Search

Tear resistance is of vital importance in the fabrication and application of synthetic soft materials. However, the paradox of simultaneously improving the tearing energy and elasticity remains a huge challenge for conventional approaches. Here, inspired by the skin, we successfully constructed an extraordinary tear-resistant, superelastic elastomer by the introduction of nanosized polycyclodextrin into the elastomer network to form a slidable interpenetrate double network structure. The tearing energy of the SDEP elastomer is up to 274 KJ/m

The room temperature electrocaloric effect is researched for (110) oriented KNbO3 film based on Landau-Devonshire theory. The phase map with different ferroelectric states is built at room temperature with the considerations of thermodynamic equilibrium conditions and minimum of thermodynamic potential. Five ferroelectric structural phases are obtained theoretically. The negative in-plane misfit strains are conducive to form the tetragonal c phase and the positive strains are in favor of the stability of tetragonal a1 and a2 phases. The electrocaloric effect relies on both misfit strain and electric field. Moreover, large electrocaloric effect is achieved in the orthorhombic phases.

Objective: To construct a combined radiomics model based on pre-treatment ultrasound for predicting of advanced breast cancers sensitive to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC). Methods: A total of 288 eligible breast cancer patients who underwent NAC before surgery were enrolled in the retrospective study cohort. Radiomics features reflecting the phenotype of the pre-NAC tumors were extracted. With features selected using the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression, radiomics signature (Rad-score) was established based on the pre-NAC ultrasound. Then, radiomics nomogram of ultrasound (RU) was established on the basis of the best radiomic signature incorporating independent clinical features. The performance of RU was evaluated in terms of calibration curve, area under the curve (AUC), and decision curve analysis (DCA). Results: Nine features were selected to construct the radiomics signature in the training cohort. Combined with independent clinical characteristics, the performance of RU for identifying Grade 4–5 patients was significantly superior than the clinical model and Rad-score alone (p < 0.05, as per the Delong test), which achieved an AUC of 0.863 (95% CI, 0.814–0.963) in the training group and 0.854 (95% CI, 0.776–0.931) in the validation group. DCA showed that this model satisfactory clinical utility, suggesting its robustness as a response predictor. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that RU has a potential role in predicting drug-sensitive breast cancers. Advances in knowledge: Aiming at early detection of Grade 4–5 breast cancer patients, the radiomics nomogram based on ultrasound has been approved as a promising indicator with high clinical utility. It is the first application of ultrasound-based radiomics nomogram to distinguish drug-sensitive breast cancers.

Background As an economically important crop, tea is strongly nitrogen (N)-dependent. However, the physiological and molecular mechanisms underlying the response of N deficiency in tea are not fully understood. Tea cultivar “Chunlv2” [Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze] were cultured with a nutrient solution with 0 mM [N-deficiency] or 3 mM (Control) NH4NO3 in 6 L pottery pots containing clean river sands. Results N deficiency significantly decreased N content, dry weight, chlorophyll (Chl) content, L-theanine and the activities of N metabolism-related enzymes, but increased the content of total flavonoids and polyphenols in tea leaves. N deficiency delayed the sprouting time of tea buds. By using the RNA-seq technique and subsequent bioinformatics analysis, 3050 up-regulated and 2688 down-regulated differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were isolated in tea leaves in response to N deficiency. However, only 1025 genes were up-regulated and 744 down-regulated in roots. Gene ontology (GO) term enrichment analysis showed that 205 DEGs in tea leaves were enriched in seven GO terms and 152 DEGs in tea roots were enriched in 11 GO items based on P Conclusions Our results indicated N deficiency inhibited the growth of tea plant, which might be due to altered N metabolism and expression levels of DEGs involved in the photosynthetic performance, transport activity and oxidation–reduction processes.

