Search

How defects between layers of porous membranes affect their gas separation performance is still a problem. Here, we design three bilayer porous graphene membranes with different and representative defect torsion angles to regulate gas separation. We find from first-principles density functional theory calculations that the selectivity of the H 2 /CH 4 mixture can be varied by several orders of magnitude, of about 107:1 (E barrier/CH4 : 0.24, 0.18, 0.24 eV), 1019:1 (E barrier/CH4 : 0.49, 0.37, 0.47 eV) and 1012:1 (E barrier/CH4 : 0.42, 0.15, 0.45 eV), when going through the models of bi-H pore10 -20 x , bi-H pore10 -20 y and bi-H pore10 -47 y. Every barrier curve of gas penetration features three peaks. Additionally, molecular dynamics simulations show that the bilayer porous graphene membrane with a defect torsion angle of 20° along the x / y -axis possesses high H 2 /CH 4 separation ratio (up to 56–58:1) at room temperature after 5000 ps. The defect torsion angle of bilayer porous graphene improves the selectivity exponentially by regulating the three high penetration energy barriers of CH 4 , while the three energy barriers of H 2 are all very low. This work provides a new strategy to achieve highly selective separation of mixture by porous 2D-materials via regulating defect torsion angle between layers. [Display omitted] • The defect torsion angle is a powerful knob for regulating gas separation. • The potential energy curve for defect torsion angle model features three peaks. • Bi-H pore10 -20 y shows a high separation selectivity of 1019:1 for H 2 over CH 4. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Redox‐switchable catalysis is an efficient process to modulate the activity and/or selectivity in the polymerization with greater polymerization control and precision. In this work, the ferrocenyl‐functionalized diarylamines 4‐Fc‐C6H4NHC6H5 (HL1), 4‐Fc‐C6H4NH(2,6‐Me2C6H3) (HL2), and 2,6‐iPr2–4‐Fc‐C6H2NHC6H5 (HL3) were prepared and used as pro‐ligands to obtain the arylamido‐ligated rare‐earth metal complexes. Treatment of RE (CH2C6H4NMe2‐o)3 with 1 equiv. of HL1–3 in toluene afforded the ferrocenyl‐functionalized‐arylamido rare‐earth metal bis(o‐dimethylaminobenzyl) complexes L1Sc(CH2C6H4NMe2‐o)2 (1), L2RE(CH2C6H4NMe2‐o)2 (RE = Sc (2), Y (3)), and L3Y(CH2C6H4NMe2‐o)2 (4) in good yields. The compositions of these complexes were verified by NMR spectroscopy and elemental analysis. HL1 and HL3 were subjected to single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction. Electrochemical and NMR studies indicated that 4 could be oxidized with AgBF4 to generate the corresponding oxidized species 4ox, which could be facilely reduced back to 4 by use of CoCp2 as the reductant. The redox‐reversible ability between 4 and 4ox gave the chance to modulate the reactivity by switching the oxidized and reduced forms of one complex. For a controlled polymerization of ε‐caprolactone, 4 was active, and the polymerization process could be easily "on/off" switched by the redox reaction occurred on the ferrocenyl moiety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to solve the problem of detecting and finding microcracks on concrete structures, a method on aerial detection of concrete microcracks based on fluorescence selective excitation was proposed in this study. Concentration brightness relationship curves for fluorescent solutions were plotted based on experimental analysis results. Specialised fluorescent aqueous solutions for concrete microcrack detection were identified as excitation reagents by integrating with the fluorescence development patterns of each solution. Concrete specimens containing authentic microcracks were prepared, and fluorescence selective excitation detection tests for concrete microcracks were conducted. The morphology of microcrack development under fluorescent labelling was scrutinised, and the intervals of opening widths for the examined cracks were quantified. The findings demonstrate that concrete microcracks draw surrounding fluorescent solutions into the cracks through capillary adsorption. Under UV radiation, microcracks manifest dark bands in relation to the fluorescence attachment area due to the loss of fluorescent solution around them. This band elucidates the location and morphology of the marked crack, amplifying its visual representation. Furthermore, the fluorescence selective excitation UV detection method proves effective in identifying concrete microcracks with a width as small as 0.02 mm. The improved UAV equipment was used to carry out the aerial detection experiment on the actual concrete structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantitative structure-activity relationship modeling techniques are widely employed in diverse areas of chemistry, including environmental risk assessment of compounds and virtual screening of drugs. The modeling process entails optimizing the hyper parameters of the model and selecting appropriate molecular descriptors. It is a typical optimization problem with high-dimensional, nonlinear, continuous and discrete variables coexisting. To address this challenge, this paper proposes an enhanced snake optimizer with multiple strategies. First, new food emergence and temperature change mechanisms are introduced to balance the exploration and exploitation. Second, a death and regeneration mechanism is employed to enhance the algorithm's ability to escape from local optima. Third, new formulas for food searching, fighting, mating and eating are designed to simplify the complexity of the algorithm and improve its search efficiency and accuracy. Fourth, the performance of the proposed algorithm is evaluated using the CEC2017 benchmark functions, eight engineering cases with continuous variables, and six feature selection cases with discrete variables. Experimental results demonstrate that the algorithm significantly outperforms comparison algorithms. Finally, the algorithm was applied to quantitative structure-activity relationship modeling for environmental toxicity prediction. Compared with other algorithms, the algorithm can better configure hyper-parameters and select fewer and more effective features for environmental toxicity prediction model. It will be an effective tool to improve the performance of quantitative structure-activity relationship models. • New food emergence and temperature change mechanisms are presented to better balance exploration and exploitation. • Death and regeneration mechanism is adopted to avoid local optima. • The performance of the proposed algorithm is validated in CEC2017, engineering design and feature selection problems. • A joint optimization approach is proposed for quantitative structure-activity relationship modeling. • An environmental toxicity prediction model is obtained by jointly optimizing hyper-parameters and molecular descriptors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spiro-OMeTAD is a commonly used hole transport layer (HTL) in perovskite photodetectors (PDs) due to its high glass transition temperature, good solubility in organic solvents, amorphous nature, and better energy level alignment with perovskite layers, etc. However, the unoxidized Spiro-OMeTAD has low electrical conductivity and hole mobility, while air oxidation raises device performance and reproducibility issues. In this study, we successfully achieved early and rapid oxidation of Spiro-OMeTAD by introducing a quantitative amount of manganese dioxide (MnO 2), circumventing the challenges of air oxidation and greatly reducing device preparation time and cost. Additionally, MnO 2 -doped HTLs exhibited significantly improved PD performance, with specific detectivity (D*) increased from 4.36 × 1012 Jones to 4.14 × 1013 Jones. Unpackaged MnO 2 -doped PDs maintained about 81.4 % of the initial EQE value in the glove box after one month, showing remarkable stability. This work demonstrates the feasibility of using MnO 2 as an oxidizing agent for Spiro-OMeTAD and allows us to appreciate the potential of transition metal-based oxides in the oxidation of HTMs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Change detection (CD) stands out as a pivotal yet challenging task in the interpretation of remote sensing images. Significant developments have been witnessed, particularly with the rapid advancements in deep learning techniques. Nevertheless, challenges such as incomplete detection targets and unsmooth boundaries remain as most CD methods suffer from ineffective feature fusion. Therefore, this paper presents a multi-scale gated fusion network (MSGFNet) to improve the accuracy of CD results. To effectively extract bi-temporal features, the EfficientNetB4 model based on a Siamese network is employed. Subsequently, we propose a multi-scale gated fusion module (MSGFM) that comprises a multi-scale progressive fusion (MSPF) unit and a gated weight adaptive fusion (GWAF) unit, aimed at fusing bi-temporal multi-scale features to maintain boundary details and detect completely changed targets. Finally, we use the simple yet efficient UNet structure to recover the feature maps and predict results. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the MSGFNet, the LEVIR-CD, WHU-CD, and SYSU-CD datasets were utilized, and the MSGFNet achieved F1 scores of 90.86%, 92.46%, and 80.39% on the three datasets, respectively. Furthermore, the low computational costs and small model size have validated the superior performance of the MSGFNet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] Multi-dimensional design and the combination of multiple phases can effectively enhance the dielectric loss properties and multiple reflection effects of absorbers. Herein, a novel multi-dimensional microporous nanostructured composite, melamine sponge (MS) loaded puffed-rice biomass carbon (C) together with bimetallic carbide material Ni 3 ZnC 0.7 (Ni 3 ZnC 0.7 -MS/C) was synthesized by simple vacuum filtration and hydrothermal calcination. The result indicates that small Ni 3 ZnC 0.7 particles with little Ni doping uniformly decorated on the surfaces of the three-dimensional (3D) melamine sponge and puffed rice carbons. The Ni 3 ZnC 0.7 -MS/C composite mixed with paraffin (weight ratio of 1:2) exhibited the best electromagnetic wave (EMW) absorption performance, and the minimum reflection loss (RL min) value of the Ni 3 ZnC 0.7 -MS/C composite reaches −107.7 dB with a matching thickness of 2.78 mm and the maximum effective absorption bandwidth for RL below −10 dB (EAB max) is adjusted to 9.2 GHz at a matching thickness of 4.0 mm. The dipole polarization effect of the N doping and the different interfaces provided by the 3D structure of the MS carbon enhance the conduction loss and interface polarization, while the positive effects of eddy current and resonance caused by Ni 3 ZnC 0.7 effectively improve the microwave absorption performances. This melamine sponge–loaded bimetallic carbon composite exhibited a magnetic/dielectric loss combination, resulting in a high-performance absorber with lightweight, cost-effective and efficient properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Defoliation and accelerating ripening are important measures for cotton mechanization, and judging the time of defoliation and accelerating the ripening and harvest of cotton relies heavily on the boll opening rate, making it a crucial factor to consider. The traditional methods of cotton opening rate determination are time-consuming, labor-intensive, destructive, and not suitable for a wide range of applications. In this study, the relationship between the change rate of the vegetation index obtained by the unmanned aerial vehicle multi-spectrum and the ground boll opening rate was established to realize rapid non-destructive testing of the boll opening rate. The normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and green normalized difference vegetation index (GNDVI) had good prediction ability for the boll opening rate. NDVI in the training set had an R2 of 0.912 and rRMSE of 15.387%, and the validation set performance had an R2 of 0.929 and rRMSE of 13.414%. GNDVI in the training set had an R2 of 0.901 and rRMSE of 16.318%, and the validation set performance had an R2 of 0.909 and rRMSE of 15.225%. The accuracies of the models based on GNDVI and NDVI were within the acceptable range. In terms of predictive models, random forests achieve the highest accuracy in predictions. Accurately predicting the cotton boll opening rate can support decision-making for harvest and harvest aid spray timing, as well as provide technical support for crop growth monitoring and precision agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The puffed-rice derived carbon@Ni 3 ZnC 0.7 -400 showed RL min of −39.9 dB and the broadest absorption bandwidth of 9.9 GHz. Moreover, the composite showed good performance stability under 400 °C. [Display omitted] • Various puffed-rice derived carbon@Ni 3 ZnC 0.7 composites were prepared by chemical synthesis and annealing. • The puffed-rice derived carbon@Ni 3 ZnC 0.7 -400 mg showed best electrochemical performance. • It showed RL min of −39.9 dB and the broadest absorption bandwidth of 9.9 GHz. • The composite material can be stable at 400 °C and has good performance stability. With the rapidly development of radar detection technology and the increasingly complex application environment in military field and electromagnetic pollution surrounded by electron devices, increasingly demand is needed for electromagnetic wave absorbent materials with high absorption efficiency and thermal stability. Herein, a novel Ni 3 ZnC 0.7 /Ni loaded puffed-rice derived carbon (RNZC) composites are successfully prepared by vacuum filtration of metal-organic frameworks gel precursor together with layered porous-structure carbon and followed by calcination. The Ni 3 ZnC 0.7 particles uniformly decorate on the surface and pores of puffed-rice derived carbon. The puffed-rice derived carbon@Ni 3 ZnC 0.7 /Ni-400 mg (RNZC-4) sample displayed the best electromagnetic wave absorption (EMA) performances among the samples with different Ni 3 ZnC 0.7 loading. The minimum reflection loss (RL min) of the RNZC-4 composite reaches −39.9 dB at 8.6 GHz, while widest effective absorption bandwidth (EAB) of RNZC-4 for RL < −10 dB can reach 9.9 GHz (8.1–18 GHz, 1.49 mm). High porosity and large specific surface area promote the multiple reflection-absorption effect of the incident electromagnetic waves. The Ni 3 ZnC 0.7 nanoparticles provide a large number of interfaces and dipole factors. Analysis reveals that the RNZC-4 remained general stability under 400 °C with formation of a small amount of NiO and ZnO phases. Surprisingly, at such high temperature, the absorbing properties of the material are improved rather than decreased. Obviously, the material still maintains good electromagnetic wave performance at high temperature, and implies that the absorber shows good performance stability. Therefore, our preparations exhibit potential applications under extreme conditions and a new insight for the design and application of bimetallic carbides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concerning the vision of achieving carbon neutral and peak carbon goals, wind energy is extremely important as a renewable and clean energy source. However, existing research ignores the implicit features of the data preprocessing technique and the role of the internal mechanism of the optimization algorithm, making it difficult to achieve high-accuracy prediction. To fill this gap, this study proposes a wind speed forecasting model that combines data denoising techniques, optimization algorithms, and machine learning algorithms. The model discusses the important parameters in the data decomposition technique, determines the best parameter values by comparing the model's performance, and then decomposes and reconstructs the wind speed time series. In addition, a novel optimization algorithm is used to optimize the parameters of the machine learning algorithm using a waiting strategy and an aggressive strategy to improve the effectiveness of the model. Several control experiments were designed and implemented using 10-min wind speed data from three sites in Penglai, Shandong Province. Based on the numerical comparison results and the discussion of the proposed model, it is concluded that the developed model can obtain high accuracy and reliability of wind speed prediction in the short term relative to other comparative models and can have further applications in wind power plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The industrial robot combined with a 3D vision sensor can be flexibly applied to many measurement fields, and repeatability is one of the key performances. When the robot runs for a long period, internal heating and environmental interference are important factors to decrease the repeatability. The traditional solution is to calibrate the robot dynamically and compensate the error based on kinematic model. However, a high redundancy model will increase the measuring time and dynamic error. In this paper, a time-variant model is applied for dynamic error compensation of robot vision measurement system based on an iterative optimization method. Firstly, the initial kinematic model is constructed and calibration spheres are scanned from different poses at regular intervals. Then, the model is extended to full-redundant 42 parameters. After that, a final model with low redundancy is obtained based on a time-variant identification criterion and an iterative optimization method. Finally, the experimental results on the FANUC LR mate 200iD demonstrate that the proposed method can maintain the repeatability within 0.069 mm on an automotive sheet-metal part. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The composite thin film photodetector in this study combines the characteristics of MAPbI 3 material for near-ultraviolet-visible light and PDPP3T:PC71BM material for near-infrared light absorption, resulting in efficient light harvesting. To fabricate high-performance photodetectors, we optimized the photodetector structure, thin film fabrication process, solute concentration, and photoactive layer thickness. Finally, we obtained a photodetector with a broad spectral detection range in the near-ultraviolet-visible-near-infrared (UV–vis–NIR). The detectivity (D*) of our prepared UV–vis–NIR photodetector at 380 nm, 655 nm and 848 nm is 1.24 × 1013 jones, 2.13 × 1013 jones and 1.59 × 1013 jones, respectively. This is one of the best performances among polymer photodetectors reported so far and is comparable to commercial inorganic silicon-based PDs. In addition, the optimal composite thin film photodetector exhibits a fast response speed (t rise /t fall = 109/49 μs), a linear dynamic range of 100 dB, and excellent stability. Furthermore, the PDPP3T:PC71BM active layer can effectively suppress the leakage current in the reverse biased region, which enables the device to obtain an ultra-low dark current density (J dark) of 8.58 × 10−10 A cm−2. This study explores a new avenue for high-performance photodetectors based on mixtures of perovskites and low-bandgap photoactive polymers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The integrated system with the strapdown inertial navigation system (SINS) and the global positioning system (GPS) is the most popular navigation mode. It has been used in many navigation fields. Before the integrated system works properly, it must determine the initial attitude for SINS. In SINS/GPS-integrated systems, the navigational velocity can be used to carry out the initial alignment when the system is installed in the in-motion vehicle. However, the initial velocity errors are not considered in the current popular in-motion alignment methods for SINS/GPS integration. It is well-known that the initial velocity errors must exist when the initial velocity is obtained from the GPS outputs. In this paper, an improved method was proposed to solve this problem. By analyzing the original observation vectors in the in-motion coarse alignment method, an average operation was used to construct the intermediate vectors, and the new observation vector can be calculated by subtracting the intermediate vector from the original observation vector. Then, the initial velocity errors can be eliminated from the newly constructed observation vector. Thus, the interferences of the initial velocity errors for the initial alignment process can be suppressed. The simulation and field tests are designed to verify the performance of the proposed method. The tests results showed that the proposed method can obtain the higher accurate results than the current methods when the initial velocity is considered. Additionally, the results of the proposed method were similar to the current methods when the initial velocity errors were not considered. This shows that the initial velocity errors were eliminated effectively by the proposed method, and the alignment accuracy were not decreased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Although the cutaneous involvement of acromegaly has been recognized, the submacroscopical skin changes and the extent of skin thickening of patients remain unclear. Objectives: This study aimed at investigating the clinical cutaneous manifestations, dermoscopic features, and skin thickness revealed by high‐frequency ultrasound (HFUS) of acromegalic patients. Methods: A case‐control observational study was conducted. Patients with acromegaly and controls were prospectively included and received thorough cutaneous examinations to compare the macroscopical and dermoscopic features. The skin thickness measured by HFUS and its correlation with clinical data were also assessed. Results: Thirty‐seven and 26 patients from acromegalic and control group were included, respectively. Clinical skin manifestations were recorded in detail. Under dermoscopy, red structureless area (91.9% vs. 65.4%, p = 0.021), perifollicular orange halo (78.4% vs. 26.9%, p = 0.005), and follicular plug (70.3% vs. 3.9%, p = 0.001) in the facial area, and perifollicular pigmentation (91.9% vs. 23.1%), broom‐head hairs (83.8% vs. 3.9%), honeycomb‐like pigmentation (97.3% vs. 38.46%), widened dermatoglyphics (81.1% vs. 3.9%) at the extremities (p < 0.001) were more prevalent in acromegaly. The mean skin thickness was 4.10 ± 0.48 mm for acromegaly, and 3.55 ± 0.52 mm for controls (p < 0.001) but no correlation with disease duration, adenoma size, and hormone level was found in acromegaly. Conclusions: Submacroscopical skin changes under dermoscopy and skin thickness increase assessed by HFUS can provide clinicians with subtle evidences for early detection of acromegaly and objective parameters for accurate assessment of its skin involvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shoot stem cells act as the source of the aboveground parts of flowering plants. A precise regulatory basis is required to ensure that plant stem cells show the right status during the stages of proliferation, senescence and cell death. Over the past few decades, the genetic circuits controlling stem cell fate, including the regulatory pathways of establishment, maintenance and differentiation, have been largely revealed. However, the morphological changes and molecular mechanisms of the final stages of stem cells, which are represented by senescence and cell death, have been less studied. The senescence and death of shoot stem cells are under the control of a complex series of pathways that integrate multiple internal and external signals. Given the crucial roles of shoot stem cells in influencing plant longevity and crop yields, researchers have attempted to uncover details of stem cell senescence and death. Recent studies indicate that stem cell activity arrest is controlled by the FRUITFULL–APETALA2 pathway and the plant hormones auxin and cytokinin, while the features of senescent and dead shoot apical stem cells have also been described, with dynamic changes in reactive oxygen species implicated in stem cell death. In this review, we highlight the recent breakthroughs that have enriched our understanding of senescence and cell death processes in plant stem cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) is produced by ovarian granulosa cells (GCs)and plays a major role in inhibiting the recruitment of primordial follicles and reducing the sensitivity of growing follicles to follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH). Bone morphogenetic protein 6 (BMP6) has similar spatiotemporal expression to AMH during follicular development, suggesting that BMP6 may regulate AMH expression. However, the specific mechanism by which BMP6 regulates AMH expression remains unclear. The objectives of this study were to examine the molecular pathway by which BMP6 regulates AMH expression. The results showed that BMP6 promoted the secretion and expression of AMH in goat ovarian GCs. Mechanistically, BMP6 upregulated the expression of sex-determining region Y-box 9 (SOX9) and GATA-binding factor 4 (GATA4), which was associated with the transcriptional initiation of AMH. AMH expression was significantly decreased by GATA4 knockdown. Moreover, BMP6 treatment promoted the phosphorylation of SMAD1/5/8, whereas inhibiting the SMAD1/5/8 signaling pathway significantly abolished BMP6-induced upregulation of AMH and GATA4 expression. Interestingly, the activation of SMAD1/5/8 alone did not affect the expression of AMH or GATA4. The results suggested that BMP6 upregulated GATA4 through the SMAD1/5/8 signaling pathway, which in turn promoted AMH expression. • BMP6 increased AMH secretion. • BMP6 up-regulated mRNA of GATA4 and SOX9. • An inhibitor of SMAD1/5/8 signaling pathway (LDN-193189) abolished BMP6-induced up-regulation of AMH and GATA4 mRNA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Single crystal (SC) MAPbBr 3 and MAPbCl 3 perovskite are considered promising materials for fabricating high-performance photodetectors (PDs) due to their impressive optoelectronic properties and good chemical stability. Structural modification of PDs is the fundamental solution to improve performance. In this paper, we designed a simple structure diagram considering photoelectric properties and the possibility of epitaxial crystal growth. Then a solution height restriction method (SHR) was used to grow the crystal and make the internal secondary excitation feasible. X-ray rocking curves (XRC) of MAPbBr 3 -SHR SCs show the quality of crystal under this growth method is excellent. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements and Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) indicate element diffusion exists in the interface. Photoluminescence spectra (PL) and the photoelectric performance test have proved the existence and validity of the internal secondary excitation of crystals. Based on the above analysis, it was demonstrated that the inner MAPbCl 3 single-crystal enhances the optoelectronic performance of MAPbCl 3 -MAPbBr 3 crystals by the internal secondary excitation effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self-testing, which refers to device independent characterization of the state and the measurement, has been intensively studied in quantum information theory. One of the implicit assumptions in self-testing theorem is, measurement settings should be chosen randomly and independently by each party. The relaxation of this assumption potentially gives untrusted device providers the power to control the device with no quantum feature, even fake the quantum behavior by using the classical strategies within the device. In this paper, we analyze the effects of the reduced measurements independence on self-testing two-qubit entangled states based on the violation of Bell inequalities. By assuming adversary's capabilities, we show to achieve the maximum CHSH violation in this case, four different state-measurements preparations should be provided. Without run information one could not really self-test the underlying system in each run anymore, but it must be equal with one of four entangled systems up to local unitaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A flat-field correction method is proposed for multiple