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The development of active single-atom catalysts for the alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) offers a promising strategy for lowering the cost of green hydrogen. Pt single atoms were in-situ anchored on layered double hydroxide (CoFeLDH) nanosheets using CV scanning electrodeposition with an optimal 40 cycles. The HAADF-STEM analysis confirmed the monoatomic dispersion of Pt in the CoFeLDH-Pt 40cls catalyst, whereas XAFS showed that Pt was coordinated with four oxygens. Density functional theory calculation revealed a drop in the reaction energy barrier of the rate-limiting Volmer step during water splitting over the CoFeLDH-Pt 40cls catalyst from 2.28 to 1.78 eV. Additionally, the free energy for hydrogen desorption decreased from 1.52 to −0.02 eV. The CoFeLDH-Pt 40cls catalyst demonstrated excellent HER kinetics by achieving a −10 mA/cm2 current density at 45 mV overpotential. It also exhibited sustained high activity for around 100 h in stability studies. Synthesis of in-situ anchored Pt single atom catalyst CoFeLDH-Pt 40cls for alkaline HER. [Display omitted] • Pt single atoms were in-situ anchored on CoFeLDH nanosheets through electrodeposition for HER. • The CoFeLDH-Pt 40cls exhibited a low overpotential of 45 mV at 10 mA/cm2. • HAADF-STEM and XAFS confirmed the monoatomic Pt in CoFeLDH-Pt 40cls. • DFT calculations showed that Volmer step decreased from 2.28 eV to 1.78 eV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We introduce notions of continuous orbit equivalence and its one-sided version for countable left Ore semigroup actions on compact spaces by surjective local homeomorphisms, and characterize them in terms of the corresponding transformation groupoids and their operator algebras. In particular, we show that two essentially free semigroup actions on totally disconnected compact spaces are continuously orbit equivalent if and only if there is a canonical abelian subalgebra preserving C*-isomorphism between the associated transformation groupoid C*-algebras. We also give some examples of orbit equivalence, consider the special case of semigroup actions by homeomorphisms and relate continuous orbit equivalence of semigroup actions to that of the associated group actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In micro grinding, the size of the micro grinding tool largely determines the minimum size of the microstructures that can be machined. However, most researches about micro grinding use grinding tools with a diameter more than 300 μm. In this study, the grinding properties of titanium in ultra-small-grinding (USG) on no more than 100 μm scale were investigated. A grinding force model considering the effects of micro scale and abrasive grain size was proposed. Corresponding experiments were conducted with self-prepared USG tools with diameters 100 μm. Electroplating technology was used to fix abrasive grains to prepare the USG tools, and the electrochemistry preparation processing of the USG tool was revealed. The effectiveness of the grinding force model was proved by the experimental results. The influences of grinding parameters on the surface and grinding forces were studied. The grinding force on the x-axis is the largest in three directions, which decreases with the increasing of rotation speed and increases with the increasing of feeding velocity. The material removal ability of up grinding is better than that of down grinding in USG. As the feeding velocity increases and rotation speed decreases, surface defects increase. There is much individual sheet-like material melted and adhered to up grinding surface, and the straight serrated contour line is prone to be produced by up grinding. And there is much fish scale like material fusion layer deposits on down grinding surface, and the inclined wavy contour line is prone to be produced by down grinding. After USG, the oxygen element content on the grinding surface increases by more than 10 % due to grinding heat. • Grinding performance of the small grinding tool with diameter 100 μm was studied. • The effects of micro scale and grain size were considered in modeling. • Small grinding tool with diameter 100 μm was prepared by electrochemistry method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ganoderma lucidum spore powder, valued for its nutritional and medicinal properties, contains polysaccharides crucial for its efficacy. However, the complex structural nature of these polysaccharides necessitates further investigation to fully realize their potential. This study aimed to investigate the effects of acid heat treatment on Ganoderma lucidum spore polysaccharides (GLSPs) to enhance their properties and application in antitumor activity. The GLSP was obtained via acid heat treatment, concentration, and centrifugal separation. This process led to a notable reduction in polysaccharide molecular weight, increasing water solubility and bioavailability. Analytical techniques including NMR spectroscopy and methylation analysis revealed a polysaccharide composition comprising four distinct monosaccharides, with molecular weights of 3291 Da (Mw) and 3216 Da (Mn). Six different linkage modes were identified, with a molar ratio of 1:5:2:3:4:3. In vivo experiments demonstrated the GLSP's significant inhibitory effect on the growth of four tumor models (sarcoma S180, Lewis lung cancer, liver cancer H22, and colon cancer C26) in mice, with no observed toxicity. These findings suggest the GLSP's potential as an antitumor therapeutic agent for clinical use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Primary lung cancer is extremely rare in children and adolescents. The aim of this study is to clarify clinical features and outcomes of primary lung cancer in children and adolescents. Methods: Young patients (aged ≤ 20 years) diagnosed as primary lung cancer between 2012 and 2023 were retrospective reviewed. According to radiological appearance of the nodules, they were divided into solid nodule (SN) group and ground glass opacity (GGO) group. Results: A total of 74 patients were identified, with a median age at diagnosis of 18 years old (range: 11–20), including 7 patients in SN group and 67 patients in GGO group. In the GGO group, none of the nodules enlarged or changed during an average surveillance period of 10.8 months before surgery, except one. Wedge resection was the most common procedure (82.1%), followed by segmentectomy (16.4%) and lobectomy (1.5%). Histopathological analysis revealed that 64.2% of GGO nodules were adenocarcinoma in situ and minimally invasive adenocarcinomas, while the remaining 35.8% were invasive adenocarcinomas. Mutational analysis was performed in nine patients, with mutations identified in all cases. After a mean follow-up period of 1.73 ± 1.62 years, two patients in the SN group died due to multiple distant metastases, while all patients in the GGO group survived without recurrence. The overall survival (100%) of the GGO group was significantly higher than SN group (66.7%). Conclusions: Primary lung cancer in children and adolescents are rare and histopathological heterogeneous. Persistent GGO nodules may indicate early-stage lung adenocarcinoma in children and adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Alopecia areata (AA) is often characterized by sudden onset of patchy hair loss. Topical corticosteroid injection is the most common treatment. This study retrospectively observed the clinical efficacy of microneedle minoxidil combined with triamcinolone acetonide in the treatment of AA. Methods: A total of 230 patients with AA were selected. The experimental group (n = 120) received physician training and home microneedle treatment with minoxidil combined with triamcinolone acetonide once a week. Topical minoxidil and triamcinolone acetonide were used twice daily at other times. The control group (n = 110) was treated with minoxidil combined with triamcinolone acetonide, twice a day. Cure rate, response rate, SALT, dermatological Quality of Life Index (DLQI), visual analogue (VAS), and cost were assessed at weeks 4 and 12. Results: Treated group SALT score(Severity of Alopecia Tool) remarkable lower than control group after treated 4 and 12 weeks. After 12 weeks treatment, DLQI score of the treated group (1.8 ± 1.67) were significantly lower than those of the control group (2.45 ± 1.88) (p < 0.05). VAS score and adverse reaction between two group showed no significant different (p = 0.823, p = 0.484 respectively). The total cost was 53.93 ± 15.85 in the treatment group and 53.26 ± 11.51 in the control group. There was no significant difference between the two groups (p = 0.72). In the treated group, the complete response rate (CR: 78.33%) and total effective rate (CR+PR: 95%) were significantly higher than those in the control group (CR: 40.91% and CR+PR: 51.82%), with statistically significant differences (p < 0.001). Conclusion: Microneedle introduction of minoxidil and triamcinolone acetonide in the treatment of AA is a safe, effective, economical, and convenient method, with few adverse reactions, and has a good application prospect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

