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Ultrafast pulsed lasers are pivotal in advanced domains such as optical communications, optical metrology, all-optical sampling, optical frequency combs, laser ranging, and laser machining, where saturable absorbers (SAs) are crucial components. Various SAs based on two-dimensional (2D) materials have attracted great attention in recent years due to their low cost, high stability, large modulation depth, broadband absorption, and excellent optical nonlinearity. In this work, Bi2O2Te nanosheets (NSs) based SA with a saturation intensity of 20.6 MW/cm2 and a modulation depth of 2.2% was prepared by utilizing liquid phase exfoliation (LPE) technique, which was firstly applied to a passively mode-locked ytterbium-doped fiber laser (YDFL). The experiment results show that a sequence of dissipative soliton (DS) pulse train with a repetition frequency of 3.303 MHz was obtained at 1032.5 nm. The pulse duration, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and maximum peak power were 166 fs, 70 dB, 21 kW, respectively. The results not only underscore the potential of Bi2O2Te NSs-based SA for ultrafast photonics applications around 1 μm wavelength, but also open a way for further exploration of high-performance, all-fiber laser sources utilizing 2D materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A high strength and ductile Mg-Gd-Y-Zn-Zr alloy was designed and fabricated. The local strain evolution of the alloys during plastic deformation was analyzed using high-resolution digital image correlation (DIC). The results showed that the β particles, nano-sized γ' phases, and LPSO phases were distributed in the as-extruded alloy and a bimodal microstructure was exhibited, including elongated un-dynamic recrystallized grains and fine dynamic recrystallized grains. With increasing extrusion ratio, the grain size remained, with the volume fraction of dynamic recrystallization of the as-extruded alloy increasing from 30% to 75%, and the as-extruded alloy exhibited a high strength-ductility synergy, which is attributed to the grain refinement, extensive β particles, and elongated block-shaped LPSO phases. The strain evolution analysis showed that a strain-transfer from un-DRXed regions to adjacent DRXed regions and LPSO phases can promote uniform plastic deformation, which tends to improve the ductility of the alloy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the study was to screen out alfalfa varieties suitable for planting in arid and semi-arid areas. Five alfalfa varieties were selected as experimental materials and treated with polyethylene glycol (PEG) to simulate drought stress (10%, 15%, and 20%). The germination rate, germination index, simplified vigor index, and drought resistance index of alfalfa seeds were measured, and the drought resistance of the tested alfalfa materials was evaluated by membership function. The results showed that the germination rate, germination index, simplified vigor index, and drought resistance index of alfalfa seeds decreased with the aggravation of PEG stress. Under severe (20% PEG) stress, the germination rate, germination index, and drought resistance index of Longmu 801 were the highest, and significantly higher than those of other varieties (P<0.05). The germination rate, germination index, and drought resistance index of Sitel and Sardi were significantly lower than those of other varieties (P<0.05). The ranking of drought resistance of five alfalfa materials was: Longmu 801 > Caoyuan No.3 > WL168HQ > Sitel > Sardi. The study indicates that Longmu 801 and Caoyuan No.3 have strong drought resistance and were suitable for planting in arid and semi-arid areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lithium‐Sulfur (Li‐S) batteries as the next‐generation battery system have an ultrahigh theoretical energy density. However, the limited conversion of polysulfides in sulfur cathodes deteriorates the performance of Li‐S batteries. In this study, we develop a novel titanium nitride (TiN) catalyst for sulfur cathodes via atomic layer deposition (ALD). The synthesized ALD‐TiN catalyst shows controllable ultrafine particle size (<2 nm) and uniform distribution at the nanoscale in the carbon matrix. Combined with electrochemical analysis and multiple post‐characterization techniques, ALD‐TiN demonstrates an excellent catalytic effect to facilitate the nucleation and deposition of Li2S, which effectively suppresses the dissolution and shuttle of polysulfides. The as‐prepared sulfur cathodes, with the assistance of TiN catalyst, exhibit excellent cycling performance at a high rate (4 C) and deliver 200% higher discharge capacity than the pristine Sulfur‐pristine porous carbon composite cathodes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to master the self-resetting performance and working mechanism of superelastic shape memory alloy fibers reinforced engineered cementitious composite (SMAF-ECC) beams. Four SMAF-ECC pre-cut beams were fabricated. The three-point bending test was used to analyze the changes in mid-span deflection and crack width under different shape memory alloy (SMA) fibers lengths and end forms. And the stress of SMA fiber was analyzed by ABAQUS. Finally, the working mechanism of SMA fiber was revealed. The results showed that SMAF-ECC specimens perform well in deformation recovery and crack closure. Among them, the maximum deflection self-recovery rate of the specimen was 83.6%. And compared to the engineered cementitious composite (ECC) specimen, the residual crack width was reduced by 76.62% to 84.01%. In addition, reducing the length and diameter of the SMA fiber increased its stress. However, the length of SMA fiber had little effect on the deflection self-recovery rate of SMAF-ECC specimens, and the maximum difference between the specimens with different SMA fiber lengths was only 1.1%. The working mechanism of SMA fiber included four stages: linear elastic, descent, platform, and deformation strengthening stage. After the SMA fiber entered the platform phase, the residual deformation of the specimen was significantly reduced. When entering the deformation strengthening stage, the SMA fiber not only improved the bearing capacity of the specimen, but also provided greater restoring force, considerably improved the specimen's self-resetting performance. This paper offered a theoretical basis for the design of self-resetting beams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Irrigated cultivation exerts a significant influence on the local climate and the hydrological cycle. The North China Plain (NCP) is known for its intricate agricultural system, marked by expansive cropland, high productivity, compact rotation, a semi-arid climate, and intensive irrigation practices. As a result, there has been considerable attention on the potential impact of this intensive irrigated agriculture on the local climate. However, studying the irrigation impact in this region has been challenging due to the lack of an accurate simulation in crop phenology and irrigation practices within the climate model. By incorporating double-cropping with interactive irrigation, our study extends the capabilities of the Weather Research Forecast-Crop (WRF-Crop) model, which has previously demonstrated commendable performance in simulating single-cropping scenarios. This allows for two-way feedback between irrigated crops and climate, further enabling the inclusion of irrigation feedback from both ground and vegetation perspectives. The improved crop modeling system shows significant enhancement in capturing vegetation and irrigation patterns, which is evidenced by its ability to identify crop stages, estimate field biomass, predict crop yield, and project monthly leaf area index. In the next phase of our research, we plan to employ this integrated crop modeling system under various irrigation scenarios to further enhance our understanding of the intricate relationship between agricultural development and climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photodetectors made from low‐toxicity organic materials are considered a promising alternative to conventional inorganic photodetectors. However, the performance of current organic photodetectors (OPD) needs to be further enhanced. This study aims to introduce acid‐free poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene)‐(polystyrene sulfonate) (PEDOT‐(PSS)) films in order to improve the performance of OPDs in practical applications. Utilization of heterocyclic 1,3‐diazole (HDZ) in PEDOT‐(PSS) improves the polymerization degree, carrier mobility, and other physicochemical properties. These enhanced properties also improve the comprehensive performance of OPD. In this flow, the enhanced noise suppression is also confirmed by elucidating the device's performance limitations. Consequently, the presented OPD‐based photoplethysmography sensor has the ability to diagnose blood circulation status and cardiovascular diseases. This accomplishment marks the first in single pixel‐based organic photodiode research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antimicrobial resistance is a growing concern in the field of microbiology. In a microbial community, the Susceptible Subpopulations (SSs) and the Non-genetically Resistant Subpopulations (NRSs) can switch between each other, and NRSs can mutate to Genetically Resistant Subpopulations (GRSs). In order to quantitatively describe the relationship between noise and signal