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Tip leakage flow affects the flow stability of high-loading compressors significantly. Therefore, a novel approach via induced shock wave near suction-side edge of blade tip was proposed to suppress the strength and influence range of leakage flow in a transonic rotor. Three new schemes with different circumferentially diverging degrees of clearance were designed to reveal the mechanism of the new approach. Through the action of the circumferentially diverging clearance (from the pressure side to the suction side over blade tip), a much more dramatic acceleration of the supersonic leakage jet flow appeared over blade tip of the new schemes. An induced shock wave was produced near the suction side edge of blade tip due to the pressure difference between the discharging leakage flow and the surrounding high-pressure mainflow in tip channel. As a result, both the mass flow rate and the outlet velocity of leakage flow were reduced significantly via the induced shock wave. Meanwhile, the suppressing effect of the new approach on the tip leakage jet flow was closely related to the strength and circumferential location of the induced shock wave. With the aids of the induced shock wave, the largest improvement of tip flow characteristics with an over 5% increase in stall margin was realized in new transonic rotor when the circumferential divergence angle equals 8°, accompanied with no more than a 0.4% decrease in isentropic efficiency.

Photothermal therapy (PTT) is a promising clinical antitumor strategy. However, local hyperthermia inevitably induces heat damage to adjacent normal tissues, while alternative mild-temperature therapy (MPTT, T< 45 °C) is also inefficient due to the overexpressed hyperthermia-induced heat shock proteins (HSPs) by cancer cells. Therefore, developing PTT strategies with minimizing damage to healthy tissues with improved cellular temperature sensitivity is extremely valuable for clinical application. Herein, we proposed the strategy of disrupting the intracellular redox environment via destroying the ROS-defending systems to promote MPTT. The gold(III) porphyrin-Fe3+-tannic acid nanocomplexes (AuTPP@TA-Fe NPs) were achieved via interfacial cohesion and supramolecular assembly of bioadhesive species, which could trigger the Fenton reaction to produce ·OH radicals and downregulation of reductive TrxR enzyme and mitochondrial chaperone protein Hsp60. The aggravation of oxides and the inactivation of Hsp60 provide favorable pathways for impeding the heat shock-induced self-repair mechanism of cancer cells, which strengthens AuTPP@TA-Fe NPs mediated MPTT.

Purpose: The purpose is to reduce the power consumption of FCD array without changing the performances of the detector substantially. Method: The traditional FCD driver circuit adopts push-pull configuration output structure circuit. When the drive circuit outputs high level voltage, it will charge the pixel capacitance of the FCD. Then, at the low output level, the charge on the capacitor will be shorted to ground. This paper utilizes an LC resonance driving technique. When the FCD is drived by low-level voltage, the charge on the pixel capacitor will not be shorted to the ground, instead the charge are transfer and stored on the inductor and will be reused when the FCD is drived by the high-level voltage. Results: Based on this principle, we design a new FCD driver circuit. It can effectively reduce the power consumption up to 70%. We also compare the X-ray energy resolution of this new driver circuit to that of normal driver circuit. In normal driver circuit, the energy resolution is 228 eV@8.04 keV and the charge transfer efficiencies is 0.99994, in this new driver circuit, the energy resolution is 256 eV@8.04 keV and the charge transfer efficiencies becomes 0.99985. Conclusion: There is no substantial change in energy resolution and it meets our requirements in space application well. In addition, the new driver circuit is stable and easy to implement.

Choice of color is critical to creating effective charts with an engaging, enjoyable, and informative reading experience. However, designing a good color palette for a chart is a challenging task for novice users who lack related design expertise. For example, they often find it difficult to articulate their abstract intentions and translate these intentions into effective editing actions to achieve a desired outcome. In this work, we present NL2Color, a tool that allows novice users to refine chart color palettes using natural language expressions of their desired outcomes. We first collected and categorized a dataset of 131 triplets, each consisting of an original color palette of a chart, an editing intent, and a new color palette designed by human experts according to the intent. Our tool employs a large language model (LLM) to substitute the colors in original palettes and produce new color palettes by selecting some of the triplets as few-shot prompts. To evaluate our tool, we conducted a comprehensive two-stage evaluation, including a crowd-sourcing study ($\mathrm{N}=71$) and a within-subjects user study ($\mathrm{N}=12$). The results indicate that the quality of the color palettes revised by NL2Color has no significantly large difference from those designed by human experts. The participants who used NL2Color obtained revised color palettes to their satisfaction in a shorter period and with less effort.

The gut microbiota play a pivotal role in human health. Emerging evidence indicates that gut microbes participate in the progression of tumorigenesis through the generation of carcinogenic metabolites. However, the underlying molecular mechanism is largely unknown. In the present study we show that a tryptophan metabolite derived from Peptostreptococcus anaerobius, trans-3-indoleacrylic acid (IDA), facilitates colorectal carcinogenesis. Mechanistically, IDA acts as an endogenous ligand of an aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) to transcriptionally upregulate the expression of ALDH1A3(aldehyde dehydrogenase 1 family member A3), which utilizes retinal as a substrate to generate NADH, essential for ferroptosis-suppressor protein 1(FSP1)-mediated synthesis of reduced coenzyme Q10. Loss of AHR or ALDH1A3largely abrogates IDA-promoted tumour development both in vitro and in vivo. It is interesting that P. anaerobiusis significantly enriched in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC). IDA treatment or implantation of P. anaerobiuspromotes CRC progression in both xenograft model and ApcMin/+mice. Together, our findings demonstrate that targeting the IDA–AHR–ALDH1A3axis should be promising for ferroptosis-related CRC treatment.

