Search

AbstractMicrobial grouting technology based on microbially induced calcite precipitation (MICP) is a new soil improvement method. This technique involves injecting bacteria and a cementation solution into soil pores to generate CaCO3 precipitation, thereby enhancing soil strength. Studies on microbial grouting from the aspects of experimental studies, theoretical models and engineering applications were extensively reviewed. Factors such as grouting methods, grouting rate, cementation solution concentration, and pH significantly influence the size and distribution of CaCO3. The three-phase grouting method enhances bacterial adsorption and soil strength. The higher grouting rate (grouting rate greater than reaction rate) and low pH (pH is not lower than 4) facilitate the uniform distribution of CaCO3. The size of CaCO3 and the soil strength increase with increasing cementation solution concentration. The existing models were established based on equilibrium flow, which overlooks the reduction of solute migration distance caused by the non-uniformity of the medium. Micro-structural analysis shows that CaCO3 precipitation between adjacent soil particles acts as a matrix supporting to increase soil strength. Microbial grouting technology can employ CaCO3 precipitation to seal wellbore cracks for CO2 storage and cement soil particles for slope stability and foundation improvement. Finally, the challenges encountered in microbial grouting technology were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThis study aims to enhance the degradation uniformity of PLGA sinus stents to minimize fracture risk caused by stress corrosion. Symmetric stent structures were introduced and compared to sinusoidal structure in terms of stress and degradation uniformity during implantation and degradation processes. Three surrogate models were employed to optimize the honeycomb-like structure. Results showed honeycomb-like structures exhibited the superior stress distribution and highest degradation uniformity. The kriging model achieved the smallest error and degradation uniformity of 83.24%. In conclusion, enhancing the symmetry of stent structures improves degradation uniformity, and the kriging model has potential for the optimization of stent structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The safe operation of underground reservoirs and environmental protection heavily rely on the water flow through coal pillar dams in coal mines. Meanwhile, research on the flow characteristics in coal pillar dams has been limited due to their low hydraulic conductivity. To address this gap, this study assembled a novel seepage experimental device and conducted a series of carefully designed seepage experiments to examine the characteristics of low‐permeability in coal pillar dams. The experiments aim to explore the relationship between water flux and hydraulic gradient, considering varying core lengths and immersion times. Flow parameters were determined by fitting observed flux‐gradient curves with predictions from both Darcy and non‐Darcian laws. Several significant results were obtained. First, a noticeable non‐linear relationship between water flux and hydraulic gradient was observed, particularly evident at low flow velocities. Second, the non‐Darcy laws effectively interpreted the experimental data, with threshold pressure gradients ranging 13.60 to 58.64 for different core lengths. Third, the study established that water immersion significantly affects the flow characteristics of coal pillar dams, resulting in an increased hydraulic conductivity and flow velocity. These findings carry significant implications for the design of coal pillar dams within underground coal mine reservoirs, providing insights for constructing more stable structures and ensuring environmental protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantum dialogue (QD) enables two communication parties to directly exchange secret messages simultaneously. In conventional QD protocols, photons need to transmit in the quantum channel for two rounds. In this paper, we propose a one-step QD protocol based on the hyperentanglement. With the help of the non-local hyperentanglement-assisted Bell state measurement (BSM), the photons only need to transmit in the quantum channel once. We prove that our one-step QD protocol is secure in theory and numerically simulate its secret message capacity under practical experimental condition. Compared with previous QD protocols, the one-step QD protocol can effectively simplify the experiment operations and reduce the message loss caused by the photon transmission loss. Meanwhile, the non-local hyperentanglement-assisted BSM has a success probability of 100% and is feasible with linear optical elements. Moreover, combined with the hyperentanglement heralded amplification and purification, our protocol is possible to realize long-distance one-step QD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Catalytic hydrogenolysis of xylose to ethylene glycol (EG) and 1,2-propanediol (1,2-PG) is an important way for the high-value valorization of biomass. Herein, Ni-W/CeO2 catalysts prepared by incipient-wetness impregnation method were used for the hydrogenolysis of xylose to EG and 1,2-PG. Several characterizations such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray photoelectronic spectroscopy (XPS) were used to analyze the physicochemical properties of the catalysts. The effects of different Ni/W ratios and reaction conditions on the hydrogenolysis performance of the catalyst were investigated. The doping of W promoted the selective cleavage of C–C and C-O bonds of xylose, thus improved the yield of EG 1,2-PG. The doping of W can form interactions with Ni and increase the oxygen vacancy concentration of CeO2, which have a significant impact on the catalyst activity. When the Ni: W ratio is around 1:1, the catalyst has the best activity, and the total yield of diols can reach about 43.2%.. When xylan was used as the substrate, the total yield of diols can reach to 58.7%. The possible reaction mechanism of xylose hydrogenolysis was also discussed. This work developed a new catalyst system for the directional conversion of xylose to EG and 1,2-PG, which provided a new idea for the design of catalyst to converting lignocellulose, especially carbohydrate into high-value chemicals. Ni-W/CeO2 with different Ni/W ratio are efficient catalysts for hydrogenolysis of xylose to EG and 1,2-PG. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We add new inter-element variables to the BDM H (div) finite elements on triangular and tetrahedral meshes for the Stokes equations. With the weak gradient, we enforce weakly the tangential continuity of H (div) finite element velocity fields while not relaxing the normal continuity. The new method produces divergence-free H (div) finite element solutions of optimal-order convergence. Numerical examples are provided, confirming the theory and in particular, the pressure-robustness of the method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider a complete noncompact minimal hypersurface Σ n in a product manifold S n (2 (n - 1)) × R (n ≥ 3) . We get that there admits no nontrivial L 2 harmonic 1-forms on Σ if the square of L n -norm of the second fundamental form is less than α 2 n 2 C 0 (n - 1) or the square of the length of the second fundamental form is less than n α 2 2 (n - 1) . Here α is an angle function and C 0 is the Sobolev constant depending only on n. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oysters that filter feed can accumulate numerous pathogens, including viruses, which can serve as a valuable viral repository. As oyster farming becomes more prevalent, concerns are mounting about diseases that can harm both cultivated and wild oysters. Unfortunately, there is a lack of research on the viruses and other factors that can cause illness in shellfish. This means that it is harder to find ways to prevent these diseases and protect the oysters. This is part of a previously started project, the Dataset of Oyster Virome, in which we further study 30 almost complete genomes of oyster-associated CRESS DNA viruses. The replication-associated proteins and capsid proteins found in CRESS DNA viruses display varying evolutionary rates and frequently undergo recombination. Additionally, some CRESS DNA viruses have the capability for cross-species transmission. A plethora of unclassified CRESS DNA viruses are detectable in transcriptome libraries, exhibiting higher levels of transcriptional activity than those found in metagenome libraries. The study significantly enhances our understanding of the diversity of oyster-associated CRESS DNA viruses, emphasizing the widespread presence of CRESS DNA viruses in the natural environment and the substantial portion of CRESS DNA viruses that remain unidentified. This study's findings provide a basis for further research on the biological and ecological roles of viruses in oysters and their environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a novel air bleeding aerodynamic diffuser is proposed based on the study of the traditional dump diffuser. The performance and flow characteristics of these two diffusers are compared and analyzed using the numerical simulation method, which is validated by experiments. The effects of length and hole diameter on the diffuser's performance are also studied. The results reveal that, at inlet Mach numbers of 0.15, 0.20 and 0.30, compared with the dump diffuser, the total pressure loss coefficient of the new diffuser decreases by 18.52 %, 15.05 % and 40.23 %. The performance of the air bleeding aerodynamic diffuser with varing lengths has little change, which means its aerodynamic capabilities are still capable of meeting the requirements of advanced combustion chambers. As the diameter of the air bleed hole increases, the total pressure loss coefficient of the diffuser decreases and becomes gentler. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To discuss the presentation, evaluation, and management of congenital laryngeal webs with subglottic stenosis. Methods: The clinical data of six children were retrospectively analyzed. Results: The median age of these children who came to our hospital was 14 months (range 1–26 months). A tracheotomy was performed in all these six children. The median age of the patients who underwent tracheotomy was 4 months (range 1–11 months). The surgical method was T-tube implantation combined with cricoid cartilage reconstruction. The median age of these patients at the time of operation was 22 months (range 13–35 months). The T-tube remained in place for 3–8 months, with a median time of 6 months. The tracheal tubes in all these children were successfully removed. All patients were followed up for more than 2 years without recurrence. Conclusions: Children who have congenital laryngeal webs with subglottic stenosis required early tracheotomy. Open laryngoplasty combined with T-tube implantation and cricoid cartilage reconstruction may play a crucial role in the treatment of these children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Glioma treatment in traditional Chinese medicine has a lengthy history. Astragalus membranaceus, a traditional Chinese herb that is frequently utilized in therapeutic practice, is a component of many Traditional Chinese Medicine formulas that have been documented to have anti-glioma properties. Uncertainty persists regarding the molecular mechanism behind the therapeutic effects. Based on results from network pharmacology and molecular docking, we thoroughly identified the molecular pathways of Astragalus membranaceus' anti-glioma activities in this study. According to the findings of the enrichment analysis, 14 active compounds and 343 targets were eliminated from the screening process. These targets were mainly found in the pathways in cancer, neuroactive ligand–receptor interaction, protein phosphorylation, inflammatory response, positive regulation of phosphorylation, and inflammatory mediator regulation of Transient Receptor Potential (TRP) channels. The results of molecular docking showed that the active substances isoflavanone and 1,7-Dihydroxy-3,9-dimethoxy pterocarpene have strong binding affinities for the respective targets ESR2 and PTGS2. In accordance with the findings of our investigation, Astragalus membranaceus active compounds exhibit a multicomponent and multitarget synergistic therapeutic impact on glioma by actively targeting several targets in various pathways. Additionally, we propose that 1,7-Dihydroxy-3,9-dimethoxy pterocarpene and isoflavanone may be the main active ingredients in the therapy of glioma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are a few studies that reported sex disparities in clinical features, pathological features and outcomes among ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV) patients, but studies focusing on sex-specific differences of myeloperoxidase (MPO)-AAV patients are scarce. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to analyze sex differences in clinicopathological features and outcomes of MPO-AAV. Patients diagnosed with MPO-AAV in Xiangya Hospital from January 2010 to June 2021 were included in the study and separated into female and male groups. The differences in clinical manifestations, laboratory parameters, pathological features and prognosis between the two groups were retrospectively analyzed. Three hundred and sixty-six patients were included and divided into female group (n = 176) and male group (n = 190). The age of the male group was 62.41 ± 10.49 years, significantly higher than that of the female group (58.69 ± 16.39, p = 0.011). Compared with the female group, the male group had a shorter duration of disease, higher levels of hemoglobin, eosinophil count, proteinuria, serum C4, and lower levels of serum globulin, serum IgG and serum IgM (p < 0.05). No significant differences in kidney pathological features were observed between the two groups. During a median follow-up of 37.6 months, there was no significant difference in renal survival and patient survival between the two groups, but male patients had a worse composite outcome of renal and patient survival compared with the female patients (p = 0.044). This study found that male patients with MPO-AAV had a higher age of onset, shorter duration of disease, higher levels of hemoglobin, eosinophil count, proteinuria, serum C4, and lower levels of serum globulin, serum IgG and serum IgM. Male patients fared worse than female patients in terms of the composite outcome of renal and patient survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dual‐atom site catalysts (DACs) have emerged as a new frontier in the heterogeneous catalysis field for electrochemical energy conversion systems. In this review, the superiority of DACs over single‐atom site catalysts is fully discussed. The origin of synergistic effects such as optimized d‐band structure, tailored spin state, and tuned charge transfer are pointed out. The merits in geometric and electronic structure render the active moiety versatile binding behavior toward adsorbed intermediate and beneficial synergistic effects to break the scaling relationships. The approaches to engineer the active moiety of DACs through modulating the central atoms, tuning the coordination environment, and engineering the metal‐support interaction are summarized. Finally, the current challenges and future research perspectives of DACs for efficient electrocatalysis are outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Detecting tumor progression of glioma continues to pose a formidable challenge. The role of fibroblast activation protein (FAP) in gliomas has been demonstrated to facilitate tumor progression. Glioma-circulating biomarkers have not yet been used in clinical practice. This study seeks to evaluate the feasibility of glioma detection through the utilization of a serum FAP marker. Methods: We adopted enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique to quantify