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In this paper, the responses of assembled behaviors of block polyelectrolytes (PEs) to the strength of electrostatic interactions are studied through molecular dynamic simulations. The results show that the assembled structures closely depend on the electrostatic strength. It should be noted that PE coacervation can outweigh the nucleation of hydrophobic blocks and invert the micelle structures at strong electrostatic strengths, leading to the formation of inverted micelles of PE cores and hydrophobic coronas. In the poor solvent condition for neutral block, diverse anisotropic micelles are presented; candy-like conventional micelles of hydrophobic cores and PE patches coexist with inverted candy-like micelles of PE cores and hydrophobic patches and with Janus micelles of semi-neutral aggregate and semi-PE cluster in the presence of divalent and trivalent counterions. The formation of conventional or inverted micelle is largely determined by the type of micellar fusion, which results from the nucleation competition between electrostatic correlation and hydrophobic interaction. The merge of micelles mediated by hydrophobic attraction leads to conventional hydrophobic cores, and the fusion induced by electrostatic correlations results in PE cores micelles. At strong electrostatic strengths, the PE chains exhibit rich conformations at trivalent counterions, ranging from a fully collapsed state to a rod-like state, and parallel alignment of PE chains is found. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evaluation of thermoelectric materials relies significantly on the thermoelectric figure of merit, ZT, which serves as a crucial parameter in assessing their properties. The accurate prediction of ZT values can be accomplished by utilizing machine learning models to learn material characteristics. However, factors such as the size of the dataset, model hyperparameters, and data quality can all impact the accuracy of machine learning. In contrast to previous research where high-dimensional features were simply discarded to transform them into low-dimensional ones, deep learning models such as autoencoder can extract more effective information. Therefore, in this article, the combination of autoencoders and the Light Gradient Boosting Machine (LightGBM) is employed to learn the chemical characteristics and ZT values of various materials. The reliability of the model was confirmed by achieving an R2 score of 0.94 during tenfold cross-validation. 130 000 materials were predicted and screened, the temperature dependence of the screened materials was studied in depth, and 13 materials with high ZT values were identified. Four of the 13 most promising candidates identified are existing thermoelectric materials, while nine are ideal candidates for future experimental studies and validation. This work utilizes autoencoders for extensive prediction and screening of promising materials, providing an effective approach for handling high-dimensional material data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fear of negative evaluation and prosocial behavior have been identified as predictive factors influencing the development of loneliness in adolescence, representing typical factors in the cognitive and behavioral processes of re-affiliation. The elucidation of plausible direct and indirect pathways linking these pivotal factors to adolescents' loneliness need further exploration. This study aimed to investigate the direct and indirect relationships between the fear of negative evaluation, prosocial behavior, and adolescents' loneliness through the lens of developmental changes. A total of 533 adolescents (49.0% girls, Mage = 15.18 years, SD = 0.71) participated in this longitudinal study, assessed at three timepoints over a span of two years with 12-month intervals. Latent growth modeling uncovered direct associations between the developmental trajectories of both fear of negative evaluation and prosocial behavior with the developmental trajectory of adolescents' loneliness. The developmental trajectory of fear of negative evaluation exhibited an indirect association with the developmental trajectory of loneliness through the mediating role of prosocial behavior. These findings highlighted the roles of cognitive and behavioral re-affiliation processes, both independently and as mediators, in influencing adolescent loneliness, suggesting that interventions aimed at reducing fear of negative evaluation and promoting prosocial behavior could effectively mitigate adolescents' loneliness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this work was to investigate the impact of nanosecond pulse laser drilling on the quality of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP). The effects of laser parameters, including laser power, scan speed, pulse width and laser frequency on micro-hole quality and the thermal damage generated during the drilling process were analyzed. 0.4 mm diameter micro-holes were drilling using a 1064 nm fiber laser, using univariate and orthogonal experimental method. The results indicate that pumping at the entrance leads to a significant increase in hole diameter and heat-affected zone (HAZ) width at both the entrance and exit, as laser power, pulse width and frequency increase, and scanning speed decrease. The width of the HAZ at the exit is dependent on whether the energy reaches the carbon fiber ablation threshold. The holes were tapered and the hole taper was closely related to the change in laser parameters at the entrance and exit of the hole. A taper of approximately 0.3 was achieved with a combination of 99 W, 50 mm/s, 13 ns and 1500 kHz. The experiments indicate that laser power and pulse width are crucial factors that affect the quality of micro-hole processing. However, nanosecond laser drilling can result in thermal damage defects, including striations, micro-cracks, delamination, voids and surface fiber 'fish scale' peeling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identification of somatic mutations (SMs) is essential for characterizing cancer genomes. While DNA-seq is the prevalent method for identifying SMs, RNA-seq provides an alternative strategy to discover tumor mutations in the transcribed genome. Here, we have developed a machine learning based pipeline to discover SMs based on RNA-seq data (designated as RNA-SMs). Subsequently, we have conducted a pan-cancer analysis to systematically identify RNA-SMs from over 8,000 tumors in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). In this way, we have identified over 105,000 novel SMs that had not been reported in previous TCGA studies. These novel SMs have significant clinical implications in designing targeted therapy for improved patient outcomes. Further, we have combined the SMs identified by both RNA-seq and DNA-seq analyses to depict an updated mutational landscape across 32 cancer types. This new online SM atlas, OncoDB (https://oncodb.org), offers a more complete view of gene mutations that underline the development and progression of various cancers. The authors develop a web resource to present pan-cancer mutations in 32 major types of cancer. This new online somatic mutations atlas, OncoDB is publicly available at https://oncodb.org. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current investigation delves into the influence of varying cooling rates, encompassing water, rapid quenching oil, and air, on the quench crack susceptibility (QCS) of disc springs. The assessment reveals that the average martensite lath width under water, oil, and air cooling conditions measures 0.61 μm, 0.66 μm, and 1.12 μm, respectively. Correspondingly, the residual austenite content amounts to 6.9%, 8.7%, and 12.3%. Notably, cracks are observed at the disc spring's perimeter during water cooling, whereas oil and air cooling effectively preclude such occurrences. Simulations demonstrate that residual stresses of up to 1011 MPa can arise at the disc spring cross-section corners under water cooling, significantly surpassing the stresses encountered under oil and air cooling, at 440 MPa and 73 MPa respectively. As the microstructure evolves, these residual stresses critically impact the grain boundaries of the original austenite, compromising the buffering capabilities of the martensite phase and residual austenite, thereby enhancing susceptibility to quench cracking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To compare Barrett TK Universal II and Barrett Universal II TCRP calculations in the power calculations for 3 presbyopia-correcting intraocular lenses (PC-IOL). Methods: This observational study involved 64 eyes from 64 patients who prepared to undergo extraction of crystalline lenses combined with PC-IOL (Symfony ZXR00, PanOptix TFNT00, or AT LISA tri 839MP) implantation. All eyes underwent ocular biometric measurements with IOLMaster 700 and Pentacam HR, and the interdevice agreement of measurements including total keratometry (TK, IOLMaster 700) and total corneal refractive power (TCRP, Pentacam HR) was evaluated. IOL power calculations were performed using TK-based Barrett TK Universal II and TCRP-based Barrett Universal II calculations, respectively. Results: Paired t-tests showed that the differences in white-to-white diameter, central corneal thickness, anterior chamber depth, and mean TK between IOLMaster 700 and Pentacam HR were slight but significant (all P< 0.05), and the differences