N6‐methyladenosine (m6A) is one of the main epitranscriptomic modifications that accelerates the progression of malignant tumors by modifying RNA. Methyltransferase‐like 16 (METTL16) is a newly identified methyltransferase that has been found to play an important oncogenic role in a few malignancies; however, its function in osteosarcoma (OS) remains unclear. In this study, METTL16 was found to be upregulated in OS tissues, and associated with poor prognosis in OS patients. Functionally, METTL16 substantially promoted OS cell proliferation, migration, and invasion in vitro and OS growth in vivo. Mechanistically, vacuolar protein sorting protein 33b (VPS33B) was identified as the downstream target of METTL16, which induced m6A modification of VPS33B and impaired the stability of the VPS33B transcript, thereby degrading VPS33B. In addition, VPS33B was found to be downregulated in OS tissues, VPS33B knockdown markedly attenuated shMETTL16‐mediated inhibition on OS progression. Finally, METTL16/VPS33B might facilitate OS progression through PI3K/AKT pathway. In summary, this study revealed an important role for the METTL16‐mediated m6A modification in OS progression, implying it as a promising target for OS treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Manufacturing knowledge can be preserved through knowledge accumulation and continuous integration. In order to improve the using efficiency of manufacturing knowledge, this knowledge is stored and used in the way of Knowledge graph. This paper will study the construction of Knowledge graph based on manufacturing process methods and the ability of Knowledge graph to provide services. This kind of manufacturing knowledge capability not only provides the manufacturing realization method of processing technology, but also can correspond to the design realization method of design graphics, providing theoretical support for the integrated realization of design and manufacturing process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: As the crucial support component of the propeller power system, the reliability of the operation of submersible pumps is influenced by the lubrication performance of water-lubricated thrust bearings. When the water-lubricated thrust bearings are under start-stop or heavy load conditions, the effect of surface morphology is crucial as the mixed lubrication regime is encountered. This paper aims to develop one mixed lubrication model for the water-lubricated thrust bearings to predict the effects of surface skewness, kurtosis and roughness orientation on the loading carrying capacity and tribological behavior. Design/methodology/approach: This paper developed one improved mixed lubrication model specifically for the water-lubricated thrust bearing system. In this model, the hydrodynamic model was improved by using the height of the rough surface and its probability density function, combined with the average flow model. The asperity contact model was improved by using the equation for the Pearson system of frequency curves to characterize the non-Gaussian aspect of surface roughness distribution. Findings: According to the results, negative skewness, large kurtosis and lateral surface pattern can improve the tribological performance of water-lubricated thrust bearings. Optimizing the surface morphology is a reasonable design method that can improve the performance of water-lubricated thrust bearings. Originality/value: In this paper, one mixed lubrication model specifically for the water-lubricated thrust bearing with the effect of surface roughness into consideration was developed. Based on the developed model, the effect of surface morphology on tribological behavior can be evaluated. Peer review: The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-08-2023-0247/ [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Efficiently expanding Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells, which serve as the primary host cells for recombinant protein production, have gained increasing industrial significance. A significant hurdle in stable cell line development is the low efficiency of the target gene integrated into the host genome, implying the necessity for an effective screening and selection procedure to separate these stable cells. In this study, the genes of phenylalanine hydroxylase (PAH) and pterin 4 alpha carbinolamine dehydratase 1 (PCBD1), which are key enzymes in the tyrosine synthesis pathway, were utilized as selection markers and transduced into host cells together with the target genes. This research investigated the enrichment effect of this system and advanced further in understanding its benefits for cell line development and rCHO cell culture. A novel tyrosine-based selection system that only used PCBD1 as a selection marker was designed to promote the enrichment effect. Post 9 days of starvation, positive transductants in the cell pool approached 100%. Applied the novel tyrosine-based selection system, rCHO cells expressing E2 protein were generated and named CHO TS cells. It could continue to grow, and the yield of E2 achieved 95.95 mg/L in a tyrosine-free and chemically-defined (CD) medium. Herein, we introduced an alternative to antibiotic-based selections for the establishment of CHO cell lines and provided useful insights for the design and development of CD medium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Local constraint in the lattice gauge theory provides an exotic mechanism that facilitates the disorder-free localization. However, the understanding of nonequilibrium dynamics in the non-Hermitian lattice gauge model remains limited. Here, we investigate the quench dynamics in a system of spinless fermions with nonreciprocal hopping in the Z 2 gauge field. By employing a duality mapping, we systematically explore the non-Hermitian skin effect, localization-delocalization transition, and real-complex transition. Through the identification of diverse scaling behaviors of quantum mutual information for fermions and spins, we propose that the non-Hermitian quantum disentangled liquids exist both in the localized and delocalized phases, the former originates from the Z 2 gauge field and the latter arises from the non-Hermitian skin effect. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the nonreciprocal dissipation causes the flow of quantum information. Our results provide valuable insights into the nonequilibrium dynamics in the gauge field, and may be experimentally validated using quantum simulators. Lattice gauge theory, a subset of gauge theory, has been successfully applied to a range of quantum systems allowing for the investigation of localised phenomena within these systems. Here, the authors consider a non-Hermitian lattice model observing a quantum disentangled liquid state that exists in both the localised and delocalised phases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Hematoma expansion (HE) is common in patients with intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) and associated with a worse outcome. Imaging makers and shorter time from symptom onset are both associated with HE, but prognostic scores based on these parameters individually have not been satisfactory. We hypothesized that a score including both imaging markers of expansion, and time of onset, would improve prediction. Methods: Patients with supratentorial ICH within 6 h after onset were consecutively recruited from six centers between January 2018 and August 2022. Three markers were used: hypodensities, the blend