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In this study, a novel broadband circularly polarised waveguide slot array antenna with a wide axial ratio bandwidth is designed. The circular polariser is excited by the waveguide radiation linear polarised antenna, whose end is bent by 90° and generates a circularly polarised electric field. The matching waveguide between the slot and the polariser improves impedance matching. Furthermore, the structure with the added waveguide changes waveguide impedance, which can be used to realise impedance matching, and reduces the spacing between the units. In this study, a 4 × 4 antenna array is fabricated. The measured results reveal that the array achieves −10 dB impedance bandwidth of 27% (11.15–14.63 GHz) and the 3 dB axial ratio bandwidth of 23% (11.48–14.52 GHz). An aperture efficiency higher than 71% is obtained, with the maximum gain of 22 dB. The antenna side lobes levels are less than −13 dB in the operating bandwidth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • High dose of N addition decreased macroaggregates (>2000 μm) in meadow grassland soils. • Short-term labile carbon did not alter soil pH and exchangeable Ca2+. • Labile carbon inputs offset the negative effects of N addition on soil aggregates. • Enhanced saprotrophic fungi explains restoration of macroaggregates by labile carbon. The formation and stability of soil aggregates affect plant growth, carbon sequestration, and many other physiological and biogeochemical processes. Aggregates may be destabilized by nitrogen (N) deposition due to decreased inputs of binding materials; however, the legacy effects of which are unknown. An increase in labile carbon (C) input could mitigate the negative impacts of N addition on soil aggregate stability through the improvement of soil physical, chemical and biological conditions. Using a field experiment with the addition of NH 4 NO 3 at multiple levels in a meadow steppe, we terminated the addition of N at the sixth year and shifted to applying labile C in the form of sucrose at three levels (C-0, C-200, and C-2000 g C m−2 y−1) to soil for two years. Then we examined the aggregate size distribution and the associated soil properties. The high historical N addition rates decreased the proportion of macroaggregates (>2000 μm) and increased microaggregates (<250 μm), leading to a reduction in the mean weight diameter (MWD), an index of soil aggregation stability. Labile C input offset the legacy effects of N addition on soil aggregates hierarchy and reversed the N-induced changes in MWD. Labile C input did not affect soil pH and exchangeable Ca2+, but increased the microbial biomass carbon (MBC) and the relative abundance of soil saprotrophic fungi (SSF); whilst the C-200 increased the relative abundance of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) only at low N addition rates (

