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The allelopathic effect of macrophytes to phytoplankton has been widely formalized and accepted, while, less attention has been paid to aquatic vegetable. Herein, we investigated the inhibitory ability of Ipomoea aquatica (I. aquatica) at different concentrations to Microcystis aeruginosa, and verified the inhibition effect of main allelopathic substances. Results showed that, I. aquatica root secretion solution could effectively inhibit the growth of Microcystis aeruginosa (95%), and exhibited a concentration dependent effect. Seven potential allelopathic substances was both detected in root exudates and secretion solution of I. aquatic, they were succinic acid, salicylic acid, cinnamic acid, 3-(4-hydroxyphenyl) propionic acid, trans-cinnamic aldehyde, coumarin, and isophorone. Exogenous addition experiment further verified the inhibition effect, and the inhibition level varied with the types. Succinic acid, salicylic acid and cinnamic acid showed the tendency of promotion in lower concentration and inhibition in high concentration, with the inhibition threshold of 0.8 mmol/L, which was positively correlated with its concentration. 3-(4-hydroxyphenyl) propionic acid, coumarin and isophorone showed strong inhibition on Microcystis aeruginosa when the concentration was higher than 0.2 mmol/L, which was positively correlated with its concentration and co-culture time. Ipomoea aquatica can continuously release allelopathic substances under natural conditions and is expected to contribute to the restoration of aquatic ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blended acquisition offers significant cost and period reduction in seismic data acquisition. However, fired blended sources are usually deployed at off-the-grid (OffG) samples due to obstacle limitation and economic cost considerations. The irregular distribution of coordinates, along with the blending noise, has a detrimental effect on the performance of subsequent seismic processing and imaging. The interpolated multichannel singular spectrum analysis (I-MSSA) algorithm effectively provides on-the-grid deblended results by employing an interpolator, in conjunction with a projected gradient descent strategy. However, the deblending accuracy and computational efficiency of the I-MSSA are still a concern due to the limitations of the traditional singular value decomposition (SVD). To address these limitations, we propose an interpolated fast damped multichannel singular spectrum analysis (I-FDMSSA) rank-reduction algorithm. The proposed algorithm incorporates the damping operator, the randomized SVD (RSVD) and the fast Fourier transform (FFT) strategy. The damping operator can further attenuate the remaining noise in the estimated signal obtained from the truncated SVD, resulting in an improved deblending performance. The RSVD accelerates the rank-reduction process by shrinking the size of the Hankel matrix. To expedite the rank-reduction and anti-diagonal averaging stages without explicitly constructing large-scale block Hankel matrices, the FFT strategy is employed. By incorporating a 2D separable sinc interpolator, the I-FDMSSA enables an efficient and accurate deblending of 3D OffG blended data. The deblending performance and operational efficiency improvements of the proposed I-FDMSSA algorithm over the traditional I-MSSA algorithm are demonstrated through OffG synthetic and field blended data examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This systematic review and meta-analysis examined the association between race and ethnicity and fracture risk in the United States. We identified relevant studies by searching PubMed and EMBASE for studies published from the databases' inception date to December 23, 2022. Only observational studies conducted in the US population that reported the effect size of racial-ethnic minority groups versus white people were included. Two investigators independently conducted literature searches, study selection, risk of bias assessment, and data abstraction; discrepancies were resolved by consensus or consultation of a third investigator. Twenty-five studies met the inclusion criteria, and the random-effects model was used to calculate the pooled effect size due to heterogeneity between the studies. Using white people as the reference group, we found that people of other races and ethnic groups had a significantly lower fracture risk. In Black people, the pooled relative risk (RR) was 0.46 (95% confidence interval (CI), 0.43–0.48, p < 0.0001). In Hispanics, the pooled RR was 0.66 (95% CI, 0.55–0.79, p < 0.0001). In Asian Americans, the pooled RR was 0.55 (95% CI, 0.45–0.66, p < 0.0001). In American Indians, the pooled RR was 0.80 (95% CI, 0.41–1.58, p = 0.3436). Subgroup analysis by sex in Black people revealed the strength of association was greater in men (RR = 0.57, 95% CI = 0.51–0.63, p < 0.0001) than in women (RR = 0.43, 95% CI = 0.39–0.47, p < 0.0001). Our findings suggest that people of other races and ethnic groups have a lower fracture risk than white people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: Chemical binding of 4-tert-butylpyridine (TBP) is realized through halogen bonds. TBP-induced perovskite decomposition and spiro-OMeTAD de-doping are suppressed. Modified perovskite solar cells achieve greatly improved efficiency and stability.4-tert-butylpyridine (TBP) is an indispensable additive for the hole transport layer in highly efficient perovskite solar cells (PSCs), while it can induce corrosion decomposition of perovskites and de-doping effect of spiro-OMeTAD, which present huge challenge for the stability of PSCs. Herein, halogen bonds provided by 1,4-diiodotetrafluorobenzene (1,4-DITFB) are employed to bond with TBP, simultaneously preventing perovskite decomposition and eliminating de-doping effect of oxidized spiro-OMeTAD. Various characterizations have proved strong chemical interaction forms between 1,4-DITFB and TBP. With the incorporation of halogen bonds, perovskite film can maintain initial morphology, crystal structure, and light absorbance; meanwhile, the spiro-OMeTAD film shows a relatively stable conductivity with good charge transport property. Accordingly, the device with TBP complex exhibits significantly enhanced stability in N2 atmosphere or humidity environment. Furthermore, a champion power conversion efficiency of 23.03% is obtained since perovskite is no longer damaged by TBP during device preparation. This strategy overcomes the shortcomings of TBP in n-i-p PSCs community and enhances the application potential of spiro-OMeTAD in fabricating efficient and stable PSCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The discovery of near-ultraviolet-excited orange-emitting phosphors is a major challenge in light-emitting diodes. Benefitting from highly condensed framework and abundant cation sites of β-Ca3(PO4)2-type compounds, a novel orange emitter, Sr19Mg2(PO4)14:Eu2+, has been synthesized and investigated in this study. The structure and coordination environment around each cation were determined by Rietveld refinement for the first time. The optical bandgap was estimated by diffuse reflectance spectrum and the photoluminescence performance was studied systematically. The Sr19Mg2(PO4)14:Eu2+ phosphor exhibited strong absorption in near-ultraviolet region, and emitted broad-band orange emission from 500 to 750 nm peaked at 620 nm. According to the Rietveld refinement result, photoluminescence and Gaussian fitting spectrum, it could be inferred the emission spectrum of Sr19Mg2(PO4)14:Eu2+ came from three different Eu2+ luminescent centers which could be assigned to the different cation site. The different thermal stability of each luminescent center was also investigated and explained by the different Debye temperature (ΘD) calculated by average atomic displacement parameter; however, its integrated thermal stability still needs to be improved. All the results indicated Sr19Mg2(PO4)14:Eu2+ may be applied as an alternative orange phosphor in WLEDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sm3+ activated barium hafnium phosphate phosphor Ba7Hf(PO4)6:Sm3+ with excellent thermal stability was firstly prepared with solid-state reaction method. The phase purity, luminescence property and thermal stability were systematically determined by employing X-ray diffractometer, photoluminescence spectra and temperature dependent emission spectra. The photoluminescence emission spectra showed that Ba7Hf(PO4)6:xSm3+ (0.005 ≤ x ≤ 0.04) could absorb near-ultraviolet light around 402 nm and emit red emissions with dominating peaks at 598 and 645 nm, ascribed to the 4G5/2 to 6H7/2 and 6H9/2 transitions of Sm3+ ions. The optimal doping contents as well as the Commission Internationale de L’Eclairage chromaticity coordinates of Ba7Hf(PO4)6:Sm3+ were studied. The interesting blue emission band at about 475 nm was observed and the related mechanism was discussed. The temperature dependent emission spectra revealed that Ba7Hf(PO4)6:xSm3+ exhibited stable thermal quenching behavior. The results showed that the red phosphors Ba7Hf(PO4)6:Sm3+ had potential applications in white