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The antibacterial activity and mechanisms of Lactiplantibacillus plantarum LP22541 against Staphylococcus aureus in fermented milk were determined here. Results showed L. plantarum inhibited S. aureus in UHT and fermented milk. Non‐volatiles and volatiles were identified to contribute to the overall antibacterial activity of L. plantarum. The addition of manganese to fermented milk restored S. aureus growth, demonstrating that manganese depletion played a key role in the anti‐S. aureus activity. Our findings developed a promising bioprotective culture and provided a strategy to suppress S. aureus in a non‐bactericidal manner in dairy products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The actual ionomer distribution in the catalyst layer is revealed by integrating multiple electrochemical methods. Different catalyst layer interfaces are formed with varying ionomer contents. Uneven distribution of ionomers will lead to a low ECSA, causing high local oxygen transport resistance. Though the uniformity of ionomer distribution can be improved by increasing ionomer contents, it will enlarge the oxygen transport distance from the bulk of the catalyst layer to active sites, thereby increasing the local oxygen transport resistance. The former has a more obvious impact on PEMFC performance. [Display omitted] In view of a catalyst layer (CL) with low-Pt causing higher local transport resistance of O 2 (R local), we propose a multi-study methodology that combines CO poisoning, the limiting current density method, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy to reveal how real CL interfaces dominate R local. Experimental results indicate that the ionomer is not evenly distributed on the catalyst surface, and the uniformity of ionomer distribution does not show a positive correlation with the ionomer content. When the ionomer coverage on the supported catalyst surface is below 20 %, the ECSA is only 10 m2·g−1, and the ionomer coverage on the supported catalyst surface reaches 60 %, the ECSA is close to 40 m2·g−1. The ECSA has a positive correlation with ionomer coverage. Because the ECSA is measured by CO poisoning, it can be inferred that the platinum contacted with ionomer can generate effective active sites. Furthermore, a more uniform distribution of ionomer can create additional proton transport channels and reduce the distance for oxygen transport from the catalyst layer bulk to the active sites. A higher ECSA and a shorter distance for oxygen transport will reduce the R local , leading to better performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integrating sweat biosensors into daily wear has the potential to effectively monitor personal lactate levels, offering the advantages of convenience, precision, and multi‐point detection. However, existing wearable fabric sweat biosensors have limitations in terms of long‐term repeatable detection and washability due to the difficulty of building a stable layer of recognition materials on the highly curved fiber surface. Here, a long‐term repeatable and washable electrochemical fabric biosensor is reported based on a fiber electrode with multi‐scaled aligned channels for efficient and reliable lactate detection. Through the functionalization of a molecularly imprinted polymer with redox‐sensitive nano reporters, the fabric biosensor exhibits impressive in situ long‐term repeatable detection for more than 400 times, washability, and stability under deformations. The multi‐scaled channels contribute to a desired electric field distribution and thus a reliable interface between the polymer and the fiber. Employing industrial sewing technology, a 20 m (L)  ×  0.5 m (W) sensing fabric is further produced. Ultimately, combined with a wireless communication element, the fabric biosensing system can immediately track lactate levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seamlessly integrating biosensors into clothing for personalized stress level monitoring, specifically targeting cortisol, a stress‐related compound found in sweat, shows great potential for efficiently monitoring and managing individual mental and physical well‐being. Nevertheless, realizing the fabric biosensor faces a notable challenge, as it involves the persistent obstacle of ensuring reusability and washability. Here, a fabric sensing system constructed by a fiber electrode for rapid and reliable cortisol detection with high repeatability, breathability, and stability is reported. The fibers are assembled from aligned carbon nanotubes and functionalized with a molecularly imprinted polymer containing redox‐active nanoreporters. Through washing with ethanol, the fabricated fabric sensor exhibits high reusability for over 100 cycles detecting cortisol. The key is the large active surface area and elaborately designed channel distance in the fiber electrode, ensuring a stable interface between the polymer and the fiber electrode. The resulting fabric sensing system presents convenient monitoring of cortisol levels, allowing assessment of stress levels to understand emotions and health condition better. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Foodborne diseases induced by foodborne pathogens have become a global concern, which cause massive food waste and enormous economic losses, and even impose serious threats to human health because of the production of bacterial toxins. Although synthetic chemical preservatives exhibit efficient antibacterial effects, their abuse and overuse have raised a variety of health concerns and led to an increase in drug-resistant bacteria. Recently, an increasing demand for “clean label” foods from consumers has stimulated the interest in developing novel food preservative techniques. Lactiplantibacillus plantarum (L. plantarum) is considered the most promising alternative to control bacterial growth, and subsequent bacterial toxin production and biofilm formation due to its production of a vast spectrum of antibacterial metabolites and/or competitive exclusion mechanisms. In addition, the potential application of L. plantarum to circumvent foodborne pathogenic bacteria has been exploited in varieties of food products. The aim of this review is to emphasize the significant antibacterial and anti-virulence properties of L. plantarum against foodborne pathogens and provide the most recent updates on the capacity of L. plantarum to serve as antibacterial and anti-virulence natural agent, thereby highlighting the promising potential in food bio-preservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The non-toxic copper oxide superconductor, (Cu,C)Ba2Ca3Cu4O11+δ or (Cu,C)-1234, exhibits the highest irreversibility magnetic field among superconducting materials in the liquid nitrogen temperature range and can achieve a superconducting transition temperature of 117 K, providing a new sample system for physical studies of copper oxide high-temperature superconductors. This article examines the underlying mechanisms that contribute to the high critical transition temperature, high critical current density, and notable irreversibility field properties observed in superconductors based on (Cu,C)-1234 copper. It also investigates the recent advancements made in the methods employed for the fabrication of bulks and thin films of this superconductor. Additionally, a comparison is made between the performance parameters of (Cu,C)-1234 superconductors and other superconducting materials that possess critical temperatures surpassing 100 K. This comparison highlights the distinctive characteristics and advantages of (Cu,C)-1234. Finally, we present potential future applications in the fields of energy transmission, magnetic levitation, and scientific research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The frequency and extent of transgene-mediated cosuppression varies substantially among plant genes. However, the underlying mechanisms leading to strong cosuppression have received little attention. In previous studies, we showed that the expression of FAD2 in the seeds of Arabidopsis results in strong RDR6-mediated cosuppression, where both endogenous and transgenic FAD2 were silenced. Here, the FAD2 strong cosuppression system was quantitatively investigated to identify the genetic factors by the expression of FAD2 in their mutants. The involvement of DCL2, DCL4, AGO1, and EIN5 was first confirmed in FAD2 cosuppression. SKI2, a remover of 3′ end aberrant RNAs, was newly identified as being involved in the cosuppression, while DCL3 was identified as antagonistic to DCL2 and DCL3. FAD2 cosuppression was markedly reduced in dcl2, dcl4, and ago1. The existence of an RDR6-independent cosuppression was revealed for the first time, which was demonstrated by weak gene silencing in rdr6 ein5 ski2. Further investigation of FAD2 cosuppression may unveil unknown genetic factor(s). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Constructing effective electrocatalysts based on ultrafine heterostructures is a promising strategy for boosting catalytic performance by exposing active sites and increasing specific surface area. However, the fabrication of catalytically active heterostructures with elaborate architectures is still poorly developed owing to synthetic challenges, and the intrinsic mechanism of heterogeneous interfaces remains unclear because of insufficient evidence regarding real active sites. In this study, ultrafine homologous Ni2P–Co2P heterostructures (Ni2P–Co2P/C) are created using a topological transformation strategy from a Ni–Co layered double hydroxide/carbon (Ni–Co LDH/C) interconnected structure in a single nanosheet. When employed as catalysts in urea oxidation reaction (UOR), the Ni2P–Co2P/C heterostructures exhibit superior activity and stability, attributed to the optimized geometric and electronic structures of the catalytic sites. Specifically, it takes an ultralow potential of 1.27 V to reach a current density of 10 mA cm−2 with a small Tafel slope of 28.71 mV dec−1. The operando analyses and calculation results reveal that cobalt incorporation can reduce the generation potential of the surface reconstructive active species and optimize the absorption/desorption energy of the intermediates. Overall, this study proposes an efficient and cost‐effective UOR electrocatalyst and offers a new high‐performance homologous heterostructure design for widespread application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Language models have shown the capacity to learn complex molecular distributions. In the field of molecular generation, they are designed to explore the distribution of molecules, and previous studies have demonstrated their ability to learn molecule sequences. In the early times, recurrent neural networks (RNNs) were widely used for feature extraction from sequence data and have been used for various molecule generation tasks. In recent years, the attention mechanism for sequence data has become popular. It captures the underlying relationships between words and is widely applied to language models. The Transformer-Layer, a model based on a self-attentive mechanism, also shines the same as the RNN-based model. In this research, we investigated the difference between RNNs and the Transformer-Layer to learn a more complex distribution of molecules. For this purpose, we experimented with three different generative tasks: the distributions of molecules with elevated scores of penalized LogP, multimodal distributions of molecules and the largest molecules in PubChem. We evaluated the models on molecular properties, basic metrics, Tanimoto similarity, etc. In addition, we applied two different representations of the molecule, SMILES and SELFIES. The results show that the two language models can learn complex molecular distributions and SMILES-based representation has better performance than SELFIES. The choice between RNNs and the Transformer-Layer needs to be based on the characteristics of dataset. RNNs work better on data focus on local features and decreases with multidistribution data, while the Transformer-Layer is more suitable when meeting molecular with larger weights and focusing on global features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Let be the real general linear group. By employing Borel's lemma and Schwartz inductions for Nash groups, we give an upper bound for the weights of the Jacquet module of the principal series representations of . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monitoring and alarm play an important role in preventing trip‐out caused by wildfires for high‐voltage transmission lines. This paper proposes a multi‐Doppler weather radar‐based method for monitoring and alerting of wildfires near transmission lines. Firstly, characteristic parameters are mathematically proposed to distinguish wildfire's radar echoes. Then, the four‐site neighbourhood algorithm and the multithreading method are used to extract all possible wildfire echo units detected by various Doppler weather radars, and a cumulative probability is calculated to identify the wildfire. Finally, a regional block search method is used to quickly locate wildfire‐affected transmission towers. The membership function of spread time in the fuzzy set is proposed to determine the alarm level, which takes into account the influences of environment, topography, and vegetation on wildfire spread rate. The application to a provincial power grid demonstrates that the proposed method has an accuracy of 82.4%, a missing alarm rate of 27.4%, and a delay of fewer than 15 min. In addition, the joint observation of wildfires by multi‐Doppler weather radars and satellites indicates a promising application prospect for transmission line wildfire fighting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drug discovery for a protein target is a laborious and costly process. Deep learning (DL) methods have been applied to drug discovery and successfully generated novel molecular structures, and they can substantially reduce development time and costs. However, most of them rely on prior knowledge, either by drawing on the structure and properties of known molecules to generate similar candidate molecules or extracting information on the binding sites of protein pockets to obtain molecules that can bind to them. In this paper, DeepTarget, an end-to-end DL model, was proposed to generate novel molecules solely relying on the amino acid sequence of the target protein to reduce the heavy reliance on prior knowledge. DeepTarget includes three modules: Amino Acid Sequence Embedding (AASE), Structural Feature Inference (SFI), and Molecule Generation (MG). AASE generates embeddings from the amino acid sequence of the target protein. SFI inferences the potential structural features of the synthesized molecule, and MG seeks to construct the eventual molecule. The validity of the generated molecules was demonstrated by a benchmark platform of molecular generation models. The interaction between the generated molecules and the target proteins was also verified on the basis of two metrics, drug–target affinity and molecular docking. The results of the experiments indicated the efficacy of the model for direct molecule generation solely conditioned on amino acid sequence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The inherent properties, poor exposed active sites and the cumbersome manufacturing process have severely hindered metal–nitrogen–carbon structures in their applications in electric vehicles and stationary energy storage systems. Herein, we report a novel pyrolysis-induced gas diffusion strategy to synthesize nitrogen-rich hierarchical porous carbon nanoscrolls with highly dispersed single-atom Co sites (Co–N–C) as electrode materials for the electrocatalytic oxygen reduction and lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). In this method, Co doped g-C3N4 (Co–CN) is not only used to anchor Co single-atoms to increase the intrinsic active sites, but also served as a sacrificial template to adjust the N content and increase the electrochemically active surface area of the carbon material. Furthermore, self-curling and in situ produced NH3 from Co–CN diffusion effects tune the structural characteristics of the mesoporous carbon nanoscrolls to fully expose the active center and facilitate rapid ion transport. As a result, these carbon nanoscrolls display an enhanced oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) with a half-wave potential of 0.87 V vs. RHE, better than that of the state-of-the-art Pt/C catalyst, and a superior electrochemical performance as an anode material for LIBs, showing a specific capacity of 589.1 mA h g−1 at 2.0 A g−1 even after 900 cycles. Such a finding provides a facile pyrolysis-induced gas diffusion strategy for synthesizing high performance electrode materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bartlett, Hongnanguo, Korla Xiangli, Dangshansuli and Housui are representative cultivars from the five cultivated pear species that were chosen to identify aromatic compounds in fruit during developmental, mature and storage periods. We explored the expression levels of aroma formation-related genes during developmental and storage periods. The concentrations of the aromatic compounds first decreased, then increased in all five cultivars. For the climacteric pears, Bartlett and Hongnanguo, the increase continued to optimal sensory quality (OSQ), whereas those for the non-climacteric pears, Korla Xiangli, Dangshansuli and Housui decreased. Aldehydes contributing the 'green' odour and 1,4-benzoquinone were the primary components during early and middle developmental periods. Esters contributing the 'fruity' and 'sweet' odour, were the primary components in Bartlett, Hongnanguo and Korla Xiangli fruits during storage and at OSQ. Methyl- and ethyl-(E, Z)-2,4-decadienoate (pear-like odour), ethyl caproate (liquor odour), and hexyl acetate (fruity odour) were the key characteristic odorants in mature pear fruits of Bartlett, Hongnanguo and Korla Xiangli, respectively. Alcohol dehydrogenase (PbrADH-1 and PbrADH-2) and lipoxygenase (PbrLOX3) might participate in the formation of C6 and C9 volatile aldehydes and alcohols. The aroma content and volatiles of pear fruits