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Aqueous zinc ion batteries have received unprecedented attention owing to their superior safety and sustainability, yet their cycling stability especially at high current rates is greatly limited by the poor reversibility of Zn metal anodes, due to the delayed ion transport, severe water‐induced side reactions, and uncontrollable dendrites growth at electrolyte/electrode interface. Herein, a robust and multi‐scale functionally designed amorphous ZnWO4 (ZWO) artificial interphase that fully addresses the aforementioned issues, is proposed. The modified Zn anodes deliver remarkable stability, surpassing 3000 h of operation at a high current density of 20 mA cm−2 in symmetrical cells. Even under harsh conditions of 20 mA cm−2 and 10 mAh cm−2, the electrode demonstrates steady cycling for over 600 h with low overpotential. The excellent cycling stability and rate performance are mainly attributed to a range of collective functionalities of ZWO interphase, including short‐range and isotropic ion migration, superior ion‐screening capability, and a thermodynamically enhanced energy barrier for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) during Zn plating. These findings highlight the significance of the multi‐scale functional interphase in overcoming key barriers associated with zinc anodes under high current density, offering a facile and insightful approach for achieving high‐performance Zn metal anodes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marine microorganisms are increasingly recognized as primary producers of marine secondary metabolites, drawing growing research interest. Many of these organisms are unculturable, posing challenges for study. Metagenomic techniques enable research on these unculturable microorganisms, identifying various biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) related to marine microbial secondary metabolites, thereby unveiling their secrets. This review comprehensively analyses metagenomic methods used in discovering marine microbial secondary metabolites, highlighting tools commonly employed in BGC identification, and discussing the potential and challenges in this field. It emphasizes the key role of metagenomics in unveiling secondary metabolites, particularly in marine sponges and tunicates. The review also explores current limitations in studying these metabolites through metagenomics, noting how long‐read sequencing technologies and the evolution of computational biology tools offer more possibilities for BGC discovery. Furthermore, the development of synthetic biology allows experimental validation of computationally identified BGCs, showcasing the vast potential of metagenomics in mining marine microbial secondary metabolites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Near‐infrared (NIR) phosphors converted light‐emitting diodes (NIR pc‐LEDs) are ideal NIR sources for versatile applications, which imply the practical significance in tailoring the emission of the NIR phosphors to enhance the performance for specific application. Herein, a paradigm of tailoring the emissions in a series of Cr3+‐doped phosphors to match the applications in NIR lighting, detection, and short‐wave infrared sources through combinatorial management of crystal‐field and energy transfer is presented. The emission band largely increases from 84 to 190 nm when the introduction of [MgO6]‐[GeO4] into Y3Ga5O12:0.08Cr3+ forms Y3MgxGa5‐2xGexO12:0.08Cr3+ through the substitution of [GaO6]‐[GaO4]. Such a large increase in width makes it suitable for near‐infrared lighting to near‐infrared detection. Moreover, the Yb3+, Nd3+ and Er3+ are doped to construct energy transfer with Cr3+, broadening the emission infrared region and enhanced thermal stability. An optimized Yb3+ emission dominates Y3Ga5O12:0.4Cr3+,Yb3+ phosphor has excellent thermal stability (129%@423 K) and is suitable for high‐power short‐wave infrared sources. The presented work not only provides a series of well‐performed NIR phosphors, but only lights up the avenue for designing the Cr3+ emission for specific application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses a study that aimed to identify biomarkers that could predict the response to immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapy in cutaneous melanoma. The study focused on somatic NTRK mutations, which are alterations in genes involved in regulating cellular processes. The researchers found that cutaneous melanoma patients with somatic NTRK mutations had higher tumor mutation burden (TMB) and showed better response rates and survival outcomes with ICI therapy. However, the association between somatic NTRK mutations and ICI therapy response was only significant in melanoma and not in other types of cancer. The study suggests that somatic NTRK mutations could be used as a predictor for the efficacy of ICI therapy in cutaneous melanoma, and combining this information with TMB could improve patient stratification for ICI therapy. Further research and clinical trials are needed to validate these findings. [Extracted from the article]

