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Simple Summary: Diluent plays an important role in sperm storage. The various components of the diluent provide nutrition for sperm survival, maintain the stability of the preserved environment, and prolong the survival time of sperm. However, for the preservation of semen at 4 °C, diluent formulations are currently lacking or existing diluent formulations are not sufficient. Therefore, the effect of four diluents on semen preservation was studied through an assessment of sperm motility and functional integrity. Diluent D (Tris–Fructose–Citric acid–Egg yolk) was found to greatly improve semen quality during storage at 4 °C. This study aimed to investigate the effects of various diluents on the quality of Hu ram sperm stored at 4 °C. Semen samples were collected from three Hu rams and diluted with diluents A (Sodium citrate–Glucose–Egg yolk), B (Sodium citrate–Glucose), C (Fructose–Skimmed milk powder–Soy lecithin), and D (Tris–Fructose–Citric acid–Egg yolk). Total motility (TM), straight-line velocity (VSL), average path velocity (VAP), curvilinear velocity (VCL), average motion degree (MAD), acrosome integrity, membrane integrity, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) were evaluated. The results showed that diluent D had better preservation in terms of the sperm TM, VSL, VCL, VAP, MAD, and membrane and acrosome integrity. On the third day of the storage, the sperm PM of diluent D was higher than that of other diluents (p < 0.05). The ROS level of diluent D was lower than that of other diluents on the fifth day (p < 0.05). On the seventh day of the storage, the sperm TM in diluent D reached 50%, which was the highest in all diluent groups. On the seventh day of the storage, the integrity of the sperm membrane and the integrity of the acrosome of the sperm in diluent D were the highest in all diluent groups (p < 0.05). In conclusion, these results indicated that diluent D improved the semen quality during storage at 4 °C. In this study, diluent D was the best diluent formula for Hu ram semen stored at 4 °C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In the context of rapid aging, "empty nest syndrome" is becoming a major public health concern. The causal effects of empty nest on depressive symptoms have been studied in developed countries, but the mediating mechanism of depressive symptoms in the association between empty nest and cognitive impairments has not been studied. This study estimated the causal association of empty nest with depressive symptoms and cognitive impairments in China, and then estimated how depression mediates the association between empty nest and cognitive impairments.Methods: Using data of 23,614 urban older adults (65+) obtained from the Shandong Province Aging and Mental Health Survey in 2020, a weighted linear regression model combined with instrumental variable was applied to explore the causal effects of empty nest, and a four-step mediation model was run to test the mediator of depressive symptoms. The Ascertain Dementia 8-item Questionnaire and Patient Health Questionnaire-9 were used to measure cognitive impairments and depressive symptoms.Results: Empty nest was associated with 0.13 (95%CI: 0.04-0.23) and 0.23 (95%CI: 0.14-0.33) increases in the Ascertain Dementia 8-item Questionnaire and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 scores, respectively. The association between empty nest and the Ascertain Dementia 8-item Questionnaire scores was mediated by the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 scores.Conclusions: Empty nest affected depression in adulthood with cognitive impairments. A focus on integrative intervention for empty nesters is recommended, taking depression and cognition into account.Limitations: It is a cross-sectional study and the data is not nationally representative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The occurrence of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is strongly associated with the progressive aggregation of a 42-amino-acid fragment derived from the amyloid-β precursor protein (Aβ 1-42). Therefore, it is crucial to establish a versatile platform that can effectively detect Aβ 1-42 to aid in the early-stage preclinical diagnosis of AD. Herein, we introduce a specialized split-type analytical platform that enables sensitive and accurate monitoring of Aβ 1-42 based on a self-corrected photoelectrochemical (PEC) sensing system. To realize this design, gelatinized Ti 3 C 2 @Bi 2 WO 6 Schottky heterojunctions were prepared and served as photoelectrodes for