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Cervical cancer is among the most common malignant tumors in women. The development of rapid screening techniques plays an important role in early screening for cancer treatment. We have developed an HPV screening method, which effectively combines the high-efficiency nucleic acid enrichment of chitosan-modified filter paper and the rapid visual detectability of colorimetric LAMP, along with the enhancement of the tolerance ability of the pH-sensitive LAMP reagent to acidic original samples, making the detection of HPV 16/18 easy to carry out and reliable, which is helpful for the epidemiological prevention and control strategies of HPV-induced cancer. This technique can simultaneously exhibit the “in situamplification” capability of chitosan-modified filter paper and the nontemperature cycle dependence of visual LAMP detection. Therefore, DNA extraction and amplification can be performed efficiently and quickly within a single reaction where all DNA is concentrated in the QF paper disc. By embedding amino-modified filter paper into the plastic chip, a simple and reliable disposable chip was prepared for rapid HPV16 and HPV18 detection from clinical endometrial samples, and the results were 100% consistent with clinical diagnosis. More importantly, even after the sample was diluted 100-fold, HPV16/18-infected cells could be accurately identified, showing the advantages of the system in early cancer screening. Moreover, for endometrial samples containing plenty of cells, the filter paper could be used to enrich cells by filtration, preventing the acidic fluid from impacting pH-induced colorimetric LAMP detection and realizing direct amplification for HPV identification without nucleic acid extraction. This easy-to-operate system that can analyze a wide range of samples will be suitable for routine on-site HPV screening, dramatically extending the applications and utility for rapid, near-patient nucleic acid testing.

The creep damage evolution of asphalt binder plays a significant role in investigating the formation mechanism of rutting. The rutting is the common distress at high temperatures for asphalt pavements. However, the reliability of existing creep damage parameters is under questioned, and these parameters cannot accurately illustrate the change of intrinsic microstructure for asphalt binder. In this paper, a new test protocol was given access to study the evolution of viscoelastic parameters during creep damage. It was completed by inserting the frequency sweep during creep test. The frequency sweep curve clusters were fitted by the generalized Kelvin-Voigt model for obtaining the change law of model parameters. Based on the change law and sensitivity analysis of model parameters, (E2+ E3)/2 was proposed as the creep damage variable. According to the curve of (E2+ E3)/2 versus loading time, two stages during the creep test could be identified: an approximate constant value in phase Ⅰ and a linear decrease in phase Ⅱ. Intrinsic differences about creep property of binders could be determined by this new proposed parameter. Above results not only ensure better understanding of the creep damage mechanism of binders, but also lay the theoretical foundation on predicting the anti-rutting performance of binders.

Foam stability plays an important role in the effect of blocking the odorous substances. Based on the characteristic of xanthan gum of enhancing foam stability and preventing foam from water drainage and coarsening, this paper investigated the half-life, foaming volume, viscosity, drainage curve, and bubble microstructure of foam filled with 0.1%, 0.2%, and 0.3% xanthan gum respectively, and further analyzed the correlation between xanthan gum dosage, viscosity of foam solution and foam stability. The effect of different stability foams on para-xylene was tested. The results showed that compared with no xanthan gum, the half-life of foam with 3% xanthan gum was extended from 1 to 61 h, the drainage time increased from 4.5 to 85 h, and the foaming coarsening rate slowed down 3 times. The addition of 0.3% xanthan gum reduced the peak value of the p-xylene dispersion by 83.7% and postponed the peak time by 6 times.

The presence of fluoride in the leaching solution of spent lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) can harm product purity and the environment and potentially lead to the corrosion of recycling equipment. However, the development of fluoride adsorbents face challenges due to their limited adsorption capacity. Herein, flaky porous Ce–La oxides adsorbent with high metal content, synthesized using ammonia as a complexing and precipitating agent in a continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR), are employed for fluoride removal. The maximum adsorption capacity of the Ce–La oxides adsorbent reaches up to 662.25 mg/g, greatly exceeding that of other reported adsorbents. Furthermore, the adsorbtent can be easily regenerated through desorption in NaOH solution in 0.5 h, with only an 8.4% decrease in adsorption capacity after four cycles. The F–concentration in the leaching solution of spent LiNixCoyMn1–x–yO2(NCM)-based batteries can be reduced from 336.5 to 0.6 mg/L by the Ce–La oxides adsorbent, meeting the requirements for the production of battery grade Ni/Co/Mn sulfate solution. These results demonstrate that Ce–La oxides adsorbent with superior fluoride adsorption performance can be produced via a straightforward method that is suitable for large-scale production.

As industrial advancements and population growth continue, environmental pollution has become an increasingly severe global concern. The discharge of both conventional and emergent refractory organic pollutants has led to an increasingly complex and diverse array of organic pollutants in water bodies. Photocatalysis is an environmentally friendly oxidation technology that holds significant promise for the degradation and mineralization of organic pollutants in wastewater. However, the practical application of photocatalysis is significantly limited by its low light utilization rate, challenging recovery process, and low quantum yield. To address these constraints, photocatalytic coupling technologies have emerged as a new approach. This review briefly discusses the mechanisms, research progress, and problems associated with photocatalysis for wastewater treatment. Subsequently, it provides an overview of research progress on technologies that couple photocatalysis with other water treatment technologies, and some typical research is highlighted to detail the advantages and mechanisms of various photocatalytic coupling technologies. Finally, the challenges and prospects for photocatalytic coupling technologies in wastewater treatment are presented. We hope this review will inspire more researchers to consider this important domain.

