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Phase change heat storage presents a promising solution to address challenges related to new energy intermittency and waste heat recovery. However, for it to function as an effective energy hub, heat storage becomes crucial. Among the available options, the direct contact heat accumulator stands out due to its simple structure, substantial heat transfer area, and minimal heat transfer resistance, making it a favorable choice for enhancing energy storage rates. Although a great deal of research has been done on phase change materials and heat accumulators over the years, a systematic review of direct‐contact heat accumulators is lacking. This article reviews the related research on direct contact heat storage, aiming to summarize the research work on direct contact phase change heat storage systems. Various phase change materials (PCMs) for direct contact systems are analyzed, and the study of PCM melting crystallization behavior, heat transfer coefficients and system performance in direct contact systems is summarized, as well as the improvement methods for direct contact vessels and PCMs. It provides a useful reference for future research on direct‐contact heat storage systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reductive activation of carbon dioxide (CO2) has drawn increasing attention as an effective and convenient method to unlock this stable molecule, especially via transition metal-catalyzed reactions. Taking the [TaC4O8]+ ion–molecule complex formed in the laser ablation source as a representative, the reactivity of the tantalum metal cation towards CO2 molecules is explored using infrared photodissociation spectroscopy combined with quantum chemical calculations. The strong absorption in the carbonyl stretching region provides solid evidence for the insertion reactions into C＝O bonds by the tantalum cation. Two inserted oxocarbonyl products are identified based on the great agreement between the experimental results and simulated infrared spectra of energetically low-lying structures in the singlet and triplet states. The pivotal role of two-state reactivity in driving CO2 activation among three different spin states is rationalized by potential energy surface analysis. Our conclusion provides valuable insight into the intrinsic mechanisms of CO2 activation by the tantalum metal cation, highlighting the affinity of tantalum for C＝O bond insertion in addition to typical "end-on" binding configurations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drainage network pattern recognition is a significant task with wide applications in geographic information mining, map cartography, water resources management, and urban planning. Accurate identification of spatial patterns in river networks can help us understand geographic phenomena, optimize map cartographic quality, assess water resource potential, and provide a scientific basis for urban development planning. However, river network pattern recognition still faces challenges due to the complexity and diversity of river networks. To address this issue, this study proposes a river network pattern recognition method based on graph convolutional networks (GCNs), aiming to achieve accurate classification of different river network patterns. We utilize binary trees to construct a hierarchical tree structure based on river reaches and progressively determine the tree hierarchy by identifying the upstream and downstream relationships among river reaches. Based on this representation, input features for the graph convolutional model are extracted from both spatial and geometric perspectives. The effectiveness of the proposed method is validated through classification experiments on four types of vector river network data (dendritic, fan-shaped, trellis, and fan-shaped). The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method can effectively classify vector river networks, providing strong support for research and applications in related fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Roll-to-roll (R2R) manufacturing paired with slot die coating is a promising route to realize the mass production of catalyst layers of proton exchange membrane fuel cells and achieve a sharp decrease in manufacturing costs through scale effect. Catalyst ink runs through the route and governs the ultimate structure of catalyst layer. Therefore, designing and preparing an optimal high-solid content catalyst ink and figuring out how to utilize it well in the R2R process has become a significant challenge. Herein, recent progress in catalyst ink is focused on design, preparation, rheology, slot die coating, and drying process. This review is a significant step forward in providing fundamental knowledge and understanding of the nature of advanced catalyst ink and its compatibility with the R2R process which are essential for designing and manufacturing excellent catalyst layers. • Preparation and constituents of the ink are discussed. • Interactions between catalyst ink components associated with stability of ink. • Rheology as a descriptor for properties of the catalyst ink are outlined. • Progress and challenges of slot die coating for catalyst ink are presented. • Drying and cracking behavior of the catalyst layer are summarized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, a series of new lignin-graft copolymers were successfully prepared through enzymatic hydrolytic lignin (EHL)-initiated ring-opening alternating copolymerization of 3,4-dihydrocoumarin (DHC) and epoxides (EPO) through organocatalysis. A series of EPOs, including styrene oxide (SO), propylene oxide (PO), cyclohexane oxide (CHO) and lignin-derived-2-(2-methoxy-4-methyl-phenoxy) (MPO), together with DHC, were selected as model compounds to prepare EHL-g-P(DHC-alt-EPO), demonstrating the tailor-made potential of this synthetic protocol. The reaction conditions were optimized and the structures and thermal properties of EHL-g-P(DHC-alt-EPO) were fully elucidated by 1H, 13C and 31P NMR, FTIR spectroscopy, MALDI-TOF MS and GPC, DSC, and TGA. It was found that EHL-g-P(DHC-alt-SO) with a monomer conversion of 81.52%, DP of 3.21 and Mn of 62.9 kDa was prepared at a molar ratio of 5 : 5 : 1, 140 °C and 24 h. The UV shielding properties, antioxidant activity and biocompatibility of the as-prepared EHL-g-P(DHC-alt-EPO) was systematically evaluated. As a 'proof of concept' application, the potential of EHL-g-P(DHC-alt-SO) as an active ingredient in sunscreen was demonstrated, and a high sun protection factor (SPF) of 22.42 was achieved at 5 wt% dosage of EHL-g-P(DHC-alt-SO) in the cream, and the possible mechanism for the outstanding performance is also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Combined synchrotron X‐ray nanotomography imaging, cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo‐EM) and modeling elucidate how potassium (K) metal‐support energetics influence electrodeposit microstructure. Three model supports are employed: O‐functionalized carbon cloth (potassiophilic, fully‐wetted), non‐functionalized cloth and Cu foil (potassiophobic, nonwetted). Nanotomography and focused ion beam (cryo‐FIB) cross‐sections yield complementary three‐dimensional (3D) maps of cycled electrodeposits. Electrodeposit on potassiophobic support is a triphasic sponge, with fibrous dendrites covered by solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) and interspersed with nanopores (sub‐10 nm to 100 nm scale). Lage cracks and voids are also a key feature. On potassiophilic support, the deposit is dense and pore‐free, with uniform surface and SEI morphology. Mesoscale modeling captures the critical role of substrate‐metal interaction on K metal film nucleation and growth, as well as the associated stress state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Combined synchrotron X‐ray nanotomography imaging, cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo‐EM) and modeling elucidate how potassium (K) metal‐support energetics influence electrodeposit microstructure. Three model supports are employed: O‐functionalized carbon cloth (potassiophilic, fully‐wetted), non‐functionalized cloth and Cu foil (potassiophobic, nonwetted). Nanotomography and focused ion beam (cryo‐FIB) cross‐sections yield complementary three‐dimensional (3D) maps of cycled electrodeposits. Electrodeposit on potassiophobic support is a triphasic sponge, with fibrous dendrites covered by solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) and interspersed with nanopores (sub‐10 nm to 100 nm scale). Lage cracks and voids are also a key feature. On potassiophilic support, the deposit is dense and pore‐free, with uniform surface and SEI morphology. Mesoscale modeling captures the critical role of substrate‐metal interaction on K metal film nucleation and growth, as well as the associated stress state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) has advantages of zero emission, fast response and high-power density. There are still obstacles such as manufacturing cost, life span, infrastructure construction and subzero temperature star-up restricting commercialization of PEMFC. The low-temperature start-up is one of them that needs to be solved in the field of fuel cell vehicle. This paper presents research progresses involving PEMFC degradation caused by the low-temperature start-up. Degradation phenomena