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This paper presents dual-band Wi-Fi backscatter (DBscatter), which is the first system supporting 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz Wi-Fi backscatter simultaneously in a single tag. Our key insight is that most existing Wi-Fi devices communicate in the clean 5 GHz band. The 5 GHz band provides more chances for “free riding” with less interference, while the 2.4 GHz band presents better NLoS performance. DBscatter combines the strengths of the existing 2.4 GHz band with the unexplored 5 GHz backscatter in a unified design, developing a robust and high-throughput ambient Wi-Fi backscatter system. We make the following technical contributions: (1) We design a dual-band RF frontend to support dual-band Wi-Fi signals. (2) We propose a tag data demodulation algorithm, which merges the common phase error in multi-antenna received signals, improving the tag transmission reliability while reducing the number of required receivers. (3) We build a prototype of DBscatter system using COTS FPGAs and SDRs. Compared to TiScatter and FreeRider, DBscatter boosts Wi-Fi backscatter throughput by 3.74X and 7.35X, and energy efficiency by 1.78X and 1.38X respectively.

This paper presents the design, implementation, and evaluation of TaGroup, a fast, fine-grained, and robust grouping technique for RFIDs. It can achieve a nearly 100% accuracy in distinguishing multiple groups of closely located RFIDs, within only a few seconds. It would benefit many inventory tracking applications, such as self-checkout in retails and packaging quality control in logistics. We make two technical innovations. First, we propose a novel method which can measure the channels between multiple pairs of commercial RFID tags simultaneously, and then estimate the proximity relations between them based on the channel information. Second, we introduce a spatio-temporal graph model which captures a full picture of proximity relations among all the tags, based on which TaGroup can perform a robust grouping of the tags. These two designs together boost the grouping speed and accuracy of TaGroup. Our experiments show that in grouping 120 tags into 4 closely located groups, TaGroup can achieve a nearly 100% accuracy, at the cost of only 2 seconds.

• The resultant hydrogel possesses an admirable feature of mechanical robustness and excellent electrical performance. • The intriguing overall properties are attributed to the synergy of multiple physical interactions and nano-reinforcement. • The hydrogel delivers sensitive strain-induced resistance change under variational deformations. • A strain sensor based on such hydrogel can accurately monitor multi-scale deformations from large mechanical deformation to tiny physiological motions. For advanced conductive hydrogels, adaptable mechanical properties and high conductivity are essential requirements for practical application, e.g., soft electronic devices. Here, a straightforward strategy to develop a mechanically robust hydrogel with high conductivity by constructing complicated 3D structures composed of covalently cross-linked polymer network and two nanofillers with distinguishing dimensions is reported. The combination of one-dimensional quaternized cellulose nanofibrils (QACNF) and two-dimensional MXene nanosheets not only provides prominent and tunable mechanical properties modulated by materials composition, but results in electronically conductive path with high conductivity (1281 mS m–1). Owing to the uniform interconnectivity of network structure attributed to the strong macromolecular interaction and nano-reinforced effect, the resultant hydrogel exhibits a balanced mechanical feature, i.e., high tensile strength (449 kPa), remarkable stretchability (> 1700 %), and ultra-high toughness (5.46 MJ m–3), outperforming those of virgin one. Additionally, the enhanced conductive characteristic with the aid of QACNF enables hydrogels with impressive electromechanical behavior, containing high sensitivity (maximum gauge factor: 2.24), wide working range (0–1465 %), and fast response performance (response time: 141 ms, recover time: 140 ms). Benefiting from the excellent mechanical performance, a flexible strain sensor based on such conductive hydrogel can deliver an appealing sensing performance of monitoring multi-scale deformations, from large and monotonous mechanical deformation to tiny and complex physiological motions (e.g., joint movement and signature/vocal recognition). Together, the hydrogel material in this work opens up opportunities in the design and fabrication of advanced gel-based materials for emerging wearable electronics. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACTSatellite remote sensing, characterized by extensive coverage, frequent revisits, and continuous monitoring, provides essential data support for addressing global challenges. Over the past six decades, thousands of Earth observation satellites and sensors have been deployed worldwide. These valuable Earth observation assets are contributed independently by various nations and organizations employing diverse methodologies. This poses a significant challenge in effectively discovering global Earth observation resources and realizing their full potential. In this paper, we describe the development of GEOSatDB, the most complete semantic database of civil Earth observation satellites developed based on a unified ontology model. A similarity matching method is used to integrate satellite information and a prompt strategy is used to extract unstructured sensor information. The resulting semantic database contains 127,949 semantic statements for 2,340 remote sensing satellites and 1,021 observation sensors. The global Earth observation capabilities of 195 countries worldwide have been analyzed in detail, and a concrete use case along with an associated query demonstration is presented. This database provides significant value in effectively facilitating the semantic understanding and sharing of Earth observation resources.

The defect rate of initially produced block bamboo (Bambusoideae) parts is >20 percent. Sorting out these defective parts manually is a highly time-consuming and tedious process. An intelligent sorting system was developed based on machine vision using a Radial Basis Function (RBF) neural network learning algorithm in this study. First, a high-speed charge-coupled device camera was used to obtain a series of images of perfect and defective block bamboo parts. Next, the RBF neural-network learning algorithm was applied to obtain defect characteristics and to locate defective parts moving forward on a conveyor belt. An array of air jets was designed to force defective parts off the belt. Experimental results showed that the average defective part removal rate of the proposed system was 91.7 percent., Bamboo (Bambusoideae) is commonly distributed throughout the Asia-Pacific region, Americas, and Africa, as shown in Figure 1. In Asia, bamboo plants are mainly distributed in China, India, and other developing [...]

The effect of oxalic acid (OA) etching on the formation mechanism and corrosion performance of in-situ steam Mg−Al layered double hydroxide (LDH) coatings on AM50 Mg alloy was investigated by exposing the intermetallic compounds (β-Mg17Al12and AlMn) on the surface of the alloy. The results demonstrated that the presence of OA led to an increased fraction of intermetallic compounds on the Mg substrate. Mg−Al LDH nucleated and grew around the Al−Mn phase. The best corrosion resistance of LDH coating was obtained with the maximum thickness at a pickling time of 45 s, and the corrosion current density was reduced by three orders of magnitude compared to the substrate. Finally, the formation mechanism of Mg−Al LDH coating on AM50 Mg alloy was proposed.

