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Titanium alloy is an essential material for preparing aerospace engines because of its excellent performance. However, the poor wear resistance of titanium alloy restricts its further development as a critical engine material. This study aimed to use laser cladding and particle enhancement technologies to enhance the surface wear resistance of titanium alloy. (NiCoCr) 94 Al 3 Ti 3 +hBN, (NiCoCr) 94 Al 3 Ti 3 +cBN, and (NiCoCr) 94 Al 3 Ti 3 +hBN + cBN were prepared on the surface of titanium alloy, and the wear resistance mechanism of single-phase self-lubricating particles, single-phase hard particles, and self-lubricating and hard biphasic particles was investigated. The results showed that the microhardness of the biphase-reinforced coating was 1083.8 HV0.5, which was higher than that of the self-lubricating particle-reinforced coating and hard-particle-reinforced coating by 368.4 HV0.5 and 149.8 HV0.5, respectively. The friction coefficient of the biphase-reinforced coating was 0.4208, which was lower than that of the self-lubricating particle-reinforced coating and hard-particle-reinforced coating by 0.0224 and 0.0686, respectively. The wear rate of the biphase-reinforced coating was 0.076 mm3/NM, and the wear resistance of the biphase-reinforced coating was 3.42 and 1.37 times that of the self-lubricating particle-reinforced coating and hard-particle-reinforced coating, respectively. hBN relied on its own decomposition to promote the coating to present a layered unstable structure to achieve a wear reduction effect, cBN relied on its own hardness to resist wear and played a wear-resistant role, whereas biphase-reinforced coating had a hard wear resistance and formed a lubricating film to enhance the wear resistance of the coating. The comprehensive performance of the dual-phase wear-resistant coating reinforced by hard particles and self-lubricating particles was better than that of single-phase wear-resistant coating, providing a reference for developing wear-resistant coating integrating hardness and self-lubrication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

C14H20Cl2N4O4Zn, monoclinic, P21/n (no. 14), a = 8.562(2) Å, b = 27.953(8) Å, c = 8.804(2) Å, β = 117.092(4)°, V = 1875.9(9) Å3, Z = 4, Rgt(F) = 0.0441, wRref(F2) = 0.1031, T = 296 K. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

C6H6N2O2, monoclinic P21/c (no. 14), a = 6.7909(2) Å, b = 23.9261(7) Å, c = 7.5103(2) Å, β = 95.265(2)°, V = 1215.12(6) Å3, Z = 8, Rgt(F) = 0.0574, wRref(F2) = 0.1439, T = 293. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A high-performance liquid chromatograph with diode array detector was established for the simultaneous determination of five phenylethanoid glycosides in Syringa pubescens Turcz. The optimal chromatographic conditions were achieved on a Zorbax C18 column using gradient elution with 0.5% aqueous acetic acid and acetonitrile as the mobile phase at the flow rate of 1.0 mL/min. The detection wavelength was developed as follows: 0–10 min, 276 nm; 10–45 min, 332 nm. The validation of the method including linearity, precision, stability, accuracy, repeatability and recovery was tested. The chemometric analysis including hierarchical cluster analysis and principal component analysis was employed to investigate the similarity and difference of samples from different geographical origin. The results revealed that S. pubescens samples were divided into four clusters based on the phenylethanoid glycosides contents. Antioxidant activity of extract was measured using three different methods including α,α-diphenyl-β-picrylhydrazyl and 2,2-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) radical scavenging assays, and ferric reducing antioxidant power assay. Furthermore, different phenylethanoid glycosides exhibited different contribution to antioxidant capacities. This study provides a foundation for the quality evaluation and offers scientific data for the utilization of S. pubescens resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the high penetration of renewable energy, its intermittency and volatility also bring challenges to traditional power system such as maintaining reliable operation of system and improving the utilization of renewable energy. Under the background of Energy Internet (EI), energy router (ER) emerges as the times require. Aiming to improve the ability of support of energy storage units to DC buses and suppressing power shocks both inside and outside the ER, in this paper, an ER based on multi-hybrid energy storage system (MHESS) is proposed. As the principle of maximizing the utilization of renewable energy, a corresponding energy coordinated management strategy is proposed. Charging/discharging timespan optimization model is established to ensure MHESS as available as possible. The reference power of MHESS is allocated based on the proposed optimization model. Simulation analysis of different working conditions in 4 operation scenarios are carried out and the results show that the power oscillation on different buses of ER can be dampened within 0.1s and the bus voltages fluctuate within 2% while operation scenarios are switched, which verifies the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed energy coordinated management strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Wideband low‐noise amplifiers (LNAs) are widely used in 5G and 6G communication systems. This paper first analyzes two common bandwidth extension technologies: the stagger tuning technique and the magnetically coupled resonators (MCR) technique. Then, a four‐stage LNA based on double‐tuned transformer combined with stagger tuning idea and MCR idea was proposed. In order to improve the broadband characteristics of the LNA, the loose coupling double‐tuned transformer is carefully designed. Compared with the traditional stagger tuning LNA, it has better broadband characteristics, lower element error sensitivity, and lower design complexity. This designs a gain bandwidth product of 1.48 T with a −3‐dB bandwidth in 9.11 GHz and the noise factor is lower than 3 dB, which covers more than 45% −3‐dB fractional bandwidth. The LNA consumes 37‐mW power with a 1.1‐V supply and occupies 1.22 × 0.4 mm2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the concepts of plaque expansivity, topological quasi-stability, and quasi-shadowing property for Borel measures are considered. It is proved that every plaque expansive measure with the quasi-shadowing property is topologically quasi-stable with respect to its continuous foliation. At the same time, some other properties of the topological quasi-stable measures, the plaque expansive measures, and measures with the quasi-shadowing on a compact Riemannian manifold are investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the dilemma between the temperature coefficient and the structural complexity of the traditional bandgap voltage reference, a simple bandgap voltage reference with low temperature coefficient is proposed in this paper. Based on the Brokaw bandgap circuit structure, making the structural innovation. The requirement of the traditional structure for high gain amplifier is abandoned and the current mirror structure is used to realise the current proportional relation, which simplifies the circuit structure. The negative feedback path makes the results more accurate. Intriguingly, under 3.3 V power supply voltage, using TSMC 0.18 μm CMOS process, SPECTRE simulation results show that when the temperature of the output voltage of the bandgap voltage reference is −65°C ~ 150°C, the temperature coefficient is 12.79 ppm/°C, and the PSRR is 79.85 dB, noise is 5.636 UV and start-up time is 200 ns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, entropy, pressure