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Abstract This study investigated the correlation of newly identified inflammatory and insulin resistance indices with cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA), and explored their potential to differentiate CAA from hypertensive arteriopathy (HA). We retrospectively analyzed 514 consecutive patients with cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD)-related haemorrhage, comparing the differences in novel inflammatory and insulin resistance indices between patients with CAA and HA. Univariate regression, LASSO and multivariate regression were used to screen variables and construct a classification diagnosis nomogram. Additionally, these biomarkers were explored in patients with mixed haemorrhagic CSVD. Inflammatory indices were higher in CAA patients, whereas insulin resistance indices were higher in HA patients. Further analysis identified neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR, OR 1.17, 95% CI 1.07–1.30, P

In this paper, AlSi7Mg-xSc modified alloys with different Sc contents were designed based on the thermodynamic calculation of the crack sensitivity factor and growth inhibition factor. The two new AlSi7Mg-xSc powders were fabricated by the selective laser melting (SLM) process. It was found that the addition of Sc was beneficial to the molten pool deoxidation during the SLM process, and effectively prevented the oxidation of Al alloy. At the same time, Sc2O3, Al2O3, and AlSc2Si2 played the role of hetero-nucleation to improve the strength and plasticity of AlSi7Mg-xSc. The maximum tensile strength and elongation of AlSi7Mg-xSc were 411 MPa and 9.45%, respectively, which provided new materials for the material database of the SLM process.

The influences of simultaneous precipitation of isothermal ω and O′ on deformation mechanisms and mechanical properties of near β Ti alloy Ti-5Al-3Mo-3V-2Cr-2Zr-1Nb-1Fe with (α + β) hybrid structure are revealed. During continuous heating, the phase transformation sequence in this alloy is β + αp + ω-embryos + O′ → β + αp + ωiso + O′ → β + αp + ωiso + O′ + αs → β + αp + αs. Low-temperature heat treatments from 200 °C to 400 °C are carried out to develop such intermediate phases. Upon aging at 200 °C and 300 °C, the isothermal ω and O′ domains are continuously generated. In comparison with solution state, the deformation behaviors of aged samples are altered, and the yield stress and ductility are simultaneously increased. When aged at 200 °C, the yield strength is increased by 13.8 %, and fracture elongation is increased by 63.2 %. When aged at 300 °C, the yield strength is increased by 18.2 %, and preserves large ductility same to solution state. This is due to the development of isothermal ω and O′ domains suppress long-range stress induced martensitic transformation during loading, and the deformation mechanisms evolve into dislocations slipping gradually. When the aging temperature increases to 400 °C, α precipitation takes place leading to an obvious decrement in ductility. Upon loading the primary α can also accommodate partly the strains and relax local stress concentration. The results in this work clearly proves that better mechanical properties can be achieved through tailoring intermediate phases generation.

Mg-based amorphous alloys exhibit efficient catalytic performance and excellent biocompatibility with a promising application probability, specifically in the field of azo dye wastewater degradation. However, the problems like difficulty in preparation and poor cycling stability need to be solved. At present, Mg-based amorphous alloys applied in wastewater degradation are available in powder and ribbon. The amorphous alloy powder fabricated by ball milling has a high specific surface area, and its reactivity is thousands of times better than that of gas atomized alloy powder. But the development is limited due to the high energy consumption, difficult and costly process of powder recycling. The single roller melt-spinning method is a new manufacturing process of amorphous alloy ribbon. Compared to amorphous powder, the specific surface area of amorphous ribbon is relatively lower, therefore, it is necessary to carry out surface modification to enhance it. Dealloying is a way that can form a pore structure on the surface of the amorphous alloys, increasing the specific surface area and providing more reactive sites, which all contribute to the catalytic performance. Exploring the optimal conditions for Mg-based amorphous alloys in wastewater degradation by adjusting amorphous alloy composition, choosing suitable method to preparation and surface modification, reducing cost, expanding the pH range will advance the steps to put Mg-based amorphous alloys in industrial environments into practice.

Sexual systems play important roles in angiosperm evolution and exhibit substantial variations among different floras. Thus, studying their evolution in a whole flora is crucial for understanding the formation and maintenance of plant biodiversity and predicting its responses to environmental change. In this study, we determined the patterns of plant sexual systems and their associations with geographic elements and various life-history traits in dry-hot valley region of southwestern China, an extremely vulnerable ecosystem. Of the 3166 angiosperm species recorded in this area, 74.5% were hermaphroditic, 13.5% were monoecious and 12% were dioecious, showing a high incidence of diclinous species. Diclinous species were strongly associated with tropical elements, whereas hermaphroditic species were strongly associated with temperate and cosmopolitan elements. We also found that hermaphroditism was strongly associated with showy floral displays, specialist entomophily, dry fruits and herbaceous plants. Dioecy was strongly associated with inconspicuous, pale-colored flowers, generalist entomophily, fleshy fruits, and woody plants, whereas monoecy was strongly associated with inconspicuous, pale-colored flowers, anemophily, dry fruits, and herbaceous plants. In addition, hermaphroditic species with generalist entomophily tended to flower in the dry season, whereas diclinous species with specialist entomophily tended to flower in the rainy season. However, independent of sexual systems, plants that produce dry fruits tended to flower in the rainy season and set fruits in the dry season, but the opposite pattern was found for fleshy fruit-producing plants. Our results suggest that in the dry-hot valleys, plant sexual systems are associated with geographic elements as well as various life-history traits that are sensitive to environmental change.

Abstract Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is generally considered to be closely related to cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD), leading to a poor prognosis. However, the coexistence of ICH in general CSVD patients and related factors remain underreported. In our cross-sectional study, we screened 414 CSVD patients from a database at the Department of Neurology, First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University (September 2018 to April 2022). Imaging biomarkers of CSVD and coexisting ICH lesion were assessed. Factors associated with coexisting ICH in CSVD were determined using multivariate logistic regression analysis. ICH was observed in 59 patients (14.3%). Multivariate logistic regression showed that previous history of ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack (OR 5.189, 95%CI 2.572–10.467, P 10) (OR 2.051, 95%CI 1.044–4.027, P = 0.037) and low adjusted calcium-phosphorus product (OR 0.728 per 1 [mmol/L]2 increase, 95%CI 0.531–0.998, P = 0.049) were associated with coexisting ICH in CSVD patients. The considerable proportion of coexisting ICH and revelation of associated factors in general CSVD patients alert physicians of the potential risk of the reoccurrence of ICH, and might have a significant impact on therapeutic strategies.

Abstract Continuous industrialization and other human activities have led to severe water quality deterioration by harmful pollutants. Achieving robust and high-throughput water purification is challenging due to the coupling between mechanical strength, mass transportation and catalytic efficiency. Here, a structure-function integrated system is developed by Douglas fir wood-inspired metamaterial catalysts featuring overlapping microlattices with bimodal pores to decouple the mechanical, transport and catalytic performances. The metamaterial catalyst is prepared by metal 3D printing (316 L stainless steel, mainly Fe) and electrochemically decorated with Co to further boost catalytic functionality. Combining the flexibility of 3D printing and theoretical simulation, the metamaterial catalyst demonstrates a wide range of mechanical-transport-catalysis capabilities while a 70% overlap rate has 3X more strength and surface area per unit volume, and 4X normalized reaction kinetics than those of traditional microlattices. This work demonstrates the rational and harmonious integration of structural and functional design in robust and high throughput water purification, and can inspire the development of various flow catalysts, flow batteries, and functional 3D-printed materials.

