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Retinoic acid receptor-related orphan receptor γ (RORγ) acts as a crucial transcription factor in Th17 cells and is involved in diverse autoimmune disorders. RORγ allosteric inhibitors have gained significant research focus as a novel strategy to inhibit RORγ transcriptional activity. Leveraging the high affinity and selectivity of RORγ allosteric inhibitor MRL-871(1), this study presents the design, synthesis, and characterization of 11 allosteric fluorescent probes. Utilizing the preferred probe 12h, we established an efficient and cost-effective fluorescence polarization-based affinity assay for screening RORγ allosteric binders. By employing virtual screening in conjunction with this assay, 10 novel RORγ allosteric inhibitors were identified. The initial SAR studies focusing on the hit compound G381-0087are also presented. The encouraging outcomes indicate that probe 12hpossesses the potential to function as a powerful tool in facilitating the exploration of RORγ allosteric inhibitors and furthering understanding of RORγ function.

Polysaccharides in extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) can form a hybrid matrix network with proteins, impeding waste-activated sludge (WAS) fermentation. Amino sugars, such as N-acetyl-d-glucosamine (GlcNAc) polymers and sialic acid, are the non-negligible components in the EPS of aerobic granules or biofilm. However, the occurrence of amino sugars in WAS and their degradation remains unclear. Thus, amino sugars (∼6.0%) in WAS were revealed, and the genera of Lactococcusand Zoogloeawere identified for the first time. Chitin was used as the substrate to enrich a chitin-degrading consortium (CDC). The COD balances for methane production ranged from 83.3 and 95.1%. Chitin was gradually converted to oligosaccharides and GlcNAc after dosing with the extracellular enzyme. After doing enriched CDC in WAS, the final methane production markedly increased to 60.4 ± 0.6 mL, reflecting an increase of ∼62%. Four model substrates of amino sugars (GlcNAc and sialic acid) and polysaccharides (cellulose and dextran) could be used by CDC. Treponema(34.3%) was identified as the core bacterium via excreting chitinases (EC 3.2.1.14) and N-acetyl-glucosaminidases (EC 3.2.1.52), especially the genetic abundance of chitinases in CDC was 2.5 times higher than that of WAS. Thus, this study provides an elegant method for the utilization of amino sugar-enriched organics.

In this paper, according to the Shamanskii technology, an alternately linearized implicit (ALI) iteration method is proposed to compute the minimal nonnegative solution to the nonsymmetric coupled algebraic Riccati equation. Based on the ALI iteration method, we propose two modified alternately linearized implicit (MALI) iteration methods with double parameters. Further, we prove the monotone convergence of these iteration methods. Numerical examples demonstrate the effectiveness of the presented iteration methods.

Reducing the contact time during the droplet impact on the surface is crucial for anti-icing, self-cleaning, and heat transfer optimization applications. This study aims to minimize the contact time by modifying the surface curvature to create an asymmetric impact process. Our experiments showed that the increase in Weber numbers (We) and the decrease in the ratio of surface diameter to droplet diameter (D*) intensify the asymmetry of the impact process, yielding four distinct rebound modes. Low asymmetry observes the liquid retract toward the central point (Rebound Modes 1 and 2), whereas high asymmetry yields a wing-like rebound (Rebound Modes 3 and 4). In Rebound Mode 1, increased asymmetry would lead to more extended contact due to the prolonged waiting period. Conversely, the reduction in contact time in Rebound Mode 2 occurs due to increased asymmetry with no waiting period. For Rebound Modes 3 and 4, the retraction time could be divided into three stages, generated by two liquid detachment modes from the surface. Analysis reveals that an increased asymmetry would reduce the retraction time during the first stage but prolong it during the third stage, with no significant effects on the second. Four correlations, each pertaining to a distinct impact mode, are proposed based on these analyses to describe the contact time concerning Weand D* for droplets impacting a superhydrophobic cylindrical surface.

We investigated the microscale electrohydrodynamic (EHD) conduction pumps in a wide range of working regimes, from the saturation regime to the ohmic regime. We showed that the existing macro- and microscale theoretical models could not accurately predict the electric force of microscale EHD conduction pumps, especially for the cases of a strong diffusion effect. We clarified that the failure is caused by a rough estimate of the heterocharge layer thickness. We revised the expression of heterocharge layer thickness by considering the diffusion effect and developed a new theoretical model for the microscale EHD conduction pumps based on the revised expression of heterocharge layer thickness. The results showed that our model can accurately predict the dimensionless electric force of the microscale EHD conduction pumps even for the cases of a strong diffusion effect. Furthermore, we developed a working regime map of microscale EHD conduction pumps and found that the microscale EHD conduction pumps more easily fall into the saturation regime compared with the macroscale EHD conduction pumps due to the enhanced diffusion effect; in other words, the microscale EHD conduction pumps have a wider saturation regime. We showed that the conduction number C0could not distinguish the working regime of the microscale EHD conduction pumps because it does not take the diffusion effect into account. By employing the revised expression of heterocharge layer thickness, we proposed a new dimensionless number, C0Dto distinguish the working regimes of microscale EHD conduction pumps.

