Xingtai, North China, resulting in widespread soil liquefaction that caused severe infrastructure damage and economic losses. Using Keyhole satellite imagery combined with aerial images and fieldwork records, we interpreted and identified 66,442 liquefaction points and analyzed the coseismic liquefaction distribution characteristics and possible factors that influenced the Xingtai earthquakes. The interpreted coseismic liquefaction was mainly concentrated above the IX-degree zone, accounting for 80% of all liquefaction points. High-density liquefaction zones (point density > 75 pieces/km2) accounted for 22% of the total liquefaction points. Most of the interpreted liquefaction points were located at the region with a peak ground acceleration (PGA) of >0.46 g. The liquefaction area on 22 March was significantly larger than that on 8 March. The region of liquefaction was mainly limited by sandy soil conditions, water system conditions, and seismic geological conditions and distributed in areas with loose fine sand and silt deposits, a high water table (groundwater level increases before both mainshocks corresponding to the liquefaction intensive regions), rivers, and ancient river channels. Liquefaction exhibited a repeating characteristic in the same region. Further understanding of the liquefaction characteristics of Xingtai can provide a reference for the prevention of liquefaction in northern China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study compares three zircon synthesis techniques (synthesis, high-temperature and high-pressure sintering and fast hot-pressing sintering) for the preparation of reference materials for Hf isotope analysis of zircon by laser ablation multi-collector inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-MC-ICP-MS). Ultrafine milled zircon powder particles doped with Yb2O3 produced by wet milling were used to synthesize zircon samples by using high-temperature and high-pressure sintering and fast hot-pressing sintering techniques. Li–Mo flux was necessary to obtain synthetic zircon grains. Zr signals for synthetic zircon grains and high-temperature and high-pressure sintered zircon are consistent with those of natural zircons but higher than that of fast hot-pressing sintered zircon, indicating that high-temperature and high-pressure sintered zircon has approximated the theoretical maximum density due to high pressure. The Hf isotopic compositions of high-temperature and high-pressure sintered and fast hot-pressing sintered zircon are comparable to those of the initial starting materials, whereas the Hf isotopes in synthetic zircon grains deviate slightly from those of the initial Hf solution. Compared with Hf isotope ratios obtained by SN-MC-ICP-MS, all preparation techniques give reliable LA-MC-ICP-MS results, suggesting that all synthetic zircon samples have great potential as both tools for in situ method development and isotopic reference materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing GIS software mainly target at expert users and do not sufficiently integrate resources for efficient computing. They are difficult for non-experts to use and are often slow in completing the complicated geographic analysis. To address these problems, future generation of GIS software must be 'easy'. By 'easy' we mean 'easy to use' and 'easy to compute'. 'Easy to use' means that software system should be goal-oriented, rather than the currently procedure-oriented doctrine. The goal-oriented will relieve users, particularly novice users, the burden of knowing the exact commands and their sequences to perform for achieving the goal they want to achieve. 'Easy to compute' means that implementation of GIS analytical functionality should be able to utilize the high-performance computing infrastructures for complicated geographic analysis. Two case studies, one in digital soil mapping and the other in digital terrain analysis, are presented to illustrate the meaning of 'easy'. We believe that the future generations of GIS platforms should be goal-driven, intelligent, high-performance computing enabled, easily accessible, and participatory. It allows anyone to participate in geo-computation at anywhere and anytime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With rice as experimental material, the multi-strain solid-state fermentation method was used to study the preparation technology of taurine, and the analysis of variance was employed to determine the optimal process of taurine preparation as follows: fermentation time (72 h); amount of cysteinyl acid (2.5 g) , amount of methionine (2.5 g); ratio of Bacillus suhtilis YS-45 to yeast S-78 to Aspergillus niger PL-39 (1 : 2 : 1). Under the optimal process, the taurine content reached 117.8 mg/g. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Possessing outstanding miniaturisation potentialities and ability to produce strong electromagnetic resonance, split-ring resonators (SRRs) are used to design an electrically small antenna (ESA). Here, a triple-band ESA is constructed by integrating three different sized in-plane SRRs. The resonant frequencies of these SRRs are tuned to be nearly equal. Shifting these SRRs to be non-concentric, as a way to decrease the mutual interaction between them, a broadband ESA can be achieved by simply adding up the three SRRs' respective impedance bandwidth. Numerical and experimental results for the ESA of 0.129λ0 × 0.129λ0 are presented. The relative bandwidth of the ESA fabricated in experiment is 7.21%, a number approximately three times than that of the usual single SRR-based ESA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diamonds have long been mined from alluvial terrace deposits within the rainforest of Guyana, South America. No primary kimberlite deposits have been discovered in Guyana, nor have there been previous studies on the mineralogy and origin of the diamonds. Paleoproterozoic terranes in Guyana are prospective to diamond occurrences because the most productive deposits are associated spatially with the eastern escarpment of the Paleoproterozoic Roraima Supergroup. Geographic