Charge transfer complexes (CTCs) based on self-assembled donor and acceptor molecules allow light absorption of significantly redshifted wavelengths to either the donor or acceptor. In this work, we demonstrate a CTC embedded in a hydrogen-bonded liquid crystal elastomer (LCE), which in itself is fully reformable and reprocessable. The LCE host acts as a gate, directing the self-assembly of the CTC. When hydrogen bonding is present, the CTC behaves as a near-infrared (NIR) dye allowing photothermal actuation of the LCE. The CTC can be disassembled in specific regions of the LCE film by disrupting the hydrogen bond interactions, allowing selective NIR heating and localized actuation of the films. The metastable non-CTC state may persist for weeks or can be recovered on demand by heat treatment. Besides the CTC variability, the capability of completely reforming the shape, color, and actuation mode of the LCE provides an interactive material with unprecedented application versatility.

The use of foam as a fluid for gas mobility control has become increasingly popular due to its effectiveness. However, the destabilization of aqueous foam by oil has led to a growing interest in nonaqueous foam. Despite this, there have been limited studies on the dynamic features of nonaqueous foam in fractures. In this study, we investigate the impact of roughness and fracture width on the flow behavior of non-aqueous foam using both microscopic visualization and macroscopic core flooding techniques. We also uncover the regeneration and regulation mechanisms of non-aqueous foam, while establishing a control group of aqueous foam for comparative purposes. Our experimental results show that as the roughness of the fracture increases, the pressure difference generated by both foams also increases, but decreases as the fracture width increases. Moreover, the optimal gas–liquid ratio for aqueous foam is 2:1, while that of nonaqueous foam is 1:2. Nonaqueous foam tends to be captured and deformed when transported through rough fracture surfaces. This deformation causes necking separation, which eventually leads to the generation of new foam. Furthermore, roughness anchors the foam, prolonging its stay in the fracture and increasing seepage resistance. The presence of kerosene in the fractured shale core reduces the stability of nonaqueous foam, as evidenced by a ∼23.3% decrease in differential pressure.

Enhanced Li+diffusion kinetics and energy storage are obtained due to the charge polarization for SiGe heterostructure, which renders superior rate capability and excellent cycling stability.

Although chromosomal mosaic embryos detected by trophectoderm (TE) biopsy offer healthy embryos available for transfer, high-resolution postnatal karyotyping and chromosome testing of the transferred embryos are insufficient. Here, we applied single-cell multi-omics sequencingfor seven infants with blastula chromosomal mosaicismdetected by TE biopsy. The chromosome ploidy was examined by single-cell genome analysis, with the cellular identity being identified by single-cell transcriptome analysis. A total of 1616 peripheral leukocytes from seven infants with embryonic chromosomal mosaicism and three control ones with euploid TE biopsy were analyzed. A small number of blood cells showed copy number alterations (CNAs) on seemingly random locations at a frequency of 0%−2.5% per infant. However, none of the cells showed CNAs that were the same as those of the corresponding TE biopsies. The blastula chromosomal mosaicism may be fully self-corrected, probably through the selective loss of the aneuploid cells during development, and the transferred embryos can be born as euploid infants without mosaic CNAs corresponding to the TE biopsies. The results provide a new reference for the evaluations of transferring chromosomal mosaic embryos in certain situations.

In view of the unclear cause of perfluorocarbons (PFCs) emission in the anode effect stage of aluminum electrolysis, the microscopic formation mechanism of PFCs was studied by density functional theory calculation and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). It is found that the discharge of fluorine containing anions ([F]−) on carbon anode first causes the substitution of C—H by C—F and further results in the saturation of aromatic C—C bonds, leading to the appearance of —CF3or —C2F5group through six-carbon-ring opening. Elimination of —CF3and —C2F5with F atom could be a likely mechanism of CF4and C2F6formation. XPS results confirm that different types of —CFxgroup can be formed on anode surface during electrolysis, and the possibility that [F]−discharges continuously at the C edge and finally forms different C—F bonds in quantum mechanical calculation was verified.

Taking advantage of the pentaethylene glycol (EO5) and deprotonation of EO5, a family of new structurally hexagonal bipyramidal Dy(III) complexes, [Dy(EO5)(2,6-dichloro-4-nitro-PhO)2](2,6-dichloro-4-nitro-PhO) (1), [Dy(EO5-BPh2)(2,6-dichloro-4-nitro-PhO)2] (2), and [Dy(EO5-BPh2)(2,6-dichloro-4-nitro-PhO)Cl] (3), were controbllably synthesized and structurally characterized. Magnetic measurements show that complex 1is a zero-field SIM and has an observable hysteresis opening up to 4 K. Conversely, only under extra magnetic field is slow magnetic relaxation observed in 2and 3. This considerable difference in the magnetic behavior is mainly caused by the change of the equatorial negative charge. Detailed ab initiocalculations further elucidate that the quantum tunneling is induced by the presence of equatorial negative charge, and the magnetic anisotropy depends on the axial ligands. This work demonstrates that the absence of the equatorial negative charge should also be considered in the rational design of promising single molecular magnets based on the oblate ions.

