Search

Fetal abdominal subcutaneous soft tissue thickness (FASSTT) is a key indicator in evaluating fetal growth, development, and nutritional status. Currently, manual measurement in FASSTT faces the problems of difficulty in positioning, time consumption, and inaccurate measurement. Therefore, this article proposes an automatic measurement scheme for FASSTT. Firstly, a U‐shaped attention network VGG‐SeUnet is proposed to automatically segment the subcutaneous soft tissue area of the fetal abdomen. Secondly, based on the segmentation results, a morphological method is proposed to obtain FASSTT. Specifically, the segmentation network uses VGG16 as the encoder and connects the decoder through jump connections for multi‐scale fusion. We introduce channel attention to jump connections, which enables the model to select key channels for feature fusion. At the same time, the model uses the proposed DF_Loss function for training to solve the problem of sample imbalance. Based on the segmentation results, a morphological distance transformation algorithm is proposed to obtain FASSTT by drawing the maximum inscribed circle and calculating its diameter. The method is evaluated on a fetal abdominal circumference ultrasound dataset containing 135 samples. The DSC, mIOU, mPA, Precision and Recall of the segmentation experiments reache 88.9%, 81.02%, 90.44%, 86.38%, and 90.44% respectively. The difference between FASSTT's result from that provided by radiologist is 0.0615 cm in Average Error (AVE) and 0.081 cm in Root Mean Square Error (RMSE). The overall performance of this algorithm is superior to existing methods with excellent performance, and the measurement error is less than 1 millimeter. This result proves that the proposed scheme in this paper can achieve automated measurement of FASSTT and assist doctors in subsequent evaluation of fetal development and nutritional status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The optimal surgical intervention for lateral patellar instability remains a topic of controversy despite satisfactory clinical outcomes and low re‐dislocation rates reported in numerous studies following medial patellofemoral ligament reconstruction (MPFLR) with and without tibial tubercle transfer (TTT). The purpose of this systematic review and meta‐analysis is to investigate the hypothesis that combining MPFLR with TTT provides reduced complication rates and improved clinical outcomes to isolated MPFLR in patients with lateral patellar instability. We conducted a comprehensive systematic review and meta‐analysis of comparative trials involving MPFLR with and without TTT, sourcing data from PubMed, the Cochrane Library, Embase, and Web of Science. The primary clinical outcomes analyzed included the Kujala score, the Lysholm score, complication rates, and the Caton–Deschamps index (CDI). Random or fixed effects were used for the meta‐analysis. Postoperatively, there were no significant differences observed in the Kujala and Lysholm scores between MPFLR and MPFLR + TTT (p = 0.053). At the final follow‐up, the CDI had decreased 0.015 (95% CI −0.044, 0.013; p = 0.289) points in the MPFLR group, with no statistical significance. In contrast, the MPFLR + TTT group demonstrated a significant decrease of 0.207 (95% CI −0.240, −0.174; p = 0.000) points in CDI. Notably, the complication rate was higher in the MPFLR + TTT group compared to the MPFLR‐only group (RR = 2.472; 95% CI 1.638, 3.731; p = 0.000). Both MPFLR and MPFLR + TTT procedures yield significant improvements in the Kujala and Lysholm scores. However, the MPFLR + TTT approach results in an apparent improvement in CDI and corrects patellar maltracking, particularly in cases involving high tibial tuberosity‐trochlear groove (TT‐TG) (>20 mm) or patella alta (CDI > 1.2), while MPFLR alone cannot. It is essential to consider the higher complication rate of MPFLR + TTT, which suggests that MPFLR alone may be sufficient for patients without high TT‐TG or patella alta. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common disease that causes joint pain and disability. Stem cell therapy is emerging as a promising treatment for OA. Purpose: To evaluate the ability of peripheral blood–derived mesenchymal stem cells (PBMSCs) combined with donor-matched platelet-rich plasma (PRP) to treat OA in a rabbit model. Study Design: Controlled laboratory study. Methods: PBMSCs and donor-matched PRP were isolated and prepared from the same rabbit. PBMSCs were treated with serum-free medium, fetal bovine serum, and PRP; a series of PBMSC behaviors, including proliferation, migration, and adhesion, were compared among groups. The ability of PBMSCs or PRP alone and PBMSCs+PRP to protect chondrocytes against proinflammatory cytokine (interleukin 1β [IL-1β]) treatment was compared by analyzing reactive oxygen species (ROS)–scavenging ability and apoptosis. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction and immunofluorescence were used to investigate the expression of extracellular matrix (ECM) metabolism genes and proteins, and Western blotting was used to explore the potential mechanism of the corresponding signaling pathway. In vivo, the effect of PBMSCs+PRP on cartilage and inflammation of the synovium was observed in a surgery-induced OA rabbit model via gross observation, histological and immunohistochemical staining, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results: Proliferation, migration, and adhesion ability were enhanced in PBMSCs treated with PRP. Moreover, compared with either PBMSCs or PRP alone, PBMSCs+PRP enhanced ROS-scavenging ability and inhibited apoptosis in IL-1β–treated chondrocytes. PBMSCs+PRP also reversed the IL-1β–induced degradation of collagen type 2 and aggrecan and increased expression of matrix metalloproteinase 13, and this effect was related to increased expression of ECM synthesis and decreased expression of degradation and inflammatory genes and proteins. Mechanistically, PBMSCs+PRP reduced the phosphorylation of inhibitor of nuclear factor-κBα (IκBα), which further inhibited the phosphorylation of downstream nuclear factor–κB (NF-κB) in the NF-κB signaling pathway. In vivo, compared with PBMSCs or PRP alone, intra-articular (IA) injection of PBMSCs+PRP enhanced cartilage regeneration and attenuated synovial inflammation in OA-induced rabbits. Conclusion: These results demonstrate that PRP could enhance biological activities, including viability, migration, and adhesion, in PBMSCs. PBMSCs+PRP could rescue ECM degeneration by inhibiting inflammatory signaling in IL-1β–treated OA chondrocytes. In addition, IA injection of PBMSCs+PRP effectively attenuated OA progression in a surgery-induced OA rabbit model. Clinical Relevance: PBMSCs+PRP may provide a promising treatment for knee OA, and this study can advance the related basic research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRPs) possess light weight and high strength, making them highly attractive for various applications. However, the design parameter space of CFRPs is extensive, with the complex relationship between structures and mechanical properties. Traditional design methods that rely on trial and error or scientific intuition are laborious and expensive for achieving optimal properties of CFRPs. In light of this challenge, we proposed a machine-learning-assisted multiscale modeling strategy that can efficiently predict the mechanical properties of CFRPs. This strategy uses low-computational-cost machine learning (ML) models to replace traditional theoretical models and combines them with molecular dynamics simulation to predict the mechanical properties of CFRPs starting from resin molecules. Comparing predicted values with the proof-of-concept experiment and the existing experimental findings showed that the predicted values of the ML model are in good agreement with the experimental ones. This strategy can be a viable machine-learning-assisted solution to designing CFRPs. [Display omitted] • ML-based multiscale approach enables predicting mechanical properties of CFRPs starting from resin molecules. • The approach exhibits higher efficiency than traditional finite element and trial-and-error methods. • The predicted values of the ML model are in good agreement with the experimental ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Evaluate three novel latent heat storage designs for cogeneration