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This study describes a polymer potentially used as a vaccine adjuvant. We first synthesized a novel polyacrylic acid modified by perfluorinated butanol—a bioactive compound that is biocompatible. The main aim was to functionalize the polyacrylic acid by fluorine. This functionalization could offer a permanent graft by an esterification reaction. The chemical structure of the polymer has been characterized by the hydrogen nuclear magnetic resonance spectrum (1H-NMR) and fourier transform infrared spectrum (FT-IR). Thermal analysis showed that the esterification reaction was successful on the polyacrylic acid. Viscosity testing showed that the viscosity of the sample aqueous solution increases along with esterification. The surface tension of the polymer was also tested. The results show that the surface tension of the polyacrylic acid markedly decreased when modified by fluorine. Finally, the interaction of these materials with macrophages was tested on cell test. Results showed that the modified polyacrylic acid performed better improve the activation effect than pure polyacrylic acid in 1L-1β.

Poly (DL-lactide)/Poly (ethylene glycol) diblock copolymer is successfully synthesized with mPEG and DL-LA as main raw materials, and the residual monomers of the polymer were removed by recrystallization. FT-IR is used to characterize the structure of the polymer. Gas chromatography is used to determine the residual monomers and residual solvent of the polymer. The solubility of polymer in different solvents was determined, and the effect of different solvent systems on the removal of residual monomers in copolymer were discussed. The results showed that the Poly(DL-lactide)/Poly(ethylene glycol) diblock copolymer was recrystallized with acetone/ isopropyl ether solvent system has the best ability to remove residual monomers, and the residual monomers of the obtained polymer are less than 0.01 wt%, the total residual solvent is only 0.24 wt%, and the productivity is as high as 95.5 wt%.

The surface modified flake graphite (FG) was filled into polypropylene (PP) and mixed by a double-roll open mill. FG/PP composites with high thermal conductivity were prepared by compression molding. Studies had shown that the modification of FG by coupling agent was beneficial to the dispersion in FG/PP composites. The effect was better when the amount of NDZ-201 was 0.7wt%. With the increase of FG particle size, the thermal conductivity of FG/PP composites increased obviously. Compared with 17μm FG, the average, vertical and parallel thermal conductivity of FG/PP composites prepared with 148μm FG increased by 65.9%, 87.7% and 47.0% respectively. The thermal conductivity of FG/PP composites were improved with the increase of FG content. When FG content was 70wt%, the thermal conductivity increased significantly, the average, vertical and parallel thermal conductivity reached 4.16 W·m-1·K-1, 0.938 W·m-1·K-1 and 18.4 W·m-1·K-1.

Based on the establishment of a moisture transport model, a prediction model for chloride transport in unsaturated concrete was developed. The moisture transport model considers both the diffusion of water vapor and seepage of liquid water in concrete under drying-wetting conditions. The moisture transport model was verified by wetting and drying tests. In the transport model of chloride ions, both diffusion and convection were considered. Tests of specimens under drying-wetting cycles with four types of cycles were carried out to verify the chloride transport model. Furthermore, a new device was developed to mimic tidal and splash zones of a marine environment to achieve different time ratios of drying-wetting. The measured results of chloride content corresponded with the simulated results. The results showed that the chloride content in concrete displayed no relationship with the ratio of drying and wetting times. The chloride content of concrete in mimicked tidal and splash zones significantly varied with height, especially in the surface layer of concrete, and the chloride content of concrete at the junction of the splash and tidal zones was the highest.

Service performance and safety of aluminum materials are restricted by the proneness to marine corrosion. The facile and low cost fabrication of fluorine-free superhydrophobic aluminum surfaces for anticorrosion is still a challenging issue. Herein, we report a handy and versatile fabrication of nonfluorinated Allium giganteum-like superhydrophobic aluminum surfaces via one step electrodeposition approach. The surface topographies, wettability and chemical compositions were detailed characterized and discussed. In addition, we investigated the self-cleaning and low surface adhesion ability of the as-fabricated electrodeposited superhydrophobic surface. The electrochemical impedance spectra was performed to reveal the corrosion resistance and inhibition efficiency of the as-prepared superhydrophobic surface. The air-exposure and 3.5 wt% NaCl immersion tests suggest a good lasting quality of the surface. We believe the facile fabrication of fluorine-free superhydrophobic surface can meliorate many shortcomings of achieving superhydrophobicity and broaden the potential applications of aluminum-based materials towards marine-related fields.

