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Rice husk is one of the most abundant biomass resources in the world, yet it is not effectively used. This study focuses on the sustainably rice-husk-extracted lignin, nano-lignin (n-Lignin), lignin-capped silver nanoparticles (LCSN), n-Lignin-capped silver nanoparticles (n-LCSN), and lignin-capped silica-silver nanoparticles (LCSSN), and using them for antibacterial activities. The final n-Lignin-based products had a sphere-like structure, of which the size varied between 50 and 80 nm. We found that while n-Lignin and lignin were less effective against Escherichia coli than against Staphylococcus aureus, n-Lignin/lignin-based hybrid materials, i.e., n-LCSN, LCSN, and LCSSN, were better against E. coli than against S. aureus. Interestingly, the antimicrobial behaviors of n-LCSNs could be further improved by decreasing the size of n-Lignin. Considering the facile, sustainable, and eco-friendly method that we have developed here, it is promising to use n-Lignin/lignin-based materials as highly efficient antimicrobials without environmental concerns.

A novel method of chemical upcycling of used poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) bottles by acidolysis with succinic acid (SA) was performed under microwave irradiation. The long polyester chain of PET was efficiently fragmented into small molecules and oligomers, such as terephthalic acid and α,ω-dicarboxylic acid oligo(ethylene succinate-co-terephthalate) (OEST). Various input molar ratios of SA/PET from 1.0 to 2.5 were used, and the product mixtures were separated successfully. The recovered terephthalic acid can be reused as a basic chemical. The α,ω-dicarboxylic acid OEST was used as a curing agent for epoxy resin. The recovered SA can be reused for further PET acidolysis. Structures of OEST were identified by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy

Antibacterial materials have been developed for a long time but bacteria adapt very quickly and become resistant to these materials. This study focuses on the synthesis of a hybrid material system from lignin and silver/silica nanoparticles (Lig@Ag/SiO

The behavior of rPUf (polyurethane foam derived from bis(2-hydroxyethyl) terephthalate (BHET) recovered from post-consumer poly(ethylene terephthalate)-PET bottles) and cPUf (polyurethane foam based on a commercial polyol) were evaluated by comprehensive characterizations, and their thermal stabilities, flammabilities, and physical properties were compared. Without using a flame retardant, rPUf passed the UL-94HB standard, whereas cPUf burned rapidly to the holding clamp. Various formulations of rPUf and cPUf with established eco-friendly fire retardants (FRs), including triphenyl phosphate, aluminum diethylphosphinate, and aluminum trihydroxide, exhibited notably higher fire resistance. The differences between the experimental and calculated densities showed the effectiveness of the foaming process. A larger difference indicated that the FR improved the foaming process more. The BHET structure contains an aromatic moiety that strongly enhanced the compressive strength and protected the rPUf/FRs from biodegradation, as evidenced by sorption isotherm experiments. For that reason, the rPUf/FRs could be used as building materials, especially under high humidity conditions. These are the advantages of BHET over the commercial polyol for PUf preparation. Chemical recycle of post-consumer PET bottles to produce high performance PUf could be applied on an industrial scale and then it creates the sustainable recycling industry.

The development of a synthesis method for bilayer graphene with a specific stacking orientation has become an important goal toward fully exploiting the extraordinary physical properties of bilayer...