amplification in the subpopulations, a mathematical model for three subpopulations is proposed in this paper. The gain fluctuation relation is obtained by linear noise approximation of the master equation. Then, through the simulation of these theoretical results, the following conclusions are found. First, the indirect effects of the interaction between subpopulations are much greater than the direct effects, which may be one of the reasons that the infection is difficult to cure. This is consistent with the findings of Zhou et al. and indicates the reliability of our new model. Second, the intrinsic net growth rate of SSs can be chosen as the adjustment parameter, which can effectively exploit or avoid the strong correlation between SSs and the two resistant subpopulations, including NRSs and GRSs. Third, unlike unidirectional cascades, additional intrinsic noise in GRSs can propagate to NRSs. Similarly, although there is no direct interaction between SSs and GRSs, additional intrinsic noise in GRSs can propagate to SSs, and vice versa. Finally, both total noise and adjusted noise exhibit similar amplification properties in this population. It is worth noting that the noise is consistently amplified from NRSs to GRSs. These findings may provide new insights into antimicrobial therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The viscosities of POE32 and PVE32 oils saturated with R13I1 were measured. • The experimental viscosity data were correlated using three viscosity models. • The viscosities of R13I1/oil mixture decreased sharply with increasing solubility. Trifluoroiodomethane (R13I1) has attracted extensive attention because of its excellent environmental protection performance, and can be used as a component of environmentally friendly refrigerant blends. To better understand the cycle performance of R13I1 as a refrigerant, it is necessary to study the thermodynamic properties of the R13I1/lubricating oil mixture. In this work, the viscosities of polyol ester (POE) oil (RL 32H) and polyvinylether (PVE) oil (FVC 32D) saturated with R13I1 were measured at temperatures ranging from 293.15 to 353.15 K and pressures up to 0.6 MPa using a custom equilibrium viscosity system. The viscosities of R13I1/RL 32H and R13I1/FVC 32D showed similar trends with temperature, pressure, and solubility. With the increase of the solubility of R13I1 in the oil, the viscosity of the mixture decreased sharply at first and then tended to be flat. The dissolved R13I1 in oil greatly reduced the viscosity of lubricating oil, and the effect of R13I1 on the viscosity of RL 32H was greater than that of FVC 32D. The experimental viscosity data were correlated using the modified Setchenow-type equation, the Eyring-NRTL model, and the Eyring-MTSM model, and the calculated results of the models were in good agreement with the experimental data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Three-dimensional (3D) chromatin architecture frequently altered in cancer. However, its changes during the pathogenesis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remained elusive. Methods: Hi-C and RNA-seq were applied to study the 3D chromatin landscapes and gene expression of HCC and ANHT. Hi-C Pro was used to generate genome-wide raw interaction matrices, which were normalized via iterative correction (ICE). Moreover, the chromosomes were divided into different compartments according to the first principal component (E1). Furthermore, topologically associated domains (TADs) were visualized via WashU Epigenome Browser. Furthermore, differential expression analysis of ANHT and HCC was performed using the DESeq2 R package. Additionally, dysregulated genes associated with 3D genome architecture altered were confirmed using TCGA, qRT-PCR, immunohistochemistry (IHC), etc. Results: First, the intrachromosomal interactions of chr1, chr2, chr5, and chr11 were significantly different, and the interchromosomal interactions of chr4–chr10, chr13–chr21, chr15–chr22, and chr16–chr19 are remarkably different between ANHT and HCC, which resulted in the up-regulation of TP53I3 and ZNF738 and the down-regulation of APOC3 and APOA5 in HCC. Second, 49 compartment regions on 18 chromosomes have significantly switched (A–B or B–A) during HCC tumorigenesis, contributing to up-regulation of RAP2A. Finally, a tumor-specific TAD boundary located on chr5: 6271000–6478000 and enhancer hijacking were identified in HCC tissues, potentially associated with the elevated expression of MED10, whose expression were associated with poor prognosis of HCC patients. Conclusion: This study demonstrates the crucial role of chromosomal structure variation in HCC oncogenesis and potential novel biomarkers of HCC, laying a foundation for cancer precision medicine development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carboxylation with carbon dioxide (CO2) represents one notable methodology to produce carboxylic acids. In contrast to carbon–heteroatom bonds, carbon–carbon bond cleavage for carboxylation with CO2 is far more challenging due to their inherent and less favorable orbital directionality for interacting with transition metals. Here we report a photocatalytic protocol for the deconstructive carboxylation of alkenes with CO2 to generate carboxylic acids in the absence of transition metals. It is emphasized that our protocol provides carboxylic acids with obviously unchanged carbon numbers when terminal alkenes were used. To show the power of this strategy, a variety of pharmaceutically relevant applications including the modular synthesis of propionate nonsteroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs and the late‐stage carboxylation of bioactive molecule derivatives are demonstrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carboxylation with carbon dioxide (CO2) represents one notable methodology to produce carboxylic acids. In contrast to carbon–heteroatom bonds, carbon–carbon bond cleavage for carboxylation with CO2 is far more challenging due to their inherent and less favorable orbital directionality for interacting with transition metals. Here we report a photocatalytic protocol for the deconstructive carboxylation of alkenes with CO2 to generate carboxylic acids in the absence of transition metals. It is emphasized that our protocol provides carboxylic acids with obviously unchanged carbon numbers when terminal alkenes were used. To show the power of this strategy, a variety of pharmaceutically relevant applications including the modular synthesis of propionate nonsteroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs and the late‐stage carboxylation of bioactive molecule derivatives are demonstrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presented a unique process of mechanical alloying (MA) and laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) to prepare heterogeneous grain structure (HGS) Zn with strength-plasticity synergy. The results showed that the MA-treatment significantly refined the grain sizes of Zn to nano-scale and contributed to the formation of HGS powders. Moreover, the ultra-fast heating and cooling of LPBF process inhibited the grain growth and resulted in a specific core/shell HGS, wherein the cores (micron-grains) were surrounded by interconnected shells (nano-grains). Notably, the prepared HGS Zn demonstrated synergistically improved compressive yield strength (2.1 times) and plasticity (58%) compared with the homogeneous coarse-grained counterparts. This impressive strength-plasticity synergy was primarily attributed to high back stress and dislocation pile-ups generated by the deformation incompatibility between the nano-grained shells and micron-grained cores. These findings open up new fields for MA and LPBF in the preparation of HGS metals and their applications in solving strength-plasticity tradeoff. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Resuscitative endovascular balloon occlusion of the aorta (REBOA) can temporarily control traumatic bleeding. However, its prolonged use potentially leads to ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI). Partial REBOA (pREBOA) can alleviate ischemic burden; however, its security and effectiveness prior to operative hemorrhage control remains unknown. Hence, we aimed to estimate the efficacy of pREBOA in a swine model of liver injury using an experimental sliding-chamber ballistic gun. METHODS: Twenty Landrace pigs were randomized into control (no aortic occlusion) (n=5), intervention with complete REBOA (cREBOA) (n=5), continuous pREBOA (C-pREBOA) (n=5), and sequential pREBOA (S-pREBOA) (n=5) groups. In the cREBOA and C-pREBOA groups, the balloon was inflated for 60 min. The hemodynamic and laboratory values were compared at various observation time points. Tissue samples immediately after animal euthanasia from the myocardium, liver, kidneys, and duodenum were collected for histological assessment using hematoxylin and eosin staining. RESULTS: Compared with the control group, the survival rate of the REBOA groups was prominently improved (all P<0.05). The total volume of blood loss was markedly lower in the cREBOA group (493.14±127.31 mL) compared with other groups (P<0.01). The pH was significantly lower at 180 min in the cREBOA and S-pREBOA groups (P<0.05). At 120 min, the S-pREBOA group showed higher alanine aminotransferase (P<0.05) but lower blood urea nitrogen compared with the cREBOA group (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: In this trauma model with liver