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Streptomyces antibiotic regulatory proteins (SARPs) are widely distributed activators of antibiotic biosynthesis. Streptomyces coelicolor AfsR is an SARP regulator with an additional nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain (NOD) and a tetratricopeptide repeat (TPR) domain. Here, we present cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) structures and in vitro assays to demonstrate how the SARP domain activates transcription and how it is modulated by NOD and TPR domains. The structures of transcription initiation complexes (TICs) show that the SARP domain forms a side-by-side dimer to simultaneously engage the afs box overlapping the −35 element and the σHrdB region 4 (R4), resembling a sigma adaptation mechanism. The SARP extensively interacts with the subunits of the RNA polymerase (RNAP) core enzyme including the β-flap tip helix (FTH), the β′ zinc-binding domain (ZBD), and the highly flexible C-terminal domain of the α subunit (αCTD). Transcription assays of full-length AfsR and truncated proteins reveal the inhibitory effect of NOD and TPR on SARP transcription activation, which can be eliminated by ATP binding. In vitro phosphorylation hardly affects transcription activation of AfsR, but counteracts the disinhibition of ATP binding. Overall, our results present a detailed molecular view of how AfsR serves to activate transcription. Streptomyces antibiotic regulatory proteins (SARPs) are widely distributed activators of antibiotic biosynthesis. This study combines cryo-EM structures with biochemical assays to explain how the Streptomyces coelicolor SARP AfsR activates transcription. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the massive access to distributed energy resources, an increasing number of users have transformed into prosumers with the functions of producing, storing, and consuming electric energy. Peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading, as a new way to allow direct energy transactions between prosumers, is becoming increasingly widespread. How to determine the trading strategy of prosumers participating in P2P energy trading while the strategy can satisfy multiple optimization objectives simultaneously is a crucial problem to be solved. To this end, this paper introduces the demand response mechanism and applies the dissatisfaction function to represent the electricity consumption of prosumers. The mid-market rate price is adopted to attract more prosumers to participate in P2P energy trading. The P2P energy trading process among multiple prosumers in the community is constructed as a Markov decision process. We design the method of deep reinforcement learning (DRL) to solve the optimal trading policy of prosumers. DRL, by engaging in continual interactions with the environment, autonomously learns the optimal strategies. Additionally, the deep deterministic policy gradient algorithm is well-suited for handling the continuous and intricate decision problems that arise in the P2P energy trading market. Through the judicious construction of a reinforcement learning environment, this paper achieves multi-objective collaborative optimization. Simulation results show that our proposed algorithm and model reduce costs by 16.5%, compared to the transaction between prosumers and grid, and can effectively decrease the dependence of prosumers on the main grid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mapping target crops earlier than the harvest period is an essential task for improving agricultural productivity and decision-making. This paper presents a new method for early crop mapping for the entire conterminous USA (CONUS) land area using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) data with a dynamic ecoregion clustering approach. Ecoregions, geographically distinct areas with unique ecological patterns and processes, provide a valuable framework for large-scale crop mapping. We conducted our dynamic ecoregion clustering by analyzing soil, climate, elevation, and slope data. This analysis facilitated the division of the cropland area within the CONUS into distinct ecoregions. Unlike static ecoregion clustering, which generates a single ecoregion map that remains unchanged over time, our dynamic ecoregion approach produces a unique ecoregion map for each year. This dynamic approach enables us to consider the year-to-year climate variations that significantly impact crop growth, enhancing the accuracy of our crop mapping process. Subsequently, a Random Forest classifier was employed to train individual models for each ecoregion. These models were trained using the time-series MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) 250-m NDVI and EVI data retrieved from Google Earth Engine, covering the crop growth periods spanning from 2013 to 2017, and evaluated from 2018 to 2022. Ground truth data were sourced from the US Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Cropland Data Layer (CDL) products. The evaluation results showed that the dynamic clustering method achieved higher accuracy than the static clustering method in early crop mapping in the entire CONUS. This study's findings can be helpful for improving crop management and decision-making for agricultural activities by providing early and accurate crop mapping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • The multiscale core–shell structure Ni-MOF@N C with heterogeneous interfaces were constructed. • The optimal RL of Ni-MOF@N C 500 is −69.6 dB and the widest effective absorption bandwidth is 6.8 GHz. • The synergistic effect of N -doped carbon shell dielectric loss and Ni magnetic loss improves impedance matching. The design of metal–organic frameworks (MOF) derived composites with multiple loss mechanisms and multi-scale micro/nano structures is an important research direction of microwave absorbing materials. Herein, multi-scale bayberry-like Ni-MOF@ N -doped carbon composites (Ni-MOF@N C) are obtained by a MOF assisted strategy. By utilizing the special structure of MOF and regulating its composition, the effective improvement of Ni-MOF@N C's microwave absorption performance has been achieved. The nanostructure on the surface of core–shell Ni-MOF@N C can be regulated and N doping on carbon skeleton by adjusting the annealing temperature. The optimal reflection loss of Ni-MOF@N C is −69.6 dB at 3 mm, and the widest effective absorption bandwidth is 6.8 GHz. This excellent performance can be attributed to the strong interface polarization caused by multiple core–shell structures, the defect and dipole polarization caused by N doping, and the magnetic loss caused by Ni. Meanwhile, the coupling of magnetic and dielectric properties enhances the impedance matching of Ni-MOF@N C. The work proposes a particular idea of designing and synthesizing an applicable microwave absorption material that possesses excellent microwave absorption performance and promising application potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To assess the efficiency of [68 Ga]Ga-DOTA-FAPI-04 in diagnosing periprosthetic hip joint infection and establish a diagnostic standard of clinical significance based on uptake pattern. Methods: [68 Ga]Ga-DOTA-FAPI-04 PET/CT was performed in patients with symptomatic hip arthroplasty from December 2019 to July 2022. The reference standard was based on the 2018 Evidence-Based and Validation Criteria. Two diagnostic criteria, SUVmax and uptake pattern, were used to diagnose PJI. Meanwhile, original data were imported into IKT-snap to draw the view of interest, A.K. was used to extract features of clinical cases, and unsupervised clustering analysis was applied according to the groups. Results: A total of 103 patients were included, 28 of whom had PJI. The area under the curve of SUVmax was 0.898, which was better than that of all of the serological tests. The cutoff value of SUVmax was 7.53, and the sensitivity and specificity were 100 and 72%, respectively. The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of the uptake pattern were 100, 93.1 and 95%, respectively. In radiomics analysis, the features of PJI were significantly different from those of aseptic failure. Conclusion: The efficiency of [68 Ga]Ga-DOTA-FAPI-04 PET/CT in diagnosing PJI showed promising results, and the diagnostic criteria of the uptake pattern were more clinically instructive. Radiomics also showed certain application prospects in the field of PJI. Trial registration number: Trial registration: ChiCTR2000041204. Registered 24 September 2019. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thermogravimetric technology was used to analyze the low temperature pyrolysis characteristics of flue-cured tobacco, burley tobacco, oriental tobacco and cigar tobacco. Meanwhile, the sensory quality of tobacco raw materials under heating conditions was evaluated, and the correlation between the pyrolysis characteristics and sensory quality was further analyzed statistically. The results showed that: under the heating condition of linear temperature-constant temperature baking, all tobacco leaves experienced four weight loss stages ( dehydration and drying stage, removal stage of volatile components, decomposition stage of cellulose components and constant temperature baking stage), but there were some differences in the pyrolysis characteristic parameters of different weight loss stages. With the increase of glycerin content (0%~15%), the maximum weight loss rate and weight loss rate of all tobacco raw materials in the volatile component removal stage increased, and the maximum weight loss temperature of flue-cured tobacco increased, while that of burley tobacco, oriental tobacco and cigar tobacco decreased. When the glycerin dosage was 15%, it had the greatest effect on the weight loss rate of flue-cured tobacco at this stage, and the least effect on oriental tobacco. The total score of sensory quality of tobacco leaf samples increased with the increase of glycerin dosage. Person correlation analysis showed that the glycerin content of tobacco leaf raw materials was positively correlated with the smoke volume, aroma volume, uniformity score and total sensory quality score. There was a significant positive correlation between the maximum weight loss rate and miscellaneous gas, irritability, energy score and total sensory quality score, while the maximum weight loss rate during the decomposition stage of cellulose components had a negative correlation with aroma volume, miscellaneous gas, irritation, purity, energy score and total sensory quality score. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

C49H36N4O4Cl2, triclinic, P 1 ‾ (no. 2), a = 6.3858(2) Å, b = 12.6484(4) Å, c = 12.7115(5) Å, α = 95.986(3)°, β = 102.790(3)°, γ = 95.563(3)°, V = 988.12(6) Å3, Z = 1, Rgt(F) = 0.0603, wRref(F2) = 0.1683, T = 150 K. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] Heterointerface design is an effective strategy to improve the effective absorption bandwidth in electromagnetic wave EMW absorbing materials. In this paper, honeycomb-like Fe-doped tremella carbide composites (FCT) with a large number of heterogeneous interfaces were obtained by in-situ construction of multiphase composite particles (Fe 3 C, Fe 3 O 4 , and a-Fe) during the carbonization process. The effects of Fe doping on the phase, structure, morphology, and absorption properties of FCT were investigated. The results show that the porous structure and the heterogeneous interface can significantly improve the electromagnetic wave absorption performance of FCT. Iron doping introduces a heterogeneous multiphase structure into FCT, which increases the interfacial loss and magnetic loss of the material, thereby improving the overall impedance matching of the material. FCT-4 composite exhibited excellent microwave attenuation capability with a reflection loss of −34.6 dB. Simultaneously, the widest effective absorption bandwidth is up to 8.84 GHz (9.16–18 GHz) with a matching thickness of 2.8 mm, which covers almost the entire X (8–12 GHz) and Ku (12–18 GHz) bands. Thus, this paper provides an effective strategy for the preparation of excellent electromagnetic wave absorbing materials by in situ construction of heterointerfaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The laser shock adhesive-clinching (LSAC) is an original material joining technique that combines the advantages of clinch-bonded hybrid joining and laser shock clinching, in which two metal foils are bonded by adhesive and clinched by laser shock simultaneously. In this paper, the LSAC joints are manufactured by 1060 Al foils, Henkel EP 5055 adhesive, and perforated 304 stainless steel sheets. Through experiments and FEM simulations, the LSAC process and the deformation of LSAC joints under shear loads are analyzed, and the effect of adhesive on LSAC joint manufacturing is investigated. The results show that bulging is the dominant deformation behavior during LASC, and the cured adhesive with thin thickness is beneficial to the subsequent clinching process. The shear strength of the LSAC joint is greatly enhanced compared to the pure clinched and pure bonded joints. The shear failure process of the LSAC joint is adhesive degumming first, then the interlock separating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a semantic analysis approach to children's emotional disorder intervention and education is thoroughly analyzed and discussed, and a corresponding educational system is designed for application in real life. This paper acquires video data by deploying a common camera acquisition and transforms, annotates, frames, and processes the data with the help of feature engineering methods. In addition, this paper proposes a fine-grained action decomposition strategy to solve the problem of extreme imbalance in the dataset to improve the performance of the model and proposes an iterative sampling data fusion strategy, which aims to integrate and fuse data from multiple sources to make them more effective and further improve the robustness and generalization ability of the model. Since it is difficult for families to improve the emotional management skills of migrant children, and it is also difficult to obtain professional help and support from the community or schools, it is important to take advantage of the professional strengths of social work to provide professional support for migrant children and their families. From the perspective of theoretical research, most of the existing studies focus on individual migrant children and cannot give global guidance from the perspective of the family system. The comparison results show that T-SVR trained using data from all subjects outperforms the inductive method based on individual training of trainees, validating the effectiveness of the proposed adaptive emotion recognition model. Therefore, from the perspective of system integration, it is important to explore social work interventions to improve the emotional management skills of migrant children. The system network structure design is determined according to the actual situation; then from the system requirements, the system is abstracted with the help of UML entity-relationship diagram, and the database table design is completed; so far, the overall system can be divided into independent functional modules, and the boundaries of each module and the participating roles are gradually clarified, and the detailed design within each functional module is illustrated by UML timing diagram and class diagram to clarify the classes used. Finally, the system is tested end-to-end to verify whether the results of the view layer meet the design guidelines, whether the system modules work together properly, and whether the functional development meets the requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent advancements in shrink-wrapping-based mesh approximation have shown tremendous advantages for non-manifold defective meshes. However, these methods perform unsatisfactorily when maintaining the regions with sharp features and rich details of the input mesh. We propose an adaptive shrink-wrapping method based on the recent Alpha Wrapping technique, offering improved feature preservation while handling defective inputs. The proposed approach comprises three main steps. First, we compute a new sizing field with the capability to assess the discretization density of non-manifold defective meshes. Then, we generate a mesh feature skeleton by projecting input feature lines onto the offset surface, ensuring the preservation of sharp features. Finally, an adaptive wrapping approach based on normal projection is applied to preserve the regions with sharp features and rich details simultaneously. By conducting experimental tests on various datasets including Thingi10k, ABC, and GrabCAD, we demonstrate that our method exhibits significant improvements in mesh fidelity compared to the Alpha Wrapping method, while maintaining the advantage of manifold property inherited from shrink-wrapping methods. • We propose an adaptive shrink-wrapping method that generates watertight, manifold and feature-preserving triangle meshes. • Introducing an adaptive sizing field computation method for defective meshes. • Utilize feature skeleton and normal projection for feature-preserving. • Our method achieves a balance between time efficiency and mesh fidelity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: We built a joint replacement loosening model based on the original rabbit model of infection and evaluated the performance characteristics of 18F-FDG and 68 Ga-FAPI in evaluating infection and loosening.Methods: After surgery, the rabbits were divided into four groups, with six individuals in the control group and 10 each in the aseptic loosening, S. aureus and S. epidermidis groups. PET/CT and serological examination were performed three times at two-week intervals. After the rabbits were euthanized, micro-CT, tissue pathology, pullout tests and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were performed.Results: The pullout test and SEM showed the feasibility of the aseptic loosening model. 