Balance control is accomplished by the anatomical link which provides the neural information for the coordination of skeletal muscles. However, there are few experimental proofs to directly show the neuroanatomical connection. Here, we examined the behavioral alterations by constructing an animal model with chemically induced unilateral labyrinthectomy (UL). In the experiment using rats (26 for UL, 14 for volume cavity, 355–498 g, male), the models were initially evaluated by the rota-rod (RR) test (21/26, 80.8%) and ocular displacement (23/26, 88.5%). The duration on the rolling rod decreased from 234.71 ± 64.25 s (4th trial before UL) to 11.81 ± 17.94 s (1st trial after UL). Also, the ocular skewed deviation (OSD) was observed in the model with left (5.79 ± 3.06°) and right lesion (3.74 ± 2.69°). Paw distance (PW) was separated as the front (FPW) and the hind side (HPW), and the relative changes of HPW (1.71 ± 1.20 cm) was larger than those of FPW (1.39 ± 1.06 cm), providing a statistical significance (p = 1.51 × 10−4, t test). Moreover, the results of the RR tests matched to those of the changing rates (18/21, 85.7%), and the changes (16/18, 88.9%) were dominantly observed in HPW (in FPW, 2/18, 11.1%). Current results indicated that the UL directly affected the changes in HPW more than those in FPW. In conclusion, the missing neural information from the peripheral vestibular system caused the abnormal posture in HPW, and the postural instability might reduce the performance during the voluntary movement shown in the RR test, identifying the relation between the walking imbalance and the unstable posture in PW.

Multilayer graphene is considered a promising material for various optoelectronic devices. To exploit its intriguing electronic properties, an electric field must be achieved inside this material. ...

This article describes a novel method for the direct synthesis of patterned graphene on transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) such as molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) with chemical vapor deposition (C...

ConspectusOrganic semiconductors (OSCs) offer unique advantages with respect to mechanical flexibility, low-cost processing, and tunable properties. The optical and electrical properties of devices based on OSCs can be greatly improved when an OSC is coupled with graphene in a certain manner. Our research group has focused on using graphene as a growth template for OSCs and incorporating such high-quality heterostructures into optoelectronic devices. The idea is that graphene's atomically flat surface with a uniform sp

Background: The directional preference of otolith-related vestibular neurons elucidates the neuroanatomical link of labyrinths, but few direct experimental data have been provided. Methods: The directional preference of otolith-related vestibular neurons was measured in the vestibular nucleus using chemically induced unilateral labyrinthectomy (UL). For the model evaluation, static and dynamic behavioral tests as well as a histological test were performed. Extracellular neural activity was recorded for the neuronal responses to the horizontal head rotation and the linear head translation. Results: Seventy-seven neuronal activities were recorded, and the total population was divided into three groups: left UL (20), sham (35), and right UL (22). Based on directional preference, two sub-groups were again classified as contra- and ipsi-preferred neurons. There was no significance in the number of those sub-groups (contra-, 15/35, 43%, ipsi-, 20/35, 57%) in the sham (p = 0.155). However, more ipsi-preferred neurons (19/22, 86%) were observed after right UL (p = 6.056 × 10−5), while left UL caused more contra-preferred neurons (13/20, 65%) (p = 0.058). In particular, the convergent neurons mainly led this biased difference (ipsi-, 100% after right UL and contra-, 89% after left UL) (p &lt, 0.002). Conclusions: The directional preference of the neurons depended on the side of the lesion, and its dominance was mainly led by the convergent neurons.

Recently, graphene has attracted much attention as a promising barrier material for Cu interconnection electrodes because of its excellent electrical, thermal, and mechanical properties and its ability to prevent the diffusion of Cu atoms. However, the effects of graphene on the electrical resistivity of graphene encapsulated Cu are still not fully understood. Here, we investigate the mechanism of electrical conduction in thin Cu films in contact with graphene. The contact of Cu with graphene layers was found to significantly reduce the resistivity of Cu thin films because it provides new current paths near highly resistive Cu grain boundaries. This effect became more prominent as charge-carrier mobility of graphene increased. In addition, we demonstrate that graphene encapsulation without performing any Cu engineering can ideally reduce the resistivity of Cu thin films by > 40%. The presence of graphene also significantly improves the stability of the electrical resistance of Cu thin films during bending.

