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Developing materials with structural flexibility that permits self-repair in response to external disturbances remains challenging. Spider silk, which combines an exceptional blend of strength and pliability in nature, serves as an ideal dynamic model for adaptive performance design. In this work, a novel self-healing material is generated using spider silk. Dragline silk from spiderNephila pilipesis demonstrated with extraordinaryin situself-repair property through a constructed thin film format, surpassing that of two other silks from spiderCyrtophora moluccensisand silkwormBombyx mori. Subsequently, R2, a key spidroin associated with self-healing, is biosynthesized, with validated cohesiveness. R2 is further programmed with tunable healability (permanent and reversible) and conductivity (graphene doping; R2G) for electronics applications. In the first demonstration, film strips from R2 and R2G are woven manually into multidimensional (1D-3D) conductive fabrics for creating repairable logic gate circuits. In the second example, a reversibly-healable R2/R2G strip is fabricated as a re-configurable wearable ring probe to fit fingertips of varying widths while retaining its detecting capabilities. Such prototype displays a unique conformable wearable technology. Last, the remarkable finding of self-healing in spider silk could offer a new material paradigm for developing future adaptive biomaterials with tailored performance and environmental sustainability.

Silk fibroin produced from silkworms has been intensively utilized as a scaffold material for a variety of biotechnological applications owing to its remarkable mechanical strength, extensibility, biocompatibility, and ease of biofunctionalization. In this research, we engineered silk as a novel trap platform capable of capturing microorganisms. Specifically, we first fabricated the silk material into a silk sponge by lyophilization, yielding a 3D scaffold with porous microstructures. The sponge stability in water was significantly improved by ethanol treatment with elevated β-sheet content and crystallinity of silk. Next, we biofunctionalized the silk sponge with a poly-specific microbial targeting molecule, ApoH (apolipoprotein H), to enable a novel silk-based microbial trap. The recombinant ApoH engineered with an additional penta-tyrosine was assembled onto the silk sponge through the horseradish peroxidase (HRP) mediated dityrosine cross-linking. Last, the ApoH-decorated silk sponge was demonstrated to be functional in capturing our model microorganism targets, E. coli and norovirus-like particles. We envision that this biofabricated silk platform, capable of trapping a variety of microbial entities, could serve as a versatile scaffold for rapid isolation and enrichment of microbial samples toward future diagnostics and therapeutics. This strategy, in turn, can expedite advancing future biodevices with functionality and sustainability.

Microbial rhodopsins have recently been discovered in pathogenic fungi and have been postulated to be involved in signaling during the course of an infection. Here, we report on the spectroscopic characterization of a light-driven proton pump rhodopsin (

High-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) is a well-accepted tool for noninvasive thermal therapy. To control the quality of HIFU treatment, the focal spot generated in tissues must be localized. Ultrasound imaging can monitor heated regions; in particular, the change in backscattered energy (CBE) allows parametric imaging to visualize thermal information in the tissue. Conventional CBE imaging constructed in the spatial domain may be easily affected by noises when the HIFU focal spot is visualized. This study proposes frequency-domain CBE imaging to improve noise tolerance and image contrast in HIFU focal spot monitoring. Phantom experiments were performed in a temperature-controlled environment. HIFU of 2.12 MHz was applied to the phantoms, during which a clinical scanner equipped with a 3-MHz convex array transducer was used to collect raw image data consisting of backscattered signals for B-mode, spatial-, and frequency-domain CBE imaging. Concurrently, temperature changes were measured at the focal spot using a thermocouple for comparison with CBE values by calculating the correlation coefficient r. To further analyze CBE image contrast levels, a contrast factor was introduced, and an independent t-test was performed to calculate the probability value p. Experimental results showed that frequency-domain CBE imaging performed well in thermal distribution visualization, enabling quantitative detection of temperature changes. The CBE value calculated in the frequency domain also correlated strongly with that obtained using the conventional spatial-domain approach (r = 0.97). In particular, compared with the image obtained through the conventional method, the contrast of the CBE image obtained using the method based on frequency-domain analysis increased by 2.5-fold (4 dB; p

Scooter emissions have attracted attention in recent years because of human exposure to their direct effects in urban areas. Trace toxics, such as polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) have thus become important in scooter emissions. In this work, ten Tier 5 and 6 scooters were tested using a 100-second model to analyze their PCDD/F and PCB emissions and compare the results with previous Tier 3 studies. Tier 5 and 6 scooters emitted 1.86–2.91 and 0.133–0.298 pg WHO-TEQ Nm-3 of PCDD/Fs and PCBs, respectively. It was interesting to find that the PCDD/Fs were reduced by 94.6–97.4% and 99.4–99.6% in Tier 5 and 6 motors, respectively. The congener profiles of PCDD/Fs were affected by improving the emission control. The domination of highly chlorinated congeners shown in Tier 3 was reduced in Tier 5 with increases in low chlorinated PCDFs. This showed that de novo synthesis occurred and could be inhibited by the OBD system in Tier 6. The tailpipe renews reduced 60.0–93.8% of PCDD/Fs and 85.3–97.7% of PCB emissions, but several cases would still exhibit a delay for stable operation of a catalytic converter. The annual emissions of PCDD/F TEQ was calculated based on the statistics in 2019 and tested as 1.63 g WHO-TEQ. It could be 99.7% reduced to 3.55 mg by replacing all scooters with Tier 6. Consequently, the improvement of electronic fuel injection and on-board diagnostics systems from a carburetor without feedback control not only reduced the regulated pollutants but effectively reduced PCDD/F emissions.