Deposition of immune complexes drives podocyte injury acting in the initial phase of lupus nephritis (LN), a process mediated by B cell involvement. Accordingly, targeting B cell subsets represents a potential therapeutic approach for LN. Ginsenoside compound K (CK), a bioavailable component of ginseng, possesses nephritis benefits in lupus-prone mice; however, the underlying mechanisms involving B cell subpopulations remain elusive.

Dietary patterns have been associated with several cancers, especially gastrointestinal cancer (GIC). However, whether a healthy dietary pattern could modify the risk of GIC among people with different genetic backgrounds is not clear.

Along with the proliferation of IoT devices, people have a lot of concerns on the privacy issues brought by them. Existing solutions, employing encryption or trying to hide the communication in PHY layer, often suffer from the limited capability of IoT devices. To address this issue, we propose Rustle, an acoustic communication design which builds covert connection among IoT devices using random noise. Noise signal can be easily generated and exchanged by the widely used speakers and microphones on IoT devices. Based on a fine-grained control of signal’s wave shape, Rustle generates a series of mutually uncorrelated random signals that contain “hidden patterns” to embed information. Extensive evaluations demonstrate that Rustle can achieve a lower than 1% BER while the eavesdropper’s error rate on detecting the signal is higher than 80%.

Deciphering the composition of the tumor microenvironment (TME) is critical for understanding tumorigenesis and to design immunotherapies. In the present study, we mapped genetic effects on cell-type proportions using single-cell and bulk RNA sequencing data, identifying 3,494 immunity quantitative trait loci (immunQTLs) across 23 cancer types from The Cancer Genome Atlas. Functional annotation revealed regulatory potential and we further assigned 1,668 genes that regulate TME composition. We constructed a combined immunQTL map by integrating data from European and Chinese colorectal cancer (CRC) samples. A polygenic risk score that incorporates these immunQTLs and hits on a genome-wide association study outperformed in CRC risk stratification within 447,495 multiethnic individuals. Using large-scale population cohorts, we identified that the immunQTL rs1360948 is associated with CRC risk and prognosis. Mechanistically, the rs1360948-G-allele increases CCL2expression, recruiting regulatory T cells that can exert immunosuppressive effects on CRC progression. Blocking the CCL2–CCR2 axis enhanced anti-programmed cell death protein 1 ligand therapy. Finally, we have established a database (CancerlmmunityQTL2) to serve the research community and advance our understanding of immunogenomic interactions in cancer pathogenesis.

Recent studies have shown that cellular levels of polyamines (PAs) are significantly altered in neurodegenerative diseases. Evidence from in vivoanimal and in vitrocell experiments suggests that the cellular levels of various PAs may play important roles in the central nervous system through the regulation of oxidative stress, mitochondrial metabolism, cellular immunity, and ion channel functions. Dysfunction of PA metabolism related enzymes also contributes to neuronal injury and cognitive impairment in many neurodegenerative diseases. Therefore, in the current work, evidence was collected to determine the possible associations between cellular levels of PAs, and related enzymes and the development of several neurodegenerative diseases, which could provide a new idea for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases in the future.

Ionotropic receptors (IRs) play an important role in olfaction, but little is known in nondrosophila insects. Here, we report in vitroand in vivofunctional characterization of IR75q.2 in the invasive moth pest Spodoptera frugiperda. First, 13 IRs (including four coreceptor IRs) were found specifically or highly expressed in adult antennae. Second, these IRs were tested for responding profiles to 59 odorants using the Xenopusoocyte expression system, showing that only SfruIR75q.2 responded to 8–10C fatty acids and their corresponding aldehydes, with SfruIR8a as the only coreceptor. Third, the three acids (especially nonanoic acid) showed repellent effects on moth’s behavior and oviposition, but the repellence significantly reduced to the insects with IR75q.2 knockout by CRISPR/Cas9. Taken together, our study reveals the function of SfruIR75q.2 in perception of acid and aldehyde odorants and provides the first in vivoevidence for olfactory function of an odor-specific IR in Lepidoptera.

Landscape fire smoke, including smoke from all vegetation burning in natural and cultural landscapes, remains a threat to the health of the population. However, the future health impacts of landscape fire smoke in China have not been sufficiently investigated. We aimed to estimate the mortality risk attributable to landscape fire-related PM2·5under different scenarios.

Gaze tracking is a useful human-to-computer interface, which plays an increasingly important role in a range of mobile applications. Gaze calibration is an indispensable component of gaze tracking, which transforms the eye coordinates to the screen coordinates. The existing approaches of gaze tracking either have limited accuracy or require the user's cooperation in calibration and in turn hurt the quality of experience. We in this paper propose vGaze, continuous gaze tracking with implicit saliency-aware calibration on mobile devices. The design of vGaze stems from our insight on the temporal and spatial dependent relation between the visual saliency and the user's gaze. vGaze is implemented as a light-weight software that identifies video frames with “useful” saliency information, sensing the user's head movement, performs opportunistic calibration using only those “useful” frames, and leverages historical information for accelerating saliency detection. We implement vGaze on a commercial mobile device and evaluate its performance in various scenarios. The results show that vGaze can work at real time with video playback applications. The average error of gaze tracking is 1.51cm (2.884$^{\circ }$∘) which decreases to 0.99cm (1.891$^{\circ }$∘) with historical information and 0.57cm (1.089$^{\circ }$∘) with an indicator.

The signal phase is one of the most important metrics in RFID-based sensing, which is a useful technique enabling many significant applications. However, existing approaches of RFID-based sensing are often restricted in terms of the sensing capability or accuracy, due to the phase entanglement problem: the phase of the RFID signal is jointly affected by multiple factors, and the change in the signal phase cannot be directly attributed to any one of them. In order to tackle this problem, we propose RF-Prism, a versatile sensing approach that can simultaneously infer multiple physical factors (i.e., location, orientation, and material of targets), purely based on the phase readings. RF-Prism includes a comprehensive model to describe how different physical factors affect the phase of the received signal, and a complete design to disentangle the phase in the multi-frequency and multi-antenna scenario. We implement RF-Prism and evaluate its performance with extensive experiments. The results show that RF-Prism simultaneously achieves a mean localization error of $\text{7.61}~cm$7.61cm, a mean orientation error of 9.83 degrees, a mean tracking error of $\text{6.12}~cm$6.12cm, and 87.9% material identification accuracy, which outperforms state-of-the-art approaches.

