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AbstractA motion generation method for a planar four-bar mechanism without prescribed timing is proposed in this article. A characteristic of coupler points is found: for the coupler points of a four-bar mechanism in a standard installation position rotated by the corresponding input angle clockwise around the origin of the Cartesian coordinate system xOy, the generated points lie on the feature coupler circles. Next, based on this, the design process is divided into three steps. In the first step, the relative input angles, the relative coupler angles and five geometric parameters of the desired four-bar mechanism are optimized. In the second step, the basic dimensional types and initial input angle are determined, and then, the input angles are obtained. In the third step, the real size of the desired linkage mechanism is calculated. Because the dimension of the design variables in each step is exceptionally small, the motion synthesis method can yield design solutions with high precision in a short time. Six comparison examples are presented to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed method. In addition, the method is used to design a robot for lower limb rehabilitation for application to the human foot. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heat stress, as a negative factor, severely threatens the quality and production of bottle gourd, which prefers to grow in a warm environment. To understand which genes are involved in the resistance to heat stress in bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria (Mol.) Standl.), we analyzed the characteristics of two genetic bottle gourd varieties, "Mei feng"-MF (heat resistant) and "Lv long"-LL (heat sensitive). Under heat stress, MF plants exhibited a higher survival rate, lower relative electrolytic leakage, and decreased stomatal aperture compared with LL. In addition, RNA-Seq was carried out on the two varieties under normal conditions and heat stress. The results revealed a total of 1485 up-regulated and 946 down-regulated genes under normal conditions, while 602 genes were up-regulated and 1212 genes were down-regulated under heat stress. Among these genes, several differentially expressed genes (DEGs) involved in the MAPK (mitogen-activated protein kinase) signaling pathway and members of bHLH (basic helix-loop-helix) transcription factors showed significant up- or down-regulation after heat stress. Next, to validate these findings, we conducted quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis, which confirmed the expression patterns of the genes detected through RNA-Seq. Collectively, the DEGs between the two contrasting cultivars identified in our study provide novel insight into excavating helpful candidate genes associated with heat tolerance in bottle gourd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this letter, a novel secret merchant‐4 (SM4) cryptographic circuit implementation is proposed against higher order power analysis attacks (PAAs). Four different random number generators (RNGs) are embedded into the SM4 architecture for breaking the correlation between the processed data and monitored power dissipation against PAAs. Firstly, fake keys are created by the first RNG to scramble the critical information related with the actual secret key. Furthermore, the second RNG controls the implementations of substitution boxes (Sboxes) with composite fields or look‐up tables randomly while the third RNG randomizes the substitution locations with respect to these Sboxes. Ultimately, the fourth RNG randomly swaps the behaviors of the fake SM4 and true SM4 to further break the critical correlation. Under the assistance of the four embedded RNGs, the proposed SM4 cryptographic architecture is capable of resisting against fourth‐order PAAs effectively with a 300 Mbps throughput and 165,354 μ$$ \upmu $$m2 area after synthesizing in the TSMC 90 nm process design kits (PDK). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this letter, a high‐speed and low‐latency Ron Rivest‐4 (RC4) encryption algorithm is designed based on SMIC 14 nm process. Since the key issue of limiting the throughput of RC4 encryption algorithm is the swapping operation of S‐box, this proposed design is capable of achieving four swapping operations of S‐box within a clock cycle by utilizing fully combinational logic designs and advanced computations. All 256 swapping operations of key scheduling algorithm (KSA) can be done in 64 clock cycles. Moreover, the novel design greatly improves the encryption efficiency of RC4 since each clock cycle offers 4 bytes of key stream. The whole area can be further optimized by reusing the existing modules, and a lightweight countermeasure is embedded into the RC4 design to break the correlation between the processed data and power dissipation against differential power analysis (DPA) attacks. Finally, the whole design is assessed by the SMIC 14 nm process design kits (PDK). The corresponding clock frequency, throughput, area, and latency, respectively, are achieved as 1 GHz, 32 Gbps, 51,596 μm2, and 74 clock cycles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: False key‐controlled aggressive voltage scaling (FKCAVS) technique is a lightweight and effective leakage power analysis (LPA) attack countermeasure. However, the regular FKCAVS technique may not be utilized as a countermeasure against differential power analysis (DPA) attacks unconditionally. The primary reason is that the working frequency of DPA attacks is significantly higher than the corresponding frequency of LPA attacks. Thus, it is difficult to make the speed of voltage scaling keep pace with the speed of DPA attacks by employing the regular FKCAVS technique. In this paper, a fast FKCAVS technique is proposed to maximize the security of a cryptographic circuit (CC) against DPA attacks while minimizing the corresponding overhead by embedding a machine learning low‐dropout (LDO) regulator (MLLR). As shown in the result, by deploying the proposed FKCAVS technique, the measurement‐to‐disclose (MTD) value against DPA attacks is maintained over 1 million with less than 17.4% power/area overhead. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: In modern integrated circuits (ICs), integrating workload‐agnostic multiphase switched‐capacitor (SC) voltage converters on‐chip is an effective way to reduce the transient response time, improve the security, and boost the power efficiency. However, a stochastic and unbalanced active sequence within the multiphase SC converter may undermine the corresponding output voltage ripple significantly. In this paper, a novel algorithm that is based on Fourier transform is capable of efficiently mitigating the amplitude of output ripple without compromising its security drastically. To achieve this objective, firstly, the output ripple of a single‐phase SC converter needs to be approximated with a Fourier expansion. Then the relationship between the output ripple and active phase sequence of a multiphase SC converter can be modeled precisely under the assistance of Fourier transform. After maximizing the randomness of the active sequences of the multiphase SC converter under different workload conditions and filtering a certain number of phase sequences with unsatisfied output ripples, the optimum control algorithm is generated. As shown in the result, the amplitude of output ripple of a multiphase SC converter can be reduced by 69.5% with negligible security loss and less than 29% power and area overhead under the 55 nm process design kits (PDK). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Traditional hardware security primitives such as physical unclonable functions (PUFs) are quite vulnerable to machine learning (ML) attacks. The primary reason is that PUFs rely on process mismatches between two identically designed circuit blocks to generate deterministic math functions as the secret information sources. Unfortunately, ML algorithms are pretty efficient in modeling deterministic math functions. In order to resist against ML attacks, in this letter, a novel hardware security primitive named neural network (NN) chain is proposed by utilizing noise data to generate chaotic NNs for achieving authentication. In a NN chain, two independent batches of noise data are utilized as the input and output training data of NNs, respectively, to maximize the uncertainty within the NN chain. In contrast to a regular PUF, the proposed NN chain is capable of achieving over 20 times ML attack‐resistance and 100% reliability with less than 39% power and area overhead. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The application of movement-detection sensors is crucial for understanding surface movement and tectonic activities. The development of modern sensors has been instrumental in earthquake monitoring, prediction, early warning, emergency commanding and communication, search and rescue, and life detection. There are numerous sensors currently being utilized in earthquake engineering and science. It is essential to review their mechanisms and working principles thoroughly. Hence, we have attempted to review the development and application of these sensors by classifying them based on the timeline of earthquakes, the physical or chemical mechanisms of sensors, and the location of sensor platforms. In this study, we analyzed available sensor platforms that have been widely used in recent years, with satellites and UAVs being among the most used. The findings of our study will be useful for future earthquake response and relief efforts, as well as research aimed at reducing earthquake disaster risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Silicon Physical unclonable functions (PUFs) are regarded as emerging hardware security primitives that can be used for generating secret keys for cryptographic algorithms. Unfortunately, the reliability issues greatly limit the applications of most PUFs since ambient noises and aging issues may alter the output responses of the PUFs. In this paper, a novel error calibration technique (ECT) based on average sampling circuit (ASC) and self-checking circuit (SCC) is proposed for significantly boosting the reliability of PUFs. The primary role of ASC is filtering the ambient noises that may affect the output responses of the PUFs. In contrast, SCC rehabilitates the PUFs once aging issues damage the process mismatches within the PUFs. As shown in the result, a PUF with the proposed ECT is able to achieve a 99% reliability with a 50 Mbps throughput. • Regular PUFs have poor reliability issues due to the effects of ambient noises and aging issues. • Error calibration technique (ECT) is able to the improve the corresponding reliability significantly by filtering critical noises. • An ECT-based PUF offers a high throughput without causing much area overhead. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to solve the problem of unbalanced workload of employees in parallel flow shop scheduling, a method of job standard balance is proposed to describe the work balance of employees. The minimum delay time of completion and the imbalance of employee work are taken as the two goals of the model. A bi-objective nonlinear integer programming model is proposed. NSGA-II-EDSP, NSGA-II-KES, and NSGA-II-QKES heuristic rule algorithms are designed to solve the problem. A number of computational experiments of different sizes are conducted, and compared with solutions generated by NSGA-II. The experimental results show the advantages of the proposed model and method, which error is reduced 14.56%, 15.16% and 15.67%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the vibration-assisted milling process, the cutting force as a very important parameter can reflect the cutting characteristics of this machining method. In this study, a three-dimensional vibration-assisted milling system was utilized to focus on the changing law of the cutting forces and the topography of the structured surface during machining. Firstly, the kinematic analysis proves that the trajectory of the tool relative to the workpiece under the excitation of the vibration device is a complex spatial spiral curve. Then, many vibration-assisted milling experiments were carried out to investigate the effect of the process variables, such as the spindle speed, feed rate, amplitude of vibration, vibration frequency, and tool radius, on the cutting forces (average and maximum cutting forces) and the topographical characteristics of the structured surfaces. The experimental results sufficiently confirmed that the amplitude of vibration is the most important process variable associated with the cutting forces, followed by spindle speed and vibration frequency; for the topographic features of the structured surface, the amplitude of vibration also has an important effect on the three-dimensional dimensions of each structural unit; by contrast, the vibration frequency and the feed rate do have a significant effect on the topography of structured surfaces. The results of the research provide critical guidance for 3D vibration-assisted milling to fabricate a variety of structured surfaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been recently demonstrated that the superlubricity behavior of polyalkylene glycol (PAG) aqueous solutions can be achieved in a wide variety of applied conditions. However, certain parameters are expected to be adjusted further to achieve a more controllable superlubricity system. Herein, it is demonstrated that an ultralow friction coefficient can be obtained by concentrated PAG aqueous solutions (80 wt% HB‐260) as the contact pressure becomes relatively low (37 MPa). Meanwhile, the superlubricity state can be adjusted in a timely manner by adjusting the relative sliding speed. Here, the viscosity of the PAG aqueous solution (determined by its concentration and molecular weight) and applied conditions, including contact pressure and relative sliding speed, are considered as critical parameters influencing the lubricating performance. According to the theoretical analysis, the superlubricity state is confirmed and a fitted superlubricity region is proposed, which provides a comprehensive guide for achieving controllable superlubricity in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Corrosion of three molten-salt mixtures were studied at 700 °C under argon. • Four alloys were tested and characterized by SEM, EDS and XRD. • C276, In625 and In718 are compatible with the NaKZn chloride-salt. • SS316 and In718 show low corrosion in the LiNaK carbonate-salt. • C276, In625 and In718 are compatible with the LiF-NaK carbonate-salt. Molten eutectic salt mixtures can be used as thermal energy storage materials or heat transfer fluids at concentrated solar power plants. The targeted operating temperature for the next generation concentrated solar power plants is 700 °C. Although chloride and carbonate eutectic salt mixtures with high thermally stable temperatures were reported to have great thermophysical properties, their corrosion to alloys at high temperature has not been thoroughly studied. Corrosion of the thermal energy storage materials and heat transfer fluids to alloys is critical, and oxygen in air is confirmed to accelerate the corrosion significantly. In the present study, three eutectic mixtures of NaCl-KCl-ZnCl 2 , Li 2 CO 3 -Na 2 CO 3 -K 2 CO 3 and LiF-Na 2 CO 3 -K 2 CO 3 were considered as high temperature thermal energy storage materials or heat transfer fluids. Corrosion of stainless steel 316, Hastelloy C276, Inconel 625 and 718 immersed in the three salt mixtures up to 21 days were experimentally investigated at 700 °C under argon atmosphere. The specimens after corrosion tests were characterized by scanning electron microscope, energy dispersive spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. The results show that SS316 is only compatible with the LiNaK carbonate-salt and the corresponding corrosion rate is lower than 95 μm/year. Both C276 and In625 have relatively good corrosion resistance for the NaKZn chloride-salt and LiF-NaK carbonate-salt, and the corrosion rates are lower than 78 μm/year. The highest corrosion rate over 1700 μm/year is detected for In625 immersed in the LiNaK carbonate-salt. In addition, In718 shows excellent corrosion resistance less than 10 μm/year immersed in all the three salt mixtures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights from the article: Organic photovoltaics (OPVs) have attracted much attention because of the advantages in low-cost and large-area fabrication and the great potentials in achieving flexible and semi-transparent devices [1]. For the traditional bulk-heterojunction OPVs applying fullerene derivatives as the electron acceptors, the E SB loss sb s are always higher than 0.6 eV, which limits the power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) less than 12% [4]. With the rapid development of fused-ring electron acceptors especially with an acceptor (A)-donor (D)-acceptor (A) arrangement [5], PCEs of OPV devices quickly surpassed 12% and even reached 16% in a very short period [6], [7], [8], [9], [10], in quite a few of which the E SB loss sb s are less than 0.6 eV. Although it is common for inorganic or perovskite solar cells, high-performance OPVs with the E SB loss sb s less than 0.5 eV are quite rare up to date, which means that the E SB loss sb is still the key factor that limits the photovoltaic efficiency of the OPV technique.