application. • Conduct 3-D simulation to study secondary flow effect in spiral coil heat exchanger. • Test scaled-down prototype to infer heat transfer rate in novel encapsulated designs. • Compare storage thermal performance and costs between designs for integration. Well-integrated thermal energy storage units can enhance flexibility and profitability for a cogeneration system by enabling its decoupling of electricity and heat production. In the present study, novel latent heat thermal energy storage technologies are numerically investigated on their thermal and economic performance to evaluate their implementation at an existing combined cycle power plant. Three commercially available storage designs are analyzed: one shell-and-tube heat exchanger design based on planar spiral coils, and two types of advanced macro-encapsulated designs with capsules resembling ellipsoid and slab in shape, respectively. For the spiral coil design, three-dimensional flow velocity and temperature fields are simulated with finite volume method to predict the transient storage heat transfer process, including the effect of secondary flow induced by centrifugal forces. For the macro-encapsulated designs, effective heat transfer coefficients between heat transfer fluid (HTF) and phase change material (PCM) are inferred from scaled-down storage prototyping and testing. A one-dimensional two-phase packed bed model was developed based on the apparent heat capacity-based enthalpy method to numerically study the heat transfer in macro-encapsulated PCM. With an operating temperature range of 46–72 °C and a HTF supplying flowrate range of 4.2–8.4 m3/h defined by the cogeneration strategy, thermal power and accumulated storage capacity are calculated and compared for the first three hours of charge and the first hour of discharge for the three designs. The effect from increasing the HTF flowrate to accelerate charging/discharging processes is indicated by the simulation results. Performance comparison among the three designs shows that the slab capsule design exhibits the highest accumulated storage capacity (710 kWh) and state of charge (40%) after three hours of charge, though it has a lower theoretical total storage capacity (1760 kWh) than the spiral coil design (1830 kWh). The ellipsoid capsule design shows a slightly lower accumulated storage capacity (700 kWh) than the slab design for 3-hr charge and an equivalent accumulated storage capacity/depth of discharge (250 kWh/14%) as the latter. Furthermore, the storage power cost of the slab capsule design is the lowest, by 6–12% lower than the spiral coil design and by 2–3% lower than the ellipsoid capsule design. However, with the highest design flowrate of 8.4 m3/h, the low state of charge (below 40%) after three hours and the low depth of discharge (below 14%) after one hour indicate that redesigning the heat transfer boundary conditions and the configurations of the three units are necessary to meet desirable storage performance in cogeneration applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphical abstract The seamless integrated C@NiMn-OH-Ni 3 S 2/ Ni foam advanced electrode with hierarchical structures is successfully synthesized for high-performance supercapacitors. Highlights • A novel hierarchical nanostructure C@NiMn-OH-Ni 3 S 2 /Ni foam integrated advanced electrode was constructed. • The as-prepared hybrid advanced electrode exhibited extraordinary capacitance characteristics. • An asymmetric supercapacitor (ASC) was successfully constructed to power the LED. • The ASC devices achieves high energy density and superior cycling performance. Abstract Rational design and fabrication of hierarchical structures consisting of multiple components with distinctive features in situ grown on porous Ni foam skeleton is feasible and effective to boost the electrochemical properties of supercapacitors. Herein, a novel hierarchical C@NiMn-OH-Ni 3 S 2 /Ni foam hybrid integrated advanced electrode was successfully fabricated via a facile three-step hydrothermal method, involving two hydrothermal reaction to grow NiMn-OH nanoflakes onto Ni 3 S 2 thin film in situ grown on conductive Ni foam and then a glucose carbonization process to cover carbon on NiMn-OH. Benefiting from the synergistic effect of Ni 3 S 2 and NiMn-OH with enhancement of both the electrical and the ionic conductivity, the as-obtained C@NiMn-OH-Ni 3 S 2 /Ni foam exhibited an excellent specific capacitance of 2521 F g−1 at a current density of 1 A g−1, and cycle stability increased from 82.4% to 92.1% after coating the carbon layer. Furthermore, an aqueous asymmetric supercapacitor was successfully assembled using C@NiMn-OH-Ni 3 S 2 /Ni foam as the positive electrode and activated carbon (AC) as the negative electrode (C@NiMn-OH-Ni 3 S 2 /Ni foam//AC), such device delivers a maximum energy density of 45.3 Wh kg−1 at the power density of 1275 W kg−1, and a superior cycling stability (∼94.6% capacity retention after 10,000 cycles). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • A new cylindrically encapsulated latent heat storage unit is built and tested. • A parametric study is conducted on the supply conditions of heat transfer fluids. • The effects of a stratified flow regime to the thermal performance are evaluated. • The horizontal and vertical orientations of the storage tank are compared. • Phase segregation of phase change materials is indicated with vertical orientation. Abstract The integration of latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES) units with heating systems in buildings is regarded as a promising technology for heating load management; however, so far a limited number of experimental studies have been reported that focus on space heating applications on a representative scale. In this study, we develop and test a 0.38 m3 LHTES unit containing cylindrically macro-encapsulated phase change materials (PCMs) with a melting temperature range of 44–53 °C and with gross mass of 154 kg. The unit has been tested with two tank orientations, horizontal and vertical. In the horizontal orientation tests, parametric studies show that increasing the difference between heat transfer fluid (HTF) supply temperatures and phase-change temperatures of PCMs, as well as increasing HTF flowrates, can both reduce the complete melting/solidification and complete charging/discharging time. Non-linear charging/discharging rates in PCMs are observed. The vertical orientation enables the forming of either a stratified or mixed flow regime in the tank. For charging, the stratified flow provides higher charging rates in PCMs compared to the mixed flow. When discharging the unit with a stratified HTF flow at 35 °C, lower HTF flowrates prolong the discharging time during which the released heat sustains an outlet temperature above 45 °C. Finally, comparisons between horizontal and vertical orientation tests reveal that although the vertical orientation can shorten the charging/discharging time by up to 20% for the entire unit to reach an energy density of 30 kWh/m3, it leads to decrease in PCM thermal capacity by at most 8.2%. The speculated cause of this loss is phase segregation suggested by observed fluid motions in PCM cylinders. This study comprehensively characterizes an LHTES unit providing insights to optimizing its operating strategies considering its coupling with space heating systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many cyberattacks begin with a malicious email message, known as spear phishing, targeted at unsuspecting victims. Although security technologies have improved significantly in recent years, spear phishing continues to be successful due to the bespoke nature of such attacks. Crafting such emails requires attackers to conduct careful research about their victims and collect personal information about them and their acquaintances. Despite the widespread nature of spear-phishing attacks, little is understood about the human factors behind them. This is particularly the case when considering the role of attack personalization on end-user vulnerability. To study spear-phishing attacks in the laboratory, we developed a simulation environment called SpearSim that simulates the tasks involved in the generation and reception of spear-phishing messages. Using SpearSim, we conducted a laboratory experiment with human subjects to study the effect of information availability