tackling the photoinduced charge carriers. Functionalized CaCO 3 @CuO 2 nanocomposites were used as signal converters to detect Aβ 1-42 and amplify the signal further. Benefiting from the glucose oxidation induced acid microenvironment and H 2 O 2 output, the nanocomposites are able to rapidly decompose, producing Ca2+ and Fenton-like catalyst Cu2+. The Cu2+-driven Fenton-like reaction generated ·OH, which accelerated the 3,3′,5,5′-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) oxidation. Additionally, Ca2+ was cross-linked with alginate inducing gelation on the surface of Ti 3 C 2 @Bi 2 WO 6 Schottky heterojunctions, influencing mass transfer and light absorption. Eventually results in the shift of photocurrent, allowing for precise quantification with a detection limit of 0.06 pg mL−1. The combination of colorimetric variation and the photoelectric effect provide a more accurate and reliable result. This research opens up new possibilities for constructing PEC platforms and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this experiment was to explore whether coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) improves the quality of sheep semen stored at room temperature by attenuating oxidative stress. Semen was diluted without (control group), and with antioxidants (5, 50, 250, and 500 μmol/L CoQ10). Sperm kinetic parameters and plasma membrane integrity were determined, and the reactive oxygen species (ROS), malondialdehyde (MDA), adenosine triphosphate (ATP), mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP), total antioxidant capacity (TAOC), catalase (CAT), and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity were evaluated on the fifth day of semen preservation. The results showed that compared with the control group, the progressive motility in the 50 μmol/L group was higher (p < 0.05) within 2–5 days, and the plasma membrane integrity of sperm was higher in the 50 μmol/L group. The ROS content in the 5 and 50 μmol/L groups was reduced. The MDA level was reduced in the CoQ10 supplementation groups (p < 0.05). Additionally, the CAT, SOD, TAOC, ATP and MMP levels in the 50 μmol/L group were higher than those in the control group (p < 0.05). In conclusion, CoQ10 improved the quality of ram semen by alleviating oxidative stress, and 50 μmol/L CoQ10 was the optimum concentration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The overall incidence of schizophrenia decreased from 9.61 per 100 000 in 2016 to 4.40 per 100 000 in 2020. • The overall prevalence and mortality showed a relatively stable tendency between 2016 and 2020 in Shandong, China. • The incidence, prevalence and mortality were higher in rural areas and women than urban areas and men, respectively. • Female had a higher incidence than male in most of the ages, with an exception of 18–34 age group between 2016 and 2020. The epidemiology of schizophrenia has been reported in many countries. However, due to the limitations of those studies, the findings cannot be generalized to other parts of the world, especially in China. In this study, the incidence, prevalence, and mortality of schizophrenia in Shandong, China were calculated using data from the National Severe Mental Disorder Registration System collected between 2016 and 2020 and census data from 2010 to 2020. The overall incidence decreased from 9.61 per 100,000 in 2016 to 4.40 per 100,000 in 2020, the aggregate prevalence was approximately 3.20 per 1000, and the overall mortality ranged from 6.17 per 100,000 to 7.71 per 100,000. The evidence from this study indicated that the incidence, prevalence, and mortality of schizophrenia were higher in rural areas than in urban areas. Females had higher incidence, prevalence, and mortality than males. This study provided epidemiological information on schizophrenia and opened avenues for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper models a point-mass load tethered to a single autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) and proposes a quantitative control strategy, which is able to drive the load to track the desired trajectory closely. The AUV-tow-load system is modeled as three connected subsystems: load position subsystem, cable direction subsystem, and AUV attitude subsystem. Improving on the current prescribed performance control methods, where the transient-state and steady-state tracking behaviors cannot be preassigned accurately, a quantitative controller is designed for the point-mass load position, achieving predefined tracking performance without violating user-defined quantitative indices including overshoot, convergence