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β‐Nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN) is a precursor of NAD+ in mammals. Research on NAD+ has demonstrated its crucial role against aging and disease. Here two technical paths were established for the efficient synthesis of NMN in the yeast Pichia pastoris, enabling the production of NMN from the low‐cost nicotinamide (NAM) or basic carbon sources. The yeast host was systematically modified to adapt to the biosynthesis and accumulation of NMN. To improve the semi‐biosynthesis of NMN from NAM, nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferases were expressed intracellular to evaluate their catalytic activities. The accumulation of extracellular NMN was further increased by the co‐expression of an NMN transporter. Fine‐tuning of gene expression level produced 72.1 mg/L NMN from NAM in flasks. To achieve de novo biosynthesis NMN, a heterologous biosynthetic pathway was reassembled in yeast cells. Fine‐tuning of pathway nodes by the modification of gene expression level and enhancement of precursor generation allowed efficient NMN synthesis from glucose (36.9 mg/L) or ethanol (57.8 mg/L) in flask. Lastly, cultivations in a bioreactor in fed‐batch mode achieved an NMN titre of 1004.6 mg/L at 165 h from 2 g NAM and 868 g glucose and 980.4 mg/L at 91 h from 160 g glucose and 557 g ethanol respectively. This study provides a foundation for future optimization of NMN biosynthesis by engineered yeast cell factories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Immunotherapy has revolutionized the management of lung cancer and improved lung cancer survival in trials, but its real‐world impact at the population level remains unclear. Methods: Using data obtained from eight Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) registries from 2004 through 2019, we addressed the long‐term trends in the incidence, incidence‐based mortality (IBM), and survival of lung cancer patients in the United States. Results: The incidence and IBM of both non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and small cell lung cancer (SCLC) all significantly decreased steadily from 2004 to 2019. The 1‐year survival (1‐YS) of both NSCLC and SCLC improved over time, with the best improvement observed for Stage 4 NSCLC. Two significant turning points of Stage 4 NSCLC 1‐YS were observed over the years: 0.63% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.33%–0.93%) from 2004 to 2010, 0.81% (95% CI: 0.41%–1.21%) from 2010 to 2014 and a striking 2.09% (95% CI: 1.70%–2.47%) from 2014 to 2019. The same two turning points in 1‐YS were pronounced for Stage 4 NSCLC in women, which were coincident with the introduction of epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR‐TKIs) and immunotherapy. However, for Stage 4 NSCLC in men, only one significant turning point in the 1‐YS starting in 2014 was found, which might only correspond to immunotherapy. Significant period effects in reduced IBM were also observed for both Stage 4 AD and Stage 4 SQCC during the period. Conclusion: This SEER analysis found that immunotherapy improved the survival of Stage 4 NSCLC patients at the population level in the United States. This real‐world evidence confirms that immunotherapy has truly revolutionized the management of lung cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In arid regions, the use of ridge cover as a traditional agricultural strategy has been effective in mitigating soil wind erosion. However, few studies have focused on the sand transport characteristics of different micro‐ridge spacings and heights. This study aimed to identify the mechanism by which ridges change the near‐surface sand transport. In a controlled wind tunnel environment, the aeolian sand flux structure and sand transport flux (qz) at heights from 0 to 0.7 m were measured. The results showed that, compared with no ridges, ridge covering could significantly modify the structure of aeolian sand flux near the surface, yielding a substantial reduction in the proportion of sand transport to the total sand transport in the 0‐ to 0.1‐m height layer. In the absence of ridges, blown sand was mainly concentrated in the 0‐ to 0.1‐m height layer, and qz decreased exponentially as the height increased. With various micro‐ridge spacings and heights, when H was less than 0.1 m and L was more than 15H, the blown sand also remained concentrated in the 0‐ to 0.1‐m height layer, and qz decreased exponentially as the height increased. When H increased to 0.15 m from 0.1 m and L decreased from 15H to 5H, the height of the blown sand was concentrated in the 0.3‐ to 0.4‐m layer. The blown sand layer of most ridge structures was concentrated at a height of 0.1–0.4 m, and the structure of the aeolian sand flux resembled an 'elephant nose effect'. The total sand transport rate of all ridge structures was significantly lower than that with no ridges, indicating that a reasonable ridge structure can effectively prevent wind erosion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is dedicated to proposing improved input‐to‐state stability (ISS) criteria for a class of continuous‐time time‐varying switched singular systems (CTSSS) under slow/fast/slow‐fast switching signals. Specifically, for a CTSSS with time‐varying singular matrices, the authors start with an improved sufficient condition for verifying its ISS under slow switching signals based on the average dwell time method and a relaxed multiple Lyapunov function. Then, considering several or all subsystems may destroy the overall ISS, relaxed sufficient conditions are presented to ensure the ISS of the CTSSS under fast switching signals and slow‐fast switching signals, respectively. Note that the improvement of the proposed ISS criteria is embodied in the derivative of the required multiple Lyapunov functions along with the state trajectories of CTSSS can be positive or negative. Finally, three numerical examples are provided to illustrate the feasibility of the obtained results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Online detection of action start is a significant and challenging task that requires prompt identification of action start positions and corresponding categories within streaming videos. This task presents challenges due to data imbalance, similarity in boundary content, and real‐time detection requirements. Here, a novel Time‐Attentive Fusion Network is introduced to address the requirements of improved action detection accuracy and operational efficiency. The time‐attentive fusion module is proposed, which consists of long‐term memory attention and the fusion feature learning mechanism, to improve spatial‐temporal feature learning. The temporal memory attention mechanism captures more effective temporal dependencies by employing weighted linear attention. The fusion feature learning mechanism facilitates the incorporation of current moment action information with historical data, thus enhancing the representation. The proposed method exhibits linear complexity and parallelism, enabling rapid training and inference speed. This method is evaluated on two challenging datasets: THUMOS'14 and ActivityNet v1.3. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method significantly outperforms existing state‐of‐the‐art methods in terms of both detection accuracy and inference speed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The aim of the study was to evaluate the prognostic value of postoperative folate receptor‐positive circulating tumor cell (FR + CTC) detection in patients with stage I–III invasive adenocarcinoma (IAC) treated with surgery. Methods: Patients with lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) who underwent surgical resection in Peking University Cancer Hospital and received postoperative FR + CTC analysis from July 2016 to January 2021 were retrospectively collected. Comparisons between or among groups were made using the Kruskal‐Wallis or Mann–Whitney U tests. Survival curves were estimated using the Kaplan–Meier method and compared using the log‐rank test. Cox proportional hazard regression analyses were performed to explore the factors predicting recurrence and survival. Results: There were significant differences between the high and low groups in terms of age (p = 0.002), postoperative CA199 (p = 0.038), and postoperative SCC (p = 0.024). There were no significant differences in the other indicators (all p>0.05). N stage 1, N stage 2, and neoadjuvant therapy (NAT) were independent risk factors for disease recurrence and death; pleural invasion (PI), and nerve invasion were independent risk factors for death. The Kaplan–Meier curve showed a notable trend for a worse disease‐free survival (DFS) or overall survival (OS) for patients with high levels of FR + CTCs in our study, but none of these were statistically significant. Conclusion: The detection of FR + CTCs postoperatively was an independent predictor of recurrence in patients treated for stage I–III IAC. Standardized detection methods and optimal time points for assessment should be established in future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil moisture is crucial to vegetation restoration in karst areas, and climate factors and vegetation restoration are key factors affecting changes in soil moisture. However, there is still much controversy over the long‐term changes in soil moisture during vegetation restoration. In order to reveal the changes in soil moisture during vegetation restoration, we conducted long‐term positioning monitoring of soil moisture at 0–10 and 10–20 cm on secondary forests sample plot (SF, tree land) and shrubs sample plot (SH, shrub land) in karst areas from 2013 to 2020. The results showed that the aboveground biomass of SF and SH increased by 50% and 240%, respectively, and the soil moisture of the SF and SH showed an increasing trend. When shrubs are restored to trees in karst areas, the soil moisture becomes more stable. However, the correlation coefficients (R2) between the annual rainfall and the annual average soil moisture of SF and SH are 0.84 and 0.55, respectively, indicating that soil moistures in tree land are more affected by rainfall. The soil moisture of shrubs and trees are relatively low during the months of alternating rainy and dry seasons. Rainfall has a very significant impact on the soil moisture of tree land, while air temperature and wind speed have a significant impact on the soil moisture of tree land, but the soil moistures of shrub land are very significantly affected by rainfall and relative humidity. Therefore, during the process of vegetation restoration from shrubs to trees, the main meteorological factors that affect soil moisture changes will change. The results are important for understanding the hydrological processes in the ecological restoration process of different vegetation types in karst areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Zinc‐air batteries (ZABs) have attracted considerable attention for their high energy density, safety, low noise, and eco‐friendliness. However, the capacity of mechanically rechargeable ZABs was limited by the cumbersome procedure for replacing the zinc anode, while electrically rechargeable ZABs suffer from issues including low depth of discharge, zinc dendrite and dead zinc formation, and sluggish oxygen evolution reaction, etc. To address these issues, we report a hybrid redox‐mediated zinc‐air fuel cell (HRM‐ZAFC) utilizing 7,8‐dihydroxyphenazine‐2‐sulfonic acid (DHPS) as the anolyte redox mediator, which shifts the zinc oxidation reaction from the electrode surface to a separate fuel tank. This approach decouples fuel feeding and electricity generation, providing greater operation flexibility and scalability for large‐scale power generation applications. The DHPS‐mediated ZAFC exhibited a superior peak power density of 0.51 W/cm2 and a continuous discharge capacity of 48.82 Ah with ZnO as the discharge product in the tank, highlighting its potential for power generation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we reported a facile one‐pot route to construct polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) and phosphonium‐based ionic porous hypercrosslinked polymers (denoted as P‐iPHCPs) with multiple catalytic active sites, which could be regarded as efficient heterogeneous catalysts for the conversion of carbon dioxide (CO2) to highly value‐added cyclic carbonates. The targeted polymers P‐iPHCPs were prepared from a rigid building block octavinylsilsesquioxane (VPOSS) and a low‐cost commercially available organic ionic salt methyltriphenylphosphonium bromide ([Ph3PMe]Br) by the AlCl3‐catalyzed Friedel‐Crafts reaction. The series of polymers P‐iPHCPs that synthesized by different molar ratios of VPOSS to [Ph3PMe]Br possess hierarchical micro/mesoporous structures with high surface areas ranging from 376 to 429 m2 g−1 and behave the flower‐like nano‐morphology. Especially, the desired multiple active sites involved the mixed anions including free Cl−, Br− anions and the in‐situ formed metal‐halogen complex anion [AlCl3Br]− within phosphonium segments, and the enriched POSS‐derived SiOH hydrogen bond donor (HBD) groups that derived from the breakage of POSS cages during the synthetic process. The typical polymer P‐iPHCP‐14 has the aforementioned nucleophilic‐electrophilic multiple catalytic active sites, which was regarded as an efficient recyclable heterogeneous catalyst for synergistic catalytic conversion of CO2 with various epoxides into cyclic carbonates under mild conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A study published in Clinical & Translational Medicine examines the use of genomic features to assess lymph node metastasis in patients with lung adenocarcinoma. The researchers conducted whole-exome sequencing on tumor tissues from 72 patients and found that certain gene mutations and signaling pathway aberrations were more common in patients without lymph node metastasis. However, there was no significant difference in genomic alterations between patients with and without lymph node metastasis. The study provides valuable insights into the genomic traits associated with lymph node metastasis and emphasizes the need for accurate pathology determination in treatment decisions. Another article discusses the relationship between copy number variations (CNVs) and lymph node metastasis in lung adenocarcinoma patients. The study found that gains on chromosome 7p, particularly EGFR amplification, were more frequently observed in patients with positive lymph node status and were linked to poorer overall survival. The findings suggest that lymph node status may be a better predictor of survival outcomes than tumor size in these patients. The study underscores the importance of integrating clinical and genomic data for accurate diagnosis and treatment decisions in lung adenocarcinoma patients. [Extracted from the article]

