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The aim of this study was to obtain a stable, amorphous solid dispersion (SD) with Soluplus, prepared by hot-melt extrusion (HME) as an effective and stable oral delivery system to improve the physical stability and bioavailability of the poorly water-soluble simvastatin (SIM), a drug with relatively lowTg. The drug was proved to be miscible with Soluplus by calculation and measurements. The solubility, dissolution, thermal characteristics, interactions and physical stability of the SIM/Soluplus SDs were investigated. The crystal state of simvastatin in the SD was found to change from crystalline to amorphous form during the HME process and also hydrogen bonds were observed between SIM and the extruded Soluplus. The phase solubility showed the solubilization effect of Soluplus was strong and spontaneous. The equilibrium solubility illustrated that Soluplus/SIM SDs gained much higher solubility than its corresponding physical mixtures (PMs). Both of the dissolution profiles andin-vivoperformance showed that the SIM/Soluplus SD obtained a marked enhancement, compared with the PM. There was a little change in the SIM/Soluplus SD during a 3-month storage period (40 °C, 75%), indicating the good physicochemical stability. The extruded Soluplus system prepared by HME is a good alternative for the water-insoluble SIM to improve the stability and bioavailability. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Oilfield development aiming at crude oil production is an extremely complex process, which involves many uncertain risk factors affecting oil output. Thus, risk prediction and early warning about oilfield development may insure operating and managing oilfields efficiently to meet the oil production plan of the country and sustainable development of oilfields. However, scholars and practitioners in the all world are seldom concerned with the risk problem of oilfield block development. The early warning index system of blocks development which includes the monitoring index and planning index was refined and formulated on the basis of researching and analyzing the theory of risk forecasting and early warning as well as the oilfield development. Based on the indexes of warning situation predicted by neural network, the method dividing the interval of warning degrees was presented by “3σ” rule; and a new method about forecasting and early warning of risk was proposed by introducing neural network to Bayesian networks. Case study shows that the results obtained in this paper are right and helpful to the management of oilfield development risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mechanical property, structure, and morphology of styrene–butadiene–styrene (SBS) thermoplastic elastomer under the combined fatigue and chemical aging conditions were investigated. The results indicated that under the fatigue condition alone, the tensile strength of SBS increased initially and then decreased with the increase in fatigue time. Cracks formed on the surface of samples. Through transmission electron microscopy analysis, it was found that the phase morphology was influenced by fatigue condition. However, there was no significant change in the molecular weight and chemical structure of SBS. Under combined fatigue and chemical aging conditions, the chemical aging process could be accelerated by the fatigue condition. Molecular weight and gel content significantly increased with the increase of fatigue condition. Under ultraviolet (UV) light irradiation alone, there was no crack on the surface of SBS. After adding the fatigue condition, a large deterioration formed on the surface of SBS sample. The chemical aging condition such as UV light and temperature could also promote the fatigue aging process. With the addition or increase of chemical aging condition, the tensile strength of SBS greatly decreased. The oxygen content and gel content significantly increased, and there were a lot of cracks forming on the surface of SBS sample. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a logging joint marking (LM) traceback scheme is proposed. The main point of LM scheme is: node marks each received packet; it logs the mark information until the times of packets marking reach v . If node's storage is deficiency for having log more mark, it will do migrating, that is, migrate the stored mark information to those nodes which are far away from sink and have large storage space left. Compared with previous traceback scheme, the advantages of LM scheme are as follows: (1) Longer network lifetime. (2) Less required storage capacity. (3) Higher safety performance. Since all the nodes are used to store marked packets, it will preserve more marked packets. As a result, the victims can acquire more information when backtracking and location the source of the malicious packet more rapidly and accurately. Our analysis show that compared with marking and logging scheme, LM scheme can increase network lifetime by 21%, reduce the storage capacity by 80%, and in the meantime reduce convergence time by 40%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Liver disease (LD), defined as ≥ 2-fold elevation of aspartate aminotransferase (AST) or alanine aminotransferase (ALT), was examined in a longitudinal study of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients. Among 435 patients, 90 (20.7%) had LD with a greater prevalence in males (15/39; 38.5%) than females (75/396; 18.9%; p = 0.01). SLE disease activity index (SLEDAI) was greater in LD patients (7.8 ± 0.7) relative to those without (5.8 ± 0.3; p = 0.0025). Anti-smooth muscle antibodies, anti-DNA antibodies, hypocomplementemia, proteinuria, leucopenia, thrombocytopenia, and anti-phospholipid syndrome were increased in LD. An absence of LD was noted in patients receiving rapamycin relative to azathioprine, cyclosporine A, or cyclophosphamide. An absence of LD was also noted in patients treated with N-acetylcysteine. LFTs were normalized and SLEDAI was diminished with increased prednisone use in 76/90 LD patients over 12.1 ± 2.6 months. Thus, LD is attributed to autoimmunity and disease activity, it responds to prednisone, and it is potentially preventable by rapamycin or N-acetylcysteine treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We constructed a high-performance biosensor for detecting uric acid by immobilizing an engineered urate oxidase on gold nanoparticles deposited on a carbon-glass electrode. This biosensor showed a low limit-of-detection (9.16 nM), a high sensitivity (14 μA/μM), a wide range of linearity (50 nM–1 mM), and more than 28 days lifetime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Na LPMO10A is the first archaeal LPMO to be studied. • Na LPMO10A with two CBM5/12 domains is a C1- oxidizing chitin-active LPMO. • Na LPMO10A displays high thermostability. • Na LPMO10A shows great tolerance and stability against high concentration of metal ions. • Na LPMO10A can significantly improve the chitin degradation under extreme osmolytic condition. Lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases could enhance the enzymatic conversion of recalcitrant polysaccharides by glycoside hydrolases. This study reports the expression and identification of a novel AA10 LPMO from Natrialbaceae archaeon , named Na LPMO10A, as a C1 oxidizer of chitin. The optimal temperature and pH for Na LPMO10A activity were 40 °C and 9.0, respectively, and Na LPMO10A exhibited high thermostability and pH stability under alkaline conditions. Na LPMO10A was also highly tolerant and stable when treated with high concentration of metal ions (1 M). Moreover, metal ions (Na+, K+, Ca2+ and Mg2+) significantly promoted Na LPMO10A activity and improved the saccharification efficiency of chitin by 22.6%, 45.9%, 36.7% and 53.9%, respectively, compared to