and mechanism under component-level caused by repeated freezing start, influencing factors and mitigation strategies are summarized and reviewed. Conclusions are made that frequent ice freezing and melting causes the membrane electrode assembly damaged irreversibly, the quality of cold start and low temperature influence the degradation strongly and purge after shutdown, better materials and optimal fuel cell structure design are helpful to reduce the impact of cold start on fuel cell performances. It is suggested that future work should be focused on optimizing strategies of the shutdown purge, promoting the quality of cold start, enhancing properties of the materials, improving internal structure design of stack and developing low-temperature attenuation models. • Degradation phenomena and mechanism under component-level are presented. • Some influencing factors are analyzed and concluded. • Degradation mitigation strategies are summarized and reviewed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Heparin-binding protein could be a promising biomarker that distinguish severe sepsis from sepsis in the pediatric intensive care unit. • The combination of heparin-binding protein with procalcitonin and lactate could significantly improve the diagnostic value for severe sepsis. • Heparin-binding protein levels are related to the severity of the disease among children with sepsis. • The dynamic changes of heparin-binding protein at 72 h after enrollment could predict in-hospital mortality among children with sepsis in the pediatric intensive care unit. The aim of this study is to assess Heparin-binding protein (HBP) as a diagnostic and prognostic biomarker of severe sepsis in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). A multicenter, prospective study was conducted among children with sepsis in nine PICUs in China from October 2019 to June 2021. Plasma levels of HBP, procalcitonin (PCT), C-reactive protein (CRP), lactate, and white blood cell (WBC) count were determined at enrollment and 72 h after enrollment. Of 355 included patients, 132 patients were diagnosed with non-severe sepsis (referred to as sepsis), 223 patients had severe sepsis. Patients with severe sepsis had significantly elevated levels of HBP compared with sepsis (median 170.5 vs. 74.1 ng/mL, P < 0.001). Adding HBP to a diagnostic model with PCT and lactate could significantly improve the diagnostic capability for severe sepsis. The plasma levels of HBP correlated positively with the number of dysfunctional organs. After adjusting for confounding factors, the declined levels of HBP at 72 h had a significant association with decreased in-hospital mortality (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 0.242, P < 0.001). The levels of HBP showed weak positive correlations with PCT, CRP, WBC, and no correlation to lactate. HBP at enrollment can be an independent indicator for severe sepsis and the dynamic changes at 72 h can be a predictor for in-hospital mortality in PICU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The wasp Anastatus disparis is an egg endoparasitoid of a number of Lepidopteran pest species. To better understand the A. disparis olfactory system, we observed the antennal sensilla of males and females under a scanning electron microscope and quantified their sizes and morphological characteristics. We identified the types of sensilla and counted the numbers and locations of the different types on the dorsal and ventral antennal surfaces. The antennae of A. disparis are geniculate, with flagella that comprise 11 subsegments in females and eight in males. The mean antenna length was 1324.10 ± 52.50 μm in females and 1323.93 ± 65.20 μm in males. Ten sensillum types were identified in both sexes: Böhm bristles (BBs), sensilla trichodea (ST, with subtypes STI and STII), sensilla chaetica (SCh), sensilla basiconica (SB, with subtypes SBI and SBII), sensilla placodea (SP), sensilla coeleoconica (SCo), sensilla grooved peg (SGP), sensilla auricillica (SAu), sensilla campaniformia (SCa), and glandular pores (GPs). The total numbers of BBs, STI, SBII, SCa, SCo, and GPs did not differ significantly between the sexes, whereas the total numbers of SCh, SBI, and SAu were significantly greater in females, and those of STII, SP, and SGP were significantly lower. The types, number, and density of antennal sensilla increased from the base to the end. The possible functions of these sensilla in host-detection behavior are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Generally, the standard method of applying sentinel lymph node biopsy in breast cancer patients is via a technetium-labeled nanocolloid (radiolabeled tracer) with or without blue dye. However, the radioactive agents may cause challenges both to hospitals and patients. Alternatively, a safer candidate method, such as SPIO, has been often introduced and validated in comparison with standard methods. The aim of this study was to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of SPIO and its clinical impact on the management of breast cancer. Based on our study, SPIO could be considered as an alternative standard of care for sentinel lymph node detection. Compared with the standard method, SPIO exhibited equivalent or even superior detection capacities, while safety could be guaranteed. Lower SPIO doses would also not impair detection capacity compared with the standard method. The absence of radioactivity of SPIO is one of the most important advantages for clinical applications. Superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO), an alternative mapping agent, can be used to identify sentinel lymph nodes in patients with clinically node-negative breast cancer. However, its performance in comparison with the standard method, using a radioisotope (technetium-99 m, Tc) alone or in combination with blue dye, remains controversial. Hence, a systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of SPIO and its clinical impact in the management of breast cancer. The PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane databases were comprehensively searched from inception to 1 May 2022. Cohort studies regarding the comparison of SPIO with standard methods for sentinel lymph node identification were included. A total of 19 prospective cohort studies, which collectively included 2298 clinically node-negative breast cancer patients undergoing sentinel lymph node identification through both the standard method and SPIO, were identified. The detection rate for sentinel lymph nodes (RR, 1.06; 95% CI, 1.05–1.08; p < 0.001) was considerably higher in the SPIO cohorts than in the standard method cohorts, although this difference was not significant in detected patients, patients with positive sentinel lymph nodes, or positive sentinel lymph nodes. Compared with the standard method, the SPIO method could be considered as an alternative standard of care for sentinel lymph node detection in patients with clinically node-negative breast cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Face anti-spoofing is a crucial link to ensure the security of face recognition. This paper proposes a novel face anti-spoofing method, which performs ordinal regression with representative feature strengthening to learn generalized and discriminative representation for the live and spoof face classification. Specifically, we propose a semantic label schema, which encodes the inter-class ordinal relationships among live and various spoof faces into supervision information to supervise deep neural networks to perform ordinal regression. It enables the learned model to finely constrain the relative distances among features of different categories in the feature space according to the ordinal relationships. The representative feature strengthening network is designed to strengthen important features and meanwhile weaken redundant features for the classification decision. It leverages a dual-task architecture that takes the same single image as input and shares representations via feature fusing blocks. The network first fuses hierarchical paired convolutional features of two streams to learn the common concern of the two related tasks and then, aggregates the learned local convolutional features into a global representation by a learnable feature weighting block. The network is trained to minimize the Kullback–Leibler divergence loss in an end-to-end manner supervised by the semantic labels. Extensive intra-dataset and cross-dataset experiments demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms the state-of-the-art approaches on four widely used face anti-spoofing datasets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within catalyst inks, the agglomeration of carbon-supported Pt nanoparticles (Pt/C NPs) stands out as a primary destabilizing factor. This study simulates the agglomeration process of particles under varying ionic strengths (ISs), employing the Brownian motion of Pt/C NPs and inter-particle forces. The energy barriers (EBs) within particles govern particle interactions, subsequently translating into the adhesive efficiency of particle collisions (α). By modulating the ISs in Ink-P (IS = 0.00182), Ink-01 (IS = 0.01), and Ink-001 (IS = 0.001), the Zeta potential and EBs are diminished, thereby increasing α. Structural parameters of agglomerates during the agglomeration process, such as fractal dimension (df) and