and equilibrium states are investigated for noninvertible random dynamical systems via the preimage structure. For a continuous random dynamical system F on a compact metric space and an F -invariant measure μ , the folding entropy F μ (F) and the preimage entropy h m , μ (F) are introduced, and it is shown that these two measure-theoretic versions of entropies coincide with each other if F has uniform separation of preimages. Some fundamental properties for h m , μ (F) such as Shannon-McMillan-Breiman Theorem, Kolmogorov-Sinai Theorem and upper semi-continuity are established. From the topological viewpoint, the preimage pressures P m (F , ⋅) , P p (F , ⋅) and P p ˜ (F , ⋅) (resp. topological preimage entropy h m (F) , h p (F) and h p ˜ (F)) are introduced via the preimage structure of single points. Some basic properties are discussed, and particularly, variational principles are obtained. For a C 1 nondegenerate random partially hyperbolic dynamical system F on a closed Riemannian manifold, we propose the notions of metric stable entropy h m , μ s (F) and stable pressures P m s (F , ⋅) and P p s (F , ⋅) (resp. topological stable entropies h m s (F) and h p s (F)) via the preimage structure of local stable manifolds. Several basic properties are obtained and variational principles are established particularly. At the end, as an application of variational principles, p -equilibrium states (resp. s -equilibrium states) and p -tangent functionals (resp. s -tangent functionals) are studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As research on superhydrophobic materials inspired by the self-cleaning and water-repellent properties of plants and animals in nature continues, the superhydrophobic preparation methods and the applications of superhydrophobic surfaces are widely reported. Silicones are preferred for the preparation of superhydrophobic materials because of their inherent hydrophobicity and strong processing ability. In the preparation of superhydrophobic materials, silicones can both form micro-/nano-structures with dehydration condensation and reduce the surface energy of the material surface because of their intrinsic hydrophobicity. The superhydrophobic layers of silicone substrates are characterized by simple and fast reactions, high-temperature resistance, UV resistance, and anti-aging. Although silicone superhydrophobic materials have the disadvantages of relatively low mechanical stability, this can be improved by the rational design of the material structure. Herein, we summarize the superhydrophobic surfaces made from silicone substrates, including the cross-linking processes of silicones through dehydration condensation and hydrosilation, and the surface hydrophobic modification by grafting hydrophobic silicones. The applications of silicone-based superhydrophobic surfaces have been introduced such as self-cleaning, corrosion resistance, oil–water separation, etc. This review article should provide an overview to the bioinspired superhydrophobic surfaces of silicone-based materials, and serve as inspiration for the development of polymer interfaces and colloid science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The utilization of symbiosis with beneficial microorganisms has considerable potential for increasing growth and resistance under abiotic stress. The endophytic root fungus Piriformospora indica has been shown to improve plant growth under salt and drought stress in diverse plant species, while there have been few reports of the interaction of P. indica with soybean under salt stress. In this study, the symbiotic system of P. indica and soybean (Glycine max L.) was established, and the effect of P. indica on soybean growth and salt tolerance was investigated. The colonized and non-colonized soybeans were subjected to salt stress (200 mmol/L NaCl), and the impairments in chlorophyll and increasing relative conductivity that can be caused by salt stress were alleviated in the P. indica-colonized plants. The accumulation of malondialdehyde (MDA), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), and superoxide anion (O2−) were lower than that in non-colonized plants under salt treatment, whereas the activities of antioxidant enzymes were significantly increased by P. indica colonization, including superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), catalase (CAT), and glutathione reductase (GR). Importantly, without salt treatment, the Na+ concentration was lower, and the K+ concentration was higher in the roots compared with non-colonized plants. Differential expressions of ion transporter genes were found in soybean roots after P. indica colonization. The P. indica colonization positively regulated the transcription level of PM H+-ATPase, SOS1, and SOS2. The study shows that P. indica enhances the growth and salt tolerance of soybean, providing a strategy for the agricultural production of soybean plants in saline-alkali soils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Event-triggered secondary controllers under multiple delays are discussed. • Compared with traditional event-triggered and dynamic event-triggered, the proposed scheme has high accuracy in tracking voltage and frequency setpoints, and can effectively reduce the communication burden and maintain the system performance. • The proposed controller is robust to external disturbance and multi-delay. The stability of the proposed control strategy is proved using the lyapunov method. In this paper, an adaptive event-triggered H ∞ consensus control scheme is proposed for the secondary layer of AC MGs. The controller design problem of topological communication network with external disturbance, multiple delay, and communication burden is considered. Therefore, using the Lyapunov-Krasovskii theory, we obtain sufficient conditions for the robust consensus convergence of multi-agents under event-triggered and multiple time delays. Because traditional event-triggered often use fixed thresholds, it is challenging to balance reducing the communication burden and maintaining excellent system performance. Therefore, we design an adaptive event-triggered method that adaptively adjusts the trigger threshold according to the consistency error. Finally, a simulation system is established. The proposed control strategy has been validated through simulation results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three-way decisions (TWDs) theory is one of the core ideas of decision-theoretic rough sets (DTRSs). Reviewing the existing research results, we find that TWDs provides us with more flexible decision choices. And the traditional fuzzy number does not take into account the absence of information (indifference) in the evaluation process. In order to construct a new model which can get flexible decision results in complex decision environment, we introduce four-branch fuzzy numbers (FBFNs) to describe the evaluation information, so that the decision-makers can express the evaluation information more comprehensively. In this paper, a novel TWDs model in four-branch fuzzy environment is proposed to solve multiple-attribute decision-making (MADM) problem. The first challenge is to construct a TWDs model based on FBFNs and to develop a new linguistic interpretation of the loss functions. Then, we extend a method for aggregating the loss functions obtained from the attribute evaluation values. Finally, we use the nonlinear solution to solve the threshold, and apply TOPSIS method to solve the conditional probability of FBFNs. The effectiveness of this method is illustrated by an example, and the decision results are compared with a MADM method based on OWGA operator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, local entropy via the preimage structure for noninvertible maps is considered. For