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Therapeutic efficacy of skeletal diseases is usually limited by unfavorable drug delivery due to incapable bone targeting and low bone affinity of conventional drug carriers, as well as relatively reduced vascularization and dense structure of bone tissues. Due to CXC chemokine receptor 4 (CXCR4)/CXC chemokine ligand 12 (CXCL12) signal axis-guided recruitment, osteoprogenitor cells (OPCs) can actively migrate to bone disease nidus. Here, drugs-loaded nanoliposomes are prepared and decorated onto OPCs by biotin–streptavidin linkage for precise bone disease targeting and effective drug delivery. In mouse models of tibia defect and orthotopic osteosarcoma, superior targeting property of OPCs-based drug delivery systems toward diseased bone niduses is verified. By encapsulating antitumor and antiosteoporosis drugs into nanoliposomes, OPCs-based drug delivery systems effectively inhibit disease development and restore bone destruction in mouse models of orthotopic osteosarcoma and ovariectomized osteoporosis. This study reveals a cell-based drug delivery system for precise bone disease targeting and highly effective drug delivery, which will find great potential as a universal drug delivery platform for targeting treatment of various bone diseases.

The neuromorphic vision system that utilizes spikes as information carriers is crucial for the formation of spiking neural networks. Here, we present a bioinspired flexible artificial spiking photoreceptor (ASP), which is realized by using a single VO2Mott memristor that can simultaneously sense and encode the stimulus light into spikes. The ASP has high spike-encoded photosensitivity and ultrawide photosensing range (405–808 nm) with good endurance (>7 × 107) and high flexibility (bending radius ∼5 mm). Then, we put forward an all-spike electronic retina architecture that comprises one layer of ASPs and one layer of artificial optical nerves (AONs) to process the spike information. Each AON consists of a single Mott memristor connected in series with a neuro-transistor that is a multiple-input floating-gate MOS transistor. Simulation results demonstrate that the all-spike electronic retina can successfully segment images with high Shannon entropy, thus laying the foundation for the development of a spike-based neuromorphic vision system.

Text-based video retrieval is a crucial technology for video and multimodal applications. Although in traditional Text-Video Retrieval caption-video pairs are supposed to be entirely relevant, there is still information missing in text when compared to the video content. In a specific application scenario of Text-Video Retrieval, where the given caption corresponds to only a segment of the target video, the challenge of aligning two modalities becomes particularly difficult. To address this issue, we introduce context information as an auxiliary to enrich text representation and enhance alignment. In this work, we propose an effective Linguistic Hallucination framework, which incorporates context captions during training and replaces them with hallucinated textual representations predicted from the source sentence at inference. Specific hallucination loss and consistency loss are designed to supervise the learning process. Besides, Curriculum Learning is introduced at both data-level and model-level, which makes the training procedure more stable and improves the retrieval performance simultaneously. Extensive comparison experiments and ablation studies on benchmark datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of our framework. Moreover, we also apply our proposed method to other cross-modal tasks and the promising experimental results prove its generalization ability. Our codes and datasets are available in https://github.com/silenceFS/Linguistic-Hallucination.

Understanding the transport of 137Cs emitted during the Fukushima accident is challenging because the critical emissions that produced the high-deposition area are not adequately resolved in existing source terms. This paper presents an objective inverse reconstruction of these emissions by fusing atmospheric concentrations with a-priori emissions extracted from total depositions. This extraction, previously considered impossible for complex real-world accidents, is achieved by identifying the critical temporal formation process of depositions in the high-deposition area and estimating the corresponding emissions by using an atmospheric transport model. The reconstructed source term reveals two emission peaks from 10:00–11:00 and 14:00–15:00 on March 15, which agree with the in situ pressure measurements and accident analysis, suggesting that they came from pressure drops in the primary containment vessels of Units 3 and 2, respectively. This finding explains the environmental observations of spherical 137Cs particles. The source term also objectively and independently confirms the widely used reverse estimate. The corresponding 137Cs transport simulations better match the various observations than those produced by other source terms, proving that the two-peak emission creates a high-deposition area. The proposed method outperforms the direct fusion of deposition and atmospheric concentration observations, providing a robust tool for multiobservation fusion.

This paper proposes a digital twin (DT) modeling method for the lifecycle state evaluation of cable-stayed bridges, which cover a large time scale and simultaneously involve macroscopic and microcosmic exploration. First, the DT model at the design stage corresponds to the computer-aided design (CAD) model and then evolves to the computer-aided engineering (CAE) model during the construction stage. After that, the DT model for the operational stage starts from the completion model of the bridge and keeps evolving with the bridge physical entity in the long-term service. An information interaction media is used for the information interchange between the DT model and the bridge physical entity. And a fidelity index gives the quantitative estimation of similarity between the DT model and the bridge physical entity. Finally, the proposed method has been verified against a cable-stayed bridge model, whose DT model could reflect the actual state evolution of the physical entity.