As a kind of biofunctional material, laccases with superior intrinsic optical property are garnering substantial interest in enzyme-based optical biosensing due to their great potential use in the field of food, environment and industry. However, it is still unclear as to the variation mechanism of enzyme intrinsic optical property, and thus limits the application. For exploring the variation mechanism, the current study presents the optical characterization of Agaricus bisporus laccase and focus on real-time monitoring polymerics formation, both theoretically and experimentally, in order to lay a foundation for laccase-based optical biosensing application. According to bioinformatics analysis, the results show that the target laccase has conserved copper binding site, and the related amino acid residues possibly have positive effect on the florescence of Typ in this region. On the basis of experimental characterization, the results show that the enzyme displays an obvious absorption peak at approximately 400 nm (optimal pH 7.0), and the strongest fluorescence of enzyme centers at around the excitation wavelength of 280 nm and emission wavelength of 340 nm (optimal pH 6.0); organic ethanol serves as an active enhancer toward the absorbance of enzyme, especially the high concentration ethanol (50%) can achieve above twofold enhancement on the enzyme absorbance compared to that of the non-addition in the examined condition, while Cu2+ acts as a strong inhibitor for the enzyme fluorescence due to the above 95% inhibition. Overall, the work suggests that the stably increased absorbance and decreased fluorescence of enzyme can serve as dual standard for optical biosensing which will benefit in improving the flexibility and accuracy of sensing.

High strength and ductility materials are in demand for various modern applications. In order to surmount the inherent trade-off between toughness and stiffness for most elastomers, we developed a strategy which let two polymer networks form an interpenetrated structure through introducing slip-rings by a very simple one-step synthesis method. The synergistic effect of the slip-rings and the double network structure make the resulting materials (SRDN elastomers) both tough and stiff. The fracture stress is up to 11 MPa. The maximum fracture strain is 1600%. Furthermore, the SRDN elastomers show good tear resistance and fracture energy of up to 66.3 kJ m−2 and 79.3 MJ m−3, respectively. In addition, the SRDN elastomers show self-healing properties similar to those of the PHEA elastomer, since the slip effect imparts good chain mobility to the material. This research provides a facile approach to fabricate super tough and stiff elastomers with self-healing ability.

The lead-free perovskite ceramics of (1-x) Ba0.96Li0.04TiO3-xBiYO3 (BLT-xBY) (x = 0.02 ∼ 0.10) were synthesized using traditional solid reaction sintering at 1250 °C. XRD and Raman spectra analysis showed that the phase structure transformation occurred at 0.06 < x < 0.08. When x is in the range of 0.02 ∼ 0.06, the orthorhombic and tetragonal phases coexist in the sample. When x ≥ 0.08, the tetragonal phase disappears, and the orthorhombic phase and the cubic phase coexist. All the samples displayed almost pore-free microstructures with relative densities above 91%. As x increases, the maximum permittivity decreases and moves towards low temperature. The dielectric constant at different frequencies shows dispersion phenomenon. When x = 0.08, the remnant polarization (Pr) and the maximum polarization (Pmax) of the composition were 1.047 μC cm−2 and 11.643 μC cm−2, respectively. Meanwhile, the recoverable energy storage density (Wrec) is increased to 0.319 J cm−3 with a high dielectric breakdown strength (BDS) of 69.2 kV cm−1 at x = 0.08.

Tough self-healing elastomers with excellent comprehensive performance are extremely demanding and fascinating for future product development, such as wearable devices and robots. However, the defo...

Prunus yunkaishanensis, a new species of Prunus subg. Laurocerasus (Rosaceae), is described and illustrated. The new species is similar to P. phaeosticta and P. fordiana in their leaves with punctate abaxial surface, but it can be distinguished from the latter two species by having larger leaves with more pairs of lateral veins, shorter inflorescences with stout rachises, bracts persistent during anthesis, and ovoid fruits.

GTP binding proteins known as small GTPases make up one of the largest groups of regulatory proteins and control almost all functions of living cells. Their activity is under, respectively, positive and negative regulation by guanine nucleotide exchange factors (GEFs) and GTPase activating proteins (GAPs), which together with their upstream regulators and the downstream targets of the small GTPases form formidable signalling networks. While genomics has revealed the large size of the GTPase, GEF and GAP repertoires, only a small fraction of their interactions and functions have yet been experimentally explored. Dictyostelid social amoebas have been particularly useful in unravelling the roles of many proteins in the Rac-Rho and Ras-Rap families of GTPases in directional cell migration and regulation of the actin cytoskeleton. Genomes and cell-type specific and developmental transcriptomes are available for Dictyostelium species that span the 0.5 billion years of evolution of the group from their unicellular ancestors. In this work, we identified all GTPases, GEFs and GAPs from genomes representative of the four major taxon groups and investigated their phylogenetic relationships and evolutionary conservation and changes in their functional domain architecture and in their developmental and cell-type specific expression. We performed a hierarchical cluster analysis of the expression profiles of the ~2000 analysed genes to identify putative interacting sets of GTPases, GEFs and GAPs, which highlight sets known to interact experimentally and many novel combinations. This work represents a valuable resource for research into all fields of cellular regulation., This research was funded by the European Research Council under grant 742288 and by The Wellcome Trust under grant 100293/Z/12/Z; European Research Council [742288].

