Anti-slide piles are one of the most important reinforcement structures against landslides,and evalu-ating the working conditions is of great significance for landslide mitigation.The widely adopted analytical methods...Anti-slide piles are one of the most important reinforcement structures against landslides,and evalu-ating the working conditions is of great significance for landslide mitigation.The widely adopted analytical methods of pile internal forces include cantilever beam method and elastic foundation beam method.However,due to many assumptions involved in calculation,the analytical models cannot be fully applicable to complex site situations,e.g.landslides with multi-sliding surfaces and pile-soil interface separation as discussed herein.In view of this,the combination of distributed fiber optic sensing(DFOS)and strain-internal force conversion methods was proposed to evaluate the working conditions of an anti-sliding pile in a typical retrogressive landslide in the Three Gorges reservoir area,China.Brillouin optical time domain reflectometry(BOTDR)was utilized to monitor the strain distri-bution along the pile.Next,by analyzing the relative deformation between the pile and its adjacent inclinometer,the pile-soil interface separation was profiled.Finally,the internal forces of the anti-slide pile were derived based on the strain-internal force conversion method.According to the ratio of calculated internal forces to the design values,the working conditions of the anti-slide pile could be evaluated.The results demonstrated that the proposed method could reveal the deformation pattern of the anti-slide pile system,and can quantitatively evaluate its working conditions.展开更多
Understanding the variations in microscopic pore-fracture structures(MPFS) during coal creep under pore pressure and stress coupling is crucial for coal mining and effective gas treatment. In this manuscript, a triaxi...Understanding the variations in microscopic pore-fracture structures(MPFS) during coal creep under pore pressure and stress coupling is crucial for coal mining and effective gas treatment. In this manuscript, a triaxial creep test on deep coal at various pore pressures using a test system that combines in-situ mechanical loading with real-time nuclear magnetic resonance(NMR) detection was conducted.Full-scale quantitative characterization, online real-time detection, and visualization of MPFS during coal creep influenced by pore pressure and stress coupling were performed using NMR and NMR imaging(NMRI) techniques. The results revealed that seepage pores and microfractures(SPM) undergo the most significant changes during coal creep, with creep failure gradually expanding from dense primary pore fractures. Pore pressure presence promotes MPFS development primarily by inhibiting SPM compression and encouraging adsorption pores(AP) to evolve into SPM. Coal enters the accelerated creep stage earlier at lower stress levels, resulting in more pronounced creep deformation. The connection between the micro and macro values was established, demonstrating that increased porosity at different pore pressures leads to a negative exponential decay of the viscosity coefficient. The Newton dashpot in the ideal viscoplastic body and the Burgers model was improved using NMR experimental results, and a creep model that considers pore pressure and stress coupling using variable-order fractional operators was developed. The model’s reasonableness was confirmed using creep experimental data. The damagestate adjustment factors ω and β were identified through a parameter sensitivity analysis to characterize the effect of pore pressure and stress coupling on the creep damage characteristics(size and degree of difficulty) of coal.展开更多
Astrocytes are the most abundant glial cells in the central nervous system;they participate in crucial biological processes,maintain brain structure,and regulate nervous system function.Exosomes are cell-derived extra...Astrocytes are the most abundant glial cells in the central nervous system;they participate in crucial biological processes,maintain brain structure,and regulate nervous system function.Exosomes are cell-derived extracellular vesicles containing various bioactive molecules including proteins,peptides,nucleotides,and lipids secreted from their cellular sources.Increasing evidence shows that exosomes participate in a communication network in the nervous system,in which astrocyte-derived exosomes play important roles.In this review,we have summarized the effects of exosomes targeting astrocytes and the astrocyte-derived exosomes targeting other cell types in the central nervous system.We also discuss the potential research directions of the exosome-based communication network in the nervous system.The exosome-based intercellular communication focused on astrocytes is of great significance to the biological and/or pathological processes in different conditions in the brain.New strategies may be developed for the diagnosis and treatment of neurological disorders by focusing on astrocytes as the central cells and utilizing exosomes as communication mediators.展开更多
The development of receptive endometrium(RE) from pre-receptive endometrium(PE) for successful embryo implantation is a complex dynamic process in which the morphology and physiological states of the endometrial epith...The development of receptive endometrium(RE) from pre-receptive endometrium(PE) for successful embryo implantation is a complex dynamic process in which the morphology and physiological states of the endometrial epithelium undergo a series of significant changes, including cell proliferation and apoptosis. However, the molecular mechanisms are not yet fully understood. In this study, a higher circRNA3669 level was observed in PE than in RE of goats. Functional assays revealed that this overexpression promoted the proliferation of goat endometrial epithelial cells(GEECs) by activating the expression of genes related to the PI3K/AKT-mTOR and MAPK pathways,thereby inhibiting apoptosis in vitro. Furthermore, circRNA3669 functioned as a competing endogenous RNA(ceRNA) to upregulate Reticulocalbin-2(RCN2) expression at the post-transcriptional level by interacting with and downregulating miR-26a in GEECs. In addition, RCN2, which is highly expressed in the PE of goats, was found to be regulated by β-estradiol(E2) and progesterone(P4). Our results demonstrated that RCN2 also affected the key proteins PI3K, AKT, mTOR, JNK, and P38 in the PI3K/AKT-mTOR and MAPK pathways, thereby facilitating GEECs proliferation and suppressing their apoptosis in vitro. Collectively, we constructed a new circRNA3669-miR-26aRCN2 regulatory network in GEECs, which further provides strong evidence that circRNA could potentially play a crucial regulatory role in the development of RE in goats.展开更多