As the final stage of questionnaire analysis, causal reasoning is the key to turning responses into valuable insights and actionable items for decision-makers. During the questionnaire analysis, classical statistical methods (e.g., Differences-in-Differences) have been widely exploited to evaluate causality between questions. However, due to the huge search space and complex causal structure in data, causal reasoning is still extremely challenging and time-consuming, and often conducted in a trial-and-error manner. On the other hand, existing visual methods of causal reasoning face the challenge of bringing scalability and expert knowledge together and can hardly be used in the questionnaire scenario. In this work, we present a systematic solution to help analysts effectively and efficiently explore questionnaire data and derive causality. Based on the association mining algorithm, we dig question combinations with potential inner causality and help analysts interactively explore the causal sub-graph of each question combination. Furthermore, leveraging the requirements collected from the experts, we built a visualization tool and conducted a comparative study with the state-of-the-art system to show the usability and efficiency of our system.

Composite visualization is a popular design strategy that represents complex datasets by integrating multiple visualizations in a meaningful and aesthetic layout, such as juxtaposition, overlay, and nesting. With this strategy, numerous novel designs have been proposed in visualization publications to accomplish various visual analytic tasks. However, there is a lack of understanding of design patterns of composite visualization, thus failing to provide holistic design space and concrete examples for practical use. In this article, we opted to revisit the composite visualizations in IEEE VIS publications and answered what and how visualizations of different types are composed together. To achieve this, we first constructed a corpus of composite visualizations from the publications and analyzed common practices, such as the pattern distributions and co-occurrence of visualization types. From the analysis, we obtained insights into different design patterns on the utilities and their potential pros and cons. Furthermore, we discussed usage scenarios of our taxonomy and corpus and how future research on visualization composition can be conducted on the basis of this study.

Purpose: The low-energy X-ray telescope (LE) is a main instrument of the Insight-HXMT mission and consists of 96 swept charge devices covering the 1–10 keV energy band. The energy gain and resolution are continuously calibrated by analyzing Cassiopeia A (Cas A) and blank sky data, while the effective areas are also calibrated with the observations of the Crab Nebula. In this paper, we present the evolution of the in-orbit performances of LE in the first 5 years since launch. Methods: The Insight-HXMT data analysis software package (HXMTDAS) is utilized to extract the spectra of Cas A, blank sky, and Crab Nebula using different good time interval selections. We fit a model with a power-law continuum and several Gaussian lines to different ranges of Cas A and blank sky spectra to get peak energies of their lines through xspec. After updating the energy gain calibration in CALibration DataBase (CALDB), we rerun the Cas A data to obtain the energy resolution. An empirical function is used to modify the simulated effective areas so that the background-subtracted spectrum of the Crab Nebula can best match the standard model of the Crab Nebula. Results: The energy gain, resolution, and effective areas are calibrated every month. The corresponding calibration results are duly updated in CALDB, which can be downloaded and used for the analysis of Insight-HXMT data. Simultaneous observations with NuSTARand NICERcan also be used to verify our derived results. Conclusion: LE is a well-calibrated X-ray telescope working in 1–10 keV band. The uncertainty of LE gain is less than 20 eV in 2–9 keV band, and the uncertainty of LE resolution is less than 15 eV. The systematic errors of LE, compared to the model of the Crab Nebula, are lower than 1.5% in 1–10 keV.

Images in visualization publications contain rich information, e.g., novel visualization designs and implicit design patterns of visualizations. A systematic collection of these images can contribute to the community in many aspects, such as literature analysis and automated tasks for visualization. In this paper, we build and make public a dataset, VisImages, which collects 12,267 images with captions from 1,397 papers in IEEE InfoVis and VAST. Built upon a comprehensive visualization taxonomy, the dataset includes 35,096 visualizations and their bounding boxes in the images. We demonstrate the usefulness of VisImages through three use cases: 1) investigating the use of visualizations in the publications with VisImages Explorer, 2) training and benchmarking models for visualization classification, and 3) localizing visualizations in the visual analytics systems automatically.

As an effective form of narrative visualization, visual data stories are widely used in data-driven storytelling to communicate complex insights and support data understanding. Although important, they are difficult to create, as a variety of interdisciplinary skills, such as data analysis and design, are required. In this work, we introduce Erato, a human-machine cooperative data story editing system, which allows users to generate insightful and fluent data stories together with the computer. Specifically, Erato only requires a number of keyframes provided by the user to briefly describe the topic and structure of a data story. Meanwhile, our system leverages a novel interpolation algorithm to help users insert intermediate frames between the keyframes to smooth the transition. We evaluated the effectiveness and usefulness of the Erato system via a series of evaluations including a Turing test, a controlled user study, a performance validation, and interviews with three expert users. The evaluation results showed that the proposed interpolation technique was able to generate coherent story content and help users create data stories more efficiently.

