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The strong aggregation of Poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) severely limits its use as the hole-transport material in emerging quantum dot photodetectors and photovoltaics. Herein, we propose a facile and cost-effective strategy to control the solution-state aggregation of hole transporting layers by designing a dual polythiophene blend based on P3HT and its alkylthio-substituted analogue named Poly(3-hexylthiothiophene) (P3HTT). In our photodetector device, we have used the dual polythiophene as the hole transport layer and achieved a specific detectivity (D*) on the order of 1012 Jones. In particular, by incorporating a small amount of P3HTT into the dual polythiophene mixture, we observed a remarkable 28% performance enhancement. This study provides a comprehensive analysis of the solution structure of the dual polythiophene blend, elucidates the evolution of the condensed matter structure, and ultimately presents a promising avenue for enhancing the performance of low-cost quantum dot photodetectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an analytical solution for two-dimensional heterogeneous materials containing nano-fibers or pores, taking into account the Steigmann-Ogden elastic surface under far-field loading. The solution is validated against numerical results from the complex function method in recent literature, and the closed-form expressions for specific displacement and stress fields are provided. The effects of surface elasticity parameters, surface residual stress, fiber/pore size, and far-field load on local stress distribution are numerically investigated. Results show that surface elasticity parameters can disturb internal stresses within the fiber domain, while surface bending stiffness parameters significantly impact stress concentrations, which is different from the uniform stress distribution in the classical Eshelby problem. The analytical expressions reveal interesting phenomena, e.g., the stress/displacement fields of fiber composites under hydrostatic load are only related to the surface Lamé parameters, and the non-constant coefficient in the analytical expression under shear load is kept twice of that under uniaxial tensile load, which are first reported in this paper. The developed solution is crucial for accurately capturing the mechanical responses of nanocomposites with significant surface effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the influence of the surface effect on wave propagation characteristics in functionally graded metal foam plates (FGMFPs) with nanopores is studied, where different porosity distribution patterns are taken in account. The surface effect between pore and matrix in FGMFP is considered by the Gurtin–Murdoch surface elasticity model. The plate is divided into finite thickness layers along the gradient, and each layer of porous material is homogenized using locally exact homogenization theory. On the basis of obtaining the effective modulus of each layer of porous material, the governing equations of the plates are obtained by Hamilton's principle and different plate theories, upon which wave dispersion and phase velocity curves of FGMFP are obtained. The developed method is verified by comparing the wave dispersion curves against existing literature. Finally, the effects of different plate theories, porosity distribution, unit cell array, surface effect, pore radius and its distribution pattern, and graphene platelet weight fraction on the wave dispersion and phase velocity curves are systematically investigated. The results in this paper may provide guidance for the design of FGMFPs with nanopores. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Automatic identification picking robot is an important research content of agricultural modernization development. In order to overcome the difficulty of picking robots for accurate visual inspection and positioning of apples in a complex orchard, a detection method based on an instance segmentation model is proposed. To reduce the number of model parameters and improve the detection speed, the backbone feature extraction network is replaced from the Resnet101 network to the lightweight GhostNet network. Spatial Pyramid Pooling (SPP) module is used to increase the receptive field to enhance the semantics of the output network. Compared with Resnet101, the parameter quantity of the model is reduced by 90.90%, the detection speed is increased from 5 frames/s to 10 frames/s, and the detection speed is increased by 100%. The detection result is that the accuracy rate is 91.67%, the recall rate is 97.82%, and the mAP value is 91.68%. To solve the repeated detection of fruits due to the movement of the camera, the Deepsort algorithms was used to solve the multi-tracking problems. Experiments show that the algorithm can effectively detect the edge position information and categories of apples in different scenes. It can be an automated apple-picking robot. The vision system provides strong technical support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The power conversion efficiency of polythiophene organic solar cells is constantly refreshed. Despite the renewed device efficiency, very few efforts have been devoted to understanding how the type of electron acceptor alters the photovoltaic and mechanical properties of these low‐cost solar cells. Herein, the authors conduct a thorough investigation of photovoltaic and mechanical characteristics of a simple yet less‐explored polythiophene, namely poly(3‐pentylthiophene) (P3PT), in three different types of organic solar cells, where ZY‐4Cl, PC71BM, and N2200 are employed as three representative acceptors, respectively. Compared with the reference poly(3‐hexylthiophene) (P3HT)‐based solar cells, P3PT‐based devices, all perform more efficiently. Particularly, the P3PT:ZY‐4Cl blend exhibits the highest efficiency (ca. 10%) among the six combinations and outperforms the prior top‐performance system P3HT:ZY‐4Cl. Furthermore, the blend films based on N2200 exhibit a high crack‐onset strain of ∼38% on average, which is approximately 15‐ and 17‐times higher than those of ZY‐4Cl and PC71BM, respectively. The microstructural origins for the above difference are well elucidated by detailed grazing incidence X‐ray scattering and microscopy analysis. This work not only underlines the potential of P3PT in prolific solar cell research but also demonstrates the superior tensile properties of polythiophene‐based all‐polymer blends for the preparation of stretchable solar cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] Organic