This article is about a framework for determining the degree of realism of any given 1 passenger ride motion discomfort measurement formula. After providing some context and reviewing 2 evidence of deficiency in currently popular ride motion discomfort measurement formulas, the article 3 outlines the research program that needs to be carried out in order to establish such a framework. 4 The research begins with gathering recordings of uncomfortable ride motion episodes encountered in 5 a chosen type of passenger transport service. It then has test subjects compare the episodes via a ride 6 motion simulator and adjust their amplitudes pair wise until they cause equal discomfort. It explains 7 how to take the pair wise amplitude adjustments and determine amplitude adjustments that bring all 8 of the motion episode recordings to a common level of discomfort so that they form a normalized set. 9 Then, the lower the scatter of the scores assigned by any given discomfort measurement formula to 10 the members of that set, the more realistic that formula will be for the chosen service.

Owing to their unique physicochemical properties, nanoparticles are used in a variety of ways in the field of cancer treatment, including imaging, drug delivery, and photothermal and photodynamic therapies. The fascinating properties of nanoparticles are determined by their size, morphology, and constituent elements, and various synthetic methods and post-synthetic techniques have been applied to control these factors. Herein, we present examples of shape and composition control through galvanic replacement, a technique that exploits redox potential differences between elements to induce spontaneous ion-exchange and highlight its specific contributions to cancer treatment applications. The present article identifies the recent advances in nanoparticle formation techniques and discusses the future outlook of the field.

This paper illustrates an experimental activity for the closed-loop position control of an actuator made using shape memory alloy (SMA) wire. A solution with the self-sensing effect was implemented to miniaturize the systems, i.e., without external sensors. A proportional control algorithm was initially used, demonstrating the idea's feasibility: the wire can behave simultaneously as an actuator and sensor. An experimental investigation was subsequently conducted for the optimization of the developed actuator. As for the material, a Flexinol wire, Ni-Ti alloy, with a diameter of 0.150 mm and a length of 200 mm, was used. Preliminarily, a characterization of the SMA wire at constant and variable loads was carried out: the characteristics detected are elongation vs. electric current and elongation vs. electrical resistance. The control system is PC-based with a data acquisition card (DAQ). A drive board has been designed and built to read the wire's electrical resistance and power it by pulse width modulation (PWM). A notable result is that the actuator works with good precision and in dynamic conditions, even when it is called to support a load up to 65% different from that for which the electrical resistance-length correlation has previously been experimentally obtained, on which the control is based. This opens up the possibility of using the actuator in a counteracting configuration with a spring, which makes hardware implementation and control management simple.

Nanoparticles have been used as a novel drug delivery system. Drug-incorporated nanoparticles for local delivery might optimize the efficacy and minimize the side effects of drugs. The efficacy and safety of intratracheal administration of prostacyclin analog (beraprost)-incorporated nanoparticles and imatinib, a PDGF-receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor, -incorporated nanoparticles in Sugen-hypoxia-normoxia or monocrotaline rat models of PAH and in human PAH-pulmonary arterial smooth muscle cells have been reported. The use of inhaled drug-incorporated nanoparticles might be a novel approach for treatment of PAH.

This paper addresses the input coupling problem for the shape memory alloy (SMA) actuated parallel platform with completely unknown nonlinear dynamics. The problem means that in a parallel platform with multiple SMA actuators acting together, the displacement of one of the actuators will simultaneously affect the remaining actuators to change. Due to the coupling problem and nonlinear characteristics of the SMA actuators, it is not easy to control the platform to achieve bi-directional swing with completely unknown nonlinear dynamics. Therefore, a model-free adaptive sliding mode control method is proposed to improve the control accuracy of the complex motion of the platform, avoiding the complex modeling process of the SMA actuated parallel platform. Based on the model-free adaptive control (MFAC) theory, a multiple input and multiple output (MIMO) dynamic linearized mathematical model of the parallel platform is established using the online input and output data of the system. Then, a sliding mode controller is designed based on the dynamic model. A rigorous theoretical analysis proves that the proposed model-free adaptive sliding mode controller is able to stably control the SMA actuated parallel platform, and its tracking error is uniformly ultimately bounded (UUB). Finally, experiments are conducted on the established SMA actuated parallel platform. The results show that the proposed model-free controller is feasible and effective, and can control the system well to achieve the complex motion of bi-directional swing.

Spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste can be disposed in deep horizontal drillholes in sedimentary, metamorphic, or igneous rocks. Horizontal drillhole disposal has safety, operational, and economic benefits: The repository is deep in the brine-saturated zone far below aquifers in a reducing environment of formations that can be shown to have been isolated from the surface for millions of years; its depth provides safety against inadvertent intrusion, earth¬quakes, and near-surface perturbations; it can be placed close to the reactors and interim storage facilities, minimizing transportation; disposal costs per ton of waste can be kept substantially lower than for mined repositories by its smaller size, reduced infrastructure needs, and staged imple¬mentation; and, if desired, the waste could be retrieved using “fishing” technology. In the proposed disposal concept, corrosion-resistant canisters containing unmodified fuel assemblies from commercial reactors would be placed end-to-end in up to 50 cm diameter horizontal drill¬holes, a configuration that reduces mechanical stresses and keeps the temperatures below the boiling point of the brine. Other high-level wastes, such as capsules containing 137Cs and 90Sr, can be disposed in small-diameter drillholes. We provide an overview of this novel disposal concept and its technology, discuss some of its safety aspects, and compare it to mined repositories and the deep vertical borehole disposal concept.

In this paper, a new type of self-excited thermomechanical oscillator containing an oscillating shape memory alloy (SMA) filament with two symmetrically arranged spheres is investigated. The self-excitation of the oscillations is due to a heater of constant temperature, which causes periodic contractions of the filament when it approaches it. The contracted filament moves away from the heater a distance sufficient to cool it. Under the action of the weight of the spheres, the cooled filament re-approaches the heater, causing the above processes to repeat periodically. On the basis of experimental studies, approximating functions of the heater's heat field distribution are derived. A dynamic model of the oscillator has been created, in which the minor and major hysteresis in the SMA alloy and the distribution of the heat field around the heater have been taken into account. By numerical solutions of the differential equations, the laws of motion of the spheres are obtained. The displacements of the spheres in two perpendicular directions were measured using an experimental system. The obtained experimental results validate the proposed dynamic model and its assumptions with a high degree of confidence. Conclusions are drawn about the stochastic nature of the oscillations due to the hysteresis properties of the SMA and the temperature variation of the natural frequency of the oscillating system.

This paper presents an in-depth study of the stress wave behavior propagating in a Rayleigh–Love rod with a sudden cross-sectional area change. The analytical solutions of stress waves are derived for the reflection and transmission propagation behavior at the interface of the cross-sectional area change in the rod, considering inertia and Poisson’s effects. Examples solved by the finite element method are provided to verify the correctness of the analytical results. In addition to the forward analysis of Rayleigh–Love wave propagation in rods impacted by a striker rod, a nondestructive testing method is proposed to conduct the defect assessment in the rod type of the structure component with a sudden cross-sectional area change within a cover medium by using the measured signals at the measurable zone of the rod to be inspected.

To better understand the shape memory materials and self-healing materials, a new series of liquid-crystalline shape memory polyurethane (LC-SMPU) composites, named SMPU-OOBAm, were successfully prepared by incorporating 4-octyldecyloxybenzoic acid (OOBA) into the PEG-based SMPU. The effect of OOBA on the structure, morphology and properties has been carefully investigated. The results demonstrate that SMPU-OOBAm have liquid crystalline properties, triple-shape memory properties and self-healing properties. The incorporated OOBA promotes the crystallizability of both soft and hard segments of SMPU, and the crystallization rate of the hard segment of SMPU decreases when the OOBA-content increases. Additionally, the SMPU-OOBAm forms a two-phase separated structure (SMPU phase and OOBA phase), and it shows two-step modulus changes upon heating. Therefore, the SMPU-OOBAm shows triple-shape memory behavior, and the shape recovery ratio decreases with an increase in the OOBA content. Finally, SMPU-OOBAm shows self-healing properties. The new mechanism can be ascribed to the heating-induced “bleeding” of OOBA in the liquid crystalline state and the subsequent re-crystallization upon cooling. This successful combination of liquid crystalline properties, triple-shape memory properties and self-healing properties make the SMPU-OOBAm composites with many promise applications in smart optical devices, smart electronic devices and smart sensors.

In this paper, a new approach to retrieve semantic images based on shape and geometric features of image in conjunction with multi-class support vector machine is proposed. Zernike moment as shape feature is to verify the invariance of objects for silhouette image. In addition, a set of geometrical features is to explore the objects shape using two features of rectangularity and circularity. Then the extracted features are normalized and employed for multi-class support vector machine either for learning or retrieving processes. The retrieving process relies on three main tasks which namely Query Engine, Matching Module and Ontology Manger, respectively. Query Engine is to build the input text or image query using SPARQL language. The matching module extracts the shape and geometric features of image’s objects and employ them to Ontology Manger which in turn inserts them in ontology knowledge base. Benchmark mammals have been conducted to empirically conclude the outcome of proposed approach. Our experiment on text and image retrieval yields efficient results to problematic phenomena than previously reported.

This study assessed the hydrological performance and runoff water quality of 12 green roof (GR) modular systems located at the Universidad de los Andes campus (Bogotá, Colombia). Based on 223 rainfall events spanning a 3-year period, average rainfall retention was 85% (SD = 25%). T-tests, Welch Test, multiple linear regressions and correlation analysis were performed in order to assess the potential effect of air temperature, substrate type, vegetation cover, relative humidity, antecedent dry weather period (ADWP), rainfall duration and rainfall maximum intensity. In some cases, GR design variables (i.e. growing media and type of vegetation) were found to be significant for describing rainfall retention efficiencies and, depending on the GR type, some hydrological variables were also correlated with the rainfall retention. Rainfall and GR runoff were monitored for Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen (TKN), Nitrates, Nitrites, Ammonia, Total Phosphorus (TP), Phosphates, pH, Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), Total Suspended Solids (TSS), Color, Turbidity, Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Total Coliforms, metals and Poliaromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs). The results obtained confirmed that GR systems have the ability to neutralize pH, but are source of the rest of the aforementioned parameters, excluding PAHs (with concentrations below detection limits), Ammonia, TSS, Se and Li, where differences with reference values (rainfall and plastic panel runoff) were not statistically significant. Substrate type, event size and rainfall regime are relevant variables for explaining runoff water quality.

Hierarchical tungsten oxide assemblies such as spindle-like, flowers with sharp petals, nanowires and regular hexagonal structures are successfully synthesized via a solvothermal reduction method by simply adjusting the reaction conditions. On the basis of the experimental results, it is determined that the reaction time significantly influences the phase transition, microstructure and photocatalytic activity of the prepared samples. The possible mechanisms for the phase transition and morphology evolution process have been systematically proposed. Moreover, the as-prepared products exhibit significant morphology-depended photocatalytic activity. The flower-like W18O49 prepared at 6 h possesses large specific surface area (150.1 m²g^-1), improved separation efficiency of electron-hole pairs and decreased electron-transfer resistance by the photoelectrochemical measurements. As a result, the flower-like W₁₈O₄₉ prepared at 6 h exhibits the highest photocatalytic activity for the degradation of Methyl orange aqueous solution. The radical trap experiments showed that the degradation of MO was driven mainly by the participation of h⁺ and •O²⁻ radicals.

The COVID-19 pandemic over the past years has shown a great need for rapid, low-cost and on-site detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In this paper, an aptamer-based colloidal gold nanoparticle lateral flow test strip was well developed to realize the visual detection of wild type SARS-CoV-2 spike protein (SP) and multiple variants. Under the optimal reaction conditions, a low detection limit of SARS-CoV-2 S protein of 0.68 nM was acquired, and the actual detection recovery was 83.3% to 108.8% for real world samples. This suggests a potential tool for the prompt detection of SARS-CoV-2 with good sensitivity and accuracy, and a new method for the development of alternative antibody test strips for the detection of other viral targets.

Mercury contamination in the Amazon is a significant public health concern arising from both natural sources and intensive mining activities in the region. This metal is used to separate Au from sediments, forming an amalgam that facilitates the extraction of precious metals. Accordingly, this study aimed to address the following question: What is the impact of mining on mercury contamination in the animal and human populations of the Amazon? The overall objective of this study was to conduct a systematic review of the existing literature to identify gaps in geographic coverage and assess the impact of Hg contamination on human and animal populations in the Amazon region. Our hypothesis was that higher mercury concentrations in tissue samples would be found closer to the mining areas. We employed the PECO and PRISMA-ScR protocols to collect articles published between 2017 and 2023, selected based on criteria representing projected points on a map within the biogeographic boundaries of the Amazon. Mercury concentrations increase with trophic levels, reaching high values of 3.7 µg/g in the muscles of predatory fish and 34.9 µg/g in human hair. The average level of mercury in humans exceeds 6 µg/g, surpassing tolerance levels. Although mining regions show high concentrations of Hg, the highest incidence was observed among populations with fish-based diets. Research on fish is crucial for assessing the risk to human health, given that fish are the main source of protein in the region.

