Search

In the existing literature, there are few studies on the effect of deposition bias on the tribological properties of carbon-doped high-entropy alloy coatings. In order to further study the effect of the deposition bias on the properties of coatings, (AlTiVCrNb)CxNy coatings were deposited via unbalanced RF magnetron sputtering. The microstructure and tribological properties of carbon-doped high-entropy alloy ceramic coatings under different deposition biases were studied. The composition, morphology, crystal structure, and chemical morphology of each element of the coating were analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The hardness, elastic modulus, friction, and wear properties of the coating were further characterized using a nanoindentation instrument, reciprocating sliding friction, a wear tester, and a white light interferometer. The coating density reached the optimal level when the deposition bias value was 90 V. The hardness and elastic modulus of the (AlTiVCrNb)CxNy coating increased first and then decreased with an increase in deposition bias, and the maximum hardness was 23.98 GPa. When the deposition bias was 90 V, the coating formed a good-quality carbon transfer film on the surface of the counterbody due to sp2 clusters during the friction and wear process. The average friction coefficient and wear rate of the (AlTiVCrNb)CxNy coating were the lowest, 0.185 and 1.6 × 10−7 mm3/N·m, respectively. The microstructure, mechanical properties, and tribological performance of the (AlTiVCrNb)CxNy coating were greatly affected by the change in deposition bias, and an (AlTiVCrNb)CxNy coating with excellent structure and friction properties could be prepared using graphite co-sputtering.

The increase in installed PV capacity worldwide and the intermittent nature of solar resources highlight the importance of power prediction for grid integration of this technology. Therefore, there is an urgent need for an effective prediction model, but the choice of model hyperparameters greatly affects the prediction performance. In this paper, a multi-strategy improved snowmelt algorithm (MISAO) is proposed for optimizing intrinsic computing-expressive empirical mode decomposition with adaptive noise (ICEEMDAN) and weighted least squares support vector machine for PV power forecasting. Firstly, a cyclic chaotic mapping initialization strategy is used to generate a uniformly distributed high-quality population, which facilitates the algorithm to enter the appropriate search domain quickly. Secondly, the Gaussian diffusion strategy enhances the local exploration ability of the intelligences and extends their search in the solution space, effectively preventing them from falling into local optima. Finally, a stochastic follower search strategy is employed to reserve better candidate solutions for the next iteration, thus achieving a robust exploration–exploitation balance. With these strategies, the optimization performance of MISAO is comprehensively improved. In order to comprehensively evaluate the optimization performance of MISAO, a series of numerical optimization experiments were conducted using IEEE CEC2017 and test sets, and the effectiveness of each improvement strategy was verified. In terms of solution accuracy, convergence speed, robustness, and scalability, MISAO was compared with the basic SAO, various state-of-the-art optimizers, and some recently developed improved algorithms. The results showed that the overall optimization performance of MISAO is excellent, with Friedman average rankings of 1.80 and 1.82 in the two comparison experiments. In most of the test cases, MISAO delivered more accurate and reliable solutions than its competitors. In addition, the altered algorithm was applied to the selection of hyperparameters for the ICEEMDAN-WLSSVM PV prediction model, and seven neural network models, including WLSSVM, ICEEMDAN-WLSSVM, and MISAO-ICEEMDAN-WLSSVM, were used to predict the PV power under three different weather types. The results showed that the models have high prediction accuracy and stability. The MAPE, MAE and RMSE of the proposed model were reduced by at least 25.3%, 17.8% and 13.3%, respectively. This method is useful for predicting the output power, which is conducive to the economic dispatch of the grid and the stable operation of the power system.

With the rapid proliferation of the Internet of Things (IoT) in recent years, the number of IoT devices has surged exponentially. These devices collect and transmit vast amounts of data, including sensitive information. Encrypting data is a crucial means to prevent unauthorized access and potential misuse. However, the traditional cryptographic schemes offering robust security demand substantial device resources and are unsuitable for lightweight deployments, particularly in resource-constrained IoT devices. On the other hand, with the automotive industry making strides in autonomous driving, self-driving vehicles are beginning to integrate into people’s daily lives. Ensuring the security of autonomous driving systems, particularly in preventing hacker infiltrations, is a paramount challenge currently facing the industry. An emerging lightweight sequence cipher—aiming to strike a balance between security and resource efficiency—has been proposed in this paper based on S-box substitution and arithmetic addition. The designed security threshold is 280. It has been verified that with a slight performance disadvantage, it can reduce memory usage while ensuring the security threshold. The key stream generated by this structure exhibits excellent pseudo-randomness.

Due to the uniqueness of the underwater environment, traditional data aggregation schemes face many challenges. Most existing data aggregation solutions do not fully consider node trustworthiness, which may result in the inclusion of falsified data sent by malicious nodes during the aggregation process, thereby affecting the accuracy of the aggregated results. Additionally, because of the dynamically changing nature of the underwater environment, current solutions often lack sufficient flexibility to handle situations such as node movement and network topology changes, significantly impacting the stability and reliability of data transmission. To address the aforementioned issues, this paper proposes a secure data aggregation algorithm based on a trust mechanism. By dynamically adjusting the number and size of node slices based on node trust values and transmission distances, the proposed algorithm effectively reduces network communication overhead and improves the accuracy of data aggregation. Due to the variability in the number of node slices, even if attackers intercept some slices, it is difficult for them to reconstruct the complete data, thereby ensuring data security.

Underwater acoustic sensor networks have a wide range of applications in both civil and military fields, but the complex and changing underwater environment makes them vulnerable to multiple security threats. Trust mechanisms are effective ways to enhance network security and reliability. In order to improve the accuracy of trust evaluation and the detection rate of abnormal nodes, this paper proposes an adaptive trust evaluation model based on fuzzy logic. This model adopts a variable weight fuzzy comprehensive evaluation algorithm to dynamically adjust the weights of three direct trust indicators to ensure the accuracy of direct trust evaluation. Then, it uses fuzzy closeness to eliminate unreliable recommendation trust and adjusts the weight of recommendation trust through deviation to improve the accuracy of indirect trust. The simulation results show that the model can effectively improve the accuracy of trust evaluation and the detection rate of abnormal nodes. Especially when the link quality is unstable, the success rate of detecting abnormal nodes in this model is improved by more than 10% compared with the existing trust model.

Rotavirus (RV) is the main pathogen that causes severe diarrhea in infants and children under 5 years of age. No specific antiviral therapies or licensed anti-rotavirus drugs are available. It is crucial to develop effective and low-toxicity anti-rotavirus small-molecule drugs that act on novel host targets. In this study, a new anti-rotavirus compound was selected by ELISA, and cell activity was detected from 453 small-molecule compounds. The anti-RV effects and underlying mechanisms of the screened compounds were explored. In vitro experimental results showed that the small-molecule compound ML241 has a good effect on inhibiting rotavirus proliferation and has low cytotoxicity during the virus adsorption, cell entry, and replication stages. In addition to its in vitro effects, ML241 also exerted anti-RV effects in a suckling mouse model. Transcriptome sequencing was performed after adding ML241 to cells infected with RV. The results showed that ML241 inhibited the phosphorylation of ERK1/2 in the MAPK signaling pathway, thereby inhibiting IκBα, activating the NF-κB signaling pathway, and playing an anti-RV role. These results provide an experimental basis for specific anti-RV small-molecule compounds or compound combinations, which is beneficial for the development of anti-RV drugs.