Renewable energy driven N_(2) electroreduction with air as nitrogen source holds great promise for realizing scalable green ammonia production.However,relevant out-lab research is still in its infancy.Herein,a novel S...Renewable energy driven N_(2) electroreduction with air as nitrogen source holds great promise for realizing scalable green ammonia production.However,relevant out-lab research is still in its infancy.Herein,a novel Sn-based MXene/MAX hybrid with abundant Sn vacancies,Sn@Ti_(2)CTX/Ti_(2)SnC–V,was synthesized by controlled etching Sn@Ti_(2)SnC MAX phase and demonstrated as an efficient electrocatalyst for electrocatalytic N2 reduction.Due to the synergistic effect of MXene/MAX heterostructure,the existence of Sn vacancies and the highly dispersed Sn active sites,the obtained Sn@Ti2CTX/Ti_(2)SnC–V exhibits an optimal NH_(3) yield of 28.4μg h^(−1) mg_(cat)^(−1) with an excellent FE of 15.57% at−0.4 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode in 0.1 M Na_(2)SO_(4),as well as an ultra-long durability.Noticeably,this catalyst represents a satisfactory NH3 yield rate of 10.53μg h^(−1) mg^(−1) in the home-made simulation device,where commercial electrochemical photovoltaic cell was employed as power source,air and ultrapure water as feed stock.The as-proposed strategy represents great potential toward ammonia production in terms of financial cost according to the systematic technical economic analysis.This work is of significance for large-scale green ammonia production.展开更多
Electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction reaction(CO_(2)RR)involves a variety of intermediates with highly correlated reaction and ad-desorption energies,hindering optimization of the catalytic activity.For example,in...Electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction reaction(CO_(2)RR)involves a variety of intermediates with highly correlated reaction and ad-desorption energies,hindering optimization of the catalytic activity.For example,increasing the binding of the*COOH to the active site will generally increase the*CO desorption energy.Breaking this relationship may be expected to dramatically improve the intrinsic activity of CO_(2)RR,but remains an unsolved challenge.Herein,we addressed this conundrum by constructing a unique atomic dispersed hetero-pair consisting of Mo-Fe di-atoms anchored on N-doped carbon carrier.This system shows an unprecedented CO_(2)RR intrinsic activity with TOF of 3336 h−1,high selectivity toward CO production,Faradaic efficiency of 95.96%at−0.60 V and excellent stability.Theoretical calculations show that the Mo-Fe diatomic sites increased the*COOH intermediate adsorption energy by bridging adsorption of*COOH intermediates.At the same time,d-d orbital coupling in the Mo-Fe di-atom results in electron delocalization and facilitates desorption of*CO intermediates.Thus,the undesirable correlation between these steps is broken.This work provides a promising approach,specifically the use of di-atoms,for breaking unfavorable relationships based on understanding of the catalytic mechanisms at the atomic scale.展开更多
The interaction between metal and support is critical in oxygen catalysis as it governs the charge transfer between these two entities,influences the electronic structures of the supported metal,affects the adsorption...The interaction between metal and support is critical in oxygen catalysis as it governs the charge transfer between these two entities,influences the electronic structures of the supported metal,affects the adsorption energies of reaction intermediates,and ultimately impacts the catalytic performance.In this study,we discovered a unique charge transfer reversal phenomenon in a metal/carbon nanohybrid system.Specifically,electrons were transferred from the metal-based species to N-doped carbon,while the carbon support reciprocally donated electrons to the metal domain upon the introduction of nickel.This led to the exceptional electrocatalytic performances of the resulting Ni-Fe/Mo_(2)C@nitrogen-doped carbon catalyst,with a half-wave potential of 0.91 V towards oxygen reduction reaction(ORR)and a low overpotential of 290 m V at 10 mA cm^(-2)towards oxygen evolution reaction(OER)under alkaline conditions.Additionally,the Fe-Ni/Mo_(2)C@carbon heterojunction catalyst demonstrated high specific capacity(794 mA h g_(Zn)~(-1))and excellent cycling stability(200 h)in a Zn-air battery.Theoretical calculations revealed that Mo_(2)C effectively inhibited charge transfer from Fe to the support,while secondary doping of Ni induced a charge transfer reversal,resulting in electron accumulation in the Fe-Ni alloy region.This local electronic structure modulation significantly reduced energy barriers in the oxygen catalysis process,enhancing the catalytic efficiency of both ORR and OER.Consequently,our findings underscore the potential of manipulating charge transfer reversal between the metal and support as a promising strategy for developing highly-active and durable bi-functional oxygen electrodes.展开更多