316L stainless steel has been widely used for orthopedic devices. Inflammatory response and direct contact with abundant proteins after implantation lead to corrosion issues of biomedical stainless steels. The effect of combination of H2O2 and albumin on the corrosion of 316L stainless steel has been investigated for the first time in simulated body fluids at 37 °C with electrochemical and long term immersion tests. ICP-MS measurement after 16 weeks immersion reveals that the total concentration in the presence of both species was substantially higher than physiological saline alone, and even higher than the sum of H2O2 alone and albumin alone. Electrochemical polarisation curves and electrochemical impendence spectra show that albumin accelerated anodic dissolution and suppressed cathodic reaction, while H2O2 promoted cathodic reaction. Also, H2O2 and/or albumin promoted meta-stable/stable pitting corrosion and decreased charge transfer resistance. Accelerated corrosion of 316L stainless steel in the presence of both species was attributed to the promoted formation of Fe oxides and CrOOH by H2O2 and the largely favoured dissolution of these oxides by the addition of albumin, significantly accelerating Fe and Cr release. The synergistic interaction between both species indicates significant underestimation of corrosion rate evaluated solely in physiological saline. These findings suggest the necessity of using more realistic solutions to evaluate corrosion resistance of biomedical alloys for future in-vitro studies.

A series of poly(benzimidazole-imide)s (PBIPIs) derived from different dianhydrides and 2-(3-aminophenyl)-5-aminobenzimidazole (m-BIA) were synthesized via thermal imidization to form flexible films. This series of PBIPIs showed great Tgs ranging from 296 to 484 °C, excellent thermal stability performed in 5% weight loss temperatures (Td5%s) of 502–529 °C in N2 and good mechanical properties (tensile strengths of 89–127 MPa, tensile moduli of 2.9–4.1 GPa and elongations at break of 3.9–6.9%). Compared with PIs derived from 6-amino-2-(4-(4-aminophenoxy)phenyl)-1H-benzimidazole (p-BIODA), m-BIA based PBIPI films exhibited higher Tg, and better solubility. Besides, the thermoplastic PBIPI resin (PI-6-PA) derived from 2,2-bis[4-(3,4-dicarboxyphenoxy)phenyl]propane dianhydride (BPADA) and m-BIA exhibited good melt processability with high Tg of 273 °C, melt flow index (MFI) of 7.76 g/10 min, minimum complex viscosity of 11.9 × 103 Pa·s at 402 °C and low melt viscosity ratio of 2.46 at 400 °C.

The corrosion behavior of 9 % Ni steel in a 3.5 wt. % NaCl solution was investigated by electrochemical techniques including open circuit potential (OCP), potentiodynamic polarization, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The principal components and morphology of 9 % Ni steel and the resulting corrosion layer are analysed by metallographic evaluation, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The results suggest that the anodic reaction is primarily the dissolution of the iron matrix and the cathodic process is mainly the reduction of oxygen. The corrosion resistance R-ct of 9 % Ni steel decreased with increasing immersion time and the corrosion layer did not provide protection. The outer section of the corrosion product consists mostly of lepidocrocite gamma-FeOOH, trace goethite alpha-FeOOH, and magnetite Fe3O4. The inner section is a nickel-rich layer, which is related to the alloying elements and reverted austenite. Moreover, the corrosion layer was found to accelerate the selective corrosion.

Faraday rotation diamagnetic glass has attracted research attentions in photonics, sensing and magneto optical devices due to their high refractive index, wide transmittance in UV and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) range and temperature independent Faraday rotation. Selenite modified heavy metal oxides glasses with composition of xSeO2-(10-x) B2O3-45PbO-45Bi2O3 (x = 0, 1, 5 and 10mol%) and 15%SeO2-40%PbO-45%Bi2O3 have been fabricated by melt-quenching method in present study. The influence of SeO2 on glass forming ability, thermal, mechanical properties and Faraday rotation were evaluated through X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Fourier transforms infrared spectra (FT-IR), Raman, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Vicker's hardness and Verdet constant measurements. XRD spectra reveal that the good vitrification was achieved for glass with SeO2 amounts ≤10% even without B2O3. FT-IR, Raman and XPS spectra ascertain the existence of characteristic vibration of SeO4, SeO3, PbO4, BiO3 and BO3 units. The incorporation of SeO2 increases the connectivity of glassy network by increasing the Tg, thermal stability and mechanical hardness. The small band gap, high polarizable Se4+ ions and isolated SeO3 units contribute to Faraday rotation improvement.

Multifunctional core–shell nanostructures formed by integration of distinct components have received wide attention as promising biological platforms in recent years. In this work, crystalline zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8), a typical metal-organic framework (MOF), is coated onto single gold nanorod(AuNR) core for successful realization of synergistic photothermal and chemotherapy triggered by near-infrared (NIR) light. Impressively, high doxorubicin hydrochloride (DOX) loading capacity followed by pH and NIR light dual stimuli-responsive DOX release can be easily implemented through formation and breakage of coordination bonds in the system. Moreover, under NIR laser irradiation at 808 nm, these novel AuNR@MOF core–shell nanostructures exhibit effective synergistic chemo-photothermal therapy both in vitro and in vivo, confirmed by cell treatment and tumor ablation via intravenous injection.