Reactive sulfur species (RSS) like hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and cysteine persulfide (Cys-SSH) emerged as key signaling molecules with diverse physiological roles in the body, depending on their concentration and the cellular environment. While it is known that H2S and Cys-SSH are produced by both colonocytes and by the gut microbiota through sulfur metabolism, it remains unknown how these RSS affect amebiasis caused by Entamoeba histolytica, a parasitic protozoan that can be present in the human gastrointestinal tract. This study investigates H2S and Cys-SSH’s impact on E. histolytica physiology and explores potential therapeutic implications. Exposing trophozoites to the H2S donor, sodium sulfide (Na2S), or to Cys-SSH led to rapid cytotoxicity. A proteomic analysis of Cys-SSH-challenged trophozoites resulted in the identification of >500 S-sulfurated proteins, which are involved in diverse cellular processes. Functional assessments revealed inhibited protein synthesis, altered cytoskeletal dynamics, and reduced motility in trophozoites treated with Cys-SSH. Notably, cysteine proteases (CPs) were significantly inhibited by S-sulfuration, affecting their bacterial biofilm degradation capacity. Immunofluorescence microscopy confirmed alterations in actin dynamics, corroborating the proteomic findings. Thus, our study reveals how RSS perturbs critical cellular functions in E. histolytica, potentially influencing its pathogenicity and interactions within the gut microbiota. Understanding these molecular mechanisms offers novel insights into amebiasis pathogenesis and unveils potential therapeutic avenues targeting RSS-mediated modifications in parasitic infections.

Rotaviruses (RVs) are a major cause of diarrhea in young children worldwide. The currently available and licensed vaccines contain live attenuated RVs. Optimization of live attenuated RV vaccines or developing non-replicating RV (e.g., mRNA) vaccines is crucial for reducing the morbidity and mortality from RV infections. Herein, a nucleoside-modified mRNA vaccine encapsulated in lipid nanoparticles (LNP) and encoding the VP7 protein from the G1 type of RV was developed. The 5′ untranslated region of an isolated human RV was utilized for the mRNA vaccine. After undergoing quality inspection, the VP7-mRNA vaccine was injected by subcutaneous or intramuscular routes into mice. Mice received three injections in 21 d intervals. IgG antibodies, neutralizing antibodies, cellular immunity, and gene expression from peripheral blood mononuclear cells were evaluated. Significant differences in levels of IgG antibodies were not observed in groups with adjuvant but were observed in groups without adjuvant. The vaccine without adjuvant induced the highest antibody titers after intramuscular injection. The vaccine elicited a potent antiviral immune response characterized by antiviral clusters of differentiation CD8+ T cells. VP7-mRNA induced interferon-γ secretion to mediate cellular immune responses. Chemokine-mediated signaling pathways and immune response were activated by VP7-mRNA vaccine injection. The mRNA LNP vaccine will require testing for protective efficacy, and it is an option for preventing rotavirus infection.

The development of a dynamic network for commodity polymer systems via feasible methods has been explored in the context of a society-wide focus on the environment and sustainability. Herein, we demonstrate an adaptive post-curing method used to build a self-healable network of waterborne polyurethane–acrylate (WPUA) composite latex. The composite latex was synthesized via the miniemulsion polymerization of acrylates in the dispersion of waterborne polyurethane (PU), with commercial acetoacetoxyethyl methacrylate (AAEM) serving as the functional monomer. Then, a dynamic disulfide (S–S)-bearing diamine was applied as the crosslinking agent for the post-curing of the hybrid latex via keto-amine condensation, which occurred during the evaporation of water for film formation. It was revealed that the microphase separation in the hybrid films was suppressed by the post-curing network. The mechanical performance exhibited a high reliability as regards the contents of the crosslinking agents. The reversible exchange of S–S bonds meant that the film displayed associative covalent-adaptive networks in the range of medium temperature in stress relaxation tests, and ≥95% recovery in both the stress and the strain was achieved after the cut-off films were self-healed at 70 °C for 2 h. The rebuilding of the network was also illustrated by the >80% recovery in the elongation at break of the films after three crushing–hot pressing cycles. These findings offer valuable insights, not only endowing the traditional WPUA with self-healing and reprocessing properties, but broadening the field of study of dynamic networks to polymer hybrid latex.

Rock Quality Designation (RQD) is among the widely used measures of the quality of rock masses and can be derived through Monte Carlo stochastic process-based fracture network simulations. However, repeated simulations can yield variable RQD results. Here, we introduce a four-step approach that incorporates class ratio analysis to estimate the representative RQD, which includes (1) extracting the mean and confidence interval of the RQD sample, in terms of the Confidence Neutrosophic Number Cubic Value (CNNCV), (2) employing class ratio analysis to determine the thresholds of the number of virtual boreholes and that of the number of models for a given size D, beyond which the CNNCV remains substantially unchanged, (3) accepting the CNNCV at the thresholds of the number of models as the representative RQD for the model of size D (RQD(D)) and (4) determining the representative RQD (rRQD), defined as the specific value which, once D exceeds, the RQD(D) does not change significantly. The introduced approach is illustrated with a case study of an open-pit slope in China, and it was tested for its performance. The RQD calculation results of the proposed method and the traditional single-model approach exhibit differences, which diminish with increasing model sizes. At the 95% confidence level, the stable size of the RQD determined by the proposed method is 13 m, compared to 25 m for the single-model approach. This method enhances the accuracy of representative elementary volume predictions by accounting for the diversity in the simulation results of RQDs for the same size. Overall, the introduced approach offers a reliable method for obtaining RQD estimates.

Matrix energy is a valid mathematical tool for representing collective information. However, it is not used in the existing literature for fuzzy sets, intuitionistic fuzzy sets, and multi-attribute group decision making (MAGDM) problems, which highlights research gaps. Motivated by both matrix energy and the research gaps, this study aims to extend matrix energy to the energy of an intuitionistic fuzzy matrix (IFM) and to utilize the IFM energy method in the MAGDM problem, which fully contains all the IFM information on attribute weights, decision maker weights, and attribute values. To achieve these objectives, this paper first proposes IFM energy in terms of the true matrix energy and false matrix energy; then, it develops a MAGDM model using the IFM energy method and the score and accuracy equations of IFM energy. Then, the developed MAGDM model is applied to the selection problem of hospital locations in Shaoxing City, China to demonstrate the practicality and validity of the developed model. Compared with existing intuitionistic fuzzy MAGDM methods, the developed MAGDM model using the IFM energy method reveals its superiority and novelty in complete IFM information expressions and the MAGDM method because the existing MAGDM methods containing intuitionistic fuzzy set information have difficulty tackling MAGDM problems containing all the IFM information on attribute weights, decision maker weights, and attribute values.

Reaction-bonded boron carbide (RBBC) composites have broad application prospects due to their low cost and net size sintering. The microstructure, reaction mechanism of boron carbide with molten silicon (Si), and mechanical properties have been substantially studied. However, the mechanical properties strengthening mechanism of reaction-bonded boron carbide composites are still pending question. In this study, dense boron carbide ceramics were fabricated by liquid Si infiltration of B4C-C preforms with dispersed carbon black (CB) as the carbon source. Polyethyleneimine (PEI) with a molecular weight of 1800 was used as the dispersant. CB powders uniformly distributed around boron carbide particles and efficiently protected them from reacting with molten Si. The uniformly distributed CB powders in situ reacted with molten Si and formed uniformly distributed SiC grains, thus forming a continuous boron carbide–SiC ceramic skeleton. Meanwhile, the Si content of the composites was reduced. Using PEI-dispersed CB powders as additional carbon source, the composites’ flexural strength, fracture toughness, and Vickers hardness reach up to 470 MPa, 4.6 MPa·m1/2, and 22 GPa, which were increased by 44%, 15%, and 10%, respectively. The mechanisms of mechanical properties strengthening were also discussed.