the relative FAP level of serum autoantibodies in a cohort of 87 gliomas. The correlation between preoperative serum autoantibody relative FAP levels and postoperative pathology, including molecular pathology was investigated. A series of FAP tests were conducted on 33 cases of malignant gliomas in order to ascertain their efficacy in monitoring the progression of the disease in relation to imaging observations. To validate the presence of FAP expression in tumors, immunohistochemistry was conducted on four gliomas employing a FAP-specific antibody. Additionally, the investigation encompassed the correlation between postoperative tumor burden, as assessed through volumetric analysis, and the relative FAP level of serum autoantibodies. Results: A considerable proportion of gliomas exhibited a significantly increased level of serum autoantibody relative FAP level. This elevation was closely associated with both histopathology and molecular pathology, and demonstrated longitudinal fluctuations and variations corresponding to the progression of the disease The correlation between the rise in serum autoantibody relative FAP level and tumor progression and/or exacerbation of symptoms was observed. Conclusions: The measurement of serum autoantibody relative FAP level can be used to detect the disease as a valuable biomarker. The combined utilization of its detection alongside MR imaging has the potential to facilitate a more accurate and prompt diagnosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an experimental program of the bond behavior of concrete beams reinforced with hybrid fiber‐reinforced polymer (FRP) and steel bars, and the bond behavior between flexural cracks is investigated. Under the static loading, both the slip of steel and glass FRP (GFRP) bars increased significantly after steel yielding, while the slip of steel bars presented a faster increase rate. A method of calculating the bond stress based on test data was proposed, and this method overcame the disadvantage of histogram distribution of the conventional method. An analytical model of calculating the bond stress was proposed, and was verified with the test results. Under the fatigue loading, the bond stress deteriorated more seriously with a higher upper limit of fatigue load. The slip increased rapidly at the initial stage, and remained approximately unchanged with the increase of fatigue cycles, and the slip increased dramatically when the beam was subjected to fatigue failure. After fatigue loading, the yielding strength and ultimate strength of steel bars showed an increase rate less than 5%, while the hardening phase decreased significantly. The ultimate tensile strength of GFRP bars after fatigue decreased in the range of 4.5%–32.3%, and the modulus for elasticity remained unchanged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae (hvKp), characterized by high virulence and epidemic potential, has become a global public health challenge. Therefore, improving the identification of hvKp and enabling earlier and faster detection in the community to support subsequent effective treatment and prevention of hvKp are an urgent issue. To address these issues, a number of assays have emerged, such as String test, Galleria mellonella infection test, PCR, isothermal exponential amplification, and so on. In this paper, we have collected articles on the detection methods of hvKp and conducted a retrospective review based on two aspects: traditional detection technology and biomarker-based detection technology. We summarize the advantages and limitations of these detection methods and discuss the challenges as well as future directions, hoping to provide new insights and references for the rapid detection of hvKp in the future. The aim of this study is to focus on the research papers related to Hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae involving the period from 2012 to 2022. We conducted searches using the keywords "Hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae, biomarkers, detection techniques" on ScienceDirect and Google Scholar. Additionally, we also searched on PubMed, using MeSH terms associated with the keywords (such as Klebsiella pneumoniae, Klebsiella Infections, Virulence, Biomarkers, diagnosis, etc.). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multi-contextualized representations learning is vital for named entity recognition (NER), which is a fundamental task for effectively extracting structured information from unstructured text, and forming knowledge bases. This task is particularly challenging when dealing with Chinese text given the absence of evident word boundaries. Chinese word segmentation (CWS) can be leveraged to recognize word boundaries, but named entities often encompass multiple segmented words, making it crucial to use boundary information to correctly recognize and distinguish the relationships between these words. In this paper, we propose MCA-NER, a multi-contextualized adversarial-based attentional deep learning approach for Chinese NER, which combines CWS and part-of-speech (POS) tagging information with the classic BiLSTM-CRF NER model, using adversarial multi-task learning. The model incorporates several self-attention components for adversarial and multi-task learning, effectively synthesizing task-specific and common information attribution while improving performance across all three tasks. Experimental results on the three datasets provide compelling evidence that supports the effectiveness and performance of our model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a rare case of a schwannoma which is localized on the posterior pharyngeal wall. It caused severe difficulty in swallowing and breathing in a 3-year-old child. Schwannomas of the posterior pharyngeal wall have been rarely reported in children. To our knowledge, only 7 cases of posterior pharyngeal wall schwannoma have been previously reported in the literature, but none of them is associated with a child. The tumor was removed with plasma radiofrequency excision via a transoral route. Computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging examination showed no recurrence of the tumor up to 2 years. To our knowledge, for the first time, a case of posterior pharyngeal wall schwannoma has been reported in a 3-year-old child, and the schwannoma was removed via plasma radiofrequency transoral excision. This case study illustrates that schwannoma may occur in children, and it is safe to treat this disease through plasma radiofrequency transoral excision route. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Schistosomiasis, a severe parasitic disease, is primarily caused by Schistosoma mansoni, Schistosoma japonicum, or Schistosoma haematobium. Currently, praziquantel is the only recommended drug for human schistosome infection. However, the lack of efficacy of praziquantel against juvenile worms and concerns about the emergence of drug resistance are driving forces behind the research for an alternative medication. Schistosomes are obligatory parasites that survive on nutrients obtained from their host. The ability of nutrient uptake depends on their physiological structure. In short, the formation and maintenance of the structure and nutrient supply are mutually reinforcing and interdependent. In this review, we focus on the structural features of the tegument, esophagus, and intestine of schistosomes and their roles in nutrient acquisition. Moreover, we introduce the significance and modes of glucose, lipids, proteins, and amino acids intake in schistosomes. We linked the schistosome structure and nutrient supply, introduced the currently emerging targets, and analyzed the current bottlenecks in the research and development of drugs and vaccines, in the hope of providing new strategies for the prevention and control of schistosomiasis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a consensus that maintenance therapy should be used to prevent relapse of myeloperoxidase-anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis (MPO-AAV), but there is a debate about the optimal duration of maintenance therapy. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine whether discontinuation of maintenance therapy in MPO-AAV patients who were in long-term stable remission affects relapse, renal survival and patient survival. Seventy-nine patients with MPO-AAV diagnosed at Xiangya hospital from June 2010 to June 2019 who were in stable remission for at least 18 months following maintenance therapy were included. Patient records were retrospectively reviewed, and based on whether patients discontinued maintenance therapy 18 months after commencing maintenance therapy, patients were assigned into either the withdrawal group (n = 26) or maintenance group (n = 53). The endpoint was the percentage of relapse, relapse-free survival, renal survival and patient survival during follow-up. Ten relapses (38.5%) occurred in the withdrawal group (n = 26) and 8 relapses (15.1%) occurred in the maintenance group (n = 53) (p = 0.020). Compared to the withdrawal group, the maintenance group had similar relapse-free survival (log-rank test p = 0.099). But maintenance group had a better renal survival (p = 0.035), with no difference in patient survival or adverse events. This study suggests that discontinuing maintenance therapy at 18 months following induction of sustained remission leads to a significant increase in the percentage of relapse, and decreases renal survival in patients with MPO-AAV, but does not decrease relapse-free survival or patient survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The accurate reconstruction of porous media is difficult to accomplish in practical research due to the intricacy of the internal structure of porous media, which cannot be described only using some equations or languages. The emerging deep learning methods open up a new research field for the reconstruction of porous media. One of the classic deep learning methods is generative adversarial network (GAN), which has been applied to the reconstruction of porous media, but also requires sufficient training samples as well as a long simulation process. Some GAN's variants, such as the single-image GAN (SinGAN), are proposed to achieve desired results with only one training image (TI), but its serial structure still necessitates lengthy training time. Based on SinGAN, a stochastic reconstruction method of porous media combining attention mechanisms with multiple-stage GAN is proposed, focusing on important features of porous media with a single TI to achieve favorable simulation quality and using two discriminators to maintain enough diversity (one discriminator prefers real data, and the other favors fake data). Experiments prove that our method outperforms some numerical reconstruction methods and SinGAN in terms of practicality and efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, the development of miniaturized electronic devices has accelerated the demand for the rate capability of planar on-chip micro-supercapacitors (POMSs). The POMSs based on reduced graphene oxide and carbon nanotube (rGO/CNT) composite electrodes (rGO/CNT-POMSs) were manufactured in the work and detailed electrochemical tests of devices were carried out over a wide range of scanning rates (0.01–10000 V s−1). The rGO/CNT composite electrode films without binder were prepared on silicon substrates by a modified liquid–air interface self-assembly method and a hydroiodic acid reduction method. The electrodes were fabricated into interdigital structure with 50 μm width of electrode and gap of electrode by photolithography. Interdigital POMSs based on different electrodes were prepared by gold sputtering on the electrode lugs. The area capacitance of the rGO/CNT-POMSs was 28.62 μF cm−2. They also had 0.004 μWh cm−2 of energy density and 1.068 μW cm−2 of power density. In addition, the charge–discharge time constant of the device was only 5.6 μs, and the charge–discharge rate was very quick. After 10,000 cycles of charge–discharge, the capacitance retention rate was still above 88%. At the ultra-high scan rate of 10000 V s−1, the devices still worked well. Compared with the POMSs based on reduced graphene oxide electrodes (rGO-POMSs) and the POMSs based on carbon nanotube electrodes (CNT-POMSs), the introduction of the CNT significantly increased the area capacitance, energy density and power density of rGO/CNT-POMSs, and significantly shortened the charge–discharge time constant. This indicated that the rGO/CNT composite electrodes had a good application prospect in the micro-chip accumulator devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sheet‐like ZSM‐5 has been regarded as a promising material for catalytic applications due to its diffusion superiority. However, it still remains a challenge to obtain a desirable sheet‐like morphology because of the complex synthesis process of zeolites. Here, a facile strategy for synthesizing sheet‐like ZSM‐5 is developed by only adding ethanol as zeolite growth modifier in the synthesis gel. It is thought that ethanol might be preferentially absorbed on the {010} surface of zeolite crystals, interact with the exposed silicon hydroxyl groups on the crystal {010} facet, and suppress the growth of b axis, resulting in the sheet‐like shape. Through finely tunning synthesis parameters, sheet‐like ZSM‐5 crystals with thin b‐axis thickness of 90 nm and different aspect ratios could be obtained. Owing to its shorter diffusion path and optimized acidity, sheet‐like ZSM‐5 exhibits better catalytic performance than conventional ZSM‐5 in the alkylation of benzene with ethanol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, a weak Galerkin (WG) method is first presented and analyzed for the quasi‐linear elliptic problem of non‐monotone type. By using Brouwer's fixed point technique, the existence of WG solution and error estimates in both the energy norm and the L2$$ {L}^2 $$ norm are derived. Then an efficient two‐grid WG method is introduced to improve the computational efficiency. The convergence error of the two‐grid WG method is analyzed in the energy norm. Numerical experiments are presented to verify our theoretical findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Camel milk is known for its exceptional medical uses. It has been used since ancient times to treat infant diarrhea, hepatitis, insulin-dependent diabetes (IDDM), lactose intolerance, alcohol-induced liver damage, allergies, and autism. It has the power to treat several diseases, with cancer being the most significant. This study investigated the evolutionary relationship, physiochemical characteristics, and comparative genomic analysis of the casein gene family (CSN1S1, CSN2, CSN1S2, and CSN3) in Camelus ferus. Molecular phylogenetics showing the camelid species clustered casein nucleotide sequences into four groups: CSN1S1, CSN2, CSN1S2, and CSN3. The casein proteins from camels were evaluated and found to be unstable, thermostable, and hydrophilic. CSN1S2, CSN2, and CSN3 were acidic, but CSN1S1 was basic. CSN1S1 showed positive selection for one amino acid (Q), CSN1S2 and CSN2 for three (T, K, Q), and CSN3 showed no positive selection. We also compared high-milk-output species such as cattle (Bos Tarus) and low-milk-yield species such as sheep (Ovies Aries) with camels (Camel ferus) and discovered that YY1 sites are more frequent in sheep than in camels and very low in cattle. We concluded that the ratio of YY1 sites in these species may affect milk production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transient response of the lateral photovoltaic effect (LPE) was observed when Ti–SiO2–Si structure was irradiated by a 650 nm laser which is attributed to the remarkable absorptivity. LPE is linearly dependent on the laser irradiation position. The LPE has high sensitivity of 68.4 mV/mm and linearity of 0.9853, respectively. This paper focuses on the transient response process of LPE at different laser irradiation positions. The mechanism of the response