Birds exhibit extraordinary mobility and remarkable navigational skills,obtaining guidance cues from the Earth’s magnetic field for orientation and long-distance movement.Bird species also show tremendous diversity i...Birds exhibit extraordinary mobility and remarkable navigational skills,obtaining guidance cues from the Earth’s magnetic field for orientation and long-distance movement.Bird species also show tremendous diversity in navigation strategies,with considerable differences even within the same taxa and among individuals from the same population.The highly conserved iron and iron-sulfur cluster binding magnetoreceptor(MagR)protein is suggested to enable animals,including birds,to detect the geomagnetic field and navigate accordingly.Notably,MagR is also implicated in other functions,such as electron transfer and biogenesis of iron-sulfur clusters,raising the question of whether variability exists in its biochemical and biophysical features among species,particularly birds.In the current study,we conducted a comparative analysis of MagR from two different bird species,including the migratory European robin(Erithacus rubecula)and the homing pigeon(Columba livia).Sequence alignment revealed an extremely high degree of similarity between the MagRs of these species,with only three sequence variations.Nevertheless,two of these variations underpinned significant differences in metal binding capacity,oligomeric state,and magnetic properties.These findings offer compelling evidence for the marked differences in MagR between the two avian species,potentially explaining how a highly conserved protein can mediate such diverse functions.展开更多
For the past few years,germanium-based semiconductor spintronics has attracted considerable interest due to its potential for integration into mainstream semiconductor technology.The main challenges in the development...For the past few years,germanium-based semiconductor spintronics has attracted considerable interest due to its potential for integration into mainstream semiconductor technology.The main challenges in the development of modern semiconductor spintronics are the generation,detection,and manipulation of spin currents.Here,the transport characteristics of a spin current generated by spin pumping through a GeBi semiconductor barrier in Y_(3)Fe_(5)O_(12)/GeBi/Pt heterostructures were investigated systematically.The effective spin-mixing conductance and inverse spin Hall voltage to quantitatively describe the spin transport characteristics were extracted.The spin-injection efficiency in the Y_(3)Fe_(5)O_(12)/GeBi/Pt heterostructures is comparable to that of the Y_(3)Fe_(5)O_(12)/Pt bilayer,and the inverse spin Hall voltage exponential decays with the increase in the barrier thickness.Furthermore,the band gap of the GeBi layer was tuned by changing the Bi content.The spin-injection efficiency at the YIG/semiconductor interface and the spin transportation within the semiconductor barrier are related to the band gap of the GeBi layer.Our results may be used as guidelines for the fabrication of efficient spin transmission structures and may lead to further studies on the impacts of different kinds of barrier materials.展开更多
Electrocatalytic glucose oxidation reaction(GOR)has attracted much attention owing to its crucial role in biofuel cell fabrication.Herein,we load MoO_(3)nanoparticles on carbon nanotubes(CNTs)and use a discharge proce...Electrocatalytic glucose oxidation reaction(GOR)has attracted much attention owing to its crucial role in biofuel cell fabrication.Herein,we load MoO_(3)nanoparticles on carbon nanotubes(CNTs)and use a discharge process to prepare a noblemetal-free MC-60 catalyst containing MoO_(3),Mo_(2)C,and a Mo_(2)C–MoO_(3)interface.In the GOR,MC-60 shows activity as high as 745μA/(mmol/L cm^(2)),considerably higher than those of the Pt/CNT(270μA/(mmol/L cm^(2)))and Au/CNT catalysts(110μA/(mmol/L cm^(2))).In the GOR,the response minimum on MC-60 is as low as 8μmol/L,with a steady-state response time of only 3 s.Moreover,MC-60 has superior stability and anti-interference ability to impurities in the GOR.The better performance of MC-60 in the GOR is attributed to the abundant Mo sites bonding to C and O atoms at the MoO_(3)–Mo_(2)C interface.These Mo sites create active sites for promoting glucose adsorption and oxidation,enhancing MC-60 performance in the GOR.Thus,these results help to fabricate more effi cient noble-metal-free catalysts for the fabrication of glucose-based biofuel cells.展开更多
As an important mechanism in multi-agent interaction,communication can make agents form complex team relationships rather than constitute a simple set of multiple independent agents.However,the existing communication ...As an important mechanism in multi-agent interaction,communication can make agents form complex team relationships rather than constitute a simple set of multiple independent agents.However,the existing communication schemes can bring much timing redundancy and irrelevant messages,which seriously affects their practical application.To solve this problem,this paper proposes a targeted multiagent communication algorithm based on state control(SCTC).The SCTC uses a gating mechanism based on state control to reduce the timing redundancy of communication between agents and determines the interaction relationship between agents and the importance weight of a communication message through a series connection of hard-and self-attention mechanisms,realizing targeted communication message processing.In addition,by minimizing the difference between the fusion message generated from a real communication message of each agent and a fusion message generated from the buffered message,the correctness of the final action choice of the agent is ensured.Our evaluation using a challenging set of Star Craft II benchmarks indicates that the SCTC can significantly improve the learning performance and reduce the communication overhead between agents,thus ensuring better cooperation between agents.展开更多
