Search Results (171)

Magnesium phosphate cement (MPC) exhibits brittleness when utilized as a repair material for bridge decks. To address this issue, this study employs nano-TiO₂ (NT) and a novel material (basalt fiber bar) as modifiers. A double-K fracture model is developed for the modified MPC to quantitatively evaluate the enhancement of fracture toughness induced by NT and basalt fiber bars. The cracking behavior and toughening mechanisms of the NT and basalt fiber bar reinforced MPC are investigated using extended finite element theory and composite material theory. Additionally, a formula is proposed to calculate the incremental fracture toughness of NT and basalt fiber bar reinforced MPC. The results indicated that NT and basalt fiber bar can effectively enhance the ultimate bending capacity of MPC. The improvement increases with the fiber volume fraction, and noticeable bending hardening occurs when the fiber content exceeds 2%. With the same fiber volume fraction, the peak load can be increased by up to 11.7% with the addition of NT. The crack initiation toughness of the NT group without basalt fiber bars is 58% higher than that of the CC group. The content and diameter of basalt fiber bar are critical parameters affecting the toughness of the NT and basalt fiber bar reinforced MPC. Full article

Protein kinase A (PKA), commonly referred to as cAMP-dependent protein kinase, exists as a heterotetramer composed of two catalytic (C) and regulatory subunits (R). This versatile kinase exhibits regulatory functions in various biological processes including growth, division, and differentiation. Although PKA is well established as a master regulator of oocyte maturation across species, its functional role in insect parthenogenesis has remained enigmatic. Here, we systematically investigated the regulatory effect of PKA in the induction of parthenogenesis in model lepidopteran Bombyx mori. Our findings demonstrated an inverse correlation between PKA activity and parthenogenetic induction efficiency in silkworms. Notably, PKA activation resulted in delayed embryonic development, whereas PKA-C1 knockdown disrupted normal cell cycle progression. These results indicated that maintaining appropriate PKA activity is essential for ensuring proper cell division process, especially in the successful induction of silkworm parthenogenesis. The evolutionary conservation of PKA across species, coupled with its critical regulatory role in parthenogenesis, positions this kinase as a promising molecular target for breeding design. Our findings establish a foundation for developing silkworm strains with enhanced parthenogenetic capacity through PKA modulation, thereby facilitating the preservation of elite production traits. These results provide novel mechanistic insights into parthenogenesis while demonstrating the potential application of PKA regulation in both genetic studies and breeding programs. Full article

Staphylococcus aureus is a leading cause of severe infections in humans and animals, and the emergence of multidrug-resistant strains highlights the need to develop effective vaccines to prevent such diseases. Epitope-based vaccines use short antigen-derived peptides corresponding to immune epitopes, which are administered to trigger protective humoral and cellular immune responses. In this study, in silico MHC affinity measurement methods were used to predict possible binding regions, and five 20-mer synthetic TRAP peptides (TRAPP) were synthesized. Epitope-based vaccines, named PT and PTR, incorporating the identified CD4⁺ T and B cell epitopes, were constructed. Peptides TRAP_20–39 and TRAP_94–113 elicited significant peptide-stimulated T-cell proliferation responses in vivo. Additionally, high levels of IFN-γ and IL-17A, along with moderate levels of IL-4, were detected in ex vivo stimulated CD4⁺ T cells isolated from rTRAP- and TRAPP-immunized mice, suggesting that these peptides are classified as Th1 and Th17 epitopes. Immunization with PT or PTR induces robust humoral and cellular immune responses. Moreover, the epitope-based vaccine, PT, exhibited a stronger protective immune response than the intact TRAP in a murine systemic S. aureus infection model. Based on the results presented herein, an epitope-based vaccine is a promising and potentially more effective candidate. Full article

This paper presents an ultrasonic driving and detection system based on a CMUT array using MEMS technology. Among them, the core component CMUT array is composed of 8 × 8 CMUT array elements, and each CMUT array element contains 6 × 6 CMUT units. The collapse voltage of a single CMUT unit obtained through finite element analysis is 95.91 V, and the resonant frequency is 3.16 MHz. The driving section achieves 64-channel synchronous driving, with key parameters including an adjustable excitation signal frequency ranging from 10 kHz to 5.71 MHz, a delay precision of up to 1 ns, and an excitation duration of eight pulse cycles. For the echo reception, a two-stage amplification circuit for high-frequency weak echoes with 32 channels was designed, achieving a gain of 113.72 dB and −3 dB bandwidth of 3.89 MHz. Simultaneously, a 32-channel analog-to-digital conversion based on a self-calibration algorithm was implemented, with a sampling rate of 50 Mbps and a data width of 10 bits. Finally, the experimental results confirm the successful implementation of the driving system’s designed functions, yielding a center frequency of 1.4995 MHz and a relative bandwidth of 127.9%@−6 dB for the CMUT operating in silicone oil. This paper successfully conducted the transmit–receive integrated experiment of the CMUT and applied Butterworth filtering to the echo data, resulting in high-quality ultrasonic echo signals that validate the applicability of the designed CMUT-based system for ultrasonic imaging. Full article

