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Electroporation techniques have emerged as attractive tools for intracellular delivery, rendering promising prospects towards clinical therapies. Transient disruption of membrane permeability is the critical process for efficient electroporation‐based cargo delivery. However, smart nanotools for precise characterization of transient membrane changes induced by strong electric pulses are extremely limited. Herein, multivalent membrane‐anchored fluorescent nanoprobes (MMFNPs) that take advantages of flexible functionalization and spatial arrangement of DNA frameworks are developed for in situ evaluation of electric field‐induced membrane permeability during reversible electroporation. Single‐molecule fluorescence imaging techniques are adopted to precisely verify the excellent analytical performance of the engineered MMFNPs. Benefited from tight membrane anchoring and sensitive adenosine triphosphate (ATP) profiling, varying degrees of membrane disturbances are visually exhibited under different intensities of the microsecond pulse electric field (µsPEF). Significantly, the dynamic process of membrane repair during reversible electroporation is well demonstrated via ATP fluctuations monitored by the designed MMFNPs. Furthermore, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are performed for accurate verification of electroporation‐driven dynamic cargo entry via membrane nanopores. This work provides an avenue for effectively capturing transient fluctuations of membrane permeability under external stimuli, offering valuable guidance for developing efficient and safe electroporation‐driven delivery strategies for clinical diagnosis and therapeutics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pancreatic fibrosis (PF) is primarily characterized by aberrant production and degradation modes of extracellular matrix (ECM) components, resulting from the activation of pancreatic stellate cells (PSCs) and the pathological cross‐linking of ECM mediated by lysyl oxidase (LOX) family members. The excessively deposited ECM increases matrix stiffness, and the over‐accumulated reactive oxygen species (ROS) induces oxidative stress, which further stimulates the continuous activation of PSCs and advancing PF; challenging the strategy toward normalizing ECM homeostasis for the regression of PF. Herein, ROS‐responsive and Vitamin A (VA) decorated micelles (named LR‐SSVA) to reverse the imbalanced ECM homeostasis for ameliorating PF are designed and synthesized. Specifically, LR‐SSVA selectively targets PSCs via VA, thereby effectively delivering siLOXL1 and resveratrol (RES) into the pancreas. The ROS‐responsive released RES inhibits the overproduction of ECM by eliminating ROS and inactivating PSCs, meanwhile, the decreased expression of LOXL1 ameliorates the cross‐linked collagen for easier degradation by collagenase which jointly normalizes ECM homeostasis and alleviates PF. This research shows that LR‐SSVA is a safe and efficient ROS‐response and PSC‐targeted drug‐delivery system for ECM normalization, which will propose an innovative and ideal platform for the reversal of PF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An adaptive neural network fault‐tolerant control method is proposed for the non‐affine multi‐agent systems with actuator failure and input saturation. Through the transformation of the original multi‐agent systems, an equivalent model is proposed. Considering that the signal input of multi‐agent systems is limited, this article will solve the input saturation problem. But in a real system, the actuator would probably fail. Therefore, a fault tolerant control algorithm is proposed to solve the fault problem in the systems. In this article, an adaptive distributed controller is designed to eliminate the uncertainty of the systems. At the same time, the integral barrier Lyapunov function is selected to verify the stability. Finally, a simulation example is given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In advanced liver fibrosis (LF), macrophages maintain the inflammatory environment in the liver and accelerate LF deterioration by secreting proinflammatory cytokines. However, there is still no effective strategy to regulate macrophages because of the difficulty and complexity of macrophage inflammatory phenotypic modulation and the insufficient therapeutic efficacy caused by the extracellular matrix (ECM) barrier. Here, AC73 and siUSP1 dual drug‐loaded lipid nanoparticle is designed to carry milk fat globule epidermal growth factor 8 (MFG‐E8) (named MUA/Y) to effectively inhibit macrophage proinflammatory signals and degrade the ECM barrier. MFG‐E8 is released in response to the high reactive oxygen species (ROS) environment in LF, transforming macrophages from a proinflammatory (M1) to an anti‐inflammatory (M2) phenotype and inducing macrophages to phagocytose collagen. Collagen ablation increases AC73 and siUSP1 accumulation in hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) and inhibits HSCs overactivation. Interestingly, complete resolution of liver inflammation, significant collagen degradation, and HSCs deactivation are observed in methionine choline deficiency (MCD) and CCl4 models after tail vein injection of MUA/Y. Overall, this work reveals a macrophage‐focused regulatory treatment strategy to eliminate LF progression at the source, providing a new perspective