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BACKGROUND RESULTS CONCLUSION The fermentation of Qu (FQ) is a novel method to modify the properties of starch to expand its application and especially to increase the resistant starch (RS) content. Using waxy maize starch (WMS) as a fermentation substrate can increase the RS content significantly but it may be time consuming and not cost effective due to the almost negligible RS content of WMS. To solve this problem, we hypothesized that sub‐high amylose starch (s‐HAMS), with an amylose content close to 50% could be an ideal substrate for FQ.The results showed that FQ did not change the shape and the particle size of starch granules, the gelatinization peak (Tp), or the conclusion temperature (Tc), but the slowly digested starch content declined. Rapidly digested starch content fluctuated during FQ and the amylose content decreased within 36 h and then increased. Within 24h, FQ significanlty increased these values: the RS content, relative crystallinity (RC), the ratio of FTIR absorbances at 1047/1022cm‐1, the diffraction peak at 19.8° in X‐ray diffraction (XRD), and the gelatinization onset temperature (To) increased significantly, within 24 h of FQ. However, after 24 h of fermentation, the RS content, RC, the ratio of FTIR absorbances at 1047/1022 cm−1, and gelatinization enthalpy (ΔH) decreased significantly.Sub‐high amylose starch is more suitable for FQ to produce low digestibility starch, and the increase in RS may be due to the formation of ‘amylose‐lipid’ complexes (RS5). © 2024 Society of Chemical Industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Drought stress (DS) is the main abiotic stress that maize suffers during its whole growth period, and maize is also sensitive to DS. It had been demonstrated that DS could improve the quality of normal maize starch. However, waxy maize, which has special properties, has not been explored in depth, which limits the breeding and cultivation of waxy maize varieties and the application of waxy maize starch. Therefore, in this study, we investigated the effects of DS on the biosynthesis, structure, and functionality of waxy maize starch. RESULTS: The results showed that DS decreased the expression level of SSIIb, SSIIIa, GBSSIIa, SBEI, SBEIIb, ISAII, and PUL, but increased the expression level of SSI and SBEIIa. DS did not change the average chain length of amylopectin, while increased the relative content of fa chains (RCfa) and decreased the RCfb1 and RCfb3. Furthermore, DS decreased the amylose content, amorphous lamellar distance da, semi‐crystalline repeat distance, and average particle size, whereas it increased the relative crystallinity, crystalline distance dc, the content of rapidly digested starch in the uncooked system and resistant starch content in both the uncooked and cooked system. Conclusions: For waxy maize, DS could raise the relative expression level of SSI and SBEIIa, thus increasing RCfa. The larger number of RCfa could create steric hindrance, which can lead to producing more resistant starch in waxy maize starch. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metal‐organic frameworks (MOFs) are potential porous adsorbents for benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene (BTEX). A novel MOF, using low toxic aluminum (Al) as the metal, named as ZJU‐620(Al), with uniform micropore size of 8.37±0.73 Å and specific surface area of 1347 m2 g−1, was synthesized. It is constructed by one‐dimensional rod‐shaped AlO6 clusters, formate ligands and 4,4′,4′′‐(2,4,6‐trimethylbenzene‐1,3,5‐triyl) tribenzoic ligands. ZJU‐620(Al) exhibits excellent chemical‐thermal stability and adsorption for trace BTEX, e.g. benzene adsorption of 3.80 mmol g−1 at P/P0=0.01 and 298 K, which is the largest one reported. Using Grand Canonical Monte Carlo simulations and Single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction analyses, it was observed that the excellent adsorption could be attributed to the high affinity of BTEX molecules in ZJU‐620(Al) micropores because the kinetic diameters of BTEX are close up to the pore size of ZJU‐620(Al). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metal‐organic frameworks (MOFs) are potential porous adsorbents for benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene (BTEX). A novel MOF, using low toxic aluminum (Al) as the metal, named as ZJU‐620(Al), with uniform micropore size of 8.37±0.73 Å and specific surface area of 1347 m2 g−1, was synthesized. It is constructed by one‐dimensional rod‐shaped AlO6 clusters, formate ligands and 4,4′,4′′‐(2,4,6‐trimethylbenzene‐1,3,5‐triyl) tribenzoic ligands. ZJU‐620(Al) exhibits excellent chemical‐thermal stability and adsorption for trace BTEX, e.g. benzene adsorption of 3.80 mmol g−1 at P/P0=0.01 and 298 K, which is the largest one reported. Using Grand Canonical Monte Carlo simulations and Single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction analyses, it was observed that the excellent adsorption could be attributed to the high affinity of BTEX molecules in ZJU‐620(Al) micropores because the kinetic diameters of BTEX are close up to the pore size of ZJU‐620(Al). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neutral non‐effectively grounded mode is widely used in medium‐voltage distribution networks in China. When a single‐phase grounding fault occurs in distribution networks, abundant transient signals will be generated. Here, a fault location method based on improved Hausdorff distance is proposed with transient zero‐sequence current and transient zero‐sequence voltage of bus. First, according to the impedance characteristic analysis of the zero‐sequence network, the selected frequency band (SFB) is determined, and the transient signals in the SFB are extracted by the digital filter. Second, the projection components of transient zero‐sequence currents at each monitoring point of faulty feeder are obtained by the principle of orthogonalization. Finally, the projection component values of each section are calculated by the improved Hausdorff distance, and the maximum value is selected. If the maximum value is much larger than the sum of the values of other sections excluding the maximum value, the section where the maximum value is located is judged as a faulty section, otherwise, the downstream section of the last monitoring point is determined as the faulty section. Matlab/Simulink simulation shows that the proposed method can locate accurately under different fault conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Pulmonary nodules are a potential manifestation of lung cancer. In computer‐aided diagnosis (CAD) of lung cancer, it is of great significance to extract the complete boundary of the pulmonary nodules in the computed tomography (CT) scans accurately. It can provide doctors with important information such as tumor size and density, which assist doctors in subsequent diagnosis and treatment. In addition to this, in the molecular subtype and radiomics of lung cancer, segmentation of lung nodules also plays a pivotal role. Existing methods are difficult to use only one model to simultaneously treat the boundaries of multiple types of lung nodules in CT images. Method: In order to solve the problem, this paper proposed a three‐dimensional (3D)‐UNET network model optimized by a 3D conditional random field (3D‐CRF) to segment pulmonary nodules. On the basis of 3D‐UNET, the 3D‐CRF is used to optimize the sample output of the training set, so as to update the network weights in training process, reduce the model training time, and reduce the loss rate of the model. We selected 936 sets of pulmonary nodule data for the lung image database consortium and image database resource initiative (LIDC‐IDRI)1 database to train and test the model. What's more, we used clinical data from partner hospitals for additional validation. Results and conclusions: The results show that our method is accurate and effective. Particularly, it shows more significance for the optimization of the segmentation of adhesive pulmonary nodules (the juxta‐pleural and juxta‐vascular nodules) and ground glass pulmonary nodules (GGNs). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three novel atropisomeric bridged P,N-ligands were prepared using a highly efficient central-to-axial transfer strategy as the protocol. The new chiral ligands were successfully applied in the palladium-catalyzed asymmetric Suzuki-Miyaura coupling reaction, Up to 98% yield and 82% ee were obtained in the enantioselective synthesis of axially chiral biarylphosphonates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents results of first vertebrate turtles and fish fossil site study conducted at the Xingling Town in Guangdong Province, China to study the vertebrate biodiversity and abundance in southern Jilin. Topics include the government's act of collecting sediment samples to study the fossil assemblages, the revelation of a diversity of dinosaur bones, and the presence of vertebrates in this region.

Lithium–sulfur (Li‐S) batteries have potential in high energy density battery systems. However, intermediates of lithium polysulfides (LiPSs) can easily shuttle to the Li anode and react with Li metal to deplete the active materials and cause rapid failure of the battery. A facile solution pretreatment method for Li anodes involving a solution of metal fluorides/dimethylsulfoxide was developed to construct robust biphasic surface layers (BSLs) in situ. The BSLs consist of lithiophilic alloy (LixM) and LiF phases on Li metal, which inhibit the shuttle effect and increase the cycle life of Li‐S batteries. The BSLs allow Li+ transport and they inhibit dendrite growth and shield the Li anodes from corrosive reaction with LiPSs. Li‐S batteries containing BSLs‐Li anodes demonstrate excellent cycling over 1000 cycles at 1 C and simultaneously maintain a high coulombic efficiency of 98.2 %. Based on our experimental and theoretical results, we propose a strategy for inhibition of the shuttle effect that produces high stability Li‐S batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lithium–sulfur (Li‐S) batteries have potential in high energy density battery systems. However, intermediates of lithium polysulfides (LiPSs) can easily shuttle to the Li anode and react with Li metal to deplete the active materials and cause rapid failure of the battery. A facile solution pretreatment method for Li anodes involving a solution of metal fluorides/dimethylsulfoxide was developed to construct robust biphasic surface layers (BSLs) in situ. The BSLs consist of lithiophilic alloy (LixM) and LiF phases on Li metal, which inhibit the shuttle effect and increase the cycle life of Li‐S batteries. The BSLs allow Li+ transport and they inhibit dendrite growth and shield the Li anodes from corrosive reaction with LiPSs. Li‐S batteries containing BSLs‐Li anodes demonstrate excellent cycling over 1000 cycles at 1 C and simultaneously maintain a high coulombic efficiency of 98.2 %. Based on our experimental and theoretical results, we propose a strategy for inhibition of the shuttle effect that produces high stability Li‐S batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among various derivatives, ligand (I) is found to be the most efficient one to produce axially chiral organophosphorus compounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]