a topological dynamical system and its factor, several relative and local versions of preimage entropies with respect to a Borel cover from topological and measure-theoretic viewpoints are introduced and investigated. The relationships among these quantities are discussed, in particular, variational principles (or variational inequalities) are established. Moreover, it is shown that each local version of these relative preimage entropies coincides with its corresponding global version for a system with uniform separation of preimages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase kinase of Medicago sativa L. (MsPPCK1) modulates the phosphorylation status and activity of the C4 pathway phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase enzyme, which is pivotal for photosynthetic carbon assimilation in plants. This study investigated the role of MsPPCK1 in alfalfa by creating transgenic plants overexpressing MsPPCK1 under the control of the CaMV35S promoter. The enhanced alkali tolerance of transgenic plants indicated an important role of MsPPCK1 gene in regulating plant alkali tolerance. Transgenic plants exhibited heightened antioxidant activity (SOD, POD, and CAT), reduced MDA, H 2 O 2 , OFR and REC% content, increased activity of key photosynthetic enzymes (PEPC, PPDK, NADP-ME, and NADP-MDH), and enhanced photosynthetic parameters (Pn, E, Gs, and Ci). Moreover, MsPPCK1 overexpression increased the content of organic acids (oxaloacetic, malic, citric, and succinic acids) in the plants. The upregulation of MsPPCK1 under rhizobial inoculation showcased its other role in nodule development. In transgenic plants, MsDMI2, MsEnod12, and MsNODL4 expression increased, facilitating root nodule development and augmenting plant nodulation. Accelerated root nodule growth positively influences plant growth and yield and enhances alfalfa resistance to alkali stress. This study highlights the pivotal role of MsPPCK1 in fortifying plant alkali stress tolerance and improving yield, underscoring its potential as a key genetic target for developing alkali-tolerant and high-yielding alfalfa varieties. • MsPPCK1 overexpression improved the accumulation of organic acid, enhanced antioxidant activity and photosynthetic efficiency, so inctrease alfalfa alkali tolerance. • MsPPCK1 gene can increase facilitate root nodule development, augment plant nodulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Protein-protein interaction (PPI) plays an important role in various biological processes of organisms, and is beneficial for the development of relevant drugs, the diagnosis of diseases, etc. On this account, an increasing number of studies on PPI have been proposed. However, existing works neither construct the model with respect to the characteristics of downstream tasks (e.g. the potential relation between labels) nor fully explore the raw data (e.g. the confidence of interactions between proteins). To address this issue, we propose a novel Label-aware Dual-view Graph Neural Network for Protein-Protein Interaction Classification (LADV-PPI) method. Specifically, we construct a multi-head feature similarity graph by exploiting the rich information within the node features, which will be combined with the topology graph to generate the consensus graph. Based on this, we design a dual-view graph neural network with parameter sharing to learn PPI representations jointly from both topology graph and consensus graph. In addition, we introduce a self-adaptive label relation graph aggregation module to generate effective label representations, which will be incorporated into the dual-channel label-aware multi-layer perceptrons to guide the learning process of PPI representations. Extensive experimental results on three real-world datasets demonstrate that the proposed LADV-PPI achieves superior performance as compared to eight state-of-the-art baseline methods. • Propose to learn PPI representations jointly from both topology and consensus views. • Introduce label signal to guide the learning process of PPI representations. • Enforce a constraint to maintain consistency between topology and consensus views. • Conduct extensive experiments to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, local unstable metric entropy, local unstable topological entropy and local unstable pressure for partially hyperbolic endomorphisms are introduced and investigated. Specially, two variational principles concerning relationships among the above mentioned numbers are formulated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Let ℱ be a C 2 random partially hyperbolic dynamical system. For the unstable foliation, the corresponding unstable metric entropy, unstable topological entropy and unstable pressure via the dynamics of ℱ on the unstable foliation are introduced and investigated. A version of Shannon–McMillan–Breiman Theorem for unstable metric entropy is given, and a variational principle for unstable pressure (and hence for unstable entropy) is obtained. Moreover, as an application of the variational principle, equilibrium states for the unstable pressure including Gibbs u -states are investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban villages (UVs) are commonly found in many Asian cities. These villages contain many closely packed buildings constructed decades ago without proper urban planning. There is a need for those buildings to be identified and put into statistics. In this paper, we present a segmentation framework that invokes multiple machine learning techniques and point cloud/image processing algorithms to segment individual closely packed buildings from large urban scenes. The presented framework consists of two major segmentation processes. The framework first filters out the non-ground objects from the point cloud, then it classified them by using the Random Forest classifier to isolate buildings from the entire scene. After that, the building point clouds will be segmented based on several building attribute analysis methods. This is followed by using the Random Sample Consensus (RANSAC) plane filtering method to expand the space between two closely packed buildings, so that the Density-Based Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise (DBSCAN) clustering technique can be used to more accurately segment each individual building from the closely packed building areas. Two airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) datasets collected in two different cities with some typical closely packed buildings were used to verify the proposed framework. The results show that the framework can effectively identify the closely packed buildings with unified structures from large airborne LiDAR datasets. The overall segmentation accuracy reaches 84% for the two datasets. The proposed framework can serve as a basis for analysis and segmentation of closely packed buildings with a more complicated structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interfacial floater possessing an open surface diversifies the functions of current systems in the field of solar evaporation, micro‐detector, multiphase catalysis, etc. However, most of the current floaters still face challenges such as the anti‐submersion, orientation adjusting, and multifunctional capabilities. Drawing inspiration from water striders and diving bell spiders, here a superhydrophobic cellular origami (SCO) is proposed with reliable stability, submerge resistance, switchable floatability, and multifunctional integration. The remarkable floating ability is achieved through the air storage ability of superhydrophobic air cells. SCO floats stably on the water surface and has a maximum load capacity that is 48% higher than the superhydrophobic sheet. Besides, SCO can resurface rapidly after complete submersion, even