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Abstract Multi‐graph matching (MGM), which aims to find correspondences among multiple graphs, is an extension of conventional two‐graph matching. Existing MGM methods fall into two categories: pairwise based and tensor based. Pairwise‐based methods consider similarities between every two features; while tensor‐based methods consider the overall similarity among all features, offering much more flexibility similarity measurements and less information loss, but at the cost of exorbitant computational demands. Here, a fresh perspective on MGM task is delivered, that is, matching based on any k features. It enables the consideration of more complex affinity relationship beyond pairwise while keeping computational demands within a manageable threshold. Furthermore, a factorization technique for the k‐wise global affinity matrix is proposed, significantly reducing space complexity. This approach unifies existing MGM methods and inspires future research focusing on k‐wise affinity relationship, showcasing both theoretical and practical advancements in the field. Experiments on synthetic and real‐world datasets demonstrate the superiority of our method.

Abstract G protein subunit Gamma 5 (GNG5) has been found to be involved in regulating glioma progression. However, its function and mechanism in glioblastoma (GBM) progression need to be further elucidated. GBM cell proliferation, apoptosis, invasion and stemness were assessed by cell counting kit 8 assay, EdU assay, flow cytometry, transwell assay and sphere formation assay. The mRNA and protein levels of GNG5 and Yin Yang 1 (YY1) were determined by quantitative real-time PCR and western blot (WB). Detection of the glucose consumption, lactate production and ATP/ADP ratios were used to assess cell glycolysis. Besides, Wnt/β-catenin pathway-related protein levels were examined by WB. Mice xenograft model was also constructed to explore GNG5 roles in vivo. GNG5 was highly expressed in GBM, and its silencing inhibited GBM cell proliferation, invasion, stemness and glycolysis, while promoted apoptosis. Transcription factor YY1 could bind to the GNG5 promoter region and induce its expression. GNG5 overexpression reversed the inhibitory effects of YY1 silencing on GBM cell growth, invasion, stemness and glycolysis. YY1/GNG5 axis could activate the Wnt/β-catenin pathway, and Wnt/β-catenin pathway agonists SKL2001 could revert the effects of GNG5 silencing on GBM cell progression. Furthermore, GNG5 facilitated GBM tumor growth by mediating the Wnt/β-catenin pathway. YY1-mediated GNG5 promoted GBM progression through the Wnt/β-catenin pathway.

This study proposes a novel distributed energy trading market model with a value distribution mechanism to optimize the allocation and transactions of distributed energy resources (DERs). The framework incorporates a direct load management approach via an electricity aggregator agent, simplifying market processes and reducing transaction costs. A Nash bargaining model is employed to design a fair and efficient value distribution mechanism, promoting equitable benefit allocation among participants. The model integrates stochastic programming to account for uncertainties in real-time load and DER output, enhancing its robustness and applicability in real-world scenarios. The proposed mechanism quantifies each DER’s contribution using a market value contribution rate, serving as a foundation for the Nash bargaining model. This approach ensures individual rationality for both the aggregator and DERs while maximizing overall system benefits. Case studies validate the model’s effectiveness, demonstrating improvements in resource utilization and fair benefit allocation. This research contributes to the advancement of distributed energy markets, offering valuable insights for designing efficient and equitable market structures, ultimately promoting grid stability, renewable energy adoption, and the development of more sustainable and flexible energy systems.

Unsupervised band selection (BS) is a crucial research direction in the domain of hyperspectral image (HSI) processing. In recent years, volume-based criteria have garnered considerable attention, with the volume-gradient-based BS (VGBS) algorithm being particularly notable. However, we have identified that VGBS inherently suffers from the local extremum problem due to its reliance on the original volume gradient formula, which only permits the removal of a single band per iteration. To address this issue, we introduce the concept of joint volume gradient (JVG) through a novel determinant formula for the high-order mixed product expansion. We then propose an enhanced version of VGBS, termed JVG-based BS (JVGBS), which allows for the simultaneous deletion of multiple bands. Moreover, a simplified objective function of JVG is developed to mitigate the high computational complexity associated with calculating volume metrics when a small number of bands is removed at once. Regarding the complexity imposed by the large cardinality of traversing matrix column combinations, we provide an exemplary algorithm employing groupwise strategies to achieve rapid computational acceleration. Experimental results on Gaofen-5 and publicly available hyperspectral datasets demonstrate that the proposed algorithms have rather superior performance against state-of-the-art competitors in terms of both computational complexity and classification accuracy.

