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The forthcoming wearable health care devices garner considerable attention because of their potential for monitoring, treatment, and protection applications. Herein, a self-powered triboelectric patch was developed using polytetrafluoroethylene rubbed with nylon fabric. The triboelectric patch can maintain a stable electrostatic field, due to the excess electrification on the surface of the triboelectric layer. The designed triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) output watt density can reach about 485 mW/m

Particle size distribution (PSD) analysis for nanoparticle is important for quality management of CMP slurry, that used in chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process. CMP slurry contains poly-dispersed particles, which consist of size-different primary particles and secondary particles in suspension. It is difficult to measure PSD for poly-dispersed particle using Dynamic Light Scattering, which is one of a typical method to evaluate PSD for mono-dispersed particles. The image analysis is also employed for PSD analysis. For image analysis, it needs to transfer the particles from suspension to a substrate before measurement. In this procedure, some particles aggregate with surrounding particles. It causes the difference between the PSD for dispersed particles in suspension and the PSD for observed particle using image analysis. In addition, concentration measurement is important for quality management of CMP slurry. Mass concentration is used in concentration evaluation for CMP slurry. However, it is difficult to identify the molar concentration for multi-modal particles, respectively. In this study, we suggested a method to define molar concentration spectra to express both a modal diameter and molar concentration for multi-modal nanoparticles to evaluate the CMP slurry. In order to measure the molar concentration spectra, we suggested a novel particle sizing method using nanoparticle chip (NPC) to measure number-weighted mean particle diameter, a variance of diameters, and molar concentration for every spectrum. Nanoparticles grid on a substrate to maintain the poly-dispersed condition in suspension to process NPC. NPC can assist the image analysis process to measure the PSD of particles in suspension. The number of particles, that aligned on the substrate, can be counted to measure the molar concentration. In this paper, a fundamental experiment was performed to investigate the feasibility of molar concentration spectra measurement. It is confirmed the molar concentration spectra for poly-dispersed particles can be measured by using NPC and it is considered that PSD with molar concentration spectra can give detail information of abrasive grain in suspension for quality management of CMP slurry.

This paper identifies the fear-of-appreciation (Levy-Yeyati et al., 2013) channel through which trade balance affects domestic currency appreciations. By decomposing currency appreciations into a continuous and a discrete (jump) component, we find that only the discrete (jump) component of currency appreciation is significantly reduced by increases in trade balance, and this effect is stronger in countries with more foreign exchange interventions. The mediation analysis suggests that the fear-of-appreciation channel plays a unique role in the link between trade balance and the discrete (jump) component of domestic currency appreciations, above and beyond the fear-of-floating (Calvo and Reinhart, 2002) channel identified in prior literature.

Energy harvesting and power transmission is a significant challenge for the self-powered technologies towards mobile electronic devices. Here, we propose a hybridized energy harvester to complement each other’s strengths for simultaneously scavenging multiple types of energy and then wirelessly transmit the power. The harvester consists of electromagnetic-triboelectric nanogenerator units for collecting rotational energy and a commercial water-proof flexible solar cell. At a rotation rate of 500 rpm, the output current of electromagnetic-triboelectric nanogenerator units can reach about 630 mA through energy management. Moreover, the power harvested by hybridized energy harvester can be wirelessly transmitted up to a distance of about 100 cm in real time to charge mobile phone, anemometer, and hygrometer based on self-resonant coils. The hybridized energy harvester with wireless power transmission has potential applications in large-scale energy collection, long-distance wireless power transmission and sustainably driving mobile electronic devices.