porosity, are computationally assessed using Matlab. The simulated df for Ink-P, Ink-001, and Ink-01 are 1.82, 1.62, and 1.54, respectively, while the experimentally measured df are 1.92–1.95, 1.67–1.7, and 1.56–1.59, confirming the effectiveness of the simulation method. High α led to isotropic growth of agglomerates, resulting in higher df. Increased IS causes compression of the electric double layer and higher α , ultimately leading to rapid destabilization of the ink. This method not only enhances comprehension of nanoscale particle agglomeration, explaining variations in ink stability and agglomerate structures, but also broadens its applicability to diverse nanoparticle dispersion systems. [Display omitted] • A Brownian dynamics model was proposed to describe the aggregation of catalyst. • The effect of ionic strength on the agglomeration of catalyst was elucidated. • Higher ionic strength leads to poorer stability of the catalyst ink. • The fractal dimension of agglomerates was confirmed by simulation and experiment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is one of the world's leading causes of death and a major chronic disease, highly prevalent in the aging population exposed to tobacco smoke and airborne pollutants, which calls for early and useful biomolecular predictors. Roles of noncoding RNAs in COPD have been proposed, however, not many studies have systematically investigated the crosstalk among various transcripts in this context. The construction of RNA functional networks such as lncRNA-mRNA, and circRNA-miRNA-mRNA interaction networks could therefore facilitate our understanding of RNA interactions in COPD. Here, we identified the expression of RNA transcripts in RNA sequencing from COPD patients, and the potential RNA networks were further constructed.Methods: All fresh peripheral blood samples of three patients with COPD and three non-COPD patients were collected and examined for mRNA, miRNA, lncRNA, and circRNA expression followed by qRT-PCR validation. We also examined mRNA expression to enrich relevant biological pathways. lncRNA-mRNA coexpression network and circRNA-miRNA-mRNA network in COPD were constructed.Results: In this study, we have comprehensively identified and analyzed the differentially expressed mRNAs, lncRNAs, miRNAs, and circRNAs in peripheral blood of COPD patients with high-throughput RNA sequencing. 282 mRNAs, 146 lncRNAs, 85 miRNAs, and 81 circRNAs were differentially expressed. GSEA analysis showed that these differentially expressed RNAs correlate with several critical biological processes such as "ncRNA metabolic process", "ncRNA processing", "ribosome biogenesis", "rRNAs metabolic process", "tRNA metabolic process" and "tRNA processing", which might be participating in the progression of COPD. RT-qPCR with more clinical COPD samples was used for the validation of some differentially expressed RNAs, and the results were in high accordance with the RNA sequencing. Given the putative regulatory function of lncRNAs and circRNAs, we have constructed the co-expression network between lncRNA and mRNA. To demonstrate the potential interactions between circRNAs and miRNAs, we have also constructed a competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) network of differential expression circRNA-miRNA-mRNA in COPD.Conclusions: In this study, we have identified and analyzed the differentially expressed mRNAs, lncRNAs, miRNAs, and circRNAs, providing a systematic view of the differentially expressed RNA in the context of COPD. We have also constructed the lncRNA-mRNA co-expression network, and for the first time constructed the circRNA-miRNA-mRNA in COPD. This study reveals the RNA involvement and potential regulatory roles in COPD, and further uncovers the interactions among those RNAs, which will assist the pathological investigations of COPD and shed light on therapeutic targets exploration for COPD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The working life of a stack is basically determined by the behavior of its weakest monomer; therefore, during a dynamic loading process, high-voltage uniformity plays a key role in stack durability. This work experimentally investigated dynamic responses and voltage uniformity with different loading strategies from an initial state (open-circuit state) to a target current at subzero temperatures. The results presented that the maximum voltage coefficient variation Cv values, representing the relative standard deviation of the monomer voltage, increased from 19.75 to 35.65 and the voltage uniformity sharply decreased with the increase in loading sizes at the stack temperature of −4 °C. It was possible that this could result in the instability of the single cell voltage output and a voltage uniformity fluctuation with a high step loading amplitude. The voltage uniformity became worse as the stack temperature decreased from −2 °C to −8 °C, the voltage uniformity between single cells of the stack continued to deteriorate under a step current density of 0.15 A/cm2 at a relatively low temperature of −8 °C. By comparing several constant loading rate strategies, it could be ascertained that reducing the loading rate was conducive to voltage uniformity in the whole investigated process. A comparison of the different loading rates indicated that the square increasing loading rate strategy is the best strategy among them and a Cv threshold of 5.5 can be obtained during the whole load process at a temperature of −4 °C, which might be a guideline and provide a reference in actual engineering applications for PEMFC dynamic loading responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Enterovirus (EV), parechovirus (HPeV), herpes simplex virus 1 and 2 (HSV1/2) are common viruses leading to viral central nervous system (CNS) infections which are increasingly predominant but exhibit deficiency in definite pathogen diagnosis with gold-standard quantitative PCR method. Previous studies have shown that droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) has great potential in pathogen detection and quantification, especially in low concentration samples. Methods: Targeting four common viruses of EV, HPeV, HSV1, and HSV2 in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), we developed a multiplex ddPCR assay using probe ratio-based multiplexing strategy, analyzed the performance, and evaluated it in 97 CSF samples collected from patients with suspected viral CNS infections on a two-channel ddPCR detection system. Results: The four viruses were clearly distinguished by their corresponding fluorescence amplitude. The limits of detection for EV, HPeV, HSV1, and HSV2 were 5, 10, 5, and 10 copies per reaction, respectively. The dynamic range was at least four orders of magnitude spanning from 2000 to 2 copies per reaction. The results of 97 tested clinical CSF specimens were identical to those deduced from qPCR/qRT-PCR assays using commercial kits. Conclusion: The multiplex ddPCR assay was demonstrated to be an accurate and robust method which could detect EV, HPeV, HSV1, and HSV2 simultaneously. It provides a useful tool for clinical diagnosis and disease monitoring of viral CNS infections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phyllostachys edulis (P. edulis) bamboo is the most widely distributed and used bamboo species, and it is an ideal building material. With the in-depth implementation of the sustainable development strategy, modern bamboo structures have broad application prospects in green buildings. In order to promote the efficient utilization of bamboo resources and facilitate the design and application of bamboo structures, the bending strength test and classification of P. edulis bamboo were carried out, the factors affecting the reliability were analyzed, and the design values of the bending strength of P. edulis bamboo were proposed based on the reliability analysis. The research results show that dividing P. edulis bamboo into three levels (grade I, grade II, and grade III) can achieve efficient use of P. edulis bamboo resources; 75% fitting data points and normal distribution were used to analyze the reliability of the bending strength of P. edulis bamboo. The analysis of factors affecting reliability makes the calculation of strength design values more reliable. The reliability increases with the increase of the load ratio and the partial factor for resistance. Under the same load ratio and reliability, the partial factor for resistance of the combination of constant load and snow load is the largest, and the partial factor for resistance of the combination of constant load and office building load is the smallest. Under the same load combination and reliability, the partial factor for resistance decreases as the load ratio increases. Under the same load ratio and load combination, the partial factor for resistance of grade III is the largest, and grade I is the smallest. The bending strength design values of grade I, grade II, and grade III are 29.54 MPa, 29.62 MPa, and 30.63 MPa, respectively. This paper innovatively proposed the design values of bending strength of P. edulis bamboo based on classification. The P. edulis bamboo grading method established in this paper and the bending strength design values of P. edulis bamboo proposed can provide references for the design and engineering application of bamboo structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heavy