Search

Chiral molecules can act as spin filters, preferentially transmitting electrons with spins polarized along their direction of travel, an effect known as chirality-induced spin selectivity (CISS). In a typical experiment, injected electrons tunnel coherently through a layer of chiral material and emerge spin-polarized. It is also possible that spin polarization arises in radical pairs formed photochemically when electrons hop incoherently between donor and acceptor sites. Here we aim to identify the magnetic properties that would optimise the visibility of CISS polarization in time-resolved electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectra of transient radical pairs without the need to orient or align their precursors. By simulating spectra of actual and model systems, we find that CISS contributions to the polarization should be most obvious when at least one of the radicals has small g-anisotropy and an inhomogeneous linewidth larger than the dipolar coupling of the two radicals. Under these conditions there is extensive cancellation of absorptive and emissive enhancements making the spectrum sensitive to small changes in the individual EPR line intensities. Although these cancellation effects are more pronounced at lower spectrometer frequencies, the spectral changes are easier to appreciate with the enhanced resolution afforded by high-frequency EPR. Consideration of published spectra of light-induced radical pairs in photosynthetic bacterial reaction centres reveals no significant CISS component in the polarization generated by the conventional spin-correlated radical pair mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The c-BN/TiC-enhanced NiCrBSi composite powder and coatings were prepared by spray-drying and high-velocity oxygen-fuel (HVOF) spraying, respectively. The phases, microstructures and tribological performance were studied from room temperature to 1000 °C, and the wear mechanisms of coatings were analyzed and discussed. The results showed that TiC and c-BN distributed evenly in NiCrBSi phase, but with the increase of temperature, c-BN showed a certain degree of aggregation, while TiC particles grew significantly. Therefore, the coating shows good wear resistance at room temperature. As the temperature increased, the wear rate of the coating increased, and the wear resistance decreased, so the maximum wear rate was obtained at 800 °C. However, when the temperature was increased to 1000 °C, a composite enamel layer of oxide and hard phase was generated on the surface of the abrasion marks, which improved the wear resistance of the coating, significantly reducing the wear rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rationale: Atmospheric pressure interface multi‐reflection time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry (API‐MRTOF‐MS) has the potential to be a rapid and high‐resolution analytical tool for versatile applications in chemistry, biology, environmental science, and medicine. Methods: The ions were reflected in a mass analyzer via electrostatic mirrors and folded flight path. Therefore, flight distances were significantly increased. The ion flight path of the API‐MRTOF‐MS was extended from meters to over 1 km, and the mass resolution was increased. Furthermore, the mass analysis could be completed at around 10 ms due to the rapid response of TOF‐MS. Results: A high‐resolution API‐MRTOF‐MS approach is successfully developed in this study. The mass resolution could achieve 116 050 (full widths at half maximum [FWHM]) for Cs+ ions using an atmospheric pressure electrospray ionization within a total TOF of only 18 ms. An ion transmission efficiency of over 50% was achieved after 600 cycles. Conclusions: The analytical performance of the newly developed API‐MRTOF‐MS demonstrated that it is suitable for high resolution and rapid analysis in many fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nitrogen (N) application rates and planting density are key factors affecting grain yield and quality. In this experiment, four varieties, Huijing 753 (HJ 753), Huijing 855 (HJ 855), Huijing 866 (HJ 866), and Dangjing 8 (DJ 8), were used to investigate their effects on the yield and quality of japonica rice in Anhui, which has a lower soil N supply capacity. The current study set four levels of N application N1, N2, N3, and N4 (120, 180, 240, and 300) kg ha−1 and three planting densities D1, D2, and D3 (high-density: 45 × 104; medium-density: 37.5 × 104; low-density: 32.2 × 104) hills ha−1 for a total of 12 treatments. The effects of N application and planting density on rice yield, composition, processing quality, appearance quality, and cooking quality were analyzed. The results showed that with the increase in N application rates and planting density, the effective panicle number per plant and grain number per panicle of each rice variety increased, while HJ 753, HJ 855, and HJ 866 reached the highest yield under the N3D1 treatment and then gradually declined, and DJ 8 had the highest yield in the N4D1 treatment. In addition, the processing quality of various varieties can be improved by increasing the N application rate and planting density, but the appearance quality will deteriorate, the amylose content will also decrease, and gel consistency will also be lower. Therefore, under medium-planting density conditions, N at a rate of 240 kg ha−1 was the best for HJ 753, HJ 855, and HJ 866, and using 300 kg ha−1 for DJ 8 resulted in high grain yields and superior rice grain quality. In the next step, physiological, biochemical, and genotypic analyses of these three japonica rice varieties were carried out to provide a scientific basis and technical support for accelerating the breeding of high-yield japonica rice varieties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amino acid-derived quaternary ammonium salts were successfully applied in the asymmetric aza-Henry reaction of nitromethane to N-Boc trifluoromethyl ketimines. a-Trifluoromethyl p-nitroamines were synthesized in good to excellent yields with moderate to good enantioselectivities. This reaction is distinguished by its mild conditions, low catalyst loading (1 mol%), and catalytic base. It also proceeded on a gram scale without loss of enantioselectivity. The products were transformed to a series of adamantane- type compounds containing chiral trifluoromethylamine fragments. The potent anticancer activities of these compounds against liver cancer HepG2 and melanoma B16F10 were evaluated. Six promising compounds with notable efficacy have potential for further development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A model for the relationship between the healing time of the scratched diamond-like carbon (DLC) film and the localized corrosion incubation period of metal was established. Based on model calculations combined with experimental results, the scratched DLC film on 13Cr stainless steel was able to heal within 10–16h in NaCl solution with an adsorbent-type corrosion inhibitor. However, the localized corrosion incubation time was 30–40h. Healing of the scratched DLC film can be completed before localized corrosion occurs. This model provides a theoretical reference for the scratch-repassivation of inert films in corrosion inhibitors solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of appendectomy in the pathogenesis of colorectal cancer (CRC) is a recent topic of contention. Given that appendectomy remains one of the most commonly performed operations and a first‐line management strategy of acute appendicitis, it is inherently crucial to elucidate the association between prior appendectomy and subsequent development of CRC, as there may be long‐term health repercussions. In this review, we summarize the data behind the relationship of CRC in post‐appendectomy patients, discuss the role of the microbiome in relation to appendectomy and CRC pathogenesis, and provide an appraisal of our current understanding of the function of the appendix. We seek to piece together the current landscape surrounding the microbiome and immunological changes in the colon post‐appendectomy and suggest a direction for future research involving molecular, transcriptomic, and immunologic analysis to complement our current understanding of the alterations in gut microbiome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pre-chamber pressure is an important control parameter that affects the coke dry quenching process. It often fluctuates violently and is detrimental for the safe operation of the coke dry quenching process. This study proposes an intelligent control method for the pre-chamber pressure based on working condition identification for the coke dry quenching process to realize stable control of the pre-chamber pressure. First, by describing the coke dry quenching process and analyzing the factors affecting the pre-chamber pressure, an intelligent control strategy was developed. Then, the K-means clustering algorithm was used to identify the working conditions of pre-chamber, and the working conditions were divided into two