commercial chitinase alone. Together, the findings of this study fill a gap in archaeal LPMO research, and for the first time demonstrate that archaeal Na LPMO10A could be a promising enzyme for improving saccharification under extreme condition, with potential applications in biorefineries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • UAE with deep eutectic solvent (DES) extracted polyphenols of P. scandens. • Chcl-EG afforded the highest TFC among 16 DESs coupled with UAE. • Optimization of Chcl-EG-UAE was studied by two-level factorial experiment and RSM. • Chcl-EG-UAE had the highest extractability compared with other methods. • 30 polyphenols extracted by Chcl-EG-UAE were identified and quantified by UHPLC-MS. Ultrasonic-assisted extraction (UAE) coupled with deep eutectic solvent (DES) is a novel, efficient and green extraction method for phytochemicals. In this study, the effects of 16 DESs coupled with UAE on the extraction rate of polyphenols from Paederia scandens (Lour.) Merr. (P. scandens), an edible and medicinal herb, were investigated. DES synthesised with choline chloride and ethylene glycol at a 1:2 M ratio resulted in the highest extractability. Moreover, the effects of extraction parameters were investigated by using a two-level factorial experiment followed by response surface methodology The optimal parameters (water content in DES of 49.2%, the actual ultrasonic power of 72.4 W, and ultrasonic time of 9.7 min) resulted in the optimal total flavonoid content (TFC) (27.04 mg CE/g DW), ferric-reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) value (373.27 μmol Fe(Ⅱ)E/g DW) and 2,2′-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzthiazoline)-6-sulfonic acid radical (ABTS+) value (48.64 μmol TE/g DW), closely matching the experimental results. Furthermore, a comparison study demonstrated that DES-UAE afforded the higher TFC and FRAP value than traditional extraction methods. 36 individual polyphenolic compounds were identified and quantified by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS) in P. scandens extracts, and of which 30 were found in the extracts obtained by DES-UAE. Additionally, DES-UAE afforded the highest sum of individual polyphenolic compound content. These results revealed that DES-UAE enhanced the extraction efficiency for polyphenols and provided a scientific basis for further processing and utilization of P. scandens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

T-2 toxin is one form of trichothecenes, which contaminate crops and feedstuff commonly, and has a wide variety of toxic effects in human and animals, but little is known regarding its role on reproductive function and puberty development. Previous studies have reported that reproductive capacity is attained at puberty triggered by gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) pulse secretion, and kisspeptins/GPR54 signaling pathway play a central role in the activation of GnRH neurons. For our study, T-2 toxin was tested for its effects on the secretion of GnRH in GT1-7 cells, an immortalized hypothalamic neuron cell line, which could synthesize and secrete GnRH. GT1-7 cells were treated with low doses of T-2 toxin in dose–response assays, with and without kisspeptins, and the levels of GnRH were quantified in each treatment. Furthermore, western blot analysis was used to detect the proteins expression in kisspeptins/GPR54 signaling pathway. The present study demonstrated that low dose T-2 toxin stimulate GnRH secretion and alter the expression of associated proteins in GT1-7 cells in vitro, and the activation of GT1-7 cells response to T- 2 toxin was increased after pretreatment with kisspeptins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To evaluate the effects of splash erosion on crops, throughfall and splash detachment were measured in different crop-growth stages and rainfall intensities under corn and soybean cover. The relation between splash detachment under the crop canopy and leaf area index and throughfall intensity was analyzed. The characteristics of the spatial distribution of splash detachment under the crop canopy were discussed as well. The results indicated that, compared with bare soil, the average splash detachment rate under the canopy during corn growth was reduced from 77% to 43%, with an average of 68% approximately, while a soybean canopy can reduce the splash detachment rate from 77% to 48% with an average of 61% approximately during the growth stage. The splash erosion detachment rate increased significantly with increasing leaf area index and rainfall intensity. The throughfall was concentrated in the centers of rows as crop grows, and a sharp increase in the splash detachment rate was caused by concentrations of throughfall under the canopy, which resulted in uneven distribution of splash detachment. The spatial distributions of splash detachment depended on the spatial distributions of throughfall under the crop canopy. The change in throughfall intensity under the canopy was the main reason for the variation in splash detachment. The reduction of kinetic energy because of interception by the crop canopy contributed to a decrease in splash erosion. However, large raindrops formed at the tips and edges of leaves can generate substantial erosion, and this part of the splash may become the main portion of splash erosion under the canopy. These results indicated that continuous and concentrated raindrops impacted splash detachment and caused its uneven distribution under crop cover. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heteroatom doping is an effective method to adjust the electrochemical behavior of carbonaceous materials. In this work, boron-doped, carbon-coated SnO2/graphene hybrids (BCTGs) were fabricated by hydrothermal carbonization of sucrose in the presence of SnO2/graphene nanosheets and phenylboronic acid or boric acid as dopant source and subsequent thermal treatment. Owing to their unique 2D core-shell architecture and B-doped carbon shells, BCTGs have enhanced conductivity and extra active sites for lithium storage. With phenylboronic acid as B source, the resulting hybrid shows outstanding electrochemical performance as the anode in lithium-ion batteries with a highly stable capacity of 1165 mA h g−1 at 0.1 A g−1 after 360 cycles and an excellent rate capability of 600 mA h g−1 at 3.2 A g−1, and thus outperforms most of the previously reported SnO2-based anode materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PEDOT nanoparticles with a suitable nanosize of 17.2 nm, broad adsorption from 700 to 1250 nm, and photothermal conversion efficiency ( η ) of 71.1%, were synthesized using an environmentally friendly hydrothermal method. Due to the electrostatic attraction between indocyanine green (ICG) and PEDOT, the stability of ICG in aqueous solution was effectively improved. The PEDOT nanoparticles modified with glutaraldehyde (GTA) targeted bacteria directly, and MTT experiments demonstrated the low toxicity of PEDOT:ICG@PEG-GTA in different bacteria and cells. Pathogenic bacteria were effectively killed by photodynamic therapy (PDT) and photothermal therapy (PTT) with PEDOT:ICG@PEG-GTA in the presence of near-infrared (NIR) irradiation (808 nm for PDT, and 1064 nm for PTT). The combination of the two different bacteriostatic methods was significantly more effective than PTT or PDT alone. The obtained PEDOT:ICG@PEG-GTA may be used as a novel synergistic agent in combination photodynamic and photothermal therapy to inactivate pathogenic bacteria in both the NIR I and II window. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is highly desirable to develop electroactive organic materials and their derivatives as green alternatives of cathodes for sustainable and cost-effective lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) in energy storage fields. Herein, compact two-dimensional coupled graphene and porous polyaryltriazine-derived frameworks with tailormade pore structures are fabricated by using various molecular building blocks under ionothermal conditions. The porous nanosheets display nanoscale thickness, high specific surface area, and strong coupling of electroactive polyaryltriazine-derived frameworks with graphene. All these features make it possible to efficiently depress the dissolution of redox moieties in electrolytes and to boost the electrical conductivity of whole electrode. When employed as a cathode in LIBs, the two-dimensional porous nanosheets exhibit outstanding cycle stability of 395 mAh g−1 at 5 A g−1 for more than 5100 cycles and excellent rate capability of 135 mAh g−1 at a high current density of 15 A g−1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is highly desirable to develop electroactive organic materials and their derivatives as green alternatives of cathodes for sustainable and cost-effective lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) in energy storage fields. Herein, compact two-dimensional coupled graphene and porous polyaryltriazine-derived frameworks with tailormade pore structures are fabricated by using various molecular building blocks under ionothermal conditions. The porous nanosheets display nanoscale thickness, high specific surface area, and strong coupling of electroactive polyaryltriazine-derived frameworks with graphene. All these features make it possible to efficiently depress the dissolution of redox moieties in electrolytes and to boost the electrical conductivity of whole electrode. When employed as a cathode in LIBs, the two-dimensional porous nanosheets exhibit outstanding cycle stability of 395 mAh g−1 at 5 A g−1 for more than 5100 cycles and excellent rate capability of 135 mAh g−1 at a high current density of 15 A g−1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bifunctional asymmetricphase-transfer catalysts bearing multiplehydrogen-bonding donors have rarely been explored. The first quaternaryammonium type of these catalysts derived from cinchona alkaloids werereadily prepared and found to be highly efficient catalysts for asymmetricnitro-Mannich reactions of amidosulfones. Compared with previous reports,very broad substrate generality was observed, and both enantiomersof the products were achieved in high enantio- and diastereoselectivity(90–99% ee, 13:1 to 99:1 dr). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eu-doped boehmite nanofiber materials with different Eu concentrations were synthesized without any surfactant, and followed by a series of characterizations. It was found that the boehmite nanofibers became coarser with the increase of Eu concentration, which resulted in a gradual decrease of their specific surface areas. Moreover, the thermal stability of the boehmite nanofibers was studied by thermogravimetry-differential scanning calorimetry. All materials showed the phase transition from γ-AlO to other forms. Yet the transition temperature was increased with the increase of Eu concentration. The Eu-doped boehmite nanofibers with the maximum Eu concentrations showed the best thermal stability. Photoluminescence spectra showed that the 2 mol% of doping concentration of Eu ions in Eu:AlO nanofiber was optimum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aberrant collagen production can lead to many diseases such as fibrosis. Current methods of collagen detection are insensitive, time-consuming and laborious. We have developed a rapid, sensitive assay using chemiluminescence-based reporter cell system. Stable 3T3/NIH-SMAD-luciferase cells were generated for detection of collagen expression through TGF-β signaling, a major fibrogenic pathway. We demonstrated that these reporter cells could be used as a rapid screening tool for detection of SMAD-dependent collagen production with higher sensitivity than existing assays. Flexibility of this cell-based assay in different detection platforms makes it attractive for high throughput screening of potential fibrogenic agents and drug candidates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Buildings designed with floors suspended on mega supporting structures (core tubes/frames) are referred to as suspended buildings. Such buildings can meet some practical requirements such as the gaining of large open spaces. Some aspects, including seismic performance and structural stability, however, are not completely understood by the engineering community. This motivated an investigation into the performance of suspended buildings subjected to gravity and ground earthquake motion. The stability of suspended floors and their mega supporting structures is discussed in relation to P-delta effect. A suspended-floor section is able to gain stiffness from gravity, but the stability of its mega supporting structure may be a problem due to the up-shifted gravity. This leads to a discussion of the storey-based stability method for assessing the critical load multipliers to be applied to the supporting frames. In view of the pros and cons of suspended buildings, a passive control system with three-performance levels is presented using pendulum floors and connection dampers to dissipate energy and avoid pounding. Optimal control system parameters were studied in order to help with the selection of connection stiffnesses and damping coefficients during the design of suspended buildings. Initial results show that, as opposed to a pendulum TMD, the large suspended-floor masses themselves play a key role in reducing the seismic response, and buildings are able to be designed as types of suspended systems which are effective against strong earthquake motion combined with gravity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • MOF-Ti, MOF-In and MOF@COF were synthesized and applied for U(VI) photoreduction. • NH 2 -MIL-125(Ti)@TpPa-1 heterojunction was constructed broadened the range of visible light response. • The intimate link (π-π interaction) between NH 2 -MIL-125(Ti) and TpPa-1 promoted charge-carrier transfer and the efficiency of separation. • The presence of active Ti3+, O V • and •O 2 − played the dominant roles in converting U(VI) into U(IV). The conversion of uranium(U) from soluble U(VI) into insoluble U(IV) by photocatalytic reduction is an implementable removal technology. In this investigation, two common MOFs photocatalysts (MOF-In, MOF-Ti) and the assembled MOF@COF (2D Schiff base, NH 2 -MIL-125(Ti)@TpPa-1) were applied for photocatalytic reduction of U(VI). These as-synthesized photocatalysts were characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM, XPS, DRS, EIS, photocurrent and Mott-Schottky plots. The results shown that the constructed NH 2 -MIL-125(Ti)@TpPa-1 heterojunction not only broadened the scope of visible light response to orange light (600 nm), but also expedited the separation of photogenerated carriers and facilitated the U(VI) photoreduction. Specially, the photoreduction removal rates of U(VI) were NH 2 -MIL-68(In) (55.6%), NH 2 -MIL-125(Ti) (57.7%), NH 2 -MIL-125(Ti)@TpPa-1 (81.6%), and the heterojunction of NH 2 -MIL-125(Ti)@TpPa-1 was about 1.5-fold higher than that of NH 2 -MIL-125(Ti). Meanwhile, during the photoreduction process, photogenerated electrons and superoxide radicals played the dominant roles in converting U(VI) into U(IV). Moreover, the presence of active Ti3+ and oxygen vacancy could effectively promote superoxide radical generation and inhibit recombination of photogenerated carriers. Combined with the U(VI) adsorption by NH 2 -MIL-125(Ti)@TpPa-1 in previously studied, altogether, MOF@COF hybridization can play a synergistic role of adsorption-photocatalytic reduction in the practical application of U(VI) elimination. Therefore, it can be predicted that 2D