Aims: Soil aggregates constitute spatially-separated microbial habitats and architectural units for biogeochemical reactions. However, little is known about how aggregates varying in size can affect soil carbon (C) storage and mediate the direction of plant-soil interactions. Methods: In a meadow steppe, we assessed soil aggregate C storage affected by nitrogen (N) addition and mowing and to what degree plant-soil interactions differed among soil aggregate-size classes. Results: Nitrogen addition increased plant biomass, soil C concentration in macroaggregates and relative abundance of bacteria, but decreased fungal relative abundance and the activity of oxidative enzymes. However, mowing counteracted N effects on plant productivity and enzyme activity. In macroaggregates, close linkages with plant biomass and species richness were found for soil available nutrients and ratio of fungi to bacteria (F:B ratio). In contrast, strong physical protection and restricted fungal dominance and activity contributed to C stabilization in microaggregates, where plant community and soil properties were less linked with each other. Conclusions: Our study clearly demonstrated that stronger plant-soil linkages occurred in macro- vs. microaggregates. This linkage was associated with a rise in plant biomass and soil C accumulation but a drop in F:B ratio in macroaggregates under N addition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Design lightweight hybrid structured, magnetic CoFe 2 O 4 hollow particles modified multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) with reduced graphene oxide (RGO) sheets to improve microwave shielding. Carbon coated reduced graphene oxide/magnetic CoFe 2 O 4 hollow particles modified multi-wall carbon nanotube composites were prepared, which exhibited significant microwave absorption performance. As an absorber, the composites with a filler loading of 20 wt% exhibited significant microwave absorption properties due to the special nanostructure, the extra void space, the high surface area and the synergistic effect. The maximum reflection loss reaches −46.8 dB with a thickness of 1.6 mm at 11.6 GHz. The bandwidth corresponding to the reflection loss below −10 dB is 13.1 GHz (4.9–18 GHz) with thickness in the range of 1.2 mm–4 mm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Asphalt carbon coated graphene/magnetic NiFe 2 O 4 modified multi-wall carbon nanotube (MWCNT) composites were synthesized. As EM wave absorbers, the composites were mixed with paraffin, which exhibit significant microwave absorption properties. The maximum reflection loss is −45.9 dB at 4.6 GHz with a thickness of 3.2 mm. In addition, there is a strong wave-absorbing peak at 6.2 GHz, and the corresponding RL is up to −38.9dB. The bandwidth corresponding to the RL values below −10 dB is 14 GHz (from 4GHz to 18GHz) with thickness in the range of 1.2mm–4 mm, highlighting its potential for microwave absorbing applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Biohydrogen yield was enhanced by alkali-based magnetic nanosheet (AMNSs) addition. • AMNSs shifted the fermentation pathway toward the butyrate-type metabolic pathway. • Hydrogenase activity and NADH to NAD+ ratio were elevated by AMNSs. • Firmicutes formed the dominant community in the presence of AMNSs. • The electron transfer system activity increased after adding AMNSs. In the present study, a dark fermentation system inoculated with mixed culture bacteria (MCB) was developed using prepared alkali-based magnetic nanosheets (AMNSs) to facilitate biohydrogen (BioH 2) production. The highest BioH 2 yields of 232.8 ± 8.5 and 150.3 ± 4.8 mL/g glucose were observed at 100 (mesophilic condition) and 400 (thermophilic condition) mg/L AMNSs groups, which were 65.4% and 43.3%, respectively, above the 0 mg/L AMNSs group. The fermentation pathway revealed that AMNSs enhanced the butyrate-type metabolic pathway and the corresponding nicotinamide adenine dinucleotides (NADH and NAD+) ratio, and hydrogenase activity was enhanced in mesophilic fermentation. The interaction of AMNSs and MCB suggested that AMNSs could assist in electron transfer and that the released metal elements might be responsible for elevated hydrogenase activity. AMNSs also promoted the evolution of the dominant microbial community and altered the content of extracellular polymers, leading to increased production of BioH 2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tin-based perovskite solar cells have garnered attention for their biocompatibility, narrow bandgap, and long thermal carrier lifetime. However, nip-type tin-based perovskite solar cells have underperformed largely due to the indiscriminate use of metal oxide electron transport layers originally designed for nip-type lead-based perovskite solar cells. Here, we reveal that this underperformance is caused by oxygen vacancies and deeper energy levels in metal oxide. To address these issues, we propose a metal chalcogenide electron transport layer, specifically Sn(S 0.92 Se 0.08 ) 2 , which circumvents the oxygen molecules desorption and impedes the Sn 2+ oxidation. As a result, tin-based perovskite solar cells with Sn(S 0.92 Se 0.08 ) 2 demonstrate a V OC increase from 0.48 - 0.73 V and a power conversion efficiency boost from 6.98 - 11.78%. Additionally, these cells exhibit improved stability, retaining over 95% of their initial efficiency after 1632 h. Our findings showcase metal chalcogenides as promising candidates for future nip-type tin-based perovskite solar cell applications., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

This study focuses on improving human thermal comfort in a high-temperature outdoor environment using vests with a radiative cooling coating. The effects of coating thickness on the radiative cooling performance were first evaluated, and an optimal thickness of 160 μm was achieved. Then, six subjects were recruited to evaluate the thermal comfort in two scenarios: wearing the vest with radiative cooling coatings, and wearing the standard vest. Compared with the standard vest, the coated vest decreases the maximum temperature at the vest inner surface and the outer surface by 5.54 °C and 4.37 °C, respectively. The results show that thermal comfort is improved by wearing radiative cooling vests. With an increase of wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT), the improving effects tend to decline. A significant improvement in human thermal comfort is observed at a WBGT of 26 °C. Specifically, the percentage of thermal sensation vote (TSV) wearing the cooling vest in the range of 0 to 1 increases from 29.2% to 66.7% compared with that of the untreated vest. At the same time, the average value of thermal comfort vote (TCV) increases from -0.5 to 0.2.