In this study, the microstructural evolution and mechanical properties of a series of FeCrNiCuTix(x = 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, and 1, in mole ratio) high entropy alloys (HEAs) were analyzed in detail to study the influence of Ti content on the HEAs. The microstructures of the alloys transformed from single-phase face-centered cubic (FCC) phase structure to FCC and body-centered cubic (BCC) diphase, finally to FCC, BCC and intermetallic compound (Fe2Ti) phase with the increase of Ti content. The addition of Ti element significantly refined the grain of the alloys. The hardness, strength and tribology tests of the alloys were also carried out. The results indicated that the Vickers hardness, yield strength, and fracture strength increased first and then decreased, the average friction coefficient variation law was just the opposite, and the plastic strain reduced monotonically, with the increase of x values for the alloys. At x = 0.4, the maximum yield strength and fracture strength of the alloy were 1646.89 MPa and 1947.09 MPa, respectively, and the average friction coefficient was a minimum of 0.47, with a hardness value of HV 489.68 and a plastic strain of 13.98%. The maximum hardness value of the alloy was HV 656.19 at x = 0.8. The fracture mechanism of the alloys was from ductile fracture to brittle fracture and the wear mechanism was form of abrasive wear. Accordingly, the FeCrNiCuTi0.4alloy obtained the optimal mechanical properties overall. This research is of great significance for the development of engineering and structural materials with excellent mechanical properties.

Recently, semantic change detection (SCD) has gained growing attention from the remote-sensing (RS) research community due to its critical role in Earth observation applications. Typical approaches tackle the task using a multitask network, comprising one change detection (CD) subtask and two semantic segmentation (SS) subtasks. Although these approaches have achieved good performance, one crucial question persists: What is the effective way to handle the feature interactions across SCD subtasks? To address this issue, this article first offers an overview of existing SCD networks and compares them from a perspective view of multitask learning (MTL). Following that, we select an architecture combining a two-branch encoder and a three-branch decoder as the baseline due to its compatibility with MTL. Then, one simple, yet very effective module, decoder feature interaction across subtasks (DFITs), is introduced. DFIT seeks to enhance the CD decoding feature by leveraging the feature differences between two SS decoding branches on a layer-wise basis. Additionally, the feature aggregation module (FAM) is designed further to enhance network performance in cooperation with DFIT. FAM aims to produce more representative shared information across the SS and CD subtasks by merging the outputs from the final three encoder layers. Combining DFIT and FAM, the proposed network exploiting decoder-focused MTL (DEFO-MTLSCD) presents more representative information by capitalizing on both CD and SS losses backpropagations across all coding paths and achieves better performance. Experimental results reveal that our method outperforms state-of-the-art (SOTA) performances relative to previous SCD efforts. Our source code is released at https://github.com/byyztgxz/Decoder_Fusion.

Hyperspectral image (HSI) inpainting is a fundamental task in remote sensing image processing, which is helpful for subsequent applications such as classification and unmixing. Recently, tensor-train decomposition (TTD)-based low-rank methods have achieved great success in image inpainting because of the balanced tensor unfolding and the use of tensor augmentation (TA). However, the TTD algorithm only performs TA on the third mode, and cannot effectively mine the spectral domain information of HSIs. Aiming at this problem, this article extends TA to each mode of the tensor and proposes a full-mode-augmentation TT decomposition (FTTD). More precisely, the HSI is cast along each mode to get a 3-D $N$ th-order tensor sequence, and all the tensors in the sequence are performed TTD to get $3N$ factor tensors that model the correlation on various modes. Then, the full-mode-augmentation tensor unfolding method is given by performing TT unfolding on each $N$ th-order tensor. We implement FTTD by minimizing the rank of the unfolding matrix and thus provide the tensor completion framework based on full-mode-augmentation tensor-train rank minimization. Finally, using the framework, we optimize the current two classical iterative algorithms nuclear norm minimization and parallel matrix decomposition. These two algorithms utilize the unfolding matrices in the framework to effectively mine spatial and spectral information, thereby making the restored tensor more approximate to the original HSI. Experiments on various HSIs have shown that the proposed method outperforms compared methods in terms of visual and quantitative measures.

Early control of elevated blood pressure is the most promising treatment for acute intracerebral haemorrhage. We aimed to establish whether implementing a goal-directed care bundle incorporating protocols for early intensive blood pressure lowering and management algorithms for hyperglycaemia, pyrexia, and abnormal anticoagulation, implemented in a hospital setting, could improve outcomes for patients with acute spontaneous intracerebral haemorrhage.

Chronic inflammation and hypoxia in the microenvironment of diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) can result in sustained vascular impairment, hindering tissue regeneration. While both nitric oxide and oxygen have been shown to promote wound healing in DFUs through anti-inflammatory and neovascularization, there is currently no available therapy that delivers both. We present a novel hydrogel consisting of Weissellaand Chlorella, which alternates between nitric oxide and oxygen production to reduce chronic inflammation and hypoxia. Further experiments indicate that the hydrogel accelerates wound closure, re-epithelialization, and angiogenesis in diabetic mice and improves the survival of skin grafts. This dual-gas therapy holds promise as a potential treatment option for the management of diabetic wounds.