and information exploitation end-user vulnerability. The results of the experiment show that end-users in the high information-availability condition were 2.97 times more vulnerable to spear-phishing attacks than those in the low information-availability condition. We found that access to more personal information about targets can result in attacks involving contextually meaningful impersonation and narratives. We discuss the implications of this research for the design of anti-phishing training solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rational design and synthesis of hybrid structures consisting with multiple pseudocapacitive components are challenging to develop materials with a high energy density for conversion and storage applications. Herein, a novel and cost-effective two-step method has been developed to synthesize three-dimensional (3D) nickel cobalt sulfides (Ni-Co-S)/Co(OH) 2 nanocomposite with synergistic effect to provide an excellent comprehensive electrochemical performance, which shows a high specific capacitance (1560.8 Fg −1 at 1 A g −1 ) and outstanding rate capability (953.3 Fg −1 at 30 A g −1 ). Subsequently, an all-solid-state asymmetric supercapacitor (ASC) was successfully assembled using Ni1-Co2-S/Co(OH) 2 nanocomposite as the positive electrode, activated carbon (AC) as the negative electrode and an alkaline PVA gel (PVA/KOH) as electrolyte. The Ni1-Co2-S/Co(OH) 2 //AC all-solid-state ASC device with a voltage window of 1.6 V delivered a maximum energy density of 48.8 W h kg −1 at a power density of 800 W kg −1 with excellent cycle stability. Excitedly, two all-solid-state ASCs assembled in series under fully charged can effectively light up four parallel connected light-emitting diodes (LEDs) for around 10 min, and can power a white LED (working voltage, 3.0–3.4 V) effectively. These remarkable electrochemical performances of Ni1-Co2-S/Co(OH) 2 //AC are beneficial to their practical applications for high-performance energy storage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to reduce the cost of electrode active material, a three-dimensional (3D) sponge-like Co/Co(OH) 2 nanocomposite was synthesized by a simple NaBH 4 reduction method at room temperature. For supercapacitor application, the Co/Co(OH) 2 nanocomposite exhibits an excellent specific capacity of 1048 F g −1 at a current density of 1 A g −1 in a potential range of 0–0.45 V from the charge/discharge test, and the retention of capacitance is 70.6% after 5000 cycles. The sponge-like Co/Co(OH) 2 nanocomposite displays high supercapacitor performance, excellent rate capability and cycling stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] A palladium-catalyzed stereo-selective cis -1,2-arylalkynylation of bicyclic alkenes with aryl triflates and terminal alkynes was developed. This reaction showed high functional group tolerance and can be applied to the modification of bioactive molecules. This three-component reaction provided a practical method for preparing the value-added bicyclo[2.2.1]heptanes derivatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coating on copper plate is difficult to be fabricated by laser. In order to obtain the optimal parameters of laser cladding coating, the temperature fields at different laser power and scanning speed were investigated and analyzed. The optimal parameters were selected with the depth and width of molten pool and compared with the experimental results. Then, the cooling rate, temperature gradient and solidification rate were calculated and analyzed with the coating's microstructure. The results show that the optimal process parameters are 1500 W and 2 mm/s. And at these parameters, the temperature field is consistent with the morphology of cladding coating. From bottom to top of the coating, the corresponding cooling rates are 1056.7, 936.5 and 762.6 ℃/s, and the microstructure are elongated disordered dendrites, columnar dendrites and planar crystals, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates ellipsoid-shaped macro-encapsulated phase change material (PCM) on a component scale. The selected PCM is a paraffin-based commercial material, namely ATP60; differential scanning calorimetry and transient plane source method are used to measure ATP60's thermo-physical properties. A 0.382 m3 latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES) component has been built and experimentally characterized. The temperature measurement results indicate that a thermocline was retained in the packed bed region during charging/discharging processes. The experimental characterization shows that increasing the temperature difference between the heat transfer fluid (HTF) inlet temperature and phase-change temperature by 20 K can shorten the completion time of discharge by 65%, and increasing HTF inlet flowrate from 0.15 m3/h (Re = 77) to 0.5 m3/h (Re = 256) can shorten the completion time of charge by 51%. Furthermore, a one-dimensional packed bed model using source-based enthalpy method was developed and validated by comparison to experimental results, showing discrepancies in the accumulated storage capacity within 6.6% between simulation and experiment when the Reynolds number of the HTF inlet flow ranges between 90 and 922. Compared with a conventional capsule shaped in 69-mm-diameter and 750-mm-long cylinders, the ellipsoidal capsule shows 60% less completion time of discharge but 23% lower storage capacity. Overall, this work demonstrates a combined experimental and numerical characterization approach for applying novel macro-encapsulated PCM geometries for heating-oriented LHTES. • Investigation of a novel PCM in ellipsoidal macro-encapsulation. • Characterization of thermo-physical properties of an organic PCM. • Prototyping of a 15 kWh storage and charge/discharge thermal performance testing. • Validation of a one-dimensional numerical model within 6.6% uncertainty. • Comparison of thermal performance of ellipsoidal and cylindrical encapsulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Calcined MgAl-LDHs could separate from mixed SCN− by selective adsorption. [•] The synthesis method of calcined MgAl-LDHs influenced their adsorption performance. [•] Calcined MgAl-LDH obtained using urea decomposition method presented the better adsorption selectivity for . [•] Different adsorption behaviors over the two calcined MgAl-LDH were studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Proposed new latent heat storage integration layouts for load shift with a heat pump. • Utilized de-superheater and subcooler in heat pump to charge storage in new layouts. • Simulated dynamic load shift performance with validated storage and heat pump models. • Improved energy efficiency with new layouts against conventional one using condenser. • Assessed economic and environmental load shift effect and provided investment advice. Integrating latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES) units into building heating systems has been increasingly investigated as a heat load management technology. A conventional LHTES integration method for heat pump based heating systems is to connect the heat pump's condenser for charging the LHTES unit. This integrating layout however usually leads to increased electricity input to the heating system. To underline this issue and provide solutions, this paper presents three new LHTES integrating layouts where the LHTES unit is connected with the de-superheater of the main heat pump (Case 2), the condenser of a cascaded booster heat pump cycle (Case 3), or a combination of using both the de-superheater and the booster cycle (Case 4). In the context of a multi-family house in Stockholm, a quasi-steady state heating system model was developed to evaluate the new integrating layouts, which were benchmarked against the baseline heating system without storage (Case 0) and the conventional integrating layout using the main heat pump condenser (Case 1). Hourly electric power input to the heating system was modelled for calculating the performance indicators including the heating performance factor, the operational expense and justifiable capital expense, and the indirect CO 2 emissions. Two load shifting strategies were simulated for an evaluation period of Week 1, 2019: 1) charge during off-peak hours (8 pm to 6 am) and 2) charge during daytime hours (10 am to 7 pm). The simulation results of the off-peak charging strategy show that, in Cases 2–4, the heating performance factor is 22%-26% higher than Case 1 and the operational expense can be reduced by 2%-5% as compared with Case 0. The savings in the operational expense can justify the capital expense of 11 k-25 k Swedish Krona (SEK) for the LHTES systems in Cases 2–4 assuming a 15-year operation. Furthermore, the advantage of using the daytime charging strategy is principally the mitigation of CO 2 emissions, which is up to 14% lower than the off-peak charging strategy. In summary, higher energy efficiency for heating is validated in the three new proposed integration layouts (Cases 2–4) against the condenser charging layout. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: FAI (femoroacetabular impingement syndrome) is a common cause of hip pain, resulting in a decreased life quality. This study aims to compare the postoperative clinical outcome between arthroscopic surgery (AT) and conservative treatment (CT). Method: The six studies were selected from PubMed, Embase and OVID database. The data were extracted and analyzed by RevMan5.3. Mean differences and 95% confidence intervals were calculated. RevMan5.3 was used to assess the risk of bias. Result: Six observational studies were assessed. The methodological quality of the trials indicated five of six studies had a low risk of bias and one article had a high risk of bias. The differences were statistically significant between AT and CT for HOS (follow-up for 6 months), iHOT-33 (follow-up for 6 months) improvement, iHOT-33 (follow-up for 12 months) improvement, iHOT-33 (follow-up for 12 months), EQ-5D-5L index score (follow-up for 12 months) and AT showed higher benefits than CT. Meanwhile no statistically significant were found in iHOT-33 (follow-up for 6 months), EQ-5D-5L index score (follow-up for 6 months), EQ5D-VAS (follow-up for 6 months) and EQ5D-VAS (follow-up for 12 months). Conclusion: AT and CT both can have clinical effects when facing FAI. In our meta-analysis, hip arthroscopy is statistically superior to conservative treatment in both long-term and short-term effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Latent heat thermal energy storage has been receiving increasing interests in residential heating applications. In this paper, a numerical heat transfer model was built with finite element method for a cylindrically encapsulated latent heat storage prototype and used for investigating its thermal performance optimization measures. The model was validated against four sets of experimental results for both charge and discharge, as the difference in accumulated storage capacity between simulation and experiment is less than 4%. Transient storage inlet boundary conditions were set in simulation for discharge considering the thermal output from the coupled radiators. The results of the optimization analyses show that: 1) reducing the capsule diameter from 69 mm to 15 mm shortens the completion time of charge and discharge by up to 70%, however, at the expense of 23% decrease in total storage capacity; 2) using parabolic or linear time-increasing heat transfer fluid flowrate profiles than a time-constant one extends around twofold the useful discharge timespan; 3) increasing the storage vessel diameter from 0.6 m to 0.7 m and to 0.8 m prolongs the useful discharge timespan from 2 hrs to the recommended 3 hrs, though the further enlargement to 0.8 m results in a lower state of charge after 3 hrs due to increase in unexploited storage capacity. From the numerical optimization study, we proposed a storage design adjustment of using 15 mm-diameter phase change material capsules in a 0.7 m-diameter cylindrical storage vessel, coupled with a parabolic flow strategy, to improve the storage on-peak discharging performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Fading of a script alone does not foster domain-general strategy knowledge. • Performance of the strategy declines during the fading of a script. • Monitoring by a peer keeps performance of the strategy up during script fading. • Performance of a strategy after fading fosters domain-general strategy knowledge. • Fading and monitoring by a peer combined foster domain-general strategy knowledge. The owner-member relationship between wheels and vehicles contributes significantly to the 3D perception of vehicles, especially in embedded environments. However, two major challenges must be addressed to leverage the relationship: i) Standard IoU-based heuristics have difficulty dealing with instances of occluded traffic congestion. ii) It is challenging to demonstrate the solution's efficacy and applicability in a vehicle-mounted system. To address these issues, we propose a novel technique for relationship prediction called DeepWORD which is based on the architecture of a graph convolutional network (GCN). Specifically, we employ feature maps with local correlation as input to the nodes to improve the information richness. Subsequently, we present a graph attention network (GAT) to rectify the priori estimate bias dynamically. Furthermore, we created a large-scale benchmark dataset called WORD that includes annotated owner-member relationships. Sufficient experiments demonstrate that the proposed method is capable of providing state-of-the-art performance and effects in real-time. The WORD dataset is publicly available at https://github.com/NamespaceMain/ownermember-relationship-dataset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A commercial sodium acetate trihydrate-based PCM is tested with two methods. • T-history tests are conducted for determining PCM thermal properties. • A storage prototype is developed to investigate PCM's full-scale thermal performance. • PCM thermal behavior is different between the two test methods. Latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES) has been receiving increasing attention from researchers and engineers. A practical LHTES installation requires a deep understanding of phase change material's (PCM's) thermal behavior under thermal property testing and realistic operating conditions. To enrich this understanding, an experimental study on a commercial sodium acetate trihydrate-based PCM (Climsel C58) is presented in this article. C58 was characterized with two test methods: T-history tests and full-scale LHTES tests. The results are presented and discussed to exhibit the thermal behavior of C58 with these two test methods and the variations between them. With T-history tests, the thermal properties of C58 such as melting/solidification temperature range (57–61 °C/55–50 °C) and latent heat of fusion (216 kJ/kg) were determined. In full-scale LHTES tests, a parametric study was conducted to investigate the effects of heat transfer fluid flowrate and operating temperature range on the thermal performance of a 0.38 m3 storage prototype containing cylindrically macro-encapsulated C58. Moreover, longitudinal and radial PCM temperature distributions in full-scale tests were analyzed, suggesting the presence of phase separation. In general, C58 behaved differently between the two test methods regarding phase separation (negligible in T-history tests), supercooling effects (within 3 K in full-scale but up to 10 K in T-history tests), and thermal energy storage capacity (10% lower in full-scale tests). When using C58 or other salt hydrate-based PCMs for large-scale heat storage, these thermal behavior differences between the property-measurement and the application-oriented environments should be properly addressed in the design stage to ensure performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon coatings hold great promise for next-generation non-conductive energy storage nanomaterials. However, simplicity, stable, uniformity and high-performance remain unresolved issues. Here, unique synergy of the fluidized bed reactor with plasmas enables highly-effective, single-step fluidized-bed plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (FB-PECVD) of uniform, low-temperature carbon coatings on TiO 2 nano-powder (TiO 2 @C). Plasma-specific effects induce the formation of new phases that are beneficial for energy storage. The 6 nm carbon layer is grown within only 10 min, while the TiO 2 maintains its anatase phase. The unique plasma conditions make it possible to form Ti–C bonds at the Ti/C interface at much lower temperatures than