The recently developed vertical structure of organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) can integrate volatile and non‐volatile functions into one reconfigurable device, making it highly promising. However, comparing with the conventional planar OECT (c‐OECT), the understanding of vertical OECT (v‐OECT) working principles and device engineering strategies is still lacking, impeding rational optimization. Since a major difference between c‐ and v‐OECTs is their charge transport directionality, which is highly influenced by crystallite orientations, the orientation–device structure match thus becomes an important yet outstanding topic for OECTs. Herein, using an n‐type small molecule IDIC‐MEG, investigate how much impact such match can have on OECT performance. The IDIC‐MEG c‐OECT fails to work due to the seriously hindered in‐plane electron transport by face‐on orientation. Surprisingly, simply changing the device structure from planar to vertical allows the resultant v‐OECT to exhibit the highest reported transconductance (46.3 mS) among all small‐molecule OECTs, thanks to the match between face‐on orientation and the vertical structure. Such match also leads to excellent non‐volatility, including highly predictable programmability and good operational stability. This work, for the first time, explicitly demonstrates the significance of orientation–device structure match for OECT optimization, establishing new guidelines for achieving high‐performance volatile and non‐volatile OECTs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding historical droughts in northern China is challenging due to the limited time records of meteorological stations. In this study, we reconstructed the precipitation variability in the middle Taihang Mountains over 414 years by using the tree‐ring width of Pinus tabulaeformis. Based on our climate response analysis, Pinus tabulaeformis growth at the sampling sites was mainly restricted by the total precipitation from August of the previous year to June of the current year (P8‐C6), which was used as the dependent variable for precipitation reconstruction. Spatial analysis demonstrated that the reconstructed precipitation contained obvious spatial representativeness in the Taihang Mountains. We compared the precipitation sequence with other dryness/wetness sequences around the study area, revealing common drought events in most of northern China. Furthermore, the multi‐taper method (MTM) demonstrated a significant period of 2–4 years of the reconstructed precipitation. The precipitation variability in the Taihang Mountains may be influenced by the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO), Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), and Atlantic Multidecadal Variability (AMV) and has exhibited a negative correlation in recent decades. This study has reconstructed the historical changes in wet and dry conditions to offer a reference for the utilization of modern water resources, especially by linking the decrease in precipitation in the study area with the downfall of the Ming Dynasty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To develop the low‐cost nonfullerene acceptors (NFAs), two fully non‐fused NFAs (TBT‐2 and TBT‐6) with ortho‐bis((2‐ethylhexyl)oxy)benzene unit and different side chains onto thiophene‐bridges are synthesized through highly efficient synthetic procedures. Both acceptors show good planarity, low optical gaps (≈1.51 eV), and deep highest occupied molecular orbital levels (≤‐5.77 eV). More importantly, the single‐crystal structure of TBT‐2 shows compact molecular arrangement due to the existence of intramolecular interactions between adjacent aromatic units and strong π–π stacking between intermolecular terminal groups. When the two acceptors are fabricated organic photovoltaic (OPV) cells by combining with a wide optical gap polymer donor, the TBT‐6 with strong crystallization forms large domain sizes in bulk heterojunction (BHJ) blend. As a result, the TBT‐6‐based OPV cell shows a low power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 9.53%. In contrast, the TBT‐2 with proper crystallization facilitates morphological optimization in the BHJ blend. Consequently, the TBT‐2‐based OPV cell gives an outstanding PCE of 13.25%, which is one of the best values among OPV cells with similar optical gaps. Overall, this work provides a practical molecular design strategy for developing high‐performance and low‐cost electron acceptors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The blend nanomorphology of electron‐donor (D) and ‐acceptor (A) materials is of vital importance to achieving highly efficient organic solar cells. Exogenous additives especially aromatic additives are always needed to further optimize the nanomorphology of blend films, which is hardly compatible with industrial manufacture. Herein, we proposed a unique approach to meticulously modulate the aggregation behavior of NFAs in both crystal and thin film nanomorphology via self‐regulation effect. Nonfullerene acceptor Z9 was designed and synthesized by tethering phenyl groups on the inner side chains of the Y6 backbone. Compared with Y6, the tethered phenyl groups participated in the molecular aggregation via the π–π stacking of phenyl‐phenyl and phenyl‐2‐(5,6‐difluoro‐3‐oxo‐2,3‐dihydro‐1H‐inden‐1‐ylidene)malononitrile (IC‐2F) groups, which induced 3D charge transport with phenyl‐mediated super‐exchange electron coupling. Moreover, ordered molecular packing with suitable phase separation was observed in Z9‐based blend films. High power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of 19.0 % (certified PCE of 18.6 %) for Z9‐based devices were achieved without additives, indicating the great potential of the self‐regulation strategy in NFA design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A polymer acceptor, named PX‐1, is designed and synthesized using a polymerization strategy with grafted small molecule acceptors. This design approach allows for the freedom of end groups while maintaining efficient terminal packing, enhancing π–π interactions, and facilitating charge transport. All‐polymer organic solar cells based on PM6: PX‐1 demonstrate a promising efficiency of 13.55%. The result presents an alternative pathway for the design of high‐efficiency polymer acceptors through the careful regulation of small molecule acceptor monomers and linker units. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Material design of guest acceptor is always a big challenge for improving the efficiency of ternary organic solar cells (OSCs). Here, a pair of isomeric nonfullerene acceptors based on quinoxaline core, Qx–p‐C7H8O and Qx–m‐C7H8O, is designed and synthesized. By moving the alkoxy chain attached on side phenyl from meta‐position to para‐position, both π–π stacking distance and crystallinity are enhanced simultaneously. They obtain the uplifted lowest unoccupied molecular orbital level. Compared to Qx–m‐C7H8O, Qx–p‐C7H8O exhibits wider absorption spectrum and higher extinction coefficient. Using D18‐Cl:N3 as host materials, the addition of guest acceptor Qx–p‐C7H8O significantly improves the power conversion efficiency (PCE) from 17.61% to 18.49% because of higher open‐circuit voltage (0.875 V) and short‐circuit current density (27.85 mA cm−2). This can be attributed to the faster exciton dissociation, more balanced carrier mobility, fine fiber morphology, and lower energy loss in the ternary devices. However, Qx–m‐C7H8O‐based ternary device achieves relatively low PCE of 17.17% because this device shows extremely low electron mobility. The results indicate that molecular stacking, film morphology, etc., can be effectively modulated by fine‐tuning the side chains of guest materials, which may be an effective design rule for further improving the PCE of OSCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Zn electrodeposition mechanism is a cornerstone of dendritic issue exploration in Zn‐ion battery. Investigation of the inherent early‐stage Zn plating kinetics and its dependence on the reactivity of anode‐electrolyte interphase is crucial. Herein, the kinetic evolution of Zn plating on three characteristic substrates is quantified: fresh Zn, commercial Zn foil, and Zn foil with spontaneously generated solid‐electrolyte interphase (SEI). Using scanning electrochemical microscopy analysis, the original interphase regulation of Zn deposit orientation and the competitive reaction between Zn deposition and SEI passivation are studied in situ. Furthermore, the SEI layer can suppress the dendrite growth at initial state by guiding the horizontal alignment of Zn flakes and promote Zn plating process. This approach provided a feasible consideration into interphase engineering of various metal anodes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lung cancer (LC) is a leading cause of cancer‐related mortality worldwide, with non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounting for over 80% of cases. The impact of aging on clinical outcomes in NSCLC remains poorly understood, particularly with respect to the immune response. In this study, we explored the effects of aging on NSCLC using 307 genes associated with human aging from the Human Ageing Genomic Resources. We identified 53 aging‐associated genes that significantly correlate with overall survival of NSCLC patients, including the clinically validated gene BUB1B. Furthermore, we developed an aging‐associated enrichment score to categorize patients based on their aging subtypes and evaluated their prognostic and therapeutic response values in LC. Our analyses yielded two aging‐associated subtypes with unique profiles in the tumor microenvironment, demonstrating varying responses to immunotherapy. Consensus clustering based on transcriptome profiles provided insights into the effects of aging on NSCLC and highlighted the potential of personalized therapeutic approaches tailored to aging subtypes. Our findings provide a new target and theoretical support for personalized therapeutic approaches in patients with NSCLC, offering insights into the potential impact of aging on cancer outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oligomer acceptors have recently emerged as promising photovoltaic materials for achieving high power conversion efficiency (PCE) and long‐term stability in organic solar cells (OSCs). However, the limited availability of diverse acceptors, resulting from the sole synthetic approach, has hindered their potential for future industrialization. In this study, we present a facile and effective stepwise approach that utilizes two consecutive Stille coupling reactions for the synthesis of oligomer acceptors. To demonstrate the feasibility of the novel approach, we successfully synthesize a trimer acceptor, Tri‐Y6‐OD, and further systematically investigate the impact of oligomerization on device performance and stability. The results reveal that this approach has significant advantages compared to the conventional method, including reduced formation of unwanted by‐products and lower difficulties in purification. Remarkably, the OSC based on PM6 : Tri‐Y6‐OD achieves an impressive PCE of 18.03 % and maintains 80 % of the initial PCE (T80) for 1523 h under illumination, surpassing the performance of the corresponding small molecule acceptor Y6‐OD‐based device. Furthermore, the versatility of the synthetic strategy in obtaining diverse acceptors is further demonstrated. Overall, our findings provide a facile, versatile and stepwise way for synthesizing oligomer acceptors, thereby facilitating the development of stable and efficient OSCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organic solar cells (OSCs) have achieved much progress with rapidly increasing power conversion efficiencies (PCEs). It should be noted that the top‐performance OSCs are generally consisted of active materials with complex chemical structures, resulting in high costs. Here, combining the material design and morphology control, high‐efficiency OSCs are fabricated by a low‐cost donor: acceptor blend. A completely non‐fused electron acceptor named Tz is designed and synthesized via introducing thiazole units on both sides of a bithiophene core, which shows an outstanding PCE of 13.3% with a typical polythiophene donor. More importantly, optimization guidelines are presented to get excellent morphology for low‐cost donor:acceptor systems. Three polythiophenes are selected, poly(3‐hexylthiophene) and its two derivatives with electron‐withdrawing substitutions (PDCBT and PDCBT‐2F), as donors to fabricate the cell devices. The computational and experimental data reveal that decreasing the electrostatic interaction between polythiophene and Tz is the key to getting a suppressed miscibility and thus a high phase purity. This study provides insight into the molecular design and donor:acceptor matching requirements for high‐efficiency and low‐cost OSCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long‐term hydroclimate change can provide reliable reference for water resources management in Central Asia. However, only a few palaeohydrological records exist in Tajikistan. To obtain a long‐term perspective on hydrological changes in Tajikistan, we developed, for the first time, a streamflow reconstruction from September of the previous year to June of the current one in the Kafirnigan River basin, based on Juniperus semiglobosa tree‐ring width indices from the Iskanderkul area in northern Tajikistan. The streamflow reconstruction explains 40% of the actual streamflow variance during the period 1939–1993. Spatial correlation analyses with gridded precipitation data indicate that our streamflow reconstruction contains a strong regional hydroclimatic signal for southern Central Asia. The high and low intervals of our streamflow reconstruction are closely related to the interdecadal variations of El