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In this letter, a single-layer differentially fed filtenna with controllable radiation nulls by utilizing a substrate substrate-integrated waveguide (SIW) cavity and two patches are presented. The filtenna features a simple geometry and consists of a SIW cavity, two square patches, and a couple of complementary split ring resonators (CSRRs). The two patches, resonating at their TM10 modes, are both collaborating with the SIW cavity, resonating at its TE210 mode, which empowers the antenna enhancements of both impedance bandwidth and gain values. By this arrangement, a radiation null is generated at the upper edge of the operating passband due to the establishment of the cross-coupling pathway. In order to further improve the frequency selectivity, a couple of CSRRs are etched around the feeding ports. And the second radiation null is generated to sharpen the roll-off rate. These two radiation nulls can be flexibly adjusted through tuning the geometric parameters. To verify the design, the developed differentially fed filtenna prototype is fabricated and measured. The measurement results exhibit a good agreement with the simulated ones, showing a fractional impedance bandwidth of 9% (4.66–5.1 GHz) and a maximum in-band realized gain of 7.7 dBi. The developed filtenna also shows excellent frequency selectivity owing to controllable radiation nulls, high common-mode suppression, and low cross-polarization levels.

Aiming at asymmetrical winding (ASW) layouts design for fractional-slot permanent magnet synchronous machine (PMSM), this article improves the conventional star-of-slot theory and proposes an effective design method of fractional-slot ASW layouts for various slot-pole combinations. In the design process, the proposed method considers the characteristic components of air-gap field time–space harmonics and the harmonic characteristic of unbalanced magnetic force (UMF). It can be used to investigate the design principles of ASW layout with a lower UMF through extracting and analyzing force vectors produced by air-gap field time–space harmonics that mainly contribute to UMF. Finally, two 39-slot and 12-pole surface-mounted PMSMs with different winding layouts are manufactured and tested. Both finite-element analysis and experimental results confirm the effectiveness of the proposed design method for double-layer ASW structures.

Signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) plays an important role in the occurrence and progression of tumors, leading to resistance and poor prognosis. Activation of STAT3 signaling is frequently detected in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but potent and less toxic STAT3 inhibitors have not been discovered. Here, based on antisense technology, we designed a series of stabilized modified antisense oligonucleotides targeting STAT3 mRNA (STAT3 ASOs). Treatment with STAT3 ASOs decreased the STAT3 mRNA and protein levels in HCC cells. STAT3 ASOs significantly inhibited the proliferation, survival, migration, and invasion of cancer cells by specifically perturbing STAT3 signaling. Treatment with STAT3 ASOs decreased the tumor burden in an HCC xenograft model. Moreover, aberrant STAT3 signaling activation is one of multiple signaling pathways involved in sorafenib resistance in HCC. STAT3 ASOs effectively sensitized resistant HCC cell lines to sorafenib in vitro and improved the inhibitory potency of sorafenib in a resistant HCC xenograft model. The developed STAT3 ASOs enrich the tools capable of targeting STAT3 and modulating STAT3 activity, serve as a promising strategy for treating HCC and other STAT3-addicted tumors, and alleviate the acquired resistance to sorafenib in HCC patients.

• The macro- and micromechanical responses and martensite transformation of as-printed and aged maraging steel were determined by in situ high-energy X-ray diffraction (HE-XRD) technique with uniaxial tensile tests. • The aged maraging steel has higher critical martensitic transformation stress attributed to the stabilization of austenite induced by aging treatment. • The austenite grains orientated with [200]//LD yield before the macro-yielding and preferential martensite transformation occurs. The microstructure evolution and micromechanical behaviors of additively manufactured 18Ni300 maraging steel for both as-printed and aged one were investigated using the in situ high-energy X-ray diffraction (HE-XRD) technique with uniaxial tensile tests. The investigations revealed that the volume fraction of reversed austenite increased as the annealing temperature rose. The maraging steel was strengthened by η-Ni 3 Ti precipitates, where the aged maraging steel had a higher UTS value of ∼1860 MPa than ∼1135 MPa in the as-printed one, but sacrificed more than half of ductility (from ∼8.6 % to ∼4.0 %). The austenite in aged steel presents more stability induced by the aging process than that in as-printed counterpart, which has a higher critical martensitic transformation stress of ∼1200 MPa than that of ∼780 MPa in as-printed steel. The austenite grains orientated with [200]//LD yield before the macro-yielding and preferential martensite transformation occurs. This study provides further insight into the intricated micromechanical responses of additively manufactured 18Ni300 maraging steel, enlarging the scope of its adaptation and application. Lattice strain evolution of the martensite and austenite in the as-printed specimen. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigating novel nonlinear optical (NLO) active units serves as a valuable method for broadening the research landscape of NLO materials. This study showcases the potential of the cytosinium cation (C4H6N3O)+as a novel NLO-active motif through theoretical calculations. The title compound exhibited a wide band gap of 3.85 eV, along with a moderate second harmonic generation (SHG) response of 1.65 times that of KH2PO4(KDP) and significant birefringence of 0.47. Its exceptional optical properties are primarily attributed to the synergy interaction between cations and anionic groups in the asymmetric unit.

Energy transfer between atoms and molecules is fundamental to many physical and chemical processes, and understanding the mechanisms and outcomes of energy transfer is crucial for various applications in physics and chemistry. Here, the rovibrational excitation of YO(X 2Σ+) molecules with the collision of Kr and Ne has been studied in the laser-ablation crossed beam and time-sliced ion velocity map imaging setup in combination with the resonance enhanced multiphoton ionization scheme. Significant changes in the angular distribution for different rovibrational excitations of YO molecules are observed with the collision of Kr. The sharp forward distribution for low rovibrational excitation of YO(v′ = 0, 1) molecules suggest that the weak attractive potential between Kr and YO is dominant at large impact parameters. Comparatively, the strong sideway distribution for highly rovibrationally excited YO(v′ = 1, 2, 3, and 5) is due to rainbow scattering from the stronger attractive potential of Kr···YO at relatively small impact parameters. The more isotropic angular distribution in the highly rovibrationally excited YO(v′ = 11) indicates the formation of a short-lived complex. A change in the angular distribution of scattered YO with different rovibrational excitations was also observed in the collisions of Ne. For YO as a heteronuclear diatomic molecule, collisions of the Y- and the O-end of YO with rare gases would affect the contribution of inelastic processes at different impact parameters.