photodetectors (OPDs) have drawn extensive research efforts due to their tailorable spectral response, ease of processing, compatibility with flexible devices and cooling-free operations. In this review, we outline the promising strategies for constructing high-performance and highly stable photodiodes-based OPDs from the perspectives of molecular engineering, morphology control, and device structure design. Firstly, the impact of molecular design and morphology control on OPD performance is clearly underlined and the molecular design rules and quantitative analysis methods are presented for high-performance OPDs. Subsequently, some striking device designs for multifunctional applications are discussed to elucidate the corresponding mechanism for various responses. What follows are the research efforts of boosting OPD stability for commercial applications. This review not only presents the detailed discussion on various OPD strategies aiming at simultaneously enhancing performance and stability but also provides some insights for the remaining challenges to make further breakthrough of OPDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polymer solar cells (PSCs) based on polymer donors and nonfullerene small molecule acceptors are a very attractive technology for solar energy conversion, and their performance is heavily determined by film morphology. It is of considerable interest to reveal instructive morphology–performance relationships of these blends. This feature article discusses the recent advances in analysing the morphology formation of nonfullerene PSCs with an effective polymer thermodynamic quantity, i.e., Flory–Huggins interaction parameter χ. In particular, guidelines of high and low χ systems are summarized. The fundamental understanding of χ and its correlations to film morphology and photovoltaic device parameters is of utmost relevance for providing essential material design criteria, establishing suitable morphology processing guidelines, and thus advancing the practical applications of PSCs based on nonfullerene acceptors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, to promote the separation of photogenerated carriers, prevent the catalyst from photo-corrosion, and improve the photo-Fenton synergistic degradation of organic pollutants, the coating structure of FeOOH/BiO2−x rich in oxygen vacancies was successfully synthesized by a facile and environmentally friendly two-step process of hydrothermal and chemical deposition. Through a series of degradation activity tests of synthesized materials under different conditions, it was found that FeOOH/BiO2−x demonstrated outstanding organic pollutant degradation activity under visible and near-infrared light when hydrogen peroxide was added. After 90 min of reaction under photo-Fenton conditions, the degradation rate of Methylene Blue by FeOOH/BiO2−x was 87.4%, significantly higher than the degradation efficiency under photocatalysis (60.3%) and Fenton (49.0%) conditions. The apparent rate constants of FeOOH/BiO2−x under photo-Fenton conditions were 2.33 times and 3.32 times higher than photocatalysis and Fenton catalysis, respectively. The amorphous FeOOH was tightly coated on the layered BiO2−x, which significantly increased the specific surface area and the number of active sites of the composites, and facilitated the improvement of the separation efficiency of the photogenerated carriers and the prevention of photo-corrosion of BiO2−x. The analysis of the mechanism of photo-Fenton synergistic degradation clarified that ·OH, h+, and ·O2− are the main active substances involved in the degradation of pollutants. The optimal degradation conditions were the addition of the FeOOH/BiO2−x composite catalyst loaded with 20% Fe at a concentration of 0.5 g/L, the addition of hydrogen peroxide at a concentration of 8 mM, and an initial pH of 4. This outstanding catalytic system offers a fresh approach to the creation and processing of iron-based photo-Fenton catalysts by quickly and efficiently degrading various organic contaminants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of bismuth modified bismuth iodide flower-like microspheres with rich oxygen vacancies were prepared by solvothermal method. Herein, a mixed solution of propylene glycol and ethylene glycol was used as the solvent. By adjusting the ratio of these two solutions in the solvent, it is not only possible to prepare Bi 4 O 5 I 2 microspheres containing different concentrations of oxygen vacancies, but also to control the content of Bi. The Bi/ Bi 4 O 5 I 2 photocatalyst prepared when the ratio of propylene glycol to ethylene glycol was 5:1 in solvent showed excellent optical properties, and more than 99% of E. coli could be inactivated within 30 min under visible light irradiation. The antibacterial mechanism experiment showed that reactive oxygen species were the main substances affecting the antibacterial effect of Bi/ Bi 4 O 5 I 2 , and the scavenging experiment of reactive oxygen showed that •O 2 - was the key active substance in the antibacterial process. Finally, it was verified that reactive oxygen species can act on the interior and exterior of bacteria, indicating a more effective antibacterial pathway. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Programmed cell death protein‐1 (PD‐1)/programmed death ligand‐1 (PD‐L1) immune checkpoint blockade as a breakthrough in cancer immunotherapy has shown unprecedented positive outcomes in the clinic. However, the overall effectiveness of PD‐L1 antibody is less than expected. An increasing number of studies have demonstrated that PD‐L1 is widely distributed and expressed not only on the cell membrane but also on the inside of the cells as well as on the extracellular vesicles secreted by tumour cells. Both endogenous and exogenous PD‐L1 play significant roles in influencing the therapeutic effect of anti‐tumour immunity. Herein, we mainly focused on the distribution and function of PD‐L1 and further summarized the potential targeted therapeutic strategies. More importantly, in addition to taking the overall expression abundance of PD‐L1 as a predictive indicator for selecting corresponding PD‐1/PD‐L1 monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), we also proposed that personalized combination therapies based on the different distribution of PD‐L1 are worth attention to achieve more efficient and effective therapeutic outcomes in cancer patients. LINKED ARTICLES: This article is part of a themed issue on Cancer Microenvironment and Pharmacological Interventions. To view the other articles in this section visit http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bph.v181.2/issuetoc [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Essential oil microcapsules with viscous cores were formulated by encapsulating oil droplets with intermediate non-crosslinked polymer shells and crosslinked polymer outer shells, followed by dissolution of the intermediate shells with essential oil to form viscous cores. The study found that when the core/shell ratios of the intermediate shell = 3:2, the rotational speed = 500 rpm, the concentration of the protective colloid = 1.0 wt%, the concentration of the crosslinking agent = 20 wt% and the core/shell ratio of the outer shell = 10:1 by using three times' addition method, caprylic/capric triglyceride (GTCC) microcapsules with viscous cores were obtained. The release profile, mechanical strength and adsorption performance of GTCC microcapsules were evaluated in comparison with melamine-formaldehyde microcapsules. It was found that the viscous cores microcapsules had better heat resistance, extreme long-lasting release property, viscoelasticity and been more adhesive to cotton fabrics, which were more consumer-friendly compared with that of melamine-formaldehyde microcapsules. [Display omitted] • Construction of essential oil (GTCC) microcapsule with the viscous core structure. • Polystyrene (PS) was used as wall material, which is safe and consumer-friendly. • MF (Melamine-formaldehyde)-GTCC and PS-GTCC microcapsules were compared. • The release, viscoelasticity and adsorption property of microcapsule was enhanced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To reduce the residual formaldehyde content in melamine-formaldehyde (MF) microcapsules, glutaraldehyde was introduced to replace a portion of formaldehyde to prepare melamine-glutaraldehyde-formaldehyde (MGF) fragrance oil microcapsules via in-situ polymerization. MGF-lily oil microcapsules were obtained when the concentration of aldehyde groups provided by glutaraldehyde in the total aldehyde groups Cg a ∕C a ≤ 33.3 mol%. When Cg a ∕C a ≤ 9.5 mol%, the addition of glutaraldehyde reduced the residual formaldehyde content (235.05 ± 13.14 ppm to 21.79 ± 6.82 ppm) effectively without sacrificing the mechanical properties of microcapsules; it also improved the elasticity of microcapsules, in which Young's modulus of MF shell was approximately 1.5 times to that of MGF shell. The approach was extended to encapsulate 2-hydroxy-3-(octanoyloxy)propyl decanoate (ODO), hexyl salicylate and lavender oil. All three fragrance oils were encapsulated successfully with low content of formaldehyde; however, the mechanical properties varied due to the difference on the hydrophobicity and viscosity of fragrance oil. This work provided an efficient and universal formaldehyde reduction method to encapsulate hydrophobic fragrance oil, which can not only reduce formaldehyde content but also maintain the mechanical properties and improve the elasticity of microcapsules, which has a potential application in consumer-friendly additives. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Effect of general imperfect interface on thermal conductive composites is studied. • The locally exact homogenization theory is extended with thermal conductivity. • The physical interphase is used to derive weakly and highly conducting interfaces. • Present simulations are validated existing methods with good agreement. • The applicability of imperfect interfaces is tested by varying microstructures. The effects of general imperfect interphase/interface models on effective and local thermal conductive responses of fiber reinforced-composites are investigated. A physical interphase model is firstly introduced and then extended to the weakly conducting (WC) and highly conducting (HC) interfaces by satisfying the discontinuity conditions of temperature and normal heat flux, respectively. To simulate different geometric arrangements of fibers, hexagonal and square repeating unit cells (RUCs) are used in this paper. Regarding simulation technique, the locally-exact homogenization theory (LEHT) is extended by considering the aforementioned interphase/interface models to re-produce the localized temperature and heat flux distributions in the unit cells and then to predict the macroscopic thermal conductivities. The present method does not require mesh discretization and pre-processing, but directly obtains the accurate analytical expression of internal domains after solving the thermal differential equations. The unknown coefficients are obtained through applying imperfect interphase/interface conditions and weak-form periodic boundary conditions. Finally, the effective Fourier's formula is established to obtain the overall thermal conductivities of composites. The LEHT is advantageous in fast convergence, numerical stability and computational efficiency, thus providing a good numerical tool in studying the influence of interface parameters on composites. The generated numerical results are in good agreement with the analytical or numerical simulations in the literature. On this basis, the effects of interfacial geometric and physical parameters on the macroscopic coefficients and local thermal responses of the composites are tested. Finally, the thickness of a physical interphase is varied to test its applicability in generating equivalent effect with WC interface and HC interface. Generally, the imperfect interfacial effects play important roles in the thermal conductive response of composite materials. In the meantime, the proposed method is of great significance for the study of thermal conductions of composite microstructures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Effect of general imperfect interface on thermal conductive composites is studied. • The locally exact homogenization theory is extended with thermal conductivity. • The physical interphase is used to derive weakly and highly conducting interfaces. • Present simulations are validated existing methods with good agreement. • The applicability of imperfect interfaces is tested by varying microstructures. The effects of general imperfect interphase/interface models on effective and local thermal conductive responses of fiber reinforced-composites are investigated. A physical interphase model is firstly introduced and then extended to the weakly conducting (WC) and highly conducting (HC) interfaces by satisfying the discontinuity conditions of temperature and normal heat flux, respectively. To simulate different geometric arrangements of fibers, hexagonal and square repeating unit cells (RUCs) are used in this paper. Regarding simulation technique, the locally-exact homogenization theory (LEHT) is extended by considering the aforementioned interphase/interface models to re-produce the localized temperature and heat flux distributions in the unit cells and then to predict the macroscopic thermal conductivities. The present method does not require mesh discretization and pre-processing, but directly obtains the accurate analytical expression of internal domains after solving the thermal differential equations. The unknown coefficients are obtained through applying imperfect interphase/interface conditions and weak-form periodic boundary conditions. Finally, the effective Fourier's formula is established to obtain the overall thermal conductivities of composites. The LEHT is advantageous in fast convergence, numerical stability and computational efficiency, thus providing a good numerical tool in studying the influence of interface parameters on composites. The generated numerical results are in good agreement with the analytical or numerical simulations in the literature. On this basis, the effects of interfacial geometric and physical parameters on the macroscopic coefficients and local thermal responses of the composites are tested. Finally, the thickness of a physical interphase is varied to test its applicability in generating equivalent effect with WC interface and HC interface. Generally, the imperfect interfacial effects play important roles in the thermal conductive response of composite materials. In the meantime, the proposed method is of great significance for the study of thermal conductions of composite microstructures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Screening for quality-sensitive features used the Pearson-CARs-VIF algorithm. • Wheat quality parameters were predicted using multi-model data. • Machine learning was used to monitor wheat protein and wet gluten contents. • Wavelet features play an important role in quality prediction. The protein content (PC) and wet gluten content (WGC) are crucial indicators determining the quality of wheat, playing a pivotal role in evaluating processing and baking performance. Original reflectance (OR), wavelet feature (WF), and color index (CI) were extracted from hyperspectral and RGB sensors. Combining Pearson-competitive adaptive reweighted sampling (CARs)-variance inflation factor (VIF) with four machine learning (ML) algorithms were used to model accuracy of PC and WGC. As a result, three CIs, six ORs, and twelve WFs were selected for PC and WGC datasets. For single-modal data, the back–propagation neural network exhibited superior accuracy, with estimation accuracies (WF > OR > CI). For multi-modal data, the random forest regression paired with OR + WF + CI showed the highest validation accuracy. Utilizing the Gini impurity, WF outweighed OR and CI in the PC and WGC models. The amalgamation of MLs with multimodal data harnessed the synergies among various remote sensing sources, substantially augmenting model precision and stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A semi-analytical micromechanics model was developed for thermal conductive composites. • The homogenized conductivities and localized temperature field are calculated with little effort. • New results are generated to illustrate carbon fiber morphological effects on localized thermal field distributions. The locally-exact homogenization theory (LEHT) with thermal conductive capability is developed to investigate the morphological effect of carbon/graphite fibers on the effective and localized thermal responses of periodic composites. Based on the orientations of basal planes, the material properties of carbon fibers can be transversely isotropic, radially orthotropic or circumferentially orthotropic, possibly influencing the microscopic behavior of thermal conductive composites. By taking fiber-fiber interactions into account, repeating unit cells (RUCs) of hexagonal and rectangular geometries are considered with large fiber volume fractions. The efficiency and stability of the LEHT are guaranteed by solving the complete internal eigenvalue functions, imposing point-wise continuity conditions, as well as implementing the generalized variational principle. It is demonstrated that the present theory exhibits good agreement with the independently developed Eshelby solutions and Hashin's formula. The morphological effects are also tested by generating effective coefficients over a wide range of fiber volume fractions and recovering the local thermal field concentrations within the composite microstructures. The results clearly indicate that even if the homogenized properties are not significantly affected by the morphologies of carbon fibers by satisfying the replacement scheme, the large heat-flux gradients within the orthotropic fibers could still lead to the split of carbon reinforcement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quality assessment of Cortex Periplocae remains a challenge, due to its complex chemical profile. This study aims to investigate the chemical components of Cortex Periplocae, including its non-volatile and volatile constituents, via liquid chromatograph–mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS) assays. The established strategy manifested that Cortex Periplocae from different producing areas was determined by identifying 27 chemical markers with ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography, coupled with quadrupole tandem time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS), including four main groups of cardiac glycosides, organic acids, aldehydes, and oligosaccharides. These groups' variable importance in the projection (VIP) were greater than 1. Simultaneously, the samples were divided into four categories, combined with multivariate statistical analysis. In addition, in order to further understand the difference in the content of samples from different producing areas, nine chemical markers of Cortex Periplocae from 14 different producing areas were determined by high performance liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS), and results indicated that the main effective constituents of Cortex Periplocae varied with places of origin. Furthermore, in GC-MS analysis, samples were divided into three groups with multivariate statistical analysis; in addition, 22 differential components whose VIP were greater than 1 were identified, which were principally volatile oils and fatty acids. Finally, the relative contents of seven main volatile constituents were obtained, which varied extremely with the producing areas. The results showed that the LC-MS/MS and GC-MS assays, combined with multivariate statistical analysis for Cortex