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Abstract Biomass‐derived carbon as energy storage materials have gradually attracted widespread attention due to their low cost, sustainability, and inherent structural advantages. Herein, hard carbon (H‐1200) and porous carbon (PC‐800) for sodium‐ion batteries (SIBs), sodium‐ion capacitors (SICs) half cells and sodium‐ion hybrid capacitors (SIHCs) have been synthesized from the same biomass precursor of Camellia shells through different treatments. H‐1200 synthesized by directly high‐temperature carbonization possesses a rational graphitic layer structure and plentiful heteroatoms. When applied as anode for SIBs, it exhibits a reversible capacity of 365.5 mAh g–1 at 25 mA g–1 and capacity retention 89.0% after 400 cycles at 200 mA g–1. Additionally, PC‐800 prepared by catalytic carbonization of K2C2O4/CaC2O4 hybrid catalyst has a sophisticated porous structure and a high surface area of 2186.9 m2 g–1. When employed as a cathode for SICs, it delivers a maximum capacity 104.2 mAh g–1 at 100 mA g–1 and 35.0 mAh g–1 at 5 A g–1. Furthermore, the all carbon assembled SIHC (H‐1200||PC‐800) using H‐1200 as anode and PC‐800 as cathode, features a broad output voltage range (0.01 ~ 4.1 V), high energy density of 161.5 Wh kg–1, power density of 12896.1 W kg–1, and superior capacity retention of 90.32% after 10000 cycles at 10 A g–1. This research result provide a new horizon for constructing low‐cost and large‐scale production of biomass derived carbon for energy storage materials.

Sea cucumber saponins have attracted more attention in recent years due to biological activities. It is a popular practice to soak sea cucumber in Baijiu at home and being applied to industrial manufacturing in China. However, knowledge of the effect of alcohol on the absorption and metabolism of sea cucumber saponins is limited. The effects of alcohol on digestion, absorption and metabolism of sea cucumber saponins in BALB/c mice were investigated after gavage and tail intravenous injection. The results showed that the content of saponins in serum and liver was significantly higher under the influence of alcohol than that in the control group after oral administration. Alcohol promoted the absorption of sea cucumber saponins prototype as well as inhibited the process of saponins being transformed into deglycositic metabolites in the small intestine. Moreover, sea cucumber saponins remained in circulation for a long time and alcohol slowed down the clearance of sea cucumber saponins under the influence of alcohol after intravenous injection. This confirmed the feasibility of marinating sea cucumber in Baijiu to improve the efficacy of saponins and provides an important theoretical basis for the utilization of sea cucumber and the development of sea cucumber liquor.

The enzymatic hydrolysis of soybeans could enhance their application as an ingredient and alternative to fishmeal in aquafeeds. Here, a 10-week feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the impacts of different dietary inclusion levels of enzymatically hydrolyzed compound soy protein (EHCS) on the growth performance and intestinal health of juvenile American eels (Anguilla rostrata). Five experimental diets were formulated with graded EHCS inclusion levels at 0% (EHCS0), 8% (EHCS8), 16% (EHCS16), 24% (EHCS24), and 32% (EHCS32). Each diet was randomly assigned to four replicate tanks. The results showed that eels fed the EHCS8 diet exhibited superior growth performance, decreased serum lipid content, and increased immunity compared to those fed the EHCS0 diet. Eels fed the EHCS8 diet also displayed improved intestinal histology, enhanced antioxidant capacity and balance of intestinal microbiota as well as an enhanced proliferation of probiotics compared to those receiving the EHCS0 diet. Compared with eels fed the EHCS0 diet, those fed the EHCS16 diet exhibited comparable growth performance and values for the aforementioned markers. The quadratic regression analysis of weight gain rate and feed efficiency against the dietary EHCS inclusion levels determined the maximum levels of dietary EHCS inclusion for American eels range from 17.59% to 17.77%.