Type-I photodynamic therapy (PDT) with less oxygen consumption shows great potential for overcoming the vicious hypoxia typically observed in solid tumors. However, the development of type-I PDT is hindered by insufficient radical generation and the ambiguous design strategy of type-I photosensitizers (PSs). Therefore, developing highly efficient type-I PSs and unveiling their structure–function relationship are still urgent and challenging. Herein, we develop two phenanthro[9,10-d]imidazole derivatives (AQPO and AQPI) with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) characteristics and boost their reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation efficiency by reducing singlet–triplet splitting (ΔEST). Both AQPO and AQPI show ultrasmall ΔESTvalues of 0.09 and 0.12 eV, respectively. By incorporating electron-rich anisole, the categories of generated ROS by AIE PSs are changed from type-II (singlet oxygen, 1O2) to type-I (superoxide anion radical, O2•–and hydroxyl radical, •OH). We demonstrate that the assembled AQPO nanoparticles (NPs) achieve a 3.2- and 2.9-fold increase in the O2•–and •OH generation efficiencies, respectively, compared to those of AQPI NPs (without anisole) in water, whereas the 1O2generation efficiency of AQPO NPs is lower (0.4-fold) than that of AQPI NPs. The small ΔESTand anisole group endow AQPO with an excellent capacity for type-I ROS generation. In vitro and in vivo experiments show that AQPO NPs achieve an excellent hypoxia-overcoming PDT effect by efficiently eliminating tumor cells upon white light irradiation with good biosafety.

Increasing occurrence of intrinsically antimicrobial-resistant, human pathogens and the protective biofilm-mode in which they grow, dictates a need for the alternative control of infectious biofilms. Biofilm bacteria utilize dispersal mechanisms to detach parts of a biofilm as part of the biofilm life-cycle during times of nutrient scarcity or overpopulation. We here identify recent advances and future challenges in the development of dispersants as a new infection-control strategy. Deoxyribonuclease (DNase) and other extracellular enzymes can disrupt the extracellular matrix of a biofilm to cause dispersal. Also, a variety of small molecules, reactive oxygen species, nitric oxide releasing compounds, peptides and molecules regulating signaling pathways in biofilms have been described as dispersants. On their own, dispersants do not inhibit bacterial growth or kill bacterial pathogens. Both natural, as well as artificial dispersants, are unstable and hydrophobic which necessitate their encapsulation in smart nanocarriers, like pH-responsive micelles, liposomes or hydrogels. Depending on their composition, nanoparticles can also possess intrinsic dispersant properties. Bacteria dispersed from an infectious biofilm end up in the blood circulation where they are cleared by host immune cells. However, this sudden increase in bacterial concentration can also cause sepsis. Simultaneous antibiotic loading of nanoparticles with dispersant properties or combined administration of dispersants and antibiotics can counter this threat. Importantly, biofilm remaining after dispersant administration appears more susceptible to existing antibiotics. Being part of the natural biofilm life-cycle, no signs of "dispersant-resistance" have been observed. Dispersants are therewith promising for the control of infectious biofilms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work aims at understanding the features of the Sn grains from which whiskers preferentially grow. The growth behavior of Sn whiskers on a 50 μm thick hypereutectic Sn-Al alloy coating was observed in situ by mapping the grain orientations before and after aging using the electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) technique. Sn whiskers were found to grow preferentially from the (001) or near-(001) grains surrounded by the grains having perpendicular orientations, such as (100), (110) and (210). The compressive stress in the coating was heterogeneous, and the (001) grains exhibited the higher compressive stress close to the grain boundaries. The orientation relationship between α-Al phase and β-Sn phase was confirmed as (2 0 0) α-Al ‖ (2 0 0) β-Sn , [ 0 1 1 ¯ ] α-Al ‖ [ 0 0 1 ] β-Sn. The plane matching resulted in approximately 0.7 % misfit strain in β-Sn, which had little impact on the growth of whiskers. Dislocations pile-ups were found in the (001) grains and repulsed by the Sn oxide layer, giving the probability of cracking the oxide. Grain boundaries were found between the whisker and underneath grain. The dominant diffusion mode for early whisker growth was grain boundary diffusion aided by pipe diffusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective This retrospective study investigated the effects of uterine manipulator use during minimally invasive radical hysterectomy on prognosis in patients with cervical cancer.Methods We collected clinical data on 762 patients with stage IA2 to IIB cervical cancer who underwent radical hysterectomy and pelvic lymphadenectomy in Chinese PLA General Hospital from 2009 to 2019. Kaplan–Meier analysis and log-rank tests were used to compare the 5-year overall survival rates between patients treated with and without a uterine manipulator.Results Patient demographics did not differ between the two groups. In addition, the incidence of lymphovascular space invasion, tumor size, pathologic types, the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics stage, the histologic grade, and the rate of lymphatic metastases did not differ between the groups. Meanwhile, perioperative clinical indicators were similar in the groups. Furthermore, no significant differences in 5-year survival rates and survival curves were recorded between the groups among both all patients (84.5% vs. 85.6%) and early-stage patients (89.1% vs. 89.2%).Conclusions The use of uterine manipulators during minimally invasive radical hysterectomy for cervical cancer did not affect clinicopathological markers or increase the risk of death.

•IPI risk factors are associated with different genetic and tumor microenvironmental signatures in DLBCL.•Combining the IPI with multi-omics information may provide more precise treatment rationale for patients with DLBCL.

Nonobstructive azoospermia (NOA) is the leading cause of male infertility. Abnormal levels of transmembrane protein 225 (TMEM225), a testis-specific protein, have been found in patients with NOA, suggesting that TMEM225 plays an essential role in male fertility. Here, we generated a Tmem225knockout (KO) mouse model to explore the function and mechanism of TMEM225 in male reproduction. Male Tmem225KO mice were infertile. Surprisingly, Tmem225deletion did not affect spermatogenesis, but TMEM225-null sperm exhibited abnormalities during epididymal maturation, resulting in reduced sperm motility and an abnormal hairpin-loop configuration. Furthermore, proteomics analyses of cauda sperm revealed that signaling pathways related to mitochondrial function, the glycolytic pathway, and sperm flagellar morphology were abnormal in Tmem225 KO sperm, and spermatozoa lacking TMEM225 exhibited high reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels, reduced motility, and flagellar folding, leading to typical asthenospermia. These findings suggest that testicular TMEM225 may control the sperm maturation process by regulating the expression of proteins related to mitochondrial function, glycolysis, and sperm flagellar morphology in epididymal spermatozoa.

