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Exploiting efficient catalysts is of interest for solar-driven water splitting. Herein, a novel NiWO 4 /CdS nanosheets-on-nanorods direct Z-Scheme heterostructure was developed by using a facile in-situ approach. The optimized NiWO 4 /CdS heterostructure shows a H 2 evolution rate of 26.43 mmol g−1 h−1 exceeding that of bare CdS by more than 75 folds. Systematic investigations reveal the nanostructures with numerous active sites, intimate contact interface, and enhanced charge separation rate synergistically account for the outstanding performance of the NiWO 4 /CdS. Moreover, the band structures were detailedly analyzed and the tentative photocatalytic mechanism was proposed, which could contribute to deeply understanding the catalytic process and guide the synthesis of the efficient heterostructure. These findings and strategies may have great significance in promoting the development of highly efficient and low-cost photocatalysts. [Display omitted] • A novel NiWO 4 /CdS Z-scheme heterostructure was first constructed by using a facile approach. • The NiWO 4 /CdS exhibits a H 2 evolution rate of 26.43 mmol g−1 h−1 far acceding that of CdS. • The good performance was attributed to the formation of the well-defined heterostructure. • The band energy level and photocatalytic mechanism were detailedly investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• DA is a dual-PPAR-α/γ and PPAR-γ partial agonist. • DA alleviates HFD-induced insulin resistance via PPAR-γ. • DA alleviates HFD-induced hepatic steatosis via PPAR-α. Dual-PPAR-α/γ agonist has the dual potentials to improve insulin resistance (IR) and hepatic steatosis associated with obesity. This study aimed to investigate whether dehydroabietic acid (DA), a naturally occurred compound, can bind to and activate both PPAR-γ and PPAR-α to ameliorate IR and hepatic steatosis in high-fat diet (HFD)-fed mice.. We found that DA formed stable hydrogen bonds with the ligand-binding domains of PPAR-γ and PPAR-α. DA treatment also promoted 3T3-L1 differentiation via PPAR-γ activation, and mitochondrial oxygen consumption in HL7702 cells via PPAR-α activation. In HFD-fed mice, DA treatment alleviated glucose intolerance and IR, and reduced hepatic steatosis, liver injury markers (ALT, AST), and lipid accumulation, and promoted mRNA expression of PPAR-γ and PPAR-α signaling elements involved in IR and lipid metabolism in vivo and in vitro , and inhibited mRNA expression of pro-inflammatory factors. Therefore, DA is a dual-PPAR-α/γ and PPAR-γ partial agonist, which can attenuate IR and hepatic steatosis induced by HFD-consumption in mice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The wireline log prediction of sedimentary microfacies plays a significant role in sedimentary study. It is mainly achieved through the manual interpretation of wireline logs according to the differences of sedimentary microfacies in wireline log shapes. Influenced by interpreters' expertise and proficiency in manual interpretation, the classification results maybe subjective and uncertain. Moreover, the task is labor intensive. Developing an automatic method based on wireline logs to accurately classify sedimentary microfacies is thus, a worthy consideration. The proposed automatic classification of sedimentary microfacies in this study can be implemented in terms of object detection, which involves aspects of machine learning and computer vision. In the stage of machine learning, we manually extract the features that can represent the different well log shapes of sedimentary microfacies. To solve the problem of imbalanced training samples, we use the oversampling technique to propagate the training classes with few samples. In addition, based on the augmented samples, we systematically conduct cross-validation and hyperparameter optimization on a series of machine learning algorithms with different mechanisms. The oversampling algorithm and machine learning model with the best performance can then be selected. In the stage of computer vision, we design an object detection strategy to detect the classes and locations of sedimentary microfacies by integrating the trained classifier. The practical application of the proposed method to the clastic strata of the Ordos basin proves its efficiency and consistency in automatically classifying sedimentary microfacies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Australian predatory mite, Transeius montdorensis, is an important natural enemy of Bemisia tabaci, thrips, spider mites, and many other pests, and thus might be important for their biological control. Therefore, we aimed to determine whether temperature influences the development of T. montdorensis when preying on B. tabaci. The survival rate and development time of T. montdorensis under different temperature conditions were compared when fed with 1 st to 3 rd instar nymphs of B. tabaci as its prey. We analyzed the association between temperature and the growth rate of T. montdorensis. The results show that the developmental period of T. montdorensis was significantly affected by temperature. The development period of T. montdorensis was the longest (23.23 days) at 15 °C and the shortest (4.62 days) at 35 °C. From 15–35 °C, the developmental period of T. montdorensis correlated negatively with temperature. In addition, increasing temperature (15–30 °C) promoted T. montdorensis survival. The