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Adversarial training suffers from poor effectiveness due to the challenging optimisation of loss with hard labels. To address this issue, adversarial distillation has emerged as a potential solution, encouraging target models to mimic the output of the teachers. However, reliance on pre‐training teachers leads to additional training costs and raises concerns about the reliability of their knowledge. Furthermore, existing methods fail to consider the significant differences in unconfident samples between early and late stages, potentially resulting in robust overfitting. An adversarial defence method named Clean, Performance‐robust, and Performance‐sensitive Historical Information based Adversarial Self‐Distillation (CPr & PsHI‐ASD) is presented. Firstly, an adversarial self‐distillation replacement method based on clean, performance‐robust, and performance‐sensitive historical information is developed to eliminate pre‐training costs and enhance guidance reliability for the target model. Secondly, adversarial self‐distillation algorithms that leverage knowledge distilled from the previous iteration are introduced to facilitate the self‐distillation of adversarial knowledge and mitigate the problem of robust overfitting. Experiments are conducted to evaluate the performance of the proposed method on CIFAR‐10, CIFAR‐100, and Tiny‐ImageNet datasets. The results demonstrate that the CPr&PsHI‐ASD method is more effective than existing adversarial distillation methods in enhancing adversarial robustness and mitigating robust overfitting issues against various adversarial attacks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blue light photoreceptor cryptochrome 1 (CRY1) in herbaceous plants plays crucial roles in various developmental processes, including cotyledon expansion, hypocotyl elongation and anthocyanin biosynthesis. However, the function of CRY1 in perennial trees is unclear. In this study, we identified two ortholog genes of CRY1 (PagCRY1a and PagCRY1b) from Populus, which displayed high sequence similarity to Arabidopsis CRY1. Overexpression of PagCRY1 substantially inhibited plant growth and promoted secondary xylem development in Populus, while CRISPR/Cas9‐mediated knockout of PagCRY1 enhanced plant growth and delayed secondary xylem development. Moreover, overexpression of PagCRY1 dramatically increased anthocyanin accumulation. The further analysis supported that PagCRY1 functions specifically in response to blue light. Taken together, our results demonstrated that modulating the expression of blue light photoreceptor CRY1 ortholog gene in Populus could significantly influence plant biomass production and the process of wood formation, laying a foundation for further investigating the light‐regulated tree growth. Summary statement: Light is one of the most important environmental signals that govern plant growth and development. This study demonstrated that the blue light photoreceptor PagCRY1 substantially promotes wood formation and anthocyanin biosynthesis in Populus, and provides evidence showing that HY5 and BBX6 may act downstream of PagCRY1 to activate lignin and anthocyanin biosynthesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantum computing has grown extensively, especially in system design and development, and the current research focus has gradually evolved from validating quantum advantage to practical applications. In particular, nondeterministic‐polynomial‐time (NP)‐complete problems are central in numerous important application areas. Still, in practice, it is difficult to solved efficiently with conventional computers, limited by the exponential jump in hardness. Here, a quantum photonic microprocessor based on Gaussian boson sampling (GBS) that offers dynamic programmability to solve various graph‐related NP‐complete problems is demonstrated. The system with optical, electrical, and thermal packaging implements a GBS with 16 modes of single‐mode squeezed vacuum states, a universal programmable 16‐mode interferometer, and a single photon readout on all outputs with high accuracy, generality, and controllability. The developed system is applied to demonstrate applications in solving NP‐complete problems, manifesting the ability of photonic quantum computing to realize practical applications for conventionally intractable computations. The GBS‐based quantum photonic microprocessor is applied to solve task assignment, Boolean satisfiability, graph clique, max cut, and vertex cover. These demonstrations suggest an excellent benchmarking platform, paving the way toward large‐scale combinatorial optimization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: This study investigated the formation and properties of mung bean‐resistant starch nanoparticles. The mung bean amylose content increased from 56.86% to 68.29% with the ultrasonic time increasing. The particle size, X‐ray diffraction and in vitro digestion of mung bean‐resistant starch nanoparticles were studied. All the nanoparticles presented V‐type crystalline structure, which indicated the formation of starch‐curcumin complex. Results of particle size showed that size distribution curve of resistant starch nanoparticles with ultrasonic treatment of 2 min had only one peak and it was narrower than others. According to the