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Optimization for hydrogen storage properties of Mg-based alloy is mainly restricted by coarse α-Mg grains and uneven catalytic phases. In this study, a strategy of melt-spinning rapid solidification is proposed to fabricate one-dimensional Mg 97 Ni 2 Y 1 alloy fiber with submicron-sized α-Mg grains and uniform microstructure. After heat treatment and activation process, ultrafine Mg 2 Ni and YH 2 phases are in-situ generated and uniformly distributed. The results indicate that 5.24 wt% H 2 is absorbed at 305 °C in 30 min, higher than the as-cast alloy powder of 4.49 wt% H 2. Meanwhile, the dehydrogenation rate is accelerated at lower temperatures. Based on the DSC curve, the hydrogen pumping effect in the fiber alloy powder is more significant, reducing the dehydrogenation temperature of MgH 2. The fiber alloy powder absorbs more hydrogen in stage 1, leading to enhanced hydrogenation kinetics. The uniform and refined microstructure formed by the rapid-solidified fiber is the key factor for enhanced de-/hydrogenation properties. • Submicron α-Mg grains are formed in Mg–Ni–Y alloy fiber by melt-spinning. • Nano Mg 2 Ni and YH 3 multiphases are uniformly precipitated by H-induced reaction. • The F-powder absorbs 5.24 wt% H 2 at 305 °C since more absorbed H 2 in stage 1. • The initial decomposition temperature of F-powder hydrides is reduced to 243.8 °C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photothermal synergistic catalysis (PTSC) is a potential and attractive technology due to its enhanced performance in medium- and low-temperature conditions. Herein, the present work focuses on investigating PTSC CO2 hydrogenation over Ni/ZrO2 doped with Ru. Compared with thermal catalysis, the NiRu0.23/ZrO2 resulted in higher CO2 conversion and CH4 selectivity at all temperature in PTSC condition. Among all the catalysts, NiRu0.02/ZrO2 exhibits the best performance, which the CO2 conversion reach 48.37% and the CH4 selectivity is close to 100% at 400 °C and PTSC. The NiRux bimetallic catalyst maintains excellent activity and stability after the catalyst durability test over 36 h. The characterization results reveal that appropriate Ru doping is beneficial for light absorption and enhances CO2 adsorption capacity and activation. The migration of electrons from Ru to Ni atoms proves that there is a strong electronic interaction between Ni and Ru metals in the catalysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new three‐dimensional (3D) coordination polymer, namely, poly[diaqua[μ5‐2,2′‐(1,3,5,7‐tetraoxo‐1,2,3,5,6,7‐hexahydropyrrolo[3,4‐f]isoindole‐2,6‐diyl)diacetato]barium(II)], [Ba(C14H6N2O8)(H2O)2]n, (I), has been synthesized by the microwave‐irradiated reaction of Ba(NO3)2 with N,N′‐bis(glycinyl)pyromellitic diimide {BGPD, namely, 2,2′‐(1,3,5,7‐tetraoxo‐1,2,3,5,6,7‐hexahydropyrrolo[3,4‐f]isoindole‐2,6‐diyl)diacetatic acid, H2L}. The title compound was structurally characterized by single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction analysis and powder X‐ray diffraction analysis, as well as IR spectroscopy. In the crystal structure of (I), the BaII ion is nine‐coordinated by six carboxylate O atoms from five symmetry‐related L2− dianions and one imide O atom, as well as two water O atoms. The coordination geometry of the central BaII ion can be described as a spherical capped square antiprism. One carboxylate group of the ligand serves as a μ3‐bridge linking the BaII cations into a one‐dimensional polynuclear secondary building unit (SBU). Another carboxylate group of the ligand acts as a μ2‐bridge connecting the 1D SBUs, thereby forming a two‐dimensional (2D) SBU. The resulting 2D SBUs are extended into a 3D framework via the pyromellitic diimide moiety of the ligand as a spacer. The 3D Ba framework can be simplified as a 5‐connected hexagonal boron nitride net (bnn) topology. The intermolecular interactions in the 3D framework were further investigated by Hirshfeld surface analysis and the results show that the prominent interactions are H...O (45.1%), Ba...O (11.1%) and C...H (11.1%), as well as H...H (11.1%) contacts. The thermal stability, photoluminescence properties and UV–Vis absorption spectra of (I) were also investigated. The coordination polymer exhibits a fluorescence emission with a quantum yield of 0.071 and high thermal stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel surface plasmon resonance (SPR) refractive index (RI) sensor based on the D-type dual-mode photonic crystal fiber (PCF) is proposed. The sensor employs a side-polished few-mode PCF that facilitates the transmission of the fundamental and second-order modes, with an integrated microfluidic channel positioned directly above the fiber core. This design minimizes the distance to the analyte and maximizes the interaction between the optical field and the analyte, thereby enhancing the SPR effect and resonance loss for improved sensing performance. Au-TiO2 dual-layer material was coated on the surface of a microfluidic channel to enhance the penetration depth of the core evanescent field and tune the resonance wavelength to the near-infrared band, meeting the special needs of chemical and biomedical detection fields. The finite element method was utilized to systematically investigate the coupling characteristics between various modes and surface plasmon polariton (SPP) modes, as well as the impact of structural parameters on the sensor performance. The results indicate that the LP11b_y mode exhibits greater wavelength sensitivity than the HE11_y mode, with a maximum sensitivity of 33,000 nm/RIU and an average sensitivity of 8272.7 nm/RIU in the RI sensing range of 1.25–1.36, which is higher than the maximum sensitivity of 16,000 nm/RIU and average sensitivity of 5666.7 nm/RIU for the HE11b_y mode. It is believed that the proposed PCF-SPR sensor features both high sensitivity and high resolution, which will become a critical device for wide RI detection in mid-infrared fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fir‐tree tenon/mortise structure in areo‐engine suffers from the combined high and low cycle fatigue (CCF) loads during service. The structural integrity of the tenon/mortise structure is significantly affected by the local strain distribution, while the strain value under the CCF loads is difficult to acquire. In this study, a simulated specimen of tenon/mortise structure is designed, and the CCF test is carried out using a divided‐path loading fixture to avoid interference between the high cycle fatigue (HCF) loads and the low cycle fatigue (LCF) loads. The high speed digital image correlation (DIC) method is adopted to acquire the real‐time strain distribution during CCF test. According to the strain results, the critical position of the mortise and its strain variation are determined. The high cycle strain of the mortise is proportional to the vibration amplitude of the tenon. The experimental results can provide basis for strength and life assessment. Highlights: A combined high and low fatigue test system is designed to study the strain variation.The real‐time strain distribution is obtained by high speed digital image correlation (DIC) method.The strain exhibits sinusoidal variations when applied to the combined high and low cycle fatigue (CCF) loads. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reducing fruit and vegetable waste and maintaining quality has become challenging for everyone. Nanotechnology is a new and intriguing technology that is currently being implemented in fruit and vegetable preservation. Silver nanomaterials provide superior antibacterial qualities, biodegradability, and biocompatibility, which expands their potential applications in fruit and vegetable preservation. Silver nanomaterials include silver nanocomposites and Ag-MOF, of which silver nanocomposites are mainly composed of silver nanoparticles. Notably, not all kinds of silver nanoparticles utilized in the preservation of fruits and vegetables are thoroughly described. Therefore, the synthesis, mechanism of action, and advancements in research on silver nanocomposites for fruit and vegetable preservation were discussed in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to the immediate requirements of modern high-speed and high-capacity integrated optical circuit development, this study introduces a broadband all-fiber polarization beam splitter (PBS) based on silicon dual-core photonic crystal fiber (PCF) and gold layers. Simulation results demonstrate that silicon as the substrate material is conducive to extending the operating range to the mid-infrared band of 3.0 ~ 3.6 μm. The modulation effect of the gold ring layers on the left and right sides of central elliptical hole is very impressive, and when the cladding hole diameter d1 = 1.3 μm, gold-coated hole diameter d2 = 1.8 d1 = 2.34 μm, hole-to-hole pitch Λ = 2.0 μm, gold layer thickness t = 50 nm, long axis a = 2.08 μm, and short axis b = 1.43 μm, coupling length ratio (CLR) between x- and y-polarized super-mode exactly is equal to 2. According to performance investigation by finite element method (FEM), this PBS is well suited for splitting out x-polarized