Periplocae, provided a comprehensive and effective means for its quality evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achieving a more balanced charge transport by morphological control is crucial in reducing bimolecular and trap‐assisted recombination and enhancing the critical parameters for efficient organic solar cells (OSCs). Hence, a facile strategy is proposed to reduce the crystallinity difference between donor and acceptor by incorporating a novel multifunctional liquid crystal small molecule (LCSM) BDTPF4‐C6 into the binary blend. BDTPF4‐C6 is the first LCSM based on a tetrafluorobenzene unit and features a low liquid crystal phase transition temperature and strong self‐assembly ability, conducive to regulating the active layer morphology. When BDTPF4‐C6 is introduced as a guest molecule into the PM6 : Y6 binary, it exhibits better compatibility with the donor PM6 and primarily resides within the PM6 phase because of the similarity‐intermiscibility principle. Moreover, systematic studies revealed that BDTPF4‐C6 could be used as a seeding agent for PM6 to enhance its crystallinity, thereby forming a more balanced and favourable charge transport with suppressed charge recombination. Intriguingly, dual Förster resonance energy transfer was observed between the guest molecule and the host donor and acceptor, resulting in an improved current density. This study demonstrates a facile approach to balance the charge mobilities and offers new insights into boosting the efficiency of single‐junction OSCs beyond 20 %. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achieving a more balanced charge transport by morphological control is crucial in reducing bimolecular and trap‐assisted recombination and enhancing the critical parameters for efficient organic solar cells (OSCs). Hence, a facile strategy is proposed to reduce the crystallinity difference between donor and acceptor by incorporating a novel multifunctional liquid crystal small molecule (LCSM) BDTPF4‐C6 into the binary blend. BDTPF4‐C6 is the first LCSM based on a tetrafluorobenzene unit and features a low liquid crystal phase transition temperature and strong self‐assembly ability, conducive to regulating the active layer morphology. When BDTPF4‐C6 is introduced as a guest molecule into the PM6 : Y6 binary, it exhibits better compatibility with the donor PM6 and primarily resides within the PM6 phase because of the similarity‐intermiscibility principle. Moreover, systematic studies revealed that BDTPF4‐C6 could be used as a seeding agent for PM6 to enhance its crystallinity, thereby forming a more balanced and favourable charge transport with suppressed charge recombination. Intriguingly, dual Förster resonance energy transfer was observed between the guest molecule and the host donor and acceptor, resulting in an improved current density. This study demonstrates a facile approach to balance the charge mobilities and offers new insights into boosting the efficiency of single‐junction OSCs beyond 20 %. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intrinsically stretchable organic photovoltaic cells (OPVs) have garnered significant attention as crucial devices for powering next‐generation wearable electronics. Despite the rapid power conversion efficiency gains in champion OPVs, their brittle stretchability has failed to meet the demands of the Internet of Things era, severely hindering further development and practical applications. In this regard, a new dual‐donor polymer blending strategy is demonstrated for constructing intrinsically stretchable OPVs by designing a novel high‐molecular–weight conjugated polymer PM6‐HD. This PM6 derivative featuring long alkyl chains can reach a sufficiently high molecular weight and thus exhibits a high fracture strain exceeding 90%, which is ≈12 times higher than the benchmark PM6. Synergistic optimization of mechanical properties and photovoltaic performance in polymer:small molecule and all‐polymer systems constructed from the physical blends of PM6 and PM6‐HD is achieved. Crucially, the resulting intrinsically stretchable OPV demonstrates excellent stretchability and stability, with a record PCE80% strain of 50.3% and the efficiency retention of above 80% even after 1000 cycles of cyclic stretching at high strains. This work contributes to the advancement of intrinsically stretchable OPV technology and opens up new possibilities for its integration into wearable electronic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Aberrant expression of circular RNAs contributes to the initiation and progression of cancers, but the underlying mechanism remains elusive. Methods: RNA-seq and qRT-PCR were performed to screen differential expressed circRNAs between gastric cancer tissues and adjacent normal tissues. Candidate circRNA (circMRPS35) was screened out and validated by qRT-PCR. Cell proliferation and invasion ability were determined by CCK-8 and cell invasion assays. RNA-seq, GO-pathway, RNA pull-down and ChIRP were further applied to search for detailed mechanism. Results: Here, a novel circRNA named circMRPS35, was screened out by RNA-seq in gastric cancer tissues, whose expression is related to clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis in gastric cancer patients. Biologically, circMRPS35 suppresses the proliferation and invasion of gastric cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, circMRPS35 acts as a modular scaffold to recruit histone acetyltransferase KAT7 to the promoters of FOXO1 and FOXO3a genes, which elicits acetylation of H4K5 in their promoters. Particularly, circMRPS35 specifically binds to FOXO1/3a promoter regions directly. Thus, it dramatically activates the transcription of FOXO1/3a and triggers subsequent response of their downstream target genes expression, including p21, p27, Twist1 and E-cadherin, resulting in the inhibition of cell proliferation and invasion. Moreover, circMRPS35 expression positively correlates with that of FOXO1/3a in gastric cancer tissues. Conclusions: Our findings not only reveal the pivotal roles of circMRPS35 in governing histone modification in anticancer treatment, but also advocate for triggering circMRPS35/KAT7/FOXO1/3a pathway to combat gastric cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A multiscale mechanical model is established to study theFG beams with arbitrary distribution of both pores and GPLs. • The proposed FGEs can quickly converge to accurate results with only a small number of finite elements and quick execution. • The bi-directional gradient-distribution pattern is proven to provide the best improvement of mechanical performance. This