For integrated energy systems (IES) composed of a set of energy hubs (EHs), a consensus control method is usually adopted to achieve accurate sharing of electrical and thermal composite energies. To solve the communication redundancy problem of the consensus control method, a hierarchical optimization and distributed control scheme based on a dynamic event-triggered mechanism of EHs is proposed to realize stable operation of IES. An economic optimization strategy based on equal increment principle is improved to minimize the operation costs of IES in the second layer. Due to consensus control being integrated into the supply-demand power deviation calculations of EHs, the desired electrical and thermal power trajectories are accurately determined. To improve dynamic response performances in the presence of uncertain disturbances, an event-triggered communication mechanism is designed in the primary layer. The triggering threshold can be adjusted dynamically according to changes of electrical and thermal power outputs, and the redundant communication requirement in the electrical branches is reduced. Considering the coupling characteristics of IES energy networks, a consensus control method is promoted to synchronously track the desired electric and thermal power trajectories of EHs, and the goal of accurate power sharing is achieved. The frequency and pipeline pressure fluctuations are also limited within the allowable range. The economic optimization and coordinated operation of electrical and thermal composite energies in IES are guaranteed by the proposed hierarchical control structure. Additionally, only information from neighboring EHs at the event-triggered time is involved, so the computation simplicity and control performance can be obtained simultaneously. The hardware-in-loop experimental results are conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy.

Phosphorus (P) is an essential nutrient for plant growth. However, its deficiency poses a significant challenge for crop production. To overcome the low P availability, plants have developed various strategies to regulate their P uptake and usage. In this study, we identified a splicing factor, OsSCL26, belonging to the Serine/arginine-rich (SR) proteins, that plays a crucial role in regulating P homeostasis in rice. OsSCL26 is expressed in the roots, leaves, and base nodes, with higher expression levels observed in the leaf blades during the vegetative growth stage. The OsSCL26 protein is localized in the nucleus. Mutation of OsSCL26 resulted in the accumulation of P in the shoot compared to the wild-type, and the dwarf phenotype of the osscl26 mutant was alleviated under low P conditions. Further analysis revealed that the accumulated P concentrations in the osscl26 mutant were higher in the old leaves and lower in the new leaves. Furthermore, the P-related genes, including the PHT and SPX family genes, were upregulated in the osscl26 mutant, and the exclusion/inclusion ratio of the two genes, OsSPX-MFS2 and OsNLA2, was increased compared to wild-type rice. These findings suggest that the splicing factor OsSCL26 plays a pivotal role in maintaining P homeostasis in rice by influencing the absorption and distribution of P through the regulation of the transcription and splicing of the P transport genes.

The major goal of this manuscript is to investigate the existence, uniqueness, and stability of a q-fractional Langevin differential equation with q-fractional integral conditions. We demonstrate the existence and uniqueness of the solution to the proposed q-fractional Langevin differential equation using the Banach contraction principle and Schaefer’s fixed-point theorem. We also elaborate on different kinds of Ulam stability. The theoretical outcomes are verified by examples.

At present, the research objects of rigid-body guidance synthesis are mostly limited to pure linkages, and there is little research on the combined mechanisms of gears or cams and linkages. In order to expand the research objects of rigid-body guidance and improve the kinematic mapping theory, this paper proposes a rigid-body guidance method of noncircular gear-five-bar combined mechanisms. A noncircular gear-five-bar mechanism can be regarded as a combination of a 2R (two revolute joints) open chain, a 3R (three revolute joints) open chain and a pair of noncircular gears. Firstly, the circle point curves and circle center point curves of the 2R and 3R open chains are obtained by using kinematic mapping, and they are formed into a double crank five-bar linkage. Secondly, the B-spline curve is used to fit the rotation angle relationship of the gear pair to obtain the pitch curves of noncircular gears. Finally, aiming at correcting patients’ abnormal gait, a noncircular gear-five-bar exoskeleton knee joint rehabilitation device is designed based on four task poses. The prototype is developed and the wear test is carried out. The test results verify the correctness of the rigid-body guidance synthesis method and the effectiveness of rehabilitation training.

Taste masking of traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) containing multiple bitter components remains an important challenge. In this study, berberine (BER) in alkaloids and phillyrin (PHI) in flavonoid glycosides, which are common bitter components in traditional Chinese medicines, were selected as model drugs. Chitosan (CS) was used to mask their unfriendly taste. Firstly, from the molecular level, we explained the taste-masking mechanism of CS on those two bitter components in detail. Based on those taste-masking mechanisms, the bitter taste of a mixture of BER and PHI was easily masked by CS in this work. The physicochemical characterization results showed the taste-masking compounds formed by CS with BER (named as BER/CS) and PHI (named as PHI/CS) were uneven in appearance. The drug binding efficiency of BER/CS and PHI/CS was 50.15 ± 2.63% and 67.10 ± 2.52%, respectively. The results of DSC, XRD, FTIR and molecular simulation further indicated that CS mainly masks the bitter taste by disturbing the binding site of bitter drugs and bitter receptors in the oral cavity via forming hydrogen bonds between its hydroxyl or amine groups and the nucleophilic groups of BER and PHI. The taste-masking evaluation results by the electronic tongue test confirmed the excellent taste-masking effects on alkaloids, flavonoid glycosides or a mixture of the two kinds of bitter components. The in vitro release as well as in vivo pharmacokinetic results suggested that the taste-masked compounds in this work could achieve rapid drug release in the gastric acid environment and did not influence the in vivo pharmacokinetic results of the drug. The taste-masking method in this work may have potential for the taste masking of traditional Chinese medicine compounds containing multiple bitter components.

The comprehensive balance of the mechanical, interfacial, and environmental requirements of waterborne polyurethane (WPU) has proved challenging, but crucial in the specific application as the binder for high-performance polymer fiber composites. In this work, a multi-step chain extension (MCE) method was demonstrated using three kinds of small extenders and one kind of macro-chain extender (CE) for different chain extension steps. One dihydroxyl blocked small molecular urea (1,3-dimethylolurea, DMU) was applied as one of the CEs and, through the hybrid macrodiol/diamine systems of polyether, polyester, and polysiloxane, the WPU was developed by the step-by-step optimization on each chain extending reaction via the characterization on the H-bonding association, microphase separation, and mechanical properties. The best performance was achieved when the ratio of polyether/polyester was controlled at 6:4, while 2% of DMU and 1% of polysiloxane diamine was incorporated in the third and fourth chain extension steps, respectively. Under the condition, the WPU exhibited not only excellent tensile strength of 30 MPa, elongation of break of about 1300%, and hydrophobicity indicated by the water contact angle of 98°, but also effective interfacial adhesion to para-aramid fabrics. The peeling strength of the joint based on the polysiloxane incorporated WPU after four steps of chain extension was 430% higher than that prepared through only two steps of chain extension. Moreover, about 44% of the peeling strength was sustained after the joint had been boiling for 40 min in water, suggesting the potential application for high-performance fabric composites.