Two Co(II)-containing coordination polymers, {Co(TDC)(TPB)0.5·H2O}n (1) and {[Co2(2,6-NDC)2(TPB)]·MeCN·3H2O}n (2) (TPB = 1,2,4,5-tetra(4-pyridyl)benzene, H2TDC = 2,5-thiophenedicarboxylic acid, 2,6...

Pure phase polycrystalline BiFeO₃ film was deposited onto FTO substrate by RF magnetron sputtering method. SEM result shows that BiFeO₃ film has the obvious porosity and large clusters which lead to the poor ferroelectric and photovoltaic properties in FTO/BiFeO₃/Ag device. However, these properties are improved in p-i-n structured FTO/TiO₂/BiFeO₃/HTM/Ag device by incorporating the electron and hole transport materials. The hysteresis loop measurement demonstrates the excellent ferroelectric property with large remnant polarization (2Pr = 180 μC/cm²) and low leakage current. The J-V curve shows the short-circuit current density is dozens of times larger than that of FTO/BiFeO₃/Ag device. Moreover, the photovoltaic output depends on the poling field where the positive poling improves the short-circuit current density to -85 μA/cm₂ and the negative poling reduces both the photocurrent and photovoltage. It is believed that the ferroelectric polarization plays a dominant role in the photovoltaic effect.

This paper presents a scalable 1024-element transmit dual-circularly-polarized phased array for Ka-band satellite communication (SATCOM) terminal applications. The transmit array based on the CMOS beamformer and a multilayer printed circuit board (PCB) can steer up to large scan angles (±60°) with a scan loss less than 4.5 dB. With the 8-channel transmit beamformer, the array can realize dual circular polarization and the axial ratio (AR) of the array is less than 3 dB in the scanning range of ±30° in both left-hand circular polarization (LHCP) and right-hand circular polarization (RHCP) mode. The effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP) of the array achieves 74 dBm from 29.5 GHz to 30 GHz. The design and measurement of the 1024-element transmit array have presented a feasible way for mass production of a low cost active phased array.

A polycrystalline BiFeO₃ film was deposited on ITO substrate by RF magnetron sputtering method. Small crystallite size and compact structure are obtained for BiFeO₃ film which has the excellent ferroelectric properties. The measured photovoltaic response reveals an open-circuit voltage of ~0.52 V and a short-circuit current density of ~10 μA/cm² under the illumination of 100 mW/cm² irradiance. Moreover, a tunable photovoltaic effect with light illumination is observed under different voltage sweep mode. High initial sweep voltage can enhance the photovoltaic effect largely, however, the photovoltaic response decreases with the increase of voltage sweep interval. The results indicate the ferroelectric polarization plays an important role in the photovoltaic effect.

This paper presents a 36-element low-profile half-duplex K-band T/R phased array as a solution for the platform with limited aperture and space for the phased array. With the solution of micro-assembly presented in this paper, the height of the array is only 12.3 mm. To improve the phased array's performance in ultra-small aperture, multi-channel GaAs MMICs have been applied in this work. The array's scan angle could achieve ±50° in both azimuth (H-plane) and elevation (E-plane). The EIRP and G/T of the array are 51dBm and -12.5dB/K respectively at the bandwidth from 21.5 GHz to 22 GHz.