oil is an important part of petroleum hydrocarbon energy. With the depletion of conventional crude oil reserves, successful and efficient exploitation of heavy oil resources is becoming increasingly important. This article focuses on the nine relatively mature heavy oil development technologies from the perspectives of the level of understanding of the mechanism and the scale of the mining field: steam huff and puff, steam flooding, steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD), in situ combustion, thermochemical combined flooding, multicomponent thermal fluid, polymer flooding, chemical viscosity reduction development, and microbial oil recovery, which are divided into two technical categories: thermal recovery and cold recovery development. The basic development principles are explained, and application examples of the two categories of techniques are provided. It is pointed out that thermal compounding, cold mining development, and nanomaterial applications will be the three development trends in heavy oil development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-directional rafting of γ' phases in high generation nickel-based single crystal superalloys happens when the alloys are thermally exposed at high temperatures, but so far the reason remains unclear. The microstructures and internal stress fields of a 4th generation single crystal superalloy during thermal exposure at 1100 ℃ and 950 ℃ are investigated using transmission electron microscopy and finite element analysis. It is found that the non-directional rafting of γ' phases occurs after 1100 ℃/200 h and 950 ℃/500 h thermal exposures. The γ' phases are mainly rodlike shape in the space after thermal exposures and a small quantity of γ' rafts exist as well. The elastic strain energy gradient in γ matrix caused by the inhomogeneity of matrix channel width in the alloy is most likely the driving force for the non-directional rafting. Additionally, dislocations are observed only after the thermal exposure process at 1100 ℃. The effect of dislocations on non-directional rafting during thermal exposure is discussed in detail in the paper. • TEM and finite element analysis are used to study non-directional rafting of γ'. • γ' phases are mainly rodlike spatially after thermal exposure at high temperature. • It is found that dislocations are unnecessary for the non-directional rafting. • Elastic strain energy is larger in narrower γ matrix channel at high temperature. • Elastic strain energy gradient in matrix probably causes non-directional rafting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Algorithms have been designed for robot motion planning with various adaptability to different problems. However, how to choose the most suitable planner in a scene has always been a problem worthy of research. This paper aims to find the most suitable motion planner for each query under three different scenes and six different queries. The work lies in optimization of sampling-based motion planning algorithms through motion planning pipeline and planning request adapter. The idea is to use the pre-processing of the planning request adapter, to run OMPL as a pre-processer for the optimized CHOMP or STOMP algorithm, and connect through the motion planning pipeline, to realize the optimization of the motion trajectory. The optimized trajectories are compared with original trajectories through benchmarking. The benchmarking determines the most suitable motion planning algorithm for different scenarios and different queries. Experimental results show that after optimization, the planning time of the algorithm is longer, but the efficiency is significantly improved. In the low-complexity scenes, STOMP optimizes the sampling algorithm very well, improves the trajectory quality greatly, and has a higher success rate. CHOMP also has a good optimization of the sampling algorithm, but it reduces the success rate of the original algorithm. However, in more complex scenes, optimization performance of the two optimization methods may not be as good as the original algorithm. In future work, we need to find better algorithms and better optimization algorithms to tackle with complex scenes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pulsewidth-modulated (PWM) current-source converters (CSCs) have the features of simple configuration, reliable short-circuit protection, and sinusoidal ac output voltages. The conventional space-vector modulation (SVM) scheme usually generates high-magnitude low-order harmonics in CSCs with low switching frequency. In this article, two modified SVM schemes, namely MSVM1 and MSVM2, are proposed to improve the harmonic performance for PWM CSCs in the high-power applications with low switching frequencies. The MSVM1 scheme focuses on eliminating the average dwell-time error of current vectors within each sampling period, while the MSVM2 scheme is targeted to achieve the accurate dwell time of current vectors as that of the natural sampling-based SVM scheme. The theoretical analysis and the calculation equations of dwell time are derived for both MSVM1 and MSVM2. The experiments are given to verify the effectiveness of the two modified SVM schemes in improving the harmonic performance of high-power CSCs with low switching frequencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The multifaceted non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) taken during the COVID-19 pandemic not only decrease the spreading of the SARS-CoV-2, but have impact on the prevalence of other viruses. This study aimed to explore the prevalence of common respiratory viruses among hospitalized children with lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI) in China during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Respiratory specimens were obtained from children with LRTI at Children's Hospital of Fudan University for detection of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), adenovirus (ADV), parainfluenza virus (PIV) 1 to 3, influenza virus A (FluA), influenza virus B (FluB), human metapneumovirus (MPV) and rhinovirus (RV). The data were analyzed and compared between the year of 2020 (COVID-19 pandemic) and 2019 (before COVID-19 pandemic). Results: A total of 7107 patients were enrolled, including 4600 patients in 2019 and 2507 patients in 2020. Compared with 2019, we observed an unprecedented reduction of RSV, ADV, FluA, FluB, and MPV infections in 2020, despite of reopening of schools in June, 2020. However, the RV infection was significantly increased in 2020 and a sharp increase was observed especially after reopening of schools. Besides, the PIV infection showed resurgent characteristic after September of 2020. The mixed infections were significantly less frequent in 2020 compared with the year of 2019. Conclusions: The NPIs during the COVID-19 pandemic have great impact on the prevalence of common respiratory viruses in China. Meanwhile, we do need to be cautious of a possible resurgence of some respiratory viruses as the COVID-19 restrictions are relaxed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the difference in oil and water density, the wellhead pressure continues to decrease with water-cut rising in deep-water volatile oilfields. Once it is close to the lower limit, the production well will stop flowing. This phenomenon seriously affects the production and recoverable reserves. By taking the dynamic relative permeability which can reflect the macroscopic movement of oil and water in the reservoir as an intermediate bridge, production performance has been combined with dominant reservoir factors, including reservoir structure, reservoir connectivity, and heterogeneity. By the statistical analysis of actual data, this paper clarified the quantitative relationships between dominant reservoir factors and production performance and established the refined prediction methods for production dynamics including water-cut and liquid production rate. A prediction method for the wellhead pressure was further established, and the flow-stop time of single well can be accurately predicted. The results can be used in annual production forecast and recoverable reserve evaluation. This method had been successfully applied in Akpo oilfields in the Niger Basin. The results show that the production dynamics are significantly affected by reservoir factors in deep-water turbidite sandstone reservoir and the prediction method considering reservoir factors will be much more applicable. In deep-water volatile oilfields, the flow-stop risk of the production well in middle and high water-cut stages is very great and is mainly affected by the water-cut and liquid production rate. Judging from the application effect of Akpo oilfields, this method has high prediction accuracy and can be used to guide optimization and adjustment in deep-water oilfields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Utilization of resistance (R) genes to breed resistant cultivars is one of the most effective and economical approach to control rice bacterial blight (BB). Xa7, a dominant, broad-spectrum and durable BB-resistant gene, is an ideal gene resource to improve the resistance of rice varieties to bacterial blight, and this well-known gene with important breeding value has been cloned in our recent study. The isolation of Xa7 will facilitate its application in