light in core A, which can possess a minimum size of 0.66 mm, a maximum extinction ratio (ER) of 78 dB at 3.3 μm, a broad operating bandwidth of 450 nm, and a low insertion loss (IL) of 0.15 dB at 3.3 μm simultaneously. The proposed PBS features both high integration and high performance, which will be applicable to all-optical networks in mid-infrared fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Imidazole is a five-membered heterocyclic ring containing three carbon atoms, two nitrogen atoms, and two double bonds. Among two nitrogen atoms, one of which carries with a hydrogen atom is a pyrrole-type nitrogen atom, another is a pyridine type nitrogen atom. Hence, the imidazole ring belongs to the π electron-rich aromatic ring and can accept strong suction to the electronic group. Moreover, the nitrogen atom of the imidazole ring is coordinated with metal ions to form metal-organic frameworks. In recent years, because of imidazole compounds' unique optical properties, their applications have attracted more and more attention in optical analysis. Thus, this review has summarized the synthesis, characterization, and application with emphasis on the research progress of imidazole compounds in optical analysis, including fluorescence probe, colorimetric probe, electrochemiluminescence sensor, fiber optical sensor, surface plasmon resonance, etc. This paper will suggest the direction for the development of imidazole-containing sensors with high sensitivity and selectivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abnormal carbody vibrations can significantly affect the safety and stability of high-speed trains. In this study, we conducted field measurements to analyze low-frequency swaying of a high-speed train on the Chinese alpine railway line. The test results reveal that the tail vehicle of the train swayed laterally in certain sections of the track, resulting in vehicle lateral stability index exceeding the limit. The swaying frequency of the carbody was mainly distributed in the range of 1.4–1.5 Hz. The causes of abnormal swaying were analyzed by establishing a computational fluid calculation model. Computational fluid dynamics calculations revealed that lift force, side force, and yaw moment were higher for the tail vehicle compared to the head and middle vehicles. The train-track coupled dynamics simulation results demonstrate that aerodynamics disturbances may be the key factor to intensify the abnormal swaying of the high-speed train tail vehicle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BackgroundMethodsResultsConclusionsAs the high-risk stage of diabetes, the role of prediabetes in the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains unclear. To address this knowledge gap, we undertook a meta-analysis to investigate the potential association between the prediabetic stage and HCC.In this study, two independent investigators conducted a comprehensive search for relevant articles published up until May 2023 in several databases, including PubMed, Web of Science, Medline, EMBASE, and Google Scholar. The results were then summarized using STATA 12.0 software.Our analysis included a total of 6 cohort studies involving 1,490,752 participants, as well as 1 case–control study with 220 participants. The research aimed to examine the association between prediabetes and the risk of HCC. Our meta-analysis revealed that prediabetes was significantly associated with an elevated risk of HCC (odds ratio (OR)/relative risk (RR) = 1.25, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.06 to 1.48, I2 = 57.2%, p = 0.012), using a random-effects model. Moreover, four cohort studies, encompassing 1,362,847 participants, explored the relationship between prediabetes and HCC mortality. The meta-analysis showed that prediabetes was associated with a higher mortality rate of HCC, also utilizing a random-effects model (hazard ratio (HR) = 1.36, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.81, I2 = 55.8%, p = 0.060).Overall, our findings highlight a significant association between prediabetes and an increased risk of HCC and suggest that prediabetes may also contribute to higher mortality rates among HCC patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Atherosclerosis (AS) has become the leading cause of cardiovascular disease worldwide. Our previous study had observed that Nippostrongylus brasiliensis (Nb) infection or its derived products could inhibit AS development by inducing an anti-inflammatory response. We performed a metabolic analysis to screen Nb-derived metabolites with anti-inflammation activity and evaluated the AS-prevention effect. We observed that the metabolite uridine had higher expression levels in mice infected with the Nb and ES (excretory–secretory) products and could be selected as a key metabolite. ES and uridine interventions could reduce the pro-inflammatory responses and increase the anti-inflammatory responses in vitro and in vivo. The apolipoprotein E gene knockout (ApoE−/−) mice were fed with a high-fat diet for the AS modeling. Following the in vivo intervention, ES products or uridine significantly reduced serum and liver lipid levels, alleviated the formation of atherosclerosis, and reduced the pro-inflammatory responses in serum or plaques, while the anti-inflammatory responses showed opposite trends. After blocking with 5-HD (5-hydroxydecanoate sodium) in vitro, the mRNA levels of M2 markers were significantly reduced. When blocked with 5-HD in vivo, the degree of atherosclerosis was worsened, the pro-inflammatory responses were increased compared to the uridine group, while the anti-inflammatory responses decreased accordingly. Uridine, a key metabolite from Nippostrongylus brasiliensis, showed anti-inflammatory and anti-atherosclerotic effects in vitro and in vivo, which depend on the activation of the mitochondrial ATP-sensitive potassium channel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A highly sensitivity balloon-like fiber interferometer based on ethanol coating is presented in this paper. The Mach–Zehnder interferometer is formed by bending a single-mode fiber to a balloon-like structure and nested in the Teflon tube. Then, an ethanol solution was filled into the tube of the balloon-like fiber interferometer by the capillary effect. Due to the high sensitivity of the refractive index (RI) of ethanol solutions to temperature, when the external temperature varies, the optical path difference changes. The change in temperature can be detected by the shift in the interference spectrum. Limited by the size of the balloon-like structure, three kinds of these structures with different sensitive lengths were prepared to select the best parameters. The sensitive lengths were 10, 15 and 20 mm, respectively, and the RI detection performance of each structure in 10~26% NaCl solutions was investigated experimentally. The results show that when the sensitive length is 20 mm, the RI sensitivity of the sensor is the highest, which is 212.88 nm/RIU. Ultimately, the sensitive length filled with ethanol is 20 mm. The experimental results show that the temperature sensitivity of the structure is 1.145 nm/°C in the range of 28.1 °C~35 °C, which is 10.3 times higher than that of an unfilled balloon-like structure (0.111 nm/°C). The system has the advantages of low cost and easy fabrication, which can potentially be used in high-precision temperature monitoring processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lakeshore environments often preserve a rich record of Pleistocene hominin evidence, and hence are promising vantage points from which to infer hominin evolutionary pathways. However, early Pleistocene sites from fluvial-lacustrine contexts are usually palimpsests, making it essential to understand their formation processes. Focusing on the evidence from the 1.2 Ma-old site of Feiliang (Nihewan Basin, north China), this paper applies a new package of several taphonomic, spatial and fabric approaches to enable a more detailed reconstruction of site formation history. So far, many assemblages from the Nihewan fluvial-lacustrine sequence in North China have lacked this detailed kind of evaluation, even though they are important sources of evidence for hominins’ arrival and adaptations in East Asia. We conclude that the Feiliang assemblage is well preserved and has only undergone minor disturbance mainly by water flow. As various post-depositional modifications are identified at different localities, hominins used this area in varied freshwater environment, and did so recurrently for a long period. This study shows that the interpretation of site structure from lakeshore paleo-landscape should play an important role in the identifying site integrity and in extrapolating hominin behavioural patterns during early Pleistocene in the Nihewan Basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Near‐infrared (NIR) phosphor‐converted light‐emitting diodes (pc‐LEDs) are considered as promising next‐generation light sources for optoelectronic and biomedical applications. Nevertheless, NIR phosphors with large bandwidths, long emission peaks, high external quantum efficiencies (EQEs) and valuable thermal stabilities