Background: Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) and Mycobacterium avium (MA) are intracellular parasitic bacteria. The biological characteristics of MA and MTB are very similar and need to be identified. Objective: The study aims to better understand how MTB survives in macrophages and the different pathogenic mechanisms of MTB and MA. Methods: The Tandem Mass Tag (TMT) and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LCMS/ MS) were used for analysis of the differentially expressed proteins in MTB-infected macrophages and MA-infected macrophages. Results: A total of 682 proteins were found to be differentially expressed in MTB-infected cells in comparison with MA-infected cells. Among these, 10 proteins (O60812, P06576, O43660-2, E9PL10, O00442, M0R050, Q9H8H0, Q9BSJ8, P41240 and Q8TD57-3) were down-regulated in MTB-infected cells, and M0R050, O00442, Q9H8H0, O60812 and O43660 are interactive proteins which participate in a multitude of cellular RNA processing. Conclusion: The five down-regulated proteins (M0R050, O00442, Q9H8H0, O60812 and O43660) might repress the synthesis of some resistant proteins in MTB-infected cells to promote MTB survival in macrophages.

The urgent need for large-scale, low-cost energy storage has driven a new wave of research focusing on innovative batteries. Due to the high capacity and the low-cost of elemental Al, aluminum-ion batteries (AIBs) are expected as promising candidates for future energy storage. However, further development of AIBs is restricted by the performance of existing carbon-based cathodes and metal chalcogenide cathode materials. In this work, we deposited polythiophene (Pth) on a graphene oxide (Pth@GO) composite and used it as an AIB cathode material. This Pth@GO composite possesses high exposure of Pth active sites, high conductivity, and high structure stability while providing a very high discharge capacity (up to 130 mAh g–1) and outstanding cyclic stability (maintaining above 100 mAh g–1after 4000 cycles). First principles calculations and experimental results show that the charge is stored on Pth@GO through an electrostatic attraction between AlCl4–and β-hydrogen (Cβ–H) sites in polythiophene.

Many small mammals engage in coprophagy, or the behavior of consuming feces, as a means to meet nutritional requirements when feeding on low-quality foods. In addition to nutritional benefits, coprophagy may also help herbivores retain necessary gut microbial diversity and function, which may have downstream physiological effects, such as maintaining energy balance and cognitive function. Here, we used collars to prevent Brandt’s vole (Lasiopodomys brandtii) from engaging in coprophagy and monitored changes in microbial community structure, energy metabolism, and cognitive performance. In this research, we found that coprophagy prevention decreased alpha diversity of the gut microbiota, and altered proportions of microbial taxa such as Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, and Oscillospira. Preventing coprophagy resulted in a reduced body mass, and increased food intake. Importantly, coprophagy prevention decreased vole cognitive behavior and altered levels of neurotransmitters in brain. Daily acetate administration was able to reverse some of the coprophagy prevention-induced changes in microbiota composition, metabolism, neurochemistry, and cognitive behavior. These findings identify the functional importance of coprophagy behavior and interactions between the gut microbiota, energy metabolism, and neurological function. Our results suggest that coprophagy contributes to stabilizing the gut microbiota, promoting microbial metabolism, maintaining host energy balance and, consequently, altering cognitive performance.

In a seminal work, Gozar et al.reported on the high-temperature interface superconductivity in bilayers of insulating La2CuO4and metallic La2−xSrxCuO4(x=0.45). An interesting question to address is how general and robust this interface superconductivity is. In the past, the cuprate bilayers were grown in a unique atomic-layer molecular beam epitaxy system, with a Sr doping range of x≤0.47, and the atomically flat interface was thought to be indispensable. Here, we have fabricated bilayers of La2CuO4and La2−xSrxCuO4by pulsed laser deposition. We have tried to extend the nominal doping range of Sr from the previous maximum of 0.47 to the present 1.70 (the nominal Sr content in the targets). X-ray diffraction result indicates that our La2−xSrxCuO4films with x≤0.60 have very high crystalline quality; but the film crystalline structure degrades gradually with further increasing x, and finally the structure is fully lost when xreaches 1.40 and higher. Although the film quality scatters dramatically, our experiments show that there exists superconductivity for bilayers in nearly the entire over-doped Sr range, except for a non-superconducting region at x∼0.80. These observations demonstrate that the interface superconductivity in copper oxides is very general and robust.

We developed a biodegradable photothermal therapeutic (PTT) agent, π-conjugated oligomer nanoparticles (F8-PEG NPs), for highly efficient cancer theranostics. By exploiting an oligomer with excellent near-infrared (NIR) absorption, the nanoparticles show a high photothermal conversion efficiency (PCE) up to 82%, surpassing those of reported inorganic and organic PTT agents. In addition, the oligomer nanoparticles show excellent photostability and good biodegradability. The F8-PEG NPs are also demonstrated to have excellent biosafety and PTT efficacy both in vitroand in vivo. This contribution not only proposes a promising oligomer-based PTT agent but also provides insight into developing highly efficient nanomaterials for cancer theranostics.