sign, and the island sign. We first defined frequency of imaging markers (FIM) as the relationship between the number of imaging markers and onset-to-CT time (OCT). The time-adjusted FIM was defined as the ratio of the number of imaging markers to the onset-to-initial imaging time. Multivariate analysis was performed to determine the relationship between FIM and HE. Receiver operating curve analysis was used to identify potential threshold values of FIM that optimally predict HE. In addition, the sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values (PPVs and NPVs), and the area under the curve (AUC) of the optimal cut-off in predicting HE were calculated. Results: In total, 1488 patients were eligible for inclusion, of whom 418 had incident HE. Multivariate analysis showed that age, male sex, baseline Glasgow Coma Scale score, presence of intraventricular hemorrhage, and FIM were independent predictors of HE (odds ratio (OR) = 0.98, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.97–0.99; OR = 1.73, 95% CI = 1.28–2.35; OR = 0.87, 95% CI = 0.83–0.92; OR = 0.42, 95% CI = 0.28–0.62; OR = 7.82, 95% CI = 5.86–10.42, respectively). The optimal cut-off point for FIM in predicting HE was 0.63, with sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV, and AUC values of 0.69, 0.89, 0.71, 0.88, and 0.83, respectively. Conclusion: The FIM adjusted for time since symptom onset is a significant predictor of HE. Its use may allow improved prediction of those patients with ICH who develop HE, and the score may be clinically applicable in the management of patients with ICH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vascular aging is directly related to several major diseases including clinical primary hypertension. Conversely, elevated blood pressure itself accelerates vascular senescence. However, the interaction between vascular aging and hypertension has not been characterized during hypertensive aging. To depict the interconnectedness of complex mechanisms between hypertension and aging, we performed single-cell RNA sequencing of aorta, femoral and mesentery arteries, respectively, from male Wistar Kyoto rats and male spontaneously hypertensive rats aging 16 or 72 weeks. We integrated 12 data sets to map the blood vessels of senile hypertension from 3 perspective: vascular aging, hypertension, and vascular type. We found that aging and hypertension independently exerted a significant impact on the alteration of cellular composition and artery remodeling, even greater when superimposed. Consistently, smooth muscle cells (SMCs) underwent phenotypic switching from contractile toward synthetic, apoptotic, and senescent SMCs with aging/hypertension. Furthermore, we identified 3 subclusters of Spp1 high, encoding protein osteopontin (OPN), synthetic SMCs, Spp1 high matrix activated fibroblasts, and Spp1 high scar-associated macrophage involved in hypertensive aging. Spp1 high scar-associated macrophage enriched for reactive oxygen species metabolic process and cell migration-associated function. Cell–cell communication analysis revealed Spp1-Cd44 receptor pairing was markedly aggravated in the hypertensive aging condition. Importantly, the concentration of serum OPN significantly potentiated in aged hypertensive patients compared with the normal group. Thus, we provide a comprehensive cell atlas to systematically resolve the cellular diversity and dynamic cellular communication changes of the vessel wall during hypertensive aging, identifying a protein marker OPN as a potential regulator of vascular remodeling during hypertensive aging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fast evolution of modern society stimulates intense development of new materials with novel functionalities in energy and environmental applications. Due to rapid progress of computer science, computational design of materials with target properties has recently attracted a lot of interest. Accurate and efficient calculation of fundamental thermodynamic properties, including redox potentials, acidity constants, and solvation free energies, is of great importance for selection and design of desirable materials. Free energy calculation based on ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) can predict these properties with high accuracy at complex environments, however, they are being impeded by high computational costs. To address this issue, this work develops an automated scheme that combines iterative training of machine learning potentials (MLPs) and free energy calculation and demonstrates that these thermodynamic properties can be computed by ML accelerated MD with ab initio accuracy and a much longer time scale at cheaper costs, improving poor statistics and convergence of numerical integration by AIMD. Our automated scheme lays the foundation for computational chemistry-assisted materials design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractBacterial biofilm has brought a lot of intractable problems in food and biomedicine areas. Conventional biofilm control mainly focuses on inactivation and removal of biofilm. However, with robust construction and enhanced resistance, the established biofilm is extremely difficult to eradicate. According to the mechanism of biofilm development, biofilm formation can be modulated by intervening in the key factors and regulatory systems. Therefore, regulation of biofilm formation has been proposed as an alternative way for effective biofilm control. This review aims to provide insights into the regulation of biofilm formation in food and biomedicine. The underlying mechanisms for early-stage biofilm establishment are summarized based on the key factors and correlated regulatory networks. Recent developments and applications of novel regulatory strategies such as anti/pro-biofilm agents, nanomaterials, functionalized surface materials and physical strategies are also discussed. The current review indicates that these innovative methods have contributed to effective biofilm control in a smart, safe and eco-friendly way. However, standard methodology for regulating biofilm formation in practical use is still missing. As biofilm formation in real-world systems could be far more complicated, further studies and interdisciplinary collaboration are still needed for simulation and experiments in the industry and other open systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rationale: Tetrandrine, the Q‐marker in Stephaniae Tetrandrae Radix, was proven to present an obvious antitumor effect. Until now, the metabolism and antitumor mechanism of tetrandrine have not been fully elucidated. Methods: The metabolites of tetrandrine in rats were profiled using ultra‐high‐performance liquid chromatography coupled with time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry. The potential antitumor mechanism of tetrandrine in vivo was predicted using network pharmacology. Results: A total of 30 metabolites were characterized in rats after ingestion of tetrandrine (10 mg/kg), including 0 in plasma, 7 in urine, 11 in feces, 9 in liver, 8 in spleen, 4 in lung, 5 in kidney, 5 in heart, and 4 in brain. This study was the first to show the metabolic processes demethylation, hydroxylation, and carbonylation in tetrandrine. The pharmacology network results showed that tetrandrine and its metabolites could regulate AKT1, TNF, MMP9, MMP2, PAK1, and so on by involving in proteoglycan tumor pathway, PI3K‐Akt signaling pathway, tumor pathway, MAPK signaling pathway, and Rap1 signaling pathway. Conclusions: The metabolism features of tetrandrine and its potential antitumor mechanism were summarized, providing data for further pharmacological validation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to enhance the kinetics of water electrolysis and reduce the cell voltage, the development of highly active and stable non-precious metal bifunctional catalysts is essential. In this study, self-supported heterostructures based on MoS 2 -CoFeLDH were synthesised as the cathode and anode electrocatalysts for overall water splitting in alkaline media. The strong coupling effect at the heterogeneous interfaces of MoS 2 and CoFeLDH improved the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) at the cathode. The strong electronegativity of CoFeLDH facilitated the adsorption of H protons, and MoS 2 with strong electrical conductivity promoted the