Abstract Chisel pick is a basic and important rock cutting tool, and the performance of chisel pick directly affects rock mining. In this paper, a rock cutting device was developed for chisel picks cutting experiments. The influence of the depth of cutting, width of chisel pick, rake angle, back clearance angle and tip fillet radius on the cutting performance such as cutting force, normal force, and specific energy has been comprehensively studied. In addition to the general conclusions, the experimental results show that the back clearance angle has an influence range on the cutting, and the ratio of the normal force to the cutting force decreases with the increase of the rake angle; the tip fillet radius greatly improve the mean cutting force and specific energy. The experimental results will provide data support for the design of chisel picks on rock excavation machinery and a more reasonable chisel pick cutting rock mechanics model.

High current pulsed electron beam (HCPEB) was used to modify the surface microstructure and performance of AISI 304 stainless steel with different cold-rolling deformation. The phase, microstructure, microhardness, and corrosion performance were characterized and analyzed after cold-rolling and HCPEB treatment. The results show that after cold-rolling, deformation-induced martensites (DMs) are generated in the deformation twin lamellae or at the intersections of multiple twin lamellae, resulting in a grid-like morphology, smaller size, and a certain orientation relationship with the parent austenite. The content of DMs increases with increasing cold-rolling deformation. After HCPEB treatment, many craters with different sizes and similar densities are produced on the sample surface, and the DMs are transformed into austenite again in the surface layer. The difference is that the grain size of the regenerated austenite after HCPEB is much smaller than that of the initial austenite (before cold-rolling). Such high-density equiaxed ultrafine grains (UFGs) of austenite formed after HCPEB present a twin feature, which is the inheritance of the orientation relationship between DMs and austenite formed during rolling. HCPEB treatment can effectively reshape the phase and microstructure of the surface layer of the cold-rolled deformed austenitic steel but reduce the surface hardness and increase pitting corrosion tendency.

Epilepsy is one of the most common brain disorders, and seizures of epilepsy have severe adverse effects on patients. Real-time epilepsy seizure detection using electroencephalography (EEG) signals is an important research area aimed at improving the diagnosis and treatment of epilepsy. This paper proposed a real-time approach based on EEG signal for detecting epilepsy seizures using the STFT and Google-net convolutional neural network (CNN). The CHB-MIT database was used to evaluate the performance, and received the results of 97.74 % in accuracy, 98.90 % in sensitivity, 1.94 % in false positive rate. Additionally, the proposed method was implemented in a real-time manner using the sliding window technique. The processing time of the proposed method just 0.02 s for every 2-s EEG episode and achieved average 9.85- second delay in each seizure onset.

Summary: During space travel, microgravity leads to disturbances in cognitive function, while the underlying mechanism is still unclear. Simulated microgravity mice showed neuronal age-like changes in the hippocampus of our study. In the context of microgravity, we discovered m6A modification reshapes in the hippocampal region. When paired with RNA-seq and MeRIP-seq, Shox2 was found to be a powerful regulator in hippocampal neuron that respondes to microgravity. Decreased expression of senescence-associated secretory phenotype factors and improved genes related to synapses led to the restoration of memory function in the hippocampus upon increased expression of Shox2. Moreover, we discovered that IGF2BP2 was required for the m6A modification of the Shox2, and overexpressed IGF2BP2 in the hippocampus protected against both neuronal senescence and learning and memory decline caused by loss of gravity. Accordingly, our research identified the hippocampal IGF2BP2-Shox2 axis as a possible therapeutic approach to maintaining cognitive function during space travel.

Summary: Background: Endovascular therapy (EVT) was demonstrated effective in acute large vessel occlusion (LVO) with large infarction. Revealing subgroups of patients who would or would not benefit from EVT will further inform patient selection for EVT. Methods: This post-hoc analysis of the ANGEL-ASPECT trial, a randomised controlled trial of 456 adult patients with acute anterior-circulation LVO and large infarction, defined by ASPECTS 3–5 or infarct core volume 70–100 mL, enrolled from 46 centres across China, between October 2, 2020 and May 18, 2022. Patients were randomly assigned (1:1) to receiving EVT and medical management or medical management alone. One patient withdrew consent, 455 patients were included in this post-hoc analysis and categorised into 4 subgroups by lower or higher NIHSS (< or ≥16) and smaller or larger infarct core (< or ≥70 mL). Those with lower NIHSS & smaller core, and higher NIHSS & larger core were considered clinical-radiological matched subgroups; otherwise clinical-radiological mismatched subgroups. Primary outcome was 90-day modified Rankin Scale (mRS). ANGEL-ASPECT is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04551664. Findings: Overall, 139 (30.5%) patients had lower NIHSS & smaller core, 106 (23.3%) higher NIHSS & larger core, 130 (28.6%) higher NIHSS & smaller core, and 80 (17.6%) lower NIHSS & larger core. There was significant ordinal shift in the 90-day mRS toward a better outcome with EVT in clinical-radiological matched subgroups: lower NIHSS & smaller core (generalised OR, 1.76; 95% CI, 1.18–2.62; p = 0.01) and higher NIHSS & larger core (1.64; 1.06–2.54; 0.01); but not in the two clinical-radiological mismatched subgroups. Interpretation: Our findings suggested that in patients with anterior-circulation LVO and large infarction, EVT was associated with improved 90-day functional outcomes in those with matched clinical and radiological severities, but not in those with mismatched clinical and radiological severities. Simultaneous consideration of stroke severity and infarct core volume may inform patient selection for EVT. Funding: Unrestricted grants from industry [Covidien Healthcare International Trading (Shanghai), Johnson & Johnson MedTech, Genesis MedTech (Shanghai), and Shanghai HeartCare Medical Technology].

IntroductionEphedra sinica polysaccharide (ESP) exerts substantial therapeutic effects on rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, the mechanism through which ESP intervenes in RA remains unclear. A close correlation has been observed between enzymes and derivatives in the gut microbiota and the inflammatory immune response in RA.MethodsA type II collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) mice model was treated with Ephedra sinica polysaccharide. The therapeutic effect of ESP on collagen-induced arthritis mice was evaluated. The anti-inflammatory and cartilage-protective effects of ESP were also evaluated. Additionally, metagenomic sequencing was performed to identify changes in carbohydrate-active enzymes and resistance genes in the gut microbiota of the ESP-treated CIA mice. Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry were performed to observe the levels of serum metabolites and short-chain fatty acids in the gut. Spearman’s correlational analysis revealed a correlation among the gut microbiota, antibiotic-resistance genes, and microbiota-derived metabolites.ResultsESP treatment significantly reduced inflammation levels and cartilage damage in the CIA mice. It also decreased the levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines interleukin (IL)-6, and IL-1-β and protected the intestinal mucosal epithelial barrier, inhibiting inflammatory cell infiltration and mucosal damage. Here, ESP reduced the TLR4, MyD88, and TRAF6 levels in the synovium, inhibited the p65 expression and pp65 phosphorylation in the NF-κB signaling pathway, and blocked histone deacetylase (HDAC1 and HDAC2) signals. ESP influenced the gut microbiota structure, microbial carbohydrate-active enzymes, and microbial resistance related to resistance genes. ESP increased the serum levels of L-tyrosine, sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine, octadecanoic acid, N-oleoyl taurine, and decreased N-palmitoyl taurine in the CIA mice.ConclusionESP exhibited an inhibitory effect on RA. Its action mechanism may be related to the ability of ESP to effectively reduce pro-inflammatory cytokines levels, protect the intestinal barrier, and regulate the interaction between mucosal immune systems and abnormal local microbiota. Accordingly, immune homeostasis was maintained and the inhibition of fibroblast-like synoviocyte (FLS) proliferation through the HDAC/TLR4/NF-κB pathway was mediated, thereby contributing to its anti-inflammatory and immune-modulating effects.