COF-based hybridization materials have a brilliant application prospect in pollutant purification by solar energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tagging, tracking, or validation of products are often facilitated by inkjet‐printed optical information labels. However, this requires thorough substrate pretreatment, ink optimization, and often lacks in printing precision/resolution. Herein, a printing method based on laser‐driven deposition of solid polymer ink that allows for printing on various substrates without pretreatment is demonstrated. Since the deposition process has a precision of <1 µm, it can introduce the concept of sub‐positions with overlapping spots. This enables high‐resolution fluorescent labels with comparable spot‐to‐spot distance of down to 15 µm (444,444 spots cm−2) and rapid machine learning‐supported readout based on low‐resolution fluorescence imaging. Furthermore, the defined thickness of the printed polymer ink spots can be used to fabricate multi‐channel information labels. Additional information can be stored in different fluorescence channels or in a hidden topography channel of the label that is independent of the fluorescence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By using the validated numerical method to simulate the annular shrouded stator with the inter-stage seal cavity, the stator aerodynamic performance related to the cavity leakage flow was examined. The current study also indicated the interactions between the leakage flow and the mainstream. Discussions on the developments of secondary flow movement and hub corner separation were conducted, and the performances at different incoming boundary layer shapes were assessed using both the total pressure loss coefficient and the entropy-based loss coefficient. The results indicate that the cavity leakage flow creates a new vortex close to the leading edge of blade and is crucial to the passage vortex development and the concentrated shedding vortex size. At the same time, the cavity leakage flow weakens the transverse deflection of flow near the end wall and strengthens the three-dimensional flow effect. The two loss coefficients for the shrouded stator with seal cavity change little by thickening the boundary layer. The proper boundary layer skew as well as the interacted cavity leakage flow have stronger resistance to the deflection of the passage vortex and the transverse pressure gradient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19 pandemic provides an opportunity to investigate how a new and long-lasting threat affects public risk perception and social distancing behavior, which is important for pandemic risk management and recovery of the tertiary industry. We have found that the mechanism that perception decides behavior changes over time. At the beginning of the pandemic, risk directly shapes people's willingness of going out. But under a persistent threat, perception no longer plays the direct role of shape people's willingness. Instead, perception indirectly influences the willingness by shaping people's judgment about the necessity of traveling. Switching from direct to indirect influence, perception's effect is enlarged, which partially prevents people from returning to normal life even if the governmental ban is removed in a zero-COVID community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: With the exponential increase in the volume of biomedical literature, text mining tasks are becoming increasingly important in the medical domain. Named entities are the primary identification tasks in text mining, prerequisites and critical parts for building medical domain knowledge graphs, medical question and answer systems, medical text classification. OBJECTIVE: The study goal is to recognize biomedical entities effectively by fusing multi-feature embedding. Multiple features provide more comprehensive information so that better predictions can be obtained. METHODS: Firstly, three different kinds of features are generated, including deep contextual word-level features, local char-level features, and part-of-speech features at the word representation layer. The word representation vectors are inputs into BiLSTM as features to obtain the dependency information. Finally, the CRF algorithm is used to learn the features of the state sequences to obtain the global optimal tagging sequences. RESULTS: The experimental results showed that the model outperformed other state-of-the-art methods for all-around performance in six datasets among eight of four biomedical entity types. CONCLUSION: The proposed method has a positive effect on the prediction results. It comprehensively considers the relevant factors of named entity recognition because the semantic information is enhanced by fusing multi-features embedding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reverse water gas shift (RWGS) reaction is an attractive approach to convert CO2 with renewable H2 to produce CO. However, this reaction is always accompanied by undesirable methanation reaction lowering the CO selectivity, particularly, at low reaction temperature and on Ni catalysts. Herein, a strategy of deposition of inert Ag on the surface of Ni to block methanation reaction during RWGS for selective conversion of CO2 toward CO was reported. Characterizations showed that in contrast to formation of bulk Ni−Ag alloy, both Ag particle and highly dispersed Ag are direct contacting with Ni particle. Surface Ag modifies the property of Ni geometrically and electronically, resulting in reduced accessible surface Ni sites and Ni ensemble size, as well as electron transfer from Ni to Ag. Consequently, both the amount and strength of CO adsorption are reduced, which facilitates CO desorption and reduces CO methanation activity. The Ag modification tunes Ni/SiO2 from selective methanation to selective RWGS, with 100 % CO selectivity on Ni‐0.3 Ag/SiO2 (Ag/Ni=0.3) at 400 °C with gas hourly space velocity (GHSV) >300 L g−1 h−1 and CO selectivity is >80.7 % even at a low GHSV of 15 L g−1 h−1. Moreover, the Ni‐0.3 Ag/SiO2 appears to be very stable for RWGS reaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spatial distribution and temporal variation of land surface sensible heat (SH) flux on the Tibetan Plateau (TP) for the period of 1981–2018 were studied using the simulation results from the Noah-MP land surface model. The simulated SH fluxes were also compared with the simulation results from the SEBS model and the results derived from 80 meteorological stations. It is found that, much larger annual mean SH fluxes occurred on the western and central TP compared with the eastern TP. Meanwhile, the inter-annual variations of SH fluxes on the central and western TP were larger than that on the eastern TP. The SEBS simulation showed much larger inter-annual variations than did the Noah-MP simulation across most of the TP. There was a trend of decrease in SH flux from the mid-1980s to the beginning of the 21st century in the Noah-MP simulations. Both Noah-MP and SEBS showed an increasing SH flux trend after this period of decrease. The increasing trend appeared on the eastern TP later than on the western and central TP. In the Noah-MP simulation, the western and central TP showed larger values of temperature difference between the ground surface and air (Ts–Ta) than did the eastern TP. Both mean Ts–Ta and wind speed decreased from the mid-1980s to approximately 2000, and then increased slightly. However, the Ts–Ta transition occurred later than that of wind speed. Changes in mean ground surface temperature (Ts) were the main cause of the decreasing and increasing trends in SH flux on the TP. Meanwhile, changes in wind speed contributed substantially to the decreasing trend in SH flux before 1998. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this article, a novel family of iterated function system (IFS) was introduced to outline a 2D graphical representation of protein sequences, which incorporates with various physicochemical properties of amino acids. Then a mathematical description was suggested to quantificationally compare the similarities and dissimilarities of protein sequences from their 2D curves. Based on this method, similarities/dissimilarities were compared among sequences of the ND5 proteins of nine different species, as well as sequences of eight ND6 proteins. The phylogenetic tree of the nine ND5 proteins was constructed according to Fuzzy cluster analysis. By correlation analysis, the ClustalW results were compared with our similarity/dissimilarity results and other graphical representation results to demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Boehmite nanofiber materials with controlled particle size were synthesized without any surfactant by careful tuning of the hydrothermal temperatures, and followed by a series of characterizations. It was found that the boehmite nanofibers became shorter and coarser with the increase of temperature, and resulted in a gradual decrease of their specific surface areas. Moreover, the thermal stability of the boehmite nanofibers was studied by in situ HT X-ray diffraction and thermogravimetry-differential scanning calorimetry. All materials showed the phase transition from γ-AlO to other forms. Yet the transition temperature was increased with the increase of hydrothermal temperature. The boehmite nanofibers with the largest diameter showed the best thermal stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A novel bootstrap driver circuit applied to high voltage buck DC–DC converter is proposed. The gate driver voltage of the high side switch is regulated by a feedback loop to obtain accurate and stable bootstrapped voltage. The charging current of bootstrap capacitor is provided by the input power of the DC–DC converter directly instead of internal low voltage power source, so larger driver capability of the proposed circuit can be achieved. The bootstrap driver circuit starts to charge the bootstrap capacitor before the switch node SW drop to zero voltage at high-side switch off-time. Thus inadequate bootstrap voltage is avoided. The proposed circuit has been implemented in a high voltage buck DC–DC converter with 0.6µm 40V CDMOS process. The experimental results show that the bootstrap driver circuit provides 5V stable bootstrap voltage with higher drive capability to drive high side switch. The proposed circuit is suitable for high voltage, large current buck DC–DC converter. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

We present a three-dimensional (3D) micro-traps array for size selective sorting and patterning of microbeads via evaporation-driven capillary flow. The interconnected micro-traps array was manufactured by silicon micromachining. Microliters of aqueous solution containing particle mixtures of different sized (0.2 to 20 μm diameter) beads were dispensed onto the micro-traps substrate. The smaller particles spontaneously wicked towards the periphery of the chip, while the larger beads were orderly docked within the micro-traps array. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanostructured titania has been extensively investigated as photocatalytic material and is capable of killing bacteria attached on its surface. The persistent challenge yet is how to effectively promote adhesion of bacteria on its surface for consequent extermination. The study presented here deals with liquid flame-sprayed nanostructured titania-hydroxyapatite (HA) coatings. Addition of HA alleviated phase transformation of titania from anatase to rutile during the coating deposition, reducing rutile to anatase ratio from 9.58 to 1.99%, and precluded effectively aggregation of the nano titania particles in the as-sprayed coatings. Adherence of Escherichia coli bacteria on the coatings showed significant dependence on content of HA, and the increased HA content resulted in enhanced attachment of the bacteria. Examination of the photocatalytic activity of the coatings through decomposition of methylene blue dye in water revealed that addition of HA did not markedly deteriorate the photocatalytic performances of the coatings. The coatings consisting of 10 wt.% HA showed the best photocatalytic activity, which is comparable to that exhibited by immobilized Degussa P25 coatings. The unambiguous evidence provided in this study suggests that the coatings made from combination of biocompatible HA and photocatalytic nano titania have great potential for antibacterium applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using bulk formulas, two-year platform (fastened to the seabed) hourly observations from 2016 to 2017 in the East China Sea (121.6° E, 32.4° N) are used to investigate the role of the tide-induced surface elevation in changing the fixed observational height and modifying the momentum and air-sea turbulent heat fluxes. The semidiurnal tide-dominated elevation anomalies ranging from −3.6 to 3.9 m change the fixed platform observational height. This change causes hourly differences in the wind stress and latent and sensible heat fluxes between estimates with and without considering surface elevation, with values ranging from −1.5 × 10−3 Nm−2, −10.2 Wm−2, and −3.6 Wm−2 to 2.2 × 10−3 Nm−2, 8.4 Wm−2, and 4.6 Wm−2, respectively. More significant differences occur during spring tides. The differences show weak dependence on the temperature, indicating weak seasonal variations. The mean (maximum) difference percentage relative to the mean magnitude is approximately 3.5% (7%), 1.5% (3%), and 1.5% (3%) for the wind stress and latent and sensible heat fluxes, respectively. The boundary layer stability (BLS) can convert from near-neutral conditions to stable and unstable states in response to tide-induced changes in the observational height, with a probability of occurrence of 2%. Wind anomalies play dominant roles in determining the hourly anomalies of the latent heat flux, regardless of the state of the BLS. Extreme cases, including the cold air outbreak in 2016, tropical cyclones Meranti in 2016, and Ampil in 2018, are also examined. This study will facilitate future observation-reanalysis comparisons in the studied coastal region where ocean–atmosphere-land interactive processes are significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spam reviews misguide decision makings of consumers and may seriously affect fair trading in the online markets. Existing methods for detecting spam reviews mainly focus on feature designs from linguistic and psychological clues, but they hardly reveal the potential semantics. Recent research works apply deep learning to capture semantics features, while these models fail to extract multi-granularity information of the text structures nor consider the mutual influence among the sentences. We propose a hierarchical attention network in which distinct attentions are purposely used at the two layers to capture important, comprehensive, and multi-granularity semantic information. At the first layer, we especially use an N-gram CNN to extract the multi-granularity semantics of the sentences. We then use a combination of convolution structure and Bi-LSTM to extract important and comprehensive semantics in a document at the second layer. Extensive experiments on public datasets demonstrate that our model has superior detection performance over the state-of-the-art baselines, improving F 1 score in the mixed-domain to 89.3% (with 4.8 points absolute improvement), F 1 score in the Doctor domain to 92.8% (with 9.9 points absolute improvement), F 1 score in the Hotel domain to 86.1% (with 2.4 points absolute improvement) and F 1 score in the cross-domain to 84.7% (with 10.4 points absolute