desorption of H 2 molecules. The oxygen evolution reaction (OER) at the anode was also enhanced because the LDHs had strong adsorption properties for hydroxyl species, and MoS 2 assisted the transfer of hydroxyl species. The MoS 2 -CoFeLDH showed low overpotentials of 100 mV for the HER and 216 mV for the OER at 10 mA/cm2. This bifunctional catalyst required a low voltage of 1.55 V for overall water splitting and remained stable for 48 h. Schematic of MoS 2 -CoFeLDH/NF heterostructure electrodes for overall water splitting. [Display omitted] • MoS 2 -CoFeLDH heterostructures were synthesised for overall water splitting. • The strong coupling effect at heterogeneous interfaces improved HER and OER. • The MoS 2 -CoFeLDH showed low overpotentials of 100 mV for HER and 216 mV for OER at 10 mA/cm2. • The MoS 2 -CoFeLDH only required a low voltage of 1.55 V at 10 mA/cm2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study addresses the preassigned-time synchronization for complex-valued memristive neural networks with reaction–diffusion terms and Markov parameters. Employing a preassigned-time stable control strategy, two distinct controllers with varying power exponent parameters are designed to ensure that synchronization can be achieved within a predefined time frame. Unlike existing finite/fixed-time results, a priori specification of the settling time is addressed. Furthermore, Green's formula and boundary conditions are efficiently applied to overcome potential symmetry loss. Additionally, the activation function's constraint range is more lenient compared to existing constraints. Finally, the effectiveness of the presented methods are demonstrated through two examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seven possible ultra-low-mass and small-radius white dwarfs have been recently identified, with masses ranging from ~0.02 M0 to ~0.08 M0 and radii ranging from ~ 4,270 km to 10670 km. The mass-radius measurements of these white dwarfs pose challenges to traditional white dwarf models, assuming they are mostly made of nuclei lighter than 56Fe. In this work, we consider the possibility that those white dwarfs are made of heavier elements. Due to the small charge-to-mass ratios in heavy elements, the electron number density in white dwarf matter is effectively reduced, which reduces the pressure with additional contributions of lattice energy and electron polarization corrections. This consequently leads to white dwarfs with much smaller masses and radii, which coincide with the seven ultra-low-mass and small-radius white dwarfs. The mass of the most massive white dwarfs is effectively reduced and could possibly account for the sub-Chandrasekhar progenitors in underluminous Type Ia supernovae. The corresponding equation of state and matter contents of dense stellar matter with and without reaching the cold-catalyzed ground state are presented, which are obtained using the latest Atomic Mass Evaluation (AME 2020). Further observations are necessary to unveil the actual matter contents in those white dwarfs via, e.g., spectroscopy, asteroseismology, and the discoveries of other ultra-low-mass and small-radius white dwarfs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shrinkage strain is considered one of the major concerns affecting the dimensional stability of concrete, especially self-compacting concrete (SCC) which comprises different ingredients such as high contents of cementitious material and low coarse aggregate content, compared to conventional concrete. Besides, most available models were designed for conventional concrete, which lack efficiency in predicting shrinkage of SCC. Therefore, this study developed a B4TW-SCC model based on the B4TW-2020 model and B4 model to fit with the NTU-SCC database, which includes 1,316 datasets of SCC shrinkage tests from numerous published research papers for SCC. Furthermore, the shrinkage behavior of SCC was investigated by partially replacing different contents of cement (up to 40% by weight) with fly ash and slag as well as different water to cementitious material (w/cm) ratios in the range 0.36–0.48 for the purpose of evaluation for the modified model. The presence of the mineral admixtures and w/cm ratio had obvious influence on the workability, compressive strength, and shrinkage of SCC. The B4TW-SCC model resulted in the best accuracy compared to other models such as the B4 model, fib 2010 model, ACI 209R-92 model, as well as the prediction models of SCC and the tested shrinkage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To enhance the lateral stability of a certain type of high-speed train under bogie's active control, characteristics of inertial actuators that generate control force in the active control system are studied, the control delay of the whole Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) system is measured, and multi-objective optimisation for feedback parameters with or without the control delay is achieved in this study. A linear model of bogie lateral dynamics, with two inertial actuators, acting on the front and rear end beams, is established for the optimisation. Correspondingly, a nonlinear vehicle model is established in the Simpack platform for both mathematical simulation and HIL simulation to verify the control effects. As the force source of active control, dynamic characteristics of the inertial actuator with different control strategies are examined. Multi-objective optimal control is carried out on the linear active bogie models with and without the delay measured in the experiment to improve the bogie hunting stability. The control method is then evaluated in a nonlinear vehicle model and HIL simulation. Simulation results show that the lateral dynamic performance of the high-speed train can be effectively improved with the active stability system even with a large time delay. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indoles are one of the most ubiquitous subclass of N‐heterocycles and are increasingly incorporated to design new axially chiral scaffolds. The rich profile of reactivity and N−H functionality allow chemical derivatization for enhanced medicinal, material and catalytic properties. Although asymmetric C−C coupling of two arenes gives the most direct access of axially chiral biaryl scaffolds, this chemistry has been the remit of metal catalysis and works efficiently on limited substrates. Our group has devoted special interest in devising novel organocatalytic arylation reactions to fabricate biaryl atropisomers. In this realm, indoles and derivatives have been reliably used as the arylation partners in combination with azoarenes, nitrosonapthalenes and quinone derivatives. Their efficient interaction with chiral phosphoric acid catalyst as well as the tunability of electronics and sterics have enabled excellent control of stereo‐, chemo‐ and regioselectivity to furnish diverse scaffolds. In addition, indoles could act as nucleophiles in desymmetrization of 1,2,4‐triazole‐3,5‐diones. This account provides a succinct illustration of these developments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In addition to the direct use of corn as energy feed, about 30% of the annual output is used to produce corn starch, sugar and ethanol and other deep processing products in China, while producing corn husk, corn pulp, corn embryo meal, corn protein meal, DDGS and other by-products. These by-products generally have problems such as high crude fiber content, low available energy, mycotoxin pollution, etc. If the quality and efficiency of these by-products are improved by processing technology, their feeding value can be significantly improved. In the paper, the nutritional characteristics, value-added processing and utilization technology of corn processing by-products and their application in animal production are reviewed, which can provide reference for the effective improvement of feed value, and also have important significance for alleviating the contradiction of feed resource shortage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The latest evidence suggested that the onset of dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is closely associated with immune microenvironment disturbance. Since N6‐methyladenosine (m6A) RNA methylation impacts on immunocyte function and antitumor immunity, it is predictable that m6A RNA