Ethylene Oxide (EtO) is a colorless, flammable gas at room temperature, produced by the catalytic oxidation of ethylene. EtO is widely used by medical sterilization facilities to clean medical supplies and equipment. Recent epidemiological studies showed that EtO is a more potent carcinogen than previously documented, leading the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to update, in December 2016, the inhalation unit risk estimate for EtO. This resulted in the identification of EtO as a potential health concern in several areas across the US, including the state of Utah. The geography surrounding Salt Lake Valley creates a bowl; ideal for collecting air pollution emissions. The region often experiences inversion episodes which inhibit vertical mixing and cause an accumulation of air pollutants, leading to unhealthy pollution levels. Using the EPA's dispersion modeling software, AERMOD, this study estimated EtO concentrations through facility stack and fugitive emissions modeling results. These values were compared with those of canister-based concentrations from ambient air samples taken near a medical device sterilization facility in the Salt Lake Valley. Stainless steel, whole-air passivated canisters were used to collect 24-hour ambient concentration samples of EtO. Eight locations surrounding a Salt Lake Valley medical device sterilization facility and four background sites were chosen to measure the ambient concentrations. Accounting for potential atmospheric impacts on EtO, measurements were sampled in winter 2022 (January-March) and summer 2022 (July-September). The modeled EtO concentrations were adjusted to account for background values associated with the winter or summer data. Then the two methodologies were compared using a Wilcoxon Sign-ranked, paired test. The statistical analysis resulted in six of the eight sample locations surrounding the sterilization facility being significantly different when comparing canister-based measurements of ambient EtO to modeled estimates. Canister-based measurements taken at sites one, three, and four were statistically greater than the modeled estimates, while sites two, five, and seven were statistically less than the modeled estimates. Also, the summer background value calculated was almost 2.5 times greater than the winter. The results do not suggest whether one method is more or less conservative than the other. In conclusion, the five of the closest sites and site seven were statistically different when comparing measured and modeled ambient concentrations of EtO. The comparison results do not clearly indicate if a correction factor could be derived for future human exposure to cancer risk assessment modeling. However, it is reasonable that the closer to the sterilization facility, the more total EtO exposure will be realized.

This article attempts to formulate a mathematical model for a potential explanation regarding the unavoidable impact of a rigid body's peculiar shape on the seamless flow over it. The solid body completely immersed in a Newtonian fluid and respectively has a relative open circuit flow on it will typically experience various observable phenomena like flow separation, flow transition, down-wash, stalling at the higher angle of attack, stalling velocity and how cambered airfoil can typically generate lift at a zero incidence angle. This article respectively represents an understanding of the laminar flow over a rigid body's external surface with due respect to its distinctive shape and size. This working paper formulates a more realistic and simplified mathematical model for open circuit laminar flow over a body, based on the historical data of aerodynamics and theoretical mechanics. This is intended to properly estimate forces on the continuous surface of the body in a laminar flow, to properly explain, understand and predict mentioned phenomena. Most of all the mechanism of streamline formation and its deformation with due regards to flow, shape and size of the body in an open-circuit laminar are formulated mathematically to enhance better design theory which can reduce experimentation while designing a streamlined body.

A key feature of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is the hyperplastic proliferation exhibited by the vascular smooth muscle cells from patients (HPASMC). The growth inducers FOXM1 and PLK1 are highly upregulated in these cells. The mechanism by which these two proteins direct aberrant growth in these cells is not clear. Herein we identify cyclin dependent kinase 1 (CDK1) also termed cell division cycle protein 2 (CDC2), as having a primary role in promoting progress of the cell cycle leading to proliferation in HPASMC. HPASMC obtained from PAH patients and pulmonary arteries from Sugen/hypoxia rats were investigated for their expression of CDC2. Protein levels of CDC2 were much higher in PAH than in cells from normal donors. Knocking down FOXM1 or PLK1 protein expression with siRNA or pharmacological inhibitors lowered the cellular expression of CDC2 considerably. However, knockdown of CDC2 with siRNA or inhibiting its activity with RO-3306 did not reduce the protein expression of FOXM1 or PLK1. Expression of CDC2 and FOXM1 reached its maximum at G1/S, while PLK1 reached its maximum at G2/M phase of the cell cycle. The expression of other CDKs such as CDK2, CDK4, CDK6, CDK7 and CDK9 did not change in PAH HPASMC. Moreover, inhibition via Wee1 inhibitor adavosertib or siRNAs targeting Wee1, Myt1, CDC25A, CDC25B, or CDC25C led to dramatic decreases in CDC2 protein expression. Lastly, we found CDC2 expression at the RNA and protein level to be upregulated in pulmonary arteries during disease progression Sugen/hypoxia rats. In sum, our present results illustrate that the increased expression of FOXM1 and PLK1 in PAH leads directly to increased expression of CDC2 resulting in a potentiated growth hyperactivity of PASMC from patients with pulmonary hypertension. Our results further suggest that the regulation of CDC2, or associated regulatory proteins, will prove beneficial in the treatment of this disease.

GaN ultraviolet photodetector with metal-semiconductor-metal structure is achieved by growing on a periodic trapezoid column-shape patterned sapphire substrate using metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. Under 5-V reverse bias, the photodetector fabricated on such patterned sapphire substrate exhibits a lower dark current, a higher photocurrent, and a 476 % enhancement in the maximum responsivity as compare with those of the photodetector fabricated on conventional flat sapphire substrate. It is also found that the much larger UV-to-visible rejection ratio and the fact that responsivity drops in a smaller cut-off region are observed from photodetector fabricated by using a periodic trapezoid column-shape patterned sapphire substrate. These phenomena may all be attributed to the reduction of threading dislocation density and the improved quality of GaN film, as well as the internal reflection and/or scattering effect on the interface between GaN film and the periodic trapezoid column-shape pattern of the substrate.

Nanoparticles (NPs) are commonly used in healthcare and nano therapy, but their toxicity at high concentrations is well-known. Recent research has shown that NPs can also cause toxicity at low concentrations, disrupting various cellular functions and leading to altered mechanobiological behavior. While researchers have used different methods to investigate the effects of NPs on cells, including gene expression and cell adhesion assays, the use of mechanobiological tools in this context has been underutilized. This review emphasizes the importance of further exploring the mechanobiological effects of NPs, which could reveal valuable insights into the mechanisms behind NP toxicity. Such investigations could aid in developing new strategies to mitigate NP toxicity and improve their safety for biomedical applications. Moreover, understanding how NPs affect cell cytoskeletal functions through mechanobiology could have significant implications, including the development of innovative drug delivery systems and tissue engineering techniques. In summary, this review highlights the significance of incorporating mechanobiology into the study of NP toxicity and demonstrates the potential of this interdisciplinary field to advance our knowledge and practical use of NPs.

Crop domestication and breeding considerably increased productivity over centuries, but simultaneously involved unconscious selection against ‘selfish plant behavior’. Paradoxically, modern-day crop breeding largely enhances individual plant-fitness. As agriculture relies on community performance, embracing an “Agroecological Genetics and Genomics” viewpoint might maximize communal yield by matching crop genotypes to target environments.

Polymeric based nanoparticles are garnering significant interest for their potential in drug delivery. Specially, nanopolymers that have been functionalized with molecules, such as proteins or peptides, are a versatile vehicle for drug delivery. Curcumin (Cur) is one of the most commonly studied anticancer compounds and is widely acknowledged as having positive effects on human health. However, its insolubility and low bio-distribution greatly hinder the exploitation of its beneficial traits. In this study, our team created a nano delivery system which utilized a nanopolymer called PCL-PEG (poly(ε-caprolactone)-poly (ethylene glycol)). This system was functionalized with A6 peptide to enable targeted delivery of Cur. The system was designed with advantageous nanoparticles (NPs), including a stable zeta potential (–32.7), small size (54.3), uniform surface morphology, and high hydrophilicity (13.72°). In addition, targeted delivery systems exhibited high encapsulation efficacy (93 ± 0.89 %), and drug loading (16.7 ± 0.9 %), and were characterized by a slow and gradual release profile with a release of approximately 83.13 ± 0.12%. The MTT assay results showed that the formulation known as Cur-NPs-A6 caused a significant increase in cell death in MDA-MB-231 cancer cells (IC50 = 23.31 ± 0.85 µM). The designed delivery system did not cause any harm to the noncancerous MCF-10A cells (normal group). Furthermore, the results of both the RT-qPCR and invasion assays demonstrated that the designed system was able to effectively activate the apoptosis pathway and inhibit cell invasion. Our findings suggest that the use of the designed smart delivery system, which is functionalized with A6 peptide that has a high affinity for CD44 receptor - known to be upregulated in numerous malignant conditions, could be a highly efficient approach to treating cancer.

The features of a class of cubic curves with a shape factor are analyzed by means of the theory of envelope and topological mapping. The effects of the shape factor on the cubic curves are made clear. Necessary and sufficient conditions are derived for the curve to have one or two inflection points, a loop or a cusp, or to be locally or globally convex. Those conditions are completely characterized by the relative position of the edge vectors of the control polygon and the shape factor. The results are summarized in a shape diagram, which is useful when the cubic parametric curves are used for geometric modeling. Furthermore we discussed the influences of the shape factor on the shape diagram and the ability for adjusting the shape of the curve.

Research has been actively conducted on the materials used to commercialize finished products that use hydrogen energy. Hydrogen embrittlement that occurs when hydrogen atoms penetrate metals is the largest problem that must be addressed first regarding safety. Because liquefied hydrogen has an 800 times higher density than hydrogen gas, hydrogen has been stored and transported through liquefaction at -253℃ using helium gas as a refrigerant. However, even if extreme temperatures below zero are maintained, natural vaporization loss that reduces liquefied hydrogen by 3 to 5% of the tank storage capacity per day occurs. In addition, when liquefied hydrogen is converted into high-pressure hydrogen gas for use, it is difficult to completely prevent the loss of the gas, even if sealing technology is applied to prevent gas leaks in transport and storage tanks. Therefore, methods to minimize the loss of hydrogen, establishment of assessment criteria for the embrittlement caused by a small amount of hydrogen gas, and related research are essential. We researched the hydrogen embrittlement resistance of SUS316L rods according to the tensile speed by conducting water electrolysis testing at room temperature, at which hydrogen gas is used to present hydrogen embrittlement assessment criteria for primary ring-shaped forged products.

A nanocomposite rod-shaped structure with single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) embedded in polypyrrole (PPy) doped with nonafluorobutanesulfonic acid (C4F), SWCNT/C4F-PPy, was synthesized using emulsion polymerization. The hybrid ink was then directly coated on a polyimide film interdigitated with the Cu/Ni/Au electrodes via a screen-printing technique to create a flexible film sensor. The sensor film showed a response of 1.72% at 25 °C/atmospheric pressure when acetone gas of 5 ppm was injected, which corresponds to almost 95% compared to the Si wafer-based array interdigitated with the Au electrode. Additionally, C4F was used as a hydrophobic dopant of PPy to improve the stability of humidity and to produce a highly sensitive film-type gas sensor that provides stable detection even in humid conditions.

In some sour reservoirs and tertiary oil recovery blocks, SO₄^2- in solution can cause the corrosion and corrosion fatigue of the sucker rods. In this paper, the corrosion behaviors of super-strength sucker rod FG20 (16Mn2SiCrMoVTiA) steel in the well fluid are investigated by electrochemical measurements, and electron probe micro-analyzer (EPMA) analysis. The results show that FG20 steel has a favorable corrosion resistance in neural solutions. When the hydrogen ion content increases, the hydrolysis of SO₄^2- greatly accelerates the corrosion of FG20 steel. The energy dispersive X-ray(EDX)results demonstrate that the corrosion process of FG20 steel in neural well liquid is an oxygen concentration process, and the protective FeCO₃ and Fe₂O₃ on the surface of the samples can prevent further corrosion. With the increase of the acidity in the well liquid, the corrosion process converts into a sulphide concentration process, and the sloppy FeS and mackinawite film cannot provide effective protection for the specimens, resulting in the increase of corrosion rate.