This study expanded the definition of reading practices to include both print- and Internet-based reading, and examined the relationship of reading profiles to Taiwanese college students' performance on various practices. [...]

Change detection is an important tool for long-term Earth observation missions. It takes bi-temporal images as input and predicts “where” the change has occurred. Different from other dense prediction tasks, a meaningful consideration for change detection is the interaction between bi-temporal features. With this motivation, in this article we propose a novel general change detection architecture, MetaChanger, which includes a series of alternative interaction layers in the feature extractor. To verify the effectiveness of MetaChanger, we propose two derived models, ChangerAD and ChangerEx with simple interaction strategies: aggregation-distribution (AD) and feature “exchange.” AD is abstracted from some complex interaction methods, and feature “exchange” is a completely parameter and computation-free operation by exchanging bi-temporal features. In addition, for better alignment of bi-temporal features, we propose a flow-based dual-alignment fusion (FDAF) module which allows interactive alignment and feature fusion. Crucially, we observe Changer series models achieve competitive performance on different scale change detection datasets. Further, our proposed ChangerAD and ChangerEx could serve as a starting baseline for future MetaChanger design. Code and weights are made available at https://github.com/likyoo/open-cd.

Adipophilin (ADRP/ADPH/PLIN2), an adipocyte differentiation-related protein, is highly expressed at a very early time during the differentiation of adipocytes. It assists in the formation and maintenance of intracellular lipid droplets and plays a role in regulating the physiological functions of the body. More and more studies indicate that it is involved in the occurrence and development of a variety of glycolipid metabolic diseases and tumours. In this review, we comprehensively stated the expression and functions of adipophilin and introduced its roles in physiology and pathology.

Byline: Sheng-Quan. Fang, Min. Gao, Shi-Lu. Xiong, Hai-Yan. Chen, Shan-Shan. Hu, Hong-Bing. Cai Objective: The objective of this study is to investigate the optimal gene and functional-related gene set in [...]

Abstract As a direct and indirect consequence of human activities, only two subspecies, Cervus nippon sinchuanicus and Cervus nippon kopschi, currently subsist in the wild of China. However, a large [...]

AimsClear cells formed due to depositions of glycogen or lipids in the cytoplasm commonly occur in various tissues. Adipophilin (ADP), a lipid regulatory protein, is closely related to lipid droplets. This study aims to examine adipophilin expression in clear cells of various skin lesions.MethodsADP expression was examined using immunohistochemistry in 108 sections from 15 skin lesion types with clear cell histology, namely, sebaceoma (n=16), sebaceous adenoma (n=3), sebaceous carcinoma (n=12), xanthomata cutis (n=10), xanthogranuloma (n=8), Paget’s disease (n=10), Bowen disease (n=10), hidradenoma (n=9), atypical lipoma (n=5), superficial lipomatous nevus (n=5), metastatic renal cell carcinoma (n=5), squamous cell carcinoma (n=4), seborrheic keratosis (n=4), dermatofibroma (n=4) and clear cell sarcoma (n=3).ResultsADP was not expressed in Bowen disease, hidradenoma or seborrheic keratosis. Four expression patterns, foamy, reticular, granular and punctate, were summarised based on their expression in clear cells. Different expression patterns were related to tissue origin and differentiation degree. Foamy expression was commonly observed in lesions with mature sebaceous glands and xanthomas; reticular expression in adipocytes; granular expression in xanthoma, xanthogranuloma and metastatic renal carcinoma and punctate expression in sebaceoma, sebaceous carcinoma, Paget’s disease, squamous cell carcinoma and clear cell sarcoma. Furthermore, stronger staining with focal vesicular labelling was noted in sebaceoma than in sebaceous carcinoma. Characteristic labelling was noted, including the circular distribution in Touton giant cells of xanthogranulomas and focal distribution in the clear cells along the edge of necrotic tissue in clear cell sarcoma.ConclusionsADP is useful in identifying intracytoplasmic lipids and can be used to diagnose skin lesions with clear cell histology, especially in some lesions with characteristic labelling.

Surface modification and wetting state transformation of ZnO based nanomaterials have been extensively investigated due to their substantial roles in current industrial applications. In this work, we demonstrated the formation of highly crystalline and ordered Bi/ZnO nanorods arrays (Bi/ZNRs) grown on FTO substrate via a feasible hydrothermal method, as a function of reaction time (t). The lateral diameter of the nanostructures were found increased from 23 nm to 43 nm when the reaction time increased from 30 min to 90 min. An in-depth analysis and incisive mechanism of crystal growth under the function of reaction time were proposed. The crystal defect which originated from different Bi incorporation pathways has been declared as the main factor altering the optical energy, electrical properties and band structure of Bi/ZNRs. The Bi/ZNRs showed a higher localize current of 14.5 pA as compared to pristine ZNRs under an 6V applied bias condition, revealing the nature of Bi as a pentavalent dopant that contributed to a density of free electron. Additionally, the Bi/ZNRs also revealed a red shifted in optical energy band gap and exhibit a wetting transition from hydrophobic to hydrophilic textured surface. The novel nanostructures reported herein exhibit interesting physical and optical properties for the fabrication of high performance optoelectronic devices.