methylation may result in immune microenvironment disorder. Here, we attempted to verify this hypothesis. We used single‐sample gene set enrichment analysis (ssGSEA) to investigate the infiltration abundance of immunocytes, single‐cell RNA‐Seq to identify key m6A regulator, and a doxorubicin (Dox)‐induced DCM mouse model to confirm our findings. ssGSEA revealed a higher infiltration abundance of CD8+ T lymphocytes, NK cells, monocytes, and B+ lymphocytes in DCM myocardium tissue. Single‐cell RNA‐Seq indicated a critical role of IGFBP2 in DCM. Cross‐checking analysis hinted an interaction between IGFBP2 and NSUN5, ALYREF, RRP8, and ALKBH3. Mechanically, IGFBP2‐mediated RNA methylation deteriorated the immune microenvironment and thus increased the risk of DCM by enhancing CD8+ T lymphocyte, NK cell, monocyte, B+ lymphocyte infiltration and activating check‐point, MHC‐I, and T cell co‐stimulation signaling pathways. In the DCM mouse model, echocardiography indicated a significant reduction in ejection fraction (EF) and fractional shortening (FS) and an increase in left ventricular internal dimensions at systole (LVIDs) and diastole (LVIDd). MASSON staining indicated an increased fibrosis in myocardium tissue. qPCR and immunofluorescence staining indicated a significant increase in mRNA and protein levels of IGFBP2. The present study indicated that IGFBP2‐mediated RNA methylation remodeled the immune microenvironment and increased the risk of DCM. IGFBP2 may serve as potential therapeutic target for DCM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A relative humidity (RH) sensor based on in-fiber Michelson interferometer (MI) is proposed, which consists of a short piece of graded-index multimode fiber (GIMMF) followed by a 2-core fiber (2CF), whose end face is terminated by a thick aluminum film. The GIMMF excites cladding modes into the pigtail 2CF via the mismatched-core splicing interface. The core-cladding modes are reflected back by the aluminum film and recoupled to the core of lead-in SMF through the GIMMF. A well-defined interference pattern is obtained as the result of core-cladding mode interference. The experimental results show that a configuration with a 10 mm pigtail 2CF at a wavelength of 1552.78 nm has a good linear response to relative humidity with the sensitivity of – 0.044 dB/%RH in the range of 35–95%RH. Meanwhile, the selected monitoring peak provides a better temperature sensitivity of 65 pm/℃ in the range of 35 –85 ℃. In addition, the aluminum film is manufactured by physical vapor deposition (PVD), which greatly enhances the compactness of the film and improves the contrast of the interference fringes; the manufacturing method has high repeatability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies have demonstrated the effective enhancement of initiation stability in the combustor of a rotating detonation engine through the use of a pre-detonator. However, when a stable detonation propagates from a small-diameter pre-detonator into a larger-diameter combustor, a brief failure occurs, followed by the re-initiation of the detonation wave. This failure is attributed to detonation diffraction as the wave passes through a sudden expansion section. This study systematically investigates the phenomenon of detonation diffraction and re-initiation through 2D numerical simulations. The effect of the diameter ratio between the pre-detonator and combustor on detonation propagation is examined by adjusting the diameter ratio D/d in the range of 1.1–2.7, where D and d represent the diameters of the larger (corresponding to the combustor) and smaller (corresponding to the pre-detonator) tubes, respectively. Various modes of detonation propagation and the corresponding evolution of the detonation wave are observed. The results reveal that as the detonation wave propagates through the sudden-expansion section, it diffracts at the corner and then rapidly decouples at the boundary. For D/d less than 1.3, the detonation wave can maintain its propagation by adjusting the structure of the cell distribution, referred to as the supercritical mode. As D/d increases, the detonation wave experiences initial failure followed by re-initiation, corresponding to the critical mode. When D/d exceeds 2.6, complete failure of detonation occurs and cannot be re-initiated, resulting in the sub-critical mode. Notably, under the critical mode, the distance LDDT required for re-initiation linearly increases with D/d (LDDT = 41.48(D/d) + 4.30). Additionally, the pressure of the triple point near the wall, formed by the convergence of the reflected shock wave, transmitted wave, and precursor shock wave, determines the possibility of local detonation initiation, which induces re-initiation in the testing tube. It is proposed that when the pressure of the triple point exceeds the theoretical pressure of post-shock (Ppost-shock), a local overdriven detonation occurs. Furthermore, when the convergent point of the transmitted shock wave propagates along the central line and passes through the flame front, local detonation can be induced as well. This study systematically illustrates the details of diffraction and re-initiation when the detonation wave passes through a sudden-expansion section. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The skeleton data convey significant information for action recognition since they can robustly against cluttered backgrounds and illumination variation. In recent years, due to the limited ability to extract spatial–temporal features from skeleton data, the methods based on convolutional neural network (CNN) or recurrent neural network are inferior in recognition accuracy. A series of methods based on graph convolutional networks (GCN) have achieved remarkable performance and gradually become dominant. However, the computational cost of GCN-based methods is quite heavy, several works even over 100 GFLOPs. This is contrary to the highly condensed attributes of skeleton data. In this paper, a novel multi-scale spatial–temporal convolutional (MSST) module is proposed to take the implicit complementary advantages across spatial–temporal representations with different scales. Instead of converting skeleton data into pseudo-images like some previous CNN-based methods or using complex graph convolution, we take full use of multi-scale convolutions on temporal and spatial dimensions to capture comprehensive dependencies of skeleton joints. Unifying the MSST module, a multi-scale spatial–temporal convolutional neural network (MSSTNet) is proposed to capture high-level spatial–temporal semantic features for action recognition. Unlike previous methods which boost performance at the cost of computation, MSSTNet can be easily implemented with light model size and fast inference. Moreover, MSSTNet is used in a four-stream framework to fuse data of different modalities, providing notable improvement to recognition accuracy. On NTU RGB+D 60, NTU RGB+D 120, UAV-Human and Northwestern-UCLA datasets, the proposed MSSTNet achieves competitive performance with much less computational cost than state-of-the-art methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context Emerging evidence indicates that variants of alcohol-metabolizing enzymes may influence lipid metabolism. Objective This study aimed to investigate whether the rs671 and rs1229984 variants affect lipid levels in East Asian individuals. Data Sources PubMed, Foreign Medical Journal Service, Embase, Cochrane Library, Scopus, MEDLINE, Web of Science, Web of Knowledge, Wanfang, and Chinese Biomedical Literature databases were searched until December 31, 2021. Data Extraction Meta-analyses of studies that examined the effects of alcohol-metabolizing enzyme variants on lipid levels, as well as the interaction with alcohol intake, were selected. Data extraction was conducted independently by two investigators and confirmed by the third. Data Analysis In total, 86 studies (179 640 individuals) were analyzed. The A allele of rs671 (a functional variant in the ALDH2 gene) was linked to higher levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and lower levels of triglycerides and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. In contrast, the A allele of the rs1229984 (a functional variant in the ADH2 gene) was associated only with lower levels of LDL-C. The effects of rs671 and rs1229984 on lipid levels were much stronger in Japanese than in Chinese individuals and in males than in females. Regression analysis indicated that the effects of rs671 on lipid levels were independent of alcohol intake in an integrated East Asian population (ie, Japanese, Chinese, and Korean individuals). Intriguingly, alcohol intake had a statistical influence on lipid levels when the sample analyzed was restricted to Japanese individuals or to males. Conclusions The rs671 and rs1229984 variants of alcohol-metabolizing enzymes have significant effects on lipid levels and may serve as genetic markers for lipid dyslipidemia in East Asian populations. Circulating lipid levels in Japanese individuals and in males were modulated by the interaction between rs671 and alcohol intake. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural edible films have recently gained a lot of interests in future food packaging. Polysaccharides and proteins in edible materials are not toxic and widely available, which have been confirmed as sustainable and green materials used for packaging films due to their good film-forming abilities. However, polysaccharides and proteins are hydrophilic in nature, they exhibit some undesirable material properties. Cold plasma (CP), as an innovative and highly efficient technology, has been introduced to improve the performance of polysaccharides and proteins-based films. This review mainly presents the basic information of polysaccharides and proteins-based films, principles of CP modified biopolymer films, and the effects of CP on the structural changes including surface morphology, surface composition, and bulk modification, and properties including wettability, mechanical properties, barrier properties, and thermal properties of polysaccharides, proteins, and polysaccharide/protein composite-based films. It is concluded that the CP modified performances are mainly depending on the polysaccharides and proteins raw materials, CP generation types and treatment conditions. The existing difficulties and future trends are also discussed. Despite natural materials currently not fully substitute for traditional plastic materials, CP has exhibited an effective solution to shape the future of natural materials for food packaging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To meet the demand for high‐energy‐density batteries, alloy‐type and conversion‐type anode materials have attracted growing attention due to their high specific capacity. However, the huge irreversible lithium loss during initial cycling significantly reduces the energy density of the full cell, which limits their practical applications. Fortunately, various anode prelithiation techniques have been developed to compensate for the initial lithium loss. At the same time, the cathode prelithiation has been proposed and demonstrated remarkable enhancement in the electrochemical performance, along with excellent scalability and compatibility with the existing battery production processes. Here, recent advances are reviewed in the prelithiation of both anodes and cathodes, and the key challenges are discussed in front of their practical applications. It is aimed to provide better recommendations and assistance for its large‐scale practical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The seasonal rainfall regime is a key factor control on local ecological and social processes and is commonly thought to be stable under long‐term climate changes. Here we present a unique high‐resolution rainfall record from the Thai‐Malay Peninsula, combined with a state‐of‐the‐art transient climate simulation, demonstrating a fundamental rainfall regime shift from summer to winter during the Holocene. Transient model simulation and new sensitivity experiments further reveal that westward migration of the boundary between summer and winter rainfall regimes results in a summer to winter rainfall regime shift forced by distinct changes in summer and winter monsoons. Our findings suggest that the seasonal rainfall regime could be unstable under climate change around the boundaries of rainfall regimes in the tropics and possibly worldwide, which might be more critical for shaping both past and future ecological environments. Plain Language Summary: The observed seasonal rainfall regime, which varies over time, challenges the assumption of stable seasonal patterns in reconstructions of paleorainfall, suggesting that a reappraisal of the understanding of past ecological‐social changes with respect to rainfall may be needed. In this study, we have used a high‐resolution rainfall record from the Thai–Malay Peninsula and a state‐of‐the‐art transient paleoclimate simulation to describe a novel summer to winter rainfall regime shift during the Holocene era in the tropics, which may apply to regime‐boundary regions worldwide and thus provide a new perspective on dramatic ecological and social changes recorded around regime boundary regions for both past and future studies. Key Points: A unique rainfall record in the Thai‐Malay and a transient simulation suggest a summer to winter rainfall regime shift during the HoloceneTransient paleoclimate simulation simulation reveals that this shift was caused by westward migration of the boundary between summer and winter rainfall regimesThis regime shift could occur in regions around the boundaries of rainfall regimes in the tropics and possibly worldwide [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lithium‐rich manganese‐based cathode materials (LLMO) are considered as the promising candidates for realizing high energy density lithium‐ion batteries. However, the severe structure deterioration and capacity fading hinder their large‐scale application. Herein, an innovative electrochemical lithium supplement strategy is put forward to inhibit the structure collapse and enhance the cycling stability of Lithium‐rich manganese‐based cathodes. Besides, combining with the superior Li‐ion conductor Li6.25La3Zr2Al0.25O12 (LLZAO), remarkable rate capability is achieved. As a result, a capacity retention of 95.7% after 300 cycles at 1.0 C (1.0 C = 200 mA g−1), as well as a stable cycling at 5.0 C with discharge capacity of 136.9 mAh g−1, are harvested. Moreover, the excess lithium ions in LLZAO mitigate the spinel‐like phase transformation via inserting into the lithium layer and stabilizing the cathode structure. In addition, the lithium ions migration behavior in the elaborated cathode is thoroughly expounded and the correlation between diffusion kinetics and LLZAO is revealed. These findings boost the updating of LLMO and pave a new pathway for stabilizing LLMO structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The toxic reactive oxygen species (toxROS) is the reactive oxygen species (ROS) beyond the normal concentration of cells, which has inactivation and disinfection effects on foodborne bacteria. However, foodborne bacteria can adapt and survive by physicochemical regulation of antioxidant systems, especially through central carbon metabolism (CCM), which is a significant concern for food safety. It is thus necessary to study the antioxidant regulation mechanisms of CCM in foodborne bacteria under toxROS stresses. Therefore, the purpose of this review is to provide an update and comprehensive overview of the reconfiguration of CCM fluxes in foodborne bacteria that respond to different toxROS stresses. In this review, two key types of toxROS including exogenous toxROS (exo-toxROS) and endogenous toxROS (endo-toxROS) are introduced. Exo-toxROS are produced by disinfectants, such as H2O2 and HOCl, or during food non-thermal processing such as ultraviolet (UV/UVA), cold plasma (CP), ozone (O3), electrolyzed water (EW), pulsed electric field (PEF), pulsed light (PL), and electron beam (EB) processing. Endo-toxROS are generated by bioreagents such as antibiotics (aminoglycosides, quinolones, and β-lactams). Three main pathways for CCM in foodborne bacteria under the toxROS stress are also highlighted, which are glycolysis (EMP), pentose phosphate pathway (PPP), and tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA). In addition, energy metabolisms throughout these pathways are discussed. Finally, challenges and future work in this area are suggested. It is hoped that this review should be beneficial in providing insights for future research on bacterial antioxidant CCM