Marine umbilical is one of the key equipment for subsea oil and gas exploitation, which is usually integrated by a great number of different functional components with multi-layers. The layout of these components directly affects manufacturing, operation and storage performances of the umbilical. For the multi-layer cross-sectional layout design of the umbilical, a quantifiable multi-objective optimization model is established according to the operation and storage requirements. Considering the manufacturing factors, the multi-layering strategy based on contact point identification is introduced for a great number of functional components. Then, the GA-GLM global optimization algorithm is proposed combining the genetic algorithm and the generalized multiplier method, and the selection operator of the genetic algorithm is improved based on the steepest descent method. Genetic algorithm is used to find the optimal solution in the global space, which can converge from any initial layout to the feasible layout solution. The feasible layout solution is taken as the initial value of the generalized multiplier method for fast and accurate solution. Finally, taking umbilicals with a great number of components as examples, the results show that the cross-sectional performance of the umbilical obtained by optimization algorithm is better and the solution efficiency is higher. Meanwhile, the multi-layering strategy is effective and feasible. The design method proposed in this paper can quickly obtain the optimal multi-layer cross-sectional layout, which replaces the manual design, and provides useful reference and guidance for the umbilical industry.

An efficient synthetic method for constructing 2,3- and 2,4-disubstituted pyrimidio[1,2-b]indazole skeletons through I2-DMSO-mediated and substrate-controlled regioselective [4 + 2] cyclization is reported. The reaction conditions are mild, its operation is simple, and the substrate scope is wide. More than 60 pyrimidio[1,2-b]indazole derivatives have been synthesized, providing a new methodology for constructing related molecules and potentially enriching bioactive-molecule libraries.

We herein report an unprecedented organic–inorganic hybrid borate incorporating a novel nonlinear-optical (NLO) active unit, namely, [C(NH2)3][B(C2O2H4)2]. The novel NLO active unit was derived from the condensation reaction between two glycol molecules and one (BO4)5–group. The title compound exhibits a moderate second-harmonic-generation effect (0.7 × KDP), a significant band gap (5.76 eV), and a suitable birefringence (0.078 at 550 nm). The optical properties are determined by the synergistic interaction between the C(NH2)3+cation and the [B(C2O2H4)2]-group, as indicated by theoretical calculations.

Precipitation hardening serves as a viable mechanism to enhance the strength of high/medium entropy alloys (H/MEAs). The nature of precipitates in HEAs varies based on the composition of multiple principal elements. In order to further enhance the performance of HEAs across different applications, it becomes imperative to exercise control over phase synthesis and suppress the precipitation of detrimental phases. In this investigation, we propose a strategy for regulating the precipitation of the second phase in (Co, Cr)58Ni30Mo6Al6(Co/Cr ratio = 1, 1.5, 2, 3) HEAs. Through precise adjustment of atomic ratios, the detrimental σ and μ phases are effectively restrained, while coherent nanoprecipitates are achieved through subsequent aging treatment. These fine nanoscale coherent phases alter the mode of dislocation slip, transforming planar slip into cross-slip, thereby providing a novel mechanism for the strengthening of the alloy. This controlled elimination and precipitation of phase contributes to a hierarchical improvement in the mechanical tensile properties. The aged HEA exhibits exceptional characteristics, including a strength of 1.3 GPa and 31% plasticity at 298 K (1.67 GPa and 40% at 77 K).

The construction of quaternary carbon centers via C–C coupling protocols remains challenging. The coupling of tertiary C(sp3) with secondary or tertiary C(sp3) counterparts has been hindered by pronounced steric clashes and many side reactions. Herein, we have successfully developed a type of bisphosphine ligand iron complex-catalyzed coupling reactions of tertiary alkyl halides with secondary alkyl zinc reagents and efficiently realized the coupling reaction between tertiary C(sp3) and secondary C(sp3) with high selectivity for the initial instance, which provided an efficient method for the construction of quaternary carbon centers with high steric hindrance. The combination of an iron catalyst and directing group of the substrate makes the great challenging transformation possible.

The key to searching novel nonlinear optical (NLO) crystals was effectively combining the NLO-active units to obtain a noncentrosymmetric structure. Nevertheless, the present predicament lies in the growing challenge of discovering novel crystals within conventional inorganic frameworks that surpass the properties of the current NLO materials. In view of this, researchers expanded their research focus to the organic–inorganic hybridization system; it is foreseeable to concentrate the advantages from several kinds of NLO-active units to acquire novel NLO crystals with superior properties. We herein report an organic–inorganic hybrid molybdate crystal, namely, [C(NH2)3]6Mo7O24(GMO). It was successfully obtained via combining inorganic NLO-active MoO6octahedra and organic π-conjugated [C(NH2)3]+groups. GMO demonstrates a moderate second-harmonic-generation response, specifically measuring about 1.3 times the value of KDP. Additionally, it exhibits a significant birefringence value of 0.203 at the wavelength of 550 nm and possesses a wide band gap of 3.31 eV. Theoretical calculations suggest that the optical properties of the GMO are primarily influenced by the synergy effect of [C(NH2)3]+groups between MoO6octahedra.