Secure Device-to-Device (D2D) communication is important for the Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices. Key agreement between devices is the important first step in building a secure D2D channel. Due to the lack of third-party certification, key agreement for IoT devices has to rely on the untrusted channel between them, which makes the pairing process vulnerable to attacks such as eavesdropping, jamming, and predictable channel attack. We solve this problem with a novel key agreement method named EchoKey, where two nearby devices can generate a symmetric key independently, leveraging the ambient sound signal that can be locally collected by devices. The intuition of this idea is that the propagation delays of the ambient sounds and the echoes will carry fine-grained information about the spatial context of the receiving device, which can be transformed to a special key for that device. So, nearby devices which have similar spatial context will generate similar echo profiles. We implement a prototype of EchoKey and evaluate its performance in resisting different attacks. The results tell that, with EchoKey, the key agreement process is even undetectable by an attacker which is only 50cm away from the pairing devices, and is thus resistant to all attacks mentioned above.

In this brief, the stability of neural networks with switching between small and large time delays is studied by developing an improved exponential stability criterion. Firstly, the delayed neural network (DNN) with small delay (SD) and large delay (LD) is modeled as a switched DNN. Then, based on an augmented piecewise Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional with LD-based terms considering relaxed switching constraints, and Wiritinger-based inequality, a stability criterion with less conservatism is developed. Finally, a numerical example is provided to demonstrate the superiority and effectiveness of the proposed method.

A fast and easy method was proposed for the determination and quantification of 48 stimulants in milk and dairy products using high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole/electrostatic field Orbitrap high-resolution mass spectrometry (Q Exactive). The samples were extracted with acetonitrile having 0.1% formic acid, and then, the extracting solution was purified using a Captive EMR-LIPID solid-phase extraction column. The main force between the target compound and the adsorbent was size exclusion. Unbranched long aliphatic chains on the lipids entered the sorbent, while bulky analytes did not, which could effectively remove the phosphorus esters in dairy products. Finally, we determined the instrument conditions. The samples were separated on a C18column and eluted with acetonitrile and 0.05% formic acid aqueous solution as the mobile phases. Determination was then performed by mass spectrometry in electrospray ion source mode and monitored in parallel by reaction monitoring full scan/data-dependent secondary scan (Full MS/DD-MS2) mode. Under optimal conditions, the limit of quantification for the 48 stimulants was 0.5–100 µg L−1in the milk and dairy products samples. The recoveries were 60.6–118.9% for milk, 63.2–123.8% for milk powder, and 61.8–119.6% for yogurt, with a determined coefficient of variation of less than 15%. The limit of detection values was 0.1–5.0 µg kg−1, and the limit of quantification values for the analytes was 0.2–10.0 µg kg−1. Finally, this method was used to screen 48 stimulants in 50 milk and dairy product samples.

Vibration measurement is a crucial task in industrial systems, where vibration characteristics reflect health conditions and indicate anomalies of the devices. Previous approaches either work in an intrusive manner or fail to capture the micrometer-level vibrations. In this work, we propose mmVib, a practical approach to measure micrometer-level vibrations with mmWave radar. First, we derive a metric called Vibration Signal-to-Noise Ratio (VSNR) that highlights the directions of reducing measurement errors of tiny vibrations. Then, we introduce the design of mmVib based on the concept of Multi-Signal Consolidation (MSC) for the error reduction and multi-object measurement. We implement a prototype of mmVib, and the experiments show that it achieves $3.946\%$3.946% relative amplitude error and $0.02487\%$0.02487% relative frequency error in median. Typically, the average amplitude error is only $3.174um$3.174um when measuring the $100um$100um-amplitude vibration at around 5 meters. Compared to two existing mmWave-based approaches, mmVib reduces the 80th-percentile amplitude error by $69.21\%$69.21% and $97.99\%$97.99% respectively.

Olaparib (OLA), the first FDA-approved PARP inhibitor, has been approved successively for monotherapy or maintenance treatment of ovarian, breast and pancreatic cancer. Unfortunately, the poor solubility and bioavailability of OLA have limited its application. In this study, novel drug-drug co-amorphous systems of OLA with five nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), including flurbiprofen (FLU), ketoprofen (KET), ibuprofen (IBU), diclofenac (DIC) or indomethacin (IND), were prepared for improving the aqueous solubility of OLA and achieving combination therapy against ovarian cancer. These new co-amorphous products were confirmed by powder X-ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Five co-amorphous systems were more soluble and released faster than the crystalline OLA in pH 6.8 buffer, and OLA-DIC and OLA-IND showed superior physicochemical stability under accelerated storage conditions. The antitumor activities of OLA-FLU, OLA-KET, OLA-IBU and OLA-DIC against OVCAR3 cell line were approximately increased by 3.5, 2.4, 2.7, and 6.0-fold than that of OLA, respectively. Moreover, pharmacokinetic studies of co-amorphous OLA-DIC in rats revealed that the OLA exhibited 6.14-fold improvement in AUC0-tvalue compared with crystalline OLA. Therefore, our study suggested that OLA-NSAIDs co-amorphous systems showed the great potentials to improve the solubility, dissolution behaviors, and bio-pharmaceutical performance of OLA.

Coupling of cathodic H2production with electrosynthesis of organic compounds not only solves the problem of sluggish oxygen evolution reaction (OER) kinetics, but also produces valuable chemicals. However, this strategy has rarely been explored for direct and selective C(sp3)-H activation to construct C-C bonds, which could significantly enhance the synthetic efficiency in organic synthesis. Here, we report a nickel-iron layered double hydroxide-supported gold catalyst (Au/NiFe-LDH) for efficient electrocatalytic C-C coupling reaction in direct C(sp3)-H alkynylation of tertiary aliphatic amines with 1-iodoalkynes, which is coupled with H2production. Specifically, triethylamine and 1-iodoalkynes undergo efficient alkynylation to afford propargylamine in high yield (79%) and recycling ability without addition of external oxidants, coupling with 78-fold higher H2productivity compared with water splitting under the same potential. This work may shed light on OER-substituted reaction towards C-C bond formation reactions under mild conditions.