Highlights • The mathematical model for the coupler curve of the spherical four-bar linkage is established using a spherical coordinate system. • The open path is described using spherical triangles and the influence due to linkage rotation around the three coordinate axes is eliminated. • The geometrical characteristics of the open path are described using wavelet feature parameters. • The theoretical formulas for calculating the installation positions are established. • The non-periodic design requirements of spherical four-bar linkage path synthesis are presented. Abstract A wavelet feature parameters method is proposed for the non-periodic design requirements in the path synthesis of a spherical four-bar linkage mechanism. A mathematical model for the coupler curve of the spherical four-bar linkage is established using a spherical coordinate system. The geometrical characteristics of the open path are described using wavelet feature parameters. Then, a database of wavelet feature parameters is established. Based on the positional relationship of the prescribed curve with the coupler curve generated by the basic dimensional types, the installation positions of the desired linkage can be calculated. Moreover, the open path generation of spherical four-bar linkages can also be performed. Four examples are given. The design results show that the proposed method is effective for the open path generation of spherical four-bar linkages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The role of pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) has been studied in several systematic reviews (SRs), but no definitive conclusions have been drawn due to the wide variation in the quality and outcomes of the studies. And there are no studies to assess the quality of relevant published SRs. This overview aims to determine the effectiveness of PR in patients with IPF and to summarize and critically evaluate the risk of bias, methodological, and evidence quality of SRs on this related topic. Methods: With no language restrictions, eight databases were searched from inception to March 10, 2023. The literature search, screening, and data extraction were carried out separately by two reviewers. We assessed the risk of bias using the ROBIS tool, the reporting quality using PRISMA statements, the methodological quality using AMSTAR-2, and the evidence quality using Grades of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE). Results: Seven SRs from 2018–2023 (including 1836 participants) on PR for the treatment of IPF were selected, all of which included patients with a definitive diagnosis of IPF. After strict evaluation by the ROBIS tool and AMSTAR-2 tool, 42.86% of the SRs had a high risk of bias and 85.71% of the SRs had critically low methodological quality in this overview. PR might be effective for patients with IPF on exercise capacity, quality of life, and pulmonary function-related outcomes, but we did not find high quality evidence to confirm the effectiveness. Conclusion: PR may appear to be an effective and safe treatment for patients with IPF, but the results of this overview should be interpreted dialectically and with caution. Further high-quality, rigorous studies are urgently needed to draw definitive conclusions and provide scientific evidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents two types of new deployable mechanisms based on the motion characteristics of the four-bar slider–crank mechanism (FBSCM): the prism mechanism with constant cross-section and the round deployable mechanism. A new basic planar deployable unit based on the path-generating characteristics of the FBSCM is proposed. The method of building a deployable mast unit with one DOF from the new planar deployable mechanism is given. The prism mechanism with constant cross-section of one DOF is constructed, and the magnification ratio is analyzed. Moreover, the deployable unit with a negative Poisson's ratio for building the round deployable mechanism based on the properties of functional output of the FBSCM is proposed. The structure of the round deployable mechanism is described, and the parameter model with multilevel deployment is calculated and validated with cases given; the DOF of the round deployable mechanism is one. Last, the static analysis of the round deployable mechanism is studied by simulation; by locking 6 guide rails, the structure is found to have a balanced bearing capacity, and the bearing performance is improved compared with locking only one guide rail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the simplified mapping model of the geometric characteristics of a cobweb structure, a new umbrella-type deployable mechanism with a planar four-bar crank slider mechanism as the deployable unit is proposed. First, the model is statically analyzed and optimized using the Ansys Workbench software, and the optimal ratio of the spiral thread spacing in the model is determined. Additionally, the stiffness matrix of the cobweb rigid frame model is established, and the optimal angle between the spiral threads is determined using the matrix displacement method. Then, according to the optimized model angle and ratio, a new umbrella-type deployable mechanism is proposed, and its static performance is simulated and analyzed. The results show that the strength of the umbrella-type developable mechanism is improved, and the movement process is simulated to verify the effectiveness of the model deployment and folding process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the complicated arrangement of the pipes in the narrow space leads to random orientation of the mechanical water meter dial meanwhile its digit wheels are accompanied by arbitrary angle rotation, which makes the detection and recognition of meter reading more difficult. Even the latest visual network technology cannot deal with the challenges. In this paper, two special visual task networks are being closely cooperated to solve above issues. First, a professional water meter detection method is proposed by redesigning and retraining a human joints detection network to accurately locate four key points of reading region. Based on key points the distorted reading region will be geometric corrected by using homography relation to reduce the interference from shooting angle and improve accuracy of subsequent digit recognition. Then, a water meter reading recognition method is proposed by modifying a recurrent block convolutional network. The robustness of digit recognition is improved by block recognition and transcription of reading region features. During transcription stage, we add new recognition markers and probability vectors between each digit in dictionary to solve the issue of digit wheels rotations. Finally, our method achieves more robust water meter detection in harsh environment and higher recognition accuracy. Experimental results showed that our method can get better performance in detection efficiency (6.15 fps) and accuracy (95.30%) compared with recent related works and closer to the level of practical application. • It focuses on the practical living application of water meter reading recognition in complex real scenes. • We redesign and train a human joints detection network to locate the key points of water meter for robust reading region detection. • A recurrent neural network based digital character sequence recognition method is designed to solve robust water meter reading recognition in lossy scene. • Our network can get better performance in detection efficiency (6.15 fps) and accuracy (95.30%) of water meter reading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a synthesis method for a non-integer periodic function generator of a four-bar mechanism using a Haar wavelet is presented. Using wavelet theory, the mathematical model for the output of a four-bar mechanism is established. Next, the characteristics of the four-bar mechanism output variable are described by the wavelet feature parameters; the relationship of the wavelet feature parameters between the output and its translation or dilation is also investigated. Based on this finding, three numerical atlas databases comprising of 203,500 groups of basic dimensional types of planar four-bar mechanisms, 148,995 groups of basic dimensional types of spherical four-bar mechanism and 11,175 groups of basic dimensional types of planar slider–crank mechanism are compiled. According to the internal relationship between the wavelet feature parameters, the sizes of the objective mechanism can be obtained using fuzzy recognition. Based on a genetic algorithm, optimization of the link parameters can be realized. Three examples are