To address the problem of temperature rise and temperature difference of lithium-ion pouch battery modules, this paper proposes a battery thermal management system (BTMS) with honeycomb structure of a new hybrid liquid and phase change material (PCM). The open-circuit voltage (OCV), internal resistance, open-circuit voltage temperature derivative, specific heat capacity and thermal conductivity of the battery are obtained from the experiments. Comparing the three BTMSs of air cooling, PCM cooling and hybrid cooling, it is found that the cell temperature exceeds the operating temperature using the air cooling scheme, while the hybrid cooling of PCM cooling and hybrid cooling scheme can effectively control the maximum temperature of the cell. A hybrid cooling (LPCM) scheme is used to study the liquid flow rate and inlet temperature as variables. When the coolant flow rate is 0.06 m/s and the inlet temperature is 36 °C, the maximum temperature and maximum temperature difference of the cell are 42.3 °C and 4.3 °C, respectively, and the LPCM has the best thermal management performance. The results show that the BTMS numerical model can provide a reference for the design of PCM schemes using hybrid liquid cooling.

Because of their abnormal vasculature and the dense tumor extra-cellular matrix, solid tumors prevent the deep and uniform penetration of nanocarriers. Numerous studies have shown that nanocarriers with a positively charged surface exhibit enhanced tumor penetration. Therefore, a hypoxia responsive nanocarrier [responsive micelles (RMs)] was developed, which can gradually increase the positive surface charge by responding to hypoxia gradients, and eventually achieve deep penetration in tumors. The nanocarrier was composed of a poly(caprolactone) core and a mixed shell of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) and 4-nitrobenzyl chloroformate (NBCF)-modified polylysine (PLL). During the blood circulation, the NBCF-modified PLL was shielded by the PEG, which gave it the ability to inhibit its rapid removal by the immune system. After reaching the tumor, the hypoxia microenvironment triggered partial NBCF degradation that recovered the amine groups of PLL, leading to a remarkable change in the surface to a positively charged one that enabled the penetration of the nanocarrier into the tumor. As the nanocarrier penetrated into the interior of the tumor, the decrease in oxygen concentration led to the further degradation of the NBCF-modified PLL, resulting in the increase of the positive surface charge which further facilitated the deep penetration. The subsequent in vitroand in vivoexperiments certified that RM/doxorubicin had a better penetration ability and improved inhibition efficacy on tumor tissues, which demonstrated its potential application in cancer therapy.

Purpose: Decision theory holds that the ambiguity of decision information affects the choices of decision makers, who have the emotion of “ambiguity aversion” when making fuzzy decisions. The purpose of this paper is to explore the neural mechanism how the information ambiguity of different sales promotion strategies influences consumers’ purchasing decision. Design/methodology/approach: The paper uses the event-related potential (ERP) technique and experiment. Findings: Results indicate that the information ambiguity of sales promotion strategies did influence the purchasing decision of consumers, and there were significant differences in the amplitudes of brain wave P2, N2 and P3 when consumers encountered the sales promotions of different types (discounts and gift-giving). This reflects the difference in perceived risk, decision-making conflict and decision-making attitude. It means that compared with discounts, the perceived risk and difficulty increased while the decision-making confidence plunged when consumers were faced with gift-giving promotions. This finding gives an explanation on the neural level why consumers prefer discounts, rather gift-giving sales promotions. Practical implications: For the merchants to promote commodities online, it is suggested that the actual benefit from the sales promotion should be specified to reduce the ambiguity of sales promotion information. As the neuromarketing develops, merchants have obtained more effective approaches to study marketing strategies. Originality/value: One of the theoretical contributions this paper made is that the authors innovatively explored the consumer’s preference to online sales promotion strategies from the perspective of fuzzy decision. Second, the authors adopted the ERP technique to study the influence of the ambiguity of sales promotion information on the consumer’s purchasing behaviors. Third, this study provides an explanation for why consumers prefer the sales promotion type of discounts according to the neural mechanism of decision making.

In order to improve the cycling stability of silicon‑oxygen anode for high specific energy Li-ion cells, the effect of prelithiation current on the interfacial film of silicon‑oxygen anode is investigated in this paper. AFM and XPS results showed that the cell performance of 0.05C prelithiation was optimal, the negative electrode solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) film formation is more complete, the surface is uniform and flat, and the cell impedance is lower. The 350 Wh kg−1full cells of high nickel‑silicon carbon system are fabricated to test the effect of prelithiation at the different rates (0.02C, 0.05C, 0.08C, 0.1C) on the electrochemical performances of the cell. The results show that the cell with 0.05C prelithiation exhibit the best electrochemical performances. After 300 cycles at 1C, the capacity retention of 0.05C prelithium cells is still 86.5 %, which is 1.8 %, 3.5 %, and 3.7 % higher than that of prelithium cells using 0.02C, 0.08C, and 0.1C, respectively. Seemingly, suitable prelithiation current can optimize the film-forming properties of SEI film and improve the cycling stability of silicon‑oxygen high specific energy Li-ion cells.

We aimed to determine the most efficient quantitative parameters to establish a contrast‐enhanced ultrasound (US) assessment system for distinguishing between benign and malignant thyroid nodules. A total of 167 patients with thyroid solitary nodules had the diagnosis confirmed by surgery or fine‐needle aspiration. Quantitative contrast‐enhanced US indicators (time to peak, time from peak to one‐half, ascend slope, descend slope, peak intensity, and area under the curve [AUC]) were gathered in nodule and perinodule areas. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed. Receiver operating characteristic curves were generated. Sensitivities, specificities, and positive and negative predictive values were calculated to identify the best cutoff value. The univariate logistic regression model showed that the peak intensity, ascend slope, descend slope, and AUC were significant indicators for discriminating benign from malignant nodules under contrast‐enhanced US (P< .0001). For thyroid nodules, low peak intensity, ascend slope, and AUC and high descend slope values were significant indicators of malignancy. However, in perinodule areas, high peak intensity, ascend slope, and AUC and low descend slope values were significantly associated with malignancies. The cutoff values for the nodule peak intensity, ascend slope, descend slope, and AUC were 20.75, 0.91, −0.2, and 1818.23, respectively. The cutoff values for the ratios of the nodule versus perinodule peak intensity, ascend slope, descend slope, and AUC were 0.90, 0.95, 0.96, and 0.96. The nodule‐to‐perinodule peak intensity ratio showed the best diagnostic efficiency, with 80.41% sensitivity and 80.00% specificity. Quantitative contrast‐enhanced US indicators help discriminate benign from malignant thyroid nodules. The nodule‐to‐perinodule peak intensity ratio showed the best diagnostic efficiency.