Diabetes is often associated with vitamin A disorders. All-transretinoic acid (ATRA) is the main active constituent of vitamin A. We aimed to investigate whether ATRA influences diabetic progression and its mechanisms using both Goto-Kazizazi (GK) rats and INS-1 cells. Rat experiments demonstrated that ATRA treatment worsened diabetes symptoms, as evidenced by an increase in fasting blood glucose (FBG) levels and impairment of glucose homeostasis. Importantly, ATRA impaired glucose-stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS) and increased the expression of sterol regulatory element-binding protein 1c (SREBP-1c) and uncoupling protein 2 (UCP2) in the rat pancreas. Data from INS-1 cells also showed that ATRA upregulated SREBP-1c and UCP2 expression and impaired GSIS at 23 mM glucose. Srebp-1cor Ucp2silencing attenuated GSIS impairment by reversing the ATRA-induced increase in UCP2 expression and decrease in ATP content. ATRA and the retinoid X receptor (RXR) agonists 9-cisRA and LG100268 induced the gene expression of Srebp-1c, which was almost completely abolished by the RXR antagonist HX531. RXRα-LBD luciferase reporter plasmid experiments also demonstrated that ATRA concentration-dependently activated RXRα, the EC50of which was 1.37 μM, which was lower than the ATRA concentration in the pancreas of GK rats treated with a high dose of ATRA (approximately 3 μM), inferring that ATRA can upregulate Srebp-1cexpression in the pancreas by activating RXR. In conclusion, ATRA impaired GSIS partly by activating the RXR/SREBP-1c/UCP2 pathway, thus worsening diabetic symptoms. The results highlight the roles of ATRA in diabetic progression and establish new strategies for diabetes treatment.

Breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP) and P-glycoprotein (P-gp) are co-located at blood–brain barrier (BBB) cells, preventing their substrates from entering brain. Accumulating evidence demonstrates that liver failure impairs P-gp and BCRP expression and function in the brain. In the current study, we investigated how liver failure influenced the expression and function of brain BCRP and P-gp in rats subjected to bile duct ligation (BDL). The function of BCRP, P-gp and BBB integrity was assessed using distribution of prazosin, rhodamine 123 and fluorescein, respectively. We showed that BDL significantly decreased BCRP function, but increased P-gp function without affecting BBB integrity. Furthermore, we found that BDL significantly downregulated the expression of membrane BCRP and upregulated the expression of membrane P-gp protein in the cortex and hippocampus. In human cerebral microvascular endothelial cells, NH4Cl plus unconjugated bilirubin significantly decreased BCRP function and expression of membrane BCRP protein, but upregulated P-gp function and expression of membrane P-gp protein. The decreased expression of membrane BCRP protein was linked to the decreased expression of membrane radixin protein, while the increased expression of membrane P-gp protein was related to the increased location of membrane ezrin protein. Silencing ezrin impaired membrane location of P-gp, whereas silencing radixin impaired membrane location of BCRP protein. BDL rats showed the increased expression of membrane ezrin protein and decreased expression of membrane radixin protein in the brain. We conclude that BDL causes opposite effects on the expression and function of brain BCRP and P-gp, attributing to the altered expression of membrane radixin and ezrin protein, respectively, due to hyperbilirubinemia and hyperammonemia.

P-glycoprotein (P-gp) and breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP) are involved in intestinal barrier. Short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) play important roles in maintaining intestinal barrier. In this study we explored how SCFAs affected the expression and function of intestinal P-gp and BCRP in rats. Rats received 150 mM acetate, propionate or butyrate in drinking water for 4 weeks. In SCFA-treated rats, the expression and function of intestinal P-gp were decreased, but those of intestinal BCRP were increased; intestinal p-p65 was also decreased, which was positively related to P-gp protein expression. Among the three SCFAs tested, butyrate exhibited the strongest induction or inhibitory effect, followed by propionate and acetate. Similar results were observed in mouse primary enterocytes and Caco-2 cells treated with acetate (5 mM), propionate (2 mM), or butyrate (1 mM). In Caco-2 cells, addition of butyrate, vorinostat, and valproate (two classic HDAC inhibitors), Bay117082 (selective inhibitor of NF-κB activation) or NF-κB p65 silencing significantly decreased the expression of P-gp and the level of phosphorylated p65 (p-p65). Furthermore, butyrate attenuated the expression of P-gp and p-p65 induced by TNF-α (NF-κB activator) and theophylline (HDAC activator). However, vorinostat, valproate, Bay117082, TNF-α or p65 silencing hardly affected BCRP protein expression. But GW9662 (selective PPARγ antagonist) or PPARγ silencing abolished BCRP induction by butyrate and troglitazone (PPARγ agonist). SCFAs-treated rats showed higher intestinal protein expression of PPARγ, which was positively related to BCRP protein expression. Butyrate increased plasma exposure of fexofenadine but decreased that of rosuvastatin following oral dose to rats. In conclusion, SCFAs exert opposite effects on the expression and function of intestinal P-gp and BCRP; butyrate downregulated P-gp expression and function possibly via inhibiting HDAC/NF-κB pathways; butyrate induced BCRP expression and function partly via PPARγ activation.

•The highlights in this paper are listed as follows.•We use the LAMOST data, which is a famous telescope in China.•We compare four machine learning algorithms, KNN, DT, RF and SVM classification.•We focus on the specific spectral type classification of stars (G, K, M, F, A).•The RF performs well in predicting the nature of sources and the star label.

Mercury is a highly toxic metal element, and the accumulation of mercury in the human body can cause great harm, including but not limited to brain damage, kidney damage and behavioral disorders. Therefore, an effective way to detect mercury ions in the environment is urgently needed. In this study, a novel fluorescent probe (CP-Hg) was synthesized with coumarin as the fluorophore and propanethiol as the recognition receptor. The probe was characterized with high sensitivity (detection limit is approximately 0.5 nM) and selectivity. Note that the probe can react with mercury ions with a distinct color change. In addition, it has been proved to have low toxicity and successfully applied to detect mercury in water samples, macrophages and zebrafish model.