Two new meroterpenoids, aspermeroterpenes D and E (1and 2), two new ophiobolin-type sesterterpenoids, the C-18 epimers of 18,19-dihydro-18-methoxy-19-hydroxyophiobolin P (6and 7), and two new drimane-type sesquiterpenoids, 3S-hydroxystrobilactone A (8) and 6-epi-strobilactone A (9), along with 11 known terpenoids (3–5and 10–17) were isolated from the cultures of the algicolous fungus Aspergillussp. RR-YLW-12, derived from the red alga Rhodomela confervoides. The structures and relative configurations of new compounds were established by detailed spectroscopic analysis of NMR and HRMS experiments, and the absolute configurations were assigned by X-ray diffraction experiments and comparison of their experimental and calculated ECD spectra. Compound 1features a rare 6/6/6/6/5 pentacyclic system with a meroterpenoid skeleton, and the structure of terretonin E (3) was revised in this study. Compound 4showed significant inhibitory activities against three microalgae, Prorocentrum donghaiense, Heterosigma akashiwo, and Chattonella marina, with IC50values of 10.5, 5.2, and 3.1 μg/mL, respectively.

The High Altitude Detection of Astronomical Radiation (HADAR) experiment, which was constructed in Tibet, China, combines the wide-angle advantages of traditional EAS array detectors with the high-sensitivity advantages of focused Cherenkov detectors. Its objective is to observe transient sources such as gamma-ray bursts and the counterparts of gravitational waves. This study aims to utilize the latest AI technology to enhance the sensitivity of HADAR experiments. Training datasets and models with distinctive creativity were constructed by incorporating the relevant physical theories for various applications. These models can determine the type, energy, and direction of the incident particles after careful design. We obtained a background identification accuracy of 98.6%, a relative energy reconstruction error of 10.0%, and an angular resolution of 0.22∘in a test dataset at 10 TeV. These findings demonstrate the significant potential for enhancing the precision and dependability of detector data analysis in astrophysical research. By using deep learning techniques, the HADAR experiment’s observational sensitivity to the Crab Nebula has surpassed that of MAGIC and H.E.S.S. at energies below 0.5 TeV and remains competitive with conventional narrow-field Cherenkov telescopes at higher energies. In addition, our experiment offers a new approach for dealing with strongly connected, scattered data.

Purine nucleobases are the elementary building blocks of life. In addition to the traditional adenine (A) and guanine (G), only very recently N6-methyladenine (N6-mA) was found as the third purine nucleobase for the construction of eukaryotic organism DNA, and its detection is thus an essential aspect for research in genetic engineering, molecular biology, and life evolution. We show here a manganese metal-organic framework (Mn-MOF) with Mn-centered paddle-wheel secondary building units and a semiconductor feature, which is used as the first MOF material to recognize all three known purine nucleobases, including N6-mA, via host-guest interactions with promising sensibility, selectivity, stability, and reusability and excellent capacity of anti-interference. Theoretical calculations and synchrotron techniques were successfully used to investigate the host-guest structures and interactions and the discrimination process. Our work supplies a new strategy for simultaneous and quantitative nucleobase discrimination and should contribute to the design of new functional MOFs and broaden the applications of MOF materials.

A damage assessment problem can be stated as a constraint satisfaction problem utilizing the translational and rotational displacements of a structure as measurements. By this means, usual numerical models are no longer required for a damage assessment, which considerably simplifies the solution process. In order to avoid the use of rotational displacements that are difficult to measure in practice, an improved analytical redundancy reduction method has been developed in which rotational displacements are replaced by translational ones. Moreover, some constraint equation positions in the decomposition of a static equilibrium matrix are exchanged according to their association with pre-assumed damaged elements. Then damage is located according to the changes in the relevant constraints of specific elements or substructures. Besides, the deviation increments of improved analytical redundancy reduction can embody the stiffness changes of the damaged elements. The proposed improved analytical redundancy reduction method was validated using both numerical and experimental steel box beams under static loads. The damage assessment results demonstrate the superiority of the improved analytical redundancy reduction method over the constraint satisfaction problem and analytical redundancy reduction methods.