survival rate was 64% at 15 °C and was highest (92%) at 30 °C; however, survival was reduced as the temperature increased from 30 to 35 °C; with only 66% survival at 35 °C. The logistic equation is better at correlating temperature and development than the linear one. The different developmental stages of T. Montdorensis varied in the temperature thresholds of development and effective thermal summation. The temperature threshold of development was 10.45 °C at the immature stage, which had an effective thermal summation of 99.87 d ·°C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Zexie Tang (ZXT), only two consists with Alismatis Rhizoma (AR) and Atractylodes macrocephala Rhizoma (AM), a classical Chinese medicine formula from Synopsis of the Golden Chamber with a history of 2000 years. Clinical observation in recent years has found that ZXT has excellent lipid-lowering effect. Aim of the study : To explore the potential mechanism of ZXT ameliorates hyperlipidemia based on FKBP38/mTOR/SREBPs pathway. WD-induced hyperlipidemia mice and oleic acid induced cell lipid accumulation model were used to investigate pharmacodynamic. The effect of ZXT on the transcriptional activity of SREBPs was detected by reporter gene assay. Proteins and downstream genes of mTOR/SREBPs pathway were detected in vivo and in vitro. Combined with network pharmacology and HPLC-Q-TOF/MS, the active ingredients were screened and identified. The interaction between active compounds of ZXT and FKBP38 protein were analyzed by docking analysis. ZXT decreased TC, TG and LDL-c levels in blood of WD-induced hyperlipidemia mouse model, and improved insulin resistance in vivo. ZXT also reduced TC, TG and lipid accumulation in cells line, and inhibited SREBPs luciferase activity, protein and its target genes expression such as FASN , HMGCR , etc. Meanwhile, ZXT inhibited protein expression levels of p-mTOR, p-S6K, etc in vitro and in vivo. Combined with network pharmacology and HPLC-Q-TOF/MS, 16 active ingredients were screened and identified. Docking results showed that active compounds of ZXT binding to FKBP38 and formed hydrogen bond. Our findings highlighted that ZXT ameliorates hyperlipidemia, in which FKBP/mTOR/SREBPs pathway might be the potential regulatory mechanism. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seismic waveform clustering is a useful technique for lithologic identification and reservoir characterization. The current seismic waveform clustering algorithms are predominantly based on a fixed time window, which is applicable for layers of stable thickness. When a layer exhibits variable thickness in the seismic response, a fixed time window cannot provide comprehensive geologic information for the target interval. Therefore, we propose a novel approach for a waveform clustering workflow based on a variable time window to enable broader applications. The dynamic time warping (DTW) distance is first introduced to effectively measure the similarities between seismic waveforms with various lengths. We develop a DTW distance-based clustering algorithm to extract centroids, and we then determine the class of all seismic traces according to the DTW distances from centroids. To greatly reduce the computational complexity in seismic data application, we propose a superpixel-based seismic data thinning approach. We further propose an integrated workflow that can be applied to practical seismic data by incorporating the DTW distance-based clustering and seismic data thinning algorithms. We evaluated the performance by applying the proposed workflow to synthetic seismograms and seismic survey data. Compared with the the traditional waveform clustering method, the synthetic seismogram results demonstrate the enhanced capability of the proposed workflow to detect boundaries of different lithologies or lithologic associations with variable thickness. Results from a practical application show that the planar map of seismic waveform clustering obtained by the proposed workflow correlates well with the geological characteristics of wells in terms of reservoir thickness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compaction correction is a key part of paleo-geomorphic recovery methods. Yet, the influence of lithology on the porosity evolution is not usually taken into account. Present methods merely classify the lithologies as sandstone and mudstone to undertake separate porosity-depth compaction modeling. However, using just two lithologies is an oversimplification that cannot represent the compaction history. In such schemes, the precision of the compaction recovery is inadequate. To improve the precision of compaction recovery, a depth compaction model has been proposed that involves both porosity and clay content. A clastic lithological compaction unit classification method, based on clay content, has been designed to identify lithological boundaries and establish sets of compaction units. Also, on the basis of the clastic compaction unit classification, two methods of compaction recovery that integrate well and seismic data are employed to extrapolate well-based compaction information outward along seismic lines and recover the paleo-topography of the clastic strata in the region. The examples presented here show that a better understanding of paleo-geomorphology can be gained by applying the proposed compaction recovery technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]