during development and storage probably revealed a common pattern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: With the increasing morbidity and mortality of preeclampsia (PE), it has posed a huge challenge to public health. Previous studies have reported endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress could contribute to trophoblastic dysfunction which was associated with the N6-methyladenosine (m6A) modification by methyltransferase-like 3 (METTL3), resulting in PE. However, little was known about the relationship between METTL3 and ER stress in PE. Thus, in vitro and in vivo studies were performed to clarify the mechanism about how METTL3 affects the trophoblasts under ER stress in PE and to explore a therapeutic approach for PE. Methods: An ER stress model in HTR-8/SVneo cells and a preeclamptic rat model were used to study the mechanism and explore a therapeutic approach for PE. Western blot, immunohistochemistry, quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), and methylated RNA immunoprecipitation (MeRIP)-qPCR were performed to detect the protein, RNA, and methylated transmembrane BAX inhibitor motif containing 6 (TMBIM6) expression levels. The m6A colorimetric and mRNA stability assays were used to measure the m6A levels and TMBIM6 stability, respectively. Short hairpin RNAs (shRNAs) were used to knockdown METTL3 and YTH N6-methyladenosine RNA binding protein 2 (YTHDF2). Flow cytometry and Transwell assays were performed to evaluate the apoptosis and invasion abilities of trophoblasts. Results: Upregulated METTL3 and m6A levels and downregulated TMBIM6 levels were observed in preeclamptic placentas under ER stress. The ER stress model was successfully constructed, and knockdown of METTL3 had a beneficial effect on HTR-8/SVneo cells under ER stress as it decreased the levels of methylated TMBIM6 mRNA. Moreover, overexpression of TMBIM6 was beneficial to HTR-8/SVneo cells under ER stress as it could neutralize the harmful effects of METTL3 overexpression. Similar to the knockdown of METTL3, downregulation of YTHDF2 expression resulted in the increased expression and mRNA stability of TMBIM6. Finally, improved systemic symptoms as well as protected placentas and fetuses were demonstrated in vivo. Conclusions: METTL3/YTHDF2/TMBIM6 axis exerts a significant role in trophoblast dysfunction resulting in PE while inhibiting METTL3 may provide a novel therapeutic approach for PE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• COVID-19 vaccines show favorable immunogenicity and efficacy in people living with HIV (PLWH). • A second dose is associated with consistently improved seroconversion in PLWH. • Other strategies might improve seroprotection for PLWH. • Trusted information on COVID-19 vaccines should be provided. Available data show that COVID-19 vaccines may be less effective in people living with HIV (PLWH) who are at increased risk for severe COVID-19. This meta-analysis aimed to compare the immunogenicity and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines in PLWH with healthy individuals. Pubmed/Medline, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library were searched. Risk ratios of seroconversion were separately pooled using random-effects meta-analysis, and a systematic review without meta-analysis of SARS-CoV-2 antibody titer levels was performed after the first and second doses of a COVID-19 vaccine. A total of 22 studies with 6522 subjects met the inclusion criteria. After the first vaccine dose, seroconversion in PLWH was comparable to that in healthy individuals. After a second dose, seroconversion was slightly lower in PLWH compared with healthy controls, and antibody titers did not seem to be significantly affected or reduced among participants of both groups. COVID-19 vaccines show favorable immunogenicity and efficacy in PLWH. A second dose is associated with consistently improved seroconversion, although it is slightly lower in PLWH than in healthy individuals. Additional strategies, such as a booster vaccination with messenger RNA COVID-19 vaccines, might improve seroprotection for these patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A simple, rapid, and convenient method for the determination of neomycin based on the ion association method was proposed. In Britton–Robinson buffer solution, neomycin could react with Congo red to form an ionic association, which in turn reacted with dodecyl trimethyl ammonium bromide to form a ternary ionic association. The three were combined in a 1 : 1 : 1 ratio, which significantly enhanced the resonant Rayleigh scattering intensity at 468 nm. The obtained resonant Rayleigh scattering sensor showed a linear relationship with neomycin in the range of 0.07∼1 μg·mL−1. The limit of detection was 0.02 μg·mL−1, and the limit of quantification was 0.037 μg·mL−1. The experimental conditions were optimized. The method was verified based on the ICH rule. The established method could be applied to the analysis of the acceptable recovery rate of neomycin in powdered veterinary drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whipped cream is popular among consumers due to its smooth texture and delectable taste. In recent years, it has also attracted increasing attention from producers and researchers and has been widely developed in the food industry. However, whipped cream systems are complex and unstable, and additives are applied to the system to obtain a more stable and excellent whipped cream product. Additionally, the high-fat content in whipped cream has a potential health risk to consumers, so the concept of low-fat whipped cream has been gradually developed as a strategy. However, the sensory and whipping properties of low-fat whipped cream need to be improved. This paper systematically discusses the effects of five types of additives (hydrocolloids, proteins, emulsifiers, carbohydrates, and lipid compounds) applied to improve the whipping, rheological, electrostatic, sensory, and nutritional properties of whipped cream. There are limited studies about nutritional properties, which should be the focus of future work, and the strategy of functional whipped cream is also a new direction. Further, this paper provides information on standards and regulations for additives, aiming to avoid the risks associated with the inappropriate application of additives by researchers and traders. The ultimate objective is to provide a healthy whipped cream with exceptional sensory properties and heightened nutritional value.Graphical Abstract: Whipped cream is popular among consumers due to its smooth texture and delectable taste. In recent years, it has also attracted increasing attention from producers and researchers and has been widely developed in the food industry. However, whipped cream systems are complex and unstable, and additives are applied to the system to obtain a more stable and excellent whipped cream product. Additionally, the high-fat content in whipped cream has a potential health risk to consumers, so the concept of low-fat whipped cream has been gradually developed as a strategy. However, the sensory and whipping properties of low-fat whipped cream need to be improved. This paper systematically discusses the effects of five types of additives (hydrocolloids, proteins, emulsifiers, carbohydrates, and lipid compounds) applied to improve the whipping, rheological, electrostatic, sensory, and nutritional properties of whipped cream. There are limited studies about nutritional properties, which should be the focus of future work, and the strategy of functional whipped cream is also a new direction. Further, this paper provides information on standards and regulations for additives, aiming to avoid the risks associated with the inappropriate application of additives by researchers and traders. The ultimate objective is to provide a healthy whipped cream with exceptional sensory properties and heightened nutritional value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a cytosolic enzyme involved in the purine salvage pathway metabolism, purine nucleoside phosphorylase (PNP) plays an important role in a variety of cellular functions but also in immune system, including cell growth, apoptosis and cancer development and progression. Based on its T-cell targeting profile, PNP is a potential target for the treatment of some malignant T-cell proliferative cancers including lymphoma and leukemia, and some specific immunological diseases. Numerous small-molecule PNP inhibitors have been developed so far. However, only Peldesine, Forodesine and Ulodesine have entered clinical trials and exhibited some potential for the treatment of T-cell leukemia and gout. The most recent direction in PNP inhibitor development has been focused on PNP small-molecule inhibitors with better potency, selectivity, and pharmacokinetic property. In this perspective, considering the structure, biological functions, and disease relevance of PNP, we highlight the recent research progress in PNP small-molecule inhibitor development and discuss prospective strategies for designing additional PNP therapeutic agents. [Display omitted] • Summary