Abstract The past decade has witnessed rapid progress in deep learning for molecular design, owing to the availability of invertible and invariant representations for molecules such as simplified molecular-input line-entry system (SMILES), which has powered cheminformatics since the late 1980s. However, the design of elemental components and their structural arrangement in solid-state materials to achieve certain desired properties is still a long-standing challenge in physics, chemistry and biology. This is primarily due to, unlike molecular inverse design, the lack of an invertible crystal representation that satisfies translational, rotational, and permutational invariances. To address this issue, we have developed a simplified line-input crystal-encoding system (SLICES), which is a string-based crystal representation that satisfies both invertibility and invariances. The reconstruction routine of SLICES successfully reconstructed 94.95% of over 40,000 structurally and chemically diverse crystal structures, showcasing an unprecedented invertibility. Furthermore, by only encoding compositional and topological data, SLICES guarantees invariances. We demonstrate the application of SLICES in the inverse design of direct narrow-gap semiconductors for optoelectronic applications. As a string-based, invertible, and invariant crystal representation, SLICES shows promise as a useful tool for in silico materials discovery.

The current electricity system has a large number of carbon emissions. As an environmentally friendly and low-carbon electricity generation source, distributed energy sources gradually get more and more attention. However, the participation of a large number of distributed energy sources brings uncertainty to the operation of the electricity market. Prosumers could effectively avoid the instability caused by the participation of distributed energy sources in the electricity market. At present, the strategy of the prosumer participating in the electricity market has been thoroughly studied. However, equilibrium analysis for prosumer’s participation in joint electricity and carbon markets still needs to be studied in depth. Therefore, we propose a method for the prosumer to participate in the joint electricity and carbon markets, which could effectively reduce carbon emissions. First, we build a carbon market model. Then, the equilibrium model of the prosumer’s participation in joint electricity and carbon markets is constructed. The equilibrium model can realize the equilibrium between the coordination of prosumers and joint markets. Finally, we adopt an iterative algorithm to solve the equilibrium model. Prosumers and joint electricity and carbon markets transmit marginal information to each other. According to the marginal information. The equilibrium between Prosumer and joint markets is solved through iteration by self-optimization and self-decision. Case studies based on the IEEE 30-bus system verify the effectiveness of the model and method proposed in this paper.

IntroductionIntrauterine malnutrition impairs embryo kidney development and leads to kidney disease and hypertension in adulthood, yet the underlying mechanism remains unclear.MethodsWith a maternal protein restriction (MPR) rat model, we investigated the critical ciliogenesis factors and β-catenin pathway in FGR fetal kidneys and analyzed the impact of aberrant primary cilia on renal tubular epithelium.ResultsThe data showed decreased nephron number and renal tubular dysgenesis in FGR fetus. FGR fetus showed deregulated expression of ciliogenesis factors including upregulation of IFT88 and downregulation of DYNLT1, accompanied with cilia elongation in renal tubular epithelial cells. Wnt7b, the key ligand for Wnt/β-catenin signaling, was downregulated and nuclear translocation of β-catenin was decreased. The proapoptotic protein was upregulated. In vitro study with HK-2 cells showed that overexpression of IFT88 lengthened the cilia, inhibited β-catenin signaling. Besides, IFT88 overexpression suppressed cell proliferation, activated autophagy, and induced cell apoptosis. Inhibition of autophagy partly restored the cilia length and cell viability. Likewise, knockdown of DYNLT1 led to cilia elongation, suppressed cell proliferation, and promoted apoptosis in HK-2 cell. However, the cilia elongation induced by DYNLT1 knockdown was not autophagy-dependent, but associated with reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation.DiscussionWe elucidated that intrauterine protein malnutrition led to deregulation of ciliogenesis factors and cilia elongation in renal tubular epithelial, inhibited β-catenin signaling, and induced cell apoptosis and ultimately, compromised kidney development.

