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Lithium–sulfur batteries (LSBs) exhibit high theoretical specific capacities, abundant resource reserves, and low costs, making them promising candidates for next-generation lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). However, significant challenges, such as the shuttle effect and volume expansion, hinder their practical applications. To address these issues, this study introduces a unique intermediate layer comprising N-doped carbon nanofiber/TiO2/diatomite (NCNF/TiO2/DE) from the perspective of membrane modification. The intermediate layer comprises nitrogen-doped titanium dioxide/carbon nanofiber (NCNF/TiO2) materials, with diatomite filling the fiber gaps. This forms a three-dimensional (3D) conductive network that provides ample space for sulfur volume expansion and numerous adsorption active sites, thereby accelerating electrolyte penetration and lithium-ion diffusion. These features collectively contribute to the outstanding electrochemical performance of the battery. At 0.1 C, the NCNF/TiO2/DE-800-coated separator battery achieved a first-cycle discharge specific capacity of 1311.1 mAh g−1, significantly higher than the uncoated lithium–sulfur battery (919.6 mAh g−1). Under varying current densities, the NCNF/TiO2/DE-800 material demonstrates good electrochemical reversibility and exhibits high lithium-ion diffusion rates and low charge-transfer resistance. Therefore, this study provides an advanced intermediate layer material that enhances the electrochemical performance of lithium–sulfur batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rise of the sharing economy, shared bicycles have become an important component of urban transportation. This paper explores the nonlinear dual oligopoly system for the Cournot model in the bike-sharing market; both operators have maximized profits as their competitive goals. The analysis of pivotal factors influencing passenger preferences, including pricing discounts and comfort levels, is meticulously depicted by a bifurcation diagram. A new chaotic attractor—the shared bicycle attractor—is discovered. The research results indicate that larger discounts and adjustment speeds can cause the system to be in a chaotic state, which is not conducive to the long-term development of operators, although discounts can indeed attract more passengers to a certain extent. On the other hand, the increase in the marginal cost of comfort loss can also make it difficult for enterprises to operate, which requires continuous technological innovation to improve the comfort of cycling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, engine room simulators have become an important tool for maritime training, but programming engine room simulators often involves handling large amounts of data, making the process inefficient. This paper proposes an innovative visual modeling method for the ship pipeline network program in engine room simulators, aimed at addressing the heavy programming tasks associated with traditional text-based design and calculation methods when dealing with complex and large-scale pipeline systems. By creating Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) images and using Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) to place controls, an intuitive graphical user interface is built, allowing programmers to easily operate through the graphical interface. Subsequently, You Only Look Once version 5 (YOLOv5) object detection technology is used to identify the completed SVG images and WPF controls, generating corresponding Comma-Separated Values (CSV) files, which are then used as data input via C# (C Sharp). Through automated data processing and equipment recognition, compared to traditional manual design processes (such as using Matlab or C++ for pipeline design), this method reduces human errors and improves programming accuracy. Customization of key pipeline characteristics (such as maximum flow and flow direction) enhances the accuracy and applicability of the pipeline network model. The intuitive user interface design also allows nonprofessional users to easily design and optimize pipeline systems. The results show that this tool not only improves the efficiency of data processing and calculation but also demonstrates excellent performance and broad application prospects in the design and optimization of ship pipeline systems. In the future, this tool is expected to be more widely promoted in ship pipeline network education and practical applications, driving the field towards more efficient and intelligent development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human exposure to various N,N′-substituted p-phenylenediamine-derived quinones (PPDQs) has been of increasing concern. Recent studies have examined N-phenyl-N′-(1,3-dimethylbutyl)-p-phenylenediamine-derived quinone (6PPDQ) in human urine to evaluate human exposure. However, other PPDQs in human urine have not been thoroughly investigated. This study analyzed six PPDQs in urine collected from 149 healthy individuals in Taizhou, China. All target PPDQs were detected, with 6PPDQ (mean 2.4 ng/mL,

This study investigated the enhancement in bioethanol recovery from mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) by functionalizing zeolite framework-8 (ZIF-8) with imidazolate. This study focused on the separation of ethanol from low-concentration ethanol/water mixtures (typical post-fermentation concentrations of 5–10 wt%). Specifically, ZIF-8 was modified by the shell–ligand exchange reaction (SLER) with 5,6-dimethylbenzimidazole (DMBIM), resulting in ZIF-8-DMBIM particles with improved hydrophobicity, organophilicity, larger size, and adjustable pore size. These particles were incorporated into a PEBAX 2533 matrix to produce ZIF-8-DMBIM/PEBAX MMMs using a dilution blending method. The resulting membranes showed significant performance enhancement: 8 wt% ZIF-8-DMBIM loading achieved a total flux of 308 g/m2·h and a separation factor of 16.03, which was a 36.8% increase in flux and 176.4% increase in separation factor compared with the original PEBAX membrane. In addition, performance remained stable during a 130 h cycling test. These improvements are attributed to the enhanced compatibility and dispersion of ZIF-8-DMBIM in the PEBAX matrix. In conclusion, the evaluation of nanofiller content, feed concentration, operating temperature, and membrane stability confirmed that ZIF-8-DMBIM/PEBAX MMM is ideal for ethanol recovery in primary bioethanol concentration processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The in-depth discussion and analysis of the synergistic effect of new-type urbanization, greening and digitalization (NUGD) is important for the achievement of sustainable social, ecological and economic development. Therefore, in this study, an evaluation index system composed of these three subsystems was constructed for Chinese cities from 2011 to 2021. The comprehensive and collaborative development levels of each subsystem were measured by means including the entropy weight method and the coupling coordination model, respectively. Then, methods such as ESDA and the Dagum Gini coefficient were applied to investigate the spatiotemporal evolution and spatial differences in the triple synergy effect of the NUGD system in Chinese cities. Finally, the constraining factors of the triple synergy effect were revealed using the obstacle degree model. The findings demonstrated the following: (1) Overall, the NUGD subsystems and their comprehensive levels were increasing, with moderate overall development levels. (2) The synergistic development of the NUGD system exhibited an upward trend. Spatially, the synergistic development level showed distinct differentiation, being higher in the east and lower in the west. The multidimensional dynamic variation characteristics obtained through kernel density estimation revealed that the triple synergy level exhibits high stability. (3) The differences within the east and between the eastern and western areas were the largest, with the intensity of transvariation as the main source. (4) The five criterion layers, including social and spatial urbanization variables, were the key constraints that affected the triple synergy of the NUGD in Chinese cities, and the restrictive role of factors such as the proportion of urban construction land and the per capita postal business volume should not be ignored. This study provides a valuable reference and decision-making guidance to promote China's acceleration toward a new urbanization path supported by both digitalization and green transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The photon storage time in a superconducting coplanar waveguide (CPW) resonator is contingent on the loaded quality factor, primarily dictated by the input and output capacitance of the resonator. The phase-slip based superconducting quantum interference device (PS-SQUID) comprises two phase-slip (PS) junctions connected in series with a superconducting island in between. The PS-SQUID can manifest nonlinear capacitance behavior, with the capacitance finetuned by the gate voltage to minimize the impact of magnetic field noise as much as possible. By substituting the coupling capacitance of the CPW resonator with the PS-SQUID, the loaded quality factor of the resonator can be changed by three orders, thus, we get a microwave photon switch in superconducting quantum computation architectures. Furthermore, by regulating the loaded quality