rice breeding by molecular maker-assisted selection (MAS). In this study, based on the specific sequences in the promoter of Xa7, a functional marker, named as MX7, was developed, which can effectively distinguish the dominant BB-resistant Xa7, the recessive BB-susceptible xa7 and the null allele from different rice varieties. Since MX7 is a dominant marker, it can't tell homozygous from heterozygous, a co-dominant marker closely linked to Xa7, named as M6, was developed simultaneously. After verified by amplification in numerous rice varieties and sequence alignment in RICE 3 K database, it is proved that marker M6 is co-segregated with the Xa7 locus. In addition, the effectiveness and accuracy of the two markers were further validated by two F2 populations. Finally, the designed makers were effectively applied in MAS breeding to improve the BB-resistance of a susceptible variety. This study not only provides reliable functional markers for the identification of Xa7 gene in different rice materials, but also will contribute to the application of Xa7 gene in marker-assisted selection to breed rice varieties with durable disease resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes an improved space vector modulation (SVM) for the current-source rectifier (CSR). Due to the overlap time during commutations of power switches, the pulsewidth-modulation (PWM) currents of CSR may suffer from a number of low-order (mainly fifth and seventh) harmonics, which seriously degrade the harmonic performance of currents and voltages on the grid side. Especially, the overlap-time effect becomes an important issue when the increased switching frequency is applied to CSR. To mitigate these low-order harmonics of the PWM converter currents resulted from the overlap-time effect, the relationship between the overlap time and the low-order harmonics in PWM currents and grid currents are analyzed at first. Then, the design process of the LC filter and the proposed SVM with optimal overlap-time distribution is presented in details. Finally, experimental results are conducted on a low power laboratory prototype to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To evaluate the andalusite role on the fracture behavior of Al 2 O 3 –SiO 2 castables and reveal the improvement mechanism of flexibility, Al 2 O 3 –SiO 2 castables with various andalusite additions (0, 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 wt%) were prepared adopting homogenized bauxite, andalusite, calcium aluminate cement, microsilica and ultrafine α-Al 2 O 3 powder as raw materials. Wedge splitting test was used to determine fracture behavior of Al 2 O 3 –SiO 2 castables. The improvement mechanism of toughness was discussed according to the analysis of microstructure. The results show that incorporation of andalusite is an effective way to change fracture behavior and improve the flexibility of the Al 2 O 3 –SiO 2 castables. The force-displacement curve of the Al 2 O 3 –SiO 2 castables without andalusite addition is featured with a linear fracture behavior, while the force-displacement curves of the Al 2 O 3 –SiO 2 castables containing andalusite are characterized by a nonlinear fracture behavior. The flexibility parameter (G F /σ NT ratio) rises markedly from 35.3 μm of the castable without andalusite to 197.8 μm of the castables with 40% of andalusite addition, which increases more than twice. Microcracks toughening plays one major role in the improvement of the flexibility of Al 2 O 3 –SiO 2 castables containing andalusite. The formation of microcracks can be attributed to mismatch of coefficient of thermal expansion between andalusite particles and matrix, caused by anisotropic behavior of andalusite aggregates and mullitized andalusite aggregates. The interlocking microstructure of in situ formed mullite grain in the matrix is the second reason for the toughness improvement of Al 2 O 3 –SiO 2 castables containing andalusite. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cracks are a common defect in the catalyst layers (CLs) of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs), deteriorating their performance. This study proposes benzoic acid as a cracking inhibitor in the catalyst ink. The additive strengthens the network of catalyst particles by promoting attractive interaction within them. Molecular dynamics simulations demonstrate that the inhibitor facilitates the desorption of ionomer from the Pt/carbon surface, weakening the repulsion force within catalyst particles. Rheology experiments indicate that the addition of benzoic acid transforms the catalyst ink from a sol-like to a gel-like, improving its viscosity and storage modulus. The stronger attractive interactions within the inhibitor-added ink impart anti-cracking ability, preventing stress release during the drying process. Furthermore, optical microscopy reveals a significant decrease in both the crack area and the maximum length of cracks in the CL after incorporating the inhibitor. Specifically, the crack area decreases from 13% to 2%, while the maximum crack length decreases from nearly 400 μm to 150 μm. Single cell tests show that the inhibitor-added sample exhibits a higher peak power density of 0.893 W/cm2 compared to the standard sample's 0.873 W/cm2. Overall, this study presents an effective method for manufacturing high-quality CLs in PEMFCs, ensuring improved performance. • Benzoic acid is employed to improve the anti-cracking ability of catalyst layers. • Internal states of catalyst inks are studied by a molecular dynamic simulation. • Benzoic acid promotes the desorption of ionomer from surface of catalyst. • Strong attractive interactions within ink prevent cracking of wet film. • Evolution processes of wet films are observed by optimal microscopy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Locating the physical position of functional units of the chip is a mandatory first step in various fields of applications, such as reverse engineering and hardware security. This paper presents a frequency mapping method based on the coaxial microscope to locate functional units inside ICs. A visible light camera is employed to focus the laser on the active region of the device under test based on the principle that the laser is strongly reflected at the metal in the active region. The target circuit modulates the laser at its operating frequency and the position of the target circuit could be accurately located by analyzing the frequency characteristics of the reflected laser. The results of transceiver chip localization indicate that the target circuit on the chip can be precisely located by this method without any additional processing of the chip. The coaxial microscopy design provides a good spot quality and signal‐to‐noise ratio, meanwhile, locating areas of the chip with operating currents down to 10−10 A, compared with that of photonic emission analysis can only achieve the sensitivity of 5 × 10−4 A. The sensitivity of the frequency mapping method is much better than that of Photonic Emission Analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A vertex subset S of a given graph G = (V , E) is called a connected k -path vertex cover (CVCP k) if every k -path of G contains at least one vertex from S , and the subgraph of G induced by S is connected. This concept has its background in the field of security and supervisory and the computation of a minimum CVCP k is NP-hard. In this paper, we give a (2 α + 1 ∕ 2)-approximation algorithm for MinCVCP 3 , where α is the performance ratio of an algorithm for MinVCP 3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anodes for lithium metal batteries, sodium metal batteries, and potassium metal batteries are susceptible to failure due to dendrite growth. This review details the structure–chemistry–performance relations in membranes that stabilize the anodes' solid electrolyte interphase (SEI), allowing for stable electrochemical plating/stripping. Case studies involving Li, Na, and K are presented to illustrate key concepts. "Classical" versus "modern" understandings of the SEI are described, with an emphasis on the new structural insights obtained through novel analytical techniques, including in situ liquid‐secondary ion mass spectroscopy, titration gas chromatography, and tip‐enhanced Raman spectroscopy. This Review highlights diverse approaches for increasing SEI stability, either by inserting a secondary layer between the native SEI and the separator, or by combining the membrane with a native SEI to form a hybrid composite. Exciting and nonintuitive findings are discussed, such as that the metal anode roughness profoundly affects the SEI structure and stability, or that organic artificial SEI‐layers may be more effective than the native inorganic–organic SEIs. Emerging multifunctional architectures are presented, which serve a dual role as metal hosts and metal surface protection layers. Throughout the Review, fruitful future research directions and the critical areas where there is incomplete understanding are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a model to quantify the multiscale representation of a polyline based on iterative head/tail breaks. A polyline is first transformed into a corresponding Fourier descriptor consisting of normalized Fourier-series-expansion coefficients. Then, the most significant finite components of the Fourier descriptor are