In response to the global threat posed by bacterial pathogens, which are the second leading cause of death worldwide, vaccine development is challenged by the diversity of bacterial serotypes and the lack of immunoprotection across serotypes. To address this, we introduce BacScan, a novel genome-wide technology for the rapid discovery of conserved highly immunogenic proteins (HIPs) across serotypes. Using bacterial-specific serum, BacScan combines phage display, immunoprecipitation, and next-generation sequencing to comprehensively identify all the HIPs in a single assay, thereby paving the way for the development of universally protective vaccines. Our validation of this technique with Streptococcus suis, a major pathogenic threat, led to the identification of 19 HIPs, eight of which conferred 20-100% protection against S. suis challenge in animal models. Remarkably, HIP 8455 induced complete immunity, making it an exemplary vaccine target. BacScan’s adaptability to any bacterial pathogen positions it as a revolutionary tool that can expedite the development of vaccines with broad efficacy, thus playing a critical role in curbing bacterial transmission and slowing the march of antimicrobial resistance.

Parkinson’s disease (PD), ranking as the second most prevalent neurodegenerative disorder globally, presents a pressing need for innovative animal models to deepen our understanding of its pathophysiology and explore potential therapeutic interventions. The development of such animal models plays a pivotal role in unraveling the complexities of PD and investigating promising treatment avenues. In this study, we employed transcriptome sequencing on BmN cells treated with 1 μg/ml rotenone, aiming to elucidate the underlying toxicological mechanisms. The investigation brought to light a significant reduction in mitochondrial membrane potential induced by rotenone, subsequently triggering mitophagy. Notably, the PTEN induced putative kinase 1 (PINK1)/Parkin pathway emerged as a key player in the cascade leading to rotenone-induced mitophagy. Furthermore, our exploration extended to silkworms exposed to 50 μg/ml rotenone, revealing distinctive motor dysfunction as well as inhibition of Tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) gene expression. These observed effects not only contribute valuable insights into the impact and intricate mechanisms of rotenone exposure on mitophagy but also provide robust scientific evidence supporting the utilization of rotenone in establishing a PD model in the silkworm. This comprehensive investigation not only enriches our understanding of the toxicological pathways triggered by rotenone but also highlights the potential of silkworms as a valuable model organism for PD research.

The main objective of this article is to conduct a literature review on the concept of CSR and to evaluate its implementation in large business operators by analyzing and comparing descriptive statistics. The analysis is conducted using secondary data shared by the chosen business operators. The businesses chosen as cases are two large courier companies: DHL in Germany and SF-Express in China. Statistical tools are utilized in data analysis. The study has significant value for presenting the effectiveness of the practice of CSR in similar firms. The article also provides a comprehensive literature overview of the concept of CSR.

BackgroundSingle-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-Seq) provides new perspectives and ideas to investigate the interactions between different cell types and organisms. By integrating scRNA-seq with new computational frameworks or specific technologies, better Alzheimer’s disease (AD) treatments may be developed.MethodsThe single-cell sequencing dataset GSE158234 was obtained from the GEO database. Preprocessing, quality control, dimensionality-reducing clustering, and annotation to identify cell types were performed on it. RNA-seq profiling dataset GSE238013 was used to determine the components of specific cell subpopulations in diverse samples. A set of genes included in the OMIM, Genecards, CTD, and DisGeNET databases were selected as highly plausible AD-related genes. Then, ROC curves were created to predict the diagnostic value using the significantly expressed genes in the KO group as hub genes. The genes mentioned above were mapped to the Coremine Medical database to forecast prospective therapeutic Chinese medicines, and a “Chinese medicine-ingredient-target” network was constructed to screen for potential therapeutic targets. The last step was to undertake Mendelian randomization research to determine the causal link between the critical gene IL1B and AD in the genome-wide association study.ResultsUsing the scRNA-seq dataset, five unique cell clusters were discovered. These clusters were further subdivided into four distinct cell types using marker genes. The KO group showed a more substantial differential subgroup of macrophages than the WT group. By using the available datasets and PPI network analysis, 54 common genes were discovered. Four clusters were identified using the MCODE approach, and correlation analysis showed that seven genes in those four clusters had a significantly negative correlation with macrophages. Six genes in four sets had a significantly positive correlation. Five genes had different levels of expression in the WT and KO groups. The String database was used to identify the regulatory relationships between the four genes (IL10, CX3CR1, IL1B, and IL6) that were finally selected as AD hub genes. Screening identified potential traditional Chinese medicine to intervene in the transformation process of AD, including Radix Salviae, ginseng, Ganoderma, licorice, Coptidis Rhizoma, and Scutellariae Radix, in addition to promising therapeutic targets, such as PTGS1, PTGS2, and RXRA. Finally, it was shown that IL1B directly correlated with immune cell infiltration in AD. In inverse variance weighting, we found that IL1B was associated with a higher risk of AD, with an OR of 1.003 (95% CI = 1.001–1.006, p = 0.038).ConclusionOur research combined network pharmacology and the scRNA-seq computational framework to uncover pertinent hub genes and prospective traditional Chinese medicine potential therapeutic targets for AD. These discoveries may aid in understanding the molecular processes behind AD genes and the development of novel medications to treat the condition.