There is a growing need to explore the potential of coal-fired power plants(CFPPs)to enhance the utilization rate of wind power(wind)and photovoltaic power(PV)in the green energy field.This study developed a load regu...There is a growing need to explore the potential of coal-fired power plants(CFPPs)to enhance the utilization rate of wind power(wind)and photovoltaic power(PV)in the green energy field.This study developed a load regulation model for a multi-power generation system comprising wind,PV,and coal energy storage using realworld data.The power supply process was divided into eight fundamental load regulation scenarios,elucidating the influence of each scenario on load regulation.Within the framework of the multi-power generation system with the wind(50 MW)and PV(50 MW)alongside a CFPP(330 MW),a lithium-iron phosphate energy storage system(LIPBESS)was integrated to improve the system’s load regulation flexibility.The energy storage operation strategy was formulated based on the charging and discharging priority of the LIPBESS for each basic scenario and the charging and discharging load calculation method of LIPBESS auxiliary regulation.Through optimization using the particle swarm algorithm,the optimal capacity of LIPBESS was determined to be within the 5.24-4.88 MWh range.From an economic perspective,the LIPBESS operating with CFPP as the regulating power source was 49.1% lower in capacity compared to the renewable energy-based storage mode.展开更多
Seismic attenuation is a fundamental property of the Earth's media.Attenuation structure for the complicated geological structures with strong seismicity in the Sichuan-Yunnan region is poorly studied.In this stud...Seismic attenuation is a fundamental property of the Earth's media.Attenuation structure for the complicated geological structures with strong seismicity in the Sichuan-Yunnan region is poorly studied.In this study,we collected 108,399 waveforms of 11,517 local small earthquakes with magnitudes between 1.5 and 3.5 from January 2014 to September 2021 in the Sichuan-Yunnan region and its adjacent areas.We employed an envelope inversion technique for separating the intrinsic and scattering attenuations of the S coda wave,and obtained the intrinsic and scattering attenuation structures for frequencies between 0.25 and 8.00 Hz.The attenuation structures correlate well with the geological units,and some major faults mark the attenuation variations where historic large earthquakes have occurred.The regional average attenuation shows a negative frequency dependence.The average scattering attenuation has a faster descending rate than the average intrinsic attenuation,and is dominant at low frequencies,while at high frequencies the average intrinsic attenuation is stronger.The lateral variation in the intrinsic attenuation is consistent with the variation in heat flow,the scattering attenuation may be related to the scatter distribution and size.The total attenuation is consistent with the previous studies in this region,and the separate intrinsic and scattering attenuation may be useful in understanding regional tectonics and important in earthquake prevention and disaster reduction.展开更多
Partial shading conditions(PSCs)caused by uneven illumination become one of the most common problems in photovoltaic(PV)systems,which can make the PV power-voltage(P-V)characteristics curve show multi-peaks.Traditiona...Partial shading conditions(PSCs)caused by uneven illumination become one of the most common problems in photovoltaic(PV)systems,which can make the PV power-voltage(P-V)characteristics curve show multi-peaks.Traditional maximum power point tracking(MPPT)methods have shortcomings in tracking to the global maximum power point(GMPP),resulting in a dramatic decrease in output power.In order to solve the above problems,intelligent algorithms are used in MPPT.However,the existing intelligent algorithms have some disadvantages,such as slow convergence speed and large search oscillation.Therefore,an improved whale algorithm(IWOA)combined with the P&O(IWOA-P&O)is proposed for the MPPT of PV power generation in this paper.Firstly,IWOA is used to track the range interval of the GMPP,and then P&O is used to accurately find the MPP in that interval.Compared with other algorithms,simulation results show that this method has an average tracking efficiency of 99.79%and an average tracking time of 0.16 s when tracking GMPP.Finally,experimental verification is conducted,and the results show that the proposed algorithm has better MPPT performance compared to popular particle swarm optimization(PSO)and PSO-P&O algorithms.展开更多
Genetic Programming (GP) is an important approach to deal with complex problem analysis and modeling, and has been applied in a wide range of areas. The development of GP involves various aspects, including design of ...Genetic Programming (GP) is an important approach to deal with complex problem analysis and modeling, and has been applied in a wide range of areas. The development of GP involves various aspects, including design of genetic operators, evolutionary controls and implementations of heuristic strategy, evaluations and other mechanisms. When designing genetic operators, it is necessary to consider the possible limitations of encoding methods of individuals. And when selecting evolutionary control strategies, it is also necessary to balance search efficiency and diversity based on representation characteristics as well as the problem itself. More importantly, all of these matters, among others, have to be implemented through tedious coding work. Therefore, GP development is both complex and time-consuming. To overcome some of these difficulties that hinder the enhancement of GP development efficiency, we explore the feasibility of mutual assistance among GP variants, and then propose a rapid GP prototyping development method based on πGrammatical Evolution (πGE). It is demonstrated through regression analysis experiments that not only is this method beneficial for the GP developers to get rid of some tedious implementations, but also enables them to concentrate on the essence of the referred problem, such as individual representation, decoding means and evaluation. Additionally, it provides new insights into the roles of individual delineations in phenotypes and semantic research of individuals.展开更多
基金The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support pro-vided by the Young Scientists Fund of the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.41907232)the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars of China(Grant No.42225702)the State Key Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.41230636).