improvement). • We proposed a novel hierarchical attention architecture for spam review detection. • The Word2Sent-level captures multi-granularity and informative information. • The Sent2Doc-level extracts comprehensive and important information. • Extensive experiments demonstrate that our model has superior detection performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The removal strategy was the combination of complexation and photoreduction. • BiOBr@TpPa-1 heterojunction hybrids were prepared. • The extended π-conjugated system could improve the photocatalytic performance. • TpPa-1 and BiOBr@TpPa-1exhibited the high efficiency of U(VI) photoreduction. By integrating of adsorption and photoreduction for uranium(U), the covalent organic frameworks (COF, TpPa-1) and the heterostructure BiOBr@TpPa-1 were investigated. The results of electron spin resonance and photoelectrochemical tests (UV–vis DRS, PL, EIS, I-t and Mott-Schottky plots) showed, TpPa-1 not only was provided with oxygen vacancies, which could act as inter-band level to enhance visible light capture and reduce the recombination of photogenerated carriers, but also possessed π-electron conjugated structure, which could broaden the spectral absorption range and prolong the lifetime of photo-generated charges by surface hybridization. Consequently, the in-situ formation of TpPa-1 on BiOBr surface can significantly improve the photocatalytic performance of BiOBr for U(VI) reduction. Under visible-light irradiation, the superior photocatalytic performance of BiOBr@TpPa-1 generated reactive oxygen species and photoelectrons, which can efficiently reduce U(VI) pre-enriched in the framework of TpPa-1. Approximately 91% of U(VI) was photo-reduced within 540 min. Meanwhile, combined with surface analysis techniques (SEM, TEM, XRD and XPS) to reveal the mechanism of U(VI) photoreduction. Thus, the application of COFs as photocatalytic reductant was expanded, providing a sustainable alternative for visible-light-driven the conversion of high valent radionuclide ions in wastewater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A variable product ratio adjustment method was proposed. • The distillation process was improved for recovering extra cold energy. • Latent heat recovery process of release oxygen was proposed. • Rational exergy efficiency of ASU increased by 0.6%. • The power consumption was reduced by 2.1%. The rapid development of metallurgy and chemical industries has greatly increased the demand for air separation unit (ASU) products. The conventional equal product ratio adjustment method of ASU cannot meet the variable ratio demand of users. In this study, a low-pressure cold energy recovery process was designed, and a mixed adjustment method was proposed to enhance the variable product ratio adjustment capability of ASU and reduce the power consumption of product release scenes. When the requirement of only one product rapidly decreased, the method balanced the cold energy of ASU, recovered the additional energy in the heat exchange process of different pressures of the released product, and reduced the power consumption loss by adjusting the distillation column and nitrogen expansion system. An ASU model with argon distillation system was established using Aspen Plus software. The method reduced the power consumption by 1351 kW, which is equivalent to 2.1% of ASU power consumption. The rational specific power consumption was decreased by 0.02 kW/kg, and the rational exergy efficiency of ASU was increased by 0.6%. This method will provide a novel idea for the variable ratio adjustment mode of ASU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Proposing a coevolution model for resource allocation and epidemic spreading on metapopulation network. • Develop a mathematical framework to analyze the dynamical system and obtain the epidemic threshold concerning external factors. • The disease can be controlled effectively when resources are allocated unbiased. • There exists an appropriate small value of mobility rate that is propitious to control the disease through numerical analysis and simulations. A practical resource allocation strategy is the prerequisite for disease control during a pandemic affected by various external factors, such as the information about the epidemic state, the interregional population mobility, and the geographical factors. Understanding the influence of these factors on resource allocation and epidemic spreading is the premise for designing an optimal resource allocation strategy. To this end, we study the interaction of resource allocation and epidemic spreading in the scope of the metapopulation model by incorporating the factors of geographic proximity, the information of the epidemic state, the willingness of resource allocation, and the population mobility simultaneously. We develop a mathematical framework based on the Markovian chain approach to analyze the dynamical system and obtain the epidemic threshold concerning external factors. Combining extensive Monte Carlo simulations, we find that the disease can be controlled effectively when resources are allocated unbiased in terms of the geographical factor during a pandemic. Specifically, the spreading size is the lowest, and the epidemic threshold is the largest when resources are allocated unbiasedly between neighbor nodes and other nodes. In addition, when studying the effects of resource allocation on the epidemic threshold, we find the same results, i.e., information-aware resource allocation with unbiased in terms of the geographical factor will raise the epidemic threshold. At last, we study the effects of mobility rate on the dynamical property and find an appropriate small value of mobility rate that is propitious to control the disease through numerical analysis and simulations. Our findings will have a direct application in the development of strategies to suppress the spread of the disease and guide the behavior of individuals during a pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acid response, encryption, fluorescence, multichannel, positional isomers Keywords: acid response; encryption; fluorescence; multichannel; positional isomers EN acid response encryption fluorescence multichannel positional isomers 16059 16059 1 11/24/21 20211122 NES 211122 B A multichannel device for information encryption b that uses two fluorescent positional isomers of quinoxaline derivatives is reported. [Extracted from the article]

Abstract: The inductor value of the frequency synchronous DC–DC converter is related to the operating switching frequency. In order to optimize the performance of stability, transient response and load capability, this paper presents a switching frequency adaptive slope compensation circuit. The circuit adjusts the slope compensation by automatic operation according to the synchronized switching frequency to avoid excessive compensation. The proposed circuit has been implemented in a high voltage buck DC–DC converter with 0.6μm CDMOS process. The test results indicate that fast transient response and load capability are realized and the stability is achieved without sub-harmonic oscillation in the whole synchronous frequency range. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The boroProline-based dipeptidyl boronic acids were among the first DPP-IV inhibitors identified, and remain the most potent known. We introduced various substitutions at the 4-position of the boroProline ring regioselectively and stereoselectively, and incorporated these aminoboronic acids into a series of 4-substituted boroPro-based dipeptides. Among these dipeptidyl boronic acids, Arg-(4S)-boroHyp (4q) was the most potent inhibitor of DPP-IV, DPP8 and DPP9, while (4S)-Hyp-(4R)-boroHyp (4o) exhibited the most selectivity for DPP-IV over DPP8 and DPP9. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