Soil acidification induced by reactive nitrogen (N) inputs is a major environmental issue in grasslands, as it lowers the acid neutralizing capacity (ANC). The specific impacts of different N compound forms on ANC remain unclear. Grassland management practices like mowing and grazing can remove a considerable amount of soil N and other nutrients, potentially mitigating soil acidification by removing N from the ecosystem or aggravating it by removing base cations. However, empirical evidence regarding the joint effects of adding different forms of N compounds and mowing on ANC changes in different-sized soil aggregates is still lacking. This study aimed to address this knowledge gap by examining the effects of three N compounds (urea, ammonium nitrate, and ammonium sulfate) combined with mowing (mown vs. unmown) on soil ANC in different soil aggregate sizes (>2000 μm, 250-2000 μm, and <250 μm) through a 6-year field experiment in Inner Mongolia grasslands. We found that the average decline in soil ANC caused by ammonium sulfate (AS) addition (-78.9%) was much greater than that by urea (-25.0%) and ammonium nitrate (AN) (-52.1%) as compared to control. This decline was attributed to increased proton (H + ) release from nitrification and the leaching of exchangeable Ca 2+ and Mg 2+ . Mowing aggravated the adverse effects of urea and AN on ANC, primarily due to the reduction in soil organic matter (SOM) contents and the removal of exchangeable Ca 2+ , K + , and Na  +  via plant biomass harvest. This pattern was consistent across all aggregate fractions. The lack of variation in soil ANC among different soil aggregate fractions is likely due to the contrasting trend in the distribution of exchangeable Ca 2+ and Mg 2+ . Specifically, the concentration of exchangeable Ca 2+ increased with increasing aggregate size, while the opposite was true for that of exchangeable Mg 2+ . These findings underscore the importance of considering the forms of N compounds when assessing the declines of ANC induced by N inputs, which also calls for an urgent need to reduce N emissions to ensure the sustainable development of the meadow ecosystems., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

A novel magnetic carbon-silicon composite (Fe-HH-CGFS) was prepared from solid waste coal gasification fine slag (CGFS) by a two-step acid leaching and one-step chemical co-precipitation process, which was optimized using a 3-factor, 3-level Box-Behnken design and then analyzed for correlation. Fe-HH-CGFS was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) measurements. The results demonstrated that Fe-HH-CGFS had a reverse spinel structure with an average particle size of 5.14 nm, exhibiting a microporous/mesoporous structure with a specific surface area (SSA) of 196.84 m 2 g -1 and pore volume of 0.346 cm 3 g -1 . Furthermore, Fe-HH-CGFS could achieve 97.59% removal efficiency of rhodamine B (RhB) under the optimal conditions: an initial concentration of RhB of 100 mg L -1 , an adsorption time of 60 min, and a dosage of Fe-HH-CGFS of 1.0 g L -1 . The pseudo-second-order model and the Langmuir isotherm satisfactorily described the adsorption behavior. The results indicated that the RhB removal process was a single-molecule layer endothermic adsorption, which is dominated by chemical adsorption reactions. This work is expected to provide an alternative route for the high-value utilization of CGFS and offer a valuable insight for the recycling of other solid wastes, aligning with the green development concept of "treating wastes with wastes"., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts to declare., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)