defence under both exo-toxROS stresses and endo-toxROS stresses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Infrared drying (IRD) is considered an innovative drying solution for the food industry with advantages of energy-saving potentials, reduced drying time and production cost-effectiveness. However, IRD also suffers from drawbacks such as weak penetrative ability, and product overheating and burning. Therefore, over the years, significant progress has been made to overcome these shortcomings by developing infrared-accelerated drying (IRAD) technology based on the combination of IRD with other drying technologies. Although several reviews have been published on IRD, no review focusing on IRAD is yet available. The current review presents up-to-date knowledge and findings on the applications of IRAD technologies for enhancing the quality and safety of food. The fundamental principles and characteristics of IRAD, energy-saving potentials, simulation and optimization approaches for enhancing efficiency, and developments in various acceleration approaches by combining with other drying techniques for achieving better end-products are discussed, and challenges and future work for developing the novel accelerated drying technology are also presented. Due to the synergistic effects of sequential or simultaneous combined drying methods, the total drying time and energy required are drastically lowered with most IRAD technologies, and consequently there are significant improvements in the sensory, nutritional, and safety attributes of dried food products with better appearance and quality. The development of multi-wavelength IRAD systems based on infrared absorption bands, and the incorporation of novel sensing techniques for real-time monitoring during drying will further enhance process efficiency and food quality and safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A vertical CdS nanorods (CdSNR) array is hydrothermally synthesized on an indium tin oxide (ITO) slice, and a novel Pt nanowires (PtNW)/CdSNR/ITO photoanode is then fabricated after the multipoint-bridging of the CdSNR by the photodeposited transverse PtNW. The piezoelectricity (PE)-enhanced photoelectrochemistry based hydrogen production is studied, giving a photocurrent density of 8.13 mA cm−2 and a PE-enhancement factor as high as 2.45 on this photoanode, and a hydrogen yield of 0.132 mmol cm−2 h−1 on a Pt cathode under optimized conditions. A new concept of PE-triggered Z-scheme (or S-scheme) CdSNR-PtNW-CdSNR junctions as the first example of external-field-triggered photoelectric junctions in the field is put forward to discuss the excellent hydrogen-production performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The conceptually designed imidodiphosphorimidates (IDPis) have emerged as one of the most potent classes of chiral acid catalysts. They are characterized by enzyme‐like, highly confined active site and high acidity, which underlie their wide‐reaching applications as Brønsted acid catalysts and as precatalysts for silylium Lewis acids. Many carbon‐carbon and carbon‐heteroatom bond formation reactions that were deemed intractable could now be attained with spectacular reactivity and selectivity. Substrates that are small, unbiased and/or possess insufficient reactivity such as simple alkenes could now be engaged. The high structural confinement is particularly invaluable to control stereo‐ and chemoselectivity. The well‐defined steric environment offers unique opportunity to control high‐energy but structurally unbiased cation intermediates such as the norbonyl cations. Beyond practical appeals such as good scalability as well as ease and modularity of preparation, the extremely low pre‐catalyst loadings required to achieve high turnover and stereoselectivity have also come to define a new frontier in organocatalysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antimony nanowires have been synthesized by template-free electrodeposition at room temperature from the ionic liquid (IL) 1-butyl-1-methylpyrrolidinium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide ([Py1,4]TFSI) containing 0.5 mol/L SbCl3. The nanowires are shown to have a diameter of ~ 50 nm and a length of ~ 10 µm. Sb nanowires can only be obtained by a two-step electrochemical process, requiring first a cyclic voltammetry step followed by the electrodeposition step. In situ XPS is employed to investigate the speciation formed during the electrochemical reduction process. The results reveal that the XPS core level peaks of the IL and of SbCl3 components shift their binding energies towards higher values accordingly with the applied negative cell voltage. Additional peaks at lower binding energies than those of Sb3+/IL at the OCP can be attributed to the adsorption of reduced Sb species. The formed species together with the IL solvation layers play an important role in the formation of Sb nanowires. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because of the random distribution of diamond abrasive grains on the surface and the obstruction of chip flow during processing, conventional grinding tool cannot meet the requirements of the machining precision. Therefore, the emergency of special grinding tools such as surface structured grinding wheels improves the machining precision. In this study, rhombus textured grinding tools with different arrangement angles α are manufactured, the grinding mechanism of them is studied, the penetration depth model and grinding force model are established, and the grinding performance of conventional grinding tool and rhombus textured grinding tools are compared. It can be found that when α = 50°, the surface quality of the rhombus textured grinding tools for grinding single crystal silicon and BK7 is significantly better than that of conventional grinding tool, and the surface roughness of single crystal silicon machined by rhombus textured grinding tool is 20.2–37.4% smaller than that of conventional grinding tool. The instantaneous grinding forces of the two kinds of tools are compared, they both conform to the sinusoidal change, but the amplitude of the instantaneous grinding force of conventional grinding tool is at least 22.1% bigger than that of the rhombus textured grinding tool with α = 50°. Furthermore, the average grinding force of the rhombus textured grinding tool with α = 50° is not only very stable, but also much smaller than that of conventional grinding tool. Finally, in order to verify the average grinding force model, the test value of the average grinding force of the rhombus textured grinding tool with α = 50° and the predicted value of the model are compared, when the cutting depth is 20 μm and the material is single-crystal silicon, the average error in the x direction and y direction are 15.2% and 19.0%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A p-type Sb-doped ZnO nanorods (p-ZnOSb,NR) array was hydrothermally prepared on indium tin oxide (ITO) and then etched into a p-type Sb-doped ZnO nanotubes (p-ZnOSb,NT) array by hot alkali solution. Further photodeposition of Au nanoparticles (AuNP) yielded a novel AuNP/p-ZnOSb,NT/ITO photocathode. The green synthesis of H2O2 by piezoelectricity-enhanced photoelectrochemistry and oxygen reduction reaction was studied for the first time, giving a H2O2 yield of 15.2 μmol cm−2 h−1, a photocurrent density of −1.05 mA cm−2 and a Faraday efficiency of 79.0% on this photocathode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The venerable axially chiral biaryl skeletons used widely in asymmetric catalysis such as BINOLs, NOBINs, QUINOLs, and CPAs possess a 2-naphthol moiety or are derived from the naphthol precursor. The hydroxy functionality offers the interaction point or serves as functional handle for synthetic elaboration. This prevalence and significance drive our studies to incorporate this nucleophile class to fabricate an assortment of atropisomers. By activating the reacting partners via distinctive mechanisms, the arylation of quinones, azo- or nitroso-naphthalenes, VQM intermediates, 1,2,4-triazole-3,5-diones, isoquinolines, and 1-bromo-2-naphthols with 2-naphthols were successfully attained. A concise account of these developments is provided in this article. 