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Objective: With the increasing number of patients with cognitive impairment, nonpharmacological ways to delay cognitive impairment have attracted people's attention, such as lifestyle changes and nutritional supplementation. Folic acid supplementation appears to be a promising treatment option. However, it remains controversial whether folic acid supplementation is effective in delaying adult's cognitive impairment. Therefore, we conducted a meta‐analysis to analyze the effects of folic acid supplementation on different cognitive impairments. Methods: We systematically searched PubMed, Web of Science, EMbase, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), WanFang and VIP databases for randomized controlled trials on January 22, 2024. The included population comprised those diagnosed with cognitive impairment. We included trials that compared folic acid treatment with placebo, other dosing regimens, or other intervention controls. Conducting quality evaluation of included studies according to the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool. Statistical analyses were performed using Review Manager software. Results: Twenty‐two trials, including 3604 participants, met inclusion criteria. Compared with controls, the cognitive function of Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients showed improvement with folic acid supplementation: supplementation with < 3 mg (standardized mean differences (SMD) = 0.15, 95% confidence interval (CI) –0.10 to 0.41), and supplementing with ≥ 3 mg folic acid could improve cognitive function in AD patients (SMD = 1.03, 95% CI 0.18 to 1.88). Additionally, it reduced homocysteine (HCY) levels (mean differences (MD) = –4.74, 95% CI –8.08 to –1.39). In mild cognitive impairment (MCI) patients, cognitive function improved with folic acid supplementation: supplementation with > 400 μg (SMD = 0.38, 95% CI 0.13 to 0.63), and supplementation with ≤ 400 μg (SMD = 1.10, 95% CI 0.88 to 1.31). It also reduced HCY levels at intervention ≤ 6 months (MD = –3.93, 95% CI –5.05 to –2.82) and intervention > 6 months (MD = –4.38, 95% CI –5.15 to –3.61). However, supplementing with folic acid did not improve cognitive function in vascular cognitive impairment (VCI) patients, with folic acid supplements < 3 mg (SMD = –0.07, 95% CI –0.23 to –0.08), folic acid supplements ≥ 3 mg (SMD = 0.46, 95% CI –0.57 to 1.49), however, it reduced HCY levels at intervention > 6 months (MD = –5.91, 95% CI –7.13 to –4.69) and intervention ≤ 6 months (MD = –11.15, 95% CI –12.35 to –9.95). Conclusions: Supplement folic acid is beneficial to the cognitive profile of patients with MCI, supplementation with ≥ 3 mg folic acid can improve cognitive function in AD patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mechanical properties of wheat grains were measured and analyzed using discrete element software, which provided crucial data for their processing in a mill. The foundational Hertz–Mindlin model was used as a theoretical framework to evaluate the accumulation angle of wheat grains. The Plackett–Burman, steepest ascent, and Box–Behnken methods were utilized in a series of experiments, with the accumulation angle serving as the dependent variable. Targeting the actual angle of repose in the response surface, the optimal parameters were derived using the regression equations. These included a static‐friction coefficient of 0.3 between individual wheat grains, rolling‐friction coefficient of 0.04 for wheat–wheat interactions, static‐friction coefficient of 0.554 for wheat–tooth roller interactions, collision recovery coefficient of 0.5 for wheat–wheat collisions, collision recovery coefficient of 0.45 for wheat–tooth roller collisions, and rolling‐friction coefficient of 0.05 for wheat–roller interactions. Relying on the bonding contact model of Hertz–Mindlin, virtual uniaxial compression tests were conducted to calibrate the wheat grain bonding parameters. A regression equation for the critical load was subsequently generated using the critical load of the wheat grain bonding model as the response variable. The optimal parameters were calculated and incorporated into the EDEM model for computation, which resulted in a relative error of 1.6% between the calculated and observed values, confirming the accuracy and feasibility of the calibration method, suggesting that the calibrated parameters were accurate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The operating characteristics of a mill's rolling distance and roller speed during wheat‐milling were studied to provide a reference for optimizing the operating parameters of the mill. The high‐performance discrete element method software (EDEM) was used to establish a roller‐crushing system for wheat flour production. Numerical simulations of wheat flour production were performed using this system. It was found that increasing the roller distance of the flour mill machine could reduce the wear of the grinding rolls and the power of the grinding roll system, which reduced the crushing rate of wheat during the