The maximum correntropy criterion (MCC) demonstrates the inherent robustness to outliers in adaptive filtering. By employing the MCC based cost function in projection approximation subspace tracking (PAST) algorithm, the MCC-PAST algorithm is deduced and utilized for the subspace tracking under impulsive noise environments. To handle the fast varying subspaces circumstances, the variable forgetting factor (VFF) technique is developed and incorporated into the MCC-PAST algorithm. To assess the robustness of the proposed MCC-PAST with VFF algorithm, SαS processes are employed to comprehensively model different scenarios of impulsive noises. The simulation results show the proposed MCC-PAST algorithm with VFF performs better than the other two PAST algorithms developed for subspace tracking in impulsive noise environments, namely, the robust PAST algorithm and the robust Kalman filter based algorithm with variable number of measurements (KFVNM), especially when the noise is extremely impulsive or the GSNR (generalized signal to noise ratio) is relatively low. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By introducing correntropy as the robust statistics, a novel direction of arrival estimator for α -stable noise is proposed. In this method, the signal subspace is estimated by solving the correntropy based optimization problem under the maximum correntropy criterion. An optimal step size based iterative algorithm is developed and the convergence of it is proved. Comprehensive simulation results demonstrate that the proposed method is superior to several existing algorithms in terms of the probability of resolution and the estimation accuracy, especially in the highly impulsive noise environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By using a zinc ion-chelated polyethylenimine as electron injection layer, an inverted organic light-emitting device (OLED) was successfully prepared with an external quantum efficiency over 10% at a brightness of 45,610 cd m−2.The chelation between zinc ion and amine groups not only passivates polar amine groups, but also fuses separated electronic orbitals.The inverted OLED show an excellent air stability with an operating time of 541 h @ 1,000 cd m−2without any protection.

The Safety warning of battery packs can effectively prevent thermal runaway accidents in electric vehicles. The inconsistency evaluating of the battery pack accurately is a prerequisite for safety warning. In this work, the safety warning model for electric vehicles (EVs) power battery packs based on operational data is proposed, where the voltage, temperature, internal resistance, and electric quantity are extracted from accident vehicles over two years as the four factors for consistency evaluation of battery packs, and their changes during vehicle operation and before thermal runaway are analyzed. The Fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) and the entropy weighting method are used to assign weights to the four factors, and the weighting coefficients of the subjective and objective assignment methods are determined to ensure accurate assignment of weights through the game theory approach. Each factor is scored comprehensively using the weighted scoring criteria, and the consistency status of the battery pack is determined based on the scoring results. The lowest consistency score of the single battery can be discerned by analyzing the real accident vehicle data through the distribution cloud map. The results reveal that the evaluation system can accurately quantify the degree of inconsistency of battery packs and identify problematic single cells timely, which is able to provide a reference for safety warning in the electric vehicles field.

Using the differential game theory, we studied the investment problem on public libraries, and established the Leader-follower differential game model, which is between the governments and the private enterprises (social organization). By building the Hamiltonian solving the Stackelberg balanced optimal solutions in the main two game players when they choose their strategies. By adjusting the strategy of government and social utility’s coefficient of dynamic to increase the comprehensive social utility of libraries.

Potassium-ion batteries (PIBs) are emerging as a new hotspot of research in energy storage technology due to the resource abundance and low cost of potassium. However, the large size of K+results in a significant challenge for developing high-rate and long-life anode materials for PIBs. Herein, we proposed a freestanding anode material of carbon-coated V2O5nanosheets arranged vertically on carbon fibers (C@V2O5@CNFs) for potassium storage. The CNFs as the skeleton regulates the vertical alignment of V2O5nanosheets, thereby avoiding the self-agglomeration effectively. Moreover, the carbon coating layer not only stabilizes the structural integrity and further enhances the electrical conductivity of hybrid electrodes. Consequently, the C@V2O5@CNFs shows excellent reversible capacity and long-term cycle stability.

Compared with the normal energy meters which use the integrated measurement chip as the key component, the three-phase reference energy meter based on FPGA and ARM possesses the advantages of high precision. And compared with the energy meters which use DSP as the key part, it has the advantages of small volume and multi-parameter measurement. The design method of three-phase reference energy meter integrating FPGA with ARM is presented in this paper. And the individual miniaturization design are discussed, the key parts during the realization are also discussed. After that, two kinds of electric energy metrological algorithm which are digital differential and instantaneous IV are introduced according to the characteristic of the system, and the advantages and disadvantages of them are compared. All this work will provide powerful foundation for the engineering applications of design method.

The temperature field distribution is a most important part we pay close attention to when gas insulated bus is designed. In this paper, finite element method is employed to calculate the temperature rise of gas insulated bus based on fluid governing equation and heat conduction equation. The problem of convection heat transfer between fluid and solid is solved by multiple species transport technique which provides convenience for the calculation of convection heat transfer coefficient. The solution region includes SF6 gas, ambient air, conduct and tank whose electrical and thermal properties are dependent of temperature. Analysis result illustrates that the thermal field distribution is symmetrical, the lowest temperature is at the bottom of the tank, while the highest temperature is on the top of the conductor.