Starvation of photoreceptors induced by reduced dysregulated ocular blood flow is proposed as a common pathway for the pathogenesis of retinitis pigmentosa (RP). The current study evaluated the safety and efficacy of ophthalmic nerve stimulation (ONS) as an ocular blood flow neuromodulator, combined with ascorbic acid (AA) as a potent anti-oxidant in the treatment of RP. Additionally, the initial characteristics of rod responders were identified. Forty participants with simple, non-syndromic RP presented with a characteristic triad of RP (the bone spicule pigmentation, attenuation of retinal blood vessels, and waxy optic disc pallor), were en-rolled in a prospective open-label single-armed interventional study. The severity of the disease was clinically graded into six stages. Patients with an established diagnosis of RP; aged ≥ 4 years, with best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) ≥ 20/400 were included. All participants were daily treated with bilateral ONS sessions combined with intravenous administration of AA for two weeks. The primary efficiency endpoint was 6 months’ changes in scotopic vision as measured by a 10-item, 100-point, Low Luminance Questionnaire-10 (LLQ-10). The secondary efficiency points included best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and contrast sensitivity. Rod responders were defined by ≥ 25 points increment of LLQ-10 score at 6 months after treatment. The results showed that ONS combined with AA treatment significantly improved low luminance vision, BCVA, and contrast sensitivity in patients with RP (p≤ 0.05). At 6-month visit, twenty-four (60%) patients were identified as rod responders and 16 (40%) patients were rod-non-responders. The mean change in LLQ-10 score was (46.35 ±16.81) in rod responders versus (4.9 ± 7.6) in non-responders (p < 0.0001). A clinically significant improvement of BCVA (≥0.2 logMAR) and contrast sensitivity (≥0.3 log unit) were demonstrated in 50% of the right eyes of rod responders. No serious adverse effects were reported and headache in 5 patients (12.5%) was the only en-countered side effect in this study. In conclusion, ocular neuromodulation is a safe therapeutic strategy for RP. It significantly improved night vision, BCVA, and contrast sensitivity. Determinants of rod responders include a shorter duration of night blindness, an earlier stage of the disease, and a relatively thicker ganglion cell layer at baseline. Additionally, two therapeutic scenarios were recognized; an early disease-modifying intervention that restores night vision and reverses the disease process and a late cone rescue intervention that improves/maintains central vision.

Proximal Junctional Kyphosis (PJK) as one of the most discussed problems after corrective surgery in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS), is still not fully clarified and seems to be multifactorial. Biome-chanical and few clinical studies have shown the influence of destruction of posterior ligaments by re-section of spinous processes and some parameters concerning rod contouring as risk factors for PJK. To verify these results 192 patients with AIS and corrective surgery via posterior approach between 2009 and 2017 were included. Radiographic parameters were analyzed preoperatively (preOP), postoperatively (postOP), and with a mean follow up (FU) of 27 months. The participants were divided into two groups (PJK group and non-PJK group). The incidence of PJK was 15.6%. Contrary to the results of biomechanical studies, we could not find any significant influence of the spinous process resection. However, the PJK group had significantly larger preOP T4-T12 kyphosis (31.1°±13.93° vs. 23.3°±14.93°, p=.016). Furthermore, the PJK group showed a significantly larger rod contour angle (RCA) (8.0°±4.44° vs. 5.9°±3.28°, p=.003) and mismatch of postOP proximal junctional angle (PJA) and RCA (3.5°±5.72° vs. 0.9°±4.86°, p=.010) compared to the non-PJK group. An increase of the mismatch of postOP PJA and RCA (OR=1.14, p=.008) and a high RCA are risk factors for PJK and need to be focused on by surgeons.

Membrane potential generation and maintenance are fundamental parts of membrane theory. However, since its inception, theories and assumptions have remained simple, whereas the amount of knowledge available has only grown. Unfortunately, this simplification and reductionism lead to its loss of validity on both microscopic and macroscopic scales. This article shows that assumptions made outside the context of factual reality lead to contradictions that cannot be compared with science. Membrane theory must be thoroughly revised, taking into account all forgotten and unanswered assumptions and questions to conform to facts and science to maintain credibility.

In crank presses, an important role is played by the presence of actuators with dwell, in which, with continuous movement of the input links, the output working link remains stationary at some part of the work. The use of a high-class structural group (fourth class) expands the functionality of the crank press, including it can ensure the link dwell of the working link on a given section of movement during the required period of time. As a result of the conducted research, four variants of actuators of the crank knee press were designed. Due to the rational choice of the positions of racks and crosshead guide, the best layout of the dimensions of the press mechanism has been achieved, changing the coordinates of the racks accordingly allows to design a mechanism with upper or lower dwells of the working links. When synthesizing (selecting) parameters such as: l_2 and h, it is possible to obtain a height of different duration. All this is shown on the basis of a numerical experiment based on kinematic analysis. In addition, the complex structure of the mechanism makes it possible to ensure the exact link dwell, which cannot be achieved due to the well-known knee presses based on the second-class mechanism [21].

Membracis mexicana (Hemiptera: Membracidae) is distributed in four biogeographic provinces of Mexico, field observations indicate that there are different forms of this species but so far it has not been recorded how the different forms are and how they are distributed. The aim of this study was to quantify the phenotypic and genetic variation of M. mexicana and determine if the config-uration of biogeographic provinces impacts the distribution of this variation. To do this we ana-lyzed 307 photographs using 19 landmarks and geometric morphometrics to quantify the pheno-typic variation in helmets. We sequenced five molecular markers for 205 individuals to describe the phylogeographic pattern. As a result, we identified three morphological configurations of the helmet of M. mexicana and two genetic lineages. The morphotypes are 1) large and wide helmet with small dorsal spots, 2) small and narrow helmet with large dorsal spots, and 3) small and narrow helmet with small spots. Genetic lineages are distributed at southeast and western of Mexico. The western lineage corresponds to two helmet morphotypes (1 and 2) and the southeast lineage to morphotype 3. We found that the larger helmets correspond the western lineage and are distributed in Transmexican Volcanic Belt and Pacific lowlands provinces whereas the smallest helmets correspond to the southeast lineage and are present in Veracruzan and Yucatan Peninsula provinces.

The UNUSUAL FLORAL ORGANS (UFO) gene is an essential regulatory factor of class B genes and plays a vital role in the process of inflorescence primordial and flower primordial development. We investigated the role of UFO genes in soybean to better understand the development of floral organs through gene cloning, expression analysis, and gene knockout. In situ hybridization demonstrated predominant expression of the GmUFO1 gene in the flower primordium. Phenotypic observation of GmUFO1 knockout mutant lines (Gmufo1) showed obvious alteration in floral organ number and shape, and mosaic organ formation. In contrast, GmUFO2 knockout mutant lines (Gmufo2) showed no obvious difference in floral organs. However, the GmUFO1 and GmUFO2 double knockout lines (Gmufo1ufo2) showed a more severe mutant phenotype than the Gmufo1 lines. Gene expression analysis also showed differences in the expression of major ABC function genes in the knockout lines. Based on the phenotypic and expression analysis, our results suggest the major role of GmUFO1 in the regulation of flower organ formation in soybean and that GmUFO2 does not have any direct effect, but it might have an interaction role with GmUFO1 in the regulation of flower development. In conclusion, the present study identified UFO genes in soybean and improved our understanding of floral development that could be useful for flower design in hybrid soybean breeding.

The common dandelion uses a bundle of drag-enhancing bristles (the pappus) that enables seed dispersal over formidable distances; however, the scaling laws of aerodynamic drag underpinning pappus-mediated flight remains unresolved. In this paper, we study the aerodynamic shape of dandelion, derive the scaling law of resistance, determine the Vogel exponent. In particular, we find that the total drag coefficient is proportional to the -2/3 power of the dandelion pappus Reynolds number, and obtain the terminal velocity of the dandelion seed under gravitation field.

We demonstrate a compact 4x4 wavelength selective switch with 50 % fewer electrical pads as compared with our previous generation. We report loss and crosstalk for different paths of the switch. We measure median loss of 5.32 dB and worst case crosstalk of -35 dB. The microring resonators tune by more than one free spectral range, which is an improvement over our previous generation of switches. This switch can support 8 channels at 400 GHz spacing. We conclude that it is not possible to drive both microring resonators with the same voltage and separate control is required because of fabrication variation of the current technology.

The shape memory alloys belong to the smart materials thanks to their thermomechanical proprieties' reply to thermal or to mechanical loading. These materials can change shape, stiffness, displacement, natural frequency, and many mechanical characteristics in response to stress or to heat such as conduction, convection or radiation. However, heating by convection or conduction are the most useful and studied methods unlike radiation. Therefore, this paper aims to study the radiation effect on the shape memory alloy behavior

In recent years, many researchers have begun to shift their focus onto the synthesis of nanomaterials as this field possesses immense potential that may provide incredible technological advances in the near future. The downside of conventional synthesis techniques, such as co-precipitation, sol-gel and hydrothermal methods, is that they necessitate the use of toxic chemicals, produce harmful by-products and require a considerable amount of energy; therefore, more sustainable fabrication routes are sought after. Biological molecules have been previously utilised as precursors to nanoparticle synthesis, thus eliminating the negative factors involved in traditional methods. In addition, transition-metal nanoparticles possess a wide scope of applications due to their multiple oxidation states and large surface areas; thereby allowing for a higher reactivity when compared to their bulk counterpart and rendering them an interesting research topic. However, this field is still relatively unknown and unpredictable. Therefore, this review aims to obtain a better understanding on the plant-mediated synthesis process of the major transition-metal and transition-metal oxide nanoparticles, and how different parameters affect their unique properties.

The manuscript presents the optical properties of directly deposited films of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) prepared by ultrasonic spray pyrolysis technology. Four samples were produced, with an AuNPs deposition time of 15 min, 30 min, 1h and 4h on the glass substrate. The morphological characterization of the deposited films showed that the size of the first deposited AuNPs is between 10 and 20 nm, while with a longer duration of the deposition process, larger clusters of AuNPs grow by coalescence and aggregation. The prepared layers were optically characterised with Ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy (UV-vis) and ellipsometry. The ellipsometric measurements showed an increasingly denser and thicker effective thickness of the AuNPs layers. The extinction spectra display a clear local surface plasmonic resonance (LSPR) signature (peak 520-540 nm), indicating the presence of isolated particles in all samples. For all AuNPs layers, the imaginary part of both ε// and ε⏊ is dominated by a central peak around 2.2 eV corresponding to the LSPR of isolated particles and a high-energy shoulder due to Au interband transitions. It is shown that, as the density of particles increases, the extinction cross section grows over the whole spectral range where measurements are taken. Thus response can be explained with an enhanced electromagnetic response among AuNPs, that can be connected to the increase of particle density but also by the formation of clusters and irregular structures.

Ensuring safe, high-quality food is an ongoing priority, yet consumers face heightened risk from foodborne pathogens due to extended supply chains and climate change in food industry. Nanomaterial-based assays are popular and have recently been developed to ensure food safety and high quality. This review discusses strategies for using nanomaterials in colorimetric biosensors. Localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) biosensors are commonly utilized for colorimetric biosensing. Several emerging technologies aimed at simple and rapid immunoassays for onsite applications have been introduced in the food industry. In the foreseeable future, field-friendly colorimetric biosensors could be adopted in food monitoring systems. The onsite and real-time detection of possible contaminants and biological substances in food and water is essential to ensure human health safety.

In recent years, the field of drug delivery has seen a significant shift towards the exploration and utilisation of nanoparticles (NPs) as versatile carriers for therapeutic agents. With its ability to provide exact control over NPs' characteristics, microfluidics has emerged as a potent platform for the efficient and controlled synthesis of NPs. Microfluidic devices designed for precise fluid ma-nipulation at the micro-scale offer a unique platform for tailoring NP properties, enabling en-hanced control over NP properties such as size, morphology and size distribution while ensuring high batch-to-batch reproducibility. Microfluidics can be used to produce liposomes, solid lipid nanoparticles, polymer-based NPs and lipid-polymer hybrid NPs, as well as a variety of inorganic NPs such as silica, metal, metal oxide, quantum dots and carbon-based NPs, offering precise control over composition and surface properties. Its unique precision in tailoring NP properties holds great promise for advancing NP-based drug delivery systems in both clinical and industrial set-tings. Although challenges with large-scale production still remain, microfluidics offers a trans-formative approach to NP synthesis. In this review, starting from the historical development of microfluidic systems, the materials used to create the systems, microfabrication methods and system components will be discussed in order to provide the reader with an overview of micro-fluidic systems. In the following, studies on the fabrication of nanoparticles such as lipid NPs, polymeric NPs and inorganic NPs in microfluidic devices are included.