in recommended IOL power for emmetropia between two Barrett calculations were also significant in 3 PC-IOLs (all P< 0.05). The ROC curve showed that the AUC was 0.917 (95% CI, 0.820– 0.971) for the absolute value of the difference between TK and TCRP in discriminating the difference of ≥ ± 0.5 D in predicted IOL power with best cutoff values of 0.4 D. Conclusion: The novel Barrett TK Universal II formula built in IOLMaster 700 is comparable to TCRP-based Barrett Universal II calculation for IOL power calculation of PC-IOLs, and the convenience of using the Barrett TK Universal II formula should be founded on measurement consistency between devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • We show an easy, template-free synthesis of polymeric photocatalysts with hollow nanotube-nanocluster core–shell structure. • The structure is realized via intramolecular covalent crosslinking and synergistic intermolecular donor–acceptor interactions. • This approach facilitated charge separation and transfer, reduced nanocluster aggregation, and provided more catalytic sites. The modulation of microstructures in conjugated polymers represents a viable strategy for enhancing photocatalytic efficiency, albeit hampered by complex processing techniques. Here, we present an uncomplicated, template-free method to synthesize polymeric photocatalysts, namely BCN(x)@PPy, featuring a hollow nanotube-nanocluster core–shell superstructure. This configuration is realized through intramolecular covalent crosslinking and synergistic intermolecular donor–acceptor (D−A) interactions between phenylene pyrene (PPy, D) nanotubes and poly([1,1′-biphenyl]-3-carbonitrile) (PBCN, A) nanoclusters. Interestingly, the optimized BCN2@PPy composite demonstrates remarkably enhanced performance for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution, with an efficiency of 14.7-fold higher than that of unmodified PPy nanotubes. Experimental and density functional theory calculations revealed that BCN(x)@PPy composites are conducive to shortening photogenerated exciton migration, facilitating charge separation and transfer, reducing nanoclusters aggregation or re-stacking, and providing sufficient catalytically active sites, all contributing to the heightened efficiency in photocatalysis. These insights underscore the potential for precise molecular adjustments in conjugated polymers, advancing artificial photosynthesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Family travel often involves conflicts and compromises between parents and children, as parents balance their parental role expectations with their own desire for leisure. Based on role theory, we collected cross-sectional data on parenting-to-leisure conflict and resolution behaviors to identify clusters of family travel experience patterns of parents using latent class analysis. The analysis identified four classes: "conflicting journey: active solvers," "conflicting journey: self-repression solvers," "harmonious journey: child-centered solvers" and "harmonious journey: self-neglect solvers." Each cohort has distinct family travel behaviors and demographics, as well as distal outcomes, i.e. intention to separate from children and intention to purchase childcare services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A multifunctional microencapsulated phase change material (PW@CaCO3/Y2O3) with both photoluminescence and thermal energy storage/release properties has been prepared by in situ polymerization. The material is based on the phase change material paraffin wax (PW) as its core, and the highly thermally conductive inorganic material CaCO3 is selected as the shell material to which a nano-Y2O3 material is attached. Five samples with different amounts of nano-Y2O3 incorporated in the shell are prepared. The microscopic morphology, chemical composition, crystal structure, thermal energy storage properties, thermal conductivity, thermal stability, as well as fluorescence spectra and intensities of the samples are experimentally measured and compared. The luminescence properties of nano-Y2O3 and the light enhancement phenomenon of microencapsulated phase change materials are also analyzed. The thermal properties are investigated, and it is found that the PC-Y3 sample (i.e., the mass ratio of PW:CaCO3:nano-Y2O3 is 100:100:3.0) exhibits the best thermal performance among the five samples with a melting enthalpy of (87.5 ± 2.5) J/g, an encapsulation efficiency of (61.9 ± 1.2)%, a thermal energy storage efficiency of (62.1 ± 1.5)%, an average specific heat capacity of (1.38 ± 0.21) kJ/(kg K) in solid phase (10–20 °C) and (1.46 ± 0.02) kJ/(kg K) in liquid phase (70–80 °C), and a thermal conductivity of (1.55 ± 0.01) W/(m K) in solid phase that is six times that of the solid PW. A study of the optical properties revealed that the microcapsules emitted blue light at an excitation wavelength of 290.0 ± 2.2 nm. The fluorescence intensity appeared to be enhanced with the addition of nano-Y2O3. This microencapsulated phase change material has potential applications in areas where synchronization of fluorescence and thermal modulation is required; for example, some specific fluorescent sensors that are very sensitive to heat should operate at a fixed low temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: During an outbreak such as COVID-19, hospital staff needs to be in close contact with all types of patients visiting the hospital and the risk of cross-infection is extremely high. Payment and medication pickup is a mandatory part of a patient's hospital visit, with direct contact between healthcare workers and patients, and long waiting times in the hospital area, which can easily lead to the spread of disease infection. OBJECTIVE: This paper designed the prototype of a contactless smart medicine cabinet based on RFID technology and optimized the patient consultation and medication pickup process to address these problems. METHODS: We conducted a 50-day field observation of patients for consultation and medication pickup at the First Hospital in H city, Jiangsu Province, China, and randomly timed 1600 sets of data from Surgery (ophthalmology) and Internal patients, then we designed the prototype of a contactless smart medicine cabinet based on RFID technology, optimized the patient consultation and medication pickup process, comparing the traditional and intelligent models using AnyLogic. RESULTS: The results show that this contactless medicine cabinet was able to reduce the time taken by patients in consultation and medicine pickup by 18.74 minutes, increasing the overall efficiency of the consultation by 32.20%. The simulation revealed that this contactless intelligent medication pickup model was able to reduce the time taken by patients in consultation and medicine pickup, increasing the overall efficiency of the consultation, effectively reducing the frequency of contact between healthcare workers and patients, and reducing the risk of disease infection. CONCLUSION: The proposed technical model provides a new idea to solve the problems of long queues, low efficiency and high risk of infection for patients to consult and get medicine during epidemics. Especially within hospitals it has important theoretical and practical implications for epidemic prevention and control as well as future hospital management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we investigate the signal reconstruction of M-channel oversampled graph filter banks (MOSGFBs) on sparse graphs. The analysis filter bank of MOSGFBs can be in polynomial or node-variant (NV) form. Given the analysis filter bank and sampling matrix, the synthesis procedure can be formulated into a quadratic optimization problem. To solve this problem, a novel distributed conjugate gradient (DCG) algorithm is proposed, in which the step size and increment involved in the conjugate gradient iteration are evaluated in a distributed manner. The local step sizes and increments are first calculated using data from neighboring nodes, and then patched to participate in the iteration. The DCG algorithm involves the exchange of information between neighboring nodes and executes the synthesis computation locally; therefore, the synthesis procedure has a low implementation complexity and is suitable for processing large-scale datasets. Numerical examples conducted on synthetic and real-world datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims This study aimed to investigate the changes of cell membrane structure and function of Issatchenkia terricola under citric acid by performing physiological analysis. Methods and results The membrane integrity, surface hydrophobicity, structure, fluidity, apoptosis, and fatty acid methyl esters composition of I. terricola WJL-G4 cells were determined by propidium iodide staining, microbial adhesion to hydrocarbon test, transmission electron microscopy analysis, fluorescence anisotropy, flow cytometry, and gas chromatography-mass, respectively. The results showed that with the increasing of citric acid concentrations, the cell vitality, membrane integrity, and fluidity of I. terricola reduced; meanwhile, apoptosis rate, membrane permeable, hydrophobicity, and ergosterol contents augmented significantly. Compared to control, the activities of Na+, K+-ATPase, and Ca2+, Mg2+-ATPase increased by 3.73-fold and 6.70-fold, respectively, when citric acid concentration increased to 20 g l−1. The cells cracked and their cytoplasm effused when the