Background: Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a neuromuscular disorder that affects ambulatory function. Quantitative ultrasound (QUS) imaging, utilizing envelope statistics, has proven effective in diagnosing DMD. Radiomics enables the extraction of detailed features from QUS images. This study further proposes a hybrid QUS radiomics and explores its value in characterizing DMD. Methods: Patients (n = 85) underwent ultrasound examinations of gastrocnemius through Nakagami, homodyned K (HK), and information entropy imaging. The hybrid QUS radiomics extracted, selected, and integrated the retained features derived from each QUS image for classification of ambulatory function using support vector machine. Nested five fold cross-validation of the data was conducted, with the rotational process repeated 50 times. The performance was assessed by averaging the areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC). Results: Radiomics enhanced the average AUROC of B-scan, Nakagami, HK, and entropy imaging to 0.790, 0.911, 0.869, and 0.890, respectively. By contrast, the hybrid QUS radiomics using HK and entropy images for diagnosing ambulatory function in DMD patients achieved a superior average AUROC of 0.971 (p < 0.001 compared with conventional radiomics analysis). Conclusions: The proposed hybrid QUS radiomics incorporates microstructure-related backscattering information from various envelope statistics models to effectively enhance the performance of DMD assessment.

The registration of unitary-modality geometric data has been successfully explored over past decades. However, existing approaches typically struggle to handle cross-modality data due to the intrinsic difference between different models. To address this problem, in this article, we formulate the cross-modality registration problem as a consistent clustering process. First, we study the structure similarity between different modalities based on an adaptive fuzzy shape clustering, from which a coarse alignment is successfully operated. Then, we optimize the result using fuzzy clustering consistently, in which the source and target models are formulated as clustering memberships and centroids, respectively. This optimization casts new insight into point set registration, and substantially improves the robustness against outliers. Additionally, we investigate the effect of fuzzier in fuzzy clustering on the cross-modality registration problem, from which we theoretically prove that the classical Iterative Closest Point (ICP) algorithm is a special case of our newly defined objective function. Comprehensive experiments and analysis are conducted on both synthetic and real-world cross-modality datasets. Qualitative and quantitative results demonstrate that our method outperforms state-of-the-art approaches with higher accuracy and robustness. Our code is publicly available at https://github.com/zikai1/CrossModReg.

Vehicular communication and sensing technologies are key to enabling 6G Intelligent Autonomous Transportation Systems (IATS). With the introduction of massive sensors and artificial intelligence (AI) fusion applications, IATS is needed to support data transmission rates up to 10 Gb/s. Millimeter-wave (mmWave) technology has attracted extensive attention owing to abundant spectrum resources, which can support the timely transmission of massive data. However, performance degradation of mmWave due to signal blockage has become one of the critical technical challenges. Road bridges as one of the common obstacles in urban scenarios, which has severe blockage effects on communication links. Therefore, this paper comprehensively studies the impact of road bridge blockage effects on mmWave vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) links and proposes an empirical model that can accurately characterize the bridge blockage effect. First, we use a self-developed mmWave channel sounder to carry out channel measurements on typical urban roads. Measurement results indicate that a maximum extra propagation loss of up to 23 dB is caused by road bridges. In addition, to address the deficiencies of existing propagation prediction models, the Single Road Bridge (SRB) model is proposed in this work. This model reveals for the first time the extra propagation loss caused by the road bridge to the channel. Compared with existing models, the SRB model can make the mean absolute error (MAE) and root mean square error (RMSE) within 5 dB. The proposed SRB model is of great value for accurately simulating real-world road bridge blockage events when designing future IATS.

Background: Sarcopenia is among the most common musculoskeletal illnesses, yet its underlying biochemical mechanisms remain incompletely understood. Identifying the relationship of inflammatory cytokines with sarcopenia components would help understand the etiology of sarcopenia. We performed a bi-directional Mendelian randomization study to explore the causal relationship between 41 inflammatory cytokines and sarcopenia-related traits. Methods: The study was performed in two stages using bidirectional dual-sample Mendelian randomization. We obtained aggregated statistical data on inflammatory factors, low grip strength, and ALM from genome-wide association studies. To explore the causal association between exposure and outcomes, we primarily utilized the inverse variance weighted strategy. Furthermore, we conducted sensitivity analyses through the use of Mendelian randomization (MR) Egger, weighted median and simple mode methods. To evaluate robustness of the results and to identify and adjust for horizontal pleiotropy, we performed the MR Pleiotropy RESidual Sum and Outlier test, the MR Egger intercept test, and a leave-one-out analysis. Results: The results displayed a potential association between interleukin-10 (OR: 1.046, 95% CI: 1.002–1.093, p= 0.042) and vascular endothelial growth factor (OR: 1.024, 95% CI: 1.001–1.047, p= 0.038) and the risk of low hand-grip strength. Moreover, interferon gamma-induced protein 10 (OR: 1.010, 95% CI: 1.000–1.019, p= 0.042) and macrophage colony-stimulating factor (OR: 1.010, 95% CI: 1.003–1.017, p= 0.003) were significantly linked to a higher risk of ALM. Conclusion: We identified a causal relationship between multiple inflammatory factors and sarcopenia-related traits. Our study offers valuable insights into innovative methods for the sarcopenia prevention and treatment by regulating inflammatory factors.

With the emergence of novel variants, Omicron variant caused a different clinical picture than the previous variants and little evidence was reported regarding perioperative outcomes after Omicron variants. The aim of the study was to evaluate the postoperative outcomes of gastrointestinal cancer patients following Omicron variants infection and also to determine the timing of surgery after infection recovery. A total of 124 patients who underwent gastrointestinal cancer surgery with prior SARS-CoV-2 infection between December 2022 and February 2023 were retrospectively reviewed. 174 cases underwent the same operation during December 2018 and February 2019 as control group. SARS-CoV-2-infected patients were further categorized into three groups based on infected time (1–3 weeks; 4–6 weeks; and ≥ 7 weeks). 90.3% of SARS-CoV-2-infected patients had mild symptoms. The COVID-19 vaccination rate was 71.0%, with a full vaccination rate of 48.4%. There were no significant differences in 30-day morbidity and mortality. There was also no significant difference in pulmonary complications, cardiovascular complications, and surgical complications between the three different diagnosis time groups. In conclusion, reducing waiting time for elective surgery was safe for gastrointestinal cancer patients in the context of an increased transmissibility and milder illness severity with Omicron variant.