are challenging to develop. Herein, this study reports a novel gallium germanate host, Ga3Al3Ge2O13 (GAGO), with a large bandgap and rigid host lattice for Cr3+ ion doping. The blue LED excitable GAGO:0.012Cr3+ phosphor can produce broadband NIR emission with a maximum intensity at 816 nm and a full‐width at half‐maximum (FWHM) of 187 nm. Notably, the phosphor also exhibits an excellent EQE of 35.8% and perfect thermal stability (I423 K/I298 K = 67.4%). Moreover, an attractive NIR afterglow duration of more than 24 h is achieved in the GAGO:0.004Cr3+ phosphor. The type and origin of the traps are discussed, and a possible long persistent luminescent (LPL) mechanism is proposed. Finally, an NIR pc‐LED based on a GAGO:0.012Cr3+ phosphor is fabricated. The results demonstrate that the obtained phosphors show great potential for use in night vision, nondestructive detection, bioimaging and information encryption. This study provides new insight into the development of broadband NIR luminescent materials with high efficiency, good thermal stability and extraordinary afterglow performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The large amphibious freshwater apple snail is an important invasive species in China, but there is currently no method available for their surveillance. The development and popularization of smartphones provide a new platform for research on surveillance technologies for the early detection and effective control of invasive species. Methods: The ASI surveillance system was developed based on the infrastructure of the WeChat platform and Amap. The user can directly enter the game interface through the WeChat port on their mobile phone, and the system automatically obtains their location. The user can then report the location of apple snails. The administrator can audit the reported information, and all information can be exported to Microsoft Excel version 2016 for analysis. The map was generated by ArcGIS 10.2 and was used to characterize the spatial and temporal distribution of apple snails in Jiangsu Province. Results: The architecture of ASI consists of three parts: a mobile terminal, a server terminal and a desktop terminal. We published more than 10 tweets on the official WeChat account of the system to announce it to the public, and a total of 207 users in 2020 and 2021 correctly reported sightings of apple snails. We identified 550 apple snails breeding sites in 2020 and 2021, featuring ponds (81%), parks (17%) and farmland (2%). In addition, most of the locations contained snail eggs, and the reporting times mainly occurred between May and September. Conclusions: The ASI is an effective surveillance system that can be used to identify the breeding locations of apple snails and provides the basis of prevention and control for its dispersal. Its successful development and operation provide new potential avenues for surveillance of other public health issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been widely used for several centuries for metabolic diseases, including non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). At present, NAFLD has become the most prevalent form of chronic liver disease worldwide and can progress to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), cirrhosis, and even hepatocellular carcinoma. However, there is still a lack of effective treatment strategies in Western medicine. The development of NAFLD is driven by multiple mechanisms, including genetic factors, insulin resistance, lipotoxicity, mitochondrial dysfunction, endoplasmic reticulum stress, inflammation, gut microbiota dysbiosis, and adipose tissue dysfunction. Currently, certain drugs, including insulin sensitizers, statins, vitamin E, ursodeoxycholic acid and betaine, are proven to be beneficial for the clinical treatment of NAFLD. Due to its complex pathogenesis, personalized medicine that integrates various mechanisms may provide better benefits to patients with NAFLD. The holistic view and syndrome differentiation of TCM have advantages in treating NAFLD, which are similar to the principles of personalized medicine. In TCM, NAFLD is primarily classified into five types based on clinical experience. It is located in the liver and is closely related to spleen and kidney functions. However, due to the multi-component characteristics of traditional Chinese medicine, its application in the treatment of NAFLD has been considerably limited. In this review, we summarize the advances in the pathogenesis and treatment of NAFLD, drawn from both the Western medicine and TCM perspectives. We highlight that Chinese and Western medicine have complementary advantages and should receive increased attention in the prevention and treatment of NAFLD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pulmonary circulation is crucial in the human circulatory system, facilitating the oxygenation of blood as it moves from the right heart to the lungs and then to the left heart. However, during critical illness, pulmonary microcirculation can be vulnerable to both intrapulmonary and extrapulmonary injuries. To assess these potential injuries in critically ill patients, critical point-of-care ultrasound can be used to quantitatively and qualitatively evaluate the right atrium, right ventricle, pulmonary artery, lung, pulmonary vein, and left atrium along the direction of blood flow. This assessment is particularly valuable for common ICU diseases such as acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), sepsis, pulmonary hypertension, and cardiogenic pulmonary edema. It has significant potential for diagnosing and treating these conditions in critical care medicine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Efficient NIR emitting materials have important application value in phosphor‐converted light‐emitting diodes (pc‐LEDs), due to their high sensitivity of tissue composition responsiveness, and penetration depth (spatial resolution). In this work, a perovskite structure material CaSnO3 that can emit strong broad NIR light at the range of 850–1300 nm peaking at 1010 nm second biological window with a super large Stokes shift of 24463 cm−1 and a sensitive broad UV light response (λmax = 291 nm) by traditional high‐temperature solid‐state reaction that does not require additional doping ions is innovatively developed. Spectroscopic and theoretical calculations reveal that the NIR emission originates from self‐trapped excitons (STEs) enhanced by Jahn–Teller effect when Sn4+ is spontaneously reduced to Sn2+ and occupies the position of Ca2+ 8‐coordinate lattice. A prototype NIR‐II emitting LED device is successfully fabricated combining this perovskite CaSnO3 phosphor with UV 285 nm chip to evaluate its application value. This work provides a novel NIR‐II luminescent material, which is different from other doping types of systems, and STEs luminescence in perovskite has been achieved in the NIR‐II region for the first time, providing a new approach and choice for the development of NIR luminescent materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of novel phosphors with excellent luminescence properties for white light-emitting diodes (WLEDs) is always a formidable task. Compared with the traditional laborious and aimless "trial and error" experiments, a mineral-inspired prototype strategy can provide an efficient and accurate method. Herein, for the first time, a novel yellow-emitting phosphor NaBaY2(PO4)3:Eu2+ was discovered using the mineral-inspired prototype strategy and cation substitution method. The phosphor was prepared via the high-temperature solid-state reaction method, and its crystal structure, luminescence properties and potential application for WLEDs were systematically investigated. The NaBaY2(PO4)3 phase was derived from the K2Mg2(SO4)3-type mineral structure and a photoluminescence study revealed that the phosphor can emit bright yellow light with a maximum at 545 nm upon excitation at 351 nm. A WLED lamp was fabricated by the use of a blend of commercial blue-emitting BaMgAl10O17:Eu2+, yellow-emitting NaBaY2(PO4)3:Eu2+ and red-emitting (Ca, Sr)AlSiN3:Eu2+ phosphors with a 380 nm LED chip. The CIE, CCT, Ra and efficiency of the as-fabricated LEDs were measured to be equal to (0.366, 0.365), 4327 K, 91.2 and 40.8 lm W−1, respectively. These results suggest that NaBaY2(PO4)3:Eu2+ could be a promising candidate for n-UV WLEDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the sake of enhancing the hydrogen storage kinetics of Mg-based alloys, the functions of Y and La on microstructure evolution and de/hydrogenation behavior of Mg–Zn alloy are examined and discussed. The thermodynamic calculations reveal that the kind of rare-earth element affect solidification paths of the alloys. La introduction enables the eutectoid transformation. The hydrogenation kinetics of Mg 95 Zn 2 Y 3 and Mg 95 Zn 2 La 3 is dominated by hydrogen diffusion. The fine α-Mg grains and alternating structured eutectoid phase in Mg 95 Zn 2 La 3 provide abundant phase boundary for hydrogen diffusion. Besides, the residual Mg content in hydrogenated Mg 95 Zn 2 La 3 is far lower than that in Mg 95 Zn 2 Y 3 , which is ascribed to the weakened effect of nucleation-growth-impingement caused by growing MgH 2. The hydrogen desorption kinetics of Mg 95 Zn 2 Y 3 and Mg 95 Zn 2 La 3 is determined by the nucleation and growth of Mg/MgH 2. The fine La 8 H 18.4 nanophases and Mg grains provide plenty of nucleation sites for Mg on MgH 2. Additionally, La 8 H 18.4 nanophase exhibits more positive role than YH 2 /YH 3 phase in promoting hydrogen desorption. • La introduction trigger abundant phase boundary by eutectoid reaction. • (Mg, Zn) 17 La 2 phase in-situ generates La 8 H 18.4 nanophase during hydrogen cycling. • Fine phase and abundant boundary improve the kinetics of Mg 95 Zn 2 La 3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To explore more possibilities for hydrogen economy, Mg-based alloys containing long period stacking ordered (LPSO) phase for solid-state hydrogen storage deserve attention. In this paper, indium (In) element is adopted to alter the de/hydrogenation abilities of Mg–Y–Zn alloys. The relationship between microstructural features and hydrogen storage behaviors of Mg 95 Y 3 Zn 2- x In x (x = 0, 1 and 2 at.