Growing high-quality crystals with ideal properties is of great importance. The morphology of crystal is one key factor reflecting product quality, as it can affect the performance of products and downstream operations. In this work, the current state of crystal morphology modification is reviewed from different perspectives. First, the most widely used crystal growth models are discussed. Then, a variety of crystal morphology control methods, which include adjustment of crystallization operation parameters, addition of foreign molecules, change of different solvents, membrane assistance, the addition of external physical fields and the use of ball milling are summarized. As for applications, the control of crystal morphology has application potential in pharmaceutical and material fields, for example, energetic materials and semiconductor materials. Finally, the future development direction of crystal morphology regulation is discussed.

BackgroundEmerging infectious diseases pose a significant threat to both human and animal populations. Rapid de novo identification of protective antigens from a clinical isolate and development of an antigen-matched vaccine is a golden strategy to prevent the spread of emerging novel pathogens.MethodsHere, we focused on Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae, which poses a serious threat to the pig industry, and developed a general workflow by integrating proteosurfaceomics, secretomics, and BacScan technologies for the rapid de novo identification of bacterial protective proteins from a clinical isolate.ResultsAs a proof of concept, we identified 3 novel protective proteins of A. pleuropneumoniae. Using the protective protein HBS1_14 and toxin proteins, we have developed a promising multivalent subunit vaccine against A. pleuropneumoniae.DiscussionWe believe that our strategy can be applied to any bacterial pathogen and has the potential to significantly accelerate the development of antigen-matched vaccines to prevent the spread of an emerging novel bacterial pathogen.

This study investigates the coordination of factors in the three coupled systems of water resources, economy and ecosystem. The study data were economic, social, environmental and water resource indicators of the Henan section of the Yellow River basin from 2000 to 2019. Data were analyzed using a model of coupling coordination, grey relational analysis and a combined sparrow search algorithm–back propagation (SSA-BP) prediction model. Evaluation, analysis and prediction of the water resources–economy–ecosystem complex were undertaken. The results show that: (1) the degree of coupling coordination of the water resources–economy–ecosystem complex in the Henan section of the Yellow River basin showed an increasing trend that reached 0.8105 in 2019, which indicates good coordination; (2) the water resources subsystem had the greatest influence on the overall degree of coupling coordination, followed by the economic and natural environment subsystems; and (3) the SSA-BP model predicted that the degree of coupling coordination would remain good for the next six years and reach 0.8333 in 2025. To ensure the sustainability of expected rapid economic development, Henan Province must increase the utilization efficiency of water resources, strengthen environmental protection, and coordinate development in the region. HIGHLIGHTS An evaluation model of the coupled water resources–economy–ecosystem development of the Henan section of the Yellow River basin was established.; A new method for future forecasting of regional coupling coordination is proposed.; The main factors affecting the degree of coordinated water resources–economy–ecosystem development in the Henan section of the Yellow River basin were identified.;

Cross-modal hashing methods have received wide attention in cross-modal retrieval owing to their advantages in computational efficiency and storage cost. However, most existing deep cross-modal hashing methods cannot employ both intra-modal and inter-modal similarities to guide the learning of hash codes and ignore the quantization loss of hash codes, simultaneously. To solve the above problems, we propose a fine-grained similarity semantic preserving deep hashing (FSSPDH) for cross-modal retrieval. Firstly, this proposed method learns different hash codes for different modalities to preserve the intrinsic property of each modality. Secondly, the fine-grained similarity matrix is constructed by using labels and data features, which not only maintains the similarity between and within modalities. In addition, quantization loss is used to learn hash codes and thus effectively reduce information loss caused during the quantization procedure. A large number of experiments on three public datasets demonstrate the advantage of the proposed FSSPDH method.

