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High-performance flexible pressure sensors have shown great potential in electronic skins, energy harvesting, soft machines, etc. However, there are still significant trade-offs in the optimization of mechanical and sensing performance, resulting in remaining challenges in terms of detection limits, sensing range, and mechanical robustness. Here, we propose a new sensor design strategy that uses a three-dimensional porous structure as an elastic matrix, while introducing anF embedded crack structure and a stiffness-regulating layer to simultaneously improve the mechanical and sensing properties of the sensor. The crack structure endows the sensor with the ability to detect small pressures and a high sensitivity, and the stiffness modulation layer provides the sensor with excellent compressibility and large deformation capabilities based on modulus modulation of the porous structure. In addition, the mechanical stability of the interface is greatly improved due to the wrapping effect of the stiffness-regulating layer on the crack structure, which effectively avoids the risk of the conductive layer slipping and delaminating. The proposed sensor enables the detection of small pressure (100 Pa), favorable sensitivity (0.2 kPa−1), wide sensing range (1 MPa), and stable sensing properties (10,000 cycles), and has also been validated for effective equipment surface and human motion monitoring, promising further expansion of the capabilities of flexible electronics in engineering applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Pan-cancer analysis examines both the commonalities and heterogeneity among genomic and cellular alterations across numerous types of tumors. Pan-cancer analysis of gene expression, tumor mutational burden (TMB), microsatellite instability (MSI), and tumor immune microenvironment (TIME), and methylation becomes available based on the multi-omics data from The Cancer Genome Atlas Program (TCGA). Some online tools provide analysis of gene and protein expression, mutation, methylation, and survival for TCGA data. However, these online tools were either Uni-functional or were not able to perform analysis of user-defined functions. Therefore, we created the TCGAplot R package to facilitate perform pan-cancer analysis and visualization of the built-in multi-omic TCGA data. Results: TCGAplot provides several functions to perform pan-cancer paired/unpaired differential gene expression analysis, pan-cancer correlation analysis between gene expression and TMB, MSI, TIME, and promoter methylation. Functions for visualization include paired/unpaired boxplot, survival plot, ROC curve, heatmap, scatter, radar chart, and forest plot. Moreover, gene set based pan-cancer and tumor specific analyses were also available. Finally, all these built-in multi-omic data could be extracted for implementation for user-defined functions, making the pan-cancer analysis much more convenient.\ Conclusions: We developed an R-package for integrative pan-cancer analysis and visualization of TCGA multi-omics data. The source code and pre-built package are available at GitHub (https://github.com/tjhwangxiong/TCGAplot). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] Hypothesis Although extensive research has been conducted on the dynamic wetting of Newtonian fluids, limited insights have been gained for viscoelastic fluids, particularly on engineered surfaces. We hypothesize that differences in dynamic wetting on microstructured surfaces exist between such fluids, which may be attributed to variations in viscosity and elasticity as well as changes in the microscopic morphology of the moving contact line. Experiments To systematically investigate the wetting differences between Newtonian and viscoelastic fluids on microstructured surfaces, we conducted forced wetting experiments of glycerol-water and carboxymethyl cellulose aqueous solutions on microstructured polytetrafluoroethylene surfaces through a modified Wilhelmy plate method. Findings Results demonstrated an apparent difference in the relationship between the dynamic contact angle and moving velocity with different microstructured surfaces for Newtonian and viscoelastic fluids. The power-law exponent between the capillary number and cubic of the dynamic contact angle increases with the strengthening of shear thinning and elastic effects. In contrast, this exponent is rarely influenced by the scale of microstructured surfaces, particularly in highly viscous regions where viscous force dominates. In addition, viscosity affects the viscous bending and distance that liquid molecules jump at the contact line. These findings have potential applications in coating complex fluids on engineered surfaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One-dimensional (1D) nanomaterials have sparked widespread research interest owing to their fascinating physicochemical properties, however, the direct self-assembly of 1D porous nanomaterials and control over their porosity still presents a grand challenge. Herein, we report a monomicelle oriented self-assembly approach to fabricate 1D mesoporous nanostructures with uniform diameter, high aspect ratio and ordered mesostructure. This strategy features the introduction of hexamethylenetetramine as a curing agent, which can subtly control the monomicelle self-assembly kinetics, thus enabling formation of high-quality 1D ordered mesostructures. Meanwhile, the micellar structure can be precisely manipulated by changing the reactant stoichiometric ratio, resulting in tailorable mesophases from 3D cubic (Im-3m) to 2D hexagonal (p6mm) symmetries. More interestingly, the resultant mesoporous nanofibers can be assembled into 3D hierarchical cryogels on a large scale. The 1D nanoscale of the mesoporous nanofibers, in combination with small diameter (~65 nm), high aspect ratio (~154), large surface area (~452 m2 g−1), and 3D open mesopores (~6 nm), endows them with excellent performances for sodium ion storage and water purification. Our methodology opens up an exciting way to develop next-generation ordered mesoporous materials for various applications. One-dimensional materials have interesting physiochemical properties, but control over porosity is still a significant challenge. Here, the authors report a self-assembly method for the fabrication of 1D materials with an ordered mesostructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Friction is a fundamental force that impacts almost all interface-related applications. Over the past decade, there is a revival in our basic understanding and practical applications of the friction. In this review, we discuss the recent progress on solid-liquid interfacial friction from the perspective of interfaces. We first discuss the