The decentralized production of H2O2viaa two-electron oxygen reduction reaction (2e−ORR) has emerged as a promising alternative to the energy-intensive anthraquinone (AQ) process. However, its practical application requires 2e−ORR electrocatalysts with high activity and selectivity. Herein, we report the synthesis of metallic Ni nanoparticles anchored on bacterial cellulose-derived carbon fibers (Ni-NPs/BCCF) viaa facile impregnation-pyrolysis method as efficient electrocatalysts for 2e−ORR to H2O2. By tuning the amount of Ni precursor, the best electrocatalytic performance toward 2e−ORR was achieved for Ni-NPs/BCCF-20.7, affording a high H2O2selectivity of ∼90% and an onset potential of 0.75 V vs.reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) in an alkaline electrolyte. Ni-NPs/BCCF-20.7 achieved the largest H2O2yield rate of 162.7 ± 13.7 mmol gcat−1h−1and the highest Faradaic efficiency of 93.9% ± 4.2% at 0.2 and 0.5 V vs.RHE from the bulk ORR system, respectively. Theoretical calculations revealed the more favorable “end-on” adsorption configuration of molecular oxygen on the exposed Ni(111) plane, which can effectively suppress the O-O bond dissociation, resulting in high selectivity for H2O2generation.

F, V and Mn co-doped TiO2-pillared bentonite was prepared by the sol-gel method and characterized by XRD, nitrogen sorption, UV-vis spectroscopy, SEM, etc.; its performance in the photocatalytic denitration of NO was investigated under visible light irradiation at room temperature. The results indicate that the photocatalytic denitration efficiency of F-V-Mn co-doped TiO2-pillared bentonite for NO at a concentration of 661 μg/m3is approximately 100%; when the concentration of NO increases to 1657 μg/m3, the photocatalytic efficiency decreases to 81.9%, which is however 33.8% higher than that over the unpillared F-V-Mn co-doped TiO2. The reaction rate constant over the F-V-Mn co-doped TiO2-pillared bentonite is twice as high as that over the V-Mn co-doped TiO2pillared bentonite; moreover, the F-V-Mn co-doped TiO2-pillared bentonite also displays improved resistance against water and SO2poisoning. TiO2pillars can not only retain the flaky crystal structure of bentonite, but also increase the distance between bentonite layers from 0.667 to 0.710 nm and enhance the adsorption capacity. Meanwhile, the doping elements can inhibit the growth of TiO2rutile and reduce the band gap of TiO2, which is effective in improving the response to visible light, prolonging the service life, and broadening the application range of TiO2for the photocatalytic denitration.

Dehydrogenation of the tetrahydroisoquinoline derivatives coupled with hydrogen production is important for hydrogen storage applications. Herein, we formulated a new system that embedded Dawson-type polyoxometalates as efficient photosensitizers into the pores of redox-active coordination polymers for the light-driven photocatalytic oxidative Mannich reaction and hydrogen evolution. In the designed Co-POM polymer, UV light excitation gives the excited state of the Dawson-type polyoxometalate first to oxidize electron donors or substrates; the reduced form (i.e., heteropolyblue) adsorbs visible light to achieve a new excited state, which reduced the cobalt redox sites and facilitates hydrogen evolution reaction. The photosensitizer recovered to the ground state, completing the catalytic cycle. Under the optimized conditions, Co-POM enabled the hydrogen evolution and dehydrogenation of tetrahydroisoquinoline without the presence of any other additives. The high catalytic efficiency and robustness indicated the advantages of the combining functional polyoxometalate-based catalysts and porous characters of the coordination polymers for the development of highly active heterogeneous catalysts.

Pheromone receptor (PR)-mediated transduction of sex pheromones to electrophysiological signals is the basis for sex pheromone communication. Orthaga achatina, a serious pest of the camphor tree, uses a mixture of four components (Z11–16:OAc, Z11–16:OH, Z11–16:Ald, and Z3,Z6,Z9,Z12,Z15–23:H) as its sex pheromone. In this study, we identified five PR genes (OachPR1–5) by phylogenetic analysis. Further RT-PCR and qPCR experiments showed that PR1–3 were specifically expressed in male antennae, while PR4 was significantly female-biased in expression. Functional characterization using the XOE-TEVC assay demonstrated that PR1 and PR3 both responded strongly to Z11–16:OH, while PR1 and PR3 had a weak response to Z3,Z6,Z9,Z12,Z15–23:H and Z11–16:Ald, respectively. Finally, two key amino acid residues (N78 and R331) were confirmed to be essential for binding of PR3 with Z11–16:OH by molecular docking and site-directed mutagenesis. This study helps understand the sex pheromone recognition molecular mechanism of O. achatina.

•There was rarely such massive data to validate the efficiency of algorithms. The Sample 1 and 2 were from the SDSS DR18 combined with the ALLWISE. They were very large and new.•The LightGBM, XGBoost, Catboost, RF, DF, DT, KNN, GBDT and SVR algorithms were used to regress the redshifts of galaxies. These were very popular machine learning methods.•In the LightGBM, we got MAE ∼ 0.018, MSE ∼ 0.001, root mean squared error (RMSE) ∼ 0.033, MAPE ∼ 0.146, R2 ∼ 0.909, bias∼ 0.000233, σ∼ 0.033389, σMAD∼ 0.0181, outliers fraction ∼ 0.0028, the ratio of |∆z| > 2σ∼ 0.0245, biasnorm∼ -0.000404, RMSEnorm∼ 0.025, σNMAD∼ 0.015774 and run time ∼ 31.021s for our Sample 1. Our results were a little better than other's results.•We got MAE ∼ 0.044, MSE ∼ 0.007, RMSE ∼ 0.083, MAPE ∼ 0.149, R2 ∼ 0.895, bias ∼ 0.000489, σbias∼ 0.083065, σMAD∼ 0.0352, outliers fraction ∼ 0.0186, the ratio of |∆z| > 2σ∼ 0.0396, biasnorm∼ -0.00222, RMSEnorm∼ 0.053, σNMAD∼ 0.026093 and run time ∼ 61.847s for our Sample 2. The redshifts of galaxies in the main part with higher redshifts in the Sample 2 were also regressed well up to z <1.