Emerging GaN high electron mobility transistors have become a popular choice in high-efficiency, high-speed power circuits, owing to superb switching figure of merits. However, as a new type of power devices, aging/failure mechanisms of such are far less studied than silicon counterparts, making reliability one of the most formidable obstacles towards mass production. To mitigate this, device online condition monitoring is highly desirable, in which dynamic on-resistance, dRON, is popularly employed as an aging precursor. However, continuous and drastic changes of operation condition and switching dynamics make it highly challenging to measure dRON online accurately. To address such, this article introduces an integrated dRON full profile scan and offset calibration approach that allows GaN power devices to be monitored online without interrupting normal operation of device under test (DUT), making it a desirable plug-and-play solution to virtually all GaN-based power circuits. To facilitate superior speed and low-power performance, this article is implemented on a highly silicon- and power-efficient integrated circuit, which calibrates random offsets and sensing errors automatically to ensure condition monitoring accuracy. Demonstrated in a half-bridge GaN-based power converter, where the gate drivers and the feedback controller are fully integrated on a 180-nm high voltage bipolar-CMOS-DMOS (BCD) process, the proposed online condition monitoring solution consumes only 1.1 mW power and 0.3 mm2 chip area, which account for 0.077% power and 4.8% chip overhead, respectively. It reduces offset and parasitic induced sensing errors by 13.6%.

SiC MOSFETs are increasingly used in various power electronic converters due to their low switching losses, high operating frequency and high power applicability. The crosstalk phenomenon which will lead shoot-through in bridge-leg configuration and overvoltage breakdown of the device is more serious due to the high switching speed characteristics. In this paper, a smart self-driving crosstalk suppression gate driver is proposed based on the resistor–capacitor–diode (RCD) level shifter circuit for SiC MOSFETs, in which a low impedance branch of Miller clamping circuit is provided for the crosstalk current. In addition, no extra control signal is required which does not increase the complexity of the driver circuit. Then, by modeling the equivalent circuit of the proposed gate driver, the quantization relationship between the clamping capacitor and the crosstalk voltage is derived. Finally, a double-pulse test platform is built to verify the effectiveness of the proposed gate driver under different clamping capacitors, input voltage and load current conditions. The experimental results show that the proposed gate driver can suppress the crosstalk voltage effectively. Meanwhile, the switching loss is reduced by a maximum of 16.6% by using the designed clamping capacitor under 600 V/20 A, while ensuring the switching speed.

The operating speed of the commercial electromagnetic suspension (EMS) maglev train has been over 430 km/h, making it the fastest means of land transportation. With the increasing demands of people traveling, it is necessary to further improve the operating speed of maglev trains. Aiming to examine whether the existing EMS system can meet the requirements of ultra-high-speed operation (more than 600 km/h), the electromagnetic characteristics of an EMS linear motor under the operating speed of 600–1000 km/h fed by a square-wave voltage supply is investigated in this article. First, an electromagnetic field model of the EMS system under the square-wave voltage supply is established to investigate its electromagnetic performance, e.g., the characteristics of phase current, the magnetic flux density, and the electromagnetic force. Second, the relationship between the harmonic components of the air-gap magnetic flux density and electromagnetic force is investigated using the two-dimensional fast Fourier transform (2D-FFT) to reveal the mechanism of electromagnetic force ripple. Third, to address the issues of excessive armature current density and significant electromagnetic force ripple, the linear motor is re-designed by enlarging the stator slot area and reshaping the mover’s main magnetic poles. Furthermore, the Taguchi method is used to further improve the electromagnetic characteristics of the linear electric motor. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed optimal design is validated by the finite-element analysis (FEA) based co-simulation.

We obtain rates of contraction of posterior distributions in inverse problems with discrete observations. In a general setting of smoothness scales we derive abstract results for general priors, with contraction rates determined by discrete Galerkin approximation. The rate depends on the amount of prior concentration near the true function and the prior mass of functions with inferior Galerkin approximation. We apply the general result to non-conjugate series priors, showing that these priors give near optimal and adaptive recovery in some generality, Gaussian priors, and mixtures of Gaussian priors, where the latter are also shown to be near optimal and adaptive.

ABSTRACT Hollow fiber containing rejuvenator is a promising smart material for vascular self-healing bituminous materials of pavement. The objective of this work was to experimentally observe the states of self-healing [...]

Illustration of electrothermal self-healing bituminous material using microcapsules containing rejuvenator with graphene/organic hybrid structure shells, (a-c) mechanism of self-healing bituminous material using microcapsules containing rejuvenator without graphene, (d-f) mechanism of [...]

Sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) suffer from limited ion diffusion and structural expansion, generating the urgent demand for Na+accommodable materials with promising architectures. In this work, the rational exploration for Co4S3nanoparticles confined in an MnS nanorod-grafted N, S-codoped carbon polyhedron (Co–Mn–S@N–S–C) is achieved by the in situ growth of MOF on MnO2nanorod along with the subsequent carbonization and sulfurization. Benefiting from the distinctive nanostructure, the Co–Mn–S@N–S–C anode delivers excellent structural stability, resulting in prolonged cycling stability with a capacity retention of 90.2% after 1000 cycles at 2 A g–1. Moreover, the reaction storage mechanism is clarified by the in situ X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) measurements. The results indicate that properly designed electrode materials have huge potential applications for highly efficient energy storage devices.