using titanium metal as substrate. To further enhance the universality of SCO, the Janus SCO with unbalanced structure can float with a specific orientation facing up and the origami structure is optimized to be switchable with hinge structure for adjustable buoyancy. To prove the concept in 3D structure, a cylindrical SCO is presented for cable locating on the water surface. This study presents an achievable strategy to extend superhydrophobic surfaces into anti‐sinking floaters, offering valuable insights into the development of multifunctional interface carriers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The α-glucosidase inhibitory activity of Syringa pubescens Turcz (SP) extract was firstly assessed in vitro. • Quantitative analysis of six glycosides including salidroside, echinacoisde, forsythoside B, verbascoside, isoacteoside and oleuropein was firstly established and validated for simultaneous determination of six glycosides. • The evaluation of α-glucosidase inhibitory activity of six glycosides was performed. And docking study was conducted to predict the possible binding sites of forsythoside B. Inhibition of α-glucosidase is an attractive strategy for the control of hyperglycaemia. Naturally occurring bioactive compounds are potential sources of α-glucosidase inhibitors. The Syringa pubescens Turcz (SP) is commonly used as Chinese folk medicine for treatment of hepatitis and cirrhosis. However, the anti-hyperglycemic activity of SP was lack of study and the report on compounds of α-glucosidase inhibitory activity of SP was also insufficient. In this study, the α-glucosidase inhibitory activity of SP extract was firstly assessed in vitro. The quantification analysis of bioactive glycosides in SP collected at different geographical origins and its correlation with α-glucosidase inhibitory activities were investigated. As the results, six glycosides including salidroside, echinacoisde, forsythoside B, verbascoside, isoacteoside and oleuropein were simultaneously determined using HPLC-DAD method. Moreover, SP collected from different geographical origins exhibited different concentrations of bioactive glycosides and had potential α-glucosidase inhibitory activity. The results of correlation analysis indicated that the amounts of glycosides were positively correlated with the α-glucosidase inhibitory activities of SP. Then, the evaluation of α-glucosidase inhibitory activity of six glycosides was performed. And docking study was conducted to predict the possible binding sites of forsythoside B. Forsythoside B might be the most possible α-glucosidase inhibitor in SP. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present four different error bound estimates of timing domain in model order reduction by Krylov subspace methods. Firstly, we give integral method based on the impulse response in time domain. The second method is to use small sample statistical method to estimate the error bound based on an error system. The error induced by model order reduction process is constructed by an independent system output. We next present the error bound based on frequency domain error bound transformed into time domain method. The final method is reconstructing an error system, which is factorized to the sum of two parts, resulting from model order reduction by Krylov subspace. It is shown that the first factor is of the reduced order system except for subtracting an auxiliary variable, while the second factor is of the original system except for adding an auxiliary variable. In addition, we also give the analysis of the four methods. A few numerical examples are used to show the efficiency of the four different error bound estimate methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Colorectal cancer represents a great burden for patients worldwide. Long noncoding RNA BX357664 is an RNA that was identified by microarray technique in renal cell carcinoma. The function of BX357664 in solid tumors remains largely unknown. The present study aimed to investigate the expression profile and functional role of BX357664 in human colorectal cancer progression. The transcription levels of BX357664 were initially examined in vivo and in vitro. An overexpression plasmid was constructed in order to examine the effects of BX357664 overexpression on cell proliferation, apoptosis, migration and invasion. The results demonstrated that BX357664 was significantly downregulated in clinical colorectal cancer tissues and cell lines. Overexpression of BX357664 decreased cell proliferation rates and cell colony formation capacities in HCT116 and HT‑29 cells. Following BX357664 overexpression, HCT116 and HT‑29 cells exhibited reduced migration and invasion capacities. Would closure was also blunted by >50% following overexpression of BX357664 in HCT‑116 and HT‑29 cells. In addition, the cell cycle regulators Cyclin B1, CDC25C and Cyclin D1 as well as the mesenchymal marker N‑cadherin were downregulated, whereas the epithelial marker E‑cadherin was upregulated by BX357664 overexpression. Finally, HCT116 and HT‑29 cell apoptosis was induced and activities of caspase‑3 and caspase‑9 increased significantly following BX357664 overexpression. The present data suggested that BX257664 negatively regulated cell proliferation and metastasis and promoted cell apoptosis in colorectal cancer. These observations provided novel evidence that BX357664 might serve as a tumor suppressor and a potential therapeutic target in the treatment of colorectal cancer in the clinic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background The postoperative ventricular adhesion after resection of central nervous system tumors can obstruct physiologic cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) circulation and cause temporal horn entrapment. The surgical goal is to restore physiologic flow of CSF. The authors reviewed their database to report their experience with endoscopic fenestration for treating entrapped temporal horn caused by atrial adhesions. All endoscopic operations performed from February 2015 to December 2016 were reviewed. Case Description Three patients developed temporal horn entrapment after tumor resection. Fenestration was successful in all patients, with a subsequent stomy of the septum pellucidum. Follow-up magnetic resonance imaging 1 year later showed a patent reduction of the entrapped horn. Conclusions Endoscopic fenestration is an option in the treatment of entrapped temporal horns. However, more experience is required to recommend it as the treatment of choice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the continued miniaturization of VLSI circuits leads to the need for more efficient simulation of large-scale linear dynamical systems with ever-increasing state-space dimension. The linear dynamical systems in VLSI circuit simulation are RC or RCL models of the VLSI circuit's interconnected system. Model-order reduction is an important technique to reduce such a high complexity. Along the technology scaling, the indetermination in the manufacturing process causes variations in the critical dimensions and interlevel dielectric thickness of interconnects, which could make the system performance unpredictable and produce a significant parametric yield loss. An efficient exploitation of these design activities results in a parameterized model-order reduction technique able to reduce large systems of equations with respect to all of the variable parameters of the circuit, (i.e., resistance, capacitance, and inductance). For this purpose, we propose a novel parameterized model-order reduction method for interconnect variation systems, which is based on an efficient and reliable combination of invariable structure-preserving model-order reduction (SPMOR) methods and variable parameter retaining