proximity suggests that the diamonds are detrital grains eroding from the <1.98 Ga conglomerates, metamorphosed to zeolite and greenschist facies. The provenance and paragenesis of the alluvial diamonds are described using a suite of placer diamonds from different locations across the Guiana Shield. Guyanese diamonds are typically small, and those in our collection range from 0.3 to 2.7 mm in diameter; octahedral and dodecahedral, with lesser cubic and minor macle forms. The diamonds are further subdivided into those with abraded and non-abraded surfaces. Abraded diamonds show various colors in cathodoluminescence, whereas most non-abraded diamonds appear blue. In all populations, diamonds are predominantly colorless, with lesser brown to yellow and very rare white. Diamonds are predominantly Type IaAB and preserve moderate nitrogen aggregation and total nitrogen concentrations ranging from trace to ~1971 ppm. The kinetics of nitrogen aggregation indicate mantle-derived residence temperatures of 1124 ± 100 °C, assuming residence times of 1.3 and 2.6 Ga for abraded and non-abraded diamonds, respectively. The diamonds are largely sourced from the peridotitic to eclogitic lithospheric upper mantle based on both δ13C values of –5.82 ± 2.45‰ (VPDB-LSVEC) and inclusion suites predominantly comprised of forsterite, enstatite, Cr-pyrope, chromite, rutile, clinopyroxene, coesite, and almandine garnet. Detrital, accessory minerals are non-kimberlitic. Detrital zircon geochronology indicates diamondiferous deposits are predominantly sourced from Paleoproterozoic rocks of 2079 ± 88 Ma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development and transformation of barchan-parabolic dune can be led by vegetationestablishment, which may be induced by climate change (precipitation, temperature, andwind strength) and/or human intervention. The impact of wind strength change-inducedvegetation restoration on dunes morphology and theirs surface sedimentary features isneglected in the Maowusu Sandy Land. In this study, we combined datasets of NormalizedDifference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and climatic factors to analyze temporal changes invegetation growth and their response to changes in temperature, precipitation and windstrength in the northern margin of Maowusu Sandy Land from 1982 to 2015. Growing seasonNDVI is related to the significant decrease in drift potential (DP) during the entire studyperiod. Further temporal analyses indicate that the growing season NDVI trends are largelycontributed by wind strength and temperature changes during the earlier study period1982-2006. And then, the increasing NDVI is consistent with the slightly increasing trend ofprecipitation during the recent study period 2006-2015. Thus, the transformation ofthe transitional dune cannot be explained by the increasing trend of wind strengthchange-induced vegetation alone. During the recent period, once dunes are covered byvegetation, the change in wind strength cannot mobilize the stable dunes becausethe vegetation provides an effective buffer preventing sand erosion. To reveal theresponse of sedimentological reorganization during the dune transformation processes,grain-size characteristics along the longitudinal profile of three different types of duneswere examined. From barchan dune through transition dune to parabolic dune, withthe increase of the fine sands (125-250μm) proportions, the mean grain size MZgradually decreases; in addition, as the very fine sands (&#x003C;125μm) class increases, thesorting σ1 of sand dunes gradually became worse. The decreasing wind strengthlead to partly transport of fine sands on the upper part of dune windward slope,resulting in the progress coarsening and the reduction of dune height at the crestarea. No distinct trend in sorting and mean grain size on the windward slope oftransition dune, indicating that sand in transport had little influence on the particle sizedistributions. Conversely, the progressive of sorting and coarsening of sands towards thecrest of parabolic dune, implying that vegetation limited the sands from upwind ofdune, changed the effective source of dune into the underlying source deposits orreworking pre-existing aeolian deposits and trapped the sands on the crest area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Emerging evidence indicates that long-time use of multiple antibiotics can induce cognitive dysfunction via gut dysbiosis. Cefazolin is often used for 3 to 5 days to prevent perioperative infection. This study is to detect the impact of perioperative use of cefazolin on inflammatory responses and postoperative cognition.Methods: The anti-inflammatory effect of cefazolin was determined in mouse C8-B4 microglial cells treated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-1β at 6 and 24 h after LPS treatment were detected. Six- to 8-week-old CD-1 mice were subjected to laparotomy. Cefazolin at 300 mg/kg was injected intraperitoneally 1 h before surgery and then once per day for 5 days after surgery. Their learning and memory were assessed by Barnes maze and fear conditioning tests which started 1 week after the surgery. The brain and colon were harvested 24 h and 6 days after surgery to determine inflammatory cytokines. The colon and its luminal contents were harvested 6 and 19 days after surgery for the determination of bacteria flora. Cefazolin concentrations in the serum and brain were measured 0.5, 1, and 2 h after cefazolin injection.Results: IL-6 and IL-1β levels were decreased by 250 μg/ml cefazolin in the LPS-stimulated C8-B4 cells. Laparotomy increased the time for mice to identify the target hole in the Barnes maze on day 1 and day 8 after training sessions and reduced context-related freezing behavior in fear conditioning test. Cefazolin attenuated these surgical effects but reduced context-related freezing behavior in mice without surgery. IL-6 in the hippocampus and cerebral cortex, IL-1β in the cerebral cortex, and IL-6 and IL-1β in the serum and colon were increased 24 h after laparotomy. Cefazolin attenuated these effects. Cefazolin treatment for 5 