Ionizing radiation (IR) is widely used in the diagnosis and treatment of various cancers. However, IR can cause damage to human health by producing reactive oxygen species. Lactococcus lactis is a type of microorganism that is beneficial to human health and has a strong antioxidant capacity. In this study, the protective effect of normal and IR-induced L. lactis IL1403 cell-free extracts (CFE and IR-CFE, respectively) against oxidative damage in vitro and the radioprotective effect of IR-CFE in vivo was evaluated using 60Coγ-induced oxidative damage model in mice. Results showed that IR-CFE exhibited a stronger oxidative damage-protective effect than CFE for L. lactis IL1403 under H2O2 in vitro. Moreover, IR-CFE also showed strong radioprotective effect on hepatocyte cells (AML-12) under radiation condition, and the effect was better than that of CFE. Animal experiment indicated that IR-CFE could reduce the IR-induced damage to the hematopoietic system by increasing the number of white blood cells and red blood cells in peripheral blood of irradiated mice. It was also observed that IR-CFE could markedly alleviate the 60Coγ-induced oxidative stress via increasing the activities of superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase, enhancing the levels of glutathione, and decreasing the contents of malondialdehyde in serum, liver, and spleen. In addition, IR-CFE also could reduce the activities of alanine transaminase and aspartate aminotransferase in serum, thereby reducing radiation damage to the liver. These results suggested that IR-CFE could be considered as potential candidates for natural radioprotective agents. This study provides a theoretical basis for improving the application of lactic acid bacteria.

Along with the unceasing growth of worldwide economic and the associated issues on resources, energy and environment, clean energy generating technologies that are based on recyclable materials, if possible, may become the future trend of development. Here, we report the design of a cheap, lightweight, and recyclable single-electrode triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) that utilizes waste paper as the triboelectric material. Under the current strategy, we successfully developed green energy machines without vastly increasing the mining of various critical minerals around the world. The as-designed TENG could not only collect and convert mechanical energy into electricity with sound efficiency, but also has the merit for continuous reuse and quick construction. The maximum output power density is as high as 171 mW·m−2 at a resistance of 130 MΩ and could be integrated into a book for monitoring reading actions, thus providing a new approach to the low-cost, green and sustainable self-powered electronic systems.

The organisation of value chains within and between firms and even countries is an important reason for domestic as well as international travel. Hence, value chains create interdependencies which have to do with economic but also personal interactions between firms and places. The latter means value chains are a springboard for shocks—positive or negative—to travel and other related outcomes. This paper sheds light on how input–output relations in China as one human-interaction-intensive activity can help explain spreading patterns of COVID-19 in the first few months of 2020 in China. We document that COVID-19 at that time spread more intensively where input–output relations were stronger between cities in China, and this contributed to inducing direct and mediated, indirect effects on the stock market. ISSN:0378-5920 ISSN:1467-9701

Insoluble dietary fiber (IDF) and soluble dietary fiber (SDF) extracted from wheat bran were modified by snail enzyme and their physicochemical properties (water retention capacity and oil retention capacity), functional properties (cholesterol adsorption capacity, glucose adsorption capacity and antioxidant activity) and structural characterizations were evaluated. The results showed that snail enzyme modification led to the significant increase in oil retention capacity of IDF, glucose adsorption capacity and cholesterol adsorption capacity of IDF and SDF. Enzymatic modification also markedly improved the DPPH radical scavenging capacity and reducing power of IDF and SDF. Meanwhile, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis indicated the microstructures of IDF and SDF powders were significantly changed. Fourier transfer-infrared spectrometry (FT-IR) showed that snail enzyme modification could degrade the part of cellulose and hemicellulose of IDF and SDF. All these improved physicochemical and functional properties of IDF and SDF might depend on their structural changes. It suggested that snail enzyme modification could effectively improve physicochemical and functional properties of IDF and SDF from wheat bran.

Developing flexible and sustainable power sources for multifunctional and self-powered sensors is crucial for electronic skin. Herein, we report a versatile, ultraflexible, high sensitivity, fish b...

High-performance elastic supercapacitors represent a promising kind of energy storage devices that can be employed in soft robotics and wearable electronics. The development of novel functional materials as supercapacitor electrode is still tremendously challenging. In the present work, the conductive polyvinyl alcohol–graphene oxide–polypyrrole (PVA–GO–PPy) composite hydrogels are fabricated through in situ polymerization of pyrrole in the presence of PVA and GO and subsequent freeze-thawing. Owing to the unique porous layered-wrinkle network and functional component of PVA–GO–PPy composite hydrogels, the as-prepared hydrogels exhibit lightweight, elasticity, compressibility, formability and softness. Furthermore, the mechanically robust and microstructured PVA–GO–PPy composite hydrogels are used to construct an elastic symmetric solid-state supercapacitor with good electrochemical performance. The device exhibits long-term compression/recovery elasticity under 50% strain, and even the volumetric capacitance retention is still about 81% when the strain is up to 80%. The excellent compression/recovery elasticity and good mechanical integrity of the high-performance supercapacitor based on PVA–GO–PPy composite hydrogel open up new opportunities for next-generation electronic devices in the practical application.