In this paper, under some super- and sub-linear growth conditions, we study the existence of positive solutions for a high-order Riemann–Liouville type fractional integral boundary value problem involving fractional derivatives. Our analysis methods are based on the fixed point index and nonsymmetric property of the Green function. Additionally, we provide some valid examples to illustrate our main results.

Deformable nanovesicles (DNVs) have been widely used in oral mucosal delivery studies of biomolecular drugs. However, their development for oral mucosal preparations has been limited by their physical and chemical instability, the need for small oral volumes, and the complexity of the oral microenvironment. This study aimed to develop a more suitable buccal delivery system for DNVs with improved storage stability. Preliminary stability studies investigated different gel types, the effects of different hydrophilic gel matrices, and matrix temperature sensitivity using DNVs loaded with insulin-phospholipid complex (IPC-DNVs). A temperature-sensitive gel encapsulating IPC-DNVs (IPC-DNV-TSG) prepared with 2% w/v gelatin was stable at 4 °C for three months and maintained an excellent hypoglycemic effect. The delivery efficiency of IPC-DNVs and IPC-DNV-TSG was compared using a TR146 cell model, revealing that cell viability remained high. Cellular uptake was slightly lower for IPC-DNV-TSG than for IPC-DNVs, but total transport did not differ significantly between the two groups, which may have been related to the viscosity of IPC-DNV-TSG and the hydrophilicity, cell adhesion properties, and biocompatibility of gelatin. Moreover, neither IPC-DNVs nor IPC-DNV-TSG induced significant mucosal irritation in rabbit tongue tissue sections. The study findings demonstrate a promising method for possible use as oral mucosal delivery of peptide drugs.

In real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR), internal control genes (ICGs) are crucial for normalization. This study screened 6 novel ICGs: Pre-mRNA-splicing factor cwc15 (Cwf15); ER associated DnaJ chaperone (DnaJ); E3 ubiquitin-protein ligase NEDD4 (HUL4); ATP-binding cassette, subfamily B (MDR/TAP), member 1 (VAMP); Exosome complex exonuclease DIS3/RRP44 (RNB); V-type H+-transporting ATPase sub-unit A (V-ATP) from the 22-transcriptome data of 8 filamentous fungi. The six novel ICGs are all involved in the basic biological process of cells and share the different transcription levels from high to low. In order to further verify the stability of ICGs candidates, the six novel ICGs as well as three traditional housekeeping genes: β-actin (ACTB); β-tubulin (β-TUB); glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase gene (GAPDH) and the previously screened reference genes: SPRY-domain-containing protein (SPRYp); Ras-2 protein (Ras); Vacuolar protein sorting protein 26 (Vps26) were evaluated by geNorm and NormFinder statistical algorithms. RT-qPCR of 12 ICGs were performed at different developmental stages in Flammulina filiformis and under different treatment conditions in Neurospora crassa. The consistent results of the two algorithms suggested that the novel genes, RNB, V-ATP, and VAMP, showed the highest stability in F. filiformis and N. crassa. RNB, V-ATP, and VAMP have high expression stability and universal applicability and therefore have great potential as ICGs for standardized calculation in filamentous fungi. The results also provide a novel guidance for the screening stable reference genes in RT-qPCR and a wide application in gene expression analysis of filamentous fungi.

Flammulina filiformis is a popular edible mushroom that easily suffers from heat and oxidative stresses. The cyclic adenylate-dependent protein kinase A (cAMP/PKA) pathway is the main signaling pathway in response to environmental stress, and the PKAC is the terminal catalytic subunit of this pathway. In this study, the Pkac gene was identified in F. filiformis, which was highly conserved in basidiomycetes and ascomycetes. The transcription analysis showed that the Pkac gene was involved in the mycelial growth and the fruiting body development of fungi. In Neurospora crassa, the Pkac gene deletion (ΔPkac) resulted in the slower growth of the mycelia. We complemented the F. filiformis FfPkac to N. crassa ΔPkac mutant to obtain the CPkac strain. The mycelial growth in the CPkac strain was restored to the same level as the WT strain. In addition, the FfPkac gene showed significantly up-regulated expression under heat and oxidative stresses. By analyzing the differentially expressed genes of ΔPkac and Cpkac with WT, respectively, seven downstream genes regulated by Pkac were identified and may be related to mycelial growth. They were mainly focused on microbial metabolism in diverse environments, mitochondrial biogenesis, protein translation and nucleocytoplasmic transport. RT-qPCR results confirmed that the expression patterns of these seven genes were consistent with FfPkac under heat and oxidative stresses. The results revealed the conserved functions of PKAC in filamentous fungi and its regulatory mechanism in response to heat and oxidative stresses.

Queuosine (Q) is a naturally occurring modified nucleoside that occurs in the first position of transfer RNA anticodons such as Asp, Asn, His, and Tyr. As eukaryotes lack pathways to synthesize queuine, the Q nucleobase, they must obtain it from their diet or gut microbiota. Previously, we described the effects of queuine on the physiology of the eukaryotic parasite Entamoeba histolytica and characterized the enzyme EhTGT responsible for queuine incorporation into tRNA. At present, it is unknown how E. histolytica salvages queuine from gut bacteria. We used liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS) and N-acryloyl-3-aminophenylboronic acid (APB) PAGE analysis to demonstrate that E. histolytica trophozoites can salvage queuine from Q or E. coli K12 but not from the modified E. coli QueC strain, which cannot produce queuine. We then examined the role of EhDUF2419, a protein with homology to DNA glycosylase, as a queuine salvage enzyme in E. histolytica. We found that glutathione S-transferase (GST)-EhDUF2419 catalyzed the conversion of Q into queuine. Trophozoites silenced for EhDUF2419 expression are impaired in their ability to form Q-tRNA from Q or from E. coli. We also observed that Q or E. coli K12 partially protects control trophozoites from oxidative stress (OS), but not siEhDUF2419 trophozoites. Overall, our data reveal that EhDUF2419 is central for the direct salvaging of queuine from bacteria and for the resistance of the parasite to OS.

The residual acrylamide in food paper packaging can be transferred into water and food, which will cause harmful effects on human beings. In this paper, a rapid and easily available fluorescent probe based on carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC)/Eu (Ⅲ) nanocomposites was designed to detect the residue acrylamide with high sensibility. The probe could respond in 1 min. The concentration of acrylamide was linearly correlated to the fluorescence intensity of the probe at the emission wavelength of 615 nm in the concentration range of 0.1–100 μmol/L. The limit of detection (LOD) of the probe was 0.085 μg/L, which is lower than the guideline value of the European Union, the U.S. EPA, and the WHO. An experiment was performed to simulate the acrylamide migrating from food-contacting paper materials to different foods, including waterborne food, alcohol beverage, acidic food, and greasy food. The recoveries and RSDs of acrylamide in all samples indicated that the CMC/Eu (Ⅲ) fluorescent probe was efficient for acrylamide detection. The possible mechanism of the probe for acrylamide detection involved both dynamically quenching and static quenching by forming of non-fluorescent substances.