factors, the coupling strength between the CPW and superconducting quantum circuits can be controlled, enabling the ability to manipulate stationary qubits and flying qubits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marine diesel engines are the preferred power equipment for ships and are the most important component among the numerous electromechanical devices on board. Accidents involving these engines can potentially cause immeasurable damage to the vessel, making fault detection in marine diesel engines crucial. This design enables the detection and reporting of faults in marine diesel engines at the earliest possible time through the computation of convolutional neural networks, which is of great significance for ensuring the safe navigation of ships. For this functionality, the Xilinx ZYNQ-7000 XC7Z010 is selected as the main control chip, and the LoRa wireless network is used as the transmission module. The FreeRTOS embedded operating system is ported, with sensor data collection completed on the PS side of the ZYNQ chip and algorithm acceleration calculations on the PL side. Data are then transmitted to the host computer via the LoRa module paired with a custom protocol. Experimental test results show that the program provides stable data transmission, with each module of the algorithm generally accelerating by more than 95% and an accuracy rate of 92.86%. Additionally, the host computer can display the received data in real time. The custom protocol's header also allows for precise judgments about the completeness and origin of messages, facilitating the expansion of other SOC's message uplink and the host computer's message downlink. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Therapeutic HPV vaccines that induce potent HPV-specific cellular immunity and eliminate pre-existing infections remain elusive. Among various candidates under development, those based on DNA constructs are considered promising because of their safety profile, stability, and efficacy. However, the use of electroporation (EP) as a main delivery method for such vaccines is notorious for adverse effects like pain and potentially irreversible muscle damage. Moreover, the requirement for specialized equipment adds to the complexity and cost of clinical applications. As an alternative to EP, lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) that are already commercially available for delivering mRNA and siRNA vaccines are likely to be feasible. Here, we have compared three intramuscular delivery systems in a preclinical setting. In terms of HPV-specific cellular immune responses, mice receiving therapeutic HPV DNA vaccines encapsulated with LNP demonstrated superior outcomes when compared to EP administration, while the naked plasmid vaccine showed negligible responses, as expected. In addition, SM-102 LNP M exhibited the most promising results in delivering candidate DNA vaccines. Thus, LNP proves to be a feasible delivery method in vivo, offering improved immunogenicity over traditional approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CCT MOTIF FAMILY (CMF) genes belong to the CCT gene family and have been shown to play a role in diverse processes, such as flowering time and yield regulation, as well as responses to abiotic stresses. CMF genes have not yet been identified in Brassica rapa. A total of 25 BrCMF genes were identified in this study, and these genes were distributed across eight chromosomes. Collinearity analysis revealed that B. rapa and Arabidopsis thaliana share many homologous genes, suggesting that these genes have similar functions. According to sequencing analysis of promoters, several elements are involved in regulating the expression of genes that mediate responses to abiotic stresses. Analysis of the tissue-specific expression of BrCMF14 revealed that it is highly expressed in several organs. The expression of BrCMF22 was significantly downregulated under salt stress, while the expression of BrCMF5, BrCMF7, and BrCMF21 was also significantly reduced under cold stress. The expression of BrCMF14 and BrCMF5 was significantly increased under drought stress, and the expression of BrCMF7 was upregulated. Furthermore, protein–protein interaction network analysis revealed that A. thaliana homologs of BrCMF interacted with genes involved in the abiotic stress response. In conclusion, BrCMF5, BrCMF7, BrCMF14, BrCMF21, and BrCMF22 appear to play a role in responses to abiotic stresses. The results of this study will aid future investigations of CCT genes in B. rapa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reducing cumbersome mechanical control components is one of the trends of modern agricultural machinery towards a high degree of automation. Whether the control components of sugarcane harvesters can gradually be replaced by central control screens, similar to car cabins, is an unresolved question. At the level of human machine interaction, this involves comparing the efficiency between joystick and touch screen control. This paper conducts a simulated experiment to compare and study the efficiency and user experience of joystick and touch screen control in adjusting the topper and base cutter heights of sugarcane harvesters, aiming to provide a reasonable basis for the design of control interfaces in sugarcane harvester cabins. The electromyographic signals, experiment duration, and subjective cognitive evaluations of participants in both the topper and base cutter groups were analyzed. The results showed that the efficiency, learnability, and ease of use of different control methods varied under different operational tasks. For the topper that corresponds to the operating behavior and height transformation in real time, joystick control demonstrated superior ease of use and operational efficiency compared to touch screen control, with weaker learnability. There was no discernible difference in muscle activation levels between the two control methods. Consequently, joystick control is deemed more suitable for the height adjustment of the topper. Regarding the base cutter with non-real-time mapping of operating behavior and height changes, no significant disparity in ease of use and learnability was observed between the two control methods. Touch screen control yielded lower muscle activation levels and garners higher overall subjective cognitive scale ratings. Thus, touch screen control is considered more suitable for base cutter height adjustment. Lastly, the paper proposes the optimal combination of software and hardware for control components in sugarcane harvester cabins, and provides an objective and multidimensional experimental analysis method for future research on similar human machine interaction interfaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Guanine nucleotide-exchange factors (GEFs) genes play key roles in plant root and pollen tube growth, phytohormone responses, and abiotic stress responses. RopGEF genes in Brassica rapa have not yet been explored. Here, GEF genes were found to be distributed across eight chromosomes in B. rapa and were classified into three subfamilies. Promoter sequence analysis of BrRopGEFs revealed the presence of cis-elements characteristic of BrRopGEF promoters, and these cis-elements play a role in regulating abiotic stress tolerance and stress-related hormone responses. Organ-specific expression profiling demonstrated that BrRopGEFs were ubiquitously expressed in all organs, especially the roots, suggesting that they play a role in diverse biological processes. Gene expression analysis revealed that the expression of BrRopGEF13 was significantly up-regulated under osmotic stress and salt stress. RT-qPCR analysis revealed that the expression of BrRopGEF13 was significantly down-regulated under various types of abiotic stress. Protein–protein interaction (PPI) network analysis revealed interactions between RopGEF11, the homolog of BrRopGEF9, and the VPS34 protein in Arabidopsis thaliana, as well as interactions between AtRopGEF1, the homolog of BrRopGEF13 in Arabidopsis, and the ABI1, HAB1, PP2CA, and CPK4 proteins. VPS34, ABI1, HAB1, PP2CA, and CPK4 have previously been shown to confer resistance to unfavorable environments. Overall, our findings suggest that BrRopGEF9 and BrRopGEF13 play significant roles in regulating abiotic stress tolerance. These findings will aid future studies aimed at clarifying the functional characteristics of BrRopGEFs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is dedicated to the development of an advanced ship piping network programming tool to address the challenges faced by traditional text-based design and computation methods when dealing with complex and large-data-volume piping systems, such as burdensome programming tasks, high error rates, and difficulty in troubleshooting faults. Leveraging Microsoft's WPF technology and the C# language, combined with Excel as a data input platform, this tool provides an intuitive graphical user interface, allowing users to intuitively build and analyze ship piping network models by dragging and dropping controls. The tool not only simplifies the design process of complex piping systems but also significantly improves efficiency and accuracy through automated data processing and calculations. It supports user customization of key pipeline characteristics, such as maximum flow and direction, further enhancing the applicability and accuracy of the piping network model. In addition, with optimized interaction design and data management methods, the