Exoskeleton robot is a typical application to assist the motion of lower limbs. To make the lower extremity exoskeleton more flexible, it is necessary to identify various motion intentions of the lower limbs of the human body. Although more sEMG sensors can be used to identify more lower limb motion intention, with the increase in the number of sensors, more and more data need to be processed. In the process of human motion, the collected sEMG signal is easy to be interfered with noise. To improve the practicality of the lower extremity exoskeleton robot, this paper proposed a wavelet packet transform- (WPT-) based sliding window difference average filtering feature extract algorithm and the unscented Kalman neural network (UKFNN) recognition algorithm. We established an sEMG energy feature model, using a sliding window difference average filtering method to suppress noise interference and extracted stable feature values and using UKF filtering to optimize the neural network weights to improve the adaptability and accuracy of the recognition model. In this paper, we collected the sEMG signals of three muscles to identify six lower limb motion intentions. The average accuracy of 94.83% is proposed in this paper. Experiments show that the algorithm improves the accuracy and anti-interference of motion intention recognition of lower limb sEMG signals. The algorithm is superior to the backpropagation neural network (BPNN) recognition algorithm in the lower limb motion intention recognition and proves the effectiveness, novelty, and reliability of the method in this paper.

Al–Si alloy was modified with Al–3P master alloy at 740 °C. The effects of Si content (7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 wt.%) and adding amount of alterant Al–3P (0, 0.1, 0.3, 0.6, 1.0 and 1.5 wt.%) on microstructures and tensile properties of the alloy were investigated with optical microscope (OP), Image Pro Plus 6.0, scanning electron microscope (SEM) and universal testing machine. When the content of Al–3P is 0.6 wt.%, the area fraction of primary α(Al) in the Al–Si alloy increases more compared to the unmodified alloy with an increase in Si content, which could be explained by the movement of non-equilibrium eutectic point. When the Si content is constant (Al–10Si), with the increase of Al–3P content, the increased rate in area fraction of primary α(Al) phase in the Al–10Si alloy increases first and then decreases. And when 0.6 wt.% Al–3P is added, the increase in area fraction of primary α(Al) phase is the largest. Compared to the unmodified Al–10Si alloy, the tensile strength and elongation of Al–10Si alloy increase by 2.3% and 47.0%, respectively, after being modified with 0.6 wt.% Al–3P alloy. The fracture mode of the modified Al–10Si alloy is ductile fracture.

Xiguajiang (XGJ) is one kind of Chinese traditionally fermented soybean food. The aim of this study was to identify core bacterial communities and volatile compounds and explore their relationships in XGJ samples obtained from different manufacturers. Results showed that Bacillus, Staphylococcus, Weissella, and Chromohalobacter were the predominant bacterial genus, although their relative abundance is quite diverse. Larger relative contents of esters and alcohols were detected in XGJ. Moreover, the results of E-nose analysis indicated that nitrogen oxides compounds, pyrazines, and ketones compounds also played a critical role in XGJ unique flavor. The correlation analysis suggested that 3-methyl-butanol, ethoxybenzene, ethyl acetate, acetaldehyde, and 2-(4-methyl-3-cyclohexen-1-yl)-2-propanyl acetate had a significant correlation with Enterobacter, Clostridium, Pseudomonas, Streptomyces, Weissella, Staphylococcus, and Bacillus. These results may provide vital information to understand the role of the microbiota in developing flavor in XGJ products, and improve the quality and safety of XGJ production in industries.