days in mice without surgery induced colon dysbiosis and increased IL-6 and IL-1β in the colon and IL-1β in the cerebral cortex. Colon dysbiosis disappeared in mice treated with cefazolin alone but persisted in mice with surgery and cefazolin 19 days after surgery. High cefazolin concentrations in the serum but not in the brain were detected after cefazolin injection.Conclusions: These results suggest that cefazolin has a direct anti-inflammatory effect and can attenuate surgery-induced postoperative memory and learning impairment in mice. Cefazolin alone may induce cognitive dysfunction possibly by transient gut dysbiosis in mice without surgery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PCIF1 can mediate the methylation of N6,2'-0-dimethyladenosine (m6Am) in mRNA. Yet, the detailed interplay between PCIF1 and the potential cofactors and its pathological significance remain elusive. Here, we demonstrated that PCIF1-mediated cap mRNA m6Am modification promoted head and neck squamous cell carcinoma progression both in vitro and in vivo. CTBP2 was identified as a cofactor of PCIF1 to catalyze m6Am deposition on mRNA. CLIP-Seq data demonstrated that CTBP2 bound to similar mRNAs as compared with PCIF1. We then used the m6Am-Seq method to profile the mRNA m6Am site at single-base resolution and found that mRNA of TET2, a well-known tumor suppressor, was a major target substrate of the PCIF1-CTBP2 complex. Mechanistically, knockout of CTBP2 reduced PCIF1 occupancy on TET2 mRNA, and the PCIF1-CTBP2 complex negatively regulated the translation of TET2 mRNA. Collectively, our study demonstrates the oncogenic function of the epitranscriptome regulator PCIF1-CTBP2 complex, highlighting the importance of the m6Am modification in tumor progression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Facial expression recognition has been widely used in lots of fields such as health care and intelligent robot systems. However, recognizing facial expression in the wild is still very challenging due to variations, light intensity, occlusions and the ambiguity of human emotion. When training samples cannot include all these environments, the classification can easily lead to errors. Therefore, this paper proposes a new heuristic objective function based on the domain knowledge so as to better optimize deep neural networks for facial expression recognition. Moreover, we take the specific relationship between the facial expression and facial action units as the domain knowledge. By analyzing the mixing relationship between different expression categories and then enlarging the distance of easily confused categories, we define a new heuristic objective function which can guide deep neural network to learn better features and then improve the accuracy of facial expression recognition. The experimental results verify the effectiveness, universality and the superior performance of our methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of low-light image enhancement (LLIE) is to enhance perception to restore normal-light images. The primary emphasis of earlier LLIE methods was on enhancing the illumination while paying less attention to the color distortions and noise in the dark. In comparison to the ground truth, the restored images frequently exhibit inconsistent color and residual noise. To this end, this paper introduces a Wasserstein contrastive regularization method (WCR) for LLIE. The WCR regularizes the color histogram (CH) representation of the restored image to keep its color consistency while removing noise. Specifically, the WCR contains two novel designs including a differentiable CH module (DCHM) and a WCR loss. The DCHM serves as a modular component that can be easily integrated into the network to enable end-to-end learning of the image CH. Afterwards, to ensure color consistency, we utilize the Wasserstein distance (WD) to quantify the resemblance of the learnable CHs between the restored image and the normal-light image. Then, the regularized WD is used to construct the WCR loss, which is a triplet loss and takes the normal-light images as positive samples, the low-light images as negative samples, and the restored images as anchor samples. The WCR loss pulls the anchor samples closer to the positive samples and simultaneously pushes them away from the negative samples so as to help the anchors remove the noise in the dark. Notably, the proposed WCR method was only used for training, and was shown to achieve high performance and high speed inference using lightweight networks. Therefore, it is valuable for real-time applications such as night automatic driving and night reversing image enhancement. Extensive evaluations on benchmark datasets such as LOL, FiveK, and UIEB showed that the proposed WCR method achieves superior performance, outperforming existing state-of-the-art methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional machine learning models have mainly been used to study geological logging data of a single sample point, ignoring the fact that logging data has a strong spatial correlation. In this study, we use convolutional neural network to extract single-point features, structural features, and multidimensional features from logging data and compare the identification effects of lithology identification models based on the three features. The identification model based on the multidimensional feature extraction achieves 77.94% correctness in the test set, which is the best result among the identification models based on CNN and the three machine learning models. Based on this feature extraction model, the feature fusion modules in U-net and feature pyramid are added respectively to build two feature fusion models to combine the features extracted from different convolutional layers and improve the effectiveness of the model. The model also introduces attention mechanism to improve the role of useful features in the model training process. The identification accuracy of the two feature fusion models, U-CNN and P-CNN, reached 79.67% and 80.02% on the test set, respectively, which verified the effectiveness