Regulator of chromosome condensation domain-containing protein 1 (RCCD1), previously reported as a partner of histone H3K36 demethylase KDM8 involved in chromosome segregation, has been identified as a potential driver for breast cancer in a recent transcriptome-wide association study. We report here that, unexpectedly, RCCD1 is also localized in mitochondria. We show that RCCD1 resides in the mitochondrial matrix, where it interacts with the mitochondrial contact site/cristae organizing system (MICOS) and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) to regulate mtDNA transcription, oxidative phosphorylation, and the production of reactive oxygen species. Interestingly, RCCD1 is upregulated under hypoxic conditions, leading to decreased generation of reactive oxygen species and alleviated apoptosis favoring cancer cell survival. We show that RCCD1 promotes breast cancer cell proliferation in vitro and accelerates breast tumor growth in vivo. Indeed, RCCD1 is overexpressed in breast carcinomas, and its level of expression is associated with aggressive breast cancer phenotypes and poor patient survival. Our study reveals an additional dimension of RCCD1 functionality in regulating mitochondrial homeostasis, whose dysregulation inflicts pathologic states such as breast cancer.

With perpetual electrification and highly dynamic operations, modern automotive ICs face unprecedented electromagnetic interference (EMI) challenges. To address such, this article presents a condition-adaptive $\Delta f^{3}$ EMI control for automotive power circuits, which coordinates integral spread-spectrum modulation (SSM) schemes to regulate EMI adaptively in response to drastic condition changes of input voltage $V_{\mathrm {IN}}$ and load current $I_{\mathrm {LOAD}}$ . Specifically, a $\Delta f_{\mathrm {SW,UP/DN}}$ spread control technique steers the $\Delta f_{\mathrm {SW}}$ spread direction according to $V_{\mathrm {IN}}$ , while a $\Delta f_{\mathrm {SW}}$ spread range modulation scheme adjusts the $\Delta f_{\mathrm {SW}}$ range according to $I_{\mathrm {LOAD}}$ . Meanwhile, a $\Delta f_{\mathrm {SW}}$ adaptive multi-rate (MR) SSM scheme prevents spectrum overlap spikes. With the three distinct $\Delta f_{\mathrm {SW}}$ -focused control modules working cohesively, we name the overall EMI control as the $\Delta f^{3}$ EMI control in this work. In addition, to avoid high-energy EMI from entering the audible frequency range, a modulation frequency $f_{M}$ envelope tracking scheme is also developed. Demonstrated in an automotive-use GaN switching power converter, this work was fabricated using a 180-nm HV BCD process. It auto-extends $\Delta f_{\mathrm {SW}}$ from 10% to 32% and reduces EMI by 17.2 dB to counteract $I_{\mathrm {LOAD}}$ elevation from 200 mA to 1 A. Meanwhile, it can down-spread $f_{\mathrm {SW}}$ adaptively by the MR-SSM with a 16.3 dB reduction in response to a $V_{\mathrm {IN}}$ increase from 12 V to 24 V without causing overlap spikes.

Spin–orbit coupling plays an important role in chemical reactivity, especially in reactions that require the change of electron spin states. However, it is difficult to measure and analyze the reaction dynamics between spin–orbit splitting states, particularly for splitting states with a small energy difference. In this study, we find that nonreactive scattering of spin–orbit splitting states can provide complementary information that is overlooked in chemical reaction studies. Here, the oxidation reactivities of spin–orbit Al(2P1/2,3/2) states with small energy difference of 112 cm–1are clearly distinguished in the high rotational AlO(v= 0 and 1, N) products at low collision energy of 507 cm–1using a laser ablation crossed-beam and time-sliced ion velocity mapping technique, in conjunction with state-selected nonreactive scattering studies. For both the AlO(v= 0 and 1) channels, the spin–orbit relative reactivity σ3/2/σ1/2increases with the increase of rotational level Nof AlO products. However, for AlO(v= 0), the reactivity of the Al(2P3/2) excited state is consistently lower than that of the Al(2P1/2) ground state, whereas for AlO(v= 1), the reactivity of Al(2P3/2) is higher than that of Al(2P1/2) at a higher rotational state. The relative reactivity of spin–orbit split Al(2P) states at different scattering angles shows a more pronounced enhancement of forward scattering relative to side and backward scattering for Al(2P3/2) when a higher rotationally excited AlO is produced. Nonreactive scattering studies of Al(2P) suggest that the Al(2P3/2) state is deexcited to the ground Al(2P1/2) state at the sideways and backward scattering directions, and the deexcitation is supposed to reduce the reactivity of the excited Al(2P3/2) at the corresponding direction.

This brief presents a wideband differential-fed filtering antenna with end-fire radiation characteristics. The proposed differential-fed end-fire filtering antenna consists of a $\lambda $ /4 stepped impedance slot, a dual-mode resonator, a pair of rectangular slots, a microstrip line, and a folded microstrip line. The $\lambda $ /4 stepped impedance slot resonates at its first two odd modes and exhibits end-fire radiation under differential ports excitation. Then, the dual-mode resonator is utilized to simultaneously broaden the impedance bandwidth and improve the out-of-band frequency selectivity of the gain curve. In order to improve the front-to-back ratio of the antenna, the rectangular slots with one open end are etched at the edges of the metallic ground. Finally, the multiple coupling paths are realized from the dual-mode resonator to the $\lambda $ /4 stepped impedance slot by adding the microstrip line and the folded microstrip line to generate two radiation nulls at the passband edges, and thus the frequency selectivity can be further enhanced. For the purpose of verification, a prototype of the proposed antenna is designed, fabricated and measured. The measured results are in good agreement with the simulated results, exhibiting an impedance bandwidth of 49.1% from 3.2 to 5.28 GHz, a flat in-band gain response with a maximum realized gain of 6.7 dBi, a front-to-back ratio over 11.5 dB within the entire operating passband. Besides, the suppression levels are higher than 18 dB and 29 dB for low and high frequency, respectively.