There are numerous factors restricting wide application of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) in dairy industry, causing urgent demands for novel bioprotectants. Protective effects and metabolites of Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis (L. lactis) from ultraviolet (UV)-induced supernatant were investigated and the protective mechanism was explored. The strain viability of the group treated with the supernatant of continuous UV irradiation (V1) and the group with intermittent UV irradiation (V2) was 8.45 and 14.13 times of the control group, respectively. Further exploration on the protective of L. lactis supernatant, under different dose of UV treatment, showed it was dose-dependent. The condition for the supernatant with best protective effect was vertical distance 50.00 cm, horizontal distance 25.00 cm, intermittent UV irradiation (30 s interval 30 s) for 4.5 min (V2), which was chose for untargeted metabolite analysis. And that in V1 was for comparative study. There were 181 up-regulated metabolites in V1 and 161 up-regulated metabolites in V2, respectively. Most of the up-regulated metabolites were related to secondary metabolite synthesis, environmental microbial metabolism, antibiotic synthesis and amino acid biosynthesis. Notably, production of dithiothreitol (DTT) in V2 was 65.2-fold higher than that in the control group. Trehalose in ABC transporter pathway was also up-regulated in the metabolites induced by UV. Results indicated that L. lactis could adapt to the UV stress by adjusting metabolic pathways and producing special metabolites to protect itself. This research offers the basis for robust strain development and contributes to initial study on potential bioprotectant.

In this study, magnetic functionalized ZIF-8 nanoparticles were prepared by electrostatic self-assembly using magnetic Fe

As a common medicinal and edible plant, Zingiber officinale Roscoe (ginger) is often used for the prevention of motion sickness. However, the mechanism of its anti-motion sickness remains to be elucidated.To explore novel treatment for motion sickness with less side effects, anti-motion sickness effect of ginger (Zingiber officinale) extract (GE) and the possible molecular mechanisms were investigated.The anti-motion sickness effect of ginger was evaluated through mice animal experimental models. Components of ginger that might contribute to the anti-motion sickness effect were analyzed by LC-MS/MS. Subsequently, biochemical analysis integrated with serum metabolomic profiling were performed to reveal the systematic response of motion sickness mice to ginger extract's amelioration effect.Exhaustive swimming time of mice in the GE group reached 8.9 min, which was 52.2% longer than that in the model group. Motion sickness index scores and time taken traversing balance beam of mice in the GE group were decreased by 53.2% and 38.5%, respectively. LC-MS/MS analysis suggested that various active ingredients in GE, such as gingerol, ginger oil and terpenoids, might contribute to its appealing anti-motion sickness activity. Biochemical analysis revealed that GE can relieve motion sickness through reducing histamine and acetylcholine release in vestibular system, regulating fatty acid oxidation, sugar metabolism and bile acid metabolism in mice.Gavage of mice with GE can effectively relieve the symptoms of autonomic nervous system dysfunction, improve the balance and coordination ability and ameliorate the ability to complete complex work after rotation stimulation. GE has attractive potential for development and utilization as novel anti-motion sickness food or drugs.

Surface electromyography (sEMG) signals can reflect the body motion information and are widely used in military, medical rehabilitation, industrial production. The lower limb motion classification mainly includes feature extraction and classification model establishment. Firstly, we proposed a feature extraction method based on the wavelet packet transform (WPT) and principal component analysis (PCA). We used the wavelet packet method to decompose the sEMG signals of three muscles in the lower limb and got the 24-dimensional eigenvector. To reduce the calculation and improve the speed of the classification model, we used the PCA method to reduce the dimension of the feature vector and got the 3-dimensional eigenvector. Then, we proposed a method based on the scale unscented Kalman filter (SUKF) and neural network (NN) for lower limb motion classification. Through the scale correction unscented transform (SCUT) could optimize the neural network weight and improve lower limb motion classification accuracy. Finally, the experimental results showed that the average accuracy was 93.7%. Compared with the backpropagation neural network (BPNN) and wavelet neural network (WNN), this method could improve the accuracy and reliability of the lower limb motion classification.