18F-FDG showed similar performance in the control and loosening groups. The SUVmax of the S. aureus group was consistently higher than that of the S. epidermidis group. As for 68 Ga-FAPI, the SUVmax of the control group was lowest in the second week and gradually increased over subsequent weeks. The SUVmax of the loosening group began to exceed that of the control group after the second week. The SUVmax of the S. aureus group in the second week was the lowest among the four groups and increased as the number of weeks increased. The pathology results showed concordance with the performance of PET/CT. Linear regressions between SUVmax and serology showed that 18F-FDG was positively correlated with CRP and IL-6, while 68 Ga-FAPI revealed negative correlations with CRP and IL-6 in the second week and positive correlations in the sixth week. In addition, the SUVmax and MT(target)V of both 18F-FDG and 68 Ga-FAPI were negatively correlated with bone volume/trabecular volume (TV) and bone surface area/TV.Conclusion: In this longitudinal observation, 68 Ga-FAPI showed greater sensitivity than 18F-FDG in detecting diseases, and 68 Ga-FAPI had no intestinal or muscular uptake. The MT(target)V of 68 Ga-FAPI was larger than that of 18F-FDG, which meant that 68 Ga-FAPI had the potential to define the scope of lesions more accurately. Finally, the SUVmax of 68 Ga-FAPI could not differentiate between loosening and infection; further study of the diagnostic criteria is warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • The honeycomb-like NiFe 2 O 4 @Ni@C composites is obtained. • The porous core–shell structure has more interfacial polarization and multiple reflection. • The superior absorption capacity reaches −65.33 dB at 13.63 GHz. Rational excogitation of microstructure and chemical constituents is a superior means of constructing electromagnetic wave (EMW) absorption materials with high performance. In this study, a kind of honeycomb-like NiFe 2 O 4 @Ni@C composite is prepared via an uncomplicated polymerization, pyrolysis and etching. Porous structure and internal cavity of NiFe 2 O 4 @Ni@C contribute to the numerous reflection and scattering of EMW. The strong ferromagnetic resonance of NiFe 2 O 4 core and the multiple relaxation processes of porous carbon shell strongly promote the EMW loss. Additionally, the synergistic effect can improve impedance matching. The results demonstrate that the minimum reflection loss (RL) of honeycomb-like NiFe 2 O 4 @Ni@C composites is −65.33 dB at 13.63 GHz. The effective absorption bandwidth (EAB) is 3.68 GHz when the matching thickness is 4.95 mm. The mechanism of EMW dissipation of the honeycomb-like NiFe 2 O 4 @Ni@C composites is attributed to multiple reflections and scattering, conductive loss, interfacial polarization and ferromagnetism resonance. This work provides a tactic for the excogitation and synthesis of a low cost, light weight and efficient EMW absorber. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During development, animals generate distinct cell populations with specific identities, functions, and morphologies. We mapped transcriptionally distinct populations across 489,686 cells from 62 stages during wild-type zebrafish embryogenesis and early larval development (3–120 h post-fertilization). Using these data, we identified the limited catalog of gene expression programs reused across multiple tissues and their cell-type-specific adaptations. We also determined the duration each transcriptional state is present during development and identify unexpected long-term cycling populations. Focused clustering and transcriptional trajectory analyses of non-skeletal muscle and endoderm identified transcriptional profiles and candidate transcriptional regulators of understudied cell types and subpopulations, including the pneumatic duct, individual intestinal smooth muscle layers, spatially distinct pericyte subpopulations, and recently discovered best4 + cells. To enable additional discoveries, we make this comprehensive transcriptional atlas of early zebrafish development available through our website, Daniocell. [Display omitted] • Daniocell: a 0.5-M-cell, 62-stage scRNA-seq atlas of wild-type zebrafish development • An epas1a + perivascular cell subtype associated with the posterior cerebral vein • Transcriptionally distinct intestinal smooth muscle populations • best4 + intestinal cell similarity to humans, anatomy, and developmental trajectory Sur et al. map transcriptional populations with high temporal resolution during zebrafish development. They identify putative long-term progenitor states, reused developmental gene expression programs, rare perivascular cell subtypes, and transcriptional profiles of molecularly uncharacterized cell types (pneumatic duct and intestinal smooth muscle), and they infer the developmental program of best4 + intestinal cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to investigate the role of the long non-coding RNA-AC103563.8 (lncRNA) in promoting oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) development and to conduct preliminary research on its mechanism. Microarray technology were used to screen out a lncRNA significantly upregulated in OSCC. Fluorescence in situ hybridization was used to analyze the position of lncRNA-AC103563.8 in cells. A Cal-27 cell line with knockout of the lncRNA-AC103563.8 gene was constructed. Transwell assay and tumor xenograft experiment was used to determine the metastasis and invasion of the cell. Detection of mutations in genes encoding myelin and lymphocyte proteins (MAL) by pyrosequencing. Identification of RNA-Binding Proteins by Mass Spectrometry (ChIRP-MS) experiments were carried out to enrich the proteins that directly bind to lncRNA-AC103563.8. Bioinformatics was used to analyze the target proteins. Some of the selected proteins were verified by parallel reaction monitoring (PRM) to confirm their binding to lncRNA-AC103563.8. lncRNA-AC103563.8 is upregulated in OSCC tissue and the presence of lncRNA-AC103563.8 in both the nucleus and the cytoplasm. lncRNA-AC103563.8 promoted OSCC cell invasion and metastasis. Methylation occurs in MAL gene promoter. ChIRP-MS identified 330 proteins binding to lncRNA-AC103563.8, and bioinformatics analysis showed that they were involved in a variety of biological processes. PRM experiments confirmed some protein directly bound to lncRNA-AC103563.8. lncRNA-AC103563.8 is a functional lncRNA that promotes OSCC development by acting on MAL or interacting with other tumor-related proteins. This study also indicates that this lncRNA may exert regulatory functions in OSCC and is a potential target for OSCC therapy. • We found a novel functional long noncoding RNA, which called lncRNA-AC103563.8. • it promoted invasion and metastasis of oral squamous cell carcinoma. • Some proteins that play important roles in tumors bind directly to lncRNA-AC103563.8. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article was to use finite element analysis (FEA) to study the relationship of tibial tunnel (TT) with fracture pattern and implants. A computed tomography scan of full-length tibia and fibula was obtained. Models were built after three-dimensional reconstruction. The corresponding plates and screws were constructed and assembled together with fracture models. FEA was performed and contourplots were output. The Von Mises stresses of nodes and displacements of elements were extracted. Student's t test was used to compare the values of Von Mises stresses and displacements between corresponding models. Differences in Von Mises stresses and displacements of fragments and implants between models with and without TT were nearly all statistically significant. However, the displacements of fragments and implants for all models were < 2 mm. TT in fracture models had larger Von Mises stresses than TT in intact tibial model. However, displacements of TT in fracture models showed similar or even smaller results to those in intact tibial model. Although almost all the tested parameters were statistically significant, differences were small and values were all below the clinical threshold. This study could promote open reduction and internal fixation with one-stage reconstruction for treatment of tibial plateau fractures associated with anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) ruptures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The wave absorption properties of ZnFe 2 O 4 @PHCMS are dued to the suitable impedance characteristics, the dipole polarization and interfacial polarization, the multiple Debye relaxation process and strong natural resonance, multiple reflection and scattering. • The porous hollow carbon microsphere (PHCMS) is synthesized by the self-assembly technology. • ZnFe 2 O 4 particles are synthesized inside the carbon sphere by in-situ preparation first times. • Improve the impedance matching by adjusting the structure and composition to improve the absorption performance. The special structure and composition are the important factors that determine the microwave absorption properties. In this study, the porous hollow carbon microsphere (PHCMS) is synthesized by the self-assembly technology, and ZnFe 2 O 4 particles are synthesized inside the carbon sphere by in-situ preparation with taking advantage of the porous and hollow characteristics of the carbon sphere, which prepares ZnFe 2 O 4 @PHCMS composite material. The composite shows good performance in terms of minimum reflection loss and absorption bandwidth. The results show that the maximum adsorption capacity of the composite is −51.43 dB at 7.2 GHz. When the thickness is 4.8 mm, the effective absorption bandwidth of RL ≤ 10 dB electromagnetic wave is 3.52 GHz. Such enhanced electromagnetic wave absorption properties of ZnFe 2 O 4 @PHCMS are ascribed to the suitable impedance characteristic, the dipole polarization and interfacial polarization, the multiple Debye relaxation process and strong natural resonance, multiple reflection and scattering. This work provides an approach to design effective microwave absorbers having a unique structure to enhance the microwave absorption properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electronic materials that exhibit phase transitions between metastable states (e.g., metal-insulator transition materials with abrupt electrical resistivity transformations) are challenging to decode. For these materials, conventional machine learning methods display limited predictive capability due to data scarcity and the absence of features that impede model training. In this article, we demonstrate a discovery strategy based on multi-objective Bayesian optimization to directly circumvent these bottlenecks by utilizing latent variable Gaussian processes combined with high-fidelity electronic structure calculations for validation in the chalcogenide lacunar spinel family. We directly and simultaneously learn phase stability and bandgap tunability from chemical composition alone to efficiently discover all superior compositions on the design Pareto front. Previously unidentified electronic transitions also emerge from our featureless adaptive optimization engine. Our methodology readily generalizes to optimization of multiple properties, enabling co-design of complex multifunctional materials, especially where prior data is sparse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Synergistic modification strategy of graphene and mullite was used to introduce mullite and graphene into C/C–SiC–ZrC composites by chemical liquid-vapor deposition to improve ablation resistance. The ablation resistance and behaviors were comparatively studied under a heat flux of 2.38 MW/m2 for 100 s. Results showed that the appropriate content mullite modified C/C–SiC–ZrC composites has better ablation resistance due to the sufficient SiO 2 , Al 2 O 3 , and ZrSiO 4 as healing agents and oxygen barrier and the synergistic effect with ZrO 2 to form a denser and more stable oxide layer with the mass and linear ablation rates of 0.69 mg/s and −0.93 μm/s, respectively. The introduction of graphene improves the heat-force distribution, and as a high heat transfer medium and reinforcing phase, reduces the thermal concentration, cracking, and spalling of the oxide layer and further improves the ablation resistance, with mass ablation rate and linear ablation rate of −0.34 mg/s and −0.89 μm/s, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Autophagy play an important therapeutic potential in pulmonary fibrosis diseases. • Targeting autophagy may be a novel intervention to pulmonary fibrosis diseases. • Autophagy mitigates the pathogenesis of IPF and cystic fibrosis lung disease. As an evolutionarily conserved intracellular degradation pathway, autophagy is essential to cellular homeostasis. Several studies have demonstrated that autophagy showed an important effect on some pulmonary fibrosis diseases, including idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), cystic fibrosis lung disease, silicosis and smoking-induced pulmonary fibrosis. For example, autophagy mitigates the pathological progression of IPF by regulating the apoptosis of fibroblasts and the senescence of alveolar epithelial cells. In addition, autophagy ameliorates cystic fibrosis lung disease via rescuing transmembrane conductance regulators (CFTRs) to the plasma membrane. Furthermore, autophagy alleviates the silica-induced pulmonary fibrosis by decreasing apoptosis of alveolar epithelial cells in silicosis. However, excessive macrophage autophagy aggravates the pathogenesis of silicosis fibrosis by promoting the proliferation and migration of lung fibroblasts in silicosis. Autophagy is also involved in smoking-induced pulmonary fibrosis, coal workers' pneumoconiosis, ionizing radiation-mediated pulmonary fibrosis and heavy metal nanoparticle-mediated pulmonary fibrosis. In this review, the role and signalling mechanisms of autophagy in the progression of pulmonary fibrosis diseases have been systematically analysed. It has provided a new insight into the therapeutic potential associated with autophagy in pulmonary fibrosis diseases. In conclusion, the targeting of autophagy might prove to be a prospective avenue for the therapeutic intervention of pulmonary fibrosis diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites with thermosetting resin matrices are widely used in civil engineering (e.g. pultruded FRP plates and bars), and their thermal ageing behaviour is a concern when they are subjected to elevated temperatures (e.g. FRP chimney). In the present article, the effects of thermal ageing at 200°C and 250°C in air for up to 1000 h on mechanical properties and mechanism of the benzoxazine (Boz), bisphenol A dicyanate cyanate ester (BADCy), and 4,4′-bismaleimidodiphenyl methane (BMI) have been investigated. The effect of time in thermal ageing on structural and mechanical properties of the Boz/BMI/BADCy resin was deeply studied. The moisture absorption increases linearly with the square root of ageing time and it follows Fick's second law. There are two main categories of reactions in thermal ageing: the first one is the post-curing process, which leads to a larger crosslinking density and a reduced interior stress; while the other is the formation of microcracks and thermal oxidation at the surface of the Boz/BMI/BADCy resin. The combination of the above factors leads to an increase–decrease variation in the mechanical properties. This work is believed to benefit the wide and safe application of a certain Boz/BMI/BADCy resin system in engineering application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a case study of 56-year-old woman presented with 1-year left hip swelling after total hip arthroplasty (THA). It informs that the patient was treated with methylprednisolone 13 years ago due to erythema nodosum. It also informs that the patient had a previous history of type 2 diabetes and vitiligo. The cyst-like tissue was thoroughly removed and tissue culture and pathological examination were carried out.