light emitting diodes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sm doped NaMgZr(PO) phosphor was prepared using high temperature solid state reaction and characterized through X-ray diffractometer (XRD) to identify the crystalline phase. The site occupation of Sm in NaMgZr(PO) was discussed based on the XRD and crystal structure analysis. The photoluminescence emission spectra showed that NaMgZr(PO):Sm could absorb near-ultraviolet light around 403 nm and emit red emissions with dominated peaks at 600 and 647 nm, ascribed to the G to H or H transitions of Sm ions, respectively. The optimal doping concentration, the critical distance as well as the interaction mechanism of Sm in NaMgZr(PO) were discussed. Moreover, the temperature dependent luminescent properties were measured and revealed that NaMgZr(PO):Sm had excellent thermal stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Caleosins are a class of Ca binding proteins that appear to be ubiquitous in plants. Some of the main proteins embedded in the lipid monolayer of lipid droplets, caleosins, play critical roles in the degradation of storage lipids during germination and in lipid trafficking. Some of them have been shown to have histidine-dependent peroxygenase activity, which is believed to participate in stress responses in Arabidopsis. In the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, caleosins have been examined extensively. However, little is known on a genome-wide scale about these proteins in other members of the Brassicaceae. In this study, 51 caleosins in Brassica plants and Arabidopsis lyrata were investigated and analyzed in silico. Among them, 31 caleosins, including 7 in A. lyrata, 11 in Brassica oleracea and 13 in Brassica napus, are herein identified for the first time. Segmental duplication was the main form of gene expansion. Alignment, motif and phylogenetic analyses showed that Brassica caleosins belong to either the H-family or the L-family with different motif structures and physicochemical properties. Our findings strongly suggest that L-caleosins are evolved from H-caleosins. Predicted phosphorylation sites were differentially conserved in H-caleosin and L-caleosins, respectively. 'RY-repeat' elements and phytohormone-related cis-elements were identified in different caleosins, which suggest diverse physiological functions. Gene structure analysis indicated that most caleosins (38 out of 44) contained six exons and five introns and their intron phases were highly conserved. Structurally integrated caleosins, such as BrCLO3-3 and BrCLO4-2, showed high expression levels and may have important roles. Some caleosins, such as BrCLO2 and BoCLO8-2, lost motifs of the calcium binding domain, proline knot, potential phosphorylation sites and haem-binding sites. Combined with their low expression, it is suggested that these caleosins may have lost function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection involves complex virus-host interplay. In this study, we analyzed gene expression in RSV-infected BEAS-2B cells to discover novel signaling pathways and biomarkers. We hybridized RNAs from RSV- or vehicle-treated BEAS-2B to Affymetrix HU133 plus 2.0 microarrays ( n = 4). At 4 and 24 h post-infection, 277 and 900 genes (RSV/control ratio ≥2.0 or ≤0.5), and 1 and 12 pathways respectively were significantly altered. Twenty-three and 92 genes at 4 and 24 h respectively matched respiratory disease biomarkers with ARG2 flagged at 24 h and SCNN1G, EPB41L4B, CSF1, PTEN, TUBB1 and ESR2 at both time points. Hierachical clustering showed a cluster containing ARG2 and IL8. In human bronchial epithelial cells, RSV upregulated arginase II protein. Knockdown of ARG2 increased RSV-induced IL-8, LDH and histone release. With microarray, we identified novel proximal airway epithelial cell genes that may be tested in the sputum samples as biomarkers of RSV infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The core bases of intelligent ubiquitous computing environments are ubiquitous network infrastructure and the related services. Telecommunication service industry includes such ubiquitous network infrastructure and most of related services, and it leads to simultaneous growth of network, terminal, software and contents etc., by placing at the top of value chain of IT industry. In this special issue, we have discussed current IT-related issues, policy trends and new industrial services which will lead to successful transfer toward intelligent ubiquitous society which is a new paradigm of future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]