Noble metal nanostructures have been widely explored as an effective method to increase photon absorption and charge separation in plasmonic photocatalysis. In this study, we integrated two different noble metals, gold (Au) and silver (Ag), into Au/Ag bimetallic nanoparticles (BNPs) via solid-state thermal dewetting to investigate the room-temperature electrical conductivity, visible light absorption, and its effect on photoelectrochemical (PEC) activity. The Au/Ag BNPs give rise to extended visible light absorption range, exhibiting localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) effect that lead to strong surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy shows binding energy shift in Au/Ag BNPs, suggesting electron transfer from Ag to Au where charge transport behavior can be tailored. Kelvin probe force microscopy and conductive atomic force microscopy displayed a significantly enhanced electrical conduction in Au/Ag BNPs due to the lowered Schottky barrier height. When the Au/Ag BNPs are incorporated onto ZnO semiconductor photoanode, the photoactivity was improved with lower charge transport resistance compared to monometallic and pristine ZnO. This work delivers a general approach to understand the plasmon-induced charge interaction, hence the photochemistry of noble metal BNP/semiconductor photoanode by incorporating a controllable composition ratio, which is capable of exploiting the enhanced electrical conduction and LSPR effect for PEC water splitting.

Cadmium-containing wastewater draws worldwide attention due to its toxicity. In this work, a high-efficiency and eco-friendly MnO2-coated amorphous carbon (AG@MnO2) adsorbent for cadmium (Cd(II)) removal is synthesized using waste graphite anodes from spent lithium-ion batteries. Intensive mechanical energy is introduced to activate waste graphite through increasing the surface area by more than 25 times and the number of surface functional groups and defects. It qualifies AG@MnO2for superior adsorption capability for heavy-metal ions after in situ loading of MnO2. High-energy ball milling preparation takes 6 h at the speed of 600 rpm, which increases the adsorption capacity from 4.88 to 135.81 mg/g. The removal of Cd(II) by AG@MnO2is mainly by electrostatic attraction. This study provides a promising method to synthesize effective, low-cost, and eco-friendly adsorbents for Cd(II) removal by utilizing spent anodes. Furthermore, AG@MnO2adsorbent can be further applied to remove other heavy-metal ions in wastewater.

Silicon nanowires are a kind of promising negative electrode material for lithium-ion batteries. However, the existing production technologies can hardly meet the demands of silicon nanowires in quality and production ability. In this paper, silicon nanowires are successfully prepared by molten salt electrolysis in a pilot-plant. The pilot-plant was successfully operated for 14 months with a current efficiency of 80.3% and an electrolysis energy consumption of 12.8 kW h/kg-Si. The obtained silicon nanowires as a negative electrode material show a specific discharge capacity of 3095 mA h/g and a coulombic efficiency of 89.7% in the first charge–discharge cycle at a rate of 0.1 C in coin-type cell tests and a capacity retention of 83.4% after 250 cycles at a rate of 1 C in pouch cell tests when mixed with graphite.

Silicon nanowires of high purity and regular morphology are of prime importance to ensure high specific capacities of lithium-ion batteries and reproducible electrode assembly process. Using nickel formate as a metal catalyst precursor, straight silicon nanowires (65–150 nm in diameter) were directly prepared by electrolysis from the Ni/SiO2porous pellets with 0.8 wt% nickel content in molten CaCl2at 900 °C. Benefiting from their straight appearance and high purity, the silicon nanowires therefore offered an initial coulombic efficiency of 90.53% and specific capacity of 3377 mAh/g. In addition, the silicon nanowire/carbon composite exhibited excellent cycle performance, retaining 90.38% of the initial capacity after 100 cycles. Whilst further study on the charge storage performance is still ongoing, these preliminary results demonstrate that nickel formate is an efficient and effective metal catalyst precursor for catalytic preparation of high purity straight silicon nanowires via the molten salt electrolysis, which is suitable for large-scale production.

A scalable and unified strategy is described for the synthesis of (−)-quinocarcin, an important tetrahydroisoquinoline antitumor alkaloid. The strategy allows the practical formal synthesis of (−)-quinocarcin in 13 steps and 4.8% overall yield using N-phthaloyl-l-alanine as a chiral pool. It features the gram-scale and stereoselective synthesis of the tetrahydroisoquinoline moiety (AB ring) via Pd-catalyzed C(sp3)–H arylation and Pictet–Spengler condensation and a Cu(I)-catalyzed exo-selective [C + NC + CC] coupling reaction to generate the chiral pyrrolidine motif (D ring).

The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) has several important roles in kin recognition, pathogen resistance and mate selection. Research in fish, birds and mammals has suggested that individuals optimise MHC diversity, and therefore offspring fitness, when choosing mates. In reptiles, however, it is unclear whether female mate choice is based on genome-wide genetic characteristics such as microsatellite DNA loci, particular functional-trait loci (e.g., MHC) or both, and MHC's effects on mate choice remain relatively understudied. Herein, we used 13 microsatellite loci and two MHC class I loci to investigate female mate choice of Chinese alligators (Alligator sinensis) in the semi-natural condition. We also determined correlations between the MHC genotype of breeding males and male reproductive success. We found that MHC-heterozygous males harbour a greater reproductive success, which probably is the reason that these males are more preferred by the females than MHC-homozygous males. Furthermore, the MHC class I amino-acid distance and functional distance of true mating pairs were higher compared with those of randomly sampled pairs. Analysis of microsatellites revealed that, despite mate choice, females did not completely avoid inbreeding. These findings are the first evidence of MHC-associated mate choice in Chinese alligators, suggesting that females may adopt different mating strategies after assessing the MHC characteristics of potential mates.