citric acid concentration reached 80 g l−1. Conclusions I. terricola could successfully adjust its membrane structure and function below 60 g l−1 of citric acid. However, for citric acid concentrations above 80 g l−1, its structure and function were dramatically changed, which might result in reduced functionality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In the global trend of actively promoting the participation of older adults in the digital age, the relevant negative issues featuring potential Internet Addiction (IA) among them has risen to be a new challenge facing the global public health. However, there is a severe lack of related research. This study aimed to gain a comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon and process of IA among the elderly. The purpose of this paper is to introduce factors that may influence IA in the demographic. Methods: This study employed qualitative descriptive research methods to investigate older adults' perceptions and experiences of IA. Semi-structured in-depth personal interviews were conducted between March and June 2023 with 36 senior citizens from urban communities in Chongqing, Southwest China. Data were analyzed via inductive content analysis methods. Results: Through data analysis, 2 main categories concerning IA in older adults were identified: risk factors and protective factors. The risk factor categories include 5 individual factors (e.g., Internet as the major avenue for pursuing personal hobbies and interests, etc.), 3 family factors (e.g., household WIFI increasing the risk of prolonged Internet use indoors, etc.), 2 peer factors (e.g., peer recommendation and guidance as catalysts for intensified Internet engagement, etc.), 2 socio-environmental factors (e.g., the widespread daily Internet use spurs offline intolerance, etc.), and 3 Internet platform factors (e.g., the plenitude of online content triggers endless viewing/browsing behaviors, etc.). The category of protective factors encompasses 2 individual factors (e.g., a higher level of perceived risk regarding internet health hazards, etc.) and 2 family factors (e.g., more family commitment, etc.). Conclusions: Older adults' Internet addictive behaviors are shaped by multiple and complex internal and external factors. A higher level of online health risk perception is a key protective factor to effectively avoid the occurrence and deterioration of IA among the aged, a distinct finding from this study. It is believed that the "individual-family-peer-community" synergy strategy is expected to become an essential direction for IA intervention for older adults, in order to promote healthy Internet use among older adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Short-term power load forecasting refers to the use of load and weather information to forecast the Day-ahead load, which is very important for power dispatch and the establishment of the power spot market. In this manuscript, a comprehensive study on the frame of input data for electricity load forecasting is proposed based on the extreme gradient boosting algorithm. Periodicity was the first of the historical load data to be analyzed using discrete Fourier transform, autocorrelation function, and partial autocorrelation function to determine the key width of a sliding window for an optimization load feature. The mean absolute error (MAE) of the frame reached 52.04 using a boosting model with a 7-day width in the validation dataset. Second, the fusing of datetime variables and meteorological information factors was discussed in detail and determined how to best improve performance. The datetime variables were determined as a form of integer, sine–cosine pairs, and Boolean-type combinations, and the meteorological features were determined as a combination with 540 features from 15 sampled sites, which further decreased MAE to 44.32 in the validation dataset. Last, a training method for day-ahead forecasting was proposed to combine the Minkowski distance to determine the historical span. Under this framework, the performance has been significantly improved without any tuning for the boosting algorithm. The proposed method further decreased MAE to 37.84. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method is evaluated using a 200-day load dataset from the Estonian grid. The achieved MAE of 41.69 outperforms other baseline models, with MAE ranging from 65.03 to 104.05. This represents a significant improvement of 35.89% over the method currently employed by the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E). The robustness of the proposal method can be also guaranteed with excellent performance in extreme weather and on special days. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The oral microbiota is essential for the maintenance of oral and systemic health but is poorly characterized in primates. We used positive reinforcement training to collect 20 oral samples from three infant, ten juvenile/subadult, and seven adult Sichuan golden snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus roxellana). We subjected these samples to 16S rRNA high-throughput sequencing, as well as bacterial culture and identification. The 16S rRNA sequencing data showed the diversity of the oral flora did not differ significantly across these three age groups, while at the phyla level, the dominant flora in the oral cavity were Firmicutes and Proteobacteria (totaling 77.62%), and the relative abundance of Firmicutes in the adults was significantly higher than in the juvenile/subadults. Meanwhile, Enterococcus was the most abundant genus in this population, and there was no significant difference in the oral flora at the genus level across the age groups. We also isolated several opportunistic pathogenic bacteria in the oral samples from noninfant, Sichuan golden snub-nosed monkeys. Although our sample size is small, particularly for infants, our study describes the characteristics of oral flora in captive, Sichuan golden snub-nosed monkeys of different age groups and provides important information about possibly pathogenic bacteria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is a toxic gas derived from the sulfur industry and trace H2S in the environment can cause serious ecological damage while inhalation can cause serious damage and lead to disease. Therefore, the real-time and accurate detection of trace sulfur ions is of great significance for environmental protection and early disease detection. Considering the shortcoming of current H2S probes in terms of stability and sensitivity, the development of novel probes is necessary. Herein, a novel metal-organic frameworks (MOF)-based material, UiO-66-NH2@BDC, was designed and prepared for the visual detection of H2S with rapid response (< 6 s) and low detection limit of S2− (0.13 µM) by hydrogen bonding. Based on its good optical performance, the UiO-66-NH2@BDC probe can detect S2− in various water environments. More importantly, UiO-66-NH2@BDC probe realize imaging S2− in cells and live zebrafish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Tiger nut (Cyperus esculentus) is widely known as an additional source of food, oil and feed worldwide. The agricultural production of tiger nut has been greatly hindered by drought stress, reducing both yield and quality. Protein phosphatase 2 C (PP2Cs) plays an important role in plant responses to drought stress however, the molecular mechanism of PP2Cs in tiger nuts still unclear. Results: In this study, we identified a putative group A PP2C-encoding gene (CePP2C19) from tiger nut using transcriptome analysis, which is highly induced by drought stress. The transient expression assay suggested that CePP2C19 was localized to nucleus. Furthermore, the interaction between CePP2C19 and CePYR1, a coreceptor for ABA signaling, was first detected using a yeast two-hybrid assay and then verified using a bimolecular fluorescence complementation (BiFC) analysis. In addition, the transgenic Arabidopsis lines overexpressing CePP2C19 exhibited extreme tolerance to ABA and mannitol stresses during seed germination and root growth. At the mature stage, overexpression of CePP2C19 resulted in a higher tolerance to drought stress in transgenic Arabidopsis, as confirmed by a visible phenotype and several physiological parameters. Noticeably, the silencing of CePP2C19 by virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) showed obvious reduction in drought tolerance in tiger nut plants. Conclusions: The CePP2C19 emerges as a pivotal gene involved in the ABA signaling pathway, which likely reduce ABA sensitivity and thus enhances drought tolerance in Cyperus esculentus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Siraitia grosvenorii pomace (SGP) was processed by solid-state fermentation with Eurotium cristatum. Metabolite differences between non-fermented Siraitia grosvenorii pomace (NFSGP) and E. cristatum fermented Siraitia grosvenorii pomace (FSGP) were investigated by LC-MS/MS-based untargeted metabolomic analysis. The antioxidant and anti-aging effect of NFSGP and FSGP was investigated through in vitro and in vivo assays using Caenorhabditis elegans model. Results showed that 263 metabolites had significant changes after fermentation. Fermentation with E. cristatum significantly increase most polyphenols, flavonoids and alkaloids, such as sinapic acid, quercetin and indole. The antioxidant activities of SGP were also significantly enhanced after fermentation by