文摘Anti-slide piles are one of the most important reinforcement structures against landslides,and evalu-ating the working conditions is of great significance for landslide mitigation.The widely adopted analytical methods of pile internal forces include cantilever beam method and elastic foundation beam method.However,due to many assumptions involved in calculation,the analytical models cannot be fully applicable to complex site situations,e.g.landslides with multi-sliding surfaces and pile-soil interface separation as discussed herein.In view of this,the combination of distributed fiber optic sensing(DFOS)and strain-internal force conversion methods was proposed to evaluate the working conditions of an anti-sliding pile in a typical retrogressive landslide in the Three Gorges reservoir area,China.Brillouin optical time domain reflectometry(BOTDR)was utilized to monitor the strain distri-bution along the pile.Next,by analyzing the relative deformation between the pile and its adjacent inclinometer,the pile-soil interface separation was profiled.Finally,the internal forces of the anti-slide pile were derived based on the strain-internal force conversion method.According to the ratio of calculated internal forces to the design values,the working conditions of the anti-slide pile could be evaluated.The results demonstrated that the proposed method could reveal the deformation pattern of the anti-slide pile system,and can quantitatively evaluate its working conditions.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.52121003,51827901 and 52204110)China Postdoctoral Science Foundation(No.2022M722346)+1 种基金the 111 Project(No.B14006)the Yueqi Outstanding Scholar Program of CUMTB(No.2017A03).
文摘Understanding the variations in microscopic pore-fracture structures(MPFS) during coal creep under pore pressure and stress coupling is crucial for coal mining and effective gas treatment. In this manuscript, a triaxial creep test on deep coal at various pore pressures using a test system that combines in-situ mechanical loading with real-time nuclear magnetic resonance(NMR) detection was conducted.Full-scale quantitative characterization, online real-time detection, and visualization of MPFS during coal creep influenced by pore pressure and stress coupling were performed using NMR and NMR imaging(NMRI) techniques. The results revealed that seepage pores and microfractures(SPM) undergo the most significant changes during coal creep, with creep failure gradually expanding from dense primary pore fractures. Pore pressure presence promotes MPFS development primarily by inhibiting SPM compression and encouraging adsorption pores(AP) to evolve into SPM. Coal enters the accelerated creep stage earlier at lower stress levels, resulting in more pronounced creep deformation. The connection between the micro and macro values was established, demonstrating that increased porosity at different pore pressures leads to a negative exponential decay of the viscosity coefficient. The Newton dashpot in the ideal viscoplastic body and the Burgers model was improved using NMR experimental results, and a creep model that considers pore pressure and stress coupling using variable-order fractional operators was developed. The model’s reasonableness was confirmed using creep experimental data. The damagestate adjustment factors ω and β were identified through a parameter sensitivity analysis to characterize the effect of pore pressure and stress coupling on the creep damage characteristics(size and degree of difficulty) of coal.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China,No.82071278(to PY)Outstanding Young Medical Talents Project of Changhai Hospital,No.2021JCSQ03(to PY)+1 种基金Shanghai Sailing Program,No.20YF1448000(to XZ)Medical Health Science and Technology Project of Zhoushan City,No.2022JRC01(to HL).
文摘Astrocytes are the most abundant glial cells in the central nervous system;they participate in crucial biological processes,maintain brain structure,and regulate nervous system function.Exosomes are cell-derived extracellular vesicles containing various bioactive molecules including proteins,peptides,nucleotides,and lipids secreted from their cellular sources.Increasing evidence shows that exosomes participate in a communication network in the nervous system,in which astrocyte-derived exosomes play important roles.In this review,we have summarized the effects of exosomes targeting astrocytes and the astrocyte-derived exosomes targeting other cell types in the central nervous system.We also discuss the potential research directions of the exosome-based communication network in the nervous system.The exosome-based intercellular communication focused on astrocytes is of great significance to the biological and/or pathological processes in different conditions in the brain.New strategies may be developed for the diagnosis and treatment of neurological disorders by focusing on astrocytes as the central cells and utilizing exosomes as communication mediators.
基金supported by the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation(2019M653776 and 2020M673516)the Natural Science Basis Research Plan in Shaanxi Province of China(2023-JC-QN-0181)+1 种基金the Shaanxi Livestock and Poultry Breeding Double-chain Fusion Key Project,China(2022GD-TSLD-46-0202)the Natural Science Fundation of Tibet Autonomous Region,China(XZ202101ZR0063G)。
文摘The development of receptive endometrium(RE) from pre-receptive endometrium(PE) for successful embryo implantation is a complex dynamic process in which the morphology and physiological states of the endometrial epithelium undergo a series of significant changes, including cell proliferation and apoptosis. However, the molecular mechanisms are not yet fully understood. In this study, a higher circRNA3669 level was observed in PE than in RE of goats. Functional assays revealed that this overexpression promoted the proliferation of goat endometrial epithelial cells(GEECs) by activating the expression of genes related to the PI3K/AKT-mTOR and MAPK pathways,thereby inhibiting apoptosis in vitro. Furthermore, circRNA3669 functioned as a competing endogenous RNA(ceRNA) to upregulate Reticulocalbin-2(RCN2) expression at the post-transcriptional level by interacting with and downregulating miR-26a in GEECs. In addition, RCN2, which is highly expressed in the PE of goats, was found to be regulated by β-estradiol(E2) and progesterone(P4). Our results demonstrated that RCN2 also affected the key proteins PI3K, AKT, mTOR, JNK, and P38 in the PI3K/AKT-mTOR and MAPK pathways, thereby facilitating GEECs proliferation and suppressing their apoptosis in vitro. Collectively, we constructed a new circRNA3669-miR-26aRCN2 regulatory network in GEECs, which further provides strong evidence that circRNA could potentially play a crucial regulatory role in the development of RE in goats.