of the feature fusion models for lithology identification in the study area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Diabetes mellitus is a prevalent metabolic disease in the world. Previous studies have shown that anesthetics can affect perioperative blood glucose levels which related to adverse clinical outcomes. Few studies have explored the choice of general anesthetic protocol on perioperative glucose metabolism in diabetes patients. We aimed to compare total intravenous anesthesia (TIVA) with total inhalation anesthesia (TIHA) on blood glucose level and complications in type 2 diabetic patients undergoing general surgery. Methods: In this double-blind controlled trial, 116 type 2 diabetic patients scheduled for general surgery were randomly assigned to either the TIVA group or TIHA group (n = 56 and n = 60, respectively). The blood glucose level at different time points were measured and analyzed by the repeated-measures analysis of variance. The serum insulin and cortisol levels were measured and analyzed with t-test. The incidence of complications was followed up and analyzed with chi-square test or Fisher's exact test as appropriate. The risk factors for complications were analyzed using the logistic stepwise regression. Results: The blood glucose levels were higher in TIHA group than that in TIVA group at the time points of extubation, 1 and 2 h after the operation, 1 and 2 days after the operation, and were significantly higher at 1 day after the operation (10.4 ± 2.8 vs. 8.1 ± 2.1 mmol/L; P < 0.01). The postoperative insulin level was higher in TIVA group than that in TIHA group (8.9 ± 2.9 vs. 7.6 ± 2.4 IU/mL; P = 0.011). The postoperative cortisol level was higher in TIHA group than that in TIVA group (15.3 ± 4.8 vs. 12.2 ± 8.9 ug/dL ; P = 0.031). No significant difference regarding the incidence of complications between the two groups was found based on the current samples. Blood glucose level on postoperative day 1 was a risk factor for postoperative complications (OR: 1.779, 95%CI: 1.009 ~ 3.138). Conclusions: TIVA has less impact on perioperative blood glucose level and a better inhibition of cortisol release in type 2 diabetic patients compared to TIHA. A future large trial may be conducted to find the difference of complications between the two groups. Trial registration: The protocol registered on the Chinese Clinical Trials Registry on 20/01/2020 (ChiCTR2000029247). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The automated modal identification has been playing an important role in online structural damage detection and condition assessment. This paper proposes an improved hierarchical clustering method to identify the precise modal parameters by automatically interpreting the stabilization diagram. Two major improvements are provided in the whole clustering process. The modal uncertainty is first introduced in the first stage to eliminate as many as possible mathematical modal data to produce more precise clustering threshold, which helps to produce more precise clustering results. The boxplot is introduced in the last stage to assess the precision of the clustering results from a statistical perspective. Based on an iterative analysis of boxplot, the outliers of the clustering results are found out and eliminated and the precise modal results are finally produced. The Z24 benchmark experiment data are utilized to validate the feasibility of the proposed method, and comparison between the previous method and the improved method is also provided. From the result, it can be concluded that the modal uncertainty is more effective than the other modal criteria in distinguishing the mathematical modal data. The modal results by clustering process are not precise in statistic and the boxplot can find out the outliers of the clustering results and produce more precise modal results. The improved automated modal identification method can automatically extract the physical modal data and produce more precise modal parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The [4+1] cycloaddition reaction of bifunctional amino reagents has been achieved with in situ formed aza‐ortho‐quinone methides. Specifically, N‐(tosyloxy)carbamates were used as an N1 synthon and bifunctional amino reagents for this transformation, which provides a metal‐free, catalyst‐free, and oxidant‐free strategy to form nitrogen‐nitrogen bonds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is one of the most malignant head and neck carcinomas with unique epidemiological features. In this study, we aimed to identify the novel NPC-related genes and biological pathways, shedding light on the potential molecular mechanisms of NPC. Methods: Based on Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database, an integrated analysis of microarrays studies was performed to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and differentially methylated genes (DMGs) in NPC compared to normal control. The genes which were both differentially expressed and differentially methylated were identified. Functional annotation and protein–protein interaction (PPI) network construction were used to uncover biological functions of DEGs. Results: Two DNA methylation and five gene expression datasets were incorporated. A total of 1074 genes were up-regulated and 939 genes were down-regulated in NPC were identified. A total of 719 differential methylation CpG sites (DMCs) including 1 hypermethylated sites and 718 hypomethylated sites were identified. Among which, 11 genes were both DEGs and DMGs in NPC. Pathways in cancer, p53 signaling pathway and Epstein–Barr virus infection were three pathways significantly enriched pathways in DEmRNAs of NPC. The PPI network of top 50 DEGs were consisted of 191 nodes and 191 edges. Conclusions: Our study was helpful to elucidate the underlying mechanism of NPC and provide clues for therapeutic methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lower limb muscle strength is an important indicator of the effectiveness of rehabilitation training for patients with stroke and hemiplegia. When patients are