People watching smartphones while walking causes a significant impact to their safety. Pedestrians staring at smartphone screens while walking along the sidewalk are generally more at risk than other pedestrians not engaged in smartphone usage. In this study, the authors propose Safe Walking, an Android smartphone-based system that detects the walking behaviour of pedestrians by leveraging the sensors and front camera on smartphones, improving the safety of pedestrians staring at smartphone screens. More specifically, Safe Walking first exploits a pedestrian speed calculation algorithm by sampling acceleration data via the accelerometer and calculating gravity components via the gravity sensor. Then, this system utilises a greyscale image detection algorithm to detect the face and eye movement modes based on OpenCV4Android to determine if pedestrians are staring at the screens. Finally, Safe Walking generates a vibration by a vibrator on smartphones to alert pedestrians to pay attention to road conditions. The authors implemented Safe Walking on an Android smartphone and evaluated pedestrian walking speed, the accuracy of eye movement, and system performance. The results show that Safe Walking can prevent the potential danger for pedestrians staring at smartphone screens with a true positive rate of 91 % .

To extend the upper operating temperature range of melt processable PIs, two series of end-capped copolyimides based on hydroquinone diphthalic anhydride (HQDPA) isomers were designed by varying the contents of appropriate diamines. Thus, copolyimides PI-(0a∼20a) based on 3,3′-HQDPA were prepared by varying the ratio of rigid 2-(4-aminophenyl)-5-aminobenzimidazole (BIA) and flexible 4,4′-oxydianiline (ODA). The resulting copolyimides demonstrated good properties, such as excellent solubility, high Tg ranging from 328 to 354 °C as determined by dynamic mechanical analyzer (DMA), besides, exhibited good thermal stability based on 5% weight loss temperature (T5%) of 502–514 °C and low melt viscosity in the range of 291–935 Pa·s. Most importantly, PI-20a showed a good combination of low melt viscosity simultaneously with significantly high Tg (328 °C). Furthermore, this system was modified by copolymerization with different feed ratio of 4,4′-HQDPA isomer and produced another series PI-(20a∼20e), that exhibited high Tg in the range of 315–330 °C with T5% of 502–543 °C and minimum complex viscosity in the range of 291–479 Pa·s. All PIs form tough and flexible films that have remarkable tensile strength and moduli in the range of 93–116 MPa and 3.7–4.7 GPa, respectively.

People prefer to store important, private, and sensitive information on smartphones for convenient storage and fast access, such as photos and emails. To prevent information leakage and smartphone illegal access, we propose a novel sensor-based continuous authentication system, SensorCA , for continuously monitoring users’ behavior patterns, by leveraging the accelerometer, gyroscope, and magnetometer ubiquitously built-in smartphones. We are among the first to exploit the data augmentation approach of the rotation, which creates additional data by applying it on the collected raw data and improves the robustness of the proposed system. With the augmented data, SensorCA extracts sensor-based features in both time and frequency domains within a time window, then utilizes the kernel ridge regression with truncated Gaussian radial basis function kernel (KRR-TRBF) to train the classifier, and finally authenticates the current user as a legitimate user or an impostor. We evaluate the authentication performance of SensorCA in terms of different classifiers including KRR-TRBF, KRR-POLY, and SVM-RBF, and the data augmentation approach rotation on KRR-TRBF6 and SVM-RBF. The experimental results show that under the KRR-TRBF6 classifier, SensorCA reaches the lowest median equal error rate of 3.0% with dataset size 8000 and consumes the shortest training time of 0.054 seconds with dataset size 1000.

In this work, exciplex-based OLEDs (ExOLEDs) are fabricated with 1,1-bis((di-4-tolylamino)phenyl)cyclohexane (TAPC) as the donor and a series triazine derivatives, e.g., 2,4,6-tris(biphenyl-3-yl)-1,3,5-triazine (T2T), 2,4,6-tris(3-(1H-pyrazol-1-yl)phenyl)-1,3,5-triazine (3P-T2T), and 2,4,6-tris(m-(diphenylphosphinoyl)phenyl)-1,3,5-triazine (PO-T2T), as the acceptors. With different acceptors and mole ratios of donor:acceptor, the effects of the photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY), charge carrier balance, and exciton lifetime on the EQE and efficiency roll-off are systematically investigated. It is found that the external quantum efficiency (EQE) of the ExOLEDs is primary determined by the PLQY of the mixed donor:acceptor film and tuned in a certain extent by the charge carrier balance. Furthermore, the efficiency roll-offs of different ExOLEDs are all less than 20%, which are simultaneously determined by the photoluminescence (PL) lifetime and the charge carrier balance.