基金This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.22308139,52071171,52202248)Natural Science Foundation of Liaoning Province(2023-MS-140)+11 种基金Liaoning BaiQianWan Talents Program(LNBQW2018B0048)Shenyang Science and Technology Project(21-108-9-04)Young Scientific and Technological Talents Project of the Department of Education of Liaoning Province(LQN202008)Key Research Project of Department of Education of Liaoning Province(LJKZZ20220015)Foundation of State Key Laboratory of Clean and Efficient Coal Utilization,Taiyuan University of Technology(MJNYSKL202301)Foundation of State Key Laboratory of High-efficiency Utilization of Coal and Green Chemical Engineering(KF2023006)Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Coal Clean Conversion and High Valued Utilization,Anhui University of Technology(CHV22-05)Australian Research Council(ARC)through Future Fellowship(FT210100298,FT210100806)Discovery Project(DP220100603)Linkage Project(LP210100467,LP210200504,LP210200345,LP220100088)Industrial Transformation Training Centre(IC180100005)schemesthe Australian Government through the Cooperative Research Centres Projects(CRCPXIII000077).
文摘Renewable energy driven N_(2) electroreduction with air as nitrogen source holds great promise for realizing scalable green ammonia production.However,relevant out-lab research is still in its infancy.Herein,a novel Sn-based MXene/MAX hybrid with abundant Sn vacancies,Sn@Ti_(2)CTX/Ti_(2)SnC–V,was synthesized by controlled etching Sn@Ti_(2)SnC MAX phase and demonstrated as an efficient electrocatalyst for electrocatalytic N2 reduction.Due to the synergistic effect of MXene/MAX heterostructure,the existence of Sn vacancies and the highly dispersed Sn active sites,the obtained Sn@Ti2CTX/Ti_(2)SnC–V exhibits an optimal NH_(3) yield of 28.4μg h^(−1) mg_(cat)^(−1) with an excellent FE of 15.57% at−0.4 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode in 0.1 M Na_(2)SO_(4),as well as an ultra-long durability.Noticeably,this catalyst represents a satisfactory NH3 yield rate of 10.53μg h^(−1) mg^(−1) in the home-made simulation device,where commercial electrochemical photovoltaic cell was employed as power source,air and ultrapure water as feed stock.The as-proposed strategy represents great potential toward ammonia production in terms of financial cost according to the systematic technical economic analysis.This work is of significance for large-scale green ammonia production.
基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China(22279044,12034002,and 22202080)the Project for Self-Innovation Capability Construction of Jilin Province Development and Reform Commission(2021C026)+1 种基金Jilin Province Science and Technology Development Program(20210301009GX)the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities.
文摘Electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction reaction(CO_(2)RR)involves a variety of intermediates with highly correlated reaction and ad-desorption energies,hindering optimization of the catalytic activity.For example,increasing the binding of the*COOH to the active site will generally increase the*CO desorption energy.Breaking this relationship may be expected to dramatically improve the intrinsic activity of CO_(2)RR,but remains an unsolved challenge.Herein,we addressed this conundrum by constructing a unique atomic dispersed hetero-pair consisting of Mo-Fe di-atoms anchored on N-doped carbon carrier.This system shows an unprecedented CO_(2)RR intrinsic activity with TOF of 3336 h−1,high selectivity toward CO production,Faradaic efficiency of 95.96%at−0.60 V and excellent stability.Theoretical calculations show that the Mo-Fe diatomic sites increased the*COOH intermediate adsorption energy by bridging adsorption of*COOH intermediates.At the same time,d-d orbital coupling in the Mo-Fe di-atom results in electron delocalization and facilitates desorption of*CO intermediates.Thus,the undesirable correlation between these steps is broken.This work provides a promising approach,specifically the use of di-atoms,for breaking unfavorable relationships based on understanding of the catalytic mechanisms at the atomic scale.
基金financially supported by the Outstanding Youth Scientific Research Project for Colleges and Universities of Anhui Province of China (2022AH020054)the Anhui Provincial Natural Science Foundation (2208085Y06)+2 种基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos.21975001 and U2002213)the Support Program of Excellent Young Talents in Anhui Provincial Colleges and Universities (gxyq ZD2022034)the Double Tops Joint Fund of the Yunnan Science and Technology Bureau and Yunnan University (2019FY003025)。
文摘The interaction between metal and support is critical in oxygen catalysis as it governs the charge transfer between these two entities,influences the electronic structures of the supported metal,affects the adsorption energies of reaction intermediates,and ultimately impacts the catalytic performance.In this study,we discovered a unique charge transfer reversal phenomenon in a metal/carbon nanohybrid system.Specifically,electrons were transferred from the metal-based species to N-doped carbon,while the carbon support reciprocally donated electrons to the metal domain upon the introduction of nickel.This led to the exceptional electrocatalytic performances of the resulting Ni-Fe/Mo_(2)C@nitrogen-doped carbon catalyst,with a half-wave potential of 0.91 V towards oxygen reduction reaction(ORR)and a low overpotential of 290 m V at 10 mA cm^(-2)towards oxygen evolution reaction(OER)under alkaline conditions.Additionally,the Fe-Ni/Mo_(2)C@carbon heterojunction catalyst demonstrated high specific capacity(794 mA h g_(Zn)~(-1))and excellent cycling stability(200 h)in a Zn-air battery.Theoretical calculations revealed that Mo_(2)C effectively inhibited charge transfer from Fe to the support,while secondary doping of Ni induced a charge transfer reversal,resulting in electron accumulation in the Fe-Ni alloy region.This local electronic structure modulation significantly reduced energy barriers in the oxygen catalysis process,enhancing the catalytic efficiency of both ORR and OER.Consequently,our findings underscore the potential of manipulating charge transfer reversal between the metal and support as a promising strategy for developing highly-active and durable bi-functional oxygen electrodes.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(31640001 and T2350005 to C.X.,U21A20148 to X.Z.and C.X.)Ministry of Science and Technology of China(2021ZD0140300 to C.X.)Presidential Foundation of Hefei Institutes of Physical Science,Chinese Academy of Sciences(Y96XC11131,E26CCG27,and E26CCD15 to C.X.,E36CWGBR24B and E36CZG14132 to T.C.)。