%) alloys are discussed in detail. Indium element can modify the morphology of LPSO phase and more Mg interfaces are obtained. LPSO phase cannot be generated when Zn is completely replaced by In element; instead α-Mg grains and eutectic phase (Mg + MgYIn) the constitute the In 2 alloy. Element In benefits the activation process of the alloys in this paper, which helps the alloy particles to be hydrogenated quickly in the first hydrogenation. Specifically, 1 at.% In substitution for Zn accelerates dehydrogenation and the dehydrogenation temperature reduces by 11 °C. The benefits of In element for dehydrogenation behaviors mainly come from increased Mg grain boundaries, larger MgH 2 lattice constants with weaker Mg–H bonds, uniformly distributed nanoscale YH 2 /YH 3 phase. • Indium can modify the morphology of LPSO phase with rough boundaries. • Indium substitution for Zn increases the MgH 2 cell volume, weakening Mg–H bonds. • Nanosized YH 2 and Indium alloying synergistically reinforce the hydrogen desorption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The wear detection of the guide pair (GP) plays a key role in the safe operation of the mine hoist system. Due to the actual working conditions of the well, manual detection is still the main detection method for GP wear, which has the problems of time consumption, low detection accuracy, and being unable to realize real-time detection. In view of this situation, this paper studies a machine vision-based wear detection method of GP in a mine hoisting system. First, the wear detection algorithm of GP is designed by means of image correction, image preprocessing, and edge extraction. Then, the hardware of the detection system is selected and designed, and the interface of the upper computer is designed by LABVIEW. Finally, according to the actual underground working conditions, a test platform for the wear detection system is built, and the detection experiment is carried out. The results show that the method can detect the wear and the location of the GP's wear in real time. The maximum average error of the detection under three different wear conditions is 3.54%, which meets the requirements of the specified measurement accuracy. It can provide technical support for the automatic detection of the wear of GP in mine hoisting systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing low‐cost and high‐efficient bifunctional catalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is greatly significant for water electrolysis. Here, Ni3N‐CeO2/NF heterostructure is synthesized on the nickel foam, and it exhibits excellent HER and OER performance. As a result, the water electrolyzer based on Ni3N‐CeO2/NF bifunctional catalyst only needs 1.515 V@10 mA cm−2, significantly better than that of Pt/C||IrO2 catalysts. In situ characterizations unveil that CeO2 plays completely different roles in HER and OER processes. In situ infrared spectroscopy and density functional theory calculations indicate that the introduction of CeO2 can optimizes the structure of interface water, and the synergistic effect of Ni3N and CeO2 improve the HER activity significantly, while the in situ Raman spectra reveal that CeO2 accelerates the reconstruction of OV (oxygen vacancy)‐rich NiOOH for boosting OER. This study clearly unlocks the different catalytic mechanisms of CeO2 for boosting the HER and OER activity of Ni3N for water splitting, which provides the useful guidance for designing the high‐performance bifunctional catalysts for water splitting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global Engineering Education Accreditation (GEEA) is an internationally accepted quality assurance system for engineering education in universities, and technology competitions for college students are also considered important approaches to achieve the educational objectives and meet graduation requirements of GEEA in practice aspects. In this paper, the competency of guiding teachers of technology competitions for Chinese college students is evaluated through a case of National Competition of Transportation Science and Technology for Students (NACTranS). Firstly, 7 theoretical hypotheses of the modified structural equation modeling (SEM) for competency were developed by concentrating on some principles pertaining to the key concepts of GEEA. Secondly, competition results were set as the dependent variable and 3 dimensions of competition (topic selecting, works producing and team managing) were set as the independent variables under the modified SEM. Meanwhile, both administrative ranks and regional locations of universities where guiding teachers work were set as intervening vectors so as to explain the formation mechanisms of competency. Thirdly, a case study of NACTranS data from 68 universities in China's mainland was done through modified SEM calculating. The conclusions indicate that competency of guiding teachers is not only represented by 3 dimensions but also indirectly manipulated by 2 intervening vectors. According to the case calculating by modified SEM, the determinant of guiding teachers' performance in topic selecting is the administrative ranks of universities, whereas their performance in works producing is dictated by the regional locations of universities. Various improvements on the competency of guiding teachers can be carried out in schools of engineering in Chinese universities, such as sufficient academic communications, efficient industry-university-research cooperation and so on. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Intranasal insulin alleviates neurological damage caused by traumatic brain injury. • Autophagy and endoplasmic reticulum stress-mediated apoptosis are crucial players. • The neuroprotective effects are counteracted by rapamycin, an mTOR inhibitor. Intranasal insulin reduces lesion size and enhances memory capacity in traumatic brain injury (TBI) models, but the molecular mechanisms behind this neuroprotective action not yet understood. Here we used Feeney's free-falling method to construct TBI mouse models and administrated intranasal insulin, rapamycin, insulin and rapamycin, or normal saline to assess their effects on neurological functions, cerebral edema, and the expression of Iba1 in microglia through immunofluorescence assay. We also measured concentrations of interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) in the brain using enzyme immunosorbent assay, investigated apoptosis with TUNEL staining and Western blotting, and evaluated autophagy, endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, and PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway with Western blotting. The autophagosome was assessed through transmission electron microscopy. Our findings demonstrated that intranasal insulin promoted neurological recovery, decreased brain swelling, and reduced injury lesions on days 1, 3, and 7 post TBI. Moreover, intranasal insulin reduced microglia activation and the concentration of IL-1β or TNF-α on the same days. Through Western blotting and transmission electron microscopy, we observed that intranasal insulin suppressed autophagy while activating the PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway on days 1 and 3 post TBI. TUNEL assay and Western blotting also indicated that intranasal insulin inhibited ER stress-mediated apoptosis. Interestingly, the mTOR inhibitor rapamycin partially blocked the pro-autophagy and anti-apoptosis effects of intranasal insulin both on days 1 and 3 post TBI. Our results suggest that intranasal insulin can ameliorate TBI by regulating autophagy and ER stress-mediated apoptosis through the PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway, providing a promising therapeutic strategy for TBI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, performance of ZrO2 and CeO2 supported Ni catalysts on CO2 hydrogenation reaction was investigated in continuous flow reactor. The results revealed that Ni/ZrO2 catalyst exhibited superior performance compared to Ni/CeO2, with a CO2 conversion rate of 71.84%, a CH4 formation rate of 21.03 mmol g−1 h−1, and