of structure, function and the role of PNP in disease. • Inhibition of human PNP is a promising strategy for the treatment of autoimmune diseases and T-cell malignancies. • The current progress and structure-activity relationship of PNP inhibitors. • The development and future of PNP small molecule inhibitors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, the dual closed loop proportional-integral-lead (PI-Lead) controller is widely used, especially for the servo systems where high performance is required for motion control, like lithography machines and vehicle-used Lidars. Considering complex industrial applications and working conditions, more comprehensive and systematic research about the structure and potential problem of the PI-Lead controller is necessary for enhancing its performance and robustness. In this article, the failure mechanism of the classic antiwindup methods in the PI-Lead controller is analyzed. By adjusting the location of control blocks, a novel reversed structure based PI-Lead controller is proposed as a complement to the traditional antiwindup methods for effective operation and to make the system stable under severe impact disturbances. Then, a self-commissioning strategy is designed based on a fast root mean square error (FRMSE) index and without additional manual tuning factors. Compared with classic indicators, the proposed FRMSE index can achieve faster instability detection and accelerate the tuning process to protect the equipment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to study the relationship between multifractal characteristics of particle-size distribution (PSD) and unsaturated hydraulic conductivity, taking the Hunan clay as the research object, we analysed the particle composition of the whole particle size range by a laser particle size analyser, and discussed the multifractal characteristics of PSD by using the fractal theory. The soil–water characteristic curve (SWCC) and unsaturated hydraulic conductivity were measured by the pressure plate instrument and instantaneous profile method, and the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity was predicted by the fractal model. The results show that the fractal dimension D is not a fixed value for the Hunan clay with the whole particle size range, which exhibits obvious multifractal characteristics. The value of fractal dimension D is closely related to the investigated particle size range. The larger the particles in the particle size range, the larger the corresponding fractal dimension D. By comparing the measured and predicted values of the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity, it is found that the prediction results of fractal dimension D for unsaturated hydraulic conductivity with different particle size ranges are quite different, and that those results with larger particle size ranges are more reasonable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The impact of early-onset peritonitis (EOP) on patients with diabetes undergoing peritoneal dialysis (PD) has not been adequately addressed. We therefore sought to investigate the effects of EOP on the therapeutic response to management and long-term prognostic outcomes in patients with diabetes undergoing PD. Methods: For this retrospective cohort study, we analyzed the data for patients with end-stage renal disease, who were also suffering from diabetes mellitus and had undergone PD between January 1, 2013, and December 31, 2018. EOP was defined as the first episode of peritoneal dialysis-related peritonitis (PDAP) occurring within 12 months of PD initiation. All patients were divided into an EOP group and a later-onset peritonitis (LOP) group. Clinical data, treatment results, and outcomes were compared between groups. Results: Ultimately, 202 patients were enrolled for the analysis. Compared to the EOP group, the LOP group had more Streptococcus (p = 0.033) and Pseudomonas (p = 0.048). Patients with diabetes in the EOP group were less likely to have PDAP-related death (OR 0.13, CI: 0.02–0.82, p = 0.030). Patients with diabetes in the EOP group were more likely to have multiple episodes of PDAP and had higher rates of technical failure and poorer patient survival than those in the LOP group, as indicated by Kaplan-Meier analysis (p = 0.019, p = 0.004, and p < 0.001). In the multivariate Cox proportional hazards model, EOP was a significant predictor for multiple PDAP (HR 4.20, CI: 1.48–11.96, p = 0.007), technical failure (HR 6.37, CI: 2.21–18.38, p = 0.001), and poorer patient survival (HR 3.09, CI: 1.45–6.58, p = 0.003). Conclusions: The occurrence of EOP is significantly associated with lower rates of PDAP-related death and poorer clinical outcomes in patients with diabetes undergoing PD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diabetes is primarily characterized by hyperglycemia, and its high incidence is often very costly to patients, their families, and national economies. Unsurprisingly, the number and function of endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) decrease in patients resulting in diabetic wound non-healing. As precursors of endothelial cells (ECs), these cells were discovered in 1997 and found to play an essential role in wound healing. Their function, number, and role in wound healing has been widely investigated. Hitherto, a lot of complex molecular mechanisms have been discovered. In this review, we summarize the mechanisms of how hyperglycemia affects the function and number of EPCs and how the affected cells impact wound healing. We aim to provide a complete summary of the relationship between diabetic hyperglycosemia, EPCs, and wound healing, as well as a better comprehensive platform for subsequent related research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Designing oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalysts with high efficiency and stability at large current densities is paramount for achieving hydrogen production through water splitting. In this study, a heterostructured NiFe-LDH coating Co 9 S 8 -Ni 3 S 2 grown on nickel foam (NiFe-LDH@Co 9 S 8 -Ni 3 S 2 /NF) was successfully synthesized. The distinctive hierarchical structures featuring abundant heterointerfaces can effectively expose abundant active sites. The synergistic effect and strong electronic interaction between Co 9 S 8 -Ni 3 S 2 and NiFe-LDH can enhance the intrinsic OER activity. Furthermore, the superhydrophilic characteristic of NiFe-LDH@Co 9 S 8 -Ni 3 S 2 /NF favors close contact between the electrode and electrolyte. Due to these advantages, NiFe-LDH@Co 9 S 8 -Ni 3 S 2 /NF can provide distinguished OER activity with low overpotentials of 274 mV in alkaline freshwater and 298 mV in alkaline seawater at 1000 mA cm−2, along with outstanding stability at high current density of 500 mA cm−2 over 200 h in both solutions. This study offers a valuable insight into fabricating high-performance OER electrocatalysts for seawater electrolysis in industrial applications. [Display omitted] • NiFe-LDH@Co 9 S 8 -Ni 3 S 2 /NF is fabricated through hydrothermal method combined with electrodeposition. • The OER activity is significantly enhanced by the synergistic effect of its different components and high hydrophilicity. • The electrocatalyst requires overpotentials of 274 and 298 mV at 1000 mA cm-2 in alkaline water and seawater, respectively. • The electrocatalyst can operate stability at 500 mA cm-2 for more than 200 h in alkaline seawater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries are promising alternatives for the forthcoming generation of power and energy storage batteries due to their remarkable features and advantages. However, the large-scale application of Li-S batteries faces significant challenges posed by the shuttle effect of lithium polysulfides (LiPSs) and sluggish reaction kinetics of sulfur cathode. Herein, a low-priced Fe 2 O 3 /CFe 15.1 /Fe heterostructure was purposefully engineered and distributed within carbonized wood fibers (CWF) by a straightforward hydrothermal and pyrolysis process. The distinctive Fe 2 O 3 /CFe 15.1 /Fe heterostructure concurrently achieves both chemical adsorption and catalytic capability for LiPSs, effectively mitigating the shuttle effect. The optimized Fe 2 O 3 /CFe 15.1 /Fe heterostructure exhibits impressive electrochemical performance with a high initial capacity of 1174.7 mA h g−1 at 0.1 C, an outstanding rate capacity of 687.4 mA h g−1 at 2.0 C, and a remarkable cycling stability, maintaining a notable capacity of 513.6 mA h g−1 after 1000 cycles at 1.0 C. This work presents a viable strategy of a multifunctional Fe 2 O 3 /CFe 15.1 /Fe heterostructure to capture and expedite the transformation of LiPSs, realizing exceptional electrochemical performance. [Display omitted] • Fe 2 O 3 /CFe 15.1 /Fe heterostructure was constructed on carbonized wood fiber. • Carbonized wood fibers employed for modulating heterostructures. • Fe 2 O 3 /CFe 15.1 /Fe heterostructure could accelerate polysulfide reaction kinetics. • Resulting WCF/Fe 2 O 3 /CFe 15.1 /Fe achieved excellent electrochemical properties as cathodes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The