In article number 2002606, Seung Goo Lee, Kilwon Cho, and co‐workers demonstrate a finger padinspired multimodal mechanoelectric sensor for material discrimination and texture recognition. By integrating various electrical working mechanisms of piezoelectric, triboelectric, and piezoresistive, the sensor can identify and distinguish the external stresses from a single stimulus to a combination of multiple stimuli, enabling a potential application of artificial sensory systems for biomimetic prosthesis and robotic skins. [Image: see text]

Bacteriophages exhibit a vast spectrum of relatedness and there is increasing evidence of close genomic relationships independent of host genus. The variability in phage similarity at the nucleotide, amino acid, and gene content levels confounds attempts at quantifying phage relatedness, especially as more novel phages are isolated. This study describes three highly similar novelArthrobacter globiformisphages–Powerpuff, Lego, and YesChef–which were assigned to Cluster AZ using a nucleotide-based clustering parameter. Phages in Cluster AZ andMicrobacteriumCluster EH, as well as the formerMicrobacteriumsingleton Zeta1847, exhibited low nucleotide similarity but gene content similarity in excess of the recently adoptedMicrobacteriumclustering parameter, which resulted in the reassignment of Zeta1847 to Cluster EH. Additionally, Clusters AZ and EH phages encode a shared integrase indicative of a lysogenic life cycle; in the first experimental verification of a Cluster AZ phage’s life cycle, we show that phage Powerpuff is a true temperate phage and forms stable lysogens that exhibit immunity to superinfection by related phages, despite lacking identifiable repressors typically required for lysogenic maintenance and superinfection immunity. The ability of phage Powerpuff to undergo and maintain lysogeny suggests that other closely related phages encoding an integrase but lacking an identified repressor may be temperate as well. Our findings further highlight the importance of using multiple metrics to capture phage relatedness, provide additional evidence of significant shared phage genomic content spanning multiple actinobacterial host genera, and demonstrate the continued need for verification and characterization of life cycles in newly isolated phages.

Background: Due to the paired structure of two labyrinths, their neural communication is conducted through the interconnected commissural pathway. Using the tight link, the neural responding characteristics are formed in vestibular nucleus, and these responses are initially generated by the mechanical movement of the hair cells in the semicircular canals and otoliths. Although the mechanism to describe the neuronal responses to the head movements was evident, few direct experimental data were provided, especially the directional preference of otolith-related neurons as one of critical responses to elucidate the function of the neurons in vestibular nucleus (VN). Experimental Approach: The directional preference of otolith-related neurons was investigated in VN. Also, a chemically induced unilateral labyrinthectomy (UL) was performed to identify the origin of the directional preference. For the model evaluation, static and dynamic behavioral tests were performed. Following the evaluation, an extracellular neural activity was recorded for the neuronal responses to the horizontal head rotation and the linear head translation. Results: Seventy seven neuronal activities were recorded from thirty SD rats (270-450 g, male), and total population was divided into three groups; left UL (20), sham (35), right UL (22). Based on the directional preference, two sub-groups were again classified as contra- and ipsi-preferred neurons. There was no significance in the number of those sub-groups (contra-: 15/35, 43%; ipsi-: 20/35, 57%) in the sham (p=0.155). However, more ipsi-preferred neurons (19/22, 86%) were observed after right UL (p=6.056×10-5) while left UL caused more contra-preferred neurons (13/20, 65%) (p=0.058). In particular, the convergent neurons mainly led this biased difference in the population (ipsi-: 100% after right UL & contra-: 89% after left UL) (pConclusion: The directional preference was evenly maintained under a normal vestibular function, and its unilateral loss biased the directional preference of the neurons, depending on the side of lesion. Moreover, the dominance of the directional preference was mainly led by the convergent neurons which had the neural information related with head rotation and linear translation.