schemes. It is referred to as a parameterized interconnect model-order reduction via structure-preserving algorithm. The SPMOR model yields the same form of the original state equation and preserves the passivity of the parameterized RC and RLC networks, like the well-known passive reduced-order interconnect algorithm for nonparameterized RC and RLC networks. The most important benefit it entails is the ability to preserve the probability characteristic of the original interconnect systems. Pertinent numerical examples are proposed to validate the proposed SPMOR approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Huaiju is one of the most famous and widely used Flos Chrysanthemi (FC) for medicinal purposes in China. Although various investigations aimed at phenolics extraction from other FC have been reported, a thorough optimization of the phenolics extraction conditions from Huaiju has not been achieved. This work applied the widely used response surface methodology (RSM) to investigate the effects of 3 independent variables including ethanol concentration (%), extraction time (min), and solvent-to-material ratio (mL/g) on the ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) of phenolics from FC. The data suggested the optimal UAE condition was an ethanol concentration of 75.3% and extraction time of 43.5 min, whereas the ratio of solvent to material has no significant effect. When the free radical scavenging ability was used as an indicator for a successful extraction, a similar optimal extraction was achieved with an ethanol concentration of 72.8%, extraction time of 44.3 min, and the ratio of solvent to material was 29.5 mL/g. Furthermore, a moderate correlation between the antioxidant activity of TP extract and the content of extracted phenolic compounds was observed. Moreover, a well consistent of the experimental values under optimal conditions with those predicted values suggests RSM successfully optimized the UAE conditions for phenolics extraction from FC. Practical Application The work of the research investigated the plant phenolics in Flos Chrysanthemi and antioxidant capacities. These results of this study can support the development of antioxidant additive and relative food. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Lactate dehydrogenase A (LDHA), which functions as a crucial enzyme in transforming from pyruvate into lactate, has been reported to be overexpressed in various advanced cancer and its silencing has turned out to be tumor suppressive. Previous studies have showed that the expression of LDHA was higher in renal cell carcinoma (RCC) than that in corresponding normal renal tissue. However, the function of LDHA in RCC, and its possible mechanism in tumor progression, has not been investigated. Methods: MTT and cell cycle assay were performed to explore the growth of the renal cells. Transwell assay for the migration and invasion and tube formation were conducted to detect the metastatic properties of the renal cancer. Results: Here, we show that siRNA-mediated knockdown of LDHA inhibits cell proliferation by decreasing cell cycle and promoting apoptosis in renal cancer cell lines. Mechanistically, LDHA siRNA treatment altered the expression of cell cycle- and apoptosis-related proteins, including p21, cyclin D1, Bcl-2 and Bax. In addition, LDHA siRNA treatment leads to markedly diminished migratory and invasive ability by reducing the expression of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 and MMP-9. Conclusions: These findings are consistent with the view that LDHA, as an oncogene, might be a potential therapeutic target in RCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A fast buffer insertion methodology based on comprehensive probability is proposed to solve the buffer insertion problem under the process variation condition. In the condition of considering the correlation between the required arrival time and downstream loading capacitance, the computation is large and complexity. We develop a fast and efficient Gauss-Hermite Quadrature and Gaussian fitting algorithm to solve it. Specially, we can use the mean of metric (required arrival time or performance cost ratio) based Gaussian fitting to get the optimal buffer insertion solution based on comprehensive probability. We verify our buffer insertion algorithm using timing analysis with both device and interconnect variations based on different circuits and metrics, and show that compared to reference's buffer insertion algorithm, our new buffer insertion methodology can obtain concordant results, but can greatly reduce the computation complexity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A distributed event/self-triggered H ∞ consensus-based secondary control scheme is proposed to be used in voltage and frequency restoration control of AC microgrids system. • This paper is the pioneer to investigate the impact of event-triggered strategy and a variety of common instability factors (uncertain communication links, external disturbance, and time-varying delay), all in one robust distributed secondary control framework. • This paper designs a self-triggered communication mechanism based on event triggering, which reduces the communication burden and eliminates the computational burden of continuous monitoring of trigger conditions in event-triggered schemes. At present, the distributed cooperative control scheme has been widely used in the secondary control of microgrids (MGs). However, instability factors in communication, as well as the low bandwidth and energy of the communication network, affect the safe and efficient operation of the scheme. In this paper, a distributed self-triggered H ∞ consensus-based secondary control scheme is proposed to be used in voltage and frequency restoration control of AC MGs system. In the research, the external interference, the uncertainty of the communication link, the time-varying delay, and several common instability factors in topology networks are considered. Different from many existing works, this paper designs a self-triggered communication mechanism based on event-triggered, which reduces the communication burden and eliminates the computational burden of continuous monitoring of trigger conditions in event-triggered schemes. By applying the H ∞ theory to the system model, the sufficient conditions for the robust consensus convergence of multi-agents under self-triggered and uncertain time-varying delay communication are obtained using the Lyapunov-Krasovskii theory. Finally, an MGs simulation model was established to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy. The results show that the proposed secondary control scheme can restore the voltage and frequency to the reference value, and while greatly reducing the communication burden between agents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study demonstrates an effective low cost effective process for the production of porous titanium with 50–60 vol% porosity using 20 wt% rice husk (RH) with the hold spaces in the size ranges of 100–180, 180–250, 250–380, and 380–550 µm. The analysis of the samples revealed an interconnected pore microstructure consisting of a mixture of coarse channel pores, created during burnout of RH. The compressive strength of the developed samples was in the range of 17–70 MPa and depended strongly on their porosity and pore size. Large amounts of cleavage steps appeared on the brittle fracture surface after compression of the samples. The 3D morphology of porous titanium surface with rice husk sizes of 100–180 µm and 380–550 μm can be characterized by the micro-hole surface of pore size, and the size of the hole diameter and husk. The developed porous titanium is considered potentially useful in future medical or industrial application of biomass. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to explore the possibility of l-carnitine ( LC) as a protector of male fertility in chemotherapy, we observed the damage of cyclophosphamide ( CTX) to Sertoli cells and the protective effect of LC on the testis Sertoli cells from such damage in this study. Healthy adult male mice were divided into three groups: chemotherapy group were injected intraperitoneally with the CTX; protective agent group were injected both LC and CTX; control group mice were injected only with isochoric physiological saline; all once a day for 5 days. After 5 days, the mice were, respectively, killed at 24 hr after the last injection. The testis and epididymis were removed. Epididymis was for sperm analysis immediately, and immunohistochemistry, RT- PCR and Western blot for the assessments of occludin, glial cell-derived neurotrophic factor ( GDNF) and TGF-β3 mRNA and protein expression. The sperm analysis of epididymis showed that CTX can significantly decrease sperm count and motility; and administration of LC resulted in significant recovery of the sperm count and sperm motility. Compared with control group, the expressions of occludin and GDNF decreased and the expression of TGF-β3 increased significantly ( p < 0.05) in the CTX group. In the LC + CTX group, the expressions of occludin and GDNF were higher than those of the CTX group and similar to those of the control group; the TGF-β3 expression was lower ( p < 0.05) than that of the CTX group and similar to that of the control group. The results of this study showed that CTX could damage the spermatogenesis and reduce the expression of occludin and GDNF, and increase the expression of TGF-β3 in testis of mouse, which indicates CTX's damage or efficacy to testis Sertoli cells. LC could protect the Sertoli cells of testis from these damages caused by CTX, and promote or protect the spermatogenesis. In conclusion, this study provides meaningful information about the possible damage to male fertility by chemotherapeutics and potential of LC in the protection of male fertility during chemotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A simple, sensitive, and validated high-performance liquid chromatography-photodiode array method has been established for the simultaneous determination of anthraquinones and resveratrol in Polygonum Cillinerve (Nakai) Ohwi (Zhushaqi in Chinese). The evaluation was performed using a Sunfire C18 reversed-phase column with 30°C column temperature. The mobile phase was composed of a gradient elution of 0.5% acetic acid (solvent A) and methanol (solvent B) with flow rate of 1.0 mL/min. The detection wavelength was at 254 nm. The method developed and validated is simple, shows good linearity, sensitivity, precision, and recovery, and is applied to analyze anthraquinones and resveratrol in 13 batches of Zhushaqi. The results show that the target compounds of Zhushaqi are significantly different among these samples. Based on results of the statistical analysis, the samples collected from Funiu Mountain were clustered together, and the samples obtained from Bozhou Market were close together. The developed method can be a useful tool in quality control and used to evaluate difference and to identify the geographical area of Zhushaqi, and also to provide technical support for the pharmacological and clinical research of related drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, model order reduction (MOR) of interconnect system has become an important technique to reduce the computation complexity and improve the verification efficiency in the nanometer VLSI design. The Krylov subspaces techniques in existing MOR methods are efficient, and have become the methods of choice for generating small-scale macro-models of the large-scale multi-port RCL networks that arise in VLSI interconnect analysis. Although the Krylov subspace projection-based MOR methods have been widely studied over the past decade in the electrical computer-aided design community, all of them do not provide a best optimal solution in a given order. In this paper, a minimum norm least-squares solution for MOR by Krylov subspace methods is proposed. The method is based on generalized inverse (or pseudo-inverse) theory. This enables a new criterion for MOR-based Krylov subspace projection methods. Two numerical examples are used to test the PRIMA method based on the method proposed in this paper as a standard model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By using experimental investigations and theoretical calculations, microstructural evolution and competitive reaction behavior of Ti-B 4 C system under solid-state sintering is confirmed. Firstly, B 4 C decomposes into B and C atoms followed by diffusing into Ti side immediately, and TiB whiskers form in Ti matrix. Then, Ti atoms diffuse into B 4 C via vacancies left by the diffused B and C atoms, leading TiB 2 and carbon substance to form in B 4 C side. Subsequently, reaction product carbon diffuses into Ti side and concentration of C in Ti side increases accordingly, resulting in the formation of TiC particles in Ti matrix. With further processing of reaction, both amount and size of products increases gradually. When TiB 2 phases grow into a monolithic layer, diffusion behavior between Ti and B 4 C is inhabited, carbon presents to be a loose layer between un-reacted B 4 C and TiB 2, and the in situ reaction also stops finally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we propose a generalised sub-block structure preservation interconnect model order reduction (MOR) technique based on the swarm intelligence method, that is, particle swarm optimisation (PSO). The swarm intelligence-based structure preservation MOR can be used for a standard model as a criterion for different structure preservation interconnect MOR methods. In the proposed technique, the PSO method is used for predicting the unknown elements of structure-preserving reduced-order modelling of interconnect circuits. The prediction is based on minimising the difference of transform function between the original full-order and desired reduced-order systems maintaining the full-order structure in the reduced-order model. The proposed swarm-intelligence-based structure-preserving MOR method is compared with published work on structure preservation MOR SPRIM techniques. Simulation and synthesis results verify the accuracy and validity of the new structure-preserving MOR technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sperm-associated antigen 9(SPAG9), as a well-recognized oncogene protein, has a critical effect on renal cell carcinoma (RCC) progression. Our study tried to explore the mediator of miR-200a-3p, a tumor suppressing miRNA on SPAG9 expression and renal cell proliferation and apoptosis. We found the expression of miR-200a-3p was significantly lower in RCC specimens. Based on in vitro assays, we found miR-200a-3p significantly inhibit cancer cell proliferation by inducing apoptosis. In addition, our study uncovered that miR-200a-3p directly regulates oncogenic SPAG9 in 786-O and ACHN cells. Silencing of SPAG9 resulted in significantly decreased in the growth and the cell cycle of the renal cancer cell lines. Understanding of oncogenic SPAG9 regulated by miR-200a-3p might be beneficial to reveal new therapeutic targets for RCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