Denoising serves as a critical preprocessing step for the subsequent analysis of the hyperspectral image (HSI). Due to their high computational efficiency, low-rank-based denoising methods that project the noisy HSI into a low-dimensional subspace identified by certain criteria have gained widespread use. However, methods employing second-order statistics as criteria often struggle to retain the signal of the small targets in the denoising results. Other methods utilizing high-order statistics encounter difficulties in effectively suppressing noise. To tackle these challenges, we delve into a novel criterion to determine the projection subspace, and propose an innovative low-rank-based method that successfully preserves the spectral characteristic of small targets while significantly reducing noise. The experimental results on the synthetic and real datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method, in terms of both small-target preservation and noise reduction.

Abstract Purely organic room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) materials have aroused increasing interests in recent years and have been widely applied in anti‐counterfeiting, biological imaging, sensing, etc. Currently, these materials can be efficiently developed in crystalline states and amorphous polymer‐doped systems. However, achieving organic RTP in solution, especially in water solution, is still a formidable challenge. Recently, reports on aqueous phase RTP have been increasing and some feasible design strategies have been proposed; however, related investigations are still limited and there is a lack of systematic reviews. Therefore, we summarized the recent cases of aqueous phase organic RTP emission with primarily focusing on the RTP properties and efficient design strategies (e.g., forming nanoparticles from phosphorescent molecules and macrocyclic supramolecular assembly). Moreover, promising applications of the aqueous phase organic RTP emission in bio‐imaging and sensing were discussed. Some detailed perspectives concerning materials design and application were provided with the hope to provide inspiration for the future development of aqueous phase organic RTP.

Changes in molecular properties due to stimuli response are critically important for the development of new materials. However, most processes are slow or inefficient in the solid state. Here the authors demonstrate property switching in the solid state using a rubbing-induced tautomerism in multiple hydrogen-bonded donor-acceptor couples.

Shot peening technology is usually employed to improve the ability of mechanical parts to resist failure due to fatigue and wear. It is often used to strengthen the surface of a target, but the induced residual stress and its distribution with respect to the coverage can affect the performance of the shot peening process. In this study, a comprehensive numerical and experimental study was conducted to overcome these issues. Using numerical simulation we found that both the surface and subsurface residual stress increases with the increase of the coverage before stabilizing. Quantitative analysis using the Entropy Method indicates that under the shot peening parameters considered in the simulation coverage of 200% is best for the shot peening of ZGMn13 High Manganese Steel. The following experimental study agreed with the corresponding numerical data for the residual stresses at varied depths from surface to subsurface with errors of less than 25%. Thus, the related research outcomes can guide the shot peening process to obtain the optimized surface strengthening of the target.

Long-standing radical species have raised noteworthy concerns in organic chemistry and but there remains a substantial challenge to produce long-standing radicals by light. Here, the authors demonstrate a stable dithienylethene derived photochromic radical for detection of peroxides and ozone.

Compared with pneumatic tires, non-pneumatic tires have incomparable performance, in terms of load bearing and safety. In this paper, the static load characteristics and pure longitudinal slip characteristics of the non-pneumatic tire are studied by combining experiments and simulations. The test results show that the radial stiffness of the original structure is nonlinear, the pure longitudinal sliding characteristics are seriously inconsistent, the brakes are very sensitive, and the driving is slightly soft. A series of designs have been carried out from the aspects of load-bearing mode and anti-symmetry of the structure, and numerical simulations have been carried out. The results show that the radial secant stiffness of the optimized structure II is increased by 58.8%, and the radial tangent stiffness is increased by 2.96 times, under the premise of ensuring the mass reduction. Additionally, the R square is 0.9932, and the linearity of the radial stiffness curve is greatly improved. The braking and driving conditions under pure longitudinal sliding characteristics are more antisymmetric, which greatly improves the braking sensitivity, but the driving performance is not as good as the original structure. In addition, this paper establishes the evaluation index of the non-pneumatic tire carrying mode, which lays the foundation for further exploration of the non-pneumatic tire carrying mechanism.