To realize intelligent connection of everything and the digital twin (DT) of the physical world in 6G and beyond, new communication and sensing solutions are demanded. The potential of multiple spectrums is maximized for various applications and scenarios. In such a context, an accurate, efficient, and pervasive multi-spectrum propagation model is needed as a critical and unified baseline for testing the performance of the solutions in various scenarios. This work presents ray-tracing (RT) oriented methods for the DT presentation of radio propagation at multiple frequency bands from microwave to visible light. The material- and field-measurement-based approaches are proposed to characterize the electromagnetic properties of materials. On that basis, the propagation mechanisms are developed and validated, and the corresponding parameters are inverted. For the real-time simulation demand, RT and artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms are fused to develop a super-resolution modeling method. The experimental results indicate that the proposed method outperforms the baseline model regarding stability and accuracy. It can significantly reduce the computation time with comparable accuracy to the RT-only approach. The proposed methodologies and the in-depth discussions in this work are expected to pave the way to realize the DT of multi-spectrum propagation for evaluating 6G and beyond technologies.

With consideration of double-line-frequency instantaneous power in two-stage single-phase system, a double-line-frequency power control method is proposed in this article to achieve optimization and tradeoff control between the current stress of dual-active-bridge (DAB) dc/dc converter and the dc bus voltage ripples in both sides. Different double-line-frequency powers in DAB will lead to different values of DAB current stress and dc bus voltage ripples in both sides. To find out the best double-line-frequency power in DAB, the optimal control trajectory (OCT) is proposed in this article so that the current stress of DAB can be minimized under any certain voltage ripple. An approximate analytical calculation method is derived to solve the optimal double-line-frequency power in OCT. The comparative analysis indicates that the approximate OCT has similar optimization effects as OCT. Based on the OCT, two tradeoff control methods for the DAB current stress and the dc bus voltage ripples are presented so that the current stress and the voltage ripples can be flexibly adjusted to adapt various load conditions. The initial phase of the single-phase ac load is also optimized to maximize the adjustable range of voltage ripple. The experimental results verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed OCT and control methods.

Oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma (OTSCC) is a malignant tumor. Recently, studies have found that adenylate cyclase 6 (ADCY6) plays a pivotal role in many lethal tumors formation processes. The role of ADCY6 in OTSCC remains unknown. The expression of ADCY6 in OTSCC tissue samples was detected. The clinical significance of ADCY6 in OTSCC was analyzed by statistical methods. OTSCC cell lines were selected to analyze the biological function of ADCY6. Meanwhile, the effect of ADCY6 on the growth of OTSCC in vivo was explored using subcutaneous tumorigenesis assay. WB assay was used to detect the underlying signaling pathway. Cell function recovery test used to investigate the mechanism of ADCY6‐promoting OTSCC malignant biological behavior via Hippo signaling pathway. We report that ADCY6 was obviously downregulated in OTSCC tissue samples and cell lines. Importantly, lower expression of ADCY6 indicates a poorer prognosis in patients with OTSCC, and its expression is significantly correlated with TNM stage and tumor size. Functionally, forced expression of ADCY6 can significantly inhibit the proliferation, migration, invasion, and promote apoptosis of OTSCC cells. Mechanistically, we demonstrated that ADCY6 upregulation impaired Hippo signaling pathway to reduce the malignant biological behavior of OTSCC. Generally, our findings suggest that ADCY6 suppressed Hippo signaling pathway to regulate malignant biological behavior in OTSCC, which provide new cues for further exploring the mechanism of occurrence and development of OTSCC.

Fifth-generation mobile communication technology (5G) has greatly promoted the development of vehicular communication. Millimeter wave (mmWave) technology is becoming the magic key to enabling the high data rate exchange of future onboard devices. Due to the severe path loss at mmWave, the cell radius is short and causes frequent handovers for vehicle user equipment in the mobile network environment. The above problems increase the risk of communication interruptions and pose threats to driving safety. Thus, it is critical to understand the channel characteristics during handover and find a suitable handover mechanism for future vehicular communications. In this work, vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) measurement campaigns are first conducted in urban scenarios using the moving network (MN) system. The measurements confirmed the potential benefits of beam-switching during movement and calibrated the ray-tracing (RT) simulator. Then intensive simulations are carried out for the handover procedure in the urban scenario. Based on simulation results, channel parameters are extracted and the channel characteristics for the handover procedure are studied. Finally, it is proposed to use beam-switching to complete the handover by evaluating handover parameters in detail. Compared to the conventional single beam, the beam-switching mechanism improves the SINR by about 30%, significantly enhancing the link quality during handover in the MN system.

Face recognition has always been courted in computer vision and is especially amenable to situations with significant variations between frontal and profile faces. Traditional techniques make great strides either by synthesizing frontal faces from sizable datasets or by empirical pose invariant learning. In this paper, we propose a completely integrated embedded end-to-end Lie algebra residual architecture (LARNeXt) to achieve pose robust face recognition. First, we explore how the face rotation in the 3D space affects the deep feature generation process of convolutional neural networks (CNNs), and prove that face rotation in the image space is equivalent to an additive residual component in the feature space of CNNs, which is determined solely by the rotation. Second, on the basis of this theoretical finding, we further design three critical subnets to leverage a soft regression subnet with novel multi-fusion attention feature aggregation for efficient pose estimation, a residual subnet for decoding rotation information from input face images, and a gating subnet to learn rotation magnitude for controlling the strength of the residual component that contributes to the feature learning process. Finally, we conduct a large number of ablation experiments, and our quantitative and visualization results both corroborate the credibility of our theory and corresponding network designs. Our comprehensive experimental evaluations on frontal-profile face datasets, general unconstrained face recognition datasets, and industrial-grade tasks demonstrate that our method consistently outperforms the state-of-the-art ones.

ABSTRACT The aim of this work was to prepare and characterize a novel vascular self-nourishing and self-healing hollow fiber containing oily rejuvenator for aged bitumen. The hollow fibers containing oily [...]

