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Thermal expansion tensor represents a key parameter for the numerical modeling of the crystal growth process. However, the modeling of β-Ga2O3 commonly utilizes one single thermal expansion constant that misses its anisotropic nature and temperature-dependent characteristics. Herein, we addressed this limitation by calibrating an anisotropic, temperature-dependent thermal expansion tensor using the experimental lattice parameters of β-Ga2O3 up to 1200 K. We found that COMSOL Multiphysics simulations employing the calibrated tensor yield stress distribution remarkably distinct from those relying on the commonly assumed constants. Specifically, our simulations predict a von Mises stress concentration near the crystal bottom, which explains the experimentally observed crack formation at corresponding locations. This contrasts with the simulations using the single-value thermal expansion constant, which fails to predict such stress concentration. The physical origin of crystal cracking is found to be rooted in the compressive force exerted by the iridium crucible during the cooling process. Our findings suggest that the physical anisotropy of β-Ga2O3 should be carefully considered in modeling and simulation. With the calibrated thermal expansion tensor, we provide a validated set of thermomechanical parameters for reliable β-Ga2O3 crystal growth simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soybean is one of the important crops in China. Soymilk, a traditional neutral plant-based protein drink, is rich in high quality proteins. Although soybean milk is rich in nutrients, its marketing among consumers, especially those in Western countries who are used to peaceful flavor, has been limited due to the adverse flavor impact brought by its special composition. In recent years, with the increasing attention to the nutritional value of soymilk, the flavor of soymilk has become a popular research object for scholars at home and abroad. The flavor components of soymilk are mainly volatile small molecular compounds produced by enzymatic reactions catalyzed by lipoxygenase (LOX). After formation, they interact with protein macromolecules to form the overall flavor of soymilk. At present, there are many methods to control the off-odor of soymilk at home and abroad, including physical heating methods, chemical methods, biological enzymatic digestion methods, mask methods, and a variety of breeding methods. These methods effectively reduce the off-odor of soymilk, but all of them have shortcomings. Currently, the sensory characteristics of the beany odor in soymilk are evaluated mainly by traditional human sensory scoring along with the assistance of modern instrument analysis of volatile flavor substances using headspace solid phase microextraction (SPME) gas chromatography coupled with-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). This paper summarized the research results of volatile flavor substances in soymilk in recent years and the sensory evaluation methods of soymilk at home and abroad, and looked forward to the future development direction, hoping to provide some theoretical bases and reference detection methods for solving the problem of soymilk flavor in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biopolymer packaging materials are an emerging trend in food packaging due to their degradability, nontoxicity, low cost, and low environmental stress; moreover, some properties of biopolymer packaging are better than those of traditional packaging. Proteins are a type of natural biopolymer packaging film matrix, and enhancing the packaging properties of proteins has been a focus of research. Preparing protein‐active packaging films by adding natural active substances with antimicrobial and antioxidant properties and nanoparticles to protein‐based films to provide more significant antimicrobial, antioxidant, and UV‐blocking effects is essential in food packaging and demonstrates the potential of using proteins in active food packaging applications. In recent years, the origin of natural actives, their mechanism of action, and their release from active packaging films have attracted much attention. In this review, we provide a comprehensive overview of protein film matrices for active packaging, natural antimicrobial agents, and natural antioxidants and discuss the potential of such active films in the packaging field. The sources of natural antimicrobial active substances and natural antioxidant active substances in packaging materials, their mechanisms of action, and their effects after being used to modify protein active films are summarized. The biorelease functions of protein active films with antimicrobial and antioxidant effects and their applications for various types of food are highlighted to understand the current effects of protein active films in food packaging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein, the use of a Hf doping strategy in epitaxial β‐Ga2O3 thin films is demonstrated to substantially enhance the conductivity and simultaneously achieve an even wider bandgap. Epitaxial β‐Ga2O3 thin films with various Hf dopant ratios are fabricated by pulsed laser deposition. The doping impact on the structural, optical, and transport properties is systematically investigated. At an optimized doping regime of 1%–2% in molar ratio, the heteroepitaxial Hf‐doped β‐Ga2O3 (Hf‐Ga2O3) films grown on the MgO substrate achieve a high n‐type conductivity of 6.5 S cm−1, a carrier mobility of 1.8 cm2 V−1 s−1, a carrier concentration of 2.69 × 1019 cm−3, and an ultrawide bandgap of 4.9 eV. The electron transport is further enhanced for the homoepitaxial Hf‐Ga2O3 film that exhibits a conductivity of 1236 S cm−1 and an ultrahigh mobility of 113 cm2 V−1 s−1. Density functional theory calculations reveal the preferential atomic site of Hf dopants in the β‐Ga2O3 lattice and its impact on the optical bandgap. This study demonstrates an effective way to achieve degenerate n‐type doping in ultrawide‐bandgap semiconductors for developing optoelectronic and power electronic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the rapid growth of information available about individual patients, most physicians suffer from information overload and inefficiencies when they review patient information in health information technology systems. In this paper, we present a novel hybrid dynamic and multi-collaborative filtering method to improve information retrieval from electronic health records. This method recommends relevant information from electronic health records to physicians during patient visits. It models information search dynamics using a Markov model. It also leverages the key idea of collaborative filtering, originating from Recommender Systems, for prioritizing information based on various similarities among physicians, patients and information items. We tested this new method using electronic health record data from the Indiana Network for Patient Care, a large, inter-organizational clinical data repository maintained by the Indiana Health Information Exchange. Our experimental results demonstrated that, for top-5 recommendations, our method was able to correctly predict the information in which physicians were interested in 46.7% of all test cases. For top-1 recommendations, the corresponding figure was 24.7%. In addition, the new method was 22.3% better than the conventional Markov model for top-1 recommendations.