selected and ranked to constitute the polyline constrained Fourier descriptor. Using Shannon's information theory, information content of the constrained Fourier-descriptor components is defined. Next, head/tail breaks are introduced to iteratively divide the constrained Fourier descriptor into head and tail components according to the heavy-tailed distribution of information contents. Thus, simplified polylines are reconstructed using ordered heads generated from head/tail breaks. Finally, the radical law is introduced and applied to model multiscale polyline representation by quantifying the scale of each simplified polyline. Three experiments are designed and conducted to evaluate the proposed model. The results demonstrate that the proposed model is valid and efficient for quantifying multiscale polyline representation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A (k − 1)-approximation for the minimum weight connected- k -subgraph cover for a graph with girth > 2 k / 3 when k > 4. • This improves a previous result by relaxing the girth constraint from at least k to greater than 2 k / 3. • It improves previous ratio O (log ⁡ k) for the cardinality version when k < 45. For a given graph G , the minimum weight connected- k -subgraph cover problem (MinWC k SC) is to find a minimum weight vertex subset C of G such that each connected subgraph of G on k vertices contains at least one vertex of C. Previously, Zhang et al. [37] presented a (k − 1) -approximation algorithm for MinWC k SC under the assumption that the girth of G , which is the length of a shortest cycle of G , is at least k. In this paper, we improve this result by showing that (k − 1) -approximation can be achieved when the girth requirement is relaxed from k to 2 k / 3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This tutorial review explains the emerging understanding of the surface and bulk chemistry – electrochemical performance relations in anode supports (aka secondary current collectors, substrates, templates, hosts) for lithium, sodium and potassium metal batteries (LMBs, SMBs or NMBs, and KMBs or PMBs). In relation to each section, the possible future research directions that may yield both new insight and improved cycling behavior are explored. Representative case studies from Li, Na and K metal anode literature are discussed. The tutorial starts with an overview of the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI), covering both the "classic" understanding of the SEI structure and the "modern" insights obtained by site-specific cryogenic stage TEM analysis. Next, the multiple roles of supports in promoting cycling stability are detailed. Without an optimized support architecture, the metal–electrolyte interface becomes geometrically unstable at a lower current density and cycle number. Taking into consideration the available literature on LMBs, SMBs and KMBs, it is concluded that effective architectures are geometrically complex and electrochemically lithiophilic, sodiophilic or potassiophilic, so as to promote conformal electrochemical wetting of the metal during plating/stripping. One way that philicity is achieved is through support oxygen surface chemistry, which yields a reversibly reactive metal–support interface. Examples of this include the well-known oxygen–carbon moieties in reduced graphene oxide (rGO), as well as classic ion battery reversible conversion reaction oxides such as SnO2. Unreactive surfaces lead to dewetted island growth of the metal, which is a precursor to dendrites, and possibly to non-uniform dissolution. Surveying the literature on various Li, Na and K metal supports, it is concluded that the key bulk thermodynamic property that will predict electrochemical wetting behavior is the enthalpy of infinite solution (ΔsolH∞) of the metal (solute) into the support (solvent). Large and negative ΔsolH∞ promotes uniform metal wetting on the support surface, corresponding to relatively low plating overpotential. Positive ΔsolH∞ promotes dewetted islands and a relatively high overpotential. This simple rule explains a broad range of studies on Li, Na and K metal – support interactions, including the previously reported correlation between mutual solubility and wetting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The operating life of the proton exchange membrane fuel cell stack is mainly decided by performances of its weakest single cell because of the "Buckets effect", thus high voltage uniformity during a dynamic loading process is key to the stack durability. In this work, a 3-kW stack is examined experimentally on its voltage uniformity (voltage coefficient variation (Cv)) under conditions of loading from open-circuit state (0 A) to nominal current (165 A) and stack temperatures of 30 °C, 45 °C and 65 °C. Different dynamic loading strategies, namely constant loading rate strategy, decreasing loading rate strategy, and increasing loading rate (square/cube increasing loading rate) strategy, are examined and compared. Results display that during the loading process, (a) the voltage uniformity rises abruptly and goes down quickly when the loading current is small (e.g. from 0 A to 22 A), (b) the voltage uniformity under a small loading current is better than that under the open-circuit state, and (c) voltage uniformity decreases as the loading current increases from a small value to the nominal current. Comparisons of different current loading strategies show that as the stack temperature rises from 30 °C to 65 °C, the stack Cv value under the open-circuit state increases from 1.12 to 1.84 and decreases from 3.85 to 2.45 in the nominal current state. The maximum Cv for the decreasing loading rate strategy decreases from 16.25 to 9.49 and that of the constant loading rate strategy also decreases from 5.85 to 4.96. Cv values of the square current increasing loading rate strategy keep below 3.85 under conditions of the three stack temperatures and display a slight fluctuation during the whole current loading process, which indicates that the strategy can effectively make the stack being of an excellent voltage uniformity during the instantaneous response process. • Theoretical analyses are presented for Cv variation. • Different dynamic current loading strategies are compared. • A better current loading rate strategy is developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study the minimum (connected) k -bounded-degree node deletion problem (Min(C) k BDND). For a connected graph G , a constant k and a weight function w : V → R + , a vertex set C ⊆ V (G) is a k BDND-set if the maximum degree of graph G − C is at most k. If furthermore, the subgraph of G induced by C is connected, then C is a C k BDND-set. The goal of MinW k BDND (resp. MinWC k BDND) is to find a k BDND-set (resp. C k BDND-set) with the minimum weight. In this paper, we focus on their cardinality versions with w (v) ≡ 1 , v ∈ V , which are denoted as Min k BDND and MinC k BDND. This paper presents a (1 + ε) and a 3.76-approximation algorithm for Min k BDND and MinC k BDND on unit disk graphs, respectively, where 0 < ε < 1 is an arbitrary constant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the switching strategy and the remedial control scheme are studied for the cascaded current-source converters (CSCs) fed dual three-phase permanent-magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) variable-speed drives. An optimized space vector modulation (SVM) strategy is proposed to reduce the DC-link current ripple for the proposed drives system. In particular, this switching strategy can work effectively for motor drives under low speed with low back EMF, where there exists a large voltage difference between peak voltage values on the grid side and the motor side. Apart from that, a hybrid fault-tolerant control scheme is also designed for the open-phase fault in dual three-phase PMSM drives system, aiming at achieving small DC-link current ripple and torque ripple, low copper loss, and machine-friendly waveform quality. With the proposed optimized SVM and the hybrid fault-tolerant control strategy, the DC-link current ripple of the cascaded CSCs system can be effectively reduced and good operational performance can be obtained under both normal operation condition and open-phase fault condition. Experimental results are provided to verify the effectiveness of the proposed methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