categories: stable and fluctuating. For stable conditions, a fuzzy proportional-integral-derivative controller was designed to improve the pressure control accuracy. For fluctuating conditions, an expert controller was designed to rapidly adjust the pressure. Finally, experiments based on actual data were performed and the results showed that the proposed method can effectively improve the control accuracy of pressure under different conditions. This satisfies the requirements for a continuous coke dry quenching process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To improve the biological fouling and corrosion resistance of Ti6Al4V (TC4) in marine environments, copper-containing titanium dioxide (TiO 2 (Cu)) films were prepared by magnetron sputtering TiO 2 (Cu) powder targets. The morphologies of the films showed that they became rough and coarse from 1.6 nm of the TiO 2 film to approximately 9 nm of the TiO 2 (Cu) films, which might be owing to the increase in the deposition rates from 1.33 to 2.08 nm/min. No diffraction orientations of the TiO 2 and Cu phases were found compared to those of the TiO 2 (Cu) powder. Ti, O, and Cu were detected using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy to confirm the composition of the films. The ratio of Cu2+ increased as the Cu content of the films increased, whereas that of Cu/Cu + scarcely changed. The TiO 2 and TiO 2 (Cu) films exhibited photocatalytic effects and their photocatalytic intensities decreased as the Cu content increased. Hydrophobicity was enhanced by the addition of Cu to the film. The antibiological fouling effect of the TiO 2 (Cu) films remained unchanged as the Cu/Ti ratio varied. Compared with those of TC4, the corrosion current densities of the TiO 2 (Cu) films decreased by one order of magnitude and the corrosion potentials increased by 350 mV in artificial seawater, indicating that the corrosion resistance of TiO 2 (Cu)/TC4 was improved. Importantly, Cu was in abundance in the films for both antibiological and corrosion resistance functions owing to the saturated ratio of Cu/Cu+ irrespective of the Cu/Ti ratio in the films. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The (Ti 1/3 Zr 1/3 V 1/3)B 2 (MEB) composite ceramics with various Co and SiC additions were prepared by spark plasma sintering technology at 1600 °C. The influence of Co and SiC on the microstructure and mechanical properties were studied. Reciprocating sliding wear experiments of boride ceramics sliding against GCr15 ceramic were also performed at 1 N, 5 N and 10 N (Temperature: 25 °C, frequency: 3 Hz, stroke: 1 mm). The result suggest that the sintering additives not only significantly reduces the sintering temperature of boride ceramic, but also refines the microstructure and improves its mechanical properties. The hardness and fracture toughness of MEB-20SiC–10Co ceramics are 27.76 GPa and 3.9 MPa m1/2, 30.6 % and 60 % higher than that of MEB, respectively. The increase in fracture toughness results from crack deflection and branching of the SiC particles. Tribological results indicates that MEB-20SiC–10Co also show the best tribological performance. The wear rate of MEB and MEB-20SiC–10Co at 10 N load are 2.17 × 10−6 mm3N−1m−1, 1.29 × 10−6 mm3N−1m−1, oxidative wear and adhesive wear are the main wear mechanisms. Analyzing of the wear tracks revealed a significant transfer of material from the counterpart to the tribo-interface. A friction film consisting mainly of titanium oxide and part of boron oxide was generated on the worn surface, which contributes to the improvement of tribological performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To address the water pollution problem caused by hexavalent chromium, this study took advantage of a multi-defect adsorption mechanism and constructed a multiple defect-containing type-II heterojunction material, CuS/Cv-CNNs. This material has simultaneous sulfur vacancies, copper vacancies, and carbon vacancies, which were used to accelerate the removal of chromium from wastewater. Attributed to the formation of electron-rich structures and free-moving ions by the construction of multiple defect sites, the photogenerated carriers generated by CuS/Cv-CNNs-70 were efficiently separated, and a high amount of physical Cr(VI) adsorption was achieved by electrostatic attraction and ion exchange, consistent with a Freundlich isothermal adsorption model. Studies on the adsorption thermodynamics demonstrate that CuS/Cv-CNNs-70 prefers to adsorb Cr(VI) when temperatures are raised. In addition, the removal of Cr(VI) (120 mg L−1) by CuS/Cv-CNNs-70 reached 97.10% after 60 minutes through the synergistic effect of adsorption and visible-light photocatalysis. This finding indicates that the synergistic effect between the multilocation defects stimulated the combined potential of adsorption and photocatalysis of CuS/Cv-CNNs-70 to realize the full utilization of the defects. In conclusion, this study confirms the prominent role of a multiple defect mechanism in wastewater treatment and environmental protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We introduce a novel approach that utilizes an ionic liquid-assisted synthesis method to synthesize BiOBr material. This material is then loaded onto Mo 2 CT x , facilitating the formation of a BiOBr/Bi 2 Se 3 heterostructure through selenization treatment. The doping of heteroatoms improves the hydrophilicity and electronegativity of the material. The introduced heterojunction adjusts the electronic structure at the interface, resulting in a lower OH–/H+ adsorption energy. Due to the above advantages, the sample has excellent performance in HER and supercapacitor. [Display omitted] Heteroatom doping and heterojunction formation are effective strategies to enhance electrochemical performance. In this study, we present a novel approach that utilizes an ionic liquid-assisted synthesis method to fabricate a BiOBr-based material, which is subsequently loaded onto Mo 2 CT x via a selenization treatment to create a BiOBr/Bi 2 Se 3 heterostructure, denoted as NBF-BiOBr/Bi 2 Se 3 /Mo 2 CT x. The incorporation of heteroatoms improves its hydrophilicity and electronegativity, while the formation of heterojunctions adjusts the electronic structure at the interface, resulting in lower OH–/H+ adsorption energy. The specific surface area of NBF-BiOBr/Bi 2 Se 3 /Mo 2 CT x is 193.1 m2/g. In hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) tests, NBF-BiOBr/Bi 2 Se 3 /Mo 2 CT x exhibits exceptional catalytic performance in acidic media, requiring only an overpotential of 109 mV to achieve a current density of 10 mA cm−2. Furthermore, NBF-BiOBr/Bi 2 Se 3 /Mo 2 CT x demonstrates superior electrochemical performance in an asymmetric supercapacitor, with an energy density as high as 55.6 Wh kg−1 at a power density of 749.9 Wh kg−1. This work provides a novel approach for heteroatom doping and heterojunction synthesis, offering promising prospects for further advancements in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

MiR399 plays an important role in plant growth and development. The objective of the present study was to elucidate the evolutionary characteristics of the MIR399 gene family in grapevine and investigate its role in stress response. To comprehensively investigate the functions of miR399 in grapevine, nine members of the Vvi-MIR399 family were identified based on the genome, using a miRBase database search, located on four chromosomes (Chr 2, Chr 10, Chr 15, and Chr 16). The lengths of the Vvi-miR399 precursor sequences ranged from 82 to 122 nt and they formed stable stem–loop structures, indicating that they could produce microRNAs (miRNAs). Furthermore, our results suggested that the 2 to 20 nt region of miR399 mature sequences were relatively conserved among family members. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the Vvi-MIR399 members of dicots (Arabidopsis, tomato, and sweet orange) and monocots (rice and grapevine) could be divided into three clades, and most of the Vvi-MIR399s were closely related to sweet orange in dicots. Promoter analysis of Vvi-MIR399s showed that the majority of the predicted cis-elements were related to stress response. A total of 66.7% (6/9) of the Vvi-MIR399 promoters harbored drought, GA, and SA response elements, and 44.4% (4/9) of the Vvi-MIRR399 promoters also presented elements involved in ABA and MeJA response. The expression trend of Vvi-MIR399s was consistent in different tissues, with the lowest expression level in mature and young fruits and the highest expression level in stems and young leaves. However, nine Vvi-MIR399s and four target genes showed different expression patterns when exposed to low light, high light, heat, cold, drought, and salt stress. Interestingly, a putative target of Vvi-MIR399 targeted multiple genes; for example, seven Vvi-MIR399s simultaneously targeted VIT_213s0067g03280.1. Furthermore, overexpression of Vvi_MIR399e and Vvi_MIR399f in Arabidopsis enhanced tolerance to drought compared with wild-type (WT). In contrast, the survival rate of Vvi_MIR399d-overexpressed plants were zero after drought stress. In conclusion, Vvi-MIR399e and Vvi-MIR399f, which are related to drought tolerance in grapevine, provide candidate genes for future drought resistance breeding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The relationship between the gut mycobiome and end-stage renal disease (ESRD) remains largely unexplored. Methods: In this study, we compared the gut fungal populations of 223 ESRD patients and 69 healthy controls (HCs) based on shotgun metagenomic sequencing data, and analyzed their associations with host serum and fecal metabolites. Results: Our findings revealed that ESRD patients had a higher diversity in the gut mycobiome compared to HCs. Dysbiosis of the gut mycobiome in ESRD patients was characterized by a decrease of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and an increase in various opportunistic pathogens, such as Aspergillus fumigatus, Cladophialophora immunda, Exophiala spinifera, Hortaea werneckii, Trichophyton rubrum, and others. Through multi-omics analysis, we observed a substantial contribution of the gut mycobiome to host serum and fecal metabolomes. The opportunistic pathogens enriched in ESRD patients were frequently and positively correlated with the levels of creatinine, homocysteine, and phenylacetylglycine in the serum. The populations of Saccharomyces, including the HC-enriched Saccharomyces cerevisiae, were frequently and negatively correlated with the levels of various toxic metabolites in the feces. Conclusions: Our results provided a comprehensive understanding of the associations between the gut mycobiome and the development of ESRD, which had important implications for guiding future therapeutic studies in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: The influence of temperature parameters in two thermal cycles on the self-nucleation (SN) behavior was revealed. The heating rate and processing melt temperature during the first thermal cycle exhibited a synergistic effect on the SN behavior. Under appropriate conditions, both the first and second thermal cycles can generate SN behavior, but the mechanisms were different. During the secondary thermoforming of carbon fiber-reinforced polyphenylene sulfide (CF/PPS) composites, a vital material for the aerospace field, varied thermal parameters profoundly influence the crystallization behavior of the PPS matrix. Notably, PPS exhibits a distinctive self-nucleation (SN) behavior during repeated thermal cycles. This behavior not only affects its crystallization but also impacts the processing and mechanical properties of PPS and CF/PPS composites. In this article, the effects of various parameters on the SN and non-isothermal crystallization behavior of PPS during two thermal cycles were systematically investigated by differential scanning calorimetry. It was found that the SN behavior was not affected by the cooling rate in the second thermal cycle. Furthermore, the lamellar annealing resulting from the heating process in both thermal cycles affected the temperature range for forming the special SN domain, because of the refined lamellar structure, and expelled various defects. Finally, this study indicated that to control the strong melt memory effect in the first thermal cycle, both the heating rate and processing melt temperature need to be controlled simultaneously. This work reveals that through collaborative control of these parameters, the crystalline morphology, crystallization temperature and crystallization rate in two thermal cycles are controlled. Furthermore, it presents a new perspective for controlling the crystallization behavior of the thermoplastic composite matrix during the secondary thermoforming process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highly transparent Lu2O3 ceramics were prepared by using co‐precipitation combined with vacuum sintering method with ZrO2 as sintering aid. The effect of ZrO2 on densification, transmittance, and microstructure evolution of the Lu2O3 ceramics was carefully studied. It was found that the addition of ZrO2 was very effective in improving densification of Lu2O3. The highest transmittance (at 600 nm) of the 3 at.% ZrO2 doped Lu2O3 ceramic (1.6‐mm thickness) sintered at 1800°C reached 80.1%. Microstructural inhomogeneity was found after vacuum sintering with larger grain sizes at the central. The microstructural inhomogeneity mainly occurred in the final stage of sintering. Doping ZrO2 mitigated microstructural inhomogeneity and decreased markedly the grain size of Lu2O3 ceramics. Raman measurements indicated that the disordered structure was formed due to oxygen vacancy, and the oxygen vacancy concentration at the central was higher than at the peripheral. The oxygen vacancy concentration gradient is the dominant factor governing nonuniform microstructure evolution during vacuum sintering. Furthermore, a uniform microstructure was obtained by the inhibition of oxygen vacancy formation by the Lu2O3/ZrO2 double powder bed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the location and frequency of osteonecrosis zone of metatarsal head, a map of osteonecrosis zone was drawn for Freiberg's infarction. The objective of the current study is to develop a new computed tomography-based Five-Segment classification system for Freiberg's infarction and testify if it has good intra- and interobserver reliability or not. According to the location and its frequency of osteonecrosis zone of metatarsal head, a map of osteonecrosis zone was drawn. According to the distribution of osteonecrosis zones of metatarsal heads, we proposed the Five-Segment classification system. Four evaluators evaluated each radiography and computed tomography (CT) twice at 8-week intervals. To test the reproducibility of the Five-Segment classification system, the interobserver and intraobserver reliability of this classification system comparing with that of the Smillie classification by four observers using the kappa statistic. The 80 cases were classified into five reproducible types by using Five-Segment classification system: type Ⅰ, two (2.5%) cases; type Ⅱ, ten (12.5%) cases; type Ⅲ, 42 (52.5) cases; type Ⅳ, 24 (30.0%) cases; type Ⅴ, two (2.5%) cases. The mean kappa value for interobserver reliability using Smillie classification systems was 0.562 (95% CI: 0.531–0.585), whereas the mean kappa value was 0.828 (95% CI: 0.801–0.852), by using Five-Segment classification; the mean kappa values for intraobserver reliability by using Smillie classification and Five-Segment classification were 0.777 (95% CI: 0.762–0.792) and 0.860 (95% CI: 0.843–0.895), respectively. The new Five-Segment classification system demonstrated perfect interobserver and intraobserver agreement between evaluators in the management of Freiberg's infarction. Prospective studies should be done to evaluate its prognostic value and utility in clinical practice. Level IV, retrospective [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider a time-continuous Markov branching process of proliferating cells with a countable collection of types. Among-type transitions are inspired by the Tug-of-War process introduced by McFarland et al. (Proc Natl Acad Sci 111(42):15138–15143, 2014) as a mathematical model for competition of advantageous driver mutations and deleterious passenger mutations in cancer cells. We introduce a version of the model in which a driver mutation pushes the type of the cell L-units up, while a passenger mutation pulls it 1-unit down. The distribution of time to divisions depends on the type (fitness) of cell, which is an integer. The extinction probability given any initial cell type is strictly less than 1, which allows us to investigate the transition between types (type transition) in an infinitely long cell lineage of cells. The analysis leads to the result that under driver dominance, the type transition process escapes to infinity, while under passenger dominance, it leads to a limit distribution. Implications in cancer cell dynamics and population genetics are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent genome-wide association studies on major depressive disorder (MDD) have indicated the involvement of LRFN5 and OLFM4; however, the expression levels and roles of these molecules in MDD remain unclear. The present study aimed to determine the serum levels of TCF4 and RBFOX1 in patients with MDD and to investigate whether these molecules could be used as biomarkers for MDD diagnosis. The study included 99 drug-naïve MDD patients, 90 drug-treated MDD patients, and 81 healthy controls (HCs). Serum TCF4 and RBFOX1 levels were measured by ELISA. Pearson's correlation analysis was conducted to determine the association between TCF4/RBFOX1 and clinical variables. Linear support vector machine classifier was used to evaluate the diagnostic capabilities of TCF4 and RBFOX1. Serum TCF4 and RBFOX1 levels were substantially higher in MDD patients than in HCs and significantly lower in drug-treated MDD patients than in drug-naïve MDD patients. Moreover, serum TCF4 and RBFOX1 levels