Highlights • FBG-AOTF is used to optimize the OCSR of OSSB signal. • The RZ pulse is chosen as the data transmitting pulse. • Data are only modulated on the optical carrier of the OSSB signal to reduce the influence of fiber dispersion. • Both the receiving sensitivity and stability of the RoF-OSSB link can be improved. Abstract An improved OSSB modulation scheme is proposed in this paper. The improvements are realized by three aspects. Firstly, the fiber Bragg grating based acousto-optic tunable filter (FBG-AOTF) is introduced to tune the Optical Carrier-to-Sideband Ratio (OCSR). Secondly, the Return-to-Zero (RZ) pulse is chosen as the data transmitting pulse. In the end, the OSSB signal with optimized OCSR is separated, and only the optical carrier is modulated by the data. When the transmission distance is within 360 km, the receiving sensitivity of the link in the improved scheme is relatively stable in the range of (−23.6 dBm, −24.1 dBm) with the increase of the distance. While for the original OSSB modulation, under the same condition, the receiving sensitivity is only about −20.0 dBm when the fiber length is 200 km. Not only the OCSR of the OSSB can be optimized, but also the problem of time shift of code edges caused by the fiber dispersion can be eliminated. As a result, both the performance and the stability of the OSSB system can be upgraded in the improved scheme. Two complete simulation systems are built by using the characteristic of the experimentally made FBG-AOTF. And the increased receiving sensitivity of 2.6 dB in the improved scheme further verifies the conclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Intermediate filaments, together with actin microfilaments and microtubules constituent the cytoskeleton of mammalian cells, involving in various cellular activities. The roles of intermediate filaments in cell skeleton reorganization when responding with extracellular matrix (ECM) nanostructure are poorly understood yet. To unveil the effects of fibrous composition and orientation on cells, we developed electrospun nanofibers of varying topology and components, and the effects on assembly of intermediate filaments as keratin and vimentin were investigated in detail. We found that aligned nanofibers enhanced expression of E-cadherin and promoted assembly of keratin intermediate filaments. Meanwhile, the compositional variation show different preference on up-regulation of the two intermediate filaments. Compared to keratin, the assembly of vimentin intermediate filaments were promoted by incorporating bovine serum albumin (BSA) functionalized graphene oxide (BSA-GO) into polycaprolactone (PCL) nanofibers. Thus, our findings elucidate how the different physical factors of fibrous extracellular matrix affect the reorganization of cytoskeleton by assembly of keratin and vimentin intermediate filaments. Graphical abstract Unlabelled Image Highlights • Topological and compositional cue triggers intermediate filament assembly. • Aligned nanofibers enhanced expression of E-cadherin. • Incorporation of GO in nanofiber promotes expression of Vimentin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, traditional human–machine interface has been converted into digital human–computer interface in most industrial control rooms, then, cognitive process and reliability are also bound to be different from traditional human–machine interface. Aiming at the situation, the authors in this paper propose a cognitive reliability model with influencing factors based on Bayesian network. Taking a nuclear power plant (Npp) as research background, taking simulative experiment as study way, parameter values in cognitive reliability mathematical model are obtained by analyzing much experimental data. The proposed model is reasonable, accurate, sensitive and convergent by analyzing experiment data. Cognitive error probabilities of some tasks regarding a hot transmission system (HTS) leak accident in a Npp are obtained according to the proposed model and simulative experiments. The model provides a simple and feasible approach to analyze cognitive reliability of operating process in digital human–computer interface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In George Wald's Nobel Prize acceptance speech for "discoveries concerning the primary physiological and chemical visual processes in the eye", he noted that events after the activation of rhodopsin are too slow to explain visual reception. Photoreceptor membrane phosphoglycerides contain near-saturation amounts of the omega-3 fatty acid docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). The visual response to a photon is a retinal cis–trans isomerization. The trans-state is lower in energy; hence, a quantum of energy is released equivalent to the sum of the photon and cis–trans difference. We hypothesize that DHA traps this energy, and the resulting hyperpolarization extracts the energized electron, which depolarizes the membrane and carries a function of the photon's energy (wavelength) to the brain. There, it contributes to the creation of the vivid images of our world that we see in our consciousness. This proposed revision to the visual process provides an explanation for these previously unresolved issues around the speed of information transfer and the purity of conservation of a photon's wavelength and supports observations of the unique and indispensable role of DHA in the visual process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Treatment of tibial plateau fractures associated with anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries can be challenging. Maintaining the joint surface and axis are two main principles for the management of patients with tibial plateau fractures. Herein, we describe a patient with tibial plateau fracture of Schatzker type VI associated with complete ACL rupture. Although in a two-stage reconstruction surgery for treatment of its rupture seem to be accepted by most orthopaedic surgeons in cases of ACL injuries, we treated our patient with ORIF in a one-stage ACL reconstruction surgery. At the 1-year follow-up, the patient gained full range of motion and was functioning well. We reviewed the literature on performing ORIF in a one-stage ACL reconstruction for the treatment of tibial plateau fractures, which seemed to be a reasonable management approach that supported its use for the treatment of this patient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evidence is here provided that irradiation of some lake water samples can trigger the formation of fluorophores with humic-like properties, at the same time increasing water absorbance. This phenomenon is the opposite of photobleaching, which is often observed when natural waters are irradiated. The photoproduced humic-like fluorophores observed here would be of autochthonous rather than allochthonous origin, which marks a difference with the fraction of humic substances that derives from terrestrial sources. Photogeneration of humic-like compounds can be highlighted in water samples where the fluorescence signal of initially occurring humic substances is low, so that their photobleaching is minimised. Samples that are most likely to show photoinduced formation of humic-like fluorophores are in fact characterised by high values of protein-like vs. humic-like contribution ratios to fluorescence, as evidenced by parallel factor (PARAFAC) analysis. Mountain lakes in late summer appear to be suitable candidates to highlight the described phenomenon. In some cases, lake-water irradiation caused a decrease in the spectral slope of the absorbance that, together with increasing absorbance values, is consistent with an increase in molecular mass and aromaticity of organic matter. The absorbance increase triggered by irradiation might play a role in screening biologically harmful UV radiation, in mountain environments that would otherwise be characterised by very clear water that allows for easy transmission of UV light along the water column. [Display omitted] • Compounds with humic-like fluorescence were formed upon lake-water irradiation. • Increase in water absorbance upon irradiation was also observed. • Humic-poor water samples were taken from mountain lakes in late summer. • Protein and humic components were detected by PARAFAC analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rational multicomponent regulation and microstructure design have proven to be effective strategies for achieving high performance electromagnetic wave (EMW) absorbers. Herein, the ultralight hierarchically porous SiC/SiO 2 aerogels (HPSA) were successfully synthesized by an ingenious one-step method to achieve carbonization and carbothermal reduction. The composition of the HPSA and the quantity of SiC/SiO 2 fibers grown by in situ reaction can be controlled by adjusting the amount of silicon source introduced. The results indicate that the composition of HPSA and the quantity of fibers have a significant effect on the EMW absorption properties. When the introduced silicon source concentration was 0.7 mol/L, the HPSA exhibited excellent EMW absorption performance, with a minimum reflection loss (RL min) of -55.01 dB at 6.00 GHz and a maximum effective absorption bandwidth (EAB max) of 6.16 GHz. The highly interconnected porous SiC/SiO 2 skeleton structure significantly contributes to the multiple reflection-absorption effect of EMW and provides available pathways for electron conduction losses. The in situ reaction generates SiC/SiO 2 fibers with a large number of stacking faults and heterojunctions, which further promote the dissipation of EMW. In addition, the maximum radar cross section of HPSA under far-field conditions is reduced to 20.21 dB m2 compared to the PEC conductive layer, which implies a much lower probability of detection by radar. In brief, this work provides a reference for the use of highly efficient EMW absorbers and electromagnetic stealth materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel kind of high performance laminated composites of Bis allyl benzoxazine/Quartz fibers/Cyanate ester (Bz-ally/QFs/CE) have