E. cristatum. Furthermore, NFSGP and FSGP could significantly prolong the life-span and enhanced the oxidative and heat stress resistance of C. elegans , and FSGP exhibited greater effects. Our study revealed that fermentation with E. cristatum could improve the nutritional value of SGP. [Display omitted] • Fermentation enhanced the biological activity of Siraitia grosvenorii pomace. • Most of phenolic compounds and alkaloids were greatly increased by fermentation. • C. elegans was employed to study Siraitia grosvenorii pomace's biological activity. • The anti-aging activity of Siraitia grosvenorii was firstly reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanotechnology offers the possibility of revolutionizing cancer theranostics in the new era of precision oncology. Extracellular vesicles (EVs)-like biomimetic nanoparticles (EBPs) have recently emerged as a promising platform for targeted cancer drug delivery. Compared with conventional synthetic vehicles, EBPs have several advantages, such as lower immunogenicity, longer circulation time, and better targeting capability. Studies on EBPs as cancer therapeutics are rapidly progressing from in vitro experiments to in vivo animal models and early-stage clinical trials. Here, we describe engineering strategies to further improve EBPs as effective anticancer drug carriers, including genetic manipulation of original cells, fusion with synthetic nanomaterials, and direct modification of EVs. These engineering approaches can improve the anticancer performance of EBPs, especially in terms of tumor targeting effectiveness, stealth property, drug loading capacity, and integration with other therapeutic modalities. Finally, the current obstacles and future perspectives of engineered EBPs as the next-generation delivery platform for anticancer drugs are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The generation of a concise building model has been and continues to be a challenge in photogrammetry and computer graphics. The current methods typically focus on the simplicity and fidelity of the model, but those methods either fail to preserve the structural information or suffer from low computational efficiency. In this paper, we propose a novel method to generate concise building models from dense meshes by extracting and completing the planar primitives of the building. From the perspective of probability, we first extract planar primitives from the input mesh and obtain the adjacency relationships between the primitives. Since primitive loss and structural defects are inevitable in practice, we employ a novel structural completion approach to eliminate linkage errors. Finally, the concise polygonal mesh is reconstructed by connectivity‐based primitive assembling. Our method is efficient and robust to various challenging data. Experiments on various building models revealed the efficacy and applicability of our method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of a highly efficient, visible-light responsive catalyst for environment purification has been a long-standing exploit, with obstacles to overcome, including inefficient capture of near-infrared photons, undesirable recombination of photo-generated carriers, and insufficient accessible reaction sites. Hence, novel carbon quantum dots (CQDs) modified PbBiO2I photocatalyst were synthesized for the first time through an in-situ ionic liquid-induced method. The bridging function of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium iodide ([Bmim]I) guarantees the even dispersion of CQDs around PbBiO2I surface, for synchronically overcoming the above drawbacks and markedly promoting the degradation efficiency of organic contaminants: (i) CQDs decoration harness solar photons in the near-infrared region; (ii) particular delocalized conjugated construction of CQDs strength via the utilization of photo-induced carriers; (iii) π–π interactions increase the contact between catalyst and organic molecules. Benefiting from these distinguished features, the optimized CQDs/PbBiO2I nanocomposite displays significantly enhanced photocatalytic performance towards the elimination of rhodamine B and ciprofloxacin under visible/near-infrared light irradiation. The spin-trapping ESR analysis demonstrates that CQDs modification can boost the concentration of reactive oxygen species (O2•−). Combined with radicals trapping tests, valence-band spectra, and Mott–Schottky results, a possible photocatalytic mechanism is proposed. This work establishes a significant milestone in constructing CQDs-modified, bismuth-based catalysts for solar energy conversion applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The object detection task usually assumes that the training and test samples obey the same distribution, and this assumption is not valid in reality, therefore the study of cross-domain object detection is proposed. Compared with image classification, the cross-domain object detection task presents the greater challenge, which requires both accurate classification and localization of samples in the target domain. The teacher–student framework (the student model is supervised by pseudo-labels from the teacher model) has produced a large accuracy improvement in cross-domain object detection. Feature-level adversarial training is used in the student model, which allows features in the source and target domains to share a similar distribution. However, the direction and gradient of the weights can be divided into domain-specific and domain-invariant features, and the purpose of domain adaptive is to focus on the domain-invariant features while eliminating interference from the domain-specific features. Inspired by this, we propose a teacher–student framework named dual adaptive branch (DAB), which uses domain adversarial learning to address the domain distribution. Specifically, we ensure that the student model aligns domain-invariant features and suppresses domain-specific features in this process. We further validate our method based on multiple domains. The experimental results demonstrate that our proposed method significantly improves the performance of cross-domain object detection and achieves the competitive experimental results on common benchmarks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are the one of most promising photovoltaic technologies that can be achieved by a simple solution process. At the current stage, the key issues concern further improvements in efficiency and operational lifetime. Constructing a self‐assembled perovskite structure with manipulated chemical and physical properties is a useful and effective strategy to solve these problems. Herein, we review the basic principles of and recent progress in the spontaneous formation behavior of heterostructured perovskite thin films. This concept provides insightful clues for the design and fabrication of stable and efficient PSCs for next‐generation photovoltaics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prussian blue (PB) and its analogs (PBAs) are considered one of the most promising materials for sodium‐ion batteries (SIBs). The typical PB with perfect structure and highly integrated lattice has excellent structural stability, but the possible structural defects inevitably generated in the synthesis process will deteriorate its structure during cycling, resulting in rapid capacity degradation, and impede their practical application. However, not all defects are detrimental, as proper defect construction can customize the local nature of PB to achieve outstanding new functions. This paper reviews various defect engineering designs for PBAs, such as the creation/suppression of cation or anion vacancies, the introduction of cation doping, the reduction of dislocation defects, and the construction of pore‐defect engineering. As a result, the structure–activity relationship between defects and electrochemical performance of SIBs is summarized. Moreover, the existing challenges and future development prospects are discussed, and the potential application of defect engineering in PBAs for SIBs is emphasized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We probed the anatase (101) surface irradiated by near-infrared and infrared photons in different ambient gases by monitoring the surface lattice phonon mode using sum-frequency spectroscopy. We found that even under the irradiation of such low energy photons, the stability of surface oxygen vacancies, in comparison to sub-surface oxygen vacancies, can increase sensibly. The variation of this surface phonon mode is also in accordance with the photo-induced hydrophilicity of titanium oxide surfaces, which may provide the microscopic insight into this phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To better assess the safety of cementitious materials containing crushed waste oyster shells (WOS), the workability, mechanical properties (compressive strength and static elastic modulus) and durability (volume of permeable void (VPV), water absorption (WA) and total charge passed) were studied. The effects of replacing river sand with different content of crushed WOS (0, 10, 20 and 30%) on flowability, mechanical properties and durability of mortar have been revealed. The results indicated that the addition of WOS had a significant effect on the flow table of the mortar, and the loss ratio of FT varied from 25% to 39% at 120 min. Although the compressive strength (fc), static elastic modulus (Ec) and apparent density gradually