measured hyperspectral microscopy imaging in this paper. As the most crucial preprocessing process in quantitative microscopic analysis, flat-field correction solves the uneven illumination caused by vignetting in microscopic images, and guarantees the precision of spatial and spectral information in hyperspectral microscopic imaging. In order to carry out flat-field correction and extract uneven illumination among groups of hyperspectral microscopic data containing hundreds of bands simultaneously, two properties of vignetting have been exploited: i) low-rank property is reflected by little information contained in vignetting; ii) local smoothness can be observed as a gradual change in brightness of vignetting, which is typically equivalent to the sparseness in spatial frequency domain. Combining the two properties above, a novel Low Rank Smooth Flat-field Correction (LRSFC) model modified from common orthogonal basis extraction is proposed, while an optimization is solved based on alternating direction multiplier method (ADMM), obtaining a unique flat-field term with low-rank and smooth properties. Qualitative and quantitative experimental assessments indicate that LRSFC does not add extra cell texture to the extracted flat-field term, whose performance appears prior to other state-of-the-art flat-field correction methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding plant–microbe interactions could provide the basis for improved phytoremediation, microbial resource utilization, and secondary metabolite production. Rhizosphere bacterial communities are strongly influenced by abiotic factors such as soil nutrient availability and the composition of such communities exhibits differentiation under different host plants. In a deciduous broad-leaved forest in Anhui Province, eastern China, the rhizospheric bacteria of three different tree species of the Rosaceae family (Sorbus alnifolia, Cerasus serrulata, and Photinia beauverdiana) were studied, with the bacteria of the bulk soil as controls. Bacterial community composition was determined using the Illumina platform for high-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA genes. The results showed that the bacterial community composition varied between rhizospheric and bulk soils, and dominant bacterial phyla as Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Acidobacteria were found in both soils. Information on predicted functional genes and pathways revealed significant differences between rhizospheric and bulk soil bacteria. It provided ample evidence for the different metabolic characteristics of the rhizosphere bacterial communities of the three tree species. Electrical conductivity (22.72%), total phosphorus concentration (21.89%), and urease activity (22%) were the main drivers for changes in the composition of the rhizosphere bacterial communities from the three tree species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A large number of metalworking fluids in industrial manufacturing processes generate high-concentrations of oil mist pollution, which is a typical semi-volatile aerosol and is generally composed of liquid particles and volatile gas components. Long-term exposure to oil mist pollution brings a series of occupational diseases to workers. For the semi-volatile aerosol, the traditional filter sampling method will lead to particle volatilization, which underestimates the concentration of particles and overestimates the concentration of gas. Therefore, this study combined the advantages of the electrostatic method and the Tenax tube adsorption method, to develop a more accurate measurement technology. First, a dichotomous sampler that could efficiently separate the gas and liquid phases of aerosols was optimized through a numerical model, which was validated by literature results. Next, a test table for oil mist sampling was built with a sampler which was fabricated by 3D printing, and the performance of the sampler was evaluated. The results show that the sampling technique can separate the gas and particulate phases of the oil mist efficiently and accurately. Compared with the traditional single sampling methods, the new sampler can better determine the true concentration of oil mist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whole Slide Imaging and Hyperspectral Microscopic Imaging provide great quality data with high spatial and spectral resolution for histopathology. Existing Hyperspectral Whole Slide Imaging systems combine the advantages of the techniques above, thus providing rich information for pathological diagnosis. However, it cannot avoid the problems of slow acquisition speed and mass data storage demand. Inspired by the spectral reconstruction task in computer vision and remote sensing, the Swin-Spectral Transformer U-Net (SSTU) has been developed to reconstruct Hyperspectral Whole Slide images (HWSis) from multiple Hyperspectral Microscopic images (HMis) of small Field of View and Whole Slide images (WSis). The Swin-Spectral Transformer (SST) module in SSTU takes full advantage of Transformer in extracting global attention. Firstly, Swin Transformer is exploited in space domain, which overcomes the high computation cost in Vision Transformer structures, while it maintains the spatial features extracted from WSis. Furthermore, Spectral Transformer is exploited to collect the long-range spectral features in HMis. Combined with the multi-scale encoder-bottleneck-decoder structure of U-Net, SSTU network is formed by sequential and symmetric residual connections of SSTs, which reconstructs a selected area of HWSi from coarse to fine. Qualitative and quantitative experiments prove the performance of SSTU in HWSi reconstruction task superior to other state-of-the-art spectral reconstruction methods. • Hyperspectral Whole Slide Imaging Reconstruction network trained by WSIs and Hyperspectral images within small FOVs. • HWSI Reconstruction within new collected WSI and trained SSTU network. • Spectral and Swin Transformer based U-Net structure. • Solving the collection speed and storage space restriction of real HWSI systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the phase transformation properties of C/Sb composite multilayer films based on flexible substrates were studied. After different times of bending, the flexible films can still achieve amorphous to crystalline phase transition, but the crystalline resistance increases to different degrees. When the bending times are less than 15000 times, the deformation makes the grain fine, the surface of the film tends to be flat, the surface electric field effect is weakened, and the resistance drift is reduced. When the bending times are higher than 15000 times, cracks begin to appear in the film, and the cracks' depth and width increase with the bending times. The distribution of C and Sb elements at the crack was analyzed by scanning electronic microscope energy spectrum. The phase change memory device of C/Sb composite multilayer film based on flexible PEEK substrate has been made, and the rapid reversible resistance transition (∼10 ns) in various complex states has been successfully achieved. This research provides a new idea for flexible information storage. • The addition of carbon increases the phase transition temperature and improves the thermal stability of pure antimony. • Complete the phase transition in the case of external bending and internal bending. • After 80,000 bending, the phase transition can still be completed, showing good bending resistance. • The device made of composite material realizes the SET-RESET process at the pulse width of 10ns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thermosensitive genic male sterile (TGMS) wheat lines are the core of two-line hybrid systems. Understanding the mechanism that regulates male sterility in TGMS wheat lines is helpful for promoting wheat breeding. Several studies have obtained information regarding the mechanisms associated with male sterility at the transcriptional level, but it is not clear how the post-transcriptional process of alternative splicing might contribute to controlling male sterility. In this study, we performed genome-wide analyses of alternative splicing during the meiosis stage in TGMS line BS366 using PacBio and RNA-Seq hybrid sequencing. Cytological observations indicated that cytoskeleton assembly in pollen cells, calcium deposition in pollen and tapetal cells, and vesicle transport in tapetal cells were deficient in BS366. According to our cytological findings, 49 differentially spliced genes were isolated. Moreover, 25 long non-coding RNA targets and three bHLH transcription factors were identified. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis detected four candidate differentially spliced genes that had strong co-relation with the seed setting percentage, which is the direct representation of male sterility in BS366. In this study, we obtained comprehensive data regarding the alternative splicing-mediated regulation of male sterility in TGMS wheat. The candidates identified may provide the molecular basis for an improved understanding of male sterility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In monocarpic plants, stem cells are fated to die. However, the potential mechanism of stem cell death has remained elusive. Here, we reveal that the levels of two forms of reactive oxygen species (ROS), superoxide anion free radical ( O 2 · − ) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), show dynamic changes in the shoot apex during the plant life cycle of Arabidopsis thaliana. We found that the level of O 2 · − decreased and disappeared at four weeks after bolting (WAB), while H2O2 appeared at 3 WAB and showed a burst at 5 WAB. The timing of dynamic changes in O 2 · − and H2O2 was delayed for approximately three weeks in clv3-2, which has a longer lifespan. Moreover, exogenous application of H2O2 inhibited the expression of the stem cell determinant WUSCHEL (WUS) and promoted the expression of the developmentally programmed cell death (dPCD) marker gene ORESARA 1 (ORE1). These results indicate that H2O2 triggers an important signal inducing dPCD in stem cells. Given that O 2 · − plays roles in maintaining WUS expression and stem cell activity, we speculate that the dynamic shift from O 2 · − to H2O2 in the shoot apex results in stem cell death. Our findings provide novel insights for understanding ROS-mediated regulation during plant stem cell death. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fish otolith δ15N (δ15Noto) is a demonstrated source of information of dietary history for marine fish as it is available in otolith archives and sedimentary deposits unlike white muscle tissue (WMT). WMT and stomach content data are insufficient for trophic level (TL) data of past fishes which is important for the changes of marine fishery resources over long time scales. To determine the correlation between δ15Noto and fish WMT δ15N (δ15Nwmt) and the feasibility of using δ15Noto in characterizing the TLs of marine fishes, we conducted nitrogen stable isotope analysis (SIA) in the otolith and WMT of 36 marine fish species sampled from the Yellow Sea and northern East China Sea in 2011–2014. Both δ15Noto and δ15Nwmt were analyzed using an elemental analyzer coupled with an isotope ratio mass spectrometer (EA-IRMS). Multiple otoliths were combined to make each otolith measurement and were analyzed as-is without a carbonate dissolution pre-processing step. δ15Noto and δ15Nwmt comparisons for species in the Yellow Sea and northern East China Sea are currently lacking and would be helpful for both regional studies and for increasing the number of species for which δ15Noto and δ15Nwmt have been compared. Additionally, to determine the relative accuracy of trophic level calculated using δ15Noto, we compared TL calculated from δ15Noto to traditional trophic level metrics calculated using δ15Nwmt. The results showed a positive and highly significant correlation (R=0.780, P<0.001) between δ15Noto and δ15Nwmt. Trophic level estimation using WMT (TLwmt) and otolith (TLoto) showed congruence in our study, which is not entirely surprising given that δ15Noto was regressed against δ15Nwmt and the resulting regression coefficient was used to convert δ15Noto to δ15Nwmt prior to calculating TLoto. This conversion was required in order to be consistent with previous δ15Nwmt-based calculations of TL for comparison. TLoto calculations resulted in TL values that were largely within 5%–10% of TL values calculated with δ15Nwmt. Our findings show that δ15Noto is a feasible technique for characterizing the TLs of marine fish and can also assist in food web and marine ecosystem studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anonymous entanglement refers to the construction of entangled channel between two parties among the quantum network, while keeping the identities of these two parties unknown to other parties. A recent work of [A. Unnikrishnan et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 122, 240501 (2019)] proposed the first anonymous entanglement protocol in the presence of malicious parties and untrusted source. However, the correctness of the original protocol will be threatened, considering that the generated entangled channel can be destroyed by malicious parties without being detected. In this paper, we propose an improved protocol, which ensures the anonymity of the parties and the correctness of shared entanglement channel simultaneously. Furthermore, we consider the noisy measurement in the security analysis, which makes our protocol practical and rigorous. Based on the security analysis, genuine multipartite entanglement could be certified in the untrusted quantum network with our protocol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vanishing point (VP) detection in road images plays an important role in driving scenes for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous vehicles. Because it is still a challenging problem to obtain expensive annotated datasets in deep-learning-based supervised training, in this paper, we propose a semi-supervised VP detection method in road images. Our proposed model first extracts high-resolution VP heatmaps of the road images by fusing multi-level and global–local contrastive learning. Then, we apply the π model as a semi-supervised learning framework and feed the whole global network with a small number of training samples to detect VPs. In the experiment, we used Kong's dataset for the unstructured road test and the KITTI-VP dataset for the structured road test. Compared with the state-of-the-art methods, our model achieved high accuracy and robustness in road VP detection. • As the first attempt at self-supervised VP detection, our approach uses contrastive learning for self supervised training, directly extracting road features without manually labeled data and applying the semi-supervised π -model for training with a small amount of labeled data. • Our approach combines multi-level and global–local feature extraction to improve the VP detection ability. • The proposed approach can solve the problem of both unstructured and structured road VP detection in complex road scenes, including different obstacles, lighting, extreme weather, shapes, etc. • We have built a structured road VP detection dataset KITTI-VP, including 6500 road images from the KITTI dataset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Endo-hydrolytic activity of free dextranase is transformed to exo -hydrolytic after covalent immobilization. • Noncovalent immobilization of dextranase maintains its endo -hydrolysis behavior. • Matching target products generation and separation efficiency can control product molecular weight and mitigate fouling. • A desirable enzyme membrane reactor requires highly active enzyme, strong internal mass transfer and high permselective membrane. • Immobilization is not necessary in enzyme membrane reactor if enzyme has good shear resistance and acceptable stability. Enzyme membrane reactor (EMR) provides an effective strategy for controlling molecular weight (Mw) of oligodextrans. However, the synergistic effect between dextran hydrolysis and product separation as well as continuous operation stability remains still unclear. We observed that covalently immobilized dextranase exhibited more obvious exo -hydrolysis behavior compared to free enzymes probably due to enzyme conformational alterations. Using non-covalently immobilized enzyme, suitable ultrafiltration membrane, optimal substrate/enzyme ratio and matched permeate flux, the yield of the target product reached 62.8%. However, the non-covalently immobilized dextranase exhibited reduced hydrolytic activity and more obvious membrane fouling (caused by high-Mw dextran). When free dextranase with high activity was used together with suitable permeate flux and high shear rate, the yield increased to 72.0%. The obtained EMR maintained stable for 8 h with slight fouling formation because enzymatic hydrolysis and membrane separation were well matched. The polydispersity index of the target product reached 1.3 (analytical grade) following diafiltration purification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a novel supporting approach, performance-based contracting (PBC) ties the service supplier's compensation to the performance outcome of the system owned by the customer. It enables the service supplier to implement an effective maintenance and spare parts inventory policy so as to improve system performance. In this paper, we propose a principal–agent modeling framework for deteriorating production systems operating under PBC, with the objective of maximizing the expected utilities of both stakeholders. The customer (principal) offers PBC with a fixed payment plus performance incentive form to the service supplier (agent), who in turn implements a condition-based maintenance (CBM) policy based on the system prognostic condition at periodic inspections, and sets an investment level of spare parts inventory. Considering the partial observability of the service supplier's actions, the optimal combination of performance incentive in PBC provided by the customer, and the joint CBM and spare parts inventory policy implemented by the service supplier, are determined through a two-stage and heuristic approach. Finally, a numerical example and sensitivity analysis based on a real-world scenario are presented to illustrate and verify the applicability of the proposed model. • Investigate the performance-based contracting (PBC) for degrading production systems. • Analyze condition-based maintenance (CBM) and spare parts inventory policy. • Propose a principal–agent model and a two-stage solution approach. • Determine optimal PBC incentive, joint CBM and spare parts inventory policy. • Verify the applicability of the