Surface charge polarity and density influence the immune clearance and cellular uptake of intravenously administered lipid nanoparticles (LNPs), thus determining the efficiency of their delivery to the target. Here, we modified the surface charge with ascorbyl palmitate (AsP) used as a negatively charged lipid. AsP-PC-LNPs were prepared by dispersion and ultrasonication of AsP and phosphatidylcholine (PC) composite films at various ratios. AsP inserted into the PC film with its polar head outward. The pKa for AsP was 4.34, and its ion form conferred the LNPs with negative surface charge. Zeta potentials were correlated with the amount and distribution of AsP on the LNPs surface. DSC, Raman and FTIR spectra, and molecular dynamics simulations disclosed that AsP distributed homogeneously in PC at 1–8% (w/w), and there were strong hydrogen bonds between the polar heads of AsP and PC (PO2−), which favored LNPs’ stability. But at AsP:PC > 8% (w/w), the excessive AsP changed the interaction modes between AsP and PC. The AsP–PC composite films became inhomogeneous, and their phase transition behaviors and Raman and FTIR spectra were altered. Our results clarified the mechanism of surface charge modification by AsP and provided a rational use of AsP as a charged lipid to modify LNP surface properties in targeted drug delivery systems. Furthermore, AsP–PC composites were used as phospholipid-based biological membranes to prepare paclitaxel-loaded LNPs, which had stable surface negative charge, better tumor targeting and tumor inhibitory effects.

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), obesity, and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) have highly related mechanisms. Ramulus Mori (Sangzhi) alkaloids (SZ-A) from Morus alba L. were approved in 2020 for the treatment of T2DM. In this study, we examined the therapeutic effects and mechanism of SZ-A on obesity and NAFLD in mice. Mice (C57BL/6J) fed a high-fat diet (HFD) for 14 weeks were treated with SZ-A for another 6 weeks. HFD-induced weight gain was reduced by SZ-A in a dose-dependent manner. SZ-A treatment significantly stimulated adiponectin expression and secretion in adipose tissue and 3T3-L1 adipocytes. Additionally, SZ-A markedly reduced hepatic steatosis (triglyceride, total cholesterol) and expression of pro-inflammatory and pro-fibrotic genes. SZ-A regulated lipid metabolism and oxidative stress (malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), and glutathione (GSH)) in the liver. Palmitic acid-induced insulin resistance and lipid accumulation in HepG2 cells were also repressed by SZ-A. Collectively, SZ-A protected mice from HFD-induced NAFLD through an indirect effect of improved systemic metabolism reducing bodyweight, and a direct effect by enhancing the lipid metabolism of HepG2 cells. The weight-loss effect of SZ-A in mice was partly due to improved fatty oxidation instead of influencing food consumption.

Amebiasis is an intestinal disease transmitted by the protist parasite, Entamoeba histolytica. Lactobacillus acidophilus is a common inhabitant of healthy human gut and a probiotic that has antimicrobial properties against a number of pathogenic bacteria, fungi, and parasites. The aim of this study was to investigate the amebicide activity of L. acidophilus and its mechanisms. For this purpose, E. histolytica and L. acidophilus were co-incubated and the parasite’s viability was determined by eosin dye exclusion. The level of ozidized proteins (OXs) in the parasite was determined by resin-assisted capture RAC (OX–RAC). Incubation with L. acidophilus for two hours reduced the viability of E. histolytica trophozoites by 50%. As a result of the interaction with catalase, an enzyme that degrades hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) to water and oxygen, this amebicide activity is lost, indicating that it is mediated by H2O2 produced by L. acidophilus. Redox proteomics shows that L. acidophilus triggers the oxidation of many essential amebic enzymes such as pyruvate: ferredoxin oxidoreductase, the lectin Gal/GalNAc, and cysteine proteases (CPs). Further, trophozoites of E. histolytica incubated with L. acidophilus show reduced binding to mammalian cells. These results support L. acidophilus as a prophylactic candidate against amebiasis.

The phosphosilicate fiber-based Raman fiber laser (RFL) has great potential in achieving low-quantum defect (QD) high-power laser output. However, the laser’s performance could be seriously degraded by the Raman-assisted four-wave mixing (FWM) effect and spontaneous Raman generation at 14.7 THz. To find possible ways to suppress the Raman-assisted FWM effect and spontaneous Raman generation, here, we propose a revised power-balanced model to simulate the nonlinear process in the low-QD RFL. The power evolution characteristics in this low-QD RFL with different pump directions are calculated. The simulation results show that, compared to the forward-pumped low-QD RFL, the threshold powers of spontaneous Raman generation in the backward-pumped RFL are increased by 40% and the Raman-assisted FWM effect is well suppressed. Based on the simulation work, we change the pump direction of a forward-pumped low-QD RFL into backward pumping. As a result, the maximum signal power is increased by 20% and the corresponding spectral purity is increased to 99.8%. This work offers a way for nonlinear effects controlling in low-QD RFL, which is essential in its further performance scaling.

The influences of interactions between carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) and CMC/europium (III)–terbium (III) (CET) on the structure and properties of the resultant CMC/CET films were investigated by rheology at three stages of the film-drying process. According to the water content at different drying times, the kinetics curves during the film-drying process were drawn. Then, the rheology properties of film-forming solutions during the drying process were characterized by dynamic modulus, Han plots, zero shear complex viscosity and relaxation time. When the water content was 90%, the film contained either 0.1 or 0.2 g of CET, which had good fluidity, while the film with 0.3 g of CET was elastic-dominated. Han plots and XRD analyses showed that the interactions between the CMC and CET were not hydrogen bonds but random entanglements. The zero-shear complex viscosity and relaxation time spectrum confirmed that the entanglements enhanced as the CET content increased. Meanwhile, aggregation formed in the solution of CMC with 0.3 g of CET. When CMC-CET films with different CET additions were compared, the film with 0.2 g of CET had an even and tight sheet structure, the greatest fluorescence intensity, and superior tensile strength of 78.76 MPa.

Fuzzy sets and interval-valued fuzzy sets are two kinds of fuzzy information expression forms in real uncertain and vague environments. Their mixed multivalued information expression and operational problems are very challenging and indispensable issues in group decision-making (GDM) problems. To solve single- and interval-valued fuzzy multivalued hybrid information expression, operations, and GDM issues, this study first presents the notion of a single- and interval-valued fuzzy multivalued set/element (SIVFMS/SIVFME) with identical and/or different fuzzy values. To effectively solve operational problems for various SIVFME lengths, SIVFMS/SIVFME is converted into the interval-valued fuzzy and entropy set/element (IVFES/IVFEE) based on the mean and information entropy of SIVFME. Then, the operational relationships of IVFEEs and the expected value function and sorting rules of IVFEEs are defined. Next, the IVFEE weighted averaging and geometric operators and their mixed-weighted-averaging operation are proposed. In terms of the mixed-weighted-averaging operation and expected value function of IVFEEs, a GDM method is developed to solve multicriteria GDM problems in the environment of SIVFMSs. Finally, the proposed GDM method was utilized for a supplier selection problem in a supply chain as an actual sample to show the rationality and efficiency of SIVFMSs. Through the comparative analysis of relative decision-making methods, we found the superiority of this study in that the developed GDM method not only compensates for the defects of existing GDM methods, but also makes the GDM process more reasonable and flexible.