decreased with the increase of WOS content, the mechanical properties were improved by prolonging the curing time. The incorporation of crushed WOS in mortar increased the VPV and WA, as well as the transport properties of mortar. The replacement of natural river sand with crushed WOS greatly increased the drying shrinkage of mortar. The substituted ratio–Gardner model exhibited the best accuracy in predicting the drying shrinkage development of crushed WOS mortar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Culture influences whether cancer patients disclose their disease diagnosis to others. Understanding Chinese young female breast cancer survivors (BCSs)' experiences and perspectives on disclosure could play a vital role in clinical nursing. This study explores the experiences of Chinese young female BCSs with disease disclosure and describes the reasons for their choices. Methods: Using the tenets of phenomenological research and a purpose sampling method, semistructured interviews were conducted with 31 BCSs from February to April 2021. Colaizzi's analysis method was performed with NVivo software to develop common themes from the data. Results: From the analysis of the interviews of the 31 participants, three main themes were identified: (1) disclosure-to whom, including core family members, close friends, roommates, and employers; (2) disclosure to achieve positive outcomes, including: to gain social support, tell others to take precautions, obtain relevant information, and get permission to work flexibly, and (3) nondisclosure to avoid negative outcomes, including fear of discrimination and stigmatization, strengthen the role of the patient, bring excessive burden, and fear of excessive compassion. Conclusions: For young women diagnosed with breast cancer in China, it is a very complicated matter whether they choose to disclose their diagnosis to others. While disclosure can bring many benefits, it is important to look at the reasons why these women are concealing their diagnosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sporadic acute Stanford type A aortic dissection (TAAD) is a serious condition that requires urgent treatment to avoid catastrophic consequences. The purpose of the present study was to explore, firstly, whether TLR4-regulated immune signalling molecules were activated in TAAD patients and, secondly, whether TLR4-regulated inflammatory products interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and CC chemokine ligand 5 (CCL5) could be a promising biomarker for diagnosis in patients with TAAD. Full-thickness ascending aortic wall specimens from TAAD patients (n = 12) and control donors (n = 12) were examined for the expression of TLR4 and its major signalling molecules, in terms of immunity and inflammation. Blood samples from TAAD (n = 49) and control patients (n = 53) were collected to detect the circulating plasma cytokine levels of IL-1β and CCL5. We demonstrated that expression levels of TLR4 and its downstream signalling cascade molecules were significantly elevated. Furthermore, receiver operating characteristic curve analyses showed that elevated IL-1β levels and decreased plasma CCL5 may have diagnostic value for TAAD. In summary, this current study suggests a more generalized pattern of inflammation in TAAD. In addition, TLR4-mediated inflammatory product, such as IL-1β and CCL5, could be novel and promising biomarkers with important diagnostic and predictive value in the identification of sporadic TAAD diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individual daily travel activities (e.g., work, eating) are identified with various machine learning models (e.g., Bayesian Network, Random Forest) for understanding people's frequent travel purposes. However, labor-intensive engineering work is often required to extract effective features. Additionally, features and models are mostly calibrated for individual trajectories with regular daily travel routines and patterns, and therefore suffer from poor generalizability when applied to new trajectories with more irregular patterns. Meanwhile, most existing models cannot extract features to explicitly represent regular travel activity sequences. Therefore, this paper proposes a graph-based representation of spatiotemporal trajectories and point-of-interest (POI) data for travel activity type identification, defined as Gstp2Vec. Specifically, a weighted directed graph is constructed by connecting regular activity areas (i.e., zones) detected via clustering individual daily travel trajectories as graph nodes, with edges denoting trips between pairs of zones. Statistics of trajectories (e.g., visit frequency, activity duration) and POI distributions (e.g., percentage of restaurants) at each activity zone are encoded as node features. Next, trip frequency, average trip duration, and average trip distance are encoded as edge weights. Then a series of feedforward neural networks are trained to generate low-dimensional embeddings for activity nodes through sampling and aggregating spatiotemporal and POI features from their multihop neighborhoods. Activity type labels collected via travel surveys are used as ground truth for backpropagation. The experiment results with real-world GPS trajectories show that Gstp2Vec significantly reduces feature engineering efforts by automatically learning feature embeddings from raw trajectories with minimal prepossessing efforts. It not only enhances model generalizability to receive higher identification accuracy on test individual trajectories with diverse travel patterns, but also obtains better efficiency and robustness. In particular, our identification of the most common daily travel activities (e.g., Dwelling and Work) for people with diverse travel patterns outperforms state-of-the-art classification models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building instance segmentation is of very importance to parallel reconstruction, management and analysis of building instance. Previous studies of building instance segmentation mainly focused on the building scenes where the building spacing is much larger than the point spacing, while the accuracy of building instance segmentation for complex buildings scenes and the building point clouds where the space between buildings is similar with point spacing is low. To improve the accuracy of building instance segmentation for complex building scenes, we propose a novel object-based building instance segmentation (OBBIS) method from airborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR) point clouds. Firstly, our proposed method divides building point clouds into objects, and then the objects are classified according to the characteristics of building roof plane objects, roof accessory objects and building facade objects. Secondly, we use node to represent object and then a fix-size feature vector is inferred for each node. Thirdly, vertical cylinder neighbour node graph is constructed. Finally, the energy function is constructed according to the relationship between the nodes, and then the objects are merged according to the energy minimum (that is, objects are merged with a minimum energy to obtain the building instances). Comprehensive experiments on benchmark datasets demonstrate that the proposed OBBIS method performs better than eight state-of-the-art building instance segmentation methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Primary hepatic mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma is a relatively rare disease with low malignancy, and its aetiology is unclear. A 65-year-old man presented with abdominal pain. Hepatitis virus examination revealed a previous hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, and a carbon-13 urea breath test result was positive for the patient. Abdominal contrast-enhanced computed tomography revealed a patch of abnormal density in the right posterior lobe of the liver. The patient underwent VI segment hepatectomy and was pathologically diagnosed with hepatic MALT lymphoma. After the operation, he received quadruple anti-Helicobacter pylori (HP) therapy and refused other treatments. He has been followed up by telephone for 20 months after discharge and is now in a stable condition. In this study, we counted 105 cases of hepatic MALT lymphomas reported in English or Chinese since 1995 and summarised the clinical characteristics and concomitant diseases in this condition. Based on the literature review, we speculated that chronic infectious diseases, especially viral infections (including hepatitis C virus (HCV) and HBV) and HP infection, are associated with the pathogenesis of primary hepatic MALT lymphoma. In addition, autoimmune diseases might also play a role in this condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chemodynamic therapy (CDT) is a non-invasive treatment strategy that aims to combat tumor growth by efficiently generating reactive oxygen species (ROS). However, the effectiveness of CDT can be limited by factors such as the availability of endogenous hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2). Here, we established an intelligent nano-based drug delivery system responsive to the tumor microenvironment by self-assembling Cu2+, cisplatin, and L-histidine to form nanoparticles (Pt/CuH NPs), which can achieve the therapeutic effect of specific tumor killing by cascading chemotherapy with CDT. The Pt/CuH NPs are triggered by the acidic conditions and high glutathione (GSH) levels present in the tumor microenvironment, leading to the release of cisplatin and Cu2+. Cisplatin facilitates the production of H 2 O 2 through a two-step enzymatic reaction, subsequently triggering ROS cascade that is amplified by CDT. Concurrently, Cu2+ consumes GSH and is reduced to Cu+, which reacts with H 2 O 2 in an efficient Fenton-like reaction, amplifying oxidative stress and ultimately enhancing the anti-tumor therapeutic efficacy. Pt/CuH NPs demonstrated a significant cytotoxic effect on tumor cells in vitro. In vivo studies in mice indicated minimal toxic side effects at the tested dosages. The Pt/CuH NPs effectively combine chemotherapy and CDT strategies, showcasing the potential of a chemotherapy-cascading CDT approach for anti-tumor treatment. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to investigate the freezing damage problem of berms of earth-rock dams in cold regions, an earth-rock dam in a cold region was selected as the research object in this study. A finite element model, considering the effect of thermo-hydro-mechanical coupling, has been developed to solve the problem by combining the characteristics of the earth-rock dam. The whole process of freezing damage of berms under the influence of the reservoir level and the water migration of the dam filling was investigated, and the laws in temperature, humidity and displacement of earth-rock dams were analyzed. The calculated displacement field was then compared with the measured frozen deformation data to validate the results of the finite element simulation. The results showed that the freezing influence range of the dam slope was about 2 m, the range of temperature influence on the dam slope mainly depended on the depth of freezing, and the temperature change in the shallow range (0–2 m) of the dam slope was influenced by the outside air temperature. Also, the internal temperature of the dam body was small relative to the shallow dam slope, and there was a certain hysteresis. In addition, the effect of negative temperature was such that the shallow pore water phase of the dam slope turned into ice, manifesting macroscopically as a reduction in unfrozen water content. Water phase change, water migration from the dam filling to the dam slope, and the movement of the ice peak towards the dam body were found to be the main causes of berm freezing and expansion damage. The calculated amount expansion (due to freezing) of the dam slope was found to be in the range of 20–30 cm with a maximum value of 36 cm, which was consistent with the measured results. It was also found that the freezing and expansion damage of the berm is mainly caused by the joint action of freezing and expansion of the soil and rock mixture such as gravel bedding and dam filling, as well as the ice thrust force. It is expected that the results of this research can provide a basis for the design of berms of earth-rock dams in cold regions. • Berm frost heaving damage is caused by soil-rock mixture freezing and ice thrust. • Water migration from inside to slope is a key factor of berm frost heaving damage. • Study berm frost heaving damage by considering thermo-hydro-mechanical coupling. • Analyze the temperature, moisture, and displacement fields of earth-rock dams. • Validate calculation results by comparing them with measured data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Mosquitoes locate a human host by integrating various sensory cues including odor, thermo, and vision. However, their innate light preference and its genetic basis that may predict the spatial distribution of mosquitoes, a prerequisite to encounter a potential host and initiate host-seeking behaviors, remains elusive. Results: Here, we first studied mosquito visual features and surprisingly uncovered that both diurnal (Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus) and nocturnal (Culex quinquefasciatus) mosquitoes significantly avoided stronger light when given choices. With consistent results from multiple assays, we found that such negative phototaxis maintained throughout development to adult stages. Notably, female mosquitoes significantly preferred to bite hosts in a shaded versus illuminated area. Furthermore, silencing Opsin1, a G protein-coupled receptor that is most enriched in compound eyes, abolished light-evoked avoidance behavior of Aedes albopictus and attenuated photonegative behavior in Aedes aegypti. Finally, we found that field-collected Aedes albopictus also prefers darker area in an Opsin1-dependent manner. Conclusions: This study reveals that mosquitoes consistently prefer darker environment and identifies the first example of a visual molecule that modulates mosquito photobehavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to elucidate the responses of a novel characterized Issatchenkia terricola WJL-G4 against citric acid stress by performing physiological analysis, morphology observation, and structural and membrane fatty acid composition analysis. The results showed that under citric acid stress, the cell vitality of I. terricola WJL-G4 was reduced. The cell morphology changed with the unclear, uncompleted and thinner cell wall, and degraded the cell structure. When the citric acid concentration was 20 g/L, I. terricola WJL-G4 could tolerate citric acid and maintain the cell structure by increasing the intracellular pH, superoxide dismutase activity, and contents of unsaturated fatty acids. As the citric acid concentration was ≥80 g/L, the stress has exceeded the cellular anti-stress ability, causing substantial cell damage. The cell membrane permeability, the content of membrane lipids, malondialdehyde and superoxide anion increased, but the intracellular pH and superoxide dismutase activities decreased, accompanying the increase of citric acid concentrations. The findings of this work provided a theoretical basis for the responsive mechanism of I. terricola WJL-G4 under high concentrations of citric acid, and can serve as a reference for biological acid reduction in fruit processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The stochastic properties of vehicles’ arrival process and the high-speed mobility of vehicles lead to dynamic changes in the topology of vehicular networks, affecting the data download experience of users, especially for large files. In this paper, a novel elastic-segment-based vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) and vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) cooperative strategy (ESCS) is proposed to reduce the impact of the density of vehicles on achievable throughput. The achievable throughput and optimal parameters of the proposed system are analyzed. The strategy takes the impact of the density of vehicles on the data download process as the key element for consideration. The density of vehicles has a great influence on the distance between vehicles, and further affects the transmission data rate. To solve the problem of low transmission data rate induced by the density of vehicles, the sizes of the elastic-segments are optimized according to the distance between the vehicles. Owing to the stochastic process of the distance between vehicles, it is particularly challenging to derive a closed-form expression for the achievable throughput. To tackle this problem, we develop a new V2I/V2V cooperative model to adapt to the general two-way lanes, analyze the distribution and mobility of vehicles, and derive a closed-form expression for the achievable throughput, as a function of V2I effective transmission range, the V2V effective transmission range, and other system parameters. We then optimize V2V effective connection range and the vehicle density to maximize the achievable throughput. Simulation results show that the proposed strategy significantly improves the throughput compared with the existing cooperative strategy, especially in the scenario of high vehicle density. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Avian reovirus (ARV) causes viral arthritis, chronic respiratory diseases, retarded growth and malabsorption syndrome. However, the precise molecular mechanism remains unclear. Here, we report the host cellular proteins that interact with ARV p17 by yeast two-hybrid screening. In this study, the p17 gene was cloned into pGBKT7 to obtain the bait plasmid pGBKT7-p17. After several rounds of screening of a chicken cDNA library, 43 positive clones were identified as possible host factors that interacted with p17. A BLAST search of the sequences was performed on the NCBI website, which ultimately revealed 19 interacting proteins. Gene ontology enrichment and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genome analyses indicated that the acquired proteins were involved in multicellular organismal processes, metabolic processes, and biological regulation. When the subcellular localization of the host protein and ARV p17 protein was investigated, we observed colocalization of p17-GFP with IGF2BP1-RED and PQBP1-RED in the transfected cells but not with FGF1-RED. The direct interaction of ARV p17 protein with IGF2BP1 and PQBP1 was confirmed by coimmunoprecipitation and GST pulldown assays. We used RT-qPCR to assess the expression variation during ARV infection. The results showed that IGF2BP1, PAPSS2, RPL5, NEDD4L, PRPS2 and IFI16 were significantly upregulated, whereas the expression of FGF1, CDH2 and PQBP1 was markedly decreased in DF-1 cells infected with ARV. Finally, we demonstrated that IGF2BP1 had a