tool significantly reduces the learning difficulty for users, while improving the reliability of design and efficiency of troubleshooting. The results of this study show the tool not only technically outperforms traditional methods but also provides a new efficient, intuitive, and user-friendly tool for the teaching and engineering applications of ship piping networks, paving a new path for the design and optimization of ship piping network systems, with significant practical application value and theoretical significance. Looking forward, this tool is expected to play a broader role in the instruction and industrial practices associated with ship piping networks, moving the field toward more efficient and intelligent development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), with a glass transition temperature (Tg) over 100 °C, shows good mechanical and optical properties and has broad applications after being machined with single-point diamond turning (SPDT) at room temperature. Because of the high Tg, current efforts mostly focus on optimizing machining parameters to improve workpiece precision without considering the modification of material properties. Cryogenic cooling has been proven to be an effective method in assisting ultra-precision machining for certain types of metals, alloys, and polymers, but has never been used for PMMA before. In this work, cryogenic cooling was attempted during the SPDT of PMMA workpieces to improve surface quality. The machinability and surface properties of cryogenically cooled PMMA were investigated based on the mechanical properties at corresponding temperatures. Nanoindentation tests show that, when temperature is changed from 25 °C to 0 °C, the hardness and Young's modulus are increased by 37% and 22%, respectively. At these two temperature points, optimal parameters including spindle speed, feed rate and cut depth were obtained using Taguchi methods to obtain workpieces with high surface quality. The surface quality was evaluated based on the total height of the profile (Pt) and the arithmetic mean deviation (Ra). The measurement results show that the values of Pt and Ra of the workpiece machined at 0 °C are 124 nm and 6 nm, respectively, while the corresponding values of that machined at 25 °C are 291 nm and 11 nm. The test data show that cryogenic machining is useful for improving the form accuracy and reducing the surface roughness of PMMA. Moreover, the relationship between temperature, material properties and machinability weas established with dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) data and a theoretical model. This can explain the origin of the better surface quality of the cryogenic material. The basis of this is that temperature affects the viscoelasticity of the polymer and the corresponding mechanical properties due to relaxation. Then, the material property changes will affect surface profile formation during machining. The experimental results and theoretical analysis show that cryogenically cooled PMMA has good machinability and improved surface quality when using SPDT compared to that at ambient temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries have received extensive attention due to their numerous advantages, including a high theoretical specific capacity, high energy density, abundant reserves of sulfur in cathode materials, and low cost. Li–S batteries also face several challenges, such as the insulating properties of sulfur, volume expansion during charging and discharging processes, polysulfide shuttling, and lithium dendritic crystal growth. In this study, a composite of a porous multi-site diatomite-loaded graphene oxide material and a PAN fiber membrane is developed to obtain a porous and high-temperature-resistant GO/diatomite/polyacrylonitrile functional separator (GO/DE/PAN) to improve the electrochemical performance of Li–S batteries. The results show that the use of GO/DE/PAN helps to inhibit lithium phosphorus sulfide (LPS) shuttling and improve the electrolyte wetting of the separator as well as the thermal stability of the battery. The initial discharge capacity of the battery using GO/DE/PAN is up to 964.7 mAh g−1 at 0.2 C, and after 100 cycles, the reversible capacity is 683 mAh g−1 with a coulombic efficiency of 98.8%. The improved electrochemical performance may be attributed to the porous structure of diatomite and the layered composite of graphene oxide, which can combine physical adsorption and spatial site resistance as well as chemical repulsion to inhibit the shuttle effect of LPS. The results show that GO/DE/PAN has great potential for application in Li–S batteries to improve their electrochemical performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper researches the heat transfer equation and thermal balance equation of a shell-and-tube evaporator; constructs an accurate mathematical model for the evaporator; and derives equations including detailed and accurate calculation methods for all heat transfer coefficients, such as the refrigerant side heat transfer coefficient, water side heat transfer coefficient, refrigerant kinematic viscosity, density, and specific enthalpy. Adopting this approach involves fitting the relationships between the density, thermal conductivity, kinematic viscosity, and enthalpy of R134a refrigerants in saturated vapor and liquid states. The relationships between superheated gas enthalpy, density, and temperature were also assessed, and heat transfer coefficients were obtained through calculation methods and microelement heat transfer relationships in both the single-phase and two-phase zones, matching empirical formulas concerning the relationship between superheated enthalpy and temperature. Notably, the research utilizes the Simulink approach without relying on M files and S functions to establish the evaporator's two-phase and superheated zones, as well as an overall simulation model which provides intuitive internal coupling relationships and the coefficient calculation process in the formulas and uses the function "Algebraic Constraint" instead of "memory" or "1/z" to solve algebraic loops, thereby avoiding computation deviations introduced by delays and iterations. Finally, simulation calculations were conducted, and an experimental platform was designed and built for experimental verification which can validate the derived mathematical models. The simulation results, including the evaporator pressure, and chilled water outlet temperature with variation in chilled water mass flow rate, closely matched the experimental outcomes. The simulation model is concise and intuitive. Modifying parameters such as the thermal conductivity of the model material is straightforward, thereby alleviating the workload for researchers. It also facilitates an understanding of model principles for beginners. Moreover, the database generated from the model allows for fault analysis, diagnosis, and decision evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, to explore potential substitutions for the Co binder phase, ultrafine-grain WC-based cermets with various binder phases of Co, Ni and AlCoCrNiFeCu HEA were prepared using the SPS method. Based on SPS, WC-based cermets were fabricated at higher speed, showing fine carbide particles less than 410 μm. The microstructure, mechanical properties and wear properties were systematically evaluated. By comparison, the grain size of WC was the lowest for WC-10Co, while WC-10 HEA cermet held the coarsest WC particles. The hardness and fracture toughness of WC-10 HEA were the best among all three samples, with values of 93.2 HRA and 11.3 MP·m1/2. However, the bending strength of WC-10HEA was about 56.1% lower than that of WC-10Co, with a value of 1349.6 MPa. The reduction in bending strength is attributed to the lower density, formation of a newly Cr-Al rich phase and coarser WC grains. In dry sliding wear conditions, WC-10 HEA showed the lowest wear rate (0.98 × 10−6 mm3/(N·m)) and coefficient of friction (0.19), indicating the best wear resistance performance. This reveals that WC-based cermet with a HEA binder phase has superior wear performance due to the higher hardness and good self-lubricating effect of the wear products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As most of the current dynamic positioning systems are based on model ships, they cannot accurately reflect the motion state, position changes, and mutual influence of each part of the dynamic positioning system of actual ships in complex environments. Other actual ships such as cargo ships cannot add various sensors and auxiliary equipment to verify and analyze the positioning system. This article takes the intelligent research and training dual-use ship of Dalian Maritime University, which integrates scientific research and training, as the object of study. This ship will not be affected by the voyage period and route and can choose a suitable sea area for research. Therefore, in order to improve the accuracy and reliability of the dynamic positioning system, research on the ship's dynamic positioning system was carried out. Firstly, an accurate mathematical model was developed to simulate ship motion, focusing on the use of the Dalian Maritime University's intelligent and practical training dual-purpose vessel as the modeling object. Through this approach, a more detailed understanding of the effects of actual environmental perturbations on ship control and positioning can be obtained, as well as more realistic ship control and positioning results. The