Gas hydrates represent a huge reservoir of methane in marine sediments, prone to dissociation in response to environmental changes. There is consensus that past events of gas hydrate dissociation in the marine environment mainly occurred during periods of low sea level. Here, we report geochemical data for 2‐m‐thick layers of seep carbonate collected from a hydrate‐bearing drill core from ~800‐m water depth in the northern South China Sea. The aragonite‐rich carbonates reveal positive δ18O values, confirming a genetic link with gas hydrate dissociation. Uranium‐thorium dating of seep carbonates indicates that gas hydrates at the study site dissociated between 133,300 and 112,700 years BP, hence coinciding with the Last Interglacial (MIS 5e) sea‐level highstand. We put forward the concept that a climate‐driven increase in temperature was responsible for a period of pronounced gas hydrate dissociation. The gas hydrate reservoir is a dynamically changing system extremely susceptible to variations of seafloor temperature and pressure. Therefore, gas hydrate dissociation and subsequent methane seepage frequently occur during times of global climate change, especially during sea‐level lowstands with reduced seabed pressure. However, this conclusion was mainly based on dating of seep carbonates sampled from the seabed. As a consequence, one cannot exclude that previous results have been compromised by a sampling bias since seafloor samples are easier to collect. Authigenic seep carbonates from drill cores represent a continuous record of gas hydrate dynamics. Our uranium‐thorium dating of seep carbonate from drill cores provides a unique example of the effects of temperature and pressure on the stability of the hydrate system in the Dongsha area, northern South China Sea (SCS), during the last interglacial stage (MIS 5e, about 130,000 years BP). Representing the most similar and most contemporary analog to the current interglacial, the study of a methane release event in the SCS during MIS 5e will shed light on the expected trend of methane release events in the future, while providing insight into the response of low‐latitude oceans to climate change. U/Th dating of seep carbonates from a gas hydrate‐bearing sediment drill core provides constraints on the timing of methane seepageCarbonates precipitated from 18O‐enriched pore fluids derived from methane hydrate dissociationMethane hydrate dissociation occurred during sea‐level highstand (MIS 5e) possibly induced by increasing bottom‐water temperatures

Fermented black garlic has multiple beneficial biological activities, including cardiovascular protection, anticancer, hepatoprotective, and antibacterial properties. In this study, metabolic differences in the properties of black and fresh garlic were investigated via liquid chromatography quadrupole/time-of-flight-based metabolomics, leading to the identification of characteristic components. Fermented black garlic samples and their Amadori products (AC) promoted angiogenesis, prevented thrombus formation by rescuing chemical-induced vascular lesions in zebrafish, and inhibited H2O2-induced injury of endothelial cells, thus reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease. AC suppressed activation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway through inhibition of p38 and ERK1/2 phosphorylation, in turn, increasing the availability of c-Fos/c-Jun or c-Jun/c-Jun complexes for apoptotic resistance. Clarification of the associated signaling pathways should therefore provide a solid foundation for optimization of black garlic-based therapies.

Organic anion transporting polypeptides (OATPs) 1B1 and 1B3 are two highly homologous transporters expressed in the human liver. However, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), which is the most predominant catechin in green tea, has opposite effects on the function of OATP1B1 and OATP1B3. In the present study, the critical structural domains and amino acid residues for the activation of OATP1B3 by EGCG have been determined by characterizing the function of a series of OATP1B3-derived chimeric transporters, site-directed mutagenesis, and kinetic studies. Our results showed that G45 and F555 in transmembrane domains 1 and 10 are the most important amino acid residues for OATP1B3 activation. Kinetic studies showed that the activation of OATP1B3 by EGCG at a low substrate concentration was due to its increased substrate binding affinity. However, EGCG caused increased Kmand decreased Vmaxfor 1B3-G45A and 1B3-F555H. The flexibility at position 45 and aromaticity at position 555 might be important for OATP1B3 activation. While 1B3-G45A and 1B3-F555H could not be activated by EGCG, their transport activity for EGCG was comparable to that of wild-type OATP1B3. In conclusion, the present study elucidated the molecular mechanism for OATP1B3 activation by EGCG.

Here, we designed a double-solvent/host–guest redox combined strategy to construct Cu+sites in metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) for the first time. As a proof of concept, a representative MOF MIL-100(Fe) with tunable valence states of cations was employed as the host. The combined strategy realizes selective introduction of Cu2+precursors to the interior pores of MIL-100(Fe), remarkably minimizing the aggregation of Cu2+and subsequently formed Cu+species. Owing to the proper reducibility of in situ formed Fe2+in the frameworks, controlled conversation of Cu2+to Cu+with ∼100% yield is achieved in the absence of any additional reducing agents. These characteristics make the obtained materials Cu+-modified MIL-100(Fe) highly active in selective CO adsorption. The CO adsorption capacity is up to 3.75 mmol·g–1at 298 K and 1 bar, which is superior to all other Cu+-containing adsorbents reported so far such as CuCl/activated carbon (2.5 mmol·g–1), CuCl/γ-Al2O3(1.0 mmol·g–1), and CuCl/SBA-15 (0.50 mmol·g–1). The same adsorbent also exhibits quite high selectivity of CO over N2, and the ideal adsorption solution theory selectivity reaches 424. The outstanding CO adsorption performance make the present adsorbents great potential in separation of CO from various mixtures.

The facile one-step assembly reaction of Na2WO4·2H2O, Sn(CH3)2Cl2, RE(NO3)3·6H2O and K2TeO3in the presence of dimethylamine hydrochloride as an organic solubilizing agent in acidic aqueous solution resulted in a family of dimethyltin-functionalized rare-earth (RE) incorporated tellurotungstates consisting of {B-α-TeW7O28} and {W5O18} mixed building units [H2N(CH3)2]8Na4H2[RE2(OH)(B-α-TeW7O28)Sn2(CH3)4(W5O18)]2·18H2O [RE = ErIII(1), YbIII(2), HoIII(3), YIII(4)]. The most striking structural characteristic of 1–4is that they all contain a novel tetrameric S-shaped [RE2(OH)(B-α-TeW7O28)Sn2(CH3)4(W5O18)]214–moiety simultaneously including two pentavacant Keggin [B-α-TeW7O28]12–and two monovacant Lindqvist [W5O18]6–fragments connected by RE and dimethyltin linkers. To the best of our knowledge, such dimethyltin-functionalized RE-containing tellurotungstates have not been reported before. The visible or NIR solid-state emission spectra of 1and 3display the characteristic emission bands arising from ErIIIand HoIIIcenters. Moreover, various 1-Er/Ybco-doped samples were prepared by controlling different mass ratio of Er(NO3)3·6H2O/Yb(NO3)·6H2O in the range of 0.96:0.04–0.02:0.98. In the visible region, the emission intensity of the 1-Er0.40/Yb0.60co-doped sample reaches the maximum at the mass ratio of Er(NO3)3·6H2O/Yb(NO3)·6H2O being 0.40:0.60, and this observation is mainly derived from the fact that the Yb3+ions can sensitize the Er3+ions to enhance the emission intensity in the visible region. However, no such phenomenon for the 1-Er/Ybco-doped samples is seen in the NIR region. Besides, the upconversion spectra of the 1-Er/Ybco-doped samples were first observed. In addition, the thermal stabilities of 1–4were also investigated on the crystalline samples and the thermal decomposition process of 1has been deeply studied.