Niño‐Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Our reconstructed streamflow is significantly correlated with sea surface temperatures in the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean and northern Indian Ocean, indicate the existence of remarkable 11‐, 5.6–5.7‐, 4.3‐, 2.6‐, 2.3‐ and 2.0‐year cycles, and suggest a relationship between southern Central Asian streamflow variations and ENSO activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High‐concentration "water‐in‐salt" (WIS) electrolytes with the wider electrochemical stability window (ESW) can give rise to safe, non‐flammable, and high‐energy aqueous potassium‐ion energy storage devices, thus highlighting the prospect for applications in grid‐scale energy storage. However, WIS electrolytes usually depend on highly concentrated salts, leading to serious concerns about cost and sustainability. Here, an aqueous low‐concentration‐based potassium‐ion hybrid electrolyte is demonstrated with the regulated core‐shell‐solvation structure by using an aprotic solvent, i.e., trimethyl phosphate, to limit the water activity. This aqueous hybrid electrolyte has a low salt concentration (1.6 mol L−1) of potassium trifluoromethanesulfonate but with an expanded ESW up to 3.4 V and the nonflammable property. Based on this dilute aqueous hybrid electrolyte, electrochemical double‐layer capacitors are capable of working within a large voltage range (0–2.4 V) at a wide range of temperatures from −20 to 60 °C. An aqueous potassium‐ion battery consisting of an organic 3,4,9,10‐perylenetetracarboxylic diimide anode, Prussian blue K1.5Mn0.61Fe0.39[Fe(CN)6]0.77·H2O cathode and this dilute aqueous hybrid electrolyte can operate well at rates between 0.2 and 4.0 C and deliver a high energy density of 66.5 Wh kg−1 as well as a durable cycling stability with a capacity retention of 84.5% after 600 cycles at 0.8 C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The temporal and spatial extents of the Palaeo–Pacific and Mongol–Okhotsk tectonic systems, which together dominated the Mesozoic tectonics of NE China, still remain unclear. Here, we present new zircon U–Pb ages, isotopic analyses and whole‐rock major‐ and trace‐element data for felsic rocks from west and east Songliao Basin to explore the above question. The granites in Shancheng area formed between 176 and 164 Ma and have εHf(t) values of −22.09 to −7.59 with a TDM2 age range of 3622–2336 Ma. The granites are dominated by adakites and I‐type granite whose primary magma is derived from a thickened ancient crust. The rhyolites in Wushijiazi area formed between 151 and 141 Ma and have εHf(t) values of 3.34–12.38 with a TDM2 age range of 517–1328 Ma. They are A‐type granite and have a flat rare‐earth‐element (REE) pattern with obvious negative Eu anomalies, suggesting they were derived from partial melting of lower crustal rocks. The above findings indicate that the middle–late Jurassic granite in the Shancheng area formed in a compression setting related to the subduction of the Palaeo–Pacific Plate beneath the Eurasian continent and the Late Jurassic to early Cretaceous rhyolites in Wushijiazi area formed in an extensional setting related to the collapse of the Mongol–Okhotsk belt. In combination with regional geologic data, we conclude that the Palaeo–Pacific tectonic system mainly affected the east side of Songliao Basin, while the Mongol Okhotsk tectonic system mainly affected the Erguna Block, through the GXAR to the northern margin of the North China Craton (NCC). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Stingless bee honey is a precious food product with therapeutic benefits. In this study, we determined the quality of Malaysian stingless bee honeys (Heterotrigona itama and Tetrigona binghami) by the physicochemical characteristics, phenolic compounds, and organic acids. Our results revealed that the major phenolic compounds in all honey samples were chlorogenic acid and myricetin, and the major organic acids contained gluconic acid and trans‐cinnamic acid. The microbial community in honeys characterised using 16S rRNA and ITS amplicon sequencing techniques showed that Lactobacillus was assumed to be the predominant bacterium in stingless bee honeys. Furthermore, the antibacterial activity of honeys was examined in order to further demonstrate their health benefits. Our results are intended to pave the road for stingless bee honeys' probiotic capacity to be extended into our daily life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nitrile butadiene rubber (NBR), a common material used in the stator rubber of screw pumps, usually undergoes severe thermal‐oxidative aging and wear at various temperatures and pressures. In this study, 1,2‐dihydro‐2,2,4‐trimethylquinoline (antioxidant RD) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were introduced into NBR to improve its thermal‐oxidative aging performance and reduce its wear. The thermal‐oxidative aging and mechanical and tribological properties of NBR composites with acrylonitrile (ACN) contents of 28%, 33%, and 41% were investigated via molecular dynamics simulations, and the interaction mechanisms of four composites: RD/N28, CNT/RD/N28, CNT/RD/N33, and CNT/RD/N41, were investigated at the atomic level. A three‐layer model (Fe–Composites–Fe) was developed to simulate the wear process of the composites. CNT/RD/N41 exhibited better thermal‐oxidative aging and tribological properties than those exhibited by CNT/RD/N28 and CNT/RD/N33. This was attributed to an increase in the polar–polar interactions of the nitrile (CN) groups with an increasing ACN content. During friction, a larger frictional force existed between the CNT/RD/N41 molecules, which effectively maintained the stability of the matrix. This study provides a scientific reference for the preparation of high‐performance NBR at the microscopic scale, which may extend the service life of screw pumps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Direct formic acid fuel cells (DFAFCs) are among the promising energy sources in the future low‐carbon economy. A key challenge hindering their scale‐up and commercialization is the lack of efficient electrocatalysts for anodic formic acid oxidation (FAO). Very recently, the FAO performance of palladium hydrides (PdHx) has been found to be superior to the pristine Pd that is well known for its high intrinsic FAO activity. However, there is enormous space for the controlled synthesis and electrocatalytic behaviors of PdHx‐based nanomaterials awaiting to be explored. Herein, the hydrogen intercalation‐induced crystallization of PdNiP alloy nanoparticles is reported, and the obtained PdNiP‐H nanoparticles exhibit excellent FAO performance. Of particular note, the FAO stability of PdNiP‐H is much better than that of pristine Pd‐H. Furthermore, the PdNiP‐H nanoparticles are used as the anode catalyst in a prototype DFAFC, which demonstrate much higher power density than commercial Pd/C. Density functional theory calculations show that the synergistic effect of alloying Ni and P endows the PdNiP‐H with a higher preference toward FAO via the direct pathway and better anti‐CO* poisoning capability. This work shines new light on the development of PdHx‐based