A suitable bone substitute is necessary in bone regenerative medicine. Hyaluronan (HA) has excellent biocompatibility and biodegradability and is widely used in tissue engineering. Additionally, research on fucoidan (Fu), a fucose- and sulfate-rich polysaccharide from brown seaweed, for the promotion of bone osteogenic differentiation has increased exponentially. In this study, HA and Fu were functionalized by grafting methacrylic groups onto the backbone of the chain. Methacrylate-hyaluronan (MHA) and methacrylate-fucoidan (MFu) were characterized by FTIR and 1H NMR spectroscopy to confirm functionalization. The degrees of methacrylation (DMs) of MHA and MFu were 9.2% and 98.6%, respectively. Furthermore, we evaluated the mechanical properties of the hydrogels formed from mixtures of photo-crosslinkable MHA (1%) with varying concentrations of MFu (0%, 0.5%, and 1%). There were no changes in the hardness values of the hydrogels, but the elastic modulus decreased upon the addition of MFu, and these mechanical properties were not significantly different with or without preosteoblastic MG63 cell culture for up to 28 days. Furthermore, the cell morphologies and viabilities were not significantly different after culture with the MHA, MHA-MFu0.5, or MHA-MFu1.0 hydrogels, but the specific activity and mineralization of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) were significantly higher in the MHA-MFu1.0 hydrogel group compared to the other hydrogels. Hence, MHA-MFu composite hydrogels are potential bone graft materials that can provide a flexible structure and favorable niche for inducing bone osteogenic differentiation.

We investigated the radio properties of the host galaxy of X-ray flash, XRF020903, which is the best example for investigating of the off-axis origin of gamma-ray bursts(GRBs). Dust continuum at 233 GHz and CO are observed using the Atacama Large millimeter/submillimeter array. The molecular gas mass derived by applying the metalicity-dependent CO-to-H$_{2}$ conversion factor matches the global trend along the redshift and stellar mass of the GRB host galaxies. The estimated gas depletion timescale (pertaining to the potential critical characteristics of GRB host galaxies) is equivalent to those of GRBs and super-luminous supernova hosts in the same redshift range. These properties of the XRF020903 host galaxy observed in radio resemble those of GRB host galaxies, thereby supporting the identical origin of XRF020903 and GRBs., Comment: 14 pages, 9 figures, 1 tables, ApJ in press

In the present work, the removal efficiency of As(V) from aqueous solution using chitosan-coated bentonite (CCB), chitosan-coated kaolinite (CCK) and chitosan-coated sand (CCS) was evaluated. The chitosan-based adsorbents were characterized using scanning electron microscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller method and thermogravimetric analysis. Kinetic studies revealed that As(V) uptake using CCB, CCK and CCS fitted well with the pseudo-second order equation (R2 ≥ 0.9847; RMSE ≤ 9.1833). Equilibrium data show good correlation with the Langmuir model (R2 ≥ 0.9753; RMSE ≤ 8.5123; SSE ≤ 16.2651) for all adsorbents, which implies monolayer coverage onto homogenous energy sites. The Langmuir adsorption capacity for As(V) at pH 7.0 was determined to be 67.11, 64.85, and 16.78 mg/g for CCB, CCK and CCS, respectively. Thermodynamic studies show that As(V) uptake is exothermic in nature using CCK and endothermic using CCB and CCS. Moreover, adsorption of As(V) was feasible and spontaneous for CCB and CCS at 298 to 328 K. Results show that CCB is the most effective adsorbent in the removal of As(V) from water due to its high surface area and large pore diameter.

A compact displacement sensor (CDS) was proposed to be applied as a non-intrusive concentration measurement of flowing liquid by employing a phase-interrogation in a homodyne interferometer. To verify the feasibility of the proposed CDS, a measurement setup was constructed and a series of experiments were performed. The experimental results show that a good linear property between the phase change and the concentration variation are achievable. The disposable and cheap acrylic container potentially provides simple and repeatable concentration measurements. The best measurement resolutions of the weight percentage are 0.015% and 0.013% for the flowing salt and hydrochloric acid solutions, respectively. According to the experimental results, the non-intrusive technique is also useful for real-time quality monitoring of a flowing liquid on a production line.