UHRF1, an epigenetic factor, is implicated in various cellular processes of tumorigenesis. However, the modulation of UHRF1 expression in human bladder cancer at post-transcriptional levels remains unclear. Here, we report that miR-124 suppresses expression of UHRF1 to affect the progression of human bladder cancer through competitive binding of the same region of its 3'-UTR. We show that compared with corresponding normal tissues, UHRF1 is upregulated and miR-124 is downregulated in bladder cancer tissues, demonstrating an inverse correlation of miR-124 and UHRF1. Quantitative PCR and western blot assay demonstrated that over-expression of miR-124 resulted in the suppression of UHRF1. Furthermore, luciferase assay revealed that miR-124 could control the fate of target gene UHRF1 mRNA by binding 3'-UTR. The rescue experiment confirmed that miR-124 exerted its biological functions by targeting UHRF1. miR-124 over-expression significantly attenuated cellular proliferation, migration, invasion and vasculogenic mimicry in vitro, and tumor growth in vivo. UHRF1 siRNA showed significant inhibitory effects on bladder cancer cells. Collectively, our study demonstrates that miR-124 can impair the proliferation or metastasis of human bladder cancer cells by down-regulation of UHRF1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this paper, a novel approach based on fast wavelet collocation method (FWCM) is presented to solve partial differential equations (PDEs) in coupled on-chip interconnects with parameter variations. After processing PDEs by decomposing variables with wavelet functions, we transfer the PDEs into ordinary differential equations (ODEs), and then use Taylor expansion in the ODEs to approximate the partial complex expression containing inverse matrix. Consequently, we can solve the PDEs with random variables more feasibly. Moreover, this approach provides a new idea for solving other kinds of PDEs with random variables in very large scaled integrated circuits (VLSI). Comparison with HSPICE simulation results shows the method proposed in this paper is effective and accurate. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Cell wall polysaccharides in the petioles and pedicels of Qian (Euryale ferox Salisb.) (EFPP) were extracted using ultrasound-assisted technique. Response surface methodology (RSM) based on Box–Behnken design (BBD) was employed to optimize extraction parameters for the maximum purity of polysaccharides. The results showed that the optimum extraction conditions were extraction temperature of 80°C, extraction time of 32min, ultrasonic power of 270W and liquid-to-solid ratio of 40mL/g. Under the optimal conditions, the experimental purity of polysaccharides was 62.57%±1.68%, which was very close to the predicted. The crude EFPP were isolated using DEAE-52 column and four major fractions (EFPP-1, EFPP-2, EFPP-3 and EFPP-4) were obtained. Typical functional groups of polysaccharides were characteristic for EFPP-1, EFPP-3 and EFPP-4 from FT-IR spectrum. Furthermore, the crude EFPP and three fractions (EFPP-1, EFPP-3 and EFPP-4) possessed appreciable in vitro antioxidant effects on α,α-diphenyl-β-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), 2,2′-azinobis(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) (ABTS), hydroxyl radical scavenging and reducing powers. Then, the crude EFPP and EFPP-4 could effective against H2O2-induced injury on HUVEC and VSMC through enhancement of T-AOC, SOD and CAT activities and decrease of MDA content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The lithosphere beneath the North China Craton (NCC) has been thinning since the Phanerozoic. Previous geophysical studies on NCC structures have mainly focused on the results of seismic wave propagation. In this study, we obtained 3D density structures of the NCC lithosphere by using the sequential inversion of observed gravity data and P-wave travel times. Analyses of the resulting density model and discussions of the destruction of the NCC are provided. Our density model shows that distinct horizontal and vertical density heterogeneities exist throughout the lithosphere beneath the NCC; in the west of the craton, the Ordos block is characterised by a relatively uniform high-density lithospheric mantle, while laterally heterogeneous densities are observed at shallower than 100km depth. Distinct low-density anomalies are imaged in the Cenozoic Yinchuan–Hetao and Shaanxi–Shanxi rifts surrounding the Ordos block. Comparing with the thinned lithosphere and high Poisson's ratio, the low density in the rifts may indicate partial melting induced by thermo-mechanical erosion. Predominantly low-density anomalies, which represent an upwelling of the asthenosphere, are revealed in the south of the Taihang orogen, as well as at the junction of the Yinshan–Yanshan orogen (near Datong volcano) and the Taihangshan orogen, from 100 to 200km depth. This supports the hypothesis of thermo-mechanical erosion in these regions. High-density anomalies are visible at the base of the lithosphere or in the upper mantle beneath the central North China Basin. Combined with high velocities at 300km depth indicated by seismic tomography, these high densities suggest that the lithospheric destruction of this region may not be explained by thermo-mechanical erosion, as there is no evidence of deep, hot upwelling that could support thermo-mechanical erosion. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Objective: Clusterin (CLU) is implicated in regulating clear renal cell carcinoma (CRCC) progression and metastasis, yet the mechanisms are not elucidated. In the present study, we explored the potential role of CLU in CRCC metastasis. Methods: Levels of CLU mRNA and CLU protein were measured by RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry analysis in 22 CRCC with metastasis and 22 without metastasis and 22 samples of normal kidney tissue. After CLU silencing and re-expression, the migration and invasion in vitro and in vivo of Caki-2 cells were determined by wound healing assay, transwell migration assay and pulmonary nodule assay, respectively. The expression of pERK1/2 and MMP-9 were detected by RT-PCR and Western blot assay. Results: We found a significant increase of CLU and CLU mRNA expression in CRCC, and the expression of CLU is strongly correlated in patients with metastatic disease. We discovered that CLU-rich Caki-2 cells displayed higher invasive ability which prompted us to investigate if CLU silencing could reduce the migration and invasion in Caki-2 cells. Compared with the vector-transfected cells, CLU knocked-down (CLUi) cells showed reduced migration and invasion in vitro, as well as decreased metastatic potential in experimental metastasis. Re-expression of CLU in CLUi cells restored the invasive phenotypes. We found that MMP-9 was downregulated in CLUi cells. We also discovered that levels of activated ERK1/2 correlated with the rich expression of CLU and MMP-9. Conclusion: Our data suggest that CLU may regulate aggressive behavior of human CRCC cells through modulating ERK1/2 signaling and MMP-9 expression. © 2013 S. Karger AG, Basel [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Process and supply variations all have a large influence on current-mode signaling (CMS) circuits, limiting their application on the fields of high-speed low power communication over long on-chip interconnects. A variation-insensitive CMS scheme (CMS-Bias) was offered, employing a particular bias circuit to compensate the effects of variations, and was robust enough against inter-die and intra-die variations. In this paper, we studied in detail the principle of variation tolerance of the CMS circuit and proposed a more suitable bias circuit for it. The CMS-Bias with the proposed bias circuit (CMS-Proposed) can acquire the same variation tolerance but consume less energy, compared with CMS-Bias with the original bias circuit (CMS-Original). Both the CMS schemes were fabricated in 180 nm CMOS technology. Simulation and measured results indicate that the two CMS interconnect circuits have the similar signal propagation delay when driving signal over a 10 mm line, but the CMS-Proposed offers about 9% reduction in energy/bit and 7.2% reduction in energy-delay-product (EDP) over the CMS-Original. Simulation results show that the two CMS schemes only change about 5% in delay when suffering intra-die variations, and have the same robustness against inter-die variations. Both simulation and measurements all show that the proposed bias circuits, employing self-biasing structure, contribute to robustness against supply variations to some extent. Jitter analysis presents the two CMS schemes have the same noise performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The influence of pyrene (Pyr) and phenanthrene (Phe) on the accumulation of bioactive ingredient of Sparganium stoloniferum Buch.