During the creation of graphic designs, individuals inevitably spend a lot of time and effort on adjusting visual attributes (e.g., positions, colors, and fonts) of elements to make them more aesthetically pleasing. It is a trial-and-error process, requires repetitive edits, and relies on good design knowledge. In this work, we seek to alleviate such difficulty by automatically suggesting aesthetic improvements, i.e., taking an existing design as the input and generating a refined version with improved aesthetic quality as the output. This goal presents two challenges: proposing a refined design based on the user-given one, and assessing whether the new design is better aesthetically. To cope with these challenges, we propose a design principle-guided candidate generation stage and a data-driven candidate evaluation stage. In the candidate generation stage, we generate candidate designs by leveraging design principles as the guidance to make changes around the existing design. In the candidate evaluation stage, we learn a ranking model upon a dataset that can reflect humans’ aesthetic preference, and use it to choose the most aesthetically pleasing one from the generated candidates. We implement a prototype system on presentation slides and demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach through quantitative analysis, sample results, and user studies.

The effects of root fillet on the flow behavior of high loading compressor rotor tends to be much more crucial in practice, and it’s necessary to explore the internal relations between the geometric effects of root fillet and the flow behaviors of rotor blade. Therefore, eight types of root fillet with different radius were designed and installed around the blade root of NASA Rotor67. With the aids of fillet, the corner separation near suction side of blade root has been suppressed significantly in that the root fillet reconstructs the circumferential bending distributon of the suction-side curve from leading edge to trailing edge, and reduces the genmetric turning angle in the latter part of root section near trailing edge. However, apart from the improvement of corner flow characteristic caused by root fillet, both the tip flow deterioration and the decrease of stall margin occur in the new rotors, which indicates an indirect correlation between tip flow characteristic and root fillet exists indeed in the three-dimensional flowfields of transonic rotor. Actually, by means of the new radial pressure equilibrium affected by root fillet, a larger radius of root fillet contributes to much larger blade loading and stronger leakage flow in tip region of compressor rotor. As a result, a monotonic decrease of stall margin was present in the transonic rotor with increase of the root fillet radius. Subsequently, the positive bending of blade tip was introduced to deal with the negative effect caused by the root fillet indirectly. Combined with the effects of root fillet and positive tip-bending on the radial pressure equilibrium existing in channels, both the radial and streamwise loading distributions tend to be much more reasonable in new rotors, and the static pressure difference in former 1/3 chord of blade tip has decreased clearly which benefits to reduce the strength of leakage flow in tip region. Therefore, the flow deterioration in tip region of transonic rotor induced by root fillet has been well suppressed, with an obvious improvement of overall performance occurring in new rotors.

The dependency matrix is widely used in fault diagnosis as a valid diagnostic model. However, the conventional dependency matrix-based diagnosis method pays more attention to the extension and improvement of the dependency matrix, and the timeliness is rarely discussed. To solve the problem and improve the diagnosis efficiency, fast diagnosis method using two search algorithms is proposed. The hash function is introduced, and the dependency matrix is transformed into the key-value pairs. The binary search algorithm is brought in to locate the desired failure mode by splitting the dependency matrix. Thus, the fault diagnosis is converted into a search process, which can improve the diagnosis efficiency by making full use of the advantages of the search algorithms. Finally, a numerical simulation is utilized to verify the proposed method. The proposed methods are applied to the matrices of different sizes. The results show that the hash-based diagnosis method has significantly better efficiency, making it more suitable for onboard diagnosis. On the other hand, the binary search-based method is advantageous from a memory perspective only when the matrix size is small.

To improve the performance of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), in this study the combination of longitudinal vortex generators (LVGs) and cathode channel is proposed to improve the power density performance and optimize the water-thermal management of PEMFC with a less pressure loss. The effects of the shape, spacing, angle of attack, and number of LVGs on the performance of PEMFC are investigated via numerical simulation. The results show that the current density of the PEMFC improved the most significantly by installing five groups of rectangular plane winglet with a 12 mm spacing and 45° angle of attack in the cathode channel, and that the peak current density increases by 33.3% with additional flow resistance loss of 164.64% than the initial design. The current density of the PEMFC increases with the increase of spacing, angle of attack, and number of vortex generator groups. Moreover, the vortex generator improves the distribution uniformity of temperature, water content, and oxygen content inside the PEMFC. Importantly, it is also observed that the secondary flow intensity of PEMFC channel is positively correlated with the current density of the PEMFC. When the angle of attack is 45°, the vorticity increases the most, i.e., 16.79% higher than that without a VG. Ultimately, the pressure drop and overall performance indicator of PEMFC with LVGs are demonstrated. Compared with the initial design, except the comprehensive performance of the 0° angle of attack has been improved, that of other schemes has been reduced. It is worth noting that, for other published optimization schemes, the research scheme proposed in this paper has certain advantages in terms of lifting current density with lower resistance loss. Therefore, it is still of great significance to improve the energy density of PEMFC.

We report the discovery of a peculiar X-ray transient, EP240408a, by Einstein Probe (EP)and follow-up studies made with EP, Swift, NICER, GROND, ATCA and other ground-based multiwavelength telescopes. The new transient was first detected with Wide-field X-ray Telescope (WXT) on board EP on April 8th, 2024, manifested in an intense yet brief X-ray flare lasting for 12 s. The flare reached a peak flux of 3.9 × 10−9erg cm−2s−1in 0.5–4 keV, ∼300 times brighter than the underlying X-ray emission detected throughout the observation. Rapid and more precise follow-up observations by EP/FXT, Swiftand NICERconfirmed the finding of this new transient. Its X-ray spectrum is non-thermal in 0.5–10 keV, with apower-law photon index varying within 1.8–2.5. The X-ray light curve shows a plateau lasting for ∼4 d, followed by a steep decay till becoming undetectable ∼10 d after the initial detection. Based on its temporal property and constraints from previous EPobservations, an unusual timescale in the range of 7–23 d is found for EP240408a, which is intermediate between the commonly found fast and long-term transients. No counterparts have been found in optical and near-infrared, with the earliest observation at 17 h after the initial X-ray detection, suggestive of intrinsically weak emission in these bands. We demonstrate that the remarkable properties of EP240408a are inconsistent with any of the transient types known so far, by comparison with, in particular, jetted tidal disruption events, gamma-ray bursts, X-ray binaries and fast blue optical transients. The nature of EP240408a thus remains an enigma. We suggest that EP240408a may represent a new type of transients with intermediate timescales of the order of ∼10 d. The detection and follow-ups of more of such objects are essential for revealing their origin.