1 Introduction 2 Asymmetric Arylation with Quinones 3 Asymmetric Arylation with Electron-Deficient Arenes 4 Asymmetric Synthesis of Atropisomers with other Electrophiles 5 Conclusion [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Muons have broad applications in fundamental science such as material science, chemistry, biology, and nuclear physics, which are produced mainly through the proton-nucleon reactions driven by RF-based accelerators in laboratories. However, the cost of improving the muon beam quality on conventional accelerators is increasingly unaffordable. We propose a novel scheme for obtaining an unprecedentedly dense and short muon source by combining the laser-ion accelerator and a conventional beam-converter. With full three-dimensional particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations and Geant4 simulations, it is shown that a mm-scale, several-nanoseconds-duration surface muon source with a yield of ∼ 10 6 / shot , and a mm-scale, tens-picoseconds-duration flying pion beam with a yield of ∼ 10 9 / shot can be achieved via our scheme. These unique properties make the muon beams promising to improve the spatial resolution of muon spin rotation, relaxation, and resonance ( μ S R ) or single crystals experiments in small samples and the temporal resolution of muon imaging radiography and tomography, together with the sensitivity to rare muon decay investigation. With the increase of laser repetition rate, the laser-driven muon source proposed via our scheme may also be applied for neutrino generation and fusion catalysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to accelerate water dissociation kinetics and improve hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in alkaline electrolyzer, pulse-activation engineering was proposed to induce lattice transformation of layered double hydroxides (LDHs) electrocatalysts. Physicochemical characterizations and density functional theory (DFT) calculations confirmed that FeOOH crystals diminished with a pulse potential of 1000 cycles (cls) in non-Faradaic region (−0.8∼0 V) and transformed into more stable CoFeLDH nanosheet arrays in Fe-rich system. The above transformation effectively reduced H∗ adsorption energy to accelerate water decomposition for efficient hydrogen evolution reaction. This was because pulse-activation accelerated electron transfer from Co2+ to Fe(3+δ)+ through intermittent input negative potential, reducing the high oxidation state of Fe(3+δ)+ in FeOOH to generate more stable CoFeLDH. The optimized pulse-activation with CoFeLDH electrocatalyst after 1000 cls decreased the overpotential of alkaline hydrogen evolution by 36%, from 225 mV to 144 mV at −10 mA cm−2. Schematic of pulse-activation engineering of CoFeLDH electrocatalyst for efficient alkaline hydrogen evolution. [Display omitted] • Pulse-activation engineering of LDH was proposed to promote HER. • FeOOH crystals transformed into CoFeLDH after pulse-activation in Fe-rich system. • Lattice transformation of CoFeLDH reduced the energy barrier of key steps. • The overpotential of CoFeLDH decreased from 225 mV to 144 mV after 1000 cls pulse-activation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Lignocellulose is an important raw material for biomass-to-energy conversion, and it exhibits a complex but inefficient degradation mechanism. Microbial degradation is promising due to its environmental adaptability and biochemical versatility, but the pathways used by microbes for lignin degradation have not been fully studied. Degradation intermediates and complex metabolic pathways require more study. Results: A novel actinomycete DF3-3, with the potential for lignin degradation, was screened and isolated. After morphological and molecular identification, DF3-3 was determined to be Streptomyces thermocarboxydus. The degradation of alkali lignin reached 31% within 15 days. Manganese peroxidase and laccase demonstrated their greatest activity levels, 1821.66 UL−1 and 1265.58 UL−1, respectively, on the sixth day. The highest lignin peroxidase activity was 480.33 UL−1 on the fourth day. A total of 19 lignin degradation intermediates were identified by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS), including 9 aromatic compounds. Genome sequencing and annotation identified 107 lignin-degrading enzyme-coding genes containing three core enzymatic systems for lignin depolymerization: laccases, peroxidases and manganese peroxidase. In total, 7 lignin metabolic pathways were predicted. Conclusions: Streptomyces thermocarboxydus strain DF3-3 has good lignin degradation ability. Degradation products and genomics analyses of DF3-3 show that it has a relatively complete lignin degradation pathway, including the β-ketoadipate pathway and peripheral reactions, gentisate pathway, anthranilate pathway, homogentisic pathway, and catabolic pathway for resorcinol. Two other pathways, the phenylacetate–CoA pathway and the 2,3-dihydroxyphenylpropionic acid pathway, are predicted based on genome data alone. This study provides the basis for future characterization of potential biotransformation enzyme systems for biomass energy conversion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social media allows any individual to disseminate information without third-party restrictions, making it difficult to verify the authenticity of a source. The proliferation of fake news has severely affected people's intentions and behaviors in trusting online sources. Applying AI approaches for fake news detection on social media is the focus of recent research, most of which, however, focuses on enhancing AI performance. This study proposes XFlag, an innovative explainable AI (XAI) framework which uses long short-term memory (LSTM) model to identify fake news articles, layer-wise relevance propagation (LRP) algorithm to explain the fake news detection model based on LSTM, and situation awareness-based agent transparency (SAT) model to increase transparency in human-AI interaction. The developed XFlag framework has been empirically validated. The findings suggest the use of XFlag supports users in understanding system goals (perception), justifying system decisions (comprehension), and predicting system uncertainty (projection), with little cost of perceived cognitive workload. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: The aim of the current study was to investigate the effect of plasma‐mediated oxidative stress on the post‐treatment viability of Listeria monocytogenes at the physiological and molecular levels. Methods and Results: 107 CFU/ml L. monocytogenes in 10 ml phosphate‐buffered saline (PBS) was treated with atmospheric non‐thermal plasma for 0, 30, 60, 90 and 120 s respectively. Optical diagnostics using optical emission spectroscopy (OES) confirmed that dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma was a significant source of ample exogenous reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS). The development of extracellular main long‐lived species was associated with plasma exposure time, accompanied by a massive accumulation of intracellular ROS in L. monocytogenes (p < 0.01). With the exception of virulence genes (hly), most oxidation resistance genes (e.g. sigB, perR, lmo2344, lmo2770 and trxA) and DNA repair gene (recA) were upregulated significantly (p < 0.05). A visible fragmentation in genomic DNA and a decline in the secretion of extracellular proteins and haemolytic activity (p < 0.01) were noticed. The quantitate oxygen consumption rates (OCRs) and extracellular acidification rates (ECARs) confirmed the viability attenuation from the aspect of energy metabolism. Survival assay in a real food system (raw milk) further suggested not only the viability attenuation, but also the resuscitation potential and safety risk of mild plasma‐treated cells during post‐treatment storage. Conclusion: DBD plasma had the potential to inactivate and attenuate the virulence of L. monocytogenes, and it was recommended that plasma exposure time longer than 120 s was more suitable for attenuating viability and avoiding the recovery possibility of L. monocytogenes in raw milk within 7 days. Significance and Impact of the Study: The current results presented a strategy to inactivate and attenuate the viability of L. monocytogenes, which could serve as a theoretical basis for better application of non‐thermal plasma in food in an effort to effectively combat foodborne pathogens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]