time of the MOS structure is caused by the diffusion of electrons to the positive and negative electrodes. We experimentally verified this mechanism by laser irradiation on different positions. The principle of transient LPE is revealed by carrier diffusion and recombination theory. LPE has faster response time and larger amplitude when the laser irradiation points are close to electrodes. A resistor–capacitor (RC) circuit model combines with LPE which is established to simulate and analyze the transient process. The research provides a new direction for LPE-based sensors with regard to the amplitude and response time which change with laser irradiation position in Ti–SiO2–Si structure for researchers to develop position-sensitive sensors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of pyridinium-based chiral ionic liquid crystals were designed and synthesized. All of them exhibit enantiotropic smectic phases. The methylation on the pyridine ring not only decreases the melting point and clearing point, but also drives structural transitions from bilayer molecular packing structures to interdigitated monolayer ones at the smectic A and C phases. Due to entropy increase, the clearing point of the liquid crystal derived from 2-methylpyridine is higher than that derived from 3-methylpyridine, and then that derived from 4-methylpyridine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the effects of particle size difference of aluminum (Al) powder on physical properties of Al powder and sintering properties of Al paste were investigated. For this purpose, respectively, Al powders with four mean particle sizes were used, which were obtained by two classifications using the same nitrogen atomization process. Thermal analysis results showed that the smaller the Al particle size, the lower the oxidation temperature and the higher the reaction enthalpy, indicating higher reactivity of the Al powder. Four Al powders were prepared into Al paste by the same process, and the resistances of the paste increased with the decrease of the particle size of the aluminum powder. Electrochemical capacitance-voltage profiler (ECV) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis showed that the smaller the Al particle size, the thicker the back surface field (BSF) and the higher the doping concentration of BSF. It was found that the smaller size of Al powder limited the migration of silicon, which resulted in higher concentration of silicon (Si) in the Al-Si liquid phase. This leads to reaching a balance at a higher temperature between the recrystallization of silicon from the alloy liquid and the dissolution of silicon in the liquid alloy and a higher doping concentration and a higher effective BSF doping thickness. Results of the study will provide reference for further study and application of Al paste. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, metal-interlayer-metal (MIM) structure samples are designed to investigate the breakdown properties of aluminum/cupric oxide (Al/CuO)-based reactive multilayer films (RMFs) and to evaluate the differences in the breakdown properties between the Al/CuO RMFs and the single-layer CuO film sample. The MIM structure samples use Al/CuO RMFs as the interlayers between the top and bottom aluminum electrodes, like a sandwich. The pulsed voltage is produced by a capacitor. The samples are not discharged until the external voltage exceeds the breakdown field strength (EB) of the Al/CuO RMFs. The results show that the EB of the Al/CuO RMFs can be improved by Al interlayers in the RMFs, but the destruction area caused by breakdown is smaller than that of the single-layer CuO film. A theoretical model indicates that the thermal conductivity and vaporization heat are crucial parameters for the breakdown of Al/CuO RMFs. The viewpoint from the breakdown of the Al/CuO RMFs proposed in this study might provide a new way for interpreting the electrical excitation process in RMFs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a multi-factor reaction thermal risk model and a safety optimization method based on partial least squares (PLS) method were proposed. First, orthogonal experiments of key influencing factors were designed to obtain the correlation data between influencing factors and characteristic indicators of thermal risk. Then, the PLS method was employed to establish the reaction thermal risk model between them. Finally, this model was utilized to predict the worst-case scenario and optimize the permissible scope of influencing factors. The proposed method was applied to an arylamine diazo reaction as a representative example. The influencing factors included sulfuric acid concentration and diazonium salt concentration, while the characteristic indicator of thermal risk was the initiation temperature of adiabatic induction period of x hours (T D x). Setting T D24 > 30 °C, T D8 > 35 °C, T D4 > 40 °C, and T D1 > 45 °C as constraints, the optimal result was sulfuric acid concentration ≥ 72.8% and diazonium salt concentration ≤ 41.2%. Moreover, if 5% industrial deviation was tolerated, the optimal result was sulfuric acid concentration ≥ 76.2% and diazonium salt concentration ≤ 38.2%. • Partial least squares-based multi-factor reaction thermal risk model was designed. • The worst-case scenario via PLS-based reaction thermal risk model was proposed. • A solution for thermal risk assessment of an abnormal case was provided. • A safety optimization method with fault tolerance was proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Liver hepatocellular carcinoma (LIHC) is among the most frequent causes of cancer-related death across the world with a considerably poor prognosis. The current study targeted providing a new type of LIHC from the perspective of the glycolysis/cholesterol synthesis axis, predicting its prognostic characteristics, and exploring the potential role and mechanism of the glycolysis/cholesterol synthesis axis in the occurrence and development of LIHC. Methods. Based on the two expression profile data and clinical information of LIHC in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database and hepatocellular carcinoma database (HCCDB), as well as glycolysis/cholesterol-related genes from the Molecular Signatures Database (MSigDB), unsupervised consistent clustering method was used to identify molecular subtypes. In addition, the differential genes were identified by limma package, and then the gene set was enriched, analyzed, and annotated by WebGestaltR package. At the same time, the immune infiltration analysis of tumor samples was carried out using the ESTIMATE to evaluate the tumor immune score of the samples. Finally, the differences in clinical characteristics among molecular subtypes were measured using univariate and multivariate Cox analyses. Results. According to the median standardized expression levels of glycolysis/cholesterol production genes, samples were divided into four groups (molecular subtypes): Quiescent group, Glycolysis group, Cholesterol group, and Mixed group. Significant prognostic differences were observed among the four groups. In both TCGA and HCCDB18 datasets, the prognosis of subtype Mixed was the worst, while Quiescent had a good prognosis. Cell cycle and oncogenic pathways were significantly enriched in the Mixed group. In addition, glycolysis and cholesterol production gene expressions were related to the prognostic LIHC subtype classification genes' expression levels. Conclusion. Metabolic classification regarding glycolysis and cholesterol production pathways provided new insights into the biological aspects of LIHC molecular subtypes and might help to develop personalized therapies for unique tumor metabolic profiles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spherical cellulose nanocrystal (CNC), as a high value cellulose derivative, shows an excellent application potential in biomedicine, food packaging, energy storage, and many other fields due to its special structure. CNC is usually prepared by the mixed acid hydrolysis