Coal gasification crude slag (CGCS) is the side-product of the coal gasification process, and its effective utilization has attracted great attention. A novel flocculant of poly-aluminum-ferric-acetate-chloride (PAFAC) was synthesized based on the recovery of CGCS by a two-step acid leaching process, namely HCl-acid leaching and HAc-acid leaching, which was optimized by an acid leaching liquor volume ratio of HCl to HAc of 3 : 2, polymerization pH of 3.5, and reaction temperature and time of 70 °C and 3.0 h, respectively. The performance of PAFAC was further evaluated by kaolin simulated wastewater, domestic sewage, river water, and aquaculture wastewater. The results revealed that PAFAC was feasible for the removal of turbidity, chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total phosphorus (TP). Moreover, PAFAC was characterized by X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), which proved that PAFAC was a kind of amorphous polyionic composite. Additionally, the acid leaching kinetics and flocculation mechanisms were further investigated. It was found that the acid leaching process was followed by the unreacted shrinkage core model, and the flocculation process was dominated by charge neutralization, adsorption bridging and precipitation net trapping. The work is expected to develop a new method for the safe disposal of CGCS and provide a novel way for the preparation of Fe-Al composite flocculants, especially, offering a potential strategy for the promotion of the additional value of the coal chemical industry., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)

Background: The calibrator in immunoassay plays an essential role in diagnosing Alzheimer's disease (AD). Presently, the most well-studied biomarkers for AD diagnosis are three phosphorylated Tau (p-Tau): p-Tau231, p-Tau217, and p-Tau181. Glycogen synthase-3beta (GSK3β)-phosphorated Tau-441 is the most commonly used calibrator for p-Tau immunoassays. However, the batch-to-batch inconsistency issue of the commonly used GSK3β-phosphorylated Tau-441 limits its clinical application., Methods: We have successfully generated and characterized 61 Tau monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) with distinct epitopes by using the hybridoma technique and employed them as capture or detection antibodies for p-Tau immunoassays. Through chemical synthesis, we synthesized calibrators, which are three peptides including capture and detection antibody epitopes, for application in immunoassays that detect p-Tau231, p-Tau217, and p-Tau181. The novel calibrators were applied to Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and Single-molecule array (Simoa) platforms to validate their applicability and establish a range of p-Tau immunoassays., Results: By employing the hybridoma technique, 49 mAbs recognizing Tau (1-22), nine mAbs targeting p-Tau231, one mAb targeting p-Tau217, and two mAbs targeting p-Tau181 were developed. Peptides, including recognition epitopes of capture and detection antibodies, were synthesized. These peptides were used as calibrators to develop 60 immunoassays on the ELISA platform, of which six highly sensitive immunoassays were selected and applied to the ultra-sensitive Simoa platform. Remarkably, the LODs were 2.5, 2.4, 31.1, 32.9, 46.9, and 52.1 pg/ml, respectively., Conclusion: Three novel p-Tau calibrators were successfully generated and validated, which solved the batch-to-batch inconsistency issue of GSK3β-phosphorylated Tau-441. The novel calibrators exhibit the potential to promote the standardization of clinical AD diagnostic calibrators. Furthermore, we established a series of highly sensitive and specific immunoassays on the Simoa platform based on novel calibrators, which moved a steady step forward in p-Tau immunoassay application for AD diagnosis., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Li, Zeng, Durairaj, Wen, Li, Zhao, Liu, Liu, Zhan, Rao, Yuan, Guo, Shen, Cai and Chen.)

Background: The mortality rate of colorectal cancer (CRC) ranks second worldwide. Previous research had indicated that licochalcone A (LA) was a flavonoid in licorice with diverse anticancer effects. We explored the underlying mechanisms of LA-triggered anticancer activity in CRC., Methods: Thiazolyl Blue (MTT) experiment and EdU staining were utilized to evaluate cell proliferation. Meanwhile, cells were stained by Annexin V/PI to investigate apoptosis through flow cytometry assay. Moreover, expressions of proteins were detected by immunoblotting, and the level of related mRNA was investigated using real-time quantitative PCR., Results: LA selectively suppressed the proliferation and triggered apoptosis of CRC cells. Strikingly, LA induced cytoprotective autophagic activities since the suppression of autophagy significantly strengthened LA-induced cytotoxicity and FLICE inhibitory protein (c-FLIPL) degradation, meanwhile reversing LA-mediated heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70) upregulation. Moreover, autophagy-mediated Hsp70 upregulation resisted LA-induced anticancer effects since the suppression of Hsp70 strengthened LA-triggered cytotoxicity and c-FLIPL degradation. Furthermore, LA greatly activated extracellular signal-regulated protein kinases (ERK) and p38. However, blocking of ERK, but not p38, significantly boosted LA-triggered cell death and c-FLIPL downregulation. Suppression of ERK also reversed LA-mediated autophagic induction., Conclusions: LA increased Hsp70 expression depending on ERK-mediated autophagy, which protected CRC cells from LA-induced anticancer activities., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (© 2023 The Author(s). Published by IMR Press.)