Controlling the growth behavior of organic semiconductors (OSCs) is essential because it determines their optoelectronic properties. In order to accomplish this, graphene templates with electronic‐state tunability are used to affect the growth of OSCs by controlling the van der Waals interaction between OSC ad‐molecules and graphene. However, in many graphene‐molecule systems, the charge transfer between an ad‐molecule and a graphene template causes another important interaction. This charge‐transfer‐induced interaction is never considered in the growth scheme of OSCs. Here, the effects of charge transfer on the formation of graphene–OSC heterostructures are investigated, using fullerene (C60) as a model compound. By in situ electrical doping of a graphene template to suppress the charge transfer between C60 ad‐molecules and graphene, the layer‐by‐layer growth of a C60 film on graphene can be achieved. Under this condition, the graphene–C60 interface is free of Fermi‐level pinning; thus, barristors fabricated on the graphene–C60 interface show a nearly ideal Schottky–Mott limit with efficient modulation of the charge‐injection barrier. Moreover, the optimized C60 film exhibits a high field‐effect electron mobility of 2.5 cm2 V−1 s−1. These results provide an efficient route to engineering highly efficient optoelectronic graphene–OSC hybrid material applications., The growth behavior of fullerene (C60) thin films on graphene templates where charge transfer occurs is presented. The number of electrons transferred from graphene to C60 is controlled by in situ electrical gating of graphene during C60 deposition. When this electron transfer is suppressed, high‐crystalline C60 thin films are achieved for highly efficient optoelectronic applications.

Dysfunction in the vestibular system caused unbalanced behavioral responses, but the experimental measurements often failed to elucidate their relations to its orientation in the vestibular neural information. To overcome these problems, the Directional Preference (DP) of canal- and otolith-related neurons was suggested, and its underlying neural mechanism was explained in this paper. To construct the vestibular imbalance, Unilateral Labyrinthectomy (UL) was given as a common model for the overall explanation. Based on the alteration in the DP, the ambiguity in the behavioral tests could be overcome, and expected to identify the neuronal characteristics to lead the alteration in the neural responses.

The thermal stabilities, flame retardancies, and physico-mechanical properties of rice husk-reinforced polyurethane (PU&ndash, RH) foams with and without flame retardants (FRs) were evaluated. Their flammability performances were studied by UL94, LOI, and cone calorimetry tests. The obtained results combined with FTIR, TGA, SEM, and XPS characterizations were used to evaluate the fire behaviors of the PU&ndash, RH samples. The PU&ndash, RH samples with a quite low loading (7 wt%) of aluminum diethylphosphinate (OP) and 32 wt% loading of aluminum hydroxide (ATH) had high thermal stabilities, excellent flame retardancies, UL94 V-0 ratings, and LOIs of 22%&ndash, 23%. PU&ndash, RH did not pass the UL94 HB standard test and completely burned to the holder clamp with a low LOI (19%). The cone calorimetry results indicated that the fireproof characteristics of the PU foam composites were considerably improved by the addition of the FRs. The proposed flame retardancy mechanism and cone calorimetry results are consistent. The comprehensive FTIR spectroscopy, TG, SEM, and XPS analyses revealed that the addition of ATH generated white solid particles, which dispersed and covered the residue surface. The pyrolysis products of OP would self-condense or react with other volatiles generated by the decomposition of PU&ndash, RH to form stable, continuous, and thick phosphorus/aluminum-rich residual chars inhibiting the transfer of heat and oxygen. The PU&ndash, RH samples with and without the FRs exhibited the normal isothermal sorption hysteresis effect at relative humidities higher than 20%. At lower values, during the desorption, this effect was not observed, probably because of the biodegradation of organic components in the RH. The findings of this study not only contribute to the improvement in combustibility of PU&ndash, RH composites and reduce the smoke or toxic fume generation, but also solve the problem of RHs, which are abundant waste resources of agriculture materials leading to the waste disposal management problems.

Growth of organic semiconductor thin films on a two-dimensional template is affected by its properties and is not well understood. This growth process dictates a thin film's final morphology and crystal structure and is controlled by the interactions between ad-molecules and the template. Here, we report that the template's charge density determines the tuning of such interactions. We observe the dependence of pentacene nucleation on charge carrier density ng in graphene under an applied electric field and contact-doping and then deduce that the interaction energy EA between the ad-molecule and the graphene is related linearly to ng. This tunability of EA allows control of the pentacene crystals growth. We exploit these findings to demonstrate that graphene, in which ng is controlled, can be used to template pentacene thin films for improved optoelectronic properties, such as electrical conductivity and exciton diffusion length.