fundamentals and theoretical evolution of solid-liquid interfacial friction based on both bulk interactions and molecular interactions. Then, we summarize the interfacial friction regulation strategies manifested in both natural surfaces and artificial systems, focusing on how liquid, solid, gas, and hydrodynamic coupling actions mediate interfacial friction. Next, we discuss some practical applications that are inhibited or reinforced by interfacial friction. At last, we present the challenges to further understand and regulate interfacial friction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The construction of super-large tunnels generates various safety risks that can hamper the tunneling process and cause severe damages if not properly identified. This paper presents a case study on the identification and management of geological and environmental risks during the construction of the largest (a diameter of 15.8 m) slurry shield tunnel in China. Its ground conditions and settlement control were identified among the most challenging owing to a large area of mixed ground conditions, 11 fault zones and tunneling under residential areas and the city's Metro Lines 1 and 9. In response to the severity of these risks and challenges, novel monitoring systems, ground treatment, and safety management technologies were successfully implemented throughout the tunneling process. Further, a technical framework was proposed in this study to serve as a risk management guidance for analogous tunneling operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we formulate and analyze a novel model on a retailer's inventory and pricing decisions for fresh agricultural products with consumers' forward consuming behavior under online channel. We consider a dynamic stochastic setting, where every period consists of two stages, discounting pricing stage and regular sale stage. At the beginning of the period, the retailer decides how much new fresh agricultural products to order and sets discount price for leftover inventories from the previous period which will be disposed otherwise, and determines regular price for fresh products on the second stage, respectively. Since forward purchase consumers may buy the products during discount pricing stage, which may cannibalize future sales at regular price, the retailer needs to make a trade-off decision between regular price and discounting price. We bring forward a dynamic optimization model and use nonlinear programming method of Karush Kuhn Tucker condition to obtain the optimal dynamic strategy, which is comparatively analyzed to dominate the related static strategy. We also show that consumers forward buying behavior will negatively influence the retailer's profit. When the price is set too low in regular or discounting sales, the profit will show an up-down trend if the inventory exceeds a certain threshold. Meanwhile, when fresh goods returns are allowed and resold in the secondary stage, the retailer's profit will increase. We finally conduct numerical studies to further characterize the optimal policy, and to evaluate the loss of efficiency under static policies when compared to the optimal dynamic policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Synaptic degeneration occurs in the early stage of Alzheimer's disease (AD) before devastating symptoms, strongly correlated with cognitive decline. Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are abundantly enriched in neural tissues, and aberrant expression of circRNAs precedes AD symptoms, significantly correlated with clinical dementia severity. However, the direct relationship between circRNA dysregulation and synaptic impairment in the early stage of AD remains poorly understood. Methods: Hippocampal whole-transcriptome sequencing was performed to identify dysregulated circRNAs and miRNAs in 4-month-old wild-type and APP/PS1 mice. RNA antisense purification and mass spectrometry were utilized to unveil interactions between circRIMS2 and methyltransferase 3, N6-adenosine-methyltransferase complex catalytic subunit (METTL3). The roles of circRIMS2/miR-3968 in synaptic targeting of UBE2K-mediated ubiquitination of GluN2B subunit of NMDA receptor were evaluated via numerous lentiviruses followed by morphological staining, co-immunoprecipitation and behavioral testing. Further, a membrane-permeable peptide was used to block the ubiquitination of K1082 on GluN2B in AD mice. Results: circRIMS2 was significantly upregulated in 4-month-old APP/PS1 mice, which was mediated by METTL3-dependent N6-methyladenosine (m6A) modification. Overexpression of circRIMS2 led to synaptic and memory impairments in 4-month-old C57BL/6 mice. MiR-3968/UBE2K was validated as the downstream of circRIMS2. Elevated UBE2K induced synaptic dysfunction of AD through ubiquitinating K1082 on GluN2B. Silencing METTL3 or blocking the ubiquitination of K1082 on GluN2B with a short membrane-permeable peptide remarkably rescued synaptic dysfunction in AD mice. Conclusions: In conclusion, our study demonstrated that m6A-modified circRIMS2 mediates the synaptic and memory impairments in AD by activating the UBE2K-dependent ubiquitination and degradation of GluN2B via sponging miR-3968, providing novel therapeutic strategies for AD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Synchronization of hypernetworks has been extensively researched due to its potential applications in various contexts, such as secure communications and power grid engineering. However, the existing works thus far have primarily been devoted to inner synchronization or complete outer synchronization with identical node dynamics and topology structures. To investigate harmonious coexistence between two networks with nonidentical node dynamics and reduce control costs as well, this paper focuses on generalized outer synchronization (GOS) and parameters identification of uncertain delayed hypernetworks with stochastic noises. Regardless of whether the node parameters are known or not, based on Lyapunov stability and the LaSalle‐type invariance principle for stochastic differential equations with multiple delays, some sufficient conditions are exhibited to reach GOS almost surely via adaptive control schemes. Moreover, the unknown node parameter vectors are identified by the designed updating laws. In addition, some corollaries are deduced and indicate that our proposed methods contain single‐layer networks and complete synchronization methods as special cases. Furthermore, numerical simulations are provided to verify the effectiveness of our approaches. In particular, it is revealed that network parameters, including time delays, coupling strengths, and noise intensities, have an impact on the performance of the proposed algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]