Non-pneumatic tires (NPTs) have been widely used for their advantages of no run-flat, no need for air maintenance, and unique stiffness characteristics. This study focuses on the design of a spoke of a Fibonacci spiral non-pneumatic tire (FS-NPT) based on its properties of three-dimensional stiffness. Finite element (FE) models, parametric studies, designs of experiments (DOEs), and sensitivity analyses are conducted to study the effect on the three-dimensional stiffness considering three design variables: (a) the thickness of the spokes, (b) the radius of the first Fibonacci spiral of the spoke, and (c) the width of the spokes of the FS-NPT. The results show that variation in all three design parameters had no considerable effect on the lateral stiffness. The results from the DOE are used to create a response surface model (RSM) for the multi-objective function (minimal SSD) and a constraint on the weight of the FS-NPT. The analytical RSM functions are optimized for minimizing the SSD subjected to the given constraint. The results indicate that all three design variables of the spoke had a significant effect on the vertical stiffness. The spoke radius had no potential effect on the longitudinal stiffness of the NPT. Hence, the three-dimensional stiffness of the FS-NPT has a certain independent design. This work demonstrates the advantages of non-pneumatic tires, especially FS-NPTs, in three-dimensional stiffness decoupling. This study guides the industrial production of flexible-spoke bionic NPTs by providing a very simple spoke structure. The optimization results show that FS-NPTs have a large stiffness design range. The different stiffness targets can be achieved by adjusting different combinations of the design variables, and the tire mass does not increase significantly.

Lanthanide metal–organic frameworks (Ln-MOFs) have attracted extensive attention because of their structural adjustability and wide optical function applications. However, MOFs with a wide linear pH response and stable framework structures in acidic or alkaline solutions are rare to date. Here, we used 4,4′,4″-s-triazine-2,4,6-triyltribenzoate (H3TATB) as an organic ligand, coordinated with lanthanide ions (Eu3+/Tb3+), and synthesized a new metal–organic framework material. The material has a porous three-dimensional square framework structure and emits bright red or green fluorescence under 365 nm UV light. The carboxyl group of the ligand is prone to protonation in an acidic environment, and negatively charged OH− and ligand (TATB3−) have a competitive effect in an alkaline environment, which could affect the coordination ability of ligand. The luminescence degree of the framework decreases with the increase in the degree of acid and base. In particular, such fluorescence changes have a wide linear response (pH = 0–14), which can be used as a potential fluorescence sensing material for pH detection.

Abstract Solar‐driven water evaporation and valuable fuel generation is an environmentally friendly and sustainable way for clean water and energy production. However, a few bottlenecks for practical applications are high‐cost, low productivity, and severe sunlight angle dependence. Herein, solar evaporation with enhanced photocatalytic capacity that is light direction insensitive and of efficiency breakthrough by virtue of a three‐dimensional (3D) photothermal catalytic spherical isotopic evaporator is demonstrated. A homogeneous layer of microfluidic blow spun polyamide nanofibers loaded with efficient light absorber of polypyrrole nanoparticles conformally wraps onto a lightweight, thermal insulating plastic sphere, featuring favorable interfacial solar heating and efficient water transportation. The 3D spherical geometry not only guarantees the omnidirectional solar absorbance by the light‐facing hemisphere, but also keeps the other hemisphere under shadow to harvest energy from the warmer environment. As a result, the light‐to‐vapor efficiency exceeds the theoretical limit, reaching 217% and 156% under 1 and 2 sun, respectively. Simultaneously, CO2 photoreduction with generated steam reveals a favorable clean fuels production rate using photocatalytic spherical evaporator by secondary growth of Cu2O nanoparticles. Finally, an outdoor demonstration manifests a high evaporation rate and easy‐to‐perform construction on‐site, providing a promising opportunity for efficient and decentralized water and clean fuel production.

New photoluminescent strategies are required to realize high-performance ratiometric sensors for bio-sensing applications. Here, the authors demonstrate a fluorescence-thermally activated delayed fluorescence dual emission strategy for ratiometric sensors with high precision.