injury, a 60-minute pREBOA resulted in improved survival rate and was effective in maintaining reliable aortic pressure, despite persistent hemorrhage. Extended tolerance time for aortic occlusion in Zone I for non-compressible torso hemorrhage was feasible with both continuous partial and sequential partial measures, and the significant improvement in the severity of acidosis and distal organ injury was observed in the sequential pREBOA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To fully realize the advantages of the two-fluid model, accurate prediction of the interfacial area concentration (IAC) is indispensable. Since conventional flow regime-based IAC correlations are not capable of dynamically describing the evolution of interfacial structure, the interfacial area transport equation (IATE) was developed to close the two-fluid model. In the past 30 years, intensive efforts have been made to improve the prediction performance of IATE and extend the experimental database for the IATE benchmark. Recent efforts of the IATE development and benchmark conducted by the Thermal-hydraulics and Reactor Safety Laboratory at Purdue University are reviewed in this paper. This review covers (1) the development of IATE; (2) the experimental database for IATE modeling, including instrumentation development, local measurement data of adiabatic/diabatic two-phase flow, and annular flow characterization; and (3) implementation and evaluation of IATE in one-dimensional/three-dimensional scenarios. Significant progress has been achieved since 2009, and future works required to advance the modeling of IATE are also suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

>E3 ligase Nedd4L levels of macrophage increased following ICH, promoted M1 polarization inflammation by TRAF3. > Nedd4L promoted BBB disruption, as well as neurological deficits. >Nedd4L was involved in the pathogenesis of ICH. >Nedd4L promoted inflammatory responses and exacerbated brain damage by TRAF3 following ICH. Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is a serious medical problem, and promising strategy is limited. Macrophage initiated brain inflammatory injury following ICH, but the molecular mechanism had not been well identified. E3 ligase Nedd4L is implicated in the pathogenesis of the inflammatory immune response. In the present study, we detected the levels of Nedd4L in macrophages following ICH. Furthermore, Macrophage M1 polarization, pro-inflammatory cytokine production, BBB disruption, brain water content and neurological function were examined in ICH mice. Here, we demonstrated that E3 ligase Nedd4L levels of macrophage increased following ICH, promoted M1 polarization inflammation by TRAF3. Nedd4L promoted BBB disruption, as well as neurological deficits. Inhibition of Nedd4L significantly attenuated M1 polarization in vivo. Inhibition of Nedd4L decreased TRAF3 and TBK1 levels, and subsequent phosphorylation of p38 and NF-κB p65 subunit following ICH. Our data demonstrated that Nedd4L was involved in the pathogenesis of ICH, which promoted inflammatory responses and exacerbated brain damage by TRAF3 following ICH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study aimed to explore the changes of the photosynthetic performance of Medicago sativa leaves in late autumn by screening alfalfa germplasm materials suitable for planting in Heilongjiang Province. Six Medicago sativa varieties were used as experimental materials. Photosynthetic indexes, including leaf water vapor pressure, stomatal conductance, net photosynthetic rate, transpiration rate and intercellular CO2 concentration, were measured. Excellent Medicago sativa varieties were selected by a membership function evaluation. The results showed that the net photosynthetic rate and water use efficiency of Longmu 801 were the highest. The stomatal conductance and intercellular CO2 concentration of Caoyuan No. 3 were the highest. The transpiration rate of Caoyuan No. 3 and Longmu 801 was significantly higher than that of other varieties (P<0.05). The leaf water vapor pressure of Caoyuan No.3, Longmu 801 and Queen was significantly higher than that of other varieties (P<0.05). Membership functions were used to evaluate the photosynthetic performance of varieties. The photosynthetic performance of Medicago sativa varieties, ranked from high to low, was as follows: Longmu 801 > Caoyuan No.3 > Queen > Concept > Adrenalin > Sardi. The study indicates that Longmu 801 and Caoyuan No.3 have strong photosynthetic performance and were suitable for planting in Heilongjiang. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we proposed a new model based on the electron tunneling effect in a four-level quantum dot molecule (QDM) for studying the optical bistability (OB) and optical multistability (OM). The QDM interacts with a probe and two coupling and Laguerre–Gaussian (LG) fields. We found that by adjusting the electron tunneling effect and the parametric controlling of LG light, the transition from OB to OM or vice versa is possible. Moreover, due to the simultaneous interaction between coupling and LG lights with the same optical transition adjusting the threshold of OB and OM by orbital angular momentum (OAM) of the LG light becomes achievable. Our results show that by adjusting the simultaneous effect of electron tunneling and OAM state of the vortex light, the favorable OB and OM patterns with adjustable intensity thresholds are achievable. Our proposed model may have potential application in quantum information science based on quantum dot (QD) devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The silicon anode is promising for high‐energy density lithium‐ion batteries owing to its ultrahigh theoretical capacity. However, the practical deployment of Si anodes is significantly hindered by its large volume change and unstable electrode/electrolyte interphase associated with routine electrolytes. Herein, a cyclic ether‐based electrolyte is designed and shows high compatibility with Si anodes. By simply decreasing the prevalence of ethereal oxygen groups and increasing the degree of molecule unsaturation of 1,2‐dimethoxyethane simultaneously, the resulting cyclic tetrahydrofuran (THF) presents a weak solvation capability and strong polymerization. Experimental and computational evidence demonstrates this rational design leads to a remarkable improvement in electrochemical performance of Si anodes. By forming a thin, elastic, and LiF‐rich inorganic‐polymeric solid‐electrolyte interphase film, the Si electrode cycled in THF‐based electrolyte exhibits long‐term cycling stability with a high reversible capacity of 1995.7 mAh g−1 after 400 cycles. The full‐cells with Si/graphite anodes and LiFePO4 cathodes maintain over 80% capacity retention after 600 cycles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inorganic-based solid-state lithium–sulfur batteries (SSLSBs) with high energy density and high safety have attracted wide attention as they are one of the most promising energy storage devices to meet future market requirements. However, the development of SSLSBs faces various challenges due to the unreasonable structural design in sulfur cathodes. Carbon is one of the indispensable components in sulfur cathodes. The rational design of carbon materials becomes an important strategy to address the challenges in sulfur cathodes. This review summarizes recent literature about the design and application of carbon materials for sulfur cathodes in inorganic-based SSLSBs. It starts with the introduction of different carbon materials from zero-dimensional to three-dimensional carbon materials. Particularly, this review paper highlights the structural design of carbon materials and the cathode fabrication methods, toward improving the conductivity of cathodes, buffering volume changes in cathodes, reducing interfacial resistance among cathode components, and increasing the mass loading of active materials. Finally, the existing challenges and promising solutions for carbon materials in the cathodes are discussed and proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: In Taiwan island, recent land‐bridge and oversea dispersal after the appearance of proto‐Taiwan (<6.5 Ma) is responsible for its biodiversity assembly. Radiations have also been widely reported in mountain systems. The tempo‐spatial route to the floral hotspot was determined through a meta‐analysis of the evolution of endemic plants. Location: Taiwan island and its adjacent regions. Taxon: Seed plants. Methods: Published dated phylogenies were compiled to infer the origin times represented by the stem ages. To determine the speciation mode, either in situ origin or dispersal origin, the ancestral range shift pattern and/or current distribution range of the sister taxa were used with 10 different biogeographical regions classified. Histograms quantifying the numbers of different origin modes within bins of 0.5 Ma were constructed. Probabilities of long‐distance dispersal (LDD) were evaluated. Results: The 125 sampled species originate between the late Eocene and late Pleistocene, of which 14 (11.2%) and 111 (88.8%) were derived before and after the emergence of proto‐Taiwan, respectively. Spatially, in situ speciation would have a bigger contribution to the formation of endemism than dispersal events (56.8% vs. 43.2%). The species with in situ origin (mean = 1.83 Ma) were significantly younger than those with dispersal origin (mean = 6.34 Ma). The main regions where dispersal