discovery of co-suppression in plants has greatly boosted the study of gene silencing mechanisms, but its triggering mechanism has remained a mystery. In this study, we explored its possible trigger mechanism by using Fatty acid desaturase 2 (FAD2) and Fatty acid elongase 1 (FAE1) strong co-suppression systems. Analysis of small RNAs in FAD2 co-suppression lines showed that siRNAs distributed throughout the coding region of FAD2 with an accumulated peak. However, mutations of the peak siRNA-matched site and siRNA derived site had not alleviated the co-suppression of its transgenic lines. Synthetic FAD2 (AtFAD2sm), which has synonymous mutations in the entire coding region, failed to trigger any co-suppression. Furthermore, 5′ and 3′ portions of AtFAD2 and AtFAD2sm were swapped to form two hybrid genes, AtFAD2–3sm and AtFAD2–5sm. 80 % and 92 % of their transgenic lines exhibited co-suppression, respectively. Finally, FAE1s with different degrees of the continuous sequence identity compared with AtFAE1 were tested in their Arabidopsis transgenic lines, and the results showed the co-suppression frequency was reduced as their continuous sequence identity stepped down. This work suggests that contiguous identity between the entire coding regions of transgenic and native genes rather than a special region is essential for a strong co-suppression. • Contiguous identity is essential for strong co-suppressions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Pyroptosis, apoptosis, and necroptosis drive IVDD. • KA inhibits PANoptosis, delays IVDD by upregulating TAK1. • Targeting TAK1 may be a promising therapeutic approach for IVDD therapy. Low back pain (LBP) is most commonly caused by intervertebral disc degeneration (IVDD). Pyroptosis, apoptosis, and necroptosis are crucial in IVDD pathogenesis; however, possible simultaneous occurrence in IVDD and co-regulation between the pathways and the regulatory mechanisms have not been investigated. PANoptosis is a regulated cell death (RCD) pathway with the key characteristics of pyroptosis, apoptosis, and necroptosis. This study revealed that tert -butyl hydroperoxide (TBHP) altered the expression of key proteins involved in PANoptosis in nucleus pulposus cells (NPCs). Furthermore, the natural product Kongensin A (KA), which has potential anti-necrotic and anti-inflammatory properties, inhibited PANoptosis. TAK1, often referred to as mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase kinase 7 (Map3k7), is a key regulator of innate immunity, cell death, inflammation, and cellular homeostasis; however, the physiological roles and regulatory mechanisms underlying IVDD remain unclear. In this study, we discovered that KA can upregulate TAK1 expression in NPCs, -which inhibits PANoptosis by suppressing oxidative stress. In conclusion, our results suggest that KA inhibits PANoptosis and delays IVDD progression in NPCs by upregulating TAK1 expression to maintain mitochondrial redox balance. Consequently, targeting TAK1 may be a promising therapeutic approach for IVDD therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using carbazole (CARB), dibenzothiophene (DBZP) and dibenzofuran (DBZF) as electron donors, 1,2,4,5-tetracyanobenzene (TCNB) as electron acceptor, three typical types of luminescent organic cocrystals were synthesized by a simple supramolecular assembly strategy. The cocrystals exhibit interesting optical properties for its charge transfer (CT) interactions. Meanwhile, a series of three-component (CARB) x (DBZP) 1-x (TCNB) crystalline microtubes comprising organic CT interactions have been prepared by the self-assembly with poor solvent co-precipitating method. DFT calculations were used to predict the CT interactions and the binding patterns of donor and acceptor, which suggest that the CT interactions can largely influence the energy level and orbital distributions. Moreover, the SXRD analyses verified the cocrystals are constructed by π-π stacking with a face-to-face model. The solid-state cocrystals and microtubes were well characterized by PXRD, UV absorption spectra, emission spectra, fluorescence lifetime and quantum yield analyses. The obvious red-shift in UV–vis absorption spectra and emission spectra with respect to the free monomer indicate the formation of CT interactions. The emission colors of the mixed microtubes can be tailored from green to orange as well as associated photophysical properties with the increasing of dopant concentrations. Therefore, by the combination of experimental and theoretical studies on the cocrystals and microtubes, this work not only reports the new types of crystalline micro-nano materials, but also provides an in-depth understanding of the relationship between structure and fluorescence effect. • Three typical types of luminescent organic cocrystals were synthesized by a simple supramolecular assembly strategy. • The cocrystals exhibit interesting optical properties for its charge transfer (CT) interactions. • Three-component crystalline microtubes were prepared by the self-assembly with poor solvent co-precipitating method. • The photophysical properties of microtubes can be tailored with the increasing of dopant concentrations. • DFT calculations were used to predict the CT interactions and the binding patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By the algebraization of affine Nash groups, a connected affine Nash group is an abelian Nash manifold if and only if its algebraization is a real abelian variety. We first classify real abelian varieties up to isomorphisms. Then with a bit more efforts, we classify abelian Nash manifolds up to Nash equivalences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Ultrathin vapor chamber (UVC) is very suitable for the thermal management of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) stack due to the simple structure, high heat conduction, and excellent temperature uniformity. For exploring the application of UVC on the thermal management of the PEMFC stack, a contrast experiment is performed between two PEMFC stacks (one named conventional PEMFC stack and the other named UVC‐PEMFC stack) under the New European Driving Cycle mode with different purge periods. Experimental results show that UVC can significantly improve thermal management. It mainly behaves in two aspects: (a) UVC can effectively remove the waste heat. Under 60% load, the removed waste heat reaches 10.52% of Qgen, which generates a temperature difference of 12.5% between the two stacks. The maximum temperature is decreased from 58°C to 42.5°C under 0.645 A/cm2 and (b) UVC can also obviously improve the temperature uniformity. Under full load, the temperature uniformity of the UVC‐PEMFC stack is 3.25 times lower than the conventional stack. The maximum temperature is decreased from 22°C to 3°C. The suitable working temperature and excellent temperature uniformity generate high efficiency, resulting in higher output power. For example, the output power of the UVC‐PEMFC stack is 12.8% higher than the conventional PEMFC stack under 60% load. Unexpectedly, the long purge interval will reduce the dynamic response of the UVC‐PEMFC stack under high current density. This investigation tries to provide an implication for a potential application of UVC on air‐cooling PEMFC stack without changing its concise system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

UVC (ultrathin vapor chamber) simultaneously has a high heat-conducting property, excellent temperature uniformity and simple structure. These advantages are very suitable for thermal management of the open-cathode PEMFC (proton exchange membrane fuel cell) stack. In this work, two-type UVCs with different appearances are integrated into a conventional PEMFC stack respectively. The effect of UVC on the output performance, thermal management and operating stability is investigated by the experiment combined with simulation. The results show that UVC can significantly increase the output voltage under high current density. In 35 A, the output voltage of the stack integrated the vertical UVC increases by 20.25% relative to the conventional stack. Thermal management is also improved by UVC. The highest temperature inside the stack decrease by 9 °C in 35 A, and the membrane temperature is decreased obviously. But it still exceeds the optimal operating temperature of open-cathode PEMFC stack due to the poor cooling type in the condensation side of UVC. UVC improves the operation stability of the stack and slows the deteriorative speed of output performance. This work hopes to attract more attention to the application of UVC on the thermal management of portable power sources used open-cathode PEMFC stack. • A novel idea improves the performance of portability power source. • Two-type UVC are integrated into an open-cathode PEMFC stack. • The output performances, temperature distribution and operating stability are increased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Assess the risk of NPS in China using entropy weight and TOPSIS • Joint the effects of necessity and feasibility on risk management priority • Risk management