Due to chemical inertness of nickel and boron, the preparation of nickel borides and corresponding layered ternary transition metal borides Ni3ZnB2 (MAB phase) has always required high-temperature and/or high-pressure conditions. Yet, an innovative and efficient approach to preparing Ni3ZnB2 at only 600 ℃ and without applied pressure is presented in this study. It is discovered that by simply adjusting the temperature, a phase transition from Ni3ZnB2 to Ni4B3 with a layered structure could be induced. This transition between the binary-component and the ternary-component brings about significant variation in electromagnetic wave (EMW) shielding/absorption performance of prepared borides. For instance, Ni2B has good EMW shielding performance (42.54 dB in X band) and Ni3ZnB2 is of weak EMW shielding (13.43 dB in X band); Ni3ZnB2 has poor EMW absorption performance (−5 dB) while Ni4B3 has excellent EMW absorption performance (−45.19 dB) at a thickness of 2.7 mm with effective absorption bandwidth (10.4 GHz).

Vision Transformer (ViT) has recently attracted significant attention for its performance in image classification. However, studies have yet to explore its potential in detecting and classifying plant leaf disease. Most existing research on diseased plant leaf detection has focused on non-transformer convolutional neural networks (CNN). Moreover, the studies that applied ViT narrowly experimented using hyperparameters such as image size, patch size, learning rate, attention head, epoch, and batch size. However, these hyperparameters significantly contribute to the model performance. Recognising the gap, this study applied ViT to Java Plum disease detection using optimised hyperparameters. To harness the performance of ViT, this study presents an experiment on Java Plum leaf disease detection. Java Plum leaf diseases significantly threaten agricultural productivity by negatively impacting yield and quality. Timely detection and diagnosis are essential for successful crop management. The primary dataset collected in Bangladesh includes six classes, ‘Bacterial Spot’, ‘Brown Blight’, ‘Powdery Mildew’, and ‘Sooty Mold’, ‘healthy’, and ‘dry’. This experiment contributes to a thorough understanding of Java Plum leaf diseases. Following rigorous testing and refinement, our model demonstrated a significant accuracy rate of 97.51%. This achievement demonstrates the possibilities of using deep-learning tools in agriculture and inspires further research and application in this field. Our research offers a foundational model to ensure crop quality by precise detection, instilling confidence in the global Java Plum market.

Background: Solute carrier family 3 member 2 (SLC3A2) is highly expressed in various types of cancers, including bladder cancer (BLCA). However, the role and mechanism of SLC3A2 in the onset and progression of BLCA are still unclear. Methods: The interfering plasmid for SLC3A2 was constructed and transfected into BLCA cells. Cell proliferation, invasion, and migration abilities were assessed to evaluate the impact of SLC3A2 silencing on BLCA cell growth. M1 and M2 macrophage polarization markers were detected to evaluate macrophage polarization. The levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS), lipid peroxidation, and Fe 2+ , as well as the expression of ferroptosis-related proteins, were measured to assess the occurrence of ferroptosis. Ferroptosis inhibitors were used to verify the mechanism. Results: The experimental results showed that SLC3A2 was highly expressed in BLCA cell lines. The proliferation, invasion, and migration of BLCA cells were reduced after interfering with SLC3A2. Interference with SLC3A2 led to increase the expression of M1 macrophage markers and decreased the expression of M2 macrophage markers in M0 macrophages co-cultured with tumor cells. Additionally, interference with SLC3A2 led to increased levels of ROS, lipid peroxidation, and Fe 2+ , downregulated the expression of solute carrier family 7 member11 (SLC7A11) and glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4), while upregulated the expression of acyl-coA synthetase long chain family member 4 (ACSL4) and transferrin receptor 1 (TFR1) in BLCA cells. However, the impact of SLC3A2 interference on cell proliferation and macrophage polarization was impeded by ferroptosis inhibitors. Conclusion: Interference with SLC3A2 inhibited the growth of BLCA cells and the polarization of tumor-associated macrophages by promoting ferroptosis in BLCA cells.

Abstract Nanoconfinement within enzymes can increase reaction rate and improve selectivity under mild conditions. However, it remains a great challenge to achieve chemical reactions imitating enzymes with directional molecular motion, short reaction time, ≈100% conversion, and chiral conversion in artificial nanoconfined systems. Here, directional flow ring‐opening reactions of styrene oxide and alcohols are demonstrated with ≈100% conversion in

This research aimed to develop a new method for clean utilization and treatment of landfill leachate and solid waste weathered coal. Landfill leachate and weathered coal were adopted for combined anaerobic fermentation for methane production. The characteristics of microbial community, mechanism of biological methane production, and utilization characteristics of fermentation broth and solid residue for co-fermentation were analyzed through metagenomics, soluble organic matter detection and thermogravimetric (TG) analysis. The obtained results revealed that combined anaerobic fermentation increased methane production by 80.1%. Syntrophomonas, Salipiger, Methanosaeta and Methanothrix were highly correlated. Gene abundances of 2-oxoacid ferredoxin oxidoreductase and enolase were increased in methane conversion pathway mainly by acetic acid. Pyruvate-ferroredoxin oxidoreductase, 2-oxoglutarate synthase and succinate dehydrogenase acetate synthase intensified electron transfer pathways among microorganisms. Fulvic acid, tyrosine and tryptophan contents were high in fermentation broth. Volatile decomposition temperature, ignition point and residual char combustion temperature of residual coal were decreased and combustion was more stable. The obtained results showed that the co-fermentation of landfill leachate and weathered coal improved biological methane gas production, degraded weathered coal and improved combustion performance, which provided a new idea for weathered coal clean utilization.

IntroductionThe macrobenthos plays a vital role within the ecosystem of seagrass beds, with its characteristics and spatial distribution serving as indicators of the well-being of the seagrass beds.MethodsIn August 2018, three seagrass beds located in the Yellow River Estuary of Dongying, the west coast of Yantai, and Swan Lake of Weihai, were investigated to compare the ecological influences of seagrass habitat on the benthic environment and macrobenthic community. Within each seagrass bed, porewater, sediment, and macrobenthos were sampled from three separate stations (center of seagrass bed, edge of seagrass bed and bare area).Results and discussionOne-way ANOVA showed significant differences (p < 0.05) in environmental factors and macrobenthos species, abundance, biomass and diversity indices among the three seagrass beds. The present data did not show significant impacts on habitat and macrobenthos in the different coverage areas of seagrass beds at the investigated spatial scales, though crustacea and some carnivores were relatively more inclined to inhabit areas with higher seagrass densities. Aquaculture and eutrophication may trigger the loss of seagrass bed habitats, that affects macrobenthic biodiversity, and conservation measures are needed to protect seagrass bed habitats.