milling process. Increasing the grinding roll speed can reduce the wear of the grinding rolls but will increase the wheat‐crushing rate. At a constant fast roller speed, increasing the speed ratio increased the wheat‐crushing rate which reduced the power of the grinding roller system. During the grinding roll wear process, the obtuse and sharp angles gradually disappear. A comparison of the simulation and experimental results shows that the discrete element method can accurately predict the wear of the grinding roll. Practical Applications: The milling machine is a key piece of equipment used for making wheat flour. The rolling distance, speed, and speed ratio of grinding rolls are important operating parameters during mill operation. Selecting specific parameters will directly affect the quality of wheat‐milling and the economic efficiency of the milling enterprise. This study adopted a discrete element method to study the effects of these parameters on wheat milling, providing a good reference for the technical personnel of milling enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The electronic structure of constituent layers and the spin channel of propagating electrons are critical factors that affect the magnitude and sign of magnetoresistance (MR) in synthetic antiferromagnets (SAFMs), which are important for spintronic applications. However, for all‐oxide‐based SAFMs, where there is strong coupling between multiple degrees of freedom, spin transport becomes more complex and remains elusive. Here, using ultrathin half‐metallic manganite/doped ruthenate SAFMs as a model system, three sign reversals of MR are demonstrated accompanied by the crossover between underlying spin‐dependent transport mechanisms. Electron tunneling produces normal MR in the current‐perpendicular‐to‐plane (CPP) geometry at low temperatures, whereas carrier confinement causes inverse MR in the current‐in‐plane (CIP) geometry. Strikingly, CPP MR can undergo a temperature‐driven sign reversal due to resonant tunneling via localized states in the spacer. Moreover, hydrostatic pressure can modulate the interlayer exchange coupling and induce an asymmetric interfacial response to dramatically facilitate electron tunneling, driving a controllable sign reversal of CIP MR. These results provide new insights into understanding and optimization of MR in all‐oxide‐based SAFMs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a new cell‐centered Lagrangian discontinuous Galerkin (DG) scheme is presented to simulate gas‐water compressible flows. The two‐phase flows are governed by the compressible Euler equation with ideal and stiffened gas equations of state. We integrate the Lagrangian DG scheme with the exact gas‐water Riemann solver for calculating the numerical fluxes so that the inherent stiff features of gas‐water compressible flows are well addressed. Furthermore, in order to guarantee the positivity of the density and internal energy during the high Mach number calculation, the positivity‐preserving limiter and strong stability preserving temporal integral are incorporated to ensure the numerical stability. Six numerical examples are tested to show the accuracy, robustness and positivity‐preserving property of the present scheme. It can be found that the present scheme can handle challenging numerical cases involving large density ratio (up to 1000) and strong shock. The results obtained with the typical HLLC flux are also given for comparison and the present scheme with the exact Riemann solver shows higher accuracy, particularly in the presence of large density ratio at the gas‐water interface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photodetector based on two‐dimensional (2D) materials is an ongoing quest in optoelectronics. 2D photodetectors are generally efficient at low illuminating power but suffer severe recombination processes at high power, which results in the sublinear power‐dependent photoresponse and lower optoelectronic efficiency. The desirable superlinear photocurrent is mostly achieved by sophisticated 2D heterostructures or device arrays, while 2D materials rarely show intrinsic superlinear photoresponse. This work reports the giant superlinear power dependence of photocurrent based on multilayer Ta2NiS5. While the fabricated photodetector exhibits good sensitivity (3.1 mS W−1per □) and fast photoresponse (31 µs), the bias‐, polarization‐, and spatial‐resolved measurements point to an intrinsic photoconductive mechanism. By increasing the incident power density from 1.5 to 200 µW µm−2, the photocurrent power dependence varies from sublinear to superlinear. At higher illuminating conditions, prominent superlinearity is observed with a giant power exponent of γ = 1.5. The unusual photoresponse can be explained by a two‐recombination‐center model where density of states of the recombination centers (RC) effectively closes all recombination channels. The photodetector is integrated into camera for taking photos with enhanced contrast due to superlinearity. This work provides an effective route to enable higher optoelectronic