in vitro digestion results, digestibility of resistant starch nanoparticles increased compared with that of native starch, the reason was because of the formation of starch‐curcumin complex. This study provides a method to prepare resistant starch nanoparticles with a higher resistant starch content and could improve the stability and bioavailability of curcumin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Slippery liquid‐infused porous surfaces (SLIPS) derived smart windows (SWs) that dynamically fine‐tune the solar spectrum are promising candidates for alleviating the global energy crisis, especially for dim rainy climates. Unfortunately, the inferior durability, high energy‐consumption, and slow tune‐responsivity over SLIPS‐based SWs greatly hinder their practical usage. Reported is an ultrarobust omni‐liquid‐repellent magnetism‐actuated reconfigurable microshutters (OLR‐MARS) via integrating a femtosecond laser ablation and soft‐lithography technique. By alternately loading/discharging a remote magnet, OLR‐MARS can be reversibly switched between a transparent mode and an opaque mode within 0.03 s, which is far sensitive than the previously‐reported SWs. Simultaneously, OLR‐MARS can harness the surface liquids between a slippery state (the sliding angle of ≈15o) and a sticky one (pinning at a tilt angle of 90o). Significantly, owing to its all‐solid‐state merit, OLR‐MARS demonstrates good longevity even when subjected to the raindrops impact above 1000 cycles. Results indicate dual switching over the interfacial hydrodynamics and optics. Last but not least, leveraging the optimized OLR‐MARS, encryption‐decryption, thermal management, and an angle‐dependent privacy‐screen is deployed. Current novel OLR‐MARS with robust durability, fast responsivity, and energy‐free advantages holds promising potential in self‐cleaning smart windows, energy‐saving buildings, antivoyeurism, etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: This study aimed to develop a novel antioxidant film for food packaging based on Cyperus esculentus starch and thymol. The mechanical, physicochemical and antioxidant properties of composite films were investigated. The C. esculentus starch showed good film‐forming properties. Incorporating of thymol improved the elongation at break and ultraviolet barrier property of the films, meanwhile decreased the moisture content of the films. Scanning electron microscopy showed good compatibility between starch matrix and thymol. The formation of hydrogen bonds between starch and thymol was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and X‐ray diffraction. The composite films (3% thymol) exhibited higher antioxidant with DPPH scavenging capacity values of 73.22 ± 2.05% compared with control films. This study provided a potential unconventional starch for the preparation of bioactive films. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Slippery liquid‐impregnated porous surfaces (SLIPS) based smart windows (SWs) that dynamically fine‐tune the solar energy gain are promising candidates for alleviating the global energy crisis, especially for dim rainy climates. Unfortunately, the inferior durability arising from viscous dissipation over SLIPS‐based SWs remains a great challenge that needs to be addressed. Here, an ultra‐robust all‐solid‐state superhydrophobic SW is reported namely electric‐actuated reconfigurable shape memory shutter (EA‐RSMS) via a hybrid approach of laser ablation and soft transfer. Thanks to electrothermal effect of underlying silver nanowires heater, EA‐RSMS can be dynamically glazing by switching the surface shutters between bent mode (the transmittance of 10.8%) and erect one (the transmittance of 56.6%) within 60 s in situ. Synergistically, EA‐RSMS motivates the reversible transition between sticky state (sliding angle of 24°) and slippery one (sliding angle of 8°) by alternate Joule‐heating/pressing operation. Fundamental physics renders to clarify the effect of shutters topography on the hysteresis and light performance. Last but not the least, by utilizing the optimized EA‐RSMS shelter, indoor thermal‐comfort regulation, visibility encoding together with angle‐variable display are deployed. Current superhydrophobic EA‐RSMS with robust durability, novel tuning modulation, fast electric‐sensitivity, and optical angle‐dependence holds promising potential in self‐cleaning smart windows, energy‐saving buildings, anti‐voyeurism, etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hand pose recognition has been one of the most fundamental tasks in computer vision and pattern recognition, and substantial effort has been devoted to this field. However, owing to lack of public large‐scale benchmark dataset, there is little literature to specially study pen‐holding hand pose (PHHP) recognition. As an attempt to fill this gap, in this paper, a PHHP image dataset, consisting of 18,000 PHHP samples is established. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the largest vision‐based PHHP dataset ever collected. Furthermore, the authors design a coarse‐to‐fine PHHP recognition network consisting of a coarse multi‐feature learning network and a fine pen‐grasping‐specific feature learning network, where the coarse learning network aims to extensively exploit the multiple discriminative features by sharing a hand‐shape‐based spatial attention information, and the fine learning network further learns the pen‐grasping‐specific features by embedding a couple of convolutional block attention modules into three convolution blocks models. Experimental results show that the authors' proposed method can achieve a very competitive PHHP recognition performance when compared with the baseline recognition models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A fluorine‐free and multifunctional superhydrophobic coating (r‐MSC) was prepared by the one‐step spraying method. The coating had superhydrophobic and low‐adhesion properties with the water contact angle of 161.5° ± 1° and the sliding angle of 3.2° ± 0.5°. It could be prepared by spraying while maintaining superhydrophobic surface characteristics on any substrates. The coating owed outstanding mechanical durability and chemical stability. Moreover, the coating also possessed the ability of self‐cleaning, anti‐fouling, anti‐icing, and flame retardant ability. Importantly, the presence of multifunctional coating endowed the substrate with both water‐resistant and fireproof properties. Besides, it also showed excellent oil‐water separation ability, which presented the oil‐water separation efficiency of over 90% for different types of oils after 10 separation cycles. Furthermore, the coating could improve corrosion inhibition performance and the corrosion current density was reduced by two orders of magnitude from the polarization curve. The r‐MSC had the advantages of simple preparation, fluorine‐free, environmentally friendly and appropriate for large‐area fabrication, which could be applied to various fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In nature, fluid manipulation plays a crucial role in the life of organisms, which has attracted great attentions of research and industry. Here, a functional bionic cilia surface is designed via the simple magnetic field assistance and laser etching technique. Multidirectional droplet transportation occurs on superhydrophobic cilia surface, which has good mechanical, physical, and chemical stability. The as‐prepared surface covered with cilia in the superhydrophobic (WCA of 156 ± 2°) and hydrophobic (WCA of 119 ± 3°) area possess different adhesion state, which can be used for multiple chemical reactions as a microreaction platform. Furthermore, bionic cilia surface can be used as a transport tool in the analysis and detection with average transfer speed of 2.3 cm s−1, which provides new opportunities in the development of small analysis equipment. Importantly, magnetically induced bionic cilia surfaces have broad potential applications in developing smart surfaces, droplet control, lab‐on‐a‐chip, etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to examine the effect of whole soy and purified daidzein on markers of thyroid function in Chinese postmenopausal women who were equol‐producers. Total 270 eligible women were randomized to either one of the three isocaloric supplements: 40 g soy flour (whole soy group), 40 g low‐fat milk powder +63 mg daidzein (daidzein group) or 40 g low‐fat milk powder (placebo) daily for 6 months. Serum thyroid markers were tested at baseline and 6 months for thyroid stimulating hormone, free triiodothyronine, reverse triiodothyronine and free thyroxine (FT4). There was no significant difference in the 6‐month changes of thyroid markers among the three groups. Subgroup analysis among women with lowered thyroid function suggested a modest decrease of FT4. This randomized controlled trial among Chinese equol‐producing postmenopausal women indicates the consumption of whole soy and purified daidzein at the provided dosages are safe and have no detrimental effect on thyroid function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Postmodification methods are effective tools in preparing functional polymers, and novel end‐group reactions have attracted much attention from researchers for postmodification applications. Here, a new high‐efficiency postmodification method is proposed, which can change bromine‐containing polymers to functional polymers in one step. Phenol, 1‐hydroxynaphthalene, and 4‐(2‐phenyldiazenyl)‐phenol (AzoOH) are successfully grafted onto the polymeric branch chain of bromine‐containing polymers, i.e., homopolymer, bromoethyl methyl acrylate, (pBMEA) and amphiphilic block copolymer p(BMEA)‐b‐p(mPEG), with a high grafting rate that is near 100%. Also, the micelles of the postmodified amphiphilic block copolymer p(BMEA‐Azo)‐b‐p(mPEG) are broken up under ultraviolet irradiation. The proposed method can be used as a platform to prepare a variety of stimuli‐responsive polymeric nanoparticles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) based therapy for bone regeneration has been regarded as a promising method in the clinic. However, hBMSCs with invasive harvesting process and undesirable proliferation rate hinder the extensive usage. HUCMSCs of easier access and excellent performances provide an alternative for the fabrication of tissue‐engineered bone construct. Evidence suggested the osteogenesis ability of hUCMSCs was weaker than that of hBMSCs. To address this issue, a co‐culture strategy of osteogenically and angiogenically induced hUCMSCs has been proposed since thorough vascularization facilitates the blood‐borne