We show that the set of threefold canonical thresholds satisfies the ascending chain condition. Moreover, we derive that threefold canonical thresholds in the interval $ (\frac{1}{2}, 1)$ consists of $ \{ \frac{1}{2}+\frac{1}{n}\}_{n \ge 3} \cup \{ \frac{4}{5}\}$., 31 pages, to appear in Advances in Mathematics

Haloarchaea utilize various microbial rhodopsins to harvest light energy or to mediate phototaxis in search of optimal environmental niches. To date, only the red light-sensing sensory rhodopsin I (SRI) and the blue light-sensing sensory rhodopsin II (SRII) have been shown to mediate positive and negative phototaxis, respectively. In this work, we demonstrated that a blue-green light-sensing (504 nm) sensory rhodopsin from Haloarcula marismortui, SRM, attenuated both positive and negative phototaxis through its sensing region. The H. marismortui genome encodes three sensory rhodopsins: SRI, SRII and SRM. Using spectroscopic assays, we first demonstrated the interaction between SRM and its cognate transducer, HtrM. We then transformed an SRM-HtrM fusion protein into Halobacterium salinarum, which contains only SRI and SRII, and observed that SRM-HtrM fusion protein decreased both positive and negative phototaxis of H. salinarum. Together, our results suggested a novel phototaxis signalling system in H. marismortui comprised of three sensory rhodopsins in which the phototactic response of SRI and SRII were attenuated by SRM.

Let $X$ be a complex smooth projective threefold of general type. Assume $q(X)>0$. We show that the $m$-canonical map of $X$ is birational for all $m\geq 5$.

Rechargeable aqueous zinc−ion batteries (ZIBs) with cost−effective and environmentally friendly characteristics show great potential for large−scale energy storage systems. Among all cathode material candidates, layered vanadates are promising owing to their suitable open structure for accommodating Zn2+/H+. However, the unsatisfactory rate capability and cycling stability of vanadate cathodes have hindered the practical application. Thus, the exploration of high−performance and structural stable cathode materials is urgently needed. In this study, a La0.14V2O5/reduced graphene oxide composite material (denoted as LaVO/rGO) can be successfully synthesized by a facile hydrothermal procedure. With the pillar La3+ ions and highly conductive rGO, the layered LaVO/rGO has the merits of large interlayer distance (14.7 A), low charge transfer resistance, and high diffusion coefficient that guarantee fast kinetics of Zn2+/H+ intercalation/de−intercalation. As a result, the LaVO/rGO cathode delivers a high−rate performance which obtains high capacity of 298 mAh g−1 at 0.3 A g−1. Even up to 8 A g−1, high capacity of 166 mAh g−1 can be achieved. Stable cycle performance with the capacity retention of 88% over 6000 cycles is attained, benefiting from fast and reversible Zn2+/H+ storage in the host material.

Numerical simulations of monochromatic surface waves freely propagating over an initially quiescent flow field are conducted and found to reveal an array of quasi-streamwise vortices of alternating orientation in a manner akin to that of Langmuir circulation beneath wind-driven surface waves. A linear instability analysis of the wave-averaged Craik–Leibovich (CL) equation is then conducted to determine whether the structures in the simulations can be explained by the Craik–Leibovich type 2 (CL2) instability, which requires the presence of spanwise-independent drift and mean shear of the same sign. There is no imposed shear in the simulations, but they confirm the theoretical analysis of Longuet-Higgins that an Eulerian-mean shear with a magnitude comparable to that of Lagrangian Stokes drift occurs at the edge of the surface boundary layer in the otherwise irrotational oscillatory flow. The spanwise wavelength of the least stable disturbance is found to be close to the spacing between predominant vortex pairs, which likely are excited by the CL2 instability.

Climate anomalies in recent years, numerous natural disasters caused by landslides and a large amount of entrained sands and stones in Taiwan have created significant disasters and greater difficulties in subsequent reconstruction. How to respond to these problems efficaciously is an important issue. In this study, the sands and stones were doped with recycled materials (waste LCD glass sand, slag powder), and material was mixed for recycled ready-mixed soil. The study is based on security and economic principles, using flowability test to determine the water-binder ratio (W/B=2.4, 2.6, and 2.8), a fixed soil: sand ratio of 6:4 and a soil: sand: glass ratio of 6:2:2 as fine aggregate. Slag (at concentrations of 0%, 20%, and 40%) replaced the cement. The following tests were conducted: flowability, initial setting time, unit weight, dropweight and compressive strength. The results show that the slump values are 220 -290 mm, the slump flow values are 460 -1030 mm, and the tube flow values are 240-590 mm, all conforming to the objectives of the design. The initial setting times are 945-1695 min. The unit weight deviations are 0.1-0.6%. The three groups of mixtures conform to the specification, being below 7.6 cm in the drop-weight test. In the compressive strength test, the water-binder ratios for 2.4 are optimal (13.78-17.84 kgf/cm2). The results show that Recycled ready-mixed soil materials (RRMSM) possesses excellent flowability. The other properties, applied to backfill engineering, can effectively save costs and are conducive to environmental protection.