trained with a lower limb rehabilitation robot, real-time human–machine interaction force acquisition can not only grasp the muscle strength of patients' lower limbs in time but also serve as an important reference for active/passive training mode. To accurately collect the human–machine interaction force to identify the patient's movement intention and determine the active/passive mode, a method is proposed to collect the human–machine interaction force based on a resistive strain gauge leg pressure sensor. The method can be applied to a variety of rehabilitation platforms to collect human–machine interaction force quickly and accurately and to identify and classify behaviors through probabilistic neural networks to determine patients' active/passive training patterns. By analyzing the active/passive walking of rehabilitation patients, the motor status of patients in that period is derived. The validity and correctness of the designed sensor and determination method were verified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the high abundance of their components, low cost, and high safety, zinc‐based batteries open up new vistas for large‐scale energy storage. However, their stability, lifetime, and reversibility are impaired by passivation and dendrite growth of the Zn anode. Here, this challenge is circumvented by an iodine post‐functionalized zeolitic imidazolate framework‐90 (ZIF‐90‐I) additive, in which the polycation absorbed on Zn anode can regulate solid–electrolyte interphase (SEI) formation in the 1 m Zn(TFSI)2 electrolyte and induce Zn2+ uniform deposition. Moreover, the I3−/I− redox can rejuvenate dead Zn and inhibit dendrites. With the ZIF‐90‐I additive, Zn plating/stripping at 99.5% Coulombic efficiency for 120 cycles is obtained in Zn||Ti cells at 20 mA cm−2/1 mAh cm−2. In addition, Zn||Zn cells show steady cycling for 1200 h at 5 mA cm−2/1 mAh cm−2 with stable overpotentials. The utilization rate of Zn reaches up to 68.6%. In situ optical microscopy reveals smooth, uniform Zn plating, and the Zn‐rejuvenated function from the I3−/I− redox couple. The refreshed SEI with the increase of Zn‐rich complexes, and nitrides from adsorbed polycations, are uniform and ZnF2‐rich in the Zn(TFSI)2 + ZIF‐90‐I electrolyte. The full Zn||air cells in Zn(TFSI)2 + ZIF‐90‐I electrolyte exhibit excellent cycling stability with stable polarization voltage at 0.1 mA/0.05 mAh cm−2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

(1) Background: Sleep deprivation (SD) triggers a range of neuroinflammatory responses. Dexmedetomidine can improve sleep deprivation-induced anxiety by reducing neuroinflammatory response but the mechanism is unclear; (2) Methods: The sleep deprivation model was established by using an interference rod device. An open field test and an elevated plus maze test were used to detect the emotional behavior of mice. Mouse cortical tissues were subjected to RNA sequence (RNA-seq) analysis. Western blotting and immunofluorescence were used to detect the expression of p38/p-p38, MSK1/p-MSK1, and NFκBp65/p- NFκBp65. Inflammatory cytokines were detected using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA); (3) Results: SD triggered anxiety-like behaviors in mice and was closely associated with inflammatory responses and the MAPK pathway (as demonstrated by transcriptome analysis). SD led to increased expression levels of p-p38, p-MSK1, and p-NFκB. P38 inhibitor SB203580 was used to confirm the important role of the p38/MSK1/NFκB pathway in SD-induced neuroinflammation. Dexmedetomidine (Dex) effectively improves emotional behavior in sleep-deprived mice by attenuating SD-induced inflammatory responses and oxidative stress in the cerebral cortex, mainly by inhibiting the activation of the p38/MSK1/NFκB pathway; (4) Conclusions: Dex inhibits the activation of the p38/MSK1/NFκB pathway, thus attenuating SD-induced inflammatory responses and oxidative stress in the cerebral cortex of mice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Iron ore tailings (FeT) and manganese ore tailings (MnT), which are abundant and inexpensive materials that contain many trace elements, were employed for the remediation of As-contaminated soil to mitigate As accumulation in rice under greenhouse conditions. Prior to the experiments, the toxicities of both amendments were assessed with the toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP) and horizontal vibration method (HVM). Based on the assessment results, both amendments were pretreated until no As was present in the leaching solution. After application of both amendments to the soil, the soil pH increased significantly (p < 0.05). The ranges of As concentrations in husk and brown rice samples were 0.13-1.54 mg kg-1 and 0.06-0.42 mg kg-1, respectively. The lowest concentrations of As (0.06±0.02 mg kg-1) in rice grains were observed with MnT treatment, which was related to the structure and composition of MnT. There was a significant negative relationship (p < 0.05) between Mn and As in rice plants, while there was a significant positive relationship (p < 0.05) between Fe and As in rice plants as well as the ratio of Fe/Mn and As in rice plants. In conclusion, MnT could potentially be useful as an amendment to remediate As-contaminated soil and control As uptake by rice plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Electron transfer efficiency in electroactive biofilm is the limiting factor for bioelectricity output of bioelectrochemical system. Here, carbon felt (CF) is coated with manganese dioxide (MnO 2) which acts as electron mediator in electroactive biofilm. A wrapping layer of conducting Poly 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene is developed to protect the MnO 2 and enhance electron transfer efficiency of MnO 2 mediator. The hybrid bioanode (PEDOT/MnO 2 /CF bioanode) delivered the highest electron transfer efficiency (6.3 × 10−9 mol cm−2 s−1/2) and the highest capacitance of 4.78 F, much higher than bare CF bioanode (1.50 ± 0.04 × 10−9 mol cm−2 s−1/2 and 0.42 F). As a result, microbial fuel cells could produce a maximum power