Silkworm microparticle disease is a legal quarantine standard in the detection of silkworm disease all over the world. The current common detection method, the Pasteur manual microscopy method, has a low detection efficiency all over the world. The low efficiency of the current Pasteur manual microscopy detection method makes the application of machine vision technology to detect microparticle spores an important technology to advance silkworm disease research. For the problems of the low contrast, different illumination conditions and complex image background of microscopic images of the ellipsoidal symmetrical shape of silkworm microparticle spores collected in the detection solution, a region growth segmentation method based on microparticle color and grayscale information is proposed. In this method, the fuzzy contrast enhancement algorithm is used to enhance the color information of micro-particles and improve the discrimination between the micro-particles and background. In the HSV color space with stable color, the color information of micro-particles is extracted as seed points to eliminate the influence of light and reduce the interference of impurities to locate the distribution area of micro-particles accurately. Combined with the neighborhood gamma transformation, the highlight feature of the micro-particle target in the grayscale image is enhanced for region growing. Mea6nwhile, the accurate and complete micro-particle target is segmented from the complex background, which reduces the background impurity segmentation caused by a single feature in the complex background. In order to evaluate the segmentation performance, we calculate the IOU of the microparticle sample image segmented by this method with its corresponding true value image, and the experiments show that the combination of color and grayscale features using the region growth technique can accurately and completely segment the microparticle target in complex backgrounds with a segmentation accuracy IOU as high as 83.1%.

13a-(S)-3-pivaloyloxyl-6,7-dimethoxyphenanthro(9,10-b)-indolizidine (CAT3) is a novel oral anti-glioma pro-drug with a potent anti-tumor effect against temozolomide-resistant glioma. 13a(S)-3-hydroxyl-6,7-dimethoxyphenanthro(9,10-b)-indolizidine (PF403) is the active in vivo lipase degradation metabolite of CAT3. Both CAT3 and PF403 can penetrate the blood–brain barrier to cause an anti-glioma effect. However, PF403, which is produced in the gastrointestinal tract and plasma, causes significant gastrointestinal side effects, limiting the clinical application of CAT3. The objective of this paper was to propose a metabolism modification for CAT3 using a self-microemulsifying drug delivery system (SMEDDS), in order to reduce the generation of PF403 in the gastrointestinal tract and plasma, as well as increase the bioavailability of CAT3 in vivo and the amount of anti-tumor substances in the brain. Thus, a CAT3-loaded self-microemulsifying drug delivery system (CAT3-SMEDDS) was prepared, and its physicochemical characterization was systematically carried out. Next, the pharmacokinetic parameters of CAT3 and its metabolite in the rats’ plasma and brain were measured. Furthermore, the in vivo anti-glioma effects and safety of CAT3-SMEDDS were evaluated. Finally, Caco-2 cell uptake, MDCK monolayer cellular transfer, and the intestinal lymphatic transport mechanisms of SMEDDS were investigated in vitro and in vivo. Results show that CAT3-SMEDDS was able to form nanoemulsion droplets in artificial gastrointestinal fluid within 1 min, displaying an ideal particle size (15–30 nm), positive charge (5–9 mV), and controlled release behavior. CAT3-SMEDDS increased the membrane permeability of CAT3 by 3.9-fold and promoted intestinal lymphatic transport. Hence, the bioavailability of CAT3 was increased 79% and the level of its metabolite, PF403, was decreased to 49%. Moreover, the concentrations of CAT3 and PF403 were increased 2–6-fold and 1.3–7.2-fold, respectively, in the brain. Therefore, the anti-glioma effect in the orthotopic models was improved with CAT3-SMEDDS compared with CAT3 in 21 days. Additionally, CAT3-SMEDDS reduced the gastrointestinal side effects of CAT3, such as severe diarrhea, necrosis, and edema, and observed less inflammatory cell infiltration in the gastrointestinal tract, compared with the bare CAT3. Our work reveals that, through the metabolism modification effect, SMEDDS can improve the bioavailability of CAT3 and reduce the generation of PF403 in the gastrointestinal tract and plasma. Therefore, it has the potential to increase the anti-glioma effect and reduce the gastrointestinal side effects of CAT3 simultaneously.

Iron (Fe) homeostasis is essential for plant growth and development, and it is strictly regulated by a group of transcriptional factors. Iron-related transcription factor 3 (OsIRO3) was previously identified as a negative regulator for Fe deficiency response in rice. However, the molecular mechanisms by which OsIRO3 regulate Fe homeostasis is unclear. Here, we report that OsIRO3 is essential for responding to Fe deficiency and maintaining Fe homeostasis in rice. OsIRO3 is expressed in the roots, leaves, and base nodes, with a higher level in leaf blades at the vegetative growth stage. Knockout of OsIRO3 resulted in a hypersensitivity to Fe deficiency, with severe necrosis on young leaves and defective root development. The iro3 mutants accumulated higher levels of Fe in the shoot under Fe-deficient conditions, associated with upregulating the expression of OsNAS3, which lead to increased accumulation of nicotianamine (NA) in the roots. Further analysis indicated that OsIRO3 can directly bind to the E-box in the promoter of OsNAS3. Moreover, the expression of typical Fe-related genes was significantly up-regulated in iro3 mutants under Fe-sufficient conditions. Thus, we conclude that OsIRO3 plays a key role in responding to Fe deficiency and regulates NA levels by directly, negatively regulating the OsNAS3 expression.

Melatonin has been confirmed extensively for the positive effects on increasing plant tolerance to various abiotic stresses. However, the roles of melatonin in mediating different stresses still need to be explored in different plants species and growth periods. To investigate the role of melatonin in mitigating salt stress, maize (Zea mays L.) seedlings growing in hydroponic solution were treated with 100 mM NaCl combined with or without 1 μM melatonin. Melatonin application had no effects on maize growth under normal condition, while it moderately alleviated the NaCl-induced inhibition of plant growth. The leaf area, biomass, and photosynthesis of melatonin-treated plants were higher than that of without melatonin under NaCl treatment. The osmotic potential was lower, and the osmolyte contents (including sucrose and fructose) were higher in melatonin-treated plants. Meanwhile, the decreases in Na+ content and increases in K+/Na+ ratio were found in shoots of melatonin-applied plant under salt stress. Moreover, both enzymatic and nonenzymatic antioxidant activities were significantly increased in leaves with melatonin application under salt treatment. These results clearly indicate that the exogenous melatonin-enhanced salt tolerance under short-term treatment could be ascribed to three aspects, including osmotic adjustment, ion balance, and alleviation of salt-induced oxidative stress.

Inspired by the growing demand for smart and environmentally friendly polymer materials, we employed 2,2′-disulfanediyldianiline (22DTDA) as a chain extender to synthesize a waterborne polyurethane (WPUR). Due to the ortho-substituted structure of the aromatic disulfide, the urea moieties formed a unique microphase structure in the WPUR, its mechanical strength was enhanced more 180 times relative to that of the material prepared without 22DTDA, and excellent self-healing abilities at body temperature in air or under ultrasound in water were obtained. If the self-healing process was carried out at 37 °C, 50 °C or under ultrasound, the ultimate tensile strength and elongation at break of the healed film could reach 13.8 MPa and 1150%, 15.4 MPa and 1215%, or 16 MPa and 1056%, respectively. Moreover, the WPUR films could be re-healed at the same fracture location over three cutting–healing cycles, and the recovery rates of the tensile strength and elongation at break remained almost constant throughout these cycles.

Many efforts have focused on the adsorption of metals from contaminated water by microbes. Synechococcus PCC7002, a major marine cyanobacteria, is widely applied to remove metals from the ocean’s photic zone. However, its ability to adsorb cesium (Cs) nuclides has received little attention. In this study, the biosorption behavior of Cs(I) from ultrapure distilled water by living Synechococcus PCC7002 was investigated based on kinetic and isotherm studies, and the biosorption mechanism was characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry, and three-dimensional excitation emission matrix fluorescence spectroscopy. Synechococcus PCC7002 showed extremely high tolerance to Cs ions and its minimal inhibitory concentration was 8.6 g/L. Extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) in Synechococcus PCC7002 played a vital role in this tolerance. The biosorption of Cs by Synechococcus PCC7002 conformed to a Freundlich-type isotherm model and pseudo-second-order kinetics. The binding of Cs(I) was primarily attributed to the extracellular proteins in EPS, with the amino, hydroxyl, and phosphate groups on the cell walls contributing to Cs adsorption. The biosorption of Cs involved two mechanisms: Passive adsorption on the cell surface at low Cs concentrations and active intracellular adsorption at high Cs concentrations. The results demonstrate that the behavior and mechanism of Cs adsorption by Synechococcus PCC7002 differ based on the Cs ions concentration.