nanoalloys with good activity and stability for DFAFC applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, a new behavioral modeling method based on augmented long‐short term memory (ALSTM) networks for ultra‐broadband millimeter‐wave power amplifiers (mmWave PAs), is proposed. The basic theory and modeling procedure of this technique are provided. Different optimization cores of the models are tested, and the optimal algorithm is chosen. Tradeoffs have been made to fix the optimal topology for the proposed modeling technique. To validate the proposed method, a 4‐carrier 320 MHz modulated signal was employed to excite a mmWave PA with the center frequency located at 41 GHz. Experimental results show that the proposed ALSTM model has better predictive capability when compared with the traditional and other existing machine learning modeling techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The thermal‐oxidative aging (TOA) and tribological properties of rubber had attracted attention in the petrochemical field. In this study, the mechanical and tribological properties of defect‐free, Stone–Wales (SW), and single adatom (SA) defective carbon nanotubes (CNTs)/nitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) composites were investigated using molecular dynamics simulations. Poly (1,2‐dihydro‐2,2,4‐trimethyl‐quinoline) (antioxidant RD) was added to the composites to analyze their TOA mechanisms. Antioxidant RD provided the best protective effect in SW‐CNTs/RD/NBR composites, and their TOA properties were enhanced. In addition, the Young's modulus, bulk modulus, and shear modulus, friction coefficient, and wear rate of the SW‐CNTs/RD/NBR composites were improved. The effects of SW‐CNTs on the RD/NBR composites were elucidated from a molecular perspective. The surface structures of three groups of CNTs were analyzed, and the SW‐CNTs exhibited a stronger adsorption ability and binding effect. It was determined that the antioxidant RD and NBR could be more stably dispersed between the molecular chains in the SW‐CNTs/RD/NBR composites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nitrile rubber (NBR) is commonly used as a stator rubber for screw pumps because of its excellent mechanical properties. However, under high‐temperature conditions, using NBR for long‐term operations is difficult, since it is highly susceptible to a thermal‐oxidative aging phenomenon that leads to its failure. In this study, the thermal‐oxidative aging behavior of graphene and graphene oxide (GO) in an NBR composite system was investigated using simulated molecular dynamics at 298 K and 348 K. The results showed that Young's moduli of graphene/NBR and GO/NBR composite systems were enhanced by about 33% and 44%, respectively, when the temperature was increased. That is, adding graphene and GO improved the resistance of NBR composites to elastic, bulk, and shear deformation, playing an important role in slowing down the thermal and oxygen aging of rubber. Furthermore, the binding energy, mean square displacement, and free volume fraction of the NBR composite systems were analyzed. The abundant oxygen‐containing functional groups in GO increased the intermolecular interaction force between GO and NBR and effectively inhibited the migration of antioxidants 4020. Therefore, GO retards the thermal and oxygen aging of NBR composite systems more effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cannibalism is common in spiders. Wolf spider (Lycosidae) females, which exhibit extensive maternal care, have been reported to cannibalize less when they are carrying egg sacs and juveniles. In a laboratory experiment, we demonstrated that cannibalism of early‐instar spiderlings (EIS) by a wolf spider (Pardosa pseudoannulata) mother was almost completely inhibited when she was carrying spiderlings. Compared with virgin and mated‐females, mother spiders tolerated more and predated fewer spiderlings, including gregarious pulli and newly dispersed spiderlings (NDS). Cannibalism of EIS by females during their reproductive period exhibited a V‐shaped pattern, with a gradual decrease from the egg sac‐carrying to pulli‐carrying (PC) stage, and a recovery from the PC stage to post‐reproductive (PR) stage. Notably, there was 0 cannibalism at the PC stage. PC females exhibited no interest in pulli, while PR females were attracted to and predated pulli and NDS as they did their natural prey, Nilaparvata lugens. Interestingly, PC females captured and released NDS in a foraging assay, although attraction was observed from olfactometer measurements. PC mothers possessed a cuticular volatile profile that was closer to that of pulli and NDS than to that of PR females. Moreover, NDS cuticular extract provoked an electrophysiological response in legs of PC females. Therefore, cuticular compound‐mediated chemical communication may be involved in inhibiting cannibalism of EIS by spider mothers, and especially in eliminating cannibalism by PC mothers. Future studies will aim to characterize the specific cuticular compounds and chemoreception mechanism in females, which will facilitate our understanding of intraspecific recognition and cannibalism in spiders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The stick–slip behavior and wear mechanism of ethylene–propylene diene monomer (EPDM) under various wear velocity conditions are investigated using a friction and wear testing machine. A change of wear velocity does not lead to the decomposition of the compounds and the formation of new compounds in EPDM. However, the friction coefficient tends to decrease with increasing wear velocity, but the noise intensity generated during the wear process tends to become stronger. In addition, the lag time tends to decrease as the wear velocity increases, but the rate of decrease in the lag time gradually slows down. Both adhesive wear and abrasive wear occur in the wear process of EPDM under different wear velocity conditions. Moreover, increasing the wear velocity leads to Schallamach waves on the EPDM wear morphology becoming larger. The results reveal the stick–slip behavior and tribological properties of EPDM under various wear velocity conditions. © 2022 Society of Industrial Chemistry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The surface‐enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) as a novel and efficient analytic technique to probe molecules has attracted tremendous attention. Semiconducting substrates have been widely investigated for their applications into SERS because of their easy integration with electronic devices. In this work, a wafer‐scale semiconducting MoS2 monolayer (2H‐MoS2‐ML) without additional treatment is used as the SERS substrate, which shows the naturally formed MoS2 ML has excellent chemical stability, high uniformity, and high sensitivity. It is found that the detection concentration limit can reach 1 × 10−8m and the enhancement factor is about 4.5 × 106 for the rhodamine 6G (R6G) under a 532 nm excitation laser, which is the highest SERS performance observed on 2H‐MoS2‐ML up to now. The experimental and computational studies reveal that the photo‐enhanced charge transfer coupled with molecule resonance contribute to remarkable