density of 1534 ± 13 mW m−2, approximately 57.7% higher than that with the bare carbon felt anode (972 ± 21 mW m−2). Possible mechanisms are proposed to help understanding the different function of the PEDOT and MnO 2 on the anodic layer. This study introduces an effective method for the fabrication of high performance anode. Graphical abstract Unlabelled Image Highlights • A MnO 2 layer acts as electron mediator in electrochemical biofilm. • The wrapping layer of PEDOT helps to enhance electron transfer efficiency. • Electron transfer efficiency improved by ~4 times. • PEDOT/MnO 2 /CF anode increases the maximum power density by 143%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphical abstract Highlights • An anaerobic digestion bioreactor was setup for FO concentrated sewage treatment. • Inhibitory batch tests were carried out for the impact of NaCl and NH 4 +-N. • Single existence of NaCl had negative influence on methane production. • Single existence of NH 4 +-N had different impacts due to the its concentration. • The inhibition was severer with the co-existence of NaCl and NH 4 +-N. Abstract Sewage can become a valuable source if its treatment is re-oriented. Forward osmosis (FO) is an effective pre-treatment for concentrating solutions. A laboratory-scale anaerobic digestion (AD) bioreactor was setup for the treatment of concentrated real sewage by FO membrane to investigate the removal of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and biogas production. Inhibitory batch tests were carried out for the impact of NaCl and NH 4 +-N. Results showed that the concentrated sewage could be purified with 80% COD removal, and energy recovery could be achieved. But the process was inhibited. The results of inhibitory batch test showed that (i) when the NH 4 +-N concentration was lower (<200 mg/L), the biogas production was promoted, when it went high, the inhibition appeared; (ii) single existence of NaCl had negative influence on methane production; (iii) the inhibition was more severe with co-existence of NaCl and NH 4 +-N. The AD performance could be recovered via sludge acclimation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract A new photoelectrocatalytic (PEC) and microbial fuel cell (MFC) process was developed and applied to simultaneously remove refractory organic pollutants (i.e., phenol and aniline) from wastewater while recovering energy for in-situ utilization. The current generated by the MFC process was applied to drive the PEC reaction. Compared with single PEC or MFC processes, the PEC-MFC combined process showed higher pollutant and chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal capacities and electricity production. Over 95% of the phenol or aniline was removed by these process, even at high initial concentrations. The COD removal efficiencies for phenol and aniline were ca. 96% (from 700 to 29 mg L−1) and 70% (from 165 to 49 mg L−1), respectively. Although the PEC process showed a limited contribution to phenol and aniline removals (16.5% and 43%, respectively), the utilization of PEC-treated phenol or aniline streams resulted in a MFC with higher voltage output, higher coulombic efficiency, maximal volumetric power density, and lower internal resistance as compared to untreated water. High-performance liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry measurements revealed quinones/hydroquinones and low molecular weight organic acids to be produced as intermediates after the PEC process, which could improve the production of electricity in the MFC. Highlights • A new process composed of photoelectrocatalysis (PEC) and microbial fuel cell (MFC) was developed. • PEC-MFC may simultaneously remove pollutants and recover energy for in-situ utilization. • The (hydro)Quinones and low-molecular-weight organic acid as products from PEC increase electricity production of MFC. • A consecutive, dynamic adsorption and degradation process in MFC supply stable current to drive PEC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Mechanical degradation, caused by local stress concentration and variation, significantly affects the lifetime of proton exchange membrane fuel cells. This study constitutes the first numerical investigation of stress evolution in the membrane between the frame of the membrane exchange assembly (MEA) and gas diffusion layer (GDL) throughout the processes of assembly, operation and gas filling in fuel cells. A finite element model is outlined to determine mechanical deformation of the membrane by exerting assembly displacement, hygrothermal conditions and gas pressure in turn. It is observed that severe stress concentration and bending deformations occur in the joint-area membrane. The results show that a plastic deformation occurs after the temperature and water content are increased, and would be substantially enhanced by the gas pressure difference between the anode and cathode. The in-plane stress may throw some light on the rapid degradation of the membrane between the frame and GDL. The gas pressure difference, which exceeds 10 kPa, leads to a rapid increase in the in-plane stress and plastic deformation. Decreasing the joint width may not be a good approach for reducing the stress/strain concentration. It is suggested that additional gasket seals or adhesive protection layers are helpful in joining frame and GDL. Highlights • Numerical model of fuel cells is developed to investigate membrane degradation. • Stress concentration and plastic deformation are caused in the joint-area membrane. • As much as 70% increase is found in the in-plane stress after gas filling. • Gas pressure difference exceeding 10 kPa leads to a rapid increase in deformation. • The maximum stress and plastic strain are obtained if joint width is 0.05–0.15 mm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The structurally conserved but sequence-unrelated MAX (Magnaporthe oryzae avirulence and ToxB-like) effectors AVR1-CO39 and AVR-PikD from the blast fungus M. oryzae are recognized by the rice nucleotide-binding domain and leucine-rich repeat proteins (NLRs) RGA5 and Pikp-1, respectively. This