Although convolutional neural network (CNN) paradigms have expanded to transfer learning and ensemble models from original individual CNN architectures, few studies have focused on the performance comparison of the applicability of these techniques in detecting and localizing rice diseases. Moreover, most CNN-based rice disease detection studies only considered a small number of diseases in their experiments. Both these shortcomings were addressed in this study. In this study, a rice disease classification comparison of six CNN-based deep-learning architectures (DenseNet121, Inceptionv3, MobileNetV2, resNext101, Resnet152V, and Seresnext101) was conducted using a database of nine of the most epidemic rice diseases in Bangladesh. In addition, we applied a transfer learning approach to DenseNet121, MobileNetV2, Resnet152V, Seresnext101, and an ensemble model called DEX (Densenet121, EfficientNetB7, and Xception) to compare the six individual CNN networks, transfer learning, and ensemble techniques. The results suggest that the ensemble framework provides the best accuracy of 98%, and transfer learning can increase the accuracy by 17% from the results obtained by Seresnext101 in detecting and localizing rice leaf diseases. The high accuracy in detecting and categorisation rice leaf diseases using CNN suggests that the deep CNN model is promising in the plant disease detection domain and can significantly impact the detection of diseases in real-time agricultural systems. This research is significant for farmers in rice-growing countries, as like many other plant diseases, rice diseases require timely and early identification of infected diseases and this research develops a rice leaf detection system based on CNN that is expected to help farmers to make fast decisions to protect their agricultural yields and quality.

Abstract Transient ischemic attack (TIA) was clinically divided into anterior circulation (AC) or posterior circulation (PC). Previous study reported that ABCD2 score could predict the stroke risk after AC-TIA but might have limitation for PC-TIA. We aimed to classify TIA depending on neuroimaging and assess the value of ABCD2 score for predicting stroke risk in different territories. Research data was from TIA database of the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University. TIA patients with acute infarction on diffuse weighted imaging [that is, transient symptoms with infarction (TSI)] were divided into anterior and posterior circulation groups according to the location of infarction. The outcome was recurrent stroke within 7 and 90 days. The predictive power of ABCD2 score was determined using area under receiver operator characteristic curve (AUC) analyses. Overall, 382 AC-TSI and 112 PC-TSI patients were included. There were 38 (9.9%) AC-TSI patients and 11(9.8%) PC-TSI patients who had recurrent stroke at 7 days, and 66 (17.3%) AC-TSI patients and 19 (17.0%) PC-TSI patients who had recurrent stroke within 90 days. At 7 days, the AUC for ABCD2 score was 0.637 (95% confidence interval CI 0.554–0.720) in anterior circulation and 0.683 (95% CI 0.522–0.845) in posterior circulation. The C statistics for ABCD2 score in the two groups were not statistically significant (Z = − 0.499; P = 0.62). Similar result was found when the outcome time-point was set at 90 days. ABCD2 score could predict the short-term risk of recurrent stroke after AC-TSI and PC-TSI, and had similar predictive abilities for AC-TSI and PC-TSI.

The hydrological cycle, surface energy balance, and the management of water resources are all significantly impacted by soil moisture. Because it governs the physical processes of evapotranspiration and rainfall penetration, surface soil moisture is a significant climatic variable. In this work, visible-near infrared (VIS-NIR) bands were used to compare and analyze the spectra of loess samples with varying moisture concentrations. The investigation looked at how changes in the soil moisture content impacted the response of the soil spectra. The researchers used a genetic algorithm (GA), interval combination optimization (ICO), and competitive adaptive reweighted sampling (CARS) to filter feature variables from full-band spectral data. To forecast the moisture content of loess on the soil surface, models like partial least squares regression (PLSR), support vector machine (SVM), and random forest (RF) were created. The findings indicate that: (1) the most reliable spectrum preprocessing technique is the first derivative (FD), which can significantly enhance the model’s prediction power and spectral characteristic information. (2) The feature band selection method’s prediction effect of soil moisture content is typically superior to that of full-spectrum data. (3) The random forest (RF) prediction model for soil moisture content with the highest accuracy was built by combining the genetic algorithm (GA) with the FD preprocessed spectra. The results may provide a new understanding on how to use VIS-NIR to measure soil moisture content.

Abstract The infertile electromagnetic (EM) attenuating behavior of carbon material makes the improvement of its performance remain a significant challenge. Herein, a facile and low‐cost strategy radically distinct from the prevalent approaches by constructing polar covalent bonds between sp2‐hybridized and sp3‐hybridized carbon atoms to introduce strong dipolar polarization is proposed. Through customizing and selectively engineering the N moieties conjugated with carbon rings, the microstructure of the as‐synthesized 2D nanosheet is gradually converted with the partial transition from sp3 carbons to sp2 carbons, where the electric dipoles between them are also tuned. Supported by the DFT calculations, a progressively enhanced sp2─sp3 C─C dipolar polarization is caused by this controllable structure evolution, which is demonstrated to contribute dominantly to the total dielectric loss. By virtue of this unduplicated loss behavior, a remarkable effective absorption bandwidth (EAB) beyond ‐10 dB of 8.28 GHz (2.33 mm) and an ultrawide EAB beyond ‐5 dB of 13.72 GHz (4.93 mm) are delivered, which upgrade the EM performance of carbon material to a higher level. This study not only demonstrates the huge perspective of sp2─sp3‐hybridized carbon in EM elimination but also gives pioneering insights into the carbon–carbon polarization mechanism for guiding the development of advanced EM absorption materials.

Objectives To investigate the association of hypertension with depressive and anxiety disorders in middle-aged and older Chinese women, and to further assess whether the association was influenced by socioeconomic status (SES).Design Nationwide cross-sectional study.Setting Six provinces of the eastern, central and western regions of China.Participants Women aged 40–70 years were included by a multistage stratified random cluster sampling in 2018 (N=9900).Primary outcome measures Depressive and anxiety disorders were measured by the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7, respectively. Logistic regression models were used to evaluate the OR and 95% CI for hypertension and the odds of depressive and anxiety disorders.Results 18.5% of participants reported having hypertension; 20.9% and 15.3% of women experienced depressive and anxiety disorders, respectively. After adjusting for potential confounders, women diagnosed with hypertension were more likely to have depressive (OR=1.27, 95% CI 1.11 to 1.45) and anxiety disorders (OR=1.48, 95% CI 1.28 to 1.71) than those without hypertension. Stratified analyses demonstrated that hypertension was significantly associated with higher odds of depressive disorders in women living in rural areas (OR=1.34, 95% CI 1.13 to 1.59), with lower levels of education (OR=1.28, 95% CI 1.12 to 1.46) and with average monthly household income

ObjectiveThe metabolic syndrome (MetS) is diagnosed upon the manifestation of ≥ 3 out of 5 specific components. The present study evaluated the epidemiological characteristics of the MetS components and their clustering condition among Chinese adults.Methods68383 participants aged 18-80 years from TIDE were scored on a six-point (0–5) MetS severity score (MSSS), which quantified their cumulative amount of MetS risk components. We evaluated the epidemiological characteristics of these components and their clustering conditions. Additionally, we examined the relation of age with the prevalence of different MSSSs or specific MetS components using restricted cubic splines.ResultsAmong 68383 participants, 26113 men and 24582 women had abnormal MetS components. There were significant differences in most epidemiological characteristics between the 6 MSSS groups. The top three prevalence of abnormal metabolic components were high systolic blood pressure (SBP) (9.41%, n=6568), high waist circumference (WC) (8.13%, n=6120), and the cooccurrence of high SBP and high WC (6.33%, n=4622). Participants were more likely to have all five MetS components when HDL-C was low. Restricted cubic splines showed that when the MSSS ≥3, the MetS prevalence of male peaked and that of the female population increased most rapidly at 40-60 age group.ConclusionThe 40-60 age group can be regarded as the high-risk period of MetS, and elderly women have a higher risk of multiple metabolic disorders than men. The top three clustering of abnormal metabolic components were high SBP, high WC, and their combination. Multiple components aggregation was more likely to occur when HDL-C decreased.