excellent reaction stability at 400 °C. And the activation energy of Ni/ZrO2 was lower than that of Ni/CeO2. N2 adsorption–desorption, SEM, XRD, XPS, CO2-TPD and O2-TPO analysis results suggest that Ni/ZrO2 is a multi-stage pore material, which has slit holes formed by the accumulation of sheet-like particles, as well as a superior dispersion of Ni on ZrO2. Moreover, Ni/ZrO2 shows higher alkalinity and remarkable resistance to carbon accumulation. DFT calculations demonstrated that CO2 can be more easily adsorbed on ZrO2 surface, and one O-terminus of CO2 is closer to top sites of ZrO2, which is favorable for electron transfer and promotes the activation of CO2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sn-based catalysts are recognized as prospective electrocatalysts to produce HCOOH due to their environmental friendliness, low cost, abundant reserves and selective *OCHO adsorption. However, most Sn-based catalysts usually suffer from low selectivity, catalytic activity and high overpotential. Recently, heterojunctions have aroused great attention for their superiority in exploiting the advantages of different catalysts, coordinating the electronic structure and decreasing the activation energy barrier for better stability and activity. Herein, ZnO/SnO2 was designed and prepared for highly selective CO2 reduction for HCOOH. A Faraday Efficiency (FE) of 93.8% and a yield of 0.16 mmol h−1 cm−2 were obtained at the potential of −1.05 V. Experimental evidence showed that the excellent catalytic performance was attributed to the heterojunctions, which optimized the electronic properties, enhanced the adsorption of CO2 or CO2˙− and provided more active sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Operating the China Railway Express (CRE) is a primary strategy for promoting international trade and investment between China and Europe. Since the inception of the CRE in 2011, the number of operational routes and connected cities has steadily increased. This study investigates the impact of the establishment of the CRE on foreign direct investment inflows in Chinese prefecture-level cities. To perform our analysis, we used panel data of 250 cities in China from 2004 to 2018, and applied the difference in differences (DID) model as a quasi-natural experiment. The results demonstrated that the operation of the CRE had a positive and significant impact on urban FDI inflows, particularly in small and medium-sized cities, low-income cities, and inland cities in China. The robustness of the results was verified using the DIDM and PSM-DID methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A common infectious disease, otitis media (OM) has a low rate of early diagnosis, which significantly increases the difficulty of treating the disease and the likelihood of serious complications developing including hearing loss, speech impairment, and even intracranial infection. Several areas of healthcare have shown great promise in the application of artificial intelligence (AI) systems, such as the accurate detection of diseases, the automated interpretation of images, and the prediction of patient outcomes. Several articles have reported some machine learning (ML) algorithms such as ResNet, InceptionV3 and Unet, were applied to the diagnosis of OM successfully. The use of these techniques in the OM is still in its infancy, but their potential is enormous. We present in this review important concepts related to ML and AI, describe how these technologies are currently being applied to diagnosing, treating, and managing OM, and discuss the challenges associated with developing AI-assisted OM technologies in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel magnetic Ti3C2Tx-MXene/Fe3O4 composite was prepared from Ti3C2Tx and magnetic Fe3O4. The characterizations by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) exhibited that the Ti3C2Tx/Fe3O4 nanomaterial presented an outstanding conductivity and a large specific area, which could improve the electron transfer rate, leading to the amplification of the sensor's signal. Furthermore, an ultrasensitive molecularly imprinted electrochemical sensor based on MXene/Fe3O4 composites was fabricated for detecting methylmalonic acid (MMA) with high selectivity. The current intensity of differential pulse voltammetry of the sensor presented a good linear relationship with the logarithm of MMA concentration ranging from 9 × 10−15 mol L−1 to 9 × 10−13 mol L−1. The detection limit of the sensor was 2.33 × 10−16 mol L−1. The fabricated sensor was utilized for detecting MMA in human serum samples with excellent recoveries. Therefore, this method significantly improved the sensitivity of detection, and constitutes an affordable sensing platform for trace detection of organic carboxylic acid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gird impedance variations in a weak grid can easily lead to the instability of grid-connected inverters with an LCL filter. In this paper, a robust back-stepping sliding mode control strategy for the LCL-type grid-connected inverter is proposed to ensure local asymptotic stability. First, due to its nonlinear switching problem, the model is transformed into the Brunovsky canonical form of a linear system, using the exact feedback linearization theory. Then, to ensure global stability and rapid dynamic performance, a back-stepping sliding mode control strategy is recursively derived. Furthermore, under the premise of asymptotic stability, a robust scheme is developed to obtain appropriate parameters against grid impedance variations. Hence, the expected stability performance can be achieved and the dynamic performance can be improved in a weak grid. Finally, a 2 kW prototype is constructed, and experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed controller when compared with the conventional back-stepping scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epilepsy is a neurological disorder related to frequent seizures. Automatic seizure prediction is crucial for the prevention and treatment of epilepsy. In this paper, we propose a novel model for seizure prediction that incorporates a convolutional neural network (CNN) with multi-head attention mechanism. In this model, the shallow CNN automatically captures the EEG features, and the multi-headed attention focuses on discriminating the effective information among these features for identifying pre-ictal EEG segments. Compared with current CNN models for seizure prediction, the embedded multi-headed attention empowers the shallow CNN to be more flexible, and enables improvement of the training efficiency. Hence, this compact model is more resistant to being trapped in overfitting. The proposed method was evaluated over the scalp EEG data from the two publicly available epileptic EEG databases, and achieved outperforming values of event-level sensitivity, false prediction rate (FPR), and epoch-level F1. Furthermore, our method achieved the stable length of seizure prediction time that was between 14 and 15 min. The experimental comparisons showed that our method outperformed other prediction methods in terms of prediction and generalization performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recovering facial details from dark images has attracted increasing attention due to its potential in various applications such as video surveillance. We propose the first approach to detect and enhance human faces in extremely low-light images. We at first propose an attention module (AM) to detect the facial skin which is relatively robust to the low-quality condition. The AM further locates the landmarks as the prior knowledge to facilitate the reconstruction. Then, with the detected face position, our face hallucination module (FHM) could focus on enhancing the resolution and quality of the face. Moreover, we also introduce a low-light enhancement module to enhance the global image to merge with the hallucinated face from FHM for the final images. Extensive experiments show our method is quantitatively and qualitatively superior to the state-of-the-art in terms of enhancement quality and face hallucination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ZrTiVFe high-entropy alloy has shown desirable hydrogen absorption and desorption properties due to its lattice distortion effect and high content of C14 phase that can store hydrogen. In this study, element Cu was used to improve the reversible hydrogen storage properties of equimolar ZrTiVFe alloy by increasing valence-electron concentration (VEC), and (ZrTiVFe) 1- x Cu x (x = 0.05, 0.1, 0.2) alloys were prepared. After studying their microstructural features and hydrogen storage properties, the results indicate that (ZrTiVFe) 0.95 Cu 0.05 and (ZrTiVFe) 0.90 Cu 0.10 alloys are mainly consisted of C14 Laves phase and a small amount of α-Ti and α-Zr phases. When the Cu content increases to 20 at. %, the microstructure transforms to reticular ZrTiCu 2 phase around C14 Laves phase, and the Cu 8 Zr 3 phase is formed in final solidification stage. The fastest hydrogen absorption rate of (ZrTiVFe) 0.80 Cu 0.20 alloy at room temperature suggests the ZrTiCu 2 and Cu 8 Zr 3 phases can provide