proposed model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transformer overheating faults can lead to an increase in the transformer oil-dissolved methane content, therefore, the high-precision in-situ detection of oil-dissolved methane is significant for early-stage transformer fault diagnosis. However, traditional methods can not achieve in-situ monitoring, and there is a shortage of methane-sensitive materials. To enable high-sensitivity in-situ detection of transformer oil-dissolved methane, this paper proposed a methane sensor based on the evanescent field of the non-adiabatic tapered optical fiber (NATOF), utilizing the specific adsorption of cryptophane-A to methane. A NATOF with a waist diameter of 8.17 µm and length of 8 mm was fabricated using the melt-drawn tapering method, and a polyacrylate/cryptophane-A film was deposited on the surface of the NATOF by drip-coating method. The sensor's response to transformer oil-dissolved methane was experimentally investigated. The results showed that the sensor exhibited a detection sensitivity of 9.8 pm/ppm for transformer oil-dissolved methane, with a detection limit of 2.35 ppm. Furthermore, the sensor's excellent reversibility was validated through cyclic experiments. The sensor proposed in this paper can realize the in-situ detection of transformer oil-dissolved methane. • The specificity of methane absorption is ensured by employing Cryptophane-A as the methane-sensitive material. • A compact and highly sensitive methane sensor based on non-adiabatic tapered fiber was developed. • High-sensitivity in-situ detection of transformer oi-dissolved methane was achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drug-induced liver injury (DILI) is the major cause of clinical trial failure and postmarketing withdrawals of approved drugs. It is very expensive and time-consuming to evaluate hepatotoxicity using animal or cell-based experiments in the early stage of drug development. In this study, an in silico model based on the joint decision-making strategy was developed for DILI assessment using a relatively large dataset of 2608 compounds. Five consensus models were developed with PaDEL descriptors and PubChem, Substructure, Estate, and Klekota–Roth fingerprints, respectively. Submodels for each consensus model were obtained through joint optimization. The parameters and features of each submodel were optimized jointly based on the hybrid quantum particle swarm optimization (HQPSO) algorithm. The application domain (AD) based on the frequency-weighted and distance (FWD)-based method and Tanimoto similarity index showed the wide AD of the qualified consensus models. A joint decision-making model was integrated by the qualified consensus models, and the overwhelming majority principle was used to improve the performance of consensus models. The application scope narrowing caused by the overwhelming majority principle was successfully solved by joint decision-making. The proposed model successfully predicted 99.2% of the compounds in the test set, with an accuracy of 80.0%, a sensitivity of 83.9, and a specificity of 73.3%. For an external validation set containing 390 compounds collected from DILIrank, 98.2% of the compounds were successfully predicted with an accuracy of 79.9%, a sensitivity of 97.1%, and a specificity of 66.0%. Furthermore, 25 privileged substructures responsible for DILI were identified from Substructure, PubChem, and Klekota–Roth fingerprints. These privileged substructures can be regarded as structural alerts in hepatotoxicity evaluation. Compared with the main published studies, our method exhibits certain advantage in data size, transparency, and standardization of the modeling process and accuracy and credibility of prediction results. It is a promising tool for virtual screening in the early stage of drug development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Doping dopants are one of the most effective methods which can improve crystallinity, reduce traps, adjust bandgap width of perovskite films and obtain efficient perovskite photodetectors. Chlorine-based dopants have been reported in many literatures, yet their role still remains a mystery. In our study, a typical solution-processed organic–inorganic hybrid perovskite material CH3NH3PbI3 (MAPbI3) was synthesized as the absorption layer for photodetectors and methylammonium chloride (MACl) was selected as dopant. By tuning the incorporation ratios of MACl in the MAPbI3 precursor solutions, bandgap width and trap densities of the MAPbI3 films can be effectively reduced. The crystallinity and morphology of perovskite films were obviously improved, and the photoelectric properties of photodetectors were further enhanced. Ultimately, the optimal device was obtained when the incorporation ratio of MACl reached 1.0 wt%. External quantum efficiency (EQE) of the optimal device exhibited up to 81%, nearly 30% higher than EQE of the device without incorporation. A lower dark current density (Jd) of 8.4 × 10–8 A cm−2 at − 0.1 V bias was obtained because of low trap densities, moreover, due to the suppressed Jd, the optimal device operating at room temperature showed a specific detectivity (D*) of 2.71 × 1012 Jones and a linear dynamic range (LDR) of 104 dB, higher than the D* of 7.03 × 1011 Jones and the LDR of 91 dB of the device without incorporation, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

NiFe2O4‐based ceramic inert anodes for aluminum electrolysis doped with various TiN nanoparticles were prepared by a two‐step cold‐pressing sintering process to investigate how TiN affected the sintering behavior and properties of the composites. The differential scanning calorimetry‐thermogravimetry (DSC‐TG), X‐ray diffraction (XRD), and microstructure analysis results indicated that the Ti and N were evenly distributed in the NiFe2O4 matrix to form a solid solution. The maximum linear shrinkage and linear shrinkage rate were enhanced with the increase of TiN nanoparticles contents, and the sintering activation energy of initial stage was lowered from 382.63 to 279.58 kJ mol−1 with the TiN nanoparticles additive range from 0 to 9 wt%. When the content of TiN nanoparticles was 7 wt%, the relative density, bending strength, and elastic modulus reached their maximum values of 97.24%, 73.88 MPa, and 3.77 GPa, respectively, whereas the minimum static corrosion rate of NiFe2O4‐based ceramic of 0.00114 g cm−2 h−1 was obtained, mainly attributed to the relatively dense and stable microstructure. The electrical conductivity of NiFe2O4‐based ceramics presented a clear ascending trend with increasing TiN nanoparticles content and elevated temperature, attributed to the increased concentration and migration rate of carrier. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The clinical manifestations of early mycosis fungoides (eMF) are non‐specific and similar to inflammatory skin diseases. High‐frequency ultrasonography (HF‐US) can show small structure of skin lesions and is helpful to provide information objectively. Materials and Methods: A case‐control study was designed in 62 patients with multiple erythemas and scales, including 18 eMF and 44 age‐matched patients with eczema (EC) or psoriasis vulgaris (PsV). The most significant lesions were collected by 50 MHz HF‐US. The assessment of ultrasound included epidermal morphology and thickness, infiltration depth, subepidermal low echogenic band (SLEB) boundary and thickness, internal echo, and number of linear acoustic shadows (LAS) behind the epidermis. The ultrasonic characteristics of eMF, EC, and PsV lesions were analyzed. Results: Epidermal thickness (P <.001, sensitivity 88.9%, specificity 75.0%) and SLEB thickness (P = 0.006, sensitivity 55.6%, specificity 90.9%) were useful for differential diagnosis of eMF and PsV/EC. When eMF was diagnosed by epidermal thickness < 0.2375 mm, the AUC was 0.845, which had the highest diagnostic efficacy among all ultrasound signs. In addition, compared with eMF and EC, the LAS number of PsV lesions was the highest and statistically significant. Conclusion: The results showed that HF‐US could provide some extra information in identification of eMF, EC, and PsV and has potential clinical value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The electrostatic suspension control system (ESCS) is the core component of the inertial sensor in space gravitational wave detection. To adapt to the changes in orbit environment and satellite platform vibration, the test mass stable is kept in the center of the electrode cage, the ESCS requires high-precision parameters calibration and high-stability verification of the control system. This paper studied the ESCS method, an adaptive controller with variable preload was proposed, and the stability conditions of the control system are given to provide a theoretical basis for the design of the controller. The structure and working principle of the system were also introduced. The electrostatic control system model was derived, and the performance of adaptive preload controller was analyzed. Finally, a simulation was conducted under different disturbance conditions. The results show that the control method proposed in this paper can achieve stable control in difference disturbance, and the preload voltage will change with the conditions. Compared with the traditional fixed preload method, we can see that our method has significantly improved the stability margin and the control quality during the process of dynamic response. This paper provides a solid foundation for the future exploration of space gravitational waves in China and clears the optimization direction for the next step. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the field of robotic automation, achieving high position accuracy in robotic vision systems (RVSs) is a pivotal challenge that directly impacts the efficiency and effectiveness of industrial applications. This study introduces a comprehensive modeling approach that integrates kinematic and joint compliance factors to significantly enhance the position accuracy of a system. In the first place, we develop a unified kinematic model that effectively reduces the complexity and error accumulation associated with the calibration of robotic systems. At the heart of our approach is the formulation of a joint compliance model that meticulously accounts for the intricacies of the joint connector, the external load, and the self-weight of robotic links. By employing a novel 3D rotary laser sensor for precise error measurement and model calibration, our method offers a streamlined and efficient solution for the accurate integration of vision systems into robotic operations. The efficacy of our proposed models is validated through experiments conducted on a FANUC LR Mate 200iD robot, showcasing notable improvements in the position accuracy of robotic vision system. Our findings contribute a framework for the calibration and error compensation of RVS, holding significant potential for advancements in automated tasks requiring high precision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Guided by the conviction that "Clear waters and green mountains are as good as mountains of gold and silver", China highly values sustainable economic and social development through innovation and Internet technology. Regression analysis is performed to examine the impact of corporate information disclosure environment proxied by the Internet penetration rate on innovation. Leveraging from the city-level Internet penetration rates data in China from 2003 to 2017, this study gets the following findings: (1) Firms headquartered in cities with high Internet penetration rates tend to be more innovative, i.e. they invest more in research and development. (2) This result is supported by several robustness checks, such as alternative measures of key variables, alternative empirical specifications, and tests to mitigate identification concerns. (3) "financing constraint" and "tolerance of innovation failure" are two channels that influence firms' innovative endeavors. (4) Additional tests show that Internet penetration rates facilitate a firm's output efficiency of innovation input, total factor productivity, and human capital environment for innovation. The above conclusions not only enrich the relevant literature on the influencing factors of corporate innovation from the perspective of the firm information disclosure environment but also provide an important reference for further understanding the positive role of macro technology development on social and economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developmentally programmed cell death (dPCD) is a tightly controlled biological process. In recent years, vital roles of dPCD on regulating floral organ growth and development have been reported. It is well known that flower is an essential organ for reproduction and a turning point of plants' life cycle. Hence, uncovering the complex molecular networks which regulates dPCD processes in floral organs is utmost important. So far, our understanding of dPCD on floral organ growth and development is just starting. Herein, we summarize the important factors that involved in the tapetal degeneration, pollen tube rupture, receptive synergid cell death, nucellar degradation, and antipodal cell degradation. Meanwhile, the known factors that involved in transmitting tract formation and self-incompatibility-induced PCD were also introduced. Furthermore, the genes that associated with anther dehiscence and petal senescence and abscission were reviewed as well. The functions of various types of factors involved in floral dPCD processes are highlighted principally. The regulatory panorama described here can provide us some insights about flower-specific dPCD process. • Developmentally programmed cell death (dPCD) plays essential roles in floral organ growth, development, and senescence. • dPCD process was observed in nine types of floral organs. • Regulatory networks of dPCD in floral organs were delineated in this review. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multiple stretchability has never been demonstrated as supercapacitors because the hydrogel used cannot fully recover after being heavily deformed. Now, a highly reversibly stretchable all‐polymer supercapacitor was fabricated using a developed double network hydrogel (DN hydrogel) as electrolyte and pure polypyrrole (PPy) as electrode. The DN hydrogel provides excellent mechanical properties, which can be stretched up to 500 % many times and then restore almost 100 % of the original length. To fabricate the fully recoverable stretchable supercapacitor, we annealed a free‐standing pure conducting polymer film as electrode so that the electrodes induced retardance is minimized. The as‐fabricated DN hydrogel/pure conducting polymer supercapacitors can be perfectly recovered from 100 % strain with almost no residual deformation left and the electrochemical performance can be maintained even after 1000 stretches (but not bending). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multiple stretchability has never been demonstrated as supercapacitors because the hydrogel used cannot fully recover after being heavily deformed. Now, a highly reversibly stretchable all‐polymer supercapacitor was fabricated using a developed double network hydrogel (DN hydrogel) as electrolyte and pure polypyrrole (PPy) as electrode. The DN hydrogel provides excellent mechanical properties, which can be stretched up to 500 % many times and then restore almost 100 % of the original length. To fabricate the fully recoverable stretchable supercapacitor, we annealed a free‐standing pure conducting polymer film as electrode so that the electrodes induced retardance is minimized. The as‐fabricated DN hydrogel/pure conducting polymer supercapacitors can be perfectly recovered from 100 % strain with almost no residual deformation left and the electrochemical performance can be maintained even after 1000 stretches (but not bending). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A novel BiOBr/BiOCOOH p-n heterojunction photocatalyst was prepared for the first time. • The composites exhibited significantly enhanced activity for Levofloxacin degradation. • The heterojunctions promote the photo-generated carriers transmission and separation. BiOBr/BiOCOOH p-n heterojunction photocatalysts were fabricated via a two-step solvothermal method. The photocatalytic performance of as-prepared heterojunctions was evaluated under visible light for the degradation of Levofloxacin. The composite samples exhibited significantly accelerative degradation rate compared to both pure catalysts (BiOBr and BiOCOOH). Besides, the apparent rate constant of the optimal sample for Levofloxacin degradation was 1.7 and 144.8 times higher than that of pure BiOBr and BiOCOOH. The improved activity can be attributed to the high charge separation efficiency. Furthermore, quenching experiment was also carried out. The results indicated that the photogenerated hole (h+) and superoxide radical (O 2 −) were the dominant reactive radicals responsible for the degradation of Levofloxacin. Cycling test also reveals that the sample owned good stability. In the end, a possible photocatalytic degradation mechanism was proposed. This work would provide a good example for the design and preparation of bismuth based p-n heterojunction composite photocatalysts with high visible-light-responsive performance for environment purification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• An accelerated reliability growth model is developed. • The approach incorporates usage heterogeneity and failure learning effect. • Cost-based optimization model is proposed. • Optimal reliability growth test program is derived. • Applicability of the approach is verified through a numerical example. For products sold with a two-dimensional warranty policy, the warranty servicing cost can be reduced through reliability growth during development. This paper investigates a multi-phase reliability growth test program for repairable products with independent competing failure modes. Considering a test-find-test scheme, an accelerated reliability growth model is developed, allowing different failure modes having distinct accelerated relationships. Taking usage heterogeneity and mode-specific failure learning effect into account, the reliability growth is achieved through periodic fixes on a phase-by-phase basis. From the manufacturer's perspective, the main objective is to achieve the optimal trade-off between the warranty cost and the reliability growth test cost by determining the optimal test program that minimizes the expected total cost per product sold, ensuring that the pre-specified reliability growth requirement is met. Assuming the tri-Weibull product failure distribution, we