AbstractMesenchymal stem cells-derived exosomes (MSC-Exo) are considered to have great potential in the treatment of human diseases. However, the role of MSC-Exo in the process of diabetes with sepsis and the underlying molecular mechanism remain unclear. Human pulmonary microvascular endothelial cells (HPMECs) were treated with high glucose (HG) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Cell viability, migration, angiogenesis were analyzed by cell counting kit 8 assay, transwell assay and tube formation assay. Transmembrane electrical resistance (TER) detection and FITC-dextran assay were performed to evaluate cell barrier function. The protein levels of cell permeability-related markers, ferroptosis-related markers, exosomes-related markers, Nrf2 and HO-1 were examined using western bolt (WB) analysis. Besides, the levels of inflammation factors were tested by ELISA, and the levels of ferroptosis-related indicators were examined using corresponding assay kits. Flow cytometry was employed to analyze stem cell markers. The identification of MSC-Exo was performed using transmission electron microscopy, nanoparticle tracking analysis and WB analysis. DIO staining was used to examine the uptake of MSC-Exo by HPMECs. HG treatment suppressed HPMECs viability, migration, angiogenesis and TER, while promoted permeability, inflammation and ferroptosis. LPS treatment aggravated HG-induced HPMECs dysfunction, inflammation and ferroptosis. After HPMECs were co-cultured with MSC-Exo, cell injury induced by HG + LPS could be relieved. Moreover, MSC-Exo treatment enhanced the activity of Nrf2/HO-1 pathway in HG + LPS-induced HPMECs, and Nrf2-silenced MSC-Exo could promote HG + LPS-induced HPMECs injury. MSC-Exo alleviated HG + LPS-induced HPMECs injury via activating Nrf2/HO-1 pathway, confirming that it might be used for the treatment of diabetes with sepsis.

The development of proton exchange membrane water electrolyzers (PEMWEs) is primarily challenged by the slow and unstable oxygen evolution reaction (OER) at the anode. Thus, the pursuit of low‐cost, highly efficient, and durable electrocatalysts is the foundation for the widespread adoption of PEMWEs. In the past few decades, various types of electrocatalysts are proposed to serve as anode materials for acidic OER, but only a few demonstrate catalytic activity and stability comparable to iridium‐ and ruthenium‐based electrocatalysts. In recent years, some transition‐metal oxides are studied as potential candidates for acidic OER. For instance, spinel‐type oxides, e.g., Co3O4, and corresponding compounds demonstrate promise due to the rich coordination structure of metallic ions and moderate adoption energy for intermedia. In this review, recent advances in spinel‐type oxides for acidic OER are summarized. First, a fundamental understanding of reaction mechanisms for OER in acidic media is introduced. Thereafter, recent progress in rational design principles and optimization strategies for spinel oxides is systematically summarized. Finally, challenges and perspectives for the development of spinel‐based acidic OER electrocatalysts are discussed.

Cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) causes 20%–25% of stroke and contributes to 45% of dementia cases worldwide. However, since its early symptoms are inconclusive in addition to the complexity of the pathological basis, there is a rather limited effective therapies and interventions. Recently, accumulating evidence suggested that various brain-waste-clearance dysfunctions are closely related to the pathogenesis and prognosis of CSVD, and after a comprehensive and systematic review we classified them into two broad categories: trans-barrier transport and lymphatic drainage. The former includes blood brain barrier and blood–cerebrospinal fluid barrier, and the latter, glymphatic-meningeal lymphatic system and intramural periarterial drainage pathway. We summarized the concepts and potential mechanisms of these clearance systems, proposing a relatively complete framework for elucidating their interactions with CSVD. In addition, we also discussed recent advances in therapeutic strategies targeting clearance dysfunction, which may be an important area for future CSVD research.

Avoiding cracking defects is crucial to ensuring processability in the laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) of metallic materials. In this study, a crack-free Ni-based superalloy with a high volume fraction of the γ′ phase was designed for the LPBF process using the thermodynamic approach. The results indicate that the designed SD01 Ni-based alloy was crack-free and over 21% of the spherical γ′ phase was uniformly distributed in the matrix after heat treatment. In addition, 1 wt.% TiB2 particles were introduced into the SD01 alloy to further enhance high-temperature mechanical performance. It was found that the morphology of the γ′ phase was altered from spherical to cubic structures, and its volume fraction increased from 21% to 40% after the TiB2 addition. The SD01-TiB2 composite exhibited an excellent combination of tensile strength (437.43 MPa) and elongation (7.71%) at 900 °C compared with the SD01 alloy (252.03 MPa, 3.02%). These findings provide a new metallic material design method for the LPBF of crack-free high-performance Ni-based materials.

ABSTRACTScandium is the best alloying element to improve the mechanical properties of industrial Al-Si-Mg casting alloys. Most literature reports devote to exploring/designing optimal Sc additions in different commercial Al-Si-Mg casting alloys with well-defined compositions. However, no attempt to optimize the contents of Si, Mg, and Sc has been made due to the great challenge of simultaneous screening in high-dimensional composition space with limited experimental data. In this paper, a novel alloy design strategy was proposed and successfully applied to accelerate the discovery of hypoeutectic Al-Si-Mg-Sc casting alloys over high-dimensional composition space. Firstly, high-throughput CALculation of PHAse Diagrams (CALPHAD) solidification simulations of ocean of hypoeutectic Al-Si-Mg-Sc casting alloys over a wide composition range were performed to establish the quantitative relation ‘composition-process-microstructure’. Secondly, the relation ‘microstructure-mechanical properties’ of Al-Si-Mg-Sc hypoeutectic casting alloys was acquired using the active learning technique supported by key experiments designed by CALPHAD and Bayesian optimization samplings. After a benchmark in A356-xSc alloys, such a strategy was utilized to design the high-performance hypoeutectic Al-xSi-yMg alloys with optimal Sc additions that were later experimentally validated. Finally, the present strategy was successfully extended to screen the optimal contents of Si, Mg, and Sc over high-dimensional hypoeutectic Al-xSi-yMg-zSc composition space. It is anticipated that the proposed strategy integrating active learning with high-throughput CALPHAD simulations and key experiments should be generally applicable to the efficient design of high-performance multi-component materials over high-dimensional composition space.