priority is not always in line with the necessity or feasibility • Risk management priority of NPS in China can be sorted into three situations Previous studies on risks of heritage sites have paid attention to natural disasters, pests and diseases. Few has focused on systemic risks caused by human factors, such as theft, illegal construction and vandalism. In addition, the prevailing method of risk assessment aim at grade determination but ignoring the assessment of management capability. As a result, this kind of assessment cannot serve as the guidance for risk management and prevention directly. In order to satisfy the demand of the historic development and protection, we apply entropy weight and TOPSIS methods to evaluate the risk management priorities of protected historical and cultural sites in 31 provinces of China (excluding Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan). Based on the provincial cross-section data on safety risks of heritage sites, a multi-level indicator system including risk source, risk management and risk-bearing is proposed from the aspects of necessity and feasibility respectively. Results indicate that Henan, Hainan and Shanxi have the highest priority for risk management, while Jilin, Yunnan and Ningxia have the lowest priority. Priorities in 31 provinces are classified into five clusters according to the value of TOPSIS, and the sort of priority is not always in line with that of necessity or feasibility respectively. Finally, relevant recommendation is provided for decision-makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quasi‐solid polymer electrolyte (QPE) lithium (Li)‐metal battery holds significant promise in the application of high‐energy‐density batteries, yet it suffers from low ionic conductivity and poor oxidation stability. Herein, a novel self‐built electric field (SBEF) strategy is proposed to enhance Li+ transportation and accelerate the degradation dynamics of carbon‐fluorine bond cleavage in LiTFSI by optimizing the termination of MXene. Among them, the SBEF induced by dielectric Nb4C3F2 MXene effectively constructs highly conductive LiF‐enriched SEI and CEI stable interfaces, moreover, enhances the electrochemical performance of the QPE. The related Li‐ion transfer mechanism and dual‐reinforced stable interface are thoroughly investigated using ab initio molecular dynamics, COMSOL, XPS depth profiling, and ToF‐SIMS. This comprehensive approach results in a high conductivity of 1.34 mS cm−1, leading to a small polarization of approximately 25 mV for Li//Li symmetric cell after 6000 h. Furthermore, it enables a prolonged cycle life at a high voltage of up to 4.6 V. Overall, this work not only broadens the application of MXene for QPE but also inspires the great potential of the self‐built electric field in QPE‐based high‐voltage batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quasi‐solid polymer electrolyte (QPE) lithium (Li)‐metal battery holds significant promise in the application of high‐energy‐density batteries, yet it suffers from low ionic conductivity and poor oxidation stability. Herein, a novel self‐built electric field (SBEF) strategy is proposed to enhance Li+ transportation and accelerate the degradation dynamics of carbon‐fluorine bond cleavage in LiTFSI by optimizing the termination of MXene. Among them, the SBEF induced by dielectric Nb4C3F2 MXene effectively constructs highly conductive LiF‐enriched SEI and CEI stable interfaces, moreover, enhances the electrochemical performance of the QPE. The related Li‐ion transfer mechanism and dual‐reinforced stable interface are thoroughly investigated using ab initio molecular dynamics, COMSOL, XPS depth profiling, and ToF‐SIMS. This comprehensive approach results in a high conductivity of 1.34 mS cm−1, leading to a small polarization of approximately 25 mV for Li//Li symmetric cell after 6000 h. Furthermore, it enables a prolonged cycle life at a high voltage of up to 4.6 V. Overall, this work not only broadens the application of MXene for QPE but also inspires the great potential of the self‐built electric field in QPE‐based high‐voltage batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'Nanguo' pear emitted a rich aroma when entirely ripe. The six-carbon (C 6) volatiles, including the aldehydes, 2-hexenal, and hexanal, as well as their corresponding alcohols and esters which are derived from lipoxygenase pathway are the important volatile components in 'Nanguo' pears. However, the transcriptional regulation mechanism of aroma synthesis of 'Nanguo' pears remains largely unknown. bZIP transcription factors (TFs) mediate different developmental processes in plants. In this study, we identified and characterized a bZIP TF that is highly expressed and induced in 'Nanguo' pear fruits at the mature stage. The content of fatty acid-derived volatiles increased significantly in transgenic pears and tomatoes of PubZIP914 overexpression. Meanwhile, PubZIP914 could regulate PuLOX3.1 by binding directly to PuLOX3.1 promoter. The results of this study provide evidence demonstrating how bZIP transcription factors regulate fatty acid-derived volatiles biosynthesis during pear fruit ripening. • The esters are the major volatile components in 'Nanguo' pears. • PubZIP914 significantly increased the contents of fatty acid-derived volatiles in transgenic pears and tomatoes. • PubZIP914 could regulate PuLOX3.1 by binding directly to PuLOX3.1 promoter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intermetallic compounds offer the high activity of alloy catalysts with greatly improved alloy stability, making them a promising replacement for commercial Pt/C. However, few studies have focused on their catalytic properties in practical applications. Herein, the PtCo intermetallic compounds are adopted as substitutes for commercial Pt/C to explore their practical application and deeply analyze the catalytic mechanism by combining multi-scale research methods. Experimental results indicate that PtCo intermetallic compounds can increase the maximum power density up to 863.2 mW cm−2 in membrane electrode assembly, 20.2 % higher than commercial Pt/C under the loading of 0.15 mg Pt ·cm−2 in the cathode. The membrane electrode assembly with PtCo intermetallic compounds exhibits high activity at high potentials while preemptively encountering concentration polarization. The introduction of transition metals not only reduces the limiting step energy barrier but also reduces the adsorption force of reactants on the activity sites, increasing the resistance of oxygen transport. The catalytic layer of PtCo intermetallic compounds exhibits higher current density inhomogeneity compared to Pt/C, this will limit the utilization of highly active catalysts and reduce membrane electrode assembly durability. This phenomenon can be effectively relieved by adjusting the operating conditions. [Display omitted] • Multi-scale combination to explore the application of IMCs at PEMFC. • MEA of IMCs occurs concentration polarization prematurely due to low ECSA. • A new method is proposed to study new catalyst from synthesis to application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Orange juice shows browning issue during storage which seriously affects its quality. Based on our previous study demonstrating the inhibition of browning of concentrated orange juice (COJ) by epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) and L-cysteine (L-cys), this study evaluated the effect of ultrasonic-vacuum combined with high-pressure CO2 on browning. Ultrasonic-vacuum can reduce the dissolved oxygen content in COJ more effectively than ultrasonic and also minimize the loss of ascorbic acid. The lowest dissolved oxygen content and ascorbic acid loss in COJ were achieved by ultrasonic-vacuum at 900 W and 15.6 min for COJ sample of 50.0 g. Ultrasonic-vacuum effectively removes most of the dissolved oxygen from COJ, and high-pressure CO2 reduces oxygen in the headspace of the container. This reduction in oxygen content effectively reduces aerobic acid degradation and inhibits browning caused by ascorbic acid degradation. In addition, the results showed that although ultrasonic-vacuum combined with high-pressure CO2 had a significant effect on delaying ascorbic acid degradation and reduced the loss by 35.01%, it has little effect on browning caused by Maillard reaction. Finally, it is concluded that ultrasonic-vacuum combined with high-pressure CO2 based on EGCG and L-cys has the best inhibitory effect on browning of COJ during storage, inhibiting 69.8% of the increase in BI values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • sea anemones biomimetic design is proposed for high-efficient ORR. • Single atom Co doped carbon nanotubes embedded with Co NPs act as sea anemones. • The synergistic effect of CoN 4 and Co NP reduces the energy barrier for ORR. • The Co/CoN 4 PCF exhibits excellent ORR performance and good application in ZABs. The construction of oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) electrocatalysts with well-textured structure and desirable activity remains great challenge for the complicated procedures and