文摘Birds exhibit extraordinary mobility and remarkable navigational skills,obtaining guidance cues from the Earth’s magnetic field for orientation and long-distance movement.Bird species also show tremendous diversity in navigation strategies,with considerable differences even within the same taxa and among individuals from the same population.The highly conserved iron and iron-sulfur cluster binding magnetoreceptor(MagR)protein is suggested to enable animals,including birds,to detect the geomagnetic field and navigate accordingly.Notably,MagR is also implicated in other functions,such as electron transfer and biogenesis of iron-sulfur clusters,raising the question of whether variability exists in its biochemical and biophysical features among species,particularly birds.In the current study,we conducted a comparative analysis of MagR from two different bird species,including the migratory European robin(Erithacus rubecula)and the homing pigeon(Columba livia).Sequence alignment revealed an extremely high degree of similarity between the MagRs of these species,with only three sequence variations.Nevertheless,two of these variations underpinned significant differences in metal binding capacity,oligomeric state,and magnetic properties.These findings offer compelling evidence for the marked differences in MagR between the two avian species,potentially explaining how a highly conserved protein can mediate such diverse functions.
基金Project supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China(Grant No.2021YFA0718701)the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation(Grant No.2022M722888)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.12174347 and 12004340).
文摘For the past few years,germanium-based semiconductor spintronics has attracted considerable interest due to its potential for integration into mainstream semiconductor technology.The main challenges in the development of modern semiconductor spintronics are the generation,detection,and manipulation of spin currents.Here,the transport characteristics of a spin current generated by spin pumping through a GeBi semiconductor barrier in Y_(3)Fe_(5)O_(12)/GeBi/Pt heterostructures were investigated systematically.The effective spin-mixing conductance and inverse spin Hall voltage to quantitatively describe the spin transport characteristics were extracted.The spin-injection efficiency in the Y_(3)Fe_(5)O_(12)/GeBi/Pt heterostructures is comparable to that of the Y_(3)Fe_(5)O_(12)/Pt bilayer,and the inverse spin Hall voltage exponential decays with the increase in the barrier thickness.Furthermore,the band gap of the GeBi layer was tuned by changing the Bi content.The spin-injection efficiency at the YIG/semiconductor interface and the spin transportation within the semiconductor barrier are related to the band gap of the GeBi layer.Our results may be used as guidelines for the fabrication of efficient spin transmission structures and may lead to further studies on the impacts of different kinds of barrier materials.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.82170426 and 22078193)Double Thousand Plan of Jiangxi Province(Nos.461654,jxsq2019102052).
文摘Electrocatalytic glucose oxidation reaction(GOR)has attracted much attention owing to its crucial role in biofuel cell fabrication.Herein,we load MoO_(3)nanoparticles on carbon nanotubes(CNTs)and use a discharge process to prepare a noblemetal-free MC-60 catalyst containing MoO_(3),Mo_(2)C,and a Mo_(2)C–MoO_(3)interface.In the GOR,MC-60 shows activity as high as 745μA/(mmol/L cm^(2)),considerably higher than those of the Pt/CNT(270μA/(mmol/L cm^(2)))and Au/CNT catalysts(110μA/(mmol/L cm^(2))).In the GOR,the response minimum on MC-60 is as low as 8μmol/L,with a steady-state response time of only 3 s.Moreover,MC-60 has superior stability and anti-interference ability to impurities in the GOR.The better performance of MC-60 in the GOR is attributed to the abundant Mo sites bonding to C and O atoms at the MoO_(3)–Mo_(2)C interface.These Mo sites create active sites for promoting glucose adsorption and oxidation,enhancing MC-60 performance in the GOR.Thus,these results help to fabricate more effi cient noble-metal-free catalysts for the fabrication of glucose-based biofuel cells.
文摘As an important mechanism in multi-agent interaction,communication can make agents form complex team relationships rather than constitute a simple set of multiple independent agents.However,the existing communication schemes can bring much timing redundancy and irrelevant messages,which seriously affects their practical application.To solve this problem,this paper proposes a targeted multiagent communication algorithm based on state control(SCTC).The SCTC uses a gating mechanism based on state control to reduce the timing redundancy of communication between agents and determines the interaction relationship between agents and the importance weight of a communication message through a series connection of hard-and self-attention mechanisms,realizing targeted communication message processing.In addition,by minimizing the difference between the fusion message generated from a real communication message of each agent and a fusion message generated from the buffered message,the correctness of the final action choice of the agent is ensured.Our evaluation using a challenging set of Star Craft II benchmarks indicates that the SCTC can significantly improve the learning performance and reduce the communication overhead between agents,thus ensuring better cooperation between agents.