method from numerous cellulose raw materials. However, the pretreatment route in preparing spherical CNC from cellulose fiber is still used when choosing microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) as the raw material, which is not rigorous and economical. In this work, pretreatment effects on the properties of spherical CNC produced from MCC by mixed acid hydrolysis were systematically studied. Firstly, the necessity of the swelling process in pretreatment was examined. Secondly, the form effects of pretreated MCC (slurry or powder form) before acid hydrolysis in the preparation of spherical CNC were carefully investigated. The results show that the swelling process is not indispensable. Furthermore, the form of pretreated MCC also has a certain influence on the morphology, crystallinity, and thermal stability of spherical CNC. Thus, spherical CNC with different properties can be economically prepared from MCC by selecting different pretreatment routes through mixed acid hydrolysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: We aimed at developing a fast and accurate method to detect Vibrio mimicus using real‐time recombinase polymerase amplification assay. Methods and Results: Specific primers and probe were designed to target V. mimicus haemolysin (vmh) gene. Target DNA was successfully amplified at 41°C within 20 min. The method exhibited a high level of specificity and the sensitivity was 2.1 × 102 copies/25 μl or 8.4 copies/μl, which is in line with real‐time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The calibration curve plotted by the second‐order polynomial regression showed better than the linear curve, as the correlation coefficient was raised to 0.9907, which suggested that the second‐order polynomial regressions might be considered to apply to the quantification of real‐time recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA). The limit of detection (LOD) was predicted to be 77 copies/25 μl or 3 copies/μl by a probit model. The limit of quantification (LOQ) was calculated to be 28 copies /25 μl or 1 copies/μl by a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, which firstly make LOQ could be available to real‐time RPA. For the performance of the real‐time RPA in plasma samples, the detection sensitivity of real‐time RPA was as good as the real‐time PCR. For pretreatment of plasma samples, the boiling method was better than using kits, as it further shortened the time of the real‐time RPA in detecting V. mimicus. Conclusions: The real‐time RPA assay developed in our study shows multiple advantages over currently available DNA diagnostic method, including a quicker time‐to‐result for a single sample, requiring minimal infrastructure and technical support and being tolerant to inhibitors in plasma samples. Significance and Impact of the Study: The real‐time RPA assay developed here is a potentially valuable tool for point‐of‐care (POC) diagnosis of V. mimicus infection in endemic field, especially in the resources‐limited settings, as combined with portable devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a new stabilizer free weak Galerkin finite element method with continuous finite element approximation of the pressure is proposed and analyzed for the Stokes problem. To achieve the same accuracy of the pressure approximation, the new method has less degrees of freedom among all existing weak Galerkin methods for the Stokes problem. Another feature of the new method is the superclose property for the approximation of the velocity. Error estimates for velocity in both the energy norm and L 2 norm and the estimate for pressure in L 2 norm are established. A local postprocessing technique is presented to obtain global superconvergence result. Numerical examples are shown to verify the theoretical results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The heterogeneity of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is related to immune cell infiltration and genetic aberrations in the tumor microenvironment. This study aimed to identify the novel molecular typing of HCC according to the genetic and immune characteristics, to obtain accurate clinical management of this disease. We performed consensus clustering to divide 424 patients into different immune subgroups and assessed the reproducibility and efficiency in two independent cohorts with 921 patients. The associations between molecular typing and molecular, cellular, and clinical characteristics were investigated by a multidimensional bioinformatics approach. Furthermore, we conducted graph structure learning-based dimensionality reduction to depict the immune landscape to reveal the interrelation between the immune and gene systems in molecular typing. We revealed and validated that HCC patients could be segregated into 5 immune subgroups (IS1-5) and 7 gene modules with significantly different molecular, cellular, and clinical characteristics. IS5 had the worst prognosis and lowest enrichment of immune characteristics and was considered the immune cold type. IS4 had the longest overall survival, high immune activity, and antitumorigenesis, which were defined as the immune hot and antitumorigenesis types. In addition, immune landscape analysis further revealed significant intraclass heterogeneity within each IS, and each IS represented distinct clinical, cellular, and molecular characteristics. Our study provided 5 immune subgroups with distinct clinical, cellular, and molecular characteristics of HCC and may have clinical implications for precise therapeutic strategies and facilitate the investigation of immune mechanisms in HCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A large-size Bi2Se3 tape electrode (BTE) was prepared by peeling off a 2 × 1 × 0.5 cm high-quality single crystal. The feasibility of using the flexible BTE as an efficient bioplatform to load Au nanoparticles and probe DNA for HIV-1 DNA electrochemical sensing was explored. Differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) show that the resultant biosensor has a wide linear range from 0.1 fM to 1 pM, a low detection limit of 50 aM, excellent selectivity, reproducibility and stability, and is superior to the pM DNA detection level of Pt-Au, graphene-AuNPs hybrid biosensors. This outstanding performance is attributed to the intrinsic surface state of Bi2Se3 topological insulator in facilitating electron transfer. Therefore, BTE electrochemical biosensor platform has great potential in the application for sensitive detection of DNA biomarkers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we present a fully discrete stabilizer-free weak Galerkin (SFWG) finite element scheme for the approximation of the parabolic equations. The temporal variable is discretized by the second order Crank-Nicolson scheme; the spatial variables are discretized by a stabilizer-free weak Galerkin finite element method. The stability and supercloseness convergence of both the semi-discrete SFWG method and the fully discrete SFWG method have been established. A postprocessing technique is given to obtain a global superconvergence finite element approximation with two order higher than the optimal order in both H 1 semi-norm and L 2 norm on triangular meshes. Numerical experiments are demonstrated to verify the theoretical findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recycling polluted water via different techniques has become one of the most feasible ways to solve the freshwater crisis. We describe a novel method to prepare reusable and efficient photothermal energy conversion materials for water purification. Using crosslinked xerogels as precursor, the porous and interconnected carboxymethylcellulose sodium-derived carbon aerogels (abbreviated as CCAs) with good hydrophilic performance and strong light absorption capability are firstly fabricated through pyrolysis. Photothermal measurement results show that CCA15 exhibit excellent solar steam generation rate of 2.31 kg m−2 h−1 with high light-to-vapor conversion efficiency of 