efficiency at extreme conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electricity demand forecasting plays a vital role in power system planning, operation, transmission design, and financial risk management. In this study, we employ a Gaussian Process model to estimate the probability distributions of short‐term electricity demand. To account for input uncertainty in multi‐period ahead forecast, we adopt an error propagation procedure that improves upon the naive recursive forecasting. This method is shown to perform well in terms of multi‐step ahead point and probabilistic forecasts. We illustrate the usefulness of the suggested estimator with an application to short term demand forecasting of Texas electricity market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compared with the conventional 2D electron system (2DES) located between the LaAlO3 layer and SrTiO3 substrate, the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 bilayers are also capable of hosting 2DES with additional functional tunabilities. Herein, the LaAlO3 and SrTiO3 layers are epitaxially grown on the (La,Sr)(Al,Ta)O3 substrate to build a bilayer 2DES. The transport properties can be subtly tuned by the SrTiO3 layer thickness (tSTO), growth temperature (TG), and oxygen pressure (PO2), leading to various controllable electronic states. For the metallic bilayer 2DES, the low‐temperature carrier density (≈1014 cm−2) is one‐order‐of‐magnitude higher than that of the conventional 2DES (1012–1013 cm−2). Meanwhile, the bilayer 2DES exhibits the enhanced carrier mobility on increasing the carrier density, which contradicts the experimental results obtained from the conventional 2DES and suggests an important role of charge screening in the high‐carrier‐density bilayer 2DES. Moreover, the semiconducting bilayer 2DES, featured by the lower carrier density and thus less charge screening, shows the low‐field negative minimum and enhanced fourfold anisotropy in magnetoresistances. Those results infer that the majority of scattering centers shall be interfacial localized Ti3+ ions, which are screened by the high carrier density in the metallic bilayer 2DES. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During exogenous bone‐graft‐mediated bone defect repair, macrophage inflammation dictates angiogenesis and bone regeneration. Exosomes from different human cells have shown macrophage immunomodulation‐mediated bone regeneration potential. However, the effect of human serum‐derived exosomes (serum‐Exo) on macrophage immunomodulation‐mediated angiogenesis during bone defect repair has not been investigated yet. In this study, we explored the effects of serum‐Exo on macrophage inflammation regulation‐mediated angiogenesis during bone defect repair and preliminarily elucidated the mechanism. Healthy serum‐Exo was isolated by ultracentrifugation. The effect of serum‐Exo on LPS‐induced M1 macrophage inflammation was analysed in vitro. The conditioned medium of serum‐Exo‐treated LPS‐induced M1 macrophage (serum‐Exo‐treated M1 macrophage‐CM) was used to culture human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC), and the effect on angiogenesis was analysed by western blot, qRT‐PCR, etc. mRNA‐sequencing of HUVECs was performed to identify deferentially expressed genes. Finally, the rat mandibular defect model was established and treated with Bio‐Oss and Bio‐Oss + Exo. The effect of the Bio‐Oss + Exo combination on mandibular bone regeneration was observed by micro‐computed tomography (micro‐CT), haematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining, Masson staining, and immunohistochemical staining. Serum‐Exo promoted the proliferation of RAW264.7 macrophages and reduced the expression of M1‐related genes such as IL‐6, IL‐1β, iNOS, and CD86. Serum‐Exo‐treated M1 macrophage‐CM induced the proliferation, migration, and angiogenic differentiation of HUVEC, as well as the expression of H‐type blood vessel markers CD31 and endomucin (EMCN), compared with M1 macrophage‐CM. Moreover, higher expression of vascular endothelial adhesion factor 1 (VCAM1) in HUVEC cultured with serum‐Exo‐treated M1 macrophage‐CM compared with M1 macrophages‐CM. Inhibition of VCAM1 signalling abrogated the pro‐angiogenic effect of serum‐Exo‐treated M1 macrophage‐CM on HUVEC. Local administration of serum‐Exo during mandibular bone defect repair reduced the number of M1 macrophages and promoted angiogenesis and osteogenesis. Collectively, our results demonstrate the macrophage inflammation regulation‐mediated pro‐angiogenic potential of serum‐Exo during bone defect repair possibly via upregulation of VCAM1 signalling in HUVEC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hafnium‐based binary oxides have attracted considerable attention due to their robust ferroelectricity at the nanoscale and compatibility with silicon‐based electronic technologies. To further promote the potential of Hafnium oxides for practical device applications, it is essential to effectively harness the interplay between structural symmetry, domain configuration, and ferroelectricity. Here, using