A series of polyacrylate/nanoemulsion composites were prepared to form a new kind of nanoemulsion, their particle sizes and polydispersity indices were measured. The particle sizes of the polyacrylate/nanoemulsion composites are consistent with nanoemulsions used in the system. In addition, an ELISA-specific antigen-antibody binding method was used for physical adsorption experiments on ovalbumin. Results showed that the adsorption performance of the polyacrylate/nanoemulsion system is best when the particle size was 55 nm, and the nanoemulsion content was 20 wt%, 30 wt%, or 40 wt%. Meanwhile, in order to select the optimum experimental conditions, in vivo immunity experiments in mice were carried out to analyze the adjuvant properties of ovalbumin as a model antigen. Analysis of ovalbumin-specific IgG, IgG1, and IgG2a antibody titers showed the best results when the particle size of the polyacrylate/nanoemulsion composites is 55 nm, the polyacrylate content is 0.5 wt%, and the nanoemulsion contents is 20 wt%. Meanwhile, titer analysis also showed that the polyacrylate obviously enhanced the IgG2a titer in mice. Our polyacrylate/nanoemulsion composites can both stimulate humoral and cellular immunity and have an enhanced adjuvant effect on water-soluble protein antigens.

In order to make each functional module of silage machinery have a high degree of adaptability and meet the market demand of coordinated operation of each functional module, this paper preliminarily explores the symbiosis concept in the field of silage equipment, and applies the technology system evolution theory to the symbiotic design of silage equipment. In the design stage, the designers divide the functional modules of the silage machinery according to the market and user needs, and then analyze the symbiosis of the interrelated modules and screen out the functional modules with weak adaptability, so as to carry out the technical system evolution and optimize each functional module, and then establish the layout scheme between modules, so that the various functional modules of the silage machinery have strong adaptability, improve product quality, reduce design costs, shorten the design cycle, and realize the user’s demand for the coordinated operation of multi-functional silage machinery.

The printed circuit heat exchanger (PCHE) is a high-efficiency heat exchanger with high compactness, pressure resistance, and stability. It can also withstand high temperatures and ultra-low temperatures. Therefore, it has attracted a large number of scholarly interests in recent years. In order to improve the thermal and hydraulic performance of traditional printed circuit heat exchangers, a three-dimensional helical twine printed circuit heat exchanger (HTPCHE) is designed and the laminar flow is numerically investigated using water as the working fluid. Taking Colburn factor j, Fanning friction factor f and comprehensive index j/f as parameters, the thermal-hydraulic performance of HTPCHE and zigzag-type PCHE with different inclined angles are compared. It is found that when the inclination angle of HTPCHE is 10–25°, its overall performance is better than that of traditional PCHE. When the inclined angle is 10° and Rein = 828, the overall performance is 37.6% better than that of 15° zigzag channel. In addition, the impact of the pitch of HTPCHE and the thickness of the transition plate on its heat transfer and flow characteristics is explored. It is discovered that when the given fixed inclined angle, the overall performance can be improved by increasing the pitch while the thickness of the transition plate does not have any significant impact.

This study investigated the effects of carbonation on the chloride binding of mortars containing simulated marine sand. Various admixtures were added, and metakaolin (MK), fly ash (FA), nano-Al2O3 (NA), and aluminum (A) were considered as supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) for use in mortars. Changes in free chloride content, total chloride content, bound chloride content, chloride binding rates, and pH values as a function of mortar depth were analyzed, and the effects of carbonation on the hydration products were also assessed. The results indicated that in the place of cement, SCMs could significantly increase the carbonation zone depth in mortar. The chloride ions migrated outward and inward under accelerated carbonation conditions in the mortar, generating two peak values for the chloride content in the mortars. Consequently, the incorporation of SCMs was beneficial for chloride ion migration in mortars under carbonation. Additionally, the bound chloride content and chloride binding rates were initially extremely low, then gradually increased, and finally stabilized with increased depth in the mortars under carbonation. Furthermore, the incorporation of SCMs resulted in the decreased chloride binding capacity of the mortars under accelerated carbonation, and Friedel’s salt gradually decomposed with carbonation.