Background: Nitrogen (N) fertilizer is commonly considered as one of the most omportant limiting factors in the agricultural production. As a result, modern tea production, a large amount of N fertilizer is used to improve the yield. Unfortunately, the large amount of N fertilizer input has led to increased plant nitrogen-tolerance and decreased amplitude of yield improvement, which results in significant N loss, energy waste and environment pollution.However, the effects of N-deficiency on the metabolic profiles of leaves and roots are not well understood.Results: In the study, seedlings of Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze cv. Chunlv 2 were treated with 3 mM NH4NO3（as Control）or without NH4NO3（as N-deficiency）for 4 months by sandy culture. The results suggested the N-deficiency induced tea leaf chlorosis, impaired biomass accumulation, decreased the leaf chlorophyll content and N absorption compared to Control. The untargeted metabolomics based on GC-TOF/MS approach revealed discrimination of the metabolic profiles between N-deficient tea leaves and roots. The identification and classification of the altered metabolites indicated the N deficiency upregulated the relative abundances of most phenylpropanoids, organic acids while downregulated the relative abundances of most amino acids in the tea leaves. Differentially, N-deficiency induced the accumulation of most carbohydrates, organic acids and amino acids in the tea roots. The potential biomarkers screened in the N-deficient leaves compared to Control reflected the N deficiency reduced the tea quality. Unlike the N-deficient leaves, the potential biomarkers in the N-deficient roots implied an improved stress response. Conclusions:The results demonstrated the N deficiency had different effects on the primary and secondary metabolic alteration of tea leaves and roots. The findings of the study will facilitate a comprehensive understanding of the N-deficient tea plants and provide a valuable reference for the optimized N nutrient management in the tea plantations.

Cell differentiation is traditionally monitored with a few marker genes, which may bias results. To understand the evolution and regulation of the spore, stalk, cup and basal disc cells in Dictyostelia, we previously performed RNAseq on purified cell-types of taxon-group representative dictyostelids. Using promoter-lacZ constructs in D. discoideum, we here investigate the spatio-temporal expression pattern of 29 cell-type specific genes. Genes selected for spore- or cup-specificity in RNAseq were validated as such by lacZ expression, but genes selected for stalk-specificity showed variable additional expression in basal disc, early cup or prestalk populations. We measured responses of 25 genes to 15 single or combined regimes of induction by stimuli known to regulate cell differentiation. The outcomes of these experiments were subjected to hierarchical clustering to identify whether common modes of regulation were correlated with specific expression patterns. The analysis identified a cluster combining the spore and cup genes, which shared upregulation by 8-bromo cyclic AMP and down-regulation by Differentiation Inducing Factor 1 (DIF-1). Most stalk-expressed genes combined into a single cluster and shared strong upregulation by cyclic di-guanylate (c-di-GMP), and synergistic upregulation by combined DIF-1 and c-di-GMP. There was no clustering of genes expressed in other soma besides the stalk, but two genes that were only expressed in the stalk did not respond to any stimuli. In contrast to current models, the study indicates the existence of a stem-cell like soma population in slugs, whose members only acquire ultimate cell fate after progressing to their terminal location during fruiting body morphogenesis., This research was funded by ERC advanced grant 742288. Z-HC. was additionally funded by Wellcome grant 100293/Z/12/Z and K.K. was additionally supported by EMBO long-term fellowship ALTF 295–2015 and by JSPS Overseas Research Fellowship H28–1002.

Well dispersed CeO₂ nanoparticles are prepared by azeotropic co-precipitation method. (Ba0.96Ca0.04)(Ti0.90Sn0.10)O₃ lead-free piezoelectric ceramics doped with nano-CeO₂ (x =0 mol%, 0.03 mol%, and 0.07 mol%) and micro-CeO₂ (x = 0.03 mol%) are prepared at 1430 °C for 2 h by the conventional solid state sintering method. XRD diffraction indicates that all components have typical perovskite structure. Both doping of nano-CeO₂ and micro-CeO₂ can inhibit grain growth. And the average grain size decreased apparently with the increase of nano-CeO₂ amount. All the samples exhibit typical diffuse phase transition behavior. The optimized electrical performances are obtained at x = 0.03 mol% with d33 = 512 pC/N, kp = 41.5%, and Pr = 14.00 μC/cm².

In this paper, a new Hilbert space is defined which is embedded into $$W_{0}^{1, q}(\Omega)$$ for 1 ≤ q < 2. By using sign-changing critical point theory, we prove the existence of infinitely many sign-changing solutions in this new space for nonlinear elliptic partial differential equations with Hardy potential and critical parameter in ℝ2.