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is one type of malignancy associated with migration and invasion through a currently unclear mechanism. We previously discovered S100A8/A9 levels were roughly elevated in the plasma of NPC patients as the promising biomarkers. However, their expressions and underlying functions in NPC tissues are still unknown. In the present study, we analyzed 49 NPC tissues and 20 chronic pharyngitis (CP) tissues. Immunohistochemical staining was performed in different tissues and analyzed by the Mann–Whitney U test statistically. Transwell migration and invasion experiments were further performed to determine S100A8/A9 effects on NPC. Our results showed that S100A8/A9 in NPC tissues were significantly higher than those in CP tissues, closely associated with NPC clinical stages. Intriguingly, exogenous S100A8/A9 protein stimulation could dramatically enhance NPC migration and invasion abilities. In addition, p38 MAPK pathway blockade could diminish the migration and invasion of NPC cells stimulated by S100A8/A9 proteins. The downstream tumor invasion and migration associated proteins (e.g., MMP7) were also elevated in NPC tissues, consistent with S100A8/A9 overexpression. Taken together, our present findings suggest that the secreted soluble inflammatory factors S100A8/A9 might promote cancer migration and invasion via the p38 MAPK signaling pathway along with invasion/migration associated proteins overexpression in the tumor microenvironment of NPC. This may shed light on the mechanism understanding of NPC prognosis and provide more novel clues for NPC diagnosis and therapy.

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) infects 20 million humans worldwide annually (1). HEV-infected persons usually have self-limiting acute hepatitis. However, persistent hepatitis can occur in HEV-infected immunocompromised patients who acquire infection [...]

In China, approximately 20 million farmers produce the world's largest share of tobacco. Showing that income from crop substitution can exceed that from tobacco growth is essential to persuading farm families to stop planting tobacco, grown abundantly in Yunnan Province. In the Yuxi Municipality, collaborators from the Yuxi Bureau of Agriculture and the University of California at Los Angeles School of Public Health initiated a tobacco crop substitution project. At 3 sites, 458 farm families volunteered to participate in a new, for-profit cooperative model. This project successfully identified an approach engaging farmers in cooperatives to substitute food crops for tobacco, thereby increasing farmers' annual income between 21% and 110% per acre.