time, and steady-state accuracy. An uncertainties and disturbances estimator (UDE) is designed and incorporated into the control inputs to compensate for the effects of uncertain dynamics and external disturbances. Rigorous theoretical proof is presented, showing that all tracking errors converge to the neighborhood of zero with quantitatively designed tracking behaviors, obtaining uniformly ultimately boundedness. Simulation results are provided to validate the efficiency of the proposed method. • Designing a general framework that transforms the AUV-tow-load system into three connected subsystems. • Providing a design paradigm for the AUV-tow-load system to assign some quantitative indices on tracking performance. • Employing uncertainties and disturbances estimator to online estimate the lumped disturbances for AUV-tow-load system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trichinellosis is caused by Trichinella spiralis , a meat-borne zoonotic disease transmitted to humans through the consumption of infected undercooked or raw meat. Surveillance using safe and precise diagnostic tools to diagnose T. spiralis in sheep is needed to assess the incidence and probability of transmission from sheep to humans. In this study, we developed a real-time PCR assay to detect T. spiralis DNA in ovine muscle samples that can be used as an alternative surveillance tool to ensure food safety using newly designed primers. The assay is specific for the Scfld4 gene of Trichinella (T1) and enables the detection of larvae in ovine muscle tissue samples with high sensitivity and specificity. Trichuris ovis, Oesophagostomum dentatum, Haemonchus contortus, and Bunostomum trigonocephalum showed no nonspecific amplification. The assay could detect Trichinella DNA concentrations as low as 0.0026 ng/μL, equivalent to 0.0064 larvae, indicating a high sensitivity for T. spiralis detection. We used this real-time PCR to detect 73 ovine muscle samples from an ovine abattoir, and five samples tested positive via real-time PCR but negative via microscopy. This assay may provide a more specific and sensitive method for rapidly detecting Trichinella larvae in ovine muscle tissues. [Display omitted] • Trichinella larvae can be detected quickly in ovine muscle tissues using qPCR. • The qPCR is an alternative food safety surveillance tool. • The qPCR is more sensitive and specific to other methods of detection. • No specific amplification signal for other parasites, including T. ovis, O. dentatum, H. contortus, and B. trigonocephalum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, a plasma arc additive manufacturing technique with a double-wire feedback mechanism was used to manufacture Inconel 625 Ni–Cu functionally graded materials. The microstructure, mechanical properties and corrosion properties of the deposited alloy were evaluated. Microstructure observation and tensile testing of parts with different element contents indicated that functionally graded materials were obtained through the manufacturing process. The results have shown that due to the very high growth restriction factor Q of Cu, its addition can increase the constitutional supercooling zone, resulting in a decrease in columnar and dendrites and an increase in equiaxed crystals in the Inconel 625 Ni–Cu functionally graded material, as well as changing the Schmid factor (SF) distribution. The tensile strength and ductility of the Inconel 625 Ni–Cu functionally graded materials increased with increasing Cu content, while the corrosion resistance of the alloy decreased with increasing Cu content during electrochemical corrosion tests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Sheep sperm is extremely sensitive to reactive oxygen species (ROS) and can produce a large amount of ROS during chilling storage, leading to a decline in semen quality. Adding antioxidants is an important method to improve semen quality. Chlorogenic acid (CGA) is a kind of plant extract with an antioxidant capacity, which can effectively eliminate free radicals and improve the antioxidant capacity of semen. However, its role in the chilling storage of Hu ram semen is not clear. Therefore, CGA with different concentrations was added to chilling storage extender to investigate its effect on chilled ram sperm. The results of this study revealed that CGA with proper concentration had a positive effect on chilled Hu ram sperm and 0.8 mg/mL CGA had the best effect. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the addition of chlorogenic acid (CGA) to a sheep semen extender could improve the quality of chilled sheep sperm. Ejaculates (n = 80) were collected from five Hu rams with an artificial vagina. The ejaculates were mixed and divided into five equal parts, diluted with a CGA-free Tris–egg yolk extender (control), or supplemented with 0.2, 0.4, 0.8, and 1.2 mg/mL. The sperm kinematic parameters (viability, progressive motility), functional integrity of plasma membrane and acrosome, adenosine triphosphate (ATP) concentration and antioxidant parameters (Catalase (CAT), Superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC), ROS level and Malondialdehyde (MDA) content) were evaluated during storage of the semen. The results indicated that: PM, plasmatic membrane integrity and acrosomal integrity in 0.8 mg/mL CGA were higher (p < 0.05) from day 1 to 5. The ROS level in CGA groups was lower than the control (p < 0.05). CAT, SOD, ATP, and T-AOC were highest at 0.8 mg/mL concentration within 1 to 5 days. The above results indicated that the right concentration of CGA improved the quality of Hu ram sperm during chilling storage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Hu sheep sperm is highly susceptible to ROS during storage at room temperature. It is very important to use an antioxidant to ameliorate oxidative damage. Tau is an important amino acid peptide antioxidant with a wide range of biological effects. It can effectively scavenge free radicals, regulate reproductive function, improve immunity, and enhance its antioxidant capacity. However, the effects of Tau in the preservation of Hu sheep semen at room temperature are unclear. Therefore, Tau was added to Hu sheep semen preserved at room temperature to explore its effect on semen. The results showed that adding an appropriate concentration of Tau had a positive effect on Hu sheep semen preserved at room temperature; in particular, 20 mM Tau performed best. The present study aimed to investigate whether the presence of Tau protected Hu sheep sperm from ROS stress during storage at room temperature. The semen was diluted with extender (Tris-based) at room temperature, supplemented with different concentrations of Tau (0, 10, 20, 40, 80, or 100 mM), and stored at 15 °C. Sperm quality parameters (sperm progressive motility, kinetic parameters, plasma membrane integrity rate, acrosome integrity rate, and MMP) and antioxidant parameters (ROS, MDA, SOD, CAT, and T-AOC) were evaluated during the preservation of semen. The addition of Tau, especially at a concentration of 20 mM, exerted positive effects on sperm quality parameters and antioxidant parameters compared to the sperm without Tau treatment (control group). The addition of Tau, especially at a concentration of 100 mM, exerted negative effects on sperm quality parameters and antioxidant parameters compared to the control group. Interestingly, the results indicated that the sperm acrosome integrity rate did not change during storage time. In conclusion, the addition of Tau to sperm preserved at room temperature can enhance the antioxidant ability of sperm, reduce the LPO on the 5th day, and improve the quality of semen preserved at room temperature. These results implied that Tau had potential to enhance Hu sheep sperm reproductive performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the top issues in logistics management and related research is to establish an effective distribution system that is adaptive to new retail and capable of lowering the cost of logistics while enhancing consumer satisfaction. Aimed at reversing the weak points of current logistics distribution patterns, a dual-objective bipolar model with optimal logistics cost and consumer satisfaction by restraining distribution time and load is tested in this paper to figure out the proper nodes and vehicle routes. Data from general and front warehouses of PuPu mall, a Fuzhou-based online retail enterprise, are made into a case study. Moreover, the immune algorithm and genetic algorithm are adopted to achieve the model solution. It is found that the immune algorithm is more efficient than the genetic algorithm in searching solutions, thus having better adaptivity and effectiveness, and also that the type of distribution vehicle plays a significant role in determining the total distribution cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Depression is characterized by debilitating symptoms and high recurrence rates, and there are relatively few large-scale epidemiological surveys of depressive disorders conducted in Shandong since 2005. Data from the largest Epidemiological Survey of Mental Disorders conducted in 2015 in Shandong were collected to