95.9% under 1 sun illumination. In addition, the feasible application of CCA15 for efficient water purification under 1 sun irradiation using a homemade water treatment device has been demonstrated successfully. The as-prepared CCAs shown in here can be a continuable solution to mitigate the global freshwater crisis. [Display omitted] • CCA with high specific surface area and abundant pores is fabricated. • CCA exhibits good hydrophilic and photo-thermal performance. • CCA15 shows solar steam generation rate of 2.31 kg m−2 h−1 and efficiency of 95.9%. • CCA displays water purification capability for dye pollutants and heavy metal ions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, click reactions with cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) participation have gradually become a research hotspot. Carboxylamine condensation is the most used method to introduce terminal alkyne groups at the reducing end of CNC as reaction sites for click reactions. However, hydroxyl groups on CNC surface would be slightly oxidized during the carboxyamine condensation process, inducing the potential positions of introduced alkynes would be not only at the reducing end but also on CNC surface. Here, aldimine condensation was proposed to introduce terminal alkyne groups just at the reducing end of CNC, and a systematic comparison analysis was conducted with carboxylamine condensation. Firstly, the selectivity and extent of alkynylation were characterized by XPS and EA. Secondly, the end aldehyde content in these CNC samples was measured by the BCA method, which quantitatively explained the grafting efficiency of aldimine condensation and further verified its feasibility. Thirdly, the clickability of the modified CNC samples was confirmed through XPS analysis of the products after a pre-designed click reaction. In sum, aldimine condensation was proven to be a simple and effective strategy for introducing terminal alkyne groups at the reducing end of CNC, which could be used as reaction sites for further click reactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The interaction mechanism of rice glutelin and soybean 11S globulin was revealed. • Multi-spectroscopy and molecular dynamics simulation were used in the interaction. • The secondary structure of complex was significantly correlated with particle size. Rice gluten, as the hydrophobic protein, exhibits restricted application value in hydrophilic food, which may be enhanced through interaction with soybean 11S globulin, characterized by favorable functional properties. This study aims at revealing their interaction mechanism via multi-spectroscopy and molecular dynamics simulation. The formation and structural change of rice glutelin-soybean 11S globulin complexes were detected using fluorescence, ultra–violet and circular dichroism spectra. The addition of 11S globulin increased the contents of α-helix, β-turn and random coil, but decreased β-sheet content, and the change in secondary structure was correlated with particle size. Moreover, exposure of hydrophobic groups and formation of disulfide bonds occurred in the complexes. Molecular dynamics simulation verified these experimental results through analyses of root mean square deviation and fluctuation, hydrogen bond, secondary structure, and binding free energy analysis. This study contributes to expounding the interaction mechanism of protein and protein from the molecular level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Unique hollow Co 3 O 4 /NiCo 2 O 4 nanocages were synthesized using ZIF67 as a template in a simple two-step method. • The resulting 3D hollow nanostructures have a high specific surface area and are porous, abundant, and synergistic with multi-metal ions. • The electrochemical performance of supercapacitors can be significantly improved by using composite electrodes made of Hollow Co 3 O 4 /NiCo 2 O 4 nanocages that contain oxygen-containing vacancies and heterostructures. Research into environmentally friendly energy storage devices is a vital strategy to address the energy crisis and environmental pollution challenges. In this paper, oxygen-rich vacancy Co 3 O 4 /NiCo 2 O 4 heterojunction hollow nanocage electrodes were synthesized by a two-step hydrothermal and calcination method. Taking advantage of its unique structure, oxygen vacancies, and the synergistic effect of multi-element transition metal oxides, the electrode has good conductivity, high specific surface area, and abundant active sites. As a result, the Co 3 O 4 /NiCo 2 O 4 HHNCs electrode exhibits an ultra-high specific capacitance of 1788F g−1 at 1Ag-1, and the assembled hybrid supercapacitor has an energy density of up to 43.9 Wh kg−1, which is promising for applications in energy storage materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-quality news recommendation heavily relies on accurate and timely representations of news documents and user interests. Social information, which usually contains the most recent information about the activities of users and their friends, naturally reflects the dynamics and diversities of user interests. However, existing news recommendation approaches often overlook these dynamic items, and thus lead to suboptimal performance. In this paper, we propose a novel approach by embedding users' interests from their social information by attentional graph convolutional network (GCN). We also improve news representations by jointly optimizing the titles and contents of news via attention mechanisms. Extensive experiments on three benchmark datasets show that our approach effectively improves news recommendation performance compared with state-of-the-art baselines. We also evaluate our model on a real-world dataset and the results demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed techniques in industry-level applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Meiotic recombination 11 (MRE11), a key component of the MRE11-RAD50-NBS1 (MRN) complex, plays important roles in damaged DNA repair and immune response. In this study, we described the molecular cloning of a new member of MRE11 from Litopenaeus vannamei named as LvMRE11. The full length of LvMRE11 was 2999 bp, including a 1947 bp open reading frame (ORF) that encoded a putative protein of 648 amino acids with a calculated molecular weight of ∼73.2 kDa LvMRE11 was universally expressed in all tested tissues and its expression in intestine was responsive to the challenge of white spot syndrome virus (WSSV), poly (I: C), poly [dA:dT], CpG-ODN 2006 and IFN stimulatory DNA (ISD). The dsRNA-mediated knockdown of LvMRE11 enhanced the susceptibility of shrimps to WSSV infection, as manifested by a higher mortality and viral loads observed in LvMRE11 silenced shrimps. Besides, silencing of LvMRE11 resulted in decreased expression levels of IRF–Vago–JAK/STAT pathway components, and Dorsal but not the Relish, as well as several antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). In conclusion, we provided some evidences that the involvement of LvMRE11 in innate immune against virus infection probably through regulating the IRF and Dorsal mediated antiviral pathways. •A MRE11 homolog was firstly identified from shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei. •LvMRE11 was strongly induced by the challenges of WSSV and some DNA virus mimics. •LvMRE11 was the regulator upstream of IRF and Dorsal signaling pathways. •LvMRE11 conferred antiviral protection against WSSV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amidst its diverse prehistoric civilizations, the Shizhaishan culture has provided evidence concerning the lives the ancient Dian people more than 2,000 years ago with its vivid and figurative excavated artifacts exhibiting exquisite craftsmanship and varied forms. One of the artifacts unearthed from Tomb M6, the "Golden Seal of the King of Dian," matches exactly with descriptions in the Historical Records , serving as the only domestic case in which the "the dual evidence method" of historical research