Mobile trajectory big data, such as global positioning system (GPS) trajectories of taxicabs, have enormous social and economic values in intelligent transportation systems, and efficient mining and in-depth analysis of these data can provide beneficial decision-making for traffic operation and especially for passenger travel. To this end, in this paper, we discover the temporal, spatial, and spatiotemporal characteristics of passenger travel by analyzing the travel duration and the travel distance with large-scale taxi trajectory data, which can not only effectively reveal the resident travel patterns but also dynamically perceive the traffic conditions. Specifically, we propose an information framework to preprocess the taxi GPS trajectory data that can thoroughly identify passenger travel trajectories. Moreover, we develop a novel distribution model to explore the rules of citizen travel accurately. Finally, we put forward a parallel clustering approach on Spark, which can discover the spatiotemporal characteristics of passenger travel in a fine-grained manner, to obtain the characteristic changes of inhabitant travel at different periods of the day. In particular, the experimental results from an empirical study show that the travel duration and the travel distance follow a log-normal distribution, and the tail of the travel distance is highly fitting to a three-parameter gamma distribution and the long-distance travel of the day is mainly to the airport between 5:00 and 6:00 AM.

Dual-phase high entropy alloys have been proved to have the ability to overcome the strength-ductility trade-off. However, high-entropy alloy films are difficult to obtain a dual-phase structure due to the extremely high cooling rate during the preparation process and the high-entropy effect of the film itself. In this paper, the dual-phase CuNiTiNbCr high-entropy alloy films were prepared by high-power pulsed magnetron sputtering at different working pressures. The composition, microstructures, mechanical properties and electrochemical corrosion performance were tested by energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), nano-indentation, Vickers indentation and electrochemical polarization. The CuNiTiNbCr films exhibited a dual-phase structure composed of FCC matrix phase and Cu-rich BCC precipitated phase. The film presented a two-layer structure, the single FCC phase structure near the substrate and the FCC + BCC structure above. Comparing with FCC phase, the dual-phase structure exhibited higher hardness. With the increase of deposition pressure, the structure of the film became looser, and the hardness, toughness and corrosion resistance were all decreased due to the influence of the structure. It is proved that high-power pulsed magnetron sputtering is a feasible way for the phase structure regulation and performance improvement of high-entropy alloy films.

Planar CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3 perovskite based photodetectors are fabricated by a facile and low-cost one-step method. The devices show broad spectral photoresponse from the ultraviolet to whole visible region and the performance can be significantly improved by the introduction of a bipolar transporting MoO 3 interface layer between CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3 film and Au electrode. The photocurrent of the device with an optimized MoO 3 layer is about twice that of the reference device without MoO 3 layer, which results in a high ON/OFF current ratio of 5.9 × 10 3 at 5 V. Besides, slightly increased photoresponse speed is also found in the optimized device with rise time and decay time of 21.6 and 9.9 ms, respectively. The improvement can be attributed to the improved hole and electron collection efficiency and the quickly filled in or emptied trap states at the CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3 /Au interface due to the introduction of the bipolar transporting MoO 3 layer.

The transient heat transfer process due to exponentially increasing heat inputs for turbulent flow of FC-72 was schematically investigated for different combinations of parameters such as flow velocity, inlet liquid temperature and period of exponentially increasing heat inputs. The ranges of Reynolds number, Re d , and Prandtl number, Pr , were 23,400–81,800 and 8.4–10.8, respectively. The test heaters used in this study were circular SUS304 tubes with small inner diameters of 1, 1.8 and 2.8 mm, wall thickness of 0.5 mm, and heated lengths around 30, 40 and 50 mm. The effects of flow velocity, exponential period and tube inner diameter on transient turbulent heat transfer process were discussed in detail. It was clarified that the transient turbulent heat transfer due to exponentially increasing heat inputs could be analyzed by introducing a dimensionless time, Fourier number, Fo . An empirical correlation for transient turbulent heat transfer caused by exponentially increasing heat inputs on small diameter tubes was developed based on the effects of Fo , flow velocity and tube inner diameter. The empirical correlation presents the experimental data within ±25%.

Ionic solvation in solutions of lithium tetrafluoroborate (LiBF4) in propylene carbonate (PC) + dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) mixtures has been studied using Fourier transformed infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Dimerization of DMSO molecules in the solutions was taken into account. The obtained results are discussed with respect to the electrolyte concentration and properties of the cations of the electrolyte. Band changes due to solvation interaction were detected in the region of the C=O stretching vibrations and ring deformation for PC, and the S=O stretching vibrations and C–S–C skeleton stretching modes for DMSO, indicating that there is a strong interaction between lithium cations and solvent molecules. In addition, Li+ was preferentially solvated by DMSO in these binary solvents as a result of the large difference in their donor number (DN) values. The structures of PC, DMSO, Li+-PC, Li+-DMSO, and Li+-PC+DMSO were given.