The efficiency of emergency response operations is critically dependent on the strategic storage and allocation of emergency supplies. Proper management of these resources reduces economic impacts and ensures prompt availability in crises. This study addresses the challenges and existing practices in emergency reserve warehousing, with a specific focus on a Fangshan District case study. It introduces optimized storage strategies and principles for storage location assignment, taking into account both planar and three-dimensional storage configurations. The study employs two pallet types to establish basic assumptions and formulates two models: one for standard pallets in three-dimensional storage and another for special pallets in planar storage, including scenarios for their combined usage. Utilizing an advanced non-dominated genetic algorithm (NSGA-II) with an elite strategy, the study conducts simulations and analyses of these models under various scenarios. The findings indicate that the application of the second scenario significantly improves storage location optimization in emergency reserve warehouses. Full article

CO₂ photoreduction technology offers significant potential for addressing energy and environmental challenges, though its practical application is hindered by insufficient photo-absorption and rapid carrier recombination. Herein, we constructed the WO₃/In₂S₃ S-scheme heterojunction through hydrothermal assembly of two-dimensional WO₃ nanosheets and scale-like In₂S₃ nanoflakes. Systematic characterization via XRD, XPS, SEM, and TEM verified the successful preparation of hierarchical nanostructures with optimized interfacial contact in the WO₃/In₂S₃ composites. UV-Vis DRS analysis showed that the photo-absorption range of the catalyst was significantly widened. Photoelectrochemical investigations (EIS, TPR, PL, and LSV) revealed enhanced carrier separation efficiency and reduced recombination kinetics in the heterojunction system. The optimized WO₃/In₂S₃ (WI-60) catalyst had a CO evolution efficiency of 55.14 μmol·g⁻¹ under the UV-Vis light, representing a 3.9-fold enhancement over the pure In₂S₃ (14.08 μmol·g⁻¹). Mechanistic studies through the XPS and band-structure analysis confirmed the establishment of an S-scheme carrier’ transfer pathway, which simultaneously preserved strong redox potentials and promoted the separation process of carriers. This research provides a validated strategy for developing efficient S-scheme photocatalytic systems for solar fuel generation. Full article

In recent years, the role played by exosomes in lung diseases has been investigated. Exosomes have been shown to contribute to reductions in lung inflammation and pulmonary fibrosis. However, the role played by exosomes in pulmonary oxygen toxicity and the mechanism involved have not yet been reported. In the present work, we aimed to investigate the mechanism by which stem cell exosomes protect lung tissue and the potential molecular regulatory network involved. In this study, we employed single-cell RNA sequencing techniques to elucidate the unique cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying the progression of exosome therapy for pulmonary oxygen toxicity. We found changes in cell populations after exosome treatment, characterized by the expression of different molecular markers. We also integrated single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) and bulk analysis to identify the protective effects of mesenchymal stem cell exosomes (MSC-Exos) in a mouse pulmonary oxygen toxicity (POT) model. scRNA-seq revealed dynamic shifts in the lung cellular composition after exosome treatment, including a reduction in inflammatory lymphoid cells (NK, B cells, CD8⁺ T, CD4⁺ T) and restored alveolar epithelial populations (AT1/AT2). A comprehensive gene expression analysis showed that inflammatory pathways associated with oxidative stress were significantly upregulated. In addition, our analysis of the intercellular interaction network revealed that there was a significant reduction in intercellular signal transduction in the POT group compared to the exosome-treated group. These results not only shed light on the unique cellular heterogeneity and potential pathogenesis following exosome therapy, but they also deepen our understanding of molecular pathophysiology and provide new avenues for targeted therapeutic strategies. Full article