Here, the open-circuit voltage (VOC) of organic solar cells (OSCs) in which the energy levels of the frontier molecular orbitals of the photoactive materials vary depending on the position within the active layer is investigated. The VOC in these devices is critically affected by the energy level of the frontier molecular orbitals that are spatially located near the electrodes (i.e., the highest occupied molecular orbital of the donor near the anode and the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital of the acceptor near the cathode). Other parameters such as the charge generation/recombination and the energy distribution of charge-transfer states appear to exert less influence on the VOC. This work demonstrates that, to maximize the VOC, the spatial distribution of molecular energy levels should be controlled, especially in OSCs that exhibit spatial variation of the energy levels of organic materials within their active layer.

In article number https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.201902315, Kilwon Cho and co‐workers investigate the growth of C60 thin films on graphene. The crystallinity of C60 thin film is significantly improved when it is grown on p‐doped graphene where electron transfer from graphene to C60 is suppressed.

A two-dimensional epitaxial growth template for organic semiconductors was developed using a new method for transferring clean graphene sheets onto a substrate with controlled surface wettability. The introduction of a sacrificial graphene layer between a patterned polymeric supporting layer and a monolayer graphene sheet enabled the crack-free and residue-free transfer of free-standing monolayer graphene onto arbitrary substrates. The clean graphene template clearly induced the quasi-epitaxial growth of crystalline organic semiconductors with lying-down molecular orientation while maintaining the "wetting transparency", which allowed the transmission of the interaction between organic molecules and the underlying substrate. Consequently, the growth mode and corresponding morphology of the organic semiconductors on graphene templates exhibited distinctive dependence on the substrate hydrophobicity with clear transition from lateral to vertical growth mode on hydrophilic substrates, which originated from the high surface energy of the exposed crystallographic planes of the organic semiconductors on graphene. The optical properties of the pentacene layer, especially the diffusion of the exciton, also showed a strong dependency on the corresponding morphological evolution. Furthermore, the effect of pentacene-substrate interaction was systematically investigated by gradually increasing the number of graphene layers. These results suggested that the combination of a clean graphene surface and a suitable underlying substrate could serve as an atomically thin growth template to engineer the interaction between organic molecules and aromatic graphene network, thereby paving the way for effectively and conveniently tuning the semiconductor layer morphologies in devices prepared using graphene.

A novel genome-wide genetics platform is presented in this study, which permits functional interrogation of all point mutations across a viral genome in parallel. Here we generated the first fitness profile of individual point mutations across the influenza virus genome. Critical residues on the viral genome were systematically identified, which provided a collection of subdomain data informative for structure-function studies and for effective rational drug and vaccine design. Our data was consistent with known, well-characterized structural features. In addition, we have achieved a validation rate of 68% for severely attenuated mutations and 94% for neutral mutations. The approach described in this study is applicable to other viral or microbial genomes where a means of genetic manipulation is available.

Genetic research on influenza virus biology has been informed in large part by nucleotide variants present in seasonal or pandemic samples, or individual mutants generated in the laboratory, leaving a substantial part of the genome uncharacterized. Here, we have developed a single-nucleotide resolution genetic approach to interrogate the fitness effect of point mutations in 98% of the amino acid positions in the influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA) gene. Our HA fitness map provides a reference to identify indispensable regions to aid in drug and vaccine design as targeting these regions will increase the genetic barrier for the emergence of escape mutations. This study offers a new platform for studying genome dynamics, structure-function relationships, virus-host interactions and can further rational drug and vaccine design. Our approach can also be applied to any virus that can be genetically manipulated.