Here we present our findings of superhydrophilic (SHPL)/superhydrophobic (SHPB) Dianthus caryophyllus -like hierarchical structure for corrosion inhibition and biofouling mitigation through a relatively high-speed hard anodisation (HA) technique. The surface morphologies, chemical compositions were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometer (FTIR). The static and dynamic behaviors of water droplets and water stream demonstrate the extremely low contact angle of SHPL surface and the low adhesive force of SHPB surface. Electrochemical impedance spectra (EIS) in 3.5 wt% NaCl solution and settlement experiments in Chlorella vulgaris -inoculated culture medium revealed that the SHPL surface cannot efficiently protect the underlying substrates from corrosion and Chlorella vulgaris cell adhesion, whereas the SHPB surface exhibited noticeable corrosion inhibition and biofouling mitigation. In addition, the synthetic SHPB surface presents good self-cleaning ability to contamination and thermal stability to hot water droplets. We believe that our findings of the anodized SHPL/SHPB Dianthus caryophyllus -on-nanowires structure are helpful in understanding the difference between superhydrophilicity and superhydrophobicity, which is beneficial for designing new bio-inspired interfacial materials with super-wettability for potential marine applications.

Objective. To systematically evaluate the efficacy and safety of Dan’e-fukang soft extract in endometriosis treatment. Method. PubMed, CNKI, Wanfang Database, VIP, SinoMed, and Cochrane Library were searched. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing the efficacy of Dan’e-fukang soft extract and conventional western medicines for endometriosis treatment were included. The data were extracted independently by two people and analyzed using RevMan 5.2.0 software. The relative risk (RR) and mean difference (MD) with 95% confidence intervals were considered as effective outcome indicators. Results. Thirty-nine papers including 5442 patients with endometriosis were included in this study. A meta-analysis revealed that Dan’e-fukang soft extract was more efficient than gestrinone in the treatment of endometriosis (RR = 1.08, 95% CI = 1.03 to 1.15, I2 = 71%, REM, 18 trials) and its efficacy was comparable to that of danazol and mifepristone. Dan’e-fukang soft extract was also as effective as gestrinone and mifepristone in terms of relapse rate and relieving dysmenorrhea. The incidence of adverse reactions was lower than that of conventional western medicines. Conclusions. The results of this study showed that Dan’e-fukang soft extract offers certain advantages in endometriosis treatment, but rigorously designed, strictly implemented RCTs are needed to further validate its efficacy.

This study has investigated corrosion inhibition performance on X70 pipeline steel in seawater using carboxymethyl chitosan (CMCS) and Na2WO4 at a cathodic protection potential of −0.85 V (vs. SCE). The corrosion behaviors were studied using electrochemical methods, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The results show that the inhibition efficiency increases when the CMCS concentration increases. Polarization curves reveal that CMCS and Na2WO4 exhibit a nice synergy for the corrosion inhibition of X70 pipeline steel in seawater. The inhibition mechanism behind the synergistic protective effect of CMCS and Na2WO4 is assumed to occur via both chemisorption on the steel surface through the active sites in the molecule and physisorption. When combined with cathodic protection, corrosion can be inhibited and calcareous deposits cannot form on the surface.

Marine corrosion and biofouling on metallic materials are sticky problems. Herein, we prepared hierarchical structured superhydrophobic (SHPB) surfaces via a versatile one step electrodeposition approach. The synthetic SHPB surface was employed as an efficient barrier against corrosion and Chlorella vulgaris -induced biofouling. The surface morphology and chemical compositions were analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometer (FTIR) and Energy-dispersive spectrum (EDS). Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), potentiodynamic polarization and immersion test in Chlorella vulgaris -inoculated culture medium were carried out to evaluate the anti-corrosion and anti-biofouling performance of the obtained SHPB surface. The results demonstrated that the synthetic SHPB surface exhibits great enhanced corrosion resistance and biofouling mitigation. Moreover, the as-fabricated SHPB surfaces retain superhydrophobicity in wicked environment such as strong acid and alkali conditions, showing good chemical stability. We believe that the SHPB surfaces over metallic substrates provide a potential and worthful strategy for marine corrosion and biofouling.

The heat transfer process of turbulent, single-phase forced convection of FC-72 through small diameter tubes with 1 and 1.8 mm inner diameters was experimentally investigated. The influence of Reynolds number ( Re d ), Prandtl number ( Pr ), viscosity ratio ( μ / μ w ) and ratios of heated length to inner diameter ( L / d ) on turbulent heat transfer was studied in detail. The experimental data were also compared with the values calculated by classical correlations for conventional sized channels. The results indicated that the classical heat transfer correlations are not adequate for calculation of the heat transfer coefficient in small diameter tubes. The Nusselt numbers ( Nu d ) for 1 and 1.8 mm depend on Re d in a different manner compared to classical correlations. The deviation from classical heat transfer correlations increased as the Re d increase. The turbulent heat transfer correlation for FC-72 flow in tubes with diameters of 1 and 1.8 mm has been developed based on the experiment data. The differences between experimental and predicted Nu d are within ±15%.