Hf0.5Zr0.5O2/La0.67Sr0.33MnO3 (HZO/LSMO) heterostructures as a model system, the anisotropic strain‐mediated symmetry engineering and ferroelectricity enhancement are systematically investigated. By growing the heterostructures on (110)‐oriented perovskite substrates, considerable anisotropic strain is imposed on the LSMO bottom electrodes. Such an anisotropically‐strained LSMO layer acts as a structural template and effectively tune the structural symmetry, polar/non‐polar phase ratio, and ferroelectricity of the HZO top layer. Specifically, the anisotropic tensile strain stabilizes the ferroelectric rhombohedral and orthorhombic phases, thus enhancing the remnant polarization (Pr) up to 22 µC cm−2. In contrast, the anisotropic compressive strain facilitates the formation of non‐ferroelectric tetragonal phases, leading to a suppressed Pr down to 8 µC cm−2. These findings provide a guideline for understanding and modulating the intrinsic structure‐ferroelectricity relationship of HZO through anisotropic strain‐mediated symmetry engineering, which may shed light on the development of hafnium‐oxide‐based electronic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Direct C−H bond functionalization is a useful strategy for the straightforward formation of C−C and C−Heteroatom bonds. In the present work, a unique approach for the challenging electrophilic Au‐catalyzed α‐C−H bond functionalization of tertiary amines is presented. Electronic, steric and conformational synergistic effects exerted by the use of a malonate unit in the substrate were key to the success of this transformation. This new reactivity was applied to the synthesis of tetrahydro‐γ‐carboline products which, under oxidative conditions, could be converted into valuable structural motifs found in bioactive alkaloid natural products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional aqueous energy storage devices are difficult to operate at low temperatures owing to the poor ionic conductivity and sluggish interfacial dynamics in frozen electrolytes. Herein, the low‐cost brine refrigerants for food freezing and preservation as electrolytes, and unexpectedly realize high ionic conductivity and stable operation of an aqueous storage device at low temperatures are demonstrated. A CaCl2 brine refrigerant electrolyte (BRE) with a low freezing point −55 °C and high ionic conductivity (10.1 mS cm−1 at −50 °C) is developed for supercapacitors (SCs), which retains 80% of the room temperature capacity at −50 °C and exhibits ultra‐long cycle life with excellent capacity retention of 92% over 98,500 cycles, outperforming the other SCs which can be operated below −40 °C in literature. Moreover, the SCs with MgCl2 and NaCl BREs can also be operated successfully with excellent cycle stability and high‐capacity retention at low temperatures of −30 and −20 °C, respectively. Fundamental correlation between various cations and their effect on the freezing point reduction of aqueous electrolytes is revealed via Raman investigation and molecular dynamics simulations. This study provides a rational design strategy for green, inexpensive, and safe low‐temperature aqueous electrolytes for energy storage devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Automatic segmentation of colon, small intestine, and duodenum is a challenging task because of the great variability in the scale of the target organs. Multi‐scale features are the key to alleviating this problem. Previous works focused on extracting discriminative multi‐scale features through a hierarchical structure. Instead, the purpose of this work is to exploit these powerful multi‐scale features more efficiently. Methods: A Scale Attention Module (SAM) was proposed to recalibrate multi‐scale features by explicitly modeling their importance score adaptively. The SAM was introduced into the segmentation model to construct the Scale Attention Network (SANet). The multi‐scale features extracted from the encoder were first re‐extracted to obtain more specific multi‐scale features. Then the SAM was applied to recalibrate the features. Specifically, for the feature of each scale, a summation of Global Average Pooling and Global Max Pooling was used to create scale‐wise feature representations. According to the representations, a lightweight network was used to generate the importance score of each scale. The features were recalibrated based on the scores, and a simple pixel‐by‐pixel summation was used to fuse the multi‐scale features. The fused multi‐scale feature was fed into a segmentation head to complete the task. Results: The models were evaluated using fivefold cross‐validation on 70 upper abdominal computed tomography scans of patients in a volume manner. The results showed that SANet could effectively alleviate the scale‐variability problem and achieve better performance compared with UNet, Attention UNet, UNet++, Deeplabv3p, and CascadedUNet. The Dice similarity coefficients (DSCs) of colon, small intestine, and duodenum were (84.06 ± 3.66)%, (76.79 ± 5.12)%, and (61.68 ± 4.32)%, respectively. The HD95 were (7.51 ± 2.45) mm, (11.08 ± 2.45) mm, and (12.21 ± 1.95) mm, respectively. The values of relative volume difference were (3.4 ± 0.8)%, (11.6 ± 11.81)%, and (6.2 ± 3.71)%, respectively. The values of center‐of‐mass distance were 7.85 ± 2.82, 9.89 ± 2.70, and 9.94 ± 1.58, respectively. Compared with other attention modules and multi‐scale feature exploitation approaches, SAM could obtain a 0.83–2.71 points improvement in terms of DSC with a comparable or even less number of parameters. The extensive experiments confirmed the effectiveness of SAM. Conclusions: The SANet can efficiently exploit multi‐scale features to alleviate the scale‐variability problem and improve the segmentation performance on colon, small intestine, and duodenum of the upper abdomen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food cold chain logistics (FCCL) is a systematic engineering process involving the use of a low‐temperature environment to maintain the quality and safety of perishable food and reduce food loss and waste (FLW). From a mechanism perspective, FCCL must balance resource costs for a required level of food quality and safety with the costs of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In the context of global warming, the sustainability trade‐off between FLW and environmental impact has recently become an important topic in research on efficient, green FCCL. This is mainly reflected in technological innovation, management optimization, and policy responses. With a focus on three levels (micro, meso, macro), this review analyzes current research areas and the gaps and challenges of FCCL in microenvironmental monitoring, life cycle assessment (LCA), and global impact. Future trends pertaining to FCCL in technology, management, and industry and sustainable development are also summarized. Future trends involving sustainable FCCL must be intelligent, systematic, and low carbon. Industry empowerment through next‐generation information technologies (e.g., IoT, AI, big data, blockchain) will promote the multidimensional perception, real‐time information transmission, and sustainable control of microenvironmental monitoring, as well as support LCA management transformation from fragmentation to system integration. From a macro level, due to the serious global loss of perishable food, the FCCL scale demand is growing greatly, causing a huge environmental burden. Global cooperation, low‐carbon consensus, and appropriate policies will become the basis for promoting sustainable FCCL development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lithium ions are widely used in many scientific fields; in order to get these ions, it is necessary to study lithium plasma process thoroughly. Recently, a hybrid 7Li3+ ion source has been designed and tested at Peking University (PKU). To understand the lithium plasma behaviour inside the plasma chamber and to provide some guidelines for ion source optimization to generate 7Li3+, a numerical model based on the plasma equilibrium equations is developed in this work, which is helpful not only for our ion source, but also for understanding the physical process of lithium plasma from ECR ion sources with different frequencies. This model can describe the density and fraction of lithium ions in various system parameters. The dependences of the Li+, Li2+, and Li3+ ion density and fraction on electron temperature, gas pressure, microwave power, surface ionizer, and the magnetic field are investigated systematically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global food trade has become an increasingly crucial element for feeding the world's population. Enhancing bilateral or multilateral trust in food safety in international food trade is not only important for promoting the sustainable development of trade but is also beneficial for cooperation when facing a global food crisis. However, highly credible traceability systems (TSs) for the cross‐border movement of food are still absent in many countries and regions. Blockchain is regarded as a promising technology that can help build trust for transparency and security issues. In this paper, an interconnected conceptual traceability framework based on blockchain is proposed in order to increase trust in food safety during food trade. Taking the food trade between China and the European Union as an example, a conceptual framework is designed in order to take full advantage of existing TSs in these two locations, and the features of logistical flow, data flow, and blockchain flow are analyzed. Considering the data capacity and data privacy level, a hybrid data storage method combining on‐chain and off‐chain is adopted. Smart contracts according to the features of cross‐border food trade—including the recording of exportation data, exporter inspection data, shipment data, importer inspection data, importation data, and tracing queries—are packaged and deployed to a blockchain network. An effective operation mechanism involving the distribution of related rights for different roles is presented. The blockchain‐based TS framework has the advantages of enhancing bilateral trust in