has been applied. Bronze ornaments embodying the sophistication of Bronze Age civilization in the Dian Kingdom have been excavated from this and subsequent large tombs, the cultural interaction between Dian and the Bronze Age plaques of the Scythians on the Eurasian steppe and the North System implies exchange between different prehistoric civilizations an issue that is still source of current academic debate. This paper provides an iconographic study of the Dian Kingdom bronze ornaments through the study of decorative motifs, inlaid materials, and the casting and gilding techniques. In this respect, we explore social production in the Dian Kingdom and contact between the civilizations of the East and the West across the "golden latitude" and connected by the "Southern Silk Road." Our paper concludes that Bronze Ornaments are the concrete embodiment of the Ancient Chinese South-west highland and Western civilization in terms of the integration in the integration Dian culture. Therefore, this subject of is great value in terms of our understanding of both regional prehistory and cultural development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reduced graphene oxide (RGO) thin films were prepared on silicon substrates by a modified liquid-air interface self-assembly method and a hydroiodic acid reduction method. Planar on-chip micro-supercapacitors with interdigital structure electrodes (RGO-POMSs) were prepared by photolithography and gold sputtering on the electrode lugs. Area capacitance of interdigital RGO-POMSs was 51.72 μF cm−2. They also had 0.0072 μW h cm−2 of energy density and 59.78 μW cm−2 of power density. Due to the short ion transport path caused by interdigital electrodes, the charge discharge time constant of the device was only 0.029 ms, which could realize rapid charge discharge. In addition, they also had good cycle stability and could maintain 82% capacitance after 4500 cycles of charge and discharge. The cyclic voltammetry test showed that the device still worked well at the ultra-high scan rate of 10,000 V s−1. This showed that RGO-POMSs had considerable prospects in the research field of micro energy storage devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aims. Conflicting results are often observed in the prognosis of patients with ruptured hepatocellular carcinoma (rHCC), and there are currently very few studies on the long-term postoperative outcomes of ruptured hepatocellular carcinoma patients. This study aimed to distinguish between the postoperative prognosis of rHCC patients with cirrhosis (rHCC-C) and those without cirrhosis (rHCC-NC) using some serum markers. Methods. We collected the data of 151 rHCC patients treated at our centers from January 2010 to March 2021. 62 had no cirrhosis, and 89 had cirrhosis. The prognosis of rHCC-C and rHCC-NC groups was compared using the Kaplan-Meier method. We used multivariate Cox regression to analyze prognostic factors in rHCC patients, and subgroup analysis was performed on the two groups of patients. Results. The long-term prognosis of rHCC-NC patients was better than that of rHCC-C patients. Tumor diameter, Barcelona clinic liver cancer (BCLC) stage, HBsAg, positive Hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibodies, elevated creatinine, and elevated T-bilirubin were prognostic factors for overall survival (OS) in rHCC-C patients. However, only alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) > 92 ng/mL was a prognostic factor for OS in rHCC-NC patients. In noncirrhotic patients, HBsAg positivity was only associated with OS. Similarly, the presence or absence of microvascular invasion (MVI) also had different results in the two groups. Conclusions. There are differences in serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) levels, the presence of microvascular invasion (MVI), and HBsAg positivity between rHCC-C and rHCC-NC patients, indicating that the analysis of these prognostic factors may help improve the management of rHCC patients and provide a direction for future treatment options. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we present a stabilizer-free weak Galerkin (SFWG) finite element scheme for the approximation of the non-self adjoint and indefinite elliptic equations. Supercloseness convergence of the SFWG method is derived. After a suitable postprocessing of the SFWG solution, the resulting post-processed solution converges with two order higher than the optimal order in both H 1 semi-norm and L 2 norm on triangular meshes. Numerical experiments are demonstrated to verify the theoretical findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The integration of non-dispatchable renewable resources into the power system, as part of efforts to mitigate carbon emissions and achieve carbon neutrality, presents a significant problem in maintaining the balance between generation and consumption within multi-energy complementary systems. The widespread adoption of district cooling systems (DCS) with ice storage units has proven to be a highly effective approach for enhancing flexibility by changing the operating schedule or adopting different control strategies to participate in demand response, reducing load peaks or peaking and filling to improve system economy. However, the nonlinearity and the presence of multiple variables with different orders of magnitude of the DCS model pose a significant challenge for arithmetic operations well. The present study establishes models based on per-unit value for DCS coupled with ice storage units, and employes several objective functions to validate the selection of base values, demonstrating the superiority of the calculation process for per-unit value model. Simulation results show that, the adoption of per-unit value models of DCS significantly reduce the calculation time, particularly for large systems where it would be possible to have a reduction in time-consuming by more than 68%. Additionally, this paper suggests an operational strategy for real DCS that incorporates demand response by per-unit value models, demonstrating the efficacy of the proposed approach in achieving a reduction of 11.17% in operating costs, while simultaneously enhancing flexibility to meet the load demands of multi-energy complementary systems. • A complex and nonlinear DCS model coupled with ice storage systems has been developed. • A novel optimization model for DCS based on the per unit-value is proposed. • Simulations are conducted to demonstrate the significant reduction in computational burden. • A strategy for DCS considering DR is discussed to reduce the costs and improve the flexibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biofunctional emulsion coatings of curcumin-loaded poly(ɛ-caprolactone)/polyvinyl alcohol-hydroxyapatite (Cur-loaded PCL/PVA-HA) were developed on the titanium (Ti) plates without using any surfactant. Firstly, stable oil-in-water emulsions with different water/oil (W/O) ratios (9:1, 7:1, 5:1 and 3:1) were prepared by using the uniform PVA-HA slurry as a water phase and the Cur-loaded PCL solution as an oil phase. The diameter of the oil droplets in those emulsions mostly ranged from 4 to 6 µm. Subsequently, the emulsions were formulated into coatings on Ti through a spin-coating process. The obtained emulsion coatings consisted of Cur-loaded PCL microspheres that were evenly embedded in the PVA-HA matrix, and their phase composition was identified by the FT-IR analysis. The emulsion coatings were hydrophilic and displayed a gradual increase in water contact angles with the decrease of the W/O ratio. Moreover, abundant bone-like apatite aggregates were formed on the emulsion coatings, suggesting their excellent in vitro bioactivity. In addition, the emulsion coatings exhibited a sustained drug release behavior within 2–48 h, and the release process was mainly controlled by diffusion. The present study provides a new perspective on green and facile fabrication of functional emulsion coatings. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]