Background Most gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GIST) are driven by activating oncogenic mutations of KIT/PDGFRA, which provide a compelling therapeutic target. Our previous studies showed that CDC37, regulated by casein kinase 2 (CK2), is a crucial HSP90 cofactor for KIT oncogenic function and a promising and more selective therapeutic target in GIST. Methods Biologic mechanisms of CK2-mediated CDC37 regulation were assessed in GISTs by immunoblotting, immunoprecipitations, knockdown and inactivation assays. The effects of a combination of KIT and CK2 inhibition were assessed by immunoblotting, cell viability, colony growth, cell cycle analysis, apoptosis, migration and invasiveness. Results CK2 overexpression was demonstrated by immunoblotting in GIST cell lines and patient biopsies. Treatment with a specific CK2 inhibitor, CX4945, leads to CDC37 dephosphorylation and inhibits KIT signalling in imatinib-sensitive and in imatinib-resistant GIST cell lines. Immunoprecipitation demonstrated that CK2 inhibition blocks KIT:HSP90:CDC37 interaction in GIST cells. Coordinated inhibition of CK2 and KIT by CX4945 (or CK2 shRNA) and imatinib, respectively, leads to increased apoptosis, anti-proliferative effects and cell cycle arrest and decreased p-AKT and p-S6 expression, migration and invasiveness in all GIST cell lines compared with either intervention alone, indicating additive effects of inhibiting these two important regulators of GIST biology. Conclusion Our findings suggest that combinatorial inhibition of CK2 and KIT warrants evaluation as a novel therapeutic strategy in GIST, especially in imatinib-resistant GIST.

Hypoeutectic Al–Si alloy was modified by Al–5Ti and Al–3P alloys. The microstructure, fracture morphology, and mechanical properties of the alloys were characterized using optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and a universal electronic testing machine. The results show that there was more primary α-Al phase in the Al–7Si alloy modified with 0.5 wt.% Al–5Ti and Al–3P compared to that modified with 0.5 wt.% Al–5Ti alone. With increased Al–3P, the area fraction of α-Al phase in the complex modified Al–7Si alloy decreased. For 0.1 wt.% Al–3P, eutectic silicon appeared as short rods or flakes, distributed uniformly in the Al–7Si alloy. Compared with hypoeutectic Al–Si alloy modified with 0.5 wt.% Al–5Ti, the relative amount of α-Al phase decreased and the amount of eutectic microstructure increased in the complex modified alloy with increased Si content. The complex modified Al–7Si alloy exhibited 10% higher tensile strength, 21% higher elongation, and presented ductile fracture.

I apply the autoregressive conditional jump intensity (ARJI) model to weekly bilateral real exchange rate (RER) returns of 31 countries over the period 2001–2013 and investigate the causal link between external financial liabilities and bilateral RER jumps. I find that both external debt and equity liabilities significantly reduce RER jumps, above and beyond the standard optimum currency area (OCA) factors, but through different transmission mechanisms. Specifically, I find that while external debt liabilities reduce RER jumps through both a balance-sheet and a risk-sharing channel, external equity liabilities reduce RER jumps only through a risk-sharing channel. Finally, domestic financial development can help attenuate the negative effect of external debt liabilities on RER jumps.

Natural products can be used as natural radiosensitizers and radioprotectors, showing promising effects in cancer treatments in combination with radiotherapy, while reducing ionizing radiation (IR) damage to normal cells/tissues. The different effects of natural products on irradiated normal and tumor cells/tissues have attracted more and more researchers’ interest. Nonetheless, the clinical applications of natural products in radiotherapy are few, which may be related to their low bioavailability in the human body. Here, we displayed the radiation protection and radiation sensitization of major natural products, highlighted the related molecular mechanisms of these bioactive substances combined with radiotherapy to treat cancer, and critically reviewed their deficiency and improved measures. Lastly, several clinical trials were presented to verify the clinical application of natural products as radiosensitizers and radioprotectors. Further clinical evaluation is still needed. This review provides a reference for the utilization of natural products as radiosensitizers and radioprotectors.

