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Apoptosis is a fundamental process controlling normal tissue homeostasis by regulating a balance between cell proliferation and death. Predicting subcellular location of apoptosis proteins is very helpful for understanding its mechanism of programmed cell death. Prediction of apoptosis protein subcellular location is still a challenging and complicated task, and existing methods mainly based on protein primary sequences. In this paper, we propose a new position-specific scoring matrix (PSSM)-based model by using Geary autocorrelation function and detrended cross-correlation coefficient (DCCA coefficient). Then a 270-dimensional (270D) feature vector is constructed on three widely used datasets: ZD98, ZW225 and CL317, and support vector machine is adopted as classifier. The overall prediction accuracies are significantly improved by rigorous jackknife test. The results show that our model offers a reliable and effective PSSM-based tool for prediction of apoptosis protein subcellular localization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Defects are inevitably present in materials, and their existence strongly affects the fundamental physical properties of 2D materials. Here, we performed first-principles calculations to study the structural and electronic properties of antimonene with Stone–Wales defects, highlighting the differences in the structure and electronic properties. Our calculations show that the presence of a SW defect in antimonene changes the geometrical symmetry. And the band gap decreases in electronic band structure with the decrease of the SW defect concentration. The formation energy and cohesive energy of a SW defect in antimonene are studied, showing the possibility of its existence and its good stability, respectively. The difference charge density near the SW defect is explored, by which the structural deformations of antimonene are explained. At last, we calculated the STM images for the SW defective antimonene to provide more information and characters for possible experimental observation. These results may provide meaningful references to the development and design of novel nanodevices based on new 2D materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Defects are usually unavoidable in lattices and have great impacts on the electronic structures, which can also be adjusted by pressure. Here, we report a systemic first-principles investigation on the pressure-dependent electronic and optical properties of wurtzite ZnO containing O vacancy or Zn interstitial. The pressure is loaded in the range of 0-12 GPa. The calculated result shows that the top valence bandwidth of ZnO materials varies with the pressure loaded. In particular, the top valence bandwidth of ZnO with O vacancy under about 5 GPa gets an extreme value. Meanwhile, it is also found that there are different energy shifts in the optical spectrums with the increase of pressure. The influence of increasing pressure on the optical properties of ZnO containing Zn interstitial is found to be notable, especially in the energy range of 3.0-4.7 eV. So the electronic and optical properties of ZnO with native defect may be tuned through changing the pressure. Our research results may provide important references to the choice and production of ZnO-based ultraviolet photoelectric materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stability and morphology evolution of Cu 2 ZnSnS 4 (CZTS) films consisting of nanoparticles treated with NaX (X = I, Cl, F) based aqueous solution was investigated. It has been found that the size of the nanoparticles increased with the increase of NaI solution treatment duration. Dipping the CZTS film in NaI solution for 10 min led to the complete transformation of CZTS nanocrystals to large grains with sizes around 1–3 μm after thermal annealing. The investigation of the material composition has revealed that NaI solution treatment resulted in significant loss of Zn. Further investigation has showed that the dissolution of Zn from CZTS is even more serious when the film of CZTS nanoparticles was soaked in NaCl and NaF solution for a short time. This is attributed to the strong complexation reaction between Zn 2 + and the halides. X-ray diffraction measurement has confirmed that the complexation reaction led to the formation of Na 2 S and Raman spectroscopy has revealed that the loss of Zn resulted in the formation of Cu 3 SnS 4 in the film. This work provides insights into stability and grain growth of CZTS material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our initial RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) revealed that the Serum amyloid A1 (SAA1) gene was differentially expressed in the mammary glands of lactating Holstein cows with extremely high versus low phenotypic values of milk protein and fat percentage. To further validate the genetic effect and potential molecular mechanisms of SAA1 gene involved in regulating milk production traits in dairy cattle, we herein performed a study through genotype-phenotype associations. Six identified SNPs were significantly associated with one or more milk production traits (0.00002< P < 0.0025), providing additional evidence for the potential role of SAA1 variants in milk production traits in dairy cows. Subsequently, both luciferase assay and electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA) clearly demonstrated that the allele A of g.-963C>A increased the promoter activity by binding the PARP factor while allele C did not. Bioinformatics analysis indicated that the secondary structure of SAA protein changed by the substitution A/G in the locus c. +2510A>G. Our findings were the first to reveal the significant associations of the SAA1 gene with milk production traits, providing basis for further biological function validation, and two identified SNPs, g.-963C>A and c. +2510A>G, may be considered as genetic markers for breeding in dairy cattle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The potential‐driven semiconductor‐to‐metal transition is investigated in monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides by employing a new proposed method, i.e., the fixed‐potential method (FPM). Under the same voltage, the semiconducting and metallic phases will be charged differently due to their different electronic properties. The potential‐driven phase transition process is simulated by the injection of unequal electrons in the semiconducting and metallic phases. The unequal electron injection is more consistent with the actual experimental process, although equal electron injection also can theoretically induce a phase transition. MoTe2 is chosen as a prototypical example to examine the physical mechanism. When the fixed electrode potential is above the potential of zero‐charge, excess electrons are injected into the metallic 1T' phase instead of the semiconducting 2H phase, stabilizing the 1T' phase. In addition, the potential‐dependent kinetics, in which the charge transfer is fluctuating, suggests that increasing the electrode potential will decrease the kinetic barrier of the 2H→1T' transition process. The calculated relative transition voltage of 2.5 V agrees well with the experimental results, demonstrating the validity of the FPM. This study provides new insight into potential‐driven semiconductor‐to‐metal phase transitions and suggests a new theoretical approach for studies under constant voltage conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exhaustive research of phase engineering of two-dimensional molybdenum disulfide (2D-MoS2) is currently ongoing to develop numerous applications, including optoelectronic devices, spintronics, and new platforms for the study of unconventional quantum phenomena. Therefore, it is urgently needed to achieve phase-controlled synthesis of MoS2 with a high quality and large area. However, the metallic phase MoS2 (1T-MoS2) synthesized by conventional chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is randomly distributed in the semiconductor phase (2H-MoS2) domain, and the position-controlled synthesis of the phase is not achieved. In this study, we achieved the controlled synthesis of the 1T-MoS2 domain in the 2H main phase. Salt-assisted CVD was used to induce V-atom doping at the right time by controlling the concentration of vanadium ions. The synthesis benefitted from 1D vapor–liquid–solid (VLS) growth and 2D vapor–solid (VS) edge expansion. The results of the growth controlled by