Atorvastatin is proven to ameliorate cardiac hypertrophy induced by chronic intermittent hypoxia (CIH). However, little is known about the mechanism by which atorvastatin modulates CIH-induced cardiac hypertrophy, and whether specific hypertrophyrelated microRNAs are involved in the modulation. MiR-31 plays key roles in the development of cardiac hypertrophy induced by ischemia/hypoxia. This study examined whether miR-31 was involved in the protective role of atorvastatin against CIH-induced myocardial hypertrophy. H9c2 cells were subjected to 8-h intermittent hypoxia per day in the presence or absence of atorvastatin for 5 days. The size of cardiomyocytes, and the expression of caspase 3 and miR-31 were determined by Western blotting and RT-PCR, respectively. MiR-31 mimic or Ro 31-8220, a specific inhibitor of protein kinase C epsilon (PKCε), was used to determine the role of miR-31 in the anti-hypertrophic effect of atorvastatin on cardiomyocytes. PKCε in the cardiomyocytes with miR-31 upregulation or downregulation was detected using RT-PCR and Western blotting. The results showed that CIH induced obvious enlargement of cardiomyocytes, which was paralleled with increased atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP), brain natriuretic peptide (BNP), and slow/beta cardiac myosin heavy-chain (MYH7) mRNA levels. All these changes were reversed by the treatment with atorvastatin. Meanwhile, miR-31 was increased by CIH in vitro. Of note, the atorvastatin pretreatment significantly increased the mRNA and protein expression of PKCe and decreased that of miR-31. Moreover, overexpression of miR-31 abolished the anti-hypertrophic effect of atorvastatin on cardiomyocytes. Upregulation and downregulation of miR-31 respectively decreased and increased the mRNA and protein expression of PKCε. These results suggest that atorvastatin provides the cardioprotective effects against CIH probably via up-regulating PKCε and down-regulating miR-31.

Control strategy of unified power flow controller (UPFC) utilizing dqdecoupling control is deduced in this paper, which can closely follow the control orders of the active and reactive power. The subsynchronous resonance (SSR) characteristics of a series compensated system equipped with UPFC are studied, and the results reveal that SSR characteristics of the system may vary significantly with UPFC in service or not. Consequently, supplementary subsynchronous damping controller (SSDC) for UPFC is proposed and investigated, and the effectiveness of the proposed SSDC is verified by damping torque analysis and time domain simulations.

Recent studies showed that rapamycin improved diabetic complications. Here, we investigated the metabolic effects of rapamycin in type 2 diabetes model (T2DM) mice. Mice were treated with a daily intraperitoneal injection of rapamycin at 2 mg/kg or vehicle only for 3 weeks and were maintained on a high‐fat diet. The treated diabetic mice exhibited decreased body weight, blood glucose levels, and fat mass. FGF21 expression was suppressed in C57B/L6 mice, but adiponectin expression increased both in FGF21 KO and C57B/L6 mice. These results suggest that rapamycin may alleviate FGF21 resistance in mice on a high‐fat diet. The reduction of adipose tissue mass of the diabetic mice may be due to the increased adiponectin.

Sexual maturation heterosis has been widely exploited in animal crossbreeding. However, the underlying mechanism has been rarely explored in chicken. In the present study, we performed the reciprocal crossing between White Leghorn and Beijing You chicken to evaluate the phenotypes related to sexual maturation, and profiled the ovary circRNAs of purebreds (WW, YY) and crossbreds (WY, YW) to elucidate the molecular mechanism underlying heterosis for sexual maturation. Pubic space and oviduct length exhibited positive heterosis, and age at first egg (AFE) exhibited negative heterosis in the crossbreds. We identified 3,025 known circRNAs and 624 putative circRNAs, which were mainly derived from the exons. Among these circRNAs, 141 and 178 circRNAs were specially expressed in WY and YW, respectively. There were 52.38% and 64.63% of total circRNAs in WY and YW exhibited non-additive expression pattern, respectively. GO enrichment and KEGG pathway analysis showed that the host genes of non-additive circRNAs were mainly involved in TGF-beta signaling pathway, oocyte development, ATPase activator activity, oocyte meiosis, progesterone-mediated oocyte maturation and GnRH signaling pathway. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis identified that four modules were significantly (P< 0.05) correlated with oviduct length and pubic space. The host genes of non-additive circRNAs harbored in the four modules were associated with MAPK signaling pathway and Wnt signaling pathway. Furthermore, competing endogenous RNAs (ceRNA) network analysis characterized non-additive circRNAs gal-FGFR2_0005and gal-MAPKAP1_0004could interact with gga-miR-1612and gga-miR-12235-5pto regulate CNOT6, COL8A1, and FHL2, which were essential for ovary development, indicating that the non-additive circRNAs involved in the formation of sexual maturation heterosis through regulating genes related to the reproductive and developmental process. The findings would provide a deeper understanding of the molecular mechanism underlying sexual maturation heterosis from a novel perspective.