were associated with the Hamilton Depression Scale score, duration of illness, serum lipids levels, and hepatic function. Thus, both these molecules showed potential as biomarkers for MDD. TCF4 and RBFOX1 combination exhibited a higher diagnostic performance, with the mean area under the curve values of 0.9861 and 0.9936 in the training and testing sets, respectively. Small sample size and investigation of only the peripheral nervous system. TCF4 and RBFOX1 may be involved in the pathogenesis of MDD, and their combination may serve as a diagnostic biomarker panel for MDD. • Increased TCF4 and RBFOX1 levels in the serum of patients with MDD. • Levels of TCF4 and RBFOX1 were improved in MDD patients with antidepressant treatment. • Levels of TCF4 and RBFOX1 were similar between MDD patients who used single or multiple antidepressants. • The combination of TCF4 and RBFOX1 may serve as a potential biomarker panel for diagnosing MDD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our previous work has shown that d-ribose (RIB)-induced depressive-like behaviors in mice. However, the relationship between variations in RIB levels and depression as well as potential RIB participation in depressive disorder is yet unknown. Here, a reanalysis of metabonomics data from depressed patients and depression model rats is performed to clarify whether the increased RIB level is positively correlated with the severity of depression. Moreover, we characterize intestinal epithelial barrier damage, gut microbial composition and function, and microbiota-gut-brain metabolic signatures in RIB-fed mice using colonic histomorphology, 16 S rRNA gene sequencing, and untargeted metabolomics analysis. The results show that RIB caused intestinal epithelial barrier impairment and microbiota-gut-brain axis dysbiosis. These microbial and metabolic modules are consistently enriched in peripheral (fecal, colon wall, and serum) and central (hippocampus) glycerophospholipid metabolism. In addition, three differential genera (Lachnospiraceae_UCG-006, Turicibacter, and Akkermansia) and two types of glycerophospholipids (phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine) have greater contributions to the overall correlations between differential genera and glycerophospholipids. These findings suggest that the disturbances of gut microbiota by RIB may contribute to the onset of depressive-like behaviors via regulating glycerophospholipid metabolism, and providing new insight for understanding the function of microbiota-gut-brain axis in depression. A combined colonic histomorphology, 16 S rRNA gene sequencing, and untargeted metabolomics analysis on D-ribose-fed mice suggest that oral D-ribose caused intestinal epithelial barrier impairment and microbiota-gut-brain axis dysbiosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The LCPCP has significantly reduced the carbon intensity of pilot cities. • Secondary-industry-heavy locations reduced carbon more effectively. • The LCPCP achieved carbon emission reductions through technological innovation. • The mechanism of technological innovation was mainly concentrated in the eastern region. • Our findings assist policymakers create better climate governance and low-carbon economic development. The low-carbon pilot cities policy (LCPCP) aims to stimulate economic growth and ensure the attainment of greenhouse gas emission reduction targets to address climate change. China issued the LCPCP in 2010 and steadily expanded the size of its pilot zones. This study builds a quasi-natural experiment based on China's LCPCP and a difference-in-difference model employing urban carbon intensity data over a 10-year period beginning in 2007 to examine the implementation repercussions of the LCPCP. According to the findings, the LCPCP has significantly reduced the carbon intensity of pilot cities. Additionally, an analysis of heterogeneity suggests that the LCPCP is more prevalent in regions with higher concentrations of secondary industries. Moreover, the mechanism reveals that the decarbonization program reduces carbon intensity through technological innovation, particularly in eastern China. In conclusion, our findings provide strong support for the operation and promotion of China's LCPCP as well as guidance and support for China's goal of reducing carbon emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an alternative to the moment tensor (MT) model for earthquake sources, the shear-tensile-compressive (STC) model offers a kinematic description of the source mechanism and leads to a more robust inversion problem. However, the premise of the source inversion based on STC is to ensure the accuracy of parameter |$\kappa $| defined as the ratio of the Lamé constants, |$\kappa $| = |$\lambda /\mu $|⁠ , in a fault zone. In this study, we carry out a series of synthetic experiments using P -wave amplitudes in source mechanism inversions based on both the STC and MT models, and consider the influence of noise, the uncertainties in source locations and in the velocity model. We show that the nonlinear STC inversion with an appropriate value of |$\kappa $| leads to more accurate result compared to the linear MT inversion. We also propose a new joint-STC inversion method to jointly invert for parameter |$\kappa $| and the remaining parameters of the STC model (magnitude and the strike, dip, rake and slope angles). The results indicate that our proposed method yields robust results for both the parameter |$\kappa $| and focal mechanisms. We apply our joint-STC inversion method to field microearthquake data observed in the West Bohemia region to validate some of the conclusions drawn from the synthetic experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Honeycomb panels manufactured from wood and paper materials promote a high-value utilization of wood resources. However, the poor mechanical properties and uncommon thicknesses (32 and 40 mm) of paper honeycomb panels limit their application and promotion in the panel furniture industry. Hence, numerous attempts have been made to develop high-strength and low-density wood sandwich composites for the frames and partitions of cabinet furniture. This paper describes a method for manufacturing lightweight sandwich panels (18 mm thickness) with auxetic cores, made of fast-growing poplar. The mechanical properties of the panels and the negative Poisson's ratio of the perforated sheet cores were determined by three-point bending and uniaxial compression tests. The lower density, higher modulus of elasticity, and bending strength suggest that the developed panel is a good substitute for traditional wood-based panels. A numerical model for panels in bending tests is proposed and validated against the experimental analysis results. These investigations facilitate further research into optimizing the sandwich panel structure and its applicability in the architectural and furniture industry. Graphical Abstract [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A conservative sharp interface method is proposed in this work to simulate two-dimensional/axisymmetric incompressible two-phase flows with phase change. In this method, we use the cut cell method to generate unstructured meshes near the interface, of which the cell edges overlap with the interface at each time step. On such mesh, the mass and heat transfer during phase change and all the jump conditions can be incorporated into the calculation of fluxes at the cell edges, to ensure that they are strictly satisfied at the interface in a sharp manner. The governing equations, including the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations, heat equation, and vapor mass fraction equation, are discretized by a second-order finite volume method in the arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian framework. To well couple the mass, heat, momentum, and interface evolution, the solution procedure is carefully designed and performed with several techniques. In such a way, the sharp discontinuity of the velocity, stress, temperature gradient, and vapor fraction, caused by the mass/heat transfer during phase change, can be simulated accurately and robustly. The performance of this method is systematically examined by cases of phase change at or below the saturated temperature, including vapor bubble in superheated liquid, film boiling, droplet evaporation at different relative humidity conditions, droplet evaporation under gravity, and droplet evaporation under forced convection. The applicability of the present method for incompressible two-phase flows with phase change is well demonstrated by comparing the numerical results with the benchmark, theoretical or experimental ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An essential technology of carbon capture, utilization and storage-enhanced oil recovery (CCUS-EOR) for tight oil reservoirs is CO2 huff-puff followed by associated produced gas reinjection. In this paper, the effects of multi-component gas on the properties and components of tight oil are studied. First, the core displacement