preferential paths for hydrogen atoms diffusion. The amount of hydrogen in (ZrTiVFe) 0.90 Cu 0.10 hydride that cannot be desorbed at 400 °C in vacuum is greatly reduced from 0.370 wt% to 0.084 wt% comparing with ZrTiVFe hydride. The addition of element Cu reduces the stability of ZrTiVFe hydride significantly, which favors the hydrogen desorption of the (ZrTiVFe) 1- x Cu x alloys. [Display omitted] • The Cu solid solution in C14 phase reduces the stability of hydride. • The undesorbed hydrogen in Cu10 hydride is reduced from 0.370 to 0.084 wt%. • The ZrTiCu 2 phase in Cu20 alloy acts as fast paths for H atoms diffusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein, a nanopipette-based thermocouple probe that possesses high temperature resolution, rapid response, good reversibility and stability was constructed and successfully applied for single-cell temperature sensing. Different intracellular temperatures were observed in diverse types of cells, which reveals differences in their metabolism levels. Temperature responses of cancer and normal cells against various exogenous drugs were also demonstrated. The spatially resolved temperature sensing of three-dimensional cell culture models unveils the existence of their inner temperature gradients. This work would facilitate drug screening and disease diagnosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After the official launch of China's unified carbon market, the potential for carbon emission reduction is huge. The pilot regional markets urgently need to be connected with the national carbon market to form a regional synergy and linkage mechanism and further promote the development of a unified carbon market. Spillover effects can be used to analyze the interaction between multiple markets. In this context, this study focuses on the overall spillover relationship among regional carbon trading markets. Using the VAR-GARCH-BEKK model and social network analysis (SNA), this study empirically analyzes the mean spillover effect and volatility spillover effect of regional carbon markets, and it establishes a spillover network between markets. The results show that the spillover effect of China's regional carbon markets is widespread. Among them, the mean spillover effect is weak, and the impact period is short;. The volatility spillover effect is strong and has various directions; the spillover network connection between regional carbon markets is strong, but the spillover intensity is weak. Spillover effects will spread to the overall carbon market through information spillover paths and risk spillover paths. The stronger spillover effect and the stronger linkage between markets can bring more resource integration and unified supervision. Finally, we put forward policy recommendations, such as improving the carbon market mechanism and enhancing the maturity of carbon market development, increasing the participation and activity of the carbon market to encourage more participants to join the carbon market, improving the institutional system of the carbon market, and effectively supervising the process of information and risk spillover between carbon markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To improve image quality, subsampling or refining images generated from (unconditional) generative adversarial networks (GANs) has received much attention recently. These methods are less effective or inefficient, however, for conditional GANs (cGANs) that either condition on a class (i.e., class-conditional GANs) or a continuous variable (i.e., continuous cGANs or CcGANs). Thus, we introduce a novel subsampling scheme for cGANs: conditional density ratio rejection sampling (cDR-RS). Specifically, cDR-RS comprises an improved feature extraction mechanism and a conditional Softplus loss (cSP). We also derive an error bound for the density ratio model trained with the cSP loss. Fake images are accepted or rejected based on the improved estimated conditional density ratio. An additional filtering scheme further increases fake images' label consistency without losing diversity when sampling from CcGANs. We extensively test the effectiveness and efficiency of cDR-RS in sampling from both class-conditional GANs and CcGANs on six benchmark datasets. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method can achieve state-of-the-art performances in subsampling both types of conditional GANs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Iron chelate desulfurization is a popular method in the coking industry due to its low generation of secondary salts. The conversion of sulfur compounds in the system plays a crucial role in this process. In this paper, the favorable conditions for the formation of polysulfide ions (Sx2-) were investigated by ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometry (UV-Vis) in the reaction system of EDTA-Fe and Na2S. The reaction solution was analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), aiming to obtain the main forms of the presence of Sx2- after the reaction. HS− was first converted to Sx2-, and then to elemental sulfur (S8). In the experimental range, the concentration of Sx2- increased with increasing the concentration ratio of reactants (c(Na2S)/c(EDTA-Fe)) and decreasing the temperature, was maximal at pH 9.84. At c(Na2S)/c(EDTA-Fe) of 120, the forms of Sx2- reached a maximum, which was S32--S102-. When the concentration ratio reached 130, S8 was generated, as the concentration ratio increased on this basis, the time for S8 to appear was shortened from 21 min to 12 min. Therefore, the study of the conversion rules of sulfur compounds in the iron chelate desulfurization system provides both the ideas to suppress the generation of by-salts in this system and new evidence to reveal the common problem of sulfur compounds conversion in the wet catalytic oxidation desulfurization process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The failure and instability process of surrounding rock in deep engineering is accompanied by energy accumulation and dissipation and results in damage and failure, which play an important role in the inoculation and occurrence of rockbursts. The bursting liability, energy transformation, and total damage evolution during the coal failure process were investigated using uniaxial compression tests. A damage evolution model and constitutive relation were developed in which the initial damage is considered, and the primary fissures of the specimens were also observed from their computed tomography images. Sieve analysis was used to determine the size distribution of the fragments, a crushing energy formula model was developed that is associated with the fractal dimension, which corrects the energy dissipation of coal in the total process of deformation and failure. The relationships among the crushing, surplus energy density, and fractal dimension of coal with different bursting liabilities were explored in detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The CO2 utilization is a significant issue due to the rigorous greenhouse effect, and the major bottleneck of methane dry reforming reaction is carbon deposition. Nd2O3 promoted Ni-based catalysts have ample oxygen vacancies, which could promote the decomposition of carbon dioxide into CO and O* species and thus may perform a favorable anti-coking ability to overcome this difficulty, and Ni/Al2O3–Y2O3–x%Nd2O3 (x = 0, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4) catalysts were synthesized by sol–gel method and employed in DRM. The XRD, BET, TEM, TG, CO2-TPD and XPS were used to characterize the morphology and physicochemical properties of the prepared samples, confirming the Nd2O3 addition in Ni/Al2O3–Y2O3 catalysts behaved abundant oxygen vacancies, increased basicity of the support, mesoporous structures with small metallic Ni particle size, and high dispersion of Ni. Moreover, the catalytic performances were evaluated in a fixed bed tubular reactor, and the experimental results indicated Ni/Al2O3–Y2O3–3%Nd2O3 demonstrated an outstanding activity and stability at 800 °C owing to both inhibition of carbon deposition and Ni agglomeration, which was largely due to the sufficient oxygen vacancies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the lack of places to employ communication infrastructures, there are many coverage blind zones in maritime communication networks. Benefiting from the high flexibility and maneuverability, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been proposed as a promising method to provide broadband maritime coverage for these blind zones. In this paper, a multi-UAV-enabled maritime communication model is proposed, where UAVs are deployed to provide the transmission service for maritime users. To improve the performance of the maritime communication systems, an optimization problem is formulated to maximize the minimum average throughput among all users by jointly optimizing the user association, power allocation, and UAV trajectory. To derive the solutions with a low computational complexity, we decompose this problem into three subproblems, namely user association optimization, power allocation optimization, and UAV trajectory