achievable otherwise. The electronic transport at the interface and structural stability are thus greatly improved. Consequently, TiO 2 @C shows excellent electrochemical performances as a negative electrode of sodium ion battery, such as specific discharge capacity of 290.2 mA h g−1 at 50 mA g−1 and very stable long-term cyclability (101.2% capacity retention over 300 cycles at 4000 mA g−1). Our results show that FB-PECVD is not only a versatile method for bond-reinforced interface nanoparticle coating with carbon, but also provide a new strategy for designing hybrid-phase electrochemically active nanocomposite materials. Image 1 • A fluidized-bed plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (FB-PECVD) is proposed. • Uniform carbon layer is coated on TiO 2 nanoparticles through a one-step reaction. • Ti–C bonds are formed at the Ti/C interface. • C@TiO 2 as a negative electrode of SIB shows excellent electrochemical performances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Fndc5/irisin knockout will increase depression and anxiety symptoms. • The gut microbiota will be dysbiosis, including a reduction in the relative abundances of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium. • The most significant changes in metabolites related to glucocorticoid receptors and bile acid metabolism. • The microbiota-related metabolites affected by irisin are mainly clustered into Arginine and proline metabolism and affected mTOR signaling pathway. Depression is one of the most common mental diseases and the leading cause of disability worldwide. A dysfunctional gut microbiota-brain axis is one of the main pathological bases of depression. Irisin, an exercise-related myokine, reduces depression-like behaviors and may guide the relief of depressive symptoms by exercise. However, its underlying mechanism remains unclear. Fibronectin type III domain containing 5 (Fndc5)/Irisin was knocked out in male wide-type C57BL/6N mice using CRISPR-cas9. The depression and anxiety symptoms were examined in irisin knockout and control mice with or without chronic unpredictable mild stress by sucrose preference test (SPT), forced swimming test (FST), and tail suspension test (TST). Fecal microbiota was assessed by 16S rRNA sequencing and microbiota-related metabolites using liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry. Differential metabolites were analyzed with the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analyses. The knockout mice showed anxiety- and depression-like behaviors and altered diversity and richness of gut microbiota. At the phylum level, these mice had decreased Firmicutes and increased Bacteroidota populations, while at the genus level, they exhibited a low relative abundance of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium. Moreover, knocking out of Irisin gene in these mice significantly reduced N-desmethyl-mifepristone (RU 42633) and elevated (-)-stercobilin levels. The KEGG results showed that the microbiota-related metabolites affected by irisin mainly clustered into arginine and proline metabolism and affected the mechanistic target of rapamycin kinase (mTOR) signaling pathway. Our findings show that Fndc5/irisin deficiency causes depression in mice by inducing dysbiosis of gut microbiota and changes in microbiota-related metabolites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The performance of bearings plays a pivotal role in determining the dependability and security of rotating machinery. In intricate systems demanding exceptional reliability and safety, the ability to accurately forecast fault occurrences during operation holds profound significance. Such predictions serve as invaluable guides for crafting well-considered reliability strategies and executing maintenance practices aimed at enhancing reliability. In the real operational life of bearings, fault information often gets submerged within the noise. Furthermore, employing Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) neural networks for time series prediction necessitates the configuration of appropriate parameters. Manual parameter selection is often a time-consuming process and demands substantial prior knowledge. In order to ensure the reliability of bearing operation, this article investigates the application of three advanced techniques—Maximum Correlation Kurtosis Deconvolution (MCKD), Multi-Scale Permutation Entropy (MPE), and Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) recurrent neural networks—for the prediction of the remaining useful life (RUL) of rolling bearings. The improved sparrow search algorithm (ISSA) is employed for configuring parameters in the Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) network. Each technique's principles, methodologies, and applications are comprehensively reviewed, offering insights into their respective strengths and limitations. Case studies and experimental evaluations are presented to assess their performance in RUL prediction. Findings reveal that MCKD enhances fault signatures, MPE captures complexity, and LSTM excels in modeling temporal patterns. The root mean square error of the prediction results is 0.007. The fusion of these techniques offers a comprehensive approach to RUL prediction, leveraging their unique attributes for more accurate and reliable predictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Esketamine provides an immediate and noticeable antidepressant effect, although the underlying molecular processes are yet unclear. Irisin induced by aerobic exercise has been implicated in the alleviation of depressive symptoms, whether irisin expression responds to the administration of esketamine remains unknown. In this study, we found that irisin was reduced in the hippocampus and peripheral blood of chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) mice, whereas the irisin level was rescued by esketamine treatment. The reduction of PGC-1α expression (transcriptional regulator of irisin gene expression) in the CUMS mice was rescued by esketamine treatment, PGC-1α knockdown significantly reduced the irisin level induced by esketamine. Additionally, FNDC5/irisin-knockout mice developed more severe depressant-like behaviors than wild-type mice under CUMS stimulation, with an attenuated the antidepressant effect of esketamine. Further research indicated that irisin-mediated modulation of esketamine on depressive-like behaviors in CUMS mice involved the ERK1/2 pathway. Overall, the PGC-1α/irisin/ERK1/2 signaling activation may be a new mechanism underlying the antidepressant activity of esketamine, denoting that irisin may be a promising therapeutic target for the treatment of depression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The tibial tubercle‐trochlear groove (TT‐TG) distance is now routinely utilized to help determine whether a realignment procedure is necessary for patients with patellar instability. The tibial tubercle‐posterior cruciate ligament (TT‐PCL) distance has been explored as an alternative measurement. The aim of this study is to compare the reliability of TT‐TG and TT‐PCL; to explore whether there is a relationship between the TT‐PCL and the TT‐TG distance; to determine whether there is a relationship between the TT‐TG and TT‐PCL distances and knee rotation; and to compare the abilities of the TT‐PCL distance and the TT‐TG distance with predicted patellar instability. Method: This systematic review was performed in accordance with PRISMA guidelines. Three databases, PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, were searched from inception to September 2021 to identify clinical studies comparing TT‐TG and TT‐PCL distances to patellar instability. Data on patient baseline characteristics, TT‐TG and TT‐PCL distances, inter‐observer reliability, and area under the receiver‐operating characteristic curve (AUC) were recorded. The methodological quality of the studies was assessed using the quality assessment form recommended by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Result: Twenty studies were included in the final analysis, comprising 2330 knees from 2260 patients. The current study showed that TT‐TG and TT‐PCL have similar observer reliability. The inter‐ and intra‐observer reliability of TT‐TG ranged from 0.807 to 0.98 and 0.553 to 0.99, respectively. The inter‐ and intra‐observer reliability of TT‐PCL ranged from 0.553 to 0.99 