investigate the prevalence of depressive disorders and associated demographic characteristics in general adult population.Methods: A multi-stage stratified cluster sampling method was adopted to select residents and a two-stage screening and assessment process was used to define the prevalence and characteristics of depressive disorders. Respondents were initially screened using the General Health Questionnaire followed by a structured clinical interview using the DSM-IV criteria.Results: Among 27,489 respondents who completed the survey, 1277 respondents met the diagnostic criteria for depressive disorders. The adjusted prevalence in the last month was 4.86%, among which the prevalence of major depressive disorder, dysthymia, and unspecified depressive disorder were 2.32%, 1.78%, and 0.75%, respectively. 40.35% of depression patients had moderate or severe functional impairment and only 10.65% of patients had visited a psychiatric service. Univariate and multivariate analyses revealed that age, gender, occupation, education, marital status, and urban/rural living were associated with the prevalence.Limitations: The key limitation is that this is a cross-sectional survey therefore cannot draw any causal relationship between risk factors and disease progression.Conclusions: Findings from this largest epidemiological study reveal current prevalence of depressive disorders and associated demographic factors and offers opportunities for policy makers and health-care professionals to improve mental health provision in Shandong. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• EHEA was successfully prepared using D-WAAM technology for the first time. • Al 20.33 Co 21.60 Fe 30.45 Ni 27.62 EHEA consists of lamellar L1 2 and B2 phases. • EHEAs exhibit excellent strength and plasticity balance. Eutectic high entropy alloys (EHEAs) have received widespread attention due to their excellent mechanical properties. This letter successfully used double-wire arc additive manufacturing technology to prepare a new type of Al 20.33 Co 21.60 Fe 30.45 Ni 27.62 EHEA. Its phase composition, microstructure, and mechanical properties were characterized and studied. The alloy exhibited a biphasic lamellar eutectic microstructure composed of an ordered BCC (B2) phase and an ordered FCC (L1 2) phase. The ultimate tensile strength and elongation at room temperature are as high as 1022 MPa and 13.2 % respectively. Superior to most other EHEAs produced using casting and arc melting technologies. This approach has great potential in engineering applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intelligent traffic light control is one of the modern approaches to solve traffic congestion, where reinforcement learning is a widely used method. Conventionally, reinforcement learning is used to determine whether to change the current phase (or choose a traffic phase) after each small interval. One major drawback of these approaches is that it makes the current traffic light phase duration uncertain before the current phase terminates. Directly determining the duration of the traffic light phase can effectively avoid this shortcoming. An adaptive traffic light timing system is proposed in this paper which can directly control the phase duration. In the proposed system, the Q-learning algorithm is employed and the action space is defined as all possible phase durations. In addition, the reward function is redefined to guide the agent to balance more traffic metrics, and the state is redefined to reduce the state space. Finally, the proposed system is evaluated by equal, unequal, and complex traffic scenarios. Results show that the proposed system has a better performance compared with other methods in controlling traffic lights, even on complex traffic scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Yangtze River Delta white goat is a unique goat species that can produce superior‐quality brush hair. The formation of this brush hair is controlled by a series of critical genes and related signaling pathways. Circular RNAs (circRNAs), are ubiquitous endogenous non‐coding RNAs that regulate many biological and physiological processes in mammals. However, little is known about the potential regulatory role of circRNAs on superior‐quality brush hair formation in Yangtze River Delta white goat. In this study, high‐throughput sequencing technology was used to only detect circRNAs in the neck skin tissue of normal‐quality goats (NHQs) and superior‐quality goats (HQs). A total of 61 803 circRNAs were identified and 32 of them were differentially expressed in the NHQ group vs. the