The phototransduction cascade allows the photoreceptor to avoid saturation and retain the ability to detect light over a very wide range of intensities. The main second messenger of the cascade is cGMP and the main regulatory mechanism is calcium feedback, however some experimental data suggest that cAMP may also be involved in the regulation of the phototransduction cascade. For this to be the case, cAMP would have to change on a time scale of seconds. Currently, there are no data on the dynamics of changes in intracellular cAMP levels on this time scale, largely due to the specificity of the sensory modality of photoreceptors, where it is practically impossible to use conventional experimental approaches based on fluorescence methods. In the present work, we used the method of rapid cryofixation of retinal samples after light stimulation and subsequent isolation of outer segment preparations. Levels of cAMP were measured using highly sensitive metabolomics approaches. PKA activity was also measured in these samples by Western blot. We show that when illuminated with near-saturating but still moderate light, cAMP levels rise transiently within approximately the first second and then return to pre-stimulus levels. The increase in cAMP activates PKA, leading to phosphorylation of PKA-specific substrates in frog retinal outer segments.

By employing a variation of the polyamidation method using in situ silylated diamines and acid chlorides, it has been possible to obtain a rod-type polyamide: poly(p-phenylene terephthalamide) (PPTA, a polymer used in the high value-added material Kevlar), with a molecular weight much higher than that obtained with the classical, and industrial, polyamidation method. The optimization of the method has consisted in using, together with the silylating agent, a mixture of pyridine and a high pKa tertiary amine. The research has been complemented by a combination of nuclear magnetic resonance and molecular simulation studies, which have determined that the improvements in molecular weight derive mainly from the formation of silylamide groups in the growing polymer.

In this paper, we present the idea of Self Supervised learning on the Shape Completion and Classification of point clouds. Most 3D shape completion pipelines utilize autoencoders to extract features from point clouds used in downstream tasks such as Classification, Segmentation, Detection, and other related applications. Our idea is to add Contrastive Learning into Auto-Encoders to learn both global and local feature representations of point clouds. We use a combination of Triplet Loss and Chamfer distance to learn global and local feature representations. To evaluate the performance of embeddings for Classification, we utilize the PointNet classifier. We also extend the number of classes to evaluate our model from 4 to 10 to show the generalization ability of learned features. Based on our results, embedding generated from the Contrastive autoencoder enhances Shape Completion and Classification performance from 84.2% to 84.9% of point clouds achieving the state-of-the-art results with 10 classes.

Beetles are by far one of the most successful and diverse insect species. A part of this success is attributed to their elytra which provide various functions such as protection to their bodies from mechanical forces and the harmful environmental factors. In this study, Stag beetle (Lucanus cervus) elytra were first examined for their overall flexural properties and were observed to have a localized shape retaining snap-through mechanism which could play a crucial role in energy absorption, e.g. during battles and falls from heights. The snap-through mechanism was validated using theoretical calculations and also finite element simulations. Elytra were also characterized to examine their puncture and wear resistance. Our results show that elytra resisted puncture up to a force of 1.8±0.4 N and have puncture resistance compared to that of commercially available puncture resistant gloves. The measured values of modulus and hardness of elytra exocuticle were 10.3±0.8 GPa and 0.7±0.1 GPa. Using the hardness to modulus ratio as an indicator of wear resistance, the estimated value was observed to be in the range of wear resistant biological materials. Thus, our study demonstrates different mechanical properties of the stag beetle elytra which can be explored to design shape retaining bio-inspired composites with enhanced puncture and wear resistance.

Hox gene collinearity (HGC) is a multiscalar property of many animal phyla particularly important in embryogenesis. It relates entities and events occurring in Hox clusters inside the chromosome DNA and in embryonic tissues. These two entities differ in linear size by more than four orders of magnitude. HGC is observed as spatial collinearity (SC) where the Hox genes are located in the order (Hox1, Hox2, Hox3 …) along the 3’ to 5’ direction of DNA in the genome and a corresponding sequence of ontogenetic units (E1, E2, E3, …) located along the Anterior – Posterior axis of the embyo. Expression of Hox1 occurs in E1. Hox2 in E2, Hox3 in E3… Besides SC, a temporal collinearity (TC) has been also observed in many vertebrates. According to TC first is Hox1 expressed in E1, later is Hox2 expressed in E2, followed by Hox3 in E3,… Lately doubt has been raised whether TC really exists. A biophysical model (BM) was formulated and tested during the last twenty years. According to BM, physical forces are created which pull the Hox genes one after the other driving them to a transcription factory domain where they are transcribed. The existing experiments support this BM description. Symmetry is a physical-mathematical property of Matter that was explored in depth by Noether who formulated a ground-breaking theory that applies to all sizes of Matter. This theory applied to Biology can explain the origin of HGC as applied not only to animals developing along the A/P axis but also to animals with circular symmetry.

The article describes a classification solution for amber stones. The problem of classifying amber is known for a long time among jewelers and artisans of amber art. Existing solutions can classify amber pieces according to color, but a need to classify by shape and texture is not satisfied up to now. The proposed solution is capable of classifying the gemstones according to a shape. Amber can be considered as a specific object since the form is difficult to define unambiguously. Data for amber experiments was gathered from amber art craftsmen. In the proposed solution amber form can be classified into 10 different classes (7 classes chosen during the experiment).

The tribology behavior, tribofilm formation and structure evolution of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) filled with α-Al2O3 and SiO2 nanoparticles during sliding against steel counterparts under different loads were studied. It is found that both composites exhibit good wear resistance across the pressure of 1 MPa to 10 MPa, with the α-Al2O3/PTFE composite demonstrates better performance stability compared to the SiO2/PTFE composite. The high wear resistance is attributed to the formation of tribofilms at the friction interface. For the α-Al2O3/PTFE, an island-like tribofilm is formed with a thickness ranging from 100 to 200 nm, while the tribofilm of the SiO2/PTFE composite is thinner, measuring approximately 50 to 100 nm, and manifest a striped pattern. The chemical composition, both at the surface and subsurface levels, as well as the morphology of the tribofilms were studied using FTIR spectrometry, X-Ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and FIB-TEM. It is found that the difference in thickness and microstructure of the tribofilms for the two composites is mainly due to the tribochemistry of the nanoparticles. The α-Al2O3 nanoparticle plays a "cohesion" role during the formation of the tribofilm, which facilitates the formation of a thicker, more uniform, and stronger adhered tribofilm on the metallic counterpart, making it more robust against higher shear stress.

Plant viral nanoparticles (VNPs) are attractive to researchers in nanomedicine due to their safety, easy production, resistance, and straightforward functionalization. In this paper, we developed and successfully purified a VNP derived from turnip mosaic virus (TuMV), a well-known plant pathogen, that exhibits high affinity for immunoglobulins G (IgG) thanks to its functionalization with the Z domain from staphylococcal protein A via gene fusion. We selected cetuximab as a model IgG to prove the versatility of this novel TuMV VNP by developing a fluorescent nanoplatform to mark tumoral cells of the line Cal33, from tongue squamous cell carcinoma. We observed that the fluorescent VNP-cetuximab bound selectively to Cal33 and were internalized by confocal microscopy, revealing the potential of this nanotool in cancer research.

The copper deposition on the platinum and palladium nanoelectrode has been studied using cyclic voltammetry. The use of nanoelectrode platinum and palladium are defined in the study of heavy metals. The noble nanoelectrode of metal has a typical silicone processing structure. In comparison to the nanoelectrodes, the geometry of the electrode series is complex and balanced. Nanoelectrodes of platinum are found effective in detecting heavy metal. There was regular analysis of the use of the sensors. The identification constraints down to the ng /L level was accomplished by refined electrode geometry and the stripping procedures. The process was used for the study of water sample determination. Another heavy metal ion attack voltammetric reaction was studied. The SEM picture clearly observed and characterized the nanoparticle electrode by X-ray diffraction and cyclic voltammetry.

Dysfunction of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) is associated with several diseases characterized by retinal degeneration, such as diabetic retinopathy (DR). However, it has recently been proposed that outer retinal neurons also participate in the damage triggering. Therefore, we have evaluated possible crosstalk between RPE and photoreceptors in priming and maintaining oxi-dative damage of the RPE. For this purpose, we used ARPE-19 cells as a model of human RPE, grown in normal (NG, 5.6 mM) or high glucose (HG, 25 mM), and unoxidized (UOx) or oxidized (Ox) mammalian retinal rod outer segments (OS). ARPE-19 cells were efficient at phagocytizing rod OS in both NG and HG settings. However, in HG, ARPE-19 cells treated with Ox-rod OS accumulated MDA and lipofuscins and displayed altered LC3, GRP78, and Caspase 8 expression, compared to untreated and UOx-rod OS-treated cells. Data suggest that early oxidative damage may originate from the photoreceptors and subsequently extend to the RPE, providing a new perspective to the idea that retinal degeneration depends solely on a redox alteration of the RPE.

With its unique properties and potential applications, nanoparticle-based delivery platforms for vac-cines have gained significant attention in recent years. Nanoparticles have the advantages of enhancing immunogenicity, targeting delivery and improving stability, providing a new solution for drug and vaccine delivery. And in some clinical studies, a variety of nanoparticle delivery platforms have been gradually applied to a wide range of vaccine applications. Current research priorities are exploring various types of nanoparticles as vaccine delivery system to enhance vaccine stability and immunogen-icity. Lipid nanoparticles have shown promising potential in preclinical and clinical studies to efficiently deliver antigens to immune cells. Moreover, lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) and other nanoparticles as nu-cleic acids especially mRNA delivery system, have shown vast potential for vaccine development. In this review, we present various vaccine platforms with an emphasis on nanoparticles for mRNA nano-vaccine delivery vehicles. We introduce several novel nanoparticles delivery platforms for mRNA vac-cine such as lipid, polymer, protein-based nanoparticle and so on. In addition, we overview the an-ti-tumor immunity of nanovaccine against different tumors in cancer immunotherapy. Finally, we give an outlook future perspectives and remaining challenges for this promising technolo-gy-nanoparticle-based delivery platforms for vaccines.

Experimental evolution was utilized to produce 5 magnetite nanoparticle-resistant (FeNP1-5) populations of Escherichia coli. The control populations were not exposed to magnetite nanoparticles. The 24-hour growth of these replicates was evaluated in the presence of increasing concentrations magnetite NPs as well as other ionic metals (gallium III, iron II, iron III, silver I) and antibiotics (ampicillin, chloramphenicol, rifampicin, sulfanilamide, tetracycline). Scanning electron microscope was utilized to determine cell size and shape in response to magnetite nanoparticle selection. Whole genome sequencing was carried out to determine if any genomic changes that resulted from magnetite nanoparticle resistance. After 25 days of selection magnetite resistance was evident in the FeNP treatment. The FeNP populations also showed a highly significantly (p &lt; 0.0001) greater 24-growth as measured by optical density in metals (Fe (II), Fe (III), Ga (III), Ag and Cu II); as well as antibiotics (ampicillin, chloramphenicol, rifampicin, sulfanilamide, and tetracycline). The FeNP resistant populations also showed a significantly greater cell length compared to controls (p &lt; 0.001). Genomic analysis of FeNP identified both polymorphisms and hard selective sweeps in the RNA polymerase genes rpoA, rpoB, and rpoC. Collectively, our results show that E. coli can rapidly evolve resistance to magnetite nanoparticles and that this result is correlated resistances to other metals and antibiotics. There were also changes in cell morphology resulting from adaptation to magnetite NPs. Thus, the various applications of magnetite nanoparticles could result in unanticipated changes in resistance to both metal and antibiotics.

Vaccines based on mRNA-containing lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) pioneered by Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman at the University of Pennsylvania are a promising new vaccine platform used by two of the leading vaccine candidates against coronavirus disease in 2019 (COVID-19). However, there are many questions regarding their mechanism of action in humans that remain unanswered. Here we consider the immunological features of LNP components and off-target effects of the mRNA, both of which could increase the risk of side effects. We suggest ways to mitigate these potential risks by harnessing dendritic cell (DC) biology.

A paper impregnated with silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) has been prepared. For the preparation of the substrates, aqueous suspensions of pulp fines, a side product from the paper production, have been mixed with Ag nanoparticles (AgNP) suspensions. The nanoparticle synthesis thereof was carried out via laser ablation of pure Ag in water. After the sheet formation process, the leaching of the AgNPs was determined to be low while the sheets exhibited antimicrobial activity towards E. Coli.

Paraffin wax stores energy in the form of latent heat at a nearly constant temperature during melting and releases this energy during solidification. This effect is used in industrial energy storage. An unusual change in the shape of a melted droplet of paraffin wax placed on a relatively cold glass plate is studied. As the droplet solidifies, its upper surface becomes nearly flat and a dimple is formed in the center of this surface, making the droplet look like a fruit (pumpkins are more commonly shaped like this, but the authors prefer apples). A series of experiments, as well as physical and numerical modeling of the droplet's thermal state, taking into account the formation of a mushy zone between liquidus and solidus, made it possible to understand the role of gravity and gradual increase in viscosity and density of paraffin wax on changing the droplet shape and, in particular, to clarify the mechanism of formation of the dimple on its upper.