Background: Parkinson’s disease (PD) is characterized by early-onset olfactory dysfunction preceding motor symptoms, yet its mechanisms remain elusive. Based on the studies on microbiota-gut-brain axis, the microbiota–nose–brain axis might be involved in the pathogenesis of PD. However relative studies are rare. Methods: By consecutive 14-days intranasally transplanting bacteria, we established mice models exhibiting nasal microbiota dysbiosis (NMD), including animal group received intranasal drops of fecal bacterial suspension from normal mice (NB group) and animal group received intranasal drops of fecal bacterial suspension from PD mice (PB group), with animals that only received anesthesia used as the control group. Then we analyzed the nasal microbiota composition via 16S rRNA sequencing, evaluated the olfactory and motor functions through behavioral experiments, including buried food test, open field test, pole descent test, and traction test. The neuropathology in olfactory-related and PD-related brain regions, including olfactory bulb, pyriform cortex, hippocampus, substantia nigra and striatum, was also detected by western blotting, immunofluorescence and immunohistochemical experiments using the antibodies of NeuN, TH and GFAP. Results: 16S rRNA sequencing revealed that PB mice were primarily characterized by an increase in bacteria associated with inflammation and PD. Behavioral assessments revealed that mice with NMD demonstrated impairments in the buried food test and pole descent test, indicative of olfactory and motor dysfunction. By detecting NeuN and GFAP expression, we identified neuronal loss and astrocytes activation in olfactory-related brain regions and adjacent structures, including the olfactory bulb, pyriform cortex, hippocampus, substantia nigra and striatum of both NMD groups, which may contribute to the observed functional disorders. Notably, animals exposed to PD-derived bacteria exhibited more pronounced changes in nasal bacteria, with more severe neuropathology. Conclusions: We present evidence supporting the microbiota–nose–brain axis, and the NMD-induced astrocyte activation and neurodegenerative pathology along the olfactory pathway may serve as a link between nose and brain. Full article

Straw application (SP) is a promising strategy for the improvement of soil fertility, but the biological effects and the mechanisms of its effects on microorganisms remain unclear. The investigation into the tea plantations (CK/S) in southern Henan, China, without/with straw amendment was carried out to assess the effects of SP on the soil bacterial communities using high-throughput sequencing. SP induced the community restructuring of the dominant phyla, e.g., Acidobacteriota, Pseudomonadota, Chloroflexota, with significantly increasing Nitrospirota, Vicinamibacterales and Anaerolineaceae (p < 0.05), while reducing Terriglobales (p < 0.05). These transitions correlated with significantly enhanced α-diversity and β-diversity divergence (p < 0.05). The linear discriminant analysis effect size (LEfSe) results confirmed the significant selective enrichment of nitrogen-cycling taxa (Nitrospira), copiotrophs (Chryseotalea), and anaerobic degraders (Anaerolineaceae), along with the suppression of the oligotrophic lineage (Ellin6067) by SP (p < 0.05). The co-occurrence networks of S had lower topological properties and negative cohesion (p < 0.05), which exhibited intensified simplified complexity and competition. The soil water content (WC) and pH were the main drivers of β-diversity variation and the keystone taxa assembly, as calculated out by distance-based redundancy analysis (dbRDA). This study demonstrates that SP can enhance bacterial network stability and functional redundancy by resource-driven niche partitioning between copiotrophic taxa and nitrogen-cycling guilds through a competition–cooperation equilibrium. Full article

Cyclin-dependent protein kinase 2 (Cdk2), an important member of the serine/threonine-specific protein kinase family, plays a critical regulatory role in biological processes. Previous studies have demonstrated that Cdk2 is involved in the arrest and resumption of meiosis in mammalian oocytes. In this study, we explored the function of Cdk2 through parthenogenetic lines (PLs) and corresponding amphigonic lines (ALs) in a model lepidopteran insect silkworm, Bombyx mori L. Our findings revealed a positive correlation between Cdk2 activity and the parthenogenesis induction rate. The pharmacological inhibition of Cdk2 using the specific inhibitor AUZ454 not only significantly reduced the parthenogenesis induction rate but also caused developmental delays in embryos. These results demonstrate that Cdk2 is essential for parthenogenesis success and is a potential target gene for biological reproductive regulation. Full article

In most species, oocytes are arrested at the prophase or metaphase of meiosis I and require sperm-derived or external stimuli to resume meiosis. Maturation-promoting factor (MPF) is an oocyte maturation factor composing the catalytic subunit Cdc2 and the regulatory subunit CycB that can restart stalled meiosis. In this study, we demonstrated that MPF activity affected parthenogenesis induction in the model lepidopteran insect Bombyx mori using activator and inhibitor interference. We found that the upregulation of MPF activity significantly increased the parthenogenesis induction rate, whereas downregulation significantly reduced it. Furthermore, the inhibition of MPF activity also led to a delay in embryonic development. Given its evolutionary conservation, MPF emerges as a potential universal target for manipulating reproductive outcomes, offering broad applications in genetics and selective breeding. Full article