Nonpneumatic tires (NPTs) have good safety and a good load-carrying capacity, and they replace the function of air in pneumatic tires with a solid spoke component. The radial stiffness and weight are the important indexes for evaluating the performance of an NPT. In this research, we designed an NPT according to the requirements of vehicle Chery eQ1 based on weight minimization. Taking the radial stiffness related to the bearing-capacity performance as the constraint condition, a topology-optimization algorithm is proposed to find the best thickness distribution of the spokes with the objective of minimizing the mass. First, the mechanical properties of the material were obtained with the test. Then, the FE model of an NPT with a Fibonacci spoke structure was built and validated with a radial-stiffness test on a five rigid test machine. The optimization algorithm was carried out by searching for the best thickness distribution of the spoke after verifying the reliability of the FE model. Finally, the optimized tire was manufactured, and the stiffness test was carried out to verify the feasibility of the optimization results. The results show that the spoke mass can be reduced by 9% by using the proposed optimization algorithm while satisfying the radial-stiffness constraint.

Summary: Periodic delamination patterns in multilayer structures have exhibited extensive applications in microelectronics and optics devices. However, delamination behaviors of a closed thin shell on spherical substrates are still elusive. Herein, a unique instability mechanism of buckle delamination in a closed thin film weakly bonded to spherical substrates is studied by experiments, simulations, and theoretical analyses. The system of an Al film depositing on polystyrene spheres subjected to thermal mismatch strain is used for demonstration. Unlike traditional phenomena of wrinkling and wrinkle-induced delamination under increasing misfit strain, the weak adhesion between the core and shell results in a periodic pattern of delaminated hexagonal dimples that emerges directly from the smooth sphere configuration, before which no wrinkling occurs. Both substrate curvature and interfacial adhesion are revealed to control the dimple size and delamination width. These findings open a new venue for manifesting new controllable features for surface microfabrication.

Aggregation-induced emission (AIE) has been much employed for visualizing material aggregation and self-assembly. However, water is generally required for the preparation of the AIE aggregates, the operation of which limits numerous material processing behaviors. Employing hexathiobenzene-based small molecules, monopolymers, and block copolymers as different material prototypes, we herein achieve AIE in pure organic phases by applying a nonequilibrium strategy, photoexcitation-controlled aggregation. This strategy enabled a dynamic change of molecular conformation rather than chemical structure upon irradiation, leading to a continuous aggregation-dependent luminescent enhancement (up to ~200-fold increase of the luminescent quantum yield) in organic solvents. Accompanied by the materialization of the nonequilibrium strategy, photoconvertible self-assemblies with a steady-state characteristic can be achieved upon organic solvent processing. The visual monitoring with the luminescence change covered the whole solution-to-film transition, as well as the in situ photoprocessing of the solid-state materials.

Existing thermal technologies are mainly designed to harvest heat at high temperature, whilst low-grade heat is hardly utilized to date. Here, Wang et al. show an interlocked thermo-mechano feedback mechanism that transfers ambient heat to multimodal locomotions, potentially for soft robotics applications.

To achieve the rapid detection of Listeria monocytogenes, this study used aptamers for the original identification and built a photoelectrochemical aptamer sensor using exonuclease-assisted amplification. Tungsten trioxide (WO3) was used as a photosensitive material, was modified with gold nanoparticles to immobilize complementary DNA, and amplified the signal by means of the sensitization effect of CdTe quantum dots and the shearing effect of Exonuclease I (Exo I) to achieve high-sensitivity detection. This strategy had a detection limit of 45 CFU/mL in the concentration range of 1.3 × 101–1.3 × 107 CFU/mL. The construction strategy provides a new way to detect Listeria monocytogenes.

Abstract Reducing the overall vehicle weight is an efficient, system-level approach to increase the drive range of electric vehicle, for which structural parts in auto-frame may be replaced by battery modules. Such battery modules must be structurally functional, e.g., energy absorbing, while the battery cells are not necessarily loading–carrying. We designed and tested a butterfly-shaped battery module of prismatic cells, which could self-unfold when subjected to a compressive loading. Angle guides and frictionless joints were employed to facilitate the large deformation. Desired resistance to external loading was offered by additional energy absorption elements. The battery-module behavior and the battery-cell performance were controlled separately. Numerical simulation verified the experimental results.