A variety of methods have been proposed for modeling and mining dynamic complex networks, in which the topological structure varies with time. As the most popular and successful network model, the stochastic block model (SBM) has been extended and applied to community detection, link prediction, anomaly detection, and evolution analysis of dynamic networks. However, all current models based on the SBM for modeling dynamic networks are designed at the community level, assuming that nodes in each community have the same dynamic behavior, which usually results in poor performance on temporal community detection and loses the modeling of node abnormal behavior. To solve the above-mentioned problem, this article proposes a hierarchical Bayesian dynamic SBM (HB-DSBM) for modeling the node-level and community-level dynamic behavior in a dynamic network synchronously. Based on the SBM, we introduce a hierarchical Dirichlet generative mechanism to associate the global community evolution with the microscopic transition behavior of nodes near-perfectly and generate the observed links across the dynamic networks. Meanwhile, an effective variational inference algorithm is developed and we can easy to infer the communities and dynamic behaviors of the nodes. Furthermore, with the two-level evolution behaviors, it can identify nodes or communities with abnormal behavior. Experiments on simulated and real-world networks demonstrate that HB-DSBM has achieved state-of-the-art performance on community detection and evolution. In addition, abnormal evolutionary behavior and events on dynamic networks can be effectively identified by our model.

Temporal community detection is helpful to discover and analyze significant groups or clusters hidden in dynamic networks in the real world. A variety of methods, such as modularity optimization, spectral method, and statistical network model, has been developed from diversified perspectives. Recently, network embedding-based technologies have made significant progress, and one can exploit deep learning superiority to network tasks. Although some methods for static networks have shown promising results in boosting community detection by integrating community embedding, they are not suitable for temporal networks and unable to capture their dynamics. Furthermore, the dynamic embedding methods only model network varying without considering community structures. Hence, in this article, we propose a novel unsupervised dynamic community detection model, which is based on network embedding and can effectively discover temporal communities and model dynamic networks. More specifically, we propose the community prior by introducing the Gaussian mixture model (GMM) in the variational autoencoder, which can obtain community information and better model the evolutionary characteristics of community structure and node embedding by utilizing the variant of gated recurrent unit (GRU). Extensive experiments conducted in real-world and artificial networks demonstrate that our proposed model has a better effect on improving the accuracy of dynamic community detection.

A full understanding of the inactivated COVID-19 vaccine-mediated antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2 circulating variants will inform vaccine effectiveness and vaccination development strategies. Here, we offer insights into the inactivated vaccine-induced antibody responses after prime-boost vaccination at both the polyclonal and monoclonal levels. We characterized the VDJ sequence of 118 monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) and found that 20 neutralizing mAbs showed varied potency and breadth against a range of variants including XBB.1.5, BQ.1.1, and BN.1. Bispecific antibodies (bsAbs) based on nonoverlapping mAbs exhibited enhanced neutralizing potency and breadth against the most antibody-evasive strains, such as XBB.1.5, BQ.1.1, and BN.1. The passive transfer of mAbs or their bsAb effectively protected female hACE2 transgenic mice from challenge with an infectious Delta or Omicron BA.2 variant. The neutralization mechanisms of these antibodies were determined by structural characterization. Overall, a broad spectrum of potent and distinct neutralizing antibodies can be induced in individuals immunized with the SARS-CoV-2 inactivated vaccine BBIBP-CorV, suggesting the application potential of inactivated vaccines and these antibodies for preventing infection by SARS-CoV-2 circulating variants., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