Fabricating ultrathin covalent organic framework (COF) membranes toward high‐permeance molecular separations is highly desired yet challenging. Herein, a polyelectrolyte‐mediated assembly (PMA) strategy is developed to fabricate ultrathin ionic COF membrane for efficient CO2 separation. The PMA strategy allows a facile control over the assembly mode between polyethyleneimine (PEI) and TpPa‐SO3H, yielding PEI‐bridged ultra‐large COF nanosheets which are readily processed into COF membranes with thickness down to 8 nm. The resulting COF membranes exhibit a high CO2 permeances of 1371 GPU and CO2/N2 selectivity of 33 for stimulated flue gas. This PMA strategy may open up a new avenue to fabricating ultrathin 2D material membranes for diverse applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report a covalent organic framework (COF) induced seeding strategy to fabricate metal–organic framework (MOF) membranes. Contrary to graphene oxide nuclei‐depositing substrate, COF substrate has uniform pore size, high microporosity and abundant functional groups. We designed a series of charged COF nanosheets to induce the formation of ZIF‐8@COF nanosheet seeds with high aspect ratio over 150, which were readily processed into a compact and uniform seed layer. The resulting ZIF‐8 membranes with thickness down to 100 nm exhibit an ultrahigh C3H6/C3H8 separation performance and superior long‐term stability. Our strategy is also validated by fabricating ultrathin ZIF‐67 and UiO‐66 membranes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Confidentiality and authentication are two important security properties of wireless communication. There are currently two types of research in wireless communication security: one is based on cryptography, which can be too complicated for some wireless systems; the other is based on physical layer characteristics, which has some security problems and cannot work as well as the cryptography‐based method. In this paper, a lightweight encryption and message authentication framework for wireless communication is proposed. The proposed framework has lower complexity than the cryptography‐based method and works more securely and efficiently than the classical physical layer method. For the encryption, a physical layer offered chain key (PHYLOCK) structure is proposed to generate one‐time keys, which are then XOR‐ed with the plaintext to generate the ciphertext. A security analysis of PHYLOCK is performed and it is proved that it has better security features than the traditional physical layer key generation. For the message authentication, three types of PHYLOCK‐CRC‐based message authentication schemes are developed whose generator polynomial is determined by one‐time keys generated by PHYLOCK. PHYLOCK‐CRC‐based message authentication detects not only random errors introduced by noises but also malicious attacks. The error‐detecting and anti‐attack capabilities are analyzed mathematically. Compared to the standard CRC, PHYLOCK‐CRC‐based message authentication has a decline in error correction capability but is enhanced with cryptographic security features. Monte‐Carlo simulations are provided to evaluate the proposed scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) are one of the most promising membrane materials for olefin/paraffin separations. However, most of MOF membranes have a thickness over 1 µm, which greatly compromises the permeation flux. While previous studies are focused on increasing crystal nucleus density on the substrates, achieving ultrathin membrane via modulation of the crystal growth is lacking. Herein, an inhibited Ostwald ripening (IOR) strategy is proposed to fabricate ultrathin ZIF‐8 membranes, through incorporating polymer‐based inhibitors into the membrane formula to inhibit the growth process of ZIF‐8 crystals via the metal–organic coordination. The IOR process can be readily tuned by varying the functional groups, molecular weights, and concentrations of the inhibitors, enabling a facile control over the IOR degree and thus the membrane thickness. Consequently, the thickness of ZIF‐8 membranes can be dramatically reduced to 180 nm. The resulting membranes exhibit ultrahigh C3H6/C3H8 separation performance with C3H6 permeance of 386 GPU and C3H6/C3H8 separation factor of 120. It is anticipated that this straightforward and efficient IOR strategy can open a new avenue for the fabrication of ultrathin MOF membranes to tackle many critical molecular separations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Prenatal quantitative evaluation of myelin is important. However, few techniques are suitable for the quantitative evaluation of fetal myelination. Purpose: To optimize a modified Look–Locker inversion recovery (MOLLI) T1 mapping sequence for fetal brain development study. Study Type: Prospective observational preliminary cohort study. Population A total of 71 women with normal fetuses divided into mid‐pregnancy (gestational age 24–28 weeks, N = 25) and late pregnancy (gestational age > 28 weeks, N = 46) groups. Field Strength/Sequence: A 3 T/MOLLI sequence. Assessment T1 values were measured in pedunculus cerebri, basal ganglia, thalamus, posterior limb of the internal capsule, temporal white matter, occipital white matter, frontal white matter, and parietal white matter by two radiologists (11 and 16 years of experience, respectively). Statistical Tests: The Kruskal–Wallis test was used for reginal comparison. For each region of interest (ROI), differences in T1 values between the mid and late pregnancy groups were assessed by the Mann Whitney U test. Pearson correlation coefficients (r) were used to evaluate the correlations between T1 values and gestational age for each ROI. Intraobserver and interobserver agreement