An airfoil is the geometric shape of a cross-section of a wing. When it is exposed to the flow of a fluid over its surface, it generates both lift and drag forces through a pressure distribution. Designing an efficient airfoil for aerodynamic applications is a complex challenge in the field of aerodynamic engineering, with the aim of achieving an optimal lift-to-drag ratio. The success of airfoil design hinges on the effective reduction of drag force under specific conditions, while simultaneously attaining the desired lift without encountering significant flow separation, such as boundary layer shedding. Furthermore, the design must adhere to lifting force limitations and meet structural requirements. In the field of airfoil design and optimization, literature review articles provide a valuable resource by offering an overview of the latest advancements in specific areas. These areas encompass a wide range of topics including the design and testing of adaptive geometry wings, such as morphing wing technology as well as the application of shape optimization techniques to enhance airfoil performance. Our goal is to provide researchers with an in-depth review of relevant articles published to date, examining the applied approaches utilized to tackle the complex problem of airfoil design and explore the methodology employed to address it, from a broad perspective on the topic.

Bioactive surface coatings have retained the attention of researchers and physicians due to their versatility and range of applications in orthopedics, particularly in infection prevention. Antibacterial metal nanoparticles (mNPs) are a promising therapeutic, with vast application opportunities on orthopedic implants. The current research aimed to construct a polyelectrolyte multilayer on a highly porous titanium implant using alternating thin film coatings of chitosan and alginate via the layer-by-layer (LbL) self-assembly technique, along with the incorporation of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) or titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2NPs), for antibacterial and osteoconductive activity. These mNPs were characterized for their physicochemical properties using quartz crystal microgravimetry with dissipation system, nanoparticle tracking analysis, scanning electron microscopy, and atomic force microscopy. Their cytotoxicity and osteogenic differentiation capabilities were assessed by AlamarBlue and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity assays, respectively. The antibiofilm efficacy of the mNPs tested against Staphylococcus aureus. The LbL polyelectrolyte coating was successfully applied to the porous titanium substrate. A dose-dependent relationship between nanoparticle concentration and ALP as well as antibacterial effects was observed. TiO2NP samples were also less cytotoxic than AgNP counterparts, although similarly antimicrobial. Together, these data serve as a proof-of-concept for a novel coating approach for orthopedic implants with antimicrobial and osteoconductive properties.

Liquid biopsy has been developed to diagnose and monitor cancer. Despite the recent advances in investigating early cancer detection and diagnosis strategies, there is still a lack of improvements in capturing (CTCs). To archive this, we developed an efficient CTC detection system by integrating gold nanoparticles and a microfluidic platform, which can achieve CTC capture within 120 min. The microdevice was functionalized by immobilizing antibodies specific to the target cells. The method was tested with spiked tumor cells in whole human blood with three pancreatic cancer cell lines and compared with purified cancer cells suspended in a phosphate buffer solution. Our results captured pancreatic cancer cells spiked in blood samples with efficiency (90±3.2)% and were used to isolate CTCs from patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer. This methodology will enable the production of functionalized, patterned surfaces that interact with tumor cells, enhancing the selective capture of CTCs from biological assays.

Parametric models have been widely used in pertinent literature for reconstructing, modifying and representing a wide range of airfoil and/or hydrofoil profile geometries. Design spaces corresponding to these models can be exploited for modeling and profile-shape optimization under various performance criteria. Accuracy requirements, along with the need for modeling local features, often lead to high-dimensional design spaces that hinder the process of shape optimization and design through analysis. In this work, we propose a shape-informed dimensional reduction approach that attempts to tackle this deficiency by producing low-dimensional latent design spaces that can be efficiently used in shape representation and optimization. Furthermore, geometric moments are introduced in an attempt to cost-effectively capture analysis-relevant information that is generally expensive to produce. Specifically, geometric integral properties, although intrinsic features of the shape, are quite commonly related to performance indicators employed in performance optimization and therefore provide a cost-effective physics-informed component in the description of the design in the latent space. To this end, we employ the generalized Karhunen-Loeve expansion to produce a shape- and physics-informed subspace retaining the highest possible geometric variance and robustness, that is, lack of invalid designs. At the same time, a series of shape discretizations, encoding the foil's shape profile, are examined with regards to their effect on the resulting latent space's quality and efficiency. Our results demonstrate a significant reduction in the dimensionality of the original design space while maintaining a high representational capacity and a large percentage of valid geometries that facilitate fast convergence to optimal solutions in performance-based optimization.

Shape of supracondylar fracture of the humeral of pediatric patients is analysed with Procrustes method. XR–images of fractures are considered both in anterio-posterior (AP) view (66 images) and in a lateral (L) view (24 images). Applying Procrustes method for both views mean images are constructed and compared. Variability of shapes is quantified with a shape principal component analysis. Non-parametric tests (permutational and bootstrap) do not indicate statistical difference between Procrustes mean shapes in anterio-posterior and lateral projections. It is shown, however, that AP and L shapes of humeral fractures differ in their variability quantified by shape principal components.

This paper reports a rational design of temperature-responsive nanofiber meshes with shape-memory effect. The meshes were fabricated by electrospinning a poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL)-based polyurethane with different contents of soft and hard segments. The effects of PCL diol/hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI)/1,4-butanediol (BD) molar ratio in terms of the contents of soft and hard segments on the shape-memory properties were investigated. Although the mechanical property improved with increasing hard segment ratio, optimal shape-memory properties were obtained with a PCL/HDI/BD molar ratio of 1:4:3. At a microscopic level, the original nanofibrous structure was easily deformed into a temporary shape, and recovered its original structure when the sample was reheated. A higher recovery rate (>89%) was achieved even when the mesh was deformed up to 400%. Finally, the nanofiber meshes were used to control the alignment of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs). The hMSCs aligned well along the fiber orientation. The proposed nanofibrous meshes with the shape-memory effect have the potential to serve as in vitro platforms for the investigation of cell functions as well as implantable scaffolds for wound-healing applications.

Recently concluded, large-scale cancer genomics studies involving multiregion sequencing of primary tumors and paired metastases appear to indicate that many or most cancer patients have one or more “clonal" mutations in their tumors. Clonal mutations are those that are present in all of a patient’s cancer cells. Achilles Therapeutics is currently the only company specifically targeting clonal mutations. However, they are doing so with tumor-derived T cells. To address the potential limitations of immunotherapy, I have devised another approach for exploiting clonal mutations, which I call “Oncolytic Vector Efficient Replication Contingent on Omnipresent Mutation Engagement” (OVERCOME). The ideal version of OVERCOME would likely employ a bioengineered facultative intracellular bacterium. The bacterium would initially be attenuated, but (transiently) reverse its attenuation upon clonal mutation detection.

Heating has been recently used as an alternative application to electrical stimulation to modulate excitability and to induce neuritogenesis and the expression of neuronal markers, but a long-term functional differentiation has not been described so far. Here we present the results obtained by a new approach for scalable thermal stimulation on the behavior of a model of dorsal root ganglion neurons, the F-11 cell line. Initially, we performed experiments of bulk stimulation in incubator for different time intervals and temperatures, and significant differences in neurite elongation and in electrophysiological properties were observed in cultures exposed at 41,5°C for 30 minutes. Thus, we exposed the cultures to the same temperature increase by irradiating, with a near infrared laser, a disc of Prussian Blue nanoparticles and poly-vinyl alcohol, that we stuck on the outer surface of the petri dish. In irradiated cells neurites were significantly longer and the electrophysiological properties (action potential firing frequency and spontaneous activity) were significantly increased compared to the control. These results suggest that a targeted thermal stimulation could be a promising technique to induce differentiation and support the future application of this method as a strategy to modify neuronal behavior in vivo.

In particle physics, spin is an intrinsic form of angular momentum carried by the elementary particles. It is believed that spin is a solely quantum-mechanical phenomenon, which does not have a counterpart in classical mechanics. We have derived the simplest equations of spin and magnetic moment of a charged elementary particle. These formulas enable us to understand the physical nature of the spin and the structure of elementary particles. It is shown that the electron and muon are in the shape of a thin ring with a circular cross section (torus), and the proton is in the form of a ring with a non-circular cross section (toroid). The connection between the photon’s spin of and the propagation of electromagnetic waves is considered.

Noctuidae is known to have high species diversity, although the genomic diversity of Noctuidae species have not been studied extensively. Investigation of transposable elements (TEs) in this family can improve our understanding on the genomic diversity of Noctuidae. In this study, we annotated and characterized genome-wide TEs in ten noctuid species belonging to seven genera. With multiple annotation pipelines, we constructed a consensus sequence library containing 1,038 –2,826 TE consensus. The genome content of TEs showed high variation in the ten Noctuidae genomes, ranging from 11.3% to 45.0%. The relatedness analysis indicated that the TE content, especially the content of LINEs and DNA transposons, are positively correlated with the genome size (r=0.86, p-value=0.001). We identified SINE/B2 as a lineage-specific subfamily in Trichoplusia ni, a species-specific expansion of LTR/Gypsy subfamily in Spodoptera exigua, and a recent expansion of SINE/5S subfamily in Busseola fusca. We further revealed that of the four TE classes, only LINEs showed phylogenetic signal with high confidence. We also examined how the expansion of TEs contributed to the evolution of noctuid genomes. Moreover, we identified a total of 56 horizontal transfer TE (HTT) events among the ten noctuid species and at least three HTT events between the nine Noctuidae species and 11 non-noctuid arthropods. One of HTT events caused by a Gypsy transposon might have caused the recent expansion of Gypsy subfamily in the S.exigua genome. By determining the TE content, dynamics, and HTT events in the Noctuidae genomes, our study emphasized that TE activities and HTT events had substantial impacts on the Noctuidae genome evolution.

The study of a flexible body immersed in a flowing medium is one of best way to find its aerodynamic shape. This Letter revisited the problem first studied by Alben, Shelley and Zhang (Nature 420, 479-481, 2002). The aerodynamic shape of the fibre is found by simpler approach and universal drag scaling laws of the flexible fibre in flowing medium are proposed by using dimensional analysis. The Alben scaling laws is being generalized and confirmed to be universal. Our study show that the Alben number is a measurement of maximum curvature of the fibre forced by dynamic pressure. A complete Maple code is provided for finding aerodynamic shape of the fibre in the flowing medium.

There is an accelerating requirement for ocean sensing where autonomous vehicles can play an essential role in assisting engineers, researchers, and scientists with environmental monitoring and collecting oceanographic data. This paper is performed to develop a rigid sail for the autonomous sailing drone. Our study aims to numerically analyze the aerodynamic characteristics of curvy twin sail and compare it with wing sail. Because racing regulations limit the sail shape, only the two-dimensional geometry was open for an optimization. Therefore, this study’s first objective was to identify the aerodynamic performance of such curvy twin sails. Simultaneously, a secondary objective was to estimate the effect of the sail’s spacing and shapes. A viscous Navier-Stokes flow solver is used for the numerical aerodynamic analysis. The 2D aerodynamic investigation is a preliminary evaluation. The results have shown that the curvy twin sail designs have improved lift, drag, and driving force coefficient compared to the wing sails. The spacing between the port and starboard sails of curvy twin sail is an important parameter. The spacing is 0.035L, 0.07L, and 0.14L shows the lift coefficient reduction because of dramatically stall effect, while flow separation is improved with spacing is 0.21L, 0.28L, and 0.35L. Significantly, the spacing 0.28L shows the maximum high pressure at the lower area and the small low pressure area at leading edges, so the highest lift is generated.

This study investigates the magnetization of Cobalt (Co) nanoparticles with two different crystal structures: a centered cubic (fcc) and an hexagonal close packed (hcp), under the magnetic field of the Earth. For that reason, the hysteresis loops of the two material samples are exported and compared with the corresponding value by experimental procedure in the laboratory under the Earth’s magnetization. For both samples, the nanoparticle number variation and the nearest neighbor distance effect, in the Co hysteresis loop are investigated, structural information that is useful for the sample preparation. For the simulations the Finite Element Method (FEM) was used, while experiments are conducted using a measurement set-up based on fluxgate magnetometers. From the simulation, it is proven that, for both samples, the nanoparticle number effect does not change the hysteresis loop. In contrast, when the distance between the nanoparticles increases, the magnetization obtains smaller value. This study aims to build a novel, simple and economical measurement arrangement enabling in situ magnetic measurements for ferromagnetic nano-material characterization. As the need for continuous knowledge of the condition and the phase of ferromagnetic nanoparticles that is crucial in many applications, like catalytic processes, this work aims to introduce an alternative approach that will add another dimension to conventional chemical reaction engineering this of the magnetic state of the material resolved in time and space and to contribute in the field of the monitoring and the early fault diagnosis of nanoparticle materials.