microRNAs (miRNAs) are increasingly recognized as important regulators of many biological processes in mosquitoes, vectors of numerous devastating infectious diseases. Identification of bona fide targets remains the bottleneck for functional studies of miRNAs. In this study, we used CLEAR-CLIP assays to systematically analyze miRNA-mRNA interactions in adult female Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes. Thousands of miRNA-target pairs were captured after direct ligation of the miRNA and its cognate target transcript in endogenous Argonaute–miRNA–mRNA complexes. Using two interactions detected in this manner, miR-309-SIX4 and let-7-kr-h1, we demonstrated the reliability of this experimental approach in identifying in vivo gene regulation by miRNAs. The miRNA-mRNA interaction dataset provided an invaluable opportunity to decipher targeting rules of mosquito miRNAs. Enriched motifs in the diverse targets of each miRNA indicated that the majority of mosquito miRNAs rely on seed-based canonical target recognition, while noncanonical miRNA binding sites are widespread and often contain motifs complementary to the central or 3' ends of miRNAs. The time-lapse study of miRNA-target interactomes in adult female mosquitoes revealed dynamic miRNA regulation of gene expression in response to varying nutritional sources and physiological demands. Interestingly, some miRNAs exhibited flexibility to use distinct sequences at different stages for target recognition. Furthermore, many miRNA-mRNA interactions displayed stage-specific patterns, especially for those genes involved in metabolism, suggesting that miRNAs play critical roles in precise control of gene expression to cope with enormous physiological demands associated with egg production. The global mapping of miRNA-target interactions contributes to our understanding of miRNA targeting specificity in non-model organisms. It also provides a roadmap for additional studies focused on regulatory functions of miRNAs in Anopheles gambiae. Author summary: Metazoan miRNAs typically bind to partially complementary sites in their target mRNAs. The interactions between miRNAs and target RNAs are generally stage-specific and context-dependent. Thus, identification of authentic miRNA targets remains a big challenge. Target identification is even more difficult in mosquitoes where miRNA-mRNA pairing rules are poorly characterized. Using an experimental approach, this study captures thousands of endogenous miRNA-target interactions in female mosquitoes at several critical stages during adult reproduction. Analyses of the target sequences reveal how individual miRNAs accomplish their target recognition in mosquitoes. Interestingly, many mosquito miRNAs exhibit flexibility to use distinct sequences at different stages to pair with their targets, greatly altering target selectivity and expanding target repertoire of miRNAs. Drastic changes in mRNA abundance have been previously reported when adult female mosquitoes attend to varying nutritional sources and physiological demands. The temporal patterns of miRNA-target interactions obtained in this study provide new insights into the roles of miRNAs in tightly controlled gene expression associated with blood-feeding and mosquito oogenesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Releasing a new dataset for face anti-spoofing. • Proposing a novel method for face anti-spoofing. • Combining the discriminating ability of visible light and near-infrared spectrum. • Outperforming in distinguishing single-category or multi-category mixed attacks. • Experiment results show improvement on performance over other approaches. Face anti-spoofing has become a vital element for guaranteeing the security of face recognition systems. Previous face anti-spoofing approaches generally exploit cues in visible light images or near-infrared images individually. Few studies pay attention to fusing visible light and near-infrared images for face anti-spoofing. However, the strengths and weaknesses of visible light images and near-infrared images for face anti-spoofing can be complementary. In this study, we introduce a new face anti-spoofing dataset named as CIGIT-PPM, which includes paired visible light and near-infrared images with spoofing medium, distance, pose, expression and session variations for both print and 3D mask attacks. Further, we propose a novel fusing paired visible light and near-infrared spectral images CNN based approach for face anti-spoofing, combining the discriminating ability of both visible light and near-infrared spectral images. Specifically, an end-to-end CNN is employed to learn fusing representation from paired images and do classification at multilevel, and then weight averaged strategy is utilized to integrate the classification probability of different levels, which gives the final result that the input paired images are captured from a live face or a spoof face. Extensive experiments show that our method achieves state-of-the-art results on self-collected dataset CIGIT-PPM and public dataset msspoof. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

LiTiO 2 film-coated layered LiNi 0.815 Co 0.15 Al 0.035 O 2 (NCA) material was successfully synthesised through in situ hydrolysis–lithiation to improve electrochemical properties. Herein, NCA was synthesised using solid state reaction, coated by hydrolysis of tetrabutyl titanate and subjected to lithiation process. The optimal molar ratio (LiTiO 2 : NCA) was found to be 1.0 mol%, and the thickness of LiTiO 2 film coated on the surface of NCA of 18 nm was observed through HRTEM images. Compared with pristine NCA, 1.0 mol% LiTiO 2 -coated NCA demonstrated better electrochemical performance with larger capacity of 20 mAh g−1 under 1 C after 100 cycles. Its related capacity retention was 90.8%. The 1.0 mol% LiTiO 2 -coated sample exhibited high discharge capacity of 157.6 mAh g−1 at a current rate of 10 C, whereas the pristine sample only presented 145.3 mAh g−1. The considerably improvement of the rate and cycling properties of the NCA cathode material is achieved using LiTiO 2 as a Li+-conductive coating layer. These new findings contribute towards the design of a stable-structured Ni-rich material for lithium-ion batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• DOX-keratin conjugate was synthesized through a pH-sensitive hydrazone linkage. • DOX-keratin Conjugate was prepared into particulate drug carrier(KDNPs) via desolvation method. • KDNPs performed an excellent pH-sensitive behavior under acidic tumor microenvironment. • KDNPs exhibited the enhanced cytotoxicity against A549 cells without hemolysis. Keratin is a good candidate for drug carrier due to its good biocompatibility, low immunogenicity, redox responsiveness, and abundant renewable sources. Herein, doxorubicin (DOX) was first conjugated with keratin through a pH-sensitive hydrazone linkage, and then prepared into particulate drug carrier via desolvation method. The size, morphology, and surface potential of keratin-DOX nanoparticles (KDNPs) were characterized by dynamic light scattering (DLS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The drug release results showed that KDNPs performed an excellent pH-sensitive behavior under acidic tumor microenvironment. Cytotoxicity assay by MTT confirmed that KDNPs exhibited the enhanced cytotoxicity against A549 cells. Furthermore, KDNPs had higher therapeutic efficiency in vivo than free DOX. Hemolysis assay indicated that KDNPs was blood compatible. All the results identified that KDNPs are well suited as an ideal drug carrier. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

0.123%Pd encapsulated in nanosized silicalite-1 (MFI) zeolite catalysts has been prepared by direct hydrothermal conditions, and its catalytic performance at the low concentration methane combustion was studied. The temperatures for methane ignition (T 10%), the half-conversion temperature (T 50%) and the total conversion temperature (T 90%) over Pd/S-1-in (in-situ method) catalyst are 261, 329 and 382 °C, respectively, which are lower than the corresponding temperatures of Pd/S-1-im (incipient impregnation method) catalyst. Moreover, the properties are further enhanced by introducing CeO 2 into the Pd/S-1-in catalyst. The conversion rate decreased slightly from 91 to 85% when the reaction is carried out at 450 °C for 100 h at the gas hourly space velocities (GHSV) of 112500 mL g−1 h−1. The XPS analysis showed that Pd clusters were encapsulated within the porous rather than on the surface of the crystal by in-situ method. The HRTEM studies demonstrated that the Pd particle encapsulated within Silicalite-1 zeolites are well dispersed and evenly distributed throughout the Silicalite-1 zeolites. The average size of in situ Pd particle encapsulated in Silicalite-1 zeolite is 1.7 nm, which is much smaller than the impregnated Pd/S-1-im catalyst (2.8 nm). The TEM studies demonstrated that the average particle size of Pd prepared by in situ method (Pd/S-1-in) is less than prepared by impregnation method (Pd/S-1-im). The XPS analysis showed that Pd clusters were encapsulated within the porous rather than on the surface of the crystal by in-situ method. 0.123%Pd/S-1-in catalyst exhibits excellent properties in low-concentration methane oxidation. Image 1 • The in-situ synthesis method is advantageous for obtaining smaller Pd, which encapsulating the Pd clusters within zeolite. • The 0.123% Pd/S-1-in catalyst shows high performance on low-concentration methane oxidation. • Introducing CeO 2 can improve the stability of 0.123 Pd/S-1-in catalyst. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long non-coding (lnc)RNA heart and neural crest derivatives expressed 2-antisense RNA 1 (HAND2-AS1), an lncRNA antisense transcript adjacent to the heart and neural crest derivatives expressed 2 protein (HAND2), inhibits the development of several types of cancer; however, its role in melanoma is currently unknown. In the present study, it was revealed that lncRNA HAND2-AS1 was downregulated, whereas Rho-associated protein kinase 1 (ROCK1) mRNA was upregulated in tumor tissues when compared with the healthy tissues of patients with melanoma. Expression levels of lncRNA HAND2-AS1 and ROCK1 were inversely correlated in tumor tissues, but not in healthy tissues. LncRNA HAND2-AS1 expression levels were affected by tumor thickness, but not by tumor metastasis. LncRNA HAND2-AS1 overexpression led to inhibited melanoma cancer cell proliferation and an increased expression level of ROCK1. ROCK1 overexpression caused no evident effects on lncRNA HAND2-AS1 expression, but promoted cancer cell proliferation and decreased the effects of lncRNA HAND2-AS1 overexpression on cancer cell proliferation. Thus, it is possible that lncRNA HAND2-AS1 overexpression leads to inhibited cancer cell proliferation in melanoma cells through the downregulation of ROCK1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Changbaishan Tianchi volcano is the largest active volcano of China and the 946 CE VEI 6 "Millennium eruption" (ME) is responsible for the formation of its summit caldera. After the ME, the volcanic activity is characterized by smaller eruptions most of which are recorded only in historical documents. Here we analyze the deposits of the ME and 1403 CE eruption outcropping in the Heishigou section, which is located east of the Chagbaishan Tianchi caldera. We present whole-rock, glass, mineral, isotopic, and geobarometric data to obtain information on the vertical extent of the caldera and post-caldera plumbing system of the volcano. Results show that the plumbing system of the 1403 CE eruption is located between 1.9 and 5.4 km depth, which is also the depth range of the shallower reservoir of the ME. Therefore, the magma reservoir of the ME was active also after the caldera collapse. The 1403 CE magma stored in the ME reservoir evolved by fractional crystallization of the residual ME trachytic magma and underwent the contamination of upper crust material. The 1403 CE event was triggered by the injection of less evolved, mafic magma from depth. The inferred depth of the shallower ME reservoir and that of the 1403 CE eruption is the same of the present-day main geophysical anomalies (low seismic velocity and low resistivity) recorded below the Changbaishan Tianchi caldera. In addition, the source of the deformations related to the uplift during unrest episodes between 2002 and 2020 suggests a refilling of the 1403 CE plumbing system. We conclude that the plumbing system of the 1403 CE, post-caldera activity at Changbaishan Tianchi volcano is the same of the ME eruption and it is still active. This system may be recharged from the arrival of less evolved magma from depth. The proposed conceptual model of the post-caldera volcanism at Changbaishan Tianchi represents a reference framework to interpret the signals of unrest and decipher the dynamics of the present-day plumbing system. [Display omitted] • Injection of new magma from depth triggered the 1403 CE and 'Millennium' eruptions. • Depth of magma chambers determined by combining geobarometry and geophysical data. • The vertically extended plumbing system of the 1403 CE eruption is still active. • Conceptual model of the Changbaishan Tianchi volcano plumbing system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An important indicator of forest dynamics is the forest community turnover rate, which was defined as the relative change in a variable of interest (e.g., basal area or stem abundance) to its maximum or total in the community over a certain period. Community turnover dynamics in part explain the community assembly process and give insights for understanding forest ecosystem functions. Here, we assessed how anthropogenic disturbances (shifting cultivation, clear cutting) affect turnover relative to old growth forests in a tropical lowland rainforest. Using two censuses over 5 years of twelve 1-ha forest dynamics plots (FDPs), we compared turnover dynamics of woody plant, then analyzed the influencing factors. We found that community turnover dynamics of FDPs that experienced shifting cultivation were significantly higher than those experienced clear cutting or no disturbance, but little difference between clear cutting and no disturbance. Stem mortality and relative growth rates were the highest contributors to stem and basal area turnover dynamics of woody plants, respectively. Both stem and turnover dynamics of woody plants were more consistent by the dynamics of trees (DBH≥5 cm). Canopy openness, as the most important drivers, was positively correlated with turnover rates, while soil available potassium and elevation were negatively correlated with turnover rates. We highlight the long-term impacts of major anthropogenic disturbances on tropical natural forests. Different conservation and restoration strategies should be adopted for tropical natural forests experienced different disturbance types. • Anthropogenic disturbances caused varied turnover dynamics in rainforests. • The community dynamics are more consistent with the dynamics of trees (DBH≥5 cm). • Canopy openness and elevation are the key drivers of the tree turnover. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a novel direct time-domain numerical method, called the FEM-SBFEM-SBPML, is proposed to study the wave propagation problems in soil-structure interaction (SSI) system with complex geometry and geological condition. In the bounded domain, the structure is modeled as beam element based on the finite element method (FEM), and the surrounding truncated soil is discretized using the scaled boundary finite element method (SBFEM) combined with an efficient quadtree mesh generation technique, respectively. In addition, a solid-modified beam coupling model considering the eccentric effect of the tangential traction at the outer surface of the structures is implemented. The unbounded domain is modeled by a recently proposed scaled boundary perfectly matched layer (SBPML) method, which is a novel high-accuracy absorbing layer method satisfying the radiation condition. As a result, the combined FEM-SBFEM-SBPML approach is capable of modeling SSI with complex geometries and soil properties automatically. Some benchmark tests are conducted to illustrate the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed scheme, and a vibration analysis of a soil-tunnel system is further presented to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed method in engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This was the first time to analyze the safety characteristics of perampanel(PER) using the large post-market real world database (FAERS database). • Analyzing reports from the FAERS, some new potential safety signals were found to be disproportionally reported with PER, including Aggressiveness, Suicide behavior, Respiratory depression, Hepatotoxicity, and Cognitive impairment. • The results of this study, which are merely statistical associations, do not represent a true cause-and-effect relationship. It should be interpreted with caution. Perampanel (PER) is a non-competitive AMPA glutamate receptor antagonist used as an anti-seizure medication. Large post-marketing databases are still lacking for safety analysis of the new generation of anti-seizure medications. Based on the FDA's adverse event reporting system (FAERS) database, this study aimed to investigate, assess, and offer evidence for the safety of PER to support clinical decision-making. Perampanel-related adverse reaction signals were mined using the reporting odds ratio (ROR), medicines and healthcare products regulatory agency (MHRA), and Bayesian confidence propagation neural network (BCPNN). The rate and occurrence of reported adverse responses were examined. With the three methodologies used in combination, 83 signals mostly related to psychosis and different nervous system disorders were detected. Among them, suicide behavior, respiratory depression, hepatotoxicity, cognitive impairment, and other possible novel signals warranted consideration. Further examination of the age and gender differences in the detected signals revealed that elderly patients should be closely monitored for any change in consciousness and the occurrence of movement disorders; male patients should be observed for negative mental reactions like a personal attack and homicidal ideation; and female patients should be watched for the occurrence of negative reactions in memory, weight, vision, liver function, and other specific areas. This study found that PER had the risk of causing suicide behavior, respiratory depression, hepatotoxicity, and cognitive impairment among other adverse effects. When used clinically, PER should be closely monitored for the occurrence of adverse effects on mental health and behavior. However, these results should be interpreted with caution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The iridium complex [Cp*Ir(biimH2)(H2O)][OTf]2 (Cp* = η5-pentamethylcyclopentadienyl, biimH2 = 2,2′-biimidazole) was synthesized and developed as a new-type of water-soluble metal–ligand bifunctional catalyst for the N-alkylation of poorly nucleophilic sulfonamides with alcohols in water. In the presence of catalyst (1 mol%) and Cs2CO3 (0.1 equiv.), a series of desirable products was obtained in 74–91% yields under microwave irradiation. Mechanistic experiments revealed that the presence of NH units in the imidazole ligand is crucially important for the catalytic activity of the iridium complex. Notably, this research would facilitate the process of water-soluble metal–ligand bifunctional catalysis for the hydrogen autotransfer process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]