for the clinical treatment of advanced LF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: In this paper, for the nonholonomic tractor‐trailer system with slipping and skidding, a full state‐triggering implementation of a tracking controller is proposed. Trailers are an important part, and their knowledge is crucial for the safety and control of the vehicle. Without considering system performance constraints, trailers may deviate from their expected position, leading to collisions. Therefore, there is still great interest in addressing the constraint control issues that arise in modern technologies related to network communication. Based on the backstepping method, bounded measurement errors are introduced into the continuous sampling controller considering intra‐vehicle communications. Then two neural networks are used to model unknown dynamics of the system with event sampling inputs, thereby decoupling the design of the control inputs. Finally, we prove the input‐to‐state‐like stability of a continuously sampled controller, and the given event execution control law can ensure the boundedness of measurement errors. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present a novel controller design method for stochastic nonlinear systems with unmodeled dynamics, uncertain parameters, and unknown covariance noise. In order to deal with these uncertainties, a new event‐based small gain controller is designed. The event‐triggered scheme can reduce the computational burden caused by disturbance and noise. By combining the technique of changing supply rate with small gain condition, a stochastic input‐to‐state practically stability Lyapunov function is obtained for the subsystem. Simultaneously, the changing supply function is used to treat with unmodeled dynamics. Based on backstepping process and adaptive control approach, the influence of unknown covariance noise is overcome. It is proved that the designed state‐feedback controller can ensure the overall system is stochastic input‐to‐state practically stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Deep‐frying oil intake is considered to destroy body health. In this review, a meta‐analysis was performed to assess the effects of deep‐frying oil intake on the risk of intestinal barrier dysfunction. Following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐Analyses guidelines, a systematic literature search was conducted in PubMed, Embase and Cochrane Central updated till April 2022 (CRD42022326306). A total of nine studies were included. The pooled results revealed that deep‐frying oil intake significantly exaggerated crypt damage of colon [weighted mean difference (WMD) = 4.55; 95% CI: 2.87, 6.24, P < 0.05], increased proinflammatory cytokine expression in plasma and colon tissue, and enhanced intestinal permeability [lipopolysaccharides content (WMD: 10.11 μg mL−1, 95% CI: 7.44, 12.79 μg mL−1, P < 0.05)]. Moreover, deep‐frying oil intake could change the gut microbiota and decrease the content of microbiota‐derived short‐chain fatty acids. In conclusion, our findings provide insights into the effect of deep‐frying oil intake on the intestinal barrier dysfunction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Subwavelength‐structured metasurfaces working in visible and near‐infrared bands present a high challenge in large‐scale device fabrication. In this study, a scalable, high‐efficient, and low‐cost laser‐induced nanopatterning technique is exploited to fabricate a kind of short‐range disordered metagratings, which enables broadband polarization‐independent absorption in the visible to near‐infrared wavelength. The short‐range disorder of the laser‐induced nanogratings originates from the laser‐induced thermal effect and can be spontaneously organized during laser nanopatterning. The unique disorder can break the unidirectional characteristics of the nanogratings, which empowers the metagratings to excite coupled resonance modes. This helps to achieve near‐perfect absorption in the visible to near‐infrared band (400–1100 nm) with an excellent angular tolerance (up to 60°) and average absorptivities of 96.3% and 93.5% under the TM and TE modes, respectively. These low‐cost metagratings can potentially inspire wide applications in the fields of solar cells, sensing, and thermal emitters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An adaptive neural network (NN) distributed tracking control strategy is proposed for nonlinear strict‐feedback multi‐agent systems, which is affected by time‐varying full state constraints. The influence of asymmetric state constraints is also considered. The constraint bounds are related to both state vectors and time. Different from the usual constant boundary or function boundary, the constraint boundary adopted in this article not only considers the influence of state variables, but also takes time into consideration, which makes the constraint boundary more flexible and more difficult to solve. In addition, in order to solve the disturbance of the unknown function in the system, this article adopts the NN technology to realize the approximation effect of the unknown function, and designs a adaptive distributed controller based on the asymmetric obstacle Lyapunov function and backward step method, the closed‐loop signals are proved to be CSUUB. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by a simulation example. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: This article studies the fixed‐time time‐invariant formation control problem for a class of uncertain nonlinear heterogeneous multi‐agent systems (HMASs) with actuator faults and partial unknown control directions. Throughout the formation process, the possibility of actuator faults in systems and unknown control directions between individual agents are taken into account. Lipschitz conditions are introduced to identify the continuous uncertain nonlinear functions. To estimate the agents' local immeasurable states in HMASs, a distributed fixed‐time observer is proposed, which can ensure that the states of follower agents are observed in fixed time. In addition, a distributed formation fault‐tolerant control scheme will handle actuator faults. By designing a Nussbaum function, the problem of partial unknown control directions for HMASs can be solved in fixed time. Based on the fixed time stability theory, it is proved that the closed‐loop stability and the tracking performance can be guaranteed in fixed time, that is, the achieved time is independent of any initial states. In the end, a simulation example is given to testify the effectiveness of the proposed control method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: The cotton bollworm, Helicoverpa armigera, is a worldwide polyphagous pest, causing huge economic losses in vegetable, cotton and corn crops, among others. Owing to long‐term exposure to Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) toxins, evolution of resistance has been detected in this pest. As a conservative and effective neurotransmitter, dopamine (DA) has an important role in insect growth and development. In this study, we investigated the regulatory functions of DA and its associated non‐coding RNA in metamorphosis in H. armigera. RESULTS: Expression profiles indicated that DA and DA pathway genes were highly expressed during larval–pupal metamorphosis in H. armigera. RNA interference and pharmacological experiments confirmed that tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), dopa decarboxylase, vesicular amine transporter and DA receptor 2 are critical genes related to the development of H. armigera from larvae to pupae. We also found that miR‐14 and miR‐2766 targeted the 3′ untranslated region to post‐transcriptionally regulate HaTH function. Application of miR‐2766 and miR‐14 antagomirs significantly increased levels of HaTH transcripts and proteins, while injection of miR‐2766 and miR‐14 agomirs not only suppressed messenger RNA and protein levels of HaTH, but also resulted in defective pupation in H. armigera. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that DA deficiency inhibits larval–pupal metamorphosis in H. armigera. Potentially, DA pathway genes and their microRNAs could be used as a novel target for H. armigera management. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dissymmetry factor (|glum|) in circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) shows great significance in many potential applications. The development of upconversion circularly polarized luminescence (UC‐CPL) with a large dissymmetry factor is still limited by structural defects, especially in a self‐assembly system. Here, a self‐organized cholesteric liquid crystals (CLCs) composite is demonstrated, induced by uniaxially aligned upconversion nanorods (UCNRs) film, overcoming the aggregation issue via direct doping. The well‐aligned UCNR film serves as a polarized emitter, and the cholesteric superhelixstructure enables the conversion from polarized upconversion luminescence (UCL) to a completely UC‐CPL with an ultrahigh |glum| value up to 1.92. Upon changing the concentration of chiral dopants or heating, the chiral UCL can be conveniently modulated via shifting the CLC reflection band to overlap with the UCL band. Moreover, UC‐CPL with bidirectional asymmetric polarizations and emissions is achieved via forward and backward excitations. Furthermore, reversible switching from circular to linear polarization of UCL can be achieved by applying an electric field. Such a composite material system features versatile multimode and multiband modulation of UC‐CPL with the significantly enhanced dissymmetry factor and multichannel modulation, providing new opportunities for advanced applications in photonics and biological optoelectronics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Deep‐frying oil featuring total polar compound (TPC) has been found to be unhealthy. However, little information is available regarding the impact of TPC on the lipid digestion behaviour. In this study, three typical edible oils (palm oil, PO; high oleic acid peanut oil, HOA; and high linoleic acid sunflower oil, HLA) were selected to investigate the effect of deep‐frying on the lipid digestion. Digestion behaviour was monitored by pH‐Stat method in vitro. Digestibility rate analysis showed that free fatty acids release rate of all TPC groups was the slowest among corresponding fresh oils and deep‐frying oils, indicating deep‐frying decreased lipid digestion rate. Lipid droplet analysis uncovered that deep‐frying could increase lipid particle size. Correlation analysis showed the polymers in TPC are negatively correlated with digestion rate and particle size, suggesting the digestion behaviour of deep‐frying oil is related to TPC constitution. In conclusion, this study highlights that deep‐frying