A tricalcium silicate nanoparticle-containing cement (NPC) was developed to overcome the disadvantages of existing mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA) dental materials. This study aimed at evaluating the effects of NPC on the osteogenic differentiation of human periodontal ligament fibroblasts (HPLFs) in vitro, and on the healing of furcal perforations created experimentally in rat molars in vivo, in comparison to MTA. The in vitro studies performed the following assays; pH measurement using a pH meter, the release of calcium ions using a calcium assay kit, cell attachment and morphology using SEM, cell proliferation using a coulter counter, marker expression using quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and cell mineralized deposit formation using Alizarin Red S (ARS) staining. In the in vivo studies, MTA and NPC were used to fill the rat molar perforations. Rat molars were processed at 7, 14 and 28 days for analysis of inflammatory processes using hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining, immunohistochemical staining of Runx2 and tartrate-resistant acid phosphate (TRAP) staining. The results demonstrate that the nanoparticle size distribution of NPC is critical for osteogenic potential at an earlier stage compared to MTA. Further studies are required to elucidate the mechanism of action of NPC in osteogenic differentiation.

The review analyzes the studies published mainly in the last 10-15 years, on the synthesis, structure, and sensor properties of semiconductor nanocomposites. Particular attention is paid to the interaction between nanoparticles of the sensitive layer and its effect on the structure, sensitivity, and selectivity of semiconductor sensor systems. Various mechanisms are considered of interaction between nanoparticles in metal oxide composites including incorporation of metal ions of one component into the structure of another, heterocontacts between different nanoparticles, and core-shell systems, as well as their influence on the characteristics of gas sensors. The experimental data and studies on the modeling of charge distribution in semiconductor nanoparticles, which determine the conductivity and sensor effect in one- and two-component systems, are also discussed. It is shown that the model which considers the interactions of nanoparticles best describes the experimental results. Some mechanisms of detection selectivity are considered in the conclusion.

The Heisenberg {\it ab initio} theory of magnetization is developed to apply for multilayer nanoparticles. The theory is based on distribution and partition functions modification with account the difference between exchange integral and closest neighbour numbers, that change the system of resulting transcendental equation for magnetization and its reversal to form either a paramagnetic type curve or hysteresis loops patterns. The equations are obtained within the Heisenberg partition function construction by Heitler diagonalization of energy matrix via irreducible representations of permutation symmetry group. A combination with the Gauss distribution gives the explicit expression for the partition function in the asymptotic limit] at large spin range in terms of transcendent function. The exchange integral, as a parameter of the equation of state (material equation) is evaluated from Curie temperature value by means of a formula derived within the presented theory. Methods of data processing from the simultaneous solution of the material equation system are proposed. The multi-valued function of hysteresis loop is found by combination of graphical approach and special procedure for elimination of mistaken peaks and prolapses of the patterns. The theory and computation methods are applied to spherical particles with separate surface layers consideration. The contribution of the surface layers, that are specified by number of closest neighbors and exchange integrals into overall magnetization, is studied for two-layer and three-layer models, that are discussed and compared graphically.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES. Rod-Cone Dystrophies (RCDs) are genetically determined retinal dystrophies, resulting in nyctalopia, visual field progressive reduction and visual acuity decay in the late stages. Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) is the most described type. All modes of transmission can be identified in RP, with the autosomal dominant form (ADRP) accounting for about 20% of cases. To date, over 30 genes have been related to ADRP, with RP1 gene estimated to be involved in 5-10% of cases. In a cohort of patients affected by RCD and sharing the same geographic origin from Palermo province in Western Sicily, we identified a prevalent causative variant in the RP1 gene (NM_006269.2; c.2219C>G, p.Ser740*). Objective of our study was to analyse clinical and molecular data of this population and define the entity and the meaning of this finding. MATERIALS AND METHODS. Eighty-four patients with a diagnosis of RCD or RP underwent deep phenotyping, pedigree definition and molecular characterization, mostly by Next Generation Sequencing (NGS). All potentially pathogenic variants have been confirmed through direct sequencing and familial segregation. Statistical evaluation of resulting data has been performed. RESULTS. In 28 probands we identified a pathogenic variant (p.Ser740*) in the RP1 gene that resulted significantly prevalent. Some patients, after careful interviewing, were found to share the same pedigree; we ultimately defined 20 family groups with no traceable consanguinity. CONCLUSIONS. The high prevalence of the p.Ser740* variant in RP patients from Western Sicily unveils the presence of a founder effect, which has implications for the molecular diagnosis of RCD in patients coming from this Italian region. This variant can be primarily searched in RP affected subjects displaying compatible mode of transmission and phenotype, with an advantage in terms of costs and analysis time. Moreover, given its high prevalence, RP1 p.Ser740* variant could represent a potential candidate for the development of therapeutic strategies based on gene editing or translational read-through therapy for suppression of nonsense variants.

Quantum logic is a well-structured theory, which has recently received some attention because of its fundamental relation to quantum computing. However, the complex foundation of quantum logic borrowing concepts from different branches of mathematics as well as its peculiar settings have made it a non-trivial task to device suitable applications. This article aims to propose for the first time an approach to use quantum logic in image processing at hand of a process for shape classification. We show how to make use of the principal component analysis to realize quantum logical propositions. In this way we are able to assign a concrete meaning to the rather abstract quantum logical concepts, and we are able to compute a probability measure from the principal components. For shape classification we consider encrypting given point clouds of different objects by making use of specific distance histograms. This enables to initiate the principal component analysis. At hand of experiments, we explore the possibility to distinguish between different geometrical objects and discuss the results in terms of quantum logical interpretation.

The objective of the proposal is to find the optimal geometric shape of a photovoltaic panel that maximizes the collection of solar radiation. The optimal shape will be determined based on direct radiation, as it is the most relevant radiation for the photovoltaic process. To achieve this goal, we will use computer simulations to evaluate the performance of different geometric shapes under different conditions of solar radiation. Specifically, we will simulate the behavior of a photovoltaic panel with different shapes and orientations, and we will compare their energy yield over a given period of time. The simulations will be based on a mathematical model that takes into account the incidence angle of solar radiation on the panel, as well as other factors such as the reflection and absorption of radiation, and the temperature of the panel. The simulations will be carried out for different locations, with different solar radiation conditions, and for different periods of time, in order to obtain a comprehensive assessment of the performance of the different shapes. The results of the simulations will be analyzed to identify the optimal shape of the photovoltaic panel. This shape will be compared with the performance of flat panels, both static and with tracking systems, in order to evaluate the potential improvement in energy yield.

The integration of robotics and image processing has led to the realization of robot autonomy in dynamic environments through the provision of visual feedback. This paper presents the application of parallel and open-link robots in palletizing and shape drawing tasks as enhanced by visual feedback from image processing. In determining the set of joint angles that could be used to reach the desired position and orientation of the end effector, the geometric approach in which the spatial geometry of the robotic arms was decomposed into several plane geometry problems was employed. Image processing techniques were used to enhance the performance of the robotic manipulators. In one approach, Color-based segmentation was used to distinguish between different objects in the workspace by using predefined color markers as references in the L*a*b color space. Classification of each pixel in the workspace image was then done by calculating the Euclidean distance between that pixel and a predefined color marker. A second approach employed Edge detection to identify the boundaries of objects within the workspace image by employing the Hough Transform mathematical model to detect the abrupt changes in the image brightness pixel-wise. The pixel locations from Hough were then sorted sequentially to outline the detected object. The integration of image processing with the robotic tasks was expected to improve the precise detection of the position of objects as well as the outline of geometric shapes. The incorporation of visual feedback allowed for dynamic robot manipulation in which prior knowledge of the workspace was not requisite. This led to improved pick and place as well as shape detection as applied in palletizing and shape drawing tasks actuated by the parallel and serial link manipulators, respectively.

3D Zernike moments based on 3D Zernike polynomials have been successfully applied to the field of voxelized 3D shape retrieval and have attracted more attention in biomedical image processing. As the order of 3D Zernike moments increases, both computational efficiency and numerical accuracy decrease. Due to this phenomenon, a more efficient and stable method for computing high-order 3D Zernike moments was proposed in this study. The proposed recursive formula for computing 3D Zernike radial polynomials combines the recursive calculation of spherical harmonics to develop a voxel-based algorithm for the calculation of 3D Zernike moments. The algorithm was applied to the 3D shape Michelangelo's David with a size of 150×150×150 voxels. As compared to the method without additional acceleration, the proposed method uses a group action of order sixteen orthogonal group and saving unnecessary iterations, the factor of speed-up is 56.783±3.999 when the order of Zernike moments is between 10 and 450. The proposed method also obtained an accurate reconstructed shape with the error rate (normalized mean square error) of 0.00 (4.17×10^-3) when the reconstruction was computed for all moments up to order 450.

We proposed in this work the introduction of a new vision of stochastic processes through geometry induced by dilation. The dilation matrices of a given process are obtained by a composition of rotation matrices built in with respect to partial correlation coefficients. Particularly interesting is the fact that the obtention of dilation matrices is regardless of the stationarity of the underlying process. When the process is stationary, only one dilation matrix is obtained and it corresponds therefore to Naimark dilation. When the process is nonstationary, a set of dilation matrices is obtained. They correspond to Kolmogorov decomposition. In this work, the nonstationary class of periodically correlated processes was of interest. The underlying periodicity of correlation coefficients is then transmitted to the set of dilation matrices. Because this set lives on the Lie group of rotation matrices, we can see them as points of a closed curve on the Lie group. Geometrical aspects can then be investigated through the shape of the obtained curves, and to give a complete insight into the space of curves, a metric and the derived geodesic equations are provided. The general results are adapted to the more specific case where the base manifold is the Lie group of rotation matrices, and because the metric in the space of curve naturally extends to the space of shapes, this enables a comparison between curves’ shapes and allows then the classification of processes’ measure.

Arsenic is naturally present in many geological formations around the world and is a major source of groundwater contamination. Bolivia is not exempt from this problem. Physical-chemical studies of water quality in deep and shallow wells have determined the presence of arsenic in some areas of the Bolivian Altiplano, valleys, and plains. In the Lake Poopó basin, water from shallow wells (up to 30 m) has arsenic concentrations that exceed the Bolivian drinking water standard and the WHO recommendation of 10 μg-As/l by up to 25 times. In peri-urban areas of Cochabamba, the arsenic content in groundwater is up to 113 μg-As/l. chronic exposure to arsenic is associated with neurological and dermatological problems and carcinogenic effects. To date, no measures have been taken to mitigate the arsenic problem for the rural population, who often rely on arsenic-contaminated water as their only source of drinking water. This contamination represents a serious threat to the health and economic well-being of the inhabitants and ecosystem in these areas. In this work, for arsenic removal, iron and iron oxide nanoparticles obtained from recycling metal chips by top-down and bottom-up technology have been used for arsenic adsorption in an experimental filter combined with other artisanal filtering materials in the form of layers. The results have shown that water contaminated with arsenic after passing through the filter reduces the concentration of total arsenic filtered from 83, 52 ppb to less than 5 ppb, less than the Bolivian standard 512 of 10 ppb for drinking water.

Nanostructured transition metal nitrides (TMNs) have been considered a promising substitute for precious metal catalysts toward ORR due to their multi-electron orbitals, metallic properties, and low cost. To design TMNs catalysts with high catalytic activity toward ORR, the intrinsic features of the influencing factor on the catalytic activity toward ORR of nanostructured TMNs need to be investigated. In the paper, titanium nitride (TiN), zirconium nitride (ZrN), and hafnium nitride (HfN) nanoparticles (NPs) are high-efficiency and one-step synthesized by the direct current arc plasma. TiN, ZrN, and HfN NPs with an oxidation layer are applied as the catalysts of hybrid sodium-air batteries (HSABs). The effect of composition and structure attributes of TMNs on ORR catalysis is defined as follows. (ⅰ) Composition effect. With the increase of the oxygen content, the catalytic ORR capability of TMNs decreases progressively due to the reduction of oxygen adsorption capacity; (ⅱ) Structure effect. The redistribution of the density of states (DOS) of ZrN indicates higher ORR activity than TiN and HfN. HSABs with ZrN exhibit an excellent cyclic stability up to 137 cycles (about 140 h), an outstanding rate performance, and a specific capacity of 2817 mAh·g−1 at 1.0 mA·cm−2.