nutrition and oxygen to transport in the scaffold, synergistically expediting the process of ossification. Materials and methods: Herein, we used osteogenic‐ and angiogenic‐differentiated hUCMSCs for co‐culture in screened culture medium to elevate the osteogenic capacity with in vitro studies and finally coupled with 3D TCP scaffold to repair rat's critical‐sized calvarial bone defect. By dual‐directional induction, hUCMSCs could differentiate into osteoblasts and endothelial cells, respectively. To optimize the co‐culture condition, gradient ratios of dual‐directional differentiated hUCMSCs co‐cultured under different medium were studied to determine the appropriate condition. Results: It revealed that the osteogenic‐ and angiogenic‐induced hUCMSCs mixed with the ratio of 3:1 co‐cultured in the mixed medium of osteogenic induction medium to endothelial cell induction medium of 3:1 possessed more mineralization nodules. Similarly, ALP and osteogenesis/angiogenesis‐related genes expressions were relatively higher. Further evidence of bone defect repair with 3D printed TCP of 3:1 group exhibited better restoration outcomes. Conclusions: Our work demonstrated a favourable and convenient approach of dual‐directional differentiated hUCMSCs co‐culture to improve the osteogenesis, establishing a novel way to fabricate tissue‐engineered bone graft with 3D TCP for large bone defect augmentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The low‐grade, chronic inflammation initiated by TLR4‐triggered innate immune responses has a central role on early osteoarthritis. Amurensin H is a resveratrol dimer with anti‐inflammatory and anti‐apoptotic effects, while its effects on TLR‐4 signals to inhibit osteoarthritis are still unclear. In the present study, treatment with amurensin H for 2 weeks in monosodium iodoacetate‐induced mice significantly slows down cartilage degeneration and inflammation using macroscopic evaluation, haematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining and micro‐magnetic resonance imaging. In IL‐1β‐stimulated rat chondrocytes, amurensin H suppresses the production of inflammatory mediators including nitric oxide, IL‐6, IL‐17, PGE2 and TNF‐α using Greiss and ELISA assay. Amurensin H inhibits matrix degradation via decreasing levels of MMP‐9 and MMP‐13 using Western blot assay, promotes synthesis of type II collagen and glycosaminoglycan using immunostaining and safranin O staining, respectively. Amurensin H inhibits intracellular and mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, and mitochondrial membrane depolarization using DCFH‐DA, MitoSOX Red and JC‐1 assay as well. IL‐1β stimulates TLR4 activation and Syk phosphorylation in chondrocytes, while amurensin H inhibits TLR4/Syk signals and downstream p65 phosphorylation and translocation in a time and dose‐dependent manner. Together, these results suggest that amurensin H exerts chondroprotective effects by attenuating oxidative stress, inflammation and matrix degradation via the TLR4/Syk/NF‐κB pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: BACKGROUND: A pilot scale process consisting of ultrasound‐assisted extraction, ammonium sulfate precipitation, cross‐flow ultrafiltration and AB‐8 macroporous resins purification aiming to recover anthocyanins and zein from purple corn (PC) was optimized and scaled‐up. The effects of five independent variables (ethanol concentration, liquid to solid ratio, ultrasound temperature, time and power) were discussed and the most influential factors were optimized. RESULTS: The highest total anthocyanin (0.45 ± 0.01 g kg−1) and zein (17.14 ± 1.73 g kg−1) contents from purple corn were obtained using an ultrasound power of 105 W, an extraction time of 90 min, an ethanol concentration of 74% and a liquid to solid ratio of 26:1, at 70 °C, and this was consistent with the predicted values (0.46 and 17.36 g kg−1, for anthocyanin and zein, respectively). Subsequently, ammonium sulfate precipitation was used to isolate anthocyanins and zein. After cross‐flow ultrafiltration, zein (6.30 g) was obtained with 80% purity. Anthocyanins were purified by AB‐8 macroporous resins, resulting in 1.60 g of anthocyanins. High‐performance liquid chromatography‐electrospray ionization‐mass spectrometry analysis revealed eight different anthocyanins in purple corn extracts. CONCLUSION: From the results obtained in the present study, it can be concluded that the proposed extraction–separation–filtration–purification method applied under the optimal conditions could be scaled‐up to recover anthocyanins and zein simultaneously. Moreover, under the selected conditions, no significant degradation of anthocyanins was observed. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bismuth ferrite nano- and microcrystals were prepared by a facile molten salt technique in two kinds of molten-salt-based systems ( NaCl- KCl and NaCl- Na2 SO4). In the NaCl- KCl salt system, a systematic study indicating the effects of process parameters (e.g., calcination temperature, holding time as well as the molten salt ratios) on the bismuth ferrite formation mechanism and structural characteristics is reported. The results show that almost pure phase BiFeO3 powders with minimum impurity phase of Bi2 Fe4 O9 were synthesized at temperatures of 700°C-800°C, whereas high calcination temperature (e.g., 900°C) resulted in the formation of almost pure phase Bi2 Fe4 O9 powders. The prolonged holding time increased the particle size via the Ostwald ripening mechanism; however, there was little effect on the particle morphology. Similar phenomenon occurred as increasing the molten salt ratios. In the NaCl- Na2 SO4 salt systems, it is found that low NP-9 (nonylphenyl ether, NP-9) surfactant content (0-5 mL) led to the formation of almost pure phase BiFeO3 powders, whereas high NP-9 surfactant content (e.g., 20 mL) resulted in pure phase Bi2 Fe4 O9 powders. The average particle size of the BiFeO3 powders was decreased as increasing the NP-9 surfactant content, whereas their morphologies did not change significantly. Because of the simplicity and versatility of the approach used, it is expected that this methodology can be generalized to the large-scale preparation of other important transitional metal oxides with controllable sizes and shapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a greenhouse experiment, Medicago sativa was grown in iron-rich soil colonized with iron-reducing bacteria (IRB) and/or Glomus mosseae (GM) under different inorganic phosphorus levels, which was to understand the effects of IRB and GM on the activation and turnover of the Fe(III)-fixed phosphorus. The results showed that at the both P rates, dual-inoculation treatment stimulated the hyphal growth and increased the shoot P content. IRB could accelerate mycorrhizal colonization, and showed a positive effect on plant biomass and P uptake at both P levels. Compared to sole-IRB or GM treatment, the dual inoculation treatment increased the soil available P content at both P rates ( p < 0.05), which was in the following order: the dual IRB+GM > the sole IRB > the sole GM > control for soil SMP content at low P rate, whilst the dual IRB+GM > the sole IRB ≈ the sole GM > control treatment at high P rate. Compared with the IRB treatment, the GM treatment significantly decreased the soil available P content and the MBP content at low P rate, but made no difference at high P rates. The soil MBC in dual-inoculation treatment was greatest under the high P level, while the highest soil MBC was the sole-GM treatment under the low P level. The sole GM treatment showed significantly ( p < 0.05) higher soil MBC than that of sole IRB at low P rate ( p < 0.05), while there was no significant differences between sole IRB and sole GM at high P rate. Our results suggested that the interaction between GM and IRB had synergetic effect on the mobilization of Fe(III)-fixed P and their relationship could be regulated by the turnover of MBP. The fact that plants acquired more P via mycorrhizal pathway in the GM-IRB system suggested that the three symbiont of plant-GM-IRB had great ecological and functional significance for P activity in tropical and subtropical soil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work proposes a biphilic icephobic surface by combining the top‐down and bottom‐up methods. It is found that the impacting droplet on biphilic surface is divided into several parts during the recoiling process, which can significantly reduce the drop contact time before freezing. The anti‐icing test of the biphilic surface in the simulated environment also proves its excellent icephobic capacity. At one aspect, the freezing delay time on biphilic surface is positively correlated with the pillar diameters and negatively correlates with the distance of adjacent pillars. At another aspect, the stress concentrator at the edge between the superhydrophobic area and superhydrophilic area results in the dramatic reduction of ice adhesion strengths. In the real environment test, substantial particle ice is found on the biphilic surface. Different from the glaze ice and rime ice, the particle ice has a smaller contact area with the surface and is easier to be removed. Furthermore, the as‐prepared biphilic surface possesses good mechanical robustness and a long lifespan in the cyclic icing/melting test. It is shown that the new class of nonwetting surfaces presented here can be useful for anti/deicing applications in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Targeted drug delivery systems (TDDSs) provide a promising approach to overcome the side effect of traditional chemotherapy by specific tumor targeting and drug release. Hyaluronan (HA), as a selective CD44 targeting group, has been widely used in TDDSs for chemotherapy. However, different molecular weight HAs would demonstrate different binding ability to CD44, which may result in different therapeutic effects. Herein, a silica/hydroxyapatite (MSNs/HAP) hybrid carrier loaded with anticancer drug doxorubicin (DOX) (DOX@MSNs/HAP) is fabricated. HA and oligo HA (oHA) are coated onto the nanoparticles (HA‐DOX@MSNs/HAP, oHA‐DOX@MSNs/HAP), respectively, to investigate their performance in tumor targeting ability. oHA‐DOX@MSNs/HAP shows much higher efficiency cellular uptake and drug release in tumor regions due to more effective CD44 targeting of oHA. Thus, the anticancer effect of oHA‐DOX@MSNs/HAP is significantly enhanced compared to HA‐DOX@MSNs/HAP, as demonstrated in a tumor‐bearing mouse model. This study may enable the rational design of nanodrug systems for future tumor‐targeted chemotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]