-Ham was investigated. • Sparganium stoloniferum Buch.-Ham could grow well in the presence of Pyr and Phe. • The decreased or increased phenolics contents could be observed in response to Pyr and Phe. • The total saponins was not sensitive to Pyr and Phe. • The polysaccharides accumulation significantly increased to adapt the changes in environmental conditions. In this work, the effect of phenanthrene and pyrene on biosynthesis and accumulation of bioactive ingredients of Sparganium stoloniferum Buch.-Ham. was evaluated. The analysis of phenanthrene and pyrene was performed using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC–MS). The bioactive compounds were determined using different analysis technology. In the presence of pyrene and phenanthrene, this plant could grow well. The decreased or increased phenolics content could be observed in response to pyrene and phenanthrene. The low concentration phenanthrene and pyrene could enhance the accumulation of the mannitol and high concentration PAHs inhibit the accumulation. The accumulation of total saponins was not sensitive to pyrene and phenanthrene. To adapt the changes in environmental conditions the polysaccharides accumulation significantly increased. The findings obtained from this study will provide the science basis to investigate the accumulation of bioactive ingredients from plant in the presence of phenanthrene and pyrene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The present study reports on the extraction of phenolic compounds from sparganii rhizome. Box–Behnken Design (BBD), a widely used form of response surface methodology (RSM), was used to investigate the effect of process variables on the ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE). Three independent variables including ethanol concentration (%), extraction time (min) and solvent-to-material ratio (mL/g) were studied. The results showed that the optimal UAE condition was obtained with an ethanol concentration of 75.3%, an extraction time of 40min and a solvent-to-material ratio of 19.21mL/g for total phenols, and an ethanol concentration of 80%, an extraction time of 33.54min and solvent-to-material ratio of 22.72mL/g for combination of ρ-hydroxybenzaldehyde, ρ-coumaric acid, vanillic acid, ferulic acid, rutin and kaempferol. The experimental values under optimal conditions were in good consistent with the predicted values, which suggested UAE is more efficient process as compared to solvent extraction. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic method was developed for the simultaneous quantification of seven phenolic compounds from Rhizoma Sparganii. The samples were separated on a Waters SunFire C18 column with a temperature of 30°C. Gradient elution was applied, using 0.8% acetic acid (solvent A) and methanol (solvent B) with a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min, and detection wavelength was 280 nm. The validation of the method included linearity, precision, repeatability, stability and recovery. The calibration curves showed good linear regression (R2 > 0.9996) within the test range. The developed method indicated good precision and accuracy, with the overall intra-day and inter-day variation at less than 3%. The range of recoveries for the seven analytes was 95.34–100.06% with relative standard deviation < 3.08 %. The established method was successfully applied for the determination of seven phenolic compounds in 12 batches of Rhizoma Sparganii. The study may be useful in the quality evaluation of Rhizoma Sparganii, and can provide technical support for pharmacological and clinical research of related drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: Molecular structure and vibrational spectra of 1,4-dihydroxyanthraquinone (1,4-DAQ) are studied theoretically and experimentally. FT-infrared and Raman spectra of 1,4-DAQ are recorded in solid phase in regions of 4000–400 and 3500–100cm−1, respectively. The geometry of 1,4-DAQ is optimized by B3LYP and B3PW91 methods, and the most stable structure with C2v point group is found. The harmonic vibration frequencies, infrared intensities, and the Raman scattering activities of the compound are calculated, analyzed, and compared with experimental data. Our calculated frequencies agree well with the experimental results. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In this article, we consider the problem of optimal coverage of unknown environmental boundary using sensor networks. Since the boundary is unknown to all sensors, it is necessary for the sensors to find it first. We give a new distributed estimate policy by tracking a virtual agent using the sensor networks. Then we consider the problem of optimal coverage of the estimate boundary instead of the actual one. Moreover, an algorithm is given to deploy the sensors to the optimal configuration corresponding to the coverage problem considered in this article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A novel noncovalent approach was developed for the functionalization of multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) using the hydrophobin, HFBI. Owing to the amphipathic nature, HFBI can be adopted onto the surface of MWNTs to form HFBI–MWNTs nanocomposite with good dispersion in water. The HFBI–MWNTs nanocomposite was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and water contact angle measurements (WCA). Furthermore, a glucose biosensor was developed based on HFBI–MWNTs by a one-step casting method. The resulting biosensor displayed high sensitivity, wider linear range, low detection limit, and fast response for glucose detection, which implicated that the HFBI–MWNTs nanocomposite film holds great promise in the design of electrochemical devices, such as sensors and biosensors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A novel glucose biosensor was developed, based on the immobilization of glucose oxidase (GOD) with cross-linking in the matrix of bovine serum albumin (BSA) on a Pt electrode, which was modified with gold nanoparticles decorated Pb nanowires (GNPs-Pb NWs). Pb nanowires (Pb NWs) were synthesized by an l-cysteine-assisted self-assembly route, and then gold nanoparticles (GNPs) were attached onto the nanowire surface through –SH–Au specific interaction. The morphological characterization of GNPs-Pb NWs was examined by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry were used to study and to optimize the electrochemical performance of the resulting biosensor. The synergistic effect of Pb NWs and GNPs made the biosensor exhibit excellent electrocatalytic activity and good response performance to glucose. The effects of pH and applied potential on the amperometric response of the biosensor have been systemically studied. In pH 7.0, the biosensor showed the sensitivity of 135.5μAmM−1 cm−2, the detection limit of 2μM (S/N=3), and the response time <5s with a linear range of 5–2200μM. Furthermore, the biosensor exhibits good reproducibility, long-term stability and relative good anti-interference. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]