In the recent days, lipid nanoparticles have been successfully emerged as one of the most advanced technology for highly efficient in vivo delivery of exogenous mRNA, especially for delivery of COVID-19 vaccines. For the vaccines to be successful or protective, they require highly efficient mRNA delivery systems. However, developing effective, translatable vaccines with better safety against some of the SARS‐CoV‐2 variants is still a challenge. Lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) are composed of four different types of lipids including ionizable lipids, helper or neutral lipids, cholesterol and polyethylene glycol (PEG) attached lipids. In this review, we present recent advancements and insights in designing the advanced LNPs and their composition and properties, with a subsequent discussion on the development of COVID-19 vaccines. In particular, as the ionizable lipids are most important drivers for complexing the mRNA and in vivo delivery, the role of ionizable lipids in mRNA vaccines discussed in detail. Furthermore, the use of LNPs as effective delivery vehicles for vaccination, genome editing, and protein replacement therapy were discussed. Finally, expert opinion of LNPs for mRNA vaccines were discussed which might address the future challenges in the development of mRNA vaccines employing highly efficient LNPs using novel set of ionizable lipids.

The process of water treatment by nanoparticles is one of the most considerable subjects in the cross-field of hydrodynamics, chemistry and mathematics. This paper is dedicated to the case of the flows that appear when squeezing and stretching a spongy with a mix of water with nanoparticles and contaminants. It is assumed that fluid is homogeneous at the starting moment, the parameters of the nanoparticles and contaminants are known, and there is a constant non-homogeneous magnetic field applied to the system. The flow starts moving when the walls of the channel shift to each other. Exact and numerical solutions of the system of ordinary differential equations are used to receive the results. The article gives an answer to the question about stability of the flow and proposes the technique to evaluate the essential characteristics of the system to achieve the treatment process efficiency. The main result is that the considered system shows excellent treatment properties during some part of squeezing stage. This effect does not appear without magnetic field.

In order to improve the strength of PVA/xylan composite films and endow them with ultraviolet (UV) shielding ability, TiO2-KH550 nanoparticle was synthesized and added into the PVA/xylan matrix. The TiO2-KH550 nanoparticle dispersed well in the 0.04% sodium hexametaphosphate (SHMP) solution under ultrasonic and stirring treatments. Investigations on the properties of films showed that TiO2-KH550 had the positive impact on improving the strength, moisture and oxygen barrier properties of the composite films. The maximum tensile strength (27.3 MPa), the minimum water vapor permeability (2.75×10-11 g•m-1•s-1•Pa-1) and oxygen permeability (4.013 cm3•m-2•24h-1•0.1MPa-1) were obtained under the addition of 1.5% TiO2-KH550. The tensile strength of TiO2-KH550 reinforced composite film was increased by 70% than that of the pure PVA/xylan composite film, and the water vapor and oxygen permeability were decreased by 31% and 41%, respectively. Moreover, the UV transmittance of film at the wavelength of 400 nm was almost zero when adding 1.5~2.5% of TiO2-KH550, which indicated the PVA/xylan composite films were endowed with excellent UV light shielding ability.

Despite their anti-icing ability, hydrophobic coatings have the disadvantages of easy falling off and poor wear resistance, resulting in insufficient durability of ice/snow melting. To improve the surface stability and durability of superhydrophobic coatings, nanoparticle/epoxy coatings were prepared with three types of nanoparticles, two types of dispersion methods, three types of application methods and two types of introduction methods of epoxy resin. Water contact angles, ice adhesion force and icing rate of asphalt concrete coated with hydrophobic coatings were tested. The molecular structures of coatings were analyzed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The surface morphology of hydrophobic coatings was observed using Scanning electron microscopy. Results indicated that nano-ZnO, TiO2 and SiO2 particles can be modified into hydrophobicity by stearic acid. The hydrophobic coating could improve the hydrophobicity of concrete, reduce the adhesion strength of ice and asphalt concrete and delay the beginning icing time. Moreover, The dosages of stearic acid, nanoparticle and epoxy resin need to be in a certain range to ensure the best hydrophobicity and durability of coatings.

In many image processing and computer vision applications, the main aim is to describe image contents. So, different visual properties such as color, texture and shape are extracted to make aim. In this respect, texture information play important role in image description and visual pattern classification. Texture is referred to a specific local distribution of intensities that is repeated throughout the image. Since now different operations or descriptors have been proposed to analysis texture characteristics. In the multi object images specific texture operators usually doesn’t provide accurate results. So, in many cases, combination of texture operators are used to achieve more discriminant features. In this paper, some combination methods are survived to analysis effect of combinational texture features in image content description. Also, in the result part, different related methods are compared in terms of accuracy and computational complexity.

The aim of the study was to assess the relationship between the shape of the anterior-posterior curvature of the spine and body composition in school-children. The study included 257 children, aged 11-12. Correct spinal curvature was established in 106 (41.08%) subjects. Other types included: decreased kyphosis and correct lordosis - 40 participants (15.50%), correct kyphosis and decreased lordosis - 24 individuals (9.30%), increased kyphosis and correct lordosis - 17 subjects (6.59%), correct kyphosis and increased lordosis - 22 children (8.53%), decreased kyphosis and decreased lordosis - 32 people (12.40%), decreased kyphosis and increased lordosis - 4 of the examined subjects (1.55%), increased kyphosis and lordosis - 13 people (5.04%). In addition, 134 (51.94%) demonstrated scoliotic posture and 8 (3.10%) scoliosis. There were significant relationships between the shape of the anterior-posterior curvatures and body composition in school-children. Those with a strong body build (predominance of mesomorphs) were generally characterised by the correct formation of these curvatures. In contrast, lean people (with the predominance of ectomorphic factors) were more likely to experience abnormalities. No correlations with body composition were observed in the group with scoliotic posture or scoliosis.

Equiatomic CuZr alloy undergoes a martensitic transformation from the B2 parent phase to martensitic phases (P21/m and Cm) below 150 °C. We clarified the effect of the thermal cycling on the morphology and crystallography of martensite in equiatomic CuZr alloy using a transmission electron microscopy. The 10th cycled specimens consisted of different multiple structures at the maximum temperature of DSC measurement: 400 °C and 500°C, respectively. At the maximum temperature 400 °C of DSC measurement, it is composed of the fine plate-like variants, and a lamellar eutectoid structure consisting of Cu10Zr7 and CuZr2 phases on the martensitic variant. Concerning the maximum temperature 500 °C of DSC measurement, it is observed the martensitic structure and the lamellar structure in which the martensitic phase was completely eutectoid transformed. The formation of this lamellar eutectoid structure due to thermal cycling leads to the shift of forward and reverse transformation peaks to low and high temperature side. In addition, new forward and reverse transformation peaks indicating a new transformation appeared by thermal cycling, and the peaks remained around -20 °C. This new martensitic transformation behavior is also discussed.

Effect of abrasive shape on the three-body abrasion behaviors of monocrystalline silicon was investigated by Molecular dynamics modelling. The axial ratio of abrasive particle was varied from 1.00, i.e., a complete sphere, to 0.40 to mimic abrasive shape. The particle’s movement turns toward sliding from rolling when the axial ratio becomes less than a critical value 0.46. In the abrasion process, the friction force and normal force showed an approximately sinusoid-like fluctuation for the rolling ellipsoidal particles, while the front cutting of particle caused that friction force increased and became larger than normal force for sliding particles. The phase transformation process was tracked under different particle’ movement patterns. The Si-II and Bct5 phase producing in loading process can partially transform to Si-III/Si-XII phase and backtrack to original crystal silicon under pressure release, which also occurred in the abrasion process. The secondary phase transformation showed difference for particles’ rolling and sliding movements after three-body abrasion. The rolling of particle induced the periodical and inhomogeneous deformation of substrates, while the sliding benefited producing high-quality surface in CMP process. This study aiming to construct more precise model to understand the wear mechanism benefits evaluating the MEMS wear and CMP process of crystal materials.

The present study produced and characterised chitosan, chitosan nanoparticle, chitosan n – benzaldehyde Schiff base, chitosan nanoparticle n – benzaldehyde Schiff base, Fe(III) chitosan n – benzaldehyde Schiff base and Fe(III) chitosan nanoparticle n – benzaldehyde Schiff base for biomedical application as antimicrobial agents. The materials were characterized with Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy, X-ray Diffractogram and biologically evaluated using disc diffusion method with three gram-positive bacteria. The FTIR absorption peaks were shifted to a lower wave number than the micro materials from which it was modified. These clearly indicate the linkage between phosphate, ammonium ion, Schiff base and Fe(III) metal. The diffracted peaks of Fe(III) chitosan nanoparticle n – benzaldehyde Schiff base were new peaks at 2θ = 24o and 42o when compare to the peak of Fe(III) chitosan n – benzaldehyde Schiff base of 2θ = 22.5o and 34o. The difference in peak shift were attributed to the ionic bonding of the complexation of Fe(III) with the blending of benzaldehyde to chitosan – Tpp backbone structure. Fe(III) chitosan nanoparticle Schiff base has more antimicrobial activity against same bacteria and fungi tested than Fe(III) chitosan n – benzaldehyde Schiff base, chitosan n – benzaldehyde Schiff base and chitosan. The antimicrobial activities of the synthesised six materials shown that the materials have high activities than the above – mentioned standard drugs.

Nanoparticle-mediated radiation therapy (NPRT) is an emerging modality for radiosensitization of highly resistant cancers such as brain cancers. This is due to the ability of specific nanoparticles (NPs) to increase physical dose deposition and subsequent direct damage to cells and DNA within their local vicinity, through enhanced generation of reactive oxygen species, ROS. Here, we report the successful use of PEGylated (biocompatible) core-shell quantum dots (QDs) and carbon quantum dots (CQDs) to simultaneously enhance and assess ROS generation while radiosensitizing highly radioresistant brain cancer cell lines: T98G and U87 Glioblastoma cells. Relative peak fluorescence intensity ratio calculations and average intensity comparisons show highly significant (***p&lt;0.001) enhancement of ROS generation, for 5 Gy and 20 Gy irradiation, applied using a Faxitron Cell Irradiator. By quantifying post-radiotherapy cell attachment, proliferation, migration, cell survival and cell death using electric cell-substrate impedance sensing and clonogenic assays, we demonstrate potentially improved in vitro radiotherapeutic outcomes for brain cancer cells radiosensitized using PEGylated CdSe/ZnS QDs and CQDs.

In this work, we designed and fabricated a multifunctional nanocomposite system which consists of chitosan, raspberry-like silver nanoparticles and graphene oxide. Room temperature atmospheric pressure microplasma (RT-APM) process provides a rapid, facile, and environment-friendly method for introducing silver nanoparticles into the composite system. By loading different drugs onto the polymer matrix and/or graphene oxide, our composite can achieve a pH controlled dual drug release with release profile specific to the drugs used. In addition to its strong antibacterial ability against E. coli and S. aureus, our composite also demonstrates excellent photothermal conversion effect under irradiation of near infrared lasers. These unique functionalities point to it’s the potential of nanocomposite system in multiple applications areas such as multimodal therapeutics in healthcare, water treatment, and anti-microbial, etc.

Tablets are the most used solid dosage form in medical treatments. The realistic modeling 1 of such specific object shapes in computer simulations has been demonstrated already by the author 2 for bi-convex round tablets but needs to be extended for a wider range of tablet shapes. Moreover, 3 the number of tablets must be large enough to simulate industrial drum coaters, which are typically 4 used for film coating processes. Whilst this long lasting process where tablets flow continuously, 5 tablets are loaded by frequent changes of individual contacts. Using a tailored simulation tool named 6 pharmAssist , written for GPUs (modern massively parallel processors in graphics cards and HPC 7 accelerators), we implemented the widely used oblong tablet shape. We are able to simulate flows 8 involving industrial scale number of such tablets. Data mining allows for statistical analyzis of 9 pair-wise contacts of different geometric features. Our simulation results serves as an observation 10 space, which cannot be addressed by experimental analyzis and will help to avoid degradation of 11 tablets like chipping or other defect phenomena. This paper reflects current development work in 12 order to extend the DEM with a new shape class, which comprises the modelling of compacted or 13 extruded objects, which have a smooth exterior, a flat band and sharp contour edges

Efficient natural convection-cooled heat sinks are vital to the future of electronics cooling due to their low energy demand in the absence of an external pumping agency in comparison to other cooling methods. The present study is aimed to identify the most effective fin design for enhancing heat transfer in natural convection applications. Initially, a baseline case with rectangular fins was considered in the present study and it was optimized with respect to fin spacing. This optimized baseline case is then validated against the semi-empirical correlation proposed by Elen-baas (1942) [2]. Upon good agreement, the validated model is used for comparative analysis of different heat sink configurations with rectangular, trapezoidal, curved, and angled fins. The optimised fin spacing obtained for the baseline case is also used for the other heat sink configura-tions and then the fin designs are further optimized for better performance. However, for the an-gled fin case, the optimized configuration proposed by Zhang et al. (2020) [3] is adopted in the present study. This study is carried out with Ansys Fluent for a Rayleigh number of 2.4 × 10^6. The proposed novel curved fin design with a shroud defined as Case C4 showed a 4.1% decrease in the system’s thermal resistance with an increase in the heat transfer coefficient of 4.4% when compared to the optimized baseline fin case. The obtained results are further non-dimensionalized with proposed scaling in terms of the baseline case for the two novel heat sink cases (trapezoidal, curved).