To explore highly sensitive and low-toxicity techniques for tracking and evaluation of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), one of the most mortal tumors in the world, it is utterly imperative for doctors to select the appropriate treatment strategies. Herein, developing near-infrared (NIR) excited nanosensors, in which the donor and acceptor pairs within a biological metal-organic framework (bio-MOF) matrix are precisely controlled to rationalize upconversion Forster resonance energy transfer (FRET), is suggested for detecting the O2 concentration inside tumors with reduced signal disturbance and health detriment. Under NIR excitation, as-fabricated core/satellite nanosensors exhibit much improved FRET efficiency and reversible hypoxic response with high sensitivity, which are effective both in vitro and in vivo (zebrafish) for cycling normoxia-hypoxia imaging. Significantly, combined with a reliable preclinical genetically engineered murine model, such nanosensors successfully realize tracking of in vivo NSCLC lesions upon clear and gradient hypoxia signals without apparent long-term biotoxicity, illustrating their exciting potential for efficient NSCLC evaluation and prognosis.

Conventionally, production of methyl ester fuels from microalgae occurs through an energy-intensive two-step chemical extraction and transesterification process. To improve the energy efficiency, we performed in situ enzymatic conversion of whole algae biomass from an oleaginous heterokont microalga Nannochloropsis oceanica IMET1 with the immobilized lipase from Candida antarctica. The fatty acid methyl ester yield reached 107.7% for dry Nannochloropsis biomass at biomass to t-butanol to methanol weight ratio of 1:2:0.5 and a reaction time of 12 h at 25 °C, representing the first report of efficient whole algae biomass conversion into fatty acid methyl esters at room temperature. Different forms of algal biomass including wet Nannochloropsis biomass were tested. The maximum yield of wet biomass was 81.5%. Enzyme activity remained higher than 95% after 55 days of treatment (equal to 110 cycles of reaction) under the conditions optimized for dry algae biomass conversion. The low reaction temperature, high enzyme stability, and high yield from this study indicate in situ enzymatic conversion of dry algae biomass may potentially be used as an energy-efficient method for algal methyl ester fuel production while allowing co-product recovery.

We propose a tunable optical setup to engineer topologically nontrivial flat bands in twisted bilayer graphene under circularly polarized light. Using both analytical and numerical calculations, we demonstrate that nearly flat bands can be engineered at small twist angles near the magic angles of the static system. The flatness and the gaps between these bands can be tuned optically by varying laser frequency and amplitude. We study the effects of interlayer hopping variations on Floquet flat bands and find that lattice relaxation favors their formation. Furthermore, we find that, once formed, the flat bands carry nonzero Chern numbers. We show that at currently known values of parameters, such topological flat bands can be realized using circularly polarized UV laser light. Thus, our work opens the way to creating optically tunable, strongly correlated topological phases of electrons in moir\'e superlattices., Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures

The corrosion of Co-28Cr-6Mo and Co-35Ni-20Cr-10Mo, as biomedical alloys, has been investigated for effects of typical species (albumin and H

In this paper, the forced convective heat transfer of FC-72 was experimentally investigated for various of parameters like velocity, inlet temperature, tube size, and exponential period of heat generation rate. Circular tubes with different inner diameters (1, 1.8 and 2.8 mm) and heated lengths (30–50 mm) were used in this study. The experiment data suggest that the single-phase heat transfer coefficient increases with increasing flow velocity as well as decreasing tube diameter and ratio of heated length to inner diameter. The experiment data were nondimensionalized to study the effect of Reynolds number (Red) on forced convection heat transfer. The results indicate that the relation between Nusselt numbers (Nud) and Red for d = 2.8 mm show the same trend as the conventional correlations. However, the Nud for d = 1 and 1. 8 mm depend on Red in a different manner. The conventional heat transfer correlations are not adequate for prediction of forced convective heat transfer in mini channels. The heat transfer correlations for FC-72 in vertical small tubes with diameters of 1, 1.8 and 2.8 mm were developed separately based on the experiment data. The differences between experimental and predicted Nud are within ±15%.

In order to understand the heat transfer performance, startup and fluid flow condition of oscillating heat pipe (OHP) with hydraulic diameter far exceeding the maximum hydraulic diameter (MHD), an experimental investigation on heat transfer performance and visualization was conducted. From the experimental performance, it is found that the OHP can still work well with ethanol as the working fluid when the tube diameter has exceeded the MHD of 91.6%. In addition, the detailed flow patterns of the OHP were recorded by a highspeed camera for vertical and horizontal orientation to understand its physical mechanism. In the vertical orientation, initially working fluid generates small bubbles, and then the small bubbles coalesce and grow to vapor plugs, the vapor plugs finally pushes the liquid slugs to oscillate in the tube. In the horizontal orientation, the working fluid surface fluctuates due to the vapors flow from the evaporator to the condenser and bubbles burst in the evaporator. When the peak of liquid wave reaches the upper surface of tube, a liquid slug has been formed, and then the steam flow pushes the liquid slugs to oscillate in the tube.