Water resources, energy, and food are important basic resources for high-quality regional development. In the process of rapid development of regional economy, how to coordinate the development of basic resources has become one of the most serious challenges to the high-quality development of the Yellow River basin and even the whole Yellow River basin in Shandong province. Previous studies have produced few such analyses and evaluations for cities in the Yellow River basin, and there is a lack of research on multi-scale analysis, evaluation and prediction of urban coupling and coordinated development level. Hence, in this study, we propose an indicator system consisting of 24 indicators for the water resources, energy, and food system based on panel data for 9 cities in the Yellow River basin in Shandong Province for 2011–2020. Spatial autocorrelation analysis and temporal and spatial distribution analysis were used to determine the current state of water resources, energy, and food systems at multiple scales; combined weighting, comprehensive evaluation, and coupling coordination quantification were used to formulate the coupling coordination relationships of water resources–energy–food and identify the spatiotemporal formation and development of the water resources–energy–food system. A particle swarm optimization–back propagation model (PSO-BP) was used to predict the coupled and coordinated changes in the water resources–energy–food system for the next five years. The study results show that: (1) The composite index of the water resources–energy–food system showed an increasing trend, and the composite index of the food subsystem increased relatively quickly. (2) In 2020, the coupling coordination degree for eight of the nine cities in the Yellow River basin in Shandong Province was 0.70. Jinan, the exception, was at a critical stage of transitioning from low to moderate coupling, and the other eight cities were at the moderate stage of coupling coordination. (3) The coupling coordination of the water resources–energy–food system is increasing; it has transitioned from low to moderate and is about to transition to the stage of good coupling coordination. (4) The PSO-BP model predicted that the coupling coordination of water resources–energy–food systems in the Yellow River basin in Shandong Province will reach the stage of good coupling coordination in 2023. The research results presented in this paper can provide a theoretical basis for formulating policy recommendations in the Yellow River basin in Shandong Province.

Nucleation of crystals from solution is fundamental to many natural and industrial processes. In this work, the molecular mechanism of conformational polymorphism nucleation and the links between the molecular conformation in solutions and in crystals were investigated in detail by using 5-nitrofurazone as the model compound. Different polymorphs were prepared, and the conformations in solutions obtained by dissolving different polymorphs were analysed and compared. The solutions of 5-nitrofurazone were proven to contain multiple conformers through quantum chemical computation, Raman spectra analysis, 2D nuclear Overhauser effect spectroscopy spectra analysis and molecular dynamics simulation. The conformational evolution and desolvation path was illustrated according to the 1H NMR spectra of solutions with different concentrations. Finally, based on all the above analysis, the molecular conformational evolution path during nucleation of 5-nitrofurazone was illustrated. The results presented in this work shed a new light on the molecular mechanism of conformational polymorphism nucleation in solution.

An experiment was conducted to create a science-based program of irrigation and fertilizer application for two-year winter wheat under wide ridge and furrow irrigation in the Yellow River irrigation area. The study was performed in a test field located in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, China. A numerical model of soil water and nitrogen transport for winter wheat under wide ridge and furrow irrigation was created using HYDRUS-2D. The behavior of soil water and nitrogen was predicted for different irrigation water and nitrogen treatments and analyzed to identify pathways of nitrogen transport and transformation. The nitrogen balance was calculated for the different water and nitrogen treatments. The coefficients of determination for measured and predicted values of soil water content, nitrate nitrogen, and ammonium nitrogen in both horizontal and vertical directions were all >0.68; the mean absolute error was R2 between simulated values of nitrogen uptake and measured values of total crop nitrogen content was 0.88, the RMSE value was 10.58 kg/ha, and the MAE value was 5.9 kg/ha. Nitrogen loss was primarily caused by denitrification, and the quantity of gaseous nitrogen loss was 7.05–38.2% of the nitrogen form. The total quantity of ammonium nitrogen absorbed by winter wheat plant roots in each treatment was 7.6–15.1% of the total amount of nitrate nitrogen absorbed. The maximum nitrogen uptake was 155.53 kg/ha with a yield of 6888.67 kg/ha at a nitrogen application rate of 220 kg/ha and irrigating to 70% field capacity. The UE of the 220 kg/ha and irrigating to 70% field capacity treatment was relatively high, the PFP of the 120 kg/ha and irrigating to 80% field capacity treatment was relatively high, and the nitrogen use efficiency of the 320 kg/ha and irrigating to 60% field capacity treatment was the lowest overall. This study provides a basis for investigating soil water and nitrogen transport mechanisms of winter wheat under wide ridge and furrow irrigation in the Yellow River irrigation area.