and 0.88 to 0.981, respectively. Six studies compared the AUC for predicting patellar instability and showed that TT‐TG had better predictive performance than TT‐PCL. Three studies reported a correlation between TT‐TG and knee rotation, but no such relationship was found for TT‐PCL. Eight studies reported a weak or moderate correlation between TT‐TG and TT‐PCL. Conclusion: TT‐TG and TT‐PCL have similar inter‐ and intra‐rater reliability (as measured by ICC), but TT‐TG has greater discriminatory power to predict patellar instability than TT‐PCL (as measured by AUC values and odds ratio). However, considering trochlear dysplasia and individual variations, future studies need to find more accurate and individualized methods to predict patellar instability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to their reliability, affordability and high safety, rechargeable aqueous zinc ion batteries (ZIBs) have garnered a lot of attention. Nevertheless, undesirable long-term cycle performance and the inadequate energy density of cathode materials impede the development of ZIBs. Herein, we report a layered CaV4O9-MXene (Ti3C2Tx) composite assembled using CaV4O9 nanosheets on Ti3C2Tx and investigate its electrochemical performance as a new cathode for ZIBs, where CaV4O9 nanosheets attached on the surface of MXene and interlamination create a layered 2D structure, efficiently improving the electrical conductivity of CaV4O9 and avoiding the stacking of MXene nanosheets. The structure also enables fast ion and electron transport. Further discussion is conducted on the effects of adding MXene in various amounts on the morphology and electrochemical properties. The composite shows an improved reversible capacity of 274.3 mA h g−1 at 0.1 A g−1, superior rate capabilities at 7 A g−1, and a high specific capacity of 107.6 mA h g−1 can be delivered after 2000 cycles at a current density of 1 A g−1. The improvement of the electrochemical performance is due to its unique layered structure, high electrical conductivity, and pseudo capacitance behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Channel and spatial attention mechanisms have proven to provide an evident performance boost of deep convolution neural networks. Most existing methods focus on one or run them parallel (series), neglecting the collaboration between the two attentions. In order to better establish the feature interaction between the two types of attentions, a plug‐and‐play attention module is proposed, which is termed as 'CAT'—activating the Collaboration between spatial and channel Attentions based on learned Traits. Specifically, traits are represented as trainable coefficients (i.e. colla‐factors) to adaptively combine contributions of different attention modules to fit different image hierarchies and tasks better. Moreover, the global entropy pooling is proposed apart from global average pooling and global maximum pooling (GMP) operators, which is an effective component in suppressing noise signals by measuring the information disorder of feature maps. A three‐way pooling operation is introduced into attention modules and the adaptive mechanism is applied to fuse their outcomes. Extensive experiments on MS COCO, Pascal‐VOC, Cifar‐100, and ImageNet show that our CAT outperforms the existing state‐of‐the‐art attention mechanisms in object detection, instance segmentation, and image classification. The model and code will be released soon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Layered double hydroxides (LDHs) are a family of high-profile layer materials with tunable metal species and interlayer spacing, and herein the LDHs are first investigated as bifunctional electrocatalysts. It is found that trinary LDH containing nickel, cobalt, and iron (NiCoFe-LDH) shows a reasonable bifunctional performance, while exploiting a preoxidation treatment can significantly enhance both oxygen reduction reaction and oxygen evolution reaction activity. This phenomenon is attributed to the partial conversion of Co2+ to Co3+ state in the preoxidation step, which stimulates the charge transfer to the catalyst surface. The practical application of the optimized material is demonstrated with a small potential hysteresis (800 mV for a reversible current density of 20 mA cm−2) as well as a high stability, exceeding the performances of noble metal catalysts (commercial Pt/C and Ir/C). The combination of the electrochemical metrics and the facile and cost-effective synthesis endows the trinary LDH as a promising bifunctional catalyst for a variety of applications, such as next-generation regenerative fuel cells or metal-air batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A pine-shaped Pt nanostructured electrode with under-water superaerophobicity for ultrahigh and steady hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) performance is successfully fabricated by a facile and easily scalable electrodeposition technique. Due to the lower bubble adhesive force (11.5 ± 1.2 μN), the higher bubble contact angle (161.3° ± 3.4°) in aqueous solution, and the smaller size of bubbles release for pine-shaped Pt nanostructured electrode, the incomparable under-water superaerophobicity for final repellence of bubbles from submerged surface with ease, is successfully achieved, compared to that for nanosphere electrode and for Pt flat electrode. With the merits of superior under-water superaerophobicity and excellent nanoarray morphology, pine-shaped Pt nanostructured electrode with the ultrahigh electrocatalytic HER performance, excellent durability, no obvious current fluctuation, and dramatically fast current density increase at overpotential range (3.85 mA mV−1, 2.55 and 13.75 times higher than that for nanosphere electrode and for Pt flat electrode, respectively), is obtained, much superior to Pt nanosphere and flat electrodes. The successful introduction of under-water superaerophobicity to in-time repel as-formed H2 bubbles may open up a new pathway for designing more efficient electrocatalysts with potentially practical utilization in the near future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lithium-ion battery (LIBs) applications using antimony (Sb) based anodes with high specific capacity and suitable operating voltage have showed tremendous potential. However, the large volume variation during electrochemical cycling limits their application. In this paper, M-Sb (M=Co, Ni) nanoparticles embedded in nitrogen doped carbon nanofibers have been prepared by an electrospinning method, 3D interconnected M-Sb@CN (NiSb@CN and Sb/CoSb 2 @CN) fiber composites are obtained finally. M-Sb nanoparticles are uniformly distributed in N-doped carbon nanofibers, which can prevent their direct exposure to the electrolyte. Compared with bare Sb-M and Sb-C binary electrodes, the M-Sb-C three-component composite electrodes show smaller volume change and stronger charge transport ability. The introduction of the transition metal (Co, Ni) not only serves as buffer substrate for volume change, but also regulates the properties of carbon fibers as a catalyst. High reversible capacities of 647.4 and 620.2 mA h g−1 of NiSb@CN and Sb/CoSb 2 @CN fiber composites can be maintained after 600 cycles at a current rate of 500 mA g−1. First principles calculation demonstrates that N-doping and the incorporation of transition metal M have favorable effect on the improved Li binding energy, offering a possibility for the material design of the high-performance LIBs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CoZn layered double hydroxide (LDH) or Co(OH)2 pseudocapacitive material has been prepared on the current collector of carbon fiber paper (CFP) using an eco-friendly one-step electrodeposition. Benefiting from its unique structural feature, the binder-free CoZn LDH/CFP electrode material realizes high specific capacitance of 1156 Fg−1 at a current density of 1 Ag−1 and excellent rate capability of 80% retention with 16 fold current density increment, which is much better than that of Co(OH)2 (617 Fg−1, 65%). Notably, the CoZn LDH/CFP can retain an outstanding electrochemical stability with a capacitance degradation of only 6% after 6000 charge–discharge cycles at 32 Ag−1. Moreover, an asymmetric supercapacitor (ASC) using CoZn LDH/CFP as a positive electrode and AC/CFP as a negative electrode has been assembled. The ASC exhibits a superior energy