weaken the lipid digestion capacity, and the multiplicity of TPC distribution which vary in terms of FAs type contribute to differences of digestion behaviour in deep‐frying oils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: High temperatures will occur more frequently with global warming, with potential impacts on the efficacy of biological control agents. Heat shock proteins (HSPs) are induced by high temperature, but their possible roles in pest resistance to entomopathogens remain unexplored. We investigated the effects of high temperature (35 °C) on Helicoverpa armigera resistance to H. armigera nucleopolyhedrovirus (HearNPV) and the putative roles of HSPs in this process. RESULTS: Even short periods (24 h) of high temperature (35 °C) reduced mortality in HearNPV‐infected H. armigera larvae. Sustained 35 °C exposure significantly shortened developmental time, and increased fresh weight and locomotor activity in infected larvae. Moreover, high temperature inhibited virus replication and thickened the epidermis of H. armigera, resulting in reduced spread of infection from cadavers. Real‐time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis showed that expression of 11 HSP genes was altered by the 35 °C treatment, and that mostly small heat shock protein (sHSP) genes were up‐regulated, the same sHSPs were induced when larvae were infected with HearNPV. Finally, RNA interference (RNAi) suppression of these sHSPs showed that only Hsp24.91 and Hsp21.8 diminished H. armigera defensive responses to HearNPV infection. CONCLUSION: Even short periods of exposure to high temperature can significantly reduce susceptibility of H. armigera larvae to HearNPV by stimulating the production of sHSPs which enhance immune responses, with important implications for the use of entomopathogens as biological control agents under global warming scenarios. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solution‐based photochemical reaction is widely utilized in the syntheses of metallic nanocrystals. Although seedless photochemical reaction can avoid pre‐treatments, it relies on long, high‐energy radiation. Here, this work demonstrates an upconversion‐enabled seedless photochemical approach to synthesize grating‐like silver nanostructures on a hexagonal NaYF4 microrod via a near‐infrared laser excitation. Experimental results show that upconversion emission enables the nucleation and growth of Ag nanoparticles. Meanwhile, the emission can be also precisely tuned and enhanced by in situ growth of silver nanoparticles on the NaYF4 and NaYF4@SiO2 microrods. The maximum enhancement factor of 2 in overall emissions is achieved for the NaYF4@SiO2 microrod. This fabrication approach and results visually confirm the cavity resonance of excitation light inside the microrod via the distribution of Ag nanostructures. Moreover, the in situ grown Ag nanostructures provide a tunable far‐field upconversion emission via the plasmonic effect, which is potentially useful for tunable microlasers, biosensing, antibacterial, and catalytic applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent efforts in stimuli‐responsive soft materials have enabled wirelessly controlled actuation with increasing degrees of freedom, yielding miniature robots capable of various locomotion in open environments such as on a plane or inside fluids. However, grand challenges remain in harnessing photomechanical deformation to induce locomotion and control of friction during the movement, especially for robotic actuations within constrained spaces. Here, the authors report a centimeter‐long polymer strip made of a liquid crystal network that is capable of versatile light‐fueled motions along a human hair. The soft polymer robot can translocate directionally upon temporally modulated excitation and climb vertically through friction control with light. A self‐oscillating strip is demonstrated to continuously translocate along the hair upon a constant light stimulus, and its gaiting is associated to the smoothness of the hair surface. The results offer new insights to small‐scale photo‐actuator, mechanical control, and automation in soft micro robotics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optical metasurfaces are 2D flat elements that consist of spatially arranged meta‐atoms. By carefully designing the metasurface, it is possible to fully control the properties of light in amplitude, phase, and/or polarization. When merged with liquid crystals (LCs), a metasurface can act as a reconfigurable optical component enabling dynamical control of light. However, many reports ignore the influence of the meta‐atom's geometry on the orientation of LCs. Here, it is proposed to synergistically merge LCs and specially designed gold metasurfaces for multiple optical functions. Gold metasurfaces are designed as a template to align the LC molecules in a resolution of ≤2 µm. Meanwhile, the aligned LCs are used to actively control the polarization of the incident light, further achieving active modulation of the plasmonic resonances of gold metasurfaces. The synergistic mergence of LCs and metasurfaces can enable a designed optical device to work simultaneously in both visible and near infrared ranges, which is highly promising for multiple applications simultaneously, such as high‐resolution display, modulation, anti‐counterfeiting, beam deflection, LiDAR, etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article