The kinematic time and maximum spreading time for the impact of nanodroplets of different types of fluids on solid surfaces with different wettability are investigated. It shows that the capillary regime still exits for the nanodroplet impact, even if viscous dissipation increases significantly when the droplet size reduces to the nanoscale. By taking into account the influence of liquid types and surface wettability, we first obtain scaling laws of the maximum spreading time for the capillary and viscous regimes. We further propose a universal scaling law by interpolating the scaling laws in the two asymptotic regimes. The universal scaling law is in excellent agreement with molecular dynamics simulations for various liquids and surface wettability.

In intercropping systems, high-positioned crops often exert shading stress on low-positioned crops, thus affecting the agronomic characteristics of the low-positioned crops. This study determined the mechanisms of photosynthetic, physiological and yield variations among peanut cultivars under shading stress. Four peanut cultivars, S60, C4, P12, and YS151, were grown in the field and subjected to shading stress for 77 days during reproductive stages. S60 and P12 showed lower yield and reduced biomass accumulation than C4 and YS151 under shading stress. Shading stress induced higher antioxidant enzyme activities in S60 and P12, relative to C4 and YS151. Under shading stress, S60 and P12 showed a higher light-trapping capability than C4 and YS151, which was associated with changes in chlorophyll (Chl) aand bcontents, and Chl a/bratio. The net photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance and transpiration rates of C4 and YS151 were decreased, but the intercellular CO2concentration increased under shading stress. The results demonstrated that non-stomatal limiting factors decreased the photosynthetic capacity of peanut under shading stress. The maximum photochemical efficiency of PSII (Fv/Fm) and non-photochemical quenching (NPQ) were higher in S60 and P12 than in C4 and YS151 under shading stress. These results suggest that S60 and P12 could absorb more light energy from weak light environments for photosynthesis than C4 and YS151 and dissipate the excess energy in the form of heat to improve their light protection ability. This study explains the inter-variety differences in shading stress tolerance in peanut and provides physiological parameters for guiding the selection of shade-tolerant cultivars.

Transdermal drug delivery has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for thousands of years and is worth further developing. The purpose of this study was to investigate the preparation method of Tubiechong gel plaster (TGP) and evaluate its activity to promote fracture healing.

Biodegradable flocculants are rarely used in waste activated sludge (WAS) fermentation. This study introduces an alginate-based biodegradable flocculant (ABF) to enhance both the dewatering and degradation of WAS during its fermentation. Alginate was identified in structural extracellular polymeric substances (St-EPS) of WAS, with alginate-producing bacteria comprising ∼4.2% of the total bacterial population in WAS. Owing to its larger floc size, higher contact angle, and lower free energy resulting from the Lewis acid-base interaction, the addition of the prepared ABF with a network structure significantly improved the dewaterability of WAS and reduced capillary suction time (CST) by 72%. The utilization of ABF by an enriched alginate-degrading consortium (ADC) resulted in a 35.5% increase in the WAS methane yield owing to its higher hydrolytic activity on both ABF and St-EPS. Additionally, after a 30 day fermentation, CST decreased by 62% owing to the enhanced degradation of St-EPS (74.4%) and lower viscosity in the WAS + ABF + ADC group. The genus Bacteroides, comprising 12% of ADC, used alginate lyase (EC 4.2.2.3) and pectate lyase (EC 4.2.2.2 and EC 4.2.2.9) to degrade alginate and polygalacturonate in St-EPS, respectively. Therefore, this study introduces a new flocculant and elucidates its dual roles in enhancing both the dewaterability and degradability of WAS. These advancements improve WAS fermentation, resulting in higher methane production and lower CSTs.