experiments using the CH4/CO2 multi-component gas are conducted to determine the oil displacement efficiency under different CO2 and CH4 ratios. Then, a viscometer and a liquid density balance are used to investigate the change characteristics of oil viscosity and density after multi-component gas displacement with different CO2 and CH4 ratios. In addition, a laboratory scale numerical model is established to validate the experimental results. Finally, a composition model of multi-stage fractured horizontal well in tight oil reservoir considering nano-confinement effects is established to investigate the effects of multi-component gas on the components of produced dead oil and formation crude oil. The experimental results show that the oil displacement efficiency of multi-component gas displacement is greater than that of single-component gas displacement. The CH4 decreases the viscosity and density of light oil, while CO2 decreases the viscosity but increases the density. And the numerical simulation results show that CO2 extracts more heavy components from the liquid phase into the vapor phase, while CH4 extracts more light components from the liquid phase into the vapor phase during cyclic gas injection. The multi-component gas can extract both the light components and the heavy components from oil, and the balanced production of each component can be achieved by using multi-component gas huff-puff. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the pulsed current interception of underwater discharge, the characteristics of the steepness of electrohydraulic shock waves (EHSWs) and the peak value still increasing slowly with the electrical energy injection after the acceleration expansion phase of the plasma channel are investigated. The one-dimensional "piston" model of the EHSW generation is improved, and the calculation method for the EHSWs based on the "piston" model is modified. The modified model takes the change of starting points and the rising steepness of EHSWs into account, and the rising edge and peak value of EHSWs can be calculated more precisely. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antibiotic resistance is a significant global health concern that requires novel approaches to tackle this serious crisis. In this study, we designed an intelligent supramolecular antibacterial agent using dequalinium chloride (DQ), cucurbit[7]urils (CB[7]), and maleic anhydride–cyclohexylamine hydrochloride (ADA–MA) based on supramolecular chemistry. The antibacterial activity of DQ was regulated by CB[7] and ADA–MA, based on the pH value of the infection microenvironment. The acidic infection microenvironment triggered the release of DQ from CB[7] and restored its antibacterial activity, while the neutral physiological environment maintained the stability of DQ@2CB[7] and turned off its antibacterial activity. This process provides a simple and effective strategy for regulating the biological activity of DQ on demand. It could "turn on" and "turn off" its antibacterial activity according to the needs of the infection microenvironment, thus delaying the generation of resistant bacteria and reducing the toxicity of the drug under physiological conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The negative effect of poverty on children’s cognitive development has been proven, but few studies have examined the potential role of perceived poverty discrimination on poor children’s cognitive development. This study investigated the effect of perceived discrimination on executive function, the mediating effect of self-esteem and the moderating effect of perceived social support among 711 children aged 8–13 (M = 9.97 years, SD = 1.19 years, girls: 48.80%) from a Chinese impoverished county. The results indicated that (1) perceived discrimination was negatively associated with children’s executive function; (2) self-esteem partially mediated this association; and (3) perceived social support moderated the relation between perceived discrimination and children’s self-esteem: high levels of perceived social support increased self-esteem for poor children with more perceived discrimination. The results suggested that self-esteem is a mechanism underlying the negative association between perceived discrimination and children’s executive function and perceived social support plays a protective moderating role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the gradual integration of internet technology and the industrial control field, industrial control systems (ICSs) have begun to access public networks on a large scale. Attackers use these public network interfaces to launch frequent invasions of industrial control systems, thus resulting in equipment failure and downtime, production data leakage, and other serious harm. To ensure security, ICSs urgently need a mature intrusion detection mechanism. Most of the existing research on intrusion detection in ICSs focuses on improving the accuracy of intrusion detection, thereby ignoring the problem of limited equipment resources in industrial control environments, which makes it difficult to apply excellent intrusion detection algorithms in practice. In this study, we first use the spectral residual (SR) algorithm to process the data; we then propose the improved lightweight variational autoencoder (LVA) with autoregression to reconstruct the data, and we finally perform anomaly determination based on the permutation entropy (PE) algorithm. We construct a lightweight unsupervised intrusion detection model named LVA-SP. The model as a whole adopts a lightweight design with a simpler network structure and fewer parameters, which achieves a balance between the detection accuracy and the system resource overhead. Experimental results on the ICSs dataset show that our proposed LVA-SP model achieved an F1-score of 84.81% and has advantages in terms of time and memory overhead. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-throughput sequencing allows for the comprehensive analysis of the human intestinal microbiota. However, extensive association analyses between the microbiome and lifestyle differences in the Chinese population are limited. Here, we carried out an independent cohort study—the Chinese Healthy Gut Project (n = 483)—where correlations between the gut microbiota and dietary and lifestyle variables in a healthy Chinese population are defined. We collected both questionnaire data, including basic information and lifestyle and dietary variables, and fecal stools from the enrolled volunteers. We then performed 16S rRNA sequencing on the microbial DNA isolated from the stools to assess the composition of the intestinal microbiota. We found that Prevotella and Bacteroides were the most abundant genera in the healthy Chinese gut microbiome. Additionally, 9 out of 29 clinical and questionnaire-based phenotype covariates were found to be associated with the variation in the composition of the gut microbiota. Among these lifestyle phenotypes, sleep procrastination, negative mood, and drinking habits had the largest effect size. Additionally, an appreciable effect of urbanization was observed, resulting in decreased intra-individual diversity, increased inter-individual diversity, and an increased abundance of the Bacteroides enterotype. The results of this study provide a foundation for assessing the healthy Chinese gut microbiota community structure at baseline in a healthy Chinese population. Furthermore, this study also provides insights into understanding how distinctive living habits influence the relationships between the Chinese gut microbiome and systemic health state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lymphocyte proliferation and tumourigenesis are dependent on nucleotide synthesis to support DNA, RNA and phospholipid synthesis. Here, we identified that reprogramming of nucleotide metabolism as an important factor divides mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) into two groups with different transcriptional signalling pathways and varying prognoses. We establish a nucleotide metabolism‐related prognostic model that includes six genes with different regression coefficients, which significantly predicts prognosis for MCL patients (p < 0.0001). Of these six genes, de novo CTP synthesis pathway enzyme CTPS1 whose inhibitor (STP938) is already in clinical trials for relapsed/refractory lymphomas (NCT05463263) has the highest regression coefficient. An increase in CTPS1 expression predicts adverse overall survival and progression‐free survival with independent prognostic significance in 105 primary MCL samples and GEO database (GSE93291). CRISPR CTPS1 knockout causes DNA damage and proliferation defects in MCL. Additionally, MYC positively regulates CTPS1 expression, and TP53‐aberrant and ibrutinib‐resistant MCL cells also rely on cytidine metabolism. Furthermore, besides the obvious decreased CTP pool caused by CTPS1 deficiency, CTPS1 inhibition may also induce immune‐related responses via activating dsDNA‐cGAS‐STING pathway, which plays a crucial role in impeding