puts forward an adaptive neural network fault‐tolerant control scheme under the state constraints for the flexible manipulator system with uncertain terms. The dynamic model of the system is described by partial differential equations. The tangent barrier Lyapunov functions are chosen in the design process for the sake of ensuring that all states in the system satisfy the constrained conditions. The uncertainties resulted from load mass, hub inertia, and bending stiffness in the system are approximated by using the universal approximation property of neural networks. The adaptive method is used to counteract the influence of joint motor actuator failure. At the same time, combining with the backstepping design framework to design effective controllers to assure that all signals in the closed‐loop system are bounded. Lyapunov stability analysis method is used to prove the stability of the system. Finally, the simulation results prove the availability of the raised control method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The leader‐following consensus problem of a class of non‐strict feedback multi‐agent systems with unknown disturbances, this paper develops a novel adaptive event‐triggered control strategy ground on the consideration of the full state constraints. Combining the dynamic surface control and event triggering mechanism, the unknown external disturbances are estimated by designing a disturbance observer. In order to deal with unknown functions, this paper employs the neural networks. On purpose of keeping the output variable within a constraint boundary, the barrier Lyapunov function is chosen during the design course. Then, through the backstepping method and the Lyapunov stability theorem, it is proved that all signals in the closed‐loop systems are bounded, and the control performance of the closed‐loop system is ensured by selecting design parameters reasonably. Eventually, the availability of the control strategy is guaranteed through experimental example. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: In this article, based on partial differential equations (PDEs), the flexible manipulator system with both dead‐zone input and state constraints is studied. The dynamic model of the flexible manipulator system is described by PDEs. The parameters of the dead‐zone input are unknown, and the state constraint problem is also considered. An adaptive approach is proposed to offset the effects caused by dead‐zone input. Thus, to guarantee that all states remain within their respective constraint regions, the boundary control law based on the barrier Lyapunov function is given, and an adaptive controller is designed. According to the Lyapunov analysis method, the control method is given to ensure that all signals of the closed‐loop system are bounded and all states satisfy the constraint conditions. Finally, simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed control method in this article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes an adaptive fuzzy fault‐tolerant control method about seat active suspension systems. The significant indexes of seat active suspension system are ride comfort and safety. Considering the actuator failure of seat active suspension system, the problems of passengers' ride comfort and safety are better solved. Two adaptive laws are designed to solve the two unknown coefficients in the actuator fault of the seat active suspension system. The fuzzy logic systems are applied to approximate the unknown terms in the system, and an adaptive fuzzy fault‐tolerant controller is designed by using the backstepping method. In the closed‐loop systems, all signals are bounded which is proved through Lyapunov stability theory. Finally, two different road surface disturbances are considered in the simulation, which proves the effectiveness of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy saving is a global topic of critical importance. Electrochromic devices (ECDs) could be used to control energy flow by modulating the light absorption reversibly upon application of a small potential bias. Herein, a visible‐NIR dual‐band ECD based on the viologen analogue 4, 4′‐(thiophene‐2, 5‐diyl) bis(1‐methylpyridin‐1‐ium) diiodide (TMP) was assembled with a simple all‐in‐one configuration. The TMP‐based gel ECD possesses high dynamic contrast (81.7 % at 570 nm, 68.6 % at 835 nm, 62.8 % at 910 nm and 55.3 % at 1046 nm), excellent cyclic stability (70.6 % of ▵T at 570 nm maintained after 25000 cycles at 1.4 V), and low power consumption (15.2 mJ/cm2 to complete the coloring process, 2.5 mW/cm2 to keep color and low transmittance). Remarkably, the absorption of visible and NIR light could be selectively adjusted by varying the coloring time. For comparison, a dimethyl viologen (DMV)‐based gel ECD was fabricated, and the SAR (structure‐activity relationship) was established by cyclic voltammetry, density functional theory (DFT) calculations, and other electrochromic performance parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chalcogenide materials are attractive for all‐photonic phase‐change memories owing to their large optical contrast between amorphous and crystalline structural phases. However, high‐power heating pulses are required to switch these structural phases, which can limit the cyclability. To reduce power, Au nanoparticles (NPs) are embedded in a typical chalcogenide