optimization. Then, a joint iterative algorithm is developed to achieve the solutions based on the successive convex approximation and interior-point methods. Extensive simulation results validate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm and demonstrate that UAVs can be used to enhance the maritime coverage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Insect wings are subject to strong selective pressure, resulting in the evolution of remarkably diverse wing morphologies that largely determine flight capacity. However, the genetic basis and regulatory mechanisms underlying wing size and shape development are not well understood. The silkworm Bombyx mori micropterous (mp) mutant exhibits shortened wing length and enlarged vein spacings, albeit without changes in total wing area. Thus, the mp mutant comprises a valuable genetic resource for studying wing development. In this study, we used molecular mapping to identify the gene responsible for the mp phenotype and designated it Bmmp. Phenotype‐causing mutations were identified as indels and single nucleotide polymorphisms in noncoding regions. These mutations resulted in decreased Bmmp messenger RNA levels and changes in transcript isoform composition. Bmmp null mutants were generated by clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) / CRISPR‐associated protein 9 and exhibited changed wing shape, similar to mp mutants, and significantly smaller total wing area. By examining the expression of genes critical to wing development in wildtype and Bmmp null mutants, we found that Bmmp exerts its function by coordinately modulating anterior–posterior and proximal–distal axes development. We also studied a Drosophila mp mutant and found that Bmmp is functionally conserved in Drosophila. The Drosophila mp mutant strain exhibits curly wings of reduced size and a complete loss of flight capacity. Our results increase our understanding of the mechanisms underpinning insect wing development and reveal potential targets for pest control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Global glacial lakes are mapped annually for 2013–2022 based on Landsat imagery. • Inter-annual variation of glacial lake area is analyzed on different spatial scales. • There are contrasting characteristics of glacial lake evolution in different regions. • Glacier-contacted lakes account for 96% of the recent lake area expansions. • Expansion of glacier-contacted lakes was accompanied by aggravated glacier mass loss. Global warming accelerates glacier melting and the growth of glacial lakes. Existing research on glacial lake changes primarily concentrates on specific regions or decadal timescales, impeding a comprehensive understanding of the spatial and temporal variation of glacial lakes. This study tracks the annual evolution of global glacial lakes larger than 1 km2 (totally 3,133) from 2013 to 2022 based on Landsat OLI imagery. We investigated the lake area variation and glacier mass balance to explore interactions between glacial lake expansion and glacier mass loss. We aim to reveal the potentially diverse changes in the area of glacial lakes in various regions and of different types over the past decade. Our results show that, for the study glacial lakes, the total area has increased remarkably from 14,612 ± 21.13 km2 to 15,034 ± 18.54 km2 from 2013 to 2022. Among them, the glacier-contacted lakes experienced a rapid increase from 6,220 km2 to 6,625 km2, contributing to ∼ 96 % of the net area increment of the glacial lakes worldwide, whereas non-glacier-contacted lakes remain relatively stable at approximately 8,400 km2. Overall, glacier-contacted lakes grew relatively fast in the sub-periods of 2013–2014 and 2018–2019 and maintained slightly slow growth in other years. Remarkable expansion of glacial lakes was observed in Alaska, Iceland, and New Zealand. The significant expansion of glacier-contacted lakes was primarily attributed to the water inundation sprawl upward to the glacier tongues, which accelerated melting rates of the mother glaciers as feedback. Our analysis of the trend and inter-annual variation of glacial lake area reveal contrasting evolution of glacial lakes in different regions and of different types, which serves as a key reference for comprehending the impact of climate change, the interaction between glaciers and glacial lakes, and mitigating natural disasters like glacial lake outbursts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Solubility of itraconazole in several co-solvent blends were determined and correlated. • Inter-molecular interactions of itraconazole-solvent were inspected. • IKBI method was used to study preferential solvation. • Solvent effect was examined by LSER model. • The entropy-enthalpy compensation and dissolution parameters were discussed. The mole-fraction solubility of itraconazole in four aqueous blends of ethanol/isopropanol/DMSO/methanol within the temperature range of 283.15 to 323.15 K was experimentally obtained using the isothermal shake-flask method. Under the identical temperature and ethanol/isopropanol/DMSO/methanol composition, itraconazole solubility in DMSO+water is much higher than that in ethanol/isopropanol/methanol + water. At the same temperature, the solubility increases monotonically with organic solvent concentration. X-ray power diffraction analysis demonstrated that over the course of the investigations, there was no crystal transition or solvate formation. The modified van't Hoff-Jouyban-Acree and Jouyban-Acree models adequately related the solubility to solvent composition and temperature, with relative average deviations (RADs) not exceeding 7.65 %. Furthermore, the extended Hildebrand solubility approach was utilized to quantitatively characterize the solubility behavior at 298.15 K for the mixtures of ethanol/isopropanol/DMSO/methanol plus water. In both instances, the RADs were maintained below 4.12 %. The solubility parameter and dipolarity-polarizability of solutions have a major impact on the solubility fluctuation, as indicated by the analysis of the linear solvation energy relationship. The preferential solvation of itraconazole at 298.15 K was examined using the efficient approach of inverse Kirkwood-Buff integrals. The preferred solvation parameters showed positive values in blends within rich and moderate ethanol/isopropanol/DMSO/methanol composition regions. This suggests that the organic solvents preferentially solvated itraconazole. When itraconazole dissolved in the blends, thermodynamic analysis of the entropy-enthalpy compensation and dissolution parameters revealed both an endothermic and an enthalpy-driven mechanism. Furthermore, the microscopic electrostatic characteristics of basicity and acidity were effectively demonstrated by means of the electrostatic potential of molecular surface. The −C=O and −N=groups of the itraconazole molecule, which link the five-membered ring, are the primary targets of the electrophilic attack. An independent gradient model based on Hirshfeld partition analysis was used to demonstrate the weak interactions between itraconazole and solvents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fresh strawberries are easily contaminated by microorganisms after picking. Therefore, how to effectively store and keep fresh strawberries has been a hot topic for scientists to study. In this study, we prepared a leaf shaped metal organic framework nanomaterial loaded with quercetin (Quercetin@ZIF-L) at first, which can achieve effective loading of quercetin (96%) within 45 min and has a controlled release effect under acidic conditions. In addition, by cleverly combining satellite graphene oxide @ silver nanoparticles (GO@AgNPs) with slow precipitation performance, Quercetin@ZIF-L/GO@AgNPs nanocomposite film with larger pore size and larger specific surface area was prepared by scraping method. The characterization data of water flux, retention rate, flux recovery rate and water vapor permeability show that the composite film has good physical properties. The experiment of film packaging showed that the fresh life of strawberry could be extended from 3 to 8 days, which significantly improved the storage and freshness cycle of strawberry. At the same time, the metal migration test proved that the residual amount of silver ion in strawberry met the EU standard and zinc ions are beneficial to the health, enriching the types of high-performance fresh-keeping materials and broadening the application. [Display omitted] • Rapid and efficient adsorption and stimulated release of natural active substances-quercetin by MOFs. • MOFs composite nano cling film significantly prolongs the shelf life of strawberries. • Collaborative antibacterial preservation performance of MOFs and GO @ Silver Nanoparticles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • The peak of high grade metamorphism has been constrained to occur at 566–565 Ma, proving the Jiamusi-Kuunga-Pinjarra linkage. • The continental crust of the Jiamusi Block is featured by a progressive rather than episodic growth pattern. • Diverse forms of crustal growth have been defined in an accretionary orogen. There is a considerable debate as to when and how the