The interactions of tip leakage flow with mainstream and shock wave result in larger aerodynamic losses and blockage in high loading compressors and tend to be one of the triggers for flow instability. In order to attenuate the influence of leakage flow and improve the stall margin of highly loaded compressor, the new rotors surrounded by tip winglet are investigated by a numerical method. The tip winglet is designed by extending the flat blade tip section in outer 1.5% span of rotor blade. As the angle between the leakage flow and main flow decreases due to winglet, the losses and flow blockage have been weakened near stall condition, and the stall margin of new rotor with pressure-side winglet has an increase of over 10%. The migration and accumulation of low-energy fluids near the corner of casing endwall are affected significantly by tip winglet. As a result, the pressure-side winglet causes an increase of static pressure near the casing corner of pressure surface. Although the driving pressure difference near the leading edge of blade has increased slightly in the tip region, the strength and massflow rate of leakage flow appear to be decreased. As the leakage flow weakens in the new rotor with pressure-side winglet, its interaction with mainstream and shock has been suppressed obviously, and the delay of rotating stall occurs as well. Moreover, the flowfields of the new rotor with pressure-side winglet have been simulated at 40%, 60%, and 80% design speed. It is shown that the flow blockage and losses in the tip region have also reduced near stall point, and an improvement of overall performance is present in the new rotor with pressure-side winglet. All the changes of tip flow structure caused by winglet benefit to an increase of aerodynamic performance of new rotor at full rotational speed range.

Tip leakage flow has become one of the major triggers for rotating stall in tip region of high loading transonic compressor rotors. Comparing with active flow control method, it’s wise to use blade tip modification to enlarge the stable operating range of rotor. Therefore, three pressure-side winglets with the maximum width of 2.0, 2.5 and 3.0 times of the baseline rotor, are designed and surrounded the blade tip of NASA rotor 37, and the three new rotors are named as RPW1, RPW2, and RPW3 respectively. The numerical results show that the width of pressure-side winglet has significant influence on the stall margin and the minimum throttling massflow of rotor, while it produces less effect on the choking massflow and the peak efficiency of new rotors. As the width of the pressure-side winglet increases from new rotor RPW1 to RPW3, the strength of leakage massflow has been attenuated dramatically and a reduction of 20% in leakage massflow rate has appeared in the new rotor RPW3. By contrast, the extended blade tip caused by winglet has not introduced much more aerodynamic losses in tip region of rotor, and the new rotors with different width of pressure-side winglet have the similar peak efficiency to the baseline. The new shape of the leakage channel over blade tip which replaces of the static pressure difference near blade tip has dominated the behavior of the leakage flow in tip gap. As both the new aerodynamic boundary and throat in tip gap have reshaped by the low-velocity flow near the solid wall of extended blade tip, the discharging velocity and massflow rate of leakage flow have been suppressed obviously in new rotors. In addition, the increasing inlet axial velocity at the entrance of new rotor has increased slightly as well, which is attributed to the less blockage in the tip region of new rotor. In consideration of the increased inlet axial velocity and the weakened leakage flow, the new rotor presents an appropriately linear increase of the stall margin when the width of pressure-side winglet increases, and has a nearly 15% increase in new rotor RPW3.

It is well established that ferroptosis is primarily induced by peroxidation of long-chain poly-unsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) through nonenzymatic oxidation by free radicals or enzymatic stimulation of lipoxygenase. Although there is emerging evidence that long-chain saturated fatty acid (SFA) might be implicated in ferroptosis, it remains unclear whether and how SFA participates in the process of ferroptosis. Using endogenous metabolites and genome-wide CRISPR screening, we have identified FAR1 as a critical factor for SFA-mediated ferroptosis. FAR1 catalyzes the reduction of C16 or C18 saturated fatty acid to fatty alcohol, which is required for the synthesis of alkyl-ether lipids and plasmalogens. Inactivation of FAR1 diminishes SFA-dependent ferroptosis. Furthermore, FAR1-mediated ferroptosis is dependent on peroxisome-driven ether phospholipid biosynthesis. Strikingly, TMEM189, a newly identified gene which introduces vinyl-ether double bond into alkyl-ether lipids to generate plasmalogens abrogates FAR1-alkyl-ether lipids axis induced ferroptosis. Our study reveals a new FAR1-ether lipids-TMEM189 axis dependent ferroptosis pathway and suggests TMEM189 as a promising druggable target for anticancer therapy.

Given any infinite tree in the plane satisfying certain topological conditions, we construct an entire function fwith only two critical values ±1 and no asymptotic values such that f−1([−1, 1]) is ambiently homeomorphic to the given tree. This can be viewed as a generalization of the result of Grothendieck (see Schneps (1994)) to the case of infinite trees. Moreover, a similar idea leads to a new proof of the result of Nevanlinna (1932) and Elfving (1934).