phase‐change material, Ge2Sb2Te5 (GST). Raman analysis shows that a GST film crystallizes at a low optical power of 2 mW, which is almost 10 times lower than that of materials not embedded with NPs. This lower power is owing to the enhanced light absorptance through the strongly localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of the Au NPs. The Au NPs embedded in the GST film scatter light at λ = 587 nm, which is close to Au NP's LSPR of ≈535 nm. Laser light at 532 nm is used to measure Raman scattering from the Au–GST system. The Raman scattering is enhanced by a factor 12 compared with a bare GST film. This study indicates that the GST film–Au NP system is suitable for high‐speed, low‐power, phase‐change memory and for a new type of tunable surface‐enhanced Raman scattering substrate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: This paper presents an adaptive fuzzy control approach of multiple‐input–multiple‐output (MIMO) switched uncertain systems, which involve time‐varying full state constraints (TFSCs) and unknown disturbances. In the design procedure, the fuzzy logic systems are adopted to approximate the unknown functions in the systems. The adaptive fuzzy controller is set up by backstepping technique. According to the tangent barrier Lyapunov function (BLF‐Tan), a novel adaptive MIMO switched nonlinear control algorithm is designed. Under the rule of arbitrary switchings and the proposed control laws, it is demonstrated that all signals in the resulted system are semiglobally uniformly ultimately bounded (SGUUB) and the tracking error converges to a small neighborhood of zero with TFSCs. Furthermore, the simulation example validates the effectiveness of presented control strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: This paper is concerned with adaptive tracking control for switched uncertain nonlinear systems, which contain the time‐varying output constraint (TVOC) and input asymmetric saturation characteristic. In response to the unknown functions, the fuzzy logic systems are adopted. The controller is constructed by the backstepping technique. Based on the Tangent Barrier Lyapunov Function (BLF‐Tan), an adaptive switched control scheme is designed. It is demonstrated that all signals in the resulted system are semiglobally uniformly ultimately bounded with TVOC under arbitrary switchings. Furthermore, the effectiveness of presented control method is validated via the simulation example. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Circadian clock genes in peripheral tissues usually play an important role in regulating the circadian rhythms. Light is the most important environmental signal for synchronizing endogenous rhythms with the daily light‐dark cycle, and compound eyes are known as the principal circadian photoreceptor for photic entrainment in most moths. However, there is little evidence for circadian timing in compound eyes. In the current study, we isolated the timeless gene, designated Ha‐tim (GenBank accession number: KM233162), from the cotton bollworm Helicoverpa armigera. Ha‐tim and period (Ha‐per) showed low messenger RNA levels in the compound eyes compared to the other tested adult organs. Ha‐tim and Ha‐per transcript levels were dependent on an endogenous rhythm that fluctuated over a daily cycle in the compound eyes and heads. The cycles of Ha‐tim and Ha‐per transcript levels followed similar time courses, and identical expression patterns of the two genes were observed in the compound eyes and heads. Ha‐tim and Ha‐per were down‐regulated in the compound eyes after light exposure, copulation and starvation. These results indicated that Ha‐tim and Ha‐per transcript levels were regulated by endogenous and exogenous factors. Our study helped to improve our understanding of the circadian clock machinery in compound eyes and other peripheral tissues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, based on an adaptive nonbackstepping design algorithm, we proposed a novel variable universe of discourse fuzzy control (VUDFC) approach for a class of single-input-single-output strict-feedback nonlinear systems with unknown dead-zone inputs. Firstly, we convert the form of system into a normal form on the basis of some new state variables and coordinate transformation; at the same time, state-feedback control is changed to output-feedback control. Secondly, we design observers to estimate the new unmeasurable states. Then, different from considering the traditional backstepping-based fuzzy control scheme, we introduce a direct VUDFC scheme, which is mainly based on changing of contraction-expansion factors to modify the universe of discourse online, and fuzzy rules can automatically reproduce to develop the control performance; thus, the size of initial rule base is greatly reduced. This new algorithm can alleviate tracking error, improve the accuracy of the system, and strengthen robustness. Lastly, according to Lyapunov theorem analysis, we prove that all the signals in the closed-loop system can be guaranteed to be stable, and the output can track the reference signal very well. Simulation results illustrated the effectiveness of the proposed VUDFC approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT A novel nanofiltration (NF) membrane was prepared with cyclen and trimesoyl chloride by interfacial polymerization on a poly(ether sulfone) ultrafiltration membrane with a molecular weight