hydrodynamic derivatives of ship model motion were obtained by numerical calculation and applied to the three-degree-of-freedom model of the intelligent research and training dual-use ship. Then, the model was used as part of the closed-loop simulation model of the ship's dynamic positioning system, and the terminal sliding mode controller was used for simulation and emulation, thereby obtaining ideal simulation test results. Our results deepen the understanding of DPS accuracy and are consistent with the theory of terminal slip modes for ship power positioning control systems. This has implications for improving the accuracy of ship power positioning systems, as previously discussed in previous authors. In conclusion, this study not only improves the accuracy and reliability of the DPS but also proposes the use of the terminal slip film for a ship power positioning control system modeled on the Dalian Maritime University intelligent and practical dual-purpose vessel. These contributions are significant in improving the efficiency, safety, and environmental sustainability of ship operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coating technology, as a common coating method, is widely used in many industrial fields, among which the mattress industry utilizes it to bond sponges to produce foam mattresses. The thickness of the coating on the sponge is crucial to the quality and performance of the mattress. Hence, this study took the CNCHK-10 high-performance intelligent sponge roller coating as a model; simulated the roller coating process under different viscosities and linear speeds using fluid simulation; analyzed the effects of different viscosities of the coating liquid and the linear speeds of the rollers on the thickness of the coating; and derived the relationships between the viscosity of the coating liquid and the linear speed of the rollers and the thickness of the coating. The relationship between the viscosity of the coating liquid and the linear speed of the roller and coating thickness was obtained. The results show that in the viscosity range of the glue, the viscosity is 1.5 Pa·s when the coating thickness is the smallest, and, at this time, the amount of glue is about 74.1927 g/m2; in the adjustment range of the roller linear speed, the linear speed is 20 m/min when the coating thickness is the smallest, and, at this time, the amount of glue is about 74.1931 g/m2. The results of the study can be used for determining the coating process parameters for a reasonable selection and control to provide a theoretical basis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geohazards pose significant risks to communities and infrastructure, emphasizing the need for accurate susceptibility assessments to guide land-use planning and hazard management. This study presents a comprehensive method that combines Variable Weight Theory (VWT) with Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to assess geo-environment vulnerability based on susceptibility to various geohazards. The method was applied to the Pearl River Delta in China, resulting in the classification of areas into high vulnerability (5961.85 km2), medium vulnerability (19,227.93 km2), low vulnerability (14,892.02 km2), and stable areas (1616.19 km2). The findings demonstrate improved accuracy and reliability compared to using AHP alone. ROC curve analysis confirms the enhanced performance of the integrated method, highlighting its effectiveness in discerning susceptibility levels and making informed decisions in hazard preparedness and risk reduction. Additionally, this study assessed the risks posed by geohazards to critical infrastructures, roads, and artificial surfaces, while discussing prevention strategies. However, this study acknowledges certain limitations, including the subjective determination of its judgment matrix and data constraints. Future research could explore the integration of alternative methods to enhance the objectivity of factor weighting. In practical applications, this study contributes to the understanding of geo-environment vulnerability assessments, providing insight into the intricate interplay among geological processes, human activities, and disaster resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seminal plasma (SP) accounts for more than 90% of semen volume. It induces inflammation, regulates immune tolerance, and facilitates embryonic development and implantation in the female reproductive tract. In the physiological state, SP promotes endometrial decidualization and causes changes in immune cells such as macrophages, natural killer cells, regulatory T cells, and dendritic cells. This leads to the secretion of cytokines and chemokines and also results in the alteration of miRNA profiles and the expression of genes related to endometrial tolerance and angiogenesis. Together, these changes modulate the endometrial immune microenvironment and contribute to implantation and pregnancy. However, in pathological situations, abnormal alterations in SP due to advanced age or poor diet in men can interfere with a woman's immune adaptation to pregnancy, negatively affecting embryo implantation and even the health of the offspring. Uterine pathologies such as endometriosis and endometritis can cause the endometrium to respond negatively to SP, which can further contribute to pathological progress and interfere with conception. The research on the mechanism of SP in the endometrium is conducive to the development of new targets for intervention to improve reproductive outcomes and may also provide new ideas for semen-assisted treatment of clinical infertility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The GLABROUS1 Enhancer Binding Protein (GeBP) gene family is pivotal in regulating plant growth, development, and stress responses. However, the role of GeBP in Brassica rapa remains unclear. This study identifies 20 BrGeBP genes distributed across 6 chromosomes, categorized into 4 subfamilies. Analysis of their promoter sequences reveals multiple stress-related elements, including those responding to drought, low temperature, methyl jasmonate (MeJA), and gibberellin (GA). Gene expression profiling demonstrates wide expression of BrGeBPs in callus, stem, silique, and flower tissues. Notably, BrGeBP5 expression significantly decreases under low-temperature treatment, while BrGeBP3 and BrGeBP14 show increased expression during drought stress, followed by a decrease. Protein interaction predictions suggest that BrGeBP14 homolog, At5g28040, can interact with DES1, a known stress-regulating protein. Additionally, microRNA172 targeting BrGeBP5 is upregulated under cold tolerance. These findings underscore the vital role of BrGeBPs in abiotic stress tolerance. Specifically, BrGeBP3, BrGeBP5, and BrGeBP14 show great potential for regulating abiotic stress. This study contributes to understanding the function of BrGeBPs and provides valuable insights for studying abiotic stress in B. rapa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nitrate transporter 2 (NRT2) proteins play vital roles in both nitrate (NO3−) uptake and translocation as well as abiotic stress responses in plants. However, little is known about the NRT2 gene family in Brassica rapa. In this study, 14 NRT2s were identified in the B. rapa genome. The BrNRT2 family members contain the PLN00028 and MATE_like superfamily domains. Cis-element analysis indicated that regulatory elements related to stress responses are abundant in the promoter sequences of BrNRT2 genes. BrNRT2.3 expression was increased after drought stress, and BrNRT2.1 and BrNRT2.8 expression were significantly upregulated after salt stress. Furthermore, protein interaction predictions suggested that homologs of BrNRT2.3, BrNRT2.1, and BrNRT2.8 in Arabidopsis thaliana may interact with the known stress-regulating proteins AtNRT1.1, AtNRT1.5, and AtNRT1.8. In conclusion, we suggest that BrNRT2.1, BrNRT2.3, and BrNRT2.8 have the greatest potential for inducing abiotic stress tolerance. Our findings will aid future studies of the biological functions of BrNRT2 family genes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ASYMMETRIC LEAVES2/LATERAL ORGAN BOUNDARIES (AS2/LOB) gene family plays a pivotal role in plant growth, induction of phytohormones, and the abiotic stress response. However, the AS2 gene family in Brassica rapa has yet to be investigated. In this study, we identified 62 AS2 genes in the B. rapa genome, which were classified into six subfamilies and distributed across 10 chromosomes. Sequence analysis of BrAS2 promotors showed that there are several typical cis-elements involved in abiotic stress tolerance and stress-related hormone response. Tissue-specific expression analysis showed that BrAS2-47 exhibited ubiquitous expression in all tissues, indicating it may be involved in many biological processes. Gene expression analysis showed that the expressions of BrAS2-47 and BrAS2-10 were significantly downregulated under cold stress, heat stress, drought stress, and salt stress, while BrAS2-58 expression was significantly upregulated under heat stress. RT-qPCR also confirmed that the expression of BrAS2-47 and BrAS2-10 was significantly downregulated under cold stress, drought stress, and salt stress, and in addition BrAS2-56 and BrAS2-4 also changed significantly under the three stresses. In addition, protein–protein interaction (PPI) network analysis revealed that the Arabidopsis thaliana genes AT5G67420 (homologous gene of BrAS2-47 and BrAS2-10) and