Purposes This work is conducted to achieve the objectives of carbon emission reduction and resource utilization of solid waste. Methods Geopolymer concrete was prepared from red mud and coal-metakaolin, and the effect of four factors on its mechanical properties was investigated with an orthogonal test method. Findings The water-binder ratio was found to have a significant effect on the strength of the geopolymer concrete, followed by Na2O/H2O, while the curing conditions and the aggregate-binder ratio have lesser effect, according to the ANOVA. On the basis of the experimental results, the mathematical model of compressive strength and splitting tensile strength of geopolymer concrete was established, and the fitting effects of the equations were favourable. Further analysis obtained the optimal ratio of geopolymer concrete, and the compressive strength and splitting tensile strengthes of the cube specimens cured for 28 d were 43.6 MPa and 2.87 MPa, respectively. Then, the pore structures of the geopolymer concretes with different W/B ratios were characterised with low-field NMR tests. The results indicate that the geopolymer concrete is predominantly microporous internally. The increased content of evaporable free water increases the porosity and coarsens the pore structure, which macroscopically manifests as a reduction in strength of the material. This study can provide some theoretical guidance for the promotion and engineering application of geopolymer concrete.

Abstract Glasshouse plants are species that trap warmth via specialized morphology and physiology, mimicking a human glasshouse. In the Himalayan alpine region, the highly specialized glasshouse morphology has independently evolved in distinct lineages to adapt to intensive UV radiation and low temperature. Here we demonstrate that the glasshouse structure – specialized cauline leaves – is highly effective in absorbing UV light but transmitting visible and infrared light, creating an optimal microclimate for the development of reproductive organs. We reveal that this glasshouse syndrome has evolved at least three times independently in the rhubarb genus Rheum. We report the genome sequence of the flagship glasshouse plant Rheum nobile and identify key genetic network modules in association with the morphological transition to specialized glasshouse leaves, including active secondary cell wall biogenesis, upregulated cuticular cutin biosynthesis, and suppression of photosynthesis and terpenoid biosynthesis. The distinct cell wall organization and cuticle development might be important for the specialized optical property of glasshouse leaves. We also find that the expansion of LTRs has likely played an important role in noble rhubarb adaptation to high elevation environments. Our study will enable additional comparative analyses to identify the genetic basis underlying the convergent occurrence of glasshouse syndrome.

Biomimetic metallic biomaterials prepared for bone scaffolds have drawn more and more attention in recent years. However, the topological design of scaffolds is critical to cater to multi-physical requirements for efficient cell seeding and bone regeneration, yet remains a big scientific challenge owing to the coupling of mechanical and mass-transport properties in conventional scaffolds that lead to poor control towards favorable modulus and permeability combinations. Herein, inspired by the microstructure of natural sea urchin spines, biomimetic scaffolds constructed by pentamode metamaterials (PMs) with hierarchical structural tunability were additively manufactured via selective laser melting. The mechanical and mass-transport properties of scaffolds could be simultaneously tuned by the graded porosity (B/T ratio) and the tapering level (D/d ratio). Compared with traditional metallic biomaterials, our biomimetic PM scaffolds possess graded pore distribution, suitable strength, and significant improvements to cell seeding efficiency, permeability, and impact-tolerant capacity, and they also promote in vivo osteogenesis, indicating promising application for cell proliferation and bone regeneration using a structural innovation.

Abstract Finger millet is a key food security crop widely grown in eastern Africa, India and Nepal. Long considered a ‘poor man’s crop’, finger millet has regained attention over the past decade for its climate resilience and the nutritional qualities of its grain. To bring finger millet breeding into the 21st century, here we present the assembly and annotation of a chromosome-scale reference genome. We show that this ~1.3 million years old allotetraploid has a high level of homoeologous gene retention and lacks subgenome dominance. Population structure is mainly driven by the differential presence of large wild segments in the pericentromeric regions of several chromosomes. Trait mapping, followed by variant analysis of gene candidates, reveals that loss of purple coloration of anthers and stigma is associated with loss-of-function mutations in the finger millet orthologs of the maize R1/B1 and Arabidopsis GL3/EGL3 anthocyanin regulatory genes. Proanthocyanidin production in seed is not affected by these gene knockouts.

In order to improve the conversion efficiency of lignite to biomethane, the gas production effect of mixed fermentation of waste oil and lignite was discussed in this paper. NMR carbon spectroscopy, three-dimensional fluorescence and macro transcriptomics were used to analyze the internal mechanism of transformation efficiency changes. The study showed that the addition of waste oil increased the cumulative methane yield of lignite by 3.89 times, and the unit methane yield reached 31.2 mL. The percentage of aliphatic carbon in lignite decreased by 11.4%, and the content of fulvic acid like phenol hydroxyl, ketone carbonyl, carbonyl and other groups increased significantly. At the same time, the proportion of active methanogenic archaea such as Metanothrix and Metanoculleus increased by more than 50% at the peak of microbial flora. Glycoside hydrolase, fatty acyl coenzyme A dehydrogenase and other enzymes related to carbohydrate and fatty acid degradation increased significantly. With the addition of waste oil, the conversion of acetic acid and CO2 to methane accounted for 59.2% and 40.4%, respectively. Functional enzymes such as formylmethane furan dehydrogenase and acetic acid kinase were also improved, promoting the conversion of biomethane. The addition of waste oil can significantly promote the production of biomethane from lignite, which provides a practical solution to the problem of low gas production from single lignite anaerobic fermentation. The reduction of fat carbon rate in lignite indicates that microbial flora is more likely to react with aliphatic methyl carbon, aromatic methyl carbon, methylene and methoxy in the carbon skeleton macromolecular structure of lignite in anaerobic fermentation to convert methane. The analysis results of liquid components show that the content of biodegradable organic molecules increases, which comes from the function group shedding of lignite due to the action of microorganisms and the biochemical reaction of microorganisms. The addition of waste oil can significantly change the composition of microbial community, improve its gene function expression, and promote the generation of methane.

Abstract Exploring approaches to utilize abundant water to synthesize functional molecules and polymers with efficient clusteroluminescence properties is highly significant but has yet to be reported. Herein, a chemistry of water and alkyne is developed. The synthesized products are proven as nonaromatic clusteroluminogens that could emit visible light. Their emission colors and luminescent efficiency could be adjusted by manipulating through-space interaction using different starting materials. Besides, the free-standing polymeric films with much high photoluminescence quantum yields (up to 45.7%) are in situ generated via a water-involved interfacial polymerization. The interfacial polymerization-enhanced emission of the polymeric films is observed, where the emission red-shifts and efficiency increases when the polymerization time is prolonged. The synthesized polymeric film is also verified as a Janus film. It exhibits a vapor-triggered reversible mechanical response which could be applied as a smart actuator. Thus, this work develops a method to synthesize clusteroluminogens using water, builds a clear structure-property relationship of clusteroluminogens, and provides a strategy to in situ construct functional water-based polymeric films.