cross‐border food trade, providing a flexible and intelligent technical framework, and having effective operability. Future challenges, such as data security, special smart contracts, and consensus mechanisms, and interoperability with other systems, are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A modified soybean‐based adhesive with improved bonding properties and technological applicability but reduced cost was developed based on the effects of inorganic fillers on the performance of a defatted soybean meal flour (DSF) adhesive. Investigations with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X‐ray diffraction measurement, thermogravimetric analysis, scanning electron microscopy, rheology tests, zeta potential analysis, and plywood evaluation demonstrated that adding inorganic fillers could improve the technological applicability of the adhesive by alleviating shear thinning and decreasing the viscosity up to 71.2%, reduce the adhesive cost up to 9.5% and result in various effects on bonding properties. Two fillers, montmorillonoid and kaolin, were suitable for plywood for exterior use owing to significantly improved water resistance up to 58.9% resulting from penetration of DSF/crosslinker chains into the interlayers of the silicates via intercalation, stable chemical bonds between the fillers and crosslinker, and excellent compatibility between the filler particles and DSF adhesive. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2020, 137, 48892. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non–small‐cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has become the most lethal human cancer because of the high rate of metastasis. Hence, clarifying the molecular mechanism underlying NSCLC metastasis is very important to improve the prognosis of patients with NSCLC. Long non‐coding RNAs (LncRNAs) are a class of RNA molecules longer than 200 nucleotides, which can participate in diverse biological processes. About 18% of human LncRNAs were recently found to be associated with tumours. Many studies indicated that aberrant expression of LncRNAs played key roles in the progression and metastasis of NSCLC. According to the function in tumours, LncRNAs can be divided into two classes: oncogenic LncRNAs and tumour‐suppressor LncRNAs. In this review, we summarized the main molecular mechanism of LncRNAs regulating NSCLC metastasis, including three aspects: (a) LncRNAs interact with miRNAs as ceRNAs; (b) LncRNAs bind with target proteins; and (c) LncRNAs participate in the transduction of different signal pathways. Then, LncRNAs can exert their function to regulate the metastasis of NSCLC through influencing the progression of epithelial‐mesenchymal transition (EMT) and the properties of cancer stem cell (CSC). But, it is necessary to do some further research to demonstrate the LncRNAs particular regulatory mechanism of inhibiting the metastasis of NSCLC and explore new drugs targeting LncRNAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A quartz‐chamber 2.45‐GHz electron cyclotron resonance ion source (ECRIS) is designed at Peking University for the diagnostic purpose. Experimental results show that the added noble gases in hydrogen could cause a decrease of electron temperature and an increase of electron density. In this work, a numerical model is upgraded for ECR plasma generated by mixed gases. On this basis, the model is applied for the composed hydrogen plasma with additional noble gases. And dependences of neutral gas density and electron density on electron temperature are presented for individual gas (He, Ar, and H2) and gas mixture, respectively. The calculated results are basically in accordance with the diagnostic results of ECRIS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving the coal seam permeability is an important measure for increasing the coal bed methane (CBM) production and preventing gas disasters. Hydraulic technologies are effective ways of improving coal seam permeability. However, hydraulic technologies can also cause water to enter the coal seam, allowing the coal seam to soak for a long time. In this study, to obtain the influence of water soaking on the microscopic characteristics of coal, X‐ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), free swelling ratio tests, and low‐temperature nitrogen adsorption tests (LT‐NATs) were conducted. The mineral compositions of raw coal samples, the variation regularities of micromorphologies, and pore characteristics of the samples with different soaking times were obtained. The results showed that the coal samples contained about 8.5% clay minerals, of which 71% were illite/smectite mixed‐layer. Expansions of different sizes in the areas where the surface of the soaked coal samples contained clay minerals were observed, and the swelling was also observed macroscopically. The swelling not only led to an increase in the coal sample volume but also led to a decrease in pore volume. This change was magnified with the increase in soaking time (within 30 days). The cumulative pore volume of the samples soaked for 30 days was 