tumour growth in MCL patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poverty impedes children's executive function (EF). Therefore, it is necessary to mitigate the negative effect of poverty by developing efficient interventions to improve poor children's cognitive function. In three studies, we examined whether high‐level construals can improve EF among poor children in China. In Study 1, we observed a positive relationship between family socioeconomic status and children's EF, which was moderated by construal level (n = 206; Mage = 9.71; 45.6% girls). In Study 2a, we experimentally induced high‐ versus low‐level construals and found that poor children with high‐level construals exhibited better EF than those with low‐level construals (n = 65; Mage = 11.32; 47.7% girls). However, the same intervention did not affect the performance of affluent children in Study 2b (n = 63; Mage = 10.54; 54% girls). Moreover, we found that the interventional effects of high‐level construals improved the ability of children living in poverty to make healthy decisions and delayed gratification in Study 3 (n = 74; Mage = 11.10; 45.9% girls). These findings may have implications for using high‐level construals as an effective intervention to improve poor children's EF and cognitive capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We show the effects of the Zr4+-doping on the microstructural, optical, and luminescent properties of (Lu, Gd) 2 O 3 : Eu transparent ceramics in its as-sintered state and annealed state. Zr4+-dopant greatly enhanced the transparency of (Lu, Gd) 2 O 3 : Eu ceramic, giving Lu 0.42 Gd 0.5 Zr 0.03 Eu 0.05 O 1.5+δ ceramic with a transmittance of up to 80% at 600 nm. It is found that Zr4+-dopant dominates the luminescent properties of Eu ions in both as-sintered and annealed ceramics. Energy transfer from Eu2+ to Eu3+ was found by photoluminescence spectra, and the ratio of Eu2+/(Eu2++Eu3+) was affected by Zr4+ content in as-sintered ceramics. Moreover, the oxygen vacancy concentration increased with increasing Zr4+ content in as-sintered ceramics. The annealing process enhanced the intensity of all the excitation bands of 4f→4f transitions and the intensity of charge transfer band (CTB) decreased as the Zr4+ content increased in the annealed ceramics. This work highlights that Zr4+ doping is a potential way to improve the transmittance and red emission intensity of 4f→4f transition of Eu3+ in the (Lu, Gd) 2 O 3 : Eu ceramic for extended applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comprehensive Summary: All‐small‐molecule organic solar cells (ASM OSCs) are promising for commercial application due to the well‐defined chemical structures, convenient purifying process and low batch‐to‐batch variation. However, the similarity of molecule structures between small molecule donors and acceptors makes a hard regulation of their blend morphology, which will limit the efficiency. One of the efficient approaches is structural tuning, among which the π‐bridge engineering is considered as a good method to improve the blend morphology. Herein, we synthesized two porphyrin‐based small‐molecule donors, Por‐BR and Por‐TR, by introducing alkoxybenzene and alkylthiophene as π bridges. The Por‐BR‐based active layer produces poor morphology and does not achieve satisfying device efficiency because of the excessive aggregation tendency. As for Por‐TR, an efficiency of 11.26% is achieved with such a high open circuit voltage of 0.904 V. This study shows that altering π‐bridge units can facilitate the improvement of film morphology, finally increase the device performance, and also provides a sample for molecule designing in terms of structure‐property correlation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seed‐borne pathogens can inhabit the rhizosphere and infect the plant after germination. The rhizosphere microbiome plays critical roles in defending against seed‐borne pathogens. However, the assembly of a core rhizosphere microbiome to suppress seed‐borne pathogens is unknown. Here, the root‐associated microbiome is infested with seed‐borne Fusarium in sterile environment, while the root‐associated microbiome is not infested when it interacts with the native soil microbiome across maize cultivars, suggesting that a core rhizosphere microbiome assembles to suppress seed‐borne Fusarium. Two strategies of progressive dilution and rhizodepositional attraction are applied to identify the core rhizobacteria. A synthetic microbiota (SynM) is constructed using the isolates of the core rhizobacteria and optimized according to superior community stability and Fusarium‐suppression capability, which surpasses the single strain and randomly formed microbiota. The optimized SynM (OptSynM) presents a distinctive cooperative pattern in which a key strain harbors the Fusarium suppression function by synthesizing the antagonistic substance fengycin, while other members intensify the functional performance by promoting the growth and the expression of the antagonistic and plant‐growth‐promoting related genes of the key strain. This study demonstrates innovative approaches to construct stable and minimal microbiota for sustainable agriculture and proposes a unique cooperative pattern to sustain community stability and functionality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current literature on Christian mission universities in Modern China (1840–1949) pays specific attention to their efforts to adapt to the intellectual and political context of their time. Through extensive archival works, we contribute to this research orientation by documenting the academic activities of the first Catholic university in China, Université l'Aurore (1903–1952) in Shanghai. Established and managed by the French Jesuits, Université l'Aurore exemplified the mission's tradition of evangelization through science education. Its pedagogical arrangements, selection of teachers, and moral education showed high levels of professionalism and almost no religious influence. The Jesuits, who took as their motto, "to find God in all things", believed that their scientific excellence could indirectly promote the Catholic spirit among future Chinese intellectuals and elites. Thanks to their strategy of indirect evangelization, not only did Université l'Aurore survive in a period when the government imposed draconic restrictions on mission entities in the name of "educational sovereignty", it also contributed to the modernization of China's education and society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ability of spoof surface plasmon polaritons (SSPPs) to confine electromagnetic fields in a subwavelength regime enables the design of miniaturized antennas. However, the impedance matching scheme for miniaturized spoof plasmonic antennas has not been studied systematically. In this paper, we propose a general method in the antenna design based on SSPPs, providing a feasible solution to impedance matching at the feeding point of miniaturized spoof plasmonic antennas. To verify the method, a prototype of a planar spoof plasmonic dipole antenna is simulated, fabricated and measured, of which the dipole arm length is reduced by 35.2% as compared with the traditional dipole antenna. A peak gain level of 4.29 dBi and the radiation efficiency of about 94.5% were measured at 6 GHz. This general method can be extended to solve the impedance matching problem in the design of other spoof plasmonic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a novel approach to accurately simulate the low frequency electromagnetic scattering of a homogeneous dielectric object in layered medium. The N-Muller surface integral equation (SIE) is utilized for accurate electromagnetic modeling at low frequency with a properly designed coefficient to cancel frequency singularity. Matrix-friendly layered medium Green's functions are adopted and integrated into SIE to account for the effects of the inhomogeneous background. By using Galerkin method and rooftop basis functions, a well-conditioned impedance matrix is obtained and a rapidly converging iterative solution is achieved for low frequencies. Numerical results are provided to validate the proposed method and investigate its properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Ginsenoside Rk1, a novel ginsenoside isolated from red ginseng, has anti-inflammatory and anti-tumor activities. This study was designed to elucidate the role of RK1 in an in vitro 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium (MPP+) cell model and an in vivo 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) of Parkinson's disease (PD). Methods: The grasping test, pole-climbing test, and rotarod test were performed to measure the effects of RK1 on MPTP-induced motor disorders. The expression of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) and IBA-1 were evaluated by western blotting. CCK-8 and flow cytometry assays were utilized to assess cell viability and apoptosis. Reactive oxygen species (ROS), Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), and