13a-(S)-3-pivaloyloxyl-6,7-dimethoxyphenanthro(9,10-b)-indolizidine (CAT3) is a novel oral anti-glioma pro-drug with a potent anti-tumor effect against temozolomide-resistant glioma in vivo. However, poor lipid solubility has limited the encapsulation efficacy during formulation development. Moreover, although the active metabolite of CAT3, 13a(S)-3-hydroxyl-6,7-dimethoxyphenanthro(9,10-b)-indolizidine (PF403), can penetrate the blood-brain barrier and approach the brain tissue with a 1000-fold higher anti-glioma activity than CAT3 in vitro, its bioavailability and Cmax were considerably low in plasma, limiting the anti-tumor efficacy. In this study, a novel oleic acid-CAT3 conjugate (OA-CAT3) was synthesized at the first time to increase the lipid solubility of CAT3. The OA-CAT3 loaded solid lipid nanoparticles (OA-CAT3-SLN) were constructed using an ultrasonic technique to enhance the bioavailability and Cmax of PF403 in plasma. Our results demonstrated that CAT3 was amorphous in the lipid core of OA-CAT3-SLN and the in vitro release was well controlled. Furthermore, the encapsulation efficacy and the zeta potential increased to 80.65 ± 6.79% and −26.7 ± 0.46 mV, respectively, compared to the normal CAT3 loaded SLN. As indicated by the high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) quantitation, the monolayer cellular transepithelial transport rate of OA-CAT3-SLN improved by 2.42-fold relied on cholesterol compared to the CAT3 suspension. Hence, the in vitro cell viability of OA-CAT3-SLN in C6 glioma cells decreased to 29.77% ± 2.13% and 10.75% ± 3.12% at 48 and 72 h, respectively. Finally, compared to the CAT3 suspension, the in vivo pharmacokinetics in rats indicated that the plasma bioavailability and Cmax of PF403 as afforded by OA-CAT3-SLN increased by 1.7- and 5.5-fold, respectively. Overall, the results indicate that OA-CAT3-SLN could be an efficacious delivery system in the treatment of glioma.

The effects of exogenous application of melatonin (MEL) on promoting plant growth and alleviating environmental stresses are already known, but the potential value in crop production is still poorly understood. In this study, the effects of seed pre-soaking with MEL on winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) growth and yield were investigated in a continuous two-year pot experiment and another year of field experimentation. Results showed that seed pre-soaking with different concentrations of MEL (10, 100 and 500 μM) for 24 h increased grain yields per plant from 29% to 80% in pot experiment and increased grain yield per area from 4−19% in field experiment, compared with the controls. Further analysis showed that the beneficial effects of MEL on improving wheat grain yield can be ascribed to: (1) increased spike number by enhancing tiller number; (2) enhanced carbon assimilation capacity by maintaining large leaf area, high photosynthetic rate and delaying leaf senescence; (3) promoted growth in root system. The result of this study suggests that MEL could be considered as an effective plant growth regulator for improving grain production in winter wheat.

Biochars are complex heterogeneous materials that consist of mineral phases, amorphous C, graphitic C, and labile organic molecules, many of which can be either electron donors or acceptors when placed in soil. Biochar is a reductant, but its electrical and electrochemical properties are a function of both the temperature of production and the concentration and composition of the various redox active mineral and organic phases present. When biochars are added to soils, they interact with plant roots and root hairs, micro-organisms, soil organic matter, proteins and the nutrient-rich water to form complex organo-mineral-biochar complexes Redox reactions can play an important role in the development of these complexes, and can also result in significant changes in the original C matrix. This paper reviews the redox processes that take place in soil and how they may be affected by the addition of biochar. It reviews the available literature on the redox properties of different biochars. It also reviews how biochar redox properties have been measured and presents new methods and data for determining redox properties of fresh biochars and for biochar/soil systems.

An engineered RNase P-based ribozyme variant, which was generated using the in vitro selection procedure, was used to target the overlapping mRNA region of two proteins essential for human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) replication: capsid assembly protein (AP) and protease (PR). In vitro studies showed that the generated variant, V718-A, cleaved the target AP mRNA sequence efficiently and its activity was about 60-fold higher than that of wild type ribozyme M1-A. Furthermore, we observed a reduction of 98%–99% in AP/PR expression and an inhibition of 50,000 fold in viral growth in cells with V718-A, while a 75% reduction in AP/PR expression and a 500-fold inhibition in viral growth was found in cells with M1-A. Examination of the antiviral effects of the generated ribozyme on the HCMV replication cycle suggested that viral DNA encapsidation was inhibited and as a consequence, viral capsid assembly was blocked when the expression of AP and PR was inhibited by the ribozyme. Thus, our study indicates that the generated ribozyme variant is highly effective in inhibiting HCMV gene expression and blocking viral replication, and suggests that engineered RNase P ribozyme can be potentially developed as a promising gene-targeting agent for anti-HCMV therapy.

The stability of natural rock slopes is influenced by a wide spectrum of factors, such as mechanical properties of bedrocks and spatial distribution of discontinuities. Their specific values are typically incomplete, due mainly to the lack of effective and comprehensive methods to accurately characterize these factors, especially those inside of the slopes. The neutrosophic number is a useful tool to solve problems in indeterminate environment. This study introduces the neutrosophic theory into slope stability assessment. A vector similarity measure developed under neutrosophic environment was employed to establish a stability assessment method considering multilevel attributes of slopes. Using this method, the level of stability for studied slopes, i.e., stable, mostly stable, less stable, and instable, was determined by computing the relation indices. The method was applied to a group of rock slopes located in Zhejiang province, China, and the calculated results were compared with the reality of in situ survey. The field application showed that the developed method has a good efficiency and precision in assessing the stability of rock slopes. The obtained weight vector can reveal the key influential parameters that inherently control the stability of rock slopes.

An online neutrosophic similarity-based objectness tracking with a weighted multiple instance learning algorithm (NeutWMIL) is proposed. Each training sample is extracted surrounding the object location, and the distribution of these samples is symmetric. To provide a more robust weight for each sample in the positive bag, the asymmetry of the importance of the samples is considered. The neutrosophic similarity-based objectness estimation with object properties (super straddling) is applied. The neutrosophic theory is a new branch of philosophy for dealing with incomplete, indeterminate, and inconsistent information. By considering the surrounding information of the object, a single valued neutrosophic set (SVNS)-based segmentation parameter selection method is proposed, to produce a well-built set of superpixels which can better explain the object area at each frame. Then, the intersection and shape-distance criteria are proposed for weighting each superpixel in the SVNS domain, mainly via three membership functions, T (truth), I (indeterminacy), and F (falsity), for each criterion. After filtering out the superpixels with low response, the newly defined neutrosophic weights are utilized for weighting each sample. Furthermore, the objectness estimation information is also applied for estimating and alleviating the problem of tracking drift. Experimental results on challenging benchmark video sequences reveal the superior performance of our algorithm when confronting appearance changes and background clutters.