To explore the role of ester groups in the neuromuscular blocking (NMB) property of various quaternary ammonium tropinesters, we have synthesized and pharmacologically evaluated twenty bisquaternary ammonium derivatives where two tropane (I), 3alpha-hydroxytropane (II), or 3-oxotropane (III) moieties were connected on their nitrogen atoms with a polymethylene chain of C3-C12 length. The rank order of potency of these agents in the rat (evoked EMG responses of the ant. tibial muscle) was: I, II, and III. Most potent were the longer chain (e.g. C10-C12) compounds of series I, yet they were inferior to bisquaternary ammonium tropinester derivatives (e.g. N,N'-polymethylene bisquaternary tropinesters, or bisquaternary derivatives of dicarboxylic acid tropinesters). Although some of the agents (series I and II) showed a rapid onset and short duration of action-profile, they also exhibited cardiovascular side effects (e.g. cardiac vagal block and blood pressure changes). In the design of new NMB agents of rapid onset and short duration of action the presence of different ester groups in addition to an azabicyclo ring system (e.g. tropane), seems to be essential.

From the notion that a particular e-business software running on the Internet is considered as a living species, we investigate the anatomical, metabolic, physiological, genetic and ecological basis of e-business software. We suggest that there is an automated e-business software continuum, from bit and cellular level to ecological level, which is parallel to the natural bio-ecology from particles to ecosystems and beyond. This parallelism between bio-ecology and e-commerce/e-business gives rise to interesting research venues from which we might gain insights from bio-ecological information technology for potential applicability to the normal e-business/ecommerce, its continuity and crisis.

Trade-offs between throughput, read length, and error rates in high-throughput sequencing limit certain applications such as monitoring viral quasispecies. Here, we describe a molecular-based tag linkage method that allows assemblage of short sequence reads into long DNA fragments. It enables haplotype phasing with high accuracy and sensitivity to interrogate individual viral sequences in a quasispecies. This approach is demonstrated to deduce ∼ 2000 unique 1.3 kb viral sequences from HIV-1 quasispecies in vivo and after passaging ex vivo with a detection limit of ∼ 0.005% to ∼ 0.001%. Reproducibility of the method is validated quantitatively and qualitatively by a technical replicate. This approach can improve monitoring of the genetic architecture and evolution dynamics in any quasispecies population.

3,4-Diaminopyridine and 4-aminopyridine were compared in the anaesthetized cat and found to be equiactive in their anti-curare activity. This in vivo similarity is at variance with previous in vitro studies which demonstrate 3,4-diaminopyridine to be more active than 4-aminopyridine at the neuromuscular junction. Possible reasons for the similarity between the two aminopyridines at the in vivo neuromuscular junction are discussed and it is concluded that 3,4-diaminopyridine has only marginal advantages over 4-aminopyridine as a potential anti-curare agent.

The effects of intravenous (iv) verapamil (0.01 to 1.0 mg/kg) on the constant neuromuscular block produced by an iv infusion of either pancuronium or succinylcholine were studied on the indirectly stimulated gastrocnemius and tibialis-anterior muscles of the rabbit anesthetized with halothane in oxygen. Verapamil alone (n = 6) had no significant effect. However, the drug did significantly potentiate the 50% twitch depression of the gastrocnemius muscle produced by a constant iv infusion of either pancuronium (n = 5) or succinylcholine (n = 5) to 36 +/- 6% and 45 +/- 1% of control, respectively. This effect of verapamil occurred with doses of 0.1 mg/kg for pancuronium and 0.01 mg/kg for succinylcholine; these doses of verapamil were the lowest which produced a significant effect. In contrast, verapamil had no significant effect on the progression of the neuromuscular blockade of either the gastrocnemius or tibialis-anterior muscles produced by alpha-bungarotoxin (n = 5). Verapamil also significantly prolonged the P-R interval of the ECG from a control value of 71 +/- 2 ms to 78 +/- 3 ms at a dose of 0.1 mg/kg and to 93 +/- 6 ms at a dose of 0.3 mg/kg. The possible mechanisms of the neuromuscular actions of verapamil are discussed and it is concluded that verapamil can produce potentiation of either pancuronium- or succinylcholine-induced neuromuscular block at doses within the therapeutic range.