The reaction mechanism of palladium(0)-catalyzed reaction of aryl iodides, norbornene, and di-tert-butyldiaziridinone has been studied theoretically. Two reaction mechanisms were calculated. The reaction mechanism involving Cs2CO3combination first followed by alkene insertion is calculated to be preferred to the one in which alkene insertion occurs first followed by Cs2CO3combination. The calculations suggest that the reaction proceeds via C–I bond oxidative addition, CsI·CsCO3cluster anion formation, alkene insertion, C–H bond activation, N–N bond oxidative addition, and two successive C(sp2)–N bond-forming, and C(sp3)–N bond-forming reductive elimination steps. The N–N bond oxidative addition involves the rate-determining transition state with a free energy barrier of 29.4 kcal/mol. The role of base Cs2CO3played during CsI·CsCO3cluster anion formation and N–N bond oxidative addition process has been discussed according to the formation of relatively strong Pd–O bond. The role of base K2CO3has been calculated and compared with Cs2CO3.

Several studies have reported the accuracy of transient elastography (TE), a noninvasive, reproducible, and reliable method for predicting liver fibrosis. This study evaluated the predictive factors associated with significant liver fibrosis assessed through TE. This study enrolled 1799 consecutive patients who underwent TE at Taipei Medical University Hospital between February 2014 and June 2015, including 810 patients with normal serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels (<40 U/L). We evaluated the risk factors for significant liver fibrosis (liver stiffness measurement [LSM] > 7 kPa) assessed through TE and compared the results with those of the aspartate aminotransferase (AST)/platelet ratio index (APRI), a validated serum marker of liver fibrosis, in 672 patients with detailed laboratory data. Significant liver fibrosis was defined as an APRI score of >0.7. Significant liver fibrosis was detected through TE in 103 (12.7%) of 810 patients with normal serum ALT levels and in 91 (19.4%), 17 (18.7%), and 13 (5.8%) patients with chronic hepatitis B, chronic hepatitis C, and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, respectively. Univariate analysis of patients with detailed biochemical test data showed that compared with without significant fibrosis, patients with significant fibrosis in the LSM > 7 kPa group were older; had higher body mass index (BMI) values; had higher fasting glucose, ALT, AST, total bilirubin, gamma‐glutamyltransferase, and ferritin levels; had higher APRI and fibrosis index based on four factors scores; had lower serum albumin levels and platelet counts; and higher rates of hypertension, diabetes, hepatitis C virus (HCV) positivity, splenomegaly, and hepatocellular carcinoma than those without significant fibrosis. Multivariate analysis disclosed that high BMI (P< 0.001), high AST levels (P= 0.006), low platelet counts (P< 0.001), and low albumin levels (P= 0.008) were the independent factors associated with significant liver fibrosis. In patients with normal serum ALT levels, the factors determining significant liver fibrosis were high BMI (P< 0.001), high AST levels (P< 0.001), low platelet counts (P= 0.001), and anti‐HCV positive (P= 0.006). LSM exhibited a moderate correlation with APRI scores (R2= 0.325, P< 0.001). Among patients with normal serum ALT levels, the percentage of significant liver fibrosis defined as LSM > 7 kPa (11.2%) was higher than that of significant liver fibrosis defined as APRI > 0.7 (2.6%) (P< 0.001). Significant liver fibrosis is not uncommon in patients with chronic hepatitis and normal serum ALT levels. TE is a reliable method for assessing the degree of liver fibrosis. High BMI values, high AST levels, low platelet counts, and low albumin levels are correlated with the diagnosis of significant liver fibrosis through TE.

The ability of band offsets at multiferroic/metal and multiferroic/electrolyte interfaces in controlling charge transfer and thus altering the photoactivity performance has sparked significant attention in solar energy conversion applications. Here, we demonstrate that the band offsets of the two interfaces play the key role in determining charge transport direction in a downward self-polarized BFO film. Electrons tend to move to BFO/electrolyte interface for water reduction. Our experimental and first-principle calculations reveal that the presence of neodymium (Nd) dopants in BFO enhances the photoelectrochemical performance by reduction of the local electron–hole pair recombination sites and modulation of the band gap to improve the visible light absorption. This opens a promising route to the heterostructure design by modulating the band gap to promote efficient charge transfer.