基金supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.52076079,52206010)Natural Science Foundation of Hebei Province,China(Grant No.E2020502013)the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities(2021MS076,2021MS079).
文摘There is a growing need to explore the potential of coal-fired power plants(CFPPs)to enhance the utilization rate of wind power(wind)and photovoltaic power(PV)in the green energy field.This study developed a load regulation model for a multi-power generation system comprising wind,PV,and coal energy storage using realworld data.The power supply process was divided into eight fundamental load regulation scenarios,elucidating the influence of each scenario on load regulation.Within the framework of the multi-power generation system with the wind(50 MW)and PV(50 MW)alongside a CFPP(330 MW),a lithium-iron phosphate energy storage system(LIPBESS)was integrated to improve the system’s load regulation flexibility.The energy storage operation strategy was formulated based on the charging and discharging priority of the LIPBESS for each basic scenario and the charging and discharging load calculation method of LIPBESS auxiliary regulation.Through optimization using the particle swarm algorithm,the optimal capacity of LIPBESS was determined to be within the 5.24-4.88 MWh range.From an economic perspective,the LIPBESS operating with CFPP as the regulating power source was 49.1% lower in capacity compared to the renewable energy-based storage mode.
基金supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Institute of Earthquake Forecas-ting,China Earthquake Administration(No.2021IEF0603)the Special Fund of the Institute of Geophysics,China Earthquake Administration(No.DQJB21B32).
文摘Seismic attenuation is a fundamental property of the Earth's media.Attenuation structure for the complicated geological structures with strong seismicity in the Sichuan-Yunnan region is poorly studied.In this study,we collected 108,399 waveforms of 11,517 local small earthquakes with magnitudes between 1.5 and 3.5 from January 2014 to September 2021 in the Sichuan-Yunnan region and its adjacent areas.We employed an envelope inversion technique for separating the intrinsic and scattering attenuations of the S coda wave,and obtained the intrinsic and scattering attenuation structures for frequencies between 0.25 and 8.00 Hz.The attenuation structures correlate well with the geological units,and some major faults mark the attenuation variations where historic large earthquakes have occurred.The regional average attenuation shows a negative frequency dependence.The average scattering attenuation has a faster descending rate than the average intrinsic attenuation,and is dominant at low frequencies,while at high frequencies the average intrinsic attenuation is stronger.The lateral variation in the intrinsic attenuation is consistent with the variation in heat flow,the scattering attenuation may be related to the scatter distribution and size.The total attenuation is consistent with the previous studies in this region,and the separate intrinsic and scattering attenuation may be useful in understanding regional tectonics and important in earthquake prevention and disaster reduction.
基金supported in part by the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province under Grant BK20200969(L.Z.,URL:http://std.jiangsu.gov.cn/)in part by Basic Science(Natural Science)Research Project of Colleges and Universities in Jiangsu Province under Grant 22KJB470025(L.R.,URL:http://jyt.jiangsu.gov.cn/)in part by Social People’s Livelihood Technology Plan General Project of Nantong under Grant MS12021015(L.Q.,URL:http://kjj.nantong.gov.cn/).
文摘Partial shading conditions(PSCs)caused by uneven illumination become one of the most common problems in photovoltaic(PV)systems,which can make the PV power-voltage(P-V)characteristics curve show multi-peaks.Traditional maximum power point tracking(MPPT)methods have shortcomings in tracking to the global maximum power point(GMPP),resulting in a dramatic decrease in output power.In order to solve the above problems,intelligent algorithms are used in MPPT.However,the existing intelligent algorithms have some disadvantages,such as slow convergence speed and large search oscillation.Therefore,an improved whale algorithm(IWOA)combined with the P&O(IWOA-P&O)is proposed for the MPPT of PV power generation in this paper.Firstly,IWOA is used to track the range interval of the GMPP,and then P&O is used to accurately find the MPP in that interval.Compared with other algorithms,simulation results show that this method has an average tracking efficiency of 99.79%and an average tracking time of 0.16 s when tracking GMPP.Finally,experimental verification is conducted,and the results show that the proposed algorithm has better MPPT performance compared to popular particle swarm optimization(PSO)and PSO-P&O algorithms.
文摘Genetic Programming (GP) is an important approach to deal with complex problem analysis and modeling, and has been applied in a wide range of areas. The development of GP involves various aspects, including design of genetic operators, evolutionary controls and implementations of heuristic strategy, evaluations and other mechanisms. When designing genetic operators, it is necessary to consider the possible limitations of encoding methods of individuals. And when selecting evolutionary control strategies, it is also necessary to balance search efficiency and diversity based on representation characteristics as well as the problem itself. More importantly, all of these matters, among others, have to be implemented through tedious coding work. Therefore, GP development is both complex and time-consuming. To overcome some of these difficulties that hinder the enhancement of GP development efficiency, we explore the feasibility of mutual assistance among GP variants, and then propose a rapid GP prototyping development method based on πGrammatical Evolution (πGE). It is demonstrated through regression analysis experiments that not only is this method beneficial for the GP developers to get rid of some tedious implementations, but also enables them to concentrate on the essence of the referred problem, such as individual representation, decoding means and evaluation. Additionally, it provides new insights into the roles of individual delineations in phenotypes and semantic research of individuals.