presented to demonstrate the efficacy and practicality of the proposed theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chronic airway diseases are characterized by airway remodeling which is attributed partly to the proliferation and migration of airway smooth muscle cells (ASMCs). ATP-sensitive potassium (K ATP ) channels have been identified in ASMCs. Mount evidence has suggested that K ATP channel openers can reduce airway hyperresponsiveness and alleviate airway remodeling. Opening K + channels triggers K + efflux, which leading to membrane hyperpolarization, preventing Ca 2+ entry through closing voltage-operated Ca 2+ channels. Intracellular Ca 2+ is the most important regulator of muscle contraction, cell proliferation and migration. K + efflux decreases Ca 2+ influx, which consequently influences ASMCs proliferation and migration. As a K ATP channel opener, iptakalim (Ipt) has been reported to restrain the proliferation of pulmonary arterial smooth muscle cells (PASMCs) involved in vascular remodeling, while little is known about its impact on ASMCs. The present study was designed to investigate the effects of Ipt on human ASMCs and the mechanisms underlying. Results obtained from cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8), flow cytometry and 5-ethynyl-2′-deoxyuridine (EdU) incorporation showed that Ipt significantly inhibited platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF)-BB-induced ASMCs proliferation. ASMCs migration induced by PDGF-BB was also suppressed by Ipt in transwell migration and scratch assay. Besides, the phosphorylation of Ca 2+ /calmodulin-dependent kinase II (CaMKII), extracellular regulated protein kinases 1/2 (ERK1/2), protein kinase B (Akt), and cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) response element binding protein (CREB) were as well alleviated by Ipt administration. Furthermore, we found that the inhibition of Ipt on the PDGF-BB-induced proliferation and migration in human ASMCs was blocked by glibenclamide (Gli), a selective K ATP channel antagonist. These findings provide a strong evidence to support that Ipt antagonize the proliferating and migrating effects of PDGF-BB on human ASMCs through opening K ATP channels. Altogether, our results highlighted a novel profile of Ipt as a potent option against the airway remodeling in chronic airway diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wax gourd (2n = 2 x = 24) is an important vegetable species in Cucurbitaceae . Because it can be stored for a very long period of time, it plays an important role in ensuring the annual supply and regulating off-season supply of the vegetables. However, the availability of genetic information about wax gourd is limited. This study aimed to identify the useful genetic information for wax gourd. The conserved domains of reverse transcriptase (RT) genes of Ty1- copia retrotransposons were isolated from the genome of wax gourd using degenerate oligonucleotide primers. A total of twenty eight RT sequences were obtained, which showed high heterogeneity with the similarity ranging from 47.5% to 94.3%. Sixteen (57.1%) of them were found to be defective, being disrupted by stop codons and/or frameshift mutations. These 28 sequences were divided into five subfamilies. The comparative phylogenetic analysis with other Cucurbitaceae species from GenBank database showed that most retrotransposons derived from the same genus tended to cluster together, although there were a few exceptions. These results indicate that both vertical transmission and horizontal transmission are the sources of Ty1- copia retrotransposons in wax gourd. Fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) with Ty1- copia retrotransposon sequences as probes revealed that this kind of retrotransposons had a dispersed genomic organization, physically distributed among all the chromosomes of wax gourd, with clusters in the heterochromatin regions. This is the first report of Ty1- copia retrotransposons in wax gourd, which would be helpful for our understanding about the organization and evolutions of wax gourd genome and also provide valuable information for our utilization of wax gourd retrotransposons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Side-channel attacks (SCAs) are powerful noninvasive attacks that can be used for leaking the secret key of integrated circuits (ICs). Numerous countermeasures were proposed to elevate the security level of ICs against SCAs. Unfortunately, it is quite inconvenient to predict the security levels of these countermeasures since no solid mathematical model exists in the literature. In this paper, neural network (NN)-based entropy is proposed to model the resilience of a system against SCAs. The NN-based entropy model well links the side-channel leakages and probabilities with the neurons and weights of NNs, respectively. In such a circumstance, the NN-based entropy can be used for modeling the robustness of countermeasures since a one-to-one relationship is established between the NN-based entropy and the measurement-to-disclose (MTD) enhancement ratio related with the countermeasures. As demonstrated in the result, the proposed NN-based entropy metric shows 100% consistency with the MTD enhancement ratio if multiple SCA countermeasures are employed into a system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Superlubricity is an ideal approach to save the service life of medical devices from the tribology point of view. Recently, basil seed gel (BSG) is proved to be a potential candidate with ultralow friction. In this paper, the friction coefficient of BSG is significantly reduced by introducing ethanol. The results indicate that the ethanol molecules enter the BSG network, contributing to transforming the loose structure of polysaccharide nanosheets to the integrated structure. Thus, the mechanical strength of the adsorption layer is improved, which prevents the lubrication film from being destroyed during the sliding process and thus reduces the friction loss. Such macroscopic superlubricity of BSG-ethanol lubricant demonstrates promising potential in biomedical applications such as catheters and gastric tubes. [Display omitted] • Macroscopic superlubricity of basil seed gel is achieved with the help of ethanol. • Ethanol bonds with polysaccharides and contribute to an integrated structure. • The adsorption layer with enhanced mechanical strength prevents friction damage. • A possible superlubricity mechanism model has been proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sulfonylurea herbicides (SH) are widely used throughout the world. In this paper, the degradation of sulfonylurea herbicides (SH) in eight different agricultural soils was studied by exploring the synergism between microbial consortium (MC) and plants. In the experiment, chlorimuron with a concentration of 50 mg/L was used as the only carbon source to domesticate and prepare the MC. The degradation of six sulfonylurea herbicides was determined, among which bensulfuron (BN), due to its better degradation effects, was selected. The best degradation conditions of BN were determined as follows: pH 7, 20 °C, and BN concentration 20 mg/L, and after 20 days, the degradation rate of BN by MC reached 90.49%. The physical and chemical properties of eight different agricultural soils were compared, and the correlation between them and the degradation effect of BN was analyzed. When plants were combined with 3% MC to remediate BN-contaminated soil, it was beneficial to plant growth, and the degradation rate of BN was the highest (81%) after 25 days. In addition, the content of soil urease and soil catalase in the soil increased to 449 ug/g and 12.19 mmol/g after 25 days of combined remediation. The results showed an effective bioremediation strategy to restore agricultural soil contaminated by BN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-technical summary Optical imaging is widely used to map functional areas of the cerebral cortex. We present a method for fast fluorescence imaging of map-level cortical activity using a calcium indicator protein. Sensory-evoked neuronal activity can be imaged repeatedly in the same mouse over weeks, enabling new opportunities for the longitudinal study of cortical function and dysfunction. We hope this method will be flexibly applied across different cortical areas and to a variety of newly developed genetically encoded calcium and voltage sensors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