Defoliants enhanced seed cotton yield by increasing opening boll number.N application promoted cotton yield by increasing seed cotton weight per boll.150 kg N ha−1and thidiazuron+ethephon of 900+3000 g ai ha−1was suggested. Appropriate nitrogen levels combined with safe rates of harvest aids can provide timely and efficient harvesting of cotton in the wheat–cotton double cropping system in the Yangtze River Valley Cotton Belt. Three rates of harvest aids (0+0, 450+1500, and 900+3000 g ai ha−1of thidiazuron+ethephon) under four nitrogen levels (0, 75, 150, and 225 kg N ha−1) were established to study the interactive effects of N levels and harvest‐aid rates on defoliation, boll opening, and seed cotton yield in 2015 and 2016. Results showed that defoliation and boll opening percentages were significantly enhanced by 45 to 57% and by 35 to 41% after the application of harvest aids, especially for the elevated rate, under 150 and 225 kg N ha−1. Although a significant negative effect was observed on seed cotton weight per boll, total seed cotton yield was significantly increased by 28 to 42%, due to the favorable opening boll number after harvest‐aid application. Nitrogen application significantly increased seed cotton yield by 10 to 22%, owing to the enhanced seed cotton weight per boll, and the maximum total seed cotton yield was recorded under 150 kg N ha−1when applied with harvest‐aid chemicals of 900+3000 g ai ha−1. Thus, the application of 150 kg N ha−1combined with 900+3000 g ai ha−1of harvest aids (thidiazuron+ethephon) was suggested for mechanized harvest in cotton to achieve a satisfactory defoliation and seed cotton yield in the Yangtze River Valley Cotton Belt.

ABSTRACTThe radiological habitability of a control room is important for nuclear emergency response, which is also a licensing prerequisite for nuclear power plants. It is determined by both atmospheric relative concentrations and doses received via different pathways. However, most recent studies have focused only on the former, which may not be adequate. The present study therefore investigates the radiological habitability and its sensitivity to different parameters in the high-temperature gas-cooled reactor pebble-bed module power plant. For three typical accidents, the study estimates the body, thyroid and skin doses received via different pathways using the Nuclear Regulatory Commission recommended ARCON96 and dose calculation method in RG 1.195. To make a realistic evaluation, the latest design and site-specific information, including the unique accidental source term, are collected and used as input parameters. The evaluation results reveal that the total dose of different pathways in the control room is far below the limit, which demonstrates the effectiveness of the current design. The inhalation exposure is the dominant pathway, and iodine and caesium are the primary contributors of the inhalation dose. The particle filter removal fraction is the most influential parameter in an accident which the activities of metal radionuclides are high.

Six new terpenes, including one harziane diterpene, 3R-hydroxy-9R,10R-dihydroharzianone (1), one proharziane diterpene, 11R-methoxy-5,9,13-proharzitrien-3-ol (2), three cyclonerane sesquiterpenes, 11-methoxy-9-cycloneren-3,7-diol (3), 10-cycloneren-3,5,7-triol (4), and methyl 3,7-dihydroxy-15-cycloneranate (5), and one acorane sesquiterpene, 8-acoren-3,11-diol (6), were isolated from the culture of Trichoderma harzianumX-5, an endophytic fungus obtained from the marine brown alga Laminaria japonica. Their structures and relative configurations were established by analysis of 1D/2D NMR, HREIMS, and IR data, and the absolute configurations were assigned on the basis of ECD curves or biogenetic considerations. These terpenes possess four different carbon skeletons, and compound 2, with a rarely occurring bicyclic framework, represents a possible precursor of tetracyclic harzianes. Compounds 1–6exhibited growth inhibition of some marine phytoplankton species.

Tricholumin A (1) with an unprecedented carbon skeleton was isolated from the fungus Trichoderma asperellumcf44-2, an endophyte from the marine brown alga Sargassumsp. Its structure and relative configuration were identified by extensive 1D/2D NMR and mass spectrometric data, and the absolute configuration was assigned by X-ray diffraction and ECD calculations. Compound 1represents a highly transformed ergosterol derivative, and it exhibited inhibition of some pathogenic microbes and marine phytoplankton species.

Three novel polyketide-like metabolites, trichorenins A–C (1–3), with a unique tetracyclic carbon skeleton were obtained from the culture of Trichoderma virensY13-3, an epiphyte of the marine red alga Gracilaria vermiculophylla. Their structures and relative configurations were established by analysis of 1D/2D NMR and MS data, and their absolute configurations were unequivocally assigned by X-ray diffraction and ECD spectra aided by quantum chemical calculations. Compounds 1–3exhibited potent inhibition against two marine phytoplankton species, Chattonella marinaand Karlodinium veneficum.