SERS. In addition to R6G, 2H‐MoS2‐ML shows good SERS signals on the detection of amaranth and crystal violet too. The findings not only provide an insightful understanding of the mechanism for the improved SERS performance of semiconducting transition‐metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) MLs, but are helpful for the design of novel SERS substrates. It is expected that the wafer‐scale TMDs may find practical applications in SERS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Pathogenic leucine‐rich repeat kinase 2 LRRK2 mutations may increase LRRK2 kinase activity and Rab substrate phosphorylation. Genetic association studies link variation in LRRK2 to idiopathic Parkinson disease (iPD) risk. Objectives: Through measurements of the LRRK2 kinase substrate pT73‐Rab10 in urinary extracellular vesicles, this study seeks to understand how LRRK2 kinase activity might change with iPD progression. Methods: Using an immunoblotting approach validated in LRRK2 transgenic mice, the ratio of pT73‐Rab10 to total Rab10 protein was measured in extracellular vesicles from a cross‐section of G2019S LRRK2 mutation carriers (N = 45 participants) as well as 485 urine samples from a novel longitudinal cohort of iPD and controls (N = 85 participants). Generalized estimating equations were used to conduct analyses with commonly used clinical scales. Results: Although the G2019S LRRK2 mutation did not increase pT73‐Rab10 levels, the ratio of pT73‐Rab10 to total Rab10 nominally increased over baseline in iPD urine vesicle samples with time, but did not increase in age‐matched controls (1.34‐fold vs. 1.05‐fold, 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.004–0.56; P = 0.046; Welch's t test). Effect estimates adjusting for sex, age, disease duration, diagnosis, and baseline clinical scores identified increasing total Movement Disorder Society‐Sponsored Revision of the Unified (MDS‐UPDRS) scores (β = 0.77; CI, 0.52–1.01; P = 0.0001) with each fold increase of pT73‐Rab10 to total Rab10. Lower Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) score in iPD is also associated with increased pT73‐Rab10. Conclusions: These results provide initial insights into peripheral LRRK2‐dependent Rab phosphorylation, measured in biobanked urine, where higher levels of pT73‐Rab10 are associated with worse disease progression. © 2022 The Authors. Movement Disorders published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of International Parkinson Movement Disorder Society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, a novel behavior modeling methodology for radio frequency (RF) power amplifiers (PAs) is introduced. The model is targeted towards strongly nonlinear Doherty power amplifiers (DPAs), combining the memory polynomial (MP) topology with the existing support vector regression (SVR) algorithm. The resulting novel model, is termed the memory polynomial support vector regression (MP‐SVR) model. Experimental validation proceeds by applying the proposed modeling method to both two standard gallium nitride (GaN) DPA with different nonlinearity, as well as a multi‐transistor GaN DPA. Compared with traditional Volterra based models, the standard SVR model, the augmented SVR (ASVR) model and the new augmented SVR (NASVR) model, the proposed MP‐SVR model gives superior prediction accuracy in both cases. This shows the efficacy of the proposed modeling method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Collagen in the tumor microenvironment is recognized as a potential biomarker for predicting treatment response. This study investigated whether the collagen features are associated with pathological complete response (pCR) in locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC) patients receiving neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT) and develop and validate a prediction model for individualized prediction of pCR. The prediction model was developed in a primary cohort (353 consecutive patients). In total, 142 collagen features were extracted from the multiphoton image of pretreatment biopsy, and the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (Lasso) regression was applied for feature selection and collagen signature building. A nomogram was developed using multivariable analysis. The performance of the nomogram was assessed with respect to its discrimination, calibration, and clinical utility. An independent cohort (163 consecutive patients) was used to validate the model. The collagen signature comprised four collagen features significantly associated with pCR both in the primary and validation cohorts (p < 0.001). Predictors in the individualized prediction nomogram included the collagen signature and clinicopathological predictors. The nomogram showed good discrimination with area under the ROC curve (AUC) of 0.891 in the primary cohort and good calibration. Application of the nomogram in the validation cohort still gave good discrimination (AUC = 0.908) and good calibration. Decision curve analysis demonstrated that the nomogram was clinically useful. In conclusion, the collagen signature in the tumor microenvironment of pretreatment biopsy is significantly associated with pCR. The nomogram based on the collagen signature and clinicopathological predictors could be used for individualized prediction of pCR in LARC patients before nCRT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oxide‐based castables have been used in high‐temperature furnace linings, especially for steel and iron processing, however, the poor thermal shock resistance and corrosion resistance limited the further enhancement of their service life. Carbon possesses excellent performances including low wettability to slag, low thermal expansion coefficient, which can greatly improve thermal shock resistance and slag resistance of oxide‐based castables. However, it has poor water‐wettability and oxidation resistance, which limited its application in the castables. Many efforts have been attempted to improve water‐wettability of graphite flake used for carbon‐containing castables, but it is still a huge challenge. In this work, a facile method for fabricating silicon carbide (SiC) coated graphite flakes has been firstly proposed by using graphite flake and silicon powder as the precursors via a molten salt shielded synthesis technique in air atmosphere, KCl was chosen to be a salt encapsulation providing a liquid reaction medium and a shield against oxidation of air. Effects of firing temperature, holding time, and molar ratio of Si and graphite flake on the formation of SiC coatings were investigated. The results show that the as‐prepared SiC coated graphite powders were loose and non‐agglomerated, and the coatings with ∼5 μm in thickness were crack‐free and firmly grown on the surface of graphite flake, composed of SiC nanosized particles. Compared to uncoated graphite flake, the SiC coated graphite possessed significantly improved water‐wettability, dispersibility, and oxidation resistance, making it to be a prime carbon form for fabricating carbon‐containing castables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this clinical trial, the safety and effectiveness of Lactobacillus paracasei N1115 (LP