(1) Background: Wax gourd is an economically important vegetable crop in many tropical and sub-tropical countries in Asia. Fruit color is an important fruit quality trait, but the genetic, biochemical basis and regulatory network of fruit color variation in wax gourd are rarely studied. (2) Methods: In this study, two wax gourd inbred lines with different pericarp colors were used as materials to conduct joint metabolomic and transcriptomic analyses on mature fruit pericarp: B214 with yellow and B227 with dark green color. (3) Results: It was found that the chlorophyll content in the pericarp of B214 was significantly lower than that of B227, consistent with the down-regulation of several genes involved in the chlorophyll biosynthesis pathway, including hemA, hemB, hemC, hemF, chlH, chlI, chlM, POR, and CAO. The 229 metabolites showed differential accumulation levels between B214 and B227, and 4 anthocyanins, 5 flavanones, 25 flavones, 25 flavone C-glycosides, 12 flavonols, and 3 isoflavones were identified. In particular, cyanidin 3-O-glucoside, an anthocyanin contributing to the coloration of dark color, showed higher accumulation in B227 than in B214, probably due to the higher expression of genes of F3′H and glucosyl transferases (GTs) in B227. Transcription factors such as MYBs and bHLHs showed differential expressions between the two lines including bHLH14, a homolog of Arabidopsis AtbHLH14 that had significantly higher expression in B227 than in B214. bHLH14 was located in a region where the pericarp color (pc) locus was mapped, suggesting it may be a candidate gene for the pc locus. (4) Conclusions: This work supports the association of chlorophyll and flavonoid synthesis in wax gourd fruit color variation and also provides a good foundation for understanding the regulatory network for wax gourd coloration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Excessive emissions of carbon dioxide have led to the greenhouse effect and global warming. Reducing carbon dioxide into high-value-added chemicals through solar energy is a promising approach. Herein, a g-C3N4/TiO2 heterojunction photocatalyst with efficient electron transfer is designed for photocatalytic CO2 reduction. The CH4 (18.32 µmol·h−1·g−1) and CO (25.35 µmol·h−1·g−1) evolution rates of g-C3N4/TiO2 are higher than those of g-C3N4 and TiO2. The enhanced photocatalytic CO2 reduction performance is attributed to the efficient charge carrier transfer in the g-C3N4/TiO2 heterojunction. The electron transfer route was verified by in situ irradiated X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The photocatalytic CO2 reduction mechanism on g-C3N4/TiO2 was investigated by in situ diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS). This work provides a strategy for designing a polymer/metallic oxide heterojunction with efficient electron transfer for enhanced photocatalytic CO2 reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wax gourd (Benincasa hispida (Thunb.) Cogn., 2n = 2x = 24) is an economically important vegetable crop cultivated widely in many tropical and subtropical regions, including China, India, and Japan. Both fruit and seeds are prized agronomic attributes in wax gourd breeding and production. However, the genetic mechanisms underlying these traits remain largely unexplored. In this study, we observed a strong correlation between fruit size and seed size variation in our mapping population, indicating genetic control by a single gene, BhLS, with large size being dominant over small. Through bulk segregant analysis sequencing and fine mapping with a large F2 population, we precisely located the BhLS gene within a 47.098-kb physical interval on Chromosome 10. Within this interval, only one gene, Bhi10M000649, was identified, showing homology to Arabidopsis HOOKLESS1. A nonsynonymous mutation (G to C) in the second exon of Bhi10M000649 was found to be significantly associated with both fruit and seed size variation in wax gourd. These findings collectively highlight the pleiotropic effect of the BhLS gene in regulating fruit and seed size in wax gourd. Our results offer molecular insights into the variation of fruit and seed size in wax gourd and establish a fundamental framework for breeding wax gourd cultivars with desired traits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current research indicates that exciton dissociation into free charge carriers can be achieved in material combinations with the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) offset lowered to 0 eV in non‐fullerene organic solar cells. However, the quantitative relationship between the HOMO offset and exciton dissociation has not been established because of the difficulty in achieving continuously tunable HOMO offsets. Here, the binary blends of PTQ10:ZITI‐S and PTQ10:ZITI‐N are combined to form the positive and negative HOMO offsets of 0.20 and −0.07 eV, respectively. While the PTQ10:ZITI‐S binary blend delivers a decent power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 10.69% with a short‐circuit current (Jsc) of 16.94 mA cm−2, the PTQ10:ZITI‐N with the negative offset shows a much lower PCE of 7.06% mainly because of the low Jsc of 12.03 mA cm−2. Because the tunable HOMO levels can be realized in organic semiconducting alloys based on ZITI‐N and ZITI‐S acceptors, the transformation of the HOMO energy offset from negative to positive values is achieved in the PTQ10:ZITIN:ZITI‐S ternary blends, delivering much‐improved PCEs up to 13.26% with a significant, 74% enhancement of Jsc to 20.93 mA cm−2. With detailed investigations, the study reveals that the minimum HOMO offset of ≈40 meV is required to achieve the most‐efficient exciton dissociation and photovoltaic performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses impaired fatty acid utilization in thiredoxin binding protein-2 (TBP-2)-deficient mice. TBP-2-/- mice are predisposed to death with severe bleeding during fasting. Glucose supplementation corrected the fatal anomaly in TBP-2-/- mice, while fatty acids were unable to do so.

As an important fruit vegetable, fruit-related traits have become one of the breeding hotspots of wax gourd (Benincasa hispida). The fruit traits have an important role on the quality and yield of wax gourd, and QTL mapping of these traits will provide solid basis for fruit character improvement as well as high-yield breeding. In this study, the inheritance of four fruit-related traits, including fruit weight (FW), fruit length (FL), fruit diameter (FD) and flesh thickness (FT), was analyzed. All the frequency distribution of the four traits in an F2 population showed a single peak skewed distribution, which proved them to be quantitative. Subsequently, based on the high-density genetic map using 140 F2 individuals, nine QTLs associated with the four traits were detected on chromosome 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10 and 11. Four of the nine QTLs had major effect, which were responsible for more than 10.0% of phenotypic variance. Furthermore, the major QTLs of FW, FD and FT shared similar location intervals, which implied that this location might contain some pleiotropic genes. This is the first report on QTL mapping of quantitative trait in wax gourd, which plays an important role for fine mapping of these important fruit traits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On-chip voltage converters such as low drop-out (LDO) regulators are capable of generating fast and scaled voltage levels against power analysis attacks (PAAs) due to the high bandwidths of feedback loops. Unfortunately, LDO regulators suffer from much power loss when they are utilized for outputting scaled voltage levels. In contrast, buck converters may achieve high power conversion efficiencies but are unable to generate output voltage with fast scaling patterns. In this paper, a novel hybrid voltage regulator that is consist of an LDO regulator and a buck converter connected in parallel is proposed to address the issues related with security against PAAs and power loss. The LDO regulator offers fast scaled voltage levels while the buck converter provides major load current. The result shows that the measurement-to-disclosure (MTD) value of a cryptographic circuit (CC) with the proposed hybrid voltage regulator maintains over 2 million with a 4.3% power loss. • An LDO regulator suffers from a high power loss with a high security. • A buck converter achieves a high power conversion efficiency with a low security. • A hybrid voltage regulator achieves both high efficiency and high security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theaflavins are the characteristic polyphenols in black tea which can be enzymatically synthesized. In this review, the effects and molecular mechanisms of theaflavins on obesity and its comorbidities, including dyslipidemia, insulin resistance, hepatic steatosis, and atherosclerosis, were summarized. Theaflavins ameliorate obesity potentially