The disposition of functional groups can induce variations in the nature and type of interactions and hence affect the molecular recognition and self-assembly mechanism in cocrystals. To better understand the formation of cocrystals on a molecular level, the effects of disposition of functional groups on the formation of cocrystals were systematically and comprehensively investigated using cresol isomers (o-, m-, p-cresol) as model compounds. Consistency and variability in these cocrystals containing positional isomers were found and analyzed. The structures, molecular recognition and self-assembly mechanism of supramolecular synthons in solution and in their corresponding cocrystals were verified by a combined experimental and theoretical calculation approach. It was found that the heterosynthons (heterotrimer or heterodimer) combined with O—H...N hydrogen bonding played a significant role. Hirshfeld surface analysis and computed interaction energy values were used to determine the hierarchical ordering of the weak interactions. The quantitative analyses of charge transfers and molecular electrostatic potential were also applied to reveal and verify the reasons for consistency and variability. Finally, the molecular recognition, self-assembly and evolution process of the supramolecular synthons in solution were investigated. The results confirm that the supramolecular synthon structures formed initially in solution would be carried over to the final cocrystals, and the supramolecular synthon structures are the precursors of cocrystals and the information memory of the cocrystallization process, which is evidence for classical nucleation theory.

This paper considers the fixed-time synchronization (FIXTS) of neural networks (NNs) by using quantized intermittent control (QIC). Based on QIC, a fixed-time controller is designed to ensure that the NNs achieve synchronization in finite time. With this controller, the settling time can be estimated regardless of initial conditions. After ensuring that the system has stabilized through this strategy, it is suitable for image protection given the behavior of the system. Meanwhile, the encryption effect of the image depends on the encryption algorithm, and the quality of the decrypted image depends on the synchronization error of NNs. The numerical results show that the designed controller is effective and validate the practical application of FIXTS of NNs in image protection.

Removal of contaminants in wastewater, such as heavy metals, has become a severe problem in the world. Numerous technologies have been developed to deal with this problem. As an emerging technology, nanotechnology has been gaining increasing interest and many nanomaterials have been developed to remove heavy metals from polluted water, due to their excellent features resulting from the nanometer effect. In this work, novel nanomaterials, including carbon-based nanomaterials, zero-valent metal, metal-oxide based nanomaterials, and nanocomposites, and their applications for the removal of heavy metal ions from wastewater were systematically reviewed. Their efficiency, limitations, and advantages were compared and discussed. Furthermore, the promising perspective of nanomaterials in environmental applications was also discussed and potential directions for future work were suggested.

The urban agglomeration in the Yangtze River’s middle reaches is a crucial location of China’s economic expansion. Urbanization construction is an important measure to improve human life style, encourage economic and social growth, and improve the level of science and technology. These changes have an impact on the natural environment at the same moment. This research did a detailed investigation on the correlation ecological footprint elements and the construction of three-dimensional ecological footprint model to explore the law of water carbon three-dimensional ecological footprint evolution and its depth-to-breadth learning inversion leads to the growth of cities in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. The findings indicate that when promoting the process of urbanization, various human activities have a non-negligible impact on the ecological environment. We must pay close attention to environmental challenges as urbanization progresses since both the rise in people’s quality of life and the pace of urbanization would result in a continual growth in ecological footprint. And take scientific and effective measures for different problems to make sure the environment and urbanization are developed sustainably. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]