AT3G49940 (homologous gene of BrAS2-58) can interact with NIN-like protein 7 (NLP7), which has been previously reported to play a role in resistance to adverse environments. In summary, our findings suggest that among the BrAS2 gene family, BrAS2-47 and BrAS2-10 have the most potential for the regulation of abiotic stress tolerance. These results will facilitate future functional investigations of BrAS2 genes in B. rapa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An efficient method was proposed to fabricate the mold cavity for a helical cylindrical pinion based on a plastic torsion forming concept. The structure of the spur gear cavity with the same profile as the end face of the target helical gear cavity was first fabricated by low-speed wire electrical discharge machining (LS-WEDM). Then, the structure of the helical gear cavity could be obtained by twisting the spur gear cavity plastically around the central axis. In this way, the fabrication process of a helical cylindrical gear cavity could be greatly simplified, compared to the fabrication of a multi-stage helical gear core electrode and the highly difficult and complex spiral EDM process in the current gear manufacturing method. Moreover, several experiments were conducted to verify this novel processing concept, and a theoretical model was established to show the relationship between the machine torsion angle and the helical angle of a helical gear. Based on this theoretical model, the experimental results showed that it is feasible to precisely control the shape accuracy of a helical cylindrical pinion mold cavity by adjusting the machine torsion angle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The unique bicontinuous porous structure and superior electrical conductivity of nanoporous gold (NPG) make it a highly promising material for energy storage and conversion. Although the number of articles on the study of NPG-based materials in energy fields has increased significantly in recent years, the collation and review of these articles are still lacking. Herein, we address this gap by reviewing recent research activities on dealloyed NPG for energy storage and conversion applications. Firstly, the typical dealloying process for forming NPG is introduced. Subsequently, NPG-based composite catalysts used to catalyze water splitting and fuel cells electrode reactions are presented. Afterward, the applications of NPG for different types of electrodes of supercapacitors (SCs) and batteries are discussed. Finally, the studies on NPG for catalyzing CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) are reviewed. In a word, the recent research progress of NPG-based materials is reviewed and the future research directions are outlined, laying the cornerstone for the preparation of more advanced energy storage and conversion devices in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cerebral ischemia/reperfusion causes exacerbated neuronal damage involving excessive neuroinflammation and oxidative stress. ROS is considered a signal molecule to activate NLRP3; thus, the ROS/NLRP3/pyroptosis axis plays a vital role in the pathogenesis of cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury (CIRI). Therefore, targeting the inhibition of the ROS/NLRP3/pyroptosis axis may be a promising therapeutic tactic for CIRI. Epimedium (EP) contains many active ingredients (ICA, ICS II, and ICT), which have a wide range of pharmacological activities. However, whether EP can protect against CIRI remains unknown. Thus, in this study, we designed to investigate the effect and possible underlying mechanism of EP on CIRI. The results showed that treatment with EP dramatically mitigated brain damage in rats following CIRI, which was achieved by suppressing mitochondrial oxidative stress and neuroinflammation. Furthermore, we identified the ROS/NLRP3/pyroptosis axis as a vital process and NLRP3 as a vital target in EP-mediated protection. Most interestingly, the main compounds of EP directly bonded with NLRP3, as reflected by molecular docking, which indicated that NLRP3 might be a promising therapeutic target for EP-elicited cerebral protection. In conclusion, our findings illustrate that ICS II protects against neuron loss and neuroinflammation after CIRI by inhibiting ROS/NLRP3-mediated pyroptosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heavy metal-associated proteins (HMPs) participate in heavy metal detoxification. Although HMPs have been identified in several plants, no studies to date have identified the HMPs in Brassica rapa (B. rapa). Here, we identified 85 potential HMPs in B. rapa by bioinformatic methods. The promoters of the identified genes contain many elements associated with stress responses, including response to abscisic acid, low-temperature, and methyl jasmonate. The expression levels of BrHMP14, BrHMP16, BrHMP32, BrHMP41, and BrHMP42 were upregulated under Cu2+, Cd2+, Zn2+, and Pb2+ stresses. BrHMP06, BrHMP30, and BrHMP41 were also significantly upregulated after drought treatment. The transcripts of BrHMP06 and BrHMP11 increased mostly under cold stress. After applying salt stress, the expression of BrHMP02, BrHMP16, and BrHMP78 was induced. We observed increased BrHMP36 expression during the self-incompatibility (SI) response and decreased expression in the compatible pollination (CP) response during pollen–stigma interactions. These changes in expression suggest functions for these genes in HMPs include participating in heavy metal transport, detoxification, and response to abiotic stresses, with the potential for functions in sexual reproduction. We found potential co-functional partners of these key players by protein–protein interaction (PPI) analysis and found that some of the predicted protein partners are known to be involved in corresponding stress responses. Finally, phosphorylation investigation revealed many phosphorylation sites in BrHMPs, suggesting post-translational modification may occur during the BrHMP-mediated stress response. This comprehensive analysis provides important clues for the study of the molecular mechanisms of BrHMP genes in B. rapa, especially for abiotic stress and pollen–stigma interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Glutamate receptors (GLRs) are involved in multiple functions during the plant life cycle through affecting the Ca2+ concentration. However, GLRs in Brassica species have not yet been reported. In this study, 16 glutamate receptor-like channels (GLR) belonged to two groups were identified in the Brassica rapa (B. rapa) genome by bioinformatic analysis. Most members contain domains of ANF_receptor, Peripla_BP_6, Lig_chan, SBP_bac_3, and Lig_chan_Glu_bd that are closely related to glutamate receptor channels. This gene family contains many elements associated with drought stress, low temperature stress, methyl jasmonate (MeJA), salicylic acid (SA), and other stress resistance. Gene expression profiles showed that BraGLR genes were expressed in roots, stems, leaves, flowers, and siliques. BraGLR5 expression was elevated after drought stress in drought-sensitive plants. BraGLR1, BraGLR8, and BraGLR11 expression were significantly upregulated after salt stress. BraGLR3 expression is higher in the female sterile-line mutants than in the wild type. The expression levels of BraGLR6, BraGLR9, BraGLR12, and BraGLR13 were significantly higher in the male sterile-line mutants than in the wild type. The expression of most BraGLRs increased after self-pollination, with BraGLR9 exhibiting the greatest increase. These results suggest that BraGLRs play an important role in abiotic stress tolerance and sexual reproduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Video captioning aims to generate a grammatical and accurate sentence to describe a video. Recent methods have mainly tackled this problem by considering multiple modalities, yet they have neglected the difference in modalities and the importance of shrinking the gap between video and text. This paper proposes a multi-task video-captioning method with a Stepwise Multimodal Encoder. The encoder can flexibly digest multiple modalities by assigning a proper encoding depth for each modality. We also exploit both video-to-text (V2T) and text-to-video (T2V) flows by adding an auxiliary task of video–text semantic matching. We successfully achieve state-of-the-art performance on two widely known datasets: MSVD and MSR-VTT: (1) with the MSVD dataset, our method achieves an 18% improvement in CIDEr; (2) with the MSR-VTT dataset, our method achieves a 6% improvement in CIDEr. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BAW-based micromixers usually achieve mixing enhancement with acoustic-induced bubbles, while SAW-based micromixers usually enhance mixing efficiency by varying the configuration of IDTs and microchannels. In this paper, bubble-enhanced acoustic mixing induced by standing surface acoustic waves (SSAWs) in a microchannel is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. Significant enhancement in the mixing efficiency was achieved after the bubbles were stimulated in our acoustofluidic microdevice. With an applied voltage of 5 V, 50 times amplified, the proposed mixing microdevice could achieve 90.8% mixing efficiency within 60 s at a flow rate of 240 μL/h. The bubbles were generated from acoustic cavitation assisted by the temperature increase resulting from the viscous absorption of acoustic energy. Our results also suggest that a temperature increase is harmful to microfluidic devices and temperature monitoring. Regulation is essential, especially in chemical and biological applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Error detection is a critical step in data cleaning. Most traditional error detection methods are based on rules and external information with high cost, especially when dealing with large-scaled data. Recently, with the advances of deep learning, some researchers focus their attention on learning the semantic distribution of data for error detection; however, the low error rate in real datasets makes it hard to collect negative samples for training supervised deep learning models. Most of the existing deep-learning-based error detection algorithms solve the class imbalance problem by data augmentation. Due to the inadequate sampling of negative samples, the features learned by those methods may be biased. In this paper, we propose an AEGAN (Auto-Encoder Generative Adversarial Network)-based deep learning model named SAT-GAN (Self-Attention Generative Adversarial Network) to detect errors in relational datasets. Combining the self-attention mechanism with the pre-trained language model, our model can capture semantic features of the dataset, specifically the functional dependency between attributes, so that no rules or constraints are needed for SAT-GAN to identify inconsistent data. For the lack of negative samples, we propose to train our model via zero-shot learning. As a clean-data tailored model, SAT-GAN tries to recognize error data as outliers by learning the latent features of clean data. In our evaluation, SAT-GAN achieves an average F 1 -score of 0.95 on five datasets, which yields at least 46.2% F 1 -score improvement over rule-based methods and outperforms state-of-the-art deep learning approaches in the absence of rules and negative samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Obesity may cause metabolic syndrome and has become a global public health problem, and dietary fibers (DF) could alleviate obesity and metabolic syndrome by regulating intestinal microbiota. We developed a functional fiber (FF) with a synthetic mixture of polysaccharides, high viscosity, water-binding capacity, swelling capacity, and fermentability. This study aimed to investigate the effect of FF on obesity and to determine its prevention of obesity by modulating the gut microbiota. Physiological, histological, and biochemical parameters, and gut microbiota composition were investigated in the following six groups: control group (Con), high-fat diet group (HFD), low-fat diet group (LFD, conversion of HFD to LFD), high-fat +8% FF group (8% FF), high-fat +12% FF group (12% FF), and high-fat +12% FF + antibiotic group (12% FF + AB). The results demonstrated that 12% FF could promote a reduction in body weight and epididymal adipocyte area, augment insulin sensitivity, and stimulate heat production from brown adipose tissue (BAT) (p < 0.05). Compared with the HFD, 12% FF could also significantly improve the intestinal morphological integrity, attenuate systemic inflammation, promote intestinal microbiota homeostasis, and stabilize the production of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) (p < 0.05). Consistent with the results of 12% FF, the LFD could significantly reduce the body weight and epididymal adipocyte area relative to the HFD (p < 0.05), but the LFD and HFD showed no significant difference (p > 0.05) in the level of inflammation and SCFAs. Meanwhile, 12% FF supplementation showed an increase (p < 0.05) in the abundance of the Bifidobacterium, Lactococcus, and Coprococcus genus in the intestine, which had a negative correlation with obesity and insulin resistance. Additionally, the treatment with antibiotics (12% FF + AB) could inhibit the effect of FF in the HFD. The Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) function prediction revealed that 12% FF could significantly inhibit the cyanogenic amino acid metabolic pathway and decrease the serum succinate concentration relative to the HFD group. The overall results indicate that 12% FF has the potential to reduce obesity through the beneficial regulation of the gut microbiota and metabolites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hot deformation behavior of Mg-8.7Gd-4.18Y-0.42Zr alloy was investigated by uniaxial hot compression tests at 300–475 °C with strain rates of 0.002–10 s−1. The average activation energy was calculated as 227.67 KJ/mol and a constitutive relation based on the Arrhenius equation was established in this study. The results show that Mg-8.7Gd-4.18Y-0.42Zr magnesium alloy is a strain rate and temperature-sensitive material. When the temperature is constant, the flow stress increases with the increase of strain rate, while when the strain rate is stable, the flow stress decreases with the increase of temperature. DRX is the main softening mechanism of the alloy, including continuous dynamic recrystallization (CDRX) and discontinuous dynamic recrystallization (DDRX). Meanwhile, the DRX grains nucleate preferentially at the twin intersections in the parent grains under the deformation condition below 300 °C and gradually expand outward with the increase of strain. When the compression temperature is above 400 °C, DRX grains nucleate preferentially at the original grain boundary and then gradually expand inward with the increase of strain. The optimum deformation conditions of the studied alloy are performed at 400–450 °C and 0.002–0.02 s−1 by a comprehensive comparison of the hot processing map, microstructure refinement, and formability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many music generation research works have achieved effective performance, while rarely combining music with given videos. We propose a model with two linear Transformers to generate background music according to a given video. To enhance the melodic quality of the generated music, we firstly input note-related and rhythm-related music features separately into each Transformer network. In particular, we pay attention to the connection and the independence of music features. Then, in order to generate the music that matches the given video, the current state-of-the-art cross-modal inference method is set up to establish the relationship between visual mode and sound mode. Subjective and objective experiment indicate that the generated background music matches the video well and is also melodious. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Qingcaosha Reservoir is an important drinking water source in Shanghai. The occurrence of five groups of antibiotics was investigated in the surface water of this reservoir over a one-year period. Seventeen antibiotics were selected in this study based on their significant usage in China. Of these antibiotics, 16 were detected, while oxytetracycline was not detected in any sampling site. The detected frequency of tylosin was only 47.92% while the other 15 antibiotics were above 81.25%. The dominant antibiotic was different in four seasons: norfloxacin was dominant in spring, and penicillinV was dominant in summer, autumn and winter, with medium concentrations of 124.10 ng/L, 89.91 ng/L, 180.28 ng/L, and 216.43 ng/L, respectively. The concentrations and detection frequencies of antibiotics were notably higher in winter than in other seasons, demonstrating that low temperature and low flow may result in the persistence of antibiotics in the aquatic environment. Risk assessment suggested that norfloxacin, ciprofloxacin, penicillinV, and doxycycline in the surface water presented high ecological risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recycling of waste products is an important way to achieve global sustainable development. To analyze the impact of different objects of government subsidies on single-channel recycling based on recycling propaganda, four theory game models of single-channel recycling based on government subsidies and recycling propaganda are established. By comparing and analyzing the effects of different subsidies and propaganda strategies on the recycling of waste products in the four models, this article mainly draws the following conclusions: the government selecting different objects to subsidize has the same effect on the unit recycling price, quantity, and revenue of waste products; when the government subsidizes the processors, the consigned recycling price of waste products will increase, but when the government subsidizes recyclers, it will decrease; when the propagandist is determined, the optimal value of propaganda is related to the sensitivity of residents to the unit recycling price of waste products, the unit propaganda of waste products, and the expenses of propagating waste products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By virtue of the high theoretical capacity of Si, Si-related materials have been developed as promising anode candidates for high-energy-density batteries. During repeated charge/discharge cycling, however, severe volumetric variation induces the pulverization and peeling of active components, causing rapid capacity decay and even development stagnation in high-capacity batteries. In this study, the Si/Fe2O3-anchored rGO framework was prepared by introducing ball milling into a melt spinning and dealloying process. As the Li-ion battery (LIB) anode, it presents a high reversible capacity of 1744.5 mAh g−1 at 200 mA g−1 after 200 cycles and 889.4 mAh g−1 at 5 A g−1 after 500 cycles. The outstanding electrochemical performance is due to the three-dimensional cross-linked