work proposes a multiscale numerical method that can be used to study the static, dynamic and buckling behavior of functionally graded (FG) beams reinforced with graphene platelets (GPLs), whose random gradation is achieved through tailoring the internal porosity and GPLs reinforcement, either along the transverse or the longitudinal direction. The multiscale numerical method consists of microscale homogenization and structural analysis: micromechanics homogenization methods are introduced to predict the elastic moduli of nanocomposite layers with finite thickness along the transverse direction; Explicitly-expressed composite finite elements are then developed through the proposed variational principle and Hamilton principle. In the meantime, the corresponding governing equations are derived for FG beams with Timoshenko theory. On this basis, the static bending deflection, fundamental frequency and critical buckling load of the FG beams are obtained through the proposed FG finite elements. The effectiveness and accuracy of the proposed method are verified against the numerical results in the existing literature and experimental results in 3D printing with good agreement. Based on the credence of the present method, the effects of boundary conditions, gradient distributions of GPLs and pores, microscopic parameters of GPLs and structural geometric dimension on the static and dynamic performance of the FG beams are systematically analyzed, where the bi-directional gradient distribution pattern corresponding to the GPLs along the thickness direction and the pore along the axial direction demonstrates the best improvement of both bending and dynamic performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid development of low bandgap polymer acceptors has promoted the efficiency up to ≈17% for all‐polymer solar cells (all‐PSCs). Nevertheless, the polymeric blend film, core to the photoelectric conversion of all‐PSCs, has not been thoroughly understood in terms of the influence and regulatory factors of mechanical properties, which hinders the advances in flexible and wearable applications. Herein, a range of characterization methods is combined to investigate the mechanical properties, miscibility, and film microstructure of the blends based on several representative polymer donors (PTzBI‐Si, PTVT‐T, PM6 and PTQ10) and a benchmark polymer acceptor N2200, and to further reveal the miscibility‐property relationships of the miscibility property. The results stress that fracture behaviors and elastic moduli of these blends with varied compositions show different changing trends, which are affected by molecular interactions and aggregated structure of the blends. The elastic moduli of the four all‐polymer blends can be nicely predicted by different models that are deduced from macromolecular mechanics. Most crucially, the correlations between elastic modulus, morphology, and miscibility of all‐polymer blends are elucidated for the first time. The derived relationships is validated with another high‐efficiency blend and will be the key to the successful fabrication of mechanically robust and stretchable all‐PSCs with high efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: The Asian corn borer, Ostrinia furnacalis (Guenée), is the most destructive lepidopteran insect pest of corn (Zea mays L.) in China. Pathogenic microorganisms play an important role in the population control of the Asian corn borer. Although microorganisms can cause the death of O. furnacalis, an immune response also occurs as an attempt to fight off and eliminate invading pathogens. If the molecular mechanism of interaction between O. furnacalis and pathogenic bacteria is clarified, the lethal effect of pathogenic microorganisms can be better exerted by inhibiting the natural immune response of O. furnacalis. As an important member of the pattern-recognition receptor family, peptidoglycan recognition protein (PGRP) plays a key role in the insect innate immune response. In this study, we cloned two PGRP genes from O. furnacalis and analyzed their spatiotemporal expression. In combination with bacterial induction experiments, we revealed the immune signal recognition pathway involved in the two proteins. The results of this study deepen the understanding of the natural immune response of O. furnacalis and provide new ideas for better utilization of pathogenic microorganisms in biological control of the Asian corn borer. Peptidoglycan recognition proteins (PGRPs) are important components of insect immune systems, in which they play key roles. We cloned and sequenced two full-length PGRP, named OfPGRP-A and OfPGRP-B, from the Asian corn borer, Ostrinia furnacalis. These two genes comprise open reading frames of 658 and 759 bp, encoding proteins of 192 and 218 amino acids, respectively. qPCR showed that OfPGRP-A and OfPGRP-B are prominently expressed in the midgut of O. furnacalis fourth instar larvae. After inoculation with Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus thuringiensis, the expression of OfPGRP-A was significantly upregulated, whereas the expression of OfPGRP-B was enhanced after inoculation with Escherichia coli. This suggests that OfPGRP-A mainly recognizes Gram-positive bacteria and may participate in the Toll signaling pathways, while OfPGRP-B identifies Gram-negative bacteria and may participate in Imd signaling pathways. Our results provide insights into the roles of PGRPs in O. furnacalis immune function and a foundation for using pathogens for the biological control of O. furnacalis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Main observation and conclusion: Record‐breaking organic solar cells (OSCs) based on blends of polymer donors and small molecule acceptors often show undesirable degradation, which severely precludes their practical use. Herein, we demonstrate a facile and cost‐effective approach to construct thermally stable OSCs at 150 oC by incorporating a small amount of a polymer insulator polyacenaphthylene (PAC) with high glass‐transition temperature over 230 oC into polymer:acceptor blends. The model PTB7‐Th:EH‐IDTBR blend with 10 wt% PAC maintained above 85% of its initial efficiency upon continuous heating at 150 oC for over 800 h, while the efficiency of the blend without PAC sharply dropped by 70% after ~300 h. Owing to high miscibility with acceptors, PAC confines the motion of the acceptor molecules and suppresses the acceptor crystallization at elevated temperatures, leading to significantly improved stability. Importantly, the effectiveness of this blending approach was also validated in many other OSC systems, showing great potential for