Accumulating evidence suggests that fetal growth restriction (FGR) leads to the development of diabetes mellitus in adults. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of protein malnutrition in utero on the pancreatic unfolded protein response (UPR) pathway in FGR offspring. An FGR model was developed by feeding a low-protein diet to pregnant rats throughout gestation. Eighty-four UPR pathway components in the pancreas were investigated by quantitative PCR arrays and confirmed by qPCR and western blotting. Activating transcription factor (Atf4 and Atf6), herpud1, protein kinase R-like endoplasmic reticulum kinase (Perk), X-box binding protein 1 (Xbp1), and the phosphorylation of eIF2α were upregulated, while cyclic AMP-responsive element-binding protein 3-like protein was markedly downregulated in FGR fetuses compared with controls. Investigation in adult offspring revealed temporal changes, for most UPR factors restored to normal, except that dysregulation of Atf6 and Creb3l3 maintained until adulthood. Moreover, autophagy was suppressed in FGR fetal pancreas and may be associated with decreased activation of AMP-activated protein kinase (Ampk). Apoptosis regulators Bax and cleaved-caspase 3 and 9 were upregulated in FGR fetal pancreas. Given that islet size and number were decreased in FGR fetus, we speculated that the aberrant intrauterine milieu impaired UPR signaling in fetal pancreas development. Whether these alterations early in life contribute to the predisposition of FGR fetuses to adult metabolic disorders invites further exploration.

Humans are born with the ability and the need for affection, but communicating affection as a social behavior is historically bound. Based on the digitized books of Google Ngram Viewer from 1960 through 2008, the present research investigated affectionate communication (AC) in China and the United States, and its changing landscape along with social changes from collectivist to individualistic environments. In particular, we analyzed the frequency in terms of verbal affection (e.g., love you, like you), non-verbal affection (e.g., hug, kiss), and individualism (indicated by the use of first-person singular pronouns such as I, me, and myself) in Chinese and American books. The results revealed an increasing trend for AC in recent decades, although the frequency of affection words was lower in Chinese than in American books. Further, individualism was positively related to the frequency of affection words in both Chinese and American books. These results demonstrate the effect of cultural changes on AC, in that affection exchange becomes popular in adaptation to individualistic urban environments. These findings exemplify a cross-cultural difference in the expression of love and the cultural universality of social change in Eastern and Western societies.

Load model has significant impact on power system simulation. Current load modeling approaches are inadequate on revealing the accuracy and time-variation of load compositions. The application of wireless sensors dispersed in power distribution networks provides further opportunities for load modeling. In this article, a data-driven online aggregated load modeling approach is proposed systematically. First, all the electricity consumers are clustered according to big data of power consumption behaviors. In each cluster, typical users are designated to stand for the characteristics of the cluster, and intrusive measurement is adapted to capture these typical users’ time-varying information by employing wireless intelligent terminals, which can identify the composition of static load and induction motor load online. Second, the load models of other users in each cluster are assumed identical to typical users, including static impedance–current–power models and induction motor models. Finally, the composite load model is achieved by hierarchical aggregation and bottom-to-up stepwise equivalence. Simulations demonstrate that the load model built by proposed approach reflects higher accuracy and adaptability in power system.