Actinidia arguta, the most widely distributed and the second cultivated species within Actinidiagenus, has distinguished difference from current kiwifruit in biological characters like small and smooth fruit, rapid-softening and excellent cold tolerance. Knowledge of adaptive evolution of the tetraploid Actinidiaspecies and genetic basis of its important agronomic traits is still unclear. A chromosome-scale genome assembly of an autotetraploid male A. argutahas been generated. The genome assembly was 2.77 Gb in length with a contig N50 of 9.97Mb and anchored into 116 pseudo-chromosomes. Resequencing and clustering of 101 geographically representative accessions showed they could be divided into two geographical groups, Southern and Northern Groups, which first diverged 12.9 Mya ago. A. argutaunderwent two prominent expansions and one demographic bottleneck from the mid-Pleistocene climate transition (MPT) to late-Pleistocene. Population genomics study using paleoclimate data allow us to discern the evolution of the species adaptation to different historical environments. Three genes (AaCEL1, AaPME1and AaDOF1) have been identified by multi-omics and verified their accelerating softening of flesh through transient assay. A set of genes localized in sex chromosome (Chr3), or autosomal chromosomes are biasedly expressed during stamen or carpel development, which characteristically regulate sexual dimorphism. This assembly of the autotetraploid genome at the chromosome level and detail uncover the genes related with important agronomic traits paves the way to facilitate functional genomics and improvement of A. arguta.

Thermokarst lake formation accelerates permafrost degradation due to climate warming, thereby releasing significant amounts of carbon into the atmosphere, complicating hydrological cycles, and causing environmental damage. However, the energy transfer mechanism from the surface to the sediment of thermokarst lakes remains largely unexplored, thereby limiting our understanding of the magnitude and duration of biogeochemical processes and hydrological cycles. Therefore, herein, a typical thermokarst lake situated in the center of the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau (QTP) was selected for observation and energy budget modeling. Our results showed that the net radiation of the thermokarst lake surface was 95.1, 156.9, and 32.3 W m−2for the annual, ice-free, and ice-covered periods, respectively, and was approximately 76% of the net radiation consumed by latent heat flux. Alternations in heat storage in the thermokarst lake initially increased from January to April, then decreased from April to December, with a maximum change of 48.1 W m−2in April. The annual average heat fluxes from lake water to sediments were 1.4 W m−2; higher heat fluxes occurred during the ice-free season at a range of 4.9–12.0 W m−2. The imbalance between heat absorption and release in the millennium scale caused the underlying permafrost of the thermokarst lake to completely thaw. At present, the ground temperature beneath the lake bottom at a depth of 15 m has reached 2.0 °C. The temperatures and vapor-pressure conditions of air and lake surfaces control the energy budget of the thermokarst lake. Our findings indicate that changes in the hydrologic regime shifts and biogeochemical processes are more frequent under climate warming and permafrost degradation.

Using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, we investigate impact behaviors of water nanodroplets on hydrophilic to hydrophobic surfaces with static contact angles ranging from 21 to 148° in a wide Weber number range of 15–90, aiming to understand how the surface wettability influences the maximum spreading factor of nanodroplets. We show that the existing macroscale and nanoscale models cannot capture the influence of surface wettability on the maximum spreading factor. We demonstrate that the failure is attributed to the rough estimation of the spreading velocity during the spreading stage, which is assumed to be a constant value in these models. We show that the spreading velocity strongly depends on both the surface wettability and the Weber number. After scaling with the impact velocity, we obtain a universal function of the spreading velocity with respect to the static contact angle and the Weber number. We employ this function to modify the expression of viscous dissipation and develop a new model of the maximum spreading factor. We verify that the model is in excellent agreement with the MD simulations regardless of hydrophilic and hydrophobic surfaces, with the mean relative deviation ranging from 0.88 to 4.75%. We also provide evidence to support the fact that incorporating the influence of surface wettability by modifying viscous dissipation is more reasonable than by modifying surface energy for nanodroplet impact.

We investigate the impact behaviors of nanoscale polymer droplets on a solid surface via molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The maximum spreading factor is focused on understanding the energy dissipation mechanism during impact. Our simulations show that the macroscale model for blood droplets and the nanoscale models for water droplets cannot capture the simulated maximum spreading factor of nanoscale polymer droplets. We demonstrate that viscous dissipation for nanoscale polymer droplets stems from the velocity gradients in both the impact and the spreading direction, whereas for macroscale blood droplets and nanoscale water droplets, only the velocity gradient in the impact direction contributes to it. With the consideration of different dissipation mechanism, we propose a modified expression of viscous dissipation and develop a new model to predict the maximum spreading factor of nanoscale polymer droplets. By comparing the model predictions with MD simulations, we show that the new model can capture more precisely the simulated maximum spreading factor for nanoscale polymer droplets with chain length ranging from 10 to 100. The present simulations and developed model can provide useful insights into the mechanism of nanoscale polymer droplets impacting surfaces.