Austempered ductile iron has been considered as a substitution to replace conventional steel castings, steel forgings and even aluminum in many applications. Its excellent mechanical properties are mainly attributed to its unique ausferritic structure containing acicular ferrite and carbon saturated austenite. Some ADI components such as camshaft and engine valve commonly experience surface contact and relative motion under external load and pressure. Outstanding wear resistance of ADI is required to ensure the satisfactory working performance and service life of these key components. In order to meet the advanced requirements of mechanical properties and wear behavior of ADI, a dual-step austempering process and additional surface hardening treatments are suggested to be utilized. In this review, conventional single-step austempering process and corresponding ausferritic structure are introduced. Second, the positive effects of a novel dual-step austempering process on microstructure and mechanical properties of ADI are provided. Next, wear behavior of single-step and dual-step ADIs and wear mechanisms are discussed. Then, studies regarding the applications of surface hardening treatments on wear resistance of ADI are reviewed. Finally, a summary and expectations are discussed. The information presented in this paper would be beneficial to future studies and applications for any grade of ADI.

The present research studied the combined effects of quench-tempering and laser surface hardening treatments on wear behavior of gray cast iron, and compared results with conventional austempered gray cast iron. Four tempering temperatures of 316 °C (600 °F), 399 °C (750 °F), 482 °C (900 °F) or 552 °C (1025 °F) with a constant holding time of 60 min and four austempering temperatures of 232 °C (450 °F), 288 °C (550 °F), 343 °C (650 °F) or 399 °C (750 °F) with a constant holding time of 120 min were utilized in the heat treatment design. The wear tests were carried out on a universal mechanical tribometer with a reciprocating ball-on-plate sliding configuration. Also, the microstructure, micro-hardness profiles and worn tracks were examined. Through this work, it was found that three zones existed under the laser hardened surface. Zone 1 was the laser hardened zone containing ledeburite with hardness of approximately 68HRC. Zone 2 was the heat affected zone containing the martensite with hardness of approximately 66HRC. Zone 3 was the substrate with hardness ranging from 42.1 to 24.8HRC. In the sliding wear tests, the quench-tempering treatment only resulted in higher wear resistance of gray cast iron when compared with untreated specimens, but lower wear resistance than that of austempered gray cast iron under similar macro-hardness. The wear performance of the quench-tempered gray cast iron was enhanced after receiving the laser surface hardening treatment. Finally, the laser hardened and quench-tempered gray cast iron with tempering temperature of 552 °C showed similar mass loss due to wear as austempered gray cast iron with an austempering temperature of 232 °C. By observing the worn surfaces, the laser hardened regions could effectively inhibit the formation and propagation of cracks developed within the substrate regions. In addition, the substrate with low hardness in laser hardened and quench-tempered gray cast iron may provide enhanced ductility and toughness for gray cast iron engineering components. The results obtained in this research have significant value in selecting the optimum heat treatment process for laser hardened gray cast iron components.

Abstract In this study, series of novel composite phase change materials (PCMs) were prepared through vacuum impregnation by using meso-porous carbon as a supporting matrix and n -octadcane as PCMs. The meso-porous carbon material was prepared through one-pot co-assembly method, using resorcinol and formaldehyde as carbon precursor, tetraethoxysilane as silica sources and triblock copolymer F127 as a template. And the phase behaviors of n -octadcane confined in the nano-porous structure of the meso-porous carbon were further investigated. Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy spectra show that n -octadecane was effectively encapsulated in the porous structure of mesoporous carbon and the composite PCMs were successfully prepared. Differential scanning calorimetry results confirm that the composite PCMs possess a good phase change behavior, fast thermal-response rate and excellent thermal cycling stability. In addition, the composite PCMs possess expected heat storage and heat release properties. All these results demonstrate that the composite PCMs possess good comprehensive property so that they can be used widely in energy storage systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we present the enhanced X-ray Timing and Polarimetry mission—eXTP. eXTP is a space science mission designed to study fundamental physics under extreme conditions of density, gravity and magnetism. The mission aims at determining the equation of state of matter at supra-nuclear density, measuring effects of QED, and understanding the dynamics of matter in strong-field gravity. In addition to investigating fundamental physics, eXTP will be a very powerful observatory for astrophysics that will provide observations of unprecedented quality on a variety of galactic and extragalactic objects. In particular, its wide field monitoring capabilities will be highly instrumental to detect the electro-magnetic counterparts of gravitational wave sources. The paper provides a detailed description of: (1) the technological and technical aspects, and the expected performance of the instruments of the scientific payload; (2) the elements and functions of the mission, from the spacecraft to the ground segment.

The objective of this short communication was the relationship between vitamin D and precocious puberty (PP). In this study, a comprehensive search of multiple databases was performed to identify studies focused on the association between vitamin D deficiency and PP. Studies that compared serum vitamin D levels between patients with PP and controls were selected for the systematic meta-analysis. The main outcome was the mean difference in serum vitamin D levels between PP and controls. Vitamin D-deficient subjects were more likely to develop PP. Our findings suggest that PP may be linked to vitamin D deficiency. Thus, providing supplements of vitamin D to PP patients may improve their nutritional status and prevent diseases. But, the amount of vitamin D required is uncertain, so it is important to be careful when taking vitamin D supplements.