Scientific determination of geological parameters of the groundwater level fluctuation zone is an important step for water resources evaluation and management. In the past 40 years, over-exploitation of groundwater in the Baoding Plain led to a serious deficit of aquifers, thus forming a huge deep vadose zone. After the South-to-North Water Diversion Project was put into operation, with the progress of ecological water supplement of rivers and lakes and groundwater limited-over-exploitation, the groundwater levels in some areas of the Baoding Plain stopped falling and rose. The quantitative relationship between the amount of water supplement and the change of groundwater levels has become an important scientific issue in the management of over-exploitation of groundwater. However, under the condition of groundwater level recovery, the calculation results will be deviated if the specific yield parameter of water release process is still used. Therefore, the free porosity parameter study of groundwater level recovery process is the key to solve this problem. Based on 67 engineering geological boreholes in the Baoding Plain, the comprehensive free porosity during groundwater level recovery is determined according to the lithologic characteristic parameters of the groundwater level fluctuation zone. The semi-variogram model is selected by the trend analysis and cross validation, and the spatial unknown points are interpolated by the Ordinary Kriging interpolation. The results show that (1) the best semi-variogram model of the comprehensive free porosity in the groundwater level fluctuation zone of the Baoding Plain is the 1 order index model. The spatial autocorrelation of the data is obvious, which is mainly affected by structural factors such as spatial location of the groundwater level fluctuation zone and stratigraphic type. (2) The comprehensive free porosity distribution shows that the southwest and northwest are the high value areas, and the extreme value can reach 0.25. The parameter gradually decreases to the central and eastern regions, and the minimum value is 0.02. (3) Compared with the value of the conventional specific yield, the value of the free porosity increases by about 0.03 in the north and south regions, which is about 1.2 times that of the conventional specific yield. In the central region, it is reduced by about 0.06, which is about half that of the conventional specific yield value. The research results are of important research value and great significance for ecological water supplement and water resources regulation in the benefited regions of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project.

This study investigated the differences in bone growth and turnover and calcium (Ca) and phosphorus (P) uptake among three different breeds of growing-finishing pigs. Ninety healthy Duroc, Xiangcun black (XCB), and Taoyuan black (TYB) pigs (30 pigs per breed) at 35 day-old (D) with the average body weight (BW) of their respective breed were assigned and raised to 185 D. The results showed that Duroc pigs had higher bone weight and length than the XCB and TYB pigs at 80, 125, and 185 D and the bone index at 185 D (p

Inversion tillage and organic fertilizer application can break the plow pan and improve soil quality. However, the effects of combining these practices on the soil microbial resource limitation and maize yield in Haplic Chernozem are unclear. In this research, a field experiment was established in 2018, and soil samples were collected in 2021 in Longjiang County in Northeast China, which is a Haplic Chernozem region. Four treatments comprising conventional tillage (T15), conventional tillage with organic fertilizer (T15+M), inversion tillage (T35), and inversion tillage with organic fertilizer (T35+M) were randomly arranged with four replications. Compared with T15 and T15+M treatments, soil bulk density significantly decreased by 11.1–16.3% in the 15–35 cm layer under T35 and T35+M treatments, accompanied by the improvement in soil pore structure (e.g., soil porosity, circularity, and Euler number). T15+M treatment significantly increased soil organic carbon and soil nutrient contents by 11.1–16.3% and 3.9–24.5% in the 0–15 cm layer compared with other treatments. However, soil organic carbon, total nitrogen, available phosphorus content, microbial biomass, and enzymatic activities reached the maximum values in the 0–35 cm layer under T35+M treatment. In addition, T35+M treatment had the highest maize yield and sustainable yield index. Extracellular enzymatic stoichiometry suggested that soil microorganisms are generally co-limited by carbon and phosphorus in Haplic Chernozem. However, T35+M treatment significantly reduced soil microbial resource limitation, which was one important factor impacting maize yield and sustainability. Random-forest and partial least-squares path modeling showed that T35+M treatment could reduce soil microbial resource limitation and increase the stability and sustainability of the maize yield by improving soil available nutrients, microbial biomass, and pore structure. Therefore, the incorporation of inversion tillage and organic fertilizer is a suitable soil management practice in view of increasing soil quality and crop yields in a Haplic Chernozem region.

Long-term spaceflight is known to induce disruptions in circadian rhythms, which are driven by a central pacemaker located in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) of the hypothalamus, but the underlying molecular mechanisms remain unclear. Here, we developed a rat model that simulated microgravity and isolation environments through tail suspension and isolation (TSI). We found that the TSI environment imposed circadian disruptions to the core body temperature, heart rate, and locomotor-activity rhythms of rats, especially in the amplitude of these rhythms. In TSI model rats’ SCNs, the core circadian gene NR1D1 showed higher protein but not mRNA levels along with decreased BMAL1 levels, which indicated that NR1D1 could be regulated through post-translational regulation. The autophagosome marker LC3 could directly bind to NR1D1 via the LC3-interacting region (LIR) motifs and induce the degradation of NR1D1 in a mitophagy-dependent manner. Defects in mitophagy led to the reversal of NR1D1 degradation, thereby suppressing the expression of BMAL1. Mitophagy deficiency and subsequent mitochondrial dysfunction were observed in the SCN of TSI models. Urolithin A (UA), a mitophagy activator, demonstrated an ability to enhance the amplitude of core body temperature, heart rate, and locomotor-activity rhythms by prompting mitophagy induction to degrade NR1D1. Cumulatively, our results demonstrate that mitophagy exerts circadian control by regulating NR1D1 degradation, revealing mitophagy as a potential target for long-term spaceflight as well as diseases with SCN circadian disruption.

Pole-type structures are vulnerable to earthquake events due to their slender shapes, particularly porcelain cylindrical equipment in electrical substations, which has inherent fragility and low strength in its materials. Traditional base isolation designs configure the bottom of the pole-type equipment as hinges with restraints. It fully relies on the restrainers to re-center the pole-type equipment, posing a risk of tilting and functionality failure after earthquakes. This study proposes a solution to this challenge by introducing a restrained rocking mechanism at the base of the structure. The design leverages the self-centering nature of rocking motion and uses restrainers to control the amplitude of rotation. Hence, it can effectively avoid tilting of the pole-type structures after earthquakes. Experimental investigations conducted on a 1:1 full-scale specimen revealed that the proposed restrained rocking design can achieve a reduction in seismic internal forces of over 50% while maintaining equipment in an upright position. Furthermore, an analytical model for the proposed isolation system of pole structures was developed and validated through comparison with experimental results. This paper introduces a novel solution for seismic isolation of pole-type structures through restrained rocking, specifically addressing the research gap regarding a reliable self-centering mechanism under seismic excitation. This advancement significantly enhances the seismic resilience of fragile pole-type structures and provides practical design methodologies for the seismic isolation of slender structures.

This study focused on the co-fermentation of food waste and tissue paper to produce ethanol, which will eliminate the need for additional nitrogen sources and nutrients, thereby reducing production costs. In response to the inhibitory effect of the high concentrations of glucose present in mixed-substrate hydrolysates on xylose fermentation, a co-fermentation process using Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Candida shehatae was proposed. This approach reduced the fermentation time by 24 h, increased the xylose utilization rate to 88%, and improved the ethanol yield from 41% to 46.5%. The impact of external conditions and corresponding optimization were also analyzed in this process. The optimum conditions were a 1:3 ratio of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to Candida shehatae, a pH of 5, and shaking at 150 r/min, and by employing dynamic temperature control, the ethanol production was increased to 21.98 g/L. Compared to conventional processes that only use Saccharomyces cerevisiae, this method enhanced the ethanol yield from 41% to 49%.