Crossed beak is a complex mode of inheritance with prevalence ranging from 0.2% to 7.4% in at least 12 chicken strains worldwide. To reveal the intrinsic factors causing crossed beaks, genes expression patterns in bilateral mandibular condyle between affected and normal birds were characterized by RNA sequencing analysis in the present studies. Crossed beak was induced by short length of unilateral mandibular ramus, and a total of 110 differentially expressed genes were up- or down-regulated in the affected (short) mandibular condyle side as compared to the normal side. Carbonic anhydrase 2 (CA2) and Carbonic anhydrase 13 (CA13) were enriched in the carbonate dehydratase activity, and high-expressed in mandibular condyle and osteoblasts (P< 0.05). However, both were low-expressed in short mandibular condyle side of affected birds (P< 0.05). The carbonate dehydratase inhibitor experiments confirmed that there is positive association between the calcification and carbonic anhydrase isoenzymes. Quantitative analysis with cetylpyridinium chloride showed a decrease in calcification when the cells were transfected with an anti-CA13 shRNA. Our research suggested that CA2and CA13are down-calcified in short-side mandibular condyle, and caused mandibular ramus to grow slowly. CA2and CA13have the critical role in crossed beaks by regulating calcification of mandibular condyle.

Mikania micranthais a fast-growing global invasive weed species that causes severe damage to natural ecosystems and very large economic losses of forest and crop production. It has advantages in photosynthesis, including a similar net photosynthetic rate as C4plants and a higher carbon fixation capacity. We used a combination of genomics and transcriptomics approaches to study the evolutionary mechanisms and circadian expression patterns of M. micrantha. In M. micrantha, 16 positive selection genes focused on photoreaction and utilization of photoassimilates. In different tissues, 98.1% of the genes associated with photoresponse had high expression in stems, and more than half of the genes of the C4cycle had higher expression in stems than in leaves. In stomatal opening and closing, 2 genes of carbonic anhydrase (CAs) had higher expression at 18:00 than at 8:00, and the slow anion channel 1 (SLAC1) and high-leaf-temperature 1 kinase (HT1) genes were expressed at low levels at 18:00. In addition, genes associated with photosynthesis had higher expression levels at 7:00 and 17:00. We hypothesized that M. micranthamay undergo photosynthesis in the stem and flower organs and that some stomata of the leaves were opening at night by CO2signals. In addition, its evolution may attenuate photoinhibition at high light intensities, and enhance more efficient of photosynthesis during low light intensity. And the tissue-specific photosynthetic types and different diurnal pattern of photosynthetic-related genes may contribute to its rapid colonization of new habitats of M. micrantha.

It is challenging and important to achieve high performance for an electrochemical CO2reduction reaction (eCO2RR) to yield CH4under neutral conditions. So far, most of the reported active sites for eCO2RR to yield CH4are single metal sites; the performances are far below the commercial requirements. Herein, we reported a nanosheet metal–organic layer in single-layer, namely, [Cu2(obpy)2] (Cuobpy-SL, Hobpy = 1H-[2,2′]bipyridinyl-6-one), possessing dicopper(I) sites for eCO2RR to yield CH4in a neutral aqueous solution. Detailed examination of Cuobpy-SLrevealed high performance for CH4production with a faradic efficiency of 82(1)% and a current density of ∼90 mA cm–2at −1.4 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE). No obvious degradation was observed over 100 h of continuous operation, representing a remarkable performance to date. Mechanism studies showed that compared with the conventional single-copper sites and completely exposed dicopper(I) sites, the dicopper(I) sites in the confined space formed by the molecular stacking have a strong affinity to key C1intermediates such as *CO, *CHO, and *CH2O to facilitate the CH4production, yet inhibiting C–C coupling.

The efficacy of chemotherapy is often reduced due to the chemotherapy resistance of tumor cells, which is usually caused by abnormal gene overexpression. Herein, multifunctional nanocomplexes (Que/siBCL2@BioMICs) were developed to deliver quercetin (Que) and BCL-2 siRNA (siBCL2) to synergistically inhibit tumor growth. The nanocomplexes were composed of an amphiphilic triblock copolymer of poly(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate–poly[2-(dimethylamino) ethyl acrylate]–polycaprolactone (PEGMA–PDMAEA–PCL) and 1,2-distearoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine-poly(ethylene glycol)-biotin (DSPE–PEG–biotin). Que was encapsulated into the cores through hydrophobic interactions, while negatively charged siBCL2 was loaded through electrostatic interactions. The nanocomplexes could effectively facilitate cellular uptake via biotin-mediated active targeting and cytosolic release of cargos by the “proton sponge effect” of PDMAEA. Que/siBCL2@BioMICs achieved enhanced cytotoxicity and anti-metastasis activity due to a synergistic effect of Que and siBCL2 in vitro. More importantly, superior anti-tumor efficacy was observed in orthotopic 4T1 tumor-bearing mice with reduced primary tumor burden and lung metastatic nodules, while no obvious side effects to major organs were observed. In conclusion, the biotin-targeted nanocomplexes with chemotherapeutic and nucleotide agent entrapment provide a promising strategy for efficient triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) therapy.

Organic anion transporting polypeptide 2B1 (OATP2B1), which is highly expressed in enterocytes and hepatocytes could be a key determinant for the intestinal absorption and hepatic uptake of its substrates, most of which are amphipathic organic anions. Tryptophan residues may possess a multitude of functions for a transport protein through aromatic interactions, such as maintaining the proper protein structure, guiding the depth of membrane insertion, or interacting directly with substrates. There are totally six tryptophan residues in OATP2B1. However, little is known about their role in the function and expression of OATP2B1. Our results show that, while W272, W276, and W277 located at the border of extracellular loop 3 and transmembrane domain 6 exhibit a moderate effect on the surface expression of OATP2B1, W611 located at the middle of transmembrane domain 11 plays a critical role in the function of OATP2B1. The tryptophan-to-alanine mutation of W611 changes the kinetic characteristics of OATP2B1-mediated estrone-3-sulfate (E3S) transport radically, from a monophasic saturation curve (with Kmand Vmaxvalues being of 7.1 ± 1.1 μM and 182 ± 7 pmol/normalized mg/min, respectively) to a linear curve. Replacing alanine with a phenylalanine will rescue most of OATP2B1’s function, suggesting that the aromatic side chain of residue 611 is very important. However, hydrogen-bond forming and positively charged groups at this position are not favorable. The important role of W611 is not substrate-dependent. Molecular modeling indicates that the side chain of W611 faces toward the substrate translocation pathway and might interact with substrates directly. Taken together, our findings reveal that W611 is critical for the function of OATP2B1.

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