via reducing food intake, inhibiting pancreatic lipase to reduce lipid absorption, activating the adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK), and regulating the gut microbiota. As to the comorbidities, theaflavins ameliorate hypercholesterolemia by inhibiting micelle formation to reduce cholesterol absorption. Theaflavins improve insulin sensitivity by increasing the signaling of protein kinase B, eliminating glucose toxicity, and inhibiting inflammation. Theaflavins ameliorate hepatic steatosis via activating AMPK. Theaflavins reduce atherosclerosis by upregulating nuclear factor erythropoietin-2-related factor 2 signaling and inhibiting plasminogen activator inhibitor 1. In randomized controlled trails, black tea extracts containing theaflavins reduced body weight in overweight people and improved glucose tolerance in healthy adults. The amelioration on the hyperlipidemia and the prevention of coronary artery disease by black tea extracts were supported by meta-analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A method for the path synthesis of a planar five-bar mechanism based on wavelet analysis theory is proposed in this paper. Wavelet transform analysis is used to extract wavelet characteristic parameters(WCPs) from the basic dimensional types(BDTs) database. Combined the numerical atlas method with multidimensional search tree, a four dimensions search tree with a depth of five is obtained, in which numbers of leaf nodes are 4,096, and each node stores 59,787 groups of BDTs database numbers. Meanwhile, an index keyword database is established. By comparing the WCPs of a prescribed curve with index keywords, the leaf node where the desired mechanism is located is found. The WCPs of the BDTs in the leaf node are extracted, and a dynamic self-adaptive atlas database is established. Based on the design requirements, the desired mechanism can be obtained by fuzzy identification. Then, a mathematical model is established for calculating the actual sizes of the desired mechanism. The arbitrary design interval path synthesis of a five-bar mechanism is realized. Two examples are presented to demonstrate the veracity and practicality of the method proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drought stress is one of the most serious threats to cucumber quality and yield. To gain a good understanding of the molecular mechanism upon water deficiency, we compared and analyzed the RNA sequencing-based transcriptomic responses of two contrasting cucumber genotypes, L-9 (drought-tolerant) and A-16 (drought-sensitive). In our present study, combining the analysis of phenotype, twelve samples of cucumber were carried out a transcriptomic profile by RNA-Seq under normal and water-deficiency conditions, respectively. A total of 1008 transcripts were differentially expressed under normal conditions (466 up-regulated and 542 down-regulated) and 2265 transcripts under drought stress (979 up-regulated and 1286 down-regulated). The significant positive correlation between RNA sequencing data and a qRT-PCR analysis supported the results found. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) involved in metabolic pathway and biosynthesis of secondary metabolism were significantly changed after drought stress. Several genes, which were related to sucrose biosynthesis (Csa3G784370 and Csa3G149890) and abscisic acid (ABA) signal transduction (Csa4M361820 and Csa6M382950), were specifically induced after 4 days of drought stress. DEGs between the two contrasting cultivars identified in our study provide a novel insight into isolating helpful candidate genes for drought tolerance in cucumber. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a convenient, effective and economical kidney replacement therapy for end‐stage renal disease (ESRD), peritoneal dialysis is available in approximately 11% of ESRD patients worldwide. However, long‐term peritoneal dialysis treatment causes peritoneal fibrosis. In recent years, the application potential of molecular hydrogen in the biomedicine has been well recognized. Molecular hydrogen selectively scavenges cytotoxic reactive oxygen species (ROS) and acts as an antioxidant. In this experiment, a high glucose‐induced peritoneal fibrosis mouse model was successfully established by intraperitoneal injection of high glucose peritoneal dialysate, and peritoneal fibrosis mice were treated with hydrogen‐rich peritoneal dialysate. In addition, in vitro studies of high glucose‐induced peritoneal fibrosis were performed using MeT‐5A cells. In vitro and in vivo experiments show that molecular hydrogen could inhibit peritoneal fibrosis progress induced by high glucose effectively. Furthermore, it has been found that molecular hydrogen alleviate fibrosis by eliminating intracellular ROS and inhibiting the activation of the PTEN/AKT/mTOR pathway. The present data proposes that molecular hydrogen exerts the capacity of anti‐peritoneal fibrosis through the ROS/PTEN/AKT/mTOR pathway. Therefore, molecule hydrogen is a potential, safe, and effective treatment agent, with peritoneal protective property and great clinical significance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Corrosion of three molten-salt HTFs were experimentally studied at 700 °C. • Five alloys were tested and characterized by SEM, EDS and XRD. • Corrosion of alloys in the NaKZn chloride-salt with air is not acceptable. • C276 shows lowest corrosion rate of 100 µm/year in the LiNaK carbonate-salt. • In718 is compatible with the LiF-NaK carbonate-salt. The state-of-the-art concentrated solar power tower technology requires novel heat transfer fluids which can operate at a temperature as high as 700 °C. Several molten eutectic salt mixtures are promising heat transfer fluid candidates because they are thermally stable at such high temperature and have good thermophysical properties. However, their corrosion properties to alloys are not investigated thoroughly in the literature. Molten salts usually have high corrosion to alloys, which is a critical issue since the piping and containing materials of the heat transfer fluid in a solar power plant are generally alloys. In this study, the corrosion of three eutectic mixtures including NaCl-KCl-ZnCl 2 , Li 2 CO 3 -Na 2 CO 3 -K 2 CO 3 and LiF-Na 2 CO 3 -K 2 CO 3 to different alloys were experimentally studied at isothermal condition of 700 °C in contact with air. Alloys tested were stainless steel 316 (SS316), Hastelloy C276 (C276), Inconel 625 (In625) and 718 (In718). Scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques were employed to characterize the coupon surfaces after corrosion tests. Results show that all the alloys have corrosion rates higher than 450 μm/year immersed in the NaKZn chloride-salt. Therefore, the NaKZn chloride-salt is not applicable as a heat transfer fluid if air cannot be evacuated. C276 immersed in the LiNaK carbonate-salt and In718 immersed in the LiF-NaK carbonate-salt may form protective compact layers on the alloy surfaces to resist corrosion. However, the high cost of lithium salts is another major obstacle to commercialize heat transfer fluids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modeling attacks such as machine learning attacks are pretty efficient in breaking hardware security primitives like silicon strong physical unclonable functions (PUFs). As compared to regular strong PUFs such as arbiter PUFs and lightweight (LW)-PUFs, subthreshold current array (SCA)-PUFs exhibit a better resilience against modeling attacks since they utilize the non-linear relationship between the subthreshold current and gate voltage of transistors to obfuscate the corresponding relationship between input challenge and output response. Unfortunately, the degree of non-linearity (DoNL) within SCA-PUFs is still not sufficiently high to resist against state-of-the-art modeling attacks. Therefore, to further enhance DoNL for resisting against modeling attacks, a new strong PUF architecture is proposed in this paper by embedding reconfigurable neural networks (RNNs) into SCA-PUFs. Mathematical foundations are established for finding appropriate RNNs that are able to maximize the DoNL of an SCA-PUF. As shown in the result, when state-of-the-art modeling attacks like Lagrange multiplier attacks (LMAs) are selected, the robustness of the proposed RNN-embedded SCA-PUF is enhanced over 20 times with less than 18.5% power and area overhead as compared to a regular SCA-PUF. • SCA-PUF utilizes the non-linear sunthreshold current of transistors. • SCA-PUF is quite vulnerable to advanced modeling attacks such as LMAs. • RNN-embedded SCA PUF resists LMAs by masking power side-channel information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces a method