A novel multicomponent cascade cyclization reaction in one pot for the preparation of pyrido[3,2-a]phenoxazin-5-ones from simple o-aminophenols, paraformaldehyde, and enaminones has been established. It is noteworthy that o-aminophenol plays multiple roles serving as both a bis-nucleophile and an iminoquinone precursor, which can in situ generate aminophenoxazinones to undergo the Povarov reaction for the first time to yield pyrido[3,2-a]phenoxazin-5-ones with a high efficiency. Moreover, the photoluminescence of pyrido[3,2-a]phenoxazin-5-ones has polarity sensitivity and features aggregation-induced emission (AIE) characteristics, which is promising for bioimaging and theranostic applications.

The urgent need to promote the development of sustainable energy conversion requires exploration of highly efficient oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalysts. Defect engineering is a promising approach to address the inherent low electrical conductivity of metal oxides and limited reaction sites, for use in clean air applications and as electrochemical energy-storage electrocatalysts. In this article, oxygen defects are introduced into La2CoMnO6−δperovskite oxides through the A-site cation defect strategy. By tuning the content of the A-site cation, oxygen defect concentration and corresponding electrochemical OER performance have been greatly improved. As a result, the defective La1.8CoMnO6−δ(L1.8CMO) catalyst exhibits exceptional OER activity with an overpotential of 350 mV at 10 mA cm–2, approximately 120 mV lower than that of the pristine perovskite. This enhancement can be attributed to the increase in surface oxygen vacancies, optimized egoccupation of transition metal at the B-site, and enlarged Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface area. The reported strategy facilitates the development of novel defect-mediated perovskites in electrocatalysis.

2-Hydroxy-4-morpholin-2,5-diarylfuran-3(2H)-one derivatives were constructed sequentially using iodine and zinc dust from simple and readily available methyl ketone and morpholine as the starting materials. Under mild conditions, C–C, C–N, and C–O bonds formed in a one-pot synthesis. A quaternary carbon center was successfully constructed, and the active drug fragment morpholine was introduced into the molecule.

ABSTRACTKetamine is an anesthetic, which when used wrongly would affect judgment and behavior, increasing risks to individual such as unwanted or risky sexual behavior. This study reports the development of an admittance- and capacitance-spectroscopy-based sensor to detect ketamine in solution, such as whiskey, a popular alcoholic drink. The result confirms the proposed method is capable of detecting the presence of ketamine in whiskey, in concentration as low as 6.25 ng/μL, by using admittance and capacitance measured at 6.75 MHz, as well as quantifying the measured admittance (sensitivity: 300 μΩ−1/Log (ng/μL); limit of detection (LOD): 0.16 ng/μL) or capacitance data (sensitivity: 2 nF/Log (ng/μL); LOD: 0.73 ng/μL) at 18 kHz and 7.69 MHz, respectively.

The rational design of advanced catalysts for sodium–sulfur (Na–S) batteries is important but remains challenging due to the limited understanding of sulfur catalytic mechanisms. Here, we propose an efficient sulfur host consisting of atomic low-coordinated Zn–N2sites dispersed on N-rich microporous graphene (Zn–N2@NG), which realizes state-of-the-art sodium-storage performance with a high sulfur content of 66 wt %, high-rate capability (467 mA h g–1at 5 A g–1), and long cycling stability for 6500 cycles with an ultralow capacity decay rate of 0.0062% per cycle. Ex situ methods combined with theoretical calculations demonstrate the superior bidirectional catalysis of Zn–N2sites on sulfur conversion (S8↔ Na2S). Furthermore, in situ transmission electron microscopy was applied to visualize the microscopic S redox evolution under the catalysis of Zn–N2sites without liquid electrolytes. During the sodiation process, both surface S nanoparticles and S molecules in the mircopores of Zn–N2@NG quickly convert into Na2S nanograins. During the following desodiation process, only a small part of the above Na2S can be oxidized into Na2Sx. These results reveal that, without liquid electrolytes, Na2S is difficult to be decomposed even with the assistance of Zn–N2sites. This conclusion emphasizes the critical role of liquid electrolytes in the catalytic oxidation of Na2S, which was usually ignored by previous works.

Existing deep unfolding methods unroll an optimization algorithm with a fixed number of steps, and utilize convolutional neural networks (CNNs) to learn data-driven priors. However, their performance is limited for two main reasons. Firstly, priors learned in deep feature space need to be converted to the image space at each iteration step, which limits the depth of CNNs and prevents CNNs from exploiting contextual information. Secondly, existing methods only learn deep priors at the single full-resolution scale, so ignore the benefits of multi-scale context in dealing with high level noise. To address these issues, we explicitly consider the image denoising process in the deep feature space and propose the deep unfolding multi-scale regularizer network(DUMRN) for image denoising. The core of DUMRN is the feature-based denoising module(FDM) that directly removes noise in the deep feature space. In each FDM, we construct a multi-scale regularizer block to learn deep prior information from multi-resolution features. We build the DUMRN by stacking a sequence of FDMs and train it in an end-to-end manner. Experimental results on synthetic and real-world benchmarks demonstrate that DUMRN performs favorably compared to state-of-the-art methods.

Affected by climate warming and shady–sunny slope effect, the permafrost foundation under the railway is undergoing a significant asymmetric degradation process; research on the corresponding regulating or strengthening measures is urgently needed. Based on a well developed of numerical model, we analyzed the ‘thermal repair’ effect of three redesigned differential thermal reinforcement on the partially degraded permafrost embankment with steps. The results show that, when used as a strengthening measure, the method of laying crushed rock revetment (CRR) with different thicknesses on the sunny and shady slopes cannot completely eliminate the residual warm permafrost regions formed in the previous thermal erosion. When the TCRR scheme is adopted for reinforcement, although horizontal region from the evaporation section of thermosyphones (TPCTs) to the right side of the embankment is remarkably cooled, permafrost under the sunny slope is still deteriorating. In the long run, both ETCRR and TCECRR reinforcement schemes can produce a large range of ‘cold core’ right below the whole embankment. However, from the perspective of the simultaneous functioning range and cold storage capacity, the TCECRR scheme is signally more efficient. The thermal insulation materials in the above composite strengthening measures can not only resist the heat input in the warm season, but also improve their working efficiency by maintaining the temperature difference between the evaporation section of the heat pipe and the external environment in cold season. The addition of crushed rock revetment in TCECRR has played its thermal semiconductor effect and further improved the comprehensive thermal repair efficiency of the composite measures.