occurred were South‐Central China (n = 29) and Southeast China (n = 28), followed by Japan (n = 14). High probabilities (60.8%) of LDD were found. Main Conclusions: Spatially, recent land‐bridge and oversea dispersal from the adjacent Asian flora is supported and the southern part of China was found to be the most important source. In situ speciation that may have correlated with mountain uplift, monsoon intensification and Pleistocene climatic fluctuations exerted greater contributions to the biodiversity there. Temporally, floral endemism predominantly occurred after the emergence of proto‐Taiwan. Additional investigations with more sophisticated sampling and genetic data are needed in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A class of negative matrices including Vandermonde‐like matrices tends to be extremely ill‐conditioned, and linear systems associated with this class of matrices appear in the polynomial interpolation problems. In this article, we present a fast and accurate algorithm with O(n2)$$ O\left({n}^2\right) $$ complexity to solve the linear systems whose coefficient matrices belong to the class of negative matrix. We show that the inverse of any such matrix is generated in a subtraction‐free manner. Consequently, the solutions of linear systems associated with the class of negative matrix are accurately determined by parameterization matrices of coefficient matrices, and a pleasantly componentwise forward error is provided to illustrate that each component of the solution is computed to high accuracy. Numerical experiments are performed to confirm the claimed high accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Calcific aortic valve disease (CAVD) is an aging related disease characterized by inflammation and fibrocalcific remodeling. IL-17A is a key cytokine associated with pathophysiology of inflammatory and fibrotic disease. Previous studies showed accumulation of IL-17A-producing T helper lymphocytes in human calcified aortic valves and significantly elevated IL-17RA expression in calcified valves. However, the role of IL-17A signaling in the initiation and development of CAVD is still unclear. In this study, by analyzing public transcriptome databases, we found that IL-17A-IL-17RA signaling is activated in calcified valves. Gene expression analysis revealed significantly increased IL-17A, IL-17RA, and RUNX2 expression in calcified human aortic valves compared to in non-calcified valves, and the expression of IL-17A and IL-17RA were positively correlated with RUNX2 expression. A 5/6 nephrectomy was performed in Apoe −/− (Apoe knockout) mice to establish a CAVD mouse model. IL-17A-neutralizing antibodies significantly reduced valve calcium deposition and decreased expression of RUNX2 in aortic valves. Immunofluorescence staining of human aortic valves and qRT-PCR analysis of primary aortic valve cells revealed abundant expression of IL-17RA in valvular endothelial cells (VECs). RNA sequencing indicated that IL-17A promoted the activation of inflammatory signaling pathways in VECs. Furthermore, qRT-PCR and cytometric bead array analysis confirmed that IL-17A promoted the expression or secretion of inflammatory cytokines IL-6 and IL-1β, chemokines CXCL2 and CXCL8, and fibrosis-related gene COL16A1. Our findings indicate that elevated IL-17A in CAVD may promote valve inflammation, fibrosis, and calcification by inducing endothelial activation and inflammation. Targeting IL-17A-IL-17RA signaling may be a potential therapeutic strategy for CAVD. • IL-17A-IL-17RA signaling is involved in Calcific aortic valve disease. • The main target cells of IL-17A are vascular endothelial cells (VECs). • IL-17A promotes aortic valve calcification by causing inflammation in VECs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The addition of superelastic shape memory alloy fibers (SMAF) into engineering cementitious composites (ECC) can create a new type of SMAF-ECC composite material with good self-recovery and energy dissipation performance, which is very suitable for seismic structures. In this study, 10 groups of beam specimens with different volume contents of SMAF were fabricated, and the bending performance, deflection recovery and energy dissipation ability of these beams were studied through three-point bending cyclic loading tests. The failure mode, peak load, load–deflection curve, crack width and other indicators of the specimens were analyzed, and the relationship expression between fiber content and bending strength was established by fitting analysis. The results show that adding SMA fibers can significantly improve the peak load of ECC beams, with a maximum increase of 48.31%. The knotted SMA fibers can fully exert their superelasticity, providing the beam specimens with crack self-closing and deflection recovery ability. When the volume content of SMA fibers is 0–0.6%, the bending strength, energy dissipation ability and deflection recovery ability of the composite material beams increase with the increase in fiber content. When the volume content of SMA fibers is 0.6–1.0%, the above indicators decrease with the increase in fiber content. The suggested equations can well reflect the relationship between fiber content and beam bending strength. The research results of this paper provide theoretical support for the engineering application of SMAF-ECC composite materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Daba Shan orocline is located at the northeastern margin of the Sichuan Basin and has been inferred as a foreland thrust-fold belt of the Qinling Orogen since the Late Triassic. A complete understanding of rock exhumation history is critical to elucidate how and when this typical orocline structure is developed. Detrital apatite fission-track dating of modern river sands is employed to reveal the regional exhumation history of the Daba Shan orocline. Four age peaks are identified and interpreted as the results of tectonic exhumation. Two older age peaks at ∼150–140 and ∼116–86 Ma are agreement with two main shortening deformation episodes of the Yanshanian Movement in the eastern China. The other two younger age peaks at ∼69 and ∼37 Ma support that the Daba Shan was reactivated by the Late Cretaceous to Cenozoic deformation which were likely related to the subduction of the Pacific Ocean and eastward growth of the Tibetan Plateau, respectively. It is worth noting that in contrast to the ∼150–140 Ma rapid rock uplift and exhumation, the Middle Cretaceous exhumation (∼116–86 Ma) shifted southward and continued to spread to southern tips of the Daba Shan. These exhumation variations in temporal and spatial allow a southward thrust deformation with piggyback style during the Yanshanian. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The scientific law of burning velocities of working fluids was found. • The effect of flame retardants on combustion characteristics was acquired. • The relationship between LFL/UFL and burning velocities was researched. • The inhibition mechanism of retardants on combustion characteristics was obtained. Despite its good environmental properties, the application of 1,1-Difluoroethane (R152a) is hindered by its flammability. So, an accurate instrument is required to solve the safety issues of R152a. In this study, the combustion characteristics of R152a mixtures with non-flammable CF 3 I/C 3 F 6 were measured using the vertical tube method by ISO-817. It could be found that the maximum burning velocity (S u, max) of R152a decreased from 21.163 cm/s to 7.805 cm/s (with R13I1) or 7.675 cm/s (with R1216) at concentration of 15.403%(with R13I1) and 11.508%(with R1216) at an ambient temperature. By adding non-flammable retardants to R152a from volumetric concentration of 10% – 40%, the flammability of the mixtures was lowered. And S u, max of both were reduced by more than 60%, leading the mixture to reach A2L. According to the S u, max data, the dilution effect of the three refrigerants is: R1216 > R13I1 > R227ea. Meanwhile, the density functional analysis theory was used to study the relationship between the molecular bonds of these refrigerants. The results showed that the refrigerants containing higher F/H ratio and the molecules with -CF 3 and -I groups were more prone to inhibit combustion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the spectral instability of a 2 π / κ periodic Stokes wave of sufficiently small amplitude, traveling in water of unit depth, under gravity. Numerical evidence suggests instability whenever the unperturbed wave is resonant with its infinitesimal perturbations. This has not been analytically studied except for the Benjamin–Feir instability in the vicinity of the origin of the complex plane. Here we develop a periodic Evans function approach to give an alternative proof of the Benjamin–Feir instability and, also, a first proof of spectral instability away from the origin. Specifically, we prove instability near the origin for κ > κ 1 : = 1.3627827 ⋯ , and instability due to resonance of order two so long as an index function is positive. Validated numerics establishes that the index function is indeed positive for some κ < κ 1 , whereby there exists a Stokes wave that is spectrally unstable even though it is insusceptible to the Benjamin–Feir instability. The proofs involve center manifold reduction, Floquet theory, and methods of ordinary and partial differential equations. Numerical evaluation reveals that the index function remains positive unless κ = 1.8494040 ⋯ . Therefore we conjecture that all Stokes waves of sufficiently small amplitude are spectrally unstable. For the proof of the conjecture, one has to verify that the index function is positive for κ sufficiently small. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Combining Engineered Cementitious Composites (ECC) with shape memory alloy (SMA) fibers can form SMA fiber reinforced ECC (SMAF-ECC) that has excellent deformation recovery and energy dissipation capabilities. Substituting some of the tensioned concrete with this new composite material, along with steel bars, is expected to significantly improve the seismic energy dissipation and self-recovery capabilities of traditional reinforced concrete components. However, a reliable bond between steel bars and SMAF-ECC is critical to ensure their synergistic performance. In this paper, the failure mode and bond strength of steel bars and SMAF-ECC were studied through direct tensile tests, and the influence factors such as steel bar diameter, bond length, and SMAF volume fraction were analyzed. A bond-slip constitutive model for steel bars and SMAF-ECC was proposed. The results show that the failure mode of the tensile test specimens is mainly steel bar pull-out failure; the incorporation of SMAF significantly enhances the bond strength between the steel bar and matrix; increasing the steel bar diameter and bond length both lead to a decrease in bond strength while increasing the SMAF volume fraction can significantly increase the bond strength. Among them, the specimen with a steel bar diameter of 12 mm, bond length of 70 mm, and SMAF volume fraction of 0.5% has the largest increase in bond strength, reaching 52.96%. The proposed improved bond-slip constitutive model is in good agreement with the bond-slip curve obtained in the experiments, with a determination coefficient of 0.99. The research results of this paper provide an important theoretical basis for promoting the engineering application of SMAF-ECC materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jatropha curcas L. is a promising bioenergy source, and its seedling stage is sensitive to salinity. Nitrogen application presents an effective strategy for alleviating the adverse consequences of salinity stress. However, the responses of plant growth and physiology of Jatropha curcas L. seedlings to nitrogen application under salinity stress remain unclear. As a result, a one-year greenhouse plot experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of nitrogen application on the plant growth, antioxidant enzyme activity, and photosynthesis of Jatropha curcas L. seedlings under saline conditions. Experiment treatments consisted of three salinity stresses (mild salinity stress, S1: 2 g/kg; moderate salinity stress, S2: 4 g/kg; and severe salinity stress, S3: 6 g/kg), four nitrogen application rates (N0: 0 gN/plant; N1: 20 gN/plant; N2: 60 gN/plant; and N3: 100 gN/plant), and a control treatment (CK) which was without salinity stress and nitrogen application. The results showed that salinity stress substantially reduced plant growth of Jatropha curcas L. seedlings. As the salinity stress increased, the reduction in plant growth also increased. The S3 treatment had the lowest leaf area, leaf biomass, and total biomass, which decreased by an average of 70.4%, 66.3%, and 69.9%, respectively, compared to CK. Nitrogen application could compensate for these impairments of plant growth from salinity stress by promoting antioxidant enzyme activity and photosynthesis. As for mild and moderate salinity stresses, the maximum plant growth was found in the N3 treatment, with the maximum antioxidant enzyme activity, photosynthetic pigment, photosynthetic characteristic, and chlorophyll fluorescence. As for severe salinity stress, higher plant growth was found in N2 and N3 treatments, and there were no significant differences between N2 and N3 treatments. It also should be noted that the maximum photosynthetic characteristic and chlorophyll fluorescence were found in N2 treatment under severe salinity stress. In conclusion, nitrogen application could be an alternative strategy to improve the salinity tolerance of Jatropha curcas L. growth. The nitrogen application rate of 100 gN/plant could be recommended for low and moderate salinity stresses, while 60 gN/plant could be recommended for severe salinity stress. However, higher nitrogen application rate (>100 gN/plant) under mild and moderate salinity stress and the effects of reactive oxygen species under salinity stress should be further evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Downscaling methods are critical in efficiently generating high‐resolution atmospheric data. However, state‐of‐the‐art statistical or dynamical downscaling techniques either suffer from the high computational cost of running a physical model or require high‐resolution data to develop a downscaling tool. Here, we demonstrate a recently proposed zero‐shot super‐resolution method, the Fourier neural operator (FNO), to efficiently perform downscaling without the need for high‐resolution data. Because the FNO learns dynamics in Fourier space, FNO is a resolution‐invariant emulator; it can be trained at a coarse resolution and produces emulation at any high resolution. We applied FNO to downscale a 4‐km resolution Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model simulation of near‐surface heat‐related variables over the Great Lakes region. The FNO is driven by the atmospheric forcings and topographic features used in the WRF model at the same resolution. We incorporated a physics‐constrained loss in FNO by using the Clausius–Clapeyron relation to better constrain the relations among the emulated states. Trained on merely 600 WRF snapshots at 4‐km resolution, the FNO shows comparable performance with a widely‐used convolutional network, U‐Net, achieving averaged modified Kling–Gupta Efficiency of 0.88 and 0.94 on the test data set for temperature and pressure, respectively. We then employed the FNO to produce 1‐km emulations to reproduce the fine climate features. Further, by taking the WRF simulation as ground truth, we show consistent performances at the two resolutions, suggesting the reliability of FNO in producing high‐resolution dynamics. Our study demonstrates the potential of using FNO for zero‐shot super‐resolution in generating first‐order estimation on atmospheric modeling. Plain Language Summary: High‐resolution climate estimates are crucial for applications like examining heat exposure in populated areas. Downscaling from lower‐resolution estimates is one popular technique for obtaining these estimates. However, developing downscaling tools usually requires expensive computation or difficult‐to‐obtain data; they rely on either numerically solving a physical model or using a pair of existing high‐ and low‐resolution data. To address this issue, we demonstrated a novel deep learning model that can generate high‐resolution results from only low‐resolution data. Our study successfully applied this method to downscale near‐surface heat‐related variables of the Weather Research and Forecasting simulation to 1‐km resolution over the Great Lakes region. Key Points: We used the Fourier neural operator (FNO) to perform zero‐shot super‐resolution on near‐surface heat‐related estimatesIncorporating a physics‐constrained loss based on the Clausius–Clapeyron equation improves the emulation performance of the trained FNOTrained on a 4‐km Weather Research and Forecasting simulation, the FNO generates a 1‐km emulation that captures fine‐grained climate features induced by topography [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Some studies have found that probiotics can improve cognitive impairment in Alzheimer’s disease, although the specific molecular mechanism by which this occurs has not been reported. Our previous research found that probiotics inhibited bacteria-related Toll-like receptor 4- and retinoic-acid-inducible gene-I-mediated nuclear factor-κB signaling pathways to improve cognitive impairment. However, it is unclear whether probiotics have similar effects on other pattern recognition receptors that respond to bacteria. Methods: Nine-month-old senescence-accelerated mouse prone 8 (SAMP8) mice received ProBiotic-4 (a mixture of Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bifidobacterium bifidum, Lactobacillus casei, and Bifidobacterium lactis) orally for 12 weeks. The effects on other bacteria-related pattern recognition receptors were then investigated. Results: ProBiotic-4-treated SAMP8 mice showed improvement in memory deficits, synaptic and cerebral neuronal injuries, and microglial activation. ProBiotic-4 also markedly increased the expression of intestinal tight junction proteins (i.e., claudin-1, occludin, and zonula occluden-1), decreased the expression of interleukin-1β at both the mRNA and protein levels, and reduced the expression of caspase-11, cleaved caspase-1, and α-kinase 1 (ALPK1) in the intestine and brain. Conclusions: These findings suggest that probiotics may have therapeutic potential for the treatment of inflammation in the gut-brain axis and for cognitive impairment. The mechanism of action of probiotics appears to be related to inhibition of the caspase-11/caspase-1 pathway and reduction of ALPK1 expression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Link prediction involves the use of entities and relations that already exist in a knowledge graph to reason about missing entities or