The durability degradation of concrete structures in marine and urban underground environments is largely governed by chloride-induced corrosion. This process becomes significantly more severe under the coupled action of external loading and drying–wetting cycles, which accelerate chloride transport and structural deterioration. However, the existing research often isolates the effects of mechanical loading or environmental exposure, failing to comprehensively capture the synergistic interaction between these factors. This lack of understanding of chloride ingress under simultaneous mechanical and environmental loading limits the development of reliable service life prediction models for concrete structures. In this study, a self-made loading system was employed to simulate this coupled environment, combining external loading with 108 days of drying–wetting cycles. Chloride profiles were obtained to assess the combined effects of stress level, water/binder ratio, and fiber content on chloride penetration in fiber-reinforced cementitious composites (FRCCs). To further extend the analysis, a Crank–Nicolson-based finite difference approach was developed for the numerical assessment of chloride diffusion in concrete structures after repair. This model enables the point-wise treatment of nonlinear chloride concentration profiles and provides space- and time-dependent chloride concentration distributions. The results show that using an FRCC as a repair material significantly enhances the service life of chloride-contaminated concrete structures. The remaining service life of the repaired concrete was extended by 36.82% compared to the unrepaired case, demonstrating the clear practical value of FRCC repairs in aggressive environments. Full article

Change detection techniques, which extract different regions of interest from bi-temporal remote sensing images, play a crucial role in various fields such as environmental protection, damage assessment, and urban planning. However, visual style interferences stemming from varying acquisition times, such as radiation, weather, and phenology changes, often lead to false detections. Existing methods struggle to robustly measure background similarity in the presence of such discrepancies and lack quantitative validation for assessing their effectiveness. To address these limitations, we propose Representation Consistency Change Detection (RCCD), a novel deep learning framework that enforces global style and local spatial consistency of features across encoding and decoding stages for robust cross-visual style change detection. RCCD leverages large-kernel convolutional supervision for local spatial context awareness and global content-aware style transfer for feature harmonization, effectively suppressing interference from background variations. Extensive evaluations on S2Looking and LEVIR-CD+ datasets demonstrate RCCD’s superior performance, achieving state-of-the-art F1-scores. Furthermore, on dedicated subsets with large visual style differences, RCCD exhibits more substantial improvements, highlighting its effectiveness in mitigating interference caused by visual style errors. The code has been open-sourced on GitHub. Full article

Given the intricate combustion process and the multitude of control parameters inherent to the high-pressure direct injection (HPDI) diesel/natural gas dual-fuel engine, achieving precise combustion control represents a significant challenge. It is imperative to develop a high-precision engine model and integrate it with advanced control algorithms to achieve an optimal combustion strategy. In this study, a system-level engine plant model with high accuracy and real-time performance was developed using a modular modeling method through the calibration of experimental data and the simplification of model calculations. In this model, the relative error of the model simulation is controlled to be less than 5%, and the real-time factor (RTF) is less than 1. The multi-stage combustion process was parameterized by performing piecewise linear fitting of the heat release rate curve, and the relationship between injection parameters and combustion parameters was established using multiple regression analysis. On this basis, a model predictive control (MPC) algorithm was designed and verified in the constructed model-in-the-loop (MiL) platform. The results demonstrate that the designed MPC algorithm can accurately track the combustion phasing CA50 and the indicated mean effective pressure (IMEP) targets with a maximum error of 0.0624° and 0.046% within 6 and 8 cycles while ensuring the stability of the control process. The MiL platform not only meets the current combustion control requirements but also provides a general basis for the development of subsequent engine multi-control strategies and cooperative control optimization. Full article

Highland animals have unique hair growth mechanisms to allow them to adapt to harsh living environments. Compared with other species, their hair cycle growth is affected by more environmental factors. Yaks, as highland animals, have obvious periodic hair growth characteristics in a year; this biological process is regulated by numerous proteins, but the specific molecular regulatory mechanism is still unclear. Here we analyzed the histological characteristics of yak hair follicles (HFs) at each stage and conducted TMT proteomics research. The protein expression network of yak hair at each stage and the mechanism of the yak HF growth cycle were systematically explored, and the candidate proteins Sfrp1 and Ppard were verified. A total of 3176 proteins were quantifiable and 1142 differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) were obtained at five stages of the yak hair cycle. DEPs enriched in complement activation change, tissue development, lipid metabolism, WNT pathway, VEGF pathway, JAK-STAT pathway, and PPAR pathway may promote the growth of yak hair follicles, such as Serpinf1, Ppard, and Stat3. DEPs enriched in complement system, coagulation, cell adhesion, lipid metabolic process, proliferation of epidermal cells, and estrogen pathway may promote the degeneration of yak hair, such as Sfrp1, Eppk1, and Egfr. Using Protein-Protein Interaction (PPI) analysis, we found that core nodes of DEP networks in yak skin are significantly different at three critical time points in hair follicle development, and lipid metabolism proteins are common core DEP nodes during yak HF growth and degeneration. The expression of Sfrp1 and Ppard in yak hair follicles at different periods showed they are related to yak hair cycle control. This study showed that the protein regulatory network of the yak HF growth cycle is complex and dynamically changing and revealed key candidate proteins that may affect yak hair follicle development. These findings provided detailed data for further understanding of the plateau adaptation mechanism of the yak, which is of great significance to make better use of the yak livestock resources and enhance their economic value. Full article