ReaxFF molecular dynamics (ReaxFF MD) simulations were performed to study the thermal decomposition property of cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine (RDX)-based composite modified double base (CMDB) propellants. The intermediate products and final products of the decomposition of RDX-based CMDB propellants at 2000 K, 2500 K, and 3000 K are obtained. The simulation results show that the decomposition of RDX and RDX/HTPB/Al is primary triggered by N-NO 2 rupture, and then, the intermedia products undergo a series of complex interactions to form final products. The final products of RDX/HTPB/Al are H 2 and N 2 , while the final products of pure RDX are H 2 , N 2 , and H 2 O. In addition, the abundance of the main intermediate products generated by RDX/HTPB/Al is lower than that of RDX, in that the reaction between intermediate products is more complex for RDX/HTPB/Al. Moreover, the decomposition rate of RDX/HTPB/Al increases with the increasing temperature., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Coal gasification fine slag (FS), a kind of by-product of coal chemical industry, was recovered for the preparation of functional adsorbents by acid leaching process, which was orthogonally optimized by HCl, HNO 3 , HF, HAc, and H 2 SO 4 . Methylene blue (MB) was used to evaluate the performance of functional adsorbents. The results demonstrated that 57.6% of the leaching efficiency (R LE ) and 162.94 mg/g of adsorption capacity (C AC ) of MB were achieved under the optimal conditions of HNO 3 of 2.0 mol/L, acid leaching time of 2.0 h, and acid leaching temperature of 293K. The detections on X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), and BET surface area (SBET) indicated that the synthesized functional adsorbents were characterized by mesoporous materials. The good fitting of adsorption process using pseudo-second-order and Langmuir models demonstrated that the chemisorption contributed to MB removal. The results of thermodynamics further revealed that the adsorption process of MB occurred spontaneously due to the exothermic properties. The work is expected to develop a novel and cost-effective strategy for the safe disposal of FS, and potentially offer an alternative pathway to increase the additional value for the coal chemical industry., Competing Interests: All authors stated that they had no competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Cadmium (Cd), a ubiquitous toxic heavy metal, with the intractable trait of low degradation, can induce multiple organ damage. Whereas, far less is known about its neurotoxicity and the specific mechanism in the chronic low Cd exposure. To investigate the chronic neurotoxicity of Cd 2+ , we traced its effects for up to 30 months in mice which were exposed to Cd 2+ by drinking the mimicking Cd-polluted water. We found the toxicity of chronic Cd exposure was a process associated with the transition from autophagy to apoptosis, and the switch of autophagy-apoptosis was Cd dose-dependent with the threshold of [Cd 2+ ] 0.04 mg/L. Furthermore, JNK was found to be a hub molecule orchestrated the switch of autophagy-apoptosis by interacting with Sirt1 and p53. At last, the hippocampus-dependent learning and memory was damaged by continuous neuron apoptosis rather than deficit of neurogenesis. Therefore, elucidation of the effect, process, and potential molecular mechanism of the chronic low Cd 2+ exposure is important for controlling of the environmental-pollutant Cd., (© 2022 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

In the original publication of the article, under the "Acknowledgement" section, the Grant No. 31611011097 should read as No. 31661143021.

Objective: To investigate the application of the TEM-1 β-lactamase protein fragment complementation assay (PCA) in detecting weak and unstable protein-protein interactions as typically observed during chaperone-assisted protein folding in the periplasm of Escherichia coli., Results: The TEM-1 β-lactamase PCA system effectively captured the interactions of three pairs of chaperones and substrates. Moreover, the strength of the interactions can be quantitatively analyzed by comparing different levels of penicillin resistance, and the assay can be performed under 0.5% butanol, a stress condition thought to be physiologically relevant., Conclusions: The β-lactamase PCA system faithfully reports chaperone-substrate interactions in the bacterial cell envelope, and therefore this system has the potential to map the complex protein homeostasis network under a fluctuating environment.