been developed. The effects of Bz-ally on the moisture resistance, mechanical, dielectric, and thermal properties of Bz-ally/QFs/CE laminated composites were investigated systematically. Compared with QFs/CE laminated composites, the flexural strength and the interlaminar shear strength value of the Bz-ally/QFs/CE laminated composites were improved markedly with up to 25.2% and 22.3% increasing magnitude, respectively. Meanwhile, the Bz-ally/QFs/CE laminated composites exhibit lower dielectric constant and loss than QFs/CE laminated composites over the testing frequency from 10 to 60 MHz. In addition, the thermal stability and moisture resistance of Bz-ally/QFs/CE laminated composites were also superior to that of Boz/QFs/CE laminated composites. POLYM. COMPOS., 38:523-527, 2017. © 2015 Society of Plastics Engineers [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • The porous heterogeneous SiC/SiO 2 microspheres were constructed. • Achieving structure evolution and component control by varying temperature. • Synergistic polarization loss of multiphase enhanced electromagnetic attenuation. • The EAB of 8.49 GHz and the RL min of −54.68 dB were achieved, while the filling rate is just 10 wt%. It is confirmed that the composites with multiple components and plentiful heterogeneous interfaces have been considered as preferred efficient electromagnetic (EM) wave absorbers. The special structure for hollow, porous, and core-shell has good adjustable dielectric properties. Herein, porous heterogeneous SiC/SiO 2 microspheres are prepared based on the self-assembly technology and carbothermal reduction strategy. The structural evolution and composition control of porous heterogeneous SiC/SiO 2 microspheres can be achieved by adjusting the carbothermal reduction temperature. The results indicate that structure and composition have a significant effect on the absorption performance. Especially, when the temperature is 1400 °C, the porous heterogeneous SiC/SiO 2 microspheres exhibit the most excellent EM wave absorption properties; the minimal reflection loss (RL min) value is −54.68 dB at 8.99 GHz. The maximum effective bandwidth (EAB max) for RL min < −10 dB reaches 8.49 GHz, exhibiting absorption capacity in almost all bands (S, C, X, and Ku bands). It can well satisfy the comprehensive requirements of efficient EM wave absorption absorbers for lightweight and broad EAB characteristics. The excellent performance is due to the strong interfacial polarization caused by plentiful heterogeneous interfaces between different phases. Meanwhile, a highly porous structure and SiO 2 phase can regulate complex dielectric constant, leading to better impedance matching. This work provides useful thinking for the design of efficient EM wave absorption absorbers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

All optical multi-wavelength single-sideband modulated WDM radio-over-fiber system by introducing a homemade Sagnac loop filter is proposed and analyzed. The process of the Sagnac loop filter improves the link performance by balancing optical carrier-to-sideband ratio (OCSR). Numerical analysis and simulations are carried out to verify the theory. It is found that the receiver sensitivity is improved by 2.16 dB with OCSR reducing from 4.40 dB to 1.13 dB. In theory, the optimal value of the OCSR can also be achieved. Besides, periodic fluctuation of the RF power is mitigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The polymerization mechanism of allyl-functional benzoxazine (Bz) monomers is reported in this article. Following the traditional route of Bz synthesis, a series of monofunctional Bz monomers were synthesized via allylamine and amine condensation reaction with 2,2′-diallyl bisphenol-A and paraformaldehyde. Resulting chemical structures of the synthesized monomers were confirmed by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and proton nuclear magnetic resonance analyses. The polymerization behavior of the prepared allyl-functional monomers was studied using differential scanning calorimetry and FTIR. Three reactions were observed in the curing process: polymerization reaction of N-allyl groups in the oxazine ring, ring-opening polymerization of Bz, and polymerization reaction of allyl groups in benzene. Compared to a typical polybenzoxazine (PBz), higher cross-linking density in PBz-allyl-2 leads to a higher glass transition temperature and 5% weight loss temperature, which indicates improved thermal stability in PBz-allyl-2 as well as superior thermal conductivity compared to 2,2′-bis(3-phenyl-3,4-dihydro-2H-1,3-benzoxazinyl)propane. Data on dielectric properties also show that PBz-allyl-2 outperforms typical PBzs. This work focuses on the manipulation of Bz monomer structures to alter their ring-opening polymerization mechanism, as well as cross-linking, in order to derive a PBz with improved properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Complex metal oxide hollow structures are mostly prepared by hard template-based multistep procedures. It is still desirable yet challenging to develop new efficient strategies to fabricate high-quality complex metal oxide hollow structures. Herein, uniform multi-shelled NiO hollow spheres were synthesized; especially quintuple-shelled NiO hollow spheres were synthesized for the first time by a simple shell-by-shell self-assembly capable of controlling the shell numbers, which are achieved by controlling the heat treatment. The research makes a significant contribution to the synthetic methodology of multi-shelled hollow structures and opens up new opportunities for deeper understanding formation mechanism of the shell-by-shell self-assembly. The obtained quadruple/quintuple-shelled NiO hollow spheres show promising electrochemical performance in anodic lithium storage for Li-ion battery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is the last in a series of papers describing the optimal design for a digital human–computer interface of a nuclear power plant (NPP) from three different points based on human reliability. The purpose of this series is to propose different optimization methods from varying perspectives to decrease human factor events that arise from the defects of a human–computer interface. The present paper mainly solves the optimization method as to how to effectively layout interface tasks into different screens. The purpose of this paper is to decrease human errors by reducing the distance that an operator moves among different screens in each operation. In order to resolve the problem, the authors propose an optimization process of interface task layout for digital human–computer interface of a NPP. As to how to automatically layout each interface task into one of screens in each operation, the paper presents a shortest moving path optimization algorithm with dynamic flag based on human reliability. To test the algorithm performance, the evaluation method uses neural network based on human reliability. The less the human error probabilities are, the better the interface task layouts among different screens are. Thus, by analyzing the performance of each interface task layout, the optimization result is obtained. Finally, the optimization layouts of spurious safety injection event interface tasks of the NPP are obtained by an experiment, the proposed methods has a good accuracy and stabilization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photodegradation is an essential process for the in-stream elimination of triclosan (TCS). There are still some knowledge gaps concerning reaction kinetics, pathways, and transformation products, which are important for understanding the environmental fate of TCS. For example, the effects of ionic strength and day-night alternation on TCS photodegradation have been barely considered in previous studies. To fill these gaps, this study assesses the effect of sulfate ions (SO 4 2−) on the photodegradation of TCS under day-night shifts. Compound-specific carbon and chlorine isotope analysis were applied to characterize different bond-cleavage pathways. Moreover, variations in TCS reaction products distribution were analyzed by using Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry. A numerical model was developed to describe the concentration and stable carbon isotopic evolution of TCS under different conditions. Based on the observed experimental data, we show that SO 4 2− can affect the kinetics and product distribution during the photodegradation of TCS. In particular, sulfate ions (100 mM) inhibited the yield of the toxic product, 2,8-dichlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (2,8-DCDD). Furthermore, day-night alternations lead to different predominant bond-cleavage pathways depending on sulfate concentration. By so doing, we propose a realistic framework for the direct photodegradation of TCS in sunlit natural surface waters. [Display omitted] • day-night alternations lead to different predominant bond-cleavage pathways of TCS • sulfate affected the kinetic and product distribution during TCS photodegradation • sulfate ions inhibited the yield of the toxic product, 2,8-dichlorodibenzo-p-dioxin [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy harvesting from natural environment gives range of benefits for the Internet of things. Scavenging energy from photovoltaic (PV) cells is one of the most practical solutions in terms of power density among existing energy harvesting sources. PV power systems mandate the maximum power point tracking (MPPT) to scavenge the maximum possible solar energy. In general, a switching-mode power converter, an MPPT charger, controls the charging current to the energy storage element (a battery or equivalent), and the energy storage element provides power to the load device. The mismatch between the maximum power point (MPP) current and the load current is managed by the energy storage element. However, such architecture causes significant energy loss (typically over 20%) and a significant weight/volume and a high cost due to the cascaded power converters and the energy storage element. This paper pioneers a converter-less PV power system with the MPPT that directly supplies power to the load without the power converters or the energy storage element. The proposed system uses a nonvolatile microprocessor to enable an extremely fine-grain dynamic power management in a few hundred microseconds. This makes it possible to match the load current with the MPP current. We present detailed modeling, simulation, and optimization of the proposed energy harvesting system including the radio frequency transceiver. Experiments show that the proposed setup achieves an 87.1% of overall system efficiency during a day, 30.6% higher than the conventional MPPT methods in actual measurements, and thus a significantly higher duty cycle under a weak solar irradiance. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Thermosetting terpolymer composed of benzoxazine (BOZ), cyanate ester (BADCy) and maleimide resin (BMI) was prepared via co-curing reactions. The curing reaction of benzoxazine with bismaleimide/cyanate ester resin and the properties of the terpolymer were studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and the thermal, mechanical and dielectric properties of the terpolymer were also characterized. The FT-IR was applied to monitor the curing reactions of the reactive blends. Three reactions were observed in the curing reactions: the first is the polymerization of cyanate ester after oxazine ring opening, producing the triazine structure; the second is the coreaction between the triazine structure and benzoxazine, forming alkyl isocyanurate and diphenyl ether linkages, followed by the further reaction of the isocyanurate linkage; and the third is the self-polymerization of maleimide resin and benzoxazine, and coreaction with each other. Compared to the polybenzoxazine, the higher crosslinking density of the terpolymer led to the higher glass transition temperature ( T g ), as well as the 5% weight loss temperatures ( T d5 ), indicating the better thermal stability of the terpolymer at service temperature. And the data for the mechanical and dielectric properties also showed that the terpolymer performs better than polybenzoxazine and the copolymer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we experimentally fabricated a fiber Bragg grating based acousto-optic tunable filter (FBG-AOTF) and illustrated its further application in OSSB modulation with continuously tunable optical carrier-to-sideband ratio (OCSR). Based on the numerical results, a conclusion can be drawn that the OCSR can be continuously tuned from −20.12 dB to 29.04 dB under certain modulation index of the modulator and certain modulation depth of FBG-AOTF refractive index. Under certain modulation index of the modulator, with the change of modulation depth of FBG-AOTF refractive index, the range of the OCSR tunability can be enlarged. The FBG-AOTF with a specific spectrum was then applied in an OSSB modulation scheme with tunable OCSR. By simply adjusting the acoustically induced strain, the OCSR can be continuously tuned from 13.96 dB to 0.47 dB which is very close to the optimum value and can improve the receiver sensitivity by around 3.7 dB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multi-component and a large number of non-homogeneous interface absorbers have been proven to be the preferred choice of electromagnetic wave (EMW) absorption materials. Herein, hollow porous Ni@SiC nanospheres (HPNS) were successfully constructed by combining a carbothermal reduction preparation strategy and subsequent electroless plating process. The heterogeneous dielectric/magnetic multi-component benefit to excellent EMW absorption properties through forming multiple polarizations, dielectric loss, and magnetic loss effects. Particularly, the HPNS at the optimal ratio with a low filler loading of 20 wt% exhibits the minimum reflection loss (RL min) value of −62.39 dB at 13.28 GHz and the maximum effective absorption bandwidth (EAB max) is up to 5.36 GHz (12.64–18 GHz), and the corresponding thin matching thicknesses are 1.96 mm and 1.80 mm, respectively. Furthermore, the maximum radar cross section (RCS) reduction of HPNS over PEC reaches 26.02 dB m2 (1.96 mm) under far-field conditions, which means that the prepared HPNS is extraordinarily promising for practical applications. This work guides the preparation of high-performance EMW absorbers as well as radar stealth materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fabrication of electromagnetic wave-absorbing materials derived from biomass have aroused great attention due to their special structures, eco-friendly and economical qualities. Herein, ultralight hierarchical porous carbon (UHPC) is successfully prepared through simple swelling-freeze drying and pyrolysis. UHPC possesses hierarchical porous architecture, which is inherited and expanded from but greater than the inherent unique macro/microporous structures of tremella. The hierarchical porous architecture derived from tremella provides a long conductive path and more interfaces to form conductance loss and polarization loss. It causes multiple reflections and scattering of electromagnetic waves, as well. The swelling process of tremella can offer dipole polarization and defect polarization. As a bio-derived microwave-absorbing carbon material, it holds good impedance matching and high attenuation constant. Particularly, the minimum reflection loss (RL) value of UHPC750-3 (obtained at 750 °C) can be reached at −48.57 dB with a small matching thickness of 1.7 mm. Remarkably, the effective absorption bandwidth is up to 4.55 GHz at 2.5 mm. The results show that absorbing properties of UHPC can be adjusted by changing pyrolysis temperature and swelling rate. The corresponding absorption mechanism is discussed as well. This method provides an effective strategy to prepare biomass-derived microwave absorbents which show great potential for practical applications. • The inherent hierarchical and nanopore structures of tremella can be retain using the freeze-drying method. • The regulation of microstructure of porous carbon materials could be synchronously fulfilled by controlling swelling rate. • The performance with RL min of −48.57 dB and effective absorption bandwidth of 4.55 GHz were achieved at only 1.7 mm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Platinum thin films temperature detector prepared by micro-nano fabrication process. • Integrating chemical polishing and annealing process to improve device performance. • A high temperature coefficient of resistance value of 3439 ppm/°C was obtained. In this work, we studied the effect of micro-nano fabrication process on the temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) of platinum thin films temperature detector (Pt RTD) prepared on alumina ceramics (Al 2 O 3) substrate, focusing on substrate chemical polishing process (CMP) and platinum films annealing process. It is found that CMP process can effectively improve the TCR of Pt RTD, and the smaller polish particle size is, the larger TCR will be. Annealing process can also significantly improve the TCR of the Pt RTD. After annealing treatment, the TCR increased from 2800 ppm/°C at 500 °C to 3439 ppm/°C at 1100 °C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • The hierarchical dandelion-like NiCo 2 O 4 is obtained. • The Ostwald ripening can effectively adjust the impedance matching parameters. • The effective bandwidth is up to 5.78 GHz with a matched thickness of 2.2 mm. Micromorphology of absorbent materials has always been one of the important parameters of microwave absorption performance. The adjustment of morphologic and structure can effectively enhance absorbing performance. In this work, hierarchical dandelion-like NiCo 2 O 4 (HDNCO) is prepared by solvothermal method and calcination. The effects of Ostwald ripening process on structure, morphology and absorbing performance are studied. The results indicate that structure and morphology of HDNCO have a significant effect on the absorption performance. Due to the special morphology and structure of HDNCO, the impedance matching can be improved. When Ostwald ripening process is 2 h, the reflection loss (RL) value reaches −45.08 dB at 2.1 mm, and the effective absorption bandwidth (EAB) is 3.06 GHz. Moreover, the EAB of HDNCO with Ostwald ripening time of 6 h reaches 3.68 GHz at only 1.0 mm and the EAB of HDNCO with Ostwald ripening time of 9 h is 5.78 GHz at 2.2 mm. The Ostwald ripening process changes the structure and morphology of HDNCO, which leads to improve the absorbing properties. Thus, this work has important guiding significance for the structural design of high-performance microwave absorber. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) are extensively studied because of their great potential in energy harvesting and sensing. Traditional chemical batteries cannot meet the requirements of wearable electronic products because of their inherent limitations such as large weight, large size, limited endurance, and limited lifespan. To address the issue, the self‐powered energy harvester has attracted considerable interest among researchers. Here, the woven structure TENG consists of flexible silicone mixed with polyvinylidene fluoride as dielectric layers, silver fabric, and conductive tape as electrodes. The electrical output performance of the pattern structure processed by tip design is nearly three times higher. The whole TENG and flexible printed circuit board are encapsulated by polydimethylsiloxane film, reducing inconvenient, and discomfort sensation during wearing. The woven structure TENG can not only harvest energy to power wearable electronic devices but also be used to recognize human motion as the waveforms changing when people are in different states. Taking the knee bending angle data as an example to conduct machine learning, it is able to classify different states of human motion. This work extends the application of the woven TENG as an integrated device for sensing and energy harvesting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