illustrate the proposed optimization model numerically and study the effect of relevant parameters on the optimal reliability growth test program. The results show that the proposed approach yields significant cost reduction and reliability improvement for the examples studied in this paper, especially when the manufacturer possesses high failure learning ability, and the product has expensive repair cost per a warranty failure and extensive warranty coverage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To assess the efficacy and side effects of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in the management of triple negative breast cancer (TNBC). Methods: Full text data on randomized controlled trial (RCT) of TNBC treated with TCM or its combination with Western Medicine (WM) were retrieved from the Chinese biomedical literature database, Chinese periodicals, Chinese Science-Technology periodicals and VP and PubMed. The qualities of the RCTs were evaluated. Revman 5.3 was used to conduct the meta-analysis. Results: A total of 16 RCTs involving 1186 patients were included. Analysis of these RCTs showed significant differences in total effectiveness between WM and TCM or combination of TCM with WM {(OR = 2.63, 95 % CI = 1.37, 5.03), test of the combined effect (Z = 2.91, p ˂ 0.005)}. Conclusion: The results show that TCM is effective in the treatment TNBC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The performance of free-space laser communication (FSLC) is greatly decreased by horizontal atmospheric turbulence. Adaptive optics is used to overcome horizontal turbulence. This study investigated the effect of the 3 dB bandwidth of an adaptive optics system (AOS) on FSLC performance by using power-in-bucket (PIB) method, which considers the effect of receiving aperture and then, can accurately evaluate of the effect of system bandwidth on the communication performance. A 9 km horizontal maritime link experiment was performed through adaptive correction to validate the theoretical analysis. Results indicate that the effect of system bandwidth can be accurately evaluated using PIB method. This work provides a basis for designing and evaluating AOSs for FSLC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nonribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs) are multi-modular enzymes involved in the biosynthesis of natural products. Bacillamide C was synthesized by Bacillus atrophaeus C89. A nonribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS) cluster found in the genome of B. atrophaeus C89 was hypothesized to be responsible for the biosynthesis of bacillamide C using alanine and cysteine as substrates. Here, the structure analysis of adenylation domains based on homologous proteins with known crystal structures indicated locations of the substrate-binding pockets. Molecular docking suggested alanine and cysteine as the potential substrates for the two adenylation domains in the NRPS cluster. Furthermore, biochemical characterization of the purified recombinant adenylation domains proved that alanine and cysteine were the optimum substrates for the two adenylation domains. The results provided the in vitro evidence for the hypothesis that the two adenylation domains in the NRPS of B. atrophaeus C89 preferentially select alanine and cysteine, respectively, as a substrate to synthesize bacillamide C. Furthermore, this study on substrates selectivity of adenylation domains provided basis for rational design of bacillamide analogs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growing market for second-hand products facilitates the acceptance of warranty provided by dealers to promote sales and provide assurance for customers. Offering warranty results in additional cost due to warranty claims servicing. Such cost can be reduced through upgrade and preventive maintenance (PM) that improve the reliability of the product. Reliability improvement is worthwhile only if the cost incurred is less than the reduction in the warranty cost. For repairable second-hand products sold with a two-dimensional warranty, this paper investigates the worthiness of reliability improvement from the dealer’s viewpoint. A new modeling approach is proposed and studied, allowing the same product to have distinct degradation processes due to customer usage intensity variation. The effects of customer usage heterogeneity, upgrade and PM actions on the product reliability and the corresponding expected cost to the dealer are characterized. Optimal reliability program including the upgrade degree and PM policy is derived so that the expected total cost of the second-hand product to the dealer can be minimized. Numerical examples are utilized to illustrate the applicability of the proposed model. In addition, some practical implications from a sensitive analysis regarding the important parameters are elaborated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metabolism refers to a series of orderly chemical reactions used to maintain life activities in organisms. In healthy individuals, metabolism remains within a normal range. However, specific diseases can lead to abnormalities in the levels of certain metabolites, causing them to either increase or decrease. Detecting these deviations in metabolite levels can aid in diagnosing a disease. Traditional biological experiments often rely on a lot of manpower to do repeated experiments, which is time consuming and labor intensive. To address this issue, we develop a deep learning model based on the auto-encoder and non-negative matrix factorization named as MDA-AENMF to predict the potential associations between metabolites and diseases. We integrate a variety of similarity networks and then acquire the characteristics of both metabolites and diseases through three specific modules. First, we get the disease characteristics from the five-layer auto-encoder module. Later, in the non-negative matrix factorization module, we extract both the metabolite and disease characteristics. Furthermore, the graph attention auto-encoder module helps us obtain metabolite characteristics. After obtaining the features from three modules, these characteristics are merged into a single, comprehensive feature vector for each metabolite–disease pair. Finally, we send the corresponding feature vector and label to the multi-layer perceptron for training. The experiment demonstrates our area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.975 and area under the precision–recall curve of 0.973 in 5-fold cross-validation, which are superior to those of existing state-of-the-art predictive methods. Through case studies, most of the new associations obtained by MDA-AENMF have been verified, further highlighting the reliability of MDA-AENMF in predicting the potential relationships between metabolites and diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Observational studies have provided evidence of a correlation between alterations in gut microbiota composition and infertility. However, concrete proof supporting the causal relationship is still lacking. We performed a Mendelian randomization study to assess whether genetically gut microbiota composition influences the risk of infertility. The genetic data pertaining to gut microbiota were obtained from a genome-wide association study meta-analysis, which was conducted among 24 cohorts (18,340 participants) from the international MiBioGen consortium. By the primary method of assessing causality, we have identified 2 family taxa, 2 genus taxa, and 1 order taxa that were linked to a low risk of male infertility, while 1 genus taxa were associated with a high risk of male infertility. Furthermore, we have discovered 6 genus taxa, 1 phylum taxa, 1 class taxa, 1 order taxa, and 1 family taxa that were associated with a low risk of female infertility, while 1 genus taxa were linked to a high risk of female infertility. This study successfully confirmed that there was a causal link between gut microbiota and infertility. The identification of these specific strains through genetic prediction offers a valuable insight for early diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of infertility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most patients diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) present with hallmark features of airway mucus hypersecretion, including cough and expectoration. Airway mucus function as a native immune system of the lung that severs to trap particulate matter and pathogens and allows them to clear from the lung via cough and ciliary transport. Chronic mucus hypersecretion (CMH) is the main factor contributing to the increased risk of morbidity and mortality in specific subsets of COPD patients. It is, therefore, primarily important to develop medications that suppress mucus hypersecretions in these patients. Although there have been some advances in COPD treatment, more work remains to be done to better understand the mechanism underlying airway mucus hypersecretion and seek more effective treatments. This review article discusses the structure and significance of mucus in the lungs focusing on gel-forming mucins and the impacts of CMH in the lungs. Furthermore, we summarize the article with pharmacological and nonpharmacological treatments as well as novel and interventional procedures to control CMH in COPD patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]