was determined by the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). A P value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Interobserver and intraobserver agreements of T1 were good for all ROIs (all ICCs > 0.700). There were significant differences in T1 values between lobal white matter and deep regions, respectively. Significant T1 values differences were found between middle and late pregnancy groups in pedunculus cerebri, basal ganglion, thalamus, posterior limb of the internal capsule, temporal, and occipital white matter. The T1 values showed significantly negative correlations with gestational weeks in pedunculus cerebri (r = −0.80), basal ganglion (r = −0.60), thalamus (r = −0.68), and posterior limb of the internal capsule (r = −0.77). Data Conclusion: The T1 values of fetal brain may be assessed using the MOLLI sequence and may reflect the myelination. Evidence Level 3 Technical Efficacy: Stage 2 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increase of PM2.5 and bacteria contamination in the atmosphere, an antibacterial PM2.5 filter is the need of the hour. In this study, a polyarylene sulfide sulfone/Ag/ZnO (PASS/Ag/ZnO) membrane (membrane) was fabricated via the electrospinning technology for simultaneous removal of PM2.5 and bacteria. The membrane exhibits outstanding hydrophobicity (156°), mechanical property (2.67 MPa), and thermal performance (415°C). The filtration efficiency of PASS/Ag/ZnO membrane for PM2.5 is 99.41% and 99.89% under the airflow rate of 0.5 and 2 m/s, respectively, while the filtration pressure drop is only 42 and 79 Pa. More importantly, PASS/Ag/ZnO membrane shows excellent synergistic antibacterial abilities against both Gram‐negative bacteria Escherichia coli and Gram‐positive bacteria Staphylococcus aureus, the antibacterial rate was up to 96.70% for E. coli and 95.41% for S. aureus, respectively. This composite membrane not only has broad application prospects but also opens new avenues for removing air pollutants including PM2.5 and bacteria from the air in a more cost‐effective method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study provides a new approach to promote the mechanical properties of polyvinylchloride/dioctyl phthalate (PVC/DOP) via gelators. It presented the effect of newly synthesized urethane and urea‐based gelators on the plasticizer DOP, and then prepared for PVC. 4,4′‐Diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI) was reacted with lauryl alcohol (LA), stearyl alcohol (SA), and octadecylamine (OL) to prepare LML, SMS, and SMO, respectively. These gelators were self‐assembled in the common plasticizer DOP to form gels, and then PVC was blended with these gels. SMO exhibited the lowest critical gelator concentration (CGC) in DOP. FEEM observation of xerogels exhibited micro platelet morphology with various sizes. Rheological evaluation revealed that DOPgel enhanced the gelating ability of PVC. Mechanical measurement showed that gelators improved the tensile properties of PVC in the sequence of LML > SMS > SMO. Tensile modulus and the tensile strength of PVC/DOP increased by 74.6% (from 14.6 to 25.5 MPa) and 19.8% (from 13.1 to 15.7 MPa) only by adding 3% LML. These new urethane and urea‐based gelators improved the mechanical strength of PVC without reducing its toughness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water‐soluble carbon dots (CDs) were synthesized using a one‐step hydrothermal treatment of chloroplast dispersions extracted from fresh leaves as a green carbon source. The CD solution showed an emission peak centred at 445 nm when excited at 300 nm. The synthesized CDs were uniform and monodispersed with an average size of 5.6 nm. When adding ferric(III) ions (Fe3+) to the solution of the original CDs, the fluorescence intensity decreased significantly. Based on the linear relationship between fluorescence intensity and concentration of Fe3+ ions, an effective method for rapid, sensitive and selective Fe3+ sensing in aqueous solution could be established. Under optimum conditions, the extent of the fluorescence quenching of prepared CDs strongly depended on the Fe3+ ions over a wide concentration range 1.0–100.0 μM with a detection limit (3σ/k) of 0.3 μM. Furthermore, the quantitative determination of Fe3+ ions in environmental water samples was realized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Morphological observation and measurements of endocasts have played a vital role in research on the evolution of the human brain. However, endocasts have never been used to investigate how the human brain has evolved since the Neolithic period. We investigated the evolution of the human brain during the Holocene by comparing virtual endocasts from Beiqian site (a Neolithic Chinese site) and a sample of Chinese modern-day humans. Standardized measurements and indices were taken to provide quantification of the overall endocast shape, including the length, breadth, height, frontal breadth, and the ratio of frontal breadth to breadth, as well as the cranial capacity. We found that the height of the endocasts and cranial capacity have decreased between our two samples, whereas the frontal breadth and sexual dimorphism have increased. We argue that these changes can be caused by random genetic mutation and epigenetic change in response to changes in the environment. Am J Phys Anthropol 154:94-103, 2014. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]