regulating the NaCl concentration showed that the 1T phase was located at the three vertex domains of the MoS2 triangle. The distribution domains of 1T phase MoS2 can be confirmed by Raman mapping, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. Furthermore, we calculated the doping rate of V atoms in VLS and VS modes based on the two-dimensional diffusion model and observed that the doping rate of V atoms in the VLS mode was approximately three times higher than that in the VS mode, which was consistent with the experimental results. The controllable phase-domain synthesis of 2D-MoS2 is beneficial to the preparation of nano-electronic devices and provides a platform for the study of physicochemical properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Insights into the genetic basis of complex traits and disease in both human and livestock species have been achieved over the past decade through detection of genetic variants in genome-wide association studies (GWAS). A majority of such variants were found located in noncoding genomic regions, and though the involvement of numerous regulatory elements (REs) has been predicted across multiple tissues in domesticated animals, their evolutionary conservation and effects on complex traits have not been fully elucidated, particularly in ruminants. Here, we systematically analyzed 137 epigenomic and transcriptomic datasets of six mammals, including cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, mice, and humans, and then integrated them with large-scale GWAS of complex traits. Results: Using 40 ChIP-seq datasets of H3K4me3 and H3K27ac, we detected 68,479, 58,562, 63,273, 97,244, 111,881, and 87,049 REs in the liver of cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, humans and mice, respectively. We then systematically characterized the dynamic functional landscapes of these REs by integrating multi-omics datasets, including gene expression, chromatin accessibility, and DNA methylation. We identified a core set (n = 6359) of ruminant-specific REs that are involved in liver development, metabolism, and immune processes. Genes with more complex cis-REs exhibited higher gene expression levels and stronger conservation across species. Furthermore, we integrated expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) and GWAS from 44 and 52 complex traits/diseases in cattle and humans, respectively. These results demonstrated that REs with different degrees of evolutionary conservation across species exhibited distinct enrichments for GWAS signals of complex traits. Conclusions: We systematically annotated genome-wide functional REs in liver across six mammals and demonstrated the evolution of REs and their associations with transcriptional output and conservation. Detecting lineage-specific REs allows us to decipher the evolutionary and genetic basis of complex phenotypes in livestock and humans, which may benefit the discovery of potential biomedical models for functional variants and genes of specific human diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The luminescence thermal quenching (LTQ) behavior is one of the detrimental effects which result in poor stability and hinder the practical applications of luminescent nanocrystals (NCs) severely. Suppressing the LTQ effect is fundamentally important, especially for the recent rising star lead halide perovskite NCs while related investigations are rare. Herein, taking CsPbBr3 NCs with high photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) as examples, a surface anchoring mechanism is proposed and the LTQ effect is successfully overcome. By introducing hybrid ligand system with large binding effect and steric hindrance, ligand desorption induces irreversible LTQ effect and the formation of surface atom vibration related transient traps is suppressed. As a result, 96.3% and 75.6% of the initial PL intensity are maintained up to 378 and 423 K, respectively, which are even superior to conventional core–shell NCs. Notably, after being treated under 333 K for 15 days, a PL intensity remnant of >88.4% is achieved. Such anti‐LTQ mechanism is also extended to blue perovskite NCs. Temperature‐tolerant stimulated emission and high temperature lasing phenomenon are fulfilled with considerable thermal stability. This work provides a new mechanism which can possibly help to solve the bottleneck toward practical luminescence applications for perovskite nanostructures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of inorganic hole‐transporting materials (HTMs) is one of the most reliable ways to improve the stability of perovskite solar cells (PSCs). However, the un‐optimal buried interfacial contacts and the defects located at the inorganic HTMs/perovskite interface restricted the device's performance. Herein, a phase‐pure CuScO2 has been synthesized and further employed as mesoporous HTM in inverted PSCs. Surprisingly, a facile pretreatment of the hole‐transport layer by a formamidine salt compensates the I− vacancy of the buried perovskite film, thus regulating the interfacial band energy alignment between the HTM and perovskite. This ion compensation strategy can not only in situ repair the ion loss and improve the built‐in electric field, but also decrease the charge injection barrier and suppress the non‐radiative interfacial recombination. Benefiting from these merits, the resulting methylammonium‐free (MA), Cs/FA‐based PSCs displays a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 22.42% along with excellent thermal and light stability. Moreover, the pre‐buried treatment strategy can be extended to MA‐containing CsFAMA triple‐cation perovskite film, and a champion inverted device delivers a PCE of 23.11%. This study offers a new avenue to the rational design of HTMs for highly efficient and stable PSCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two-dimensional (2D) antimonene has triggered a wide range of interest owing to its unique structure and physical properties. Van der Waals heterostructures, which integrate two or more different materials with weak interactions between the layers, offer more degrees of freedom for designing functional materials. Very recently, 2D antimonene-based van der Waals heterostructures have inspired extensive research enthusiasm in various fields. Here, we systematically summarize the band alignment types and regulation strategies of interfacial properties for 2D antimonene-based heterostructures and the state-of-the-art current applications, including electronic and optoelectronic devices, catalysis, energy storage, and the biomedical field. Finally, we discuss the opportunities and challenges and put forward the prospects of 2D antimonene-based heterostructures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a promising wireless access technique, sparse code multiple access (SCMA) directly maps the input bits to the transmitted multidimensional codewords according to the SCMA codebook. In general, SCMA codebook optimization and detector simplification are independent of each other. In this article, we propose a simplified SCMA codebook with a separable structure for implementing a low-complexity detector. For codebook design, a separable codebook structure is proposed to simplify the maximization of the minimum Euclidean distance (MED). With this structure, multiple one-dimensional complex codebooks corresponding to one resource element (RE) are determined by maximizing the MED of the superimposed codewords. Then, the entire codebook set is obtained based on a structure indicator matrix and the separable codebook structure. The proposed codebook has a larger MED than obtained by existing codebooks. Benefiting from the separable codebook structure, the signals transmitted over each RE can be independently used to recover the corresponding input bit information. Therefore, we propose a parallel maximum a posteriori (P-MAP) detector consisting of several low-complexity MAP detectors to reduce the complexity of the conventional multiuser message passing (MP) detector in SCMA. At the receiver, each RE is assigned a low-complexity MAP detector. Simulation results show that the proposed codebook outperforms the known optimal codebook over an AWGN channel. Moreover, the run time of the P-MAP detection algorithm is reduced by 99.8% compared to the Log-MPA algorithm. With the proposed codebook design scheme and the P-MAP detector, an SCMA unit can be separated into two independent non-SCMA units, which significantly increases system flexibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conventional field-effect transistors (FETs) based on silicon downscaling are approaching physical limits, and thus, it is urgent to explore additional novel solutions to address this issue. The 2-D semiconductors have unique advantages as the channel material and provide a promising prospect for high-performance FETs in the post-Moore era. In this work, a new 2-D semiconductor, monolayer BeN2, is studied for the FET performance limits through first-principle quantum-transport simulations. Monolayer BeN2 exhibits a graphene-like planar structure with a direct bandgap of 1.3 eV. Transfer characteristics of sub-10-nm BeN2 FETs are thoroughly assessed through scaling gate length. In particular, 2-D BeN2 FETs with 10-nm gate present the ultrahigh ON-state current above $4500\,\, \mu \text{A}/\mu \text{m}$ for high-performance applications. Also, we realize the significant reduction of gate length (only 2.5 nm) against the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS) requirements through introducing underlap structures. In addition, the performance of single devices based on monolayer BeN2 is evaluated and compared with some of the recently proposed 2-D devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, Kovalenko and co-workers and Li and co-workers developed CsPbX3 (X = Cl, Br, I) inorganic perovskite quantum dots (IPQDs), which exhibited ultrahigh photoluminescence (PL) quantum yields (QYs), low-threshold lasing, and multicolor electroluminescence. However, the usual synthesis needs high temperature, inert gas protection, and localized injection operation, which are severely against applications. Moreover, the so unexpectedly high QYs are very confusing. Here, for the first time, the IPQDs' room-temperature (RT) synthesis, superior PL, underlying origins and potentials in lighting and displays are reported. The synthesis is designed according to supersaturated recrystallization (SR), which is operated at RT, within few seconds, free from inert gas and injection operation. Although formed at RT, IPQDs' PLs have QYs of 80%, 95%, 70%, and FWHMs of 35, 20, and 18 nm for red, green, and blue emissions. As to the origins, the observed 40 meV exciton binding energy, halogen self-passivation effect, and CsPbX3@X quantum-well band alignment are proposed to guarantee the excitons generation and high-rate radiative recombination at RT. Moreover, such superior optical merits endow them with promising potentials in lighting and displays, which are primarily demonstrated by the white light-emitting diodes with tunable color temperature and wide color gamut. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prediction of protein structural classes for low-similarity sequences is useful for understanding fold patterns, regulation, functions, and interactions of proteins. It is well known that feature extraction is significant to prediction of protein structural class and it mainly uses protein primary sequence, predicted secondary structure sequence, and position-specific scoring matrix (PSSM). Currently, prediction solely based on the PSSM has played a key role in improving the prediction accuracy. In this paper, we propose a novel method called CSP-SegPseP-SegACP by fusing consensus sequence (CS), segmented PsePSSM, and segmented autocovariance transformation (ACT) based on PSSM. Three widely used low-similarity datasets (1189, 25PDB, and 640) are adopted in this paper. Then a 700-dimensional (700D) feature vector is constructed and the dimension is decreased to 224D by using principal component analysis (PCA). To verify the performance of our method, rigorous jackknife cross-validation tests are performed on 1189, 25PDB, and 640 datasets. Comparison of our results with the existing PSSM-based methods demonstrates that our method achieves the favorable and competitive performance. This will offer an important complementary to other PSSM-based methods for prediction of protein structural classes for low-similarity sequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Conductive 1T-HfTe 2 enables to create a new kind of SACs with negatively charged metal center. • Pt@HfTe 2 exhibits excellent catalytic activity for both ORR and OER. • Doped TM atoms act as a 'bridge' to transfer the electrons from the substrate to the reaction intermediates. Advancing efficient catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) or oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is imperative for commercializing emerging energy devices. Using density functional theory (DFT) calculations, we propose doping different transition metal (TM) atoms to regulate the electronic structures of the two-dimensional 1T-HfTe 2 monolayer to achieve bifunctional catalysis for the ORR/OER. Due to the small electronegativity of the Hf atom, we found the doped TM atoms can generally form anion centers by accepting abundant charges from the Hf interlayer. At the same time, the highly conductive 1T-HfTe 2 contributes to the charge transfer between the active center and the reaction intermediates, rendering the designed SACs the tunable activity for the reactions. By comparing the theoretical overpotentials of ORR and OER on 15 single-atom catalysts (SACs), Pt-doped system exhibits excellent catalytic activity for both ORR and OER, outperforming the traditional Pt(1 1 1) and RuO 2 (1 1 0) catalysts. Based on the charge transfer mechanism, we clarified that the doped TM atoms act as a 'bridge' to transfer the electrons from the substrate to the reaction intermediates, thereby effectively contributing to the improvement of catalytic activity. In summary, our study shows that, by doping appropriate TM atoms, the intrinsic inert HfTe 2 can be activated toward efficient ORR/OER. This could provide some guidance for the design of new two-dimensional ORR/OER bifunctional catalyst materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An interstitial vacancy on molybdenum nitride has been determined as a negative factor towards the alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) by reason of upraising the d orbitals of Mo. Nevertheless, investigations aiming to eliminate the vacancies are rarely reported. Here, an interstitial reconfiguration method for the design of stoichiometric molybdenum carbonitride (Mo2CN) is proposed, in which the vacancies are fulfilled by lattice carbon. Multiple fine structural analyses alongside with the theoretical calculations indicate that beyond lower the d orbitals of Mo by the hybridization of additive p‐d orbitals, lattice carbon also behaves as the extra active center with exceptional H adsorption/desorption energy. Mo2CN reveals an adorable overpotential of −84 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm−2 with a long‐term electrochemical stability by accompanying the nitrogen‐doped carbon substrate. It is anticipated that the vacancy‐eliminating concept will provide a constructive entry point for the rational design of electro‐catalysts and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Colon cancer is a complex disease with high incidence rates and mortality worldwide. Although some medical methods have been used for screening, prevention and treatment, its molecular mechanism is still unclear. Among all dysfunctional factors, the change of mutual regulation relationship between RNAs is an important factor affecting the development of cancer. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to find RNAs related to colon cancer that have not been verified. We used differential expression analysis to screen mRNAs, miRNAs and lncRNAs and further constructed a heterogeneous interaction network among these three kinds of RNAs. The network propagation algorithm RW-DIR was then developed to mine the biological information contained in the network and to identify RNAs closely related to colon cancer. The research results have provided some theoretical support for disease research and provide a basis for narrowing the research scope of medical experiments. Colon cancer is considered as a complex disease that consists of metastatic seeding in early stages. Such disease is not simply caused by the action of a single RNA, but is associated with disorders of many kinds of RNAs and their regulation relationships. Hence, it is of great significance to study the complex regulatory roles among mRNAs, miRNAs and lncRNAs for further understanding the pathogenic mechanism of colon cancer. In this study, we constructed a heterogeneous network consisting of differentially expressed mRNAs, miRNAs and lncRNAs. This contains three kinds of vertices and six types of edges. All RNAs were re-divided into three categories, which were "related", "irrelevant" and "unlabeled". They were processed by dynamic excitation restart random walk (RW-DIR) for identifying colon cancer-related RNAs. Ten RNAs were finally obtained related to colon cancer, which were hsa-miR-2682-5p, hsa-miR-1277-3p, ANGPTL1, SLC22A18AS, FENDRR, PHLPP2, hsa-miR-302a-5p, APCDD1, MEX3A and hsa-miR-509-3-5p. Numerical experiments have indicated that the proposed network construction framework and the following RW-DIR algorithm are effective for identifying colon cancer-related RNAs, and this kind of analysis framework can also be easily extended to other diseases, effectively narrowing the scope of biological experimental research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the electrode/electrolyte interface is crucial for optimizing electrocatalytic performances. Here, we demonstrate that the nature of alkali metal cations can profoundly impact the oxygen evolution activity of surface‐mounted metal–organic framework (SURMOF) derived electrocatalysts, which are based on NiFe(OOH). In situ Raman spectroscopy results show that Raman shifts of the Ni−O bending vibration are inversely proportional to the mass activities from Cs+ to Li+. Particularly, a laser‐induced current transient technique was introduced to study the cation‐dependent electric double layer properties and their effects on the activity. The catalytic trend appeared to be closely related to the potential of maximum entropy of the system, suggesting a strong cation impact on the interfacial water layer structure. Our results highlight how the electrolyte composition can be used to maximize the performance of SURMOF derivatives toward electrochemical water splitting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the electrode/electrolyte interface is crucial for optimizing electrocatalytic performances. Here, we demonstrate that the nature of alkali metal cations can profoundly impact the oxygen evolution activity of surface‐mounted metal–organic framework (SURMOF) derived electrocatalysts, which are based on NiFe(OOH). In situ Raman spectroscopy results show that Raman shifts of the Ni−O bending vibration are inversely proportional to the mass activities from Cs+ to Li+. Particularly, a laser‐induced current transient technique was introduced to study the cation‐dependent electric double layer properties and their effects on the activity. The catalytic trend appeared to be closely related to the potential of maximum entropy of the system, suggesting a strong cation impact on the interfacial water layer structure. Our results highlight how the electrolyte composition can be used to maximize the performance of SURMOF derivatives toward electrochemical water splitting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, perovskite light-emitting diodes (PeLEDs) have developed rapidly with the highest external quantum efficiency exceeding 20%. Their unbalanced carrier injection and non-radiative recombination assisted by defects lead to the destruction of perovskite crystal structures and poor device stability, which hinders their commercialization process. Thus, to understand the origin of device performance, the key is to figure out the charge-carrier dynamics of the devices. In this review, the charge-carrier dynamics of perovskites are discussed, including radiative and non-radiative recombination, together with the various passivation strategies. Second, we focus on the interfacial carrier dynamics and its influence on device performance. Various strategies to improve the injection balance have been implemented to address the inherent challenges associated with PeLEDs. Last but not least, the characterization techniques of PeLEDs are provided to study the carrier dynamics of PeLEDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, video-on-demand (VoD) streaming over Internet is a popular application. Because of the rapidly growing video population and user population, how to maintain high user quality of experience (QoE) with low cost is a challenging problem for Internet video streaming providers. A promising technique to potentially benefit VoD streaming system is network coding. A number of recent works studied how to use network coding to simplify chunk scheduling strategy to enhance VoD streaming performance. Most of these works only covered extreme cases of pure coding or pure chunk scheduling, emphasizing implementation, and experimentation in peer-to-peer (P2P) scenario without analytically evaluating the realizable performance gains explicitly. In this paper we discuss the strength and weakness of a family of coding strategies for CDN-based VoD streaming systems. The coding schemes are characterized by block sizes while the chunk scheduling strategy is characterized by the order to download chunks. Both pure coding strategy and pure chunk scheduling strategy are special cases of this family of strategies. We then propose a model to evaluate the benefits brought by each strategy. Basically, the coding scheme with larger block size gives more streaming and scheduling benefits with the cost of heavier overheads (e.g., encoding and decoding). System designers can take advantage of our model to balance the tradeoff between coding gain and coding overheads. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

To solve problems of insufficient load capacity and poor operational efficiency, a new drive system for electric tractors was proposed. It consisted of dual electric motors and a coupled transmission system. The mechanical structure of the drive system of the electric tractor was designed and a prototype was manufactured. The switching rules of the drive system under typical working conditions (ploughing and rotary tillage) were established. Mathematical models of the drive system and the electric tractor were built for designing switching rules rapidly in a personal computer. Then it can be downloaded to the controller for implementing the hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) experiments. Actual data from previous field test of ploughing and rotary tillage were obtained and used as the loads in the HIL experiments. The power performance and operational efficiency of the drive system under these loads were analysed. It showed that the drive system could operate normally in typical working conditions. In terms of efficiency, simulation results showed that the drive system could improve during ploughing and rotary tillage by 9.92% and 12.36% respectively. Results from the HIL test showed that the drive system could improve efficiency of ploughing and rotary tillage by 11.35% and 11.70%, respectively. This research results concluded that the drive system could provide the loading capacity of large loads in typical working conditions, and the operational efficiency is significantly improved. • A new drive system with dual electric motors was designed for the electric tractor. • The smooth switching rules between multiple operation modes were researched. • The HIL test platform with the instrument system and the physical system was built. • The power performance and efficiency of the drive system were verified by the HIL test. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Robust spectral analysis of the sinusoidal signals corrupted by impulsive noise poses a big challenge in the signal processing community. In this paper, we address the issue of robust spectral analysis for multi-channel sinusoidal signals, including order detection and parameter estimation. The successive robust low-rank decomposition is firstly designed to extract the common signal subspace from the multi-channel data matrix. Subsequently, the number of sinusoidal poles is determined with a model order selection criterion, based on the so-obtained subspace. With the signal order information, the sinusoidal parameters and outliers are jointly estimated according to the maximum a posteriori criterion. To find a robust initial guess of the sinusoidal parameters, an estimator based on robust weighted linear prediction is developed. Additionally, the performance analysis is provided, which includes computational complexity, convergence verification of the sinusoidal parameter estimation, and asymptotic consistency of the signal order detection. Simulation results demonstrate the advantages of the proposed robust spectral analysis framework compared to state-of-the-art schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To date, many experiments have revealed that the functional balance between hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA) plays a crucial role in viral mobility, production, and transmission. However, whether and how HA and NA maintain balance at the sequence level needs further investigation. Here, we applied principal component analysis and hierarchical clustering analysis on thousands of HA and NA sequences of A/H1N1 and A/H3N2. We discovered significant coevolution between HA and NA at the sequence level, which is closely related to the type of host species and virus epidemic years. Furthermore, we propose a sequence-to-sequence transformer model (S2STM), which mainly consists of an encoder and a decoder that adopts a multi-head attention mechanism for establishing the mapping relationship between HA and NA sequences. The training results reveal that the S2STM can effectively realize the "translation" from HA to NA or vice versa, thereby building a relationship network between them. Our work combines unsupervised and supervised machine learning methods to identify the sequence matching between HA and NA, which will advance our understanding of IAVs' evolution and also provide a novel idea for sequence analysis methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oxyanions-nitrate, bromate, and perchlorate in water bodies can do harms of different levels to human health. Photocatalytic reduction is one of the most promising and effective means to convert them into harmless ions. In this article, we discuss the photocatalytic mechanisms of TiO2 catalyst in nitrogen removal process. The factors determining the catalytic activity and the selectivity of nitrogen are elaborated. An overview of the pathway of photocatalysis toward bromate and perchlorate reduction is presented, and the reduction performance of different photocatalysts is evaluated. It is of vital importance to the development of low-cost photocatalytic materials and the use of their activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A joint cooperative jamming and opportunistic scheduling (CJOS) scheme is proposed for a downlink multiuser relay network (MRN) with an untrusted fixed‐gain amplify‐and‐forward relay. Specifically, the source's confident message is protected by employing CJ at the destinations and multiuser diversity is harvested via OS. Unified tight approximation and asymptotic expressions for the system secrecy outage probability with perfect/outdated channel state information (CSI) are derived. Our results explicitly show that with perfect CSI, CJOS scheme can improve the secrecy diversity order from 1/2 in single‐user networks up to full diversity of 1 in MRNs. However, the outdated CSI degrades the secrecy diversity order from 1 to 1/2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The Landauer transport theory is used to study the electron transmission of wedge-shaped graphene nanoconstrictions (WGNCs) under transverse strain. It is found that WGNCs have a transport gap decreasingly dependent on the strain. Further analysis shows that the strain dependence of the transport gap origins from the sensitiveness of confined states to strain. And on this basis, an analytical formula of the transport gap as a function of transverse strain is obtained confirming the numerical results. Our results suggest that WGNCs can be useful for the future graphene-based nanoelectromechanics. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Detecting genes associated with milk fat composition could provide valuable insights into the complex genetic networks of genes underling variation in fatty acids synthesis and point towards opportunities for changing milk fat composition via selective breeding. In this study, we conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) for 22 milk fatty acids in 784 Chinese Holstein cows with the PLINK software. Genotypes were obtained with the Illumina BovineSNP50 Bead chip and a total of 40,604 informative, high-quality single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were used. Totally, 83 genome-wide significant SNPs and 314 suggestive significant SNPs associated with 18 milk fatty acid traits were detected. Chromosome regions that affect milk fatty acid traits were mainly observed on BTA1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 9, 13, 14, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 26 and 27. Of these, 146 SNPs were associated with more than one milk fatty acid trait; most of studied fatty acid traits were significant associated with multiple SNPs, especially C18:0 (105 SNPs), C18 index (93 SNPs), and C14 index (84 SNPs); Several SNPs are close to or within the DGAT1, SCD1 and FASN genes which are well-known to affect milk composition traits of dairy cattle. Combined with the previously reported QTL regions and the biological functions of the genes, 20 novel promising candidates for C10:0, C12:0, C14:0, C14:1, C14 index, C18:0, C18:1n9c, C18 index, SFA, UFA and SFA/UFA were found, which composed of HTR1B, CPM, PRKG1, MINPP1, LIPJ, LIPK, EHHADH, MOGAT1, ECHS1, STAT1, SORBS1, NFKB2, AGPAT3, CHUK, OSBPL8, PRLR, IGF1R, ACSL3, GHR and OXCT1. Our findings provide a groundwork for unraveling the key genes and causal mutations affecting milk fatty acid traits in dairy cattle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current advances in non-invasive fluid diagnostics highlight unique benefits for monitoring metabolic diseases. However, the low concentrations and complex compositions of biomarkers in fluids such as sweat, urine, and saliva impose stringent demands on the sensitivity and stability of detection technologies. Here, we developed a high-sensitivity, low-cost instantaneous electrochemical sensor based on the superadditive effect mechanism of Cu-TCPP(Fe)/Mxene (MMs Paper-ECL Sensor), which has been successfully applied for the simultaneous real-time detection of glucose and uric acid. Strong interfacial interactions between Mxene and Cu-TCPP(Fe) were revealed through precise simulation calculations and multi-dimensional characterization analysis, significantly enhancing the sensor's electrocatalytic performance and reaction kinetics. Experimentally, this exceptional electrocatalytic activity was demonstrated in its unprecedented high sensitivity and wide linear detection range for glucose and uric acid, with a non-invasive linear range from 0.001 nM to 5 mM, 0.025 nM–5 mM, detection limits as low as 1.88 aM and 5.80 pM, and stability extending up to 100 days. This represents not only a breakthrough in sensitivity and stability but also provides an effective, low-cost solution that overcomes the limitations of existing electronic devices, enabling multi-channel simultaneous detection. The universality of this sensor holds vast potential for application in the field of non-invasive fluid diagnostics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) are a family of multifunctional enzymes that are involved in the metabolism of many xenobiotics, including a wide range of environmental carcinogens. While the null genotypes in GSTM1 and GSTT1 have been implicated in tumorigenesis, it remains inconsistent and inconclusive. Herein, we aimed to assess the possible associations of the GSTM1 and GSTT1 null genotype in cancer risks. Methods: A meta-analysis based on 506 case-control studies was performed. Odds ratios (OR) with corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to assess the association. Results: The null genotypes of GSTM1 and GSTT1 polymorphisms were associated with a significantly increased risk in cancer (for GSTM1: OR = 1.17; 95%CI = 1.14–1.21; for GSTT1: OR = 1.16; 95%CI = 1.11–1.21, respectively). When the analysis was performed based on their smoking history, the risk associated of GSTM1 null and GSTT1 null genotypes with cancer is further increased (for GSTM1: OR = 2.66; 95%CI = 2.19–3.24; for GSTT1: OR = 2.46; 95%CI = 1.83–3.32, respectively). Conclusions: These findings indicate that GSTM1 and GSTT1 polymorphisms may play critical roles in the development of cancer, especially in smokers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Background: The major cytoskeletal protein of most cells is actin, which polymerizes to form actin filaments (F-actin). Each actin monomer (G-actin) contains a divalent alkaline earth metal ion (in vivo Mg2+; in vitro usually Ca2+) as a cofactor that is crucial for protein polymerization. Prior to this study, however, whether or not other types of metal ions can play the same role as Mg2+ or Ca2+ in actins remains unknown. Methods: A new actin from the gills of oyster (AGO) was prepared and characterized by protein purification techniques, SDS- and native-PAGE, and LC–MS\MS for the first time. The property of this protein was studied by CD, fluorescence and UV/vis spectroscopy, laser light scattering, and TEM. Results: AGO is a monomer with a MW of ~42kDa. AGO is unique among all known actins in that Zn2+ is only a naturally binding metal in the protein, and that one native AGO molecule binds 8 zinc ions, which can be removed by EDTA treatment at pH7.2. The presence of zinc has a great effect on the secondary and tertiary structure of the protein. Correlated with such effect is that these zinc ions in native AGO facilitate protein polymerization, whereas removal of zinc ions from native AGO results in a loss of such polymerization property. Conclusions: The present work demonstrates that AGO is a novel zinc-binding protein with high capacity, and high selectivity. General significance: This work extends an understanding of the function of zinc and actin. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background: The early death and health problems of calves caused substantial economic losses in the dairy industry. As the immune system of neonates has not been fully developed, the absorption of maternal immunoglobulin (Ig) from colostrum is essential in protecting newborn calves against common disease organisms in their early life. The overwhelming majority of Ig in bovine whey is transported from the serum. Therefore, Ig concentration in the colostrum and serum of dairy cows are critical traits when estimating the potential disease resistance of its offspring. Results: Colostrum, blood, and hair follicle samples were collected from 588 Chinese Holstein cows within 24 h after calving. The concentration of total IgG, IgG1, IgG2, IgA and IgM in both colostrum and serum were detected via ELISA methods. With GCTA software, genome-wide association studies (GWASs) were performed with 91,620 SNPs genotyped by GeneSeek 150 K (140,668 SNPs) chips. As a result, 1, 5, 1 and 29 significant SNPs were detected associated with the concentrations of colostrum IgG1, IgG2, IgA IgM, and serum IgG2 at the genome-wide level (P < 3.08E–6); 11, 2, 13, 2, 12, 8, 2, 27, 1 and 4 SNPs were found significantly associated with total IgG, IgG1, IgG2, IgA and IgM in colostrum and serum at the suggestive level (P < 6.15E–5). Such SNPs located in or proximate to (±1 Mb) 423 genes, which were functionally implicated in biological processes and pathways, such as immune response, B cell activation, inflammatory response and NF-kappaB signaling pathways. By combining the biological functions and the known QTL data for immune traits in bovine, 14 promising candidate functional genes were identified for immunoglobulin concentrations in colostrum and serum in dairy cattle, they were FGFR4, FGFR2, NCF1, IKBKG, SORBS3, IGHV1S18, KIT, PTGS2, BAX, GRB2, TAOK1, ICAM1, TGFB1 and RAC3. Conclusions: In this study, we identified 14 candidate genes related to concentrations of immunoglobulins in colostrum and serum in dairy cattle by performing GWASs. Our findings provide a groundwork for unraveling the key genes and causal mutations affecting immunoglobulin concentrations in colostrum and important information for genetic improvement of such traits in dairy cattle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The abnormally expressed long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) exert an important part in the occurrence and development of cardiovascular disease, however, their roles in atherosclerosis (AS) remains unknown. This work focused on investigating the role of HAND2 Antisense RNA 1 (HAND2-AS1) and the related mechanism. As a result, SIRT1 and HAND2-AS1 expression significantly decreased in plasma from patients with atherosclerotic plaques and macrophages originating from THP-1 induced by ox-LDL. Lentivirus mediated HAND2-AS1 overexpression markedly inhibited lipid absorption and deposition within foam cells originating from THP-1 macrophages. HAND2-AS1 endogenously sponged miR-128 and suppressed its activity via sequence complementation. Furthermore, HAND2-AS1 enhanced the expression of SIRT1 via binding to miR-128, thereby promoting ABCA1/G1 expression. Altogether, HAND2-AS1 targeting miR-1208/SIRT1 axis alleviates the formation of foam cells within AS. Besides, HAND2-AS1 may be used to be the possible anti-AS therapeutic target. • This work focused on investigating the role of HAND2 antisense RNA (HAND2-AS1) and the related mechanism. • HAND2-AS1 targeting miR-1208/SIRT1 axis alleviates the formation of foam cells within AS. • HAND2-AS1 has important effects on suppressing AS development and reveals the new SIRT1 regulatory mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Using density functional theory we have investigated the feasibility of bare and Ni decorated Al12N12 cages for hydrogen storage. In the bare Al12N12 cage, each Al atom is capable of adsorption one H2 in molecular form with the average adsorption energy of −0.165 eV. In addition, it is shown that hydrogen prefers to remain inside the Al12N12 cage with molecular form. In the Ni decorated Al12N12 cage, the most stable site for Ni atom is the bridge site over the Al–N bond shared by the six-membered rings (BH site) out of the cage. Ni atom of the NiAl12N12 cage has been found to adsorb up to three hydrogen molecules. It is demonstrated that up to 20 hydrogen molecules can be stored on the exterior surface and inside of the NiAl12N12 cage with total gravimetric density of 6.8 wt%. As the weight percentage hydrogen storage is increasing to 6.5 wt%, the minimum value of the Gibbs free energy becomes positive at 25 K. It indicates that high weight percentage hydrogen storage cannot be achieved in NiAl12N12 cages. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Human cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) mediates the net transfer of cholesteryl ester mass from atheroprotective high-density lipoproteins to atherogenic low-density lipoproteins by an unknown mechanism. Delineating this mechanism would be an important step toward the rational design of new CETP inhibitors for treating cardiovascular diseases. Using EM, single-particle image processing and molecular dynamics simulation, we discovered that CETP bridges a ternary complex with its N-terminal ?-barrel domain penetrating into high-density lipoproteins and its C-terminal domain interacting with low-density lipoprotein or very-low-density lipoprotein. In our mechanistic model, the CETP lipoprotein-interacting regions, which are highly mobile, form pores that connect to a hydrophobic central cavity, thereby forming a tunnel for transfer of neutral lipids from donor to acceptor lipoproteins. These new insights into CETP transfer provide a molecular basis for analyzing mechanisms for CETP inhibition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: We studied the specific heat of graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) using an extended force constant model. We found that at low temperature, the specific heat decreases, and its variation with temperature increases with increasing GNR width. However, the specific heat increases with increasing GNR width after crossing a chaotic region. Free boundary conditions, –CHOH-terminated and armchair-edge-induced phonon nondegeneracy, shift and distortion and localized vibrational modes significantly influence GNR specific heat compared with periodic boundary conditions and bare and zigzag edges in GNRs. Finally, we found a uniform expression for specific heat vs. width at every temperature except for the chaotic region. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The effect of optical phonons scattering on electronic current has been studied in metallic carbon nanotubes. The current has been calculated self-consistently by total voltage equation and the heat transport equation. The total voltage equation consists of three terms, optical phonons collision term, acoustic phonon scattering term, and contact resistance one. Including LO, , and phonons in collision term, we can reproduce the experimental curves displaying negative differential conductance. Furthermore, one conclusion is made that the more optical phonons are scattered by electron, the lower current is in metallic carbon nanotubes. By comparing the current under different conditions, we can make another conclusion that there should be nonequilibrium optical phonons under high bias in spite of whether the metallic nanotube is suspended or not. This result agrees well with the others [M. Lazzeri, F. Mauri, Phys. Rev. B 73 (2006) 165419]. Based on these results, we do not only explain the experiment, but also propose to design a heat-controlling electronic transistor with metallic carbon nanotubes as its channel, in which the electronic current can be controlled by optical phonons. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background: Characterization of the molecular mechanisms underlying hair follicle development is of paramount importance in the genetic improvement of wool-related traits in sheep and skin-related traits in humans. The Merino is the most important breed of fine-wooled sheep in the world. In this study, we systematically investigated the complexity of sheep hair follicle development by integrating transcriptome and methylome datasets from Merino sheep skin. Results: We analysed 72 sequence datasets, including DNA methylome and the whole transcriptome of four gene types, i.e. protein-coding genes (PCGs), lncRNAs, circRNAs, and miRNAs, across four embryonic days (E65, E85, E105, and E135) and two postnatal days (P7 and P30) from the skin tissue of 18 Merino sheep. We revealed distinct expression profiles of these four gene types across six hair follicle developmental stages, and demonstrated their complex interactions with DNA methylation. PCGs with stage-specific expression or regulated by stage-specific lncRNAs, circRNAs, and miRNAs were significantly enriched in epithelial differentiation and hair follicle morphogenesis. Regulatory network and gene co-expression analyses identified key transcripts controlling hair follicle development. We further predicted transcriptional factors (e.g. KLF4, LEF1, HOXC13, RBPJ, VDR, RARA, and STAT3) with stage-specific involvement in hair follicle morphogenesis. Through integrating these stage-specific genomic features with results from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of five wool-related traits in 7135 Merino sheep, we detected developmental stages and genes that were relevant with wool-related traits in sheep. For instance, genes that were specifically upregulated at E105 were significantly associated with most of wool-related traits. A phenome-wide association study (PheWAS) demonstrated that candidate genes of wool-related traits (e.g. SPHK1, GHR, PPP1R27, CSRP2, EEF1A2, and PTPN1) in sheep were also significantly associated with dermatological, metabolic, and immune traits in humans. Conclusions: Our study provides novel insights into the molecular basis of hair follicle morphogenesis and will serve as a foundation to improve breeding for wool traits in sheep. It also indicates the importance of studying gene expression in the normal development of organs in understanding the genetic architecture of economically important traits in livestock. The datasets generated here are useful resources for functionally annotating the sheep genome, and for elucidating early skin development in mammals, including humans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Worldwide use of elite sires has caused inbreeding accumulation and high frequencies of genetic defects in dairy cattle populations. In recent years, several genetic defect genes or haplotypes have been identified in Holstein cattle. A rapid and reliable microfluidic chip with Kompetitive allele‐specific PCR (KASP) assay was developed in our previous study for the detection of heterozygotes at eight genetic defect loci of bovine leukocyte adhesion deficiency (BLAD), Brachyspina syndrome (BS), complex vertebral malformation (CVM), Holstein haplotype 1 (HH1), Holstein haplotype 3 (HH3), Holstein haplotype 4 (HH4), Holstein haplotype 5 (HH5) and haplotype for cholesterol deficiency (HCD). This study aimed to extend that assay to include a newly identified genetic defect of Holstein haplotype 6 (HH6) and to estimate the frequencies of carriers for each of the nine genetic defects in six Chinese Holstein herds. Of the 1633 cows, carrier frequencies of the genetic defects were 6.92%, 5.76%, 4.46%, 4.30%, 3.62%, 2.94%, 1.86% and 0.37% for HH1, HH3, CVM, HH5, HCD, BS, HH6 and BLAD, respectively. No carrier was found for HH4. Notably, 27.43% of cows carried at least one genetic defect, while 2.27% and 0.12% of cows carried double and triple genetic defect alleles, respectively. The existence of genetic defects calls for routine molecular testing and effective management of genetic defects by avoiding carrier‐to‐carrier mating in production herds and eliminating or at least reducing the frequency of the defective alleles through marker‐assisted selection in breeding herds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mono‐elemental antimonene as a new member of the 2D material family has recently attracted huge attention, whereas the higher chemical activity and narrower interlayer gallery have impinged the quality of product upon exfoliation from the bulk counterpart. To overcome the intrinsic drawbacks, along with the line of the liquid‐phase exfoliation (LPE) method, here, a pressurized alloying approach introduces a Li3Sb alloy intermediate at the edge region of bulk β‐phase antimony by pre‐lithiation in the presence of n‐butyllithium and internal pressure is put forward. A protonation process converts the Li3Sb to gaseous stibine (SbH3) in a liquid solution, enabling an upward buoyancy together with the endothermic opening of the galleries that facilitate the subsequent LPE. As a result, the β‐phase antimony is efficiently exfoliated into antimonene nanosheets with perfect retention of basal plane texture (lateral size of ≈3 µm and thickness of less than 2 nm). Finally, the high‐quality antimonene being simply treated with HCl enables great Na+ diffusion along the basal plane to deliver excellent capacitive deionization performance with a salt adsorption capacity of 31.4 mg g–1 at an ultra‐low NaCl concentration (135 mg L–1). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Halide perovskites have been one of the most promising research hotspots in the optoelectronic field. Recently, the issue of ion migration has been proved to be of great significance to their long-term stability and performance of optoelectronic devices. However, the stability of perovskite Cs2SnX6 (X = I, Br, Cl) under the light or electric field conditions has not been explored. In this work, we reported halide ion migration in lead-free all‐inorganic perovskite Cs2SnX6. The calculated formation energy to some degree reveals the concentration of the halide vacancy, which provides the favorable conditions for halide ion migration. Importantly, the theoretical long-term ion migration barriers are investigated to be higher than 1.00 eV, indicating they are relatively stable compared to CsPbX3, and the computational result matches the experimental result with the Nernst−Einstein relation that we adopted. The halogen ion migration energy barrier is 0.91 eV under the bias of 5 V, indicating that the perovskite Cs2SnX6 is relatively stable under a certain electric field. Furthermore, the experimental comparison of XRD results demonstrate that perovskite Cs2SnX6 has no obvious ion migration under certain light conditions. Finally, the analysis results show the Sn–X bond strength that explains the cause of such high barriers. These results reveal the migration mechanism of halide ions and provide new impetus for their optoelectronic applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In‐situ and real‐time modulation of the optical properties of semiconductor nanoemitters by a CMOS‐compatible strategy holds great promise for developing functional and integrated optoelectronic devices. Herein, the reversible and giant (>13 times) enhancement of the photoluminescence (PL) from inorganic halide perovskite nanoplatelets by electrical bias is demonstrated for the first time. Based on the comprehensive spectroscopic analysis, the improved PL performance is attributed to the dynamic surface healing effect by bias‐induced ion redistribution. The switching from PL quenching to PL enhancement from CsPbBr3 nanoplatelet is manifested at threshold temperature of ≈190 K. Moreover, the temperature dependent measurements unravel the activation energy of 142.8 ± 31.1 meV, corroborating that the drifted species of anion (Br−) or VBr dominates the