This paper addresses the question of how to model the process of abnormal returns on individual stocks. It postulates a framework, where abnormal returns are generated by a process which features two autoregressive components, one stock-specific and one related to network effects. This process deviates from customary ones in that the parameters are specific to each stock/firm, that the autoregressive process is explicitly modelled instead of using cumulative abnormal returns over a pre-specified window, and that network effects are present. Abandoning either one of those deviations is rejected by data on Chinese stocks in 2018 and 2019, an episode which is significant for an abnormal stock-market returns analysis, as it was characterized by numerous tariff-setting events related to the “trade war” between the USA and China., Empirical Economics, 60 (1), ISSN:1435-8921, ISSN:0377-7332

Burns are a global public health problem and the treatment of burn wounds is a major medical and economic issue. White jade snails (Achatina fulica) are now widely distributed in Asia, and they have been used to treat burns in folk medicine of China. In this study, the glycoproteins from white jade snails were investigated and their effect on burn healing was evaluated by a mouse burn model. The results showed that the snail mucus was mainly composed of proteins and polysaccharides, and it had good adhesion. The main component of snail mucus was glycoprotein from the results of DEAE Sepharose FF ion exchange chromatography. The 2,2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging effect of 1 mg/mL snail mucus reached 13.77%. The wound healing rate of the snail mucus group was higher than that of the control group (p 0.0001). Histopathological results showed that mice in the snail mucus group had a faster healing than that of the control group. The biochemical analysis was in agreement with the histopathological findings. These results suggested that glycoproteins from snail mucus showed effective wound healing activities in the skin of experimentally burned mice.

SUMMARY At the beginning of 2018, President Trump started taking protective tariff measures against products from China in a sequence of events which started a ‘trade war’ between the United States and China. As the value of trade flows affected on both sides rose to a significant amount, this episode will become an interesting research object in the future. A thorough analysis of many outcomes of interest is at this point in time – and even will be in the next few years – impossible due to a lack of data which will only become available at a later point. However, as is customary with historical preferential liberalizations in trade agreements and potentially the opposite of it through Brexit, it is possible to gauge consequences of this ‘trade war’ or ‘trade dispute’ when focusing on the stocks of listed companies around related tariff-change announcements or implementations by the United States and China in the relevant time span. This paper proposes such an analysis and finds, very much consistent with the rumours from business, that the associated protectionist tariffs appear to have done to a large extent the opposite of what was intended: they hurt domestic firms in targeted and also other, untargeted sectors of an acting country, and they affect third countries and territories which are not even party to the ‘trade war’ or ‘dispute’.

Due to deterioration of the environment and energy crises, exploring clean and renewable energy from ambient surroundings has become one of the most urgent concerns in our society. Herein, we report a pulsed cylindrical triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) based on polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) particles. The as-designed TENG can harvest low-frequency mechanical energies from wind and water and convert them into electricity at low cost and high efficiency, which can not only lighten 475 green LED lamps in series, but also can be suitable for driving seawater electrolysis for hydrogen production. The constructed TENG based on the Maxwell’s displacement current provides a model for further development of self-powered seawater electrolysis for hydrogen production. Grphical abstract Download : Download high-res image (165KB) Download : Download full-size image

There is significant progress in understanding the structure and function of NLRC5, a member of the nucleotide oligomerization domain-like receptor family. However, in the context of MHC class I gene expression, the functions of NLRC5 in innate and adaptive immune responses beyond the regulation of MHC class I genes remain controversial and unresolved. In particular, the role of NLRC5 in the kidney is unknown. NLRC5 was significantly upregulated in the kidney from mice with renal ischemia/reperfusion injury. NLRC5 deficient mice significantly ameliorated renal injury as evidenced by decreased serum creatinine levels, improved morphological injuries, and reduced inflammatory responses versus wild type mice. Similar protective effects were also observed in cisplatin-induced acute kidney injury. Mechanistically, NLRC5 contributed to renal injury by promoting tubular epithelial cell apoptosis and reducing inflammatory responses were, at least in part, associated with the negative regulation of carcinoembryonic antigen-related cell adhesion molecule 1 (CEACAM1). To determine the relative contribution of NLRC5 expression by parenchymal cells or leukocytes to renal damage during ischemia/reperfusion injury, we generated bone marrow chimeric mice. NLRC5 deficient mice engrafted with wild type hematopoietic cells had significantly lower serum creatinine and less tubular damage than wild type mice reconstituted with NLRC5 deficient bone marrow. This suggests that NLRC5 signaling in renal parenchymal cells plays the dominant role in mediating renal damage. Thus, modulation of the NLRC5-mediated pathway may have important therapeutic implications for patients with acute kidney injury.