involves, in both cases, direct interaction of the effector with a heavy metal-associated (HMA) integrated domain (ID) in the NLR. Here, we solved the crystal structures of a C-terminal fragment of RGA5 carrying the HMA ID (RGA5_S), alone, and in complex with AVR1-CO39 and compared it to the structure of the Pikp1HMA/AVR-PikD complex. In both complexes, HMA ID/MAX effector interactions involve antiparallel alignment of β-sheets from each partner. However, effector-binding occurs at different surfaces in Pikp1HMA and RGA5HMA, indicating that these interactions evolved independently by convergence of these two MAX effectors to the same type of plant target proteins. Interestingly, the effector-binding surface in RGA5HMA overlaps with the surface that mediates RGA5HMA self-interaction. Mutations in the HMA-binding interface of AVR1-CO39 perturb RGA5HMA-binding, in vitro and in vivo, and affect the recognition of M. oryzae in a rice cultivar containing Pi-CO39. Our study provides detailed insight into the mechanisms of effector recognition by NLRs, which has substantial implications for future engineering of NLRs to expand their recognition specificities. In addition, we propose, as a hypothesis for the understanding of effector diversity, that in the structurally conserved MAX effectors the molecular mechanism of host target protein-binding is conserved rather than the host target proteins themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel gas biofilter, namely the tubular biofilter (TBF) was developed and successfully used for toluene removal from waste gas streams. To furtherly explore its performance for methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK) removal, the TBF was continuously operated for over 284 days under various organic loading rates (OLRs) (ranging from 20 to 340 g m−3 h−1) and gas empty residence times (EBRTs) (ranging from 15 to 5 s) in this paper. The results show that the TBF could achieve a high MIBK removal efficiency (RE) at a short gas EBRT of 5 s. The mean maximum REs of MIBK were 98.67%, 88.95%, 77.93%, 71.74%, and 55.92% under the OLRs of 19.89, 39.33, 78.96, 160.17, 338.02 g m−3 h−1, respectively. The maximum elimination capacity for MIBK was as high as 200 g m−3 h−1, while the critical load was about 20 - 30 g m−3 h−1. Based on the Michaelis-Menten kinetic model, the biokinetic constants Ks was found to be 8.56 g m−3 and rmax was 0.14 g m−3 h−1. The biomass clogging appeared at the EC of over 80 g m−3 h−1. The TBF showed a high efficient performance for MIBK removal due to the enhancement of highly porous polyurethane sponge and new tubular configurations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract To understand the adsorption behavior of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) is important for enhancing the treatment performance and preventing potential secondary pollution caused by EDCs desorption in a microfiltration system. The dynamic adsorption of four representative EDCs, namely estriol (E3), 17β-estradiol (E2), 17α-ethynylestradiol (EE2), and 4-nonylphenol (4-NP) in a microfiltration system was investigated using the Thomas' model. The product of the equilibrium constant and the total adsorption capacity of the membrane, Ka , for E3, E2, EE2, and 4-NP were 4.91, 9.78, 15.6, and 826, respectively, strongly correlating with the compound octanol–water partition coefficient (K OW). Adsorption appeared to be enhanced when organic fouling formed on the surface of membrane, indicating the role of an additional adsorption column for EDCs acted by a fouling layer in microfiltration. Results of a comparison between the Ka values for clean membrane and fouled membrane illustrated that the significant contribution made by fouling layers may be attributed to the foulant layer's hydrophobicity (in the case of calcium humate layer) and thickness (in the case of calcium alginate layer). This study provided a novel perspective to quantitatively analyze the dynamic adsorption behavior of trace pollutants in membrane process. Graphical abstract Unlabelled Image [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: An effective and facile method for the synthesis of highly substituted 1,2,3,5‐tetrahydrobenzo[e][1,2,4]‐oxadiazepines is described. A formal [4+3] cycloaddition of N‐(2‐(chloromethyl) phenyl) amides with nitrones afforded benzo[e][1,2,4]‐oxadiazepine derivatives with high atom economy and excellent yields (up to 97%). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

C6H8O4Pb, orthorhombic, Pnma (no. 62), a = 21.927(2) Å, b = 7.2139(7) Å, c = 4.7357(5) Å, V = 749.1 Å3, Z = 4, Rgt (F) = 0.0429, wRref (F2 ) = 0.1149, T = 296 K. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Sugammadex has been reported to lower the incidence of postoperative residual neuromuscular blockade. Despite the advantages, until recently the effects of sugammadex on postoperative pulmonary complications (PPCs) were controversial. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to determine whether reversal with sugammadex was associated with a lower risk of PPCs compared with neostigmine. Methods: PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials were searched from inception to May 2022. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and observational studies comparing PPCs in patients receiving sugammadex or neostigmine as reversal agent at the end of surgery were included. The primary outcomes focused on PPCs including desaturation, pneumonia, atelectasis, noninvasive ventilation (NIV) and reintubation. Trial sequential analysis was performed on the primary outcomes to confirm whether firm evidence was reached. Results: Meta-analysis of included studies showed that the rate of desaturation (43.2% vs 45.0%, RR = 0.82; 95% CI 0.63 to 1.05; p = 0.11) were comparable between the two groups. When looking at other primary outcomes, significantly lower risk of pneumonia (1.37% vs 2.45%, RR = 0.65; 95% CI 0.49 to 0.85; p = 0.002), atelectasis (24.6% vs 30.4%, RR = 0.64; 95% CI 0.42 to 0.98; p = 0.04), NIV (1.37% vs 2.33%, RR = 0.65; 95% CI 0.43 to 0.98; p = 0.04) and reintubation (0.99% vs 1.65%, RR = 0.62; 95% CI 0.43 to 0.91; p = 0.01) in the sugammadex group were detected compared with the neostigmine group. Conclusions: We concluded that sugammadex is more effective at reducing the incidence of PPCs including pneumonia, atelectasis, NIV and reintubation compared with neostigmine. Further evidence, preferably from RCTs, is required to confirm these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's first optical stereo mapping satellite with a sub-meter resolution, GaoFen-7 (GF-7), launched in November 2019, shows significant potential for providing high-resolution topographic and geomorphic data for quantitative research on active tectonics. However, no studies have evaluated the capability of the GF-7-generated digital elevation model (DEM) for quantitatively studying active tectonics. This study aimed to validate the accuracy of the DEMs extracted from GF-7 stereo imagery, with or without ground control points (GCPs), and evaluated the potential of applying GF-7 DEMs to active tectonics. First, GF-7 stereo images were processed to obtain DEMs with a spatial resolution of 2 m, utilizing three different methods, including block adjustment without GCPs, block adjustment with the aid of Google Earth images and SRTM DEM, and block adjustment with GCPs derived from the Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) data. These three generated DEMs were called GF-7 DEMMethod1, GF-7 DEMMethod2, and GF-7 DEMMethod3, respectively, and were verified by the airborne LiDAR data in the Hasishan section of the Haiyuan fault. Second, the capability of the GF-7 DEMs for identifying active faults, fault scarps, and horizontal offsets was evaluated. Finally, 8 vertical and 13 horizontal offsets were measured based on three different GF-7 DEMs, and airborne LiDAR data were used to verify the measurements' accuracies. The results indicated that the accuracy of GF-7 DEMMethod1 was the worst and that of GF-7 DEMMethod3 was superior to that of GF-7 DEMMethod2. The GF-7 DEMs could effectively identify the apparent fault scarps and horizontal offsets. The RMSE values of the vertical offsets measured based on GF-7 DEMMethod1, GF-7 DEMMethod2, and GF-7 DEMMethod3 were 0.55 m, 0.55 m, and 0.41 m, respectively. The horizontal offsets yielded RMSE values of 3.98 m, 2.52 m, and 1.37 m, respectively. These findings demonstrated that vertical and horizontal offsets could be accurately measured using the DEMs generated from GF-7 stereo images. Meanwhile, our study indicated that the GCPs derived from ICESat-2 data could be utilized to improve the accuracies of the GF-7 DEM, and the measurements of vertical and horizontal offsets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to investigate the effects of large yellow croaker (Larimichthys crocea) roe protein hydrolysate (LYCPH)–polyphenol (catechin (CA), gallic acid (GA), and tannic acid (TA)) conjugates on the oxidative stability of fish oil in an oleogel system. RESULTS: Scanning electron microscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy suggested that the LYCPH–polyphenol conjugates were nearly spherical and non‐covalent and that covalent effects could coexist between LYCPH and polyphenols. LYCPH–TA exhibited the highest ABTS scavenging, reducing capacities, and emulsifying stability. Raman spectra and chemometrics revealed that LYCPH–TA loaded with oleogels had the best oxidative stability. Additionally, 32 volatile compounds were identified in fish oil by headspace gas chromatography–ion mobility spectrometry. CONCLUSION: Overall, this study demonstrated that fish oil oleogels loaded with LYCPH–polyphenol conjugates could inhibit fish oil oxidation. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Layered δ-MnO2 catalysts were prepared using the one-step redox method in precursor solutions with five different pH values (pH = 7, 9, 11, 13, and 14). The effects of pH on the physical properties and catalytic activity of the catalyst were investigated through XRD, SEM, TEM, BET, XPS, H2-TPR, and HCHO degradation tests at room temperature. The results showed that the layer spacing, manganese vacancy content, Mn4+/Mn3+ ratio, and surface-reactive oxygen species content of MnO2 increased with the increase in pH value in the alkaline range. When the catalyst was prepared at pH = 13, the above characteristics of the catalyst reached the optimal value which contributed to the high catalytic activity. Combined with the related characterization results, it was proved that changing the pH can affect the degree of oxidation in the catalyst synthesis process, increase the number of active oxygen and the oxygen mobility of the catalyst, and effectively improve the catalytic activity of the manganese dioxide catalyst for HCHO. This work represents a giant step toward the preparation of an effective catalyst for practical applications of HCHO removal at room temperature at a low concentration and high velocity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is important to assess existing reinforced concrete (RC) structures with damages. This task, however, is traditionally empirical and time‐consuming. To improve assessment accuracy and efficiency, this study proposed an approach to semantic model damaged RC beams based on point clouds. A slice‐based method for automatically modeling deformed beams and a color‐based crack detection method were developed for generating building information modeling (BIM) and finite element (FE) models. Furthermore, to enhance structural assessment and decision‐making by providing both damage and loading performance analysis data, a framework to extend the existing IFC standard was proposed for interoperability issues between FE models and BIM, aiming to integrate semantic‐enrichment damages and FE analysis results in the as‐is BIM model. Experiments were carried out on a simply supported RC beam subjected to a concentrated load. As a result, the improvement of the developed as‐is BIM model for damage visualization and structural assessment was confirmed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]