HQ group. Functional enrichment analysis showed that the source gene of differentially expressed circRNAs (DE‐circRNAs) was enriched mostly in platelet activation and the focal adhesion signal pathway. Action mechanism analysis revealed that DE‐circRNAs could sponge to many identified miRNAs, including miR‐31, miR‐125b, miR‐let‐7a and miR‐149‐5p, which have important roles in goat hair follicle stem cell growth, hair follicle development and morphogenesis. Altogether, our findings provide a valuable basis for studying circRNAs involved in superior‐quality brush hair traits and meanwhile advance our understanding of circRNA complex regulation mechanisms in Yangtze River Delta white goat skin hair follicle development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A new design strategy for Al-Cr-Co-Ni EMEAs. • A novel Al 17 Cr 17 Co 33 Ni 33 EMEA was prepared by PPA-AM. • The designed alloy exhibits eutectic lamellar structure of L1 2 and B2 phases. • The designed alloy possesses excellent mechanical performance. In this study, a new Al 17 Cr 17 Co 33 Ni 33 eutectic medium entropy alloy (EMEA) is designed and successfully fabricated by powder plasma arc additive manufacturing (PPA-AM). The microstructural investigation reveals that the alloy consists of ordered hard body-centered cubic B2 phase and ordered soft face-centered cubic L1 2 phase. The microhardness of the alloy is 335.54 Hv. And comparing to PPA-AMed AlCoCrFeNi 2.1 alloy, the designed alloy exhibits a high ultimate tensile strength of 1028 MPa and a high ductility of 19.09 % at the room temperature. And this represents a 17.89 %/32.57 % increase in ultimate tensile strength and ductility relative to a PPA-AMed AlCoCrFeNi 2.1 alloy, respectively. This is attributed to the phase interfacial strengthening caused by finer lamellar thickness. And the mechniacal properties reveal the Al 17 Cr 17 Co 33 Ni 33 alloy achieve the synergy of good tensile ductility and high fracture strength. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein, a CRISPR/Cas12a-mediated photoelectrochemical (PEC) biosensor based on entropy-driven catalysis (EDC) cycle amplification technology was presented for identification of miRNA-21. On the one hand, sensitizer methylene blue (MB) was introduced by double-strand DNA (H1-H2) on the electrode modified by ZnIn 2 S 4 nanoflowers and CdS quantum dots (QDs), which further optimized initial photocurrent. On the other hand, compared with traditional work, the two single strands generated by EDC cycle triggered by miRNA-21 were fully utilized, the problem of low utilization of EDC cycle products was cleverly solved and the multiple signal amplification with simpler operation was realized by combining with CRISPR/Cas12a. A signal strand S1 generated by EDC cycle made the MB-labeled single strand (H2-MB) bend into a hairpin structure to approach electrode, maximizing the PEC signal. Another signal strand S2 formed a ternary complex with CRISPR/Cas12a to activate the trans-cleavage characteristics, the MB-labeled hairpin structure was cut randomly, which made MB left electrode to significantly reduce the signal, realizing sensitive identification of miRNA-21. The designed PEC biosensor presented a satisfactory linear relationship within the scope of 10 fM-100 nM, and detection line as low as 1.5 fM, supplying a new idea in biomarkers assay and disease diagnosis. • The ZnIn 2 S 4 /CdS QDs composites nanomaterial provided strong photocurrent signal. • Entropy-driven catalysis cycle products were sufficiently utilized to amplify the signal. • CRISPR/Cas12a system improved the selectivity and sensitivity of the PEC biosensor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reinforcement Learning (RL) is an effective method for adaptive traffic signals control. As one type of RL, the teacher-student framework has been found helpful in improving the model performance for different application fields (such as robot control, game, hybrid intelligence), but it is rarely applied for traffic control due to that the hyper-parameters and the number of state-action pairs experienced are difficult to determine. In this work, the teacher-student framework is used for traffic signal control, where only a single reward function is designed to guide the student agent and by using this method the number of hyper-parameters and the model complexity are reduced. Specifically, the teacher agent uses an importance function to evaluate and guide the student, where the importance function combines with environment reward to form a synthetic reward for the student agent. Experimental