. A offline character dataset of Tibetan Historical document in Uchen font, THCU, is presented to facilitate the research of Tibetan Historical document recognition. The dataset THCU includes two subsets: THCU-M and THCU-S. The THCU-M is annotated manually in original document images, including 121214 character samples and 238 character categories. The subset THCU-S is a simulation dataset, and its samples are generated based on the idea of component combination. There are four subsets in THCU-S, in which the numbers of character category are 7238, 2908, 562 and 245 respectively, and the numbers of sample in each category are 5000, 3000, 600 and 600 respectively. We also evaluate THCU dataset using a CNN based model as a baseline performance. The experiment shows that the performance of the model on the real data is greatly improved by adding the generated samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The round end rectangular joint is fabricated by incremental laser shock clinching. • The multi-pass forming strategy can greatly improve the formability and surface quality. • Most material flows along the transverse direction, meanwhile flows slightly towards the laser spot moving direction. • The mechanical properties of the joints are related to the load directions and clamping ways. A novel method to make a round end rectangular joint whose total length is much larger than the diameter of the laser spot, named as incremental laser shock clinching, was proposed in this paper. Experimental and numerical investigation was conducted to verify the feasibility for joining three sheets of copper/aluminum/stainless steel. The transverse section and the appearance of the joint were explored to determine the spacer height and the forming strategy. The shape evolution of interlock was discussed by observing sectional images. To describe the material flow characteristics in the forming process, a series of typical points were traced. The mechanical properties of the joints relating to the load directions and clamping ways were studied by tensile shear tests. The results show that fine joints with smooth surface morphology and uniform thickness can be obtained under the larger spacer height and multi-pass forming strategy. Simulated results agree well with the experimental results, which implies that the finite element model can be effectively used to analyze the process. During deformation, most material flows along the transverse direction to form undercuts, meanwhile flows slightly towards the laser spot moving direction. What's more, the maximum load in the perpendicular shear test is larger than that in the parallel shear test. Two failure modes are observed when the copper foil and pre-slotted sheet are clamped on one side and only one failure mode is found when the copper foil is clamped alone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Chinese traditional diet is low in fat. However, there is regional variability in the amount, type of fat consumed and the pattern of chronic diseases. An epidemiological survey of 65 rural counties in China (6500 subjects) was conducted in the 1980s. We have re-examined the red blood cell fatty acid and antioxidant composition, with fish consumption. Fish consumption correlated significantly with the levels of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) in red blood cells (RBC) (r=0.640, P<0.001), selenium (r=0.467, P<0.001) and glutathione peroxidase (r=0.333, P<0.01) in plasma. The proportion of DHA in RBC was inversely associated with total plasma triglyceride concentrations. A strong inverse correlation between DHA in RBC and cardiovascular disease (CVD) was found. The strongest correlation was the combination of DHA and oleic acid. RBC docosahexaenoic acid itself also correlated negatively and significantly with most chronic diseases and appeared to be more protective than either eicosapentaenoic or the ω3 docosapenataenoic acids. These results demonstrate the protective nature of fish consumption and DHA, found in high fat Western diets, operates at a low level of fat. This finding suggests the protective effect of fish consumption as validated by red cell DHA is universal. The protective effect is, therefore, most likely to be due to the fundamental properties of docosahexaenoic acid in cell function. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) composition of the mammalian central nervous system is almost wholly composed of two long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFA), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and arachidonic acid (AA). PUFA are dietarily essential, thus normal infant/neonatal brain, intellectual growth and development cannot be accomplished if they are deficient during pregnancy and lactation. Uniquely in the human species, the fetal brain consumes 70% of the energy delivered to it by mother. DHA and AA are needed to construct placental and fetal tissues for cell membrane growth, structure and function. Contemporary evidence shows that the maternal circulation is depleted of AA and DHA during fetal growth. Sustaining normal adult human brain function also requires LC-PUFA.Homo sapiens is unlikely to have evolved a large, complex, metabolically expensive brain in an environment which did not provide abundant dietary LC-PUFA. Conversion of 18-carbon PUFA from vegetation to AA and DHA is considered quantitatively insufficient due to a combination of high rates of PUFA oxidation for energy, inefficient and rate limited enzymatic conversion and substrate recycling. The littoral marine and lacustrine food chains provide consistently greater amounts of pre-formed LC-PUFA than the terrestrial food chain. Dietary levels of DHA are 2.5–100 fold higher for equivalent weights of marine fish or shellfish vs. lean or fat terrestrial meats. Mammalian brain tissue and bird egg yolks, especially from marine birds, are the richest terrestrial sources of LC-PUFA. However, land animal adipose fats have been linked to vascular disease and mental ill-health, whereas marine lipids have been demonstrated to be protective. At South African Capesites, large shell middens and fish remains are associated with evidence for some of the earliest modern humans. Cape sites dating from 100 to 18 kya cluster within 200 km of the present coast. Evidence of early H. sapiens is also found around the Rift Valley lakes and up the Nile Corridor into the Middle East; in some cases there is an association with the use of littoral resources. Exploitation of river, estuarine, stranded and spawning fish, shellfish and sea bird nestlings and eggs by Homo could have provided essential dietary LC-PUFA for men, women, and children without requiring organized hunting/fishing, or sophisticated social behavior. It is however, predictable from the present evidence that exploitation of this food resource would have provided the advantage in multi-generational brain development which would have made possible the advent of H. sapiens. Restriction to land based foods as postulated by the savannah and other hypotheses would have led to degeneration of the brain and vascular system as happened without exception in all other land based apes and mammals as they evolved larger bodies. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Accurately estimating the current state of local traffic scenes is one of the key problems in the development of software components for automated vehicles. In addition to details on free space and drivability, static and dynamic traffic participants and information on the semantics may also be included in the desired representation. Multi-layer grid maps allow the inclusion of all of this information in a common representation. However, most existing grid mapping approaches only process range sensor measurements such as Lidar and Radar and solely model occupancy without semantic states. In order to add sensor redundancy and diversity, it is desired to add vision-based sensor setups in a common grid map representation. In this work, we present a semantic evidential grid mapping pipeline, including estimates for eight semantic classes, that is designed for straightforward fusion with range sensor data. Unlike other publications, our representation explicitly models uncertainties in the evidential model. We present results of our grid mapping pipeline based on a monocular vision setup and a stereo vision setup. Our mapping results are accurate and dense mapping due to the incorporation of a disparity- or depth-based ground surface estimation in the inverse perspective mapping. We conclude this paper by providing a detailed quantitative evaluation based on real traffic scenarios in the KITTI odometry benchmark dataset and demonstrating the advantages compared to other semantic grid mapping approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Computer-Aided Design (CAD) software remains a pivotal tool in modern engineering and manufacturing, driving the design of a diverse range of products. In this work, we introduce VQ-CAD, the first CAD generation model based on Denoising Diffusion Probabilistic Models. This model utilizes a vector quantized diffusion model, employing multiple hierarchical codebooks generated through VQ-VAE. This integration not only offers a novel perspective on CAD model generation but also achieves state-of-the-art performance in 3D CAD model creation in a fully automatic fashion. Our model is able to recognize and incorporate implicit design constraints by simply forgoing traditional data augmentation. Furthermore, by melding our approach with CLIP, we significantly simplify the existing design process, directly generate CAD command sequences from initial design concepts represented by text or sketches , capture design intentions, and ensure designs adhere to implicit constraints. • We proposed a novel and effective approach for CAD model generation by utilizing VQ-Diffusion. • Our model shows a unique ability to discern implicit design constraints. • We can transform image sketches and text descriptions into CAD sequences by leveraging the capabilities of CLIP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]