superoxide dismutase (SOD) were detected to analyze the effects of RK1 on oxidative stress. The levels of inflammatory cytokines were evaluated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results: The results showed that RK1 allayed motor deficit elicited by MPTP in a mouse model. RK1 administration augmented tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) expression in the brain striatum and substantia nigra (SN) of MPTP-treated mice. Moreover, RK1 pretreatment promoted viability and suppressed apoptosis in MPP+-induced PC-12 cells. Further, RK1 also attenuated MPP+-stimulated oxidative stress and inflammatory response in PC-12 cells. Besides, RK1 augmented the level of SIRT3, and SIRT3 deletion counteracted RK1-induced repression on MPP+-elicited apoptosis, oxidative stress, and inflammatory response in PC-12 cells via modulating the Nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2)/heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) pathway. Conclusions: RK1 might exert neuroprotective effects against MPP+/MPTP-induced neurotoxicity via activating SIRT3-mediated Nrf2/HO-1 signaling. RK1 might be a promising candidate against PD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Red supergiants (RSGs) are the brightest stars in the near-infrared. The existence of their period-luminosity relation (PLR) will be very helpful in determining cosmological distances. This review discusses the development in identification of RSGs, calculation of their light variation period, determination of the PLR, and the uncertainties associated. It is found that the PLR of RSGs exhibits the smallest scatter in the near-infrared, in particular within the P – M K relation. The PLRs in the LMC, SMC, M31, and M33 show no obvious dependence on the galactic metallicity, which follows approximately the relation as M K ≈ −3.1 log P – 1.9. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evolution of granulation is an important mechanism of the light variations of red supergiants (RSGs). Based on pure and complete samples of RSGs in the Magellanic Clouds, the mechanisms and characteristics of the granulation of RSGs are investigated based on time-series data. As predicted by the basic physical process of granulation and previous works, there are tight relations between granulation and stellar parameters of RSGs (i.e., the scaling relations). The scaling relations of RSGs provide a new method to infer stellar parameters by using the characteristic timescale and amplitude of granulations. Some faint sources deviate from the scaling relations, which may be due to the difference in the properties of the granulation of the RSGs before and after the blue loop or contamination by Mira variables. However, both of these possibilities suggest that the scaling relations of granulation is different among different types of stars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is caused by repeated blockage of the upper respiratory airways during sleep. The traditional evaluation methods for OSA severity are yet limited. This study aimed to screen gene signatures to effectively evaluate OSA severity. Expression profiles of peripheral blood mononuclear cells in the different severities of OSA patients were accessed from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. A total of 446 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were screened among the varying severities of OSA samples by analysis of variance (ANOVA) test. A total of 1,152 DEGs were screened between the pre- and post-treatment OSA samples by using t test. Overlap of the two groups of DEGs was selected (88 DEGs) for Metascape enrichment analysis. Afterwards, Mfuzz package was used to perform soft clustering analysis on these 88 genes, by which 6 clusters were obtained. It was observed that the gene expression condition of the cluster 3 was positively associated with OSA severity degree; also, the gene expression condition in cluster 4 was negatively correlated with OSA severity. A total of 10 gene markers related to OSA progression were selected from cluster 3 and cluster 4. Their expression levels and correlation were analyzed. The marker genes in cluster 3 and cluster 4 were examined, finding that most genes were significantly correlated with apnea hypopnea index (AHI). An accurate and objective assessment of the severity of OSA is of great significance for formulating follow-up treatment strategies for patients with OSA. In this paper, a set of marker genes that can detect the severity of OSA were screened by bioinformatics methods, which could be jointly used with the traditional OSA diagnostic index to achieve a more reliable OSA severity evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the period from 1961 to 1965, the Chinese Communist Party forced a vast number of rural educated youth to return to their countryside homes. Despite the party's initial expectations, they had trouble readjusting to rural life. This merited political attention, as the scheme was associated with the party's aim to cultivate revolutionary successors at the grassroots during the Socialist Education movement. The party therefore attempted to make use of the rural club, a popular cultural entity in the Chinese countryside, to transform the disillusioned rural educated youth into qualified grassroots propagandists. However, such transformation should not be understood as a mere top-down initiative. As this article demonstrates, rural educated youth enthusiastically participated in rural clubs. By leveraging their identity as simultaneously rural and educated, they proved themselves the ideal vehicle for ideological conditioning in the countryside, which enabled them to bargain with the party for upward mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unlike the conventional facial expressions, micro-expressions are involuntary and transient facial expressions capable of revealing the genuine emotions that people attempt to hide. Therefore, they can provide important information in a broad range of applications such as lie detection, criminal detection, etc. Since micro-expressions are transient and of low intensity, however, their detection and recognition is difficult and relies heavily on expert experiences. Due to its intrinsic particularity and complexity, video-based micro-expression analysis is attractive but challenging, and has recently become an active area of research. Although there have been numerous developments in this area, thus far there has been no comprehensive survey that provides researchers with a systematic overview of these developments with a unified evaluation. Accordingly, in this survey paper, we first highlight the key differences between macro- and micro-expressions, then use these differences to guide our research survey of video-based micro-expression analysis in a cascaded structure, encompassing the neuropsychological basis, datasets, features, spotting algorithms, recognition algorithms, applications and evaluation of state-of-the-art approaches. For each aspect, the basic techniques, advanced developments and major challenges are addressed and discussed. Furthermore, after considering the limitations of existing micro-expression datasets, we present and release a new dataset — called micro-and-macro expression warehouse (MMEW) — containing more video samples and more labeled emotion types. We then perform a unified comparison of representative methods on CAS(ME) $^2$ 2 for spotting, and on MMEW and SAMM for recognition, respectively. Finally, some potential future research directions are explored and outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the sensor layouts of surface monitoring systems for injection areas in hydraulic fracturing experiments, which maximize the accuracy of retrieved moment tensors. The moment tensors (MTs) are determined using noisy synthetic P-wave amplitudes of microearthquakes with varying mechanisms. An optimum sensor layout is searched by minimizing a difference between the true and inverted MTs. First, we tested the efficiency of the circular networks. We focused on one-circle and two-circle layouts of various sizes and numbers of sensors on each circle and with their centre in the epicentral region. The results show that the optimal layout for events distributed within a circular epicentral area is characterized by: (1) one sensor fixed in the centre of the area; (2) about 1/10 of the total number of sensors gathered near the centre; and (3) the rest of sensors evenly distributed on a circle surrounding the area with the take-off angle of 135°. In homogeneous media, this angle corresponds to the radius of the circle comparable with depth of microearthquakes. Second, we compared the efficiency of the circular layout with other layouts: regular-grid, star-shaped and uniform focal-sphere layouts. Taking 25 sensors and 81 sensors as examples, we show that the two-circle layout is always the best, which means that we can achieve more accurate MTs using the circular layout than with other layouts, if the number of sensors in the experiment is fixed. This contradicts a common opinion that networks, which cover the target area, work equally well irrespective of their layout. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have seen an explosive increase of plant plastid genome (plastome) sequences in the last decade, and the view that sequence variation in plastomes is maintained by the mutation‐drift balance has been challenged by new evidence. Although comparative genomic and population‐level studies provided us with evidence for positive evolution of plastid genes at both the macro‐ and micro‐evolution levels, less studies have systematically investigated how plastomes have evolved during the speciation process. We here sequenced 13 plastomes of Actaea purpurea (P.K. Hsiao) J. Compton, and its closest relatives, and conducted a systematic survey of positive selection in their plastid genes using the McDonald‐Kreitman test and codon‐based methods using maximum likelihood to estimate the ratio of nonsynonymous to synonymous substitutions (ω) across a phylogeny. We found that during the speciation of A. purpurea and its relatives, all plastid genes evolved neutrally or were under purifying selection. Genome size, gene order, and number were highly conserved. Comparing to A. purpurea, plastomes of Actaea japonica and Actaea biternata had low genetic diversity, consistent with previous studies. Our work not only sheds important light on the evolutionary history of A. purpurea and its kin, but also on the evolution of plastomes during plant speciation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous data have reported the high expression of circRNA paralemmin 2 (circPALM2) in mice with acute lung injury (ALI). However, the role of circPALM2 in ALI pathogenesis remains unclear. The study aims to reveal the function of circPALM2 in ALI and the underlying mechanism. C57BL/6 J mice and murine lung epithelial-12 (MLE-12) cells were treated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to simulate ALI mouse and ALI cell models, respectively. Lung injury score and lung wet-to-dry ratio assays were used to evaluate the ALI mouse model. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and Western blot assays were implemented to analyze the expressions of circPALM2, microRNA-330-5p (miR-330-5p), rho-associated coiled-coil containing protein kinase 2 (ROCK2), and apoptosis-related markers. Cell viability, apoptosis, and the production of inflammatory cytokines were investigated by cell counting kit-8, flow cytometry, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. The expressions of circPALM2 and ROCK2 were significantly increased, while miR-330-5p was decreased in ALI mice and LPS-induced MLE-12 cells compared with controls. LPS treatment inhibited cell viability but induced apoptosis, inflammatory cytokine production, and oxidative stress; however, these effects were attenuated after the combination of circPALM2 knockdown and LPS. CircPALM2 regulated LPS-caused MLE-12 cell damage by targeting miR-330-5p. Additionally, ROCK2, a target gene of miR-330-5p, participated in LPS-induced MLE-12 cell injury. Further, circPALM2 activated ROCK2 by associating with miR-330-5p. CircPALM2 modulated LPS-caused murine lung epithelial cell injury by the miR-330-5p/ROCK2 pathway, providing a therapeutic target for ALI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, cobalt molybdate (CoMoO 4) activated peracetic acid (PAA) was developed for water purification. CoMoO 4 /PAA system could remove 95% SMX with pseudo-first-order reaction rate constant of 0.15410 min−1, which was much higher than CoFe 2 O 4 /PAA, FeMoO 4 /PAA, and CoMoO 4 /persulfate systems. CoMoO 4 /PAA system follows a non-radical species pathway dominated by the high-valent cobalt (Co(IV)), and CH 3 C(O)OO• shows a minor contribution to decontamination. Density functional theory (DFT) calculation indicates that the generation of Co(IV) is thermodynamically more favorable than CH 3 C(O)OO• generation. The abundant Co(IV) generation was attributed to the special structure of CoMoO 4 and effect of molybdenum on redox cycle of Co(II)/Co(III). DFT calculation showed that the atoms of SMX with higher ƒ0 and ƒ- values are the main attack sites, which are in accordance with the results of degradation byproducts. CoMoO 4 /PAA system can effectively reduce biological toxicity after the reaction. Benefiting from the selective of Co(IV) and CH 3 C(O)OO•, the established CoMoO 4 /PAA system exhibits excellent anti-interference capacity and satisfactory decontamination performance under actual water conditions. Furthermore, the system was capable of good potential practical application for efficient removal of various organics and favorable reuse. Overall, this study provides a new strategy by CoMoO 4 activated PAA for decontamination with high efficiency, high selectivity and favorable anti-interference. [Display omitted] • Synergic effect of Co and Mo in cobalt molybdate enhances PAA activation. • High-valent cobalt was identified as the main active species for decontamination. • Special structure and Mo for Co redox cycle cause abundant Co(IV) generation. • Degradation pathways were proposed and biological toxicity was reduced. • Excellent anti-interference and various pollutant removal efficiency were exhibited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ice accumulation on equipment and building surfaces is a scientific and modern engineering problem to be solved urgently. Compared to the energy-intensive and expensive active anti-/deicing approaches, passive energy-free technology based on advanced materials and surface engineering has received more attention. Herein, we successfully encapsulated n-tetradecane in calcium carbonate shell by in situ precipitation method, and the microcapsules reveal good energy-storage capability (99.9 %), latent heat (108.1 J g−1), and long-term durability. Combining the microcapsule with low-cost titanium nitride and low-surface-energy PDMS (polydimethylsiloxane) materials, the multifunctional superhydrophobic composite coating has been successfully prepared. The composite coating surface possesses strong absorption in UV–vis-NIR bands with high photothermal conversion and storage capability. The results indicate that the composite coating successfully prolongs the icing time compared to traditional photothermal superhydrophobic surfaces, and accelerates the melting of ice droplets under light illumination, which demonstrates great potential in both anti-icing and deicing applications. [Display omitted] • Encapsulation of n-tetradecane with CaCO 3 by in situ precipitation method is achieved. • The microcapsules reveal high energy storage capability and high latent heat. • Superhydrophobic composite coating based on microcapsules is fabricated. • The composite coating delays water droplet icing and accelerates ice melting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The methodology for the computation of diffusion coefficients in an inhomogeneous gas system has been proposed, encompassing both adsorbed gas and free gas. • The theoretical model for the competitive adsorption-diffusion coupling process has been confirmed by the agreement between the molecular dynamic simulations and the numerical computations. • The residual nitrogen within the shale sample dominates the competitive adsorption with helium, retarding the penetration of helium. • Simulations indicated that the occupation of main adsorption sites by nitrogen induces lower helium density in the nitrogen adsorption layer, compared to that in the free gas domain. Helium, as a probe gas with low adsorption capacity, is widely used for measuring porosity, permeability, and specific surface area in reservoir rocks of unconventional gas such as shale and coal. The pretreatment duration of these rock samples determines the amount of residual nitrogen in their pores, and the competitive adsorption and diffusion of residual nitrogen with the probe gas has a significant impact on the measurement results of their physical properties. This work aims to reveal the mechanisms involved in the competitive adsorption-diffusion coupling process of nitrogen-helium mixtures. Brief experiments were conducted to demonstrate the competitive adsorption between nitrogen and helium in shale. Subsequently, molecular dynamics simulation was employed to investigate this process and provide necessary details. Meanwhile, a theoretical model was developed to describe the diffusion of gas molecules in this process. Our results indicate that helium rapidly permeates shale samples and reaches an equilibrium distribution. However, the competitive adsorption between nitrogen and helium can slow down the helium permeation process, which can be attributed to the main adsorption sites occupied by nitrogen. The agreement between FEM computations and MD simulations validates our model for various mechanisms. Furthermore, our model can be applied to a wider range of porous materials and gas mixtures in related fields. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]