Complexes of cell-THPC-thiourea-ADP with Mg2+ have been prepared. The thermal stability and smoke suspension of the samples are determined by TG, DTA and cone calorimetry. Experimental data show that for the complexes of cell-THPC-thiourea-ADP with Mg2+, thermal decomposition temperatures are higher than those of cell-THPC-thiourea-ADP, which shows these metal ions can increase the thermal stability of cell-THPC-thiourea-ADP. The cone calorimetry data indicate that the metal ions greatly decrease the smoke, CO and CO2 generation of cell-THPC-thiourea-ADP, which can be used as smoke suppressants. However, there are no obvious effects for these metal ions on heat release of samples.

A novel cheap macromolecular intumescent flame retardants (Mn-MIFR), was synthesized. Epoxy resins (EP) were modified with Mn-MIFR to get the flame retardant EP, whose flammability and burning behavior were characterized by UL 94, limiting oxygen index (LOI), dilatation, char yield, smoke density rating (SDR) and maximum smoke density (MSD). The epoxy resins were obtained for the UL 94 V-0 rating at low Mn contents of 4.0 % get a LOI of 26.5% and char yield of 18.2%. Dilatation, SDR and MSD of EP/Mn-MIFR decreased. The degradation behavior of the EP/Mn-MIFR was studied by TG and EDX analysis. The experimental results exhibited that the initial decomposition temperature (IDT) was decreased, integral procedure decomposition temperature (IPDT) and amounts of Mn and P at the residue were increased.

An adjacent vertex distinguishing incidence coloring of graph of G is an incidence coloring of G such that no pair of adjacent vertices meets the same set of colors. We obtain the adjacent vertex distinguishing incidence chromatic number of the Cartesian product of triangular lattice and infinite path, and hexagonal lattice and infinite path.

Densified biomass pellets named as H/S-BPs were prepared from waste wood sawdust (S) in the presence of water hyacinth fiber (H) as solid bridge under room temperature and 6 MPa lower than in the previous study. Mechanical properties including relaxed density (ρr), resiliency (R), abrasion resistance (AR) and impact resistance index (IRI) were evaluated. Results showed that adding H greatly reduced negative effect of resiliency on the mechanical properties of H/S-BPs during storage. For example, H/S-BPs compressed at 6 MPa in an H/S mass ratio of 1 to 3 presented lower resiliency of 10% and higher relaxed density of 1.04 kg dm-3 than pellets without H fiber. This is due to the intertwining action of H fiber, what fabricates solid bridge, replacing the bonding creating by applying high pressure to resist the disruptive force caused by elastic recovery. Thus, compression of waste H and S in a mass ratio of 1 to 3 at room temperature under 6 MPa is a cost-effective process to produce densified sustainable bio-fuel pellet as well as dispose waste S and H, combining the economical and environmental benefits.

Cascade-reaction chemistry can generate reactive-oxygen-species that can be used for the eradication of infectious biofilms. However, suitable and sufficient oxygen sources are not always available near an infection site, while the reactive-oxygen-species generated are short-lived. Therefore, we developed a magnetic cascade-reaction container composed of mesoporous Fe3O4@SiO2nanoparticles containing glucose-oxidase and l-arginine for generation of reactive-oxygen-species. Glucose-oxidase was conjugated with APTES facilitating coupling to Fe3O4@SiO2nanoparticles and generation of H2O2from glucose. l-arginine was loaded into the nanoparticles to generate NO from the H2O2generated. Using an externally-applied magnetic field, cascade-reaction containers could be homogeneously distributed across the depth of an infectious biofilm. Cascade-reaction containers with coupled glucose-oxidase were effective in killing planktonic, Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Additional efficacy of the l-arginine based second cascade-reaction was only observed when H2O2as well as NO were generated in-biofilm. In vivoaccumulation of cascade-reaction containers inside abdominal Staphylococcus aureusbiofilms upon magnetic targeting was observed real-time in living mice through an implanted, intra-vital window. Moreover, vancomycin-resistant, abdominal S. aureusbiofilms could be eradicated consuming solely endogenous glucose, without any glucose addition. Herewith, a new, non-antibiotic-based infection-control strategy has been provided, constituting a welcome addendum to the shrinking clinical armamentarium to control antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections.

To explore the effect of surface charge properties of a photocatalyst on photocatalytic activity, quaternization TiO2particles with different alkyl chain lengths (CT-X/P25) are first synthesized to boost the photocatalytic activity. The effect of a quaternary ammonium group with different alkyl chain lengths on the photocatalytic activity of CT-X/P25 is investigated. Interestingly, the introduction of a quaternary ammonium group on CT-X/P25 not only contributes to improving the photodegradation efficiency of anionic dyes due to enhancing of adsorption capacity through electrostatic attraction, but also it can improve the photodegradation efficiency of cationic dyes. Therefore, there seems to be another factor affecting the photocatalytic activity. The results of photoelectric characterization show that the photogenerated charge separation of CT-X/P25 is greatly enhanced, which is beneficial to improve the photocatalytic activity. Simultaneously, the results show that the difference in the photocatalytic activity of CT-X/P25 is mainly related to the charge intensity of -N+(CH3)2- in the quaternary amine salt. According to X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, the charge intensity of -N+(CH3)2- in CT-X/P25 gradually increases with the increase in alkyl chain lengths, which is conducive to promoting photogenerated charge separation and improving the adsorption for anionic dyes. The photocatalytic activity has been further enhanced due to the enhancement of this synergy. In summary, the quaternary ammonium salt-modified CT-X/P25 shows an excellent synergistic effect on the process of photodegradation of anionic dyes: promoting photogenerated charge separation and adsorption.