Ni60-WC coatings with different WC contents on the bucket tooth substrates were pre- pared using laser cladding technology. Their abrasive wear properties were assessed using the dry sand rubber wheel test system. The substrate and the hard-facing layer were tested for comparison. The results showed that the hardness of the Ni60-WC coatings increased with the increase in WC content. The wear resistance of the bucket tooth substrate was greatly improved by hard-facing and laser cladding Ni60-WC coatings. The wear rate of the hard-facing layer was reduced to 1/6 of that of the tooth substrate. The wear rate of the laser cladding coatings with 20–40 wt.% WC was similar to that of the hard-facing layer. It is worth mentioning that the wear rate of the coatings with 60–80 wt.% WC was only 1/4 of that of the hard-facing layer. Micro-cutting with surface plastic deformation was the main wear mechanism of the substrate to form narrow and deep furrows. The wear mechanism of the hard-facing layer was mainly plastic deformation with a wide groove, and the surface cracks promoted the removal of the material. The removal of the binder phase caused by micro-cutting was the main wear mechanism of the laser cladding Ni60-WC coatings. However, the hard phase of WC hinders micro-cutting and plastic deformation, which improves the wear resistance of the coating.

Three-dimensional (3D) range-gated imaging can obtain high spatial resolution intensity images as well as pixel-wise depth information. Several algorithms have been developed to recover depth from gated images such as the range-intensity correlation algorithm and deep-learning-based algorithm. The traditional range-intensity correlation algorithm requires specific range-intensity profiles, which are hard to generate, while the existing deep-learning-based algorithm requires large number of real-scene training data. In this work, we propose a method of range-intensity-profile-guided gated light ranging and imaging to recover depth from gated images based on a convolutional neural network. In this method, the range-intensity profile (RIP) of a given gated light ranging and imaging system is obtained to generate synthetic training data from Grand Theft Auto V for our range-intensity ratio and semantic network (RIRS-net). The RIRS-net is mainly trained on synthetic data and fine-tuned with RIP data. The network learns both semantic depth cues and range-intensity depth cues in the synthetic data, and learns accurate range-intensity depth cues in the RIP data. In the evaluation experiments on both a real-scene and synthetic test dataset, our method shows a better result compared to other algorithms.

Inspired by the collective behaviors of active systems in nature, the collective behavior of micromotors has attracted more and more attention in recent years. However, little attention has been paid to the collective behavior of the immobilized micromotor, i.e., the micropump. In this paper, a unique pentacene-based micropump is reported, which demonstrates dynamic collective behavior activated by white light irradiation. The light irradiation may generate the photochemical reactions between pentacene and water, leading to the electroosmotic flow. As a result, this micropump is capable of pumping the surrounding solution inward along the substrate surface based on the electroosmosis mechanism. Intriguingly, the inward pumping causes the agglomeration of the tracer particles on the surface of the micropump. In addition, the aggregation can migrate following the change in the light irradiation position between two adjacent micropumps. Based on the aggregating and migrating behaviors of this pentacene-based micropump, we have achieved the conductivity restoration of the cracked circuit.

Crocodilians are considered to be “ecosystem engineers” because their modification of habitats provides opportunities for feeding, drinking, breeding, and other vital life activities to a wide variety of other animals. One such habitat modification is the construction of nest mounds during the breeding season by most crocodilian species, including American alligators (Alligator mississippiensis). While many reports exist describing wildlife associated with alligator nests, no studies have quantified faunal associates and their corresponding behaviors while visiting nests. To address this data gap, we used automated game cameras to monitor wildlife and their behaviors at alligator nests during the egg incubation period (June–September) in coastal South Carolina, USA (2016–2021). We documented a total of 81 species (79 vertebrates and 2 invertebrates) at 78 alligator nests representing six taxonomic groups, including 48 birds (59.2%), 9 mammals (11.1%), 19 reptiles (23.4%), 3 amphibians (3.7%), 1 malacostracan (1.2%), and 1 insect (1.2%). Collectively, faunal associates primarily used alligator nests for feeding/foraging (51.8%), traveling (29.3%), and loafing (19.9%) and to a much lesser extent basking, burrowing/shelter, breeding, and nesting. However, trends in alligator nest use varied among faunal associate groups (birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, etc.), subgroups (e.g., passerines, raptors, wading birds, and waterfowl), and species. Several novel behaviors by some nest associates were also noted during the study, including the first observations of Virginia oppossum (Didelphis virginiana) opening and predating nests, bobcat (Lynx rufus) consuming alligator hatchlings, and Carolina wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus) feeding on the contents of a recently predated alligator egg. The results of this study indicate that a diverse assemblage of vertebrates (and some invertebrates) use alligator nest sites in coastal South Carolina for a variety of life activities during the egg incubation period, and the proportion of the behaviors exhibited varies among animal groups and species. This study provides a first step for investigations regarding the net impacts of alligator nest-faunal associate interactions and ultimately the greater ecological role of alligators and other crocodilians.

Abstract Carbon-supported nanoparticles are indispensable to enabling new energy technologies such as metal-air batteries and catalytic water splitting. However, achieving ultrasmall and high-density nanoparticles (optimal catalysts) faces fundamental challenges of their strong tendency toward coarsening and agglomeration. Herein, we report a general and efficient synthesis of high-density and ultrasmall nanoparticles uniformly dispersed on two-dimensional porous carbon. This is achieved through direct carbothermal shock pyrolysis of metal-ligand precursors in just ~100 ms, the fastest among reported syntheses. Our results show that the in situ metal-ligand coordination (e.g., N → Co2+) and local ordering during millisecond-scale pyrolysis play a crucial role in kinetically dominated fabrication and stabilization of high-density nanoparticles on two-dimensional porous carbon films. The as-obtained samples exhibit excellent activity and stability as bifunctional catalysts in oxygen redox reactions. Considering the huge flexibility in coordinated precursors design, diversified single and multielement nanoparticles (M = Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Cr, Mn, Ag, etc) were generally fabricated, even in systems well beyond traditional crystalline coordination chemistry. Our method allows for the transient and general synthesis of well-dispersed nanoparticles with great simplicity and versatility for various application schemes.

Eco-friendly, efficient, and selective gold recovery technologies are urgently desired to satisfy the increasing demand for gold. Here, the authors report one such technology based on the supramolecular polymerization of second-sphere coordinated adducts formed between β-cyclodextrin and tetrabromoaurate anions.

Effect of Sm addition on the microstructure and tensile properties of as-extruded Mg–xSm–0.4Zr (x = 1, 2, 3, 4 wt.%) alloys have been investigated by optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, electron backscatter diffraction and transmission electron microscope. The results indicat that all the extruded alloys exhibit a fully dynamically recrystallized (DRXed) microstructure. When the Sm content exceeds 3 wt.%, the as extruded sheet dynamic precipitate the Mg41Sm5 particles during hot extrusion. Sm addition could refine the grain size and weaken the texture of the as-extruded alloy, significantly enhance the strength and ductility of the as-extruded alloy. When the Sm content is 3 wt.%, the alloy sheet displays a good balance of strength and ductility. The Mg–3Sm–0.4Zr sheet shows YS and UTS of 144.5 MPa and 280.7 MPa along ED, the YS and UTS are 163.8 MPa and 280.7 MPa for 45°and 192 MPa and 283.9 MPa for TD. The ε along the ED, 45°and TD are 22.3%, 21.6% and 19.8%, respectively. The dominant strengthening mechanisms include grain boundary strengthening, solid solution strengthening and precipitation strengthening.