Finding the electromagnetic (EM) counterpart of binary compact star merger, especially the binary neutron star (BNS) merger, is critically important for gravitational wave (GW) astronomy, cosmology and fundamental physics. On Aug. 17, 2017, Advanced LIGO and Fermi/GBM independently triggered the first BNS merger, GW170817, and its high energy EM counterpart, GRB 170817A, respectively, resulting in a global observation campaign covering gamma-ray, X-ray, UV, optical, IR, radio as well as neutrinos. The High Energy X-ray telescope (HE) onboard Insight-HXMT (Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope) is the unique high-energy gamma-ray telescope that monitored the entire GW localization area and especially the optical counterpart (SSS17a/AT2017gfo) with very large collection area (~1000 cm2) and microsecond time resolution in 0.2-5 MeV. In addition, Insight-HXMT quickly implemented a Target of Opportunity (ToO) observation to scan the GW localization area for potential X-ray emission from the GW source. Although Insight-HXMT did not detect any significant high energy (0.2-5 MeV) radiation from GW170817, its observation helped to confirm the unexpected weak and soft nature of GRB 170817A. Meanwhile, Insight-HXMT/HE provides one of the most stringent constraints (~10‒7to 10‒6erg/cm2/s) for both GRB170817A and any other possible precursor or extended emissions in 0.2-5 MeV, which help us to better understand the properties of EM radiation from this BNS merger. Therefore the observation of Insight-HXMT constitutes an important chapter in the full context of multi-wavelength and multi-messenger observation of this historical GW event.

Food allergy (FA) is one of the global human health problems, affecting about 1 in 12 children and 1 in 10 adults worldwide. Probiotics have alleviating effects on FA, but the mechanisms have not been fully understood. We sought to explore the therapeutic potential of probiotics Bifidobacterium longumCECT7894 (B. longumCECT7894) on anaphylaxis in the ovalbumin (OVA)-induced FA model using an integrated multiomics approaches. The results revealed treatment with B. longumCECT7894 relieved OVA-induced allergic symptoms such as pathological changes in small intestine to some extent. Furthermore, probiotics utilization also reduced IgE levels. The transcriptomic data demonstrated that the expressions of genes associated with sphingolipid metabolism were altered in the group received B. longumCECT7894 compared to the sensitized group, including Sgpl1, Trpc1 and Prss8. In addition, the abundances of Sphingobacteriumat the genus level, Sphingobacteriumsp. 21 and B. longumat the species level, which might related with sphingolipid metabolism, were significantly altered by B. longumCECT7894 when compared to the OVA group. Employed the metabolomics analysis, phytosphingosine, C16 sphinganine, sphinganine and sphingosine were identified as significantly changed metabolites and sphingolipid metabolism pathway was significantly enriched by pathway enrichment analysis. The Spearman's correlation analysis further demonstrated that there were strong correlations between serum biochemical indicators, transcripts, gut microbiota and metabolites. Based on the findings described above, from the perspective of genes, gut flora and metabolites changes, it can be concluded that B. longumCECT7894 might suppress OVA-induced FA by regulating the sphingolipid metabolism pathway.

The novel two-dimensional graphitic material, graphdiyne (GDY), has attracted great interest due to its superior stability and natural semiconductor characteristic. We realize the obvious improvement of carrier transport characteristics of P-o-FBDTP–C8DTBTff (PFC; o-FBDTP, o-fluoro-p-alkoxyphenyl-substituted benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b′]dithiophene; C8DTBTff, 5,6-difluoro-4,7-di(4-(2-ethylhexyl)-2-thienyl)-2,1,3-benzothiadiazole) organic polymer semiconductor via adding GDY. The result of the field effect transistor measurement suggests that doping GDY can dramatically improve the on/off ratio and threshold voltage of the organic semiconductor. Especially the mobility of GDY/PFC film is 2 orders of magnitude higher than that of pristine PFC, demonstrating the important role of GDY dopant. Besides, the carrier diffusion length of GDY/PFC film is also enhanced, suggesting the great potential applications of GDY-modified polymer with donor–acceptor units in organic photoelectric devices.

The use of hydrated salts as thermal storage materials has become a current research focus for its large latent heat, but the problems of phase separation and high supercooling degrees are the main factors in preventing its application. The composite phase change materials (CPCMs) of Sodium Acetate Trihydrate (SAT) loaded on the sludge hydropyrolysis residue (SHR) has been confirmed better performance to solve these two problems in our past work. But the varied surface hydrophobicity of SHR results in significant fluctuations in supercooling degree of the CPCM. In response to this problem, sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate (SDBS) was used here to modify the SHR surface to compose hydrated salt of SAT. The surface-modified SHR was mixed with the unmodified one in the ratio of 3:1, 1:1, and 1:3, respectively, and all the three carriers loaded the SAT at the ratio of 1:6 to prepare CPCM. Characterization by SEM, BET, and DSC, melting/solidification multi-cycle testing, and thermal conductivity measurement were conducted. The results showed that the best performance was achieved when the modified SHR mixed with the unmodified one in a 1:1 ratio. After the 100-cycle of melting/solidification of CPCM, the latent heat decreased about 6 %, the phase change process of CPCM repeated very well, and the supercooling degree was kept below 3 °C. The surface modification of the SHR carrier is beneficial for the steady heat storage performance during the CPCM melting/solidification cycle.