cutoff of 50,000 Da. The effects of the reaction time, monomer concentration, and heat-treatment temperature are discussed. The physicochemical properties and morphology of the prepared NF membrane were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy-attenuated total reflectance, scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive spectrometry, and atomic force microscopy. The NF performances were evaluated with solutions of Na2SO4, MgSO4, Mg(NO3)2, and NaCl. The salt-rejection order of the prepared NF membrane was as follows: Na2SO4 > MgSO4 > Mg(NO3)2 > NaCl. The resulting rejection of Na2SO4 and PEG600 (polyethylene glycol with the average molecular weight of 600) were more than 90%, whereas that of NaCl was approximately 10%. After the addition of silica sol in the aqueous phase (silica sol concentration = 0.1% w/v), the salt rejection of the membrane changed slightly. However, the water flux was from 24.2 L·m−2·h−1 (25°C, 0.6 MPa) up to 38.9 L·m−2·h−1 (25°C, 0.6 MPa), and the resulting membrane exhibited excellent hydrophilicity. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015, 132, 42345. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a novel adaptive neural network (NN)‐based leader‐following consensus approach is proposed for a class of non‐linear second‐order multi‐agent systems. For the existing NN consensus approaches, to obtain the desired approximation accuracy, the NN‐based adaptive consensus algorithms require the number of NN nodes to must be large enough, and thus the online computation burden often are very heavy. However, the proposed adaptive consensus scheme can greatly reduce the online computation burden, because the adaptive adjusting parameters are designed in scalar form, which is the norm of the estimation of the optimal NN weight matrix. According to Lyapunov stability theory, the proposed approach can guarantee the leader‐following consensus behaviour of non‐linear second‐order multi‐agent systems to be obtained. Finally, a numerical simulation and a multi‐manipulator simulation are carried out to further demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed consensus approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A fractal holey metal microlens based on finite areas of two‐dimensional arrays of circular nanoholes is reported. Both experimental and simulation results confirm that the fractal holey metal microlens can significantly suppress both the side lobes and high‐order diffractions. The ultra‐thin, planar, and compact design of the fractal holey metal microlenses with excellent focusing performance will benefit many applications such as bioimaging, optical trapping, and integrated optics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The optical properties of plasmonic nanoring pentamers are experimentally and theoretically investigated in the near‐infrared spectral region, where the nanoring metamolecules allow complex optical design by tuning a single geometrical parameter (the inner radius of the nanoring). Even in fully four‐fold symmetric nanoring pentamers, unconventional plasmonic coupling paths generate multiple Fano resonances which would not appear in symmetric nanodisc oligomers. In addition, inhomogeneous elementary units in the pentamer induce additional resonances due to high‐order dark modes, while complete breaking of the four‐fold symmetry results in sharp multipolar Fano resonances upon the hybridization of dark and bright modes. This approach demonstrates a simple way to engineer plasmonic couplings by subtle changes of uniform metamaterial design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dendritic cells ( DCs) constitute a complex cell population that resides in both peripheral tissues and lymphoid organs. Their major function in tissues is to patrol their environment in search of danger-associated antigens to transport to lymph nodes and present to T lymphocytes. This process constitutes the first step of the adaptive immune response and relies on specific DC properties, including a high endocytic capacity as well as efficient motility in confined three-dimensional environments. Although cell motility has been widely studied, little is known on how the geometric characteristics of the environment influence DC migration and function. In this review, we give an overview of the basic physical principles and molecular mechanisms that control DC migration under confinement and discuss how such mechanisms impact the environment-patrolling capacity of DCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, an adaptive fuzzy control approach is proposed to stabilize a class of uncertain nonlinear MIMO systems with the unmeasured states and the external disturbances. The fuzzy logic systems are used to approximate the unknown functions. Because it does not required to assume that the system states are measurable, it needs to design an observer to estimate the system unmeasured states. The considered MIMO systems are more general, i.e. they consist of N subsystems and each subsystem is in the non-affine form. The stability of the closed-loop system is verified by using Lyapunov analysis method. Two simulation examples are utilized to verify the effectiveness of the proposed approach. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley and Sons Asia Pte Ltd and Chinese Automatic Control Society [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]