relations. Different approaches have been proposed to date for performing this task. This paper proposes a combined use of the translation-based approach with the Convolutional Neural Network (CNN)-based approach, resulting in a novel model, called ConCMH. In the proposed model, first, entities and relations are embedded into the complex space, followed by a vector multiplication of entity embeddings and relational embeddings and taking the real part of the results to generate a feature matrix of their interaction. Next, a 2D convolution is used to extract features from this matrix and generate feature maps. Finally, the feature vectors are transformed into predicted entity embeddings by obtaining the inner product of the feature mapping and the entity embedding matrix. The proposed ConCMH model is compared against state-of-the-art models on the four most commonly used benchmark datasets and the obtained experimental results confirm its superiority in the majority of cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To cope with the problem of global warming caused by greenhouse gases, an environmentally friendly working fluid with low global warming potential (GWP) value was proposed to replace R507A which has a higher GWP value. This paper evaluated the thermodynamic properties and cycle performance of the alternative named RTB1. Firstly, the thermodynamic properties of RTB1 were investigated experimentally, including saturated vapor pressure and miscibility with polyol ester (POE) lubricating oil. The results showed that the saturated vapor pressure of RTB1 is 7.14% higher than that of R507A on average, and RTB1 has good miscibility with POE 32. Secondly, the flammability of RTB1 was tested by the flammability limits test system, and the experimental results showed that RTB1 was a non-flammable working fluid. Finally, the cycle performance of RTB1 and R507A under different operating conditions was compared. RTB1 is better than R507A in terms of cooling capacity per unit volume and coefficient of performance, however, the discharge temperature of RTB1 is higher than that of R507A. This work is of great significance to promote the elimination process of high-GWP working fluids and reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Despite a multitude of investigations assessing the impact of green coffee extract supplementation on obesity indices, there is still a great deal of heated debate regarding the benefits of this intervention in obesity management. Therefore, in order to clarify the effect of green coffee extract on waist circumference (WC), body mass index (BMI) and body weight (BW), we conducted an umbrella review of interventional meta-analyses. The Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed/Medline, and Embase databases were searched using specific keywords and word combinations. The umbrella meta-analysis was performed using the Stata software version 17 (Stata Corp. College Station, Texas, USA). We pooled effect sizes (ES) and confidence intervals (CI) for the outcomes using the random effects model (the DerSimonian and Laird method). In total, 5 eligible meta-analyses were included in the final quantitative assessment. Data pooled from 5 eligible papers revealed that green coffee extract can reduce BW (WMD: −1.22 kg, 95% CI: −1.53 to −0.92, p < 0.001), BMI (WMD: −0.48 kg/m2, 95% CI: −0.67 to −0.29, p < 0.001) and WC (WMD: −0.55 cm, 95% CI: −0.80 to −0.31, p < 0.001). Subgroup analyses highlighted that green coffee extract supplementation in dosages ≤600 mg/day and interventions lasting >7 wk are more likely to decrease BW. The present umbrella meta-analysis confirms the beneficial effects of green coffee extract in reducing WC, BMI, and BW. Thus, we may infer that green coffee extract can be used as a complementary therapy in the management of obesity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Common-image gathers are extensively used in amplitude versus angle (AVA) and migration velocity analysis (MVA). The current state of methods for anisotropic angle gathers extraction use slant-stack, local Fourier transform or low-rank approximation, which requires much computation. Based on an anisotropic-Helmholtz P/S wave-mode decomposition method, we propose a novel and efficient approach to produce angle-domain common-image gathers (ADCIGs) in the elastic reverse time migration (ERTM) of VTI media. To start with, we derive an anisotropic-Helmholtz decomposition operator from the Christoffel equation in VTI media, and use this operator to derive the decomposed formulations for anisotropic P/S waves. Second, we employ the first-order Taylor expansion to calculate the normalized term of decomposed formulations and obtain the anisotropic-Helmholtz decomposition method, which generates the separated P/S wavefields with correct amplitudes and phases. Third, we develop a novel way that uses the anisotropic-Helmholtz decomposition operator to define the polarization angles for anisotropic P/S waves and substitute these angles to decomposing formulations. The polarization angles are then calculated directly from the separated vector P- and S-wavefields and converted to the phase angles. The ADCIGs are thusly produced by applying the phase angles to VTI ERTM. In addition, we develop a concise approximate expression of residual moveout (RMO) for PPreflections of flat reflectors in VTI media, which avoids the complex transformations between the group angles and the phase angles. The approximate RMO curves show a good agreement with the exact solution and can be used as a tool to assess the migration velocity errors. As demonstrated by two selected examples, our ADCIGs not only produce the correct kinematic responses with regards to different velocity pertubatation, but also generate the reliable amplitude responses versus different angle. The final stacking images of ADCIGs data exhibit the identical imaging effect as that of VTI ERTM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Olfactory receptors (ORs) are widely expressed in extra-nasal tissues, where they participate in the regulation of divergent physiological processes. An increasing body of evidence over the past decade has revealed important regulatory roles for extra-nasal ORs in glucose metabolism. Recently, nonodorant endogenous ligands of ORs with metabolic significance have been identified, implying the therapeutic potential of ORs in the treatment of metabolic diseases, such as diabetes and obesity. In this review, we summarize current understanding of the expression patterns and functions of ORs in key tissues involved in glucose metabolism modulation, describe odorant and endogenous OR ligands, explain the biased signaling downstream of ORs, and outline OR therapeutic potential. Olfactory receptors (ORs) are distributed in glucose metabolism-regulating tissues with unique patterns, which might be correlated with their regulatory roles in glucose metabolism. Different ORs in metabolically relevant tissues modulate insulin secretion, gluconeogenesis, glucose reabsorption, lipid metabolism, and appetitive behaviors. ORs not only detect odorants and metabolites, but also sense endogenous polypeptides and proteins with high affinity and regulate important metabolic effects. ORs activate multiple G protein or arrestin pathways in response to ligand stimulation, and 'biased' ligands might be able to preferentially stimulate selective pathways. Emerging methodologies for ligand development might provide new paths to target metabolically relevant ORs and, thus, have therapeutic potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Long-chain non-coding RNA (lncRNA) LINC00609 is a potential tumor suppressor, but the mechanism of action in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is yet to be understood. Objectives: The effects of LINC00609 on A549 cell proliferation, apoptosis, and cell cycle arrest were investigated. Methods: The LINC00609 levels in NSCLC and normal tissues were analyzed by bioinformatics. Expressions of LINC00609, miR-128-3p, and Rho family GTPase 3 (RND3) in NSCLC cells (A549) were determined by qRT-PCR. Bioinformatics analysis predicted target genes and dual-luciferase reporter assays to ensure that LINC00609 targeted miR-128-3p and miR-128-3p targeted RND3. The proliferation of cells was determined using EDU and CCK-8. Flow cytometry was used to evaluate cell apoptosis rate and cell cycle. The western blotting assay identified proteins related to proliferation and apoptosis. Results: In NSCLC tissues, LINC00609 was expressed in low levels, while its high expression was associated with a higher survival rate. LINC00609 affected cell proliferation, apoptosis, cell cycle arrest, and expression of related proteins. Dual-luciferase reporter assay showed that LINC00609 binds specifically to miR-128-3p, and miR-128-3p binds to RND3. MiR-128-3p overexpression could neutralize the effects of LINC00609. A siRNA targeting RND3 could reverse the effect of the miR-128-3p inhibitor. Silencing RND3 resulted in a decrease in apoptosis rate and the number of cells in the S-phase and an increase in the number of cells in the G1-phase. Furthermore, phosphorylation levels of the AKT protein and mTOR protein, and Bcl2 expression, increased; however, the expression of RND3, Bax, and caspase3 decreased. Conclusions: LINC00609 regulated miR-128-3p/RND3 axis to modulate A549 cell proliferation, apoptosis, and cell cycle arrest. In the case of NSCLC, LINC00609 could be a potential target for therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SMAF-ECC material composed of shape memory alloy fiber (SMAF) and engineered cementitious composite (ECC) has good bending and tensile properties, as well as good crack self-healing ability, energy consumption, and self-centering ability. The bond behavior between fiber and matrix is crucial to the effective utilization of the superelasticity of SMAF. The experimental study considered three variables: SMA fiber diameter, fiber end shape, and bond length. The pullout stress–strain curve of SMAF was obtained, and the maximum pullout stress, maximum bond stress, and fiber utilization rate were analyzed. Compared with the straight end and the hook end, the maximum pullout stress of the specimen using the knotted end SMAF is above 900 MPa, the fiber undergoes martensitic transformation, and the fiber utilization rate is above 80%, indicating that the setting of the knotted end can give full play to the superelasticity of the SMAF. Within the effective bond length range, increasing the bond length can increase the maximum anchorage force of the knotted end SMAF. Increasing the fiber diameter can increase the maximum pullout stress and maximum anchoring force of the knotted end SMAF but reduce the utilization rate of SMA fiber. This study provides a reliable theoretical basis for the bonding properties between SMAF and ECC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the concept of chirality, which refers to objects that are not superimposable on their mirror images. Chirality is significant in biology, as it underpins the selective interactions of biological molecules. The article focuses on recent advancements in chiral nanophotonics, specifically the ability to control chiral interactions using metasurfaces. The authors describe a method that allows for the dynamic control of metasurface chirality using light, enabling the selection of desired handedness at an unprecedentedly fast switching rate. This breakthrough has the potential to revolutionize various scientific fields and applications, from drug efficacy to advanced optical technologies. [Extracted from the article]

Background: Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a devastating disease characterized by vasoconstriction and vascular remodeling, leading to right ventricular failure and death. PH is a common complication of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Accumulating evidence demonstrate that microRNAs participate in the pathobiology of PH in COPD patients. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the expression and function of microRNA-4640-5p (miR-4640-5p) in PH. Methods: The mRNA and protein levels were determined by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and western blot, separately. Functional assays and western blot were performed to determine the effects of miR-4640-5p and NOS1 on cell growth, migration. Besides, the dual-luciferase reporter assays were used to validate miR-4640-5p and NOS1 interactions. Results: We found that miR-4640-5p expression was significantly higher in the lung tissues of COPD-PH patients than in the healthy controls while higher expression of miR-4640-5p was correlated with more severe COPD-PH. By using pulmonary artery smooth muscle cell (PASMC) in in vitro assays, we demonstrated that inhibition of miR-4640-5p suppressed cell proliferation and migration of PASMC via regulating mTOR/S6 signaling. Bioinformatics analysis and validation experiments revealed that nitric oxide synthase 1 (NOS1) was a direct downstream target of miR-4640-5p. Overexpression of NOS1 partially antagonized the effect of miR-4640-5p in regulating PASMC cell proliferation and migration. In addition, our findings suggested that miR-4640-5p/NOS1 axis regulated mitochondrial dynamics in PASMCs. Furthermore, in the hypoxia-induced PH rat model, inhibition of miR-4640-5p ameliorated PH with reduced right ventricular systolic pressure and Fulton index. Conclusions: miR-4640-5p regulates PH via targeting NOS1, which provides a potential diagnostic biomarker and therapeutic target for COPD-PH patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the critical role of precipitation on hydroclimate, we quantified the contributions of moisture source regions to precipitation in the Great Lakes Region (GLR) using multiple reanalysis data sets. Results show that the Great Plains (GPs) and the GLR itself are the primary sources of moisture. The moisture sources for the double peaks in the GLR precipitation that occur in June and September are identified, which is caused by a shift in the peak timing of moisture contribution from the GLR and GPs. In particular, moisture from the GPs contributes more to the heavy precipitation, while moisture from the GLR contributes more to the light precipitation. We also found a statistically significant (p < 0.05) increasing trend in the moisture contribution from the mid‐Pacific, caused by an intensified zonal moisture transport from the mid‐Pacific through changes in atmospheric circulation. Plain Language Summary: Rain and snow are critical in determining how much water is in the Great Lakes—which in turn influences socioeconomic activity in the Great Lakes Region (GLR). Therefore, we need to understand where the moisture for rain and snow comes from, especially in a changing climate. We found that rain and snow over the GLR mostly originate from water vapor that comes from the Great Plains (GPs) and the GLR. The GPs contribute more water vapor in spring and summer, and the GLR contributes more in autumn and winter. We also found that when rain or snow is strong, much of the water comes from the GPs. On the other hand, when precipitation is weak, a large fraction of the water comes from the GLR itself. We did not find that significant increasing trend in the amount of rain or snow over the GLR over the past 40 years; however, strong winds from the west bring more and more moisture from the mid‐Pacific region each spring. Key Points: The Great Plains (GPs) and the Great Lakes Region (GLR) are the major sources of moisture for precipitation in the GLRMoisture evapotranspired from the GPs contributes to more than 40% of strong precipitation in the GLRMoisture contribution from the Mid‐Pacific to the Great Lakes precipitation has significantly increased in spring [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To account for both network accuracy and deployment efficiency, multi-objective NAS has been proposed. However, these methods are still inefficient. As a result of the previous coarse-grained performance descriptions, the acquisition of feasible networks is limited, reducing the effectiveness and efficiency of search direction updates. As a consequence, a large number of ineffective network structures that do not meet the application requirements are sampled and trained, significantly reducing search efficiency. To address the two issues, this paper uses adaptive dataflow mapping to describe the inference latency of the sampled network structures in a fine-grained manner, thereby expanding the search space of available networks. The sampling behavior is dynamically adjusted in accordance with the system latency requirement and the allocable latency for each layer. The sampled network structure's latency will approach the system requirement. Finally, by reducing the number of infeasible networks, search efficiency is improved. Experiments show that comparing state-of-the-art methods, the accuracy of the networks searched by our framework can be improved by up to 7.93 % while meeting specific inference latency requirements. However, search efficiency can be improved up to 2.35 × . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• TIPE-2 reduced the colitis activity index score and the histological score of the intestine. • TIPE-2 also decreased inflammatory cytokine levels in the intestine. • TIPE-2 inhibited STAT3 and NF-kB activation. • TIPE-2 might inhibit the progression of colitis by decreasing inflammation via inhibiting of STAT3 and NF-kB activation. TIPE-2 has been identified as a negative regulator of both innate and adaptive immunity and is involved in several inflammatory diseases. However, the immune inhibition mechanism of TIPE-2 involved in inflammatory bowel disease has not been well studied. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate whether TIPE-2 improved experimental colitis by reducing high levels of inflammation in the intestine. Lentivirus encoding TIPE-2 was administered to mice by intrarectal injection after colitis induction. Histological analysis was used to analyze sections of the intestine. Protein expression induced by STAT3 and NF-κB signaling was analyzed by western blot. We found that TIPE-2 reduced the colitis activity index score and the histological score of the intestine. TIPE-2 also decreased inflammatory cytokine levels in the intestine. Additionally, TIPE-2 inhibited STAT3 and NF-kB activation. These results suggested that TIPE-2 might attenuate inflammation of colitis via inhibiting of STAT3 and NF-kB activation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Glabridin (GLA) has a variety of biological activities and therapeutic effects in cancers. Whereas the effect of GLA on urothelial bladder carcinoma (UBC) cells and its underlying mechanisms remain unknown. The study revealed the effect of GLA on UBC and the potential mechanism of inducing cell apoptosis in vivo and in vitro. After treated with different concentrations of GLA, the cell activity decreased in a time‐ and dose‐dependent manner. The IC50 values of BIU‐87 and EJ cells at 48 h were 6.02 μg/ml (18.6 μm) and 4.36 μg/ml (13.4 μm), respectively. Additionally, GLA‐induced apoptosis and cycle arrest of BIU‐87 and EJ cells in G2 phase. Furthermore, wound healing experiments showed that GLA significantly reduced the migration activities of BIU‐87 and EJ cells. Mechanically, GLA obviously increased the expression of BIM, BAK1, and CYCS in both mRNA and protein levels, which led to the activation of the endogenous apoptotic pathway. Finally, GLA remarkably inhibited the growth of UBC tumors in vivo. In summary, GLA inhibited UBC cells growth in vitro and in vivo by inducing cell apoptosis and cell cycle arrest, highlighting that GLA could be utilized as a component to design a novel anti‐UBC drug. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biotite plays an important role in controlling Nb/Ta fractionation during subduction-related, dehydration reactions. It is probable that Nb–Ta-bearing minerals and Nb–Ta oxides could form from Nb–Ta-rich biotite as a result of fluid-aided alteration. However, the mechanism by how this alteration occurs is not well understood. In this study, a Nb-rich, Li-bearing biotite (up to 1232 ppm Nb) with REE-bearing inclusions (e.g., bastnäsite) is altered using pure H 2 O, as well as HCl-, NaOH-, NaF-, KF-, and MnF 2 -bearing solutions in a rapid-quench, cold-seal pressure vessel at 200 MPa, and 300 to 600 °C. A set of Nb-Ta-Ti alteration products (titanomagnetite, ilmenite, Nb-rutile, fergusonite, and aeschynite) formed successively over a series of temperatures, i.e., Nb-rutile + aeschynite formed first at 600 °C, followed by fergusonite + titanomagnetite ± ilmenite at 400 to 500 °C, and lastly titanomagnetite at 300 °C. The results from this study indicate that Nb–Ta-bearing oxides (titanomagnetite and ilmenite) and Nb–Ta oxides (Nb-rutile, fergusonite and aeschynite) can form via metasomatic reactions between Nb-rich, Li-bearing biotite and a variety of low pH, high pH, and F-bearing fluids. The formation of Nb-rutile with much higher Nb/Ta ratios (76.60) compared with Nb-rich, Li-bearing biotite (Nb/Ta: 24.79 in average), provides new insight into explaining the "missing high Nb/Ta reservoir". Formation of Nb-rutile (Nb 2 O 5 : up to 31.71 wt%), fergusonite (Nb 2 O 5 : up to 42.62 wt%), and aeschynite (Nb 2 O 5 : up to 36.48 wt%) from Nb-bearing biotite indicates that metasomatic processes can lead to Nb mineralization in the form of oxides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recently emerged double-cable conjugated polymers have come into focus due to their significantly improved power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) in single-component organic solar cells (SCOSCs). In this work, the effect of chlorination in double-cable conjugated polymers with linear benzodithiophene backbone and pendant perylene bisimide on the photovoltaic performance in SCOSCs has been studied. After introducing chlorine atoms into conjugated side chains, the highest occupied molecular orbital level of the conjugated polymers is down-shifted, thus resulting in a higher open-circuit voltage. As a result, the chlorinated double-cable conjugated polymer exhibits improved photovoltaic performance from 3.46% to 3.57%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are many mature oil fields in the North Sea. One of them is the Clair Oil Field, located on the United Kingdom Continental Shelf (UKCS) in Scotland. This oil field is unique because of the results of failure studies of several fluid injections, constituting secondary and tertiary oil recovery techniques, on increasing oil production. Only waterflooding has shown a promising future. In this paper, three-dimensional (3D) numerical simulations investigate the influence of infill drilling optimization by waterflooding in the Clair Oil Field so as to maximize net present value (NPV). An important goal of this study of reservoir management was to determine optimal well locations and optimal operational parameters (production constraints) that maximize cumulative oil production. Theoretical ideas and mathematical models with field data performance demonstrated the factors that can be considered in infill drilling so as to increase oil reserves. Most of the factors were related to reservoir heterogeneities and were important quantitatively for fluid injection and production. The results revealed that the four infill wells added in this study led to an increase in the field's total cumulative oil production from 7.91×106 to 9.39×106 m3. The NPV after infill drilling optimization by waterflooding increased by 54.4% over the base case. The oil recovery factor rose from 17.2% to 20.2%, while the gas oil ratio (GOR) fell from 1,000 to 840 SCF/STB. After combining infill drilling with waterflooding, the horizontal infill producers outperformed vertical infill producers by 5.5%. The field water cut was reduced from 95% to 88%. In addition, an analysis of cumulative production between parent and child wells was made. It was found that child wells produce less cumulative oil production than do parent wells. This paper reveals the greater success of a combination of infill drilling with waterflooding in enhancing oil production compared to other findings where the influence of infill drilling and waterflooding were analyzed separately or compared. It can be concluded that the Clair Oil Field has great potential to increase oil production by combining infill drilling with waterflooding, after other improved oil recovery techniques fail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lithium–sulfur batteries (LSBs) have received dramatically increased attention because of their manifest advantages. Nevertheless, due to the severe shuttling of lithium polysulfides (LiPSs), sluggish reaction kinetics, and the insulation of sulfur species, the practical application of LSBs is far away. To overcome the abovementioned issues, metal–organic frameworks (MOFs)‐derived nanoarchitectures have emerged as one of the most promising cathode materials in designing advanced Li–S batteries. This timely progress report highlights and comments on the most recent advances in designing MOFs‐derived nanoarchitectures with diverse electrocatalytic centers as cathode materials for catalyzing the oxidation/reduction reactions of LiPS in LSBs. The molecular/atomic‐level electrocatalytic centers, tunable porosities, large specific surface area, controlled components, and versatile structures of MOFs‐derived nanoarchitectures are carefully discussed for designing favorable electrocatalysts for LiPS. In particular, the catalytic mechanisms of LiPS based on different types of MOFs‐derived materials ranging from single atoms to nanoparticles are systematically summarized. Ultimately, the prospects and challenges of engineering MOFs‐derived catalysts for LiPS in LSBs are also suggested. It is believed that this progress report will offer potential guidance and instructive perspectives for designing future state‐of‐the‐art LiPS catalytic materials in LSBs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Retaining walls are often built to prevent excessive lateral movements of the ground surrounding an excavation site. During an excavation, failure of retaining walls could cause catastrophic accidents and hence their lateral deformations are monitored regularly. Laser scanning can rapidly acquire the spatial data of a relatively large area at fine spatial resolutions, which is ideal for monitoring retaining walls’ deformations. This paper attempts to apply terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) to measure lateral deformations of a soil mixing retaining wall at an ongoing excavation site. Reference measurements by total station and inclinometer were also conducted to verify those from the laser scanning. The deformations derived using laser scanning data were consistent with the reference measurements at the top part of the retaining wall (mainly the ring beam of the wall). This research also shows that the multi-scale-model-to-model method was the most accurate deformation estimation method on the research data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, a novel eccentric rotor mixer (ERM), which can generate circulating volume elongational deformation, is employed to prepare biodegradable polylactic acid (PLA)/poly(ε‐caprolactone) (PCL) thermo‐responsive shape‐memory blends without a compatibilizer. The results of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) show that the ERM has more efficient dispersion and compatibilization for blends than conventional Banbury mixers, which is beneficial for shape‐memory performance. The results of Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) also confirm the consequences. Then, morphological and mechanical properties and shape memory behaviors of the blends are investigated in detail. Co‐continuous morphology is found on EF‐PLA50. The blends exhibit remarkable shape‐memory performance. The bending shape fixing ratio and recovery ratio of the blends are more than 94% and are still more than 90% after five shape memory cycles. With the increase of PLA content, the shape fixing ratio of blends decreases, while the shape recovery ratio increases and the shape recovery time becomes shorter. All the blends show good mechanical properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]