High throughput nanomanufacturing of photopatternable nanofibers and subsequent photopatterning is reported. For the production of high density nanofibers, the tube nozzle electrospinning (TNE) process has been used, where an array of micronozzles on the sidewall of a plastic tube are used as spinnerets. By increasing the density of nozzles, the electric fields of adjacent nozzles confine the cone of electrospinning and give a higher density of nanofibers. With TNE, higher density nozzles are easily achievable compared to metallic nozzles, e.g. an inter-nozzle distance as small as 0.5 cm and an average semi-vertical repulsion angle of 12.28° for 8-nozzles were achieved. Nanofiber diameter distribution, mass throughput rate, and growth rate of nanofiber stacks in different operating conditions and with different numbers of nozzles, such as 2, 4 and 8 nozzles, and scalability with single and double tube configurations are discussed. Nanofibers made of SU-8, photopatternable epoxy, have been collected to a thickness of over 80 μm in 240 s of electrospinning and the production rate of 0.75 g/h is achieved using the 2 tube 8 nozzle systems, followed by photolithographic micropatterning. TNE is scalable to a large number of nozzles, and offers high throughput production, plug and play capability with standard electrospinning equipment, and little waste of polymer.

A new sesterterpene, sesteralterin (1), four new meroterpenes, tricycloalterfurenes A–D (2–5), and a known meroterpene, TCA-F (6), were obtained from the culture extract of an Alternaria alternatastrain (k21-1) isolated from the surface of the marine red alga Lomentaria hakodatensis. The structures and relative/absolute configurations of these compounds were identified by spectroscopic analyses, mainly including 1D/2D NMR, ECD, and mass spectra and quantum chemical calculations. Compound 1represents the first nitidasane sesterterpene naturally produced by fungi, and 2–5feature a tetrahydrofuran unit rarely occurring in tricycloalternarenes. Compounds 1–6were assayed for inhibition of the growth of four marine plankton and one marine alga-pathogenic bacterium.

As an abusive method to trigger thermal runaway (TR), the overcharge method has been widely used to evaluate the safety status of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). In this study, the combustion characteristics of LIBs were systematically studied by overcharging batteries at different charging rates (C-rates). The results indicated that a high C-rate could cause jet flames with temperatures as high as 1350 °C at a relatively low state of charge. Furthermore, certain maximum heat release rate (HRR) and mass loss rate (MLR) values of 192 kW and 1785 g/s were obtained at 1C, respectively. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results for sulfur showed that the valence of sulfur was related to the peak HRR. Moreover, a novel safety evaluation technique denoted as the relative overcharge safety status (OCSS) was presented to highlight the safety status of the overcharging battery. We found that the OCSS at different C-rates presented a linear relationship with the dimensionless time and obtained the safety threshold, safety boundary, and safety level to easily evaluate the TR risk. Therefore, the OCSS method may provide timely, real-time evidence for battery management systems when batteries are overcharged.

A series of self-reducing bifunctional Ni-W/SBA-15 catalysts were synthesized using biomass-based carbon source as the reducing agent without conventional further reduction step. The self-reducing catalysts were performed on the hydrogenolysis of cellulose to low carbon polyols. The effects of calcination temperature and metallic loading contents for cellulose hydrogenolysis reaction were investigated detailedly. The optimal calcination temperature was found to be 673K by TG analysis. The active metal nanoparticles with a better dispersion were observed using SEM and element mapping technology. The yield of low carbon polyols using the catalyst with the receipt of 10%Ni-15%W/SBA-15-673K can reach as high as 68.14%, of which the ethylene glycol (EG) accounts for 61.04%.

Due to the awareness of fossil fuel depletion and global warming, biorefinery for production of biofuels and valuable platform chemicals from lignocellulosic biomass has attracted growing interest in the past decades. With the rising concept of comprehensive utilization of lignocellulosic biomass,fractionation processes are generally necessary prior to its subsequent conversion with aims to produce purified cellulose with specific recovery of hemicellulose and lignin. In this review, ionic liquids fractionation,steam explosion based fractionation,twin-screw extrusion and organosolv fractionation are described and their features and comparative performances are discussed.

Since Taiwanese readers have international and multicultural reading interests and habits, this study aims to develop a Chinese title recognition test, a translated title recognition test (TTRT), and a Chinese author recognition test as measures of print exposure for fifth graders in Taiwan, and to investigate the relative extent to which print-exposure scores, diary estimates of reading time, reading attitude, and activity preference help predict performance on number of Chinese characters recognized and reading comprehension score. The sample consisted of 318 (153 boys and 165 girls) fifth graders in 11 classes from three elementary schools in Northern Taiwan. Data analysis was performed by Pearson moments correlation and hierarchical regression analysis. We found that, TTRT and TRT composite scores had substantial prediction power for vocabulary size beyond the book-reading time estimates and print-disposition variables, and for reading comprehension beyond vocabulary size, the book-reading time estimates, and print-disposition variables. Our findings corroborate those of previous Western studies on the linkage between print exposure and reading abilities. At the same time, they invite more conversation about evaluating the various instruments used in the area of reading habits, reading disposition, and print exposure, and provide a rationale for developing an instrument of print exposure for children from non-English speaking countries.