for the synthesis of the multiple tasks of a planar six-bar mechanism by wavelet series. Based on the theory of wavelet series, a mathematical model for assessing the output of multiple tasks of planar linkage mechanisms was generated. The multiple tasks that combine a function generation and a rigid body guidance will be presented throughout this paper. For function generation, a numerical atlas database, including 31,775 groups of basic dimensional types of a planar slider-crank mechanism was created based on the relationships of the wavelet feature parameters. For rigid body guidance synthesis, an output feature parameters database of a planar four-bar motion generation, including 178,810 groups of the basic dimensional types was created by analysing the relationships of the wavelet coefficients between the rigid body rotation angle and the coupler rotation angle of its corresponding basic dimensional types. The actual sizes and installation position parameters of the planar six-bar mechanism were calculated using the fuzzy identification method and theoretical formulas. Finally, an application is presented to illustrate the validity and practicality of the proposed theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, on the basis of the theory of the Haar wavelet series, the early proposed method, which is used to solve the problem of planar four-bar path synthesis, is extended to motion generation synthesis of a planar four-bar mechanism. By analysing the wavelet coefficients between the rigid-body rotation angle and the connecting rod rotation angle of its corresponding basic dimensional type, the internal relationships are determined. Based on this finding, an output feature parameters database of planar four-bar motion generation including 101,408 sets of the basic dimensional type was established. Using the fuzzy identification method and theoretical formulas to compute the actual size and installing positions parameters of a planar four-bar mechanism, the synthesis of a planar four-bar motion generation mechanism can be achieved using the established numerical atlas, fuzzy identification method and theoretical formulas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heat transfer fluid is a critical component in a concentrating solar power plant. A large quantity of heat transfer fluid is required to transfer heat between the solar collector and the power block, thus it is crucial to select the most appropriate heat transfer fluid in order to maximize the system performance. The present study compared the performances of five molten-salt eutectic mixtures in regarding with the entropy generation rate and the Carnot efficiency of using them as heat transfer fluids. All the five molten-salt eutectic mixtures have thermal stability temperatures above 600 °C. Effects of the tube lengths in the steam generation heat exchanger and the receiver heat exchanger as well as the heat transfer fluid flow rate on both the entropy generation rate and the Carnot cycle efficiency were investigated. The results indicate that the carbonate salts has the worst performances compared to the other eutectic mixtures. The three chloride salts have slightly higher entropy generation rate and 5% higher Carnot efficiency than the Solar Salt. Therefore the three chloride salts are suggested to be used in advanced concentrating solar power tower plants as potential high temperature heat transfer fluids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies on the kinetic theory of the evaporation of metals in vacuum have already existed, and there have been various applications, such as evaporation filming and powder making in vacuum. However, the vast amount of needed physical parameters has become an obstacle in achieving an accurate measurement, which limits their applications in turn. In addition, there is a lack of experimental research data and simple measurements about the intensive evaporation with the electron beam technology at high temperatures. In this study, a new thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) measuring device was designed for evaporation with the electron beam technology, to track the temperature and mass of the molten pool in real time and obtain abundant and instantaneous experimental data with complete details during the evaporation process. The starting evaporation temperature and the evaporation rate of cobalt, tin, and copper have been measured. In this study, the starting evaporation temperatures of cobalt, tin, and copper are 2173±5 K, 1970±5 K, and 1523±5 K respectively. At 2200–2271 K, the evaporation coefficient of Co is stabilized at around 0.5 with a decreasing tendency; at 1873–2050K, the evaporation coefficient of Cu decreases rapidly from 0.88 to 0.39; at 1979–2038 K, the evaporation coefficient of Sn increases from 0.27 to 0.64. • A new TGA device is designed and used for the measurement of evaporation rate of metals in high temperature range. • Using the curves of the evaporation data of TGA device, the instantaneous evaporation rate of metal is obtained more accurate and reliable by the slope of the curve, rather than the time average evaporation rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the era of big data, the rapid development of mobile participatory sensing devices brings the explosive expansion of data, making information overload a serious problem. In this case, a personalized recommendation system on mobile social media appears. Collaborative filtering is the most widely used approach in a recommendation system. Nevertheless, there still exist many problems, such as the serious data sparsity problem and the cold start problem. Existing approaches cannot effectively solve these problems. Most of the existing recommendation approaches are based on single information source and cannot effectively solve the cold start and data sparsity problems. In addition, some approaches proposed to solve data sparsity fail to consider the effects of users' influences and prediction order on recommendation accuracy. Accordingly, from the perspective of increasing the categories of information, the similarity propagation approach based on a heterogeneous network is proposed to ease the cold start problems by improving the similarity calculation method. In addition, to ease the data sparsity problems, we propose a hybrid collaborative filtering approach based on a score prediction graph to finish the user-item score matrix in order. Finally, we conduct validation experiments on the MovieLens dataset. Compared with five state-of-the-art approaches, our approach outperforms them in terms of the performances of mean absolute error, root-mean-square error, recall, and diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The exploitation of new fungicides and the discovery of action targets are effective ways to solve the problem of resistance, and structural optimization of natural products has become an resultful method to discover lead compounds. In this work, in conjunction with the structures of the fungicidal lead compounds h‐I‐9, X‐I‐3, and X‐II‐5 found in our previous project, waltherione F‐derived diamide compounds were synthesized and characterized by 1H NMR, 13C NMR, and HRMS. The biological assays suggested that the target compounds exhibited weak to good fungicidal activity against the tested pathogens, while most of the target compounds displayed high cellular cytotoxicity against Hela cells. The investigation of accidentally discovered fluorescence characteristics revealed that the compound I‐1 exhibited the most vigorous fluorescence intensity at 350 nm, which was significantly higher than that of I‐3 at 225 nm and was further elucidated by density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Overall, the above results would provide theoretical guidance for the design of active target molecules and the development of fluorescent probes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Wax gourd [Benincasa hispida (Thunb) Cogn. (2n = 2x = 24)] is an economically important vegetable crop of genus Benincasa in the Cucurbitaceae family. Fruit is the main consumption organ of wax gourd. The mature fruit cuticular wax (MFCW) is an important trait in breeding programs, which is also of evolutionary significance in wax gourd. However, the genetic architecture of this valuable trait remains unrevealed. Results: In this study, genetic analysis revealed that the inheritance of MFCW was controlled by a single gene, with MFCW dominant over non-MFCW, and the gene was primarily named as BhWAX. Genome-wide association study (GWAS) highlighted a 1.1 Mb interval on chromosome 9 associated with MFCW in wax gourd germplasm resources. Traditional fine genetic mapping delimited