positive effect on ARV replication, while PQBP1 had the opposite effect. Our findings provide valuable information for better insights into ARV's pathogenesis and the role of the p17 protein in this process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The existence of a defective area composed of nanocrystals and amorphous phases on a perovskite film inevitably causes nonradiative charge recombination and structural degradation in perovskite photovoltaics. In this study, a stoichiometric etching strategy for the top surface of a defective cesium lead halide perovskite is developed by using ionic liquids. The dissolution of the original defective area substantially exposes the underlying perovskite, which is a high‐quality surface with retained stoichiometry and lattice continuity. The ionic liquid molecules are adsorbed on the perovskite surface via Coulombic interactions and passivate the undercoordinated surface lead centers. Such a structural modulation considerably reduces the trap density of the perovskite devices and enables a record power conversion efficiency of 17.51% and an open‐circuit voltage of 1.37 V of the CsPbI2Br cell with a perovskite bandgap of 1.88 eV. This work provides a novel technical route to improve the efficiency and environmental resilience of perovskite‐based optoelectronic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In 2019, an outbreak of COVID-19 broke out in Hubei, China. Medical workers from all over the country rushed to Hubei and participated in the treatment and care of COVID-19 patients. These nurses, dedicated to their professional practice, volunteered to provide compassion and expert clinical care during the pandemic. As with other acts of heroism, the ethical dilemmas associated with working on the front line must be considered for future practice. Purpose: To explore the ethical dilemmas of frontline nurses of Jiangsu Province in China during deployment to Wuhan to fight the novel coronavirus pneumonia, and to provide a basis for developing strategies to help nursing staff address personal and practice concerns in order to work more effectively during this pandemic and other disasters in the future. Research design and method: Using the phenomenological research method and the purpose sampling method, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 nurses, post-deployment to Wuhan, who had worked on the front line to fight the novel coronavirus. Ethical considerations: The research proposal was approved by the Research Ethic Committee of Yangzhou University, China. Findings: From the analysis of the interviews of the 10 participants, three main themes were identified: ethical dilemmas in clinical nursing, ethical dilemmas in interpersonal relationships, and ethical dilemmas in nursing management. Conclusion: During a quick response to public health emergencies, where nurses are deployed immediately as a call to action, the issues surrounding ethical dilemmas from several perspectives must be considered. This research suggests that a team approach to proactive planning and open communication during the emergency is an efficient and productive strategy to improve the nurses' experience and sense of well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A novel carbon quantum dots functionalized metal–organic framework (CDs@MOF) was designed. • Probe CDs@MOF exhibited ultrasensitive response to tetracycline and norfloxacin with detection limit as 0.15 μM and 0.87 μM, respectively. • Probe CDs@MOF achieved the detection of tetracycline and norfloxacin in water, milk, and soil successfully. Tetracycline and norfloxacin are two important antibiotics known for their effective treatment of inflammation. However, their excessive use inevitably leads to serious environmental hazards. Rapid and highly sensitive detection of their trace amounts is crucial for early prevention of related diseases. While there are numerous reported fluorescent probes capable of highly sensitive detection of tetracycline and norfloxacin individually, very few can simultaneously detect both. Developing a probe capable of detecting both antibiotics simultaneously is particularly necessary to enhance detection efficiency. In this study, carbon quantum dots derived from fragrans were functionalized with Metal-Organic Framework (MOF) materials. This successful approach enabled simultaneous detection of both tetracycline and norfloxacin, with detection limits of 0.15 μM and 0.87 μM, respectively. Furthermore, successful detections were achieved in water, milk and soil samples, yielding excellent results. Herein, a novel CDs@MOF was prepared and demonstrated rapid and highly sensitive responses to tetracycline and norfloxacin which was further applied in water, milk, and soil successfully. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Simultaneously He+ and H 2 + irradiations were carried out in pure tungsten. • Three dose percentages of He and H were adopted at 1073 K. • Increasing dose percentages of He promoted loop nucleation. • Geometries of 1/2<111>loops were affected by dose percentages of He and H. • Habit planes of 1/2<111> loops were unaffected by dose percentages of He and H. The interaction among He, H, and irradiation-induced dislocation loops in pure tungsten was examined through 30 keV simultaneous He+ and H 2 + irradiation at 1073 K. Three different He/H concentration ratios (0.1, 1, and 5) were utilized. This study involved the characterization of the number density, average size, and size distribution of loops by varying the dose percentage of He and H. Increasing the dose percentage of He facilitated the loop nucleation. Increasing the total irradiation dose not only increased loop nucleation sites but also changed the loop size distribution from unimodal to bimodal. The specific Burgers vectors and habit planes of loops were carefully determined using the inside-outside method in combination with the g · b invisibility criterion and crystallographic map. The proportion of interstitial 1/2<111> loops exceeded 95 %, in which four Burgers vector variants of 1/2[111], 1/2 [ 1 ¯ 11 ] , 1/2 [ 1 ¯ 1 ¯ 1 ] , and 1/2 [ 1 1 ¯ 1 ] were identified. Increasing the dose percentage of He led to an even distribution of Burgers vector variants. The {110} habit planes were found to deviate at an angle of 35° from the {111} ones. A majority of {111} habit planes were found compared to {110} for 1/2<111> loops. Altering the dose percentage of He or H showed no apparent effect on the habit planes of {111} or {110} for 1/2<111>loops, nor did it affect their average size when situated on {111} or {110}. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various exogenous contaminants typically coexist in waste activated sludge (WAS), and the long-term impacts of these co-occurring contaminants on WAS anaerobic fermentation and associated mechanisms remain largely unknown. This study reveals that the co-occurrence of surfactants and nanoparticles (NPs, i.e. , Fe 2 O 3 and CeO 2 , frequently detected in sludge) exhibited time-dependent impacts on the volatile fatty acids (VFAs) biosynthesis. Surfactants triggered WAS decomposition and enhanced NPs dispersion, leading to increased exposure of functional anaerobes to NPs toxicity, negatively affecting them. Consequently, key fermentation processes, acidogenic bacterial abundance, and metabolic functions were inhibited in co-occurrence reactors compared to those containing only surfactants in the early stage (before 56 d). Surprisingly, the fermentation systems containing surfactants collapsed subsequently, with VFAs yield at 72 d decreasing by 48.59–71.27 % compared to 56 d. The keystone microbes (i.e. , Acidobacteria (16 d) vs Patescibacteria (56 d)) were reshaped, and metabolic traits (i.e. , proB involved in intracellular metabolism) were downregulated by 0.05–78.02 % due to reduced microbial adaptive capacity (i.e. , quorum sensing (QS)). Partial least squares path modeling (PLS-PM) analysis suggests that the microbial community was the predominant factor influencing VFAs generation. This study provides new insights into the long-term effects of co-contaminants on the biological treatment of WAS. [Display omitted] • Anaerobic system with surfactant/NPs co-existence collapsed in semi-continuous mode. • The keystone microbes (i.e. , Acidobacteria and Patescibacteria) were identified. • The dynamic metabolic functions changes (i.e. , pyruvate metabolism) were unveiled. • Microbial adaptive capacity to unfavorable external stimuli was uncovered. • PLS-PM analysis revealed the microbial community as main factor for VFAs yield. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biological traits are increasingly used in bioassessments, but it remains unclear whether they exhibit more consistent and stronger responses to environmental stressors compared with species metrics. We surveyed benthic diatom assemblages in rivers in Shenzhen city of China, and compared responses between diatom indicator species and eco-morphological traits to urbanization disturbance. Two hypotheses were tested: (1) diatom traits show seasonally consistent and strong responses to urbanization, and (2) diatom traits influence species’ responses to urbanization. Approximately 40% of the prevalent species were found to be responsive to urbanization, with only one-third demonstrating consistent responses. In contrast, nearly 85% of diatom traits studied were responsive to urbanization, and all responses were seasonally consistent. Urbanization primarily led to increased concentrations of total nitrogen and conductivity in stream water, serving as crucial environmental filters for benthic diatoms. Turbidity and CODMn also exhibited season-specific additional influences. Nitrogen heterotrophy, motile guild, and high-profile guild were the main responsive traits, each accounting for 10–20% of the variance in species’ responses to in-stream chemical stressors. Overall, urbanization had more pronounced impacts on diatom assemblages in the wet season than in the dry season. We suggest measuring more diatom traits for better bioassessments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sedimentary black carbon in coastal regions plays an important role in global carbon cycles due to its refractory nature in sediments. In this study, we conducted the first comprehensive investigation on black carbon (BC) in surface sediments of the Pearl River Estuary (PRE), a large tropical estuary system in China. We used two different analytical methods: IMPROVE-A thermal optical reflectance (TOR) and chemothermal oxidation (CTO-375) to constrain the distribution, and TOR can further constrain the composition (i.e., char and soot). The BC concentration determined by the TOR method (BC TOR) ranged from 0.07 to 7.13 mg/g, with char and soot contents ranging from 0.04 to 6.98 mg/g and 0.03–0.43 mg/g, respectively. The BC concentrations measured by the CTO-375 method (BC CTO) ranged from 0.27 to 1.88 mg/g. Char was the predominant constituent (87%) of sedimentary BC TOR in the PRE. Both char and soot had higher concentrations locating near the outlets and on the Shenzhen coast, indicating that they were sourced through direct fluvial transport and surface runoff. Soot particles were transported farther from fluvial sources than char particles. We estimated that the burial flux of BC TOR in the PRE sediments was 2.97 ± 1.61 mg/cm2/yr, acting as an important sink of BC. This study implies that large river estuaries are hotspots for BC burial, sinking a large amount of organic carbon from terrestrial reservoirs. • First study to describe sedimentary black carbon (BC) in Pearl River Estuary (PRE) • BC and TOC in the PRE sediments are mainly derived from direct fluvial transport. • Char accounts for about 87% of the total BC concentration in PRE sediments. • Soot particles were transported to more remote marine environment than char. • The PRE acts as a major sink of BC in Southern China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a multispectral superconducting nanowire single photon detector (SNSPD) with high absorption efficiency is designed. It consists of Ag reflector, two SiO layers, Si slot and MoSi nanowire. Considering two typical quantum communication wavelengths (1310 nm and 1550 nm), when filling factor is 30 %, numerical simulation results show that the absorption efficiency of SNSPD can be over 95 % at each wavelength separately, and over 86 % at two target wavelengths simultaneously after introducing the second SiO layer and adjusting the structure parameters. And when filling factor is set to 40 %, the results at two target wavelengths are over 93 % and a broadband absorption (>80 %) of 1140 nm–1600 nm appears. In addition, the polarization sensitivity of the two-SiO-layers SNSPD is analyzed. When filling factor is over 63 %, the SNSPD attains both high absorption efficiency and TM-TE polarization insensitivity at two target wavelengths. The results of this work may provide access to fabricate high-efficiency and multispectral SNSPDs, and find applications in quantum optics and quantum communication systems. • In this paper, a multispectral superconducting nanowire single photon detector (SNSPD) with high absorption efficiency is designed. It consists of Ag reflector, two SiO layers, Si slot and MoSi nanowire. Considering two typical quantum communication wavelengths (1310 nm and 1550 nm), when filling factor is 30 %, numerical simulation results show that the absorption efficiency of SNSPD can be over 95 % at each wavelength separately, and over 86 % at two target wavelengths simultaneously after introducing the second SiO layer and adjusting the structure parameters. And when filling factor is set to 40 %, the results at two target wavelengths are over 93 % and a broadband absorption (>80 %) of 1140 nm–1600 nm appears. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Rapeseed stem powder was employed to prepared OVs-BiOCl. • SP-BiOCl shows richer OVs than the reference BiOCl. • The separation rate of photo-generated carriers of RSP-BiOCl is largely enhanced. • RSP-BiOCl exhibits higher activity than the reference BiOCl. Construction of oxygen vacancies (OVs) is a reliable strategy to boost photocatalytic activity of a photocatalyst containing oxygen atom. OVs can accelerate the separation of photoinduced carriers, activate O 2 absorbed to yield ⋅O 2 –, elevating the photocatalytic activity. However, it is still a serious challenge to introduce plentiful OVs by a facile and wild channel. In this study, BiOCl with enriched OVs was successfully prepared with the assistance of rapeseed stem powder (RSP), which is an agricultural waste, achieving remarkably boosted photocatalytic activity toward removal of rhodamine B (RhB) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). The observations firmly confirm that the existence of RSP in the preparation system affects the crystal growth of BiOCl, induces abundant OVs, therefore, BiOCl prepared displays high specific surface area and separation rate of photoinduced carriers. Photocatalytic activity of RSP-BiOCl toward detoxification of RhB and PFOA is 3.47 times and 1.39 times of that of the blank BiOCl under visible light and UV light irradiation, respectively. RSP assisted-preparation is a solid approach to heighten the activity of BiOCl. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The activation of peroxymonosulfate (PMS) has gained significant interest in the removal of organic pollutants. However, traditional methods usually suffer from drawbacks such as secondary contamination and high energy requirements. In this study, we propose a green and cost-effective approach utilizing calcium oxide (CaO) to activate PMS, aiming to construct a simple and reliable PMS based advanced oxidation processes (AOPs). The proposed CaO/PMS system achieved fast degradation of methylene blue (MB), where the degradation rate of CaO/PMS system (0.24 min−1) was nearly 2.67 times that of PMS alone (0.09 min−1). Under the optimized condition, CaO/PMS system exhibited remarkable durability against pH changes, co-exists ions or organic matters. Furthermore, singlet oxygen (1O 2) was identified as the dominant reactive oxygen species by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and quenching tests. Accordingly, the degradation pathways of MB are proposed by combing the results of LC/MS analysis and density functional theory (DFT) calculations, and the predicted ecotoxicity of the generated byproducts evaluated by EOCSAR could provide systematic insights into the fates and environmental risks of MB. Overall, the study provides an eco-friendly and effective strategy for treating dyeing wastewater, which should shed light on the application of PMS based AOPs. [Display omitted] • CaO/PMS process was effective and applicable for MB removal. • The key factors affecting the MB degradation rate were distinguished. • 1O 2 was the main activate species for the degradation of MB. • The main intermediates and reaction pathways of MB were proposed. • The toxicity of MB's intermediates were evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Mental health problems have become a global crisis of the 21st century, with adolescence being a typical period of the outbreak of these problems. However, the profiles and transition of mental health problems in Chinese adolescents remain unclear. In addition, protective and risk factors that shape mental health problems require further clarification.Methods: We measured depression, anxiety, and stress as indicators to identify the profiles and transition patterns of mental health problems among Chinese adolescents, as well as environment-related predictors (i.e., friendship quality, parental psychological control, and autonomy support). A total of 722 participants (376 females; Mage  = 15.21, SDage  = 0.74) completed a set of questionnaires at two time points with a 1-year interval (T1: November 2018; T2: November 2019).Results: The profile analysis revealed two groups: healthy and troubled. The development of mental health problems included four trajectories: steady low, steady high, increasing, and decreasing. Results indicated that parental autonomy support and friendship quality exerted protective and buffering effects, whereas parental psychological control acted as a risk factor for mental health problem profiles. Furthermore, friendship quality had a unique predictive effect on the decreasing trajectory.Conclusions: The profiles of mental health problems showed high concurrency of depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms, and developmental trajectories were largely stable over time. Friendship quality, parental autonomy support, and psychological control predicted the profiles of the mental health problems of Chinese adolescents, and only friendship quality predicted the transition from a troubled to healthy profile over 1 year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]