Using molecular dynamics simulations, we investigate the air hole formation of water nanodroplets impacting hydrophilic to hydrophobic surfaces in the range of static contact angles from 30° to 140° with different initial surface temperatures ranging from 300 to 1000 K. We show that the hole dynamics of nanodroplets are different from those observed in millimeter-sized droplets. The hole formation can be observed on smooth surfaces for nanodroplets; however, it only occurs on nonsmooth surfaces for millimeter-sized droplets. We clarify that the hole formation of nanodroplets is triggered by a nucleated vapor bubble due to thermodynamic instability, whereas it is initiated by air bubble entrapment during impact due to hydrodynamic instability for millimeter-sized droplets. The hole formation of nanodroplets relies heavily on the surface temperature and surface wettability, because the nucleated vapor bubble more easily occurs and grows on the surface with high initial temperatures and hydrophobic surfaces. Based on the thermal stability analysis, a criterion is developed to predict the hole formation of nanodroplets, which verifies the dependence of hole formation on the surface temperature and wettability. Furthermore, we show that the ring-bouncing of nanodroplets is triggered by the nucleated vapor bubble. We clarify the reasons for the reduced contact time of nanodroplets caused by the ring-bouncing.

ASYMMETRIC LEAVES2-LIKE16gene of Arabidopsisis a member of the ASYMMETRIC LEAVES2 (AS2)/LATERAL ORGAN BOUNDARIES (LOB) domain gene family. Current reports have indicated that overexpression of ASL16induces lateral root formation in the absence of ARF7 and ARF19; whereas lateral root formation is severely reduced in the arf 7and arf 19double knockout mutants. Antisense mRNA has testified to be a useful tool to inhibit the expression of specific genes in plants; more significantly, it is specific in the sense that only the mRNA level of the desired protein being changed, while other members of the gene family remain unaffected. To further explore ASL16function in lateral root growth and development, we introduced an antisense-expression construct of the ASL16gene to Arabidopsis(Col-0); and acquired some 35S:ASL16 Arabidopsisplants. With 11 day after germination (DAG), many lateral roots in wild-type seedlings were well developed, whereas a few lateral roots in these antisense 35S:ASL16seedlings were produced. However, with 5, 8 and 16 DAG, the lateral roots in these transgenic seedlings were not distinct with those of wild-type plants. A series of data indicate that primary root formation of these antisense 35S:ASL16plants was not affected; whereas their lateral root formation was severely inhibited.

ASYMMETRIC LEAVES2-LIKE16gene ofArabidopsisis a member of the ASYMMETRIC LEAVES2 (AS2)/LATERAL ORGAN BOUNDARIES (LOB) domain gene family. Current reports have indicated that overexpression of ASL16induces lateral root formation in the absence of ARF7 and ARF19; whereas lateral root formation is severely reduced in the arf 7and arf 19double knockout mutants. Antisense mRNA has testified to be a useful tool to inhibit the expression of specific genes in plants; more significantly, it is specific in the sense that only the mRNA level of the desired protein being changed, while other members of the gene family remain unaffected. To further explore ASL16function in lateral root growth and development, we introduced an antisense-expression construct of the ASL16gene to Arabidopsis(Col-0); and acquired some 35S:ASL16 Arabidopsisplants. With 11 day after germination (DAG), many lateral roots in wild-type seedlings were well developed, whereas a few lateral roots in these antisense 35S:ASL16seedlings were produced. However, with 5, 8 and 16 DAG, the lateral roots in these transgenic seedlings were not distinct with those of wild-type plants. A series of data indicate that primary root formation of these antisense 35S:ASL16plants was not affected; whereas their lateral root formation was severely inhibited.

In the bodies of seed plants, lateral organs of the shoot, for example cotyledons, leaves, and floral organs, are determinate and exhibit localized planer growth resulting in breaking of radial symmetry and asymmetric development. Localized planer growth in the leaf generates the leaf blade, the principle site of photosynthesis in most plants. Development of flat and expanded lamina is an important physiological process. In these processes, a few kind of meristems cooperate with regulating leaf development. In this work, with transfer sense ASL11, sense ASL38 and antisense ASL15 under 35S promoter to to Arabidopsis (Col-0), we found a series of radial symmetric needle-like rosette leaves. By analyzing the anatomical and the epidermal cell features, our data suggests that in these malformed leaf blades, a few meristem tissues all can be suppressed or accelerated, and normal leaf blade morphology disappears. Pro ASL11:GUS expression further suggests that this process may be triggered by misexpression of a few transcription factors (Tfs).