N1115) were investigated as a potential probiotic to enhance gut development in young children born by caesarean section. Infants and young children between the ages of 6 months and 3 years were administered with a probiotic consisting of LP N1115 strain (n = 30) or placebo supplement (n = 30) over an 8 weeks intervention. And the stool consistency, bowel habits, salivary cortisol, fecal microbiota, and short‐chain fatty acid metabolism were investigated. Efficacy data were obtained from 58 participants who completed the study. Overall, the placebo functioned similarly to LP N1115 group in relation to stool consistency, gastrointestinal symptoms, salivary cortisol, and short‐chain fatty acids. However, the scoring data relating to the 6–18 months subgroup receiving LP N1115 remained stable over 8 weeks in comparison to placebo. Analysis of the fecal microbiota using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing revealed that the phyla Firmicutes represented 62% of the microbial relative abundance in the feces of the subjects during the intervening period. No significant changes in alpha‐ or beta‐diversity were noted between the placebo and LP N1115 groups overtime and at each time point. Differential abundance analysis indicated an increase in Lactobacillus in LP N1115 group at weeks 4 (p <.05) and 8 (p <.05) in comparison to the placebo group. These results suggest that probiotic supplementation with LP N1115 was well tolerated by the young children and subtle changes in the microbiome were noted throughout the intervention period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several hundred meteorites with a total mass of over 100 kg were collected as the Alatage Mountain (AM) strewn field located in the Kumtag desert, Xinjiang Province, China. Twelve AM meteorites were studied in this work. Petrography, mineralogy, bulk chemistry, bulk oxygen isotopic compositions, and light noble gas concentrations and isotopic compositions were determined for all or for a selection of the meteorites. The studied meteorites are L‐chondrites that suffered a very strong impact; impact melt veins and melt pockets are widely distributed. More than 50% of the troilite exists in the form of blebs and veins in olivine and pyroxene. Some of these meteorites are impact melt recrystallized rocks (e.g., AM 037). The strong impact caused the decomposition of troilite, which led in AM 034 to the sulfidization reaction of olivine. The metal in most meteorites is almost completely altered, and the troilite has been significantly oxidized. Weathering resulted in the depletion of Mg, Fe, Co, and Ni, and the enrichment of Sr, Ba, Pb, and U in these meteorites. The cosmic ray exposure (CRE) ages measured for these specimens range between 6.2 ± 1.9 Ma and 9.0 ± 2.7 Ma, depending on the cosmogenic nuclide used. The average CRE age is 7.6 ± 1.3 Ma. Both 4He and 40Ar gas retention ages indicate that the strong impact which caused the shock effects occurred about 320 Ma ago. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Fenton reaction, among one of the advanced oxidation processes, has been widely employed for water remediation. Here, we report using magnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles to accelerate the degradation of the simulative organic pollutant (i. e. Rhodamine B) in a collective manner, featuring an enhanced Fenton reaction. Fe2+ ions released from Fe3O4 nanoparticles function as a reducing agent to trigger the Fenton reaction in an acidic environment. A large number of Fe3O4 nanoparticles form the microswarm by applying a rotating magnetic field, which would further improve the intermixing and reaction diffusion as a result of the hydrodynamic vortex created by magnetic chains. Moreover, the microswarm possesses the ability of targeted degradation achieved by the collective locomotion, and such a collective manner would ultimately avoid the loss of Fe3O4 nanoparticles during the whole process. Besides, Fe3O4 nanoparticles can be magnetically collected and rinsed for recycling use, with a retained dye degradation rate of 73.5% after 3 degradation cycles. As a result, the magnetic microswarm holds advantages in terms of low cost, enhanced degradation, recyclability, and targeted decontamination, which is promising for the removal of organic pollutants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines a wireless communication network comprised of a source and multiple relay‐user pairs in face of multiple malicious eavesdroppers. In order to improve the physical layer security of cooperative communication networks, a joint relay‐user pair and friendly jammer selection (JRUPaFJS) scheme is proposed. Apart from the impacts of friendly jammers on the eavesdroppers, that on the legitimate users is also taken into account due to the presence of channel state information estimation errors. The traditional round‐robin (TRR) scheme and traditional pure relay‐user pair selection (TPRUPS) scheme are considered as benchmark schemes. The exact closed‐form expressions of outage probability and intercept probability for the TRR and TPRUPS schemes as well as JRUPaFJS scheme over Rayleigh fading channels are derived. It is verified that the proposed JRUPaFJS scheme outperforms both the TRR and TPRUPS schemes in terms of their SRT, which demonstrates the wireless security and reliability benefits of exploiting JRUPaFJS scheme. Moreover, as the number of relay‐user pairs increases, the SRT of the TPRUPS and JRUPaFJS schemes improve notably, while as the number of eavesdroppers increases, the SRT of all the three schemes become worse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To identify survival outcomes for patients with mucoepidermoid carcinoma (MEC) of the oral cavity and the effects of different prognostic factors on survival.Study Design: Retrospective cohort study using a national database.Methods: Retrospective, population-based cohort study of patients in the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database who were diagnosed with MEC of the oral cavity from 1973 to 2016. Overall survival (OS) and disease-specific survival (DSS) were calculated.Results: A total of 1693 patients with MEC of the oral cavity were included. Of those, there are 696 males and 997 females, the average age at diagnosis being 52.4 years. The vast majority of cases (86.4%) presented with stage I and stage II disease. A total of 206 patients had received both surgical and radiation therapy (RT), while 1338 patients just had undergone only surgery and 149 with no treatment. On multivariate analysis, advanced age, stage, and histologic grade were associated with worse OS and DSS. Surgical therapy was an independent favorable predictor of OS and DSS. For radiotherapy, multivariate analysis showed that it was associated with worse DSS, whereas there was no significant difference in OS.Conclusion: MEC of the oral cavity is associated with a generally favorable prognosis. Advanced age, stage, and histologic grade were independent negative prognostic factors for survival, and surgery was the main treatment to improve survival.Level Of Evidence: 4 Laryngoscope, 131:E857-E863, 2021. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]