continental crust has evolved to its present state. Existing studies of crustal evolution have focused on large cratons, whereas microcontinents within accretionary orogenic belts have been conspicuously neglected. The controversial definition of tectonic origins and lack of Precambrian basement rocks of microcontinents, lead to an equivocal issue of their secular crustal evolution processes. Here we present zircon U-Pb ages and Hf-O isotopes, as well as whole-rock elemental and Sr-Nd-Pb-Hf isotopic data for the newly discovered Neoproterozoic orthogneisses from the Jiamusi Block of NE China in the easternmost Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB). LA-ICP-MS U-Pb dating of zircons from the orthogneisses recorded two episodes of magmatism at 896–886 Ma and 752–726 Ma. Combined with zircon Hf-O isotopes and REE patterns, the peak of the late Pan-African metamorphism is proved to occur at 566–565 Ma, demonstrating the linkage between the Jiamusi Block and the Kuunga-Pinjarra interior orogen of East Gondwana. In conjunction with compiled zircon U-Pb-Hf isotopic data of Neoproterozoic-Mesozoic granitoids, a new crustal evolution model has been established for the Jiamusi Block, which defines a continuous rather than an episodic crustal growth pattern during the Neoarchean to Neoproterozoic, as well as four stages of crustal reworking at 940–880 Ma, 780–660 Ma, 560–460 Ma, and 340–240 Ma. The enhanced and reduced rates of crustal growth during the progressive period are related to the assembly-breakup and collision phases of supercontinent cycles, respectively. Our study along with previous researches on eastern CAOB not only highlights that the Phanerozoic accretionary orogen underwent diverse forms of crustal growth with most of the continental crust formed during the Precambrian, but also provides an example to show the heterogeneity of the lower continent and the complexity of global secular crustal evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A high sensitivity fiber optic magnetic field sensor that utilizes a DC-PCF filled with MF has been proposed and validated. • Inverse fast Fourier transform method can be utilized to determine the magnetic field sensitivity, which can reach up to 1.562 nm/mT. • The proposed sensor exhibits substantial potential for further development in the field of high sensitivity magnetic field detection applications. A high sensitivity fiber optic magnetic field sensor that utilizes a dual-core photonic crystal fiber (DC-PCF) filled with magnetic fluid (MF) has been proposed and validated to simultaneously detect magnetic field intensity and temperature. DC-PCF is a multimode fiber that supports various modes of light transmission and induces intermodal interference within fiber core. The numerical analysis of the mode characteristics of DC-PCF is conducted. The sensing structure relies on the use of a DC-PCF with air holes filled with a suitable material, such as MF substance. The analysis of the working principle of the DC-PCF for sensing and measurement is conducted by considering its structural characteristics and mode characteristics. The effective refractive index (ERI) of MF is affected by external magnetic field intensity and temperature. To extract the effective frequency points, the fast Fourier transform (FFT) method can be employed. Additionally, the inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) method can be utilized to determine the magnetic field sensitivity, which can reach up to 1.562 nm/mT. Furthermore, the temperature sensitivity can be as high as −1.043 nm/°C. The sensor demonstrates excellent repeatability and showcases low detection limits of 0.0128 mT and 0.0192 °C, respectively. Additionally, the proposed sensor exhibits substantial potential for further development in the field of high sensitivity magnetic field detection applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, a concept of partial structure reuse is presented, and on this basis, a 3.5/28 GHz shared-aperture antenna supporting 2-D (endfire and broadside) steerable beams in the millimeter-wave (MMW) band is developed. The antenna consists of a 3.5 GHz planar inverted-F antenna (PIFA) and two 1 $\times $ 6 28 GHz substrate-integrated DRA (SIDRA) beam-steerable arrays, in which partial structures of the PIFA are reused by the two MMW arrays. To improve the performance of PIFA, two narrow slots and one lumped capacitor are introduced to reduce its H-plane cross-polarization and enhance the operating bandwidth, respectively. To verify the design, antenna prototypes were fabricated and measured. Measured results show that the antenna can cover a dual-band of 3.28–3.67 (11.2%) and 26–29.7 (13.2%) for the endfire and 25.9–29.7 GHz (13.8%) for the broadside. The peak gains of 4.8 and 10 (endfire) and 10.8 dBi (broadside) are obtained by the MW element and two 1 $\times $ 4 MMW arrays, respectively. Each of the MMW arrays can steer the beams from − 50° to + 50°, covering different parts of the space. The shared-aperture antenna has a compact size of 0.45 $\times $ 0.3 $\times \,\,0.03\lambda _{01}^{3}$ ($\lambda _{01}$ is the free-space wavelength at 3.5 GHz), making it suitable for terminal applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Therapeutic irradiation is commonly used to treat brain cancers but can induce cognitive dysfunction, especially in children. The mechanism is unknown but likely involves alterations in dendritic spine number and structure. Methods: To explore the impact of radiation exposure on the alteration of dendritic spine morphology in the hippocampus of young brains, 21-day-old Sprague–Dawley rats received cranial irradiation (10 Gy), and changes in spine density and morphology in dentate gyrus (DG) granules and CA1 pyramidal neurons were detected 1 and 3 months later by using Golgi staining. Moreover, we analyzed synapse-associated proteins within dendritic spines after irradiation. Result: Our data showed that cognitive deficits were detected in young rats at both time points postirradiation, accompanied by morphological changes in dendritic spines. Our results revealed significant reductions in spine density in the DG at both 1 month (40.58%) and 3 months (28.92%) postirradiation. However, there was a decrease in spine density only at 1 month (33.29%) postirradiation in the basal dendrites of CA1 neurons and no significant changes in the apical dendrites of CA1 neurons at either time point. Notably, among our findings were the significant dynamic changes in spine morphology that persisted 3 months following cranial irradiation. Meanwhile, we found that depletion of the synapse-associated proteins PSD95 and Drebrin coincided with alterations in dendritic spines. Conclusion: These data suggest that the decreased levels of PSD95 and Drebrin after ionizing radiation may cause changes in synaptic plasticity by affecting the morphological structure of dendritic spines, blocking the functional connectivity pathways of the brain and leading to cognitive impairment. Although the mechanism involved is unclear, understanding how ionizing radiation affects young brain hippocampal tissue may be useful to gain new mechanistic insights into radiation-induced cognitive dysfunction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

TiV-based alloys present desirable hydrogen storage properties owing to the formation of Body-centered cubic (BCC) solid solutions. However, the nanostructure that helps hydrogen absorption and desorption is hard to be designed and prepared in these alloys. In this study, Ti 40 Zr 60- x V x (x = 20, 25, 30) alloys with hyperfine nano-eutectic structures of 50–500 nm in lamellar space are prepared, and the nano-eutectic structures can be refined by increasing Zr content. Ti 40 Zr 60- x V x alloy powder exhibits excellent activation and hydrogenation properties. The phase separation and nano-eutectic structure are formed due to the differences of atomic size in Ti 40 Zr 60- x V x alloys. The highest total hydrogenation capacity of 2.4 wt% is obtained within 10 min at 200 °C under 1 MPa H 2 by Ti 40 V 35 Zr 25 alloy, surpassing that of Ti 40 Zr 40 V 20 and Ti 40 Zr 30 V 30 alloys of 2.2 wt% in 20min. Based on the Johnson-Mehl-Avrami-Kolmogorov (JMAK) model, lower energy is required for the hydrogenation of Ti 40 V 35 Zr 25 alloy. Due to the formation of some stable hydrides, the Ti 40 Zr 60- x V x alloys show lower reversible hydrogenation capacities. The spinodal decomposition in Ti 40 V 35 Zr 25 alloy facilitates the formation of reticular eutectics, which provide high-density phase interfaces and produce "synergistic effect". As a result, the hydrogenation kinetic and capacity are enhanced significantly. • Large atomic size differences of the Ti 40 Zr 60- x V x promote nano-eutectic structure. • Novel Ti 40 V 35 Zr 25 alloy form hyperfine nano-eutectic with lamellar space of 50–500 nm and spinodal decomposition structures. • The capacity of 2.4 wt% at 200 °C/1 MPa within 10 min is achieved by Ti 40 V 35 Zr 25 alloy. • The spinodal decomposition promote formation of eutectic phases with excellent hydrogenation absorption property. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]