This article uses a control volume method to analyze the circumferential groove casing treatment in a transonic compressor. To analyze the axial momentum transport through the tip gap, the control volume near the casing is divided into two parts: the control volumes inside and outside the tip gap. Besides, the association between the forces acting on the control volume and flow structures is studied by analyzing the distributions of axial momentum flux and axial shear stress. With this method, the flow mechanisms of stall margin improvement due to casing grooves in Rotor 35 are quantitatively analyzed. The analysis is conducted at 100% and 60% design speed with supersonic and subsonic tip speed, respectively. At design speed, the casing grooves decrease the axial shear force and the axial force due to the transport of axial momentum induced by the tip leakage flow. Meanwhile, the bleeding and injecting effect of grooves contribute much to the axial force due to the transport of axial momentum. Based on the axial distribution of the axial forces, the contribution of each groove to the stall margin improvement is assessed. And the grooves that play a major role in stall margin improvement are ascertained. At 60% design speed, because the blade loading is reduced, the axial momentum transport caused by the grooves cannot suppress the boundary layer separation effectively. Consequently, the stall margin of the compressor is not significantly improved by the casing grooves.

Poly (lactic acid) (PLA) foams have been considered as one of the most promising and effective substitutes for traditional petroleum-based foams owing to their excellent biodegradability and biocompatibility. In order to enhance the compressive properties and heat resistance of PLA foams, ethylene-glycidyl methacrylate copolymer (EGMA) as a carrier was first blended with poly (D-lactic acid) (PDLA) to fabricate PDLA/EGMA masterbatches. Subsequently, the resultant masterbatches were added into poly (L-lactic acid) (PLLA) to obtain well-dispersed stereocomplex crystallites (SC). Finally, the obtained PLLA/EGMA/PDLA specimens were foamed using a confined batch foaming method with CO2. The formation of SC was verified by X-ray diffraction and differential scanning calorimetry as well as their well dispersion was proven by scanning electron microscope and rheological measurement. Compared with pure PLLA, the melt viscoelasticity and crystallization rate of PLLA/EGMA/PDLA specimens were significantly improved by virtue of the formed well-dispersed SC. For PLLA/EGMA/PDLA foams, an ameliorated cell morphology was achieved. At a PDLA content of 6 wt%, the density-specific compressive strength and modulus of PLLA/EGMA/PDLA foams were 187 % and 360 % higher than those of pure PLLA foams, respectively. Additionally, the heat resistance of the PLLA/EGMA/PDLA foams was evidently enhanced, and their volume shrinkage was only around 1 % at 90 °C for 6 h. This study provides a prospect strategy for the preparation of lightweight, environmentally friendly, biodegradable PLA foams with satisfactory compressive performance and heat resistance.

In order to architecturally and functionally mimic native Extracellular Matrix (ECM), a novel micro/nano-fibrous scaffold of hydroxyapetite/poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (HA/PLGA) composite was successfully prepared by melt-spinning method. A porous three-dimensional scaffold fabricated by melt-molding particulate-leaching method was used as control. This kind of scaffold comprising both nanofiber and microfiber had an original structure including a nano-network favorable for cell adhesion, and a micro-fiber providing a strong skeleton for support. The microfibers and nanofibers were blended homogeneously in scaffold and the compression strength reached to 6.27 MPa, which was close to human trabecular bone. The typical mi-cro/nano-fibrous structure was more beneficial for the proliferation and differentiation of Bone Mesenchymal Stem Cells (BMSCs). The calcium deposition and Alkaline Phosphatase (ALP) activity were evaluated by the differentiation of BMSCs, and the results indicated that the temporary ECM was very beneficial for the differentiation of BMSCs into maturing osteoblasts. For repairing rabbit radius defects in vivo, micro/nano-fibrous scaffold was used for the purpose of rapid bone remodeling in the defect area. The results showed that a distinct bony callus of bridging was observed at 12 weeks post-surgery and the expression of osteogenesis-related genes (bone-morphogenetic protein-2, Osteonectin, collagen-I) increased because of the ECM-like structure. Based on the results, the novel micro/nano-fibrous scaffold might be a promising candidate for bone tissue engineering.

Stroke is the loss of brain function due to a disturbance in the blood supply to the brain resulting from either ischemia or hemorrhage. Previous studies have evaluated the clinical importance of nutritional interventions such as vitamin B supplementation in the management of acute strokes. However, it is still inconclusive whether or not vitamin B supplementation will benefit patients with acute strokes. Therefore, a meta-analysis was performed to assess the efficacy of vitamin B supplementation in the treatment of stroke patients. Medline, Embase, Scopus, and Cochrane Library databases were searched (from 1960 to June 2015) and forest plots were generated to illustrate the treatment effects. A systemic review of the electronic databases yielded 12 eligible studies consisting of 7474 patients. Forest plots from the meta-analyses of the included studies illustrated that vitamin B supplementation significantly lowered the plasma concentration of total homocysteine (SMD = -0.82; 95% CI: -0.77; Z = -29.06, p < 0.0001) and resulted in significant reduction in stroke recurrence (OR = 0.86%; 95% CI: 0.76, 0.97; Z = -2.41; p = 0.016) as well as a combined incidence of vascular events, including recurrent strokes, myocardial infarctions and vascular deaths (OR = 0.87%; 95% CI: 0.79, 0.96; Z= -2.73; p = 0.0063). Additionally, the nearly-symmetrical funnel plot (Egger’s test, t = −1.705, p = 0.1224) indicated the absence of publication bias regarding the meta-analysis that examined the effect of vitamin B supplementation on the plasma levels of homocysteine in acute stroke patients. These findings suggested that vitamin B supplementation presents a potential addition to the armamentarium for the management of acute stroke patients.