results under different traffic environments show that the proposed method achieves the expected performance enhancement and is better than most of the state-of-the-art RL-based traffic signal control methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Novel dual FCC phase Co-Cr-Fe-Ni-Cu-Mo HEA was designed and fabricated. • Combined cable wire is designed for additive manufacturing of HEA. • FCC HEA was greatly strengthened due to two phase structure. FCC phase High-entropy alloys (HEAs) has excellent plasticity and toughness but low tensile property. To strengthen the HEA without plasticity reducing, Cu 28.36 Ni 22.32 Fe 19.12 Co 15.17 Cr 12.26 Mo 2.77 HEA with dual FCC phase were successfully prepared by plasma arc additive manufacturing using a combined cable wire with multi-element composition. The results show that the prepared alloys were composed of Cu-poor FCC1 and Cu-rich FCC2, along with a small amount of Mo-rich precipitation phases. The ultimate tensile strength, yield strength is 531 MPa, 332 MPa, it is increased by 14.48 % and 32.75 % compared with arc melting technology with excellent elongation of 32.26 %. Compared with the vacuum induction melting technology, the strength is increased by 276.5 %. Dual phase obviously increased the mechanical properties. The Co and Cr element in the alloy is relatively low, which can reduce the production cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • A paper-based photoanode is developed for photoelectrochemical water splitting. • MoSe 2 nanosheet anchored CdS-ZnO array functional paper is prepared. • Tandem Z-scheme configuration with double IEFs and photothermal effect are integrated. • The flexible photoanode achieves admirable solar water splitting performance. Rational design of photoelectrode architectures is deemed as an effective solution to enhance efficiency of photoelectrochemical water splitting for conquering increasingly prominent environmental problems. Herein, a programmable flexible photoanode with built-in tandem Z-scheme configuration fabricated by in-situ growth of MoSe 2 -CdS-ZnO array with ultrathin nanosheet-interlaced-nanorod structure on the Au paper electrode, is firstly reported. By taking advantages of the interwoven nanonetwork structure, high conductivity as well as larger porosity of the as-fabricated Au paper electrode, a stable light-harvesting paper chip with fast transfer/separate mediators of the charge/carriers is thus integrated. By virtue of double internal electric fields (IEFs) and photothermal effect, the developed MoSe 2 -CdS-ZnO photoanode exhibits incident-photon-to-current efficiency of 52 % under 460 nm of light irradiation, and the current density reaches 2.4 mA cm−2 at 0.3 V versus normal hydrogen electrode, which is comparable with respect to current state-of-the-art "type-II-scheme", "surface-scheme", and cocatalyst-free photocatalysts (0.03–2.4 mA cm−2). Consequently, the paper-based photoanode achieves admirable photoelectrocatalytic hydrogen generation property (39.7 μmol cm−2 h-1). The synergistic effect of tailorable tandem Z-scheme configuration with double IEFs and delineating of 3D cross-linked network structure of the proposed photoanode in this work may open an avenue for constructing high-performance photoelectrochemical water splitting devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• CoCrFeNi-TaNb HEAs fabricated by powder plasma arc additive manufacturing. • Mechanical properties of developed HEAs influenced by second phase strengthening. • TEM and EBSD analyses showed Ta 0.2 Nb 0.3 has similar microstructure as Ta 0.4. • CoCrFeNiTa 0.2 Nb 0.3 showed the best mechanical performance. • CoCrFeNiTa 0.2 Nb 0.3 can replace CoCrFeNiTa 0.4 with effective cost saving of 29%. In this work, the microstructure of CoCrFeNiTa 0.4 based high entropy alloy was studied. HEAs with the same structure were prepared successfully by replacing Ta with relatively less expensive Nb (Ta 0.2 Nb 0.1 , Ta 0.2 Nb 0.3 , Ta 0.2 Nb 0.5 replacing Ta 0.4) using powder plasma arc additive manufacturing (PPA-AM), an emerging AM technology. The microstructural phases, phase hardness and mechanical properties of CoCrFeNiTa 0.4 and CoCrFeNiTa 0.2 Nb 0.1-0.5 have been analyzed. From this investigation, it is evident that the CoCrFeNiTa 0.2 Nb 0.3 alloy can replace CoCrFeNiTa 0.4 alloy with improved structure and mechanical properties along with a cost saving of 29%. This is also the first report to demonstrate the microstructure - mechanical properties relationship in CoCrFeNiTaNb high entropy alloy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]