BhWAX to a 0.5 Mb region containing 12 genes. Based on the gene annotation, expression analysis and co-segregation analysis, Bhi09G001428 that encodes a membrane bound O-acyltransferase (MBOAT) was proposed as the candidate gene for BhWAX. Moreover, it was demonstrated that the efficiency of a cleaved amplified polymorphic sequences (CAPS) marker in the determination of MFCW in wax gourd reached 80%. Conclusions: In closing, the study identified the candidate gene controlling MFCW and provided an efficient molecular marker for the trait in wax gourd for the first time, which will not only be beneficial for functional validation of the gene and marker-assisted breeding of wax gourd, but also lay a foundation for analysis of its evolutionary meaning among cucurbits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The wax gourd (Benincasa hispida) is an important vegetable crop whose fruits contain nutrients and metabolites. Small auxin upregulated RNA (SAUR) genes constitute the largest early auxin-responsive gene family and regulate various biological processes in plants, although this gene family has not been studied in the wax gourd. Here, we performed genome-wide identification of the SAUR gene family in wax gourds and analyzed their syntenic and phylogenetic relationships, gene structures, conserved motifs, cis-acting elements, and expression patterns. A total of 68 SAUR (BhSAUR) genes were identified, which were distributed on nine chromosomes with 41 genes in two clusters. More than half of the BhSAUR genes were derived from tandem duplication events. The BhSAUR proteins were classified into seven subfamilies. BhSAUR gene promoters contained cis-acting elements involved in plant hormone and environmental signal responses. Further expression profiles showed that BhSAUR genes displayed different expression patterns. BhSAUR60 was highly expressed in fruits, and overexpression led to longer fruits in Arabidopsis. In addition, the plants with overexpression displayed longer floral organs and wavy stems. In conclusion, our results provide a systematic analysis of the wax gourd SAUR gene family and facilitate the functional study of BhSAUR60 during wax gourd fruit development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Browning decreases the quality and shortens the shelf life of fresh‐cut potato, causing enormous economic losses. This study indicated that nitrogen treatment could inhibit this browning process. However, whether microRNAs (miRNAs) are involved in inhibiting the fresh‐cut potato browning by nitrogen remains unclear. Therefore, nine small RNA libraries were constructed and performed high‐throughput sequencing using fresh‐cut potatoes from control and nitrogen‐treated for 1 h groups at 25 °C to identify the miRNAs and their target genes involved in fresh‐cut potato browning inhibition by nitrogen. The results revealed that four common differentially expressed miRNAs (DEmiRNAs) were identified as associated with browning. The correlation analysis indicated that fresh‐cut potato browning was closely related to the expression of DEmiRNAs and their potential target genes. The miR172d targeting APETALA2/ethylene response factor and phospholipase D, miR482e targeting ATPase GET3‐like, and PC‐3p‐17015_391 targeting stachyose synthase are vital in the nitrogen inhibited fresh‐cut potato browning by regulating the ethylene signalling pathway, membrane lipid metabolic process, ATPase activity, and carbohydrate metabolic process. This study provides new insights into fresh‐cut potato browning inhibition and helps to improve the quality of fresh‐cut potato using nitrogen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Myocardial fibrosis caused by myocardial infarction (MI) is the key factor leading to cardiac remodeling; nod-like receptor family pyrin domain-containing 3 (NLRP3) plays an important role in regulation of myocardial injury; however, its relationship with TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB signaling pathway is largely unreported. In recent years, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases has shown its unique advantages and broad application prospects. LuQi Formula (LQF) has been used for more than 20 years in Shuguang Hospital (Shanghai, China), and it was confirmed that it can improve the clinical symptoms of patients after MI. Here, we investigated the mechanism of LQF by suppressing NLRP3 inflammasome activation and TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB pathway in mice with MI. Purpose. The purpose of this study was to verify the positive effects of the LQF in ameliorating myocardial fibrosis and inflammasome infiltration in the MI mice in vivo. Methods. Forty mice were randomized into four groups: the sham group, the MI group, the LQF group, and the perindopril group (n = 10 per group). Left anterior descending (LAD) coronary artery ligation was performed in all groups except the sham group. The mice were treated with LQF after MI. After 4 weeks, LDH, cTnI, IL-1β, and IL-18 were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit, and cardiac function was evaluated by echocardiography. Hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) and Masson staining were used to evaluate the myocardial injury and fibrosis. Western blot was used to evaluate the expression of collagen I, α-SMA, NLRP3 inflammasome, and TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB signaling pathway. Immunohistochemical analysis was used to further detect the expression of Fibronectin, α-SMA, collagen I, collagen III, NLRP3, and NF-κB in myocardial tissue. Results. Compared with the MI group, the ejection fraction (EF) and fractional shortening (FS) in the LQF group were significantly improved, while the left ventricular end diastolic diameter (LVEDd) and left ventricular internal dimension systole (LVIDs) were significantly decreased. The representative staining of H&E and Masson showed that treatment with LQF could effectively reduce myocardial injury and fibrosis. ELISA results showed that serum LDH, cTnI, TNF-α, IL-18, and IL-1β in LQF group were significantly lower than those in MI group. The western blot results showed that the expressions of collagen I and α-SMA were decreased significantly in the LQF group. Moreover, the expressions of NLRP3 inflammasome and TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB signaling pathway were downregulated in the LQF treatment group. Conclusion. Our results suggested that LQF could significantly improve cardiac function and ameliorate myocardial fibrosis. In addition, we found that LQF could downregulate the TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB signaling pathway and then inhibit the activation of NLRP3 inflammasome, suggesting that LQF alleviated cardiac fibrosis by decreasing the TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB signaling pathway and then inhibited NLRP3 inflammasome activation in MI mice, which indicates potential therapeutic effect of LQF on patients with MI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Heterojunction materials with hierarchical hollow core–shell structure TiO 2 @Bi-BiOBr was successfully synthesized. • Electron transfer modes at the interface of TiO 2 @Bi-BiOBr composite demonstrated. • The TiO 2 @Bi-BiOBr composite exhibits superior photothermal catalytic CO 2 reduction to CO performance. CO 2 reduction by a sustainable pathway such as photothermal catalysis is highly demanded currently, high carrier recombination rate still severely limits the performance of photothermal catalysis. Constructing heterojunction interfaces with high exposed area is an effective strategy to solve the problem of carrier recombination. However, fine control of the interface structure is still highly challenging. Herein, Density functional theory (DFT) calculations were constructed to reveal that metallic Bi leads to more densities of states (DOS) generation at the conduction band edge in Bi-BiOBr, which argues that photogenerated electrons are more likely to be delivered to metallic Bi. A TiO 2 @Bi-BiOBr hollow hierarchical core–shell heterojunction was designed, providing a highly exposed interface and Bi between interfaces. Such structure endows the catalyst with excellent photothermal catalytic performance, achieving a CO yield of 30.4 μmol·h−1·g−1. The highly improved performance is attributed to interfacial thermoelectrons transfer boosted by the construction of TiO 2 @BiOBr heterojunction as well as metal Bi. And a possible CO 2 reduction pathway is proposed, which is consistent with the Carbine pathway. This study provides an exciting idea for the modulation of photoelectron transfer at catalyst interfaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]