achieving high‐performance thermally stable electronics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bulk heterojunctions comprising mixed donor (D) and acceptor (A) materials have proven to be the most efficient device structures for organic photovoltaic (OPV) cells. The bulk morphology of such cells plays a key role in charge generation, recombination, and transport, thus determining the device performance. Although numerous studies have discussed the morphology‐performance relationship of these cells, the method of designing OPV materials with the desired morphology remains unclear. Herein, guided by molecular electrostatic potential distributions, we have established a connection between the chemical structure and bulk morphology. We show that the molecular orientation at the D‐A interface and the domain purity in the blend can be effectively modulated by modifying the functional groups. Enhancing the D‐A interaction is beneficial for charge generation. However, the resulting low domain purity and increased charge transfer ratio in its hybridization with the local excitation states lead to severe charge recombination. Fine‐tuning the bulk morphology can give balanced charge generation and recombination, which is crucial for further boosting the efficiency of the OPV cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bulk heterojunctions comprising mixed donor (D) and acceptor (A) materials have proven to be the most efficient device structures for organic photovoltaic (OPV) cells. The bulk morphology of such cells plays a key role in charge generation, recombination, and transport, thus determining the device performance. Although numerous studies have discussed the morphology‐performance relationship of these cells, the method of designing OPV materials with the desired morphology remains unclear. Herein, guided by molecular electrostatic potential distributions, we have established a connection between the chemical structure and bulk morphology. We show that the molecular orientation at the D‐A interface and the domain purity in the blend can be effectively modulated by modifying the functional groups. Enhancing the D‐A interaction is beneficial for charge generation. However, the resulting low domain purity and increased charge transfer ratio in its hybridization with the local excitation states lead to severe charge recombination. Fine‐tuning the bulk morphology can give balanced charge generation and recombination, which is crucial for further boosting the efficiency of the OPV cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Asarum is a traditional medicine and has been widely used as remedies for inflammatory diseases, toothache, headache, local anesthesia, and aphthous stomatitis in China, Japan, and Korea. Our previous research found that safrole and methyl eugenol were vital compounds that contribute to distinguish the different species and raw Asarum and its processed products apart. The pharmacokinetics of safrole and methyl eugenol after oral administration of Asarum extract has not been reported yet. In this study, a rapid and simple gas chromatography–mass spectroscopy (GC–MS) method that has a complete run time of only 4.5 min was developed and validated for the simultaneous determination and pharmacokinetic study of safrole and methyl eugenol in rat plasma after administration of Asarum extracts. The chromatographic separation was realized on a DB-17 column (30 m × 0.25 mm × 0.25 μ m). And detection was carried out under selected ion monitoring (SIM) mode. Plasma samples were pretreated by n -hexane. The pharmacokinetic parameters provided by this study will be beneficial for further developments and clinical applications of Asarum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The degradation of archetype organic photovoltaics comprising both vacuum and solution-deposited bulk heterojunction active regions is investigated and quantified using a theory based on detailed balance, which relates the open-circuit voltage to the efficiency of charge transfer state emission. To describe this relationship, we account for the difference between electroluminescent external quantum efficiency and the charge transfer emission efficiency. An empirical factor, m, is introduced to distinguish between nonradiative defect sites both within, m = 1, and outside, m >1, of the photoactive heterojunction. The m-factor is used to determine the primary sources of degradation for archetype solution- and vacuum-processed material systems. We conclude that degradation occurs primarily within the donor–acceptor heterojunction for the vacuum-processed devices (where m = 1.020 ± 0.002) and outside of the photoactive heterojunction for the solution-processed devices studied, both with and without an anode buffer layer (where m = 2.93 ± 0.09 and m = 1.90 ± 0.01, respectively). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Veratrum nigrum L. is a well-known traditional Chinese medicine with a lot of pharmacological activities including antihypertensive, anticancer, and antifungal effects. In the current experiment, a rapid and sensitive UPLC-MS/MS method that takes only 7 min run time has been established and validated for simultaneous determination of eight bioactive compounds including cyclopamine, jervine, veratramine, polydatin, quercetin, apigenin, resveratrol, and veratrosine in rat plasma. The chromatographic separation of analytes and internal standard was performed on a Phenyl-Hexyl column (2.1 × 100 mm , 1.7 μm) with the mobile phase consisting of water (0.1% formic acid) and acetonitrile at a flow rate of 0.3 mL/min. An electrospray ionization (ESI) source was used to detect the samples in both positive and negative ion modes. The intra- and interday precisions of the compounds were less than 9.5% and the accuracy ranged from -10.8% to 10.4%. The extraction recoveries of the compounds were in the range of 85.1 ± 1.5 % to 102.6 ± 8.0 % , and the matrix effect ranged from 91.2 ± 4.5 % to 113.8 ± 1.5 %. According to the results of the stability test, the eight compounds have good stability under various conditions and the relative standard deviation (RSD) less than 13.2%. The pharmacokinetic parameters of the eight compounds in rat plasma after oral administration of Veratrum nigrum L. extract were successfully determined by the established UPLC-MS/MS method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decreasing the energy loss is one of the most feasible ways to improve the efficiencies of organic photovoltaic (OPV) cells. Recent studies have suggested that non‐radiative energy loss (Enon-radloss) is the dominant factor that hinders