A [3 + 1 + 2] cyclization–rearrangement reaction scheme was developed to synthesize pyrimido[1,2-b]indazoles from aryl methyl ketones, 3-aminoindazoles, and gem-diarylethenes. This metal-free process proceeds via a sequential aza-Diels–Alder reaction and Wagner–Meerwein rearrangement, and a possible reaction mechanism was demonstrated based on control experiments. This method exhibits good substrate compatibility and allows simple reaction conditions. Moreover, the products display significant aggregation-induced emission characteristics after simple modifications.

A novel Cu-added medium-Mn steel with a chemical composition of Fe–0.27C–9.1Mn–1.86Al–3.3Cu (wt.%) was designed and subjected to intercritical annealing (IA) temperature range from 620 °C to 680 °C for 1 h. The ultimate tensile strength (UTS) increases and the yielding strength (YS) decreases with the IA temperature increasing. The YS of 824 MPa, UTS of 1222 MPa, total elongation (TE) of 55%, and product of strength and elongation (PSE) of 67.2 GPa·% are achieved after IA at 660 °C. Transmission electron microscopy confirmed that Cu-rich nanoparticles precipitate in the ferrite. The in-situ high-energy X-ray diffraction (HE-XRD) experiments show that at the beginning of plastic deformation, both austenite and ferrite bear the applied load. The load is mainly undertaken by martensite with effective transformation-induced plasticity (TRIP) effect triggered. The YS of ferrite is significantly higher than that of austenite. The individual contribution of solid solution strengthening, grain refinement strengthening, dislocation strengthening, and precipitation strengthening in ferrite and austenite is analyzed. The discrepancy between the YS of ferrite and austenite is mainly attributed to the precipitation strengthening due to the Cu-rich nanoparticles precipitation. The moderate mechanical stability and the collaboration of TRIP and twinning-induced plasticity (TWIP) effects of austenite contributed to the enhanced strain hardening capability and resulted in large ductility.

Metal sulfide anodes have aroused much attention in potassium ion batteries (PIBs) owing to their high theoretical capacities, but the sluggish kinetics and inferior cycling performance caused by severe volumetric change and particle pulverization greatly hinder their further development. Herein, robust hollow structure design together with phase structure engineering endow (Bi-Sb)2S3@N-C anode with superior (de)potassiation kinetics and excellent electrochemical performances in PIBs. Specifically, in situX-ray diffraction combined with density functional theory calculations and ex situX-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analyses indicated a fresh reaction mechanism of (Bi-Sb)2S3anode with a distinctive multistep (de)potassiation route along (003) plane of (Bi,Sb) alloy thanks to the Bi-Sb phase regulation in (Bi-Sb)2S3anode, ensuring it with superior reaction kinetics. Moreover, in situTEM characterization revealed the advantages of the hollow nanostructure with carbon shell, facilitating fast ion transport kinetics and high tolerance of volume change as well as enabling the structural integrity of electrode material during (de)potassiation. As a result, the (Bi-Sb)2S3hollow nanocube with N-doped carbon shell ((Bi-Sb)2S3@N-C) delivers a high initial Coulombic efficiency of 66.3%, a great rate performance of 289 mAh g–1at 2.0 A g–1, and an ultralong cycling life (89% retention after 220 cycles at 0.1 A g–1and 85% retention after 1600 cycles at 2.0 A g–1) in PIBs. Furthermore, the full cell of (Bi-Sb)2S3@N-C//PTCDA affords a high reversible capacity of 281 mA h g–1at 1.0 A g–1after 300 cycles. This work combines structural design and in situtechniques, proving a successful nanostructure engineering strategy to rationalize alloy-type electrode materials for PIBs.

For the improvement of commercial catalyst 13 wt % Cr-γ-Al2O3for the dehydrogenation of light alkanes to olefins, 13 wt % Cr-xwt % Ce-γ-Al2O3catalysts with xequaling 0, 2.5, 5, 7.5, and 10, named as 0Ce, 2.5Ce, 5Ce, 7.5Ce, and 10Ce, are prepared by the incipient wetness impregnation method, characterized by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, Raman, UV–vis, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopies, and temperature-programmed reduction and evaluated for ethane dehydrogenation to ethylene. Their performance increases with Ce addition to 5 wt % and then decreases and attenuates with time. 5Ce demonstrates the highest dehydrogenation activity and better regeneration ability than 0Ce. It is found that the as-prepared 5Ce contains more active amorphous Cr6+species and less crystalline Cr3+species (α-Cr2O3) than 0Ce, other than the Ce species of CeO2. The reasons for the better dehydrogenation and regeneration performance of 5Ce are that the CeO2particles in 5Ce physically separate the Cr species, promoting the formation of Cr6+species, preventing their aggregation and migration to form less active α-Cr2O3and inactive α-(Cr, Al)2O3, and preserving more active Cr6+species in the as-prepared and regenerated catalysts.

Synthesis of the C19-truncated maltepolide E has been accomplished via a diene–ene ring-closing metathesis (RCM) strategy without damage to the C11–C14 alkenyl epoxy unit. Upon release of the C17-OH group, it attacked at the C14 position with double bond migration and epoxide ring opening to furnish the C19-truncated maltepolides A and B as proposed for the biosynthesis of maltepolides.