Due to many of the clustering algorithms based on GAs suffer from degeneracy and are easy to fall in local optima, a novel dynamic genetic algorithm for clustering problems (DGA) is proposed. The algorithm adopted the variable length coding to represent individuals and processed the parallel crossover operation in the subpopulation with individuals of the same length, which allows the DGA algorithm clustering to explore the search space more effectively and can automatically obtain the proper number of clusters and the proper partition from a given data set; the algorithm used the dynamic crossover probability and adaptive mutation probability, which prevented the dynamic clustering algorithm from getting stuck at a local optimal solution. The clustering results in the experiments on three artificial data sets and two real-life data sets show that the DGA algorithm derives better performance and higher accuracy on clustering problems.

Segmentation is generally an important prior process to automatic analysis of heart sounds. The proposed algorithm achieved this in separated cycles. First, the cyclostationary envelopes of heart sound signals are calculated. Second, a threshold is chosen to separate S1 and S2. The segmentation is automatic, and robust to noise. It can identify S1 and S2 correctly even under the circumstance of noise and interference. No reference signal is needed for this segmentation. It was tested by the heart sounds of 20 subjects including 15 normal and 5 abnormal in various clinical cases (715 cycles in total). The statistics showed over 96 percent correctness for segmentation.

Acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) imaging is a new elastography method for the evaluation of tissue stiffness. This study aims to evaluate the performance of ARFI in noninvasive assessment of the tissue stiffness of focal liver lesion (FLL) and to explore its potential value in the differential diagnosis of FLL.

This paper makes use of knowledge granular to present a new method to mine rules based on granule. First, use the measure to measure the importance of attribute, and get the granularity of the universe, and then repeat this procedure to every granule of the granularity, until the decision attribute has only one value for all granules, then we will describe every granule to get the rule. The analysis of the algorithm and the experiment show that the method presented is effective and reliable.Classification rules is the main target of association rule,decision tree and rough sets.a new algorithm to mine classification rules based on the importance of attribute value supported.this algorithm views the importance as the number of tuple pair that can be discernible by it,and the rules obtained from the constructed decision tree is equivalent to those obtained from ID3,which can be proved by the idea of rule fusion.however, this method is of low computation,and is more suitable to large database . rough sets is a techniques applied to data mining problems. This paper presents a new method to extract efficiently classification rules from decision table. The new model uses rough set theory to help in decreasing the computational effort needed for building decision tree by using what is called reduct algorithm and a rules set (knowledge) is generated from the decision table. reliable classifier architecture is obtained and its effectiveness is verified by the experiments comparing with traditional rough set approaches. Data mining research has made much effort to apply various mining algorithms efficiently on large databases.

Wetland is the important part in urban ecosystem. Microorganisms is integral component of urban wetland ecosystem is the main factor of wetlands sewage treatment, and plays an irreplaceable role in the degradation. In this paper, the authors regard urban wetland of Harbin in north shore of Songhua river as the research object, through experiments to identify the microorganisms types, finding five microorganisms types being nitrify fungi. The article analyzes the contributions of microorganisms in nitrogen cycle of urban wetland. It is present that microorganisms plays an irreplaceable role in controlling pollutions and nitrification and anti-nitrification reactions play the most significant role in the degradation of nitrogen compounds and ammonium oxidation is a possible process in deducing nitrogen pollutions.

North shore of Songhua river is the major development zone in carrying out the program of enlarging urban areas along river regions in Harbin. In this paper, the authors regard urban wetland of Harbin in north shore of Songhua river as the research object, B-P artificial neural network is applied to build the assessment model of the eco-environmental quality. The authors take 6 factors for samples to be evaluated, the well –trained network is used to assess eco-environmental quality, The overall evaluation result being indicates that overall ecological environment mass of wetland in north shore of Songhua river is with difficulty qualified (0.6116), and by investigation and analysis, it turns out that the assessing results accord well with the actual situation, and provides the theory basis for the urban wetland healthy development. At the same time, applying artificial neural network model to wetland ecological environment quality evaluation, specifically for different ecosystem increasing network secret node or lays numbers come rise neural networks learning ability and train effect.

Multi-user detection (MUD) is used to control multiple access interference (MAI) and promote system performance and capacity, which is one of the key technology for CDMA system. Independent component analysis (ICA) aims to recover a set of unknown mutually independent source signals from theirs observed mixtures without knowledge of the mixing coefficients. FastICA, one of the ICA methods, has been successfully applied in various fields. But the classical FastICA does not converge quickly. In multi-user detection of direct sequence code division multiple access (DS-CDMA) system, we proposes an Improved-FastICA algorithm to reduce multiple access interference (MAI). The improved-FastICA algorithm uses a new Fifth-order Newton iterative method to estimate the negentropy. The experimental results show that the improved algorithm has the advantages of smaller bit error rate than traditional algorithm. The Improved-FastICA is more suitable for applications in DS-CDMA system.

Ultrasonic technology was applied for phenolic compounds extraction from the Pinus koraiensis bark （PKB） and response surface methodology (RSM) was used to optimize the effects of processing parameters on phenolic compounds yields. When ultrasonic power 160W,three independent variables were ultrasonic extraction time (X1 20-40min), ratio of water to raw material (X2 1:20-1:40 g/mL)and ethanol concentration(X3 20％-60％), respectively.The optimal extraction conditions of phenolic compounds were determined as follows: Ultrasonic extraction time 30.61 min, ratio of water to raw material 30.79 mL/g and ethanol concentration 42.2%. Under these conditions, the experimental yield of phenolic compounds was 8.2409 ± 0.0648‰, well matched with the predicted models with the coefficients of determination (R2) of 0.9920, which was agreed closely with the predicted value (8.2963‰).