0.00681 cm3/g. This was a reduction of 29.9% compared to the unsoaked samples. Moreover, the pore volumes show a logarithmic dependence on soaking time. This study provides evidence that the coal containing clay minerals will swell obviously when soaked in water, and the hydration swelling of clay minerals has a great influence on the swelling of coal. This swelling would lead to a decrease in the pore volume and the efficiency of CBM transport, thus affecting the effect of hydraulic measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We succeeded the true 1G1D 75" 8K4k LCD with Oxide thin‐film transistor (TFT) for the first time. The initial prototype TFT process was in Gen.6 FAB, but now, we have been developed mass producible back channel etching (BCE)‐type oxide TFT process in Gen.7 FAB. As its first application, 1.7μsec pixel chargeable 1G1D 120Hz 8‐domain LCD without any additional compensation part for image quality deterioration such as transmittance loss and color washout is introduced. In practical point of view, this technology can render about 20% reduction of total production material cost compare to a‐Si technology. Moreover, simplified 1G1D metal line structure can contribute to production yield improvement. In this report, we present the latest AUOs Oxide TFT backplane development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The phase transition temperatures of CaZrO3-doped (Na0.49K0.49Li0.02)(Nb0.8Ta0.2)O3 lead-free piezoelectrics ( LKNNT- CZ5) have been studied with X-ray diffraction and Raman scattering. It is found that LKNNT- CZ5 ceramics and powders with the same crystallite size (~2-5 μm) exhibit distinctly different phase transition behaviors versus temperature. The ceramic bulk changes its orthorhombic phase to tetragonal structure abruptly after being pulverized to powders at room temperature( RT), and follows a phase transition sequence with increasing temperature: orthorhombic ( RT-65°C), orthorhombic and tetragonal (65°C-105°C), and tetragonal phase (105°C to ~220°C). Contrastively, the powders hold a tetragonal structure without any phase transition within the whole temperature region ( RT-220°C). These differences might be induced by the existing internal stress or residual strain, which could be released during the grinding process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim Agricultural practices have dramatically altered the land cover of the earth, but the spatial extent and intensity of these practices is often difficult to catalogue. Information on the distribution and performance of specific crops is often only available through national or subnational statistics. Recently, however, there have been multiple independent efforts to incorporate the detailed information available from statistical surveys with supplemental spatial information to produce a spatially explicit global dataset specific to individual crops. While these datasets provide decision makers with improved information on global cropping systems, the final global cropping maps differ substantially from one another. This study aims to explore and quantify systematic similarities and differences between four major global cropping systems products and the subsequent implications for analyses dependent on those models. Location This study was conducted at a global scale. Methods Each global cropping systems model was assessed by latitude as a measure of biophysical plausibility and each pair of models was compared using a Gaussian filter to remove trivial spatial discrepancies. Model disagreement was explored in relation to the interdependent input data of each model pair with a particular focus on cropland extent. The influence of the observed model differences on subsequent analyses was demonstrated using model-dependent estimates of the yield gap as an example. Results The results of our analysis indicate that the choice of cropping systems model is non-trivial: considerable differences exist between model-specific estimates of the yield gap across nearly all climate zones and the average model difference exceeds the average estimated yield gap in certain regions. The differences in crop-specific harvested area and yield products of each model are significant, and mostly result from differences in the input datasets and downscaling methodologies. In particular, the choice of dataset on cropland extent proved to be influential regardless of the downscaling process employed. Main conclusions Discrepancies in the final products of cropping systems models are currently poorly understood, but have implications for basic policy decisions relating to agricultural production and food security. The considerable disagreement between models serves as a reminder of the ongoing challenges to the creation of spatially explicit estimates of harvested area and yield based on crop statistics. Our analysis helps shed light on the importance of model choice by demonstrating the implications for further analyses that depend on cropping systems models, and works to overcome these challenges by characterizing model-dependent differences in harvested area and yield. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cascading ketones! The first highly efficient asymmetric cross ‐ cascade reaction of different α,β ‐ unsaturated ketones catalyzed by an easily prepared bulky primary amine salt has been developed. It affords the corresponding diverse products containing three to four contiguous stereocenters with excellent enantio ‐ and diastereoselectivities (see scheme). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unter Iminiumaktivierung liefert die Titelreaktion enantiomerenangereicherte 1,4 ‐ Dioxan ‐ Derivate in Ausbeuten bis 99 % und mit bis zu 98 % ee. Die Methode bietet einen schnellen und stereoselektiven Zugang zu stereochemisch diversen und komplexen Tetracyclen mit Bicyclo[2.2.2]octan ‐ 2 ‐ on ‐ Kern und mehreren Chiralitätszentren. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Layered nickel silicate nanoflowers (NSFs) with a hierarchical nanostructure have been successfully fabricated by a template-free solvothermal method. The as-prepared nanoflowers were composed of many interconnected edge-curving lamellae with a thickness of about 15 nm and had a high specific surface area (279 m2 g−1) and large pore volume (0.67 cm3 g−1). The highly dispersed small silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were immobilized on the surface of NSFs through the in situ reduction of Ag+ by Sn2+. The AgNP/NSF nanocomposites showed a high performance in the catalytic reduction of 4-nitrophenol. In particular, there was no visible decrease in the catalytic activity of the reused catalysts even after being recycled four times. The as-prepared AgNP/NSF nanocomposites might be an excellent catalyst owing to their availability, formability, chemical and thermal stability, and high specific surface area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Manipulating magnetic anisotropy in complex oxide heterostructures has attracted much attention. Here, three interface‐engineering approaches are applied to address two general issues with controlling magnetic anisotropy in the La2/3Sr1/3MnO3 heterostructure. One is the paradox arising from the competition between Mn3d–O2p orbital hybridization and MnO6 crystal field. The other is the interfacial region where the nonuniform MnO bond length d and MnOMn bond angle θ disturb the structural modulation. When the interfacial region is suppressed in the interface‐engineered samples, the lateral magnetic anisotropy energy is increased eighteen times. The d‐mediated anisotropic crystal filed that overwhelms the orbital hybridization causes the lateral symmetry breaking of the Mn 3dx2−y2 orbital, resulting in enhanced magnetic anisotropy. This is different from the classic Jahn–Teller effect where the lateral symmetry is always preserved. Moreover, the quantitative analysis on X‐ray linear dichroism data suggests a direct correlation between Mn 3dx2−y2 orbital symmetry breaking and magnetic anisotropy energy. The findings not only advance the understanding of magnetic anisotropy in manganite heterostructures but also can be extended to other complex oxides and perovskite materials with correlated degrees of freedom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much like epitaxial strain, engineering oxygen octahedral rotations (OORs) in perovskite oxide thin films can be a powerful means of manipulating their physical and chemical properties. Here, it is demonstrated that the fundamental character of the metal‐insulator transition (MIT) can be sensitively controlled by the structure of the oxygen sublattice for NdNiO3 thin films grown epitaxially on NdGaO3 (110) substrates. The MIT is sharp and hysteretic for a Ni‐O‐Ni bond angle of 154.0° (6 nm thick film) like the bulk behavior, while it is diffuse and largely nonhysteretic for a bond angle of 149.5° (3 nm thick film), stemming from the smaller bond angle of the NdGaO3 substrate. Using synchrotron X‐ray diffraction to quantify the geometric framework of the oxygen sublattice, it is found that the influence of the substrate OORs propagates and decays after a few nanometers into the ultrathin film. The sublattice structure in the 6 nm thick film is similar to that for bulk NdNiO3, leading to the sharp and hysteretic MIT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first examples of a highly enantioselective formal diaza-ene reaction between N-monosubstituted hydrazones and enones are reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An abstract of the article "Highly Diastereo- and Enantioselective Cross-Cascade Reactions of Different Enones" by Huicai Huang, Wenbin Wu, Kailong Zhu, Juan Hu and Jinxing Ye is presented.

Inexpensive and easily prepared chiral primary diamine is an efficient catalyst for the title reaction under mild conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rhodamine derivatives (I) are applied in cascade reactions for the highly stereoselective construction of title compounds (III) and (V) bearing multiple consecutive chiral centers catalyzed by a simple diamine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]