A linguistic cubic hesitant variable (LCHV) is a hybrid form of linguistic values in group decision-making environments. It is composed of an interval language variable and multiple single-valued language variables given by different decision-makers (DMs). Due to the uncertainty and hesitation of DMs, the numbers of language variables in different LCHVs are unequal. Thus, the least common multiple number (LCMN) extension method was adopted. Based on the included angle and distance of two LCHVs, we presented two cosine similarity measures and developed a multiple attribute group decision-making (MAGDM) approach. An example of engineer selection was used to implement the proposed LCHV MAGDM method and demonstrate the simplicity and feasibility of the proposed method. The sensitivity analysis of weight changes for the two measures showed that the similarity measure based on distance was more stable than the similarity measure based on included angle in this application.

Smart ports represent the current trend of port development. Intelligent operations reduce the daily production cost of ports, facilitate efficient production, strengthen the risk mitigation ability and comply with the requirements for long-term development. However, a systematic and scientific smart port evaluation method is missing to nail down the evaluation indicators of a smart port and enable accurate evaluation of a port’s degree of intelligence. This paper analyzes the concept of the smart port, establishes a set of smart port evaluation indicator systems, and applies a single-valued neutrosophic exponential similarity measure to port evaluation to enable quantitative evaluation of port integrity. This evaluation method is capable of decision-making in the event of incomplete, uncertain, and inconsistent information during general evaluation, opening up a new method for smart port evaluation, and acting as a helpful tool for ports to carry out improvements during actual application.

In real applications, most decisions are fuzzy decisions, and the decision results mainly depend on the choice of aggregation operators. In order to aggregate information more scientifically and reasonably, the Heronian mean operator was studied in this paper. Considering the advantages and limitations of the Heronian mean (HM) operator, four Heronian mean operators for bipolar neutrosophic number (BNN) are proposed: the BNN generalized weighted HM (BNNGWHM) operator, the BNN improved generalized weighted HM (BNNIGWHM) operator, the BNN generalized weighted geometry HM (BNNGWGHM) operator, and the BNN improved generalized weighted geometry HM (BNNIGWGHM) operator. Then, their propositions were examined. Furthermore, two multi-criteria decision methods based on the proposed BNNIGWHM and BNNIGWGHM operator are introduced under a BNN environment. Lastly, the effectiveness of the new methods was verified with an example.

Neural networks are powerful universal approximation tools. They have been utilized for functions/data approximation, classification, pattern recognition, as well as their various applications. Uncertain or interval values result from the incompleteness of measurements, human observation and estimations in the real world. Thus, a neutrosophic number (NsN) can represent both certain and uncertain information in an indeterminate setting and imply a changeable interval depending on its indeterminate ranges. In NsN settings, however, existing interval neural networks cannot deal with uncertain problems with NsNs. Therefore, this original study proposes a neutrosophic compound orthogonal neural network (NCONN) for the first time, containing the NsN weight values, NsN input and output, and hidden layer neutrosophic neuron functions, to approximate neutrosophic functions/NsN data. In the proposed NCONN model, single input and single output neurons are the transmission notes of NsN data and hidden layer neutrosophic neurons are constructed by the compound functions of both the Chebyshev neutrosophic orthogonal polynomial and the neutrosophic sigmoid function. In addition, illustrative and actual examples are provided to verify the effectiveness and learning performance of the proposed NCONN model for approximating neutrosophic nonlinear functions and NsN data. The contribution of this study is that the proposed NCONN can handle the approximation problems of neutrosophic nonlinear functions and NsN data. However, the main advantage is that the proposed NCONN implies a simple learning algorithm, higher speed learning convergence, and higher learning accuracy in indeterminate/NsN environments.

In order to quantify the fuzziness in the simplified neutrosophic setting, this paper proposes a generalized distance-based entropy measure and a dimension root entropy measure of simplified neutrosophic sets (NSs) (containing interval-valued and single-valued NSs) and verifies their properties. Then, comparison with the existing relative interval-valued NS entropy measures through a numerical example is carried out to demonstrate the feasibility and rationality of the presented generalized distance-based entropy and dimension root entropy measures of simplified NSs. Lastly, a decision-making example is presented to illustrate their applicability, and then the decision results indicate that the presented entropy measures are effective and reasonable. Hence, this study enriches the simplified neutrosophic entropy theory and measure approaches.

Since language is used for thinking and expressing habits of humans in real life, the linguistic evaluation for an objective thing is expressed easily in linguistic terms/values. However, existing linguistic concepts cannot describe linguistic arguments regarding an evaluated object in two-dimensional universal sets (TDUSs). To describe linguistic neutrosophic arguments in decision making problems regarding TDUSs, this study proposes a Q-linguistic neutrosophic variable set (Q-LNVS) for the first time, which depicts its truth, indeterminacy, and falsity linguistic values independently corresponding to TDUSs, and vector similarity measures of Q-LNVSs. Thereafter, a linguistic neutrosophic multi-attribute decision-making (MADM) approach by using the presented similarity measures, including the cosine, Dice, and Jaccard measures, is developed under Q-linguistic neutrosophic setting. Lastly, the applicability and effectiveness of the presented MADM approach is presented by an illustrative example under Q-linguistic neutrosophic setting.

Linguistic decision making (DM) is an important research topic in DM theory and methods since using linguistic terms for the assessment of the objective world is very fitting for human thinking and expressing habits. However, there is both uncertainty and hesitancy in linguistic arguments in human thinking and judgments of an evaluated object. Nonetheless, the hybrid information regarding both uncertain linguistic arguments and hesitant linguistic arguments cannot be expressed through the various existing linguistic concepts. To reasonably express it, this study presents a linguistic cubic hesitant variable (LCHV) based on the concepts of a linguistic cubic variable and a hesitant fuzzy set, its operational relations, and its linguistic score function for ranking LCHVs. Then, the objective extension method based on the least common multiple number/cardinality for LCHVs and the weighted aggregation operators of LCHVs are proposed to reasonably aggregate LCHV information because existing aggregation operators cannot aggregate LCHVs in which the number of their hesitant components may imply difference. Next, a multi-attribute decision-making (MADM) approach is proposed based on the weighted arithmetic averaging (WAA) and weighted geometric averaging (WGA) operators of LCHVs. Lastly, an illustrative example is provided to indicate the applicability of the proposed approaches.

To comprehensively describe uncertain/interval linguistic arguments and confident linguistic arguments in the decision making process by a linguistic form, this study first presents the concept of a single-valued linguistic neutrosophic interval linguistic number (SVLN-ILN), which is comprehensively composed of its uncertain/interval linguistic number (determinate linguistic argument part) and its single-valued linguistic neutrosophic number (confident linguistic argument part), and its basic operations. Then, the score function of SVLN-ILN based on the attitude index and confident degree/level is presented for ranking SVLN-ILNs. After that, SVLN-ILN weighted arithmetic averaging (SVLN-ILNWAA) and SVLN-ILN weighted geometric averaging (SVLN-ILNWGA) operators are proposed to aggregate SVLN-ILN information and their properties are investigated. Further, a multi-attribute decision-making (MADM) method based on the proposed SVLN-ILNWAA or SVLN-ILNWGA operator and the score function is established under consideration of decision makers’ preference attitudes (pessimist, moderate, and optimist). Lastly, an actual example is given to show the applicability of the established MADM approach with decision makers’ attitudes.