further improvements in state‐of‐the‐art OPV cells. However, there is no rational molecular design strategy for OPV materials with suppressed Enon-radloss. Herein, taking molecular surface electrostatic potential (ESP) as a quantitative parameter, we establish a general relationship between chemical structure and intermolecular interactions. The results reveal that increasing the ESP difference between donor and acceptor will enhance the intermolecular interaction. In the OPV cells, the enhanced intermolecular interaction will increase the charge‐transfer (CT) state ratio in its hybridization with the local exciton state to facilitate charge generation, but simultaneously result in a larger Enon-radloss. These results suggest that finely tuning the ESP of OPV materials is a feasible method to further improve the efficiencies of OPV cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decreasing the energy loss is one of the most feasible ways to improve the efficiencies of organic photovoltaic (OPV) cells. Recent studies have suggested that non‐radiative energy loss (Enon-radloss) is the dominant factor that hinders further improvements in state‐of‐the‐art OPV cells. However, there is no rational molecular design strategy for OPV materials with suppressed Enon-radloss. Herein, taking molecular surface electrostatic potential (ESP) as a quantitative parameter, we establish a general relationship between chemical structure and intermolecular interactions. The results reveal that increasing the ESP difference between donor and acceptor will enhance the intermolecular interaction. In the OPV cells, the enhanced intermolecular interaction will increase the charge‐transfer (CT) state ratio in its hybridization with the local exciton state to facilitate charge generation, but simultaneously result in a larger Enon-radloss. These results suggest that finely tuning the ESP of OPV materials is a feasible method to further improve the efficiencies of OPV cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spatial distribution characteristics of forest parks in Shandong Province were studied using geographical concentration index. Gini coefficient, and ArcGIS analysis software. The results show that the forest parks in Shandong Province are concentrated in the province and in the five subregions. and the equilibrium degree of the distribution is low. The density of forest parks in Shandong Province is high in eastern Shandong and central Shandong but low in western Shandong. The number of forest parks in the eastern coastal areas of Shandong Province is larger than the number of forest parks in the inland areas of Shandong Province. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This review systematically reviews the research progress of the anti-tumor effects of TCM formulas. • The antitumor mechanisms of different TCM formulas are comprehensively analyzed and summarized. • The opportunities and challenges of the anti-tumor TCM formulas in the future were also involved. Cancer, the leading cause of death in the world nowadays, is a major public health problem. The therapeutic efficacy of cancer is still unsatisfactory despite the development of various treatments. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) formulas are a vital therapeutic strategy and new treatment approach for cancer, as they exhibit prospective antitumor potential with multiple targets, multiple signaling pathways and less side effects. In this review, the anticancer functions of a variety of TCM formulas are introduced. The antitumor mechanisms of different TCM formulas are analyzed and summarized. Additionally, the opportunities and challenges of the anti-tumor TCM formulas in the future were also involved. We carried out an extensive review of 173 reports published in PubMed since 1993 to provide support for further research and development of TCM formulas for the therapy of tumor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A rapid HPLC-MS/MS method for quantification of α-viniferin was developed, validated and applied for the first time. • The method was successfully applied to pharmacokinetic study. • The oral bioavailability of α-viniferin was 4.2 %. Alpha-viniferin is a trimer of resveratrol and has various pharmacological activities including anti-Alzheimer's disease, anti-tuberculosis, anti-tumor, anti-inflammatory and anti-diabetic. To investigate the pharmacokinetic characteristics and absolute bioavailability of α-viniferin in rats, using naringenin as an internal standard (IS), a rapid HPLC-MS/MS method of 5 min complete run time was developed. The chromatographic separation of α-viniferin and naringenin were accomplished with Waters XBridge™ C 18 column (2.1 mm × 100 mm, 3.5 μm) and the mobile phase were acetonitrile and 0.1 % formic acid at a flow rate of 0.3 mL/min. Plasma samples were pretreated by ethyl acetate. The negative ion mode with electrospray ionization (ESI) source was used for detecting the sample. Oral bioavailability of α-viniferin was 4.2 %. This study will be beneficial in better understanding the pharmacological properties and the further development of α-viniferin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One-dimensional ladder-type nonfullerene electron acceptors (NFAs) with large fused ring cores have been widely used in highly efficient organic solar cells (OSCs). Recent studies have demonstrated that small molecule acceptors with three-dimensional (3D) structures may exhibit low energy loss, and hence can lead to improved OSC performance. In this study, a new 3D NFA (99CZ-8F) with a 9,9′-bicarbazole backbone was designed, synthesized, and characterized, where two linear A-D-A architectures were linked by a single N–N bond. 99CZ-8F showed strong absorption in the range of 500–800 nm in the solid state, which is complementary to the absorption of the donor material PM6. After regulating the morphology of the active layer via binary solvent mixture, the optimized device exhibited a maximum power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 6.6 ± 0.1%, which is among the best reported values for 3D nonfullerene electron acceptor based OSCs. A 3D NFA 99CZ-8F exhibited a PCE of 6.6% via binary solvent regulation. Image 1 • A novel 3D nonfullerene electron acceptor was applied for high-efficiency organic solar cells. • The morphology of active layer is controlled by the drying time and the solubility. • The 3D acceptor can be dispersed in PM6 to form a homogeneous thin film. • The authors report no conflict of interest. The authors are responsible for the content and writing of the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]