Shape-memory hydrogels (SMH) are as multifunctional, actively-moving polymers of interest in biomedicine. In loosely crosslinked polymer networks gelatin chains may form triple helices, which can act as temporary netpoints in SMH, depending on the presence of salts. Here, we show programming and initiation of the shape-memory effect of such networks based on a thermomechanical process compatible with the physiological environment. The SMH were synthesized by reaction of glycidylmethacrylated gelatin with OEG α,ω-dithiols of varying crosslinker length and amount. Triple helicalization of gelatin chains is shown directly by wide-angle X-ray scattering and indirectly via the mechanical behavior at different temperatures. The ability to form triple helices increased with the molar mass of the crosslinker. Hydrogels had storage moduli of 0.27-23 kPa and Young’s moduli of 215-360 kPa at 4 °C. The hydrogels were hydrolytically degradable, with full degradation to water soluble products within one week at 37 °C and pH = 7.4. A thermally-induced shape-memory effect is demonstrated in bending as well as in compression tests, in which shape recovery with excellent shape recovery rates Rr close to 100% were observed. In the future, the material presented here could be applied e.g. as self-anchoring devices mechanically resembling the extracellular matrix.

Based on a measuring system to determine the statistical heterogeneity of individual polygons we propose a method to use polygonal shape patterns as a source of data in order to determine the Shannon entropy of biological organizations. In this research, the term entropy is a particular amount of data related with levels of spatial heterogeneity in a series of different geometrical meshes and sets of random polygons. We propose that this notion of entropy is important to measure levels of information in units of bits, measuring quantities of heterogeneity in geometrical systems. In fact, one important result is that binarization of heterogeneity frequencies yields a supported metric to determine geometrical information from complex configurations. Thirty-five geometric aggregates are tested; biological and non-biological, in order to obtain experimental results of their spatial heterogeneity which is verified with the Shannon entropy parameter defining low particular levels of geometrical information in biological samples. Geometrical aggregates (meshes) include a spectrum of organizations ranging from cell meshes to ecological patterns. Experimental results show that a particular range (0.08 and 0.27) of information is intrinsically associated with low rates of heterogeneity. We conclude it as an intrinsic feature of geometrical organizations in multi-scaling biological systems.

The human gut microbiome includes beneficial, commensal and pathogenic bacteria that possess antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genes and exchange these predominantly through conjugative plasmids. Escherichia coli is a significant component of the gastrointestinal microbiome and is typically non-pathogenic in this niche. In contrast, extra-intestinal pathogenic E. coli (ExPEC) including ST131 may occupy other environments like the urinary tract or bloodstream where they express genes enabling AMR and host adhesion like type 1 fimbriae. The extent to which non-pathogenic gut E. coli and infectious ST131 share AMR genes and key associated plasmids remains understudied at a genomic level. Here, we examined AMR gene sharing between gut E. coli and ST131 to discover an extensive shared preterm infant resistome. In addition, individual ST131 show extensive AMR gene diversity highlighting that analyses restricted to the core genome may be limiting and could miss AMR gene transfer patterns. We show that pEK499-like segments are ancestral to most ST131 Clade C isolates, contrasting with a minority with substantial pEK204-like regions encoding a type IV fimbriae operon. Moreover, ST131 possess extensive diversity at genes encoding type 1, type IV, P and F17-like fimbriae, particular within subclade C2. The type, structure and composition of AMR genes, plasmids and fimbriae varies widely in ST131 and this may mediate pathogenicity and infection outcomes.

Background: The study was conducted to investigate if the mRNA vaccine technology could be adapted for the ectothermic vertebrate Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar). The lipid nanoparticle (LNP) technology has been developed and optimized for mRNA vaccines in mammals, stabilizing mRNA and facilitating delivery into cells. However, its utility at the temperature and specific biological environment in ectotherms remains unclear. In addition, it is unknown if modified mRNA containing non-canonical nucleotides can correctly translate in salmonid cells. Methods: We used an mRNA transcript coding for enhanced green fluorescence protein, flanked by the untranslated regions of the hemagglutinin-esterase gene of infectious salmon anemia virus, and a 120-base-long poly(A) tail. The mRNA was generated by in vitro transcription where uridine residues were replaced with N1-methyl-pseudouridines, and then encapsulated in LNPs. Results: When transfected into the salmonid cell line CHH-1, the mRNA-LNP construct induced expression of EGFP. Furthermore, when mRNA-LNPs were injected intramuscularly into salmon, in vivo protein expression was demonstrated by immunohistochemistry. EGFP was observed in cells infiltrating the space between the muscle cells in a focal inflammatory response. Conclusion: The results indicate that the N1-methyl-pseudouridine modified mRNA encapsulated in LNPs can be used to express antigens of interest in salmonid fish.

Core-shell structured magnetic nanoparticles combine hard and a soft phases to improve energy efficiency. The mutual interaction of the two phases can lead to the exchange spring effect leading to higher magnetic energy. In this regard, synthesis of Nd2Fe14B based core-shell structured powders have proven to be elusive due to the relatively reactive nature of this phase. In this study, a process has been established for successfully coating the surface of Nd2Fe14B powders with FeCo layer using galvanic displacement method. Initially, a binary phase magnetic powder was synthesized containing Nd2Fe14B and Nd2Fe17 phase. Subsequently, the powders were coated using a Co precursor at 303 K. During coating the metastable Nd2Fe17 phase was dissolved and the Fe ions were released into the solution. Subsequently, the Fe ions deposited together with the Co ions on the surface of Nd2Fe14B powder to form a FeCo shell. The deposited layer thickness and composition was confirmed using TEM analysis.

Titanium dioxide nanoparticles have risen concerns about their possible toxicity and the European Food Safety Authority recently banned the use of TiO2 nano-additive in food products. Following the intent of relating nanomaterials atomic structure with their toxicity without having to conduct large scale experiments on living organisms, we investigate the aggregation of titanium dioxide nanoparticles using a multi-scale technique: starting from ab initio Density Functional Theory to get an accurate determination of the energetics and electronic structure, we switch to classical Molecular Dynamics simulations to calculate the Potential of Mean Force for the connection of two identical nanoparticles in water; the fitting of the latter by a set of mathematical equations is the key for the upscale. Lastly, we perform Brownian Dynamics simulations where each nanoparticle is a spherical bead. This coarsening strategy allows studying the aggregation of a few thousand nanoparticles. Applying this novel procedure, we find three new molecular descriptors, namely, the aggregation free energy and two numerical parameters used to correct the observed deviation from the aggregation kinetic described by the Smoluchowski theory. Molecular descriptors can be fed into QSAR models to predict the toxicity of a material knowing its physicochemical properties, without having to conduct large scale experiments on living organisms.

Nanoparticle (NP) transport is increasingly relevant to subsurface engineering applications such as aquifer characterization, fracture electromagnetic imaging and environmental remediation. An efficient field-scale simulation framework is critical for predicting NP performance and designing subsurface applications. In this work, for the first time, a streamline-based model is presented to simulate NP transport in field-scale subsurface systems. It considers a series of behaviors exhibited by engineered nanoparticles (NPs), including time-triggered encapsulation, retention, formation damage effects and variable nanofluid viscosity. The key methods employed by the algorithm are streamline-based simulation (SLS) and an operator-splitting (OS) technique for modeling NP transport. SLS has proven to be efficient for solving transport in large and heterogeneous systems, where the pressure and velocity fields are firstly solved on underlying grids using finite-difference (FD) methods. After tracing streamlines, one-dimensional (1D) NP transport is solved independently along each streamline. The adoption of OS enhances flexibility for the entire solution procedure by allowing different numerical schemes to solve different governing equations efficiently and accurately. For the NP transport model, an explicit FD scheme is used to solve the advection term, an implicit FD scheme is used for the diffusion term and an adaptive numerical integration is used to solve the retention terms. The model is implemented in an in-house streamline-based code, which is verified against analytical solutions, a commercial FD reservoir simulator (ECLIPSE) and an academic FD colloid transport code (MNMs). For a 1D homogeneous case, the effluent breakthrough curves (BTC) produced by the in-house simulator are in good agreement with the analytical solution and MNMs, respectively. For a two-dimensional (2D) heterogeneous case, the BTC and concentration pattern of the in-house simulator all match well with the solution produced by commercial simulator. Simulations on a synthetic three-dimensional (3D) nanocapsule application engineering design case, are performed to investigate the effect of fluid and NP properties on the displacement pattern of an existing subsurface fluid.

The detection of dopamine in a highly sensitive and selective manner is crucial for the early diagnosis of a number of neurological diseases/disorders. Here, a report on a new platform for the electrochemical detection of dopamine with a considerable accuracy that comprises a 3D porous graphene oxide (pGO)/gold nanoparticle (GNP)/pGO composite-modified indium tin oxide (ITO) is presented. The pGO was first synthesized and purified by ultrasonication and centrifugation, and it was then further functionalized on the surface of a GNP-immobilized ITO electrode. Remarkably, owing to the synergistic effects of the pGO and GNPs, the 3D pGO-GNP-pGO-modified ITO electrode showed a superior dopamine-detection performance compared with the other pGO- or GNP-modified ITO electrodes. The linear range of the newly developed sensing platform is from 0.1 μM to 30 μM with a limit of detection (LOD) of 1.28 μM, which is more precise than the other previously reported GO-functionalized electrodes. Moreover, the 3D pGO-GNP-pGO-modified ITO electrodes maintained their detection capability even in the presence of several interfering molecules (e.g., ascorbic acid, glucose). The proposed platform of the 3D pGO-GNP-pGO-modified ITO electrode could therefore serve as a competent candidate for the development of a dopamine-sensing platform that is potentially applicable for the early diagnosis of various neurological diseases/disorders.

The existing segmentation-based scene text detection methods mostly need complicated post-processing, and the post-processing operation is separated from the training process, which greatly reduces the detection performance. The previous method, DBNet successfully simplified post-processing and integrated the post-processing into a segmentation network. However, the training process of the model took a long time for 1200 epochs and the sensitivity to texts of various scales was lacking, leading to some text instances being missed. Considering the above two problems, we design the text detection Network with Binarization of Hyperbolic Tangent(HTBNet). First of all, we propose Binarization of Hyperbolic Tangent (HTB), optimized along with which, the segmentation network can expedite the initial convergent speed by reducing the amount of epochs from 1200 to 600. Because features of different channels in the same scale feature map focus on the information of different regions in the image, to better represent the important features of all objects in the image, we devise the Multi-Scale Channel Attention(MSCA). Meanwhile considering that multi-scale objects in the image cannot be simultaneously detected, we propose a novel module named Fused Module with Channel and Spatial(FMCS), which can fuse the multi-scale feature maps from channel and spatial dimension. Finally we adopt cross entropy as the loss function, which measures the difference between predicted values and ground truths. The experimental results show that HTBNet compared with lightweight models has achieved competitive performance and speed on Total-Text(F-measure:86.0%, FPS:30) and MSRA-TD500 (F-measure:87.5%, FPS:30).

Shape-shifting polymers usually require not only reversible stimuli-responsive ability, but also strong mechanical properties. A novel shape-shifting photochromic hydrogel system was designed and fabricated through embedding hydrophobic spiropyran (SP) into double polymeric network (DN) by micellar copolymerization. Here, sodium alginate (Alg) and poly acrylate-co-methyl acrylate-co-spiropyran (P(SA-co-MA-co-SPMA)) were employed as the first network and the second network respectively to realize high mechanical strength. After soaked in the CaCl2 solution, the carboxyl groups in the system undergo metal complexation with Ca2+ to enhance the hydrogel. Moreover, after the hydrogel is exposed to UV-light, the closed isomer of spiropyran in the hydrogel network can be converted into an open zwitterionic isomer MC, which is considered to interact with Ca2+ ions. Interestingly, Ca2+ and UV-light responsive programmable shape of the copolymer hydrogel can recover to its original form by immersing in pure water. Since its excellent metal ion and UV-light stimuli-responsive and mechanical properties, the hydrogel has potential applications in the field of soft actuators.