The idea of dragging a viscous fluid by another kind of fluid via the shear stress has fascinated the scientists and engineers. The dependence of the drag effect on the physical parameters of the two immiscible fluids is very much desired but still challenging. In this research, three different kinds of fluids are employed to drag a pure fluid between vertical parallel channel walls, that is, the viscous fluid, the non-Newtonian power-law fluid, and the nanofluid. The drag effects of two-layer fluids are investigated by comparing the velocity fields and the mean velocity curve. Essential parameters determining the dragging efficiencies of the driven fluid are studied systematically: the drag effects of the density ratio p, the thermal conductivity ratio k, the thermal expansion coefficient ratio b, and the viscosity ratio m of the two-layer fluids are focused. Both dilatant flows and pseudo-plastic fluids are considered in driving the viscous fluid. When the pure fluid is driven by the nanofluid, the single-phase model is adopted. The example of 47 nm-Al2O3 nanoparticles suspended in water is analyzed for demonstration: the thermal expansion, the effective viscosity, and the effective thermal conductivity are dependent of the concentration of nanofluid, which makes the nanoparticle volume fraction ϕ a major concern in the drag effects. The findings in the paper reveal several potential strategies to promise high effectiveness on fluid driving via interface shear, which we hope will inspire engineers and researchers in relative working fields.

Excessive exposure to high noise level environments has the potential to cause noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL), and cigarette smoking has also been shown to have a potential adverse effect on hearing. The aim of this study was to determine whether smoking interacts with noise in the development of hearing loss, and if so, the extent of the contribution from smoking on NIHL. A cross-sectional study was designed to assess the effect of smoking on NIHL in 517 male workers (non-smokers: N = 199; smokers: N = 318) exposed to a high-level industrial noise environment in China. Shift-long temporal waveforms of the noise that workers were exposed to for evaluation of noise exposures, and audiometric threshold measures were obtained on all selected subjects. The subjects used hearing protection devices only within the last 1-2 years. The results suggest that smoking has an adverse effect on NIHL in workers exposed to high level industrial noise, i.e., the median high frequency hearing thresholds were significantly greater in smokers than non-smokers exposed to noise for more than 10 years. This effect was observed at 4.0 and 6.0 kHz. Smoking did not have an adverse effect on NIHL in workers exposed to noise less than 10 years. Multivariate regression analysis revealed that the odds ratio (OR) for high frequency hearing loss (i.e., hearing threshold greater than 40 dB at 4.0 kHz) were 1.94 for smokers in comparison to non-smokers. The results suggest that: (1) smokers have a higher risk of developing high frequency hearing loss than non-smokers with a similar occupational noise exposure, and (2) the interaction between cigarette smoking and high-level noise exposure may be additive. There is a need to develop and analyze a larger database of workers with well-documented exposures and smoking histories for better understanding of the effect of smoking on NIHL incurred from high-level industrial noise exposures. A better understanding of the role of smoking may lead to its incorporation into hearing risk assessment for noise exposure.

This study examined: (1) the value of using the statistical metric, kurtosis [β(t)], along with an energy metric to determine the hazard to hearing from high level industrial noise environments, and (2) the accuracy of the International Standard Organization (ISO-1999:1990) model for median noise-induced permanent threshold shift (NIPTS) estimates with actual recent epidemiological data obtained on 240 highly screened workers exposed to high-level industrial noise in China. A cross-sectional approach was used in this study. Shift-long temporal waveforms of the noise that workers were exposed to for evaluation of noise exposures and audiometric threshold measures were obtained on all selected subjects. The subjects were exposed to only one occupational noise exposure without the use of hearing protection devices. The results suggest that: (1) the kurtosis metric is an important variable in determining the hazards to hearing posed by a high-level industrial noise environment for hearing conservation purposes, i.e., the kurtosis differentiated between the hazardous effects produced by Gaussian and non-Gaussian noise environments, (2) the ISO-1999 predictive model does not accurately estimate the degree of median NIPTS incurred to high level kurtosis industrial noise, and (3) the inherent large variability in NIPTS among subjects emphasize the need to develop and analyze a larger database of workers with well-documented exposures to better understand the effect of kurtosis on NIPTS incurred from high level industrial noise exposures. A better understanding of the role of the kurtosis metric may lead to its incorporation into a new generation of more predictive hearing risk assessment for occupational noise exposure.

We develop a new type of heterostructure nanocomposite made of reduced graphene oxide-boron carbon nitride nanosheets (rGOBCN) by B–C covalent bonds. The rGO-BCN nanocomposite delivers a large specific surface and excellent electrochemical properties, and is then constructed into flexible fabric-based high-performance supercapacitor electrodes based on the microfluidic electrospinning technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]