In selective breeding, a central parameter in summarizing the proportion of variance due to genetics for the purpose of predicting gains from selection is realized heritability (h2). We applied the genome-wide complex trait analysis (GCTA) method to genome-wide SNP data obtained by 2b-RAD reduced-representation genotyping and phenotypic data for four traits (shell length, shell height, shell width and whole wet weight) with the aim of establishing the heritability for growth in Zhikong scallop (Chlamys farreri) in a selective breeding program. The GCTA-based heritabilities of 0.42 (S.E. 0.09) for shell length, 0.47 (S.E. 0.07) for shell height, 0.54 (S.E. 0.11) for shell width and 0.28 (S.E. 0.03) for whole wet weight, which were estimated with uncommon SNPs (26,471 SNPs with MAF >2%), were close to and strongly correlated (r = 0.957) with traditional estimates of realized heritability and in the moderate-to-high range, in line with values previously obtained for growth rates in bivalves. hGCTA2 with 20,000 and 10,000 SNPs were very close to estimates with uncommon SNPs and appeared relatively robust to SNP number. Removing causal SNPs had little effect on obtaining reliable estimates of hGCTA2, suggesting that causal SNPs is not necessary for accurate estimates of h2. Chromosome-wise heritability estimates suggested that the genetic contribution to growth complex traits is scattered across the genome and driven by many loci with small effect rather than a few causal loci with a large effect. These results indicate that the genome-wide complex trait analysis method may be useful for estimating realized heritability for growth in Zhikong scallop with SNPs obtained by reduced-representation genotyping approaches, which is less expensive and faster than full-genome sequencing for non-model species growing in natural environments.

Mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) for CO2 separation have overcome the trade-off between gas permeability and gas selectivity to some extent. However, most MMMs still are prepared in lab- and pilot-scales since the permeability and selectivity of CO2 are not good enough to reach the economically available requirements. Moreover, the fabrication of few MMMs with good separation performance is time-consuming or need harsh conditions. In this study, a novel MOF-based composite membrane (PAN-γ-CD-MOF-PU membrane) was successfully fabricated by a facile and fast spin-coating method. In the two-step coating process, we applied a uniform selective layer of γ-cyclodextrin-MOF (γ-CD-MOF) on porous polyacrylonitrile and then coated a layer of polyurethane on the γ-CD-MOF layer. The entire membrane formation process was about 30 s. The formation of a unique γ-CD-MOF layer greatly improved the separation ability of CO2 (the CO2 permeability is 70.97 barrers; the selectivity to CO2/N2 and CO2/O2 are 253.46 and 154.28, respectively). The gas separation performance can exceed the Robeson upper limit obviously and the selectivity is better than other MOF-based composite membranes. In addition, the PAN-γ-CD-MOF-PU membrane is strong and flexible. Therefore, the PAN-γ-CD-MOF-PU membrane developed in this study has great potential in large-scale industrial separation of CO2.

The complete chloroplast genome of Firmina danxiaensis, an important deciduous tree, was identified and sequenced in this study. The genome size is 161,205 bp, the GC content is 36.88%. A total of 129 genes were identified, including 84 protein-coding genes, 8 rRNA genes, and 37 tRNA genes. 10 plastome accessions from Sterculiaceae were selected to assess the phylogenetic placement of genus and the result showed that F. danxiaensis is most closely related to F. simplex.

Lead-free piezoelectric ceramics, 0.5Ba0.8Ca0.2TiO3-0.5BaTi0.8Sn0.2O3-0.02Pr6O11-xLa2O3 (x = 0–0.06), were fabricated by solid-state sintering method. The effects of La2O3 addition on the phase structure, microstructure and electric properties of the ceramics were studied. The X-ray diffraction and Raman spectrum analyses revealed that La3+ ions diffused into the lattice to form a stable solid solution. Rhombohedral and tetragonal phases coexisted in the ceramics for x = 0.02–0.06. The grain growth-inhibiting effect of La doping led to an obvious decrease in grain size of ceramics from 58 μm (x = 0) to 22 μm (x = 0.06). The electrical properties were optimized at x = 0.04 with high piezoelectric coefficient (558 pC/N), planar electromechanical coupling factor (52.2%) and remnant polarization (7.5 μC/cm2).