density of 30.0 Whkg−1 at a power density of 800 Wkg−1 with a specific capacitance up to 84.4 Fg−1 and a potential window wide to 1.6 V. These encouraging results indicate that CoZn LDH/CFP composite material has a great potential for next-generation energy conversion/storage devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CaMnO 3 , a perovskite-type material, has been introduced as a novel anode material for lithium ion batteries, and its electrochemical performance at different temperatures is systematically investigated. The as-prepared CaMnO 3 material exhibits a high specific capacity, favorable rate performance and excellent cycling stability. The CaMnO 3 anode could deliver a high specific capacity of 102.5 mAh g-1 after 500 cycles at a current rate of 0.1 A g-1. Lithium ion batteries are attracting ever increasing attention due to their advantages of high energy/ power density, environmental friendly, lifetime and low cost. As a star in the field of materials and energy, perovskites have received extensive attention due to their attracting physical and chemical properties. Herein, CaMnO 3 , one material from the perovskite family is introduced as a novel anode material for lithium ion batteries, and its electrochemical performance at different temperatures is systematically investigated. CaMnO 3 has been synthesized using a liquid phase synthesis method followed by high temperature calcination. The as-obtained CaMnO 3 exhibits an initial high discharge capacity of 708.4 mAh g−1, superior rate capability and stable cycling performance at room temperature, the specific capacity is 102.5 mAh g−1 after 500 cycles at a current density of 0.1 A g−1. Additionally, at an extreme temperature of 0 °C, the discapacity can reach 138.2 mAh g−1 at a current density of 0.05 A g−1. At high temperature of 50 °C, the reversible discharge capacity is up to 216.5 mAh g−1under the same condition. It is believed that this contribution may lay the foundation for the application of perovskites in other rechargeable batteries and energy storage devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Autonomous driving systems require many images for analyzing the surrounding environment. However, there is fewer data protection for private information among these captured images, such as pedestrian faces or vehicle license plates, which has become a significant issue. In this paper, in response to the call for data security laws and regulations and based on the advantages of large Field of View (FoV) of the fisheye camera, we build the first A utopilot D esensitization D ataset, called ADD , and formulate the first deep-learning-based image desensitization framework, to promote the study of image desensitization in autonomous driving scenarios. The compiled dataset consists of 650K images, including different face and vehicle license plate information captured by the surround-view fisheye camera. It covers various autonomous driving scenarios, including diverse facial characteristics and license plate colors. Then, we propose an efficient multitask desensitization network called DesCenterNet as a benchmark on the ADD dataset, which can perform face and vehicle license plate detection and desensitization tasks. Based on ADD , we further provide an evaluation criterion for desensitization performance, and extensive comparison experiments have verified the effectiveness and superiority of our method on image desensitization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Androgen deprivation is the cornerstone of prostate cancer treatment. It results in involution of the normal gland to ~90% of its original size because of the loss of luminal cells. The prostate regenerates when androgen is restored, a process postulated to involve stem cells. Using single-cell RNA sequencing, we identified a rare luminal population in the mouse prostate that expresses stemlike genes (Sca1+ and Psca+) and a large population of differentiated cells (Nkx3.1+, Pbsn+). In organoids and in mice, both populations contribute equally to prostate regeneration, partly through androgen-driven expression of growth factors (Nrg2, Rspo3) by mesenchymal cells acting in a paracrine fashion on luminal cells. Analysis of human prostate tissue revealed similar differentiated and stemlike luminal subpopulations that likewise acquire enhanced regenerative potential after androgen ablation. We propose that prostate regeneration is driven by nearly all persisting luminal cells, not just by rare stem cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Composites of polyimide derived carbon nanofibers and MnO 2 nanosheets are reported. • The structure effectively suppresses Jahn-Teller effect and promotes fast Zn2+ ion diffusion. • The combination of delicate fiber and salty ice electrolyte enables excellent electrochemical performance. • A potential low temperature electrolyte is demonstrated. • The cell can work at a low temperature of −20 °C and 500 cycles is achieved under 0 °C. Mn-based aqueous zinc-ion batteries are potential candidates for energy storage owing to the low cost, high efficiency, and safety. Nevertheless, the Jahn–Teller effect induces Mn2+ dissolution and irreversible phase changes, seriously deteriorating the cycling life. Herein, the facile construction and low temperature performance of the core–shell composites of polyimide derived nitrogen-doped carbon nanofibers and δ-MnO 2 (δ-MnO 2 -CNFs) are reported, where ultrafine MnO 2 arrays are tightly anchored on carbon nanofibers. The hybrid effect of nitrogen doping, porous structure, and abundant active sites effectively inhibits the structural damage of MnO 2. The as-prepared δ-MnO 2 -CNFs cathode achieves a high specific capacity of 232.9 mAh g−1 and energy density of 450.7 Wh kg−1 at a current density of 100 mA g−1, and could be stably cycled for 500 cycles at a high current rate of 1 A g−1. The density functional theory calculation results show that the synergistic effect in δ-MnO 2 -CNFs is more conducive to the transfer of zinc ions. Furthermore, a salty ice electrolyte Zn(ClO 4) 2 has been used for the Zn//δ-MnO 2 -CNFs cell, which can work at a low temperature of −20 °C, and a stable low temperature (0 °C) cycle of 500 cycles is achieved at 1 A g−1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High heat conduction performance of electrical insulating composite is highly desired in thermal management of electronics. In this study, densely packed boron nitride (BN) composites with resin matrices of epoxy, polymethyl methacrylate, and an acrylic copolymer based binder were prepared through a solvent mediated mixing and compression molding method. The solvent mediated mixing assisted homogeneous dispersion; the compression molding removed excessive resin and led to alignment of BN flakes with high filler content. The resulted composites exhibited superior in‐plane thermal conductivity k// up to 21.3 W/mK and pronounced anisotropic heat conduction properties. The thermal conductivity was positively correlated with density ρ of a specimen in experimental. A presentation of thermal conductivity k = k ρ was proposed, and the dependence of thermal conductivity on specimen density d k ( ρ ) / d ρ   >   0 was proven mathematically. The application of BN composite in LED thermal management was demonstrated. An epoxy/BN heat spreader was used to efficiently cool down a 0.3‐W LED. The cooling effect was close to that with Al board heat spreader. POLYM. COMPOS., 39:E1653–E1658, 2018. © 2017 Society of Plastics Engineers [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• HCQ statically quenching the fluorescence of CAS and WP. • Hydrophobic interactions and hydrogen bonds are the forces for complexes formation. • The four major proteins in milk exhibited different binding sites with HCQ. • The complex of HCQ-CAS was more stable compared to HCQ-WP. This study investigated the interaction between hydroxychloroquine sulfate (HCQ) and caseins (CAS) or whey proteins (WP) by the means of various spectroscopic, molecular docking, and molecular dynamic (MD) simulation. The fluorescence spectrum revealed that CAS and WP interaction with HCQ resulted in static quenching due to the formation of HCQ-CAS and HCQ-WP complexes. The formation of complexes was also validated by fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), circular dichroism spectroscopy (CD), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The FTIR and CD data revealed that HCQ binding altered the secondary structure of CAS and WP. Moreover, molecular docking and MD simulation were performed to analyze the formation of complexes, which compacted the CAS structure. Moreover, they also demonstrated that HCQ interaction with CAS and WP mainly involved hydrophobic interactions, with some hydrogen bonding and electrostatic attraction forces. This was consistent with the zeta potential, thermodynamic and FTIR analyses. In conclusion, the present study guides the construction of the CAS and WP as a drug delivery system for HCQ and helps us understand how HCQ interacts with food components such as milk proteins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Fe-BTC was immobilized on PAN nanofibrous aerogel membrane (NFAM) by in-situ growth strategy at room temperature. • The Fe-BTC@PAN NFAM was ultralight and possessed 3D hierarchical porous structure. • The Fe-BTC@PAN NFAM showed highly efficient continuous flow degradation of MB. • The Fe-BTC@PAN NFAM demonstrated desirable reusability and stability for wastewater purification. Catalysts synthesized by immobilization of iron-based metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) on nanofibrous aerogel membranes (NFAMs) have great potential for practical applications in treatment of organic wastewaters. In this work, an ultralight Fe-BTC@polyacrylonitrile (PAN) NFAM with three-dimensional (3D) hierarchical porous structure was prepared by a green and facile in-situ growth strategy at room temperature. It was used as a catalytic membrane in a filtration device for testing the degradation of methylene blue (MB). The comprehensive characterization of the Fe-BTC@PAN NFAM confirmed the in-situ growth of Fe-BTC on NFAM. Combining the advantages of both MOFs and NFAMs, the as-obtained Fe-BTC@PAN NFAM, as a heterogeneous Fenton-like catalyst, exhibited excellent catalytic performance towards degradation of methylene blue (over 98.3% of MB could be removed within 120 min with high reaction rate constant of 0.0284 min−1). The effects of H 2 O 2 concentration, initial pH, temperature, and MB concentration on the catalytic performance were investigated. Moreover, the removal efficiency remained up to 90% over multiple cycles with negligible iron leaching (less than0.5 mg/L), which indicated catalytic stability with good reusability. Furthermore, the plausible reaction mechanism was proposed. Hence, this study provides promising insights into the rational design of high-performance 3D MOF-based Fenton-like catalyst for treatment of organic wastewaters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highly-crystallized cubic cattierite CoS 2 pyramids were deposited on Ti foil via a simple hydrothermal method using CoCl 2 and thiourea as precursors. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) characterization revealed the morphology evolution from ramdom nanoparticles to micro-pyramids with well defined facets. These CoS 2 pyramids were applied as electrocatalysts for hydorgen evolution reaction (HER) and showed very different acidic HER performance. The sample prepared at 15 h reaction time showed the best performance with an onset overpotential as low as 81 mV and a Tafel slope of ∼72 mV/dec. The activity was kept almost 89% even after working for 30,000 seconds. Further study showed that these CoS 2 pyramids also functioned well in neutral (1.0 M potassium phosphate buffer solution, pH = 7.00) and alkaline (1.0 M KOH solution, pH = 13.57) conditions. The cubic cattierite-type CoS 2 can work as a novel HER electrocatalyst over the wide pH range from 0 to 14, combined with its easy-synthesis, low-cost and high stability, which can potentially serve as a ready-to-go HER catalyst for practical utilization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objectives of this study were to identify the chemical composition, monosaccharide composition, and molecular weight (Mw) of the polysaccharide (LBP) extract from Lycium barbarum L., and investigate the effects of Ca2+ on the zeta potential, rheological properties, infrared spectra (IR), and structure as well as the gelation mechanism of the LBP. The results showed that the LBP was an acidic glycoprotein mixture with an Mw of 4.05 × 105 Da. The addition of Ca2+ first decreased and then increased the absolute value of zeta potential. The elastic modulus (G'), complex viscosity (η*), and stress relaxation modulus (G(t)) of LBP increased with an increase of Ca2+ concentration, and reached the maximum value at the concentration of 12 mM. IR showed that the typical peak wavenumber of the LBP has changed in the presence of Ca2+. SEM and AFM analysis confirmed that Ca2+ could improve the formation of gel network structure in LBP. In addition, the electrostatic interaction and the calcium bridges produced by the addition of Ca2+ played a key role in the formation of the gel network structure. These findings will benefit the application of LBP in the food and pharmaceutical industries. [Display omitted] • Effect of Ca2+ on the rheological properties and structure of LBP was investigated. • Gelation mechanism of LBP was also elucidated. • Increasing concentration of Ca2+ improved rheological properties of the LBP gels. • Ca2+ increased the stability of LBP gel network structure. • Electrostatic interaction was crucial to LBP gel network structure formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The design and fabrication of efficientand inexpensive electrodesfor use in the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is essential for energy-conversiontechnologies. In this study, high OER performance is achieved usingnovel hierarchical ZnxCo3–xO4nanostructures constructed with smallsecondary nanoneedles grown on primary rhombus-shaped pillar arrays.The nanostructures have large roughness factor, high porosity, andhigh active-site density. Only a small overpotential of ∼0.32V is needed for a current density of 10 mA/cm2with a Tafelslope of 51 mV/decade. The nanostructures are also found to performsignificantly better than pure Co3O4and a commercialIr/C catalyst and to perform similarly to the best OER catalysts thathave been reported for alkaline media. These merits combined withthe satisfactory stability of the nanostructures indicate that theyare promising electrodes for water oxidation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hybrid ion capacitors show promise to bridge the gap between rechargeable batteries with high energy density and supercapacitors of high power. However, research efforts primarily focus on lithium-ion and/or sodium-ion based capacitors, potassium ion capacitor (KIC) is theoretically more sustainable and promising owing to the high abundance, low standard redox potential and low cost of the K sources. Herein, nitrogen-doped porous carbon submicrospheres derived from hierarchical micro-flowerlike polyimide superstructure are fabricated and investigated as novel anodes for excellent K ion storage. The effect of different electrolytes on potassium storage properties and the reaction kinetics are successfully revealed. A low cost nonaqueous KIC is assembled with commercial activated carbon as cathode and the polyimide derived carbon as anode. Benefiting from the unique structure characteristics of enriched active sites, high electronic conductivity, and the conspicuous pseudocapacitive effect of polyimide carbon, the as-fabricated device manifests the maximum energy density and power density of 90.1 Wh kg−1 and 3000 W kg−1, respectively. Even at 1540 W kg−1, the energy density still remains at 43.5 Wh kg−1. Moreover, the device achieves a near 100% Coulombic efficiency and favorable cycling stability over 5000 cycles at a current density 500 mA g−1. Image 1 • Polyimide derived N-doped carbon as new anodes for K ion capacitors. • The effect of different electrolytes on potassium storage properties. • High electronic/ionic conductivity and conspicuous pseudocapacitive effect. • The device demonstrates high energy density and exceptional cycling stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ZnxCo3-xO4 nanoarrays are grown hydrothermally on Ti foils using appropriate ratios of Zn(NO3)2 and Co(NO3)2, NH4F and Co(NH2)2 in H2O together with the Ti substrate (autoclave, 120 °C, 10 h). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]