The massive and long-term service of 5083 aluminum alloy (AA5083) is restricted by several shortcomings in marine and industrial environments, such as proneness to localized corrosion attack, surface contamination, etc. Herein, we report a facile and cost-effective strategy to transform intrinsic hydrophilicity into water-repellent superhydrophobicity, combining fluorine-free chemisorption of a hydrophobic agent with etching texture. Dual-scale hierarchical structure, surface height relief and surface chemical elements were studied by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), successively. Detailed investigations of the wetting property, self-cleaning effect, NaCl-particle self-propelling, corrosion and long-term behavior of the consequent superhydrophobic AA5083 surface were carried out, demonstrating extremely low adhesivity and outstanding water-repellent, self-cleaning and corrosion-resisting performance with long-term stability. We believe that the low cost, scalable and fluorine-free transforming of metallic surface wettability into waterproof superhydrophobicity is a possible strategy towards anti-contamination and marine anti-corrosion.

Deep neural networks have achieved high performance in a variety of image recognition tasks. However, it is reported that the performance on image recognition of these networks is unstable to slight perturbations of images. To verify this weakness, we propose DeceiveDeep, a gradient-based algorithm for deceiving deep neural networks in this paper. There exists a lot of gradient-based attack methods, such as the L-BFGS, FGSM, and Deepfool. Specifically, based on an original method, L-BFGS, we exploit the Euclid norm of the gradient to update the space vector in an image to generate a deceivable image for fooling deep neural networks. We construct three types of deep neural network models and one convolutional neural network for testing the proposed algorithm. Based on the MNIST dataset and the Fashion-MNIST dataset, we evaluate the effectiveness of DeceiveDeep in terms of accuracy on training and testing data, and CNN model, respectively. The experimental results show that, comparing with L-BFGS, DeceiveDeep dramatically decreases the accuracy of the deep models on image recognition.

Triz theory is the knowledge of heuristic methods to solve invention problems. The bionic model also has the effect of inspiring and solving invention problems. Both of them have been widely used in the engineering field. By consulting the existing bionic literature, analyzing the corresponding engineering problems to be solved, corresponding to the Triz conflict matrix, filling the bioengineering model into the conflict matrix, and establishing a conflict problem resolution matrix based on the bionic functional module, starting from the perspective of bionics a solution to the problem of engineering conflicts. In future design work, designers can quickly locate bionic objects, inspire design thinking, and greatly shorten the design cycle.

Poly (DL-lactide)/Poly (Ethylene Glycol) Diblock Copolymer is successfully synthesized with mPEG and DL-LA as main raw materials. FT-IR, 1H-NMR and DSC are used to study the influence of precipitant species and dosage on the properties of copolymer; and the effects of the m (mPEG)/m(LA)’s ratio on the copolymer’s molecular weight (Mn), glass transition temperature (Tg) and the properties of residual monomers. The results showed that the precipitant was ether, dichloromethane / ether was 1/6, m (m PEG)/m (LA) was 2/1.8, the synthesized Poly (DL-lactide)/Poly (Ethylene Glycol) Diblock Copolymers, the residual monomer was only 0.26 and the solvent residue was only 0.04.

Chloride binding capacity and its effect on the microstructure of mortar made with marine sand (MS), washed MS (WMS) and river sand (RS) were investigated in this study. The chloride contents, hydration products, micromorphology and pore structures of mortars were analyzed. The results showed that there was a diffusion trend for chloride ions from the surface of fine aggregate to cement hydrated products. During the whole curing period, the free chloride content in the mortars made by MS and WMS increased firstly, then decreased and stabilized finally with time. However, the total chloride content of three types of mortar hardly changed. The bound chloride content in the mortars made by MS and WMS slightly increased with time, and the bound chloride content included the MS, the WMS and the RS arranged from high to low. C3A·CaCl2·10H2O (Friedel’s salt) was formed at the early age and existed throughout the curing period. Moreover, the volume of fine capillary pore with a size of 10–100 nm increased in the MS and WMS mortar.

A series of biodegradable polymers, poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) were prepared by ring-opening polymerization with racemic lactide and glycolide as main raw materials. Gel Permeation Chromatography (GPC), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and ubbelohde viscometer were uesd for the characterizations of the PLGA. And the effect of glycolide’s (GA) content on molecular weight (Mw), vitrification transition temperature (Tg), intrinsic viscosity [η] of PLGA was discussed. The results show that the GA’s content in PLGA molecular structure is higher than the actual feeding ratio. Meanwhile, with the increase of GA’s content, the Mw, [η] and Tg of PLGA decreased.