poor interface. Herein, inspired by sea anemones , the highly ordered Co–based carbon nanotubes electrocatalysts were elaborately assembled on wood fibers via stoichiometry. The porous cell-wall and abundant oxygen groups in lignocellulosic scaffold impose such preferable structure, in which the Co–based carbon nanotubes with Co single atoms and Co nanoparticles were tuned to possess higher catalytic activity and capture more oxygen species. As expected, the as-prepared electrocatalyst displays outstanding ORR performance with a half-wave potential of 0.9 V. The assembled Zn–air battery using this cathode catalyst shows a high-power density of 196 mW cm−2, superior to the commercial Pt/C catalysts. This work could inspire developing other biomimetic architectures for high-performance energy storage and conversion systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aroma is an important commercial trait that determines fruit quality and has an important influence on the overall flavor of fruits. Plant ALDH genes have been implicated in diverse pathways and play crucial roles in physiological activities. In this study, via genome resequencing we identified one gene PusALDH1 (Pbr034873.1) related to aroma biosynthesis that can respond to the induction of methyl jasmonate. Transient transformation of pear fruits and heterologous stable transformation of tomato further confirmed the function of PusALDH1 in aroma accumulation. The content of ALDH precursor substance, benzaldehyde, was reduced in the overexpressing pear and tomato fruits, and the content of ALDH product, benzoic acid and benzoic acid derivatives, was increased in the pear fruits. Meanwhile, transgenic tomato fruits with PusALDH1 overexpression exhibited a greater area of yellow placenta, indicating that the gene may be related to the growth and development of the fruit. Taken together, PusALDH1 could act as a strong candidate gene in aroma synthesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fitting analysis of soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC) is the foundation of engineering properties of unsaturated soils. The purpose of this paper is to explore the differences of fitting effects between different fractal and empirical models as well as the effect of residual water content θr on the model fitting. The experimental SWCCs of Hunan clay at different initial dry densities are measured by pressure plate instrument, and then they are fitted by fractal and empirical models. The effect of the limit of θr on the fitting results is analyzed by comparing the results of indoor evaporation test. The results show that within the measured data point range, fractal model II-2 and van Genuchten model (VG model) have the best fitting effect, fractal models I and II-1 take the second place, and the fitting effect of Gardner model is the worst. When the matrix suction is more than the measured data, the fitting accuracy of the model is poor. For the model with θr, reasonable limit range of θr can only improve the fitting accuracy of the model to a certain extent. For the fractal model, the fitting accuracy of the model can be improved effectively when θr is considered. Furthermore, the difference of fractal dimension and air-entry value in various fractal models are also discussed in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a new method for generating synthetic CT images from modified Dixon (mDixon) MR data. The synthetic CT is used for attenuation correction (AC) when reconstructing PET data on abdomen and pelvis. While MR does not intrinsically contain any information about photon attenuation, AC is needed in PET/MR systems in order to be quantitatively accurate and to meet qualification standards required for use in many multi-center trials. Existing MR-based synthetic CT generation methods either use advanced MR sequences that have long acquisition time and limited clinical availability or use matching of the MR images from a newly scanned subject to images in a library of MR-CT pairs which has difficulty in accounting for the diversity of human anatomy especially in patients that have pathologies. To address these deficiencies, we present a five-phase interlinked method that uses mDixon MR acquisition and advanced machine learning methods for synthetic CT generation. Both transfer fuzzy clustering and active learning-based classification (TFC-ALC) are used. The significance of our efforts is fourfold: 1) TFC-ALC is capable of better synthetic CT generation than methods currently in use on the challenging abdomen using only common Dixon-based scanning. 2) TFC partitions MR voxels initially into the four groups regarding fat, bone, air, and soft tissue via transfer learning; ALC can learn insightful classifiers, using as few but informative labeled examples as possible to precisely distinguish bone, air, and soft tissue. Combining them, the TFC-ALC method successfully overcomes the inherent imperfection and potential uncertainty regarding the co-registration between CT and MR images. 3) Compared with existing methods, TFC-ALC features not only preferable synthetic CT generation but also improved parameter robustness, which facilitates its clinical practicability. Applying the proposed approach on mDixon-MR data from ten subjects, the average score of the mean absolute prediction deviation (MAPD) was 89.78±8.76 which is significantly better than the 133.17±9.67 obtained using the all-water (AW) method (p=4.11E-9) and the 104.97±10.03 obtained using the four-cluster-partitioning (FCP, i.e., external-air, internal-air, fat, and soft tissue) method (p=0.002). 4) Experiments in the PET SUV errors of these approaches show that TFC-ALC achieves the highest SUV accuracy and can generally reduce the SUV errors to 5% or less. These experimental results distinctively demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed TFCALC method for the synthetic CT generation on abdomen and pelvis using only the commonly-available Dixon pulse sequence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The chemical composition, crystal morphology and expression levels of associated genes involved in the cuticular wax of three pear cultivars 'Housui', 'Cuiguan' and 'Yuluxiang' after treatment with palmitic acid (PA), hexacosanoic acid (HA), ethephon and methyl jasmonate (Meja) were determined. A total of 59 cuticular wax compounds were detected across all samples. The wax coverage of 'Housui' fruits increased by 71.74, 93.48 and 89.13% after treatment with PA, ethephon and Meja, respectively, and treatment with PA, HA and Meja also increased the wax coverage in 'Cuiguan' (65.33, 20.00 and 21.33% respectively) and in 'Yuluxiang' (38.60, 63.16 and 42.11% respectively) fruits. Heatmap clustering analysis and partial least-squares-discriminate analysis (PLS-DA) also revealed that the different treatments exerted various influences on cuticular wax among the different cultivars. In addition, the wax component coverage and wax crystal structures showed variations among the different cultivars as well as different treatments. Gene expression analysis revealed 11 genes likely to be involved in pear fruit wax synthesis, transport and regulation. Taken together, the results of this study demonstrate that the differences in the cuticular waxes of the fruits of different cultivars after treatment with PA, HA, ethephon or Meja might lead to a better understanding of the regulatory effect of a substrate or elicitor on the composition and deposition of cuticular waxes. It is currently unclear whether treating with a precursor and spraying of exogenous hormones can influence the cuticular wax of pear fruits. The wax profiles of palmitic acid, hexacosanoic acid-, ethephon- and methyl jasmonate-treated fruits of three pear cultivars were analysed by GC-MS and FESEM. Results showed that the different treatments induced various changes in the cuticular wax of the three pear cultivars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The flow properties and the internal pressure distribution of powder in silos are investigated. • The pressure distribution in silos is nonuniform. • The effects of the material type, particle size and moisture content on the pressure of silos are explored. • The relationship between flow characteristics and pressure distribution in silos is analyzed. Static pressure distribution of the wall is essential to the optimal characteristics and discharge stability of the powder from products (bulk solids) in a silo. A Geocomp Shear Trac-II system was used to measure the flow properties of three different types of material, with an emphasis on the determining the best results in experiments using a special test silo with conical hopper dependent on the static pressure distribution of the silo wall. Experimental results shows that with an increase in height from the outlet, the pressure in a hopper gradually increases, while the silo wall's normal pressure in the cylinder decreases. The maximum pressure appears at the silo-hopper junction. Three different material types are chosen based on their ability to have a weakening effect on horizontal pressure. With