trap healing process. Accordingly, a three‐stage defect passivation model of the vertical configuration is established. The synergistic effects of ion redistribution and charge injection caused by thermal equilibrium energy band bending on the optical properties of the perovskite is further investigated by contacting the perovskite with indium tin oxide electrode. These results provide novel insight into the photophysical properties of halide perovskites and are beneficial for display and lighting applications in future, especially on‐chip integrated photonics circuits and systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Our previous genome-wide association study (GWAS) on milk fatty acid traits in Chinese Holstein cows revealed, the SNP, BTB-01556197, was significantly associated with C10:0 at genome-wide level (P = 0.0239). It was located in the down-stream of 5-hydroxytryptamine receptor 1B (HTR1B) gene that has been shown to play an important role in the regulation of fatty acid oxidation. Hence, we considered it as a promising candidate gene for milk fatty acids in dairy cattle. In this study, we aimed to investigate whether the HTR1B gene had significant genetic effects on milk fatty acid traits. Results: We re-sequenced the entire coding region and 3000 bp of 5′ and 3′ flanking regions of HTR1B gene. A total of 13 SNPs was identified, containing one in 5′ flanking region, two in 5′ untranslated region (UTR), two in exon 1, five in 3′ UTR, and three in 3′ flanking region. By performing genotype-phenotype association analysis with SAS9.2 software, we observed that 13 SNPs were significantly associated with medium-chain saturated fatty acids such as C6:0, C8:0 and C10:0 (P < 0.0001 ~ 0.042). With Haploview 4.1 software, linkage disequilibrium (LD) analysis was performed. Two haplotype blocks formed by two and ten SNPs were observed. Haplotype-based association analysis indicated that both haplotype blocks were strongly associated with C6:0, C8:0 and C10:0 as well (P < 0.0001 ~ 0.0071). With regards to the missense mutation in exon 1 (g.17303383G > T) that reduced amino acid change from alanine to serine, we predicted that it altered the secondary structure of HTR1B protein with SOPMA. In addition, we predicted that three SNPs in promoter region, g.17307103A > T, g.17305206 T > G and g.17303761C > T, altered the binding sites of transcription factors (TFs) HMX2, PAX2, FOXP1ES, MIZ1, CUX2, DREAM, and PPAR-RXR by Genomatix. Of them, luciferase assay experiment further confirmed that the allele T of g.17307103A > T significantly increased the transcriptional activity of HTR1B gene than allele A (P = 0.0007). Conclusions: In conclusion, our findings provided first evidence that the HTR1B gene had significant genetic effects on milk fatty acids in dairy cattle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Saccadic eye movement as a voluntary activity has become the basis of a promising approach for the implementation of human–computer interaction. Seeking blind source separation (BSS) model that can exactly describe eye movement generation and improve the quality of saccadic electrooculography (EOG) signals, we performed a comparative study between an instantaneous and a convolutional mixing model for multichannel EOG signals. Experiments involving seven subjects were carried out in a laboratory environment. The independent component analysis (ICA) method was adopted for BSS. The statistical indicators of the residual statistical dependence and the total square cross correlation for the convolutional model were 0.04 (second order)/0.08 (fourth order) and 1.25, respectively, which were lower than those of the instantaneous model by 0.3 (second order)/0.17 (fourth order) and 0.32, respectively. In addition, the average classification accuracies of the convolutional model were 95.76% (within subject) and 94.08% (between subject) in the case of upward, downward, left, and right saccade tasks, which were higher than those of the instantaneous model by 1.69% and 5.53%, respectively. Experiments revealed that the quality of the saccadic signals separated using the convolutional model was higher than that achieved using the instantaneous model. The outcomes of this research can serve as a valuable reference for multichannel EOG analysis and application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mammal's milk is an abundantly foremost source of proteins, lipids, and micronutrients for human nutrition and health. Understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying synthesis of milk components provides practical benefits to improve the milk quality via systematic breeding program in mammals. Through RNAi with EEF1D in primary bovine mammary epithelial cells, we phenotypically observed aberrant formation of cytoplasmic lipid droplets and significantly decreased milk triglyceride level by 37.7%, and exploited the mechanisms by which EEF1D regulated milk lipid synthesis via insulin (PI3K‐Akt), AMPK, and PPAR pathways. In the EEF1D CRISPR/Cas9 knockout mice, incompletely developed mammary glands at 9th day postpartum with small or unformed lumens, and significantly decreased triglyceride concentration in milk by 23.4% were observed, as well as the same gene expression alterations in the three pathways. For dairy cattle, we identified a critical regulatory mutation modifying EEF1D transcription activity, which interpreted 7% of the genetic variances of milk lipid yield and percentage. Our findings highlight the significance of EEF1D in mammary gland development and milk lipid synthesis in mammals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sintering of advanced thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) at high temperatures is key challenge as it can adversely affect service performance and thermal fatigue resistance of TBCs. In this study, sintering behavior of pyrochlore-type La 2 (Zr 0.7 Ce 0.3) 2 O 7 (LZ7C3) was investigated using experiments and molecular dynamics. Meanwhile, the corresponding dynamic process and behind mechanism were uncovered. Results showed that novel LZ7C3 exhibited significantly higher sintering resistance than host La 2 Zr 2 O 7 (LZ) and typical 8 wt% yttria-stabilized zirconia (8YSZ) at temperature up to 1773 K, which indicated that pyrochlore-type LZ7C3 is a promising TBC candidate to replace conventional 8YSZ at high temperatures. Further study also revealed that initial stage played crucial role in sintering process, and the sintering mainly occurred at grain boundary (GB) region. Intrinsic sintering activation energy of LZ7C3 GB (695.248 J mol−1) is larger than that of LZ GB (384.171 J mol−1) and 8YSZ GB (173.303 J mol−1), which resulted in outstanding sintering resistance for LZ7C3. Furthermore, no obvious enrichment of second phase was observed at the GB of LZ7C3. This study thus concluded that hindering the atomic diffusion of GB, as well as introducing foreign atom with larger mass and bond energy may act as effective strategy to enhance the sintering resistance of TBCs materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of interfaces in facilitating the growth of conventional 1D nanostructures is well established. Apparently, the presence of interfaces is also decisive in the growth of 2D transition metal dichalcogenides, but their role remains ambiguous. Here, we show that the molten Na–Nb–O liquid precursor would create microscale vapor–liquid and liquid–solid interfaces, which determine the nucleation and growth of large single-crystal monolayer 2D metallic NbS2 by vapor–liquid–solid (VLS) method. We discover that reaction and growth are separated at the vapor–liquid interface and the liquid–solid interface, respectively, due to the insolubility between S and the liquid precursor. The vapor–liquid interface reaction reduces the concentration of NbSx monomers in droplets, thus effectively controlling the nucleation density. The liquid–solid interface lowers the diffusion barrier of NbS2 monomers, which increases the growth rate. We establish a 2D diffusion model and calculate and conclude that the growth rate in VLS mode is approximately 8 times that in vapor–solid (VS) mode, which is consistent with our experimental results. This finding reveals that two interfaces are the determining factors that control the nucleation and growth of large NbS2 single crystals, which will likely contribute to the development of the wafer-scale growth of 2D materials for further device applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]