[Display omitted] • Mn-doping NiS 2 of (Ni 1-x Mn x)-S nanosheets are innovatively proposed as the photocatalytic hydrogen evolution materials. • The optimal (Ni 4/6 Mn 2/6)-S nanosheets perform an ultrahigh hydrogen evolution rate of 24.86 mmol g-1 h−1 than pure NiS 2 and MnS. • The negative shift of the conduction band (CB) provides a high thermodynamic driving force for hydrogen catalytic reactions. Two-dimensional transition metal disulfides are excellent photocatalytic materials, which can be significantly improved by optimizing the composition and structure. Herein, Mn-doping NiS 2 of (Ni 1-x Mn x)-S with various Ni/Mn molar ratios is proposed via a facile and low-cost solvothermal method. The optimal (Ni 4/6 Mn 2/6)-S exhibits pinecone-like morphology composed of tiny nanosheets with enlarged active sites, which facilitates the separation of photoinduced electrons and holes, improves the electron transfer ability and conductivity, and enlarges the active sites compared with pure NiS 2 and MnS. Also, the negative shift of the conduction band derived from Mott-Schottky plots and the empirical formula provides a high thermodynamic driving force for hydrogen catalytic reaction. (Ni 4/6 Mn 2/6)-S performs an ultrahigh hydrogen evolution rate of 24.86 mmol g−1 h−1 under UV–visible light irradiation, which is 1.5 times higher than pure NiS 2 (16.92 mmol g−1 h−1) and 2.3 times higher than pure MnS (10.69 mmol g−1 h−1). The outstanding repeatability of 86.7% retention and apparent quantum yield of 46.9% are also achieved. Therefore, this work offers a novel bimetallic sulfide of (Ni 1-x Mn x)-S to improve the conversion efficiency of solar energy to chemical energy for photocatalytic hydrogen production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases (LPMOs) have the potential to improve recalcitrant polysaccharide hydrolysis by the oxidizing cleavage of glycosidic bond. Streptomyces species are major chitin decomposers in soil ecological environments and encode multiple lpmo genes. In this study, we demonstrated that transcription of the lpmo gene, Sclpmo10G, in the Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2) (ScA3(2)) strain is strongly induced by chitin. The ScLPMO10G protein was further expressed in Escherichia coli and characterized in vitro. The ScLPMO10G protein showed oxidation activity towards chitin. Chitinase synergy experiments demonstrated that the addition of ScLPMO10G resulted in a substantial in vitro increase in the reducing sugar levels. Moreover, in vivo the LPMO-overexpressing strain ScΔLPMO10G(+) showed stronger chitin-degrading ability than the wild-type, leading to a 2.97-fold increase in reducing sugar level following chitin degradation. The total chitinase activity of ScΔLPMO10G(+) was 1.5-fold higher than that of ScA3(2). In summary, ScLPMO10G may play a role in chitin biodegradation in S. coelicolor, which could have potential applications in biorefineries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the theory of cosmology, de Sitter space is the symmetrical model of accelerated expansions of the universe. It is derived from the solution of the Einstein field equation, which has a positive cosmological constant. In this paper, we define the evolutes and focal surfaces of timelike Sabban curves in de Sitter space. We find that de Sitter focal surfaces can be regarded as caustics and de Sitter evolutes corresponding to the locus of the polar vectors of osculating de Sitter subspaces. By using singularity theory, we classify the singularities of the de Sitter focal surfaces and de Sitter evolutes and show that there is a close relationship between a new geometric invariant and the types of singularities. Moreover, the Legendrian dual relationships between the hyperbolic tangent indicatrix of timelike Sabban curves and the focal surfaces are given. Finally, we provide an example to illustrate our main results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Security inspection has been playing a critical role in protecting public space from safety threats. As object detection is a fundamental and mature research filed, it still suffers from numerous challenges such as scale, viewpoint and intra‐class variance of X‐ray images. The main reasons are, mis‐modeling of actual security inspection as well as insufficient effective X‐ray samples. To this end, the X‐ray inspection task is reconsidered by predicting the dangerous attributes without boxes and categories, a Dual Multi‐instance Attention network (DMA‐Net) is proposed in this paper to mine the key‐instance from both patch and proposal branch. In patch‐level multi‐instance attention pooling, Recursive Attention Pyramid (RAP) and Spatial‐Channel Attention (SCA) are proposed to effectively learn discriminative representation from hierarchical features. Meanwhile, the proposal‐level multi‐instance attention pooling selectively emphasizes interdependent of crucial regions. The features of dual pooling layers are fused to predict dangerous attributes of X‐ray inspection images directly. Further, this paper contributes a large‐scale and high‐quality X‐ray image dataset from railway stations, named Railway Station X‐ray (RSXray). Enormous experiments on RSXray, GDXray and SIXray demonstrate that the proposed DMA‐Net achieves surprising performance with dual multi instance learning diagrams and attention mechanism. The superiority of the employed framework for applications in real world scenarios are also verified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Verapamil has been shown to be neuroprotective in several acute neurotoxicity models due to blockade of calcium entry into neurons. However, the potential use of verapamil to treat chronic neurodegenerative diseases has not been reported. Using rat primary mesencephalic neuron/glia cultures, we report that verapamil significantly inhibited LPS-induced dopaminergic neurotoxicity in both pre- and post-treatment experiments. Reconstituted culture studies revealed that the presence of microglia was essential in verapamil-elicited neuroprotection. Mechanistic studies showed that decreased production of inflammatory mediators from LPS-stimulated microglia underlay neuroprotective property of verapamil. Further studies demonstrated that microglial NADPH oxidase (PHOX), the key superoxide-producing enzyme, but not calcium channel in neurons, is the site of action for the neuroprotective effect of verapamil. This conclusion was supported by the following two observations: 1) Verapamil failed to show protective effect on LPS-induced dopaminergic neurotoxicity in PHOX-deficient (deficient in the catalytic subunit of gp91phox) neuron/glia cultures; 2) Ligand binding studies showed that the binding of [3H]Verapamil onto gp91phox transfected COS7 cell membranes was higher than the non-transfected control. The calcium channel-independent neuroprotective property of verapamil was further supported by the finding that R(+)-verapamil, a less active form in blocking calcium channel, showed the same potency in neuroprotection, inhibition of pro-inflammatory factors production and binding capacity to gp91phox membranes as R(−)-verapamil, the active isomer of calcium channel blocker. In conclusion, our results demonstrate a new indication of verapamil-mediated neuroprotection through a calcium channel-independent pathway and provide a valuable avenue for the development of therapy for inflammation-related neurodegenerative diseases. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: It is important to design structures, systems, and components subjected to earthquake base motions to ensure their structural integrity and secure functionality. This paper presents methods to enforce base excitations for designing structures, qualifying equipment, and assessing seismic fragility against such base motions in seismic analysis. The concept of the large force method is extended from that of the large penalty technique applied in static analysis accounting for displacement boundary conditions. An action exerted on the artificial base block is equivalently enforced by applying the corresponding base motion using the large penalty technique. Depending on the way to solve the equations of motion, the large force method may be expressed as an indirect-enforcing or direct-enforcing method. The indirect-enforcing method is derived by decomposing whole system motion into free structural motion and constrained base motion, with the structural motion divided into two parts to simplify the input of base motion. By contrast, upon applying the large penalty factor, the direct-enforcing method is achieved by directly solving the equations of motion without the breakdown of the system motion. Modal analysis for the direct-enforcing method is conducted to investigate the characteristics of frequency and mode properties in the extreme low/high frequency domains using the Jacobi method and the frequency shift technique. To compare the response results, the Newmark direct integration scheme is applied in the large force method for analyzing structural systems under harmonic and random base excitations. The compatibility of base time histories taken from an earthquake motion database is discussed to avoid errors in using the large force method. Information presented in this paper is useful in adopting a proper way to enforce base motions and interpreting the response in vibration analysis. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Activation of microglia is a critical pathological marker of Parkinson's disease. Activated microglia produces proinflammatory and neurotoxic factors, which cause neurons to induce neurodegeneration. Although it is believed that Chinese herbs, such as Tripterygium wilfordii Hook F, can ease inflammatory diseases, little is known about its benefit to neurodegenerative disease, like Parkinson's disease. In this study, we report the extract of Tripterygium wilfordii Hook F with a novel extraction method significantly protected dopaminergic neurons from LPS-induced degeneration in rat mesencephalic neuron-glia cultures. Cells pretreated with the extract have shown dose-dependent inhibition of LPS-induced TNFα and excessive NO production. More importantly, the total number of activated microglia was greatly reduced in these pretreated cells. Our results suggest that the extract of Tripterygium wilfordii Hook F has a strong bioactive function to diminish the pro-inflammatory factors, such as TNFα and NO. These data might also shed light for future neurodegenerative disease therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This article presents the derivation of a generic stiffness matrix for steel members accounting for the combined influence of –delta effects, member shear deformation, inelasticity, semi-rigid connection, and joint damage. Member stiffness coefficients accounting for rotational stiffness degradation are derived using the modified moment distribution method. The displacement method is applied to derive the member stiffness coefficients due to translational stiffness degradation, and the force method is utilized to obtain the axial stiffness coefficients caused by normal axial stiffness degradation. Incorporating the derived member stiffness matrix into the conventional matrix displacement method, a computational procedure with increment loading steps is achieved for the nonlinear analysis of steel frameworks subjected to normal and/or abnormal loadings. Example case studies are carried out to illustrate the progressive collapse behaviour of two steel frameworks under abnormal loadings. Results show that the effect of damage to joints may considerably affect the local response of damaged structures, but its effect on the global loading capacity is insignificant. A building framework designed in a non-seismic zone is less robust against progressive collapse than that designed in a seismic zone. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This study determines failure criterion for steel member cross-sections, subjected to combined bending moment , shear force , and axial force (MVP). The principle of maximum plastic strain energy is employed to develop the strain–stress relationship for plastic flow, and the expression for the MVP yield surface of the cross-section. A linear distribution of shear strain over the cross-section is assumed. The influence of plastic deformation on bending moment, shear force and axial force, at full yield of the cross-section, is investigated. Results predicted by the derived MVP failure surface, are compared with those obtained by other studies in the literature. The derived MVP yield surface can serve as a basis to identify the failure of steel members, such as during seismic or progressive-failure analysis of building frameworks. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: We have previously reported that a single injection of endotoxin, lipopolysaccharide (LPS, 5mg/kg, i.p.), causes a delayed and progressive loss of TH-IR neurons in the substantia nigra (SN) in C57BL/six male mice. In this study, we determined sex differences and behavioral deficits accompanying the loss of TH-IR neurons in response to peripheral LPS injection. A single injection of LPS (5mg/kg, i.p.) failed to produce any loss of TH-IR neurons in the SN of female mice over a 12-month period. To determine if multiple-injections were required, female mice received five injections of LPS (5mg/kg, i.p.) at either weekly or monthly intervals. Behavioral motor ability and TH-IR neuronal loss were determined after the first injection of LPS. We found significant differences in both behavioral activities and neuronal loss between these two injection paradigms. Between 7 and 20 months after the first injection of LPS, progressive behavioral changes, measured by rotor-rod and open-field activities, and neuronal loss in SN were observed in monthly injected, but not in weekly injected mice. In addition, reduced rotor-rod ability in monthly injected mice were restored following treatment of l-dopa/carbidopa (30mg/3mg/kg), i.p.). Approximately 40 and 50% loss of TH-IR neurons at 9 and 20 months, respectively, was observed after exposure to LPS, suggesting that the behavioral deficit is related to loss of dopamine function in the nigra-striatal pathway. More intense immuno-staining of α-synuclein and inflammatory markers were detected in brain sections exposed to LPS. In conclusion, these results show that multi-LPS monthly injections can induce a delayed and progressive loss of TH-IR neurons and motor deficits which resemble the progressive nature of Parkinson''s disease. Further, the present study reveals a clear sex difference: female mice are more resistant to LPS than male mice. Repeated monthly LPS injections are required to cause both motor behavioral deficits and DA neuronal loss in female mice. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Cover Feature: Multi-Channel Optical Device for Solar-Driven Bacterial Inactivation under Real-Time Temperature Feedback (Chem. Eur. J. 43/2021) Keywords: antibacterial; photothermal conversion materials; solar devices; temperature sensing; upconversion EN antibacterial photothermal conversion materials solar devices temperature sensing upconversion 11017 11017 1 08/04/21 20210802 NES 210802 B A solar-driven photothermal antibacterial device b with independent functional layers with IrO SB 2 sb nanoaggregates-based photothermal and UCNP-based temperature sensing channels is reported in this work. Antibacterial, photothermal conversion materials, solar devices, temperature sensing, upconversion. [Extracted from the article]