the increase in particle size, the horizontal pressure in the silo junction remained constant. In the cylinder cross section, the larger the particle size, the higher the horizontal pressure. Meanwhile, the vertical pressure distribution shows the opposite trend. With the increase in moisture content, horizontal pressure increases, and the silo wall's normal pressure decreases. The influence of the moisture content on the vertical pressure of the cone cross section is weak. In the cylinder cross section, the vertical pressure increases with the increase in moisture content. The experimental data created in this study can serve as a reference to guide the design of new silos as well as the maintenance tasks of established silos. This paper can serve as a reference on what silo parts must be reinforced under higher pressure during the unloading process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The Barzilai–Borwein step is incorporated to speed up the first order reliability method. • A steepest descent stage and a global Barzilai–Borwein gradient search stage make up the proposed procedure. • A good initial point is determined for the following stage in the first steepest descent stage. • The most probable failure point is found in the second global Barzilai–Borwein gradient search stage. • Problems are solved robustly and very efficiently except those with super nonlinearity and big high-frequency noise. In nonlinear problems, the Hasofer–Lind–Rackwitz–Fiessler algorithm of the first order reliability method sometimes is puzzled by its non-convergence. A new Hasofer–Lind–Rackwitz–Fiessler algorithm incorporating Barzilai–Borwein step is investigated in this paper to speed up the rate of convergence and performs in a stable manner. The algorithm is essentially established on the basis of the global Barzilai–Borwein gradient method, which is dealt with two stages. The first stage, implemented by the traditional steepest descent method with specific decayed step sizes, prepares a good initial point for the global Barzilai–Borwein gradient algorithm in the second stage, which takes the merit function as the objective to locate the most probable failure point. The efficiency and convergence of the proposed method and some other reliability analysis methods are presented and discussed in details by several numerical examples. It is found that the proposed method is stable and very efficient in the nonlinear problems except those super nonlinear ones, even more accurate than the descent direction method with step sizes following the fixed exponential decay strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To efficiently capture the toxic uranyl ions (UO22+), a new hierarchical micro‐macroporous metal–organic framework was prepared under template‐free conditions, featuring interconnected multi‐nanocages bearing carbonyl groups derived from a semi‐rigid ligand. The material exhibits an unusually high UO22+ sorption capacity of 562 mg g−1, which occurs in an intriguing two‐steps process, on the macropore‐based crystal surface and in the inner nanocages. Notably, the latter is attributed to the cooperative interplay of the shrinkage of the host porous framework induced by uranyl accommodation and the free carbonyl coordination sites, as shown by both single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction and a red‐shift of the infrared [O=UVI=O]2+ antisymmetric vibration band. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To efficiently capture the toxic uranyl ions (UO22+), a new hierarchical micro‐macroporous metal–organic framework was prepared under template‐free conditions, featuring interconnected multi‐nanocages bearing carbonyl groups derived from a semi‐rigid ligand. The material exhibits an unusually high UO22+ sorption capacity of 562 mg g−1, which occurs in an intriguing two‐steps process, on the macropore‐based crystal surface and in the inner nanocages. Notably, the latter is attributed to the cooperative interplay of the shrinkage of the host porous framework induced by uranyl accommodation and the free carbonyl coordination sites, as shown by both single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction and a red‐shift of the infrared [O=UVI=O]2+ antisymmetric vibration band. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As universal servos are economical, they are chosen for most of the industrial applications. However, tuning them accurately poses some challenges. Accurate electrical and mechanical parameters are essential for a model-based high-performance servo controller design. In motion control, the variation of inertia is much more significant than that of other parameters. Thus, inertia identification is a key to effective online controller parameter self-tuning, but most conventional inertia-identification methods cannot be well applied in some complicated situations, such as those caused by irregularly and slowly varying speed. Additionally, the traditional control parameter tuning theory displays a deep understanding of the relationship between controller gain and inertia, but lacks an analysis of the maximum bandwidth of the system. In this paper, based on a widely accepted structure that is composed of inertia identification and online controller self-tuning, several simple but useful modifications are proposed. First, to reduce the noise from an encoder quantization error and thus to improve the accuracy of inertia identification, a motor acceleration calculation method featuring an inconstant period is proposed. Then, the scope of the application is extended to make it suitable for position control by redesigning the inertia updating time of the conventional method. In addition, to guarantee the stability of servo systems, the upper constraint of the expected maximum system bandwidth is derived by taking the controller saturation nonlinearity and hardware capacity into consideration. Finally, a modified moderate systematic online servo controller parameter self-tuning method via variable-period inertia identification is presented. The validity, effectiveness, and advantages of proposed strategies are verified by several experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In ac motor drives, the fixed-frequency harmonic components of output voltage and current from the inverter with fixed-frequency pulsewidth modulation usually lead to electromagnetic interference (EMI). The spread spectrum clock generation (SSCG) is a widely used solution for this problem. Adjusting the switching frequency to reduce EMI is one kind of practicable scheme among SSCG methods. How to design an optimal or suitable modulation profile is a research emphasis of scholars and has been discussed in depth in many literatures. However, apart from the modulation profile, the mode and quality of carrier are also important and can be improved. In most frequency modulation methods, due to the limitation of the conventional carrier generation mode, the implementation of the new frequency instruction has to wait for the termination of the last switching period. In order to eliminate the waiting state and design a simpler algorithm, this paper has proposed a wait-free phase-continuous carrier frequency modulation (WPCFM) strategy by combining the direct digital frequency synthesizer theory and proper temporal planning of control interruptions. Besides, a theoretical analysis of WPCFM, including quantization error, frequency jitter, phase delay, and voltage distortion, has been finished. Moreover, compared with conventional methods, a more convenient, feasible, and simpler field-programmable gate array based algorithm implementation method and the control structure of WPCFM are also introduced. The analysis shows that, although WPCFM causes a slight increase of the current ripple, it can solve the partial frequency nonuniform distribution problem of the conventional method, and it has a potential value of applications in the wide band gap motor drive systems. The effectiveness of the WPCFM is verified by several sets of EMI reduction experiments where classical periodic carrier frequency modulations are applied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Keywords: homologous heterostructures; surface reconstruction; topological transformation; urea oxidation reaction EN homologous heterostructures surface reconstruction topological transformation urea oxidation reaction 1 1 1 10/18/23 20231013 NES 231013 B Urea Electrooxidation b In article number 2303300, Yan Qing, Yiqiang Wu, and co-workers develop an ultrafine homologous Ni SB 2 sb P-Co SB 2 sb P heterostructure via a topological transformation strategy. Homologous heterostructures, surface reconstruction, topological transformation, urea oxidation reaction The Co incorporation reduces the generation potential of the surface reconstructive active species and optimizes the absorption/desorption energy of the intermediates, achieving a superior urea electrooxidation activity, promising for use in simultaneous urea-enriched wastewater treatment and energy-saving hydrogen production or electricity generation. [Extracted from the article]