In order to architecturally and functionally mimic native Extracellular Matrix (ECM), a novel micro/nano-fibrous scaffold of hydroxyapetite/poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (HA/PLGA) composite was successfully prepared by melt-spinning method. A porous three-dimensional scaffold fabricated by melt-molding particulate-leaching method was used as control. This kind of scaffold comprising both nanofiber and microfiber had an original structure including a nano-network favorable for cell adhesion, and a micro-fiber providing a strong skeleton for support. The microfibers and nanofibers were blended homogeneously in scaffold and the compression strength reached to 6.27 MPa, which was close to human trabecular bone. The typical micro/nano-fibrous structure was more beneficial for the proliferation and differentiation of Bone Mesenchymal Stem Cells (BMSCs). The calcium deposition and Alkaline Phosphatase (ALP) activity were evaluated by the differentiation of BMSCs, and the results indicated that the temporary ECM was very beneficial for the differentiation of BMSCs into maturing osteoblasts. For repairing rabbit radius defects in vivo, micro/nano-fibrous scaffold was used for the purpose of rapid bone remodeling in the defect area. The results showed that a distinct bony callus of bridging was observed at 12 weeks post-surgery and the expression of osteogenesis-related genes (bone-morphogenetic protein-2, Osteonectin, collagen-I) increased because of the ECM-like structure. Based on the results, the novel micro/nano-fibrous scaffold might be a promising candidate for bone tissue engineering.

In this pa per, Al2O3-coated SiO2particles were prepared using nano-SiO2and Al2O3sol. Al2O3particles were also prepared by Al2O3sol, and the obtained powders have been studied by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The results indicated that the average diameters of Al2O3-coated SiO2particles and Al2O3particles were about 30 nm and 10 nm, respectively. For Al2O3-coated SiO2particles, Al2O3was successfully coated on the surface of SiO2particles, and it has been demonstrated that the ingredient of Al2O3particles is α-monohydrate Al2O3(AlOOH). Polyimide (PI)/SiO2composite films, Al2O3-coated SiO2/PI composite films, and PI/Al2O3composite films with the inorganic content of 16 % (by wt) were prepared by in situ polymerization. The mechanical properties, breakdown field strength, thermal properties, and corona-resistance time of the composite films were tested and analyzed. The test results showed that the mechanical properties of the Al2O3-coated SiO2/PI composite films were optimal. The tensile strength and elongation-at-break of the Al2O3-coated SiO2/PI composite films were found to be 123.73 MPa and 12.49 %, respectively, and increase by 6.1 and 34.4 % compared with the PI/SiO2composite films. The breakdown field strength, initial decomposition temperature, and corona-resistance time of the Al2O3-coated SiO2/PI films were measured as 224.3 kV/mm, 594.72 °C, and 168 min, respectively. The thermal performance of the Al2O3-coated SiO2/PI films is superior to that of the PI/SiO2films and PI/Al2O3films. The breakdown field strength and corona-resistance time of the Al2O3-coated SiO2/PI films were similar to those of the PI/SiO2films and superior to those of the PI/Al2O3films.

The infiltration of neutrophils is implicated in rosacea, which is a common chronic inflammatory facial disease. This study explores the biological function of neutrophils and their underlying mechanism in rosacea. A rosacea-like mouse model was established to explore the polarization of neutrophils. RNA sequencing was used to investigate the underlying mechanisms. Our results show that neutrophils partly switched to N2 phenotypes in both patients with rosacea and rosacea-like mouse models. The rosacea-like phenotype and inflammation in both a genetic mutation (Genista mice) and the Gr-1 antibody‒induced neutropenia mice were significantly aggravated compared with that in the control groups. In vitro, lipopolysaccharide + IFN-γ and IL4 stimulation of neutrophils successfully induced the N1 and N2 polarization of neutrophils, respectively. Replenishment of N2 neutrophils in the lesions of wild-type and Genista mice ameliorated the rosacea-like phenotype and inflammation. RNA sequencing suggested that N2 neutrophils relieved the rosacea-like phenotype, possibly by regulating the expression of blood circulation‒associated factors, such as ACE, AGTR2, and NOS1. Finally, N2 neutrophils regulated the proliferation of CD4+lymphocytes, which could explain the remission of inflammation in mice. Our results suggest that N2 polarization of neutrophils in rosacea exerts anti-inflammatory effects by regulating vascular factors and proliferation of CD4+T cells.

Polyimide/nano-sized Al2O3composite films based on pyromellitic dianhydride(PMDA) and 4,4'-oxydianiline(ODA) were synthesized by incorporation with different particle sizes of nano-Al2O3via in situ polymerization. The morphology and structure of composite films were studied by scanning electronic microscopy (SEM). The properties including the tensile strength, corona resistance, electric breakdown strength and dielectric properties were investigated. Results indicated that the size of Al2O3nano-particles had a great effect on the microstructures of composite films. The smaller size of the Al2O3particles, the more regularity of composite films were obtained. Properties testing results indicated that by increasing the Al2O3particles' dimension would decrease the mechanical properties and electric breakdown strength of composite films, while the dielectric constant remain nearly stable. Results also showed that after Al2O3addition, the corona resistance of composite films was improved, compared with that of pure PI films. The longest corona resistance time was obtained when the smallest Al2O3particles was used, which had a three times longer than PI composite film with largest Al2O3addition.