In the bodies of seed plants, lateral organs of the shoot, for example cotyledons, leaves, and floral organs, are determinate and exhibit localized planer growth resulting in breaking of radial symmetry and asymmetric development. Localized planer growth in the leaf generates the leaf blade, the principle site of photosynthesis in most plants. Development of flat and expanded lamina is an important physiological process. In these processes, a few kind of meristems cooperate with regulating leaf development. In this work, with transfer sense ASL11, sense ASL38and antisense ASL15under 35S promoter to to Arabidopsis(Col-0), we found a series of radial symmetric needle-like rosette leaves. By analyzing the anatomical and the epidermal cell features, our data suggests that in these malformed leaf blades, a few meristem tissues all can be suppressed or accelerated, and normal leaf blade morphology disappears. Pro ASL11:GUS expression further suggests that this process may be triggered by misexpression of a few transcription factors (Tfs).

Renewable energy are usually connected to the power grid through an inverter. As the penetration level of such inverter-based distribution generation resources increases, PCC point harmonics become an important concern for grid stability and power quality. In this paper, the PCC-point harmonics in a parallel-inverter-based photovoltaic station were measured and some significant characteristics of such harmonics were presented. These harmonics are stationary; the voltage and current waveforms are lower frequency, power correlation and inter-harmonic. And these harmonics are 3-phase symmetric and contain 3rd and 6th harmonic components. The transitions of the PCC harmonic occurrence and vanishing are instantaneous. The analysis indicates that the PCC harmonics are not produced by the resonances related to the linearities of PV inverters but the inverter nonlinearities are the primary reasons. The strategy to eliminate the PCC point harmonics are proposed in this study.

This paper carried on the numerical analysis about the impact on soft soil ground seismic effect according to the buried depth and thickness of the soft interlayer, which took Jiangsu typical stratigraphic distribution and some engineering field as the prototype. In order to analyze the impact of buried depth and thickness of soft soil interlayers on the surface of the ground motion parameter, this paper combined with the formation parameters and calculated 3 sections which the thickness of soft soil interlayers were respectively 3m, 5m and 9m, in condition of the buried depth of the soft soil interlayer was constant. Choose ElCENTRO process curve for site seismic response analysis. The results showed that the influence of soft soil interlayer thickness on ground surface acceleration peak value was related with the location of weak interlayer. The influence of soft interlayer thickness on earthquake peak acceleration Amax and the eigenperiod Tg was more obvious; When the thickness of the soft interlayer increased, the earthquake peak acceleration decreased, the maximum speed decreased, and the maximum displacement increase; When the thickness of the soft interlayer increased, The maximum response spectrum decreased, the cycle of response spectrum peak increased, and the eigenperiod increased.

Community detection is an important approach to analyze and understand the organization or unit structure of the complex networks. By comparing the existing community detection algorithms, the label propagation algorithm (LPA) shows prominent operation speed and qualifies near linear time complexity. However, original LPA algorithm only uses the topological structure to guide the community detection process, failing to improve the quality of community detection when extra information offered. In this paper, we combine the prior information with topological structure to guide the community detection process. During the label propagation process, we proposed a new label update principle, making a node absorb its neighbor label information depending on the label distribution. The experimental results both on real networks and artificial networks show that the improved algorithm not only inherits the characteristic of rapid speed, but also improves the quality of community detection. Moreover, the improved algorithm still has the feature of near linear time complexity.

In recent years, building density in the city is increasing as the promoting of urban modernization. Deep foundation pit excavation and bracing is a topic in geotechnical engineering, including strength and stabilization of soil mechanics, and transmutation and sedimentation of deep foundation, and common effect between soil and shoring structure. The paper based on the design and fabrication of indoor model test device. This paper respectively explored the destroy mechanism of cantilever and anchored sheet pile support structure on the soil pressure under the different loads, and comprehensively carried through cantilever and anchored sheet pile support test under four-grades excavation depth and four-grades load combination, and specially researched the transformation of soil pressure. At the same time, the piles spacing changed among 3cm, 4cm and 5cm. Theoretical results showed that the active earth pressure increased with the increase of load and excavation depth. Model test results showed that the earth pressure behind the piles increased with the increase of excavation depth and the load. The biggest earth pressure was 19.38kPa when loading 40kPa. The changing curves of soil pressure were similar when piles spacing was 3cm and 4cm. Earth pressure after the piles was negative when piles spacing exceeded 4cm, which illustrated that active earth pressure had changed into passive soil pressure.