porous framework with a high specific surface area, which is helpful to the transmission of ions and electrons. Moreover, with the cooperation of rGO, the volume expansion of Si is effectively alleviated, thus improving cycling stability. The work provides insights for the design and preparation of Si-based materials for high-performance LIB applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The gastrointestinal tract is a heterogeneous ecosystem with distinct, stratified environments, which leads to different microbial composition in different intestinal segments. The regional heterogeneity of intestinal microbiota complicates the relationship between diet and microbiota. Few studies have focused on the effects of different diets on microbiota in different intestinal segments. This study aimed to investigate the effects of functional fiber on the microbial composition in multiple intestinal segments from a high-fat diet compared with a normal chow diet. We found that the response of microbiota from different intestinal segments to diet was related to the intestinal physiologic function and the physicochemical properties of dietary nutrients. A high-fat diet drove changes in the microbial composition in the hindgut, possibly by affecting the digestive environment of the foregut, and increased the regional heterogeneity of the whole intestinal microbiota. The supplementation of functional fiber promoted the microbial transfer and colonization from the anterior to the posterior intestinal segments, and increased the regional similarity of intestinal microbiota accordingly, particularly within the hindgut. The gut fermentation of the functional fiber, which mainly occurred in the hindgut, resulted in a significant change in the microbial composition and metabolism in the cecum and colon, with richer carbohydrate metabolism-related bacteria, including Mucispirillum, Prevotella, Anaerostipes, Oscillospira, Ruminococcus, Bacteroides, Coprococcus, Ruminococcus (Lachnospiraceae), and Allobaculum, and higher production of acetate and butyrate. We concluded that multiple regulatory mechanisms of diets which affect microbiota composition exist, including microbial metabolism, microbial migration, and the regulation of the intestinal environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The micro-hole is a key structure in multilayer printed circuit board (PCB), as it enables the effective transmission of electrical signals. At present, the most common way to machine PCB micro-holes is mechanical drilling using micro-bit. However, in the mechanical drilling of micro-holes, these holes are prone to burring at the hole mouth due to the micro-bit failing to cleanly cut through the first layer of copper foil on the PCB. Hole mouth burr can seriously affect the performance of the PCB, resulting in potential short circuiting or even ruining the PCB. To solve the above problems, this paper proposed to machine the first layer of copper foil on the PCB via micro electro-discharge machining (micro-EDM) to eliminate hole mouth burr. Compared with the mechanical drilling, micro-EDM is a form of non-contact machining, and the high temperature generated from the electric spark discharge can erode the first layer of copper foil, thus fully eliminating hole mouth burr. This paper performed a detailed study of the influence of spindle speed, machining voltage, pulse width, and pulse interval on hole mouth quality. After that, the technological parameters for eliminating hole mouth burr were obtained. Finally, under the effects of 20,000 rpm spindle speed, 26 V machining voltage, 4 μs pulse width, and 8 μs pulse interval, a micro-bit with a diameter of 200 μm was used to perform micro-EDM of the first layer of copper foil. From the machining results, it can be known that the PCB micro-hole was possessed of overall good quality, with good hole wall surface quality and almost no visible hole mouth burr. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Burning loss of graphene in the high-temperature plasma-spraying process is a critical issue, significantly limiting the remarkable performance improvement in graphene reinforced ceramic coatings. Here, we reported an effective approach to enhance the graphene retention, and thus improve the performance of plasma-sprayed alumina/graphene nanoplatelets (Al2O3/GNPs) coatings by heat treatment of agglomerated Al2O3/GNPs powders. The effect of powder heat treatment on the microstructure, GNPs retention, and electrical conductivity of Al2O3/GNPs coatings were systematically investigated. The results indicated that, with the increase in the powder heat treatment temperature, the plasma-sprayed Al2O3/GNPs coatings exhibited decreased porosity and improved adhesive strength. Thermogravimetric analysis and Raman spectra results indicated that increased GNPs retention from 12.9% to 28.4%, and further to 37.4%, as well as decreased structural defects, were obtained for the AG, AG850, and AG1280 coatings, respectively, which were fabricated by using AG powders without heat treatment, powders heat-treated at 850 °C, and powders heat-treated at 1280 °C. Moreover, the electrical conductivities of AG, AG850, and AG1280 coatings exhibited 3 orders, 4 orders, and 7 orders of magnitude higher than that of Al2O3 coating, respectively. Powder heat treatment is considered to increase the melting degree of agglomerated alumina particles, eventually leaving less thermal energy for GNPs to burn; thus, a high retention amount and structural integrity of GNPs and significantly enhanced electrical conductivity were achieved for the plasma-sprayed Al2O3/GNPs coatings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tax exemption plays an important role in the sustainability of charitable organizations (COs). The 2016 Charity Law of China provides stronger tax incentives for charity donations. Using 767 observations of Chinese charitable foundations (CFs) during 2010–2018 from the China Foundation Center database and manually collected tax-exempt status data, this study applies multivariate logistic regression analysis to examine the association between tax-exempt status and related key factors, such as transparency and donation dependency. This study found that a one-point increase in the transparency score of a CF is associated with a 3.9 percentage points higher likelihood of having at least one type of tax-exempt qualification (OR = 1.039, p < 0.01). There is in general a significantly positive association between tax-exempt status and donation dependency of CFs in China. After 2016, the CFs responded actively to the tax incentive provided by the Charity Law, which in return requires a higher level of transparency. These results suggest that taxation under the legal system may effectively function to promote the sustainability of charity foundations in China in the long run. Further studies are needed to explore in-depth why CFs with advanced tax-exempt qualifications concentrate in Beijing and Shanghai. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Text-video retrieval tasks face a great challenge in the semantic gap between cross modal information. Some existing methods transform the text or video into the same subspace to measure their similarity. However, this kind of method does not consider adding a semantic consistency constraint when associating the two modalities of semantic encoding, and the associated result is poor. In this paper, we propose a multi-modal retrieval algorithm based on semantic association and multi-task learning. Firstly, the multi-level features of video or text are extracted based on multiple deep learning networks, so that the information of the two modalities can be fully encoded. Then, in the public feature space where the two modalities information are mapped together, we propose a semantic similarity measurement and semantic consistency classification based on text-video features for a multi-task learning framework. With the semantic consistency classification task, the learning of semantic association task is restrained. So multi-task learning guides the better feature mapping of two modalities and optimizes the construction of unified feature subspace. Finally, the experimental results of our proposed algorithm on the Microsoft Video Description dataset (MSVD) and MSR-Video to Text (MSR-VTT) are better than the existing research, which prove that our algorithm can improve the performance of cross-modal retrieval. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Benefiting from ultra-high theoretical capacity, silicon (Si) is popular for use in energy storage fields as a Li–ion battery anode material because of its high-performance. However, a serious volume variation happens towards Si anodes in the lithiation/delithiation process, triggering the pulverization of Si and a fast decay in its capacity, which greatly limits its commercial application. In our study, a porous Si/Fe2O3 dual network anode was fabricated using the melt-spinning, ball-milling and dealloying method. The anode material shows good electrochemical performance, delivering a reversible capacity of 697.2 mAh g−1 at 200 mA g−1 after 100 cycles. The high Li storage property is ascribed to the rich mesoporous distribution of the dual network structure, which may adapt the volume variation of the material during the lithiation/delithiation process, shorten the Li–ion diffusion distance and improve the electron transport speed. This study offers a new idea for developing natural ferrosilicon ores into the porous Si-based materials and may prompt the development of natural ores in energy storage fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Titanium-nickel shape memory alloy (SMA) has good biomedical application value as an implant. Alloy corrosion will promote the release of toxic nickel ions and cause allergies and poisoning of cells and tissues. With this background, surface modification of TiNi SMAs using TiC-powder-assisted micro-electrical discharge machining (EDM) was proposed. This aims to explore the effect of the electrical discharge machining (EDM) parameters and TiC powder concentration on the machining properties and surface characteristics of the TiNi SMA. It was found that the material removal rate (MRR), surface roughness, and thickness of the recast layer increased with an increase in the discharge energy. TiC powder's addition had a positive effect on increasing the electro-discharge frequency and MRR, reducing the surface roughness, and the maximum MRR and the minimum surface roughness occurred at a mixed powder concentration of 5 g/L. Moreover, the recast layer had good adhesion and high hardness due to metallurgical bonding. XRD analysis found that the machined surface contains CuO2, TiO2, and TiC phases, contributing to an increase in the surface microhardness from 258.5 to 438.7 HV, which could be beneficial for wear resistance in biomedical orthodontic applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three-dimensional (3D) microelectrodes used for processing 3D microstructures in micro-electrical discharge machining (micro-EDM) can be readily prepared by laminated object manufacturing (LOM). However, the microelectrode surface always appears with steps due to the theoretical error of LOM, significantly reducing the surface quality of 3D microstructures machined by micro-EDM with the microelectrode. To address the problem above, this paper proposes a filling method to fabricate a composite 3D microelectrode and applies it in micro-EDM for processing 3D microstructures without steps. The effect of bonding temperature and Sn film thickness on the steps is investigated in detail. Meanwhile, the distribution of Cu and Sn elements in the matrix and the steps is analyzed by the energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer. Experimental results show that when the Sn layer thickness on the interface is 8 μm, 15 h after heat preservation under 950 °C, the composite 3D microelectrodes without the steps on the surface were successfully fabricated, while Sn and Cu elements were evenly distributed in the microelectrodes. Finally, the composite 3D microelectrodes were applied in micro-EDM. Furthermore, 3D microstructures without steps on the surface were obtained. This study verifies the feasibility of machining 3D microstructures without steps by micro-EDM with a composite 3D microelectrode fabricated via the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a new style of micro-structured LED (light-emitting diode) diffusion plate was developed using a highly efficient and precise hybrid processing method combined with micro injection molding and micro-grinding technology to realize mass production and low-cost manufacturing of LED lamps with excellent lighting performance. Firstly, the micro-structured mold core with controllable shape accuracy and surface quality was machined by the precision trued V-tip grinding wheel. Then, the micro-structured LED diffusion plate was rapidly fabricated by the micro injection molding technology. Finally, the influences of micro injection molding process parameters on the illumination of the micro-structured diffusion plate were investigated. The simulated optical results show that the illumination of the micro-structured diffusion plate can achieve a maximum value when the V-groove depth and V-groove angle are designed to be 300 μm and 60°, respectively. The experimental results indicate that the developed micro-structured diffusion plate may improve the illumination by about 40.82% compared with the traditional diffusion plate. The prediction accuracy of the designed light efficiency simulation method was about 90.33%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When using foil queue microelectrodes (FQ-microelectrodes) for micro electrical discharge machining (micro-EDM), the processed results of each foil microelectrode (F-microelectrode) can be stacked to construct three-dimensional (3D) microstructures. However, the surface of the 3D microstructure obtained from this process will have a step effect, which has an adverse effect on the surface quality and shape accuracy of the 3D microstructures. To focus on this problem, this paper proposes to use FQ-microelectrodes with tapered structures for micro-EDM, thereby eliminating the step effect on the 3D microstructure's surface. By using a low-speed wire EDM machine, a copper foil with thickness of 300 μm was processed to obtain a FQ-microelectrode in which each of the F-microelectrodes has a tapered structure along its thickness direction. These tapered structures could effectively improve the construction precision of the 3D microstructure and effectively eliminate the step effect. In this paper, the effects of the taper angle and the number of microelectrodes on the step effect were investigated. The experimental results show that the step effect on the 3D microstructure's surface became less evident with the taper angle and the number of F-microelectrodes increased. Finally, under the processing voltage of 120 V, pulse width of 1 μs and pulse interval of 10 μs, a FQ-microelectrode (including 40 F-microelectrodes) with 10° taper angle was used for micro-EDM. The obtained 3D microstructure has good surface quality and the step effect was essentially eliminated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dietary fiber, an important regulator of intestinal microbiota, is a promising tool for preventing obesity and related metabolic disorders. However, the functional links between dietary fiber, intestinal microbiota, and obesity phenotype are still not fully understood. Combined soluble fiber (CSF) is a synthetic mixture of polysaccharides and displays high viscosity, water-binding capacity, swelling capacity, and fermentability. We found that supplementing high-fat diet (HFD) with 6% CSF significantly improved the insulin sensitivity of obese mice without affecting their body weight. Replacing the HFD with normal chow basal diet (NCD), the presence of CSF in the feed significantly enhanced satiety, decreased energy intake, promoted weight and fat loss, and augmented insulin sensitivity. CSF also improved the intestinal morphological integrity, attenuated systemic inflammation, promoted intestinal microbiota homeostasis, and stabilized the production of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) that was perturbed during HFD-induced obesity, and these stabilizing effects were more prominent when the basal diet was switched to NCD. The enrichment of bacteria of the S24-7 family and Allobaculum genus increased markedly in the intestine following 6% CSF supplementation- and correlated with decreased adiposity and insulin resistance. Five bacterial genera that were decreased by CSF, including Oscillospira, unclassified Lachonospitaceae, unclassified Clostridiales, unclassified Desulfovibrionaceae, and unclassified Ruminococcae, were subjected to co-occurrence network analysis and were positively correlated to adiposity and insulin resistance, indicating a key role in the microbial response to CSF. Thus, CSF has a potential to promote insulin sensitivity and even reduce obesity via beneficial regulation of the gut microecosystem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Our novel findings suggest that excessive backfat thickness of sows at days 109 of gestation exacerbates the metabolic disorder of perinatal sows, reduces the number and litter weight of piglets born alive, and adversely affects the intestinal health of sows and their offspring piglets. Moreover, the current study also provides an important theoretical reference for strengthening the control of body condition in sows during reproductive cycle. This study explored the effect of obesity of sows in late pregnancy on metabolic status of perinatal sows and performance, intestinal health, and immune system of offspring piglets. Sixty multiparous Landrance × Large White sows were selected in this study. Sows were divided into two groups according to backfat thickness (normal backfat thickness group, =17 mm; excessive backfat thickness group, ≥21 mm) at days 109 of gestation. The excessive backfat thickness of sows during late pregnancy decreased the total number and litter weight of piglets born alive. Compared with normal backfat thickness sows, the excessive backfat thickness sows had increased levels of plasma glucose, IL-6, and TNF-α and homeostasis model assessment insulin resistance values. The excessive backfat thickness also reduced total superoxide dismutase but increased thiobarbituric acid reactive substances in plasma of perinatal sows. Additionally, the fecal levels of TNF-α were increased but those of IL-10 were decreased in piglets from excessive backfat thickness sow. These findings indicate that the obesity of sows during late pregnancy aggravates the metabolic disorder of perinatal sows, reduces the number of piglets born alive, and adversely affects the intestinal health of sows and their offspring piglets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]